http://www.archive.org/details/hydesvillestoryo00todd hydesville. [illustration: advent of spiritualism 1848. john d. fox. his wife and daughters. hydesville new york u.s.a.] hydesville: the story of the rochester knockings, which proclaimed the advent of modern spiritualism, by thomas olman todd, past president of the british spiritualists' lyceum union. [illustration] published at the keystone press, sunderland. dedicated to daisy. [illustration] a creature not too bright or good for human nature's daily food, for transient sorrows, simple wiles, praise, blame, love, kisses, tears and smiles. --wordsworth. [illustration] "some secret truths from learned pride concealed, to maids alone and children are revealed: what though no credit doubting wits may give, the fair and innocent shall still believe." --pope. [illustration] "rightly viewed, no meanest object is insignificant; all objects are as windows, through which the philosophic eye looks into infinitude itself."--carlyle. [illustration] "rivers from bubbling springs have rise at first, and great from abject things." --middleton. [illustration] preface. the interesting events narrated in this book which occurred at hydesville, in the house of the fox family, are those by which modern spiritualism made its advent into this world as a new revelation in spiritual matters. history is not without its reliable records of similar phenomena, but, just as many scientific men have experimented and stopped short of the gateway of the actual discovery of nature's secrets, so, many who came in contact with phenomena similar to those of hydesville whilst being mystified as to the meaning of the operating power, stopped short of the actual discovery that "it can see as well as hear." notably in the case of the disturbances at mr. mompesson's house at tedworth (1661--1663) and mr. wesley's parsonage at epworth (1716--1717). the early literature of the spiritualist movement is replete with most interesting records of phenomena of bewildering variety, but during the past twenty years the demand for literature on this absorbing subject has taken a more philosophic turn. the phenomena are admittedly real. the philosophy is the subject of debate, hence these early records are fast going out of print and becoming difficult to obtain. some few years ago, when the writer paid what proved to be his last visit to mrs. emma hardinge britten, he was deeply impressed with her desire that the early history of the spiritualist movement, for which she spent the greater part of her industrious life, and with which she had been so intimately connected, should not be allowed to pass into oblivion, and that at least the story of hydesville should be published in a handy form and at a reasonable price. for this purpose she presented him with what appeared to be her only remaining copy of her invaluable historical work "modern american spiritualism," and requested him to undertake that duty. the incidents recorded in the following pages are based chiefly on the information given in the work mentioned above, and considerable use is made of the actual words and sentences penned by mrs. britten; these are given without quotation marks. some portions however have been re-written to adapt them to the requirements of the present book, whilst a few other facts have been gathered from various sources, chiefly robert dale owen's "footfalls on the boundary of another world." both mrs. britten and mr. owen were personally acquainted with the fox family and many of the persons incidentally mentioned in connection with the phenomena at hydesville--a fact which gives superior weight to their records. t. o. t. sunderland, 1905. manchester, december 5th, 1897. mr. t. o. todd. dear sir, having been a sad invalid since june of this year, and still suffering, i do not quite remember whether i have or not written to you on the subject to which i desire to devote this poor scrawl. if i have not done so hitherto--permit me to say,--altho' i have been obliged from severe illness to suspend my platform work and writings, i am as much interested in the earnest desire to help the progress of spiritualism as i have been in my long years of past devotion to that cause. in consequence of my sad illness i have been obliged to refuse my kind american friends' urgent invitation to attend their grand celebration at rochester, n.y., next june. * * * * * i am most anxious to do something for our noble cause, [enquirers] will necessarily want to have some special accounts of the first opening of the spiritual movement and the history of the poor fox family and their immediate connection with the famous "rochester knockings." all this i, who knew the fox family and all the circumstances of the case personally and intimately, have written and published in full detail in my widely circulated work "modern american spiritualism."--but this work consists of 560 pages, and tho' bought by thousands of american spiritualists, i should not know in england where to turn to find a copy except in my own bookcase. now what i propose is this: in the first hundred pages is the full and entire history of the movement; the life and labours of a. j. davis,--the life, sufferings, and bitter persecutions of the poor foxes, and all their early trials; friends, foes, and all connected with them. why cannot you . . . take those hundred pages, condense them, and make a splendid pamphlet of them? * * * * * sincerely yours, emma hardinge britten. spirit rappings. [illustration: decoration] (this poem will be found set to music in the "spiritual songster.") [illustration: decoration] rap, rap, rap! rap, rap, rap! rap, rap, rap! who is it rapping to-night? only invisible friends, come from those chambers whose light radiantly earth-ward descends, those whose dear forms you have covered from sight, and mark'd by a marble shaft solemn and white, have come from the land where their life bloom'd anew, and lo! by those raps they are talking to you. rap, rap, rap! rap, rap, rap! rap, rap, rap! daintiest fingers of air wake the most delicate sound rapping on table or chair, lov'd ones of earth gather round making us know that our lov'd ones have come, come back to our hearts, and their dear earthly home, forget they will never, thro' glory bath'd years, how lonely they left us in sadness and tears. rap, rap, rap! rap, rap, rap! rap, rap, rap! guests we would honour are here! hear the light rappings, and know visiting angels are near, greeting their earth friends below! oh, bid them welcome, in garments of white, to hearts which are pure and illumin'd with light; they wander at will o'er two wonderful lands, oh, list to their counsels, and give them your hands. rap, rap, rap! rap, rap, rap! rap, rap, rap! lov'd ones are rapping to-night; heaven seems not far away; death's sweeping river is bright, soft is the sheen of its spray. magical changes those rappings have wrought, sweet hope to the hopeless their patter has brought, and death is bridg'd over with amaranth flow'rs: blest spirits come back from their bright homes to ours. --emma r. tuttle. [illustration: kate fox] hydesville. the story of the rochester knockings. chapter i. the birth-places of the greatest of the world's social, political, and religious reformations have generally been of insignificant and lowly aspect, and apparently under the most inauspicious circumstances for producing any great effect upon mankind. the babe of the lowly manger becomes the spiritual king of millions of human hearts and souls, and the "wood hut" becomes the gateway through which holy ministers of light, from their world of truth and beauty, send the evidence of man's immortality, through the instrumentality of a child, to the weary worn pilgrims of earth, who, praying for the "touch of a vanish'd hand, and the sound of a voice that is still," welcome with joyful hearts the spirit message "we still live." the scene of the manifestations dealt with in the following pages, was a small wooden homestead, one of a cluster of houses like itself, in the little village of hydesville, near to the town of newark, wayne county, new york (being so called after dr. hyde, an old settler, whose son was the proprietor of the house in question). the place not being directly accessible from a railroad, was lonely and unmarked by those tokens of progress that the locomotive generally leaves in its track, hence it was the last spot where a scene of fraud and deception could find a possibility of a successful execution. the house was a humble frame dwelling fronting south, consisting of two fair-size parlours opening into each other, east of these a bedroom and a buttery or pantry, opening into one of the sitting rooms; and a stairway between the buttery and the bedroom leading from the sitting room up to the half storey above and from the buttery down to the cellar. this humble dwelling had been selected as a temporary residence during the erection of another house in the country, by mr. john d. fox, who, with his family, soon afterwards became so prominently identified with the phenomena which have since become world famous. their little dwelling, though so small and simply furnished as to leave no shadow of opportunity for concealment or trick, was the residence of honest piety and rural simplicity. all who ever knew them bore witness to the unimpeachable character of the good mother, while the integrity of the simple-minded farmers who were father and brother to the sisters who have since become so celebrated as the "rochester knockers" stands proved beyond all question. the ancestors of mr. fox were germans, the name being originally "voss"; but both he and mrs. fox were native born. in mrs. fox's family, french by origin and rutan by name, several individuals had evinced the power of second sight,--her maternal grandmother (margaret ackerman) who resided at long island, had frequent perceptions of coming events; so vivid were these presentiments that she frequently followed phantom funerals to the grave as if they were real. mrs. fox's sister also, mrs. elizabeth higgins, had similar power. on one occasion, in the year 1823, the two sisters, then residing in new york, proposed to go to sodus by canal. but one morning elizabeth said, "we shall not make this trip by water." "why so?" her sister asked. "because i dreamed last night that we travelled by land, and there was a strange person with us. in my dream, too, i thought we came to mott's tavern on the beech woods, and that they could not admit us because mrs. mott lay dying in the house. i know it will all come true." "very likely indeed!" her sister replied, "for last year, when we passed there, mr. mott's wife lay dead in the house." "you will see. he must have married again and he will lose his second wife." every particular came to pass as mrs. higgins had predicted. mrs. johnson, a stranger, whom at the time of the dream they had not seen, did go with them, they made the journey by land and were refused admittance into mott's tavern for the very cause assigned in the dream. the family of mr. and mrs. fox consisted of six children, but at the time of the manifestations the house was occupied by mr. and mrs. fox and their two youngest children only, margaretta, aged twelve, and kate, aged nine years. these details, insignificant as they may now appear, are due alike to the family and posterity. when the future of this wonderful movement shall have become matter of history and antiquity, if not reverence for spiritual truth, and shall induce mankind to follow the example of their ancestors and label the records "sacred," the names now sunk in obscurity and masked by slander may perchance be engraved in monuments of bronze and marble, and the incidents now deemed too slight for notice become reverenced as "holy writ." these changes of chance and time have happened before; if history repeats itself they will occur again. it was reserved to this family to be the instruments of communicating to the world this most singular affair. they were the ones who first, as if by accident, found out that there was an intelligence manifested even in the rapping, which at first appeared nothing more than an annoying and unaccountable noise. in a publication of the early investigations connected with this house, entitled: "a report of the mysterious noises heard in the house of mr. john d. fox, in hydesville, arcadia, wayne county, authenticated by the certificates and confirmed by the statements of the citizens of that place and vicinity," we find that some disturbances had affected the house before the fox family came to live there. in the year 1843-4, the farm was occupied by a mr. and mrs. bell, who, during the last three months of their stay were joined by a young girl--lucretia pulver, who sometimes worked for them, and at other times boarded with them and went to school, she being about fifteen years old. according to the statement of lucretia, called forth by subsequent investigations, a pedlar called at the house one afternoon whom mrs. bell seemed to recognise as an acquaintance. he was a man about thirty years of age, dressed in a black frock coat, light trousers and vest, and carried with him a pack of goods containing dress material and other draperies. shortly after the arrival of the pedlar, mrs. bell called the girl to say that she could not afford to keep her any longer, and that as she was going to the next village the same afternoon, she might pack her clothes and they would go together. before going, lucretia chose from the pedlar's pack a piece of delaine, asking him to leave it at her father's house; this he promised to do the next day. mrs. bell and lucretia then left the house, the pedlar and mr. bell remained behind, the former apparently having decided to stay there for the day. the pedlar did not call at lucretia's father's house next day in fulfilment of his promise to do so, nor, in fact, was he ever seen again, a circumstance which should be borne in mind when the sequel to this story is under consideration. about three days afterwards, much to the girl's surprise, mrs. bell sent for lucretia to return to her again. she did so, and from that time she began to hear noises and knockings in her bedroom, the same room which was afterwards occupied by mr. and mrs. fox. on one occasion, when mr. and mrs. bell were away from home at lock berlin, and lucretia had to remain in the house, she sent for her young brother and a girl friend named aurelia losey to stay in the house with her. during the night they all heard noises which they declared sounded like the footsteps of a man passing from the bedroom to the buttery, then down the cellar stairs, traversing the cellar for a short time and then suddenly stopping. they were all very much frightened and got up to fasten the doors and windows, but were scarcely able to sleep the remainder of the night. about a week after the visit of the pedlar to the house, lucretia having occasion to go down into the cellar, stumbled and fell into a hole filled with soft soil, this somewhat frightened her and caused her to scream for assistance. mrs. bell coming to her rescue, lucretia asked what mr. bell had been doing in the cellar that it was all "dug up." mrs. bell replied that "the holes were only rat holes," and a few nights afterwards lucretia observed that mr. bell was busy for some time in the cellar filling up the "rat holes" with earth which he carried there himself. during the remainder of the period in which the house was occupied by the bell family, the sounds continued to be heard, not only by lucretia but by mrs. bell. lucretia's mother, mrs. pulver, was a frequent visitor at the house, and on one occasion in particular, after the foregoing events, when she called upon mrs. bell, she found the latter quite ill from want of rest, and on enquiring the cause, mrs. bell declared she was "sick of her life," and that she frequently "heard the footsteps of a man traversing the house all night." chapter ii. a few months after these events happened the bells left the neighbourhood, and the house became tenanted by a mr. and mrs. weekman, who lived there about eighteen months, and left in the year 1847. mr. weekman's statement respecting the noises he heard was to the effect that one evening when he was about to retire for the night, he heard a rapping on the outside door, and, what was rather unusual for him, instead of familiarly bidding them "come in," stepped to the door and opened it. he had no doubt of finding some one who wished to come in, but to his surprise found no one there. he stepped out and looked around, supposing that some person was imposing on him, he could discover no one, and went back into the house. after a short time he heard the rapping again, and stepped up and held on to the latch, so that he might ascertain if any one had taken that means to annoy him. the rapping was repeated, the door opened instantly, but no one was in sight. mr. weekman states that he could feel the jar of the door very plainly when the rapping was heard. as he opened the door he sprang out and went around the house, but no one was in sight, nor could he find trace of any intruder. they were frequently afterwards disturbed by strange and unaccountable noises. one night mrs. weekman heard what she deemed to be the footsteps of someone walking in the cellar. another night mr. weekman and his wife were disturbed by hearing a scream from their child, a girl about eight years of age,--this happened at midnight,--they went to her and she told them that something like a hand passed over her face and head; it seemed cold, and so badly had she been frightened that it was some time before she could be induced to tell her parents the cause of her alarm, nor would she consent to sleep in the same room for several nights afterwards. all this might have happened, and been only the idle fabric of a child's dream, the weekman family might have imagined what they gave out as fact, and we should be inclined to believe that such was the case, if we had not the most conclusive evidence that such manifestations were quite common, not only in this house, but in various others where similarly strange things have happened. chapter iii. "know well my soul, god's hand controls whate'er thou fearest." from the time the fox family entered the house at hydesville, about december, 1847, they were incessantly disturbed by similar noises to those heard by lucretia pulver and the weekmans. during the next month however (january, 1848) the noises began to assume the character of slight knockings heard at night in the bedroom; sometimes appearing to sound from the cellar beneath. at first mrs. fox sought to persuade herself this might be the hammering of a shoemaker in a house hard by, sitting up late at work. but further observation showed that the sounds originated in the house. for not only did the knockings become more distinct, and not only were they heard first in one part of the house, then in another, but the family remarked that these raps, even when not very loud, often caused a motion, tremulous rather than a sudden jar, of the bedsteads and chairs--sometimes of the floor; a motion which was quite perceptible to the touch when a hand was laid on the chairs, which was sometimes sensibly felt at night in the slightly oscillating motion of the bed, and which was occasionally perceived as a sort of vibration even when standing on the floor. after a time also, the noises varied in their character, sounding occasionally like distinct footfalls in the different rooms. in the month of february, the noises became so distinct and continuous that their rest was broken night after night, and they were all becoming worn out in their efforts to discover the cause of the annoyances. these disturbances were not confined to sounds merely,--once something heavy, as if a dog, seemed to lie on the feet of the children; but it was gone before the mother could come to their aid. another time (this was late in march) kate felt as if a cold hand was on her face. occasionally too, the bedclothes were pulled during the night. finally chairs were moved from their places. the disturbances, which had been limited to occasional knockings throughout february and march, gradually increased towards the close of the latter month, both in loudness and frequency. mr. fox and his wife got up night after night, lit a candle, and thoroughly searched every nook and corner of the house; but without any result. they discovered nothing. when the raps came on a door, mr. fox would stand, ready to open the door the instant the raps were repeated. though he opened the door immediately there was no one to be seen. nor did he or mrs. fox obtain any clue as to the cause of the trouble, notwithstanding all the efforts they made and the precautions they exercised. the only circumstance which seemed to suggest the possibility of trickery or of mistake was, that these various unexplained occurrences never happened in daylight, and thus notwithstanding the strangeness of the thing, when morning came they began to think it must have been the fancy of the night. not being given to superstition, they clung, throughout several weeks of annoyance, to the idea that some natural explanation of these seemingly mysterious events would at last appear, nor did they abandon this hope till the night of friday, march 31st, 1848, a date which was destined to be indelibly imprinted on the minds of the coming generations as the daybreak of a new era in the spiritual development of humanity, a date which has since been regularly observed as marking the advent of the greatest spiritual revelation of modern times, and recognised as the anniversary of the spiritualist movement in all parts of the world. chapter iv. the day had been cold and stormy, with snow on the ground. in the course of the afternoon, david, a son of mr. and mrs. fox, came to visit his parents from his farm about three miles distant. mrs. fox then first recounted to him the particulars of the annoyances they had endured; for until now they had been little disposed to communicate these to any one. he listened to her with a smiling face. "well mother," he said, "i advise you not to say a word about it to the neighbours. when you find it out it will be one of the simplest things in the world." and in that belief he returned to his own home. wearied out by a succession of sleepless nights and of fruitless attempts to penetrate the mystery, the fox family retired on that friday evening very early to rest, hoping for a respite from the disturbances that harassed them. but they were doomed to disappointment. the parents had had the children's beds removed into their own bedroom, and strictly enjoined them not to talk of the noises even if they heard them. but scarcely had the mother seen them safely in bed, and was retiring to rest herself, when the children cried out "here they are again." the mother chid them and lay down, but as though in rebuke of her apparent indifference, they were on this occasion louder and more pertinacious than ever. rest was impossible. the children kept up a continuous chatter, sitting up in bed to listen to the sounds. mr. fox tried the windows and doors, to discover, if possible, the source of the annoyance. the night being windy it suggested itself to him that it might be the sashes rattling, but all in vain; the raps continued and were evidently answering the noise occasioned by the father shaking the windows, as if in mockery. at length the youngest child, kate--who in her guileless innocence had become familiar with the invisible knocker, until she was more amused than alarmed at its presence--merrily exclaimed: "here, mr. split-foot, do as i do." the effect was instantaneous: the invisible rapper responded by imitating the number of her movements. she then made a given number of motions with her finger and thumb in the air, but without noise, and her astonishment was re-doubled to find that these movements were seen by the invisible rapper, for a corresponding number of knocks were immediately given to her noiseless motions, whilst from her lips as though but in childish jest and transport at her new discovery there sprang to life the words which revealed the sublimest spiritual truth of modern times: "only look mother it can see as well as hear." words which have since become a text which doctors, professors, sceptics and scoffers have tried to crush out of existence--and ignominously failed, but which on the other hand have brought comfort, solace, and permanent joy to the hearts of hundreds of thousands--nay, millions surely,--of earth's weary pilgrims. words which declared a truth since tested by every possible subtlety and sophistry which the ingenuity of man could suggest or devise, but which has stood firmly through every ordeal. words which declare a truth that has already become the firm foundation of faith for an ever progressive spiritual church, made up of almost every nation of the earth, and embracing adherents from every rank of philosophic, scientific, religious and social life, which, moreover, reveals its own attributes to the child and the philosopher alike, and provides the missing link between a finite material world and a world of infinite spiritual possibilities by proving the continuity of life. [illustration: it can see as well as hear hydesville march 31st., 1848.] chapter v. happily for the momentous work which the spiritual telegraphers had undertaken to initiate in this humble dwelling, the first manifestations did not appeal to the high and learned of the earth, but to the plain common-sense of an honest farmer's wife, and suggested that whatever could see, hear, and intelligently respond to relevant queries, must have in it something in common with humanity; and thus mrs. fox continued her investigations. addressing the viewless rapper she said "count ten;" the raps obeyed. "how old is my daughter margaret?" then "kate?" both questions were distinctly and correctly rapped out. mrs. fox then asked "how many children have i?" seven, was the reply; this however proved to be wrong for she had only six living. she repeated her question and was again answered by seven raps; suddenly she cried "how many have i living?" six raps responded. "how many dead?" a single knock; and both these answers proved correct. to the next question, "are you a man that knocks?" there was no response; but "are you a spirit?" elicited firm and distinctive responsive knocks. emboldened by her success, mrs. fox continued her enquiries and ascertained by raps that the messages were coming from what purported to be the spirit of an injured man who had been murdered for his money. to the question how old he was, there came thirty-one distinct raps. he also gave them to understand that he was a married man, and had left a wife and five children; that his wife was dead, and had been dead two years. after ascertaining so much, she asked the question "will the noise continue if i call in some neighbours?" the answer was by rapping in the affirmative. at first they called in their nearest neighbours, who came thinking they would have a hearty laugh at the family for being frightened--but when the first neighbour came in and found that the noise, whatever it might be, could tell the age of herself as well as others, and give correct answers to questions on matters of which the family of mr. fox was quite ignorant, she concluded that there was something beside a subject of ridicule and laughter in these unseen but audible communications. these neighbours insisted on calling others who came, and after investigation were as much confounded as at first. the reader must endeavour to picture to himself the scene which followed the introduction of the neighbours to this weird and most novel court of inquiry. imagine the place to be an humble cottage in a remote and obscure hamlet; the judge and jurors, simple unsophisticated rustics; and the witness an invisible, unknown being, a denizen of a world of whose very existence mankind has been ignorant; acting by laws mysterious and inconceivable, in modes utterly beyond all human control or comprehension, and breaking through what has been deemed the dark and eternal seal of death, to reveal the long-hidden mysteries of the grave, and drag to the light secrets which not even the fabled silence of the grave could longer hide away. those who have been accustomed to dream of death as the end of all whom its shadowy portals inclose, alone are prepared to appreciate the awful and startling reality of this strange scene, breaking apart, as it did, like a rope of sand, all the preconceived opinions of countless ages on the existence and destiny of the living dead. those who have become familiar with the revealments of the spirit circle will only smile at the consternation evoked in this rustic party by the now familiar presence and manifestations of "the spirits," but to those who still stand in the night of superstition, deeming of all earth's countless millions as "dead," "lost," "gone," no one knows whither; never to return; to give no sign, no echo, no dim vibration from that vast gulf profound of unfathomed mystery--what a picture is that which suddenly brings them face to face with the mighty hosts of the vanished dead, all clothed in life, and girded round with a panoply of power, and light, and strength; with vivid memory of the secret wrongs deemed buried in their graves. our cities are thronged with an unseen people who flit about us, their piercing eyes invisible to us, are scanning all our ways. the universe is teeming with them,--"there are no dead,"--the air, the earth, and the sky above, are filled with a viewless host of spirit--witnesses whose messages ever declare "there is no death." chapter vi. amongst the investigators introduced to the household was a mr. william deusler, of arcadia, an immediate neighbour of the fox family at this time, and from his testimony we gather a great many interesting facts as to the evidence offered by the injured spirit in order that its identity could be clearly established. mr. deusler had formerly lived with his father in this house, and the message that the spirit had received an injury, prompted him to ask if either he or his father had been the cause of such an injury. on receiving an assurance that they were in no way responsible, the investigation was continued, the results being here given in mr. deusler's own words-"i then asked if mr. ---[naming a person who had formerly lived in the house] had injured it, and if so, to manifest it by rapping, and it made three knocks louder than common, and at the same time the bedstead jarred more than it had done before. i then inquired if it was murdered for money, and the knocking was heard. i then requested it to rap when i mentioned the sum of money for which it was murdered. i then asked if it was one hundred, two, three or four, and when i came to five hundred the rapping was heard. all in the room said they heard it distinctly. i then asked the question if it was five hundred dollars, and the rapping was heard. "after this, i sent over and got artemus w. hyde to come over.[a] he came over. i then asked over nearly the same questions as before, and got the same answers. mr. redfield sent after david jewel and wife, and mrs. hyde also came. after they came in i asked the same questions over and got the same answers. . . . i then asked it to rap my age--the number of years of my age. it rapped thirty times. this is my age, and i do not think any one about here knew my age, except myself and family. i then told it to rap my wife's age, and it rapped thirty times, which is her exact age; several of us counted it at the same time. i then asked it to rap a. w. hyde's age; then mrs. a. w. hyde's age. i then continued to ask it to rap the ages of different persons--naming them--in the room, and it did so correctly, as they all said. i then asked the number of children in the different families in the neighbourhood, and it told them correctly in the usual way, by rapping; also the number of deaths that had taken place in the different families, and it told correctly. . . . "i then asked in regard to the time it was murdered, and in the usual way, by asking the different days of the week and the different hours of the day, learned that it was murdered on tuesday night, about twelve o'clock. the rapping was heard only when this particular time was mentioned. when it was asked if it was murdered on a wednesday, or thursday, or friday night, etc., there was no rapping. i then asked if it carried any trunk, and it rapped that it did. then how many, and it rapped once. in the same way we ascertained that it had goods in the trunk, and that ---took them when he murdered him; and that he had a pack of goods besides. i asked if its wife was living, and it did not rap. if she was dead, and it rapped. . . . this was tried over several times and the result was always the same. "i then tried to ascertain the first letters of its name by calling over the different letters of the alphabet. i commenced with a, and asked if it was the initial of its name; and when i asked if it was b the rapping commenced. we then tried all the other letters, but could get no answer by the usual rapping. i then asked if we could find out the whole name by reading over all the letters of the alphabet, and there was no rapping. i then reversed the question, and the rapping was heard. . . . there were a good many more questions asked on that night by myself and others which i do not now remember. they were all readily answered in the same way. i staid in the house until about twelve o'clock and then came home. mr. redfield and mr. fox staid in the house that night. "saturday night i went over again about seven o'clock. the house was full of people when i got there. they said it had been rapping some time. i went into the room. it was rapping in answer to questions when i went in. . . . "there were as many as three hundred people in and around the house at this time, i should think. hiram soverhill, esq., and volney brown asked it questions while i was there, and it rapped in answer to them. "i went over again on sunday between one and two o'clock p.m. i went into the cellar with several others, and had them all leave the house over our heads; and then i asked, if there had been a man buried in the cellar, to manifest it by rapping or any other noise or sign. the moment i asked the question there was a sound like the falling of a stick about a foot long and half an inch through, on the floor in the bedroom over our heads. it did not seem to rebound at all; there was but one sound. i then asked stephen smith to go right up and examine the room, and see if he could discover the cause of the noise. he came back and said he could discover nothing; that there was no one in the room, or in that part of the house. i then asked two more questions, and it rapped in the usual way. we all went up-stairs and made a thorough search, but could find nothing. "i then got a knife and fork, and tried to see if i could make the same noise by dropping them, but i could not. this was all i heard on sunday. there is only one floor, or partition, or thickness between the bedroom and the cellar; no place where anything could be secreted to make the noise. when this noise was heard in the bedroom i could feel a slight tremulous motion or jar. . . . "on monday night i heard this noise again, and asked the same questions i did before and got the same answers. this is the last time i have heard any rapping. i can in no way account for this singular noise which i and others have heard. it is a mystery to me which i am unable to solve. . . . "i lived in the same house about seven years ago, and at that time never heard any noises of the kind in and about the premises. i have understood from johnston and others who have lived there before ----moved there, that there were no such sounds heard there while they occupied the house. i never believed in haunted houses, or heard or saw anything but what i could account for before. (signed), william deusler." "april 12, 1848." to the same effect is the testimony of the following persons, whose certificates were published in a pamphlet by e. e. lewis, esq., of canandaigua, new york, namely: john d. fox, walter scotten, elizabeth jewel, lorren tenney, james bridger, chauncey p. losey, benjamin f. clark, elizabeth fox, vernelia culver, william d. storer, marvin p. losey, david s. fox, and mary redfield. footnote: [a] the son of the proprietor of the house at hydesville. chapter vii. the news of the mysterious rappings continued to spread abroad, and the house was filled with anxious seekers for the unknown and invisible visitor. up to this time the noises had only been heard at night, but on sunday morning, april 2nd, the sounds were first heard in the daytime, and by any who could get into the house. it has been estimated that at one time there were about five hundred people gathered around the house, so great was the excitement at the commencement of these strange occurrences. on the monday following, mr. fox and others commenced digging in the cellar, but as the house was built on low ground and in the vicinity of a stream then much swollen by rains, it was not surprising that they were baffled by the influx of water at the distance of three feet down. in the summer of 1848, when the ground was dry and the water lowered, the digging again commenced, when they found a plank, a vacant place or hole, some bits of crockery, which seemed to have been a washbowl, traces of charcoal, quicklime, some human hair, bones (declared on examination by a surgeon to be human), including a portion of a skull, but no connected skull was found. [interesting facts relating to the missing portions of the human body were announced in the public newspapers as recently as december, 1904, for which see appendix.] such were the results of the examination of the cellar; such the only corroborative evidences obtained of the truth of the spirit's tale of untimely death. the presence of human remains in the cellar proves that someone was buried there, and the quicklime and charcoal testify to the fact that attempts were made to secretly dispose of the body of the victim. the fox family did not immediately quit the scene of this mysterious haunting, but remained to witness still more astounding phenomena. the furniture was frequently moved about; the girls were often touched by hard cold hands; doors were opened and shut with violence; their beds were so violently shaken that they were obliged to "camp out" as they termed it, on the ground; their bedclothes were dragged from them, and the very floor and house made to rock as in an earthquake. night after night they would be appalled by hearing a sound like a death struggle, the gurgling of the throat, a sudden thud as of something falling, the dragging as of a helpless body across the room and down the cellar stairs, the digging of a grave, nailing of boards, and the filling up as of a new made grave. these sounds have subsequently been produced by request, and spontaneously also, in the presence of many persons assembled in circles at rochester. it was perceived that "the spirits" seemed to select or require the presence of the two younger girls of the family for the production of the sounds, and though these had been made without them, especially on the night of the 31st of march, when all the members of the family save mr. fox were absent from the house, still as curiosity prompted them to close observation and conversation with the invisible power, it was clear that the manifestations became more powerful in the presence of kate, the youngest daughter, than with any one else. as the house was continually thronged with curious inquirers, and the time, comfort and peace of the family were consumed with these harassing disturbances, besides the most absurd though injurious suspicions being cast upon them, they endeavoured to baffle the haunters by sending kate to reside with her eldest sister, mrs. fish, at rochester; but no sooner had she gone than the manifestations re-commenced with more force than ever, in the presence of margaretta. in course of time mrs. fox, with both her daughters, went to live in rochester, but neither change of place nor house, nor yet the separation of the family, afforded them any relief from the disturbances that evidently attached themselves to persons rather than places as formerly. although the fox family had for months striven to banish the power that tormented them, praying with all the fervour of true methodism to be released from it, and enduring fear, loss and anxiety in its continuance, the report of its persistence began to spread abroad, causing a rain of persecutions to fall upon them from all quarters. old friends looked coldly on them, and strangers circulated the most atrocious slanders at their expense. mrs. fish, the eldest sister, who was a teacher of music in rochester, began to lose her pupils, and whilst the blanching of the poor mother's hair in a single week bore testimony to the mental tortures which supra-mundane terrors and mundane cruelties had heaped upon them, the world was taunting them with imposture and with originating the very manifestations which were destroying their health, peace of mind, and good name. they had solicited the advice of their much-respected friend, isaac post, a highly esteemed quaker citizen of rochester, and at his suggestion succeeded in communicating by raps with the invisible power, through the alphabet (an attempt had been previously made but without success). telegraphic numbers were given to signify "yes" or "no," "doubtful," etc., and sentences were spelled out by which they learned the astounding facts that not only "charles rosna" the murdered pedlar, but hosts of spirits, good and bad, high and low, could under certain conditions not understood, and impossible for mortals yet to comprehend, communicate with earth; that such communication was produced through the forces of spiritual magnetism, in chemical affinity; that the varieties of magnetism in different individuals afforded "medium power" to some, and denied it to others; that the magnetic relations necessary to produce phenomena were very subtle, liable to disturbance and singularly susceptible to the influence of the mental emotions. in addition to communications purporting thus to explain the object and something of the modus operandi of the communion, numerous spirit friends of the family, and also of those who joined in their investigations, gladdened the hearts of their astonished relatives by direct and unlooked-for tests of their presence. they came spelling out their names, ages and various tokens of identity correctly, and proclaiming the joyful tidings that they all "still lived," "still loved," and with the tenderness of human affection and the wisdom of a higher sphere of existence, watched over and guided the beloved ones who had mourned them as dead, with all the gracious ministry of guardian angels. chapter viii. but redolent of joy and consolation as is the intercourse with beloved friends, at this time when orderly communion has succeeded doubtful experiment, it must not be supposed that any such harmonious results characterised the initiatory proceedings of the spiritual movement which now made its advent in rochester. within and without the dwellings of the medium, all was fear, consternation, doubt, and anxiety. fanatical religionists of different sects had forced themselves into the family gatherings, and the wildest scenes of rant, cant, and absurdity often ensued. opinions of the most astounding nature were hazarded concerning the object of this movement; some determining that it was a "millennium" and looking for the speedy reign of a personal messiah and the equally speedy destruction of the wicked. it must not be supposed that the clergy were idle spectators of the tumultuous wave that was sweeping over the city. on the contrary, several of them called on mrs. fox with offers to "exorcise the spirits," and when they found their attempts futile, and that though the spirits would rap in chorus to the "amens" with which they concluded their incantations, they were otherwise unmoved by these reverend performances, they generally ended by proclaiming abroad that the family were "in league with the evil one," or the "authors of a vile imposture." honourable exceptions, however, were found to this cowardly and unchristian course, and amongst these was the rev. a. h. jervis, a methodist minister of rochester, in whose family remarkable manifestations occurred of the same character as in that of the foxes, and whose appreciation of the beauty and worth of the communications he received, several of his published letters bear witness of. mr. lyman granger, rev. charles hammond, deacon hale, and several other families of wealth and influence, both in rochester and the surrounding towns, also began to experience similar phenomena in their own households, while the news came from all quarters, extending as far as cincinnati and st. louis, west, and maine, massachusetts, pennsylvania, and new york, east, that the mysterious rappings and other phases of what is now called "medium power" were rapidly spreading from town to town and state to state, in fulfilment of an assurance made in the very first of the communications to the fox family, namely, "that these manifestations were not to be confined to them, but would go all over the world." the remarkable manner in which this prophecy has been fulfilled the most casual observer will readily admit; for spiritualism--even as a religious power--has far outstripped any other form of religion in the world in the rapidity of its growth, having reached every civilized nation and permeated every other form of belief in less than half a century. the fox sisters were still called the "rochester knockers," the "fox girls," the "rappers," and other epithets, equally foolish and obnoxious to their interests and feelings. catherine fox, the youngest girl, had been removed to the house of mr. w. e. capron, of auburn. mrs. fish, though generally present when phenomena were transpiring, was not in its earliest phases conscious of being a medium. margaretta, the other sister, was then in reality the only one through whom the manifestations appeared to proceed, when in november, 1848, the spirits, who had long been urging them to permit public investigations to be made through her mediumship, informed them by raps that "they could not always strive with them," and since they were constantly disobedient to the spirits' requests, and obviously opposed to their presence, they should leave them, and in all probability withdraw for another generation, or seek through other sources for the fulfilment of the high and holy purposes for which this spiritual outpouring had been designed. to these appeals the family were inflexible. they constantly prayed that the cup of this great bitterness "might pass from them." they did not wish to be "mediums," and abhorred the notoriety, scandal, and persecution which their fatal gift had brought them, and when warned that the spirits would leave them, they protested their delight at the announcement, and expressed their earnest desire that it might be fulfilled. there were present at a circle, when communications of this character were made, several influential persons of the city, who had become greatly interested in the manifestations and were warm friends of the family. they could not, however, realise that the threat here implied would actually be fulfilled until the spirits, by rappings, spelled out several messages of a particularly affectionate and valedictory character. the scene became, says an eye-witness, solemn and impressive. the spirits announced that in twenty minutes they would depart, and exactly as that time expired they spelled out, "we will now bid you all farewell;" when the raps entirely ceased. the family expressed themselves "glad to get rid of them;" the friends present vainly tried to obtain, by solicitations, made, as it would seem, to empty air, some demonstration that this beneficent and wonderful visitation had not indeed wholly ceased. all was useless. a mournful silence filled the apartment which had but a few minutes before been tenanted with angels, sounding out their messages of undying affection, tender counsel, wise instruction, and prescient warning. the spirits indeed were gone; and as one by one the depressed party separated and passed out into the silent moonlit streets of rochester, all and each of them felt as if some great light had suddenly gone out, and life was changed to them. there was a mighty blank in space and a shadow everywhere, but spirit light came no more to illuminate the thick darkness. a fortnight passed away, during which the former investigators called constantly on the fox family to enquire if their spirit friends had returned. for the first few days a stoical negative was their only reply; after this, they began more and more fully to recognise the loss they had sustained. the wise counsellors were gone; the sources of strange strength and superhuman consolation were cut off. the tender, loving, wonderful presence no more flitted around their steps, cheered their meals, encouraged them in their human weakness, or guided them in their blindness. and these most wonderful and providential beings their own waywardness had driven from them. at last, then, they met their enquiring friends with showers of tears, choking sobs, and expressions of the bitterest self-reproach and regret. on the twelfth day of this great heart-dearth, mr. w. e. capron, being in rochester on business, called at the house of mrs. fish, with mr. george willets, a member of the society of friends, and one of their earliest spiritual investigators. on receiving the usual sorrowful reply that "the spirits had left them," mr. capron said: "perhaps they will rap for us if not for you." they then entered the hall and put the usual question if the spirits would rap for them, in answer to which, and to the unspeakable delight of all present, they were greeted with a perfect shower of the much-lamented sounds. once more the spirits urged them to make the manifestations public. again they reiterated the charge with solemn earnestness, and despite of the mediums' continued aversion to the task imposed upon them, the fear of a fresh and final bereavement of the inestimable boon of spirit communion prevented their continued resistance to the course proposed. when the persons who were called upon to aid the mediums and take somewhat prominent parts in the work urged the awkwardness of the positions assigned them, the spirits only replied, "your triumph will be so much the greater." there is no doubt that the severe warning they had just received, and the fear of its repetition, acted upon the whole party with more force than any argument that could have been used to induce their submission. at the injunctions of the spirits a public investigation into the possibility of communion between the world of spirits and the earth they once inhabited was carried out. magistrates, editors, and professional men were the judges, and enlightened american citizens the jury. the aim of wide-spread publicity was attained. thousands heard and wondered at, and finally believed in spiritual communion who would never have dreamed of the subject but for the persecution and slander that was publicly directed against the "rochester knockers." the records of these persecutions and slanders abound with disgraceful and painful incidents which, whilst being discreditable to the persons responsible for their propagation redound with full credit to the honour and integrity of the mediums selected by the spirit world to be the forerunners of a new dispensation. and thus the fiery cross, carried by the hands of unseen messengers, sped from point to point; the beacon fires lighted by invisible hands gleamed on every mountain top, and the low muffled sound of the spirit-raps that first broke the slumbers of the peaceful inhabitants of the humble tenement at hydesville, became the clarion peal that sounded out to the millions of the western hemisphere, the anthem of the soul's immortality, chorused by hosts of god's bright ministering angels. the maidens of the dawning light. (leah, kate, margaret.) * * * * * oh, rustic little martyrs for the truth! whose earthly eyes so oft were dimmed with tears, while on your cheeks the blush and bloom of youth was yet unsoiled by unborn struggling years. long years of suffering, years of holy joys, years of defeats and years of victories; years of sweet singing and of brawling noise, despair--but ever angel messages. the memory of your mortal lives comes back; poor little girls! why was the world so rough? of balm you brought there ever was a lack- of heavenly tidings never half enough! yet when to you the gentle "rappings" came, telling the story of immortal life, the hungry world went crazy-mad to blame, accuse, defile, hunt, mob, make venomed strife. humble and poor as christ was--kindly, too, it seems so strange the thistle, hatred, grew to whip your tender backs, with great ado, because you builded better than you knew. but that is over. you have disappeared from conflicts and from suffering, and to-day from god's high country, we, your friends, endeared by common aims, feel that you look this way. welcome, oh, heavenly sisters! see the light your youthful fingers kindled! how it spreads, lighting up places where were sin and night, whitening souls and shaping princely heads. lo! far it spreads! beyond the rolling seas vast congregations celebrate the day your questionings unlocked death's mysteries, and hailed the angels, who had come your way. --emma rood tuttle. appendix a sequel to the "rochester knockings," after 56 years. * * * * * copied from the "banner of light," (boston, u.s.a.) december 3rd, 1904. * * * * * "truth crushed to earth will rise again." * * * * * regardless of what the "banner" knows of this matter, we prefer to present the following statement as given in the boston journal of nov. 23. to opponents of the claims made by spiritualists, the account may bear greater weight than if made by a spiritualist paper. take note that the journal says, "an almost entire human skeleton," and not the bones of a large dog or of any four-footed animal. rochester, n. y., nov. 22, 1904.--the skeleton of the man supposed to have caused the rappings first heard by the fox sisters in 1848 has been found in the walls of the house occupied by the sisters, and clears them from the only shadow of doubt held concerning their sincerity in the discovery of spirit communication. the fox sisters declared they learned to communicate with the spirit of a man, and that he told them he had been murdered and buried in the cellar. repeated excavations failed to locate the body and thus give proof positive of their story. the discovery was made by school children playing in the cellar of the building in hydesville known as the "spook house," where the fox sisters heard the wonderful rappings. william h. hyde, a reputable citizen of clyde, who owns the house, made an investigation and found an almost entire human skeleton between the earth and crumbling cellar walls, undoubtedly that of the wandering pedlar whom it was claimed was murdered in the east room of the house, and whose body was hidden in the cellar. mr. hyde has notified relatives of the fox sisters and the notice of the discovery will be sent to the national order of spiritualists, many of whom remember having made pilgrimages to the "spook house," as it is commonly called. the finding of the bones practically corroborates the sworn statement made by margaret fox, april 11, 1848. the fox sisters claimed to have been disturbed by rappings and finally by a system of signals got into communication with the spirit. according to margaret fox's statement the spirit was that of a pedlar, who described how he had been murdered in the house, his body being buried in the cellar. there were numerous witnesses to the rappings, but although the cellar had been dug up many times no traces of the body was found until the crumbling cellar walls revealed the skeleton. the name of the murdered man, according to his revelation to the fox sisters, was charles rosna, and the murderer a man named beck. in 1847 the house was occupied by michael weekman, a poor laborer. he and his family became troubled by these mysterious rappings, which followed in succession at different intervals, especially during the night. the family became so broken by fear and loss of sleep that they vacated the house. on dec. 11, the fox family moved in and two months later the rappings were resumed and the family became frightened. finally margaret and cathie grew bold and asked questions which were answered, revealing the murder. from hydesville. * * * * * the "sunflower," december, 1904, says: "the following bit of information was transmitted hitherward, which, if confirmed, will create additional interest in spiritualism, although, by no means confirming the latter, as that does not rest exclusively on the phenomena at hydesville; for since then we have had many additional phenomena, as the varied physical phases, materialisation, slate-writing and drawing, painting, levitation, passing of matter through matter, trance-speaking, clairvoyance, psychometric reading, and numerous other modes of communicating with the spirit world. the correspondent says: william h. hyde, who recently found the arm and leg bones of a human being at the old fox homestead, made another search in the cellar where the bones were first exposed by the caving in of the inside cellar wall. mr. hyde discovered all the other important bones except the skull. the latter corroborates the statement as made in the history of the first rappings, a work entitled, 'the missing link in spiritualism.'" * * * * * note by editor.--attention is drawn to the fact that a portion of the skull (which the foregoing report declares to be missing) was discovered during the digging operations at the time of the "knockings"--1848. * * * * * transcriber's note: obvious punctuation errors were corrected. page 30, "harrased" changed to "harassed" (that harassed them) page 59, word "appendix" taken from page header and added to text. produced from images generously made available by the internet archive.) psycho-phone messages recorded by francis grierson spiritual messages from the late general u. s. grant, on adequate preparation in america; thomas jefferson, on the future of american democracy; benjamin disraeli, on english and irish affairs; prince bismarck, on the indemnities; john marshall, on the psychology of the supreme court of the united states; alexander hamilton, on the forces that precede revolution; abraham lincoln, on the future of mexico; robert ingersoll, on our great women; henry ward beecher, on the new puritanism; benjamin wade, of ohio, on president harding; general b. h. grierson, on japan, mexico and california, etc. psycho-phone messages recorded by francis grierson published by austin publishing company los angeles, california copyright, june 1921 by b. f. austin introduction the word "psycho-phone" was first suggested and used by mr. francis grierson in a lecture i heard him deliver before the toronto theosophical society, august 31st, 1919, a year before thomas edison announced his intention of devising an instrument which he hopes will serve to establish intercourse between our world and the world of spirit. my own experiences as a student in this sphere of psychic research in europe and america, covering a period of thirty years, convince me that we have here a revelation of a new mode of spiritual communication unlike anything heretofore given to the world, not only different in quality but different in purpose. from personal knowledge i can state that the recorder of these messages has not acted on ideas advanced by anyone living on our plane. looking back over the past two decades, i am led to believe that mr. grierson's predictions in "the invincible alliance," and in that startling poem, "the awakening in westminster abbey," forecasting the war and the tragic events in ireland, were spiritual and psycho-phonic in character. from 1909 to 1911 francis grierson was the acknowledged leading writer on "the new age," of london, which at that time had as contributors, h. g. wells, bernard shaw, arnold bennett, the two chestertons, hillaire belloc--in one word, all the most prominent writers and advanced thinkers in britain, yet not one of them except mr. grierson could see the approaching world upheaval. early in 1909 he published a series of articles in that weekly depicting the coming war, and nothing of so drastic a nature had ever appeared in an english publication. in the spring of 1913 these articles were published in book form in london and new york under the title of "the invincible alliance." in the westminster abbey composition, published in "the new age" in 1910, the characteristics of four personalities are plainly manifest--coleridge, milton, shelley and shakespeare--and i have not forgotten the sensation caused by this great work in london at the time of its appearance. having had occasion to study the social and psychic conditions in france, germany, italy, austria and england before the great war, and after having been an eye witness of scenes unique in the annals of musical inspiration in the artistic and literary circles of europe as well as the most intellectual of the royal courts, in which mr. grierson was the central figure, i now have a better understanding of the work he accomplished and its far-reaching import. the more complex the work the longer must be the preparation, and we are now confronted with what will appear to many as the most interesting phase of mr. grierson's psychic gifts, for the seer who ushered in the new mystical movement by the publication of "modern mysticism" in 1899 is now the recorder of messages which must induce thinking and unprejudiced minds to pause and consider such matters in a new light, and it is to be hoped that many more messages like these may be recorded by the same hand. as i write, i have before me a unique collection of letters written to mr. grierson by men and women eminent in philosophy, art, music, literature and journalism, in europe and america. among the letters that mr. grierson values the most in this remarkable album are eight from members of the french academy, with sully prudhomme, winner of the first noble prize, heading the list. which reminds me that i heard him say one evening in paris, after hearing mr. grierson's music: "you have placed me on the threshold of the other world. there are not words in the french language to express what i have felt tonight!" up to that moment the famous academician had been known as an avowed agnostic. maeterlinck writes that the first grierson volume (in french) influenced him more than any book he had ever read. there are four letters from the belgian mystic. this album is filled with expressions from the most authoritative minds in literature and art, as well as statesmen, soldiers and diplomats, such as jules simon, the duc de broglie, lord lytton, british ambassador at paris; lord reading, british ambassador at washington; field marshall lord wolseley, general b. h. grierson, u.s.a., leading members of the bonaparte family in paris, prince henri of orleans (son of louis philippe), princess eulalia of spain, and crowned heads who gave receptions in mr. grierson's honor during the past thirty years. there are letters from distinguished americans, such as col. henry watterson (who wrote two long editorials on mr. grierson in the louisville "courier journal"), henry mills alden, editor of "harper's monthly," prof. william james, marion reedy, edwin markham, edith thomas, mary austin, and many leading professors of harvard, yale, columbia, cornell, the universities of illinois, wisconsin and california. edwin bjorkman says, in his "voices of tomorrow":-"to francis grierson belongs the honor of having first attained to prophetic vision of the common goal. in his first volume, published in paris in 1889, he suggested every idea which since then has become recognized as essential not only to bergson and maeterlinck but to the constantly increasing number of writers engaged in making the time conscious of its own spirit. as we read essay after essay it is as if we beheld the globe of life revolving slowly between us and some unknown source of light." the following remarks from the london "outlook" seem to me pertinent to the subject:-"grierson is an englishman, for he was born in cheshire; scotland may justly claim him in that he is a direct descendent of sir robert grierson, the famous laird of lag, who is the hero of scott's novel, 'the red gauntlet'; that america has had a part in the making of him all readers of that wonderful book, 'the valley of shadows,' know; france can claim him since he began his musical career in paris and published his first book in french; but no special country can claim to have developed his genius--that is cosmopolitan." as "current opinion" says, in a long study: "he presents a unique combination of thinker, writer, artist and musician who owes nothing to any school or any master or system of training; and his experience is without a parallel in the intellectual world of our day." lawrence waldemar tonner, 245-1/2 so. spring st. los angeles, california. foreword these messages were begun in september, 1920, and the last was recorded in may, 1921. i little dreamed that many of the predictions set forth would be verified so soon. for names, in themselves, count for nothing. the subliminal mind may assume different names on different occasions. a message is of value exactly in proportion to the information imparted. the first communication from general grant was recorded september ninth. it is peremptory in tone, and contains a warning touching the insecurity of the panama canal. in november mr. harding made a tour of inspection and found the fortifications of the canal inadequate. i then decided on the publication of these messages. they deal with the actual. take, for example, john marshall's documents, which are filled with warnings no reader with intelligence will attempt to refute, disraeli's indictment of english statesmanship in recent times, lincoln's utterances on affairs in europe and mexico, general grant on preparation, benjamin franklin on the privilege of liberty, bishop phillips brooks on the coming ordeals, to name but a few. as a judge sums up, regardless of who may or may not agree, a decision is rendered according to the vision of the one who delivers the message. principle, not party, is the basis of judgment. witness disraeli's remark that the blunders committed by the british parliament would have been impossible in an irish parliament in dublin. in a series of articles in "nash's magazine" mr. basil king suggests that "the means of communication with the plane next above us may be through the everlasting doors which the subliminal opens upward. through these doors the mind may go up and out; through these doors the light may come in and down." in our group of investigators we have had the perseverence essential for serious development, and, as in all demonstrations, whether physical or psychical, everything depends on conditions, so we have had periods of weeks when no message of any kind was received. a striking feature of these communications is their freedom from restraint imposed by popular opinion. they contain neither theories nor appeals. warnings are uttered concerning events and their inevitable reactions. the psycho-phonic waves, by which the messages are imparted, are as definite as those received by wireless methods. francis grierson. los angeles, california contents page introduction 5 foreword 13 thomas reed, of maine, late speaker of the house, on the peace league 21 general u. s. grant, on adequate preparation in america 24 general u. s. grant (second message) 27 thomas jefferson, on the future of american democracy 30 elizabeth cady stanton, on the future of american women 33 benjamin franklin, on the privilege of liberty 43 john marshall, "the expounder of the constitution," on the psychology of the supreme court 46 daniel webster, on "bohemian" statesmen 47 oliver wendell holmes, on the new eden 49 benjamin wade, late governor of ohio, u. s. senator, on president harding 51 don piatt, late editor of "the capital," washington, d. c., on prohibition and the blue laws 55 benjamin disraeli, on english and irish affairs 58 prince bismarck, on germany and the indemnities 63 henry ward beecher, on the new puritanism 70 john marshall, on liberty and the league (second message) 74 abraham lincoln, on the future of mexico 79 robert ingersoll, on our great women 82 stephen a. douglass, on war between england and america 83 general b. h. grierson, on japan and california 85 alexander hamilton, on the forces that precede revolution 89 phillips brooks, on the coming ordeals 93 psycho-phone messages thomas b. reed (late speaker of the house) recorded september seventh, 1920. the formidable imbecility of the senate rivaled the fantastic irritability of the president. born with a utopian temperament, mr. wilson has a herculean passion for generalities and a lilliputian penchant for details. you scratched the teutons at versailles and found a new species of tartar; you scratched the japanese and found a pacifist camouflage; you scratched the poles and found a pianist with his hair uncut; you scratched the french and found a tiger with his claws unclipped. your mania for scratching other nations will keep your nails manicured without the aid of scissors. never since the declaration of independence and the first peal of the liberty bell did a chief executive walk up a winding stair into so pretty a parlor as when mr. wilson, with the naivete of a princeton president, faced that cacophony of sectional jazz bands to witness the cryptic hand-writing on the wall at the peace table. who was his adviser? was it a gentleman with owl spectacles from the oil fields of texas? and was there no one who could have cautioned him against the finesse of clemenceau who spent sixty years sharpening his wits on the political grindstone of europe? was no one in america aware that the french premier is a fluent speaker in english? mr. wilson could speak no french, which reminds me that jack spratt could eat no fat and his wife could eat no lean, and so betwixt them both they licked the platter clean. but a clean plate does not mean a clean slate, and the president brought one home filled with the riddle of the sphinx. yet the peace conference revealed the secret of perpetual motion and conferred a timely service, for the hubbub created by the wilson-lansing-house-party at versailles kept the senate from passing into a trance. a blind man can tell the difference between pepper pods and apple dumplings, but who can tell where tweedle-dee ends and tweedle-dum begins? no one. then how can your statesmen distinguish between the psychological characteristics of the hungarians and the bohemians, the bavarians and the saxons, the difference between a polka and a polonaise, a pig in a stye and a pig in a slaughter house? patriotism often depends on an influence too subtle for analysis, and yet they would enact drastic laws to bind all europe in one bond. they will hardly succeed in a thousand years. some pay through the nose, some through the pocket and some through the stomach. americans are paying through all three. danton declared the secret of the french revolution was audacity, and audacity, and again audacity, but what you need today is vigilance repeated ad infinitum. i am placing you in communication with some of the most far-reaching minds of the past hundred and fifty years. the psycho-phone is new and we are using it for the first time. the late general u. s. grant recorded september ninth, 1920 the imbroglio started by president carranza is beginning to influence the politicians of buenos ayres and other centers in south america. they have secretly repudiated the monroe doctrine. their next maneuver will be a public repudiation. i would say to congress, stop juggling with phrases and attend to the business of the hour. the majority have been chasing shadows in a sphere of politics illumined by moonshine bottled in the blue ridge. i was more careful of my brand. when president lincoln asked for the label, so he could recommend it to other generals, he was not far wrong in his surmises. it is not so much the thing as the quality that counts. most of you at washington will have to learn the difference between inhibition and prohibition. the united states will be isolated within three years from this date if the blowhards from the woolly constituencies are not suppressed. you need a broncho buster in the senate and a donkey muzzler in the house. when a boycott is started by the countries south of the union your enemies in europe will begin to act. it is not a question of commerce but of common sense. i repeat what lincoln said in 1862: "the times are dark and the spirits of ruin are abroad in all their power." my message to congress is: see that fifty thousand troops are stationed permanently near the district of columbia. my message to the governors of new york, pennsylvania and illinois is: get ready! the troops on the borders of texas, new mexico and arizona are inadequate. the fortifications of the panama and at san diego and san pedro are inadequate. you are in the same condition the french were in previous to 1789, when the motto was, "after us the deluge." the deluge came but it did not consist of water. our foes of the old germany and the new russia count on crippling the united states through south america, with the aid of japan; but he who delivers the first blow will be the victor. the germans still believe they can eventually invade france, enter paris and cause a revolution, found a new empire to include france, belgium, holland and switzerland, with italy later on. this dream includes a practical understanding with soviet russia, which, by that time, they expect would be weary of futile experiments. plots will be exposed that will make it apparent how vain some of your optimistic surmises have been. diplomats who are not psychologists will be balked by developments in switzerland, that nation having become the rendezvous of disillusioned wire-pullers without a country. you are now at the cross roads. take the wrong turning and you will come to the skull and cross bones. i could say much more but we are not yet experts in this new mode of inter-communication and must be brief. general u. s. grant. (second message) recorded may third, 1921 i concur with alexander stephens when he says: "congress has never been so supine and so serpentine." millions are sent to the people of distant countries in no way related to our government or people, and yet congress permits thousands of veterans of the great war to continue in a state of neglect, suffering and humiliation. do the authorities believe that when the day of trial arrives the friends and relatives of these veterans will hurry to volunteer for active service? the country is being fascinated by incidents and events in far-off regions, and the tragic conditions at home have entered a chronic stage. there are too many old men in congress--men who never did more than fight grasshoppers or watch a game of football from reserved seats. we do not like the looks of the president's pronunciamento. it contains too many side issues. he is making mr. wilson's mistake of being verbose. mr. wilson tried to hypnotize europe; the senate is trying to hypnotize mr. harding. popularity breeds as much contempt as familiarity. no president can ever succeed in conciliating all classes, sections and parties. the politicians of buenos ayres have now spoken as i predicted in my first message. they have attacked mr. harding for his speech on pan-americanism, all which goes to prove that the president is repeating for south america mr. wilson's blunders in france. remember what lincoln said to judge whitney:-"those fellows think i don't see anything, but i see all around them. i see better what they want to do with me than they do themselves." the politicians of south america see better what the president wants to do with them than he does himself. the administration will face a critical period in the early fall. there will be a break in the dominant phalanx. a social and political readjustment will compel mediation in quarters the most unexpected. the new political and commercial dispensation for the english-speaking countries will begin on september twenty-second at two p.m. thomas jefferson few politicians understand the difference between scene-shifting and progress. things shift, new names are applied, but the vicious circle continues. i see no evidence that human nature has changed since my time, in this or any other country. if the republican ship of state is leaking, the democratic craft is drifting without sail or rudder. what your statesmen fail to understand is that progress is not induced by force but by free will. new political planks rammed into your platforms against the wishes of the majority are without significance. the phrase, "the solid south," which meant something vital at one time, has no meaning in these days of quick change and movie-show influences. democracy, in some sections, is a matter of climate. if you have come to a point where science and sentimentality are engaged in a drastic war, then the democratic phalanx must undergo some rude changes. the democratic tail wagged the republican dog for some time, but that curious spectacle has lost its hold on public interest. it is not now a question of one end wagging the other, but who will wag both. if republicans stand for crude force, and democrats for antebellum sentimentality, both are doomed together. in the south, democracy means politics at the polls, aristocracy in the parlor. in the north, republicanism means the aristocracy of wealth. however, your conception of social equality is undergoing modification. in washington's time the slogan was revolution; in lincoln's time it was abolition; in your time it is prohibition, which reminds me that laws passed in haste bring long periods of repentance. effective effrontery is the result of courageous ignorance, for millions are more easily influenced by illusive promises than by the lessons of experience. modern civilization has hurried to meet four deadly things--riches, pleasures, materialism and war. but the tortoise is a better example of progress than the hare fleeing before the greyhound. elizabeth cady stanton it appalls the normal mind to stop and consider the criminal blunders made by the educated prussian and the educated englishman prior to 1914. no statesman had the vision to see what was going to happen to the man-made world. since it is a question of intuition and feeling versus cold reason and business logic, let us see which side is the more vital and all-enduring. let us consider for a brief space what it is that influences people. let us consider the influence exerted by the arts. what is music? emotion created by sound vibrations. what is dramatic acting? emotion created by vocal vibrations combined with gesture and physical movement. has anyone ever witnessed automatic acting that left a profound impression? orators become famous when they unite deep feeling with knowledge. but what gives expression? the power of awakening emotion in others. feeling is always more convincing than intellect. intellect is full of theories, notions and superstitions. but where you find deep feeling combined with knowledge, you will find reason directed by qualities which pass through the surface and attain the heart-throbs of the real. there are many kinds of emotion. there is the hard emotion of anger, the confused emotion of fear, the painful emotion of jealousy, the indescribable emotion of despair, the radiant emotion of joy. but the greatest emotion of all is that of knowledge united to feeling. men, as a rule, speak of emotion as a weakness, and they confuse it with impulse--a very different thing. impulse is often the result of weak nerves, uncontrolled by the will; but we must not confuse it with the emotional quality which underlies all great achievement in art, literature, philosophy and personality. the more impulsive the individual is, the more primitive the reasoning faculty. english and american business men are limited in general knowledge. i have never been able to discover any distinctive difference between the two. in france and italy many business men are able to discuss art, literature and music on the same level with the masters. the latin races and the celtic races possess a culture that can be traced back for two or three thousand years, but anglo-saxon culture only to the time of the saxon invasion. the anglo-saxons were the mushrooms of our civilization. they were a stolid business people who lacked creative genius. the outstanding intellect of england today is celtic. the scotch, the irish and the welsh combine emotion and power with tenacity of purpose, and it is this celtic element that keeps america in the front rank of nations. what women have been opposing is the primitive monotony of the anglo-saxon trend. it has meant a mixture of politics and commerce so primitive and so naive that frenchmen are amazed when they visit america and note the striking difference between the culture of the women and the mentality of the average man. one of your great mystics has said: "the chemical constituents of human bodies is the same. the ashes of a saint and the ashes of a sinner give the same chemical results. as human bodies they are the same, but their functions separate them and make them totally different, so that the difference cannot by any hocus-pocus of metaphysics or magic be bridged or spanned." two things of the same material are really different if their functions are different. the real substance of a thing is in its function. we have to judge people by the things they do, not by their appearance; for there is no clear understanding between two persons whose aims are different. this is why there are so many divorces. this is why so many intellectual women live separate lives from their husbands in the same house. people seem to be similar and equal but they differ according to their functions. if we take a philosopher, a hangman and a sailor who appear to be equal as human beings we shall see that in their functions there is nothing in common. the souls of these men are different in the very nature, origin and purpose of their existence. thousands of people move in a world of material shadows while their souls, the substance of which is intellectual and spiritual, inhabit a sphere absolutely apart. especially is this the case with many of the cultured women of our time who are compelled to live a double life. their intellects are far removed from the ordinary pursuits of the commercial world. a woman of spiritual culture who marries a commercial man has married a shadow. a woman of high ideals who marries a professional politician has hitched her motor car to a meteor. a romantic woman married to a multi-millionaire whose world is bound in liberty bonds loses her liberty. a metaphysical woman who marries a financier is handicapped by the physical. a union of spiritual functions with material formulas is impossible, for there is no way in which mere sensation can be made to harmonize with the higher emotions. the new era of woman, which is just beginning to dawn, will direct education; and through education, politics; through politics, the progress of nations. heretofore, the commercial and political world had a free hand. the progressive element was confined to a limited number of men in the colleges and the ministry, together with a remnant of law-makers. but their influence was negative owing to lack of material support. women will now present a formidable force in numbers, backed by a spiritual power, aided by men who understand the difference between functions and appearance, sensuous desires and ideal emotions. for years i maintained that women do not realize the power they possess. they live so much in a world of their own that they do not regard the man-made commercial world as worth elevating. thousands of men are living in a sphere some degrees below the normal. they have been surrounded from the beginning with influences that obliterate all the higher faculties of the mind. it has taken woman some centuries to rise to power, but the work is only half done. never can the commercial instinct and the intellectual ideal be made to harmonize. the two spheres of consciousness are totally distinct. the modern intellect has been organized without considering the moral meaning of its activity. this has caused the delusion that the crowning glory of european culture is the dreadnaught. ninety per cent of all modern inventions are for bodily destruction or bodily comfort. while the body lolls in luxury, the spirit is soused in lethargy. as ouspensky says, we have created two lives--one material, the other spiritual. i believe this is owing to the fact that man is living and working in the material and woman in the spiritual. in other words, she is carrying her own responsibilities on one shoulder and man's baneful burdens on the other. the figure of atlas holding up the globe should be changed to that of a female. one would think that in these days, when psychology is taught even to children, that a man who has lived forty years in the world of action would know better than to boast of his eternal activities. the word "busy" has grown to be a veritable fetish with thousands who have little or nothing to do. the truth is, most men are not half as busy as they seem and not more than a fourth as wise as they look. we have to find out by exact analysis just what incentive lies behind people's actions. what makes the distinction is the quality of our acts. everything in the material and the spiritual worlds is judged according to quality. gold, diamonds, clothes, bricks, music, poetry, literature, are adjudged, in the last resort, on the basis of intrinsic value. when people are engaged in pursuits for the sake of money the results will be on a plane with the quality of the incentive. in the work done by women in the past fifty years in this country, the incentive has been of a higher quality than that shown by men. while men introduced a coarse realism into the novel, women saved the situation by new ideals. i do not think there would be much left worth reading today but for woman's taste and judgment. in the world of intellect and emotion things hang together. a low plane of intellect will produce low impulses. the more we know the greater our control of the different sense organs. nothing can happen without a corresponding cause behind it. the hysteria so common at great political conventions is caused by the exceedingly limited intelligence of the managers and directors who labor under the illusion that blind impulse is tantamount to vision. in other words, where the critical faculties are not developed anything can happen. and it is not difficult to predict that when political conventions are swayed by hysterical temperaments the authority at the white house will have all he can do to steer the ship of state through the troubled waters of impulse and confusion. there is a will to power that is blind. there is another will to power that brings the higher emotions to bear on the lower impulses, controls and directs the organs of sense. the people who elect a president are the ones who will influence his actions. and when we talk about a president being a good man for business we are compelled to seek for the reason behind the statement. if finance lands a president at the white house, women, children, teachers and philosophers must shift for themselves, since the supreme test lies in function, and not in manners, words and looks. and finance means finesse. do not expect great innovations at the capitol until a strong woman takes her seat at the white house; and by this i do not mean one of barnum's bearded ladies. conservatism is a good thing when it is coupled with vision and judgment, but bear in mind that monotony and mediocrity start in the same groove, run at the same pace and arrive at the same grave. benjamin franklin there is but one mark of patriotism and that is vigilance and enthusiasm. the cause of your trouble is the sincerity with which your foes think and act and the lukewarm sentiment shown by americans. the reason is to be found in the comfort and luxury of the present day compared with the pioneer sacrifices of your fathers and grandfathers. your opponents are vindictive as well as vigilant. they mean what they say and do what they will. they are working as individuals, as well as in groups and parties, but americans who inherited the land with liberty are exchanging both for the license of the maw. when school teachers and farm hands are permitted to leave the country for the city, the end is not so far off as your sophisticated solons of the state capitols would lead you to suppose. i once stated that three movings equal one fire, and i can say now that the lack of teachers and farm hands has resulted in a damage equal to one revolution. no calamity comes and goes single handed. the world, the flesh and the devil are a triumvirate bound together by ties of consanguinity. your school teachers are passing over to the world, your farm laborers to the flesh, and your ministers to the devil. you are browsing on the stubble. one delinquency involves another, and eventually the monetary capital of the nation may be reduced to that of france. the nation will awake one day to the disillusioning fact that peace and progress cannot be gauged by commercial prosperity alone. for without food what avails your steel, your oil and your gold? if you could witness the mortification poor andrew carnegie is now undergoing because of his lack of vision, you would have a lesson not soon forgotten. he built libraries but furnished no books to fill them. it was like building houses without windows. when leading business men commit such folly what can you expect of the nation at large? the three things most needed by the people are food, raiment and shelter. the next three are instruction, religion and discipline. liberty is a privilege; it comes after all the others. the individual has no rights inimical to those of the collective conscience. until you learn this fundamental maxim, all your knowledge will prove but a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. the nations are rattling over the cobble stones of bankruptcy on a buckboard of compromise, on the high road to revolution. john marshall (the expounder of the constitution) recorded october, 1920 some recent decisions of the supreme court of the united states are, more than any other factor, calculated to develop and foster an element of national unrest. its deliberations are beyond the intelligence of many and above the interests of the majority. its psychology is that of a divorce between capital and labor. its rulings remind me of what transpired in england early in the nineteenth century. many who were not socialists are beginning to turn from the older order, imbued with the feeling that nothing could happen in the future worse for the country at large than the conditions that are being endured in the present. a revolution arrives after a series of connected events which exhausts the patience of the public, and events are moving with intensity as well as rapidity. daniel webster you will search the pages of history in vain without finding a parallel to present conditions. the war gave bohemia her freedom; at the same time it licensed a bohemian poet to keep italy stewing in her own juice, a bohemian journalist from new york to direct affairs in moscow, and a bohemian socialist from switzerland to rule over russia. added to this a fashionable ladies' pianist has tried his hand, or should i say fingers, in the science of unfurling the sails of poland's new ship of state, while shop-keepers direct affairs in germany and pusilanimous politicians keep the people of america in a state of tepid trepidation and flatulent turmoil. can you wonder that the country is being hypnotized by the sight of so many cantankerous cataleptics? macbeth declared he had waded in so far that returning would be as perilous as going on. nothing will move them until they are swamped by the high tide of reaction and flung as flotsam on the rocks of a stormy opportunism. a new damocles has a sword suspended over the national capitol, and liberty hangs to the hinges of the constitution by a hair. oliver wendell holmes while a few people are ready to return to first principles, many are giving expressions to garden of eden proclivities. but instead of the old eve, you have the new amazon; instead of the old serpent, copperheads in congress; instead of the old adam, fresh brands of bluebeards. agreeable to the apple of the new adam's eye and the fruitarian diet of the new eden, some ladies have adopted the fig-leaf standard. but let that pass for the moment, always bearing in mind that he who loses his sense of humor loses his equilibrium. millions of people are dancing their legs off to keep their heads on. providence is wiser than the moralists. there was a way out of the trenches and there is a way out of the pessimism developed by the dying dispensation. it is not so much a question of keeping your powder dry as it is of keeping your wits from congealing. beware of nebulous notions and theories. uncanny kinks lead to calamitous brain storms. a stitch in the side saves nine--kicks behind the solar plexus. benjamin wade (late governor of ohio--u. s. senator) viewed in the light that shines on the white house, there is no difference between a man from ohio and a gentleman from indiana. men from the pumpkin pie districts think and feel alike, judging world politics by the yard-stick method that prevailed in their villages when they were young men. they are not always aware that political ruts cause social ructions. the all-wool-and-a-yard-wide politician was home-spun and honestly patriotic, but what you need is a home-spun thinker whose vision has got beyond the yard-stick measure and can take in the whole world. an old-school president, at this juncture, will have little more authority than a congo king would have at a conference of jurists in paris. has anyone taken the trouble to find out just what distinguishes the minority from the majority? while the home-spun politician was eating cookies and buckwheat cakes made by his mother in the middle west, some millions in new york, chicago, cleveland, and other foreign centers, were partaking of wienerwurst, sauerkraut, swiss cheese and rye bread, and clinking beer glasses, according to the custom of continental europe. if we say that a statesman represents americanism, the question arises what kind of americanism? the yankee, the southerner, each had his place in the political economy of america from 1776 to the emancipation proclamation in 1863, and even up to the cleveland administration, after which conditions began to change with startling rapidity, when the children born of foreign parents were beginning to come of age and the european ferment began to leaven the lumps of sectional dough. the man who occupies the white house in 1921 should take time by the forelock and the profiteer with the padlock, know how to translate "es ist verboten" into russian, and say, "get thee behind me, satan," in esperanto. if honesty, alone, is the best and only policy, our country would be safe, but honesty is only one of the qualities necessary in these days to carry a president through the mazes of a complex administration. honesty does not always imply clear vision or even ordinary common sense. the faculties of diplomatic tact and political judgment are infinitely more important, and experience still more so. in america the roles enacted by professional politicians remind one of a masquerade where everyone is trying to penetrate behind the masks and guessing is the rule. if in this heterogeneous ball-room you slap your partner on the back, you may elicit a grunt from a grouchy bolshevik or a groan from a disgruntled "bohemian." and yet congress enacts laws for americans who understand no dialect but their own and who have to engage interpreters when they visit paris. how many wealthy americans realize that these united states have outgrown the cookie era, the buckwheat pancake era, the corn cob era, the wooden nutmeg era, and arrived at the root-hog-or-die era? young america today no more resembles the young america of thirty years ago than a butterfly resembles a caterpillar. young men and women are sixty per cent cosmopolitan and forty per cent rebel. during the next five years the number of young people who will insist on thinking for themselves will increase two-fold, because in that time many thousands of children born of foreign parents in america will have become mature enough to have fixed upon some sort of ideal. congress will realize the situation when it is too late for regrets to be of any service. which calls to mind a story apropos of this pressing subject: a landlady, having no means of obtaining meat for her boarders, made a stew out of a litter of kittens. the truth became known in a day or two. one of the boarders said the very thought made her sick, to which the landlady replied: "feeling sick won't do no good; them kittens has all been digested." don piatt (late editor of "the capital," washington, d. c.) where are the debaters whose rapier tongues ripped up the rag dolls of congress and kept the floor of the house supplied with fresh saw-dust, whose fantastic fencing and heart-piercing thrusts were the delight of the gallery and the terror of fire eaters. gone, gone where the woodbine twineth. what went they out for to see? a reed shaken by the wind? there is a difference in reeds. tom reed of maine shook the house, but the house never shook him. what were his favorite drinks? there was plenty to choose from in the washington of his day. but note the difference between the wit of the maine reed and that of the missouri reed. on the other hand, where did bryan get the "cross of gold" inspiration in the old days? did he do it on tannic acid released from tea leaves? who will ever know? one thing is certain--he never again rose to the same level. is our planet revolving toward a second edition of puritanism? probably. the esprit de corps that animated the body politic begins to resemble a corpse with the esprit evaporated. the human mind needs moments of exaltation as well as relaxation. brilliant results are not produced by lukewarm sentiments expressed in a voice that lacks enthusiasm. washington is now a resort for celluloid cynics and a refuge for asbestos patriots whose marmorian snobbery makes me think of the ruins of temples abandoned by the gods and forgotten by man. the great blunder of the prohibitionists was made when they condemned beer and light wine. nature abhors abruptness. progress is not made by sudden jerks and violent laws passed in a hurry. if a few persons living in an obscure village in ohio can bring about a movement like prohibition, the same influence can bring about a return of the old connecticut blue laws. violent actions are followed by violent reactions. from this there is no escape. the fundamental objection to prohibition, as it stands, lies in the cold fact that provincialism, no matter how sincere, can never compete with international common sense and cosmopolitan culture. village residents are ignorant of the laws that govern society in the most intelligent centers of the world. what will be the result in the long run? antagonism between the people of the cities and the people of the country. when they prohibit tobacco, a war of cuss words will be followed by a battle of cuspidors, and the very crows will cuss the crocuses. benjamin disraeli some members of parliament have lost their reason, the majority have lost their wits, all are without vision. lloyd george presents the curious spectacle of a man of the people who observes them through the glasses of a welsh calvinist. he is a democrat with the demeanor of a lord, a radical who has fallen between the two stools of the middle-class and the landed aristocracy. nonconformist sentimentality, on one hand, and titled wealth on the other, have blinded him to the imperative needs of the time and the dangers that confront the empire. the english people of the past twenty years have suffered as much from misgovernment as the germans and the russians, but they cannot stop the present stream of progress by clatter in the house and appeals to patriotism. for years england has been saddled with cabinets composed of professional humorists and hum-drum moralists. augustine birrell was a diluted edition of sydney smith, and bonar law should have been a professor of theology in a presbyterian seminary. sir edward carson played the role of an unfrocked priest in the service of demiurgos. earl curzon is a political derelict whose presence in the council chamber prevents unity and impedes progress. history will record their acts as the most amazing in the annals of great britain. i see nothing for the old order but unconditional surrender. the hand-writing on the wall was visible in 1909, but no preparation was made for the change which is now sweeping the country with cyclonic force. we, from our side, can do no more than utter some words of warning for the few who have ears to hear, the tidal wave of change not being confined to particular countries or regions. i, too, when prime minister, was blind to the reality, having been born and reared in an atmosphere as foreign to that of the masses as the atmosphere of the winter palace was foreign to the peasants of russia. we staggered under the load of a wealthy and titled upper class. they consumed the people's time and imposed infinite misery on some millions of toilers, and for these things we rewarded the men at the top with fresh titles. as you know, i led the conservative party in england for many years, but that party was, and still is, avid for power. the liberal party was made up of men using nonconformity as an instrument of advancement. they placed opportunity above the truth, position above principle, power above progress. we were all intellectual automatons, set in motion by springs wound up by leaders who were themselves automatons. england goes by machinery. her very existence is mechanical. now, when a loose screw stops the evolution of the wheels, the whole nation stops. in what way can we be said to excel in probity of conduct the people of ireland? in what way are we superior to irish politicians? the scandals that occurred in london during the war would not have been tolerated in dublin under an irish parliament. and still england is being led by a welsh calvinist, opposed by a scottish humorist who says his prayers, backed by anglican agnostics and middle-class dissenters overwhelmed with fear. we always imitate the french, but while we accepted voltairianism in principle, the french had the courage to put it into practice. while the french became practical pagans in 1789, we became practical hypocrites. it is this element that has created the moral indifference of the anglican church and the intellectual apathy of the so-called nonconformist conscience. this is why there is no stability behind the old phraseology, the old ceremonials, the old confessions of faith--now so many catch-words which the people abhor. and this is why the working men find it so easy to send their leaders to parliament. for the same reason russian radicalism is certain of a warm welcome on english soil. it is true that this hypocrisy is subconscious, having had its origin during the french revolution. this renders it far more dangerous because political leaders in england today are mentally incompetent to realize the danger that lies before them. we cannot reason with people whose vision is dulled by four generations of moral apathy. hence they will continue to "kick against the pricks" to the bitter end. there will be strife added to strife, confusion to confusion, and they, themselves, will invite the drastic events which must follow so much stubborn resistance to the demands of common justice and the progress of civilization. prince bismarck recorded november 3d, 1920 when i imposed an indemnity of five billion francs on the french people in 1870 we knew that the money could and would be paid. but there is no parallel between germany in 1920 and france in 1870. the reparations commission has only succeeded in proving its incompetence. the german delegates have shown that the allied war claims amount to more than five hundred billion marks (gold), which is nearly four thousand billions at the present rate of exchange. this fantastic sum, one hundred times more than france paid to germany in 1870, is expected of a country on the verge of revolution and chaos. i charge this commission with incompetence, extravagance, luxurious living, and claims at once absurd and ridiculous. you punish some of the most dangerous criminals by indeterminate sentences, which frequently end after a year's imprisonment, but you expect to hold the german people in financial bondage for more than a generation to come because of the criminal blunders of less than a hundred individuals. i was blinded by material factors at the time of my seeming triumphs but now i can see some of the things which will never come to pass. the french and the english are repeating some of the blunders i made fifty years ago. they are counting on conditions which will never exist, like a bird sitting on a nest of mixed eggs from which the cuckoo will eventually oust all the other birds. french people are under the illusion that russia will meet the obligations undertaken by the late czar. to expect such a thing shows the child-like illusions under which french fanatics are living. they are still wrapped in the swaddling clothes of politics. we committed crimes that have brought civilization to the brink of chaos, but we are not capable of such naivete. the logic of a frenchman is no better than the mysticism of a russian or the sentimentality of an englishman. french people learned nothing from the blunders of napoleon iii and the debacle of sedan. and the reason? they have remained provincial while the germans imitated the commercial cosmopolitanism of the english. advice is the cheapest of all things. nevertheless, i advise your statesmen to place no reliance on sentimental contracts written on paper foredoomed to become "scraps." i do not hesitate to declare that no agreement signed since 1913 is worth more than the seals. in europe, leaders and rulers have passed from an international game of chess to a national gamble with marked cards. you have now to deal with an element which did not exist in my time. this element embraces all factions of the new radicalism, no matter in what country or under what leader. some of these elements may unite, but they are not going to change. how, then, can you undertake to insure the future by contracts signed and sealed by elderly gentlemen with good intentions and poor judgment? the war gave the new factions the long wished-for opportunity. they seized it in russia, in germany, in poland, in britain, and other countries. but the opportunities created by the war are one thing, the opportunities of tomorrow will be different, and it is this contingency for which your leaders are not prepared. you will have to select men of vision who will judge events as they arrive, without regard to the distant future, which belongs to no man. one of my greatest mistakes was in separating protestant prussia from the interests of the catholics of south germany. the new radicalism is opposed to some things which are irrevocably linked with religious doctrine. without the catholic church all europe would be in the throes of the commune. the principal cause of our disintegration was that we sanctioned protestant flirtation with modern materialism. france is beginning to see that even a weak monarchy is better than a radical government without a god. you may expect a return of the monarchy in more than one country. agnostics and protestants, moved by fear on one side, and disgust on the other, will unite for a restoration as their last hope. there will be a repetition of historic events. bonaparte was ushered in by the french revolution, and his advent was followed by three kings and one emperor. the majority treat their rulers as children treat their toys: when the novelty wears off a change is demanded. political psychology and religious sentiment are not the same thing. nevertheless, they must be considered together. the germans are now awaiting the hour when the inevitable change will be demanded. events take crowns from some heads and place them on others. if the ex-kaiser ever occupies the throne again a modern nero will fiddle amidst the ruins of german imperialism, for you know he meddled with fiddle strings as well as with political wires. you think it strange? the impossible is always happening. never lose sight of the fact that an organized minority is more formidable than a disorganized majority. three men brought about the coup d'etat that placed the outcast louis napoleon on the throne, one man started the russian revolution, i planned the overthrow of the second empire with the aid of count von moltke. the majority put their trust in numbers, but the bigger a thing grows the nearer it is to disintegration. an autocratic minority ruled in germany, an automatic majority rules in france and england. two men started the present rule in moscow, both of them from the outside. "god has been merciful to us," said cavour, in the italian senate, "he has made spain one degree lower than italy." god has been merciful to germany, he has made russian communism more abhorrent than german socialism. nothing will be left undone by the french government to secure permanent occupation of the coal district of the rhine. conditions will not remain long as they are. they are preparing decisive coups in bavaria, hanover, austria and hungary. new combinations will amaze your statesmen and diplomats, who are ignorant of the fact that changes and upheavals operate in cycles of three and seven. what they call chance is the working of law. spiritual forces operate through the physical, and nature will take a hand in the reactions in petrograd and moscow. cold, hunger and starvation will dissipate the hopes of the ruling minority. untold numbers will be sacrificed. during the french revolution philosophers and thinkers were decapitated. in russia such men are killed by hunger, the difference being one of method. such conditions will be repeated in different countries until people learn that the spiritual cannot be separated from the material without pain and slaughter. after all the long-winded conferences and shorthand reports nothing is left but a confusion of blots on the tissue paper of time. i may say more on another occasion. henry ward beecher the happy-go-lucky humor of the day is no match for the cool calculation of european communists. english and american humorists do for the public what the court jester once did for blasã© kings. in the sardonic temper of the russian revolutionist, i see a return of the french temper of 1793. most of the sermons and speeches of the time are chameleon in character and tepid in feeling. english humorists developed a flagrant cynicism, spotted with a varioloid paradox, while french writers have halted between the isolation of the hospital and the insularity of the home. the war brought anatole france to his senses, the last of the gallic wits, who possessed a greater charm than voltaire without attaining his universal prestige. prince bismarck declares that the french have learned nothing since their defeat at sedan. yet french writers have learned more from the great war than the writers of any other country. english humor is meant to entertain a public lost in the cynical buffooneries of materialism; american humor is meant to amuse a public lost in the mazes of extravagant pleasures and provincial inanities. english humor has a certain seal; american humor a certain mark--the difference between sealing wax and a postage stamp. both aim to fill the ghastly gap left by the doctrine of evolution since it caught the fancy of agnostic freebooters in 1870--forerunners of something grimmer than the soviet symbols of a return of puritanism even now creeping into view as ivy creeps up the water spouts. laughter will vanish, since there will be nothing left to laugh at. dancing will cease, for curfew will ring at nine and people will begin work at five. remember that all the great modern movements had an obscure origin. spiritualism began in a country farm-house, christian science developed out of mediumship, prohibition was started in a village, woman's suffrage was started by a quakeress, theosophy began at a farm-house in vermont, the salvation army was started by a group of obscure persons. the new puritanism will start by a committee of persons unknown to the public, chosen from the ranks of the methodists, baptists and presbyterians. grim determinists, they will ignore satire, sarcasm and irony, ignore party politics, ignore the opposition of luke-warm christians, form committees, in which they will be aided by drastic reactions during the period of readjustment. centers will soon be formed in atlanta, nashville, cleveland, boston, hartford, philadelphia and washington, d. c. what is causing so much crime? not one, but many elements of decadence, all operating together, among which i can name rag, jazz, high balls, cabarets, free verse, neurotic art, sentimental optimism, cheap notions of progress, neutral sermons, automobilism, lack of child discipline, absence of fear among people under the age of forty--evils which you may apply to all english-speaking countries. the licence of the cities dominates country life and country thought. the city minority rules the majority in the country, and it is in the country that the reaction will begin. john marshall (second message) many of the smaller nations, instead of being content with their liberty, have thrown it away for the licence that always goes with land grabbing. for a nation is nothing more than an individual with a certain amount of collective ambition. much of the work of the league of nations will have to be undone. but it will not be undone by any league. the nations will settle differences in accordance with the law that permits the more powerful to wield control commensurate with their geographical and intellectual importance. all people have rights which ought to be respected, but some have privileges as well as rights, and the privileged will hold the upper hand as long as intelligence takes precedence of illiteracy, energy dominates over lethargy, and the power of organized numbers rules over minorities. your statesmen and your mediators will have to learn the distinction between rights and privileges. all are supposed to possess common rights under the common law, but it is wisdom, supported by poise and power, that constitutes privilege. david and solomon were privleged. so were alfred the great, washington and lincoln. a nation is temperamental like an individual. the temperament may be vascillating or it may be stolid; it may be logical or it may be commercial; or a combination of the saxon and the celt. the nations that will hold the balance of power in the future will be the ones with the most will and poise, backed by number. riches, alone, will not save. wealth did not save germany from disaster, nor did it help nopoleon iii to ward off the prussian invasion in 1870. wealth invites invasion and conquest. this is why england and america will now be the principal target for the ambitious and the discontented. this is why japan seeks a firm foothold in china, and the russians an entrance to india through persia. without the prospects of loot there would be no war. when ambition and glory lure a nation on, the desire for loot supplies the motor force. when hunger forces a people to invade a nation, loot becomes a necessity. what the wealthy of every nation refuse to understand, or even to consider, is that material force engenders vanity, individualism, rivalry and envy. all manifestations of force contain an element of disintegration. the type of a nation will always represent the policy and the trend of the nation. the supreme blunder of the peace conference was made when the delegates, with mr. wilson at their head, refused to face the fact that no nation can rise above the ideals and idiosyncrasies of the national temperament, and that sudden liberation from restraint is as dangerous for a country as it is for an individual. there is but one step between liberty and licence, and that step meant pandemonium for all classes in russia. for other peoples it may mean political bondage and the total loss of a national spirit. for the hindoos it will mean civil wars between the different native rulers, for china it has meant a series of revolutions and counter revolutions which may have to be suppressed by the drastic hand of a japanese bonaparte. the league conference at versailles took no account of the working of natural law. sentimentality was the key-note of mr. wilson's idealism, and commercial expansion the dominant idea of his opponents. as for religion exerting any fundamental influence for peace and right thinking, it caused protestants to fight protestants and catholics to fight catholics, while german and austrian cardinals did all in their power to aid in the invasion and conquest of belgium and france, on one hand, and italy, the stronghold of the papal see, on the other; and all this in the face of the statement of the kaiser that catholicism must be destroyed. nothing like it has been known since the dawn of christianity. the only apparent reason for the quiescent attitude of some of the smaller nations is that they are without the material means of waging war on their neighbors. just as long as politicians are impelled by self-interest there will be found nations that will have to use force for the suppression of licence and the curtailment of liberty. in every country the people are getting what their thoughts and deeds create for them. abraham lincoln events come and go in cycles--there is a beginning, a middle and an end. the league of nations had a beginning and it will have an end. but what kind of an end? will it be one of victory or one of ignominy? the two fatal blunders of the kaiser and his cohorts consisted in the delusion that england could not raise, equip and transport a body of troops sufficient to offer adequate resistance to the invaders of france in conjunction with the french and belgian armies, and that america could not or would not join the european allies. at the present juncture the inimical forces, both in continental europe and in america, are repeating the old blunders under fresh conditions. history is a repetition of the old tunes with new variations. just now the fireworks of sophistry and rhetoric drown out the familiar tune and what is heard is the buzz-saw of political machinery. hyenas are gnawing the bones left by the lion rampant of czardom; and siberia, the remnant, is being consumed by jackals from japan. it remains to be seen how long voters with american pedigrees will be influenced by demagogues who would induce them to part with their birthright for a mess of pottage burnt on the bottom. the longer you wink at anarchy in europe the greater will be the menace of social chaos at home. the worship of shibboleths cannot be kept up beyond a point where the majority grow tired of hocus-pocus politics and academical agnosticism. there should be harmony of interests in dealing with the people of mexico, from whom you have much to learn in many ways. the obregon government should be recognized at washington and immediate steps taken to insure cordial relations between the two countries. the city of mexico is a capital with a great future. you are about to pass through a period of great confusion. warnings have been given but not heeded. unless you cease to theorize, and propagate a spirit of justice and judgment, the near future will develop something more than storms in the blue china teapots of diplomacy. robert g. ingersoll washington needs a breaker of images. the pedestrian sauntering down pennsylvania avenue cannot but note the hefty hancock on horseback, looking as if he had just left a meeting of ward politicians, and, in another part of the city, mcclellan, the beau brummel of the civil war, on a charger, sniffing the smoke of battle from a safe distance, and others whose names are writ in water but whose effigies remain in bronze. to the scrap heap with these, and in their places erect memorials for the women, who did as much for america as joan of arc did for france, the intrepid pioneers of their race, the prophetic patriots of the nineteenth century--elizabeth cady stanton, lucretia mott and susan b. anthony. it would take a lincoln memorial to depict their serenity, a national capitol to symbolize their nobility, a washington monument to typify the towering height of their achievement and the scope and clarity of their vision. stephen a. douglas a war between america and england would fill your homes with desolation and bring ruin to the whole country. do your sins of omission merit such a punishment? i am here to tell you what to expect if such a hurricane of disaster ever sweeps the two countries. millions of people are under the impression that the united states can act independently of the conditions prevailing in the other great nations. this suggestion, coming, as it did, from a professional joker in england, has met with eager response from revolutionary emissaries now in your midst, supported by political fillibusters who are masking the truth. if england ever starts such a war she will lose india. her direction of the reins of civilization in many quarters of the world would cease on the day hostilities began. but i am speaking for america. a war with england would russianize the united states within three months. even if the navy could keep the enemy at a safe distance the destructive forces at home would loot the principal cities and spread terror from ocean to ocean. the first to lose in such an upheaval would be the wealthy propagandists of disorder and violence, who, living in security now, would be hurled with destructive force against the weapons of their own creation. general benjamin h. grierson late commander of the military department of southern california, arizona and new mexico in 1914 western civilization was threatened by a military autocracy centralized at berlin. europe is now threatened by a communistic tyranny centralized at moscow and by an autocratic aristocracy centered in japan, anti-christian, anti-democratic, anti-american. you may call it fate or destiny, it matters not so long as you know what the signs and portents are. we can see what is going on in the navy yards of the nipponese empire. we have noted the strenuous efforts put forth in naval preparations there. a japanese bonaparte will soon dominate china and prevent christian propaganda throughout asia. i could give you the dates fixed for certain maneuvers and events in connection with japanese ambitions relating to america, but they could change the dates. suffice it to say they are making ready as fast as possible, much faster than many in this country could be made to believe. when the decisive moment arrives for action it will come suddenly, like the invasion of belgium by the germans. here are some of their expectations:-the invasion of the coast of mexico and a coalition of japanese forces with some military faction in mexico likely to be of practical aid, the bombing of american cities on the pacific coast from the air, virtual cessation of communication between certain sections east of the rocky mountains and california, brought about not so much by physical means as by revolutionary influences. they are counting on a soviet revolution east of the rockies while they are gaining a foothold in california. one of their first attempts would be to bomb the railway passes in the cascades and the sierra nevadas. general grant has warned you in regard to the panama canal and other points that need immediate attention. millions would be alarmed if they could realize how much the government at washington resembles the british government just before the german descent into belgium. are they waiting until they can spy the enemy through field glasses? i could give a map of the plans of approach of the japanese navy, intended to operate in separate units, but it would do no good. they are ready to change their tactics at any time, and have done so more than once. let me add that the bellicose attitude of the war party in japan is such that a war between england and america would be hailed as a symbol of their divine destiny. do not be surprised when i say that they proclaim the end of christian civilization was reached when the anglo-saxons took possession of the pacific coast. in the far east, british domination attained its zenith in india; in america, anglo-saxon influence attained its limit in california. the possession of the pacific coast of north america is, therefore, the limit for the dominant white race. the tocsin has sounded for a japanese avatar who will unify the political, commercial and religious forces of japan and china, give the coup de grace to a tottering civilization and dominate the world. so do they reason and preach. alexander hamilton what do the clouds on the social horizon predict? is nature a book of fate? if so, is it sealed or open? whoever understands the political actions of the past can foresee the reactions of the future. human nature is always the same. the two things brought to the surface by great upheavals are extreme virtues and extreme vices. the virtue of self sacrifice, on the one hand, the vice of self interest on the other. vice is flexible, cunning, adaptable. you are living at a time when profiteers amaze by their cynical audacity, but profiteers have always existed. before the war the nobles of russia and germany were profiteers in landed privileges and governmental perquisites. the tillers of the soil were free in name, serfs in practice. in england two or three hundred lords and peers possess the land. in america food profiteering began during the civil war. this national vice has never been attacked at the roots. your age is characterized by a high level of predatory ability and a low level of prophetic visibility. the old hackneyed phrase, "this is a free country," has been applied in varying degrees according to the caprice of the individual with the most aggressive will. new words, definitions, excuses, have been invented to meet the new conditions, but of all the words yet brought into use, "camouflage" is the only one that covers the cynical effrontery of predatory hypocrisy. it is a vocable of universal utility. it applies to the cock-pits of commerce as well as to the arena of bull and bear politics. it depicts a hindoo patience in the pulpit and a hoodoo palsy in the pews. the word "democracy" itself is the stripes painted on the sides of the old ship of state in her zig-zag course to elude the torpedoes of the proletarian submarines. a capitalistic profiteer is a high brow optimist who lives by the sweat of the low brow pessimist. the stretching process will cease suddenly like the snapping of a rubber string stretched beyond the limit. the masses without a voice always find articulation in the unlooked-for man, the unlooked-for group. the people without a mouthpiece are a mob, and no mob can run itself for more than a few days. it is the initiated who lead, and leadership requires time, patience, judgment. in the world of genius there are no upstarts. the great leader never rises suddenly. bonaparte was a military graduate, grant was a product of west point, lincoln was thirty years preparing for the presidency, lenine spent twenty years in the study of economics. all countries have the same experience. voltaire endowed the middle classes of france with a voice, united the disaffected of all classes, and peppered their indignation with pungent epigrams. he created an intellectual garden for lovers of liberty, and from the realm of the mind flung the thorns of ridicule in the face of titled imbeciles and crowned the heads of scholars with laurel. the people of france were washed by louis xiv, wrung by louis xv, and dried in the back yard of tyrannical economics by louis xvi. but it was the orators and pamphleteers who ironed out the frills and furbelows of the old order. statistical facts may convince but they do not compel. who knows how the french revolution would have ended had mirabeau, orator of the great and solemn days, survived to put into action the idealism of rousseau? intellect alone never passes the halfway house. when intellect, reason and emotion are fused in one, the summit of achievement is attained. phillips brooks the time for discipline is approaching. happy are those who, under divine direction, consent to be led, for, in the words of quintilian:--nulla poena est nisi invito, or as seneca expressed it, fata volentum ducunt, involentem trahunt,--those who refuse will be dragged. you must in some manner experience the ordeals common to other peoples, and you have seen from a distance what has overtaken many cities and nations, the inhabitants of which felt themselves as fixed as the rocks in the soil. yet, all that is happening is in harmony with divine law. you will find it in isaiah and jeremiah. the repetition is inevitable except for those who possess vision. the time for appeals is past. "the earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth, the haughty people of the world do languish." "when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled, and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee." are the people astonished? let them marvel at their own willfulness. "the kings of the earth and all the inhabitants of the world would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of jerusalem." titus, with his army, destroyed the holy city. the enemy entered the gates from without but your adversaries have long been entrenched within. mammon is heavily laden and will fall from the top. material power is volatile. in the day of trial, the retainer and the hireling will seek a refuge, every man for himself. they will melt like the wax image before the heat of the furnace. on that day humility will be as a precious gift and poverty as a peace offering. blessed is he who uses the spade and the hoe, for by the sweat of his brow he shall eat the bread of security. the new revelation by arthur conan doyle dedication to all the brave men and women, humble or learned, who have the moral courage during seventy years to face ridicule or worldly disadvantage in order to testify to an all-important truth. march, 1918 preface many more philosophic minds than mine have thought over the religious side of this subject and many more scientific brains have turned their attention to its phenomenal aspect. so far as i know, however, there has been no former attempt to show the exact relation of the one to the other. i feel that if i should succeed in making this a little more clear i shall have helped in what i regard as far the most important question with which the human race is concerned. a celebrated psychic, mrs. piper, uttered, in the year 1899 words which were recorded by dr. hodgson at the time. she was speaking in trance upon the future of spiritual religion, and she said: "in the next century this will be astonishingly perceptible to the minds of men. i will also make a statement which you will surely see verified. before the clear revelation of spirit communication there will be a terrible war in different parts of the world. the entire world must be purified and cleansed before mortal can see, through his spiritual vision, his friends on this side and it will take just this line of action to bring about a state of perfection. friend, kindly think of this." we have had "the terrible war in different parts of the world." the second half remains to be fulfilled. a. c. d. 1918. contents chapter i the search ii the revelation iii the coming life iv problems and limitations supplementary documents i the next phase of life ii automatic writing iii the cheriton dugout the new revelation chapter i. the search the subject of psychical research is one upon which i have thought more and about which i have been slower to form my opinion, than upon any other subject whatever. every now and then as one jogs along through life some small incident happens which very forcibly brings home the fact that time passes and that first youth and then middle age are slipping away. such a one occurred the other day. there is a column in that excellent little paper, light, which is devoted to what was recorded on the corresponding date a generation--that is thirty years--ago. as i read over this column recently i had quite a start as i saw my own name, and read the reprint of a letter which i had written in 1887, detailing some interesting spiritual experience which had occurred in a seance. thus it is manifest that my interest in the subject is of some standing, and also, since it is only within the last year or two that i have finally declared myself to be satisfied with the evidence, that i have not been hasty in forming my opinion. if i set down some of my experiences and difficulties my readers will not, i hope, think it egotistical upon my part, but will realise that it is the most graphic way in which to sketch out the points which are likely to occur to any other inquirer. when i have passed over this ground, it will be possible to get on to something more general and impersonal in its nature. when i had finished my medical education in 1882, i found myself, like many young medical men, a convinced materialist as regards our personal destiny. i had never ceased to be an earnest theist, because it seemed to me that napoleon's question to the atheistic professors on the starry night as he voyaged to egypt: "who was it, gentlemen, who made these stars?" has never been answered. to say that the universe was made by immutable laws only put the question one degree further back as to who made the laws. i did not, of course, believe in an anthropomorphic god, but i believed then, as i believe now, in an intelligent force behind all the operations of nature--a force so infinitely complex and great that my finite brain could get no further than its existence. right and wrong i saw also as great obvious facts which needed no divine revelation. but when it came to a question of our little personalities surviving death, it seemed to me that the whole analogy of nature was against it. when the candle burns out the light disappears. when the electric cell is shattered the current stops. when the body dissolves there is an end of the matter. each man in his egotism may feel that he ought to survive, but let him look, we will say, at the average loafer--of high or low degree--would anyone contend that there was any obvious reason why that personality should carry on? it seemed to be a delusion, and i was convinced that death did indeed end all, though i saw no reason why that should affect our duty towards humanity during our transitory existence. this was my frame of mind when spiritual phenomena first came before my notice. i had always regarded the subject as the greatest nonsense upon earth, and i had read of the conviction of fraudulent mediums and wondered how any sane man could believe such things. i met some friends, however, who were interested in the matter, and i sat with them at some table-moving seances. we got connected messages. i am afraid the only result that they had on my mind was that i regarded these friends with some suspicion. they were long messages very often, spelled out by tilts, and it was quite impossible that they came by chance. someone then, was moving the table. i thought it was they. they probably thought that i did it. i was puzzled and worried over it, for they were not people whom i could imagine as cheating--and yet i could not see how the messages could come except by conscious pressure. about this time--it would be in 1886--i came across a book called the reminiscences of judge edmunds. he was a judge of the u.s. high courts and a man of high standing. the book gave an account of how his wife had died, and how he had been able for many years to keep in touch with her. all sorts of details were given. i read the book with interest, and absolute scepticism. it seemed to me an example of how a hard practical man might have a weak side to his brain, a sort of reaction, as it were, against those plain facts of life with which he had to deal. where was this spirit of which he talked? suppose a man had an accident and cracked his skull; his whole character would change, and a high nature might become a low one. with alcohol or opium or many other drugs one could apparently quite change a man's spirit. the spirit then depended upon matter. these were the arguments which i used in those days. i did not realise that it was not the spirit that was changed in such cases, but the body through which the spirit worked, just as it would be no argument against the existence of a musician if you tampered with his violin so that only discordant notes could come through. i was sufficiently interested to continue to read such literature as came in my way. i was amazed to find what a number of great men--men whose names were to the fore in science--thoroughly believed that spirit was independent of matter and could survive it. when i regarded spiritualism as a vulgar delusion of the uneducated, i could afford to look down upon it; but when it was endorsed by men like crookes, whom i knew to be the most rising british chemist, by wallace, who was the rival of darwin, and by flammarion, the best known of astronomers, i could not afford to dismiss it. it was all very well to throw down the books of these men which contained their mature conclusions and careful investigations, and to say "well, he has one weak spot in his brain," but a man has to be very self-satisfied if the day does not come when he wonders if the weak spot is not in his own brain. for some time i was sustained in my scepticism by the consideration that many famous men, such as darwin himself, huxley, tyndall and herbert spencer, derided this new branch of knowledge; but when i learned that their derision had reached such a point that they would not even examine it, and that spencer had declared in so many words that he had decided against it on a priori grounds, while huxley had said that it did not interest him, i was bound to admit that, however great, they were in science, their action in this respect was most unscientific and dogmatic, while the action of those who studied the phenomena and tried to find out the laws that governed them, was following the true path which has given us all human advance and knowledge. so far i had got in my reasoning, so my sceptical position was not so solid as before. it was somewhat reinforced, however, by my own experiences. it is to be remembered that i was working without a medium, which is like an astronomer working without a telescope. i have no psychical powers myself, and those who worked with me had little more. among us we could just muster enough of the magnetic force, or whatever you will call it, to get the table movements with their suspicious and often stupid messages. i still have notes of those sittings and copies of some, at least, of the messages. they were not always absolutely stupid. for example, i find that on one occasion, on my asking some test question, such as how many coins i had in my pocket, the table spelt out: "we are here to educate and to elevate, not to guess riddles." and then: "the religious frame of mind, not the critical, is what we wish to inculcate." now, no one could say that that was a puerile message. on the other hand, i was always haunted by the fear of involuntary pressure from the hands of the sitters. then there came an incident which puzzled and disgusted me very much. we had very good conditions one evening, and an amount of movement which seemed quite independent of our pressure. long and detailed messages came through, which purported to be from a spirit who gave his name and said he was a commercial traveller who bad lost his life in a recent fire at a theatre at exeter. all the details were exact, and he implored us to write to his family, who lived, he said, at a place called slattenmere, in cumberland. i did so, but my letter came back, appropriately enough, through the dead letter office. to this day i do not know whether we were deceived, or whether there was some mistake in the name of the place; but there are the facts, and i was so disgusted that for some time my interest in the whole subject waned. it was one thing to study a subject, but when the subject began to play elaborate practical jokes it seemed time to call a halt. if there is such a place as slattenmere in the world i should even now be glad to know it. i was in practice in southsea at this time, and dwelling there was general drayson, a man of very remarkable character, and one of the pioneers of spiritualism in this country. to him i went with my difficulties, and he listened to them very patiently. he made light of my criticism of the foolish nature of many of these messages, and of the absolute falseness of some. "you have not got the fundamental truth into your head," said he. "that truth is, that every spirit in the flesh passes over to the next world exactly as it is, with no change whatever. this world is full of weak or foolish people. so is the next. you need not mix with them, any more than you do in this world. one chooses one's companions. but suppose a man in this world, who had lived in his house alone and never mixed with his fellows, was at last to put his head out of the window to see what sort of place it was, what would happen? some naughty boy would probably say something rude. anyhow, he would see nothing of the wisdom or greatness of the world. he would draw his head in thinking it was a very poor place. that is just what you have done. in a mixed seance, with no definite aim, you have thrust your head into the next world and you have met some naughty boys. go forward and try to reach something better." that was general drayson's explanation, and though it did not satisfy me at the time, i think now that it was a rough approximation to the truth. these were my first steps in spiritualism. i was still a sceptic, but at least i was an inquirer, and when i heard some old-fashioned critic saying that there was nothing to explain, and that it was all fraud, or that a conjuror was needed to show it up, i knew at least that that was all nonsense. it is true that my own evidence up to then was not enough to convince me, but my reading, which was continuous, showed me how deeply other men had gone into it, and i recognised that the testimony was so strong that no other religious movement in the world could put forward anything to compare with it. that did not prove it to be true, but at least it proved that it must be treated with respect and could not be brushed aside. take a single incident of what wallace has truly called a modern miracle. i choose it because it is the most incredible. i allude to the assertion that d. d. home--who, by the way, was not, as is usually supposed, a paid adventurer, but was the nephew of the earl of home--the assertion, i say, that he floated out of one window and into another at the height of seventy feet above the ground. i could not believe it. and yet, when i knew that the fact was attested by three eye-witnesses, who were lord dunraven, lord lindsay, and captain wynne, all men of honour and repute, who were willing afterwards to take their oath upon it, i could not but admit that the evidence for this was more direct than for any of those far-off events which the whole world has agreed to accept as true. i still continued during these years to hold table seances, which sometimes gave no results, sometimes trivial ones, and sometimes rather surprising ones. i have still the notes of these sittings, and i extract here the results of one which were definite, and which were so unlike any conceptions which i held of life beyond the grave that they amused rather than edified me at the time. i find now, however, that they agree very closely, with the revelations in raymond and in other later accounts, so that i view them with different eyes. i am aware that all these accounts of life beyond the grave differ in detail--i suppose any of our accounts of the present life would differ in detail--but in the main there is a very great resemblance, which in this instance was very far from the conception either of myself or of either of the two ladies who made up the circle. two communicators sent messages, the first of whom spelt out as a name "dorothy postlethwaite," a name unknown to any of us. she said she died at melbourne five years before, at the age of sixteen, that she was now happy, that she had work to do, and that she had been at the same school as one of the ladies. on my asking that lady to raise her hands and give a succession of names, the table tilted at the correct name of the head mistress of the school. this seemed in the nature of a test. she went on to say that the sphere she inhabited was all round the earth; that she knew about the planets; that mars was inhabited by a race more advanced than us, and that the canals were artificial; there was no bodily pain in her sphere, but there could be mental anxiety; they were governed; they took nourishment; she had been a catholic and was still a catholic, but had not fared better than the protestants; there were buddhists and mohammedans in her sphere, but all fared alike; she had never seen christ and knew no more about him than on earth, but believed in his influence; spirits prayed and they died in their new sphere before entering another; they had pleasures--music was among them. it was a place of light and of laughter. she added that they had no rich or poor, and that the general conditions were far happier than on earth. this lady bade us good-night, and immediately the table was seized by a much more robust influence, which dashed it about very violently. in answer to my questions it claimed to be the spirit of one whom i will call dodd, who was a famous cricketer, and with whom i had some serious conversation in cairo before he went up the nile, where he met his death in the dongolese expedition. we have now, i may remark, come to the year 1896 in my experiences. dodd was not known to either lady. i began to ask him questions exactly as if he were seated before me, and he sent his answers back with great speed and decision. the answers were often quite opposed to what i expected, so that i could not believe that i was influencing them. he said that he was happy, that he did not wish to return to earth. he had been a free-thinker, but had not suffered in the next life for that reason. prayer, however, was a good thing, as keeping us in touch with the spiritual world. if he had prayed more he would have been higher in the spirit world. this, i may remark, seemed rather in conflict with his assertion that he had not suffered through being a free-thinker, and yet, of course, many men neglect prayer who are not free-thinkers. his death was painless. he remembered the death of polwhele, a young officer who died before him. when he (dodd) died he had found people to welcome him, but polwhele had not been among them. he had work to do. he was aware of the fall of dongola, but had not been present in spirit at the banquet at cairo afterwards. he knew more than he did in life. he remembered our conversation in cairo. duration of life in the next sphere was shorter than on earth. he had not seen general gordon, nor any other famous spirit. spirits lived in families and in communities. married people did not necessarily meet again, but those who loved each other did meet again. i have given this synopsis of a communication to show the kind of thing we got--though this was a very favourable specimen, both for length and for coherence. it shows that it is not just to say, as many critics say, that nothing but folly comes through. there was no folly here unless we call everything folly which does not agree with preconceived ideas. on the other hand, what proof was there that these statements were true? i could see no such proof, and they simply left me bewildered. now, with a larger experience, in which i find that the same sort of information has come to very, many people independently in many lands, i think that the agreement of the witnesses does, as in all cases of evidence, constitute some argument for their truth. at the time i could not fit such a conception of the future world into my own scheme of philosophy, and i merely noted it and passed on. i continued to read many books upon the subject and to appreciate more and more what a cloud of witnesses existed, and how careful their observations had been. this impressed my mind very much more than the limited phenomena which came within the reach of our circle. then or afterwards i read a book by monsieur jacolliot upon occult phenomena in india. jacolliot was chief judge of the french colony of crandenagur, with a very judicial mind, but rather biassed{sic} against spiritualism. he conducted a series of experiments with native fakirs, who gave him their confidence because he was a sympathetic man and spoke their language. he describes the pains he took to eliminate fraud. to cut a long story short he found among them every phenomenon of advanced european mediumship, everything which home, for example, had ever done. he got levitation of the body, the handling of fire, movement of articles at a distance, rapid growth of plants, raising of tables. their explanation of these phenomena was that they were done by the pitris or spirits, and their only difference in procedure from ours seemed to be that they made more use of direct evocation. they claimed that these powers were handed down from time immemorial and traced back to the chaldees. all this impressed me very much, as here, independently, we had exactly the same results, without any question of american frauds, or modern vulgarity, which were so often raised against similar phenomena in europe. my mind was also influenced about this time by the report of the dialectical society, although this report had been presented as far back as 1869. it is a very cogent paper, and though it was received with a chorus of ridicule by the ignorant and materialistic papers of those days, it was a document of great value. the society was formed by a number of people of good standing and open mind to enquire into the physical phenomena of spiritualism. a full account of their experiences and of their elaborate precautions against fraud are given. after reading the evidence, one fails to see how they could have come to any other conclusion than the one attained, namely, that the phenomena were undoubtedly genuine, and that they pointed to laws and forces which had not been explored by science. it is a most singular fact that if the verdict had been against spiritualism, it would certainly have been hailed as the death blow of the movement, whereas being an endorsement of the phenomena it met with nothing by ridicule. this has been the fate of a number of inquiries since those conducted locally at hydesville in 1848, or that which followed when professor hare of philadelphia, like saint paul, started forth to oppose but was forced to yield to the truth. about 1891, i had joined the psychical research society and had the advantage of reading all their reports. the world owes a great deal to the unwearied diligence of the society, and to its sobriety of statement, though i will admit that the latter makes one impatient at times, and one feels that in their desire to avoid sensationalism they discourage the world from knowing and using the splendid work which they are doing. their semi-scientific terminology also chokes off the ordinary reader, and one might say sometimes after reading their articles what an american trapper in the rocky mountains said to me about some university man whom he had been escorting for the season. "he was that clever," he said, "that you could not understand what he said." but in spite of these little peculiarities all of us who have wanted light in the darkness have found it by the methodical, never-tiring work of the society. its influence was one of the powers which now helped me to shape my thoughts. there was another, however, which made a deep impression upon me. up to now i had read all the wonderful experiences of great experimenters, but i had never come across any effort upon their part to build up some system which would cover and contain them all. now i read that monumental book, myers' human personality, a great root book from which a whole tree of knowledge will grow. in this book myers was unable to get any formula which covered all the phenomena called "spiritual," but in discussing that action of mind upon mind which he has himself called telepathy he completely proved his point, and he worked it out so thoroughly with so many examples, that, save for those who were wilfully blind to the evidence, it took its place henceforth as a scientific fact. but this was an enormous advance. if mind could act upon mind at a distance, then there were some human powers which were quite different to matter as we had always understood it. the ground was cut from under the feet of the materialist, and my old position had been destroyed. i had said that the flame could not exist when the candle was gone. but here was the flame a long way off the candle, acting upon its own. the analogy was clearly a false analogy. if the mind, the spirit, the intelligence of man could operate at a distance from the body, then it was a thing to that extent separate from the body. why then should it not exist on its own when the body was destroyed? not only did impressions come from a distance in the case of those who were just dead, but the same evidence proved that actual appearances of the dead person came with them, showing that the impressions were carried by something which was exactly like the body, and yet acted independently and survived the death of the body. the chain of evidence between the simplest cases of thought-reading at one end, and the actual manifestation of the spirit independently of the body at the other, was one unbroken chain, each phase leading to the other, and this fact seemed to me to bring the first signs of systematic science and order into what had been a mere collection of bewildering and more or less unrelated facts. about this time i had an interesting experience, for i was one of three delegates sent by the psychical society to sit up in a haunted house. it was one of these poltergeist cases, where noises and foolish tricks had gone on for some years, very much like the classical case of john wesley's family at epworth in 1726, or the case of the fox family at hydesville near rochester in 1848, which was the starting-point of modern spiritualism. nothing sensational came of our journey, and yet it was not entirely barren. on the first night nothing occurred. on the second, there were tremendous noises, sounds like someone beating a table with a stick. we had, of course, taken every precaution, and we could not explain the noises; but at the same time we could not swear that some ingenious practical joke had not been played upon us. there the matter ended for the time. some years afterwards, however, i met a member of the family who occupied the house, and he told me that after our visit the bones of a child, evidently long buried, had been dug up in the garden. you must admit that this was very remarkable. haunted houses are rare, and houses with buried human beings in their gardens are also, we will hope, rare. that they should have both united in one house is surely some argument for the truth of the phenomena. it is interesting to remember that in the case of the fox family there was also some word of human bones and evidence of murder being found in the cellar, though an actual crime was never established. i have little doubt that if the wesley family could have got upon speaking terms with their persecutor, they would also have come upon some motive for the persecution. it almost seems as if a life cut suddenly and violently short had some store of unspent vitality which could still manifest itself in a strange, mischievous fashion. later i had another singular personal experience of this sort which i may describe at the end of this argument.[1] [1] vide appendix iii. from this period until the time of the war i continued in the leisure hours of a very busy life to devote attention to this subject. i had experience of one series of seances with very amazing results, including several materializations seen in dim light. as the medium was detected in trickery shortly afterwards i wiped these off entirely as evidence. at the same time i think that the presumption is very clear, that in the case of some mediums like eusapia palladino they may be guilty of trickery when their powers fail them, and yet at other times have very genuine gifts. mediumship in its lowest forms is a purely physical gift with no relation to morality and in many cases it is intermittent and cannot be controlled at will. eusapia was at least twice convicted of very clumsy and foolish fraud, whereas she several times sustained long examinations under every possible test condition at the hands of scientific committees which contained some of the best names of france, italy, and england. however, i personally prefer to cut my experience with a discredited medium out of my record, and i think that all physical phenomena produced in the dark must necessarily lose much of their value, unless they are accompanied by evidential messages as well. it is the custom of our critics to assume that if you cut out the mediums who got into trouble you would have to cut out nearly all your evidence. that is not so at all. up to the time of this incident i had never sat with a professional medium at all, and yet i had certainly accumulated some evidence. the greatest medium of all, mr. d. d. home, showed his phenomena in broad daylight, and was ready to submit to every test and no charge of trickery was ever substantiated against him. so it was with many others. it is only fair to state in addition that when a public medium is a fair mark for notoriety hunters, for amateur detectives and for sensational reporters, and when he is dealing with obscure elusive phenomena and has to defend himself before juries and judges who, as a rule, know nothing about the conditions which influence the phenomena, it would be wonderful if a man could get through without an occasional scandal. at the same time the whole system of paying by results, which is practically the present system, since if a medium never gets results he would soon get no payments, is a vicious one. it is only when the professional medium can be guaranteed an annuity which will be independent of results, that we can eliminate the strong temptation, to substitute pretended phenomena when the real ones are wanting. i have now traced my own evolution of thought up to the time of the war. i can claim, i hope, that it was deliberate and showed no traces of that credulity with which our opponents charge us. it was too deliberate, for i was culpably slow in throwing any small influence i may possess into the scale of truth. i might have drifted on for my whole life as a psychical researcher, showing a sympathetic, but more or less dilettante attitude towards the whole subject, as if we were arguing about some impersonal thing such as the existence of atlantis or the baconian controversy. but the war came, and when the war came it brought earnestness into all our souls and made us look more closely at our own beliefs and reassess their values. in the presence of an agonized world, hearing every day of the deaths of the flower of our race in the first promise of their unfulfilled youth, seeing around one the wives and mothers who had no clear conception whither their loved ones had gone to, i seemed suddenly to see that this subject with which i had so long dallied was not merely a study of a force outside the rules of science, but that it was really something tremendous, a breaking down of the walls between two worlds, a direct undeniable message from beyond, a call of hope and of guidance to the human race at the time of its deepest affliction. the objective side of it ceased to interest for having made up one's mind that it was true there was an end of the matter. the religious side of it was clearly of infinitely greater importance. the telephone bell is in itself a very childish affair, but it may be the signal for a very vital message. it seemed that all these phenomena, large and small, had been the telephone bells which, senseless in themselves, had signalled to the human race: "rouse yourselves! stand by! be at attention! here are signs for you. they will lead up to the message which god wishes to send." it was the message not the signs which really counted. a new revelation seemed to be in the course of delivery to the human race, though how far it was still in what may be called the john-the-baptist stage, and how far some greater fulness and clearness might be expected hereafter, was more than any man can say. my point is, that the physical phenomena which have been proved up to the hilt for all who care to examine the evidence, are really of no account, and that their real value consists in the fact that they support and give objective reality to an immense body of knowledge which must deeply modify our previous religious views, and must, when properly understood and digested, make religion a very real thing, no longer a matter of faith, but a matter of actual experience and fact. it is to this side of the question that i will now turn, but i must add to my previous remarks about personal experience that, since the war, i have had some very exceptional opportunities of confirming all the views which i had already formed as to the truth of the general facts upon which my views are founded. these opportunities came through the fact that a lady who lived with us, a miss l. s., developed the power of automatic writing. of all forms of mediumship, this seems to me to be the one which should be tested most rigidly, as it lends itself very easily not so much to deception as to self-deception, which is a more subtle and dangerous thing. is the lady herself writing, or is there, as she avers, a power that controls her, even as the chronicler of the jews in the bible averred that he was controlled? in the case of l. s. there is no denying that some messages proved to be not true--especially in the matter of time they were quite unreliable. but on the other hand, the numbers which did come true were far beyond what any guessing or coincidence could account for. thus, when the lusitania was sunk and the morning papers here announced that so far as known there was no loss of life, the medium at once wrote: "it is terrible, terrible--and will have a great influence on the war." since it was the first strong impulse which turned america towards the war, the message was true in both respects. again, she foretold the arrival of an important telegram upon a certain day, and even gave the name of the deliverer of it--a most unlikely person. altogether, no one could doubt the reality of her inspiration, though the lapses were notable. it was like getting a good message through a very imperfect telephone. one other incident of the early war days stands out in my memory. a lady in whom i was interested had died in a provincial town. she was a chronic invalid and morphia was found by her bedside. there was an inquest with an open verdict. eight days later i went to have a sitting with mr. vout peters. after giving me a good deal which was vague and irrelevant, he suddenly said: "there is a lady here. she is leaning upon an older woman. she keeps saying 'morphia.' three times she has said it. her mind was clouded. she did not mean it. morphia!" those were almost his exact words. telepathy was out of the question, for i had entirely other thoughts in my mind at the time and was expecting no such message. apart from personal experiences, this movement must gain great additional solidity from the wonderful literature which has sprung up around it during the last few years. if no other spiritual books were in existence than five which have appeared in the last year or so--i allude to professor lodge's raymond, arthur hill's psychical investigations, professor crawford's reality of psychical phenomena, professor barrett's threshold of the unseen, and gerald balfour's ear of dionysius--those five alone would, in my opinion, be sufficient to establish the facts for any reasonable enquirer. before going into this question of a new religious revelation, how it is reached, and what it consists of, i would say a word upon one other subject. there have always been two lines of attack by our opponents. the one is that our facts are not true. this i have dealt with. the other is that we are upon forbidden ground and should come off it and leave it alone. as i started from a position of comparative materialism, this objection has never had any meaning for me, but to others i would submit one or two considerations. the chief is that god has given us no power at all which is under no circumstances to be used. the fact that we possess it is in itself proof that it is our bounden duty to study and to develop it. it is true that this, like every other power, may be abused if we lose our general sense of proportion and of reason. but i repeat that its mere possession is a strong reason why it is lawful and binding that it be used. it must also be remembered that this cry of illicit knowledge, backed by more or less appropriate texts, has been used against every advance of human knowledge. it was used against the new astronomy, and galileo had actually to recant. it was used against galvani and electricity. it was used against darwin, who would certainly have been burned had he lived a few centuries before. it was even used against simpson's use of chloroform in child-birth, on the ground that the bible declared "in pain shall ye bring them forth." surely a plea which has been made so often, and so often abandoned, cannot be regarded very seriously. to those, however, to whom the theological aspect is still a stumbling block, i would recommend the reading of two short books, each of them by clergymen. the one is the rev. fielding ould's is spiritualism of the devil, purchasable for twopence; the other is the rev. arthur chambers' our self after death. i can also recommend the rev. charles tweedale's writings upon the subject. i may add that when i first began to make public my own views, one of the first letters of sympathy which i received was from the late archdeacon wilberforce. there are some theologians who are not only opposed to such a cult, but who go the length of saying that the phenomena and messages come from fiends who personate our dead, or pretend to be heavenly teachers. it is difficult to think that those who hold this view have ever had any personal experience of the consoling and uplifting effect of such communications upon the recipient. ruskin has left it on record that his conviction of a future life came from spiritualism, though he somewhat ungratefully and illogically added that having got that, he wished to have no more to do with it. there are many, however--quorum pars parva su--who without any reserve can declare that they were turned from materialism to a belief in future life, with all that that implies, by the study of this subject. if this be the devil's work one can only say that the devil seems to be a very bungling workman and to get results very far from what he might be expected to desire. chapter ii. the revelation i can now turn with some relief to a more impersonal view of this great subject. allusion has been made to a body of fresh doctrine. whence does this come? it comes in the main through automatic writing where the hand of the human medium is controlled, either by an alleged dead human being, as in the case of miss julia ames, or by an alleged higher teacher, as in that of mr. stainton moses. these written communications are supplemented by a vast number of trance utterances, and by the verbal messages of spirits, given through the lips of mediums. sometimes it has even come by direct voices, as in the numerous cases detailed by admiral usborne moore in his book the voices. occasionally it has come through the family circle and table-tilting, as, for example, in the two cases i have previously detailed within my own experience. sometimes, as in a case recorded by mrs. de morgan, it has come through the hand of a child. now, of course, we are at once confronted with the obvious objection--how do we know that these messages are really from beyond? how do we know that the medium is not consciously writing, or if that be improbable, that he or she is unconsciously writing them by his or her own higher self? this is a perfectly just criticism, and it is one which we must rigorously apply in every case, since if the whole world is to become full of minor prophets, each of them stating their own views of the religious state with no proof save their own assertion, we should, indeed, be back in the dark ages of implicit faith. the answer must be that we require signs which we can test before we accept assertions which we cannot test. in old days they demanded a sign from a prophet, and it was a perfectly reasonable request, and still holds good. if a person comes to me with an account of life in some further world, and has no credentials save his own assertion, i would rather have it in my waste-paperbasket than on my study table. life is too short to weigh the merits of such productions. but if, as in the case of stainton moses, with his spirit teachings, the doctrines which are said to come from beyond are accompanied with a great number of abnormal gifts--and stainton moses was one of the greatest mediums in all ways that england has ever produced--then i look upon the matter in a more serious light. again, if miss julia ames can tell mr. stead things in her own earth life of which he could not have cognisance, and if those things are shown, when tested, to be true, then one is more inclined to think that those things which cannot be tested are true also. or once again, if raymond can tell us of a photograph no copy of which had reached england, and which proved to be exactly as he described it, and if he can give us, through the lips of strangers, all sorts of details of his home life, which his own relatives had to verify before they found them to be true, is it unreasonable to suppose that he is fairly accurate in his description of his own experiences and state of life at the very moment at which he is communicating? or when mr. arthur hill receives messages from folk of whom he never heard, and afterwards verifies that they are true in every detail, is it not a fair inference that they are speaking truths also when they give any light upon their present condition? the cases are manifold, and i mention only a few of them, but my point is that the whole of this system, from the lowest physical phenomenon of a table-rap up to the most inspired utterance of a prophet, is one complete whole, each attached to the next one, and that when the humbler end of that chain was placed in the hand of humanity, it was in order that they might, by diligence and reason, feel their way up it until they reached the revelation which waited in the end. do not sneer at the humble beginnings, the heaving table or the flying tambourine, however much such phenomena may have been abused or simulated, but remember that a falling apple taught us gravity, a boiling kettle brought us the steam engine, and the twitching leg of a frog opened up the train of thought and experiment which gave us electricity. so the lowly manifestations of hydesville have ripened into results which have engaged the finest group of intellects in this country during the last twenty years, and which are destined, in my opinion, to bring about far the greatest development of human experience which the world has ever seen. it has been asserted by men for whose opinion i have a deep regard--notably by sir william barratt--that psychical research is quite distinct from religion. certainly it is so, in the sense that a man might be a very good psychical researcher but a very bad man. but the results of psychical research, the deductions which we may draw, and the lessons we may learn, teach us of the continued life of the soul, of the nature of that life, and of how it is influenced by our conduct here. if this is distinct from religion, i must confess that i do not understand the distinction. to me it is religion--the very essence of it. but that does not mean that it will necessarily crystallise into a new religion. personally i trust that it will not do so. surely we are disunited enough already? rather would i see it the great unifying force, the one provable thing connected with every religion, christian or non-christian, forming the common solid basis upon which each raises, if it must needs raise, that separate system which appeals to the varied types of mind. the southern races will always demand what is less austere than the north, the west will always be more critical than the east. one cannot shape all to a level conformity. but if the broad premises which are guaranteed by this teaching from beyond are accepted, then the human race has made a great stride towards religious peace and unity. the question which faces us, then, is how will this influence bear upon the older organised religions and philosophies which have influenced the actions of men. the answer is, that to only one of these religions or philosophies is this new revelation absolutely fatal. that is to materialism. i do not say this in any spirit of hostility to materialists, who, so far as they are an organized body, are, i think, as earnest and moral as any other class. but the fact is manifest that if spirit can live without matter, then the foundation of materialism is gone, and the whole scheme of thought crashes to the ground. as to other creeds, it must be admitted that an acceptance of the teaching brought to us from beyond would deeply modify conventional christianity. but these modifications would be rather in the direction of explanation and development than of contradiction. it would set right grave misunderstandings which have always offended the reason of every thoughtful man, but it would also confirm and make absolutely certain the fact of life after death, the base of all religion. it would confirm the unhappy results of sin, though it would show that those results are never absolutely permanent. it would confirm the existence of higher beings, whom we have called angels, and of an ever-ascending hierarchy above us, in which the christ spirit finds its place, culminating in heights of the infinite with which we associate the idea of all-power or of god. it would confirm the idea of heaven and of a temporary penal state which corresponds to purgatory rather than to hell. thus this new revelation, on some of the most vital points, is not destructive of the beliefs, and it should be hailed by really earnest men of all creeds as a most powerful ally rather than a dangerous devil-begotten enemy. on the other hand, let us turn to the points in which christianity must be modified by this new revelation. first of all i would say this, which must be obvious to many, however much they deplore it: christianity must change or must perish. that is the law of life--that things must adapt themselves or perish. christianity has deferred the change very long, she has deferred it until her churches are half empty, until women are her chief supporters, and until both the learned part of the community on one side, and the poorest class on the other, both in town and country, are largely alienated from her. let us try and trace the reason for this. it is apparent in all sects, and comes, therefore, from some deep common cause. people are alienated because they frankly do not believe the facts as presented to them to be true. their reason and their sense of justice are equally offended. one can see no justice in a vicarious sacrifice, nor in the god who could be placated by such means. above all, many cannot understand such expressions as the "redemption from sin," "cleansed by the blood of the lamb," and so forth. so long as there was any question of the fall of man there was at least some sort of explanation of such phrases; but when it became certain that man had never fallen--when with ever fuller knowledge we could trace our ancestral course down through the cave-man and the drift-man, back to that shadowy and far-off time when the man-like ape slowly evolved into the apelike man--looking back on all this vast succession of life, we knew that it had always been rising from step to step. never was there any evidence of a fall. but if there were no fall, then what became of the atonement, of the redemption, of original sin, of a large part of christian mystical philosophy? even if it were as reasonable in itself as it is actually unreasonable, it would still be quite divorced from the facts. again, too much seemed to be made of christ's death. it is no uncommon thing to die for an idea. every religion has equally had its martyrs. men die continually for their convictions. thousands of our lads are doing it at this instant in france. therefore the death of christ, beautiful as it is in the gospel narrative, has seemed to assume an undue importance, as though it were an isolated phenomenon for a man to die in pursuit of a reform. in my opinion, far too much stress has been laid upon christ's death, and far too little upon his life. that was where the true grandeur and the true lesson lay. it was a life which even in those limited records shows us no trait which is not beautiful--a life full of easy tolerance for others, of kindly charity, of broad-minded moderation, of gentle courage, always progressive and open to new ideas, and yet never bitter to those ideas which he was really supplanting, though he did occasionally lose his temper with their more bigoted and narrow supporters. especially one loves his readiness to get at the spirit of religion, sweeping aside the texts and the forms. never had anyone such a robust common sense, or such a sympathy for weakness. it was this most wonderful and uncommon life, and not his death, which is the true centre of the christian religion. now, let us look at the light which we get from the spirit guides upon this question of christianity. opinion is not absolutely uniform yonder, any more than it is here; but reading a number of messages upon this subject, they amount to this: there are many higher spirits with our departed. they vary in degree. call them "angels," and you are in touch with old religious thought. high above all these is the greatest spirit of whom they have cognizance--not god, since god is so infinite that he is not within their ken--but one who is nearer god and to that extent represents god. this is the christ spirit. his special care is the earth. he came down upon it at a time of great earthly depravity--a time when the world was almost as wicked as it is now, in order to give the people the lesson of an ideal life. then he returned to his own high station, having left an example which is still occasionally followed. that is the story of christ as spirits have described it. there is nothing here of atonement or redemption. but there is a perfectly feasible and reasonable scheme, which i, for one, could readily believe. if such a view of christianity were generally accepted, and if it were enforced by assurance and demonstration from the new revelation which is coming to us from the other side, then we should have a creed which might unite the churches, which might be reconciled to science, which might defy all attacks, and which might carry the christian faith on for an indefinite period. reason and faith would at last be reconciled, a nightmare would be lifted from our minds, and spiritual peace would prevail. i do not see such results coming as a sudden conquest or a violent revolution. rather will it come as a peaceful penetration, as some crude ideas, such as the eternal hell idea, have already gently faded away within our own lifetime. it is, however, when the human soul is ploughed and harrowed by suffering that the seeds of truth may be planted, and so some future spiritual harvest will surely rise from the days in which we live. when i read the new testament with the knowledge which i have of spiritualism, i am left with a deep conviction that the teaching of christ was in many most important respects lost by the early church, and has not come down to us. all these allusions to a conquest over death have, as it seems to me, little meaning in the present christian philosophy, whereas for those who have seen, however dimly, through the veil, and touched, however slightly, the outstretched hands beyond, death has indeed been conquered. when we read so many references to the phenomena with which we are familiar, the levitations, the tongues of fire, the rushing wind, the spiritual gifts, the working of wonders, we feel that the central fact of all, the continuity of life and the communication with the dead, was most certainly known. our attention is arrested by such a saying as: "here he worked no wonders because the people were wanting in faith." is this not absolutely in accordance with psychic law as we know it? or when christ, on being touched by the sick woman, said: "who has touched me? much virtue has passed out of me." could he say more clearly what a healing medium would say now, save that he would use the word "power" instead of "virtue"; or when we read: "try the spirits whether they be of god," is it not the very, advice which would now be given to a novice approaching a seance? it is too large a question for me to do more than indicate, but i believe that this subject, which the more rigid christian churches now attack so bitterly, is really the central teaching of christianity itself. to those who would read more upon this line of thought, i strongly recommend dr. abraham wallace's jesus of nazareth, if this valuable little work is not out of print. he demonstrates in it most convincingly that christ's miracles were all within the powers of psychic law as we now understand it, and were on the exact lines of such law even in small details. two examples have already been given. many are worked out in that pamphlet. one which convinced me as a truth was the thesis that the story of the materialization of the two prophets upon the mountain was extraordinarily accurate when judged by psychic law. there is the fact that peter, james and john (who formed the psychic circle when the dead was restored to life, and were presumably the most helpful of the group) were taken. then there is the choice of the high pure air of the mountain, the drowsiness of the attendant mediums, the transfiguring, the shining robes, the cloud, the words: "let us make three tabernacles," with its alternate reading: "let us make three booths or cabinets" (the ideal way of condensing power and producing materializations)--all these make a very consistent theory of the nature of the proceedings. for the rest, the list of gifts which st. paul gives as being necessary for the christian disciple, is simply the list of gifts of a very powerful medium, including prophecy, healing, causing miracles (or physical phenomena), clairvoyance, and other powers (i corinth, xii, 8, 11). the early christian church was saturated with spiritualism, and they seem to have paid no attention to those old testament prohibitions which were meant to keep these powers only for the use and profit of the priesthood. chapter iii. the coming life now, leaving this large and possibly contentious subject of the modifications which such new revelations must produce in christianity, let us try to follow what occurs to man after death. the evidence on this point is fairly full and consistent. messages from the dead have been received in many lands at various times, mixed up with a good deal about this world, which we could verify. when messages come thus, it is only fair, i think, to suppose that if what we can test is true, then what we cannot test is true also. when in addition we find a very great uniformity in the messages and an agreement as to details which are not at all in accordance with any pre-existing scheme of thought, then i think the presumption of truth is very strong. it is difficult to think that some fifteen or twenty messages from various sources of which i have personal notes, all agree, and yet are all wrong, nor is it easy to suppose that spirits can tell the truth about our world but untruth about their own. i received lately, in the same week, two accounts of life in the next world, one received through the hand of the near relative of a high dignitary of the church, while the other came through the wife of a working mechanician in scotland. neither could have been aware of the existence of the other, and yet the two accounts are so alike as to be practically the same.[2] [2] vide appendix ii. the message upon these points seems to me to be infinitely reassuring, whether we regard our own fate or that of our friends. the departed all agree that passing is usually both easy and painless, and followed by an enormous reaction of peace and ease. the individual finds himself in a spirit body, which is the exact counterpart of his old one, save that all disease, weakness, or deformity has passed from it. this body is standing or floating beside the old body, and conscious both of it and of the surrounding people. at this moment the dead man is nearer to matter than he will ever be again, and hence it is that at that moment the greater part of those cases occur where, his thoughts having turned to someone in the distance, the spirit body went with the thoughts and was manifest to the person. out of some 250 cases carefully examined by mr. gurney, 134 of such apparitions were actually at this moment of dissolution, when one could imagine that the new spirit body was possibly so far material as to be more visible to a sympathetic human eye than it would later become. these cases, however, are very rare in comparison with the total number of deaths. in most cases i imagine that the dead man is too preoccupied with his own amazing experience to have much thought for others. he soon finds, to his surprise, that though he endeavours to communicate with those whom he sees, his ethereal voice and his ethereal touch are equally unable to make any impression upon those human organs which are only attuned to coarser stimuli. it is a fair subject for speculation, whether a fuller knowledge of those light rays which we know to exist on either side of the spectrum, or of those sounds which we can prove by the vibrations of a diaphragm to exist, although they are too high for mortal ear, may not bring us some further psychical knowledge. setting that aside, however, let us follow the fortunes of the departing spirit. he is presently aware that there are others in the room besides those who were there in life, and among these others, who seem to him as substantial as the living, there appear familiar faces, and he finds his hand grasped or his lips kissed by those whom he had loved and lost. then in their company, and with the help and guidance of some more radiant being who has stood by and waited for the newcomer, he drifts to his own surprise through all solid obstacles and out upon his new life. this is a definite statement, and this is the story told by one after the other with a consistency which impels belief. it is already very different from any old theology. the spirit is not a glorified angel or goblin damned, but it is simply the person himself, containing all his strength and weakness, his wisdom and his folly, exactly as he has retained his personal appearance. we can well believe that the most frivolous and foolish would be awed into decency by so tremendous an experience, but impressions soon become blunted, the old nature may soon reassert itself in new surroundings, and the frivolous still survive, as our seance rooms can testify. and now, before entering upon his new life, the new spirit has a period of sleep which varies in its length, sometimes hardly existing at all, at others extending for weeks or months. raymond said that his lasted for six days. that was the period also in a case of which i had some personal evidence. mr. myers, on the other hand, said that he had a very prolonged period of unconsciousness. i could imagine that the length is regulated by the amount of trouble or mental preoccupation of this life, the longer rest giving the better means of wiping this out. probably the little child would need no such interval at all. this, of course, is pure speculation, but there is a considerable consensus of opinion as to the existence of a period of oblivion after the first impression of the new life and before entering upon its duties. having wakened from this sleep, the spirit is weak, as the child is weak after earth birth. soon, however, strength returns and the new life begins. this leads us to the consideration of heaven and hell. hell, i may say, drops out altogether, as it has long dropped out of the thoughts of every reasonable man. this odious conception, so blasphemous in its view of the creator, arose from the exaggerations of oriental phrases, and may perhaps have been of service in a coarse age where men were frightened by fires, as wild beasts are seared by the travellers. hell as a permanent place does not exist. but the idea of punishment, of purifying chastisement, in fact of purgatory, is justified by the reports from the other side. without such punishment there could be no justice in the universe, for how impossible it would be to imagine that the fate of a rasputin is the same as that of a father damien. the punishment is very certain and very serious, though in its less severe forms it only consists in the fact that the grosser souls are in lower spheres with a knowledge that their own deeds have placed them there, but also with the hope that expiation and the help of those above them will educate them and bring them level with the others. in this saving process the higher spirits find part of their employment. miss julia ames in her beautiful posthumous book, says in memorable words: "the greatest joy of heaven is emptying hell." setting aside those probationary spheres, which should perhaps rather be looked upon as a hospital for weakly souls than as a penal community, the reports from the other world are all agreed as to the pleasant conditions of life in the beyond. they agree that like goes to like, that all who love or who have interests in common are united, that life is full of interest and of occupation, and that they would by no means desire to return. all of this is surely tidings of great joy, and i repeat that it is not a vague faith or hope, but that it is supported by all the laws of evidence which agree that where many independent witnesses give a similar account, that account has a claim to be considered a true one. if it were an account of glorified souls purged instantly from all human weakness and of a constant ecstasy of adoration round the throne of the all powerful, it might well be suspected as being the mere reflection of that popular theology which all the mediums had equally received in their youth. it is, however, very different to any preexisting system. it is also supported, as i have already pointed out, not merely by the consistency of the accounts, but by the fact that the accounts are the ultimate product of a long series of phenomena, all of which have been attested as true by those who have carefully examined them. in connection with the general subject of life after death, people may say we have got this knowledge already through faith. but faith, however beautiful in the individual, has always in collective bodies been a very two-edged quality. all would be well if every faith were alike and the intuitions of the human race were constant. we know that it is not so. faith means to say that you entirely believe a thing which you cannot prove. one man says: "my faith is this." another says: "my faith is that." neither can prove it, so they wrangle for ever, either mentally or in the old days physically. if one is stronger than the other, he is inclined to persecute him just to twist him round to the true faith. because philip the second's faith was strong and clear he, quite logically, killed a hundred thousand lowlanders in the hope that their fellow countrymen would be turned to the all-important truth. now, if it were recognised that it is by no means virtuous to claim what you could not prove, we should then be driven to observe facts, to reason from them, and perhaps reach common agreement. that is why this psychical movement appears so valuable. its feet are on something more solid than texts or traditions or intuitions. it is religion from the double point of view of both worlds up to date, instead of the ancient traditions of one world. we cannot look upon this coming world as a tidy dutch garden of a place which is so exact that it can easily be described. it is probable that those messengers who come back to us are all, more or less, in one state of development and represent the same wave of life as it recedes from our shores. communications usually come from those who have not long passed over, and tend to grow fainter, as one would expect. it is instructive in this respect to notice that christ's reappearances to his disciples or to paul, are said to have been within a very few years of his death, and that there is no claim among the early christians to have seen him later. the cases of spirits who give good proof of authenticity and yet have passed some time are not common. there is, in mr. dawson roger's life, a very good case of a spirit who called himself manton, and claimed to have been born at lawrence lydiard and buried at stoke newington in 1677. it was clearly shown afterwards that there was such a man, and that he was oliver cromwell's chaplain. so far as my own reading goes, this is the oldest spirit who is on record as returning, and generally they are quite recent. hence, one gets all one's views from the one generation, as it were, and we cannot take them as final, but only as partial. how spirits may see things in a different light as they progress in the other world is shown by miss julia ames, who was deeply impressed at first by the necessity of forming a bureau of communication, but admitted, after fifteen years, that not one spirit in a million among the main body upon the further side ever wanted to communicate with us at all since their own loved ones had come over. she had been misled by the fact that when she first passed over everyone she met was newly arrived like herself. thus the account we give may be partial, but still such as it is it is very consistent and of extraordinary interest, since it refers to our own destiny and that of those we love. all agree that life beyond is for a limited period, after which they pass on to yet other phases, but apparently there is more communication between these phases than there is between us and spiritland. the lower cannot ascend, but the higher can descend at will. the life has a close analogy to that of this world at it its best. it is pre-eminently a life of the mind, as this is of the body. preoccupations of food, money, lust, pain, etc., are of the body and are gone. music, the arts, intellectual and spiritual knowledge, and progress have increased. the people are clothed, as one would expect, since there is no reason why modesty should disappear with our new forms. these new forms are the absolute reproduction of the old ones at their best, the young growing up and the old reverting until all come to the normal. people live in communities, as one would expect if like attracts like, and the male spirit still finds his true mate though there is no sexuality in the grosser sense and no childbirth. since connections still endure, and those in the same state of development keep abreast, one would expect that nations are still roughly divided from each other, though language is no longer a bar, since thought has become a medium of conversation. how close is the connection between kindred souls over there is shown by the way in which myers, gurney and roden noel, all friends and co-workers on earth, sent messages together through mrs. holland, who knew none of them, each message being characteristic to those who knew the men in life--or the way in which professor verrall and professor butcher, both famous greek scholars, collaborated to produce the greek problem which has been analysed by mr. gerald balfour in the ear of dionysius, with the result that that excellent authority testified that the effect could have been attained by no other entities, save only verrall and butcher. it may be remarked in passing that these and other examples show clearly either that the spirits have the use of an excellent reference library or else that they have memories which produce something like omniscience. no human memory could possibly carry all the exact quotations which occur in such communications as the ear of dionysius. these, roughly speaking, are the lines of the life beyond in its simplest expression, for it is not all simple, and we catch dim glimpses of endless circles below descending into gloom and endless circles above, ascending into glory, all improving, all purposeful, all intensely alive. all are agreed that no religion upon earth has any advantage over another, but that character and refinement are everything. at the same time, all are also in agreement that all religions which inculcate prayer, and an upward glance rather than eyes for ever on the level, are good. in this sense, and in no other--as a help to spiritual life--every form may have a purpose for somebody. if to twirl a brass cylinder forces the thibetan to admit that there is something higher than his mountains, and more precious than his yaks, then to that extent it is good. we must not be censorious in such matters. there is one point which may be mentioned here which is at first startling and yet must commend itself to our reason when we reflect upon it. this is the constant assertion from the other side that the newly passed do not know that they are dead, and that it is a long time, sometimes a very long time, before they can be made to understand it. all of them agree that this state of bewilderment is harmful and retarding to the spirit, and that some knowledge of the actual truth upon this side is the only way to make sure of not being dazed upon the other. finding conditions entirely different from anything for which either scientific or religious teaching had prepared them, it is no wonder that they look upon their new sensations as some strange dream, and the more rigidly orthodox have been their views, the more impossible do they find it to accept these new surroundings with all that they imply. for this reason, as well as for many others, this new revelation is a very needful thing for mankind. a smaller point of practical importance is that the aged should realise that it is still worth while to improve their minds, for though they have no time to use their fresh knowledge in this world it will remain as part of their mental outfit in the next. as to the smaller details of this life beyond, it is better perhaps not to treat them, for the very good reason that they are small details. we will learn them all soon for ourselves, and it is only vain curiosity which leads us to ask for them now. one thing is clear: there are higher intelligences over yonder to whom synthetic chemistry, which not only makes the substance but moulds the form, is a matter of absolute ease. we see them at work in the coarser media, perceptible to our material senses, in the seance room. if they can build up simulacra in the seance room, how much may we expect them to do when they are working upon ethereal objects in that ether which is their own medium. it may be said generally that they can make something which is analogous to anything which exists upon earth. how they do it may well be a matter of guess and speculation among the less advanced spirits, as the phenomena of modern science are a matter of guess and speculation to us. if one of us were suddenly called up by the denizen of some sub-human world, and were asked to explain exactly what gravity is, or what magnetism is, how helpless we should be! we may put ourselves in the position, then, of a young engineer soldier like raymond lodge, who tries to give some theory of matter in the beyond--a theory which is very likely contradicted by some other spirit who is also guessing at things above him. he may be right, or he may be wrong, but he is doing his best to say what he thinks, as we should do in similar case. he believes that his transcendental chemists can make anything, and that even such unspiritual matter as alcohol or tobacco could come within their powers and could still be craved for by unregenerate spirits. this has tickled the critics to such an extent that one would really think to read the comments that it was the only statement in a book which contains 400 closely-printed pages. raymond may be right or wrong, but the only thing which the incident proves to me is the unflinching courage and honesty of the man who chronicled it, knowing well the handle that he was giving to his enemies. there are many who protest that this world which is described to us is too material for their liking. it is not as they would desire it. well, there are many things in this world which seem different from what we desire, but they exist none the less. but when we come to examine this charge of materialism and try to construct some sort of system which would satisfy the idealists, it becomes a very difficult task. are we to be mere wisps of gaseous happiness floating about in the air? that seems to be the idea. but if there is no body like our own, and if there is no character like our own, then say what you will, we have become extinct. what is it to a mother if some impersonal glorified entity is shown to her? she will say, "that is not the son i lost--i want his yellow hair, his quick smile, his little moods that i know so well." that is what she wants; that, i believe, is what she will have; but she will not have them by any system which cuts us away from all that reminds us of matter and takes us to a vague region of floating emotions. there is an opposite school of critics which rather finds the difficulty in picturing a life which has keen perceptions, robust emotions, and a solid surrounding all constructed in so diaphanous a material. let us remember that everything depends upon its comparison with the things around it. if we could conceive of a world a thousand times denser, heavier and duller than this world, we can clearly see that to its inmates it would seem much the same as this, since their strength and texture would be in proportion. if, however, these inmates came in contact with us, they would look upon us as extraordinarily airy beings living in a strange, light, spiritual atmosphere. they would not remember that we also, since our beings and our surroundings are in harmony and in proportion to each other, feel and act exactly as they do. we have now to consider the case of yet another stratum of life, which is as much above us as the leaden community would be below us. to us also it seems as if these people, these spirits, as we call them, live the lives of vapour and of shadows. we do not recollect that there also everything is in proportion and in harmony so that the spirit scene or the spirit dwelling, which might seem a mere dream thing to us, is as actual to the spirit as are our own scenes or our own dwellings, and that the spirit body is as real and tangible to another spirit as ours to our friends. chapter iv. problems and limitations leaving for a moment the larger argument as to the lines of this revelation and the broad proofs of its validity, there are some smaller points which have forced themselves upon my attention during the consideration of the subject. this home of our dead seems to be very near to us--so near that we continually, as they tell us, visit them in our sleep. much of that quiet resignation which we have all observed in people who have lost those whom they loved--people who would in our previous opinion have been driven mad by such loss--is due to the fact that they have seen their dead, and that although the switch-off is complete and they can recall nothing whatever of the spirit experience in sleep, the soothing result of it is still carried on by the subconscious self. the switch-off is, as i say, complete, but sometimes for some reason it is hung up for a fraction of a second, and it is at such moments that the dreamer comes back from his dream "trailing clouds of glory." from this also come all those prophetic dreams many of which are well attested. i have had a recent personal experience of one which has not yet perhaps entirely justified itself but is even now remarkable. upon april 4th of last year, 1917, i awoke with a feeling that some communication had been made to me of which i had only carried back one word which was ringing in my head. that word was "piave." to the best of my belief i had never heard the word before. as it sounded like the name of a place i went into my study the moment i had dressed and i looked up the index of my atlas. there was "piave" sure enough, and i noted that it was a river in italy some forty miles behind the front line, which at that time was victoriously advancing. i could imagine few more unlikely things than that the war should roll back to the piave, and i could not think how any military event of consequence could arise there, but none the less i was so impressed that i drew up a statement that some such event would occur there, and i had it signed by my secretary and witnessed by my wife with the date, april 4th, attached. it is a matter of history how six months later the whole italian line fell back, how it abandoned successive positions upon rivers, and how it stuck upon this stream which was said by military critics to be strategically almost untenable. if nothing more should occur (i write upon february 20th, 1918), the reference to the name has been fully justified, presuming that some friend in the beyond was forecasting the coming events of the war. i have still a hope, however, that more was meant, and that some crowning victory of the allies at this spot may justify still further the strange way in which the name was conveyed to my mind. people may well cry out against this theory of sleep on the grounds that all the grotesque, monstrous and objectionable dreams which plague us cannot possibly come from a high source. on this point i have a very definite theory, which may perhaps be worthy of discussion. i consider that there are two forms of dreams, and only two, the experiences of the released spirit, and the confused action of the lower faculties which remain in the body when the spirit is absent. the former is rare and beautiful, for the memory of it fails us. the latter are common and varied, but usually fantastic or ignoble. by noting what is absent in the lower dreams one can tell what the missing qualities are, and so judge what part of us goes to make up the spirit. thus in these dreams humour is wanting, since we see things which strike us afterwards as ludicrous, and are not amused. the sense of proportion and of judgment and of aspiration is all gone. in short, the higher is palpably gone, and the lower, the sense of fear, of sensual impression, of self-preservation, is functioning all the more vividly because it is relieved from the higher control. the limitations of the powers of spirits is a subject which is brought home to one in these studies. people say, "if they exist why don't they do this or that!" the answer usually is that they can't. they appear to have very fixed limitations like our own. this seemed to be very clearly brought out in the cross-correspondence experiments where several writing mediums were operating at a distance quite independently of each other, and the object was to get agreement which was beyond the reach of coincidence. the spirits seem to know exactly what they impress upon the minds of the living, but they do not know how far they carry their instruction out. their touch with us is intermittent. thus, in the cross-correspondence experiments we continually have them asking, "did you get that?" or "was it all right?" sometimes they have partial cognisance of what is done, as where myers says: "i saw the circle, but was not sure about the triangle." it is everywhere apparent that their spirits, even the spirits of those who, like myers and hodgson, were in specially close touch with psychic subjects, and knew all that could be done, were in difficulties when they desired to get cognisance of a material thing, such as a written document. only, i should imagine, by partly materialising themselves could they do so, and they may not have had the power of self-materialization. this consideration throws some light upon the famous case, so often used by our opponents, where myers failed to give some word or phrase which had been left behind in a sealed box. apparently he could not see this document from his present position, and if his memory failed him he would be very likely to go wrong about it. many mistakes may, i think, be explained in this fashion. it has been asserted from the other side, and the assertion seems to me reasonable, that when they speak of their own conditions they are speaking of what they know and can readily and surely discuss; but that when we insist (as we must sometimes insist) upon earthly tests, it drags them back to another plane of things, and puts them in a position which is far more difficult, and liable to error. another point which is capable of being used against us is this: the spirits have the greatest difficulty in getting names through to us, and it is this which makes many of their communications so vague and unsatisfactory. they will talk all round a thing, and yet never get the name which would clinch the matter. there is an example of the point in a recent communication in light, which describes how a young officer, recently dead, endeavoured to get a message through the direct voice method of mrs. susannah harris to his father. he could not get his name through. he was able, however, to make it clear that his father was a member of the kildare street club in dublin. inquiry found the father, and it was then learned that the father had already received an independent message in dublin to say that an inquiry was coming through from london. i do not know if the earth name is a merely ephemeral thing, quite disconnected from the personality, and perhaps the very first thing to be thrown aside. that is, of course, possible. or it may be that some law regulates our intercourse from the other side by which it shall not be too direct, and shall leave something to our own intelligence. this idea, that there is some law which makes an indirect speech more easy than a direct one, is greatly borne out by the cross-correspondences, where circumlocution continually takes the place of assertion. thus, in the st. paul correspondence, which is treated in the july pamphlet of the s.p.r., the idea of st. paul was to be conveyed from one automatic writer to two others, both of whom were at a distance, one of them in india. dr. hodgson was the spirit who professed to preside over this experiment. you would think that the simple words "st. paul" occurring in the other scripts would be all-sufficient. but no; he proceeds to make all sorts of indirect allusions, to talk all round st. paul in each of the scripts, and to make five quotations from st. paul's writings. this is beyond coincidence, and quite convincing, but none the less it illustrates the curious way in which they go round instead of going straight. if one could imagine some wise angel on the other side saying, "now, don't make it too easy for these people. make them use their own brains a little. they will become mere automatons if we do everything for them"--if we could imagine that, it would just cover the case. whatever the explanation, it is a noteworthy fact. there is another point about spirit communications which is worth noting. this is their uncertainty wherever any time element comes in. their estimate of time is almost invariably wrong. earth time is probably a different idea to spirit time, and hence the confusion. we had the advantage, as i have stated, of the presence of a lady in our household who developed writing mediumship. she was in close touch with three brothers, all of whom had been killed in the war. this lady, conveying messages from her brothers, was hardly ever entirely wrong upon facts, and hardly ever right about time. there was one notable exception, however, which in itself is suggestive. although her prophecies as to public events were weeks or even months out, she in one case foretold the arrival of a telegram from africa to the day. now the telegram had already been sent, but was delayed, so that the inference seems to be that she could foretell a course of events which had actually been set in motion, and calculate how long they would take to reach their end. on the other hand, i am bound to admit that she confidently prophesied the escape of her fourth brother, who was a prisoner in germany, and that this was duly fulfilled. on the whole i preserve an open mind upon the powers and limitations of prophecy. but apart from all these limitations we have, unhappily, to deal with absolute coldblooded lying on the part of wicked or mischievous intelligences. everyone who has investigated the matter has, i suppose, met with examples of wilful deception, which occasionally are mixed up with good and true communications. it was of such messages, no doubt, that the apostle wrote when he said: "beloved, believe, not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of god." these words can only mean that the early christians not only practised spiritualism as we understand it, but also that they were faced by the same difficulties. there is nothing more puzzling than the fact that one may get a long connected description with every detail given, and that it may prove to be entirely a concoction. however, we must bear in mind that if one case comes absolutely correct, it atones for many failures, just as if you had one telegram correct you would know that there was a line and a communicator, however much they broke down afterwards. but it must be admitted that it is very discomposing and makes one sceptical of messages until they are tested. of a kin with these false influences are all the miltons who cannot scan, and shelleys who cannot rhyme, and shakespeares who cannot think, and all the other absurd impersonations which make our cause ridiculous. they are, i think, deliberate frauds, either from this side or from the other, but to say that they invalidate the whole subject is as senseless as to invalidate our own world because we encounter some unpleasant people. one thing i can truly say, and that is, that in spite of false messages, i have never in all these years known a blasphemous, an unkind, or an obscene message. such incidents must be of very exceptional nature. i think also that, so far as allegations concerning insanity, obsession, and so forth go, they are entirely imaginary. asylum statistics do not bear out such assertions, and mediums live to as good an average age as anyone else. i think, however, that the cult of the seance may be very much overdone. when once you have convinced yourself of the truth of the phenomena the physical seance has done its work, and the man or woman who spends his or her life in running from seance to seance is in danger of becoming a mere sensation hunter. here, as in other cults, the form is in danger of eclipsing the real thing, and in pursuit of physical proofs one may forget that the real object of all these things is, as i have tried to point out, to give us assurance in the future and spiritual strength in the present, to attain a due perception of the passing nature of matter and the all-importance of that which is immaterial. the conclusion, then, of my long search after truth, is that in spite of occasional fraud, which spiritualists deplore, and in spite of wild imaginings, which they discourage, there remains a great solid core in this movement which is infinitely nearer to positive proof than any other religious development with which i am acquainted. as i have shown, it would appear to be a rediscovery rather than an absolutely new thing, but the result in this material age is the same. the days are surely passing when the mature and considered opinions of such men as crookes, wallace, flammarion, chas. richet, lodge, barrett, lombroso, generals drayson and turner, sergeant ballantyne, w. t. stead, judge edmunds, admiral usborne moore, the late archdeacon wilberforce, and such a cloud of other witnesses, can be dismissed with the empty "all rot" or "nauseating drivel" formulae. as mr. arthur hill has well said, we have reached a point where further proof is superfluous, and where the weight of disproof lies upon those who deny. the very people who clamour for proofs have as a rule never taken the trouble to examine the copious proofs which already exist. each seems to think that the whole subject should begin de novo because he has asked for information. the method of our opponents is to fasten upon the latest man who has stated the case--at the present instant it happens to be sir oliver lodge--and then to deal with him as if he had come forward with some new opinions which rested entirely upon his own assertion, with no reference to the corroboration of so many independent workers before him. this is not an honest method of criticism, for in every case the agreement of witnesses is the very root of conviction. but as a matter of fact, there are many single witnesses upon whom this case could rest. if, for example, our only knowledge of unknown forces depended upon the researches of dr. crawford of belfast, who places his amateur medium in a weighing chair with her feet from the ground, and has been able to register a difference of weight of many pounds, corresponding with the physical phenomena produced, a result which he has tested and recorded in a true scientific spirit of caution, i do not see how it could be shaken. the phenomena are and have long been firmly established for every open mind. one feels that the stage of investigation is passed, and that of religious construction is overdue. for are we to satisfy ourselves by observing phenomena with no attention to what the phenomena mean, as a group of savages might stare at a wireless installation with no appreciation of the messages coming through it, or are we resolutely to set ourselves to define these subtle and elusive utterances from beyond, and to construct from them a religious scheme, which will be founded upon human reason on this side and upon spirit inspiration upon the other? these phenomena have passed through the stage of being a parlour game; they are now emerging from that of a debatable scientific novelty; and they are, or should be, taking shape as the foundations of a definite system of religious thought, in some ways confirmatory of ancient systems, in some ways entirely new. the evidence upon which this system rests is so enormous that it would take a very considerable library to contain it, and the witnesses are not shadowy people living in the dim past and inaccessible to our cross-examination, but are our own contemporaries, men of character and intellect whom all must respect. the situation may, as it seems to me, be summed up in a simple alternative. the one supposition is that there has been an outbreak of lunacy extending over two generations of mankind, and two great continents--a lunacy which assails men or women who are otherwise eminently sane. the alternative supposition is that in recent years there has come to us from divine sources a new revelation which constitutes by far the greatest religious event since the death of christ (for the reformation was a re-arrangement of the old, not a revelation of the new), a revelation which alters the whole aspect of death and the fate of man. between these two suppositions there is no solid position. theories of fraud or of delusion will not meet the evidence. it is absolute lunacy or it is a revolution in religious thought, a revolution which gives us as by-products an utter fearlessness of death, and an immense consolation when those who are dear to us pass behind the veil. i should like to add a few practical words to those who know the truth of what i say. we have here an enormous new development, the greatest in the history of mankind. how are we to use it? we are bound in honour, i think, to state our own belief, especially to those who are in trouble. having stated it, we should not force it, but leave the rest to higher wisdom than our own. we wish to subvert no religion. we wish only to bring back the material-minded--to take them out of their cramped valley and put them on the ridge, whence they can breathe purer air and see other valleys and other ridges beyond. religions are mostly petrified and decayed, overgrown with forms and choked with mysteries. we can prove that there is no need for this. all that is essential is both very simple and very sure. the clear call for our help comes from those who have had a loss and who yearn to re-establish connection. this also can be overdone. if your boy were in australia, you would not expect him to continually stop his work and write long letters at all seasons. having got in touch, be moderate in your demands. do not be satisfied with any evidence short of the best, but having got that, you can, it seems to me, wait for that short period when we shall all be re-united. i am in touch at present with thirteen mothers who are in correspondence with their dead sons. in each case, the husband, where he is alive, is agreed as to the evidence. in only one case so far as i know was the parent acquainted with psychic matters before the war. several of these cases have peculiarities of their own. in two of them the figures of the dead lads have appeared beside the mothers in a photograph. in one case the first message to the mother came through a stranger to whom the correct address of the mother was given. the communication afterwards became direct. in another case the method of sending messages was to give references to particular pages and lines of books in distant libraries, the whole conveying a message. the procedure was to weed out all fear of telepathy. verily there is no possible way by which a truth can be proved by which this truth has not been proved. how are you to act? there is the difficulty. there are true men and there are frauds. you have to work warily. so far as professional mediums go, you will not find it difficult to get recommendations. even with the best you may draw entirely blank. the conditions are very elusive. and yet some get the result at once. we cannot lay down laws, because the law works from the other side as well as this. nearly every woman is an undeveloped medium. let her try her own powers of automatic writing. there again, what is done must be done with every precaution against self-deception, and in a reverent and prayerful mood. but if you are earnest, you will win through somehow, for someone else is probably trying on the other side. some people discountenance communication upon the ground that it is hindering the advance of the departed. there is not a tittle of evidence for this. the assertions of the spirits are entirely to the contrary and they declare that they are helped and strengthened by the touch with those whom they love. i know few more moving passages in their simple boyish eloquence than those in which raymond describes the feelings of the dead boys who want to get messages back to their people and find that ignorance and prejudice are a perpetual bar. "it is hard to think your sons are dead, but such a lot of people do think so. it is revolting to hear the boys tell you how no one speaks of them ever. it hurts me through and through." above all read the literature of this subject. it has been far too much neglected, not only by the material world but by believers. soak yourself with this grand truth. make yourself familiar with the overpowering evidence. get away from the phenomenal side and learn the lofty teaching from such beautiful books as after death or from stainton moses' spirit teachings. there is a whole library of such literature, of unequal value but of a high average. broaden and spiritualize your thoughts. show the results in your lives. unselfishness, that is the keynote to progress. realise not as a belief or a faith, but as a fact which is as tangible as the streets of london, that we are moving on soon to another life, that all will be very happy there, and that the only possible way in which that happiness can be marred or deferred is by folly and selfishness in these few fleeting years. it must be repeated that while the new revelation may seem destructive to those who hold christian dogmas with extreme rigidity, it has quite the opposite effect upon the mind which, like so many modern minds, had come to look upon the whole christian scheme as a huge delusion. it is shown clearly that the old revelation has so many resemblances, defaced by time and mangled by man's mishandling and materialism, but still denoting the same general scheme, that undoubtedly both have come from the same source. the accepted ideas of life after death, of higher and lower spirits, of comparative happiness depending upon our own conduct, of chastening by pain, of guardian spirits, of high teachers, of an infinite central power, of circles above circles approaching nearer to his presence--all of these conceptions appear once more and are confirmed by many witnesses. it is only the claims of infallibility and of monopoly, the bigotry and pedantry of theologians, and the man-made rituals which take the life out of the god-given thoughts--it is only this which has defaced the truth. i cannot end this little book better than by using words more eloquent than any which i could write, a splendid sample of english style as well as of english thought. they are from the pen of that considerable thinker and poet, mr. gerald massey, and were written many years ago. "spiritualism has been for me, in common with many others, such a lifting of the mental horizon and letting-in of the heavens--such a formation of faith into facts, that i can only compare life without it to sailing on board ship with hatches battened down and being kept a prisoner, living by the light of a candle, and then suddenly, on some splendid starry night, allowed to go on deck for the first time to see the stupendous mechanism of the heavens all aglow with the glory of god." supplementary documents i. the next phase of life i have spoken in the text of the striking manner in which accounts of life in the next phase, though derived from the most varied and independent sources, are still in essential agreement--an agreement which occasionally descends to small details. a variety is introduced by that fuller vision which can see and describe more than one plane, but the accounts of that happy land to which the ordinary mortal may hope to aspire, are very consistent. since i wrote the statement i have read three fresh independent descriptions which again confirm the point. one is the account given by "a king's counsel," in his recent book, i heard a voice (kegan paul), which i recommended to inquirers, though it has a strong roman catholic bias running through it which shows that our main lines of thought are persistent. a second is the little book the light on the future, giving the very interesting details of the beyond, gathered by an earnest and reverent circle in dublin. the other came in a private letter from mr. hubert wales, and is, i think, most instructive. mr. wales is a cautious and rather sceptical inquirer who had put away his results with incredulity (he had received them through his own automatic writing). on reading my account of the conditions described in the beyond, he hunted up his own old script which had commended itself so little to him when he first produced it. he says: "after reading your article, i was struck, almost startled, by the circumstance that the statements which had purported to be made to me regarding conditions after death coincided--i think almost to the smallest detail--with those you set out as the result of your collation of material obtained from a great number of sources. i cannot think there was anything in my antecedent reading to account for this coincidence. i had certainly read nothing you had published on the subject. i had purposely avoided raymond and books like it, in order not to vitiate my own results, and the proceedings of the s.p.r. which i had read at that time, do not touch, as you know, upon after-death conditions. at any rate i obtained, at various times, statements (as my contemporary notes show) to the effect that, in this persisting state of existence, they have bodies which, though imperceptible by our senses, are as solid to them as ours to us, that these bodies are based on the general characteristics of our present bodies but beautified; that they have no age, no pain, no rich and poor; that they wear clothes and take nourishment; that they do not sleep (though they spoke of passing occasionally into a semiconscious state which they called 'lying asleep'--a condition, it just occurs to me, which seems to correspond roughly with the 'hypnoidal' state); that, after a period which is usually shorter than the average life-time here, they pass to some further state of existence; that people of similar thoughts, tastes and feelings, gravitate together; that married couples do not necessarily reunite, but that the love of man and woman continues and is freed of elements which with us often militate against its perfect realization; that immediately after death people pass into a semi-conscious rest-state lasting various periods, that they are unable to experience bodily pain, but are susceptible at times to some mental anxiety; that a painful death is 'absolutely unknown,' that religious beliefs make no difference whatever in the after-state, and that their life altogether is intensely happy, and no one having ever realised it could wish to return here. i got no reference to 'work' by that word, but much to the various interests that were said to occupy them. that is probably only another way of saying the same thing. 'work' with us has come usually to mean 'work to live,' and that, i was emphatically informed, was not the case with them--that all the requirements of life were somehow mysteriously 'provided.' neither did i get any reference to a definite 'temporary penal state,' but i gathered that people begin there at the point of intellectual and moral development where they leave off here; and since their state of happiness was based mainly upon sympathy, those who came over in a low moral condition, failed at first for various lengths of time to have the capacity to appreciate and enjoy it." automatic writing this form of mediumship gives the very highest results, and yet in its very nature is liable to self-deception. are we using our own hand or is an outside power directing it? it is only by the information received that we can tell, and even then we have to make broad allowance for the action of our own subconscious knowledge. it is worth while perhaps to quote what appears to me to be a thoroughly critic-proof case, so that the inquirer may see how strong the evidence is that these messages are not self-evolved. this case is quoted in mr. arthur hill's recent book man is a spirit (cassell & co.) and is contributed by a gentleman who takes the name of captain james burton. he is, i understand, the same medium (amateur) through whose communications the position of the buried ruins at glastonbury have recently been located. "a week after my father's funeral i was writing a business letter, when something seemed to intervene between my hand and the motor centres of my brain, and the hand wrote at an amazing rate a letter, signed with my father's signature and purporting to come from him. i was upset, and my right side and arm became cold and numb. for a year after this letters came frequently, and always at unexpected times. i never knew what they contained until i examined them with a magnifying-glass: they were microscopic. and they contained a vast amount of matter with which it was impossible for me to be acquainted." . . . "unknown to me, my mother, who was staying some sixty miles away, lost her pet dog, which my father had given her. the same night i had a letter from him condoling with her, and stating that the dog was now with him. 'all things which love us and are necessary to our happiness in the world are with us here.' a most sacred secret, known to no one but my father and mother, concerning a matter which occurred years before i was born, was afterwards told me in the script, with the comment: 'tell your mother this, and she will know that it is i, your father, who am writing.' my mother had been unable to accept the possibility up to now, but when i told her this she collapsed and fainted. from that moment the letters became her greatest comfort, for they were lovers during the forty years of their married life, and his death almost broke her heart. "as for myself, i am as convinced that my father, in his original personality, still exists, as if he were still in his study with the door shut. he is no more dead than he would be were he living in america. "i have compared the diction and vocabulary of these letters with those employed in my own writing--i am not unknown as a magazine contributor--and i find no points of similarity between the two." there is much further evidence in this case for which i refer the reader to the book itself. the cheriton dugout i have mentioned in the text that i had some recent experience of a case where a "polter-geist" or mischievous spirit had been manifesting. these entities appear to be of an undeveloped order and nearer to earth conditions than any others with which we are acquainted. this comparative materialism upon their part places them low in the scale of spirit, and undesirable perhaps as communicants, but it gives them a special value as calling attention to crude obvious phenomena, and so arresting the human attention and forcing upon our notice that there are other forms of life within the universe. these borderland forces have attracted passing attention at several times and places in the past, such cases as the wesley persecution at epworth, the drummer of tedworth, the bells of bealing, etc., startling the country for a time--each of them being an impingement of unknown forces upon human life. then almost simultaneously came the hydesville case in america and the cideville disturbances in france, which were so marked that they could not be overlooked. from them sprang the whole modern movement which, reasoning upwards from small things to great, from raw things to developed ones, from phenomena to messages, is destined to give religion the firmest basis upon which it has ever stood. therefore, humble and foolish as these manifestations may seem, they have been the seed of large developments, and are worthy of our respectful, though critical, attention. many such manifestations have appeared of recent years in various quarters of the world, each of which is treated by the press in a more or less comic vein, with a conviction apparently that the use of the word "spook" discredits the incident and brings discussion to an end. it is remarkable that each is treated as an entirely isolated phenomenon, and thus the ordinary reader gets no idea of the strength of the cumulative evidence. in this particular case of the cheriton dugout the facts are as follows: mr. jaques, a justice of the peace and a man of education and intelligence, residing at embrook house, cheriton, near folkestone, made a dugout just opposite to his residence as a protection against air raids. the house was, it may be remarked, of great antiquity, part of it being an old religious foundation of the 14th century. the dugout was constructed at the base of a small bluff, and the sinking was through ordinary soft sandstone. the work was carried out by a local jobbing builder called rolfe, assisted by a lad. soon after the inception of his task he was annoyed by his candle being continually blown out by jets of sand, and, by similar jets hitting up against his own face. these phenomena he imagined to be due to some gaseous or electrical cause, but they reached such a point that his work was seriously hampered, and he complained to mr. jaques, who received the story with absolute incredulity. the persecution continued, however, and increased in intensity, taking the form now of actual blows from moving material, considerable objects, such as stones and bits of brick, flying past him and hitting the walls with a violent impact. mr. rolfe, still searching for a physical explanation, went to mr. hesketh, the municipal electrician of folkestone, a man of high education and intelligence, who went out to the scene of the affair and saw enough to convince himself that the phenomena were perfectly genuine and inexplicable by ordinary laws. a canadian soldier who was billeted upon mr. rolfe, heard an account of the happenings from his host, and after announcing his conviction that the latter had "bats in his belfry" proceeded to the dugout, where his experiences were so instant and so violent that he rushed out of the place in horror. the housekeeper at the hall also was a witness of the movement of bricks when no human hands touched them. mr. jaques, whose incredulity had gradually thawed before all this evidence, went down to the dugout in the absence of everyone, and was departing from it when five stones rapped up against the door from the inside. he reopened the door and saw them lying there upon the floor. sir william barrett had meanwhile come down, but had seen nothing. his stay was a short one. i afterwards made four visits of about two hours each to the grotto, but got nothing direct, though i saw the new brickwork all chipped about by the blows which it had received. the forces appeared to have not the slightest interest in psychical research, for they never played up to an investigator, and yet their presence and action have been demonstrated to at least seven different observers, and, as i have said, they left their traces behind them, even to the extent of picking the flint stones out of the new cement which was to form the floor, and arranging them in tidy little piles. the obvious explanation that the boy was an adept at mischief had to be set aside in view of the fact that the phenomena occurred in his absence. one extra man of science wandered on to the scene for a moment, but as his explanation was that the movements occurred through the emanation of marsh-gas, it did not advance matters much. the disturbances are still proceeding, and i have had a letter this very morning (february 21st, 1918) with fuller and later details from mr. hesketh, the engineer. what is the real explanation of such a matter? i can only say that i have advised mr. jaques to dig into the bluff under which he is constructing his cellar. i made some investigation myself upon the top of it and convinced myself that the surface ground at that spot has at some time been disturbed to the depth of at least five feet. something has, i should judge, been buried at some date, and it is probable that, as in the case cited in the text, there is a connection between this and the disturbances. it is very probable that mr. rolfe is, unknown to himself, a physical medium, and that when he was in the confined space of the cellar he turned it into a cabinet in which his magnetic powers could accumulate and be available for use. it chanced that there was on the spot some agency which chose to use them, and hence the phenomena. when mr. jaques went alone to the grotto the power left behind by mr. rolfe, who had been in it all morning, was not yet exhausted and he was able to get some manifestations. so i read it, but it is well not to be dogmatic on such matters. if there is systematic digging i should expect an epilogue to the story. whilst these proofs were in the press a second very marked case of a polter-geist came within my knowledge. i cannot without breach of confidence reveal the details and the phenomena are still going on. curiously enough, it was because one of the sufferers from the invasion read some remarks of mine upon the cheriton dugout that this other case came to my knowledge, for the lady wrote to me at once for advice and assistance. the place is remote and i have not yet been able to visit it, but from the full accounts which i have now received it seems to present all the familiar features, with the phenomenon of direct writing superadded. some specimens of this script have reached me. two clergymen have endeavoured to mitigate the phenomena, which are occasionally very violent, but so far without result. it may be some consolation to any others who may be suffering from this strange infliction, to know that in the many cases which have been carefully recorded there is none in which any physical harm has been inflicted upon man or beast. the planet mars and its inhabitants by eros urides (a martian) dedication to the millions of god's children on this earth enthralled in darkness, for whom the solicitude of the father is now in evidence, this book is dedicated. may it be a beacon to light the way of weary searchers after truth. one hemisphere of mars showing the north polar cap and the main canal system covering the planet. the many thousands of small lateral canals, radiating from the larger waterways, and which form an important part of the general plan, have been purposely omitted from the above to avoid confusion. the circular spots and dots are the principal reservoirs used for impounding water for use during the long martian summer. the dark areas shown in the drawing are mars ancient sea bottoms now covered with vegetation. it will be observed that most of the canals are double, paralleling each other at a distance of about seventy-five miles. centers of population are not shown for the reason that space is not available on so small a drawing. the city of urid is situated adjacent to the reservoir in the center of drawing, just north of the equator. contents chapter i.-eros urides, of the city of urid, planet mars, the author, introduces himself and his book the planet mars and its inhabitants. chapter ii.-he describes the population centers, temperatures and climate. the whole planet is gridironed with canals. (see diagram.) chapter iii.-he gives a full description of the marvelous martian canal system. chapter iv.-planetary economy. no worries, and the wants of all are supplied by the commonwealth. chapter v.-property and property rights. god, the creator of it, is considered the owner of all property. material things to the martians are but expedients. the millions of martians live as one great family, though divided into families. and it is this solidarity and filial consideration towards each other that made the stupendous canal and other works possible. chapter vi.-trade and barter are unknown. transportation is by flying ships, and gravitational pull has been overcome. also, they use cosmic or universal energy. all distribution is from immense warehouses. chapter vii.-a great many clairvoyant visions were seen by the shorthand recorder, which make most interesting reading. chapter viii.-knowledge of god comes from within. selfishness has been eliminated; and the martians require no policemen, watchmen or other guardians of the peace. christ is known to the martians as one of the great powers in the universe. chapter ix.-mars has no political system; yet it is controlled by the very acme of system. each individual of their vast population is guided by "the light within" and by "love." chapter x.-mars is ruled by love, their only law. there is no evil, for all are good; all are equal. truth is simple. the people of mars are ready to stimulate the living of the christ-life on other planets. (this is a wonderful and most inspiring chapter.) chapter xi.-education and training of the individual. they have a spoken and a written language; but telepathy is often used. set rules of discipline are not required. there are references to jupiter, neptune, uranus, venus, mercury, and the two moons of mars. chapter xii.-education and training of the individual (contd). vocational determination. school age. marriage. science and domestic science. relativity of time, space, motion and matter. all in the whole universe is eternal motion. chapter xiii.-music is an expression of the father. "all around us is a beautiful rainbow universe". about music of the spheres, and that singing is highly developed. chapter xiv.-aeronautics. inhabited planets. sectarianism. no sound, no discordant vibrations disturb the atmosphere of mars. chapter xv.-life is an attribute of the entire universe. the planet jupiter is enveloped in deep gloom and darkness. gives much information. vesta, an asteroid, is about 500 miles in diameter. says that communications between planets of our solar system and our earth will soon be realized, and that the initial message will be from mars. it will herald a new era for the people of earth, and will break down our narrow-minded theology. chapter xvi.-the risen christ. all the mars people have lived on other planets before, except your earth. on mars they live the christ-life every day. 10,000 years ago the mars people accepted christ as their savior without murder. chapter xvii.-physical environment is the result of spiritual causes, and is the result of our mental attitude. chapter xviii.-material life is a lesson, and is necessary for the unfolding of character. the martians have mastered their natural passions. chapter xix.-eros gives a graphic description of a martian home and surroundings, then shows how the food is manipulated. it is brought from a central depot in a mechanical contrivance which is run underground, thence up into the dining room. the soiled dishes are run down and off the same way. no drudgery for the housewife! chapter xx.-"art." the martians have beautiful productions in painting, sculpture and tapestries, some of which depict the scenes and episodes incident on christ's visit to mars ten thousand years ago. chapter xxi.-eros urides has a good deal to write on the subject of "scientific sophistry," which has mostly to do with our earth. foreword it was eros urides, the real martian behind the scenes, who dictated the contents of this book through the medium to mr. kennon. it was further stated that "the medium was held in trance for short periods only, as the medium must necessarily experience the atmosphere of mars which is more rarified than that of your earth." writes also that the medium seemed to have some difficulty, and at first pain in breathing while in the trance condition. mr. kennon also wrote in his foreword of the original book that it was not until january 4, 1920, it was decided to write the book in which the planet mars, its people, its form of government, its art, industries, philosophy of life, etc. would for the first time in the history of this world be given. it appears that jesus the christed one of god visited the planets of our solar system, the planet mars being one of those visited and investigated. and, as a proof of this it was jesus christ who functioned as chairman or presidentat the great peace conference held in the vast coliseum on the first sphere of the heavens of our earth. that was in the year 1912, as fully reported in "world of tomorrow," page 98. it was at that conference he stated that universal peace must be speeded up, as there were other planets to be investigated: and that the earth stood in the way and was becoming a menace to neighboring planets. chapter i. the planet mars and its inhabitants years ago, as you measure time, i was an inhabitant of mars, your sister planet. my name is eros urides (the latter signifying "of urid"). but a physical name is only an incidental in one's life. in the spirit world we are given a name in accordance with our spiritual qualities and gifts and the kind of work we do. i came into material being as the fruit of the sacred union of my parents. it is not necessary to say aught concerning their social status, for on mars all who unfold into a material expression of the father are equal. equal in rank, station, and in possession of the material fruits of earth. after my education had been completed i was, in accordance with the martian system of scientifically determining one's rightful vocation, assigned as overseer to a section of one of the main canals supplying water from the north polar cap to an impounding reservoir near the city of urid, the place of my birth. i was in the 36th year (martian reckoning) of my physical life on the planet when my transition occurred, which event was the result of my inability to observe, one night, warning signals sent out from a central station advising the eve of a tremendous drop in temperature. this occurred in the martian autumn, and i succumbed to the intense cold. i was not married, so i left no immediate family except my parents, brothers and sisters. i have come to your earth to give your inhabitants some idea of the idealistic life lived by your more advanced brothers. i use the term idealistic in a relative way only, for in god's universe the degrees of material progress of his children are infinite in number. in giving this information to the inhabitants of your world i have been assisted by the spirits of many former wise children of your earth. the purpose of the information which i am about to impart to your people is mainly to stimulate and hasten into material expression the reign of god's kingdom on your earth. many will reject this information, but it is god's truth nevertheless. but on the other hand, many of god's children now functioning on your planet will accept the statements as true, and they will be helped and encouraged in their hard struggle for material existence. this struggle, unequal as it is, is the result of darkness engendered by the loss of faith in god. man's faith in his creator, in the ages preceding your present era of darkness, was sublime. man's attitude towards, and his confidence in the promises of god was as the faith of a child to its parents, whom it has always trusted. but selfishness has gained the upper hand, and is now man's master on your earth. to break the chains now binding man to self is the purpose of god's holy emissaries, who have descended from high spiritual spheres to your earth to teach and show men the way out of bondage. they will succeed, for omniscience has commanded it. it is under their direction that i am now contributing my little part in this movement. i am only too glad to have been able to give the information contained in this book, and i also appreciate the assistance of all those on your earth plane who so willingly assisted; but of course we are all obeying the father's command. as life is an attribute of the entire universe, the material aspect of all god's creations are the same. that is, life on another planet must be thought of as being no different from what experience teaches you. all inspiration comes from the father. hence, the degree of a race's advancement in point of civilization is in proportion to its spiritual enfoldment. therefore the material aspect of life, which includes god's evolutionary and non-evolutionary creatures, is the same on every habitable globe in limitless space. in telling the story of mars you must be prepared to believe that, from a physical point of view, the martians are just human beings, differing little from the people of your earth. the same may be said concerning the activities of life enjoyed by all of god's creatures. martians work and have their recreations. they enjoy the fruits of their earth just as you do the fruits of yours. they have invented labor-saving machinery, and indulge in a multitude of industrial pursuits, but with this difference: their economic system is such that the life of the martian is not the struggle for existence you have created on your earth. on the contrary it is a pleasurable life in which work is as much enjoyed as is recreation. this condition is due to two causes. first, mars is much farther advanced as a world in its evolutionary career. second, the spiritual enfoldment of its inhabitants is proportionately advanced. as the divine plan is universal in its scope the physical characteristics of mars, compared to your earth are, in a general way, the same, with the exceptions shown later in this book. the inhabitants of mars enjoy a blue sky, mountains, hills, rocks and dells, clouds, beautiful sunsets, and in fact most of the physical phenomena witnessed by the dwellers of your earth. the martians live and have their being just as your people do, but they are surrounded by a different spiritual and a modified physical environment. they take pleasure in music, art and the study of physical science, but with this difference: the spiritual growth and enfoldment of the individual is considered as most important, and all material advancement as only an aid to ultimate ends. with main points in view the reader can now readily comprehend the real martian character, although it may be a disappointment to some who have imagined the inhabitants of mars as physically different from themselves; or perhaps, as semi-spiritual entities, who have possibly been transplanted from other worlds to undergo a sort of probationary life amid a paradise of beautiful surroundings and things. chapter ii. population centers, temperature, climate although mars is little more than half as large as your earth, its diameter being 4,200 miles, it contains a larger area of habitable land than the latter, its surface area being approximately 212,000,000 square miles as against 51,000,000 miles for your earth. hence our globe supports a larger population about 13,160,000,000 people. your population is in the neighborhood of 1,645,000,000. your land area is 161,000,000 square miles less than the land area of mars. this is for the reason that your oceans occupy a vast surface of your earth, and mars has no oceans, as these dried up ages ago. consequently almost the entire surface of our planet (with exception of some small areas covered with swamps, remnants of ancient seas and oceans, and portions of the extreme northerly and southerly polar caps) is utilized by the martian inhabitants. our planet is gridironed with canals, many hundreds of the main ones being observable through your telescopes, and the art of intensive farming is practised by us to a degree of perfection never dreamed of by the dwellers of your earth. our winters, even in the equatorial regions are severe, the temperatures at times descending to as low as 80 degrees below zero. however, our springs, summers, and autumns are mild and nearly twice as long as your seasons, for the martian year is 687 days long. we grow and mature many crops of necessary cereals, fruits and vegetables during the spring and summer months, so that want is never felt by our happy people. our method of irrigation is somewhat different from that practised in the arid portions of your earth. we do not, except in a few instances, flood our lands as you do. owing to the fact that our atmosphere is much lighter than yours, the normal air pressure being only about 8 pounds to the square inch as against 15 pounds on your earth, evaporation is very rapid, and the dewfall, as a consequence of much moisture being in the air, is very great. this heavy humidity also tends to prevent radiation of heat, and the temperature at night does not drop exceedingly low, although frost is not uncommon even in summer. as our vegetation is acclimated and adapted to our environment no damage is done to growing crops by reason of these frosts. the martians experience no difficulty in living in a rarified atmosphere. neither have they abnormally developed lungs. god has made ample provision for the comfort of his creatures throughout all of his infinite creations, and we of mars are not excepted from this fatherly care and love. should an inhabitant of your earth be suddenly transported to mars he could live but a few minutes, for the reason that his lungs could not assimilate enough oxygen from our light atmosphere. economy is a science with us. nothing is wasted. every possible square inch of ground produces food for man or beast. even the north and south arctic regions, after their seasonal thaws blossom forth with vegetal growth, as astronomers on your earth have observed. these regions produce their quota of food by being utilized as pasturage for our cattle. immense amounts of forage are also gathered for the long martian winters, when a greater portion of either the north or south hemisphere is covered with a mantle of snow. the equatorial regions are always pleasant. no severe wind storms are experienced on mars; neither do we have lightning or other magnetic disturbances such as you experience. as a corollary to the tranquility of our inhabitants living in peace, love and harmony, and the truths of god expressed in our everyday living, the climate is equable, the atmosphere clear and beautiful, the sky serene and sapphire-blue: the severest winds but gentle zephyrs wafted towards the equator from the more remote portions of our globe. cloudy skies are rare and rainstorms few. there is no lack of god's gifts on mars. as intensive farming is a necessity on our planet, plant food or fertilizing elements are plentiful. one of the large white circular spots observed by your astronomers, located in a region on mars named by them elysium, and which has been a puzzle to all observers, is an immense deposit of fertilizing chemicals. an immense well is located in this particular spot which gushes forth a never-ending saline solution, highly impregnated with sodium nitrate, potash and other salts. the country for many miles around is covered with a white precipitate which has been carried by the moist air and deposited on the martian earth. these chemical compounds are refined and used to replenish the soil with plant food. there are 153,000 centers of population on mars, but these centers are not congested cities similar to those on your earth. every individual has plenty of room to thrive and develop the best within him. our cities are not crowded and our buildings are beautiful in their simplicity: large and roomy, with an abundance of sunlight and ample ventilation. white marble and metals are employed for building purposes. the inhabitants congregate in centers and, owing to our more perfect methods of transportation, go forth daily to their tasks in field or factory, to return at the end of their allotted period to home and fireside. chapter iii. the martian canal system the canal system on mars is comparatively new. the idea of constructing a planetary canal system had its incipiency at the time of christ's visit to our planet. the master warned the people that they must make provision for their future water supply. at that time (10,000 years ago) the water supply was becoming noticeably scarcer as time went on. it was nearly 3,000 years after the master's mission to mars had been concluded that actual construction of the planetary canal system was undertaken; and during the intervening 7,000 years and up to the present time, construction on the public waterways has continued. at the present day the system is most complete, but constant work is required to keep the canals in working order. in addition to the gigantic canal system, provision had to be made for suitable reservoirs to impound the water after the seasonal thaws at the poles. to this end immense reservoirs were constructed at most canal intersections. in some instances the reservoirs are established between parallel canals; but in every case smaller canals, or laterals, always intersect at these points. many of the canals on mars are double, as they appear to your astronomers. these double waterways parallel each other at a distance of about 75 miles. the reason for this is that as the martian population is absolutely dependent upon the polar waters to irrigate their crops, any accident to a canal, such as a landslide stopping the regular flow of water or the breaking of a lock or gate, would mean a very serious calamity to a great number of people. and for that reason, soon after the main canals were constructed, second and parallel waterways were made for the purpose of guaranteeing an uninterrupted flow of water from the poles to the equatorial regions. the result of this was that on many occasions the foresight of the martian engineers who had the water supply of the planet in charge, saved immense areas from drought. the rainfall on mars is almost nil and the immense population (eight times larger than that of your earth) is entirely dependent on the water supply from the melting polar caps. water on mars is a most precious fluid and there is none to waste. our oceans evaporated ages ago, and outside of the precipitation of moisture at the poles in the form of snow, none is to be had anywhere else on the planet except in very meager quantities. the astronomer lowell of your earth, who made a life study of our planet, called these reservoirs "oases," but he was mistaken in his theory. he concluded that these points, which appear as round disks in the telescope, were centers of population. this conclusion is erroneous. the centers of population on mars are scattered over the entire planet regardless of the position of the so-called "oases." it is quite true that owing to the rapid evaporation of water in the comparatively thin atmosphere of mars, the dewfall for quite a radius from the center of the reservoirs is considerable, with the result that vegetation springs up, giving the "oases" the appearance of a diameter of about 75 miles. the reservoirs are about 60 miles across and hold millions of gallons of water. the same explanation may be given of the canals. the dewfall on each side is extensive, and the vegetal growth which extends the full length of the water-ways and for thousands of miles in some cases, is most prolific. the water in the canals, in most instances, is distributed by gravity; but recourse is had to a lock system and to immense pumps for raising the water to proper levels. the gates of the lock system and the pumps are operated by electricity, the control of which energy is well understood by us. in fact, we are centuries ahead of your earth people in the knowledge of the use of electro-magnetic energy. (more will be given on the subject of electricity in a later chapter.) another source of mystery to your astronomers has been the appearance of triangular dark spots at the origin of some of the martian canals. these have been referred to by your astronomer lowell as "carets," named so by reason of their peculiar shape. these so-called "carets" are the thoughtful provision for the impounding of a season's supply of water. in other words they are in part a lock system for raising water to the level of some of the main canals, and embrace also a prodigious pumping system. these so-called "carets," as the telescope will show, are located at the edge of some of what appear to you as very dark areas on our planet. these dark areas are mars' old sea bottoms, and in many instances have been utilized by our engineers as natural reservoirs for water. their convenient location near the poles has provided ideal facilities for the preservation of an adequate supply of water. the construction of mars' gigantic canal system, planetary in its extent, might seem to your earth people an impossible task. and it might prove so to your earth dwellers should you undertake a similar project in the ages to come when your seas dry up, though it must be remembered that gravity on mars, compared with your earth, is as 38 to 100. excavations of large waterways then becomes a comparatively easy task. we have no high mountains on mars; in fact, none exceeding 3,000 feet in altitude. owing to the difference in gravity the angle of repose on mars is nearly acute as against 45 degrees on your earth, which permits of almost perpendicular walls to the canals and lessens the danger of landslides and cave-ins. but above all, the biggest advantage enjoyed by us in the construction of large public enterprises, such as are embraced by our canal system, is the solidarity and unity of purpose on the part of the martian people. as love rules our planet no internal dissension or public misunderstanding exists among its people to retard any undertaking that is necessary for the good of all. it is lamentable that the dwellers on your earth are divided against one another. not only are your false ideals of racial, sociological and religious distinctions a bar to your spiritual and material progress, but your political and economic falsities are as millstones around your necks, which will ultimately lead you to destruction unless you, as a people, retrace your steps and go back to the pathway pointed out by christ the master 2,000 years ago, when he came to your earth with a message from the most high. the pathway is love which leads to a true understanding of god and the kingdom referred to by christ. the martian canals, as telescopic observation will prove in almost all cases, follow straight lines. when necessary, mountains have been cut through down to a proper level. where the canals cross depressions or old sea-bottoms, immense aqueducts have been constructed of solid stone and concrete in such a manner that the water, in most cases, flows to its destination by gravity. that this has been a stupendous task may be more readily imagined when it is known that the width of the main canals averages from one to twenty miles. this announcement might seem to many unreasonable, but it must be remembered that the volume of water distributed over 212,000,000 square miles of territory is immense. you might ask where this large volume of water comes from. the polar caps! during the martian winter these extend down nearly to the equator, and cover about five-sevenths of the planet's surface when at maximum; and as the snowfall averages from six inches at the edge of the caps to 50 feet at and near the actual poles, some idea may be gained of the amount of moisture taken care of by these artificial waterways. ten feet of snow will make 12 inches of water, so there exists on mars an ample supply for all purposes. (note--the question as to why many of the canals germinate has been a perplexing one to our astronomers. lowell observed that many of the main canals germinated a short time after the commencement of the martian summer, and for a time it was thought that the phenomena might be an optical illusion, and the latter theory was considered seriously by some observers until the double canals were actually photographed at the flagstaff observatory, but the cause of the doubling was never solved until the receipt of these revelations.) chapter iv. planetary economy economy is a virtue long cultivated on the planet mars. on your earth you waste more than you use, not only in food but in the fruits of the earth. you are using up your resources at a tremendous rate, and some day you must pay the penalty. witness the wanton destruction of your beautiful forests, the depletion of your coal beds and crude oil deposits. all this waste is the result of lack of spiritual guidance; a gross materialism: an inordinate selfish greed. instead of laying up spiritual treasures you are worshiping at the altar of mamon. ultimately you will find your hoardings nothing but tarnished brass--an illusion leading you on to spiritual destruction. with the martians the incentive to live is to express life and be in harmony with the creator, to develop spiritually and build for eternity. on mars each one strives to live for his brother to the end that all may inherit the promised kingdom when yet as a physical being. commercialism with us is unknown, for no one works for profit. the products of the toil of all the inhabitants are for the public larder and other necessities and even luxuries. as a result of this system of public economy and industrialism, sweat-shops, child labor, poor houses, public reformatories, and the long list of pernicious and iniquitous customs in vogue on your earth are unknown on our planet. no worries mar the life of the people of mars. worry has no place in the martian mind. the wants of all are supplied by the commonwealth, and each one contributes his best efforts to the common good, and in return each individual is supplied his every want. this is in accordance with christ's message: "seek ye first the kingdom of god and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." chapter v. property and property rights on mars all property is considered as belonging to god, its creator, who provided it for the enfoldment and comfort of his creatures. no individual lays claim to property in the sense that you earth dwellers do. through god's love does man inhabit a portion of the material universe, but only for a season. man comes into material being to express life and acquire an individuality, after which he passes out of material bondage, when his place is taken by another. at man's transition he takes with him only character, nothing else. if the things he has striven for during his material life have been but chimeras: the material things of life: the fruits of the earth, then in that case he will find himself poor indeed. the only real wealth, the only thing worth striving for, is a knowledge of god and his kingdom. and with us martians a knowledge of god is the ultimate goal sought for. hence all material things to the martian are but expedients, soon to be forgotten. material wealth is an abstraction. its usual evidence is the possession of property, which may be money, land, goods or chattels, as the case may be. in final analysis this concrete evidence of wealth is not real. money is nothing more or less than a stamped token entitling the possessor to so much human effort, for the real value behind money, after all, is but so much human energy or force, varying according to its quality and its worth. other forms of property such as goods and chattels, are the result of human endeavor and may be secured by the exchange of money, or it may be produced by the owner. wealth represented by lands, which were created by god for the benefit of all humankind, and not for the individual, is the so-called right-secured by barter, exchange or inheritance, to use or withhold from use, at the caprice of the owner--of a certain piece or portion of the planet. under a legal fiction the title to land extends to the center of the earth and to infinity in an opposite direction! the text: "thou shalt earn thy bread by the sweat of thy brow" has a deep significance to one who has come into a knowledge of truth. drones have no place in the divine plan. it is not only essential but mandatory, that each one do his part for the common good. the non-producing rich man is as much a drone as is the vagabond who neither toils nor spins. the biblical test concerning the difficulty of the rich man getting into heaven means that it is impossible for a drone or parasite to get into harmony with god. the possession of wealth is not in itself sinful, but the possession of wealth is a corollary to selfishness. he who is unselfish will spurn wealth. the individual who accumulates beyond his needs sins against heaven when he locks up his goods in strong boxes. the act of hoarding deprives some creature of his just portion, for god has planned there should be sufficient for all who make the effort, and a system that permits an unequal distribution of god's gifts is in opposition to the divine plan, and doubly pernicious is a church organization that permits it. only after christ has taken up his abode in the hearts of the people of your earth will surcease come to the suffering millions on your planet. happiness and selfishness are so diametrically opposed that the former is impossible unless the latter is eliminated from your world, for only real happiness comes after complete surrender to god. surrender to god means subordination to his will. his will on earth must be done as it is in heaven. all must be self-conscious of this. if god's will was adhered to on your earth what a different place it would be! instead of a shambles it would be a paradise, the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of god a fact instead of the dream of a few. god loves all his creatures, both evolutionary and non-evolutionary. his love is infinite in extent. we are all his children. everything has been provided for us. it is only man's selfishness that deprives any creature of his just dues. man suffers want on account of his lack of faith in god! before man lost his faith in god he walked and communed with angels. he could do it now if he would but listen to the voice within--if he would only open his heart to christ, for help is ready whenever one asks for it in sincerity and faith. one of the sources of great injustice to the majority of the inhabitants of your earth is the belief in the dogma of divine right. this dogma includes not only the absurdity of the divine right of kings, but the divine right to the ownership of goods and land through the creator's favoritism for a few. this dogma is the mother of untold misery and suffering. out of this ungodly theory has evolved your shameful caste system; your shameful economic ideas. your ancient feudal system of government has been but little improved upon today over its primitive status, for you still draw well-defined lines of class distinction between god's children--lines of demarcation based on wealth and natal origin. with your inhabitants, communal standing and social distinction is proportionate to the wealth of the possessor or to the wealth or social standing of ancestors. the monstrous heresy of divine right is an invention of the powers of darkness and must be eliminated from your world root and branch before your progress forward is assured. god plays no favorites. his love is showered upon all alike. his gifts are for all his children. it was never the divine intent that a favored few should bask in the sunshine of his grace while the majority suffered want and deprivation. these false ideas have been the procurers of darkness: of the stygian gloom now overshadowing your earth. spiritual darkness has not always covered your earth. in primitive times--ages ago--eras whose history has been lost to you, man on your earth was in harmony with his creator. this was in the golden age when man and the angels of god walked hand in hand; when man communed with god, and when the christ spirit was abiding in the hearts of the people. in this age man was spiritually developed to a degree almost unbelievable by you. then the time came when man listened to the temptor (his baser self), and through the workings of the law of atavism man degenerated almost to the level of his animal prototype. this incident in your world's history is the source of the legend of the "fall of man" in the "garden of eden." man disobeyed god by listening to self, by giving himself over to his selfish desires. he slew his brother, figuratively speaking, when he abandoned himself to selfish ends and took advantage of his fellowman. he has been guilty of that sin ever since. it is now inherent in his make-up; this selfish instinct must be eliminated before he can again find the father's kingdom. no fences or other evidences of individual ownership surround the millions of homes on mars. no lines of demarcation divide one plot of land from another. the millions of beautiful homes--beautiful in their simplicity, for over-ornamentation such as the dwellers of your earth practise, is not tolerated on our planet--belong to the commonwealth. the same are allotted to the individual as a life tenure only. the same custom prevails in the matter of personal property. should a martian have use for a flying machine, also used by another, or other kind of property for personal use, he does not ask the use of same in the spirit that your earth dwellers borrow from one another. use of the needed article is requested with the idea that it belongs to the community: that all material possessions are the common property of the entire race. the millions of martians live as one family. it is this solidarity, this filial consideration that one holds for the other that has made the stupendous and gigantic public works on mars possible. in the absence of a universal unity of purpose intelligent life on mars would have become extinct centuries ago, when the last remnants of its oceans and seas dried up and a planetary irrigation system became necessary in order to utilize the frozen polar moisture. chapter vi. distribution of commodities barter and trade are unknown on mars. the entire race of martians is cooperative, and the production of all necessities is based on the needs of the commonwealth. specialization in different branches of industrial activity is centralized, as is the case of your earth. that is, some particular parts of the planet, owing to climatic and other conditions, are better adapted for the production of some special kind of raw material used in the manufacture of clothes or other necessities of life, or the production of some particular foodstuff. but in every case the incentive for industrial activity is not material profit. on the contrary the real incentive is compliance with the father's will. transportation is effected by means of flying ships actuated by the control of gravitational attraction. these vehicles of the air, beside your crude affairs[1] are most perfect, and the amount of freight carried is unlimited, for the reason that the gravitational attraction of the cargo is nullified as well as that of the ship. (a more extended explanation concerning this matter is given in another section of this book.) another motive power used is cosmic, or universal energy. (we shall refer to this later.) immense warehouses and depots are scattered throughout the entire planet. these are centers of distribution. these warehouses are filled with what all the people of the entire planet need in the way of food, clothing and other necessities of life. these depots are in charge of trained and competent workers who attend to the issuance and distribution of all commodities. when a martian is in need of any particular commodity he makes application to have his want supplied to the depot nearest to his habitation. he immediately receives the needed article. if the quantity and nature of his requisition is too large for him to carry personally, the same is delivered at his domicile by the commonwealth's transportation department. [1] note--yes, 35 years ago, but not today, 1955. chapter vii. clairvoyant visions of mars in connection with the revelation contained in this book concerning the physical characteristics of mars, the compiler of this volume, as well also as the medium, was given much information concerning this advanced planet by means of clairvoyant visions. these pictures were given the writer at different times, commencing early in 1920, and continuing until the book was finished. as has been explained by the controls who have been instrumental in giving the information about mars, the purpose of these clairvoyant pictures was to give the compiler of this book real visual evidence as to life on mars; and in particular, real pictures setting forth its topography, which could be elucidated in no other way. written descriptions of scenery and of human activities necessarily fall short of the reality, especially when an attempt is made to record a series of events or a point of view outside the realm of our experience. the first picture realized by the writer, and for that matter the most important one, was the view given him of urid the beautiful, one of the most important centers of population on the planet mars. it was while lying in bed one morning the writer was contemplating the many messages being received from the martian, who is the dictator of the subject matter of this book, that he found himself at a strange place, suspended as it were in the air over a beautiful lake of blue water, whose surface was broken by gentle ripples, due to the soft, balmy breeze blowing over the surface of the water. the writer was facing what seemed to be a westerly direction; and at a distance of about five miles there arose a series of small mountains about 2,500 feet in altitude. these mountains skirted the shores of the lake. the sky was a beautiful blue, bluer than the sapphire-tinted skies of our own desert lands. the mountains were tinted red from base to top, except where the moisture near the shores of the lake had stimulated a vegetal growth, whose green contrasted most harmoniously with the red of the soil. two white clouds floated majestically near the peaks of the highest mountains. the atmosphere was impressively clear and all objects seemed to stand out in sharp definition, a condition seldom seen by dwellers on our earth except in extremely dry and arid regions. on top of a small plateau, forming the crown of a low-lying hill at the base of one of the highest mountains, and about 1,500 feet from the shore line, i was startled to see a large city. the thousands of closely nestling buildings seemed to be built of white stone. the writer was lost in admiration, for there in front of him the pure white of the city, contrasting so vividly with the red soil of this faraway planet, stood the habitations of an advanced race many millions of miles removed from my own world. the writer was impressed with the fact that, with but few exceptions, the buildings of gleaming white were all one story in height, and it became instantly evident that crowding is not tolerated by the inhabitants of this progressive planet. a few structures towered above the rest. these, as the writer was informed later, were the public buildings dedicated to the use of the people as lecture halls, centers for music and art, etc. on a subsequent occasion the writer was shown a close-up view of urid. flowers, grass and green foliage abounded everywhere. the long streets were broad and well paved, and flanked on two sides with long rows of one-storied buildings of white stone, beautiful in their simplicity. no extreme ornamentation is carried out in the erection of buildings on mars. on the contrary, the simple square outlines characteristic of our own old mission architecture seems to prevail on the planet mars. the same simple style prevails with the public buildings, except that massive stone columns marked the portals of same, reminding one of our own early grecian architecture. many palm-like trees grew all over the city, especially in the neighborhood of the public buildings. a week after the occurrence of the above incident the writer was shown, in the same manner as before, one of the many canals that gridiron the martian globe. this particular canal is one of the main waterways on mars, and appeared to be about a mile wide at the point of observation. the water was of a deep blue color, denoting great depth. along the banks of this waterway could be seen many houseboats or floating dwellings. some of these houseboats were very large and evidently housed large families. the writer was informed that many martians who have charge of the waterways dwell in these habitations. the banks above the canal were covered with green grass and many flowers. on subsequent occasions i was shown other canals and reservoirs, and the manner in which some of the canals were cut through the mountains. in some instances the walls of the canals were almost perpendicular. steep cuts, even in soft ground, seemed to be characteristic of all the waterways observed by the writer. on another occasion the writer was given a view of the north polar regions. at that time the deep snows that covered the ground everywhere were melting. the country seemed to be very hilly. as far as the eye could reach i observed low-lying hills covered with a white mantle of snow. patches of reddish earth here and there indicated that the thaw was general and that the snow had thinned out in spots. between the hills i observed a large body of water, and was informed that this was an artificial reservoir which had been created by the damming of a large valley. the sky on this occasion was hidden by a mist, a very natural phenomenon in view of the fact that many thousands of square miles of the country, covered with snow on this part of mars, was undergoing a rapid thaw. that the large dark-colored areas on mars, supposed by early observers to be seas, are nothing more or less than low, swampy land covered with rank vegetation, was evidenced to me on one occasion when i was permitted to see the true character of these portions of the planet. the rank vegetation was about three feet high and of a greenish red color. interspersed throughout the mass of coarse-leafed plants were high, dry stalks the remnants of an earlier crop of martian flora. the season seemed to be advanced and all plant life was taking on autumnal tints. it was in december 1919 that i saw the first close-up picture of a martian--a woman. her head was covered with a thin veil which came down to her well-formed mouth. she seemed to be a most beautiful woman with most expressive eyes. her hair was black. her skin was unusually white, which contrasted with the dark hair. she wore no jewelry, or other ornaments that i could see. on a subsequent occasion i was permitted to see a martian male. he was playing a flutelike instrument, and as he was quite close to me i could observe the wax-like texture of his skin. this semi-transparency of the skin is characteristic of the martians, and evidences a life that is free from the many bodily ailments that afflict humanity on our earth. the martian was dressed in graceful but loose-fitting clothes of a reddish-brown color. his eyes were a deep blue and his lips seemed to be unusually red. in respect to stature he was, i would say, about five feet nine inches in height. in fact, on subsequent occasions i have observed crowds of martians gathered together and they appeared no different from the inhabitants of our own world except as to clothing, which is much simpler, but more graceful than our styles. i was informed by the spiritual control that the fauna of mars is varied, but that all animal life is domesticated, there being now no wild animals on the planet. it was shortly after i had seen the martians, described in the foregoing paragraph, that i was shown two cat-like animals, which at the time of my vision were engaged in playing about the feet of a martian. they did not exactly resemble cats, but were more feline than canine. they were about the size of a large airedale, and of a dark, reddish-brown color with deep black stripes, similar to the markings of our tigers. they were very playful and cavorted about just as our own dogs and cats do when endeavoring to attract the attention of their masters. on the morning of january 20, 1920, i was shown another martian canal. on this occasion i observed a large building on the banks of the waterway near my point of vision. this building was more of a grandstand with a roof than anything else i can compare it to. it consisted of a large framework painted white, and was as high as our two-storied structures. a multitude of the people were inside the building, some sitting, some standing. they all seemed to be intently gazing in a northerly direction, up-stream. much green foliage and varied-colored flowers lined the banks of the canal, especially in the neighborhood of the building. the people all seemed to be attired in holiday garb, and it was evident to me that a celebration was going on. later i was informed that what i had witnessed was an annual celebration observed by the people of mars on the occasion of arrival of the first water from the north pole after commencement of the martian spring. it appears that this occasion is a very important event with the martians, as the arrival of the life-giving moisture from the arctic and antarctic regions of the planet insures a season of plenty for the inhabitants. the water arrives at the equatorial regions in a little less than a martian month (60 days) after the commencement of the polar thaws and after a season of thanksgiving to the father has been held by all in appreciation of his bountiful gifts. the spiritual leaders of the different communities preside at these gatherings. the foregoing is in remarkable agreement with a statement on page 375 of the late professor lowell's book titled "mars," as follows. "the canal quickening on mars occupied 52 days, as evidenced by the successive vegetal darkenings which descend from latitude 72 degrees north and latitude 0, a journey of 2,650 miles. the rate of progression is remarkably uniform, and this fact that it is carried from near the pole to the equator is sufficient tell-tale of extrinsic aid, and the uniformity of the action increases its significance." on the morning of january 21 i witnessed another interesting martian scene, which was almost identical with the previous vision of the arctic regions of this planet, except that the warm season was more advanced, and i was permitted to see the country from another angle. i was facing east. most of the polar snow had disappeared, and the low-lying hills were now covered with a growth of dark green vegetation, except at a few isolated points which showed small patches of snow. the sky was less misty than on the previous occasion. on the evening of january 21 i was shown a flock of martian sheep. the herd was small and i observed five of the animals at close range. i call them sheep for the reason that the animals resembled our sheep in every particular. the wool was very long and of a dark reddish-brown color, except underneath their bellies which was yellowish. on the evening of january 29 i had a vision of a beautiful woman with a child kneeling at her feet. she was seated on a chair and held a book on her lap. the symbolism of the vision was later explained to me by the controls, who said: "verily i say unto you whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of god as a little child, he shall not enter therein." god's truths are perceived only by those who can acquire the simple faith of a child. it was about the same time i had a vision in which i saw sergius for the first time distinctly. he is the principal control dominating the writing of this book. he appeared very patriarchal with a long beard. his features were decidedly semitic. his countenance was most spiritual and beautiful. on february 10 i had my first vision of mars' two moons, known to our astronomers as diemos and phobos. the latter appeared as a satellite about half as large as our full moon, and the former like a star brighter than the first magnitude, and could be compared with jupiter as seen from our earth during a favorable opposition of that planet. the latter satellite sheds considerable light on her primary. an interesting explanation of these two moons will be found in a later chapter of this book. on february 17 i was shown the actual appearance of our sun from the planet mars. what i saw disproves the theory that owing to the distance of mars from the sun the latter would be viewed by the martians as a disk about half the size as seen from our earth. the solar orb appeared as to size and brightness, about the same as viewed from our earth, and seemed to give forth its heat with the same intensity. i was facing the sun and its brilliance blinded my eyes for an instant. on the evening of february 29 i had a vision of a strange looking creature ape-like in appearance. the form was about five feet tall, very hairy, his body being covered with a thick coat of woolly hair of a grayish color. he was smoking what appeared to be a cigar-like roll of something, probably some sort of leaves rolled up into a convenient form for smoking. on the tips of his pointed ears were little tufts of long hair, which gave his head a lynx-like appearance. there were quite a number of large yellow spots on his hairy chest. his nose was very stubby, and his entire face was decidedly apelike. i was later informed that i had seen an inhabitant of the planet mercury, where life has not yet evolved to a very high degree, and where man has not yet wholly emerged from his primary beast-like state. concerning the flora of mars i have on various occasions viewed orchards of growing fruit trees. the trees were set out in rows similar to the methods adopted in our own orchards. the trees were dwarf-like, being not over five or six feet high. i was informed that this particular species of tree was cultivated for its fruit and for the fiber obtained from its large leaves, which is made into cloth, thread and cordage. on one occasion a short time after the chapter dealing with the transmission of electro-magnetic energy by wireless was received, i was shown two immense towers on the planet mars which are used for the purpose of distributing power throughout the planet. the two towers were very close together, probably 100 yards apart and 100 feet high. they resembled two immense round smoke-stacks, such as are common in our factory districts. the tops of the towers were surmounted by oval caps, transparent as if made from glass, and protected by a system of grill work. while i was intently observing the towers there occurred a blinding flash of light simultaneously from the two oval caps. the surrounding country was covered with high trees, and it was impossible for me to observe the base of the two structures. chapter viii. knowledge of god comes from within mars, with its teeming millions of inhabitants, whose dwellings, factories, storehouses, etc. cover most of the entire area, has no watchmen, policemen or other guardians of the peace to prevent unlawful acts on the part of its people. as all property is considered as belonging to the father, and is held in common by the people of the planet, there exists no incentive for anyone to steal. each individual has all he requires for his comfort. hence, why should anyone covet what is in the possession of his brother? there is no temptation on mars for anyone to take more than he needs, for selfishness has been entirely eliminated from our planet. selfishness has no place among really civilized beings. it is a relic of the jungle where it is necessary to perpetuate the lower animal life. you of your earth have reverted or degenerated to a primordial condition or state through the law of atavism. this is a part of your fall from divine grace. and to induce man on your globe to realize his pitiful condition and redeem himself is the work of the spirits from the higher spheres who are now with you. mars has no church system and no ecclesiastical hierarchy. all martians recognize and worship one god, the eternal father. each individual is taught from infancy to seek god through the doors of his own soul, which is an institutional faculty possessed by everyone. jesus christ, who came to your earth 2,000 years ago with a message, is known to us. the christ is one of the greatest powers in the universe--next to the creator. your sectarian church systems are a hindrance to the proper spiritual development of the individual. these systems engender an element of dependability on the individual which holds back his spiritual enfoldment and perverts his true individuality, which must grow and unfold before real progress upwards begins. all knowledge of god should come from within and not through the instrumentality of imperfect individuals, such as your religious teachers are. the present lack of interest (in 1920) in sectarian matters on the part of the inhabitants of your earth is evidence of a slow but sure disintegration of a system that has held your people in mental and spiritual bondage for centuries, and presages the dawn of a better day for humanity on your earth. chapter ix. mars has no political system when love rules a community of people there is no need of administrative bureaus for the regulation of the lives of the inhabitants who make up the population of a planet. for the same reason mars has no gubernatorial or political administrative center. this announcement may, in a measure, be a disappointment to many readers who have imagined that no considerable number of human beings could live and prosper without the aid and guidance of a complex administrative system such as you have on your earth. bureaucracy and autocracy are evils resulting from an undeveloped civilization, and have no place in a community where selfishness has been eliminated. when each individual of a vast population, such as that of mars, is actuated and guided by the light within there is no need for a horde of political parasites to direct the destinies of the race. this lack of an administrative system on mars also applies to its industrial and economic side. the law of supply and demand determines just how many factories there should be, and just what output is necessary for a given period. but it must be remembered that the law of supply and demand on our planet has no relation to a competitive system such as yours, for we have no competitor, a fact that will be impressed elsewhere in this book. it is true that certain of our people who have been specially singled out by the dominating influence of the invisible world are occasionally appealed to by those in doubt as to what is best for their individual welfare, or the welfare of the community at large, to act in advisory capacities. these are the spiritual advisers of the planet, and are really god's prophets. there was a time when your race was guided by similar individuals, as is evidenced from mention of them in your sacred scriptures. but their usefulness was lost when man on your earth forgot god. it was then that man mistrusted the light within, and disregarded the unwritten laws graven in the soul by the creator. he clamored for a code of laws and received them (through moses). his next downward step was taken when he admitted it was necessary to have interpreters of the law: for if the spirit of the law had been kept there would have been no misunderstanding or juggling of the letter. soon there was so much of this turning and twisting to suit man's growing selfishness, that there was need for someone in authority over all the interpreters, whose word should be final. so your people cried aloud for kings. and you have them, and your law has grown to immense proportions, as have also the clever sins of your selfishness. where there is no sin there is no need of laws; for the righteous man is a law unto himself. it must not be imagined that because of the lack of a political system on mars, such as you deem necessary on your earth, that all is chaos and life a sort of happy-go-lucky existence. on the contrary, the martian existence is controlled by the acme of system, which is in accordance with the law of divine harmony. a system from which has been eliminated all the useless wheels which so clog up your lives and make your progress slow indeed. chapter x. mars is ruled by love "and now abideth faith, hope and love: these three; but the greatest of these is love." paul to the corinthians. there is but one law on mars. that law is love. this law is not written in a code for the guidance of the people. it is graven in the hearts of the inhabitants, and is reflected in the countenance of every individual. this law is the incentive before the entire population and urges each individual onward to the completion of the task before him. there are no rulers to bow before: neither is anyone better than his brother. there is no evil, for all are good: all are equal. god endows every individual expression of life with the divine heritage of a pure soul. it is the individual's concern to keep this heavenly gift unstained in its descent into matter. the love force of the spirit is the potent agent that does this for the individual when allowed to permeate and radiate the entire being. when individuals have learned to bathe their innermost beings in the father's love, then it must follow that a nation made up of such individuals will be governed only by such precepts as are evolved from this dominating love-force. it is of no import to the individual on this planet what his particular task may be, for all work is for the father; and the humblest vocation (humbler from the point of view of the dwellers on your earth) is as important and as honorable as the highest. mars is ruled by love, which is in accordance with the divine intent. it is the desire of the father that every world in limitless space inhabited by his children be ruled by that divine principle. for when love is the supreme law of a world, as it is of the universe, there is no need of a system of complex laws and a horde of judicial officers to interpret and enforce them. when love enters into the life of a community selfishness makes its exit: misery becomes a stranger and pain and sickness vanish. from the cradle to transition the martian is dominated by love and guided by the father's will. the result of this love-rule is individual and communal happiness. but above all, a spiritual progress that unfolds the individual in accordance with the cosmic intent. to die, in the sense of passing out of one's physical environment, is the destiny of every created being. hence, in that sense, death exists on mars as it does on your earth. but the real death referred to by christ: a spiritual death imposed on man by his fall from grace, a penalty for having forgotten god, is unknown on this planet mars. we are in harmony with the father. those who are spiritually dead are cut off from the father as a result of their indifference and ignorance of spiritual truth. the religion of the martian may be expressed in two thoughts: "love" and "thy will be done, not mine." the true definition of religion is a "rule of life," and as our lives are guided entirely by love and the father's will. we have a religion. you, on your earth, have created a religion to satisfy your conventionalities. truth is simple, but you have made it intricate. it is free, yet you buy it from the would-be disciples. both you and we must approach him in simple faith: "unless ye become as little children ye cannot enter the kingdom of heaven." speaking of children, i desire to give expression to a thought that may appear to be outside the subject: it is this: the beauty and simplicity of youth is wonderful, and to be admired by all: but in the sight of the heavenly father, and those who have progressed to higher realms, it is not so wonderful as those older characters who have waded the marshes of life, as it were, and who have trod the dirty steps without losing faith. this is to encourage those who sometimes think when they look back on their lives that all is dark. their strength is being tried in the darkness. therefore their courage and faith is so much more. we who are giving you these messages have passed beyond the stage you are in, and do not have to be tried on every hand. we look upon you who are struggling through the pitfalls created by your false systems with pity, knowing how great your trials are. do not think that because we have gone on to higher planes of life that we are out of sympathy with you. the more we bask in the sunshine of love the more tender we become to those in the shadow. and if you would only realize how strong you are, with the father's love and his real consideration for you, you would try so much harder to better your condition by meeting his love with love. we of mars have learnt to keep the right pictures before the minds of our youth that they may not be so sorely tried, but on your planet you have not even the beginning of a system whereby there could be kept continually before the minds of your children the real goal to be striven for. i make exception of the few homes on your planet where the parents are in spiritual growth, but these homes are not ideal--just a beginning of idealism. but they are better far than the masses in their home conditions on your planet. now, we are ready to do all we can towards stimulating the living of the christ-life among all souls in the universe when it can be so arranged: but it will take aeons of time on some planets, and many decades on yours before we can scientifically teach you. to be sure, we are giving you all we can for this book, but it will not be universally accepted, although it will bring great joy to those who have faith. if you can keep some of the pictures we are giving you of the wonderful happiness we possess it will help you in the sordidness of your own life. picture beautiful things and your heart must be beautiful. strive with all your mind to hold beautiful thoughts, for it is well worth your every effort towards faith. chapter xi. education and training of the individual the people of mars have a spoken and written language, but not so filled with complexities as yours, for the reason that owing to the high development of the mental faculties thoughts are almost as audible as words. hence, converse between individuals on our planet is not altogether a series of vocal ejaculations. on the contrary, among the older members of the race, communication between individuals is in some cases audibly imperceptible. printed books are used, but mostly for the very young, as information is usually transmitted impressionally. education on mars begins at the mother's knee. the first knowledge imparted to the young is spiritual. the first lessons given to the child are: one's absolute dependence on god, and that the few years before the individual are but an unfoldment, or an individualizing of the entity into a separate and distinct unit. the spiritual lessons are amplified as the child grows and grasps these truths. this procedure continues until the pupil is ready to enter an institution of learning. the home is the primary school, just as a physical existence on a planet is the kindergarten of a never-ending life. the parents are the first teachers. the primary education consists, as already said, in lessons on the necessity of expressing god in our lives in truth and righteousness in order that the mind of the individual be so moulded and fashioned that absolute faith is placed in god's promises through the master, christ. the keynote to the education of the individual is that one must first seek god's kingdom, and that all knowledge and wisdom, which is the divine heritage of all, will be easily attained: and that coming into a knowledge of god means health, happiness and wisdom. after the individual has grasped the primary lessons, which result in an unfoldment of the spirit within, he is then sent to a school; but a school system different from anything you have on your earth. the task of the teacher is, not to teach knowledge but to assist in bringing out what is already latent in the soul, rather than a set routine, for every individual is considered a master in some line of thought and activity. the pupil is led into knowledge instead of being taught directly. the individual is left to his own tastes and volition. the harmony of music of god's laws, which embrace astronomy, physics and of life, together with a knowledge of the laws of electricity, is especially brought to the attention of the individual. you of the earth know as yet very little concerning the true nature of electricity. your methods of handling and generating this wonderful force are crude indeed, by comparison with the deep knowledge attained on mars with the subject. and so with the study and development of the harmony of music, we of mars have developed a high spiritual sense, and are able to hear and see many intermediate degrees of vibration that do not exist at all for you. of course there are some exceptions among the few of your earth who, after having striven hard for light have been favored by god's angels in the development of a higher spirituality. our teachers are guides who look after their charges in an atmosphere of love and, as a result, right conceptions of truth are acquired by the pupil. thought is the expression or fruit of the spirit, and martian children are never allowed to forget their spiritual growth. as a consequence of this they are easily led into true knowledge, and having a broad vision are able to see all things in their true relations. they begin at the cause and work towards the effect, which is the opposite of your system. no set rules of discipline are used in the schools. indeed they are not necessary for the reason that the one ideal: the one goal impressed on the mind of the pupil is the complete expression of the father within, for to express the father is to have perfect life, life in abundance. concentration of mind, economy of time and energy are studied and learned by the child in the early part of his career. astronomy on our planet offers an ideal field in seeking an understanding of the reign of immutable law through the infinite universe of god, and owing to the clear rarified atmosphere of mars, unusual opportunity is presented to students in visual observations of the heavens. entire classes of advanced students, accompanied by their teacher guides repair to the open at night when the canopy of god's heavens is ablaze with scintillating points of light. the different constellations as viewed from our planet present the same general appearance as to configuration as they do to the dwellers on your earth; but the view is decidedly more vivid by reason of a more advantageous viewpoint. the so-called superior planets, such as saturn, jupiter, some of the larger asteroids, and uranus and neptune, are nearer to mars than to earth, and for that reason are more easily discerned from this vantage point. some of the satellites of jupiter are easily seen with the naked eye. your earth appears to us about as jupiter does to you, and with our observing instruments we are able to see your continent and oceans when not covered by a cloud canopy. as to the so-called inferior planets venus and mercury, the former presents the appearance of a star of the first magnitude, but being so near the sun it is only visible an hour before or after sunset, depending upon its position. but mercury, being so near the solar orb, it is rarely its position is favorable for observation from our planet, and then only with our more perfect telescopes. our students view the phenomena of eclipses of the sun and our planet with the greatest interest, just as your astronomers do. mars' two moons present what would appear to you a most striking phenomenon, for one rises in the east and the other in the west, passing each other at times within view of observers. the most distant satellite of mars is known to us as laster, to which has been given the name of deimos by the first observers on your earth. approximately 132 hours elapse between its rising and setting at any particular point on our planet, as a consequence of the fact that it revolves in 30 hours 18 minutes at a distance of 14,600 miles more or less from its primary; and as mars rotates in 24 hours 37 minutes from east to west the motion is almost neutralized by the circulation of this satellite. during the time of its rotation it changes four times from full to new and new to full. the appearance of this satellite to the martians is equal, if not a little brighter than the view of jupiter from your earth. the second satellite, known to us as benii, and to your astronomers as phobos, sheds considerable amount of light on the martian landscape by means of its large size and close proximity, being distant about 3,700 miles from the surface of mars. this satellite is shut out from view beyond 69 degrees latitude by reason of the curvature of its primary. its period is 7 hours and 30 minutes--less than one-third the time of the rotation of mars. it rises in the west and courses across the heavens in 11 hours, during which time it undergoes one entire cycle of its phases and gets through half another. its disc appears to us as a little more than half of the moon's disc on your earth at full appears to you. the realm of physics presents another interesting study to the martian student. we have advanced to the study of nature's laws to a point which would appear to your understanding most incomprehensible. long ago we mastered the knowledge of the method of releasing interatomic energy,[2] a knowledge which in the brain of an unscrupulous person would be most disastrous, not only to himself but to those about him. the energy locked up in an atom of matter is tremendous, and the release of this power is only a matter of knowing the law. the inhabitants of your world will have to bide a long time before the key that will release this giant is placed within their reach. not until you have eliminated your inherent selfishness; not before you have learnt the lesson as christ taught it will you be permitted to harness one of the mightiest forces in the universe, a force equally as great for evil as it is for good. this knowledge we have, and we have utilized it in the construction and building of our mighty planetary projects. this interatomic energy is the source of the sun's continuous heat. if it were combustion the solar orb would have burnt itself out ages ago. all your theories to account for the continuity of solar radiation are in error. the release of interatomic energy in the sun at a definite rate is the reason why its heat never increases or diminishes though millions of years come and go in endless procession. and this process is not the working of a blind, senseless force, some of your scientists would have you believe, but the creator: omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent is the dominator: the directing intelligence, who sees to it that all is provided for his children. on your earth you have thus far discovered some 85 elements. in order to complete the list of 92, to conform to the so-called periodic table, there are yet seven elements to be found by your scientists. on mars the most elementary school pupil is well informed on the subject, and has knowledge of the complete list among the new elements yet to be discovered by your chemists, and which exist in appreciable quantities on your earth, is one which has the peculiar property of neutralizing gravity. this neutralizing is accomplished by screening off the gravitational pull when interposed between the earth and the matter sought to be made immune from the attraction, just as you would insulate against the flow of electricity by interposing a non-conductor between two conducting metals. the knowledge and use of this element on mars has been utilized in the solution of our transportation problem. instead of cumbersome railroads consuming energy at a great loss, we use an almost perfect flying or floating ship. it is made buoyant by being screened from the gravitational pull of the planet.[3] another subject of importance, that takes no little time to understand by the martian student is the part played by the planet's satellites in the generation of electro-magnetic energy. the sun together with its circulating family of planets is a huge electric motor, so a planet and its satellites are minor generators of electric energy. satellites have a higher importance and necessity than the mere creation of moonshine. all the planets have their satellites, although your astronomers have not yet discovered any in the case of mercury and venus. the latter planet has a satellite whose distance is so close to its primary that its presence is lost in the intense reflection of light caused by venus' cloudy atmosphere, which is much denser than that of your earth. in the case of mercury, owing to its extremely close proximity to the sun, its satellite probably never will be seen by observers on your earth, as it is lost in the intense brilliance cast by the solar orb on this planet. [2] the popular science monthly, may, 1920, printed the following--"sir oliver lodge thinks that man is not yet civilized enough to use the energy hidden in ordinary matter. the time will come when atomic energy will take the place of coal as a source of power." the man who spoke thus before the royal society of arts in london was sir oliver lodge--one of the towering figures in modern science, a man who has devoted the better part of his life to the study and interpretation of the atom. this new form of energy, which our great-grandchildren may utilize instead of oil and coal, has possibilities so appalling that sir oliver almost rejoices that we do not know how to release it. i hope that the human race will not discover how to use this energy, he says, until it has brains and morality enough to use it properly, because if the discovery is made by the wrong people this planet would be unsafe. a force utterly disproportionate to the present source of power would be placed at the disposal or the world. note (by the editor in 1920)--this article was published more than two months after the revelation above was received, but is another striking confirmation of the truth of these revelations. [3] in the february issue of the "electrical experimenter," (1920) which was published about a month after this information was received by revelation, the following article appeared--another startling confirmation of the truth contained herein, and points to the possibility that whatever is possible on one planet, is also possible on another, depending upon that planet's type of civilization and real knowledge, not superficial theory: "recently a cable dispatch from rome brought the announcement that prof. maiorana discovered that lead balls swimming on a pool of mercury lost a certain amount of weight. it was explained that the weight was lost due to a screening effect which the mercury produced on the lead balls. in other words, mercury acts as a sort of insulator against the earth's gravitational waves. for gravitation certainly is propagated the same as other forms of energy, i.e., in wave form. prof. t. j. see, famous investigator of mare island, california, in an address before the california academy of sciences, announced recently that his researches on gravitation in 1917 and his latest researches on molecular forces confirmed maiorana's claim that the screening of gravitation has been shown to exist. in 1917, says professor see, 'i explained the fluctuation of the moon's main motion by the circular refraction of the sun's gravitation waves, as they are propagated through the solid body of our earth at the time of lunar eclipses.' "'i found also from dealings with capillary forces that quicksilver is indeed very resistant to the waves which produce molecular action, and this developed a new theory of the depression of the mercury in capillary tubes. this would tend to confirm maiorana's claim that a basin of mercury beneath a suspended mass of lead may decrease the gravitation of the lead by a small amount. my researches on ether show conclusively that gravitation is due to waves in the ether, and certain very resistant bodies in the line of action may thus introduce a slight screening effect.' "this reasoning opens up new avenues of thought of what may be accomplished in the future when we have found a perfect screen against gravitation." chapter xii. education and training of the individual, vocational determination, school age, marriage and science (continued) everyone goes to school until the age of 16, that is, the length of time on mars would correspond to 32 years on your earth. the martian year is nearly twice as long as on your globe. there are many universities on mars where students enter direct from their homes, where the primary and preparatory education is first inculcated in their minds. wonderful teachers have charge of the students, and many truths not yet known on your earth are taught. special and particular attention is given to the subject of the development of spiritual gifts to the end that all may come into man's divine heritage, the peace, power and plenty of the kingdom of god. each student is selected for his or her proper vocation, and this vocation is determined scientifically and accurately, for what benefits the individual also benefits the entire community. each individual is trained to perform his part in a manner that will ensure the unity and harmony of the entire industrial system of the planet, and each unit understands the dignity and importance of his position, no matter what that position may be, for on mars no activity of human endeavor is considered menial; no one position in life is less important than the rest: all is god's work. and so each gravitates to his special liking in the realm of physical activity, for god has created each individual for some particular work. six hours is a day's work, the remainder of the time is devoted to recreation, music, lectures, and those general activities that best develop the highest spiritualities with the individual. for the martians realize that life on the material plane is but temporary the isolation of the individual divine spark from the infinite whole to the end that the personality may become for all eternity self-conscious and in harmony with god, which means the inheritance of god's kingdom for all time. failure to come into harmony with god is destruction of the individuality, but not of the divine in man, for that is indestructible: it always was and always will be. education on mars is inculcated with a view principally of developing the individual spiritually in order to prepare one for the spiritual progress after the completion of the material probationary period as well as having life in greatest abundance during that period, and with this main end in view the subject of marriage, the rearing of children, receives special consideration and attention. the pivotal idea is that when the time for mating arrives the selection of a wife by the prospective husband must be in accordance with true conjugal harmony, and this is not possible in the absence of spiritual development. hence, divorces are unknown with us, and to that end is special care taken in the matter of teaching the truth concerning the marital relation, the rearing of children and their spiritual growth. the marriage age for both sexes is about 35 years, in terms of your time measurements. the result of this early training is that the young couple just embarked on the "sea of matrimony," are true mates and go through life without the usual occurrence of domestic turmoil so characteristic of your earth's people. marriage on your earth, with but few exceptions, has degenerated from god's holiest of institutions to a happy convenience for the gratification of the animal passions; and the rearing of children is an accident rather than a preconceived reality. such marriages are unholy and destructive, and unless your people respond to a spiritual awakening such as god's workers are now trying to inaugurate on your earth the growing degeneracy will be augmented rather than diminished and the extinction of the race will be inevitable. the curriculum of our schools embraces all branches of domestic science, as well as all the sciences, with the difference from your system that spiritual development must be the principal task of those having supervision over the studies of the young. one of the subdivisions of domestic science receiving particular attention on mars is the preparation of foods. with an atmospheric pressure of only eight pounds to the square inch, water boils at 175 degrees on our planet. this temperature is inadequate for cooking foods properly, especially the coarser varieties. but recourse is had to the cooking of food in vacuum or under pressure, as the exigencies of the occasion demand. electrical energy is used most generally for producing heat, and the variety of foods, both animal and vegetal, are as extensive as on your planet, for the flora and fauna of mars differs little from yours. martians are not excessive eaters, as their bodies do not require the gross foods so characteristic of your earth. there are two reasons for this. in the first place the difference in the gravitational pull on mars being thirty-eight one-hundredths to that of your earth, obviates the necessity of supplying as much fuel to the human body as your physical make-up demands. in the second place the martians partake of food to keep the body alive, and not for the vulgar pleasure afforded by the consumption of victuals. we eat to live: whereas most of your earth tenants live to eat. although each individual has his particular place in the universe where he will excel in some kind of activity, there being no two persons in all creation exactly alike, the student on mars is given an opportunity to obtain a broad and comprehensive knowledge relating to all subjects, both material and spiritual. the study of matter, divided as it is into a number of elements, offers an interesting field for study and research work, as does also its concomitant cosmic energy. compared to your earth, industry on mars, by the aid of labor-saving devices is perfect: and as a consequence the use of energy is considerable, especially so in the realm of synthetic chemistry. but it must be understood that the individual is taught that dependence must be placed rather on one's own dexterity, born of that god-given faculty of intuition, than on the perfectness of a man-made machine, the creation of finite mind. for it has so happened to races on other planets that complete degeneration and final extinction has come about by the entire dependence of the individual and afterwards of the entire race, on machinery to do the work required of the individual by the creator, such dependence finally terminating in almost complete atrophy of the worker's intuitional faculties. this calamity will surely overtake your future generations if a halt is not called on the over-zealous adoption of automatic machines for most every line of industrial activity. you are now getting to the stage where the most simple and elementary mathematical problems are solved by merely pressing a few buttons or turning a crank, the operator understanding little or nothing of the fundamentals underlying the solution of the problems in hand. this means, in the near future, brain atrophy through disuse. and so with other lines of industrial activity. not one among a thousand workers engaged in making shoes can do other than make a heel or perform some simple operation, one of hundreds of units in the completion of a pair of shoes. and perhaps it would be impossible to find one individual whose intuitional faculties were developed to the extent that he could turn out the perfect, completed article. in order to explain how far we have succeeded on mars in harnessing a mighty universal force to the end of utilizing the same in turning our factory wheels, lighting our domiciles and giving warmth to our homes in winter, it might not be amiss to state a few facts concerning our knowledge of matter and energy. we have learned that material life simply amounts to functioning in an effect world. the cause world is the reality which is invisible to all while hampered with a physical body; that all forms of matter are but the manifestation of the same ultimate essence; that this essence is but a divine impulse--a thrust, as it were, in the ether. that although we observe with our sensory organs many different kinds of matter, consisting of elements and compounds of elements: if we were able to resolve any of the different forms of matter before us into their ultimate units, these ultimate particles would all turn out to be the same thing, the "divine impulses" just mentioned. now you can best grasp the idea by imagining yourselves immersed in an infinite sea of such divine impulses, just as a fish is immersed in an ocean of water. everywhere, all about us, is a teeming maelstrom of motion. there is not a cubic centimeter of space that you can call at rest. all is eternal motion. all is energy. and out of this inexhaustible cosmic reservoir do we martians draw our energy. and as the divine impulse is the ultimate essence of all matter and all energy, therefore you might imagine matter in its different aspects as electrical in origin. as electricity is a manifestation of the divine impulse, then the only reality in the universe is god. we have learned to utilize this cosmic energy by getting into harmony with its origin--god--for only through god can true knowledge be obtained. on your earth you have devised a very crude method for utilizing electrical energy. you expend more energy by burning coal or using water power than you derive from your electrical pump: for a dynamo is nothing more than a pump. your machines do not generate electrical power for, as stated before you are immersed in an infinite sea of energy. on mars we have learned to draw directly on this infinite reservoir of energy. we have learned the law as you some day must. located at convenient points on our planet are high towers, capped with suitable receiving apparatus. in turn this energy is transmitted to different parts of our globe where it is used. we do not require wires to transmit energy. our landscape is neither disfigured with unsightly wires, nor is it covered with a pall of black smoke. we devised a more perfect method of power production and transmission. the relativity of time, space, motion and matter is an actuality brought to the attention of advanced students on mars. an understanding of this truth exemplifies the unreality of the world of gross matter and the importance of gaining knowledge concerning spiritual truths; for the latter are the only real tangible treasures worthy of one's efforts in their acquisition. already a knowledge of these truths is beginning to be sought for by some of the more spiritually enlightened inhabitants of your earth; but so immersed in the unreal things of life is the vast majority of your earth people that it will take a long time before the present seed-sowing toward this end will bear fruit. the seed-sowing referred to is the work of enlightenment now going on by a mighty group of spiritual intelligences who, at the present day, have in hand the task of spiritual reformation on your earth. only truth can stand in the end. all that is unreal or false must ultimately give way to truth, and omniscience has willed that the day when error shall be no more shall be hastened. there are other planes of existence for the spirit: many of them. but they are simply extensions beyond your limited vision; for as long as you function in a world of unreality and error your spiritual vision is incapable of discerning what lies beyond your present horizon, and must remain dormant. material eyes are but the windows of the soul, and your environment has so beclouded your vision that you grasp but little of the real things beyond. chapter xiii. music an expression of the father all material expressions of the father, from the simplest chemical element to the most complex compound; from the one-celled protoplasmic life germ to the most complex organism, are vibratory in their ultimate nature. as has been stated elsewhere in this book, material life is the vibratory reflection from the cause world into an effect world. the universe is a vibratory expression of an absolute reality--god: a material expression of divine harmony. and as harmony is an expression of the father, its antithesis, discord, is the creation of man. of all the vibrations that more fully express the father and arouse the emotional within the soul, music must of necessity head the list. owing to man's degeneration or fall, on your earth, he has lost all receptibility to the more refined vibratory tones of the chromatic scale. and for the same reason he has lost receptibility to intermediate vibrations in the color spectrum, which has clouded or stultified his visional faculties. the long waves of the infra-red and the short waves of the ultra-violet ends of the spectrum are invisible to your earth people except in rare cases of developed mediumship, though your photograph plates are somewhat sensitive to these vibrations. you are immersed in commercialism and other selfish pursuits while all around you is a beautiful rainbow universe, vibrating with music too heavenly for your dulled perceptions to enjoy. on mars the development of the musical talent is held to be of primary importance. the laws of harmony are part of the curriculum of all schools, and all necessary paraphernalia for its proper exposition are provided. we have instruments for measuring tone vibrations of so delicate a pitch that the existence of these tones would be a blank to the gross material ears of the inhabitants of your world. music arouses the innermost emotions of the soul and its effect on the individual is proportionate to his degree of spiritual development. music is harmony, but it also creates an atmosphere of harmony. the music of the spheres is a living reality, for harmony is the very essence of the cosmos. by music of the spheres is meant the harmonious interrelation of all spiritual planes. every unit in the universe is in perfect accord one with the other, and all are functioning in perfect unison. every solar orb and every planet responds to harmonious law. the cosmos as a whole is the expression of a divine symphony. when man's spiritual progress has attained a degree of enfoldment entitling him to come into possession of his divine heritage then will the sublime vibrations of the spheres be a reality to him. on mars divers instruments are used for producing musical harmony, and much of this harmony is of such a subtle nature that your crude instruments could not give expression to it. we have a means of producing harmony of the highest order by utilizing ethereal electric vibration which produces light vibrations corresponding to tone production, for true electric vibration is real music. this device resembles a series of globes, all transparent, colorless when not in action. but immediately they are allowed to produce music they become units of color and tone work that would give you the impression of seeing and hearing a rainbow simultaneously. you are not ready to receive the scientific explanation of this phenomenon, but we are ready to give it to you at any time. singing is also highly developed on our planet, for it is the first expression of harmony that the child is taught. this is true for the reason that vocal music is the most natural expression of harmonious vibrations. much time is devoted to ensemble work among our people of all ages. this chorus work is of great benefit to all partaking, for individually and collectively much inspiration is received; and the tremendous love-force loosened by this united expression of harmony becomes a phenomenal power and stimulus--a purifying agent for soul and body. this will help you to realize why disease is unknown to us. in the development of the musical talents of the individual on mars the pupil is impressed with the necessity of expressing the true self, and the original improvisation or composition is the method by which the pupil expresses his understanding of the subject. no one attempts to ape the technique or genius of another, for on mars all are geniuses. this is true in every form of activity. all must be creators to express individuality. when an individual on mars has surpassed all others in some special expression of divine harmony the product of his genius is for the benefit of all, hence copyrights and patents are unknown on our planet. chapter xiv aeronautics, inhabited planets, sectarianism a great deal of interest is being manifested in your city this morning (april 25, 1920), over the aeronautical show. you imagine the flying machines wonderful mechanisms; but in their present state they will not lift you out of your atmosphere. you have yet to perfect a real airship. your flying machines are cumbersome and awkward, and they consume lots of fuel and make a deal of noise. it can hardly be said they are harmonious with the music of the spheres, but then it is only a sample of your earth's development. you have seen the seagulls soar over the water seemingly without motion; and yet they go up and down, turning this way and that without effort. this is the best idea i can give you of our airships, which really soar. no sound, no discordant vibrations disturb the quiet of the martian atmosphere, and the tranquility of the mars people. when you have learned the secret of how to tap the universal reservoir of cosmic power, then will you evolve a perfect flying machine such as we have. a great deal of interest is also being centered on an attempt to signal mars, and your apparatus is not fine enough to receive our waves. but success will come to you in another decade, and we will be able to get something through for your scientific world. it is gratifying to know that a large portion of your population entertain the belief that mars is inhabited: and also that the possibilities point to the fact that other planets are inhabited. you have advanced a long way to come to that belief, but you are yet a long way from the truth. you are on the eve of an awakening and much will come through the discoveries of scientists who are devoting their lives to the study of truth. it is true that only a few of that number are bold enough to proclaim all they discover, and they must bear the brunt of much harsh criticism. in the end, however, ignorance must give way to light. we look upon your inventions with much amusement, and yet with great interest, just as you would look upon your children's finest toys. we are much older than you and are doing all we can to help your scientists by impressing them with thoughts that will lead them to discover new truths, and our interest never flags. how could it if we are doing the father's work? for it is the father's great pleasure to give his children all they can receive. if you could cut loose from your world conventions and could perceive new ideas; if you would but disregard man-made theories and open your minds and souls to the father's revelations, it would not be long before your sin-cursed and forsaken earth would be changed into a paradise. but the tendency among you if to think as your forefathers thought rather than cut new paths. however, your children of this generation are of a different sort, and they must be taught the importance of developing the spiritual intellect. there is more individualism being born into the world today than ever before. there are fewer children, but they are stronger (the year 1920). these children, with their originality and esoteric tendencies will bring on a revolution on your planet that will end by destroying your threadbare dogmatism. this tendency is evidenced by the recent failure of the interchurch movement. it has been the habit on your planet that you cannot accomplish anything without raising immense sums of money. it is not money that does the real work but rather personal service. people are inclined to give almost everything than personal service. if each person lived the christ life there would be no need of money. a close study of the mars economic system will demonstrate that truth. chapter xv. life an attribute of the entire universe. the planet jupiter life is an attribute of the entire universe. go forth on a moonless night and behold the firmament emblazoned with its myriad of scintillating stars, solar orbs, nebulae, world-systems in the making: the galactic circle, a jeweled band athwart the canopy of heaven; a seething maelstrom of light: countless suns in space all expressing the one reality, omniscience. only presumptuous man can question the divine intent in the creation of the infinite number of giant suns, stupendous worldwide systems, and place his particular world-unit at the center of the cosmos. man contemplates this handiwork of god as a mere adjunct (more ornamental than useful) to his terrestrial environment, conceitedly thinking that the father's only consideration is centered about himself. as these life-giving orbs are countless in number, their orbits extending as they do to infinity in all directions, so is it with the habitable worlds in space. some there are where life is not yet possible: worlds not yet far removed from their primitive state: not long since condensed from fire mist: others where life has just begun: others on whose surfaces live teeming millions of god's creatures, just as you live and others have lived before you. and there are other worlds whose life-cycle has been run; where intelligent life has ceased: where world-disintegration has set in. for this is in accordance with the universal law of growth and decay--a law that exempts neither the one-celled amoeba, nor the complex solar system whirling yonder in infinite space. for all that comes from the father into material expression must some day revert to its primordial state. you have thus far received much concerning the idealistic conditions on mars, whose planetary career is now reaching the zenith of its cosmic cycle, and whose denizens have progressed to a degree of divine unfoldment not yet attained by many worlds. it is necessary that you now receive some information relating to one of the less-advanced planets belonging to the family of our sun, in order you may be able to learn by contrast something of the wonders of god's work. jupiter, owing to its prodigious size, being nearly eleven times larger than your earth, but whose density is proportionately less, might well be styled the master planet of our system. jupiter is well blessed with satellites, having eight, a description of which is not necessary at this time. this planet is in what might be styled its primary evolutionary stage where life has just begun. this life has not evolved beyond the unicellular, or amoebic stage; and it will be only after the lapse of a long period of time, measured in geological units, when more complex organisms will appear: and many of these periods will come and go before this planet's surface will have attained a proper development for the propagation of intelligences capable of being classed with the denizens of your earth. long before that age arrives jupiter's surface and atmosphere will undergo a tremendous change. mighty planetary cataclysms will raise new mountain ranges; new continents will appear, and the present land surfaces on this planet will sink, to be covered with slime and water, to rise again in the centuries to come, for the father's love and solicitude will provide, as it has in the case of all his celestial creations, a bountiful supply of stored-up radiant energy, such as coal and petroleum, and other elements, for the comfort of those who will inhabit this giant among the worlds of this system in time to come. jupiter still retains much of its internal heat, which gives this planet a very high mean temperature. its atmosphere is still very dense, and owing to the very rapid evaporation of water due to the extreme heat a constant cloud canopy covers its surface, which only dissipates occasionally in a slight degree, at which times only the sun penetrates to the surface of the globe. by reason of the constant thick cloud canopy over the surface of jupiter the planet is enveloped in deep gloom and darkness. as radiation is arrested to a marked degree by the clouds and atmosphere the temperature is very humid as well as hot. in this steam environment grow forests of fern and fungus-like trees and rank vegetal growths which will in the course of time be preserved as coal for the races destined to inhabit this planet. this vegetal growth is a flora that knows not bloom or seed, but is propagated by root and spores, a flora most primitive in type, but which will in time evolve through the law of mutation and adaptation into a diversified and useful vegetal kingdom for the races yet to come on the planet. owing to the tremendous gravitational pull on jupiter present organisms are, and future ones will be evolved along specially modified lines, in order that they may encompass the least possible volume, just as the denizens of the extreme depths of your oceans have evolved. the modification is necessary that organisms mat be able to function on a planet where the difference in gravity is as one to three compared with your earth. in other words a minimum density is necessary to produce maximum lightness. as there is no lesser or greater in the economy of nature (nature is god manifest), the most infinitesimal mote in the universe is as perfect within itself as is the most gigantic sun. size is but relative. the anatomy of the midget is as perfect and complex as is that of the mammoth, and so there exist in the universe inhabited worlds that are relatively very small. circulating around the sun in orbits between mars and jupiter are numerous small planets or asteroids. one in particular, which is known to your astronomers as vesta, is encompassed by an atmosphere and is inhabited by diminutive people and a correspondingly diminutive fauna and flora. the diameter of vesta is about 500 miles, although your astronomers give its size, erroneously, as much smaller. while the subject of these discourses is mainly spiritual you are getting many scientific facts, and although not a volume of them you are getting a proper understanding of the cosmos. the universe with all its suns and planets is analogous to a perfect watch. each sun and planet moves over a prescribed orbit in a given time mathematically proportional to the movements of all the other celestial bodies, just as the geared wheels of the watch conform to their prescribed movements. the celestial bodies are seemingly actuated by invisible gears and are held rigidly in their proper places by a mighty force whose power is incalculable. this is evidenced by the fact that all celestial bodies conform to that inexorable law, divine harmony. that all planets describe equal areas in the same time in their ceaseless journeyings, and that the square of the time of their periods is as the cube of their distance from their common centers, is an exemplification of the reign of god's harmonious laws. you must remember that empirical knowledge is but a perverted view of truth. all the fleeting things of life are but dross: their apparent reality an illusion. material life is but a projection from the cause world into the effect world. man is but a reflection of a reality that transcends his material vision. you are on the threshold of a great awakening on your planet, which is yet in great darkness, but the dawn of a better day is nigh. christ is coming into his kingdom, which must be in the hearts of the people. his second coming means that he will come into your lives with the power of the spirit. this can only become possible through an awakened understanding of spiritual laws. although man on your earth is in great darkness it is not the darkness of jupiter, which planet must undergo many changes before it reaches your evolutionary stage. communication between planets in our system and your earth will be realized in a short time, and the initial message will be from mars. this event will herald a new era for the people of your earth, for it will be an important factor in the breaking down of the medieval dogmatism of the past, a narrow-minded theology built upon a perverted corruption of god's limitless universe: a universe narrowed down to your earth and the inhabitants thereof. man's presumptuousness and sophistry is in direct ratio to his ignorance, and that is one reason why materialism holds sway among a majority of your so-called learned scientists and the people generally. but the materialism of the masses is not so degenerating and destructive as the impossible dogmas entertained by your numerous sects who have made god, who is infinite love, an anthropomorphic monster. these dogmas are priestly inventions created to frighten god's children; to make of man, created after the image of god a crawling, servile creature, instead of what he really should be, the highest manifestation of the divine, the culmination of god's handiwork. chapter xvi the risen christ easter sunday, april 4, 1920 your earth's inhabitants are celebrating today the resurrection of your savior--by gratifying the desires of self. we of mars do not have such events to commemorate for we never crucified him. we opened the door to his wonderful truth. not one of your earth's inhabitants can perform the miracles christ did, but we can. our leaders, who are our advisers, guides and spiritual teachers are christlike men who can do all the works that christ and his disciples did. he said. "these signs do follow them that believe," and we have never stopped believing. your condition is pitiful. there is nothing but darkness between you and the truth christ tried to give you. christ is only an idea on your planet and not a reality in the hearts of your people. their whole thought, for weeks past, has been devoted to their personal adornment, and in preparing festivals for this occasion. in your churches, where they seem to observe the period of christ's suffering, it is only a form. they go through their vain repetition of prayers, that have no soul in them, and your six weeks of so-called lent is only a mockery of its real significance. if you would live the christ life you would not crucify him daily in the flesh, but would come to that consciousness that he is risen in your soul. you are continually crucifying christ all over your planet in the same way that you crucified jesus christ, for you either deny him or pervert his truth to suit your selfishness. all of the people on mars have lived on other planets before, except your earth. the earth has not advanced enough to be placed in the line of progression yet. however, the time is near when you will experience that progression. it will be after you are high enough spiritually to receive word from the martians through mediums. this work evidences the fact that you are beginning that experience now. take hope, for after the obscure darkness must come the dawn. your whole earth is now in terrible travail, but the result will be the birth of the new christ spirit. you get glimpses now and then of the real christ life, but do you, or can you realize what life on a planet is like when all the inhabitants live the christ life every day? that is why we have the wonderful manifestations of the father's love in our intricate and delicate mechanisms, and in our utilization of cosmic energy. it is thus that we receive the father's wondrous gifts. but mars never became what it is until god purified it by his son's example, and we accepted him as our savior without murder. your planet damned itself to many bloody aeons by the rejection of him, and your religion has been blood, blood, blood! in your last five years you have been given enough blood to drown all the martyrs you have given to your bloody god. your planet is in slavery. you are slaves to your conventionalities. they are like shackles on your souls: like bands of iron. and yet you cling to them until it seems you do not want freedom. it is only truth that will free you; and as long as you cling to false ideals and sham systems you must expect to be slaves. pin your faith not in material money, but in spiritual wealth. "take no heed of the morrow." be of good cheer. make wide the opening to the spirit! he will enter! chapter xvii. physical environment the result of spiritual causes "for they have sown the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind." (hosea, 8:7) the creator and dominator of the entire universe is divine mentality. the only real actuality that confronts sentient beings is mind. we are born, live and have our being amidst physical surroundings that in final analysis are mere illusions. this idea is not new. it forms the base of most systems of philosophy from the dawn of civilization to the present day. our physical environment is the result of our mental attitude. mars is blessed with a climatic tranquility that would surpass the understanding of an earth dweller. but this was not always so. in proportion to the spiritual unfoldment of the inhabitants of a planet so is the degree of climatic tranquility enjoyed by them. this may, at first reading, appear far-fetched, but it is true nevertheless. those who live on a material plane are immersed in the effect world. the dominating and primary influence that gives rise to all material phenomena have their inception in the cause world--the world of spirit. hence the turbulence of the elements originate, through the law of vibration, deep down in the mentalities of those who make up the population of a planet. cloudbursts, severe wind storms and other disturbances of nature are all adjuncts of the spirit of war and rapine. when a race has discarded the pursuit of false ideals and comes into harmony with the father then there occurs a corresponding change in its physical environment by reason of the vibratory influences at work. these influences have their inception in the mentalities of sentient beings who are doing the father's work in the advancement of the races of men throughout the entire physical universe. this same vibratory law is at work throughout all physical planes, and a knowledge of this law was referred to by christ when he said: "the kingdom of god is within you." on mars, owing to the high spiritual state of its inhabitants, who are in harmony with their creator, climatic conditions are, compared with your world, most perfect. however, there was a time, measured in terms of your millions of years, when the elements on mars were as agitated and capricious as they are today on your blood-stained globe. that was before man on mars had enfolded spiritually. as the martians progressed and unfolded spiritually there occurred a subsidence in the roughness of the elements: and today our planet is blessed with a tranquility proportionate to the high mental state of its inhabitants. chapter xviii. material life a lesson at the expense of what may appear as painful reiteration it is my desire to impress upon the readers of this book this truth: material life is necessary to unfold character, to develop the real self, the divine part in man: the only principle that endures forever. there is a lesson in every phase of work, in every joy, in every sorrow. that lesson is love. until you have fully realized this truth you will not become full heirs in the kingdom of god. "he that loveth is born of god." christ taught that the kingdom was not of your earth, and that all material things are transitory and would ultimately vanish like mist. the story of mars is a lesson to you as to what may be accomplished towards a more harmonious relation with the father: towards a truer realization of god's real kingdom. but in any event you should not idolize the mars people, for the father's kingdom is more perfect. mars' idealism is only a degree in the progress in the cosmic family of worlds. the soul must really strive for a higher goal. the martians, after ages of time, have mastered their natural passions in suppressing self, but they have other heights to scale. but he who conquers a sordid environment; he who rises from a black pool of iniquity; he who finds the father's kingdom amidst an uncompromising warfare with sin deserves more credit than he who is favored by circumstances of birth with more congenial surroundings and a higher spiritual environment. you must remember that the individual on mars, although living amidst an idealism, is beset with problems of life also. our problems are more subtle and of a very different character than you are accustomed to deal with. every plane of life has its complexities. if this were not so, the stimulus for growth would be weak indeed. your most apparent problems are material only to your understanding, since you are living under a most pernicious social and economic system, a system which puts a premium on selfishness. all sentient entities are functioning in a universe of relativity, and the perfectness of the martian character and the ideal material and spiritual aspects of the planet are so by comparison only. martians are self-conscious of their shortcomings and aspire to higher things in god's kingdom, for progress is eternal and the ultimate goal is never reached on the material plane of action, for the pinnacle of all progress is god. "be ye perfect, even as your father in heaven is also perfect." chapter xix. a martian home the home is the moulder of character in the individual, and in most cases the home influences determine the future of the man. home influences are the most lasting and abide by the individual unto the end of his material career. all the habitations of the people of mars are beautiful, and a brief description of one will give our reader an understanding of the other millions of homes on the planet. i will take you into a martian home in the city of urid the beautiful. the rooms are large and commodious. sunlight, which has been filtered through translucent glass to temper and rob it of its glare, floods every room. there are no stairs to climb, for the five or six rooms--depending on the size of the family--form a rectangle with a court in the center. there is a fountain in the center of the court, and beautiful flowers grow in profusion. birds of vivid plumage fill the air with their song. in one of the large rooms a mother sits at a sewing machine making a garment. for the martians use these machines too, although they are a great improvement on yours. not all the clothing is made in the homes, but much of it is, and this is easily understood when you recall that the martians are true artists and possessed of great originality. the mother's attention is now and then centered on a very small child who sits on a velvety carpet. this carpet would be a most wonderful acquisition in the home of a man of wealth on your earth. it has a soft, fluffy pile two inches thick, and makes a most comfortable floor for the baby to play upon. this baby is about 18 months old, and plays with toys just as your earth babies do. a beautiful young girl enters the room. she is dressed in a simple becoming gown of white, and she carries her school books with her. after removing her hat and putting her books away she begins to tell her mother of the wonderful things learned at school that day. she is studying the harmony of music, particularly the relationship between electro-magnetic vibrations and music. the mother shows much interest, and from her store of knowledge clears up many doubtful points in the mind of her daughter. and so the hours pass quickly until the father comes home and joins the family circle. the walls of the room are white, and are relieved here and there by the most beautiful tapestries. the few furnishings of the room express beauty through the artistry that is born of love. there is a lack of useless furniture and bric-a-brac in the room. a table, a few chairs and a receptacle for books, also a couch, complete the furnishings. but this simplicity in the matter of furniture adds a spirit of freedom to the home. there is no kitchen drudgery in store for the housewife. the family repair to a dining-room where food is served by the mother. the food has just arrived from a central depot in a mechanical contrivance which runs underground. after the meal has been partaken of, the soiled dishes are returned in the same manner by which they were conveyed to the home. later in the evening the family prepares to attend a lecture or musical concert nearby. or perhaps a visit to some distant part is considered, in which case an airship is ordered from a public aerodrome. chapter xx. art as harmony is an expression of the father, its coexistent, art, is an expression of the laws of rhythm through the individual when permanently registered in a material way. the more a created object conforms to the laws of harmony the more pleasing it is to the eye. the artist gives expression to his soul within with paint brush, chisel or loom, and the quality of his production is proportionate to the development of his spiritual nature. all of god's creatures are artists, although only a small percentage of his evolutionary creatures are able to express materially what lies hidden in the soul. hence, a beautifully executed painting, statue or tapestry appeals to and interests almost everyone, even though few are able to execute their own artistic impressions. the reason for this is that the average physical makeup is defective and therefore affords a poor vehicle for the expression of the real entity. then again, artistic ability is a question of individual development. primordial man's efforts to depict that which delighted his soul were crude indeed, compared with the creations of your world's foremost artists today. but in a relative sense only, for the state of your art is as far behind the art of the martians as are the carvings of your prehistoric cavemen behind the productions of your michael angelos. as man unfolds spiritually there is a corresponding advance in his artistic point of view. this is evidenced by the fact that art has flourished more on your earth among those races and individuals who are spiritually inclined. the products of the monastery and cloister in the middle ages are witness to this fact. amongst a materially inclined people whose selfish instincts have stultified their souls; a people whose ultimate goal is the acquisition of material things; a people whose only ambition is to satisfy self: a people whose ideas of real happiness are the pursuit of material pleasures, art has little place except as a fad. this is the condition today in many parts of your world, and especially so on your western continent. prize fights and the sensualities of the stage interest many more people than do art galleries and the beauties of nature. the fact that god is the supreme artist of the universe can be established not only with the microscope, but with one's natural eyes. divine art is expressed in every atom comprising the universe; and poor indeed is he in spiritual gifts who fails to feast his eyes on god's handiwork. as art is an expression of god's law of harmony it can be said that its development on mars has been a stimulus to the development of every line of planetary activity and enters into every phase of martian social and industrial system. as every one of god's creatures is an artist in the making, every martian is a developed artist. hence, every product of the loom or forge on our planet is an artistic production, and reflects in a material way the soul of the creator. the incentive before the martian is to work for the pleasure of working, which in ultimate analysis is god's work. of course such a system of industrial activity would be impossible among a partially developed people. art on mars typifies man's spiritual and material progress on this planet. this planet's past history and present achievements are woven into the products of the looms. the warp and woof of our beautiful tapestries, so much in evidence in every home, express the spirituality of the martian people; as do also the creations of the martian sculptors, and the works of those who use brush and paint. some of the most beautiful productions of mars art in painting, sculpture or tapestry depict the scenes and various episodes incident to christ's visit to mars 10,000 years ago. they show many wonderful works of the master, but we do not call them miracles for, as later art shows, the leaders of martian spiritual attainment were and are true disciples and do also the works of the master. mars' past has been one of achievement spiritually, and naturally in a material way also, so when the martian artist weaves the story of the past in his loom there are no misgivings, for the martian past is not fraught with hate, sin and suffering. chapter xxi. scientific sophistry "for we are of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow." job 8:9. the term "scientific sophistry" well fits your multitude of theories concerning truth. science which connotes a higher wisdom of hidden things has degenerated on your earth from its original purpose (the overthrow of ignorance and superstition and the development among intelligent beings of a near approximation of ultimate truth) to an orthodox dogmatism, which today is on a par with the unreality which this selfsame science has sought to eliminate from the shallowness of the human mind. it is quite true that the modern scientific method of investigation: that is, along the lines of observation, followed by the formation of a theory, and finally by demonstration, has resulted in the release of millions of souls from a darker thraldom than that which now besets them, but nevertheless, the human race on your planet now undergoing its probationary experience, is to be pitied for its blindness in matters of real import, namely spiritual truths. your scientific methods instead of leading you onward towards the central sun of spiritual enlightenment has so beclouded your vision that your race today--that is, the so-called enlightened and learned portions of your population--have been deflected from the main path, and they will soon find themselves pursuing an illusionary will-o'-the-wisp. another result of the adoption of the modern scientific method has been the tendency of those endeavoring to bring light into the dark nooks and crannies of human existence, to immerse themselves in an abysmal materialism from which rescue is almost hopeless. this condition is the result of a loss of spiritual vision, and is the final effort on the part of scientists to explain the riddle of human existence in accordance with a cleverly thought out, but most amazingly deficient, mechanistic conception of life. since the inception of modern science on your earth, based on the scientific method of investigation, its devotees adopted a spirit of skepticism concerning all problems of human activity not susceptible to measurement with the foot-rule, or analysis with the test tube, with the result that the newer science of psychology was invented to supply a reasonable and material explanation for the subtle and mystifying phenomena of the human mind. that the conceivers of this science of psychology have been successful is attested by the many remarkable explanations given to account for everyday manifestations of human and animal mentality. i will venture to say that this idea applies to all branches of modern science as there seems to be no class of phenomena in the entire universe, whether in the realm of chemistry, physics or psychology but what can be clearly elucidated to the satisfaction of all scientists with the aid of an adequate terminology. so, today your science in final analysis, has degenerated into a system of clever word-juggling. it is true there are today in the ranks of your foremost investigators and god-inspired men who are seeking truth. their names and their achievements will be treasured by a grateful posterity, and it is to be regretted that their declarations, based upon tireless investigation and honest opinion, are derided by their fellow-workers in the realm of truth. all your scientific theories are based upon certain postulates that in time are out of agreement with observed facts, and you are compelled to cast those postulates aside, adopt others and theorize anew. this fruitless search for truth must go on until a divergence is made from the blind trail and the right path is found that will lead you to the ultimate goal. be not surprised, then, that the revelations in this book will meet with the usual criticisms launched at every new idea of truth that has been given to your world from the time man first walked erect and beheld the stars in the firmament of god. error must and will dissolve presently in the presence of truth, which will abide with you for all time. help hasten the day of the lord. generously made available by the internet archive/american libraries.) materialized apparitions _if not beings from another life what are they_ by edward a. brackett author of "the world we live in", "my house," etc. [illustration: arti et veritati] boston richard g. badger the gorham press 1908 _copyright_ 1885, _by e. a. brackett_ _all rights reserved_ _the gorham press, boston, u. s. a._ to abandon these spiritual phenomena to credulity, is to commit a treason against human reason. nevertheless, we see them always rejected and always reappearing. they date not their advent from yesterday. victor hugo. preface. written at intervals from the pressure of business, and at times that should have been devoted to recreation, these pages make no claim to artistic arrangement or literary merit. if they enable any one to arrive at a clearer and better appreciation of the wonderful phenomena of which they treat, they will have accomplished all that was intended. winchester, mass. contents introduction, page 9 part i. materialization and dematerialization of forms and objects. chapter. page. i. my first séance, and what came of it 17 ii. personification by the medium, or materialized forms 30 iii. materialization and dematerialization of objects 36 iv. materialization and dematerialization under test conditions 51 v. an unexpected séance 60 vi. séance with mrs. carrie m. sawyer 68 vii. séances with mrs. fairchild 79 viii. séance with miss helen berry at onset 88 ix. séance at the berry sisters' in boston 99 x. materialized forms--how shall we meet them? 109 part ii. opinions and theories. i. a glance behind the curtain 123 ii. exposures of mediums 131 iii. public séances 140 iv. the attitude of scientists 146 v. public opinion 153 vi. conclusion 164 illustrations. diagram of mrs. fay's séance-room 29 diagram of the misses berry's séance-room 100 introduction. in 1840 i became acquainted with dr. colyer, then lecturing on mesmerism, at peel's museum, new york, and fully believed, at that time, that he was a humbug, and mesmerism a fraud. soon after this, while visiting some friends, with mr. pendleton, formerly from boston, this subject was pretty thoroughly discussed,--mr. pendleton insisting that there was truth in it, and that i was not treating it fairly; and he proposed, as a matter of amusement, that i should try the experiment on some one of the party present. willing to turn the discussion into a less serious form, i consented to take the part assigned me; and soon found, to my astonishment, that i had before me a most excellent clairvoyant subject. what had been started as amusement became a very interesting entertainment, resulting in the meeting of the parties once a week for the purpose of studying mesmerism. in the following spring i removed to boston, where in my leisure hours i continued my investigations, part of the time with dr. william f. channing, the inventor of the fire alarm, and at the time a student with dr. jackson. i was indebted to him for many interesting suggestions, and especially for the use of a very delicate galvanometer, for the purpose of detecting, if possible, any magnetic or electric currents passing between the magnetizer and his subject. no such currents were discovered, and when we found that our subject could be controlled and thrown into a trance when more than a mile away, by the action of the will alone, the idea of testing currents was abandoned. all that has since been made public under the names of mind-reading and telepathy, and much more, was familiar to us. when trance-mediumship became known, believing that it was only a form of mesmerism, i gave considerable attention to it. there were few mediums of note that i did not have more or less sittings with, but the most satisfactory communications i received came through a member of my own family. while the evidence was such as would have convinced most persons that these messages came from the other side of life, i was by no means sure of it. in this state of mind, in consequence of some statements made to me by mr. thomas appleton, of what he had seen in europe, i decided to investigate what is known as "materialization," that is, the alleged production of visible and tangible apparitions out of seeming nothingness. i felt, whether right or wrong, that my experience in mesmerism, and the long training of my perceptive faculties as a sculptor, which enabled me to detect the slightest differences between objects, was as good a preparation as one could have for studying this class of phenomena. i had no sectarian prejudices to overcome, and no lack of courage in stating my convictions, no matter which way the evidence might lead. that i prejudged the case in the beginning, i freely admit, and, like thousands of others, formed an opinion without giving to it that attention which is necessary in dealing fairly with any subject. i have a thorough abhorrence of fraud, whether in the séance-room or in the pulpit, regarding any one who would trifle with the most sacred feelings of our nature as deserving the severest punishment. in briefly detailing some of the facts that have come under my own observation, it is a matter of no consequence to me what may be said about them, since it is impossible for any one to give the subject the same careful study without arriving at similar results. part i. materialization and dematerialization of forms and objects. man is what he feels. he may dazzle the world for a while with the splendor of his acquirements, but, like an iceberg that glistens in the frosty air and disappears in a more genial clime, the pride of his intellect is lost in the warmth of his affections. what swedenborg aptly terms his "loves," alone indicate man's true character. they determine his relation to superior as well as to inferior beings. there is no other way through which he can advance to a higher life, or commune with those exalted spirits who are ever ready to welcome him, than by the elevation of his affections. through every phase of his spiritual progress, whether in this or the other life, forever arches over him in letters of gold the divine commandment, "that ye love one another." materialized apparitions. chapter i. my first séance, and what came of it. not being acquainted with any "materializing medium," so termed, i obtained from mr. luther colby, of boston, a letter of introduction to mrs. h. b. fay, of that city, stating that i was desirous of visiting her séances. i called upon the lady and presented the letter, but found that she was out of health, and, for the present, had discontinued her sittings. i, however, left my address, with the request that she would inform me when she resumed her séances. more than a year passed without hearing from her, and, finding that she was giving sittings, i made free to call at the house and ask admittance, which was granted. as she did not recognize me, i felt confident that she had forgotten the circumstance of the letter, and, as i preferred to remain as far as possible _incog._, i made no allusion to it. curiosity led me to scan the audience. there were about thirty persons present, and, as far as i could judge, they were of more than ordinary intelligence. at the beginning of the séance, the light was lowered, but not so low that we could not discern clearly the features of those around us. i do not propose now to deal with the experience of others, although i have from the beginning made that a part of my study, but shall confine myself to what came to me. near the close of the séance, the lady who sat next the cabinet said there was a form present who gave the name of "maggie brackett." she would not be certain about the first name, as the form was very weak and spoke in a whisper. here was a chance to come in contact with one of these beings, supposed to belong to another life. although i knew of no one, in or out of my family, by that name, i assumed that it was for me, and stepped up to the cabinet. as i did so, the curtain parted, and a very beautiful female, apparently about sixteen years old, stood before me. i looked at her very closely, but could trace no resemblance to the medium, nor to any one i had known. i said, "i do not remember you; did i ever see you before?" she shook her head, and tried to speak, but i could not make out what she intended to say. finding that i did not understand, she held out her hand, about three feet from the floor; but i did not know what that meant, and, seeing that she was greatly disappointed, shook hands with her, saying, "never mind; we will find out about this some other time;" then bade her good-bye, and she stepped behind the curtain. as i turned to my seat, a hoarse voice inside the cabinet somewhat startled me by saying, "your wife is here!" i answered, "very well, i shall be glad to see her." if i was disappointed in the first form, i was doubly so in this. it was a much smaller person than my deceased wife, and had a tired, careworn expression, while the features strongly resembled the medium. she greeted me warmly. holding her at arms' length, in order to better study her form, i said, "you are not tall or stout enough for my wife." "wait," she said; and, stepping behind the curtain, returned in a few moments, fuller, and near a head taller. the height and general build of the form were now very good, but the face was a medley. i saw, or fancied, some resemblance to my wife, but still more to the medium. she appeared overjoyed at meeting me; so much so that i felt it would be heartless on my part to repel it. laying her head upon my shoulder, she talked freely with me, saying things that it seemed impossible that any one but my wife could know. i knew what mesmerism and clairvoyance meant. was this another phase of them? was it mind-reading? if so, it was a very clever performance. i could not realize that i had my wife before me, and yet here was a being who had penetrated the inmost secrets of my domestic life; had dragged from the past the well-worn pages of memory and read them anew. she remained out much longer than most of the forms had done, when i noticed that she appeared to be growing weaker, and, in spite of her efforts to sustain herself, was sinking downward. bidding her good-night, i let go her hand. as i did so, she went down directly in front of me, within a foot of where i stood, her head and shoulders being the last part visible. on the carpet, where she disappeared, there was a glow of phosphorescent light, which gradually faded away. for the first and only time during my investigations, i was unduly excited. it came so suddenly and unexpectedly upon me that i was confused. i brushed my hand across my forehead and eyes to make sure of my bearings, and slowly returned to my seat, fully conscious of the importance of what had passed before me. if real,--if the form had thus dematerialized,--then the reality of materialization followed as a matter of course. while turning these thoughts over in my mind, the séance closed; and as i stepped out into the full light of the autumnal moon, everything seemed changed. the sound of feet on the brick pavement grated harshly on my ears; before me rose the tall spire of the stone church, throwing its ghostly shadow across the way; behind me was the séance-room, and a dreamy consciousness of the strange phenomena i had witnessed surged through my brain. was it possible that i had stood face to face and been in communication with one from another life? as i pondered over this, a reaction came, and before i reached my home the probability, or the possibility even, that i had been deceived, vexed and annoyed me, and aroused a determination to know whether or not there was truth in materialization. i was not over-pleased with what i had seen, and, but for this last incident, my investigations might have ended here. materialization was either a great truth or a stupendous humbug. thousands of intelligent persons believed in it, on what appeared to me uncertain evidence. was it not a disgrace to science that this had been allowed to go on so long without any honest attempt to investigate it? if i could only get the inside track, how easy it would be to expose it! the whole thing lay in a nutshell: either the forms appearing were confederates, or personations by the medium; perhaps both. i would if possible adopt a system of investigation so thorough that nothing should escape me. to go to séances as an ordinary visitor was, to me, to throw time away. if the manifestations were genuine, and my personal relations with the medium not objectionable, i saw no reason why i should not obtain privileges without which, to my skeptical mind, it would be useless to pursue the subject. i therefore continued my visits, having this object constantly in view. otherwise i remained perfectly passive, neither demanding nor asking anything. several times i was surprised by finding thoughts to which i had given no outward expression anticipated by what claimed to be "the control," that is, the spirit alleged to hold possession of the entranced medium. i had not asked, although greatly desirous, to be taken into the cabinet during the séance. while thinking this, "auntie," mrs. fay's "control," said, "you shall come in." the forms were coming quite freely to me, and one said, "you may go in with me." as i entered, the control greeted me in a friendly way, saying that she liked me; that i was a skeptic, but an honest one. while talking with her, i had my left arm around the waist of the form that took me into the cabinet. with my right hand i reached out and satisfied myself that the medium was sitting in her chair, entranced. there could be no mistake; there were four of us in the cabinet,--the two forms that appeared to be materialized, the medium, and myself! i know how two got in, but where did the other two come from? taking advantage of the expressions of kindness on the part of the control, i sought an early opportunity to express to the medium what i desired. to my surprise, she made no objections, saying that she was entranced, and did not know what the forms were, nor was she conscious of taking any part in what came before the audience; that she was simply the instrument, not the operator. i thanked her, saying i trusted that i should do nothing which would be distasteful to her or the control; that the first step would be a thorough investigation of the cabinet. on my first visit to mrs. fay's, the cabinet consisted simply of a curtain drawn across the corner of the room. it was soon after changed to a light, portable structure, which could be easily moved to any part of the room. i had this cabinet moved out, the floor, wall, and everything connected with it thoroughly examined. there was no chance for confederates to be used here. i have since assisted in moving it out for the satisfaction of others, and have seen it placed in the opposite corner of the room, where it remained for weeks without in the least affecting the manifestations. whatever may be the cause of these phenomena, they are certainly not due to confederates. i herewith submit a carefully drawn plan of the cabinet and its surroundings, made by a competent architect, who has never seen any of the manifestations, and consequently is not a believer in them. there could be no doubt; it was impossible for any one to enter the cabinet except through the door of the séance-room, in the presence of the whole audience. to be perfectly sure on this point, i sought and obtained permission to sit next the cabinet, which place i occupied for more than forty sittings. i know that it is impossible to use a confederate in this cabinet without its being instantly detected. having settled this so thoroughly that it could not come up as an element of doubt in any future investigations i might make, the next step seemed to be a plain one. [illustration: diagram of mrs. fay's séance-room.] chapter ii. personification by the medium, or materialized forms? the forms that came from the cabinet were either personations by the medium, or they were what they purported to be--materializations. i had, during this time, allowed nothing to pass unnoticed. from forty to sixty forms would often manifest at a séance, apparently of both sexes, and of all ages and sizes, from a little child to extreme old age, each form individualized and complete in itself. what claimed to be my wife came to me quite often, and so many times disappeared in the way heretofore described, that i was no longer startled by the occurrence, for i had become so familiar with it that i had come to regard it as a natural consequence of her appearance. she not only grew stronger, but the likeness was much improved, and the resemblance to the medium, at times, entirely disappeared. in my first visits to these séances, i was led, like many others, to attach great importance to the resemblance which these forms might bear to what they claimed to have been when in earth-life. i was constantly looking for it, and have seen many instances where the likeness was so marked that it would have been impossible to mistake it; yet i have learned not to regard it as positive evidence of identity. whatever they may be, whether from this or the other side of life, there can be no question that they possess the wonderful power of changing their forms at pleasure, as any one at all familiar with them can testify. i have seen a tall young man, wearing a full beard, claiming to be a brother of the lady with me, while standing before her, one hand on her waist, the other in mine--upon her saying, "i have not seen you since you were a lad; how do you suppose i should know you now?"--stoop, kiss her on the cheek, and raise his roguish face without the beard; at the same time diminishing in size until he was more nearly like the boy she knew. i have witnessed similar changes outside of the cabinet, in the presence of the audience, quite often. the mental and moral tone of the audience has more to do with the character of the séance than the medium has. i have, several times, by the action of a strong will, caused the forms to recede from the position which they at first assumed. persons, without being fully aware of it, find themselves more or less reflected in these séances. they reap what they sow. their condition of mind prevents the forms from approaching them. i have known persons to visit séances many times without receiving any attention; and, on the other hand, i have seen entire strangers, coming from distant parts of the country, who had never before been in a séance-room, receive the most tender demonstrations of affection and recognition. sometimes these forms have treated me to little jokes, that illustrated better than words the information i was seeking; enjoying heartily anything that for a moment seemed to disconcert me. what claimed to be my niece came to me in a very beautiful illuminated dress. i asked her to appear to me at the next séance dressed in the same way. i took a friend with me to that séance, expecting to astonish him with the wonderful illumination. but, instead of keeping her promise, she came out in a dark dress, such as i had never seen her wear. as my friend had gone up to the cabinet with me, i was greatly disappointed in the way she came, and said, "bertha, why do you come in this dress?" placing her right elbow in the palm of her left hand and her index finger on her lip, in a bashful, coquettish way, she said, "i'm in mourning." i said, "for what?" she replied, "i expect i have lost my friend." i said to my companion, "this is something new; i don't understand it." while we were both looking at her, instantly the dark dress disappeared, and she stood before us radiant in her beautiful garments. with a girlish laugh she threw her arms around my neck, kissed me and said, "it is all right now, uncle." the disappearance of the dark dress was quite as marvellous to my friend as the illumination. i have never been able to detect any fraud, or any indication of it, on the part of mrs. fay at these séances; and in the absence of any information which would lead to any other conclusion, i shall hereafter call these forms spirits. that they are not beings belonging to this side of life, i feel certain. what they are, each one must determine for himself. chapter iii. materialization and dematerialization of objects. the severest tests which i could apply to these manifestations convinced me that not only the forms which surrounded these spirits, but the garments which they wore were "materialized" (that is, made visible and tangible out of previously invisible substances) inside of the cabinet. how this is done we may not comprehend. emerson says, "the whole world is the flux of matter over the wires of thought to the points or poles where it would build." we only know that here, as in nature, there must be a germ or starting-point around which the particles aggregate. this is seen in the materialization of objects, which is important as being the only materializations outside the cabinet, and the only ones that we can study. i have spoken of a beautiful spirit claiming to be my niece, bertha, that came to me at mrs. fay's. in all my attendance there she has never failed to meet me. this did not arise from any understanding or agreement, but seemed to grow up as a natural consequence of the magnetic relations between us. simple and childlike in her bearing, i have found her remarkably conscientious, intelligent, and affectionate. she comes freely, and in all my intercourse with her i have never found her judgment at fault. i do not care to discuss the question as to who or what bertha is; i know she is not the medium, nor a confederate, and that her materialization of objects is genuine. in my long and delightful association with her, extending over more than two years, i have never been able to detect the slightest thing that would lead me to doubt that she is what she claims to be. no parent ever watched the unfolding of a young life with more interest than i have studied the apparent growth or development of this delightful spirit. it may be that what i have considered her progress arises from the increasing strength gained through her long association with me, enabling her to more freely express herself; for during my acquaintance with her she has seemingly passed from a commonplace person into a remarkable embodiment of intelligence and affection. if i have refrained from expressing the many inspired thoughts and feelings which in her exalted moments she has freely given forth, it is because they are sacred to my own domestic circle. they belong to that centralization of the affections without which life loses its force, and all investigations or attempts to reach these beings are only time thrown away. as i never saw her before she passed to the other life, i have no means of proving her identity except by what she has told me. owing to the fact that her family live many hundred miles away, and that i am very forgetful of names, i did not recall, until reminded by others, the existence of any one of that name. she came, at first, very weak, not being able to come out from the cabinet, and spoke in a whisper. she either gave a wrong name, or, what is quite as likely from the difficulty she then had in expressing herself, was misunderstood. this, with my limited experience, led me to regard her appearance, so far as it related to me, a mistake, and i am quite conscious that i treated her coldly. that she felt this indifference on my part was evinced more than once by the expression of her face. she, however, continued to come whenever i was present, growing stronger each time, apparently demanding recognition, and showing plainly that she did not mean to be put aside for any one. at length i said, "will you tell me who you are?" she replied, "i am bertha; you are my uncle; i am your niece;" at the same time holding out her hand about three feet from the floor. as i did not understand this, she subsequently explained it by coming out as a child about four years old, that being the age, as i afterward learned, when she passed to the other life. as i was a stranger to the medium and all present (except one, and that one knew nothing of my relatives), it does not seem probable that the medium could have known anything about her. the individuality of bertha is very striking, bearing little or no resemblance to any other materialized form which i have seen. she never comes shrouded in a profusion of drapery; on the contrary, she appears scantily but richly dressed, wearing a short skirt and close-fitting waist, with short sleeves, leaving her finely-rounded arms bare. she never wears a head-dress; her long silken hair floats freely round her shoulders. in form and feature she is the embodiment of girlhood, with a playful disposition which leads her to make amusing remarks, at times, about those who come within her mental atmosphere. her figure is compactly built, and well proportioned, with a remarkably fine face, the expression of which, at times, surpasses anything i have ever seen. she is much shorter than the medium, as the following measurements will show:- mrs. h. b. fay, medium, height, 5 ft. 4 in. bertha, materialized form, height, 4 ft. 9¼ in. male form (to mr. tallman), height, 5 ft. 9¼ in. difference between mrs. fay and bertha, 6¾ in. difference between mrs. fay and male form, 5¼ in. difference between bertha and male form, 12 in. these measurements were taken by means of an upright staff with a cross piece at right angles, and i was assisted by a gentleman who is a thorough skeptic. care was taken to have the forms stand perfectly upright, so that there could be no mistake as to accuracy. i have given this brief sketch of bertha as i shall have occasion to allude to her hereafter, for i am greatly indebted to her for much that i have learned about materialization. she has taught me that the ability to communicate intelligently depends upon the use these beings can make of our aromal emanations, or magnetism; that frequent association with us is necessary to enable them to gain control of material elements, and that where the relations are harmonious they gather strength every time they come in contact with us. from a feeble and almost unintelligible whisper, bertha now speaks in clear tones, with little or none of the german accent of the medium, and very often, no matter where i am placed, comes across the room, and pulls me up with both hands; or, if there is a vacant chair beside me, sits down and begins to talk, apparently not noticing those around her. at a thursday afternoon séance, held last spring, she came out very lively; and after a cordial greeting i said, "you are feeling strong to-day; can you not do something to interest us?" she hesitated a moment; then leading me into the middle of the room, looked up laughingly into my face and said, "i will show you how we dress the forms in the cabinet."[a] stretching out her bare arms, turning them that every one could see that there was nothing in them, she brought the palms of her hands together, rubbing them as if rolling something between them. very soon there descended from her hands a substance which looked like very white lace. [a] the control had stated to me, only a few minutes before, that the forms were first materialized and then draped. she continued this until several yards of it lay upon the carpet, and then asked me to kneel down, saying i was too tall for her to work easily. she then took the fabric and made a robe around me, which appeared seamless. on being reminded that there were no sleeves, she took each arm in turn and materialized sleeves. putting her hand on my head she said, "you have not hair enough," and, rubbing her hand over my head, materialized a wig. this i could not see, but put my hand up and felt of it, and those who were near me said it was in keeping with my own hair and quite an improvement. removing the garment, she rolled it into a compact mass, manipulated it a few moments, and it was gone! in materializing and dematerializing this fabric, her arms, which were bare to the shoulders, were stretched out at full length, precluding the possibility of any deception. thursday afternoon, oct. 2, i visited mrs. fay's séance with some friends from new bedford and cincinnati. when bertha came out i introduced her to my friends, and asked if she would be kind enough to show them how to make lace. she stepped forward and asked for my handkerchief, which she placed between her hands, manipulating it much after the manner of starching fine fabrics. it was easy to see that the material in her hands was rapidly increasing in volume, and soon the lace began to descend; but instead of being only one piece, there were two, one dark red, and one white, both falling at the same time, each piece about three quarters of a yard wide. when she had completed it, she held one end, while i took the other and walked across the room, stretching it out to its full length, between three and four yards, so that all could see it; and while it was so held, the controlling spirit shut off the light, showing that the lace was brilliantly illuminated. bertha then gathered it in, rolled it up and dematerialized it on my shoulder, the light remaining on my coat for nearly a minute after the lace had entirely disappeared. these things are not new; they are as old as the history of man, and are of common occurrence in india at the present time. they have no possible connection with what is known as sleight-of-hand, or legerdemain. louis jacolliot, chief justice of chandenagur, french east indies, in his able work on occult science in india, thus points out the difference:- "every european has heard of the extraordinary skill of the hindoo fakirs, who are popularly designated under the name of charmers or jugglers. they claim to be invested with supernatural powers. such is the belief of all asiatic people. when our countrymen are told of their performances, they usually answer, 'go to the regular magicians; they will show you the same things.' "to enable the reader to appreciate the grounds of this opinion, it seems necessary to show how the fakirs operate. the following are facts which no traveller has ventured to contradict:- "_first._--they never give public representations in places where the presence of several hundred persons makes it impossible to exercise the proper scrutiny. "_second._--they are accompanied by no assistant, or confederate, as they are usually termed. "_third._--they present themselves in the interior of the house, completely naked, except that they wear, for modesty's sake, a small piece of linen about as large as the hand. "_fourth._--they are not acquainted with goblets, or magic bags, or double-bottomed boxes, or prepared tables, or any of the thousand and one things which our european conjurers find necessary. "_fifth._--they have absolutely nothing in their possession save a small wand of seven knots of bamboo, as big as the handle of a pen-holder, which they hold in their right hand, and a small whistle, about three inches long, which they fasten to one of the locks of their long, straight hair; for, having no clothes, and consequently no pockets, they would otherwise be obliged to hold it constantly in the hand. "_sixth._--they operate, as desired by the person whom they are visiting, either in a sitting or standing posture, or, as the case may require, upon the marble, granite, or stucco pavement of the veranda, or upon the bare ground in the garden. "_seventh._--when they need a subject for the exhibition of magnetic or somnambulistic phenomena, they take any of your servants whom you may designate, no matter whom, and they act with the same facility upon a european in case he is willing to serve. "_eighth._--if they need any article, such as a musical instrument, a cane, a piece of paper, a pencil, etc., they ask you to furnish it. "_ninth._--they will repeat any experiments in your presence as many times as you require, and will submit to any test you may apply. "_tenth._--they never ask any pay, merely accepting, as alms for the temple to which they are attached, whatever you choose to offer them. "i have travelled through india in every direction for many years, and i can truthfully state that i have never seen a single fakir who was not willing to comply with any of these conditions. "it only remains for us to ask whether our more popular magicians would ever consent to dispense with any of their numerous accompaniments, and perform under the same conditions. there is no doubt what the answer would be." whether the forms or articles exhibited are considered as objects invisibly brought into the room, or created from the atmosphere, they are alike astonishing manifestations of an occult power. it does not simplify or explain these singular phenomena to deny their relation to beings of another life, and refer them to a supposed power in man, the laws of which are unknown to us. we have to deal with them as we would with any of the natural manifestations of life. to assume that these things are not honest,--that these beings, who come to us claiming to be our friends and relatives, are deceiving us, playing on our credulity,--is to decide the question without evidence. chapter iv. materialization and dematerialization under test conditions. at mrs. fay's, on thursday, oct. 6, 1885, previous to the séance, mrs. fay came into the room under the control of "auntie," and requested that four ladies should be selected by the audience to go with the medium to her dressing-room. the request was complied with, and the ladies returned with mrs. fay, still under control, and stated that they had dressed her entirely in dark clothes; that there was not one particle of white fabric about her, except the little collar around her neck. the control then asked me to take a light into the cabinet, and all were requested to examine it and see that there was no possible chance for a confederate, or the concealment of drapery. this was done to the entire satisfaction of all present. mrs. fay was not allowed to leave the room, but, as soon as the audience was seated, went directly into the cabinet. she had not time to take her seat before a form, dressed in white, came out into the room. this was followed by several others similarly dressed. then the light was lowered, and a tall female form came out, dressed in brilliantly illuminated garments. a white handkerchief held against this drapery had the appearance of a dark object. this figure walked about the room for a few minutes, and vanished within three feet from where i sat, and at least eight feet from the cabinet. then, in the middle of the room, on the carpet, appeared a small light, not larger than the palm of my hand. it gradually grew larger, until it assumed the tall, angular form of "auntie," the control, who, in her hoarse voice, greeted us with, "good afternoon, all: i thought i would see what i could do." she then addressed the audience in one of the most forcible speeches i ever listened to, stating her reasons for putting her medium under test conditions, ending by saying that she respected an honest skeptic, but had no patience with those who accept anything without good, substantial evidence. she returned to the cabinet, and many forms came out and were recognized. bertha came, and, stretching out her arms at full length, that all could see there was no chance for deception, she materialized between her hands a piece of cambric, about three yards long and one wide, brilliantly illuminated. after all who desired to do so had examined it, she gathered it up, and, passing over to where the light was the strongest, held it up, laughingly remarking that there was enough to make a dress, proceeded to make it up, materializing sleeves, and then put it on and walked round the room. taking it off, she dematerialized it in the presence of all. returning for a moment to the cabinet, she came back, and, kneeling on the floor, with the fingers of the right hand made circular movements on the carpet, with each of which it was plain to be seen that the light was increasing. she continued this until she had materialized another large piece of fabric. this gave great satisfaction to all, except one visitor, who, from some cause, was a little disturbed, and had the kindness to ask me if i had been in the habit of practising sleight-of-hand. his intimate friend, who came with him, had the good fortune to be close to bertha, and had witnessed all that had occurred. he rose, of his own free will, and stated to the audience that he had been investigating the subject for thirty years, and that this was the most wonderful and convincing thing he had ever seen. on thursday, oct. 13, mrs. fay was again put under test conditions. the audience was large, crowding the room and making it so warm as to materially interfere with the manifestations, especially with those spirits who had not been accustomed to materialize. the illuminated forms and drapery were well shown. in the light séance, bertha came and pulled me up from my chair. she complained of the closeness of the room, saying that she could not do much. she materialized a carnation in my hand, and i called mr. whitlock to witness it, whereupon she took both of his hands and made a flower in each. emma, one of the controls, soon came out, dressed in a rich white figured satin dress, which all in the front row were allowed to inspect. mr. whitlock obtained a pair of scissors, and, with emma's consent, cut quite a piece out of her dress. the damage seemed to be soon repaired. mr. whitlock, in searching for the place where he had cut the piece out, lifted the skirt, which gave emma a chance to play the coquette, and this created considerable amusement. mr. whitlock persevered, and i think is able to state whether he succeeded in spoiling the dress. a fine-looking form, claiming to be a german chemist, and the control of dr. thomas, came out, and magnetized or medicated a tumbler of water, sparks of light flashing freely from his fingers into the water, which was then given to a lady from new haven, conn.,--with what effect i cannot say, except that she complained that it tasted bitter. i saw this manifestation for the first time several weeks before, and, i confess, was rather amused with it. while speaking somewhat skeptically of it to a friend who sat beside me, i was surprised when the form came across the room and asked me to take the magnetized water. i had been suffering for some weeks, and, to do the doctor justice, i must say i was almost entirely relieved. mr. whitlock's father came to him,--a fine, robust form, with a strong individuality that could not well be mistaken. mr. whitlock and his wife testified to the likeness. this was followed by the appearance of dr. j. r. newton, the widely-known healer, some time deceased. mr. whitlock and i went up and greeted him. i shook hands with him, and had time to study his face well: there could be no mistake; it was a wonderful likeness of the doctor. the séance, although held under unfavorable circumstances, was full of strong, convincing points. to the above statement, mr. l. l. whitlock, editor of _facts_, appends the following:- "at the above-named séance, held on nov. 13th, the following-named ladies were asked by mrs. fay to examine her clothing before she entered the cabinet, viz.:--mrs. joseph harris, of dorchester, mass.; mrs. a. smith, of lynn, mass.; mrs. j. d. lillie, boston; mrs. m. a. estee, east boston; and mrs. l. l. whitlock, providence, r. i. "they stated that she had nothing white about her person, except a piece of ruche around her neck, worn as a collar. the cabinet was also thoroughly examined by all who desired. "my father, rev. geo. c. whitlock, ll.d., who passed to the spirit-life about twenty years ago, was very perfectly materialized, so much so that mrs. whitlock, who often sees him clairvoyantly, but never saw him in earth-life, recognized him before i saw him, my attention at the moment being attracted by conversation in another direction. "we will not attempt a description of this séance, as mr. brackett's report is substantially what we would have written. our experience with the dress above mentioned was wonderful, and to us as incomprehensible as was our lace experience at mrs. fay's séance at onset bay last summer, a description of which we published in the september number of _facts_. "one thing is certain: i had in my hand a piece of brocaded white satin, which i know i had cut from the dress of which mr. brackett speaks, and that, while i was kneeling before the form, the hole which i had made in the dress did disappear, and that i used my senses, of both sight and feeling, to convince myself of the facts. "over sixty forms appeared, most of whom were recognized by friends." chapter v. an unexpected séance. at an interview with mr. w. c. tallman, mr. w. a. hovey, and rev. m. j. savage, the question of obtaining private séances, in the interest of the committee on psychical research, was discussed, and it was considered desirable to make arrangements with mrs. h. b. fay for that purpose. i was selected to consult with her, and, if possible, obtain her consent. as several gentlemen who intended to join us were not present, mr. savage was requested to see and inform them of the conditions agreed upon; the result of his interview to be forwarded to me by letter at mrs. fay's, on thursday, before the séance held on that day. these conditions were very simple, and ought to have been satisfactory to any reasonable person. they were the result of the long experience of mr. tallman, mr. hovey, and myself, made heartily in the interest of the committee. there was no difference of opinion, mr. savage fully endorsing them. the letter was duly received, and, without stopping to read it, i informed mrs. fay that i was ready to talk with her. she replied that she should leave the matter entirely with her control, and if i would lay the letter on the mantel, near the cabinet, auntie, the control, would probably speak about it. this letter was a long one,--some four pages, written by a member of the psychological society, in reply to mr. savage. i placed it under a heavy music-box, within a few inches of my head, where i am certain it remained undisturbed until i took it away. its contents, which reversed the arrangements agreed upon, were not made known to mrs. fay until after the decision of her control. as i did not then know what it contained, and in my subsequent interview with mrs. f. made no allusion to it, auntie's knowledge of it seemed very remarkable. as the séance drew near the end, a spirit to whom i am greatly attached called me up to the cabinet; and while i was conversing with her, auntie's voice broke in, saying, "mr. brackett?" i said, "what is it, auntie?" she replied, "i will see you to-morrow." i called on mrs. fay the next day, and, after talking with her on other matters, and finding that she did not seem disposed to allude to the appointment, i reminded her that i came on business. she asked, "what is it?" i replied that auntie had requested me to meet her. she rose without a moment's hesitation, saying, "we will go to the cabinet." this was a surprise to me, for i fully expected that auntie would take control of her medium, and talk to me through her, as she had often done before. as mrs. fay stepped behind the curtain, auntie came out, fully materialized, greeting me cordially, shaking hands with me, and expressing pleasure at meeting me; then, in a clear and forcible manner, discussed the question of the proposed séance, going freely into detail, showing conclusively that she understood both sides, and closed by saying that she did not propose to submit her medium to such conditions as were required by the letter, at the same time expressing a willingness to do all she could for mr. savage personally. bidding me good-bye, she dematerialized directly in front of me, so near that i could have laid my hand upon her as she went down. the curtains were apart, and i could see mrs. fay standing just beside the cabinet; but, in order to make me more certain, if possible, of that fact, she reached out her right hand, which i took in my left, preventing the curtains from closing; and while thus standing, no less than six fully materialized forms came out and greeted me. during all this time mrs. fay may have been under partial control, but was not entranced, and talked freely with me about the forms, often describing them before they were visible to me. these forms were substantial, varying in height and shape, and distinct from each other. most of them conversed freely, showing quite as much individuality and intelligence as some of my acquaintances to whom forms sometimes appear,--persons who think they are wise in treating these forms with coldness and distrust, all of which is reflected back to them. it is easy to understand why such persons are disappointed in what comes to them; but it is not easy to understand how any intelligent investigator, who has given the subject any considerable attention, should come to the conclusion that the forms are automatons, and that our friends from the other side never take possession, or control them, as they would a trance-medium; that they are merely effigies,[b] or lay figures, built up to mock us, and play with the most sacred feelings of our natures; and, what is more diabolical, that our spirit-friends are near by, enjoying the base deception! if this view is correct, what a fearful amount of lying there must be in every séance! such a conclusion would be impossible from what passed before me at this sitting. [b] in an essay written by "shadows," intended to enlighten the public on this subject, he puts forth the theory of effigies. in the same article he relates a séance with the berry sisters, in which he says that "a young female spirit came to him." the word spirit must have been a slip of the pen; he should have said, a young female effigy. it was possibly in anticipation of his theory that the young effigy called him "father!" as i gazed with delight upon this sudden and unexpected manifestation, bathed in a mellow light which made all the surroundings perfectly visible, i could not help feeling a regret that my psychical friends had shut themselves out from such evidence by requiring arrangements to which no intelligent control would submit. here, under strictly test conditions, which precluded any possible doubt, was crowded into a small space just the information which i am sure that some of them are honestly endeavoring to obtain. these things may be nothing but a mere phantasy of the mind; what is claimed as exact science, a humbug; and life itself only a delusion; but those whose lives are rounded into a full consciousness of an individual existence may prefer to consider them in a different light. the same perception which enables us to recognize one must be conceded to the other. if, in the search after facts relating to the more subtle forms of life, the testimonies of thousands of honest and intelligent persons are to be disregarded, we might as well abolish our courts. judge, jury, and witness become nothing but ridiculous actors in a farce played in the name of justice. chapter vi. séance with mrs. carrie m. sawyer. among the strong points in evidence of the genuineness of these manifestations are the marked individuality and constant variations that appear. the séances with the same medium will be found to differ widely; no two of them are exactly alike. sometimes they will be exceedingly good, and at other times almost an entire failure. if they were in any way due to confederates, or to personation by the medium, such variations would not be likely to occur. again, the séances with one medium differ essentially from those with another; so much so that each medium may be said to have a phase of mediumship distinct in itself. the forms may appear quite different in outward shape, when coming through one medium from what they do in coming through another. the mental characteristics will, however, as i have found, be retained in both instances. this has often led to confusion and distrust with those who visit different séances. the tendency is very strong to give precedence to mere outward appearance, without reference to character. in no case is the old adage, "a little learning is a dangerous thing," more applicable than to the study of this subject. the shallow investigators, the touch-and-go people, will, in most cases, find themselves left in bewilderment and doubt. these things are not to be settled by witnessing one or two séances. nor is the character of the manifestations, as expressed through any medium, to be determined without considerable experience. from statements, and especially from the impression i received on my first interview with mrs. sawyer, i was led to expect much from her séance. my first séance with her was a disappointment, there being nothing except the delightful interview with little maud, one of the "cabinet spirits,"[c] to attract the attention of any one familiar with these things. it is due her to say, in explanation, that it was her first séance in boston, and held under unfavorable conditions. [c] this term is applied to spirits who appear to be constant attendants or assistants in the cabinets of mediums for materialization. on the 11th of august, i again visited her séance, in company with mrs. fay. the day was very hot, with a close, moist atmosphere, rendering the séance-room very uncomfortable. the only wonder was that, under such conditions, there could have been any manifestations whatever. i was seated on one side of mrs. fay, and a friend of hers on the other. this trio, so to speak, drew the fire of the whole séance; the only strong and decided manifestations appearing on that side of the circle. auntie, mrs. fay's control, stood behind us, invisible to all except her medium, occasionally making remarks in her hoarse, unmistakable voice. coming, as the voice did, out of space, with no organized being in sight to produce it, the effect was at times startling. a very sprightly spirit came briskly up to mrs. fay, extending her hands, and leading her up to the cabinet, where they conversed for some time. this was followed by what claimed to be bertha. she came very lively, greeting me cordially. the form was very like, and the expression of character assuring, but, owing to the unusually poor light and hasty interview, i prefer to withhold conclusions for the present. more decided in its character was another spirit that followed soon after. there was a centre-table between me and the cabinet. this spirit, instead of coming into the middle of the room, passed to the left, moving the table out, and coming directly to me. this brought her more in the light, where i had a better opportunity of seeing her. both of these spirits appeared to be the exact counterparts of those who had come to me so often at mrs. fay's, but who at other places exhibited a great deal of variation. was the close resemblance due to the fact that mrs. fay was sitting by my side? the question is an interesting one, suggesting further experience. it may be well to state here that every opportunity was granted for examining the cabinet, which i did to my entire satisfaction. i also obtained from the builder a certified statement that it was constructed of kiln-dried lumber, tongued and grooved, nailed, screwed, and glued together in such a way as to render it impossible to remove the boards, or for a confederate to enter it except through the door in the audience-room, in the presence of the visitors. all were permitted to inspect it before the medium took her seat. there could be no question but that the cabinet and its surroundings were above suspicion. this left me free to study the manifestations purely as materializations, or personations by the medium. i know that the forms that came to me were distinct individual beings, and in no instance was i able to discover any indications that would lead me to suppose that the medium personated any of the forms. at the next séance which i visited, on sept. 15, the weather was again oppressive, so much so that the séance would have been abandoned had it not been that some of the visitors, who had come from another state, were unwilling to give it up. notwithstanding the excessive heat, the séance proved a very interesting one. while little maud was standing at the curtain talking, there was a remarkable show of hands and arms above her head. sometimes six of them would be moving back and forth outside the curtain at once. about eight feet from the cabinet, and directly in front of me, so near that i could have touched it without moving from my seat, appeared a very delicate little hand and arm. like a bird that hovers around some object that it dare not approach too closely, this hand and arm dallied and played before me for several minutes, visible to all present. on the left side of the room, more than six feet from the cabinet door, a form materialized in full view, and came forward and shook hands with a lady on my right. while engrossed in these things, i had almost forgotten that my principal object in being there was to study the form of bertha as compared with her appearance at other places. i was aroused from my meditations by an involuntary shock that almost always warns me of what is coming. turning quickly around, i saw what appeared to be bertha, gliding from the cabinet. she passed rapidly to the left side of the room, moving the centre-table and coming directly to me. throwing her arms around my neck, she greeted me with, "i love you," and then, with a frightened expression and half hysterical laugh, she retreated to the cabinet. this was totally unlike bertha, who, in her perfectly confiding and childlike bearing toward me, never felt it necessary to express her feelings in any such bold declaration. knowing that there are phantoms that can take on almost any form they choose, the outward resemblance of these beings has no weight with me, in the absence of mental characteristics. at a séance held by mrs. sawyer, sept. 29, there were present twenty-five persons, most of whom received more or less attention from the spirits. little maud was very lively and full of witty, playful remarks. near the close of the séance, she asked me to come into the cabinet and try to quiet the medium, who was exhausted in consequence of having watched with a sick friend the previous night. on entering the cabinet, i found that mrs. sawyer was not entranced, and took hold of both her hands, endeavoring to give her all the mesmeric strength i could. while thus situated, conversing freely with the medium and little maud (who was evidently pleased to have me there), a spirit materialized and went out among the audience. after it returned, another materialized, and taking my left hand while mrs. sawyer held my right, we all three walked out into the room, some distance from the cabinet, in full view of all present. this was a new experience for me. to suppose that the twenty-five honest, intelligent persons who witnessed this were deceived, or that the appearance of the form was due to a confederate, is simply absurd. i know it materialized in the cabinet, within reach of where i sat. what was claimed by the manager to be bertha came out, and i gave her a test to be used by her at another séance. in following the rôle of strict investigation, and in honestly relating what has come to me at these séances, i am forced to state that the form that appeared on this occasion was not bertha, and that there was, as subsequent events proved, an attempt to deceive me. mrs. sawyer is a gentlewoman and a strong medium, but she is surrounded by a coarse magnetism, the baleful influence of which she seems powerless to resist. chapter vii. séances with mrs. fairchild. the mediumship of mrs. fairchild differs from that of others inasmuch as she stands outside of the cabinet, under the influence of one of her controls, managing the séance with great skill and judgment, thus eliminating from her séances all chance of transfiguration or personation by the medium, forcing the skeptic or investigator to the conclusion that the forms are either genuine materializations or confederates. the position of her cabinet, placed as it is between two rooms, is certainly open to criticism. a thorough examination of it, however, revealed no possible chance for the concealment of draperies or the entrance of a confederate. in order to meet the objections which have been made to this arrangement, she has drawn a light curtain across the corner of the room. backed as it is by solid walls, the forms that come from this temporary cabinet cannot be confederates, and the skeptic may answer as best he can the question, what are they? this cabinet, however, is only used occasionally, and the average visitor sees only what comes from the main cabinet. if this temporary arrangement is so successful, and i know it is, there is some force in the objection made against using the other. every medium is in justice bound to give to visitors the best conditions possible. mr. whitlock thus describes séances held with mrs. fairchild, sept. 12 and 19:- "the medium was controlled in a few moments by 'cadaleene,' a very interesting spirit, who managed the séance with perfect nonchalance, selecting with ease and correctness the persons whom the spirits desired to come to the cabinet, thereby fulfilling the double office, with mrs. fairchild, of medium and manager. "during this séance the medium was outside, and in view of the audience, except on one or two occasions, when she went into the cabinet for a moment; and at the last, when her control, cadaleene, who had promised to materialize, came out so perfect in action and voice that i shall never forget her grateful attentions as she knelt at my side. time after time more than one form was out of the cabinet at the same moment, and in one case five persons, including a child. "one of the most convincing proofs of materialization was the following: a lady, whom we understood to be a relative of col. bailey, called him up to the cabinet and kissed him; and while he was standing with both arms around her, talking, she dematerialized. this occurred fully three feet from the cabinet, in sight of the audience, a dozen of whom must have been within six feet of the form, and some of them as near the cabinet. "the following saturday, sept. 19, we again attended her afternoon séance. at this séance we found mrs. isabella beecher hooker, of hartford, conn.; mr. thomas hazard, of providence, r. i.; mr. john wetherbee, of boston, and many other well known persons, were present. "what we have already written in reference to cadaleene and her control of the medium, is equally applicable to this séance; also the expressions of confidence in reference to the cabinet. i had expressed to a friend, whom i met in the office of the _banner of light_, that while, to the best of my knowledge, after an examination, i believed mrs. fairchild's cabinet to be all right, still i would like to see the same results in a cabinet made by hanging a curtain across the corner of the room. judge of my surprise when, after the séance had commenced, cadaleene said, 'mr. facts-man, i heard what you told the brave, and you see we have the curtain across the corner, to show you what we can do.' "the séance continued in the regular cabinet, as usual, for about an hour and a half. the light was good, and many spirits manifested their presence, among which the following interesting experience occurred: a gentleman, who does not choose to have his name mentioned, had a communication the day before from a spirit-friend, in writing, through his own hand, promising to materialize at this séance. he told me that this spirit had not only fulfilled this promise, but had told him things that no other person knew but himself, and that he recognized her fully. "then came the crowning glory of the séance. the control, cadaleene, still holding the medium, directed that the gas be lit and the hall door opened. she then closed the sliding door in front of the cabinet, and fastened back the curtains which hung over it to form the front of the regular cabinet when in use, so that all might know if it was opened. "the audience was then seated facing the corner where the curtains had been hung for a temporary cabinet, some near and in front of the door just mentioned, which could be seen by all present. the medium, still under control, passed behind the curtain, but came out in a moment, followed almost immediately by a form dressed entirely in white. after this form returned to the cabinet, two others came out,--one a lady, the other a gentleman,--and it was said a third was seen in the cabinet. "all this time the medium was controlled by cadaleene, who was finding the friends of the spirits with remarkable dexterity. several others followed, and we might give names and personal experiences, but feel that our readers will appreciate most these special points of interest." mrs. isabella beecher hooker, mr. thomas hazard, and mr. john wetherbee have given graphic descriptions of these séances. on tuesday, oct. 13, in company with william d. brewer, i attended a private séance with mrs. fairchild. i examined the cabinet without being able to discover anything that would lead me to suppose that there was any chance for a confederate to be used. the séance lasted about two hours, during which time scarcely a minute passed that there were not forms out in the room, either to mr. brewer or myself; sometimes three or four at once. more than half the time the extemporized cabinet in the corner of the room was used. there appeared to be no difference between the workings of the two; the manifestations came as freely from one as from the other. as i examined the walls and everything connected with the temporary cabinet, i have no hesitation in saying that the forms that came from or appeared in it were materialized beings. i was in this cabinet several times during the séance, often with two forms at the same time. once i sat between them, an arm around each, satisfying myself of their objective reality as well as if i had been walking with them outside in the room. while thus holding them, the one encircled by my left arm, and whose right arm was around my neck, instantly disappeared, without the slightest indication of any movement;--she was there, and she was not there. still holding the one encircled by my right arm, i rose and with my left hand drew the curtain aside, so that i could see everything behind it. there was not the faintest trace of the beautiful being that, a moment before, i had so firmly held, and with whom i had been talking. similar things have occurred to me in various ways, so often that they produce no surprise, only an earnest desire to discover how or where the forms go, or possibly gain some knowledge of the laws governing these strange phenomena. the force at mrs. fairchild's séances is mainly expended in materialization, and for that reason they are valuable to skeptics; but to the experienced investigator they offer nothing new. many of the forms come heavily veiled, and there is an absence of that social and mental character which is ever the surest evidence of recognition. chapter viii. séance with miss helen beery at onset. "spirits are never finely touched but to fine issues; nor nature never lends the smallest scruple of her excellence, but, like a thrifty goddess, she determines herself the glory of the creditor, both thanks and use." at one of miss helen berry's séances at onset in the summer of 1885, there came a young female spirit, apparently about sixteen years old. she took me by both hands and led me up to the cabinet, where she greeted me very warmly. as she could bear more light than most of the forms, i had no difficulty in studying her face and figure. she was a little below the average height, lithe and graceful in all her movements. a cloud of dark golden hair drifted around her neck and shoulders, falling far below her waist. her dress was pure white, of a rich fabric, so thin that it revealed a form beautiful as the finest greek statue. she appeared more like a dream of ideal life, than a creature who had ever walked the earth. there are moments of exultation in the life of every artist, when his soul reaches out to visions of great beauty. no canvas or marble can record these visions. in his associations with the world, he may, at times, catch glimpses that remind him of what he has seen, but nowhere does he realize, as a whole, the perfection of those forms that have allured him from his ordinary surroundings. was this charming creature one of those beings who had haunted my dreams?--who, in the still hours of the night, had sometimes dispelled the darkness by the glow of her presence? if i hesitated a moment in recognizing her, it was because she had never before appeared clothed in so beautiful a form, or if so i had failed to appreciate it. perhaps it was due, in part, to the negative condition i was in, which allowed a freer and more perfect development, undisturbed by any mental action on my part; and this idea is strengthened by the fact that, in all my connection with these séances, what i most desired to obtain seldom came until after i had become more or less indifferent about it. as i stood beside this form, i passed my fingers through her long silken tresses, and put my hand upon her finely formed head. as she laid her face to mine, she said in the most earnest yet tender tones, "you did not think i would come." this was true; tired with my journey and the sultry heat, i was indifferent to taking an active part in the séance. i was, however, in a listless way, interested in what came to others, and had given up expecting that anything would come to me; and yet, had i reflected for a moment, i should have known that at any true séance, where i was present and the conditions favorable, it would have been hardly possible for her to keep away. the consciousness of her presence at other times than in the séance-room is no uncommon occurrence with me. in the séance-room, where she comes so strong and substantial, i have often put forth little playful, but somewhat provocative remarks, in order to draw out, as far as possible, an expression of her character. sometimes these things excited her, but never, except for the moment, disturbed the harmony between us. at this interview i was not in a condition of mind likely to attract spirits, whether in or out of the flesh. in the course of conversation, i dropped a remark that disturbed her. she grasped my hand nervously, her chest rose and fell with increased respiration, and without making any reply she retreated to the cabinet. thinking it possible that i might have displeased her, and that she would not return, i went to my seat. a moment afterward, i was surprised by her rushing out and kneeling down in front of me. throwing her bare arms around my neck and pulling my head down to her, that others might not listen to what was said, she poured forth, in the most earnest and impassioned strain, her thoughts; talking as only a woman can talk under the highest inspiration. i had long since abandoned all doubts of the existence of these beings, and had been, in a quiet and affectionate way, studying the different phases of character manifested by them. like many others who have investigated this subject, i had met with things which i could not understand or harmonize with my experience. this was leading me to conclusions that i intuitively felt were not true, and yet i could not extricate myself from the network of apparent evidence that surrounded me. that she understood my mental condition, was evinced by the fact that her whole force and energy were directed to this one subject. her form trembled and vibrated with emotion as she uttered sentence after sentence in clear explanation of what had perplexed me. raising her head, and tossing back her long hair, she grasped both my hands, and, with a face beaming with light, said: "it seems strange to you, but what can i do? we are subject to conditions; and if i come at all, it must be in harmony with them. there are spheres and circles we cannot penetrate, if the controlling influence is against us. we are still human, still yearning for affection,--that love which is the silken cord that binds us all. what would you not do to reach those dear to your heart? you understand me now." there was a remarkably childlike simplicity in the way she unburdened her mind, giving free expression to her feelings, bearing me mentally along with her, until i was lost to everything else. that is all. there are thoughts and feelings which no language can express. like the silvery notes of a sweet song that echo in the distance, they revel in their freedom from restraint, and forever elude our grasp. i know the breath that fans my cheek, the thoughts, the words i cannot speak, the arms that round me twine. what need of words when thoughts are told in light that gleams like burnished gold, with pulse that throbs to mine? never before had i listened to such eloquence. every word, with its rich intonation, is indelibly stamped upon my memory, and i regret that, for personal reasons, it cannot be recorded here. exhausted by her long effort, as she rose and led me to the cabinet, i noticed that her form was rapidly changing. suddenly, like the extinguishing of a light, she passed into that invisible space whence she came. there were no "test conditions" here; and there might have been a dozen confederates, for aught i can prove. it is barely possible that this delightful being belonged on this side of life; but whether on this side or the other, in the fulness of my artistic nature, i thanked god that such beauty could exist anywhere. the evidence of truthfulness in what came to me at this séance rests on something stronger than barred windows and locked doors;--it was in the complete embodiment of the character, both mentally and physically. the séance closed, and i returned to glen cove by the road that skirts the shore. the south wind played with the blue waters of the bay, throwing up myriads of little waves that danced in the moonlight. as i stood gazing upon the sea, baring my feverish brow to the cooling breeze, i felt that my whole nature was flowing out into a vast circle of being. thoughts, words, feelings, all blended with the mellow light which flooded the scene. if i was not supremely happy, it was not from lack of harmony with everything around me. there is ever a tinge of sadness in the background of life. with the beauty of the waves comes the low moan as they break upon the shore. with the warmth of friendship, comes the pain of parting, and, sadder still, that relentless fate that hurries us from those we love into the dim, uncertain future. the sands of life are golden only where thought diffuses itself without shadows, and the light that charms us flows from the object of our affections. it was late, and i retired for the night--closed my eyes, but not to sleep. the walls of my room disappeared, and my vision swept over an undefined and illimitable space. before me like a mist, but perfectly outlined, glided the beautiful being who only a few minutes before had come so close to me. soon she was joined by others, lightly drifting, floating through the air. as round the mountain's craggy steep the trailing vapors curve and sweep, so, hand in hand and side by side, through space unmeasured, soft they glide. now there, now here--so far, so near- with outstretched arms they beckoned me, and, like the murmur of the sea, their voices broke upon my ear. as they passed near me, a hand was laid upon my face; i started, sprang up, looked around; there was no one in the room. all was still save the low surging of the tide that swept the beach below. chapter ix. séance at the berry sisters' in boston. in looking over my notes, my attention is strongly drawn to the many remarkable things i have witnessed at the berry sisters'. as i have given a drawing of mrs. fay's cabinet, and its surroundings, which i know to be honest, i give a carefully drawn plan of the séance-room here (see next page). it will be seen that this is one of the most simple and truthful arrangements possible, and the thanks of every investigator are due to the able manager and controls for placing the cabinet in a way that every one can see at a glance that a confederate is out of the question. i have attended several séances at this place since this arrangement has been adopted; and, so far from injuring the manifestations, they are, if anything, improved. [illustration: diagram of the misses berry's séance-room.] at these séances, when i have been present, bertha has materialized outside of the cabinet, more than three feet from it, and at least six feet from the entrance, and on one occasion so close to me that she brushed me with her garments as she rose. on saturday, nov. 7, 1885, i attended in company with my wife and little daughter--mrs. a. e. newton, of arlington, also making one of the party. although the atmosphere was unfavorable, the manifestations were good, there often being two forms out at once, talking with their friends. my seat was on the right, facing the cabinet, and very near to it. before the séance commenced, by the request of mr. albro, the manager, i locked the door at the farther end of the room; and when this was done, he offered me the privilege of sitting beside it. i declined, preferring to take part in the séance. i will state, however, for the benefit of those who have any doubt about this arrangement, that the seat i occupied commanded a full view of this door, and that i unlocked it after the séance, and can state positively that it was impossible for the door to have been opened without my knowing it. again, the cabinet is so constructed that if a confederate had entered, he would have been obliged to go around to the front, in full view of the audience, before he could have passed into the cabinet. those persons whose fertile brains are always leading them into absurd conclusions, will have to seek for some other explanation than that of a confederate here. in the course of the séance, i had warning of bertha's presence, and requested mrs. newton, who sat beside me, to watch the left-hand corner, near the cabinet. in a few minutes there appeared a soft light on the carpet, near the wall, and almost instantly bertha came up in full view of all. springing forward and taking my little daughter by both hands, she came briskly across the room to where i sat. after our usual greeting, i introduced her to mrs. newton, who detained her for some time, my wife coming forward and joining in the conversation. i have described this beautiful spirit so fully in the preceding chapter that it is unnecessary to repeat it here. many persons will find it desirable to make themselves familiar with the different phases of materialization as expressed through different mediums; but nowhere else will they find more strength combined with delicacy and refinement, as shown both in the beauty of the forms and their affectionate bearing. neither in the controls, the forms, nor the surroundings, is there anything here to offend the most fastidious taste. these séances appear to have advanced beyond the mere fact of materialization, offering to those whose magnetic relations are in accord with conditions, a more attractive expression of social and mental character than is frequently met with. as mrs. newton seemed quite interested in bertha, i felt desirous to know what impression was made upon one so well prepared to form a just opinion on such matters. to my expressed wish she kindly responded with the following statement:- "arlington, mass., nov. 11, 1885. "my dear mr. brackett,- "in accordance with your request that i would give you my observations and impressions in regard to the materialized apparition claiming to be your spirit-niece, bertha, i will state that i think her the most intelligent and sprightly re-embodiment of a spirit that i ever saw,--and i have seen a great many within the last ten years. at all events, i am confident no one who sees her can imagine her to be either a made-up figure, a lifeless effigy, or the medium in disguise. "at mrs. fay's séance, where i first saw her, she showed, on meeting you, that spiritual illumination in the face which joy and gladness give to us when we meet those we love, after an absence. she had also those fine intonations of the voice that can spring only from the affections. can it be, said i to myself, that this beautiful girl, so charming and graceful, so full of life and intelligence, is truly a spirit? just as the thought had formed itself in my mind, she had turned toward the cabinet and vanished before the curtain. but hardly a minute had elapsed before she sprang out again from the cabinet, like a new-born seraph, and, opening her hands before all the company present, her arms being entirely bare to the shoulder, she extended them above her head, began to manipulate something apparently in the air, and soon handed me a most exquisite rose, with the moisture oozing from the stem where it had apparently been twisted off from the stock. "when at miss helen berry's séance, a few days later, i had the assurance made doubly sure that she was not a being of earth, by seeing, about three feet from the cabinet, a small, white, cloud-like substance expand until it was four or five feet high, when suddenly from it the full, round, sylph-like form of bertha stepped forward. seeing her little cousin and namesake (bertha brackett, nine years old), she took both the child's hands in hers, drew her from her chair, and, after greeting her affectionately, led her playfully across the room to where we were sitting. there i studied every lineament of her face. her hair had all the warmth and glossiness of that of a healthy girl of eighteen. she said to me, 'don't you think i am very strong to-day?' and, putting both hands in mine, allowed me to caress and converse with her freely. 'do you remember you materialized a rose for me last week?' i asked. 'yes,' she replied, 'and you have it now at home.' this was true. "mrs. brackett called my attention to the length and beauty of bertha's hair, and asked her if she could not make it longer if she wished to. 'yes,' she laughingly replied; 'but it will grow shorter if i don't get to the cabinet soon!' and, with a graceful adieu, she tripped across the room, leading her little cousin into the cabinet with her, where she dematerialized in the child's presence. "since witnessing the foregoing, i have re-read your account of the séance with miss berry at onset, and i feel quite safe in saying your description of bertha is not overdrawn. she certainly exhibits an individuality intensely human, and yet not of ordinary flesh-and-blood, as shown by her sudden appearance and disappearance. she proves beyond a doubt that, given the same conditions and opportunities to other spirits that you have afforded her, they may come with the same fulness of life and strength. "i cannot refrain from expressing the hope that some of the members of the seybert commission will come to boston and study bertha--see her materialize three feet from the cabinet, as we did--hear her converse intelligently--see the divinely moulded form--and then witness, as we did, her sudden change to another sphere of being, doubtless to engage in pleasant duties among that deathless throng who are ever learning, and who will unfold to us, if we will become receptive, the laws of entrancement and of materialization. it seems scarcely possible that these gentlemen would fail to be convinced that 'there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of' in materialistic 'philosophy.' "very truly yours, "s. j. newton." chapter x. materialized forms--how shall we meet them? years ago i had a friend who was generous to a fault. he freely gave wherever he thought there was need. with all his liberality, he was singularly successful in business, and when he passed to the other life left a large fortune, which was mainly distributed to charitable institutions. walking with him one day, we passed some beggars sitting on the sidewalk,--pitiful specimens of humanity, with large placards in front of them, detailing the misfortunes that had befallen them. one, not over thirty years old, had lost a leg in the battle of waterloo; another had lost his eyes by an eruption of vesuvius which must have occurred twenty years before he was born. the cards must have been heirlooms, handed down at least one generation. these little discrepancies apparently made no impression on my friend, who emptied his pockets of his spare change, giving something to each of them. as we passed on, i said to him, "do you know that these poor fellows were up before the police court a few days ago for being engaged in a drunken brawl?" i shall never forget the expression of his face as he turned to me and said, "it is my duty as well as my pleasure to give; the responsibility of using it is theirs, not mine." many years had come and gone, and the memory of my friend had almost faded from my mind. i was engaged in studying materialization. as my custom is to take one thing at a time, i did not trouble myself about the quality. i did not even propose to myself what i might do afterward; but did propose, if there was any truth in it, to so clearly demonstrate it that no doubts should come up as a disturbing element in any subsequent investigations i might make. when i had finished my investigations on this point, i found that i stood on the shore of a boundless sea of speculation and uncertainty. i could not help asking myself the question, "what are these forms that, for a few minutes only, clothe themselves in objective reality, bearing the semblance of my friends, blended with the likeness of the medium? are these my father, my mother, my wife, my brother? is this the rollicking boy who made the hills echo with his laughter, now whispering in my ear so low that i can scarcely hear him?" in the midst of this perplexity, this whirl of unanswered questions, the voice of my old friend came to me: "don't stare these sensitive beings out of countenance, but give to them all that you can of your better nature, and you shall have your reward. if there is a possibility of mistake as to identity, if you are in any way deceived, the responsibility is theirs, not yours. in all true séances, if the forms are not what they are supposed to be, they are, at least, beings from another life, seeking strength and comfort from association with you, else they would not come. let not a shadow of doubt or distrust bar their approach. have no awe, no reserve, no fear as to what they are, and they will blend into your soul, become a part of your life. in the true relations which you hold to them will be the fulness of what they bring to you." with a nature naturally skeptical, and a mind long trained to a close comparison of objects, it was not easy to accept this advice. what, then, was to be done? it was plain that i must move on, or abandon all that i had so successfully demonstrated. i could not launch out into the endless speculation of "psychical research;" i had not time for that; so i decided to follow the course which had been suggested to me. i would lay aside all reserve, and greet these forms as dear departed friends, who had come from afar, and had struggled hard to reach me. from that moment the forms, which had seemed to lack vitality, became animated with marvellous strength. they sprang forward to greet me; tender arms were clasped around me; forms that had been almost dumb during my investigations now talked freely; faces that had worn more the character of a mask than of real life now glowed with beauty. what claimed to be my niece, ever pleasant and earnest in aiding me to obtain the knowledge i was seeking, overwhelmed me with demonstrations of regard. throwing her arms around me, and laying her head upon my shoulder, she looked up and said, "now we can all come so near you!" her wonderful spontaneity of character at once asserted itself, and has ever since been the delight of all who have come in contact with her. my association with these forms is of the most simple character; it is that of children with each other: we realize the full force of the master's words, "except ye become as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." science may wrangle over the supposed movements of molecules and atoms, and the correlation of forces; may dissect the bird to find its song; but love alone shall set the boundaries of knowledge. the key that unlocks the glories of another life is pure affection, simple and confiding as that which prompts the child to throw its arms around its mother's neck. to those who pride themselves upon their intellectual attainments, this may seem to be a surrender of the exercise of what they call the higher faculties. so far from this being the case, i can truly say that until i adopted this course, sincerely and without reservation, i learned nothing about these things. instead of clouding my reason and judgment, it opened my mind to a clearer and more intelligent perception of what was passing before me. that spirit of gentleness, of loving kindness, which, more than anything else, crowns with eternal beauty the teachings of the christ, should find its full expression in our association with these beings. part ii. opinions and theories. the credulous have their weak points, but the belief of unbelievers surpasses all credulity. there is no position a man can assume so weak as that of extreme skepticism in the face of fair evidence. * * * * * heat, light, electricity, and force are common things. we accept them as matters of everyday life; our familiarity with them prevents surprise. in our attempts to discover or learn what they are we have utterly failed. all that we have found is how they act under certain conditions. they are the elements necessary to the existence of physical life, and by cultivating their acquaintance we have made friends with them. they walk beside us, lending a helping hand in everything; still they are our masters--we know them not. for the moment we comprehend a thing we are greater than the thing we comprehend: it is behind us, not in front. those who are seeking to know how these spirit-forms are created will seek in vain, for there is no language by which the process can be conveyed to our understanding. when it is said that they come out of invisible space, and depart in the same way, all is said that can be in explanation of their advent among us. opinions and theories. chapter i. a glance behind the curtain. the nature of man is, to a certain extent, dual. the brain is divided into two parts; there are two sets of nerves crossing each other, so that an injury received on the left side of the brain affects the right side of the body, and _vice versa_. while the duplicated organs are capable of separate action, anatomically suggesting two distinct beings, they are united so as to form a complete union of both. there is, however, a preponderance of brain or will-force in the left side of the head, giving a more complete control over the right side of the body, and, in some instances, a manifestation of character, which would indicate that each side of the brain might act in alternation, and somewhat independently of the other. the force which the brain exerts over its own organism and that of others is not understood. could it be explained, all the phenomena of the material and spiritual would, probably, lie within reach. a person with a strong will may possess a magnetic power enabling him to throw another, of a peculiar temperament, into a trance, in which that person is physically insensible to everything except what comes through the sensibility of the magnetizer. the material bodies are brought _en rapport_ with each other, or under the law of individual control, and the magnetizer can direct the physical movements of the other very much as he would his own, leaving the spirit of the entranced person free to act, for the time being, independently of its own body. if it has the strength or power to control other sensitives, it may manifest itself in remote places, either clairvoyantly or by materialization more or less tangible. it can, however, do this much more perfectly in close proximity to its own body. such a materialization is a counterpart of the entranced person; is, in fact, the spirit of that person clothed in a body not strictly its own, but composed of material largely drawn from it. the existence of this phenomenon has been more or less known through all ages, and is probably the origin of that mythical story of the creation of woman, where the lord is said to have caused a deep sleep to fall upon adam. among all nations, traditions of what is known as "the double" exist. though often classed as a vulgar superstition, it nevertheless finds expression in the works of some of the best intellects. it plays an important part in the progress and development of all physical séances, since it is the first indication of true materialization. furthermore, the substance composing this counterpart is, to a certain extent, the nucleus around which all spirits materializing are developed or clothed. the form appears to issue from the left side, but in reality it comes from the whole circumference of the body, in a rapidly-moving luminous vapor, which quickly consolidates into a separate individualized form, complete in its organization, and capable, for the time, of physical and mental action. such manifestations are what is understood to be the production of living forms by means of living matter given off from the body of the medium. the process is more or less affected by the surroundings, and is ever the result of more intelligent beings coöperating with the spirit of the entranced person. the spirit occupying this temporary body can, when proper relations have been established with it, surrender it into the control of other spirits, the same as it surrendered its other body into the control of the magnetizer, and from its peculiar structure they can contract, expand, or change it to suit his or her requirements. so long as it remains in the possession of the spirit of the entranced person, the likeness to it is maintained; but the moment it passes into the possession of another, the resemblance will depend entirely upon the strength of the control, and the knowledge the spirit has in shaping the form like to that borne in earth-life. from these conditions materialization may broaden into more complex forms, always depending upon the currents of magnetic thought, and that central will-force that sweeps into its vortex all atoms necessary to its use. until the spirits acquire more than ordinary strength by frequent manifestations, or by favorable surroundings, this will probably be found to be the usual way in which they make themselves visible to us. these conditions necessitate more or less resemblance to the medium, both in form and intonations of voice. i have seen hundreds and thousands of materialized forms; have seen, in a few instances, personation, where the medium was taken possession of, brought out, and controlled as in trance-mediumship; i have seen what appeared to be the double of the medium, so thoroughly like, that i should have testified that it was the medium had i not seen it dematerialize, or been taken into the cabinet by the form and found the entranced medium there; but i have never seen a single instance of transfiguration, unless the double of the medium be considered as such. the fact that mrs. fairchild stands outside, by the cabinet, during the séance, in full view of the audience; that at the berry sisters', and at mrs. sawyer's, the spirits lead the medium out of the cabinet; that at mrs. fay's the forms often take the visitors into the cabinet and show them not only the medium but the materialized control,--are things which the skeptic will find very hard to explain. if they are not evidence of the existence of these phenomena, it is difficult to understand what evidence is. to a sensitive person, with even a limited experience, the character of a séance is easily determined. there is always in the true materialized forms a decided lack of some of the elements that make up the magnetism of what we call real life; something not easily described, but readily perceived by a person thus constituted. to such a one, neither a confederate nor a personation by the medium can pass undetected. chapter ii. exposures of mediums. there have often been sensational reports circulated claiming to be "exposures" of materialization, but when traced to their origin they have generally been found to be unreliable, and never the result of careful study or scientific investigation. the ungentlemanly and in some instances brutal conduct of the parties engaged in the "exposures" has been such as to discredit their statements, and in no case have they produced evidence that would be considered valid in any court. if it be true that the garments used to clothe the forms are materialized and dematerialized in the cabinet, any sudden disturbance of the magnetic conditions of the circle might arrest the process of dematerialization, leaving the draperies intact. persons not understanding this would naturally charge fraud upon the medium, on rushing into the cabinet and finding them there. this has led some mediums to submit to a thorough examination of their clothes before entering the cabinet, going so far, at times, as to allow themselves to be dressed entirely in dark clothing, without a particle of white upon them, and giving every opportunity to prove that there were no concealed draperies in the room. these arrangements, while taking up valuable time that otherwise would have been devoted to the séance, have never interfered with the manifestations. the most serious and perhaps the most generally believed charges made against these séances is that confederates are used to personate the forms. passing by the many knotty questions which cannot possibly be explained on the theory of confederates, and considering it in a business point of view, there are difficulties connected with such an arrangement that might in the end prove disastrous. a employs b to personate, at one dollar a séance. b finds that a is making money, and, being rascally enough to engage in such work, would have no scruples in demanding, under threats of exposure, the lion's share of the proceeds. a is completely in his power, and has no alternative but to submit. this, and the outside pressure which would be likely to be brought to bear upon b to make public the fraud, would render it almost impossible to carry on the deception for any great length of time. again, there are often from fifty to sixty distinct individual forms appearing at each séance, requiring as many confederates to represent them. as the circle is rarely composed of more than twenty-five persons, would it pay to keep so many actors for so small an audience? if people who listen to these accusations would reflect for a moment, they would see that the theory of confederates is not a very plausible one, and it might do much toward relieving mediums from the unjust suspicions to which, through lack of understanding on the part of the public, they are more or less obliged to submit. all honest mediums will cheerfully do all they can to satisfy the public that there is no deception, and that the cabinet and its surroundings are such as to preclude the possibility of confederates. any other arrangements are unnecessary, and, to say the least, suspicious. these things are new and strange to most people, and they very naturally expect strong evidence; and they are right, provided their desire is expressed in a kindly and gentlemanly manner. any one at all familiar with these séances cannot help seeing that there are some mediums and their controls who are largely responsible for the feeling of distrust more or less manifested toward the subject. when the question of a confederate is fairly settled (and no one can be certain of his position until it is done), and two forms appear at the same time; or when you can be taken into the cabinet by a form, and shown the entranced medium, it is self-evident that one of them is a materialized form, and not a personation by the medium. it needs no argument to settle this, no matter how much it may conflict with pre-conceived notions. i have quoted from chief justice jacolliot's work on occult science in india, to prove that there is no connection between these manifestations and what is called sleight-of-hand. there is, however, a more important fact conveyed in his statements, corroborated by other writers upon this subject, showing the perfect fairness with which these mediums, or fakirs, submit to tests, courting the most thorough and exhaustive investigation, even trusting themselves, while in a trance, without any protection, to the honor and good faith of those around them, repeating at request the experiments, again and again, to satisfy that there is no deception about them. this is strangely in contrast with our mediums, who as a rule shrink from anything of the kind, and are disposed to regard any request of that nature as a direct imputation upon their honesty. if materialization means anything besides dollars and cents--if it has a mission to perform--it is to enlighten and educate the people upon one of the most important subjects that has ever engrossed the mind. the lack of openness and confidence on the part of many of the mediums, or their managers, creates a feeling of distrust which sometimes finds an expression in rudeness on the part of skeptics, and leads those who are confident of the genuineness of a part of the séance to be impressed with the idea that there are things connected with it that are dishonest. there is no difficulty in tracing the source of this feeling. everywhere like begets like, and as long as this state of feeling exists there will be a lack of harmony in the circle, with more or less disturbance. it may be that these things are inseparable from the newness of the manifestations among us, and will disappear when mediums are more freely developed in our homes, and the séances assume less of a commercial character. while no apology should be made for fraud in these séances, we have no right to make charges that cannot be sustained. every medium is bound, in justice to the audience, to see that the cabinet and its surroundings are so arranged that the appearance of fraud is, as far as possible, avoided. lack of experience, want of perception, or ignorance of a subject, gives no authority to assume that it is a fraud. the eagerness with which the press circulates reports of imposture finds its excuse, not in a manly defence of the truth, but in a morbid disposition to cater to the whims and caprices of the public. those who accept such statements without investigation may possibly become victims of a worse delusion than that which they fancy they are condemning in others--a delusion born of ignorance and self-conceit. chapter iii. public séances. no comparison can justly be made between different mediums. all are excellent in their way. the preference that is given to one over others is mainly due to personal feeling, to likes and dislikes, which must always find an expression among individuals of different tastes. in some séances the strength of the manifestations is largely exhausted in the production of forms. in others, the social and affectionate element predominates. where there are from fifty to sixty materialized forms appearing at a sitting, it is hardly to be expected that much time can be given to the interchange of thought or the expression of feeling. such séances are, as a rule, mere touch-and-go occasions. the strength of the circle is often exhausted in combating the ignorance and prejudice of the audience, and the higher and more delicate phase of materialization is lost sight of. many condemn public séances on account of the mixed audience and the conflicting elements that surround the medium. these things are, at present, a necessity, being the only means of educating the masses. the time has not yet come when, through a more general acceptance of the truth of materialization, it can be transferred to the domestic circle, where it properly belongs, and where its best results will be obtained. not until the flush of excitement necessarily arising from the strangeness of the phenomena has subsided, and the investigator has settled in his mind the facts of materialization, is he capable of forming an intelligent opinion on the subject. thousands of persons, through their experience, have reached that point. whether they advance beyond this will depend upon the character of the séance, the strength of the manifestations, and the purely affectional bearing toward these beings. séances should be classified: the first, for primary education, for facts and evidence to convince skeptics; the second, for the more advanced investigator. into this latter class no skeptic should be admitted. such an arrangement could not interfere with the patronage of mediums, but on the contrary would enhance it, for there comes a period in the progress of the investigator when, finding that he cannot advance, he will retreat or seek some other field for investigation. the public séance, as now constituted, must, from the nature of its surroundings, remain more or less stationary. there are séances that are pitched on so low a key that when the investigator passes from a state of doubt into a full knowledge of the truth of materialization, he will instinctively leave them for a more genial atmosphere; for it is in vain to expect that coarse, mercenary, untruthful mediums can avoid impressing more or less of their natures upon the spirits who come through their organisms, or that mainly spirits like themselves will be attracted to them. the more intelligent investigators are beginning to realize this, and those mediums who have lost the sense of their high calling, and degraded the séance to a mere show, will, under the inevitable law of progress, find themselves supplanted by a better element. mediums are being developed everywhere, and in the near future there will be no lack of noble men and women who will gladly come to the front with their divine gifts. if we accept the idea that passing to the other life does not essentially change the character of the man, that his peculiarities remain the same, we can account for many things in the séance-room that appear to be simply acting,--performances which have no other object than to attract the audience, to show what power the spirits can acquire under conditions which seem impossible to us. considering the state of feeling with which many persons enter the séance-room, it is not singular that they are sometimes treated to what seems to be deception. the spirits, perceiving the condition of the minds around them, act very much as they would if they were still on this side of life. thoughts are things, which appear to them very much as solid substances do to us. if, instead of attempting to remove them, they can accomplish their object by going round them, they feel themselves justified in doing so. they act very much, at times, as children would under similar circumstances; and, until they obtain complete control over the form that encases them, they cannot express themselves with much force. they are as children learning to walk, to think, and talk through a medium that is new to them. a simple, childlike bearing, blended with the warmest affection, is the only element that enables them to progress and meet us upon the highest plane of thought. chapter iv. the attitude of scientists. the world is indebted to scientists for their clear arrangement of and deductions from what others have discovered; for, as a rule, they are not inventive. hasty in condemning everything new, their timidity and lack of generous bearing toward what seems to conflict with their materialistic theories are conspicuous. nothing can be more unscientific than the attitude of most of them toward this subject. obliged in the past to antagonize the despotism of the old theology, they have themselves become despotic. condemning dogmatism, they assume a dogmatic bearing toward everything that does not square with their pre-conceived notions. walking with faces toward the ground, they refuse to look up, or admit the existence of anything beyond matter; denying the possibility of spirit, and claiming that the earth contains within itself the "promise and potency" of everything that is or has been. against this sweeping claim may be opposed the fact that, in the light of a purely scientific analysis, the earth gives no promise of the living beings that cover its surface; that it creates nothing, furnishes nothing except the environments or clothing of the beings that for the time find their abiding-place here. when scientists are confronted with materialization, they deny it without investigation, or refuse to examine it unless they can dictate their own conditions, and yet no class of men understand better than they do the necessity of adhering closely to the laws governing any operation in nature, if it is to be fairly studied. the course that has been and is now being pursued by the two scientific bodies supposed to be investigating this subject must necessarily lead to failure. individual members may be more or less impressed with the reality of the phenomena, but no report worthy of the subject will ever be made by either society. the ridiculous farce enacted by the french academy of science in their report on mesmerism, will probably be repeated here. it has been charged upon me that i am not a scientist, and that my methods are not scientific,--all of which, if their implied definition of science is correct, i admit. i have had the fairness, notwithstanding my skepticism, to lay aside my prejudices and study this subject purely in relation to itself, and not in connection with pre-conceived ideas. the facts which i have presented have been attested by competent witnesses; and until scientists have made themselves familiar with them, their allegations amount to nothing. the course which i have pursued in studying this subject is far more sensible and scientific than a denial without investigation. the editor of one of the ablest scientific journals has well said, "science having no methods by which it can experimentally determine that man has a spiritual nature distinct from the material, it follows that it must be incompetent to throw light upon the nature of that which is unrecognized or unknown." the testimony of scientists in such matters cannot be considered of any more value than that of any other careful investigator; and if we take into consideration their materialistic views, it is dealing liberally with them to concede that much. science accepts the theory of molecules and atoms, and declares matter to be indestructible. these little molecules set in motion produce the phenomena of life. when they get tired and refuse to climb one above another, like acrobats in a circus, then there is death. it is all very simple, and any one can understand it,--a little alkali thrown into some acid,--a rapid effervescence,--the atoms are disturbed and seek to hurriedly arrange themselves into a different position,--they have performed the fantastical dance of life, and all is over! upon this theory scientists have endeavored to account for the creation of everything. if they have found anything else they have not declared it. the trinity of molecules, atoms, and motion is the keystone of the whole structure which for centuries they have been trying to build up. as science takes nothing for granted, it would be interesting to learn when and where they found these little atoms, which no microscope, however powerful, has ever revealed. before scientists insist upon the denial of the existence of that spiritual force which organizes and individualizes all forms of life, it might be as well for them to settle the question, what is matter? i do not assert positively that these beings are spirits; for it may be said, in a scientific point of view, i have no right to do so; but i do assert that the facts warrant beyond a question the conclusion that they do not belong to what we call the earth-side of life,--that they are not automatons, lay figures, or effigies, but are living, breathing, intelligent beings, with thoughts, feelings, and passions strictly human; that they come out of invisible space, and depart in the same way. in the language of professor crookes, "nothing is more certain than the reality of these facts. i do not say that they are possible, but i say that they _are_." chapter v. public opinion. when mesmer appeared in paris, exhibiting his claims to magnetism, he was ridiculed, and treated as a humbug. the french academy of science, after due consideration, pronounced mesmerism a fraud. this was the more remarkable from the fact that many of the experiments in mesmerism are so simple that a child can demonstrate them to the entire satisfaction of an unprejudiced person. many years afterward, in 1831, the french academy of medicine, through a report of its committee, reversed this decision. so far as we know, these are the only efforts that have been made, until within a few years, by any scientific association, to investigate this class of phenomena. both in europe and this country it has been treated with contempt, and for more than a hundred years condemned by pseudo-science as nothing more than a hallucination produced by a diseased condition of body or mind. i was present at the massachusetts hospital, many years ago, when the elder warren, knife in hand, made mock passes over his patient, ridiculing to his students the idea that any one could be entranced or rendered insensible to pain by what was called mesmerism; and yet the existence of the mesmeric force or fluid is one of the most remarkable discoveries ever made. it has been known for thousands of years, by the hindoo philosophers, as "the pure agassa fluid" that penetrates and permeates all objects, whether animate or inanimate. it controls the social relations; is the secret of that influence which one person exerts over another; and is the connecting link between the seen and the unseen worlds, enabling spirits, whether in or out of the flesh, to produce all the phenomena known as "spirit-manifestations." if we except the writings of deleuze, townshend, gregory, dr. elliotson, and a few lesser lights, mesmerism has been kept before the public mainly by a class of itinerant lecturers who, despairing of a more considerate hearing, have, in order to retain their hold on their audience, degraded it to a mere burlesque. the history of mesmerism forms no exception to all discoveries that have marked the progress of man from a state of barbarism to the present time. the old stubble chokes and prevents the new crop of grain, unless it has been turned under. the acceptance of anything with which we are not familiar depends more upon the mental condition produced by pre-conceived ideas than upon any evidence necessary to sustain it. the progress of public opinion is like the march of a great army; it camps at night upon ground occupied by its videttes in the morning. when spiritualism began to attract attention, the opponents of mesmerism, not understanding its true character, abandoned their hostility to it, and accepted it as an explanation of the new phenomena. mind-reading, telepathy, everything possible, was brought forward to explain away this supposed evidence of another life. and, in a somewhat different form, the same thing is taking place in regard to materialization. if we eliminate from it the idea of spirits, and attribute to man alone this wonderful power, we disarm scientific as well as sectarian opposition, and the possibilities of man, the influence of mind over matter, become a legitimate subject for study. but no matter how exhaustive your investigations of materialization may have been, the moment you suggest that spirits may have something to do with it, it becomes unscientific, and, in the judgment of certain persons who have assumed the right to control public opinion, you are instantly transformed from an honest student into a "crank"! in view of the obstacles that conservatism is always throwing in the way of progress, one may be pardoned for a certain kind of admiration for cranks. they have, at least, the courage of their convictions, and in this respect, if for nothing more, may become popular, for the crowd always throw up their hats, whether right or wrong, to the plucky man. is courage, then, so rare a thing that we are forced to applaud it even in the bulldog? public opinion is the despotism of a republic. it is astonishing what cowards it makes of decent men; the fear of being laughed at is the terror of society; the assertion of manhood, the expression of an honest opinion, the love of truth,--everything goes down before it. my ministerial neighbor throws theological brickbats at me because i choose to study a subject which he has not the courage to face, and which, if not a reality, he lied about in his last funeral sermon, when he told the mourners that their "dear friend is not dead, but still living and hovering around them." shall we allow these attacks, and not remind him that, if he knows anything, he must know that the christian religion is an outgrowth of paganism; that there is not a cardinal point in his theology that is not as old as the hindoo pagodas; that the idea of another life, imperfectly outlined in the bible, was taken from a religion founded upon occult manifestations; that he whom he calls lord and master not only taught healing by laying on of hands, but exemplified materialization in the transfiguration on the mount, and in his bodily appearance to his disciples, after his death, in a room with closed doors? at every séance there are more or less clandestine visitors, who shrink from letting their best friends know anything about it. at one, i met an old acquaintance, who was surprised to find me there, and begged me not to give him away. he had obtained a seat under an assumed name, partially as a test, he said, but mainly on account of his position in society; he did not care to be known to visit such places. in the course of the séance, a beautiful female form came briskly out into the middle of the room, and, stretching her arms toward him, said, "father!" as he did not respond, the controlling spirit, calling him by name, said, "that lady is for you!" he stepped forward, and, to his astonishment, found that it was his daughter. he said afterward that the recognition was perfect. this was his first séance, and, unless materialization becomes popular, it may be his last. that he told his wife about it there seems to be no doubt, as she has been a frequent visitor ever since. i fancy him in his dressing-gown and slippers, reclining in his armchair, smoking his cigarette, anxiously awaiting her return, that she may relate to him the touching manifestations of affection she has received. traces of these phenomena have always, in one form or another, been present in the world. in india, for thousands of years, they have furnished the foundation of a religious belief, which, like all other religions, has been perverted and used as a means to blind and control the common people. the danger of its being accepted as authority through a blind reverence for what is supposed to be supernatural, instead of affectionate and intelligent companionship, is sufficient reason why its true import should be thoroughly understood. whether it be a power in man, the laws of which are unknown, or a direct emanation from another life, it requires the most serious consideration. shall it receive the attention it deserves, or shall we turn our backs on it, till, like a rising tide, it overwhelms us with a flood of ignorance and superstition? it will not do to ignore it; already its influence is sweeping far and wide. scientists may sit supinely on the summit of their intellectual conceit, insisting that it "will not be much of a shower;" still it swells and rolls on, sapping and undermining the whole system of social and religious thought. sects and creeds crumble in its pathway. all hopes of a scientific evidence of a life after death are centred in these manifestations. the issue is a plain one; there can be no middle ground. either spiritualism or materialism triumphs. deal with it as you may; if it is from the other side of life, it cannot be overthrown. in some form or other it must be met. shall we not, in the interest of humanity and of what purports to be an important truth, lay aside our pre-conceived notions and prejudices, and treat this subject as we would any of the common things of life, earnestly endeavoring to get at its true meaning? millions of honest people have witnessed these things in their own homes, by their own firesides. against what they have seen and know there is no argument. time will show whether the public have sufficiently advanced to grapple healthily with materialization and its spiritual surroundings. chapter vi. conclusion. it has been heretofore stated that everything known as spiritualism is due to pure magnetism. magnetism may be classed under three heads: terrestrial, aerial, and ethereal or spiritual magnetism. these are only different modes or grades of expression of the same thing; and may be compared, in their order, to earth, air and ether;--heat, force, and light;--or root, stock, and flower in plants. ethereal magnetism is the medium of thought, as is clearly proved by what is sometimes called telepathy, or mind-reading, and by well attested facts of communication between persons widely separated. it is also known to mesmerizers that, when they have established magnetic relations between themselves and their subjects, they can often control them without reference to distance. outside of the domain of this subtle fluid, there can be no connection between the seen and the unseen worlds, or between any of the individual forms of life. more attenuated than electricity, it holds the same relation to life that terrestrial magnetism holds to the grosser particles of matter. it enables what we call intellectual force to command and control all forms. through it, thought, which is the principle of everything, builds and unbuilds; clothing itself in material garments, and filling the earth with countless millions of individual beings, made visible to our outward senses. the process by which this is accomplished is the same, whether done instantaneously or extending through a series of years. materialization, then, is only the manifestation of a law everywhere acknowledged, with this difference: the external forms, under a superior force and intelligence, are more quickly wrought. it is the question of time, more than anything else, that challenges our skepticism. that which we call progress, or evolution, is only so many steps by which mind exerts itself, with increasing force, over matter. we are in the habit of regarding matter as a solid substance; whereas, in its primitive state, it is invisible. it is only by different combinations, in its aerial form, that it becomes solid. in a fluidic state, it probably pervades all space. in this condition, spirits, it would seem, have power to condense it and shape it at pleasure. existing as individual beings, complete in their organization, many of them are able, under certain conditions, to draw from their surroundings sufficient matter to clothe themselves in garments, for the time being, as substantial as any forms in life. i have witnessed the processes of materialization and of dematerialization in the middle of the room, several feet from the cabinet,--have taken hold of the hands of these beings, and gone down with them to the floor, until the last things that disappeared were the hands that were in mine. i have been taken into the cabinet by one of these forms, and, with my left arm around the form (to all appearance as solid as my own), have put my right hand on the entranced medium, and while in this position have seen a white, luminous cloud rise slowly from the side of the medium until it reached the height of nearly six feet. i could have passed my hand through it without resistance. in a few seconds it condensed into a human form that cordially greeted and shook hands with me, having a hand as substantial as my own. it was the form of "auntie," the control, who greeted me with "how do you do? what do you think of this?" at the same time, there were many hands patting me on the head and shoulders. all this occurred in a cabinet where a confederate was impossible. was i deceived,--laboring under a state of hallucination? not if i now have or ever had any knowledge of myself. i have studied these things as quietly as i would have studied a statue or a picture; have not been satisfied with witnessing them once, but have had them repeated many times, that i might feel certain that i had given them a thorough investigation. if i have been mistaken, those who come after me will have small chance of better success. i have stated some things positively, because i know that they are true, and can be scientifically demonstrated. we may discover and accept the conditions that best enable these beings to reach and communicate with us, thereby extending our knowledge and our association with them, but neither our observation nor what they may tell us will enable us to comprehend what our experience has not fitted us to understand. at best we have only established our pickets on the other side of the river. the problem of life still remains unsolved. the erroneous ideas so generally entertained regarding beings of another life render it important that we should fully understand that no one, whether on this or the other side of life, can set aside the laws necessary to our individual growth. the assimilation of thought; the gestation of ideas, the mental digestion which is analogous to the process of physical growth, must ever remain the source of a healthy development. to abandon this to the dictation of authority, whether real or supposed, or to accept anything in violation of these laws, only leads to disorder and mental dyspepsia. what we most desire does not always come; but in its place, often, something unexpected and surprising. the power which operates suffers no dictation or control; and, like the reflection of an object in water, the phenomena become distorted the moment the magnetic currents are disturbed. forced, by the accumulation of facts that cannot be set aside, to acknowledge the existence of these beings, they are, nevertheless, shrouded in mystery. that they are from the other life is more than probable; no other theory will, in the long run, be found tenable. whether they are our departed friends and relatives must be determined by the exercise of those faculties which enable us to settle the relations of objects in this life. while they exhibit no feelings of selfishness or jealousy in their associations with us, the same cannot always be said of "the control." for some reason which we do not understand, but which may be a necessity, the controlling spirit of the séance exercises a more or less despotic power over the manifestations; sometimes denying the privilege of manifestation, and forcing back spirits who have been accustomed to appear at other séances. in other words, there seems to be a good deal of human nature in their make-up, and the likes and dislikes of the medium or manager, are often shared by "the control." while the theory is correct that the medium is nothing but the instrument through which the spirits are evoked, there can be no question that his or her mental and moral atmosphere affects the quality of the manifestations. your personal relations with the medium are known to the controlling spirit, and if the medium is prejudiced against you, you are, in most cases, debarred from any satisfactory results. on the other hand, your relations to these beings are known to "the control," but not necessarily to the medium,--never unless the controlling spirit thinks best to communicate them. what you learn of the character of these beings depends upon your personality,--the magnetic atmosphere that surrounds you. many of them, if they are able to penetrate your atmosphere, are so exhausted by the effort that they cannot talk much with you; while others, overcoming all obstacles, are able to throw themselves around you with all the abandon of childhood, talking freely, and often so fast that it requires the closest attention to follow them. in such cases, however strong the resemblance may be to the medium in the outward form, the mental characteristics are as different as it is possible to be between any two individuals. i have refrained from saying much about the quality of these manifestations. it is a matter upon which there must always be a wide difference of opinion. every one will find _himself_ more or less reflected in them. it is the inevitable law of association. "you are a cheat and a scoundrel!" said an enraged man to my friend. "i know it," was the prompt reply; "it is the rascality and cussedness in you that have called it out. i never was conscious of it until i met you." no selfishness, deceit, or diplomacy avails with these beings; what you truly think and feel, your moral atmosphere, makes or mars your relations with them. until you can learn to meet them in perfect confidence, you can know nothing of the beauty which emanates from them. materialization is denounced by the learned and the ignorant, and in both cases the denial springs from the same cause. it is a fair illustration of high life with the bottom turned up; both classes meet on the same plane. it is also bitterly condemned by a class of spiritualists whose brains are saturated with trance and inspirational communications. in their conceit, the little they know is the whole world to them. as a rule, all nations and tribes hold in some form or another to a belief in the continued existence of man after death. however desirable such a belief may be, it is generally admitted that it rests entirely on faith, there being no substantial evidence by which it can be scientifically demonstrated. in both the old and new testaments are records of occult manifestations similar to what has been related here, but the materialistic tendency of science has long since caused them to be regarded as oriental fictions. in the materializing séance come, for the time being, living, breathing, intelligent, human forms, that are not confederates or personations by the medium. if not beings from another life, what are they? the probability, or even possibility, they offer of scientific evidence of the existence of man after death, commends them to the serious consideration of every intelligent person. it is not a difficult task, nor one requiring a great amount of labor, to determine that these forms are distinct embodiments. to settle this is, however, only the a b c of the matter. to learn what these beings are, and their relations to us, requires the most patient investigation and the most delicate and far-reaching exercise of the mind. facts, in themselves, unless they suggest something higher, are of little consequence. they derive their importance solely from their connection with some general law around which they are grouped. while i have stated positively that at mrs. fay's no confederates are used, and that the forms that have come to me are not personations by the medium, yet, in the _legal_ definition of the word, i do not _know_ who or what they are. i have my convictions, based upon what is satisfactory evidence to me. i do not ask any one to accept my theories, but upon what have been stated as facts there need be no controversy, since any one who will give the matter the same attention can verify all that has been said. to deny the facts without an investigation, on the ground that they are impossible, can have no weight, for it has been truly said by arago that "outside the domain of pure mathematics, the word impossible has no meaning." i have imperfectly related only a few of the many hundred strange things that have come under my observation, selecting them at random without any special regard to order. the same may be said of the thoughts expressed; their value, if they have any, will be found in the closeness with which i have pursued the investigation. my experience has extended over more than a hundred séances, and to have given them in detail would have exceeded my time. these things are open to any who will approach them honestly. let us hope that some fair-minded specialist, whose brain is not lumbered with the debris of old ideas, will yet be able to lift the veil that surrounds them. i feel confident that i have exhausted almost every conceivable test necessary to establish the reality of these wonderful apparitions. some of these tests, in the light of a more extended experience, now seem very absurd. ridiculous as they must have appeared to these beings, they were never vexed, nor showed any impatience with my ignorant and unreasonable demands, but either met them squarely or playfully turned them aside. my investigations have been confined mostly to mrs. fay's séances, for the simple reason that here the cabinet and surroundings were known to me to be above suspicion, and from the beginning greater facilities for study were granted me than elsewhere. such is the skeptical nature of my mind that if i had been obliged to conform to the rôle of an ordinary visitor, i should, in all probability, have never been fully convinced of the truth of materialization. in dealing with a subject so new to the mass of people, it is hardly to be expected that it will be accepted on the testimony of any one. facts, however clearly stated, will have but little weight with those who have had no practical experience. fortunately, the rapid increase in the number of mediums, both public and private, is bringing these things within the reach of every one. if what i have stated be true,--if the experience of others shall prove that i have not been deceived,--then the whole system of ethics must undergo a complete revolution. man will no longer be regarded as an animal, confined to earth, but a direct emanation from a superior intelligence, holding in his nature a dual existence, connecting him at one and the same time with both the seen and unseen worlds. there is no estimating the influence which a realization of these things, rightly understood, would have upon the moral and social condition of society. what has been held in the past as a vague and uncertain belief, would be supplanted by knowledge; and the skeptical tendency of modern thought would be checked by a fuller sense of the inspirational and spiritual nature of man. the dread of death, throwing a gloom over the domestic circle, would glide away as the darkness of night disappears before the coming morn. the parting of friends and relatives would find its compensation in renewed companionship and the perfect consciousness that there is no real separation. for the fullness and tenderness with which these beings have overwhelmed me with demonstrations of regard, promptly responding to every reasonable request, i am under the deepest obligations. as i go back in my mind over the various séances which it has been my privilege to enjoy, i linger fondly over the stately form and affectionate bearing of what claimed to be my wife; the rich girlish nature of bertha, with her marvellous beauty of expression; and the tender pleadings of one who must be nameless here, begging that i would bring those she loved nearer to her. all along the pathway of my investigations glow a thousand things never to be forgotten. who shall say the gates are not ajar, and that our loved but not lost ones are not passing to and fro? poor in spirit and weak in affection must they be who can meet these beings as i have met them, and not feel that there comes, from the association with them, a richer and fuller life. transcriber's note: punctuation has been standardised. changes to the original have been made as follows: contents personification by the medium of materialized forms _changed to_ personification by the medium, or materialized forms séance at the berry sisters in boston _changed to_ séance at the berry sisters' in boston page 98 with outstreched arms they beckoned me _changed to_ with outstretched arms they beckoned me page 136 may conflict with preconceived _changed to_ may conflict with pre-conceived page 170 ever remain the source of a a healthy development _changed to_ ever remain the source of a healthy development page 171 exercises a more or less depotic power _changed to_ exercises a more or less despotic power page 171 the magnetic atmostphere that surrounds _changed to_ the magnetic atmosphere that surrounds second edition of a discovery concerning ghosts: with a rap at the "spirit-rappers." by george cruikshank. illustrated with cuts. to which is added a few parting raps at the "rappers," and questions, suggestions, and advice to the davenport brothers. dedicated to the "ghost club." price one shilling. london: published by routledge, warne, and routledge, and sold by all booksellers. 1864. harrild, printer, london. i think it a duty to inform the public that i have a nephew whose _christian_ name is percy. he is employed by a person of the name of "read," a publisher, of johnson's court, fleet street; who, in advertising any work executed by my _nephew_, announces it as by "_cruikshank_," instead of (as it ought to be) _illustrated_ by "percy cruikshank." and having been informed by numerous persons that they have purchased these publications under the impression that they were works executed by me, i hereby caution the public against buying any work as mine with the name of read, of johnson's court, upon it as publisher. i never _did anything for that person_, and never shall; and i beg the public to understand that these observations are not directed against my _nephew_, to whom i wish every good, but that they are against the said read, who, by leaving out my nephew's christian name, percy, deprives him of whatever credit he may deserve for his literary and artistic productions, and thereby creating a confusion of persons, which, if not done for the purpose of deceiving the public, appears to be very much like it. a discovery concerning ghosts. [illustration: "enter ghost."] hamlet.--"thou com'st in such a _questionable_ shape."- shakespeare. questionable!--ay; so _very_ questionable, in my opinion, is the fact of their coming at all, that i am now going to question whether they ever _did_, or _can_ come. this opinion i know is opposed to a very general, a long-established, and with some a deeply-rooted belief in supernatural appearances, and is opposed to what may be _almost_ considered as well-authenticated _facts_, which neither the repeated exposure of very many "ghost tricks," and clearly-proved imposture, nor sound philosophical arguments, have been able to set aside altogether. most persons, therefore, will no doubt consider that the task of "laying" all the ghosts that _have_ appeared, and putting a stop to any others ever making an appearance, is a most difficult task. this is granted; and although i do not believe, like owen glendower, that i can "call the spirits from the vasty deep," but on the contrary agree in this respect with hotspur, if i did call that they would not come, i nevertheless, although no conjuror, do conjure up for the occasion hosts of ghosts which i see i have to contend against. yes, i do see before me, "in my mind's eye"- a vast army, composed of ghost, goblin, and sprite! with their eyes full of fire, all gleaming with spite! all lurking about in the "dead of the night" with their faces so pale and their shrouds all so white! or hiding about in dark holes and corners, to fright grown-up folk, or little "jack horners." but though they all stand in this fierce grim array, armed with pen and with pencil, "i'll drive them away." it is not only, however, against these horrible and ghastly-looking cloud of flimsy foes that one has to deal with in a question like this, but there are numbers of respectable and respected authors, and highly respectable witnesses, on the side of the ghosts; and it must be admitted that it is no easy matter to put aside the testimony of all these respectable persons. they may have thought, and some may still think, that they have done, and are doing, _good_, by supporting this belief; but i _know_ on the contrary that they have done, and are doing, great _harm_; and i, therefore, stand forth in the hope of "laying" _all_ the ghosts, and settling this long-disputed question for ever. the belief in ghost, or apparition, is of course of very early date, originating in what are called the "dark ages," and _dark_ indeed those ages were! as a reference to the early history of the world will show; and although we have in these days a large diffusion of the blessed light of intelligence, nevertheless there is still existing, even amongst civilized people, a fearful amount of ignorance upon the subject of ghosts, witchcraft, fortune-telling, and "ruling the stars," besides a vast amount of this sort of imaginary and mischievous nonsense. now it will be as well here to inquire what good has ever resulted from this belief in what is commonly understood to be a ghost? none that i have ever heard of, and i have been familiar with all the popular ghost stories from boyhood, and have of late waded through almost all the works produced in support of this spiritual visiting theory, but in _no one instance_ have i discovered where any beneficial result has followed from the supernatural or rather unnatural supposed appearances; whereas, on the other hand, we do find unfortunately a large and serious amount of suffering and injury arising from this belief in ghosts, and which i shall have occasion to refer to further on; but i will now proceed to bring forward some of the evidences which have been adduced from time to time, all pretty much in the same style, in support of the probability and truth of the appearance of ghosts--first, in fact, to call up the ghosts, in order that i may put them down. all the ghost story tellers, or writers upon this subject, seem to consider that one most important point in the appearance of apparitions is, that the ghost should be a most perfect and exact resemblance, in every respect, to the deceased person--the spirit of whom they are supposed to be. their faces appear the same, except in some cases where it is described as being rather paler than when they were alive, and the general expression is described as "more in sorrow than in anger," but this varies in some instances according to circumstances; but in all these appearances the countenances are so precisely similar, so minutely so, that in one case mentioned by mrs. crowe in her "night-side of nature," the very "pock-pits" or "pock-marks" on the face were _distinctly_ visible. the narrators also all agree that the spirits appear in similar, or the same dresses which they were accustomed to wear during their lifetime (please to observe that this is very important), so exactly alike that the ghost-seer could not possibly be mistaken as to the identity of the individual, in _face_, _figure_, _manner_, and _dress_; and on the same authority in some cases the _same spirit_ has appeared at the _same moment_ to _different persons_ in _different places_, although perhaps 15,000 miles apart, in _precisely_ the _same dress_. in referring to the play of "hamlet," it will be found that shakespeare has been _most particular_ in describing the general appearance of the ghost of hamlet's father, who was "doomed for a certain time to walk by night." for instance, when marcellus says to horatio, "is it not like the king?" horatio replies- "as thou art to thyself: such was the very _armour_ he had on, when he the ambitious norway combated; so _frown'd_ he once, when, in angry parle, he smote the sledded polack on the ice." horatio also, in describing the ghost to hamlet, says- "a figure like your father, _armed_ at all points, _exactly_, _cap-à-pé_." and, in further explanation, it is stated that the ghost was _armed_ "from top to toe," "from head to foot," that "he wore his beaver up," with "a countenance more in sorrow than in anger," and was "very pale." then, again, when hamlet sees his father's spirit, he exclaims- "what may this mean, that thou, dead corse, again, in _complete steel_, revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon." so also in the play of "macbeth," when the ghost of banquo rises, and takes a seat at the table, macbeth says to the apparition- "never shake thy _gory_ locks at me." and further on he says- "thou hast no speculation in those eyes which thou dost glare with!" daniel de foe also insists upon, and goes into the most _minute_ details as to the _person_ and _dress_ of a ghost; and in a work which he published upon apparitions,[1] we may see how careful and circumstantial the author is in his descriptions of apparitions, whose appearance he vouches for in his peculiar narrative and matter-of-fact style. one of these ghost stories is of some robbers who broke into a mansion in the country, and whilst ransacking one of the chambers, they saw, sitting in a chair, "a grave, ancient man, with a long full-bottomed wig and a rich brocaded gown," etc. one of the robbers threatened to tear off his "rich brocaded gown;" another hit at him with a fuzee, and was instantly alarmed at finding it passed through air; and then the old gentleman "changed into the most horrible monster that ever was seen, with eyes like two fiery daggers red hot." they then rushed into another room, and found the same "grave, ancient man" seated _there_! and so also in another chamber; and he was seen by different robbers in _three different rooms at the same moment_! just at this time the servants, who were at the top of the house, threw some "hand grenades" down the chimneys of these rooms. the result altogether was that some of the thieves were badly wounded, the others driven away, and the mansion saved from being plundered. what a capital thing it would be surely, if the police could attach some of these spirits to their force! [1] "an essay on the history and reality of apparitions; being an account of what they are and what they are not, when they come and when they come not; as also how we may distinguish between apparitions of good and evil spirits, and how we ought to behave to them; with a variety of surprising and diverting examples never published before." london, 1727. another case, a clergyman (the rev. dr. scot) was seated in his library, _with the door closed_, when he suddenly saw "an ancient, grave gentleman, in a black _velvet_ gown"--very particular, you observe, as to the _material_--"and a long wig." this ghost was an entire stranger to dr. scot, and came to ask the doctor to do him a favour--asking a favour under such circumstances of course amounts to a command--which was to go to another part of the country, to a house where the ghost's son resided, and point out to the son the place where an important family document was deposited. dr. scot complied with this request, and the family property was secured to the son of the ghost in the "black velvet gown and the long wig." now one naturally asks here, why did not this old ghost go and point the place out to his son himself? and so also with the _well-authenticated_ story of the ghost of sir george villars, who wanted to give a warning to his son, the duke of buckingham; which warning, if properly delivered and properly acted upon, _might_ have saved the duke's life; but instead of warning his son himself (take notice), he appeared to one of the duke's domestics, "_in the very clothes he used to wear_," and commissioned him to deliver the message. after all, this warning was of no use, so this ghost might have saved himself the trouble of coming; but spirits are indeed strange things, and of course act in strange ways. about the year 1700, a translation from a french book was brought out in london, entitled "drelincourt on death;" and after it had been published for some time, daniel defoe, at the request of mr. midwinter, the publisher, wrote a preface to the work, and therein introduced a short story about the ghost of a lady appearing to her friend. it was headed thus:--"a true relation of the apparition of mrs. veal, next day after her death, to one mrs. bargrave, at canterbury, on the 8th of september, 1705; which apparition recommends the perusal of drelincourt's book of consolation against the fears of death. (thirteenth edition.)" mrs. veal and mrs. bargrave, it appears, were intimate friends. one day at twelve o'clock at noon, when mrs. b. was sitting alone, mrs. veal entered the room, dressed in a "riding habit," hat, etc., as if going a journey. mrs. bargrave advanced to welcome her friend, and was going to salute her, and their lips _almost touched_, but mrs. v. held back her head and passing her hand before her face, said, "i am not very well to-day;" and avoided the salute. in the course of a long talk which they had, _mrs. veal strongly recommends drelincourt's book on death to mrs. bargrave, and occasionally "claps her hand upon her knee, in great earnestness."_ mrs. veal had been, subject to fits, and she asks if mrs. bargrave does not think she is "mightily impaired by her fits?" mrs. b.'s reply was, "no! i think you look _as well as ever i knew you_;" and during the conversation she _took hold of mrs. veal's gown several times_, and commended it. mrs. v. told her it was a "scoured silk" and newly made up. mrs. veal at length took her departure, but stood at the street door some short time, in the face of the beast market; this was saturday the market-day. she then went from mrs. b., who saw her walk in her view, till a turning interrupted the sight of her; this was three quarters after one o'clock. _mrs. veal had died that very day at noon!!!_ at dover, which is about twenty miles from canterbury. some surprise was expressed to mrs. bargrave, about the fact of her _feeling_ the gown, but she said she was _quite sure_ that she felt the gown. it was a striped silk, and mrs. veal had never been seen in such a dress; but such a one was found in her wardrobe after her decease. this story made a great sensation at the time it was published; and "drelincourt on death," with the preface and defoe's tale, became exceedingly popular.[2] [2] the introduction runs thus:--"this relation is a matter of fact, and attended with such circumstances as may induce any reasonable man to believe it. it was sent by a gentleman, a justice of peace, in maidstone in kent, and a very intelligent person, to his friend in london, as it is here worded; which discourse is attested by a sober and understanding gentlewoman, a kinswoman of the said gentleman's, who lives at canterbury within a few doors of the house in which the within-named mrs. bargrave lives; who believes his kinswoman to be of so discerning a spirit as not to be put upon by fallacy, and who positively assured him that the whole matter as related and laid down is really true; and what she herself had in the same words (as near as may be) from mrs. bargrave's own mouth; who she knows had no reason to invent and publish such a story; or design to forge and tell a lie, being a woman of much honesty and virtue, and her whole life a course as it were of piety. the use which we ought to make of it is, that there is a life to come after this, and a just god, who will retribute to every one according to the deeds done in the body, and therefore to reflect upon our past course of life we have lead in the world--that our time is short and uncertain; if we would escape the punishment of the ungodly and receive the reward of the righteous, which is the laying hold of eternal life, we ought for the time to come to turn to god, by a speedy repentance, ceasing to do evil and learning to do well, to seek after god early, if haply he may be found of us, and lead such lives for the future as may be well pleasing in his sight." the absurdities and impossibilities of the foregoing narrative of this apparition of mrs. veal need not be pointed out; but the story is introduced here for two reasons; one of which will be explained further on, and the other is to show how the public have been imposed upon with these short stories. it has all along been known to the literary world that this "_true_ relation" was a _falsehood_, and brought forward under the following circumstances:-mr. midwinter, who published the translation of "drelincourt on death," finding that the work did not sell, complained of this to defoe, and asked him if he could not write some preface or introduction to the work for the purpose of calling the attention of the public to this rather uninviting subject. defoe undertook to do so, and produced this story about the ghost of mrs. veal. the gullibility of the public was much greater at that time than now, and they would then swallow anything in the shape of a ghost; a great sensation was created, and the publisher's purpose was answered, as the work had an extraordinary sale; but one cannot help expressing a very deep regret that the author of "robinson crusoe" should have so degraded his talent, by thus deliberately foisting upon the public a gross and mischievous falsehood as a veritable truth; and, worse than this, guilty of bringing in the most sacred names upon one of the most solemn subjects which the mind of man can contemplate, for the purpose of supporting and propagating a falsehood for a mercenary purpose. as the belief in ghosts has long been popular, and considered as an established fact, it may be quite allowable for an author to introduce a ghost into his romance; and it may be argued that authors have thus been enabled "to point a moral" as well as to "adorn a tale," by using this poetical license, or spiritual medium; but in these cases the tales or poems were given out to the world as inventions of the author to amuse the public, or to convey a moral lesson, and were accepted by the public as such. we find in these foregoing examples that apparitions do appear sometimes to strangers, and sometimes in the dresses in which they had not been seen when alive; but these dresses have been afterwards discovered or accounted for, and it has also been discovered who these _strange_ spirits represented. but it will be seen by the cases cited, and others which are to follow, that this exact appearance, this _vraisemblance_ is _essential_, nay, indispensable, in order that there shall be "no mistake;" for should mistakes be made, it would, in some cases, be perhaps a very serious matter. i fully assent to all this, and to show that i wish to do battle in all fairness, that it shall be a "fair fight and no favour," i am willing even to illustrate my opponents' statements in these particulars, and to do this i here introduce--don't start, reader! not a ghost, but a figure of napoleon the first, but without a head; not that i mean to imply thereby that this military hero had no head. no, no! quite the contrary, but i have omitted this head and the head of the ghost of hamlet's father for an especial purpose, as will be explained further on, when i shall have occasion to touch upon these _heads_ again. but if this cut is held at a distance, by any one at all familiar with the portraits or statues of "napoleon le grand" in this costume, they will at once recognize who the figure is intended to represent. let us now turn to "the night-side of nature," and through the dismal gloom which surrounds these apparitions, call up some more spirits, who, according to mrs. crowe, and, indeed, on the authority of all other authors who support the ghost doctrine, "generally come in their habits as they lived;" and it appears that there is no difference in this respect between the beggar and the king, for they come "some in rags, and some in jags, and some in silken gowns." at page 289 of this exceedingly cleverly written but most ghastly collection of ghost stories, it is related that the ghost of a beggar-man appeared at the _same time in two different_ apartments (all in his _dirty_ rags, of course), to a young man and a young woman who had allowed this beggar to sleep in their master's barn (unbeknown to their master), where he died in the night, but could not rest after his death until some money of his was found by these young people, who had both suffered in their health in consequence of these visits of the beggar's ghost. they at length consulted and explained all this to a priest, who advised them to distribute the money they had found under the straw (where the beggar had slept and died) between _three_ churches, which advice was accordingly acted upon, and this settled the business, for the _dirty_ ragged ghost never troubled them again. in contrast to this we have the story of the ghost of a lady of title, who had been in her lifetime princess anna of saxony. she came decked out in "silks and satins," gold lace, embroidery, and jewels, all so grand, and appeared to one of the descendants of her family, duke christian of saxe eisenburg, requesting him to be so kind as to try and "make it up" between her and her ghost husband, who, it seems, was a bad-tempered man, had quarrelled with her, and had died without being reconciled. duke christian consented to do this. she had walked into the duke's presence, although all the doors were _shut_, and one day after their first interview she brought her husband to their relative in the same unceremonious manner. her ghost husband, who had been the duke casimer, appeared dressed in his royal robes. they each told their story (these, you will observe were _talking_ ghosts as well as _stalking_ ghosts). duke christian most gallantly decided in favour of the lady, and the ghost duke very properly acquiesced in the justice of the decision. duke christian then took the "icy cold hand" of the ghost-duke and placed it in the hand of the ghost-wife, whose hand felt of a "_natural_ heat." it appears to be the opinion of the advocates of apparitions that _naughty_ ghosts have _cold_ hands. in this case the husband was the offending party, and was very naughty, and therefore his hands were very cold. it seems strange that his hands should have been cold, for, being naughty, one would suppose he would come from the same place that hamlet's father did; and from what _he_ said we should conclude that there was a roaring fire there, where the duke might have _warmed_ his cold hands. it further appears that these parties all "_prayed_ and _sung_ together!" after which the now happy ghosts disappeared _sans ceremonie_, without troubling the servants to open the doors, or allowing duke christian to "show them out." one remarkable fact in connection with this story is, that, upon referring to the portraits of these ghosts which hung in the castle, was, that they had appeared in exactly the same dresses which they had on, when these portraits were painted--one hundred years before this time. duke christian died two years after the ghosts' visits, and by his own orders was buried in "quicklime," to prevent, it is supposed, _his_ ghost from walking the earth! he must indeed have been a poor ignorant creature, although a duke, to suppose that "quicklime," or "slow lime," or any other kind of lime, or anything else that would destroy the _body_, could make any difference with respect to the appearance of the _spirit_. the next case, then, is of the ghost of a soldier's wife, who appeared to a "corporal q----" who was lying ill in bed, and also to a comrade who was an invalid lying in the next bed. this was in the night, but the corporal could see that she was dressed in a "flannel gown, edged with a black ribbon," _exactly_ like the grave-clothes which he had helped to put on her twelve months before. it appears, however, that he could _see through her_, _flannel gown_ and all. this female ghost came to the bed-side of the sick man to ask him to write to her husband, who was in ireland, to communicate something to him which was to be kept a "profound secret." this is certainly a strange story, but is it not still more strange that this ghost did not go to her husband and tell him the important secret _herself_, instead of trusting a stranger to do so? it will be observed that there are different classes of ghosts, as there are of living people--the princely, the aristocratic, the genteel, and the common. the vulgar classes delight to haunt in graveyards, dreary lanes, ruins, and all sorts of dirty dark holes and corners, and in cellars. yes, dark cellars seem to be a favourite abode of these _common_ ghosts. this fact raises the question whether the lower class of spirits are obliged to keep to the _lower_ parts of the house--to the "lower regions"--and are not allowed to go into the parlours or the drawing-rooms, and not allowed to mix with the higher order of ghosts! can this be a law or regulation amongst the ghosts? if so, is it not most extraordinary that these spirits should not be allowed to choose their own place of residence, and take to the most comfortable apartments, instead of grovelling amongst the rats and mice, the slugs, the crickets, and the blackbeetles? 'tis strange, 'tis passing strange; but so it appears to be. by the by, some few of these poor spirits of the humble class of ghosts do sometimes, it appears, mount up to the bed-rooms, in the hope, i suppose, of getting occasionally now and then a "_comfortable_ lodging" and a "good night's rest." at page 310 of this same work we have an account of a haunted cellar in a gentleman's house, out of town, in which were heard "loud knockings," "a voice crying," "heavy feet walking," etc. the old butler, with his "acolytes," descended to the cellar (wine cellar) armed with sword, blunderbuss, and other offensive weapons, but the ghosts put them all to flight, and they "turned tail" in a fright. yes, they all ran up-stairs again, followed by the "_sound of feet_" and "a _visible shadow_!" this, of course, is a _fact_; and it so happens that i know another _fact_ about a haunted wine-cellar, which, however, had quite a different result to the foregoing. in a wine-cellar of a gentleman's house, somewhere near blackheath, it was found that strange noises were sometimes heard in the evenings and in the night time, in this "wine vault," similar to those described above, such as _knocking_, _groaning_, _footsteps_, etc., so that the servants were afraid to go into the cellar, particularly at a late hour. the master at length determined to "lay" this ghost, if possible, and one evening when these noises had been heard, arming himself with a sword, and the servants with a fowling-piece and a poker, they cautiously descended into the cellar (with lighted candles, of course). nothing was to be seen there, and all was quiet except a strange, smothered kind of sound, like the hard breathing of an animal, something like snoring, that seemed to proceed out of the earth in one of the dark corners of the vault, when, lo and behold! in turning their lights in the direction from which the sounds came, and advancing carefully, they discovered--what do you think? don't be alarmed. why, the ghost lying on the ground, dead--drunk! yes, the ghost had _laid_ himself, not with "bell, book, and candle," but by swallowing the spirit of alcohol, the spirit of wine, beer, and brandy. most disgraceful; in fact, this ghost had taken a "_drop too much_." upon looking a little closer, they found that this ghost was one tom brown, an under-gardener; and it was discovered that he had _tunnelled_ a hole from the "tool-house" through the wall into the cellar. this spirit was so over-charged _with spirit_, that he was unable to _walk_, so was _doomed_ to be carried in a _cart_ to the "_cage_;" and all the people living round about came next morning to look at the ghost that had been haunting the squire's wine cellar. oh! what a _fortune_ it would be to any one who could catch a ghost--a real, right down, "'arnest" ghost, and put him in a cage to show him round the country! i wish i had one.[3] it would cost little or nothing to keep such a thing; only the lodging, as he would require neither food, fire, clothing, nor washing! [3] some few years back, a ghost was said to have been seen frequently in the neighbourhood of some roman catholic institution near leicester, and upon one occasion had nearly frightened a young woman to death. i was staying with a friend at leicester at the time, and offered £100 reward to any one who would show me the ghost, as i wanted very much to make a sketch of it, but i could not get a sight of it for love nor money. at page 118, we find an account of an apparition appearing to a gentleman, who was staying at a friend's house at sarratt, in hertfordshire, and was awoke in the middle of the night by a pressure on his feet, and, looking up, saw, by the light that was burning in the fire-place, a "well-dressed gentleman," in a "_blue_ coat and bright gilt buttons," leaning on the foot of the bed, _without a head_! it appears that this was reported to be the ghost of a poor gentleman of that neighbourhood who had been murdered, and whose head had been cut off! and could therefore only be recognized by his "_blue_ coat and bright gilt buttons." under any _real_ circumstance this would indeed be _too horrible_ and _too serious_ a subject to turn into ridicule; but in this case, such an evident falsehood, it is surely allowable to "lay" such a ghost as this, such a senseless ghost, in any possible way; in fact, to laugh such a ghost out of countenance- i, therefore, with my rod of double h. blacklead, hold up to scorn this well-dressed ghost without a head. any one looking at this figure will clearly see that he does not belong to _this world_, and has therefore no business here; for, although there may be some persons in _this world_ who, perhaps, go about with a very small allowance of _brain_, yet every _body here_ must have some sort of a _head_ upon his shoulders, no matter how handsome, or queer-looking it may be. now i am sorry to be rude to any "well-dressed gentleman," or, indeed, to any _body_ or _soul_; but as it appears (from the story) that this ghost had really no real _business_ upon earth, what "on earth" does he come here for? why, for no other object, it appears, but to "show himself off;" so, in my opinion, the sooner he "walks off" the better. by the by, perhaps we ought not to be too severe upon the poor fellow, for, upon consideration, he is placed in rather an awkward position, as his _head_ may be on the look out for the _body_, and know where it is, but having no legs it cannot get to the body. on the other hand, although the _body_ has legs and could walk to the _head_, yet, having no eyes, cannot see where the _head_ is; so some excuse may be made upon this _head_, particularly if he is not a _talking_ ghost. there is a story, somewhere in the roman catholic chronicles, of a martyr, who, after being beheaded, picked up his head, and walked away with it under his arm; but our ghost here, in the "blue coat and bright gilt buttons," is not allowed to do this sort of thing, and the question naturally arises, what has become of, or where is the _spirit_ of this unfortunate gentleman's _head_? can the believers in ghosts tell us that? and surely we shall all feel obliged if they can inform us whether the apparitions of _all decapitated persons appear without their heads_; and, if not, what becomes of their heads? and, further, whether the mutilation of the _body_ can in any way affect the _spirit_--the _soul_? i shall not in this case "pause for a reply," because i know i shall have a very long time to wait for an answer; but in proceeding to bring to the light of day some more facts about ghosts from the _dark_ side of nature, i feel as if some inquisitive spirit was irresistibly compelling me to put questions as i go on writing; and therefore, under these circumstances, present my compliments to those persons who know about ghosts, and the various authors who support this belief, and i shall feel greatly obliged if they will answer my queries at their earliest convenience.--n.b. shall be glad to hear the replies from the ghosts themselves, provided they pay the postage. in the first place, then, from the authority quoted above, it appears that a widow lady had, strange to say, married a second time! and that the ghost of her first husband paid her "constant visits." query, what did the ghost come for, and was the second husband at all jealous of his coming? with respect to a celebrated actor, who had married a second wife, we find that the apparition of his first wife appeared to him, and which appearance unfortunately threw him into a fit, and at the same moment this ghost appeared to the second wife, although they were several hundred miles apart at the time. i can understand why the ghost of his first wife came to visit _him_ who once was hers, that is, because he was such a great actor, and such a good fellow; but why did it appear to the second wife? and how is it that the same spirit can appear in _several places_ at _the same instant_? i should like to know that. at page 274 we find a dog frightened at the ghost of a soldier! but this is not the only "unlucky dog" that has been terrified by apparitions; several instances are given in different works. query, how do the "poor dogs" know a ghost is a ghost when they see one, particularly as they appear in the same dresses which they had on when "in the flesh;" and even, suppose they know that they are in the presence of a ghost, what makes them "turn tail?" yes, why should a _dog_, especially if he is a _spirited_ dog, do so? for almost in the same page we are told of a horse who recognized his old master, who appeared in the same dress he wore when alive, a "sky-blue coat." this horse did not "turn tail." no! but followed the phantom of his dear old master, who was walking about the farm, and no doubt wanted to give him a ride. query, if a horse is not frightened at a ghost, why should dogs be frightened at the sight of them? and also, if a _goose_ would be frightened if it saw a ghost? _asses_, we know, are sometimes frightened at nothing, and as a ghost is "next to nothing," they must of course be frightened at ghosts. at page 459 we are told of the ghost of a "horse and cart," and also of the "ghosts of sheep." if this be so, doubtless there must likewise be the ghosts of dogs (what "droll dogs" they must be), also of puppies, and asses. what an interesting subject of inquiry is this for the zoologist! we find, as we dive into the dark mysteries of apparitions, that there are ghosts of all sorts and sizes, and that there are even _lame_ ghosts, as is proved by the following true tale of the apparition of an officer in india, as related by several of his brother officers, whose words _dare not_ be doubted:--one major r----, who was presumed to be of about fifty or sixty years of age, was with some young officers, proceeding up a river in a barge; and as they came to a considerable bend in the river, the major and the other officers went ashore, in order to cross the neck of land, taking their fowling-pieces and powder and shot with them, in the hopes of meeting some game; and they also took something to _refresh_ themselves on the road. at one part of their journey they took their "tiffing," and after this they had to jump across a ditch, which the young officers cleared, but the major "jumped short." he told his companions to march on, and he would follow after he had dried and put himself a little in marching order. they saw him lay down his fowling-piece and his hat, and they moved on. after marching some time, they came in sight of the barge, and were wondering why the major did not follow, when, on a sudden, they were surprised to see him (the major) at some distance from them making towards the barge, "without his hat or gun," _limping_ hastily along in his _top boots_, and he did not appear to observe them. when they arrived at the barge, he was not there. they returned to the spot where they had left him, and found his hat and his fowling-piece, and with the assistance of some natives they discovered the body of the major in a pit dug for trapping wild animals! i defer asking any questions upon the foregoing for the present, for a reason, but as the next case related is that of the ghost of a young man who had been drowned, and the poor old mother saw her son "dripping with water," we may surely inquire here if there is or can be such a wonderful sight as an _apparition_ of "dripping water!" or ghosts of _tears_! for we find at page 387 an account of a _weeping_ ghost, who let his tears fall on the face of a female, who "_often felt the_ tears _on her cheek; icy cold, but burn afterwards, and leave a blue mark!_" and on the same authority we find that there is the ghost of dirt, for the ghost of the old beggar-man was "dirty." and then if the ghost of a chimney-sweep were to appear--and why not the spirit of a sweep as well as anybody else? but if he came, _he must_ also appear "in his habits as he lived." in that case there must be the ghost of _soot_! thus there are not only the apparitions of _fluids_, and _dust_ and _dirt_, but also of hard substances, as in the case of a ghost who was seen in a garden with the ghost of a "_spade_ in his hand!" and not only have we, then, ghosts of all these matters, but also a ghost of the "_rustling of silk_," "_creaking of shoes_," and "_sounds of footsteps_," many instances of which will be found in "footfalls on the boundary of another world," by robert dale owen, a work most elaborately compiled, and sincerely do i wish that such talent and such research had been engaged and directed to illustrate and assist with _light_, instead of darkness, the present progressive state of society, instead of striving and endeavouring, as it does, to drive us back into the "outer darkness" of the ignorance of the "dark ages," to endeavour to support and to bring back the mind of man to a belief in the visits of ghosts, of necromancy, bewitching, and all the "black arts;" all of which it was hoped, in the progress of time, would ultimately be swept away from the face of the earth, by pure and sound christian religion, education and science, all of which go clearly to prove that "black arts" are matters contrary to the natural laws of the creation and the laws of god. in one of the tales brought forward by this author is an account of the haunting of an old manor-house near leigh, in kent, called ramhurst, where there was heard "knockings and sounds of footsteps," more especially voices which could not be accounted for, usually in an unoccupied room; "sometimes as if talking in a loud tone, sometimes as if reading aloud, occasionally screaming." the servants never _saw_ anything, but the cook told her mistress that on one occasion, in broad daylight, hearing the _rustling_ of a _silk dress_ behind her, and which seemed to _touch_ her, she turned suddenly round, supposing it to be her mistress, but to her great surprise and terror could not see anybody. mr. owen is so thoroughly master of this spirit subject that he must be able to tell us all about this "rustling" of the "silk dresses" of ghosts, and surely every one will be curious to learn the secret of such a curious fact. the lady of the house, a mrs. r----, drove over one day to the railway station at tunbridge to fetch a young lady friend who was coming to stay with her for some weeks. this was a miss s----, who "had been in the habit of seeing apparitions from early childhood," and when, upon their return, they drove up to the entrance of the manor-house, miss s---perceived on the threshold the appearance of two figures, apparently an elderly couple, _habited in the costume of the time of queen anne_. they appeared as if standing on the ground. miss s---saw the same apparition several times after this, and held conversations with them, and they told her that they were husband and wife, and that their name was "children;" and she informed the lady of the house, mrs. r----, of what she had seen and heard; and as mrs. r---was dressing hurriedly one day for dinner, "and not _dreaming_ of anything _spiritual_, as she hastily turned to leave her bed-chamber, there, in the doorway, stood the same female figure miss s---had described! identical in appearance and costume--even to the old 'point-lace' on her 'brocaded silk dress'--while beside her, on the left, but less distinctly visible, was the figure of the old squire, her husband; they uttered no sound, but above the figure of the lady, as if written in phosphoric light in the dusk atmosphere that surrounded her, were the words, '_dame children_,' together with some other words intimating that having never aspired beyond the joys and sorrows of this world, she had remained '_earth bound_.' these last, however, mrs. r---scarcely paused to decipher, as her brother (who was very hungry) called out to know if they were 'going to have any dinner that day?'" there was no time for hesitation; "she closed her eyes, rushed through the apparition and into the dining-room, throwing up her hands, and exclaiming to miss s----, 'oh, my dear, i've walked through mrs. children!'" only think of that, "gentle reader!" only think of mrs. r---walking _right through_ "dame children"--"old point-lace, brocaded silk dress," and all--and as old "squire children" was standing by the side of his "dame," mrs. r---must either have upset the old ghost or have walked through him also. although this story looks very much like as if it were intended as an additional chapter to "joe miller's jest-book," the reader will please to observe that mr. owen does not relate this as a joke, but, on the contrary, expects that it will be received as a solemn serious fact; there was a cause for the haunting of this old manor-house, with the talking, screaming, and rustling of silk, and the appearance of the old-fashioned ghosts; there was a secret which these ghosts wished to impart to the persons in the house at that time, and if the gentleman reader will brace up his nerves, and the lady reader will get her "smelling-bottle" ready, i'll let them into the secret. now, pray, dear madam, don't be terrified! squire children had formerly been proprietor of the mansion, and he and his "dame" had taken great delight and interest in the house--when alive--and they were very sorry to find that the property had gone out of the family, and he and his dame had come on purpose to let mrs. r---and her friend know all this! there now, there's a secret for you--what do you think of that? in the year 1854, a baron (of the rather funny name of _gul_denstubbé) was residing alone in apartments in the rue st. lazare, paris, and one night there appeared to him in his bed-room the ghost of a stout old gentleman. it seems that he saw a column of "light grayish vapour," or sort of "bluish light," out of which there gradually grew into sight, within it, the figure of a "tall, portly old man, with a fresh colour, _blue_ eyes,[4] snow white hair, thin white whiskers, but without beard or moustache, and dressed with care. he seemed to wear a white cravat and long white waistcoat, high stiff shirt collar, and long black frock coat thrown back from his chest as is wont of corpulent people like him in _hot_ weather. he appeared to lean on a _heavy white cane_." after the baron had seen this _portly_ ghost, he went to bed and to sleep, and in a dream the same figure appeared to him again, and he thought he heard it say, "hitherto you have not believed in the reality of apparitions, considering them only as the recallings of memory; now, since you have seen a _stranger_, you cannot consider it the reproduction of former ideas." [4] the baron must have had _good_ eyes to have seen the precise colour of the ghost's eyes under such circumstances. every one will acknowledge that this was exceedingly kind on the part of the ghost, as he had no doubt to come a long way for the express purpose of setting the baron's mind right upon this point; and had also come from a _very warm place_, as his frock coat "was thrown from his chest, as is wont with corpulent people in hot weather." this polite, good-natured, "blue"-eyed apparition, who was "dressed with care," had been the proprietor of the maison--a monsieur caron--who had dropped down in an apoplectic fit; and, oh, horror of horrors, had actually "died in the very bed now occupied by the baron!"... when the daughter heard of the ghost of her papa, appearing thus upon one or two occasions, "she caused masses to be said for the soul of her father," and it is "alleged that the apparition has not been seen in any of the apartments since;" or, to use a vulgarism, we might say here, that this ghost had "cut his stick." mr. robert dale owen had this narrative from the baron himself in paris, on the 11th of may, 1859, and he is of opinion that this "story derives much of its value from the calm and dispassionate manner in which the witness appears to have observed the succession of phenomena, and the exact details which, in consequence, he has been enabled to furnish. it is remarkable also, as well for the electrical influences which preceded the appearance, as on account of the correspondence between the apparition to the baron in his waking state, and that subsequently seen in his dream; the first cognizable by one sense only--that of sight--the second appealing (though in vision of the sight only) to the hearing also. the coincidences as to personal peculiarities and details of dress are too numerous and minutely exact to be fortuitous, let us adopt what theory we may." as this baron is no doubt a most respectable and well-conducted gentleman, in every respect, i will not say- that monsieur the baron de guldenstubbe had taken too much out of a bottle or tub, but this i will say, that his account seems to be nothing more or less than a very _exact_ description of some "dissolving view" trick played off upon the baron and others by some clever french neighbour; and as to his _dream_, it is surely hardly worth while to notice such nonsense, as dreams are now well understood to be only the imperfect operations of the organs of thought, in a semi-dormant state, "half asleep and half awake," and are the effect sometimes of agreeable sensations or painful emotions, during the waking hours, and may be produced to any disagreeable amount by eating a very hearty supper of underdone "pork pies," and going to sleep on the back instead of reclining on the side. we cannot dream of anything of which we have not seen or had something of a similar kind before, nor can we form either awake or in a dream any form whatever--animate or inanimate, which does not partake or form some part of nature's general objects; and in fact we cannot _invent_ an animal form without combining the parts of existing animals either of man or beast. i trust that this _fact_ will be a sufficient answer for monsieur caron. and then, as to the "laying" of this ghost, it does seem to me to be extraordinary, that any person possessed of common understanding in these days, let their religion be what it may, should believe that the almighty god would not let a departed spirit _rest_, until "masses" had been said for the soul of such person; until some _money had been paid_ to a priest to mumble over a few set forms of prayer. _paid_ for prayers--prayers at a certain market price! then, as to the "white cravat," "white waistcoat," "high stiff shirt collar," and "black frock coat," and more particularly the "heavy white cane," is it to be understood that these said "masses" put all these materials to rest, as well as the soul or spirit of the body? if not, where did they go to? had they to return to purgatory by themselves--had the heavy white walking-stick to walk off without its owner? in the frame of mind in which this _story_ is written, it is not at all surprising that the author should have taken so much trouble to put these _facts_ together, and that he should evidently be altogether so satisfied with the conclusion which he arrives at. but ghost stories, like many other matters, where a foundation is once laid and established in falsehood or nonsense, such builders may go on, adding any amount of the same materials, upon this false basis. they may go on, _working in the dark_--piling up one _story_ upon another, until the structure assumes the appearance in the dusk of a well-established and substantial edifice, and looking as if it would stand firm for ever; but undermine this apparently stronghold, with that which is always considered as a great _bore_, when used in working under the foundations of long-established error or prejudice, namely, truth, guided by true religion, and when thus armed and prepared, "spring the mine" with a good "blow-up" of common sense, to let in the light of heaven and christian civilized intelligence, and the whole mass of ignorance and superstition is blown and scattered to the winds, "like the baseless fabric of a vision." it may be said that the truth of this ghost _story_ rests mainly on a _stick_--_leans_ upon a "heavy white cane." take away the _cane_ and down comes the ghost! "white waistcoat," "high stiff shirt collar," "black coat," "blue eyes," and all! the author of "footfalls on the boundary of another world" is evidently a religious man, and had he but thought as deeply upon these matters as i have done, i am sure he would never have been guilty of the impiety of bringing forward such questions as to the _spirituality_ of walking-sticks. but i am well pleased that this "heavy white cane" has been introduced here, because it affords me a handle to cane or to knock down and drive away entirely these hideous and unnatural myths; and also because it enables me to _stick_ to the text, and to introduce here to the public an old friend, as another illustration bearing upon the stick question. this is the apparition of one tom straitshank, drawn, as you will see, by your humble servant. [illustration: george cruikshank] this was a jolly bold daring spirit, and was seen when on board the _victory_ at the battle of trafalgar to emerge, like monsieur caron, out of some light bluish vapour, very much like the smoke of gunpowder; and in that battle it appears, like one of the heroes in "chevy chase," his "legs were smitten off!" but, unlike that warrior, he found that _he_ could not fight "upon his stumps," so he had a pair of wooden legs made, and having bought two stout walking-sticks, was thus enabled to hobble about on his "timber toes." he almost always appeared in various different parts of "greenwich hospital," and very often surrounded by, and sometimes emerging from, a vapour very like the smoke of tobacco. i feel here that i ought to have given tom his pipe, but the drawing of this tar was done many years since, and until i read mrs. crowe's book lately, i was not aware that ghosts smoked their pipes, but it actually appears that they do smoke, for at page 210 of "the night-side of nature," a ghost is introduced with a "short pipe," and it was found out that the reason of his "walking by night" was, that he owed "a _small debt for tobacco_!" and when this little bacca-bill was paid, this ghost, with his little bacca-pipe, was "laid;" and we may suppose the spirit _laid_ down his pipe. this ghost of a tobacco-pipe raises the question of what these spiritual pipes are made--of what clay, or if the meer schum are only _mere shams_; what sort of tobacco-leaves their cigars are made of, and if there are any spiritual "cabbage-leaves" mixed up with them. yes, we'd just like to know, what weed 'tis they burns, whether "shortcut," "shag," "bird's eye," or "returns." as the gents _here_, light their pipes and cigars with a kind of _lucifer_ match, we may be pretty sure that they will continue to do so _elsewhere_; but one would like to know also if ghosts chaw tobacco, if they take a quid of "pig-tail," and if the smokers use spittoons--faugh!--and further, as ghosts do smoke, if they take a pinch of snuff, if there is such a thing as spiritual snuff, if there be such things as the spirit of "irish blaguard" and "scotch rappee?" some of these "_sensation_" melodramas, or rather _farces_, might vie in the number of nights in which the performances took place, with some of the "sensation" or popular theatrical pieces of the present day. here is one entitled, "the drummer of tedworth" (what a capital heading for a "play bill!"), in which the ghost or evil spirit of a drummer, or the ghost of a drum (for it does not appear clearly which of the two it was), performed the principal part in this drama, with slight intervals, for "_two entire years_." oh! this drummer, oh! this drummer, i'll tell you what he used to do, he used to beat upon his drum, the "_old gentleman's_ tattoo." the "plot" runs thus:--in march, 1661, mr. mompesson, a magistrate, caused a vagrant drummer to be arrested, who had been annoying the country by noisy demands for charity, and had ordered his drum, "oh that drum!" to be taken from him and left in the bailiff's hands. about the middle of april following (that is in 1661), when mr. mompesson was preparing for a journey to london, the bailiff sent the drum to his house. upon his return home he was informed that noises had been _heard_, and then he heard the noises himself, which were a "thumping and _drumming_" accompanied by "a strange noise and hollow sound." the sign of it when it came, was like a hurling in the air, over the house, and at its going off, the beating of a drum, like that at the "breaking up of a guard." "after a month's disturbance _outside_ the house ('which was most of it of board') it came _into the room where the drum lay_." "for an hour together it would beat 'roundheads and cockolds,' the 'tattoo,' and several other points of war, as well as any drummer." upon one occasion, "when many were present, a gentleman said, 'satan, if the drummer set thee to work, give _three_ knocks,' which it did very distinctly and no more." and for further trial, he bid it for confirmation, if it were the drummer, to give _five_ knocks and no more that night, which it did, and left the house quiet all the night after. all this seems very strange, about this drummer and his drum, but for myself, i really think this drumming ghost was "all a hum." but strange as it certainly was, is it not still more strange, that educated gentlemen, and even clergymen, as in this case also, should believe that the almighty would suffer an evil spirit to disturb and affright a whole innocent family, because the head of that family had, in his capacity as magistrate, thought it his duty to take away a _drum_, from no doubt a drunken drummer, who by his noisy conduct had become a nuisance and an annoyance to the neighbourhood? the next case of supposed spiritual antics was not the drumming of a drum, but a tune upon a warming-pan, the "clatter" of "a warming-pan," and a vast variety of other _earthly_ sounds, which it was proved to have been heard at the rev. samuel wesley's, who was the father of the celebrated john wesley, the founder of methodism, at a place called epworth, in lincolnshire. these sounds consisted of "knockings," and "groanings," of "footsteps," and "rustling of silk trailing along" (the "rustling of silk" seems to be a favourite air with the ghosts), "_clattering_" of the "_iron casement_," and "_clattering_" of the "_warming-pan_," and then as if a "vessel full of silver was poured upon mrs. wesley's breast and ran jingling down to her feet;" and all sorts of frightful noises, not only enough to "frighten anybody," but which frightened even a big dog!--a large mastiff, who used at first, when he heard the noises, "to bark and leap and snap on one side and the other, and that frequently before any person in the room heard the noises at all; but after two or three days, he used to tremble and creep away before the noise began. and by this, the family knew it was at hand; nor did the observation ever fail." poor bow woo! what cruel ghosts to be sure, to go and frighten a poor dog in this way. mrs. wesley at one time thought it was "_rats_, and sent for a _horn_ to _blow_ them away;" but blowing the horn did not blow the ghosts away. no; for at first it only came at night, but after the horn was blown it came in the daytime as well. there were many opinions offered as to the cause of these disturbances, by different persons at different times. dr. coleridge "considered it to be a contagious nervous disease, the acme or intensest form of which is catalepsy." mr. owen here asks if the mastiff was cataleptic also? it is rather curious that a _cat_ is mentioned in this narrative. now supposing the _dog_ could not have been _cat_aleptic, the cat might perhaps have been so. some of the wesley family believed it to be supernatural hauntings, and give the following reason for it:--it appears that at morning and evening family prayers, "when the rev. samuel wesley, the father, commenced the prayer for the king, a knocking began all round the room, and a thundering knock attended the _amen_." mr. wesley observed that his wife did not say _amen_ to the prayer for the king. she said she could not, for she did not believe that the prince of orange was king. mr. wesley vowed he could not live with her until she did. he took his horse and rode away, and she heard nothing of him for a twelvemonth. he then came back and lived with her, as before, and although he did so, they add, that they fear this vow was not forgotten before god. if any religious persons were asked whether they thought that any law, natural or divine, could be suspended or set aside without the permission or sanction of the creator, their answer would be, nay, _must_ be, _certainly not_. yes, this would be their answer. then is it not extraordinary that the members of this pious clergyman's family, and from whence sprang the founder of such a large and respectable religious sect, should have such a mean idea of the supreme being, as to suppose that he would allow the regular laws of the universe to be suspended or set aside, and whole families (including unoffending innocent children) to be disturbed, terrified, and sometimes seriously injured, for such contemptible, ridiculous, and senseless reasons, or purposes, such as those assigned in the various cases already alluded to. it is indeed to me surprising that any one possessing an atom of sound christian religion, can suppose and maintain for one moment that these silly, supposed supernatural sounds and appearances can be, as they say, "of god." we may defy the supporters of this apparition doctrine to bring forward one circumstance in connection with these ghosts, which corresponds in any way with the real character of the creator, where any real benefit has been known to result from such sounds and such appearances--none, none, none; whereas we know that there has been a large amount of human suffering, illness, folly, and mischief, and in former times, we know, to a large and serious extent, but even now, in this "age of intellect," when we come to investigate the causes of some of the most painful diseases amongst children and young persons, particularly young females, we find, on the authority of the first medical men, that they are occasioned by being frightened by mischievous, thoughtless, or cruel persons, mainly in consequence of being _taught in their childhood to believe in ghosts_. i know a young lady who, when a child, was placed in a dark closet by her nurse, and so terrified in this way that the poor little girl lost her speech, and has been dumb ever since. dr. elliotson, in one of his reports of the mesmeric hospital, cites several most distressing and painful cases of "chorea," or st. vitus's dance, and dreadful fits, brought on through fright; and dr. wood, physician to st. luke's hospital (for lunatics), assures me that many cases of insanity are produced by terror from these causes; but even supposing that there are not very many cases of positive insanity brought on in this way, still the unnatural excitement thus acting on the brain, or the mind dwelling upon such matters, must have an unhealthy tendency. if all rational and religious persons will give this subject the attention which it demands, they will, i feel confident, see, that this belief in ghosts should not only be discountenanced, but put an end to altogether, if possible, as such notions not only have an injurious effect upon the health and comfort of many persons, particularly those of tender age, but it also debases the proper ideas which man ought to have of the creator; and not only so, but it also interferes with and trenches upon that mysterious and sacred question, _the immortality of the soul_; that it disturbs that belief which, with a firm trust and reliance upon the goodness and mercy of god, is the only consolation the afflicted mind can have, when mourning for the loss of those they have loved dearer than themselves. these hauntings of drumming and knocking, and thumping and bumping, with thundering noises, almost shaking the houses down, accompanied by the _delicate_ rustlings of silk and _trailing_ of gowns, etc., were at the time suspected of being _tricks_; and by the perusal of the following cases the reader will see that such tricks _can_ and _have_ been played, and such imposture carried on so successfully as to deceive clergymen and others; and but for the severe _natural_ tests brought to bear upon the supposed supernatural actors, would no doubt have been quoted by mr. owen and others as well-attested, well-established, veritable spiritual performances. at the corner of a street which runs from snow hill into smithfield, stands what _i_ consider a public nuisance, commonly called a "public-house," the sign of "the cock," and that which is now a street was formerly a rustic lane, and took its name from the sign of that house, and therefore called to this day "cock lane," which locality, in about the years 1754 to 1756, became one of the most celebrated places in london, in consequence, as it was believed, of one of the houses therein being taken possession of by a female ghost, who was designated "the cock lane ghost." a man of the name of parsons kept the house, and in which lodged a gentleman and his wife of the name of kempe. this lady died at this house, and after her death it was given out by parsons that his daughter, then eleven years of age (who used to sleep with mrs. kempe when her husband was out of town), was "possessed" with the spirit of the deceased lady, and that the spirit had informed the little girl that she had been murdered by her husband--that she had been "poisoned!" a vast number of respectable ladies and gentlemen, including clergymen, were "taken in"--but happily for themselves not "done for"--by this ghost; and it is said that even the celebrated dr. samuel johnson was _convinced_ of the spirituality of the "knocks" which the ghost gave in answer to questions, for it kept up conversations in precisely the same manner--that is, by "knocks" or "raps"--as the "spirit-rappers" do at the present day. the "scratchings" and "knocks" were only heard when parson's little daughter was in bed. after this sort of thing had gone on for a considerable time, and a _post-mortem_ examination of the body of the supposed murdered lady, which had been deposited in the vaults of st. john's, clerkenwell close, mr. kempe found it necessary to take steps to defend his character. the child was removed to the house of a highly-respectable lady, where "not a sound was heard," no "scratchings" or "knocks," for several nights; but the girl parsons, who was now a year or two older, upon going to bed one night informed the watchers that the ghost would pay a visit the following morning; but the servants of the house informed the watchers that the young lady had taken a bit of wood, six inches long by four inches broad, into bed with her, which she had concealed in her stays. this bit of wood was used to "stand the kettle on." the imposture was discovered, and the poor girl confessed to the wicked trickery which her _parents_ had taught her to practise! mr. kempe indicted parsons and others for conspiracy against his life and character, the case was tried before lord mansfield at guildhall, july 10th, 1756, and all the parties convicted. the rev. mr. more and a printer, with others, were heavily fined. parsons was set in the pillory three times in one month and imprisoned for two years, his wife for one year, and mary eraser, the "medium," for six months in bridewell, and kept to hard labour. it came out in the course of investigation that master parsons had borrowed some money of mr. kempe, and it was rather suspected that he did not want to pay it back again. another celebrated spiritual farce was enacted in 1810, entitled "_the sampford ghost_." this is a village near tiverton, in devonshire, and the following striking performances were "attested by _affidavit_ of the rev. c. cotton," who, by the by, was of opinion that "a belief in ghosts is favourable to virtue." imprimis, "stamping on the boards answered by similar sounds underneath the flooring, and these sounds followed the persons through the upper apartments and answered the stamping of the feet. the servant women were beaten in bed 'with a fist,' a candlestick thrown at the master's head but did not hit him, heard footsteps, no one could be seen walking round, candles were alight but could see no one, but steps were heard 'like a man's foot in a slipper,' with rapping at the doors, etc. etc. after this the servants were slapped, pushed, and buffeted. the bed was more than once stuck full of pins, loud repeated knockings were heard in all the upper rooms, the house shook, the windows rattled in their casements, and all the horrors of the most horrible of romances were accumulated in this devoted habitation." amongst other things it was _declared_ by a man, of the rather suspicious name of "dodge," that the prentice boy had seen "an old woman descend through the ceiling." the house was tenanted by a man of the name of chave, a huckster. the landlord was a mr. tully, who determined to investigate this matter himself, and went to sleep, or rather to pass the night, at the house for this purpose. the account says that "he took with him a reasonable degree of scepticism, a considerable share of common sense;" and i believe a good thick stick, which is, in my opinion, a much more powerful instrument in _laying_ these kinds of ghosts than the old-fashioned remedy of "bell, book, and candle." when mr. tully went to the house he saw "dodge" speaking to mrs. chave in the shop, and also saw him leave the house; but when he went up stairs by himself who should he see but this same "dodge," who had got up stairs by a private entrance, but who could not _dodge_ out of mr. tully's way. so mr. tully pounced upon him and locked him in the room, where he also found a mopstick "battered at the end into splinters and covered with whitewash," and this was the ghost that answered the stamping on the floors. mr. tully went to bed, and as no ghosts thumped he went to sleep and had a good night's rest; and upon examining the house the next day, found the ceilings below in "a state of mutilation," from the ghostly thumps it had received. tho cause of the house being _haunted_ was a conspiracy on the part of chave and his friends to get the house at a _very low rent_, as _he_ would not mind living on the promises, but other persons would not, of course, be likely to take a "haunted house." a drunken mob one day met and assaulted chave after this trick was exposed, and he took refuge in his "haunted house," from whence he fired a pistol and shot one man dead. another man was also killed at the same time, thus two lives were sacrificed to this "sampford ghost." the rev. c. cotton died shortly after this ghost was discovered to be a flam, or _sham_ ghost; it was supposed of chagrin and vexation at being made a _butt_ of by the vulgar for his simplicity and credulity. another sensation farce was "the stockwell ghost," which performed its tricks very cleverly and successfully at a farm-house in that place in the year 1772. it broke nearly every bit of glass, china, and crockery in the house, and no discovery was made at the time of the _how_, the _why_, or the _wherefore_. but in "the every day book," edited and published by w. hone, the whole matter is explained in the confession of a woman who lived at the house as servant girl at the time, and who played the part of the ghost so well, that she escaped detection, and came off, only suspected by a few. the inutility of attempting to do away entirely with this popular belief in ghosts by _arguments_, however well founded on reason and science, has already been hinted at; but it will be only fair that _science_ should just put a word in, as it can do no harm and may do good. in "sketches of the philosophy of apparition, or an attempt to trace such illusions to their physical causes, by samuel hibbert, m.d., f.r.s.e.," the author states his opinion to be that "apparitions are nothing more than ideas or recollected images of the mind, which have been rendered more vivid than actual impressions," perhaps by morbid affections. it is also pointed out that "in ghost stories of a supposed supernatural character which by disease are rendered so unduly intense as to induce spectral illusions, may be traced to such fantastical objects of prior belief as are incorporated in the various systems of superstition which for ages have possessed the minds of the vulgar." "spectral illusions arise from a highly excited state of the nervous irritability acting generally upon the system, or from inflammation of the brain." "the effect induced on the brain by intoxication from ardent spirits, which have a strong tendency to inflame this organ, is attended with very remarkable effects. these have lately been described as symptoms of 'delirium tremens.' many cases are recorded which show the liability of the patient to long-continued spectral impressions." sir david brewster represents these phenomena as images projected on the retina--from the brain, and seen with the eyes open or shut. of the many causes assigned for spectral illusions the following may be enumerated:--holy ecstasies, various diseases of the brain, diseases of the eye, extreme sensibility or nervous excitement from fright, various degrees of fever, effects of opium, delirium tremens, ignorance and superstition, catalepsy, and confused, indistinct, or uncomprehended natural causes. now all persons who suppose they see ghosts are at liberty to select any of the foregoing causes for their being so deluded, for delusion it is, as i hope presently to prove; but they may rest assured that these supposed spectres are always produced either by disease or by over-excited imagination, which in some cases it may be said amounts to disease. however, to return to the ghosts. a very common, or rather _the_ common, idea of a ghost is generally a very _thin_ and _scraggy_ figure; but if there are such things there must be _fat_ ghosts as well as _thin_ ghosts; fat or thin people are equally eligible "to put in an appearance" of this sort if they can; and to carry out this idea and make it quite clear, i here introduce an old acquaintance of the public, mr. daniel lambert, as he appeared to _my_ _un_-excited imagination whilst engaged on this work. now if daniel came as an apparition, he must, according to the authorities in these matters, not only "come in his habits as he lived," that is, in the clothes he wore, but must also come in his _fat_, or he would not be recognized as the fattest man "and the heaviest man that ever lived," and although he weighed "52 stone 11 pounds" (14 lb. to the stone) in the flesh, in the spirit, he would, of course, be "as light as a feather," or rather an "air bubble;" and as he could not dance and jump about when alive, i thought if i brought him in as a ghost, i'd give him a bit of a treat, and let him dance upon the "tight rope." most persons will remember a story told by "pliny the younger" of the apparition of "an old" man appearing to athenadorous, a greek scholar. this ghost was "lean, haggard, and _dirty_," with "dishevelled hair and a long beard." he had "chains on," and came "shaking his chains" at the greek scholar, who heeded him not, but went on with his studies. the old ghost, however, "came close to him and shook his chains over his head as he sat at the table," whereupon athenadorous arose and followed the dirty old man in his chains, who went into the courtyard and "stamped his foot upon a stone about the centre of it, and--disappeared." the greek scholar marked the spot, and next day had the place dug up, when, lo and behold, they found there the skeleton of a human being. going back to the days of "pliny the younger" is going back far enough into early history for my purpose, which is to show that the notions about apparitions which prevailed at that period are the same as those of the present day, that is, of their _appearing in the dresses they wore in their life-time, in every minute particular_, as to _form_, _colour_, and _condition_, _new_ or _old_, as the case might be; but to prevent any mistake upon this head, i will just add some few words from that _reliable_ authority, defoe, who, you will have already remarked, is _exceedingly particular_ as to the exactness of every article of dress; but in what follows he goes far beyond any other writer on this subject, for instance he says, "we see them dressed in the very clothes which we have _cut_ to _pieces_, and given away, some to one body, some to another, or applied to this or that use, so that we can _give an account of every rag of them_. we can hear them speaking with the same voice and sound, though the organ which formed their former speech we are sure is perished and gone." from the various instances of the appearance of apparitions which have been brought before the reader, it will, i presume, be admitted that abundant and sufficient proof has been given that the writers about ghosts, and all those who have professed to have seen ghosts, declare that _they appear in the dresses which they wore in their lifetime_; but from all i have been able to learn, it does not appear that from the days of pliny the younger down to the days of shakespeare, and from thence down to the present time, that any one has ever thought of the gross absurdity, and impossibility, of there being such things as ghosts of wearing apparel, iron armour, walking sticks, and shovels! no, not one, except myself, and this i claim as my discovery concerning ghosts, and that therefore it follows, as a matter of course, that as ghosts _cannot_, _must not_, _dare not_, for decency's sake, appear without clothes; and as there can be no such things as ghosts or spirits of clothes, why, then, it appears that ghosts never did appear, and never can appear, at any rate not in the way in which they have been hitherto supposed to _appear_. and now let us glance at the _material_ question, or question of _materialism_. in the year 1828, a work was published, entitled "past feelings renovated; or, ideas occasioned by the perusal of dr. hibbert's philosophy of apparitions," which the author says were "written with the view of counteracting any sentiments approaching _materialism_, which that work, however unintentional on the part of the author, may have a tendency to produce." the author of "past feelings renovated" is a firm believer in apparitions, who generally "come in their _habits_ as they lived;" and in his preface he says, "the general tendency of dr. hibbert's work, and evident fallacy of many of the arguments in support of opinions too nearly approaching '_materialism_,' induced me to give the subject that _serious consideration_ which it imperatively demands." this author, it will be perceived, is very much opposed to anything like "_materialism_" in relation to this question, and is strongly in favour of "_spiritualism_," but will he be so good as to tell us what "a pair of buckskins" are made of? and what a pair of top-boots are made of? and whether these materials are _spiritualized_ by any process, or whether the clothes we wear on our bodies become a part and parcel of our souls? and as it is clearly impossible for spirits to wear dresses made of the _materials_ of the _earth_, we should like to know if there are spiritual-outfitting shops for the clothing of ghosts who pay visits on earth, and if empty, haunted houses are used for this purpose, in the same way as the establishments, and after the manner of "moses and son," or "hyam brothers," or such like houses of business, or if so, then there must be also the _spirit_ of woollen cloth, the _spirit_ of leather, the _spirit_ of a coat, the _spirit_ of boots and shoes. there must also be the _spirit_ of trousers, _spirits_ of gaiters, waistcoats, neckties, _spirits_ of buckles, for shoes and knees; _spirit_ of buttons, "bright gilt buttons;" _spirits_ of hats, caps, bonnets, gowns, and petticoats; _spirits_ of hoops and crinoline, and _ghost's_ stockings. yes; only think of the _ghosts_ of stockings, but if the ghost of a lady had to make her appearance here, she could not present herself before company without her shoes and stockings, so _there must be_ ghosts of stockings. most persons will surely feel some hesitation in accepting the assertions made by defoe, that ghosts appear in clothes that have been cut up, or distributed in different places, or destroyed, or that they come in the same garments that are being worn at the same moment by living persons, or which are at the time of appearing, in wardrobes or old clothes shops; or, perhaps, thousands of miles away from the spot where the ghost pays his unwelcome visit, or worn or torn into rags, and stuck upon a broomstick "to frighten away the crows." no, no, i think we may rest assured that ghosts could not appear in these dresses, or shreds and patches; in fact, that they could not show themselves in any dress made of the materials of the earth as already suggested; and, therefore, if they did wear any dresses they must have been composed of a _spiritual material_, if it be possible to unite, in any way, two such opposites. then comes the question, from whence is this spiritual material obtained, and also if there are spirit manufactories, spirit weavers and spinners, and spirit tanners and "tan pits?" if this be so, then there must, of course, be ghost tailors, working with ghosts of needles (how sharp _they_ must be!), and ghosts of threads (and how fine _they_ must be!), and the ghost of a "sleeve board," and the ghost of the iron, which the tailors use to flatten the seams, called a "goose" (only think of the ghost of a tailor's "goose!") then there must be the ghost of a "bootmaker," with the ghost of a "lapstone," and a "last," and the spirit of "cobbler's wax!" ghost of "button makers," "wig makers," and "hatters;" and, indeed, of every trade necessary to fit out a ghost, either lady or gentleman, in order to make it appear that they really did appear "in their habits as they lived." there are, i know, many respectable worthy persons even at the present day who believe they sometimes see apparitions, and i would here take the liberty to advise such persons to ponder a little upon the above remarks relative to the clothing of spirits, and, when again they think they see a ghost, recollect that with the exception of the _face_ and a little bit of the _neck_ perhaps, and also the _hands_, if without gloves, that _all the other parts are_ clothes. and i would also take the liberty to suggest that he should ask the ghost these questions:--"who's your tailor?" and "who's your hatter?" whatever the belief of the "bard of avon" might have been with respect to ghosts, it is quite clear that in these cases he was merely exercising his great poetical talent to work out the several points of popular belief in apparitions, for the purpose of producing a striking "stage effect;" but all that he brings forward, goes to prove the long-established faith in these aërial beings, and the general and almost universal requisites of character and costume. but it probably never entered the great mind of this great poet that there could be no such thing as a ghost of iron, for if it had, he would, no doubt, have dressed up the ghost of hamlet's father in some sort of suit rather more aërial than a suit of steel armour. there may be "more things 'twixt heaven and earth" than were dreamt of in horatio's philosophy; but the ghost of _iron_ armour could not be one of these things, be included in the list, and on reverting to this ghost, the reader will observe that i have given no figure in that suit of armour, and no head to the figure of napoleon the first, and for this reason, the art of drawing, you will please to observe, is a severe critical test in matters of this sort. for suppose an artist is employed to make a drawing of this ghost of hamlet's father, he will begin, or ought to begin, first to sketch out, very lightly, the size and attitude of the figure required; then suppose he makes out the face; and then begins to work on the helmet, but here he stops--why? because if he has any thought, he will say this is not _spirit_, this is manufactured iron! and so with the other parts of the figure, all except the face is _material_; and then to my old enemy in one sense, and _friend_ in another--napoleon, for i volunteered, and armed myself to assist to keep him from coming over here before i was twenty years of age; and as a caricaturist, what by turning him, sometimes into ridicule, and sometimes, in fact very often i may say, killing him with my sharp etching needle, "little boney" used very frequently to give me a good solid bit of meat, and make my "pot boil." but with respect to this headless figure, if the artist is requested to make a drawing of the spirit of this great general, he would, after making out the face, begin with the collar of the coat, and then stop--and why? because the coat is no part of a _spirit_, and if the whole of the figure were finished with the face in, what would that be but the spirit of the _face_ of napoleon; all the rest would consist of a cocked-hat, with tricolored cockade; a military coat, with buttons; a waistcoat, a sword and sash, leather gloves, and leather pantaloons, jack-boots, and spurs! are, or can these things be _spiritual_? if the end of the finger is placed over the space which is left for the face of napoleon, the figure will be recognized as _his without the head_; and so with hamlet's father, place the end of the finger in front of the helmet, and the armour will pass for the ghost; and do the like with the figure of daniel lambert, put the head out of sight, _all the rest_ is neck-handkerchief, a bit of shirt, a coat, a waistcoat, a pair of gloves, small clothes (not very _small_ by the by), an immense pair of stockings, and the points of a pair of shoes; and as to the headless ghost of the gentleman in the _blue_ coat and gilt buttons, that is also nothing but a suit of clothes. the reader will recollect that daniel defoe, mrs. crowe, and mr. owen, and other authors have all introduced ghosts of wigs amongst their facts, in support of spiritual apparitions, so if there are ghosts of "wigs," there must also be ghosts of "pigtails," because they were sometimes a part of a wig; and in taking leave of the reader, i take the liberty of introducing a ghost of a wig and pigtail, who will make a polite bow for the humble author and artist of this "discovery concerning ghosts." addenda. just as i depicted the ghost of the wig and pigtail to bow out all the old-fashioned ghosts, methought i heard a voice say, "well, sir, suppose it _granted_ that you _have_ shown the utter impossibility of there being such things as ghosts of hats, coats, sticks, and umbrellas; admitting that you really have "laid" all these ghosts of the old style, what say you to the "spirit manifestations" of the present day?" well, this does certainly seem to be putting rather a "_home_ question"--a "home thrust," if you please; but sharp as the question may be, and difficult as it may seem to answer, i am not going to shirk the question. in the first place, this _inquiring_ spirit must please to recollect that these "spirit-rappers" of the present day are almost an entirely _new-fashioned_ spirit, a different sort of ghost altogether, or ghosts in "piecemeal;" only _bits_ of spirits, who _never come of their own accord_, and have to be _squeezed_ out of a table bit by bit, when they do hold up a hand, or tap or touch people's legs under the table with their hand, or a bit of one. but never having attended a "_séance_," i cannot give the _inquiring_ spirit any information about these spirits from my own personal knowledge. if the inquirer wishes to know "all about" these spirits, he had better apply to mr. d. d. home, who is quite "at home" with these spirits, upon the most "familiar" terms! in fact, "hand and glove" with them; and they feel so much at home with mr. home, that they are constantly putting their _hands_ and _arms_, if not their _legs_, "under his mahogany." i therefore take the liberty of referring "inquirer" to this home medium, or any other medium, home or foreign, for a "full, true, and particular account" of the character and conduct of these new-fashioned, new-found-_land_ ghosts or spiritual _gentlefolk_, for it does not appear that there are any of the "working-class" amongst them. it has been asserted by mr. home, that he has seen "full length" ghosts. these i shall put to the _test_ a little further on. as i intend putting a few _questions_ myself to these "mediums," or through this medium, to the spirits, i have to hope that these questions of mine will be taken by the _inquiring_ spirits who question me as an answer to _their_ question upon what may be at present considered upon the whole as almost, if not entirely, _unanswerable_, at least with the ordinary natural organs of thought and judgment, and therefore it must be left to these tabular spirits or their mediums to explain (that is, if they can) that which, to the "outsiders," as the affair stands at this moment, is an _inexplicable puzzle_. in bringing forward my questions, i will take the liberty of making an extract from the "times," of the 9th of april last, where mr. d. d. home's book of "incidents in my life," is reviewed with considerable acumen and ability; and wherein the writer states that a dr. wilkinson was desirous of obtaining some information and explanations respecting the "ways and means" of these spirits. the doctor asked mr. home why the effects (that is, the manifestations) "took place _under_ the table and not _upon_ it." mr. home said, that "in habituated circles the results were easily obtained above board, visibly to all, but that at the first sitting it was not so; that scepticism was almost universal in men's intellects, and marred the forces at work; that the spirits accomplish what they do through our _life sphere_, or _atmosphere_, which was _permeated at our wills_, and if _the will_ was _contrary_, the _sphere_ was unfit for being operated upon." moreover, allowance must be made for a certain indisposition on the part of the spirits (as we infer a sort of spiritual bashfulness), "which deters them from exhibiting their members in a state of imperfect formation." when some had merely a _single finger_ put upon their knees, "mr. home said that the presenting spirits could often make _one finger_ where they could not _make two_, and two where they could not form an _entire hand_, just as they could form a hand where they could not realize a whole human figure" (for there seems never to have been life sphere at a _séance_ adequate to the exhibition of an entire figure, "though mr. home has frequently seen spirits in their full proportions when alone"). and now for one of my questions, which question is not only _my_ question, but a public question, and one which mr. home is bound to answer, if he can. i therefore publicly call upon that gentleman to inform the public if these spirits, which he saw in their "full proportions," were in a state of nudity, or if they had clothes on? and if clothed, of what those clothes were made? if he does not know these particulars of his own knowledge, as he has the _ear_ of these spirits, their _entire_ confidence, and as they have _his_ ear, let him call upon them to let him into the secret of the manufacture of their garments, or how the spirits procure them; and until mr. home explains this satisfactorily to the public, we have a right to suspect that either he has been himself deceived, or that he----perhaps i had better not finish the sentence. the "_inquiring_ spirit" will see that the _clothes_ are the test, and this test stands good here, as well as with the _old_ fashioned ghosts, and this, i presume, will be allowed as rather a "home question" to mr. home; a home thrust which he can only parry by giving the information asked; which, if he does not, i will not say "britons, _strike_ home," but unless he or the spirits "rap" out a satisfactory answer, he may rely upon it that he will feel the weight of public opinion, which will weigh rather heavily upon him. but i give him a first-rate chance of becoming exceedingly popular, for the mass, the millions, are ready to believe anything in the _shape_ of a fact, and i am confident that the whole world would be delighted to get hold of such a secret as this. it would be, perhaps, extreme cruelty to put this gentleman _quite_ "out of spirits;" but unless he tells us what the clothes of spirits are made of, i should say that he will stand in rather an awkward position before the bar of public opinion. another question here i'll put, about this spirit "d d outfit," which i fear that the spirits won't answer, just as yet- it is a question, i grant, that looks _rather_ queer, which is--are their "togs" made out of our _atmosphere_? if the cloth is made out of stuff "_permeated by our wills_"- and further, if these ghosts are honest, and pay their tailors' bills? and then, as to the handy craft and crafty hands- oh tell us if warm hands, and cold- so cold! so cold! oh dear!- are made in any kind of mould, or how they trick 'em out of our "life sphere?" now supposing, nay even admitting, that the _hands_ of spirits are exhibited at these _séances_, does it not really seem to be impossible to believe that they are made out of the air that surrounds the persons who surround the table!!! making fingers and hands out of our "life-sphere" or "atmosphere!" "permeated by our wills!" well, i was going to say, "after that comes in a horse to be shaved," but really i hardly know what to say; for whilst reading the accounts of these spirits, i feel almost bewildered, and as the mediums say that there is what they call "spirit-writing," and that spirits seize the person's wrist, and make them write just what they wist, i suspect that the spirit of botheration has got hold of my hand, and is making me write what it pleases; and i therefore hope the "gentle reader" will excuse me if i write down here "handy pandy, jack a dandy," or any other childish nonsense; for as this table lifting and turning seems to alter and set aside altogether the law of gravitation and all the universal laws of the universe, that used to be thought by simple people as fixed and unalterable, so likewise these "spirit hands" and "spirit rapping" seem to put reason and rationality entirely out of the field. therefore, as common sense cannot be used in any sense on this question, as it is utterly useless in the present state of affairs to attempt to "chop logic" with "raps," and their mediums upon such tables as these, it will be here quite in place to talk a little nonsense. the reader will therefore, i am sure, bear with me if i make two or three silly suggestions upon this phenomena of moving tables. under ordinary circumstances, when persons who are not "habituated" have any natural substance to deal with--say, for instance, a _deal_ table--the mind naturally endeavours to account in a natural way for such a piece of furniture moving or being moved without any assignable natural cause. common sense in this case being "put out of court," and the scientific world having seemingly "given it up," there is no other source left but to deal with the spirits or their mediums in this matter; and i would here ask if these _tables_, heavy or light, are moved by this "life-sphere" or "atmosphere" which is "permeated by our wills;" or if the hands made out of this airy nothing move and lift the furniture? as _they can_ give an answer to the query, we shall all surely be very much obliged to them if they will do so; and whilst they are preparing their answer, i will go on with a little more nonsense, and make a most ridiculous suggestion upon the table lifting, quite as ridiculous perhaps as anything that has emanated from the spirits or their mediums. it may seem absurd to bring "dame nature" into this "circle," but nevertheless it does seem true that animals who are associated with man seem to partake, to a very large extent, of man's intelligence. dogs particularly so, cats pretty well, and even pigs have been known, when domesticated, to be cleanly and polite, and of course we have all heard of the "learned pig." dear little birds, and even asses and geese, have been known to share in this "life sphere" or "atmosphere" of man's brain. i knew a man who was educating and training a goose, to come out before the public as a performer as a _learned_ goose, which intention was unfortunately not carried out, in consequence of an accident which happened to the poor bird about "michaelmas" time. it appears that he got placed so near a large fire that he was very soon "_done brown_," and upon a "post mortem" examination it was discovered that he was stuffed full of _sage_ and onion. we are so accustomed to have intelligent animals about us, that we do not look upon it as anything very extraordinary. nevertheless, the phenomena is not the less wonderful for all that. now i lay this question on the table, for the spirits to rap out an answer--viz., as tables and chairs are associated with man (and woman, of course), can, or is the vital spark, or life principle, conveyed from the body into the wood, which is _porous_, and can it make these otherwise _inanimate_ objects "all alive alive o?" the reader must excuse me for asking such a silly question, and will please to recollect that i am not putting the question to him, but to the silly spirits and their mediums, for these _spirits_, it is stated, are sometimes quite as silly as _any body_ can be. i therefore ask again whether the vital principle or force is conveyed into the tables whilst the parties or "circle" are pressing their hands upon it; and if not, please to tell us what it is, for the "outer" world are very anxious and waiting to know. it must be observed that the tables only move under this _pressure_, and whilst the "circle" is thus acting and using its _atmospheric_ influence, otherwise the tables might or would be always jumping about the room; and if the tables are not thus moved by animal heat, how would the animal man be able to get his meals? and it follows as a natural--beg pardon, spiritual--consequence, that if this be not the case, or the cause, then are the spirits a very thoughtful and well-behaved society, to be thus careful not to rattle or roll the table about and jump it up and down when the dinner is spread; or perhaps these spirits partake of the "good things of this life," as very poor french emigrants used to do, namely, by merely _smelling_ the viands at a cook's shop--"sniff, sniff, ah! dat is nice a roast a bef--sniff, sniff, ah! dat nice piece de veal--ah! sniff, sniff, dat a nice piece a de pork--ah! ah! sniff, sniff"--but if they don't _eat_ it appears they _drink_; for in an article by r. h. hatton, in the "victoria magazine,"[5] entitled "the unspiritual world of spirits," it states that mr. howitt "believes in a modern german ghost that drank beer," which called forth the words (with a horrible exclamation), "it swallows!" and at a "_séance_" held at a cháteau near paris, three years back, a gentleman asked for some brandy and water, which when brought was "snatched out of his hold by a spirit-hand which carried it beneath the table," and "the glass came back _empty_." we are told that the spirits have difficulty in making a finger; if so, they must have a greater difficulty in "making mouths;" but suppose they do make a mouth, and the spirits drink the beer and spirits, where is the liquid to go to, if they have made no stomach out of the _atmosphere_ of the _ladies_ and gentlemen forming the "circle" round the table? this does not look as if it were "all fair and above board;" but, on the contrary, very much as if there were some clever rascally little _bodies_ playing their pranks and taking the "spirits" under the table; however, if it be the _real_ spirits who drank the beer and spirits, i as a teetotaler must express my disgust at such conduct, and, for one, will have nothing to do with such spirits; indeed, i am quite shocked to find, contrary to all former ideas of spiritual life, that even these "_pure_ spirits" have still a taste for the spirit of alcohol. i really begin to fear that these drinking, if not drunken spirits, do haunt the "spirit-vaults." the _beer_ they drink is, i presume, "_home_-brewed." [5] published by emily faithful. and i take this opportunity of wishing success to the "victoria magazine," as a part of the good work in which that lady is engaged. but to turn again to the "table-turning." one way that i would suggest this question, to test, as to whether it be the life principle that gives a sort of life to these wooden _legs_, and _drawers_, and _body_, and _flaps_, from which the spirits send out their "raps," would be, to substitute an iron table, a good heavy iron table, and as it is said they can lift any weight, let 'em lift that; and if not iron, then try a good large marble slab. if the iron will not "enter into _their_ soul," let them try if their _soul_ will enter into the iron, or if the stone will be moved by the "atmosphere" of their flesh and their bone. wonders, it is said, will never cease, and most assuredly some of the tales told of these "_séances_," and some of the reported spirit exhibitions are so wonderful, so astounding, that one does not know _how_ to believe them; and there are certain circumstances in some parts of the performance that look so _like_ trickery, that it is impossible to accept the _whole_ relation as fact, however much we might feel disposed to receive a part thereof. some of these performances are performed in the dark, in the "pitch dark," so dark that the company cannot see each other; and it is in this state of "inner" and "utter" darkness that the spirits prefer to lift mr. home, and _float him up to the ceiling_,[6] so that the spirits who lift him are "_invisible_ spirits," and mr. home is _invisible_ also. and this makes me think that these spirits are without clothing, and being so, are ashamed to show themselves. i put this as a question to mr. home, and also, as they only _make_ hands and _shake_ hands, if they are not "ashamed to show their faces," _why_ don't they _make faces_? (i don't mean grimaces). but i should not only like to know why they don't make some "atmospheric" "life-sphere" faces, but should also very much like to sketch their likenesses, or "take them off," as people say. [6] i should like to ask a question here- is home by spirits lifted, or by "atmosphere?" touching upon these faces reminds me that a new feature has been introduced in this _new_ world, that is, taking up this new fashion of the _old_ world by having "_carte de visites_." a mr. _mum_-ler, of boston, u.s., discovered that these spirits have a taste for art as well as music, and that they have a little vanity like ourselves; and it has since been discovered that _fraud_ has been _discovered_, of photographers--"_palming off as spirit likeness_--_pictures of persons now alive!_" but here comes the clothes test again, these _spirited_ portraits have all got their _clothes on_. apparitions of suits of clothes, spirits of _coats_, _boots_, and _ladies' dresses_!!! this _test_ of the _clothing_ is very severe, for without having clothes the ghost can't appear; for even that extraordinary clever invention of professor pepper's, the "patent" ghost, which he exhibited at the polytechnic institution, and which is introduced into a piece called "the haunted man and the ghost's bargain," now performing at the adelphi theatre, and which ghost, i am sorry to say, i have not yet had time to see, but this "patent ghost," of course, has clothes on. in fact, apparitions cannot appear without clothes, and apparitions of clothes cannot appear; and so--but really i had quite forgotten that i had left mr. home sticking up against the ceiling, upon which it appears he makes his _mark_--all in the dark--as a kind of "skylark." "_seeing_ is believing," but as his friends could not see him, he was obliged to do some thing of this sort, suspecting, i suppose, that his friends would not take _his word_. when a light was thrown upon this scene, mr. home was discovered lying upon his back upon the table! it may be rude to say that all this was all a trick, but pardonable, perhaps, to say it looks very like trickery. talking of "skylarking," reminds me, that in conversation with a friend of mine, who is a believer in mr. home, and expressing a doubt about the possibility of mr. h. kicking his heels up in the air in this way, and asking if it were not imaginary, my friend assured me that it was no "flight of fancy," that it was quite true, and that it was not at all improbable but that some day, in daylight, we might "see mr. home _floating across the metropolis_!" i suggested that mr. h. had better mind what he was about, as there was danger in such a flight, for some short-sighted sports-man, or if not short-sighted, he might be in such a state of _fuddle_ as not "to know a hawk from a hand saw," and might mistake him for some gigantic, "monstrous blackbird," or some "_rara avis_," and bring him down with his gun, though in this case he would not want to "bag his game." to prevent such a hit as this, or rather such a _mis_chance, i would suggest that due notice should be given to the public when mr. home intends appearing up above the chimney-pots; and that in addition to his _floating_, that the spirits should run him along the "electric telegraph" wires. that would be something worth seeing, and much better than the stupid, silly, nonsensical tricks they now play either on the table or under the table. there used formerly, even in my time--i don't go back so far as the reign of the charles's, but to the days of the "charlies," as the old watchmen were called, and before the "_new_ police" were introduced to the public,--in those days ghost tricks were played in various parts of london; one favourite spot was in front of st. giles's churchyard, near unto a "spirit vault." it used to be reported that there was a ghost every night in this churchyard, but it was an invisible ghost, for it never was seen, though there was a mob of people gaping and straining their eyes to get a peep at it; but during this time, some low cunning spirits used to creep out of the adjoining spirit vaults, mix amongst the crowd, and having very _light fingers_, used, instead of _tapping_ the people on the knees, as the spirits do at the "_séances_" they dipped their hands into the "atmosphere" of respectable people's pockets, and "spirited away" their watches, handkerchiefs, pocket-books, or anything else that came in their way, and then bolt into the vaults again. n.b.--these spirits could swallow _spirits_, like those described in the preceding pages. spirits of the old style used to delight in the darkness of night, but sometimes they'd show their pale faces by moonlight. a "_séance_" is described that took place by moonlight. i don't mean to _assert_ that it was _all_ "moonshine." a table was placed in front of a window between the curtains; the "circle" round the table and the space between the curtains was the _stage_ where the performance took place. query: how did the mediums know, when they placed this table, that the spirits who "lent a hand" in the performance would act their play at that part of the table? by the by, the _table_ plays an important part in these spirited pieces; the spirits surely would not be able to get on at all without a _table_! at each side of this stage, lit by the moon, and close to the window curtains, which formed as it were the "proscenium," stood a gentleman, one on each side, like two "prompters," one of whom was mr. home; and when one particular hand was thrust up above the rim of the table, and which _hand_ had a _glove on_, mr. h. cried out, "oh! keep me from that hand! it is so cold; do not let it touch me." query: how did mr. h. know that this hand _was so cold_? and had it put the glove on because it felt itself so cold? and out of whose "atmosphere," or "life sphere" had the spirit made this hand? if it were _so_ cold, it must have got the stuff through some very _cold-hearted_ "medium." then comes my _clothes test_ again, where did the _hand_ get the _glove_? suppose it was a _spirit hand_, the hand of a soul that once did live on earth, could it be the _spirit_ of a _glove_? whilst waiting for an answer to these queries, i would suggest to these "mediums," that if they see this "hand and glove" again, they should ask, "who's your glover?" yes, it would be important to obtain the name and address of such a glover, as such gloves, we may suppose, would not wear out, nor require cleaning. an old and valued friend of mine attended a _séance_ in 1860, of which he wrote a short account, and which he keeps (in manuscript) to lend to his friends for their information and amusement, upon this subject; and although he confesses that, as a novice, he was rather startled upon one or two occasions during the evening, that the extraordinary proceeding of the _séance_ had something of a _supernatural tinge_ about it; nevertheless, upon mature reflection he came to the conclusion that the whole was a very cleverly-managed piece of trickery and imposture. as i am permitted to quote from this manuscript, i will here give a short extract to show the reader how an american medium--a dr. _dash_--assisted by two other "mediums," also americans, _managed_ the spirits upon that occasion. a party of eight were seated round a table:-"shortly and anon, a change came o'er the spirit of the doctor. he jumped up and said, '_hush! i hear a spirit_ rapping at the door.' * * * * * "the doctor told us there was a spirit which wished to join our _séance_, the door was opened, a chair was most politely placed at the table, and there the spirit sat, but, like 'banquo's' ghost, _invisible to the company_." in the waterloo road there resided--next door to each other--some years back, two paperhangers, who vied with each other in doing "stencilling"--that is, rubbing colour on walls through a _cut out_ pattern; there was great opposition between them, and one of them (no. 1) wrote on the front of his house in _large_ letters, "the acme of stencilling," upon which no. 2, determined not to be outdone in this style, wrote upon the front of his house in letters _double_ the size of his neighbour's, "the heigth of the acme of stencilling." now, i do not know whether this pretended _introduction_ of an _invisible_ spirit, and putting a chair for this worse than nothing to sit in, when he had nothing to sit down upon, may be considered as the _heigth_ of the _acme_ of unprincipled, impudent imposture; but it goes far enough to show that trickery _can be and is carried on_, and carried on even as a trade or "calling" in this "spirit-rapping" business, for i have seen a printed card where a _professional_ "medium" gives his name and address, and has on it, "circles for spiritual manifestation--hours from 12 to 3 and 5 to 10 p.m.;" to which is added, "private parties and _families_ visited." if such a card as this had been introduced in "the broad grin jest book," some years back, it would have been quite in place, but to think that such a card as this should be circulated in this "age of intellect," as a _business_ card--the card of a "_maître de ceremonie_," who undertakes to introduce _invisible spirits_, into parties and _private families_, is something more than i ever expected to see, on the outside of bethlem, or in the list of impostures at a police station. as this dr. _dash_ pretended that spirits were "mixed up" with this party--were indeed surrounding the "circle," and who had come into the room _without knocking_, and were not _accommodated with chairs_, why should this ghost of nothing knock at the door, and how did the dr. know that he wished to join the _séance_, and why should _this invisible_ mr. nobody have a chair, and the other _spirits_ be obliged to stand? and then was this spirit _dressed_ in his best? for as it was an evening party, he ought to have been "dressed with care." the calling up of one spirit seems to call up or raise another spirit, and as dr. _dash_ introduced a dumb and invisible spirit who was supposed to take his seat at a table, i take this opportunity of introducing a spirit of a very different character--one of the old fashioned spirits--one that could both be seen and heard, and who was _seen_ to take his seat at the table, and enter into conversation with his friends. an extract from the "registry of brisley church in 1706," runs thus:--a mr. grose went to see a mr. shaw, and whilst these gentlemen were quietly smoking their pipes, in comes (without "rapping") the ghost of their friend mr. naylor. they asked him to sit down, which he did, and they conversed together for about two hours; he was asked how it fared with him, he replied, "very well," and when he seemed about to move, they asked him if he could not stay a little longer, he replied that he "could not do so, for he had only three days' leave of absence, and had other business to attend to."[7] [7] as, according to mrs. crowe, ghosts can smoke, and upon equally good authority, spirits can swallow _spirits_, no doubt this ghost of mr. naylor, who did not come without the help of his tailor, took a pipe with his friends, and took something to _drink_ with them also, for you may _rely_ upon it, that the ghost's friends were not smoking a "_dry_ pipe." now this is something like a ghost, whose visit you observe is recorded in the registry of a parish church, and as the party i believe were all clergymen, of course the rev. mr. naylor came in his clerical "habits as he lived," no doubt "dressed with care." yes, this you see was a respectable sort of ghost--one that you could see and listen to, not such a poor "dummy" as dr. _dash's_ poor spiritless spirit, mr. nothing nobody, esq., who could neither be seen nor heard, which even to name, seems quite absurd. the reason for thus suddenly pretending to introduce a _spirit_, was to produce an _effect_--a _sensation_--upon the nerves of the party assembled (particularly the novices), for it is only under excited nervous feelings that anything like success can attend the operations of such "mediums." the creator has so formed us that our nerves are more excitable in darkness than in the light, and our senses thus excited, are for our safety and protection, when moving about in the dark, either in-doors or out, as we feel and know, that there is a chance of our being seriously injured by running against or falling over something, or that there might be evil spirits in the shape of robbers lurking about, against whom it would be necessary to be ready to defend ourselves, or to avoid. our faculties being thus put on the "_qui vive_," is natural, healthy, and proper; but when the mind has been imbued from childhood with a belief in ghosts, and the individual should happen to be in a dark and lonely place, and should hear or see indistinctly something which the mind on the instant is not able to account for, _naturally_, or _comprehend_ rationally, then under such circumstances, to use a common expression, "we are not ourselves," and in giving way to imaginary fears, under the impression of supernatural appearances, the stoutest hearts and the strongest men, have been known "to quiver and to quail," to be confused and to feel that thrilling sensation, that cold trickling down the back from head to heel, which is produced from fright, and nothing but the rallying of their mental and physical forces, and rousing up a determined resolution, has enabled such men to overcome this coward-like fear, and to discover that they have been scared by some natural sound, or some imperfectly-seen natural object, that it was all "a false alarm," or perhaps a made up ghost, by some fool or rogue, or both, who was playing his "tricks upon travellers." but with weak and nervous persons, who believe in supernatural appearances, the effects of fright, under such circumstances, produce the most painful feelings, total prostration of the faculties, and sometimes fatal consequences. here is an instance where all the faculties were prostrated by fright in consequence of seeing a supposed apparition, followed by the death of an innocent person:-in the year 1804, the inhabitants of hammersmith, a village situated on the west side of the metropolis, but now forming part of it, were much terrified by the appearance of, as it was said, a spectre clothed in a winding sheet. this apparition made its appearance in the dark evenings in the churchyard, and in several avenues about the place. i well remember "the hammersmith ghost," as it was called, being the "town talk" of that day, and not only in hammersmith, but even in town, many persons were afraid to leave their homes after dusk. besides a man of the name of john graham, who was detected, and i believe imprisoned, there were several actors in this ghostly farce, which was however brought to an end in a tragical manner--that is, by a young man of the name of thomas millwood, a plasterer, being shot dead by one francis smith, an exciseman, who at the time (as the narrator states) was rather "warm over his liquor"--that is about half drunk; and in this state he was allowed at the "white hart" public house to load a gun with shot, and go out for the purpose of discovering the ghost, and he no sooner saw a figure in a light dress (which was the poor plasterer in his _working dress_, on his road to fetch his wife home, who had been at work all day at a house in the neighbourhood of "black lion lane," where this murder was committed) than he lost the use of his faculties, and was in such a state of fright that, as he said in his defence, he "did not know what he was about," and unfortunately, under these circumstances, killed an innocent man, which he never would have done had he not been a believer in apparitions and ghosts. in p. 46, of the "victoria magazine," the writer, in speaking of an interview which mr. home had with the spirit of the count cagliostro, states that the said _spirit_ diffused and wafted over his friend mr. h. the most "delicious perfumes," and that they "appeared to have been a part of the count's personal resources;" and argues for various reasons that these spirits are "sensitive to sweet smells," and that the spirits are "adepts in perfumery," "are fond of it," and surround themselves and their medium "with exquisite odours." and as mr. home is such a great favourite with these "spirits," his "life sphere" and "atmosphere" must be very highly scented and perfumed with smells, and this accounts at once for the spirits playing "home, _sweet_ home" upon the accordion, when he holds it under the table with one hand, and they play upon it, i suppose, with "_their hands of atmosphere!_" be this as it may, however "sweet upon themselves" they may be, these spirits are at this moment in _very_ "_bad_ odour" with a large body of the press, as also with the large body of the public, and it therefore rests with the "mediums" to bring these "spirits of darkness" into light, and that these supposed spirits, their mediums, and their friends should _place_ themselves in a right position before the public. "come out in the road" (as the low folk say when they are going to fight). by the by, there surely must be (as they are all _spirited_ fellows) some "prizefighters" amongst these "rapping" spirits, and if so, i would suggest that mediums, as "backers" and "bottle-holders" (provided they don't have any "spirits" in their bottle), should get up a "prizefight" as a public exhibition, between such spirits as jem belcher and tom crib, or any of those celebrated deceased popular heroes; and there would be this advantage in such contests, that the "sporting world" would have all their favourite sport, and be able to bet upon their favourites in these "sham-fights" without the attendant horrible and disgusting brutalities of the _real_ fights; for although they would, of course, "rap" each other, their _fists_ being only made of "_atmosphere_," they could not hurt or disfigure each other as they do in the _earthly_ boxing. and if these aërial boxers did "knock the wind out" of each other, it would be of no consequence, for as they would be surrounded with lots of their own kind of "life sphere," or "atmosphere," they could soon "make themselves _up_" again, if even they did not "make it up" with each other. but i see some difficulties in carrying out these "sports," which did not occur to me at first; for instance, if they cannot make their own thick heads out of the "atmosphere" of the heads about them, having no heads then, how can they be "set by the ears?" besides, they could not hear when "time" was called, and then, again, the patrons of the "prize ring" would not be satisfied unless they could see these spirited ghosts "knock each other's heads half off." if these spirits cannot "make head," and keep up with the intellectual progress of the spirit of the times, and with the spirit of the world. if they cannot be a "body politic," or a body of spirits, or any other body, let the mediums set their _hands_ to work, "all _hands_, ahoy!" let them lend a hand to any "handiwork;" "hand-looms," or hand about the tea and bread and butter at parties, or make themselves "handy" in any way, even if they were made to use "hand-brooms." yes; let them put their hands to any honest calling rather than keep their hands in idleness, for they should recollect what dr. watts asserts- "that _satan_ finds some mischief still for _idle hands_ to do." and if these "spirit hands" are too flimsy and delicate to _work_--to do hard work--then let them _play_ musical instruments, get up popular concerts, and as they can make perfumes, or are themselves perfumers, they could thus whilst playing gratify their audiences with sweet sounds and sweet scents at the same time. however absurd this asserted _fact_ of tables being moved by spirits may appear, and to many persons appearing not worth a "second thought," yet it is natural that we should endeavour to account for such a movement in a natural way, one cause assigned is natural heat, the other involuntary muscular action, etc., etc. in this state of uncertainty a little "_guess_ work" about the table movement, may perhaps be excused, even if it be as absurd as "table lifting" itself. we know that the common air, dry or moist, affects all earthly materials, and that the water and the air, are everywhere, changing, the flower and the stone, the flesh and the bone. and we also know that wood, being a very _porous_ material, is powerfully affected by the "broad and general casing air," that it expands or contracts according to the condition of the atmosphere, and thus we find when there is any considerable change in the temperature, that all the book-cases, wardrobes, chests of drawers, clothes presses, tables, or "what-nots," in different parts of the house, will indicate this change by a _creaking_, cracking noise. i have in my studio an oaken cabinet, which acts under the influence of the change of air, like a talking thermometer, and with which i sometimes hold a sort of a "_cabinet_ council" upon the subject of the change of weather. when seated in my room, with doors, and windows, and shutters shut, if it has been dry weather for any length of time, and my cabinet begins creaking, i know by this sound from the wood, that the warm moist air, which has been wafted with the warm gulf stream from the west indies, is diffusing itself around the room, and producing an effect upon me and my furniture, even to the fire-irons and fender, and so, on the contrary, after wet or moist weather, if the creaking is heard again, i know pretty well "which way the wind blows," and that it is a dry wind, without looking out at the weather vane. if it merely goes _creak, creak, crack_, and stops there, the change will not be great, but when it goes _cre-ak, cre-ak, creak, crack, crack, crack--rumble, rumble, rumble, creak, crack_! then do i know, and find, that the _change_ will be _considerable_, and can _spell_ out, change--rain--rain--rain, much rain. many persons who have given any thought to this question, are of opinion that electric currents passing from the human body is the cause of this "table-moving," and i introduce my "weather wise" cabinet to the public here to show, that if a _little damp air_, or a _little dry air_ will _move_, and _make_ a _large heavy cabinet_ talk in this way, how much more likely it is that a _table_ should be moved, and particularly if these "electric currents" fly "like lightning" through the passages or spiracles of this popular, but at present mysterious piece of furniture. no wonder then if the "life sphere" and "the atmosphere" of the "light-headed," "light-heeled," who "_permeate their wills_" into this otherwise inanimate object, should all of a sudden "set the table in a roar," and "rap out their rappartees," and that "the _head_ of the table" should bob up and down, so as to make the people stare, either standing around or stuck in a chair, and that the legs all so clumsy, should caper and dance and kick up in the air, to the tune of "well did _you_ ever!" and "well _i_ declare!" _!!!_ this cabinet of mine is filled with the spirited works of departed spirits, including some of my dear father's humorous works, also of the great hogarth, the great gilray, and other masters, ancient and modern; the mediums would, i suppose, say- that when this cabinet begins a "crack"[8] or creaking, it is these sprites of art, who thus to me are speaking. [8] scotch for talking. and as one of the panels was _split_ some years back, the mediums would perhaps suggest that these "_droll_ spirits" made the cabinet "_split_ its sides with laughter," but _i_ know it was the _hot air_ of a hot summer, and certainly not done by a drum or a drummer--that this "splitting" or "flying," only shows the _force_ of the _common air_, and i hope adds to the force of my argument in this respect, and further, of this i feel assured, that if i were to "clear the decks for action," bring this cabinet out into the middle of my studio, and could induce some of the lady and gentlemen "mediums" to come and form a "circle," and clap their hands on and around this piece of furniture, that, although monsieur cabinet has no "light fantastic toe," that he would nevertheless join in the merry dance, and cut some curious capers on his castors, and even "beat time" perhaps with his curious creaks and cracks. by the by, glass being a non-conductor, a table made of _glass_, would at once settle this question, as to whether the tables are moved by electric currents or not. i am now about to suggest what i feel assured every one will admit to be a grand idea, and which would be to make these spirits useful in a way that would be highly appreciated and patronized by the public, and put all the "fortune-tellers" and "rulers of the stars" out of the field altogether, and perhaps even damage the "electric wires" a little. it is to establish a company, to be entitled, "the human question and spirit answer company!" the principal "_capital_" to work upon, would be the overpowering principle of curiosity; in this case, instead of having a "_chair_-man," they would, i suppose, have a _table_-man; if so, then homo would be the _man_, and of this company it never could be said, that they had _not_ a _rap_ at their bankers. "limited," of course, but the _business_ would be un-_limited_, with profits, corresponding; branch question and answer offices, branching out all over the globe, with "letter-boxes" and "chatter-boxes". if the business of such offices were worked and carried out in a "_proper spirit_," it would assuredly be "a success." i am supposing, of course, that these spirits will be able to "tell us something we don't know," for up to the present time it does not appear that they have told anything to us that we could not have told them, and in a more common sense and grammatical style than most of the communications which they have "rapped out," but if there are any _real_, great, and good spirits amongst these gammocking table-turners, they must, one would suppose, know all about everything and everybody, and everybody would be asking questions, and if so, "oh, my!" what a lot of funny questions there would be! and what a lot of funny answers! (_all_ "_private_ and _confidential_," of _course_) as nobody would be sure not to tell nobody any secrets that nobody wanted anybody to know. under ordinary circumstances i am not at all what might be called a _curious_ person, but although i should (like other people) like to know how certain matters might turn out, and although i should never think of asking a "fortune-teller" or of consulting the gentry who profess to "rule the stars," yet if such a company as this were started, i feel that i should be compelled to start off to the first office i could get to, for the purpose of putting two or three questions, to which i want immediate answers if it were possible, and should not mind paying something extra for _favourable_ answers. i will here just give a specimen of some of these questions. some literary gentleman and others belonging to the "urban club," and also some members of the "dramatic authors'" society, have formed themselves in a committee (upon which they have done me the honour to place my name), for the purpose of setting on foot and assisting to raise a fund, if possible, to erect a monument in honour of william shakspeare, as the 23rd of april, 1864, will be the ter-centenary of that poet's birthday. another committee for the same purpose is also in formation, and the two committees will either amalgamate or work together. i have suggested to the first committee that in order to assist the funds for the above-mentioned purpose, that a notice be sent out to the public to this effect--that all persons having any works of art, either paintings, drawings, or sculpture, should be invited and respectfully requested to lend such works to a committee of artists, to form a gallery or national collection illustrating this author's works, to be called "the shakspeare exhibition," and in which designs for the said monument could also be exhibited. the question, therefore, i would put to the _spirits_ through the proper _medium_ would be this, viz.--if such invitations were sent out, would the holders of such works lend them for the purpose of thus being placed before the public? and further--if the government were applied to, would they "lend the loan" of a proper and fitting building to exhibit the various works in? and a little further, and "though last not least," would the nobility and gentry, and the public at large, patronize such an exhibition _largely_, and what the receipts would amount to? i should like to have all this answered, and that at an early day. but as it may be a _long day_, before such a company could get into working order, and as the members of the public press are a good-natured, shrewd class of spirits--if the idea is worth anything, they would most likely take it up, and i should be as much pleased to get an answer through that _medium_ as any other that i know of. there are several other questions which i should put to this "_spirit_ answer company" if it were started, and which i feel that i could not well put to any one else, as i do not think that _any body_ would give themselves the trouble to give me an answer; and it is not _every body_ who _could_ give me satisfactory answers, however much they might feel disposed to do so. i enumerate two or three. firstly--after a dreadful railway accident which occurred the other day, lord brougham in the house of lords suggested, i believe, that an act of parliament should be passed compelling the _public_ to travel at a rational speed; and as civil engineers declare that if the _public_ would be content to do so, that it would decrease the risk of life to about 999 per cent., i want to know if the _public_ are ever likely to adopt the moderate speed, or sort of safe and sure, mode of travelling by rail, instead of _flying_ along at such a risk of life and limb as they do now, occasionally coming to a _dreadful smash_, with an awful unnecessary sacrifice of life, picking up the bodies or the pieces thereof, crying out "all right, go a-head," and dashing off at the same irrational speed with the probability of the like accidents again? secondly--if it is at all likely that "lovely woman" will ever leave off wearing dresses which constantly expose her to the risk of being burnt to death? upon looking, however, at some of the other questions, they appear so frivolous and ridiculous, that i do not think i would put them even to these spirits. for instance, one was, that supposing i took a part in one of shakspeare's plays, for the purpose of assisting this proposed shakspearian fund, and for some other purposes, if, as i can draw a little, should i, under such circumstances, _draw_ a full house? there is a common saying amongst schoolboys, that "if all _ifs_ were _hads_, and all _hads_ were _shads_, we never should be in want of fish for supper." now the _if_, in this _spirit_ question, is an important _if_, for if _all be true_, that is asserted by the "mediums" of the marvels which they publish, then are those marvels some of the most marvellous and astounding wonders that have ever been known or heard of in the _authentic_ history of the world. and from the extent to which this belief has spread, and is still spreading, and also from the injurious effects it has already produced, and is likely still further to produce, on the mental and physical condition of a large number of the people, it now becomes rather, indeed, i may say, a, _very_ serious question. some of the effects produced by attending the _soirées_ of these "good, bad, and indifferent" spirits, will be seen from the reasons stated by a staunch supporter of these supernatural pastimes for giving up--in fact, being compelled to give up--_séances_, "because, in the first place (he states), it was _too exhausting_ to the vital fluids of the medium." (they took too long a pull, or swallowed too much of his "_atmosphere_.") and also "because the necessity of keeping the mind elevated to a higher state of contemplation, while we were repeating the alphabet and receiving messages letter by letter, was too great a strain upon our faculties; and because the undeveloped and earth-bound spirits throng about the mediums, and struggle to enter into parley with them, apparently with the purpose of getting possession of their natures, or exchanging natures; and i have heard of sittings terminating from this cause in cases of paralysis or demoniacal possession." in such a state, no doubt the poor creatures imagine that they see apparitions. i had an old friend who was affected with paralysis of the brain, but not from this cause, as he was a total and _decided disbeliever_ in apparitions; but from the diseased condition of his brain he had the _appearance_ of a person or ghost constantly by his side for a considerable time, at which he used to laugh, and which i wanted him to introduce to me; but to me it was always invisible. one day at dinner he stood up, and said to those present, "don't you see i'm going?" and fell down--dead! although there is much to laugh at with respect to these modern spirits, although some of the scenes at the _séances_ are perfectly ridiculous--and would have afforded capital subjects for the powerful pen of my dear deceased friend, "thomas ingoldsby"--the "raps" rapped out sometimes are positive nonsense and sometimes positive falsehood; and "evil communications," which all who have been to school know, "corrupt good manners," yet, on the other hand, there are serious symptoms sometimes attended with serious consequences. the mediums tell us that these spiritual manifestations are permitted by the "omnipotent;" that jesus christ sanctions some of these spiritual communications, and are indeed given us as if proceeding from himself; and yet we find that some persons who attend these "_séances_" have their nervous system so shaken as to distort their limbs, in fact, lose the use of their limbs altogether, or are "driven raving mad!" in "the light in the valley," a work which i consider ought to be entitled "_darkness_ in the valley," but which i must do the author the justice to say is written and edited in what is evidently intended as a profound, proper, and religions spirit, and with a good intent; but however sincere and honest those pious feelings may be, they are nevertheless _distorted_ religious opinions, containing symbolical ideas as dark as any symbolical emanations ever given forth in the darkest ages. in this work specimens are given of "_spirit writing_" and "_spirit drawing_." the "spirit writing" consists of unmeaning, unintelligible scribbling scrawls, and very rarely containing any letters or words. these productions are ascribed to a "spirit _hand_" seizing and guiding the medium's _hand_, but which is nothing more than involuntary action of the muscles under an excited and unnatural state of the nervous system; and the spirit drawings are executed under similar conditions. the drawings profess to be designed and conjointly executed in this way, by _holy_ spirits or _angels_, and are given as _sacred_ guidances to man. these are the medium's opinions and belief; but, unfortunately, too many of these sort of drawings may be seen in certain asylums. but if i know anything of religion, which i have been looking at carefully and critically for half a century; also if i know anything of designing and drawing, in which profession i have been working in my humble way for more than that time, i pronounce these spirit drawings (in the language of art) to be "out of drawing," and contrary to all healthy emanations of thought as design and composition; and instead of representing subjects or figures which would convey a proper and great idea of divine attributes, are, in fact, caricatures of such sacred subjects. i shall here give a few extracts from the communication of these false spirits, and spiritual explanations of these spirit scrawls and scratches; but some which i had intended to insert, upon reflection, i refrain from giving, believing that they would not only be offensive to sensible religious persons, but injurious to youthful minds. some of the illustrations given in this book are furnished by a "drawing medium," under the titles of "christ without hands," "the bearded christ," "christ among the sphere," "the woman crucified," etc., etc. in the first of these something like a figure is scribbled in, and surrounded with scratches, called spirit writing; the "bearded christ" is merely a bust, very badly drawn, and produced in the same unnatural way, and surrounded by the same sort of scribbling. the _shape_ of the beard and the _atmosphere_ of the beard are, it appears, most important matters; and the author, in speaking of this, says, in describing him, "in 'the bearded christ' the atmosphere of the beard, as well as the beard itself, is represented; and i am acquainted with a '_seeing_ medium,' who has seen the beard-atmosphere, not only when the beard is worn, but about the shaven chin, with sufficient precision to decide of what shape the beard would be were it allowed to grow"!!! !!! !!! !!! !!! the subject professing to represent "christ among the spheres" is a better and more finished drawing; but, according to all the laws and rules of proportion, the figure of christ, by the side of our globe, would be 30,000 miles in height, and a lily which he holds in his hand 15,000 miles long! all these gross absurdities show, that the _real_ spirit has nothing whatever to do with such absurd doctrines or productions. this "drawing medium" gives an account of the trials and sufferings, bodily and mental, which she went through before she became an accomplished and complete medium; and, according to her own statement, she must have gone through a most fearful and horrible schooling. in one part it is stated she went through "_several months of most painful bewilderment and extreme distress of mind_;" and in another part she says that the intensest antagonism between truth and falsehood, between light and darkness, encounters the astounded and unprepared pilgrim upon his first entrance into the realm of spirit. "i felt frequently as if enveloped in an atmosphere which sent through my whole frame warm streams of electricity in waving spirals from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet; and occasionally, generally at midnight, i was seized with twitchings and convulsive movements of my whole body, which were distressing beyond words. all these symptoms at length came to a crisis in a frightful trance." and this _drawing medium_ signs herself "comfort!" and further states that-"waking in the night, the _strange_ drawing process instantly commenced, and i felt and saw within me the figure of an angel, whose countenance resembled that of christ, descending from a morning sky towards me, and bearing upon his shoulders a large cross, whilst from his lips proceeded these words--'love, mercy, peace, but not till after death.' again my soul _trembled with anguish_, for that strange portentous word, '_death_,' was ever written within me or without. this peculiar stage of development soon produced a singular affection of my throat, an affection of the mucous membrane, which caused several times a day, and especially when rising in the morning, the _most distressing sensations_. after suffering thus for several days, the mysterious writing informed me that i must take a _certain quantity of port wine_ every day, and then the sensation would leave me." and she adds, "i followed the spiritual direction, and found almost immediate relief." the spirit doctor, in fact, after the dreadful suffering the scholar had gone through, prescribed a "drop of comfort," a drop of the spirit of alcohol, which spirit is very much like these rapping spirits, _deceitful_ and _dangerous_, and this, we may presume, is the reason why the medicine adopted the name of "comfort." well, some people will say that some little _comfort_ was needed after so much _dis_comfort and suffering--but _why_, all this suffering? cannot these spirit drawing-masters instruct their pupils in this poor, wretched, miserable style of drawing, without all this misery and punishment? if not, i should think that very few ladies or gentlemen would like to take lessons in drawing, or, indeed, in any other art, under such painful circumstances. a _spirit_ drawing-master's card would, i presume, be something like the following:-[illustration: tom pain, drawing master. medium spirit drawing taught, under extreme torture, in twenty-four lessons, at so much ill-health and suffering per lesson. _n.b.--private residence_, under _the table_. * * all the drawing and writing _materials_ to be provided by * the pupils. the lashing supplied by the spirit, and the medical advice gratis; but the pupils to find the "drop of _spirit_ comfort" themselves.] in taking one more extract from "comfort," i hope that i am not giving any discomfort to that "medium," who, from my _in_most heart i hope and trust, is now enjoying that rational and natural comfort which all well-wishers to their fellow-creatures wish strangers to feel, as well as their friends. the medium proceeds to say:--"ignorance of their real nature and of their alternate purposes in the progress of civilization and development of mind, has already caused _immense misery_ in many directions, and will cause more and more, even infinitely worse, until the time arrives that the medical world will follow the example of dr. garth wilkinson in his valuable pamphlet on the treatment of _lunacy_ through _spiritualism_, and calmly regard this growing development not as insanity, but as a _key whereby to unlock insanity_"!!! i have not the slightest notion of what this pamphlet contains, but from the above very _un_comfortable opinion expressed by "comfort" upon this matter, it seems to me that a sufficient "_key_" is here given to unlock, if not all, at all events, the greater part of the mysteries of this _spirit drawing_ and _spirit writing_, and, indeed, the whole of this spirit movement. i would here call the attention of the medical world to the way in which the spirits are acting towards that body. i presume that they are the spirits of deceased members of the profession; and if so they are acting in a most unbrotherly, underhanded manner, in fact, undermining the profession altogether by "rapping" out prescriptions from _under the table_, for which they do not take a "rap" as a fee. yes, "advice gratis" for nothing. i entreat medical men not to smile at my remarks, for they may be assured that there is a dark conspiracy--i cannot say "afoot," because spirits have no feet--but i may say in hand; and as matters stand at present, it looks as if "the d. _without_ the m., and dr. faustus" had entered into a partnership to destroy all medical doctors by introducing a system which they could not only not practise, but, as far as i am able to judge, could never understand, and which, though it is given in the "_light_ in the valley," "_read_" they may, and "_mark_" they may, "_learn_" they cannot, and "inwardly digest" they never will. in the concluding pages of the "light in the valley," a letter is introduced, which is evidently written by a highly-educated person, in support of "an occult law," and from all that is stated in this letter the writer might as well have said at once, i believe in witchcraft, or that craft which enables an ignorant old woman, who is called a "witch," to make contracts with the evil one, for the purpose of torturing, or making miserable for life, or destroying unto death, her neighbours, their children, or their cattle; and that an ignorant old man, under the name of a "wizard," may do the same; also, in astrology, or "ruling the stars," to predict coming events, or the future fate of individuals born at particular periods of the year, according to the position of the stars at that time; or in "fortune-telling," performed either by "crossing the hand" with a piece of money, got out of some simpleton's pocket for that purpose, but which never gets back there again; or by bits of paper, called "cards;" to which also may be added, as a matter of course, i believe in ghosts, hobgoblins, and in everything of a supernatural character. we can readily understand why the ignorant and uneducated believe in all these matters; the cause is traced and known; but it seems almost impossible to believe that educated persons, even with a small amount of reflection, can put their faith in such superstitious delusions; and if the question is put to such persons, as "show us any good" resulting in the existence of an "occult law," we may safely defy any one to show _one instance, where any good has ever resulted from such a belief_ in what they term the deep "arcana of nature's book," or rather unnatural nonsense. whereas, on the other hand, the amount of evil arising from this source has been fearfully great, and the murders many; dragging poor old creatures through ponds, and hanging them, and even torturing them to death in a way too disgusting to describe. our own records are, unfortunately, too massive of such ignorant and savage atrocities; but not only were such deeds enacted in this (at that time) so misnamed christian land, but also in other countries denominated christian; but which title their brutal acts gave them, like ourselves, no right to assume; not only in europe, but also in america. in that country, about the year 1642, many poor old women were persecuted to death. one woman was hung at salem for bewitching four children, and the eldest daughter afterwards confessed to the tricks that she and her sisters had played in pretending to be "bewitched." but in our own time we find that this belief in the power of foretelling events leads to much mischief and misery, and from certain facts we may be assured that there is a larger amount of evil from this cause than is made known to the public. the "occult law" leads to many breaches of the law of the land, and to serious crime; it opens the door to gross imposture, swindling, and robbery, misleading the minds of simple people, and turning their conduct and ways from their proper and natural course, and the strange _unaccountable_ conduct of some persons might be easily accounted for, when traced to this "fortune-telling" foolery. the happiness of one family was destroyed only the other day by a deaf and dumb "ruler of the stars," who is now in penal servitude, and who would have been executed had the offence been committed some years back. several such "rulers of the stars," or "fortune-tellers," have been hung for similar crimes, in my time, one i remember was a black man, hung at the old bailey. the _clothes test_ cannot be brought to bear upon the predicting of events, but there is a _test_, which may be brought with equal force upon this question, which is, that although these prophets profess to tell what is going to happen to others, they cannot foretell what is going to happen to themselves, for if they could, they would have, of course, avoided the punishments which the law has, and is constantly inflicting upon them for their offences. and mr. "zadkiel," for instance, would not have brought his action against admiral sir edward belcher, if he could have _foreseen_ the result; after which, no doubt, he cried out, "oh! my stars!--if i had known as much as i know now, i never would have gone into court!" a "bow street officer" (as a branch of the old police were styled) told me that he had a warrant to take up a female fortune-teller, who was plucking the geese to a large amount. her principal dupes were females, and he being a _gander_ had some difficulty in managing to get an introduction (for this tribe of swindlers use as much caution as they can). he however succeeded in getting the _wise_ woman to tell him his fortune, for which he professed himself much obliged, and told her that as he had a little faculty in that way himself, he would in return, tell her, her fortune, which was, that she was that morning going before the magistrate at bow street, who had some power in this way also, and he would likewise tell her her fortune. she smiled at first and would not believe in what he said, but he showed her the warrant, and all came true that he had told her; but nothing came _true_ of what she had told him. from the high and pure character of many persons well known to me, who are mixed up in these _séances_, it is _almost_ impossible not to believe their statements of these wonders, the truth of which wonders they so _positively_ assert. _if_ true, they are _indeed_ wonderful; but _if tricks_, then do they surpass all other tricks, ever performed by all the "sleight of hand" gentry put together, who ever bamboozled poor credulous, simple creatures, or astonished and puzzled a delighted audience. there can be but _two sides_ to a question, _true_ or _false_; and, as already hinted, it remains for the mediums to prove their case, and to place the matter in a better light than it stands at present, which is indeed a very dim and uncertain sort of "night light;" but as, up to this time, their assertions are at variance with what has hitherto been considered as sound sense and understanding, those outside the "circle" have not only a right, to be cautious of stepping into such a circle, but, until some more reasonable reasons are given--even putting aside the _cui bono_ for the present--unless some rational natural cause can be assigned, they have a right to suspect the whole, either as a _delusion_ or a _disease_. but even if this party _prove_, that these "thing-em bobs" are _real_ spirits, they appear to be so dreadful and dangerous, and there really is such a "_strong_ family likeness" between some of them, and a certain "_old gentleman_," that i would say "the less they have to do with them the better;" but even supposing they are not "so black as they are painted" (by their mediums), if even they are a sort of "half-and-half," nevertheless, i would say- "rest, rest, perturbed spirits rest;" for if not for you, for us 'twill be the best. there _may_ be, as already observed, more things _between_ heaven and earth than were dreamt of in the philosophy of horatio; but let the "inquiring spirit" _rest_ assured that amongst these "things" there could not be included the _ghost_ of iron armour; and though 'tis said "there's nothing like leather," yet none of these said "things" could have been the leather of "top-boots"--no, not even the leather of the "tops" nor the leather of the "soles" thereof. in concluding, i will just add to this addenda, that,- although i _have_ seen, (in the "mirage," in the sky) a ship "upside down," the great hull and big sails, no one, has ever yet seen, such things, as the _ghosts_, of hats or wigs, or of short, or long pig-tails. and this is the "long and the short" of my discovery concerning ghosts, with a rap at the rappers. the end. habbild, printer, london. to be published before christmas. puss in boots, to form no. 4 of george cruikshanks fairy library. the other numbers already published being hop o my thumb, jack and the bean-stalk, and cinderella. also, preparing for publication, the adventures of mr. lambkin; or, the bachelor's own book. now on sale, the shilling edition of the bottle. * * * * * the loving ballad of lord bateman. comic alphabet. illustrations of sir walter scott's demonology and witchcraft. the vital message by arthur conan doyle preface in "the new revelation" the first dawn of the coming change has been described. in "the vital message" the sun has risen higher, and one sees more clearly and broadly what our new relations with the unseen may be. as i look into the future of the human race i am reminded of how once, from amid the bleak chaos of rock and snow at the head of an alpine pass, i looked down upon the far stretching view of lombardy, shimmering in the sunshine and extending in one splendid panorama of blue lakes and green rolling hills until it melted into the golden haze which draped the far horizon. such a promised land is at our very feet which, when we attain it, will make our present civilisation seem barren and uncouth. already our vanguard is well over the pass. nothing can now prevent us from reaching that wonderful land which stretches so clearly before those eyes which are opened to see it. that stimulating writer, v. c. desertis, has remarked that the second coming, which has always been timed to follow armageddon, may be fulfilled not by a descent of the spiritual to us, but by the ascent of our material plane to the spiritual, and the blending of the two phases of existence. it is, at least, a fascinating speculation. but without so complete an overthrow of the partition walls as this would imply we know enough already to assure ourselves of such a close approximation as will surely deeply modify all our views of science, of religion and of life. what form these changes may take and what the evidence is upon which they will be founded are briefly set forth in this volume. arthur conan doyle. crowborough, july, 1919. contents chapter i the two needful readjustments ii the dawning of the light iii the great argument iv the coming world v is it the second dawn? appendices a. dr. geley's experiments b. a particular instance c. spirit photography d. the clairvoyance of mrs. b. the vital message chapter i the two needful readjustments it has been our fate, among all the innumerable generations of mankind, to face the most frightful calamity that has ever befallen the world. there is a basic fact which cannot be denied, and should not be overlooked. for a most important deduction must immediately follow from it. that deduction is that we, who have borne the pains, shall also learn the lesson which they were intended to convey. if we do not learn it and proclaim it, then when can it ever be learned and proclaimed, since there can never again be such a spiritual ploughing and harrowing and preparation for the seed? if our souls, wearied and tortured during these dreadful five years of self-sacrifice and suspense, can show no radical changes, then what souls will ever respond to a fresh influx of heavenly inspiration? in that case the state of the human race would indeed be hopeless, and never in all the coming centuries would there be any prospect of improvement. why was this tremendous experience forced upon mankind? surely it is a superficial thinker who imagines that the great designer of all things has set the whole planet in a ferment, and strained every nation to exhaustion, in order that this or that frontier be moved, or some fresh combination be formed in the kaleidoscope of nations. no, the causes of the convulsion, and its objects, are more profound than that. they are essentially religious, not political. they lie far deeper than the national squabbles of the day. a thousand years hence those national results may matter little, but the religious result will rule the world. that religious result is the reform of the decadent christianity of to-day, its simplification, its purification, and its reinforcement by the facts of spirit communion and the clear knowledge of what lies beyond the exit-door of death. the shock of the war was meant to rouse us to mental and moral earnestness, to give us the courage to tear away venerable shams, and to force the human race to realise and use the vast new revelation which has been so clearly stated and so abundantly proved, for all who will examine the statements and proofs with an open mind. consider the awful condition of the world before this thunder-bolt struck it. could anyone, tracing back down the centuries and examining the record of the wickedness of man, find anything which could compare with the story of the nations during the last twenty years! think of the condition of russia during that time, with her brutal aristocracy and her drunken democracy, her murders on either side, her siberian horrors, her jew baitings and her corruption. think of the figure of leopold of belgium, an incarnate devil who from motives of greed carried murder and torture through a large section of africa, and yet was received in every court, and was eventually buried after a panegyric from a cardinal of the roman church--a church which had never once raised her voice against his diabolical career. consider the similar crimes in the putumayo, where british capitalists, if not guilty of outrage, can at least not be acquitted of having condoned it by their lethargy and trust in local agents. think of turkey and the recurrent massacres of her subject races. think of the heartless grind of the factories everywhere, where work assumed a very different and more unnatural shape than the ancient labour of the fields. think of the sensuality of many rich, the brutality of many poor, the shallowness of many fashionable, the coldness and deadness of religion, the absence anywhere of any deep, true spiritual impulse. think, above all, of the organised materialism of germany, the arrogance, the heartlessness, the negation of everything which one could possibly associate with the living spirit of christ as evident in the utterances of catholic bishops, like hartmann of cologne, as in those of lutheran pastors. put all this together and say if the human race has ever presented a more unlovely aspect. when we try to find the brighter spots they are chiefly where civilisation, as apart from religion, has built up necessities for the community, such as hospitals, universities, and organised charities, as conspicuous in buddhist japan as in christian europe. we cannot deny that there has been much virtue, much gentleness, much spirituality in individuals. but the churches were empty husks, which contained no spiritual food for the human race, and had in the main ceased to influence its actions, save in the direction of soulless forms. this is not an over-coloured picture. can we not see, then, what was the inner reason for the war? can we not understand that it was needful to shake mankind loose from gossip and pink teas, and sword-worship, and saturday night drunks, and self-seeking politics and theological quibbles--to wake them up and make them realise that they stand upon a narrow knife-edge between two awful eternities, and that, here and now, they have to finish with make-beliefs, and with real earnestness and courage face those truths which have always been palpable where indolence, or cowardice, or vested interests have not obscured the vision. let us try to appreciate what those truths are and the direction which reform must take. it is the new spiritual developments which predominate in my own thoughts, but there are two other great readjustments which are necessary before they can take their full effect. on the spiritual side i can speak with the force of knowledge from the beyond. on the other two points of reform, i make no such claim. the first is that in the bible, which is the foundation of our present religious thought, we have bound together the living and the dead, and the dead has tainted the living. a mummy and an angel are in most unnatural partnership. there can be no clear thinking, and no logical teaching until the old dispensation has been placed on the shelf of the scholar, and removed from the desk of the teacher. it is indeed a wonderful book, in parts the oldest which has come down to us, a book filled with rare knowledge, with history, with poetry, with occultism, with folklore. but it has no connection with modern conceptions of religion. in the main it is actually antagonistic to them. two contradictory codes have been circulated under one cover, and the result is dire confusion. the one is a scheme depending upon a special tribal god, intensely anthropomorphic and filled with rage, jealousy and revenge. the conception pervades every book of the old testament. even in the psalms, which are perhaps the most spiritual and beautiful section, the psalmist, amid much that is noble, sings of the fearsome things which his god will do to his enemies. "they shall go down alive into hell." there is the keynote of this ancient document--a document which advocates massacre, condones polygamy, accepts slavery, and orders the burning of so-called witches. its mosaic provisions have long been laid aside. we do not consider ourselves accursed if we fail to mutilate our bodies, if we eat forbidden dishes, fail to trim our beards, or wear clothes of two materials. but we cannot lay aside the provisions and yet regard the document as divine. no learned quibbles can ever persuade an honest earnest mind that that is right. one may say: "everyone knows that that is the old dispensation, and is not to be acted upon." it is not true. it is continually acted upon, and always will be so long as it is made part of one sacred book. william the second acted upon it. his german god which wrought such mischief in the world was the reflection of the dreadful being who ordered that captives be put under the harrow. the cities of belgium were the reflection of the cities of moab. every hard-hearted brute in history, more especially in the religious wars, has found his inspiration in the old testament. "smite and spare not!" "an eye for an eye!", how readily the texts spring to the grim lips of the murderous fanatic. francis on st. bartholomew's night, alva in the lowlands, tilly at magdeburg, cromwell at drogheda, the covenainters at philliphaugh, the anabaptists of munster, and the early mormons of utah, all found their murderous impulses fortified from this unholy source. its red trail runs through history. even where the new testament prevails, its teaching must still be dulled and clouded by its sterner neighbour. let us retain this honoured work of literature. let us remove the taint which poisons the very spring of our religious thought. this is, in my opinion, the first clearing which should be made for the more beautiful building to come. the second is less important, as it is a shifting of the point of view, rather than an actual change. it is to be remembered that christ's life in this world occupied, so far as we can estimate, 33 years, whilst from his arrest to his resurrection was less than a week. yet the whole christian system has come to revolve round his death, to the partial exclusion of the beautiful lesson of his life. far too much weight has been placed upon the one, and far too little upon the other, for the death, beautiful, and indeed perfect, as it was, could be matched by that of many scores of thousands who have died for an idea, while the life, with its consistent record of charity, breadth of mind, unselfishness, courage, reason, and progressiveness, is absolutely unique and superhuman. even in these abbreviated, translated, and second-hand records we receive an impression such as no other life can give--an impression which fills us with utter reverence. napoleon, no mean judge of human nature, said of it: "it is different with christ. everything about him astonishes me. his spirit surprises me, and his will confounds me. between him and anything of this world there is no possible comparison. he is really a being apart. the nearer i approach him and the closer i examine him, the more everything seems above me." it is this wonderful life, its example and inspiration, which was the real object of the descent of this high spirit on to our planet. if the human race had earnestly centred upon that instead of losing itself in vain dreams of vicarious sacrifices and imaginary falls, with all the mystical and contentious philosophy which has centred round the subject, how very different the level of human culture and happiness would be to-day! such theories, with their absolute want of reason or morality, have been the main cause why the best minds have been so often alienated from the christian system and proclaimed themselves materialists. in contemplating what shocked their instincts for truth they have lost that which was both true and beautiful. christ's death was worthy of his life, and rounded off a perfect career, but it is the life which he has left as the foundation for the permanent religion of mankind. all the religious wars, the private feuds, and the countless miseries of sectarian contention, would have been at least minimised, if not avoided, had the bare example of christ's life been adopted as the standard of conduct and of religion. but there are certain other considerations which should have weight when we contemplate this life and its efficacy as an example. one of these is that the very essence of it was that he critically examined religion as he found it, and brought his robust common sense and courage to bear in exposing the shams and in pointing out the better path. that is the hall-mark of the true follower of christ, and not the mute acceptance of doctrines which are, upon the face of them, false and pernicious, because they come to us with some show of authority. what authority have we now, save this very life, which could compare with those jewish books which were so binding in their force, and so immutably sacred that even the misspellings or pen-slips of the scribe, were most carefully preserved? it is a simple obvious fact that if christ had been orthodox, and had possessed what is so often praised as a "child-like faith," there could have been no such thing as christianity. let reformers who love him take heart as they consider that they are indeed following in the footsteps of the master, who has at no time said that the revelation which he brought, and which has been so imperfectly used, is the last which will come to mankind. in our own times an equally great one has been released from the centre of all truth, which will make as deep an impression upon the human race as christianity, though no predominant figure has yet appeared to enforce its lessons. such a figure has appeared once when the days were ripe, and i do not doubt that this may occur once more. one other consideration must be urged. christ has not given his message in the first person. if he had done so our position would be stronger. it has been repeated by the hearsay and report of earnest but ill-educated men. it speaks much for education in the roman province of judea that these fishermen, publicans and others could even read or write. luke and paul were, of course, of a higher class, but their information came from their lowly predecessors. their account is splendidly satisfying in the unity of the general impression which it produces, and the clear drawing of the master's teaching and character. at the same time it is full of inconsistencies and contradictions upon immaterial matters. for example, the four accounts of the resurrection differ in detail, and there is no orthodox learned lawyer who dutifully accepts all four versions who could not shatter the evidence if he dealt with it in the course of his profession. these details are immaterial to the spirit of the message. it is not common sense to suppose that every item is inspired, or that we have to make no allowance for imperfect reporting, individual convictions, oriental phraseology, or faults of translation. these have, indeed, been admitted by revised versions. in his utterance about the letter and the spirit we could almost believe that christ had foreseen the plague of texts from which we have suffered, even as he himself suffered at the hands of the theologians of his day, who then, as now, have been a curse to the world. we were meant to use our reasons and brains in adapting his teaching to the conditions of our altered lives and times. much depended upon the society and mode of expression which belonged to his era. to suppose in these days that one has literally to give all to the poor, or that a starved english prisoner should literally love his enemy the kaiser, or that because christ protested against the lax marriages of his day therefore two spouses who loathe each other should be for ever chained in a life servitude and martyrdom--all these assertions are to travesty his teaching and to take from it that robust quality of common sense which was its main characteristic. to ask what is impossible from human nature is to weaken your appeal when you ask for what is reasonable. it has already been stated that of the three headings under which reforms are grouped, the exclusion of the old dispensation, the greater attention to christ's life as compared to his death, and the new spiritual influx which is giving us psychic religion, it is only on the latter that one can quote the authority of the beyond. here, however, the case is really understated. in regard to the old testament i have never seen the matter treated in a spiritual communication. the nature of christ, however, and his teaching, have been expounded a score of times with some variation of detail, but in the main as reproduced here. spirits have their individuality of view, and some carry over strong earthly prepossessions which they do not easily shed; but reading many authentic spirit communications one finds that the idea of redemption is hardly ever spoken of, while that of example and influence is for ever insisted upon. in them christ is the highest spirit known, the son of god, as we all are, but nearer to god, and therefore in a more particular sense his son. he does not, save in most rare and special cases, meet us when we die. since souls pass over, night and day, at the rate of about 100 a minute, this would seem self-evident. after a time we may be admitted to his presence, to find a most tender, sympathetic and helpful comrade and guide, whose spirit influences all things even when his bodily presence is not visible. this is the general teaching of the other world communications concerning christ, the gentle, loving and powerful spirit which broods ever over that world which, in all its many spheres, is his special care. before passing to the new revelation, its certain proofs and its definite teaching, let us hark back for a moment upon the two points which have already been treated. they are not absolutely vital points. the fresh developments can go on and conquer the world without them. there can be no sudden change in the ancient routine of our religious habits, nor is it possible to conceive that a congress of theologians could take so heroic a step as to tear the bible in twain, laying one half upon the shelf and one upon the table. neither is it to be expected that any formal pronouncements could ever be made that the churches have all laid the wrong emphasis upon the story of christ. moral courage will not rise to such a height. but with the spiritual quickening and the greater earnestness which will have their roots in this bloody passion of mankind, many will perceive what is reasonable and true, so that even if the old testament should remain, like some obsolete appendix in the animal frame, to mark a lower stage through which development has passed, it will more and more be recognised as a document which has lost all validity and which should no longer be allowed to influence human conduct, save by way of pointing out much which we may avoid. so also with the teaching of christ, the mystical portions may fade gently away, as the grosser views of eternal punishment have faded within our own lifetime, so that while mankind is hardly aware of the change the heresy of today will become the commonplace of tomorrow. these things will adjust themselves in god's own time. what is, however, both new and vital are those fresh developments which will now be discussed. in them may be found the signs of how the dry bones may be stirred, and how the mummy may be quickened with the breath of life. with the actual certainty of a definite life after death, and a sure sense of responsibility for our own spiritual development, a responsibility which cannot be put upon any other shoulders, however exalted, but must be borne by each individual for himself, there will come the greatest reinforcement of morality which the human race has ever known. we are on the verge of it now, but our descendants will look upon the past century as the culmination of the dark ages when man lost his trust in god, and was so engrossed in his temporary earth life that he lost all sense of spiritual reality. chapter ii the dawning of the light some sixty years ago that acute thinker lord brougham remarked that in the clear sky of scepticism he saw only one small cloud drifting up and that was modern spiritualism. it was a curiously inverted simile, for one would surely have expected him to say that in the drifting clouds of scepticism he saw one patch of clear sky, but at least it showed how conscious he was of the coming importance of the movement. ruskin, too, an equally agile mind, said that his assurance of immortality depended upon the observed facts of spiritualism. scores, and indeed hundreds, of famous names could be quoted who have subscribed the same statement, and whose support would dignify any cause upon earth. they are the higher peaks who have been the first to catch the light, but the dawn will spread until none are too lowly to share it. let us turn, therefore, and inspect this movement which is most certainly destined to revolutionise human thought and action as none other has done within the christian era. we shall look at it both in its strength and in its weakness, for where one is dealing with what one knows to be true one can fearlessly insist upon the whole of the truth. the movement which is destined to bring vitality to the dead and cold religions has been called "modern spiritualism." the "modern" is good, since the thing itself, in one form or another, is as old as history, and has always, however obscured by forms, been the red central glow in the depths of all religious ideas, permeating the bible from end to end. but the word "spiritualism" has been so befouled by wicked charlatans, and so cheapened by many a sad incident, that one could almost wish that some such term as "psychic religion" would clear the subject of old prejudices, just as mesmerism, after many years of obloquy, was rapidly accepted when its name was changed to hypnotism. on the other hand, one remembers the sturdy pioneers who have fought under this banner, and who were prepared to risk their careers, their professional success, and even their reputation for sanity, by publicly asserting what they knew to be the truth. their brave, unselfish devotion must do something to cleanse the name for which they fought and suffered. it was they who nursed the system which promises to be, not a new religion--it is far too big for that--but part of the common heritage of knowledge shared by the whole human race. perfected spiritualism, however, will probably bear about the same relation to the spiritualism of 1850 as a modern locomotive to the bubbling little kettle which heralded the era of steam. it will end by being rather the proof and basis of all religions than a religion in itself. we have already too many religions--but too few proofs. those first manifestations at hydesville varied in no way from many of which we have record in the past, but the result arising from them differed very much, because, for the first time, it occurred to a human being not merely to listen to inexplicable sounds, and to fear them or marvel at them, but to establish communication with them. john wesley's father might have done the same more than a century before had the thought occurred to him when he was a witness of the manifestations at epworth in 1726. it was only when the young fox girl struck her hands together and cried "do as i do" that there was instant compliance, and consequent proof of the presence of an intelligent invisible force, thus differing from all other forces of which we know. the circumstances were humble, and even rather sordid, upon both sides of the veil, human and spirit, yet it was, as time will more and more clearly show, one of the turning points of the world's history, greater far than the fall of thrones or the rout of armies. some artist of the future will draw the scene--the sitting-room of the wooden, shack-like house, the circle of half-awed and half-critical neighbours, the child clapping her hands with upturned laughing face, the dark corner shadows where these strange new forces seem to lurk--forces often apparent, and now come to stay and to effect the complete revolution of human thought. we may well ask why should such great results arise from such petty sources? so argued the highbrowed philosophers of greece and rome when the outspoken paul, with the fisherman peter and his half-educated disciples, traversed all their learned theories, and with the help of women, slaves, and schismatic jews, subverted their ancient creeds. one can but answer that providence has its own way of attaining its results, and that it seldom conforms to our opinion of what is most appropriate. we have a larger experience of such phenomena now, and we can define with some accuracy what it was that happened at hydesville in the year 1848. we know that these matters are governed by law and by conditions as much as any other phenomena of the universe, though at the moment it seemed to the public to be an isolated and irregular outburst. on the one hand, you had a material, earth-bound spirit of a low order of development which needed a physical medium in order to be able to indicate its presence. on the other, you had that rare thing, a good physical medium. the result followed as surely as the flash follows when the electric battery and wire are both properly adjusted. corresponding experiments, where effect, and cause duly follow, are being worked out at the present moment by professor crawford, of belfast, as detailed in his two recent books, where he shows that there is an actual loss of weight of the medium in exact proportion to the physical phenomenon produced.[1] the whole secret of mediumship on this material side appears to lie in the power, quite independent of oneself, of passively giving up some portion of one's bodily substance for the use of outside influences. why should some have this power and some not? we do not know--nor do we know why one should have the ear for music and another not. each is born in us, and each has little connection with our moral natures. at first it was only physical mediumship which was known, and public attention centred upon moving tables, automatic musical instruments, and other crude but obvious examples of outside influence, which were unhappily very easily imitated by rogues. since then we have learned that there are many forms of mediumship, so different from each other that an expert at one may have no powers at all at the other. the automatic writer, the clairvoyant, the crystal-seer, the trance speaker, the photographic medium, the direct voice medium, and others, are all, when genuine, the manifestations of one force, which runs through varied channels as it did in the gifts ascribed to the disciples. the unhappy outburst of roguery was helped, no doubt, by the need for darkness claimed by the early experimenters--a claim which is by no means essential, since the greatest of all mediums, d. d. home, was able by the exceptional strength of his powers to dispense with it. at the same time the fact that darkness rather than light, and dryness rather than moisture, are helpful to good results has been abundantly manifested, and points to the physical laws which underlie the phenomena. the observation made long afterwards that wireless telegraphy, another etheric force, acts twice as well by night as by day, may, corroborate the general conclusions of the early spiritualists, while their assertion that the least harmful light is red light has a suggestive analogy in the experience of the photographer. there is no space here for the history of the rise and development of the movement. it provoked warm adhesion and fierce opposition from the start. professor hare and horace greeley were among the educated minority who tested and endorsed its truth. it was disfigured by many grievous incidents, which may explain but does not excuse the perverse opposition which it encountered in so many quarters. this opposition was really largely based upon the absolute materialism of the age, which would not admit that there could exist at the present moment such conditions as might be accepted in the far past. when actually brought in contact with that life beyond the grave which they professed to believe in, these people winced, recoiled, and declared it impossible. the science of the day was also rooted in materialism, and discarded all its own very excellent axioms when it was faced by an entirely new and unexpected proposition. faraday declared that in approaching a new subject one should make up one's mind a priori as to what is possible and what is not! huxley said that the messages, even if true, "interested him no more than the gossip of curates in a cathedral city." darwin said: "god help us if we are to believe such things." herbert spencer declared against it, but had no time to go into it. at the same time all science did not come so badly out of the ordeal. as already mentioned, professor hare, of philadelphia, inventor, among other things, of the oxy-hydrogen blow-pipe, was the first man of note who had the moral courage, after considerable personal investigation, to declare that these new and strange developments were true. he was followed by many medical men, both in america and in britain, including dr. elliotson, one of the leaders of free thought in this country. professor crookes, the most rising chemist in europe, dr. russel wallace the great naturalist, varley the electrician, flammarion the french astronomer, and many others, risked their scientific reputations in their brave assertions of the truth. these men were not credulous fools. they saw and deplored the existence of frauds. crookes' letters upon the subject are still extant. in very many cases it was the spiritualists themselves who exposed the frauds. they laughed, as the public laughed, at the sham shakespeares and vulgar caesars who figured in certain seance rooms. they deprecated also the low moral tone which would turn such powers to prophecies about the issue of a race or the success of a speculation. but they had that broader vision and sense of proportion which assured them that behind all these follies and frauds there lay a mass of solid evidence which could not be shaken, though like all evidence, it had to be examined before it could be appreciated. they were not such simpletons as to be driven away from a great truth because there are some dishonest camp followers who hang upon its skirts. a great centre of proof and of inspiration lay during those early days in mr. d. d. home, a scottish-american, who possessed powers which make him one of the most remarkable personalities of whom we have any record. home's life, written by his second wife, is a book which deserves very careful reading. this man, who in some aspects was more than a man, was before the public for nearly thirty years. during that time he never received payment for his services, and was always ready, to put himself at the disposal of any bona-fide and reasonable enquirer. his phenomena were produced in full light, and it was immaterial to him whether the sittings were in his own rooms or in those of his friends. so high were his principles that upon one occasion, though he was a man of moderate means and less than moderate health, he refused the princely fee of two thousand pounds offered for a single sitting by the union circle in paris. as to his powers, they seem to have included every form of mediumship in the highest degree--self-levitation, as witnessed by hundreds of credible witnesses; the handling of fire, with the power of conferring like immunity upon others; the movement without human touch of heavy objects; the visible materialisation of spirits; miracles of healing; and messages from the dead, such as that which converted the hard-headed scot, robert chambers, when home repeated to him the actual dying words of his young daughter. all this came from a man of so sweet a nature and of so charitable a disposition, that the union of all qualities would seem almost to justify those who, to home's great embarrassment, were prepared to place him upon a pedestal above humanity. the genuineness of his psychic powers has never been seriously questioned, and was as well recognised in rome and paris as in london. one incident only darkened his career, and it, was one in which he was blameless, as anyone who carefully weighs the evidence must admit. i allude to the action taken against him by mrs. lyon, who, after adopting him as her son and settling a large sum of money upon him, endeavoured to regain, and did regain, this money by her unsupported assertion that he had persuaded her illicitly to make him the allowance. the facts of his life are, in my judgment, ample proof of the truth of the spiritualist position, if no other proof at all had been available. it is to be remarked in the career of this entirely honest and unvenal medium that he had periods in his life when his powers deserted him completely, that he could foresee these lapses, and that, being honest and unvenal, he simply abstained from all attempts until the power returned. it is this intermittent character of the gift which is, in my opinion, responsible for cases when a medium who has passed the most rigid tests upon certain occasions is afterwards detected in simulating, very clumsily, the results which he had once successfully accomplished. the real power having failed, he has not the moral courage to admit it, nor the self-denial to forego his fee which he endeavours to earn by a travesty of what was once genuine. such an explanation would cover some facts which otherwise are hard to reconcile. we must also admit that some mediums are extremely irresponsible and feather-headed people. a friend of mine, who sat with eusapia palladino, assured me that he saw her cheat in the most childish and bare-faced fashion, and yet immediately afterwards incidents occurred which were absolutely beyond any, normal powers to produce. apart from home, another episode which marks a stage in the advance of this movement was the investigation and report by the dialectical society in the year 1869. this body was composed of men of various learned professions who gathered together to investigate the alleged facts, and ended by reporting that they really were facts. they were unbiased, and their conclusions were founded upon results which were very soberly set forth in their report, a most convincing document which, even now in 1919, after the lapse of fifty years, is far more intelligent than the greater part of current opinion upon this subject. none the less, it was greeted by a chorus of ridicule by the ignorant press of that day, who, if the same men had come to the opposite conclusion in spite of the evidence, would have been ready to hail their verdict as the undoubted end of a pernicious movement. in the early days, about 1863, a book was written by mrs. de morgan, the wife of the well-known mathematician professor de morgan, entitled "from matter to spirit." there is a sympathetic preface by the husband. the book is still well worth reading, for it is a question whether anyone has shown greater brain power in treating the subject. in it the prophecy is made that as the movement develops the more material phenomena will decrease and their place be taken by the more spiritual, such as automatic writing. this forecast has been fulfilled, for though physical mediums still exist the other more subtle forms greatly predominate, and call for far more discriminating criticism in judging their value and their truth. two very convincing forms of mediumship, the direct voice and spirit photography, have also become prominent. each of these presents such proof that it is impossible for the sceptic to face them, and he can only avoid them by ignoring them. in the case of the direct voice one of the leading exponents is mrs. french, an amateur medium in america, whose work is described both by mr. funk and mr. randall. she is a frail elderly lady, yet in her presence the most masculine and robust voices make communications, even when her own mouth is covered. i have myself investigated the direct voice in the case of four different mediums, two of them amateurs, and can have no doubt of the reality of the voices, and that they are not the effect of ventriloquism. i was more struck by the failures than by the successes, and cannot easily forget the passionate pantings with which some entity strove hard to reveal his identity to me, but without success. one of these mediums was tested afterwards by having the mouth filled with coloured water, but the voice continued as before. as to spirit photography, the most successful results are obtained by the crewe circle in england, under the mediumship of mr. hope and mrs. buxton.[2] i have seen scores of these photographs, which in several cases reproduce exact images of the dead which do not correspond with any pictures of them taken during life. i have seen father, mother, and dead soldier son, all taken together with the dead son looking far the happier and not the least substantial of the three. it is in these varied forms of proof that the impregnable strength of the evidence lies, for how absurd do explanations of telepathy, unconscious cerebration or cosmic memory become when faced by such phenomena as spirit photography, materialisation, or the direct voice. only one hypothesis can cover every branch of these manifestations, and that is the system of extraneous life and action which has always, for seventy years, held the field for any reasonable mind which had impartially considered the facts. i have spoken of the need for careful and cool-headed analysis in judging the evidence where automatic writing is concerned. one is bound to exclude spirit explanations until all natural ones have been exhausted, though i do not include among natural ones the extreme claims of far-fetched telepathy such as that another person can read in your thoughts things of which you were never yourself aware. such explanations are not explanations, but mystifications and absurdities, though they seem to have a special attraction for a certain sort of psychical researcher, who is obviously destined to go on researching to the end of time, without ever reaching any conclusion save that of the patience of those who try to follow his reasoning. to give a good example of valid automatic script, chosen out of many which i could quote, i would draw the reader's attention to the facts as to the excavations at glastonbury, as detailed in "the gate of remembrance" by mr. bligh bond. mr. bligh bond, by the way, is not a spiritualist, but the same cannot be said of the writer of the automatic script, an amateur medium, who was able to indicate the secrets of the buried abbey, which were proved to be correct when the ruins were uncovered. i can truly say that, though i have read much of the old monastic life, it has never been brought home to me so closely as by the messages and descriptions of dear old brother johannes, the earth-bound spirit--earthbound by his great love for the old abbey in which he had spent his human life. this book, with its practical sequel, may be quoted as an excellent example of automatic writing at its highest, for what telepathic explanation can cover the detailed description of objects which lie unseen by any human eye? it must be admitted, however, that in automatic writing you are at one end of the telephone, if one may use such a simile, and you have, no assurance as to who is at the other end. you may have wildly false messages suddenly interpolated among truthful ones--messages so detailed in their mendacity that it is impossible to think that they are not deliberately false. when once we have accepted the central fact that spirits change little in essentials when leaving the body, and that in consequence the world is infested by many low and mischievous types, one can understand that these untoward incidents are rather a confirmation of spiritualism than an argument against it. personally i have received and have been deceived by several such messages. at the same time i can say that after an experience of thirty years of such communications i have never known a blasphemous, an obscene or an unkind sentence come through. i admit, however, that i have heard of such cases. like attracts like, and one should know one's human company before one joins in such intimate and reverent rites. in clairvoyance the same sudden inexplicable deceptions appear. i have closely followed the work of one female medium, a professional, whose results are so extraordinarily good that in a favourable case she will give the full names of the deceased as well as the most definite and convincing test messages. yet among this splendid series of results i have notes of several in which she was a complete failure and absolutely wrong upon essentials. how can this be explained? we can only answer that conditions were obviously not propitious, but why or how are among the many problems of the future. it is a profound and most complicated subject, however easily it may be settled by the "ridiculous nonsense" school of critics. i look at the row of books upon the left of my desk as i write--ninety-six solid volumes, many of them annotated and well thumbed, and yet i know that i am like a child wading ankle deep in the margin of an illimitable ocean. but this, at least, i have very clearly realised, that the ocean is there and that the margin is part of it, and that down that shelving shore the human race is destined to move slowly to deeper waters. in the next chapter, i will endeavour to show what is the purpose of the creator in this strange revelation of new intelligent forces impinging upon our planet. it is this view of the question which must justify the claim that this movement, so long the subject of sneers and ridicule, is absolutely the most important development in the whole history of the human race, so important that, if we could conceive one single man discovering and publishing it, he would rank before christopher columbus as a discoverer of new worlds, before paul as a teacher of new religious truths, and before isaac newton as a student of the laws of the universe. before opening up this subject there is one consideration which should have due weight, and yet seems continually to be overlooked. the differences between various sects are a very small thing as compared to the great eternal duel between materialism and the spiritual view of the universe. that is the real fight. it is a fight in which the churches championed the anti-material view, but they have done it so unintelligently, and have been continually placed in such false positions, that they have always been losing. since the days of hume and voltaire and gibbon the fight has slowly but steadily rolled in favour of the attack. then came darwin, showing with apparent truth, that man has never fallen but always risen. this cut deep into the philosophy of orthodoxy, and it is folly to deny it. then again came the so-called "higher criticism," showing alleged flaws and cracks in the very foundations. all this time the churches were yielding ground, and every retreat gave a fresh jumping-off place for a new assault. it has gone so far that at the present moment a very large section of the people of this country, rich and poor, are out of all sympathy not only with the churches but with the whole spiritual view. now, we intervene with our positive knowledge and actual proof--an ally so powerful that we are capable of turning the whole tide of battle and rolling it back for ever against materialism. we can say: "we will meet you on your own ground and show you by material and scientific tests that the soul and personality survive." that is the aim of psychic science, and it has been fully attained. it means an end to materialism for ever. and yet this movement, this spiritual movement, is hooted at and reviled by rome, by canterbury and even by little bethel, each of them for once acting in concert, and including in their battle line such strange allies as the scientific agnostics and the militant free-thinkers. father vaughan and the bishop of london, the rev. f. b. meyer and mr. clodd, "the church times" and "the freethinker," are united in battle, though they fight with very different battle cries, the one declaring that the thing is of the devil, while the other is equally clear that it does not exist at all. the opposition of the materialists is absolutely intelligent since it is clear that any man who has spent his life in saying "no" to all extramundane forces is, indeed, in a pitiable position when, after many years, he has to recognise that his whole philosophy is built upon sand and that "yes" was the answer from the beginning. but as to the religious bodies, what words can express their stupidity and want of all proportion in not running halfway and more to meet the greatest ally who has ever intervened to change their defeat into victory? what gifts this all-powerful ally brings with him, and what are the terms of his alliance, will now be considered. chapter iii the great argument the physical basis of all psychic belief is that the soul is a complete duplicate of the body, resembling it in the smallest particular, although constructed in some far more tenuous material. in ordinary conditions these two bodies are intermingled so that the identity of the finer one is entirely obscured. at death, however, and under certain conditions in the course of life, the two divide and can be seen separately. death differs from the conditions of separation before death in that there is a complete break between the two bodies, and life is carried on entirely by the lighter of the two, while the heavier, like a cocoon from which the living occupant has escaped, degenerates and disappears, the world burying the cocoon with much solemnity by taking little pains to ascertain what has become of its nobler contents. it is a vain thing to urge that science has not admitted this contention, and that the statement is pure dogmatism. the science which has not examined the facts has, it is true, not admitted the contention, but its opinion is manifestly worthless, or at the best of less weight than that of the humblest student of psychic phenomena. the real science which has examined the facts is the only valid authority, and it is practically unanimous. i have made personal appeals to at least one great leader of science to examine the facts, however superficially, without any success, while sir william crookes appealed to sir george stokes, the secretary of the royal society, one of the most bitter opponents of the movement, to come down to his laboratory and see the psychic force at work, but he took no notice. what weight has science of that sort? it can only be compared to that theological prejudice which caused the ecclesiastics in the days of galileo to refuse to look through the telescope which he held out to them. it is possible to write down the names of fifty professors in great seats of learning who have examined and endorsed these facts, and the list would include many of the greatest intellects which the world has produced in our time--flammarion and lombroso, charles richet and russel wallace, willie reichel, myers, zollner, james, lodge, and crookes. therefore the facts have been endorsed by the only science that has the right to express an opinion. i have never, in my thirty years of experience, known one single scientific man who went thoroughly into this matter and did not end by accepting the spiritual solution. such may exist, but i repeat that i have never heard of him. let us, then, with confidence examine this matter of the "spiritual body," to use the term made classical by saint paul. there are many signs in his writings that paul was deeply versed in psychic matters, and one of these is his exact definition of the natural and spiritual bodies in the service which is the final farewell to life of every christian. paul picked his words, and if he had meant that man consisted of a natural body and a spirit he would have said so. when he said "a spiritual body" he meant a body which contained the spirit and yet was distinct from the ordinary natural body. that is exactly what psychic science has now shown to be true. when a man has taken hashish or certain other drugs, he not infrequently has the experience that he is standing or floating beside his own body, which he can see stretched senseless upon the couch. so also under anaesthetics, particularly under laughing gas, many people are conscious of a detachment from their bodies, and of experiences at a distance. i have myself seen very clearly my wife and children inside a cab while i was senseless in the dentist's chair. again, when a man is fainting or dying, and his system in an unstable condition, it is asserted in very many definite instances that he can, and does, manifest himself to others at a distance. these phantasms of the living, which have been so carefully explored and docketed by messrs. myers and gurney, ran into hundreds of cases. some people claim that by an effort of will they can, after going to sleep, propel their own doubles in the direction which they desire, and visit those whom they wish to see. thus there is a great volume of evidence--how great no man can say who has not spent diligent years in exploring it--which vouches for the existence of this finer body containing the precious jewels of the mind and spirit, and leaving only gross confused animal functions in its heavier companion. mr. funk, who is a critical student of psychic phenomena, and also the joint compiler of the standard american dictionary, narrates a story in point which could be matched from other sources. he tells of an american doctor of his acquaintance, and he vouches personally for the truth of the incident. this doctor, in the course of a cataleptic seizure in florida, was aware that he had left his body, which he saw lying beside him. he had none the less preserved his figure and his identity. the thought of some friend at a distance came into his mind, and after an appreciable interval he found himself in that friend's room, half way across the continent. he saw his friend, and was conscious that his friend saw him. he afterwards returned to his own room, stood beside his own senseless body, argued within himself whether he should re-occupy it or not, and finally, duty overcoming inclination, he merged his two frames together and continued his life. a letter from him to his friend explaining matters crossed a letter from the friend, in which he told how he also had been aware of his presence. the incident is narrated in detail in mr. funk's "psychic riddle." i do not understand how any man can examine the many instances coming from various angles of approach without recognising that there really is a second body of this sort, which incidentally goes far to account for all stories, sacred or profane, of ghosts, apparitions and visions. now, what is this second body, and how does it fit into modern religious revelation? what it is, is a difficult question, and yet when science and imagination unite, as tyndall said they should unite, to throw a searchlight into the unknown, they may produce a beam sufficient to outline vaguely what will become clearer with the future advance of our race. science has demonstrated that while ether pervades everything the ether which is actually in a body is different from the ether outside it. "bound" ether is the name given to this, which fresnel and others have shown to be denser. now, if this fact be applied to the human body, the result would be that, if all that is visible of that body were removed, there would still remain a complete and absolute mould of the body, formed in bound ether which would be different from the ether around it. this argument is more solid than mere speculation, and it shows that even the soul may come to be defined in terms of matter and is not altogether "such stuff as dreams are made of." it has been shown that there is some good evidence for the existence of this second body apart from psychic religion, but to those who have examined that religion it is the centre of the whole system, sufficiently real to be recognised by clairvoyants, to be heard by clairaudients, and even to make an exact impression upon a photographic plate. of the latter phenomenon, of which i have had some very particular opportunities of judging, i have no more doubt than i have of the ordinary photography of commerce. it had already been shown by the astronomers that the sensitized plate is a more delicate recording instrument than the human retina, and that it can show stars upon a long exposure which the eye has never seen. it would appear that the spirit world is really so near to us that a very little extra help under correct conditions of mediumship will make all the difference. thus the plate, instead of the eye, may bring the loved face within the range of vision, while the trumpet, acting as a megaphone, may bring back the familiar voice where the spirit whisper with no mechanical aid was still inaudible. so loud may the latter phenomenon be that in one case, of which i have the record, the dead man's dog was so excited at hearing once more his master's voice that he broke his chain, and deeply scarred the outside of the seance room door in his efforts to force an entrance. now, having said so much of the spirit body, and having indicated that its presence is not vouched for by only one line of evidence or school of thought, let us turn to what happens at the time of death, according to the observation of clairvoyants on this side and the posthumous accounts of the dead upon the other. it is exactly what we should expect to happen, granted the double identity. in a painless and natural process the lighter disengages itself from the heavier, and slowly draws itself off until it stands with the same mind, the same emotions, and an exactly similar body, beside the couch of death, aware of those around and yet unable to make them aware of it, save where that finer spiritual eyesight called clairvoyance exists. how, we may well ask, can it see without the natural organs? how did the hashish victim see his own unconscious body? how did the florida doctor see his friend? there is a power of perception in the spiritual body which does give the power. we can say no more. to the clairvoyant the new spirit seems like a filmy outline. to the ordinary man it is invisible. to another spirit it would, no doubt, seem as normal and substantial as we appear to each other. there is some evidence that it refines with time, and is therefore nearer to the material at the moment of death or closely after it, than after a lapse of months or years. hence, it is that apparitions of the dead are most clear and most common about the time of death, and hence also, no doubt, the fact that the cataleptic physician already quoted was seen and recognised by his friend. the meshes of his ether, if the phrase be permitted, were still heavy with the matter from which they had only just been disentangled. having disengaged itself from grosser matter, what happens to this spirit body, the precious bark which bears our all in all upon this voyage into unknown seas? very many accounts have come back to us, verbal and written, detailing the experiences of those who have passed on. the verbal are by trance mediums, whose utterances appear to be controlled by outside intelligences. the written from automatic writers whose script is produced in the same way. at these words the critic naturally and reasonably shies, with a "what nonsense! how can you control the statement of this medium who is consciously or unconsciously pretending to inspiration?" this is a healthy scepticism, and should animate every experimenter who tests a new medium. the proofs must lie in the communication itself. if they are not present, then, as always, we must accept natural rather than unknown explanations. but they are continually present, and in such obvious forms that no one can deny them. there is a certain professional medium to whom i have sent many, mothers who were in need of consolation. i always ask the applicants to report the result to me, and i have their letters of surprise and gratitude before me as i write. "thank you for this beautiful and interesting experience. she did not make a single mistake about their names, and everything she said was correct." in this case there was a rift between husband and wife before death, but the medium was able, unaided, to explain and clear up the whole matter, mentioning the correct circumstances, and names of everyone concerned, and showing the reasons for the non-arrival of certain letters, which had been the cause of the misunderstanding. the next case was also one of husband and wife, but it is the husband who is the survivor. he says: "it was a most successful sitting. among other things, i addressed a remark in danish to my wife (who is a danish girl), and the answer came back in english without the least hesitation." the next case was again of a man who had lost a very dear male friend. "i have had the most wonderful results with mrs. ---to-day. i cannot tell you the joy it has been to me. many grateful thanks for your help." the next one says: "mrs. ---was simply wonderful. if only more people knew, what agony they would be spared." in this case the wife got in touch with the husband, and the medium mentioned correctly five dead relatives who were in his company. the next is a case of mother and son. "i saw mrs. ---to-day, and obtained very wonderful results. she told me nearly everything quite correctly--a very few mistakes." the next is similar. "we were quite successful. my boy even reminded me of something that only he and i knew." says another: "my boy reminded me of the day when he sowed turnip seed upon the lawn. only he could have known of this." these are fair samples of the letters, of which i hold a large number. they are from people who present themselves from among the millions living in london, or the provinces, and about whose affairs the medium had no possible normal way of knowing. of all the very numerous cases which i have sent to this medium i have only had a few which have been complete failures. on quoting my results to sir oliver lodge, he remarked that his own experience with another medium had been almost identical. it is no exaggeration to say that our british telephone systems would probably give a larger proportion of useless calls. how is any critic to get beyond these facts save by ignoring or misrepresenting them? healthy, scepticism is the basis of all accurate observation, but there comes a time when incredulity means either culpable ignorance or else imbecility, and this time has been long past in the matter of spirit intercourse. in my own case, this medium mentioned correctly the first name of a lady who had died in our house, gave several very characteristic messages from her, described the only two dogs which we have ever kept, and ended by saying that a young officer was holding up a gold coin by which i would recognise him. i had lost my brother-in-law, an army doctor, in the war, and i had given him a spade guinea for his first fee, which he always wore on his chain. there were not more than two or three close relatives who knew about this incident, so that the test was a particularly good one. she made no incorrect statements, though some were vague. after i had revealed the identity of this medium several pressmen attempted to have test seances with her--a test seance being, in most cases, a seance which begins by breaking every psychic condition and making success most improbable. one of these gentlemen, mr. ulyss rogers, had very fair results. another sent from "truth" had complete failure. it must be understood that these powers do not work from the medium, but through the medium, and that the forces in the beyond have not the least sympathy with a smart young pressman in search of clever copy, while they have a very different feeling to a bereaved mother who prays with all her broken heart that some assurance may be given her that the child of her love is not gone from her for ever. when this fact is mastered, and it is understood that "stand and deliver" methods only excite gentle derision on the other side, we shall find some more intelligent manner of putting things of the spirit to the proof.[3] i have dwelt upon these results, which could be matched by other mediums, to show that we have solid and certain reasons to say that the verbal reports are not from the mediums themselves. readers of arthur hill's "psychical investigations" will find many even more convincing cases. so in the written communications, i have in a previous paper pointed to the "gate of remembrance" case, but there is a great mass of material which proves that, in spite of mistakes and failures, there really is a channel of communication, fitful and evasive sometimes, but entirely beyond coincidence or fraud. these, then, are the usual means by which we receive psychic messages, though table tilting, ouija boards, glasses upon a smooth surface, or anything which can be moved by the vital animal-magnetic force already discussed will equally serve the purpose. often information is conveyed orally or by writing which could not have been known to anyone concerned. mr. wilkinson has given details of the case where his dead son drew attention to the fact that a curio (a coin bent by a bullet) had been overlooked among his effects. sir william barrett has narrated how a young officer sent a message leaving a pearl tie-pin to a friend. no one knew that such a pin existed, but it was found among his things. the death of sir hugh lane was given at a private seance in dublin before the details of the lusitania disaster had been published.[4] on that morning we ourselves, in a small seance, got the message "it is terrible, terrible, and will greatly affect the war," at a time when we were convinced that no great loss of life could have occurred. such examples are very numerous, and are only quoted here to show how impossible it is to invoke telepathy as the origin of such messages. there is only one explanation which covers the facts. they are what they say they are, messages from those who have passed on, from the spiritual body which was seen to rise from the deathbed, which has been so often photographed, which pervades all religion in every age, and which has been able, under proper circumstances, to materialise back into a temporary solidity so that it could walk and talk like a mortal, whether in jerusalem two thousand years ago, or in the laboratory of mr. crookes, in mornington road, london. let us for a moment examine the facts in this crookes' episode. a small book exists which describes them, though it is not as accessible as it should be. in these wonderful experiments, which extended over several years, miss florrie cook, who was a young lady of from 16 to 18 years of age, was repeatedly confined in prof. crookes' study, the door being locked on the inside. here she lay unconscious upon a couch. the spectators assembled in the laboratory, which was separated by a curtained opening from the study. after a short interval, through this opening there emerged a lady who was in all ways different from miss cook. she gave her earth name as katie king, and she proclaimed herself to be a materialised spirit, whose mission it was to carry the knowledge of immortality to mortals. she was of great beauty of face, figure, and manner. she was four and a half inches taller than miss cook, fair, whereas the latter was dark, and as different from her as one woman could be from another. her pulse rate was markedly slower. she became for the time entirely one of the company, walking about, addressing each person present, and taking delight in the children. she made no objection to photography or any other test. forty-eight photographs of different degrees of excellence were made of her. she was seen at the same time as the medium on several occasions. finally she departed, saying that her mission was over and that she had other work to do. when she vanished materialism should have vanished also, if mankind had taken adequate notice of the facts. now, what can the fair-minded inquirer say to such a story as that--one of many, but for the moment we are concentrating upon it? was mr. crookes a blasphemous liar? but there were very many witnesses, as many sometimes as eight at a single sitting. and there are the photographs which include miss cook and show that the two women were quite different. was he honestly mistaken? but that is inconceivable. read the original narrative and see if you can find any solution save that it is true. if a man can read that sober, cautious statement and not be convinced, then assuredly his brain, is out of gear. finally, ask yourself whether any religious manifestation in the world has had anything like the absolute proof which lies in this one. cannot the orthodox see that instead of combating such a story, or talking nonsense about devils, they should hail that which is indeed the final answer to that materialism which is their really dangerous enemy. even as i write, my eye falls upon a letter on my desk from an officer who had lost all faith in immortality and become an absolute materialist. "i came to dread my return home, for i cannot stand hypocrisy, and i knew well my attitude would cause some members of my family deep grief. your book has now brought me untold comfort, and i can face the future cheerfully." are these fruits from the devil's tree, you timid orthodox critic? having then got in touch with our dead, we proceed, naturally, to ask them how it is with them, and under what conditions they exist. it is a very vital question, since what has befallen them yesterday will surely befall us to-morrow. but the answer is tidings of great joy. of the new vital message to humanity nothing is more important than that. it rolls away all those horrible man-bred fears and fancies, founded upon morbid imaginations and the wild phrases of the oriental. we come upon what is sane, what is moderate, what is reasonable, what is consistent with gradual evolution and with the benevolence of god. were there ever any conscious blasphemers upon earth who have insulted the deity so deeply as those extremists, be they calvinist, roman catholic, anglican, or jew, who pictured with their distorted minds an implacable torturer as the ruler of the universe! the truth of what is told us as to the life beyond can in its very nature never be absolutely established. it is far nearer to complete proof, however, than any religious revelation which has ever preceded it. we have the fact that these accounts are mixed up with others concerning our present life which are often absolutely true. if a spirit can tell the truth about our sphere, it is difficult to suppose that he is entirely false about his own. then, again, there is a very great similarity about such accounts, though their origin may be from people very far apart. thus though "non-veridical," to use the modern jargon, they do conform to all our canons of evidence. a series of books which have attracted far less attention than they deserve have drawn the coming life in very close detail. these books are not found on railway bookstalls or in popular libraries, but the successive editions through which they pass show that there is a deeper public which gets what it wants in spite of artificial obstacles. looking over the list of my reading i find, besides nearly a dozen very interesting and detailed manuscript accounts, such published narratives as "claude's book," purporting to come from a young british aviator; "thy son liveth," from an american soldier, "private dowding"; "raymond," from a british soldier; "do thoughts perish?" which contains accounts from several british soldiers and others; "i heard a voice," where a well-known k.c., through the mediumship of his two young daughters, has a very full revelation of the life beyond; "after death," with the alleged experiences of the famous miss julia ames; "the seven purposes," from an american pressman, and many others. they differ much in literary skill and are not all equally impressive, but the point which must strike any impartial mind is the general agreement of these various accounts as to the conditions of spirit life. an examination would show that some of them must have been in the press at the same time, so that they could not have each inspired the other. "claude's book" and "thy son liveth" appeared at nearly the same time on different sides of the atlantic, but they agree very closely. "raymond" and "do thoughts perish?" must also have been in the press together, but the scheme of things is exactly the same. surely the agreement of witnesses must here, as in all cases, be accounted as a test of truth. they differ mainly, as it seems to me, when they deal with their own future including speculations as to reincarnation, etc., which may well be as foggy to them as it is to us, or systems of philosophy where again individual opinion is apparent. of all these accounts the one which is most deserving of study is "raymond." this is so because it has been compiled from several famous mediums working independently of each other, and has been checked and chronicled by a man who is not only one of the foremost scientists of the world, and probably the leading intellectual force in europe, but one who has also had a unique experience of the precautions necessary for the observation of psychic phenomena. the bright and sweet nature of the young soldier upon the other side, and his eagerness to tell of his experience is also a factor which will appeal to those who are already satisfied as to the truth of the communications. for all these reasons it is a most important document--indeed it would be no exaggeration to say that it is one of the most important in recent literature. it is, as i believe, an authentic account of the life in the beyond, and it is often more interesting from its sidelights and reservations than for its actual assertions, though the latter bear the stamp of absolute frankness and sincerity. the compilation is in some ways faulty. sir oliver has not always the art of writing so as to be understanded of the people, and his deeper and more weighty thoughts get in the way of the clear utterances of his son. then again, in his anxiety to be absolutely accurate, sir oliver has reproduced the fact that sometimes raymond is speaking direct, and sometimes the control is reporting what raymond is saying, so that the same paragraph may turn several times from the first person to the third in a manner which must be utterly unintelligible to those who are not versed in the subject. sir oliver will, i am sure, not be offended if i say that, having satisfied his conscience by the present edition, he should now leave it for reference, and put forth a new one which should contain nothing but the words of raymond and his spirit friends. such a book, published at a low price, would, i think, have an amazing effect, and get all this new teaching to the spot that god has marked for it--the minds and hearts of the people. so much has been said here about mediumship that perhaps it would be well to consider this curious condition a little more closely. the question of mediumship, what it is and how it acts, is one of the most mysterious in the whole range of science. it is a common objection to say if our dead are there why should we only hear of them through people by no means remarkable for moral or mental gifts, who are often paid for their ministration. it is a plausible argument, and yet when we receive a telegram from a brother in australia we do not say: "it is strange that tom should not communicate with me direct, but that the presence of that half-educated fellow in the telegraph office should be necessary." the medium is in truth a mere passive machine, clerk and telegraph in one. nothing comes from him. every message is through him. why he or she should have the power more than anyone else is a very interesting problem. this power may best be defined as the capacity for allowing the bodily powers, physical or mental, to be used by an outside influence. in its higher forms there is temporary extinction of personality and the substitution of some other controlling spirit. at such times the medium may entirely lose consciousness, or he may retain it and be aware of some external experience which has been enjoyed by his own entity while his bodily house has been filled by the temporary tenant. or the medium may retain consciousness, and with eyes and ears attuned to a higher key than the normal man can attain, he may see and hear what is beyond our senses. or in writing mediumship, a motor centre of the brain regulating the nerves and muscles of the arm may be controlled while all else seems to be normal. or it may take the more material form of the exudation of a strange white evanescent dough-like substance called the ectoplasm, which has been frequently photographed by scientific enquirers in different stages of its evolution, and which seems to possess an inherent quality of shaping itself into parts or the whole of a body, beginning in a putty-like mould and ending in a resemblance to perfect human members. or the ectoplasm, which seems to be an emanation of the medium to the extent that whatever it may weigh is so much subtracted from his substance, may be used as projections or rods which can convey objects or lift weights. a friend, in whose judgment and veracity i have absolute confidence, was present at one of dr. crawford's experiments with kathleen goligher, who is, it may be remarked, an unpaid medium. my friend touched the column of force, and found it could be felt by the hand though invisible to the eye. it is clear that we are in touch with some entirely new form both of matter and of energy. we know little of the properties of this extraordinary substance save that in its materialising form it seems extremely sensitive to the action of light. a figure built up in it and detached from the medium dissolves in light quicker than a snow image under a tropical sun, so that two successive flash-light photographs would show the one a perfect figure, and the next an amorphous mass. when still attached to the medium the ectoplasm flies back with great force on exposure to light, and, in spite of the laughter of the scoffers, there is none the less good evidence that several mediums have been badly injured by the recoil after a light has suddenly been struck by some amateur detective. professor geley has, in his recent experiments, described the ectoplasm as appearing outside the black dress of his medium as if a hoar frost had descended upon her, then coalescing into a continuous sheet of white substance, and oozing down until it formed a sort of apron in front of her.[5] this process he has illustrated by a very complete series of photographs. these are a few of the properties of mediumship. there are also the beautiful phenomena of the production of lights, and the rarer, but for evidential purposes even more valuable, manifestations of spirit photography. the fact that the photograph does not correspond in many cases with any which existed in life, must surely silence the scoffer, though there is a class of bigoted sceptic who would still be sneering if an archangel alighted in trafalgar square. mr. hope and mrs. buxton, of crewe, have brought this phase of mediumship to great perfection, though others have powers in that direction. indeed, in some cases it is difficult to say who the medium may have been, for in one collective family group which was taken in the ordinary way, and was sent me by a master in a well known public school, the young son who died has appeared in the plate seated between his two little brothers. as to the personality of mediums, they have seemed to me to be very average specimens of the community, neither markedly better nor markedly worse. i know many, and i have never met anything in the least like "sludge," a poem which browning might be excused for writing in some crisis of domestic disagreement, but which it was inexcusable to republish since it is admitted to be a concoction, and the exposure described to have been imaginary. the critic often uses the term medium as if it necessarily meant a professional, whereas every investigator has found some of his best results among amateurs. in the two finest seances i ever attended, the psychic, in each case a man of moderate means, was resolutely determined never directly or indirectly to profit by his gift, though it entailed very exhausting physical conditions. i have not heard of a clergyman of any denomination who has attained such a pitch of altruism--nor is it reasonable to expect it. as to professional mediums, mr. vout peters, one of the most famous, is a diligent collector of old books and an authority upon the elizabethan drama; while mr. dickinson, another very remarkable discerner of spirits, who named twenty-four correctly during two meetings held on the same day, is employed in loading canal barges. this man is one gifted clairvoyants in england, though tom tyrrell the weaver, aaron wilkinson, and others are very marvellous. tyrrell, who is a man of the anthony of padua type, a walking saint, beloved of animals and children, is a figure who might have stepped out of some legend of the church. thomas, the powerful physical medium, is a working coal miner. most mediums take their responsibilities very seriously and view their work in a religious light. there is no denying that they are exposed to very particular temptations, for the gift is, as i have explained elsewhere, an intermittent one, and to admit its temporary absence, and so discourage one's clients, needs greater moral principle than all men possess. another temptation to which several great mediums have succumbed is that of drink. this comes about in a very natural way, for overworking the power leaves them in a state of physical prostration, and the stimulus of alcohol affords a welcome relief, and may tend at last to become a custom and finally a curse. alcoholism always weakens the moral sense, so that these degenerate mediums yield themselves more readily to fraud, with the result that several who had deservedly won honoured names and met all hostile criticism have, in their later years, been detected in the most contemptible tricks. it is a thousand pities that it should be so, but if the court of arches were to give up its secrets, it would be found that tippling and moral degeneration were by no means confined to psychics. at the same time, a psychic is so peculiarly sensitive that i think he or she would always be well advised to be a life long abstainer--as many actually are. as to the method by which they attain their results they have, when in the trance state, no recollection. in the case of normal clairvoyants and clairaudients, the information comes in different ways. sometimes it is no more than a strong mental impression which gives a name or an address. sometimes they say that they see it written up before them. sometimes the spirit figures seem to call it to them. "they yell it at me," said one. we need more first-hand accounts of these matters before we can formulate laws. it has been stated in a previous book by the author, but it will bear repetition, that the use of the seance should, in his opinion, be carefully regulated as well as reverently conducted. having once satisfied himself of the absolute existence of the unseen world, and of its proximity to our own, the inquirer has got the great gift which psychical investigation can give him, and thenceforth he can regulate his life upon the lines which the teaching from beyond has shown to be the best. there is much force in the criticism that too constant intercourse with the affairs of another world may distract our attention and weaken our powers in dealing with our obvious duties in this one. a seance, with the object of satisfying curiosity or of rousing interest, cannot be an elevating influence, and the mere sensation-monger can make this holy and wonderful thing as base as the over-indulgence in a stimulant. on the other hand, where the seance is used for the purpose of satisfying ourselves as to the condition of those whom we have lost, or of giving comfort to others who crave for a word from beyond, then it is, indeed, a blessed gift from god to be used with moderation and with thankfulness. our loved ones have their own pleasant tasks in their new surroundings, and though they assure us that they love to clasp the hands which we stretch out to them, we should still have some hesitation in intruding to an unreasonable extent upon the routine of their lives. a word should be said as to that fear of fiends and evil spirits which appears to have so much weight with some of the critics of this subject. when one looks more closely at this emotion it seems somewhat selfish and cowardly. these creatures are in truth our own backward brothers, bound for the same ultimate destination as ourselves, but retarded by causes for which our earth conditions may have been partly responsible. our pity and sympathy should go out to them, and if they do indeed manifest at a seance, the proper christian attitude is, as it seems to me, that we should reason with them and pray for them in order to help them upon their difficult way. those who have treated them in this way have found a very marked difference in the subsequent communications. in admiral usborne moore's "glimpses of the next state" there will be found some records of an american circle which devoted itself entirely to missionary work of this sort. there is some reason to believe that there are forms of imperfect development which can be helped more by earthly than by purely spiritual influences, for the reason, perhaps, that they are closer to the material. in a recent case i was called in to endeavour to check a very noisy entity which frequented an old house in which there were strong reasons to believe that crime had been committed, and also that the criminal was earth-bound. names were given by the unhappy spirit which proved to be correct, and a cupboard was described, which was duly found, though it had never before been suspected. on getting into touch with the spirit i endeavoured to reason with it and to explain how selfish it was to cause misery to others in order to satisfy any feelings of revenge which it might have carried over from earth life. we then prayed for its welfare, exhorted it to rise higher, and received a very solemn assurance, tilted out at the table, that it would mend its ways. i have very gratifying reports that it has done so, and that all is now quiet in the old house. let us now consider the life in the beyond as it is shown to us by the new revelation. chapter iv the coming world we come first to the messages which tell us of the life beyond the grave, sent by those who are actually living it. i have already insisted upon the fact that they have three weighty claims to our belief. the one is, that they are accompanied by "signs," in the biblical sense, in the shape of "miracles" or phenomena. the second is, that in many cases they are accompanied by assertions about this life of ours which prove to be correct, and which are beyond the possible knowledge of the medium after every deduction has been made for telepathy or for unconscious memory. the third is, that they have a remarkable, though not a complete, similarity from whatever source they come. it may be noted that the differences of opinion become most marked when they deal with their own future, which may well be a matter of speculation to them as to us. thus, upon the question of reincarnation there is a distinct cleavage, and though i am myself of opinion that the general evidence is against this oriental doctrine, it is none the less an undeniable fact that it has been maintained by some messages which appear in other ways to be authentic, and, therefore, it is necessary to keep one's mind open on the subject. before entering upon the substance of the messages i should wish to emphasize the second of these two points, so as to reinforce the reader's confidence in the authenticity of these assertions. to this end i will give a detailed example, with names almost exact. the medium was mr. phoenix, of glasgow, with whom i have myself had some remarkable experiences. the sitter was mr. ernest oaten, the president of the northern spiritual union, a man of the utmost veracity and precision of statement. the dialogue, which came by the direct voice, a trumpet acting as megaphone, ran like this:- the voice: good evening, mr. oaten. mr. o.: good evening. who are you? the voice: my name is mill. you know my father. mr. o.: no, i don't remember anyone of the name. the voice: yes, you were speaking to him the other day. mr. o.: to be sure. i remember now. i only met him casually. the voice: i want you to give him a message from me. mr. o.: what is it? the voice: tell him that he was not mistaken at midnight on tuesday last. mr. o.: very good. i will say so. have you passed long? the voice: some time. but our time is different from yours. mr. o.: what were you? the voice: a surgeon. mr. o.: how did you pass? the voice: blown up in a battleship during the war. mr. o.: anything more? the answer was the gipsy song from "il trovatore," very accurately whistled, and then a quick-step. after the latter, the voice said: "that is a test for father." this reproduction of conversation is not quite verbatim, but gives the condensed essence. mr. oaten at once visited mr. mill, who was not a spiritualist, and found that every detail was correct. young mill had lost his life as narrated. mr. mill, senior, explained that while sitting in his study at midnight on the date named he had heard the gipsy song from "il trovatore," which had been a favourite of his boy's, and being unable to trace the origin of the music, had finally thought that it was a freak of his imagination. the test connected with the quick-step had reference to a tune which the young man used to play upon the piccolo, but which was so rapid that he never could get it right, for which he was chaffed by the family. i tell this story at length to make the reader realise that when young mill, and others like him, give such proofs of accuracy, which we can test for ourselves, we are bound to take their assertions very seriously when they deal with the life they are actually leading, though in their very nature we can only check their accounts by comparison with others. now let me epitomise what these assertions are. they say that they are exceedingly happy, and that they do not wish to return. they are among the friends whom they had loved and lost, who meet them when they die and continue their careers together. they are very busy on all forms of congenial work. the world in which they find themselves is very much like that which they have quitted, but everything keyed to a higher octave. as in a higher octave the rhythm is the same, and the relation of notes to each other the same, but the total effect different, so it is here. every earthly thing has its equivalent. scoffers have guffawed over alcohol and tobacco, but if all things are reproduced it would be a flaw if these were not reproduced also. that they should be abused, as they are here, would, indeed, be evil tidings, but nothing of the sort has been said, and in the much discussed passage in "raymond," their production was alluded to as though it were an unusual, and in a way a humorous, instance of the resources of the beyond. i wonder how many of the preachers, who have taken advantage of this passage in order to attack the whole new revelation, have remembered that the only other message which ever associated alcohol with the life beyond is that of christ himself, when he said: "i will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when i drink it new with you in my father's kingdom." this matter is a detail, however, and it is always dangerous to discuss details in a subject which is so enormous, so dimly seen. as the wisest woman i have known remarked to me: "things may well be surprising over there, for if we had been told the facts of this life before we entered it, we should never have believed it." in its larger issues this happy life to come consists in the development of those gifts which we possess. there is action for the man of action, intellectual work for the thinker, artistic, literary, dramatic and religious for those whose god-given powers lie that way. what we have both in brain and character we carry over with us. no man is too old to learn, for what he learns he keeps. there is no physical side to love and no child-birth, though there is close union between those married people who really love each other, and, generally, there is deep sympathetic friendship and comradeship between the sexes. every man or woman finds a soul mate sooner or later. the child grows up to the normal, so that the mother who lost a babe of two years old, and dies herself twenty years later finds a grown-up daughter of twenty-two awaiting her coming. age, which is produced chiefly by the mechanical presence of lime in our arteries, disappears, and the individual reverts to the full normal growth and appearance of completed man--or womanhood. let no woman mourn her lost beauty, and no man his lost strength or weakening brain. it all awaits them once more upon the other side. nor is any deformity or bodily weakness there, for all is normal and at its best. before leaving this section of the subject, i should say a few more words upon the evidence as it affects the etheric body. this body is a perfect thing. this is a matter of consequence in these days when so many of our heroes have been mutilated in the wars. one cannot mutilate the etheric body, and it remains always intact. the first words uttered by a returning spirit in the recent experience of dr. abraham wallace were "i have got my left arm again." the same applies to all birth marks, deformities, blindness, and other imperfections. none of them are permanent, and all will vanish in that happier life that awaits us. such is the teaching from the beyond--that a perfect body waits for each. "but," says the critic, "what then of the clairvoyant descriptions, or the visions where the aged father is seen, clad in the old-fashioned garments of another age, or the grandmother with crinoline and chignon? are these the habiliments of heaven?" such visions are not spirits, but they are pictures which are built up before us or shot by spirits into our brains or those of the seer for the purposes of recognition. hence the grey hair and hence the ancient garb. when a real spirit is indeed seen it comes in another form to this, where the flowing robe, such as has always been traditionally ascribed to the angels, is a vital thing which, by its very colour and texture, proclaims the spiritual condition of the wearer, and is probably a condensation of that aura which surrounds us upon earth. it is a world of sympathy. only those who have this tie foregather. the sullen husband, the flighty wife, is no longer there to plague the innocent spouse. all is sweet and peaceful. it is the long rest cure after the nerve strain of life, and before new experiences in the future. the circumstances are homely and familiar. happy circles live in pleasant homesteads with every amenity of beauty and of music. beautiful gardens, lovely flowers, green woods, pleasant lakes, domestic pets--all of these things are fully described in the messages of the pioneer travellers who have at last got news back to those who loiter in the old dingy home. there are no poor and no rich. the craftsman may still pursue his craft, but he does it for the joy of his work. each serves the community as best he can, while from above come higher ministers of grace, the "angels" of holy writ, to direct and help. above all, shedding down his atmosphere upon all, broods that great christ spirit, the very soul of reason, of justice, and of sympathetic understanding, who has the earth sphere, with all its circles, under his very special care. it is a place of joy and laughter. there are games and sports of all sorts, though none which cause pain to lower life. food and drink in the grosser sense do not exist, but there seem to be pleasures of taste, and this distinction causes some confusion in the messages upon the point. but above all, brain, energy, character, driving power, if exerted for good, makes a man a leader there as here, while unselfishness, patience and spirituality there, as here, qualify the soul for the higher places, which have often been won by those very tribulations down here which seem so purposeless and so cruel, and are in truth our chances of spiritual quickening and promotion, without which life would have been barren and without profit. the revelation abolishes the idea of a grotesque hell and of a fantastic heaven, while it substitutes the conception of a gradual rise in the scale of existence without any monstrous change which would turn us in an instant from man to angel or devil. the system, though different from previous ideas, does not, as it seems to me, run counter in any radical fashion to the old beliefs. in ancient maps it was usual for the cartographer to mark blank spaces for the unexplored regions, with some such legend as "here are anthropophagi," or "here are mandrakes," scrawled across them. so in our theology there have been ill-defined areas which have admittedly been left unfilled, for what sane man has ever believed in such a heaven as is depicted in our hymn books, a land of musical idleness and barren monotonous adoration! thus in furnishing a clearer conception this new system has nothing to supplant. it paints upon a blank sheet. one may well ask, however, granting that there is evidence for such a life and such a world as has been described, what about those who have not merited such a destination? what do the messages from beyond say about these? and here one cannot be too definite, for there is no use exchanging one dogma for another. one can but give the general purport of such information as has been vouchsafed to us. it is natural that those with whom we come in contact are those whom we may truly call the blessed, for if the thing be approached in a reverent and religious spirit it is those whom we should naturally attract. that there are many less fortunate than themselves is evident from their own constant allusions to that regenerating and elevating missionary work which is among their own functions. they descend apparently and help others to gain that degree of spirituality which fits them for this upper sphere, as a higher student might descend to a lower class in order to bring forward a backward pupil. such a conception gives point to christ's remark that there was more joy in heaven over saving one sinner than over ninety-nine just, for if he had spoken of an earthly sinner he would surely have had to become just in this life and so ceased to be a sinner before he had reached paradise. it would apply very exactly, however, to a sinner rescued from a lower sphere and brought to a higher one. when we view sin in the light of modern science, with the tenderness of the modern conscience and with a sense of justice and proportion, it ceases to be that monstrous cloud which darkened the whole vision of the mediaeval theologian. man has been more harsh with himself than an all-merciful god will ever be. it is true that with all deductions there remains a great residuum which means want of individual effort, conscious weakness of will, and culpable failure of character when the sinner, like horace, sees and applauds the higher while he follows the lower. but when, on the other hand, one has made allowances--and can our human allowance be as generous as god's?--for the sins which are the inevitable product of early environment, for the sins which are due to hereditary and inborn taint, and to the sins which are due to clear physical causes, then the total of active sin is greatly reduced. could one, for example, imagine that providence, all-wise and all-merciful, as every creed proclaims, could punish the unfortunate wretch who hatches criminal thoughts behind the slanting brows of a criminal head? a doctor has but to glance at the cranium to predicate the crime. in its worst forms all crime, from nero to jack the ripper, is the product of absolute lunacy, and those gross national sins to which allusion has been made seem to point to collective national insanity. surely, then, there is hope that no very terrible inferno is needed to further punish those who have been so afflicted upon earth. some of our dead have remarked that nothing has surprised them so much as to find who have been chosen for honour, and certainly, without in any way condoning sin, one could well imagine that the man whose organic makeup predisposed him with irresistible force in that direction should, in justice, receive condolence and sympathy. possibly such a sinner, if he had not sinned so deeply as he might have done, stands higher than the man who was born good, and remained so, but was no better at the end of his life. the one has made some progress and the other has not. but the commonest failing, the one which fills the spiritual hospitals of the other world, and is a temporary bar to the normal happiness of the after-life, is the sin of tomlinson in kipling's poem, the commonest of all sins in respectable british circles, the sin of conventionality, of want of conscious effort and development, of a sluggish spirituality, fatted over by a complacent mind and by the comforts of life. it is the man who is satisfied, the man who refers his salvation to some church or higher power without steady travail of his own soul, who is in deadly danger. all churches are good, christian or non-christian, so long as they promote the actual spirit life of the individual, but all are noxious the instant that they allow him to think that by any form of ceremony, or by any fashion of creed, he obtains the least advantage over his neighbour, or can in any way dispense with that personal effort which is the only road to the higher places. this is, of course, as applicable to believers in spiritualism as to any other belief. if it does not show in practice then it is vain. one can get through this life very comfortably following without question in some procession with a venerable leader. but one does not die in a procession. one dies alone. and it is then that one has alone to accept the level gained by the work of life. and what is the punishment of the undeveloped soul? it is that it should be placed where it will develop, and sorrow would seem always to be the forcing ground of souls. that surely is our own experience in life where the insufferably complacent and unsympathetic person softens and mellows into beauty of character and charity of thought, when tried long enough and high enough in the fires of life. the bible has talked about the "outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth." the influence of the bible has sometimes been an evil one through our own habit of reading a book of oriental poetry and treating it as literally as if it were occidental prose. when an eastern describes a herd of a thousand camels he talks of camels which are more numerous than the hairs of your head or the stars in the sky. in this spirit of allowance for eastern expression, one must approach those lurid and terrible descriptions which have darkened the lives of so many imaginative children and sent so many earnest adults into asylums. from all that we learn there are indeed places of outer darkness, but dim as these uncomfortable waiting-rooms may be, they all admit to heaven in the end. that is the final destination of the human race, and it would indeed be a reproach to the almighty if it were not so. we cannot dogmatise upon this subject of the penal spheres, and yet we have very clear teaching that they are there and that the no-man's-land which separates us from the normal heaven, that third heaven to which st. paul seems to have been wafted in one short strange experience of his lifetime, is a place which corresponds with the astral plane of the mystics and with the "outer darkness" of the bible. here linger those earth-bound spirits whose worldly interests have clogged them and weighed them down, until every spiritual impulse had vanished; the man whose life has been centred on money, on worldly ambition, or on sensual indulgence. the one-idea'd man will surely be there, if his one idea was not a spiritual one. nor is it necessary that he should be an evil man, if dear old brother john of glastonbury, who loved the great abbey so that he could never detach himself from it, is to be classed among earth-bound spirits. in the most material and pronounced classes of these are the ghosts who impinge very closely upon matter and have been seen so often by those who have no strong psychic sense. it is probable, from what we know of the material laws which govern such matters, that a ghost could never manifest itself if it were alone, that the substance for the manifestation is drawn from the spectator, and that the coldness, raising of hair, and other symptoms of which he complains are caused largely by the sudden drain upon his own vitality. this, however, is to wander into speculation, and far from that correlation of psychic knowledge with religion, which has been the aim of these chapters. by one of those strange coincidences, which seem to me sometimes to be more than coincidences, i had reached this point in my explanation of the difficult question of the intermediate state, and was myself desiring further enlightenment, when an old book reached me through the post, sent by someone whom i have never met, and in it is the following passage, written by an automatic writer, and in existence since 1880. it makes the matter plain, endorsing what has been said and adding new points. "some cannot advance further than the borderland--such as never thought of spirit life and have lived entirely for the earth, its cares and pleasures--even clever men and women, who have lived simply intellectual lives without spirituality. there are many who have misused their opportunities, and are now longing for the time misspent and wishing to recall the earth-life. they will learn that on this side the time can be redeemed, though at much cost. the borderland has many among the restless money-getters of earth, who still haunt the places where they had their hopes and joys. these are often the longest to remain . . . many are not unhappy. they feel the relief to be sufficient to be without their earth bodies. all pass through the borderland, but some hardly perceive it. it is so immediate, and there is no resting there for them. they pass on at once to the refreshment place of which we tell you." the anonymous author, after recording this spirit message, mentions the interesting fact that there is a christian inscription in the catacombs which runs: niceforus anima dulcis in refrigerio, "nicephorus, a sweet soul in the refreshment place." one more scrap of evidence that the early christian scheme of things was very like that of the modern psychic. so much for the borderland, the intermediate condition. the present christian dogma has no name for it, unless it be that nebulous limbo which is occasionally mentioned, and is usually defined as the place where the souls of the just who died before christ were detained. the idea of crossing a space before reaching a permanent state on the other side is common to many religions, and took the allegorical form of a river with a ferry-boat among the romans and greeks. continually, one comes on points which make one realise that far back in the world's history there has been a true revelation, which has been blurred and twisted in time. thus in dr. muir's summary of the rig. veda, he says, epitomising the beliefs of the first aryan conquerors of india: "before, however, the unborn part" (that is, the etheric body) "can complete its course to the third heaven it has to traverse a vast gulf of darkness, leaving behind on earth all that is evil, and proceeding by the paths the fathers trod, the spirit soars to the realms of eternal light, recovers there his body in a glorified form, and obtains from god a delectable abode and enters upon a more perfect life, which is crowned with the fulfilment of all desires, is passed in the presence of the gods and employed in the fulfilment of their pleasure." if we substitute "angels" for "gods" we must admit that the new revelation from modern spirit sources has much in common with the belief of our aryan fathers. such, in very condensed form, is the world which is revealed to us by these wonderful messages from the beyond. is it an unreasonable vision? is it in any way opposed to just principles? is it not rather so reasonable that having got the clue we could now see that, given any life at all, this is exactly the line upon which we should expect to move? nature and evolution are averse from sudden disconnected developments. if a human being has technical, literary, musical, or other tendencies, they are an essential part of his character, and to survive without them would be to lose his identity and to become an entirely different man. they must therefore survive death if personality is to be maintained. but it is no use their surviving unless they can find means of expression, and means of expression seem to require certain material agents, and also a discriminating audience. so also the sense of modesty among civilised races has become part of our very selves, and implies some covering of our forms if personality is to continue. our desires and sympathies would prompt us to live with those we love, which implies something in the nature of a house, while the human need for mental rest and privacy would predicate the existence of separate rooms. thus, merely starting from the basis of the continuity of personality one might, even without the revelation from the beyond, have built up some such system by the use of pure reason and deduction. so far as the existence of this land of happiness goes, it would seem to have been more fully proved than any other religious conception within our knowledge. it may very reasonably be asked, how far this precise description of life beyond the grave is my own conception, and how far it has been accepted by the greater minds who have studied this subject? i would answer, that it is my own conclusion as gathered from a very large amount of existing testimony, and that in its main lines it has for many years been accepted by those great numbers of silent active workers all over the world, who look upon this matter from a strictly religious point of view. i think that the evidence amply justifies us in this belief. on the other hand, those who have approached this subject with cold and cautious scientific brains, endowed, in many cases, with the strongest prejudices against dogmatic creeds and with very natural fears about the possible re-growth of theological quarrels, have in most cases stopped short of a complete acceptance, declaring that there can be no positive proof upon such matters, and that we may deceive ourselves either by a reflection of our own thoughts or by receiving the impressions of the medium. professor zollner, for example, says: "science can make no use of the substance of intellectual revelations, but must be guided by observed facts and by the conclusions logically and mathematically uniting them"--a passage which is quoted with approval by professor reichel, and would seem to be endorsed by the silence concerning the religious side of the question which is observed by most of our great scientific supporters. it is a point of view which can well be understood, and yet, closely examined, it would appear to be a species of enlarged materialism. to admit, as these observers do, that spirits do return, that they give every proof of being the actual friends whom we have lost, and yet to turn a deaf ear to the messages which they send would seem to be pushing caution to the verge of unreason. to get so far, and yet not to go further, is impossible as a permanent position. if, for example, in raymond's case we find so many allusions to the small details of his home upon earth, which prove to be surprisingly correct, is it reasonable to put a blue pencil through all he says of the home which he actually inhabits? long before i had convinced my mind of the truth of things which appeared so grotesque and incredible, i had a long account sent by table tilting about the conditions of life beyond. the details seemed to me impossible and i set them aside, and yet they harmonise, as i now discover, with other revelations. so, too, with the automatic script of mr. hubert wales, which has been described in my previous book. he had tossed it aside into a drawer as being unworthy of serious consideration, and yet it also proved to be in harmony. in neither of these cases was telepathy or the prepossession of the medium a possible explanation. on the whole, i am inclined to think that these doubtful or dissentient scientific men, having their own weighty studies to attend to, have confined their reading and thought to the more objective side of the question, and are not aware of the vast amount of concurrent evidence which appears to give us an exact picture of the life beyond. they despise documents which cannot be proved, and they do not, in my opinion, sufficiently realise that a general agreement of testimony, and the already established character of a witness, are themselves arguments for truth. some complicate the question by predicating the existence of a fourth dimension in that world, but the term is an absurdity, as are all terms which find no corresponding impression in the human brain. we have mysteries enough to solve without gratuitously introducing fresh ones. when solid passes through solid, it is, surely, simpler to assume that it is done by a dematerialisation, and subsequent reassembly--a process which can, at least, be imagined by the human mind--than to invoke an explanation which itself needs to be explained. in the next and final chapter i will ask the reader to accompany me in an examination of the new testament by the light of this psychic knowledge, and to judge how far it makes clear and reasonable much which was obscure and confused. chapter v is it the second dawn? there are many incidents in the new testament which might be taken as starting points in tracing a close analogy between the phenomenal events which are associated with the early days of christianity, and those which have perplexed the world in connection with modern spiritualism. most of us are prepared to admit that the lasting claims of christianity upon the human race are due to its own intrinsic teachings, which are quite independent of those wonders which can only have had a use in startling the solid complacence of an unspiritual race, and so directing their attention violently to this new system of thought. exactly the same may be said of the new revelation. the exhibitions of a force which is beyond human experience and human guidance is but a method of calling attention. to repeat a simile which has been used elsewhere, it is the humble telephone bell which heralds the all-important message. in the case of christ, the sermon on the mount was more than many miracles. in the case of this new development, the messages from beyond are more than any phenomena. a vulgar mind might make christ's story seem vulgar, if it insisted upon loaves of bread and the bodies of fish. so, also, a vulgar mind may make psychic religion vulgar by insisting upon moving furniture or tambourines in the air. in each case they are crude signs of power, and the essence of the matter lies upon higher planes. it is stated in the second chapter of the acts of the apostles, that they, the christian leaders, were all "with one accord" in one place. "with one accord" expresses admirably those sympathetic conditions which have always been found, in psychic circles, to be conducive of the best results, and which are so persistently ignored by a certain class of investigators. then there came "a mighty rushing wind," and afterwards "there appeared cloven tongues like unto fire and it sat upon each of them." here is a very definite and clear account of a remarkable sequence of phenomena. now, let us compare with this the results which were obtained by professor crookes in his investigation in 1873, after he had taken every possible precaution against fraud which his experience, as an accurate observer and experimenter, could suggest. he says in his published notes: "i have seen luminous points of light darting about, sitting on the heads of different persons" and then again: "these movements, and, indeed, i may say the same of every class of phenomena, are generally preceded by a peculiar cold air, sometimes amounting to a decided wind. i have had sheets of paper blown about by it. . . ." now, is it not singular, not merely that the phenomena should be of the same order, but that they should come in exactly the same sequence, the wind first and the lights afterwards? in our ignorance of etheric physics, an ignorance which is now slowly clearing, one can only say that there is some indication here of a general law which links those two episodes together in spite of the nineteen centuries which divide them. a little later, it is stated that "the place was shaken where they were assembled together." many modern observers of psychic phenomena have testified to vibration of the walls of an apartment, as if a heavy lorry were passing. it is, evidently, to such experiences that paul alludes when he says: "our gospel came unto you not in word only, but also in power." the preacher of the new revelation can most truly say the same words. in connection with the signs of the pentecost, i can most truly say that i have myself experienced them all, the cold sudden wind, the lambent misty flames, all under the mediumship of mr. phoenix, an amateur psychic of glasgow. the fifteen sitters were of one accord upon that occasion, and, by a coincidence, it was in an upper room, at the very top of the house. in a previous section of this essay, i have remarked that no philosophical explanation of these phenomena, known as spiritual, could be conceived which did not show that all, however different in their working, came from the same central source. st. paul seems to state this in so many words when he says: "but all these worketh that one and the selfsame spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." could our modern speculation, forced upon us by the facts, be more tersely stated? he has just enumerated the various gifts, and we find them very close to those of which we have experience. there is first "the word of wisdom," "the word of knowledge" and "faith." all these taken in connection with the spirit would seem to mean the higher communications from the other side. then comes healing, which is still practised in certain conditions by a highly virile medium, who has the power of discharging strength, losing just as much as the weakling gains, as instanced by christ when he said: "who has touched me? much virtue" (or power) "has gone out of me." then we come upon the working of miracles, which we should call the production of phenomena, and which would cover many different types, such as apports, where objects are brought from a distance, levitation of objects or of the human frame into the air, the production of lights and other wonders. then comes prophecy, which is a real and yet a fitful and often delusive form of mediumship--never so delusive as among the early christians, who seem all to have mistaken the approaching fall of jerusalem and the destruction of the temple, which they could dimly see, as being the end of the world. this mistake is repeated so often and so clearly that it is really not honest to ignore or deny it. then we come to the power of "discerning the spirits," which corresponds to our clairvoyance, and finally that curious and usually useless gift of tongues, which is also a modern phenomenon. i can remember that some time ago i read the book, "i heard a voice," by an eminent barrister, in which he describes how his young daughter began to write greek fluently with all the complex accents in their correct places. just after i read it i received a letter from a no less famous physician, who asked my opinion about one of his children who had written a considerable amount of script in mediaeval french. these two recent cases are beyond all doubt, but i have not had convincing evidence of the case where some unintelligible signs drawn by an unlettered man were pronounced by an expert to be in the ogham or early celtic character. as the ogham script is really a combination of straight lines, the latter case may be taken with considerable reserve. thus the phenomena associated with the rise of christianity and those which have appeared during the present spiritual ferment are very analogous. in examining the gifts of the disciples, as mentioned by matthew and mark, the only additional point is the raising of the dead. if any of them besides their great leader did in truth rise to this height of power, where life was actually extinct, then he, undoubtedly, far transcended anything which is recorded of modern mediumship. it is clear, however, that such a power must have been very rare, since it would otherwise have been used to revive the bodies of their own martyrs, which does not seem to have been attempted. for christ the power is clearly admitted, and there are little touches in the description of how it was exercised by him which are extremely convincing to a psychic student. in the account of how he raised lazarus from the grave after he had been four days dead--far the most wonderful of all christ's miracles--it is recorded that as he went down to the graveside he was "groaning." why was he groaning? no biblical student seems to have given a satisfactory reason. but anyone who has heard a medium groaning before any great manifestation of power will read into this passage just that touch of practical knowledge, which will convince him of its truth. the miracle, i may add, is none the less wonderful or beyond our human powers, because it was wrought by an extension of natural law, differing only in degree with that which we can ourselves test and even do. although our modern manifestations have never attained the power mentioned in the biblical records, they present some features which are not related in the new testament. clairaudience, that is the hearing of a spirit voice, is common to both, but the direct voice, that is the hearing of a voice which all can discern with their material ears, is a well-authenticated phenomenon now which is more rarely mentioned of old. so, too, spirit-photography, where the camera records what the human eye cannot see, is necessarily a new testimony. nothing is evidence to those who do not examine evidence, but i can attest most solemnly that i personally know of several cases where the image upon the plate after death has not only been unmistakable, but also has differed entirely from any pre-existing photograph. as to the methods by which the early christians communicated with the spirits, or with the "saints" as they called their dead brethren, we have, so far as i know, no record, though the words of john: "brothers, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of god," show very clearly that spirit communion was a familiar idea, and also that they were plagued, as we are, by the intrusion of unwelcome spiritual elements in their intercourse. some have conjectured that the "angel of the church," who is alluded to in terms which suggest that he was a human being, was really a medium sanctified to the use of that particular congregation. as we have early indications of bishops, deacons and other officials, it is difficult to say what else the "angel" could have been. this, however, must remain a pure speculation. another speculation which is, perhaps, rather more fruitful is upon what principle did christ select his twelve chief followers. out of all the multitudes he chose twelve men. why these particular ones? it was not for their intelligence or learning, for peter and john, who were among the most prominent, are expressly described as "unlearned and ignorant men." it was not for their virtue, for one of them proved to be a great villain, and all of them deserted their master in his need. it was not for their belief, for there were great numbers of believers. and yet it is clear that they were chosen on some principle of selection since they were called in ones and in twos. in at least two cases they were pairs of brothers, as though some family gift or peculiarity, might underlie the choice. is it not at least possible that this gift was psychic power, and that christ, as the greatest exponent who has ever appeared upon earth of that power, desired to surround himself with others who possessed it to a lesser degree? this he would do for two reasons. the first is that a psychic circle is a great source of strength to one who is himself psychic, as is shown continually in our own experience, where, with a sympathetic and helpful surrounding, an atmosphere is created where all the powers are drawn out. how sensitive christ was to such an atmosphere is shown by the remark of the evangelist, that when he visited his own native town, where the townspeople could not take him seriously, he was unable to do any wonders. the second reason may have been that he desired them to act as his deputies, either during his lifetime or after his death, and that for this reason some natural psychic powers were necessary. the close connection which appears to exist between the apostles and the miracles, has been worked out in an interesting fashion by dr. abraham wallace, in his little pamphlet "jesus of nazareth."[6] certainly, no miracle or wonder working, save that of exorcism, is recorded in any of the evangelists until after the time when christ began to assemble his circle. of this circle the three who would appear to have been the most psychic were peter and the two fellow-fishermen, sons of zebedee, john and james. these were the three who were summoned when an ideal atmosphere was needed. it will be remembered that when the daughter of jairus was raised from the dead it was in the presence, and possibly, with the co-operation, of these three assistants. again, in the case of the transfiguration, it is impossible to read the account of that wonderful manifestation without being reminded at every turn of one's own spiritual experiences. here, again, the points are admirably made in "jesus of nazareth," and it would be well if that little book, with its scholarly tone, its breadth of treatment and its psychic knowledge, was in the hands of every biblical student. dr. wallace points out that the place, the summit of a hill, was the ideal one for such a manifestation, in its pure air and freedom from interruption; that the drowsy state of the apostles is paralleled by the members of any circle who are contributing psychic power; that the transfiguring of the face and the shining raiment are known phenomena; above all, that the erection of three altars is meaningless, but that the alternate reading, the erection of three booths or cabinets, one for the medium and one for each materialised form, would absolutely fulfil the most perfect conditions for getting results. this explanation of wallace's is a remarkable example of a modern brain, with modern knowledge, throwing a clear searchlight across all the centuries and illuminating an incident which has always been obscure. when we translate bible language into the terms of modern psychic religion the correspondence becomes evident. it does not take much alteration. thus for "lo, a miracle!" we say "this is a manifestation." "the angel of the lord" becomes "a high spirit." where we talked of "a voice from heaven," we say "the direct voice." "his eyes were opened and he saw a vision" means "he became clairvoyant." it is only the occultist who can possibly understand the scriptures as being a real exact record of events. there are many other small points which seem to bring the story of christ and of the apostles into very close touch with modern psychic research, and greatly support the close accuracy of some of the new testament narrative. one which appeals to me greatly is the action of christ when he was asked a question which called for a sudden decision, namely the fate of the woman who had been taken in sin. what did he do? the very last thing that one would have expected or invented. he stooped down before answering and wrote with his finger in the sand. this he did a second time upon a second catch-question being addressed to him. can any theologian give a reason for such an action? i hazard the opinion that among the many forms of mediumship which were possessed in the highest form by christ, was the power of automatic writing, by which he summoned those great forces which were under his control to supply him with the answer. granting, as i freely do, that christ was preternatural, in the sense that he was above and beyond ordinary humanity in his attributes, one may still inquire how far these powers were contained always within his human body, or how far he referred back to spiritual reserves beyond it. when he spoke merely from his human body he was certainly open to error, like the rest of us, for it is recorded how he questioned the woman of samaria about her husband, to which she replied that she had no husband. in the case of the woman taken in sin, one can only explain his action by the supposition that he opened a channel instantly for the knowledge and wisdom which was preter-human, and which at once gave a decision in favor of large-minded charity. it is interesting to observe the effect which these phenomena, or the report of them, produced upon the orthodox jews of those days. the greater part obviously discredited them, otherwise they could not have failed to become followers, or at the least to have regarded such a wonder-worker with respect and admiration. one can well imagine how they shook their bearded heads, declared that such occurrences were outside their own experience, and possibly pointed to the local conjuror who earned a few not over-clean denarii by imitating the phenomena. there were others, however, who could not possibly deny, because they either saw or met with witnesses who had seen. these declared roundly that the whole thing was of the devil, drawing from christ one of those pithy, common-sense arguments in which he excelled. the same two classes of opponents, the scoffers and the diabolists, face us to-day. verily the old world goes round and so do the events upon its surface. there is one line of thought which may be indicated in the hope that it will find development from the minds and pens of those who have studied most deeply the possibilities of psychic power. it is at least possible, though i admit that under modern conditions it has not been clearly proved, that a medium of great power can charge another with his own force, just as a magnet when rubbed upon a piece of inert steel can turn it also into a magnet. one of the best attested powers of d. d. home was that he could take burning coals from the fire with impunity and carry them in his hand. he could then--and this comes nearer to the point at issue--place them on the head of anyone who was fearless without their being burned. spectators have described how the silver filigree of the hair of mr. carter hall used to be gathered over the glowing ember, and mrs. hall has mentioned how she combed out the ashes afterwards. now, in this case, home was clearly, able to convey, a power to another person, just as christ, when he was levitated over the lake, was able to convey the same power to peter, so long as peter's faith held firm. the question then arises if home concentrated all his force upon transferring such a power how long would that power last? the experiment was never tried, but it would have borne very, directly upon this argument. for, granting that the power can be transferred, then it is very clear how the christ circle was able to send forth seventy disciples who were endowed with miraculous functions. it is clear also why, new disciples had to return to jerusalem to be "baptised of the spirit," to use their phrase, before setting forth upon their wanderings. and when in turn they, desired to send forth representatives would not they lay hands upon them, make passes over them and endeavour to magnetise them in the same way--if that word may express the process? have we here the meaning of the laying on of hands by the bishop at ordination, a ceremony to which vast importance is still attached, but which may well be the survival of something really vital, the bestowal of the thaumaturgic power? when, at last, through lapse of time or neglect of fresh cultivation, the power ran out, the empty formula may have been carried on, without either the blesser or the blessed understanding what it was that the hands of the bishop, and the force which streamed from them, were meant to bestow. the very words "laying on of hands" would seem to suggest something different from a mere benediction. enough has been said, perhaps, to show the reader that it is possible to put forward a view of christ's life which would be in strict accord with the most modern psychic knowledge, and which, far from supplanting christianity, would show the surprising accuracy of some of the details handed down to us, and would support the novel conclusion that those very miracles, which have been the stumbling block to so many truthful, earnest minds, may finally offer some very cogent arguments for the truth of the whole narrative. is this then a line of thought which merits the wholesale condemnations and anathemas hurled at it by those who profess to speak in the name of religion? at the same time, though we bring support to the new testament, it would, indeed, be a misconception if these, or any such remarks, were quoted as sustaining its literal accuracy--an idea from which so much harm has come in the past. it would, indeed, be a good, though an unattainable thing, that a really honest and open-minded attempt should be made to weed out from that record the obvious forgeries and interpolations which disfigure it, and lessen the value of those parts which are really above suspicion. is it necessary, for example, to be told, as an inspired fact from christ's own lips, that zacharias, the son of barachias,[7] was struck dead within the precincts of the temple in the time of christ, when, by a curious chance, josephus has independently narrated the incident as having occurred during the siege of jerusalem, thirty-seven years later? this makes it very clear that this particular gospel, in its present form, was written after that event, and that the writer fitted into it at least one other incident which had struck his imagination. unfortunately, a revision by general agreement would be the greatest of all miracles, for two of the very first texts to go would be those which refer to the "church," an institution and an idea utterly unfamiliar in the days of christ. since the object of the insertion of these texts is perfectly clear, there can be no doubt that they are forgeries, but as the whole system of the papacy rests upon one of them, they are likely to survive for a long time to come. the text alluded to is made further impossible because it is based upon the supposition that christ and his fishermen conversed together in latin or greek, even to the extent of making puns in that language. surely the want of moral courage and intellectual honesty among christians will seem as strange to our descendants as it appears marvellous to us that the great thinkers of old could have believed, or at least have pretended to believe, in the fighting sexual deities of mount olympus. revision is, indeed, needed, and as i have already pleaded, a change of emphasis is also needed, in order to get the grand christian conception back into the current of reason and progress. the orthodox who, whether from humble faith or some other cause, do not look deeply into such matters, can hardly conceive the stumbling-blocks which are littered about before the feet of their more critical brethren. what is easy, for faith is impossible for reflection. such expressions as "saved by the blood of the lamb" or "baptised by his precious blood" fill their souls with a gentle and sweet emotion, while upon a more thoughtful mind they have a very different effect. apart from the apparent injustice of vicarious atonement, the student is well aware that the whole of this sanguinary metaphor is drawn really from the pagan rites of mithra, where the neophyte was actually placed under a bull at the ceremony of the taurobolium, and was drenched, through a grating, with the blood of the slaughtered animal. such reminiscences of the more brutal side of paganism are not helpful to the thoughtful and sensitive modern mind. but what is always fresh and always useful and always beautiful, is the memory of the sweet spirit who wandered on the hillsides of galilee; who gathered the children around him; who met his friends in innocent good-fellowship; who shrank from forms and ceremonies, craving always for the inner meaning; who forgave the sinner; who championed the poor, and who in every decision threw his weight upon the side of charity and breadth of view. when to this character you add those wondrous psychic powers already analysed, you do, indeed, find a supreme character in the world's history who obviously stands nearer to the highest than any other. when one compares the general effect of his teaching with that of the more rigid churches, one marvels how in their dogmatism, their insistence upon forms, their exclusiveness, their pomp and their intolerance, they could have got so far away from the example of their master, so that as one looks upon him and them, one feels that there is absolute deep antagonism and that one cannot speak of the church and christ, but only of the church or christ. and yet every church produces beautiful souls, though it may be debated whether "produces" or "contains" is the truthful word. we have but to fall back upon our own personal experience if we have lived long and mixed much with our fellow-men. i have myself lived during the seven most impressionable years of my life among jesuits, the most maligned of all ecclesiastical orders, and i have found them honourable and good men, in all ways estimable outside the narrowness which limits the world to mother church. they were athletes, scholars, and gentlemen, nor can i ever remember any examples of that casuistry with which they are reproached. some of my best friends have been among the parochial clergy of the church of england, men of sweet and saintly character, whose pecuniary straits were often a scandal and a reproach to the half-hearted folk who accepted their spiritual guidance. i have known, also, splendid men among the nonconformist clergy, who have often been the champions of liberty, though their views upon that subject have sometimes seemed to contract when one ventured upon their own domain of thought. each creed has brought out men who were an honour to the human race, and manning or shrewsbury, gordon or dolling, booth or stopford brooke, are all equally admirable, however diverse the roots from which they grow. among the great mass of the people, too, there are very many thousands of beautiful souls who have been brought up on the old-fashioned lines, and who never heard of spiritual communion or any other of those matters which have been discussed in these essays, and yet have reached a condition of pure spirituality such as all of us may envy. who does not know the maiden aunt, the widowed mother, the mellowed elderly man, who live upon the hilltops of unselfishness, shedding kindly thoughts and deeds around them, but with their simple faith deeply, rooted in anything or everything which has come to them in a hereditary fashion with the sanction of some particular authority? i had an aunt who was such an one, and can see her now, worn with austerity and charity, a small, humble figure, creeping to church at all hours from a house which was to her but a waiting-room between services, while she looked at me with sad, wondering, grey eyes. such people have often reached by instinct, and in spite of dogma, heights, to which no system of philosophy can ever raise us. but making full allowance for the high products of every creed, which may be only, a proof of the innate goodness of civilised humanity, it is still beyond all doubt that christianity has broken down, and that this breakdown has been brought home to everyone by the terrible catastrophe which has befallen the world. can the most optimistic apologist contend that this is a satisfactory, outcome from a religion which has had the unopposed run of europe for so many centuries? which has come out of it worst, the lutheran prussian, the catholic bavarian, or the peoples who have been nurtured by the greek church? if we, of the west, have done better, is it not rather an older and higher civilisation and freer political institutions that have held us back from all the cruelties, excesses and immoralities which have taken the world back to the dark ages? it will not do to say that they have occurred in spite of christianity, and that christianity is, therefore, not to blame. it is true that christ's teaching is not to blame, for it is often spoiled in the transmission. but christianity has taken over control of the morals of europe, and should have the compelling force which would ensure that those morals would not go to pieces upon the first strain. it is on this point that christianity must be judged, and the judgment can only be that it has failed. it has not been an active controlling force upon the minds of men. and why? it can only be because there is something essential which is wanting. men do not take it seriously. men do not believe in it. lip service is the only service in innumerable cases, and even lip service grows fainter. men, as distinct from women, have, both in the higher and lower classes of life, ceased, in the greater number of cases, to show a living interest in religion. the churches lose their grip upon the people--and lose it rapidly. small inner circles, convocations, committees, assemblies, meet and debate and pass resolutions of an ever narrower character. but the people go their way and religion is dead, save in so far as intellectual culture and good taste can take its place. but when religion is dead, materialism becomes active, and what active materialism may produce has been seen in germany. is it not time, then, for the religious bodies to discourage their own bigots and sectarians, and to seriously consider, if only for self-preservation, how they can get into line once more with that general level of human thought which is now so far in front of them? i say that they can do more than get level--they can lead. but to do so they must, on the one hand, have the firm courage to cut away from their own bodies all that dead tissue which is but a disfigurement and an encumbrance. they must face difficulties of reason, and adapt themselves to the demands of the human intelligence which rejects, and is right in rejecting, much which they offer. finally, they must gather fresh strength by drawing in all the new truth and all the new power which are afforded by this new wave of inspiration which has been sent into the world by god, and which the human race, deluded and bemused by the would-be clever, has received with such perverse and obstinate incredulity. when they have done all this, they will find not only that they are leading the world with an obvious right to the leadership, but, in addition, that they have come round once more to the very teaching of that master whom they have so long misrepresented. appendices a doctor geley's experiments nothing could be imagined more fantastic and grotesque than the results of the recent experiments of professor geley, in france. before such results the brain, even of the trained psychical student, is dazed, while that of the orthodox man of science, who has given no heed to these developments, is absolutely helpless. in the account of the proceedings which he read lately before the institut general psychologique in paris, on january of last year, dr. geley says: "i do not merely say that there has been no fraud; i say, 'there has been no possibility of fraud.' in nearly every case the materialisations were done under my eyes, and i have observed their whole genesis and development." he adds that, in the course of the experiments, more than a hundred experts, mostly doctors, checked the results. these results may be briefly stated thus. a peculiar whitish matter exuded from the subject, a girl named eva, coming partly through her skin, partly from her hands, partly from the orifices of her face, especially her mouth. this was photographed repeatedly at every stage of its production, these photographs being appended to the printed treatise. this stuff, solid enough to enable one to touch and to photograph, has been called the ectoplasm. it is a new order of matter, and it is clearly derived from the subject herself, absorbing into her system once more at the end of the experiment. it exudes in such quantities as to entirely, cover her sometimes as with an apron. it is soft and glutinous to the touch, but varies in form and even in colour. its production causes pain and groans from the subject, and any violence towards it would appear also to affect her. a sudden flash of light, as in a flash-photograph, may or may not cause a retraction of the ectoplasm, but always causes a spasm of the subject. when re-absorbed, it leaves no trace upon the garments through which it has passed. this is wonderful enough, but far more fantastic is what has still to be told. the most marked property of this ectoplasm, very fully illustrated in the photographs, is that it sets or curdles into the shapes of human members--of fingers, of hands, of faces, which are at first quite sketchy and rudimentary, but rapidly coalesce and develop until they are undistinguishable from those of living beings. is not this the very strangest and most inexplicable thing that has ever yet been observed by human eyes? these faces or limbs are usually the size of life, but they frequently are quite miniatures. occasionally they begin by being miniatures, and grow into full size. on their first appearance in the ectoplasm the limb is only on one plane of matter, a mere flat appearance, which rapidly rounds itself off, until it has assumed all three planes and is complete. it may be a mere simulacrum, like a wax hand, or it may be endowed with full power of grasping another hand, with every articulation in perfect working order. the faces which are produced in this amazing way are worthy of study. they do not appear to have represented anyone who has ever been known in life by doctor geley.[8] my impression after examining them is that they are much more likely to be within the knowledge of the subject, being girls of the french lower middle class type, such as eva was, i should imagine, in the habit of meeting. it should be added that eva herself appears in the photograph as well as the simulacra of humanity. the faces are, on the whole, both pretty and piquant, though of a rather worldly and unrefined type. the latter adjective would not apply to the larger and most elaborate photograph, which represents a very beautiful young woman of a truly spiritual cast of face. some of the faces are but partially formed, which gives them a grotesque or repellant appearance. what are we to make of such phenomena? there is no use deluding ourselves by the idea that there may be some mistake or some deception. there is neither one nor the other. apart from the elaborate checks upon these particular results, they correspond closely with those got by lombroso in italy, by schrenk-notzing in germany, and by other careful observers. one thing we must bear in mind constantly in considering them, and that is their abnormality. at a liberal estimate, it is not one person in a million who possesses such powers--if a thing which is outside our volition can be described as a power. it is the mechanism of the materialisation medium which has been explored by the acute brain and untiring industry of doctor geley, and even presuming, as one may fairly presume, that every materialising medium goes through the same process in order to produce results, still such mediums are exceedingly, rare. dr. geley mentions, as an analogous phenomenon on the material side, the presence of dermoid cysts, those mysterious formations, which rise as small tumors in any part of the body, particularly above the eyebrow, and which when opened by the surgeon are found to contain hair, teeth or embryonic bones. there is no doubt, as he claims, some rough analogy, but the dermoid cyst is, at least, in the same flesh and blood plane of nature as the foetus inside it, while in the ectoplasm we are dealing with an entirely new and strange development. it is not possible to define exactly what occurs in the case of the ectoplasm, nor, on account of its vital connection with the medium and its evanescent nature, has it been separated and subjected to even the roughest chemical analysis which might show whether it is composed of those earthly elements with which we are familiar. is it rather some coagulation of ether which introduces an absolutely new substance into our world? such a supposition seems most probable, for a comparison with the analogous substance examined at dr. crawford's seances at belfast, which is at the same time hardly visible to the eye and yet capable of handling a weight of 150 pounds, suggests something entirely new in the way of matter. but setting aside, as beyond the present speculation, what the exact origin and nature of the ectoplasm may be, it seems to me that there is room for a very suggestive line of thought if we make geley's experiments the starting point, and lead it in the direction of other manifestations of psychomaterial activity. first of all, let us take crookes' classic experiments with katie king, a result which for a long time stood alone and isolated but now can be approached by intermittent but definite stages. thus we can well suppose that during those long periods when florrie cook lay in the laboratory in the dark, periods which lasted an hour or more upon some occasions, the ectoplasm was flowing from her as from eva. then it was gathering itself into a viscous cloud or pillar close to her frame; then the form of katie king was evolved from this cloud, in the manner already described, and finally the nexus was broken and the completed body advanced to present itself at the door of communication, showing a person different in every possible attribute save that of sex from the medium, and yet composed wholly or in part from elements extracted from her senseless body. so far, geley's experiments throw a strong explanatory light upon those of crookes. and here the spiritualist must, as it seems to me, be prepared to meet an objection more formidable than the absurd ones of fraud or optical delusion. it is this. if the body of katie king the spirit is derived from the body of florrie cook the psychic, then what assurance have we that the life therein is not really one of the personalities out of which the complex being named florrie cook is constructed? it is a thesis which requires careful handling. it is not enough to say that the nature is manifestly superior, for supposing that florrie cook represented the average of a number of conflicting personalities, then a single one of these personalities might be far higher than the total effect. without going deeply into this problem, one can but say that the spirit's own account of its own personality must count for something, and also that an isolated phenomenon must be taken in conjunction with all other psychic phenomena when we are seeking for a correct explanation. but now let us take this idea of a human being who has the power of emitting a visible substance in which are formed faces which appear to represent distinct individualities, and in extreme cases develop into complete independent human forms. take this extraordinary fact, and let us see whether, by an extension or modification of this demonstrated process, we may not get some sort of clue as to the modus operandi in other psychic phenomena. it seems to me that we may, at least, obtain indications which amount to a probability, though not to a certainty, as to how some results, hitherto inexplicable, are attained. it is at any rate a provisional speculation, which may suggest a hypothesis for future observers to destroy, modify, or confirm. the argument which i would advance is this. if a strong materialisation medium can throw out a cloud of stuff which is actually visible, may not a medium of a less pronounced type throw out a similar cloud with analogous properties which is not opaque enough to be seen by the average eye, but can make an impression both on the dry plate in the camera and on the clairvoyant faculty? if that be so--and it would not seem to be a very far-fetched proposition--we have at once an explanation both of psychic photographs and of the visions of the clairvoyant seer. when i say an explanation, i mean of its superficial method of formation, and not of the forces at work behind, which remain no less a mystery even when we accept dr. geley's statement that they are "ideoplastic." here we have, i think, some attempt at a generalisation, which might, perhaps, be useful in evolving some first signs of order out of this chaos. it is conceivable that the thinner emanation of the clairvoyant would extend far further than the thick material ectoplasm, but have the same property of moulding itself into life, though the life forms would only be visible to the clairvoyant eye. thus, when mr. tom tyrrell, or any other competent exponent, stands upon the platform his emanation fills the hall. into this emanation, as into the visible ectoplasm in geley's experiments, break the faces and forms of those from the other side who are attracted to the scene by their sympathy with various members of the audience. they are seen and described by mr. tyrrell, who with his finely attuned senses, carefully conserved (he hardly eats or drinks upon a day when he demonstrates), can hear that thinner higher voice that calls their names, their old addresses and their messages. so, too, when mr. hope and mrs. buxton stand with their hands joined over the cap of the camera, they are really throwing out a misty ectoplasm from which the forms loom up which appear upon the photographic plate. it may be that i mistake an analogy for an explanation, but i put the theory on record for what it is worth. b a particular instance i have been in touch with a series of events in america lately, and can vouch for the facts as much as any man can vouch for facts which did not occur to himself. i have not the least doubt in my own mind that they are true, and a more remarkable double proof of the continuity of life has, i should think, seldom been published. a book has recently been issued by harpers, of new york, called "the seven purposes." in this book the authoress, miss margaret cameron, describes how she suddenly developed the power of automatic writing. she was not a spiritualist at the time. her hand was controlled and she wrote a quantity of matter which was entirely outside her own knowledge or character. upon her doubting whether her sub-conscious self might in some way be producing the writing, which was partly done by planchette, the script was written upside down and from right to left, as though the writer was seated opposite. such script could not possibly be written by the lady herself. upon making enquiry as to who was using her hand, the answer came in writing that it was a certain fred gaylord, and that his object was to get a message to his mother. the youth was unknown to miss cameron, but she knew the family and forwarded the message, with the result that the mother came to see her, examined the evidence, communicated with the son, and finally, returning home, buried all her evidences of mourning, feeling that the boy was no more dead in the old sense than if he were alive in a foreign country. there is the first proof of preternatural agency, since miss cameron developed so much knowledge which she could not have normally acquired, using many phrases and ideas which were characteristic of the deceased. but mark the sequel. gaylord was merely a pseudonym, as the matter was so private that the real name, which we will put as bridger, was not disclosed. a few months after the book was published miss cameron received a letter from a stranger living a thousand miles away. this letter and the whole correspondence i have seen. the stranger, mrs. nicol, says that as a test she would like to ask whether the real name given as fred gaylord in the book is not fred bridger, as she had psychic reasons for believing so. miss cameron replied that it was so, and expressed her great surprise that so secret and private a matter should have been correctly stated. mrs. nicol then explained that she and her husband, both connected with journalism and both absolutely agnostic, had discovered that she had the power of automatic writing. that while, using this power she had received communications purporting to come from fred bridger whom they had known in life, and that upon reading miss cameron's book they had received from fred bridger the assurance that he was the same person as the fred gaylord of miss cameron. now, arguing upon these facts, and they would appear most undoubtedly to be facts, what possible answer can the materialist or the sceptic give to the assertion that they are a double proof of the continuity of personality and the possibility of communication? can any reasonable system of telepathy explain how miss cameron discovered the intimate points characteristic of young gaylord? and then, how are we afterwards, by any possible telepathy, to explain the revelation to mrs. nicol of the identity of her communicant, fred bridger, with the fred gaylord who had been written of by miss cameron. the case for return seems to me a very convincing one, though i contend now, as ever, that it is not the return of the lost ones which is of such cogent interest as the message from the beyond which they bear with them. c spirit photography on this subject i should recommend the reader to consult coates' "photographing the invisible," which states, in a thoughtful and moderate way, the evidence for this most remarkable phase, and illustrates it with many examples. it is pointed out that here, as always, fraud must be carefully guarded against, having been admitted in the case of the french spirit photographer, buguet. there are, however, a large number of cases where the photograph, under rigid test conditions in which fraud has been absolutely barred, has reproduced the features of the dead. here there are limitations and restrictions which call for careful study and observation. these faces of the dead are in some cases as contoured and as recognisable as they were in life, and correspond with no pre-existing picture or photograph. one such case absolutely critic-proof is enough, one would think, to establish survival, and these valid cases are to be counted not in ones, but in hundreds. on the other hand, many of the likenesses, obtained under the same test conditions, are obviously simulacra or pictures built up by some psychic force, not necessarily by the individual spirits themselves, to represent the dead. in some undoubtedly genuine cases it is an exact, or almost exact, reproduction of an existing picture, as if the conscious intelligent force, whatever it might be, had consulted it as to the former appearance of the deceased, and had then built it up in exact accordance with the original. in such cases the spirit face may show as a flat surface instead of a contour. rigid examination has shown that the existing model was usually outside the ken of the photographer. two of the bravest champions whom spiritualism has ever produced, the late w. t. stead and the late archdeacon colley--names which will bulk large in days to come--attached great importance to spirit photography as a final and incontestable proof of survival. in his recent work, "proofs of the truth of spiritualism" (kegan paul), the eminent botanist, professor henslow, has given one case which would really appear to be above criticism. he narrates how the inquirer subjected a sealed packet of plates to the crewe circle without exposure, endeavoring to get a psychograph. upon being asked on which plate he desired it, he said "the fifth." upon this plate being developed, there was found on it a copy of a passage from the codex alexandrinus of the new testament in the british museum. reproductions, both of the original and of the copy, will be found in professor henslow's book. i have myself been to crewe and have had results which would be amazing were it not that familiarity blunts the mind to miracles. three marked plates brought by myself, and handled, developed and fixed by no hand but mine, gave psychic extras. in each case i saw the extra in the negative when it was still wet in the dark room. i reproduce in plate i a specimen of the results, which is enough in itself to prove the whole case of survival to any reasonable mind. the three sitters are mr. oaten, mr. walker, and myself, i being obscured by the psychic cloud. in this cloud appears a message of welcome to me from the late archdeacon colley. a specimen of the archdeacon's own handwriting is reproduced in plate ii for the purpose of comparison. behind, there is an attempt at materialisation obscured by the cloud. the mark on the side of the plate is my identification mark. i trust that i make it clear that no hand but mine ever touched this plate, nor did i ever lose sight of it for a second save when it was in the carrier, which was conveyed straight back to the dark room and there opened. what has any critic to say to that? by the kindness of those fearless pioneers of the movement, mr. and mrs. hewat mackenzie, i am allowed to publish another example of spirit photography. the circumstances were very remarkable. the visit of the parents to crewe was unproductive and their plate a blank save for their own presentment. returning disappointed, to london they managed, through the mediumship of mrs. leonard, to get into touch with their boy, and asked him why they had failed. he replied that the conditions had been bad, but that he had actually succeeded some days later in getting on to the plate of lady glenconnor, who had been to crewe upon a similar errand. the parents communicated with this lady, who replied saying that she had found the image of a stranger upon her plate. on receiving a print they at once recognised their son, and could even see that, as a proof of identity, he had reproduced the bullet wound on his left temple. no. 3 is their gallant son as he appeared in the flesh, no. 4 is his reappearance after death. the opinion of a miniature painter who had done a picture of the young soldier is worth recording as evidence of identity. the artist says: "after painting the miniature of your son will, i feel i know every turn of his face, and am quite convinced of the likeness of the psychic photograph. all the modelling of the brow, nose and eyes is marked by illness--especially is the mouth slightly contracted--but this does not interfere with the real form. the way the hair grows on the brow and temple is noticeably like the photograph taken before he was wounded." d the clairvoyance of mrs. b. at the time of this volume going to press the results obtained by clients of this medium have been forty-two successes out of fifty attempts, checked and docketted by the author. this series forms a most conclusive proof of spirit clairvoyance. an attempt has been made by mr. e. f. benson, who examined some of the letters, to explain the results upon the grounds of telepathy. he admits that "the tastes, appearance and character of the deceased are often given, and many names are introduced by the medium, some not traceable, but most of them identical with relations or friends." such an admission would alone banish thought-reading as an explanation, for there is no evidence in existence to show that this power ever reaches such perfection that one who possesses it could draw the image of a dead man from your brain, fit a correct name to him, and then associate him with all sorts of definite and detailed actions in which he was engaged. such an explanation is not an explanation but a pretence. but even if one were to allow such a theory to pass, there are numerous incidents in these accounts which could not be explained in such a fashion, where unknown details have been given which were afterwards verified, and even where mistakes in thought upon the part of the sitter were corrected by the medium under spirit guidance. personally i believe that the medium's own account of how she gets her remarkable results is the absolute truth, and i can imagine no other fashion in which they can be explained. she has, of course, her bad days, and the conditions are always worst when there is an inquisitorial rather than a religious atmosphere in the interview. this intermittent character of the results is, according to my experience, characteristic of spirit clairvoyance as compared with thought-reading, which can, in its more perfect form, become almost automatic within certain marked limits. i may add that the constant practice of some psychical researchers to take no notice at all of the medium's own account of how he or she attains results, but to substitute some complicated and unproved explanation of their own, is as insulting as it is unreasonable. it has been alleged as a slur upon mrs. b's results and character that she has been twice prosecuted by the police. this is, in fact, not a slur upon the medium but rather upon the law, which is in so barbarous a condition that the true seer fares no better than the impostor, and that no definite psychic principles are recognised. a medium may under such circumstances be a martyr rather than a criminal, and a conviction ceases to be a stain upon the character. [1] "the reality of psychic phenomena." "experiences in psychical science." (watkins.) [2] see appendix. [3] see appendix d. [4] the details of both these latter cases are to be found in "voices from the void" by mrs. travers smith, a book containing some well weighed evidence. [5] for geley's experiments, appendix a. [6] published at sixpence by the light publishing co., 6, queen square, london, w.c. the same firm supplies dr. ellis powell's convincing little book on the same subject. [7] the references are to matthew, xxiii 35, and to josephus, wars of the jews, book iv, chapter 5. [8] dr. geley writes to me that they are unknown either to him or to the medium. complete hypnotism: mesmerism, mind-reading and spiritualism how to hypnotize: being an exhaustive and practical system of method, application, and use by a. alpheus 1903 contents introduction--history of hypnotism--mesmer--puysegur--braid--what is hypnotism?--theories of hypnotism: 1. animal magnetism; 2. the neurosis theory; 3. suggestion theory chapter i--how to hypnotize--dr. cocke's method-dr. flint's method--the french method at paris--at nancy--the hindoo silent method--how to wake a subject from hypnotic sleep--frauds of public hypnotic entertainments. chapter ii--amusing experiments--hypnotizing on the stage--"you can't pull your hands apart!"--post-hypnotic suggestion--the newsboy, the hunter, and the young man with the rag doll--a whip becomes hot iron--courting a broom stick--the side-show chapter iii--the stages of hypnotism--lethargy-catalepsy--the somnambulistic stage--fascination chapter iv--how the subject feels under hypnotization--dr. cocke's experience--effect of music--dr. alfred warthin's experiments chapter v--self hypnotization--how it may be done--an experience--accountable for children's crusade--oriental prophets self-hypnotized chapter vi--simulation--deception in hypnotism very common--examples of neuropathic deceit--detecting simulation--professional subjects--how dr. luys of the charity hospital at paris was deceived--impossibility of detecting deception in all cases--confessions of a professional hypnotic subject chapter vii--criminal suggestion--laboratory crimes--dr. cocke's experiments showing criminal suggestion is not possible--dr. william james' theory--a bad man cannot be made good, why expect to make a good man bad? chapter viii--dangers in being hypnotized condemnation of public performances--a commonsense view--evidence furnished by lafontaine; by dr. courmelles; by dr. hart; by dr. cocke--no danger in hypnotism if rightly used by physicians or scientists chapter ix--hypnotism in medicine--anesthesia--restoring the use of muscles--hallucination--bad habits chapter x--hypnotism of animals--snake charming chapter xi--a scientific explanation of hypnotism--dr. hart's theory chapter xii--telepathy and clairvoyance--peculiar power in hypnotic state--experiments--"phantasms of the living" explained by telepathy chapter xiii--the confessions of a medium--spiritualistic phenomena explained on theory of telepathy--interesting statement of mrs. piper, the famous medium of the psychical research society introduction. there is no doubt that hypnotism is a very old subject, though the name was not invented till 1850. in it was wrapped up the "mysteries of isis" in egypt thousands of years ago, and probably it was one of the weapons, if not the chief instrument of operation, of the magi mentioned in the bible and of the "wise men" of babylon and egypt. "laying on of hands" must have been a form of mesmerism, and greek oracles of delphi and other places seem to have been delivered by priests or priestesses who went into trances of self-induced hypnotism. it is suspected that the fakirs of india who make trees grow from dry twigs in a few minutes, or transform a rod into a serpent (as aaron did in bible history), operate by some form of hypnotism. the people of the east are much more subject to influences of this kind than western peoples are, and there can be no question that the religious orgies of heathendom were merely a form of that hysteria which is so closely related to the modern phenomenon of hypnotism. though various scientific men spoke of magnetism, and understood that there was a power of a peculiar kind which one man could exercise over another, it was not until frederick anton mesmer (a doctor of vienna) appeared in 1775 that the general public gave any special attention to the subject. in the year mentioned, mesmer sent out a circular letter to various scientific societies or "academies" as they are called in europe, stating his belief that "animal magnetism" existed, and that through it one man could influence another. no attention was given his letter, except by the academy of berlin, which sent him an unfavorable reply. in 1778 mesmer was obliged for some unknown reason to leave vienna, and went to paris, where he was fortunate in converting to his ideas d'eslon, the comte d'artois's physician, and one of the medical professors at the faculty of medicine. his success was very great; everybody was anxious to be magnetized, and the lucky viennese doctor was soon obliged to call in assistants. deleuze, the librarian at the jardin des plantes, who has been called the hippocrates of magnetism, has left the following account of mesmer's experiments: "in the middle of a large room stood an oak tub, four or five feet in diameter and one foot deep. it was closed by a lid made in two pieces, and encased in another tub or bucket. at the bottom of the tub a number of bottles were laid in convergent rows, so that the neck of each bottle turned towards the centre. other bottles filled with magnetized water tightly corked up were laid in divergent rows with their necks turned outwards. several rows were thus piled up, and the apparatus was then pronounced to be at 'high pressure'. the tub was filled with water, to which were sometimes added powdered glass and iron filings. there were also some dry tubs, that is, prepared in the same manner, but without any additional water. the lid was perforated to admit of the passage of movable bent rods, which could be applied to the different parts of the patient's body. a long rope was also fastened to a ring in the lid, and this the patients placed loosely round their limbs. no disease offensive to the sight was treated, such as sores, or deformities. "a large number of patients were commonly treated at one time. they drew near to each other, touching hands, arms, knees, or feet. the handsomest, youngest, and most robust magnetizers held also an iron rod with which they touched the dilatory or stubborn patients. the rods and ropes had all undergone a 'preparation' and in a very short space of time the patients felt the magnetic influence. the women, being the most easily affected, were almost at once seized with fits of yawning and stretching; their eyes closed, their legs gave way and they seemed to suffocate. in vain did musical glasses and harmonicas resound, the piano and voices re-echo; these supposed aids only seemed to increase the patients' convulsive movements. sardonic laughter, piteous moans and torrents of tears burst forth on all sides. the bodies were thrown back in spasmodic jerks, the respirations sounded like death rattles, the most terrifying symptoms were exhibited. then suddenly the actors of this strange scene would frantically or rapturously rush towards each other, either rejoicing and embracing or thrusting away their neighbors with every appearance of horror. "another room was padded and presented another spectacle. there women beat their heads against wadded walls or rolled on the cushion-covered floor, in fits of suffocation. in the midst of this panting, quivering throng, mesmer, dressed in a lilac coat, moved about, extending a magic wand toward the least suffering, halting in front of the most violently excited and gazing steadily into their eyes, while he held both their hands in his, bringing the middle fingers in immediate contact to establish communication. at another moment he would, by a motion of open hands and extended fingers, operate with the great current, crossing and uncrossing his arms with wonderful rapidity to make the final passes." hysterical women and nervous young boys, many of them from the highest ranks of society, flocked around this wonderful wizard, and incidentally he made a great deal of money. there is little doubt that he started out as a genuine and sincere student of the scientific character of the new power he had indeed discovered; there is also no doubt that he ultimately became little more than a charlatan. there was, of course, no virtue in his "prepared" rods, nor in his magnetic tubs. at the same time the belief of the people that there was virtue in them was one of the chief means by which he was able to induce hypnotism, as we shall see later. faith, imagination, and willingness to be hypnotized on the part of the subject are all indispensable to entire success in the practice of this strange art. in 1779 mesmer published a pamphlet entitled "memoire sur la decouverte du magnetisme animal", of which doctor cocke gives the following summary (his chief claim was that he had discovered a principle which would cure every disease): "he sets forth his conclusions in twenty-seven propositions, of which the substance is as follows:-there is a reciprocal action and reaction between the planets, the earth and animate nature by means of a constant universal fluid, subject to mechanical laws yet unknown. the animal body is directly affected by the insinuation of this agent into the substance of the nerves. it causes in human bodies properties analogous to those of the magnet, for which reason it is called 'animal magnetism'. this magnetism may be communicated to other bodies, may be increased and reflected by mirrors, communicated, propagated, and accumulated, by sound. it may be accumulated, concentrated, and transported. the same rules apply to the opposite virtue. the magnet is susceptible of magnetism and the opposite virtue. the magnet and artificial electricity have, with respect to disease, properties common to a host of other agents presented to us by nature, and if the use of these has been attended by useful results, they are due to animal magnetism. by the aid of magnetism, then, the physician enlightened as to the use of medicine may render its action more perfect, and can provoke and direct salutary crises so as to have them completely under his control." the faculty of medicine investigated mesmer's claims, but reported unfavorably, and threatened d'eslon with expulsion from the society unless he gave mesmer up. nevertheless the government favored the discoverer, and when the medical fraternity attacked him with such vigor that he felt obliged to leave paris, it offered him a pension of 20,000 francs if he would remain. he went away, but later came back at the request of his pupils. in 1784 the government appointed two commissions to investigate the claims that had been made. on one of these commissions was benjamin franklin, then american ambassador to france as well as the great french scientist lavoisier. the other was drawn from the royal academy of medicine, and included laurent de jussieu, the only man who declared in favor of mesmer. there is no doubt that mesmer had returned to paris for the purpose of making money, and these commissions were promoted in part by persons desirous of driving him out. "it is interesting," says a french writer, "to peruse the reports of these commissions: they read like a debate on some obscure subject of which the future has partly revealed the secret." says another french writer (courmelles): "they sought the fluid, not by the study of the cures affected, which was considered too complicated a task, but in the phases of mesmeric sleep. these were considered indispensable and easily regulated by the experimentalist. when submitted to close investigation, it was, however, found that they could only be induced when the subjects knew they were being magnetized, and that they differed according as they were conducted in public or in private. in short--whether it be a coincidence or the truth--imagination was considered the sole active agent. whereupon d'eslon remarked, 'if imagination is the best cure, why should we not use the imagination as a curative means?' did he, who had so vaunted the existence of the fluid, mean by this to deny its existence, or was it rather a satirical way of saying. 'you choose to call it imagination; be it so. but after all, as it cures, let us make the most of it'? "the two commissions came to the conclusion that the phenomena were due to imitation, and contact, that they were dangerous and must be prohibited. strange to relate, seventy years later, arago pronounced the same verdict!" daurent jussieu was the only one who believed in anything more than this. he saw a new and important truth, which he set forth in a personal report upon withdrawing from the commission, which showed itself so hostile to mesmer and his pretensions. time and scientific progress have largely overthrown mesmer's theories of the fluid; yet mesmer had made a discovery that was in the course of a hundred years to develop into an important scientific study. says vincent: "it seems ever the habit of the shallow scientist to plume himself on the more accurate theories which have been provided f, by the progress of knowledge and of science, and then, having been fed with a limited historical pabulum, to turn and talk lightly, and with an air of the most superior condescension, of the weakness and follies of those but for whose patient labors our modern theories would probably be non-existent." if it had not been for mesmer and his "animal magnetism", we would never have had "hypnotism" and all our learned societies for the study of it. mesmer, though his pretensions were discredited, was quickly followed by puysegur, who drew all the world to buzancy, near soissons, france. "doctor cloquet related that he saw there, patients no longer the victims of hysterical fits, but enjoying a calm, peaceful, restorative slumber. it may be said that from this moment really efficacious and useful magnetism became known." every one rushed once more to be magnetized, and puysegur had so many patients that to care for them all he was obliged to magnetize a tree (as he said), which was touched by hundreds who came to be cured, and was long known as "puysegur's tree". as a result of puysegur's success, a number of societies were formed in france for the study of the new phenomena. in the meantime, the subject had attracted considerable interest in germany, and in 1812 wolfart was sent to mesmer at frauenfeld by the prussian government to investigate mesmerism. he became an enthusiast, and introduced its practice into the hospital at berlin. in 1814 deleuze published a book on the subject, and abbe faria, who had come from india, demonstrated that there was no fluid, but that the phenomena were subjective, or within the mind of the patient. he first introduced what is now called the "method of suggestion" in producing magnetism or hypnotism. in 1815 mesmer died. experimentation continued, and in the 20's foissac persuaded the academy of medicine to appoint a commission to investigate the subject. after five years they presented a report. this report gave a good statement of the practical operation of magnetism, mentioning the phenomena of somnambulism, anesthesia, loss of memory, and the various other symptoms of the hypnotic state as we know it. it was thought that magnetism had a right to be considered as a therapeutic agent, and that it might be used by physicians, though others should not be allowed to practice it. in 1837 another commission made a decidedly unfavorable report. soon after this burdin, a member of the academy, offered a prize of 3,000 francs to any one who would read the number of a bank-note or the like with his eyes bandaged (under certain fixed conditions), but it was never awarded, though many claimed it, and there has been considerable evidence that persons in the hypnotic state have (sometimes) remarkable clairvoyant powers. soon after this, magnetism fell into very low repute throughout france and germany, and scientific men became loath to have their names connected with the study of it in any way. the study had not yet been seriously taken up in england, and two physicians who gave some attention to it suffered decidedly in professional reputation. it is to an english physician, however, that we owe the scientific character of modern hypnotism. indeed he invented the name of hypnotism, formed from the greek word meaning 'sleep', and designating 'artificially produced sleep'. his name is james braid, and so important were the results of his study that hypnotism has sometimes been called "braidism". doctor courmelles gives the following interesting summary of braid's experiences: "november, 1841, he witnessed a public experiment made by monsieur lafontaine, a swiss magnetizer. he thought the whole thing a comedy; a week after, he attended a second exhibition, saw that the patient could not open his eyes, and concluded that this was ascribable to some physical cause. the fixity of gaze must, according to him, exhaust the nerve centers of the eyes and their surroundings. he made a friend look steadily at the neck of a bottle, and his own wife look at an ornamentation on the top of a china sugar bowl: sleep was the consequence. here hypnotism had its origin, and the fact was established that sleep could be induced by physical agents. this, it must be remembered, is the essential difference between these two classes of phenomena (magnetism and hypnotism): for magnetism supposes a direct action of the magnetizer on the magnetized subject, an action which does not exist in hypnotism." it may be stated that most english and american operators fail to see any distinction between magnetism and hypnotism, and suppose that the effect of passes, etc., as used by mesmer, is in its way as much physical as the method of producing hypnotism by concentrating the gaze of the subject on a bright object, or the like. braid had discovered a new science--as far as the theoretical view of it was concerned--for he showed that hypnotism is largely, if not purely, mechanical and physical. he noted that during one phase of hypnotism, known as catalepsy, the arms, limbs, etc., might be placed in any position and would remain there; he also noted that a puff of breath would usually awaken a subject, and that by talking to a subject and telling him to do this or do that, even after he awakes from the sleep, he can be made to do those things. braid thought he might affect a certain part of the brain during hypnotic sleep, and if he could find the seat of the thieving disposition, or the like, he could cure the patient of desire to commit crime, simply by suggestion, or command. braid's conclusions were, in brief, that there was no fluid, or other exterior agent, but that hypnotism was due to a physiological condition of the nerves. it was his belief that hypnotic sleep was brought about by fatigue of the eyelids, or by other influences wholly within the subject. in this he was supported by carpenter, the great physiologist; but neither braid nor carpenter could get the medical organizations to give the matter any attention, even to investigate it. in 1848 an american named grimes succeeded in obtaining all the phenomena of hypnotism, and created a school of writers who made use of the word "electro-biology." in 1850 braid's ideas were introduced into france, and dr. azam, of bordeaux, published an account of them in the "archives de medicine." from this time on the subject was widely studied by scientific men in france and germany, and it was more slowly taken up in england. it may be stated here that the french and other latin races are much more easily hypnotized than the northern races, americans perhaps being least subject to the hypnotic influence, and next to them the english. on the other hand, the orientals are influenced to a degree we can hardly comprehend. what is hypnotism? we have seen that so far the history of hypnotism has given us two manifestations, or methods, that of passes and playing upon the imagination in various ways, used by mesmer, and that of physical means, such as looking at a bright object, used by braid. both of these methods are still in use, and though hundreds of scientific men, including many physicians, have studied the subject for years, no essentially new principle has been discovered, though the details of hypnotic operation have been thoroughly classified and many minor elements of interest have been developed. all these make a body of evidence which will assist us in answering the question, what is hypnotism? modern scientific study has pretty conclusively established the following facts: 1. idiots, babies under three years old, and hopelessly insane people cannot be hypnotized. 2. no one can be hypnotized unless the operator can make him concentrate his attention for a reasonable length of time. concentration of attention, whatever the method of producing hypnotism, is absolutely necessary. 3. the persons not easily hypnotized are those said to be neurotic (or those affected with hysteria). by "hysteria" is not meant nervous excitability, necessarily. some very phlegmatic persons may be affected with hysteria. in medical science "hysteria" is an irregular action of the nervous system. it will sometimes show itself by severe pains in the arm, when in reality there is nothing whatever to cause pain; or it will raise a swelling on the head quite without cause. it is a tendency to nervous disease which in severe cases may lead to insanity. the word neurotic is a general term covering affection of the nervous system. it includes hysteria and much else beside. on all these points practically every student of hypnotism is agreed. on the question as to whether any one can produce hypnotism by pursuing the right methods there is some disagreement, but not much. dr. ernest hart in an article in the british medical journal makes the following very definite statement, representing the side of the case that maintains that any one can produce hypnotism. says he: "it is a common delusion that the mesmerist or hypnotizer counts for anything in the experiment. the operator, whether priest, physician, charlatan, self-deluded enthusiast, or conscious imposter, is not the source of any occult influence, does not possess any mysterious power, and plays only a very secondary and insignificant part in the chain of phenomena observed. there exist at the present time many individuals who claim for themselves, and some who make a living by so doing, a peculiar property or power as potent mesmerizers, hypnotizers, magnetizers, or electro-biologists. one even often hears it said in society (for i am sorry to say that these mischievous practices and pranks are sometimes made a society game) that such a person is a clever hypnotist or has great mesmeric or healing power. i hope to be able to prove, what i firmly hold, both from my own personal experience and experiment, as i have already related in the nineteenth century, that there is no such thing as a potent mesmeric influence, no such power resident in any one person more than another; that a glass of water, a tree, a stick, a penny-post letter, or a lime-light can mesmerize as effectually as can any individual. a clever hypnotizer means only a person who is acquainted with the physical or mental tricks by which the hypnotic condition is produced; or sometimes an unconscious imposter who is unaware of the very trifling part for which he is cast in the play, and who supposes himself really to possess a mysterious power which in, fact he does not possess at all, or which, to speak more accurately, is equally possessed by every stock or stone." against this we may place the statement of dr. foveau de courmelles, who speaks authoritatively for the whole modern french school. he says: "every magnetizer is aware that certain individuals never can induce sleep even in the most easily hypnotizable subjects. they admit that the sympathetic fluid is necessary, and that each person may eventually find his or her hypnotizer, even when numerous attempts at inducing sleep have failed. however this may be, the impossibility some individuals find in inducing sleep in trained subjects, proves at least the existence of a negative force." if you would ask the present writer's opinion, gathered from all the evidence before him, he would say that while he has no belief in the existence of any magnetic fluid, or anything that corresponds to it, he thinks there can be no doubt that some people will succeed as hypnotists while some will fail, just as some fail as carpenters while others succeed. this is true in every walk of life. it is also true that some people attract, others repel, the people they meet. this is not very easily explained, but we have all had opportunity to observe it. again, since concentration is the prerequisite for producing hypnotism, one who has not the power of concentration himself, and concentration which he can perfectly control, is not likely to be able to secure it in others. also, since faith is a strong element, a person who has not perfect self-confidence could not expect to create confidence in others. while many successful hypnotizers can themselves be hypnotized, it is probable that most all who have power of this kind are themselves exempt from the exercise of it. it is certainly true that while a person easily hypnotized is by no means weak-minded (indeed, it is probable that most geniuses would be good hypnotic subjects), still such persons have not a well balanced constitution and their nerves are high-strung if not unbalanced. they would be most likely to be subject to a person who had such a strong and well-balanced nervous constitution that it would be hard to hypnotize. and it is always safe to say that the strong may control the weak, but it is not likely that the weak will control the strong. there is also another thing that must be taken into account. science teaches that all matter is in vibration. indeed, philosophy points to the theory that matter itself is nothing more than centers of force in vibration. the lowest vibration we know is that of sound. then comes, at an enormously higher rate, heat, light (beginning at dark red and passing through the prismatic colors to violet which has a high vibration), to the chemical rays, and then the so-called x or unknown rays which have a much higher vibration still. electricity is a form of vibration, and according to the belief of many scientists, life is a species of vibration so high that we have no possible means of measuring it. as every student of science knows, air appears to be the chief medium for conveying vibration of sound, metal is the chief medium for conveying electric vibrations, while to account for the vibrations of heat and light we have to assume (or imagine) an invisible, imponderable ether which fills all space and has no property of matter that we can distinguish except that of conveying vibrations of light in its various forms. when we pass on to human life, we have to theorize chiefly by analogy. (it must not be forgotten, however, that the existence of the ether and many assumed facts in science are only theories which have come to be generally adopted because they explain phenomena of all kinds better than any other theories which have been offered.) now, in life, as in physical science, any one who can get, or has by nature, the key-note of another nature, has a tremendous power over that other nature. the following story illustrates what this power is in the physical world. while we cannot vouch for the exact truth of the details of the story, there can be no doubt of the accuracy of the principle on which it is based: "a musical genius came to the suspension bridge at niagara falls, and asked permission to cross; but as he had no money, his request was contemptuously refused. he stepped away from the entrance, and, drawing his violin from his case, began sounding notes up and down the scale. he finally discovered, by the thrill that sent a tremor through the mighty structure, that he had found the note on which the great cable that upheld the mass, was keyed. he drew his bow across the string of the violin again, and the colossal wire, as if under the spell of a magician, responded with a throb that sent a wave through its enormous length. he sounded the note again and again, and the cable that was dormant under the strain of loaded teams and monster engines--the cable that remained stolid under the pressure of human traffic, and the heavy tread of commerce, thrilled and surged and shook itself, as mad waves of vibration coursed over its length, and it tore at its slack, until like a foam-crested wave of the sea, it shook the towers at either end, or, like some sentient animal, it tugged at its fetters and longed to be free. "the officers in charge, apprehensive of danger, hurried the poor musician across, and bade him begone and trouble them no more. the ragged genius, putting his well-worn instrument back in its case, muttered to himself, 'i'd either crossed free or torn down the bridge.'" "so the hypnotist," goes on the writer from which the above is quoted, "finds the note on which the subjective side of the person is attuned, and by playing upon it awakens into activity emotions and sensibilities that otherwise would have remained dormant, unused and even unsuspected." no student of science will deny the truth of these statements. at the same time it has been demonstrated again and again that persons can and do frequently hypnotize themselves. this is what mr. hart means when he says that any stick or stone may produce hypnotism. if a person will gaze steadily at a bright fire, or a glass of water, for instance, he can throw himself into a hypnotic trance exactly similar to the condition produced by a professional or trained hypnotist. such people, however, must be possessed of imagination. theories of hypnotism. we have now learned some facts in regard to hypnotism; but they leave the subject still a mystery. other facts which will be developed in the course of this book will only deepen the mystery. we will therefore state some of the best known theories. before doing so, however, it would be well to state concisely just what seems to happen in a case of hypnotism. the word hypnotism means sleep, and the definition of hypnotism implies artificially produced sleep. sometimes this sleep is deep and lasting, and the patient is totally insensible; but the interesting phase of the condition is that in certain stages the patient is only partially asleep, while the other part of his brain is awake and very active. it is well known that one part of the brain may be affected without affecting the other parts. in hemiplegia, for instance, one half of the nervous system is paralyzed, while the other half is all right. in the stages of hypnotism we will now consider, the will portion of the brain or mind seems to be put to sleep, while the other faculties are, abnormally awake. some explain this by supposing that the blood is driven out of one portion of the brain and driven into other portions. in any case, it is as though the human engine were uncoupled, and the patient becomes an automaton. if he is told to do this, that, or the other, he does it, simply because his will is asleep and "suggestion", as it is called, from without makes him act just as he starts up unconsciously in his ordinary sleep if tickled with a straw. now for the theories. there are three leading theories, known as that of 1. animal magnetism; 2. neurosis; and 3. suggestion. we will simply state them briefly in order without discussion. animal magnetism. this is the theory offered by mesmer, and those who hold it assume that "the hypnotizer exercises a force, independently of suggestion, over the subject. they believe one part of the body to be charged separately, or that the whole body may be filled with magnetism. they recognize the power, of suggestion, but they do not believe it to be the principal factor in the production of the hypnotic state." those who hold this theory today distinguish between the phenomena produced by magnetism and those produced by physical means or simple suggestion. the neurosis theory. we have already explained the word neurosis, but we repeat here the definition given by dr. j. r. cocke. "a neurosis is any affection of the nervous centers occurring without any material agent producing it, without inflammation or any other constant structural change which can be detected in the nervous centers. as will be seen from the definition, any abnormal manifestation of the nervous system of whose cause we know practically nothing, is, for convenience, termed a neurosis. if a man has a certain habit or trick, it is termed a neurosis or neuropathic habit. one man of my acquaintance, who is a professor in a college, always begins his lecture by first sneezing and then pulling at his nose. many forms of tremor are called neurosis. now to say that hypnotism is the result of a. neurosis, simply means that a person's nervous system is susceptible to this condition, which, by m. charcot and his followers, is regarded as abnormal." in short, m. charcot places hypnotism in the same category of nervous affections in which hysteria and finally hallucination (medically considered) are to be classed, that is to say, as a nervous weakness, not to say a disease. according to this theory, a person whose nervous system is perfectly healthy could not be hypnotized. so many people can be hypnotized because nearly all the world is more or less insane, as a certain great writer has observed. suggestion. this theory is based on the power of mind over the body as we observe it in everyday life. again let me quote from dr. cooke. "if we can direct the subject's whole attention to the belief that such an effect as before mentioned--that his arm will be paralyzed, for instance--will take place, that effect will gradually occur. such a result having been once produced, the subject's will-power and power of resistance are considerably weakened, because he is much more inclined than at first to believe the hypnotizer's assertion. this is generally the first step in the process of hypnosis. the method pursued at the school of nancy is to convince the subject that his eyes are closing by directing his attention to that effect as strongly as possible. however, it is not necessary that we begin with the eyes. according to m. dessoir, any member of the body will answer as well." the theory of suggestion is maintained by the medical school attached to the hospital at nancy. the theory of neurosis was originally put forth as the result of experiments by dr. charcot at the salpetriere hospital in paris, which is now the co-called salpetriere school--that is the medical, school connected with the salpetriere hospital. there is also another theory put forth, or rather a modification of professor charcot's theory, and maintained by the school of the charity hospital in paris, headed by dr. luys, to the effect that the physical magnet and electricity may affect persons in the hypnotic state, and that certain drugs in sealed tubes placed upon the patient's neck during the condition of hypnosis will produce the same effects which those drugs would produce if taken internally, or as the nature of the drugs would seem to call for if imbibed in a more complete fashion. this school, however, has been considerably discredited, and dr. luys' conclusions are not received by scientific students of hypnotism. it is also stated, and the present writer has seen no effective denial, that hypnotism may be produced by pressing with the fingers upon certain points in the body, known as hypnogenic spots. it will be seen that these three theories stated above are greatly at variance with each other. the student of hypnotism will have to form a conclusion for himself as he investigates the facts. possibly it will be found that the true theory is a combination of all three of those described above. hypnotism is certainly a complicated phenomena, and he would be a rash man who should try to explain it in a sentence or in a paragraph. an entire book proves a very limited space for doing it. chapter i. how to hypnotize. dr. cocke's method--dr. flint's method--the french method at paris--at nancy--the hindoo silent method--how to wake a subject from hypnotic sleep--frauds of public hypnotic entertainers. first let us quote what is said of hypnotism in foster's encyclopedic medical dictionary. the dictionary states the derivation of the word from the greek word meaning sleep, and gives as synonym "braidism". this definition follows: "an abnormal state into which some persons may be thrown, either by a voluntary act of their own, such as gazing continuously with fixed attention on some bright object held close to the eyes, or by the exercise of another person's will; characterized by suspension of the will and consequent obedience to the promptings of suggestions from without. the activity of the organs of special sense, except the eye, may be heightened, and the power of the muscles increased. complete insensibility to pain may be induced by hypnotism, and it has been used as an anaesthetic. it is apt to be followed by a severe headache of long continuance, and by various nervous disturbances. on emerging from the hypnotic state, the person hypnotized usually has no remembrance of what happened during its continuance, but in many persons such remembrance may be induced by 'suggestion'. about one person in three is susceptible to hypnotism, and those of the hysterical or neurotic tendency (but rarely the insane) are the most readily hypnotized." first we will quote the directions for producing hypnotism given by dr. james r. cocke, one of the most scientific experimenters in hypnotism in america. his directions of are special value, since they are more applicable to american subjects than the directions given by french writers. says dr. cocke: "the hypnotic state can be produced in one of the following ways: first, command the subject to close his eyes. tell him his mind is a blank. command him to think of nothing. leave him a few minutes; return and tell him he cannot open his eyes. if he fails to do so, then begin to make any suggestion which may be desired. this is the so-called mental method of hypnotization. "secondly, give the subject a coin or other bright object. tell him to look steadfastly at it and not take his eyes away from it. suggest that his eyelids are growing heavy, that he cannot keep them open. now close the lids. they cannot be opened. this is the usual method employed by public exhibitors. a similar method is by looking into a mirror, or into a glass of water, or by rapidly revolving polished disks, which should be looked at steadfastly in the same way as is the coin, and i think tires the eyes less. "another method is by simply commanding the subject to close his eyes, while the operator makes passes over his head and hands without coming in contact with them. suggestions may be made during these passes. "fascination, as it is called, is one of the hypnotic states. the operator fixes his eyes on those of the subject. holding his attention for a few minutes, the operator begins to walk backward; the subject follows. the operator raises the arm; the subject does likewise. briefly, the subject will imitate any movement of the hypnotist, or will obey any suggestion made by word, look or gesture, suggested by the one with whom he is en rapport. "a very effective method of hypnotizing a person is by commanding him to sleep, and having some very soft music played upon the piano, or other stringed instrument. firm pressure over the orbits, or over the finger-ends and root of the nail for some minutes may also induce the condition of hypnosis in very sensitive persons. "also hypnosis can frequently be induced by giving the subject a glass of water, and telling him at the same time that it has been magnetized. the wearing of belts around the body, and rings round the fingers, will also, sometimes, induce a degree of hypnosis, if the subject has been told that they have previously been magnetized or are electric. the latter descriptions are the so-called physical methods described by dr. moll." dr. herbert l. flint, a stage hypnotizer, describes his methods as follows: "to induce hypnotism, i begin by friendly conversation to place my patient in a condition of absolute calmness and quiescence. i also try to win his confidence by appealing to his own volitional effort to aid me in obtaining the desired clad. i impress upon him that hypnosis in his condition is a benign agency, and far from subjugating his mentality, it becomes intensified to so great an extent as to act as a remedial agent. "having assured myself that he is in a passive condition, i suggest to him, either with or without passes, that after looking intently at an object for a few moments, he will experience a feeling of lassitude. i steadily gaze at his eyes, and in a monotonous tone i continue to suggest the various stages of sleep. as for instance, i say, 'your breathing is heavy. your whole body is relaxed.' i raise his arm, holding it in a horizontal position for a second or two, and suggest to him that it is getting heavier and heavier. i let my hand go and his arm falls to his side. "'your eyes,' i continue, 'feel tired and sleepy. they are fast closing' repeating in a soothing tone the words 'sleepy, sleepy, sleep.' then in a self-assertive tone, i emphasize the suggestion by saying in an unhesitating and positive tone, 'sleep.' "i do not, however, use this method with all patients. it is an error to state, as some specialists do, that from their formula there can be no deviation; because, as no two minds are constituted alike, so they cannot be affected alike. while one will yield by intense will exerted through my eyes, another may, by the same means, become fretful, timid, nervous, and more wakeful than he was before. the same rule applies to gesture, tones of the voice, and mesmeric passes. that which has a soothing and lulling effect on one, may have an opposite effect on another. there can be no unvarying rule applicable to all patients. the means must be left to the judgment of the operator, who by a long course of psychological training should be able to judge what measures are necessary to obtain control of his subject. just as in drugs, one person may take a dose without injury that will kill another, so in hypnosis, one person can be put into a deep sleep by means that would be totally ineffectual in another, and even then the mental states differ in each individual--that which in one induces a gentle slumber may plunge his neighbor into a deep cataleptic state." that hypnotism may be produced by purely physical or mechanical means seems to have been demonstrated by an incident which started doctor burq, a frenchman, upon a scientific inquiry which lasted many years. "while practising as a young doctor, he had one day been obliged to go out and had deemed it advisable to lock up a patient in his absence. just as he was leaving the house he heard the sound as of a body suddenly falling. he hurried back into the room and found his patient in a state of catalepsy. monsieur burq was at that time studying magnetism, and he at once sought for the cause of this phenomenon. he noticed that the door-handle was of copper. the next day he wrapped a glove around the handle, again shut the patient in, and this time nothing occurred. he interrogated the patient, but she could give him no explanation. he then tried the effect of copper on all the subjects at the salpetriere and the cochin hospitals, and found that a great number were affected by it." at the charity hospital in paris, doctor luys used an apparatus moved by clockwork. doctor foveau, one of his pupils, thus describes it: "the hypnotic state, generally produced by the contemplation of a bright spot, a lamp, or the human eye, is in his case induced by a peculiar kind of mirror. the mirrors are made of pieces of wood cut prismatically in which fragments of mirrors are incrusted. they are generally double and placed crosswise, and by means of clockwork revolve automatically. they are the same as sportsmen use to attract larks, the rays of the sun being caught and reflected on every side and from all points of the horizon. if the little mirrors in each branch are placed in parallel lines in front of a patient, and the rotation is rapid, the optic organ soon becomes fatigued, and a calming soothing somnolence ensues. at first it is not a deep sleep, the eye-lids are scarcely heavy, the drowsiness slight and restorative. by degrees, by a species of training, the hypnotic sleep differs more and more from natural sleep, the individual abandons himself more and more completely, and falls into one of the regular phases of hypnotic sleep. without a word, without a suggestion or any other action, dr. luys has made wonderful cures. wecker, the occulist, has by the same means entirely cured spasms of the eye-lids." professor delboeuf gives the following account of how the famous liebault produced hypnotism at the hospital at nancy. we would especially ask the reader to note what he says of dr. liebault's manner and general bearing, for without doubt much of his success was due to his own personality. says professor delboeuf: "his modus faciendi has something ingenious and simple about it, enhanced by a tone and air of profound conviction; and his voice has such fervor and warmth that he carries away his clients with him. "after having inquired of the patient what he is suffering from, without any further or closer examination, he places his hand on the patient's forehead and, scarcely looking at him, says, 'you are going to sleep.' then, almost immediately, he closes the eyelids, telling him that he is asleep. after that he raises the patient's arm, and says, 'you cannot put your arm down.' if he does, dr. liebault appears hardly to notice it. he then turns the patient's arm around, confidently affirming that the movement cannot be stopped, and saying this he turns his own arms rapidly around, the patient remaining all the time with his eyes shut; then the doctor talks on without ceasing in a loud and commanding voice. the suggestions begin: "'you are going to be cured; your digestion will be good, your sleep quiet, your cough will stop, your circulation will become free and regular; you are going to feel very strong and well, you will be able to walk about,' etc., etc. he hardly ever varies the speech. thus he fires away at every kind of disease at once, leaving it to the client to find out his own. no doubt he gives some special directions, according to the disease the patient is suffering from, but general instructions are the chief thing. "the same suggestions are repeated a great many times to the same person, and, strange to say, notwithstanding the inevitable monotony of the speeches, and the uniformity of both style and voice, the master's tone is so ardent, so penetrating, so sympathetic, that i have never once listened to it without a feeling of intense admiration." the hindoos produce sleep simply by sitting on the ground and, fixing their eyes steadily on the subject, swaying the body in a sort of writhing motion above the hips. by continuing this steadily and in perfect silence for ten or fifteen minutes before a large audience, dozens can be put to sleep at one time. in all cases, freedom from noise or distractive incidents is essential to success in hypnotism, for concentration must be produced. certain french operators maintain that hypnotism may be produced by pressure on certain hypnogenic points or regions of the body. among these are the eye-balls, the crown of the head, the back of the neck and the upper bones of the spine between the shoulder glades. some persons may be hypnotized by gently pressing on the skin at the base of the finger-nails, and at the root of the nose; also by gently scratching the neck over the great nerve center. hypnotism is also produced by sudden noise, as if by a chinese gong, etc. how to wake a subject from hypnotic sleep. this is comparatively easy in moot cases. most persons will awake naturally at the end of a few minutes, or will fall into a natural sleep from which in an hour or two they will awake refreshed. usually the operator simply says to the subject, "all right, wake up now," and claps his hands or makes some other decided noise. in some cases it is sufficient to say, "you will wake up in five minutes"; or tell a subject to count twelve and when he gets to ten say, "wake up." persons in the lethargic state are not susceptible to verbal suggestions, but may be awakened by lifting both eyelids. it is said that pressure on certain regions will wake the subject, just as pressure in certain other places will put the subject to sleep. among these places for awakening are the ovarian regions. some writers recommend the application of cold water to awaken subjects, but this is rarely necessary. in olden times a burning coal was brought near. if hypnotism was produced by passes, then wakening may be brought about by passes in the opposite direction, or with the back of the hand toward the subject. the only danger is likely to be found in hysterical persons. they will, if aroused, often fall off again into a helpless state, and continue to do so for some time to come. it is dangerous to hypnotize such subjects. care should be taken to awaken the subject very thoroughly before leaving him, else headache, nausea, or the like may follow, with other unpleasant effects. in all cases subjects should be treated gently and with the utmost consideration, as if the subject and operator were the most intimate friends. it is better that the person who induces hypnotic sleep should awaken the subject. others cannot do it so easily, though as we have said, subjects usually awaken themselves after a short time. further description of the method of producing hypnotism need not be given; but it is proper to add that in addition to the fact that not more than one person out of three can be hypnotized at all, even by an experienced operator, to effect hypnotization except in a few cases requires a great deal of patience, both on the part of the operator and of the subject. it may require half a dozen or more trials before any effect at all can be produced, although in some cases the effect will come within a minute or two. after a person has been once hypnotized, hypnotization is much easier. the most startling results are to be obtained only after a long process of training on the part of the subject. public hypnotic entertainments, and even those given at the hospitals in paris, would be quite impossible if trained subjects were not at hand; and in the case of the public hypnotizer, the proper subjects are hired and placed in the audience for the express purpose of coming forward when called for. the success of such an entertainment could not otherwise be guaranteed. in many cases, also, this training of subjects makes them deceivers. they learn to imitate what they see, and since their living depends upon it, they must prove hypnotic subjects who can always be depended upon to do just what is wanted. we may add, however, that what they do is no more than an imitation of the real thing. there is no grotesque manifestation on the stage, even if it is a pure fake, which could not be matched by more startling facts taken from undoubted scientific experience. chapter ii. amusing experiments. hypnotizing on the stage--"you can't pull your hands apart"--post hypnotic suggestion--the news boy, the hunter, and the young man with the rag doll--a whip becomes hot iron--courting a broomstick--the side show. let us now describe some of the manifestations of hypnotism, to see just how it operates and how it exhibits itself. the following is a description of a public performance given by dr. herbert l. flint, a very successful public operator. it is in the language of an eye-witness--a new york lawyer. in response to a call for volunteers, twenty young and middle-aged men came upon the stage. they evidently belonged to the great middle-class. the entertainment commenced by dr. flint passing around the group, who were seated on the stage in a semicircle facing the audience, and stroking each one's head and forehead, repeating the phrases, "close your eyes. think of nothing but sleep. you are very tired. you are drowsy. you feel very sleepy." as he did this, several of the volunteers closed their eyes at once, and one fell asleep immediately. one or two remained awake, and these did not give themselves up to the influence, but rather resisted it. when the doctor had completed his round and had manipulated all the volunteers, some of those influenced were nodding, some were sound asleep, while a few were wide awake and smiling at the rest. these latter were dismissed as unlikely subjects. when the stage had been cleared of all those who were not responsive, the doctor passed around, and, snapping his finger at each individual, awoke him. one of the subjects when questioned afterward as to what sensation he experienced at the snapping of the fingers, replied that it seemed to him as if something inside of his head responded, and with this sensation he regained self-consciousness. (this is to be doubted. as a rule, subjects in this stage of hypnotism do not feel any sensation that they can remember, and do not become self-conscious.) the class was now apparently wide awake, and did not differ in appearance from their ordinary state. the doctor then took each one and subjected him to a separate physical test, such as sealing the eyes, fastening the hands, stiffening the fingers, arms, and legs, producing partial catalepsy and causing stuttering and inability to speak. in those possessing strong imaginations, he was able to produce hallucinations, such as feeling mosquito bites, suffering from toothache, finding the pockets filled and the hands covered with molasses, changing identity, and many similar tests. the doctor now asked each one to clasp his hands in front of him, and when all had complied with the request, he repeated the phrase, "think your hands so fast that you can't pull them apart. they are fast. you cannot pull them apart. try. you can't." the whole class made frantic efforts to unclasp their hands, but were unable to do so. the doctor's explanation of this is, that what they were really doing was to force their hands closer together, thus obeying the counter suggestion. that they thought they were trying to unclasp their hands was evident from their endeavors. the moment he made them desist, by snapping his fingers, the spell was broken. it was most astonishing to see that as each one awoke, he seemed to be fully cognizant of the ridiculous position in which his comrades were placed, and to enjoy their confusion and ludicrous attitudes. the moment, however, he was commanded to do things equally absurd, he obeyed. while, therefore, the class appeared to be free agents, they are under hypnotic control. one young fellow, aged about eighteen, said that he was addicted to the cigarette habit. the suggestion was made to him that he would not be able to smoke a cigarette for twenty-four hours. after the entertainment he was asked to smoke, as was his usual habit. he was then away from any one who could influence him. he replied that the very idea was repugnant. however, he was induced to take a cigarette in his mouth, but it made him ill and he flung it away with every expression of disgust. *this is an instance of what is called post-hypnotic suggestion. dr. cocke tells of suggesting to a drinker whom he was trying to cure of the habit that for the next three days anything he took would make him vomit; the result followed as suggested. the same phenomena that was shown in unclasping the hands, was next exhibited in commanding the subjects to rotate them. they immediately began and twirled them faster and faster, in spite of their efforts to stop. one of the subjects said he thought of nothing but the strange action of his hands, and sometimes it puzzled him to know why they whirled. at this point dr. flint's daughter took charge of the class. she pointed her finger at one of them, and the subject began to look steadily before him, at which the rest of the class were highly amused. presently the subject's head leaned forward, the pupils of his eyes dilated and assumed a peculiar glassy stare. he arose with a steady, gliding gait and walked up to the lady until his nose touched her hand. then he stopped. miss flint led him to the front of the stage and left him standing in profound slumber. he stood there, stooping, eyes set, and vacant, fast asleep. in the meantime the act had caused great laughter among the rest of the class. one young fellow in particular, laughed so uproariously that tears coursed down his cheeks, and he took out his handkerchief to wipe his eyes. just as he was returning it to his pocket, the lady suddenly pointed a finger at him. she was in the center of the stage, fully fifteen feet away from the subject, but the moment the gesture was made, his countenance fell, his mirth stopped, while that of his companions redoubled, and the change was so obvious that the audience shared in the laughter--but the subject neither saw nor heard. his eyes assumed the same expression that had been noticed in his companion's. he, too, arose in the same attitude, as if his head were pulling the body along, and following the finger in the same way as his predecessor, was conducted to the front of the stage by the side of the first subject. this was repeated on half a dozen subjects, and the manifestations were the same in each case. those selected were now drawn up in an irregular line in front of the stage, their eyes fixed on vacancy, their heads bent forward, perfectly motionless. each was then given a suggestion. one was to be a newsboy, and sell papers. another was given a broomstick and told to hunt game in the woods before him. another was given a large rag doll and told that it was an infant, and that he must look among the audience and discover the father. he was informed that he could tell who the father was by the similarity and the color of the eyes. these suggestions were made in a loud tone, miss flint being no nearer one subject than another. the bare suggestion was given, as, "now, think that you are a newsboy, and are selling papers," or, "now think that you are hunting and are going into the woods to shoot birds." so the party was started at the same time into the audience. the one who was impersonating a newsboy went about crying his edition in a loud voice; while the hunter crawled along stealthily and carefully. the newsboy even adopted the well-worn device of asking those whom he solicited to buy to help him get rid of his stock. one man offered him a cent, when the price was two cents. the newsboy chaffed the would-be purchaser. he sarcastically asked him if he "didn't want the earth." the others did what they had been told to do in the same earnest, characteristic way. after this performance, the class was again seated in a semicircle, and miss flint selected one of them, and, taking him into the center of the stage, showed him a small riding whip. he looked at it indifferently enough. he was told it was a hot bar of iron, but he shook his head, still incredulous. the suggestion was repeated, and as the glazed look came into his eyes, the incredulous look died out. every member of the class was following the suggestion made to the subject in hand. all of them had the same expression in their eyes. the doctor said that his daughter was hypnotizing the whole class through this one individual. as she spoke she lightly touched the subject with the end of the whip. the moment the subject felt the whip he jumped and shrieked as if it really were a hot iron. she touched each one of the class in succession, and every one manifested the utmost pain and fear. one subject sat down on the floor and cried in dire distress. others, when touched, would tear off their clothing or roll up their sleeves. one young man was examined by a physician present just after the whip had been laid across his shoulders, and a long red mark was found, just such a one as would have been made by a real hot iron. the doctor said that, had the suggestion been continued, it would undoubtedly have raised a blister. one of the amusing experiments tried at a later time was that of a tall young man, diffident, pale and modest, being given a broom carefully wrapped in a sheet, and told that it was his sweetheart. he accepted the situation and sat down by the broom. he was a little sheepish at first, but eventually he grew bolder, and smiled upon her such a smile as malvolio casts upon olivia. the manner in which, little by little, he ventured upon a familiar footing, was exceedingly funny; but when, in a moment of confident response to his wooing, he clasped her round the waist and imprinted a chaste kiss upon the brushy part of the broom, disguised by the sheet, the house resounded with roars of laughter. the subject, however, was deaf to all of the noise. he was absorbed in his courtship, and he continued to hug the broom, and exhibit in his features that idiotic smile that one sees only upon the faces of lovers and bridegrooms. "all the world loves a lover," as the saying is, and all the world loves to laugh at him. one of the subjects was told that the head of a man in the audience was on fire. he looked for a moment, and then dashed down the platform into the audience, and, seizing the man's head, vigorously rubbed it. as this did not extinguish the flames, he took off his coat and put the fire out. in doing this, he set his coat on fire, when he trampled it under foot. then he calmly resumed his garment and walked back to the stage. the "side-show" closed the evening's entertainment. a young man was told to think of himself as managing a side-show at a circus. when his mind had absorbed this idea he was ordered to open his exhibition. he at once mounted a table, and, in the voice of the traditional side-show fakir, began to dilate upon the fat woman and the snakes, upon the wild man from borneo, upon the learned pig, and all the other accessories of side-shows. he went over the usual characteristic "patter," getting more and more in earnest, assuring his hearers that for the small sum of ten cents they could see more wonders than ever before had been crowded under one canvas tent. he harangued the crowd as they surged about the tent door. he pointed to a suppositious canvas picture. he "chaffed" the boys. he flattered the vanity of the young fellows with their girls, telling them that they could not afford, for the small sum of ten cents, to miss this great show. he made change for his patrons. he indulged in side remarks, such as "this is hot work." he rolled up his sleeves and took off his collar and necktie, all of the time expatiating upon the merits of the freaks inside of his tent. chapter iii. the stages of hypnotism. lethargy--catalepsy--the somnambulistic stage--fascination. we have just given some of the amusing experiments that may be performed with subjects in one of the minor stages of hypnotism. but there are other stages which give entirely different manifestations. for a scientific classification of these we are indebted to professor charcot, of the salpetriere hospital in paris, to whom, next to mesmer and braid, we are indebted for the present science of hypnotism. he recognized three distinct stages--lethargy, catalepsy and somnambulism. there is also a condition of extreme lethargy, a sort of trance state, that lasts for days and even weeks, and, indeed, has been known to last for years. there is also a lighter phase than somnambulism, that is called fascination. some doctors, however, place it between catalepsy and somnambulism. each of these stages is marked by quite distinct phenomena. we give them as described by a pupil of dr. charcot. lethargy. this is a state of absolute inert sleep. if the method of braid is used, and a bright object is held quite near the eyes, and the eyes are fixed upon it, the subject squints, the eyes become moist and bright, the look fixed, and the pupils dilated. this is the cataleptic stage. if the object is left before the eyes, lethargy is produced. there are also many other ways of producing lethargy, as we have seen in the chapter "how to hypnotize." one of the marked characteristics of this stage of hypnotism is the tendency of the muscles to contract, under the influence of the slightest touch, friction, pressure or massage, or even that of a magnet placed at a distance. the contraction disappears only by the repetition of that identical means that called it into action. dr. courmelles gives the following illustration: "if the forearm is rubbed a little above the palm of the hand, this latter yields and bends at an acute angle. the subject may be suspended by the hand, and the body will be held up without relaxation, that is, without returning to the normal condition. to return to the normal state, it suffices to rub the antagonistic muscles, or, in ordinary terms, the part diametrically opposed to that which produced the phenomenon; in this case, the forearm a little above the hands. it is the same for any other part of the body." the subject appears to be in a deep sleep, the eyes are either closed or half closed, and the face is without expression. the body appears to be in a state of complete collapse, the head is thrown back, and the arms and legs hang loose, dropping heavily down. in this stage insensibility is so complete that needles can be run into any part of the body without producing pain, and surgical operations may be performed without the slightest unpleasant effect. this stage lasts usually but a short time, and the patient, under ordinary conditions, will pass upward into the stage of catalepsy, in which he opens his eyes. if the hypnotism is spontaneous, that is, if it is due to a condition of the nervous organism which has produced it without any outside aid, we have the condition of prolonged trance, of which many cases have been reported. until the discovery of hypnotism these strange trances were little understood, and people were even buried alive in them. a few instances reported by medical men will be interesting. there is one reported in 1889 by a noted french physician. said he: "there is at this moment in the hospital at mulhouse a most interesting case. a young girl twenty-two years of age has been asleep here for the last twelve days. her complexion is fresh and rosy, her breathing quite normal, and her features unaltered. "no organ seems attacked; all the vital functions are performed as in the waking state. she is fed with milk, broth and wine, which is given her in a spoon. her mouth even sometimes opens of itself at the contact of the spoon, and she swallows without the slightest difficulty. at other times the gullet remains inert. "the whole body is insensible. the forehead alone presents, under the action of touch or of pricks, some reflex phenomena. however, by a peculiarity, which is extremely interesting, she seems, by the intense horror she shows for ether, to retain a certain amount of consciousness and sensibility. if a drop of ether is put into her mouth her face contracts and assumes an expression of disgust. at the same moment her arms and legs are violently agitated, with the kind of impatient motion that a child displays when made to swallow some hated dose of medicine. "in the intellectual relations the brain is not absolutely obscure, for on her mother's coming to see her the subject's face became highly colored, and tears appeared on the tips of her eyelashes, without, however, in any other way disturbing her lethargy. "nothing has yet been able to rouse her from this torpor, which will, no doubt, naturally disappear at a given moment. she will then return to conscious life as she quitted it. it is probable that she will not retain any recollection of her present condition, that all notion of time will fail her, and that she will fancy it is only the day following her usual nightly slumber, a slumber which, in this case, has been transformed into a lethargic sleep, without any rigidity of limbs or convulsions. "physically, the sleeper is of a middle size, slender, strong and pretty, without distinctive characteristic. mentally, she is lively, industrious, sometimes whimsical, and subject to slight nervous attacks." there is a pretty well-authenticated report of a young girl who, on may 30, 1883, after an intense fright, fell into a lethargic condition which lasted for four years. her parents were poor and ignorant, but, as the fame of the case spread abroad, some physicians went to investigate it in march, 1887. her sleep had never been interrupted. on raising the eyelids, the doctors found the eyes turned convulsively upward, but, blowing upon them, produced no reflex movement of the lids. her jaws were closed tightly, and the attempt to open her mouth had broken off some of the teeth level with the gums. the muscles contracted at the least breath or touch, and the arms remained in position when uplifted. the contraction of the muscles is a sign of the lethargic state, but the arm, remaining in position, indicates the cataleptic state. the girl was kept alive by liquid nourishment poured into her mouth. there are on record a large number of cases of persons who have slept for several months. catalepsy. the next higher stage of hypnotism is that of catalepsy. patients may be thrown into it directly, or patients in the lethargic state may be brought into it by lifting the eyelids. it seems that the light penetrating the eyes, and affecting the brain, awakens new powers, for the cataleptic state has phenomena quite peculiar to itself. nearly all the means for producing hypnotism will, if carried to just the right degree, produce catalepsy. for instance, besides the fixing of the eye on a bright object, catalepsy may be produced by a sudden sound, as of a chinese gong, a tom-tom or a whistle, the vibration of a tuning-fork, or thunder. if a solar spectrum is suddenly brought into a dark room it may produce catalepsy, which is also produced by looking at the sun, or a lime light, or an electric light. in this state the patient has become perfectly rigidly fixed in the position in which he happens to be when the effect is produced, whether sitting, standing, kneeling, or the like; and this face has an expression of fear. the arms or legs may be raised, but if left to themselves will not drop, as in lethargy. the eyes are wide open, but the look is fixed and impassive. the fixed position lasts only a few minutes, however, when the subject returns to a position of relaxation, or drops back into the lethargic state. if the muscles, nerves or tendons are rubbed or pressed, paralysis may be produced, which, however, is quickly removed by the use of electricity, when the patient awakes. by manipulating the muscles the most rigid contraction may be produced, until the entire body is in such a state of corpse-like rigidity that a most startling experiment is possible. the subject may be placed with his head upon the back of one chair and his heels on the back of another, and a heavy man may sit upon him without seemingly producing any effect, or even heavy rock may be broken on the subject's body. messieurs binet and fere, pupils of the salpetriere school, describe the action of magnets on cataleptic subjects, as follows: "the patient is seated near a table, on which a magnet has been placed, the left elbow rests on the arm of the chair, the forearm and hand vertically upraised with thumb and index finger extended, while the other fingers remain half bent. on the right side the forearm and hand are stretched on the table, and the magnet is placed under a linen cloth at a distance of about two inches. after a couple of minutes the right index begins to tremble and rise up; on the left side the extended fingers bend down, and the hand remains limp for an instant. the right hand and forearm rise up and assume the primitive position of the left hand, which is now stretched out on the arm of the chair, with the waxen pliability that pertains to the cataleptic state." an interesting experiment may be tried by throwing a patient into lethargy on one side and catalepsy on the other. to induce what is called hemi-lethargy and hemi-catalepsy is not difficult. first, the lethargic stage is induced, then one eyelid is raised, and that side alone becomes cataleptic, and may be operated on in various interesting ways. the arm on that side, for instance, will remain raised when lifted, while the arm on the other side will fall heavily. still more interesting is the intellectual condition of the subject. some great man has remarked that if he wished to know what a person was thinking of, he assumed the exact position and expression of that person, and soon he would begin to feel and think just as the other was thinking and feeling. look a part and you will soon begin to feel it. in the cataleptic subject there is a close relation between the attitude the subject assumes and the intellectual manifestation. in the somnambulistic stage patients are manipulated by speaking to them; in the cataleptic stage they are equally under the will of the operator; but now he controls them by gesture. says dr. courmelles, from his own observation: "the emotions in this stage are made at command, in the true acceptation of the word, for they are produced, not by orders verbally expressed, but by expressive movements. if the hands are opened and drawn close to the mouth, as when a kiss is wafted, the mouth smiles. if the arms are extended and half bent at the elbows, the countenance assumes an expression of astonishment. the slightest variation of movement is reflected in the emotions. if the fists are closed, the brow contracts and the face expresses anger. if a lively or sad tune is played, if amusing or depressing pictures are shown, the subject, like a faithful mirror, at once reflects these impressions. if a smile is produced it can be seen to diminish and disappear at the same time as the hand is moved away, and again to reappear and increase when it is once more brought near. better still, a double expression can be imparted to the physiognomy, by approaching the left hand to the left side of the mouth, the left side of the physiognomy will smile, while at the same time, by closing the right hand, the right eyebrow will frown. the subject can be made to send kisses, or to turn his hands round each other indefinitely. if the hand is brought near the nose it will blow; if the arms are stretched out they will remain extended, while the head will be bowed with a marked expression of pain." heidenhain was able to take possession of the subject's gaze and control him by sight, through producing mimicry. he looks fixedly at the patient till the patient is unable to take his eyes away. then the patient will copy every movement he makes. if he rises and goes backward the patient will follow, and with his right hand he will imitate the movements of the operator's left, as if he were a mirror. the attitudes of prayer, melancholy, pain, disdain, anger or fear, may be produced in this manner. the experiments of donato, a stage hypnotizer, are thus described: "after throwing the subjects into catalepsy he causes soft music to be played, which produces a rapturous expression. if the sound is heightened or increased, the subjects seem to receive a shock and a feeling of disappointment. the artistic sense developed by hypnotism is disturbed; the faces express astonishment, stupefaction and pain. if the same soft melody be again resumed, the same expression of rapturous bliss reappears in the countenance. the faces become seraphic and celestial when the subjects are by nature handsome, and when the subjects are ordinary looking, even ugly, they are idealized as by a special kind of beauty." the strange part of all this is, that on awaking, the patient has no recollection of what has taken place, and careful tests have shown that what appear to be violent emotions, such as in an ordinary state would produce a quickened pulse and heavy breathing, create no disturbance whatever in the cataleptic subject; only the outer mask is in motion. "sometimes the subjects lean backward with all the grace of a perfect equilibrist, freeing themselves from the ordinary mechanical laws. the curvature will, indeed, at times be so complete that the head will touch the floor and the body describe a regular arc. "when a female subject assumes an attitude of devotion, clasps her hands, turns her eyes upward and lisps out a prayer, she presents an admirably artistic picture, and her features and expression seem worthy of being reproduced on canvas." we thus see what a perfect automaton the human body may become. there appears, however, to be a sort of unconscious memory, for a familiar object will seem to suggest spontaneously its ordinary use. thus, if a piece of soap is put into a cataleptic patient's hands; he will move it around as though he thought he were washing them, and if there is any water near he will actually wash them. the sight of an umbrella makes him shiver as if he were in a storm. handing such a person a pen will not make him write, but if a letter is dictated to him out loud he will write in an irregular hand. the subject may also be made to sing, scream or speak different languages with which he is entirely unfamiliar. this is, however, a verging toward the somnambulistic stage, for in deep catalepsy the patient does not speak or hear. the state is produced by placing the hands on the head, the forehead, or nape of the neck. the somnambulistic stage. this is the stage or phase of hypnotism nearest the waking, and is the only one that can be produced in some subjects. patients in the cataleptic state can be brought into the somnambulistic by rubbing the top of the head. to all appearances, the patient is fully awake, his eyes are open, and he answers when spoken to, but his voice does not have the same sound as when awake. yet, in this state the patient is susceptible of all the hallucinations of insanity which may be induced at the verbal command of the operator. one of the most curious features of this stage of hypnotism is the effect on the memory. says monsieur richet: "i send v---to sleep. i recite some verses to her, and then i awake her. she remembers nothing. i again send her to sleep, and she remembers perfectly the verses i recited. i awake her, and she has again forgotten everything." it appears, however, that if commanded to remember on awaking, a patient may remember. the active sense, and the memory as well, appears to be in an exalted state of activity during this phase of hypnotism. says m. richet: "m----, who will sing the air of the second act of the africaine in her sleep, is incapable of remembering a single note of it when awake." another patient, while under this hypnotic influence, could remember all he had eaten for several days past, but when awake could remember very little. binet and fere caused one of their subjects to remember the whole of his repasts for eight days past, though when awake he could remember nothing beyond two or three days. a patient of dr. charcot, who when she was two years old had seen dr. parrot in the children's hospital, but had not seen him since, and when awake could not remember him, named him at once when he entered during her hypnotic sleep. m. delboeuf tells of an experiment he tried, in which the patient did remember what had taken place during the hypnotic condition, when he suddenly awakened her in the midst of the hallucination; as, for instance, he told her the ashes from the cigar he was smoking had fallen on her handkerchief and had set it on fire, whereupon she at once rose and threw the handkerchief into the water. then, suddenly awakened, she remembered the whole performance. in the somnambulistic stage the patient is no longer an automaton merely, but a real personality, "an individual with his own character, his likes and dislikes." the tone of the voice of the operator seems to have quite as much effect as his words. if he speaks in a grave and solemn tone, for instance, even if what he utters is nonsense, the effect is that of a deeply tragic story. the will of another is not so easily implanted as has been claimed. while a patient will follow almost any suggestion that may be offered, he readily obeys only commands which are in keeping with his character. if he is commanded to do something he dislikes or which in the waking state would be very repugnant to him, he hesitates, does it very reluctantly, and in extreme cases refuses altogether, often going into hysterics. it was found at the charity hospital that one patient absolutely refused to accept a cassock and become a priest. one of monsieur richet's patients screamed with pain the moment an amputation was suggested, but almost immediately recognized that it was only a suggestion, and laughed in the midst of her tears. probably, however, this patient was not completely hypnotized. dr. dumontpallier was able to produce a very curious phenomenon. he suggested to a female patient that with the right eye she could see a picture on a blank card. on awakening she could, indeed, see the picture with the right eye, but the left eye told her the card was blank. while she was in the somnambulistic state he told her in her right ear that the weather was very fine, and at the same time another person whispered in her left ear that it was raining. on the right side of her face she had a smile, while the left angle of her lip dropped as if she were depressed by the thought of the rain. again, he describes a dance and gay party in one ear, and another person mimics the barking of a dog in the other. one side of her face in that case wears an amused expression, while the other shows signs of alarm. dr. charcot thus describes a curious experiment: "a portrait is suggested to a subject as existing on a blank card, which is then mixed with a dozen others; to all appearance they are similar cards. the subject, being awakened, is requested to look over the packet, and does so without knowing the reason of the request, but when he perceives the card on which the portrait was suggested, he at once recognizes the imaginary portrait. it is probable that some insignificant mark has, owing to his visual hyperacuity, fixed the image in the subject's brain." fascination. says a recent french writer: "dr. bremand, a naval doctor, has obtained in men supposed to be perfectly healthy a new condition, which he calls fascination. the inventor considers that this is hypnotism in its mildest form, which, after repeated experiments, might become catalepsy. the subject fascinated by dr. bremaud--fascination being induced by the contemplation of a bright spot--falls into a state of stupor. he follows the operator and servilely imitates his movements, gestures and words; he obeys suggestions, and a stimulation of the nerves induces contraction, but the cataleptic pliability does not exist." a noted public hypnotizer in paris some years ago produced fascination in the following manner: he would cause the subject to lean on his hands, thus fatiguing the muscles. the excitement produced by the concentrated gaze of a large audience also assisted in weakening the nervous resistance. at last the operator would suddenly call out: "look at me!" the subject would look up and gaze steadily into the operator's eyes, who would stare steadily back with round, glaring eyes, and in most cases subdue his victim. chapter iv. how the subject feels under hypnotization.--dr. cooper's experience.--effect of music.--dr. alfred marthieu's experiments. the sensations produced during a state of hypnosis are very interesting. as may be supposed, they differ greatly in different persons. one of the most interesting accounts ever given is that of dr. james r. cocke, a hypnotist himself, who submitted to being operated upon by a professional magnetizer. he was at that time a firm believer in the theory of personal magnetism (a delusion from which he afterward escaped). on the occasion which he describes, the operator commanded him to close his eyes and told him he could not open them, but he did open them at once. again he told him to close the eyes, and at the same time he gently stroked his head and face and eyelids with his hand. dr. cocke fancied he felt a tingling sensation in his forehead and eyes, which he supposed came from the hand of the operator. (afterward he came to believe that this sensation was purely imaginary on his part.) then he says: "a sensation akin to fear came over me. the operator said: 'you are going to sleep, you are getting sleepy. you cannot open your eyes.' i was conscious that my heart was beating rapidly, and i felt a sensation of terror. he continued to tell me i was going to sleep, and could not open my eves. he then made passes over my head, down over my hands and body, but did not touch me. he then said to me, 'you cannot open your eyes.' the motor apparatus of my lids would not seemingly respond to my will, yet i was conscious that while one part of my mind wanted to open my eyes, another part did not want to, so i was in a paradoxical state. i believed that i could open my eyes, and yet could not. the feeling of not wishing to open my eyes was not based upon any desire to please the operator. i had no personal interest in him in any way, but, be it understood, i firmly believed in his power to control me. he continued to suggest to me that i was going to sleep, and the suggestion of terror previously mentioned continued to increase." the next step was to put the doctor's hand over his head, and tell him he could not put it down. then he stroked the arm and said it was growing numb. he said: "you have no feeling in it, have you?" dr. cocke goes on: "i said 'no,' and i knew that i said 'no,' yet i knew that i had a feeling in it." the operator went on, pricking the arm with a pin, and though dr. cocke felt the pain he said he did not feel it, and at the same time the sensation of terror increased. "i was not conscious of my body at all," he says further on, "but i was painfully conscious of the two contradictory elements within me. i knew that my body existed, but could not prove it to myself. i knew that the statements made by the operator were in a measure untrue. i obeyed them voluntarily and involuntarily. this is the last remembrance that i have of that hypnotic experience." after this, however, the operator caused the doctor to do a number of things which he learned of from his friends after the performance was over. "it seemed to me that the hypnotist commanded me to awake as soon as i dropped my arm," and yet ten minutes of unconsciousness had passed. on a subsequent occasion dr. cocke, who was blind, was put into a deep hypnotic sleep by fixing his mind on the number 26 and holding up his hand. this time he experienced a still greater degree of terror, and incidentally learned that he could hypnotize himself. the matter of self-hypnotism we shall consider in another chapter. in this connection we find great interest in an article in the medical news, july 28, 1894, by dr. alfred warthin, of ann arbor, mich., in which he describes the effects of music upon hypnotic subjects. while in vienna he took occasion to observe closely the enthusiastic musical devotees as they sat in the audience at the performance of one of wagner's operas. he believed they were in a condition of self-induced hypnotism, in which their subjective faculties were so exalted as to supersede their objective perceptions. music was no longer to them a succession of pleasing sounds, but the embodiment of a drama in which they became so wrapped up that they forgot all about the mechanical and external features of the music and lived completely in a fairy world of dream. this observation suggested to him an interesting series of experiments. his first subject was easily hypnotized, and of an emotional nature. wagner's "ride of walkure" was played from the piano score. the pulse of the subject became more rapid and at first of higher tension, increasing from a normal rate of 60 beats a minute to 120. then, as the music progressed, the tension diminished. the respiration increased from 18 to 30 per minute. great excitement in the subject was evident. his whole body was thrown into motion, his legs were drawn up, his arms tossed into the air, and a profuse sweat appeared. when the subject had been awakened, he said that he did not remember the music as music, but had an impression of intense, excitement, brought on by "riding furiously through the air." the state of mind brought up before him in the most realistic and vivid manner possible the picture of the ride of tam o'shanter, which he had seen years before. the picture soon became real to him, and he found himself taking part in a wild chase, not as witch, devil, or tam even; but in some way his consciousness was spread through every part of the scene, being of it, and yet playing the part of spectator, as is often the case in dreams. dr. warthin tried the same experiment again, this time on a young man who was not so emotional, and was hypnotized with much more difficulty. this subject did not pass into such a deep state of hypnotism, but the result was practically the same. the pulse rate rose from 70 to 120. the sensation remembered was that of riding furiously through the air. the experiment was repeated on other subjects, in all cases with the same result. only one knew that the music was the "ride of walkure." "to him it always expressed the pictured wild ride of the daughters of wotan, the subject taking part in the ride." it was noticeable in each case that the same music played to them in the waking state produced no special impression. here is incontestable evidence that in the hypnotic state the perception of the special senses is enormously heightened. a slow movement was tried (the valhalla motif). at first it seemed to produce the opposite effect, for the pulse was lowered. later it rose to a rate double the normal, and the tension was diminished. the impression described by the subject afterward was a feeling of "lofty grandeur and calmness." a mountain climbing experience of years before was recalled, and the subject seemed to contemplate a landscape of "lofty grandeur." a different sort of music was played (the intense and ghastly scene in which brunhilde appears to summon sigmund to valhalla). immediately a marked change took place in the pulse. it became slow and irregular, and very small. the respiration decreased almost to gasping, the face grew pale, and a cold perspiration broke out. readers who are especially interested in this subject will find descriptions of many other interesting experiments in the same article. dr. cocke describes a peculiar trick he played upon the sight of a subject. says he: "i once hypnotized a man and made him read all of his a's as w's, his u's as v's, and his b's as x's. i added suggestion after suggestion so rapidly that it would have been impossible for him to have remembered simply what i said and call the letters as i directed. stimulation was, in this case impossible, as i made him read fifteen or twenty pages, he calling the letters as suggested each time they occurred." the extraordinary heightening of the sense perceptions has an important bearing on the question of spiritualism and clairvoyance. if the powers of the mind are so enormously increased, all that is required of a very sensitive and easily hypnotized person is to hypnotize him or herself, when he will be able to read thoughts and remember or perceive facts hidden to the ordinary perception. in this connection the reader is referred to the confession of mrs. piper, the famous medium of the american branch of the psychical research society. the confession will be found printed in full at the close of this book. chapter v. self-hypnotization.--how it may be done.--an experience.--accountable for children's crusade.--oriental prophets self-hypnotized. if self-hypnotism is possible (and it is true that a person can deliberately hypnotize himself when he wishes to till he has become accustomed to it and is expert in it, so to speak), it does away at a stroke with the claims of all professional hypnotists and magnetic healers that they have any peculiar power in themselves which they exert over their fellows. one of these professionals gives an account in his book of what he calls "the wonderful lock method." he says that though he is locked up in a separate room he can make the psychic power work through the walls. all that he does is to put his subjects in the way of hypnotizing themselves. he shows his inconsistency when he states that under certain circumstances the hypnotizer is in danger of becoming hypnotized himself. in this he makes no claim that the subject is using any psychic power; but, of course, if the hypnotizer looks steadily into the eyes of his subject, and the subject looks into his eyes, the steady gaze on a bright object will produce hypnotism in one quite as readily as in the other. hypnotism is an established scientific fact; but the claim that the hypnotizer has any mysterious psychic power is the invariable mark of the charlatan. probably no scientific phenomenon was ever so grossly prostituted to base ends as that of hypnotism. later we shall see some of the outrageous forms this charlatanism assumes, and how it extends to the professional subjects as well as to the professional operators, till those subjects even impose upon scientific men who ought to be proof against such deception. moreover, the possibility of self-hypnotization, carefully concealed and called by another name, opens another great field of humbug and charlatanism, of which the advertising columns of the newspapers are constantly filled--namely, that of the clairvoyant and medium. we may conceive how such a profession might become perfectly legitimate and highly useful; but at present it seems as if any person who went into it, however honest he might be at the start, soon began to deceive himself as well as others, until he lost his power entirely to distinguish between fact and imagination. before discussing the matter further, let us quote dr. cocke's experiment in hypnotizing himself. it will be remembered that a professional hypnotizer or magnetizer had hypnotized him by telling him to fix his mind on the number twenty-six and holding up his hand. says the doctor: "in my room that evening it occurred to me to try the same experiment. i did so. i kept the number twenty-six in my mind. in a few minutes i felt the sensation of terror, but in a different way. i was intensely cold. my heart seemed to stand still. i had ringing in my ears. my hair seemed to rise upon my scalp. i persisted in the effort, and the previously mentioned noise in my ears grew louder and louder. the roar became deafening. it crackled like a mighty fire. i was fearfully conscious of myself. having read vivid accounts of dreams, visions, etc., it occurred to me that i would experience them. i felt in a vague way that there were beings all about me but could not hear their voices. i felt as though every muscle in my body was fixed and rigid. the roar in my ears grew louder still, and i heard, above the roar, reports which sounded like artillery and musketry. then above the din of the noise a musical chord. i seemed to be absorbed in this chord. i knew nothing else. the world existed for me only in the tones of the mighty chord. then i had a sensation as though i were expanding. the sound in my ears died away, and yet i was not conscious of silence. then all consciousness was lost. the next thing i experienced was a sensation of intense cold, and of someone roughly shaking me. then i heard the voice of my jolly landlord calling me by name." the landlord had found the doctor "as white as a ghost and as limp as a rag," and thought he was dead. he says it took him ten minutes to arouse the sleeper. during the time a physician had been summoned. as to the causes of this condition as produced dr. cocke says: "i firmly believed that something would happen when the attempt was made to hypnotize me. secondly, i wished to be hypnotized. these, together with a vivid imagination and strained attention, brought on the states which occurred." it is interesting to compare the effects of hypnotization with those of opium or other narcotic. dr. cocke asserts that there is a difference. his descriptions of dreams bear a wonderful likeness to de quincey's dreams, such as those described in "the english mail-coach," "de profundis," and "the confessions of an english opium eater," all of which were presumably due to opium. the causes which dr. cocke thinks produced the hypnotic condition in his case, namely, belief, desire to be hypnotized, and strained attention, united with a vivid imagination, are causes which are often found in conjunction and produce effects which we may reasonably explain on the theory of self-hypnotization. for instance, the effects of an exciting religious revival are very like those produced by mesmer's operations in paris. the subjects become hysterical, and are ready to believe anything or do anything. by prolonging the operation, a whole community becomes more or less hypnotized. in all such cases, however, unusual excitement is commonly followed by unusual lethargy. it is much like a wild spree of intoxication--in fact, it is a sort of intoxication. the same phenomena are probably accountable for many of the strange records of history. the wonderful cures at lourdes (of which we have read in zola's novel of that name) are no doubt the effect of hypnotization by the priests. some of the strange movements of whole communities during the crusades are to be explained either on the theory of hypnotization or of contagion, and possibly these two things will turn out to be much the same in fact. on no other ground can we explain the so-called "children's crusade," in which over thirty thousand children from germany, from all classes of the community, tried to cross the alps in winter, and in their struggles were all lost or sold into slavery without even reaching the holy land. again, hypnotism is accountable for many of the poet's dreams. gazing steadily at a bed of bright coals or a stream of running water will invariably throw a sensitive subject into a hypnotic sleep that will last sometimes for several hours. dr. cocke says that he has experimented in this direction with patients of his. says he: "they have the ability to resist the state or to bring it at will. many of them describe beautiful scenes from nature, or some mighty cathedral with its lofty dome, or the faces of imaginary beings, beautiful or demoniacal, according to the will and temper of the subject." perhaps the most wonderful example of self-hypnotism which we have in history is that of the mystic swedenborg, who saw, such strange things in his visions, and at last came to believe in them as real. the same explanation may be given of the manifestations of oriental prophets--for in the orient hypnotism is much easier and more systematically developed than with us of the west. the performances of the dervishes, and also of the fakirs, who wound themselves and perform many wonderful feats which would be difficult for an ordinary person, are no doubt in part feats of hypnotism. while in a condition of auto-hypnotization a person may imagine that he is some other personality. says dr. cocke: "a curious thing about those self-hypnotized subjects is that they carry out perfectly their own ideals of the personality with whom they believe themselves to be possessed. if their own ideals of the part they are playing are imperfect, their impersonations are ridiculous in the extreme. one man i remember believed himself to be controlled by the spirit of charles sumner. being uneducated, he used the most wretched english, and his language was utterly devoid of sense. while, on the other hand, a very intelligent lady who believed herself to be controlled by the spirit of charlotte cushman personated the part very well." dr. cooke says of himself: "i can hypnotize myself to such an extent that i will become wholly unconscious of events taking place around me, and a long interval of time, say from one-half to two hours, will be a complete blank. during this condition of auto-hypnotization i will obey suggestions made to me by another, talking rationally, and not knowing any event that has occurred after the condition has passed off." chapter vi. simulation.--deception in hypnotism very common.--examples of neuropathic deceit.--detecting simulation.--professional subjects.--how dr. luys of the charity hospital at paris was deceived.--impossibility of detecting deception in all cases.--confessions of a professional hypnotic subject. it has already been remarked that hypnotism and hysteria are conditions very nearly allied, and that hysterical neuropathic individuals make the best hypnotic subjects. now persons of this character are in most cases morally as well as physically degenerate, and it is a curious fact that deception seems to be an inherent element in nearly all such characters. expert doctors have been thoroughly deceived. and again, persons who have been trying to expose frauds have also been deceived by the positive statements of such persons that they were deceiving the doctors when they were not. a diseased vanity seems to operate in such cases and the subjects take any method which promises for the time being to bring them into prominence. merely to attract attention is a mania with some people. there is also something about the study of hypnotism, and similar subjects in which delusions constitute half the existence, that seems to destroy the faculty for distinguishing between truth and delusion. undoubtedly we must look on such manifestations as a species of insanity. there is also a point at which the unconscious deceiver, for the sake of gain, passes into the conscious deceiver. at the close of this chapter we will give some cases illustrating the fact that persons may learn by practice to do seemingly impossible things, such as holding themselves perfectly rigid (as in the cataleptic state) while their head rests on one chair and their heels on another, and a heavy person sits upon them. first, let us cite a few cases of what may be called neuropathic deceit--a kind of insanity which shows itself in deceiving. the newspapers record similar cases from time to time. the first two of the following are quoted by dr. courmelles from the french courts, etc. 1. the comtesse de w---accused her maid of having attempted to poison her. the case was a celebrated one, and the court-room was thronged with women who sympathized with the supposed victim. the maid was condemned to death; but a second trial was granted, at which it was conclusively proved that the comtesse had herself bound herself on her bed, and had herself poured out the poison which was found still blackening her breast and lips. 2. in 1886 a man called ulysse broke into the shop of a second-hand dealer, facing his own house in paris, and there began deliberately to take away the goods, just as if he were removing his own furniture. this he did without hurrying himself in any way, and transported the property to his own premises. being caught in the very act of the theft, he seemed at first to be flurried and bewildered. when arrested and taken to the lock-up, he seemed to be in a state of abstraction; when spoken to he made no reply, seemed ready to fall asleep, and when brought before the examining magistrate actually fell asleep. dr. garnier, the medical man attached to the infirmary of the police establishment, had no doubt of his irresponsibility and he was released from custody. 3. while engaged as police-court reporter for a boston newspaper, the present writer saw a number of strange cases of the same kind. one was that of a quiet, refined, well educated lady, who was brought in for shop-lifting. though her husband was well to do, and she did not sell or even use the things she took, she had made a regular business of stealing whenever she could. she had begun it about seven months before by taking a lace handkerchief, which she slipped under her shawl: soon after she accomplished another theft. "i felt so encouraged," she said, "that i got a large bag, which i fastened under my dress, and into this i slipped whatever i could take when the clerks were not looking. i do not know what made me do it. my success seemed to lead me on." other cases of kleptomania could easily be cited. "simulation," say messieurs binet and fere, "which is already a stumbling block in the study of hysterical cases, becomes far more formidable in such studies as we are now occupied with. it is only when he has to deal with physical phenomena that the operator feels himself on firm ground." yet even here we can by no means feel certain. physicians have invented various ingenious pieces of apparatus for testing the circulation and other physiological conditions; but even these things are not sure tests. the writer knows of the case of a man who has such control over his heart and lungs that he can actually throw himself into a profound sleep in which the breathing is so absolutely stopped for an hour that a mirror is not moistened in the least by the breath, nor can the pulses be felt. to all intents and purposes the man appears to be dead; but in due time he comes to life again, apparently no whit the worse for his experiment. if an ordinary person were asked to hold out his arms at full length for five minutes he would soon become exhausted, his breathing would quicken, his pulse-rate increase. it might be supposed that if these conditions did not follow the subject was in a hypnotic trance; but it is well known that persons may easily train themselves to hold out the arms for any length of time without increasing the respiration by one breath or raising the pulse rate at all. we all remember montaigne's famous illustration in which he said that if a woman began by carrying a calf about every day she would still be able to carry it when it became an ox. in the paris hospitals, where the greater number of regular scientific experiments have been conducted, it is found that "trained subjects" are required for all of the more difficult demonstrations. that some of these famous scientists have been deceived, there is no doubt. they know it themselves. a case which will serve as an illustration is that of dr. luys, some of whose operations were "exposed" by dr. ernest hart, an english student of hypnotism of a skeptical turn of mind. one of dr. luys's pupils in a book he has published makes the following statement, which helps to explain the circumstances which we will give a little later. says he: "we know that many hospital patients who are subjected to the higher or greater treatment of hypnotism are of very doubtful reputations; we know also the effects of a temperament which in them is peculiarly addicted to simulation, and which is exaggerated by the vicinity of maladies similar to their own. to judge of this, it is necessary to have seen them encourage each other in simulation, rehearsing among themselves, or even before the medical students of the establishment, the experiments to which they have been subjected; and going through their different contortions and attitudes to exercise themselves in them. and then, again, in the present day, has not the designation of an 'hypnotical subject' become almost a social position? to be fed, to be paid, admired, exhibited in public, run after, and all the rest of it--all this is enough to make the most impartial looker-on skeptical. but is it enough to enable us to produce an a priori negation? certainly not; but it is sufficient to justify legitimate doubt. and when we come to moral phenomena, where we have to put faith in the subject, the difficulty becomes still greater. supposing suggestion and hallucination to be granted, can they be demonstrated? can we by plunging the subject in hypnotical sleep, feel sure of what he may affirm? that is impossible, for simulation and somnambulism are not reciprocally exclusive terms, and monsieur pitres has established the fact that a subject who sleeps may still simulate." messieurs binet and fere in their book speak of "the honest hublier, whom his somnambulist emelie cheated for four years consecutively." let us now quote mr. hart's investigations. dr. luys is an often quoted authority on hypnotism in paris, and is at the head of what is called the charity hospital school of hypnotical experiments. in 1892 he announced some startling results, in which some people still have faith (more or less). what he was supposed to accomplish was stated thus in the london pall mall gazette, issue of december 2: "dr. luys then showed us how a similar artificial state of suffering could be created without suggestion--in fact, by the mere proximity of certain substances. a pinch of coal dust, for example, corked and sealed in a small phial and placed by the side of the neck of a hypnotized person, produces symptoms of suffocation by smoke; a tube of distilled water, similarly placed, provokes signs of incipient hydrophobia; while another very simple concoction put in contact with the flesh brings on symptoms of suffocation by drowning." signs of drunkenness were said to be caused by a small corked bottle of brandy, and the nature of a cat by a corked bottle of valerian. patients also saw beautiful blue flames about the north pole of a magnet and distasteful red flames about the south pole; while by means of a magnet it was said that the symptoms of illness of a sick patient might be transferred to a well person also in the hypnotic state, but of course on awaking the well person at once threw off sickness that had been transferred, but the sick person was permanently relieved. these experiments are cited in some recent books on hypnotism, apparently with faith. the following counter experiments will therefore be read with interest. dr. hart gives a full account of his investigations in the nineteenth century. dr. luys gave dr. hart some demonstrations, which the latter describes as follows: "a tube containing ten drachms of cognac were placed at a certain point on the subject's neck, which dr. luys said was the seat of the great nerve plexuses. the effect on marguerite was very rapid and marked; she began to move her lips and to swallow; the expression of her face changed, and she asked, 'what have you been giving me to drink? i am quite giddy.' at first she had a stupid and troubled look; then she began to get gay. 'i am ashamed of myself,' she said; 'i feel quite tipsy,' and after passing through some of the phases of lively inebriety she began to fall from the chair, and was with difficulty prevented from sprawling on the floor. she was uncomfortable, and seemed on the point of vomiting, but this was stopped, and she was calmed." another patient gave all the signs of imagining himself transformed into a cat when a small corked bottle of valerian was placed on his neck. in the presence of a number of distinguished doctors in paris, dr. hart tried a series of experiments in which by his conversation he gave the patient no clue to exactly what drug he was using, in order that if the patient was simulating he would not know what to simulate. marguerite was the subject of several of these experiments, one of which is described as follows: "i took a tube which was supposed to contain alcohol, but which did contain cherry laurel water. marguerite immediately began, to use the words of m. sajous's note, to smile agreeably and then to laugh; she became gay. 'it makes me laugh,' she said, and then, 'i'm not tipsy, i want to sing,' and so on through the whole performance of a not ungraceful giserie, which we stopped at that stage, for i was loth to have the degrading performance of drunkenness carried to the extreme i had seen her go through at the charite. i now applied a tube of alcohol, asking the assistant, however, to give me valerian, which no doubt this profoundly hypnotized subject perfectly well heard, for she immediately went through the whole cat performance. she spat, she scratched, she mewed, she leapt about on all fours, and she was as thoroughly cat-like as had been dr. luys's subjects." similar experiments as to the effect of magnets and electric currents were tried. a note taken by dr. sajous runs thus: "she found the north pole, notwithstanding there was no current, very pretty; she was as if she were fascinated by it; she caressed the blue flames, and showed every sign of delight. then came the phenomena of attraction. she followed the magnet with delight across the room, as though fascinated by it; the bar was turned so as to present the other end or what would be called, in the language of la charite, the south pole. then she fell into an attitude, of repulsion and horror, with clenched fists, and as it approached her she fell backward into the arms of m. cremiere, and was carried, still showing all the signs of terror and repulsion, back to her chair. the bar was again turned until what should have been the north pole was presented to her. she again resumed the same attitudes of attraction, and tears bedewed her cheeks. 'ah,' she said, 'it is blue, the flame mounts,' and she rose from her seat, following the magnet around the room. similar but false phenomena were obtained in succession with all the different forms of magnet and non-magnet; marguerite was never once right, but throughout her acting was perfect; she was utterly unable at any time really to distinguish between a plain bar of iron, demagnetized magnet or a horseshoe magnet carrying a full current and one from which the current was wholly cut off." five different patients were tested in the same way, through a long series of experiments, with the same results, a practical proof that dr. luys had been totally deceived and his new and wonderful discoveries amounted to nothing. there is, however, another possible explanation, namely, telepathy, in a real hypnotic condition. even if dr. luys's experiments were genuine this would be the rational explanation. they were a case of suggestion of some sort, without doubt. nearly every book on hypnotism gives various rules for detecting simulation of the hypnotic state. one of the commonest tests is that of anaesthesia. a pin or pen-knife is stuck into a subject to see if he is insensible to pain; but as we shall see in a latter chapter, this insensibility also may be simulated, for by long training some persons learn to control their facial expressions perfectly. we have already seen that the pulse and respiration tests are not sufficient. hypnotic persons often flush slightly in the face; but it is true that there are persons who can flush on any part of the body at will. mr. ernest hart had an article in the century magazine on "the eternal gullible," in which he gives the confessions of a professional hypnotic subject. this person, whom he calls l., he brought to his house, where some experiments were tried in the presence of a number of doctors, whose names are quoted. the quotation of a paragraph or two from mr. hart's article will be of interest. says he: "the 'catalepsy business' had more artistic merit. so rigid did l. make his muscles that he could be lifted in one piece like an egyptian mummy. he lay with his head on the back of one chair, and his heels on another, and allowed a fairly heavy man to sit on his stomach; it seemed to me, however, that he was here within a 'straw' or two of the limit of his endurance. the 'blister trick,' spoken of by truth as having deceived some medical men, was done by rapidly biting and sucking the skin of the wrist. l. did manage with some difficulty to raise a slight swelling, but the marks of the teeth were plainly visible." (possibly l. had made his skin so tough by repeated biting that he could no longer raise the blister!) "one point in l.'s exhibition which was undoubtedly genuine was his remarkable and stoical endurance of pain. he stood before us smiling and open-eyed while he ran long needles into the fleshy part of his arms and legs without flinching, and he allowed one of the gentlemen present to pinch his skin in different parts with strong crenated pincers in a manner which bruised it, and which to most people would have caused intense pain. l. allowed no sign of suffering or discomfort to appear; he did not set his teeth or wince; his pulse was not quickened, and the pupil of his eye did not dilate as physiologists tell us it does when pain passes a certain limit. it may be said that this merely shows that in l. the limit of endurance was beyond the normal standard; or, in other words, that his sensitiveness was less than that of the average man. at any rate his performance in this respect was so remarkable that some of the gentlemen present were fain to explain it by supposed 'post-hypnotic suggestion,' the theory apparently being that l. and his comrades hypnotized one another, and thus made themselves insensible to pain. "as surgeons have reason to know, persons vary widely in their sensitiveness to pain. i have seen a man chat quietly with bystanders while his carotid artery was being tied without the use of chloroform. during the russo-turkish war wounded turks often astonished english doctors by undergoing the most formidable amputations with no other anaesthetic than a cigarette. hysterical women will inflict very severe pain on themselves--merely for wantonness or in order to excite sympathy. the fakirs who allow themselves to be hung up by hooks beneath their shoulder-blades seem to think little of it and, as a matter of fact, i believe are not much inconvenienced by the process." the fact is, the amateur can always be deceived, and there are no special tests that can be relied on. if a person is well accustomed to hypnotic manifestations, and also a good judge of human nature, and will keep constantly on guard, using every precaution to avoid deception, it is altogether likely that it can be entirely obviated. but one must use his good judgment in every possible way. in the case of fresh subjects, or persons well known, of course there is little possibility of deception. and the fact that deception exists does not in any way invalidate the truth of hypnotism as a scientific phenomenon. we cite it merely as one of the physiological peculiarities connected with the mental condition of which it is a manifestation. the fact that a tendency to deception exists is interesting in itself, and may have an influence upon our judgment of our fellow beings. there is, to be sure, a tendency on the part of scientific writers to find lunatics instead of criminals; but knowledge of the well demonstrated fact that many criminals are insane helps to make us charitable. chapter vii. criminal suggestion.--laboratory crimes.--dr. cocke's experiments showing criminal suggestion is not possible.--dr. william james' theory.--a bad man cannot be made good, why expect to make a good man bad? one of the most interesting phases of hypnotism is that of post-hypnotic suggestion, to which reference has already been made. it is true that a suggestion made during the hypnotic condition as to what a person will do after coming out of the hypnotic sleep may be carried out. a certain professional hypnotizer claims that once he has hypnotized a person he can keep that person forever after under his influence by means of post-hypnotic suggestion. he says to him while in the hypnotic sleep: "whenever i look at you, or point at you, you will fall asleep. no one can hypnotize you but me. whenever i try to hypnotize you, you will fall asleep." he says further: "suggest to a subject while he is sound asleep that in eight weeks he will mail you a letter with a blank piece of note paper inside, and during the intervening period you may yourself forget the occurrence, but in exactly eight weeks he will carry out the suggestion. suggestions of this nature are always carried out, especially when the suggestion is to take effect on some certain day or date named. suggest to a subject that in ninety days from a given date he will come to your house with his coat on inside out, and he will most certainly do so." the same writer also definitely claims that he can hypnotize people against their wills. if this were true, what a terrible power would a shrewd, evil-minded criminal have to compel the execution of any of his plans! we hope to show that it is not true; but we must admit that many scientific men have tried experiments which they believe demonstrate beyond a doubt that criminal use can be and is made of hypnotic influence. if it were possible to make a person follow out any line of conduct while actually under hypnotic influence it would be bad enough; but the use of posthypnotic suggestion opens a yet more far-reaching and dangerous avenue. among the most definite claims of the evil deeds that may be compelled during hypnotic sleep is that of dr. luys, whom we have already seen as being himself deceived by professional hypnotic subjects. says he: "you cannot only oblige this defenseless being, who is incapable of opposing the slightest resistance, to give from hand to hand anything you may choose, but you can also make him sign a promise, draw up a bill of exchange, or any other kind of agreement. you may make him write an holographic will (which according to french law would be valid), which he will hand over to you, and of which he will never know the existence. he is ready to fulfill the minutest legal formalities, and will do so with a calm, serene and natural manner calculated to deceive the most expert law officers. these somnambulists will not hesitate either, you may be sure, to make a denunciation, or to bear false witness; they are, i repeat, the passive instruments of your will. for instance, take e. she will at my bidding write out and sign a donation of forty pounds in my favor. in a criminal point of view the subject under certain suggestions will make false denunciations, accuse this or that person, and maintain with the greatest assurance that he has assisted at an imaginary crime. i will recall to your mind those scenes of fictitious assassination, which have exhibited before you. i was careful to place in the subject's hands a piece of paper instead of a dagger or a revolver; but it is evident, that if they had held veritable murderous instruments, the scene might have had a tragic ending." many experiments along this line have been tried, such as suggesting the theft of a watch or a spoon, which afterward was actually carried out. it may be said at once that "these laboratory crimes" are in most cases successful: a person who has nothing will give away any amount if told to do so; but quite different is the case of a wealthy merchant who really has money to sign away. dr. cocke describes one or two experiments of his own which have an important bearing on the question of criminal suggestion. says he: "a girl who was hypnotized deeply was given a glass of water and was told that it was a lighted lamp. a broomstick was placed across the room and she was told that it was a man who intended to injure her. i suggested to her that she throw the glass of water (she supposing it was a lighted lamp) at the broomstick, her enemy, and she immediately threw it with much violence. then a man was placed across the room, and she was given instead of a glass of water a lighted lamp. i told her that the lamp was a glass of water, and that the man across the room was her brother. it was suggested to her that his clothing was on fire and she was commanded to extinguish the fire by throwing the lighted lamp at the individual, she having been told, as was previously mentioned, that it was a glass of water. without her knowledge a person was placed behind her for the purpose of quickly checking her movements, if desired. i then commanded her to throw the lamp at the man. she raised the lamp, hesitated, wavered, and then became very hysterical, laughing and crying alternately. this condition was so profound that she came very near dropping the lamp. immediately after she was quieted i made a number of tests to prove that she was deeply hypnotized. standing in front of her i gave her a piece of card-board, telling her that it was a dagger, and commanded her to stab me. she immediately struck at me with the piece of card-board. i then gave her an open pocketknife and commanded her to strike at me with it. again she raised it to execute my command, again hesitated, and had another hysterical attack. i have tried similar experiments with thirty or forty people with similar results. some of them would have injured themselves severely, i am convinced, at command, but to what extent i of course cannot say. that they could have been induced to harm others, or to set fire to houses, etc., i do not believe. i say this after very careful reading and a large amount of experimentation." dr. cocke also declares his belief that no person can be hypnotized against his will by a person who is repugnant to him. the facts in the case are probably those that might be indicated by a common-sense consideration of the conditions. if a person is weak-minded and susceptible to temptation, to theft, for instance, no doubt a familiar acquaintance of a similar character might hypnotize that person and cause him to commit the crime to which his moral nature is by no means averse. if, on the other hand, the personality of the hypnotizer and the crime itself are repugnant to the hypnotic subject, he will absolutely refuse to do as he is bidden, even while in the deepest hypnotic sleep. on this point nearly all authorities agree. again, there is absolutely no well authenticated case of crime committed by a person under hypnotic influence. there have been several cases reported, and one woman in paris who aided in a murder was released on her plea of irresponsibility because she had been hypnotized. in none of these cases, however, was there any really satisfactory evidence that hypnotism existed. in all the cases reported there seemed to be no doubt of the weak character and predisposition to crime. in another class of cases, namely those of criminal assault upon girls and women, the only evidence ever adduced that the injured person was hypnotized was the statement of that person, which cannot really be called evidence at all. the fact is, a weak character can be tempted and brought under virtual control much more easily by ordinary means than by hypnotism. the man who "overpersuades" a business man to endorse a note uses no hypnotic influence. he is merely making a clever play upon the man's vanity, egotism, or good nature. a profound study of the hypnotic state, such as has been made by prof. william james, of harvard college, the great authority on psychical phenomena and president of the psychic research society, leads to the conviction that in the hypnotic sleep the will is only in abeyance, as it is in natural slumber or in sleepwalking, and any unusual or especially exciting occurrence, especially anything that runs against the grain of the nature, reawakens that will, and it soon becomes as active as ever. this is ten times more true in the matter of post-hypnotic suggestion, which is very much weaker than suggestion that takes effect during the actual hypnotic sleep. we shall see, furthermore, that while acting under a delusion at the suggestion of the operator, the patient is really conscious all the time of the real facts in the case--indeed, much more keenly so, oftentimes, than the operator himself. for instance, if a line is drawn on a sheet of paper and the subject is told there is no line, he will maintain there is no line; but he has to see it in order to ignore it. moreover, persons trained to obey, instinctively do obey even in their waking state. it requires a special faculty to resist obedience, even during our ordinary waking condition. says a recent writer: "it is certain that we are naturally inclined to obey, conflicts and resistance are the characteristics of some rare individuals; but between admitting this and saying that we are doomed to obey--even the least of us--lies a gulf." the same writer says further: "hypnotic suggestion is an order given for a few seconds, at most a few minutes, to an individual in a state of induced sleep. the suggestion may be repeated; but it is absolutely powerless to transform a criminal into an honest man, or vice versa." here is an excellent argument. if it is possible to make criminals it should be quite as easy to make honest men. it is true that the weak are sometimes helped for good; but there is no case on record in which a person who really wished to be bad was ever made good; and the history of hypnotism is full of attempts in that direction. a good illustration is an experiment tried by colonel de rochas: "an excellent subject * * * had been left alone for a few minutes in an apartment, and had stolen a valuable article. after he had left, the theft was discovered. a few days after it was suggested to the subject, while asleep, that he should restore the stolen object; the command was energetically and imperatively reiterated, but in vain. the theft had been committed by the subject, who had sold the article to an old curiosity dealer, as it was eventually found on information received from a third party. yet this subject would execute all the imaginary crimes he was ordered." as to the value of the so-called "laboratory crimes," the statement of dr. courmelles is of interest: "i have heard a subject say," he states, "'if i were ordered to throw myself out of the window i should do it, so certain am i either that there would be somebody under the window to catch me or that i should be stopped in time. the experimentalist's own interests and the consequences of such an act are a sure guarantee.'" chapter viii. dangers in being hypnotized.--condemnation of public performances.--a. common sense view.--evidence furnished by lafontaine.--by dr. courmelles.--by. dr. hart.--by dr. cocke.--no danger in hypnotism if rightly used by physicians or scientists. having considered the dangers to society through criminal hypnotic suggestion, let us now consider what dangers there may be to the individual who is hypnotized. before citing evidence, let us consider the subject from a rational point of view. several things have already been established. we know that hypnotism is akin to hysteria and other forms of insanity--it is, in short, a kind of experimental insanity. really good hypnotic subjects have not a perfect mental balance. we have also seen that repetition of the process increases the susceptibility, and in some cases persons frequently hypnotized are thrown into the hypnotic state by very slight physical agencies, such as looking at a bright doorknob. furthermore, we know that the hypnotic patient is in a very sensitive condition, easily impressed. moreover, it is well known that exertions required of hypnotic subjects are nervously very exhausting, so much so that headache frequently follows. from these facts any reasonable person may make a few clear deductions. first, repeated strain of excitement in hypnotic seances will wear out the constitution just as certainly as repeated strain of excitement in social life, or the like, which, as we know, frequently produces nervous exhaustion. second, it is always dangerous to submit oneself to the influence of an inferior or untrustworthy person. this is just as true in hypnotism as it is in the moral realm. bad companions corrupt. and since the hypnotic subject is in a condition especially susceptible, a little association of this kind, a little submission to the inferior or immoral, will produce correspondingly more detrimental consequences. third, since hypnotism is an abnormal condition, just as drunkenness is, one should not allow a public hypnotizer to experiment upon one and make one do ridiculous things merely for amusement, any more than one would allow a really insane person to be exhibited for money; or than one would allow himself to be made drunk, merely that by his absurd antics he might amuse somebody. it takes little reflection to convince any one that hypnotism for amusement, either on the public stage or in the home, is highly obnoxious, even if it is not highly dangerous. if the hypnotizer is an honest man, and a man of character, little injury may follow. but we can never know that, and the risk of getting into bad hands should prevent every one from submitting to influence at all. the fact is, however, that we should strongly doubt the good character of any one who hypnotizes for amusement, regarding him in the same light as we would one who intoxicated people on the stage for amusement, or gave them chloroform, or went about with a troup of insane people that he might exhibit their idiosyncrasies. honest, right-minded people do not do those things. at the same time, there is nothing wiser that a man can do than to submit himself fully to a stronger and wiser nature than his own. a physician in whom you have confidence may do a thousand times more for you by hypnotism than by the use of drugs. it is a safe rule to place hypnotism in exactly the same category as drugs. rightly used, drugs are invaluable; wrongly used, they become the instruments of the murderer. at all times should they be used with great caution. the same is true of hypnotism. now let us cite some evidence. lafontaine, a professional hypnotist, gives some interesting facts. he says that public hypnotic entertainments usually induce a great many of the audience to become amateur hypnotists, and these experiments may cause suffocation. fear often results in congestion, or a rush of blood to the brain. "if the digestion is not completed, more especially if the repast has been more abundant than usual, congestion may be produced and death be instantaneous. the most violent convulsions may result from too complete magnetization of the brain. a convulsive movement may be so powerful that the body will suddenly describe a circle, the head touching the heels and seem to adhere to them. in this latter case there is torpor without sleep. sometimes it has been impossible to awake the subject." a waiter at nantes, who was magnetized by a commercial traveler, remained for two days in a state of lethargy, and for three hours dr. foure and numerous spectators were able to verify that "the extremities were icy cold, the pulse no longer throbbed, the heart had no pulsations, respiration had ceased, and there was not sufficient breath to dim a glass held before the mouth. moreover, the patient was stiff, his eyes were dull and glassy." nevertheless, lafontaine was able to recall this man to life. dr. courmelles says: "paralysis of one or more members, or of the tongue, may follow the awakening. these are the effects of the contractions of the internal muscles, due often to almost imperceptible touches. the diaphragm--and therefore the respiration--may be stopped in the same manner. catalepsy and more especially lethargy, produce these phenomena." there are on record a number of cases of idiocy, madness, and epilepsy caused by the unskillful provoking of hypnotic sleep. one case is sufficiently interesting, for it is almost exactly similar to a case that occurred at one of the american colleges. the subject was a young professor at a boys' school. "one evening he was present at some public experiments that were being performed in a tavern; he was in no way upset at the sight, but the next day one of his pupils, looking at him fixedly, sent him to sleep. the boys soon got into the habit of amusing themselves by sending him to sleep, and the unhappy professor had to leave the school, and place himself under the care of a doctor." dr. ernest hart gives an experience of his own which carries with it its own warning. says he: "staying at the well known country house in kent of a distinguished london banker, formerly member of parliament for greenwich, i had been called upon to set to sleep, and to arrest a continuous barking cough from which a young lady who was staying in the house was suffering, and who, consequently, was a torment to herself and her friends. i thought this a good opportunity for a control experiment, and i sat her down in front of a lighted candle which i assured her that i had previously mesmerized. presently her cough ceased and she fell into a profound sleep, which lasted until twelve o'clock the next day. when i returned from shooting, i was informed that she was still asleep and could not be awoke, and i had great difficulty in awaking her. that night there was a large dinner party, and, unluckily, i sat opposite to her. presently she again became drowsy, and had to be led from the table, alleging, to my confusion, that i was again mesmerizing her. so susceptible did she become to my supposed mesmeric influence, which i vainly assured her, as was the case, that i was very far from exercising or attempting to exercise, that it was found expedient to take her up to london. i was out riding in the afternoon that she left, and as we passed the railway station, my host, who was riding with me, suggested that, as his friends were just leaving by that train, he would like to alight and take leave of them. i dismounted with him and went on to the platform, and avoided any leave-taking; but unfortunately in walking up and down it seems that i twice passed the window of the young lady's carriage. she was again self-mesmerized, and fell into a sleep which lasted throughout the journey, and recurred at intervals for some days afterward." in commenting on this, dr. hart notes that in reality mesmerism is self-produced, and the will of the operator, even when exercised directly against it, has no effect if the subject believes that the will is being operated in favor of it. says he: "so long as the person operated on believed that my will was that she should sleep, sleep followed. the most energetic willing in my internal consciousness that there should be no sleep, failed to prevent it, where the usual physical methods of hypnotization, stillness, repose, a fixed gaze, or the verbal expression of an order to sleep, were employed." the dangers of hypnotism have been recognized by the law of every civilized country except the united states, where alone public performances are permitted. dr. cocke says: "i have occasionally seen subjects who complained of headache, vertigo, nausea, and other similar symptoms after having been hypnotized, but these conditions were at a future hypnotic sitting easily remedied by suggestion." speaking of the use of hypnotism by doctors under conditions of reasonable care, dr. cocke says further: "there is one contraindication greater than all the rest. it applies more to the physician than to the patient, more to the masses than to any single individual. it is not confined to hypnotism alone; it has blocked the wheels of human progress through the ages which have gone. it is undue enthusiasm. it is the danger that certain individuals will become so enamored with its charms that other equally valuable means of cure will be ignored. mental therapeutics has come to stay. it is yet in its infancy and will grow, but, if it were possible to kill it, it would be strangled by the fanaticism and prejudice of its devotees. the whole field is fascinating and alluring. it promises so much that it is in danger of being missed by the ignorant to such an extent that great harm may result. this is true, not only of mental therapeutics and hypnotism, but of every other blessing we possess. hypnotism has nothing to fear from the senseless skepticism and contempt of those who have no knowledge of the subject." he adds pertinently enough: "while hypnotism can be used in a greater or less degree by every one, it can only be used intelligently by those who understand, not only hypnotism itself, but disease as well." dr. cocke is a firm believer that the right use of hypnotism by intelligent persons does not weaken the will. says he: "i do not believe there is any danger whatever in this. i have no evidence (and i have studied a large number of hypnotized subjects) that hypnotism will render a subject less capable of exercising his will when he is relieved from the hypnotic trance. i do not believe that it increases in any way his susceptibility to ordinary suggestion." however, in regard to the dangers of public performances by professional hypnotizers, dr. cocke is equally positive. says he: "the dangers of public exhibitions, made ludicrous as they are by the operators, should be condemned by all intelligent men and women, not from the danger of hypnotism itself so much as from the liability of the performers to disturb the mental poise of that large mass of ill-balanced individuals which makes up no inconsiderable part of society." in conclusion he says: "patients have been injured by the misuse of hypnotism. * * * this is true of every remedial agent ever employed for the relief of man. every article we eat, if wrongly prepared, if stale, or if too much is taken, will be harmful. every act, every duty of our lives, may, if overdone, become an injury. "then, for the sake of clearness, let me state in closing that hypnotism is dangerous only when it is misused, or when it is applied to that large class of persons who are inherently unsound; especially if that mysterious thing we call credulity predominates to a very great extent over the reason and over other faculties of the mind." chapter ix. hypnotism in medicine.--anesthesia.--restoring the use of muscles.--hallucination.--bad habits. anaesthesia--it is well known that hypnotism may be used to render subjects insensible to pain. thus numerous startling experiments are performed in public, such as running hatpins through the cheeks or arms, sewing the tongue to the ear, etc. the curious part of it is that the insensibility may be confined to one spot only. even persons who are not wholly under hypnotic influence may have an arm or a leg, or any smaller part rendered insensible by suggestion, so that no pain will be felt. this has suggested the use of hypnotism in surgery in the place of chloroform, ether, etc. about the year 1860 some of the medical profession hoped that hypnotism might come into general use for producing insensibility during surgical operations. dr. guerineau in paris reported the following successful operation: the thigh of a patient was amputated. "after the operation," says the doctor, "i spoke to the patient and asked him how he felt. he replied that he felt as if he were in heaven, and he seized hold of my hand and kissed it. turning to a medical student, he added: 'i was aware of all that was being done to me, and the proof is that i knew my thigh was cut off at the moment when you asked me if i felt any pain.'" the writer who records this case continues: "this, however, was but a transitory stage. it was soon recognized that a considerable time and a good deal of preparation were necessary to induce the patients to sleep, and medical men had recourse to a more rapid and certain method; that is, chloroform. thus the year 1860 saw the rise and fall of braidism as a means of surgical anaesthesia." one of the most detailed cases of successful use of hypnotism as an anaesthetic was presented to the hypnotic congress which met in 1889, by dr. fort, professor of anatomy: "on the 21st of october, 1887, a young italian tradesman, aged twenty, jean m--. came to me and asked me to take off a wen he had on his forehead, a little above the right eyebrow. the tumor was about the size of a walnut. "i was reluctant to make use of chloroform, although the patient wished it, and i tried a short hypnotic experiment. finding that my patient was easily hypnotizable, i promised to extract the tumor in a painless manner and without the use of chloroform. "the next day i placed him in a chair and induced sleep, by a fixed gaze, in less than a minute. two italian physicians, drs. triani and colombo who were present during the operation, declared that the subject lost all sensibility and that his muscles retained all the different positions in which they were put exactly as in the cataleptic state. the patient saw nothing, felt nothing, and heard nothing, his brain remaining in communication only with me. "as soon as we had ascertained that the patient was completely under the influence of the hypnotic slumber, i said to him: 'you will sleep for a quarter of an hour,' knowing that the operation would not last longer than that; and he remained seated and perfectly motionless. "i made a transversal incision two and a half inches long and removed the tumor, which i took out whole. i then pinched the blood vessels with a pair of dr. pean's hemostatic pincers, washed the wound and applied a dressing, without making a single ligature. the patient was still sleeping. to maintain the dressing in proper position, i fastened a bandage around his head. while going through the operation i said to the patient, 'lower your head, raise your head, turn to the right, to the left,' etc., and he obeyed like an automaton. when everything was finished, i said to him, 'now, wake up.' "he then awoke, declared that he had felt nothing and did not suffer, and he went away on foot, as if nothing had been done to him. "five days after the dressing was removed and the cicatrix was found completely healed." hypnotism has been tried extensively for painless dentistry, but with many cases of failure, which got into the courts and thoroughly discredited the attempt except in very special cases. restoring the use of muscles.--there is no doubt that hypnotism may be extremely useful in curing many disorders that are essentially nervous, especially such cases as those in which a patient has a fixed idea that something is the matter with him when he is not really affected. cases of that description are often extremely obstinate, and entirely unaffected by the ordinary therapeutic means. ordinary doctors abandon the cases in despair, but some person who understands "mental suggestion" (for instance, the christian science doctors) easily effects a cure. if the regular physician were a student of hypnotism he would know how to manage cases like that. by way of illustration, we quote reports of two cases, one successful and one unsuccessful. the following is from a report by one of the physicians of the charity hospital in paris: "gabrielle c---became a patient of mine toward the end of 1886. she entered the charity hospital to be under treatment for some accident arising from pulmonary congestion, and while there was suddenly seized with violent attacks of hystero-epilepsy, which first contracted both legs, and finally reduced them to complete immobility. "she had been in this state of absolute immobility for seven months and i had vainly tried every therapeutic remedy usual in such cases. my intention was first to restore the general constitution of the subject, who was greatly weakened by her protracted stay in bed, and then, at the end of a certain time, to have recourse to hypnotism, and at the opportune moment suggest to her the idea of walking. "the patient was hypnotized every morning, and the first degree (that of lethargy), then the cataleptic, and finally the somnambulistic states were produced. after a certain period of somnambulism she began to move, and unconsciously took a few steps across the ward. soon after it was suggested--the locomotor powers having recovered their physical functions--that she should walk when awake. this she was able to do, and in some weeks the cure was complete. in this case, however, we had the ingenious idea of changing her personality at the moment when we induced her to walk. the patient fancied she was somebody else, and as such, and in this roundabout manner, we satisfactorily attained the object proposed." the following is professor delboeuf's account of dr. bernheim's mode of suggestion at the hospital at nancy. a robust old man of about seventy-five years of age, paralyzed by sciatica, which caused him intense pain, was brought in. "he could not put a foot to the ground without screaming with pain. 'lie down, my poor friend; i will soon relieve you.' dr. bernheim says. 'that is impossible, doctor.' 'you will see.' 'yes, we shall see, but i tell you, we shall see nothing!' on hearing this answer i thought suggestion will be of no use in this case. the old man looked sullen and stubborn. strangely enough, he soon went off to sleep, fell into a state of catalepsy, and was insensible when pricked. but when monsieur bernheim said to him, 'now you can walk, he replied, 'no, i cannot; you are telling me to do an impossible thing.' although monsieur bernheim failed in this instance, i could not but admire his skill. after using every means of persuasion, insinuation and coaxing, he suddenly took up an imperative tone, and in a sharp, abrupt voice that did not admit a refusal, said: 'i tell you you can walk; get up.' 'very well,' replied the old follow; 'i must if you insist upon it.' and he got out of bed. no sooner, however, had his foot touched the floor than he screamed even louder than before. monsieur bernheim ordered him to step out. 'you tell me to do what is impossible,' he again replied, and he did not move. he had to be allowed to go to bed again, and the whole time the experiment lasted he maintained an obstinate and ill-tempered air." these two cases give an admirable picture of the cases that can be and those that cannot be cured by hypnotism, or any other method of mental suggestion. hallucination.--"hallucinations," says a medical authority, "are very common among those who are partially insane. they occur as a result of fever and frequently accompany delirium. they result from an impoverished condition of the blood, especially if it is due to starvation, indigestion, and the use of drugs like belladonna, hyoscyarnus, stramonium, opium, chloral, cannabis indica, and many more that might be mentioned." large numbers of cases of attempted cure by hypnotism, successful and unsuccessful, might be quoted. there is no doubt that in the lighter forms of partial insanity, hypnotism may help many patients, though not all; but when the disease of the brain has gone farther, especially when a well developed lesion exists in the brain, mental treatment is of little avail, even if it can be practiced at all. a few general remarks by dr. bernheim will be interesting. says he: "the mode of suggestion should be varied and adapted to the special suggestibility of the subject. a simple word does not always suffice in impressing the idea upon the mind. it is sometimes necessary to reason, to prove, to convince; in some cases to affirm decidedly, in others to insinuate gently; for in the condition of sleep, just as in the waking condition, the moral individuality of each subject persists according to his character, his inclinations, his impressionability, etc. hypnosis does not run all subjects into a uniform mold, and make pure and simple automatons out of them, moved solely by the will of the hypnotist; it increases cerebral docility; it makes the automatic activity preponderate over the will. but the latter persists to a certain degree; the subject thinks, reasons, discusses, accepts more readily than in the waking condition, but does not always accept, especially in the light degrees of sleep. in these cases we must know the patient's character, his particular psychical condition, in order to make an impression upon him." bad habits.--the habit of the excessive use of alcoholic drinks, morphine, tobacco, or the like, may often be decidedly helped by hypnotism, if the patient wants to be helped. the method of operation is simple. the operator hypnotizes the subject, and when he is in deep sleep suggests that on awaking he will feel a deep disgust for the article he is in the habit of taking, and if he takes it will be affected by nausea, or other unpleasant symptoms. in most cases the suggested result takes place, provided the subject can be hypnotized al all; but unless the patient is himself anxious to break the habit fixed upon him, the unpleasant effects soon wear off and he is as bad as ever. dr. cocke treated a large number of cases, which he reports in detail in his book on hypnotism. in a fair proportion of the cases he was successful; in some cases completely so. in other cases he failed entirely, owing to lack of moral stamina in the patient himself. his conclusions seem to be that hypnotism may be made a very effective aid to moral suasion, but after all, character is the chief force which throws off such habits once they are fixed. the morphine habit is usually the result of a doctor's prescription at some time, and it is practiced more or less involuntarily. such cases are often materially helped by the proper suggestions. the same is true of bad habits in children. the weak may be strengthened by the stronger nature, and hypnotism may come in as an effective aid to moral influence. here again character is the deciding factor. dr. james r. cocke devotes a considerable part of his book on "hypnotism" to the use of hypnotism in medical practice, and for further interesting details the reader is referred to that able work. chapter x. hypnotism of animals.--snake charming. we are all familiar with the snake charmer, and the charming of birds by snakes. how much hypnotism there is in these performances it would be hard to say. it is probable that a bird is fascinated to some extent by the steady gaze of a serpent's eyes, but fear will certainly paralyze a bird as effectively as hypnotism. father kircher was the first to try a familiar experiment with hens and cocks. if you hold a hen's head with the beak upon a piece of board, and then draw a chalk line from the beak to the edge of the board, the hen when released will continue to hold her head in the same position for some time, finally walking slowly away, as if roused from a stupor. farmers' wives often try a sort of hypnotic experiment on hens they wish to transfer from one nest to another when sitting. they put the hen's head under her wing and gently rock her to and fro till she apparently goes to sleep, when she may be carried to another nest and will remain there afterward. horses are frequently managed by a steady gaze into their eyes. dr. moll states that a method of hypnotizing horses named after its inventor as balassiren has been introduced into austria by law for the shoeing of horses in the army. we have all heard of the snake charmers of india, who make the snakes imitate all their movements. some suppose this is by hypnotization. it may be the result of training, however. certainly real charmers of wild beasts usually end by being bitten or injured in some other way, which would seem to show that the hypnotization does not always work, or else it does not exist at all. we have some fairly well known instances of hypnotism produced in animals. lafontaine, the magnetizer, some thirty years ago held public exhibitions in paris in which he reduced cats, dogs, squirrels and lions to such complete insensibility that they felt neither pricks nor blows. the harvys or psylles of egypt impart to the ringed snake the appearance of a stick by pressure on the head, which induces a species of tetanus, says e. w. lane. the following description of serpent charming by the aissouans of the province of sous, morocco, will be of interest: "the principal charmer began by whirling with astonishing rapidity in a kind of frenzied dance around the wicker basket that contained the serpents, which were covered by a goatskin. suddenly he stopped, plunged his naked arm into the basket, and drew out a cobra de capello, or else a haje, a fearful reptile which is able to swell its head by spreading out the scales which cover it, and which is thought to be cleopatra's asp, the serpent of egypt. in morocco it is known as the buska. the charmer folded and unfolded the greenish-black viper, as if it were a piece of muslin; he rolled it like a turban round his head, and continued his dance while the serpent maintained its position, and seemed to follow every movement and wish of the dancer. "the buska was then placed on the ground, and raising itself straight on end, in the attitude it assumes on desert roads to attract travelers, began to sway from right to left, following the rhythm of the music. the aissoua, whirling more and more rapidly in constantly narrowing circles, plunged his hand once more into the basket, and pulled out two of the most venomous reptiles of the desert of sous; serpents thicker than a man's arm, two or three feet long, whose shining scales are spotted black or yellow, and whose bite sends, as it were, a burning fire through the veins. this reptile is probably the torrida dipsas of antiquity. europeans now call it the leffah. "the two leffahs, more vigorous and less docile than the buska, lay half curled up, their heads on one side, ready to dart forward, and followed with glittering eyes the movements of the dancer. * * * hindoo charmers are still more wonderful; they juggle with a dozen different species of reptiles at the same time, making them come and go, leap, dance, and lie down at the sound of the charmer's whistle, like the gentlest of tame animals. these serpents have never been known to bite their charmers." it is well known that some animals, like the opossum, feign death when caught. whether this is to be compared to hypnotism is doubtful. other animals, called hibernating, sleep for months with no other food than their fat, but this, again, can hardly be called hypnotism. chapter xi. a scientific explanation of hypnotism.--dr. hart's theory. in the introduction to this book the reader will find a summary of the theories of hypnotism. there is no doubt that hypnotism is a complex state which cannot be explained in an offhand way in a sentence or two. there are, however, certain aspects of hypnotism which we may suppose sufficiently explained by certain scientific writers on the subject. first, what is the character of the delusions apparently created in the mind of a person in the hypnotic condition by a simple word of mouth statement, as when a physician says, "now, i am going to cut your leg off, but it will not hurt you in the least," and the patient suffers nothing? in answer to this question, professor william james of harvard college, one of the leading authorities on the scientific aspects of psychical phenomena in this country, reports the following experiments: "make a stroke on a paper or blackboard, and tell the subject it is not there, and he will see nothing but the clean paper or board. next, he not looking, surround the original stroke with other strokes exactly like it, and ask him what he sees. he will point out one by one the new strokes and omit the original one every time, no matter how numerous the next strokes may be, or in what order they are arranged. similarly, if the original single line, to which he is blind, be doubled by a prism of sixteen degrees placed before one of his eyes (both being kept open), he will say that he now sees one stroke, and point in the direction in which lies the image seen through the prism. "another experiment proves that he must see it in order to ignore it. make a red cross, invisible to the hypnotic subject, on a sheet of white paper, and yet cause him to look fixedly at a dot on the paper on or near the red cross; he wills on transferring his eye to the blank sheet, see a bluish-green after image of the cross. this proves that it has impressed his sensibility. he has felt but not perceived it. he had actually ignored it; refused to recognize it, as it were." dr. ernest hart, an english writer, in an article in the british medical journal, gives a general explanation of the phenomena of hypnotism which we may accept as true so far as it goes, but which is evidently incomplete. he seems to minimize personal influence too much--that personal influence which we all exert at various times, and which he ignores, not because he would deny it, but because he fears lending countenance to the magnetic fluid and other similar theories. says he: "we have arrived at the point at which it will be plain that the condition produced in these cases, and known under a varied jargon invented either to conceal ignorance, to express hypotheses, or to mask the design of impressing the imagination and possibly prey upon the pockets of a credulous and wonder-loving public--such names as mesmeric condition, magnetic sleep, clairvoyance, electro-biology, animal magnetism, faith trance, and many other aliases--such a condition, i say, is always subjective. it is independent of passes or gestures; it has no relation to any fluid emanating from the operator; it has no relation to his will, or to any influence which he exercises upon inanimate objects; distance does not affect it, nor proximity, nor the intervention of any conductors or non-conductors, whether silk or glass or stone, or even a brick wall. we can transmit the order to sleep by telephone or by telegraph. we can practically get the same results while eliminating even the operator, if we can contrive to influence the imagination or to affect the physical condition of the subject by any one of a great number of contrivances. "what does all this mean? i will refer to one or two facts in relation to the structure and function of the brain, and show one or two simple experiments of very ancient parentage and date, which will, i think, help to an explanation. first, let us recall something of what we know of the anatomy and localization of function in the brain, and of the nature of ordinary sleep. the brain, as you know, is a complicated organ, made up internally of nerve masses, or ganglia, of which the central and underlying masses are connected with the automatic functions and involuntary actions of the body (such as the action of the heart, lungs, stomach, bowels, etc.), while the investing surface shows a system of complicated convolutions rich in gray matter, thickly sown with microscopic cells, in which the nerve ends terminate. at the base of the brain is a complete circle of arteries, from which spring great numbers of small arterial vessels, carrying a profuse blood supply throughout the whole mass, and capable of contraction in small tracts, so that small areas of the brain may, at any given moment, become bloodless, while other parts of the brain may simultaneously become highly congested. now, if the brain or any part of it be deprived of the circulation of blood through it, or be rendered partially bloodless, or if it be excessively congested and overloaded with blood, or if it be subjected to local pressure, the part of the brain so acted upon ceases to be capable of exercising its functions. the regularity of the action of the brain and the sanity and completeness of the thought which is one of the functions of its activity depend upon the healthy regularity of the quantity of blood passing through all its parts, and upon the healthy quality of the blood so circulating. if we press upon the carotid arteries which pass up through the neck to form the arterial circle of willis, at the base of the brain, within the skull--of which i have already spoken, and which supplies the brain with blood--we quickly, as every one knows, produce insensibility. thought is abolished, consciousness lost. and if we continue the pressure, all those automatic actions of the body, such as the beating of the heart, the breathing motions of the lungs, which maintain life and are controlled by the lower brain centers of ganglia, are quickly stopped and death ensues. "we know by observation in cases where portions of the skull have been removed, either in men or in animals, that during natural sleep the upper part of the brain--its convoluted surface, which in health and in the waking state is faintly pink, like a blushing cheek, from the color of the blood circulating through the network of capillary arteries--becomes white and almost bloodless. it is in these upper convolutions of the brain, as we also know, that the will and the directing power are resident; so that in sleep the will is abolished and consciousness fades gradually away, as the blood is pressed out by the contraction of the arteries. so, also, the consciousness and the directing will may be abolished by altering the quality of the blood passing through the convolutions of the brain. we may introduce a volatile substance, such as chloroform, and its first effect will be to abolish consciousness and induce profound slumber and a blessed insensibility to pain. the like effects will follow more slowly upon the absorption of a drug, such as opium; or we may induce hallucinations by introducing into the blood other toxic substances, such as indian hemp or stramonium. we are not conscious of the mechanism producing the arterial contraction and the bloodlessness of those convolutions related to natural sleep. but we are not altogether without control over them. we can, we know, help to compose ourselves to sleep, as we say in ordinary language. we retire into a darkened room, we relieve ourselves from the stimulus of the special senses, we free ourselves from the influence of noises, of strong light, of powerful colors, or of tactile impressions. we lie down and endeavor to soothe brain activity by driving away disturbing thoughts, or, as people sometimes say, 'try to think of nothing.' and, happily, we generally succeed more or less well. some people possess an even more marked control over this mechanism of sleep. i can generally succeed in putting myself to sleep at any hour of the day, either in the library chair or in the brougham. this is, so to speak, a process of self-hypnotization, and i have often practiced it when going from house to house, when in the midst of a busy practice, and i sometimes have amused my friends and family by exercising this faculty, which i do not think it very difficult to acquire. (we also know that many persons can wake at a fixed hour in the morning by setting their minds upon it just before going to sleep.) now, there is something here which deserves a little further examination, but which it would take too much time to develop fully at present. most people know something of what is meant by reflex action. the nerves which pass from the various organs to the brain convey with, great rapidity messages to its various parts, which are answered by reflected waves of impulse. if the soles of the feet be tickled, contraction of the toes, or involuntary laughter, will be excited, or perhaps only a shuddering and skin contraction, known as goose-skin. the irritation of the nerve-end in the skin has carried a message to the involuntary or voluntary ganglia of the brain which has responded by reflecting back again nerve impulses which have contracted the muscles of the feet or skin muscles, or have given rise to associated ideas and explosion of laughter. in the same way, if during sleep heat be applied to the soles of the feet, dreams of walking over hot surfaces--vesuvius or fusiyama, or still hotter places--may be produced, or dreams of adventure on frozen surfaces or in arctic regions may be created by applying ice to the feet of the sleeper. "here, then, it is seen that we have a mechanism in the body, known to physiologists as the ideo-motor, or sensory motor system of nerves, which can produce, without the consciousness of the individual and automatically, a series of muscular contractions. and remember that the coats of the arteries are muscular and contractile under the influence of external stimuli, acting without the help of the consciousness, or when the consciousness is in abeyance. i will give another example of this, which completes the chain of phenomena in the natural brain and the natural body i wish to bring under notice in explanation of the true as distinguished from the false, or falsely interpreted, phenomena of hypnotism, mesmerism and electro-biology. i will take the excellent illustration quoted by dr. b. w. carpenter in his old-time, but valuable, book on 'the physiology of the brain.' when a hungry man sees food, or when, let us say, a hungry boy looks into a cookshop, he becomes aware of a watering of the mouth and a gnawing sensation at the stomach. what does this mean? it means that the mental impression made upon him by the welcome and appetizing spectacle has caused a secretion of saliva and of gastric juice; that is to say, the brain has, through the ideo-motor set of nerves, sent a message which has dilated the vessels around the salivary and gastric glands, increased the flow of blood through them and quickened their secretion. here we have, then, a purely subjective mental activity acting through a mechanism of which the boy is quite ignorant, and which he is unable to control, and producing that action on the vessels of dilation or contraction which, as we have seen, is the essential condition of brain activity and the evolution of thought, and is related to the quickening or the abolition of consciousness, and to the activity or abeyance of function in the will centers and upper convolutions of the brain, as in its other centers of localization. "here, then, we have something like a clue to the phenomena--phenomena which, as i have pointed out, are similar to and have much in common with mesmeric sleep, hypnotism or electro-biology. we have already, i hope, succeeded in eliminating from our minds the false theory--the theory, that is to say, experimentally proved to be false--that the will, or the gestures, or the magnetic or vital fluid of the operator are necessary for the abolition of the consciousness and the abeyance of the will of the subject. we now see that ideas arising in the mind of the subject are sufficient to influence the circulation in the brain of the person operated on, and such variations of the blood supply of the brain as are adequate to produce sleep in the natural state, or artificial slumber, either by total deprivation or by excessive increase or local aberration in the quantity or quality of blood. in a like manner it is possible to produce coma and prolonged insensibility by pressure of the thumbs on the carotid; or hallucination, dreams and visions by drugs, or by external stimulation of the nerves. here again the consciousness may be only partially affected, and the person in whom sleep, coma or hallucination is produced, whether by physical means or by the influence of suggestion, may remain subject to the will of others and incapable of exercising his own volition." in short, dr. hart's theory is that hypnotism comes from controlling the blood supply of the brain, cutting off the supply from parts or increasing it in other parts. this theory is borne out by the well-known fact that some persons can blush or turn pale at will; that some people always blush on the mention of certain things, or calling up certain ideas. certain other ideas will make them turn pale. now, if certain parts of the brain are made to blush or turn pale, there is no doubt that hypnotism will follow, since blushing and turning pale are known to be due to the opening and closing of the blood-vessels. we may say that the subject is induced by some means to shut the blood out of certain portions of the brain, and keep it out until he is told to let it in again. chapter xii. telepathy and clairvoyance.--peculiar power in hypnotic state.--experiments.--"phantasms of the living" explained by telepathy it has already been noticed that persons in the hypnotic state seem to have certain of their senses greatly heightened in power. they can remember, see and hear things that ordinary persons would be entirely ignorant of. there is abundant evidence that a supersensory perception is also developed, entirely beyond the most highly developed condition of the ordinary senses, such as being able to tell clearly what some other person is doing at a great distance. in view of the discovery of the x or roentgen ray, the ability to see through a stone wall does not seem so strange as it did before that discovery. it is on power of supersensory, or extra-sensory perception that what is known as telepathy and clairvoyance are based. that such things really exist, and are not wholly a matter of superstition has been thoroughly demonstrated in a scientific way by the british society for psychical research, and kindred societies in various parts of the world. strictly speaking, such phenomena as these are not a part of hypnotism, but our study of hypnotism will enable us to understand them to some extent, and the investigation of them is a natural corollary to the study of hypnotism, for the reason that it has been found that these extraordinary powers are often possessed by persons under hypnotic influence. until the discovery of hypnotism there was little to go on in conducting a scientific investigation, because clairvoyance could not be produced by any artificial means, and so could not be studied under proper restrictive conditions. we will first quote two experiments performed by dr. cocke which the writer heard him describe with his own lips. the first case was that of a girl suffering from hysterical tremor. the doctor had hypnotized her for the cure of it, and accidentally stumbled on an example of thought transference. she complained on one occasion of a taste of spice in her mouth. as the doctor had been chewing some spice, he at once guessed that this might be telepathy. nothing was said at the time, but the next time the girl was hypnotized, the doctor put a quinine tablet in his mouth. the girl at once asked for water, and said she had a very bitter taste in her mouth. the water was given her, and the doctor went behind a screen, where he put cayenne pepper in his mouth, severely burning himself. no one but the doctor knew of the experiment at the time. the girl immediately cried and became so hysterical that she had to be awakened. the burning in her mouth disappeared as soon as she came out of the hypnotic state, but the doctor continued to suffer. nearly three hundred similar experiments with thirty-six different subjects were tried by dr. cocke, and of these sixty-nine were entirely successful. the others were doubtful or complete failures. the most remarkable of the experiments may be given in the doctor's own words: "i told the subject to remain perfectly still for five minutes and to relate to me at the end of this time any sensation he might experience. i passed into another room and closed the door and locked it; went into a closet in the room and closed the door after me; took down from the shelf, first a linen sheet, then a pasteboard box, then a toy engine, owned by a child in the house. i went back to my subject and asked him what experience he had had. "he said i seemed to go into another room, and from thence into a dark closet. i wanted something off the shelf, but did not know what. i took down from the shelf a piece of smooth cloth, a long, square pasteboard box and a tin engine. these were all the sensations he had experienced. i asked him if he saw the articles with his eyes which i had removed from the shelf. he answered that the closet was dark and that he only felt them with his hands. i asked him how he knew that the engine was tin. he said: 'by the sound of it.' as my hands touched it i heard the wheels rattle. now the only sound made by me while in the closet was simply the rattling of the wheels of the toy as i took it off the shelf. this could not possibly have been heard, as the subject was distant from me two large rooms, and there were two closed doors between us, and the noise was very slight. neither could the subject have judged where i went, as i had on light slippers which made no noise. the subject had never visited the house before, and naturally did not know the contents of the closet as he was carefully observed from the moment he entered the house." many similar experiments are on record. persons in the hypnotic condition have been able to tell what other persons were doing in distant parts of a city; could tell the pages of the books they might be reading and the numbers of all sorts of articles. while in london the writer had an opportunity of witnessing a performance of this kind. there was a young boy who seemed to have this peculiar power. a queer old desk had come into the house from italy, and as it was a valuable piece of furniture, the owner was anxious to learn its pedigree. without having examined the desk beforehand in any way the boy, during one of his trances, said that in a certain place a secret spring would be found which would open an unknown drawer, and behind that drawer would be found the name of the maker of the desk and the date 1639. the desk was at once examined, and the name and date found exactly as described. it is clear in this case that this information could not have been in the mind of any one, unless it were some person in italy, whence the desk had come. it is more likely that the remarkable supersensory power given enabled reading through the wood. we may now turn our attention to another class of phenomena of great interest, and that is the visions persons in the ordinary state have of friends who are on the point of death. it would seem that by an extraordinary effort the mind of a person in the waking state might be impressed through a great distance. at the moment of death an almost superhuman mental effort is more likely and possible than at any other time, and it is peculiar that these visions or phantasms are largely confined to that moment. the natural explanation that rises to the ordinary mind is, of course, "spirits." this supposition is strengthened by the fact that the visions sometimes appear immediately after death, as well as at the time and just before. this may be explained, however, on the theory that the ordinary mind is not easily impressed, and when unconsciously impressed some time may elapse before the impression becomes perceptible to the conscious mind, just as in passing by on a swift train, we may see something, but not realize that we have seen it till some time afterward, when we remember what we have unconsciously observed. the british society for psychical research has compiled two large volumes of carefully authenticated cases, which are published under the title, "phantasms of the living." we quote one or two interesting cases. a miss l. sends the following report: january 4, 1886. "on one of the last days of july, about the year 1860, at 3 o'clock p.m., i was sitting in the drawing room at the rectory, reading, and my thoughts entirely occupied. i suddenly looked up and saw most distinctly a tall, thin old gentleman enter the room and walk to the table. he wore a peculiar, old-fashioned cloak which i recognized as belonging to my great-uncle. i then looked at him closely and remembered his features and appearance perfectly, although i had not seen him since i was quite a child. in his hand was a roll of paper, and he appeared to be very agitated. i was not in the least alarmed, as i firmly believed he was my uncle, not knowing then of his illness. i asked him if he wanted my father, who, as i said, was not at home. he then appeared still more agitated and distressed, but made no remark. he then left the room, passing through the open door. i noticed that, although it was a very wet day, there was no appearance of his having walked either in mud or rain. he had no umbrella, but a thick walking stick, which i recognized at once when my father brought it home after the funeral. on questioning the servants, they declared that no one had rung the bell; neither did they see any one enter. my father had a letter by the next post, asking him to go at once to my uncle, who was very ill in leicestershire. he started at once, but on his arrival was told that his uncle had died at exactly 3 o'clock that afternoon, and had asked for him by name several times in an anxious and troubled manner, and a roll of paper was found under his pillow. "i may mention that my father was his only nephew, and, having no son, he always led him to think that he would have a considerable legacy. such, however, was not the case, and it is supposed that, as they were always good friends, he was influenced in his last illness, and probably, when too late, he wished to alter his will." in answer to inquiries, miss l. adds: "i told my mother and an uncle at once about the strange appearance before the news arrived, and also my father directly he returned, all of whom are now dead. they advised me to dismiss it from my memory, but agreed that it could not be imagination, as i described my uncle so exactly, and they did not consider me to be either of a nervous or superstitious temperament. "i am quite sure that i have stated the facts truthfully and correctly. the facts are as fresh in my memory as if they happened only yesterday, although so many years have passed away. "i can assure you that nothing of the sort ever occurred before or since. neither have i been subject to nervous or imaginative fancies. this strange apparition was in broad daylight, and as i was only reading the 'illustrated newspaper,' there was nothing to excite my imagination." hundreds of cases of this kind have been reported by persons whose truthfulness cannot be doubted, and every effort has been made to eliminate possibility of hallucination or accidental fancy. that things of this kind do occur may be said to be scientifically proven. such facts as these have stimulated experiment in the direction of testing thought transference. these experiments have usually been in the reading of numbers and names, and a certain measure of success has resulted. it may be added, however, that no claimants ever appeared for various banknotes deposited in strong-boxes, to be turned over to any one who would read the numbers. just why success was never attained under these conditions it would be hard to say. the writer once made a slight observation in this direction. when matching pennies with his brother he found that if the other looked at the penny he could match it nearly every time. there may have been some unconscious expression of face that gave the clue. persons in hypnotic trance are expert muscle readers. for instance, let such a person take your hand and then go through the alphabet, naming the letters. if you have any word in your mind, as the muscle reader comes to each letter the muscles will unconsciously contract. by giving attention h the muscles you can make them contract on the wrong letters and entirely mislead such a person. chapter xiii. the confessions of medium.--spiritualistic phenomena explained on theory of telepathy.--interesting statement of mrs. piper, the famous medium of the psychical research society. the subject of spiritualism has been very thoroughly investigated by the society for psychical research, both in england and this country, and under circumstances so peculiarly advantageous that a world of light has been thrown on the connection between hypnotism and this strange phenomenon. professor william james, the professor of psychology at harvard university, was fortunate enough some years ago to find a perfect medium who was not a professional and whose character was such as to preclude fraud. this was mrs. leonora e. piper, of boston. for many years she remained in the special employ of the society for psychical research, and the members of that society were able to study her case under every possible condition through a long period of time. not long ago she resolved to give up her engagement, and made a public statement over her own signature which is full of interest. a brief history of her life and experiences will go far toward furnishing the general reader a fair explanation of clairvoyant and spiritualistic phenomena. mrs. piper was the wife of a modest tailor, and lived on pinckney street, back of beacon hill. she was married in 1881, and it was not until may 16, 1884, that her first child was born. a little more than a month later, on june 29, she had her first trance experience. says she: "i remember the date distinctly, because it was two days after my first birthday following the birth of my first child." she had gone to dr. j. r. cocke, the great authority on hypnotism and a practicing physician of high scientific attainments. "during the interview," says mrs. piper, "i was partly unconscious for a few minutes. on the following sunday i went into a trance." she appears to have slipped into it unconsciously. she surprised her friends by saying some very odd things, none of which she remembered when she came to herself. not long after she did it again. a neighbor, the wife of a merchant, when she heard the things that had been said, assured mrs. piper that it must be messages from the spirit world. the atmosphere in boston was full of talk of that kind, and it was not hard for people to believe that a real medium of spirit communication had been found. the merchant's wife wanted a sitting, and mrs. piper arranged one, for which she received her first dollar. she had discovered that she could go into trances by an effort of her own will. she would sit down at a table, with her sitter opposite, and leaning her head on a pillow, go off into the trance after a few minutes of silence. there was a clock behind her. she gave her sitters an hour, sometimes two hours, and they wondered how she knew when the hour had expired. at any rate, when the time came around she awoke. in describing her experiences she has said: "at first when i sat in my chair and leaned my head back and went into the trance state, the action was attended by something of a struggle. i always felt as if i were undergoing an anesthetic, but of late years i have slipped easily into the condition, leaning the head forward. on coming out of it i felt stupid and dazed. at first i said disconnected things. it was all a gibberish, nothing but gibberish. then i began to speak some broken french phrases. i had studied french two years, but did not speak it well." once she had an italian for sitter, who could speak no english and asked questions in italian. mrs. piper could speak no italian, indeed did not understand a word of it, except in her trance state. but she had no trouble in understanding her sitter. after a while her automatic utterance announced the personality of a certain dr. phinuit, who was said to have been a noted french physician who had died long before. his "spirit" controlled her for a number of years. after some time dr. phinuit was succeeded by one "pelham," and finally by "imperator" and "rector." as the birth of her second child approached mrs. piper gave up what she considered a form of hysteria; but after the birth of the child the sittings, paid for at a dollar each, began again. dr. hodgson, of the london society for psychical research, saw her at the house of professor james, and he became so interested in her case that he decided to take her to london to be studied. she spent nearly a year abroad; and after her return the american branch of the society for psychical research was formed, and for a long time mrs. piper received a salary to sit exclusively for the society. their records and reports are full of the things she said and did. every one who investigated mrs. piper had to admit that her case was full of mystery. but if one reads the reports through from beginning to end one cannot help feeling that her spirit messages are filled with nonsense, at least of triviality. here is a specimen--and a fair specimen, too--of the kind of communication pelham gave. he wrote out the message. it referred to a certain famous man known in the reports as mr. marte. pelham is reported to have written by mrs. piper's hand: "that he (mr. marte), with his keen brain and marvelous perception, will be interested, i know. he was a very dear friend of x. i was exceedingly fond of him. comical weather interests both he and i--me--him--i know it all. don't you see i correct these? well, i am not less intelligent now. but there are many difficulties. i am far clearer on all points than i was shut up in the prisoned body (prisoned, prisoning or imprisoned you ought to say). no, i don't mean, to get it that way. 'see here, h, don't view me with a critic's eye, but pass my imperfections by.' of course, i know all that as well as anybody on your sphere (of course). well, i think so. i tell you, old fellow, it don't do to pick all these little errors too much when they amount to nothing in one way. you have light enough and brain enough, i know, to understand my explanations of being shut up in this body, dreaming, as it were, and trying to help on science." some people would say that pelham had had a little too much whisky toddy when he wrote that rambling, meaningless string of words. or we can suppose that mrs. piper was dreaming. we see in the last sentence a curious mixture of ideas that must have been in her mind. she herself says: "i do not see how anybody can look on all that as testimony from another world. i cannot see but that it must have been an unconscious expression of my subliminal self, writing such stuff as dreams are made of." in another place mrs. piper makes the following direct statement: "i never heard of anything being said by myself while in a trance state which might not have been latent in: "1. my own mind. "2. in the mind of the person in charge of the sitting. "3. in the mind of the person who was trying to get communication with some one in another state of existence, or some companion present with such person, or, "4. in the mind of some absent person alive somewhere else in the world." writing in the psychological review in 1898, professor james says: "mrs. piper's trance memory is no ordinary human memory, and we have to explain its singular perfection either as the natural endowment of her solitary subliminal self, or as a collection of distinct memory systems, each with a communicating spirit as its vehicle. "the spirit hypothesis exhibits a vacancy, triviality, and incoherence of mind painful to think of as the state of the departed, and coupled with a pretension to impress one, a disposition to 'fish' and face around and disguise the essential hollowness which is, if anything, more painful still. mr. hodgson has to resort to the theory that, although the communicants probably are spirits, they are in a semi-comatose or sleeping state while communicating, and only half aware of what is going on, while the habits of mrs. piper's neural organism largely supply the definite form of words, etc., in which the phenomenon is clothed." after considering other theories professor james concludes: "the world is evidently more complex than we are accustomed to think it, the absolute 'world ground' in particular being farther off than we are wont to think it." mrs. piper is reported to have said: "of what occurs after i enter the trance period i remember nothing--nothing of what i said or what was said to me. i am but a passive agent in the hands of powers that control me. i can give no account of what becomes of me during a trance. the wisdom and inspired eloquence which of late has been conveyed to dr. hodgson through my mediumship is entirely beyond my understanding. i do not pretend to understand it, and can give no explanation--i simply know that i have the power of going into a trance when i wish." professor james says: "the piper phenomena are the most absolutely baffling thing i know." professor hudson, ph.d., ll.d., author of "the law of psychic phenomena," comes as near giving an explanation of "spiritualism," so called, as any one. he begins by saying: "all things considered, mrs. piper is probably the best 'psychic' now before the public for the scientific investigation of spiritualism and it must be admitted that if her alleged communications from discarnate spirits cannot be traced to any other source, the claims of spiritism have been confirmed." then he goes on: "a few words, however, will make it clear to the scientific mind that her phenomena can be easily accounted for on purely psychological principles, thus: "man is endowed with a dual mind, or two minds, or states of consciousness, designated, respectively, as the objective and the subjective. the objective mind is normally unconscious of the content of the subjective mind. the latter is constantly amenable to control by suggestion, and it is exclusively endowed with the faculty of telepathy. "an entranced psychic is dominated exclusively by her subjective mind, and reason is in abeyance. hence she is controlled by suggestion, and, consequently, is compelled to believe herself to be a spirit, good or bad, if that suggestion is in any way imparted to her, and she automatically acts accordingly. "she is in no sense responsible for the vagaries of a phinuit, for that eccentric personality is the creation of suggestion. but she is also in the condition which enables her to read the subjective minds of others. hence her supernormal knowledge of the affairs of her sitters. what he knows, or has ever known, consciously or unconsciously (subjective memory being perfect), is easily within her reach. "thus far no intelligent psychical researcher will gainsay what i have said. but it sometimes happens that the psychic obtains information that neither she nor the sitter could ever have consciously possessed. does it necessarily follow that discarnate spirits gave her the information? spiritists say 'yes,' for this is the 'last ditch' of spiritism. "psychologists declare that the telepathic explanation is as valid in the latter class of cases as it obviously is in the former. thus, telepathy being a power of the subjective mind, messages may be conveyed from one to another at any time, neither of the parties being objectively conscious of the fact. it follows that a telepathist at any following seance with the recipient can reach the content of that message. "if this argument is valid--and its validity is self-evident--it is impossible to imagine a case that may not be thus explained on psychological principles." professor hudson's argument will appeal to the ordinary reader as good. it may be simplified, however, thus: we may suppose that mrs. piper voluntarily hypnotizes herself. perhaps she simply puts her conscious reason to sleep. in that condition the rest of her mind is in an exalted state, and capable of telepathy and mind-reading, either of those near at hand or at a distance. her reason being asleep, she simply dreams, and the questions of her sitter are made to fit into her dream. if we regard mediums as persons who have the power of hypnotizing themselves and then of doing what we know persons who have been hypnotized by others sometimes do, we have an explanation that covers the whole case perfectly. at the same time, as professor james warns us, we must believe that the mind is far more complex than we are accustomed to think it. 0807. the death blow to spiritualism. being the true story of the fox sisters, as revealed by authority of margaret fox kane and catherine fox jencken. written by r. b. davenport. 147 pages. deathblow to spiritualism. r. b. davenport 1.00 oct. 1897. issued monthly. $5.00 per year. entered at the new york post office as second-class matter. the death-blow to spiritualism: being the true story of the fox sisters, as revealed by authority of margaret fox kane and catherine fox jencken. by reuben briggs davenport. new york: _g. w. dillingham co., publishers._ mdcccxcvii. copyright, 1888. by reuben briggs davenport. [_all rights reserved._] to mrs. hester s. dwinelle. "alonso. this is as strange a maze as ere men trod, and there is in this business more than nature was ever conduct of: some oracle must rectify our knowledge. "prospero. sir, my liege, do not infest your mind with beating on the strangeness of this business: at picked leisure, which shall be shortly, single i'll resolve you (which to you shall seem probable) of every these happen'd accidents: till when be cheerful, and think of each thing well.--come hither, spirit; set caliban and his companions free: _untie the spell._" shakespeare.--_the tempest._ preface. this book has been written in extreme haste. it does not pretend to literary style. but it pretends to absolute truthfulness and a reverent regard for justice. its sole value is its character as a contribution to the real history of spiritualism. as such, it is unquestionably of great importance, greater even than any work of the kind that has been published since the beginning of modern spiritualism. it is, in fact, what its title sets forth--"the death-blow to spiritualism." no one who does not love illusion for illusion's sake--better, in other words, than he loves the truth--can, after reading this volume, remain a follower of spiritualism and its hypocritical apostles. the full authorization of mrs. margaret fox kane and mrs. catherine fox jencken for the publication of this work will be found on the next to the following page. _29th october, 1888._ [illustration: margaret fox kane in her 18th year.] [illustration: katie fox jencken] we hereby approve of mr. reuben b. davenport's design to write a true account of the origin of spiritualism and of our connection therewith, and we authorize him to make proper use of all data and material that we furnish him. new york, 15th oct., 1888. margaret fox kane catherine fox jencken contents i. introduction. poetic justice of the exposure 13 ii. renunciation. chapter. page i. "god has not ordered it." 25 ii. the discomfited enemy. 39 iii. a second blow. 53 iv. the hand of the persecutor. 60 v. solemn abjuration. 65 iii. history. vi. origin of the fraud. 81 vii. garbled and distorted testimony 94 viii. development of the fraud 102 ix. the mercenary campaign. 121 x. spiritualistic boomerangs. 131 xi. the supreme audacity of fraud. 150 xii. a scientific jury. 164 xiii. the unalterable verdict. 201 iv. repentance. xiv. the heart pleads for the soul. 209 xv. from shadow to light. 231 index. 241 i. introduction. introduction. poetic justice of the exposure. that the inventors of an infamous fraud should deal to it its death-blow, is the poetic justice of fate. over the creature, the creator has power of life and death. the creators of spiritualism abjure its infamy. they decree its death. they condemn it to final destruction. they fasten upon those who continue to practice it the obloquy of history, and the scorn of mankind for all time to come. margaret and catharine fox, the youngest of three sisters, were the first to produce "spiritualistic manifestations." they are now the most earnest in denunciation of those impostures; the most eager to dissipate the foolish belief of thousands in the flimsiest system of deception that was ever cloaked with the hypocrisy of so-called religion. when, as by accident, they discovered a method of deceiving those around them by means of mysterious noises, they were but little children, innocent of the thought of wrong, ignorant of the world and the world's guile, and imagining only that what they did was a clever lark, such as the adult age easily pardons to exuberant and sprightly youth. not to them did the base suggestion come that this singular, this simple discovery, should be the means of deluding the world, of exalting them in the minds of the weakly credulous and of bringing them fame and splendor and sumptuous pleasure. no one who learns their true history can still believe them guilty of the willful inception of this most grotesque, most transparent and corrupting of superstitions. the idea had its monstrous birth in older heads, heads that were seconded by hearts lacking the very essence of truth and the fountain of honest human sympathy. the two children, who had at first delighted, as younglings will, in what was but a laughable mystification, were dragged into a sordid, wicked and loathsome speculation, built upon lying and fraud, as unforgivable as the sin of satan, and of which they were but the unthinking instruments, often reluctant and remorseful, yet docile and compliant by nature. thus the "rochester knockings," the example and prototype of all later so-called spiritualistic "phenomena," began merely in a curious childish freak, disguised without effort, and which, from the first, was encouraged to partly formed understandings by the wonder and intense spirit of inquiry it provoked. the young operators were carried away by the undreamt-of current of enthusiasm and awe in which they soon became involved. they felt the natural need of maintaining with unabating dexterity, that false sense of the miraculous which by chance they had called forth. thus they went from one stage to another of this queer illusion, and, being compelled by a harder and more mature intelligence to repeat their part over and over again, became the chief means of establishing that injurious belief in communications from the spirits of the departed, of which such great numbers have become the victims. many an older offender against common sense, reason and strict morality persists through force of circumstance in the pathway he has chosen, and does not turn backward, merely because he cannot do so without wearing the face of shame. from such slight and trivial beginning came the great movement--great because of the number which it comprised and of the sensation which attended its progress--that for more than forty years has alternately surprised, puzzled, disgusted and amused the world. from so little a plant has grown a gigantic weed of deceit, corruption and fraud, nurtured upon the fattening lust of money, and of the flesh. what has developed from it is not alone a system of so-called communications through a puerile code of signals with an unseen world; but, as dante describes, in his incomparable epic, forms of monstrosity which combine a hideous human semblance and a loathly animal foulness, so this venomous evil has become conglomerate in its hateful phases of delusion, and its petty sordidness and depravity. thus the tuscan bard describes the spirit of fraud: "'lo! the fell monster with the deadly sting! who passes mountains, breaks through fenced walls and firm embattled spears, and with his filth taints all the world! thus me my guide addressed, and beckon'd him, that he should come to shore, near to the stony causeway's utmost edge. "forthwith that image vile of fraud appear'd, his head and upper part expos'd on land, but laid not on the shore his bestial train. his face the semblance of a just man's wore. so kind and gracious was its outward cheer; the rest was serpent all; two shaggy claws reach'd to the armpits, and the back and breast, and either side, were painted o'er with nodes and orbits. colors variegated more nor turks nor tartars e'er on cloth of state with interchangeable embroidery wove, nor spread arachne o'er her curious loom. as ofttimes a light skiff, moor'd to the shore, stands part in water, part upon the land; or, as where dwells the greedy german boor, the beaver settles watching for his prey; so on the rim, that fenced the sand with rock, sat perched the fiend of evil. in the void glancing, his tail upturn'd its venomous fork, with sting like scorpion's armed." the world has not seen in all its long procession of follies, vagaries, and strange mania, one so utterly devoid of a reasonable foundation as this. yet none has been more eagerly believed; and this very tendency has evolved into so strong a desire to believe that thousands of those who have professed to investigate it have done so only ostensibly, their eyes, figuratively speaking, tightly bandaged, to shut out everything but the artificial vision that they were most eager to see. it is to be hoped that the world will now form its ultimate conclusion upon this flagrant and audacious system of humbuggery:--that, regarded as a superstition, it ranks even below voudooism and fetich-worship, and, as an illusion, below the effects produced by the most ordinary magician at a country fair. dragged into this life when infants, rescued from it for an interval by two men[1] whose names are historical, the one as a hero and explorer, the other as a journalist and daily philosopher; borne back to it again by the tide of ill-fortune; used and controlled, by those whose heart's were "dry as summer's dust," for their own hateful purposes; menaced when conscience rebelled and suggested retraction and amends; driven to seek momentary oblivion of their present degradation in a vice that was the result of their enforced public career; finally, persecuted in a stealthy and treacherous way by those who had profited most by the fraud that they had set up, because it was feared that sooner or later they could no longer keep silent and would betray its real origin; seeing their existence slipping away from them with nothing but dead sea fruit remaining to their bitter portion; feeling more and more the need of an atonement to conscience and the opinion of the world--margaret and catherine fox now denounce and anathematize spiritualism as absolutely and utterly false from beginning to end; and they declare their solemn intention to devote themselves henceforth to the noble task of undoing the great evil which they have done, and of leaving no single stone of foundation behind them for weak-minded future generations to base a futile faith upon. in these pages will be found the full and truthful story of spiritualism, as it was and is, as gathered from the lips of both margaret fox kane and catharine fox jencken, and verified by letters, documents and published data. it is written with their full knowledge and earnest sanction. the bold fabric of lies built up to sustain the claim that the "rappings" in which all spiritualistic so-called phenomena originated were unaccountable except on the supernatural hypothesis, can no longer be cited to an intelligent mind. the elaborate narrative published by the eldest sister, mrs. ann leah fox underhill, who is now the only remaining stay of spiritualistic deception, is proven to be false from title-page to finis. i have given in the following pages, the real lives of mrs. kane and mrs. jencken, in so far as they bear in any important degree upon the development of the fraud of spiritualism. ii. renunciation. chapter i. god has not ordered it. the world of "spiritualists" and non-spiritualists was startled on the 24th of september, 1888, by the publication in the new york _herald_, of an article with the following head-lines: "god has not ordered it." a celebrated medium says the spirits never return. captain kane's widow. one of the fox sisters promises an interesting exposure of fraud. to many, an article of this kind seemed in a degree sensational. not to those, however, who had previously had some inkling of the secret history of spiritualism, and who for years had looked for the day of its inevitable confounding. a sudden disclosure like this, by one of the "mothers of spiritualism," if the term may be used, suggested a sort of reckless vagary, a species of extravagance, due, as might have been fancied, to some abnormal condition of the mind. yet to those who had had an intimate acquaintance with maggie fox kane this step had long been foreshadowed. as will appear later, no one could have imagined the real intensity of moral pain that for years she had endured. in recent years, both she and her sister, catharine fox jencken, had been but poorly provided with this world's goods. obliged to depend almost wholly on themselves for support, they had dropped more and more out of sight, till the public at last hardly recognized their names, if perchance they appeared in print, as those of the principal instruments in the founding of spiritualism. for this, there was a reason. it was a deep-seated and long increasing disgust with their fraudulent profession--the fuller realization to their minds, as their knowledge of the world grew broader, of the monstrous evil to which, innocently at first, they had given birth. so at intervals they were filled with despairing despondency and remorse. their weaknesses, their self-indulgence, their lack of providence for themselves, are largely attributable to these causes. it could not be said of them that they were ever remarkably selfish, or cold-hearted or calculating. such a character, however, has of right been coupled with the name of their elder sister, who by reason of the ties of blood and of her older experience ought long ago to have led them out of the by-ways of imposture, instead of persistently seeking to shut off their escape from this horrible bondage, and to plunge them deeper into the mire of guilt and infamy, so that the chance of their rising above it, and denouncing it, might grow less and less. the impulse to set herself right on the record of the world, after years of enslavement in the hateful gyves of charlatanism, must stand to maggie fox's credit alone. it sprang from her own bosom, not from the inspiration, suggestion or persuasion of any one else. returning from europe in september, 1888, after a peculiar experience, which had convinced her that those chiefs of spiritualistic fraud who feared her and her sister, because they held the key of the whole of the artificial mystery, were bent upon persecuting them into an abject silence, she at once put in execution the resolution which had been so long in process of growth, but until then had never been fully ripened. this was to effect the unqualified exposure of the false system of spiritualism. she naturally chose as a medium for her repentant message to the world, that great cosmopolitan journal, the _new york herald_, which is known in every corner of the earth, and is ever ready to perform an important service to mankind. before she started on her homeward voyage, she committed herself once and for all to this courageous and worthy step. the disclosures regarding the notorious madam diss de barr had offended mrs. kane more than anything which had occurred in spiritualism in a long time, for they presented the enforced association of her name and the simple, childish origin of the "rochester knockings," with the gross and revolting frauds which had been their outgrowth. so imbued had she become, by this time, with the idea that the developed system of spiritualism was something to be loathed, as milton loathed the hideous creature who sat by the inner portals of hell, that words could not express her utter scorn and hatred of this common woman, who posed as an agent of sacred communications between the living and the dead. the new york _herald_ of may 27, 1888, contained this letter, written by mrs. margaret fox kane in london: the curse of spiritualism. gower street, bedford square, w. c., london, may 14, 1888. to the editor of the herald: i read in the _herald_ of saturday, may 5, an account of the sad misfortune that has befallen my dear sister katie, mrs. kate fox jencken, and in the article it is stated that i am still a resident of new york, which is a mistake. i sailed for england on the 22d of march, and i presume my absence has added to my darling sister's depressed state of mind. the sad news has nearly killed me. my sister's two beautiful boys referred to are her idols. spiritualism is a curse. god has set his seal against it! i call it a curse, for it is made use of as a covering for heartless persons like the diss de barrs, and the vilest miscreants make use of it to cloak their evil doings. fanatics like mr. luther r. marsh, mr. john l. o'sullivan, ex-minister to portugal, and hundreds equally as learned, ignore the "rappings" (which is the only part of the phenomena that is worthy of notice) and rush madly after the glaring humbugs that flood new york. but a harmless "message" that is given through the "rappings" is of little account to them; they want the "spirit" to come to them in full form, to walk before them, talk to them, to embrace them, and all such nonsense, and what is the result? like old judge edmonds and mr. seybert, of philadelphia, they become crazed, and at the direction of their fraud "mediums" they are induced to part with all their worldly possessions as well as their common sense, which god intended they should hold sacred. mr. marsh's experience is but another example of hundreds who have preceded him. no matter in what form spiritualism may be presented, it is, has been and always will be a curse and a snare to all who meddle with it. no right minded man or woman can think otherwise. i have found that fanatics are as plentiful among "inferior men and women" as they are among the more learned. they are all alike. they cannot hold their fanaticism in check, and it increases as their years increase. all they will ever achieve for their foolish fanaticism will be loss of money, softening of the brain and a lingering death. margaret f. kane. this anathema dismayed those who had basely profited by spiritualism, and it brought a deeper shock to the hearts of many who were sincere believers. the publication, however, in the _herald_, three months later, of an interview with mrs. kane on her arrival in this city, the striking head-lines of which i have cited above, capped the climax of consternation. this article is well worthy of reproduction. the eccentric circles wherein "isms" reign in discordant supremacy will be probably as deeply exercised over an approaching exposure of the tricks and illusions of spiritualism, as they were over the rude logic of common sense and justice which drew aside the thin veil of fraud in the case of madam diss de barr, and revealed the real nature of her flimsy system of deception in all its vulgar absurdity. i called yesterday at a modest little house in west forty-fourth street, and was received by a small, magnetic woman of middle age, whose face bears the traces of much sorrow and of a world-wide experience. she was negligently dressed, and she was not in the calmest possible mood. but she knew what she was talking about when, in response to my questions, she told a story of as strange and fantastic a life as has ever been recorded, and declared over and over again her intention of balancing the account which the world of humbug-loving mortals held against her, by making a clean breast of all her former miracles and wonders. in intervals of her talk, when she had risen from her chair, and paced the room, or had covered her face with her hands and almost sobbed with emotion, she would seat herself suddenly at a piano and pour forth fitful floods of wild, incoherent melody, which coincided strangely with that reminiscent weirdness which, despite its cynical reality, still characterized the scene. this woman, albeit a notorious career has classed her with mountebanks and worse in the minds of reasonable beings, had yet by some element or other in her character retained a degree of public respect. perhaps it is because months ago she abandoned the art of deception and has since to her intimate friends evinced no ordinary measure of contempt for all who still pursue it. she is known on both sides of the atlantic, and when in london, is entertained by some of the best-to-do of the great and comprehensive middle class. circumstances had brought me to this house, and i did not at first know her. i soon found, however, that this was the most famous of the celebrated trio of witches, the fox sisters, among the earliest spiritualistic mediums in this country. she is also the widow of dr. elisha kent kane, the heroic arctic explorer, who died of the effects of his exposure in searching for sir john franklin and his ill-fated party. mrs. margaret fox kane has lately returned from england for a brief visit here, and she purposes in a very short time to deliver just one lecture, and no more, which shall shame and dumfound all the spiritualistic frauds who have not yet repented into poverty or exile of their nebulous ways. she will reveal one after another of the methods by which willing believers have been so briskly duped and robbed, and will herself demonstrate how simple, natural and easy are most of those methods. brooding upon the troubles that had been brought upon her by spiritualism and on her personal guilt in connection with it, it is hardly strange that mrs. kane, even when bent upon making a sweeping confession of the whole imposture, should in intervals of nervous excitement have turned to the thought of suicide. "'my troubles weighed upon me,' she said, 'and when i was coming over on the _italy_, i do believe that i should have gone overboard but for the captain and the doctor and some of the sailors. they prevented me, and when i landed, i could not express to them the gratitude i felt. i had very little english money with me, but all of that i distributed to the men.'" as mrs. kane told of her impulse to commit suicide her manner became tragic and she clutched her listener's arm. after a moment, however, she reverted quietly enough to the original subject. but she speedily became much excited again, as what follows will show. it was but natural: "since you now despise spiritualism, how was it that you were engaged in it so long?" i asked. "another sister of mine," and she coupled the name with an injurious adjective, "made me take up with it. she's my damnable enemy. i hate her. my god! i'd poison her! no, i wouldn't, but i'll lash her with my tongue. she was twenty-three years old the day i was born. i was an aunt seven years before i was born. ha! ha! "yes, i am going to expose spiritualism from its very foundation. i have had the idea in my head for many a year, but i have never come to a determination before. i've thought of it day and night. i loath the thing i have been. as i used to say to those who wanted me to give a sã©ance, 'you are driving me into hell.' then the next day i would drown my remorse in wine. i was too honest to remain a 'medium.' that's why i gave up my exhibitions. "when spiritualism first began kate and i were little children, and this old woman, my other sister, made us her tools. mother was a silly woman. she was a fanatic. i call her that because she was honest. she believed in these things. spiritualism started from just nothing. we were but innocent little children. what did we know? ah, we grew to know too much! our sister used us in her exhibitions and we made money for her. now she turns upon us because she's the wife of a rich man, and she opposes us both wherever she can. oh, i am after her! you can kill sometimes without using weapons, you know. "dr. kane found me when i was leading this life. [the woman's voice trembled just here and she nearly broke down.] i was only thirteen when he took me out of it and placed me at school. i was educated in philadelphia. when i was sixteen years old he returned from the arctic and we were married. now comes the sad, sad tale. he was very ill. the physicians ordered him to london, but before he arrived he had a paralytic stroke of the heart. then he was sent back from london and to havana. newsboys shouted in the streets of new york the news of his critical condition. oh, my god! it was anguish to my ears! mother and i were to have joined him in two weeks. he died before we arrived. then i had brain fever. no one but god can know what sorrows i have had! "when i recovered i was driven again into spiritualism, and i gave exhibitions with my sister katie. i knew, of course, then, that every effect produced by us was absolute fraud. why, i have explored the unknown as far as human will can. i have gone to the dead so that i might get from them some little token. nothing ever came of it--nothing, nothing. i have been in graveyards at dead of night, having permission to enter from those in charge. i have sat alone on a gravestone, that the spirits of those who slept underneath might come to me. i have tried to obtain some sign. not a thing! no, no, the dead shall not return, nor shall any that go down into hell. so says the catholic bible, and so say i. the spirits will not come back. god has not ordered it. "you want to know what are the points of my coming exposã©? first the 'rappings.'" mrs. kane paused here, and i heard first a rapping under the floor near my feet, then under the chair in which i was seated, and again under a table on which i was leaning. she led me to the door and i heard the same sound on the other side of it. then, when she sat on the piano stool, the legs of the instrument reverberated more loudly, and the tap, tap, resounded throughout its hollow structure. "it is all a trick?" "absolutely. spirits, is he not easily fooled?" rap, rap, rap! "i can always get an affirmative answer to that question," she remarked. then i addressed certain suppositions to her. at last she said, "yes, you have hit it. it is, as you say, the manner in which the joints of the foot can be used without lifting it from the floor. the power of doing this can only be acquired by practice begun in early youth. one must begin as early as twelve years. thirteen is rather late. we children, when we were playing together, years ago, discovered it, and it was my eldest sister who first put the discovery to such an infamous use. "i call it infamous, for it was." chapter ii. the discomfited enemy. what has gone before is the whole story, in a sense. the article in the _herald_ either relates or suggests it. indeed, no refutation of it has been attempted. if there is one striking negative feature in the circumstances surrounding this exposure of spiritualism, it is the entire absense of any reply from the great body of professional spiritualists commensurate with the accusation made. this confession of mrs. margaret fox kane was to them the handwriting on the wall, the "_mene, mene, tekel, upharsin_," of spiritualism. leah fox fish-brown-underhill, who has published a book of the flimsiest and most absurd narrative, intended to be accepted as a proof of spiritualism, is the one person in all the world who could be expected to defend the system from this fatal attack, if any defense were possible. reporters of the daily press would have been but too glad to record whatever she might say, were it even the veriest drivel, on an issue that jeopardized the existence of the brazen and pretentious "ism" which, as by an obscene spell, still enlists the curiosity of a great proportion of the world. but as mrs. underhill's book itself, which i shall notice more in detail hereafter, shows to the critical mind how futile would be an attempted refutation on her part, the public can very readily understand the reason of this most careful silence. blunderingly, however, prior to having consulted her, mr. daniel underhill, her husband, consented to talk upon the subject. the statements hostile to mrs. kane, to be found in the excerpt here given, were, of course, to be expected. were they ever so true, however, they could not in any way lesson the damning force of her repentant avowals:- mr. daniel underhill, president of a wealthy insurance company, whose office is in wall street, and who is the husband of the eldest of the fox sisters, whom margaret declares to be her "damnable enemy," is a spiritualist, but in a moderate sense. mrs. underhill's maiden name was ann leah fox. she was twice married before she met her present husband, and she is twenty-three years older than margaret. a large part of the public do not realize that ann leah, margaret and cathie fox were the founders of what is specifically known as spiritualism. the first so-called phenomena came to the two youngest girls in 1848, at hydesville, in this state, while their sister leah was residing elsewhere. when she heard of what had taken place and of the intense public excitement which it had created, she joined them, and then began the public history of spiritualism. she took the incipient "ism" vigorously in hand, and for a series of years gave exhibitions in all the principal cities, which were attended by the most eminent men and the most brilliant women in the country. of late years mrs. underhill has entirely withdrawn from public participation in spiritualistic exhibitions. she is still held, however, in high estimation by all who accept supernatural communications, and her reply to what her sister margaret has said regarding the practice of fraud, would at this time be interesting. unfortunately she is now in the country, and there is no person in the city to speak for her excepting her husband. i obtained an interview with him yesterday. he was reluctant to be brought into the controversy, but, while speaking in a most uncomplimentary manner of margaret and denouncing her proposed new departure, did not evince any great amount of indignation. "i have for years," he began, "helped both maggie and katie, and my wife has done everything in the world for them. we have furnished apartments for maggie twice. they might both do well if they would only keep sober. maggie can be as nice as you please or as vicious as a devil. several persons have undertaken to manage her, but all have failed. nobody can do anything with her. the first i knew that she was back in the city was through the _herald_. "i don't think she's in her right mind. i have done so much for her and she has behaved so badly in return that i have given her up now and will have nothing to do with her. she says she will lecture, does she? well, i don't believe she ever will. she's incapable of it. "it's a great pity, though, that she should say such things about spiritualism, because of the odium which will result from it. but it isn't the first time she has said that she would declare against spiritualism. she has had such spells before. it is astonishing to me that people have stuck to her and katie as they have. it is all bosh about revealing the manner of producing the raps. i don't believe she can do it. i don't believe she knows how they are produced, except that it is done by an occult agency. of course, there are frauds in spiritualism. mme. diss de barr was one of them. i don't believe much in materialization, but i've seen some real manifestations. they were in my own house. nearly all my spiritualistic experience has been in my own house, and these sisters were the mediums. "of course maggie's statement will be something of a shock to spiritualists the world over, because they regard her and her sisters as the founders of their belief. in my opinion she is not accountable for what she says." mrs. underhill remained quietly in the country many weeks after the exposã©, safe from the keen inquisition of reporters. the notorious "mediums" in new york who were approached on the subject, were all excessively guarded in their comments upon the step taken by mrs. kane, yet they admitted her personal importance as an originator of spiritualism. mrs. e. a. wells, whose fraudulent exhibitions have had a certain success, expressed herself as much shocked at the determination of mrs. kane; "'but,' she added to the reporter, with seeming naã®vetã©, 'you don't believe she will do it, do you?'" the account from which i am quoting, continues as follows: "i sought the presence of mrs. e. a. wells, a medium of great celebrity, whose abode is not far from adelphi hall, where spiritualists congregate on sunday." mrs. wells expressed herself as shocked at the determination of mrs. margaret fox kane, "but," she added, with seeming naã®vetã©, "you don't believe she will do it, do you?" "how have you regarded mrs. kane heretofore, mrs. wells?" "why, with a good deal of respect as one of the first to get messages from the unseen world. the fox sisters have a great name. i have no idea, though, if she really intends to do what she says she will, that she's in her right senses." another "medium," who has a wealthy clientã¨le, and who gives only private sã©ances, whence all unfriendly influences are rigorously excluded, did not desire to appear in print, as she told her visitor, since it would look like "bad form" to those who came to her for supernatural enlightenment. she was asked, however, if she held the fox sisters in much esteem as the pioneers of spiritualism. she said she did, but personally knew nothing of them. when told about the threatened exposure she expressed very great surprise, and declared that it would be a deep mortification to believers in spiritualism. "i don't believe she can expose any fraud. but if fraud exists, why, then, i say let it be exposed; the sooner the better. there's no fraud about me, that's very certain, and i've some of the very best people in new york to come here." "i'll tell you what! i have heard that the fox sisters are dreadfully addicted to drink. i don't know how far it is true, but i wouldn't believe anything she might say in the way of exposure. may be she's out of money and thinks the spiritualists ought to do something for her. i shouldn't wonder." "now, if you'll come up here some time, and if you'll give me a fair report, i shall be glad to show you how i can materialize." i thought there was a good deal of material about her already, and so i thanked her. at their public gatherings in adelphi hall, new york, now most meagerly attended, the spiritualists, just after the initial exposã© in the _herald_, refrained very wisely from taking up the gauntlet of truth thrown down by their chief apostle, mrs. margaret fox kane. in an interview, however, which was had by a reporter with mr. henry j. newton, the president of the first spiritual society of new york, the latter indulged in a number of emphatic statements regarding the "manifestations" produced by the "fox sisters," all of which rested upon his own veracity only. the spirit of what he said may be easily gleaned from this passage: "i had supposed all along," he said, "that mrs. kane was still in europe, and that she would never return to this country. i even heard at the time when katie, her sister, was sent abroad, that maggie was in rome, in company with a well known gentleman. i am very much surprised to know that she is in this city, and more surprised that she threatens to make such silly pretended revelations as you say she proposes. they can only be revelations in name. she cannot reveal anything that can injure the spiritualist cause or that will weaken in any one's mind the truth of what we teach. "i have been absent in the country and have not read all that the _herald_ has published on this matter. i have read enough, however, to show me how utterly absurd and ridiculous her position is. "the idea of claiming that unseen 'rappings' can be produced with joints of the feet! if she says this, even with regard to her own manifestations, she lies! i and many other men of truth and position have witnessed the manifestations of herself and her sisters many times under circumstances in which it was absolutely impossible for there to have been the least fraud. "_nothing that she could say in that regard would in the least change my opinion_, nor would it that of any one else who has become profoundly convinced that there is an occult influence connecting us with an invisible world, i have seen margaret fox kane herself, when lying on a bed of sickness and unable to rise, produce 'rappings' in various parts of the room in which she was, and upon the ceilings, doors and windows several feet away from her. i have seen her produce the same effects when too drunk to realize what she was doing." on the 25th of september, 1888, the following, which was published in the new york _herald_, expressed very tersely the situation among the spiritualists, who had by that time partly recovered from the first effect of the blow: recrimination against the two younger fox sisters, margaret and katie, has begun with characteristic violence, and many unlovely truths are betrayed which do not alter the essential significance of the former's denunciation of spiritualistic fraud. several of the mediums said that they could hardly believe their eyes when they read of mrs. margaret fox kane's determination, and they declared almost unanimously that "she would not do it if she were in her senses." they accuse her of excessive indulgence in drink and hint that she is not responsible for what she says. it appears, however, that in private, on many occasions, but never before in public, she has stated that spiritualism was a tissue of fraud, and that some day she would prove the charge to the world. she has during the last few mouths given many sã©ances in london, but always disclaimed any personal supernatural connection in producing the effects at which others wondered. with a number of rich patrons, among them mr. h. wedgewood, of cavendish square, she proceeded to a certain point in the process of delusion and then frankly undeceived them, convincing them of the ease with which they could be practiced upon. prior to this, the following had been published: as mrs. kane's sincerity in making her proposed exposures is questioned by her enemies, the following brief note from a well known english spiritualist is of interest: "31 queen anne street, cavendish square, "london, w., july 19, 1888. "dear mrs. kane: i am not so much surprised as i might be at what you have revealed to me if i had not already been led to believe that many spiritualistic mediums practice upon the credulous. "the illusion, however, was perfect while it lasted. "you do well to expose these infamous frauds, and i thank you for having enlightened me. "sincerely yours, "h. wedgewood." and later mrs. kane, in outlining her proposed public lecture, said: "i am going to expose the very root of corruption in this spiritualistic ulcer. you talk about mormonism! do you know that there is something behind the shadowy mask of spiritualism that the public can hardly guess at? i am stating now what i know, not because i actually participated in it, for i would never be a party to such promiscuous nastiness, but because i had plenty of opportunity, as you may imagine, of verifying it. under the name of this dreadful, this horrible hypocrisy--spiritualism--everything that is improper, bad and immoral is practiced. they go even so far as to have what they call 'spiritual children!' they pretend to something like the immaculate conception! could anything be more blasphemous, more disgusting, more thinly deceptive than that? in london i went in disguise to a quiet sã©ance at the house of a wealthy man, and i saw a so-called materialization. the effect was produced with the aid of luminous paper, the lustre of which was reflected upon the operator. the figure thus displayed was that of a woman--was virtually nude, being enveloped in transparent gauze, the face alone being concealed. this was one of those sã©ances to which the privileged non-believing friends of believing spiritualists could have access. but there are other sã©ances, where none but the most tried and trusted are admitted, and where there are shameless goings on that vie with the secret saturnalia of the romans. i could not describe these things to you, because i would not." thus, the only one of the "fox sisters" who still adhered to the imposture practiced for over forty years, and the only spiritualist who could deny the statements of margaret fox kane with anything approaching to authority, found her safest and most fitting defense in the kindly shelter of silence. this quasi-confession was not needed to complete the conviction in intelligent minds that spiritualism was, in its inception, and is now, a fraud and a lie. but the significance of the negative circumstance is none the less worthy of note. chapter iii. a second blow. barely had the professional spiritualists a breathing-spell--after the shock of mrs. kane's confession--when a new blow fell upon them. mrs. catherine fox jencken arrived from europe, and though ignorant until landing, of the grave step her sister margaret had taken, at once announced her intention of joining and sustaining her in the complete exposure of spiritualism in all its phases of deception and hypocrisy. this news staggered the spiritualistic world. and now it but remains for the other of the three "fox sisters" to see the hopeless folly of continued imposture, and to add her confession to the historical record of the dissipation of this unholy fraud. that she will ever do this, however, those who are aware that to her malevolent will was due the first evil growth and the wide extension of spiritualism, cannot easily bring themselves to believe. the following account of mrs. jencken's arrival in new york and of her determination to add her testimony to that of her sister margaret against the fraud of spiritualism, was published on the 10th of october, 1888, and is of sufficient interest to excuse my quoting it here at large: and katy fox now. the youngest of the mediumistic pioneers will "give the snap away." she arrives from europe. spiritualism a humbug from beginning to end--alleged immoralities. katie fox jencken arrived yesterday from england on the _persian monarch_ and she intends to co-operate with her sister--margaret fox kane--in her proposed exposã© of the fraudulent methods of so-called spiritualism. mrs. jencken's coming was unexpected to her sister, and it will surprise the enemies of both. the blow to spiritualism which maggie fox struck not long ago, caused a good deal more of consternation than spiritualists generally have cared to confess. there is ample reason for stating that underneath a plausible surface of enforced calm there have been the hurried exchange of forbodings and doubtings, and many consultations and goings to and fro. it is known that an overture was made to maggie fox suggestive of a money consideration for her silence, and that she rejected it with much indignation. mrs. jencken walked into the parlor where mrs. kane was sitting about five o'clock yesterday, and the sisters at once fell on each other's necks, in an ecstasy of affection and delight at being together once again. mrs. kane had but just been talking to me about her projected lecture on "the curse of spiritualism," and mrs. jencken, who had heard nothing of the proposed exposã©, except as it was casually rumored in her ear at the steamship dock, promptly gave her acquiescence to it as soon as she understood the situation. "i do not care a fig for spiritualism," she said, "except so far as the good will of its adherents may affect the future of my boys. they are all i have in this life, and i live or die for them." mrs. jencken looks a far different person than she was when in deep trouble in this city and when she had to do with the rather unsympathetic measures of the society for the prevention of cruelty to children. no matron could bear a more placid and comely expression, and she declares with heartfelt earnestness that she is done forever with her once-besetting vice. "mrs. jencken, are you willing to join with your sister in exposing the true modus operandi of spiritualism?" i asked. "i care nothing for spiritualism," was her reply. "so far as i am concerned i am done with it. i will say this, i regard it as one of the very greatest curses that the world has ever known. if i knew those powerful spiritualists who have done their utmost to harm me in the past could not do so in the future, i would not hesitate a moment to expose it. the worst of them all is my eldest sister, leah, the wife of daniel underhill. i think she was the one who caused my arrest last spring, and the bringing of the preposterous charge against me that i was cruel to my children and neglectful of them. i don't know why it is, she has always been jealous of maggie and me; i suppose because we could do things in spiritualism that she couldn't." "why don't you come squarely out, then, with the truth, and make the public your friends? you needn't fear any persecution if you do that." "well, if my sister's health were only fully restored and i knew she was fully herself i would certainly join her in showing spiritualism to be what it really is. i want to be sure of that, however. i want the thing done properly when it is done." "then you will not deny that what she has said of spiritualism is true?" "i will not deny it. spiritualism is a humbug from beginning to end. it is the greatest humbug of the century. i don't know whether she has told you this, but maggie and i started it as very little children, too young, too innocent, to know what we were doing. our sister leah was twenty-three years older than either of us. we got started in the way of deception, and being encouraged in it, we went on, of course. others, old enough to have been ashamed of the infamy, took us out into the world. my sister leah has published a book called 'the missing link of spiritualism.' it professes to give the true history of this movement, so far as it originated with us. now, there's nothing but falsehood in that book from beginning to end, excepting the fact that horace greeley educated me. the rest is nothing but a string of lies." "and about the manifestations at hydesville in 1848 and the finding of bones in the cellar and so on?" "all humbuggery, every bit of it." "and yet maggie and i are the founders of spiritualism!" concluded mrs. jencken. on the next day mrs. jencken made the statement which appears in the following: mrs. jencken was asked about the alleged spirit manifestations which have taken place in carlyle's old home at chelsea, london, where she has lately resided. the english papers have been filled with stories, more or less sceptical, regarding these queer occurrences. mrs. jencken said: "all that took place there of that nature is utterly false. i haven't the slightest idea that the noises which we heard in the house had any connection with carlyle's spirit. i certainly know that every so-called manifestation produced through me in london or anywhere else was a fraud. many a time have i wept because when i was young and innocent i was brought into such a life. the time has now come for maggie and i to set ourselves right before the world. nobody knows at what moment either of us might be taken away. we ought not to leave this base fabric of deceit behind us unexposed." as may be seen, nothing could be stronger than the language employed in these interviews by both of the repentant sisters, in denouncing their former adhesion to a system of humbug and hypocrisy. chapter iv. the hand of the persecutor the public had every reason to feel a deep sympathy with the two younger fox sisters in the courageous attitude which they had taken. the deadliest hatred is always to be feared, by those who abandon a faith or a system, from those who still adhere to it. think you, if mahomet had turned about, forty years after the hegira, and had boldly anathematized the religion he had established, he might not have been reviled and persecuted, even by those in whom he had first inculcated his bastard faith? who can doubt this who knows human nature? even the lies of an impostor rebel against him, when, with a repentant word, he would damn them again to all eternity. mrs. jencken had ample reason to fear that the disclosures which had been made by her and her sister would redouble the hostile zeal of those who before had persecuted her. in the first account which had been published of her return to this country, it was not stated that her two boys had accompanied her. in fact, however, they had. the pressure brought to bear to induce her to retract her denunciation of spiritualism, and the ground of her fear for the safety of her children, are well set forth in the following, which appeared on october 11th, 1888: fearing their enemies. the jencken boys were here, but are sent away. there are signs of gathering thunder all around the spiritualistic sky. a leading spiritualist, a lawyer, who had read the _herald's_ recent articles on the subject, demanded of mrs. katy fox jencken, immediately upon her arrival in new york on tuesday, that she refuse to support her sister maggie in her exposã© of mediumistic fraud, and, to use his own words, that she "throw herself upon the sympathy of the spiritualists." this proposition she emphatically rejected and declared that she had done forever with spiritualism and spiritualists. she firmly believes that leading men and women among the latter, particularly her eldest sister leah, are her secret persecutors, and that it was due to their animus that she was arrested last spring and deprived of her two boys, to whom she is immeasurably devoted. there is much to sustain this charge, and the inference that this mysterious persecution, of which, as she alleges, the society for the prevention of cruelty to children was only the instrument, was inspired by the fear that she and mrs. kane, having long been exploited for the financial benefit of others, might do the very thing they are doing now--betray the secrets of deception, which have from the beginning of the spiritualistic movement been so well guarded. as was said in the _herald_ yesterday, mrs. jencken knew nothing of the course which her sister maggie had taken until she landed on the wharf of the monarch line company. the _herald_ did not state yesterday that mrs. jencken was accompanied by her two boys, whom the society for the prevention of cruelty to children made such great efforts to keep apart from their mother in last may. as soon as she heard the news of maggie's disclosures from a friend who met her at the steamer, she was overcome with fear lest, being now aware of the means that had been employed to secure their release and her own, the society would again attempt to deprive her of her children. she was advised by a lawyer who knew the real source of the hostility to her and the motives that prompted it, to send them back at once to england. the boys declared that they did not want to fall into the hands of the society for the prevention of cruelty to children again. both of them are now strapping big fellows for their age, and are able and willing to earn their own living. one is fourteen years old and the other will be soon sixteen. but for a misunderstanding as to their ages on the part of the police justice last spring there would never have been any question of retaining them in the custody of mr. gerry's over-zealous myrmidons. mrs. jencken's apprehensions, however, were not to be quieted, and early in the morning she bundled off the two lads [and they are now safely beyond the jurisdiction of the dreaded society of which mr. e. t. gerry is the chief].[2] "this shows," said a gentleman yesterday, "how far certain wealthy spiritualists are powerful to inspire a kind of terrorism even in new york city among those who have left their ranks." "now that my boys are out of danger," said mrs. jencken, "i will stand by my sister maggie and go to the very fullest length of any exposure that she may make. we have been the tools and victims of others long enough. i approve and i affirm all that she has said about the immoral practices hidden under the ridiculous cloak of spiritualism. the whole thing is damnable, and it should long ago have been trampled, out as one would trample out the life of a serpent." chapter v. solemn abjuration. the news that mrs. margaret fox kane and mrs. catherine fox jencken had renounced and exposed spiritualism, flew from one end of the country to the other, and caused excitement among spiritualists and non-spiritualists. every newspaper in every city of the united states, and many in europe, repeated the story published in new york. the general opinion everywhere, where the wish was not the opposite, was that spiritualism as such had received its death-blow. letters began to pour in upon mrs. kane which were strongly significant of the effect of her action. many of them were written by persons who had been believers from the very first of the public exhibitions of the "rappings," and who had based their whole faith on the truth and veritable inspiration of the "fox sisters." it was almost pitiable to witness the honest-hearted distress of people of this sort, who now saw the fondest illusion of their lives dissolve before their eyes; their dearest, assured hope of an invisible world ruthlessly torn from them. the anger of those who now anathematized the founders of the spiritualistic faith, and declared that all that they could now say in way of recantation was utterly false, while all that they had formerly said or performed as miraculous proof, was, of course, as true as gospel, or as the fact that the sun shines, was quite as ridiculous as the other sentiment was worthy of sympathy. it was natural that those who had fed their baser passions upon spiritualism--as the harpy upon carrion--should resort to the vilest methods of attacking mrs. kane, and in doing so should shelter themselves behind the cowardly refuge of anonymity. a single communication from one of those who thus set the gauge for our estimate of spiritualistic hypocrisy, will suffice to complete the reader's impression regarding them. it was written on a postal card and unsigned, and the italics and other literary peculiarities are wholly those of the person who wrote it: "mrs. kane. your anticipated action thursday night reminds me _very forcibly_ of several lines of 'beautiful snow' only your course is even _more despicable_ and your rank in the history of the present day will be on a par with benedict arnold in 'beautiful snow' we find 'selling her soul to whoever would buy' &c. you are going to sell your soul to an ignorant public by _pretending to expose_ what _you very well know cannot be exposed_ by any man, woman or child dwelling in the mortal sphere of life--shame on you, but you will soon meet your reward in other spheres and suffer for your wickedness." it is hard to determine whether the above communication emanated from a professional spiritualist of the mercenary type or from one who finds his or her profit of self-gratification in the licentious tendencies and opportunities of private spiritualistic intercourse. in any event, it bears the stamp of ignorant selfishness and narrow vulgarity. it is with a degree of pleasure that one may turn to letters which were written by the sincere disciples of the "fox sisters," and which breathe a deep anxiety for the fate of that fantastic creed in which they have so much delighted. the reader has but to think for an instant of the actual meaning of this long-deferred exposã© to these persons. they had greedily fed their souls upon the delusion that they had held intercourse with the spirits of their dear departed. the supposed messages which they had received seemed a sure earnest of that union with those they loved on earth for which the true heart most longs. in view of this expectation and in the light of this exposure of its utter fallacy--so far as any material evidence is concerned--it is most difficult to find adequate terms with which to characterize the work of those who still persist in contributing to a delusion which has numbered so many victims. here is a letter from a resident of southern california, enclosing a clipping from a newspaper containing mrs. kane's renunciation of spiritualism: "buena park, los angeles co., cal., sept. 29, a. d. 1888. "mrs. margaret fox kane, "dear madam: "i have just read the enclosed item, taken from one of our los angeles city papers. please let me know if the statements therein contained are true, and you will greatly oblige, "yours for truth, "t. j. house." the following was written by one of the best known early settlers of san francisco, a man whose example and absolute faith have influenced hundreds, probably, to embrace spiritualism: "san francisco, cal., oct. 2, 1888. "mrs. margaret fox kane, "dear madam: "i inclose a cutting from one of our local papers, purporting to be an interview with you in regard to the subject of spiritualism. i have taken the liberty to inquire of you if the statements therein contained are true. "i have been a believer in the phenomena from its first inception through you and your sister, believing it to be true since that time. "i am now eighty-one years old and have but a short time, of course, to remain in this world, and i feel great anxiety to know through you if i have been deceived all this time in a matter of vital interest to us all. "will you greatly oblige me with an answer? "very respectfully yours, "e. f. bunnell. "no. 319 kearny st." and here is a communication which is signed by what is evidently only a part of the writer's name, but which carries with it in every line the absolute impress of truth and of a deep and pathetic earnestness: "boston, mass., oct. 15, 1888. "mrs. margaret fox kane, "dear madam: "hundreds of thousands have believed through you and you alone. hundreds of thousands eagerly ask you whether all the glorious light that they fancied you have given them, was but the false flicker of a common dip-candle of fraud. "if, as you say, you were forced to pursue this imposture from childhood, i can forgive you, and i am sure that god will; for he turns not back the truly repentant. i will not upbraid you. i am sure you have suffered as much as any penalty, human or divine, could cause you to suffer. the disclosures that you make take from me all that i cherished most. there is nothing left for me now but to hope for the reality of that repose which death promises us. "it is perhaps better that the delusion should be at last swept away by one single word, and that word 'fraud.' "i know that the pursuit of this shadowy belief has wrought upon my brain and that i am no longer my old self. money i have spent in thousands and thousands of dollars within a few short years to propitiate the 'mediumistic' intelligence. it is true that never once have i received a message or the token of a word that did not leave a still unsatisfied longing in my heart, a feeling that it was not really my loved one after all, who was speaking to me, or if it was my loved one, that he was changed, that i hardly knew him and that he hardly knew me. oh! how i have hated the thought that used to come to me sometimes, in spite of myself, that it was not really he. but that must have been the true intuition. it is better that the delusion is past, after all, for had i kept on in that way, i am sure i should have gone mad. the constant seeking, the frequent pretended response, its unsatisfying meaning, the sense of distance and change between me and my loved one--oh! it has been horrible, horrible! "he who is dying of thirst and has the sweet cup ever snatched from his lips, just as the first drop touches them--he alone can know what in actual things is the similitude of this spiritualistic torture. "god bless you, for i think that you now speak the truth. you have my forgiveness at least, and i believe that thousands of others will forgive you, for the atonement made in season wipes out much of the stain of the early sin. "yours sincerely, "anna suzanne." to these letters and to hundreds of others which mrs. kane and her sister mrs. jencken have received, this volume is their response. but besides this, they have appeared in public on the platform, as an earnest of their present sincerity, and will probably continue so to appear in various parts of this country and europe. on the 21st of october, 1888, mrs. margaret fox kane first fulfilled her intention of publicly denouncing, with her own lips, spiritualism and its attendant trickery. she appeared at the academy of music in new york before a large and distinguished audience, and without reservation demonstrated the falsity of all that she had done in the past in the guise of spiritualistic "mediumship." the ordeal was a severe one. the great nervous strain under which she had labored rendered her mind highly excitable, and the large number of spiritualists in the house tried to create a disturbance, or a traitorous diversion which would break the force of her renunciation. in this they utterly failed, however, thanks to the superior character of a majority of her auditors. the moral effect of the exposure could not have been greater. mrs. kane stood before the footlights trembling with intense feeling, and made the following most solemn abjuration of spiritualism, while mrs. catharine fox jencken sat in a neighboring box and gave assent by her presence to all that she said: "that i have been chiefly instrumental in perpetrating the fraud of spiritualism upon a too confiding public, most of you doubtless know. "the greatest sorrow of my life has been that this is true, and though it has come late in my day, i am now prepared to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,--so help me god! "there are probably many here who will scorn me for the deception i have practiced, yet did they know the true history of my unhappy past, the living agony and shame that it has been to me, they would pity, not reproach. "the imposition which i have so long maintained began in my early childhood, when, with character and mind still unformed, i was unable to distinguish between right and wrong. "i repented it in my maturity. i have lived through years of silence, through intimidation, scorn and bitter adversity, concealing as best i might, the consciousness of my guilt. now, thanks to god and my awakened conscience, i am at last able to reveal the fatal truth, the exact truth of this hideous fraud which has withered so many hearts and has blighted so many hopeful lives. "i am here to-night as one of the founders of spiritualism, to denounce it as an absolute falsehood from beginning to end, as the flimsiest of superstitions, the most wicked blasphemy known to the world. "i ask only your kind attention and forgiveness, and as i may prove myself worthy by the step i am now taking, may you extend to me your helping hands and sustain me in the better path i have chosen." the demonstration of the method by which the "rappings" were produced was a perfect success, as is best shown by the following succinct account, which formed a part of the article on the subject published by the new york _world_ on the following morning: a plain wooden stool or table, resting upon four short legs, and having the properties of a sounding board, was placed in front of her. removing her shoe, she placed her right foot upon this table. the entire house became breathlessly still, and was rewarded by a number of little short, sharp raps--those mysterious sounds which have for more than forty years frightened and bewildered hundreds of thousands of people in this country and europe. a committee, consisting of three physicians taken from the audience, then ascended to the stage, and having made an examination of her foot during the progress of the "rappings," unhesitatingly agreed that the sounds were made by the action of the first joint of her large toe. only the most hopelessly prejudiced and bigoted fanatics of spiritualism could withstand the irresistable force of this common-place explanation and exhibition of how "spirit rappings" are produced. the demonstration was perfect and complete, and if "spirit rappings" find any credence in this community hereafter, it would seem a wise precaution on the part of the authorities to begin the enlargement of the state's insane asylums without any delay. iii. history. chapter vi. origin of the fraud. there are spiritualists who pretend that so-called "spirit rappings" originated long before the hydesville disturbances took place. these declarations, however, are of no value as actual evidence. in any event, there is no claim that in their cause and general character these manifestations, so-called, were very different from similar ones of the present day. the "rappings" produced by the "fox sisters" are certainly the first of which there is an authentic account. they began in a little rustic cottage at a place called hydesville, in the town of arcadia, near newark, wayne county, new york. here john d. fox and his wife margaret dwelt with their two daughters, margaret and catherine. two other children, ann leah and david s., lived elsewhere. there was sometimes a fifth member of the household, also a child. this was elizabeth fish, the daughter of leah, and therefore the niece of margaret and catherine. she was seven years older than the elder of the two latter. the elder fox and his wife had not been always united since their marriage. they were separated for a number of years. the three older children, ann leah, maria and david s., were conceived before this separation took place, and margaret and catherine afterwards. the two broods had distinctive characteristics. the father, in the interval, is said to have become addicted to intemperate habits. the taint of heredity may excuse much in the younger generation that sprang from a weakness of will-power and made them the too easy victims of colder and more mercenary natures. to many it is well known that they are still incapable of guarding their interests in a business way, and that they have always been too largely at the mercy of any one who could acquire an influence over them. margaretta, or margaret, fox, as she always signs herself, was born in the year 1840, and catherine fox a year and a half later. the eldest sister leah was born twenty-three years before the former. the little girls, one eight years old and the other six and a half, had rarely seen this sister prior to the beginning of the spiritualistic movement. she knew nothing of it until the popular excitement over the "rappings" had almost reached its climax. very early in life she had married a man named fish, who had deserted her, and she was supporting herself at this time in the city of rochester by teaching the rudiments of music. david s. fox, son of john and margaret fox, lived about two miles from the home of his father in arcadia. maggie and katie fox were as full of petty devilment as any two children of their age ever were. they delighted to tease their excellent old mother, who by all who knew her is described as simple, gentle and true-hearted. in their antics, they would resort to all sorts of ingenious devices, and bed-time witnessed almost invariably the gayest of larks. one of their frequent amusements was to plague their niece, elizabeth, who slept in the same bed with them, by kicking and tickling her, and by frightening her at almost any hour of the night out of sound sleep. their riotous fancy soon hit upon the plan of bobbing apples up and down on the floor in their bedchamber, as a means of scaring elizabeth and of puzzling their mother without much risk of detection. they tied strings to the stems of the apples, and thus let them hang down beside the bed. the noise of dropping them more or less quickly upon the floor resembled almost anything that the imagination chose to liken it to, from raps on the front door to slippered foot-falls on the narrow stairway. whenever a search was made for the cause of the noises, the apples were easily hauled up into the bed and hidden in the bedclothes, where no one would think of looking for them, at least at that stage of the investigation. the plan had everything in it to charm a juvenile mischief-maker. it succeeded admirably. it was not till the wonder which was caused by these strange "knockings" had extended beyond the humble fox household, that the suggestion of any other means of affording to that growing feeling its daily food of seeming evidence came to the roguish youngsters. the family had moved into the house at hydesville on december 11, 1847. the mother began to hear strange sounds almost from that date--strange because they occurred with great frequency and were oddly repeated. the children slept in what was called the east room; the parents in an adjoining chamber. at all hours of the night, almost, the sounds were heard; but it happened that they always occurred when one or both of the children were wide awake. the mother, in a statement which has been published as one of the so-called proofs of the genuineness of these manifestations, says that the sounds could with difficulty be located. "sometimes it seemed as if the furniture was moved; but on examination we found everything in order. the children had become so alarmed that i thought best to have them sleep in the room with us. * * * on the night of the first disturbance we all got up and lighted a candle and searched the house, the noises continuing during the time, and being heard near the same place." how natural it was that little children, being averse to sleeping away from their elders in a dark room in a lone country neighborhood, should take advantage of a pretext such as this to get their bed placed nearer to that of their parents! such, indeed, was the immediate result. the third night of the "rappings" was the 31st of march, 1848. mrs. fox says: "_the children who slept in the other bed in the room heard the rappings and tried to make similar sounds with their fingers._ "katie exclaimed: "'mr. splitfoot,' (the imaginary person who was supposed to make the noises), 'do as i do;' clapping her hands. the sound instantly followed her with the same number of raps; when she stopped, the sound ceased for a short time. then margaret said in sport: 'now, do just as i do; count one, two, three, four,' striking one hand against the other at the same time, and the raps came as before. * * * i then thought i could put a test that no one in the place could answer. i asked the noises to rap my children's ages, successively. instantly, each one of my children's ages was given correctly, pausing between them sufficiently long to individualize them until the seventh, at which a longer pause was made, and then three more emphatic raps were given, corresponding to the age of the little one that died, which was my youngest child. i then asked: 'is this a human being that answers my questions so correctly?' there was no rap. i asked: 'is it a spirit? if so, make two raps,' which were instantly given as soon as the request was made. i then said: 'if it is an injured spirit, make two raps,' which were instantly made, causing the house to tremble. i asked: 'were you injured in this house?' the answer was given as before. 'is the person living that injured you?' answer by raps in the same manner. i ascertained by the same method that it was a man, aged thirty-one years; that he had been murdered in this house; and his remains were buried in the cellar; that his family consisted of a wife and five children, two sons and three daughters, all living at the time of his death, but that his wife had since died." then the supposed spirit was asked if it would continue to "rap" if the neighbors were called in to listen. the answer was affirmative. and so they were called in. this caused the commencement of that great excitement which so soon spread from neighborhood to village, from the village to the near-by city of rochester, and thence all over the country. * * * * * mrs. margaret fox kane says at the present time: "the apple-dropping trick appeared to us small children so simple and innocent, that we could only wonder that any one attached so great an importance to the sounds we produced. only think of our ages at that time, and then ask, if you will, how we could have even the shade of a realization of the real meaning of this deception! "this lying book of mrs. underhill's, notwithstanding its abominable object, does give some slight inkling of the truth here and there. "it is thus that the wicked confound themselves. "she quotes, as you see here, what she says to be my mother's words: 'the children who slept in the other bed in the room, heard the rapping and tried to make similar sounds by snapping their fingers.' "now that is really just how we first got the idea of producing with the joints similar sounds to those we had made by dropping apples with a string. from trying it with our fingers we then tried it with our feet, and it did not take long for us to find out that we could easily produce very loud raps by the action of the toe-joints when in contact with any substance which is a good conductor of sound. my sister katie was the first to discover that we could make such peculiar noises with our fingers. we used to practice first with one foot and then the other, and finally we got so we could do it with hardly an effort. "of course, i was so young then that many incidents have escaped my memory. i assert positively, however, that much of the effect of the 'rappings' is greatly exaggerated in this statement which my mother was made to write. i say that she was _made_ to write it, because the wording of the statement, if not largely dictated by others in the first place--men who desired to make public the details of the 'rappings' and to make money by the sale of a pamphlet describing them--was afterwards grossly garbled, that it might be used to suit the dishonest purposes of professional spiritualists. i am not even certain that mother ever signed the document, of which mrs. underhill makes such great parade. the same is true regarding the other pieces of so-called evidence in her work. utterly futile as they are, when confronted with my living testimony, and when judged by their own internal weakness, i should not regard them as in any sense genuine unless i could see the original handwriting and could recognize the signatures. i say to you now, that professional spiritualists are capable of going to any lengths to bolster up their impostures. no forgery, so long as there was the least chance of its succeeding, as a furtherance to their object, would in the least repel them. some of the so-called statements in leah's book i believe were manufactured from beginning to end, though to tell you the truth i have avoided reading the greater part of it because of the disgust i have felt for a long time for that whole infamous system of pretense and falsehood. "well, we were led on unintentionally by my good mother in the perpetration of this great wrong. she used to say when we were sitting in a dark circle at home: 'is this a disembodied spirit that has taken possession of my dear children?' and then we would 'rap' just for the fun of the thing, you know, and mother would declare that it was the spirits that were speaking. "soon it went so far, and so many persons had heard the 'rappings' that we could not confess the wrong without exciting very great anger on the part of those we had deceived. so we went right on. "it is wonderful, indeed, how two little children could have made this discovery, and how, by simply obeying the natural thirst for the marvelous, in others, and their inherent superstition, they should have advanced step by step, in the fraud, deluding those who most ardently wished to be deluded. "until first suggested to us by our mother, who was perfectly innocent in her belief, the thought of 'spirits' had never entered our heads. we were too young and too simple to imagine such a thing." chapter vii. garbled and distorted testimony. so the neighbors were called in at the hydesville house and the "rappings" were continued. by diligent questioning on the part of the older persons in the fox household and of the neighbors, the mysterious noises were made to affirm or to deny almost anything which was suggested to the "mediums," often in accordance with knowledge that, it had been believed, was only possessed by a few persons. and so the wonder grew, day by day. pursuing the idea that a man had been murdered in the house, the whole of a very horrible history was obtained, and the name even of the supposed murderer was indicated by affirmative "raps" when mentioned together with others in a tentative way. the occupation of the victim was said to be that of a pedler. he had $500 in money and was buried in the creek which ran past the house. mrs. underhill admits that some of the neighbors were misled and went to digging in the creek, called ganargua, the water of which was then very low. but they speedily recognized the absurdity of this undertaking, and the girls, maggie, katie and lizzie laughed at them for their pains. the bones of an old horse were found there and nothing more. by this time the two sisters had arrived at very great proficiency in producing the raps. such a crude and easily detected means as the bobbing of apples on the floor was early discarded. often in the morning, before they dressed, and after the old folks had left their room, the sisters would stand in their bare feet on the floor and vie with each other in the laughable exercise of making the "strange" noises. it was impossible, of course, that lizzie should not know the whole truth, although being about thirteen years old at this time, she was unabled to imitate the "raps" very successfully. indeed, it is said that she was too frank and outspoken in disposition to engage long in any deception. when the children persisted in deluding their mother, partly for their amusement and partly because they were ashamed to retract what had already caused so much excitement and had drawn so much attention to themselves, lizzie used to break out indignantly: "_now, maggie, how can you say that it was done by spirits! you know yourself that it's all a story. it's a great shame to pretend such things._" many occurrences of this description i have gathered from mrs. kane. but mrs. leah underhill, in her jumbled up narrative, states that "_when the raps broke out suddenly close to some of the family, or at the table, one of the girls would accuse the other of having caused them, saying, 'now you did that, etc., etc.'_" thanks to mrs. leah underhill, such hints of the true explanation of these "manifestations" are plentiful throughout her book, and one needs only to bring some little intelligence to bear upon it to read between the lines the whole story of the fraud. and here let me quote a passage which only goes to show how very strong was the love of deviltry in the children: "father had always been a regular methodist in good standing, and was invariable in his practice of morning prayers; and _when he would be kneeling upon his chair, it would sometimes amuse the children to see him open wide his eyes as knocks would sound and vibrate on his chair itself_. he expressed it graphically to mother: 'when i am done praying that jigging stops.'" mrs. margaret fox kane distinctly remembers incidents like this one; only she qualifies the narrative by saying that her father never opened his eyes when these annoyances came while he was at prayer, but went devoutly on to the end without heeding them. how absurd for any one to suppose that if these sounds were produced by a cause unknown to the children, they would laugh at them and regard them as very great sport, instead of trembling and crying with affright! "the sounds which were heard at those times," says mrs. kane in her statement to the writer, "were all produced by katie and myself, and by no other being or spirit under the sun. nor did we always do it with our feet. frequently in that early stage of the excitement about the 'rappings,' we would make the sounds with our fingers, provided it was easy to do so without causing suspicion. in order to do it unknown to any one, we would sit with one hand hidden by an elbow resting upon the table, or the woodwork of a chair. "of course, our mother in her earnest belief, poor soul, excited us to do a great deal more than otherwise we would had done. the mystery of the sounds absorbed her entire being for the time. she became pale and worn-looking and thought that great misfortunes were to happen, and prayed often and fervently. i can well remember how my heart used to smite me at times when i looked upon her and knew that katie and i were the cause of all her trouble. in later years, long after i had come to the age of understanding, i had very bitter reasons for such pangs of remorse, especially towards the last of mother's life, when, as i know, she was in a great measure undeceived and feared for the perdition of the souls of her children." in mrs. underhill's book, (written for her by another,) there is an effort to convey the impression that john d. fox, her father, shared in the belief which she sought to establish in the spiritual origin of the "knockings." such an implication mrs. kane declares to be utterly false. he never manifested in any way a tendency toward such belief; on the contrary, he always showed by his conduct and his manner of speech, the utmost repugnance to it, and a perfect contempt for the weakness which could lead one into it. margaret fox, the mother, used to say to her husband: "now, john, don't you see that it's a wonderful thing?" "no, i don't," he would answer. "don't talk to me about it. i don't want to hear a word about it!" mrs. margaret fox kane says, further: "my father did not believe in spiritualism. the excitement which we caused annoyed him a great deal. he signed a statement which merely amounted to his declaring that he did not know how the noises originated. he was cajoled into doing this. he wanted to get rid of the importunities of those who believed, or affected to believe, in the 'rappings.'" * * * * * such is the story of the earliest "rappings" at hydesville. it is embellished by mrs. underhill with many transparent falsehoods. but still further to bolster it up, it was thought necessary to discover traditions, or to invent "hearsay" anecdotes, giving to the house in which they lived a ghostly history. there are few country houses about which the memory of the oldest neighboring inhabitant does not recall something or other remarkable and strange, which was told him by some one or other whose identity is very indefinite, in the dim, distant past. thus it is stated that odd noises had been heard in the hydesville house during several previous years by successive occupants. but it is confessed that none of those persons (whose testimony no one pretends to give) had obtained any intelligible messages from another world. mrs. kane states that all of this alleged neighborhood gossip was totally unknown to her at the time, and she believes that it had its chief--or perhaps its only--origin, in the morbid imaginations of those who were the first to set it going. chapter viii. development of the fraud. now we come to the moment when ann leah fox fish, the eldest sister, thirty-one years of age at that time, appears upon the scene of the wondrous and so-called supernatural commotion at the little rustic hamlet of hydesville. no "mediumistic" suggestions or impulses had ever come to her. not one, though she had lived twenty-three years longer in the world than the dark-eyed, fascinating little girl who produced the first mysterious sounds in her mother's home. the excitement had reached a great height, and a pamphlet was already in the press detailing the whole of the wonderful performances at hydesville, when leah first heard of them. she hastened thither at once. some idea of the profit which could be derived from awakened public interest in the matter, seems to have come to her very promptly. she found that the family had moved from the "haunted" house to that of her brother, david. she investigated the source of the "raps." mrs. kane says that one of the first things which she did upon her arrival at the house, was to take both her and katie apart and to cause them to undress and to show her the manner of producing the mysterious noises. never for a moment was the cold and calculating brain of the eldest sister a dupe to the cunning pranks of the little children. so interested was she in the matter, that she insisted upon taking back with her to rochester, at the end of a fortnight, her daughter lizzie, and katie, her sister--maggie not being inclined to go with her. and, in the interval, she practised "rapping" herself, with her toes, after the manner illustrated by the girls. she found great difficulty in producing the same effect, however, as the joints of her feet were no longer as pliable as in childhood. the effort required was also much greater, and never during her whole lifetime did she succeed in attaining to much proficiency in this method of deception. the pronounced movement, necessary in her case to cause even a faint sound to be heard, was easy to detect. "often," says mrs. kane, "when we were giving sã©ances together, i have been ashamed and mortified by the awkward manner in which she would do it. people would observe the effort she made to produce even moderate 'rappings,' and then they would look at me in suspicion and surprise. it required every bit of my skill and my best tact to prevent them from going away convinced of the imposture." on the way to rochester by canal, the "rappings," according to mrs. underhill, pursued her. the "spirits became quite bold and rapped loudly" at the dinner-table in the cabin; "and occasionally" she adds, "_one end of the table would jump up and nearly spill the water out of our glasses; but there was so much noise on the boat (going through the locks, etc.) that only we, who recognized the sounds, knew of them_." it would be easy, indeed--on this very thin reservation, to the effect that "only we, who recognized the sounds, knew of them"--to denounce the whole of this statement as the grossest falsehood. i have, however, the personal assurance of mrs. catharine fox jencken that the "rappings" were really heard, but that they were done by her with her feet. on the other hand, she declares that the joggling or lifting of the table never took place; nor did she ever hear of it till mrs. underhill's book was published. it may be observed here that the latter carefully refrains from informing us whether the passengers also failed to observe the singular disturbance of the cabin table, at which they were dining. at rochester, mrs. fish seems to have devoted herself to developing and elaborating the falsehood of spiritualism. singularly enough, to this matron, who had never before evinced the least possession of so-called "mediumistic" qualities, all sorts of grotesque and terrorizing wonders now arrived. this is a fair specimen of her narrative, relating to the period in question: "in the evening, my friend, jane little, and two or three other friends, called in to spend an hour or two with us. we sang and i played on the piano; but even then, while the lamp was burning brightly(!), i felt the deep throbbing of the dull accompaniment of the invisibles, keeping time to the music as i played; but i did not wish to have my visitors know it, and the spirits seemed kind enough not to make themselves heard (!) that others would observe what was so apparent to me." the book to which i am obliged to refer so constantly, and which is a good example of the bulk of spiritualistic literature, is full of passages ten times as absurd as this one, and having just as strongly the stamp of the crudest and most clumsy invention. for the most part, the only appropriate treatment for such absurdities is contemptuous silence. occasionally, however, i shall find it necessary, for the sake of completeness in this exposition, to meet them with positive refutation, which in reality they do not deserve. having thus got one of the clever and lively little girls under her own control, leah soon induced her mother to come to rochester with the other. nothing could show more clearly that she had already formed the resolve to reap a harvest of gain and renown from this auspicious beginning, than her decisive course, instantly upon realizing the public wonder and curiosity which the "rappings" had excited. it was absolutely necessary to delude some people who were near, and who should have been dear to her, as well as the careless and easily gullible public. the good and simple-hearted old mother would never have been a partner in conscious deception. the matter-of-fact, unspeculative father, must be brought to a point where he would at least not deny the claims of the so-called "mediums," his daughters. the honest and outspoken lizzie must be awed into discretion by the prospect of great prosperity, which was opened before them, and the lesson that if she spoke too freely they would surely be deprived of it. some stalwart and docile sympathizers must be enlisted outside of her own people who could be depended upon to stand by them as against too strenuous inquiry, or hot-tempered public assault. immediately upon margaret's arrival at the house in rochester, in which mrs. fish lived, and which adjoined a graveyard, the "manifestations" redoubled. they were produced by the combined efforts of leah, margaret and katie. mrs. underhill narrates that one night, about this time, a "spirit" walked about in their room, as if in his bare feet, when they were all supposed to be in bed. she continues: "he answered my question by stamping on the floor. i was amused--although afraid. he seemed so willing to do my bidding that i could not resist the temptation of speaking to him as he marched around my bed. i said, 'flat foot, can you dance the highland fling?' this seemed to delight him. i sang the music for him, and he danced most admirably. this shocked mother and she said: 'o, leah, how can you encourage that fiend by singing for him to dance?' i soon found that they took advantage of my familiarity, and gathered in strong force around us. and here language utterly fails to describe the incidents that occurred. loud whispering, giggling, scuffling, groaning, death-struggles, murder scenes of the most fearful character--i forbear to describe them. mother became so alarmed that she called to calvin to come up stairs. he came--angry at the spirits--and declared that 'he would conquer or die in the attempt.' this seemed to amuse them. they went to his bed, raised it up and let it down, and shook it violently. he was still determined not to yield to them. "before calvin came up stairs, and during a short lull in their performances, we quickly removed our beds to the floor, hoping thereby to prevent them from raising us up and letting us down with such violence. calvin said as he came up, that we were foolish to make our beds on the floor, as it pleased the spirits to see how completely they had conquered us. so he laid down on his bed, and quietly awaited developments. mother said, 'calvin, i wish your bed was on the floor, too. we have not been disturbed since we left the bedstead.' calvin remarked, 'they are up to some deviltry now. i hear them.' he no sooner uttered these words, than a shower of slippers came flying at him as he lay in his bed. he bore this without a murmur. the next instant he was struck violently with his cane. he seized it and struck back, right and left, with all his strength, without hitting anything; but received a palpable _bang_ in return for every thrust he made. he sprang to his feet and fought with all his might. everything thrown at him he pitched back to them, until a brass candlestick was thrown at him, cutting his lip. this quite enraged him. he pronounced a solemn malediction and throwing himself on the bed, he vowed he would have nothing more to do with 'fiendish spirits.' "he was not long permitted to remain in quiet there. they commenced at his bedstead and deliberately razed it to the floor, leaving the headboard in one place, the footboard in another, the two sides at angles, and the bedclothes scattered about the room. he was left lying on his mattress, and for a moment there was silence; after which some slight movements were heard in the 'green room.' i had stowed a large number of balls of carpet rags in an old chest standing on the floor, with two trunks and several other articles on the top of it. it seemed but the work of a moment for them to get at the carpet balls, which came flying at us in every direction, hitting us in the same place every time. they took us for their target, and threw with the skill of an archer. darkness made no difference with them, and if either of us attempted to remonstrate against such violence, they would instantly give _the remonstrant_ the benefit of a ball." mrs. kane remembers with tolerable distinctness the antics that distinguished this sojourn of her mother, herself and her sisters in the rochester house. she and katie did indulge in wild larks in the sleeping rooms of the family at all hours of the night. the "whispering" and "giggling," the "scuffling" and "groaning," and the tragic mimicry were natural to childish daredevils like themselves, and one can well understand how, with the attendant "rappings," the showers of slippers hurled from the "green room," the shaking of calvin's bed and the "banging" of him on the head, these things may have made the desired impression upon both him and the mother. mrs. kane says that this is the true and only explanation of it all, and that in comparatively recent years, at sã©ances in adelphi hall, new york, she has done the most audacious things, similar in character to these, under cover of semi-darkness, and has not been detected, simply because nearly all of those who were present were believers and were not too curious. there is another "evidence" given by ann leah which is too pitiably ridiculous to be considered, except as a subject of laughter. "often at meal-time," she says, "the table would be gradually agitated, and calvin in particular, [alas, poor calvin!] would be more disturbed than the rest of us. once he arose from his chair and reached across the table for a heavy pitcher of water, when _the chair was instantly removed and he sat down on the floor, spilling the water all over himself_!" mrs. kane's sole comment upon this is: "of course, we slily did it, as we did many other hoydenish tricks. "we also used to twitch mother's cap off and gently jerk the comb out of her hair, just to tease her. leah says that these things were done by the spirits! how silly to address such a puerile pretense to any one gifted with common sense!" as a companion picture to what has gone before, let the reader also engrave this "miraculous" scene upon the retina of his imagination: "we had stored our winter provisions in the cellar. among them were several barrels of apples, potatoes, turnips, etc. from this cellar came the apples, potatoes and turnips flying across our room, hitting all in precisely the same place every time. it will now be remembered that these articles were in the cellar under the ground floor, and had to come from the rear of the cellar, through the door, into the kitchen, up the stairs, into the pantry on the second floor, through the pantry into the dining room, up the second flight of stairs, into the large room in which we slept, hitting us as we lay in our beds near the front window. * * * "a cabinet shop was the next thing represented by the spirits. they seemed to be possessed of all kinds of tools to work with. after sawing off boards they would let them fall heavily on the floor, jarring everything around them. then, after planing, jointing, driving nails, and screwing down the lid of a coffin, they would shove the hollow sounding article about the room. (this we understood at a later day.) often to our utter amazement, pickets from the discarded lots in the cemetery came flying through the room over our heads, on our beds, like debris in a tornado. they came from the extreme west side of the burying-ground, through _that_ lot, and the distance of about two hundred feet through _our_ lot; an entire distance of about four hundred feet. that they came by no visible means, we knew; as no human power could have thrown them through the air into our chamber window, hitting us in our beds, in the same place every time." in july, 1848, leah, her sisters and mother, revisited the hydesville house, which was then unoccupied. david, the brother, had fallen by this time into the plans of leah, whether a dupe or an accomplice, margaret, even at this day, is unable to say. to him was due the very first suggestion that the so-called spirits might communicate with the living by means of the alphabet. and since then, this has been the chief stay of spiritualism, literally the a b c of all its so-called science. it is a singular commentary upon the consistency of the "spirits," or the good faith of those who professed to interpret their messages, that the code of communication at first employed in their circles was entirely different in the meaning of the simple signals used from the one which finally was adopted. would the "spirits," think you, who are divorced from the trammels of this world, have been guilty of this simple error and have been obliged to correct it afterward, had they not been impostors? the object of mrs. fish in going back to hydesville is quite apparent. there was yet an unworked mine of wonder and superstition, out of which the dust of dross might be thrown into the eyes of the credulous, as the pure gold of revelation. in the first place, it was necessary to get from the so-called invisible intelligence an injunction to seek for proofs of the foul murder which it had been said had been committed in the house where the "rappings" were originally heard. mind you, months had then elapsed since the digging had been first done in the cellar and the ganargua creek near by, and david s., who was now wholly in sympathy with leah in her view of the future importance of the new superstition, had lived in the neighborhood ever since, while nobody had remained in the "haunted" house to be cognizant of what might have taken place there in the mean time. by the new code system of obtaining answers to queries, a mandate to dig up the cellar and to search for something or other there was obtained, and obeyed, the work lasting two or three days. it is stated by leah that some fragments of an earthen bowl, a few bones, some teeth and some bunches of hair were found. she says that doctors pronounced the bones to be human. of course, the names of these doctors are nowhere to be found in her volume, nor does any one, unwarped by prejudice, really believe more than a very small part of this story. that there was digging is certain. that there had been plenty of time to hide anything that david fox had desired to hide in the cellar, is certain. yet mrs. kane remembered absolutely nothing about anything having been found in the cellar that bore the slightest semblance to any portion of the human frame. if any bones (perchance, like those found in the creek, the skeleton of a horse) were uncovered, she denies positively that any doctor ever gave the opinion that they were the remains of a man. she pronounces equally false, the statement of leah that about the time the digging was abandoned, on account of the angry interference of a mob, the spades of the diggers struck upon a hollow-sounding, wooden substance, which might or might not have been a box of ill-gotten plunder, or the rough sepulchre of the slain pedler. the indignation of the neighbors of the foxes in arcadia was not so much due to the fact that the latter persisted in pretending to communicate with ghosts and uncanny elfs, as it was to the totally unwarranted suspicion which had been cast through the early "rappings" upon a man named bell, who had formerly lived in the house, which it was now pretended was haunted. this, as well as other evidence of the public feeling at that time, was cleverly employed for her own benefit by leah, who easily foresaw how anything that might bear the semblance of religious persecution would promote her cause, false though it was, by bringing to it both greater notoriety and widespread sympathy. there is no doubt, too, that if there had not been a very strong vein of superstition in the fox family, the first "rappings" would never have produced the deep impression that they did on the mother and her son david. many strange stories, which had been handed down from a grandfather or a great-grandfather, a great uncle or a great aunt, were told at the fireside with such embellishment as will inevitably come from recital and repetition to a wonder-delighting audience. there were traditions of prophecies fulfilled and of dumb cattle behaving queerly, all of which mrs. underhill has very carefully set down and magnified in her own peculiar manner to her own unholy purpose. chapter ix. the mercenary campaign. the public campaign of spiritualism was now begun. a sufficient hubbub had been made over it to induce attention from all sorts and conditions of people. the mother and her daughters went again to rochester, and there placed themselves in the hands of the first of many "committees of friends" who were used as tools or confederates, according to their character, to "humbug" the public more completely. the character and functions of these committees may be judged from the following, which is found in leah's book: "the names of this committee were isaac post, r. d. jones, edward jones, john kedzie and andrew clackner. _they were faithful friends, who never permitted any one to visit us unattended by themselves or some reliable person._" the so-called spirits soon urged in laborious communications that it was needful to make their demonstrations more public, and that an "investigation" of the "rappings," ought therefore to be made by some well-known men. the "spirits" were even so kind as to spell out by means of the tentative alphabet, the names of those whom they wished to have appointed to perform this part. the desire for advertisement, indeed, was not likely to cause the rejection of the name of any available person, whose prominence would increase the public interest in the movement. we are not astonished, then, to find that frederick douglass was one of those present at this earliest farce of investigation. it was the forerunner of many others which were like unto it, and gradually, in their stations in various cities, the "fox sisters" drew to their sã©ances nearly all of the conspicuous persons of the time, who regarded the effects exhibited to them in as many different lights as their minds and characters were different. naturally enough, after this compliance with their desires, the "spirits" directed that a public exhibition should be given. the largest hall in rochester was hired for the purpose. and here the infamy of bringing forward two little girls to do the work of base and vulgar charlatanism, appears in all its revolting character. the eldest of the children was then but nine years old. had she been dressed in accordance with her tender age, it would have taken only very slight observation to detect the secret of the "rappings." those persons now living, who were present at this and at other public exhibitions of spiritualism at that time, will easily remember that margaret and catherine fox appeared on a platform in long gowns, as if they had been full-grown women. the dresses were expressly prepared by order of mrs. ann leah fox fish, the evil genius of these unfortunate victims. without these robes nothing whatever could have been done in the way of "spirit rappings," under the matter-of-fact scrutiny of the public. to carry out the delusion to the utmost, every detail touching these earliest exhibitions was directed through "spirit rappings," even to the insertion of grandiloquent notices in the newspapers. in all of the "investigations" of the "rappings," at this or at any other time, the attentive student will find somewhere a loop-hole of escape from observation, an unguarded avenue of detection. in some of the principal sã©ances, described at great length by leah, the conditions favorable to fraud and illusion were so very obvious that they ought to have excited derision in the veriest child. the following passage in the report of a so-called investigation, is pointed to by professional spiritualists as one of the best "evidences" of the genuineness of spiritualism: "one of the committee placed one of his hands on the feet of the ladies and the other on the floor, and though the feet were not moved, there was a distinct jar of the floor." here, then, there were three operators and one investigator. the latter puts his hand on the feet of the ladies. how many feet, pray you? there were six feet on the platform, as we know, all of which had been carefully educated in the production of "raps." could one man's hand cover them all? and if it could not, does not this pretended "evidence" fall at once to the ground? all of the recitals made by spiritualistic writers concerning the doings of the "fox sisters," contain this element of vagueness, the lack of precision and completeness, which to persons unaccustomed to analysis may possibly appear plausible enough, but to the experienced inquirer is merely a more certain proof of weakness and prevarication. volumes might be written to meet the statements advanced in every case, and to show how clumsily misleading they are. it is not worth while at this late day, and in that direction, to do more than i have already accomplished in this chapter. indeed, the actual demonstration of the fact that the far-famed "rappings" are produced in the manner described at the beginning of this work, should be quite sufficient to all logical minds, to condemn every claim that the professional mediums have advanced as being the agents of any supernatural manifestations. the good old latin maxim never applied with greater force than it does here: _falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus_. the operations of the eldest sister all tended to the one end: fame and money. in rochester, fees for the first time were accepted by "mediums," and shortly afterward a tariff of prices for admission to the sã©ances and the "private circles" was adopted and made public. no jugglers ever drove a more prosperous business than did the "fox family" for a number of years, when once fairly launched upon that sea of popular wonder, which somebody has said is supplied by the inherent fondness of mankind for being humbugged. mrs. fish had actually the project of founding a new religion, and she tried hard to convince her younger sisters and her own child that there were really such things as spiritual communications, notwithstanding that all of those that were produced in their sã©ances they knew to be perfectly false. she asserted that even before maggie and katie were born she had received messages warning her that they were destined to do great things. "in all of our sã©ances, while we were under her charge," says mrs. kane, "we knew just when to rap 'yes' and when to rap 'no' by signals that she gave us, and which were unknown to any one but ourselves. of course, we were too young, then, to have been successful very long in deluding people, had it not been for an arrangement such as this. "her own daughter, lizzie, had no manner of patience with her transparent pretence. "'ma,' she would exclaim, when leah attempted to impress her with a belief in some of the frauds which she perpetrated, 'how can you ever pretend that that is done by the spirits? i am ashamed to know even that you do such things--it's dreadfully wicked.'" some day it will be known that one other person beside lizzie, who afterwards occupied a filial relation to this woman, detested even more strongly the atmosphere of hypocrisy and deceit with which the latter surrounded herself, and hated, too, the rankling obligation under which an unkind fate had placed her. it is not so wonderful that men of learning and originality were drawn to the mysterious sã©ances of the fox girls, when it is considered that they became a sort of fashionable "fad," as the receptions of mesmer did in the last century in paris. there were great opportunities there for studying human nature, and the period was one of a notable awakening of scientific and transcendental speculation. such men as greeley, bancroft, fenimore cooper, bryant, n. p. willis, dr. francis, john bigelow, ripley, dr. griswold, dr. eliphalet nott, theodore parker, william m. thackeray, james freeman clarke, thomas m. foote and bayard taylor, and women of the intellectual strength of alice cary and harriet beecher stowe became deeply interested. but nearly all of these lost their interest in spiritualism in time, for they became morally, if not positively convinced, that the effects produced were the mere result of fraud. there was another attraction, however, in those early days. the younger "mediums" were both very pretty and very young. sympathy and commiseration, as much as aught else, often drew visitors to them, and caused such visitors to continue their friends. thus, we find that horace greeley and dr. elisha kent kane became important factors in the lives of both of these interesting creatures, the former educating katie, and the latter striving to form maggie's mind and to reform her character with the express object of making her his wife. mrs. kane, in commenting upon the life which she led at that time, says: "when i look back, i can only say in defense of my depraved calling, that i took not the slightest pleasure in it. the novelty and the excitement that had half intoxicated me as a child were fast being dissipated. the true conception of this infamous thing soon dawned upon me. the awakening was full of anguish--the anguish of hope, as well as the anguish of grief. i then first knew dr. kane, and with that acquaintance entered the new light into my life." chapter x. spiritualistic boomerangs. in nearly all of the so-called investigations of the "rappings" produced by the "fox sisters," there was an absolute absence of genuine scientific inquiry. only once in this critical stage of their career, did they submit to experiment and examination by doctors of unquestioned repute and learning. the result of this investigation has been held up by professional spiritualists as a triumphant proof that the source of "rappings" was beyond any mortal finding out. the fact is that the doctors hit upon the right principle at the inception of the inquiry, but were misled into a wrong application of it, an error which the "mediums," of course, encouraged up to a certain point, so that they might gain prestige afterwards by refuting it. following out this policy, mrs. underhill has incorporated in her book the testimony of the doctors, heedless of the law of destiny, that truth must prevail finally. i propose to take this same statement of the doctors, based as it is upon an erroneous assumption and a correct theory, and show how strongly it sustains and plainly corroborates the explanation of the "rappings" now given by mrs. kane and mrs. jencken. the gentlemen who made this notable investigation are usually spoken of as the "buffalo doctors." they were members of the faculty of the university of buffalo. austin flint, who afterward held the highest medical rank in the metropolis, was the most prominent of the three. the other two were drs. charles a. lee and c. b. coventry. the theory that they advanced was that the mysterious noises were produced by some one of the articulations of the body. their assumption was that it was the great joint of the knee which produced them. had they worked upon their theory alone, and left all assumption aside, until actual evidence had led up to them; or, even had they investigated other joints of the lower limbs, besides that of the knee, they must have inevitably arrived at the correct conclusion. unfortunately, however, the idea which so beset them as to render their labor abortive, arose from the actual existence in buffalo of a woman whose knee-joints could be snapped audibly at will. the closeness of the scrutiny applied by these gentlemen displeased the eldest "medium," and her resentment finds characteristic expression in her volume, printed thirty-seven years after the occurrence. she declares that she found dr. lee to be "a wily, deceitful man." if anything can circumvent cunning, it is certainly cunning itself, and in this sense, it is entirely laudable when exerted in a proper cause. there is no doubt that strategy had to be used to induce this woman, conscious of her falsity, and schooled in subterfuges and evasions, to submit to a coldly scientific test. the challenge, however, came under such circumstances, public suspicion being so whetted by the fact that a woman had been discovered whose knee-joints possessed the peculiar quality of making sound, that it could not well be avoided, without it becoming generally known that the declination was a tacit confession of fraud. the doctors published very promptly the result of their preliminary examination, which was made without any special faculties being afforded them. they said: "curiosity having led us to visit the rooms at the phelps house, in which two females from rochester, mrs. fish and miss fox, profess to exhibit striking manifestations from the spirit world, by means of which communion may be had with deceased friends, etc.; and having arrived at a physiological explanation of the phenomena, the correctness of which has been demonstrated in an instance which has since fallen under our observation, we have felt that a public statement is called for, which may, perhaps, serve to prevent a further waste of time, money and credulity (to say nothing of sentiment and philosophy) in connection with this so long successful imposition. "the explanation is reached almost by a logical necessity, on the application of a method of reasoning much resorted to in the diagnosis of diseases, namely, _the reasoning by exclusion_. "it was reached by this method prior to the demonstration which has subsequently occurred. "it is to be assumed, first, that the manifestations are not to be regarded as spiritual, provided they can be physically or physiologically accounted for. immaterial agencies are not to be invoked until material agencies fail. we are thus to _exclude_ spiritual causation in this stage of the investigation. "next, it is taken for granted that the 'rappings' are not produced by artificial contrivances about the persons of the females, which may be concealed by the dress. this hypothesis is excluded because it is understood that the females have been repeatedly and carefully examined by lady committees. "it is obvious that the 'rappings' are not caused by machinery attached to tables, doors, etc., for they are heard in different rooms, and in different parts of the same room in which the females are present, _but always near the spot where the females are stationed_. this mechanical hypothesis is then to be excluded. so much for the negative evidence, and now for what positively relates to the subject. "_on carefully observing the countenances of the two females it is evident that they involve an effort of the will. they evidently attempted to conceal any indications of voluntary effort, but did not succeed. a voluntary effort was manifested, and it was plain that it could not be continued very long without fatigue._ assuming, then, this _positive fact_, the inquiry arises, how can the will be exerted to produce sounds ('rappings') without obvious movements of the body? the voluntary muscles themselves are the only organs, save those which belong to the mind itself, over which volition can exercise any direct control. but contractions of the muscles do not, in the muscles themselves, occasion obvious sounds. the muscles, therefore, to develop audible vibrations, must act upon parts with which they are connected. now, it was sufficiently clear that the 'rappings' were not _vocal_ sounds; these could not be produced without movements of the respiratory muscles, which would at once lead to detection. hence, excluding vocal sounds, _the only possible source of the noises in question, produced as we have seen that they must be, by voluntary muscular contraction, is in one or more of the movable articulations of the skeleton_, from the anatomical construction of the voluntary muscles. this explanation remains as _the only alternative_. "by an analysis prosecuted in this manner we arrive at the conviction that the 'rappings,' assuming that they are not spiritual, _are produced by the action of the will, through voluntary action on the joints_. "various facts may be cited to show that the motion of the joints, under certain circumstances, is adequate to produce the phenomena of the 'rappings.' * * * by a curious coincidence, after arriving at the above conclusion respecting the source of the sounds, _an instance has fallen under our observation, which demonstrates the fact that noises precisely identical with the spiritual 'rappings' may be produced in the knee-joints_." the doctors then describe how the sounds may be produced in certain subjects by the partial dislocation of the knee joint; and they add: "the visible vibrations of articles in the room, situated near the operator, occur if the limb, or any portion of the body, is _in contact with them_ at the time the sounds are produced. _the force of the semi-dislocation of the bone is sufficient to occasion distinct jarring of the doors, tables, etc., if in contact._ the intensity of the sound may be varied in proportion to the force of the muscular contractions, and this will render the apparent source of the 'rappings' more or less distinct." i have italicized the portions of these extracts which apply in a measure to the action of the toe-joints, as well as to that of the knee. no especial comment upon them is needed. the reader may easily comprehend the relation of these peculiar facts. knowing, from this brief of their supposed case, exactly what she had to apprehend from them, and anxious to prove triumphantly that she and her sisters did not make the "rappings" with their knees, mrs. fish rushed into print, and challenged the doctors to a more public investigation, to be made by three men and three women, the latter of whom were to disrobe the "mediums," if they so desired. the doctors, of course, accepted. in her account of this scene, mrs. fish speaks of herself and her sister maggie as "two young creatures thus baited as it were by cruel enemies." it should be remembered at this point that her age at that time was about thirty-four years, whilst that of maggie was only eleven! so much for the disingenuousness of the narrator. she herself says that during the test, maggie and she sat on a sofa together a long time and no raps came. the watch was too close. then a zealous and indiscreet friend rapped on the back of her chair, and to shield herself from seeming complicity, she rebuked him with great ostentation. how kindly she felt toward fraud, however, is shown by the excuses which she makes for his conduct. "it was certainly a severe and cruel ordeal for us," she goes on, "as we sat there under that accusation, surrounded by all these men, authorities, some of them persecutors, _while the raps, usually so ready and familiar, would not come to our relief. some few and faint ones did indeed come--some nine or ten. the doctors say in their account that it was while they intermitted the holding of our feet_. such was not my _impression_, but _i_ attach _small importance_ to that." there were several sittings of the investigators in company with the "mediums," and mrs. underhill asserts that at times plentiful "rappings" were heard, both when their feet and knees were held and when they were not held. and then she introduces this weak and transparent piece of hypocrisy so familiar to those who have ever had to do with so-called "mediums": "we are now familiar with the fact that spirits often refuse to act in the presence of those who bring to the occasion, not a candid and fair spirit of inquiry for the satisfaction of an honest skepticism, but a bitter and offensive bigotry of prejudice and invincible hostility, which does not really seek, but rather repels the truth, and but little deserves the favor of its exhibition to them by the spirits." the further report of the doctors contained these points: "_the two females were seated upon two chairs placed near together, their heels resting on cushions, their lower limbs extended, with the toes elevated and the feet separated from each other._ the object of this experiment was to secure a position in which the ligaments of the knee-joint should be made tense, and no opportunity offered to make a pressure with the foot. _we were pretty well satisfied that the displacement of the bones requisite for the sounds could not be effected, unless a fulcrum were obtained by resting one foot upon the other, or on some resisting body. the company waited half an hour, but no sounds were heard in this position._ "the position of the _younger_ sister was then changed to a sitting posture, with the lower limbs extended on the sofa, _the elder sister sitting in the customary way_, at the other extremity of the sofa. the 'spirits' did not choose to signify their presence under these circumstances, although repeatedly requested to do so. the latter experiment went to confirm the belief that the _younger sister alone_ produced the 'rappings.' these experiments were continued until the females themselves admitted that it was useless to continue any longer at that time, with any expectation of manifestations being made. "_in resuming the usual position on the sofa, the feet resting on the floor, the knockings soon began to be heard._" then the doctors held the knees of the fair performers to ascertain if there was any movement when the sounds were heard: "the hands were kept in apposition for several minutes at a time, and the experiments repeated frequently, for the space of half an hour and more, with negative results; that is to say, _there were plenty of 'raps' when the knees were not held, and none when the hands were applied, save once; as the pressure was intentionally relaxed (dr. lee being the holder) two or three faint single 'raps' were heard, and dr. lee immediately averred that the motion of the bone was plainly perceptible to him. the experiment of seizing the knees as quickly as possible, when the knockings first commenced, was tried several times, but always with the effect of putting an immediate quietus upon the demonstrations_." no sensible person can doubt that the statements of facts within their actual knowledge, made by these three eminent physicians, are absolutely true. they say finally: "_had our experiments, which were first directed to this joint failed, we should have proceeded to interrogate, experimentally, other articulations. but the conclusions seemed clear that the 'rochester knockings' emanate from the knee-joint._" what a pity they did _not_ "interrogate" other articulations! the report, erroneous as it was in its conclusions, contained so much significant truth that mrs. fish was at first staggered by its purport. but in march, 1851, she wrote again to the press a lengthy letter, in which she feebly attempted to counteract the effect of the doctor's opinion, and incidentally made some grave admissions. referring to the fact that whenever the "mediums" were kept in constrained positions there were no "manifestations," she made this remarkable admission: "_it is true that when our feet were placed on cushions stuffed with shavings, and resting on our heels, there were no sounds heard, and that sounds were heard when our feet were resting on the floor_; and it is just as true that if our friendly spirits retired when they witnessed such harsh proceedings on the part of our persecutors, it was not in our power to detain them." then she remarks that certain things happened _after the medical gentlemen left_: "our feet were held from the floor by dr. gray and mr. clark, in presence of the whole committee, on the evening of the investigation made by the medical gentlemen (after they left); and the sounds were distinctly heard, which was allowed by the committee to be a far more satisfactory test, as they could distinctly hear the sounds under the feet, and feel the floor _jar_ while our feet were held nearly or quite a foot from the floor." about this time, a suspicion that the "raps" were made by use of the toes, first found expression, but it never seems to have been followed up to the point of verification. indeed, the secret seems to have been kept absolutely for forty years, and was only revealed by the lips of mrs. margaret fox kane. i cannot refrain from quoting in this place an incident from the record of the common enemy, which further illustrates the imbecile audacity with which they parade their abominable fraud before the eyes of sensible persons. at a sã©ance, in which wonderous things were done under a table, around which the company including mrs. fish and one of her sisters were closely seated, one, mr. stringham, apparently a doubter, asked: "may i leave the table while the others remain, that i may look and see the bells ringing?" the "spirits" answered: "what do you think we require you to sit close to the table for?" and the veracious writer adds: "_when spirits make these physical demonstrations, they are compelled to assume shapes that human eyes must not look upon._" ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! i should be guilty of an historical omission did i not also notice a somewhat formal investigation made by a committee of harvard professors and others, appointed to satisfy the exigencies of a newspaper controversy in boston in 1857, and which mrs. ann leah fox brown and miss catherine fox attended. the results were wholly unsatisfactory and inconclusive from a scientific standpoint, though the moral effect of this outcome was strongly against the spiritualists, who were, of course, bound to prove their positive side of the case, and failed ignominiously to do so. the committee consisted of professors agassiz, pierce and horsford, mr. george lunt, editor of the boston _courier_, dr. a. b. gould, mr. allen putnam, dr. h. f. gardner and mr. g. w. rains. the last three were pronounced spiritualists. professor agassiz, who in particular had studied mesmerism and so-called clairvoyance most carefully, and who believed to some extent in the former, declared with emphasis that there was an easy physiological explanation of all the effects that the "fox sisters," or any other "rappers," produced. the raps caused by the "fox sisters" on this occasion were but feeble and uncertain. when other "mediums" were under examination, the close watch kept upon them by the learned investigators seemed greatly to disconcert them and prevented the possibility of any pronounced "manifestations" taking place. the _courier_ had issued a challenge offering five hundred dollars to any one who would "communicate a single word imparted to the 'spirits,'" by its editor "in an adjoining room," who would "read a single word in english, written inside a book or sheet of paper folded in such a manner as we may suggest; who would answer with the aid of all the higher intelligences he or she can invoke from the other world, _three questions_ * * *;" and it added: "and we will not require dr. gardiner or the 'mediums' to risk a single cent on the experiment. if one or all of them can do one of these things, the five hundred dollars shall be paid on the spot. if they fail, they shall pay nothing; not even the expense incident to trying the experiment." the committee made a report which declared that nothing had been done which entitled any one to receive the sum offered by the _courier_. therefore no award was made. a library might be written containing only accounts of private investigations of "spiritual phenomena" by able and scientific observers, all of which conduced to but one verdict, that every pretense of spiritualism is a fraud. i deem it more appropriate, however, and entirely adequate to my purpose, to restrict my citations from such inquiries to those which had an absolutely undeniable official or authoritative character. chapter xi. the supreme audacity of fraud. the multitude of forms that a certain kind of deception, when once it obtains a foothold in the public mind, will assume, is often wonderful. spiritualism has resorted to all the trickery that for ages has been used to delude and delight the populace. much of it could be traced back to the very first mountebanks who wandered about the streets of the ancient cities, or squatted at the gates of palaces or in market-places to catch the frequent obolus from the curious passer-by. in every country under the sun, the trade of deception has been turned to the account of religious superstition. the hindus, in particular, excel in this branch of necromancy. the marvelous things that aaron and the egyptian sorcerers did before pharaoh, are really as nothing compared with what the modern jugglers of india and china perform. all of the developments of the art that have taken place in the west, seem but trivial imitation beside these, and indeed they are little better. no sooner had spiritualism made many proselytes, than there was no limit to its audacious pretensions. its apostles imagined that they could go on duping the world and even hoodwinking the scientists, and that by appealing to the federal government for a formal investigation of its claims, which they could not have believed for a moment would be granted, they could obtain a sort of quasi-official recognition of their so-called new religion. accordingly, on the 17th of april, 1854, a petition was sent to congress, bearing fifteen thousand names, and was presented in executive session by senator shields of illinois. as a rather skillful contemporaneous characterization of the matter, what he said on this occasion is of historical interest. the following were his words: i beg leave to present to the senate a petition, with some fifteen thousand names appended to it, upon a very singular and novel subject. the petitioners declare that certain physical and mental phenomena of mysterious import, have become so prevalent in this country and europe, as to engross a large share of public attention. a partial analysis of these phenomena attest the existence, first, of an occult force which is exhibited in sliding, raising, arresting, holding, suspending, and otherwise disturbing ponderable bodies, apparently in direct opposition to the acknowledged laws of matter, and transcending the accredited power of the human mind. secondly, lights of different degrees of intensity appear in dark rooms, where chemical action or phosphorescent illumination cannot be developed, and where there are no means of generating electricity, or of producing combustion. thirdly, a variety of sounds, frequent in occurrence, and diversified in character, and of singular significance and importance, consisting of mysterious rapping, indicating the presence of invisible intelligence. sounds are often heard like those produced by the prosecution of mechanical operations, like the hoarse murmer of the winds and waves, mingled with the harsh creaking of the masts and rigging of a ship laboring in a sea. concussions also occur, resembling distant thunder, producing oscillatory movements of surrounding objects, and a tremulous motion of the premises upon which these phenomena occur. harmonious sounds, as those of human voices, and other sounds resembling those of the fife, drum, trumpet, etc., have been produced without any visible agency. fourthly, all the functions of the human body and mind are influenced in what appear to be certain abnormal states of the system, by causes not yet adequately understood or accounted for. the occult force, or invisible power, frequently interrupts the normal operations of the faculties, suspending sensation and voluntary motion of the body to a death-like coldness and rigidity, and diseases hitherto considered incurable, have been entirely eradicated by this mysterious agency. the petitioners proceed to state that two opinions prevail with respect to the origin of these phenomena. one ascribes them to the power and intelligence of departed spirits operating upon the elements which pervade all natural forms. the other rejects this conclusion, and contends that all these results may be accounted for in a rational and satisfactory manner. the memorialists, while thus disagreeing as to the cause, concur in the opinion as to the occurrence of the alleged phenomena; and in view of their origin, nature and bearing upon the interests of mankind, demand for them a patient, rigid, scientific investigation, and request the appointment of a scientific commission for that purpose. i have now given a faithful synopsis of this petition, which, however unprecedented in itself, has been prepared with singular ability, presenting the subject with great delicacy and moderation. i make it a rule to present any petition to the senate, which is respectful in its terms; but having discharged this duty, i may be permitted to say that the prevalence of this delusion at this age of the world, among any considerable portion of our citizens, must originate, in my opinion, in a defective system of education, or in a partial derangement of the mental faculties, produced by a diseased condition of the physical organization. i cannot, therefore, believe that it prevails to the extent indicated in this petition. different ages of the world have had their peculiar delusions. alchemy occupied the attention of eminent men for several centuries; but there was something sublime in alchemy. the philosopher's stone, or the transmutation of base metals into gold, the _elixir vitã¦_, or 'water of life' which would preserve youth and beauty, and prevent old age, decay and death, were blessings which poor humanity ardently desired, and which alchemy sought to discover by perseverance and piety, roger bacon, one of the greatests alchemists and greatest men of the thirteenth century, while searching for the philosopher's stone, discovered the telescope, burning glasses, and gunpowder. the prosecution of that delusion led, therefore, to a number of useful discoveries. in the sixteenth century flourished cornelius agrippa, alchemist, astrologer, and magician, one of the greatest professors of hermetic philosophy that ever lived. he had all the spirits of the air and demons of the earth under his command. paulus jovious says that the devil, in the shape of a large black dog, attended agrippa wherever he went. thomas nash says, at the request of lord surrey, erasmus, and other learned men, agrippa called up from the grave, several of the great philosophers of antiquity, among others, sully, whom he caused to deliver his celebrated oration for roscius, to please the emperor, charles iv. he summoned david and king solomon from the tomb, and the emperor conversed with them long upon the science of government. this was a glorious exhibition of spiritual power, compared with the insignificant manifestations of the present day. i will pass over the celebrated paracelsus, for the purpose of making allusion to an englishman, with whose veracious history every one ought to make himself acquainted. in the sixteenth century, dr. dee made such progress in the talismanic mysteries, that he acquired ample power to hold familiar conversation with spirits and angels, and to learn from them all the secrets of the universe. on the occasion, the angel uriel gave him a black crystal of a convex form, which he had only to gaze upon intently, and by a strange effort of the will, he could summon any spirit he wished, to reveal to him the secrets of futurity. dee, in his veracious diary, says that one day while he was sitting with alburtus laski, a polish nobleman, there seemed to come out of the oratory a spiritual creature, like a pretty girl of seven or nine years of age, with her hair rolled up before and hanging down behind, with a gown of silk, of changeable red and green, and with a train. she seemed to play up and down, and to go in and out behind the books, and as she seemed to get between them, the books displaced themselves and made way for her. this i call a spiritual manifestation of the most interesting and fascinating kind. even the books felt the fascinating influence of this spiritual creature; for they displaced themselves and made way for her. edward kelly, an irishman, who was present, and who witnessed this beautiful apparition, verifies the doctor's statement; therefore it would be unreasonable to doubt a story so well attested, particularly when the witness was an irishman. dr. d. was the distinguished favorite of kings and queens, a proof that spiritual science was in high repute in the good old age of queen elizabeth. but of all the professors of occult science, hermetic philosophy or spiritualism, the rosicrucians were the most exalted and refined. with them the possession of the philosopher's stone was to be the means of health and happiness, an instrument by which man could command the services of superior beings, control the elements, defy the abstractions of time and space, and acquire the most intimate knowledge of all the secrets of the universe. these were objects worth struggling for. the refined rosicrucians were utterly disgusted with the coarse, gross, sensual spirits who had been in communication with man previous to their day; so they decreed the annihilation of them all, and substituted in their stead, a race of mild, beautiful and beneficent beings. the "spirits" of the olden time were a malignant race, and took especial delight in doing mischief; but the new generation is mild and benignant. these "spirits," as this petition attests, indulge in the most innocent amusements and harmless recreations, such as sliding, raising and tipping tables, producing pleasing sounds and variegated sights, and sometimes curing diseases which were previously considered incurable; and for the existence of this simple and benignant race our petitioners are indebted to the brethren of the rosy cross. among the modern professors of spiritualism, cagliostro was the most justly celebrated. in paris, his saloons were thronged with the rich and noble. to old ladies he sold immortality, and to the young ones he sold beauty that would endure for centuries, and his charming countess gained immense wealth, by granting attendant sylphs to such ladies as were rich enough to pay for their services. the "biographies des contemporains," a work which our present mediums ought to consult with care, says there was hardly a fine lady in paris who would not sup with the shade of lucretius in the apartments of cagliostro. there was not a military officer who would not discuss the art with alexander, hannibal or cã¦sar, or an advocate or counselor who would not argue legal points with the ghost of cicero. these were spiritual manifestations worth paying for, and all our degenerate "mediums" would have to hide their diminished heads in the presence of cagliostro. it would be a curious inquiry to follow this occult science through all its phases of mineral magnetism, animal mesmerism, etc., until we reach the present, latest and slowest phase of all spiritual manifestation; but i have said enough to show the truth of burk's beautiful aphorism, "the credulity of dupes is as inexhaustible as the invention of knaves." a writer of that time says: "a pleasant debate followed. mr. petit proposed to refer the petition of the spiritualists to three thousand clergymen. mr. weller proposed to refer it to the committee on foreign relations, as it might be necessary to inquire whether or not when americans leave this world they lose their citizenship. mr. mason proposed that it should be left to the committee on military affairs. general shields himself said he had thought of proposing to refer the petition to the committee on post offices and post roads, because there may be a possibility of establishing a spiritual telegraph between the material and spiritual worlds. the petition was finally, by a decisive vote, laid upon the table. the table did not, as we learn, tip in indignation at this summary disposal of spiritualism in the senate, by which we must infer that the 'spirits,' if there were any in the senate at that time, endorsed its action and considered the same all right." i might here enter into a description of the various forms of modern spiritualistic representations. it would be a waste of time. i wish, however, to allude more particularly just here to one of the "evidences" which mrs. ann leah underhill apparently values most highly in connection with the claim of inherent and hereditary "mediumistic" powers residing in certain individuals and families. this is the somewhat noted so-called exhibition of "mediumistic" ability by a child of mrs. kate fox jencken, a babe, only about six weeks old at the time that it began. it is needless to go into all the details of the wonders attributed to little "ferdie" jencken, now a fine lad of fifteen, which rest wholly upon the testimony of persons who were interested in magnifying them to the greatest extent. shadowy forms are said to have appeared to his nurse while she was watching him. at three months he was said to have articulated "mamma!" but the cap of the climax is the feat he is said to have performed when not six months old. as he was restless one day, his mother gave him a piece of blotting paper and a pencil to play with. he made some marks on the paper and dropped it. when his mother picked it up she exclaimed to mrs. underhill, the only other person present: "see here, he was written something." it is pretended that on one side of the blotting paper was the message: "grandma is here. "boysie." later and up to the close of his first year, he was said to write other messages, but all under like circumstances. mrs. underhill lays great stress upon these "manifestations" in two portions of her work. the simple and only comment to be made upon them is, that mrs. catherine fox jencken now declares that they were fraudulent. the messages were in every case written upon the paper before it was placed in the baby's hands, the mother knowing, of course, that a child a few months old would not retain anything very long in its grasp, that those who chanced to be present would not observe, unless previously warned, whether it was wholly blank or not, and that the picking up of the paper from the floor would give ample opportunity to turn undermost the side on which the child may have really scratched some unmeaning marks. so much for that and kindred marvels of infant "mediumship." "ferdie" jencken, so far as is known, has never, since that early period of his existence, exhibited any "mediumistic power." the character of the communications purporting to come from the "spirit-land" has always been such as to condemn them, even if nothing else would, in the mind of any one gifted with a clear judgment. how many have read with a bitter sneer those pretended words from "the great ones of the earth," which would place them, if they had really written or uttered them in the unseen life, on a mere level with the emptiest-headed mortals whom we know in this! "alas!" exclaims nathaniel hawthorne in "the blythedale romance," "methinks we have fallen on an evil age! if these phenomena have not humbug at the bottom, so much the worse for us. what can they indicate in a spiritual way, except that the soul of man is descending to a lower point that it has ever reached while incarnate? we are pursuing a downward course in the eternal march, and thus bring ourselves into the same range with beings whom death--in requital of their gross and evil lives--has degraded below humanity. to hold intercourse with spirits of this order, we must stoop and grovel in some elements more vile than earthly dust. these goblins, if they exist at all, are but the shadows of past mortality--mere refuse stuff, adjudged unworthy of the eternal world, and as the most favorable supposition, dwindling gradually into nothingness. the less we have to say to them, the better, lest we share their fate." chapter xii. a scientific jury. at one period of her strange career, mrs. kane entered the service of mr. henry seybert, the famous and wealthy spiritualist of philadelphia, who proposed to found what he called a "spiritual mansion." mrs. kane's salary and appointments were liberal, and her situation was one which would have met the fondest wishes of many noted and ambitious "mediums." she was the high priestess of this new temple of the unseen entities, and as such she was honored and treated with most exalted respect. the conditions of the "spiritual mansion" were in all respects favorable to the intercourse of dwellers in the flesh with those who inhabit the realm of shadows, if such there had been. the taking up of her abode in this singular institution was one of her earliest steps, after the throwing off of her deep weeds of mourning, worn in memory of the untimely termination of her dream of happiness. it was then that she found that the professional life of a "medium" was the only refuge left her from the cruel pursuit of poverty and want. but her stay in the "spiritual mansion" was short. she had thought that the quiet existence afforded her there would be preferable to the daily and distasteful practice of public "mediumship," which she must have resorted to at once, had she not accepted the proposition of mr. seybert. but the hypocrisy unconsciously required of her by him, while of a more fantastic description, was altogether too much for her to endure. her intense hatred of her profession as a "medium" appeared in a strong light to those who were then in her confidence. mrs. kane, at the "spiritual mansion," not only produced pretended messages from the departed friends of her patron, but also from nearly every martyr and saint in the protestant calendar, and from the famous sages and rulers of old. but her imposture stopped short of actual sacrilege. beyond that line she never has gone. when it came to transmitting messages demanded by the living of the apostles and fathers of the church, she revolted against this mania for the supernatural and the impossible, and she refused to continue longer the instrument of pure religious insanity. she declined to produce "spirit rappings," as emanating from st. paul, st. peter, elijah and the angel gabriel. it has often been said that henry seybert had an undoubted vein of madness in his brain. mrs. kane herself so declares. i believe the same is true of every person (not a knave at heart) who persistently, after reason and conscientious research have demonstrated the truth of the charges against spiritualism, still refuses to be convinced. there was, however, a method in the madness of seybert. mrs. kane has always been most careful not to make any positive asseveration of the claims of spiritualism. her guarded and, in some measure, candid course, no doubt tended very far towards influencing him to desire an honest and thorough investigation of the so-called spiritualistic phenomena, to be conducted according to the most rigid scientific methods. in his will, he left provision for the founding of a chair of philosophy in the university of pennsylvania, with the careful stipulation that a certain portion of the income to be derived from the foundation should be devoted to the investigation of "all systems of morals, religion or philosophy which assume to represent the truth; and particularly of modern spiritualism." thus this legacy gave birth to the celebrated "seybert commission," whose labors have resulted in the most valuable exposã©, prior to this present publication, of the fraudulent methods of spiritualism--"the tricks of the trade," as it were--which has ever been made. even the investigation of the remarkable "rappings," produced by mrs. kane, in which the commission engaged--while less successful than any other branch of their researches--went so far as fully to convince them that these alleged manifestations were entirely fraudulent, and that they were produced by physical action on the part of the "medium," probably by or in the vicinity of her feet. this they were unable to prove, however, by any use of their five senses, which they were permitted to make. mrs. kane gave them no such chance of examination, on this occasion, as had been vouchsafed to the buffalo doctors some thirty-six years before, almost with the result of throttling spiritualism in its infancy. no; she was much too clever for that. she would greatly have preferred, to being ignominiously found out, to make a public and unreserved confession. the fact is that no other scientific committee ever enjoyed the facilities of close observation of the production of the "raps" which were accorded to the "buffalo doctors," and that, up to this final day, when mrs. kane herself tells the truth, there has been not one single positive exposure of the primitive fraud of the "toe-knockings." conjectures, it is true, have groped in that direction, time and again--but they never have done more than to grope. the members of the "seybert commission" were extremely eager to obtain sittings with mrs. kane, and were successful at an early stage of their studies in doing so. mr. horace howard furness of philadelphia was acting chairman of the commission a good part of the time, and as such he wrote to mrs. kane in the following very urgent manner: "222 west washington square. "dear mrs. kane: "i wrote to you some ten days ago, but, since i have not heard from you, fear that my letter has miscarried, and will therefore repeat it. "i am anxious, very anxious, that the 'seybert commission,' of which i am the chairman, should have an opportunity of investigating the 'rappings.' will you, therefore, appoint some day and hour, at your earliest convenience, when i can visit you in new york and make arrangements with you personally? "i sincerely trust that your summer has been healthful and peaceful, and beg to subscribe myself "yours respectfully, "horace howard furness. "22nd october, 1884." mrs. kane became the guest of mr. furness at his house, and there produced the "rappings" at two sã©ances which were full of important significance. the first was on the 5th of november, 1884, in the evening. the company consisted of dr. william pepper and his wife, dr. joseph leidy, dr. george a. koeing, prof. robert ellis thompson, mr. horace howard furness, mr. george s. fullerton, mr. coleman sellers, all, excepting the lady, members of the commission, and mr. george s. pepper, miss logan, and the "medium." all seated themselves around an open dining-table, mrs. kane at one end and mr. sellers at the other. the report of the commission says: "the medium sat with her feet partly under the table, and consequently concealed from most of those present--her feet were hidden also by her dress." after the usual preliminaries of an introduction to denizens of the "spirit land," the soul of henry seybert was announced. he declared through the "medium" that he knew the names of the members of the commission, and particularly of the one who was addressing him. mr. sellers, who happened to be this person, requested the spirit to spell his name by the aid of a written alphabet, each letter of which was pointed to in turn, the letter intended by the "spirit" being indicated by three "raps." the result was that the name spelled out was the following: "charles ceri!" without commenting upon this blunder of the "spirit," the commission encouraged mrs. kane to proceed. she took a station at some distance from the table, her hands resting upon the back of a chair, and "raps" were heard which seemed to come from a point very near or under her. again, when she stood close to a bookcase, "raps" were produced which she declared to proceed from the glass door upon which mr. sellers rested his hand. the latter felt not the slightest vibration of the glass. mrs. kane then produced written messages, addressed to two persons present, whose names she might have ascertained with very great ease. the writing was an irregular scrawl, running from the left, and leaning backward, and could only be read from the observe side by holding the paper up to the light. the second sã©ance in which mrs. kane acted as "medium" took place at the same place on the 6th of november, 1884. dr. leidy, mr. furness, dr. koeing, mr. fullerton and mr. sellers, members of the commission, mr. george s. pepper, mrs. kane and a stenographer were present. the experiments of this evening were more lengthy and exhaustive than those of the previous one. for convenience of narration i shall divide them into two series: those made while the "medium" either stood upon the floor or sat upon an ordinary seat in an ordinary position; those in which she was separated from the floor, either by glass or by some object of considerable height, upon which she stood; and those in which she produced writing upon ordinary paper, said to have been dictated by the "spirits." the experiments did not always take place in the consecutive order in which i shall note them. the report says: "the 'spirit rappings' during the evening, aside from those heard during the test with glass tumblers, were apparently confined to the floor space in the immediate vicinity of and directly beneath the table around which the company were seated." the stenographic report of this part of the investigation proceeds as follows: "mr. sellers. is any spirit present now? "three raps--faint and partly distinct--are almost instantly audible. the raps apparently emanate from the floor-space directly beneath, or in the immediate vicinity of the table. this remark is applicable to all the 'rappings' during the sã©ance at the pine table. "the 'medium' (interpreting the sounds). that was 'yes.' "mr. sellers (aside). they sounded like three. "the raps are immediately repeated with more distinctness. "mr. sellers (aside). there are three, and they are quite distinct. is the spirit the same that was present last night? "three raps, apparently identical with those last heard, are again audible. "mr. sellers (aside). it says it is the same spirit. i presume then, that it is henry seybert? (no response.) is it henry seybert? "three raps--distinct and positive. "mr. sellers. you promised last evening to give a communication to mr. pepper. are you able to communicate with him now? "two raps--comparitively feeble. "the 'medium' (interpreting). one, two: that means not now. "mr. sellers (repeating). not now? "the 'medium' (reflectively). but probably before he leaves. "three raps--quickly, distinctly and instantly given. "the 'medium.' he said 'yes, before he leaves.' (to mr. sellers.) you asked that question, i think? "mr. sellers. yes. will you communicate with him before mr. pepper leaves to-night? "three raps--instantaneous, quick and vigorous." afterwards, the experiment of standing near a table, the "medium" not touching it, to see if sounds similar to those of the previous evening could be produced, was repeated. the "medium" insisted, however, that there should be no breaking of the circle formed about her by those who were present. "all of the gentlemen, and the 'medium,'" says the report, "rise and remain standing. * * * "the 'medium.' this is test, something i have not gone through since i was a little child, almost. "mr. sellers (after an interval of waiting). there seem to be no raps. (another short interval.) now mr. seybert, cannot you produce some raps? "eighty seconds here elapse with no response, when the 'medium' made an observation which was partly inaudible at the reporter's seat, the purport of which was that the 'spirit communications' are sometimes retarded or facilitated by a compliance by the listeners with certain conditions. another interval of probably two minutes elapsed, when the 'medium' suggested to dr. leidy to place his hands upon the table. the suggestion was complied with. "mr. sellers inquires of the 'medium' whether a change in her position, with regard to the table, would do any good. "'medium.' i will change positions with you. "the change was made accordingly, but without result, and another period of waiting followed. "the 'medium' (to dr. leidy). suppose you ask some questions. you may have some friend who will respond. "dr. leidy. is any spirit present whom i know, or who knows me? "after a pause of ten seconds, three light raps are heard. "dr. leidy. who am i? "the 'medium' explains that the responses by rappings are mainly indicative only of affirmation or negation. "dr. leidy. will you repeat your taps to indicate that you are present yet? "three taps are heard. "mr. sellers. those are very clearly heard. "the 'medium' (to dr. leidy). ask if that is mr. seybert. "dr. leidy. is mr. seybert present? "three raps--very feeble. "dr. leidy (to mr. sellers). was there an answer to that? "mr. sellers. there was. the answer was three raps. (after an interval, in which no response is received.) there seem to be no further communications." later in the evening efforts to engage the defunct mr. seybert in conversation were again made. the company were as before gathered about the table. "raps" were made by mrs. kane on the floor. the "spirit" was asked if he knew the members of the commission present, and to state their number. when it came to the response to the latter part of the question there were "seven slow, deliberate and distinct raps." alas! the "spirit" had mistaken the guest of the commission, mr. george s. pepper, and the stenographers for members! the latter were seated at a separate table. "mr. sellers. are there seven members of the committee present? "three raps. "mr. sellers. are they all seated around one table? "no response. about forty seconds elapse. "mr. sellers. are they seated at two tables? "three raps--quite feeble. "mr. sellers (to his associates). we still must go back to the one thing. the information we receive through these responses is of little importance to us compared with the information which we must obtain as to whether these sounds are produced by a disembodied spirit or by some living person; that is, in deference to the 'medium.' (to mr. furness.) do you not think so? "mr. furness is understood to assent. "mr. sellers. we have tried the glass tumblers. we have the sounds here. i would ask mrs. kane if it is proper for us to look below the top of the table at the time the sounds are being produced, and in such a way as to see her feet. "the 'medium.' yes, of course, you could do that, but it is not well to break, when you are standing, suddenly. as you know, you have to conform to the rules, else you will get no rappings. "mr. sellers. what are the rules? "the 'medium' (disconnectedly.) the rules are--every test condition, that i am perfectly willing to go through, and have gone through a thousand times--at the same time, there are times when you can break the rules. so slight a thing as the disjoining of hands may break the rules. i do not think the standing on the glass has been fully tried. "mr. sellers. we will try that later. "mr. furness (to the 'medium,' informally). this investigation is one of great importance to us. there is no question about it--we have heard these curious sounds. now as to whether they come from 'spirits' or not--that would seem to be the very next logical step in our inquiry. i think you are entirely at one with us in every possible desire to have this phenomenon investigated. "the 'medium.' oh, certainly. but i pledge myself to conform to nothing, for--as i said in europe--_i do not even say the sounds are from 'spirits_;' and, what is more, it is utterly beyond human power to detect them. _i do not say they are the spirits of our departed friends, but i leave others to judge for themselves._ "mr. furness. then you have come to the conclusion that they are entirely independent of yourself. "the 'medium.' no, _i do not know that they are entirely independent of myself_. "mr. furness. under what conditions can you influence them? "the response, which was partly inaudible at the reporter's seat, was understood to be: 'i cannot tell.' "mr. furness. you say that in the generality of cases they are beyond your control? "the 'medium.' yes. "mr. furness. how in the world shall we test that? "the 'medium.' well, by-"mr. furness. by--what? isolating you from the table? "the 'medium.' yes. "mr. furness (applying his right hand, by her permission, to the 'medium's' head). are you ever conscious of any vibration in your bones? "the 'medium.' no; but sometimes it causes an exhaustion, that is, under circumstances when the raps do not come freely. "mr. furness. the freer the raps come, the better for you? "the 'medium.' yes, the freer the better--the less exhaustion. "mr. sellers. but do you feel now, to-night, any untoward influence operating against you? "the 'medium.' no, not to-night, for it takes quite a little while before we feel these things. "mr. furness. do these raps always have that vibratory sound--tr-rut--tr-rut--tr-rut? "the 'medium.' sometimes they vary. "mr. furness. as a general rule i have heard them sound so. "the 'medium.' every rap has a different sound. for instance, when the 'spirit' of mr. seybert rapped, if the sound was a good one, you would have noticed that his rap was different from that of another. every one is entirely different from another. "mr. furness. do you suppose that the present conditions are such that you can throw the raps to a part of the room other than that in which you are? "the 'medium.' i do not pretend to do that, but i will try to do it. "mr. furness and dr. leidy station themselves in the corner of the room, diagonally, and most remote from the pine table, at which their associates remain seated, with their hands upon the table, and 'their minds intent on having the raps produced at the corner indicated,' as requested by the 'medium,' who also remains at the table. the 'medium' asks, '_will the "spirit" rap at the other side of the room?_' and, after twelve seconds, and again after forty-three seconds, repeats the inquiry. _no response is received._ the experiment is repeated with mr. furness and dr. koenig at the corner, but with a like negative result." let us now turn to the experiments made while the "medium" was not in a position in which her feet could touch the floor. the report says: "mr. sellers made this inquiry: "'it is proposed that the "medium" shall stand upon tumblers. are we likely to have any demonstration?' "three raps--promptly given, though feeble in delivery and but faintly audible. "the 'medium.' there were three--a kind of tardy assent. "mr. sellers (to the 'medium'). as if the 'spirits' might or might not communicate? "the 'medium.' well, that a trial might be made. "three raps are here again distinctly heard--the characteristics of the sounds in this instance being rapidity and energy, or positiveness. "the 'medium.' that is a quick answer. "at this point, attention is directed to the first of a series of experiments with four glass tumblers, which are placed together, with the bottoms upward, on the carpeted floor, in the center of a vacant space. the 'medium' stands directly upon these, the heels of her shoes resting upon the rear tumblers and the soles upon the front tumblers. the committee co-operate with the 'medium,' and, in conformity with her suggestions, all the men clasp hands and form a semi-circle in front of the 'medium,' the hands of the latter being grasped by the gentlemen nearest to her on either side. "mr. sellers (after a notification from the medium to proceed). is mr. seybert still present? "no response. "the 'medium.' it may be a few minutes before you will hear any rapping through these glasses. "ten seconds elapse. "the 'medium.' this test is a very satisfactory one, if they do it. and they have done it a hundred times. "five seconds elapse. "the 'medium' (to mr. furness). the glasses are not placed over the marble, are they? "mr. furness. no, the floor is of wood. "mr. sellers (after another interval of waiting) informally remarked to mr. furness: 'we will wait probably for another minute to see if anything comes. as you know, the 'medium' claims that it is impossible for her to control these things--that she is merely one who is operated through.' "another interval expires. "the 'medium.' that was a very faint rap. suppose we change the position of the glasses. "note by the stenographer. no intimation is given that the rap here spoken of was heard by any one other than the 'medium' herself. pursuant to the request just stated, the carpet is removed and the glass tumblers are located on the bare floor at a point about five feet distant from the place at which the test was first tried. the new location is in the center of a passage-way, about three feet in width, between a side-board on one side, and a wall projection on the other. its selection is apparently, though not specifically, dictated by the position and movements of the 'medium.' the 'medium' and the committee resume their positions, the former standing on the glasses and the gentlemen facing her in a group. "the 'medium.' now, spirits, will you rap on the floor? "thirty seconds here elapsed with no response, when one glass was heard to click against the other, and the 'medium' exclaimed 'oh!' "the 'medium' (repeating). will you rap on the floor? "thirty seconds now elapse without any demonstration. "the 'medium' (aside). it seems to be a failure. they have done it. "another click of the glasses which passes without comment. "mr. sellers. we will have to set down the result of the experiment on glass tumblers as negative. it may be well to try it later. "the 'medium' (evidently reluctant to abandon the test). suppose now, as we have gone so far, we kind of form a chain. "the company retained their positions with hands joined, and the 'spirits' were repeatedly requested to make their presence known. mr. pepper, at the suggestion of the 'medium,' asking the 'spirit' of his friend, henry seybert, to manifest its presence by one rap--but all efforts to elicit such response proved ineffectual. "when the same experiments were resumed, the lady proceeded to the space _between the side-board and the wall_, where the last preceding test had been made, and there the tumblers were again arranged. the 'medium' resumed her position upon them, with drs. leidy and koeing, and messrs. sellers and furness facing her. "the 'medium.' will the spirit rap here? "twenty-three seconds elapse. "dr. leidy. is any 'spirit' present. "an interval of thirty-nine seconds here followed, when the attention of the committee was momentarily diverted by an inquiry addressed to mr. furness by mr. sellers, viz.: whether a glass plate of sufficient strength to bear the weight of the 'medium' was procurable. at this moment the 'medium' suddenly exclaimed: 'i hear a rap. you said, "get a glass," and there was a rap.' "the 'medium' (repeating for the information of mr. furness). somebody proposed a glass and there were three raps. "dr. koenig inquires of the 'medium' whether the meaning intended to be conveyed by the sounds is that the 'spirits' desire to have the glass plate produced. "the 'medium.' i do not know. i know there were raps. (turning to mr. sellers, the 'medium' adds:) they may have been made by your heel on the floor, but certainly there were sounds. "mr. fullerton. then it was not the regular triple rap? "the 'medium.' i could not tell. "just before calling attention to the alleged rap or raps, the 'medium' grasped with her right hand the wood-work of the side-board, as if for support. it was then that she stated she heard the sounds. they were apparently not heard by any one but the 'medium.' "mr. sellers (addressing the 'spirit'). will you repeat the raps we heard just now, assuming that there were some? "ten minutes elapse without a response. "the 'medium.' there is no use of my standing any longer, for when they come at all, they come right away. "mr. sellers (after scrutinizing the position of one of the feet of the 'medium'). the edge of the heel of the shoe rests on the back tumbler. (assuming a stooping posture for a more prolonged scrutiny.) we will see whether the raps will be produced now. "the 'medium' now proposes that all the members of the committee shall stand up and join hands. "mr. sellers and his associates accordingly stand, facing the 'medium,' with hands joined. changes in their positions were made by some of the gentlemen from time to time, as suggested by the 'medium,' mr. pepper and dr. koenig being the first to exchange places. this occurred after a silence of thirty seconds, without any response. "the 'medium.' now, mr. seybert, if your 'spirit' is here, will you have the kindness--i knew mr. seybert well in life--to rap? "fifteen seconds elapse. "the 'medium.' no, he does not seem to respond. "at the suggestion of mr. sellers, all of the gentlemen approach the 'medium' for the purpose of inducing some acknowledgment by the 'spirit,' and inquiries similar to those already stated are repeated without result. "the commission temporarily abandon the test. when the tumblers are again produced the 'medium' takes her position upon them, with mr. fullerton standing next to her upon the right and mr. furness to the left. mr. sellers remains for some moments kneeling on the floor to enable himself better to hear any sounds that may be but faintly audible. the 'spirits' are repeatedly importuned by the 'medium' to produce the 'rappings,' but no response is heard until the company is about to abandon the experiment. three raps are then audible. the raps are very light, but very distinct. "mr. fullerton states that he heard the raps. "mr. sellers. i heard a sound then, but it seemed as if it was around there. (indicating the wall immediately in the rear of the 'medium.') "the tumblers are here moved further away from the wall, and the 'medium' resumes her position upon them. "mr. sellers. will the 'spirit' rap again? (no response.) "the 'medium.' were any of you gentlemen acquainted with mr. seybert in his lifetime? "mr. fullerton. i saw him several times before his death. if he can give an intimation now of anything he said at that time, it will indicate that he remembers it. "a very faint rap is heard. "the 'medium.' there is a rap. it seems to be there again. (indicating the spot to which attention was previously called by mr. sellers.) "the 'medium' again importunes, first, 'mr. seybert,' and next the 'spirits,' to rap; and the importunities are repeated. three raps are distinctly, but faintly heard. "mr. sellers. i heard them. they sounded somewhat like the others, not exactly. "the 'medium.' i heard one rap, but it is nothing for me to hear them; i want you gentlemen to hear them. "mr. sellers. probably we will hear them again. "while mr. sellers and mr. furness are conversing, several raps are heard, though less distinct than the preceding ones. "the 'medium.' there they are, as though right under the glass. (after a silence of forty seconds) now i hear them again, very light--oh, very light. "mr. furness, with the permission of the 'medium,' _places his hand upon one of her feet_. "the 'medium.' there are raps now, strong--yes, i hear them. "mr. furness (to the 'medium'). this is the most wonderful thing of all, mrs. kane; _i distinctly feel them in your foot_. there is not a particle of motion in your foot, but there is an unusual pulsation. "mr. sellers here made some inquiries of the 'medium,' concerning the shoes now worn by her. the replies, which were not direct, are here given. "mr. sellers. are those the shoes which you usually wear? "the 'medium.' i wear all kinds of shoes. "mr. sellers. are the sounds produced in your room when you have no shoes on? "the 'medium.' more or less. they are produced under all circumstances. "following the suggestion of the 'medium,' all present proceed through an intervening apartment to the library, where the 'medium' selects various positions--standing upon a lounge, then upon a cushioned chair, next upon a step-ladder, and finally upon the side of a book-case--but all with a like unsuccessful result, no response by 'rappings' being heard. "in the midst of the experiments at the table mrs. kane exclaimed to mr. sellers: well, my hand does feel like writing. will you give me a piece of paper? and, maybe they will give me some directions. "mr. fullerton (to the 'medium'). how does your hand feel when affected in that way? "the 'medium.' it is a peculiar feeling, like that from taking hold of electrical instruments. i do not know but that you might possibly feel it in my hand. "the lady here extended her right hand upon the table toward mr. fullerton. the latter placed his left hand upon the extended hand of the 'medium,' and subsequently remarked that the pulsation of her wrist was a little above the ordinary rate. "the 'medium,' ostensibly under 'spirit' influence, with lead-pencil in hand, proceeded to write two communications from the 'spirit' of the late henry seybert. the first of these covered two pages of paper of the size of ordinary foolscap. the 'medium' wrote in large characters, with remarkable rapidity, and in a direction from the right to the left, or the reverse of ordinary handwriting. the writing, consequently, could be read only from the reverse side of the paper, and by being held up so as to permit the gaslight to shine through it. "the communications, as deciphered by mr. sellers, with the aid of mr. fullerton and the 'medium,' were as follows: "you must not expect that i can satisfy you beyond all doubt in so short a time as you have yet had. i want to give you all in my power, and will do so if you will give me a chance. you must commence right in the first place or you shall all be disappointed for a much longer time. _princiipis obsta sereo medicina paratum._ "henry seybert. "mend the fault in time or we will all be puzzled. "henry seybert." the fault in the latin of the above quotation attracted the attention of the commission. mr. george s. pepper, who had been well acquainted with mr. seybert in his lifetime, declared that he had never known any latin at all! * * * * * the investigations of the "seybert commission" in other directions than that of the "rappings," were far more fascinating and productive of results. it would be impossible to give an adequate idea of them here. the commission employed the most celebrated "mediums" within their reach, and paid them liberally to place them in communication with the "spirit world." they saw (and they show in their report that they did see) the secret of every "wonderful" thing done by the "mediums," and found it in most instances exceedingly simple, and generally rather clumsily performed. professional jugglers constantly outdo professional "mediums." this, the latter cannot deny, and they seek--oh, monumental impudence!--to make people believe that jugglers are nothing more nor less than "mediums," and that "mediums" are never in any sense jugglers! thus the notorious slade: "mr. sellers. do you know a man named kellar, who is exhibiting in this city? "dr. slade. i do not. i never knew him. "mr. sellers. you may, however, be able to explain to me a very remarkable slate writing experiment which kellar has performed. (mr. sellers here describes at length mr. kellar's trick with the fastened slates.) how did mr. kellar do that? "dr. slade. he is a 'medium.' _he does that work precisely as i do it._ "mr. sellers. but can he not do it by trickery? "dr. slade. no, it is impossible. he is a 'medium' and a powerful 'medium.'" this is from a memorandum of mr. sellers. he says further: "the inquiry was then addressed to mr. slade: do you know a man named guernilla, who, with his wife, gave sã©ances? "mr. slade. yes, i know him very well. "mr. sellers. well, how does he perform his wonderful exploits in 'rappings,' etc.? "mr. slade. he is a 'medium,' a powerful 'medium.' i know him very well indeed. i can assure you that all he does is done solely by means of his mediumistic powers. "i now state to the committee that the guernillas exhibited in philadelphia some years ago as exposers of spiritualism. they did not expose it, but they performed experiments which, prior to that time, were said to have been accomplished by the aid of 'spirits.' guernilla himself, at my house, in my presence, in broad daylight, performed all the feats and exhibited the phenomena that were produced at the dark and other sã©ances, and he repeated them until i myself became as expert as he in performing them; for which i paid him a consideration. so much for the mediumistic power." mr. sellers explained with reference to mr. kellar: "i pause here for the express purpose of having the fact noted that, being thoroughly familiar with the details of the methods of those experiments, i can positively assure the committee that there is no mediumistic power in mr. kellar, so far as his methods are concerned, that those methods are as easy of solution as are any other physical problems." chapter xiii. the unalterable verdict. the "seybert commission"[3] examined every known form of spiritualistic manifestation to which they had access, and implicitly under conditions imposed by the "mediums" themselves. these conditions are everything that could be devised and plausibly used to prevent the hoped-for dupe from detecting the fraud that is practised upon him. the commission put the indelible stamp of fraud upon all so-called spiritualistic manifestations. of the "spiritual rappings" they say: "to the subject of 'spirit-rappings' we have devoted some time and attention, but our investigations have not been sufficiently extensive to warrant us at present in offering any positive conclusions. the difficulty attending the investigation of this mode of spiritualistic manifestation is increased by the fact, familiar to physiologists, that sounds of varying intensity may be produced in almost any portion of the human body by voluntary muscular action. to determine the exact location of this muscular activity is at times a matter of delicacy. "what we can say thus far, with assurance, is that, in the cases which have come under our observation, the theory of the purely physiological origin of the sounds has been sustained by the fact that the 'mediums' were invariably, and confessedly, cognizant of the 'rappings' whenever they occurred, and could at once detect any spurious 'rappings,' however exact and indistinguishable to all other ears might be the imitation." mrs. kane has expressed amusement over the manner in which she eluded the inquisitions of the grave and conscientious commission and left them puzzled over the "rappings." even then, however, she cared so little for the preservation of the secret, that when she declined to be further examined by the commission, she admitted to mr. furness that the gentlemen had ample ground for looking upon the manifestations which she had given as unsatisfactory. mr. furness says: "i told her that the commission had now had two sã©ances with her, and that _the conclusion to which they had come is that the so-called raps are confined wholly to her person_, whether produced by her voluntarily or involuntarily they had not attempted to decide; furthermore, that although thus satisfied in their own minds they were anxious to treat her with all possible deference and consideration, and accordingly had desired me to say to her that if she thought another sã©ance with her would or might modify or reverse their conclusion, they held themselves ready to meet her again this evening and renew the investigation of the manifestations; at the same time i felt it my duty to add that in that case the examination would necessarily be of the most searching description. "mrs. kane replied that the manifestations at both sã©ances had been of an unsatisfactory nature, so unsatisfactory that _she could not really blame the commission for arriving at their conclusion_. in her present state of health she _really_ doubted whether a third meeting would prove any better than the two already held. it might even be more unsatisfactory, and instead of removing the present belief of the commission it might add confirmation of it. in view of these considerations, she decided not to hold another sã©ance." * * * * * mrs. kane declares that with her muscles and the joints of her toes so educated by long practice, and her ability to produce the noise of "raps" with no perceptible movement, she could have gone on deceiving the world indefinitely without being detected. she explains that the making of the "raps," when she is stationed on glass tumblers, requires a far greater effort than when her feet are in contact with the carpet or floor. the shock must in that case be conveyed through a comparatively non-conducting substance. for this reason, when the floor was especially hard or thick and lacking in sonorousness, she sometimes failed in the expected effect. in every instance, it was most difficult to produce the "raps" under those circumstances. * * * * * the verdict, however, is now complete. spiritualism is guilty. the court of mankind so declares it. iv. repentance. chapter xiv. the heart pleads for the soul. the most interesting feature, after all, of margaret fox's career, was perhaps that sad and abortive romance of which dr. elisha kent kane, the gallant arctic explorer, was the hero. this history should be known to the reader in order that the exact aspect of spiritualism to her developed conscience in after years may be understood. dr. kane first saw maggie fox in the autumn of 1852, when she was staying with her mother at a hotel in philadelphia, being then engaged in "spiritualistic manifestations." dr. kane, whose heart had never before been touched, at once succumbed to the sweet charm of this erratic child, and conceived the romantic idea of removing her from the life she then was leading, educating her and marrying her. the project, when it became known, awakened the bitter hostility of his friends, and from this hostility, the unfortunate separation between them which it caused, and dr. kane's untimely death, all of the sorrow that afterwards engulfed her life and deprived her of the ambition for a nobler career, directly sprang. margaret was but thirteen years old when dr. kane first saw her. a friendly hand[4] has thus traced her portrait: "her beauty was of that delicate kind which grows on the heart, rather than captivates the sense at a glance; she possessed in a high degree that retiring modesty which shuns rather than seeks admiration. the position in which she was placed imposed on her unusual reserve and self-control, and an ordinary observer might not have seen in her aught to make a sudden impression. but there was more than beauty in the charm about her discerned by the penetrating eyes of her new acquaintance. the winning grace of her modest demeanor, and the native refinement apparent in every look and movement, word and tone, were evidences of a nature enriched with all the qualities that dignify and adorn womanhood; of a soul far above her present calling, and those who surrounded her. to appreciate her real superiority, her age and the circumstances must be considered. she was yet a little child--untutored, except in the elements of instruction to be gained in country district schools, when it was discovered that she possessed a mysterious power,[5] for which no science or theory could account. this brought her at once into notoriety and gathered around her those who had a fancy for the supernatural, and who loved to excite the wonder of strangers. most little girls would have been spoiled by that kind of attention. the endurance of it without having her head turned, argued rare delicacy, simplicity and firmness of character. after exhibitions given in different cities, to find herself an object of public attention, and of flattering notice from persons of distinction, would naturally please the vanity of a beautiful young girl; and it would not be surprising if a degree of self-conceit were engendered. but margaret was not vain, and could not be made self-conceited. if she had any consciousness of her exquisite loveliness,--if it pleased her to possess pretty dresses and ornaments--her delight was that of a happy child taking pleasure in beautiful things, without reference to any effect they might enable her to produce. perhaps no young girl ever lived more free from the least idea of coquetry or conquest. she heeded not the expressions of admiration that reached her ear so frequently. she had seen enough of the world at this time to be aware of the advantages of a superior education, and it was the most ardent wish of her heart to make herself a well-educated woman." margaret showed a disposition to devote herself with great industry to the acquirement of knowledge. in fact, at her first meeting with dr. kane, he found her conning over a french exercise in an interval of the public receptions which were given by herself and her mother. dr. kane easily enlisted her thoughts in a better and higher career. the deception which was required of her already appeared in something of its true light to her young mind, and she was restless under its abhorrent shackles. dr. kane's interest in her was certainly pure and elevated, and it led him to gloomy apprehensions of the fate of so fair, yet so misguided, a creature. he wrote in verse a prophecy that she would "live and die forlorn." there have been many times when the latter part of this warning seemed most likely to come true; and that, doubtless, would have been her fate had she not found in a final renunciation of her past, a solace to her heart for the lack of that falsely won prosperity which had been hers during but brief intervals. dr. kane was but an indifferent versifier; but some of the trifles in rhyme which he addressed to margaret may well illustrate certain facts that i shall state at length hereafter. one day, he sent her "thoughts that ought to be those of maggie fox," the first refrain of which is as follows: "dreary, dreary, dreary, passes life away, dreary, dreary, dreary, the day glides on, and _weary is my hypocrisy_." at the close of the second stanza were these lines: "happy as the hopes which filled my trusting heart, before i knew a sinful wish or learned a _sinful art_." again: "so long this secret have i kept i can't forswear it now. it festers in my bosom, it cankers in my heart, _thrice cursed is the slave fast chained to a deceitful art_!" and last: "then the maiden knelt and prayed: 'father, my anguish see; oh, give me but one trusting hope whose heart will shelter me; one trusting love to share my griefs, to snatch me from a life forlorn; that i may never, never, never, thus endlessly from night to morn, say that _my life is dreary with its hypocrisy_!'" among the first words that dr. kane spoke to margaret were these: "this is no life for you, my child." as their reciprocal attraction grew stronger, he bent all of his deep influence over her in one direction, to effect once and for all her release from the fatal snare of deceit that fate had cast about her. only a few weeks later we find him writing her a note from new york, in which he says: "look at the _herald_ of this morning. there is an account of a suicide which causes some excitement. your sister's[6] name is mentioned in the inquest of the coroner. oh, how much i wish that you would quit _this life of dreary sameness and unsuspected deceit_. we live in this world only for the good and noble. how crushing it must be to occupy with them a position of ambiguous respect!" dr. kane, a short time afterwards, described maggie as follows: "but it is that strange mixture of child and woman, of simplicity and cunning, of passionate impulse and extreme self-control, that has made you a curious study. maggie, you are very pretty, very childlike, very deceitful, but to me as readable as my grandmother's bible." "and again he said: 'when i think of you, dear darling, _wasting your time and youth and conscience for a few paltry dollars_, and think of the crowds who come nightly to hear of the wild stories of the frigid north, i sometimes feel that we are not so far removed after all. my brain and your body are each the sources of attraction, and i confess that there is not so much difference.'" never for an instant did the manly and robust intellect of dr. kane stoop to the level of even a partial belief in the pretended wonders of "spiritualism." the allusions made to it in his letters, when not grave or indignant, are full of a certain contemptuous playfulness, well calculated to reprove the conscious deceitfulness practised by the childish maggie, while not offending the natural pride which was yet apart of her imperfectly formed character. when the doctor was in boston, he wrote to her sister katie: "well, now for talk. boston is a funny place, and 'the spirits' have friends here. you would be surprised if i told you what i have heard. * * * there are some things that i have seen which i think would pain you. maggie would only laugh at them; but with me it gave cause for sadness. i saw a young man with a fine forehead and expressive face, but a countenance deeply tinged with melancholy, seize the hand of this 'medium,' whose name--as i never tell other's secrets--i cannot tell you. he begged her to answer a question which i could not hear. instantly she rapped, and his face assumed a positive agony; the rapping continued; his pain increased; i leaned forward, feeling an utter detestation for the woman who could inflict such torment; but it was too late. a single rap came and he fell senseless in a fit. this i saw with my own eyes. "now, katie, although you and maggie have never gone so far as this, yet circumstances must occur where you have to lacerate the feelings of other people. i know that you have a tender heart; but practice in anything hardens us. you do things now which you would never have dreamed of doing years ago; and there will come a time when you will be worse than leah; a hardened woman, gathering around you _the victims of a delusion_. * * * the older you grow the more difficult it will be to liberate yourself from this thing. and can you look forward to a life unblessed by the affections, unsoothed by the consciousness of doing right! * * * _when your mother leaves this scene, can you and * * * maggie be content to live that life of constant deceit?_" to maggie, dr. kane wrote from the sincerest depths of his heart, recalling the first moment when he saw her, "a little priestess, cunning in the mysteries of her temple, and weak in everything but the power with which she played her part. a sentiment almost of pity stole over his wordly heart as he saw through the disguise." and again: "waddy[7] called on me to-day, as did tallmadge;[8] i was kind to both for your sake. waddy talked much about you. he said that he feared for you, and spoke long and well upon the dangers and temptations of your present life. i said little to him other than my convictions of your own and your sister's excellent character and '_pure simplicity_;' for thus, mag, i always talk of you. and it pained me to find that others viewed your life as i did, and regarded you as occupying an ambiguous position. depend upon it, maggie, no right-minded gentleman--whether he be believer or sceptic--can regard your present life with approval. let this, dear sweet, make you think over the offer of the one friend who would stretch out an arm to save you. think wisely, dear darling, ere it be too late. * * * "maggie, you cannot tell the sadness that comes over me when i think of you. what will become of you? you, the one being that i regard even before myself! * * * "if you really can make up your mind to abjure the spirits, to study and improve your mental and moral nature, it may be that a career of brightness will be open to you; and upon this chance, slender as it is, i offer, like a true friend, to guard and educate you. but, mag, clouds, and darkness rest upon the execution of your good resolves; and i sometimes doubt whether you have the firmness of mind to carry them through." the author of "the love-life of dr. kane," says of this period: "dr. kane was very often in the habit of saying--as if with melancholy presentiment--'what would become of you if i should die? what would you do? i shudder at the thought of my death, on your account.' "in the buoyant confidence of youth, the poor girl could not then understand his fears. but _he_ knew that in separating her from spiritualism he was isolating her from all her friends and associates, and depriving her of the only means she possessed of earning a livelihood. in compensation for the sacrifices required of her, he was giving her a hope only; a hope that might be blissfully realized, but might be sadly disappointed; and in the event of losing him, what must be her destiny!" dr. kane met with malignant opposition from leah, maggie's elder sister, in his efforts to detach her from the damning career into which she had been thrown. the "shekels" were then pouring in in great abundance at the sã©ances, and this explains sufficiently the hostile attitude of the one person who was chiefly responsible for the ruin of her young life. thus the doctor wrote to maggie in new york: "is the old house dreary to you? * * * oh, maggie, are you never tired of _this weary, weary sameness of continual deceit_? are you thus to spend your days, doomed never to rise to better things?--you and that dear little open-minded sister kate (for she, too, is still unversed in deception)--are you both to live on thus forever? you will never be happy if you do; for you are not, like leah, able to exult and take pleasure in the simplicity of the poor, simple-hearted fools around you. "do, then, maggie, keep to your last promise. show this to katie, and urge her to keep to her resolution."[9] by this time, maggie had pledged herself to her lover to abandon the "rappings" altogether; but they were both very cautious lest this resolution should be known to her elder sister. maggie appears to have yielded to the influences around her, in spite of her respect and regard for the doctor, and once or twice to have lapsed back into the ways that he dreaded and abhorred. we find him then, writing from new york to washington: "don't rap for mrs. pierce.[10] remember your promise to me. * * * "begin again, dearest maggie, and keep your word. no 'rapping' for mrs. pierce or ever more for any one. i, dear mag, am your best, your truest, your only friend. what are they to my wishes? oh, regard and love me, and listen to my words; and be very careful lest in an idle hour you lose my regard and your own respect." and later: "all last night did this good friend of yours think about you and your probable future. "i can see that this is one of the turning points of your life, and upon your own energy and decision now depend the success and happiness of your future career. dear maggie, think it over well and _do not be turned aside from what is right_ by the sincere but still misguided advice of others. * * * but remember, maggie, that all this will not last. * * * what will it be when, looking back upon * * * misspent and dreary years, you feel that there have been no acts really acceptable to your maker, and that for the years ahead, all will be sorrow, sameness and disgust! * * * "why, you know that sometimes, even now, when leah is cross, or the company coarse and vulgar, or the day tiresome, or yourself out of sorts, that low spirits and disgust come over you and you long like a bird to spread your wings and fly away from it all." very soon afterwards, dr. kane wrote: "at present, you have nothing to look forward to, nothing to hope for. your life is one constant round of idle excitement. can your mother, who is an excellent woman, look upon you, a girl of thirteen, as doomed all your life to live surrounded by such as now surround you, _deprived of all the blessings of home and love and even self-respect_?" dr. kane, looking upon margaret as his future wife, was exceedingly anxious that the true explanation of the "rappings," the fact that they were entirely fraudulent, should never be discovered. he hoped that spiritualism would have but an ephemeral existence, and that when once it had died out, the public would so far forget the persons who originated it, that it would cease to associate with them the woman who would then bear his name. so he wrote in this vein to maggie: "you know i am nervous about the 'rappings.' i believe the only thing i ever was afraid of was this confounded thing being found out. i would not know it myself for ten thousand dollars." how both margaret and dr. kane regarded the elder sister may be judged from this sentence, written by the latter at this time: "be careful not to mention me before the tigress." at last the object dearest to dr. kane's heart seemed to be drawing near to its accomplishment. he says: "your kind promise 'solemnly never to rap again' so pleases me, that i cannot help thanking you. adhere to that, and you will be a dear, good, happy girl." * * * maggie went to school at crookville, near chester, pennsylvania, and was in charge of dr. kane's aunt, mrs. leiper, who resided near the house where maggie lodged. just prior to this, dr. kane wrote as follows: "_never do wrong any more; for if now 'the spirits move' it will be a breach of faith._ from this moment, our compact begins." after dr. kane had reached the arctic seas, i find this passage at the end of a long letter, full of solicitude and noble counsel about the education of his future wife: "one final wish--the only thing like restraint that your true friend can find it in his heart to utter: see little of leah, and never sleep within her house." for a short time, on his return from his second arctic voyage, dr. kane allowed himself to be swayed by interest and the vehement efforts of his relatives, so far as to require from margaret a written declaration that they had never been engaged, and that she had no claim whatever upon his hand in matrimony. there was a quick reaction, however, and the old relations were renewed. one who wrote of these facts said: "amid all his sorrow, one fear seemed to harass him perpetually--that miss fox might be induced to return to the professional life she had abandoned years ago for his sake. she was surrounded by spiritualists." * * * in his letters to her, dr. kane still harped upon the one anxiety that continually possessed him. he says: "_do avoid 'spirits.' i cannot bear to think of you as engaged in a course of wickedness and deception._ * * * pardon my saying so; but is it not deceit even to listen when others are deceived? * * * in childhood it was a mere indiscretion; but what will it be when hard age wears its wrinkles into you, and like leah you grow old! dear maggie, i could cry to think of it. * * * a time will come when you will see the real ghost of memory--an awful specter!" and again he wrote: "_maggie, i have but one thought_, how to make you happier; _how to withdraw you from deception; from a course of sin and future punishment, the dark shadow of which hung over you like the wing of a vampire_." then, as he claimed her more and more openly as his own, "he would not permit her," says the writer already quoted, "even to witness any spiritual manifestations, nor to remain in the room when the subject was discussed. * * * 'you never shall be brought in contact with such things again,' he would say." the ending of this very sad tale of love, which throws a peculiar light athwart the colder theme of this volume, was bitterly tragic. a secret marriage under the common law was entered into, and dr. kane, whose health was shattered never to be mended, went first to europe and then to cuba to die. margaret and her mother were to join him at havana, but ere their departure from new york he was already a corpse. and so, a noble and generous, if sometimes faltering heart, ceased to beat, and a gentle creature, who at last had learned to love as much as she had honored him, was on the shores of that deep sea of infamy against which, had he only lived, he would surely have shielded her. chapter xv. from shadow to light. more than thirty years after this sorrowful event, margaret fox kane, in reviewing the past, attributes to the evil of spiritualism all the ill-fortune which afterwards befell her. for fourteen years she wore the weeds of mourning for his sake; but when at last they were torn from her by a friendly, though unwise hand, she drifted again, through the various phases of a worldly and dissipated life, to that very vocation of dreary mercenary deceit which he had predicted would be her lot. she was never happy afterwards, however, and he who possesses any true sensibility must at least pity, quite as much as he may condemn her unfortunate destiny, when he reads the sad avowals which are made in this volume. mrs. kane says at the present day: "from the very first of our intimate acquaintance, dr. kane knew that the 'rappings' which i practiced were fraudulent. of course, he was too keen-sighted intellectually, too sensible, ever to have believed them genuine for a single instant; and i simply obeyed the impulse of my candid regard for him, when the knowledge of his devotion grew upon me, and confided to him the whole secret of the fraud, together with my increasing repugnance to the life i was leading. he hated it, he despised it, he abhorred it, and he taught me from the beginning the same sentiment. we had to combat with the sordid interest of others. whatever good he accomplished for me, was done against the set purpose of leah. "i do not exaggerate in any way when i say that i have feared that woman all my life. remember, she is twenty-three years older than i am. her influence over both myself and my sister kate began when we were infants. katie, even to this day, acknowledges some sinister influence about her sister leah, even if she but chance to meet her in the street. it is a mixture of terrorism and cajolery. "for years i have had the shame of this vile thing before me. all my life, it has made me miserable. it is a load which i now throw off with a free heart and a great and thrilling sense of relief. "you must know that it was a dark and hateful influence that kept me aloof from dr. kane so long, when he declared his true love for me, over and over again, and desired to rescue me from the evil by which i was surrounded. i gave him my whole heart in return, though at that time i did not know how deep and how tender was my love for him. "it is this same baleful influence which has been the nightmare of my existence. every morning of my life on awaking, i have had this horrid thought before me. and even in those younger days i would brood and brood over it, and dr. kane would often say to me: "'maggie, i see the vampire is hovering over you still.' "our whole family was at that time under bondage, as it were, to ann leah brown. she ruled over us as with a rod of iron. "all through this dreadful life--from the time when i first realized its enormity--i protested against it. dr. kane, after our marriage, would never permit me to allude to my old career--he wanted me to forget it. he hated its publicity. "but when i was poor after his death, i was driven back to it. i have told my sister leah over and again: 'now that you are rich, why don't you save your soul?' but she would only fly into a passion. the truth is that nothing can excuse the work she has done. she entered upon it at the age of judgment and experience, fully aware of its falsity and evil effect. she knows that the world cannot forgive her, and i have no hope that she will ever confess her sin, or offer an atonement for it. "what can i add to the revelations of those letters? they are proofs of the mutual knowledge of dr. kane and myself that the 'spiritual' rappings were fraud, and nothing but fraud. and even if he had not been told of the fact by myself, his opportunities of observation in our household were unequaled by any granted to others, and his verdict would have been in any case, therefore, almost as authoritative. "what fools are they who still pretend to believe against all this evidence! "it would hardly seem necessary that i should denounce spiritualism after all that others have said against it. "i have never in my life professed to be a spiritualist, and i have never believed in spiritualism, although i have seen it in all its phases, some of which i am unable to produce myself. "even when i was compelled to go back to the 'rappings' for a livelihood, and when i charged the most exorbitant fees, so that as few people as possible might be deceived, i had on my cards an emphatic disclaimer of any occult inspiration." mrs. kane at this point showed the following on the back of one of her cards: mrs. kane does not claim any spirit power; but people must judge for themselves. "my poor father and mother," she continued, "both knew before their death that all that we had practised for so many years was a fraud and a deception. mother was greatly troubled about it, and she turned to the church for comfort. she used to say to us: "'oh, my dear children, i do hope that you will get out of this sort of life soon.' "peace be unto her!" * * * * * the evil effects of spiritualism upon the moral and mental condition of its followers is the deepest stain upon its history. the wrecks of thousands of intellects are monuments to its heartless fraud and malign influence. mrs. kane has often said that if in her late years she had wholly submitted herself to its foolish vagaries and its base temptations, she would undoubtedly be now a raving maniac. there are many who, if they would but speak truly, could declare that ruin of conscience, brain and health, has resulted either from their willing faith in flimsy illusions or their weak connivance in puerile deception. i have touched but little upon the unclean side of spiritualism. thousands upon thousands of virtuous men and women entertain its theory or hold to its faith. but the manipulators of the supernatural machinery, the members of the inner circle, the prestidigitateurs and clumsy magicians, who seek to make simpletons of mankind, i now accuse of the grossest practices and abominations, the loosest social ideas, the most utter absence of principle that has been exhibited by any one set of people in the nineteenth century. they are wholly corrupt, and there is no good in them. if spiritualism in any form survives the blow now given it by margaret and catherine fox, who were its creators, it will only be because of the veiled licentiousness introduced into it by those who have enlarged upon its original plan. this licentiousness, like the bruised serpent, will not down, but still will lift its head, and lurk amid deepest shadows. spiritualism, however, cannot again deceive the world. * * * * * and it is written: "the dead shall not return; nor any that go down into hell!" index. index. abjuration by margaret fox kane of spiritualism at the academy of music, new york, 65, 74. admissions of mrs. leah fox fish regarding the results of the buffalo medical investigation, 140, 144. agassiz (professor) investigates spiritualism, 147. antics of the fox children at hydesville near rochester, 83, 87, 89, 96. attractions of the younger fox sisters, 129. audacity (imbecile) of spiritualistic imposters, 146. --(supreme) of fraud, 150. authorization of the publication of this work by margaret fox kane and catherine fox jencken, 7. "baby mediumship" --how the trick was done with the child of mrs. catherine fox jencken, 160. belief in spiritualism, --mrs. kane never pretended to any, 167, 181, 236. --john d. fox never had any, 99. "bobbing" of apples on the floor in the hydesville house, 84, 90, 95. boomerangs (spiritualistic), 131. brown (mrs. ann leah fox), --malignant opposition to dr. kane's efforts to detach her sister maggie from spiritualism, 222, 232. --exulting in deception, 223. --maggie warned against her by dr. kane, 227. --sinister influence over her sisters, 232. "buffalo doctors" --their investigation of the "rappings," 131. --their correct theory, but wrong hypothesis, 131. --how their investigation if further pursued, would have led to the truth, 133. "charles ceri" --the "spirit of mr. seybert" mistakes the name of mr. sellers, of the "seybert commission," 171. claims of spiritualism as set forth in petition to congress, 1854, 151, 152. committees of tools and accomplices, 121. condemnation of spiritualism --the substantial effect of the report of harvard professors on the tests in boston, 1857, 149. concerted signals used in the early sã©ances, 127. conspicuous persons interested in the "fox sisters," 129. contact of person while producing the "raps," 90, 138. corrupt practices in secret spiritualistic circles, 50, 64, 237. coventry (dr. c. b.), one of the buffalo investigators, 132. crookville, near philadelphia--maggie fox goes to school there, 226. dead (the) do not return, 37, 238. death of dr. kane, 37. derangement of mental faculties the cause of the prevalence of the spiritualistic delusion, 154. --resulting from spiritualism, 166. disgust (dr. kane's) at spiritualistic circles, 225, 229. --(mrs. kane's) at the baser spiritualistic practices, 29, 30. diss de bar (madam) --mrs. kane's abhorrence of her, 29. --daniel underhill pronounces her a fraud, 43. early sorcery the prototype of modern spiritualism, 150. education (defective) the cause of the prevalence of the spiritualistic delusion, 154. elevation --failure of mrs. kane to produce "rappings" when standing upon a lounge, a cushioned chair or a step-ladder, 195. exposure, poetic justice of the, 13. --mrs. kane's first public intimation of intended, 29, 30. --details of mrs. kane's, 32, 35, 37, 65, 77. --of spiritualism by the guernillas, 199. fear of the fox sisters of their sister, leah, 232. fish (ann leah fox) first to conceive the idea of profiting by the "rappings," 102. --learns to "rap" from the little children, 103. --using the little girls, maggie and katie, for her purposes, 123. --challenges to the "buffalo doctors," 139. fish (lizzie) --protesting against her mother's hypocrisy and deception, 96, 128. flint (dr. austin), one of the buffalo investigators, 132. foot (movement of the) in producing "rappings," 38, 103, 143. --detected by a member of the "seybert commission," 194. --"rappings" not heard when held, but heard again when released, 143. forged testimony, 91. fox (catherine) --first to discover that "raps" could be produced with the joints, 90. fox (david s.) --first to suggest use of the alphabet in the so-called "spirit messages," 115. --dupe or accomplice of leah, 115. fox (john d.) --never a believer in spiritualism, 99. fox (mrs. margaret) --an honest fanatic, deceived by her children, 36, 93. --disabused at the last, 236. fox (maggie) --her beauty at thirteen years, 210. --petty devilment in childhood, 83. --sent to school at crookville, pa., by dr. kane, 226. --protests all through her earlier life against "spiritualistic" deception, 234. fox (maria), 82. fulcrum, necessary for the limb in order to produce sound by the action of the joints, 142. furness (horace howard), acting chairman of the "seybert commission" --letter to mrs. kane, 169. --explanation of her refusal to continue the sã©ances with the commission, 204. fraud. --dante's image of, 17. --origin of the, 81. --development of the, 105. --various forms of the, 201. fraudulent --the "mediumship" of mrs. jencken's baby, "ferdie," 160. garbled testimony, 90, 94. "god has not ordered it," 25, 37. gowns (long) put on the younger fox girls on their first public appearance, to conceal manner of producing "raps," 123. greeley (horace) --aids katie, 19, 58, 129. --influence upon her life, 129. guernillas (the) --exposure of spiritualism, 199. "herald" (the n. y.), 25, 28, 29, 32, 39, 42, 46, 62. history of the "rappings," 79. harvard professors investigate spiritualism, 147. humbug (spiritualism a,) according to mrs. kate fox jencken, 57. hydesville, n. y. --when mysterious sounds were first heard in john d. fox's house, 81. --digging in the creek, 95. --bones of a horse found, 118. --digging in the cellar, 117. --alleged finding of human bones, unconfirmed by any evidence, 117. --house said to be haunted--an afterthought, 101. --the "spirits" when asked tentatively say a murder was committed in the house and mention the name of the murderer, 119. hypocrisy of professional spiritualists, 165. --dr. kane characterizes, 214, 215. inquisitiveness as to spiritualistic methods prevents the "spirits" from acting, 146. insulation --experiments with mrs. kane while standing on glass tumblers, 185. --the results negative, 188. --partial success when placed near a sideboard and wall, 189, 192. investigation --first farcical. 122, 124. --by the "buffalo doctors," 131, 134. --by "buffalo doctors" again, 131. --by "seybert commission," 170. --by harvard professors and others, 147. jencken (mrs. catherine fox) denounces spiritualism, 62, 64. joints of the fingers. --children try to imitate sounds with them, 87. joint of the knee used in the production of "raps," 133. joints of the toes used in producing the famous "rappings" of the fox sisters, 139, 145. jugglery --spiritualists attribute it to "mediumship," 198. --confess that "spiritualistic" effects are produced in the same way, 199. --older and more skillful than spiritualism so-called, 150, 154. kane (dr. elisha kent) --first meeting with maggie fox, 209. --influence upon her life, 129. --effect of his death on her career, 230, 231. --character of his interest in her, 213. --gloomy foresight, 213. --efforts to save her from a life of fraud, &c., 129, 228. --characterizes the deceit and hypocrisy of "mediumship," 214, 215, 216, 228. --never believed in a single pretense of spiritualism, 217, 232. --knew from their first acquaintance that the "rappings" were fraudulent, 232. --repeatedly exacts her promise not to have anything more to do with spiritualism, 223, 226. --solicitude lest she return to the practice of spiritualism, 228. --fear lest the source of the "rappings" be discovered, 226. --places her at school, 226. --engagement broken off and renewed, 227. --secret marriage with her, 229. --death at havana, 229. knees --seized by investigators to detect movement while "rappings" being produced, 143. --when so seized, sounds arrested, and when released, renewed, 143. lee (dr. charles a.), one of the buffalo investigators, 132. letter of mrs. kane first publicly denouncing spiritualism, 30. licentiousness under the cloak of spiritualism, 237, 238. "mediums" (well-known) --how they received the exposã©, 45, 46. "mediumship" --mrs. kane driven back to it, 37. messages (written) --how produced by mrs. kane, 172, 196. messages ("spirit") --internal evidence sufficient to prove their falsity, 162. mercenary campaign --begins in rochester, 121, 126. --tour of principal cities, 212, 222. movement of knees of "medium" noted by dr. lee while "raps" were heard, 143. origin of the fraud, 81, 83, 87, 92. persecution of mrs. catherine fox jencken and her children by spiritualistic enemies, 60. prophecy of dr. kane concerning the future of maggie fox, 213. promises of maggie fox to dr. kane never to "rap" any more, 223, 226. president pierce's wife and maggie fox, 223. profession of spiritualistic belief --mrs. kane expressly disclaims it, 181, 234. "raps" --failure to "throw" them to different parts of a room, 184. --always heard near the spot where "medium" is stationed, 136, 172, 173. --effort of the will in producing them apparent, 136. --muscular contractions their possible cause, 137. --not produced while "mediums" in constrained position, 142. --not produced while feet of "mediums" are prevented from touching sonorous substances, 185. --vibrations in foot of mrs. kane, felt by mr. sellers of the "seybert commission," 194. --their physiological origin, 202, 203. repentance --mrs. catherine fox jencken, 58, 59. --mrs. margaret fox kane, 233. reports on investigations of "rappings," 134, 141, 149, 173. rochester --outlandish doings told by mrs. underhill, 106, 113. --mrs. kane gives the true explanation of them, 112. --first public appearances of the fox sisters, 121. senate ridicules spiritualism in debate, 159. slade (henry) admits that certain magicians produce their effects in the same way that he does, 199. seybert (henry) --crazed by spiritualism, 166. --mrs. kane enters the "spiritual mansion," 164. --she draws the line at the apostles and the angel gabriel, 166. --his legacy for the investigation of spiritualism, 167. --his "spirit" mistakes the identity of a member of the "seybert commission" and calls him by a queer name, 171. --though he knew no latin in the flesh, his "spirit" is made to write latin, 197. "seybert commission" (the) --its origin and labors, 167. --experiments with mrs. kane, 169. --its conclusions regarding the "rappings," 168, 201. --on other phases of spiritualism, 201. spiritualism --mrs. catherine fox jencken says it is the greatest curse the world has ever known, 56. superstition --traditions in the fox family about queer happenings, 119. underhill (ann leah) --her narrative proven false, 38. --sinister influence over her younger sisters, 233. verdict (the unalterable), 201. vibration of articles when "medium's" body is in contact with them while producing raps, 138, 145. warnings of dr. kane to maggie and katie fox against a life of deception, 216, 219, 222, 225, 228, 229. --against intercourse with her sister, leah, 227. finis. footnotes: [1] dr. kane and horace greeley. [2] it was erroneously stated that the boys were immediately sent back to europe. [3] "the seybert commission on spiritualism," j. b. lippincott company, philadelphia, 1887. the author is under obligations to the publishers of this volume, for material which he has taken from it. [4] the author of "the love-life of dr. kane;" published by carleton, 1865, new york. [5] this form of expression was here used because the author of "the love-life," while not a believer in spiritualism, did not wish to imply in a work that had mrs. kane's personal sanction, the slightest doubt of the sincerity of her professions or of her claims as a "medium." [6] leah. [7] general waddy thompson. [8] ex-governor tallmadge. [9] katie, as well as her sister, had promised to abjure the "spirits," and she had also said that she would go to live with maggie on the latter's marriage with dr. kane. [10] the wife of the president of the united states. transcriber's notes: passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. punctuation has been corrected without note. the following misprints have been corrected: "seances" standardized to "sã©ances" (page 45) "intrument" corrected to "instrument" (page 62) "arnold in" corrected to "arnold in" (page 67) "prepetrating" corrected to "perpetrating" (page 75) "affimative" corrected to "affirmative" (page 94) "siezing" corrected to "seizing" (page 143) "significent" corrected to "significant" (page 144) "herditary" corrected to "hereditary" (page 160) "seances" standardized to "sã©ances" (page 170) "seance" standardized to "sã©ance" (page 174) "spirititualism" corrected to "spiritualism" (page 217) other than the corrections listed above, inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation have been retained from the original. proofreaders the return of peter grimm [illustration: david belasco] david belasco (born, san francisco, july 25, 1853) the present editor has had many opportunities of studying the theatre side of david belasco. he has been privileged to hear expressed, by this edison of our stage, diverse opinions about plays and players of the past, and about insurgent experiments of the immediate hour. he has always found a man quickly responsive to the best memories of the past, an artist naively childlike in his love of the theatre, shaped by old conventions and modified by new inventions. belasco is the one individual manager to-day who has a workshop of his own; he is pre-eminently a creator, whereas his contemporaries, like charles frohman, were emphatically manufacturers of goods in the amusement line. such a man is entitled to deep respect, for the "carry-on" spirit with which he holds aloft the banner used by boucicault, wallack, palmer, and daly. it is wrong to credit him with deafness to innovation, with blindness to new combinations. he is neither of these. it is difficult to find a manager more willing to take infinite pains for effect, with no heed to the cost; it is impossible to place above him a director more successful in creating atmosphere and in procuring unity of cooperation from his staff. no one, unless it be winthrop ames, gives more personal care to a production than david belasco. considering that he was reared in the commercial theatre, his position is unique and distinctive. in the years to come, when students enter the columbia university dramatic museum, founded by professor brander matthews, they will be able to judge, from the model of the stage set for "peter grimm," exactly how far david belasco's much-talked-of realism went; they will rightly regard it as the high point in accomplishment before the advent of the "new" scenery, whose philosophy belasco understands, but whose artistic spirit he cannot accept. maybe, by that time, there will be preserved for close examination the manuscripts of belasco's plays--models of thoroughness, of managerial foresight. the present editor had occasion once to go through these typewritten copies; and there remains impressed on the memory the detailed exposition in "the darling of the gods." here was not only indicated every shade of lighting, but the minute stage business for acting, revealing how wholly the manager gave himself over to the creation of atmosphere. i examined a mass of data--"boot plots," "light plots," "costume designs." were the play ever published in this form, while it might confuse the general reader, it would enlighten the specialist. it would be a key to realistic stage management, in which belasco excels. whether it be his own play, or that of some outsider, with whom, in the final product, belasco always collaborates, the manuscripts, constituting his producing library, are evidence of his instinctive eye for stage effect. the details in the career of david belasco are easily accessible. it is most unfortunate that the stupendous record of his life's accomplishment thus far, which, in two voluminous books, constituted the final labour of the late william winter, is not more truly reflective of the man and his work. it fails to reproduce the flavour of the dramatic periods through which belasco passed, in his association with dion boucicault as private secretary, in his work with james a. herne at baldwin's theatre, in san francisco, in his pioneer realism at the old new york madison square theatre, when the mallory brothers were managers, steele mackaye was one of the stock dramatists, henry demille was getting ready for collaboration with belasco, daniel frohman was house-manager and charles frohman was out on the road, trying his abilities as advance-man for wallack and madison square successes. winter's life is orderly and matter-of-fact; belasco's real life has always been melodramatic and colourful. his early struggles in san francisco, his initial attempts at playwriting, his intercourse with all the big actors of the golden period of the '60's--mr. belasco has written about them in a series of magazine reminiscences, which, if they are lacking in exact sequence, are measure of his type of mind, of his vivid memory, of his personal opinions. belasco has reached his position through independence which, in the '90's, brought down upon him the relentless antagonism of the theatrical trust--a combine of managers that feared the advent of so individualistic a playwright and manager. they feared his ability to do so many things well, and they disliked the way the public supported him. this struggle, tempestuous and prolonged, is in the records. a man who has any supreme, absorbing interest at all is one who thrives on vagaries. whatever belasco has touched since his days of apprenticeship in san francisco, he has succeeded in imposing upon it what is popularly called "the belasco atmosphere." though he had done a staggering amount of work before coming to new york, and though, when he went to the lyceum theatre, he and henry demille won reputation by collaborating in "the wife," "lord chumley," "the charity ball," and "men and women," he was probably first individualized in the minds of present-day theatregoers when mrs. leslie carter made a sensational swing across stage, holding on to the clapper of a bell in "the heart of maryland." even thus early, he was displaying characteristics for which, in later days, he remained unexcelled. he was helping bronson howard to touch up "baron rudolph," "the banker's daughter" and "the young mrs. winthrop;" he was succeeding with a dramatization of h. rider haggard's "she," where william gillette had failed in the attempt. "the heart of maryland" established both belasco and mrs. carter. then he started on that extravagant period of spectacular drama, which gave to the stage such memorable pictures as "du barry," with mrs. carter, and "the darling of the gods," with blanche bates. in such pieces he literally threw away the possibilities of profit, in order to gratify his decorative sense. out of that time came two distinctive pieces--one, the exquisitely poignant "madame butterfly" and the other, "the girl of the golden west"-both giving inspiration to the composer, puccini, who discovered that a belasco play was better suited for the purposes of colourful italian opera than any other american dramas he examined. counting his western vicissitudes as one period, and the early new york days as a second, one might say that in the third period david belasco exhibited those excellences and limitations which were thereafter to mark him and shape all his work. there is an oriental love of colour and effect in all he does; but there is no monotony about it. "the darling of the gods" was different from "the girl of the golden west," and both were distinct from "the rose of the rancho." it is this scenic decorativeness which has enriched many a slim piece, accepted by him for presentation, and such a play has always been given that care and attention which has turned it eventually into a belasco "offering." none of his collaborators will gainsay this genius of his. john luther long's novel was unerringly dramatized; richard walton tully, when he left the belasco fold, imitated the belasco manner, in "the bird of paradise" and "omar, the tentmaker." and that same ability belasco possesses to dissect the heart of a romantic piece was carried by him into war drama, and into parlour comedies, and plays of business condition. i doubt whether "the auctioneer" would read well, or, for the matter of that, "the music master;" charles klein has written more coherent dialogue than is to be found in these early pieces. but they are vivid in mind because of belasco's management, and because he saw them fitted to the unique figure of david warfield. but a belasco success is furthered by the tremendous public curiosity that follows him in all he does. there is a wizardry about him which fascinates, and makes excellent reading in the press. long before i saw the three-winged screen upon which it is his custom to sort out and pin up his random notes for a play, it was featured in the press. so were pictures of his "collection," in rooms adjoining his studio--especially his napoleonic treasures which are a by-product of his du barry days. no man of the theatre is more constantly on the job than he. it is said that old john dee, the famous astrologer whom queen elizabeth so often consulted, produced plays when he was a student at cambridge university, with stage effects which only one gifted in the secrets of magic could have consummated. belasco paints with an electric switchboard, until the emotion of his play is unmistakably impressed upon the eye. at a moment's notice he will root out his proscenium arch, and build a "frame" which obliterates the footlights; at another time he will build an "apron" to his stage, not for its historical significance, but merely to give depth and mellowness to such an ecclesiastical picture as knoblauch's "marie-odile." he has spent whole nights alone in the theatre auditorium with his electrician, "feeling" for the "siesta" somnolence which carried his audience instantly into the spanish heat of old california, in "the rose of the rancho;" and the moving scenery which took the onlooker from the foot-hills of the sierras to the cabin of "the girl of the golden west" was a "trick" well worth the experiment. thus, no manager is more ingenious, more resourceful than david belasco. but his care for detail is often a danger; he does not know fully the value of elimination; the eye of the observer is often worried by the multiplicity of detail, where reticence would have been more quickly effective. this is the oriental in belasco. his is a strange blend of realism and decorativeness. "a young man came to me once," he said to me, "with the manuscript of a new play, which had possibilities in it. but after i had talked with him awhile, i found him preaching the doctrines of the 'new' art. so i said to him, 'my dear sir, here is your manuscript. the first scene calls for a tenement-house set. how would you mount it?'" he smiled, maybe at the recollection of gordon craig's statements that "actuality, accuracy of detail, are useless on the stage," and that "all is a matter of proportion and nothing to do with actuality." "i felt," mr. belasco continued, "that the young man would find difficulty in reconciling the nebulous perspectives of mr. craig with the squalor of a city block. i said to him, 'i have been producing for many years, and i have mounted various plays calling for differing atmospheres. i don't want to destroy your ideals regarding the 'new art', but i want you to realize that a manager has to conform his taste to the material he has in hand. i consider that one of the most truthful sets i have ever had on the stage was the one for the second act of eugene walter's 'the easiest way'. a boarding-house room on the top floor cannot be treated in any other way than as a boarding-house room. and should i take liberties with what we know for a fact exists in new york, on seventh avenue, just off broadway, then i am a bad producer and do not know my business. i do not say there is no suggestion in realism; it is unwise to clutter the stage with needless detail. but we cannot idealize a little sordid ice-box where a working girl keeps her miserable supper; we cannot symbolize a broken jug standing in a wash-basin of loud design. those are the necessary evils of a boarding-house, and i must be true to them'." one will have to give mr. belasco this credit, that whatever he is, he is _it_ to the bent of his powers. had he lived in elizabeth's day, he would have been an elizabethan heart and soul. but his habit is formed as a producer, and he conforms the "new" art to this habit as completely as reinhardt reinhardtized the morality play, "everyman," or von hofmannsthal teutonized "elektra." "the return of peter grimm" has been chosen for the present collection. it represents a belasco interest and conviction greater than are to be found in any of his other plays. while there are no specific claims made for the fact that_ peter _materializes after his death, it is written with plausibility and great care. the psychic phenomena are treated as though real, and our sympathy for_ peter _when he returns is a human sympathy for the inability of a spirit to get his message across. the theme is not etherealized; one does not see through a mist dimly. there was not even an attempt, in the stage production of the piece, which occurred at the belasco theatre, new york, on october 17, 1911, to use the "trick" of gauze and queer lights; there was only one supreme thing done--to make the audience feel that_ peter _was on a plane far removed from the physical, by the ease and naturalness with which he slipped past objects, looked through people, and was unheeded by those whom he most wanted to influence. the remarkable unity of idea sustained by mr. belasco as manager, and by mr. warfield as actor, was largely instrumental in making the play a triumph. the playwright did not attempt to create supernatural mood; he did not resort to natural tricks such as maeterlinck used in "l'intruse," or as mansfield employed in "dr. jekyll and mr. hyde." he reduced what to us seems, at the present moment, a complicated explanation of a psychic condition to its simple terms, and there was nothing strange to the eye or unusual in the situation. one cannot approach the theme of the psychic without a personal concern. sardou's "spiritisme" was the culmination of years of investigation; the subject was one with which belasco likewise has had much to do during the past years. it is a privilege to be able to publish "peter grimm." thus far not many of the belasco plays are available in reading form. "may blossom" and "madame butterfly" are the only ones. "peter grimm" has been novelized--in the day, now fortunately past, when a play was novelized in preference to perpetuating its legitimate form. and excerpts from the dialogue have been used. but this is the first time the complete text has appeared and it has been carefully edited by the author himself. in addition to which mr. belasco has written the following account of "peter's" evolution, to be used in this edition. the play, "the return of peter grimm," is an expression in dramatic form of my ideas on a subject which i have pondered over since boyhood: "can the dead come back?" _peter grimm_ did come back. at the same time, i inserted a note in my program to say that i advanced no positive opinion; that the treatment of the play allowed the audience to believe that it had actually seen _peter_, or that he had not been seen but existed merely in the minds of the characters on the stage. spiritualists from all over the country flocked to see "the return of peter grimm," and i have heard that it gave comfort to many. it was a difficult theme, and more than once i was tempted to give it up. but since it has given relief to those who have loved and lost, it was not written in vain. victorian sardou dealt with the same subject, but he did not show the return of the dead; instead, he delivered a spirit message by means of knocking on a table. his play was not a success, and i was warned by my friends to let the subject alone; but it is a subject that i never can or never have let alone; yet i never went to a medium in my life--could not bring myself to do it. my dead must come to me, and have come to me--or so i believe. the return of the dead is the eternal riddle of the living. although mediums have been exposed since the beginning of time, and so-called "spiritualism" has fallen into disrepute over and over again, it emerges triumphantly in spite of charlatans, and once more becomes the theme of the hour. the subject first interested me when, as a boy, i read a story in which the dead "foretold dangers to loved ones." my mother had "premonitions" which were very remarkable, and i was convinced, at the time, that the dead gave these messages to her. she personally could not account for them. i probably owe my life to one of my mother's premonitions. i was going on a steamboat excursion with my school friends, when my mother had a strong presentiment of danger, and begged me not to go. she gave in to my entreaties, however, much against her will. just as the boat was about to leave the pier, a vision of her pale face and tear-filled eyes came to me. i heard her voice repeating, "i wish you would not go, davy." the influence was so strong that i dashed down the gang-plank as it was being pulled in. the boat met with disaster, and many of the children were killed or wounded. these premonitions have also come to me, but i do not believe as i did when a boy that they are warnings from the dead, although i cannot explain them, and they are never wrong; the message is always very clear. my mother convinced me that the dead come back by coming to me at the time of her death--or so i believe. one night, after a long, hard rehearsal, i went to bed, worn out, and fell into a deep sleep. i was awakened by my mother, who stood in my bedroom and called to me. she seemed to be clothed in white. she repeated my name over and over--the name she called me in my boyhood: "davy! davy!" she told me not to grieve--that she was dying; that she _had_ to see me. i distinctly saw her and heard her speak. she was in san francisco at the time--i, in new york. after she passed out of the room, i roused my family and told what i had heard and seen. i said: "my mother is dead. i know she is dead;" but i could not convince my family that i had not been dreaming. i was very restless--could not sleep again. the next day (we were rehearsing "zaza") i went out for luncheon during the recess with a member of my company. he was a very absent-minded man, and at the table he took a telegram from his pocket which he said he had forgotten to give me: it announced the death of my mother at the time i had seen her in my room. i am aware that this could be explained as thought transference, accompanied by a dream in which my mother appeared so life-like as to make me believe the dream real. this explanation, however, does not satisfy me. i am sure that i did see her. other experiences of a kindred nature served to strengthen my belief in the naturalness of what we call the supernatural. i decided to write a play dealing with the return of the dead: so it followed that when i was in need of a new play for david warfield, i chose this subject. slight of figure, unworldly, simple in all his ways, warfield was the very man to bring a message back from the other world. warfield has always appeared to me as a character out of one of grimm's fairy tales. he was, to my mind, the one man to impersonate a spirit and make it seem real. so my desire to write a play of the dead, and my belief in warfield's artistry culminated in "the return of peter grimm." the subject was very difficult, and the greatest problem confronting me was to preserve the illusion of a spirit while actually using a living person. the apparition of the ghost in "hamlet" and in "macbeth," the spirits who return to haunt _richard iii_, and other ghosts of the theatre convinced me that green lights and dark stages with spot-lights would not give the illusion necessary to this play. all other spirits have been visible to someone on the stage, but_ peter _was visible to none, save the dog (who wagged his tail as his master returned from the next world) and to _frederik_, the nephew, who was to see him but for a second._ peter _was to be in the same room with the members of the household, and to come into close contact with them. they were to feel his influence without seeing him. he was to move among them, even appear to touch them, but they were to look past him or above him--never into his face. he must, of course, be visible to the audience. my problem, then, was to reveal a dead man worrying about his earthly home, trying to enlist the aid of anybody--everybody--to take his message. certainly no writer ever chose a more difficult task; i must say that i was often very much discouraged, but something held me to the work in spite of myself. the choice of an occupation for my leading character was very limited. i gave_ peter _various trades and professions, none of which seemed to suit the part, until i made him a quaint old dutchman, a nursery-man who loved his garden and perennials--the flowers that pass away and return season after season. this gave a clue to his character; gave him the right to found his belief in immortality on the lessons learned in his garden. "god does not send us strange flowers every year, when the warm winds blow o'er the pleasant places, the same fair flowers lift up the same fair faces. the violet is here ... it all comes back, the odour, grace and hue, ... it is the thing we knew. so after the death winter it shall be," etc. against a background of budding trees, i placed the action of the play in the month of april; april with its swift transitions from bright sunlight to the darkness of passing clouds and showers. april weather furnished a natural reason for raising and lowering the lights--that the dead could come and go at will, seen or unseen. the passing rain-storms blended with the tears of those weeping for their loved ones. a man who comes back must not have a commonplace name--a name suggestive of comedy--and i think i must have read over every dutch name that ever came out of holland before i selected the name of "_peter grimm_." it was chosen because it suggested (to me) a stubborn old man with a sense of justice--whose spirit _would_ return to right a wrong and adjust his household affairs. the stage setting was evolved after extreme care and thought. it was a mingling of the past and present. it was _peter's_ sitting-room, with a mixture of furniture and family portraits and knick-knacks, each with an association of its own. it was such a room as would be dear to all old-fashioned, home-loving people--unlike a room of the present, from which every memento of parents and grand-parents would be banished in favour of strictly modern or antique formal furniture. in this room, the things of _peter's_ father mingled with those of _peter's_ boyhood and young manhood. this was done in order that the influence of his familiar belongings might be felt by the people of the play. when his niece stood with her hand on his chair; when she saw the lilies he loved; when she touched his pipe, or any of the familiar objects dear to her because of their associations,_ peter _was brought vividly back to her mind, although she could not see him. _peter's_ clothing was selected with unusual care so that it would not catch the reflection from the lights. months of preparation and weeks of rehearsal were necessary. one detail that was especially absorbing was the matter of lighting; catching the high lights and shadows. this was the first time the "bridge of lights" was used on any stage. lighting has always been to me more than mere illumination. it is a revelation of the heart and soul of the story. it points the way. lights should be to the play what the musical accompaniment is to the singer. a wordless story could be told by lights. lights should be mixed as a painter mixes his colours--a bit of pink here, of blue there; a touch of red, a lavender or a deep purple, with shadows intervening to give the desired effect. instead of throwing a mysterious light upon the figure of _peter_, i decided to reverse the process and put no lights on him. the light was on the other people--the people still in life, with just enough amber to give them colour. the play was cut and cut until there was not a superfluous line in it. every word was necessary, although it might not have seemed so when read. it was only after the play was recalled as a whole, that the necessity for everything could be seen. the coming of the circus with the clown singing "uncle rat has come to town," and the noise of the drums, are instances of this. it seemed like halting the action to bring in a country circus procession, but its necessity is shown in the final scene when the little boy, _william_, passes away. it is always cruel to see a child die on the stage. the purpose of the coming of the circus was to provide a pleasant memory for the child to recall as his mind wandered away from earth, and to have his death a happy one. this was made more effective when peter took up the refrain of the song as though he knew what was passing in the dying boy's mind, showing that the dead have their own world and their own understanding. no company of players ever had situations so fraught with danger of failure. they were very nervous. mr. warfield appeared in the part for several weeks before he felt at ease as the living man who returns as his own spirit. there is one memory associated with the play which will remain in my heart as long as it beats. this piece was written during the last year-and-a-half of my daughter augusta's life. for some reason, which i could not understand then, but which was clear to me later, the subject fascinated her. she showed the greatest interest in it. the dear child was preparing to leave the world, but we did not know it. when the manuscript was finished, she kept it by her side, and, notwithstanding her illness, saw the dress rehearsal. during the writing of the play, she often said, "yes, father, it is all true. i believe every word of it." it was as though the thought embodied in the play gave her comfort. when we discovered how ill she was, i took her to asheville, north carolina, thinking the climate would help her. she grew worse. still hoping, we went to colorado, and there i lost her. it has seemed to me since that the inspiration compelling me to go on with "peter grimm," in spite of its difficulties, came from this daughter who died. i cannot close this reminiscence of "the return of peter grimm" without acknowledging the help and inspiration received from david warfield, without whose genius and personality the play would not have been possible. i doubt whether mr. belasco has ever infused so much imaginative ingenuity into the structure and picture of a play. even in the reading, its quaint charm is instantly revealed. we quite agree with winter in saying that the effectiveness of the role of_ peter _lies in its simplicity. this was the triumph of warfield's interpretation. it may have been difficult to attain the desired effects, but once reached, technical skill did the rest. it will be noted on the program that credit is given for an idea to mr. cecil demille, son of mr. belasco's former collaborator. "the return of peter grimm" was scheduled for production in london by sir herbert tree, but plans were cut short by that actor's sudden death, july 2, 1917. mr. belasco's interest in the psychic and the supernatural has been seen in other plays, notably in "the case of becky," by edward locke, and in henry bernstein's "the secret"--example of belasco's most skilled adaptation from the french, though we remember the excellence of his version of berton and simon's "zaza." that he thought warfield admirably suited to this type of play was one of the chief incentives which prompted him to write "van der decken" (produced on the road, december 12, 1915), a play whose theme is "the flying dutchman"--and not thus far given in new york.[a] [footnote a: some of mr. belasco's recent opinions regarding the stage have been published in book form, under the title, "the theatre through its stage door" (harper).] [illustration: belasco theatre forty fourth street near broadway under the sole management of david belasco beginning tuesday evening, october 17, 1911. matinees thursday and saturday. david belasco presents david warfield -inthe return of peter grimm a play, in three acts. by david belasco. "only one thing really counts--only one thing--love. it is the only thing that tells in the long run; nothing else endures to the end." cast of characters. peter grimm..................................david warfield frederik, his nephew.........................john sainpolis james hartman................................thomas meighan andrew macpherson............................joseph brennan rev. henry batholommey.........................william boag colonel tom lawton...........................john f. webber willem.........................................percy helton kathrien.......................................janet dunbar mrs. batholommey................................marie bates marta.......................................marie reichardt the clown........................................tony bevan program continued on second page following * * * * * program continued. synopsis. the scene of the play is laid in the living room of peter grimm's home at grimm manor, a small town in new york state, founded by early settlers from holland. the first act takes place at eleven o'clock in the morning, on a fine spring day. the second act passes ten days later, towards the close of a rainy afternoon. the third act takes place at twenty minutes to twelve on the same night. program continued on second page following * * * * * program continued. note--mr. belasco does not intend to advance any theory as to the probability of the return of the main character of this play. for the many, it may be said that he could exist only in the minds of the characters grouped about him--in their subconscious memories. for _the few_, his presence will embody the theory of the survival of persistent personal energy. this character has, so far as possible, been treated to accord with either thought. the initial idea of the play was first suggested as a dramatic possibility by mr. cecil demille, to whom mr. belasco acknowledges his indebtedness. a conversation with professor james, of harvard, and the works of professor hyslop of the american branch of the london society of psychical research have also aided mr. belasco. the play produced under the personal supervision of mr. belasco. stage director....................................william j. dean stage manager........................................william boag scene by ernest gros. scenery built by charles j. canon electrical effects by louis hartman.] the return of peter grimm _a play in three acts_ _by_ david belasco 1915 [the editor wishes to thank mr. david belasco for his courtesy in granting permission to include "the return of peter grimm" in the present collection. all its rights are fully secured, and proceedings will immediately be taken against any one attempting to infringe them.] act i. _the scene shows a comfortable living-room in an old house. the furniture was brought to america by _peter grimm's_ ancestors. the _grimms_ were, for the most part, frugal people, but two or three fine paintings have been inherited by _peter_. _a small, old-fashioned piano stands near the open window, a few comfortable chairs, a desk with a hanging lamp above it, and an arm-chair in front of it, a quaint old fireplace, a dutch wall clock with weights, a sofa, a hat-rack, and mahogany flower-pot holders, are set about the room; but the most treasured possession is a large family bible lying on a table. a door leads to a small office occupied by _peter's_ secretary._ _stairs lead to the sleeping-rooms above. through the window, hothouses, beds of tulips, and other flowers, shrubs and trees are seen. "peter grimm's botanic gardens" supply seeds, plants, shrubbery and trees to the wholesale, as well as retail trade, and the view suggests the importance of the industry. an old dutch windmill, erected by a colonial ancestor, gives a quaint touch, to the picture. although _peter grimm_ is a very wealthy man, he lives as simply as his ancestors._ _as the curtain is raised, the room is empty; but _catherine_ is heard singing in the dining-room. _james hartman, peter's_ secretary, opens his door to listen, a small bundle of letters in his hand. he is a well set up young man, rather blunt in his manner, and a trifle careless in his dress. after a pause, he goes back into the office, leaving the door ajar. presently _catherine_ enters. in spite of her youth and girlish appearance, she is a good, thrifty housekeeper. she wears a simple summer gown, and carries a bunch of gay tulips and an old silver pitcher, from which she presently pours water into the harlequin delft vase on _peter grimm's_ desk. she peeps into the office, retreating, with a smile on her lips, as _james_ appears._ catherine. did i disturb you, james? james. [_on the threshold._] no indeed. catherine. do you like your new work? james. anything to get back to the gardens, catherine. i've always done outside work and i prefer it; but i would shovel dirt rather than work for any one else. catherine. [_amused._] james! james. it's true. when the train reached the junction, and a boy presented the passengers with the usual flower and the "compliments of peter grimm"--it took me back to the time when that was my job; and when i saw the old sign, "grimm's botanic gardens and nurseries"--i wanted to jump off the train and run through the grounds. it seemed as though every tulip called "hello" to me. catherine. too bad you left college! you had only one more year. james. poor father! he's very much disappointed. father has worked in the dirt in overalls--a gardener--all his life; and, of course, he over-estimates an education. he's far more intelligent than most of our college professors. catherine. i understand why you came back. you simply must live where things grow, mustn't you, james? so must i. have you seen our orchids? james. orchids are pretty; but they're doing wonderful things with potatoes these days. i'd rather improve the breed of a squash than to have an orchid named after me. wonderful discovery of luther burbank's-creating an edible cactus. sometimes i feel bitter thinking what i might have done with vegetables, when i was wasting time studying greek. catherine. [_changing suddenly._] james: why don't you try to please uncle peter grimm? james. i do; but he is always asking my opinion, and when i give it, he blows up. catherine. [_coaxingly._] don't be quite so blunt. try to be like one of the family. james. i'm afraid i shall never be like one of _this_ family. catherine. why not? i'm no relation at all; and yet-james. [_making a resolution._] i'll do my best to agree with him. [_offering his hand._] it's a promise. [_they shake hands._ catherine. thank you, james. james. [_still holding her hand._] it's good to be back, catherine. it's good to see you again. _he is still holding her hand when _frederik grimm_ enters. he is the son of _peter's_ dead sister, and has been educated by_ peter _to carry on his work. he is a graduate of amsterdam college, holland, and, in appearance and manner, suggests the foreign student. he has managed to pull through college creditably, making a specialty of botany._ peter _has given him the usual trip through europe, and_ frederik _has come to his rich uncle to settle down and learn his business. he has been an inmate of the household for a few months. he poses as a most industrious young man, but is, at heart, a shirker._ frederik. where's uncle? james. good-morning, frederik. your uncle's watching father spray the plum trees. the black knot's after them again. frederik. i can hardly keep my eyes open. uncle wakes me up every morning at five--creaking down the old stairs. [_eyeing_ catherine _admiringly._] you're looking uncommonly pretty this morning, kitty. [catherine _edges away and runs upstairs to her room._ frederik. hartman! james. yes? frederik. miss catherine and you and i are no longer children--our positions are altered--please remember that. i'm no longer a student home for the holidays from amsterdam college. i'm here to learn the business which i am expected to carry on. miss catherine is a young lady now, and my uncle looks upon her as his daughter. you are here as my uncle's secretary. that's how we three stand in this house. don't call me "frederik," and hereafter be good enough to say, "miss grimm." james. [_amiably._] very well. frederik. james: there's a good opportunity for a young man like you in our florida house. i think that if i spoke for you-james. why do you wish to ship me off to florida? frederik. i don't understand you, hartman. i don't wish to ship you off. i am merely thinking of your future. you seem to have changed since-james. we've all grown up, as you just said. [james _has laid some mail on the desk, and is about to leave the room, when_ frederik _speaks again, but in a more friendly manner._ frederik. the old man's aging; do you notice it? james. your uncle's mellowing, yes; but that's only to be expected. he's changing foliage with the years. frederik. he's growing as old-fashioned as his hats. in my opinion, this would be the time to sell. james. [_astonished._] sell? sell a business that has been in his family for--why, it's his religion! frederik. it's at the height of its prosperity. it would sell like that! [_snapping his fingers._] what was the last offer the old man refused from hicks, of rochester, jim? james. [_noticing the sudden friendliness--looking at_ frederik, _half-amused, half-disgusted._] can't repeat correspondence, mr. grimm. [_amazed._] good heavens! you surprise me! would you sell your great, great grandfather? i learned to read by studying his obituary out in the peach orchard: "johann grimm, of holland, an upright settler." there isn't a day your uncle doesn't tell me that you are to carry on the work. frederik. so i am, but it's not _my_ religion. [_sarcastically._.] every man can't be blessed like you with the soul of a market gardener--a peddler of turnips. james. [_thinking--ignoring_ frederik.] he's a great old man--your uncle. it's a big name--grimm--peter grimm. the old man knows his business--he certainly knows his business. [_changing._] god! it's an awful thought that a man must die and carry all that knowledge of orchids to the grave! i wonder if it doesn't all count somewhere.... i must attend to the mail. peter grimm _enters from the gardens. he is a well-preserved man of sixty, very simple and plain in his ways. he has not changed his style of dress in the past thirty years. his clothing, collar, tie, hat and shoes are all old-fashioned. he is an estimable man, scrupulously honest, gentle and sympathetic; but occasionally he shows a flash of dutch stubbornness._ frederik. i ran over from the office, uncle peter, to make a suggestion. peter. yes? frederik. i suggest that we insert a full-page cut of your new tulip in our mid-summer floral almanac. peter. [_who has hung up his hat on his own particular peg, affably assenting._] a good idea! frederik. the public is expecting it. peter. you think so, my boy? frederik. why, uncle, you've no idea of the stir this tulip has created. people stop me in the street to speak of it. peter. well, well, you surprise me. i didn't think it so extraordinary. frederik. i've had a busy morning, sir, in the packing house. peter. that's good. i'm glad to see you taking hold of things, fritz. [_humourously, touching_ frederik _affectionately on the shoulder._] we mustn't waste time; for that's the stuff life's made of. [_seriously._] it's a great comfort to me, frederik, to know that when i'm in my little private room with james, or when i've slipped out to the hothouses,--you are representing me in the offices--_young_ mr. grimm.... james, are you ready for me? james. yes, sir. peter. i'll attend to the mail in a moment. [_missing_ catherine, _he calls according to the household signal._] ou--oo! [_he is answered by_ catherine, _who immediately appears from her room, and comes running downstairs._] catherine, i have news for you. i've named the new rose after you: "katie--a hardy bloomer." it's as red as the ribbon in your hair. catherine. thank you, uncle peter, thank you very much. and now you must have your cup of coffee. peter. what a fine little housewife! a busy girl about the house, eh, fritz? is there anything you need to-day, katie? catherine. no, uncle peter, i have everything i need, thank you. peter. not everything,--not everything, my dear. [_smiling at_ frederik. james, _ignored, is standing in the background._] wait! wait till i give you a husband. i have my plans. [_looking from_ frederik _to_ catherine.] people don't always know what i'm doing, but i'm a great man for planning. come, katie, tell me, on this fine spring morning, what sort of husband would you prefer? catherine. [_annoyed,--with girlish impatience._] you're always speaking of weddings, uncle peter. i don't know what's come over you of late. peter. it's nesting time, ... spring weddings are in the air; besides, my grandmother's linen-chest upstairs must be used again for you [_impulsively drawing_ catherine _to him._], my house fairy. [_kisses her._] there, i mustn't tease her. but i leave it to fritz if i don't owe her a fine husband--this girl of mine. look what she has done for _me!_ catherine. done for you? i do you the great favour to let _you_ do everything for _me_. peter. ah, but who lays out my linen? who puts flowers on my desk every day? who gets up at dawn to eat breakfast with me? who sees that i have my second cup of coffee? but better than all that--who brings youth into my old house? catherine. that's not much--youth. peter. no? we'll leave it to fritz. [frederik, _amused, listens in silence._] what should i be now--a rough old fellow--a bachelor--without youth in my house, eh? god knows! katie has softened me towards all the ladies--er--mellowed me as time has mellowed my old pictures. [_points to pictures._] and i was growing hard--hard and fussy. catherine. [_laughing._] ah, uncle peter, have i made you take a liking to all the rest of the ladies? peter. yes. it's just as it is when you have a pet: you like all that breed. you can only see _your_ kind of kitten. james. [_coming down a step, impressed by_ peter's _remark--speaking earnestly._] that's so, sir. [_the others are surprised._] i hadn't thought of it in that way, but it's true. you study a girl for the first time, and presently you notice the same little traits in every one of them. it makes you feel differently towards all the rest. peter. [_amused._] why, james, what do you know about girls? "bachelor" is stamped all over you--you're positively labelled. james. [_good-naturedly._] perhaps. [_goes back to the office._ peter. poor james! what a life before him! when a bachelor wants to order a three-rib roast, who's to eat it? i never had a proper roast until katie and frederik came to make up my family; [_rubbing his hands._] but the roasts are not big enough. [_giving_ frederik _a knowing look._] we must find a husband. catherine. you promised not to-peter. i want to see a long, long table with plenty of young people. catherine. i'll leave the room, uncle. peter. with myself at the head, carving, carving, carving, watching the plates come back, and back, and back. [_as she is about to go._] there, there, not another word of this to-day. _the 'phone rings._ james _re-enters and answers it._ james. hello! [_turns._] rochester asks for mr. peter grimm to the 'phone. another message from hicks' greenhouses. peter. ask them to excuse me. james. [_bluntly._] you'll have to excuse him. [_listens._] no, no, the gardens are not in the market. you're only wasting your time. peter. tc! tc! james! can't you say it politely? [james _listens at 'phone._ frederik. [_aside to_ peter.] james is so painfully blunt. [_then changing._] is it--er--a good offer? is hicks willing to make it worth while? [_catching his uncle's astonished eye--apologetically._] of course, i know you wouldn't think of-catherine. i should say not! my home? an offer? _our_ gardens? i should say not! frederik. mere curiosity on my part, that's all. peter. of course, i understand. sell out? no indeed. we are thinking of the next generation. frederik. certainly, sir. peter. we're the last of the family. the business--that's peter grimm. it will soon be frederik grimm. the love for the old gardens is in our blood. frederik. it is, sir. [_lays a fond hand on_ peter's _shoulder._ peter. [_struck._] i have an idea. we'll print the family history in our new floral almanac. frederik. [_suppressing a yawn._] yes, yes, a very good idea. peter. katie, read it to us and let us hear how it sounds. catherine. [_reads._] "in the spring of 1709 there settled on quassick creek, new york state, johann grimm, aged twenty-two, husbandman and vine-dresser, also johanna, his wife." peter. very interesting. frederik. very interesting, indeed. catherine. "to him queen anne furnished one square, one rule, one compass, two whipping saws and several small pieces. to him was born--" peter. [_interrupting._] you left out two augurs. catherine. [_reads._] oh, yes--"and two augurs. to him was born a son--" peter. [_who knows the history by heart, has listened, his eyes almost suffused--repeating each word to himself, as she reads. he has lived over each generation down to the present and nods in approval as she reaches this point._] the foundation of our house. and here we are prosperous and flourishing--after seven generations. we'll print it, eh, fritz? frederik. certainly, sir. by all means let us print it. peter. and now we are depending upon you, frederik, for the next line in the book. [_to_ catherine _--slyly--as she closes the book._] if my sister could see frederik, what a proud mother she would be! james. [_turning from the 'phone to_ peter.] old man hicks himself has come to the 'phone. says he _must_ speak to mr. peter grimm. frederik. i'd make short work of him, uncle. peter. [_at the 'phone._] how are you, my old friend?... how are your plum trees? [_listens._] bad, eh? well, we can only pray and use bordeaux mixture.... no.... nonsense! this business has been in my family for seven generations. why sell? i'll see that it stays in the family seven generations longer! [_echoing._] do i propose to live that long? n--no; but my plans will. [_looks towards_ frederik _and_ catherine.] how? never mind. good-morning. [_hangs up the receiver._ james. sorry to disturb you, sir, but some of these letters are-frederik. i'm off. peter. [_who has lifted a pot of tulips to set it in the sun--standing with the pot in his hands._] and remember the saying: [_a twinkle in his upraised eyes._] "thou, o god, sellest all good things at the price of labour." [_smells the tulips and sets them down._ frederik. [_goes briskly towards the door._] that's true, sir. i want to speak to you later, uncle--[_turning, looking at_ james.] on a private matter. [_he goes off looking at his watch, as though he had a hard day's work before him._ peter. [_looking after_ frederik.] very capable young fellow, frederik. i was a happy man, james, when i heard that he had won the prize for botany at amsterdam college. i had to find out the little i know by experience. james. [_impulsively._] yes, and i'll wager you've forgotten more than-[_catching a warning glance from_ catherine, _he pauses._ peter. what? james. nothing, sir. i-catherine. [_tugging at_ peter's _coat--speaking to him apart, as_ james _busies himself at the desk._] uncle peter, i think you're unfair to james. we used to have him to dinner very often before he went away. now that he's back, you treat him like a stranger. peter. [_surprised._] eh? i didn't know that i--[_petting_ catherine.] a good, unselfish girl. she thinks of everybody. [_aloud._] james, will you have dinner with us to-day? james. [_pleased and surprised._] thank you, sir--yes, sir. peter. it's a roast goose--cooked sweet, james. [_smacks his lips._] fresh green herbs in the dressing and a figaro pudding. marta brought over that pudding receipt from holland. marta, _an old family servant, has entered with the air of having forgotten to wind the clock. she smiles happily at_ peter's _allusion to her puddings, attends to the old clock, and passes of with_ catherine. peter _sits at the desk, glancing over the mail._ peter. katie's blossoming like a rose. have you noticed how she's coming out lately, james? james. yes, sir. peter. you've noticed it, too? [_picks up another letter, looking over it._ james. yes, sir. peter. [_pausing, taking off his eye-glasses and holding them on his thumb. philosophically._] how prettily nature accomplishes her will-making a girl doubly beautiful that a young man may yield his freedom the more easily. wonderful! [_during the following, he glances over letters._] a young girl is like a violet sheltered under a bush, james; and that is as it should be, isn't it? james. no, sir, i don't think so. peter. [_surprised._] what? james. i believe people should think for themselves--not be.... peter. go on. james. --er-peter. well? james. [_remembering his promise to_ catherine.] nothing. peter. go on, james. james. i mean swallowed up. peter. swallowed up? explain yourself, james. james. i shouldn't have mentioned it. peter. certainly, certainly. don't be afraid to express an honest opinion. james. i only meant that you can't shape another's life. we are all free beings and-peter. free? of course katie's free--to a certain extent. do you mean to tell me that any young girl should be freer? nonsense! she should be happy that _i_ am here to think for her--_i_! _we_ must think for people who can't think for themselves; and a young girl can't. [_signing an answer to a letter after hastily glancing over it._] you have extraordinary ideas, james. james. excuse me, sir; you asked my opinion. i only meant that we can't think for others--any more than we can eat or sleep for them. peter. [_as though accepting the explanation._] oh ... i see what you mean. james. of course, every happy being is bound by its nature to lead its own life--that it may be a free being. evidently i didn't make my meaning clear. [_giving_ peter _another letter to sign._ peter. free? happy? james, you talk like an anarchist! you surprise me, sir. where do you get these extraordinary ideas? james. by reading modern books and magazines, sir, and of course-peter. i thought so. [_pointing to his books._] read heine. cultivate sentiment. [_signing the letter._] happy? has it ever occurred to you that katie is not happy? james. no, sir, i can't truthfully say that it has. peter. i imagine not. these are the happiest hours of her life. young ... in love ... soon to be married. james. [_after a long pause._] is it settled, sir? peter. no, but i'll soon settle it. anyone can see how she feels towards frederik. james. [_after a shorter pause._] isn't she very young to marry, sir? peter. not when she marries into the family; not when _i_ am in the house--[_touching his chest._] to guard her--to watch over her. leave it to _me_. [_enthusiastically._] sit here, james. take one of frederik's cigars. [james _politely thanks him, but doesn't take one._] it's a pleasure to talk to some one who's interested; and you _are_ interested, james? james. yes, sir, i'm much more interested than you might think. peter. good. we'll take up the mail in a minute. now, in order to carry out my plans-catherine. [_sticking her head in the door._] ready for coffee? peter. er--a little later. close the door, dear. [_she disappears, closing the door._] in order to carry out my plans, i have had to use great diplomacy. i made up my mind to keep katie in the family; being a rich man--everybody knows it--i've had to guard against fortune-hunters. however, i think i've done away with them, for the whole town understands that katie hasn't a penny--doesn't it, james? james. yes, sir. peter. yes, i think i've made that very clear. my dream was to bring catherine up to keep her in the family, and it has been fulfilled. my plans have turned out beautifully, for she is satisfied and happy. james. but did you want her to be happy simply because _you_ are happy, sir? don't you want her to be happy because _she_ is happy? peter. if she's happy, why should i care? [_picks up the last letter._ james. _if_ she's happy. peter. [_losing his temper._] what do you mean? that's the second time you've said that. why do you harp on-james. [_rising._] excuse me, sir. peter. [_angrily._] sit down. what do you know? james. nothing, sir.... peter. you must know something to speak in this manner. james. no, i don't. you're a great expert in your line, mr. grimm, and i have the greatest respect for your opinion; but you can't mate people as you'd graft tulips. and more than once, i've--i've caught her crying and i've thought perhaps ... peter. [_pooh-poohing._] crying? of course! was there ever a girl who didn't cry?... you amuse me ... with your ideas of life.... ha! haven't i asked her why she was crying,--and hasn't she always said: "i don't know why--it's nothing." they love to cry. [_signs the last letter._] but that's what they all cry over--nothing. james, do you know how i happened to meet katie? she was prescribed for me by doctor macpherson. james. [_taking the letter._] prescribed? peter. as an antidote. i was growing to be a fussy bachelor, with queer notions. you are young, but see that you don't need the doctor, james. do you know how i was cured? i'll tell you. one day, when i had business in the city, the doctor went with me, and before i knew what he was at--he had marched me into a home for babies.... katie was nearest the door--the first one. pinned over her crib was her name: "catherine staats, aged three months." she held out her little arms ... so friendless--so pitiful--so alone--and i was done for. we brought her back home, the doctor, a nurse and i. the first time i carried her up those stairs--all my fine bachelor's ideas went out of my head. i knew then that my theories were all humbug. i had missed the child in the house who was to teach me everything. i had missed many children in my house. from that day, i watched over her life. [_rising, pointing towards the head of the stairs._] james, i was born in this house--in the little room where i sleep; and her children shall one day play in the room in which i was born.... that's very pretty, eh? [_wipes his eyes, sentimentally._] i've always seen it that way. james. [_coolly._] yes; it's _very_ pretty if it turns out well. peter. how can it turn out otherwise? james. to me, sir, it's not a question of sentiment--of where her children shall play, so long as they play happily. peter. what? her children can play anywhere--in china if they want to! are you in your senses? a fine reward for giving a child all your affection-to live to see her children playing in china. no, sir! i propose to keep my household together, by your leave. [_banging his clenched fist on the desk._] it's my plan. [_cleans his pipe, looking at_ james _from time to time._ james _posts the letters in a mail-box outside the door._ peter _goes to the window, calling off._] otto! run to the office and tell mr. frederik he may come in now. [_the voice of a gruff dutchman: "het is pastoor's dag."_ (it is the pastor's day.)] ah, yes; i had forgotten. it's william's day to take flowers to the pastor. [_a knock is heard and, as_ peter _calls "come in,"_ william, _a delicate child of eight, stands timidly in the doorway of the dining-room, hat in hand._] how are you to-day, william? [_pats_ william _on the shoulder._ william. the doctor says i'm well now. peter. good! then you shall take flowers to the church. [_calls off._] a big armful, otto! marta _has entered with a neatly folded, clean handkerchief which she tucks into_ william's _breast pocket._ peter. [_in a low voice, to_ james.] there's your example of freedom! william's mother, old marta's spoiled child, was free. you remember annamarie, james?--let to come and go as she pleased. god knows where she is now ... and here is william with the poor old grandmother.... run along with the flowers, william. [_gives_ william _some pennies as he goes._] how he shoots up, eh, marta? marta. [_with the hopeless sorrow of the old, as she passes off._] poor child ... poor child. peter. give katie more freedom, eh? oh, no! i shall guard her as i would guard my own, for she is as dear to me as though she were mine, and, by marriage, please god, she shall be a grimm in _name_. james. mr. grimm, i--i wish you would transfer me to your branch house in florida. peter. what? you who were so glad to come back! james, you need a holiday. close your desk. go out and busy yourself with those pet vegetables of yours. change your ideas; then come back sane and sensible, and attend to your work. [_giving a last shot at_ james _as he passes into the office and_ frederik _re-enters._] you don't know what you want! frederik. [_looking after_ james.] uncle peter, when i came in this morning, i made up my mind to speak to you of james. peter. james? frederik. yes, i've wondered lately if ... it seems to me that james is interested in catherine. peter. james? impossible. frederik. i'm not so sure. peter. [_good-naturedly._] james? james hartman? frederik. when i look back and remember him as a barefoot boy living in a shack behind our hot-houses--and see him now--in here with you-peter. all the more credit, frederik. frederik. yes; but these are the sort of fellows who dream of getting into the firm. and there are more ways than one. peter. do you mean to say--he wouldn't presume to think of such a thing. frederik. oh, wouldn't he! the class to which he belongs presumes to think of anything. i believe he has been making love to catherine. peter. [_after a slight pause, goes to the dining-room door and calls._] katie! katie! frederik. [_hastily._] don't say that i mentioned it. [catherine _enters._ peter. katie, i wish to ask you a question. i--[_he laughs._] oh, it's absurd. no, no, never mind. catherine. what is it? peter. i can't ask you. it's really too absurd. catherine. [_her curiosity aroused._] what is it, uncle?... tell me ... tell me.... peter. has james ever-catherine. [_taken back and rather frightened--quickly._] no.... peter. what?... how did you know what i ... [frederik _gives her a shrewd glance; but_ peter, _suspecting nothing, continues._] i meant ... has james shown any special interest in you? catherine. [_as though accepting the explanation._] oh ... [_flurried._] why, uncle peter!... uncle peter!... whatever put this notion into your head? peter. it's all nonsense, of course, but-catherine. i've always known james.... we went to school together.... james has shown no interest he ought not to have shown, uncle peter,--if that's what you mean. he has always been very respectful in a perfectly friendly way. peter. [_convinced._] respectful in a perfectly friendly way. [_to_ frederik.] you can't ask more than that. thank you, dear, that's all i wanted. run along. [_glad to escape,_ catherine _leaves the room._] he was only respectful in a perfectly friendly way. [_slaps_ frederik _on the back._] you're satisfied now, i hope? frederik. no, i am not. if _she_ hasn't noticed what he has in mind, _i_ have. when i came into this room a few moments ago,--it was as plain as day. he's trying to make love to her under our very eyes. i saw him. i wish you would ask him to stay in his office and attend to his own business. [james _now re-enters on his way to the gardens._] peter. james, it has just occurred to me--that--[_james pauses._] what was your reason for wanting to give up your position? had it anything to do with my little girl? james. yes, sir. peter. you mean that--you--you love her? james. [_in a low voice._] yes, sir. peter. o-ho! [frederik _gives_ peter _a glance as though to say, "now, do you believe it?"_ james. but she doesn't know it, of course; she never would have known it. i never meant to say a word to her. i understand, sir. peter. james! come here ... here!... [_bringing_ james _up before him at the desk._] get your money at the office. you may have that position in florida. good-bye, james. james. i'm very sorry that ... good-bye, sir. frederik. you are not to tell her that you're going. you're not to bid her good-bye. peter. [_to_ frederik.] sh! let me attend to-james. [_ignoring_ frederik.] i'm sorry, mr. grimm, that-[_his voice falters._ peter. [_rising._] james, i'm sorry, too. you've grown up here and--tc! tc! good fortune to you--james. get this notion out of your head, and perhaps one day you'll come back to us. we shall see. [_shakes hands with_ james, _who leaves the room too much overcome to speak._ dr. macpherson. [_who has entered, saying carelessly to_ james _as he passes him._] hy're you, jim? glad jim's back. one of the finest lads i ever brought into this world. _the_ doctor _is a man of about_ peter's _age, but more powerfully built. he has the bent shoulders of the student and his face is exceedingly intellectual. he is the rare type of doctor who forgets to make out his bills. he has a grizzled grey beard, and his hair is touched with grey. he wears silver-rimmed spectacles. his substantial but unpressed clothing is made by the village tailor._ peter. good-morning, andrew. frederik. good-morning, doctor. dr. macpherson. [_casts a quick, professional glance at_ peter.] peter, i've come over to have a serious word with you. been on my mind all night. [_brings down a chair and sits opposite_ peter.] i--er--frederik ... [frederik, _who is not a favourite of the_ doctor's, _takes the hint and leaves the room_.] peter, have you provided for everybody in this house? peter. what? have i-dr. macpherson. you're a terrible man for planning, peter; but what have you done? [_casually_.] were you to die,--say to-morrow,--how would it be with--[_making a gesture to include the household_.]--the rest of them? peter. what do you mean? if i were to die to-morrow ... dr. macpherson. you won't. don't worry. good for a long time yet, but every one must come to it--sooner or later. i mean--what would katie's position be in this house? i know you've set your heart upon her marrying frederik, and all that sort of nonsense, but will it work? i've always thought 'twas a pity frederik wasn't james and james wasn't frederik. peter. what! dr. macpherson. oh, it's all very well if she wants frederik, but supposing she does not. peter, if you mean to do something for her--do it _now_. peter. now? you mean that i--you mean that i might ... die? dr. macpherson. all can and do. peter. [_studying the_ doctor's _face_.] you think ... dr. macpherson. the machinery is wearing out, peter. thought i should tell you. no cause for apprehension, but-peter. then why tell me? dr. macpherson. when i cured you of that cold--wet flowerbeds--two days ago, i made a discovery. [_seeing_ catherine _enter, he pauses. she is followed by_ marta, _carrying a tray containing coffee and a plate of waffles_.] coffee! i told you not to touch coffee, peter. it's rank poison. catherine. wouldn't you like a cup, doctor? peter. yes he'll take a cup. he won't prescribe it, but he'll drink it. dr. macpherson. [_horrified_.] and hot waffles between meals! peter. yes, he'll take hot waffles, too. [marta _goes to get another plate and more waffles, and_ catherine _follows her_.] now, andrew, you can't tell me that i'm sick. i won't have it. every day we hear of some old boy one hundred years of age who was given up by the doctors at twenty. no, sir! i'm going to live to see children in my house,--katie's babies creeping on my old floor; playing with my old watch-dog, toby. i've promised myself a long line of rosy grimms. dr. macpherson. my god, peter! that dog is fifteen years old now. do you expect nothing to change in your house? man, you're a home worshipper. however, i--i see no reason why--[_lying_.]you shouldn't reach a ripe old age. [_markedly, though feigning to treat the subject lightly_.] er-peter, i should like to make a compact with you ... that whoever _does_ go first--and you're quite likely to outlive me,--is to come back and let the other fellow know ... and settle the question. splendid test between old neighbours--real contribution to science. peter. make a compact to--stuff and nonsense! dr. macpherson. don't be too sure of that. peter. no, andrew, no, positively, no. i refuse. don't count upon me for any assistance in your spook tests. dr. macpherson. and how many times do you think _you've_ been a spook yourself? you can't tell me that man is perfect; that he doesn't live more than one life; that the soul doesn't go on and on. pshaw! the persistent personal energy must continue, or what _is_ god? [catherine _has re-entered with another cup, saucer and plate which she sets on the table, and pours out the coffee._ catherine. [_interested_.] were you speaking of--of ghosts, doctor? peter. yes, he has begun again. [_to_ catherine.] you're just in time to hear it. [_to_ dr. macpherson.] andrew, i'll stay behind, contented in _this_ life; knowing what i have here on earth, and you shall die and return with your--ha!--persistent personal whatever-it-is, and keep the spook compact. every time a knock sounds, or a chair squeaks, or the door bangs, i shall say, "sh! there's the doctor!" catherine. [_noticing a book which the_ doctor _has taken from his pocket, and reading the title_.] "are the dead alive?" dr. macpherson. i'm in earnest, peter. _i'll_ promise and i want you to promise, too. understand that i am not a so-called spiritist. i am merely a seeker after truth. [_puts more sugar in his coffee_. peter. that's what they _all_ are--seekers after truth. rubbish! do you really believe such stuff? dr. macpherson. i know that the dead are alive. they're here--here--near us--close at hand. [peter, _in derision, lifts the table-cloth and peeps under the table--then, taking the lid off the sugar-bowl, peers into it_.] some of the great scientists of the day are of the same opinion. peter. bah! dreamers! they accomplish nothing in the world. they waste their lives dreaming of the world to come. dr. macpherson. you can't call sir charles crookes, the inventor of crookes tubes,--a waster? nor sir oliver lodge, the great biologist; nor curie, the discoverer of radium; nor doctor lombroso, the founder of science of criminology; nor doctors maxwell, devesmã©, richet, professor james, of harvard, and our own professor hyslop. instead of laughing at ghosts, the scientific men of to-day are trying to lay hold of them. the frauds and cheats are being crowded from the field. science is only just peeping through the half-opened door which was shut until a few years ago. peter. if ever i see a ghost, i shall lay violent hands upon it and take it to the police station. that's the proper place for frauds. dr. macpherson. i'm sorry, peter, very sorry, to see that you, like too many others, make a jest of the most important thing in life. hyslop is right: man will spend millions to discover the north pole, but not a penny to discover his immortal destiny. peter. [_stubbornly_.] i don't believe in spook mediums and never shall believe in them. dr. macpherson. probably most professional mediums cheat--perhaps every one of them; but some of them are capable of real demonstrations at times. peter. once a swindler, always a swindler. besides, why can't my old friends come straight back to me and say, "peter grimm, here i am!" when they do--if they do--i shall be the first man to take off my hat to them and hold out my hand in welcome. dr. macpherson. you ask me why? why can't a telegram travel on a fence instead of on a wire? your friends could come back to you if you could put yourself in a receptive condition; but if you cannot, you must depend upon a medium--a sensitive. peter. a what? [_to_ catherine.] something new, eh? he has all the names for them. yesterday it was "apports"--flowers that fell down from nowhere and hit you on the nose. he talks like a medium's parrot. he has only to close his eyes and along comes the parade. spooks! spooky spooks! and now he wants me to settle my worldly affairs and join in the procession. catherine. [_puzzled_.] settle your worldly affairs? what do you mean, uncle peter? peter. [_evasively_.] just some more of his nonsense. doctor, you've seen a good many cross to the other world; tell me--did you ever see one of them come back--one? dr. macpherson. no. peter. [_sipping his coffee_.] never have, eh? and never will. take another cup of poison, andrew. _the_ doctor _gives his cup to_ catherine, _who fills it_. peter _passes the waffles to the_ doctor, _at the same time winking at_ catherine _as the_ doctor _takes another_. dr. macpherson. there was not perhaps the intimate bond between doctor and patients to bring them back. but in my own family, i have known of a case. peter. [_apart to_ catherine.] he's off again. catherine. [_eager to listen_.] please don't interrupt, uncle. i love to hear him tell of-dr. macpherson. i have known of a return such as you mention. a distant cousin died in london and she was seen almost instantly in new york. peter. she must have travelled on a biplane, andrew. dr. macpherson. if my voice can be heard from san francisco over the telephone, why cannot a soul with a god-given force behind it dart over the entire universe? is thomas edison greater than god? catherine. [_shocked_.] doctor! dr. macpherson. and they can't tuck it _all_ on telepathy. telepathy cannot explain the case of a spirit-message giving the contents of a sealed letter known only to the person that died. here's another interesting case. peter. this is better than "puss in boots," isn't it, katie? more--er-flibbertigibberty. katie always loved fairy stories. catherine. [_listening eagerly_.] uncle, please. dr. macpherson. [_ignoring_ peter, _speaking directly to_ catherine, _who is all attention_.] an officer on the polar vessel, the _jeannette_, sent to the artic regions by the new york _herald_, appeared at his wife's bedside. _she_ was in brooklyn--_he_ was on the polar sea. he said to her, "count." she distinctly heard a ship's bell and the word "count" again. she had counted six when her husband's voice said, "six bells--and the _jeanette_ is lost." the ship was really lost at the time she saw the vision. peter. a bad dream. "six bells and the"--ha! ha! spirit messages! suet pudding has brought me messages from the north pole, and i receive messages from kingdom come after i've eaten a piece of mince pie. dr. macpherson. there have been seventeen thousand other cases found to be worth investigation by the london society of psychical research. peter. [_changing_.] supposing, andrew, that i did "cross over"--i believe that's what you call dying,--that i _did_ want to come back to see how you and the little katie and frederik were getting on, how do you think i could manage to do it? dr. macpherson. when we hypnotize subjects, peter, our thoughts take possession of them. as we enter their bodies, we take the place of a something that leaves them--a shadow-self. this self can be sent out of the room--even to a long distance. this self leaves us entirely after death on the first, second or third day, or so i believe. this is the force which you would employ to come back to earth--the astral envelope. peter. yes, but what proof have you, doctor, that i've got an--an astral envelope. dr. macpherson. [_easily_.] de rochas has actually photographed it by radio-photography. peter. ha! ha! ha! ho! ho! dr. macpherson. mind you--they couldn't _see_ it when they photographed it. peter. i imagine not. see it? ho! ho! dr. macpherson. it stood a few feet away from the sleeper, and was located by striking at the air and watching for the corresponding portion of the sleeper's body to recoil. by pricking a certain part of this shadow-self with a pin, the cheek of the patient could be made to bleed. the camera was focussed on this part of the shadow-self for fifteen minutes. the result was the profile of a head. peter. [_after a pause_.] ... you believe that? dr. macpherson. the experiment has been repeated again and again. nobody acquainted with the subject denies it now. peter. spook pictures taken by professional mediums! [_turning away from the table as though he had heard enough._ dr. macpherson. de rochas, who took the pictures of which i speak, is a lawyer of standing; and the room was full of scientists who saw the pictures taken. peter. hypnotized--all of them. humbug, andrew! dr. macpherson. under these conditions, it is quite impossible to hypnotize a room full of people. perhaps you think the camera was hypnotized? in similar circumstances, says lombroso, an unnatural current of cold air went through the room and lowered the thermometer several degrees. can you hypnotize a thermometer? catherine. [_impressed_.] that's wonderful, doctor! peter. yes, it's a very pretty fairy story; but it would sound better set to shivery music. [_sings_.] tol! dol! dol! dol! [_rising to get his pipe and tobacco_.] no, sir! i refuse to agree to your compact. you cannot pick the lock of heaven's gate. we don't come back. god did enough for us when he gave us life and strength to work and the work to do. he owes us no explanations. i believe in the old-fashioned paradise with a locked gate. [_he fills his pipe and lights it_.] no bogies for me. dr. macpherson. [_rising_.] peter, i console myself with the thought that men have scoffed at the laws of gravitation, at vaccination, magnetism, daguerreotypes, steamboats, cars, telephones, wireless telegraphy and lighting by gas. [_showing feeling_.] i'm very much disappointed that you refuse my request. peter. [_laying down his pipe on the table_.] since you take it so seriously--here--[_offers his hand_.] i'll agree. i know you're an old fool--and i'm another. now then--[_shakes hands._] it's settled. whichever one shall go first--[_he bursts into laughter--then controlling himself_.] if i do come back, i'll apologize, andrew. dr. macpherson. do you mean it? peter. i'll apologize. wait [_taking the keys from the sideboard_.], let us seal the compact in a glass of my famous plum brandy. dr. macpherson. good! peter. [_as he passes off_.] we'll drink to spooks. catherine. you really do believe, doctor, that the dead can come back, don't you? dr. macpherson. of course i do, and why not? catherine. do you believe that you could come back here into this room and i could see you? dr. macpherson. you might not see me; but i could come back to this room. catherine. could you talk to me? dr. macpherson. yes. catherine. and could i hear you? dr. macpherson. i believe so. that's what we're trying to make possible. [catherine, _still wondering, passes off with the tray. from the cellar,_ peter _can be heard singing lustily._ peter. "if you want a bite that's good to eat, (tra, la, ritte, ra, la, la, la!) try out a goose that's fat and sweet, (tra, la, ritte, ra, la, la, la!") _during the song,_ mrs. batholommey _has given a quick tap on the door and entered. she is about forty years of age. her faded brown hair is streaked with grey. she wears a plain black alpaca costume._ mrs. batholommey. [_agitated_.] good-morning, doctor. fortunate that i found you alone. dr. macpherson. [_dryly_.] hy're you, mrs. batholommey? _the_ rev. henry batholommey _now enters. he is a man of about forty-five, wearing the frock coat, high waistcoat and square topped hat of a minister of the dutch reformed church._ rev. mr. batholommey. hy're, henry? _the_ rev. mr. batholommey _bows._ william _has returned from his errand and entered the room,--a picture-book under his arm. he sits up by the window, absorbed in the pictures--unnoticed by the others._ mrs. batholommey. [_closing the door left open by_ peter, _shutting out the sound of his voice_.] well, doctor ... [_she pauses for a moment to catch her breath and wipe her eyes_.] i suppose you've told him he's got to die. dr. macpherson. [_eyeing_ mrs. batholommey _with disfavour_.] who's got to die? mrs. batholommey. why, mr. grimm, of course. dr. macpherson. [_amazed_.] does the whole damned town know it? mrs. batholommey. oh! rev. mr. batholommey. easy, doctor. you consulted mr. grimm's lawyer and _his_ wife told _my_ wife. dr. macpherson. he gabbed, eh? hang the professional man who tells things to his wife. mrs. batholommey. doctor! rev. mr. batholommey. [_with solicitude_.] i greatly grieve to hear that mr. grimm has an incurable malady. his heart, i understand. [_shakes his head._ dr. macpherson. he's not to be told. is that clear? he may die in twenty minutes--may outlive us all--probably will. mrs. batholommey. [_pointing to_ rev. mr. batholommey.] it seems to me, doctor, that if _you_ can't do any more, it's _his_ turn. it's a wonder you doctors don't baptize the babies. rev. mr. batholommey. rose! mrs. batholommey. at the last minute, he'll want to make a will--and you know he hasn't made one. he'll want to remember the church and his charities and his friends; and if he dies before he can carry out his intentions, the minister will be blamed as usual. it's not fair. rev. mr. batholommey. sh! sh! my dear! these private matters-dr. macpherson. i'll trouble you, mistress batholommey, to attend to your own affairs. did you never hear the story of the lady who flattened her nose--sticking it into other people's business? rev. mr. batholommey. doctor! doctor! i can't have that! mrs. batholommey. let him talk, henry. no one in this town pays any attention to dr. macpherson since he took up with spiritualism. rev. mr. batholommey. rose! [_he motions to her to be silent, as_ peter, _coming up the stairs from the cellar, is heard singing_. peter. "drop in the fat some apples red, (tra, la, ritte, ra, la, la, la!) then spread it on a piece of bread, (tra, la, ritte, ra, la, la, la!)" [_he opens the door, carrying a big bottle in his hand; hailing the_ batholommeys _cheerfully_.] good-morning, good people. [_he puts the jug on the sideboard and hangs up the key. the_ batholommeys _look sadly at_ peter. mrs. batholommey _in the fore-ground tries to smile pleasantly, but can only assume the peculiarly pained expression of a person about to break terrible news._ rev. mr. batholommey. [_rising to the occasion--warmly grasping_ peter's _hand_.] ah, my dear friend! many thanks for the flowers william brought us, and the noble cheque you sent me. we're still enjoying the vegetables you generously provided. i _did_ relish the squash. peter. [_catching a glimpse of_ mrs. batholommey's _gloomy expression_.] anything distressing you this morning, mrs. batholommey? mrs. batholommey. no, no.... i hope _you're_ feeling well--er--i don't mean that--i-rev. mr. batholommey. [_cheerily_.] of course, she does; and why not, why not, dear friend? peter. will you have a glass of my plum brandy? mrs. batholommey. [_stiffly_.] no, thank you. as you know, i belong to the w.c.t.u. peter. pastor? rev. mr. batholommey. [_tolerantly_.] no, thank you. i am also opposed to er-peter. we're going to drink to spooks--the doctor and i. mrs. batholommey. [_with a startled cry_.] oh! [_lifts her handkerchief to her eyes_.] how can you! and at a time like this. the very idea--you of all people! peter. [_coming down with two glasses--handing one to the_ doctor.] you seem greatly upset, mrs. batholommey. something must have happened. rev. mr. batholommey. nothing, nothing, i assure you. my wife is a trifle nervous to-day. we must all keep up our spirits, mr. grimm. peter. of course. why not? [_looking at_ mrs. batholommey--_struck_.] i know why you're crying. you've been to a church wedding. [_to the_ doctor, _lifting his glass_.] to astral envelopes, andrew. [_they drink._ mrs. batholommey. [_with sad resignation_.] you were always kind to us, dear mr. grimm. there never was a kinder, better, sweeter man than you were. peter. than i _was_? rev. mr. batholommey. rose, my dear! mrs. batholommey. what _will_ become of william? [_weeps_. peter. william? why should you worry over william? i am looking after him. i don't understand-mrs. batholommey. [_seeing that she has gone too far_.] i only meant--it's too bad he had such an m-peter. an m--? mrs. batholommey. [_in pantomime--mouthing the word so that_ william _cannot hear_.] mother ... annamarie. peter. oh! ... mrs. batholommey. she ought to have told you or mr. batholommey who the f-was. peter. f--? mrs. batholommey. [_in pantomime--as before_.] father. peter. oh... [_spelling out the word_.] s-c-o-u-n-d-r-e-l--whoever he is! [_calls_.] william. [william _looks up from his book_.] you're very contented here with me, are you not? william. yes, sir. peter. and you want to stay here? william. yes, sir. [_at that moment, a country circus band--playing a typical parade march--blares out as it comes up some distant street_.] there's a circus in town. peter. a circus? william. yes, sir. the parade has started. [_opens the window and looks out towards left_.] here it comes-peter. [_hurrying to the door_.] where? where? william. [_pointing_.] there! peter. [_as delighted as_ william.] you're right. it's coming this way! here come the chariots. [_gestures to the_ batholommeys _to join him at the window. the music comes nearer and nearer--the parade is supposed to be passing._ william _gives a cry of delight as a clown appears at the window with handbills under his arm._ the clown. [_as he throws the handbills into the room_.] billy miller's big show and monster circus is in town this afternoon. only one ring. no confusion. [_seeing_ william.] circus day comes but once a year, little sir. come early and see the wild animals and hear the lions roar-r-r! mind! [_holding up his finger to_ william.] i shall expect to see you. wonderful troupe of trained mice in the side show. [_sings_.] "uncle rat has gone to town, ha! h'm! uncle rat has gone to town to buy miss mouse a--" [_ends the song abruptly_.] ha! ha! ha! ha! [_the_ clown _disappears, repeating "billy miller's big show," &c., until his voice is lost and the voices of shouting children are heard as they run after him._ peter. [_putting his hand in his pocket_.] we'll go. you may buy the tickets, william--two front seats. [frederik _re-enters with a floral catalogue._ mrs. batholommey. [_apart to_ rev. mr. batholommey--_looking at_ peter.] somebody ought to tell him. william. [_getting the money from_ peter.] i'm going! i'm going! [_dances_.] oh, mr. grimm, there ain't anyone else like you in the world. when the other boys laugh at your funny old hat, _i_ never do. [_pointing to_ peter's _hat on the peg._ peter. my hat? they laugh at my hat? william. we'll have such a good time at the circus. it's too bad you've got to die, mr. grimm. _there is a pause._ peter _stops short, looking at_ william. _the others are startled, but stand motionless, watching the effect of_ william's _revelation._ frederik _doesn't know what to make of it. there is an ominous silence in the room. then_ mrs. batholommey, _whose smile has been frozen on her face, takes_ william's _hand and is about to draw him away, when_ peter _lays his hand on_ william's _shoulder_. mrs. batholommey _steps back._ peter. [_kindly_.] yes, william, most people have to. ... what made you think of it just then? william. [_points to the_ doctor.] he said so. perhaps in twenty minutes. rev. mr. batholommey. [_quietly but very sternly_.] william! [william _now understands that he should not have repeated what he heard._ peter. don't frighten the boy. only children tell the truth. tell me, william--you heard the doctor say that? [william _is silent. he keeps his eyes on the_ clergyman _who is looking at him warningly. the tears run down his cheeks--he puts his fingers to his lips--afraid to speak_.] don't be frightened. you heard the doctor say that? william. [_his voice trembling_.] y--es, sir. peter. [_looks round the room--beginning to understand_.] ... what did you mean, andrew? dr. macpherson. i'll tell you, peter, when we're alone. peter. but ... [mrs. batholommey _shakes her finger threateningly at_ william _who whimpers_.] never mind. it popped out; didn't it, william? get the circus tickets and we'll have a fine time just the same. [william _goes for the tickets._ rev. mr. batholommey. i--er--good-morning, dear friend. [_takes_ peter's _hand_.] any time you 'phone for me--day or night--i'll run over instantly. god bless you, sir. i've never come to you for any worthy charity and been turned away--never. mrs. batholommey. [_suddenly overcome_] good-bye, mr. grimm. [_in tears, she follows her husband. the_ doctor _and_ peter _look at each other_. dr. macpherson. [_cigar in mouth--very abruptly_] it's cardiac valvular--a little valve--[_tapping heart_]--here. [_slaps_ peter _on the shoulder_] there's my 'phone, [_as a bell is heard faintly but persistently ringing across the street_] i'll be back. [_catches up his hat to hasten off._ peter. just a minute. dr. macpherson. [_turning_] don't fret yourself, peter. you're not to imagine you're worse than you are. [_angrily_.] don't funk! peter. [_calmly_] that wasn't my reason for detaining you, andrew. [_with a twinkle in his eye_] i merely wanted to say-dr. macpherson. yes? peter. that if there is anything in that ghost business of yours, i won't forget to come back and apologize for my want of faith. [_the_ doctor _goes home_. frederik _stands looking at his_ uncle. _there is a long pause._ peter _throws up both hands_] rubbish! doctors are very often wrong. it's all guess work, eh, fritz? frederik. [_thinking of his future in case of_ peter's _death_] yes, sir. peter. however, to be on the safe side, i'll take that nip of plum brandy. [_then thinking aloud_.] not yet ... not yet ... i'm not ready to die yet. i have so much to live for. ... when i'm older ... when i'm a little old leaf ready to curl up, eh, fritz? [_he drains the glass. goes up to the peg, takes dawn his hat, looks at it as though remembering_ william's _words, then puts it back on the peg. he shows no sign of taking_ dr. macpherson's _verdict to heart--in fact, he doesn't believe it_.] frederik, get me some small change for the circus--enough for william and me. frederik. are you going ... after all? ... and with that child? peter. why not? frederik. [_suddenly showing feeling_.] that little tattler? a child that listens to everything and just told you ... he shouldn't be allowed in this part of the house. he should be sent away. peter. [_astonished_.] why do you dislike him, frederik? he's a fine little fellow. you surprise me, my boy ... [catherine _enters and goes to the piano, running her hands softly over the keys--playing no melody in particular._ peter _sits in his big chair at the table and picks up his pipe._ frederik, _with an inscrutable face, now strikes a match and holds it to his uncle's pipe_. peter _thoughtfully takes one or two puffs; then speaking so as not to be heard by_ catherine.] frederik, i want to think that after i'm gone, everything will be the same here ... just as it is now. frederik. yes, sir. [_sitting near_ peter. peter. just as it is ... [frederik _nods assent_. peter _smokes. the room is very cheerful. the bright midday sunshine creeps through the windows,-almost causing a haze in the room--and resting on the pots and vases and bright flowers on the tables._ catherine. [_singing_.] "the bird so free in the heavens"-peter. [_looking up--still in thought--seeming not to hear the song_.] and my charities attended to. [frederik _nods assent_. catherine. "is but the slave of the nest; for all must toil as god wills it,- must laugh and toil and rest." peter. [_who has been thinking_.] just as though i were here. catherine. "the rose must blow in the garden"-peter. william, too. don't forget _him_, frederik. frederik. no, uncle. catherine. "the bee must gather its store; the cat must watch the mouse-hole; the dog must guard the door." peter. [_as though he had a weight off his mind_.] we won't speak of this again. it's understood. [_smokes, listening with pleasure as_ catherine _finishes the song_. catherine. [_repeats the chorus_.] "the cat must watch the mouse-hole; the dog must guard the door. la la, la la," &c. _at the close of the song,_ peter _puts down his pipe and beckons to_ catherine. peter. give me the book. [catherine _brings the bible to_ peter _as the garden bell rings outside_. frederik. noon. peter. [_opening the book at the history of the family--points to the closely written page_.] under my name i want to see this written: "married: catherine and frederik." i want to see you settled, katie-[_smiling_] settled happily for life. [_he takes her hand and draws_ frederik _towards his chair_. catherine, _embarrassed, plays with a rose in her belt_.] will you?... catherine. i ... i don't know.... peter. [_taking the rose and her hand in his own_] i know for you, my dear. make me happy. catherine. there's nothing i wouldn't do to make you happy, uncle, but-frederik. you know that i love you, kitty. peter. yes, yes, yes. _that's_ all understood. he has always loved you. everybody knows it. catherine. uncle... peter. make it a june wedding. we have ten days yet. [_slipping her hand in_ frederik's, _taking the rose, and tapping their clasped hands with the flower as he speaks._ frederik. say yes, kitty. catherine. [_nervously_] i couldn't in ten days.... frederik. but-peter. [_to_ frederik.] who is arranging the marriage, you or i? say a month, then, katie.... promise me. catherine. [_her lips set._] if you have set your heart on it, i will, uncle peter ... i will ... i promise. peter. [_takes a ring of his hand._] the wedding ring--my dear mother's. [_gives it to_ catherine.] you've made me very happy, my dear. [_he kisses_ catherine. _then, releasing her, he nods to_ frederik _to follow his example._ peter _turns his back on the young people and smokes._ frederik. catherine ... [_dreading his embrace, she retreats towards_ peter _and, as she touches him, his pipe falls to the floor. she looks at him, startled._ frederik, _struck, looking intently at_ peter _who sits motionless._ catherine. uncle peter ... uncle! what is it? what's the matter? [_runs to the door--calling across the street._] doctor! there he is--just going out. [_calls._] come back. come back, doctor. [_to_ frederik.] i felt it. i felt something strange a minute ago. i felt it. frederik. [_taking_ peter's _hand._] uncle peter! catherine. [_coming back to_ peter _and looking at him transfixed._] uncle peter! answer me! ... it's katie! _the_ doctor _enters hurriedly._ dr. macpherson. is it ... peter? [_he goes quickly to_ peter _and listens to his heart._ catherine _and_ frederik _on either side of him. the_ doctor _with tender sympathy takes_ catherine _in his arms._ william. [_rushes in with two tickets in his hand, leaving the door open. the circus music is faintly heard._] mr. grimm! dr. macpherson. sh! [_a pause as though breaking the news to them all._] he's gone. frederik. [_questioningly--dazed._] dead? [catherine _is overcome._ william. [_at_ peter's _side--holding up the circus ticket._] he can't be dead ... i've got his ticket to the circus. curtain. act ii. scene. _the second act takes place ten days later, towards the close of a rainy afternoon. a fire is burning in the grate and a basket of hickory wood stands beside the hearth._ peter's _hat is no longer on the peg. his pipes and jar of tobacco are missing. a number of wedding presents are set on a table, some unopened. the interior of the room, with its snapping fire, forms a pleasant contrast to the gloomy exterior. the day is fading into dusk._ mrs. batholommey _is at the piano, playing the wedding march from "lohengrin." four little girls are grouped about her, singing the words to the air._ _"faithful and true: we lead ye forth, where love triumphant shall lighten the way."_ _"bright star of love, flower of the earth, shine on ye both on love's perfect day."_ mrs. batholommey. that's better. children, remember that this is to be a very _quiet_ wedding. you're to be here at noon to-morrow. you're not to speak as you enter the room and take your places near the piano. miss staats will come down from her room,--at least i suppose she will--and will stand ... [_thinks._] i don't know where--but you're to stop when _i_ look at you. watch me as though i were about to be married. [_she takes her place at the foot of the stairs and the children repeat the song until she has marched across the room and stationed herself in some appropriate corner. as_ frederik _appears from the hall, where he leaves his raincoat and umbrella,_ mrs. batholommey _motions the children to silence._] that will do, dears, thank you. hurry home between showers. [_the children go as she explains to_ frederik.] my sunday-school scholars.... i thought your dear uncle would like a song at the wedding. i know how bright and cheery he would have been--poor man. dear, noble, charitable soul! frederik. [_in a low voice._] where's catherine? mrs. batholommey. [_taking up her fancy work, seating herself._] upstairs. frederik. with that sick child? tc! mrs. batholommey. catherine finds it a pleasure to sit beside the little fellow. william is very much better. frederik. [_taking a telegram from his pocket-book._] well, we shall soon be off to europe. i've just had a telegram to say a cabin has been reserved for me on the _imperator_. to-morrow, thank god, we shall take the afternoon train to new york. mrs. batholommey. i must confess that i'm very glad. of course, i'm happy to stay and chaperone catherine; but poor mr. batholommey has been alone at the parsonage for ten days ... ever since your dear uncle ... [_pauses, unwinding yarn, then unburdening her mind._] i didn't think at first that catherine could persuade herself to marry you. frederik. [_sharply._] i don't understand you, mrs. batholommey. mrs. batholommey. i mean she seemed so averse to--to an immediate marriage; but of course it was your uncle's last request, and that influenced her more than anything else. so it's to be a june wedding, after all; he has his wish. you'll be married in ten days from the time he left us. [_remembering._] some more letters marked personal came for him while you were out. i put them in the drawer--[_points to desk._] with the rest. it seems odd to think the postman brings your uncle's letters regularly, yet _he_ is not here. frederik. [_looking towards the door of the office._] did hartman come? mrs. batholommey. yes. he seemed rather surprised that you'd sent for him. frederik. did you--er--tell him that we intend to leave to-morrow? mrs. batholommey. i spoke of your wedding trip,--yes. frederik. did he seem inclined to stay? mrs. batholommey. he didn't say. he seemed very much agitated. [marta _enters, carrying a night lamp._] we'll pack miss catherine's things to-night, marta. [_she notices the lamp._] the night lamp for william? [_looks up towards the door of his room._] go in very quietly. he's asleep, i think. [marta _goes up the stairs and into_ william's _room._] by the way, mr. batholommey was very much excited when he heard that your uncle had left a personal memorandum concerning us. we're anxious to hear it read. [frederik, _paying no attention to her words, is glancing at the wedding presents._] we're anxious to hear it read. james. [_entering._] did you wish to see me? frederik. [_offering his hand to_ james.] how do you do, hartman? i'm very glad you consented to come back. my uncle never went into his office again after you left. there is some private correspondence concerning matters of which i know nothing; it lies on your old desk.... i'm anxious to settle everything to-night. mrs. batholommey _leaves the room._ james. very well. i have no doubt but that i can get through with it by midnight. frederik. if you care to remain longer with the firm, i--er-james. no, thank you. frederik. i appreciate the fact that you came on my uncle's account. i have no ill-feeling against you, hartman. james. i'm not refusing to stay because of any ill-feeling. i'm going because i know that you'll sell out before your uncle's cold in his grave. i don't care to stay to see the old place change hands. frederik. i? sell out? my intention is to carry out every wish of my dear old uncle's. james. i hope so. i haven't forgotten that you wanted him to sell out to hicks of rochester on the very day he died. [_exit into the office._ catherine _comes from_ william's _room, simply dressed in white--no touch of mourning._ frederik _goes to the foot of the stairs and calls softly._ frederik. kitty! here is our marriage license. i have the cabin on the _imperator_. everything is arranged. catherine. [_coming downstairs._] yes. ... i meant to speak to you--again. frederik. to-morrow's the day, dear. catherine. [_very subdued._] yes.... frederik. a june wedding--just as uncle peter wished. catherine. [_as before_.] yes.... just as he wished. everything is just as he.... [_with a change of manner--earnestly--looking at_ frederik.] frederik, i don't want to go away. i don't want to go to europe. if only i could stay quietly here in--[_tears in her voice as she looks round the room._]--in my dear home. frederik. why do you want to stay in this old cottage--with its candles and lamps and shadows? it's very gloomy, very depressing. catherine. i don't want to leave this house.... i don't want any home but this. [_panic-stricken._] don't take me away frederik. i know you've never really liked it at grimm's manor. are you sure you'll want to come back to live here? frederik. [_as though speaking to a child._] of course. i'll do anything you ask. catherine. i--i've always wanted to please ... [_after a slight pause, finding it difficult to speak his name._] uncle peter.... i felt that i owed everything to him.... if he had lived ... if i could see _his_ happiness at our marriage--it would make _me_ happy; [_pathetically._] but he's gone ... and ... i'm afraid we're making a mistake. i don't feel towards you as i ought, frederik. i've told you again and again; but i want to tell you once more: i'm willing to marry you ... but i don't love you--i never shall. frederik. how do you know? catherine. i know ... i know.... it seems so disloyal to speak like this after i promised _him_; but-frederik. yes, you _did_ promise uncle peter you'd marry me, didn't you? catherine. yes. frederik. and he died believing you? catherine. yes. frederik. then it all comes to this: are you going to live up to your promise? catherine. that's it. that's what makes me try to live up to it. [_wiping her eyes._] but you know how i feel.... you understand.... frederik. perfectly; you don't quite know your own mind.... very few young girls do, i suppose. i love you and in time you'll grow to care for me. [marta _re-enters from_ william's _room and closing the door comes down the stairs and passes off._] what _are_ we to do with that child? catherine. he's to stay here, of course. frederik. the child should be sent to some institution. what claim has he on you--on any of us? catherine. why do you dislike him? frederik. i don't, but-catherine. yes, you do. i can't understand it. i remember how angry you were when you came back from college and found him living here. you never mention his mother's name, yet you played together as children. when uncle tried to find annamarie and bring her back, you were the only one opposed to it. frederik. william is an uncomfortable child to have in the house. he has a way of staring at people as though he had a perpetual question on his lips. it's most annoying. catherine. what question? frederik. as for his mother--i've never seen her since she left this house and i don't care to hear her name on your lips. her reputation is--[_the rain starts pattering on the shingled roof._] tc! more rain ... the third day of it.... [_going to the window--calling._] otto! [_angrily._] otto! see what the wind has done--those trellises. [_bangs the window shut._] that old gardener should have been laid off years ago.... by the way, his son james is here for a few hours--to straighten matters out. i must see how he's getting on. [_taking her hand, drawing her towards the table with a change of manner._] have you seen all the wedding presents, kitty? i'll be back in a few minutes. [_pats her cheek and exits._ catherine _stands over her wedding presents just as he left her--not looking at them--her eyes filled with tears. the door is suddenly opened and the_ doctor _enters, a tweed shawl over his shoulders, wearing a tweed cap. he has a book under his arm._ dr. macpherson. how's william? [catherine _tries to hide her tears, but he sees through her. he tosses his cap, coat and book on the sofa._] what's the matter? catherine. nothing.... i was only thinking.... i was hoping that those we love ... and lose ... _can't_ see us here. i'm beginning to believe there's not much happiness in _this_ world. dr. macpherson. why, you little snip. i've a notion to spank you. talking like that with life before you! read this book, child; [_gesturing towards the book on the sofa._] it proves that the dead do see us; they do come back. [_walks to the foot of the stairs--turns._] catherine, i understand that you've not a penny to your name--unless you marry frederik; that he has inherited you along with the orchids and tulips. don't let that influence you. if peter's plans bind you--and you look as though they did--my door's open. think it over. it's not too late. [_goes half-way up the stairs--then pauses._] don't let the neighbours' opinions and a few silver spoons--[_pointing to the wedding presents_ stand in the way of your future. [_exit into_ william's _room. the rain increases. the sky grows blacker--the room darker._ catherine _gives a cry and stretches out her arms, not looking up._ catherine. uncle peter! uncle peter! why did you do it? why did you ask it? oh, dear! oh, dear! if you could see me now. [_she stands rigid--her arms outstretched._ marta, _who has silently entered from the dining-room with fresh candles, goes to_ catherine. catherine _suddenly buries her face on_ marta's _broad breast, breaking into sobs; then recovering, wipes her eyes._] there, there ... i mustn't cry ... others have troubles, too, haven't they? marta. others have troubles, too. catherine. i had hoped, marta, that annamarie would have heard of uncle's loss and come back to us at this time.... marta. if it had only brought us all together once more; but no message ... nothing ... i cannot understand. catherine. she knows that our door is open.... _the rain beats against the windows. a sharp double knock is heard at the door._ catherine _starts as though suddenly brought to herself, hastily goes into the next room, taking the_ doctor's _book with her._ marta _has hurried towards the front door, when the_ rev. mr. batholommey _and_ colonel lawton _appear in the hall as though they had entered quickly, to escape the storm._ marta, _greeting them, passes of to tell_ frederik _of their presence. the_ rev. mr. batholommey _wears a long, black cloth, rain-proof coat._ colonel lawton _wears a rubber poncho._ colonel lawton _is a tall man with a thin brown beard and moustache, about forty-eight. he is dressed in a prince albert coat, unpressed trousers, and a negligã©e shirt. he wears spectacles and has a way of throwing back his head and peering at people before answering them. the_ rev. mr. batholommey _sets his umbrella in the hall and the_ colonel _hangs his broad-brimmed hat on the handle--as though to let it drip._ rev. mr. batholommey. brr! i believe it's raining icicles. colonel lawton. [_taking off his overshoes._] gee whillikins! what a day! good thing the old windmill out yonder is tied up. great weather for baptisms, parson. [_there is a faint, far-away rumble of thunder._ frederik _enters._] well, here we are, frederik, my boy--at the time you mentioned. rev. mr. batholommey. how are you, frederik? colonel lawton _crosses to the fire, followed by the_ rev. mr. batholommey. frederik. [_who has gone to the desk for a paper lying under a paper-weight._] i sent for you to hear a memorandum left by my uncle. i only came across it yesterday. [_there is a louder peal of thunder. a flash of lightning illuminates the room._ colonel lawton. i must have drawn up ten wills for the old gentleman, but he always tore 'em up. may i have a drink of his plum brandy, frederik? frederik. help yourself. pastor? rev. mr. batholommey. er--er-colonel lawton _goes to the sideboard and pours out two drinks from a decanter. a heavy roll of thunder now ends in a sharp thunderclap._ mrs. batholommey, _who is entering the room, gives a cry and puts her hands over her face._ colonel lawton _bolts his whiskey. the_ rev. mr. batholommey _takes a glass and stands with it in his hand._ mrs. batholommey. [_removing her hands in time to see the brandy._] why, henry! what are you doing? are your feet wet? rev. mr. batholommey. no, rose; they're not. i want a drink and i'm going to take it. it's a bad night. [_drinks._ colonel lawton. [_throws a hickory log on the fire, which presently blazes up, making the room much lighter._] go ahead, frederik. [_sits._ rev. mr. batholommey _has drawn up a chair for his wife, and now seats himself before the snapping hickory fire._ rev. mr. batholommey. i knew that your uncle would remember his friends and his charities. he was so liberal! one might say of him that he was the very soul of generosity. he gave in such a free-handed, princely fashion. frederik. [_reading in a businesslike manner._] for mrs. batholommey-mrs. batholommey. the dear man--to think that he remembered me! i knew he'd remember the church and mr. batholommey, of course; but to think that he'd remember me! he knew that my income was very limited. he was so thoughtful! his purse was always open. frederik. [_eyes_ mrs. batholommey _for a second, then continues._] for mr. batholommey--[rev. mr. batholommey _nods solemnly._] and the colonel. colonel lawton. [_taking out a cigar._] he knew that i did the best i could for him ... [_his voice breaks._] the grand old man. [_recovering._] what'd he leave me? mrs. b.--er? [_nods inquiringly at_ mrs. batholommey, _who bows assent, and he lights his cigar._ frederik. [_glancing at the paper._] mrs. batholommey, he wished you to have his miniature--with his affectionate regards. mrs. batholommey. dear old gentleman--and er--yes? frederik. to mr. batholommey-mrs. batholommey. but--er--you didn't finish with me. frederik. you're finished. mrs. batholommey. i'm finished? frederik. you may read it yourself if you like. rev. mr. batholommey. no, no, no. she'll take your word for it. [_firmly._] rose! frederik. [_reads._] "to mr. batholommey, my antique watch fob--with my profound respects." [_continues._] to colonel lawton-mrs. batholommey. his watch fob? is _that_ what he left to _henry_? is that all? [_as_ frederik _nods._] well! if he had no wish to make _your_ life easier, henry, he should at least have left something for the church. oh! won't the congregation have a crow to pick with you! frederik. [_reading._] "to my life-long friend, colonel lawton, i leave my most cherished possession." [colonel lawton _has a look on his face as though he were saying, "ah! i'll get something worth while."_ mrs. batholommey. [_angrily._] when the church members hear that-colonel lawton. [_chewing his cigar._] i don't know why he was called upon to leave anything to the church--he gave it thousands; and only last month, he put in chimes. as _i_ look at it, he wished to give you something he had _used_--something personal. perhaps the miniature and the fob _ain't_ worth three whoops in hell,--it's the sentiment of the thing that counts--[_chewing the word with his cigar._] the sentiment. drive on, fred. frederik. "to colonel lawton, my father's prayer-book." colonel lawton. [_suddenly changing--dazed._] his prayer-book ... me? mrs. batholommey. [_seeing_ frederik _lay down the paper and rise._] is that all? frederik. that's all. colonel lawton. [_still dazed._] a prayer-book.... me? well, i'll be-[_struck._] here, parson, let's swap. you take the prayer-book--i'll take the old fob. rev. mr. batholommey. [_stiffly._] thank you. i already _have_ a prayer-book. [_goes to the window and looks out--his back turned to the others--trying to control his feelings._ mrs. batholommey. [_her voice trembling with vexation and disappointment._] well, all that i can say is--i'm disappointed in your uncle. colonel lawton. is it for this you hauled us out in the rain, frederik? mrs. batholommey. [_bitterly._] i see now ... he only gave to the church to show off. rev. mr. batholommey. rose! ... i myself am disappointed, but-mrs. batholommey. he did! or why didn't he _continue_ his work? he was _not_ a generous man. he was a hard, uncharitable, selfish old man. rev. mr. batholommey. [_horrified._] rose, my dear! mrs. batholommey. he was! if he were here, i'd say it to his face. the congregation sicked _you_ after him. now that he's gone and you'll get nothing more, they'll call you slow--slow and pokey. you'll see! you'll see to-morrow. rev. mr. batholommey. sh! mrs. batholommey. as for the colonel, who spent half his time with mr. grimm, what is his reward? a watch-fob! [_prophetically._] henry, mark my words--this will be the end of _you_. it's only a question of a few weeks. one of these new football playing ministers, just out of college, will take _your_ place. it's not what you _preach_ now that counts; it's what you coax out of the rich parishioners' pockets. rev. mr. batholommey. [_in a low voice._] _mrs._ batholommey! mrs. batholommey. religion doesn't stand where it did, henry--there's no denying that. there was a time when people had to go to church--they weren't decent if they didn't. now you have to wheedle 'em in. the church needs funds in these days when a college professor is openly saying that-[_her voice breaks._] the star of bethlehem was a comet. [_weeps._ rev. mr. batholommey. control yourself. i must insist upon it, mrs. batholommey. mrs. batholommey. [_breaking down--almost breathlessly._] oh! if i said all the things i feel like saying about peter grimm--well--i shouldn't be fit to be a clergyman's wife. not to leave his dear friends a-colonel lawton. he _wasn't_ liberal; but, for god's sake, madam, pull yourself together and think what he ought to have done for me!--i've listened to his plans for twenty years. i've virtually given up my business for him, and what have i got out of it? not a button! not a button! a bible. still _i'm_ not complaining. hang that chimney, frederik, it's smoking. [colonel lawton _stirs the fire--a log falls out and the flame goes down. the room has gradually grown darker as the night approaches._ mrs. batholommey. [_turning on_ colonel lawton.] oh, you've feathered your nest, colonel! you're a rich man. colonel lawton. [_enraged, raising his voice._] what? i never came here that _you_ weren't begging. frederik. [_virtuously--laying down the paper._] well, i'm disgusted! when i think how much more i should have if he hadn't continually doled out money to every one of you! colonel lawton. what? frederik. he was putty in your hands. mrs. batholommey. yes, you can afford to defend his memory--you've got the money. frederik. i don't defend his memory. he was a gullible old fossil, and the whole town knew it. mrs. batholommey. _you_ did at any rate. i've heard you flatter him by the hour. frederik. of course. he liked flattery and i gave him what he wanted. why not? i gave him plenty. the rest of you were at the same thing; and i had the pleasure of watching him give you the money that belonged to me--to _me_--my money.... what business had he to be generous with my money? [_the_ colonel _strikes a match to light his cigar, and, as it flares up, the face of_ frederik _is seen--distorted with anger._] i'll tell you this: had he lived much longer, there would have been nothing left for me. it's a fortunate thing for me that--[_he pauses, knowing that he has said too much. the room is now very dark. the rain has subsided. everything is quiet outside. there is not a sound, save the ticking of the clock._ rev. mr. batholommey. [_solemnly--breaking the pause._] young man, it might have been better had mr. grimm given his _all_ to charity--for he has left his money to an ingrate. frederik. [_laughing derisively._] ha! ha! mrs. batholommey. sh! someone's coming. _all is quiet. the clock ticks in the dark. the door opens._ frederik. [_with a change of voice._] come in. [_nobody enters._] where's a light? we've been sitting in the dark like owls. come in. [_a pause. he strikes a match and holds it above his head. the light shows the open door. a wind, blowing through the doorway, causes the match to flicker, and_ frederik _protects it with his hand._ colonel lawton. i'll see who's ... [_looks out._] no one. mrs. batholommey. someone _must_ be there. who opened the door? [_the wind puts out the match in_ frederik's _hand. the room is once more in semi-darkness._] there ... it closed again ... [frederik _strikes another match and holds it up. the door is seen to be closed._ colonel lawton. [_who is nearest to the door._] i didn't touch it. frederik. [_blowing out the match._] i'll have the lamps brought in. mrs. batholommey. curious ... rev. mr. batholommey. it was the wind--a draught. colonel lawton. [_returning to his chair._] must have been. catherine. [_entering with a lamp._] did someone call me? _without pausing, she sets the lamp on the table down right--opposite the group of characters. she turns up the wick and _peter grimm _is seen standing in the room--half in shadow. he is as he was in life. the clothes he wears appear to be those he wore about his house in the first act. he carries his hat in his hand. he has the same kind smile, the same deferential manner, but his face is more spiritual and years younger. the lamp, which _catherine_ has placed on the table, brightens the room._ peter. [_whose eyes never leave_ catherine.] yes ... i called you.... i've come back. frederik. [_to_ catherine.] no. peter. don't be frightened, katie. it's the most natural thing in the world. you wanted me and i came. frederik. why? what made you think someone called you? catherine. i'm so accustomed to hear uncle peter's voice in this room, that sometimes i forget he's not here ... i can't get over it! i was almost sure i heard him speak ... but, of course, as soon as i came in--i remembered.... but some one must have called me. frederik. no. peter _stands looking at them, perplexed; not being able to comprehend as yet that he is not seen._ catherine. isn't it curious ... to hear your name and turn and ... [_unconsciously, she looks in_ peter's _face._] no one there? rev. mr. batholommey. [_kindly._] nerves ... imagination. frederik. you need a complete change. [_crossing to the door._] for heaven's sake, let's have more light or we shall all be hearing voices. peter. strange.... nobody seems to see me.... it's--it's extraordinary! katie! ... katie! ... [_his eyes have followed_ catherine _who is now at the door._ catherine. [_pausing._] perhaps it was the book i was reading that made me think i heard.... the doctor lent it to me. frederik. [_pooh-poohing._] oh! catherine. [_half to herself._] if he _does_ know, if he _can_ see, he'll be comforted by the thought that i'm going to do everything he wanted. [_she passes out of the room._ peter. [_showing that he does not want her to carry out his wishes._] no, no, don't ... frederik, i want to speak to you. [frederik, _not glancing in_ peter's _direction, lights a cigarette._ mrs. batholommey. well, frederik, i hope the old gentleman can see his mistake _now_. peter. i can see several mistakes. [rev. mr. batholommey _rises and goes towards the door, pausing in front of_ peter _to take out his watch._] ... mr. batholommey, i'm glad to see you in my house.... i'm very sorry that you can't see me. i wasn't pleased with my funeral sermon; it was very gloomy--very. i never was so depressed in my life. mrs. batholommey. [_to_ frederik.] do you know what i should like to say to your uncle? peter. i know. rev. mr. batholommey. i hope at least you'll care for the parish poor as your uncle did--and keep on with _some_ of his charities. peter. [_putting his hand on_ rev. mr. batholommey's _shoulder._] that's all attended to. i arranged all that with frederik. he must look after my charities. frederik. i might as well tell you now--you needn't look to me. it's uncle peter's fault if your charities are cut off. rev. mr. batholommey. [_half-doubtingly._] it doesn't seem possible that he made no arrangements to continue his good works. [frederik _remains stolid._ rev. mr. batholommey _puts back his watch after glancing at it._] just thirty minutes to make a call. [_goes into the hall to put on his overshoes, coat, &c., leaving_ peter's _hand extended in the air._ colonel lawton. [_rising._] i must be toddling. [_pauses._] it's queer, frederik, how things turn out in this world. [_he stands, thinking matters over--cigar in mouth, his hand on his chin._ peter. [_slipping his hand through_ colonel lawton's _arm. they seem to look each other in the eye._] you were perfectly right about it, thomas, i should have made a will ... i--suppose it _is_ a little too late, isn't it?... it would be--er--unusual to do it now, wouldn't it? colonel lawton, _who has heard nothing--seen nothing--moves away as though_ peter _had never held his arm, and goes up into the hall for his cape and overshoes._ colonel lawton. [_noticing an old gold-headed walking-stick in the hall._] oh, er--what are you going to do with all the old man's family relics, frederik? frederik. the junk, you mean? i shall lay it on some scrap-heap, i suppose. it's not worth a penny. colonel lawton. i'm not so sure of that. they say there's a lot of money paid for this sort of trash. frederik. is that so? not a bad idea to have a dealer in to look it over. peter _stands listening, a faint smile on his face._ mrs. batholommey. if i could have the old clock--cheap, frederik, i'd take it off your hands. frederik. i'll find out how much it's worth. i shall have everything appraised. [_sets his watch by the clock._ mrs. batholommey _gives him a look and joins her husband at the door._ colonel lawton. good-night. [_exit, closing the door._ mrs. batholommey. [_as_ rev. mr. batholommey _goes out--calling after him._] henry, catherine wants you to come back for supper. [mrs. batholommey _leaves the room too disgusted for words._ frederik _goes into the office._ peter. [_now alone._] we live and learn ... and oh! what i have learned since i came back.... [_he goes to his own particular peg in the vestibule and hangs up his hat. he glances at the wedding presents. presently he sees the flowers which_ catherine _has placed on the desk. with a smile, he touches the flowers._ marta _enters with another lamp, which she places on a table. as_ peter's _eyes rest on_ marta, _he nods and smiles in recognition, waiting for a response._] well, marta?... don't you know your old master?... no?... no?... [_she winds the clock and leaves the room._] i seem to be a stranger in my own house ... yet the watch-dog knew me and wagged his tail as i came in. [_he stands trying to comprehend it all._] well! well! frederik. [_looking at his watch, re-enters from the office and goes to the 'phone, which presently rings._ frederik _instantly lifts the receiver as though not wishing to attract attention. in a low voice._] yes ... i was waiting for you. how are you, mr. hicks? [_listens._] i'm not anxious to sell--no. i prefer to carry out my dear old uncle's wishes. [peter _eyes him--a faint smile on his lips._] if i got my price? well ... of course in that case ... i might be tempted. to-morrow? no, i can't see you to-morrow. i'm going to be married to-morrow, and leave at once for new york. thank you. [_listens._] to-night? very well, but i don't want it known. i'll sell, but it must be for more than the price my uncle refused. make it ten thousand more and it's done. [_listens._] you'll come to-night?... yes, yes.... [_listens at the 'phone._] the dear old man told you his plans never failed, eh? god rest his soul! [_laughing indulgently._] ha! ha! ha! peter. ha! ha! ha! frederik. [_echoing_ hicks' _words._] what would he say if he knew? what could he say? everything must change. _a far-away rumble of thunder is heard--the lightning flickers at the window and a flash is seen on the telephone which tinkles and responds as though from the electric shock. exclaiming "ugh,"_ frederik _drops the receiver--which hangs down._ peter. [_the storm passes as he speaks into the receiver without touching the telephone._] good-evening, my friend. we shall soon meet--face to face. you won't be able to carry this matter through.... [_looking into space as though he could see the future._] you're not well and you're going out to supper to-night; ... you will eat something that will cause you to pass over.... i shall see you to-morrow.... a happy crossing! frederik. [_picks up the receiver._] hello?... you don't feel well, you say? [_then echoing the purport of_ hicks' _answer._] i see.... your lawyer can attend to everything to-night without you. very well. it's entirely a question of money, mr. hicks. send your lawyer to the grimm manor hotel. i'll arrange at once for a room. good-bye. [_hangs up the receiver._] that's off my mind. [_he lights a fresh cigarette--his face expressing the satisfaction he feels in the prospect of a perfectly idle future._ peter _looks at him as though to say: "and that's the boy whom i loved and trusted!"_ frederik _gets his hat, throws his coat over his arm, and hastens out._ peter. [_turns and faces the door leading into the next room, as though he could feel the presence of some one waiting there._] yes ... i am still in the house. come in ... come in ... [_he repeats the signal of the first act._] ou--oo. [_the door opens slowly--and_ catherine _enters as though at_ peter's _call. she looks about her, not understanding. he holds out his arms to her._ catherine _walks slowly towards him. he takes her in his arms, but she does not respond. she does not know that she is being held._] there! there!... don't worry.... it's all right.... we'll arrange things very differently. i've come back to change all my plans. [_she moves away a step--just out of his embrace. he tries to call her back._] katie! ... can't i make my presence known to _you_? katie! can't my love for you outlive _me_? isn't it here in the home?... don't cry. [_she moves about the room in thought. as_ peter _watches her--she pauses near his desk._ catherine. [_suddenly._] crying doesn't help matters. peter. she hears me. she doesn't know it, but she hears me. she's cheering up. [_she inhales the flowers--a half smile on her lips._] that's right, you haven't smiled before since i died. [_suddenly giving way to the realization of her loss_, catherine _sighs._ peter. [_correcting himself._] i--i mean--since i learned that there was a happier place than the world i left.... i'm a trifle confused. i've not had time to adjust myself to these new conditions. [catherine _smiles sadly--goes up to the window, and, leaning against the pane, looks out into the night._ peter _continues comfortingly._] the dead have never really died, you know. we couldn't die if we tried. we're all about you.... look at the gardens: they've died, haven't they? but there they are all the better for it. death is the greatest thing in the world. it's really a--ha!--delightful experience. what is it, after all? a nap from which we waken rested, refreshened ... a sleep from which we spring up like children tumbling out of bed--ready to frolic through another world. i was an old man a few days ago; now i'm a boy. i feel much younger than you--much younger. [_a conflict is going on in_ catherine's _mind. she walks to the chair by the fireplace and sits--her back to the audience. he approaches her and lays a tender hand on her shoulder._] i know what you're thinking.... katie, i want you to break that very foolish promise i asked you to make. you're almost tempted to. break it! break it at once; then--[_glancing smilingly towards the door through which he came--as though he wished to leave--like a child longing to go back to play._] then i could--take the journey back in peace.... i can't go until you do--and i ... i long to go.... isn't my message any clearer to you? [_reading her mind._] you have a feeling ... an impression of what i'm saying; but the words ... the words are not clear.... mm ... let me see.... if you can't understand me--there's the doctor, he'll know how to get the message-he'll find the way.... then i can hurry back ... home.... catherine. [_helplessly--changing her position like a tired child._] oh, i'm so alone. peter. [_cheerily._] not alone at all--not at all. i shall drop in very often ... and then, there's your mother. [_suddenly remembering._] oh, yes, i had almost forgotten. i have a message for you, katie.... [_he seats himself in a chair which is almost in front of her._] i've met your mother. [_she sits in a reverie._ peter _continues with the air of a returned traveller relating his experiences._] she heard that i had crossed over and there she was--waiting for me. you're thinking of it, aren't you? wondering if we met.... yes, that was the first interesting experience. she knew me at once. "you were peter grimm," she said, "before you knew better"--that's what _they_ call leaving _this_ world--"_to know better_." you call it "dying." [_confidentially._] she's been here often, it seems, watching over you. i told her how much i loved you and said that you had a happy home. i spoke of your future--of my plans for you and frederik. "peter grimm," she said, "you've over-looked the most important thing in the world--love. you haven't given her _her right_ to the choice of her lover--_her right_!" then it came over me that i'd made a terrible mistake ... and at that minute, you called to me. [_impressively._] in the darkness surrounding all i had left behind, there came a light ... a glimmer where you stood ... a clear call in the night.... it seemed as though i had not been away one second ... but in that second, you had suffered.... now i am back to show you the way.... i am here to put my hand on your dear head and give you your mother's blessing; to say she will be with you in spirit until she holds you in her arms--you and your loved husband--[catherine _turns in her chair and looks towards the door of the room in which_ james _is working._ peter _catches the thought._]-yes, james, it's you.... and the message ended in this kiss. [_prints a kiss on her cheek._] can't you think i'm with you, dear child? can't you _think_ i'm trying to help you? can't you even hope? oh, come, at least hope! anybody can hope. catherine _rises with an entire change of manner--takes a bright red blossom from the vase on_ peter's _desk--then deliberately walks to the door of the room in which_ james _is working._ peter _follows her action hopefully. she does not tap on the door, however, but turns and sits at the piano--in thought--not facing the piano. she puts_ peter's _flowers against her face. then, laying the flowers on the piano, sings softly three or four bars of the song she sang in the first act--and stops abruptly._ catherine. [_to herself._] that i should sit here singing--at a time like this! peter. sing! sing! why not? lift up your voice like a bird! your old uncle doesn't sleep out there in the dust. that's only the dream. he's here-here--alive. all his age gone and youth glowing in his heart. if i could only tell you what lies before you--before us all! if people even _suspected_ what the next life really is, they wouldn't waste time here--i can tell you _that_. they'd do dreadful things to get away from this existence--make for the nearest pond or--[_pausing abruptly._] ah, here comes someone who'll know all about it! [_the_ doctor _comes from_ william's _room._ peter _greets him in a cordial but casual way, as though he had parted from him only an hour before._] well, andrew, i apologize. [_bowing obsequiously._] you were right. i apologize. catherine. how is he, doctor? dr. macpherson. william is better. dropped off to sleep again. can't quite understand him. peter. i apologize. i said that if i could come back, i would; and here i am--apologizing. andrew! andrew! [_trying to attract_ dr. macpherson's _attention._] i have a message, but i can't get it across. this is your chance. i want _you_ to take it. i don't wish catherine to marry frederik. dr. macpherson. he's somewhat feverish yet. peter. can't _you_ understand one word? dr. macpherson. it's a puzzling case.... peter. what? mine? dr. macpherson. [_getting a pad from his pocket--writing out a prescription with his fountain pen._] i'll leave this prescription at the druggist's-peter. i'm quite shut out.... they've closed the door and turned the key on me. dr. macpherson. [_suddenly noticing that_ catherine _seems more cheerful._] what's happened? i left you in tears and here you are--all smiles. catherine. yes, i--i am happier--for some reason.... for the last few minutes i--i've had such a strange feeling. dr. macpherson. that's odd: so have i! been as restless as a hungry mouse. something seemed to draw me down here--can't explain it. peter. i'm beginning to be felt in this house. dr. macpherson. catherine, i have the firm conviction that, in a very short time, i shall hear from peter. [_sitting at the table._ peter. i hope so. it's high time now. dr. macpherson. what i want is some positive proof; some absolute test; some--er--[_thinks._ catherine _has seated herself at the table.--unconsciously they both occupy the same seats as in the first act._ peter. the trouble is with other people, not with us. you want us to give all sorts of proofs; and here we are just back for a little while--very poorly put together on the chance that you'll see us at all. dr. macpherson. poor old peter--bless his heart! [_his elbow on the table as though he had been thinking over the matter._ catherine _sits quietly listening._] if he kept that compact with me, and came back,--do you know what i'd ask him first? if our work goes on. peter. well, now, that's a regular sticker. it's bothered me considerably since i crossed over. catherine. what do you mean, doctor? dr. macpherson. the question _every man wants the answer to_: what's to become of me--_me_--_my work_? am i going to be a bone setter in the next life and he a tulip man?... i wonder. peter. andrew, i've asked everybody--tom, dick and harry. one spirit told me that sometimes our work _does_ go on; but he was an awful liar--you knew we don't drop our earth habits at once. he said that a genius is simply a fellow who's been there before in some other world and knows his business. now then: [_confidentially preparing to open an argument-sitting in his old seat at the table, as in the first act._] it stands to reason, andrew, doesn't it? what chance has the beginner compared with a fellow who knew his business before he was born? dr. macpherson. [_unconsciously grasping the thought._] i believe it is possible to have more than one chance at our work. peter. there ... you caught that.... why can't you take my message to catherine? dr. macpherson. [_rising to get his shawl--gruffly._] thought over what i told you concerning this marriage? not too late to back out. peter. he's beginning to take the message. catherine. everything's arranged: i shall be married as uncle peter wished. i sha'n't change my mind. dr. macpherson. h'm! [_picks up his shawl._ peter. [_trying to detain the_ doctor--_tugging at his shawl without seeming to pull it._] don't give up! don't give up! a girl can always change her mind--while there's life. don't give up! [_the_ doctor _turns, facing_ peter, _looking directly at him as he puts his hand in his coat pocket._] you heard that, eh?... didn't you? yes? did it cross over?... what?... it did?... you're looking me in the face, andrew; can you see me? [_the_ doctor _takes a pencil out of his pocket, writes a prescription, throws his shawl over his shoulder--turning his back towards_ peter _and facing_ catherine.] tc! tc! tc! dr. macpherson. good-night. catherine. good-night. [catherine _goes quietly to the fireplace, kneeling down, mends the fire, and remains there sitting on an ottoman._ peter. [_calling after the_ doctor.] if i could only make some sign--to start you thinking; but i can't depend upon _you_, i see that.... [_then changing--as though he had an idea._] ah, yes! there _is_ another way. now to work. [_with renewed activity, he taps in the direction of the office door, although he himself stands three feet away from it. the door opens promptly and_ james _appears on the threshold--pen in hand--as though something had made him rise suddenly from his desk._ catherine, _still seated, does not see_ james, _who stands looking at her--remembering that she is to be married on the following day._ peter _tempts_ james.] yes, she _is_ pretty, james ... young and lovely.... look!... there are kisses tangled in her hair where it curls ... hundreds of them.... are you going to let her go? her lips are red with the red of youth. every smile is an invocation to life. who could resist her smiles? can you, james? no, you will not let her go. and her hands, james.... look! hands made to clasp and cling to yours. imagine her little feet trudging happily about _your_ home.... look at her shoulders ... shaped for a resting-place for a little head.... you were right, james, we should ask nothing of our girls but to marry the men they love and be happy wives and happy mothers of happy children. you feel what i am saying.... you couldn't live without her, could you? no? very well, then--[_changing abruptly._] now, it's your turn. james _pauses a moment. there is silence. then he comes forward a step and_ catherine, _hearing him, turns and rises._ james. [_coldly--respectfully._] miss grimm ... catherine. james ... james. i felt that you were here and wished to speak to me. i--i don't know why ... peter. good for james. catherine. [_shaking hands with him._] i'm very glad to see you again, james. [_when_ peter _sees that he has brought the two young people together, he stands in the background. the lovers are in the shadow, but_ peter's _figure is marked and clear._] why did you go away? james. oh--er-catherine. and without saying a word. james. your uncle sent me away. i told him the truth again. catherine. oh ... james. i am going in a few hours. catherine. where are you going? what do you intend to do? james. [_half-heartedly._] father and i are going to try our luck together. we're going to start with a small fruit farm. it will give me a chance to experiment.... catherine. it will seem very strange when i come back home.... uncle gone ... and you, james. [_her voice trembling._ james. i hope you'll be happy, catherine. catherine. james, uncle died smiling at me--thinking of me ... and just before he went, he gave me his mother's wedding ring and asked me to marry frederik. i shall never forget how happy he was when i promised. that was all he wanted. his last smile was for me ... and there he sat--still smiling after he was gone ... the smile of a man leaving the world perfectly satisfied--at peace. it's like a hand on my heart--hurting it-when i question anything he wanted. i couldn't meet him in the hereafter if i didn't do everything he wished; i couldn't say my prayers at night; i couldn't speak his name in them.... he trusted me; depended upon me; did everything for me; so i must do this for him.... i wanted you to know this, james, because ... james. why haven't you told frederik the truth? catherine. i have. james. that you don't love him? [catherine _doesn't answer, but_ james _knows._] ... and he's willing to take you like that?--a little girl like you--in _that_ way.... god! he's rotten all the way through. he's even worse than i thought. katie, i didn't mean to say a word of this to-day-not a word; but a moment since--something made me change my mind--i don't know what!... [peter _smiles._] i felt that i _must_ talk to you. you looked so young, so helpless, such a child. you've never had to think for yourself--you don't know what you're doing. you _couldn't_ live under it, catherine. you're making the greatest mistake possible, if you marry where you don't love. why should you carry out your uncle's plans? you're going to be wretched for life to please a dead man who doesn't know it; or, if he does know it, regrets it bitterly. peter. i agree with you now, james. catherine. you musn't say that, james. james. but i will say it--i will speak my mind. i don't care how fond you were of your uncle or how much he did for you--it wasn't right to ask this of you. it wasn't fair. the whole thing is the mistake of a _very_ obstinate old man. catherine. james! james. i loved him, too; but he _was_ an obstinate old man. sometimes i think it was the dutch blood in his veins. peter. a very frank, outspoken fellow. i like to hear him talk--now. james. do you know why i was sent away? why i quarrelled with your uncle? i said that i loved you ... he asked me.... i didn't tell him because i had any hopes--i hadn't.... i haven't now.... [_struck._] but in spite of what i'm saying ... i don't know what makes me think that i ... i could take you in my arms and you would let me ... but i do think it. catherine. [_retreats, backing towards_ peter.] no!... don't touch me, james--you mustn't! don't!... don't! peter _pushes her into_ james' _arms, without touching her. she exclaims_ "oh, james!" _and fairly runs towards_ james _as though violently propelled. in reality, she thinks that she is yielding to an impulse. as she reaches him, she exclaims_ "no," _and turns back, but_ james, _with outstretched arms, catches her._ james. you love me. [_draws her to him._ catherine. don't make me say that, james. james. i _will_ make you say it! you _do_ love me. catherine. no matter if i do, that won't alter matters. james. what? what? catherine. no, no, don't say any more.... i won't hear it. [_she stands free of_ james--_then turns and walks to the stairs._] good-bye, jim. james. do you mean it? are you really going to sacrifice yourself because of--am i really losing you?... catherine! catherine! catherine. [_in tears--beseechingly._] please don't.... please don't.... frederik _enters. until the entrance of_ frederik, peter _has had hope in his face, but now he begins to feel apprehensive._ frederik. [_throwing his hat and coat on a chair._] i have some work to do--more of my uncle's unopened mail; then i'll join you, hartman. we must--er--make haste. james _looks at_ catherine, _then at_ frederik. catherine _gives him an imploring glance--urging him not to speak._ frederik _has gone to_ peter's _desk._ james. i'll come back later. [_goes towards the hall._ frederik. catherine, have you asked james to be present at the ceremony to-morrow? catherine. no. frederik. james, will you-james. i shall be leaving early in the morning. frederik. too bad! [_exit_ james. frederik _lights the desk candles, takes the mail out of the drawer--opens two letters--tears them up after barely glancing at them--then sees_ catherine _still standing at the foot of the stairs--her back to him. he lays the cigar on the desk, crosses, and, taking her in his arms, kisses her._ catherine. [_with a revulsion of feeling._] no! no! no! [_she covers her face with her hands--trying to control herself._] please!... not now.... frederik. why not _now_? [_suspiciously._] has hartman been talking to you? what has he been saying to you? [catherine _starts slowly up the stairs._] wait a moment, please.... [_as she retreats a step up the stairs, he follows her._] do you really imagine you--you care for that fellow? catherine. don't--please. frederik. i'm sorry to insist. of course, i knew there was a sort of school-girl attachment on your part; ... that you'd known each other since childhood. i don't take it at all seriously. in three months, you'll forget him. i must insist, however, that you do _not_ speak to him again to-night. after to-morrow--after we are married--i'm quite sure that you will not forget you are my wife, catherine--my wife. catherine. i sha'n't forget. [_she escapes into her room._ frederik _goes to his desk._ peter. [_confronting_ frederik.] now, sir, i have something to say to you, frederik grimm, my beloved nephew! i had to die to find you out; but i know you! [frederik _is reading a letter._] you sit there opening a dead man's mail--with the heart of a stone--thinking: "he's gone! he's gone!-so i'll break every promise!" but there is something you have forgotten-something that always finds us out: the law of reward and punishment. even now it is overtaking you. your hour has struck. [frederik _takes up another letter and begins to read it; then, as though disturbed by a passing thought, he puts it down. as though perplexed by the condition of his own mind, he ponders, his eyes resting unconsciously on_ peter.] your hour has struck. frederik. [_to himself._] what in the world is the matter with me to-night? peter. read! frederik. [_has opened a long, narrow, blue envelope containing a letter on blue paper and a small photograph. he stares at the letter, aghast._] my god! here's luck.... here's luck! from that girl annamarie to my uncle. oh, if he had read it! peter. [_standing in front of_ frederik _looks into space--as though reading the letter in the air._] "dear mr. grimm: i have not written because i can't do anything to help william, and i am ashamed." frederik. wh! [_as though he had read the first part to himself, now reads aloud._] "don't be too hard upon me.... i have gone hungry trying to save a few pennies for him, but i never could; and now i see that i cannot hope to have him back. william is far better off with you. i--" [_hesitates._ peter. [_going back of the desk, standing behind_ frederik's _chair._] go on.... frederik. "i wish that i might see him once again. perhaps i could come and go in the night." peter. that's a terrible thing for a mother to write. frederik. [_who has been looking down at the letter--suddenly feeling_ peter's _presence._] who's that? who's in this room? [_looks over his shoulder--then glances about._] i could have sworn somebody was looking over my shoulder ... or had come in at the door ... or ... [_but seeing no one--he continues._] "i met someone from home; ... if there is any truth in the rumour of catherine's marriage--it mustn't be, mr. grimm--it mustn't be ... not to frederik. for frederik is my little boy's--" [frederik _gives a furtive glance upstairs at the door of the child's room. picks up the small picture which was in the envelope._] her picture ... [_turns it over--looks at the back--reads._] "for my boy, from annamarie." [frederik, _conscious-stricken for the time being, bows his head._ peter. for the first time since i entered this house, you are yourself, frederik grimm. once more a spark of manhood is alight in your soul. courage! it's not too late to repent. turn back, lad! follow your impulse. take the little boy in your arms. go down on your knees and ask his mother's pardon. turn over a fresh page, that i may leave this house in peace.... frederik. [_looks about uneasily, then glances towards the door leading into the hall._] who is at the door? curious ... i thought i heard someone at ... peter. i am at the door--i, peter grimm! annamarie is at the door--the little girl who is ashamed to come home; the old mother in the kitchen breaking her heart for some word. william is at the door--your own flesh and blood--nameless; katie, sobbing her heart out--you can hear her; all-we are all at the door--every soul in this house. we are all at the door of your conscience, frederik.... don't keep us waiting, my boy. it's very hard to kill the love i had for you. i long to love you again--to take you back to my heart--lies and all. [frederik _rises--in deep thought._] yes! call her! tell her the truth. give her back her promise.... give her back her home.... close the door on a peaceful, happy, silent room and go. think--think of that moment when you give her back her freedom! think of her joy, her gratitude, her affection. it's worth living for, lad. speak! make haste and call her, fritz. [frederik _takes several steps--then turns back to the desk. he tears the letter in two, muttering to himself,_ "damn the woman," _and sinks into his chair._] frederik grimm, stand up before me! [frederik _starts to rise, but changes his mind._] stand up! [frederik _rises--not knowing why he has risen._ peter _points an accusing finger at_ frederik.] liar to the dead! cheat, thief, hypocrite! you sha'n't have my little girl. you only want her for a week, a day, an hour. i refuse. i have come back to take her from you and you cannot put me to rest.... i have come back.... you cannot drive me from your thoughts--i am there.... [_tapping his forehead, without touching it._] i am looking over your shoulder ... in at the window ... under the door.... you are breathing me in the air.... i am looking at your heart. [_he brings his clenched fist down on the desk in answer to_ frederik's _gesture; but, despite the seeming violence of the blow, he makes no sound._] hear me! you shall hear me! hear me! [_calling loudly._] hear me! hear me! hear me! will nobody hear me? is there no one in this house to hear me? no one? has my journey been in vain?... [_for the first time fully realizing the situation._] oh, must we stand or fall by the mistakes we made here and the deed we did? is there no second chance in this world? frederik. [_with a sneer on his lips as though trying to banish his thoughts._] psh! marta _enters with a tray, containing a pot of coffee and a plate of small cakes._ peter, _who has watched her with appealing eyes, like a dog craving attention, glances from her to the desk and from the desk back to_ marta--_trying to tempt her to look at the torn letter._ frederik, _deep in thought, does not notice her._ peter _points to the desk as though to say, "look!" after a pause, she picks up the picture and the letter-holding them in one hand to clear a spot for the tray which she is about to set on the desk._ peter. [_speaking in a hushed voice._] marta, see what you have in your hand ... that letter ... there ... read it.... run to catherine with it. read it from the house-tops.... the letter ... look! there you have the story of annamarie.... it is the one way to know the truth in this house-the only way.... there in your hand--the letter.... he will never speak.... the letter for catherine. marta _sets down the picture and the letter; but something prompts her to look at them; however, before she can carry out her impulse,_ frederik _starts up._ frederik. my god! how you startled me! [marta _sets down the tray._] oh! to be off and out of this old rat-trap. [_he wipes his forehead with his black-bordered handkerchief._] i mean--our loss comes home to us so keenly here where we are accustomed to see him. marta. a cup of coffee, sir? frederik. no, no, no. marta. [_pathetically._] i thought you wished to keep to your uncle's customs.... he always took it at this time. frederik. [_recovering._] yes, yes, of course. marta. ... no word?... frederik. [_hesitates._] what do you mean? marta. no letter? frederik. letter?... [_covering the letter with his hand._] from whom?... marta. from ... at a time like this, i thought ... i felt ... that annamarie ... that there should be some message.... every day i expect to hear ... frederik. no. peter _gestures to_ marta--_pointing to the picture and letter, now covered by_ frederik's _hand._ marta. [_hesitating._] are you certain? frederik. quite certain. [_she curtsies and leaves the room._ frederik, _as though relieved to see her go, jumps to his feet, and, tearing the letter in smaller pieces, lights them in the candle, dropping the burning pieces on a tray. as the flame dies out,_ frederik _brushes the blackened paper into the waste-basket._] there's an end to _that_! peter _crouches near the basket--hovering over it, his hinds clasped helplessly. after a pause, he raises his hand, until it points to a bedroom above. an echo of the circus music is very faintly heard; not with the blaring of brasses, but with the sounds of elfin horns, conveying the impression of a phantom circus band. the door of_ william's _room opens, and he comes out as though to listen to the music. he wears a sleeping suit and is bare-footed. he has come down stairs before_ frederik _sees him._ frederik _quickly puts aside the photograph, laying it on the desk, covering it with his hand._ frederik. [_gruffly._] why aren't you in bed? if you're ill, that's the proper place for you. william. i came down to hear the circus music. frederik. circus music? william. it woke me up. frederik. the circus left town days ago. you must have been dreaming. william. the band's playing now. don't you hear it, sir? the procession's passing. [_he runs to the window and opens it. the music stops. a breeze sweeps through the room--bellies out the curtains and causes the lustres to jingle on the mantel. surprised._] no. it's almost dark. there's no procession ... no shining horses.... [_turning sadly away from the window._] i wonder what made me think the--i must have been dreaming. [_rubbing his eyes._ frederik. [_goes to the window, closes it. the child looks at him and, in retreating from him, unconsciously backs towards_ peter.] are you feeling better? william. yes, sir, i feel better--and hungry. frederik. go back to bed. william. yes, sir. [frederik _sits._ peter. where's your mother, william? william. do you know where annamarie is? peter. ah! frederik. why do you ask me? what should i know of her? william. grandmother doesn't know; miss catherine doesn't know; nobody knows. frederik. i don't know, either. [_tears up the picture--turning so that_ william _does not see what he is doing._ peter, _who has been smiling at_ william, _motions him to come nearer._ william, _feeling_ peter's _presence, looks round the room._ william. mr. frederik, where's _old_ mr. grimm? frederik. dead. william. are you sure he's dead? 'cause--[_puzzled--unable to explain himself, he hesitates._ frederik. [_annoyed._.] you'd better go to bed. william. [_pointing to a glass of water on a tray._] can i have a drink of water, please? frederik. go to bed, sir, or you'll be punished. water's not good for little boys with fever. william. [_going towards the stairs._] wish i could find a cold brook and lie in it. [_goes slowly up the stairs._ frederik _would destroy the pieces of the picture; but_ peter _faces him as though forbidding him to touch it, and, for the first time,_ frederik _imagines he sees the apparition of his uncle._ frederik. [_in a very low voice--almost inaudibly._] my god! i thought i saw ... [_receding a step and yet another step as the vision of_ peter _is still before him, he passes out of the room, wiping the beads of sweat from his forehead._ william, _hearing the door close, comes down stairs and, running to the table at back, drinks a glass of water._ william. um! that's good! peter. william! [william _doesn't see_ peter _yet, but he feels his influence._ william. wish it _had_ been the circus music. peter. you shall hear it all again. [_gestures towards the plate of cakes on the tray._] come, william, here's something very nice. william. [_seeing the cakes._] um! cakes! [_he steals to the tray, looking over his shoulder in fear of being caught._ peter. don't be frightened. i'm here to protect you. help yourself to the cakes. william, do you think you could deliver a message for me ... a very important message?... _the circus music is heard._ william _sits at the tray and_ peter _seats himself opposite as though he were the host doing the honours._ william, _being unconsciously coaxed by_ peter, _is prevailed upon to choose the biggest cake. he takes a bite, looking towards_ peter. william. [_to himself._] ha!... think i am dreaming. [_rubbing his little stomach ecstatically._] hope i won't wake up and find there wasn't any cake. peter. don't worry, you won't. [william _has taken another piece of cake which he nibbles at--now holding a piece in each hand._] pretty substantial dream, eh? there's a fine, fat raisin. [william _eats the raisin, then looks into the sugar-bowl._] don't hesitate, william. sugar won't hurt you now. nothing can hurt you any more. fall to, william--help yourself. [william _looks over his shoulder, fearing the return of_ frederik.] oh, he won't come back in a hurry. ha! frederik thought he saw me, william; well, he didn't. he had a bad conscience--hallucination. [william _nibbles a lump of sugar._] now, william, i have a message for you. won't you try and take it for me, eh? [_but_ william _eats another lump of sugar._] i see ... i can't expect to get any assistance from a boy while his little stomach's calling. [william _empties the cream jug and helps himself to cakes. presently the music dies out._] now i'm going to tell you something. [_impressively._] you're a very lucky boy, william; i congratulate you. do you know why--of all this household--you are the only one to help me?... this is the secret: in a little time--it won't be long--you're going--[_as though he were imparting the most delightful information._]--to know better! think of _that_! isn't the news splendid? [_but_ william _eats on._] think of what most of us have to endure before _we_ know better! why, william, you're going into the circus without paying for a ticket. you're laying down the burden before you climb the hill. and in your case, william, you are fortunate indeed; for there are some little soldiers in this world already handicapped when they begin the battle of life.... their parents haven't fitted them for the struggle.... like little moon moths,--they look in at the windows; they beat at the panes; they see the lights of happy firesides--the lights of home; but they never get in.... you are one of these wanderers, william.... and so, it is well for you that before your playing time is over--before your man's work begins,--you're going to know the great secret. happy boy! no coarsening of your child's heart, until you stand before the world like frederik; no sweat and toil such as dear old james is facing; no dimming of the eye and trembling of the hand such as the poor old doctor shall know in time to come; no hot tears to blister your eyes, ... tears such as katie is shedding now; but, in all your youth, your faith--your innocence,--you'll fall asleep and oh! the awakening, william!... "it is well with the _child_." [william _lays down the cake and, clasping his hands, thinks._ peter _answers his thoughts._] what? no--don't think of it! nonsense! you _don't_ want to grow up to be a man. grow up to fail? or, still worse--to succeed--to be famous? to wear a heavy laurel wreath? a wreath to be held up by tired hands that ache for one hour's freedom. no, no, you're to escape all that, william; joy is on the way to meet you with sweets in its outstretched hands and laughter on its lips. [william _takes the last swallow of a piece of cake, exclaims_ "hm!" _in a satisfied way, brushes the crumbs off his lap, and sits back in his chair._] have you had enough? good! william, i want you to try to understand that you're to help me, will you? will you tell miss catherine that-william. [_without looking up, his hands folded in his lap._] take me back with you, mr. grimm? peter. can you see me, william? william. no, sir; but i know. peter. come here. [william _doesn't move._] here ... here ... [william _advances to the center of the room and pauses hesitatingly._] take my hand ... [william _approaches in the direction of the voice._ peter _takes_ william's _outstretched hand._] have you got it? william. no, sir.... peter. [_putting his hand on_ william's _head._] now?... do you feel it? william. i feel something, yes, sir. [_puts his hand on_ peter's _hand, which is still on his head._] but where's your hand? there's nothing there. peter. but you hear me? william. i can't really hear you.... it's a dream. [_coaxingly._] oh, mr. grimm, take me back with you. peter. you're not quite ready to go with me yet, william--not until we can see each other face to face. william. why did you come back, mr. grimm? wasn't it nice where you were? peter. it was indeed. it was like--[_whimsically._]--new toys. william. [_to whom the idea appeals._] as nice as that! peter. nicer. but i had to come back with this message. i want you to help me to deliver it. [_indicating the picture._ william. where's the bosom of abraham, mr. grimm? peter. eh? william. the minister says you're asleep there. peter. stuff and nonsense! i haven't been near the bosom of abraham. william. too bad you died before you went to the circus, mr. grimm. but it must be great to be in a place where you can look down and see the circus for nothing. do you remember the clown that sang: "uncle rat has gone to town?" peter. yes, indeed; but let us talk of something more important. come here, william [_he starts towards the desk._]; would you like to see someone whom all little boys love--love more than anybody else in the whole world? [peter _is standing at the desk with his finger on the torn pieces of the picture._ william. yes, the clown in the circus.... no ... it isn't a clown; ... it's our mother.... yes, i want to see my mother, annamarie. [_unconsciously_ william _comes to the desk and sees the torn picture-picks up a piece and looks at it. very simply._] why ... there she is!... that's her face. peter. ah! you recognize her. mother's face is there, william, but it's in little bits. we must put her together, william. we must show her to everybody in the house, so that everybody will say: "how in the world did she ever get here? to whom does this picture belong?" we must set them to thinking. william. yes. let us show her to everybody. [_he sits and joins the pieces under the guidance of_ peter.] annamarie ... annamarie ... peter. you remember many things, william ... things that happened when you lived with annamarie, don't you? william. i was very little.... peter. still, you remember.... william. [_evasively._] i was afraid.... peter. you loved her. william. [_to picture._] oh, yes ... yes, i loved you. peter. now, through that miracle of love, you can remember many things tucked away in your childish brain,--things laid away in your mind like toys upon a shelf. come, pick them up and dust them off and bring them out again. it will come back. when you lived with annamarie ... there was you ... and annamarie ... and-william. --and the other one. peter. ah! we're getting nearer! who _was_ the other one? william. [_gives a quick glance towards the door--then as though speaking to the picture._] i must put you together before _he_ comes back. [_he fits the other pieces together_--peter _trying to guide him. presently_ william _hums as a child will when at play, singing the tune of "uncle rat."_] "uncle rat has gone to town." peter _and_ william. [_singing together._] "ha! h'm!" [_at this instant_, peter _is indicating another piece of the picture._ william. her other foot. [_then sings._] "uncle rat has gone to town, to buy his niece a wedding gown." [_adjusting a piece of the picture._] her hand. william _and_ peter. [_singing._] "ha! h'm!" william. her other hand. [_sings_.] "what shall the wedding breakfast be? hard boiled eggs and--" [_speaking_.] where's--[william _pauses--looking for a piece of the picture_. peter. [_finishing the verse_.] "a cup of tea." [_with a gesture as though knocking on the door of the adjoining room to attract_ mrs. batholommey's _attention_. william. [_speaks_.] there's her hat. william _and_ peter. [_singing_.] "ha! h'm!" william. [_stops singing and claps his hands with boyish delight--staring at the picture_.] annamarie! annamarie! you're not in bits any more-you're all put together. _by this time,_ peter _is going up the stairs, and, as he stands in front of_ catherine's _door, it opens_. peter _passes in and_ catherine _comes out_. catherine. [_astonished_.] why, william! what are you doing here? william. miss catherine! come down! come down! i have something to show you. catherine. [_not coming down_.] no, dear--come upstairs; there's a good boy. you mustn't play down there. come to bed. [_passes into_ william's _room_. mrs. batholommey. [_who has entered, and sees_ william..] william! william. look--look! [_pointing to the picture_.] see what old mr. grimm brought back with him. mrs. batholommey. [_alarmed_.] what are you talking about, william? old mr. grimm is dead. william. no, he isn't; ... he's come back.... he has been in this room. mrs. batholommey. absurd! william. i was talking to him. mrs. batholommey. you're feverish again. i must get the doctor. [_comes down to_ william.] and i thought you were feeling better! [_seeing_ catherine, _who appears on the balcony as though wondering why_ william _doesn't come to bed_.] the child's mind is wandering. he imagines all sorts of things. i'll call the doctor-peter. [_who has re-entered._] you needn't--he's coming now. come in, andrew. i'm giving you one more chance. _the_ doctor _enters, wearing his skull-cap, and carrying his pipe in his hand. it is evident that he has come over in a hurry._ mrs. batholommey. [_surprised._] i was just going for you. how fortunate that you came. dr. macpherson. i thought i'd have another peep at william. _by this time_, catherine _has seated herself on a chair, and takes_ william _on her lap. he puts his arms round her neck._ mrs. batholommey. he's quite delirious. dr. macpherson. doesn't look it. [_putting his hand on_ william's _cheek and forehead._] very slight fever. what makes you think he was delirious? [_taking_ william's _pulse._ mrs. batholommey. [_interrupting._] he said that old mr. grimm was in this room--that he was talking to him. dr. macpherson. [_interested._] yes? really? well, possibly he is. nothing remarkable in _that_, is there? peter. well, at last! mrs. batholommey. what? oh, of course, you believe in-dr. macpherson. in fact, i had a compact with him to return if-mrs. batholommey. a compact? of all the preposterous-dr. macpherson. not at all. dozens of cases on record--as i can show you-where these compacts have actually been kept. [_suddenly struck--looking at_ william.] i wonder if that boy's a sensitive. [_hand on his chin._] i wonder ... catherine. [_echoing the_ doctor's _words._] a sensitive? mrs. batholommey. what's that? dr. macpherson. it's difficult to explain. i mean a human organism so constituted that it can be _informed_ or _controlled_ by those who--er-have--[_with a gesture._] crossed over. mrs. batholommey. i think i'll put the boy to bed, doctor. dr. macpherson. just a moment, mistress batholommey. i'm here to find out what ails william. william, what makes you think that mr. grimm is in this room? mrs. batholommey. i wouldn't have the child encouraged in such ideas, catherine. i-dr. macpherson. sh! please, please. [_taking the boy on his knee._] what makes you think peter grimm is in this room? william. [_hesitating._] ... the things he said to me. mrs. batholommey. said to you? catherine. [_wonderingly._] william, ... are you sure he ... dr. macpherson. said to you, eh? [william _nods assent._] _old_ mr. grimm? [william _nods._] sure of that, william? william. oh. yes, sir. dr. macpherson. think before you speak, my boy; what did mr. grimm say to you? william. lots of things ... mrs. batholommey. really! dr. macpherson. [_raises his hand for silence._] how did he look, william? william. i didn't see him. mrs. batholommey. ha! dr. macpherson. you must have seen something. william. i thought once i saw his hat on the peg where it used to hang. [_looks at the peg._] no, it's gone. mrs. batholommey. [_remonstrating._] doctor! dr. macpherson. [_thinking._] i wonder if he really did-catherine. do you think he could have seen uncle peter? peter. [_pointing to the desk._] william! william. look! ... [_points to the picture._] that's what i wanted to show you when you were upstairs. catherine. [_seeing the picture._] it's his mother--annamarie. mrs. batholommey. the lord save us--his mother! i didn't know you'd heard from annamarie. catherine. we haven't. mrs. batholommey. then how'd that picture get into the house? peter. ah! i knew she'd begin! now that she's wound up, we shall get at the truth. mrs. batholommey. it's a new picture. she's much changed. how ever did it find its way here? catherine. i never saw it before. it's very strange.... we've all been waiting for news of her. even her mother doesn't know where she is, or-could marta have received this since i-mrs. batholommey. i'll ask her. [_exit into dining-room._ catherine. if not, who had the picture?... and why weren't we _all_ told?... who tore it up? did you, william? [william _shakes his head, meaning "no."_] who has been at the desk? no one save frederik ... frederik ... and surely he--[_she pauses--perplexed._ mrs. batholommey. [_re-entering._] no, marta hasn't heard a word; and, only a few minutes ago, she asked frederik if some message hadn't come, but he said "no, nothing." i didn't tell her of the picture. catherine. [_looking at the picture._] i wonder if there was any message with it. mrs. batholommey. i remember the day that picture came ... the day your uncle died.... it was in a long blue envelope--the size of the picture.... i took it from the postman myself because every one was distracted and rushing about. it dropped to the floor and as i picked it up i thought i knew the writing; but i couldn't remember whose it was.... it was directed to your uncle.... [_looking from the desk to the waste-basket._] there's the envelope [_holding up a scrap of blue envelope._] and paper; ... some one has burned it. catherine. annamarie wrote to my uncle ... dr. macpherson. [_not understanding._] but what could peter have to say to _me_ concerning annamarie? [_making a resolution--rising._] we're going to find out. you may draw the curtains, catherine, if you please. [catherine _draws the curtains. the_ doctor _turns the lights down and closes the door. a pause._] peter grimm ... peter. yes, andrew?... dr. macpherson. [_not hearing._] if you have come back ... if you are in the room ... and the boy speaks truly--give me some sign ... some indication ... peter. i can't give you a sign, andrew.... i have spoken to the boy ... the boy ... dr. macpherson. if you cannot make your presence known to me--i know there are great difficulties--will you try and send your message by william? i presume you have one-peter. yes, that's right. dr. macpherson. --or else you wouldn't have come back. peter. that's just the point i wanted to make, andrew. you understand perfectly. dr. macpherson. [_as before._] i am waiting.... we are all waiting. [_noticing that a door is a trifle ajar._] the door's open again. [mrs. batholommey, _without making a sound, closes it and sits as before._ peter. sh! listen! [_a pause._ william. [_in a peculiar manner--as though in a half dream--but not shutting his eyes. as though controlled by_ peter.] there was annamarie and me and the other. dr. macpherson. [_very low, as though afraid to interrupt_ william's _train of thought._] what other? william. the man ... that came. dr. macpherson. what man? william. the man that made annamarie cry. catherine. who was he? william. i don't know ... peter. yes, you do. don't tell lies, william. dr. macpherson. what man made annamarie cry? william. i can't remember.... peter. yes, you can.... you're afraid.... catherine. [_in a low voice._] so you do remember the time when you lived with annamarie; ... you always told me that you didn't ... [_to_ dr. macpherson.] i must know more of this--[_pauses abruptly._] think, william, who came to the house? peter. that's what _i_ asked you, william. william. that's what _he_ asked ... dr. macpherson. who? william. mr. grimm. dr. macpherson. when, william? william. just now ... catherine _and_ mrs. batholommey. [_together._] just now! dr. macpherson. h'm.... you both ask the same question, eh? the man that came to see-mrs. batholommey. [_perplexed._] it can't be possible that the child knows what he's talking about. dr. macpherson. [_ignoring her._] what did you tell mr. grimm when he asked you? peter. you'd better make haste, william. frederik is coming back. william. [_looking uneasily over his shoulder._] i'm afraid. catherine. why does he always look towards that door? you're not afraid now, william? william. [_looking towards the door._] n-no--but.... please, please don't let mr. frederik come back. 'cause then i'll be afraid again. dr. macpherson. ah! peter. william! william! william. [_rising quickly._] yes, mr. grimm? peter. you must say that i am very unhappy. william. he says he is very unhappy. dr. macpherson. why is he unhappy?... ask him. william. why are you unhappy, mr. grimm? peter. i am thinking of catherine's future.... william. [_not understanding the last word--puzzled._] eh? peter. to-morrow ... william. [_after a slight pause._] to-morrow ... peter. catherine's-william. [_looks at_ catherine--_hesitating._] your--[_stops._ catherine _gives the_ doctor _a quick glance--she seems to divine the message._ dr. macpherson. [_prompting._] her-catherine. what, william? what of to-morrow? peter. she must not marry frederik. william. i mustn't say _that_. dr. macpherson. what? william. what he wanted me to say. [_points towards_ peter. _all instinctively look towards the spot to which_ william _points, but they see no one._ peter. [_speaking slowly to the boy._] catherine--must--not--marry frederik grimm. dr. macpherson. speak, william. no one will hurt you. william. oh, yes, _he_ will.... [_looking timidly towards the door_ frederik _passed through._] i don't want to tell his name--'cause ... 'cause ... dr. macpherson. why don't you tell the name, william? peter. make haste, william, make haste. william. [_trembling._] i'm afraid ... i'm afraid ... he will make annamarie cry; ... he makes me cry ... catherine. [_with suppressed excitement--half to herself._] why are you afraid of him? was frederik the man that came to see annamarie? mrs. batholommey. catherine! catherine. [_on her knees before_ william.] was he? was it frederik grimm? tell me, william. mrs. batholommey. surely you don't believe ... catherine. [_in a low voice._] i've thought of a great many things to-day ... little things ... little things i'd never noticed before.... i'm putting them together just as he put that picture together.... i must know the truth. peter. william, make haste.... frederik is listening at the door. william. [_frightened._] i won't say any more. he's there ... at the door ... [_he looks over his shoulder and_ catherine _goes towards the door._ dr. macpherson. william, tell me. peter. william! catherine _opens the door suddenly._ frederik _is standing, listening. he is taken unawares and for a few seconds he does not move--then he recovers._ william. please don't let him scold me. i'm afraid of him. [_going towards the stairs--looking at_ frederik.] i was afraid of him when i lived with annamarie and he came to see us and made her cry. dr. macpherson. are you sure you remember that? weren't you too small? william. no, i do remember.... i always did remember; only for a little while i--i forgot.... i must go to bed. he told me to. [_goes upstairs._ peter. [_calling after_ william.] you're a good boy, william. [william _goes to his room._ catherine. [_after a slight pause--simply._] frederik, you've heard from annamarie.... [_gestures towards the desk._ frederik _sees the photograph and is silent._] you've had a letter from her. you tried to destroy it. why did you tell marta that you'd had no message--no news? you went to see her, too. why did you tell me that you'd never seen her since she went away? why did you lie to me? why do you hate that child? frederik. are you going to believe what that boy-catherine. i'm going to find out. i'm going to find out where she is, before i marry you. that child may be right or wrong; but i'm going to know what his mother was to you. i want the truth. dr. macpherson. [_who has been in thought--now looking up._] we've heard the truth. we had that message from peter grimm himself. catherine. yes, it is true. i believe uncle peter grimm was in this room to-night. frederik. [_not surprised--glancing towards the spot where_ peter _stood when he thought he saw him._] oh! you, too? did you see him, too? mrs. batholommey. [_incredulously._] impossible! catherine. i don't care what anyone else may think--people have the right to think for themselves; but i believe he has been here--he _is_ here. uncle peter, if you can hear me now, give me back my promise--or--or i'll take it back! peter. [_gently--smilingly--relieved._] i did give it back to you, my dear; but what a time i have had getting it across! curtain. act iii. _the third act takes place at twenty minutes to twelve on the same night._ _the fire is out. the table on which_ peter _took his coffee in the first act is now being used by the_ doctor _for_ william's _medicines, two bottles, two glasses, two teaspoons, a clinical thermometer, &c._ william, _who has been questioned by the_ doctor, _is now asleep upstairs._ peter's _hat hangs on the peg in the shadow. although the hour is late, no one has thought of going to bed._ frederik _is waiting at the hotel for the lawyer whom_ hicks _was to send to arrange for the sale of_ peter grimm's _nurseries, but he has not arrived. the_ doctor, _full of his theories, is seated before the fire, writing the account of_ peter grimm's _return, for the american branch of the "london society for psychical research." it is now a fine, clear night. the clouds are almost silvery and a hint of the moon is showing._ dr. macpherson. [_reading what he has written._] "to be forwarded to the 'london society for psychical research': dr. hyslop: dear sir: this evening at the residence of peter--" [_pauses and inserts "the late" and continues to read after inserting the words._] "--the late peter grimm-the well-known horticulturist of grimm manor, new york, certain phenomena were observed which would clearly indicate the return of peter grimm, ten days after his decease. while he was invisible to all, three people were present besides myself--one of these, a child of eight, who received the message. no spelling out by signals nor automatic writing was employed, but word of mouth." [_a rap sounds._] who will that be at this hour?... [_looks at the clock._] nearly midnight. [_opening the door._] yes? a voice. [_outside._] telegram for frederik grimm. dr. macpherson. not in. i'll sign. [_he signs and, receiving the telegram, sets it against a candle-stick on the desk and resumes his seat. reads:_] "i made a compact with peter grimm, while he was in the flesh, that whichever went first was to return and give the other some sign; and i propose to give positive proof--" [_he hesitates--thinks--then repeats._] "positive proof that he kept this compact and that i assisted in the carrying out of his instructions." mrs. batholommey. [_enters--evidently highly wrought up by the events of the evening._] who was that? who knocked? dr. macpherson. telegram. mrs. batholommey. i thought perhaps frederik had come back. don't you consider william much better? dr. macpherson. mm ... mrs. batholommey. dear, dear! the scene that took place to-night has completely upset me. [_the_ doctor _takes up his pen and reads to himself._] well, doctor: [_she pushes forward a chair and sits at the other side of the table--facing him._] the breaking off of the engagement is rather sudden, isn't it? we've been talking it over in the front parlour, mr. batholommey and i. james has finished his work and has just joined us. i suggest sending out a card--a neat card--saying that, owing to the bereavement in the family, the wedding has been indefinitely postponed. of course, it isn't exactly true. dr. macpherson. won't take place at all. [_goes on reading._ mrs. batholommey. evidently not; but if the whole matter looks very strange to me--how is it going to look to other people; especially when we haven't any--any rational explanation--as yet? we must get out of it in some fashion. dr. macpherson. whose business is it? mrs. batholommey. nobody's, of course. but catherine's position is certainly unusual; and the strangest part of it all is--she doesn't seem to feel her situation. she's sitting alone in the library, seemingly placid and happy. what i really wish to consult you about is this: shouldn't the card we're going to send out have a narrow black border? [_the_ doctor _is now writing._] doctor, you don't appear to be interested. you might at least answer my question. dr. macpherson. what chance have i had to answer? you've done all the talking. mrs. batholommey. [_rising--annoyed._] oh, of course, all these little matters sound trivial to you; but men like you couldn't look after the workings of the _next_ world if other people didn't attend to _this_. some one has to do it. dr. macpherson. i fully appreciate the fact, mistress batholommey, that other people are making it possible for me to be myself. i'll admit that; and now if i might have a few moments in peace to attend to something really important-_the_ rev. mr. batholommey _has entered with his hat in his hand._ rev. mr. batholommey. doctor, i've been thinking things over. i ran in for a moment to suggest that we suspend judgment until the information william has volunteered can be verified. i can scarcely believe that-dr. macpherson. ump! [_rises and goes to the telephone on the desk._] four-red. rev. mr. batholommey. i regret that frederik left the house without offering some explanation. dr. macpherson. [_at the 'phone._] marget, i'm at peter's. i mean--i'm at the grimms'. send me my bag. i'll stay the night with william. bye. [_seats himself at the table._ rev. mr. batholommey. tell frederik that, if he cares to consult me, i shall be at home in my study. good-night, doctor. good-night, rose. dr. macpherson. hold on, mr. batholommey! [_the_ rev. mr. batholommey _turns._] i'm writing an account of all that's happened here to-night-rev. mr. batholommey. [_dubiously._] indeed! dr. macpherson. i shall verify every word of the evidence by william's mother for whom i am searching. [_the_ rev. mr. batholommey _smiles faintly behind his hand._] then i shall send in my report, and not until then. what i wish to ask is this: would you have any objection to the name of mrs. batholommey being used as a witness? rev. mr. batholommey. [_looks perplexed._] well,--er--a-mrs. batholommey. oh, no, you don't! you may flout our beliefs; but wouldn't you like to bolster up your report with "the wife of a clergyman who was present!" it sounds so respectable and sane, doesn't it? no, sir! you cannot prop up your wild-eyed-rev. mr. batholommey. rose, my dear! mrs. batholommey. [_sweeping on._]--theories against the good black of a minister's coat. _i_ think myself that you have _probably_ stumbled on the truth about william's mother. rev. mr. batholommey. _can_ it be true? oh, dreadful! dreadful! mrs. batholommey. but that child knew it all along. he's eight years old and he was with her until five--and five's the age of memory. every incident of his mother's life has lingered in his little mind. supposing you do find her and learn that it's all true: what do you prove? simply that _william remembered_, and that's all there is to it. rev. mr. batholommey. let us hope that there's not a word of truth in it. don't you think, doctor--mind, i'm not opposing your ideas as a clergyman,--i'm just echoing what _everybody else_ thinks--don't you believe these spiritualistic ideas, leading _away_ from the heaven _we_ were taught to believe in, tend towards irresponsibility--er-eccentricity--and--often--er--insanity? is it healthy--that's the idea--is it healthy? dr. macpherson. well, batholommey, religion has frequently led to the stake, and i never heard of the spanish inquisition being called _healthy_ for anybody taking part in it. still, religion flourishes. but your old-fashioned, unscientific, gilt, ginger-bread heaven blew up ten years ago--went out. my heaven's just coming in. it's new. dr. funk and a lot of the clergymen are in already. you'd better get used to it, batholommey, and get in line and into the procession. rev. mr. batholommey. you'll have to convince me first, doctor--and that no man can do. i made up my mind at twenty-one, and my heaven is just where it was then. doctor macpherson. so i see. it hasn't improved a particle. rev. mr. batholommey. [_tolerantly._] well, well. good-night. [mrs. batholommey _follows him in the hall._ mrs. batholommey. good-night, henry; i'll be home to-morrow. you'll be glad to see me, dear, won't you? rev. mr. batholommey. my church mouse! [_he pats her cheek, kisses her good-night and goes._ mrs. batholommey. [_who has gone to the door of her room--giving_ dr. macpherson _a parting shot._] write as much as you like, doctor; words are but air. we didn't see peter grimm and you know and i know and everybody knows that _seeing_ is believing. dr. macpherson. [_looking up._] damn everybody! it's everybody's ignorance that has set the world back a thousand years. where was i before you--oh, yes. [_reads as_ mrs. batholommey _leaves the room._] "i assisted in the carrying out of his instructions." [frederik grimm _enters._ frederik. anybody in this house come to their senses yet? dr. macpherson. i think so, my boy. i think several in this house have come to their senses. catherine has, for one. i'm very glad to see you back, frederik. i have a few questions to put to you. frederik. why don't you have more light? it's half dark in this room. [_he picks up the lamp from the_ doctor's _table and holds it so that he can look searchingly in the direction of the desk to see if_ peter's _apparition is still there. his eye is suddenly riveted on the telegram resting against the candlestick on the desk._] is that telegram for me? dr. macpherson. yes. frederik. oh.... it may explain perhaps why i've been kept waiting at the hotel.... [_tries to go to the desk but cannot muster up courage._] i had an appointment to meet a man who wanted to buy the gardens. i may as well tell you, i'm thinking of selling out root and branch. dr. macpherson. [_amazed._] selling out? peter grimm's gardens? so this is the end of peter's great work? frederik. you'll think it strange, doctor; but i--i simply can't make up my mind to go near that old desk of my uncle's.... i have a perfect terror of the thing! would you mind handing me that telegram? [_the_ doctor _looks at him with scarcely veiled contempt, and hands him the telegram. after a glance at the contents,_ frederik _gives vent to a long-drawn breath._] billy hicks--the man i was to sell to--is dead.... [_tosses the telegram across the table towards_ dr. macpherson, _who does not take it. it lies on the table._] i knew it this afternoon! i knew he would die ... but i wouldn't let myself believe it. someone told it to me ... whispered it to me.... doctor, as sure as you live--somebody else is doing my thinking for me in this house. dr. macpherson. [_studying_ frederik.] what makes you say that? frederik. to-night--in this room, i thought i saw my uncle ... [_pointing towards the desk._] there. dr. macpherson. eh?... frederik. and just before i--i saw him--i--i had the ... the strangest impulse to go to the foot of the stairs and call kitty--give her the house--and run--run--get out of it. dr. macpherson. oh, a good impulse, i see! very unusual, i should say. frederik. i thought he gave me a terrible look--a terrible look. dr. macpherson. your uncle? frederik. yes. my god! i won't forget that look! and as i started out of the room--he blotted out.... i mean--i thought i saw him blot out; ... then i left the photograph on the desk and-dr. macpherson. that's how william came by it. [_jots down a couple of notes._] did you ever have this impulse before--to give up catherine--to let her have the cottage? frederik. not much, i hadn't. certainly not. i told you someone else was thinking for _me_. i don't want to give her up. it's folly! i've always been fond of her. but if she has turned against me, i'm not going to sit here and cry about it. i shall be up and off. [_rising._] but i'll tell you one thing: from this time, i propose to think for myself. i've taken a room at the hotel and a few things for the night. i've done with this house. i'd like to sell it along with the gardens, and let a stranger raze it to the ground; but--[_thinks as he looks towards the desk._] when i walk out of here to-night--it's hers--she can have it. ... i wouldn't sleep here.... i give her the home because ... dr. macpherson. because you don't believe anything; but you want to be on the safe side in case he--[_gesturing to desk._] was there. frederik. [_puzzled--awed--his voice almost dropping to a whisper._] how do you account for it, doctor? dr. macpherson. it might have been an hallucination or perhaps you did see him, though it could have been inflammation of conscience, frederik: when did you last see annamarie? frederik. [_angrily._] haven't i told you already that i refuse to answer any questions as to my-dr. macpherson. i think it only fair to tell you that it won't make a particle of difference whether you answer me or not. i have someone on the track now--working from an old address; i've called in the detectives and i'll find her, you may be sure of that. as long as i'm going to know it, i may as well hear your side of it, too. when did you last see annamarie? frederik. [_sits--answers dully, mechanically, after a pause._] about three years ago. dr. macpherson. never since? frederik. no. dr. macpherson. what occurred the last time you saw her? frederik. [_quietly, as before._] what _always_ occurs when a young man realizes that he has his life before him, must be respected--looked up to, settle down, think of his future and forget a silly girl? dr. macpherson. a scene took place, eh? was william present? frederik. yes. she held him in her arms. dr. macpherson. and then? frederik. i left the house. dr. macpherson. then it's all true. [frederik _is silent._] what are you going to do for william? frederik. nothing. i'm a rich man now--and if i recognize him--he'll be at me till the day he dies. his mother's gone to the dogs and under her influence, the boy-dr. macpherson. be silent, you damned young scoundrel. oh! what an act of charity if the good lord took william, and i say it with all my heart. out of all you have--not a crumb for-frederik. i want you to know i've sweat for that money, and i'm going to keep it! dr. macpherson. _you've_ sweat for-frederik. [_showing feeling._]--yes! how do you think i got the money? i went to jail for it--jail, jail. every day i've been in this house has been spent in prison. i've been doing time. do you think it didn't get on my nerves? i've gone to bed at nine o'clock and thought of what i was missing in new york. i've got up at cock-crow to be in time for grace at the breakfast table. i took charge of a class in sabbath-school, and i handed out the infernal cornucopias at the church christmas tree, while he played santa claus. what more can a fellow do to earn his money? don't you call that sweating? no, sir; i've danced like a damned hand-organ monkey for the pennies he left me, and i had to grin and touch my hat and make believe i liked it. now i'm going to spend every cent for my own personal pleasure. dr. macpherson. will rich men never learn wisdom! frederik. [_rising_.] no, they won't! but in every fourth generation there comes along a _wise_ fellow--a spender who knows how to distribute the money others have hoarded: i'm the spender. dr. macpherson. shame upon you and your like! your breed should be exterminated. frederik. [_taking a little packet of letters from the desk_.] oh, no, we're quite as necessary as you are. and now--i shall answer no more questions. i'm done. good-night, doctor. dr. macpherson. good-night and good-bye. [_with a look of disgust, he has gone to the table, held a medicine bottle to the light to look at the label and poured a spoonful into a wine-glass filled with water. as_ frederik _leaves the house, the_ doctor _taps on a door and calls_.] catherine! [catherine _enters, and shows by the glance she directs at the front door that she knows_ frederik _has been in the room and has just left the house_.] burn up your wedding dress. we've made no mistake. i can tell you _that_! [_goes up the stairs to_ william's _room, taking the lamp with him_. james _has entered, and, taking_ catherine's _hand, holds it for a moment_. james. good-night, catherine. [_she turns and lays her hand on his shoulder_. catherine. i wonder, james, if _he_ can see us now. james. that's the big mystery!... who can tell? but any man who works with flowers and things that grow--knows there is no such thing as death-there's nothing but life--life and always life. i'll be back in the morning.... won't you ... see me to the door? catherine. yes ... yes.... [_they go up together,_ catherine _carrying a candle into the dark vestibule. the moment they disappear, a lamp standing on the piano goes out as though the draught from the door or an unseen hand had extinguished it. it is now quite dark outside, and the moon is hidden for a moment. at the same time, a light, seemingly coming from nowhere, reveals_ peter grimm _standing in the room at the door--as though he had been there when the young people passed out. he is smiling and happy. the moon is not seen, but the light of it (as though it had come out from behind a cloud) now reveals the old windmill. from outside the door the voices of_ james _and_ catherine _are heard as they both say:_] good-night. james. catherine, ... i won't go without it.... peter. [_knowing that_ james, _is demanding a kiss._] aha! [_rubs his hands in satisfaction--then listens--and after a second pause exclaims, with an upraised finger, as though he were hearing the kiss._] ah! now i can go.... [_he walks to the peg on which his hat hangs, and takes it down. his work is done._ catherine _re-enters, darting into the hall in girlish confusion._ james' happy voice. [_outside._] good-night! catherine. [_calling to him through the crack in the door._] good-night! [_she closes the door, turns the key and draws the heavy bolt--then leans against the door, candle-stick in hand--the wind has blown out the candle._] oh, i'm so happy! i'm so happy! peter. then good-night to you, my darling: love cannot say good-bye. [_she goes to_ peter's _chair, and, sitting, thinks it all over--her hands clasped in her lap--her face radiant with happiness._] here in your childhood's home i leave you. here in the years to come, the way lies clear before you. [_his arm upraised._] "_lust in rust_"--pleasure and peace go with you. [catherine _looks towards the door--remembering_ james' _kiss--half smiling._] [_humorously._] y--es; i saw you. i heard ... i know.... here on some sunny, blossoming day when, as a wife, you look out upon my gardens--every flower and tree and shrub shall bloom enchanted to your eyes.... all that happens--happens again. and if, at first, a little knock of poverty taps at the door, and james finds the road hard and steep--what is money?--a thing,--a good thing to have,--but still a thing ... and happiness will come without it. and when, as a mother, you shall see my plantings with new eyes, my catherine,--when you explain each leaf and bud to your little people--you will remember the time when _we_ walked together through the leafy lanes and i taught you--even as you teach them--you little thing!... so, i shall linger in your heart. and some day, should your children wander far away and my gardens blossom for a stranger who may take my name from off the gates,--what _is_ my name? already it grows faint to my ears. [_lightly._] yes, yes, yes, let others take my work.... why should _we_ care? all that happens, happens again. [_she rests her elbow on the chair, half hides her face in her hand._] and never forget this: i shall be waiting for you--i shall know all your life. i shall adore your children and be their grandfather just as though i were here; i shall find it hard not to laugh at them when they are bad, and i shall worship them when they are good--and i don't want them too good.... frederik was good.... i shall be everywhere about you ... in the stockings at christmas, in a big, busy, teeming world of shadows just outside your threshold, or whispering in the still noises of the night.... and oh! as the years pass, [_standing over her chair._] you cannot imagine what pride i shall take in your comfortable middle life--the very _best_ age, i think--when you two shall look out on your possessions arm in arm--and take your well-earned comfort and ease. how i shall love to see you look fondly at each other as you say: "be happy, jim--you've worked hard for this;" or james says: "take your comfort, little mother, let them all wait upon _you--you_ waited upon _them_. lean back in your carriage--you've earned it!" and towards the end--[_sitting on a chair by her side and looking into her face._] after all the luxuries and vanities and possessions cease to be so important--people return to very simple things, dear. the evening of life comes bearing its own lamp. then, perhaps, as a little old grandmother, a little old child whose bed-time is drawing near, i shall see you happy to sit out in the sunlight of another day; asking nothing more of life than the few hours to be spent with those you love,... telling your grandchildren, at your knees, how much brighter the flowers blossomed when _you_ were young. ha! ha! ha! all that happens, happens again.... and when, one glad day, glorified, radiant, young once more, the mother and i shall take you in our arms,--oh! what a reunion! [_inspired._] the flight of love--to love.... and now ... [_he bends over her and caresses her hand._] good-night. [catherine _rises and, going to the desk, buries her face in the bunch of flowers placed there in memory of_ peter. catherine. dear uncle peter.... marta _enters--pausing to hear if all is quiet in_ william's _room_. catherine, _lifting her face, sees_ marta _and rapturously hugs her, to_ marta's _amazement--then goes up the stairs_. peter. [_whose eyes never leave_ catherine.] "_lust in rust_!" pleasure and peace! amen! [catherine _passes into her room, the music dying away as her door closes_. marta, _still wondering, goes to the clock and winds it_.] poor marta! every time she thinks of me, she winds my clock. we're not quite forgotten. dr. macpherson. [_re-appears, carrying_ william, _now wrapped up in an old-fashioned dutch patchwork quilt. the_ doctor _has a lamp in his free hand_.] so you want to go downstairs, eh? very good! how do you feel, laddie? william. new all over. dr. macpherson. [_placing the lamp on the little table right, and laying_ william _on the couch_.] now i'll get you the glass of cold water. [_goes into the dining-room, leaving the door open_. peter. [_calling after the_ doctor.] good-night, andrew. i'm afraid the world will have to wait a little longer for the _big_ guesser. drop in often. i shall be glad to see you here. william. [_quickly rising on the couch, looks towards the peg on which_ peter grimm's _hat hung. calling_.] mr. grimm! where are you? i knew that you were down here. [_seeing_ peter.] oh, [_raising himself to his knees on the sofa_.] i see you _now_! peter. yes? [_there is an impressive pause and silence as they face each other_. william. oh, you've got your hat;... it's off the peg.... you're going. need you go right away--mr. grimm? can't you wait a little while? peter. i'll wait for you, william. william. may i go with you? thank you. i couldn't find the way without you. peter. yes, you could. it's the surest way in this world. but i'll wait,-don't worry. william. i sha'n't. [_coaxingly_.] don't be in a hurry ... i want--[_lies down happily_.] to take a nap first.... i'm sleepy. [_he pulls the covering up and sleeps_. peter. i wish you the pleasantest dream a little boy can have in _this_ world. _instantly, as though the room were peopled with faint images of_ william's _dream, the phantom circus music is heard, with its elfin horns; and, through the music, voices call "hai! hai!" the sound of the cracking of a whip is heard, and the blare of a clown's ten-cent tin horn. the phantom voice of the_ clown _(very faint) calls:_ clown's voice. billy miller's big show and monster circus is in town this afternoon! don't forget the date! only one ring--no confusion. circus day comes but once a year, little sir. come early and see the wild animals and hear the lion roar-r-r! mind, i shall expect _you!_ wonderful troupe of trained mice in the side-show. _during the above, the deeper voice of a_ "hawker"--_muffled and far off-cries:_ hawker's voice. peanuts, pop-corn, lemonade--ice cold lemo--lemo-lemonade! circus day comes but once a year. _breaking in through the music, and the voices of the_ clown _and_ hawker, _the gruff voice of a_ "barker" _is heard calling._ barker's voice. walk in and see the midgets and the giant! only ten cents--one dime! _as these voices die away, the_ clown, _whose voice indicates that he is now perched on the head of the couch, sings:_ clown's voice. "uncle rat has gone to town, ha! h'm! uncle rat has gone to town to buy his niece"-_his voice ends abruptly--the music stops. everything is over. there is silence. then three clear knocks sound on the door._ peter. come in.... [_the door opens. no one is there--but a faint path of phosphorous light is seen._] oh, friends! troops of you! [_as though he recognizes the unseen guests._] i've been gone so long that you came for me, eh? i'm quite ready to go back. i'm just waiting for a happy little fellow who's going back with us.... we'll follow. do you all go ahead-lead the way. [_he looks at_ william, _holds out his arms, and_ william _jumps up and runs into them._] well, william! you _know better_ now. come! [_picking up_ william.] happy, eh? [william _nods, his face beaming._ william. oh, yes! peter. let's be off, then. [_as they turn towards the door._ dr. macpherson. [_re-entering, goes to the couch with the water, and suddenly, setting down the glass, exclaims in a hushed voice:_] my god! he's dead! [_he half raises up a boy that appears to be_ william. _the light from the lamp on the table falls on the dead face of the child. then the_ doctor _gently lays the boy down again on the couch, and sits pondering over the mystery of death._ peter. [_to the_ doctor.] oh, no! there never was so fair a prospect for _life_! william. [_in_ peter's _arms._] i _am_ happy! _outside a hazy moonlight shimmers. a few stars twinkle in the far-away sky; and the low moon is seen back of the old windmill._ peter. [_to_ william.] if the rest of them only knew what they're missing, eh? william. [_begins to sing, joyously._] "uncle rat has gone to town." peter _dances up a few steps towards the door, singing with_ william. peter _and_ william. "ha! h'm! uncle rat has gone to town to buy his niece a wedding gown. ha! h'm!" peter. [_gives one last fond look towards_ catherine's _room. to_ william.] we're off! [_putting the boy over his shoulder, they sing together, as they go up, the phantom circus music accompanying them._] "what shall the wedding breakfast be? ha! h'm!" peter. [_alone._] "what shall the wedding breakfast be? hard boiled eggs and a cup of tea." william _and_ peter. "ha! h'm!" peter grimm _has danced off with the child through the faint path of light. as he goes, the wind or an unseen hand closes the door after them. there is a moment's pause until their voices are no longer heard--then the curtain slowly descends. the air of the song is taken up by an unseen orchestra and continues as the audience passes out._ curtain. psychomancy. spirit-rappings and table-tippings exposed. by prof. charles g. page, m. d., etc. new-york: d. appleton and company, 200 broadway. mdcccliii. entered according to act of congress, in the year 1853, by d. appleton and company, in the clerk's office of the district court of the united states for the southern district of new-york. spirit-rappings. the wide-spread and alarming mania of _spirit-rappings_ and _table-tippings_ of the present day, is only a modification, or new garb, of _devilish instrumentalities_, operating through human machinations, which have infested society from time immemorial. we start with this proposition, harsh as it may sound to some, and if we should fail to sustain it by facts, reasoning, and common sense, to the entire satisfaction of all, we still say to the unbelievers in our doctrine, show us the proof to the contrary; and with a confidence firm as our belief in holy writ, and the unfailing laws of god, we challenge the exhibition to our senses of any performance with spirit-rappings, or table-tippings, which cannot be explained upon natural, and _well known_ natural laws. we will here premise, that we do not attribute to satan any direct agency in this matter other than has always been ascribed to him in the crimes and misdeeds of man from the fall down to this present time. that neither the "prince of the power of the air," nor his imps (unless they be in human shape), rap out intelligence by sounds, get under tables and tip them over, swing them round, or perform any of these extraordinary feats, which so many among us are determined to invest with supernatural character and origin. nor do we consider that the arch-enemy of man has brought any _new power_ or _agency_ into operation to further his mischievous designs. far from it. _a new power?_ it would frustrate his schemes in their very inception. _a new power?_ it is a lawful subject of pursuit, to the very exhaustion of mental resources. _a new power?_ its bare mention is an arousing signal to the devotees of science, and upon the first scintillation of plausibility, the midnight lamp will burn throughout christendom, till its capabilities and subserviency to man's actual wants are unfolded. no! the tempter knows his game and tools, and perhaps his own limits, all too well to give to man a new and legitimate object of research, and thus divert investigation from hallucinating and mercenary sorceries to that which is lawful and truthful. he works with his own and old tools, upon and through that most successful instrumentality, over which, by long and dire experience, he has acquired such mighty ascendency--the human soul. this is his pliant tool, and here his stronghold. to those who regard the scriptural account of the devil's existence and agency as allegorical, our argument, in its cardinal character and bearing, will apply with the same force, for they have only to invest the mind of man with all the force and attributes that the allegory gives to both combined, and we address ourselves to them with the same interest and hope of success as with those who believe the scripture implicitly to the letter. to all alike, the deep, untiring, unending wiles of the human soul are familiar themes, and it matters but little to our present purpose, whether these impious transactions proceed from the main-spring of unaided, uninspired thought, or whether the unheeding thought is impressed by supernal powers. there is in the mind a strong and often morbid appetency for the supernatural and marvellous; a proneness to inquire beyond what is actually revealed; and, worse than this, a prurience of power, either real or specious, to exalt one above his fellow mortals, and give the weight of divine authority to his words and acts. from this desire originates priestcraft, astrology and sorcery, and in the former habitude of the mind lies the secret of their success and perpetuation. it has been a real source of distress to us, to see professing christians, even among our immediate friends, pushing their inquiries beyond the confines of realities into the spirit-world, forgetting or misapprehending the injunctions of scripture forbidding us to look into such things, and unconscious of the fact, that their well-meant invocations of spirits by the tipping of tables and rappings, was, in every step and act of repetition, lending encouragement to the mercenary and nefarious schemes of a certain set of vile impostors, who originated the cheat, and were continuing its practice for the sake of filthy lucre. to them, and to all, we say stop! ere this temerity be visited with the righteous judgments of an offended deity, who has pronounced, in his holy oracles, in clear and unmistakable language, his malediction of sorcery and witchcraft; has set the bounds of human inquiry where time stops and eternity begins, and sealed up the future in impenetrable mystery; who has refused to the yearning hearts of fond and bereaved parents all knowledge of their dear departed, save the hopes and consolations of the scripture. what! shall the great judgment be anticipated, and the archives of eternal retribution be read by the _knocking of sticks upon the floor_, or the upsetting of tables? shall eternity be made subordinate to time; the immortal to the mortal? shall the silence of the grave be disturbed by grovelling mountebanks, or its stern abodes become vocal through these gross mediums of rappers and tippers? impious! impious! we need not quote scripture against this unholy pursuit, for its anathemas are full and loud, and he who runs may read. we know there are those who are innocently engaged in the _invocation of spirits_, and who seem to take delight in holding converse with their departed friends, as they suppose. we ask them to pause, and consider well what they are doing! to look around, and see the devastation of human intellect, the fearful swellings of the madhouse rolls, the frightful deeds of blood and violence, and the stupendous frauds, all begotten of this monster mania! are these the fruits of legitimate and holy deeds? are these your consolations while at your spiritual shrines? do they not bear evidence in themselves of their diabolical origin, and are they not warnings to you to beware, lest in your attempts to enter beyond the veil into the "_holy of holies_," you be struck down also? if these pests of society are beyond the reach of earthly tribunals, will you countenance and encourage their career? shall we be met here with the assertion that there are religious maniacs, that religious excitement makes madmen, and leads to deeds of violence? we spurn the fallacy; and with proud defiance, armed with the rock of ages, we hurl back the apology in the very teeth of the casuist who made it, and, fearless of his replication, triumphantly assert that the true religion of jesus christ, whose first fruits and very essence is peace to the soul, never drove any body mad. we profess a profound reverence for all that is holy, and from our earliest recollection have been imbued with a deep dread of profanity in any shape, and approached this mockery of high heaven with some reluctance, unwilling that our veneration should suffer so much violence. but we felt justified, in the full assurance that this thing was not of heaven, but of men. for the sake of unravelling this imposture and illusion, for this purpose _alone_, we have put ourselves frequently in the attitude of dupes of these impostors, and feigning for a time conviction and conversion, have led them on till they were completely baffled in every attempt to perform their tricks, and the spirits became powerless and silent as the mortal tenements they once actuated. when we first sat down to a table with a few well-meaning and particular family friends to conjure spirits, we confess to a momentary feeling of horripilation, not from fear of meeting a visitor from another world, but from the impression that the very act was _heaven-daring_ and _profane_. but when we came to utter the rapper's shibboleth, "_if there are any spirits present, will they please to signify it by tipping the table?_" the thoughts of sacrilege vanished, and were immediately supplanted by an irresistible sense of the ridiculous, and the smile and the laugh rose above all convictions of solemnity or irreverence. "will the spirits please to tip the table?" was again and again reiterated, but no table tipped for us. perhaps we are not "_mediums_," said one. "the spirits have declared that i am a medium," said another; but that great exorcist, _common sense_, was present and prevalent on this occasion; and the spirits would not communicate, and the table would not tip, _certainly not, of itself_. we introduced every variety of manipulation of crossing hands, interlocking fingers, and, in spite of all, and the most patient persistence, the table proved true to its lifeless character, and the universal law that "_matter is inert, and cannot move of itself_." what could have been the cause of this abortive conjuration? were the spirits present, and not disposed to gratify a certain class of _dilettanti_ who were present? were they jesting and teazing, or in bad humor with our persons, our fixtures, or our espionage? for we had heard from very respectable sources, of the spirits jesting and taunting those present on such occasions. or were they far away on some errand of duty, or busy and monopolized for some _special tippings_ elsewhere? this last idea seems to be precluded by the fact that certain great spirits, such as channing, webster, clay and calhoun, who figure so largely on these occasions, rap and tip in different places at the same time. what mummery is all this to the mind that believes in the omnipresence of the great god himself, who cannot look upon such practices but with abhorrence. are you, christian man or woman, one whit better for these doings than that woman with the familiar spirits, the witch of endor?[1] are you not rather her disciple? and is she not held up to you for an example and a warning? do you think that rappings and table-tippings give respectability to witchcraft? is reading the future and the invisible world by rappings and tippings any better than the doings of yonder wretched crone, who works out in her concealed abode the same problems by packs of cards and mystical incantations? are you not ministering encouragement to her hagship, and pursuing her very vocation, though under another name? shall not this veritable beldame rise up in judgment, and plead in justification of _fortune-telling_ the example of the christian church in spirit-rapping and table-tipping? perhaps you think that these seeming wonders are fraught with more interest, novelty, and mystery, than the magical demonstrations of old. why, in very truth, they are contemptibly insignificant when compared with the witcheries of old. read upham's letters on the witchcraft of the new england colonies, sir walter scott's demonology and witchcraft, and see how the rappings and tippings dwindle before the performances of the witches of yore. after reading these, study well sir david brewster's natural magic--a book that should be in the hands of every one who takes interest in these marvels of the day. there you will see how phenomena, at first sight inexplicable, are solved by the touch-stones of science and common sense. you will there find that sorcery was not to be stopped entirely by the gibbet, the gallows or the stake, but that the light of reason and science were most effectual in promoting its overthrow. sir walter scott says of the opposers of witchcraft in the seventeenth century, that the "pursuers of exact science to its coy retreats were sure to be the first to discover that the most remarkable phenomena in nature are regulated by certain fixed laws, and cannot be rationally referred to supernatural agency" (meaning, of course, supernatural interference), "the sufficing cause to which superstition attributes all that is beyond her own narrow power of explanation. each advance in natural knowledge teaches us, that it is the pleasure of the creator to govern the world by the laws which he has imposed, and which in our times are not interrupted or suspended." in all ages, the church has attributed sorcery to the agency of the devil. if this is his work, he certainly proceeds upon the same general _modus operandi_ as ever. as one artifice wears out, or is exploded by the power of science, he resorts to another; that is, he prompts new tricks by his own unseen influences, upon the minds of those who become his willing instruments. the most gross of all is spirit-rapping, and next, the subtle delusions of mesmerism, and table-tippings. we cannot stop here to discuss mesmerism, for whatever there may be in it of lawful inquiry, surely the sending of clairvoyant spirits to the portals of heaven or hell, to bring back descriptions of those abodes and their inhabitants, is sorcery of the most impious character. some years ago said a distinguished poet, "satan now, is wiser than of yore;" doubtless he has advanced a few degrees in strategy, since pope's time, and as the light and power of science and wisdom increase, so does he deepen his plots and shift his points of attack. now we will repeat here, that it is entirely immaterial to our purpose whether our readers believe in the seen or unseen, direct or indirect influences of the devil upon mind or matter, or in neither one nor the other. if they do not believe that he "goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour," if they do not believe in the existence of such a malignant being, they have only this alternative, that they must find the devil's equivalent in the human heart, which though a less palatable doctrine, will answer the design of this argument, which is to show that these pretended wonders of knocks and table movements are illusory, nefarious and mischievous, originating chiefly from evil-minded persons, and perpetuated by the indifference of careless observers, the connivance of others, and mainly by the fanaticism, ignorance, and credulousness of a large class of persons found in every community. these have been recognized in all ages as the principal ingredients in sorcery, but there is yet another element which is doing much to foster this crime, and although not a new feature, yet is quite prevalent at this time, and less excusable than it was in the days of bacon and napier. sir walter scott, in one of his letters, has this point in our discussion so strongly portrayed, that we take the liberty of quoting him at some length, rejoicing in the opportunity of adding his great wisdom and authority in these matters, to our own efforts. speaking of the causes which retarded the subversion of witchcraft in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, among learned men, he says, "the learned and sensible dr. webster, for instance, writing in the detection of the supposed witchcraft, assumes, as a string of undeniable facts, opinions which our more experienced age would reject as frivolous fancies; for example, the effects of healing by the weapon-salve, the sympathetic powder, the curing of various diseases by apprehensions, amulets, or by transplantation." all of which undoubted wonders he accuses the age of desiring to throw on the devil's back--an unnecessary load, certainly, since such things do not exist, and it is therefore in vain to seek to account for them. it followed, that while the opposers of the ordinary theory might have struck the deepest blow at the witch hypothesis by an appeal to common sense, they were themselves hampered by articles of philosophical belief, which, they must have been sensible, contained nearly as deep draughts upon human credulity as were made by the demonologists, against whose doctrine they protested. this error had a doubly bad effect, both as degrading the immediate department in which it occurred, and as affording a protection for falsehood in other branches of science. the champions who, in their own province, were obliged by the imperfect knowledge of the times to admit much that was mystical and inexplicable; those who opined, with bacon, that warts could be cured by sympathy--who thought, with napier, that hidden treasure could be discovered by the mathematics--who salved the weapon instead of the wound, and detected murders as well as springs of water by the divining-rod, could not consistently use, to confute the believers in witches, an argument turning on the impossible or the incredible. "such were the obstacles arising from the vanity of philosophers and the imperfection of their science, which suspended the strength of their appeal to reason and common sense, against the condemning of wretches to a cruel death, on account of crimes, which the nature of things rendered in modern times impossible." thus learned men seeking to unravel mysteries, for want of sagacity and full knowledge, may become the apologists of sorcery and witchcraft. bacon was obliged to be a philosopher for the whole enlightened world; but, in our day, so vast has each branch of science become, that any one of them would be full enough for a bacon's grasp, and philosophers hardly dare to venture outside of their own boundaries, lest they become, or be considered _philosophists_. we hear men of science abused because they take such obstinate, inexorable positions against these "_fooleries_." this they are bound to do. familiar with the laws of nature, all real phenomena are alike marvellous to their minds, and those which claim to be miraculous, supernatural, and, _par excellence_, the marvellous, they repudiate summarily as absurdities, knowing that if they cannot disabuse the popular mind, they can prove their irrationality to their own entire satisfaction, at least. formerly fortune-tellers were sometimes styled philomaths, but we think that as fortune-telling has degenerated into such disrepute, the name is unworthily applied, and we propose to transfer it to that class of learned writers of the present day, who seek to trace these tricks of raps and tips to the direct agency of the devil, or evil or good spirits;--supposing these spirits to make the sounds or movements, and to give the communications;--and to that class specially who attribute these phenomena to electricity, magnetism, or to the action of some power or fluid hitherto unknown; in short, to all, who look upon these things as any thing else than impostures and illusions. these are the philomaths of the present day, and while they thus stand in the way of advancement in true knowledge, they are, in effect, fostering error, superstition, and sorcery. we boast in our day of the enlightenment of the masses, the spread of education and the diffusion of knowledge; but for all this, necromancy is not dead nor stifled; and is now like a baleful poison running rife through our land, upon the most preposterous foundations and pretexts. spirits, rapping upon doors, floors, and tables, upsetting tables and swinging them about the room? spirits, do you say? has a "spirit flesh and blood?" has a spirit _bones, muscles, fingers, heels, toes, and sticks_? do spirits wear petticoats _and long dresses_? a "_new fluid_," says another philomath. a new fluid, forsooth? none other than that old fluid of credulity or gullibity, if we may be allowed the latter term. an "old fluid," says another. "electricity or magnetism in some shape." this is insufferable. since the first discoveries in electricity and magnetism, these agents have had to take the paternity of every rare and inexplicable phenomenon. this is much more the case now than when sir walter scott wrote his letters on witchcraft, though he says that the divining-rod, and other remarkable and misconceived phenomena, were assigned to the agency of electricity and magnetism. at the present times these subtle agents are the common _scape-goats_ for mesmeric, electro-biological, psychological, and every other kind of phenomenon, the cause of which eludes the senses, and the new-fangled farce of "rappings and tippings" must fain take advantage of the same subterfuge in order to make its way to popular credence. unfortunately, in this case an accurate knowledge of the laws of electricity is possessed by comparatively few persons; and the electric fluid, or power of magnetism, becomes a very clever instrument in the hands of charlatans and empirics, through which to enforce upon the popular mind the reality of their tricks and impostures. to one who has an adequate knowledge of the laws of electricity and magnetism, it is more than amusing to see with what pedantic gravity these latter philomaths descant upon electricity and magnetism, contorting and butchering their established laws all the while, to explain some vile juggle, or unravel the psychomancy of rappers and tippers; and also to see with what avidity their inflated arguments are gulped by gaping crowds, who apparently are unwilling or unable to swallow a single _naked truth_. it is often said that "men love to be deceived." this is true to some extent, and it is sometimes the case that a quack will draw crowds around him where a truly learned man could not get a foothold. the truth however is mighty, and will prevail, and the power of learning always has been, and will be felt, though it may be somewhat slow to assert and maintain its supremacy. in verity, there is not one property, condition, or law of electricity or magnetism, so far as they have been established by experiment and science, that would explain rappings and tippings without doing violence to philosophy. a few years ago, a medical friend and brother came to our house late at night, in considerable trepidation, and wished us to go and see a woman who was bewitched in an extraordinary manner. at intervals she would be seized with convulsions, and while the fit was on her she pulled pins out of the hands, arms, and legs of bystanders, and tossing the pins into her mouth, swallowed them. we remonstrated with him, but though highly intelligent, and excelling in his profession, our friend the doctor would not give it up. he had seen it, believed it, but could not account for it, and came to us specially to ascertain if "electricity had not something to do with it." knowing that the witches of old had a special fancy for pins, and fully prepared to see nothing more than a dexterous feat of legerdemain, we consented to go, late as it was, and as soon as the pretty little elf, who was lying upon a pallet upon the floor, had become convulsed, and pulled a pin from our person, and swallowed it, we discovered the _quomodã²_, and the next day, with a little practice, we were able to go into very fair convulsions, and could draw out pins and swallow them as skilfully as the witch herself. our good friend, the doctor, had not even noticed that the convulsive movements were all confined to the voluntary actions upon the muscles, so engrossed was he with the idea of the supernatural character of this performance. it is remarkable to notice how the scrutinizing powers of the most astute, fail as soon as they entertain the remotest idea of the supernatural in these cases. this girl was visited by hundreds of respectable and intelligent persons in our community, and notwithstanding a publication which was made exposing the trick, but few were able to discover it for themselves, and the greater portion believed it to be a genuine performance, and alms were freely given in sympathy for her unfortunate condition. our sympathies were enlisted for those whom _she bewitched_, and we must give the _enchantress_ credit for more shrewdness than her customers, and we believe she reaped quite a rich harvest for her skill in legerdemain. we cite this case to show what violence is done to science to account for modern sorceries. _remember_, we are called on to decide if _electricity_ played any part in this extraordinary exhibition. many years ago a person of the name of hannington came to salem, massachusetts, then the place of our residence, to exhibit the so-called _mysterious lady_. this lady had the power of naming and describing various things which she could not see, declare names written upon bits of paper handed to persons promiscuously in the audience, and a variety of performances, which completely astounded her visitors. their programme announced that they had visited the principal cities in this country and europe, and that her extraordinary gift of divination had baffled the ablest researches. we were invited to see this great modern pythoness, and specially for the purpose of judging whether it was an _auricular_ illusion. in a word, whether it might not be an extraordinary case of ventriloquism, for this seems to have been the last resort for a solution of the problem, with those who repudiated witchery. electricity would not answer this time, and the science of sound had to be mutilated for the occasion. being ourselves expert in the performance of ventriloquism, and familiar with the laws of acoustics, it needed but a moment to decide that ventriloquism was utterly inadequate to the solution of the puzzle, and before we left the room we discerned the whole trick, disconcerted the performers very essentially, and the next day published a full exposure, after which the whereabouts of the _mysterious lady_ was a greater mystery than her performances had been. a few years since, an account was published throughout this country and europe, of a prodigy in the shape of an _electrical girl_ in paris, who was indued with an extraordinary power--_electrical_ of course--by which, when she attempted to sit down in a chair, it was thrown from her with great violence. this was one of the wonders of the day, and after having deceived multitudes, and become an object of universal interest and sympathy, she fell into the hands of a select committee of the academy of sciences, with arago at their head. does any one suppose that arago ever entertained for a moment the idea of electrical action in this connection? not at all! arago immediately set himself to the examination of the girls heels, and soon found that she moved the chairs by muscular effort. by long practice she had acquired such skill and power of kicking, or thrusting the chair away from herself, that it was always done without exhibiting any motion exterior to her dress, or the slightest disturbance of her person. so much for electricity or the "_new fluid_" in this case. this kicking girl was styled the _electrical girl_, or the _electrical wonder_. of course she belonged to the _new fluid class_, for no one acquainted with the laws of electricity, would have entertained a suspicion that electricity had any thing to do with the phenomenon. we may be accused of being somewhat dogmatical in this treatise, and perhaps we are so, while we have to deal with so many fanatics and pragmatical philomaths. for the superstitious and ignorant, we have some charity, but we confess that we have little or no patience for those among educated men, who are wearers of the _amulets_ of electricity, magnetism, or _new fluids_. they evince more pedantry than penetration, and are inexcusable disseminators of sophistry and error. they are exactly in the category of the believers in perpetual motion, and, in fact, the ascription of such phenomena as table-tippings to electricity, magnetism, or some new fluid, goes a step beyond perpetual motion, if that is possible. most of the plodders after perpetual motion expect to get, by some new adjustment, a machine that will barely move of itself without any great surplus of power; but according to this new table-tipping philosophy, we certainly should look for any amount of horse power, without any consumption of material, and no other expense than that of keeping a clever medium at hand. on the principle of touching a heavy table _lightly_ (for the touch must be light according to rule), and thus causing by incantations the table to tip, rise up, whirl about, etc., it would cost but little to move a church or a mountain, and mediums should be in great demand for mechanical purposes, as being cheaper and safer than steam engines. how strange it does appear, that these pseudo-philosophers have entirely lost sight of the one great radical principle of all dynamic science, viz., that action and reaction are equal, and never have attached the least value to the fact, that when persons put their hands _lightly_ upon tables, _their hands always follow the motion of the table, whichever way the table moves_. it certainly appeared to us a very _significant_ fact, when we first saw the performance, and if considered in connection with electricity, or the _new fluid_, is sufficiently anomalous to require a careful analysis. but more of this anon, as we propose to examine the rappings first. this imposture originated with two girls, by the name of fox, from rochester, new-york, who are now, with their mother, travelling through the country, and exhibiting their art for money. a few weeks ago, the fox-mother gave us an account of this wonderful development of noises or rappings about the two daughters, and from her we learned that the noises were kept up for a long time before they discovered the cause. at first they were annoyed by them, but, _after a while_, they became so familiar with the sounds, that they took but little notice of them, until they discovered the mode of communicating with their authors, and ascertained that the sounds were made by spirits of the departed. according to her account, the spirits then rapped at points remote from the girls, but it seems that the spiritual habit has changed somewhat, for since the girls have been on exhibition,[2] the spirits rap nowhere except directly _under the girls, and about their feet_, or upon something with which their persons or dresses are in contact. we had no desire to see these creatures, except to discover the precise means by which they made the raps, and although fully prepared to condemn them before we paid them a visit, we preferred not to condemn them unseen, lest, on that ground, the clique of rappers should have some advantage over our argument. it amuses us greatly at times, when discussing these matters with our friends, to be told that our "opinions are all made up beforehand," "that we are prejudiced," &c. we admit the charge, and say frankly we _are_ prejudiced, and mean to prejudge any effort to make black appear to be white, and white, black; and declare the pretensions of these rappers and tippers to be as grossly absurd and silly, as any monstrosity in the shape of a proposition, that ever emanated from a crazy or evil designing brain. when we are told that a table is moved by the mere effort of the will, that it moves about when it is not touched, we deny the statement _flatly_ at once, and challenge the reproduction of the miracle, and when we are told that spirits rap upon tables, floors, doors, walls, or any thing else, we deny the statement, and challenge the production of any kind of rap or sound in these cases, which is not clearly traceable to human agency. perhaps it will be inferred that we either do or should take ground against supernatural interference and miracles altogether, seeing that we are prepared to condemn _ã  priori_, these manifestations, claiming for themselves supernatural origin. we confess that one of the greatest obstacles we have to encounter in the course of this exposition, is the deep-rooted belief in the existence, at the present day, of miraculous powers, agencies and deeds, and the readiness with which many persons ascribe every thing which eludes their judgment or senses, and especially whatever savors in the least of religion, to superhuman agency. we do not mean to draw upon holy writ for arguments in support of our decision, upon these _rappings_ and _tippings_, but anticipating the reception we shall meet, with this class of persons, we must advert briefly to the grounds of their belief and objection, and at the same time define our own position. we here find ourselves arrayed against learned divines of the present day, who, failing to account for these strange doings upon the supposition of human agency, resort to their belief in the superhuman, and consistently with their professional calling, must evidently found their views upon scripture. failing to discern the "_finger of god_," they have come to their last resort, "that these manifestations are the work of the devil, or of evil spirits." without claiming any depth in biblical lore, we ask them where is the authority for any such conclusion in the bible? the bible teaches plainly of the devil's agency, of his operations upon the heart of man, and so far would such a construction be justifiable, but no farther. there is not one instance recorded, in which satanic agency was recognizable by man as _immediate_. "by their fruits ye shall know them," is a sufficient rule of judgment for any deeds, pretensions, or manifestations whatsoever; and here they should rest content, and instead of going beyond the record, might safely administer the general caution, that these "lies are of their father, the devil," without introducing the whole pandemonium into our houses, to overturn our tables and upset the laws of gravity and mechanical philosophy. we believe that miracles were performed of old, for holy purposes, and no other; that they were necessary to enforce the truth of revelation; that the day of miracles has gone by, and that they ceased when their necessity ceased. we have our own mode of fixing that period, but the discussion would be too far from our present purpose, and we have digressed too much already. we take the ground that every witch, wizard, magician, astrologer, sorcerer, necromancer, and fortune-teller, from the earliest, down to the present time, has had no more power over matter, or the laws of nature, than any other person, and that whoever lays claim to familiar spirits, foresight, or any direct communication with the invisible world, through raps and tips, is either witch, wizard, conjurer, or sorcerer _de facto_.[3] the prime movers in all these marvels are _impostors_, and their disciples, _dupes_. while the former are filling their coffers at the expense of the latter, they must often indulge in secret merriment at the credulity of their adherents; and particularly at the grave discussions of the learned clergy and others upon electricity, magnetism, the new fluid, the nervous fluid, or the devil's immediate agency, as probable causes of these strange phenomena. surely the "children of this world are wiser than the children of light." the juggler with his legerdemain far outstrips any thing that has ever been accomplished by rappers and tippers, but then he tells you that he performs by sleight of hand, and that unless your eyes are quicker than his hands, you will be deceived. if certain of his performances were to be introduced with some religious jargon and pretext, his success in infatuating the mass of the people, would put the rappers and tippers entirely in the shade, for the tricks of these latter are clumsy and poorly done at the best. mr. anderson, the professed juggler, known as the wizard of the north, has, to his great credit, published a series of communications, in which he boldly avers that these rappers are all impostors, and has contrived a system of rapping and spiritual communications, quite as successful as those of the original fraternity. he has failed, however, to elucidate the whole subject, from the fact that he has been contented with a mere imitation, which the rappers will of course pronounce a counterfeit. our first visit to the rappers, was in company with a gentleman of high eminence in science, of keen discernment, and very fruitful in expedients. we had formed no particular plan of procedure, except that we had agreed to feign belief in these performances, lest incredulity might prove an obstacle to investigation, and keep the rappers too much on their guard. repudiating all idea of the supernatural, we were not liable to any distraction on that account, and our attention was directed entirely to the scrutiny of the performances, with reference to their solution upon established principles of evidence and natural laws. if the advocates of this new "spiritual philosophy" should object to this prejudication, our answer is, that aside from our prior experience in unravelling many such pretended wonders, we hold our position to be entirely justifiable, on the ground of probabilities, and that hitherto we have never known an instance in which so much of presumption was not in such cases, legitimated in the conclusion of facts. be this as it may, we had resolved to follow up these rappings and tippings to see whether they were impostures, delusions, or illusions, one or all. after the mother of the fox girls had given us an account of the spiritual visitation of her daughters, they three took seats at a large circular table, and we joined the circle sitting opposite to them. we were directed to ask if there were any spirits present. this done, bang, bang upon the table announced the presence of the spirits. the table was evidently struck underneath by something _hard_, _solid_, _material_, and so as to jar the table perceptibly to the hand resting upon it. our coadjutor feigned surprise and alarm, and stooped to look under the table, when the raps immediately ceased. this he repeated several times and each time the raps ceased. we asked again if there were any spirits present, but no answer came while he had his eyes below the level of the table top, but as soon as he sat up, the raps upon the table commenced again. he however was so persevering in his scrutiny about the table as to give us a good opportunity to say--for mere effect--"why do you look under there, you cannot _see_ a spirit?" the rappers finding themselves baffled in making their demonstrations through the table, were forced to retreat from it, and taking their seats a short distance from the table, the rappings then commenced upon the floor immediately under the girls, or about their feet. both the girls were rappers, but one conspicuously so, she rapping much louder than the other, and did most of the rapping for the occasion. both the girls wore long dresses sweeping the floor, but the principal rapper ought to have been attended by a train bearer. "are there any spirits present?" was again asked, and the raps came promptly and so thick and fast that the spirits seemed anxious to make some communications, so we proceeded to this part of the ceremony. the instructions being given to us how to proceed, we commenced by asking several questions, but to these we received either no answers, or incorrect ones. the programme was this: we were to write down three names[4] of spirits, one of which was to be the name of the spirit we intended to invoke. we were then to put down the names of three diseases, one of which was to be the disease of which the person had died. we were then to put down three places, one of which was to be the place where the person died. we were then to point _seriatim_ to the names of the persons, and that when we pointed to the name of the person intended, the spirit would signify his presence and approbation, by two raps, which mean yes. names of others, or those not intended, would be answered by one rap, which meant no. we made no progress, however, and, although there was an abundance of rapping, there was no communication, no intelligence, no confirmation to us, of what we already knew (in the imperfection of human knowledge), and we appealed with an air and tone of assumed _naã¯vetã©_ to the rappers to know if perhaps our failures were not owing to our great wickedness? "oh, no!" said the mother fox, "it will happen so sometimes." just then a gentleman entered who, it appears, was a devotee of rappism, and a daily worshipper at the fox shrine, for the purpose of holding communication with the spirit of a departed wife. as we had failed, entirely, to elicit even a respectable _guess_ in answer to our inquiries of the spirits, and this gentleman had been more highly favored, his visit was rather fortunate at this juncture, for it gave us an opportunity to observe more closely than when our minds were occupied with the manipulation of the _spiritual telegraph_. mr. * * * commenced at once with an account of his previous interviews and then proceeded to inquire for his beloved spirit. rap, rap, indicated her presence, and he asked some several questions which were answered to his satisfaction, the fox mother repeating over and over the alphabet, so fast that we could not follow to get the answer for ourselves, but the rappers being in good _practice_, seemed to find no difficulty in keeping pace. we saw in this individual, a degree of infatuation rarely to be met with in intelligent _men of the world_, and unmistakable evidence of entire mental hebetude upon this particular subject. we, however, turned his fascination to a very good account, as we shall presently show. we inquired if these rappings ever occurred any where except immediately about the persons of these girls. "oh yes," was the mother's answer, "the sounds have been made in that wardrobe, and upon the door," etc. we pressed hard to have the raps from the wardrobe, but to our surprise and disappointment the girl got into the wardrobe, leaving the door open, and so snugly was she encased there in consequence of a partition in the wardrobe, that her dress was largely in contact with three sides or walls of the little apartment. of course we did not expect any better or different performance from that with which we had been entertained outside the wardrobe. "will the spirit rap here?" says the girl, and rap, rap, it came on the floor of the wardrobe. she was then requested to have the rappings made upon the sides and back of the wardrobe, which she did, taking a little extra time to arrange herself for these performances. she then requested us to put our ear to the top of the wardrobe and the rap would proceed from that quarter. we were not to be entrapped by this trick, for we knew full well the old and trite experiment of placing the ear upon one end of a long stick when a sound is made upon the other end. in this experiment the sound will always appear to be made near the ear. we therefore kept our attention fixed upon the bottom or lower part of the wardrobe, and while some present, misled by the artifice, supposed the sound came from the upper part of the wardrobe, we observed that the sound was produced where it was at first, down below, and that it was not modified in the least, which certainly ought to have been the case, if the sound had been made opposite to the person's ear. the girl then called attention to several points in the upper part of the wardrobe, and it appeared to the satisfaction of some present that the sounds came from those points, while to us it was perfectly evident that the sounds were not at all changed in direction or character, and in reality proceeded from the old quarter. our knowledge of ventriloquism also fortified us against this trick. ventriloquism is a deception, the success of which depends upon a certain power of modulating the voice, a correct ear for imitation of sounds, and skill and judgment in selection of time, place and circumstances for the performance. when persons present are not aware or apprised of the attempt to deceive them, the ventriloquist is not obliged to be very particular in his selection. but when his intention is announced or anticipated, his art is exercised to direct the attention of his auditors to the quarter from which he wishes the sound to appear to come. if our readers will turn to brewster's natural magic on this subject, they will find many interesting tricks described on this principle. nothing is more easy than to deceive completely, by calling the attention of persons present to sounds from a certain position or direction, while in reality the sounds are made elsewhere and in a remote quarter, provided the real origin of the sounds be concealed from the sight. so it was in the case of the raps, with those whose eyes and _expectations_ were fixed upon the top of the wardrobe. the trick was poorly done however, for the sound did not undergo the proper modification, and in fact it was out of the girl's power to modify it to suit this case. for the origin of the raps, being concealed under her dress, she could not divest it of its muffled character without exposing her art. it is particularly worthy of note here, that for these experiments in the wardrobe no particular spirit was invoked, and the raps were continued as long as necessary for the gratification of the bystanders, and were several times commenced without any particular invocation on the part of the girl, she evidently forgetting the dignity of the spirit in the excitement of the moment. this over, it was desired to have the spirits knock at the door, but they could not manifest without the girl's immediate presence, and accordingly, she placed herself against the outside of the room door, which was about two thirds open, she taking hold of the latch. we were about to take position outside, in the passage, when she remarked that the spirits would rap much better if we took hold of the door. this was rather more necessary than cunning, and the rapper knew of course that unless she or some one held the door, the knock upon it would move the door on its hinges away from her. when she was fairly fixed with her dress in contact with the door, the raps commenced upon the door. after this she turned her head and asked if the spirit would please to rap in the passage, when she gave rather a feeble rap, which suited the trick tolerably well and here the rapping ended for this visit. the rap from the passage explained the purpose of keeping us in the room, for if we had gone into the passage the trick would have failed for us, as we should have been able from our position there, to refer the sound to the right quarter viz., about the girl's feet. on the second visit we were there with our former coadjutor and several other gentlemen of eminence, and a lady of the highest respectability, strong mind, and distinguished for her indomitable energy and perseverance. our quondam enthusiast we found there at his matins, in company with several persons eminent in political life. one of them, a member of congress, had been endeavoring to get some spiritual communications, but became so disgusted with the _bad guessing_ of the fox girls, that he left the room. the enthusiast, mr. * * *, then invoked his favorite spirit and proposed a question, the answer to which was spelled out by the fox mother as before, and he expressed himself perfectly satisfied with the answer. we then took our turn. we put down upon paper the names of three departed spirits, three diseases, and three places. in pointing to these names with the pencil, we took good care to conceal the pencil movement behind a book, and carefully guarded against any emphatic movement which should betray our will to the practiced eyes of the girls. the raps came for the wrong spirit, and rapped the wrong disease, and place of death. we then made another effort. three names were selected, as follows, webster, clay, and calhoun; webster's was the spirit we invoked, and they hit it right this time for the name, but mark the sequel. the answer was that webster died of croup! and at salem, mass. of course we did not indicate by any look or movement that our inquiries had been answered correctly or incorrectly until we had got through. our scientific friend next made a trial, and his answers were more ludicrous if possible then those we had obtained. he attempted in several ways to get replies from the spirits, being always careful to give no clue to his thoughts by outward signs, but all to no purpose. the spirits, judging from the raps, were there in abundance, but no intelligence, or correct answers could be had from them. next another friend of ours came to the trial. he had not been accustomed to investigate such tricks, and very imprudently suffered mr. * * * to put the questions for him. the answers came in accordance with the facts, that is the right spirit was designated by the raps, and the manner of his death. mr. * * * put the questions each in different tone and shape, and the girls undoubtedly read him as they had done before. noticing this, we remarked to mr. * * * that as he had been so successful we would like to have him inquire for us, to which he readily assented. we, however premised, that he must use the same _intonation_ and _language_ in asking each question, which he agreed to do, as far as he could. this we exacted, not because we had any suspicion of collusion in this case, but as we explained it at the time, because many persons would unwittingly by emphasis or some significance indicate to the rappers, or any shrewd person, the particular object he had in view. with these precautions, the question was put to the rappers. we were to fix our thoughts upon a particular spirit, the disease of which the person died, and the place where; the name with two others was put down upon paper, the disease with several others, and also the place of death with two others. mr. * * * propounded as follows: will the spirit inform us of the spirit the gentleman is thinking of? rap, rap! yes. will it inform us correctly? rap, rap! yes. pointing to a name with a pencil, he asked, is it this? rap! no. is it this? rap, rap! yes. pointing to the diseases and places, with the same question each time; when the whole was gone through with, mr. * * * asked, has the spirit informed us correctly? rap, rap! yes. we were thinking of webster's spirit, and the result was this. the rappers hit it right as to the name, but they informed us this time that mr. webster died of fungus hã�matodes, in newark, new jersey. this was too much for forbearance, but still we kept our purpose of investigation in view, and again pleaded our own wickedness as the probable cause of these failures. "oh! no," said they, "it will happen so sometimes." what a deeply disgusting spectacle! these girls and their mother sitting there, with all gravity, and pretending to be the "_mediums_" of communication with disembodied spirits, and dealing out such nonsense as that just related. the rappers were then sitting some distance from the table, and we asked if the "spirits would rap upon the table?" rap! no. "will the spirit _please_ to rap upon the table?" rap, rap, rap. "not now." it seems that three raps for the expression "not now" was a part of the spiritual stenography, as they had occasion to use this evasion quite often to escape difficulties. "will the spirit please to explain why it will not rap upon the table?" rap, rap, rap! "not now." "when will it?" "this evening, at such an hour," naming it. this last communication was spelled out by the fox mother, and a time was named at which it would be impossible to get an opportunity to propound such a question, as they held their spiritual levee in the evening to crowds. moreover, we had no desire to repeat the question to these tricksters, to be shuffled, as we most certainly should have been, with the same prevarication. on the occasion of our first visit, mr. * * * said that the spirits had rapped upon his foot, while sitting at a table. the experiment was repeated by request, and very likely would have been successful, if we had not fixed our eyes very intently upon his and the rappers' feet. as it was, this feat was not performed. on the second visit, we implored the spirits to rap upon our feet. "not now," was the answer. it was evident that we were not receiving our money's worth of spiritual manifestations according to the show-bill; but, as every failure was our gain, we were not disposed to quarrel with the rappers or the spirits. one of my scientific friends then asked if they would not rap if they were suspended in a swing, or stood upon a pillow? "oh yes," was the reply, "we have done that; that has all been tried." one of the fox girls proposed to send upstairs for a pillow, but it occurred to us that they _might_ rap while standing upon any _common-sized pillow_, for the reason that their dresses would cover and extend beyond the pillow, and thus give them an opportunity to get their rapping instrument down upon the floor over the sides of the pillow. we therefore proceeded immediately, while they were engaged in some conversation, to make up a cushion upon the floor to suit our own views. we gathered a number of cloaks, and laid them folded upon the floor, so as to make a circular cushion of about three and a half feet diameter, and so thick that we were persuaded no ordinary raps with their instrument could be heard through the soft mass, or if any sound should be produced it would be so modified as to betray its origin. the fox mother objected to this preparation; but the girls said, "we know we can rap; the spirits will rap there, for they have always done so." by way of an excuse for making this cushion, we remarked that one of the coats was silk, and that we would ascertain if electricity had any thing to do with it. the fox mother said, "all that had been tried before; and that the girls[5]could rap standing upon glass tumblers, and that she knew it must be the spirits, for these manifestations had been with them now for six years." we replied (to keep up our argument), "you know that there are persons who think these sounds are all due to some modification of electricity, and others who think that electricity is the very essence of spirituality,[6] and we wish to see in this case how far it may be concerned in the phenomena." there was no resisting this, and we were allowed to proceed. the result was exactly as we anticipated. while standing upon the cushion _they could not rap at all_. the principal rapper saw her predicament, and took her stand upon the cushion so that her dress was partly over the edge of the cushion, but this we objected to, and requested her to stand upon the centre of the cushion, upon the plea that if her dress touched the floor, it would conduct away the electricity. a perfectly empirical reason, of course; but they were none the wiser for that, and as soon as every thing was arranged to our liking, she invoked the spirit to rap. no rap came. again and again the spirit was besought, but no response was given. she then asked her sister to come and stand upon the cushion with her, thinking, in her subtlety, that two of them would occupy so much room as to give one, at least, a chance to have her dress over the edge of the cushion. but this we were prepared for; and gathered in the skirts of their dresses upon the cushion, upon the same plea as before. the result was the same as with one. no raps. the fact was, their arts were completely baffled, the spirits had fled, and the experiment not only proved the falsity of the assertion that they could rap standing on cushions, or when suspended in a swing, but afforded the most conclusive evidence of the immediate and wilful agency of these fox girls in producing these sounds. thinking to redeem themselves from the inevitable verdict of this trial, the principal rapper proposed to stand upon glass tumblers, to see if the spirits would rap then, as they had done on former occasions. she took her stand upon the tumblers. this elevated the lower border of her dress above the floor, and it so happened that one of our number was sufficiently far from her that he could have seen her feet on the rapping instrument. she invoked the spirit. "will the spirit please to rap?" no rap. she then stooped a little, as if addressing the spirit below. "will the spirit please to rap now?" no rap. she then stooped a little more, and by this time her dress was fairly down upon the floor, so as to cover feet and tumblers. "will the spirit please to rap now?" rap, rap. this was very adroitly done, but the trick was clear to us. how strange it is, that she should have been obliged to stoop, and to have invoked the spirit three times before the answer came; and, moreover, that she should look down to the floor for the spirit; and how passing strange it is that these modern spirits should have such a fondness for _long dresses_ and _girls' toes_. we then requested her to stand upon a chair, and rap. this she did promptly, and the rap came at a bidding. the sound was different from that produced upon the carpeted floor, and underwent just the proper modification of a blow struck upon a hard, uncovered, wooden seat. here we stopped, having seen quite enough of this game of "_fox_ and _geese_." before leaving the room, one of the rappers requested our scientific friend not to publish them, and another stepped up to the lady present, saying, "you do not think that i have any machinery about me to make these sounds, do you?" we have it on the authority of this lady, who seemed determined to leave nothing untried to lead to the detection of this imposture, that she asked these rappers if they would consent to a private examination of their persons, and that they refused it positively, adding that if she had any doubt as to the reality of these spiritual manifestations she would have satisfactory revelations made to her in her bed-chamber five weeks from that time. this prophetic intelligence they rapped out for the occasion according to their own fancy and usual evasive duplicity in such cases. the five weeks have passed, but the lady has, of course, received no spiritual visitations as predicted. our readers are now ready to ask if we have discovered the machinery or instrumentality by which these girls make the sounds. in answer, we say that our investigation is conclusive that these sounds are entirely at the control of these girls, and that we have placed them in situations where they could not rap at all. and if, after all this, we have invented several modes by which the rappings can be made as successfully as by them, we think we have discovered enough. during each of our two visits, we noticed, by very cautious and careful inspection, one interesting and significant fact--that each rap was attended with a slight movement of the person of the rapper, and that a very distinct motion of the dress was visible about the right hypogastric region. while watching this point the girl noticed us, and immediately rose, went to the window, and dropped the curtain to darken the room, which was on the north side of the building, and full dark enough before. when she sat down she drew her shawl over this part of her person. this was on the first visit. on the second visit, we were soon discovered watching this movement again, and she rose and procured a shawl with which she covered her person as before. we do not pretend to decide that this movement had any direct connection with the instrument by which she rapped upon the floor; if so, it was very clumsy and awkward, for we have devised a mode of rapping that involves no such motion, and which we will shortly explain. it may have been that this movement was connected with the device for rapping upon the table. we are of opinion that when they rapped upon the table, it was upon the under side of the table-top and not about their feet. they did not, and evidently could not, rap upon the table without sitting closely up to the table. if this conjecture, as to the rap under the table-top, is right, the movement we saw is easily accounted for. be it so, or be it not, we have invented a contrivance which raps upon the under side of the table-top, and which involves precisely the motion we discovered. it requires but little exercise of ingenuity to contrive means of producing these sounds. it has been stated that a relative of these girls has made a public statement under oath, that they produce the raps with their toes, in a peculiar manner acquired by long practice. the public papers tell us that electro-magnetism has been employed to carry out this fraud. the snapping of the joints has been resorted to by another; and indeed we can easily imagine a variety of ways in which these sounds are, or may be produced. the fox girls rapped upon neither of these plans. the sound was machine-like, and too loud for a sound that could be made by striking the naked or unarmed toe upon the floor, and entirely too loud for, and differing in character from, the snapping of the joints, and as to electro-magnetism, it was entirely out of the question in this case. the fox girls visit the houses of strangers and rap always with the same ease every where. the raps are never remote from their persons but always directly about their feet, unless it be when they are sitting at the table, as we have before said, when the rap appears to be on the under side of the table-top, although we would not undertake to decide fully upon this latter point, as they would not allow us to choose our position so as to judge of the true direction of the sound; for as soon as my coadjutor looked under the table, the spirits decamped and we had no rapping. there are certain circumstances, under which no ear, however skilful and practised, can judge correctly of the position or distance where certain sounds originate. such a case is exemplified in the common speaking tubes used in public houses and elsewhere. when you place your ear near the tube, the voice appears to be uttered close to the ear, though the person speaking may be at a great distance. the invisible lady is another instance, for a full account of which, see brewster's work on natural magic. but the most remarkable illustration of this case is exhibited in the following manner. if you take an iron rod ten, twenty, fifty, or one hundred feet in length and strike it at one end, the blow is heard by a person having his ear close at the other end precisely as if the blow was struck near his ear. this illusion is more remarkable if the listener cannot hear the original blow through the medium of the air. to make the whole experiment very imposing, suppose an iron rod, three-fourths of an inch in diameter, projecting three or four feet through the floor of a large hall, and that this projecting part is a continuation of a rod passing beneath the floor of the room, and concealed entirely from observation and terminating out of doors, or in a distant apartment. whenever a blow is struck upon the remote and concealed end, the sound not being heard except through the medium of the rod, appears to every person present, precisely as if it issued from the projecting end within the hall. with proper pre-concertion and ceremonial preparation, such a contrivance as this would far exceed, in mysterious character, the shallow trickery of these _feet-rappers_. from this experiment, which we have tried with entire success with a rod only twenty feet in length, we see how closely we must look to all the attendant circumstances and possibilities of the case, before we can conclude strictly upon the position of the origin of sounds, where their origin is out of sight. we know that the rapping was always about their _heels_ when these girls sat in chairs, stood upon the floor, or in chairs, or stood in the wardrobe, or rapped upon the door. for this part of the performance we had abundant opportunities for examination, and if these girls will stand upon the floor and allow us to examine their feet, at the time of the rapping, we defy them and their spirits to produce the rappings without a full exposure. it is worthy of note that witches have always been far more numerous than wizards. there are reasons for such disparity in numbers, but this rapping business is particularly the province of females. there are no male rappers unless it be of late, since they have resorted to confederacy, or electrical or mechanical tricks. there are no men-rappers who rap upon such an extensive scale as the fox girls. the latter are not confined to a certain table, a certain room, or certain spots in a room, or a certain house. they carry their "_rattle-traps_" about with them, and go from house to house, and their "_familiar spirits_" are very sociable, unceremonious, and accommodating. if they will but adopt the bloomer costume, our word for it, the spirits would signify their disapprobation by departing at once. relying upon their sex they trust the courtesy of their visitors as sufficient protection against the examination of even their feet, and therefore they make bold to wear unusually long dresses the better to conceal their movements and rapping apparatus. when the girl stood upon tumblers, she did not venture to rap till, by gradual stooping, she brought her dress down so as to cover her feet and touch the floor. there are then special reasons why this kind of witchery should be played off by females. _the fox style of rapping_ cannot _be performed by men, or in the male attire_. we do not attribute to woman more or greater proneness, or power to deceive than to man; but when woman undertakes to deceive, she is generally more successful. she is less suspected, has fewer motives, runs greater risk, and incurs greater loss in the event of disclosures, and with the blandishments of person and sex, she silences opposition, smothers inquiry, defies and escapes inspection, and lastly takes captive the head with the heart. possessed of greater susceptibilities and easily impressed; she is more readily carried away by new and strange fascinations, and in times of certain remarkable developements of sympathetic witchcrafts, she is the first to be imposed upon and most apt to impose upon herself. this characteristic is well illustrated in the case of the _jerks_, a species of _witch mania_ which prevailed in this country so extensively many years ago, in which women figured so largely. sympathetic action is potential with both sexes, but especially with women does it overpower sense, reason and volition, giving rise to temporary insanity. we are however uncharitable enough to believe that, in many cases, upon these occasions the surrendry of the judgment and bewilderment of the imagination is not altogether involuntary, and that the whole operation of _being bewitched_ might be arrested at a certain stage of its progress by an effort to resist, except perhaps in conditions of extreme hysteria and nervous prostration, or irritability. we have seen a young lady of the very highest respectability at a _table-tipping_, tugging away at the table to make it move, and all the while endeavoring to conceal her exertions, and declaring, when interrogated, that she did "not make the slightest effort." can it be that she had become so infatuated as to forget that she was, or to persuade herself that she was not, deceiving, and yet all the while to be so assiduous and adroit in accomplishing her object? charity says yes. well! after all, there is something in the feat of deceiving and blinding reverend and grave senators, judges and priests, well calculated to whet the pride, stimulate the cunning, and foster the love of power in a young miss, especially when her arts are practised upon some doings not embraced in the criminal code nor amenable to law. there are probably--paradoxical as it may seem--cases of honest deception. the desire to accomplish something great, something exceeding the common course of familiar phenomena, may be so strong as to beget an entire perversion of all truthfulness, a self sanctioning of error, artfulness, and imposture, oblivion of conscience, an enthusiastic profession of faith and spirited advocacy of the new developments, a bending of every thing to conceal the fraud, and withal a remarkable preservation of the appearance of sincerity, and an air of ingenuousness so well put on as to appear natural, which go very far to inveigle those who may witness the performances. of the modes we have devised of producing rappings we will not explain more than one, that being sufficient to effect rapping sounds without disturbance of the person. we have contrived a great many, and although we have not seen the particular mode employed by the fox girls, yet we can rap just as well. a piece of soft metal such as lead, shaped like a _chain shot_ or _dumb-bell_, tied to the great toe may be made to pound upon the floor, the door, the bottom of a wardrobe, or any surface or thing which may be under or about the feet, with forcible demonstrations. if any person will make the effort to move the toe up and down while the sole of the foot rests firmly upon the floor, it will be found that a considerable motion may be effected, and of course a _rapping_, without a disturbance of the person. a little practice will make perfect. in order to walk about without the rattling of the rapping piece, it is necessary to tie to one end of it an elastic cord, a piece of vulcanized rubber answering very well, and fasten this around the waist. a slight stooping or sitting down will leave the instrument free to work. if you have thin shoes or slippers on, it may be affixed outside of the slippers, or you can have it attached to the toe, and make the slipper large enough to slip over the whole and slip it off, when rappings are called for. one other element and we are all equipped for spiritual rappings; petticoats or long dresses are indispensable to complete the invention. whatever be the contrivance adopted to rap upon the floor, the whole must be concealed within the sanctuary of _skirts_ beyond the invasion of the curious or rude. we have other more perfect, better concealed rapping instruments than the one just described,[7] but not quite so simple or easy of application. moreover the one described gives the double rap, (a peculiarity of the fox contrivance.) these girls managed their instrument adroitly, and deserve some little credit for their ingenuity in contriving and operating an instrument so successfully as to baffle the scrutiny of thousands of their visitors. they walk freely about with their instruments, though a lady remarked to us that they both walked very awkwardly. with local preparations "_mysterious_" rappings may be produced in a variety of ways, but these girls, the _prototypes_ of all rappers, neither employed or needed any aid from electro-magnetic motions, acoustic science, or confederacy to practise their arts, they used more ingenious and simple means. it is possible to make a rapping electro-magnetic movement, battery and all, small enough to be carried under the dress, but like the telegraph, it must be controlled by volition and muscular action of the operator, and where is the advantage of this over a mechanical instrument that raps directly? there is no necessity for wonderment or the taxation of ingenuity on account of these rapping sounds so long as you are excluded from a personal examination of the rappers. we wish very much that the civil authorities would pounce upon these rappers in the "_very act_" (_for obtaining money upon false pretences_)--(or some other plea) and make a forcible disclosure of their trappings. we believe that this can and should be done, and that such a proceeding would meet the full sanction of law and justice; that universal public opinion would sustain it, and we have no doubt of the nature and effect of the _denouement_. if it had already been done, we should have been spared the labor of this treatise at least, and we need not advert to the vast amount of suffering and vice that would have been forestalled. seeing then, that we can _rap_, yes, and give the double rap, how shall we account for the extraordinary prophecies, messages, coincidences and communications in accordance with facts? we wish this had been the only difficulty to surmount, for it perplexes much less than the _feminine security_ of these rappers against the inspection of their actual _quomodã²_. we can most safely presume that if by search warrant, stratagem, or _vi et armis_, the rapping instrument of these fox girls had been exposed to the public, there would not have been one doubt about the nature and origin of the _spiritual communications_, nor the question ever asked, how it happened that these communications were so wonderfully true to fact. brains, books, good and bad spirits, devils and all would not have been needed for this discussion. indeed where is the necessity at all, of dragging out human weakness, credulity, and duplicity to solve the psychological part of this fraud and forgery, if we can rap as well as the fox girls (the great guns of rappism), and on the strength of our rappings tell _more truth_ and _fewer lies_ than their spirits, what need have we of metaphysical disquisitions on the handwriting found in a drawer or any where else, resembling mr. calhoun's, john smith's, or any other of the great departed?[8] so far as our experience went, the fox girls made few, very few good hits, and perpetrated a vast amount of most intolerable nonsense and contradiction; enough of itself, even if the rappings had been made outside the pale of their _queenly robes_ one inch, two feet, above their heads, in the aerial centre of the room, disconnected with every tangible and visible thing, to have turned any sensible man on his heel instanter, with contempt and disgust. but for the sake of those who are duped or perplexed by these communications, we must spend a little breath to enlighten them. when a man _suspects_ supernatural agency or interference in physical, really visible, sensible, or tangible demonstrations, he is ready to believe any thing communicated at the time, and when he comes to the full belief in divine interposition, his faith is perfected. where, by long practice, preparation and skill, tricks are performed with a view to imposition, it requires the highest degree of coolness, calmness, and self-possession, to resist the impression of the superhuman, and however well fortified we may be in these respects, it is hardly to be expected that we should be able to discover the real nature of the performance without some experience and practice on our side. the instant the idea of the superhuman gets possession of the mind all fitness for investigation and power of analysis begins to vanish, and credulity swells to its utmost capacity. the most glaring inconsistencies and absurdities are not discerned and are swallowed whole, and so deep is the blindness and so extraordinary in its character, that we have seen a convert made to _spiritual rappism_ upon the strength of one single coincidence selected from among a great mass of disgusting mummery and perversion of truth. not one of the discrepancies, were of any importance with him; one lucky hit of the rappers and the whole performance, errors, raps and all were invested with supernatural power. now, how does it happen, that the believer in such cases does not notice the incongruities and failures, or does not appear to notice them. this is somewhat of a psychological phenomenon, but might as well be explained on the ground of unfairness, as any other; unfairness is as often the beginning and accompaniment of _infatuation_, as a mental incapacity for more than one idea. a shrewd person can, at any time, take a promiscuous company, and with the imposture of rapping, or any other trick, calculated to divert the attention, and a mode of spelling out communications similar to that adopted by the fox girls, make out as many or more wonderful and seemingly supernatural communications as they, certainly not more of error and absurdity. we were once riding in a stage-coach, with a gentleman, who, after a long journey, laid a wager with another that he would tell the occupation of every person in the coach. to the surprise of all he won the wager. a lady present, apparently much hurt, asked how he knew she was a "housekeeper." the reply was, because i saw you frequently putting your hands to your belt--for the keys. many of our shrewd itinerant phrenologists, after the parade of measuring and fumbling one's head, and a few master-key questions, will portray the life and character with a wonderful degree of accuracy. our stage-coach pythonist had, during the journey, watched the motions, complexion, conversation, expression of countenance, appearance of the hands, the dress,--in fine, ever little circumstance of habit or person, and it so happened judged rightly in each case. it is so with the phrenologist, who draws his information mostly from similar sources.[9] it is so with the rappers; they observe carefully, have experience with persons of all classes, and generally, unless molested by some skeptic, have every thing in their own way. their visitors, especially the dupes, betray more to these rappers than their own skill can eliminate, and it is surely to be expected that they should hit right sometimes. upon mere hap-hazard conjecture, this might happen occasionally, but with all the arts and aids of preparation, credulity, and fanaticism, they become as successful as the oracles of delos and lesbos. before concluding the subject of rappings we remark briefly that a spirit that cannot or will not tell the truth on all occasions, is wholly unworthy our credence or respect; and believing, as we do, that miracles are god's prerogative and all miraculous power is withheld from evil spirits as militating with the plan of revelation, we needed no further investigation for our own satisfaction, than to know that a very large part of their pretended communications were grossly erroneous; but we have held it to be important for the sake of others that the whole subject should be examined. the fever has somewhat abated of late, but unless boldly and vigorously assailed it will reappear under some new pretension with exacerbations more virulent than ever. footnotes: [1] this witch of endor it seems was the only woman with a _familiar spirit_ that had escaped death under the royal edict of saul, and how successfully she bewitched or juggled saul our readers all know. we refer them one and all to the 19th chap. leviticus, 31st verse--ed. [2] in washington. [3] the bible teaches of witches and wizards with familiar spirits, and that they were to be put to death; of magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, soothsayers, and false prophets; but the only account of a miraculous performance by the devil, is that of his first great and momentous fraud upon our race in the garden of eden, and this is by some considered as allegorical. through that act he got possession of the human heart, and he needs now no external manifestations to further his intrigues. pharaoh's magicians were able, by their arts, to imitate to a certain extent only, the miracles of moses and aaron. they turned their rods into serpents, the river into blood, and caused frogs to come out of their hiding-places, but when it came to the conversion of the small dust into lice, their magic was baffled, and "then the magicians said unto pharaoh _this is the finger of god_." the raising of samuel's spirit, and his prophecy of the result of the battle, was a professional trick of the witch of endor, and no more remarkable than many of the doings related of the rappers and tippers, and of mesmerizers who send clairvoyants to explore the unknown world. considering all the circumstances, we think that many hits, or conjectures of false prophets, or fortune-tellers of the present day, have been quite as successful, and even more wonderful, than this feat of the witch of endor. we know that some commentators regard the raising of samuel's ghost, and the prophecy of the result of the battle, as the work of god, and not of the witch herself, or her master; and to such a conclusion they seem to be forced, if they admit any thing superhuman about it, for it would not answer to accord so much power to a witch, accursed of the law. how such an explanation can be reconciled with divine attributes and teachings, we are at loss to conceive. the account tells us that saul had sought the lord in vain. the lord had refused to communicate with him. shall it be said then that the almighty is capable of trifling? (for this seems to be the alternative.) that he made known his will through a witch; and that, in saul's (the lord's anointed) last extremity, the lord forced him to believe a lie or an accursed witch? is not this the inference, the inevitable conclusion? how readily all difficulty vanishes by expounding this transaction upon the very same principles that we apply to spirit-rapping, viz.: that it was a juggle, and like all witchcraft of whatsoever kind, was of human immediate instrumentality. to affirm of such performances that they are inexplicable, and amazing, is no argument in favor of their superhuman character. they are not more wonderful or difficult of explanation, than hundreds of tricks which we see, and of which we read every day, as performed by jugglers. to the great mass of mankind these latter are equally puzzling, and would undoubtedly pass for miracles, were it not for the fact that they are _professedly_ tricks. we believe in the all-pervading, all-controlling, all-sustaining power of god, in divine interposition, special providences, and the efficacy of prayer, as taught in the scriptures, after our own interpretation. _we believe that miracles are god's prerogative, and believing thus, we conclude that the working of miracles by the devil, or evil spirits, would furnish an excuse for man's unbelief or infidelity._ most earnestly, therefore, do we deprecate the advancement of any theory (for it can be but _theory_ at the best), which attributes these and kindred delusions, to the direct agency of the devil, or evil spirits. such teachings are mischievous in their tendency, and militate with the true interests of christianity, just as far and as long as they have no better foundation than theory, speculation, or conjecture, and are wanting in proof positive, invincible and overwhelming, of their correctness.--c.g.p., ed. [4] we were thus given to understand that spirits retain their earthly names, and answer to them. it occurred to us, therefore, that if we put down the name of john smith we should be sure of a response.--c. g. p., ed. [5] the expression was very common with them that "_they could rap_, or _had rapped_." rather careless, certainly! [6] we, of course, had no more thought of electrical agency here than in the rap of an auctioneer's hammer.--c.g.p., ed. [7] we have made excellent rappings with this instrument, and accompanied them with very wonderful communications.--ed. [8] whatever respect we may have for the memory of the great, we feel at liberty to banter their spirits if we catch them in bad company, and at base tricks.--ed. [9] we believe in the fundamental doctrines of phrenology, but have no faith whatever in this common empirical trade of delineating character promiscuously by the contour of the head alone.--ed. table-tippings. this fallacy demands our most rigid scrutiny, and none the less of severe reprobation, from the fact that it is engaged in, to a great extent, by respectable and intelligent persons. the business of spiritual rappings is a sheer and miserable imposture, and as the performers are obliged to invent and manage the machinery, or whatever instrumentality produces the sounds, there is no possibility of their deceiving themselves. the table-tipping is rather a case of delusion, or self-imposition, though there are occasionally actors in this performance who betray insincerity, and some whose actions give the _lie direct_ to their professions. how it happened that tables were selected for the demonstrations of departed spirits, or the operations of the "_new fluid_," is beyond our wisdom to explain. why should not the pump-handle work _sua sponte_, the cradle rock itself, or the coach start off without horses, as well as tables jump about the room at the mere imposition of hands, or the behest of those wonderful personages entitled _mediums_? is there any thing in the shape, material, purpose, or history of a table that it should become, _par excellence_, the connecting link between the natural and the spiritual world? or that it should be the great reservoir of electricity, magnetism, "_new fluid_," "_od_," or what not? perhaps _legs_ are indispensable to this new species of dancing and jumping. but, as in many of the best _authenticated_ cases, the table moves along the floor with a gradual, slow, and dignified motion, without jumping, and more especially as many of the tables are upon castors, we see no reason why wheels should not be better than legs, and why coaches will not do as well, or better, than tables--for the rolling friction is much less than the sliding friction, and carriages could be made very light for this particular purpose. these tipping magicians are not very fruitful in expedients or they would have attempted long ago the speculation of a _new line of spiritual coaches on common roads, propelled by mediums_. but to the point. one of the first table-tippings that came under our notice was one which had become quite celebrated, and of which we had heard a great deal before we came to witness it. we were informed, by persons of high intelligence, who had been eye-witnesses, and participated in the experiments, that when several persons joined hands around this table, in connection with the medium, the table began to move about the room with force, celerity, and apparent life. that forcible resistance could not stop it, and that the performers were hardly able to keep up with its motion. that, on the same occasion, heavy bodies were lifted from the floor by the mere superposition of hands, without grasping; in other words, that by laying the hand upon a heavy article, and raising the hand, the dead weight _lifted itself_ from the floor, and followed the motion of the hand. our informants were men of high standing, of high endowments and general intelligence, men of veracity, and men whose opinions were worth much in legal questions and matters of state. oh! what a discovery and development was here. adieu ye levers, screws, wedges; pulleys, screw and lever-jacks, cranes and boom-derricks, steam, gas, and every kind of engine, horse and all other powers, fire, air, and water, electricity and magnetism, chemical, mechanical, and all subservient agencies, one and all, adieu! mind has subverted the laws of matter; all philosophy is merged in spirituality, and volition has become the all-potent, all-sufficient, all-pervading power; the crazy and pitiable seekers after perpetual motion are become the master spirits of the age, and gravity and friction have given way to two new controlling principles, levity and non-resistance. suffice it to say, we laughed at our informants, and gave them a flat contradiction, "that they had not seen what they related." it is well worthy of remark here, that we have never yet known any one of our acquaintance to take serious offence at the most positive contradictions upon this subject,--a proof, to our mind, that there is a secret, deep-seated, smothered conviction against the reality and genuineness of these manifestations. a curious element of our composition it is, that honest men find no little difficulty in deceiving themselves, and take so little or no umbrage at being charged with this kind of deception. imbued deeply ourselves with an ardent _penchant_ for novelties upon every subject, and a determination to _ferret out_ the extraordinary pretensions of this new wonder, we have taken occasion to inquire of persons, from all parts of the country, where these exhibitions have been made, and we assure our readers that although the time may thus have been profitably spent, the inquiry became tedious even to disgust. we heard substantially the same story from all; viz., that the tables tipped and moved about "without visible agency," and yet, in almost every case, upon close sifting and careful cross-examination, we found that somebody had hands upon the table during the whole of its gambols. surely the _devil has to do with table-tippings_, for we have never seen honest-minded persons so unfair and oblique on any other subject before. not that the fiend tips, kicks, or propels in any way the tables, but that he tips either the conscience or the judgment to a deplorable extent to sustain the cheat. in every inquiry and investigation we have found gross and weak exaggeration, and have fully resolved that we will maintain, to the last extremity, the position of unqualified, uncompromising denial and opposition, to the _highest testimony of earth_, as to the verity of _table-tippings, spirit-rappings, or any kindred chicanery of miraculous or spiritual purport_. we were much gratified recently at the remark of an experienced friend, that "he would not believe these things, even if he saw them with his own eyes." there was meaning in the remark. he would not admit the testimony of others to such an anomaly, and he would not trust or believe _himself_ if he should give way to the conviction that all of mathematical and mechanical science, all of religion and bible teaching, and all of common sense, was to be contravened and exploded by these new manifestations, promising endless perplexity, confusion, crime, and insanity, and no good to any body. our friends repeatedly say to us, "we don't see how these things can be, but we cannot discredit the opinion and testimony of mr. a., dr. b., prof. c., rev. mr. d., judge e., hon. mr. f., &c." "we think it hard to impugn such testimony, and why should not their word in this matter go as far as yours?" our plain answer is this: if we tell you that black is white, and white is black, we do not expect our testimony to be regarded; and we take the same privilege in repudiating all testimony, from whatever source, of a similar character. it was a strong, though reverential, position of st. paul, that "even an angel from heaven would be accursed if he preached any other doctrine than that which he, paul, had preached," for he well knew that an angel from heaven could not preach any other. with all reverence we say it, we feel a sort of inspiration upon the laws of reaction, gravity, and friction, based upon the experience of every moment of remembered life, that compels us to reject peremptorily the testimony of our best friends, of the most distinguished and credible persons, or of the most exalted intellects, when they tell us that by the mere superposition of hands, or by the effort of the will, a table moves off by itself, or lifts itself from the floor without visible agency. there are several individuals in this place, ourselves among the number, who have agreed to give two thousand dollars to any person who will show to us such a feat performed by a table. we feel entirely safe in the offer, and moreover think it prudent, in case we should deposit the money, to deposit it in a savings bank paying interest, for otherwise the money might be lying idle for a whole lifetime. we might hesitate, if there were the remotest chance of explaining such extraordinary appearances upon any principle of science; but the fact is, these assertions contravene all science, and bear absurdity on their very front. we hear some say, gravity, electricity, and magnetism cause bodies to move without visible agencies or connection. yes! they _do_; they always _have_, and always _will_. but here, in the year of our lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, we must be told, for the first time, that the human body has analogous powers to magnets and thunder-clouds; and, more than this, that no regular law of traction or attraction, propulsion or repulsion, governs this marvellous, new, nervous, corporeal, carneous power, _odylic_ force, or what not, but that it is subject to all the anomalous, capricious and vicious directions and governance of _human_ volition. we have too much contempt for _odylic_ philosophy, or any such chimera or vagary, to stop and discuss it here. we have for twenty years, ever since the revival of slumbering mesmerism, by dr. poyen, of lowell, mass., made diligent inquiry and patient, persevering effort to obtain from among the great mass of mesmeric performances some evidence of a new principle, new force, or any resolution of nervous or sensorial agency into physical power other than that of a mind upon its own body, and have never yet seen the most faint indications of any such nervous power as these modern psychologists pretend to unfold to us. what! a nervous force that acts exterior to, and independent of, its own tenement and rightful fulcrum? that propels masses heavier than the _body corporate_, without rending the latter in twain? of one thing we feel assured, that this new-fangled philosophy is a poisonous, though covert fang, secretly gnawing at the very root of christian faith. it made a bold sally in that coarse proposition of miss martineau respecting our saviour's miracles--too coarse indeed to meet with favor--and now assails, under a less offensive and more sophistical garb, of "_odylic force_;" seeking to explain a mystery of the bible (always an _infidel effort_), and to bring miracles and god's prerogatives within the scope and control of human reason and action. we ask any theologian who may incline to apply such tests to the solution of miraculous performance, if he supposes that if the mountain had removed, and been cast into the sea, at the bidding of the disciple (with faith as a grain of mustard-seed), that disciple would have been the source of the propelling power, and felt fatigue, depression, or reaction in proportion to the mass to be removed? if, when at the call of joshua, the huge orb of earth stood still upon its axis, the vast momentum recoiled, through _odylic ether_, upon poor joshua's brain? we can all accept the proposition of archimedes "_give me a place whereon to stand, and i will move the world_;" but who upon the largest latitude of plastic, ductile od, or any other principle or pretext of mesmeric sophistry, would venture to arrest and propel the earth by the odylic, nervous, sensorial agency of one of its little creatures, held to its centre by indomitable gravity. perchance it may be reasoned that from joshua's cerebral fountain there issued a vast stream of odylic essence, or psychological fluid, whose mighty gushing into space was equal to the momentum of huge earth, and reacting, like water in the mill-wheel, caused the great sphere to stop. oh! how hazardous, yea impious, is the attempt to _explain_ a miracle--god's prerogative, god's interposition in former times, though not above human _command_ upon the touchstones of prayer and faith, yet always and _forever_ above human _ken_. our saviour himself said, "of myself i can do nothing," and his miracles were prefaced with prayer. god of the bible! while thy word stands, the wisdom of the wise and prudent shall not prevail over the faith, simplicity and common-sense philosophy of thy "babes." it is painful and humiliating to see the efforts of certain prominent men publicly advocating the genuineness of these manifestations, and especially so when we consider the character of the assertions and arguments brought forward in support of their doctrines. one of the most recent and striking is this. mr. calhoun's spirit on being consulted through the fox mediums as to the object of these spiritual manifestations, replies, that they are "instituted to prove to the unbelieving the immortality of the soul, and to propagate peace and harmony among men."[10] hear it, all christendom, believers, readers and hearers of the word! the great conflict and triumph of the gospel is to be crowned by the deductions of these new fox theologists, or, rather, as a more legitimate inference, the word of god is to be superseded and must now give place to the higher manifestations of rochester spirit-rappings and table-tippings. it is no less than a denial of the sufficiency of revelation for the very purpose for which it was intended, and denying this it denies the whole. all other reasons, arguments, developments, experiments, doubts, suspicions and manifestations aside, this rapping and tipping theology has now taken a decided and hostile stand against the bible, and as such it must be treated. hear it, and mark it well! the bible is discarded as plainly and fully as if it had been uttered in so many words. in vain does holy writ every where teach of the immortality of the soul, in vain are its maledictions against sorcery and witchcraft, in vain does it pronounce "anathema maranatha" against additions to its divine pretensions, in vain its precept "that no prophecy of scripture is of private interpretation," in vain does it declare that an unbeliever "would not believe though one rose from the dead,"[11] in vain have been the bible societies, missionary and all the mighty efforts to spread christianity, all is to be blotted out before the new light of "_rochester knockings_" and fox legerdemain. but why should we indulge in appeals, tirades, irony, or satire, knowing all the while that we have positive demonstrations yet to present of the utter fallacy of table-tippings; proofs irrefragible of the mundane, mortal, corporeal, physical, muscular character of table-tippings? we have our reasons. if we are to encounter fools and fanatics, witches and wizards, devils and dupes, we must assail in every vulnerable quarter, for even demonstrations of fact are sure to be denied upon some impudent pretext, and in such cases facts are not all-puissant weapons, and require an auxiliary guard. with the candid and the wavering, however, our demonstrations will be appreciated, and we trust conclusive. reverting to the first case of table-tipping that came under our notice, having heard much of the extraordinary performances we went in company with a scientific friend to see for ourselves. the medium was a sprightly young girl, whose reputation for sincerity might have been her dearest treasure. the wonderful feats of this medium were recounted to us, and we longed for the verification. after a brief conversation, she with another young lady, (about half medium) placed hands upon a small table, our friend joining the circle. their hands were so placed, that the right hand of one concealed the left hand of the other. after a while, the table began to move. this was natural, certainly, for we noticed that this medium was working very hard with her concealed hand to move it. perhaps her mother saw this, for she rose from her seat and said, "you are not tricking, now?" "no, indeed, mother, i'm not tricking; see how lightly i _press_!" what a comment was all this upon the recital just made by her mother to us of the astonishing feats of moving heavy dining-tables, tearing up the carpets, moving pianofortes, &c.! our friend beginning to suspect the voluntary character of this motion of the table, made a counter effort with his fingers (better concealed than that of the medium for the reason that he was possessed of far greater strength), and the table stopped moving. but this was not all. we detected upon the countenance of the medium an expression of disappointment, and further, a more palpable striving to move the table, in consequence of this resistance, which she seemed not to suspect. all this seems too farcical to relate, and yet the _superhuman_ performances of this very medium had been described to us by eye-witnesses of the highest respectability as marvellous, and astounding in the extreme, and our principal informant was a gentleman well known for his astuteness, had some years back published an excellent work upon mathematics, and was as well qualified as the average of learned men to observe and decide upon such matters. his testimony was confirmed by several others, all witnesses of the highest respectability, and what was it all worth? and what is all other testimony worth upon this _aerial vaulting_ of tables? perhaps we are mistaken as to the effort made by this medium to move the table. let us see! we placed a sheet of paper on the table under her hand, and as soon as the table was desired to move, behold the sheet of paper moved over the table-top, while the table stood still. here is the demonstration of this fallacy, and although in such a shape that it may be cavilled at, yet it is, however, the elementary key, and to us all-sufficient in itself. we will, however, develope it in such form as to be beyond all cavil. we witnessed, after this, many abortive attempts by mediums and others to move tables, and some other attempts that began to succeed, till we applied our mechanical tests, when the new fluid, electricity, magnetism, nervous power, odylic force, all resolved themselves into muscular action, and the tables never moved unless clearly pushed. as to tables moving in _any way_ without being touched, we repeat that it has never been done, and challenge proof to the contrary. [illustration: _fig. 1._] we have traced up many such exaggerations, and invariably found the story to be that the mediums were not moving it, but _merely_ had their hands "_lightly_" upon it. after we had baffled the tippings by the sheet of paper, we were on another occasion told, that paper was a non-conductor of electricity, and that if this agent had any thing to do with it, the paper might intercept the action. willing to indulge the whim we substituted for the paper the instrument represented in fig. 1, well known as the parallel ruler. it is simply a flat ruler (_a_), furnished with four rollers (_b_) (_b_), upon which it rests. the slightest pressing forward of the fingers upon the ruler (_a_) causes it to glide easily forward upon the table. of course the result was the same as with the paper. upon invoking the spirits, or exerting the will, the ruler moved upon the table, while the table stood fast. if, then, the _paper_ moved, and the _ruler_ moved, ought we not to infer that the friction between the fingers and the paper or the fingers and the ruler was greater than the friction between the paper and the table or the ruler and the table? certainly. it must be remembered here that the rule of tipping is, to press or touch _very lightly_ with the fingers. ought we not to infer that the paper and the ruler were pushed by the hand, since the hands followed them in their motion? certainly, upon the common doctrine of touch and go; but these new philosophers will not allow us even this inference, and maintain that the odylic power moves both hand and paper. a most versatile, vicarious agent or power is this od. well, odd as it is odd, we have given the tippers full swing, and we now administer their _quietus_. fig. 2 is an illustration of our mode of annihilating odylic power and a positive cure for the _malady of spiritual medium_. let the bodies of the tippers or mediums be fastened or restrained from motion in any way back or forth, and then let their arms be stretched straight out, as shown in the figure, and their hands locked, superposed, or placed in any way they please upon the table. sitting with the breast closely against the back of the chair is a convenient way of restraining the forward motion. now let them invoke the spirits, exert the will, let them cry out and howl, belial won't come, the table won't move, for all the mediums of earth, and passive matter holds true to her law of inertia. if the table should be moved towards them, it will be seen that if the arms be kept straight, the hands keeping their position, will appear to move over the table. we take some credit to ourselves for this discovery, and we have been much surprised that men of science, men of mechanical minds who have witnessed table-tippings have never thought to apply some rule or test of mechanics to solve this mystery.[12] [illustration: _fig. 2._] the very first thing to arrest our attention in table-tipping was the fact that the hands (no matter how lightly they pressed) moved always with the table back and forth; and this suggested at once our mechanical tests. how strange it is that any mortal in possession of his senses, should move a table, and not know it! and yet it is so, it has been so, but, we trust, it will be so no more. if any medium or tipper can gainsay this demonstration, we should be glad to hear from him, and would like to employ him, at a high salary, as a mechanical agent, to overcome for us, in a multitude of ways, the operations of gravity and friction. the traders and merchants generally must have a care of these tippers; for, in buying and selling, they can tip the scales with more ease than tables. we have, however, no doubts as to the results, if any one will try these experiments fairly. it will be a cause of chagrin to some of those honest-minded tippers, who have all along been believing that the spirits tipped the table, and that they were in reality holding communion with their departed friends. if we prove the table-tipping to be the result of a muscular movement, we need not dwell upon the psychological phenomena of the extraordinary coincidences, messages, &c. they are all referable to that peculiar condition of mind, infatuation, under which judgment is suspended, memory quickened, sensitiveness exalted, imagination predominant, and involuntary actions induced. * * * * * in concluding this work, we remark that our investigations have fastened error, mercenary motives, imposture, and illusion upon those doings, so far as they have come under our observation. our opportunities have been of the best kind as respects the rappings, for they were with the fox girls, who were the leaders in this whole business of rappings and tippings; and, suffice it to say, we effectually prevented their rapping. when error and falsehood are driven from one subterfuge they soon find another; and as the _surveillance_ of truth and science approaches their hiding places, they resort to more covert retreats; and these girls may hereafter contrive some new mode of rapping not explicable upon our theory, but it is enough for us to know that it will be still a trick. we have had as wonderful performances related to us as have ever been heard of elsewhere; but, upon close sifting; they have all proved to be within the pale of human conception. doubtless all these tricks will assume different shapes from day to day and place to place, and the performances in england, france, and germany, may all differ from ours and from each other. the tricks _must improve_, in order to sustain their pecuniary value, or bolster reputation; and however successful and impenetrable they may become, they are none the less tricks, and have one common origin. if any one deems that he hath a spirit, or any new power beyond jugglery, let him come, and we will welcome him with a close examination; and if we are baffled, and cannot make our position good, he shall have the reward we have specified in a previous part of this work. those who make these tricks their profession have the advantage of long practice, preparation, and confederacy; but let them come and claim the prize, if they will and can. we have recently heard of some refined tricks at table-tipping, in which other preparations were made than the mere superposition of hands. although we had rather see them than hear of them, we have only to say to those who may see them (or think they see them), divest yourselves of all idea of the supernatural, or any new fluid, or new law, or property whatever, and, regarding the performance either as a trick or case of illusion, scrutinize sharply every movement and circumstance in connection, and you will find that either the table does not move, or, if it does move, you will see what actuates it. remember! there are controlling and controllable agents that _can_ raise a table from the floor; but the action of the will, or the mere superposition of hands, never! the end. footnotes: [10] a recent conspicuous writer, in giving an account of this great communication from the great spirit of mr. calhoun, says, its spiritual character was confirmed by the rising of the table from the floor, and other wonderful signs.--c. g. p., ed. [11] the actual reappearance of dead dives, _in propria persona_, was declared by the almighty as inadequate to convince unbelieving jews; but it seems that for gentiles the presence of the spirit without the body is all-sufficient.--ed. [12] these experiments were made in february and march, 1853, and, since the above was written, we are pleased to find that faraday has taken the matter in hand, and pursued a course of investigation similar to our own. [illustration: cover art] the gates between. by elizabeth stuart phelps, _author of_ "the gates ajar," "gypsy breynton," etc write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter. revelation. ward, lock and co., london, new york, and melbourne. [_all rights reserved_]. 1887 the gates between. chapter i. if the narrative which i am about to recount perplex the reader, it can hardly do so more than it has perplexed the narrator. explanations, let me say at the start, i have none to offer. that which took place i relate. i have had no special education or experience as a writer; both my nature and my avocation have led me in other directions. i can claim nothing more in the construction of these pages than the qualities of a faithful reporter. such, i have tried to be. it was on the twenty-fifth of november of the year 187-, that i, esmerald thorne, fell upon the event whose history and consequences i am about to describe. autobiographies i do not like. i should have been positive at any time during my life of forty-nine years, that no temptation could drag me over that precipice of presumption and illusion which awaits the man who confides himself to the world. as it is the unexpected which happens, so it is the unwelcome which we choose. i do not tell this story for my own gratification. i tell it to fulfil the heaviest responsibility of my life. however i may present myself upon these pages is the least of my concern; whether well or ill, that is of the smallest possible consequence. touching the manner of my telling the story, i have heavy thoughts; for i know that upon the manner of the telling will depend effects too far beyond the scope of any one human personality for me to regard them indifferently. i wish i could. i have reason to believe myself the bearer of a message to many men. this belief is in itself enough, one would say, to deplete a man of paltry purpose. i wish to be considered only as the messenger, who comes and departs, and is thought of no more. the message remains, and should remain, the only material of interest. owing to some peculiarities in the situation, i am unable to delegate, and do not see my way to defer, a duty--for i believe it to be a duty--which i shall therefore proceed to perform with as little apology as possible. i must trust to the gravity of my motive to overcome every trifling consideration in the mind of my readers; as it has solemnly done in my own. in order to give force to my narrative, it will be necessary for me to be more personal in some particulars than i could have chosen, and to revert to certain details of my early history belonging to that category which people of my profession or temperament are wont to dismiss as "emotional." i have had strange occasion to learn that this is a deep and delicate word, which can never be scientifically used, which cannot be so much as elementally understood, except by delicacy and by depth. these are precisely the qualities of which this is to be said,--he who most lacks them will be most unaware of the lack. there is a further peculiarity about such unconsciousness; that it is not material for education. you can teach a man that he is not generous, or true, or able. you can never teach him that he is superficial, or that he is not fine. i have been by profession a physician; the son of a chemist; the grandson of a surgeon; a man fairly illustrative of the subtler significance of these circumstances; born and bred, as the children of science are;--a physical fact in a world of physical facts; a man who rises, if ever, by miracle, to a higher set of facts; who thinks the thought of his father, who does the deed of his father's father, who contests the heredity of his mother, who shuts the pressure of his special education like a clasp about his nature, and locks it down with the iron experience of his calling. it was given to me, as it is not given to all men of my kind, to know a woman strong enough--and sweet enough--to fit a key unto this lock. strong enough _or_ sweet enough, i should rather have said. the two are truly the same. the old hebrew riddle read well, that "out of strength shall come forth sweetness." there is the lioness behind the rarest honey. like others of my calling, i had seen the best and the worst and the most of women. the pathological view of that complex subject is the most unfortunate which a man can well have. the habit of classifying a woman as neuralgic, hysteric, dyspeptic, instead of unselfish, intellectual, high-minded, is not a wholesome one for the classifier. something of the abnormal condition of the _clientèle_ extends to the adviser. a physician who has a healthy and natural view of women has the making of a great man in him. i was not a great man. i was only a successful lector; more conscious in those days of the latter fact, and less of the former, be it admitted, than i am now. a man's avocation may be at once his ruin and his exculpation. i do not know whether i was more self-confident or even more wilful than other men to whom is given the autocracy of our profession, and the dependence of women which accompanies it. i should not wish to have the appearance of saying an unmanly thing, if i add that this dependence had wearied me. it is more likely to be true that i differed from most other men in this: that in all my life i have known but one woman whom i loved, or wished to make my wife. i was forty-five years old before i saw her. who of us has not felt at the play, the strong allegorical power in the coming of the first actress before the house? the hero may pose, the clown dance, the villain plot, the warrior, the king, the merchant, the page, fuddle the attention for the nonce: it is a dreary business; it is like parsing poetry; it is a grammatical duty; the play could not, it seems, go on without these superfluities. we listen, weary, regret, find fault, and acquire an aversion, when lo! upon the monotonous, masculine scene, some slender creature, shining, all white gown and yellow hair and soft arms and sweet curves comes gliding--and, hush! with the everwomanly, the play begins. i do not think this feeling is one peculiar to our sex alone; i have heard women express the same in the strongest terms. so, i have sometimes thought it is with the coming of the woman upon the stage of a man's life. if the scenes have shifted for a while too long, monopolized by the old dismal male actors whose trick and pose and accent he knows so well and understands too easily,--and if, then, half-through the drama, late and longed-for, tardily and splendidly, comes the star, and if she be a fine creature, of a high fame, and worthy of it,--ah, then look you to her spectator. rapt and rapturous she will hold him till the play is done. so she found me--held me--holds me. the best of it, thank god, is the last of it. so, i can say, she holds me to this hour, where and as we are. it was on this wise. on my short summer vacation of that year from which i date my happiness, and which i used to call the year of my lady, as others say the year of our lord, i tarried for a time in a mountain village, unfashionable and beautiful, where my city patients were not likely to hunt me down. fifty-three of them had followed me to the seashore the year before, and i went back to town a harder-worked man than i left it. even a doctor has a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of a vacation, and that time i struck out for my rights. i cut adrift--denied my addresses even to my partner--and set forth upon a walking tour alone, among the hills. upon one point my mind was made up: i would not see a sick woman for two weeks. i arrived at this little town of which i speak upon a saturday evening. i remember that it was an extraordinary evening. thunder came up, and clouds of colours such as i found remarkable. i am not an adept in describing these things, but i remember that they moved me. i went out and followed the trout-brook, which was a graceful little stream, and watched the pageant in the skies above the tops of the forest. the trees on either side of the tiny current had the look of souls regarding each other across a barrier, so solemn were they. they stood with their gaze upon the heavens and their feet rooted to the earth, and seemed like sentient creatures who knew why this was as it was. i, walking with my eyes upon them, feet unguarded, and fancy following a cloud of rose-colour that hung fashioned in the outline of a mighty wing above me, caught my foot in a gnarled old hickory root and fell heavily. when i tried to rise i found that i was considerably hurt. i was a well, vigorous man, not accustomed to pain, which took a vigorous form with me; and i was mortified to find myself quite faint, too much so even to disturb myself over the situation, or to wonder who would be likely to institute a searching-party for me,--a stranger, but an hour since, registered at the hotel. with that ease which i condemned so hotly in my patients i abandoned myself to the physical pang, got back somehow against the hickory, and closed my eyes; devoid even of curiosity as to the consequences of the accident; only "attentive to my sensations," as a great writer of my day put it. i had often quoted him to nervous people whom i considered as exaggerating their sufferings; i did not recall the quotation at that moment. "oh! you are hurt!" a low voice said. i was a bit fastidious in voices at that time of my life. to say that this was the sweetest i had ever heard would not express what i mean. it was the _dearest_ i had ever heard. from that first moment,--before i saw her face,--drowned as i was in that wave of mean physical agony, given over utterly to myself, i knew, and to myself i said: "it is the dearest voice in all this world." a woman on the further side of the trout-brook stood uncertain, pitifully regarding me. she was not a girl,--quite a woman; ripe, and self-possessed in bearing. she had a beautiful head, and bright dark hair; her head was bare, and her straw mountain-hat hung across one arm by the strings. she had been bathing her face in the water, which was of a pink tint like the wing above it. as she stood there, she seemed to be shut in and guarded by, dripping with, that rose-colour,--to inhale it, to exhale it, to be a part of it, to be _it_. she looked like a blossom of the live and wonderful evening. "you are seriously hurt," she repeated. "i must get to you. have patience; i will find a way. i will help you." the bridge was at some distance from us, and the little stream was brawling and strong. "but it is not deep," she said. "do not feel any concern. it will do me no harm." as she spoke, she swung herself lightly over into the brook, stepping from stone to stone, till these came to an abrupt end in the current. there for an instant poised, but one could not say uncertain, she hung shining before me--for her dress was white, and it took and took and took the rose-colour as if she were a white rose, blushing. she then plunged directly into the water, which was knee-deep at least, and waded straight across to me. as she climbed the bank, her thick wet dress clinging to her lovely limbs, and her hands outstretched as if in hurrying pity, i closed my eyes again before her. i thought, as i did so, how much exquisite pleasure was like perfect pain. she climbed the bank and stooped from her tall height to look at me; knelt upon the moss, and touched me impersonally, like the spirit that she seemed. "you are very wet!" i cried. "the water is cold. i know these mountain brooks. you will be chilled through. pray get home and send me--somebody." "where are you hurt?" she answered, with a little authoritative wave of the hand, as if she waved my words away. she had firm, fine hands. "i have injured the patella--i mean the knee-pan," i replied. she smiled indulgently. she did not take the trouble to tell me that my lesson in elementary anatomy was at all superfluous. but when i saw her smile i said:-"that was unconscious cerebration." "why, of course," she answered, nodding pleasantly. "go home," i urged. "go and get yourself out of these wet things. no lady can bear it; it will injure you." she lifted her head,--i thought she carried it like a greek,--and regarded me with her wide, grave eyes. i met hers firmly, and for a moment we considered each other. "it is plain that you are a doctor," she said lightly, with a second smile. "i presume you never see a well woman; at least--believe you see one now. i shall mind this wetting no more than if i were a trout or a gray squirrel. i am perfectly able to give you whatever help you require. and by your leave, i shall not go home and get into a dry dress until i see you properly cared for. now! can you step? or shall i get a waggon, and a farm-hand? i think we could back a horse down almost to this spot. but it would take time. so?--will you try it? gently. slowly. don't _let_ me hurt you, or blunder. i see that you are in great pain. don't be afraid to lean on me. i am quite strong. i am able. if you can crawl a few steps"-_steps_! i would have crawled a few miles. for she put her sweet arms about me as simply and nobly as if i had been a wounded child; and with such strength of the flesh and unconsciousness of the spirit as i had never beheld in any woman, she did indeed support me out of the forest in such wise that my poor pain of the body became a great and glorified fact, for the joy of soul that i had because of her. it had begun to be easy, in my day, to make a mock at many dear and delicate beliefs; not those alone which pertain to the life eternal, but those belonging to the life below. the one followed from the other, perhaps. that which we have been accustomed to call love was an angel whose wings had been bruised by our unbelieving clutch. it was not the fashion to love greatly. one of the leading scientists of my time and of my profession had written: "there is nothing particularly holy about love." so far as i had given thought to the subject, i had, perhaps, agreed with him. it is easy for a physician to agree to anything which emphasizes the visible, and erases the invisible fact. if there were any one form of the universal delusion more than all others "gone out" in the days of which i speak, it was the dear, old-fashioned delirium called loving at first sight. i was never exactly a scoffer; but i had mocked at this fable as other men of my sort mock,--a subject for prophylactics, like measles or scarlet fever; and when you said that, you had said the whole. be it, then, recorded, be it admitted, without let or hindrance, that i, esmerald thorne, physician and surgeon, forty-five years old, and of sane mind, did love that one woman, and her only, and her always, from the moment that my unworthy eyes first looked into her own, as she knelt before me on the moss beside the mountain brook,--from that moment to this hour. chapter ii. thus half in perfect poetry, part in simplest prose, opened the first canto of that long song which has made music in me; which has made music of me, since that happy night. of the countless words which we have exchanged together in times succeeding, these, the few of our first meeting are carved upon my brain as salutations are carved in stone above the doorways of mansions. he that has loved as i did, may say why this should be so, if he can. i cannot. time and storm beat against these inscriptions, and give them other colouring,--the tints of years and weather; but while the house lasts and the rock holds the salutation lives. in most other matters, the force of recurring experience weakens association. he who loves cherishes the first words of the beloved as he cherishes her last. the situation was simple enough: an injured man and a lovely woman, guests of the same summer hotel; a slow recovery; a leisurely sweet acquaintance; the light that never was on hill or shore; and so the charm was wrought. my accident held me a prisoner for six weeks. but my love put me in chains in six minutes. her name was helen; like hers of old "who fired the topmost towers of ilium." i liked the stately name of her, for she was of full womanhood,--thirty-three years old; the age at which the french connoisseur said that a charming woman charmed the most. upon the evening before we parted, i ventured--for we sat at the sheltered end of the piazza, away from the patterers and chatterers, a little by ourselves--to ask her a brave question. i had learned that one might ask her anything; she had originality; she was not of the feminine pattern; she had no paltriness nor pettiness in her thoughts; she looked out, as men do, upon a subject; not _down_, as women are wont. she was a woman with whom a man could converse. he need not adapt himself and conceal himself, and play the part of a gallant at real matters which were above gallantry. he could confide in her. now it was new to me to consider that i could confide in any person. in my calling, one becomes such a receptacle of human confidence,--one soaks up other people's lives till one becomes a great sponge, absorptive and absorbing for ever, as sponges should. who notices when the useful thing gets too full? that is what it is there for. pour on--scalding hot, or freezing cold, or pure or foul--pour away. if one day it refuses to absorb any more, and lies limp and valueless--why, the doctor has broken down; or the doctor is dead. who ever thought anything could happen to the _doctor_? one thing in the natural history of the sponge is apt to be overlooked. when the process of absorption reaches a certain point, let the true hand touch the wearied thing, and grasp it in the right way, and lo! back rushes the instinct of confidence, _out_, not in. something of this sort had happened to me. the novelty of real acquaintance with a woman who did not need me had an effect upon me which perhaps few outside of my profession can understand. this woman truly needed nothing of me. she had not so much as a toothache or a sore throat. if she had cares or troubles they were her own. she leaned upon me no more than the sunrise did upon the mountain. she was as radiant, as healthful, as vivid, and as calm; she surrounded me, she overflowed me like the colour of the air. nay, beyond this it was i who had need; it was she who ministered. it was i who suffered the whims and longings of weakness,--the thousand little cravings of the sick for the well. it was i who learned to know that i had never known the meaning of what is called "diversion." i learned to suspect that i had yet to learn the true place of sympathy in therapeutics. i learned, in short, some serious professional lessons which were the simplest human ones. but the question that i spoke of was on this wise. it did not indeed wear the form, but she gave it the hospitality, of a question. "i wish i knew," i said, "why you have not married. i wish you thought me worthy to know." "the whole world might know," she answered, with her sweet straightforward look. "and i, then, as the most unworthy part of it?" for my heart sank at the terms upon which i was admitted to the answer. "i have never seen any man whom i wished to marry. i have no other reason." "nor i," i said, "a woman"- and there i paused. yes, precisely there, where i had not meant to; for she gave me a large, grave look, upon which i could no more have intruded than i could have touched her. this was in september. the year had made the longest circuit of my life before i gathered the courage to finish that sentence, broken by the weight of a delicate look; before i dared to say to her:-"nor i a woman--until now." i hope i was what we call "above" the petty masculine instinct which values a woman who is hard to win chiefly for that circumstance. perhaps i was not as i thought myself. but it seemed to me that the anguish of wooing in doubt overcame all paltry sense of pleasure in pursuit of my delight. my thoughts of her moved like slow travellers up the sides of a mountain of snow. that other feeling would have been a descent to me. so wholly did she rule my soul--how could i stoop to care the more for hers, because she was beyond my reach? be this as it may, beyond my reach for yet another year she did remain. gently as she inclined toward me, to love she made no haste. the force of my feeling was so great at times, it seemed incredible that hers did not rush to meet me like part of the game incoming wave broken by a coast island and joining--seemingly two, but in reality one--upon the shoreward side. for the first time in my life, in that rising tide of my great love, i truly knew humility. my unworthiness of her was more present with me even than my longing for her. if i could have scourged my soul clear of all unfitness for her as our saviour was said to have scourged the tradesmen out of the temple, i should have counted myself blessed, even though i never won her; though i beat out my last hope of her with the very blows which i inflicted upon myself. in the vibrations of my strong emotion it used to surprise me that my will was such a cripple against the sensibilities of that delicate creature. i was a man of as much will as was naturally good for me; and my training had made it abnormal like a prize-fighter's bicepital muscle. people of my profession need some counter-irritant, which they seldom get, to the habit of command. to be the ultimate control for a _clientèle_ of a thousand people, to enforce the personal opinion in every matter from a broken constitution to a broken heart, deprives a man of the usual human challenges to an athletic will. in his case, if ever, motion follows least resistance. his will-power grows by a species of pommelling; not by the higher tactics of wrestling. but i, who gave the fiat on which life or death hung poised as unhesitatingly as i controlled the fluctuations of an influenza; and i, to whom the pliability of the feminine will had long since become an accepted and somewhat elemental fact, like the nature of milk-toast; i, dr. thorne, who had the habit of success, who expected to make his point, who was accustomed to receive obedience, who fought death or hysteria, an opposing school or a tricky patient, with equal fidelity, as one who pursues the avocation of life,--i stood, conquered before this slender woman whose eyes, like the sword of flame, turned this way and that, guarding the barred gates of the only eden i had ever chosen to enter. in short, for the first time in my life i found myself a suppliant; and i found myself thus and there for the sake of a feeling. it was not for science' sake, it was not for the sake of personal fame, or for the glory of an idea, or for the promulgation of a discovery. i had not been overcome upon the intellectual side of my nature. i had been conquered by an emotion. i had been beaten by a thing for which, all my life, i had been prescribing as confidently as i would for a sprain. medical men will understand me, and some others may, when i say that i experienced surprise to come face to face at last, and in this unanswerable personal way, with an invisible, intangible power of the soul and of the body, which could not be treated as "a symptom." i loved her. that was enough, and beyond. i loved her. that was the beginning and end. i loved her. i found nothing in the materia medica that could cure the fact. i loved her. science gave me no explanation of the phenomenon. i did not love her scientifically. i loved her terribly. i was a man of middle age, and had called myself a scientist and philosopher. i had thought, if ever, to love soberly and philosophically. instead of that i loved as poets sing, as artists paint, as the statues look, as the great romances read, as ideals teach,--as the young love. as the young do? nay. what young creature ever loved like that? they know not love who sip it at the spring. youth is a fragile child that plays at love, tosses a shell, and trims a little sail, mimics the passion of the gathered years, and is a loiterer on the shallow bank of the great flood that we have waited for. i do not think of any other thing which a man cannot do better at forty, than at twenty. why, then, should he not the better love? my lady had a stately soul; but she gave it sweet graciousness and little womanly appeals and curves, that were to my heart as the touch of her hand was to my pulse. i was so happy in her presence that i could not believe i had ever been sad; and i longed so for her in absence that i could scarcely believe i had become happy. she was to my thoughts as the light is to the crystal. she came into my life as the miracles came to the unbelieving. she moved through my days and through my dreams, as the rose-cloud moved upon the mountain sky. she floated between me and my sick. she hovered above me and my dying. she was a mist between me and my books. once when i took the knife for a dangerous operation, the steel blade caught a sunbeam and flashed; and i looked at the flash--it seemed to contain a new world--and i thought: "she is my own. i am a happy man!" but i was sorry for my patient. i was not rough with him. and the operation succeeded. what is to be said? i loved her. love is like faith. he who has it understands before you speak. but to him who has it not, it cannot be explained. a year from the time of my most blessed accident beside the trout-brook,--in one year and two months from that day, upon a warm and wonderful september afternoon, my lady and i were married, and i brought her from her mother's house to the mountain village where first we saw each other. there we spent the first week of our happiness. it was as near to eden as we could find. the village was left almost to its own rare resources; the summer tourists were well-nigh gone; the peaceful roads gave no stare of intrusion to our joy. the hills looked down upon us and made us feel how high love was. the forest inclosed us, and made us understand that love was large. the holiness of beauty was the hostess of our delight. oh, i had won her! she was my wife. she was my own. she loved me. if i cherished her as my own soul, what could i give her back, who had given herself to me? i said, "i will make you the happiest woman who was ever beloved by man upon this earth." "but you _have_," she whispered, lifting her dear face. "it is worth being alive for, if it came to an end to-morrow." "love has no end," i cried. "happiness is life. it cannot die. it has an immortal soul. if ever i make you sad, if i am untender to you,--may god strike me"-"hush," she cried, clinging to me, and closing my lips with a kiss for which i would have died; "hush, love! hush!" chapter iii. it ought to be said, at this point in my story, that i had never been what would be called an even-tempered man. truth to tell, i was a spoiled boy. my mother was a saint, but she was a soft-hearted one. my father was a scholar. like many another boy of decided individuality, i came up anyhow. nobody managed me. at an early age my profession made it my duty to manage everybody else. i had a nervous temperament to start on; neither my training nor my occupation had poised it. i do not think i was malicious nor even ill-natured. as men go, i was perhaps a kind man. the thing which i am trying to say is, that i was an irritable one. as i look back upon the whole subject i can see, from my present point of view, that this irritability had seldom struck me as a personal disadvantage. i do not think it usually makes that impression upon temperaments similarly vitiated. as nearly as i can remember, i thought of myself rather as the possessor of an eccentricity, than as the victim of a vice. my father was an overworked college professor,--a quick-tempered man; my mother,--so he told me with streaming tears, upon the day that he buried her,--my mother never spoke one irritated word to him in all her life: he had chafed and she had soothed, he had slashed and she had healed, from the beginning to the end of their days together. a boy imitates for so many years before he reflects, that the liberty to say what one felt like saying appeared to me a mere identification of sex long before it occurred to me that mine might not be the only sex endowed by nature with this form of expression. i regarded it as one regards a beard, or a waistcoat,--simple signs of the variation of species. my mother--heaven rest her sweet soul--did not, that i recall, obviously oppose me in this view. after the time of the first moustache she obeyed her son, as she had obeyed her husband. as has been already said, the profession to which i fell heir failed to recommend to me a different personal attitude toward the will of others. my sick people were my pawns upon the chess-board of life. i played my game with humane intentions, not wholly, i believe, with selfish ones. but i suffered the military dangers of character, without the military apologies for them. he whose duty to god and men requires him to command all with whom he comes in contact should pray god, and not expect men, to have mercy on his soul. it is possible, i do not deny, that i put this view of the case without what literary critics call "the light touch." it is quite possible that i emphasize it. circumstances have made this natural; and if i need any excuse for it i must seek it in them. whether literary or not, it is not human to cherish a light view of a heavy experience. i loved my wife. this, i think, i have sufficiently made plain. i loved her as i might have discovered a new world; and i tried to express this fact, as i should have learned a new, unworldly language. i could no more have spoken unkindly to her than i could vivisect a humming-bird. i obeyed her lightest look as if she had given me an anaesthetic. her love intoxicated me. i seemed to be the first lover who had ever used this phrase. my heart originated it, with a sense of surprise at my own imaginative quality. i was chloroformed with joy. oh, i loved her! i return to that. i find i can say nothing beyond it. i loved her as other people loved,--patients, and uninstructed persons. i, esmerald thorne, president of the state medical society, and foreign correspondent of the national evolutionary association, forty-six years old, and a darwinian,--i loved my wife like any common, ardent, unscientific fellow. it is easy to toss words and a smile at it all, now. there have been times when either would have been impossible from very heart-break. there, again, is another of the phrases to which experience has been my only vocabulary. my patients used to talk to me about their broken hearts. i took the temperature and wrote a prescription. i added that she would be better to-morrow; i would call again in a week. i assured her that i understood the case. i was as well fitted to diagnose the diseases of the queen of some purple planet which the telescope has not yet given to astronomy. i have said that i found it impossible to be irritable to my dear wife. i cannot tell the precise time when it became possible. when does the dawn become the day upon the summer sky? when does the high tide begin to turn beneath the august moon? rather, i might say, when does the blue become the violet, within the prism? did i love her the less, because the distance of the worshipper had dwindled to the lover's clasp? i could have shot the scoffer who told me so. what then? what shall i call that difference with which the man's love differs when he has won the woman? had the miracle gone out of it? god forbid. it was no longer the marvel of the fire come down from heaven to smite the altar. it was the comfortable miracle of the daily manna. had my goddess departed from her divinity, my queen from her throne, my star from her heaven? rather, in becoming mine she had become myself, and if there were a loss, that loss was in my own nature. i should have risen by reason of hers. if i descended, it was by force of my own gravitation. her wing was too light to carry me. it is easier to philosophize about these things than it is to record them in cold fact. with shame and sorrow do i say it, but say it i must: my love went the way of the love of other men who feel (this was and remains the truth) far less than i. i, who had believed myself to love like no other before me, and none to come after me, and i, who had won the dearest woman in all the world--i stooped to suffer myself to grow used to my blessedness, like any low man who was incapable of winning or of wearing it. it cannot be said, it shall not be said, that i loved my wife less than the day i married her. it must be written that i became accustomed to my happiness. that ideal of myself, which my ideal of her created in me, and which no emergency of fate could have shaken, slipped in the old, fatal quicksand of use. our ideal of ourselves is to our highest life like the heart to the pulsation. it is the divinest art of the love of woman for man that she clasps him to his vision of himself, as breath and being are held together. until the time mentioned at the beginning of my narrative, i had in no sense appreciated the state of the case, as it lay between my ideal and my fact. that i had been more or less impatient of speech in my own home for some time past, is probably true. the ungoverned lip is a terrible master; and i had been a slave too long. i was in the habit of finding fault with my patients. i was accustomed to be what we call "quick" with servants. neither had, i thought, as a rule, seemed to care the less for me on this account. if i lost a patient or a coachman now and then, i could afford to. the item did not trouble me. i was inconsiderate at times with personal friends. they said, it is his way, and bore with me. people usually bore with me; they always had. i looked upon this as one of the rights of temperament, so far as i looked upon it at all. i do not think this indulgence had occurred to me as other than a tribute. it is common enough in dealing with men of my sort. (and alas, there are enough of my sort; i must be looked upon rather as a type than a specimen.) such indulgence is a movement of self-defence, or else of philosophy, upon the part of those who come in contact with us. to this view of the subject i had given no attention. i had lived to be almost fifty years old, and no person had ever said: "esmerald thorne, you trust your attractive qualities too far. power and charm do not give a man a permit to be disagreeable. your temperament does not release you from the common-place human duty of self-restraint. a gentleman has no more right to get uncontrollably angry than he has to get drunk. the patience with which others receive you is not a testimony to your strength; it is a concession to your weakness. you are living upon concessions like disease, or childhood, or age." no one had said this--surely not my wife. i can recall an expression of bewilderment at times upon her beautiful face, which for the moment perplexed me. after i had gone out, i would remember that i had been nervous in my manner. i do not think i had ever spoken with actual roughness to her, until this day of which i write. that i had been sometimes cross enough, is undoubtedly the case. on that november day i had been overworked. this was no novelty, and i offer it as no excuse. i had been up for two nights with a dangerous case. i had another in the suburbs, and a consultation out of town. there was a quarrel at the hospital, and a panic in stock street. i had seen sixty patients that day. i had been attacked in the "therapeutic quarterly" upon my famous theory of antisepsis. perhaps i may add the circumstance that my baby was teething. this was, naturally, less important to me than to his mother, who thought the child was ill. i knew better, and it annoyed me that my knowledge did not remove her apprehension. in point of fact, he had cried at night for a week or two, more than he ought to have done. she could not understand why i denied him a dover's powder. i needed sleep, and could not get it. we were both worn, and--i might fill my chapter to the brim with the little reasons for my great error. let it suffice that they were small and that it was large. we had been married three years, and our boy was a year old. he was a fine fellow. helen lost her greek look and took on the madonna expression after he was born. any woman who is fit to be a mother gains that expression with her first child. my wife was a very happy mother. she was sitting in the library when i came in that evening. it was a warm, red library, with heavy curtains and an open fire--a deep room that absorbed colour. i fancied the room, and it was my wife's pleasure to await me in it with the child each evening at the earliest hour when i might by any chance be expected home. she possessed to the full the terrible power of waiting which women have. she could do nothing when she expected me. although three years married, she could not read, or write, or play when she was listening for my step. i do not mean that she told me this. i found it out. she never called my attention to such little feminine weaknesses. she was never over-fond. my wife had a noble reserve. i had never seen the hour when i felt that her tenderness was a treasure to be lightly had, or indifferently treated. it should be said that the library opened from the parlours, and was at that time separated from them by a heavy portière of crimson stuff, the doors not being drawn. this drapery she was in the habit of folding apart at the hours of my probable return, and as i came through the long parlours my eyes had the first greeting of her, before my voice or arms. upon this evening, as upon others, i entered by the parlour door, and came--more quickly than usual--toward the library. i was in a great hurry; one of the acute attacks of the chronic condition which besets the busy doctor. as i crossed the length of the thick carpet, the rooms shook beneath my tread; i burst into, rather than entered, the library,--not seeing her, i think, or not pausing to see her, in the accustomed manner. when i had come to her i found that the child was not with her, as usual. she was sitting alone by the library table under the drop-light, which held a shade of red lace. she had a gown of white wool trimmed with ermine; a costume which gave me pleasure, and which she wore upon cool evenings, not too often for me to weary of it. she regarded my taste in dress as delicately and as delightedly as she did every other wish or will of mine. she had been trying to read; but the magazine lay closed upon her knee below her folded hands. her face wore an anxious look as she turned the fine contours of her head toward me. "oh," she cried, "at last!" she moved to reach me, swiftly, murmuring something which i did not hear, or to which i did not attend; and under the crimson curtains met me, warm and dear and white, putting up her sweet arms. i kissed her carelessly--would to god that i could forget it! i kissed her as if it did not matter much, and said:-"helen, i must have my dinner this instant!" "why, surely," she said, retreating from me with a little shock of pained surprise, "it is all ready, esmerald. i will ring." she melted from my arms. oh, if i had known, if i had known! she stirred and slipped and was gone from me, and i stood stupidly looking at her; her figure, against the tall, full book-cases, shone mistily, while she touched the old-fashioned bell-rope of gold cord. "really, i hadn't time to come home at all," i added testily. "i am driven to death. i've got to go again in ten minutes. but i supposed you would worry if i didn't show myself. it is a foolish waste of time. i don't know how i am ever going to get through. i wish i hadn't come." chapter iv. she changed colour--from fair to flush, from red to white again--and her hand upon the gold cord trembled. i remembered it afterward, though i was not conscious of noticing it at the time. "you need not," she replied, in her low, controlled voice, "on my account. you need never come again." "it is easier to come," i answered irritably, "than to know that you sit here making yourself miserable because i don't." "have i ever fretted you about coming, esmerald? i did not know it." "it would be easier if you did fret!" i cried crossly. "i'd rather you'd say a thing than look it. any man would." indeed, it would have been a paltry satisfaction to me just then if i could have found her to blame. her blamelessness irritated my self-complacence as the light irritates defective eyes. "i am due at the hospital in twenty-two minutes," i went on, excitedly. "chirugeon is behaving like apollyon. if i'm not there to handle him, nobody will. the whole staff are afraid of him--everybody but me. we sha'n't get the new ward built these two years if he carries the day to-night. i've got a consultation at decker's--the old lady is dying. it's no sort of use dragging a tired man out there; i can't do her any good; but they will have it. i'm at the beck and call of every whim. isn't that dinner ready? i wish i had time to change my boots! they are wet through. my head aches horribly. brake telegraphed me to get down to stock street before two o'clock to save what is left of that santa ma stock. i couldn't go. i had an enormous office--forty people. i've lost ten thousand dollars in this panic. i've got to see brake on my way to decker's. i lost a patient this morning--that little girl of the harrowhart's. she was a poor little scrofulous thing. but they are terribly cut up about it.... chowder? i wish you'd had a good clear soup. i don't feel as if i could touch chowder. i hope you have some roast beef, better than the last. you mustn't let parsnip cheat you. quail? there's no nourishment in a quail for a man in my state. the gas leaks. can't you have it attended to? hurry up the coffee. i must swallow it and go. i've got more than ten men could do." "it is more than one woman can do"--she began gently, when i came to the end of this outbreak and my breath together. "what did you say? do speak louder!" "i said it seems to be more than one woman can do, to rest you." "yes," i said carelessly, "it is. you can't do the first thing for me, except to do me the goodness to ring for a decent cup of coffee. i can't drink this." "esmerald"-"oh, what? i can't stop to talk. there, i've burned my tongue, now. if there's anything i can't stand, it is going to a consultation with a burned tongue." "how tired you are, esmerald! i was only going to say that i am sorry. i can't let you go without saying that." "i can't see that it helps it any. i am so tired i don't want to be touched. never mind my coat. i'll put it on myself. tell joe--no. i left the horse standing. i don't want joe. i suppose donna is uneasy by this time. she won't stand at night--she's got to. i'll get that whim out of her. now, don't look that way. the horse is safe enough. don't you suppose i know how to drive? you're always having opinions of your own against mine. there. i must be off." "where's the baby, helen?" i turned, with my hand upon the latch of my heavy oaken door, and jerked the question out, as cross men do. "the baby isn't just right, somehow, esmerald. i bated to bother you, for you never think it is anything. i dare say he will be better, but i thought i wouldn't let him come out of the nursery. jane is with him. i've been a _little_ troubled about him. he has cried all the afternoon." "he cries because you coddle him!" i exploded. "it is all nonsense, helen. nothing ails the child. i won't encourage this sort of thing. i'll see him when i come home. i can't possibly wait--i am driven to death--for every little whim"-but at the door i stopped. if the baby had been a patient he would have seen no doctor that night. but the father in me got the better of me, and without a word further to my wife i ran up to the nursery. she stayed below; she perceived (helen was always quick), although i had not said so, that i did not wish her to follow me. i examined the child hastily. the little fellow stopped crying at the sight of me, and put up both arms to be taken. i said:-"no, boy. papa can't stop now," and put him gently back into his crib. when i had reached the nursery door i remember that i returned and kissed him. i was very angry, but i could not be angry with my baby. with the touch of his little lips, dewy and sweet, upon mine, i rushed down to my wife, and tempestuously began again:-"helen, i must have an end to this nonsense. nothing ails the baby; he is only a trifle feverish with a new tooth. it really is very unpleasant to me that you make such a fuss over him. if you had married a greengrocer it might have been pardonable. pray remember that you have married a physician who understands his business, and do leave me to manage it. take the child out of the nursery. carry him downstairs as usual for a few minutes. he will sleep better. there! i'm eight minutes behindhand already, all for this senseless anxiety of yours. it is a pity you can't trust me, like other men's wives! i wish i'd married a woman with a little wifely spirit!--or else not married at all." i shut the door; i am afraid i slammed it. i cleared the steps at a bound, and ran fiercely out into the night air. the wind was rising, and the weather was growing sharp. it was frosty and noisy. donna, my chestnut mare, stood pawing the pavement in high temper, and called to me as she heard my step. she had dragged at her weight a little; she was thoroughly displeased with the delay. it occurred to me that she felt as i had acted. it even occurred to me to go back and tell my wife that i was ashamed of myself. i turned and looked in through the parlour windows. the shades were up, and the gas was low. dimly beyond, the bright panel of the lighted library arose between the crimson curtains. she stood against it, midway between the two rooms. her hands had dropped closed one into the other before her. her face was toward the street. she seemed to be gazing at me, whom she could not see. her white dress, which hung in thick folds, the pallor of her face and her delicate hands, gave her the look of a statue; its purity, and to my fancy at that moment its permanence. she seemed to be carved there, like something that must stay. i turned to go back--yes, i would have gone. it is little enough for a man to say for himself under circumstances like these; but perhaps i may be allowed to say it, since to exculpate myself is the last of my motives. i had made a stop or two up the flagging between the deep grass-plots that fronted the house, when the mare, disturbed beyond endurance at a movement of delay which she too well understood, gave a shrill whinny, and reared, pulling and dragging at her weight fiercely. she was a powerful creature, and the weight yielded, hitting at her heels. in an instant she had cramped the wheels, and i saw that the buggy would go over. to spring back, reach the bit, snatch the reins, leap over the wheel, and whirl away in the reeling carriage was the work of some thing less than a thought; it was the elemental instinct by which a man must manage his horse, come life or death. like most doctors, i was something of a horseman, and the idea of being thwarted by any of donna's whims had never occurred to me. i knew that the horse was pulling hard, but beyond that, i could not be said to have knowledge, much less fear; the mad conflict between the brute and the man possessed me to the exclusion of intelligence. it was some moments before it struck me that my own horse was running away with me. my first, perhaps i may say my only emotion at the discovery was one of overpowering rage. i did not mean to strike her. no driver, ever if an angry one, would have done that. but i had the whip in my hand, around which the reins were knotted for the struggle, and when the horse broke into a gallop the jerk gave her a flick. i was not in the habit of whipping her. she felt herself insulted. it was now her turn to be angry; and an angry runaway means a bad business. donna put down her head, struck out viciously from behind, and kicked the dasher flat. from that moment i lost all control of her. i thought:-"she is headed down town. at this rate, in five minutes she will be in the thick of travel. i have so many minutes more." for how long i cannot tell, i had beyond this no other intelligent idea. then i thought;-"i should not like to be the man who has got to tell helen." this repeated itself dully: "i should not care to be the fellow who will be sent to tell helen." i had ceased to call to the mare; it only made matters worse; but there was great hubbub in the streets as we leaped on. there were several attempts to head her off, i think. one man caught at her bridle. this frightened her; she threw him off, and threw him down. i think she must have hurt him. we were now well down town. window lights and carriage lights flared by deliriously. the wind, which was high, at speed like that seemed something demoniac. i remember how much it added to my sense of danger. i remember that my favourite phrase occurred to me:-"_i am driven to death._" suddenly i saw approaching an open landau. the street was full of vehicles, some of which i was sure to run down; but none of them seemed to give me concern except this one carriage. it contained a lady and a little boy, patients of mine. i recognized them forty feet away. he was a pretty little fellow, and she was fond of me; sent for me for everything; trusted me beyond reason; could not live without her doctor--that kind of patient. she had been a great sufferer. it seemed infernal to me that it should be _they_. i shouted to her coachman:-"henry! for god's sake--to the left! to the _left_!" but henry stared at me like one struck dead. i thought i heard him say;-"marm, it's the _doctor_!" and after that i heard no more. as the crash came, i saw the woman's face. she had recognized me with her look of sweet trustfulness; it froze to mortal horror. she clasped the child. i saw his cap come off from his yellow curls, and one little hand tossed out as the landau went over. the mare, now mad as any maniac, ran on. something had broken, but it mattered little what. i think we turned a corner. i think she struck a lamp-post or a tree. at all events, the buggy went over; and, scooped into the top, and dragged, and blinded, and stunned, i came to the ground. as i went down, i uttered the two words of all that are human, most solemn; perhaps, one may add, most automatic. believer or sceptic, saint or sinner, mortal danger hurls them from us, as it wrests the soul from out our bodies. i said, "_my god!_" precisely as i threw out my arms, to catch at whatever could hold me when i could no longer hold myself. chapter v. how long i had lain stunned upon the pavement i had no means of knowing; i thought not long. i was surprised, on coming to myself, to find that my injuries were not more severe. my head felt uncomfortable, and i had a certain numbness or stiffness, as one does from the first trial of long-disused limbs. i had always limped a trifle since that accident beside the trout-brook; and, as i staggered to my feet, i thought:-"this will play the mischief with that old injury. i shouldn't wonder if it came to crutches." on the contrary, when i had walked some dozen steps i found that an interesting thing had happened. the shock had dispersed the limp. it was with a perfectly even and natural gait, although, as i say, rather a weak one, that i trod the pavement to try what manner of man the runaway had left me. i said:-"it is one of those cases of nervous rearrangement. the shock has acted like a battery upon the nerve-centres. instead of a broken neck, i have a cured leg. i'm a lucky fellow." having already, however, considered myself a lucky fellow for the greater part of my life, this conclusion did not impress me with the force which it might some other men; and, laughing lightly, as lucky people do, at fortune, i turned to examine the condition of my horse and carriage. donna was not to be seen. she had broken the traces, the breeching, the shafts, everything, in short, she could, and cleared herself. i had been unconscious long enough to give her time to make herself invisible, and she had made the most of it; in what direction she had gone, it was impossible for me to tell. the buggy was a wreck. no one was in sight who seemed to have interest or anxiety in the matter. i wondered that i did not find myself the victim of a gaping crowd. but i reflected that the mishap had taken place in a quiet dwelling street, not travelled at that hour, and that my fate, therefore, had attracted no attention. i remembered, too, my patient, mrs. faith, and her boy, and that dolt of a henry's helpless face--the whole thing came to mind, vividly. it occurred to me that the crowd might be at the scene of an accident so terrible that no loafer was left to regard my lesser misfortune. it was they who had been sacrificed. it was i who escaped. my first thought was to go at once and learn the worst; but i found myself a little out of my way. i really did not recognize the street in which i stood. i had been for so many years accustomed to driving everywhere that, like other doctors, i hardly knew how to walk; and by the time i made my way back to the great thoroughfare where i had collided with mrs. faith's carriage, no trace of the tragedy was to be found; or at least i could not find any. after looking in vain, for a while, i stopped a man, and asked him if there had not been a carriage accident there within half an hour. he lifted his eyes to me stupidly, and went on. i put the same question to some one else--a lazy fellow, who was leaning against an iron railing and staring at me. but he shook his head decidedly. a young priest passed by, at this moment, saying an ave with moving lips and unworldly eyes, and i made inquiries of him whether a lady and a child had just been injured in that vicinity by a runaway. "nay," he said, gazing at me with a luminous look. "nay, i see nothing." after an instant's hesitation the priest made the sign of the cross both upon himself and me; and then stretched his hands in blessing over me, and silently went his way. i thought this very kind in him; and i bowed, as we parted, saying aloud:-"thank you, father," for my heart was touched, despite myself, at the manner of the young devotee. it had surely been my intention, on failing to find any traces of the accident in the spot where i supposed that it had taken place, to go at once to the house of mrs. faith, and inquire for her welfare and the boy's. it was the least i could do, under the circumstances. apparently, however, i myself was more shaken than i had thought; for after my brief interview with the priest i speedily lost my way, and could not find my patient's street or number. i searched for it for some time confusedly; but the brain was clearly still affected by the concussion--so much so that it was not long before i forgot what i was searching for, and went my ways with a dim and idle purpose, such as must accompany much of the action of those in whom the relation between mind and body has become, for any cause, disarranged. after an interval--how long i cannot tell--of this suspended intelligence, my brain grew more clear and natural, and i remembered that i was very late at the hospital, at the consultation, at brake's, at every appointment of the evening; so late that my accustomed sense of haste now began to possess me to the exclusion of everything else. i remembered my wife, indeed, and wondered if i had better go back and tell her that i was not hurt. but it did not strike me as necessary. donna, if she had not broken her neck somewhere, by this time, would run straight for the stable; she would not go home. the buggy was a wreck, and the police might clear it away. there was no reason to suppose that helen would hear of the accident, that i could see, from any source. there would be no scare. i had better go about my business, and tell her when i got home. news like this would keep an hour or two, and everybody the better for the keeping. reasoning in this manner, if it can be said to be reasoning, i took my way to the hospital as fast as possible. i did not happen to find a cab; and i gave myself the unusual experience of hailing a horse-car. the car did not stop for my signal, and i flung myself aboard as best i might; for a man so recently shaken up, with creditable ease, i thought. trusting to this circumstance, when we reached the hospital i leaped from the car, which was going at full speed; it was not till i was well up the avenue that i recalled having forgotten to offer my fare, which the conductor had forgotten to demand. "my head is not straight yet," i said. the little incident annoyed me. in the hospital i found, as i expected, a professional cyclone raging. the staff were all there except myself, and so hotly engaged in discussion that my arrival was treated with indifference. this was undoubtedly good for me, but it was not, therefore, agreeable to me; and i entered at once with some emphasis upon the dispute in hand. "you are entirely wrong," i began, turning upon my opponents. "this institution had seven hundred more applicants than it could accommodate last year. we are not chartered to turn away suffering. we exist to relieve it. it is our business to find the means to do so, as much as it is to find the true remedy for the individual case. it is"-"it is an act of financial folly," interrupted my most systematic professional enemy, a certain dr. gazell. he had a bland voice which irritated me like sugar sauce put upon horse-radish. "it cannot be done without mortgaging ourselves up to our ears--or our eaves. i maintain that the hospital can better bear to turn off patients than to turn on debt." "and i maintain," i cried, tempestuously, "that this hospital cannot bear to do either! if the gentlemen gathered here to-night--the members of this staff, representing, as they do, the wealthiest and most influential _clientèles_ in the city--if we cannot among us pledge from our patients the sum needed to put this thing through, i say it is a poor show for ourselves. i, for one, am ready to raise fifteen thousand dollars within three months. if the rest of you will do your share in proportion"-"dr. thorne has always been a little too personal, in this matter," said gazell, reddening; he did not look at me, for embarrassment, but addressed the chairman of the meeting with a vague air of being in earnest, if any one could be got to believe it. "no doubt about that," said one of the staff in an undertone. "thorne is"--i thought i caught the added words, "unreasonable fellow," but i would not give myself the appearance of having done so. "but we can't afford to quarrel with him altogether," suggested chirugeon, still in a tone not meant for me to overhear. and with this they went at it again, till the discussion reached such warmth, and the motion to leave the subject with the trustees, such favour, that, in disgust, i seized my hat and strode out of the room. smarting, i rushed away from them, and angrily out-of-doors again. i was exceedingly angry; but this gave me no more, perhaps (though i thought, a little), than the usual discomfort. from the hospital i hurried to the consultation; where i was now well over-due. i found the attendant physician about to leave; in fact, i met him on the stairs, up which i had run rapidly, as soon as my ring was answered in the familiar house. this man was followed by old madam decker's daughter, who was weeping. "she died at six o'clock, dr. halt," miss decker sobbed, "at six precisely, for i noticed. we didn't expect it so soon." "nor i, either," said halt, soothingly, "i did not anticipate"-"dead!" i cried. "mrs. decker dead? i did my best--i have met with an accident. i could not come till now. did she ask for me?" "she talked of dr. thorne," sobbed miss decker, "as long as she could talk of anything. she wondered if he knew, she said, how sick she was." i hastened to explain, to protest, to sympathize, to say the idle words with which we waste ourselves and weary mourners, at such times; but the daughter paid little attention to me. she was evidently hurt at my delay; and, thinking it best to spare her my presence, i bowed my head in silence, and left the house. halt followed me, and we stood together for a moment outside, where his carriage and driver awaited him. "was she conscious to the end?" i asked. "yes," he murmured. "yes, yes, yes. it is a pity. i'm sorry for that girl." nodding shortly in my direction, he sprang into his coupé, and drove away. i had now begun to be very restless to get home. it seemed suddenly important to see helen. i felt, i knew not why, uneasy and impatient, and turned my steps toward town. "but i must stop at brake's," i thought. this seemed imperative; so much so that i went out of my course a little, to reach his house, a pretty, suburban place. i remember passing under trees; and the depth of their shadow; it seemed like a bay of blackness into which the night flowed. i looked up through it at the sky; stars showed through the massed clouds which the wind whipped along like a flock of titanic celestial creatures. i had not looked up before, since the accident. the act gave me strange sensations, as if the sky had lowered, or i had risen; the sense of having lost the usual scale of measurement. this reminded me that i was still not altogether right. "i have really hurt my head," i thought, "i ought to get home. i must hurry this business with brake. i must get to helen." but brake was not at home. as i went up the steps, his servant was ushering out some one, to whom i heard the man say that mr. brake had left word not to expect him to-night. "does he ever stay late at the office?" i asked, thinking that the panic might render this possibly. the man turned the expressionless countenance of a well-trained servant upon me; and repeated:-"mr. brake is not at home. i know nothing further about mr. brake's movements." this reply settled the matter in my own mind, and i made my way to stock street as fast as i might. i could not make it seem unnecessary to see brake. but helen--helen- the sooner this wretched detention was over, the sooner to see her. i had begun to be as nervous as a woman; and, i might add, as unreasonable as a sick one. i had got myself under the domination of one of those fixed ideas with which i had so little patience in the sick. i could not see helen till i had seen brake: this was the delusion. i succumbed to it, and knew that i succumbed to it, and could not help it, and knew that i could not help it, and did the deed it bade me. as i hurried on my way, i thought:-"there has been considerable concussion. but helen will take care of me. it's a pity i spoke so to helen." stock street, when i reached it, had a strange look to me. i was not used to being there at such an hour; few of us are. the relative silence, the few passers, the long empty spaces in the great thoroughfare, told me that the hour was later than i thought. this added to my restlessness, and i sought to look at my watch, for the first time since the accident; it was gone. i glanced at the high clock at the head of the street; but the light was imperfect, and with the vertigo which i had i did not make out the hour. it might, indeed, be really late. this troubled me, and i hastened my steps till i broke into a run. it occurred to me, indeed, that i might be arrested for the suspicions under which such a pace, at such an hour and in such a street, would place me. but as i knew most of the members of the force in that region more or less well, this did not trouble me. i ran on, undisturbed, passing a watchman or two, and came quickly to brake's place. it was locked. this distressed me. i think i had confidently expected to find him there. it did not seem to me possible to go home without seeing my broker. i stood, uncertain, rattling at the heavy door with imbecile impatience. this act brought the police to the spot in three minutes. it was inspector drayton who came up, the well-known inspector, so long on duty in stock street; a man famed for his professional shrewdness and his gentlemanly manner. "i wish," i said, "mr. inspector, that you would be good enough to let me in. i want to see brake. i have reason to believe he is in his office. i must get in." "it is very important," i added; for the inspector did not answer immediately, but looked at me searchingly. "there was certainly some one meddling with this lock," he said, after a moment's hesitation, looking stealthily up and down and around the street. "it was i," i replied, eagerly. "it was only i, dr. thorne. come, drayton, you know me. i want to see brake. i must see brake. it is a matter brought up by this panic--you know--the santa ma. he sent for me. i absolutely must see brake. it is a matter of thousands to me. let me in, mr. inspector." "come," for he still delayed and doubted, "let me in somehow. you fellows have a way. communicate with his watchman--do the proper thing--anyhow--i don't care--only let me in." "i will see," murmured the inspector, with a perplexed air; he had not his usual cordial manner with me, though he was still as polished as possible, and wore the best of kid gloves. i think the inspector touched one of their electric signals--i am not clear about this--but at any rate, a sleepy watchman came from within, holding a safety lantern before him, and gingerly opened the huge door an inch or two. "let me come in," said the inspector, decidedly. "it is i--drayton. i have a reason. i wish to go to mr. brake's rooms, if you please." the inspector slipped in like a ghost, and i followed him. neither of us said anything further to the watchman; we went directly to brake's place. he was not there. "i will wait a few minutes," i said. "i think he will be here. i must see brake." the inspector glanced at me as one does at a fellow who is behaving a little out of the common course of human conduct; but he did not enter into conversation with me, seeing me averse to it. i sank down wearily upon brake's biggest brown leather office chair, and put my head down upon his table. i was now thoroughly tired and confused. i wished with all my heart that i had gone straight home to helen. the inspector and the watchman busied themselves in examining the building, for some purpose to which i paid no attention. they conversed in low tones, "i heard a noise at the door, sir, myself," the watchman said. "why don't you tell him it was i?" i called; but i did not lift my head. i was too tired to trouble myself. i must have fallen into a kind of stupor. i do not know how long i had remained in this position and condition, whether minutes or hours; but when at last i roused myself, and looked about, a singular thing had happened. the inspector had gone. the watchman had gone. i was alone in the broker's office. and i was locked in. chapter vi. so often and so idly it is our custom to say, i shall never forget! that the words scarcely cause a ripple of comment in the mind; whereas, in fact, they are among the most audacious which we ever take upon our lips. how know we what law of selection our memories will obey in that system of mental relations which we call "forever"? i, who believe myself to have obtained some especial knowledge upon this point, not possessed by all my readers, and to be more free than many another to use such language, still retreat before the phrase, and content myself with saying, "i have never forgotten." up to this time i have never been able to forget the smallest detail of that night whose history i am now to record. it seems to me impossible in any set of conditions that memory could blot that experience from my being; but of that what know i? no more than i know of the politics of a meteor. upon discovering my predicament i was, of course, greatly disturbed. i tried the door, and tried again; i urged the latch violently; i exerted myself till the mere moral sense of my helplessness overcame my strength. i called to the watchman, whose distant steps i heard, or fancied that i heard, pacing the corridors. there was a safe deposit in the basement, and the great building was heavily guarded. i shouted for my liberty, i pleaded for it, i demanded it; but i did not get it. no one answered me. i ran to the barred windows and shook the iron casement as prisoners and madmen do. nobody heard me. i bethought me of the private telegraph which stood by brake's desk, mute and mysterious, like a thing that waited an order to speak. i could not help wondering, with something like superstition, what would be the next words which would pass the lips of the silent metal. it occurred to me, of course, to telegraph for relief; but i did not know how, and a kind of respect for the intelligence and power of the instrument deterred me from meddling with it to no visible end. suddenly i remembered the electric signal which so often communicates with watchman or police in places of this kind. this, after some search, i found in a corner, over the desk of brake's assistant, and this i touched. my effort brought no reply. i pressed the button again with more force and more desperation; i might say, with more personality. "obey me!" i cried, setting my teeth, and addressing the electric influence as a man addresses a menial. instantly a thrill passed from the wire to the hand. a distant sound jarred upon the air. steps shuffled somewhere beyond the massive walls. i even thought that i heard voices, as of the watchman and others in possible consultation. no one approached the broker's door. i urged the signal again and again. i became quite frantic, for i had now begun to think with dismay of the effect of all this upon my wife. i railed upon that signal like a delirious patient at the order of a physician. a commotion seemed to follow, in some distant part of the building. but no one came within hearing of my voice; the noise soon ceased, and my efforts at freedom with it. it having now become evident that i must spend the night where i was, i proceeded to make the best of it; and a very bad best it was. i was exhausted, i was angry, and i was distressed. the full force of the situation was beginning to fall upon me. the inspector had put a not unnatural interpretation upon my condition; he thought so little of a gentleman who had dined too freely; it was a perfectly normal incident in his experience. he had mistaken the character of the stupor caused by my accident, and left me in that office for a drunken man. the fact that he was not accustomed to view me in such a light in itself probably explained the originality of his method. we were on pleasant terms. drayton was a good fellow. who knew better than he what would be the professional significance of the circumstance that dr. thorne was seen intoxicated down town at midnight? the city would ring with it in twelve hours, and it would not be for me, though i had been the most popular doctor in town, to undo the deed of that slander, if once it so much as lifted its invisible hand against the proud and pure reputation in whose shelter i lived and laboured, and had been suffered to become what we call "eminent." it was possible, too, that the inspector had some human regard for my family in this matter, and reasoned that to spare them the knowledge of my supposed disgrace was the truest kindness wherewith it was in his power to serve me. he meant to leave me where i was and as i was to sleep it off till morning. he would return in good season and release me quietly, and nobody the wiser but the watchman; who could be feed. this was plainly the purpose and the programme. but helen-i returned to the table near which i had been sitting, and took the office chair again, and tried, like a reasonable creature, to calm myself. what would helen think by this time? i looked about the office stupidly. at first the dreary scene presented few details to me; but after a time they took on the precision and permanence which trifles acquire in emergencies. the gas was not lighted, but i could see with considerable ease, owing to the overwrought brain condition. it occurred to me that i saw like a cat or a medium; i noted this, as indicative of a certain remedy; and then it further occurred to me that i might as well doctor myself, having nothing better to do; and plainly there was something wrong. i therefore put my hand in my pocket for my case. it was gone. now, a physician of my sort is as ill at ease without his case as he would be without his body; and this little circumstance added disproportionately to my discomfort. with some irritable exclamation on my lips i leaned back in the chair, and once more regarded my environment. it was a rather large room, dim now, and as solitary as a graveyard after twilight. before me stood the table, an oblong table covered with brown felt. a blue blotter, of huge dimensions, was spread from end to end; it was a new blotter, not much blurred. inkstand, pens, paper-weight, calendar, and other trifles of a strictly necessary nature stood upon the blotter. letters on file, and brokers' memoranda neatly stabbed by the iron stiletto--i forget the name of the thing--for that purpose made and provided, attracted my sick attention. an advertisement from a western mortgage firm had escaped the neat hand of the clerk who put the office in order for the night, and fell fluttering to my feet. it would be impossible to say how important this seemed to me. i picked it up conscientiously and filed it, to the best of my remembrance, with an invitation to the merchant's banquet, and a subscription list in behalf of the blind man who sold tissue-paper roses at the head of the street. in one corner of the room, as i have said, was the clerk's desk; the electric signal shone faintly above it; it had, to my eyes, a certain phosphorescent appearance. opposite, the steam radiator stood like a skeleton. there was a grate in the room, with a cumberland coal fire laid. on the wall hung a map of the state, and another setting forth the proportions of a great western railroad. at the extreme end of the room stood chairs and settees provided for auctions. between myself and these, the high, guarded public desk of the broker rose like a rampart. in this sombre and severe place i now abandoned myself to my thoughts; and these gave me no mercy. my wife was a reasonable woman; but she was a loving and sensitive one. i was accustomed to spare her all unnecessary uncertainty as to my movements--being more careful in this respect, perhaps, than most physicians would be; our profession covers a multitude of little domestic sins. i had not taken the ground that i was never to be expected till i came. a system of affectionate communication as to my whereabouts existed between us; it was one of the pleasant customs of our honeymoon which had lasted over. the telegraph and the messenger boy we had always with us; it was a little matter for a man to take the trouble to tell his wife why and where he was kept away all night. i do not remember that i had ever failed to do so. it was a bother sometimes, i admit, but the pleasure it gave her usually repaid me; such is the small, sweet coin of daily love. as i sat there at the broker's desk, like a creature in a trap, all that long and wretched night, the image of my wife seemed to devour my brain and my reason. the great clock on the neighbouring church struck one with a heavy and a solemn intonation, of which i can only say that it was to me unlike anything i had ever heard before. it gave me a shudder to hear it, as if i listened to some supernatural thing. the first hour of the new day rang like a long cry. some freak of association brought to my mind that angel in the apocalypse who proclaimed with a mighty voice that time should be no more. i caught myself thinking this preposterous thing: suppose it were all over? suppose we never saw each other again? suppose my wife were to die? to-night? suppose some accident befell her? if she tripped upstairs? if the child's crib took fire and she put it out, and herself received one of those deadly shocks from burns not in themselves mortal? suppose--she herself opening the door to let in the messenger expected from me--that some drunken fellow, or some tramp-"this," i said aloud, "is the kind of thing she does when i am delayed. this is what it means to wait. men don't do it often enough to know what it is. i wonder if we have any scale of measurement for what women suffer?" what she, for instance, by that time was suffering, oh, who in the wide world else could guess or dream? there were such suffering cells in that exquisite nature! who but me could understand? i brought my clinched hand down upon the broker's blue blotting-paper, and laid my heavy head upon it. suppose somebody had got the news to her that the horse had been seen dashing free of the buggy, or had returned alone to the stable, panting and cut? suppose helen thought that my unaccountable absence had something to do with that scene between us? suppose she thought--or if she suspected--perhaps she imagined-i hid my face within my shaking hands and groaned. a curse upon the cruel words that i had spoken to the tenderest of souls, to the dearest and the gentlest of women! a curse upon the lawless temper that had fired them! accursed the hot lips that had uttered them, the unmanly heart that could have let them slip! i thought of her face--i really had not thought of her face before, that wretched night. i had not strictly dared. now i found that daring had nothing to do with it. i thought because i had to think. i dwelt upon her expression when i spoke to her--god forgive me!--as i did; her attitude, the way her hands fell, her silence, the quiver in her delicate mouth. i saw the dim parlour, the lighted room beyond her, the scarlet shade upon the gas; she standing midway, tall and mute, like a statue carved by one stroke of a sword. my own words came back to me; and i was not apt to remember things i said to people. so many impressions passed in and out of my mind in the course of one busy day, that i became their victim rather than their master. but now my language to my wife that unhappy evening returned to my consciousness with incredible vividness and minuteness. it will be seen from the precision with which i have already recorded it, how inexorable this minuteness was. it occurred to me that i might as well have struck her. in this kind of moral pommelling which sensitive women feel--as they do--how could i have indulged! i, who knew what a sensitive woman is, what fearful and wonderful nervous systems these delicate creatures have to manage; i, with what i was pleased to term my high organization and special training--i, like any brutal hind, had berated my wife. i, who was punctilious to draw the silken portière for her, who could not let her pick up so much as her own lace handkerchief, nor allow her to fold a wrap of the weight of a curlew's feather about her own soft throat--i had belaboured her with the bludgeons that bruise the life out of women's souls. i wondered, indeed, if i should have been a less amiable fellow if i had worn cow-hide boots and kicked her. my reproaches, my remorses, my distresses, it is now an idle tale to tell. that night passed like none before it, and none which have come after it. my mind moved with a piteous monotony over and over and about the aching thought: to see helen--to see helen--to be patient till morning, and tell helen--only to get through this horrible night, and hurry, rushing to the morning air, to the nearest cab dashing down the street, and making the mad haste of love and shame, to see my wife--to tell my wife-as never in all our lives before, i should tell her how dear she was; how unworthy was i to love her; how i loved her just as much as if i were worthy, and could not help it though i tried--or (as we say) could not help it though i died! i should run up, ringing the bell, never waiting to find the latch-key--for i could wait for nothing. i should spring into the house, and find her upstairs, in our own room; it would be so early; she would be only half-dressed yet, pale and lovely, looking like a spirit, far across the rich colours of the room, her long hair loose about her. i should gather her to my heart before she saw me; my arms and lips should speak before my breaking voice. i should kiss my soul out on her lifted face. i should love her so, she should forgive me before i could so much as say, forgive! and when i had her--to myself again--when these arms were sure of their own, and these lips of hers, when her precious breath was on this cheek again, and i could say;-"helen, helen, helen"-and could say no more, for love and shame and sorrow, but only-"helen, helen"-"yes," said the watchman's voice in the corridor. "it is all right, sir. me and inspector drayton, we thought we beard a noise, last night, and we considered it safe to look about. we had a thorough search. we thought we'd better. but there wasn't nothing. it's all straight, sir." it was morning, and brake's clerk was coming in. it was very early, earlier than he usually came, perhaps; but i could not tell. he did not notice me at first, and, remembering drayton's hypothesis, i shrank behind the tall desk, and instinctively kept out of sight for a few uncertain minutes, wondering what i had better do. the clerk called the janitor, and scolded a little about the fire, which he ordered lighted in the grate. it was a cold morning. he said the room would chill a corpse. he had the morning papers in his hand. he unfolded the "herald," and laid it down upon his own desk, as if about to read it. at that instant, the telegraph clicked, and he pushed the damp, fresh paper away from him, and went immediately to the wires. the young man listened to the message with an expression of great intentness, and wrote rapidly. moved by some unaccountable impulse, i softly rose and glanced over his shoulder. the dispatch was dated at midnight, and was addressed to henry brake. it said: "_have you seen my husband, to-night?_" and it was signed, "_helen thorne._" oh, poor helen!... now, maniac with haste to get to her, it occurred to me that the moment while the clerk was occupied in recording this message was as good a time as i could ask for in which to escape unobserved, as i greatly wished to do. as quietly as i could--and i succeeded in doing it very quietly--i therefore moved to leave the broker's office. as i did so, my eye caught the heading, in large capitals, of the morning news in the open "herald" which lay upon the desk behind the clerk. i stopped, and stooped, and read. this is what i read:- shocking accident. terrible tragedy. runaway at the west end. _the eminent and popular physician._ _dr. esmerald thorne,_ killed instantly. chapter vii. at this moment, the broker entered the office. with the "herald" in my hand, i made haste to meet him. "brake!" i cried, "mr. brake! thank heaven, you have come! i have passed such a night--and look here! have you seen this abominable canard? this is what has come of my being locked into your"-the broker regarded me with a strange look; so strange, that for very amazement i stood still before it. he did not advance to meet me; neither his hand nor his eyes gave me the human sign of welcome; he looked over me, he looked through me, as a man does at one whose acquaintance he has no desire to recognize. i thought:-"drayton has crammed him. he too believes that i was shut in here to sleep it off. the story will get out in two hours. i am doomed in this town henceforth for a drunken doctor. i'd better have been killed instantly, as this infernal paper says." but i said,-"mr. brake? you don't recognize me, i think. it is i, dr. thorne. i couldn't get here before two. i went to your house last evening. i got the impression you were here, so i came after you. i was locked in here by your confounded watchman. they have this minute let me free. i am in a great hurry to get home. nice job this is going to be! have you seen _that_?" i put my shaking finger upon the "herald's" fiery capitals, and held the column folded towards him. "jason," he said, after an instant's pause, "pick up the 'herald,' will you? a gust of wind has blown it from the table. there must be a draught. please shut the door." to say that i know of no earthly language which can express the sensation that crawled over me as the broker uttered these words is to say little or nothing about it. i use the expression "crawled" with some faint effort to define the slowness and the repulsiveness with which the suspicion of that to which i dared not and did not give a name, made itself manifest to my mind. "excuse me, brake," i said with some agitation, "you did not hear what i said. i was locked in. i am in a hurry to get home. ask drayton. drayton let me in. i must get home at once. i shall sue the 'herald' for that outrageous piece of work- what do you suppose my wife-good god! she must have read it by this time! let me by, brake!" "jason," said the broker, "this is a terrible thing! i feel quite broken up about it." "brake!" i cried, "henry brake! let me pass you! let me home to my wife! you're in my way--don't you see? you're standing directly between me and the door. let me pass!" "there's a private dispatch come," said the clerk badly. "it is for you, sir. it is from mrs. thorne herself." "brake!" i pleaded, "brake, brake!--jason!--mr. brake! don't you hear me?" "give me the message, jason," said brake, holding out his hand; he seated himself, as he did so, at the office table, where i had sat the night out; he looked troubled and pale; he handled the message reluctantly, as people do in the certainty of bad news. "in the name of mercy, henry brake!" i cried, "what is the meaning of this? don't you hear a word i say? don't you feel me?--there!" i gripped the broker by the shoulder, and clinched both hands upon him with all my might. "don't you _feel_ me? god almighty! don't you _see_ me, brake?" "when did this dispatch come, jason?" said the broker. he laid helen's message gently down; he had tears in his eyes. "henry brake," i pleaded brokenly, for my heart failed me with a mighty fear, "answer me, in human pity's name. are you gone deaf and blind? or am i struck dumb? or am i"-"it came ten minutes ago, sir," replied jason. "it is dated, i see, at midnight. they delivered it as soon as anybody was likely to be stirring, here; a bit before, too; considering the nature of the message, i suppose, sir." "it is a terrible affair!" repeated the broker nervously. "i have known the doctor a good many years. he had his peculiarities; but he was a good fellow. say--jason!" "yes, sir?" "how does it happen that mrs. thorne- you say this message was dated at midnight?" "at midnight, sir. 12.15." "how is it she didn't _know_ by that time? i pity the fellow who had to tell her. she's a very attractive woman.... the 'herald' says-where is that paper?" "the 'herald' says," answered jason decorously, "that he was scooped into the buggy-top, and dragged, and dashed against- here it is." he handed his employer the paper, as i had done, or had thought i did, with his finger on the folded column. the broker took the paper, and slowly put on his glasses, and slowly read aloud:-"'dr. thorne was dragged for some little distance, it is thought, before the horse broke free. he must have hit the lamp-post, or the pavement. he was found in the top of the buggy, which was a wreck. the robe was over him, and his face was hidden. his medicine case lay beneath him; the phials were crushed to splinters. life was extinct when he was discovered. his watch had stopped at five minutes past seven o'clock. it so happened that he was not immediately identified, though our reporter could not learn the reason of this extraordinary mischance. by some unpardonable blunder, the body of the distinguished and favourite physician was taken to the morgue'"-"that accounts for it," said jason. --"'was taken to the morgue,'" read on mr. brake with agitated voice. "'it was not until midnight that the mistake was discovered. a messenger was dispatched at twenty minutes after twelve o'clock to the elegant residence of the popular doctor, in delight street. the news was broken to the widow as agreeably as possible. mrs. thorne is a young and very beautiful woman, on whom this shocking blow falls with uncommon cruelty. "'the body was carried to dr. thorne's house at one o'clock. the time of the funeral is not yet appointed. the "herald" will be informed as soon as a decision is reached. "'the death of dr. thorne is a loss to this community which it is impossible to,'--hm--m--'his distinguished talents'--hm--m--hm--m." the broker laid down the paper, and sighed. "i sent for him yesterday, to consult about his affairs," he observed gently. "it is a pity for her to lose that santa ma. she will need it now. i'm sorry for her. i don't know how he left her, exactly. he did a tremendous business, but he spent as he went. he was a good fellow--i always liked the doctor! terrible affair! terrible affair! jason! where is that advertisement of grope county iowa mortgage? you have filed it in the wrong place! be more careful in future." ..."_mr. brake!_" i tried once more; and my voice was the voice of mortal anguish to my own appalled and ringing ear. "do you not hear? can you not see? is there _no one_ in this place who hears? or sees me, _either_?" an early customer had strayed in; drayton was there; and the watchman had entered. the men (there were five in all) collected by the broker's desk, around the morning papers, and spoke to each other with the familiarity which bad news of any public interest creates. they conversed in low tones. their faces wore a shocked expression. they spoke of me; they asked for more particulars of the tragedy reported by the morning press; they mentioned my merits and defects, but said more about merits than defects, in the merciful, foolish way of people who discuss the newly dead. "i've known him ten years," said the broker. "i've had the pleasure of the doctor's acquaintance myself a good while," said the inspector politely. "wasn't he a quick-tempered man?" asked the customer. "he cured a baby of mine of the croup," said the watchman. "it was given up for dead. and he only charged me a dollar and a half. he was very kind to the little chap." "he set an ankle for me, once, after a football match," suggested the clerk. "i wouldn't ask to be better treated. he wasn't a bit rough." ..."gentlemen," i entreated, stretching out my hands toward the group, "there is some mistake--i must make it understood. i am here. it is i, dr. thorne; dr. esmerald thorne. i am in this office. gentlemen! listen to me! look at me! look in this direction! for god's sake, _try_ to see me--some of you!"... "he drove too fast a horse," said the customer. "he always has." "i must answer mrs. thorne's message," said the broker sadly, rising and pushing back the office chair. ...i shrank, and tried no more. i bowed my head, and said no other word. the truth, incredible and terrible though it were, the truth which neither flesh nor spirit can escape, had now forced itself upon my consciousness. i looked across the broker's office at those five warm human beings as if i had looked across the width of the breathing world. naught had i now to say to them; naught could they communicate to me. language was not between us, nor speech, nor any sign. need of mine could reach them not, nor any of their kind. for i was in the dead, and they the living men. ..."here is your dog, sir," said jason. "he has followed you in. he is trying to speak to you, in his way." the broker stooped and patted the dumb brute affectionately. "i understand, lion," he said. "yes, i understand you." the dog looked lovingly up into his master's face, and whined for joy. chapter viii. this incident, trifling as it was, i think, did more than anything which had preceded it to make me aware of the nature of that which had befallen me. the live brute could still communicate with the living man. skill of scientist and philosopher was as naught to help the human spirit which had fled the body to make itself understood by one which occupied it still. more blessed in that moment was lion, the dog, than esmerald thorne, the dead man. i said to myself:-"i am a desolate and an outcast creature. i am become a dumb thing in a deaf world." i thrust my hands before me, and wrung them with a groan. it seemed incredible to me that i could die; that was more wonderful, even, than to know that i was already dead. "it is all over," i moaned. "i have died. i am dead. i am what they call a dead man." now, at this instant, the dog turned his head. no human tympanum in the room vibrated to my cry. no human retina was recipient of my anguish. what fine, unclassified senses had the highly-organized animal by which he should become aware of me? the dog turned his noble head--he was a st. bernard, with the moral qualities of the breed well marked upon his physiognomy; he lifted his eyes and solemnly regarded me. after a moment's pause he gave vent to a long and mournful cry. "don't, lion," i said. "keep quiet, sir. this is dreadful!" the dog ceased howling when i spoke to him; after a little hesitation he came slowly to the spot where i was standing, and looked earnestly into my face, as if he saw me. whether he did, or how he did, or why he did, i knew not, and i know not now. the main business of this narrative will be the recording of facts. explanations it is not mine to offer; and of speculations i have but few, either to give or to withhold. a great wistfulness came into my soul, as i stood shut apart there from those living men, within reach of their hands, within range of their eyes, within the vibration of their human breath. i looked into the animal's eyes with the yearning of a sudden and an awful sense of desolation. "speak to me, lion," i whispered. "won't you speak to me?" "what is that dog about?" asked the customer, staring. "he is standing in the middle of the room and wagging his tail as if he had met somebody." the dog at this instant, with eager signs of pleasure or of pity--i could not, indeed, say which--put his beautiful face against my hand, and kissed, or seemed to kiss it, sympathetically. "he has queer ways," observed jason, the clerk, carelessly; "he knows more than most folks i know." "true," said his master, laughing. "i don't feel that i am lion's equal more than half the time, myself. he is a noble fellow. he has a very superior nature. my wife declares he is a poet, and that when he goes off by himself, and gazes into vacancy with that sort of look, he is composing verses." another customer had strolled in by this time; he laughed at the broker's easy wit; the rest joined in the laugh; some one said something which i did not understand, and drayton threw back his head and guffawed heartily. i think their laughter made me feel more isolate from them than anything had yet done. "why!" exclaimed the broker sharply, "what is this? jason! what does this mean?" his face, as he turned it over his shoulder to address the clerk, had changed colour; he was indeed really pale. he held his fingers on the great sheet of blue blotting-paper, to which he pointed, unsteadily. "upon my soul, sir," said jason, flushing and then paling in his turn. "that is a queer thing! may i show it to mr. drayton?" the inspector stepped forward, as the broker nodded; and examined the blotting-paper attentively. "it is written over," he said in a professional tone, "from end to end. i see that. it is written with one name. it is the name of"-"_helen!_" interrupted the broker. "yes," replied the inspector. "yes, it is: helen; distinctly, helen. someone must have"-but i stayed to hear no more. what some one must have done, i sprang and left the live men to decide--as live men do decide such things--among themselves. i sprang, and crying: "helen! helen! helen!" with one bound i brushed them by, and fled the room, and reached the outer air and sought for her. as nearly as one can characterize the emotion of such a moment i should say that it was one of mortal intensity; perhaps of what in living men we should call maniac intensity. up to this moment i could not be said to have comprehended the effect of what had taken place upon my wife. the full force of her terrible position now struck me like the edge of a weapon with whose sheath i had been idling. hot in the flame of my anger i had gone from her; and cold indeed had i returned. her i had left dumb before my cruel tongue, but dumb was that which had come back to her in my name. i was a dead man. but like any living of them all--oh, more than any living--i loved my wife. i loved her more because i had been cruel to her than if i had been kind. i loved her more because we had parted so bitterly than if we had parted lovingly. i loved her more because i had died than if i had lived. i must see my wife! i must find my wife! i must say to her--i must tell her- why, who in all the world but me could do _anything_ for helen now? out into the morning air i rushed, and got the breeze in my face, and up the thronging street as spirits do, unnoted and unknown of men, i passed; solitary in the throng, silent in the outcry, unsentient in the press. the sun was strong. the day was cool. the dome of the sky hung over me, too, as over those who raised their breathing faces to its beauty. i, too, saw, as i fled on, that the day was fair. i heard the human voices say: "what a morning!" "it puts the soul into you!" said a burly stock speculator to a railroad treasurer; they stood upon the steps of the exchange, laughing, as i brushed by. "it makes life worth while," said a healthy elderly woman, merrily, making the crossing with the light foot that a light heart gives. "it makes life possible," replied a pale young girl beside her, coming slowly after. "poor fellow!" sighed a stranger whom i hit in hurrying on. "it was an ugly way to die. nice air, this morning!" "he will be a loss to the community," replied this man's companion. "there isn't a doctor in town who has his luck with fevers. you can't convince my wife he didn't save her life last winter. frost, last night, wasn't there? very invigorating morning!" now, at the head of the street some ladies were standing, waiting for a car. i was delayed in passing them, and as i stepped back to change my course i saw that one of them was speaking earnestly, and that her eyes showed signs of weeping. "he wouldn't remember me," she said; "it was eleven years ago. but sick women don't forget their doctors. he was as _kind_ to me"-"oh, _poor_ mrs. thorne!" a soft voice answered, in the accented tone of an impulsive, tender-hearted woman. "it's bad enough to be a patient. but, oh, his _wife_!" "let me pass, ladies!" i cried, or tried to cry, forgetting, in the anguish which their words fanned to its fiercest, that i could not be heard and might not be seen. "there seems to be some obstruction. let me by, for i am in mortal haste!" obstruction there was, alas! but it was not in them whom i would have entreated. obstruction there was, but of what nature i could not and i cannot testify. while i had the words upon my lips, even as the group of women broke and left a space about me while they scattered on their ways, there on the corner of the thoroughfare, in the heart of the town, by an invisible force, by an inexplicable barrier, i, the dead man fleeing to my living wife, was beaten back. whence came that awful order? how came it? and wherefore? i knew no more than the november wind that passed me by, and went upon its errand as it listed. i was thrust back by a blast of power incalculable; it was like the current of an unknown natural force of infinite capability. set the will of soul and body as i would, i could not pass the head of the street. chapter ix. struggling to bear the fate which i had met, i turned as manfully as i might, and retraced my steps down the thronging street, within whose limits i now learned that my freedom was confined. it was a sickening discovery. i had been a man of will so developed and freedom so sufficient that helplessness came upon me like a change of temperament; it took the form of hopelessness almost at once. what was death? the secret of life. what knew i of the system of things on which a blow upon the head had ushered me all unready, reluctant, and uninstructed as i was? no more than the ruddiest live stockbroker in the street, whose blood went bounding, that fresh morning, to the antics of the santa ma. i was not accustomed to be uninformed; my ignorance appalled me. even in the deeps of my misery, i found space for a sense of humiliation; i felt profoundly mortified. in that spot, in that way, of all others, why was i withheld? was it the custom of the black country called death, which we mark "unexplored" upon the map of life,--was it the habit to tie a man to the place where he had died? but this was not the spot where i had died. it was the spot where i had learned that i had died. it was the place where the consciousness of death had wrought itself, not upon the nerves of the body, but upon the faculties of the mind. i had been dead twelve hours before i found it out. i looked up and down the street, where the living men scurried to and fro upon their little errands. these seemed immeasurably small. i looked upon them with disgust. fettered to that pavement, like a convict to his ball-and-chain, i passed and repassed in wretchedness whose quality i cannot express, and would not if i could. "i am punished," i said; "i am punished for that which i have done. this is my doom. i am imprisoned here." sometimes i broke into uncontrollable misery, crying upon my wife's dear name. then i would hush the outbreak, lest some one overhear me; and then i would remember that no one could overhear. i looked into the faces of the people whom i met and passed, with such longings for one single sign of recognition as are not to be described. it even occurred to me that among them all one might be found of whom my love and grief and will might make a messenger to helen. but i found none such, or i gained no such power; and, sick at heart, i turned away. suddenly, as i threaded the thick of the press, beating to and fro, and up and down, as dead leaves move before the wind, some one softly touched my hand. it was the st. bernard, the broker's dog. this time, as before, he looked into my face with signs of pleasure or of pity, or of both, and made as if he would caress me. "lion!" i cried, "_you_ know me, don't you? bless you, lion!" now, at the dumb thing's recognition, i could have wept for pleasure. the dog, when i spoke to him, followed me; and for some time walked up and down and athwart the street, beside me. this was a comfort to me. at last his master came out upon the sidewalk and looked for him. brake whistled merrily, and the dog, at the first call, went bounding in. ordinary writers upon usual topics, addressing readers of their own condition, have their share of difficulties; at best one conquers the art of expression as a general conquers an enemy. but the obstacles which present themselves to the recorder of this narrative are such as will be seen at once to have peculiar force. almost at the outset they dishearten me. how shall i tell the story unless i be understood? and how should i be understood if i told the story? were it for me, a man miserable and erring, gone to his doom as untrained for its consequences, or for the use of them, as a drayman for the use of hypnotism in surgery,--were it for me to play the interpreter between life and death? were it for me to expect to be successful in that solemn effort which is as old as time, and as hopeless as the eyes of mourners? what shall i say? it is willed that i shall speak. the angel said unto me: write. how shall i obey, who am the most unworthy of any soul upon whom has been laid the burden of the higher utterance? sacred be the task. would that its sacredness could sanctify the unfitness of him who here fulfils it. the experience which i have already narrated was followed by an indefinite period of great misery. how long i remained a prisoner in that unwelcome spot i cannot accurately tell. what are called by dwellers in the body days and nights, and dawns and darks, succeeded each other, little remarked by my wretchedness, or by the sense of remoteness from these things which now began to grow upon me. the life of what we call a spirit had begun for me in the form of a moral dislocation. the wrench, the agony, the process of setting the nature under its new conditions, took place in due order, but with bitter laggardness. the accident of death did not heal in my soul by what surgeons call "the first intention." i retained for a long time the consciousness of being an injured creature. as i paced and repaced the narrow street where the money-makers and money-lovers of the town jostled and thronged, a great disgust descended upon me. the place, the springs of conduct, wearied me, something in the manner that an educated person is wearied by low conversation. it seemed to be like this:--that the moral motives of the living created the atmosphere of the dead therein confined. it was as if i inhaled the coarse friction, the low aspiration, the feverishness, the selfishness, the dishonour, that the getting of gain, when it became the purpose of life, involved. i experienced a sense of being stifled, and breathed with difficulty; much as those live men would have done, if the gas-pipes had burst in the street. it did not detract from this feeling of asphyxia that i was aware of having, to a certain extent, shared the set of moral compounds which i now found resolved to their elements, by the curious chemistry of death. i had loved money and the getting of money, as men of the world, and of success in it, are apt to do. i was neither better nor worse than others of my sort. i had speculated with the profits of my profession, idly enough, but hotly, too, at times. i had told myself that i did this out of anxiety for the future of my family. i had viewed myself in the light of the model domestic man, who guards his household against an evil day. it had never occurred to me to classify myself with the mere money-changers, into whose atmosphere i had elected to put myself. now, as i glided in and out among them, unseen, unheard, unrecognized, a spirit among their flesh, there came upon me a humiliating sense of my true relation to them. was it thus, i said, or so? did i this or that? was the balance of motives so disproportionate after all? was there so little love of wife and child? so much of self and gain? was the item of the true so small? the sum of the false so large? had i been so much less that was noble, so much more that was low? i mingled with the mass of haggard men at a large stock auction which half the street attended. the panic had spread. sleeplessness and anxiety had carved the crowding faces with hard chisels. the shouts, the scramble, the oaths, the clinched hands, the pitiful pushing, affected me like a dismal spectacular play on some barbarian stage. how shall i express the sickening aspect of the scene to a man but newly dead? the excitement waxed with the morning. the old and placid santa ma throbbed like any little road of yesterday. the stock had gained 32 points in ten minutes, and down again, and up again to heaven knows what. men ran from despair to elation, and behaved like maniacs in both. men who were gentlemen at home turned savages here. men who were honourable in society turned sharpers here. madness had them, as i watched them. a kind of pity for them seized me. i glided in among them, and lifted my whole heart to stay them if i could. i stretched the hands that no one saw. i raised the voice that none could hear. "gentlemen!" i cried, "count me the market value of it--on the margin of two lives! by the bonds wherewith you bind yourselves you shall be bound!... what is the sum of wealth represented within these walls to-day? name it to me.... the whole of it, for the power to leave this place! the whole of it, the whole of it, for one half-hour in a dead man's desolated home! a hundred-fold the whole of it for"-but here i lost command of myself, and fleeing from the place where my presence and my misery and my entreaty alike were lost upon the attention of the living throng as were the elements of the air they breathed, i rushed into the outer world again; there to wander up and down the street, and hate the place, and hate myself for being there, and hate the greed of gain i used to love, and hate myself for having loved it; and yet to know that i was forced to act as if i loved it still, and to be the ghost before the ghost of a desire. "it is my doom," i said. "i am punished. i am fastened to this worldly spot, and to this awful way of being dead." now, while i spoke these words, i came, in the stress of my wretchedness, fleeing to the head of the street; and there, i cannot tell you how, i cannot answer why, as the arrow springs from the bow, or the conduct from the heart, or the spirit from the flesh,--in one blessed instant i knew that i was free to leave the spot, and crying, "helen, helen!" broke from it. chapter x. but no. alas, no, no! i was and was not free. all my soul turned toward her, but something stronger than my soul constrained me. it seemed to me that i longed for her with such longing as might have killed a live man, or might have made a dead one live again. this emotion added much to my suffering, but nothing to my power to turn one footstep toward her or to lift my helpless face in her direction. it was not permitted to me. it was not willed. now this, which might in another temperament have produced a sense of fear or of desire to placate the unknown force which overruled me, created in me at first a stinging rage. this is the truth, and the truth i tell. in my love and misery, and the shock of this disappointment--against the unknown opposition to my will, i turned and raved; even as when i was a man among men i should have raved at him who dared my purpose. "you are playing with me!" i wailed. "you torture a miserable man. who and what are you, that make of death a bitterer thing than life can guess? show me what i have to fight, and let me wrestle for my liberty,--though i am a ghost, let me wrestle like a man! let me to my wife! give way, and let me seek her!" shocking and foreign as words like these must be to many of those who read these pages, it must be remembered that they were uttered by one to whom faith and the knowledge that comes by way of it were the leaves of an abandoned text-book. for so many years had the tenets of the christian religion been put out of my practical life, even as i put aside the opinions of the laity concerning the treatment of disease, that i do not over-emphasize; i speak the simplest truth in saying that my first experience of death had not in any sense revived the vividness of lost belief to me. as the old life had ended had the new begun. where the tree had fallen it did lie. what was habit before death was habit after. what was natural then was natural now. what i loved living i loved dead. that which interested esmerald thorne the man interested esmerald thorne the spirit. the incident of death had raised the temperature of intellect; it had, perhaps, i may say, by this time quickened the pulse of conscience; but it had in no wise wrought any miracle upon me, nor created a religious believer out of a worldly and indifferent man of science. dying had not forthwith made me a devout person. incredible as it may seem, it is the truth that up to this time i had not, since the moment of dissolution, put to myself the solemn queries concerning my present state which occupy the imaginations of the living so much, while yet death is a fact remote from their experience. it was the habit of long years with me, after the manner of my kind, to settle all hard questions by a few elastic phrases, which, once learned, are curiously pliable to the intellectual touch. "phenomena," for instance,--how plastic to cover whatever one does not understand! "law,"--how ready to explain away the inexplicable! up to this point death had struck me as a most unfortunate phenomenon. its personal disabilities i found it easy to attribute to some natural law with which my previous education had left me unfamiliar. now, standing baffled there in that incredible manner half of tragedy, half of the absurd,--even the petty element of the undignified in the position adding to my distress,--a houseless, homeless, outcast spirit, struck still in the heart of that great town, where in hundreds of homes was weeping for me, where i was beloved and honoured and bemoaned, and where my own wife at that hour broke her heart with sorrow for me and for the manner of my parting from her,--then and there to be beaten back, and battered down, and tossed like an atom in some primeval flood, whithersoever i would not,--what a situation was this! now, indeed, i think for the first time, my soul lifted itself, as a sick man lifts himself upon his elbows, in his painful bed. now, flashing straight back upon the outburst of my defiance and despair, like the reflex action of a strong muscle, there came into my mind, if not into my heart, these impulsive and entreating words:-"what art thou, who dost withstand me? i am a dead and helpless man. what wouldst thou with me? where gainest thou thy force upon me? art thou verily that ancient myth which we were wont to call almighty god?" simultaneously with the utterance of these words that blast of will to which i have referred fell heavily upon me. a power not myself overshadowed me and did environ me. guided whithersoever i would not, i passed forth upon errands all unknown to me, rebelling and obeying as i went. "i am become what we used to call a spirit," i thought, bitterly, "and this is what it means. better might one become a molecule, for those, at least, obey the laws of the universe, and do not suffer." now, as i took my course, it being ordered on me, it led me past the door of a certain open church, whence the sound of singing issued. the finest choir in the city, famous far and near, were practising for the sunday service, and singing like the sons of god, indeed, as i passed by. with the love of the scientific temperament for harmony alert in me, i lingered to listen to the anthem which these singers were rendering in their customary great manner. with the instinct of the musically educated, i felt pleasure in this singing, and said:-"magnificently done!" as i went on. it was some moments before the words which the choir sang assumed any vividness in my mind. when they did i found that they were these;-"_for god is a spirit. god is a spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit_"-now it fell out that my steps were directed to the hospital; and to the hospital i straightway went. i experienced some faint comfort at this improvement in my lot, and hurried up the avenue and up the steps and into the familiar wards with eagerness. all the impulses of the healer were alive in me. i felt it a mercy for my nature to be at its own again. i hastened in among my sick impetuously. the hospital had been a favourite project of mine; from its start, unreasonably dear to me. through the mounting difficulties which blockade such enterprises, i had hewn and hacked, i had fathered and doctored, i had trusteed and collected, i had subscribed and directed and persisted and prophesied and fulfilled, as one ardent person must in most humanitarian successes; and i had loved the success accordingly. i do not think it had ever once occurred to me to question myself as to the chemical proportions of my motives in this great and popular charity. now, as i entered the familiar place, some query of this nature did indeed occupy my mind; it had the strangeness of all mental experiences consequent upon my new condition, and somewhat, if i remember, puzzled me. the love of healing? the relief of suffering? sympathy with the wretched? chivalry for the helpless? generosity to the poor? friendship to the friendless? were these the motives, all the motives, the _whole_ motives, of him who had in my name ministered in that place so long? even the love of science? devotion to a therapeutic creed? sacrifice for a surgical doctrine? enthusiasm for an important professional cause? did these, and only these, sources of conduct _explain_ the great hospital? or the surgeon who had created and sustained it? where did the motive deteriorate? where did the alloy come in? how did the sensitiveness to self, the passion for fame, the joy of power, amalgamate with all that noble feeling? how much residuum was there in the solution of that absorption which (outside of my own home) i had thought the purest and highest of my interests in life? for the first of all the uncounted times that i had entered the hospital for now these many years, i crossed the threshold questioning myself in this manner, and doubting of my fitness to be there, or to be what i had been held to be in that place. life had carried me gaily and swiftly, as it carries successful men. i had found no time, or made none, to cross-question the sources of conduct. my success had been my religion. i had the conviction of a prosperous person that the natural emotions of prosperity were about right. added to this was something of the physician's respect for what was healthful in human life. good luck, good looks, good nerves, a good income, an enviable reputation for professional skill, personal popularity, and private happiness,--these things had struck me as so wholesome that they must be admirable. behind the painted screen which a useful and successful career sets before the souls of men i had been too busy or too light of heart to peer. now it was as if, in the act or the fact of dying, i had moved a step or two, and looked over the edge of the bright shield. thoughts like these came to me so quietly and so naturally, now, that i wondered why i had not been familiar with them before; it even occurred to me that being very busy did not wholly excuse a live man for not thinking; and it was something in the softened spirit of this strange humility that i opened the noiseless door, and found myself among my old patients in the large ward. never before had i entered that sad place that the electric thrill of welcome, which only a physician knows, had not pulsated through it, preceding me, from end to end of the long room. the peculiar _lighting_ of the ward that flashes with the presence of a favourite doctor; the sudden flexible smile on pain-pinched lips; the yearning motion of the eyes in some helpless body where only the eyes can stir; the swift stretching-out of wasted hands; the half-inaudible cry of welcome: "the doctor's come!" "oh, there's the doctor!" "why, it's the _doctor_!"--the loving murmur of my name; the low prayer of blessing on it,--oh, never before had i entered my hospital, and missed the least of these. i thought i was prepared for this, but it was not without a shock that i stood among my old patients, mute and miserable, glancing piteously at them, as they had so often done at me; seeking for their recognition, which i might not have; longing for their welcome, which was not any more for me. the moans of pain, the querulous replies to nurses, the weary cough or plethoric breathing, the feeble convalescent laughter,--these greeted me; and only these. like the light that entered at the window, or the air that circulated through the ward, i passed unnoticed and unthanked. some one called out petulantly that a door had got unfastened, and bade a nurse go shut it, for it blew on her. but when i came up to the bedside of this poor woman, i saw that she was crying. "she's cried herself half-dead," a nurse said, complainingly. "nobody can stop her. she's taking on so for dr. thorne." "i don't blame her," said a little patient from a wheeled-chair. "everybody knows what he did for her. she's got one of her attacks,--and look at her! there can't anybody but him stop it. whatever we're going to do without the doctor"-her own lip quivered, though she was getting well. "i don't see how the doctor _could_ die!" moaned the very sick woman, weeping afresh, "when there's those that nobody but him can keep alive. it hadn't oughter to be let to be. how are sick folks going to get along without their doctor? it ain't _right_!" "lord have mercy on ye, poor creetur," said an old lady from the opposite cot. "don't take on so. it don't _help_ it any. it ain't agoing to bring the doctor back!" sobs arose at this. i could hear them from more beds than i cared to count. sorrow sat heavily in the ward for my sake. it distressed me to think of the effect of all this depression upon the nervous systems of these poor people. i passed from case to case, and watched the ill-effects of the general gloom with a sense of professional disappointment which only physicians will understand as coming uppermost in a man's mind under circumstances such as these. my discomfort was increased by the evidences of what i considered mistakes in treatment on the part of my colleagues; some of which had peculiarly disagreed with certain patients since my death had thrown them into other hands. my helplessness before these facts chafed me sorely. i made no futile effort to make myself known to any of the hospital patients. i had learned too well the limitations of my new condition now. i had in no wise learned to bear them. in truth, i think i bore them less, for my knowledge that these poor creatures did truly love me, and leaned on me, and mourned for me; i found it hard. i think it even occurred to me that a dead man might not be able to bear it to see his wife and child. "doctor!" said a low, sweet voice, "doctor?" my heart leaped within me, as i turned. where was the highly organized one of all my patients, who had baffled death for love of me? who had the clairvoyance or clairaudience, or the wonderful tip in the scale of health and disease, which causes such phenomena? with hungry eyes i gazed from cot to cot. no answering gaze returned to me. craving their recognition more sorely than they had ever, in the old life, craved mine, in such need of their sympathy as never had the weakest of the whole of them for mine, i scanned them all. no--no. there was not a patient in the ward who knew me. no. stung with the disappointment, i sank into a chair beside the weeping woman's bed, and bowed my face upon my hands. at this instant i was touched upon the shoulder. "doctor! why, doctor!" said the voice again. i sprang and caught the speaker by the hands. it was mrs. faith. she stood beside me, sweet and smiling. "the carriage overturned," she said in her quiet way, "i was badly hurt. i only died an hour ago. i started out at once to find you. i want you to see charley. charley's still alive. those doctors don't understand charley. there's nobody i'd trust him to but you. you can save him. come! you can't think how he asked for you, and cried for you.... i thought i should find you at the hospital. come quickly, doctor! come!" chapter xi. some homesick traveller in a foreign land, where he is known of none and can neither speak nor understand the language of the country; taken ill, let us say, at a remote inn, his strength and credit gone, and he, in pain and fever, hears, one blessed day, the voice of an old friend in the court below. such a man may think he has--but i doubt if he have--some crude conception of the state of feeling in which i found myself, when recognized in this touching manner by my old patient. my emotion was so great that i could not conceal it; and she, in her own quick and delicate way, perceiving this almost before i did myself, made as if she saw it not, and lightly adding: "hurry, doctor! i will go before you. let us lose no time!" led me at once out of the hospital and rapidly away. in an incredibly, almost confusingly short space of time, we reached her house; this was done by some method of locomotion not hitherto experienced by me, and which i should, at that time, have found it difficult to describe, unless by saying that she thought us where we wished to be. perhaps it would be more exact to say, _she felt us_. it was as if the great power of the mother's love in her had become a new bodily faculty by which she was able, with extraordinary disregard of the laws of distance, to move herself and to draw another to the suffering child. i should say that i perceived at once, in the presence of this sweet woman, that there were possibilities and privileges in the state immediately succeeding death, which had been utterly denied to me, and were still unknown to me. it was easy to see that her personal experience in the new condition differed as much from mine as our lives had differed in the time preceding death. she had been a patient, unworldly, and devout sufferer; a chronic invalid, who bore her lot divinely. her soul had been as full of trust and gentleness, of the forgetting of self and the service of others, of the scorn of pain, and of what she called trust in heaven, as any woman's soul could be. i had never seen the moment when i could withhold my respect from the devout nature of mrs. faith, any more than i could from her manner of enduring suffering; or, i might add, if i could expect the remark to be properly understood,--from her strong and intelligent trust in me. physicians know what sturdy qualities it takes to make a good patient. perhaps they are, to some extent, the same which go to make a good believer; but in this direction i am less informed. during our passage from the hospital to the house, mrs. faith had not spoken to me; her whole being seemed, as nearly as i could understand it, to be absorbed in the process of getting there. it struck me that she was still unpractised in the use of a new and remarkable faculty, which required strict attention from her, like any other as yet unlearned art. "_you_ are not turned out of your own home it seems!" i exclaimed impulsively, as we entered the house together. "oh, no, _no_!" she cried. "who is? who could be? why, doctor, are _you_?" "death is a terrible respecter of persons," i answered drearily. i could not further explain myself at that moment. "i have been away from charley a good while," she anxiously replied; "it is the first time i have left him since i died. but i had to find you, doctor. charley should not die--i can't have charley die--for his poor father's sake. but i feel quite safe about him now i have got you." she said these words in her old bright, trustful way. the thought of my helplessness to justify such trust smote me sorely; but i said nothing then to undeceive her,--how could i?--and we made haste together to the bedside of the injured child. i saw at a glance that the child was in a bad case. halt was there, and dr. gazell; they were consulting gloomily. the father, haggard with his first bereavement, seemed to have accepted the second as a foregone conclusion; he sat with his face in his hands, beside the little fellow's bed. the boy called for his mother at intervals. a nurse hung about weeping. it was a dismal scene; there was not a spark of hope, or energy, or fight in the whole room. i cried out immoderately that it was enough to kill the well, and protested against the management of the case with the ardent conviction to which my old patient was so used, and in which she believed more thoroughly than i did myself. "they are giving the wrong remedy," i hotly said. "this surgical fever could be controlled,--the boy need not die. but he will! you may as well make up your mind to it, mrs. faith. gazell doesn't understand the little fellow's constitution, and halt doesn't understand anything." now it was that, as i had expected, the mother turned upon me with all a mother's hopeless and heart-breaking want of logic. surely, i, and only i, could save the boy. why, i had always taken care of charley! was it possible that i could stand by and see charley _die_? _she_ should not have died herself if i had been there. she depended upon me to find some way--there must be a way. she never thought i was the kind of a man to be so changed by--by what had happened. i used to be so full of hope and vigour, and so inventive in a sick-room. it was not reasonable! it was not right! it was not possible that, just because i was a spirit, i could not control the minds or bodies of those live men who were so inferior to me. why, she thought i could control _any_body. she thought i could conquer _any_thing. "i don't understand it, doctor," she said, with something like reproach. "you don't seem to be able to do as much--you don't even know as much as _i_ do, now. and you know what a sick and helpless little woman i've always been,--how ignorant, beside you! i thought you were so wise, so strong, so great. where has it all gone to, doctor? what has become of your wisdom and your power? can't you help me? can't you"-"i can do nothing," i interrupted her,--"nothing. i am shorn of it all. it has all gone from me, like the strength of samson. spare me, and torment me not.... i cannot heal your child. i am not like you. i was not prepared for--this condition of things. i did not expect to die. i never thought of becoming a spirit. i find myself extraordinarily embarrassed by it. it is the most unnatural state i ever was in." "why, i find it as natural as life," she said, more gently. she had now moved to the bedside, and taken the little fellow in her arms. "you are not as i," i replied morosely. "we differed--and we differ. truly, i believe that if there is anything to be done for your boy, it rests with you, and not with me." halt and gazell were now consulting in an undertone, touching the selection of a certain remedy; no one noticed them, and they droned on. the mother crooned over the child, and caressed him, and breathed upon his sunken little face, and poured her soul out over him in precious floods and wastes of tenderness as mothers do. "live, my little son!" she whispered. "live, live!" but i, meanwhile, was watching the two physicians miserably. "there!" i said, "they have dropped the phial on the floor. see, that is the one they ought to have. it rolled away. they don't mean to take it. they will give him the wrong thing. oh, how can they?" but now the mother, when she heard me speak, swiftly and gently removed her arms from beneath the boy, and, advancing to the hesitating men, stood silently between them, and laid a hand upon the arm of each. while she stood there she had a rapt, high look of such sort that i could in no wise have addressed her. "are you _sure_, dr. gazell?" asked halt. "i _think_ so," said gazell. he stooped, after a moment's hesitation, and picked up the phial from the floor, read its label; laid it down, looked at the child, and hesitated again. the mother at this juncture sunk upon her knees and bowed her shining face. i thought she seemed to be at prayer. i too bowed my head; but it was for reverence at the sight of her. it was long since i had prayed. i did not find it natural to do so. a strange discontent, something almost like an inclination to prayer, came upon me. but that was all. i would rather have had the power to turn those two men out of the room, and pour the saving remedy upon my little patient's burning tongue with my own flesh-and-blood fingers, and a hearty objurgation on the professional blunder which i had come in time to rectify. "dr. halt," said dr. gazell, slowly, "with your approval i think i will change my mind. on the whole, the indications point to--this. i trust it is the appropriate remedy." he removed the cork from the phial as he spoke, and, rising, passed quickly to the bedside of the child. the mother had now arisen from her knees, and followed him, and got her arms about the boy again, and set her soul to brooding over him in the way that loving women have. i was of no further service to her, and i had vanished from her thought, which had no more room at that moment for anything except the child than the arms with which she clasped him. it amazed me--i was going to say it appalled me--that no person in the room should seem to have consciousness of her presence. she was like an invisible star. how incredible that love like that, and the power of it, could be dependent upon the paltry senses of what are called live people for so much as the proofs of its existence. "it is not scientific," i caught myself saying, as i turned away, "there is a flaw in the logic somewhere. there seems to be a snapped link between two sets of facts. there is no deficiency of data; the difficulty lies wholly in collating them." how, indeed, should i--how did i but a few days since--myself regard such "data" as presumed to indicate the continuance of human life beyond the point of physical decay! "after all," i thought, as i wandered from the house in which i felt myself forgotten and superfluous, and pursued my lonely way, i knew not whither and i knew not why,--"after all, there is another life. i really did not think it." it seemed now to have been an extraordinary narrowness of intellect in me that i had not at least attached more weight to the universal human hypothesis. i did not precisely wonder from a personal point of view that i had not definitely believed it; but i wondered that i had not given the possibility the sort of attention which a view of so much dignity deserved. it really annoyed me that i had made that kind of mistake. we, at least, were alive,--my old patient and i. whether others, or how many, or of what sort, i could not tell; i had yet seen no other spirit. what was the life-force in this new condition of things? where was the central cell? what _made_ us go on living? habit? or selection? thought? emotion? vigour? if the last, what species of vigour? what was that in the individual which gave it strength to stay? whence came the reproductive power which was able to carry on the species under such terrible antagonism as the fact of death? if in the body, where was the common element between that attenuated invalid and my robust organization? if in the soul, between the suffering saint and the joyous man of the world, where again was our common moral protoplasm? nothing occurred to me at the time, at least, as offering any spiritual likeness between myself and mrs. faith, but the fact that we were both people of strong affections which had been highly cultivated. might not a woman _love_ herself into continued existence who felt for any creature what she did for that child? and i--god knew, if there were a god, how it was with me. if i had never done anything, if i had never been anything, if i had never felt anything else in all my life, that was fit to _last_, i had loved one woman, and her only, and had thought high thoughts for her, and felt great emotions for her, and forgotten self for her sake, and thought it sweet to suffer for her, and been a better man for love of her. and i had loved her,--oh, i had so loved her, that i knew in my soul ten thousand deaths could not murder that living love. and i had spoken to her--i had said to her--like any low and brutal fellow, any common wife-tormentor--i had gone from her dear presence to this mute life wherein there was neither speech nor language; where neither earth, nor heaven, nor my love, nor my remorse, nor all my anguish, nor my shame, could give my sealed lips the power to say, forgive. now, while i was cast thus abroad upon the night,--for it was night,--sorely shaken and groaning in spirit, taking no care where my homeless feet should lead me, i lifted my eyes suddenly, and looked straight on before me, and behold! shining afar, fair and sweet and clear, i saw and recognized the lights of my own home. i was still at some distance from the spot, and, beside myself with joy, i started to run unto it. with the swift motions which spirits make, and which i was beginning now to master in a clumsy manner and low degree, i came, compassing the space between myself and all i loved or longed for, and so brought myself tumultuously into the street where the house stood; there, at a stone's throw from it, i felt myself suddenly stifled with my haste, or from some cause, and, pausing (as we used to say) to gather breath, i found that i was stricken back, and fettered to the ground. there was no wind. the night was perfectly still. not a leaf quivered on the topmost branch of the linden which tapped our chamber-window. yet a power like a mighty rushing blast gainsaid me and smote me where i was. not a step, though i writhed for it, not a breath nearer, though my heart should break for it, could i take or make to reach her. this was my doom. within clasp of her dear arms, within sight of her sweet face,--for there! while i stood struggling, i saw a woman's shadow rise and stir upon the dimly lighted wall,--thus to be denied and bidden back from her seemed to me more than heart could bear. while i stood, quite unmanned by what had happened, incredulous of my punishment, and yearning to her through the little distance, and stretching out my hands toward her, and brokenly babbling her dear name, she moved, and i saw her quite distinctly, even as i had seen her that last time. she stood midway between the unlighted parlour and the lighted library beyond. the drop-light with the scarlet shade blazed behind her. i noticed that to-night, as on that other night, the baby was not with her; and i wondered why. she stood alone. she moved up and down the room; she had a weary step. her dress, i saw, was black, dead black. her white hands, clasped before her, shone with startling brilliancy upon the sombre stuff she wore. her lovely head was bent a little, and she seemed to be gazing at me whom she could not see. then i cried with such a cry, it seemed as if the very living must needs hear:-"helen! helen! _helen_!" but she stood quite still; leaning her pale face toward me, like some listening creature that was stricken deaf. the sight was more sorrowful than i could brave; for the first time since i had died i succumbed into something like a swoon, and lost my miserable consciousness in the street before her door. chapter xii. when i came again to myself i found that what i should once have called a "phenomenon" had taken place. the city, the dim street, the familiar architecture of my home, the streams of light from the long windows, the leaves of the linden tapping on the glass, the woman's shadow on the wall, and the stirring toward me of the form and face i loved,--these had vanished. i was in a strange place; and i was a stranger in it. it seemed rather a lonely place at first, though it was not unpleasing to me as i looked abroad. the scenery was mountainous and solemn, but it was therefore on a large scale and restful to the eye. it had more grandeur than beauty, to my first impression; but i remembered that i was not in a condition of mind to be receptive of the merely beautiful, which might exist for me without my perception of it, even as the life of the dead existed without the perception of the living. death, if it had taught me less up to that time than it might have done to nobler men, had at least done so much as this: it had accustomed me to respect the unseen, and to regard its possible action upon the seen as a matter of import. as i looked forth upon the hills and skies, the plains and forests, and on to the distant signs of human habitation in the scenery about me, i thought:-"i am in a world where it is probable that there exist a thousand things which i cannot understand to one which i can." it seemed to me a very uncomfortable state of affairs, whatever it was. i felt estranged from this place, even before i was acquainted with it. nothing in my nature responded to its atmosphere; or, if so, petulantly and with a kind of helpless antagonism, like the first cry of the new-born infant in the old life. as i got myself languidly to my feet, and idly trod the path which lay before me, for lack of knowing any better thing to do, i began to perceive that others moved about the scene; that i was not, as i had thought, alone, but one of a company, each going on his errand as he would. i only seemed to have no errand; and i was at a great distance from these people, whose presence, however, though so remote, gave me something of the sense of companionship which one whose home is in a lonely spot upon a harbour coast has in watching the head-lights of anchored ships upon dark nights. communication there is none, but desolation is less for knowing that there could be, or for fancying that there might. across the space between us, i looked upon my fellow-citizens in this new country, with a dull emotion not unlike gratitude for their existence; but i felt little curiosity about them. i was too unhappy to be so easily diverted. it seemed to me that the memory of my wife would become a mania to me, if i could in no way make known to her how utterly i loved her and how i scorned myself. i cannot say that i felt much definite interest in the novel circumstances surrounding me, except as possible resources for some escape from the situation, as it stood between herself and me. if i could compass any means of communicating with her, i believed that i could accept my doom, let it take me where it might or make of me what it would. walking thus drearily, alone, and not sorry to be alone in that unfamiliar company, lost in the fixed idea of my own misery, i suddenly heard light footsteps hurrying behind me. i thought:-"there is another spirit; one more of the newly dead, come to this strange place." but i did not find it worth my while to turn and greet him, being so wrapt in my own fate; and when a soft hand touched my arm, i moved from it with something like dismay. "why, doctor!" said the gentle voice of mrs. faith, "did i startle you? i have been hunting for you everywhere," she added, laughing lightly. "i was afraid you would feel rather desolate. it is a pity. now, i am as _happy_!" "did charley live?" i asked immediately. "oh yes, charley lived; what we used to call living, when we were there. poor charley! i keep thinking how he would enjoy everything if he were here with me. but his father needed him. it makes me so happy! i am very happy! tell me, doctor, what do you think of this place? how does it strike you?" "it is a foreign country," i said sadly. "is it, doctor? poor doctor! why, i feel so much at _home_!" she lifted a radiant face to me; it was touching to see her expression, and marvellous to behold the idealization of health on features for so many years adjusted to pain and patience. "dear doctor!" she cried joyously, "you never thought to see me _well_! they call this death. why, i never knew what it was to be _alive_ before!" "i must make you acquainted with some of the people who live here," she added, quickly recalling herself from her own interests to mine, with her natural unselfishness, "it is pitiful to come into this place--as you have done. you always knew so many people. you had such friends about you. i never saw you walk alone in all your life before." "i wish to be alone," i answered moodily. "i care nothing for this place, or for the men who live here. it is all unfamiliar to me. i am not happy in it. i am afraid i have not been educated for it. it is the most unhomelike place i ever saw." her eyes filled; she did not answer me at once; when she did it was to say: "it will be better. it will be better by and by. have you seen"-she stopped and hesitated. "have you seen the lord?" she asked, in a low voice. she was wont, i remember, to use this word in a way peculiarly her own; as if she were referring to some personal acquaintance, near to her heart. i shook my head, looking drearily upon her. "don't you _want_ to see him?" "i want to see my wife!" "oh, i am sorry for you," she said, with forbearing gentleness. "it is pretty hard. but i wish you _wanted_ him." "i want to see my wife! i want to see my wife!" i interrupted bitterly. and with this i turned away from her and hid my face, for i could speak no more. when i lifted my eyes, she had gone from me, and i was again alone. when it was thus too late, it occurred to me that i had lost an opportunity which might not easily return to me, and i sought far and wide for mrs. faith. i did not find her, though i aroused myself to the point of accosting some of the inhabitants of the country, and making definite inquiries for her. i was answered with great courtesy and uncommon warmth of manner, as if it were the custom of this place to take a genuine interest in the affairs of strangers; but i was not able, by any effort on my part, to bring myself in proximity to her. this trifling disappointment added to my sense of helplessness in the new life on which i had entered; and i was still as incredulous of helplessness and as galled by it as i should have been by the very world of woe which had formed so irritating a dogma to me in the theology of my day on earth, and which i had regarded as i did the nightmares of a dyspeptic patient. in this state of feeling, it was the greatest comfort to me when, at some period of time which i have no means of defining, but which could not have been long afterward, mrs. faith came suddenly again across my path. she radiated happiness and health and beauty, and when she held out both her hands to me in greeting they seemed to glitter, as if she had stepped from a bath of delight. "oh," she said joyously, "have you seen him _yet_?" it embarrassed me to be forced to answer in the negative; it gave me a strange feeling, as if i had been a convict in the country, and denied the passport of honourable men. i therefore waived her question as well as i might, and proceeded to make known to her the thought which had been occupying me. "_you_ have the _entrée_ of the dear earth," i said sadly. "they do not treat you in the--in the very singular manner with which i am treated. it is important beyond explanation that i get a message to my wife. a beggar in the street may be admitted to her charity,--i saw one at the door the night i stood there. i, only i, am forbidden to enter. whatever may be the natural laws which are sot in opposition to me, they have extraordinary force; i can do nothing against them. i suppose i do not understand them. if i had an opportunity to study them--but i have no opportunities at anything. it is a new experience to me to be so--so disregarded by the general scheme of things. i seem to be of no more consequence in this place than a bootblack was in the world, or a paralytic person. it seems useless for me to fly in the face of fate, since this is fate. i have no hope of being able to reach my wife. you have privileges in this condition which are evidently far superior to mine. i have been thinking that possibly you may be able--and willing--to approach her for me?" "i don't think it would succeed, doctor," replied my old patient quickly. "i'd _do_ it! you know i would! but if i were helen--she is a very reserved person; she never talks about her husband, as different women do; her feeling is of such a sort; i do not think she would _understand_, if another woman were to speak from you to her." "perhaps not," i sighed. "i am afraid it would be the most hopeless experiment you could make," said mrs. faith. "she loves you too much for it," she added, with the divination of her sex. comforted a little by mrs. faith, i quickly abandoned this project; indeed, i soon abandoned every other which concerned itself with helen, and yielded myself with a kind of desperate lethargy, if i may be allowed the expression, to the fate which separated me from her. of resignation i knew nothing. peace was the coldest stranger in that strange land to me. i yielded because i could not help it, not because i would have willed it; and with that dull strength which grows into the sinews of the soul from necessity, sought to adjust myself in such fashion as i might to my new conditions. it occurred to me from time to time that it would have been an advantage if i had felt more interest in the conditions themselves; that it would even have spared me something if i had ever cultivated any familiarity with the possibilities of such a state of existence. i could not remember that i had in the old life satisfactorily proved that another _could_ not follow it. it seemed to me that if i had only so much as exercised my imagination upon the possible course of events in case another did, it would have been of some practical service to me now. i was in the position of a man who is become the victim of a discovery whose rationality he has contemptuously denied. it was like being struck by a projectile while one is engaged in disproving the existence of gunpowder. if a soul may properly be said to be stunned, mine at this time, was that soul. in this condition solitude was still so natural to me that i made no effort to approach the people of the place, and contented myself with observing them and their affairs from a distance. they seemed a very happy people. there could be no mistake about that. i did not see a clouded countenance; nor did i hear an accent of discomfort, or of pain. i wondered at their joyousness, which i found it as impossible to share as the sick find it impossible to share what has been called "the insolence of health." it did, indeed, appear to me as something almost impertinent, as possession always appears to denial. but i had never been denied before. i perceived, also, that the inhabitants of this country were a busy people. they came and went, they met and parted, with the eagerness of occupation; though there was a conspicuous absence of the fretful haste to which i had been used in the conduct of business. i looked upon the avocations of this strange land, and wondered at them. i could not see with what they were occupied, or why, or to what end. they affected me perhaps something as the concerns of the human race may affect the higher animals. i looked on with an unintelligent envy. one day, as i was strolling miserably about, a child came up and spoke to me. he, like myself, was alone. he was a beautiful child,--a little boy; he seemed scarcely more than an infant. he appeared to be in search of some one or of something; his brilliant eyes roved everywhere; he had a noble little head, and carried himself courageously. he gave no evidence of fear or sadness at his isolated position but ran right on,--for he was running when i saw him,--as if he had gone forth upon some happy, childish errand. but at sight of me he paused; regarded me a moment with the piercing candour of childhood, as if he took my moral measure after some inexplicable personal scale of his own; then came directly and put his hand into my own. i grasped it heartily,--who could have helped it?--and lifting the little fellow in my arms kissed him affectionately, as one does a pretty stranger child. this seemed to gratify him rather than to satisfy him; he nestled in my neck, but moved restlessly, slipping to the ground, and back again into my arms; jabbering incoherently and pleasantly; seeming to be diverted rather than comforted; ready to stay, but alert to go; in short, behaving like a baby on a visit. after awhile the child adjusted himself to the situation; grew quiet, and clung to me; and at last, putting both his arms about my neck, he gave the long, sweet sigh of healthy infant weariness, and babbling something to the general effect that boy was tired, he dropped into a sound and happy sleep. here, indeed, was a situation! it drew from me the first smile which had crossed my lips since i had died. what, pray, was i, who seemed to be of no consequence whatever in this amazing country, and who had more than i knew how to do in looking after myself, under its mysterious conditions,--what was i to do with the spirit-baby gone to sleep upon my neck? "i must go and find the orphan asylum," i 'thought; "doubtless they have them in this extraordinary civilization. i must take the little fellow to some women as soon as possible." at this juncture, my friend mrs. faith appeared, making a mock of being out of breath, and laughing heartily. "he ran away from me," she merrily explained. "i had the care of him, and he ran on; he came straight to you. i couldn't hold him. what a comfort he will be to you!... why, doctor! do you mean to say you don't know who the child _is_?" "it seems to me," she added, with a mother's sublime superiority, "_i_ should know my own baby! if i were so fortunate as to find one here!--how much less you know," she proceeded naively, "than i used to think you did!" "did the child _die_?" i asked, trembling so that i had to put the little fellow down lest he should fall from my startled arms. "did something really ail him that night when his mother--that miserable night?" "the child died," she answered gravely. "dear little boy! take him up again, doctor. don't you see? he is uneasy unless you hold him fast." i took boy up; i held him close; i kissed him, and i clung to him, and melted into unintelligible cries above him, never minding mrs. faith, for i quite forgot her. but what i felt was for my child's poor mother, and all my thought was for her, and my heart broke for her, that she should be so bereft. "i should like to know if you suppose for one minute that she wouldn't _rather_ you would have the little fellow, if he is the least bit of comfort to you in the world?" mrs. faith said this; she spoke with a kind of lofty, feminine scorn. "why, helen _loves_ you!" she said, superbly. chapter xiii "i believe," said my old patient, "i believe that was the highest moment of your life." a man of my sort seldom comprehends a woman of hers. i did not understand her, and i told her so, looking at her across the clinging child. "there was no self in it!" she answered eagerly. "oh," i said indifferently, "is that all?" "it is everything," replied the wiser spirit, "in the place that we have come to. it is like a birth. such a moment has to go on living. one is never the same after as one was before it. changes follow. may the lord be in them!" "but stay!" i cried, as she made a signal of farewell, "are you not going to help me--is nobody going to help me take care of this child?" she shook her head, smiling; then laughed outright at my perplexity; and with a merry air of enjoyment in my extraordinary position, she went her ways and left me. there now began for me a singular life. changes followed, as mrs. faith had said. the pains and the privileges of isolation were possible to me no longer. action of some sort, communion of some kind with the world in which i lived, became one of the imperative necessities about which men do not philosophize. for there was the boy! whatever my views about a spiritual state of existence, there always was the boy. no matter how i had demonstrated the unreasonableness of living after death, the child was alive. however i might personally object to my own share of immortality, i was a living father, with my motherless baby in my arms. up to this time i had lived in an indifferent fashion; in the old world, we should have called it "anyhow." food i scarcely took, or if at all, it was to snatch at such wild fruits as grew directly before me, without regard to their fitness or palatableness; paying, in short, as little attention to the subject as possible. home i had none. i wandered till i was weary of wandering, and rested till i could rest no more; seeking such shelter as the country afforded me in lonely and beautiful spots; discontented with what i had, but desiring nothing further; with my own miserable thoughts for housemates and for neighbours, and the absence of hope forbidding the presence of energy. nothing that i could see interested me. much or most that i took the trouble to observe, i should have been frankly obliged to admit that i did not understand. the customs of the people bewildered me. their evident happiness irritated me. their activity produced in me only the desire to get out of sight of it. their personal health and beauty--for they were a very comely people--gave me something the kind of nervous shrinking that i had so often witnessed in the sick, when some buoyant, inconsiderate, bubbling young creature burst into the room of pain. i felt in the presence of the universal blessedness about me like some hurt animal, who cares only to crawl in somewhere and be forgotten. if i drew near, as i had on several occasions done, to give some attention to the occupations of the inhabitants, all these feelings were accentuated so much that i was fain to withdraw before i had studied the subject. study there was in that country, and art and industry; even traffic, if traffic it might be called; it seemed to be an interchange of possessions, conducted upon principles of the purest consideration for the public, as opposed to personal welfare. homes there were, and the construction of them, and the happiest natural absorption in their arrangement and management. there were families and household devotion; parents, children, lovers, neighbours, friends. i saw schools and other resorts of learning, and what seemed to be institutions of benevolence and places of worship, a series of familiar and yet wholly unfamiliar sights. in them all existed a spirit, even as the spirit of man exists in his earthly body, which was and willed and acted as that does, and which, like that, defied analysis. i could perceive at the hastiest glance that these people conducted themselves upon a set of motives entirely strange to me. what they were doing--what they were doing it _for_--i simply did not know. a great central purpose controlled them, such as controls masses of men in battle or at public prayer; a powerful and universal law had hold of them; they treated it as if they loved it. they seemed to feel affectionately toward the whole system of things. they loved, and thought, and wrought straight onward with it; no one put the impediment of a criticism against it,--no one that i could see or suspect, in all the place, except my isolated self. they had the air of those engaged in some sweet and solemn object, common to them all; an object, evidently set above rather than upon the general level. their faces shone with pleasure and with peace. often they wore a high, devout look. they never showed an irritated expression, never an anxious nor that i could see a sad one. it was impossible to deny the marked nobility of their appearance. "if this," i thought, "be what is called a spiritual life, i was not ready to become a spirit." now, when my child awaited and called me, as he had begun, in the dear old days on earth, to learn to do, and like any live human baby proceeded to give vent to a series of incoherent remarks bearing upon the fact that boy would like his supper, i was fain to perceive that being a spirit did not materially change the relation of a man to the plainer human duties; and that, whether personally agreeable or no, i must needs bring myself into some sort of connection with the civilization about me. i might be a homesick fellow, but the baby was hungry. i might be at odds with the whole scheme of things, but the child must have a shelter. i might be a spiritual outcast, but what was to become of boy? the heart of the father arose in me; and, gathering the little fellow to my breast, i set forth quickly to the nearest town. here, after some hesitation, i accosted a stranger, whose appearance pleased me, and besought his assistance in my perplexity. he was a man of lofty bearing; his countenance was strong and benign as the western wind; he had a gentle smile, but eyes which piercingly regarded me. he was of superior beauty, and conducted himself as one having authority. he was much occupied, and hastening upon some evidently important errand; but he stopped at once, and gave his attention to me with the hearty interest in others characteristic of the people. "are you a stranger in the country--but newly come to us?" "a stranger, sir, but not newly arrived." "and the child?" "the child ran into my arms about an hour ago." "is the boy yours?" "he is my only child." "what do you desire for him?" "i would fain provide for him those things which a father must desire. i seek food and shelter. i wish a home, and means of subsistence, and neighbourhood, and the matters which are necessary to the care and comfort of an infant. pray, counsel me. i do not understand the conditions of life in this remarkable place." "i do not know that it is of consequence that i should," i added, less courteously, "but i cannot see the boy deprived. he must be made comfortable as speedily as possible. i shall be obliged to you for some suggestion in the matter." "come hither," replied the stranger, laconically. forthwith, he led me, saying nothing further, and i followed, asking nothing more. this embarrassed me somewhat, and it was with some discomfort that i entered the house of entertainment to which i was directed, and asked for those things which were needful for my child. these were at once and lavishly provided. it soon proved that i had come to a luxurious and hospitable place. the people were most sympathetic in their manner. boy especially excited the kindest of attention; some women fondled him, and all the inmates of the house interested themselves in the little motherless spirit. in spite of myself this touched me, and my heart warmed toward my entertainers. "tell me," i said, turning toward him who had brought me thither, "how shall i make compensation for my entertainment? what is the custom of the country? i--what we used to call property--you will understand that i necessarily left behind me. i am accustomed to the use of it. i hardly know what to do without it. i am accustomed to--some abundance. i wish to remunerate the people of this house." "what _did_ you bring with you?" asked my new acquaintance, with a half-sorrowful look, as if he would have helped me out of an unpleasant position if he could. "nothing," i replied, after some thought, "nothing but my misery. that does not seem to be a marketable commodity in this happy place. i could spare some, if it were." "what had you?" pursued my questioner, without noticing my ill-timed satire. "what were your possessions in the life yonder?" "health. love. happiness. home. prosperity. work. fame. wealth. ambition." i numbered these things slowly and bitterly. "none of them did i bring with me. i have lost them all upon the way. they do not serve me in this differing civilization." "was there by chance nothing more?" "nothing more. unless you count a little incidental usefulness." "and that?" he queried eagerly. i therefore explained to him that i had been a very busy doctor; that i used to think i took pleasure in relieving the misery of the sick, but that it seemed a mixed matter now, as i looked back upon it,--so much love of fame, love of power, love of love itself,--and that i did not put forth my life's work as of importance in his scale of value. "that would not lessen its value," replied my friend. "i myself was a healer of the sick. your case appeals to me. i was known as"-he whispered a name which gave me a start of pleasure. it was a name famous in its day, and that a day long before my own; a name immortal in medical history. few men in the world had done as much as this one to lessen the sum of human suffering. it excited me greatly to meet him. "but you," i cried, "you were not like the rest of us or the most of us. _you_ believed in these--invisible things. you were a man of what is called faith. i have often thought of that. i never laid down a biography of you without wondering that a man of your intelligence should retain that superstitious element of character. i ought to beg your pardon for the adjective. i speak as i have been in the habit of speaking." "do you wonder now?" asked the great surgeon, smiling benignly. i shook my head. i wondered at nothing now. but i felt myself incapable of discussing a set of subjects upon which, for the first time in my life, i now knew myself to be really uninformed. i took the pains to explain to my new friend that in matters of what he would call spiritual import i was, for aught i knew to the contrary, the most ignorant person in the community. i added that i supposed he would expect me to feel humiliated by this. "do you?" he asked, abruptly. "it makes me uncomfortable," i replied, candidly. "i don't know that i can say more than that. i find it embarrassing." "that is straightforward," said the great physician. "there is at least no diseased casuistry about you. i do not regard the indications as unfavourable." he said this with something of the professional manner; it amused me, and i smiled. "take the case, doctor, if you will," i humbly said. "i could not have happened on any person to whom i would have been so willing to intrust it." "we will consider the question," he said gravely. in this remarkable community, and under the guidance of this remarkable man, i now began a difficult and to me astonishing life. the first thing which happened was not calculated to soothe my personal feeling: this was no less than the discovery that i really had nothing wherewith to compensate the citizens who had provided for the comfort of my child and of myself; in short, that i was no more nor less than an object of charity at their hands. i writhed under this, as may be well imagined; and with more impatience than humility urged that i be permitted to perform some service which at least would bring me into relation with the commercial system of the country. i was silenced by being gently asked: what could i do? "but have you no sick here?" i pleaded, "no hospitals or places of need? i am not without experience, i may say that i am even not without attainment, in my profession. is there no use for it all, in this state of being which i have come to?" "sick we have," replied the surgeon, "and hospitals. i myself am much occupied in one of these. but the diseases that men bring here are not of the body. our patients are chiefly from among the newly arrived, like yourself; they are those who are at odds with the spirit of the place; hence they suffer discomfort." "they do not harmonize with the environment, i suppose," i interrupted eagerly. i was conscious of a wish to turn the great man's thought from a personal to a scientific direction. it occurred to me with dismay that i might be selected yet to become a patient under this extraordinary system of things. that would be horrible. i could think of nothing worse. i proceeded to suggest that if anything could be found for me to do, in this superior art of healing, or if, indeed, i could study and perfect myself in it, i was more than willing to learn, or to perform. "canst thou heal a sick spirit?" inquired my friend, solemnly. "canst thou administer holiness to a sinful soul?" i bowed my head before him; for i had naught to say. alas, what art had i, in that high science so far above me, that my earth-bound gaze had never reached unto it? i was not like my friend, who seemed to have carried on the whole range of his great earthly attainments, by force of what i supposed would have to be called his spiritual education. here in this world of spirits i was an unscientific, uninstructed fellow. "give me," i said brokenly, "but the lowliest chance to make an honourable provision for the comfort of my child in your community. i ask no more." the boy ran chattering to me as i said these words, he sprang and clasped my knees, and clasped my neck, and put his little lips to mine, and rubbed his warm, moist curls across my cheek, and asked me where his mother was. and then he crooned my own name over and over again, and kissed and kissed me, and did stroke me with such pretty excesses of his little tenderness that i took heart and held him fast, and loved him and blessed fate for him, as much as if i had not been a spirit; more than any but a lonely and remorseful spirit could. chapter xiv. in consequence, as i suspected, of some private influence on the part of my famous friend, whose importance in this strange world seemed scarcely below that which he held in the other,--a marked contrast to my own lot, which had been thus far in utter reversal of every law and every fact of my earthly life,--a humble position was found for me, connected with the great institution of healing which he superintended; and here, for an indefinite time, i worked and served. i found myself of scarcely more social importance than, let us say, the janitor or steward in my old hospital at home. this circumstance, however galling, could no longer surprise me. i had become familiar enough with the economy of my new surroundings now thoroughly to understand that i was destitute of the attainments which gave men eminence in them. i was conscious that i had become an obscure person; nay, more than this, that i had barely brought with me the requisites for being tolerated at all in the community. it had begun to be evident to me that i was fortunate in obtaining any kind of admission to citizenship. this alone was an experience so novel to me that it was an occupation in itself, for a time, to adjust myself to it. i now established myself with my boy in such a home as could be made for us, under the circumstances. it was far inferior to most of the homes which i observed about me; but the child lacked no necessary comfort, and the luxuries of a spiritual civilization i did not personally crave; they had a foreign air to me, as the customs of the tuileries might have had to pocahontas. with dull gratitude for such plain possessions as now were granted to me, i set myself to my daily tasks, and to the care and rearing of my child. work i found an unqualified mercy. it even occurred to me to be thankful for it, and to desire to express what i felt about it to the unknown fate or force which was controlling my history. i had been all my life such a busy man that the vacuity of my first experience after dying had chafed me terribly. to be of no consequence; not to be in demand; not to be depended upon by a thousand people, and for a thousand things; not to dash somewhere upon important errands; not to feel that a minute was a treasure, and that mine were valued as hid treasures; not to know that my services were superior; to feel the canker of idleness eat upon me like one of the diseases which i had considered impossible to my organization; to observe the hours, which had hitherto been invisible, like rear forces pushing me to the front; to watch the crippled moments, which had always flown past me like mocking-birds; to know to the full the absence of movement in life; to feel deficiency of purpose like paralysis stiffen me; to have no hope of anything better, and not to know what worse might be before me,--such had been my first experience of the new life. it had done as much as this for me: it had fitted me for the humblest form of activity which my qualifications made possible; it had taught me the elements of gratitude for an improved condition, as suffering, when it vibrates to the intermission of relief, teaches cheerfulness to the sick. an appreciable sense of gratification, which, if it could not be called pleasure, was at least a diminution of pain, came to me from the society of my friend, the distinguished man and powerful spirit who had so befriended me. i admit that i was glad to have a man to deal with; though i did not therefore feel the less a loyalty to my dear and faithful patient, whose services to me had been so true and tender. i missed her. i needed her counsel about the child. i would fain have spoken to her of many little matters. i watched for her, and wondered that she came no more to us. although so new a comer, mrs. faith proved to be a person of position in the place; her name was well and honourably known about the neighbourhood; and i therefore easily learned that she was absent on a journey. it was understood that she had been called to her old home, where for some reason her husband and her child had need of her. it was her precious privilege to minister to them, i knew not how; it was left to me to imagine why. bitterly i thought of helen. between herself and me the awful gates of death had shut; to pass them, though i would have died again for it,--to pass them, for one hour, for one moment, for love's sake, for grief's sake, or for shame's, or for pity's own,--i was forbidden. i had confided the circumstances of my parting from my wife to no one of my new acquaintances. in the high order of character pervading these happy people, such a confession would have borne the proportions that a crime might in the world below. bearing my secret in my own heart, i felt like a felon in this holier society. i cherished it guiltily and miserably, as solitary people do such things; it seemed to me like an ache which i should go on bearing for ever. i remembered how men on earth used to trifle with a phrase called endless punishment. what worse punishment were there, verily, than the consciousness of having done the sort of deed that i had? it seemed to me, as i brooded over it, one of the saddest in the universe. i became what i should once have readily called "morbid" over this thought. there seemed to me nothing in the nature of remorse itself which should, if let alone, ever come to a visible end. my longing for the forgiveness of my wife gnawed upon me. sometimes i tried to remind myself that i was as sure of her love and of her mercy as the sun was of rising beyond the linden that tapped the chamber window in my dear lost home; that her unfathomable tenderness, so far passing the tenderness of women, leaned out, as ready to take me back to itself as her white arms used to be to take me to her heart, when i came later than usual, after a hard day's work, tired and weather-beaten, into the house, hurrying and calling to her. "helen? helen?" but the anguish of the thought blotted the comfort out of it, till, for very longing for her, i would fain almost have forgotten her; and then i would pray never to forget her before i had forgotten, for i loved her so that i would rather think of her and suffer because of her than not to think of her at all. in all this memorable and unhappy period, my boy was the solace of my soul. i gave myself to the care of him lovingly, and as nearly as i can recollect i did not chafe against the narrow limits of my lot in that respect. it occurred to me sometimes that i should once have called this a humble service to be the visible boundary of a man's life. to what had all those old attainments come? command of science? developed skill? public power? extended fame? all those forms of personality which go with intellectual position and the use of it? verily, i was brought to lowly tasks; we left them to women in the world below. but really, i think this troubled me less than it might have done; perhaps less than it should have done. i accepted the strange reversal of my fate as one accepts any turn of affairs which, he is convinced, is better than he might have expected. it had begun to be evident to me that it was better than i had deserved. if i am exceptional in being forced to admit that this consciousness was a novelty in my experience, the admission is none the less necessary for that. i had been in the habit of considering myself rather a good fellow, as a man with no vices in particular is apt to. i had possessed no standards of life below which my own fell to an embarrassing point. the situation to which i was now brought, was not unlike that of one who finds himself in a land where there are new and delicate instruments for indicating the state of the weather. i was aware, and knew that my neighbours were, of fluctuations in the moral atmosphere which had never before come under my attention. the whole subtle and tremendous force of public sentiment now bore upon me to make me uneasy before achievements with which i had hitherto been complacent. it had inconceivable effects to live in a community where spiritual character formed the sole scale of social position. i, who had been always socially distinguished, found myself now exposed to incessant mortifications, such as spring from the fact that one is of no consequence. i should say, however, that i felt this much less for myself than for my child; indeed, that it was because of boy that i first felt the fact at all, or brooded over it after i had begun to feel it. the little fellow developed rapidly, much faster than children of his age do in the human life; he ceased to be a baby, and was a little boy while i was yet wondering what i should do with him when he had outgrown his infancy. his intellect, his character, his physique, lifted themselves with a kind of luxuriance of growth, such as plants show in tropical countries; he blossomed as a thing does which has every advantage and no hindrance; nature moved magnificently to her ends in him; it was a delight to watch such vigorous processes; he was a rich, unthwarted little creature. with all a father's heart and a physician's sensibility, i was proud of him. i was proud of him, alas! until i began to perceive that, as matters were working, the boy was morally certain to be ashamed of me. this was a hard discovery; and it went hard with me after i had made it. but nothing could reduce the poignancy of the inquiry with which i had first gathered him to my heart, in the solitudes where he had found me lurking: if i were a spiritual outcast, what would become of boy? as the child waxed in knowledge and in strength questions like these dropped from his lips so frequently that they distressed me:-"papa, what is god?" "papa, who is worship?" "tell me how boys pray." "is it a kind of game?" "what is christ, papa? is it people's mother? what is it for?" my friend, the eminent surgeon, left me much to myself in these perplexities; regarding my natural reserve, and trusting, i thought, to nature, or to some power beyond nature, to assist me. but on one occasion, happening to be present when the child interrogated me in this manner, he bent a piercing gaze upon me. "why do you not answer the child, esmerald thorne?" he asked me in a voice of authority. "alas," i said, "i have no answer. i know nothing of these matters. they have been so foreign to my temperament, that--i"-but here i faltered. i felt ashamed of my excuse, and of myself for offering it. "it is a trying position for a man to be put in," i ventured to add, putting an arm about my boy; "naturally, i wish my child to develop in accordance with the social and educational system of the place." "naturally, i should suppose," replied he, dryly. he offered me no further suggestion on the subject and with some severity of manner moved to leave me. now it happened to be the vesper hour in the hospital, and my visitor was going to his patients, the "sick of soul," with whom he was wont to join in the evening chant which, at a certain hour, daily arose from every roof in the wide city, and waxed mightily to the sides. it was music of a high order, and i always enjoyed it; no person of any musical taste could have done otherwise. "listen!" said my friend, as he turned to depart from me. i had only to glance at his rapt and noble countenance to perceive the high acoustic laws which separated his sensibility to the vesper from my own. to him it was religious expression. to me it was classical music. while i was thus thinking, from the great wards of the home of healing the prayer went up. the sinful, the sorely stricken, the ungodly, the ignorant of heavenly mercy, all the diseased of spirit who were gathered there in search of the soul's health, sang together: not as the morning-stars which shouted for joy, but like living hearts that cried for purity; yea, like hearts that so desired it, they would have broken for it, and blessed god. "_god is a spirit. god is a spirit. we would worship him. we would worship him in spirit. yea, in spirit. and in truth._" my little boy was playing in the garden, decking himself with the strange and beautiful flowers which luxuriated in the spot. i remember that he had tall white lilies and scarlet passion flowers, or something like them, held above one shoulder, and floating like a banner in the bright, white air. he was absorbed in his sport, and had the sweet intentness of expression between the eyes that his mother used to wear. when the vesper anthems sounded out, the child stopped, and turned his nobly moulded head toward the unseen singers. a puzzled and afterward a saddened look clouded his countenance; he listened for a moment, and then walked slowly to me, trailing the white and scarlet flowers in the grass behind him as he came. "father, teach me how to sing! the other children do. i'm the only little boy i know that can't sing that nice song. teach me it!" he demanded. "alas, my son!" i answered, "how can i teach you that which i myself know not?" "i thought boys' fathers knew everything," objected the child, bending his brows severely on me. a certain constraint, a something not unlike distrust, a subtle barrier which one could not define, but which one felt the more uncomfortably for this very reason, after this incident, seemed to arise in the child's consciousness between himself and me. as docile, as dutiful, as beautiful as ever, as loving and as lovable, yet the little fellow would at times withdraw from me and stand off; as if he looked on at me, and criticised me, and kept his criticism to himself. verily the child was growing. he had become a separate soul. in a world of souls, what was mine--miserable, ignorant, half-developed, wholly unfit--what was mine to do with his? how was i to foster him? when i came face to face with the problem of boy's general education, this question pressed upon me bitterly. looking abroad upon the people and their principles of life, the more i studied them, the more did i stand perplexed before them. i was in the centre of a vast theocracy. plainly, our community was but one of who knew how many?--governed by an unseen being, upon laws of which i knew nothing. the service of this invisible monarch vied only with the universal affection for him. so far as i could understand the spiritual life at all, it seemed to be the highest possible development and expression of love. what these people did that was noble, pure, and fine, they did, not because they must, but because they would. they believed because they chose. they were devout because they wished to be. they were unselfish and true, and what below we should have called "unworldly," because it was the most natural thing in the world. they seemed so happy, they had such content in life, that i could have envied them from my soul. how, now, was i to compass this national kind of happiness for my son? misery i could bear; i was sick and sore with it, but i was used to it. my child must never suffer. passed beyond the old system of suffering, why should he? joy was his birthright in this blessed place. how was i, being at discord from it, to bring my child into harmony with it? i was at odds, to start on, with the whole system of education. the letters, art, science, industry, of the country were of a sort that i knew not. they were consecrated to ends with which i was unfamiliar. they were pursued in a spirit incomprehensible to me. they were dedicated to the interests of a being, himself a stranger to me. proficiency, superiority, were rated on a scale quite out of my experience. to be distinguished was to possess high spiritual traits. deep at the root of every public custom, of every private deed, there hid the seed of one universal emotion,--the love of a living soul for the being who had created it. i, who knew not of this feeling, i, who was as a savage among this intelligence, who was no more than an object of charity at the hands of this community,--what had i to offer to my son? a father's personal position? loving influence? power to push the little fellow to the front? a chance to endow him with every social opportunity, every educational privilege, such as it is a father's pride to enrich his child wherewith? nay, verily. an obscure man ignorant of the learning of the land, destitute of its wealth, unacquainted among its magnates, and without a share in its public interests--nothing was i; nothing had i; nothing could i hope to do, or be, for which my motherless boy should live to bless his father's name. stung by such thoughts as these, which rankled the more in me the longer i cherished them, i betook myself to brooding and to solitary strolling in quiet places, where i could ponder on my situation undisturbed. i was in great intellectual and spiritual stress, less for myself than for the child; not more for him, than because of his mother. what would helen say? how would she hold me to account for him? how should i meet her--if i ever saw her face again--to own myself scarcely other than a pauper in this spiritual kingdom; our child an untaught, unimportant little fellow, of no more consequence in this place than the _gamins_ of the street before her door? in these cold and solitary experiences which many a man has known before me, and many more will follow after me, the soul is like a skater, separated from his fellows upon a field of ice. every movement that he makes seems to be bearing him farther from the society and the sympathy of his kind. too benumbed, perhaps, to turn, he glides on, helpless as an ice-boat before the wind. conscious of his mistake, of his danger, and knowing not how to retract the one or avoid the other, his helpless motions, seemingly guided by idleness, by madness, or by folly, lead him to the last place whither he would have led himself,--the weak spot in the ice. suddenly, he falls crashing, and sinks. then lo! as he goes under, crying out that he is lost because no man is with him, hands are down-stretched, swimmers plunge, the crowd gathers, and it seems the whole world stoops to save him. the sympathy of his kind wanted nothing but a chance to reach him. i cannot tell; no man can tell such things; i cannot explain how i came to do it, or even why i came to do it. but it was on this wise with me. being alone one evening in a forest, at twilight, taking counsel with myself and pondering upon the mystery from which i could not gather light, these words came into my heart; and when i had cherished them in my heart for a certain time, i uttered them aloud: "thou great god! if there be a god. reveal thyself unto my immortal soul! if i have a soul immortal." chapter xv. my little boy came flying to me one fair day; he cried out that he had news for me, that great things were going on in the town. a visitor was expected, whose promised arrival had set the whole place astir with joy. the child knew nothing of what or whom he spoke, but i gathered the impression that some distinguished guest was about to reach us, to whom the honours of the city would be extended. the matter did not interest me; i had so little in common with the people; and i was about to dismiss it idly, when boy posed me by demanding that i should personally conduct him through the events of the gala day. he was unusually insistent about this; for he was a docile little fellow, who seldom urged his will uncomfortably against my own. but in this case i could not compromise with him, and half reluctantly i yielded. i had no sooner done so than an urgent message to the same effect reached me from my friend the surgeon. "go with the current to-day," he wrote; "it sets strongly. question it not. resist it not. follow and be swept." immediately upon this some neighbours came hurriedly in, and spoke with me of the same matter eagerly. they pleaded with me on no account to miss the event of the day, upon whose specific nature they were somewhat reticent. they evinced the warmest possible interest in my personal relation to it; as people do who possess a happy secret that they wish, but may not feel at liberty, fully to share with another. they were excited, and overflowed with happiness. their very presence raised my spirits. i could not remember when i had received precisely this sort of attention from my neighbours; and it was, somehow, a comfort to me. i should not have supposed that i should value being made of consequence in this trifling way; yet it warmed my heart. i felt less desolate than usual, when i took the hand of my happy boy, and set forth. the whole vicinity was aroused. everybody moved in one direction, like "a current," as my friend had said. shining, solemn, and joyous faces filled the streets and fields. the voices of the people were subdued and sweet. there was no laughter, only smiles, and gentle expectation, and low consulting together, and some there were who mused apart. the "sick of soul" were present with the happier folk: these first had a wistful look, as of those not certain of themselves or of their welcome; but i saw that they were tenderly regarded by the more fortunate. i myself was most gently treated; many persons spoke with me, and i heard expressions of pleasure at my presence. in the crowd, as we moved on, i began to recognize here and there a face; acquaintances, whom i had known in the lower life, became visible to me. now and then, some one, hastening by, said:-"why, doctor!" and then i would perceive some old patients; the look which only loving patients wear was on their faces, the old impulse of trust and gratitude; they would grasp me heartily by the hand; this touched me; i began to feel a stir of sympathy with the general excitement; i was glad that i had joined the people. i pressed the hand of my little boy, who was running and leaping at my side. he looked confidingly up into my face, and asked me questions about the day's event; but these i could not answer. "god knows, my child," i said. "your father is not a learned man." as we swept on, the crowd thickened visibly. the current from the city met streams from the fields, the hills, the forests; all the distance overflowed; the concourse began to become imposing. here and there i observed still other faces that were not strange to me; flashes of recognition passed between us; some also of my own kin, dead years ago, i saw, far off, and i felt drawn to them. in the distance, not near enough to speak with her, shining and smiling, i thought that i perceived mrs. faith, once more. my boy threw kisses to her and laughed merrily; he was electric with the universal joy; he seemed to dance upon the air like a tuft of thistledown; to be "light-hearted" was to be light-bodied; the little fellow's frame seemed to exist only as the expression of his soul. i thought:-"if he is properly educated in this place, what a spirit he will make!" i was amazed to see his capacity for happiness. i thought of his mother. i wished to be happy, too. now, as we moved on toward the plain, the sound of low chanting began to swell from the crowd. the strain gained in distinctness; power gathered on it; passion grew in it; prayer ascended from it. i could not help being moved by this billow of sweet sound. the forms and faces of the people melted together before my eyes; their outlines seemed to quiver in the flood of song; it was as if their manifold personalities blurred in the unity of their feeling; they seemed to me, as i regarded them, like the presence of one great, glad, loving human soul. this was their supplication. thus arose the heavenly song:- "thou that takest away the sins of the world! whosoever believeth shall have life. whosoever believeth on thee shall have eternal life. thou that takest away the sins of the world! and givest--and givest eternal life!" "i cannot sing that pretty song," said my boy sadly. "there is nobody to teach me. father, i wish you _were_ a learned man!" now, this smote me to the heart, so that i would even have lifted my voice and sought to join the chant, for the child's sake, and to comfort him; but when i would have done so, behold, i could not lift my soul; it resisted me like a weight too heavy for my lips; for, in this land, song never rises higher than the level of the soul; there are fine laws governing this fact whose nature i may not explain, and could not at that time even understand, but of the fact itself i testify. "alas, alas, my son!" i said, "would god i were!" now suddenly, while i was conversing with my child, i perceived a stir among the people, as if they moved to greet some person who was advancing toward them. i looked in the direction whither all eyes were turned; but i saw nothing to account for the excitement. while i stood gazing and wondering, at one movement, as if it were by one heart-heat, the great throng bowed their heads. some object, some presence of which i could not catch a glimpse, had entered among them. whispers ran from lip to lip. i heard men say that he was here, that he was there, that he was yonder, that he had passed them, that he touched them. "he blesseth me!" they murmured. "and me! and me!" "oh, even me!" i heard low cries of delight and sobs of moving tenderness. i heard strange, wistful words from the disabled of soul who were among us,--pleadings for i knew not what, offered to i knew not whom. i heard words of sorrow and words of utter love, and i saw signs of shame, and looks of rapture, and attitudes of peace and eager hope. i saw men kneeling in reverence. i saw them prostrate in petition. i saw them as if they were clinging affectionately to hands that they kissed and wept upon. i saw them bowed as one bows before the act of benediction. these things i perceived, but alas, i could perceive no more. what went i out, with the heavenly, happy people, for to see? naught, god help me, worse than naught; for mine eyes were holden. dark amid that spiritual vision, i stood stricken. alone in all that blessedness, was i bereft? whom, for very rapture, did they melt to welcome? whom greeted they, with that great wave of love, so annihilating to their consciousness of themselves that i knew when i beheld it, i had never seen the face of love before? among them all, i stood alone--blind, blind. them i saw, and their blessedness, till i was filled with such a sacred envy of it that i would have suffered some new misery to share it. but he who did move among them thus royally and thus benignly, who passed from each man to each man, like the highest longing and the dearest wish of his own heart, who was to them one knew not whether the more of master or of chosen friend,--him, alas, i saw not. to me he was denied. no spiritual optic nerve in me announced his presence. i was blind,--i was blind. overcome by this discovery, i did not notice that my boy had loosened his hold upon my hand until his little fingers were quite disengaged from my clasp; and then, turning to speak to him, i found that he had slipped from me in the crowd. this was so great and the absorption so universal that no one noticed the mishap; and grateful, indeed, at that miserable moment, to be unobserved, i went in search of him. now, i did not find the child, though i sought long and patiently; and when i was beginning to feel perplexed, and to wonder what chance could have befallen him, i turned, and behold, while i had been searching, the throng had dispersed. night was coming on all the citizens were strolling to their homes. on street, and plain, and hill stirred the shadows of the departing people. they passed quietly. every voice was hushed. all the world was as still as a heart is after prayer. in the silent purple plain, only i was left alone. moved by solitude, which is the soul's sincerity, i yielded myself to strange impulses, and turning to the spot, where he who was invisible had passed or seemed to pass, i sought to find upon the ground and in the dusk some chance imprint of his steps. to do this it was necessary for me to stoop; and while i was bowed, searching for some least sign of him, in the dew and dark, i knew not what wave of shame and sorrow came upon me, but i fell upon my knees. there was no creature to hear me, and i spoke aloud, and said:-"_thou departest from me, for i am a sinful man, o lord!_" ... "_lord,_" i said, "_that i may receive my sight!_" i thought i had more to say than this, but when i had uttered these words no more did follow them. they seemed to fill my soul and flood it till it overflowed. and when i had lifted up my eyes, the first sight which did meet them was the face of my own child. i saw at once that he was quite safe and happy. but i saw that he was not alone. one towered above me, strange and dim, who held the little fellow in his arms. when i cried out to him, he smiled. and he did give the child to me, and spoke with me. chapter xvi. the natural step to knowledge is through faith. even human science teaches as much as this. the faith of the scholar in the theoretic value of his facts precedes his intelligent use of them. invention dreams before it does. discovery believes before it finds. creation imagines before it achieves. spiritual intelligence, when it came at last, to me, came with something of the jar of all abnormal processes. the wholesome movements of trust i had omitted from my soul's economy. the function of faith was a disused thing in me. truth had to treat me as an undeveloped mind. in the depth of my consciousness, i knew that, come what might, i had for ever lost the chance to be a symmetrical healthy human creature, whose spiritual faculties are exercised like his brain or muscle; who has lived upon the earth, and loved it, and gathered its wealth and sweetness and love of living into his being, as visible food whereby to create invisible stature; whose earthly experience has carried him on, as nature carries growth--unconsciously, powerfully, perfectly, into a diviner life. for ever it must remain with me that i had missed the natural step. if i say that the realization of knowledge was the first thing to teach me the value of faith, i shall be understood by those who may have read this narrative with any sort of sympathy to the present point; and, for the rest, some wiser, better man than i must write. i do not address those who follow these pages as i myself should once have done. i do not hope to make myself intelligible to you, as i would to god i could! personal misery is intelligible, and the shock of belated discovery. but the experience of another in matters of this kind has not a "scientific" character. no one can know better than i how my story will be dismissed as something which is not "a fact." in the times to be, it is my belief that there shall yet arise a soul, worthier of the sacred task than i to which shall be given the perilous and precious commission of interpreter between the visible life and the life invisible. on this soul high privilege will be bestowed, and awful opportunity. through it the deaf shall hear, the dumb shall speak. the bereaved shall bless it, and the faint of heart shall lean on it, and those who know not god shall listen to it, and the power of god shall be upon it. but mine is not that soul. even as one who was above man did elect to experience the earthly lot of man to save him; so one who is a man among men may yet be permitted to use the heavenly lot in such wise as to comfort them. the first mission called for superhuman power. the second may need only human purity. i now enter upon a turn in my narrative, where my vehicle of communication begins to fail me. human language, as employed upon the earth, has served me to some extent to express those phases of celestial fact upon which i still looked with earth-blind eyes. with spiritual vision comes the immediate need of a spiritual vocabulary. like most men of my temperament and training, i have been accustomed to some caution in the use of words. i know not any, which would be intelligible to the readers of this record, that can serve to express my experiences onward from this point. "a man becomes _terrestrialized_ as he grows older," said an unbeliever of our day, once, to me. it is at least true that the terrestrial intellect celestializes by the hardest; and it remains obvious, as it was written, that the things which are prepared may not enter into the heart of man. this is only another way of saying that my life from the solemn hour which i have recorded underwent revolutions too profound for me to desire to utter them, and that most of my experiences were of a nature which i lack the means to report. my story draws to a stop, as a cry of anguish comes to a hush of peace. what word is there to say? there is, indeed, one. with lips that tremble and praise god, i add it. at a period not immediately following the event which i have described, yet not so far beyond it that the time, as i recall it, seemed wearisome to me, i received a summons to go upon an errand to a distant place. it was the first time that i had been intrusted with any business of a wider nature than the care of my own affairs or the immediate offices of neighbourhood, and i was gratified thereby. i had, indeed, longed to be counted worthy to perform some special service at the will of him who guided all our service, and had cherished in my secret heart some project of praying that i might be elected to a special task which had grown, from much musing, dear to me. i did most deeply desire to become worthy to wear the seal of a commission to the earth; but i had ceased to urge the selfish cry of my personal heart-break. i did not pray now for the precious right to visit my own home, nor weary the will in which i had learned to confide with passionate demands for my beloved. i may rather say that i had come almost to feel that when i was worthy to see helen i should be worthy of life eternal; and that i had dropped my love and my longing and my shame into the hands of infinite love, and seen them close over these, as over a trust. the special matter to which i refer was this: i desired to be permitted to visit human homes, and set myself, as well as i might, to the effort of cultivating their kindliness. i longed to cherish the sacred graces of human speech. i wished to emphasize the opportunity of those who love each other. i groaned within me, till i might teach the preciousness and the poignancy of _words_. it seemed to me that if i might but set the whole force of a man's experience and a spirit's power to make an irritable scene in loving homes held as degrading as a blow, that i could say what no man ever said before, and do what no spirit would ever do again. if this be called an exaggerated view of a specific case, i can only say that every human life learns one lesson perfectly, and is qualified to teach that, and that alone, as no other can. this was mine. when, therefore, i received the summons to which i have alluded, i inferred that the wish of my heart had been heard, and i set forth joyfully, expecting to be sent upon some service of the nature at which i have hinted. my soul was full of it, and i made haste to depart, putting no question in the way of my obedience. no information, indeed, was granted to me beyond the fact that i should follow a certain course until i came to its apparent end, and there await what should occur, and act as my heart prompted. the vagueness of this command stirred my curiosity a little, i confess; but that only added to the pleasure of the undertaking. it would be difficult to say how much relief i found in being occupied once again to some purpose, like a man. but it would be impossible to tell the solemn happiness i had in being counted fit humbly to fulfil the smallest trust placed in me by him who was revealed, at this late, last moment, after all, to me, unworthy. i set forth alone. the child was left behind me with a neighbour, for so i thought the way of wisdom in this matter. following only the general directions which i had received, i found myself soon within the open country toward the region of the hills. as i advanced, the scenery became familiar to me, and i was not slow to recognize the path as the one which i myself had trodden on my first entrance to the city wherein of recent days i had found my home. i stopped to consider this fact, and to gather landmarks, gazing about me diligently and musing on my unknown course; for the ways divided before me as foot-paths do in fields, each looking like all and all like each. while i stood uncertain, and sensitively anxious to make no mistake, i heard the hit! hit! of light feet patting the grass behind me, and, turning, saw a little fellow coming like the morning wind across the plain. his bright hair blew straight before him, from his forehead. he ran sturdily. how beautiful he was! he did not call me nor show the slightest fear lest he should fail to overtake me. ha had already learned that love always overtakes the beloved in that blessed land. "you forgot your little boy," he said reproachfully, and put his hand quietly within mine and walked on beside me, and forgot that he had been forgotten immediately, and looked upward at me radiantly. remembering the command to await what should occur, and do as my heart prompted, i accepted this accident as part of a purpose wiser than my own, and kissed the little fellow, and we travelled on together. as we came into the hill country, our way grow wilder and more desolate. the last of the stray travellers whom we chanced to meet was now well behind us. in the wide spaces we were quite alone. behind us, dim and distant, shimmering like an opal in a haze of fair half-tints, the city shone. on either side of us, the forest trees began to tread solemnly, like a vast procession which no man could number, keeping step to some inaudible march. before us, the great crest of the mountains towered dark as death against the upper sky. as we drew near, the loneliness of these hills was to me as something of which i had never conceived before. earth did not hold their likeness, and my heart had never held their meaning. i could almost have dreaded them, as we came nearer to them; but the deviation of the paths had long since ceased. in the desolate country which we were now crossing choice was removed from conduct. there was but one course for me to take; i took it unhesitatingly and without fear, which belongs wholly to the lower life. as we advanced, the great mountain barrier rose high and higher before us, till it seemed to shut out the very sky from our sight, and to crush us apart from all the world--nay, from either world or any, i could have thought, so desolate and so awful was the spot. but when we had entered the shadow formed by the mighty range, and had accustomed our eyes to it for a time, i perceived, not far ahead of me, but in fact quite near and sudden to the view, a long, dark, sharp defile cut far into the heart of the hills. the place had an unpleasant look, and i stopped before it to regard it. it was so grim of aspect and so assured of outline, like a trap for travellers which had hung there from all eternity, that i liked it not, and would not that the child should enter till i had first inspected it. therefore, i bade him sit and rest upon a bed of crimson mosses which grew at the feet of a great rock, and to remain until he saw me turn to him again; and with many cautions and the most minute directions for his obedience and his comfort, i left him, and advanced alone. my way had now grown quite or almost dark. the light of heaven and earth alike seemed banished from the dreadful spot. as it narrowed, the footing grew uncertain and slippery, and the air dense and damp. i had to remind myself that i was now become a being for whom physical danger had ceased for ever. "what a place," i thought, "for one less fortunate!" as these words were in my mind, i lifted my eyes and looked, and saw that i was not alone in the dark defile. a figure was coming toward me, slight of build and delicate; yet it had a firm tread, and moved with well-nigh the balance of a spirit over the rough and giddy way. as i watched it, i saw that it was a woman. uncertain for the moment what to do, i remembered the command. "await what shall occur, and do as thy heart prompteth." and therefore--for my heart prompted me, as a man's must, to be of service to the woman--i hastened, and advanced, and midway of the place i met her. it was now perfectly dark. i could not see her face. when i would have spoken with her, and given her good cheer, i could not find my voice. if she said aught to me, i could not hear her. but i gathered her hands, and held her, and led her on, and shielded her, and gave her such comfort as a man by strength and silence may give a woman when she has need of him; and as i supported her and aided her, i thought of my dear wife, and prayed god that there might be found some soul of fire and snow--since to me it was denied--to do as much as this for her in some hour of her unknown need. but when i had led the woman out into the lighter space, and turned to look upon her, lo, it was none other. it was she herself. it was my wife. it was no man's beloved but my own.... so, then, crying, "_helen!_" and "forgive me, helen!" till the dark place rang with her dear name, i bowed myself and sunk before her, and could not put forth my hand to touch her, for i thought of how we parted, and it seemed my heart would break. but she said, "why, my dear love! oh, my poor love! did you think i would remember _that_?" and i felt her sacred tears upon my face, and she crept to me--oh, not royally, not royally, like a wife who was wronged, but like the sweetest woman in the world, who clung to me because she could not help it, and would not if she could.... but when we turned our footsteps toward the light, and came out together, hand in hand, there was our little boy, at play upon the bed of crimson moss, and smiling like the face of joy eternal. so his mother held out her arms, and the child ran into them. and when we came to ourselves, we blessed almighty god. perceiving that inquiry will be raised touching the means by which i have been enabled to give this record to the living earth, i have this reply to make: that is my secret. let it remain such. the end. the family gift series. 1 the swiss family robinson. with 200 engravings. 2 bunyan's pilgrim's progress. memoir. 100 illusts. 3 robinson crusoe. memoir and many engravings. 4 sandford and merton. with 100 engravings. 5 famous boys, and how they became great men. 6 fifty celebrated women. with portraits, &c. 7 the gentlemen adventurers. w. h. g. kingston. 8 evenings at home. with many illustrations. 9 the adventures of captain hatteras. by jules verne. with coloured plates. 10 twenty thousand leagues under the sea. by jules verne. with coloured plates. 11 the wonderful travels. by the same. col. plates. 12 the moon voyage. jules verne. coloured plates. 13 getting on in the world. by w. mathews, ll.d. 14 the boy's own book of manufactures and industries of the world. with 365 engravings. 15 great inventors: the sources of their usefulness, and the results of their efforts. with 109 engravings. 16 the marvels of nature. with 400 engravings. 17 the boy's own sea stories. with page engravings. 18 grimm's fairy tales. with many illustrations. 19 fifty celebrated men. with portraits. 20 the wonders of the world. with 123 engravings. 21 triumphs of perseverance and enterprise. illust. 22 keble's christian year. with page engravings. 23 a face illumined. by e. p. roe. 24 the scottish chiefs. by miss jane porter. 25 what can she do? by e. p. roe. 26 barriers burned away. by e. p. roe. 27 opening of a chestnut burr. by e. p. roe. 28 orange blossoms. by t. s. arthur. illustrated. 29 mary bunyan. by s. r. ford. 30 margaret catchpole. by rev. r. cobbold. 31 julamerk; or, the converted jewess. by mrs. webb. 33 amy and hester; or, the long holidays. illustrated. 34 edwin and mary; or, the mother's cabinet. illustrated. 35 wonders and beauties of the year. h. g. adams. 36 modern society. by catherine sinclair. 37 beatrice. by catherine sinclair. 38 looking heavenward: a series of tales and sketches for the young. with numerous illustrations. 39 life's contrasts; or, the four homes. illustrated. 40 nature's gifts, and how we use them. illust. 41 pilgrims heavenward: counsel and encouragement. 42 children's hymns and rhymes. illustrated. 43 preachers and preaching, in ancient and modern times. by rev. henry christmas. with portraits. 44 character and culture. by the bishop of durham. 45 popular preachers: their lives and their works. 46 boy's handy book of games and sports, illust. 47 boy's handy book of natural history. illust. 48 a knight of the nineteenth century. e. p. roe. 49 near to nature's heart. by e. p. roe. 50 a day of fate. by e. p. roe. 51 odd or even? by mrs. whitney. 52 gutenburg, and the art of printing. illustrated. 53 uncle mark's money; or, more ways than one. 54 without a home. by e. p. roe. 55 the arabian nights' entertainments. illustrated. 56 andersen's popular tales. illustrated. 57 andersen's popular stories. illustrated. 58 lion hunting. by gerard. illust. by doré and others. 59 the backwoodsman. ed. by sir c. f. l. wraxall. 60 the young marooners. by f. r. goulding. illust. 61 the crusades and crusaders. by j. g. edgar. do. 62 hunting adventures in forest and field. illust. 63 the boy's book of modern travel and adventure. 64 famous people and famous places. illustrated. 65 cheerful homes; how to get and keep them. author of "buy your own cherries." &c. (also cheap edition) 66 helen. by maria edgeworth. 67 our helen. by sophie may. 68 the little ragamuffins of outcast london. by the author of "a night in a workhouse," &c. illustrated. 69 heaven's messengers: a series of stirring addresses. 70 from log cabin to white house: the life of general garfield. illustrated. ward, lock & co., london. melbourne, and new york. [transcriber's note: the html version of this etext contains the publisher's catalog] spiritualism and the new psychology an explanation of spiritualist phenomena and beliefs in terms of modern knowledge by millais culpin with an introduction by professor leonard hill london edward arnold 1920 [_all rights reserved_] preface my object in writing this book is to present an explanation of so-called occult phenomena concerning which credulity is still as busy as in the days of witchcraft. the producers of these phenomena have been exposed efficiently and often, but their supporters are as active as ever, and show a simple faith which is more convincing than any argument. moreover, the producers themselves--mediums, clairvoyants, water-diviners, seers, or whatever they may be--are sometimes of such apparent honesty and simplicity that disbelief seems almost a sacrilege; therefore part of my aim is to show how a man believing firmly in his own honesty may yet practise elaborate trickery and deceit. as the book is intended for readers presumably unacquainted with the trend of modern psychology, it is necessary to point out how much of the opinions set forth are accepted by workers at the subject. the theory of dissociation has, as far as i know, no opponents. it was applied by pierre janet to hysteria and water-divining, thought-reading, etc., all of which he regarded as psychologically identical.[1] [footnote 1: see _l'automatisme psychologique_. alcan; paris.] the theory of the unconscious, which we owe to freud, of vienna, is still strongly opposed, and the influence, or even the existence, of repressions is disputed by those who have not looked for them, undoubted cases of loss of memory being regarded as something of quite different nature. a growing number of workers, however, both here and in america, appreciate the importance of these contributions to psychology. the possible development of the hysteric from the malingerer by the repression of the knowledge of deceit is an idea of my own, which is not accepted by any one of importance. these explanations are necessary in fairness to the reader, but i regard appeals to authority on matters of opinion as pernicious, and try to present my opinions in such a way as to allow them to be judged on their merits. nevertheless, since i take for granted that supernatural phenomena are not what their producers would have us believe, and at the same time make no general attempt to prove their human origin, i must refer the reader to books on the subject, viz., _studies in psychical research_, by the late frank podmore, which treats the spiritualists sympathetically and weakens occasionally in its unbelief; _spiritualism and sir oliver lodge_, by dr. charles mercier, which is a direct and vigorous attack upon them; and _the question_, by edward clodd, a book dealing with the subject historically from primitive man to 'feda'. stuart cumberland, in _spiritualism--the inside truth_, records some of the results of his vain search for spiritist phenomena that will bear investigation; and in _the road to endor_ the authors relate the story of a deliberate fraud that was accepted by their friends as a genuine manifestation. m. c. contents preface introduction i. the unconscious ii. complexes iii. forgetting and repression iv. dissociation v. water-divining vi. suggestion vii. hypnotism viii. dreams ix. hysteria x. experiments, domestic and other xi. about mediums xii. the accounts of believers xiii. the evolution of the medium conclusion introduction by professor leonard hill, f.r.s. the body of man is made up of an infinite number of cells--minute masses of living substance--grouped into organs subserving particular functions, and held together by skeletal structures, bones and containing membranes such as the horny layer of the skin which are formed by the living cells. the whole is comparable to citizens grouped in farms and factories subserving one or other function necessary for the commonweal; and just as the city has its transport connecting the whole, distributing food and the various products of the factories, a drainage and scavenger system taking away the waste material, and a telephone system through which operations can be ordered and co-ordinated according to the needs of the commonweal, so has the body its blood circulation, digestive and excretive systems, and a co-ordinating nervous system. how small are the cells, how infinite their number is shown by the fact that each drop of blood the size of a pin's head contains five million red corpuscles; there are five or six pints of blood in the body! the living substance, e.g. of a nerve cell, appears as a watery substance crowded with a countless number of granules, which are so small that only the light dispersed around each is visible under the highest power of the microscope when illuminated by a beam of light against a dark ground, just as the halo of each dust particle in the air is made visible by a beam of light crossing a dark room, and just as these dust particles are in dancing motion due to the currents of air, so are the particles in the living substance ceaselessly kept dancing by the play of inter-molecular forces. from the dead substance of the cells the chemist extracts various complex colloidal substances, e.g. proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and various salts, and these in their turn he can resolve into chemical elements. the interplay of energy between the multitude of electrically charged granules inside the cell, and the environment outside keeps up the dance of life, the radiant energy of the sun, and the atomic energy of the elements being the ultimate source of the energy transmutations exhibited by both living and non-living matter. in the living cell there is an interplay of the energy of masses of molecules forming the granules, of single molecules in watery solution, of atoms which compose the molecules, and of electrons, the various groupings of which compose the atoms of the elements. the elements themselves are now recognised to be transmutable through simplification and rearrangement of their electronic structure, and to be evolved out of one primordial electronic unit, a unit of energy, unknowable in nature, out of the groupings and transmutations of which arise all manner of living and non-living forms, the apparently indestructible stable materials being no less in a state of flux and evolution than the most unstable. the complexity of the transmutations of energy and ultimate unknowableness and mystery of their cause are no less in the case of a drop of water or a particle of dirt than in that of a living cell. the scientific conception of the universe, the very opposite of materialism, approaches pantheism. the living substance of a uni-cellular organism, similarly the congery of cells forming the body of man, has evolved the power of sensing and of moving towards, or away from life-giving or destroying sources of energy. special sense-organs, receptive of one or other form of energy have been evolved through the æons of the struggle for existence, together with nervous and muscular systems, to enable him to preserve his life in the midst of the shocks and thrills of his environment. there are also evolved inner senses, and a sympathetic nervous system which knits all parts of the body in harmonious action; the community of action also being brought about by the circulating fluids of the body, the blood and the lymph, to which each living cell gives and from which each cell takes. for communion with the environment, eyes for visual, and sense organs in the skin for thermal radiant energy have been perfected, ears for sound waves travelling through air, taste organs for substances in solution, smell organs for particles of substances floating in the atmosphere, touch organs for sensing movements of masses. the receptive cells of the special sense organs are composed of watery, granular, living substance and elaborate mechanisms have been evolved for converting one or other form of energy into such a form that it can be received by the living substance, e.g. the intricate structure of the eye with its focussing lenses, retinal cells laden with pigment sensitive to light, the ear with its drum membrane vibrating in unison with sound waves in the air, its chain of transmitting osicles, and complicated receiving organ placed in the spiral turns of the cochlea. be it noted, the receptive cells of the sense organs are immersed in fluid, and each sense organ is specifically sensitive, i.e. only to that form of energy which it has been evolved to receive through countless ages of evolution. the nervous system is composed of myriads of nerve cells, and of nervous fibres, which are long and exceedingly slender processes of these cells formed of similar substance, each shielded and insulated by a double coat. the nerve cells and the nerves are arranged in an ordered plan which has been unravelled by ingenious methods. they connect all parts of the body one with another. think of the whole telephone system of britain linked up together with millions of receivers, thousands of local exchanges, hundreds of central exchanges, etc., the nervous system with its sense organs, sensory nerves, lower and higher nerve centres and motor nerves, is infinitely more intricate than that. the whole forms an interlacing feltwork formed of watery nerve cells and processes, and not only receives sensory stimuli and transmits them as motor impulses, but is more or less permanently _modified_ by each sensory thrill which enters it, memorising each, more or less, for longer or shorter time according to its character or intensity. thus the response of the nervous system to sensory excitation changes with education, habits form and character develops from birth to manhood, to decay again from manhood to old age, ceaselessly changing, but becoming graved on a certain plan. the making thereof depends on inborn qualities of the living substance--the conjugate product of the male and female parents, this moulded by environmental conditions, both in utero and after birth, by food, and the ceaseless instreaming of sensations. depending on the nutrition of the cortex of the great brain, abrogated by narcotics, absent in sleep, consciousness of our being flickers from moment to moment, the product of the instreaming of sensations from the outer world and from our own body, and of memories of past sensations, aroused, by some present sensation. conscious judgement arises from the balancing of present sensations with memorised sensations and leads to purposeful actions. beneath the conscious world an infinite host of functions are carried out unconsciously, functions depending on the nervous connection of one part with another, just as the common people carry out a host of actions through the telephone system without the cognisance of the government which is seated at the highest central exchange. to find food, satisfy the sexual instinct, escape enemies, gain shelter from excessive physical changes of environment, the special senses and nervous system have then been evolved and perfected in the intricacy of their mechanism through vast æons of evolution. there is evidence that man has for some million years trod the earth; but the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch were evolved in the vast procession of lower animals which preceded him for those millions of years which reach back and ever back to the first generation of life. the realisation of these facts saves the physiologist from being deceived, either by fraudulent tricks or those natural chances of human occurrence which occasion the belief of the credulous in telepathy. he recognises that the human nervous system is built on a common plan, and that it is to be expected that the sensory stimuli received from a given environmental condition will often arouse the same train of thought in two or more people, standing together, especially in those who habitually associate. such coincidences of thought, which astonish the ignorant, are due to natural law. human experience shows that judgements of fundamental importance which would, if transmittable to another at a distance by telepathy, win a fortune, save a defeat, etc., are never so transmitted. the stock exchange and the army in the field must have their telephone and telegraph systems and messengers. no more concentrated will to send information, which might bring succour, say from the artillery, could be given than by men in peril of their lives in the trenches, when the enemy came swarming over the top, but we know that with the wires cut and the human messengers killed no succour came. neither does it come to the liner which, in full proud course with its freight of thousands of souls strikes an iceberg, unless the wireless mechanism be installed and operated so that the s.o.s. signal is despatched. otherwise it sinks without trace, as the germans advised their 'u' boats to let their victim merchant ships sink. the phenomena of wireless telegraphy and of radio-active elements have led people to think that some direct means of communication of energy from one brain to another may be possible, that is without intervention of the special senses. there is not the least evidence in favour of this view; the evolution of the senses is wholly against it. it is true that all vital activity is accompanied by electrical change--by a flow of electrons--in the living matter, the nervous impulse itself may be so transmitted. such electrical change by a special evolution of structure is magnified in the electric organ of certain fishes and used by them as a weapon of offence. it is then sensed just as an electric shock from a battery is sensed, and the intensity of the shock lessens inversely as the square of the distance. there is no evidence that the minute electrical changes accompanying nervous action in man are transmittable to a distance through space; the nerves are evolved to confine and convey these as nerve impulses to suitable receivers within their body whereby function is co-ordinated. a radio-active element enters into the composition of the living matter, e.g. potassium. a nutritive fluid can be prepared from a watery solution of sodium calcium and potassium salts capable of keeping the excised heart of the frog in action. the place of potassium in this fluid can be taken by the energy radiated from radio-active material placed suitably near the weak solution of the other two salts which contains the heart. too strong a radiation kills the heart. wonderful as this new discovery is it is comparable with the well-known fact that the radiant energy of the sun--either heat rays or the cold ultraviolet rays of intense chemical action--while beneficent, when properly graded, kill the living substance which is over-exposed to them. hence the evolution of the green colour of plants and the pigment in the skin of animals, which acts as screens. it has recently been shown that trees pick up the long waves used in wireless telegraphy, and can be used as receivers, but there is no evidence that animals are sensitive to these waves. no one knew either of their existence or of that of magnetic storms until instruments were invented suitably tuned to pick up the waves of energy and demonstrate them to one or other of man's special senses--sight, hearing or touch. every invention of science goes to prove that knowledge enters only through the avenue of the senses, which are tuned to the receipt of certain forms of energy. other forms of energy to which the senses are not tuned must be converted by instrumental means into a form of energy which can be sensed. contrary then to scientific evidence is the supposition that waves of energy proceed directly through space from the watery granular living substance of one brain, confined within skull and skin, and passes into the similar substance of another. if any such direct transmission and reception of energy were possible why were æons spent in the evolution of sense organs, and why is the labour of men spent in perfecting the means of communication of his thoughts by observation of the movements of expression, by speech, writing, semaphore, heliograph, telegraph and telephone and by waves of energy sent through wires or wireless space? in _the road to endor_, we read how two clever officers, e. h. jones and c. w. hill, giving the whole time of a tedious captivity to evolving tricks of the business, successfully fooled a hundred of their fellow-officer prisoners, men of intelligence and education, into belief in telepathy. in the appendix of their book there is given a portion of their telepathy code to show the sort of system which may be worked, a code which allowed the communication of the names of hundreds of common articles, numbers, the names of all the officers in the camp, etc. they could use the code with, or without speaking; perfection in its use, the authors say, involved a good deal of memory work and constant practice. 'nothing but the blankness of our days, and the necessity of keeping our minds from rusting could have excused the waste of time entailed by preparation for a thought-reading exhibition. it is hardly a fitting occupation for free men.' what these officers could do obviously the professional conjurer can do, no less the humbug and quack who swindles money out of the credulous and superstitious. let no one give credence to telepathy till he or she has read this most amusing and educative book. the authors no less humbugged the camp by planchette writing whereby they transmitted messages supposed to come from disembodied spirits. they fooled not only their fellow-prisoners with these spirit messages, but the turkish interpreter and commandant of the camp, gaining thereby important concessions. they planned a daring method of escape which depended on exciting the cupidity of the commandant and on a hunt for buried treasure, occupying many months of preparation, and only failing at the last through the unwitting interference of a brother officer. some of their 'spirit' messages were actually transmitted through the commandant to the war office in constantinople, so implicit became his obedience. what these two officers affected is unequalled by anything in sir oliver lodge's evidence as set forth in _raymond_. they give details of how they used chance remarks and trivial facts heard and memorised months beforehand, and of how they observed and were guided by the slightest variation in tone of answer or movement of their victims, which expressed interest and excitement or the reverse, and so built up a story of some past action which clinched belief. the hits were striking and memorised, and the misses unnoticed, forgotten--for such is the tendency of the human mind. such are the methods of the professional medium, and in _the road to endor_ they lie unravelled and fully exposed. the physiologist recognises the tendency of those with unstable, nervous temperaments--e.g. hysterical girls--to gain interest and cause excitement at any cost of trouble in developing methods of deceit. hence the ghostly visitations of houses, the mysterious bell-ringings, rappings, spillings of water, etc. i, myself, have personally come across and investigated two of these cases--one of a young, educated woman who played pranks on the house of her hosts, pouring water into their beds, etc.; the other of a servant-maid who caused the disappearance of meat from the larder, and dirtying the cat's feet made it make foot-marks on a perpendicular wall leading to the larder window, who spirited away the gardener's firewood and wrote mysterious letters in a feigned hand, the imprint of which were found in her blotting-book, and who reported she saw a mysterious woman prowling round the house. the few eminent scientists who have expressed their belief in spiritualism are mostly physicists, e.g. crookes, oliver lodge and w. barrett--men who have not made a life-study of physiology and nervous disorders, who are not familiar with the attainments and methods of conjurers and professional impostors, and are shielded in their laboratories and home life from close acquaintance with human deceit and cunning. their familiarity with the transmission of waves of energy in dead material, and through space leads them to concepts which cannot justly be applied to living beings. to the physiologist, who recognises the majestic unity of natural phenomena, belief in telepathy and spiritualism appear a form of materialism as gross as the ju-ju superstition of the benin native. nothing can excite greater contempt than the mean trivialities which are served as communications from that infinite, silent universe wherein the energy of individual life sinks on death. the belief in spiritualism works grave harm on ignorant, credulous people of nervous temperament, and fills the pockets of rascally impostors. its practice should then be as sternly suppressed by the law as any other fraud and imposture. dr. culpin, in his valuable and thoughtful treatment of this subject, shows, _inter alia_, how the medium requires no less to be protected from deception and ruin of his own soul than does his dupe. spiritualism and the new psychology chapter i the unconscious from the moment of waking till we fall asleep again our thoughts are busy, one thought following another all day long without a break and each being in some way related to the preceding one. memories come up into the stream, the outer world is constantly affecting it through our senses, and we tend to think that all our mind-work is done in this 'stream of consciousness'. but beneath our stream of consciousness lies a deep sea of memories, feelings, and directive influences. all our previous experience is buried there, and no man knows how much he knows. every one has experienced the sudden recollections which come up unsought when a sight, a sound, or a scent makes association with something long past and apparently forgotten; and not only our memories of things, places, and people, but our past mental processes themselves lie in this deep sea of the _unconscious_, to help or hinder us in the present or future. i speak of the unconscious, though there are objections to the use of the word, which may lead to such a contradiction of terms as 'unconscious knowledge'. it is much more than a storehouse of memories: it is the seat of mental processes which take place unknown to us and are revealed at times in strange and unexpected ways. it comes into contact with the stream of consciousness, and, as we so often find in attempting to classify natural phenomena, there are no well-marked lines of demarcation between one and the other, though the extremes are definite enough. the unconscious is not always a willing servant and often refuses to obey the wishes of its owner. every one has at some time vainly tried to recall a name which is 'on the tip of the tongue', and one name after another is tried till perhaps the right one comes up and leaves us wondering where the difficulty was. there is, according to the teaching of some psychologists, always a reason for this failure to remember, though even an apparently ordinary example may need a skilful analysis to show how the failure arose and why the other names presented themselves. slips of the tongue are likewise dependent upon unconscious influences, and, although i was once sceptical, a few examinations of my own slips have convinced me of the truth of this little theory. here is an example of one of them, such as occurs often enough and would ordinarily be passed over without further examination:-sitting one evening with friends who were interested in this subject, i read aloud a paragraph from the book i was reading, and was asked the name of the author. my answer, after a slight pause, was 'robert brown'; it was immediately corrected by one of my friends, who pointed out that the author was robert smith (the names are fictitious), and called upon me for an explanation of the mistake. the first question was, 'who is brown?' and the only brown i knew was a man concerning whom i had a few days before received a letter with information about him which led me to regard him with strong dislike. the next point was that we had been recently discussing the private life of robert smith, and i had manifested dislike towards his actions. then i remembered that when i was asked the name of the author there had flashed into my consciousness the feeling that he was not precisely the sort of man i liked. although the rest of the chain of thought was unknown to me at the time, yet it became plain, under my friends' cross-examination, that this feeling of dislike had called up the name of the other victim of my displeasure, though questions from my friends were necessary before i could remember to whom the other name referred. the last point is quite characteristic, for there seems to be a definite resistance in the mind of the perpetrator of the slip against piecing together his thought processes, and the aid of some one else is necessary to enable, or force him, to do it; then he feels compelled to acknowledge the hidden thoughts. the difficulty in recognising and admitting the cause of such slips is due to their being so often the expression of feelings which the owner does not like to publish to the world or perhaps even acknowledge to himself. but the unconscious is not always, or even often, such a useless intruder upon our everyday life. it economises our energies, and often takes us by short cuts to ends which would otherwise need continued reasoning. 'intuition' is the product of previous experience, and rises into the consciousness as a finished judgement without the owner of the gift being aware of the factors concerned in its formation. one kind of intuition is improperly called in my profession 'clinical instinct', but, unlike instinct, it is a result of training and experience, and is never seen without them. here is an example which came under my notice: an ophthalmic house-surgeon, busy with new patients, sees a man aged about thirty-five, who complains of failing sight, and without further investigation he writes on the man's book, 'tobacco amblyopia?' and sends him in to his chief. later on his chief asks him, 'how did you spot this case?' and the house-surgeon answers, 'i don't know, but he looked like it'. the chief agrees that there is something which can be seen but not described in the looks of a sufferer from this complaint. now this house-surgeon, though keen on his work, had seen only a few cases of that disease, and i do not now accept his explanation of how he 'spotted' it. a man of thirty-five may find his sight failing from various causes, but the common ones are not many. if the cause had been 'long-sight', he would have complained that he could not see to read; certain general diseases causing loss of sight at that age would perhaps have visible symptoms; the man was too young for cataract, and his eyes looked healthy. in short, tobacco amblyopia was a reasonable guess, and, when we remember that the disease is caused by smoking strong pipe tobacco, and that the man who smokes that tobacco generally smells of it, it is fair to suppose that it was not the evidence of his eyes alone that guided the house-surgeon in his guess, though he was not conscious of any train of reasoning nor was he aware of the smell of stale tobacco. this suggests that a stimulus may act upon our thoughts without our being conscious of the origin of the feeling produced, and this is what happens in connection with that well-known sensation, felt on visiting a new place, that one has been there before. if a close examination is made it will be found that there is really something--a picture, a scent, or even so slight a stimulus as a puff of warm air--which has stirred a memory in the unconscious; this memory fails to reach the consciousness in its entirety, or it would immediately be recognised as caused by the particular stimulus, but in its incomplete form it appears as a memory of nothing in particular. such a memory being inconceivable it is at once joined on to the whole scene, and one feels 'i've surely been here before'. this feeling may be regarded as an intuition in its most useless and incomplete form, but its theoretical importance will be seen later. women exercise intuition more than do men, and up to a point this gives them an advantage, though it may annoy the male who prefers to find his reasons on the surface and call them logical. 'the reason why i cannot tell, but this i know and know full well, i do not like thee, dr. fell', is a perfect example of intuition, and a full analysis of the unconscious of the poet would undoubtedly recall a wealth of reasons why. still, intuition is likely to be a fallible guide, and the man who wishes to avoid trouble with his personal dislikes must always be prepared to check it by whatever conscious knowledge and reasoning power he may possess. the lines quoted above would be a poor defence against a charge of assault. the person who is guided by intuition in some accustomed situation may be incapable of understanding why another person has not that power. i saw an example of this when i was making a short journey in the north queensland bush with a white boy who had been reared in that district, but was a stranger to the particular locality in which we then were. it was a rainy day, and we were bound for a place which could be reached by following a stream down to the main river and then travelling up the latter, and this route i proposed to take. my companion showed astonishment at this, and said, pointing as it were along the other side of the triangle, 'but that's the way.' i agreed, but told him that i couldn't find the way and should get 'bushed' if i tried. he could not understand, but we set off for a ride of some nine to ten miles through fairly dense timber with the boy as guide. in vain i asked him how he kept his course; in similar circumstances i should have marked a tree as far ahead as possible and ridden towards it, marking another before i reached the first, and so on. all he could say was, 'that's the way', and i puzzled him by my questions more than he puzzled me by his ability to go straight to our destination. the sense of direction is of course well known amongst animals, and i have often in my bush-days confidently trusted my horse to take me to his and my home on the darkest of nights. although one talks of the 'sense of direction', there is no need to assume anything more than ordinary sense perceptions interpreted by the unconscious workings of the mind. the man who is over-anxious about his capabilities cannot allow his unconscious to take charge of his thoughts in this way. i was always afraid of being lost in the bush and always preoccupied with the need for carefully watching my course; therefore, although i could find my way, i never developed a 'sense of direction'. to sum up, the unconscious is a collection of mental processes, memories, desires, and influences of infinite variety which are not always or even often perceived as such by our conscious mind, but the presence of which may and does influence our thoughts and actions. by its aid we obtain results the factors of which are unknown to us, and of which we fail to recognise the origin, and in it is stored not only what we remember but also what we forget. it is in relation to our stream of consciousness and normally blends with it, but the more independently we can allow it to operate the more surely does it reach its end in certain cases. i must add that freud introduces a _foreconscious_ to indicate the mind-contents which are accessible to the consciousness, but are not of it, but for the sake of simplicity i have avoided the use of that word. the reader must bear in mind that such terms are used to describe not phenomena, but conceptions. newspapers, the voices of men in the train or the street, marks on ballot-papers, are all phenomena, but 'public opinion' is only a conception useful to facilitate the expression of ideas. if one asks, 'where is this unconscious and what does it look like?', i can only answer by asking, 'where is this "public opinion" and what does it look like?' the same caution is necessary in regard to other phrases. the stream of consciousness and dissociation are conceptions only, and are not intended to indicate the existence of things having relation to each other in space; the words are used as convenient means to sum up processes which i hope to show really take place. chapter ii complexes every man likes to think that his creed, religious, political, or social, is founded upon reason; but let the reader consider the beliefs of his acquaintances and he will soon realise that they depend far more upon early training, social position, and the general influence of surroundings than upon any reasoning process. after this exercise let him turn his critical powers upon his own beliefs and examine closely how far they are dependent upon reason or upon influences which he has not recognised before. who can say that, in the days when home-rulers and anti-home-rulers abounded, the average voter was swayed by a reasoned knowledge of the subject? yet he was quite sure that his side was right and the other wrong, and found it hard to understand how any sane man could own the opinions the other fellows held. let us picture two neighbours of opposite political beliefs:--if they are both keen gardeners they may exchange views about methods and manures, and in case of difference of opinion one will possibly convince the other by argument. on other matters, too, they will mutually be open to conviction. if one favours ilfracombe for a holiday and the other swears by torquay, the latter may decide to try ilfracombe for a change. but let them discuss home rule till the crack of doom and neither will convince the other by any process of reasoning; yet each will believe firmly that his opinions are the results of reason, finding an infinity of argument to support them. or let anyone start a discussion on a so-called moral question, such as polygamy. he will arouse the warmest expressions of opinion that polygamy is sinful, absurd, and unworkable, and may point in vain to such countries as china, where it apparently works with no more trouble than occurs with our system. reasons will be showered on him, but scarcely anyone will admit that he objects to polygamy because he has been taught to regard monogamy as the only proper state of marriage. a man, honestly believing that he is always actuated by certain moral principles, may do things which others regard as opposed to those principles, and if approached on the subject will be greatly annoyed and produce a chain of argument to justify his actions. scarcely any of us are free from these failings; certain beliefs we keep stored away, allowing nothing to interfere with them. they are placed in logic-tight compartments and carefully guarded by a pseudo-reasoning which satisfies our desire for logical explanation. to this pseudo-reasoning is given the name of 'rationalisation', and, lest anyone may be offended by finding the same term applied to the process by which lunatics defend their delusions, i will add that there is no dividing line between health and disease, and the modes of thought of the insane are not so very different from those of the ordinary man. to return now to the subject of 'logic-tight compartments'. each contains a collection of ideas which are treated by the owner in a special way, cherished and guarded carefully from those forces which may cause modification. at the same time he will probably refuse to admit that they influence his consideration of certain questions related to them. the more logic-tight the compartment is, the more warmly does its owner defend it; but where plain reasoning is concerned few men can be roused to enthusiasm. even though there may be people who regard the reasonings of euclid as purely appeals to the emotions, what mathematician could grow excited about a man who denied the truth of the fifth proposition? but to run counter to a man's political or social beliefs is a sure way to raise the controversial temperature. as will be easily seen, rationalisation is of everyday occurrence with all of us, and the man who rationalises always believes he is reasoning. consider now the business rogue who makes a success of his roguery and then launches out as a philanthropist, still continuing his roguery as a permanent side-line. such cases are not unknown, and the man seems able to carry on without any sense of conflict between his two activities. or consider those not uncommon instances where a man prominent in religious work is detected in some financial crime; it is usual to regard him as a hypocrite who has used religion as a cloak, but it is equally probable that he was honestly religious, that his earliest steps into crime were reconciled to his principles by rationalisations, and, as he advanced, a logic-tight compartment was built up to prevent conflict between his wrong-doing and his self-respect. in these examples we have a part of the stream which comes into contact with the main stream of consciousness only by means of a process of rationalisation which allows the two to exist without great mental conflict, but this will never be admitted by the owner, though other people may be acutely conscious of it. here, to simplify explanation, i must introduce the word _complex_ as used to indicate a system of ideas having a common centre,[2] whether the system is present in the consciousness or exists only in the unconscious. [footnote 2: the word 'complex' was originally used by freud only in regard to ideas existing in the unconscious, but the way in which i use it is convenient and follows the custom of some english writers.] our ideas of morality, religion, or politics form complexes, as do our desires and disappointments. an ardent photographer or naturalist is possessed of a complex concerning his hobby, and this complex tends to turn his thoughts in the corresponding direction. if a keen botanist and an equally keen amateur photographer are travelling by train each views the scenery according to his complex: the one might note the trees and plants, their flowering or bursting into leaf, and how they vary with the soil, and might speculate as to what finds a closer view might produce; the other sees the same objects, but is busy composing pictures, thinking out distances and exposures, or differences of light and shade. the man with 'a bee in his bonnet' gives an example of a single powerful complex; but all our thinking is a matter of complexes except on those rare occasions when logic alone is concerned, such as the consideration of a problem of mathematics. scientific men are prone to believe that their mind-work is purely logical; so it is, up to a certain point, and the more exact the science the less room there is for thinking in complexes; but the reception of a new theory is always opposed by those whose firmly established complexes are offended by it. the aim of scientific training is to eliminate complex thinking and substitute logic, and in the exact sciences this is practically attained; but as soon as the trained man forsakes his laboratory or workshop methods he is at the mercy of his complexes and becomes the ordinary rationalising human being. there is a great difference between a complex, such as photography, of which the influence is recognised and admitted by its owner, and another, such as a political one, where the influence is strongly denied. the latter is kept in a logic-tight compartment and reconciled to the reason by rationalisations. instincts have their abode in the unconscious and differ from acquired influences in being inborn and common to the race. it is difficult to determine what emotions and desires are truly inborn, as benjamin kidd shows in a valuable personal observation.[3] [footnote 3: _the science of power_, p. 284. methuen & co., 1918.] he found a wild duck's nest as the young birds had just emerged from the egg, the mother-bird flying off at his approach. he took the young birds out of the nest and they showed no fear, nestling from time to time on his feet. then he moved away and saw the mother-bird return with 'the great terror of man' upon her; next he approached the group again, but the mother-bird flew away with warning quacks and the little ones scattered to cover. he found one of them, but it was now 'a wild transformed creature trembling in panic which could not be subdued'. mcdougall, whose work on instinct holds high rank, places 'flight' with its emotion of 'fear' among the primary instincts. the apperception of danger is necessary in order to call up this instinct, and kidd shows that when once the fear of danger from man is planted in the young birds it becomes integrated with the instinct and inseparable from it. acquired tendencies associated with emotion can therefore share the strength of instincts (the application of this fact is the theme of mr. kidd's book), and we accordingly find the results of early training accepted by the consciousness as perfect and unquestionable. this same characteristic applies, in a modified degree, to all complex thinking. carry on an argument with an intelligent man on any complex-governed subject, and he will nearly always come down to the bed-rock foundation that he believes his view to be right because he _feels it_. then you may cease the discussion. it is by this reasoning that we can understand the attributes of the german mind. the german had certain complexes concerning the right of might so built into his unconscious that he gave them the obedience that is demanded by an instinct, and nothing short of national disaster could induce him to relinquish them. chapter iii forgetting and repression how we remember is an old and unsolved question, but few people think of asking how we forget: and yet one problem is as important as the other. i cannot answer either except by putting a new one, which is, 'do we ever forget?' if we specify the factors concerned in memory and say that it depends upon impression, retention, and recall, then what do we mean by 'forgetting'? if an event makes no impression upon the mind there is neither remembering nor forgetting; if there is retention of a memory, but one cannot recall it, it is nevertheless stored in the mind and may yet be revived by some association. so that the only certain factor in forgetting is the loss of power of recall, for what is apparently quite forgotten may still be retained in the unconscious. can we voluntarily forget? if by that is meant, 'can we voluntarily lose the power of voluntary recall?' i must, strange as it seems at first sight, assert that we can, though i make the proviso that 'voluntarily' is a word with a very elastic meaning, and one whose definition would open up the never-ended argument about free-will. i will take refuge in a quotation[4]:- 'we ought not to assume that a clear and full anticipation or idea of the end is an essential condition of purposive action, and we have no warrant for setting up the instances in which anticipation is least incomplete as alone conforming to the purposive type, and for setting apart all instances in which anticipation is less full and definite as of a radically different nature.' [footnote 4: mcdougall, _social psychology_, p. 359.] expressing this idea in the terms employed in the previous chapters, we can picture an action as being produced by motives in consciousness, and these motives as being influenced to a greater or less extent by the instincts, emotions, and desires of the unconscious. every action is influenced by the unconscious, however voluntary it may appear. the young man who seeks the society of a maiden may think he is acting voluntarily and with full consciousness of the end in view, but the end is often visualised by the friends of the pair before the young man realises where his instincts and emotions have led him. the man who resolutely refuses to think of an unpleasant experience and shuts off the thought of it whenever it rises into his consciousness may not have the intention of placing it beyond reach of voluntary recall, but he may succeed in so doing, and the process by which the end was reached was voluntary. that we have this power is shown by the investigation of war-strained soldiers of the type said to be suffering from 'shell-shock'. these men are often stout fellows who have fought long and bravely, and whose condition is a result of the emotions they have suffered rather than of any particular shell explosion. their typical symptoms are depression, dreams of battle horrors, tremors and stammerings, and strange fears without apparent cause. in an ordinary case there is great difficulty in persuading the man to talk about his war experiences: he says plainly that he doesn't want to talk about them, or may persistently avoid the subject, or he gives a poor account and shows difficulty in recall, or he claims to have forgotten and requires stimulating in order to remember, or he may have an absolute blank in his memory for certain periods. here we see all grades of the result of trying to forget, and the more successful the result the more difficult is the cure; for though the memories are repressed their associated emotions cannot be so dealt with, but remain in consciousness exaggerated and distorted. the dependence of an emotion upon a repressed memory prevents the sufferer from knowing its cause, and the sufferer from an apparently causeless emotion is to be pitied, for he can see no end to his trouble. a man who was afraid of walking in the dark for fear of falling into holes which he knew only existed as a product of his fancy, affords a simple example of this condition. he said that his fear was absurd, therefore it was useless to point out to him its absurdity; the proper course was to show that it was not absurd, that it had a cause, and that the cause was something in the past which, when recognised, could be reasoned away. fortunately the cause was easily found by any one with a knowledge of modern war: there was soon brought to light a 'forgotten' memory of his mates being drowned in shell-holes at night, and the fear disappeared as the patient learnt to look his memories in the face and not sink them into his unconscious. more striking, however, are those cases in which a man forgets all his war experiences, and, though he is ready to believe that he has spent, say, two years in france, has no recollection of them. such cases are not rare, the loss of memory often including part or all of the patient's previous life. one man could only remember the last three months of his life and failed to recognise his own father, though his memory was subsequently restored; this loss, occurring suddenly, could hardly be in any degree voluntary, though it served the purpose of excluding many horrible memories from his consciousness. another nervous lad was so constituted that he forgot all incidents that frightened him, only to be haunted by the emotions attached to them. seeing a steeple-jack fall was forgotten, and produced nightmares for years; a practical joke gave him a terror of the dark; his sister calling to him when burglars were in the house gave him hallucinations of voices; and minor incidents were equally forgotten, each producing its own symptoms. as the individual memories were brought up from his unconscious he went through the fright again, but the associated symptoms soon disappeared. in these pathological losses of memory, whether for one incident or for a whole period, it is important to note that the patient does not necessarily recognise the incident when he is told of it, just as the lad mentioned above failed to recognise his father when he met him. a patient may in a sleep-walking state act as if performing a definite action, such as bayoneting one of the enemy, and when awake deny all knowledge of such an incident; yet the memory of it may return later with overwhelming emotion. this failure to recognise a personal experience is of great importance in the consideration of some spiritualist phenomena. it requires little thought to realise that the only memories we try to repress are those that conflict with our other feelings or desires, and their repression is to some extent tolerated by a healthy man and may be regarded to that extent as a normal process. but in addition to the repression of unpleasant memories there are other ways of forgetting. it has been assumed that each individual has a limit to his capacity for remembering, and that when that limit is reached fresh memories can be stored up only by casting out old ones. whether that be so or not, it is certain that we can recall to consciousness only a tiny fraction of our past experiences, and no one can say what proportion that fraction bears to the whole contents of the storehouse of the unconscious. let two men meet and recall old school-days spent together: one memory brings up another, schoolboy phrases and terms of speech appear as it were spontaneously, and by their united efforts the two recall far more than the sum of their recollections before the meeting, and still neither knows how much is left untouched. the ordinary man reads many books, and each one leaves some impression and has some influence upon his later thoughts, though in time the recollection, not only of the contents of the book, but even of having read it, may fade away. this is the explanation of some cases of literary plagiarism: a previously read phrase comes up from the unconscious, and all recognisable connections with memory having been lost it is greeted as a fresh creation and given rank accordingly. there is still another type of forgetting: most of us know the man who 'draws the long bow', who embellishes his story and embroiders it with imagined incidents, whilst we listen and wonder how much the narrator himself believes. fishermen's stories and snake yarns are examples, and one explains the mental process of the story-teller by saying, 'he's told the story so often that at last he believes it himself.' the process is really one of forgetting and is closely allied to the repression of an unpleasant memory, for the man is the victim of a mental conflict: on the one side is his desire to tell a good story, and on the other is his moral complex which forbids a lie, so he solves the conflict by forgetting that the embroideries are inventions. this type is an important one, and what i shall call the 'repression of the knowledge of deceit' plays an important part in the explanation of the abnormal phenomena with which this book deals. in tracing the development of the abnormal we must start with what is nearest the normal, and the man who embroiders his story gives an illustration of the simplest form of this particular repression. now, just as memories are repressed because they were repugnant to the other contents of the consciousness, so other complexes may be repugnant and meet the same fate. to be torn by conflicting emotions is the fate of most people at some time or other, and the conflict between two complexes may be solved in various ways. the healthy way is to face the difficulty, to reason it out, and reach a conclusion by which action may be guided; another way, a common one, is to seclude one complex in a logic-tight compartment and so avoid the conflict. the man who uses sharp or shady methods in the city and is a gentle-minded philanthropist in other walks of life is using the latter method, and will produce such rationalisations as 'business is business' when the contents of his different compartments need protection from each other. but for some people such methods are impossible: either they cannot directly solve the conflict or they are too self-critical to build a logic-tight compartment, and in such cases a repression of one of the opposing complexes may result. in this way complexes concerning ambitions and desires may be repressed, and so may those concerning fears and dislikes. the youth put to an uncongenial trade, the man or woman married to an unsuitable partner, may find no escape from the position and decide to bear it and forget its anxiety. how far this succeeds depends upon the previously existing tendencies of the individual: he may suffer no evil from the repression or, like the soldier's repressed war memories, it may manifest itself by indirect means and the unfortunate sufferer becomes a victim of one of the varied forms of neurosis. the day-dreams of youth are rarely openly expressed: no one can tell what fantasies a child may have, and many of us are familiar with the thoughtful child who sits lost in meditation and presents an impenetrable barrier to the grown-up who would enter into the secrets of the day-dream. these fancies may be, and probably are, completely forgotten, but they can still lie in the unconscious, and freud and his followers claim that they influence us throughout life. chapter iv dissociation as you sit reading this book you perhaps cross your legs or move to an easier position. did you think, 'my leg is beginning to feel tired, i'll shift it?' did you even know you were shifting it? watch a friend next time he drives you in his car. if he is an expert driver he will talk to you whilst his car slips through the traffic, and handle the various gears and controls as occasion arises without apparently giving any thought to the action; moreover, if you direct his attention to what he is doing he may do it with less accuracy than before--like the billiard player who carefully studies a shot and then makes a miss-cue. it is not sufficient to call the driving automatic, though that word is often used to describe actions of this type, for it is dependent upon innumerable stimuli that reach the driver's mind through all his senses and there produce sensations and impulses which have to be translated into actions. there is much real mind-work involved, and we must regard the driving as carried on by a part of his consciousness which is temporarily apart from his main stream, the latter being devoted to your intellectual entertainment. so far as it concerns this example the splitting-off is normal. most of us develop such capability in some way or other: the skilful pianist will talk while playing from sight a difficult passage, and the smoker carries out puffing actions by his little split-off stream whilst the main stream is solving the problem of the moment. all sorts of trivial actions are done unknown to the doer. for instance, a man whilst reading may have the habit of turning a pencil over and over and if any one gently removes the pencil he will reach out for it and continue to turn it, whilst his main stream knows nothing of the little by-play. we see that consciousness is not fully and evenly aware of all our actions; some actions with their accompanying mental process can be carried on by an independent stream and, as in the case of the pianist, the streams are of such balanced complexity that we can regard them as co-equal. others, like turning over the pencil, are associated with such a lack of awareness that they hardly seem conscious, and if they are regarded as due to a split-off stream the stream is a very minor one. this loss of awareness can be carried further, and actions involving complicated processes can be performed without the main personality knowing of them. the easiest example by way of illustration is automatic writing, often carried out by planchette, which is a small platform mounted on wheels and bearing a pencil whose point touches a sheet of paper. if two people, sitting opposite each other, place their finger-tips upon the platform it immediately begins to move, for unless the muscular push of one operator is absolutely balanced by that of the other the apparatus moves away from one of them; the other person straightway resists the movement and pushes in an opposite direction, and thus a see-saw motion is kept up which the operators cannot stop. the resulting scrawls on the paper may be deciphered according to fancy, but with practice a legible product is obtained; further, some people are able to concentrate the mind upon, or in other words fill the stream of consciousness with, another set of ideas by means of talking or reading, so that the automatic writing is carried on by a split-off stream of which the main stream is unaware. one person can use planchette alone, though the experiment is oftener carried out as described above because unintended movements are more readily produced by two operators. by this trick of splitting-off, or dissociation, the operator is able to allow ideas and memories from the unconscious to come to the surface unrestrained by the cramping control of the consciousness; hence the product of the automatism is usually fantastic and imaginative, though memories are available which may be beyond the reach of the consciousness. an excellent example of this dissociation is given in _the gate of remembrance_, a book which i shall consider later. the view might be held that the dissociated stream is really a part of the unconscious whose results make themselves manifest in the consciousness, as i described in the first chapter when writing about intuition; but in automatic writing the main personality is not aware of the results: the dissociated writer does not know what he has written until he reads it, and it may be as much news to him as to a bystander. the two streams of thought flowing side by side exemplify one kind of dissociation of consciousness, and others of this kind will be described later; this type i shall call _continuous dissociation_, but there is another which at first sight seems quite different and of which i will give an example:-an ex-soldier suffered from fears and depressions which made his life a misery, and an endeavour was made to find the cause in a repressed memory. his account of events was complete up to a certain time, but there his recollections ceased; then one day something touched up the hidden memory and in the presence of his doctor he went through a most dramatic scene, showing horror at falling down a dark dug-out upon the bodies of dead germans and at subsequent experiences which had strongly affected him and whose revival produced again the same emotions as the original events. at the next interview the following dialogue took place:-'i want you to tell me about falling down the dug-out.' 'what dug-out, sir?' 'the one you told me about last time.' 'i don't remember telling you about it.' 'yes you do, the dug-out at....' 'no, i don't remember any dug-out at....' there was no reason why the man should lie, and his expression of surprise and absence of other emotion seemed indicative of truth. when the doctor made the man close his eyes and thus shut out his present surroundings the memory returned with strong emotional reaction, less intense, however, than on the former occasion. this case can be explained by regarding his repressed complex as lying in the unconscious, held there by the repugnance he felt towards it; then during the interview with the doctor it rose into consciousness and swept every other thought away. the stream of consciousness was suddenly cut off, its place being taken by this new stream with its recollections and emotions, and when the ordinary consciousness resumed its flow there was no connection between it and the dramatic episode which had interrupted, so that all memory of the episode was lost. we can picture the repressed complex not as lying in the unconscious but as forming a dissociated stream flowing parallel with the main one, and showing its presence by producing those apparently causeless fears and depressions from which the patient suffered, till it suddenly swept aside the main stream and took its place. this alternative view shows the absence of any sharp division between the concept of the unconscious and of a dissociated consciousness, and at the same time brings this _abrupt dissociation_ into harmony with continuous dissociation. such a dissociation, but with less emotional contents, can persist for a long time, the subject living, as it were, the life of the dissociated stream. then we have a man with no memory of his previous life, but whose repressed memories, desires, or troubles, forming a complex in the unconscious, have finally broken across the stream of consciousness and taken its place as a second personality. such instances have been described[5] as 'double personalities', and to this group belong those cases in which a man is found wandering with all memory of his name or associations gone. in soldiers with repressed war memories the repression may include the whole of their war experiences, and they can tell nothing of, say, a year spent in france; here, as long as the repression continues, there is the potentiality of the outbreak of a second personality. [footnote 5: see the _psychology of insanity_.] the story of _dr. jekyll and mr. hyde_, stripped of those portions which r. l. stevenson introduced to make it suit his public--the bodily change and the drugs which produced it--can be read with interest as a study of the development of a dissociation, the main personality being aware of the dissociated stream but unable to control it when once the splitting-off had been accomplished. a less fanciful story of a dissociation is given in _a tale of two cities_, where the unfortunate dr. manette, having learnt shoemaking whilst a prisoner in the bastille, insists on retaining his tools and material after he is rescued and brought to england, in times of stress secluding himself for a period and living his old life again, working at the old employment and hardly aware of the real world around him. the source of the story might be made a subject of research by the dickens fellowship, for it is too accurate to be purely a fantasy of charles dickens, who, like all of his craft that live, was no mean psychologist. even dr. manette's insistence upon retaining his tools, unaware as he was of his own reason for doing so, is consistent with what really happens when a dissociated stream influences the personality. the different degrees of dissociation can be represented diagramatically. (see opposite page.) it is to be noted that the dissociation may be the result of purposive action on the part of the subject, though, as will be seen in later chapters, an entirely wrong interpretation may be given to it by the person most concerned and by other people as well; or it may be the result of a repression, and in that case any interpretation given by the subject must necessarily be a wrong one, for he is ignorant of its cause on account of the mechanism of repression, or, to put it differently, if he knows the cause it is no longer repressed. [illustration: two streams of equal value and under the same control. examples: the pianist and the motor-car driver. _a normal phenomenon_, but linked to the next class by cases of absent-mindedness.] [illustration: two streams, one being the ordinary stream of consciousness and the other a stream not under the control of the main personality, which is concerned only with the ordinary stream. examples: automatic writing, water-divining and hysteria (see chapter viii). _continuous dissociation._] [illustration: a continuous dissociation with a sudden irruption of the dissociated into the main stream, completely replacing it for a period. examples: the case of the ex-soldier and those of double personality; also somnambulisms and spiritualist trances. _abrupt dissociation._] once again i will emphasise the difficulty of drawing a line between normal and abnormal. my boy guide referred to in chapter i was as near normal as could be, though the means by which he kept his course might be described as a product of dissociation. if he had been imaginative and i credulous he could have foisted upon me a supernatural explanation of his powers and taken his place with clairvoyants and water-diviners. but there are manifestations of distinctly abnormal character to explain which is the object of this book, and for the people producing these manifestations i propose the name of dissociates, since dissociation is the key to the understanding of the phenomena they present. the logic-tight compartments previously described are to be regarded as partial dissociations to which we are all liable, the partitions being unrecognised by their owner and the contents kept apart from the modifying influences of the main personality. hence when the onlooker becomes aware of the presence of such a dissociation he does not judge the contents of the compartment by the same standard that he applies to the person as a whole. there is nothing fresh in this point of view, which is admitted when virulent political opponents can be good friends by each ignoring the dissociated prejudices of the other, or in everyday life when in some circles the discussion of political or religious subjects is avoided for the sake of good fellowship. extreme dissociation by reason of a logic-tight compartment is shown in that kind of insanity in which the sufferer behaves as an ordinary being with ordinary actions and ideas except for the influence of a systematised delusion (generally persecutory or grandiose) of most irrational type which is impregnable to explanation or argument. on all other points the man is sane, and the purely mental origin of the disease is suggested by his remaining in good health and without mental deterioration apart from the delusional system, in this respect differing greatly from the sufferers from most other forms of insanity. some psychiatrists claim to have traced the delusions back to repressions that took place in early life.[6] [footnote 6: for a fuller account of dissociation i would refer the reader to _the psychology of insanity_, by dr. bernard hart, to which i am indebted for the form of some of my ideas. (cambridge university press.)] chapter v water-divining water-divining, or dowsing, is accepted in many parts of the world and used as a practical method of locating underground water. official bodies as well as private individuals employ practitioners of the art, and among people generally there is a strong belief in its genuineness. it is carried out by means of a forked twig, hazel by traditional preference, which is grasped in the dowser's two hands and is said to be twisted upwards by an unknown force when there is water underground. as an addition it is sometimes claimed that the twig will indicate the presence of metals by being twisted downwards. believers in the twisting of the twig are generally ignorant that it was formerly used in the pursuit and detection of criminals and the finding of buried treasure[7] and that it was being used in the year 1918 to locate a seam of coal. going farther afield, we learn that the witch-findings practised by african savages are sometimes carried out by means of a stick which points at the victim. [footnote 7: see janet, op. cit., p. 368, where he also says: 'il est probable que, dans quelques campagnes, subsiste encore la croyance aux révélations de la baguette divinatoire.'] such varied uses demand a new and complicated system of physics if the results are due to any forces external to the diviner, but my own observations satisfy me that we need not overturn our ordinary conceptions of cause and effect to explain the different properties of the divining-rod. when a friend told me of the presence of a dowser in the neighbourhood and gave me a would-be convincing account of how he had seen him at work, how the twig was twisted upwards with such force that my informant was unable to depress it, and how the man was employed by engineers to tell them where to sink wells, i became interested and asked to see the marvel. the resulting experiment, though conducted haphazard, was instructive as regards both water-divining and credulity. the man broke a forked twig from a bush, and, holding it in the way described later, was directed down a path leading to a tennis-court. along this path no water was known to exist, but the twig rose twice. beneath the tennis-court ran a water-pipe which had burst during the previous winter, and of which the position was known to six at least of those present. this pipe was located by the man, and he demonstrated it again and again by walking across it, the twig rising each time. it rose again when he was directed past a cook-house. next he was sent along a path leading from the cook-house to the main building, and the twig rose several times. he said, 'there is water all along here', and was told that there was a pipe running along the path. here i intervened and asked him to try across one edge of the path, which was about six feet wide. the twig rose, and, just as on the tennis-court, he walked again and again across the indicated line, the twig rising every time, though as a fact the pipe lay on the other side of the path. he explained to us that god gave 'the gift' to moses, and that now only one man in ten thousand received the gift. when he left i took a twig and showed that i had the gift, or, at least, that the twig performed in my hands exactly as it had done in his. 'but', said my friends, 'he found the pipe on the tennis-court.' it mattered nothing that he had found water twice within a few yards where none was known, or that at least six of the bystanders knew of the existence of the water-pipe and were ready to show their anticipation as he approached it and their delight when he located it, nor that he located the other pipe on the wrong side of the path. the movements of the twig might be a fraud, his other finds might be failures or guesses, but his one success was enough for them. even the padre, when i said that the man had the face typical of a mystic, was moved to ask, 'but may not a mystic have powers of which we know nothing?' in short, the rising of the twig was produced by the man himself, and his findings were guesses, aided by ordinary knowledge as to where water-pipes are to be expected, and more especially aided by the attitude and expression of the bystanders. yet by his manner he showed that he plainly believed in his own powers: otherwise his reference to the gift of god was simple blasphemy, and he seemed an earnest man. [illustration] how can we explain this belief on the one hand and the trickery on the other? first let us examine the mechanism involved in the upward twisting of the twig. suppose you take a tough and springy forked twig, each arm of the fork being about nine or ten inches long, hold it with the apex away from you, and, with your palms facing together and your finger-tips pointing upward, place the thumb and little finger of each hand inside the fork at the places marked t and f. now close each hand, and you have each arm of the fork firmly gripped; next, keeping your elbows well in, bend the arms of the fork outward as in fig. 2, with your palms now looking upward. you will then find that a sort of trigger action tends to occur, and by a slight pressure of your ring-fingers against the twig you can make it rise. still gripping firmly and pressing your hands a little together you will find it continues to rise, and by bending your hands downwards at the wrists and pressing your elbows to your side you can easily persuade an observer, and perhaps yourself, that you are trying to hold the twig down. you may even find that it leaves a pressure mark on your little finger, which you can show as evidence of how you tried to restrain it. if one arm of the fork is weaker than the other it may break, and that of course will be conclusive proof of the working of a mysterious power. so we see there is nothing very strange in the man believing that his muscular action was not responsible for the moving of the twig; but his two-sided make-up--piety on one side and trickery on the other--can best be explained by a dissociation, with repression of the knowledge of trickery as far as the main personality is concerned. we might split up his consciousness like this:- piety, and belief in knowledge of the means water-divining employed. hypersensitive as the gift of god. mechanism for carrying it on. perhaps it is unfair to talk of trickery; he may have deceived himself from the start and never known that he was deceiving any one. at first i pictured him as learning the trick from some one else, trying it on with his friends--maybe across a bridge over a stream--and being taken seriously, and then, when he could not escape from his reputation without owning up to the fraud, being compelled for his peace of mind to repress the deceit complex and carry on as a dissociate. the man himself would be the last person to gain information from, for his repression, however it began, is now complete. the discussion that followed the experiment was instructive: most of the bystanders appeared to believe in the existence of some unknown force of nature operating through a specially-gifted person, the mechanism of the twig being unnoticed and the greatest emphasis placed upon the one success. i have no doubt that in a short time the memory of that one success would be the only part of the performance not forgotten. moreover, if any one of the bystanders had told me the story, describing fully and fairly everything he had observed, i should have been unable to criticise the facts thus presented and denial of the miraculous would have been ineffectual; yet these bystanders were all educated and intelligent men. with the information gained from this experiment i was able to understand the next example. the subject was mentioned in a provincial newspaper, and incidentally a story was told of how a dowser who also had the power of locating metals was able by means of the twig to indicate the position of two sovereigns concealed under a carpet, showing the relationship of water-divining to some forms of 'thought reading.' in the next number of the paper appeared 'some corroborative testimony' from a well-known local gentleman, who was also a dowser, and some of his testimony i will quote:- 'i have had twigs as thick as my little finger twist off and break after scoring my hand until it was red. the muscles of the arm become contracted when the bodily magnetism is affected by the presence of water, and a strong spring will make my arms ache badly. it is quite true that only running water affects me, and on one occasion i had a curious example of this. it was on a saturday evening, and i quite accidentally found the presence of water close to a house where my sister was living. the following day i told her about the spring and tried the spot, when no effect was observable. on enquiry she told me that there was a pipe underneath connected with a ram which was always put out of action on sunday.' further on, referring to another incident, he says:- 'i had dowsed the ground, and in addition had noted, with the help of an eminent geologist, the geological strata. the dowsing satisfied me that the ground was full of water: the geological survey suggested the best place to collect it. i suppose the power must have something to do with the composition of the blood and nerve cells, but i have never yet come across a scientific explanation of the power, which is certainly possessed by many people.' here we have a country gentleman of indisputable honesty and intelligence attributing to unknown forces such movements and sensations as any one can produce who follows the preceding instructions, water or no water being present. the 'bodily magnetism' is a pure rationalisation and beyond discussion, but the story of the pipe and the ram is different: a ram is a pump worked by a stream of water and the noise of it is carried a long way, especially along any pipe connected with it, and if i told this gentleman that he had heard the noise of the ram he would strenuously deny the possibility, and might challenge me to test whether i could hear the noise; but i have no dissociated water-divining personality unhampered by my conscious efforts and trained to pick up such indications. it would seem incredible to him that he heard the noise of the ram on the saturday, failed to hear it on the sunday, deduced that the water was no longer running, and then showed this deduction by refraining from tilting up the twig; but with our knowledge of dissociation and repression, and of the working of the unconscious, we can understand all this taking place without his main stream of consciousness being aware of it. the reference to geology is also instructive; he evidently has a knowledge of that subject, and he might perhaps admit that the indications of the twig coincided with the geological indications, though he is unaware of and cannot admit any dependence of the former on the knowledge of the latter. thus in both these cases the likelihood of the presence of water is only a matter of observation--skilled and minute no doubt--and the movement of the twig is in no way caused by any physical forces except those exercised by the muscles of the dowser. that the second personality of the dowser is able to deceive him is now explained, and his obvious honesty so influences non-critical observers that their credulity is no cause for wonder. an example of water-divining without dissociation was given me by dr. w. h. bryce, of fifeshire, whose words are as follows:- 'there was an old scot who was reputed to be very skilful in finding water and who was so employed throughout his neighbourhood. he was not above using the twigs, but told me they were no use, but he judged entirely by the lie of the land. in his own language he always looked for the "rise of the metals" in looking for water. a diviner came to the neighbourhood and located water in two places. in the one place the old countryman said, "how can he get water there? now at the top of the den where the metals rise each way he might get it." bores were sunk at both places that the diviner indicated, but no water was got.' this man would probably have refused such a test as locating a water-pipe, for his conclusions were based upon conscious reasoning and he would be incapable of making guesses or picking up indications from the behaviour of bystanders; therefore in the eyes of the credulous he would be inferior to the wonder-working dowser. one repeatedly hears stories of how the dowser has found water when geologists have failed, but the man who is sufficiently uncritical to accept the working of the twig as due to some strange 'gift' is likely to be as credulous in observation and beliefs concerning the rest of the phenomena. chapter vi suggestion 'the power of suggestion' is a plausible explanation of varied phenomena. by it the feelings of a crowd are swayed, fashions are spread, mistakes are made, and beliefs are imposed upon the multitude, and in the production of hypnotic and hysterical manifestation the words 'power of suggestion' and 'personal magnetism' are sufficient explanation of all things visible and invisible. 'personal magnetism' and its kindred phrases implying the existence of some subtle physical force are, except when used figuratively, mere incoherences, but suggestion is an undoubted cause of certain effects and we must try to understand the meaning of the word. mcdougall defines suggestion as 'a process of communication resulting in the acceptance with conviction of the communicated proposition in the absence of logical grounds for its acceptance'.[8] [footnote 8: _social psychology_, p. 97.] our thinking (apart from the observation of cause and effect in the small affairs of ordinary life) is generally a matter of complexes, logic being concerned only in rare cases; hence if we use the above definition the greater part of our accepted propositions owe their acceptance to suggestion. this is true as regards most of our political, religious, and social beliefs, and, since children believe what they are taught chiefly because the teacher says so, there does not seem much opinion or knowledge of the abstract for which suggestion is not accountable. if a suggestion agrees with the complexes already existing in the mind of the hearer then acceptance is likely to follow; this partly explains the psychology of crowds and the power of oratory, which appeals to emotions and prejudice rather than to reason. the knowledge that one's fellows believe is sufficient to convince the ordinary man, and often the existence of widespread belief is used as an argument to prove the truth of a proposition. one recognises this tendency at once in people of another race and other superstitions. an educated chinese once assured me that blood from those nearly related would mix if dropped into a bowl of water, and drops from the veins of strangers would remain apart, and that this test was used to decide cases of disputed relationship. when i showed incredulity my friend assured me, 'it's true, quite true, every one knows it.' within a day or two an englishman, whilst discussing telegony, or the influence of a first mating upon the progeny of subsequent pairings, maintained that the widespread belief among dog-breeders in the existence of this influence proved its truth, and my recollection of the argument of my chinese friend showed me how alike are the causes of belief among all mankind. man tends to believe what his fellows believe and act as his fellows act, and this tendency has been erected into an instinct by trotter, who shows how important the herd instinct is to all gregarious animals, including man.[9] [footnote 9: _instincts of the herd in peace and war._ t. fisher unwin.] but if suggestion is to be made synonymous with the herd instinct it explains too much, and we must seek to narrow its meaning or use another word. it is already used in a somewhat special sense to account for the acceptance of propositions which an ordinary man in his ordinary state of mind would not accept, and especially is it used in relation to abnormal states such as hypnosis and hysteria. an authoritative and confident manner makes easy the acceptance of suggestion, as every confidence-trick man knows; the writer of advertisements or political articles knows it too, but in the last example we see a new factor. the hardened big-ender would be impervious to the most imposing suggestions from a little-endian source, but would accept the saddest nonsense from a journal of his own party. we see here an active desire to accept propositions that accord with a powerful complex, and as complexes become more separated from the influence of reason so this desire increases. this i shall call 'receptivity', and to the term i shall give a further meaning in the sense not only of desiring to accept propositions but of anticipating or guessing them, of picking up hints as to what is in the minds of the other persons concerned and reflecting them as if they originated in the mind of the receiver. in some cases of hysteria the patient presents a weak or paralysed limb, and this limb is often so insensitive that pins may be pushed through the skin without any manifestations of pain. this phenomenon, which resembles the insensitive patches that under the name of 'devil's claws' were found upon witches when witchcraft was fashionable, has been long known as a sign of hysteria. there is now a tendency to ascribe it to suggestibility or, as i should prefer, to receptivity. in the early stage of the disease some one examines the arm, pricks it, and asks, 'do you feel that?' it is my experience that the patient sometimes flinches at the first prick, but answers 'no', and until this newly-implanted belief is removed he never flinches again when the limb is pricked. the question is taken by the patient to mean that the doctor expects that the prick will not be felt--or why should he ask? the hint is accepted and the insensibility established, though its unreal nature is shown by the fact that the patient is not especially disposed to burn or injure the limb, unlike the sufferer from a true loss of sensation, who is always liable to such an accident owing to the lack of the protective sense of pain. i believe that this is the true explanation for many cases, and put it forward as a good example of receptivity. the insensitiveness is similarly explained by babinski,[10] who uses a different method of examination. he blindfolds the patient, who must not have been subjected to a previous test, and stimulating him variously in different places asks what he feels. this avoids the suggestion of loss of sensation, and the result is that babinski finds few examples of such loss in cases where the 'do you feel that?' method would produce many positive results. [footnote 10: _hysteria or pithiatism and nervous troubles of reflex order._ london university press.] it may also be explained by a dissociation of consciousness, in which the split-off stream deals with the paralysed limb and therefore the main stream of consciousness knows nothing about the prick. the difference between the two theories is not so great as appears, for the control of the supposed loss of sensation, once it is established, finds its home in a split-off stream, and the process i describe is only a stage in the dissociation. i must admit, however, to seeing cases where a hysterical loss of voice of long duration is accompanied by a loss of sensation in the throat which is not explicable by receptivity, and it is possible for the dissociation to be directly responsible for the loss. jung expresses sound views when he writes:- 'it should long ago have been realised that a suggestion is only accepted by one it suits.... this pseudo-scientific talk about suggestion is based upon the unconscious superstition that suggestion actually possesses some magic power. no one succumbs to suggestion unless from the very bottom of his heart he be willing to co-operate.'[11] [footnote 11: _analytical psychology_, p. 469. baillière, tindall & cox, 1917.] whilst stripping suggestion of its magic i by no means deny its power. let one person at a dinner suggest that the fish is tainted and he will generally have one or two supporters who would have eaten it without a doubt of its freshness if no one had cast suspicion upon it; or let one of a class of medical students say with sufficient assurance that he hears a murmur over a patient's heart and, even if the heart sounds are quite ordinary, others will hear it too. there are conditions, such as fatigue or sleep, in which the effort necessary to examine the truth of a proposition seems too great, and suggestions are accepted which would be rejected in a state of fuller consciousness. for example, i was awakened one night, when a hospital resident, and told that one of my patients was very restless. i could not remember the man, but asked a few questions about him and ordered a soporific. next morning on waking i became aware that i had no such patient, and on enquiry found that i had been mistaken for another resident whose slumbers had been undisturbed, thanks to my suggestibility, for had i been fully awake i should have repudiated any connection with the case. the confident manner of the messenger assisted the suggestion, and i like to think that had there been a trick intentionally played upon me even my sleepy consciousness might have detected some warning change of tone. psychologists regard hypnotic suggestibility as only a further stage of this sleepy non-resistance, but i see in the former a more active desire to accept. though suggestion might be further classified according to the factors concerned in its acceptance, the class showing 'receptivity' is the important one for our consideration. there remains auto-suggestion to be considered; it is as difficult to define as suggestion, but in the absence of any more precise term it must be accepted as indicating certain mental processes. the sensations felt in the arms and hands by the water-diviner or table-turner are partly the result of auto-suggestion and partly of muscular contractions, themselves produced by the same cause, and some of the varied sensations of the hysteric are of similar origin. creepy feelings at the mention of snakes, and unpleasant sensations at the thought of those 'minor horrors of war' that live in undergarments, are further examples. as far as the persons concerned are able to judge, the sensations are often real enough, though it was long before i could believe that a confirmed hysteric who complained of a severe pain really suffered from that pain; the description of a water-diviner's sensations, given by himself and quoted in another chapter, are such that one must believe in the honesty of the writer. one might say auto-suggestion arises from the unconscious or from a dissociated stream of consciousness, and this would make it account for hallucinations and obsessions, but here we must again take account of borderline cases. the person who feels a cold shiver at the mention of a snake cannot tell us precisely to what extent the shiver is due to conscious thoughts, or whether he feels it just because he must; and the feeling may be due to what he remembers being told about snakes, in which case it would not be due to pure auto-suggestion. the explanation of the success of suggestion in particular cases is to be sought in the emotional state of the subject. when i was the victim, as described above, my readiness to believe arose from my being accustomed to nocturnal interruptions when my patients were in trouble and also from my reliance on the hospital staff, my emotional state being one of expectation and confidence. if to these influences are added stronger emotional forces, such as wonder or terror, acceptance of suggestion is still easier, and when people assembled together are swayed by these feelings the herd instinct reaches its full strength and we have the ingredients for the manufacture of a collective delusion. there are many examples of strange and supernatural occurrences vouched for by masses of observers, and i see no reason to doubt the good faith of the historians. we all know how infectious is emotion and how hard it is for one man to remain unmoved when around him are others all under the influence of some excitement, and man always insists on finding reasons for his feelings or objects for his emotions. when wonder or terror are roused by the operation of the herd instinct, the individual, not knowing their origin, projects them externally and seeks an object for them. he is now ready to see or hear anything that will fit his emotions, and when an object is suggested he will speedily accept its existence as a reality. i will give some further examples of suggestion in varying degrees of strength. during the arrival of recently wounded men at a hospital in france, i was in a ward with two eminent members of my profession and another medical officer. as one man seemed bad the sister asked me to see him at once; his left arm was paralysed, and he had a wound on the head where in the brain beneath lies the 'motor area' of the left arm. looking at the wound, which was obscured by hair and blood, i said, 'that's pulsating'; the two consultants and the other officer agreed with my observation, and appropriate treatment was recommended. the importance of pulsation lies in the fact that it is a sign of the exposure of brain substance, which pulsates strongly, and in this case it signified the presence of a hole in the skull which allowed the pulsation to appear; but in the operating theatre shortly afterwards the skull was found intact, and therefore pulsation had not been present. how did this joint error of observation arise? the combination of a gunshot wound of the head with a paralysed limb may occur in connection with a hole in the skull, and such penetrating wounds were common before the introduction of helmets. my unconscious had worked out the probabilities and led me to expect the signs of penetration; deceiving myself, by my confident manner i imposed my belief upon my colleagues, who had, i may assume, placed unjustified confidence in my reliability as an observer; and we all saw that which was not. another example shows how ghost stories arise: a man related to me how at the age of sixteen he was sleeping with his brother, and woke up to see a ghostly face on the wall. so far we have an ordinary half-awake hallucinatory condition, which is not uncommon; but the lad became terrified and tried to cover his head to hide the sight, when the brother woke up, and, being told of the face, promptly saw it too. the brother's evidence is strongly corroborative, not of the presence of a ghost, but of the power of suggestion when the way is prepared by strong emotion. it may be remarked that the man was one of those nervous people who fear the dark or being alone; seeing a ghost was not the cause of his condition, but resulted from the inculcation of a belief in ghosts in a person predisposed to fall a prey to his own unconscious. the next example is a well-worn tale which has been quoted by frank podmore, w. h. myers, sir william barrett, and probably many others. i take it from pages 62 and 63 of _human personality_, vol. i.[12] [footnote 12: longmans & co., london, 1903.] it (the account) was given by mr. charles lett on december 3, 1885, and reads as follows:- 'on the 5th of april, 1873, my wife's father, captain towns, died at his residence, cranbrook, rose bay, near sydney, new south wales. about six weeks after his death my wife had occasion, one evening about nine o'clock, to go to one of the bedrooms in the house. she was accompanied by a young lady, miss britton, and as they entered the room--the gas was burning all the time--they were amazed to see, reflected as it were upon the polished surface of the wardrobe, the image of captain towns. it was barely half-figure, the head, shoulders, and part of the arms only showing--in fact it was like an ordinary medallion portrait, but life-size. the face appeared wan and pale, as it did before his death; he wore a kind of grey flannel jacket, in which he had been accustomed to sleep. surprised and half alarmed at what they saw, their first idea was that a portrait had been hung in the room, and that what they saw was its reflection, but there was no picture of the kind. 'whilst they were looking and wondering, my wife's sister, miss towns, came into the room, and before either of the others had time to speak, she exclaimed, "good gracious! do you see papa?" one of the housemaids happened to be passing downstairs at the moment and she was called in, and asked if she saw anything, and her reply was "oh, miss: the master." graham--captain towns' old body-servant--was then sent for, and he also exclaimed, "oh, lord save us! mrs. lett, it's the captain!" the butler was called, and then mrs. crane, my wife's nurse, and they both said what they saw. finally mrs. towns was sent for, and, seeing the apparition, she advanced towards it ... as she passed her hand over the panel of the wardrobe the figure gradually faded away, and never again appeared. 'these are the facts of the case, and they admit of no deceit; no kind of intimation was given to any of the witnesses; the same question was put to each one as they came into the room, and the reply was given without hesitation by each. 'mrs. lett is positive that the recognition of the appearance on the part of each of the later witnesses was _independent_, and not due to any suggestion from the persons already in the room.' then follows a statement by two of the witnesses that this account is correct. in the lapse of twelve years between the incident and its narration a story of this nature would have been re-told many times, and we know what happens under such conditions. as the tale is given, however, it reveals more than the narrator thinks it does. most interesting is the denial of suggestion when we have present all the factors necessary for suggestion of the most powerful kind. picture miss towns coming into the room whilst the first two were 'looking and wondering' (and not in silence, we may be sure, in spite of the words 'before either of the others had time to speak', which are interpolated to strengthen the story); she straightway experiences the same emotion as do the others and sees what they see. now we have three emotional people, and as each new witness is brought along the emotion increases till it would require a very self-possessed and sceptical person to resist its influence. the butler and the nurse simply _had_ to see the ghost, though the account is a little ambiguous at that point. 'the same question was put to each one as they came into the room', but is it likely that under such a condition of excitement enough self-control was left to every individual to ensure that the same question, _and nothing else_, was put to each newcomer? such a thing could only happen by careful pre-arrangement, which was lacking here, and the writer's insistence shows that somewhere in his mind was present the suspicion that suggestion had a hand in the production of the unanimous evidence. mrs. lett is equally insistent that the recognition was not due to any suggestion from the persons already in the room, but she was unaware that suggestion can occur without intent and that the most powerful suggestion is that which is unintentional. can we suppose that there were no signs of wonder and awe on the faces of those present, no excited exclamations, no glances towards the wardrobe, no pointing of hands: only a few calm and self-possessed people asking each newcomer if he or she saw anything? if two or three people tried by suggestion to persuade others to see a ghost they would not be able to reach the emotional state of the actors in this scene, and the intentional effort at suggestion would have a good chance of failure. the minute account of the apparition, given by some one who was not present, and told as if it were the result of the immediate observations of the first two witnesses, has been influenced by discussion after the incident and is itself another product of suggestion. the narrator has over-shot the mark in his protest against the possibility of suggestion, and has produced a story in which the apparition is not the only improbability. i have given this analysis because the story is quoted repeatedly by writers on the spiritualist side, and until one examines it critically it appears convincing. the rumour of the russian troops passing through england in september, 1914, will go down in history as a proof that mass credulity was then as powerful as ever. the rumour, however it began, was aided by the usual forces: herd instinct (for what every one believed was felt to be true), the desire to believe in what we wanted to happen, and the desire to be personally connected with important events. the last factor was shown by the number of people who claimed to have personal experience of the transit of the russian reinforcements; every one had seen the troops or knew some one who had. one of my friends, a man eminent in a profession which demands clear thinking, told me that his own brother-in-law was responsible for arrangements for their railway transport. the reader will see in this rumour a perfect example of the working of suggestion in a case familiar to every one, and if the lesson is borne in mind a list of believers in some unnatural occurrence will not necessarily carry conviction. chapter vii hypnotism the history of hypnotism is closely associated with that of charlatanry, though at some periods the practice has reached an honourable position in therapeutics. the 'temple sleep' of ancient greek medicine was a hypnosis, but in later days hypnotism fell into oblivion till the time of mesmer, when it was so mingled with quackery and theatrical display that some disrepute is even to this day attached to its honest use in curative medicine. the common attitude to it is one of mistrust. thanks to its exploitation by novelists, 'hypnotic power' is regarded as marvellous and uncanny, and the mysterious person who exercises it is able to lead his victims along any path. the fashion for public shows of mesmerism has apparently died away, their place being taken by thought-reading performances which cater for the desire of man to believe that he is seeing a manifestation of the occult. the 'mesmeric eye', whose pupil dilates or contracts at the will of its owner while its gaze remains fixed, has by imaginative writers been ascribed alike to lord kitchener and the monk rasputin, and presents a phenomenon unknown to physiologists. the 'will-power' of the hypnotist is as much a product of imagination, whilst the confident and willing co-operation of the subject is really the factor of most importance. nobody but a very credulous person can be hypnotised against his will, and at the beginning of the process the full co-operation of the subject is necessary, though with repeated sittings his suggestibility becomes increased and to that extent his 'will-power' may be said to have diminished. in the induction of hypnosis the essentials are quiet surroundings and confidence of success on the part of both operator and subject. the subject is then led to think only of the operator and his remarks and directions, whilst generally some mechanical method is used which by tiring the eyes produces a feeling of sleepiness. success varies according to the skill and confidence of the operator and their persuasive effect on the subject. several sittings may be necessary before any depth of hypnosis is obtained. if the result is successful the stream of consciousness is thinned out and its place is taken by other thoughts and suggestions supplied by the operator. in light hypnosis there is produced a condition in which suggestions concerning, say, the cessation of bad habits or modes of thought are more readily accepted than in the normal state of consciousness, the subject having afterwards a complete memory of the sitting. in deeper stages hypnotic sleep is produced, suggestions concerning the bodily functions--producing, for example, temporary rigidity or paralysis or loss of feeling--may take effect, and the memory of the sitting may not be recalled afterwards; the subject may carry out various movements by direction of the operator, and may believe what his senses should contradict. in this deeper stage he is in a condition to receive suggestions as to actions to be performed after the hypnotic state has ceased. the explanation of the increased suggestibility of the hypnotic subject lies in the abolition, total or partial, of his stream of consciousness. such critical powers as he possesses are suspended and he has no standard by which to judge assertions presented to him, like a man in a dream who through a similar absence of standards of comparison sees no absurdity in the suspension of the laws of gravity. the unconscious of the subject is now accessible to suggestions which may be planted there and will bear fruit even if the subject is unaware of them. it is an experimental commonplace for a subject, told in a hypnotic state to perform a simple but unnecessary action after waking, to invent a rationalisation to account for doing it, whilst having no suspicion that he does it as a result of suggestion. but throughout all the stages he still has a volition of his own and will do nothing that seriously conflicts with his well-rooted ideas of conduct. if he is persuaded that an imaginary some one is sitting in a chair, and is directed to stab him with an imaginary knife, he will perhaps do so, for he would not object to doing so in his waking state; but suggest to him that he should steal a real watch, and if he be a man of ordinary honesty he will find reasons for not stealing it, though perhaps the man of criminal tendencies would fall to the suggestion. a story in illustration of this resistance was told me by a doctor who practised hypnotism for the cure of the alcohol habit. having successfully suggested to a patient that whisky would produce nausea, he congratulated himself on a cure, but to his annoyance the patient came home one day cheerfully intoxicated with beer. further hypnosis was tried and, although the hypnotic state was induced as before, suggestion had no further effect on the drinking habit. it turned out that the patient had decided not to be cured of the beer habit, hence the failure. in hypnosis we have another example of dissociation; during the process of induction the stream of consciousness is thinned out or completely abolished according to the depth of hypnosis. the fact that there may or may not be during the waking state a recollection of the events in a previous hypnosis shows that the dissociation may be continuous or abrupt (see chapter iv). the substituted stream is made up of suggestions from the operator and of material from the unconscious, for the hypnosis may be used to revive memories that have been lost to the consciousness through repression. in this last use we see a relation to automatic writing and other methods of bringing to light the contents of the unconscious. in my account of the water-diviner i suggested that his dissociated stream was especially trained to pick up indications that are not observed by his ordinary self. the study of the hypnotic state shows that our senses sometimes work better when freed from the control of the consciousness, so that the subject is able to see or hear or feel what is unobserved by the ordinary man. he possesses a hyperæsthesia such as we see in a sleeping dog who wakes at the approach of a footstep inaudible to the human ear and recognises whether it belongs to friend or stranger. a similar alertness and its opposite can be seen at work in ordinary sleep. the mother is roused by the slightest whimper of her babe, whilst louder noises pass unheard; but the person who, with the best intention of breaking a bad habit, has an alarm clock by his bedside, may neglect its call for a few mornings and end by entirely failing to hear it. the hyperæsthesia belonging to the unconscious is shown in other conditions than hypnosis and ordinary sleep. jung quotes experiments[13] of binet, who says: 'according to the calculations i have been able to make, the unconscious sensitiveness of a hysteric is on some occasions fifty times more acute than that of a normal person.' [footnote 13: _analytical psychology_, p. 25.] dr. hurst, writing on war neuroses,[14] says: 'in one severe case true hyperacusis was present, and captain e. a. peters estimated that the patient heard sixteen times more acutely than the average normal individual. it was possible to carry on a conversation with him by whispering in one corner of the ward when he was lying in the opposite corner, although men with normal hearing who were standing half-way between in the centre of the room could not hear a word of what was whispered.' [footnote 14: _british medical journal_, september 29, 1917.] i myself knew a war-strained patient who, as a result of terrifying experiences, had a dread of aeroplanes and could not only hear a plane long before his comrades but could tell at once by the hum of the engine whether it was british or german. in other respects his hearing was no better than his neighbour's. another case under my observation was that of a nervous lady with a fear of draughts. whilst secluded in her bedroom she claimed to be affected when far-away doors were open, and showed a most uncanny and accurate knowledge as to whether they were open or shut, though this knowledge was probably derived from the sense of hearing and not from any sensitivity to heat or cold. the word 'hyperæsthesia' is used to denote an excessive acuity of our senses. the examples quoted above refer to the sense of hearing; but other senses, such as touch and sight, may be similarly sharpened. binet's experiments were carried out on the sense of touch. there is no question here of the development of any new sense; the hyperæsthesia is only an exaggeration of the senses we already possess. its importance lies in its common alliance with a dissociated receptivity which may lead it to be overlooked and cause its results to be ascribed to something else. chapter viii dreams the mystery of dreams and their interpretation has occupied men's thoughts in all ages. the jews paid great attention to them, as the old testament shows, and there is evidence that the prophet daniel had a shrewd knowledge, based upon psychological facts, concerning dream meanings. there are probably 'dream books' still sold which purport to provide interpretations for the enquiring dreamer, but it is only in recent years that the scientific study of dreams has produced useful results. freud laid the foundations of our modern knowledge, but unfortunately certain parts of his theories have raised so much antagonism that the sound work he has done is still scorned and dream interpretation is regarded as fanciful; nevertheless i propose to show that in dreams we have a key to the unconscious of the dreamer. before attempting an explanation of dreams we must first consider sleep, which is an interruption of consciousness, so that whatever mind work is carried on in sleep is a product of dissociation. the interruption of consciousness is more or less complete, the light sleeper reacting to external stimuli, turning away from a touch or making movements to protect himself from heat or cold, whilst the heavy sleeper fails to react to these minor disturbances. the memory of occurrences in the outside world during sleep may be vaguely present in the waking stage, and some sleepers will answer questions or obey orders without waking and have little or no recollection of them afterwards. such observations point to a resemblance between sleep and that form of dissociation called hypnosis. in hypnosis the memories and emotions in the unconscious may be brought to the surface, and in sleep the unconscious, escaping from the control of the consciousness, sends up thoughts and feelings which manifest themselves in dreams. how far external stimuli cause or influence dreams is uncertain, but the more one investigates the less importance does one attach to physical stimuli. the dreams of adults are concerned largely with what i have described in a previous chapter as repressions. these repressions are buried in the unconscious, and their efforts to come into consciousness cause our apparently senseless and fantastic dreams. if we dreamed distinctly about these forgotten episodes, and remembered the dream on waking, they would come into consciousness and be recognised, but, being buried and refused admission to the wide-awake world, before entering consciousness they are so distorted as to be unrecognisable. to the mechanism that holds them down or distorts them is given the name of the 'censor', and the interpreter of dreams must seek to evade the censor and resolve the distorted story into its proper elements. this method is of value in that treatment of the war-strained soldier which aims at making him face his memories and grow accustomed to them, for if a memory is repressed it tends to appear in the sufferer's dreams, which give an opportunity for its recovery by dream analysis. the opponents of this method picture the analyst, armed with a dictionary of dream meanings, listening to a patient's account of a dream, then giving him an explanation and persuading him to believe it; but, though a shrewd guess may often be made as to the meaning of a dream, the interpretation, to be of any value, must come from the patient. he is made to close his eyes and, visualising the dream, to describe it carefully. if it is a terrifying dream the telling of it will reproduce the feeling of terror, and appropriate questions will recall the occasion on which the same feeling first occurred. if the real incident is recalled there is an emotional outbreak which often startles the observer, who has the satisfaction of knowing that the greater the outbreak the greater will be the benefit. here is an example of the practical use of a dream: the patient had lost all memory of his experience in france, and this loss spread to his life before the war so that he failed to recall even his former employment; he slept badly and had terrifying dreams, one of which was as follows:- 'i was on a pleasure steamer with a lot of cheerful people; it went to sea and then entered a dark cavern. on the floor of the cavern were broken skeletons, and at the far end of the cavern was a hole with light showing through. two pirates with cocked hats came and led seven of us up the cavern, where we saw some old men with whiskers. the pirates were quite kind and led us through another hole into a small cavern; the wall of the cavern began to fall down, so i picked up a broken sword and began to bore into the wall. then something like a ball of fire came at me, and i woke up frightened.' though the reader could probably guess what the dream was about yet the man had no idea of the meaning, for the censor was still at work. he was made to close his eyes and visualise the ball of fire till he became frightened again, so frightened, indeed, that he was in a state of dissociation, his stream of consciousness being filled by the feeling of terror and only in relation to the outside world by means of the voice of the questioner. (the fact that memories restored by this method are often forgotten again as soon as the patient opens his eyes is proof of a dissociation.) at this stage he was told, 'you felt like that in france, what was it?' the normal stream of consciousness being cut off, the censor was now out of action, and the man, putting his hands to his head, cried, 'it's a minnewerfer', and when he became calmer told of a dug-out being blown in and several of his mates being killed. then he was taken over the dream and made to look at the various parts and tell what they 'turned to'. the pleasure steamer was the boat in which he went to france, the cheery people on board being other soldiers; he now recognised the place from which the boat started and the port where he landed. the cavern was a tunnel up which a captain and a sergeant-major (the pirates) had led seven men; the cocked hats resolved into the sergeant-major having a piece torn from the cloth cover of his helmet which flapped in the wind; the broken skeletons were the bodies of his slain comrades; the second cavern was the dug-out; the broken sword a bayonet which broke when he tried to dig his way out with it; the old men were german prisoners, and the ball of fire was the flash of the explosion. all this was explained by the patient. if he had been told the probable meaning of the dream he might have believed it; but the result would have been valueless--it was necessary that he should bring up the memories himself. the dream is unusually coherent, but serves as a good example of the modern methods of dream interpretation. half-conscious fears or desires are often represented by symbolisms apparent to the analyst but unrecognised by the dreamer. a man told me of a dream in which he met some one whom he had defeated in a business disagreement, and, to his surprise, he shook hands with his old opponent. i told him that he felt the pricking of conscience and was desirous of making amends. this was little more than a guess, but its truth was admitted though the dreamer said that he had hardly realised his feelings before. it is characteristic of dreams, as of the slips of the tongue discussed in chapter i, that there is an obstacle to the dreamer's unaided understanding of them. a simple dream of my own will illustrate this: when going upstairs at a seaside hotel my wife, noticing a stuffed bird, said to me, 'is that a sea-gull?' and i answered 'yes'. the next morning i remembered a dream for which i could trace no cause, and said to my wife, 'i wonder why i dreamed of my old schoolmaster last night?' at this she asked, 'which one?' and when i answered, 'mr. gull', the connection at once became obvious, though something had prevented my seeing the obvious without aid. since a dream is a product of dissociation, we expect to find in it the same qualities that belong to the product of other dissociations. the world of the dream is pictured as something external to the dreamer and not arising from his own mind, just as the revelations of automatic writing or the movements of the divining-rod are accepted as coming from some one or something other than the agent. the dream taps the unconscious, the stories about poets and musicians who rise in the night-watches to pen their elusive inspirations being paralleled by the poetic imagery in the automatic writings of the glastonbury archæologists. lost memories appear in the dream and the dreamer may deny the incidents, as mentioned in chapter iii. in the same way the apparently honest medium may produce a memory, more or less distorted, as a revelation, and deny that it is a memory. the dissociated stream is hypersensitive and makes use of hints and fears that have passed unperceived by the consciousness. this use accounts for prophetic dreams, which are, like intuitions, the result of unconscious processes. in my own experience i have known but two circumstantial accounts of dream prophecies which were claimed to be fulfilled: one concerned a railway accident, and the other the destruction by fire of a distant house. both the dreamers, who were of the male sex, had suffered from gross hysterical manifestations, or, in other words, had been woefully led astray by the unconscious concerning something other than prophecy. accounts of prophetic dreams must always be suspect because of their origin in the unconscious and the inability of the dreamer either to interpret them or trace their origin. it is to be noted that psychologists who work at dream analysis make no mention of dream prophecies, although the fact that 'the wish is father to the thought' explains why a dream sometimes expresses an unconscious desire that later attains fulfilment in reality. the biblical account of nebuchadnezzar's dream of the idol with feet of clay bears the stamp of genuine history. the king, like the neurotic sufferer of to-day, 'dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him.' the magicians, called upon to interpret, asked that the king should first tell his dream; but the king answered, 'the thing is gone from me; if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces and your houses shall be made a dunghill.' the magicians and astrologers, the sorcerers and the chaldeans, failed, but the prophet daniel took up the task and told the king his forgotten dream. we can only imagine his method, but it is possible to revive a dream by using the emotion felt on waking, and such a method, or even direct hypnosis, may have been available to daniel; and if we regard the interpretation, not as prophetic, but as revealing to the king his forebodings of future disaster, then the chapter accords with modern conceptions of dream analysis. nebuchadnezzar was already a psycho-neurotic on the borderline of insanity, as his subsequent history shows, and would easily come to rely upon and reward a psychologist like daniel, who convincingly laid bare to him the working of his unconscious. by tradition the old civilisations of the east were the sources of occult knowledge, and this view of a scrap of old testament history gives a hint how the tradition arose. if there existed an esoteric knowledge of psychological technique such as i ascribe to daniel, then its possessors would easily obtain reputations for more than worldly wisdom. chapter ix hysteria the word 'hysteria', like 'lunacy', is evidence of a belief now discarded. when the theory of demoniacal possession ceased to satisfy the desire for reasons, and material explanations were sought for certain conditions, it was supposed that the uterus (greek, _hystera_) came adrift from its position and wandered about the body, producing the condition thenceforward known as hysteria. advancing knowledge killed this theory, but the influence of the word remained and the disease was attributed to some derangement or irritation of the uterus and its associated organs. charcot, of paris, showed the mental origin of hysteria, but, becoming lost in a maze of hypnotism and suggestion, he described as symptoms of the disease various manifestations which were really called up by himself or his assistants. there are medical men who still insist on a bodily cause, but such causes serve merely as pegs on which to hang the symptoms. as usual, i shrink from a definition, but in this case i have good reason. every writer who describes hysteria expresses his own ideas about it, and as the ideas of no two writers are alike some definitions scarcely seem to refer to the same subject. here is a definition by babinski, a french writer of international reputation:- 'hysteria is a peculiar psychical state capable of giving rise to certain conditions which have features of their own. it manifests itself in primary and secondary symptoms. the former can be exactly reproduced by suggestion in certain subjects and can be made to disappear under the sole influence of suggestion.' and here is one by pierre janet, a man of equal eminence:- 'hysteria is a form of mental depression characterised by retraction of the field of personal consciousness, and a tendency to complete division of the personality, and subconscious mental conditions grow and form a kind of second personality.' and here are a few words from ernest jones, the chief exponent of freud's views in this country:- 'it is in the excessive tendency to displace affects by means of superficial associations that the final key to the explanation of abnormal suggestion is to be sought. even if it were true, which it certainly is not, that most hysterical symptoms are the product of verbal suggestion, the observation would be of hardly any practical or theoretical interest.' when the reader has finished this chapter he will perhaps return to these definitions, and see how each represents one aspect, and how the best understanding is reached by a consideration of all of them. the great war has provided plenty of material for the study of hysteria, and french and german writers have dealt extensively with it. the paucity of english writings on the subject may indicate a smaller amount of material, but there has been sufficient considerably to increase our knowledge. the common form of hysteria is a mimicry of bodily disease; pains, paralyses, contractions and joint affections most often occur, though fits and trances are typical and there are few diseases which are not imitated. hysteria therefore has a superficial resemblance to malingering, or the conscious simulation of disease for a definite end, and many people find it hard to conceive any difference between the two. various criteria have been given to distinguish them, but, in my opinion, when the question arises the distinction can rarely be made upon physical grounds and is chiefly a matter of judgement concerning the honesty of the patient; that is to say, the hysteric believes in his disease as a reality, but the malingerer knows that it is fictitious. i believe there is no definite line between the groups, though some authorities assert that they are quite distinct. practical experience proves that in many cases there is an intense desire for cure which cannot be reconciled with any consciousness of simulation, and the apparently heartfelt gratitude often shown by the patient on recovery is further proof of the reality of this desire. it is a matter for regret that we have no word to take the place of 'hysteria', which is a mark of superstition; the only excuse for its use being that every one knows that it does not mean what it says. popular and even professional ideas concerning hysteria are so far from the truth that it is a pity a new word is not employed. if a man has fought bravely for years and at last succumbed in his effort to forget the horrors he has seen, it sounds an insult to say he is suffering from hysteria. yet the newer term of 'shell-shock' was worse, for it conveyed a totally false idea of causation and treatment: to regard as due to the concussion of a shell symptoms which are of purely mental origin led to muddled thinking. a common history in these cases was that the man became 'unconscious' after a shell explosion, and on returning to consciousness found himself mute, shaky, or paralysed. these facts led to the belief that the condition was actually due to the physical effect of an explosion, 'shell-shock' and 'concussion' being regarded as almost synonymous. but the same symptoms occurred when there was no question of concussion, whilst the recoveries, often sensationally reported in the press, after accidental or deliberate stimuli of various kinds were on all fours with the cures wrought by christian science or the pilgrimage to lourdes. hence the hysterical nature of the symptoms became evident and the concussion theory faded away. when one of these patients is encouraged to talk he often tells how he had felt himself overpowered by the horrors of his surroundings and forced to make increased efforts to keep going and avoid showing his condition to his fellows--in other words, to repress his emotions. the strain continuing, the shell-burst proved the last straw, and his repressed feelings broke into consciousness and took possession of it; this is what the man called being 'unconscious', but the condition is really an abrupt dissociation. in course of time--hours, days, or even weeks--he comes to himself again, and once more his feelings are buried; but now he is a hysteric, and his buried feelings--his dissociated stream--produce and maintain his symptoms. in whatever way the hysteria arises the developed symptoms are the result of a mental activity which is powerful enough to overcome for a long time the desire for recovery. there are two streams of thought--the one desirous of cure and the other engaged in keeping up the symptoms--and we recognise an extreme example of continuous dissociation, in which the main stream is not only unaware of the existence of the other and unable to control it, but in which the results produced by the dissociated stream are antagonistic to the desires of the main personality. this conception accords fairly well with janet's definition as given above, but though it gives us a description of the disease and indicates its relation to other phenomena we have yet to understand why the dissociation occurs. this is a difficult problem, and one to which several answers can be given. i have suggested one above, and freud supplies another, which he applies not only to hysteria but to allied nervous conditions. what follows is not an exposition of his ideas, but rather my interpretation of such as are acceptable and useful to me. a complex, which according to freud usually centres around an infantile sexual desire, is repugnant to the consciousness and becomes repressed as a result of conflict in just the same way as a memory is repressed. the complex is kept thrust down in the unconscious, but always tends to produce effects; it may do so in dreams or may obtain symbolic representation in the form of a neurosis, especially in times of stress. besides the primary aim of expressing repression by a symbolic representation, freud admits a 'secondary function' of the neurosis by which the patient may derive some advantage from the disease. here is a case capable of explanation by the freudian hypothesis: a man said he had fallen on to the blade of an aeroplane propeller and bruised his neck; he complained of severe pain in one side of his neck, with twitching of the arm on the same side, which continued for months. it was found that the patient, who was apprenticed to engineering, had such a deep-seated fear of making mistakes that he had sometimes stayed at the workshop for hours after the day's work was over in order to familiarise himself with the use of tools; but in spite of this his fear increased, until the handling of a file or spanner produced feelings of anxiety. then he joined the army. being put to work at aeroplanes he tried to do his duty and succeeded so far as to be made a corporal, saying never a word about his fears and banishing them as far as possible from his thoughts. at last the repression broke forth and took symbolic form in pain, the expression of his fear of the machinery which was blamed as its material cause. no account can picture the emotion produced by the recall of this complex, and it was evident that his feelings were intense and of more importance to him than one unfamiliar with such cases would suppose. his pains ceased when the cause had been revealed, and, what is very important, when he was told that he could not be expected to work at machinery. it must be added that the out-and-out freudian would not be satisfied with this explanation; he would trace the cause of the original fear of making mistakes, and would expect to find it in some repression of infantile desires or fears. certainly i have a feeling that the case had only been half investigated, but it will serve as a simple example of symbolic representation. the 'secondary function' of this neurosis is plain: the patient succeeded in keeping away from machinery all the time the pain lasted, and his anxiety symptoms were powerful enough to lead to his removal to another kind of work. this leads on to adler's theory,[15] which, like freud's, is based upon conflict and repression, but regards the hysteria as derived from the 'will to power'. the potential neurotic has a feeling of inferiority combined with a desire to be master of his own fate, and, since direct attainment of this desire is impossible, the end is striven for by a fantasy or fiction produced by the unconscious. this view, thus baldly put, shows a relation between hysteria and malingering, and, returning to the case of the prentice engineer, we can see his work in the shop becoming more and more distasteful whilst his anxiety tended to become a means of escape; then in the army the neurosis took a more determined form which might be confounded with malingering by an observer who assumed that all actions were the result of conscious motives. [footnote 15: _the neurotic constitution._ kegan paul.] my present opinion is that the theory of repression offers the only explanation of many cases of hysteria. this applies particularly to those cases where the symptoms represent a permanent state of embarrassment or fear, such as stammers and tremors, and to the unreasonable fears and impulses, the phobias and obsessions, of the war-strained soldier. as an example i will quote a case of a soldier who had an impulse to attack any single companion, which was cured by bringing into consciousness the repressed memory of a gruesome hand-to-hand fight in which he killed his opponent. the repression was so complete that after its first revival under hypnosis it was 'forgotten' again and again at subsequent interviews in the waking state. this example illustrates freud's 'tendency to displace affects.' the repressed complex contained within itself the impulse to fight; this 'affect' reached consciousness and an object had to be found for it, the object being the single companion of the patient. as regards those hysterias in which the secondary function is conspicuous, i incline to the 'will to power' theory, and add to it the 'repression of the consciousness of deceit.' to illustrate this, let us trace the growth of a case of hysteria. imagine a girl who is 'misunderstood', who has her round of daily tasks and feels that she was meant for higher things, that she ought to be loved and obeyed instead of being subject to the will of others. to no one can she tell her thoughts and troubles, sympathy is denied her, and she sees no hope of satisfying her desires or changing her position in the world. or imagine another type, the pampered girl who has never had to face a trouble or unpleasant task and has come to regard her own wishes as the supreme law, until at last the time comes when some desire, some wish that she cannot or will not face and conquer, remains ungratified. she feels the need to express her feelings, to obtain that sympathy that she thinks she deserves. in either case there comes the hysterical manifestation, and here i will quote from jung[16]:- 'but, the astonished reader asks, what is supposed to be the use of the neurosis? what does it effect? whoever has had a pronounced case of neurosis in his immediate environment knows all that can be "effected" by a neurosis. in fact there is altogether no better means of tyrannising over a whole household than by a striking neurosis. heart attacks, choking fits, convulsions of all kinds achieve enormous effects, that can hardly be surpassed. picture the fountains of pity let loose, the sublime anxiety of the dear kind parents, the hurried running to and fro of the servants, the incessant sounding of the call of the telephone, the hasty arrival of the physicians, the delicacy of the diagnosis, the detailed examinations, the lengthy courses of treatment, the considerable expense: and there in the midst of all the uproar, lies the innocent sufferer to whom the household is even overflowingly grateful, when he has recovered from the "spasms".' [footnote 16: loc. cit., p. 389.] but the end is not always thus. there are victims of hysteria whose symptoms continue for months or years, till cure seems impossible, although, as i have said before in this chapter, there is present in the consciousness a strong desire for recovery. let us imagine the patient complaining of severe pain in one foot: the sympathising friends tend her with care and affection, the doctor suspects the early stage of some bone disease, and, as is the fate of so many practitioners, he is urged by the friends to say 'what is the matter.' then the supposed disease receives a name, muscular action pulls the foot into an abnormal position, deformity appears, and if the true nature of the disease is now discovered not only the patient but the friends and family need the most careful treatment. what has been happening all this time in the mind of the patient? we will assume that she knew at the beginning that her pains were fictitious; what course is now open to her if she wishes to end the deceit when her friends, by their pardonable credulity, have allowed themselves to be deceived and her troubles have been accepted by the doctor as real? her pride or self-respect prevents open confession, and in her ignorance of the course of the supposed disease she thinks an unexpected recovery will reveal the fraud. here are the materials for another mental conflict, and her alternatives are:-1. to solve the conflict by confession or recovery, and i have shown the difficulties of this course. 2. to build a logic-tight compartment; to say, for example, 'they have never given me a chance, and now i am quite right in imposing upon them as long as i can.' but her feelings concerning right and wrong are probably too strong to maintain this attitude indefinitely. 3. to repress the consciousness of deceit and maintain her symptoms as the price of her peace of mind. this last course is followed, and the patient is now a dissociate. in the dissociated stream are:-1. the original desires which led to the manifestation of disease--the desire for sympathy, the desire to have her own way, the 'will to power.' 2. the knowledge of deceit. 3. the mechanism for maintaining the symptoms--the pains, the paralysis or contracture. this stream is now independent of the main personality and out of its control; as far as the patient knows her pains are real, her deformity is a disease, and whoever doubts it is not only ignorant but cruel. we can now understand the capriciousness of the hysteric, her moods and contrary ways. on the one side is a mind with ordinary motives, and on the other is the split-off portion containing the complexes catalogued above. if the reader thinks this conception brings us back to the old one of demoniacal possession i will admit that the only difference lies in the definition of the demon. the description of this imagined case will perhaps be acceptable to those who believe in the connection between hysteria and malingering. this connection i at one time emphasised, and i still believe that in some cases the repression of a knowledge of deceit plays an important part in the development of the disease. but motives are derived more or less from the unconscious, and when the unconscious elements predominate we approach the condition in which there has never existed any consciousness of deceit. the case of the soldier with an obsession to attack his companion does not admit of the hypothesis of a stage in which the symptom was due to a conscious desire to any end: but his repression might have shown itself, let us suppose, in a paralysis of his legs as a symbol of exhaustion or terror. then we should have a hysteria in which there had never been any deceit complex, though in the absence of knowledge of the workings of the patient's mind a firm believer in the 'will to power' theory might attribute the origin of the condition to a definite desire to escape the strain of war. i can now state that some of the results of conflict between desire and reality form a graduated series, beginning at cases of conscious simulation, then passing on to those of hysteria with repression of the knowledge of deceit, and ending with cases where deceit has never existed; but no one theory explains satisfactorily the origin of all cases of hysteria. it is difficult to understand those cases in which the hysteric inflicts injuries upon him or herself; the individual who thrusts needles into his body and comes to hospital again and again to have them removed is a curious but not very uncommon object. an ophthalmic surgeon of my acquaintance had a patient who placed irritants under the lid of one eye till the sight was lost and the organ was removed, and the process was begun on the remaining eye before the trick was discovered. such things occur in the history of malingering, and what the consciousness can do the dissociated stream is equally capable of doing: the only difficulty is the very practical one of believing that the patient can carry out the necessary action without being fully aware of what is happening, unless we assume an abrupt dissociation with the main personality temporarily abolished. certain hypnotic experiments throw light upon this difficulty, which also occurs in connection with some spiritualist phenomena. it has for long been disputed whether mental processes can produce bleeding into the skin or blisters upon it. such bleedings were the 'stigmata' representing the marks of the crucifixion, that have been described as appearing upon the bodies of religious devotees, and they have been thought to be real and due in some way to auto-suggestion. hysterical subjects often show the production of raised wheals if the skin is lightly stroked with the finger-nail or the head of a needle; one can write a word upon the skin and watch it become visible. this is purely a circulatory phenomenon, but experiments have been made under hypnosis in which the skin is touched with a pencil and the subject is told that he is being burnt and that a blister will follow. success has been claimed for this experiment, but one source of error is hard to exclude. if a blister appears the next day, and the subject is known to be an honest man with no end to gain by cooking the experiment, an observer might be inclined to accept the result as due to the direct influence of suggestion; but the subject is, by the terms of the experiment, in a state of dissociation, and in the dissociated personality exists the suggestion that a blister should appear. in addition there exists the desire to carry out the wishes of the hypnotist, and since this is out of the control of the main personality whose honesty is accepted as sufficient guarantee against fraud he must nevertheless be regarded as willing and eager to produce a blister. milne bramwell[17] quotes a case in which suggestion, under stringent conditions, apparently produced blistering: the subject's arm was then enveloped in bandages in which sheets of paper were incorporated, and after further suggestion and a night's rest it was found that, although the subject had been watched continually, she had succeeded in penetrating the bandages with a hair-pin. a further experiment, in which the arm was enveloped in plaster of paris bandage, gave a negative result. this experiment is very valuable; it does not disprove the possibility of producing blisters by suggestion, but it does prove that if we judge the dissociate by ordinary standards we expose ourselves to victimisation. if i were the subject of such an experiment i should certainly require that every precaution should be taken to prevent me from producing a blister by mechanical means. [footnote 17: _hypnotism_, 3rd ed., 1913. wm. rider & son.] now let us consider the signs of the disease. in the chapter on suggestion i showed that in a limb paralysed by hysteria the loss of sensitiveness, the so-called hysterical anæsthesia, resulted from a desire on the part of the patient that the doctor should find what he was looking for, and this desire i called receptivity. the receptivity is at first necessary to keep up the deception, for the patient does not know the symptoms of the simulated disease, and must always be on the alert to pick up hints. when dissociation occurs, the receptivity finds its place in the split-off stream, forming part of the mechanism for keeping up the symptoms; but having passed out of the control of the main personality it tends to become exaggerated and misdirected. hence the hysteric becomes very suggestible and all kinds of fantastic symptoms may be produced. if the resistance to recovery is not great then suggestion may even remove symptoms, just as it created them; and if we now turn back to babinski's definition we shall find that it fits into our theories, although it concerns itself with only a restricted view of the subject. since one object of the dissociated stream is to maintain the symptoms, it follows that any method that will remove them may abolish the dissociation, though still leaving the patient with those desires and conflicts, conscious or unconscious, which preceded their appearance and which form the so-called 'hysterical predisposition'. this explains the success which has followed the employment of exorcism, christian science, nasty drugs, cold water, electric shocks, persuasion, or rest cures; and to this list, i hasten to admit, some people would add treatment according to the method of bringing repressions into the light of consciousness. i have tried to make clear the subject of hysteria for the following reasons: there is at the present day no school of believers desirous of attributing supernatural causes to the disease, and therefore i am spared the task of attacking a mass of credulity; and, further, the mental processes are identical with those shown in other phenomena concerning which credulity is still powerful. i can now proceed to show how the theory of dissociation explains the production of the spuriously supernatural by the apparently honest. chapter x experiments, domestic and other there are certain parlour tricks which have an attractive flavour of the occult and sometimes form an introduction to it. most of us have seen children mystified by a thought-reading performance depending upon a more or less obvious code, but sometimes we are treated to one which is more genuine. the procedure is something like this: one person goes out of the room and the others decide that on his return he shall perform an action such as unlacing a shoe or pushing on the hands of a clock to a certain hour. then he returns and, according to arrangement, may be blindfolded or not, and one of the party may or may not place a hand upon his shoulder; the audience next 'concentrate their minds' upon what the performer is to do, whilst he 'makes his mind a blank'. sometimes success follows, and the result is taken as proof of 'thought-reading'. now let us examine the process in the light of what we have assumed in previous chapters. to make the mind a blank, if it means anything, means to cut off the stream of consciousness, and we straightway have our old friend a dissociation. the performer is then in a state resembling hypnosis, and, as we have seen before, in hypnosis the senses may be abnormally sharpened. this sharpness, together with the receptivity of the subject, makes him ready to pick up the faintest signs, and in the case where the hand of a second person, also concentrating his mind on the desired action and therefore to a certain extent dissociated, is placed upon his shoulder, there are easily conveyed enough pressure-signs to indicate when he is going right or wrong. when there is no actual contact other indications than touch are not lacking. the passing expressions of pleasure or disappointment on the faces of the audience, the sigh of relief when a wrong step is retraced, the glances at the object to be handled, are all picked up by the dissociated stream whilst the main personality of the subject is for the time almost obliterated. we must bear in mind that all the audience are concentrating their minds, that concentration of mind upon an action is likely to be followed by movements corresponding to the action, and that no one is watching his neighbour or suspects any such unconscious indications. the thought-reading is not performed without prolonged pauses, the subject making several halting steps before the right one is taken. it reminds one of the manner in which the medium feels his way to the thoughts of his victims. domestic blindfolding is not very efficient, and may be of use to the subject by allowing him to look without the direction of his glances being noticed. so this thought-reading is reduced to the children's game of 'hot and cold', but instead of fully conscious people producing and receiving sounds we have a group of 'concentrated' (that is, partly dissociated) streams sending out indications to be picked up by a hypersensitive dissociated stream. the subject is often exhausted by his efforts, and the performance is not likely to be of benefit to any one who misinterprets it. the human mind contains enough errors without producing a voluntary dissociation further to deceive its owner. there is one well-known experiment the significance of which is generally missed. if the reader is not familiar with it let him follow these directions and he will probably find that he is possessed of some amount of so-called hypnotic power. having procured a weight fastened to a short cord (a heavy watch with its chain will serve), direct a friend to sit in a chair and, resting his elbows upon his knees, to hold the cord by the fingers of both hands so that the weight is suspended between his separated knees. let him keep his eyes upon the weight and assure him that it will begin to swing from knee to knee. the weight, at first indecisively wobbling, will soon take on the swing you describe, which will gradually increase in amplitude. i have heard people ascribe this motion to 'magnetic power'--blessed words that mean nothing, but serve to give an appearance of reason to an explanation that should satisfy no one. the real cause of the motion is shown if you experiment with a fresh subject, who must know nothing of the first trial. ask him to hold the weight in the same manner but, standing in front of him, tell him the weight will swing towards you (that is, at right angles to its swing in the first experiment). if you show sufficient assurance you will probably succeed in both experiments, but your chance of success is less than that of the man who has seen the trick and accepts the 'magnetic' explanation, for his belief in the physical cause of the phenomenon will give him a natural assurance which is lacking in one who realises that the weight swings in a certain direction because the agent is made to believe that it will. it is plain that your friend swings the weight himself, but he is unaware of two factors: he knows nothing of his own muscular action and nothing of his own mental processes which have produced that action; hence this experiment must be placed among the automatisms like table-turning and water-divining. one is prepared to find that the trick has its place among the mechanical adjuncts of spiritualism: it was used in ancient times as a means of divination, and is used by mediums of to-day when they tap out spirit revelations with a gold ring suspended in a glass tumbler. if intelligent people like your friends can be made to believe that the weight is moved by some extraneous force, it can be understood that the trained medium, full of a belief in the supernatural, finds it an easy task to let the unconscious have possession of his or her muscular actions and spell out memories and fantasies which one is asked to accept as evidence of spirit control. planchette (described in chapter iv) finds a place in the family circle, sometimes with the result that a single hit becomes a tradition after all the other stuff has faded from memory. a friend, who told me that he saw planchette predict truly the month in which the boer war ended, admitted that his family had toyed with the instrument night after night, but he failed to remember any other results. i must add that he never believed in the thing, but, nevertheless, the one lucky shot was remembered. table-turning is another half-way house between the parlour trick and the full-blown occult. several people sit round a light table with their hands placed upon it, and, after due 'concentration of mind', aided often by a dim light, the table begins to move and the spirits are at work. then a sort of morse code is invented to communicate with the spirit entities, and the revelations begin. here i will quote from page 219 of _raymond_, that widely-circulated book by sir oliver lodge:-'during the half-hour ... i had felt every now and then a curious tingling in my hands and fingers, and then a much stronger drawing sort of feeling through my hands and arms, which caused the table to have a strange intermittent trembling sort of feeling, though it was not a movement of the _whole_ table.... nearly every time i felt these queer movements lady lodge asked, "did you move, woodie?" ... lady lodge said it must be due to nerves or muscles, or something of the sort.' compare this with the feelings of the water-diviner (chapter v):-'the muscles of the arm become contracted when the bodily magnetism is affected by the presence of water.... i suppose it must have something to do with the composition of the blood and nerve cells.' or with those of a hysteric who, previously relieved from mutism, was again struck dumb during a thunderstorm: ... 'i felt the electricity passing all over my body; it made all my muscles quiver and then went out at my finger-tips.' no one can deny the reality of these feelings, as feelings, but in the first instance they are due to spirits, and in the next to water, and only in the case of the man known to be sick in mind is the real explanation likely to be accepted by the subject. they are all products of imagination, suggestion, self-deceit, or dissociation--call it what you please if you understand that the feelings have their origin in the mind of the subject and are not due to any external cause. but in the first two examples they are associated with muscular movements which, we must believe, are carried out unknown to the doers and hence have their source in a dissociated stream. as usual, once the dissociation is established, there is no limit to its manifestations. picture three or four dissociates at work at a table, all bent upon producing signs of the marvellous, all blind to the mechanism at work, and with the hypersensitiveness of the dissociated stream ready to draw on the memories of the unconscious. mixed with this is the possibility of more elaborate deceit: when the hands of all are raised from the table their knees may still be under it; and if the knees are clear of it a blackened lath concealed up a sleeve can still work miracles. this is taking us beyond the purely domestic, but there is no difference between the after-dinner tilting of the table for amusement and the same thing done at a séance--the mechanism is the same, but one is treated as a jest whilst the other is something worse. we see again the typical series with simple trickery at one end and reason-destroying dissociation at the other. palmistry seems too absurd to be discussed, but it is another half-way house. that the lines of life, or love, or what-not, are to be found on the palms of dead-born babies and of monkeys should be enough to stop the cult; but handbooks of palmistry seem to profit their publishers, and the palmists and clairvoyants flourish. the girl who buys a handbook and amuses her friends by reading their hands is comparatively harmless, though even she, becoming shrewd to note when she hits the mark, is likely to develop an unconscious receptivity and drift into fraud. crystal-gazing is a form of mediumism admirably fitted to give play both to trickery and dissociation. used by the medium to 'see as in a glass darkly' and gain time for the help of his or her receptivity, it also allows of the induction of a self-hypnosis, the memories or fancies from the unconscious showing themselves as visions in the crystal. table-turning is easily first among the ways of giving rein to the unconscious. it has the advantage of allowing several people to play the same game at once, and further of allowing one dissociate to work the miracle, whilst no one, not even the dissociate himself, knows who is doing it. this is illustrated in _the new revelation_, p. 19, where sir arthur says: 'some one, then, was moving the table; i thought it was they. they probably thought that i did it.' _the gate of remembrance_[18] gives an illustration of tapping the unconscious and producing results that seem astonishing. [footnote 18: by f. b. bond; blackwell, oxford.] two gentlemen, mr. f. b. bond and his friend j. a. i., had devoted years of study to the archæology of glastonbury, exploring every available source of information in history or tradition and thinking hard and often about the edgar chapel, a part of the abbey whose site was undetermined. after this preparatory storing up of memories and thoughts in the unconscious, they proceeded to tap them. i quote from page 18:-'what was clear enough was the need of somehow switching off the mere logical machinery of the brain which is for ever at work combining the more superficial and obvious things written on the pages of memory, and by its dominant activity excluding that which a more contemplative element in the mind would seek to revive from the half-obliterated traces below.' recognising an old friend, we are not surprised to find that automatic writing was the means employed to switch off the main stream of consciousness and produce a dissociation. i find myself more in accord with the writer than reviews had led me to expect, for he disclaims 'the action of discarnate intelligences from the outside upon the physical or nervous organisation of the sitters' (p. 19). the automatic writing is apparently controlled by richard bere, johannes, and other influences which would be welcomed by spiritualists as 'objective entities'; but the writer gives his opinion regarding johannes (p. 50) as follows: 'whether we are dealing with a singularly vivid imaginative picture or with the personality of a man no one can really decide.' here i must differ and claim to have decided, for myself at least, that no personality other than that of the actual writer was concerned. the record of hysterical phenomena contains so many similar 'personalities' that i find no reason to call in the supernatural to account for this one. if a natural explanation is available we must not appeal to the supernatural; i am sure that f. b. b. is not unacquainted with occam's razor--miracles must not be unnecessarily multiplied. since the writer does not stress the supernatural, and allows me to credit to his unconscious the poetical imaginings produced in the script and the 'veridical passages' concerning the discoveries of the edgar chapel, i have no need to criticise them, especially as he is scrupulous in giving credit to the conscious predictions of others when they hit the mark. the book is a record of an experiment--successful from the psychological point of view--carried out by two dissociates who _knew what they were doing_; the dissociated streams were entirely out of their control, and although i must, from the psychological standpoint, class the experiment with the other dissociations described in this book, yet it is far from my purpose to class the experimenters with 'feda' and others of her kind. the earlier chapters of this book were written before i read _the gate of remembrance_, but whoever reads the conclusion in the latter book will find many opinions in agreement with those in my chapter on the unconscious. table-turning, water-divining, automatic writing, thought-reading, and the use of the pendulum are examples of a psychological automatism in which the agent is conscious neither of the muscular movements concerned nor, what is more important, of the mental processes producing them. they can be cultivated to provide amazing results in tapping the memories of the unconscious, and if the agents remain in ignorance of their true mechanism a systematised delusion is built up and accepted as proof of the supernatural. chapter xi about mediums just as any one believing all actions to be the result of fully conscious motives may regard the hysteric as a simple fraud, so he may dismiss the medium and the clairvoyant in the same easy way and consider the matter settled. but we find men in positions which lend authority not only vouching for the honesty of the medium but sometimes taking an active part in the production of the phenomena for which the explanation of fraud is regarded as sufficient; as a result this explanation fails to convince and we meet many people who believe there must be 'something in it'. so there is: there is the same graduated series, from the simple cheat to the complete dissociate, that we saw in the consideration of hysteria, but in addition there is a fervent desire to believe, and the dissociate, instead of being regarded as a victim of disease, is treated as a person gifted with supernatural powers. let me describe my first experience of a medium. friends had told me of his gifts and had met my incredulity with 'how do you explain this?' followed by some story of supernatural revelation. i could not explain, but accepted an invitation to meet the miracle-worker and, perhaps, be converted. his method of demonstrating communication with the spirit world was to sit in a meditative attitude with one hand before his eyes, whilst watching between his slightly separated fingers the assembled believers so as to note the effect of his revelations, which were apparently presented to him by the spirits in two forms. descriptions of the spirit world came through freely, one might call them fluent but incoherent, whilst revelations such as my friends had promised came in a halting and uncertain trickle. the enthusiastic accounts had not prepared me for such a poor show. i had pictured him saying something like--'your grandmother's name was georgina; she died at the age of seventy-two, after an illness lasting three days; she was a good horsewoman and disliked mr. gladstone'. instead of this the procedure was: 'i hear a name, is it george? (no bite)--georgina? (a look of intelligence)--you have a friend named georgina--a young girl--no, not a young girl, she was older, a relative, yes, a relative'--and so on. finally georgina is discovered to be a grandmother of one of those present, and is described sufficiently well to be recognised as the grandmother on the father's side, though, curiously, georgina was the name of the maternal grandmother. what could be more convincing? of course spirit communication is difficult and such a mistake only proves the genuineness of the article; but the description of the grandmother was built up on certain characteristics of the father, who was present, and the source was obvious to any one not blinded by the desire to believe. one incident shows that the medium had received some education in the superficial signs of disease. an elderly lady with a rather puffy face, which had raised in me a suspicion of kidney disease, was told by him: 'it is strange, but i _must_ tell you for your own sake. you have trouble with your kidneys.' he was wrong and so was i, but if events had proved us right the credit would have been his. then my turn came and the spirits told about my own disposition, which i had unfortunately revealed by a single observation before the real business began, and the exulting glances of the audience told me the first score had gone to the medium. then more intimate stuff came through; names were presented and i nibbled at one: 'yes, i know him', with a stress on the 'i'. more revelations--he was my enemy (here a nod from me), i had suspected it for a long time, but right would conquer, and i must not fear. then a relative came into the play, and a look of sadness drew forth the surprising news that she was dead but her spirit was watching over me. next came the phrase, heard once before in the séance, 'i see a far-off land', and the believers brightened up again. quick came the news, 'you have been abroad,' and i couldn't deny it. thus the game went on; when a hint could be picked up it was used at once or later, to be cast back as a spirit revelation. as the game developed i gave hints in plenty, whilst my friends showed their joy at seeing a sceptic receive convincing proofs of the spirit powers. the séance being ended, my first task was to persuade the believers that the revelations vouchsafed to me bore little relation to the truth; 'but you said they were true.' 'yes, and they were not.' 'then you were really telling lies.' 'yes, and he believed them and so did the spirits.' 'well, of course, if you deceive the spirits like that how can you expect the truth in return?' so the rationalisations went on and the logic-tight compartments were protected from injury. in this show we see a fine example of receptivity, like that of the hysteric who watches the doctor to learn what symptoms he expects to find; and just as the doctor may suggest absurd symptoms and find them present, so i was able to suggest falsehoods and have them reflected as revelations. but the believer would never do that; he is eager to fit every phrase to some fact within his knowledge, those that cannot be so fitted being forgotten as soon as the next lucky shot occurs, and in his eagerness he helps along the medium and provides him with more material. lest it may be thought that this experience is not typical, i will use the light given by it to examine some of the spirit news given in _raymond_. but we must first understand who are the _dramatis personæ_ of a séance. since the time of the witch of en-dor the expert medium has had a familiar spirit which speaks through him to this world and at the same time is in contact with the spirit world. the psychological explanation, if the medium is a true dissociate and not a conscious fraud, is that the results of the dissociated stream are perceived by its owner as something of external origin. in the same way a lunatic whose dissociated stream produces voices will project them externally and believe them to be warnings or commands from an outside source; the table-turners, water-diviners, and watch-swingers follow the same reasoning, though their results are purely motor; and when ideas come up from the cut-off stream the individual cannot recognise them as mental products of his own, but feels impelled to credit them to another personality. i am reminded of a charming little girl whose one desire was to please her parents but who often gave way to the mischievous tendencies of a healthy child; whenever that happened she produced an imaginary 'naughty john' who broke toys and cut off little girls' hair. that is how the dissociated medium proceeds: unable to rate at their proper value the ideas which present themselves, he invents a familiar spirit who serves as their ostensible origin. the familiar thus called into being can draw upon the unconscious of the medium for the material to build up fantasies about another world. the spirits of the dead are part of these fantasies, so that we finally have the medium, the medium's split-off personality, often with a name of its own, and the spirit that meets the demand of the moment. the secondary personalities in sir oliver's mediums are feda and moonstone, and in the dialogue feda tells what raymond is doing or saying, occasionally carrying on asides of her own. all this seems very complicated, but an explanation is necessary in order to understand what follows. the medium (or, in this case, feda) tells sir oliver lodge (see pp. 250 _et seq._), 'it's a browny-coloured earth, not nice green, but sandy-coloured ground. as feda looks at the land, the ground rises sharp at the back. must have been made to rise, it sticks up in the air.... the raised up land is at the back of the tent, well set back. it doesn't give an even sticking up, but it goes right along, with bits sticking up and bits lower down.' of this the scientific sir oliver says: 'the description of the scenery showed plainly that it was woolacombe sands that was meant.' the reader will have no difficulty in fitting this description to any sands he likes, but the believer wants it to be woolacombe, and woolacombe it is. then, the medium having discovered that o. j. l.'s family had a tent by the water, o. j. l. asks: 'is it all one chamber in the tent?' answer: 'he didn't say that. he was going to say no, and then he stopped to think. no, i don't think it was, it was divided off.' next a yacht appears out of the spirit world, and o. j. l. asks: 'what about the yacht with sails, did it run on the water?' the medium needs time to think, and the answer comes: 'no' (feda (_sotto voce_): oh, raymond! don't be silly!) he says, 'no. (feda: it must have done.) he is showing feda like a thing on land--yes, a land thing. it's standing up, like edgeways. a narrow thing. no, it isn't water, but it has got nice white sails.' o. j. l. 'did it go along?' 'he says it _didn't_! he's laughing! when he said "didn't" he shouted it.' feda should have said, 'he laid particular emphasis on it.' the first question is capable of two interpretations and the answer is ambiguous, though the ambiguity is further 'evidence' to sir oliver, because he remembers that a double-chamber tent had been turned into a single-chamber one. the second question may be compared with 'did you feel that?' in the production of hysterical anæsthesia (see chapter viii). the hysteric reasons, consciously or unconsciously:--it is natural to feel a pin prick, but the doctor is looking for signs of disease and he must expect to find a numbness or he wouldn't ask the question, so the answer is 'no'. when sir oliver asks concerning a yacht, 'did it run on the water?' the reasoning is similar, and the word 'run' helps, for no yacht runs on the water; if the yacht sailed on the water the question would not be asked, therefore the answer here was 'no', but the medium maintained a clever ambiguity whilst feeling her way. the third answer was a cleaner guess, but wrong. he says: 'all this about the tent and boat is excellent, though not outside my knowledge'.... then he adds, concerning the boat, 'i believe it went along the sands very fast occasionally, but it still wouldn't sail at right angles to the wind as they wanted it.... on the whole it was regarded as a failure, the wheels were too small; and raymond's "didn't" is quite accepted.' and raymond's 'did' would have been as readily accepted and put in the same chapter headed 'two evidential sittings.' contrast these halting scraps to the following (p. 249): 'he wants to tell you that mr. myers says that in ten years from now the world will be a different place. he says that about fifty per cent. of the civilised portion of the globe will be either spiritualists or coming into it.' no hesitation here, but no possible verification either, nor any hint that a hundred per cent. of the uncivilised people of the globe are already spiritualists. sir oliver's imagination does not keep pace with his readiness to fit revelation to fact. after the tent, the water, and the yacht, comes--'rods and things, long rods. some have got little round things shaking on them like that. and he's got strings, some have got strings. "strings" isn't the right word, but it will do. smooth, strong, string-like.' of this sir oliver says: 'the rod and rings and strings mentioned after the "boat", i don't at present understand. so far as i have ascertained the boys don't understand either at present.' surely an out-of-door family like this includes at least one fisherman; why not think out who he is and score another bull's-eye to the medium? a delightful example of sir oliver's anxiety to help the medium occurs on page 256:-o. j. l.: 'do you remember a bird in our garden?' (feda (_sotto voce_): 'yes, hopping about'). o. j. l.: 'no, feda, a big bird.' 'of course not sparrows, he says. yes he does.' (feda (_sotto voce_): did he hop, raymond?) 'no, he says you couldn't call it a hop.' this book of sir oliver lodge's shows an honesty which, together with the circumstances under which it was written, makes critical examination difficult; but there are similar circumstances in many a household to-day, and the honesty of the writer leads many people, who reason that what an eminent man honestly believes must be true, to turn to a mind-wrecking belief in mediums instead of finding consolation in a saner philosophy or religion. at my first séance it strained my belief in human intelligence to find respected friends believing the romances and guesses of a trickster to be spiritual manifestations, and i thought that there must at least be a more elaborate type of deceit, since believers were to be found among our scientific aristocracy. my belief is no longer strained, but broken, for i find in sir oliver's medium the same tricks, the receptivity, the halting search for material, and the same easy flow of unverifiable revelations that characterised the medium i first met. thanks to his honesty, one is able from the material supplied by this writer to trace the source of many 'revelations', and in the rare examples where the source is not manifest (as in the 'pedestal' incident, p. 257) it is scarcely unfair to presume some unintentional suppression. i say unintentional because sir oliver, blind to the explanations his own book offers, is plainly incapable of wilfully suppressing facts that tell against himself. spiritualism has its fashions, apparitions and materialisations having now given place to communications with the dead, which is the 'new revelation'. its newness is not so apparent when we read the story of the witch of en-dor. even the occasional deportation of undesirable mediums is not new, for saul 'put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land' (1 samuel, chap. xxviii.). when he disguised himself to visit the witch she recognised him just as the mediums recognise sir oliver; but the modern resemblance is best seen when we read that saul, after asking for samuel, 'said unto her, what form is he of? and she said, an old man cometh up, and he is covered with a mantle. and saul perceived that it was samuel.' here we see the medium giving to the credulous believer just what he wants, and the believer reaching out to accept the trivial guess as a spirit revelation. but the remoteness of the event (even at the time the account was written) allowed of prophecies far more to the point than any modern medium's, though, as often happens nowadays, their fulfilment was described by the same writer that reported them. in one respect we have degenerated since the days of saul; the witch of en-dor was not hailed as an instrument of divine power destined to provide a new driving force for religion. chapter xii the accounts of believers one is repeatedly faced with a story of the marvellous and invited to explain it away or believe in the supernatural. my favourite way of dealing with such a proposition is to borrow a pack of cards, invite the story-teller to take a card, and, without letting me see it, to think of it whilst holding my hand. after a silent pause i name the card and may be told, 'of course that's a trick', and on assuring my friends that the spirits have told me the name of the card i am called a scoffer; somehow a pack of cards is not spiritual enough. some stories are hard to explain without full evidence, and here is one of them: a friend assured me that in _raymond_ was an account of how one of sir oliver lodge's family went to london to visit a medium, and how after she had started some others of the family met in birmingham, and, calling up the spirit of raymond, asked him to say 'honolulu' at the london séance. sure enough at the london séance held on the same day 'honolulu' came into the spirit talk. this account is substantially correct (see pp. 271 _et seq._) and the incident is inexplicable so far; sir oliver lodge says of the episode:- '1. it establishes a reality about the home sittings. 2. it so entirely eliminates anything of the nature of collusion, conscious or unconscious. 3. the whole circumstances of the test make it an exceedingly good one.' then, after suggesting telepathy as an explanation, he writes: 'i venture to say there is no normal explanation, since in my judgement chance is out of the question.' if the information had stopped at this no explanation on natural lines would be possible, but so painfully honest is sir oliver that in the same book he supplies full material for such an explanation. at a london séance on december 20th, 1915, with the same medium there occurs the following:- (question): 'what used he to sing?' (answer): 'hello-hullolo, sounds like hullulu-hullulo, something about "hottentot," but he is going back a long way he thinks.' on april 11th, 1916, a song of raymond's is found with the words written in pencil:- 'any little flower from a tulip to a rose if you'll be mrs. john james brown of hon-o-lu-la-lu-la town.' this song is fitted to the medium's revelations as given above, and the next point of interest is whether the medium is informed of her success. this we are not told, but we find on page 95 that when another medium had hit the mark, with a sentence now interpreted as a warning of the death of raymond before it took place, sir oliver wrote to the daughter of the medium: 'the reference to the poet and faunus in your mother's last script is quite intelligible, and a good classical allusion; you might tell the communicator sometime if there is opportunity.' plainly he is desirous of letting his mediums know when they succeed and it is fair to suggest that the hullulu medium found she had hit the mark, the interpretation of the gibberish being 'honolulu', though hottentot failed to score. a medium will always follow up a lucky shot and it needs not even an appeal to chance to explain the repetition of the word at the next sitting, after the verification, which was on may 26th (the date of the simultaneous test), the following being the words used:- (the medium says): 'you could play.' (n. m. l. asks): 'play what?' (the medium): 'not a game, a music.' (n. m. l.): 'i'm afraid i can't, raymond.' (feda (_sotto voce_): 'she can't do that'): 'he wanted to know whether you could play hulu-honolulu.' one of the strongest 'evidential' stories in the book being thus explicable without calling upon the supernatural, any others lose their value even if no explanation can be based on the available facts; but apart from this explanation the choice of the test word throws a light upon the little group tilting the table at birmingham. with the whole dictionary and all geography from which to choose, they selected a sound which had occurred in a former revelation and therefore had a chance of repetition. if in his laboratory days sir oliver examined a substance for the presence of arsenic, he would first test his reagents for the presence of that metal lest they might contain a trace of it and vitiate the experiment. in this test the experimenters did what was equivalent to selecting an arsenic-contaminated test-tube to use in an analysis for that substance. how did the word come to be selected? if the family of this distinguished man had used ordinary caution in formulating the test, they would certainly have chosen a word that had not occurred before, and i think that point must be clear to the reader. but, though they are probably sensible people in ordinary life, when they turn to the spirit world they fall a prey to their dissociated streams, in which was the knowledge that the word or something like it had been used before and was likely to be used again, especially if, as i suggest, the medium knew it had scored. hence these believers were, as far as concerned their dissociated streams, deliberately introducing a source of error or, in laboratory language, cooking the experiment. among my card tricks is included the elementary one (technically known as 'forcing a card') described at the beginning of this chapter, but i may let some one choose a card from the pack on the table whilst my back is turned; then, the card being placed in the pack which i have now taken in my hand, i do some other trick. it is common for these tricks to be confounded, and for one of my audience to assure friends that i let him or her take a card from the pack on the table when my back was turned and then named it by 'thought-reading.' such a performance is beyond me, but a like garbled account is characteristic of what we hear concerning séances: the story-tellers are in a state of mental confusion, they add or subtract in order to make the result emphatic, any power of criticism they possess is suspended, and we are asked to swallow the final product and confess ourselves believers. after considering my own experiences and the evidence produced by sir oliver lodge, i have reached the conclusion that no one desirous of believing only the truth can accept anything 'supernormal' without the strictest investigation on the spot, aided by a knowledge of trickery, verbal or material, as well as of the results produced by dissociation and logic-tight compartments in the minds of the would-be honest. sir arthur conan doyle shows how convincing a twice-told tale becomes. i borrow from _the new revelation_ (p. 64):- 'or once again, if raymond can tell us of a photograph no copy of which had reached england, and which proved to be exactly as he described it, and if he can give us, through the lips of strangers, all sorts of details of his home life, which his own relatives had to verify before they found them to be true, is it unreasonable to suppose that he is fairly accurate in his description of his own experiences and state of life at the moment at which he is communicating?' the words 'can tell us of a photograph no copy of which had reached england' would lead us to believe that information that the photograph existed came from raymond: fortunately the original account is accessible. here is the photograph story, taken from _raymond_ (p. 195). the medium speaks, saying: 'you have several portraits of this boy. before he went away you had got a good portrait of him--two--no three. two where he is alone and one where he is in a group of other men. he is particular that i should tell you of this. in one you see his walking-stick'. (moonstone here put an imaginary stick under his arm.) this is ordinary guess-work, and it would be true of the families of most officers, even as to the stick; but it was not true in this case, for we read that though they had 'single photographs of him of course, and in uniform', they had _not_ one of him in a group of other men; yet this is the revelation referred to by sir arthur--the photograph incident that has impressed so many. let us put the two statements side by side:- before he went away you ... raymond can tell us had ... one where he is in a of a photograph no copy of group of other men. he is which had reached england? particular that i should tell you of this. not being able to explain the extraordinary identity of these photographs, i must leave the problem to the creator of sherlock holmes; we shall gain no help from sir oliver, for his ideas of identity, as we shall see in the next paragraph, are equally curious. now for 'exactly as he described it': sir oliver lodge, having been informed in an ordinary letter that a group photograph containing raymond is being sent to him from france, went to another medium and told her, 'he said something about having a photograph taken with some other men' (this itself is a garbled statement); leading questions followed, and the medium fenced with them. here are the important ones:- o. j. l.: 'do you recollect the photograph at all?' 'he thinks there were several others taken with him, not one or two, but several.' (this is not even a guess.) o. j. l.: 'does he remember how he looked in the photograph?' 'no, he doesn't remember how he looked.' o. j. l.: 'no, no. i mean was he standing up?' 'no, he doesn't seem to think so. some were raised up round; he was sitting down, and some were raised up at the back of him. some were standing, and some were sitting, he thinks.' (here is a correct description, anyhow; it is an even chance whether he is sitting or standing, and, the sitting chance being taken, the rest is padding. we are told on page 279 that another photograph showed him standing, so that a hit could have been scored if the other chance had been taken.) o. j. l.: 'did he have a stick?' 'he doesn't remember that.' (yet the presence of a stick in the picture is hailed on page 110 as one of the strikingly correct peculiarities mentioned by raymond. be it noted that the stick was spoken of in connection with one of the three photographs that the family was said to have _before he went away_, and is used as 'evidence' concerning _the one sent home from france_.) o. j. l.: 'was it out of doors?' 'yes, practically.' feda (_sotto voce_): 'what you mean, "yes practically," must have been out of doors or not out of doors. you mean yes, don't you?' feda thinks he means 'yes,' because he says 'practically'. o. j. l.: 'it may have been a shelter.' 'it might have been. try to show feda. at the back he shows me lines going down. it looks like a black background, with lines at the back of them. (feda here kept drawing vertical lines in the air.)' (the shelter is suggested by o. j. l.; feda takes the hint and visualises the shelter. most shelters have vertical lines in their structure. such lines occur in the photograph and are strong 'evidence.' the background is not black except for two open windows.) the only revelation worthy of attention is this: 'he remembers that some one wanted to lean on him; but he is not sure if he was taken with some one leaning on him.... the last what he gave you, what were a b, will be rather prominent in that photograph. it wasn't taken in a photographer's place.' (few out-door groups are.) in the photograph he has some one's hand resting on his shoulder, and an ambiguous guess scores a hit. as for b, sir oliver writes: 'i have asked several people which member of the group seemed most prominent; and except as regards central position a well-lighted standing figure on the right has usually been pointed to as the most prominent. this one is "b", as stated, namely, captain s. t. boast.' some initials are guessed--c, b, r, and k. as there are twenty-one people in the group, and the alphabet contains only twenty-four letters (excluding x and z), it is hardly a mathematical surprise that seventy-five per cent. are correct. so much for the photograph that proved to be 'exactly as he described it' (sir arthur) and 'one of the best pieces of evidence that has been given' (sir oliver). 'all sorts of details of his home life' we must suppose refers to the scenery of woolacombe, the tent, the boat that went (or didn't) on land, the song about hululu and the hottentot, the fishing rods that are not understood at present, and so on. as a test of unintentional garbling i asked a professional man, who had read _raymond_ sympathetically, to give me a short account of what the medium said about the photograph. here is his version, and it must be understood that he knew i should criticise it:- 'sir oliver lodge was told by a medium that raymond wished to tell him about a photograph taken in france. the medium said the photograph was of a group of officers including raymond--a photo sir oliver had not seen. _there were lines running vertically in the background. raymond is seated._ some one's knee was preventing him from sitting comfortably and annoyed him. he was holding a stick. _the photo was out of doors_, but in a sheltered position.' the only points in which this tallies with the book description of what the medium (not sir oliver) said are those shown by the words in italic. the rest is garbled, and for the garbling my friend and sir oliver are about equally responsible. i have since asked other intelligent people to read the chapter and then write out the story; the result is generally similar to that just given. the affair is such a to-do about nothing that the sympathetic and uncritical reader, deceived by the fuss, thinks there must be something in it and makes additions of his own to account for his belief. had he read it critically he would have recognised the emptiness of the story, but once he is impressed by it he must improve it or become aware of its flimsiness. once again i must emphasise the way in which a guess, wide of the truth, is wrenched into an application to something entirely irrelevant. the first medium says that before raymond went away his family had a photograph which showed him in a group of other men; _because this is not true_, it is twisted into a reference to a photograph taken in france and not yet received. the revelations of this medium must be cut out of the story, and the whole incident is reduced to sir oliver lodge being told in an ordinary letter that a group photograph is on its way to him; then he tells another medium about a group photograph, and in answer to leading questions she makes the halting guesses reproduced above. this is the famous photograph story, stripped of exaggeration and garbling. sir arthur conan doyle would lead us to believe that the medium told sir oliver about the existence of the photograph, but the true account shows that, so far from this being the case, _sir oliver told the medium_. it is a commonplace of spiritualism that a medium may be guilty of trickery at one time and genuinely gifted at another. we may freely admit that mediums are peculiar people, but when sir arthur conan doyle writes on a subject that needs careful observation and description and gives this distorted account of the photograph story, he can expect little credence when he writes in the same book equally convincing stories of the supernatural and puts them before the public as a contribution to religious thought. he gives a list of eminent men who vouch for the genuineness of supernatural phenomena, and says that the days are past when their opinions can be dismissed with the empty 'all rot' or 'nauseating drivel' formula. i agree, and regard their opinions as interesting objects of psychological study. a little research could produce a longer list of men, equally eminent in their day, who believed in witchcraft and were willing to execute people in accordance with that belief. the belief may yet return with all its horrors if _the new revelation_ is taken seriously. on page 168 we read concerning the cheriton poltergeist[19]:-'it is very probable that mr. rolfe is, unknown to himself, a physical medium, and that when he was in the confined space of the cellar he turned it into a cabinet in which his magnetic powers could accumulate and be available for use.' (it is hard to believe that he who speaks like this about 'magnetic powers' once had at least an elementary knowledge of physics.) on page 170 we read, concerning another poltergeist, that '... a clergyman, with some knowledge of occult matters, has succeeded by sympathetic reasoning and prayer in obtaining a promise from the entity that it will plague the household no more.' [footnote 19: a poltergeist is a spirit that throws things about; its appearance is generally associated with the presence of some young person, whose tricks may be detected to the discredit of the ghostly cause. if trickery is not detected the poltergeist is the manifestation of an evil spirit.] poor mr. rolfe has had a narrow escape of being mixed up with an 'entity' who, or which, might have led him to the stake in a thorough-going spiritualist age. this relation between spiritualism and witchcraft is not a fantasy of my unconscious; listen to this from another believer:- 'the dangers of the spiritual world are greater because, bad as a man living on our plane may be, he cannot compare in that respect with a thoroughly wicked denizen of the fourth-dimensional space, whose power is all the greater because his very existence is almost universally denied. what little good was ever in him has been blotted out in the course, perhaps, of centuries; his cunning passes earthly comprehension; his experience of the ways and foibles of humanity is profound; his malignity is dreadful. to be fully under the influence of such an entity as this is to be at his mercy, and, as no such word exists in his vocabulary, the end is a foregone conclusion, unless another force of a contrary character and at least as powerful is directed against him.'[20] [footnote 20: _problems of the borderland_, p. 49, by j. herbert slater. wm. rider & sons, 1915.] it is indeed fortunate that the existence of these entities is almost universally denied. hangings and burnings would be soon in fashion again if any large proportion of us were influenced by such a horrible complex. sir arthur conan doyle has given an account to the papers (see _daily telegraph_, february 18th, 1919) of a séance in wales. hymns were sung to produce a suitable emotional state, and 'the lights were turned down in order to obtain the proper conditions, because ether transmits light, and is also the source of all psychic phenomena.' then, the medium being tied down, a tambourine rattled, and a coat and furniture flew about. the bearing of this upon life in the hereafter, which sir arthur discusses in connection with the performance, is not clear, but the effects are identical with those produced by the davenport brothers, who were exposed in 1868.[21] [footnote 21: see _the question_, p. 103.] the list of witnesses, who numbered about twenty, leads me to remark that though in a multitude of counsellors there may be wisdom yet in a crowd of witnesses there is herd instinct. with a conspicuous member of the herd like sir arthur in the lead, the sway of emotion will dull any criticism, and if a few are unconvinced they will remain silent.[22] [footnote 22: in _spiritualism--the inside truth_ (chap. vi) stuart cumberland tells how this medium refused to admit him to a séance. stringent precautions, however, were followed by a failure to produce spirit manifestations.] the statement that ether is the source of all psychic phenomena is startling, but unsupported. another believer, sir william crookes, says, concerning exhibitions of what he calls 'psychic force', that '... everything recorded has taken place _in the light_'.[23] so there seems to be some fundamental error about the observations of one of them. but sir william's results were obtained from the famous daniel home, whose years of experience in credulity allowed him to take risks which the humble beginners in wales hardly dared. [footnote 23: _phenomena of modern spiritualism_, p. 25. 'two worlds' publishing co., 1903.] to examine all the stories of the supernatural is impossible; many are, i frankly admit, inexplicable _on the evidence_; but it is fair to assert that when an observer, on a subject which requires the most careful watching and closest reasoning, shows by his own account that he is ready to be deceived, then we cannot be convinced by his statements when they are unverifiable. sir arthur conan doyle is thus ruled out of court, for his account of the photograph story shows, to put it gently, a lack of clear writing, and his readiness to thrust upon the public a repetition of the davenport tricks, without a warning as to their history, is not what we should expect from a man who has studied the subject for thirty years. sir william crookes gives detailed accounts of marvellous happenings, but two mediums in whom he had implicit trust were detected in deliberate fraud by other people,[24] so that his critical powers failed him. [footnote 24: miss fox and mrs. cook; see _the question_, pp. 84 and 127.] some of his accounts show curious lapses. in one experiment an accordion is placed in a cage under the table and mr. home puts his hand into the top of the cage to do psychic things with the instrument. the temperature of the room is carefully recorded (that doesn't matter, but imparts a scientific flavour to the observations) although we are not told why the experiment was done under the table instead of in a more convenient position on top of it, though 'my assistant went under the table, and reported that the accordion was expanding and contracting,' and 'dr. a. b. now looked under the table and said that mr. home's hand appeared quite still.' sir william would never have made such an omission if he had been using the same reasoning powers that he used in his scientific descriptions. it is noticeable that the chief 'scientific' supporters of spiritualism are eminent in physical science; they have been trained in a world where honesty is assumed to be a quality of all workers. a laboratory assistant who played a trick upon one of them would find his career at an end, and ordinary cunning is foreign to them. when they enter upon the world of dissociates, where deceit masquerades under the disguise of transparent honesty, these eminent men are but as babes--country cousins in the hands of confidence-trick men--and their opinions are of less value than those of a smart schoolboy. spirit photographs are useful to people who desire to show material evidence for their beliefs, and for more than fifty years the desire has been met by periodical outbreaks of this particular manifestation, with occasional exposures of fraud. the spirit effects can be produced by double exposure of one plate or by printing on one paper from two negatives, so that the declaration that a photograph is that of a spirit carries no proof with it and one must examine the circumstances under which the photograph is obtained. a friend of mine, with a decided tendency to belief in the reality of spirit photography, was good enough to show me photographs of himself with spirit forms beside him, and undertook to repeat his visit to the photographer--who is accepted as genuine by leading spiritualists and appears to be the chief exponent in the art of spirit photography in this country--and take with him plates supplied by myself. the photographer allows you to bring your own plates, goes with you into the dark-room, and allows you to initial the plate before it is put in the frame (whether it is your plate which you mark depends upon the will and dexterity of the artist, aided by the darkness and a preliminary hymn and prayer which should remove all doubts from your mind). then the plate is put in the camera and, whilst attendant ladies pass into a trance, an exposure is made with yourself as the sitter. next the plate is developed under your eyes and perhaps a spirit form is revealed. i provided my friend with a packet of four plates, three of which had been exposed so that on being developed they would show a very conspicuous cross. at the séance two plates were first exposed and developed; on one appeared a cross with the portrait of the sitter, on the other appeared only the portrait. the photographer now knew that one plate at least was marked, and when the remaining two plates were exposed and developed the cross appeared on both of them.[25] there had been no substitution, but no spirit photographs either. then the old excuse appeared--'one negative thought will spoil a whole circle', or, in other words, 'if you are on the watch for trickery we won't perform'. [footnote 25: this is doubtful. my informant reported that he saw no cross on the last two plates, but when the four prints came to hand the cross appeared on three of them. two prints were identical--though each was supposed to be from its own negative. if the photographer aimed at puzzling me he has succeeded.] it must be remembered that even in a 'good' séance only one or two spirit results may appear in several exposures, so the photographer can always expose, develop, and examine any or all of your plates, and at the least suspicion that yours are marked he may refrain from substituting his own prepared plates and blame the spirits for the lack of manifestations. one may ask why a private mark (say a faint file scratch on the edge) was not put on the plates so that the photographer himself could not detect, even after development, that they were marked in any way? such a course would at once reveal whether substitution had taken place--though even then the real believer could declare that the spirits had removed the scratches. but this test is frustrated by the photographer--simple honest man--who refuses to part with the plates; he says they are now his property, but he will let you have some prints! in this example we find, as in so much 'evidential material', a point where investigation is blocked and credulity is demanded. another piece of evidence is produced in this case, and i am shown a spirit photograph beside a lady's. the lady claims that the spirit is that of a young man, now deceased, to whom she was engaged. she was a stranger to the photographer, so how could he produce the likeness even if he substituted his own plates? but when i showed this spirit photograph to a friend, with a query as to sex, she answered, 'but it _is_ a woman, isn't it? it looks rather like n----.' now n---is a mature maiden lady, so that the sexless features of the spirit leave plenty of room for the play of fancy. we are invited to accept or disprove stories of spirit photography reported from the continent, but whilst leading spiritualists in this country accept the productions of the man whose methods i have described i must refuse attention to anything they vouch for farther afield. mr. crawford, a mathematician and engineer of belfast, has published reports of investigations of table-lifting séances, and builds up a theory of spiritual cantilevers which he believes to explain his results. the theory is pretty and the diagrams are impressive, but the facts first call for examination. reading his accounts, i find that the experiments are carried out in a dim red light, for a sudden white light causes the immediate cessation of the phenomena. in addition there is a sacred line between the medium and the levitated table which must not be investigated on pain of dreadful results to the medium. this threat of physical evil to the medium if the sceptic should investigate at a crucial point is a common pretext, but though sceptics have often taken the risk, and seized a spirit to discover a disguised medium, there is no record of such disastrous results as mr. crawford would have us fear. i suggest that this investigator should use his technical knowledge to show how a simple but material cantilever, operated by the medium along the sacred line, can produce levitation of the table. the complaint is made that scientific men scoff at spiritualism and yet refuse to investigate it; in the last two examples we see why this is inevitable. investigation is prevented in each at the very point where fraud might be detected; so long as such obstruction is maintained the spiritualists are likely to continue their complaints, and one must be content to speculate on the mental state which allows a few men of scientific training to support their claims. the reader must not think that my aim is to convert spiritualists from their belief. it is, as i have tried to show in earlier chapters, useless to attack rationalisations in an effort to penetrate a logic-tight compartment; as soon as one defence is broken down another is built up, and one can only take comfort from the history of other examples of _pseudodoxia epidemica_, as sir thomas browne (he himself being, strangely enough, an active believer in witchcraft) called them, and look forward to the fading away of this delusion. just as the belief in witchcraft passed away from the educated and intelligent, lingering only amongst the ignorant, so this delusion will pass and leave our descendants to wonder how some of us came to be its victims. chapter xiii the evolution of the medium after meeting my first medium i came away with the feeling that he was a rather artful liar; but now, whilst retaining that opinion, i am ready to admit that perhaps his lying was not a product of his consciousness. i know nothing of his history, but he was accepted by intelligent people as honest and respectable; moreover, records of spiritualism contain so many examples of people whose belief in their own supernatural powers must be accepted as real in spite of manifest deceit, that we must again fall back upon dissociation to explain their state of mind. i shall assume the existence of three groups just as in connection with hysteria, and classify mediums, clairvoyants, water-diviners and other producers of the supernatural into- 1. the deceiver pure and simple. 2. the deceiver who has repressed the consciousness of deceit and become a dissociate. 3. the subject who has never been conscious of deceit, but, led astray by his unconscious, has deceived himself from the beginning and finished as a dissociate. to place any performer in the proper group is again a matter of judgement. having a small repertory of tricks, including water-divining and a few manifestations with a pack of cards, i have sometimes put myself in the first group with temporary success. the development of a case of the second group is probably not a phenomenon that has ever been continuously observed, but robert browning has formed such an excellent conception of it in _mr. sludge, the medium_, that his description bears comparison with my theory of the development of some hysterics. david sludge is a house-servant and his master is pictured discussing high finance with his guests when the boy breaks in, saying, 'sir, i've a five-dollar note.' the scorn of the guests is immediate:--'he stole it, then; shove him out'. and david is given the swift kick of ignominy. * * * * * 'but,' says the poet, 'let the same lad hear you talk as grand of signs and wonders, the invisible world. if he break in with "sir, i saw a ghost!" ah, the ways change!' browning leaves us to imagine the boy's motive; perhaps his was just a boyish trick inspired by a desire for notoriety of which he himself was scarcely conscious, but, like the unfortunate hysteric who meets credulity, david is led on to produce more manifestations. 'and, david, (is not that your christian name?) of all things, should this happen twice--it may- be sure while fresh in mind, you let us know!' then later:- '"... came raps! while a light whisked" ... "shaped somewhat like a star? well, like some sort of stars, ma'am." "so we thought! and any voice? not yet? try hard, next time, if you can't hear a voice; we think you may." * * * * * 'so david holds the circle, rules the roast, narrates the vision, peeps in the glass ball, sets-to the spirit-writing, hears the raps, as the case may be.' then begins his conflict; like the patient who successfully feigns symptoms, he finds withdrawal difficult:- 'you'd prove firmer in his place? you'd find the courage--that first flurry over, that mild bit of romancing-work at end, ... to interpose with "it gets serious, this; must stop here. sir, i saw no ghost at all. inform your friends i made--well, fools of them, and found you ready-made. i've lived in clover these three weeks: take it out in kicks of me!" i doubt it. ask your conscience!' says poor david:- 'there's something in real truth (explain who can) one casts a wistful eye at.' now he faces the same dilemma that the developing hysteric has to meet, and as the hysteric reaches a false salvation by the repression of the knowledge of deceit so does david:- 'why, when i cheat, mean to cheat, do cheat, and am caught in the act, are you, or, rather, am i sure o' the fact? well then i'm not sure! i may be, perhaps, free as a babe from cheating: how it began, my gift ... no matter; what 'tis got to be in the end now, that's the question; answer that! had i seen, perhaps, what hand was holding mine, leading me whither, i had died of fright.' nor does the poet omit the development of receptivity:- 'i'm eyes, ears, mouth of me, one gaze and gape, nothing eludes me, everything's a hint, handle and help.' at the last the youth, once an innocent jester, pours a stream of half-believed lies upon the man who, having caught him in his fraud, lets him go with a chance to start life afresh. browning does not carry the idea of repression as far as i do, sludge producing clouds of rationalisations to cover his inconsistencies. the idea of dissociation does not present itself, but the whole picture can be taken to represent the evolution of many mediums with their mixture of belief and deception. just as in the hysteric we meet with mechanical ways of deceit, shown by self-inflicted injuries, so in the medium we meet with mechanical tricks for the production of spurious phenomena. in both cases fully-conscious deceit, reconciled to the moral complexes by rationalisations, is the easiest explanation, but sometimes fully-conscious deceit is unlikely. there is a disappointing lack of originality in spiritualist literature, for the same stories of the marvellous are repeated in one book and another. the fox sisters, slade, eglington, eusapia palladino and others appear according to the fancy of the writer, and their fraudulent tricks may or may not be acknowledged. it is a peculiarity of spiritualist reasoning that if a medium is caught cheating it only proves that he was cheating when he was caught; if he is not caught next time, we must accept as genuine the phenomena then produced. but no spiritualist writer can avoid the names of home, stainton moses and mrs. piper, for _they were never caught cheating_; nevertheless, we apparently need testimonials at great length to their honesty. mr. j. arthur hill gives two pages of testimonials to stainton moses, and repeats a story telling how the reverend medium made an automatic drawing of a horse and truck and gave a spirit message concerning a man who had been killed that day under a steamroller in baker street. mr. hill says: 'mr. moses had passed through baker street in the afternoon, but had heard nothing of any such incident.'[26] [footnote 26: _spiritualism_, p. 64. cassell & co., 1918.] if mr. hill knew anything about dissociation he would not give us this oft-quoted but flimsy story. whence does he obtain his evidence that the medium had heard nothing of the incident? of course, from the honest personality of mr. stainton moses himself. but a story of some terrifying episode is often, by psychological technique, extracted from a war-strained soldier only to be repressed and honestly denied by the man a little while later. if the dissociated sufferer can deny the truth of an incident which, when recalled again, fills him with horror, then the denial by another dissociate that he has heard of a street accident does not carry weight, even if we read a bookful of testimony to his honesty. the accounts of this famous medium, who is still held in awe by believers, are full of such happenings. on another occasion the spirit in possession of him gave the names of members of a family who had died in india and were unknown to him or any one present. the names were verified by reference to the obituary column of _the times_ of a few days before. we can assume that the honest stainton moses did not read _the times_, but that the dissociated stainton moses read and remembered. with this dissociation well established and having for its object the production of occult phenomena, we can understand the rest of the manifestations that he produced for his circle of friends. he received numerous communications from the dead, produced spirit lights, transferred objects from one room to another through closed doors, floated about, and, in short, went through all the spiritualist repertory. the ball is kept rolling by all sorts of people. the late archdeacon wilberforce, who believed in 'objective entities that seem able to manipulate or influence nerve currents, or magnetic ether, or whatever it is, of persons in the flesh',[27] wrote approvingly of him: 'the most remarkable medium i ever knew was the reverend stainton moses, a clergyman in my father's diocese of oxford'.[28] [footnote 27: _there is no death_, p. 14.] [footnote 28: _ibid._, p. 62.] of the same medium mr. podmore says: 'apart from the moral difficulties involved, there is little or nothing to forbid the supposition that the whole of these messages were deliberately concocted by mr. moses himself and palmed off upon his unsuspecting friends.'[29] [footnote 29: _studies in psychical research_, p. 133.] the moral difficulties disappear when we consider the case as one of dissociation. his spirit communications were psychologically identical with the automatic writings of the glastonbury archæologists (see chapter ix); he read obituary notices, studied out-of-the-way stories of men and women, and from the stores of his unconscious he produced this information as news from the spirit world. but, knowing nothing of the ways of the unconscious and becoming a prey to his own dissociated stream, he fed this stream and drifted with it into something a little removed from sanity. i know not how the manifestations began, and whether he belonged to my second or third group i do not attempt to discuss; i am satisfied if i have made it clear that the work of this wonderful medium can be explained otherwise than by one of the two alternatives of spiritualism or conscious deceit. we meet with the same rush to testify to the honesty of mrs. piper. sir oliver lodge of course guarantees her, and the late professor william james, the harvard psychologist, wrote of her: 'practically i should be willing now to stake as much money on mrs. piper's honesty as on that of any one i know, and am quite satisfied to leave my reputation for wisdom or folly so far as human nature is concerned to stand or fall by this declaration.'[30] [footnote 30: re-quoted from _spiritualism_, p. 75.] this honesty of the main personality of the dissociate leads astray professors of physics or of the old psychology.[31] it is the honest but mistaken man who misleads his fellows. we are on our guard against the rogue, and the conscious deceiver must needs be a good actor if he would succeed. the best actor knows he is acting, but the reverend moses needed no effort to preserve for years the appearance of straightforwardness and honesty. as far as he knew, he _was_ straightforward and honest, though beneath his consciousness lay fathomless possibilities of deceit, ever ready to take advantage of the externals of an honest man. [footnote 31: i may owe an apology here to the memory of professor james, for the original quotation is given without its context.] as i said in chapter vi, an authoritative and confident manner makes easy the acceptance of suggestion. what can be more authoritative and confident than the manner of a man who believes what he says and knows that his hearers are willing to believe? if what he says are lies and delusions, that makes no difference in his manner, and his unsuspicious hearers are still ready to stake their reputations upon his honesty. that readiness only makes them the more suggestible and renders valueless their opinion as to the truth of what he says. spiritualist writers are glib concerning 'subliminal consciousness', and, knowing not what they mean, attribute to it powers of communication with the spirit world. the only one worthy of study is the late f. h. myers, and though his stories of the marvellous are largely repetitions of old material yet his treatment of the psychology of double personality is illuminating. his work on _human personality_, if free from the spiritualist complex, would probably rank well in advance of its period. he has a good grasp of the subject of hysterical double personality, giving some excellent examples, but postulates a transition from the imaginings of the hysteric to the revelations of the spirit world. that the mind should pass through disease on its way to divine revelation, the boundary between the two being only a matter of judgement, is a necessary part of his explanation of mediumism. just as spiritualists will maintain their belief in a medium after fraud has been detected, placing upon unbelievers the onus of proving fraud in every case, so myers, knowing the workings of hysterical double personality, claims the right to exclude hysteria whenever he pleases and to attribute a divine origin to the material then produced. this demand appeals neither to the religious man nor to the sceptic. i take the liberty of borrowing a story from mr. hereward carrington, a spiritualist of some critical power.[32] [footnote 32: _personal experiences in spiritualism_, pp. 59-61. t. werner laurie, ltd.] 'one of the most interesting cases that i have ever encountered is the following, which i consider of remarkable psychological interest from various points of view. during the early summer of 1911, a gentleman called upon me, stating that he knew a wonderful physical medium, of the same type as palladino. he himself was a lawyer; his friend, the medium, was also a lawyer, and had "a scientific interest in these things," and in "having the remarkable manifestations which occurred in his presence solved," etc. for three years and a half, i was told, this case had been under private observation, and the manifestations had grown more and more numerous and bewildering as time went on. this, and much more of like nature, i heard by way of preliminary to the investigation of what appeared to be a very promising case. an evening having been arranged, the two gentlemen called at my house, and, after a chat, the demonstrations were undertaken. a broom was placed on the floor, and then, the medium kneeling over the object (or, rather, squatting on the ground), he placed his fingers on either side of the broom-handle, and then gradually took them away. as he did so the broom was seen to rise into the air. it remained suspended in space for a few seconds, then fell to the floor. the effect was most striking, while the phenomenon was of that simple order which one would naturally expect to discover in a simple undeveloped medium. the first two or three experiments interested me immensely, i must confess. but i noted one particular thing about the movements of the medium, which was that every time he placed an object on the floor, he placed it very close to his knees; this caused me to look between his knees intently instead of at the object during the next few trials. the result was that i distinctly saw _a fine black thread_ stretched from leg to leg, forming a loop, into which the various objects were slipped in the act of placing them on the floor. the rest was only a matter of balance. in spite of the fact that i had discovered the _modus operandi_, i did not wish to act hastily, having been accused so often in the past of condemning too hastily upon discovering the fraud. accordingly i asked the medium to meet me a few evenings later at the office of my friend, dr. gustave sayer, and here we witnessed a second demonstration. it would be useless to repeat the details of this performance, which was simply a repetition of the first. suffice it to say that not only was the medium seen using the loop of thread throughout, but this loop broke twice during the evening--once in the middle of the experiment--the thread being heard to break, and the object at once falling to the ground. on the first occasion the medium made an excuse, retired upstairs, and evidently arranged the thread, for he came down again in a few minutes and proceeded to give us a further test. upon the thread (audibly) breaking a second time, however, he said that he "did not think he could do any more for us that evening," and sat down, apparently exhausted. it was the most flagrant and bare-faced swindle i ever came across, and in this dr. sayer agrees with me. and yet here was a young lawyer practising these tricks, apparently for no motive, and constantly lying about them in a most astonishing manner; and this was a case from which much was to be hoped, apparently.' this story hardly needs comment; but the writer's attitude towards another and more famous medium, eusapia palladino, is very different. until i read the book from which these passages are quoted i thought no one regarded this lady as anything but an exposed fraud; even sir oliver lodge has written concerning her, 'my only regret is that i allowed myself to make a report, although only a private report, to the society for psychical research, on the strength of a few exceptionally good sittings, instead of waiting until i had likewise experienced some of the bad or tricky sittings to which all the continental observers had borne frequent witness.'[33] [footnote 33: quoted from _the question_, p. 118.] mr. carrington says of this lady[34]:- 'in any event, it appears to me obvious that, even assuming that fraud was intended on this occasion, it proves nothing more than the fact that eusapia will resort to clever trickery whenever the occasion is given her to do so--a fact which all students of her phenomena know full well already; and it does not in the least prove that the whole séance was fraudulent--which is what is implied in professor munsterberg's article. every one knows well enough that scores of phenomena have been observed in the past which could not possibly have been accounted for, even assuming that the medium had both her feet free--a fact i have previously pointed out. the difference between eusapia and the other mediums spoken of in this volume is this, that in their case they invariably fail whenever "test conditions" are imposed, whereas eusapia generally succeeds; further, the whole tenor and setting of the séance, so to speak, is entirely different. lastly, we have the unanimity of opinion amongst scientific men as to eusapia's powers, whereas we have nothing of the sort in the case of any other medium. on the contrary, whenever they are investigated along these lines, they either fail altogether or are detected in fraud.' [footnote 34: _personal experiences_, p. 174.] this gentleman has reason for pride in his powers of observation, but his spiritualist complexes are so firmly enclosed in their logic-tight compartment that his own critical powers beat in vain against the door. it was unfortunate for the young lawyer, but at the same time inexplicable, that mr. carrington pitted his observations, made at two sittings only, against those of the people who had had the case under private observation for three and a half years. surely this respectable young man deserved the laurels of mediumism as much as did eusapia. what are two failures against three and a half years' manifestations that 'had grown more and more numerous and bewildering as time went on'? i am sure that, if mr. hereward carrington had given his blessing, this young man might have become a famous medium instead of being blighted after his years of successful effort. but mr. carrington cannot conceive an alternative between a bare-faced swindle and a spirit manifestation, and in this he is harsher than i. it is plain that this young lawyer had the respect of his friends and was believed to be honest, just like mrs. piper and stainton moses, and mr. carrington missed a chance of useful psychological investigation when he dismissed the case so curtly. the chance cannot be recalled, but a talk with this medium might have helped in the understanding of his distinctly disordered mind. i once had the chance of a frank talk with the accomplice of a professional medium, but, though he had some belief in the occult, he was so fully conscious of his roguery that i learned no more psychology than i have picked up from a three-card trickster. anyhow, mr. carrington gives us an example of a medium in the making who we can only guess was a man whose disappointed ambitions and neurotic 'will to power' had led him astray. i wonder how mr. carrington explains the failure of previous observers to detect the trickery? the man's apparent honesty of course helped, but the herd instinct was also at work and converts would be unlikely to criticise when a few reputable people had expressed their belief. certain card-tricks are safer from detection by a large audience than by a small one. if three people are present and one thinks he detects the trick he may speak, for he is only in a minority of one to two; but if five out of fifteen detect it, each one, feeling he is in a minority of one to fourteen, is over-ruled by his sense of insignificance and remains silent accordingly. it is easier to sway a crowd than to persuade an individual. let me make it clear that i do not merely compare the medium with the hysteric, i regard them as identical except in those cases where the medium is a conscious deceiver. the attitude of the believers in the honesty of the medium is the same as that of the sympathising friends of the hysteric patient, and it is often as difficult and thankless a task to explain the patient's condition to his or her friends as it is to save the credulous from falling a prey to the fortune-teller. but such difference as there may be is in favour of the unfortunate hysteric, who is the victim of forces that are too powerful to be resisted without help and who often anxiously desires recovery. i have seen in a man suffering from war-strain the spontaneous development of what would be accepted as clairvoyance; the identity of his performance with that of the medium is of great importance. the patient was in that condition of dissociation or partial hypnosis into which these men easily pass, and was apparently 'seeing' some of the horrors he had experienced. as a rule such revivals of war episodes can be relied upon as a true reproduction of actual events, but in this case there were inconsistencies in the story. for example, describing how uhlans drove their lances into belgian babies, he said: 'if i had my revolver i'd let them have it,' but gave no indication of what he, a british soldier, was doing unarmed and under such circumstances. moreover, though the account was given with due emphasis, there was a lack of the emotion characteristic of the revival of actual horrors. then a break came in the story, and he went on to describe a tragedy which had recently roused public interest. he saw the murderer walking with his victim, described how she handed over certain articles to him, and then how the man shot her and hurried off. all this was graphically related as if he were actually witnessing the tragedy, and as i listened i realised how any one ignorant of the workings of a disordered mind would feel compelled to believe in the reality of clairvoyance and might be impelled to act upon the belief, for the description of the murder, if true, could only have been derived from something like second-sight. the cause at work in producing these fantasies was fairly clear. the man had seen three years of fighting, and had resolutely tried to forget all that he had passed through; he had the usual symptoms of 'shell-shock', and in addition complained bitterly of being haunted by dreams of murder. i know not what particular happening had so impressed him, but in his unconscious were the memories of many horrors which, refused admission to his consciousness, insisted on manifesting themselves by dreams and waking fears. every horrible thing he read or heard was joined on to his dissociated stream of memories and emotions, to be reproduced in dreams and fantasies. in his imaginings there was a mixture of truth and fancy; the figure of the murderer, for example, proved to be associated in his mind with the figure of an officer who was present at a time of great emotional strain, and the articles handed over by the victim were identical with articles familiar to the patient and of emotional importance to him. the other reproductions proved to be of incidents which had been related to him and to which he had given an intimate personal interest whilst elaborating them; his own experiences were more deeply repressed. his condition was identical with that of the honest medium--whether stainton moses or more recently advertised seers--but fortunately his friends recognised the true nature of his disorder and, instead of cultivating it as a 'gift', took steps to have it treated as a disease. in the description of mediums we often find hints of hysterical symptoms. sir oliver lodge tells of the sighings and writhings of one of his performers, but it is not often that a definite diagnosis is made as in the following extract[35]:- 'i do not think that any one who has seen the effects of a _good_ séance upon eusapia could doubt its reality. she has been known to suffer from partial paralysis, from hysteria, nausea, amnesia, loss of vision, as well as great weakness, prostration, etc., after the séance. i have seen her actively nauseated--excessively ill--after a good séance of this character, a symptom which is unlikely to be simulated, even if it could be. it is only after a _good_ séance that such things occur, however. after a poor séance at which, perhaps, much fraud has occurred ... i think that eusapia often simulates exhaustion when, as a matter of fact, there is little or none, but this would not deceive one who has carefully watched her for weeks and months together, and has observed the effects of a genuine séance upon her.' [footnote 35: _personal experiences_, p. 242.] the behaviour described by mr. carrington is precisely that of the hysteric, but it is not clear what he means when he says that her being actively nauseated is a symptom unlikely to be simulated, even if it could be. hysterical vomiting--resulting from mental processes, and not from any physical cause--is very common, and is a simulation of bodily disease, though i do not imply that the patient is aware of the simulation. perhaps being nauseated was, in this case, a symbol of the disgust which one personality felt towards the frauds and lies of the other. eusapia, having reached a condition of hysterical dissociation, presents the material symptoms of such a condition, for the nausea, paralysis, amnesia, loss of vision, prostration, etc., are classical symptoms of hysteria. the spiritualist actually holds them forth as proofs of the reality of spirit communication! let the reader bear in mind that they show eusapia to have been not merely a cheat, but mentally diseased. there is a sad list of books purporting to instruct beginners how to communicate with the dead, and the instructions are such as to induce dissociation--a mental condition with possibilities of self-deception and hysterical manifestations like those shown by eusapia palladino. bad enough it is to believe the fantasies of a diseased mind to be revelations from beyond the grave, but how can one sufficiently condemn men of learning and position who would lead along the pathway of disease those who mourn their lost ones? a few extracts from _how to speak with the dead_[36] will illustrate these pernicious attempts. [footnote 36: by sciens: kegan paul, trench, trübner & co.] (page 88) 'by sitting in some place quite alone and free from interruption, and by adopting a mental attitude of passive receptivity and expectancy, the soul becomes ready to perceive and be affected by any spirits that may be in its vicinity and that may attempt to open up communications.... the manifestations ... may vary from thought-suggestion to positive physical phenomena ... such as the hearing of a voice or even the visual appearance of some supernormal object. all depends upon whether the sitter is or is not susceptible to psychical influence, and also upon whether the locality or the sitter personally is or is not haunted.' then (page 91) when the dissociation has developed:-'in cases where the sitter is markedly "psychic" it frequently happens that normal control over the body is lost. a condition of trance supervenes, and while this continues the spirit--which may be either a "second personality" or a soul from the outside--that has gained the upper hand makes use to a greater or less extent of the brain and other organs subject to its mastery. the hand may write: the mouth may speak: the whole body may be engaged in some impersonation; and all this may take place beyond the scope of the sitter's normal consciousness.' lest the hysterical dissociation is not yet enough developed, the victim receives, on page 98, another thrust along the road to disease:- 'if it be found on trial that psychic powers exist to an appreciable extent it may be taken for granted that they are capable of very great increase by persevering effort and systematic employment.' a warning is both given and stultified on page 107:- 'self-deception and the imaginations bred of wishes and emotions are to be guarded against;' ... 'in solitary expectancy fraud and trickery are completely absent, and all manifestations are matters of the most simple personal observation, the accuracy of which can be confirmed--as in an ordinary scientific laboratory--by the test of repetition.' these directions are sufficient to start victims along the path taken by eusapia, and, though we do not know how this woman reached the condition described by mr. carrington, yet the men who fostered her deception certainly helped the unfortunate creature in her development of a second personality compounded of delusion and fraud. the description of the other case of mr. carrington's contains a significant phrase: 'the phenomenon was of that simple order which one would naturally expect to discover in a simple undeveloped medium.' just so: the game was only beginning, but, if the medium had developed, the split-off personality would have taken charge and limitless cheating and fraud could have been carried on by a medium who was to all seeming an honest man. but as i showed that the causes of hysteria are to be found in conflict and repression, only taking the 'will to power' and 'repression of the knowledge of deceit' as particular forms applying to a few cases, so i must allow that the medium may not always be influenced by the last two factors. the hysteric is the prey of emotions and experiences which cannot be faced unaided, and the strivings and desires that arise from the unconscious, which in one individual may find expression in social work, may find vent by a neurosis in another, or by mysticism in a third. the desires may be of the noblest kind, and, failing to find legitimate expression, may show themselves in fantasies. i am not the first to draw attention to the psychology of joan of arc, and we can picture her urged by the noblest emotions to seek in a dissociated stream powers beyond the reach of consciousness; her visions were real to her, and tradition may be believed when it relates the story of her detection of king charles disguised as one of his own courtiers. 'be not amazed, nothing is hid from me', are the words attributed to her, and the incident well exemplifies the hypersensitivity of a dissociated stream. i cannot picture a modern medium actuated by high motives, but am ready to admit that even in our days there may be mystics whose dissociations arose from commendable origins. theosophy is bound up with the story of two women, madame blavatsky and mrs. besant; the former was a self-confessed deceiver, but the latter is a very different kind of woman. brought up in strict religious surroundings, she found herself compelled to cast aside her religious beliefs and, at great personal sacrifice, take up a public attitude directly opposite to them; but her old beliefs still lay in the unconscious, and when the opportunity arose she found relief from her conflict in a fantastic creed of the supernatural. no one who has studied her life can deny her honesty, but honesty does not make her beliefs easier of acceptance. before leaving the subject of mediums i must allude again to witchcraft. to those who believe in spirits, good or evil, which can take possession of us and make us do their will, and can throw about bricks and sand and furniture in our material world, there is nothing remarkable in epidemics of bewitchery, especially as the witch-finders were more fortunate than our spiritualists in having the unanimous support of the most eminent authorities of their day. to explain the psychology of witchcraft is beyond the scope of this book, but it is not hard to conceive that when the belief in witchcraft was strong certain unfortunate people who set out to play tricks, maybe for notoriety or temporary gain, became ensnared by credulity and finding escape difficult came to believe in their own powers. thus dissociation would be set up and on the side of the witch-finders herd instinct (or suggestion) and logic-tight compartments did the rest. the fact that confessions of witchcraft were apparently common makes this explanation more probable. for a career ending at the stake to have such a trivial origin as a desire for notoriety is in agreement with the history of sludge, whose downfall began with a desire to draw attention to himself. call them ambitions and the desires seem less trivial, nor do i shrink from suggesting that the 'gifts' of the water-diviner and the most financially disinterested medium, even of mr. stainton moses himself, have origin in a desire to shine before one's fellows--a neurotic 'will to power'. conclusion although i have emphasised the part that dissociation plays in the production of beliefs and actions, yet dissociation is only a particular manifestation of the unconscious and it is the latter which is becoming the field of research as to the causes of human action. from the evolutionary standpoint consciousness is a late development. man sacrificed many advantages when he rose above the beast; in every mere bodily endowment he has superiors in the animal world, and as the influence of consciousness has become more and more important so the sphere of his unconscious actions has diminished. the bird needs no foresight for the building of her nest: the impulse to build comes and must be obeyed. when migration time arrives there is no reasoned plan of going to a distant land, no scheming of routes or destinations: she just goes. so it is with the intricate instincts of other creatures, of the wasp that builds her brood-cell, fills it with living victims, and places there an egg of whose future she can know nothing. seeing these things we marvel at the intelligence of the agent, but the child who ties a rag round a stick and gives it a name uses more initiative than any other animal possesses. here, rather late, i will introduce mcdougall's definition of an instinct:- 'instinct is an innate psycho-physical tendency to pay attention to objects of a certain class, to experience emotional excitement of peculiar quality on such perceptions, and to act or have an impulse to act in a particular way with regard to that object.' we can see that instinct suffices for the bird or insect, living almost entirely in the unconscious, to carry on the important affairs of life. even in regard to what looks like the exercise of reason or memory we can find a parallel in the human unconscious. the unreasonable fears and obsessions of the 'shell-shocked' soldier rest upon causes of which he is unaware, and the burnt child dreads the fire even if he were too young to remember the burning. the chicken that has once tasted a nauseous caterpillar will ever after avoid its like, but we only know that a certain emotion is called up by the sight of the caterpillar which causes the chicken to abstain; it is an unnecessary assumption that memory, as we know it, is concerned. the obsession of the soldier who felt that he must attack his companion (see chapter viii) arose from the unconscious, and those animal actions which we attribute to memory can similarly have their origins apart from consciousness. mcdougall's definition of instinct applies very well to obsessions, except that the latter are not innate but acquired; that one definition should apply to both groups is due to them all having their origin in the unconscious. man, though urged by the instincts and memories of his unconscious, yet lives in his stream of consciousness and tends to believe that there is no other mind-work involved in his thoughts and actions; but as the latest evolved function is the most variable and unstable so man's consciousness is his most uncertain function, its chief variability being in the extent to which it controls or is controlled by the unconscious. the ideal human mind would be perfectly integrated, there would be no logic-tight compartments, all its complexes would be apparent to the consciousness, all memories available when needed, all emotions assigned to their proper cause and all instincts recognised and well-directed; and the owner of it would find life in our world intolerable. remote from this ideal is the mind whose unconscious has taken the place, wholly or in part, of the stream of consciousness. perhaps the consciousness has not developed--then we find idiocy or imbecility; perhaps some distorted emotion from the unconscious has been the source of a dissociated stream of ideas which becomes predominant and brings its owner within the legal definition of a lunatic. between the extremes are the rest of mankind, the matter-of-fact man who reconciles himself to his world by a few serviceable logic-tight compartments, the man of temperament--artist, poet, or tramp--who counts the emotions arising from the unconscious as among the real things of life, and the other people of temperament who, finding their emotions and desires in discord with their surroundings, misdirect them and join the sufferers whom we call neurotic. then there are those who build up from the unconscious a fantastic world of imaginings, and, knowing nothing of the source, attribute them to outside intelligences or beings like themselves. to these belong the seers and mystics and their present-day representatives, the mediums, clairvoyants, and other believers in their own fantasies. the counterpart of the medium is the ready believer, and each is reciprocally the victim of the other. the medium has his dissociated stream with its hyperæsthesia and receptivity--alert to pick up the slightest hint and cast it back as a spirit revelation, and ready, moreover, to use more material trickery if needful. on the side of the believer is a logic-tight compartment containing his readiness to seize upon the feeblest evidence of the supernatural. how far he progresses into a dissociation one cannot tell, but when two dissociates apparently bearing the stamp of honesty--one the medium and one the believer--work into each other's hands results may well be such as to defy explanation. the study of the unconscious is legitimate, and if one chooses knowingly to tap its stores by a method of dissociation some increase of knowledge (not about the supernatural, but about the ways of the human mind) may be expected. but whoever hands himself over to a belief that the products of a dissociation--whether of his own consciousness or of another's--are manifestations of the spirit world, may come to say- 'had i seen, perhaps, what hand was holding mine, leading me whither, i had died of fright.' _printed in great britain by_ unwin brothers, limited woking and london is spiritualism based on fraud? the evidence given by sir a. c. doyle and others drastically examined by joseph mccabe london: watts & co., 17 johnson's court, fleet street, e.c.4 preface on march 11 of this year sir arthur conan doyle did me the honour of debating the claims of spiritualism with me before a vast and distinguished audience at the queen's hall, london. my opponent had insisted that i should open the debate; and, when it was pointed out that the critic usually follows the exponent, he had indicated that i had ample material to criticize in the statement of the case for spiritualism in his two published works. how conscientiously i addressed myself to that task, and with what result, must be left to the reader of the published debate. suffice it to say that my distinguished opponent showed a remarkable disinclination to linger over his own books, and wished to "broaden the issue." since the bulk of the time allotted to me in the debate was then already spent, it was not possible to discuss satisfactorily the new evidences adduced by sir arthur conan doyle, and not recorded in his books. i hasten to repair the defect in this critical examination of every variety of spiritualistic phenomena. my book has a serious aim. the pen of even the dullest author--and i trust i do not fall into that low category of delinquents--must grow lively or sarcastic at times in the course of such a study as this. when one finds spiritualists gravely believing that a corpulent lady is transferred by spirit hands, at the rate of sixty miles an hour, over the chimney-pots of london, and through several solid walls, one cannot be expected to refrain from smiling. when one contemplates a group of scientific or professional men plumbing the secrets of the universe through the mediumship of an astute peasant or a carpenter, or a lady of less than doubtful virtue, one may be excused a little irony. when our creators of super-detectives enthusiastically applaud things which were fully exposed a generation ago, and affirm that, because they could not, in pitch darkness, see any fraud, there _was_ no fraud, we cannot maintain the gravity of philosophers. when we find this "new revelation" heralded by a prodigious outbreak of fraud, and claiming as its most solid foundations to-day a mass of demonstrable trickery and deceit, our sense of humour is pardonably irritated. nor are these a few exceptional weeds in an otherwise fair garden. in its living literature to-day, in its actual hold upon a large number of people in europe and america, spiritualism rests to a very great extent on fraudulent representations. here is my serious purpose. sir arthur conan doyle made two points against me which pleased his anxious followers. one--which evoked a thunder of applause--was that i was insensible of the consolation which this new religion has brought to thousands of bereaved humans. i am as conscious of that as he or any other spiritualist is. it has, however, nothing to do with the question whether spiritualism is true or no, which we were debating; or with the question to what extent spiritualism is based on fraud, which i now discuss. far be it from me to slight the finer or more tender emotions of the human heart. on the contrary, it is in large part to the more general cultivation of this refinement and delicacy of feeling that i look for the uplifting of our race. but let us take things in order. does any man think it is a matter of indifference whether this ministry of consolation is based on fraud and inspired by greed? it is inconceivable. and, indeed, the second point made by my opponent shows that i do not misconceive him and his followers. it is that i exaggerate the quantity of fraud in the movement. if they are right--if they have purified the movement of the grosser frauds which so long disfigured it--they have some ground to ask the critic to address himself to the substantial truth rather than the occasional imposture. but this is a question of fact; and to that question of fact the following pages are devoted. i survey the various classes of spiritualistic phenomena. i tell the reader how materializations, levitations, raps, direct voices, apports, spirit-photographs, lights and music in the dark, messages from the dead, and so on, have actually and historically been engineered during the last fifty years. this is, surely, useful. spiritualism is in one of its periodical phases of advance. our generation knows nothing of the experience of these things of an earlier generation. to teach one's fellows the weird ingenuity, the sordid impostures, the grasping trickery, which have accompanied spiritualism since its birth in america in 1848 can hurt only one class of men--impostors. j. m. _easter, 1920._ contents chap. page i. mediums: black, white, and grey 1 ii. how ghosts are made 17 iii. the mystery of raps and levitations 42 iv. spirit photographs and spirit pictures 63 v. a chapter of ghostly accomplishments 77 vi. the subtle art of clairvoyance 93 vii. messages from the spirit-world 109 viii. automatic writing 129 ix. ghost-land and its citizens 147 chapter i mediums: black, white, and grey mediums are the priests of the spiritualist religion. they are the indispensable channels of communication with the other world. they have, not by anointing, but by birthright, the magical character which fits them alone to perform the miracles of the new revelation. from them alone, and through them alone, can one learn the conditions under which manifestations may be expected. were they to form a union or go on strike, the life of the new religion would be more completely suspended than the life of any other religion. they control the entire output of evidence. they guard the gates of the beyond. they are the priests of the new religion. now it will not be seriously disputed that during the last three quarters of the century these mediums or priests have perpetrated more fraud than was ever attributed to any priesthood before. a few weeks ago spiritualists held a meeting in commemoration of the "seventy-second anniversary" of the birth of their religion. that takes us back to 1848, the year in which mrs. fish, as i will tell later, astutely turned into a profitable concern the power of her younger sisters to rap out "spirit" communications with the joints of their toes. there have been some quaint beginnings of religions, but the formation of that fraudulent little american family-syndicate in 1848 is surely the strangest that ever got "commemoration" in the annals of religion. and from that day until ours there is hardly a single prominent medium who has not been convicted of fraud. any person who cares to run over mr. podmore's history of the movement will see this. there is hardly a medium named in the nineteenth century who does not eventually disappear in an odour of sulphur. podmore was one of the best-informed and most conscientious non-spiritualists who ever wrote on spiritualism. if one prefers the verdict of the french astronomer flammarion, who believes that mediums do possess abnormal powers and has studied them for nearly sixty years, this is what he says:- it is the same with all mediums, male and female. i believe i have had nearly all of them, from various parts of the world, at my house during the last forty years. one may lay it down as a principle that all professional mediums cheat, but they do not cheat always.[1] if you are inclined to think that this applies only to professional mediums, whose need of money drives them into trickery, listen to this further verdict, which m. flammarion says he could support by "hundreds of instances":- i have seen unpaid mediums, men and women of the world, cheat without the least scruple, out of sheer vanity, or from a still less creditable motive--the love of deceiving. spiritualist séances have led to very useful and pleasant acquaintanceships, and to more than one marriage. you must distrust both classes [paid and unpaid].[2] listen to the verdict of another man who believes in the powers of mediums, and who has studied them enthusiastically for thirty years, a medical man with means and leisure--baron von schrenck-notzing[3]:- it is indisputable that nearly every professional medium (and many private mediums) does part of his performances by fraud.... conscious and unconscious fraud plays an immense part in this field.... the entire method of the spiritualist education of mediums, with its ballast of unnecessary ideas, leads directly to the facilitation of fraud. if this is not enough, take another gentleman, mr. hereward carrington, who has studied mediums for two decades in various parts of the world, and who also believes that they have genuine abnormal powers:- ninety-eight per cent. of the [physical] phenomena are fraudulent.[4] these are not men who have dismissed the phenomena as "all rot." they believe in the reality of materializations or levitations. they are not men who have been recently converted, in an emotional mood. they have spent whole decades in the patient study of mediums. i could quote a dozen more witnesses of that type; but the reader will be able to judge for himself presently. some spiritualists try to tone down this very grave blot on their religion by distinguishing between the professional medium and the unpaid. the men i have quoted warn us against this distinction. it is quite absurd to think that money is the only incentive to cheat. the history of the movement swarms with exposures of unpaid as well as paid mediums. an unpaid medium who can display "wonderful powers" becomes at once a centre of most flattering interest; and we shall see dozens of cases of this vanity leading men and women of every social position into fraud and misrepresentation, even in quite recent times. all that one can say is that there is far less fraud among unpaid mediums. but there are far less striking phenomena among unpaid mediums, as a rule, and so this helps us very little. the "evidence" afforded by mediums like mr. vale owen, and the myriads of quite recent automatic writers and artists, is absolutely worthless. what they do is too obviously human. we must remember, also, that the distinction between "paid" and "unpaid" is not quite so plain as some think. daniel dunglas home is always described by spiritualists as an unpaid medium, but i will show presently that he lived in great comfort all his life on the strength of his spiritualist powers. florence cook, sir william crookes's famous medium, is described as "unpaid," because she did not (at that time) charge sitters; but she had a large annual allowance from a wealthy spiritualist precisely in order that she should not charge at the door. to take a living medium, and one very strongly recommended to us by sir arthur conan doyle under the name of "eva c." (though it has been openly acknowledged by her patrons on the continent for six years that her name is marthe beraud): she has lived a luxurious life with people far above her own station in life for fifteen years, in virtue of her supposed abnormal powers. the distinction is, in any case, useless. when spiritualists try to conciliate us to their wonderful stories by telling us that the medium was "unpaid," they do not know the history of their own movement. the most extraordinary frauds have been perpetrated, even in recent years, by unpaid mediums, or ladies of good social position. flammarion, maxwell, ochorowicz, carrington, and all other experienced investigators give hundreds of cases. not many years ago professor reichel, tired of examining and exposing professional mediums, heard that the daughter of a high official in costa rica was producing wonderful materializations. he actually went to costa rica to study her, and he found that she was tricking (dressing a servant girl as a ghost) in the crudest fashion, as i will tell later. the daughter of an italian chemist, linda gazerra cheated scientific and professional men for three years (1908-11), but was at last found to conceal her "ghosts" and "apports" in her false hair and her underclothing. there is no such thing as a guarantee against fraud in the character of the medium. every case has to be examined with unsparing rigour. sir arthur conan doyle meets the difficulty by cheerfully distinguishing between white, black, and grey mediums: the entirely honest, the entirely fraudulent, and those who have genuine powers, but cheat at times when their powers flag and the sitters are impatient for "manifestations." it is a familiar distinction. to some extent it is a sound distinction. we all admit black mediums. the chronicle of spiritualism, short as it is, contains as sorry a collection of rogues, male and female, as any human movement _could_ show in seventy years. politics is spotless by comparison. even business can hold up its head. for a "religion" the situation is remarkable. next, we all admit white mediums. we all know those myriads of innocent folk, tender maidens and nervous spinsters, neuropathic clergymen and even quite sober-looking professional men, who bring us reams and rivers of inspiration through the planchette and the _ouija_ board and the crystal and automatic writing. bless them, they are as guileless, generally, as sir arthur conan doyle himself. i have seen them--seen men and women of such social standing that one dare not breathe a suspicion--stoop to trickery more than once in order to get communications of "evidential value." but there are tens of thousands of amateur mediums of this kind who are as honest as any of us. we all admit it. it is sheer spiritualistic nonsense to say that we dismiss the whole movement as fraud. we do not question for a moment the honesty of these myriads of amateur mediums. what we say is that the evidential value of _their_ work would not convert a kaffir to spiritualism. dr. j. maxwell, a distinguished french lawyer and doctor, who has been a close investigator of these things for decades and believes in mediumistic powers, says:- i share m. janet's opinion concerning the majority of spiritualist mediums. i have only found two interesting ones among them; the hundred others whom i have observed have only given me automatic phenomena, more or less conscious; nearly all were the puppets of their imagination.[5] no, spiritualism does not rely at all on these innocent and useless productions. invariably, your spiritualist opponent turns sooner or later to the big, striking things, the "physical phenomena," the work of the "powerful" mediums. now, which of these were ever "white"? sir arthur conan doyle, when he came to this important point, named four "snow-white" mediums. he _could_, he added, name "ten or twelve living mediums"; but since he did not, we still hunger for the names. the four spotless ones were home, stainton moses, mrs. piper, and mrs. everett--not a great record for seventy years (since home began in 1852). mrs. piper we will discuss later, but i may say at once that a man for whom sir arthur has a great respect as a psychic expert, dr. maxwell, speaks of mrs. piper's "inaccuracies and falsehoods" with great disdain. who mrs. ever_e_tt may be i do not know. if sir arthur means the mrs. ever_i_tt of forty years ago, i insist on transferring her to the flock of the _black_ sheep. in later chapters we will examine the performances of stainton moses and home, and probably the reader will agree with me that these snow-white lambs were two of the arch-impostors of the spiritualist movement. but a word of general interest may be inserted here. the snow-white daniel, whom sir w. barrett and sir a. c. doyle and all other spiritualists quote as one of the pillars of the movement, as a spotless worker of the most prodigious miracles, was quite the most successful and cynical adventurer in the history of spiritualism. he was no "paid adventurer," says sir a. c. doyle in his _new revelation_ (p. 28), but "the nephew of the earl of home." to the general public that statement suggests a cultivated and refined member of the british aristocracy, above all suspicion of fraud. it is the precise opposite of the truth. even daniel himself never pretended that he was more than a son of a bastard son of the earl of home. he appears first as a penniless adventurer in america at the age of fifteen, and he lived on his spiritualistic wits until he died. he married a wealthy russian lady in virtue of his pretensions, and his second marriage was based on the same pretensions. it is true that he did not charge so much a sitter. he had a more profitable way. he lived--apart from his wives and a few lectures (supported by his followers)--on the generosity of his dupes all his life. in the debate sir a. c. doyle tried to defend him against one grave charge i brought against the white lamb. in 1866 a wealthy london widow, mrs. lyon, asked daniel to get her into touch with her dead husband. the gifted medium did so at once, of course. for this he received a fee of thirty pounds, nominally as a subscription to the spiritual athenæum, of which he was paid secretary. daniel stuck to the lady, and got immense sums of money from her; and a london court of justice compelled him to return the lot. now, sir a. c. doyle, who said several times in the debate that _i_ did not know what i was talking about, while _he_ had read "the literature of my opponents as well as my own," asserts: "i have read the case very carefully, and i believe that home behaved in a perfectly natural and honourable manner." he quotes mr. clodd (who has, apparently, been misled by podmore's too lenient account of the case), but i prefer to deal with sir arthur's own assurance that he has "read the case very carefully." it was on in london, under vice-chancellor gifford, from april 21 to may 1, 1868. sir a. c. doyle seems to regard mrs. lyon's affidavit as waste-paper. she swears that home brought a fictitious message from her dead husband, ordering her to adopt daniel and endow him, and she gave him at once £26,000. she swears that, when home's birthday came round, another fictitious message ordered her to give daniel a further fat cheque, and she gave him £6,798. sir a. c. doyle may set aside all this as "lies," because he is determined to have at least one snow-white medium in the nineteenth century, and his cause cannot afford to lose home's miracles. but when he and other writers say that home was acquitted of dishonourable conduct, they are, if they have read gifford's decree, saying the exact opposite of the truth. it is enough to mention that vice-chancellor gifford decided that "the gifts and deeds are _fraudulent_ and void," and he added:- the system [spiritualism], as presented by the evidence, is mischievous nonsense--well calculated on the one hand to delude the vain, the weak, the foolish, and the superstitious; and on the other to assist the projects of _the needy and the adventurer_. beyond all doubt there is plain law enough and plain sense enough to forbid and prevent the retention of _acquisitions such as these_ by any medium, whether with or without a strange gift. that is the official judgment which spiritualists constantly represent as acquitting home of fraud! this man, scornfully lashed as a greedy impostor from the british bench, is the snow-white medium recommended to the public by sir a. c. doyle, sir w. barrett, sir w. crookes, and sir o. lodge. sir arthur adds in his _vital message_ (p. 55) that "the genuineness of his psychic powers has never been seriously questioned." that statement is hardly less astounding. home's performances, which we will examine in the third chapter, were regarded by the overwhelming majority of the cultivated people of his time as trickery of the most sordid description from beginning to end. has sir a. c. doyle never heard of browning's "sludge"? it expressed the opinion of nearly all london. as to stainton moses, the other lamb, an ex-minister who ran home close in sleight-of-hand and foot (in the dark), it is enough to say, with carrington, that "no test conditions were ever allowed to be imposed upon this medium." spiritualists ought to quote that whenever they quote the miracles of stainton moses. his tricks were always performed--in very bad light (if any)--before a few chosen friends, who had not the least inclination to look for fraud. home was never exposed, though he was once caught, because he chose his sitters. but stainton moses chose a far more exclusive circle of sitters, and never once had a critical eye on him. we shall see that the tricks themselves brand him as a fraud. he was not exposed; but it was the sitters who were lambs, not stainton moses. sir arthur conan doyle, in effect, recommends two further mediums as snow-white. one is kathleen goligher, of belfast, whose performances shall speak for her in our third chapter. the other is "eva c.," whose miracles will be examined in the second chapter. we shall see that she was detected cheating over and over again. at the present juncture, however, i would make only a few general remarks about this living "lamb." in a work which was published in 1914--in german by baron von schrenck-notzing, and in french by mme. bisson (they are not two distinct books, as sir a. c. doyle says)--there are 150 photographs of "materializations" with this medium. we shall see that they tell their own story of crude imposture. in the introductory part of his book baron schrenck describes the character of the lady (pp. 51-4). he says, politely, that she has "moral sentiments only in the ego-centric sense" (that is to say, none); that she "behaves improperly to herself"; that she "lost her virginity before she was twenty"; and that she has "a lively, erotic imagination" and an "exaggerated idea of her charms and her influence on the male sex." that is bad enough for a snow-white vestal virgin, a sacred portal of the new revelation. but worse was to follow; and it was evident to me during the debate that, while sir a. c. doyle twitted me with knowing nothing about these matters, he was himself quite ignorant of the developments of this case six years before. the young woman's real name, marthe beraud, had been concealed by baron schrenck, and her age mis-stated by six years, for a very good reason--she is the "marthe b." who was recommended to us in 1905 as a wonderful medium by sir oliver lodge, and who was detected and exposed (in algiers) in 1907! baron schrenck was forced to acknowledge her real age and name in 1914. where, then, are the snow-whites? does sir a. c. doyle want us to go back to the pure early days of the movement? take the foxes, who began the movement. in 1888 margaretta fox, who had married captain kane, the arctic explorer, and had been brought to some sense of her misconduct by him, confessed (in the _new york herald_, september 24) that the movement was from the start a gross fraud, engineered for profit by her elder sister, and that the whole spiritualist movement of america was steeped in fraud and immorality. perhaps sir a. c. doyle would plead that this appalling outburst of fraud, which poured over america from 1848 to 1888, was only the occasion of the appearance of genuine mediums. well, who are they? take the mediums who founded spiritualism in england from 1852 onward. was foster white? as early as 1863 the spiritualist judge, edmonds, learned "sickening details of his criminality." was colchester, who was detected and exposed, white? what was the colour of the holmes family, whose darling spirit-control, "katie king," got so much jewellery from poor old r. d. owen before she was found out? are we to see no spots on the egregious "dr." monck, who pretended that he was taken from his bed in bristol and put to bed in swindon by spirit hands? or in corpulent mrs. guppy (an amateur who duped a. russel wallace for years), who swore that she had been snatched from her table in her home at ball's pond, taken across london (and through several solid walls) for three miles at sixty miles an hour, and deposited on the table in a locked room? was charles williams white? he was, with rita, detected by spiritualists at amsterdam in 1878 with a whole ghost-making apparatus in his possession. were bastian and taylor white? they were similarly exposed at arnheim in 1874. was florence cook, the pupil of herne (the transporter of mrs. guppy at sixty miles an hour) and bewitcher of sir w. crookes, white? we shall soon see. was her friend and contemporary ghost-producer, miss showers, never exposed? or does sir a. c. doyle want us to believe in morse, or eglinton, or slade, or the davenport brothers, or mrs. fay, or miss davenport, or duguid, or fowler, or hudson, or miss wood, or mme. blavatsky? these are not a few black sheep picked out of a troop of snowy fleeces. they are the great mediums of the first forty years of the movement. they are the men and women who converted russel wallace, and crookes, and robert owen, and judge edmunds, and vice-admiral moore, and all the other celebrities. they are the mediums whose exploits filled the columns of the _spiritualist_, the _medium and daybreak_, and the _banner of light_. cut these and home and moses out of the chronicle, and you have precious little left on which to found a religion. spiritualists think that they lessen the reproach to some extent by the "grey" theory. some mediums have genuine powers, but a time comes when the powers fail and, as the audience presses for a return on its money, they resort to trickery. that is only another way of saying that a medium is white until he is found out, which usually takes some years, as the conditions (dictated by the mediums) are the best possible for fraud and the worse possible for exposure. but sir a. c. doyle is not fortunate in his example. indeed, nearly every statement he made in his debate with me was inaccurate. eusapia palladino was a typical "grey," he says. "one cannot read her record," he assures us, "without feeling that for the first fifteen years of her mediumship she was quite honest." an amazing statement! her whole career as a public medium lasted little more than fifteen years, and she tricked from the very beginning of it. in his _new revelation_ sir arthur assures the public that she "was at least twice convicted of very clumsy and foolish fraud" (p. 46). such statements are quite reckless. eusapia palladino tricked habitually, on the confession of morselli and flammarion and her greatest admirers, from the beginning of her public career. eusapia began her public career in 1888, but was little known until 1892. she was exposed at cambridge by the leading english spiritualists in 1895, only _three_ years after she had begun her performances on the great european stage. myers and lodge reported that not one of her performances (in 1895) was clearly genuine, and that her fraud was so clever (myers said) that it "must have needed long practice to bring it to its present level of skill." mr. myers was quite right. she had cheated from the start. schiaparelli, the great italian astronomer, investigated her in 1892, and said that, as she refused all tests, he remained agnostic. antoniadi, the french astronomer, studied her at flammarion's house in 1898, and he found her performance "fraud from beginning to end." flammarion himself reports that she tried constantly to get her hands free from control, and that she was caught lowering a letter-scale by means of a hair. thus her common tricks had begun as early as 1898, 1895, and even 1892. "_our_ hands are clean," sir a. c. doyle retorted to my charge of fraud. that is precisely what they are not. spiritualists have from the beginning covered up fraud with the mantle of ingenious theories, like this "grey" theory. fifty years ago (1873) a mr. volckmann, a spiritualist, grasped "katie king," the pretty ghost who had duped professor crookes for months. he at once found that he had hold of the medium, florence cook; but the other spiritualists present tore him off, and put out the feeble light; so florence cook continued for seven years longer to dupe spiritualists, until she was caught again in just the same way in 1880. from the earliest days of materializations there were such exposures, and the spiritualists condoned everything. the medium, they said, when the identity of ghost and medium was too solidly proved, had acted the part of ghost unconsciously, in a state of trance. the ghosts had economized, using the medium's body instead of making one. some even said that the ghost and medium coalesced again (to save the medium's life!) when a wicked sceptic seized the phantom. some said, when gauzy stuff, such as any draper sells, or a curl of false hair, was found in the cabinet, that the spirits had forgotten to "dematerialize" it. some laid the blame on "wicked spirits" who got snow-white mediums into trouble. some learnedly proved that thoughts of fraud in the mind of sceptics present had telepathically influenced the entranced medium! these things are past, sir a. c. doyle may say. not in the least. in the decade before the war exposures were as frequent as in the palmy days of the middle of the nineteenth century, and spiritualist excuses were just as bad. craddock, the most famous materializing medium in england, who had duped the most cultivated spiritualists of london for years, was caught and fined £10 and costs at london in 1906. marthe beraud, the next sensation of the spiritualist world, was caught in 1907, and had to be transformed into "eva c." miller, the wonderful san francisco maker of ghosts, was exposed in france in 1908. frau abend, the marvel of berlin and the pet of the german spiritualist aristocracy, was exposed and arrested in 1909. bailey, the pride of the australian spiritualists, was unmasked in france in 1910. ofelia corralès, the next nine days' wonder, passed among the black sheep in 1911; and lucia sordi, the chief medium of italy, was exposed in the same year. in 1912 linda gazerra, the refined italian lady who had duped scientific men and the spiritualist world for three years, came to the same inevitable end; and mrs. ebba wriedt, the famous american direct-voice medium, met her disaster in norway. in 1913 it was the turn of carancini; in 1914 of marthe beraud in her new incarnation, "eva c." we will consider the trickery of these people in detail later. this mere list of names, of more than national repute, gathered from one single periodical (the german _psychische studien_), shows how the mischievous readiness of spiritualists to find excuses, and their equally mischievous readiness to admit "phenomena" where real control is impossible, make the movement as rich in impostors to-day as it was half a century ago. it must be understood that behind each of these leading mediums--men and women of international interest--are thousands of obscurer men and women who cheat less cultivated and less critical folk, and are never detected. it is therefore useless to divide mediums into professional and amateur, or into black, white, and grey. you take a very grave risk with every one of them. you need a close familiarity with all the varieties of fraud, and these we will now carefully examine. we will then consider more patiently and courteously what phenomena remain in the spiritualist world which are reasonably free from the suspicion of fraud. footnotes: [1] _les forces naturelles inconnues_ (1907), p. 18. [2] same work, p. 213. [3] _materialisations-phänomene_ (1914), pp. 22, 28, and 29. [4] _personal experiences in spiritualism_ (1913), p. ix. [5] _metapsychical phenomena_ (1905), p. 46. chapter ii how ghosts are made the most thrilling expectation of every spiritualist is to witness a materialization. the wild ghost, the ghost in a state of nature, the ghost which beckoned our grandmothers from their beds and waylaid our grandfathers when they passed the graveyard on dark nights, has become a mere legend. hardly fifty years ago authentic ghost stories were as common as blackberries. but the growth of education and the establishment of exact inquiry into such matters have relegated all these stories to the realm of imagination. according to the spiritualist, however, we have merely replaced the wild ghost by the tame ghost, the domesticated ghost of the séance room. the clever spirits of the other world, who could not when they were alive on earth detach a single particle from a living body (except with a knife), are now able to take a vast amount of material out of the medium's body and build it up in the space of quarter or half an hour into a hand, a face, or even a complete human body. this is the great feat of materialization. let me truthfully record that many of the better educated spiritualists fight shy of belief in this class of phenomena. they know that in the history of the movement every single "materializing medium" has sooner or later been convicted of fraud. they have, on reflection, seen that the formation, in the course of half an hour, of even a human hand--which is a marvellously compacted structure of millions of cells--would be a feat of stupendous power and intelligence. they feel that, if all the scientific men in the world cannot make a single living cell, it is rather absurd to think that these spirit workers, whose messages do not reflect a very high degree of intelligence, can make a human face out of the slime or raw material of the medium's body in half an hour, and put all the atoms back in their places in the medium's body in another half hour. the faith of the great majority of spiritualists is, of course, heroic enough to overlook all these difficulties. indeed, it is amazing to find even students of science among them indifferent to the enormous intrinsic improbability of a materialization. during the debate at the queen's hall sir arthur conan doyle had on the table before him a work which contained a hundred and fifty photographs of materializations. several of these represented full-sized human busts (sometimes with the superfluous decoration of beards, spectacles, starched collars, ties, and tie-pins). one of them represented a full-sized human form, dressed in a bath robe. and sir arthur conan doyle, a trained medical man, assured the audience that he believed that these were real forms, moulded out of the "ectoplasm" of the medium's body, in the space of less than half an hour, by spiritual powers! sir william crookes believed in materializations of a still more wonderful nature, as we shall see. dr. russel wallace believed implicitly in materializations. sir w. barrett and sir o. lodge believe in materializations, since they believe in the honesty of d. d. home, who professed to materialize hands. so we must not blame the ordinary spiritualist if he knows nothing about the tremendous internal difficulties of this class of phenomena, and the consistent and appalling career of fraud of mediums in this respect. materialization is the crowning triumph of the medium, the most convincing evidence of the new religion. it goes on to-day in darkened rooms in london--done by men who have already been convicted in london police-courts--and all parts of the world. fraud follows fraud, yet the believer hopes (and pays) on. _some_ of the phenomena are genuine, he says; that is to say, some of the tricks were not proved to be fraudulent. let us see how these things are done. the incomparable daniel was the first, apparently, to open up this great field of spiritualist evidence. in the early fifties he began to exhibit hands which the spiritualists present were sure were not _his_ hands. but we shall see how, even in our own day, spiritualists easily take a stuffed glove, a foot, or even a bit of muslin to be a hand, in the weird light of the dark room; and we will not linger over this. the real creator of this important department of the movement was mrs. underhill, the eldest of the three fox sisters who founded spiritualism. i will tell the marvellous story of the three foxes later, and will anticipate here only to the extent of saying that leah, the eldest sister (mrs. fish, later mrs. underhill), was the organizing genius of the movement. she was an expert in fraud and a woman of business. until her own sisters gave her away, forty years after the beginning of the movement, she was never exposed; and even an exposure by her sister in the public press and on the public stage in new york made no difference to her career. she was the mme. blavatsky, the mrs. eddy, of spiritualism. leah began in 1869, every other branch of spiritualist conjuring having now been fully explored, to produce a ghost at her sittings. in the dark a veiled and luminous female figure walked solemnly about the room, and profoundly impressed the sitters. the mere fact of _walking_--ghosts have to _glide_ nowadays--would tell a modern audience that the ghost was the very solid medium; and the luminosity would have an aroma of phosphorus to a modern nostril. but the americans of 1869 were not very critical. a few months later a wealthy new york banker, livermore, lost his wife, and the "hyenas"--as sir a. c. doyle calls mediums who prey on the affections of the bereaved--hastened to relieve his grief and his purse. for four hundred sittings, spread over a space of six years, katie fox impersonated his dead wife. as katie fox confessed in 1888 that spiritualism was "all humbuggery--every bit of it," we need not enter into a learned analysis of these sittings. english mediums were put on their mettle, and after a little practice in private they announced that they had the same powers of materialization, and it was unnecessary to bring over the americans. mrs. guppy, the pride of london spiritualism, opened this new and rich vein. the story of mrs. guppy need not be told here. it is enough that, while she was still miss nichol, she was the chief medium to convert dr. russel wallace to spiritualism; and that, on the other hand, she was the lady who professed that she was aerially transported by spirits from highbury to lamb's conduit street, and through several solid walls, in the space of three minutes. mrs. guppy was above suspicion: first because she was unpaid, and secondly because she exposed several fraudulent mediums. so mrs. guppy set up her little peep-show in the first month of 1872, and drew fashionable london. but the performance was rather tame. while mrs. guppy sat in the cabinet, a little white face appeared, in the dim moonlight, at an opening near the top of the cabinet. it did not speak, as the new york ghosts did. dolls do not speak. a few months later herne and williams, the professional friends of mrs. guppy whose spirit-controls had wafted that very voluminous lady as rapidly as a zeppelin across london, set up a more robust performance. as they sat in the cabinet (unseen), spirit-forms emerged--dim, luminous, but unmistakably alive--and moved about the room. it was the first appearance in england of those famous spirits, john king, the converted pirate, and katie king, his daughter, who had been a great attraction in america for several years. john's beard looked rather theatrical, and his lamp smelt of phosphorus. but what would you? spirits have to use earthly chemicals; and they would find plenty of phosphorus in the brain of charlie williams, not to speak of his pockets, which were never searched. again we may save ourselves the trouble of a learned analysis of the phenomena by recalling that williams presently dissolved partnership with herne, and entered into an alliance with rita; and that in 1878 the precious pair were seized during a performance, and searched, at amsterdam. rita had a false beard, six handkerchiefs, and a bottle of phosphorized oil. williams had the familiar false black beard and dirty drapery of "john king," and bottles of phosphorized oil and scent. the spiritualist reader here impatiently observes that i am merely picking out a few little irregularities in the early days of the movement. far from it. i am scientifically studying the preparatory stages of one of the classic manifestations of the movement: the materializations of florence cook, which are vouched for by sir w. crookes, sir a. c. doyle, and, apparently, all the leaders of the movement. if the spiritualist wishes, like other people, honestly to understand "katie king," he or she must read this part of the story which i am giving, and which is generally omitted (though it may be read in any history of the movement). florence cook was a pretty little hackney girl of sixteen when herne and williams began. she attended séances at their house in lamb's conduit street, and she was so impressed that she became a pupil of herne. she and her father seem to have understood each other very well, and she very shortly began to give, to paying guests, materialization-séances in their house at hackney. florence went one better than mrs. guppy and herne. there was a lamp in the room--at the far side of the room--and you saw faces plainly at the opening in the cabinet. as her "power" developed, the ghost began to leave the cabinet and walk about the room and talk to the sitters. florence remained bound with rope in the cabinet while "katie king" stalked abroad. you did not see her, it is true, but you had her word for it. she was not bound by the spectators--nor by herself, of course. she was bound by the spirits. a rope was put on her lap, the curtains were drawn, and presently you discovered florrie, "securely" bound and in a trance, in the cabinet. the curtains were drawn again when the ghost, in flowing white drapery, walked the room. meantime, and at a very early date, a manchester spiritualist named blackburn privately engaged to give florrie an annual fee if she would not take money at the door; so she became an "unpaid" and highly respectable medium. jewellery is, of course, not money, and florrie exacted jewellery (as the spiritualist volckmann found and said in the london press at the time, when he wanted to attend) from would-be sitters through her father. it is said that she looked, in features, remarkably like a jewess. her fame reached the ears of a brilliant young scientist, professor w. crookes, and he invited her to materialize at his house. she soon laid aside all dread of the scientific man. in three niggardly little letters, which he never republished, crookes described in 1874 the wonderful things done at his house. while florrie lay in an improvised cabinet, or behind a curtain, the beautiful and romantic and quite different maiden, katie king, walked about his room. she played with crookes's children, and told them stories about her earthly life in india long ago. she talked affably to his guests, and took his arm as she walked. there was not the least doubt about her solidity. the wicked sceptic who suggests that katie king was a muslin doll or a streak of light has certainly not read crookes's letters. he felt her pulse, he sounded her heart and lungs, he cut off a tress of her lovely auburn hair, he took her in his arms, and he--well, he breaks off here and simply asks us what any man would do in the circumstances? we assume that he found that she had lips and warm breath like any other maiden. florence cook's opinion of scientific men would to-day be priceless. i will say, on behalf of sir w. crookes, that he never obtruded this sacred experience on the public. he "accidentally" destroyed all the negatives and photographs he had taken of katie king. he forbade friends, to whom he had given copies, ever to publish them. the three short letters he wrote to the _spiritualist_ (february 6, april 3, and june 5, 1874--i have, of course, read them) are now rare. he wrote them out of chivalry, because a rival spiritualist, volckmann (who married mrs. guppy), got admission to the hackney sanctuary (by a present of jewellery) and exposed florence (december 9, 1873). he saw at once that she was impersonating the spirit, and he seized it. other spiritualists present, supporters of florrie, tore him off, and turned out the lamp; and five minutes later florence was found, bound and peacefully entranced, in her cabinet. in the hubbub that followed professor crookes gave his modest testimonial to florrie's virtue. spiritualists generally accepted her version, and she continued to make ghosts until 1880, when sir george sitwell and baron von buch exposed her in precisely the same way. no spiritualist can quarrel with me for dwelling on this famous materialization. it is supposed to be the mostly firmly authenticated in the whole movement. sir w. crookes said, quite late in life, that he had "nothing to retract"; and every spiritualist who quotes his high authority endorses the materialization of katie king. the majority of the public to-day will merely conclude that some scientific men are worse witnesses on such matters than dockers, and that the disgust of scientific men like sir e. ray lankester and sir bryan donkin has a very solid foundation. even at the time there were leading spiritualists like sergeant cox who regarded the affair with bewilderment and suspected that all materializations were fraud. what can be said for sir w. crookes? he alleges that the medium and the ghost were unmistakably different persons. katie king was taller than florrie. but florence cook, like her contemporary, miss showers, was seen to walk on tip-toe, and alter her stature, when she was the ghost. sir w. crookes nowhere says that he took the elementary precaution of measuring ghost and medium _with their dresses drawn up to their knees_. he says that the lock of hair which katie gave him as a memento was auburn, and florrie's hair was very dark brown. but we do not doubt that on the _last occasion_ the ghost was _not_ florence cook. other differences he finds, in a dim light, are negligible. if the modern spiritualist really believes sir w. crookes, as he professes to do, he must come to this ultra-miraculous conclusion: the spiritual powers in this case did not merely take _some_ matter out of florence cook's body, but they took more than the whole substance of it, because crookes says that katie was taller and broader than florrie! and, to cap this supreme miracle, he on one occasion saw ghost and medium together, and apparently florrie was as solid as ever! the spirits had in this case multiplied nine stone into eighteen or nineteen. after twenty years of religious controversy i am a patient man, but i decline to argue with any one who doubts that florrie cook (four times caught in fraud, and a pupil of herne) impersonated the ghost. mr. f. podmore saw the photographs which professor crookes took. he says that ghost and medium are the same person. crookes himself was nervous, in spite of florrie's charms, and he begged to be allowed to see ghost and medium plainly together. the artful florence could not manage that in his house. once she let him look at her, lying on the ground, but he saw no face or hands; and a bundle of clothes and a pair of boots are not quite clearly a living person. he pressed again. florence--he tells us this very naively--borrowed his lamp (a bottle of phosphorized oil) and tested its penetrating power, and then told him he should see both ghost and medium in _her_ house. he went, and we are not surprised that he saw them. if any spiritualist of our time really doubts that on this occasion there were _two_ girls, i invite him to read carefully sir w. crookes's account of the famous farewell scene. katie proclaimed that her mission was over (she had converted a scientific man), and this was to be her last appearance. florrie (who was in a trance, of course) wept, vainly implored her to visit this earth again, and sank, broken-hearted, to the floor. katie directed crookes--who stood, mute, with his phosphorus lamp in the middle of this pretty comedy--to see to florrie, and, when he turned round again, katie king had vanished for ever. that is to say, she had not been re-absorbed in the medium's body, as spiritualist theory demands, but had _gone in the opposite direction while his back was turned_! now there you have the most wonderful, classic, historic materialization in the whole spiritualist history. it is attested by a distinguished man of science. it is endorsed by all the spiritualist leaders of our time. and it is piffle from beginning to end. the evidence would not justify a man in drowning a mouse. the control was ridiculously inadequate. the imposture was palpable. if sir w. crookes had taken the scientific precaution of spreading a few tacks on the carpet, or waxing a bent pin in the ghost's chair, he would have heard the hackney dialect at its richest. it was reserved for two oxford undergraduates to show sir w. crookes how to investigate ghosts. they seized "marie," florrie's next spirit, in 1880; and they found they had in their arms the charming florence, in her _lingerie_. crookes had never searched the ample black velvet dress she used to wear. it is hardly worth while running over all the ghostly frauds since then, but a word about florrie's friend and contemporary, miss showers, will be found instructive. miss showers was a really unpaid medium; though she received a good deal in the way of jewellery and other presents from admirers of her fair and aristocratic ghost, "lenore fitzwarren." she was a general's daughter, and above suspicion. no one dreamed of searching her. on one occasion she allowed florence cook to peep into her cabinet; and florence--hawks do not pick out hawks' eyes--assured the public that she plainly saw miss showers and "lenore," and even a second ghost, simultaneously. but, alas for the fair lenore! sergeant cox, who was very sceptical, had miss showers at his country-house in 1874; and miss cox, a born daughter of eve, tried to draw the curtain and peep into the cabinet. miss showers fought for her curtain, and the ghostly headdress fell off, and the game was up. this was only four months after the exposure of florence cook. the two most certainly genuine and respectable mediums in england were unmasked within four months. r. d. owen's "katie king" had been exposed in america in the previous year, the last sad year of the old man's life. one by one the others followed. in spite of darkness, in spite of solemn promises extracted from sitters not to break the circle or seize the ghost, the materializers were all exposed. one man shot a ghost with ink, and the ink was found on the medium. stuart cumberland squirted cochineal on a ghost, and the medium could not wash it away. one american with a gun had a shot at a ghost. at another place tin-tacks were strewn on the floor, and the spirit's language was painful to hear. in 1876 eglinton was exposed by mr. colley; he had in his trunk the beard and draperies of his ghost "abdullah." in 1877 miss wood was caught at blackburn, and dr. monck was caught and sent to jail. in 1878 rita and williams were caught, with all their tawdry ghost-properties, at amsterdam. spiritualists were getting a little nervous, though as a rule they accepted every excuse. the medium had acted "unconsciously," or under the influence of evil spirits. sir a. c. doyle boasts that it is spiritualists who weed out frauds. on the contrary, they have shown a very grave willingness to accept the flimsiest excuses and reinstate the medium. miss wood was exposed, for instance, in 1877. they at once admitted her defence, that she had been quite unconscious in impersonating the ghost, and she went on. in 1882 a sceptical sitter seized the "pretty little indian girl" who came out of the cabinet while miss wood was entranced in it; and the indian girl-ghost was miss wood walking on her knees, swathed in muslin. ah, but this is ancient history, your spiritualist friend says. listen! about fifteen years ago, when i was already making that inquiry into spiritualism which spiritualists say i have never made, i was told by a group of london spiritualists, all cultivated men and women, that it was useless to go the round of the mediums who advertised in _light_, since they were "all frauds." i was told that the one genuine medium in london was a certain f. g. f. craddock, who performed in a studio at the back of mr. gambier bolton's house. the minor phenomena i saw did not impress me, and i asked to be allowed to see these wonderful materializations of mr. craddock. three ghosts--a nun, a clown, and a pathan--walked the room (successively) while craddock sat (unseen) in a trance. i saw pictures of these materialized forms, and was told that they were accurate. but before i could get admission craddock left, and he began to hold sittings for his own profit at pinner. and on march 18, 1906, the "ghost" was seized, in the usual way, and found to be craddock. on june 20 (see the _times_ of june 21) craddock was fined ten pounds, and five guineas cost, at edgware police court, on the charge "that he, being a rogue and a vagabond, did unlawfully use certain subtle craft, means, or device, by palmistry or otherwise, to deceive the said mark mayhew and others." he had been controlled as carelessly as f. cook was in 1874. he had smuggled in masks and drapery, and impersonated his ghosts. after all, sir a. c. doyle may say, in his blunt way, this was 1906. i do not know if he knows it--he seems to have an exceedingly limited knowledge of his own movement--but _craddock is giving materialization-séances in or near london to-day_; and prominent spiritualists know it, and condone it, on the ground that _some_ of his phenomena are genuine. the imposture has continued to flourish in all parts of the spiritualist world since 1906. in 1907 it was the turn of marthe beraud, of whom i will say more presently. in 1908 exposure fell upon miller, the most famous of the american materializing mediums. such was his repute that the french spiritualists invited him to paris, and were delighted with him. the figures which appeared while he sat _before_ the cabinet were suspiciously like dolls, but there was no mistake about the "beautiful girl" (in dull, red light) who came out, and offered her hand, when miller was (presumably) inside the cabinet. but when the spirits announced that it was improper to strip and search him, and when they said that, though he was an "unpaid" medium, they must make him a nice little present before he went back to san francisco, there was a chill in the spiritualist world. and when he produced the ghosts of luther's wife and melanchthon, when they found bits of tulle and a perfumed cloth in the cabinet after a séance, they sent miller back to america without his present. this fiasco, which agitated the spiritualist world in the beginning of 1909, had not yet been forgotten when, in october of the same year, frau anna abend and her husband were arrested by the police at berlin. frau abend was the leading german medium. strings of motor-cars stretched before her door of an afternoon. for several years she and her husband had duped and fascinated berlin by their accurate knowledge of the dead you wished to see. you heard on every side, what you hear on every side in london to-day: "i was _quite_ unknown to the medium," and "she could not _possibly_ know by natural means what the spirits told me." the police thought otherwise. they found in her cabinet tulle enough to drape six ghosts; and they found in her house quite a detective-bureau of information about dead folk and possible sitters, and a secret address to which she had the flowers sent which her spirits would produce as "apports." the whole machinery of her information and trickery was laid bare. was she ruined? not a bit of it. she and her husband got off on technical grounds, and the spiritualists showered congratulations on them and set them up again.[6] in 1910 our spiritualist journal, _light_, which is so zealous to root out fraud, announced that a really genuine materializing medium had appeared in costa rica. it seemed a safe distance away, but professor reichel, of france, had actually been to costa rica and found it a flagrant imposture at the very time when _light_ was confirming the faith of english spiritualists with the glorious news. ofelia corralès, the medium in question, was the daughter of a high civic functionary of san josé; an _unpaid_ medium, you notice. as soon as reichel arrived he found that the wonderful manifestation which the spiritualist journals of the world had announced was well known locally to be a hoax. the ghost was a servant-girl, who was recognized by everybody, smuggled in at the back door. ofelia, under pressure, admitted this. her "spirit-control," she explained, could not "materialize," so directed her to bring in this girl, who resembled her "in the last incarnation but one." sometimes her mother took the part, and she was one night embraced by an ardent costa rican sitter. reichel assisted at some of her performances, but the girl declined to materialize a ghost. what she did get was a chorus of ghostly voices in the dark. it says something for the robustness of professor reichel's psychic faith that, though the music was "rotten," though the whole family was suspect and all the members of it were present, though he caught the girl cheating and her "ghost" was an acknowledged imposture, he believed that this music was a "genuine" phenomenon! he was not going to make a journey to costa rica for nothing. to english spiritualists this case ought to be particularly interesting, because among the gentle ofelia's admirers in san josé was an englishman, mr. lindo, and it was he who sent the outrageous account to _light_. according to him--and he was present--they all saw ofelia floating in the air. now, reichel had taken with him some phosphorized paper, and by the light of this he saw that ofelia was standing on a stool. in fact, she fell off the stool, and was ignominiously exposed. what is worse, reichel says (_psychische studien_, april, 1911, p. 224) that he had expressly warned lindo, who used his name, that he "would not be mixed up with such a burlesque," and that the minutes of the sittings were grossly exaggerated by ofelia's father. so much for first-hand spiritualist testimony in _light_. the french _annales des sciences psychiques_ gave an equally false account. the german _psychische studien_ alone called it "a conglomerate of stupidity and lies." it certainly was; but when the whole truth was known _light_ mildly described it as "a girlish prank." it was calculated and shameless fraud. a few months later it was the turn of lucia sordi, a famous italian medium, a young married woman of the peasant class, assisted by her two girls. her marvels put eusapia palladino in the shade. the guests were not merely touched, but bitten! a man's hat was brought from the hall and put on his head. the cat was brought in through the solid walls. the table was not merely lifted up, but carried into the hall. professor tanfani and other scientific men were taken in. four "materialized spirits" seemed to be in the room at once, while lucia was bound to her chair. they fastened her in a crate, and it made little difference. in 1911 baron von schrenck-notzing went to rome and exposed her. she could get out of any bandages. but when the war broke out she was still occupying the leisure hours of certain italian professors. meantime, dr. imoda, of turin, university teacher of science, was investigating the marvels of linda gazerra. linda was not exactly an unpaid medium, but she was the cultivated daughter of a professional man. being a lady and a good catholic, she could not, of course, be stripped and searched. so she did wonderful things, which imoda gravely watched and described and photographed for three years. her "control" was "vincenzo," a young officer who had been killed in a duel; and a terrible chap he was to choose so respectable and pious a medium. things simply flew about when he was at work. at other times she "apported" birds and flowers, and the ghosts that materialized beside her--you could plainly see both her and the ghost--were very pretty, though remarkably flat-faced, and fond of muslin. as linda's hands were controlled by the sitters, it did not matter that she insisted on absolute darkness until she pleased to say "foco" ("light") and let you take a photograph. she had a three years' run. then schrenck-notzing studied her at paris in the spring of 1911. she treated him to a "witches' sabbath," he says. but he soon found that her feet were not where a lady ought to keep her feet. he felt a spirit-touch, grasped the touching limb, and found that he had the virtuous linda's foot. then he sewed her in a sack, and the spirits were powerless. her materializations and tricks were simple. she brought her birds and flowers and muslin and masks (or pictures) in her hair (which was largely false, and never examined) and her underclothing, and she, by a common trick, released her hands and feet from control to manipulate them. this baron schrenck, you think, was a terrible fellow at exposures. unhappily, our last instance must be the exposure of his own medium, eva c. this will fitly crown the chapter for two reasons. first, because sir a. c. doyle recommends her to us as a genuine materializing medium of our own times. he says in the debate that, while spiritualists have been much "derided" for claiming that spirits build up temporary forms out of the medium's body, "recent scientific investigation shows that their assertion was absolutely true. (cheers.)" i quote the printed debate (p. 32), and it will be recognized that here at least i am not shirking my opponent's strongest evidence, for sir a. c. doyle at once explains that he means the case of eva c. he gave his own (quite inaccurate) version of the facts, and, to the delight of his supporters, he went on:- don't you think it is simply the insanity of incredulity to waive that aside? imagine discussing what happened in 1866 ... when you have scientific facts of this sort remaining unanswered. so, you see, i was very heavily punished in that contest, and i have to try to redeem my "insanity"; but perhaps the reader will remember what sir a. c. doyle forgot, that he had stipulated that i should open the debate and _deal with his books_. no doubt i was quite free to take other evidence also, but i had an idea that, since this evidence was published in 1914 and sir arthur's books were published in 1918 and 1919, he had not mentioned it because he disdained it. the other reason why the case of eva c. is important is because it shows us modern scientific men at work. in the earlier days of the movement faking was easy. no one searched a medium, especially a lady medium. she could have yards of butter-cloth or muslin and even dolls or masks under her skirts. even now the ordinary medium is not searched, as a rule. a friend of mine went recently to a materializing medium near london--it is all going on still--and was allowed to feel the medium over his clothes. he could easily tell that the man had yards of muslin wrapped round his body, but he said nothing, and he got his money's worth; a man dressed in muslin, in a bad light, being recognized by spiritualists as a deceased relative. most materializations are still the medium in a mask or beard and muslin. in some cases, in very poor light, the ghost is merely a white rag, a picture, or even a faint patch of light from a lantern, or a phosphorized streak. now we come to the "scientific facts." half the professors and other scientific men quoted as adherents by modern spiritualist writers and speakers are not spiritualists at all. flammarion, ochorowicz, foa, bottazzi, richet, de vesme, schrenck-notzing, morselli, flournoy, maxwell, ostwald, etc., are not, and never were, spiritualists. most of them regard spiritualism as childish and mischievous. but they believe that mediums have remarkable psychic powers, and they admit levitations and (in many cases) materializations. they think that a mysterious force of the living medium, not spirits, does these things, and they talk of a "new science." i agree with them that the idea of spirits strolling along from the elysian fields to play banjoes and lift tables and make ghosts for us is rather peculiar, but i am not sure that _their_ idea is much less peculiar. however, they promise us research under scientific conditions, and they say that they have got materializations under such conditions. "eva c." is the grand example. who is this mysterious lady? i have already let the reader into the secret. sir a. c. doyle may justly plead that he does not read german; and the french version of her exploits is, he may be surprised to hear, very different from baron schrenck's fuller version in german, and very wrong and misleading. but does sir arthur never read the _proceedings of the society for psychical research_? as long ago as july, 1914, it contained a very good article on marthe beraud, which tells most of the facts (except about her morals), and quite openly disdains these wonderful photographs which have made such an impression on sir a. c. doyle. from that article, which betrays, in the official organ of the society, almost the same "insanity of incredulity" as i did, he would have learned things that might have saved him from the worst "howler" of the debate. it tells that "eva c.," as was well known all over the continent in 1914, was marthe beraud, the medium of the "villa carmen materializations" in algiers in 1905. it gives a lengthy report on the case by an algiers lawyer, m. marsault, who knew the family at the villa carmen intimately, and often saw the performances; and this report contains an explicit confession by marthe that she had no abnormal powers whatever. to excuse herself she said that there was a trap-door in the room, and "ghosts" were introduced by others. that was a lie, for there was no trap-door; and those who obstinately wished to believe in the ghosts rejected the whole of marsault's weighty evidence on the ground that _he_ said there was a trap-door! i have before me photographs of the algiers ghost and of eva c.'s ghost. they plainly show marthe dressed up as a ghost, in the familiar old way, while professor richet gravely photographs her, and sir oliver lodge recommends these things to our serious notice. however, marthe found algiers unhealthy after this, and she returned to france and set up in the materializing trade. mme. bisson found her and adopted her, and changed her name; and baron von schrenck-notzing settled down to a three years' study of her marvellous performances. it was on the strength of his book and photographs that miss verrall in 1914 (in the _proceedings s. p. r._) gave a verdict not much different from my own. she found some evidence of abnormal power, and a great deal of fraud. i see no evidence whatever of abnormal _psychic_ power if--it is not clear--this is what miss verrall means. yet sir a. c. doyle, who seems to know nothing about the matter beyond mme. bisson's worthless work, puts the facts before a london audience in the year 1920 in the language i have quoted. in the beginning marthe plainly impersonated the ghost, as baron schrenck admits. he believes that she did it unconsciously. the sooner that excuse for fraudulent mediums is abandoned the better. she was quite obviously _not_ in a trance, though she pretended to be, throughout the whole three years. for smaller "ghosts" (white patches, streaks, arms, etc.) she used muslin, gloves, rubber--all sorts of things. as a rule, she knew when they were going to let off the magnesium-flare and photograph her. she had had ample time behind the curtain to arrange her effects. in one photograph, taken too suddenly, she has a white rag on her knee, which would look like a hand in the red light, and her real hand is holding the "ghost" over her head! after that baron schrenck sadly admitted that she used her hands. mme. bisson does not; so sir arthur does not know this. in another photograph she is supposed to accept a cigarette in a materialized third hand. it is obviously her bare foot, and, if you look closely, you see that her "face" is a piece of white stuff pinned to the curtain. she is really leaning back and stretching up her foot. the book reeks with cheating. after a time she began to stick or paste on the cabinet or the curtain pictures cut out of the current illustrated papers, and daubed with paint, provided with false noses, or adorned with beards and moustaches. president wilson has a heavy cavalry moustache and a black eye; but the glasses, collar, tie, and tie-pin, and even the marks of the scissors, are unmistakable. baron schrenck was forced to admit that dozens of pinholes were found (not by him) on the cabinet-wall, and that the pins must have been smuggled in, deceptively, in spite of a control which he claimed to be perfect. in fact, poor baron schrenck was driven from concession to concession until his case was very limp. of all these things sir a. c. doyle knew nothing; and, although he had the portrait of president wilson in his hands at the queen's hall, only disguised by a moustache and a few daubs of paint, he assured the audience he believed that it was the ectoplasm of the medium's body moulded by spirit forces into a human form! the point of interest to us is to find how the medium concealed her trappings. no medium was ever more rigorously controlled, yet the fraud is obvious. the answer shows that you can almost never be sure of your medium. she was stripped naked before every sitting and _sewn_ into black tights. her mouth and hair were always examined. occasionally her sex-cavity was examined. south african detectives have told me how this receptacle is used for smuggling diamonds, and, as marthe was rarely examined there by a competent and reliable witness, she probably often used it. dr. schrenck admits that the outlet of her intestinal tube was scarcely ever examined until very late in the inquiry, and an independent doctor gave positive reason to suspect that she used this. there is only one photograph in the book that shows a ghost which, tightly wrapped up (and nearly all show plain marks of folding, as baron schrenck admits), might be too large for such concealment; and the careful reader will find that on these occasions there was no control at all! they were impromptu sittings, suddenly decided upon by marthe herself. there is strong reason to believe that usually she swallowed her material and brought it up at will from her gullet or stomach. more than a hundred cases of this power are known, and there is much positive evidence that marthe was a "ruminant." she sometimes bled copiously from the mouth and gullet, and she used the mouth much to manipulate the gauzy stuff. when i mentioned this well-known theory of marthe beraud sir arthur laughed. he said that he doubted if i had read the book i professed to have read, because marthe had a net sewn round her head, which "disproved" my theory. he summoned me to retract. he said i had "slipped up pretty badly." well, the theory was not mine, but that of a doctor who had studied marthe, and who has little difficulty in dealing with the net. had it not been the end of the debate, however, our audience would have heard a surprising reply. they would have learned that the net was used only in _seven_ sittings out of hundreds, and that the medium then compelled them to abandon it. they would have learned that the net, instead of "not making the slightest difference to the experiments," as sir a. c. doyle says, made _four_ out of these _seven_ sittings completely barren of results! and they would have further learned that when the net was on, and marthe could not use her mouth, she stipulated that the back of her clothing should be left open. just one further detail of this sordid imposture. i said that on one occasion marthe allowed the very title of the paper out of which she cut her portraits, _le miroir_, to appear in the photograph, and gave it a spiritual meaning. now, that is mme. bisson's version. but baron schrenck's version is in flagrant contradiction, and an examination of the photographs proves that he is right. the words were caught, _accidentally_, by a camera placed in the cabinet, and the excuse was concocted the next day! enough of these miserable "materializations." they are always dishonest. every materializing medium has been found out. almost since the birth of the movement there have been, and are to-day, hundreds of these men and women, paid and unpaid, who have masqueraded as ghosts, or duped their sitters in a dull red light with muslin and butter-cloth and phosphorized paper, with dolls and masks and stuffed gloves and stockings and rubber arms. if spiritualists would persuade us that they are scrupulously honest, they must drive the last of these people out of their fold, and they must expunge every reference to these materializations from their literature. when we get such phenomena with a medium who has been searched by competent and independent witnesses, whose body-openings have been sealed and clothing changed, in a cabinet set up by independent inquirers, with _each_ hand and foot controlled by a separate man, or in a good light, we may begin to talk. never yet has the faintest suggestion of a phenomenon been secured under such circumstances. footnote: [6] i take this from the german psychic journal, _psychische studien_ nov., 1909. chapter iii the mystery of raps and levitations i now pass at once to a class of spiritualistic manifestations which would be put forward by any well-educated occultist as the most authentic of all. reference was made a few pages back to a large group of scientific and professional men who believe in what they call "mediumistic phenomena." they are not spiritualists, and it is one of the questionable features of recent spiritualist literature that they are often described as such. thus the astronomers flammarion and schiaparelli are quoted. but flammarion says repeatedly in his latest and most important book (_les forces naturelles inconnues_, 1907) that he is not and never was a spiritualist (see p. 581), and he includes a long letter from schiaparelli, who disavows all belief even in the phenomena (p. 93). professor richet, who believes in materializations, is not a spiritualist. professor morselli, who also accepts the facts, speaks of the spiritualist interpretation of them as "childish, absurd, and immoral." the long lists of scientific supporters which the spiritualists publish are in part careless or even dishonest. but such professors as richet, ochorowicz, de vesme, flournoy, etc., and men like flammarion, carrington, maxwell, etc., do believe that raps and other physical phenomena are produced by abnormal powers of the medium. they believe that when the medium sits in or before the cabinet, in proper conditions, the floor and table are rapped, the furniture is lifted or moved about, musical instruments are played, and impressions are made in plaster, although the medium has not done it with his or her hands or feet. as i said, these scientific men scorn the idea that "spirits" from another world play these pranks. they look for unknown natural forces in the medium. they _think_ that they have excluded fraud. we shall see. meantime, the assent of so many scientific men to the phenomena themselves gives this class of experiences more plausibility than others. most of these men base their opinion upon the remarkable doings of the italian medium, eusapia palladino, and we shall therefore pay particular attention to her. but spiritualists rely for these things on a very large number of mediums. in fact, some of our leading english spiritualists do not believe in palladino at all, having detected her in fraud. we must therefore first examine the evidence put before us by spiritualists. we begin with the story of the fox family in america in 1848, which admittedly inaugurated modern spiritualism. since spiritualists commemorate, in 1920, the "seventy-second" anniversary of the foundation of their religion, i will surely not be accused of wasting time over trivial or irrelevant matters in going back to 1848. as, however, this is not a history, i must deal with this matter very briefly. in march, 1848, a mr. and mrs. fox, of hydesville, a very small town of the state of new york, had their domestic peace disturbed by mysterious and repeated rappings, apparently on their walls and floors. swedenborgians and shakers had by that time familiarized people with the idea of spirit, and the neighbours were presently informed that the raps took an intelligent form, and replied "yes" or "no" (by a given number of raps) to questions. the foxes stated that the raps came from the spirit of a murdered man, and later they said that they had dug and found human bones. these raps were clearly associated with the two girls, margaretta (aged fifteen) and katie or cathie (aged twelve). a third, a married elder sister, named leah--at that time mrs. fish, and later mrs. underhill--came to hydesville, and, at her return to rochester, took margaretta with her. leah herself was presently a "medium." the excitement in rural america was intense. mediums sprang up on every side, and the foxes were in such demand that they could soon charge a dollar a sitter. the "spirits," having at last discovered a way of communicating with the living, rapped out all sorts of messages to the sitters. in a few years table-turning, table-tilting, levitation, etc., were developed, but the "foundation of the religion" was as i have described in 1848. towards the close of 1850 three professors of buffalo university formed the theory that the fox girls were simple frauds, causing the supposed raps by cracking their knee joints. at a trial sitting they so placed the legs and feet of the girls that no raps could be produced. a few months later a relative, mrs. culver, made a public statement, which was published in the _new york herald_ (april 17, 1851), that margaretta fox had admitted the fraud to her, and had shown her how it was done. neither of these checks had any appreciable effect upon the movement. from year to year it found new developments, and it is said within three years of its origin to have won more than a million adherents in the united states, or more than five times as many as it has to-day. our spiritualists may find it possible, in their solemn commemoration of 1848, to smile at the buffalo professors and mrs. culver, but i have yet to meet a representative of theirs who can plausibly explain away what happened in 1888. margaretta fox married captain kane, the arctic explorer, who often urged her to expose the fraud, as he believed it to be. in 1888 she found courage to do so (_new york herald_, september 24, 1888). she and katie, she said, had discovered a power of making raps with their toe-joints (not knee-joints), and had hoaxed hydesville. their enterprising elder sister had learned their secret, and had organized the very profitable business of spirit-rapping. the raps and all other phenomena of the spiritualist movement were, mrs. kane said, fraud from beginning to end. she gave public demonstrations in new york of the way it was done; and in october of the same year her younger sister cathie confirmed the statement, and said that spiritualism was "all humbuggery, every bit of it" (_herald_, october 10 and 11, 1888). they agreed that their sister leah (mrs. underhill), the founder of the spiritualist movement and the most prosperous medium of its palmiest days, was a monumental liar and a shameless organizer of every variety of fraud. that a wealthy spiritualist afterwards induced cathie to go back on this confession need not surprise us. so much for "st. leah"--if she is yet canonized--and the foundation of the spiritualist religion in 1848. we need say little further about raps. dr. maxwell, the french lawyer and medical student who belongs to the scientific psychic school which i have noticed, gives six different fraudulent ways of producing "spirit-raps." he has studied every variety of medium, including girls about the age of the fox girls, and found fraud everywhere. in one case he discovered that the raps were fraudulently produced by two young men among the sitters; and the normal character of these men was so high that their conduct is beyond his power of explanation. he has verified by many experiments that loud raps may be produced by the kneeand toe-joints, and that even slowly gliding the finger or boot along the leg of the table (or the cuff, etc.) will, in a strained and darkened room, produce the noises. in the dark, of course--dr. maxwell roundly says that any sitting in total darkness is waste of time--cheating is easy. the released foot or hand, or a concealed stick, will give striking manifestations. some mediums have electrical apparatus for the purpose. if any spiritualist is still disposed to attach importance to raps, we may at least ask for these manifestations under proper conditions. since spirits can rap on floors, or on the medium's chair, let the table be abolished. it usually affords a very suspicious shade, especially in red light, in the region of the medium. let the medium be plainly isolated, and bound in limb and joint, and let us then have these mysterious raps. it has not yet been done. the same general objection may be premised when we approach the subject of levitation and the moving of furniture generally. levitation is a more impressive word than "lifting," but the inexpert reader may take it that the meaning is the same. the "spirits" manifest their presence to the faithful, not by making the table or the medium "light," but by lifting up it or him. it is unfortunate that here again the spirits seem compelled by their very limited intelligence to choose a phenomenon which not only looks rather like the pastime of a slightly deranged hottentot, but happens to coincide with just the kind of thing a fraudulent medium would be disposed to do in a dim light. however, since quite a number of learned men believe in these things, let us consider them seriously. and, with the courage of honest inquirers, let us attack the strongest manifestations of this power first. such are the instances in which the medium himself--spirits respect the proprieties and do not treat lady-mediums in this way--is lifted from the ground and raised even as high as the ceiling. when i say that ladies are not treated in this frivolous way, the informed reader will gather at once that i decline to take serious notice of the once famous levitation of mrs. guppy. dr. russel wallace was quite convinced that this lady was "levitated" on to the table, in the dark, and she was no light weight. but we shall be excused from examining his statement if we recall what the lady claimed in 1871. herne and williams, both impostors, were giving a séance in lamb's conduit street, and their "spirit-controls" said they would "apport" the weighty mrs. guppy. three minutes later, although the doors were locked, and her home was three miles away, she was standing on the table. she had a wet pen in her hand, and she explained tearfully to the innocent sitters that she had been snatched by invisible powers from her books and taken through the solid walls. people like russel wallace still believed in mrs. guppy, but i assume that there is no one to-day who does not see in this case a blatant collusion of three rogues to cheat the public. i assume that the same contempt will be meted out to the claim of the rev. dr. monck, who, not to be outdone, stated shortly afterwards that _he_ had been similarly transported from bristol to swindon. probably the modern reader will be disposed to dismiss with equal contempt the claim that daniel dunglas home was, in the year 1869, wafted by spirit-hands from one window to another, seventy feet above the ground, at a house in victoria street. but here i must ask him to pause. this is one of the classical manifestations, one of the foundations of spiritualism. sir a. c. doyle says that the evidence here is excellent. sir william barrett maintains that the story is indisputably true. sir william crookes says that "to reject the recorded evidence on this subject is to reject all human testimony whatever." it is a spiritualist dogma. i have shown in the debate with sir a. c. doyle that this dogma is based on evidence that will not stand five minutes' examination. not one of these leading spiritualists can possibly have examined the evidence. no witness even _claims_ to have seen home wafted from window to window. lord adare is the only survivor of the three supposed witnesses, and, when he saw some press report of my destructive criticism in the debate, he sent to the _weekly dispatch_ a letter that he had written at the time. he seemed to think that this letter afforded new evidence. the interested reader will be amused to find that this letter is precisely the evidence i had quoted in the debate, for it was published forty years ago. no one professes to have seen home carried from window to window. home told the three men who were present that he was going to be wafted, and he thus set up a state of very nervous expectation. sir w. barrett, who tells us that "nothing was said beforehand of what they might expect to see," says precisely the opposite of the truth. both lord crawford and lord adare say that they were warned. then lord crawford says that he saw the shadow on the wall of home entering the room horizontally; and as the moon, by whose light he professes to have seen the shadow, was at the most only three days old, his testimony is absolutely worthless. lord adare claims only that he saw home, in the dark, "standing upright outside our window."[7] in the dark--it was an almost moonless december night--one could not, as a matter of fact, say very positively whether home was outside or inside; but, in any case, he acknowledges that there was a nineteen-inch window-sill outside the window, and home could stand on that. so there is not only not a shred of evidence that home went from one window to another, but the whole story suggests trickery. home told them what to expect, and he pretended, in the dark, that he was a "spirit" whispering this to them. he noisily opened the window in the next room. he came into their room, from the window-sill, laughing and saying (in spite of the historic solemnity of the occasion!) that it would be funny if a policeman had seen him in the air. when lord adare went into the next room, and politely doubted if home could have gone out by so small an aperture, home told him to stand some distance back, and then swung himself out in a jaunty fashion, as a gymnast would. in fine, it is well to remember that this was the same d. d. home who had defrauded a widow of £33,000, and had been, in the previous year (1868), branded in a london court as a fraud and an adventurer. after this we need not linger long over the other "levitations" of home, or allow ourselves to be intimidated by the bluster of sir a. c. doyle and sir w. barrett. sir arthur tells us that "there are altogether on record some fifty or sixty cases of levitation on the part of home"; that "professor crookes saw home levitated twice"; and that "as he floated round the room he wrote his name above the pictures." it is a pity that sir a. c. doyle does not tell people that home did all these wonderful things in the dark, and that in most cases the people present merely had home's word for it that he was "floating round the room." the whole evidence for these things has been demolished so effectually by mr. podmore in his _newer spiritualism_ (chs. i and ii) that i need say little here. no reliable witness, giving us a precise account of the circumstances, has ever claimed that he saw home off the ground and clear of all furniture. sir w. crookes says that he saw home, in poor light, rise six inches for a space of ten seconds. it is a poor instalment of miracle; but i am obliged to add that crookes was at the other side of the room, and he confesses that he did not see home's feet leave the ground! crookes says that on one occasion he was allowed to pass his hands under home's feet; but he tells this wonderful exploit twenty-three years after the event (in 1894), and he does not give precise indications where the hands were when he examined the feet. mr. john jones saw home rise in 1861; but he does not say that he saw home's hands, and he admits that his muscles were so taut that he calls them "cataleptic." it is equally true that home wrote his name above the pictures; but no one had examined the spots before the séance, and no one could see if he stood on anything to reach them during the séance, as it was pitch dark. the only apparently good case is an occasion when a sitter says that, in the dark, he saw home's figure _completely_ cross the rather lighter space of the window, feet first, and then cross it again head first. but it happens that on this occasion there are two witnesses, and the less rhetorical of the two expressly says that the shadow on the blind was at first only "the feet and part of the legs," and then (after home had _announced_ that the spirits were turning him round) only "the head and face." any gymnast could do that. the whole of these recorded miracles reek with evidence of charlatanry. the lights were always put out, and home in nearly all cases _said_ that he was rising, and then _told_ them that he was floating about various parts of the room. still worse is the evidence for home's occasional "elongation." the picture of sir w. crookes gravely measuring the height of this brazen impostor, as he alternately draws himself in and stretches out, is as pathetic as the picture of him standing with a bottle of phosphorus in a bedroom at hackney while two girls make a fool of him. it is just as pathetic that men like sir a. c. doyle and sir w. barrett assure the public that they believe these things, when they have, apparently, not examined the evidence. to believe that in the course of a few seconds certain spiritual powers, who cannot unravel for us the smallest scientific problem, can so alter that marvellous world of cells and tissues which make up a man's body as to make him even six inches taller, is to believe in a miracle beside which the dividing of the waters of the red sea is child's play. yet distinguished men of science and medical men assure the public that they believe this, and believe it on evidence that has been riddled over and over again. it was a still earlier fraud, gordon, who began this trick of mounting furniture in the dark and saying that the spirits bore him up; but the "evidence" is not worth glancing at. one might as well ask us to examine seriously the evidence for the "elongation" of herne, peters, morse, and all the other impostors of the time, or for the spiritual transit of mrs. guppy and dr. monck. let us rather see what sort of evidence is furnished in recent times. it appears that the spirits no longer levitate the mediums themselves. although the power is said to be developing as time goes on, the age of these impressive floatings round pitch-dark rooms is over. the only instance i have read in the last twenty years is that of ofelia corralès, of costa rica, who unfortunately fell off the stool she was standing on. we have now to be content with the levitation of tables and the dragging of furniture towards the medium. again let us, in order not to waste time, address ourselves at once to the classical case of eusapia palladino. your common or garden medium, with his uncritical audience, has a dozen ways of tilting and lifting tables and pulling furniture about the room. to press on with the hands or thumbs (with four fingers "above the table" to edify the audience) and lift with the knees is easy. the same thing can be done by pressure against the inside of the legs of the table. the foot is still more useful, for the table is generally light. a confederate is even more useful. the more artistic medium wears a ring with a slot in it, and has a strong pin in the table. while his hands seem to be spread out above the table, he catches the head of the pin in the slot of his ring, and--the miracle occurs. other mediums have leather cuffs inside their sleeves, with a dark piece of iron or a hook projecting to catch the edge of the table. but we will take palladino, who was examined by scores of scientific men, many of whom to this day believe that at least a large part of her "phenomena" were genuine. the average man hesitates immediately when he hears that _everybody_ admits that part of her performances were fraudulent. she was a "grey" medium, sir a. c. doyle says. but he, and so many others, assure you at once that this is quite natural. she had real mediumistic powers; but these decay after a time, while the public still clamours for miracles, and the poor medium is strongly tempted to cheat. i have already said that sir arthur is here even more inaccurate than he usually is. he says that she was "quite honest" for the first fifteen years, as any person who studies her record will admit. let us briefly study it. eusapia palladino was an italian working girl, an orphan, who married a small shopkeeper of naples. she remained throughout life almost entirely illiterate, but she came in time to earn "exorbitant fees" (lombroso's daughter says) by her séances. she had begun to dabble in spiritualism, and lift tables, at the age of thirteen, but she did little and was quite obscure until 1888, when professor chiaia, of naples, took her up. he challenged lombroso to study her, and in 1892 a group of italian professors investigated her powers at naples. that is the beginning of her public career, and her performances varied little. she sat with her back to the cabinet--unlike other mediums, she sat outside it--and her chief trick was to lift off the ground the light table in front of her while the professors controlled her hands and feet. it was the ghost of "john king" who did these things, she said; and we remember "john king" as a classic ghost of the early fraudulent mediums. he rapped on the table and raised it off the floor; he dragged furniture towards the medium, especially out of the cabinet behind her; he flung musical instruments on the table, and prodded and pulled the hair of the sitters; he made impressions of hands and faces in plaster; and he even brought very faint ghosts into the room at times. lombroso and other professors regarded these things as genuine or due to an abnormal power of the medium (not to ghosts). in the end of his life, in fact, lombroso announced that he had come to believe in the immortality of the mind, though he still regarded this as material. his daughter, gina ferrero, tells us that at this time he was a physical wreck, and his mental vitality was very low.[8] however, the professors of 1892 said that they did not detect fraud. the reader of their report may think otherwise. they put eusapia, for instance, on a scale, and "john king" took seventeen pounds off her weight. any person can perform that miracle by getting his toe to the floor while he is on the weighing machine; and the professors gravely note that, whenever they prevented eusapia's dress from touching the floor, she could not reduce her weight! they note also that she cannot raise the table unless her dress is allowed to touch it. in the same year, 1892, flammarion invited her to paris. he says frankly that he caught her cheating more than once. one of her miracles was to depress the scale of a letter-balance by placing her hands on either side of it, at some distance from it. flammarion found that she used a hair, stretched from hand to hand. his colleague, the astronomer antoniadi, who was called in, said that it was "fraud from beginning to end." in 1894 professor richet, assisted by mr. myers and sir o. lodge, examined her at richet's house, and found no fraud. but dr. hodgson insisted that she released her hands and feet from control and used them, and myers invited her to cambridge in 1895. the result is well known. in great disgust they reported that she cheated throughout, and that not a single phenomenon could be regarded as genuine. this was, on the most generous estimate, seven years after the beginning of her public career; and myers, the most conscientious and respected of english spiritualists, reported that she must have had "long practice" in fraud. yet sir a. c. doyle tells the public that she was "quite honest" for the first fifteen years. her admirers were angry, and they continued to guarantee her genuineness. she became the most famous and most prosperous medium in the world. in 1897 and 1898 she was again in france, and flammarion detected her in fraud after fraud. she released her hands and feet constantly from control. from 1905 to 1907 she was rigorously examined by the general psychological institute of paris. they reported constant trickery and evasion of tests. sitters were not allowed to put a foot _on_ her right foot because she had a painful corn on it. one of her hands must not be _clasped_ by the control because she was acutely sensitive to pain in that hand. she will not allow a man to stand near and do nothing but watch her. she wriggles and squirms all the time, and releases her hands and feet. she learns that, in a photograph they have taken of one high "levitation" of a stool, it is plainly seen to be resting on her head, so she allows no more photographs of this. and so on. professor g. le bon got her at his house for a private sitting in 1906. he was able to instal an illumination behind her of which she knew nothing, and he plainly caught her releasing and using her hand. in 1910 the americans tried her. at one sitting professor münsterberg was carefully controlling her left foot, as he thought, when the table in the cabinet behind her began to move. but one man had stealthily crept into the cabinet under cover of the dark, and he seized something. eusapia shrieked--it was her left foot![9] then the professors of columbia university took eusapia in hand, and finished her. they had special apparatus ready for use, but they never used it. in a few sittings they discovered that she was an habitual cheat, and they abandoned the inquiry in disgust. these are the main points in eusapia's official record. they suffice to damn her. she cheated from the start to the finish. her moans and groans and wriggles habitually enabled her to release her hands and feet from the men who were supposed to control them. nothing is more notorious in her career than that. she pretended that "john king" did everything, yet she used constantly to announce that "some very fine phenomena would be seen to-night." she pretended to be in a trance, yet she habitually called out "e fatto" ("it's done") when something had been accomplished, in the dark, two feet away from her. she was alive to every suspicious movement of the sitters, and controlled the light and the photographers. the impressions of faces which she got in wax or putty were always _her_ face. i have seen many of them. the strong bones of her face impress deep. her nose is relatively flattened by the pressure. the hair on the temples is plain. it is outrageous for scientific men to think that either "john king" or an abnormal power of the medium _made_ a human face (in a few minutes) with bones and muscles and hair, and precisely the same bones and muscles and hair as those of eusapia. i have seen dozens of photographs of her levitating a table. on not a single one are her person and dress entirely clear of the table. in fine, at every single sitting, from beginning to end, the observers were distracted by the "ghost." they were prodded and pinched and pushed, and their hair and whiskers were pulled. it seems a pity that they did not refuse to continue unless "john king" desisted from this frivolity. it was eusapia spoiling their vigilance. believers in eusapia would point to some dozens of things in her record that these professors, and even conjurers like carrington, could not explain. i am quite content to leave them unexplained. we are under no obligation to explain them or else accept spiritualism. there is, as schiaparelli said, a third alternative: agnosticism. if the majority of eusapia's tricks were at one time or other seen to be done by fraud, the presumption is that the rest were fraud. there are scientific men who seem to lose their common sense in these inquiries. you might put a conjurer before them in broad daylight, and they will not see how he does a single one of his tricks. but when, in a bad light, a lady conjurer or medium does something which they cannot explain they appeal to abnormal powers or ghosts. it is neither science nor common sense. towards the close of eusapia's career another powerful italian peasant-woman, lucia sordi, began to interest the professors. she outdid eusapia in some matters. while she sat bound with cords in the cabinet, a decanter of wine was lifted from the table, and a glass put to the lips of each sitter. she was eventually exposed, and i will not linger on her. she could get out of any bonds; and she had two confederates always, in the shape of her young daughters. most recent of all are the phenomena of the "goligher circle" of belfast. a teacher of mechanics, mr. crawford, has greatly strengthened the faith by recording their wonderful exploits in his _reality of psychic phenomena_ (1916) and _experiments in psychical science_ (1919). sir a. c. doyle is enthusiastic about them, as is his wont. even sir w. barrett tells us that "it is difficult to believe how the cleverest conjurer, with elaborate apparatus, could have performed" what he witnessed. decidedly, here is something serious. yet i intend to dismiss it very briefly. the "circle" consists of seven members of the goligher family, and they are all mediums. in other words, there were fourteen hands and fourteen feet to be watched, in a red light (the worst in the world for the eye), and this young teacher of science flatters himself that he controlled them all, and meantime attended to a lot of scales and other apparatus. we are asked to believe this after four or five professors repeatedly failed to control the hands and feet of one woman (eusapia). moreover, they were permitted to _hold_ eusapia's hands and feet, but crawford was not permitted to touch the feet of his medium. he gives no photographs, except of his superfluous scales and tables. the goligher family, he says, were most anxious to have photographs taken, but the "spirits" said it would injure the medium. when sir w. barrett tells the public that "the cleverest conjurer, with elaborate apparatus," could not do these things, he talks nonsense of which he ought to be ashamed. there is nothing in the two books that requires any apparatus at all, or anything more than practice. raps were common. they have been since 1848. mr. crawford talks of "sledgehammer blows" and "thunderous noises." as the mediums were never searched, the raps may have been exceptionally loud, but mr. crawford naïvely gives one detail which puts us on our guard. he one night brought a particularly sensitive phonograph. the noises that night were "terrific," he says. he took the record to the offices of _light_, and the editor of that journal can do no more than say that the noises were "clearly audible" (p. 32). so, when mr. crawford tells us of strong men being unable to press down the levitated table, we will take a pinch of salt. the "table" (really a light stool) usually lifted weighed two pounds. sir a. c. doyle assured his audience that this was lifted as high as the ceiling. on the contrary, mr. crawford expressly says that it never rose more than four feet; which is, i find by "scientific" experiment, the height to which a young lady, sitting on a chair, could raise such a stool on her foot. a most remarkable coincidence. it is a further remarkable coincidence that the young lady's weight increased, when an object was levitated, by just the weight of that object, less about two ounces which some other person took over (a steadying finger, for instance). it is an even more remarkable coincidence that, when mr. crawford asked for an impression of the ghostly machinery which made the raps, the mark he got on paper was "something of an oval shape, about two square inches in area" (p. 192); which is singularly like a young lady's heel. similarly, when he asked for an impression in a saucer of putty, the mark he describes--and carefully omits to photograph for us--is precisely the mark of a young lady's big toe with a threaded material on it. it is further curious that this remarkable psychic power, which can lift a ten-pound table, could not lift a _white_ handkerchief a fraction of an inch; which prompts the painful reflection that a dark foot might be visible if it touched a white handkerchief. mr. crawford's books are really too naive. he asked kathleen, by way of control experiment, to show him if she _could_ raise the stool on her foot; and he asks us to believe that her very obvious wriggles and straining prove that this was not the usual lifting force. he puts her on a scale, and asks the "ghosts" to take a large amount of matter out of her body. he is profoundly impressed when her weight decreases by 54½ pounds; and he asks us to believe that ghosts have taken 54½ pounds of flesh and fat out of the fair kathleen and "laid it on the floor." a simpler hypothesis is that she got her toe to the floor, as eusapia did. mr. crawford ought to leave ghosts for a while, and take a course of human anatomy and physiology. his mechanical knowledge enables him to sketch a diagram of a "cantilever," constructed out of the medium's body, and reaching from it to the centre of the table, a distance of eighteen inches, or the length of kathleen's leg from knee to foot. but how in the name of all that is reasonable this cantilever is worked from the body end, without wrenching the young lady's "innards" out of joint, passes the subtlest imagination. the "spirits" were consulted as to the way they did it. by a final peculiar coincidence it transpired that they knew just as much about science as kathleen goligher; and that was nothing. this is a very long chapter, but the phenomena it had to discuss are the most serious in spiritualist literature, and i was eager to omit nothing which is deemed important. let me close it with a short account of an historical occurrence, which is at the same time a parable. we are often told that the medium was "physically incapable" of doing this or the other. here is an interesting illustration of human possibilities. in 1846 all paris was busy discussing "the electric girl." little angélique cottin, a village child of thirteen summers, a very quiet and guileless-looking maid, exuded the "electric fluid" (ghosts were not yet in fashion) in such abundance that the furniture almost danced about the room. when she rose from her chair it flew back, even if a man held it, and was often smashed. a heavy dining-table went over at a touch from her dress. a chair held by "several strong men" was pushed back when she sat on it. the paris academy of sciences examined her, and could make nothing of her. the chairs she rose from were sent crashing against the wall, and broken. but one night, when the crowd gathered about her to see the marvels, a wicked old sceptic watched her closely from a distance. only that afternoon a heavy dining-table, with its load of dishes, had gone over. the child saw the sceptic's eye, yet wanted to entertain the crowd. there was a struggle of patience between sceptic and child for _two hours_, and at last age won. he saw her move, and demanded an examination; and they found the bruise on her leg caused by knocking over the heavy table. it was all over. she had developed a marvellous way of using the muscles of her legs and buttocks instantaneously and imperceptibly. this was, says flammarion, "the end of this sad story in which so many people had been duped by a poor idiot." he is wrong on two points. the child was by no means an idiot; and this was only the beginning, not the end. we do well to remember what this child of thirteen could do.[10] footnotes: [7] the account which he gives in the _dispatch_ (march 21, 1920) is precisely the same as his account (which i quoted verbatim in the debate) in his _experience of spiritualism with d. d. home_, pp. 82-3. [8] _cesare lombroso_ (1915), p. 416. much is suppressed in the english translation of his book. [9] mr. hereward carrington, who believes in the genuineness of eusapia's powers, makes light of this. he misses the main point. in the minutes of the sitting, which he gives, it is expressly stated by the controllers at this point that they have both eusapia's hands and feet secure. so we cannot trust such minutes when they say that the control was perfect. [10] flammarion, _les forces naturelles inconnues_, pp. 299-310. chapter iv spirit photographs and spirit pictures before me, as i write, are two spirit photographs which have gone at least part of the round of the press, and confirmed the consoling belief in thousands of hearts. one is a photograph of sir arthur conan doyle, and behind him, peeping over his shoulder, is a strange form which has, he says, "a general but not very exact resemblance to my son." the other photograph is supplied by the rev. w. wynne. it bears the ghostly faces of mr. and mrs. gladstone, with whom mr. wynne had been acquainted; and the text says that the plate was exposed for mr. and mrs. wynne and received these ghostly imprints. both these photographs came from "the crewe spiritual circle," which has done so much in recent years to strengthen the faith. let me first make a few general remarks on spirit photography. everybody to-day has an elementary idea what taking a photograph means. a chemical mixture, rich in certain compounds of silver, is spread as a film over the glass plate which you buy at the stores. the rays of light--chiefly the ultra-violet or "actinic" rays--which come from the sun (or the electric lamp) are reflected by a body upon this plate, through the lenses of the camera, and form a picture of that body by fixing the chemicals on the plate. the lens is essential in order to concentrate the rays and give an image, instead of a mere flood of light. the object which reflects the light--whether it be the ordinary light or the actinic rays--must be material. ether does not reflect light, for light is a movement of ether. spiritualists have such vague ideas as to what can and cannot happen that they overlook these elementary details altogether. sometimes they ask us to believe that a medium can get the head of a ghost on a plate, without a camera, by merely placing his or her hand on the packet containing the plate. even if there were a materialized spirit present, it could make no _image_ on the plate unless the rays were properly concentrated through lenses. but the whole idea of spirits hovering about and making images on photographic plates because a man called a medium puts his hand on the camera is preposterous. that would be magic with a vengeance! even if we suppose that the spirits have material bodies--ether bodies would not do--which reflect only the actinic rays, and so are not visible to the eye, the idea remains as absurd as ever. to say that the invisible material body of mr. gladstone (if anybody is inclined to believe in such a thing) only reflects the rays into the camera at crewe when mr. hope and mrs. buxton, the mediums, put their hands on the camera, and do not reflect light at all unless these mediums touch the camera, is to utter an obvious absurdity. the ghosts are either material or they are not. we must look for a simpler explanation. now, when we examine sir a. c. doyle's spirit photograph, we find at once that the candour of that earnest and conscientious spiritualist gives us a clue. he tells us how he bought the plate, examined the camera, and exposed and developed the plate with his own hands. "no hands but mine ever touched the plate," he says impressively. we shall see presently that that need not impress us in the least. what is important is that sir arthur adds: "on examining with a powerful lens the face of the 'extra' i have found such a marking as is produced in newspaper process work." very few of the general public would understand the significance of this, but i advise the reader to take an illustrated book or journal and examine a photograph in it with a lens (which need not be powerful). he will see at once that the figure consists of a multitude of dots, and wherever you find an illustration showing these dots it has been at some time printed in a book or paper. during a lantern lecture, for instance, you can tell, by the presence or absence of these dots, whether a slide has been reproduced from an illustration or made direct from the photographic negative. sir a. c. doyle is candid, but his spiritualist zeal outruns his reason. he goes on to say:- it is _very possible_ that the picture ... was conveyed on to the plate from some existing picture. however that may be, it was most certainly supernormal, and not due to any manipulation or fraud. this is an amazing conclusion. it is not merely "possible," but certain, that the photo, which he says resembles his son, had been _printed_ somewhere before it got on to his plate. the marks are infallible. it is further practically certain that, when the son of so distinguished a novelist died on active service, his photograph would appear in the press. it is equally certain that mediums, knowing well that sir arthur and lady doyle would presently seek to get into touch with their dead son, would treasure that photograph. when i add that, as i will explain presently, there is no need at all for the spirit photographer to touch the plate, the reader may judge for himself how much "supernormal" there is about the matter. let us glance next at the gladstone ghost. we are not told if it showed process marks, but, of course, they need not always be looked for. it might be taken direct from a photograph in the case of so well known a couple as the gladstones. but here again there is a significant weakness. when you turn the photograph upside down, you discover that the photographs of mr. and mrs. wynne are on the lower half of the plate, and inverted! you have to come to this remarkable conclusion, if you follow the spiritualist theory, that either the highly respectable mr. and mrs. wynne or the perfectly puritanical mr. and mrs. gladstone were _standing on their heads_! for my part, i decline to believe that mr. and mrs. gladstone have taken to such frivolity in the spirit land. i prefer to think that the spirit photographer has bungled. but how could it be done if the plate was never in the hands of the photographer? in the early days of spiritualism faking was easy. you put on an air of piety, and your sitter implicitly trusted you. it was then quite easy to make a ghost, as every photographer knows. expose a plate for half the required time to a young lady dressed as a ghost, then put the plate away in the dark until a sitter comes and give it a _full_ exposure with him. he is delighted, when the plate is developed, to find a charming lady spirit, of ghostly consistency, beaming upon him. double development, or skilful manipulation of the plate in the dark room, will give the same result. this is how the trick was done in the sixties and seventies. a london photographer, hudson, made large sums by this kind of trickery. it was easily exposed--any person who has dabbled in photography knows it--and often the furniture or carpet behind the ghost could be seen through it. at last there was a very bad exposure which for a time almost suspended the trade. at paris there was a particularly gifted photographer medium named buguet. not only were his ghosts very artistic, but spiritualists were able to identify their dead relatives on the photographs. buguet came to london and did a roaring trade. but early in 1875 the police of paris carried buguet off to prison and searched his premises. they found a headless doll or lay figure, and a large variety of heads to fit it. at first buguet had had confederates who used to creep quietly behind the sitter and impersonate the ghost. then he used to take a half-exposure photograph of his doll, and so dispense with confederates. he had a very smart clerk at the door who used, in collecting your twenty francs, to get from you a little information about the dead relative you wanted to see. then buguet rigged up and dressed a more or less appropriate doll, gave it a half-exposure, and brought the same plate to use for his sitter. one feature of the trial of buguet should be carefully borne in mind. spiritualists are very fond of assuring us that the spirit voice or message or photograph they obtained from a medium was "perfectly recognizable." they scout any suggestion that they could be mistaken. do they not know the features of their dead son or daughter or wife? during the trial of buguet scores of these spiritualists entered the witness-box and swore that they had received exact likenesses of their dead relatives. but buguet, hoping to get a lighter sentence, confessed that the same group of heads had served every purpose, and the witnesses in his favour were all wrong![11] buguet got a year in prison, and for a time trade was poor. but new methods were invented, and spirit photographers are again at work all over the world, and have been for decades. in country places the old method may still be followed. generally, however, the sitter brings his or her own plate, and is then supposed to be secured against fraud. the next development was easy enough. a prepared plate was substituted for the plate you brought. this trick in turn was discovered, and sitters began to make secret marks on the plates they brought, in order to identify them afterwards. then the machinery of the ghost was rigged up in the camera itself, and you might bring your own plate and mark it unmistakably with a diamond, if you liked. the ghost appeared on it when it was developed. there were several ways of doing this. the first was to cut out the figure of the ghost in celluloid or some other almost transparent material and attach it to the lens. when this trick leaked out, a very tiny figure of the ghost, hidden in the camera, was projected through a magnifying glass (a kind of small magic-lantern) on to the plate when it was exposed in the camera. as time went on, sitters began to insist on examining the camera, and these tricks were apt to be discovered. i remember an honest and critical spiritualist telling me, about ten years ago, that he offered a certain spirit-photographer (who is still at work) five pounds for a spirit-photograph, if the sitter were permitted to see every step of the process. the photographer agreed; but when my friend wanted to examine the camera he at first bluffed, and then returned the money, saying that that was carrying scepticism too far! he had the ghost in his camera. your modern spiritualist friend smiles when you tell him of these tricks. they are prehistoric. to-day you are allowed to examine the camera, bring your own plate, expose it and develop it yourself. the logic of the spiritualist is here just as defective as ever. because he has not on this occasion discovered certain forms of trickery which are now well known, he concludes that there was _no_ trickery. as if trickery did not evolve like anything else! spiritualists were just as certain twenty years ago that there was no possibility of fraud because they brought their own marked plates; but they were cheated every time. there are still several ways of making the ghost. where the sitter is careless, or an enthusiastic spiritualist, the old tricks (substitution of plates, etc.) are used; but there are new tricks to meet the critical. the ghost may be painted in sulphate of quinine or other chemicals on the ground-glass screen. such a figure is invisible when it is dry. there may be a trick dark-slide, with a plate which will appear in front of yours. if the photographer develops it for you, he can skilfully get a ghost on it by holding another plate against yours (pretending to see how it is developing) in the yellow light. if you develop it yourself, you use _his_ dish, which is often an ingenious mechanism. it has glass sides or a glass bottom, and, while the whole thing is covered up during development, secret lights impress the ghost on it. an actual case of this sort was exposed in _pearson's weekly_ on january 31, 1920. when the spiritualist airily assures us that he has guarded against all these things (some of which could not be seen at all) we have to remember that spiritualist literature teems with cases in which, we are told, "all precautions against fraud were taken," yet sooner or later the fraud is discovered. but the possibilities are not yet exhausted. i once saw a remarkable photograph which sir robert ball had taken of the famous old ship, the _great eastern_. along the side of it, in enormous letters, was the name "lewis"; yet this name was totally invisible to the naked eye when one looked at the ship. a coat of paint had been put over the name--the ship had been used by lewis's as an advertisement--and concealed it from the eye, yet the sensitive plate registered it. no scrutiny of the camera or the studio or the dark room would reveal conjuring of that sort. in fine, there is the possibility of some compound of radium, or radio-paint, being used at one or other stage in the process. no sensible man will pay serious attention to spirit photographs until one is taken in these conditions; neither plates nor any single part of the apparatus shall belong to or be touched by the medium. the spirit photographer shall be brought to an unknown studio, and shall not be allowed to do more than, under the eye of an expert observer, lay his hand, at a sufficient distance from the lens, on the outside of a camera which does not belong to him. that has not been done yet. until it is done fraud is certainly not excluded; and any man who uses the medium's own premises and apparatus is courting deception. that the ghost on a photograph often resembles a dead relative of the sitter will surprise no sensible person. it is well known that mediums collect such photographs, as well as information about the dead. mr. carrington describes in his _physical phenomena of spiritualism_ the elaborate system they have. they have considerable knowledge of likely sitters in their own town. in fact, i have clearly enough traced in some cases that they _first_ gathered information about a man, and _then_ got an intermediary to persuade him to visit them. he, of course, tells everybody afterwards that the medium "could not possibly" know anything about him. sometimes a spiritualist takes the precaution of going to a spirit photographer in a distant town. if he is quite able to conceal his identity, he will get nothing, or only a common or garden ghost. but he makes an appointment for a sitting in a few days to try again, and gives his name and address; and the next mail takes a letter to a medium in his town asking for information and photographs. as i have previously said, when the berlin police arrested frau abend and her husband they found an encyclopædic mass of information about possible sitters. a case, with which i may conclude this section, is given by dr. tuckett in his _evidence for the supernatural_ (pp. 52-3). mr. stead was once delighted to find the ghost of a "brother boer" on a photograph, and the clairvoyant photographer mystically informed him that he "got" the name "piet botha," and gathered that he had been shot in the boer war. mr. stead was jubilant, and the materialist was nowhere, when he learned that piet botha _had_ been shot in the war. who in england knew anything about piet botha and his death? but the wicked sceptic got to work, and he presently discovered that on november 9, 1899, the _graphic_ had reproduced a photograph of piet botha, who had been shot in the war! a magnificent case fell completely to pieces. spirit-drawings and paintings have drawn out just the same ingenuity on the part of the mediums. a favourite and impressive form is to let the sitter choose a blank card and see that it _is_ blank. then the medium tears off the corner and hands it to the sitter, so that he will recognize his own card at the close. the lights are completely extinguished, the card is laid on the table, and when the gas is re-lit a very fair picture (still wet) in oil is found to have been painted on the card. david duguid persuaded thousands of people of this marvel in the later decades of the nineteenth century. it was represented that he was merely a cabinet-maker who, in 1866, came under the control of the spirits of certain dutch painters, and was used by them. i learned long ago in scotland that the statement that he had never practised drawing or painting was untrue. it is, in any case, probable that he had torn the corners off the little paintings he had prepared in advance, and that it was _these_ corners which he palmed off on the sitter. in the dark he substituted his painting for the blank card, and the corner naturally fitted. the fact that the paint was "still wet" need impress nobody. a touch of varnish easily gives that impression. innumerable tricks have been invented by american mediums for fooling the spiritualist public in this respect, and in many cases it taxes the ingenuity of an expert conjurer to find out where the fraud lay. mr. carrington gives a long series of frauds which he has at one time or other studied. one medium offers you an apparently blank sheet of paper, and, although nothing more suspicious than laying it under an innocent-looking blotting-pad can be seen, and there is certainly no substitution, a photograph appears on it while you wait. if you happen to be one of those people whom the medium had had in mind as a possible sitter, or whom he (through an intermediary) induced to come to him, it may be a photograph of your dead son. the photograph was there, invisible, all the time. it had been taken on a special paper (solio paper), and bleached out with bi-chloride of mercury. the blotting-pad was wet with a solution of hypo, and this suffices to restore the photograph. in other cases the medium, with solemn air, enters his cabinet and draws the curtain. there is a fantastic theory in the spiritualist world that this cabinet, or cloth-covered frame (like a punch and judy show), prevents the "fluid" or force which the medium generates from spreading about the room and being wasted. nearly all these convenient theories and regulations come from the spirits through the mediums; that is to say, are imposed by the mediums themselves. the closed cabinet, like charity, covers a multitude of sins. in the case of the spirit-painting it may have a trap-door or other outlet, through which the medium hands the blank canvas to a confederate and receives the previously painted picture. another medium shows you a blank canvas, and, _almost_ without taking it out of your sight, produces an elegant, and still wet, oil painting on it. the painting was there from the start, of course, but a blank canvas was lightly gummed over it, and all the conjuring the medium had to do was to strip off this blank canvas while your attention was diverted. mediums know that their sitters are profoundly impressed if the paint is "still wet." i have heard spiritualists stubbornly maintain that this proves that the painting had only just been done, and done by spirit-power, since no man could do it in so short a time. it is a good illustration of the ease with which they are duped. the picture may have been painted a week or a month before. rub it with a little poppy oil and you have "wet paint." mr. carrington's _physical phenomena of spiritualism_, one of the richest manuals of mediumistic trickery, has a number of these picture-frauds. a painting is, when thoroughly dry, covered with a solution of water and zinc-white. it is then invisible, and you have "a blank canvas." the picture comes out again by merely washing it with a sponge. in other cases a painting is done in certain chemicals which will remain invisible until a weak solution of tincture of iron is applied; and it may be applied to the back of the canvas. the medium, carrington suggests, begs the sitters to sing "nearer, my god, to thee," to drown the noise, while his confederate creeps behind the canvas and sprays it with the solution. the picture dawns before their astonished eyes. perhaps the best illustration is one that carrington gives in his _personal experiences_, to which i must send the reader for the full story. two spinster-mediums of chicago had a great and profitable reputation for spirit-painted photographs. i take it that their general air of ancient virtue and piety disarmed sitters, who are apt to think that a _fraudulent_ medium will betray himself or herself by criminal features. you took a photograph of your dead friend, and asked that the spirits might reproduce it in oils. the medium studied it, and made an appointment with you at a later date. perhaps the medium then studied it again, and made a further appointment. on the solemn day the medium held a blank canvas up to the window before your eyes, and gradually, first as a dim dawn of colours, then as a precise figure, the picture appeared on the canvas. carrington suggests that she held up to the window two canvases--a thin blank canvas a few inches in front of the prepared picture. by deftly and slowly bringing these together with her fingers she brought about the illusion; and only a little ordinary sleight of hand was required to get rid of the blank canvas. these illustrations will suffice to show the reader what subtle and artful trickery is used in this department of spiritualism. he will know what to think when a spiritualist friend, who could not detect the simplest conjuring trick, shows him a spirit-photograph and says that he took care there was no fraud. the ordinary members of the spiritualist movement are as honest as any, but their eagerness--natural as it is--puts them in a frame of mind which is quite unreasonable. the trickery of this class of mediums has been developing for nearly sixty years, and it has to find new forms every few years as the older forms are exposed. the mediums have become expert conjurers and even, in some cases, expert chemists--or they have expert chemists in collusion with them--and it is simply foolish for an ordinary person to think that he can judge if there has been fraud. we must have at least one elementary safeguard. no part of the apparatus employed must belong to the medium or be manipulated by him; and the photograph must not be taken on his premises. every spiritualist who approves a photograph taken under other conditions is courting deception and encouraging fraud. and instead of finding even the leading spiritualists setting an example of caution in face of the recognized mass of fraud in their movement, we find them exhibiting a bewildering hastiness and lack of critical faculty. most readers will remember how sir a. c. doyle sent to the _daily mail_ on december 16, 1919, a photograph of a picture of christ which had, he said, been "done in a few hours by a lady who has no power of artistic expression when in her normal condition." the picture was, he said, "a masterpiece"; so wonderful, in fact, that "a great painter in paris" (not named, of course) "fell instantly upon his knees" before such a painting. it was "a supreme example" of a spiritualist miracle. the sequel is pretty well known. on december 31 the artist's husband wrote a letter to the _daily mail_, of which i need quote only one sentence:- mrs. spencer wishes definitely to state once and for all that her pictures are painted in a perfectly normal manner, that she is disgusted at having "psychic power" attributed to her, and that she does not cherish any ludicrous and mawkish sentiments about helping humanity by her paintings. footnote: [11] i might add that mrs. gladstone is not at all recognized by her own son in mr. wynne's photograph. the other figure seems to me certainly a reproduction of a photograph or bad picture of gladstone. chapter v a chapter of ghostly accomplishments spiritualism began in 1848 with the humble and entirely fraudulent phenomena of raps. within three years there were hundreds of mediums in the united states, and a dollar per sitter was the customary fee for assisting at one of the services of the new religion. it soon became widely known that raps could be produced by very earthly means, and in any case the rivalry of mediums was bound to develop new "phenomena." as in all other professions, originality paid; and as the wonderful discovery was quickly made that darkness favoured the intensity and variety of the phenomena, the spirit power began to break upon humanity in a bewildering variety of forms. in this chapter we will examine a number of these accomplishments which our departed fellows have learned on the elysian fields. d. d. home is still the classical exponent of some of these accomplishments. indeed, there is one of his phenomena which no medium of our time has the courage to reproduce, and, since this phenomenon is expressly endorsed by sir william barrett in his recent work, _on the threshold of the unseen_ (1917), we shall be accused of timidity and unfairness if we omit to consider it. it is said that on several well-authenticated occasions--so sir w. barrett assures the public--home took burning coals in his hands, thrust his hands into the blazing fire, or even put his face among the live coals. what is the evidence which sir w. barrett, knowing that the general public has no leisure to investigate these things, endorses as satisfactory? the reader who has patience enough to consider these extraordinary claims in detail will find the evidence collected and examined in mr. podmore's _newer spiritualism_ (chapters i and ii). it is just as weak and unsatisfactory as the evidence for home's levitations, which we have already examined. the first witness is a lady, mrs. hall, who had the advantage of a profound belief that home could do anything whatever, and that the idea of fraud was worse than preposterous in connection with so holy a man. home's demure expression and constant utterances of piety and virtue, which seem to mr. podmore "inconceivably nauseous," made a deep impression on mrs. hall and the other ladies whom home used generally to have next to him when he was performing his wonders. now, this lady tells us that on july 5, 1869, he took a large live coal from the fire, put it on her husband's head, and drew his white hair over it. he left it there for four or five minutes, and then gave it to mrs. hall to hold. she says that it was "still red in parts," but she was not burned. it would follow that home was so charged with supernatural power that he could communicate a large measure of it to mr. hall's head or mrs. hall's hands--a feat unique in the history of spiritualism. we need not go so far. there is nothing in mrs. hall's narrative to prevent us from supposing that home put some non-conducting substance on her husband's head _before_ he put the coal on it. any person can pick a live coal out of the fire if a part of it (as is common) is _not_ alive. some can go further. i can stick my finger-tips in my live pipe without being burned. some smokers can pick up a small live coal and light their pipes with it. probably all the coals which daniel picked from the fire were "dead" in parts. it is clear that this particular coal was not glowing, as mrs. hall states that her husband's white hair showed "silvery" against it. if the coal had glowed, the hair would show _black_ against it. probably home lifted up the hair round, and not on, it; and after five minutes part of it would be cool enough to lay on mrs. hall's hand. sir william crookes is the next witness: a great scientist, but--we cannot forget it--the man who was easily duped by a girl of seventeen. he says that he accompanied home to the fire, and saw him put his hands in it. that is anything but the scientific way to give evidence. we want an exact description of the state of the fire, the light, etc. but notice this next sentence: "he very deliberately pulled the lumps of hot coal off, one at a time, with his right hand, and touched _one_ which was bright red." so the "lumps" among which he had put his hands were _not_ bright red; and we are left free to suppose that the _one_ which he touched was not bright red all over. home then took out a handkerchief, waved it about in the air, and folded it on his hand. he next took out a coal which was "red in one part" and laid it on the handkerchief without burning it. the story smacks of charlatanry from beginning to end. crookes ought at least to have known better than to suppose that a handkerchief "gathered power" by being waved about. it more probably gathered a piece of asbestos from home's pocket. the other pretty stories of home's fire-tricks may be read in podmore. juggling with fire is an ancient practice. it is very common among savages. daniel home, with his select and private audience, had excellent conditions for doing it. in bad light he did even more wonderful things than those i have quoted; that is to say, if we take the record literally, which we may decline to do. crookes, like some other investigating professors, was short-sighted. no wonder that daniel loved him. let us pass on to the musical accomplishments of the spirits; and here again the gifted daniel was one of the pioneer mediums. he induced the spirits to play an accordion while he held it with one hand; and his hand held it by the end farthest removed from the keys. unfortunately, the spirits laid down the condition that he must hold it out of sight, underneath the table, and our interest is damped. we know something from other mediums of the ways of doing this. while you are putting the accordion under the table you change your hand from the back end to the key end of the accordion. then you can get the bellows to play by pushing it against something or using a hook at the end of a strong thread or catgut. it is well to remember that home was a good musician. possibly he played a mouth-organ while the professor was looking intently at the accordion. but home was put to a severe test, we are told. sir w. crookes made a cage (like a waste-paper basket) to go under the table, and home was told to let the accordion hang in this. he could certainly not now use his second hand or his feet, yet it "played." but, as mr. podmore, most ingenious of critics, points out, no one saw the _keys_ move. the music may have come from a musical box in home's pocket, or placed by him on the floor. the degree of light or darkness is not stated. the opening and shutting of the accordion could be done by hooks, or loops of black silk. so with the crowning miracle, when home withdrew his hand, and the accordion was seen suspended in the air, moving about in the cage (under the dark table). it was probably hooked on to the table. before we pass on to other ghostly musicians, let us notice another feat of home's which sir william crookes records here. he placed a board with one end on the table and the other on a spring balance. it was so shaped (with feet at each end) that an enormous pressure would have to be exerted on it at the table-end if the balance were to be appreciably altered. yet a light touch of home's fingers caused the scale to register six pounds. podmore points out that this experiment had been gradually reached. home knew the conditions, and had made his preparations. the light was poor, and a loop of strong silk thread at the far end of the board, pulled from some part of his person, would not be noticed. we shall see far more remarkable feats than this. a pretty variation of musical mediumship was next introduced by mrs. annie eva fay, another american fraud with whom sir w. crookes made solemn scientific experiments. florrie cook was a chicken in comparison with annie fay, and she triumphantly passed all the professor's tests. she came to london in 1874, and everybody soon went to see and hear the "fascinating american blonde" at the hanover square rooms. mrs. fay's most characteristic séance was when she sat in the middle of a circle of sitters, a bell and a guitar beside her. her husband, "colonel" fay, was in the circle, but, as they held each other's hands, it was presumed that he could do nothing to help her if he wished. mrs. fay then began to clap her hands. the lights were extinguished, and, although mrs. fay continued to clap her hands loudly, so that you could be sure she was not using them, the bell was rung, the tambourine played, the sitters' beards were pulled, and so on. this was easy. when the gas was put out, mrs. fay no longer slapped her left hand against her right, but against her forehead or cheek--perhaps slapped the colonel's face for a variation--and had the right hand free for business. no doubt the colonel also released a hand, as we have seen eusapia palladino do, and joined the band. when this trick was realized, mrs. fay used to allow herself to be bound with tapes to a stake erected on the stage. a few minutes after the lights were put out the band began its ghostly, but not very impressive, music. sometimes a pail was put beside her, and it was raised by invisible hands (in the dark) on to her head. when the light was restored mrs. fay was discovered still bound to the stake, the knots and seals intact. by an accident at one of her performances mr. podmore was enabled to see how she did it, and the secret has long been known. the tapes supplied had to be fastened in such a way that she could with great speed slip them up her slender arms and get into a working position. maskelyne also exposed her, and trade fell off so badly that she made him an offer, by letter, to go on his stage and, for payment, show how all the tricks were done. she had by that time converted hundreds to spiritualism. there were various other forms of the musical performance. one medium used to sit in sight of the audience with a sitter holding his hands. a cloth was then put over them both, from the neck downward, the lights extinguished, and the usual band began. he had released one hand, by the familiar trick, and reached behind him for the instruments. the medium, bastian, also played instruments in the dark. at arnheim, where he was edifying the dutch spiritualists, he was suspected, and it was arranged to ignite some inflammable cotton by an electric current from the next room. the next time a ghostly hand played the guitar above the heads of the sitters, the signal was given, and the flash lit the room. the guitar fell hastily to the table, and bastian's hand retreated rapidly to its right place. his english spiritualist admirers accepted his explanation that it was a "materialized" hand that was seen shrinking back into his body. one medium strummed his guitar with a long pencil which he took with his teeth out of his inner coat-pocket and held with his teeth. others had telescopic rods or "lazy tongs" hidden about them, and used these in the dark. the binding of mediums with cords or tapes is a "precaution against fraud" which was thoroughly exposed fifty years ago. many of sir a. c. doyle's own admirers were pained when he announced to the world his belief in the genuineness of the performance of two welsh colliers, the thomas brothers. their "manifestations" were prehistoric. more than fifty years ago spectators were invited to tie up the mediums, and as long ago as 1883 mr. maskelyne was exhibiting the trick. the davenport brothers, the latest american marvels, had toured england. most people will remember how they were held up at liverpool by some one tying the rope in knots with which they were not familiar. the spirits failed entirely to play the tambourine when the tying-up was properly done, and the instrument was put out of reach of the medium's mouth. as usual, it had been said for months that fraud was "absolutely excluded." later mediums found the solution of this difficulty. the medium kept a sharp knife-blade within reach of his teeth, and, when knots proved too stubborn, he cut the rope and freed himself. he had a spare rope in his clothes and fastened himself--or was bound by a confederate--before the lights went up. people thought that they could prevent this by sealing the knots. it was useless. the medium had chewing gum of the same colour as sealing-wax, and the seals were imitated with this. these desperate shifts are, however, rarely necessary. while he is being tied the medium catches a loop of the rope with his thumb, and this gives him plenty of slack to use. i have seen a medium laced tight into a leather arm-case, and get out behind the curtain in three minutes. he had caught a loop of the lace with his thumb, and the rest was tooth work. it was therefore little wonder that when the thomas brothers were brought from the valleys of south wales to london their ancient miracles would not work. a recent convert to spiritualism, mr. s. a. moseley, describes their work on their native heath (or hearth) with the same awe and simplicity as sir a. c. doyle had done. many of us knew the history of spiritualism, and smiled. they were brought to london by the _daily express_ in 1919, and here, where sceptics abounded and the need of convincing evidence was at its most acute, "white eagle" (the red indian spirit who controls will thomas) and all his band of merry men were powerless. will thomas was properly bound, the tambourine and castanets were put out of reach, and his brother was isolated. all that happened--the throwing of a badge-button and a pair of braces to the audience--is within the range of possibilities of the human mouth. let us now turn to another bright and classical page in the history of spiritualism: the experiments of professor zöllner with the medium slade. sir a. c. doyle granted in the debate, with an air of generosity, that slade "cheated occasionally," but he insisted that slade's phenomena in the house of professor zöllner were genuine. now, as long as sir a. c. doyle does this kind of thing, as long as he assures his readers that he will not build on any medium who has been convicted of fraud and then builds on such a medium, as long as he tells his readers (who will not check the facts) that a medium who was exposed over and over again merely "cheated occasionally," it is no use for him to assert that he is trying to purge spiritualism of fraud. slade was a cynical impostor from beginning to end of his career. i will show in the next chapter but one how slade confessed his habitual fraud as early as 1872, how he was exposed and arrested in london in 1876, and how he was exposed again in canada in 1882 and in the united states in 1884. a word about the last occasion will suffice for my purpose here. henry seybert, a spiritualist, left a large sum of money to the university of pennsylvania on the condition that the university authorities would appoint a commission to examine into (among other things) the claims of spiritualism. they did; and it was the most unlucky inspiration the ghosts of the dead ever conveyed. very few mediums would face the professors, and those who did were shown to be all frauds. slade was one of these, and the pennsylvania professors, wondering how any trained man could be taken in by so palpable a fraud, sent a representative to leipsic to investigate the experiences of professor zöllner and the three other german professors who had endorsed slade. the gist of his report was that of the four professors one (zöllner) was in an early stage of insanity (he died shortly afterwards), one (fechner) was nearly blind, the third (weber) was seventy-four years old, and the fourth (scheibner) was very short-sighted, yet did _not_ (as sir a. c. doyle says) entirely endorse the phenomena! i have not been able to discover evidence that zöllner's mind was really deranged, but he certainly approached the inquiry with a theory of a fourth dimension of space, and was most eager to get his theory confirmed by the experiments. the key to the whole situation is, therefore, lack of sharp control. slade had been conjuring for years, and was an expert in substitution. he had a purblind audience, and he astutely guided the professor until the conditions of the experiment suited him. he knew beforehand, as a rule, what apparatus zöllner would use, and he duplicated his wooden rings, thongs, etc. an excellent study of his tricks in detail will be found in carrington's _physical phenomena of spiritualism_. sir a. c. doyle speaks of the shattering of a screen in slade's presence as an indisputably superhuman feat. but before the séance no one had thought of looking to see if the screen had been taken to pieces and lightly tied together by a black thread which slade could pull asunder at will! slade was a very bad selection by sir a. c. doyle. no prominent medium was ever so frequently exposed as he. in addition to the exposures i have mentioned, dr. hyslop, mrs. sidgwick, and other leading spiritualists riddled his pretensions to supernormal power. in the end he took to drink and died in an asylum. yet sir a. c. doyle assures his followers, in his _vital message_, that he never builds on a discredited medium. let us turn now to stainton moses, the snow-white medium. moses was a neuropathic clergyman who in 1872 left the church and became a teacher. about the same time he discovered mediumistic powers. he died ultimately of bright's disease, brought on by drink. his audience, as i said before, consisted only of a few intimate friends who never doubted his saintliness or thought for a moment of fraud. he worked always in the dark, or in a very bad light; and his doings are mainly described by his trustful friend and host, mrs. speer. this would dispense any serious student from troubling about his phenomena; but let us see if they throw any light on his character. mr. carrington says that the things reported are unbelievable, yet that we cannot think of fraud in connection with moses. podmore also tries hard not to accuse him of _conscious_ fraud, and hints that he was irresponsible. the reader may choose to think otherwise. the spirits performed every variety of phenomena through stainton moses. like home, and only a few of the quite holiest mediums, he was occasionally lifted off the ground; or, which is, of course, the same thing, he said that he was. raps were common when he was about. automatic writing of the most elevating (and most inaccurate) description flowed from his pencil. lights floated about the room; and once or twice he dropped and broke a bottle of phosphorus in the dark. musical sounds were repeatedly heard, as in the case of the rev. dr. monck, who had a little musical box in his trousers. the sitters were sprayed with scent. the objects on the dressing-table in his room were arranged by invisible hands in the form of a cross. wonderful messages about recently deceased persons were sent through him; and the details could later be found in the papers. in fine, he was a remarkably good medium for "apports"--that is to say, the bringing into the circle by the spirits of flowers and other objects. statuettes, jewels, books, and all kinds of things (provided they were in the house and could be secreted about the person) were "apported." the evidence for these things is particularly poor, but i am a liberal man. i do not doubt them. each one of them, separately, was done by other mediums. it is the rich variety that characterizes moses. let him sleep in peace. the credulity and admiration of his friends seem to have made him lose the last particle of sense of honour in these matters. these things are common elementary conjuring from beginning to end. apports are a familiar ghostly accomplishment, and the way they are done is familiar. mme. blavatsky was wonderful at apports. who would ever dream of proposing to search mme. blavatsky? and who would now be so simple as to think of spirits when the medium was not searched? the person of mme. blavatsky was as sacred from such search as the person of the rev. stainton moses or of the charming and guileless florrie cook. indeed, it is only in recent times that a real search of the medium has been demanded, and the accounts of weird and wonderful objects "apported" under other conditions merit only a smile. mrs. guppy, secured from search by her virtue and the esteem of dr. russel wallace, went so far as to apport live eels. eusapia palladino one day "apported" a branch of azaleas in flammarion's house; and he afterwards found an azalea plant, which it exactly fitted, in her bedroom. another day her spirits showered marguerites on the table; and the marguerites were missed from a pot in the corridor. anna rothe, the princess karadja's pet medium, was secretly watched, and was caught bringing bouquets from her petticoats and oranges out of her ample bosom; and the spirits did not save her from a year in gaol. she had a whole flower-shop under her skirts when she was seized. but we will not run over the whole silly chronicle of "apports." two recent instances will suffice. one is the turin lady, linda gazerra, of whom i have spoken on an earlier page. she was too virtuous to strip, and let down her hair, even in the presence of a lady. so dr. imoda, a scientific man who consented to accept her on these terms, was fooled for three years (1908-11). she had live birds caged in the large mass of her hair (natural and artificial), and all sorts of things in her _lingerie_. about the same time, an australian medium, bailey, made a sensational name throughout the spiritualist world by his "apports." the spirits brought silks from the indies (until the brutal customs official claimed the tariff), live birds, and all sorts of things. he was taken so seriously in the spiritualist world that professor reichel, a rich french inquirer, brought him to france for investigation. sure enough, although he was searched, the spirits brought into the room two little birds "from india." but his long hesitations and evasions had aroused suspicion, and on inquiry it was proved that he had bought the birds, which were quite french, at a local shop in grenoble. how had he smuggled them into the room? i give the answer (as it is given by count rochas, his host) with reluctance, but it is absolutely necessary to know these things if you want to understand some of the more difficult mediumistic performances. the birds were concealed in the unpleasant end of his alimentary canal. professor reichel gave him his return fare and urged him to go quickly; and the australian spiritualists received him with open arms, and listened sympathetically to his stories of french brutality. of "apports," therefore, we say the same as of "materializations." the medium shall be stripped naked, have all his or her body-openings muzzled, be sewn in prepared garments, and placed in a prepared and carefully searched room. when spiritualists announce the appearance of an eel or a pigeon or a bouquet, or even a copy of _light_, under those conditions, we will begin to consider the question of apports. luminous phenomena "are easily simulated," says dr. maxwell. most people will agree to this candid verdict of so experienced and so sympathetic an investigator. tons of phosphorus have been used in the service of religion since 1848. it has taken the place of incense. the saintly moses twice had a nasty mess with his bottle of phosphorus. herne was one night tracing a pious message in luminous characters (with a damp match) when there was a crackle and flash; the match had "struck." the movement abounds in incidents which are, in a double sense, "luminous." certain sulphides may be used instead of phosphorus, and in modern times electricity is an excellent means of producing lights at a distance. chemicals of the pyrotechnic sort are also useful. one must remember that behind the thousands of mediums, whose fertile brains are constantly elaborating new methods of evading control, are manufacturers and scientific experts who supply them with chemicals and apparatus. one often hears spiritualists laugh at this suggestion as a wild theory of their opponents. any impartial person will acknowledge that it is more probable than improbable. but positive proof has been given over and over again. quite recently mr. sidney hamilton described in _pearson's weekly_ (february 28, 1920) an "illustrated printed catalogue of forty pages" which he had with great difficulty secured. it was the secret catalogue of a firm which supplies apparatus to mediums. the outfit includes "a self-playing guitar," a telescopic aluminium trumpet (for direct voice), magic tables, luminous objects, and even "a fully materialized female form (with face that convinces) ... floats about the room and disappears ... price £10." for eight shillings this firm supplies the secret how to turn one's vest inside out, without changing coat, while one is bound, and the knots sealed, in the cabinet. for two pounds ten you get an apparatus which will levitate a table so effectively that "two or three persons cannot hold the table down." in short, there is, and has been for decades, a trade supply of apparatus and instructions for producing the whole range of "physical phenomena," and any person who pays serious attention to such things is not very particular whether he is deceived or not. i may close the chapter with a case of spirit sculpture, which is recorded by truesdell in his _bottom facts of spiritualism_. by this trick, he says, mrs. mary hardy converted one of those professors whose names adorn the spiritualist list. a pail of warm water, with several inches of paraffin floating on its surface, was weighed and put under the table. after a time a hand moulded most accurately in wax was found on the floor beside the pail, and it was found that the weight of the contents of the pail had decreased by precisely the weight of the hand. a convincing test, surely! but the professor had forgotten to allow for the evaporation of the warm water. the hand had been made in advance, by moulding the soft paraffin on the medium's hand, and hidden under mrs. hardy's skirt. it was transferred by her toes to the floor under the table. chapter vi the subtle art of clairvoyance spiritualists distinguish between physical phenomena and psychic phenomena. the use of this distinction is obvious. when a man reads some such history of the movement as podmore's, and then the works of truesdell, robinson, maskelyne, carrington, and others who have time after time exposed the ways of mediums, he is very ill-disposed to listen to stories of materialization, levitation, spirit photographs, spirit messages, spirit music, spirit voices, or anything of the kind. he knows that each single trick has been exposed over and over again. so the liberal spiritualist urges him to leave out "physical" phenomena and concentrate on the "psychic." it is a word with an aroma of refinement, spirituality, even intellect. it indicates the sort of thing that respectable spirits _ought_ to do. so we will turn to the psychic phenomenon of clairvoyance. here at once the reader's resolution to approach the subject gravely is disturbed by the recollection of a recent event. many a reader would, quite apart from the question of consolation, like to find something true in spiritualism. he may feel, as professor william james did, that the mass of fraud is so appalling that, for the credit of humanity, we should like to think that it is the citizens of another world, not of ours, who are responsible. he may feel that, if it is all fraud, a number of quite distinguished people occupy a very painful position in modern times. he would like to find at least something serious; something that is reasonably capable of a spiritualist interpretation. but as soon as he approaches any class of phenomena some startling instance of fraud rises in his memory and tries to prejudice him. in this case it is the "masked medium." a recent case in the law courts has brought this to mind. in 1919, when the _sunday express_ was making its grave search for ghosts, in order to rebuke the materialism of our age, it offered £500 for a materialization. a gentleman, who (with an eye on the police) genially waived the money offer aside, offered to bring an unknown lady and present a materialization, and some startling feats of clairvoyance in addition. a sitting was arranged, and the lady, who wore a mask, gave a clairvoyant demonstration that could not be surpassed in all the annals of spiritualism. her ghost was rather a failure; though lady glenconnor, who has the true spiritualist temperament, recognized in it an "initial stage of materialization." but the clairvoyance was great. the sitters, while the lady was still out of the room, put various objects connected with the dead (a ring, a stud, a sealed letter, etc.) in a bag. the bag was closed, and was put inside a box; and the lady, who was then introduced, described every object with marvellous accuracy. sir a. c. doyle said that the medium gave "a clear proof of clairvoyance." mr. gow said that he saw "no normal explanation." and it was fraud from beginning to end, as everybody now knows. clairvoyance must be distinguished from prophecy, which spiritualists sometimes claim. prediction means the art of seeing things which do not exist, and it is therefore not even mentioned in this book. clairvoyance means the art of seeing things through a brick wall (or any other opaque covering). now this was an admirable piece of clairvoyance. even spiritualists present were suspicious, because the lady was quite unknown. yet they could not see any suggestion of fraud or any "normal explanation." did they turn back upon their earlier experiences of clairvoyance, when the fraud was confessed, and ask if those also may not have been due to trickery? not in the least. everything is genuine until it is found out--and, sometimes, even afterwards. mr. selbit, the conjurer who really conducted the performance, is naturally unwilling to give away his secret. he acknowledged immediately after the performance, as mr. moseley describes in his _amazing séance_, that he had fooled the audience. the masked lady was an actress with no more abnormal power than sir oliver lodge has. mr. stuart cumberland suggested at the time that, when the assistant went to the door to call the medium, he handed the box to a confederate and received a dummy box. he thought that the medium would then have time to study and memorize the contents of the real box (including a sealed letter in dog-german) before she entered the room. from the account, which is not precise enough, i can hardly see how she would have time for this. but mr. selbit acknowledged that a dummy box _was_ substituted. he says that a person entered the room in the dark, took the box from the table and substituted a dummy, and afterwards impersonated the ghost. this is most important for us. the room had been searched, and such acute observers as mr. stuart cumberland and superintendent thomas, of scotland yard, were on the watch; yet a confederate got into the room. after this an ordinary spiritualist séance is child's play. a long and minute description of the objects in the bag, which must have been spelled letter by letter in parts, on account of the difficult wording of the sealed letter, was in some way telegraphed or communicated to the girl under the eyes of this watchful group. it would be scarcely more marvellous to suppose that mr. selbit, after studying the contents of the box, took her place before their faces and they never knew it! the reader will not fail to see why i have minutely pointed out the features of this recent case. it is, in the first place, an example of "psychic," not "physical," phenomena; and it was conjuring pure and simple. it was, further, "most successful and convincing," as sir a. c. doyle pronounced; yet there was not a particle of abnormal power about it. finally, it was done in the presence of three keen critics, as well as of leading spiritualists; yet the fraud was not discovered. to invoke the "supernormal," after this, the moment some ordinary individual fails to detect fraud, is surely ludicrous. now let me put another warning before the reader. it is notorious that spiritualists are particularly, even if innocently, apt to mislead in their accounts of their experiences. unless the experience is recorded on paper at once, it is almost worthless; and even then it is often quite wrong. there is such a thing as "selection" in the human mind. when two people, a spiritualist and a sceptic, see or read the same thing, their minds may get quite a different impression of it. the mind of the spiritualist leaps to the features of it which seem to be supernormal, and slurs or ignores or soon forgets the others. the mind of the sceptic does the opposite. you thus get quite inaccurate accounts from spiritualists, though they are often quite innocent. one once asked me to explain how a medium, two hundred miles from his home, in a place where no one knew him, could tell his name and a good deal about him. by two minutes' cross-examination i got him to admit that he had been working for some weeks in this district and was known to a few fellow-workers. no doubt one of these had given a medium information about him, and then induced him to visit her. these indirect methods are very effective. a very good example is sir a. c. doyle himself. in the debate with me he made statement after statement of the most inaccurate description. he said that eusapia palladino was quite honest in the first fifteen years of her mediumship; that he had given me the names of forty spiritualist professors; that the fox sisters were at first honest; that i did not give the evidence from his books correctly; that mr. lethem got certain detailed information the first time he consulted a medium; that in mme. bisson's book you can see ectoplasm pouring from the medium's "nose, eyes, ears, and skin"; that florrie cook "never took one penny of money"; that in the belfast experiment the table rose to the ceiling; and so on. his frame of mind was extraordinary. but i will give a far more extraordinary case which will make the reader very cautious about spiritualist testimony. about forty years ago, when the old type of ghost story was not yet quite dead, myers and gurney, who were collecting anecdotes of this sort, received a particularly authentic specimen. it was a personal experience of sir edmund hornby, a retired judge from shanghai. a few years earlier, he said, he had one night written out his judgment for the following day, but the reporter failed to call for a copy. he went to bed, and some time after one o'clock he was awakened by the reporter, who very solemnly asked him for the copy. with much grumbling sir edmund got up and gave him the copy. he remembered that in returning to bed he had awakened lady hornby. and the next morning, on going to court, he learned that the reporter had died just at that hour, of heart disease (as the inquest afterwards found), and had never left the house. he had been visited by the reporter's spirit. here was an experience of most exceptional weight. who could doubt either the word or the competence of the chief judge of the supreme consular court of china and japan? the story was promptly written up in the _nineteenth century_ ("visible apparitions," july, 1884), and sceptics were confounded. but a copy of the _nineteenth century_ reached shanghai, where the incident was said to have taken place, and in the same monthly for november there appeared a letter from mr. balfour, editor of the _north china herald_ and the _supreme court and consular gazette_. it proved, and sir e. hornby was compelled to admit, that the story was entirely untrue. it was a jumble of inaccuracies. the reporter had died between eight and nine in the morning, not at one, and had slept peacefully all night. there had been no inquest. there was no judgment whatever delivered by sir e. hornby that morning. there was not even a lady hornby in existence at the time! sir edmund hornby sullenly acknowledged the truth of all this, and could mutter only that he could not understand his own mistake. after this awful example we think twice before we take the testimony of spiritualists at its face value. sir a. c. doyle, in particular, is especially guilty of such confusions, to the great advantage of his stories. during the debate, as i said, he told of a wonderful glasgow clairvoyante, who was consulted by a mr. lethem (a glasgow j.p.), who had lost a son in the war. she at once told mr. lethem, sir arthur says, his son's name, the name of the london station at which he had said farewell, and the name of the london hotel at which they had stayed. this sounded very impressive indeed. but i happened to have read mr. lethem's articles (_weekly record_, february 21 and 28, 1920), and i have them before me. mr. lethem was a well-known man in glasgow, and was known to be "inquiring." now it was _eight months_ after his son's death that he met this clairvoyante, yet all she could tell him was his son's name and appearance. it was, he confesses, "not much" and "not strictly evidential." it was at a _later_ sitting that she gave the other details. sir a. c. doyle has fused the two sittings together and made the experience more impressive. the medium had time to make inquiries. there is a further detail which sir a. c. doyle does not tell. the brother of the dead officer asked, as a test question, the name of the town where they had last dined together. it took "more than a year" to get an answer to this! thus a quite commonplace and easily explained feat of a medium is dressed up by sir a. c. doyle as supernormal. he does this repeatedly in his books. in the _new revelation_ he says, quoting sir oliver lodge's raymond, that a medium described to sir oliver a photograph of his son, "no copy of which had reached england, and which proved to be exactly as _he_ described it." here he has done the same as in the case of mr. lethem--fused together several successive sittings. the first medium consulted by sir oliver lodge made only a very brief statement. it was wrong in three out of four particulars; and the fourth was a very safe guess (that raymond had once been photographed in a group). the particulars which so much impressed sir o. lodge were given much later, and by a lady medium; and by that time there were plenty of copies of the photograph in england! sir o. lodge gives the various dates. sir william barrett and sir o. lodge are just as slipshod. i have amply shown this in the case of lodge in my _religion of sir o. lodge_ (and _raymond_ is even worse than the books i analysed), and sir w. f. barrett's _on the threshold of the unseen_ is just as bad. i have previously said how he tells his readers that it would take "the cleverest conjurer with elaborate apparatus" to do what the golighers do at belfast; and i showed that one limb of one member of the circle of seven mediums would, with the help of a finger or two perhaps, explain everything. sir william also says (p. 53) that the london dialectical society "published the report of a special committee" strongly in favour of spiritualism. on the contrary, the london dialectical society expressly refused to publish that egregious document. he says (p. 72), in describing the home levitation case, that "nothing was said beforehand of what they might expect to see," and "the accounts given by each [witness] are alike." these statements are the reverse of the truth. the book contains many such instances. here is another, which is expressly concerned with the greatest of all "clairvoyantes," mrs. piper, and the most critical spiritualist of modern times, dr. hodgson. in the debate sir a. c. doyle introduces him (p. 21) as "professor hodgson, the greatest detective who ever put his mind to this subject." he is fond of turning the people he quotes into "professors." it makes them more weighty. hodgson was never a professor, but he was an able man, and he exposed more than one fraud like eusapia palladino. but i have been permitted to see a letter which puts dr. hodgson himself in the category of over-zealous and unreliable witnesses; and as this letter is to be published in the form of a preface to the second edition of dr. c. mercier's book on spiritualism, i am not quoting an anonymous document. mrs. piper, the great american clairvoyante, the medium whose performances are endorsed as genuine even by men who regard spiritualism as ninety-eight per cent. fraud, began her career as a "psychic" in 1874. at first she was controlled, in the common spiritualist way, by "an indian girl." then the great spirits of bach and longfellow and other illustrious dead began to control her. next a deceased french doctor, "phinuit," took her in hand, and she did wonderful things. but when people who were really critical began to test phinuit's knowledge of medicine, and inquire (for the purpose of verification) about phinuit's former address on earth, he hedged and shuffled, and then retired into obscurity, like the indian girl and longfellow. her next spirit was "pelham," a young man who modestly desired to remain anonymous. for four years "george pelham," a highly cultivated spirit, gave "marvellously accurate" messages through mrs. piper, and the world was assured that there was not the slightest doubt about his identity. he was a very cultivated young american who had "passed over" in 1892. mr. podmore, who, in spite of his high critical faculty, was taken in by this episode, thinks that telepathy alone can explain the wonderful things done. he does not believe in ghosts. mrs. piper's "subconscious self," he thinks, creates and impersonates these spirit beings, and draws the information telepathically from the sitters. but he says that the impersonation was so "dramatically true to life," so "consistently and dramatically sustained," that "some of g. p.'s most intimate friends were convinced that they were actually in communication with the deceased g. p."[12] it is true that when the dead g. p. was asked about a society he had helped to form in his youth he could give neither its aim nor its name, and podmore admits that mrs. piper hedged very badly in trying to cover up her failure. but on other occasions the hits were so good that we have, if we do not admit the ghost theory, to take refuge in telepathy and the subconscious self. there is no need even for this thin shade of mysticism. podmore was misled by hodgson's account. "g. p." meant, as everybody knew, george pellew. now a cousin of pellew's wrote to mr. clodd to tell him that, if he cared to ask the family, he would learn that all the relatives of the dead man regarded mrs. piper's impersonation of him as "beneath contempt." mr. clodd wrote to professor pellew, george's brother, and found that this was the case. the family had been pestered for fifteen years with reports of the proceedings and requests to authenticate them and join the s. p. r. they said that they knew george, and they could not believe that, when freed from the burden of the flesh, he would talk such "utter drivel and inanity." as to "intimate friends," one of these was professor fiske, who had been described by dr. hodgson as "absolutely convinced" of the identity of "g. p." when professor pellew told professor fiske of this, he replied, roundly, that it was "a lie." mrs. piper had, he said, been "silent or entirely wrong" on all his test questions.[13] i am, you see, not choosing "weak spots," as sir a. c. doyle said, and am not quite so ignorant of psychic matters, in comparison with himself, as he represented (_debate_, p. 51). i am taking the greatest "clairvoyante" in the history of the movement, and in precisely those respects in which she was endorsed by dr. hodgson and the american s. p. r. and sir o. lodge and all the leading english spiritualists. she failed at every crucial test. phinuit, who knew so much, could not give a plausible account of his own life on earth, or how he came to forget medicine. when sir o. lodge presented to mrs. piper a sealed envelope containing a number of letters of the alphabet, she could not read one of them, and declined to try again. she could not answer simple tests about pellew. she gave professor james messages from gurney after his death (1888), and james pronounced them "tiresome twaddle." when myers died in 1901 and left a sealed envelope containing a message, she could not get a word of it. when hodgson died in 1905 and left a large amount of manuscript in cipher, she could not get the least clue to it. when friends put test questions to the spirit of hodgson about his early life in australia, the answers were all wrong. mrs. piper fished habitually and obviously for information from her sitters. she got at names by childishly repeating them with different letters (a very common trick of mediums), and often changed them. she made the ghost of sir walter scott talk the most arrant nonsense about the sun and planets. she was completely baffled when a message was given to her in latin, though she was supposed to be speaking in the name of the spirit of the learned myers, and it took her three months to get the meaning (out of a dictionary?) of one or two easy words of it. she gave a man a long account of an uncle whom he had never had; and it turned out that this information was in the _encyclopædia_, and related to another man of the same name. in no instance did she ever give details that it was _impossible_ for her to learn in a normal way, and it is for her admirers to prove that she did _not_ learn them in a normal way, and, on the other hand, to give a more plausible explanation of what dr. maxwell, their great authority, calls her "inaccuracies and falsehoods." the truth is that the phenomenon known as "clairvoyance" rests just as plainly on trickery as the physical phenomena we have studied. margaretta fox explained decades ago how they used to watch minutely the faces of sitters and find their way by changes of expression. "i see a young man," says the medium dreamily, with half-closed but _very_ watchful eyes. there is no response on the face of the sitter. "i see the form of a young woman--a child," the medium goes on. at the right shot the sitter's face lights up with joy and eagerness, and the fishing goes on. probably in the end, or after a time, the sitter will tell people how the clairvoyant saw the form of her darling child "at once." in some cases the medium is prepared in advance. carrington tells us that he was one day strongly urged to give a man, who thought that he had abnormal powers, a sitting. he decided at least to give him a lesson, and made an appointment. the man came with friends at the appointed hour, and they were astonished and awed when carrington, as a clairvoyant, told them their names and other details. he had simply sent a man to track his visitor to his hotel and learn all about him and his friends. other cases are just as easy. when sir o. lodge and sir a. c. doyle lost their sons, the whole mediumistic world knew it and was ready. but mediums gather information about far less important sitters, because it is precisely these cases that are most impressive. it is quite easy to get information quietly about a certain man's dead relatives, and then find an intermediary who will casually recommend him to see mrs. ----. i do not suggest that the intermediary knows the plot, though that may often be the case. in other cases the medium tells very little at the first visit. the "spirit" is dazed in its new surroundings. it takes time to get adjusted and learn how to talk through a medium. and so on. you go again, and the details increase. you have, of course, left your name and address in making a fresh appointment. some clever people go anonymously. lady lodge went thus and heard remarkable things; but sir o. lodge admits that her companion greatly helped the medium by forgetting herself and addressing her as "lady lodge." you may leave your coat in the hall, and it is searched. when truesdell consulted slade in new york, he wickedly left in his overcoat pocket a letter which gave the impression that his name was "samuel johnson." the first ghost that turned up was, of course, "mary johnson." still more ingenious was the "clairvoyance" of the famous american medium foster, one of the impostors who duped robert dale owen and for years held a high position in the movement. while he was out of the room you wrote on bits of paper the names of your dead relatives or friends, and you then screwed up the bits of paper into pellets. foster then came in, and sat near you. he dreamily took the pellets in his hand, pressed them against his forehead, and then let them fall again upon the table. slowly and gradually, as he puffed at his everlasting cigar, the spirits communicated all the names to him. such tricks can be fathomed only by an expert, and they ought to warn spiritualists of the folly of thinking that "fraud was excluded." truesdell, the great medium hunter, the terror of the american spiritualist world in the seventies, had a sitting with foster and paid the usual five dollars. he was puzzled, and consented to come again. on the second occasion foster could tell him, clairvoyantly, the name of his hotel and other details. he had had truesdell watched in the usual way. at last the detective got his clue. foster's cigar was continually going out, and in constantly re-lighting it he sheltered the match in the hollow of his hands. truesdell concluded that he was then reading the slips of paper, and the rest was easy. in pressing the pellets to his forehead foster substituted blank pellets for them and kept the written papers in his hand. so the next time truesdell went, and foster had touched one of the six pellets and read it, truesdell snatched up the other five pellets and found them blank. foster genially acknowledged that it was conjuring, but he continued as a priest of the spiritualist movement for a long time afterwards. another clairvoyant feat is to read the contents of a sealed envelope, provided the contents are not a folded letter. we shall see in the next chapter how the contents of a folded and sealed letter are learned. i speak here of the simple clairvoyant practice of taking a sealed envelope which contains only a strip of written paper, pressing it to the forehead and reading the contents. you need not pay half-a-guinea to a bond street clairvoyante for this. sponge your envelope with alcohol (which will soon evaporate and leave no trace) and you can "see through it." some readers may expect me to say a word here about "clairaudience." the only word i feel disposed to say is that it is one of the worst pieces of nonsense in the movement. clairvoyance means to read the contents of a sealed letter, or to see spirits which ordinary mortals cannot see. it is half the stock-in-trade of the ordinary medium. you pay your guinea or half-guinea, and the gifted lady sees your invisible dead friends and describes them. sometimes she is quite accurate, "on information received." generally the performance is a tedious medley of guesses and grotesque inaccuracies. as is known, mr. labouchere quite safely promised a thousand-pound note to any clairvoyante who would see the number of it through a sealed envelope. the french academy of science had invited clairvoyants, and thoroughly discredited the claim, years before. yet the imposture goes on daily, all over england and america, and some now offer the novelty of "clairaudience," or hearing spirit voices which we ordinary mortals cannot hear. it is the same fraud under another name. when some clairaudient comes along who can hear the spirits of myers, and so many other deceased spiritualists answer the crucial questions they have never yet answered, we may become interested. until then a new addition to this world of cranks, frauds, decadents, and nervous invalids is not a matter of much importance. footnotes: [12] _the newer spiritualism_, p. 180. [13] mr. clodd, as will be read in the preface to the second edition of dr. mercier's book, sent a copy of this letter to _light_. the editor declined to publish it. so sir a. c. doyle may justly plead that he knew nothing about it. will he ask why? chapter vii messages from the spirit-world clairvoyance, strictly speaking, is supposed to be an abnormal power of the medium: a range of vision, a fineness of sense, that we less gifted beings do not possess. but the performance is very apt to resolve itself into a claim that the medium sees invisible spirits and is communicating with them. of real clairvoyance--of a power to read a closed book or a folded paper or see a distant spot--no instance has ever yet been recorded that will pass scrutiny. many scientific men, as i said, who do not believe in spirits do believe in the abnormal powers of mediums. they would like to get a proof of clairvoyance, but they are unable to offer us one. the wonderful stories told of the gift in spiritualist circles vanish, like the stories about home and moses, the moment the critical lamp is turned upon them. we are therefore reduced to the spiritualist claim that a medium really receives information from spirits, and we have to see on what sort of evidence this is based. now there is an aspect of this question which even the leading spiritualists do not face very candidly. more than twenty years ago it was felt, and rightly felt, by spiritualists that at least a long step forward would be made if they left sealed or cipher-messages at death, and communicated the contents or the key of these from "beyond." it is well known how myers left with sir oliver lodge a sealed message of this description. a month after his death he "got into touch" with lodge through the medium mrs. thompson. unhappily he had forgotten all about the message, and even about the society for psychical research! next the supremely gifted mrs. verrall got into touch with myers. by this time--it was the end of 1904--myers had had time to get adjusted, and was talking more or less rationally through mrs. verrall. if there had not been a very material test in reserve, sir o. lodge and his friends would have sworn that the messages were from the spirit of myers. as it was, they were so confident that on december 13, 1904, they solemnly opened the precious envelope. they were struck dumb when there was not the least correspondence between mrs. verrall's message from myers and the message he had left in the envelope. miss dallas tries, in her _mors janua vitæ_, to soften the blow, but her pleas are useless. the final failure utterly stultifies all the days and months of supposed messages. and this is not the only case. hodgson had adopted a similar test, and it was a ghastly failure. other spiritualists left sealed messages when they died, and not a syllable of one of them has been read. our spiritualists _do not_ get into communication with the dead. this is negative evidence, but it is far more impressive than any of the rhetorical and inaccurate accounts of experiences which they give us. it is precise and unmistakable. every spiritualist who dies now knows that this is the supremely desired test, yet we have twenty years of complete, unmitigated failure. men like sir o. lodge tell us that they recognize the personality of hodgson beyond mistake in the messages they get through mediums; but the one sure test, the getting of the key to the cipher-messages which hodgson left behind, is an absolute failure. it would become our spiritualists to strike a more modest note, and not assure the ignorant public, as sir a. c. doyle does, that the time for proof has gone by and it is for their opponents now to justify themselves. the experience of the last twenty years has been deadly to spiritualist pretensions. the truth is that here again spiritualists had been led into their belief, that messages from the spirit-world were easy and common, by a vast amount of mediumistic trickery. the earliest method was by raps, and we have seen that since 1848 this performance has been a matter of trickery. the next way was to rap out messages with a leg of the table, which was merely a variation of the table-lifting we have studied. these forms are so often used by amateur mediums that it is necessary to recall our warning that the distinction between paid and unpaid mediums is not of the least use. carrington, maxwell, podmore, and flammarion give numbers of instances of cheating by men and women of good social position. carrington tells of an american lawyer who deliberately--not as a joke--made his friends believe that he could make a poker stand upright and do similar abnormal phenomena. he did his tricks by means of black threads. podmore gives a similar case in england. flammarion tells us of a parisian doctor's wife who cheated flagrantly in order to get credit for abnormal powers. this sort of prestige has as much fascination for some people as money has for others. the professional mediums, however, early developed in america the trick of receiving messages from spirits on slates, and this is fraud from beginning to end. the supreme artist in this field was henry slade, whom sir a. c. doyle regards as a genuine intermediary between the lofty spirits of the other world and ourselves. as truesdell's account of the way in which he unmasked slade as early as 1872 contains one of the richest stories in the whole collection of spiritualist anecdotes, one would have thought that a story-teller like sir a. c. doyle could not possibly have forgotten it. from it we learn that slade was from the outset of his career an adroit and brazen and confessed impostor. truesdell paid the customary five dollars, and received pretty and edifying, but inconclusive, messages from the spirits. incidentally he detected that the spirit-touches on his arms were done by slade's foot, to distract his attention; but he could not see the method of the slate-trick. however, as the main theme of the messages was an exhortation to persevere in his inquiries (at five dollars a sitting to the medium), he made another appointment. it was on this occasion that he left a misleading letter in his overcoat in slade's hall, and found the spirits assuming that he was "samuel johnson, rome, n.y." but before slade entered the room, or while slade was going through his overcoat-pockets, _he_ rapidly overhauled slade's room. he found a slate with a pious message from the spirits already written on it, signed (as was usual) by the spirit of slade's dead wife, alcinda. beneath the message truesdell wrote "henry, look out for this fellow--he is up to snuff! alcinda," and replaced the slate. slade came in, and gave a most dramatic performance. in his contortions, under the spirit-influence, he drew the table near to the hidden slate, and "accidentally" knocked the clean slate off the table. of course, he picked up the _prepared_ slate. his emotions can be imagined when he read the words which truesdell had written on it. after a little bluster, however, he laughingly acknowledged that he was a mere conjurer, and he told truesdell many tricks of his profession.[14] this was in 1872. four years later slade came to london, where sir e. ray lankester and sir bryan donkin again exposed him. sir e. ray lankester snatched the slate before the message was supposed to be written on it, and the message was already there. he prosecuted slade, who was sentenced to three months' hard labour. he had charged a guinea a sitter. but a few words had been omitted from the antiquated form of the charge (which i have previously given in the case of craddock), and before slade could be again prosecuted he fled to the continent. there, we saw, he duped a group of purblind professors, and he returned to america in higher repute than ever. in 1882 an inspector of police at belleville, in canada, snatched the slate just as sir e. ray lankester had done, and exposed him again. he escaped arrest only by a maudlin appeal for mercy; and on his return to the states he succeeded in persuading the spiritualists--who solemnly stated this in their organ, the _banner of light_--that the man exposed at belleville was an impostor making use of his name! in 1884 he faced the seybert committee, and its sharp-eyed members saw and exposed every step in his trickery. eventually, as i have said, he lived in drink and misery, developed bright's disease, and died in the common asylum. such was the man whom sir a. c. doyle seriously regards as the chosen instrument of his spiritual powers. the seybert committee found two different kinds of writing on slade's slates. some messages were short and badly written, and they concluded that these were written by him with one finger while he held the slate under the table (as the custom was) to receive a spirit-message. other messages were relatively long, well written, and dignified; and they regarded these as prepared in advance. both points were fully verified. at one sitting they noticed two slates resting suspiciously against the leg of the table. these doubtless had messages written on them, and were to be substituted for the blank slate when this was supposed to be put under the table. slade would then produce the sound of the spirits writing by scraping with his nail on the edge of the slate. on this occasion, however, slade saw that they had their eyes on the slates and he dare not use them. but one of the members of the committee, determined to do his work thoroughly, carelessly knocked the two slates over with his foot, and the messages were exposed. the reception of messages from the spirits on slates may linger in rural or suburban districts, but it has lent itself to such trickery, and been exposed so thoroughly, that mediums have generally abandoned it. for whole decades it was the chief way of communicating with the spirits, and weird and wonderful were the artifices by which the medium defeated the growing sense of caution of the sitters. in spite of the exposures of slade, the english medium eglinton adopted and improved his methods, and he was one of the bright stars of the spiritualist world for twenty years. he was detected in fraud as early as 1876. at that time he gave materialization-séances, at which the ghostly form of "abdullah" appeared. archdeacon colley found the beard and draperies of abdullah in his trunk. but exposure never ruins a medium in the spiritualist world, and ten years later eglinton was the most successful and respected medium in england, especially for slate-messages. hodgson more than suspected him, and he at last found a man, mr. s. j. davey, who was able to reproduce all his tricks. he wrote messages while he held the slates under the table, and he substituted prepared slates for clean slates under the noses of his sitters. perhaps the most valuable part of his experience was this substitution, which is one of the fundamental elements of mediumistic trickery. spiritualists--indeed, inquirers generally--honestly flatter themselves that they have taken care that there was no deception of this kind. such confidence is foolish, as the professional conjurer does this kind of substitution under our eyes habitually, and we never see him do it. in order to make people more cautious davey, with dr. hodgson's connivance, set up as a medium and gave sittings to spiritualists. they afterwards sent accounts of their experiences to the society for psychical research. they were, as usual, certain that there was no trickery, and that the messages were genuine. davey then wrote correct accounts of what he had done, and it was seen that the accounts of the sitters were inaccurate and their observation faulty. some of them indignantly retorted that davey was a genuine medium, but found it more profitable to pose as a conjurer and exposer of mediums! in a work specially devoted to this subject (_spirit slate writing and kindred phenomena_, 1899) mr. w. e. robinson gives about thirty different fraudulent ways of getting spirit-messages. indeed, many of these may be sub-divided, and you get scores of methods. one method, for instance, is to write a message with invisible fluid on paper, seal the apparently blank paper in an envelope, and then let the message appear and pretend that the spirits wrote it. mr. robinson gives thirty-seven different recipes for the "invisible ink," and sixteen of these require only heat, which is easily applied, to develop them. in other cases the inside of the envelope has been moistened with a chemical solution which develops the hidden writing. one medium used to put an apparently blank sheet of paper in a clear bottle and seal it. here trickery seemed impossible, and the sitter was greatly impressed at receiving a pious message on the paper. but the message had been written in advance with a weak solution of copper sulphate, and the bottle had been washed out with ammonia, which develops it. in slate-messages much use is made of a false flap, or a loose sheet of slate which fits imperceptibly on one side of the framed slate. it conceals the message written on the slate, and is removed under the table or under cover of a newspaper. a sheet of slate-coloured silk or cloth is sometimes fitted on the slate, and it is drawn up the medium's sleeve or rolled into the frame of the slate. invisible messages may be written on the slate with onion or lemon juice, and developed by lightly passing over them a cloth containing powdered chalk. double-frame slates lend themselves to infinite trickery. slates are provided by "the trade" with false hinges and all kinds of mechanism. but even when the sitter brings his own slates, as zöllner did, and ties them up and seals them, the medium is not baffled. they are laid aside, for the spirits to write on at their leisure. at the first convenient opportunity the medium removes the wax, without spoiling the seal, by passing a heated knife-blade or fine wire beneath it, and, after untying the strings, heats the under-surface of the wax and sticks it on again. mediums found that sitters were greatly impressed if they heard the sound of the spirits writing on the slate. this was easily done by scraping with the finger nail, and cautious people wanted to have a security against fraud. one medium gave them adequate security. he held both hands above the table, yet writing was distinctly heard underneath it. the man had attached to the table a clamp holding a bit of slate-pencil, and against this he rubbed a pencil which was fastened to his trousers by loops of black silk. others can use a pencil with their toes--i have seen an armless bulgar girl use a pen with her toes as neatly as a good writer uses his fingers--and hold both hands above the table. this trick is often used when a message is wanted in answer to a question and cannot be written in advance. the usual method is, however, to hold the slate under the table-top and write on it while it is held there. at first this was done by means of a tiny bit of slate-pencil slipped under the nail of the big finger. slade soon found that this was suspected, and he made a point of keeping his nails short. the trade which is at the back of mediums then supplied thimbles with bits of pencil attached, which the medium could slip on to his finger as he put the slate under the table. even thimbles with three differently coloured chalks were made, and the innocent sitter would be invited to select his own colour for the spirits to write in. the most amazing tricks were developed. robinson tells of a man who would let you bring your own slate and hold it against your own breast, and the message then appeared on it. he "tried" your slate when you brought it by writing on it with his pencil. but, of course, he sponged out all his writing before he handed the slate back to you, as you could see. he had a double pencil--slate at one end and silver nitrate at the other--and what he wrote with the latter was invisible until it was damped with salt-water. well, the sponging (or damping) had been done with salt-water, and so the message (in silver nitrate) appeared as the slate dried against your breast. when you thus allow the medium to use his own apparatus in his own room you need not be surprised at any result whatever. the sensible man will remember that behind the mediums is the same ingenious industry which supplies conjuring outfits. mr. selbit showed mr. moseley a typewriter, on an ordinary-looking table, which spelt out, by invisible fingers, a message in reply to your question. there was an electrical mechanism in the table, and an electrician in the next room controlling it by a wire through the hollow table-leg. but even without such elaborate mechanism mediums can baffle quite vigilant sitters. there was one who would allow you to examine his nails, yet he got slate-messages without putting the slate under the table. he had ground slate-pencil to dust, mixed it with gum, and then cut the mixture into little cubes or pellets. he simply stuck these on his trousers, and, _after_ you had examined his nails, helped himself to one. when the answers are given on paper a hundred other tricks are employed. first the medium must learn the question you are putting to the spirits. if you put it mentally, you will never get more than a lucky or unlucky guess, unless you happen to be one of those sitters for whom the medium was prepared. you need not fear telepathy. it must be admitted to-day that the evidence for telepathy or thought-transference is in as parlous a condition as the evidence for spiritualism. after all the challenges and discussions not a single serious claim lies before us. sir a. c. doyle, it is true, tells (_debate_, p. 28) quite confidently of mr. lethem getting an answer to his unspoken questions. but sir arthur, as usual, does not tell all the facts. the unspoken questions to which mrs. lethem, as a medium, gave "correct answers" were precisely the two test questions which mr. lethem had put to a medium some time before! we may surely presume that he had confided that wonderful experience to the wife of his bosom. no, there is no clear case of telepathy, or answers to unspoken questions, on record. the medium gets you to write your questions. spirits are supposed to be more at home in reading such spiritual things as thoughts than in reading material scribbles; but your medium is not a spirit, and you will get no answer unless he knows the question. if you write your question on the pad which he kindly offers, it is easy. there is a carbon paper underneath, which gives him a duplicate. in one very elaborate case the carbon and duplicate were under the cloth, and were drawn off, when you had finished writing, through a hollow leg of the table into the next room. one medium developed the art of reading what you wrote from the movements of the top of your pencil. others, like foster, artfully stole your bit of paper and substituted dummies. but i will quote from mr. carrington a last trick which will give the reader a sufficiently large idea of the wonderful ingenuity which mediums use in these spirit messages. he tells in his _personal experiences of spiritualism_ of a pair of chicago mediums--the same misses bangs who painted spirit pictures before your eyes, as i have previously described--whose method was extraordinarily difficult to detect. you wrote a letter to a deceased person. you folded a blank sheet with this letter, and sealed them yourself in an envelope. this letter you handed to miss bangs as she sat at the table opposite you. after a long delay, but without her leaving the room, she restored the envelope (which had lain on the table under a blotter) to you intact, and you found a letter to you from your spirit friend written on the blank sheet you had enclosed. mr. carrington admits that he can only guess the way in which this striking performance was done, but the reader who cares to read his full and interesting account will feel that his conjecture is right. the letter did not remain on the table. under cover of the blotting pad and various nervous movements it was conveyed to the medium's lap, and from there to a shallow tray on the floor under the table. the medium, he noticed, sat close to a door which led into an adjoining room, and he believes that the tray was pulled by a string from under the table into the next room. an expert whom he afterwards sent to examine the house, under cover of a sitting, verified his conjecture that there was space enough at the bottom of the door to pull a shallow tray through. in the next room it was easy for miss bangs no. 2 to open the letter, write the reply, and seal the envelope again. even wax seals offer no difficulty to mediums. the letter was re-conducted to the table in the same furtive way. a desperate spiritualist may say that his hypothesis is simpler than this. but there is one little difficulty. no such person had ever existed as the supposed dead relative to whom mr. carrington addressed his letter! he had hoaxed the hoaxer. here were two quiet and inoffensive-looking spinsters earning a good living by deceptive practices (this and the spirit-painting trick) which they had themselves, apparently, originated, and which taxed the ingenuity of an expert conjurer to discover. what chance has the ordinary inquirer, much less the eager spiritualist, against guile of this description? a boy of sixteen can buy a box of conjuring apparatus for a guinea. it contains only tricks which have been scattered over the country for years. yet in your own drawing-room he can, after a little practice, cheat your eyes every time, although you know that there is trickery, and are keenly on the look-out for it. what chance have you, then, against a man or woman who has been conjuring for twenty years? what chance have you in a poor light? what earthly chance have you in the dark? it is amazing how inquirers and spiritualists forget this elementary truism. they tell you repeatedly, with the air of supreme experts in conjuring, that "there was no possibility of fraud." that is sheer self-deception. even expert conjurers have been completely deceived by mediums, as bellachini was with slade (a confessed impostor) and carrington was with eusapia palladino. the man who tells you that there was no fraud because he saw none is as foolish as the man who expects _you_ either to explain where the fraud was or else embrace spiritualism. there is one other method of receiving messages which we must briefly notice. it is, to spiritualists, the most impressive of all. the ghost of the dead _talks directly to you_. a "direct voice" medium is, of course, required, and some kind of trumpet is provided by the medium through which the spirit speaks to you. if you are known to the medium, or if you have a good imagination and are very eager, you can recognize the very accents of your dead wife or mother-in-law. but there is one disadvantage of this impressive phenomenon. it must take place in complete darkness; and we remember the warning of that high and experienced psychic authority, dr. maxwell, that the man who seeks any kind of phenomena in complete darkness is wasting his time. spiritualist writers are amusing when they try to reconcile us to the conditions which their mediums have imposed on them. are there not certain conditions for the appearance of all scientific phenomena, they ask us? most assuredly. you cannot grow carrots without soil, and so on. is not darkness a condition of certain scientific processes? again, most certainly. the photographic plate must be prepared in the dark, or in a dull red light. therefore.... that is just where the spiritualist fails. if the darkness under cover of which the photographic chemist prepares his plates lent itself equally to cover fraud or to protect his operations, there would be a parallel. as it is, there is no parallel. the red light of the photographer can serve only one purpose. when the medium uses it, there are two purposes conceivable. one is, on the spiritualist theory, that white light may interfere with the "magnetism," or the "psychic force," or whatever the latest jargon is. the other conceivable purpose is that it may cover fraud. everybody admits that the darkening of the planet since 1848 has covered "a vast amount of fraud," to use the words of baron schrenck. few people admit that it has favoured real phenomena. it is therefore quite absurd to attempt to reconcile us to the darkness by the analogy of photographic operations. there is no analogy at all. in the one case the poor light certainly favours fraud, and does not certainly do anything else. in the other case the red light never covers fraud, but has a single clear purpose. red light, as i have said, is the most tiring for the eye of all kinds of light. the man who thinks that he can control the hands and feet of seven mediums in such a light cannot expect to be taken seriously. he can expect only to be taken in. but the man who pays any attention to phenomena for which the medium requires pitch darkness is even worse. why not simply _imagine_ that the dead still live, and save the guinea? you have not the slightest guarantee of the genuineness of the phenomena. imagining that you can recognize the voice or the features is one of the oldest of illusions. in the summer of 1912 our spiritualists were elated by the discovery of a new medium of the most powerful type. mrs. ebba wriedt came from that perennial breeding-ground of great mediums, the united states, where she had long been known. in 1912 she illumined london. through her w. t. stead was able once more to address spiritualists _viva voce_. one recognized the familiar voice unmistakably. scepticism was ludicrous. did not a serbian diplomatist talk to the spirit in serb, which mrs. wriedt did not know, and answer for the genuineness of the phenomena? _light_ had wonderful columns on mrs. wriedt's marvels. she was, the editor of a psychic journal said, "the pride and the most convincing argument of the whole spiritualist and theosophical world." in admiring her powers, even the mutual hostility of spiritualist and theosophist was laid aside, it seems. norwegian spiritualists were eager to avail themselves of this rare gift, and they asked if norwegian spirits could speak through the great medium. after consulting the spirits--a cynic would say, after practising a word or two of norwegian--mrs. wriedt replied in the affirmative, and boldly crossed the sea. there is, of course, no intrinsic reason, on the spiritualist theory, why spirits should be confined to the language of the medium. in "direct voice" they do not even have to use her vocal organs. a trumpet lies on the ground or the table, and the spirits lift it up and megaphone (very softly) through it. it is quite inexplicable to those of us who are mere inquirers why the spirits must always talk english in england, american in america, and so on. even when they try, as in the case of the thomas brothers, to talk their native american to us in england, the result is half bad american and half welsh-english. it would be much more impressive to our hesitating generation if a half-dozen foreigners were brought to the sitting, and each had a real conversation--not a word or two--with a ghost of his own nationality. somehow the spirits insist on speaking the language, and even the dialect, of the medium. we shall consider in the next chapter a few supposed variations from this unfortunate rule of spirit-intercourse. well, mrs. wriedt went to norway, and confronted her new inquirers with all the solidity and confidence of the well-built american matron. somehow, the vocabulary of the norwegian dead, who came along, was very limited. they could say only "yes" or "no" in norwegian. otherwise the first séance was very good. to make up for their culpable ignorance of their native tongue the norwegian ghosts scattered flowers about the dark room, gave ghostly music, and did other marvellous things. but there were two ladies and a professor--frau nielsen and frau anker and professor birkeland--who did not like this "yes" and "no" business. it was scriptural, but not ladylike. so the professor held mrs. wriedt's hands very firmly at the second séance, and for twenty minutes the spirits were dumb. they always resent such things, as every spiritualist knows. the trumpets lay on the floor, neglected and silent. at length professor birkeland heard some very faint explosive sounds which his ears located in the trumpets or horns (in shape something like the old coach-horn). he looked steadily and saw them move slightly, a phosphorescent light in them making the movements clear. a good spiritualist would have seen that this was the beginning of manifestations, and he would have paid close attention to the trumpets and relaxed his hard control of mrs. wriedt. the professor was, however, of the type which mediums call "brutal." he jumped up, switched on the electric light, and, before the spiritualists could interfere, had snatched the two trumpets from the floor and bolted to the nearest analytic chemist. so the curtain fell on one more glorious act in the spiritualist drama. mrs. wriedt had put in the trumpet particles of metallic potassium which, meeting the moisture she had also thoughtfully provided, explained the "psychic movements." close examination disclosed that on other occasions she had used lycopodium seeds to produce the same effect. professor birkeland did not discover how the voices were produced, but they offer no difficulty. the trumpets were, he found, telescopic. each consisted of three parts, and could stretch to nearly three feet. when some guileless lady, who is controlling the medium, allows a hand to stray in the usual way, the trumpet is seized, and it will give a "direct voice" over the heads of the sitters or close to any one of them. when the trumpet remains on the ground during the ghostly message, the medium has a rubber speaking-tube fitted to it. when no trumpet is provided at all, it makes no difference. the medium has thoughtfully brought one of these telescopic aluminium tubes in his trousers. it folds up to less than a foot. in some of the earlier cases, possibly still in some cases, the medium's little daughter, who sits demure and mildly interested on the couch before the light is switched off, mounts the furniture in the dark, and obligingly impersonates the ghost. no one would accuse mr. crawford, of belfast, of being ultra-critical, yet his experience confirms my conclusions. his marvellous experiences with the pious kathleen drew the attention of the spiritualist world, and all sorts of mediums came to help. first he tried the clairvoyants. but they saw such weird and contradictory things that he was worried. none of them saw the wonderful "psychic cantilever" which he thought the spirits made to lift the table, but they all saw ghostly hands where he did not want them; and the worst of it was that the same spirits which had confirmed his theory of a cantilever, and even allowed him to take a photograph (which he has meanly refused to publish) of it, now joyously confirmed the quite different theory of the spiritualist clairvoyants. so he gave it up, and next tried a "direct voice" medium. he is fairly polite about the result. he got plenty of voices from all quarters--in total darkness. not only did a voice come from the ceiling, but a mark was made on it. the medium's silk coat was frivolously taken off her by the ghosts, and flung on the lap of one of the sitters. strangely, these things do not impress him as much as the raising of a two-pound stool to a height of four feet does. he drops dark hints that things were said about this "direct voice" medium. she was a big woman, and she was not searched; and telescopic aluminium tubes take up little room. mr. crawford put his little electrical register near her feet, and she was "annoyed and nervous." in short, mr. crawford seems to have formed the same opinion as any sensible person would in the circumstances.[15] we have still to examine the claims of the automatic writers; but, after all this, the reader will not expect much. never yet was a message received which could not have been learned by the medium in a normal way. the overwhelming mass of the messages which are delivered daily in every country are fraudulent. in an amusing recent work (_the road to en-dor_) two officers have shown us how easy it was to dupe even educated men by these professions of marvellous powers. the advantage is on the side of the conjurer every time, and the sitter has little chance. let the mediums come before a competent tribunal. all sorts of inducements have been offered to them to do so, but they are very shy of competent investigators. in 1911 an advertisement in the _times_ offered £1,000 to any medium who would merely give proof of possessing telepathic power, and there was not a single offer. this year mr. joseph rinn, a former member of the american society for psychical research and a life-long inquirer, has deposited with that society a sum of £1,000 for any evidence of communication with the dead under proper conditions. there will again be no application. mediums prefer a simpler and more reverent audience, even if the fees be smaller. but those who consult them under their own conditions, knowing that fraud has been practised under those conditions from san francisco to petrograd ever since 1848, must not talk to us about "evidence." footnotes: [14] the chapter should be read in truesdell's racy book, which is now unfortunately rare, _bottom facts concerning the science of spiritualism_ (1883), pp. 276-307. [15] these experiments are recorded in his _experiments in psychical science_ (1919), pp. 134-35 and 170-89. chapter viii automatic writing the spiritualist--if any spiritualist reader has persevered thus far--will be surprised to hear that many rationalists censure me because i decline to admit that his movement is "all fraud." for heaven's sake, he will exclaim, let us hear something about our honesty for a change! even the impartial outsider will possibly welcome such a change. how is it possible, he will ask, that so many distinguished men have given their names to the movement if it is all fraudulent? now let us have a word first on these supposed distinguished spiritualists. during the debate with me sir a. c. doyle produced a tiny red book and told the audience that it contained "the names of 160 people of high distinction, many of them of great eminence, including over forty professors" (p. 19). he said expressly that "these 160 people ... have announced themselves as spiritualists" (p. 20). the book was handed to me, and it will be understood that i could not very well read it and attend to my opponent's speech, to which i had to reply. but i saw at a glance several utterly destructive weaknesses. several men were described as "professor" who had no right to the title. several men were included who were certainly _not_ spiritualists (richet, ochorowicz, schiaparelli, flammarion, maxwell, etc.). and in not one single case is a precise reference given for the words which are attributed to these men. my opponent regretted that chapter and verse were not "always" (this word is omitted from the printed debate) quoted in his little book. as a matter of fact, "chapter and verse" (book and page) are _never_ given, in any instance; and in the vast majority of the 160 cases not even words are quoted to justify the inclusion. he further said that he quite admitted that some of the "forty professors" in the book did not go so far as spiritualists. but i have already quoted his words to the effect that they had "announced themselves as spiritualists," and the same impression is undoubtedly conveyed by the book itself, the title of which is _who are these spiritualists?_ i have the book before me, and any reader who cares to glance at the printed debate and see what sir a. c. doyle said about it will be astonished when i describe it. the printed text gives 126 names, and 32 further names (many illegible) are written on the margins in sir a. c. doyle's hand. only in 53 cases out of the 158 is any quotation given from the person named, and in not _one_ of these cases are we told where the quotation may be verified. there are 27 (not 49, as sir arthur said) men described as "professors"; and of these several never were professors, and very few ever were spiritualists. sir a. c. doyle has himself included professor morselli, who calls spiritualism "childish and immoral." there are men included who died before spiritualism was born, and there are twenty or thirty agnostics included. men like "lord dunraven, lord adare, and alexander wilder" are described, with the most amazing effrontery, as "some of the world's greatest authors." padre secchi, the pious roman catholic, is included. thackeray, sir e. arnold, professor de morgan, thiers, lord brougham, forbes winslow, longfellow, ruskin, abraham lincoln, and other distinguished sceptics are dragged in. for sloppy, slovenly, loose, and worthless work--and i have in twenty years of controversy had to handle a good deal--this little book would be hard to beat. a list of distinguished spiritualists could be accommodated on a single page of this book. a list of distinguished rationalists in the same period (1848-1920) would take twenty pages. the truth is that in the earlier days of spiritualism, when less was known than we now know about mediumistic fraud, a number of distinguished men were "converted." they were in every case converted by the impostors i have exposed in the course of this work--by home, florrie cook, mrs. guppy, eglinton, slade, morse, holmes, etc. what is the value of such conversions? who are the "distinguished" spiritualists _to-day_? sir a. c. doyle, sir o. lodge, sir w. barrett, mr. gerald balfour.... the reader will be astonished to know that those are the only names of living men of any distinction that sir a. c. doyle dares to give, either in the text or on the margins of his book. what their opinion is worth the reader may judge for himself. let us pass on. i wrote recently in the _literary guide_ that "there are hundreds of honest mediums." some of my readers resented this as over-generous. possibly they have only a vague idea of spiritualism, and it is advisable for us to reflect clearly on the point. in the eyes of spiritualists every man or woman, paid or unpaid, who is supposed to be in any way in communication with spirits is a "medium." the word does not simply apply to men and women who, for payment, sit in cabinets or in a circle, and lift tables, play guitars, write on slates, produce ghosts, pull furniture about, tug the beards of sitters, and so on. i should agree with the reader that these people, paid or unpaid, and all mediums who operate in the dark or in red light, are probably frauds. that is a fair conclusion from the preceding chapters, in which i have exposed every variety of their manifestations, and from the history of spiritualism. this rules out all professional mediums and a large proportion of the amateurs. perhaps the reader does not know, and would like to know, what a séance is like. as far as the "more powerful" (and more certainly fraudulent) mediums are concerned, i have already given a sufficient description. a cloth-covered frame or "cabinet" is raised at one end of the room, or a curtain is drawn across an alcove or corner. in this the medium generally (not always) sits, and the curtains are closed until the medium thinks fit to have them opened. the medium is sometimes hypnotized, and sometimes falls into a natural trance; it matters little, for the trance is invariably a sham, and the medium is wide awake all the time, though he simulates the appearance of a trance. the lights are lowered or extinguished. generally a red-glass lantern or bulb (sometimes several) is lit. then, after a time, which is occupied by singing or music (to drown the noise of the medium's movements), the ghost appears, or the tambourine is played, or the table is lifted, and so on. these are the heavier and more expensive performances, and are constantly being exposed. the medium has apparatus in the false seat of his chair or concealed about his person. but the common, daily séance is quite different. you sit round a table or in a circle, or (if you will rise to the price) sit alone with the lady. the light may be good. the medium "sees" and describes spirit forms hovering about you. if you are one of the people whom the medium has, through an intermediary, attracted to the circle, you get some accurate details. if not, the medium begins with generalities and, studying your expression, feels her way to details. it is generally a waste of time. friends of mine have gone from one to another medium in london, and they tell me that it is simply a tedious and most irritating way of convincing oneself that these people are all frauds. but beyond these are hundreds, or thousands, of private individuals who discover that they are mediums. they take a pencil in their hands, fall into a passive, dreamy state, and presently the pencil "automatically" writes messages from the spirit world. others use the planchette (a pencil fixed in a heart-shaped board which, when the medium's fingers are on it, writes on a sheet of paper) or the ouija board (in which the apex of the heart spells out messages by pointing rapidly to the letters of the alphabet painted on a larger board over which it travels). i have studied all three forms, and may take them together as "automatic writing." the first question is whether this _can_ be done unconsciously. if such messages are consciously spelt or written by the medium, it is, of course, fraud, because the messages purport to come from the dead. my own experience convinces me that even here there is a vast amount of fraud. the social status and general character of the medium do not seem to matter at all, as we have repeatedly seen. people get into the attitude of the child. "i can do what you can't do," you constantly hear the child say to its fellows. there is a good deal of the child in all of us. prestige, distinction, credit for a rare or original power, is as much sought as money; and this motive grows stronger when the medium already has money. everybody knows, or ought to know, the perfectly authentic story of mozart's _requiem_. a wealthy amateur, count walsegg, secretly paid mozart to compose that famous mass, and it was to be passed off by walsegg as his own. but while there is much fraud even in automatic writing, there are certainly hundreds of mediums of this description who quite honestly believe that they are spirit-controlled. mr. g. b. shaw's mother was an automatic artist of that class. i have seen some of her spirit drawings. a high-minded medical man of my acquaintance was a medium of the same type. the class is very numerous. psychologically, it is not very difficult to understand. a pianist can play quite complicated pieces unconsciously or subconsciously. a writer, who cannot normally write decent fiction, may have wonderful flights of imagination in a dream. an expert worker can do quite complicated things without attention. something of the same faculty seems to come in time to the automatic writer or artist. consciousness is more or less--never entirely, perhaps--switched off from its usual connection with the hand, and the part of the brain-machine which is not lit by consciousness takes over the connection. that this can be done in perfect honesty will be clear to every reader of flammarion's book, _les forces naturelles inconnues_. flammarion never became a spiritualist, but he was quite a fluent automatic writer in his youth. victorien sardou, the great dramatist, belonged to the same circle, and was an automatic draughtsman. flammarion gives specimens of the work of both. quite without a deliberate intention, he signed his automatic writing (on science) "galileo." i have no doubt that at the time both these distinguished men were strongly tempted to embrace the spiritualist theory. these experiences, and the experiences of the séance, can be exceedingly impressive and dramatic. the man who has never been there is too apt to think that all spiritualists are fools. i have been to séances, and i do not admit that. i am quarrelling with spiritualists because they will not realize the possibilities and the actual abundance of fraud. but the séance is undoubtedly very impressive at times. i have held a serious conversation, in german and latin, through an amateur medium of my own acquaintance, with the supposed spirit of a certain german theologian of the last century whose name (as given) was well known to me. i do not at all wonder that many succumb in sittings of this sort. but i found invariably that, if one resolutely kept one's head and devised crucial tests, the claim broke down. so it is with flammarion and sardou. what "galileo" wrote in 1870 was just the astronomy of that time; and much of it is totally wrong to-day. sardou, on the other hand, drew remarkable sketches of life on jupiter; and we know to-day that jupiter is red-hot! this is a broad characteristic of automatic writing since it began in the fifties of the nineteenth century. at its best it merely reflected the culture of the time, which was often wrong. stainton moses, for instance, wrote reams of edifying revelation. but i find among his wonderful utterances about ancient history certain statements concerning the early hindus and persians which recent discoveries have completely falsified. he had been reading certain books which were just passable (though already a little out of date) fifty years ago. among other things the spirits told him that manu lived 3,000 b.c., and that there was a high "brahminical lore" long before that date! so with andrew jackson davis, the first of these marvellous bringers of wisdom from the spirit world. he had probably read r. chambers's _vestiges of creation_, and he gave out weird and wonderful revelations about evolution. in the beginning was a clam, which begot a tadpole, which begot a quadruped, and so on. davis certainly lied hard when he used to deny that he had read the books to which his "revelations" were traced, but no one can deny his originality. then there was fowler, an american medical student and pious amateur medium, who was regarded with reverence by the american spiritualists. i invite the reader's particular attention to this man, as he is one of those unpaid individuals who are supposed (by spiritualists) to have no conceivable motive for cheating. yet he lied and cheated in the most original fashion. he told his friends that ghostly men entered his bedroom at nights, produced ghostly pens and ink, and left messages in hebrew on his table. an expert in hebrew found that the message was a very bad copy of a passage from the hebrew text of _daniel_. this did not affect the faith of spiritualists, who put a piece of parchment in fowler's room for a further message. they had a rich reward. they found next day a spiritual manifesto signed by no less than fifty-six spirits, including some of the statesmen who had signed the declaration of independence. the frauds were very gross in those early decades. franklin, washington, even thomas paine, sent hundreds of messages from the "summerland." as time went on, socrates, plato, sir i. newton, milton, galileo, aristotle, and nearly everybody whose name was in an encyclopædia, guided the automatic writers. when one reads the inane twaddle signed with their names, one wonders that even simple people could be deceived. dante dictated a poem of three thousand lines in the richest provincial american. one automatic writer wrote, under inspiration, a book of a hundred thousand words. it is estimated that there were two thousand writing mediums in the united states alone four years after the foundation of the movement. mrs. piper was chiefly an automatic writer in the latter part of her famous career as a medium, but we need scarcely discuss further her accomplishments. in her later years she said that she did not claim to be controlled by spirits, and this is sometimes wrongly described as a confession of fraud. what she directly meant was that she did not profess any opinion as to the source of the knowledge she gave to sitters. she seemed to favour the theory of telepathy. when, however, we remember that she spoke constantly in the name of spirits (longfellow, phinuit, pelham, myers, etc.), the plea seems curious. those who believe that she was really in a sort of trance-state, and knew not what she was doing, may be disposed to accept podmore's theory, that her subconscious personality dramatized these various spirits or supposed spirits. some of us do not like this idea of trance. in the hundreds of exact records of proceedings with mediums that i have read, i have not seen a page that suggested a genuine "trance," but i have noted scores and scores of passages which showed that the medium feigned to be in a trance, but was very wide awake. mrs. thompson is another clairvoyant and automatic writer who has been much appreciated by modern spiritualists. it is well to recall that before 1898 she was a medium for "physical phenomena." she even brought about materializations. then she met mr. myers, and her powers assumed a more refined form. dr. hodgson, that quaint mixture of blunt criticism and occasional credulity, had six sittings with her, and roundly stated that she was a fraud. the correct information which she gave him was, he said, taken from letters to which she had access, or from works of reference like _who's who_. in one case, which made a great impression, she gave some remarkably abstruse and correct information. it was afterwards found that the facts were stated in an old diary which had belonged to her husband. she herself produced the diary, and said that she had never read it; so, of course, everybody believed her. when professor sidgwick died, in 1900, his "spirit" used to communicate through her. she reproduced his manner, and even his writing (which she said she had never seen), very fairly; but she could give no communication from him of "evidential" value. the impersonation of dead people by the "entranced" medium makes a great impression on spiritualists. it is difficult to understand why. one medium quite convinced a friend of mine by such a performance. she sat, in the circle, in a trance one day, when she suddenly rose from her chair, stroked an imaginary moustache, and began to speak in a gruff voice. "he"--the young lady had become a cavalry man--explained in a dazed way that he had died at knightsbridge barracks on the previous day, and gave his name. great was the joy of the elect on finding afterwards that a soldier of the name had died at knightsbridge on the previous day. it was quite childish. it is just by learning such out-of-the-way facts, as they easily can, and making use of them, that the mediums keep up their reputations. there was no reason whatever why the medium should not have learned of the death and made so profitable a use of it. stainton moses often did such things. one day he was possessed by the spirit of a cabman who said that he had been killed on the streets of london that very afternoon. by an unusual oversight the spirit did not give his name. it was afterwards found that the accident was reported in an evening paper which stainton moses _might_ have seen just before the séance; and, by a curious coincidence, the reporter had not given the cabman's name. in other cases, where mediums had been invited to districts with which they were not familiar, yet they gave quite accurate details about local dead, it was found on inquiry that the information _might_ have been gathered from the stones in the local cemetery. a common retort of the spiritualist, when you point out the possibility of the medium impersonating the dead, is that, "if she did so, she must be one of the cleverest actresses in england." you are asked, triumphantly, why the lady should be content with a few pounds a week as a despised medium, when she might be making five thousand a year on a stage. any person who has seen these "trances" will know the value of their "dramatic" art. almost anybody could do it. the medium makes from three to five pounds a week by such things, but if she tried the stage she would have, at the most, a minor part with fifty or sixty pounds a year. spiritualists get their judgments weirdly distorted by their bias. i need only quote the extravagant language in which sir a. c. doyle refers to mr. vale owen's trash or mrs. spencer's picture of christ. he makes the miracle in which he wishes to believe. two particular cases of spirit messages by automatic writing have lately been pressed upon us, and we must briefly examine them. one is given in a book by mr. f. bligh bond, called _the gate of remembrance_, which is recommended to us by sir a. c. doyle as one of the five particularly convincing works which he would have us read. he again fails to tell his readers that mr. bligh bond draws a very different conclusion than his own from the facts. he has a mystical theory of a universal memory or consciousness, a sort of ocean into which the memories of the dead have flowed. he does not believe that the individual spirits of the dead monks of pre-reformation days came along and dictated their views through his automatic-writing friend. any person, however, who reads the book impartially will see no need for either the spiritualist view or mr. bond's. the main point is that, through mr. bond's friend, mr. john alleyne, what purported to be the ghosts of the old monks of glastonbury abbey wrote quite vivid sketches of their medieval life in the abbey and, particularly, suggested the position and general features of a chapel that was at the time unknown. as to the character or impersonation of the monks, which seems to spiritualists so impressive, we are told by experts on medieval language that it will not sustain criticism. the language is quaint and pleasant to read, but it is not consistent either in old english or latin. it is the language of a man who is familiar with medieval english and latin, but does not speak it as his _own_ language, and so often trips. it is, in other words, mr. john alleyne writing old english and medieval latin, and stumbling occasionally. as to the indication of a buried chapel, both this and the general impersonation of the old monks are intelligible to any man who has read the book itself, not spiritualist accounts of it. mr. bond, an architect and archæologist, expected to be appointed to the charge of the ruins, and he and his friend mr. alleyne steeped themselves, all through the year 1907, in the literature of the subject. they read all that was known about glastonbury, and lived for months in the medieval atmosphere. then mr. alleyne took his pencil and began to write automatically. the general result is not strange; nor is it at all supernatural that he should have formed a theory about the lost chapel and conveyed this to paper in the guise of a message from one of the old monks. the next work recommended to us is a short paper by mr. gerald balfour called "the ear of dionysius" (published in the _proceedings of the society for psychical research_, vol. xxix, march, 1917). the writing medium, mrs. verrall, a cambridge lady of a highly cultivated and refined type and an excellent classical scholar, found in her automatic "script" on august 26, 1910, a reference to "the ear of dionysius." three years and a-half later another writing medium, mrs. willett, got one of those rambling and incoherent messages, which are customary, in reference to "the ear of dionysius." this seemed to be more than a coincidence, as mrs. willett is no classical scholar. but mr. balfour candidly warns us that mrs. willett said that she had heard nothing about the earlier reference to the ear of dionysius in mrs. verrall's case. it would be remarkable if the fact had been kept entirely secret for three and a-half years, as some importance was attached to it in psychic circles, and we may prefer to trust mr. balfour's memory rather than mrs. willett's. he says that he feels sure that one day, in the long interval, mrs. willett asked him what the ear of dionysius was. mr. balfour, however, believes that in the sequel we have fair evidence of spirit communication. the reader who is not familiar with these matters should know that a new test had been devised for controlling the origin of these messages. it was felt that if the "spirit" of one of the dead psychical researchers (who could no longer read or remember the sealed messages they had left) were to give an unintelligible message to one medium, a second unintelligible message to a second medium, and then the key to both to either or to a third medium, and if the contents of these messages were strictly withheld from the mediums (each knowing only her own part), a very definite proof of spirit origin would be afforded. thus the ghost of mr. verrall or mr. myers might take a line of an obscure greek poet, give one word of it to mrs. thompson, another to mrs. willett, and then point out the connection through mrs. verrall. mr. balfour claims that this was done in connection with the ear of dionysius. mrs. willett, who does not know latin or greek, got messages containing a number of classical allusions. among them was one which no one could understand, and the key to this was some time afterwards given in the automatic writing of mrs. verrall. the reader will now begin to understand the serious and respectable part of modern spiritualism. i presume that these cultivated spiritualists regard the "physical phenomena" of the movement and the ordinary mediums with the same contempt that i do. they know that fraud is being perpetrated daily, and that the history of the movement, since its beginning in 1848, has reeked with fraud. it is on these refined messages and cross-references that they would stake their faith. but, while we readily grant that these things offer an arguable case and must not be dismissed with the disdain which we have shown in the previous chapters, we feel that the new basis is altogether insecure and inadequate. two mediums get a reference to so remote and unlikely a thing as "the ear of dionysius." when you put it in this simple form it sounds impressive; but we saw that there was an interval of three and a-half years, and we do not feel at all sure that people so profoundly interested, so religiously eager, in these matters would succeed in keeping the first communication entirely from the ears of medium no. 2. in point of fact, mr. balfour tells us that he has a distinct recollection of being asked by mrs. willett, during the interval, what the ear of dionysius was. mrs. willett denies it. we shall probably prefer the disinterested memory of mr. balfour. now, the very same weakness is found even in the second part of the story. for any evidential value it rests on two very large suppositions:-1. that one medium knew absolutely nothing about the most interesting and promising development which was for months agitating the minds of her own friends. 2. that another medium heroically refrained from reading up any classical dictionaries or works on the subject, and reserved her mind strictly for whatever information the spirits might give her. one can scarcely be called hypercritical if one has doubts about these suppositions. there does not seem to be any room for the theory either of telepathy or of spirit communication. the two experiences i have just analysed are selected by sir a. c. doyle as the most convincing in the whole of the work of the more modern and more refined spiritualists. i need not linger over other experiences of these automatic writers. for the most part, automatic writing provides only vapid or inaccurate stuff which is its own refutation. in the early years, when franklin, shakespeare, plato, and all the most illustrious dead wrote nonsense of the most vapoury description, the situation was quite grotesque. nor is this kind of thing yet extinct. there are mediums practising in london to-day who put the sitter in communication with the sages and poets of ancient times. in the very best of these cases there is a certain silliness about the communications which makes them difficult to read. even the spirits of myers and verrall seem to be in a perpetual bank-holiday mood, making naive little puns and jokes, and talking in the rambling, incoherent way that scholars do only in hours of domestic dissipation. there is a world thirsting (it is said) for proof that the dead still live. here are (it is said) men like w. t. stead, myers, hodgson, verrall, sidgwick, vice-admiral moore, robert owen, etc., at the "other end of the wire," as william james used to say. yet, apparently, nothing can be said or done that quite clearly goes beyond the power of the mediums. the arrogance of the spiritualists in the circumstances is amazing. there are a dozen ways in which the theory could be rigorously tested. one has been tried and completely failed: the communication of messages which were left in proper custody before death. we shall, of course, presently have an announcement that such a message has been read. some zealous spiritualist will leave a sealed message, and will take care that some medium or other is able to read it. we may be prepared for such things. the fact is that half-a-dozen serious and reliable spiritualists have tried this test, and it has hopelessly miscarried. another test was that devised by dr. hodgson--to leave messages in cipher, though not sealed. this also has completely failed. a third test would be for one of these ghosts of learned cambridge men, who are so fluent on things that do not matter, to dictate a passage from an obscure greek poet through a medium who does not know greek _at the request of a sitter_. it is a familiar and ancient trick for a medium to recite or write a passage in a foreign language. it has been learned beforehand. but let a scholar ask the spirit of a dead scholar to spell out through the ignorant medium _there and then_ a specified line or passage within his knowledge. i have tried the experiment. it never succeeds. another test would be for one of these ghostly scholars to dictate a word of a line of some obscure greek poet (chosen by the sitter) to one medium (ignorant of greek), and another word of the same line to another medium immediately afterwards, before there was the remotest possibility of communication. a score of such tests could be devised. three of the best writing mediums the society for psychical research cares to indicate could be accommodated, under proper observation, in different rooms of the same building, and these tests carried out. we could invite the spirit to pass from medium to medium and repeat the message to all three, or give a part to each. until some such rigorous inquiry is carried out, we may decline to be interested. i have before me several volumes of the _proceedings of the society for psychical research_. candidly, they are full of trash and padding. there is very little that merits serious consideration, and nothing that is not weakened by uncertainties, suppressions, and over-zealous eagerness. in fine, what impresses any man who reads much of all the volumes of "revelation" which have been vouchsafed to us is the entirely _earthly_ character of it all. the spiritualist theory is that men grow rapidly wiser after death. plato is two thousand years wiser than he was when he lived. ptah-hotep is six thousand years older and wiser. neither these, nor buddha nor christ nor any other moralist, has a word of wisdom for us. in fact, a theory has had to be invented which supposes that they move away from the earth to distant regions of the spirit-world as they grow older, and so cannot communicate. it is a pity they are not "permitted" to do so for propaganda purposes. but even those who remain in communication have learned nothing since they left the earth. no discovery has ever yet been communicated to us. in spiritualist literature, it is true, there is a claim that certain unknown facts about the satellites of uranus were revealed; but flammarion makes short work of the claim. the communications _never_ rise above the level of the thought and knowledge of living humanity: never even above the level of the knowledge available to the mediums. it is scarcely an "insanity of incredulity" to suppose that they originated there. chapter ix ghost-land and its citizens about twenty years ago a writing medium, a sober professional man whose character would not be questioned, showed me a pile of his automatic "script." he sincerely believed that he had for several years been in communication with the dead. i glanced over many sheets of platitude and familiar moralizing, and then asked him to tell me how they described the new world in which the dead lived. he hesitated, and tried to convince me that this point, which seemed to me the most interesting of all, was unimportant. when i pressed, he said that it was a world so different from ours that the spirits could hardly convey a coherent description of it in our language. they had to be content with such vague phrases as that they "lived in houses of flowers." that was the state of the "new revelation" twenty years ago. long before that whole volumes of quite precise description of ghost-land had been written, but it was discredited. andrew jackson davis had invented the name "summerland," which sir a. c. doyle adopts to-day; but davis's wonderful gospel had turned out to be a farrago of wild speculation, founded on an imperfect grasp of a crude, early stage of science. then stainton moses and hundreds of other automatic writers had given us knowledge about the next world. a common feature of these early descriptions was that the dead lived in a quasi-material universe round about the earth and could visit the various planets and the sun at any time. in that case, of course, they could give most valuable assistance to our astronomers, and they were quite willing. some said that there were living beings on the sun. as a matter of fact, one of our early astronomers had conjectured that there might be a cool, dark surface below the shining clouds which give out the light of the sun, and this "spirit" was following his lead. we know to-day that no part of the sun falls below a temperature of 7,000° c. others described life on jupiter and saturn, and we now know that they are red-hot. another medium, helen smith, attracted to herself a most romantic interest for years because she was controlled by the spirit of a late inhabitant of the planet mars, and we learned a marvellous amount of weird detail about life on mars. the thing was so obviously overdone, and spiritualism was so generally discredited in the eighties on account of the very numerous exposures of mediums, that for a time revelations were less frequent. people fell back very largely on the older belief, that the dead are "pure spirits," living in an environment that cannot be described in our language, which is material. this, in point of fact, is a hollow and insincere pretext. philosophers have been accustomed for two thousand years to describe the life of the spirit, and have provided a vocabulary for any who are interested in it. the truth is that ideas were changing, and mediums were not at all sure what it was safe to say. towards the close of the century there was some revival of spiritualism, and there were fresh attempts to describe the beautiful world beyond the grave. mediums were then in the "houses of flowers" stage. it sounded very pretty, but you must not take it literally. with the advance of the new century, mediums recovered all their confidence. it was at the beginning of the present century that physicists began to discover that matter was composed of electrons, and "ether" was the most discussed subject in the whole scientific press. here was a grand opportunity. a world of ether would not be so crudely materialistic as the earlier post-mortem world of the mediums. yet it might be moulded by the imagination into a more or less material shape. it must be frankly admitted that the "pure spirit" idea is not attractive. those who yearn to meet again the people they had known and loved are a little chilled at the prospect of finding only what seems to be an abstraction, a mere mathematical point, a thing paler and less tangible than a streak of mist. ether was therefore gladly seized as a good compromise. ghost-land was in the ether of space. there had been, it is true, earlier references in spiritualist revelations to "ether bodies," but it is chiefly since the series of discoveries in science to which radium led that the modern spiritualist idea has been evolved. as usual, the spiritual revelations follow in the rear of advancing science. but in this case the automatic writers had a great advantage. they need only follow the lead of sir oliver lodge, who, however curious his ideas of physiology may be, is certainly an authority on ether. he began by hinting mysteriously that he saw "a spiritual significance" in ether. following up that clue, the automatic writers have worked so industriously that we now know the "summerland" more thoroughly than we know central africa or thibet. buoyed up by the growing sentiment of agreement, as proved by the very profitable sales of his works, sir oliver lodge, in _raymond_, gave the world a vast amount of detail about the land beyond the grave. he did not guarantee it, it is true. that is not his way. but he assured the public that his mediums were undoubtedly "in touch" with his dead son, and the spiritualist public must be pardoned if they understood that all the marvellous matter put out in the name of raymond was to be taken seriously. the message was really ingenious. raymond was, unhappily, not merely unable to give "direct voice" communications, as sir a. c. doyle's son is believed to have done, but he could not even directly communicate through mrs. leonard, the medium. he used as an intermediary the spirit of a child named "feda"; and, of course, when one has to use a child--and such an irresponsible, lisping, foolish little child as "feda"--as intermediary, you must not press the message literally in every part. the method had the advantage of pleasing spiritualists, who found a complete confirmation of all their speculations about ghost-land, and at the same time disarming critics, because raymond was not really responsible. many people did not fully realize this when they bore down heavily and contemptuously on the description of the next world which is given in _raymond_. the deceased young officer had a "nice doggie," which he brought along with him when he strolled to the medium's shop to send a message to his distinguished father. presently the medium added a "cat," though she said nothing about a cats'-meat man. raymond had also what i believe young officers call "a bird"--a young lady acquaintance on spiritual terms. there were cows in the spirit meadows and flowers in the gardens. our "damaged flowers," we are told, pass over to the other side and raise their heads once more gloriously. why they flower if there are no bees, whether they have chlorophyll circulating in their leaves, whether the soil is sandy or clayey, etc., we are not told. the information comes in chance clots, as if raymond were too busy with ethereal billiards to study the natural history of ghostland very closely. we are told to picture raymond in a real suit of clothes. he was offered the orthodox white sheet, which every right-minded spirit wears; but he had a british young man's repugnance to that sort of thing. so in the laboratories on the other side they made raymond an ordinary suit, out of "damaged worsted" which we earthly wastrels had no use for. for other young officers, with less refined tastes, they manufactured whisky-and-soda and cigars. "don't think i'm stretching it," raymond observed to his father, through "feda" and mrs. leonard. the father does not say what he thought. now, it is, as i said, quite wrong for spiritualists to plant all this upon the authority of sir oliver lodge. does he not warn us in a footnote that he has "not yet traced the source of all this supposed information"? it would not take most of us long to do so, but the remark at least leaves open a way of retreat for sir oliver lodge. on the other hand, we must not blame spiritualists too severely. he assures them that this lady, mrs. leonard, is in undoubted communication with his dead son, and one may question whether he is entitled to take one part of the lady's message as genuine and leave other parts open. at all events, this puerile and bewildering nonsense was put before the world in an expensive book by sir oliver lodge, with his personal assurance that mrs. leonard was a genuine medium. sir arthur conan doyle next gathered details from scores of revelations of this kind--they fell upon us like leaves in vallombrosa after sir oliver lodge's bold lead--and built them into a consistent picture of "summerland." it is an ether world. each of us has a duplicate of his body in ether. this is quite in harmony with science, he says, because some one has discovered that "bound" ether--that is to say, ether enclosed in a material body--is different from the free ether of space. from this slight difference sir a. c. doyle concludes that there is a portion of ether shaped exactly like my body; then, by a still more heroic leap of the imagination, he gathers that this special ether has not merely the contour of my body, but duplicates all its internal organs and minute parts; and lastly--this is a really prodigious leap--he supposes that this ether duplicate will remain when the body dissolves. on that theory, naturally, every flower and tree and rock that ever existed, every house or ship that was ever built, every oyster or chicken that was ever swallowed, has left an ether duplicate somewhere. well, when you die, your ethereal body remains, and is animated by your soul just as the body of flesh was. a death-bed is, on the new view, a most remarkable scene. men and women weep round the ghastly expiring frame, but all round them are invisible (ether) beings smiling and joyful. when the last breath leaves the prostrate body, you stand erect in your ethereal frame, and your ethereal friends gather round and wring your ethereal hand. congratulations over, one radiant spirit takes you by the hand and leads you through the solid wall and out into the beyond. presumably he is in a hurry to fit you with one of the "damaged worsted" suits. sir arthur stresses the fact that they have the same sense of modesty as we. the next step is rather vague. one gathers that the reborn man is dazed, and he goes to sleep for weeks or months. sleep is generally understood to be a natural process by which nerve and muscle, which have become loaded with chemical refuse, are relieved of this by the blood. what it means in ghostland we have not the least idea. but why puzzle over details where all is a challenge to common human reason? you awaken presently in summerland and get your bearings. this is so much like the paradise described by mr. vale owen that we will put ourselves under the guidance of that gentleman. i would merely note here a little inconsistency in the gospel according to st. conan. one of the now discovered charms of summerland is that the young rapidly reach maturity, and the old go back to maturity. the ether-duplicate of the stillborn child continues to grow--we would give much for a treatise from professor huxley (in his new incarnation) on this process of growth without mitosis and metabolism--and the ether-duplicate of the shrunken old lady of eighty smoothes out its wrinkles, straightens its back, and recovers its fine contour of adipose tissue. but here a difficulty occurred to sir a. c. doyle. in his lectures all over the kingdom he has had to outbid the preacher. _i_ promise you, he told bereaved mothers, that you shall see again just the blue-eyed, golden-haired child that you lost. he even says this in his book. with all goodwill, we cannot let him have it both ways. if children rapidly mature, mothers will not see the golden-haired child again. at the risk of seeming meticulous, i would point out another aspect of the revelation on which more information is desirable. golden hair implies a certain chemical combination which is well known to the physiologist. blue eyes mean a certain degree of thinness of pigment on the front curtains of the eye. now, ether has no chemical elements. it is precisely the subtle substance of the universe which is not yet moulded into chemical elements. are we to take it that summerland is really a material universe, not an ether world? as sir arthur conan doyle has glowingly praised the revelations which have come through the rev. mr. vale owen, i turn to these for closer guidance, and i find that my suspicion is correct. the next world is a material world. whether it has a different sun from ours is not stated, but it is a world of wonderful colour. flowers of the most gorgeous description live in it perpetually. whether they ever grew up or will ever decay, whether they have roots in soil and need water, the prophet has not yet told us. but the world is lovely with masses of flowers. people also dress like the flowers. they have beautifully coloured robes and gems (none of your "damaged worsted" for mr. vale owen). in other words, light, never-fading light, is the grand feature of the next world. since ether does not reflect light, it is obviously a material universe. music is the second grand element. perhaps mr. owen would dispute this, and say that preaching is the outstanding feature. certainly, everybody he describes preaches so constantly and so dully that many people will not like the prospect. let us take it, rather, that music is the second great feature. they have great factories for musical instruments which make a mockery of brinsmeads. the bands go up high towers and produce effects which no earthly musician ever dreamed of producing. it follows, of course, that the ghosts not only tread a solid soil, in which flowers grow, on which they build towers and mansions, but a very considerable atmosphere floats above the soil. mr. vale owen, in fact, introduces streams and sheets of water; lovely lakes and rivers for the good ghosts and "stagnant pools" in the slums of ghostland. we will not press this. mr. owen forgot for a moment that it _never rains_ in summerland. but the atmosphere is an essential part of the revelation, as without it there will certainly be no music or flying birds. and an atmosphere means a very solid material world. our moon, which weighs millions of billions of tons, is too light to possess an atmosphere and water. consequently, there must be thousands of miles of solid rock and metal underfoot in ghostland. it follows further that, since ghostland is very spacious, and since at least a billion humans (to say nothing of animals) have quitted this earth since the ape men first wandered over it, this other material universe must be very extensive. if all the inhabited planets in the universe have their summerlands, or all pour their dead into one vast summerland, one begins to see that modern science is a ridiculous illusion. we should not see the sun, to say nothing of stars a thousand billion miles away, or even remoter nebulæ. as to astronomical calculations of mass and gravitation.... i can sustain the comedy no longer. these "revelations" are the most childish twaddle that has been put before our race since the middle ages. they are the meanderings of imaginations on a level with that of a fifteen-year-old school-girl. one really begins to wonder if our generation is _not_ in a state of senile decay, when tens of thousands of us acclaim this sort of thing as an outcome of superhuman intelligence. it is on a level with the "happy hunting grounds" of the amerind. it is a dreamy parson's idea of the kind of world he would like to retire to, and continue to "do good" without getting tired. it is a flimsy, irresponsible, juvenile thing of paint and tinsel and gold-foil: the kind of transformation-scene in which we revelled, at the christmas pantomime, when we were young. our generation needs guidance if ever any generation of men did. another great war would wreck the planet. the social soil heaves with underground movements. the stars are hidden from view. and people come before us with this kind of insipid puerility, and tell us it is "the greatest message ever offered to man." seriously, what it is can be told in few words. it is partly a fresh attempt to bring our generation back to religion. it is partly an attempt to divert working people from the politics and economics of _this_ world. and it is partly a fresh outbreak of the unlimited credulity which every epidemic of spiritualism has developed since 1848. there was such a phase in the fifties of the nineteenth century, when spiritualism swept over the world. there was a second such phase in the seventies, when materializations began. this was checked by exposures everywhere in the early eighties, and not until our time has spiritualism partly recovered. now the vast and lamentable emotional disturbance of the war has given it a fresh opportunity, and for a time the flame of credulity has soared up again. to come back to the question which forms the title of this book, the reader may supply the answer, but i will venture to offer him a few summary reflections. we do well to distinguish two classes of phenomena. broadly, but by no means exactly, this is the distinction between psychical and physical phenomena. messages on slates or paper from the spirit-world i would class with the physical phenomena. we have seen that they reek with fraud, and there is no serious claim that any of them are genuine. the nearest we can get to a useful division is to set on one side a small class of mediums of high character who claim that, in trance and script, they are spirit-controlled. spiritualism is not based on these things. the thousands of enthusiastic spiritualists of great britain and america know nothing about the "ear of dionysius" and the "cross-correspondences" of the psychical researchers. their faith is solidly based on physical phenomena. they are taught by their leaders to base it on physical phenomena. sir a. c. doyle and sir w. barrett urge the levitations and other miracles of d. d. home and stainton moses and kathleen goligher. sir oliver lodge--who seems also to admit the preceding--asks us to consider seriously the performances of marthe beraud. sir w. crookes lets it be understood that to the day of his death he believed in "katie king" and the spirit-played accordion. professor richet, and all those other professors and scholars whose names are fondly quoted by spiritualists, rely entirely on physical phenomena. if you cut out all the physical-phenomena mediums of the nineteenth century, and all the ghost-photographs and "direct voices" of to-day, you have very little left. that is to say that spiritualism is generally based on fraud. does it matter? yes, it matters exceedingly. it matters more than it ever did before. the world is at a pass where it needs the clearest-headed attention and warmest interest of every man and woman in every civilization. fine sentiments, too, we want; but not a sentimentality that palsies the judgment. men never faced graver problems or had a greater opportunity. instead of distraction we want concentration on earth. instead of dreaminess we want a close appreciation of realities. there lies before our generation a period either of greater general prosperity than was ever known before, or a period of prolonged and devastating struggle. which it shall be depends on our wisdom. is there any need to settle whether we shall live after death? the spiritualist says that if we could convince men that their lot in that other world will be decided by their characters they will be more eager for justice, honour, and sobriety. but a man's position in _this_ world is settled by his character. justice, honour, and sobriety are laws of _this_ world. men would have perceived it long ago, and acted accordingly, but for the unfortunate belief that these qualities were arbitrarily commanded by supernatural powers. we need no other-worldly motives whatever for the cultivation of character. indeed, so far as i can see, the man who gambles and drinks is more likely to say to the spiritualist: "you tell me there is no vindictive hell for what i do here. you tell me there are no horses or fiery drinks in that other world. then i will drink and bet while the opportunity remains, and be sober and prudent afterwards." but the dead, the loved ones we have lost! must we forfeit this new hope that we may see them again? let us make no mistake. half the civilized world has already forfeited it. six million people in london never approach a church, and the vast majority of these believe no longer in heaven. so it is in the large towns of nearly every civilization. yet the number of spiritualists in the entire world is not one-tenth the number of "pagans" in london alone. and there is no weeping and gnashing of teeth. at the time of the wrench one suffers. slowly nature embalms the wound, as she already draws her green mantle over the hideous wounds of france and belgium. we learn serenity. life is a gift. every friend and dear one is a gift. it is not wise to complain that gifts do not last for ever. the finest sentiment you can bestow on the memory of the dead is to make the world better for the living. has your child been torn from you? in its memory try to make the world safer and happier for the myriads of children who remain. this earth is but a poor drab thing compared with what it could be made in a single generation. hotbeds of disease abound in our cities, and children fall in scandalous numbers in the heat of summer or perish in the blasts of winter. let the pain of loss drive us survivors into securing that losses shall be less frequent and less painful. do not listen to those who say that critics crush the voice of the heart in the name of reason. we want all the heart we can get in life, all the strength of emotion and devotion we can engender. but let it be expended on the plain, and plainly profitable, task of making this earth a summerland. do that, as your leisure and your powers permit, and, when the day is over, you will lie down with a smile, whether you are ever to awaken or are to sleep for ever. printed by watts and co., johnson's court, fleet st., london, e.c.4. mrs piper & the society for psychical research translated & slightly abridged from the french of m. sage by noralie robertson with a preface by sir oliver lodge scott-thaw co. new york 1904 publisher's note it is obvious that such a body of men, pledged to impartial investigation, as the society for psychical research could not officially stand sponsor to the speculative comments of m. sage, however admittedly clear-sighted and philosophical that french critic may be. but the publication of this translation has been actually desired and encouraged by many individuals in the society, it has been revised throughout by a member of their council, and it is introduced to the general reader by their president. the society, indeed, is prepared to accept m. sage's volume as a faithful and convenient _résumé_ of experiments conducted under its own auspices, and so far as it contains statements of fact, these statements are quoted from authoritative sources. for the comments, deductions or criticisms therein contained, the acute intellect of m. sage is alone responsible. it remains only to state in detail the principles on which the original text has been "slightly abridged" by the translator. no facts or comments have been left out that bear directly on the main subject of the book, the omissions are wholly of matters which might be regarded as superfluous for the understanding of the case of mrs piper. occasionally paragraphs have been condensed, a tendency to vague theorising has been checked throughout, and certain irrelevant matter has been altogether omitted. such omissions are confined, indeed, to single sentences or paragraphs, with only the exception of a somewhat technical discussion of the cartesian philosophy in chapter xvii. it had at first been intended to omit the whole of chapter xi., as containing only fanciful and non-evidential matter; but statements of this kind form an integral part of the communications, and so, on the whole, it was thought fairer to retain m. sage's chapter on the subject, especially as it may be found of popular interest. the original appendix has been incorporated, after modifications, in chapter xii., since the incident here discussed was in progress as m. sage wrote and has since been closed. his conjectures as to its possible development are naturally omitted. finally all references to the _proceedings_ (or printed reports) of the society itself have been carefully verified. in every case the words of the reports themselves are given in preference to any re-rendering of m. sage's translations. contents page preface by sir oliver lodge xi objects of the society xix chapter i 1 mrs piper's mediumship--is mediumship a neurosis? chapter ii 7 dr richard hodgson--description of the trance--mrs piper not a good hypnotic subject. chapter iii 13 early trances--careful first observations by professor william james of harvard university, massachusetts, u.s.a. chapter iv 20 the hypothesis of fraud--the hypothesis of muscle-reading--"influence." chapter v 27 a sitting with mrs piper--the hypothesis of thought-transference--incidents. chapter vi 39 phinuit--his probable origin--his character--what he says of himself--his french--his medical diagnosis--is he merely a secondary personality of mrs piper? chapter vii 52 miss hannah wild's letter--the first text given by phinuit--mrs blodgett's sitting--thought-reading explains the case. chapter viii 65 communications from persons having suffered in their mental faculties--unexpected communications from unknown persons--the respect due to the communicators--predictions--communications from children. chapter ix 77 further consideration of the difficulties of the problem--george pelham--development of the automatic writing. chapter x 87 how george pelham has proved his identity--he recognises his friends and alludes to their opinions--he recognises objects which have belonged to him--asks that certain things should be done for him--very rarely makes an erroneous statement. chapter xi 99 george pelham's philosophy--the nature of the soul--the first moments after death--life in the next world--george pelham contradicts stainton moses--space and time in the next world--how spirits see us--means of communication. chapter xii 117 william stainton moses--what george pelham thinks of him--how imperator and his assistants have replaced phinuit. chapter xiii 126 professor hyslop and the journalists--the so-called "confession" of mrs piper--precautions taken by professor hyslop during his experiments--impressions of the sittings. chapter xiv 134 the communications of mr robert hyslop--peculiar expressions--incidents. chapter xv 147 the "influence" again--other incidents--statistics. chapter xvi 154 examination of the telepathic hypothesis--some arguments which render its acceptance difficult. chapter xvii 161 some considerations which strongly support the spiritualistic hypothesis--consciousness and character remain unchanged--dramatic play--errors and confusions. chapter xviii 169 difficulties and objections--the identity of imperator--vision at a distance--triviality of the messages--spiritualist philosophy--life in the other world. chapter xix 176 the medium's return to normal life--speeches made while the medium seems to hover between the two worlds. chapter xx 182 encouraging results obtained--the problem must be solved. preface by the president of the society for psychical research _one of the facts which by general consent in the present stage of psychological science require study is the nature, and if possible the cause, of a special lucidity, a sensitiveness of perception, or accessibility to ideas appearing to arrive through channels other than usual organs of sense, which is sometimes met with among simple people[1] in a rudimentary form, and in a more developed form in certain exceptional individuals. this lucidity may perhaps be regarded as a modification or an exaggeration of the clearness of apprehension occasionally experienced by ordinary persons while immersed in a brown study, or while in the act of waking out of sleep, or when self-consciousness is for a time happily suspended._ _in men of genius the phenomenon occurs in the most dignified form at present known to us, and with them also it accompanies a lapse of ordinary consciousness, at least to the extent that circumstances of time and place and daily life become insignificant and trivial, or even temporarily non-existent; but the notable thing is that a few persons, not of genius at all, are liable to an access of something not altogether dissimilar, and exhibit a kind of lucidity or clairvoyant perceptivity, which, though doubtless of a lower grade, is of a well-defined and readily-investigated type, during that state of complete lapse of consciousness known to us as a specific variety of trance._ _not that all trance patients are lucid, any more than all brown studies result in brilliant ideas; nor should it be claimed that some measure of lucidity, even of the ultra-normal kind now under consideration, cannot exist without complete bodily trance. the phenomenon called "automatic writing" is an instance to the contrary,--when a hand liberated from ordinary conscious control is found, automatically as it were, to be writing sentences, sometimes beyond the knowledge of the person to whom the hand belongs. some approach to unconsciousness, however, either general or local, seems essential to the access of the state, and such conditions as ordinarily induce reverie or sleep are suitable for bringing it on; no one, for instance, would expect to experience it while urgently occupied in affairs. whether it is desirable to give way to so unpractical an attitude, and to encourage the influx of ideas through non-sensory channels, is another question which need not now concern us. it suffices for us that the phenomenon exists, and that it occasionally though very rarely takes on so well marked and persistent a form as to lend itself to experimental investigation. it is true that in these cases nothing of exceptional and world-compelling merit is produced; the substance of the communication is often, though not always, commonplace, and the form sometimes grotesque. it is true also that a complete record of a conversation held under these circumstances--perhaps a full record of a commonplace conversation held under any circumstances--readily lends itself to cheap ridicule; nevertheless, the evidence of intimate knowledge thus displayed becomes often of extreme interest to the few persons for whom the disjointed utterances have a personal meaning, although to the outsider they must appear dull, unless he is of opinion that they help him to interpret the more obscure workings of the human mind, or unless he thinks it possible that the nature and meaning of inspiration in general may become better understood by a study of this, its lowest, but at the same time its most definite and controllable, form. undoubtedly information is attainable under these conditions from sources unknown, undoubtedly the entranced or semi-conscious body or part of a body has become a vehicle or medium for ostensible messages from other intelligences, or for impersonations; but the cause of the lucidity so exhibited, the nature of the channel by which the information is obtained, and the source of the information itself, are questions which, although they are apt to be treated glibly by a superficial critic, to whom they appear the most salient feature and the easiest of explanation, are really the most difficult of all._ _it was to study such questions as this that a special society--the society for psychical research--was founded some twenty-two years ago._ _perhaps the most remarkable, and certainly the most thorough, of all the investigations made under the auspices of this society has been the case of the american lady, mrs piper; which, begun in 1887, has continued ever since, with only such intervals as were necessitated by the circumstances of the case. she was already known to the professor of psychology at harvard and to some other american savants, but she was brought to the notice of the leaders of the english society by dr richard hodgson, who has been for some years, and is still, acting as its representative in america, and secretary of its american branch. a complete record of the whole investigation has not yet been published, but large portions of it have appeared from time to time in the proceedings of the society._ _it is not to be supposed that the case is unique by any means; on the contrary, it may in some senses be regarded as typical, but its features are exceptionally well-marked, and the record has been more carefully and continuously kept than that of any other case. accordingly, some emphasis has been given to it, and a general vague notion concerning the case has diffused itself among educated persons beyond the limits of the society._ _and indeed it is one of really general interest, since the hypothesis of fraud is entirely inapplicable to it, and in the opinion of the most sceptical critics who have made an adequate study of the case, no explanation more commonplace than that of telepathy will bear examination. other critics--and these are they who have gone into the matter most thoroughly--find the hypothesis of telepathy to be insufficient, and hold that some further explanation is necessary. opinions differ as to what that further explanation may be, and so far as i know it has not been scientifically formulated as yet. to me it appears probable that no one explanation will fit all the facts, and that the subject is not yet ripe for theory. working hypotheses must be made, must be tested, and in all probability must be rejected, but our main duty at the present stage is the careful examination and record of facts. the working hypothesis most widely prevalent among the general public, whether for the purpose of scoffing or for a foundation of belief, is some crude form of the idea that the persistent intelligence of persons who have severed their connection with matter is willing, and occasionally even anxious, to take up temporarily the broken thread, and so to operate as to transmit, through any channel which may be open, to us who are still associated with planetary matter, messages which shall serve as a sign of their continued existence and affection; and that the biological organism or part of an organism of a living but unconscious or semi-conscious person is an instrument which may, though with difficulty, be utilised to that end._ _it is easy to express this hypothesis in such a way that it is repugnant to common sense. it may be possible hereafter to formulate it so that it shall correspond in some measure with the truth. but even though it should turn out that intelligences can exist apart from the surface of planets and the usual material concomitants, it by no means follows that they must all at some period have been incarnate on the earth. the recognition of modes of existence differing greatly from our own, if it can ever be properly effected, will have an illuminating bearing on many fundamental problems of life and death; but this is not the place to attempt to discuss such a question, even if the time were ripe for the discussion at all._ _the society for psychical research, though it has now for some time studied this among other questions, has arrived at no sort of agreement concerning it; the only fact on which its members are generally agreed is as to the reality of some kind of telepathy, an apparently direct influence between mind and mind; and telepathy is no doubt an important fact, but it by no means follows that it is a master-key capable of furnishing the solution of every variety of psychical problem. the chief work of the society has not been the construction of theories; it has accumulated and sifted a mass of evidence dealing with ultra-normal human faculty, it has published much material and criticism in its proceedings, has printed more in its private journal, and its members have written books. to these accessible sources of information students can be referred._ _but it is necessary to get some inkling of a subject before becoming a student of it--people have not time to read a tithe of what is printed; and inasmuch as many erroneous notions and misconceptions are prevalent, even among educated persons, concerning the method and motives of the society, as well as concerning its ascertained results, it occurred to the council that perhaps a more popular account of the outline of some of the facts, with abridged examples or illustrations of some of the details, might be of service in spreading the rudiments of a wider knowledge concerning at least one branch of a subject which must certainly be of interest to the human race when it is rightly apprehended._ _a popular statement was perhaps the more desirable since a number of insignificant bodies have recently sprung up, showing considerable energy in the business of advertisement, assuming colourable imitations of our society's designation, but having very different objects--unscientific always, sometimes frankly pecuniary--so that it was quite likely that a certain amount of confusion might occur._ _the idea of the council, in the first instance, was to have a short popular account or summary of the piper case specially written by one of their own members; but it was brought to their notice that a french writer had already issued a small book of a character not very different from that contemplated, and had steered his way cleverly through the intricacies of a subject bristling with difficulty below the surface and choked with detail throughout; so it was thought best to utilise the skilful work of the french writer, and simply see to it that a faithful translation was made, only introducing changes in the direction of still further abbreviation occasionally._ _this is the book for which i consented, though i admit with some misgivings, to write a preface when it was ready to appear; and now that i see it in its english dress i find my misgivings justified._ _the author speaks deprecatingly of his purpose in writing it, describing it as_ "un modeste ouvrage de vulgarisation," _and thereby disarms criticism, for, considered from this point of view, it is successful; but i must guard not only myself but all other members of the council of the s.p.r. from any endorsement of the sentiments and comments which m. sage scatters somewhat liberally through his pages. taken as they were intended in the original, they were not out of keeping; they seemed to harmonise with the general tone and formed part of a consistent artistic scheme. translated they appear less appropriate, but to omit them altogether would be to give the book a different character, and probably to spoil it. as it stands, it is readable, more readable than a profounder treatise would be. let it pass, therefore, as conveying to readers who have neither time nor inclination to enter upon a detailed study some conception of the most remarkable modern instance of the phenomenon to which i began by referring--a phenomenon of which a better, but by no means yet a complete or final, treatment can be studied in the work of mr myers called_ human personality and its survival of bodily death. _oliver lodge._ footnotes: [1] under the name "second sight," for instance. objects of the society the society for psychical research was founded at the beginning of 1882, for the purpose of making an organised and systematic attempt to investigate various sorts of debatable phenomena which are _primâ facie_ inexplicable on any generally recognised hypothesis. from the recorded testimony of many competent witnesses, past and present, including observations recently made by scientific men of eminence in various countries, there appeared to be, amidst much illusion and deception, an important body of facts to which this description would apply, and which therefore, if incontestably established, would be of the very highest interest. the task of examining such residual phenomena had often been undertaken by individual effort, but never hitherto by a scientific society organised on a sufficiently broad basis. the following are the principal departments of work which the society at present undertakes:- 1. an examination of the nature and extent of any influence which may be exerted by one mind upon another, otherwise than through the recognised sensory channels. 2. the study of hypnotism and mesmerism; and an inquiry into the alleged phenomena of clairvoyance. 3. a careful investigation of any reports, resting on testimony sufficiently strong and not too remote, of apparitions coinciding with some external event (as for instance a death) or giving information previously unknown to the percipient, or being seen by two or more persons independently of each other. 4. an inquiry into various alleged phenomena apparently inexplicable by known laws of nature, and commonly referred by spiritualists to the agency of extra-human intelligences. 5. the collection and collation of existing materials bearing on the history of these subjects. the aim of the society is to approach these various problems without prejudice or prepossession of any kind, and in the same spirit of exact and unimpassioned inquiry which has enabled science to solve so many problems, once not less obscure nor less hotly debated. the founders of the society have always fully recognised the exceptional difficulties which surround this branch of research; but they nevertheless believe that by patient and systematic effort some results of permanent value may be attained. investigating committees (with the exception of the committee for experiments) are not appointed by the council; but any group of members and associates may become an investigating committee; and every such committee will, it is hoped, appoint an honorary secretary, and through him report its proceedings to the council from time to time. the council, if it accepts a report so made for presentation to the society, will be prepared to consider favourably any application on the part of the committee for funds to assist in defraying the expenses of special experimental investigation. the council will also be glad to receive reports of investigation from individual members or associates, or from persons unconnected with the society.[2] any such report, or any other communication relating to the work of the society, should be addressed to miss alice johnson (as editor of the _proceedings_ and _journal_), 20 hanover square, london, w., or to j. g. piddington, esq., 87 sloane street, london, s.w.; or in america to dr richard hodgson, 5 boylston place, boston, mass. meetings of the society, for the reading and discussion of papers, are held periodically; and the papers then produced, with other matter, are, as a general rule, afterwards published in the _proceedings_. the proceedings of the society may be obtained directly from the secretary, 20 hanover square, london, w., or from the secretary of the american branch, or from any bookseller, through mr r. brimley johnson, 4 adam street, adelphi, london, w.c. a monthly journal (from october to july inclusive) is also issued to members and associates. the journal contains evidence freshly received in different branches of the inquiry, which is thus rendered available for consideration, and for discussion by correspondence, before selections from it are put forward in a more public manner. the council, in inviting the adhesion of members, think it desirable to quote a preliminary note, which appeared on the first page of the constitution of the original society, and which still holds good. "note.--to prevent misconception, it is here expressly stated that membership of the society does not imply the acceptance of any particular explanation of the phenomena investigated, nor any belief as to the operation, in the physical world, of forces other than those recognised by physical science." conditions of membership. the conditions of membership are thus defined in articles 11-18:- the society shall consist of: (_a_) _members_, who shall subscribe two guineas annually, or make a single payment of twenty guineas, (_b_) _associates_, who shall subscribe one guinea annually, or make a single payment of ten guineas. all members and associates of the society shall be elected by the council. every candidate for admission shall be required to give such references as shall be approved by the council, and shall be proposed in writing by two or more members or associates. all subscriptions shall become payable immediately upon election, and subsequently on the first day of january in each year. in the case of any member or associate elected on or after the 1st october, his subscription shall be accepted as for the next following year. article 22 provides that if any member or associate desire to resign, he shall give written notice thereof to the secretary. he shall, however, be liable for all subscriptions which shall then remain unpaid. ladies are eligible either as members or associates. privileges of membership. articles 19 and 20 provide that members and associates are eligible to any of the offices of the society, and are entitled to the free receipt both of the _proceedings_ and of the _journal_, to the use of library books in the society's rooms, and to attend all the general meetings of the society, to which they are also allowed to invite friends. they are further entitled to purchase the _proceedings_ of the society issued previous to their joining it,--and also additional copies of any part or volume,--at half their published price. members have the additional privileges of borrowing books from the library, and of voting in the election of the council, and at all meetings of the society. a contents sheet of the whole series of _proceedings_ may be had on application to the secretary, 20 hanover square, london, w. footnotes: [2] any reports or papers which may be printed in the _proceedings_ will become the society's property; but author or authors will be entitled to receive 50 copies of any such report or paper gratis, and additional copies, if required, at a small charge. mrs piper and the society for psychical research chapter i mrs piper's mediumship--is mediumship a neurosis? mrs piper is what the spiritualists call a _medium_, and what the english psychologists call an automatist, which is to say, a person who appears at times to lend her organism to beings imperceptible to our senses, in order to enable them to manifest themselves to us. i say that it appears to be thus, not that it is so. it is difficult for many reasons to admit the existence of these problematical beings. we shall deny it or remain sceptical till the day comes when the evidence proves too strong for us. mrs piper's mediumship is one of the most perfect which has ever been discovered. in any case, it is the one which has been the most perseveringly, lengthily and carefully studied by highly competent men. members of the society for psychical research have studied the phenomena presented by mrs piper during fifteen consecutive years. they have taken all the precautions necessitated by the strangeness of the case, the circumstances, and the surrounding scepticism; they have faced and minutely weighed all hypotheses. in future the most orthodox psychologists will be unable to ignore these phenomena when constructing their systems; they will be compelled to examine them and find an explanation for them, which their preconceived ideas will sometimes render it difficult to do. praise and warm gratitude are due to the men who have studied the case of mrs piper. but we owe no less to mrs piper, who has lent herself to the investigations with perfect good faith and pliability. none of those who have had any continued intercourse with her have a shadow of doubt of her sincerity. she has not taken the view that she was exercising a new kind of priesthood; she has understood that she was an interesting anomaly for science, and she has allowed science to study her. a vulgar soul would not have done this. her example, and also that of mlle. smith, of whom professor flournoy has lately written,[3] deserve to be followed. if the strange phenomena of mediumship have not yet been sufficiently studied by as many persons as could be wished, scientific men are chiefly to blame for the fact. many of them regard with disfavour facts which upset painfully-erected systems on which they have relied for years. but the mediums are also to blame, for their vanity is sometimes great, and their sincerity frequently doubtful. mrs piper is american. her husband is employed in a large shop in boston. although of a home-loving disposition, mrs piper has travelled; she has several times consented to leave her ordinary surroundings in order to prevent all suspicion of fraud; she has given sittings in new york and other places, and has paid a three months' visit to england. her education does not appear to have been carried very far. she has doubtless read much, like all american women, but without method, and probably very superficially. her language is commonplace, sometimes even trivial, but the records do not give me the impression that she is really trivial-minded; language may be trivial when ideas are not. on the whole, mrs piper's personality is attractive. the point which naturally interests the man of science, and particularly the doctor, is the state of health and the morbid heredity of mrs piper. we have very insufficient information about these. i can find no circumstantial report on this important matter anywhere. mrs piper was rather seriously ill in 1890; a doctor attended her for several consecutive months; this gentleman was also present at a sitting she gave on the 4th december of this same year, 1890. it is evident that he was in a position to study mrs piper closely. dr hodgson asked him for a report, which would have been appended to the other documents. but this doctor had the wisdom of the serpent. he promised, but changed his mind, and absolutely refused to furnish any report whatever. dr hodgson asked the subject a series of questions with the object of ascertaining the state of health of her immediate ancestors, particularly from the neuropathic point of view. she belongs to a family which appears to have been very healthy and not in any way subject to nervous maladies. mrs piper's own general state of health is even more interesting to our inquiry than that of her ancestors, since most doctors persist in seeing in mediumship a neurosis, sister or cousin to hysteria or epilepsy. it is undeniable that many mediums present some physiological peculiarity or other. eusapia paladino, for example, has a depression of the left parietal bone. but, on the other hand, mlle. smith of geneva, who has been studied by professor flournoy, seems to enjoy health as good as anybody's--even flourishing health. perhaps, if a thorough search were made, some defect might be discovered, but the person who should not betray some inherited peculiarity probably could not be found. as far as mrs piper is concerned, she seems to have enjoyed irreproachable health till towards 1882 or 1883. the exact date is not stated. about that time she suffered from a tumour, caused by a blow from a sledge, and she feared cancer. this illness brought about the discovery of her mediumship. up to this time absolutely nothing abnormal had occurred to her. her husband's parents had had, in 1884, a sitting with a medium which had much impressed them. they frequently advised their daughter-in-law to take the advice of some medium who gave medical consultations. to please them, she went to a blind medium named j. r. cocke, and there she had her first loss of consciousness or "trance." but we shall return to this. it is to be concluded that the prescription of the medium had no more influence on the disease than those of ordinary doctors, for this tumour continued to make mrs piper's health rather precarious for a long time. she only decided in 1893 to undergo a surgical operation--laparotomy. no complications resulted from it, and her convalescence was rapid. however, in 1895, the after-effect of this operation was a serious hernia, which necessitated a second operation in february 1896. she only recovered thoroughly in october of the same year. many persons will be disposed to believe that mrs piper's tumour is the explanation of her mediumship, particularly as the mediumship only appeared after the tumour. it is rather difficult to prove them wrong. there is, however, a fact which seems to indicate that they would be mistaken. when mrs piper is ill, her mediumship decreases or becomes less lucid; she only furnishes incoherent, fragmentary, or quite false communications. the syncope or "trance," which is easy when she is well, becomes difficult or even impossible when she is ill. her health has been good since her last operation, the syncopes are easy, and the communications obtained in this state have acquired a degree of coherence and plausibility which was previously wanting. if, then, mrs piper's mediumship was the result of illness, it is strange that her recovery should have favoured the development and perfecting of this same mediumship. there appears to be a contradiction here. i am not competent regarding the question, but, on examining the facts, i can hardly believe that mediumship is a mere neurosis. after all, are there not famous men of science who declare that genius itself is only a neurosis? in their eyes the bandit is only a sick man; but the genius also is only a sick man. if it is true that the best and worst in humanity are only opposite faces of the same medal, we should be tempted to think mankind even more pitiable than we have hitherto believed. footnotes: [3] _des indes à la planète mars; étude sur un cas de somnambulisme_, by th. flournoy. pub. alcan, paris. chapter ii dr richard hodgson--description of the trance--mrs piper not a good hypnotic subject. before proceeding further, i must ask my readers' permission to introduce dr hodgson, the man who has studied mrs piper's case with the greatest care and with the most perseverance. dr richard hodgson went to america expressly to observe this medium, and during some fifteen years he has, so to say, hardly lost sight of her for a moment. all the persons who have had sittings for a long time past have passed through his hands; he introduces them by assumed names, and takes all possible precautions that mrs piper, in her normal state, shall not obtain any information about them. these precautions are now superfluous. mrs piper has never had recourse to fraud, and everyone is thoroughly convinced of the fact. but the slightest relaxation of supervision would lay the most decisive experiments open to suspicion. dr hodgson is one of the earliest workers for the society for psychical research. he has been a terrible enemy to fraud all his life. at the time of the formation of the society, mme. blavatsky, foundress of the theosophical society, was making herself much talked about. the most extraordinary phenomena were supposed to have occurred at the theosophical society's headquarters in india. dr hodgson was sent there to study them impartially. he quickly made the discovery that the whole affair was charlatanry and sleight-of-hand. on his return to england he wrote a report--which has not killed theosophy, because even new-born religions have strong vitality--but which has discredited this doctrine for ever in the eyes of thoughtful people. after this master stroke, dr hodgson continued to hunt down fraudulent mediums. he learned all their tricks, and acquired a conjurer's skill. it was he again who discovered the unconscious[4] frauds of eusapia paladino during the sittings which this italian medium gave at cambridge. when such a man, after long study of mrs piper's phenomena, affirms their validity, we may believe him. he is not credulous, nor an enthusiast, nor a mystic. i have written of him somewhat at length, because, by force of circumstances, his name will often appear in these pages. to return to mrs piper and the phenomena which specially interest us. mrs piper falls into trance spontaneously, without the intervention of any magnetiser. i shall explain later, at length, what must be understood by "trance." professor charles richet was one of the persons who had a sitting with our medium while she was staying at cambridge. he describes the trance in these terms:-"she is obliged to hold someone's hand in order to go into a trance. she holds the hand several minutes, silently, in half-darkness. after some time--from five to fifteen minutes--she is seized with slight spasmodic convulsions, which increase, and terminate in a very slight epileptiform attack. passing out of this, she falls into a state of stupor, with somewhat stertorous breathing; this lasts about a minute or two; then, all at once, she comes out of the stupor with a burst of words. her voice is changed; she is no longer mrs piper, but another personage, dr phinuit, who speaks in a loud, masculine voice in a mingling of negro patois, french, and american dialect." sir oliver lodge, f.r.s., well-known among english men of science, and at the time professor of physics at liverpool, describes the opening of the trance in very nearly the same words as professor richet in the remarkable report which he published in 1890 on the sittings he had with mrs piper. he also notices the slight epileptiform attack, although he adds that he is not "pretending to speak medically."[5] the phinuit personality, of which professor richet speaks in the passage above quoted, is what the spiritualists call a "control." by "control" is meant the mysterious being who is supposed to have temporarily taken possession of the organism of the medium. are these controls only secondary personalities, or are they, as they themselves declare, disincarnated human spirits, spirits of dead men who come back to communicate with us by using an entranced organism as a machine? in either case they must have a name. phinuit has been one of mrs piper's principal controls, but he is far from having been the only one. on the contrary, they have been legion, and, what is strange, these controls appear to be personalities as distinct from each other as possible, each with his own style of language, his belief, his opinions, his tricks of speech or manner. mrs piper's trance has changed its aspect a little with the development and perfecting of her mediumship. formerly the controls communicated only by using her voice; then some of them began to write. in some of the sittings one personality communicated through the voice, while another, entirely different, and speaking of utterly different matters, communicated simultaneously in writing. for some years now the controls have only communicated in writing, and have used the right hand only. the right arm of the medium is in lively movement, while the rest of her body lies inert, leaning forward upon cushions. in a long report which has just appeared,[6] mr james hyslop, professor of logic and ethics at the university of columbia, in the state of new york, describes the beginning of the trance in detail as it now takes place. at the first sitting he had with mrs piper he seated himself more than a yard from her, in a position which enabled him to observe attentively all that happened. the medium remained quietly seated in an armchair for three or four minutes. then her head shook and her right eyebrow twitched; all this time she was trimming her nails. she then leant forward on the cushions which had been placed on the table for her head to rest upon, and closed and rubbed her eyes; her face was slightly congested for some instants. she opened her eyes again, and the ocular globes were visible, slightly upturned; she blew her nose, and began to attend to her nails again. her gaze became slightly fixed. her face once more changed; the redness disappeared, and she grew slightly pale. the muscles relaxed, the mouth was a little drawn on one side, and the stare became more fixed. finally her mouth opened and the trance came on gently, like a fainting fit, without struggle. then dr hodgson arranged her head on the cushions with her right cheek on her left hand, so that her face was turned to the left, and she was unable to see her right hand, which soon began to write automatically. during the trance the sensibility of mrs piper's organism to exterior excitation is much blunted. if her arm is pricked, even severely, it is withdrawn but slowly; if a bottle of ammonia is put to her nostrils, and care is taken that it is inhaled, her head does not betray sensation by the least movement. one day, if i am not mistaken, dr hodgson put a lighted match to her arm, and asked phinuit if he felt it.[7] "yes," replied phinuit, "but not much, you know. what is it? something cold, isn't it?" these and numerous other experiments show that if sensibility is not abolished, it is at least very much blunted. it might be concluded from the above that mrs piper would be an excellent hypnotic subject. she is nothing of the kind. without being precisely refractory to hypnotism, she is only an indifferently good hypnotic subject. professor william james of harvard has made experiments to elucidate this point. his two first attempts to hypnotise mrs piper were entirely fruitless. between the second and third, professor william james asked phinuit, during a mediumistic trance, to be kind enough to help him to make the subject hypnotisable. phinuit promised; in fact, he always promises all that is asked. at the third attempt mrs piper fell slightly asleep, but only at the fifth sitting was there a real hypnotic sleep, accompanied by the usual automatic and muscular phenomena. but it was impossible to obtain anything more. hypnosis and trance, in mrs piper, have no points of resemblance. in the trance, muscular mobility is extreme. in hypnosis, just the contrary is the case. if she is ordered during hypnosis to remember what she has said or done, she remembers. during the trance, the control has more than once been asked to arrange that mrs piper should recall, on waking, what she had said; but this has never succeeded. during the mediumistic trance she seems to read the deepest recesses of the souls of those present like a book. during hypnosis there is no trace of this thought-reading. in short, the mediumistic trance and the hypnotic sleep are not one and the same thing. whatever may be the real nature of the difference, this difference is so great that it strikes the least attentive observer at once. footnotes: [4] in the opinion of the chief witnesses of the cambridge sittings the frauds of eusapia paladino were not unconscious. mr myers said, in the report to the society immediately after the sittings:--"i cannot doubt that we observed much conscious and deliberate fraud, of a kind which must have needed long practice to bring it to its present level of skill."--_journal of society for psychical research_ for 1895, p. 133, _trans._ [5] _proc. of the s.p.r._, vol. vi. p. 444. [6] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xvi. [7] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. viii. p. 5. chapter iii early trances--careful first observations by professor william james of harvard university, massachusetts, u.s.a. i have already explained on what occasion mrs piper had her first trance. suffering from a traumatic tumour, she had gone to ask advice of a blind medium named cocke. this medium gave medical consultations, but he also asserted that he had the power of developing latent mediumship. at this first sitting mrs piper felt very strange thrills, and thought she was going to faint. at the following sitting mr cocke put his hands on her head. she felt at once that she was on the point of losing consciousness. she saw a flood of light, as well as unrecognised human faces, and a hand which fluttered before her face. she does not remember what happened afterwards. but when she woke she was told that a young indian girl named _chlorine_ had manifested through her organism, and had given a remarkable proof of survival after death to a person who happened to be present. mrs piper was therefore really a medium. her personal friends immediately began to arrange sittings with her. little by little strangers were admitted to this private circle. various self-styled spirits communicated by her means in the earlier days. phinuit, who later took almost sole possession of mrs piper's organism, was far from being alone at first; his place was disputed. the first controls, if they themselves are to be believed, were the actress mrs siddons, the musician john sebastian bach, the poet longfellow, commodore vanderbilt the multi-millionaire, and a young italian girl named loretta ponchini. at the outset dr phinuit, when he appeared, confined himself to diagnosing and giving medical advice. he thought everything else beneath him. at last, one evening, john sebastian bach announced that he and all his companions were about to concentrate their power on dr phinuit, and make him the principal control. naturally we do not know what they did, but it is certain that from that time dr phinuit became so much the principal control that he had almost sole possession of mrs piper's organism for years. as we shall see, he ceased to confine himself to giving medical consultations. he willingly replied to all questions addressed to him, and he even talked readily on all sorts of subjects without being questioned at all. the first person of educated intelligence who had an opportunity to examine and study, although somewhat summarily, mrs piper's trance phenomena, was professor william james of harvard university. in 1886 he made a brief report of them, which he published in the _proceedings of the american society for psychical research_. professor james did not at first recognise all the importance of the piper case. no shorthand report of the sittings was made, and he did not even take complete notes. however, he assured himself that fraud had nothing to do with the phenomena, but without taking all the minute precautions which others have since taken. he satisfied himself that here was an interesting mystery, and says so in his report, but he left the charge of looking for the key to others. but i shall give an account of the sittings of professor james, in the first place because it would be improper to neglect even the superficial studies of a man of such eminence, and secondly, because they will give my readers a clear idea of the phenomena.[8] professor james made mrs piper's acquaintance in the autumn of 1885 in the following way. his mother-in-law, mrs gibbens, had heard a friend speak of mrs piper, and as she had never seen a medium, she asked for a sitting out of curiosity. mrs gibbens, who went sceptical, returned rather impressed. she had heard a number of private details which she believed were unknown outside her family. on the day following professor james's sister-in-law went in her turn to see mrs piper, and obtained even better results than her mother. for example, the inquirer had placed a letter in italian on the medium's forehead. it must be observed that mrs piper is entirely ignorant of that language. nevertheless, phinuit gave a number of perfectly correct details about the writer of the letter. the mystery became interesting, as the young italian who had written it was only known to two people in the whole united states. later on, at other sittings, phinuit gave the exact name of this young man, which he had been unable to do at first. professor james's attitude when these facts were related to him can be imagined. he did what most of us do, or have done. he played the _esprit fort_, joked his relatives about their credulity, and thought that women were decidedly deficient in critical spirit. his curiosity was none the less awakened. some days after, in the company of his wife, and having taken all possible precautions that mrs piper should not know his name or intentions beforehand, he went and asked her for a sitting. intimate details, principally about mrs james's family, were repeated. others even more circumstantial were given. what was the least easily obtained was just what could have been learned with the greatest facility if mrs piper had acquired these details fraudulently or by normal means, namely, proper names. professor james was the first to notice a fact which a large number of observers have since remarked. the impression that the names are shouted to phinuit by a spirit is unavoidable. phinuit, who is to transmit them, hears imperfectly, doubtless on account of his position, which all the controls describe as very uncomfortable and painful--the organism of the medium seems to plunge the controls into a semi-somnolence. thus phinuit mangles the names he repeats. it appears that the communicating spirit is conscious of this and corrects. phinuit repeats the name thus several times, and very often only succeeds in giving it exactly after several attempts. it even sometimes happens that a name cannot be given all at a sitting, but then it is generally given at a subsequent one. thus, at this first sitting of professor james, the name of his father-in-law, _gibbens_, was first given as _niblin_, and then as _giblin_. professor james had lost a child a year before. he was mentioned, and his name, _herman_, was given as _herrin_. but the details which accompanied the enunciation of the name prevented mistake, on the part of the sitters, about the person intended. professor james brought away from this first sitting the conclusion that unless mrs piper, by some chance inexplicable to him, knew his own and his wife's families intimately, she must be possessed of supernormal powers. in short, his first scepticism was shaken, and he had twelve further sittings with mrs piper in the course of the winter. moreover, he obtained circumstantial details from relatives and friends who likewise had sittings. the following are some examples of phinuit's clairvoyance.[9] professor james's mother-in-law had, on her return from europe, lost her bank-book. at a sitting held soon afterwards phinuit was asked if he could help her to find it. he told her exactly where it was, and there it was found. at another sitting, phinuit said to professor james, who this time was not accompanied by mrs james, "your child has a boy named robert f. as a playfellow in our world." the fs. were cousins of mrs james, who lived in a distant town. on returning home professor james said to his wife, "your cousins the fs. have lost a child, haven't they? but phinuit made a mistake about the sex; he said it was a boy." mrs james confirmed the perfect exactness of phinuit's information; her husband had been wrong. at the second sitting which mrs gibbens had she was told among other things that one of her daughters, mentioned by name, had at the time a bad pain in her back, to which she was by no means subject. the detail was found to be exact. on another occasion phinuit announced to mrs james and her brother, before the arrival of any telegram, the death of their aunt, which had just occurred in new york. it is true that this death was momentarily expected. at another sitting phinuit said to professor james, "you have just killed a grey and white cat with ether. the wretched animal spun round and round a long time before dying." this was quite true. phinuit, again, told mrs james that her aunt in new york, the one whose death he had announced, had written her a letter warning her against all kinds of mediums. and he sketched the old lady's character, not very respectfully, in a most amusing way. i quote these examples to give an idea of the kind of information furnished by mrs piper's controls. but it must not be believed that this is all. the controls do not need to be entreated to speak. phinuit is particularly loquacious, and he often talks for an hour on end. his remarks are frequently incoherent, and often also obviously false. but, at the very least, in the good sittings, truthfulness and exactitude much preponderate, whatever may be the source from which phinuit obtains his facts; whether he gets them from disincarnated spirits, as he asserts; whether he reads them in the consciousness or sub-consciousness of the sitter, or whether they are furnished him by what he calls the "influence" which the persons to whom the objects presented to him belonged have left upon them. i have forgotten to say that phinuit asks to have brought to him objects of some sort which have belonged to the persons about whom he is consulted. he feels the objects, and says at once, "i feel the influence of such-a-one; he is dead or he is alive; such a thing has happened to him." detail follows on detail, for the most part exact. as i have already said when speaking of professor james, phinuit showed intimate knowledge of mrs james's family. now, there were no members of the family in the neighbourhood; some were dead, others in california, and others in the state of maine. what i have said will suffice to give the reader a first idea of the general features of the phenomena. i shall be able in future, while reporting the facts, to examine as i proceed the hypotheses which they suggest. footnotes: [8] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. vi. p. 651. [9] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. vi. p. 657. chapter iv the hypothesis of fraud--the hypothesis of muscle reading--"influence." when phenomena of this nature are related, the first hypothesis that occurs to the reader's mind is that of fraud. the medium is an impostor. his trick may be ingenious and carefully dissimulated, but it is certainly merely a trick. therefore, in order to pursue these studies with any good results, this hypothesis must be disposed of once for all. now this is not easy. most men are so made that they have a high opinion of their own perspicuity, but a very unfavourable one generally of that of other men. they always believe that if they had been there they could have quickly discovered the imposture. consequently, no precaution must be omitted; all safeguards must be employed, and it will be seen that the observers of mrs piper's phenomena have not neglected to do this. professor james concealed the identity of as many as he could of the sitters whom he introduced to mrs piper. personally, he was soon convinced that fraud had nothing to do with the phenomena. but the point was to convince others. it occured to a member of the society for psychical research that it would be a good plan to cause mrs piper to be followed by detectives when she went out, and not only herself, but all the other members of her family. a singular idea, in my opinion. however, if detectives had not been employed, many people would even to-day believe that it would be possible to clear up the piper mystery in a very short time, in the most natural way in the world. this is why dr hodgson, on his arrival in america, set detectives on the tracks of mr and mrs piper. absolutely nothing was discovered; mr and mrs piper asked nobody indiscreet questions, made no suspicious journeys, did not visit cemeteries to read the names on graves. finally, mrs piper, whose correspondence is at all times limited, received no letters from intelligence agencies. later on, the method taken to make sure of her good faith was revealed to mrs piper. she was not at all offended; on the contrary, she saw how absolutely legitimate was the precaution. this is another proof of her uprightness and intelligence. again, the idea that mrs piper could obtain the information she gives by means of inquiries made abroad is _à priori_ absurd to anyone who has studied the phenomena with any care. her sitters, whom she received under assumed names, to the number of several hundreds, came from all points of the united states, from england, and even from other parts of europe. the greater number passed through the hands of professor james and dr hodgson, and all necessary precautions were taken that mrs piper should see them for the first time only a few moments before the commencement of the trance. indeed, they were often only introduced after the trance had begun. these precautions have never injured the results. the sittings, at least those which were not spoilt by the medium's state of health, have always been marked by a large number of perfectly accurate details. if mrs piper obtained the information through spies in her employment, these spies would be obliged to send her private details about all the families in the united states and europe, since she hardly ever knows to whom she will give a sitting the next day. dr hodgson arranges for her. formerly professor james did this, at least in a large number of cases. now the scientific honesty of dr hodgson or professor james (i mention this only for foreign readers who may not be acquainted with the reputation of these two gentlemen) can no more be suspected than that of a charcot, a berthelot, or a pasteur. then, what interest could they have in deceiving us? these experiments had cost them considerable sums, not to speak of time and trouble; they have never profited by them. again, mrs piper is without fortune. she would not have the means to pay such a police as she would need. she is paid for her sittings, it is true; she gains about two hundred pounds a year, but such a police service would cost her thousands. but there was an excellent way of putting the hypothesis of fraud out of question; it was to take mrs piper out of her habitual environment, to a country where she knew nobody. this was done. certain members of the society for psychical research invited her to england, to give sittings in their houses. she consented without any difficulty. she arrived in england on 19th november 1889, _on_ the cunard company's steamer _scythia_. frederic myers, whose recent loss is deplored by psychology, should have gone to the docks and have taken her to his house at cambridge. but at the last moment he was called to edinburgh, and asked his friend, professor oliver lodge, of whom we have already spoken, to receive mrs piper in his stead. professor lodge installed her in an hotel with her two little girls who came with her. the same evening mr myers arrived, and took her to his house next day. experiments at cambridge began at once. this is what mr myers says about them:--[10] "i am convinced that mrs piper, on her arrival in england, brought with her a very slender knowledge of english affairs or english people. the servant who attended on her and on her two young children was chosen by myself, and was a young woman from a country village whom i had full reason to believe both trustworthy and also quite ignorant of my own or my friends' affairs. for the most part i had myself not determined upon the persons whom i would invite to sit with her. i chose these sitters in great measure by chance; several of them were not resident in cambridge, and except in one or two cases, where anonymity would have been hard to preserve, i brought them to her under false names, sometimes introducing them only when the trance had already begun." professor oliver lodge in his turn invited mrs piper to come and give sittings at his home in liverpool. she went, and remained from 18th december to 27th december 1889. during this time she gave at least two sittings a day, which fatigued her much. professor lodge gave up for the time all other work to study her. he enumerates at length all the precautions he took to prevent fraud. he also declares that mrs piper, who was perfectly aware of the watch kept upon her, never showed the least displeasure, and thought it quite natural. he wondered whether, by chance, she might not have among her luggage some book containing biographies of men of the day, and asked permission to look through her trunks. she consented with the best possible grace. but professor lodge found nothing suspicious. mrs piper also handed over to be read the greater number of the letters she received; they were not numerous; about three a week. the servants in the house were all new; they knew nothing of the family's private affairs, and thus could not inform the medium about them. besides, mrs piper never tried to question them. mrs lodge, who was very sceptical at first, kept guard over her own speech, so as not to give any scraps of information. the family bible (on the first pages of which, according to custom, memorable events are recorded) and the photographic albums were locked away. professor lodge, like the others, presented most of his sitters under false names. finally, he affirms that mrs piper's attitude never justified the least suspicion; she was dignified, reserved, and not in any way indiscreet. in short, during the fifteen years the experiments have continued, all the suggestions made by sceptical and sometimes violent objectors have been kept in view, that the fraud might be discovered, if fraud there were. all has been in vain. the explanation of the phenomena must consequently be sought elsewhere. as for the trance itself, all those who have seen it agree in saying that it is genuine and in no way feigned. the hypothesis of fraud being disposed of, recourse has been had to another, which it has also become necessary to abandon--that of the reading of muscular movements. it appears that the thought-readers who exhibit themselves on the platform accomplish their wonderful feats by interpreting, with remarkable intelligence, sharpened by long practice, the unconscious movements of the persons whose wrists they are holding. now it is true that formerly mrs piper became entranced while holding both hands, or at least one hand, of the sitter. she kept their hands in hers during most of the trance. but professor lodge says this was far from being always the case. she often dropped the sitter's hands and lost contact with them for half an hour at a time. phinuit, or some other control, nevertheless continued to furnish exact information. shall we say that while he was holding hands he had laid in a provision of knowledge for the whole half-hour? seriously we cannot. but as this objection had often been made, the sitters endeavoured to avoid contact with the medium. for a long time mrs piper has fallen into the trance without holding anyone's hand. her whole body reposes, plunged in a deep sleep, except the right hand, which writes with giddy rapidity and only rarely endeavours to touch the persons present. professor hyslop, in the report which has just appeared,[11] affirms that he avoided the slightest contact with the medium with all possible care, and yet we shall see farther on how exact were the facts he obtained, since he believes that he has established the identity of his dead father without the possibility of a doubt. therefore the hypothesis of thought-reading by means of muscular indications must also be put aside. finally, phinuit affirms that the objects presented to him, and which he touches, furnish him with information about their former possessors, thanks to the "influence" such persons have left on the articles; and in a multitude of cases we should be almost forced to admit that it may be so. but here we are already plunged into depths of mystery. what can this "influence" be? we know nothing about it. must we believe in it? must we believe phinuit when he says that he obtains his information sometimes from the "influence" left upon the objects, sometimes directly from the mouths of the disembodied spirits? before reaching that point, other hypotheses must be examined. footnotes: [10] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. vi. p. 438. [11] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xvi. chapter v a sitting with mrs piper--the hypothesis of thought-transference--incidents. the reader may not be displeased to have a specimen of these strange conversations between human beings and the invisible beings, who assert that they are the disincarnated spirits of those who day by day quit this world of woe. it will not be difficult to give the reader a specimen of them. at least one half of the fourteen or fifteen hundred pages dedicated to the piper case in the _proceedings of the society for psychical research_ are composed of reports of sittings, either taken down in shorthand or given in great detail. in some of these reports even the most insignificant exclamations of those present are noted. i have chosen the 47th of the sittings which took place in england, not because it is peculiarly interesting, but because professor lodge's published report of it is not too long, and i have no room for more extended developments. the account of this sitting will perhaps disappoint some readers. "what!" they will say, "is that all that spirits who return from the other world have to say to us? they talk as we do. they speak of the same things. they are not spirits." this conclusion would perhaps be too hasty. i do not assert that they are spirits or that they return from another world. i know nothing about it. but if this other world existed we should expect that there would not be an abyss between it and our own. nature makes no leaps. that is surely a true principle in, and for, all worlds. we have a means, although an imperfect one, of endeavouring to discover if the communicators are really returning spirits. it is to ask them to prove their identity by relating as large a number of facts as possible concerning their life upon earth. the investigators of the piper case have for fifteen years devoted themselves to this task, apparently easy, in reality difficult and ungrateful. in the earlier experiments in the piper case the conversation almost always takes place between the sitters and dr phinuit. dr phinuit does not willingly give up his post, though he does so sometimes. when he is giving information which he says he has received from other spirits he sometimes talks in the third person; sometimes, on the contrary, he reports word for word in the first person. this detail must not be forgotten in reading the reports. the following is a report of the 47th sitting in england. the sitters are professor oliver lodge and his brother alfred lodge. the latter takes notes. the phrases between parentheses are remarks made by professor lodge after the sitting.[12] phinuit.--"captain,[13] do you know that as i came[14] i met the medium going out, and she's crying. why is that?" o. l.--"well, the fact is she's separated from her children for a few days and she is feeling rather low about it." phinuit.--"how are you, alfred? i've your mother's influence strong. (pause.) by george! that's aunt anne's ring (feeling ring i had put on my hand just before sitting) given over to you. and olly dear,[15] that's one of the last things i ever gave you. it was one of the last things i said to you in the body when i gave it you for mary. i said, 'for her, through you.'" [this is precisely accurate.] o. l.--"yes, i remember perfectly." phinuit.--"i tell you i know it, i shall never forget it. keep it in memory of me, for i am not dead. each spirit is not so dim (?) that it cannot recollect its belongings in the body. they attract us if there has been anything special about them. i tell you, my boy, i can see it just as plain as if i were in the body. it was the last thing i gave you, for her, through you, always in remembrance of me." (further conversation and advice ending, "convince yourself,[16] and let others do the same. we are all liable to mistakes, but you can see for yourself. there's a gentleman wants to speak to you.") mr e.[17]--"lodge, how are you? i tell you i'm living, not dead. that's me. you know me, don't you?" o. l.--"yes, delighted to see you again." mr e.--"don't give it up,[18] lodge. cling to it. it's the best thing you have. it's coarse in the beginning, but it can be ground down fine. you'll know best and correct (?). it can only come through a trance. you have to put her in a trance. you've got to do it that way to make yourself known." o. l.--"is it bad for the medium?" mr e.--"it's the only way, lodge. in one sense it's bad, but in another it's good. it's her work. if i take possession of the medium's body and she goes out, then i can use her organism to tell the world important truths. there is an infinite power above us. lodge, believe it fully. infinite over all, most marvellous. one can tell a medium, she's like a ball of light. you look as dark and material as possible, but we find two or three lights shining. it's like a series of rooms with candles at one end. must use analogy to express it. when you need a light you use it, when you have finished you put it out. they are like transparent windows to see through. lodge, it's a puzzle. it's a puzzle to us here in a way, though we understand it better than you. i work at it hard. i do. i'd give anything i possess to find out. i don't care for material things now, our interest is much greater. i'm studying hard how to communicate; it's not easy. but it's only a matter of a short time before i shall be able to tell the world all sorts of things through one medium or another. [and so on for some time.] lodge, keep up your courage, there's a quantity to hope for yet. hold it up for a time. don't be in a hurry. get facts; no matter what they call you, go on investigating. test to fullest. assure yourself, then publish. it will be all right in the end--no question about it. it's true." o. l.--"you have seen my uncle jerry, haven't you?"[19] mr e.--"yes, i met him a little while ago--a very clever man--had an interesting talk with him." o. l.--"what sort of person is this dr phinuit?" mr e.--"dr phinuit is a peculiar type of man. he goes about continually, and is thrown in with everybody. he is eccentric and quaint, but good-hearted. i wouldn't do the things he does for anything. he lowers himself sometimes--it's a great pity. he has very curious ideas about things and people; he receives a great deal about people from themselves (?), and he gets expressions and phrases that one doesn't care for--vulgar phrases he picks up by meeting uncanny people through the medium. these things tickle him, and he goes about repeating them. he has to interview a great number of people, and has no easy berth of it. a high type of man couldn't do the work he does. but he is a good-hearted old fellow. good-bye, lodge! here's the doctor coming." o. l.--"good-bye, e.! glad to have had a chat with you." [_doctors voice reappears._][20] phinuit.--"this [ring] belongs to your aunt. your uncle jerry tells me to ask.... by the way, do you know mr e.'s been here; did you hear him?" o. l.--"yes, i've had a long talk with him." phinuit.--"wants you to ask uncle bob about his cane. he whittled it out himself. it has a crooked handle with ivory on the top. bob has it, and has cut initials in it." [there is a stick, but description inaccurate.] "he has the skin also, and the ring. and he remembers bob killing the cat and tying its tail to the fence to see him kick before he died. he and bob and a lot of the fellows all together in smith's field, i think he said. bob knew smith. and the way they played tit-tat-too on the window pane on all hallows' eve, and they got caught that night too." (at barking, where my uncles lived as children, there is a field called smith's field, but my uncle does not remember the cat incident.) "aunt anne wants to know about her sealskin cloak. who was it went to finland, or norway?" o. l.--"don't know." phinuit.--"do you know mr clark--a tall, dark man, in the body?"[21] o. l.--"i think so." phinuit.--"his brother wants to send his love to him. your uncle jerry, do you know, has been talking to mr e. they have become very friendly. e. has been explaining things to him. uncle jerry says he will tell all the facts, and all about families near, and so on, that he can recall. he says if you will remember all this and tell his brother, he will know. if he doesn't fully understand he must come and see me himself, and i will tell him. how's mary?"[22] o. l.--"middling; not very well." phinuit.--"glad she's going away." [she was, to the continent; but mrs piper knew it.] "william[23] is glad. his wife used to be very distressed about him. you remember his big chair where he used to sit and think?" o. l.--"yes, very well." phinuit.--"he often goes and sits there now.[24] takes it easy, he says. he used to sit opposite a window sometimes with his head in his hands, and think and think and think." (this was at his office.) "he has grown younger in looks, and much happier. it was alec that fell through a hole in the boat, alexander marshall, her first father."[25] (correct, as before.) "where's thompson? the one that lost the purse?" o. l.--"yes, i know." phinuit.--"well, i met his brother, and he sent love to all--to sister fanny, he told me especially. he tried to say it just as he was going out, but had no time--was too weak." o. l.--"oh, yes, we just heard him." phinuit.--"oh, you did? that's all right. she's an angel; he has seen her to-day. tell ike i'm very grateful to him. tell ike the girls will come out all right. ted's mother and.... and how's susie? give susie my love." o. l.--"i couldn't find that mr stevenson you gave me a message to. what's his name?" phinuit.--"what! little minnie stevenson? don't you know his name is henry? yes, henry stevenson. mother in spirit too, not far away.[26] give me that watch." (trying to open it.) "here, open it. take it out of its case. jerry says he took his knife once and made some little marks with it up here, up here near the handle, near the ring, some little cuts in the watch. look at it afterwards in a good light and you will see them." (there is a little engraved landscape in the place described, but some of the sky-lines have been cut unnecessarily deep, i think, apparently out of mischief or idleness. certainly i knew nothing of this, and had never had the watch out of its case before.--o. j. l.) this example shows the kind of information given. much of it is true; other assertions are unverifiable, which does not prove that they are untrue; others contain both truth and errors; finally, there are certainly some which are entirely untrue. for this reason these transcendental conversations very much resemble the conversations of incarnated human beings. _errare humanum est._ and it would appear that the heavy corpse we drag about with us is not alone to blame when we sacrifice to error. but, since the hypothesis of fraud and of unconscious muscular movement may not be invoked, where shall we find the source of the mass of exact information mrs piper gives us? the simplest hypothesis, after those we have been obliged to set aside, consists in believing that the medium obtains her information from the minds of those present. she must be able to read their souls, as others read in a book; thought-transference must take place between her and them. with these data, she would be supposed to construct marionettes so perfect, so life-like, that a large number of sitters leave the sittings persuaded that they have communicated with their dead relatives. if this were true, the fact alone would be a miracle. no genius, neither the divine homer, nor the calm tacitus, nor shakespeare, would have been a creator of men to compare with mrs piper. even were it thus, science would never have met with a subject more worthy of its attention than this woman. but the greater number of those who have had sittings with mrs piper affirm that the information furnished was not in their consciousness. if they themselves furnished it, the medium must have taken it, not from their consciousness, but from their subconsciousness, from the most hidden depths of their souls, from that abyss in which lie buried, far out of our reach, facts which have occupied our minds for a moment even very superficially, and have left therein, it appears, indelible traces. thus the mystery grows deeper and deeper. but this is not all. at every moment mrs piper gives the sitters details which they maintain that they never could have known. consequently she must read them instantaneously in the minds of persons, sometimes very far distant, who do know them. this is the telepathic hypothesis, upon which for the moment we will not insist, for we shall be obliged to study it carefully later on. professor lodge has made a list, necessarily incomplete, of incidents mentioned by the medium in the english sittings which the sitters had entirely forgotten, or which they had every reason to suppose they had never known, or which it was impossible they should ever have known. this list contains forty-two such incidents. to give my readers some idea of their nature, i will quote four or five of them. i will take these incidents from the history of the lodge family, in order to avoid introducing new personages unnecessarily. at the 16th sitting,[27] on november 30, 1889, phinuit tells professor lodge that one of his sons has something wrong in the calf of his leg. now at the time the child was merely complaining of pain in his heel when he walked. the doctor consulted had pronounced it rheumatism, and this was vaguely running in dr lodge's mind. however, some time after the sitting, in may 1890, the pain localised itself in the calf. now there could be no auto-suggestion in this case, for professor lodge tells us he had said nothing to his son. at the 44th sitting,[28] professor lodge asked his uncle jerry, who is supposed to be communicating, "do you remember anything when you were young?" phinuit (for him) replies at once, "yes, i pretty nigh got drowned. tried to swim the creek, and we fellows all of us got into a little boat. we got tipped over. he will remember it. ask bob if he remembers that about swimming the creek; he ought to remember it." uncle robert, consulted, remembers the incident perfectly, but gives different details. this sort of confusion about the details of a distant event, the partial memory, occurs often to all of us. thus disincarnated beings would seem to resemble incarnate ones on this point also. apparently it was not the boat which upset, but the two young lodges, jerry and robert, on getting out of it, began some horse-play on the bank, and fell into the stream. they were obliged to swim, fully dressed and against a strong current, which was carrying them under a mill-wheel. at the 46th sitting,[29] phinuit reports that the last visit the father of professor lodge paid was to this uncle robert, and that he didn't feel very well. professor lodge knew nothing of this fact, or, if he had once known it, had so completely forgotten it that he was obliged to apply to one of his cousins to know if it was true. the cousin replied in confirmation of the fact. at the 82nd sitting,[30] uncle jerry, speaking of his brother frank, who is still living, expresses himself thus about an event of their childhood,-"yes, certainly! frank was full of life; he crawled under the thatch once and hid. what a lot of mischief he was capable of doing. he would do anything; go without shirt, swop hats, anything. there was a family near named rodney. he pounded one of their boys named john. frank got the best of it, and the boy ran; how he ran! his father threatened frank, but he escaped; he always escaped. he could crawl through a smaller hole than another. he could shin up a tree quick as a monkey. what a boy he was! i remember his fishing. i remember that boy wading up to his middle. i thought he'd catch his death of cold; but he never did." this uncle frank was aged about 80, and was living in cornwall: the general description is characteristic. professor lodge wrote to him to ask if the above details were correct. he replied, giving exact details: "i recollect very well my fight with a boy in the corn field. it took place when i was ten years old, and i suppose a bit of a boy-bully." on the 29th november[31] professor henry sidgwick, of cambridge, had a sitting with mrs piper. it was arranged that mrs sidgwick, who stayed at home, should do something specially marked during the sitting. mrs piper was to be asked to describe it, to prove her power of seeing at a distance. phinuit, when questioned, replied, "she is sitting in a large chair, she is talking to another lady, and she is wearing something on her head." these details were perfectly correct. mrs sidgwick was sitting in a large chair, talking to miss alice johnson, and she had a blue handkerchief on her head. however, phinuit was wrong about the description of the room in which this happened. footnotes: [12] for detailed report of these sittings see _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. vi. [13] at the first sitting in liverpool there was some talk of a sea captain. phinuit, who was rather fond of nicknames, jocularly attached the epithet "captain" to professor lodge. [14] _i.e._, "as i entered the medium's organism." [15] here phinuit is supposed to be reporting in the first person words of aunt anne, treated as if present. [16] of a future life. [17] phinuit seems to have left, and mr e. takes his place. this mr e. was an intimate friend of professor lodge; he had appeared at a preceding sitting and had offered proofs of his identity, which were verified later. professor lodge recognised his mode of address. phinuit, we remember, always addressed professor lodge as "captain." [18] the investigation into psychic matters. [19] in accordance with a statement previously made by phinuit. [20] these changes in the medium's voice are very surprising. if there is fraud in the case, mrs piper must be the most accomplished actress who has hitherto appeared. [21] _i.e._, still living. [22] mrs lodge. [23] mrs lodge's step-father. [24] these assertions, that spirits return to the places they have lived in, and unknown to us, do what they were accustomed to do, are very odd. but the literature of the subject is full of such accounts. [25] mrs lodge's father. phinuit had alluded to this accident in a previous sitting, but without being able to explain if it had happened to mrs lodge's father or her step-father. [26] in these communications the self-styled spirits always affirm that the dead get farther and farther by degrees from our universe, in accordance with time, and their own progress. the stevenson episode, referred to above, is described on page 71. [27] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. vi. p. 467. [28] _ibid._ p. 503. [29] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. vi. p. 514. [30] _ibid._, p. 549. [31] _proc. of s.p.r._, p. 627. chapter vi phinuit--his probable origin--his character--what he says of himself--his french--his medical diagnosis--is he merely a secondary personality of mrs piper? an interesting question arises at the point we have reached--"what is phinuit? whence his name? whence does he come? should we believe that he is a disincarnated human spirit, as he himself obstinately affirms, or must we think him a secondary personality of mrs piper?" if he is a spirit, that spirit is not endowed with a love of truth, as we shall see, and on this point he too much resembles many of ourselves. in any case we may notice in passing the obstinacy of these controls in wishing to pass for disincarnated spirits; the fact is at least worthy of attention. i am willing to allow that this may be a suggestion imposed by the medium on her secondary personalities; but i ask myself why this suggestion can never be annulled. numerous efforts have been made, above all in the case of phinuit; they have ended only in provoking jests from the disincarnated doctor, who absolutely insists on remaining a spirit. however this may be, we will here endeavour to discover the origin of this control. it will not have been forgotten that mrs piper's mediumship blossomed forth, if i may thus express myself, during the sittings she had with the blind medium j. r. cocke. now this medium was then, and has, i believe, always since been, controlled by a certain doctor called albert g. finnett, a french doctor of the old school which produced sangrado. this old barber-surgeon, as his medium calls him, is very modest. he says that he is "nobody particular"; i hope he does not mean to say that he resembles jules verne's captain nemo. there is a considerable resemblance between this name finnett and the english pronunciation of phinuit. therefore we may well inquire whether the medium cocke, when developing mrs piper's mediumship, may not also have made her a present of his control. dr hodgson has questioned phinuit on this point several times. but phinuit asserts that he does not know what is meant, and that mrs piper's is the first human organism through which he has manifested. i will not try to settle the question. if phinuit has not varied about his own name, he has certainly varied in its orthography. till 1887, whenever he consented to sign his name, he signed phinnuit, with two _n_'s. dr hodgson accuses himself of being the originator of the orthographic variation. he carelessly took the habit of writing phinuit with one _n_, and gave this orthography to his friends. mrs piper, in the normal state, often had occasion to see the name thus written. and so, in the first half of 1888, phinuit also began to write his name with one _n_. dr hodgson only discovered the mistake later on looking over his notes. the reader will perhaps be astonished that i speak of the phinuit personality as if it were already established that the hypothetical doctor were really a spirit; that is to say, a personality as distinct from that of the medium as the reader and i are from one another. i must hold this point in reserve. the investigators of the piper case, finding as decided a difference between the controls and the subject in a normal state as exists between individuals of flesh and blood, have adopted the language of these controls for convenience' sake, while warning us that, in so doing, they have no intention of prejudging their nature. i do, and shall continue to do, the same. there is no impropriety in this so long as it is well understood. to return to phinuit's character. this doctor in the beyond is not a bad fellow; on the contrary, he is very obliging, and his chief desire is to please everybody. he repeats all he is asked to repeat, makes all the gestures suggested to him by the communicators in order that they may be recognised; even those of a little child. in his rather deep voice he sings to a weeping mother the nursery song or the lullaby which she sang to her sick child, if the song will serve as a proof of identity. i find at least one such case in dr hodgson's report. the couplet sung was probably well-known to mrs piper; it is a common one. but as this song had often been sung during her last illness by the child who was communicating, and as it was the last she sang upon earth, the coincidence is at least surprising. probably mrs piper took the air and the words from the source whence she takes so many other details--a source unknown to us. however, if dr phinuit is good-hearted, he is also occasionally deplorably trivial. his language is rarely elevated, and his expressions are almost always vulgar. on occasion he does not dislike a joke or a touch of humour. thus we have seen that he mischievously persisted in addressing professor lodge as "captain." on another occasion he is a long time in finding a person's name--theodora. then he adds, mockingly, "hum! it is a fine name once one has got hold of it." this does not prevent phinuit from altering theodora into theosophy, and calling the person in question theosophy! i could easily give other examples of phinuit's wit. but on this point i must remark that the word "theosophy" astonishes me in phinuit's mouth, even when he is making a joking use of it. evidently mrs piper knows the name and the thing well. but at the time when dr phinuit attended his contemporaries in flesh and blood, there was, i believe, no question of theosophy, nor of its foundress, madame blavatsky. there was indeed a sect of theosophists at the end of the eighteenth century, but it was very obscure. dr phinuit is, besides, very proud of his exploits. he likes to make people believe that he knows and sees everything. indeed, perhaps it is because he likes to seem not to be ignorant of anything that he sometimes asserts so many controverted facts. and this is to be deplored; for how much more useful service he would render if his facts were not doubtful! unluckily, this is far from being the case. phinuit occasionally seems to tell falsehoods deliberately. this has been made evident when he has been asked to prove his identity by giving details of his terrestrial life. in december 1889,[32] he replies to professor alfred lodge, the brother of professor oliver lodge,-"i have been from thirty to thirty-five years in spirit, i think. i died when i was seventy, of leprosy; very disagreeable. i had been to australia and switzerland. my wife's name was mary latimer. i had a sister josephine. john was my father's name. i studied medicine at metz, where i took my degree at thirty years old, married at thirty-five. look up the town of ----, also the hôtel dieu in paris. i was born at marseilles, am a southern french gentleman. find out a woman named carey. irish. mother irish; father french. i had compassion on her in the hospital. my name is john phinuit schlevelle (or clavelle), but i was always called dr phinuit. do you know dr clinton perry? find him at dupuytren, and this woman at the hôtel dieu. there's a street named dupuytren, a great street for doctors.... this is my business now, to communicate with those in the body, and make them believe our existence." i think a bad choice was made of dr phinuit to fill this part. the information he here gives us about himself does not bear marks of absolute sincerity. we might say he was an englishman or american trying to pass himself off for a frenchman to his fellow-countrymen, and having a very small acquaintance with france and french affairs. and if he had even stopped there! but no. he has often contradicted himself. he tells dr hodgson[33] that his name is jean phinuit scliville. he could not tell the date of his birth or death. but, on comparing the facts he gives, we might conclude that he was born in 1790, and that he died in 1860. he tells dr hodgson that he studied medicine in paris, at a college called _merciana_ or _meerschaum_, he does not know exactly which. he adds that he also studied medicine at "metz in germany." it is no longer he who had a sister named josephine; it is his wife. "josephine," he says, "was a sweetheart of mine at first, but i went back on her, and married marie after all." this marie latimer is supposed to have been thirty when she married dr phinuit, and to have died at fifty. he asks dr hodgson, "do you know where the hospital of god is (hospital de dieu)?" "yes, it is at paris." "do you remember old dyruputia (dupuytren)?" "he was the head of the hospital, and there is a street named for him." phinuit asserts that he went to london, and from london to belgium, and travelled a great deal, when his health broke down. in the above-quoted passage, phinuit asserts that he had set himself to prove the existence of spirits. if he had set himself the contrary task he would have been more likely to succeed, when he gives us such information as the above. if we went no further, we should need to ask ourselves how serious men can have concerned themselves during so long a period with such idle stories. happily, as we shall see later, others have succeeded in establishing their identity better than phinuit has done. phinuit himself, even if he tells the most foolish stories when he speaks of himself, reveals profoundly intimate and hidden secrets when he speaks of others. truly, it is correctly said that these phenomena are disconcerting. but they are none the less interesting to science when their authenticity and the sincerity of the medium are beyond discussion, as in the present case. i will therefore go on examining the phinuit personality; it will be the reverse side of the medal. an american doctor, whom dr hodgson designates by the initials c. f. w., has a sitting with mrs piper on may 17, 1889. here is a fragment of the dialogue between him and phinuit.[34] c. f. w.--"what medical men were prominent in paris in your time?" phinuit.--"bouvier and dupuytren, who was at hôtel dieu." c. f. w.--"was dupuytren alive when you passed out?" phinuit.--"no; he passed out before me; i passed out twenty or thirty years ago." c. f. w.--"what influence has my mind on what you tell me?" phinuit.--"i get nothing from your mind; i can't read your mind any more than i can see through a stone wall." (phinuit added that he saw the people of whom he spoke objectively, and that it was they who gave him his information.) c. f. w.--"have you any relatives living in marseilles?" phinuit.--"i had a brother who died there two or three years ago." a little later on, at the same sitting, phinuit says, "many people think i am the medium; that is all bosh." well, so much the better. but if phinuit is not mrs piper, neither does he appear to be a frenchman. a further proof of this is that he is incapable of keeping up a conversation in french. he speaks english with a pronounced _café-concert_ french accent, it is true, but that is not a proof. he likes to count in french, and sometimes he pronounces two or three consecutive words more or less correctly. but who would venture to maintain that mrs piper's sub-consciousness has not received them in some way; it would be all the more likely, because at one time our medium had a governess for her children who spoke french fluently. however, dr c. f. w., quoted above, says that phinuit understood all that he said to him in french, which mrs piper in her normal state could not have done. on the other hand, professor william james says that phinuit does not understand his french. whom shall we believe? one thing is certain, french or not, phinuit does not speak french. dr hodgson asked him why this was. phinuit, who is never at a loss, explained as follows:--"he had been a long time in practice at metz, and as there are a great many english there he had ended by forgetting his french." this is just such a piece of childishness as the secondary personalities invent.[35] dr hodgson pointed out the absurdity of the explanation to phinuit, and added, "as you are obliged to express your thoughts through the organism of the medium, and as she does not know french, it would be more plausible if you said that it would be impossible to express your thoughts in french by means of mrs piper." phinuit found the explanation magnificent, and some days after served it up whole to another inquisitive person who questioned him. as dr hodgson continued to tease him about his name, he ended by admitting, or believing, that his name was not phinuit at all. "it was the medium cocke who insisted that my name was phinuit one day at a sitting. i said, 'all right, call me phinuit if you like, one name is as good to me as another.' but you see, hodgson, my name is scliville, i am dr john scliville. but, when i think about it, i had another name between john and scliville." phinuit did think about it, and at another sitting he said he had remembered. his name now was jean alaen scliville. alaen, as we see, is unmistakably french. in short, these are wretched inventions, quite as wretched and much less poetic than the martian romance, due to the subconsciousness of mlle. smith. does phinuit better justify the title of doctor which he assumes? on this point opinions are less divided. his diagnosis is often surprisingly exact, even in cases where the patient does not himself know what his illness is. as long ago as 1890, professor oliver lodge expresses himself as follows with regard to phinuit's medical knowledge. the opinion of a man of science like professor lodge is of great weight, though he is a physicist and not a doctor. "admitting, however, that 'dr phinuit' is probably a mere name for mrs piper's secondary consciousness, one cannot help being struck by the singular correctness of his medical diagnosis. in fact, the medical statements, coinciding as they do with truth just as well as those of a regular physician, but given without any ordinary examination, and sometimes without even seeing the patient, must be held as part of the evidence establishing a strong _primâ facie_ case for the existence of _some_ abnormal means of acquiring information."[36] dr c. w. f., of whom we have spoken above, asks phinuit to describe his physical state for him, and phinuit describes it perfectly. but here, evidently, seeing that c. w. f. was a doctor, and must have known about himself, we may only be concerned with thought-transference. being curious, dr c. w. f. asked phinuit how many years he had to live. phinuit replied by counting on his fingers in french up to eleven. this happened in 1889. if the prophecy was fulfilled, dr c. w. f. must have gone to rejoin his colleague in the other world. it would be interesting to know whether this is the case. in general, the other doctors who have had sittings with mrs piper find more fault with dr phinuit's prescriptions than with his diagnosis. they blame the prescriptions as being more those of a herbalist than a doctor. this would not be a great reproach. if a dr phinuit has really existed, he must have practised fifty or sixty years ago, and must have studied at the beginning of the last century. therapeutics of that epoch differed considerably from those of the present day. for this reason dr c. w. f. asks whether dr phinuit's medical knowledge really exceeds what mrs piper might have read in a manual of domestic medicine. as far as the diagnosis is concerned, his knowledge assuredly exceeds this. dr c. w. f. reports a fact which, though it would not prove dr phinuit's medical ignorance, would once more prove his ignorance of french, and even of the latin of botanists. dr f. asked,[37] "have you ever prescribed _chiendent_ or _triticum repens_?" using both the french and latin names. phinuit seemed much surprised, and said, "what is the english of that?" it is certain that a french doctor, and, above all, a doctor in the beginning of the last century, must know _chiendent_, and even _triticum repens_. mrs piper told dr hodgson that phinuit had often been shown medicinal plants, and had been asked their names, and that he had never made a mistake. dr hodgson procured specimens of three medicinal plants from one of his friends. he himself remained entirely ignorant of their names and uses. phinuit carefully examined the plants, and was unable to indicate their names or their uses. but neither would this incident prove much. the living practitioners who could not be caught in this way must be rare. i will give two or three of phinuit's diagnoses as examples. i will choose those which have been given to dr hodgson about himself, as my readers now know him well. at one of the first sittings[38] dr hodgson had with mrs piper, phinuit pronounced the following judgment on his physical constitution, "you are an old bach (bachelor), and will live to be a hundred." and he added that dr hodgson had at the time a slight inflammation of the nasal membranes, though there was no external sign to guide him. on another occasion dr hodgson asked him a question about a pain he had had but which he no longer felt. phinuit was evasive at first, saying, "i have told you already that you are perfectly well." he then passed his hand over dr hodgson's left shoulder, placed his finger under the left shoulder-blade scapula, on the exact spot where the pain had been, and said it must have been caused by a draught, which was probably true. another time, dr hodgson complained of a pain, without explaining where. phinuit instantaneously put his finger on the painful spot, below the chest. he said at first that the pain was caused by indigestion, but then corrected himself spontaneously and said it was caused by a muscle strained in some unusual exercise. dr hodgson had not thought of this explanation; but it was true that, two days before, when going to bed, and after some weeks' interruption, he had exercised himself with bending his body backwards and forwards. the pain appeared next day. phinuit ordered applications of cold water on the painful spot, and friction with the hand. naturally there exist other diagnoses more complicated and extraordinary than those i have quoted. in terminating this study of phinuit, i must return to the eternal question--is phinuit a different personality from mrs piper, or is he only a secondary personality? none of those who have studied the question closely have ventured to decide it categorically. there is no so clearly defined distinction between the normal personality and the secondary personalities which have so far been studied as there is between mrs piper and phinuit. in fact, the medium and her control have not the same character, nor the same turn of mind, nor the same information, nor the same manner of speech. it is not so with normal and secondary personalities. our personality may split into fragments, which, at a cursory glance, may appear to be so many different personalities. but when these fragments are closely studied numerous points of contact are found. when suggestion is added to this segregation, the separation between the normal and secondary personalities is even more emphatic. but then there are traces of automatism present which are not to be found in phinuit. he seems to be as much master of his mental faculties and of his will as you or i. finally, if we consider that many of mrs piper's controls carry the love of truth further than phinuit, that they have succeeded in proving their identity in the eyes of their intimates, who were none the less sceptics to begin with; if we consider the george pelham and hyslop cases, among others, which we shall fully discuss a little further on, we shall be almost tempted to let phinuit benefit by the doubt about his colleagues, and to believe that he is really a consciousness different from that of mrs piper. footnotes: [32] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. vi. p. 520. [33] _ibid._, vol. viii. p. 50. [34] _proc. of the s.p.r._, vol. viii. p. 98. [35] _proc. of s.p.r._, part xxi. vol. viii. p 51. [36] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. vi. p. 449. [37] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. viii. p. 51. [38] _ibid._ chapter vii miss hannah wild's letter--the first text given by phinuit--mrs blodgett's sitting--thought-reading explains the case. there is a case of which i shall speak with some detail in this chapter, for three reasons:--(1) the good faith of the experimenters being unquestioned, if the experiment had succeeded we should certainly have had a first step towards proof of a future life. experiments of this kind must be arranged if the desired end is to be attained. even if only one out of ten were successful, we should have established a method of procedure, and should certainly in time discover the truth. (2) this example will once again show the reader the character of phinuit, who hesitates at no invention, and risks being caught in the act of imposture sooner than own to his ignorance or incapacity. (3) the reader will find in it examples of the untrue assertions which are found in all the bad sittings. this dishonesty of phinuit certainly complicates the problem singularly. but i wish to present it as it actually is, with its dark and bright sides. science must endeavour to explain both.[39] miss hannah wild died on july 28, 1886. she was a strong baptist, and remained so to her last moments. about a year before her death a boston spiritualist paper published a message supposed to have come from her dead mother. miss hannah wild was much struck by it. her sister advised her to try the following experiment. miss hannah wild should write a letter whose contents she alone knew, and when she died, she should return, if not prevented by circumstances stronger than her will, and communicate the contents of the letter to her sister through some medium. the letter would only be opened when some message bearing all the marks of authenticity should arrive. this was done. hannah wild wrote the letter, sealed it and enclosed it in a tin box. it was understood that no mortal hand was to touch it. when giving it to her sister she said, "if i can come back it will be like ringing the city hall bell!" mrs blodgett, hannah wild's sister, adds, "hands have never touched that letter; it was in my husband's safe. when i sent it to professor james i took it out with scissors." mrs blodgett having, in the last half of 1886, seen professor james's name in a journal concerned with psychical research wrote to him and told him the above circumstances. in consequence he tried to get the letter read through mrs piper. he sent her, not the letter, of course, but a glove which miss hannah wild had worn on the day she wrote the letter, and the lining of her hat. mr j. w. piper, mrs piper's father-in-law, acted as sitter. phinuit took his time, and tried for the contents of the letter during several sittings. the result was a long dramatic elucubration, which reminds us involuntarily of certain of mlle. smith's subliminal productions. i will give three paragraphs of it. the remarks between parentheses are mrs blodgett's; the reader will appreciate the facts by the light the remarks throw upon them. however, it may not be useless to remark that phinuit found miss hannah wild's exact name, which had been carefully hidden from him. 1. "dear sister,--in the bottom of my trunk in the attic with my clothes i have placed a little money and some jewels, given to me, as you know, by mother, and given to her by grandfather, who has now passed away. bessie, i now give to you; they are all i have, i wish i could have more. it has grieved me not a little not to have given the society something, but as you know, sister, i am unable to do so. if it be possible i will give them my presence in spirit." (sister left no trunk. never lived in any house with an attic. mother never gave her any jewels. mother's father died in 1835. mother died in 1880, and gave all her jewels to me. these jewels had previously been given to mother by myself. sister left money, and could have given the society some had she chosen to do so.) 2. "the table-cover which i worked one year ago i want you to give sister ellen, john's wife. the reason i did not dispose of them before will be a satisfactory proof of spirit return. my dearest sister, should you ever marry, as i think you will, take the money and use it as you think best, to buy a wedding outfit." (she never worked a table-cover. i worked one and gave her. brother john died when five years old. there is no one by the name of ellen connected with the family. she did think i would marry, but knew that i had plenty of money to buy an outfit.) 3. "do not dress in mourning for me, for if it be true the spirit can return i want to see you dressed in light, not black. not for me now, my dear sister bessie. try to be cheerful and happy through your married life, and when you hear from me--this for you a copy, 'remember sister hannah is not dead, only passed out of the body.' i will give you a beautiful description of our life there and of my darling mother if i see her." (hannah always wore black, and often said it would be wicked for me to take it off, for my child always said, "mamma, you will always wear black for me," and i have worn black for twenty years, ever since my child died.) and so forth. phinuit's elucubrations were six good manuscript pages long. except hannah wild's name everything was wrong. and yet mr j. w. piper affirms that during all the sittings he had the feeling that he was talking to the spirit of miss hannah wild. phinuit was asked for a description of the communicator; all the details were false. after this it is unnecessary to say that the letter miss hannah wild had written before her death, when opened by professor james, after receiving the phinuit letter, differed totally from that document. so far the blodgett-wild case is on the whole commonplace. phinuit lied when he pretended to communicate with hannah wild's spirit; for there is no more reason here than elsewhere to suppose conscious fraud on mrs piper's part. but this is the point at which the case becomes interesting, and where it may perhaps throw some light on phinuit's manner of procuring information, and on the character of phinuit himself. if we judged only from this case, it would seem that phinuit was merely a secondary personality of mrs piper, possessing the extraordinary power of reading people's minds unhindered by distance. but let us say at once that a number of other cases render the problem much more complex. the conclusion to be drawn from what follows is, that if phinuit is really what he asserts that he is, he does not draw his information only from disincarnated spirits, whom he is supposed to perceive objectively; he also reads the minds of the living, and with the information he finds there he creates personages, apparently life-like, and bearing a strong resemblance to deceased persons. on the 30th of may 1888[40] mrs blodgett in person had a sitting with mrs piper. the time was fixed by dr hodgson, who took care, as usual, not to name the future sitter, and not to give any hint of her identity. in my eyes this sitting is remarkable. mrs blodgett, with great good sense, sums it up thus: "all the details which were in my mind phinuit gave exactly. on all the points of which i was ignorant he gave false replies, or said nothing." during the whole sitting phinuit asserted that he was literally repeating the words of miss hannah wild, present. i shall quote the most typical incidents. the remarks between parentheses are taken from mrs blodgett's comments. hannah wild.[41]--"bessie, betsie blodgett, my sister. how glad i am to see you! i am anna, hannah, your sister, hannah wild. how's father and all the folks? oh, i am so glad to see you!" (all this time mrs piper kept on slapping me with her hand just like sister. when she died my name was not blodgett but bessie barr.) h. w.--"saw you once before in that audience. threw a message at you." (four weeks after sister's death, john slater, a medium, said, pointing to me amongst a large audience, "there is a lady here who wants to have you know she is here. she says she will tell you what is in that paper soon.") h. w.--"how's the society, lucy stone and all of them?" (lucy stone is the editor of the _woman's journal_, and wrote a piece about sister when she died.) h. w.--"my photo in that bag." mrs blodgett had brought a bag containing several things which had belonged to her sister. mrs piper tried to open it, but could not. it seems that miss hannah wild, living, could only open the bag with difficulty. mrs blodgett opened it. the so-called hannah wild threw the objects out pell-mell, saying, "picture of mine in here." this was so. now this photograph was the only thing in the bag which mrs blodgett did not know was there; she had slipped her sister's will into an envelope in which the photograph already was, but she had not consciously noticed it was there. her subconsciousness had probably been more perspicacious, and it is from that phinuit had probably drawn the detail; at least unless he has the power of seeing certain things through opaque bodies. h. w.--(takes her will, which she had shaken out of the envelope containing the photograph.) "this is to you. i wrote it and gave it to you. that was my feelings at the time i wrote it. you did not think as i did. you made me feel sad sometimes. but you did take good care of me. i always felt there was something that would never part us. do just as i told you to. you remember about my dress? where's my comb? you remember all about my money? i told you what to do with that. that ain't written in this paper. i told you that on my death-bed." (all this is correct, except that i know nothing about a comb. the will disposed of her books and dresses and all her things, except her money.) h. w.--"how is alice?" mrs b.--"what alice?" h. w.--"the little girl that's a namesake." (our living sister alice had a child named alice olivia, and hannah always called her alice: it was our mother's name. the others called her ollie. hannah did not like this, and did all she could to make us know that she did not want the alice dropped.) h. w.--"mother is here. where's doctor? where's brother?" (my husband is a doctor; hannah knew him. we have one brother living named joseph, who travels most of the time.) hannah wild takes a gold chain wrapped in silk. mrs blodgett says, "hannah, tell me whose and what is that?" h. w.--(feeling tassel at end of chain) "my mother's chain." (the chain was a long chain of mother's. it was cut in two after she died. hannah had worn one half. the half which i took to the sitting had not been worn since mother's death, and it had a tassel on the end, different from the half hannah had worn.) h. w.--"who's sarah?" mrs b.--"sarah grover?" h. w.--"no, sarah obb--hodg--" (the medium's hand points to mr hodgson, and the voice says it belongs to him.) then hannah wild adds, "sarah hodson." (sarah hodson was a friend of sister's at waterbury, connecticut. i had thought of her the night before when i met mr hodgson, as she also came from london, england.) h. w.--"where is my big silk handkerchief?" mrs b.--"i gave it to clara. you told me to." h. w.--"where is my thimble?" mrs b.--"i don't know." h. w.--"i saw you put it into this bag." (the handkerchief was a large silk one given to sister by a lady who lived with us for years, and it came from england. i did not know i had put hannah's thimble in the bag, but found on return to the hotel that it was there on the bed, with the rest of the things i had taken out of the bag before starting for the sitting.) mrs b.--"can you tell me, sister, how many brothers you have in spirit life?" h. w.--"one, two, three." (i asked her how many brothers, because william had only been dead since march 27 in the same year (1888). "three" was correct.) mrs b.--"can you tell me where that letter is now that you wrote?" h. w.--"it is at home, in tin box." mrs b.--"can't you tell me more about it?" h. w.--"i have told you. it would be like ringing church bells if i could come back." (the letter was in the bag wrapped up in rubber cloth. sister did say when we put the letter in tin box, "it would be like ringing the city hall bell if i can come back.") h. w.--"where's william and doctor?" mrs b.--"hannah, you tell me where william is." h. w.--"he is here. i found him." mrs b.--"how long has he been?" h. w.--"weeks. you know all about it. he sticks to you all the time every day. william wants to know how you like that lot." mrs b.--"what lot?" h. w.--"you ought to know. you bought it to bury him in. william is better out of the world than in it. he was a strange fellow. he don't like that lot. do you?" mrs b.--"no." (i had bought him a lot in woodlawn cemetery, n.y. his wife wanted him buried there. we wanted to take him to our home and bury him by mother. brother was very proud, and we thought the lot was not as nice as he would like.) at the end of the sitting the so-called hannah wild said that she must go because it was church time, and she would not miss it. mrs blodgett remarks that this is also characteristic of her sister. it was decoration day, and the living hannah wild would certainly not have missed it. this last incident is odd; but there are many analogous ones in the literature of the subject and in mrs piper's sittings. often the communicator will not allow that he is dead, or has passed into another world; if he is asked what he is doing, he appears surprised, and affirms that he is carrying on his usual occupation; if he is a doctor, he asserts that he continues to visit his patients. phinuit is often asked to describe the people of whom he speaks. he pictures them as they were on earth, in their customary dress, and he affirms that he so sees them. at the end of one sitting professor hyslop's father exclaims, "give me my hat!" now this was an order he often gave in his lifetime when he rose painfully from his invalid chair to accompany a visitor to the gate. i repeat, these incidents are odd and embarrassing for the spiritistic hypothesis. it is difficult to admit that the other world, if it exists, should be a servile copy of this. should we suppose that the bewilderment caused by death is so great in certain individuals that it is some time before they perceive the change in their environment? it is difficult to admit this. should we suppose these speeches are automatisms of the communicator, rendered half unconscious towards the end of the sitting by the heavy atmosphere of the medium's organism? but, when the communication is not direct, when an intermediary is speaking through the organism, what should we think? are these traits thrown in intentionally by the communicator, the better to prove his identity? no doubt these incidents are very embarrassing to the spiritistic hypothesis. on the other hand, if we allow that the self-styled communicators are created by the entranced mrs piper from the elements she finds here and there in the minds of living persons, these incidents are quite natural; it would be surprising not to meet with them. i mention the difficulty in passing; it will not fall to my lot to solve it. however this may be, mrs blodgett left the sitting convinced that she had been conversing with her own consciousness externalised, and not with the spirit of her sister. but if it had not been for the previous incident of the letter, which had invited distrust, and if mrs blodgett had had less judgment, she would probably have left the sitting convinced that she had been talking to her defunct sister. many spiritualists must commit like errors every day. this shows what circumspection is needed in such studies as these. mrs blodgett asked dr hodgson to have some sittings for her, to try again to obtain the text of the famous letter.[42] at the sitting of august 1, 1888, dr hodgson gave phinuit a lock of hannah wild's hair. phinuit began by saying it was not her hair; he then recognised his mistake, but said that someone else must have touched it. then he gave a new version of the letter. "this letter is concerned with an incident in hannah's former life," he affirmed. then he dictated, "it's something about hannah's early history, that letter is. at one time i met a person whom i loved. a circumstance in our affection changed my whole life. had it not been for this one thing i should have been married and happy. consequently i went into religious work, and did all the good i could. whoever reads this letter after i am gone will know why i remained hannah wild...." mrs blodgett's comment on this text is very interesting. she says, "this is not what my sister wrote on her deathbed, but it is perfectly true. it was the great grief of sister's life." how could phinuit guess this by simply touching a lock of hair? can it be that our feelings, our sorrows and joys, leave a persistent vibration on the objects we touch, which sensitives can perceive after even a long interval? numerous and well-observed facts would almost compel us to believe so. it would seem as if the vibrations of the soul imprinted themselves on matter as sound waves are recorded on the cylinder of a phonograph. certain subjects, in an abnormal state, would be able to recover them. there is, after all, nothing in this repugnant to science. this abnormal state, which allows sensitives to apprehend past vibrations, is perhaps only a partial abandonment of the body by the spirit. in that case it would be easier to understand that those who, like phinuit, have entirely quitted their bodies, those who are in another world, can read these vibrations as easily as we can read a book. but if this is so, why does not phinuit own it? it would be marvel enough to satisfy his vanity. it would not, in any event, prevent his obtaining information directly from disincarnated beings. but he ought to state precisely in each case from what source he derives his knowledge. he does nothing of the kind, and thus renders it almost impossible for us to believe in his individuality. at this same sitting phinuit asserted that he would give the letter word for word if he had a longer lock of hair. so mrs blodgett sent a longer lock, which was given to him on october 3, 1888. the text he gave was as incorrect as the preceding ones. a last effort was made in 1889, again without result. miss hannah wild has not come back from the other world to tell us what she wrote on her death-bed. i will end with another example which demonstrates phinuit's cleverness in reading people's minds even at a distance. on june 3, 1891,[43] mrs blodgett wrote a letter to phinuit. dr hodgson read it to him at a sitting on the 15th of the same month. this drew from phinuit the following statement, which had nothing to do with the contents of the letter: "she's been reading a funny book--a life of somebody. she called on an old friend of hannah's--somebody i told her to go and see. mrs blodgett has a friend named severance." mrs blodgett writes on june 17, "really phinuit is doing wonderfully well as far as thought-transference goes. saturday night, june 13, i gave a talk to the young women's rooms about helen gardener's new book, _is this your son, my lord?_" (on the) "14th i did not go to see the friend in body, but i know my mind went, and i wrote him the letter to ask him what phinuit told me to do when there." mrs blodgett adds:--"i had a friend named severance, but sister hannah had never heard of him." footnotes: [39] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. viii. p. 69. [40] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. viii. p. 75. [41] phinuit is speaking, but as he is supposed to be repeating miss hannah wild's words literally, it is easier to speak as if she were speaking directly. [42] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. viii. p. 78. [43] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. viii. p. 83. chapter viii communications from persons having suffered in their mental faculties--unexpected communications from unknown persons--the respect due to the communicators--predictions--communications from children. the blodgett-hannah wild case is, i repeat, of a kind to throw discredit on the spiritualist hypothesis. if it and analogous cases alone were considered, it would be needful to ask why earnest men, after long hesitation, have finally given the preference to this hypothesis. but psychic phenomena, and mediumistic phenomena in particular, are infinitely various; they present a multitude of aspects, and it would not be wise to consider them separately. in this hannah wild case everything seems to support the telepathic hypothesis. by this must be understood, not only the reading of thoughts in the consciousness, and even in the subconsciousness, of the persons present, but also in that of absent persons, however far off they may be. and what phinuit calls "the influence" must be added. this mysterious "influence" might be the traces of vibrations left on objects by our thoughts and feelings. evidently this hypothesis plunges us into mystery, at least as much as does the spiritualist hypothesis. nevertheless, we should be obliged to give it the preference, if it were sufficiently supported, because it is, after all, more in touch with our present conceptions than its rival. even the incident of the medium who, designating mrs blodgett amidst a numerous audience, said to her, "there is a lady here who wants to speak to you; she will soon give you the contents of the paper," can easily be explained by telepathy. mrs blodgett was in the presence of a medium. now some medium was to reveal to her the mysterious text of her sister's letter. that was enough to bring the recollection of the letter into the foreground of her consciousness, where the medium may have read it telepathically. but again, there are an infinite number of other cases which telepathy does not explain at all, or only insufficiently. i shall try to show this by repeating some of the arguments put forward by dr hodgson in his remarkable report in 1898, and in the chapter entitled "indications that the 'spirit' hypothesis is true."[44] the most important of these arguments is founded upon the communications of persons whose mental faculties had been impaired by illness for a more or less long period before their deaths. a long series of concordant observations inspired dr hodgson with this argument. it is as follows:--"if we had to do with telepathy, the communications should be most clear and abundant in the cases where the memories of the dead are most clear and abundant in the minds of the living." but experience shows that this is not so. when the self-styled communicator has suffered from mental illness before his death, the communications repeat the trouble feature by feature; they are full of confusion and incoherence. this confusion and incoherence is all the graver, as the mental trouble preceding death was graver. it disappears slowly, but sometimes traces of it appear years after. telepathy does not explain this. if there is madness in the mind of the dead person, there is none in the minds of the living who remember him. on the other hand, if we introduce the spiritualist hypothesis, the fact is quite admissible, either because the mental trouble may only slowly disappear, or because (and the controls assert this) the mere fact of the disincarnated spirits plunging again into the atmosphere of a human organism temporarily reproduces the trouble. besides, there is always more or less incoherence in the communications made very shortly after death, even when the communicator has kept his full mental faculties up to his last moments. but if the communicator were really what he says he is, we should expect this, for three reasons--the violent shock of disincarnation must trouble the mind; the arrival in an entirely new environment, where he must at first be unable to distinguish much, should trouble him still more; and lastly, these first attempts at communication may be impeded by his want of skill in using the strange organism; he would require a sort of apprenticeship. but when no mental trouble has preceded death, the incoherence of the first communications does not last. they soon become as clear as the imperfection of the means which the dead man has to use permits. in the george pelham case, which we shall examine later on, the first communications were also incoherent. yet george pelham was soon to become one of the most clear and lucid, if not the most clear and lucid, of all the dead persons who have claimed to manifest through mrs piper's organism. but george pelham died suddenly by an accident, and his intellectual faculties, which, moreover, were above the average, had never been injured. this is, i repeat, what experience seems to show. but doubtless many more observations are needed before we can affirm that it is really proved. however, unless dr hodgson and his colleagues are mistaken, these facts are contrary to what we should expect on the telepathic theory. i will quote some examples. dr hodgson tried to obtain communications from one of his friends, designated by the initial a., more than a year after the latter's death. he spent six sittings over it, but the result was meagre. he obtained some names, and with difficulty some mention of certain incidents of a.'s life. some of the incidents were even unknown to dr hodgson at the time, but all was full of incoherence and confusion. finally he gave it up on the advice of george pelham, who said that a.'s spirit would not be clear for some time yet. this a. had suffered from violent headaches and nervous exhaustion for some years before his death, though the troubles had not amounted to insanity. now, just at the time when a. was incapable of manifesting clearly, other spirits were manifesting with all desirable lucidity in identical circumstances. another case quoted by dr hodgson is that of a mr b. who had committed suicide in a fit of insanity. he was not personally known to dr hodgson. during several years mr b.'s communications were extremely confused, even about matters with which dr hodgson was well acquainted. a third communicator, an intimate friend of dr hodgson's, had also committed suicide. about a year after his death he still seemed to be ignorant of events which he had known well in his lifetime and which were quite clear in the inquirer's mind. more than seven years after his death he wrote through the medium's hand, "my head was not clear, and is not yet, when i speak to you." on december 7,[45] 1893, m. paul bourget, of the _académie française_, and his wife, had a sitting with mrs piper. m. paul bourget much wished to communicate with an artist who had committed suicide at venice by throwing herself out of a gondola. there exists no written report of this sitting, and consequently we do not know exactly what it was worth. but on december 11[46] m. bourget had another sitting, and this time dr hodgson accompanied him and took notes. the artist seemed to make desperate efforts to communicate and to write herself, but she could only produce two or three french words, amongst which apparently was the exclamation, "mon dieu!" nevertheless her christian name was given and the place where she had killed herself, venice, and the syllable _bou_, the beginning of bourget, was often repeated. why were the results so poor? m. and mme. bourget knew this person well, and their minds were full of reminiscences on which the medium had only to draw. however, some people might reason as follows. objects having been used by the persons with whom it is desired to communicate are nearly always given to mrs piper. if the medium obtains her information not only from the minds of the living, but likewise from the "influence," that is, from the vibrations which our thoughts and feelings may have left recorded on these objects, the imperfections of the earlier communications of persons whose minds have been disturbed might be explained by the theory that the "influence" left by an insane person would be neither so clear nor so easy to read as that left by a sane one. but then why should the communicators grow clear with time? why should they become lucid at the time when they ought to be still more confused, if the telepathic hypothesis is the correct one? but this interpretation falls to the ground entirely when we take into account the numerous communicators who are unknown, or almost unknown, to the sitters, of whom absolutely nobody is thinking, and who come in the middle of a sitting to send a message to their surviving relatives. mrs piper cannot have produced these communications by means of the "influence" left on objects, unless we suppose that the presence of these objects is not necessary and that any "influence" may strike the medium from any point of the compass at the moment when she least expects it. that would perhaps be stretching the hypothesis beyond allowable limits. and these cases are, i repeat, numerous and very interesting. i quote three for my readers' edification. during the 46th[47] of the english sittings with messrs oliver and alfred lodge as sitters, phinuit suddenly exclaimed,-"oh, dear, there is something very bad about this. here's a little child called stevenson--two of them--one named mannie (minnie?) wants to send her love to her father in the body and the mother in the body--she had sore throat and passed out. he is very bad and has gone away very unhappy. she's clinging to me and begging me to tell you that she's little mannie stevenson, and that her father's almost dead with grief, he sits crying, crying dreadful, and he's gone away very unhappy. tell him she's not dead, but sends her love to him; and tell him not to cry." professor lodge.--"can she send her name any better?" phinuit.--"oh, they called her pet, and when she was ill they called her birdie. and tell mamma too, do." professor l.--"well, i will if i can." professor lodge could not discover the stevenson family, which was a pity, for two reasons; first, that a message from beyond the tomb might have restored the despairing parents to a little hope and calm; and secondly, because cavillers could not have attributed the incident to the medium's cunning, which they would not fail to do if other incidents of the same nature did not make this interpretation almost inadmissible. at the 45th english sitting,[48] when messrs oliver and alfred lodge and mr and mrs thompson were the sitters, phinuit suddenly said,-"do you know richard rich, mr rich?" mrs thompson.--"not well; i knew a dr rich." phinuit.--"that's him; he's passed out. he sends kindest regards to his father." and phinuit began directly to speak of something else. at the 83rd sitting, when mr and mrs thompson were again present, phinuit said all at once,-"here's dr rich;" upon which dr rich proceeds to speak. dr rich.--"it is very kind of this gentleman" (_i.e._, dr phinuit) "to let me speak to you. mr thompson, i want you to give a message to father." mr thompson.--"i will give it." dr r.--"thank you a thousand times; it is very good of you. you see i passed out rather suddenly. father was very much troubled about it, and he is troubled yet. he hasn't got over it. tell him that i am alive--that i send my love to him. where are my glasses" (the medium passes her hands over her eyes)? "i used to wear glasses" (true). "i think he has them, and some of my books. there was a little black case i had; i think he has that too. i don't want that lost. sometimes he is bothered about a dizzy feeling in his head--nervous about it--but it is of no consequence." mr t.--"what does your father do?" (the medium took up a card and appeared to write on it, and pretended to put stamp in corner.) dr r.--"he attends to this sort of thing. mr thompson, if you will give this message i will help you in many ways. i can and i will." professor lodge remarks about this incident, "mr rich, senior, is head of liverpool post office. his son, dr rich, was almost a stranger to mr thompson, and quite a stranger to me. the father was much distressed by his son's death, we find. mr thompson has since been to see him and given him the message. he (mr rich, senior) considers the episode very extraordinary and inexplicable, except by fraud of some kind. the phrase, 'thank you a thousand times,' he asserts to be characteristic, and he admits a recent slight dizziness. mr rich did not know what his son means by _a black case_. the only person who could give any information about it was at the time in germany. but it was reported that dr rich talked constantly about a black case when he was on his deathbed." no doubt mr and mrs thompson knew dr rich, having met him once. but they were quite ignorant of all the details here given. whence did the medium take them? not from the "influence" left on some object, because there was no such object at the sitting. at a sitting on the 28th november 1892,[49] at the house of mr howard, when those present were mr and mrs howard, their daughter katherine, and dr hodgson, phinuit suddenly asked,-"who is farnan?" mr howard.--"vernon?" phinuit.--"i don't know how you pronounce it. it is f-a-r-n-s-w-o-r-t-h." (phinuit spelt it.) dr hodgson.--"what about it?" phinuit.--"he wants to see you." dr h.--"he wants to see me?" phinuit.--"not you, but this lady." mrs h.--"well, what does he want to say to me? is it a woman or a man?" phinuit.--"it is a gentleman; and do you remember your aunt ellen?" mrs h.--"yes; which aunt ellen?" phinuit.--"she has got this gentleman." (_i.e._, this man was in her service.) further on, phinuit adds, "that gentleman wanted to send his love to her, and to be remembered to you--so that you may know he is here, and it is a test. these little things sometimes interrupt me greatly and when i go to explain it to you, you can't understand it. but sometimes when i am talking to you, i am suddenly interrupted by somebody who don't realise what they are doing, and then i give you what they say as near as i can, you understand that, and it is very difficult sometimes for me to discern it and place it in the right place." mrs howard asked her aunt ellen if she had known anyone named farnsworth, without telling her more. phinuit was right: a gardener named farnsworth had worked for her uncle and then for her grandfather thirty-five or forty years before. mrs howard had never heard of him. incidents like those i have just related are evidently difficult to explain on the telepathic theory. but a more complete refutation of the telepathic hypothesis would be to get a certain number of fulfilled predictions. the medium could not read events which have not yet occurred, either in the minds of the living or in the "influence" left on objects. phinuit has often tried his hand at predictions; i will quote one. at m. bourget's second sitting,[50] in 1893, a mrs pitman appeared, who had lived a long time in france and spoke french well, and who offered to help the artist with whom m. bourget wished to talk in her efforts to communicate. in 1888, mrs pitman, who was a member of the american society for psychical research, had had two sittings with mrs piper. among other things, phinuit said to her, "you are going to be very sick; you will go to paris; you will be very sick: you will have great weakness in the stomach and head. a sandy complexioned gentleman will attend you while you are ill beyond the sea." in consequence of this, mrs pitman asked phinuit what the end of the illness would be. phinuit made evasive replies. mrs pitman asked dr hodgson's intervention; he insisted in his turn, and phinuit got out of it by saying, "after she gets over the sickness she will be all right." mrs pitman replied that there was nothing the matter with her stomach; she contradicted phinuit on every point, and he appeared much annoyed. but mrs pitman soon fell ill. she was attended by a dr herbert, who was very fair; he diagnosed inflammation of the stomach. then mrs pitman began to believe in phinuit's prediction; but interpreting his last words wrongly, she believed she should recover. dr charcott attended her at paris for a nervous illness. she suffered from weakness in the head, and her mental faculties were impaired. in short, she died. again, other communications which do not fit in with the telepathic theory are those from very young children. when they communicate a short time after death, they reproduce their childish gestures, they repeat the few words they had begun to stammer; they ask by gestures for the toys they liked. all these details are evidently to be found in the minds of the parents. but when these children communicate long years after their death, it is as if they had grown in the other world; they only rarely allude to the impressions of their babyhood, even when these impressions remain vivid in the minds of the father and mother. george pelham was one day acting as intermediary for a child who had been dead many years. the mother naturally spoke of him as a child, and george pelham remonstrated, "roland is a gentleman; he is not a little boy."[51] footnotes: [44] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xiii. p. 370. [45] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xiii. p. 494. [46] _ibid._, p. 495. [47] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. vi. p. 514. [48] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. vi. p. 509. [49] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xiii. p. 416. [50] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xiii. p. 496. [51] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xiii. p. 512. chapter ix further consideration of the difficulties of the problem--george pelham--development of the automatic writing. phinuit's empire remained uncontested till the month of march 1892. he sometimes yielded his place to other controls, but rarely through a whole sitting. however, in march 1892, a new communicator appeared, who imposed his collaboration on phinuit, with the latter's consent or without it. this newcomer called himself george pelham,[52] and asserted that he was the disincarnated spirit of a young man of thirty-two, who had been killed four or five weeks before by a horse accident. however that may be, this new control had more culture, more moral elevation, and a greater love of truth than the so-called french doctor. the latter benefited by the companionship; he tried to be more truthful, and seemed to make fewer appeals to his imagination; in short, all the sittings improved, even those in which phinuit appeared alone. the newcomer did everything in his power to establish his identity. his success is still a matter open to discussion, in the view of some persons, and their doubts at least prove that, in order to solve this greatest of all problems, it is not enough that the communicators should give us numerous details which would seem at a first glance to establish their identity, though the few cases in which identity appears to be proved furnish us with a strong presumption in favour of survival after death. if george pelham is what he says he is, future generations will _owe_ him profound gratitude; he has done all that he could, under circumstances which are, it appears, very unfavourable, although we are not in a position to understand the difficulties. it is not always easy to prove identity, even between the living. imagine a man in england, at the end of a telegraph or telephone wire; imagine that a certain number of his friends at the other end of the wire, in france, refuse to believe him when he says he is so-and-so, and say, "please prove your identity." the unfortunate man will be in difficulties. he will say, "do you remember our being together in such a place?" the reply will be, "nonsense; somebody has told you of that incident, and it does not in the least prove that you are the person you say you are." and so on, and so on. one fact is incontestable, however; there is somebody at the end of the wire. the telepathic theory asserts that, in spite of appearances, there is no one at the end of the wire, or, at least, that no one is there but the medium, temporarily endowed with powers as mysterious as they are extraordinary. but to return to george pelham. pelham is not his exact name. the last syllable has been slightly modified, from motives of discretion. he belonged to a good family in the united states, which counts benjamin franklin amongst its ancestors. he had studied law, but when his studies were finished he gave himself up exclusively to literature and philosophy. he had published two works, which brought him much praise from competent judges. he had lived for a long time in boston or its neighbourhood. the last three years of his life were passed in new york. in february 1892 he fell from his horse and was killed on the spot. he had interested himself in psychical research, though very sceptical about the matter. he was a member of the american society, and later of the american branch of the society for psychical research. dr hodgson knew him very well, and liked to talk to him on account of the soundness of his judgment and the liveliness of his intelligence. but neither time nor circumstances had allowed ties of affection or real friendship to be established between them. two years before george pelham's death, he and dr hodgson had a long discussion regarding a future life. george pelham maintained that it was not only improbable, but also inconceivable. dr hodgson maintained that it was at least conceivable. after much exchange of argument, george pelham ended by allowing so much, and finished the conversation by saying that, if he should die before dr hodgson, and should find himself "still existing," he would "make things lively" in the effort to reveal the fact. george pelham, more fortunate than many others who, before or after him, have made the same promise, seems to have kept his word. that many others have been unable to do so proves nothing. the means of communication are still definitely rare; mrs piper is an almost unique medium of her kind up to the present day. it may be that the great majority of the inhabitants of the other world are in the same position as the great majority in this, and are ignorant of the possibility of communication. even if those who promise to return know of this possibility, the difficulty of recognising their friends must be great, since they do not seem to perceive matter. their friends who are still in the body should, it appears, call them by thinking intently of them, by presenting to good mediums articles which belonged to the dead, and to which a strong emotional memory is attached, and by asking the controls of these mediums to look for them. when these precautions are not taken, the survivors are wrong to blame their friends' failure to keep their word, or to conclude that all is ended with the death of the body. george pelham may have been enabled to manifest himself by particularly favourable circumstances. he knew of mrs piper's existence, although, most probably, mrs piper did not know him. in 1888 the american society for psychical research had nominated a commission for the investigation of mediumistic phenomena; this commission asked mrs piper for a series of sittings. i do not know whether george pelham was a member of the commission, but he was present at one of the sittings. the names of all the sitters were carefully kept private, and nothing happened of a nature to draw the attention of the medium to george pelham, who in all probability passed unnoticed. dr hodgson thinks he can affirm that mrs piper only quite recently learned that george pelham had been present at one of her sittings. the name of george pelham must have been revealed to her considerably later on, for, in her normal state, she is quite ignorant of what she has said in her trance state; she learns it, as do all those who are interested in these questions, by reading the _proceedings of the society for psychical research_ except when dr hodgson thinks proper to tell her anything. with the appearance of george pelham there arose a new method of communication--the method of automatic writing. it was only on march 12, 1892,[53] that it was granted to dr hodgson to be present for the first time when this writing was produced; although it had occurred on rare occasions before. phinuit was serving as intermediary for a communicator who called herself annie d. towards the end of the sitting mrs piper's arm rose slowly till the hand was over the top of her head. the arm remained rigid in this position, but the hand trembled very rapidly. phinuit exclaimed, "she's taken my hand away," and added, "she wants to write." dr hodgson put a pencil between mrs piper's fingers and a block-book on her head. "hold the hand," said phinuit. dr hodgson grasped the wrist and stopped the trembling. then the hand wrote, "i am annie d. i am not dead but living," and some other words; then phinuit murmured, "give me back my hand." the arm remained contracted and in the same position for a short time, but finally, slowly, and as though with much difficulty, it moved down to the side. during the following sittings the writing was produced in the same inconvenient position. but on april 29, 1892, dr hodgson arranged a table so that mrs piper's right arm could rest comfortably on it; then, seizing the arm and commanding with all his power, "you must try to write on the table," he succeeded, by using not a little force, in getting the arm down. since then the writing has been produced with the arm resting more or less on the table. when a control takes possession of the arm to write, it is seized with violent spasmodic convulsions. the block-books, writing-books, pencils, and everything on the table are thrown in confusion on to the floor. sometimes considerable force must be employed to keep the arm still. then a pencil is placed between the fingers, and the writing begins. sometimes, but rarely, the writing is interrupted by a spasm; the hand is firmly closed and the wrist bent, but after a few seconds the spasm disappears, and the writing begins again. on most occasions, since the automatic writing has become easy, two controls have manifested simultaneously--one by means of the voice, the other by writing; phinuit continuing to use the voice, according to his former custom. george pelham, although he also uses the voice occasionally, prefers writing. on the 24th february 1894 a control wrote, "there is no reason why various spiritual minds cannot express their thoughts at the same time, through the same organism." this is really what happens. the voice may keep up a conversation with a sitter while the hand keeps up another in writing with someone else on a wholly different subject. if the sitter who is talking with the hand allows his attention to be distracted by what the voice says, the hand recalls his attention by its movements. when anyone is speaking to the hand control, it is necessary to speak to the hand, and close to the hand, or there is a risk of not being understood. in short, one must behave as if the hand were a complete and independent being. observation of this phenomenon suggested to dr hodgson that by using the left hand he could perhaps obtain three communications on three different subjects. he tried and succeeded, although imperfectly; no doubt because, in the normal state, the left hand is not used to writing. formerly phinuit used to protest when the hand was seized, and asked at once that it should be returned to him, as we have seen above. since the automatic writing has been developed the hand may be used by one control without the fact being perceived by the control who is using the voice. one day phinuit was talking with a sitter about his relations, when the hand suddenly, and so to say surreptitiously, wrote for dr hodgson a communication supposed to come from an intimate friend, and treating of a subject altogether different from those of which the voice was speaking. dr hodgson adds that it was "precisely as if a caller should enter a room where two strangers to him were conversing, but a friend of his also present, and whisper a special message into the ear of the friend without disturbing the conversation."[54] phinuit seems to prefer not to notice what the hand is doing. he talks as long as he has an interlocutor, but, when the messages given through the hand distract the attention of this interlocutor, phinuit often says, "i'll help him." what does he mean by this? it is a mystery. but if it is wished to continue the conversation with him, the ear must be addressed directly he is ready to resume. all this does not interrupt the writing; the head and the hand do not interfere with one another. the observers of these strange phenomena, especially dr hodgson, maintain that the controls write without consciousness that they are writing, as, no doubt, they speak without consciousness that they are speaking. according to what they say, these controls perceive in the body of the medium two principal masses of the mysterious fluid, the unknown energy which appears like light to them, and which they call the "light." one of these masses is in the head, the other in the hand. the controls think "in" this light, and their thoughts are transmitted to us automatically through the organism. the automatic writing differs according to the controls. they do not always succeed in reproducing the characteristics of their handwriting when alive. george pelham has tried to do so at least once, and did not succeed. but this should not surprise us; we do not work as well with other people's tools as with our own. in any case this difference in the handwriting is a presumption the more in favour of the difference of individuality. the writing often looks like that on a lithographic stone, and can only be read when reflected in a glass; this writing, which is called mirror-writing, is produced as rapidly as ordinary writing, though mrs piper, in her normal state, would be unable to write in this way. this mirror-writing has been often observed in subjects who write automatically; the cause for it is still to be found. on other occasions words are written backwards. thus for _hospital_, _latipsoh_ will be obtained. with certain mediums not only words but whole sentences are thus written. to read them, they must be begun at the last letter and read backwards to the first. syllables are also often misplaced in mrs piper's automatic writing; thus _hospital_ may be written _hostipal_. i remind the reader that i am referring to facts well attested by competent men, about which there can be no question of fraud. there exist detailed minutes of many of the sittings, copied from stenographic notes. an attempt was made to introduce a phonograph. phinuit jokingly felt the mouth with his hands and asked, "what is this thing with a tube?" the attempt to explain its use to him was unsuccessful. however, the phonograph recorded the sitting fairly well, but the experiment was not repeated--why, i do not know, for the intonations of the controls would have been an interesting study. i have often used expressions of affirmation in this chapter, and the reader might therefore conclude that the existence of spirits is no longer a hypothesis in my eyes, but a reality. i have already warned him, and warn him again, that i speak thus only for convenience' sake, and that the existence of spirits is still as hypothetical to me as to anyone else. footnotes: [52] not the real name. _see_ p. 78, _trans._ [53] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xiii. p. 291. [54] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xiii. p. 294. chapter x how george pelham has proved his identity--he recognises his friends and alludes to their opinions--he recognises objects which have belonged to him--asks that certain things should be done for him--very rarely makes an erroneous statement. some of my readers must have asked themselves what the returning george pelham can have said to make grave and intelligent men think he has proved his identity. i shall try to give them some idea by relating such incidents as i can report without entering into too slight or complete details. i cannot relate everything, in the first place for want of space, and secondly, because i should be tiresome--a thing to be avoided in a popular work like the present. when dr hodgson wrote the report which appeared in 1898, george pelham, who, like phinuit, is always ready to act as intermediary (though employing writing instead of speech) had had occasion to see one hundred and fifty sitters, among whom thirty were old friends of his. he recognised the whole thirty, and never mistook a stranger for a friend. he not only addressed them all by name but took with each of them the tone he had been accustomed to take. we do not speak in the same way to all our friends. the tone of our conversation differs according to the character and the age of the person we address, and according to the degree of esteem or affection we have for him. these shades of manner are typical, though instinctive, and therefore are difficult to reproduce artificially. george pelham, then, addressed the thirty friends whom he had the opportunity of meeting through the medium in the tone which he was in the habit of taking formerly with each one of them. the incidents i shall quote are only examples; i have said why i cannot recapitulate all that has been published about these sittings.[55] besides, the sitters, for reasons easy to imagine, have declined to permit the publication of all that was most private, and consequently most convincing, in the sittings. from the beginning george pelham asks to see his father. he says that he wishes to talk to him about private affairs, and also that he should like to convince him, if possible, of his existence in a new world. mr pelham was at once informed, and though he was very sceptical both by nature and education, he, with his second wife, george pelham's step-mother, visited mrs piper at once. they were introduced under false names. quite at the beginning of the sitting george pelham wrote, "hullo, father and mother, i am george!" the communications which followed were altogether what mr pelham, senior, would have expected from his living son. at one of the earliest sittings he asks after one of his friends, a young writer, and urges that he should edit one of his, george pelham's, unpublished papers. while george pelham was living in boston he was connected by bonds of strong affection with the howard family. he lived with them often and for long periods. he and james howard often discussed serious philosophical problems together. at the first sitting george pelham insistently asked for the howards.[56] "tell jim i want to see him. he will hardly believe me, believe that i am here. i want him to know where i am. o good fellow!" he welcomes mr and mrs howard in a characteristic way: "jim, is that you? speak to me, quick. i am not dead. don't think me dead. i'm awfully glad to see you. can't you see me? don't you hear me? give my love to my father, and tell him i want to see him. i am happy here, and more so since i find i can communicate with you. i pity those people who can't speak." a mr vance has a sitting. george pelham had known him. at first the communicator does not appear to notice him, being occupied in giving messages to dr hodgson. but presently george pelham recognises him, and says, "how is your son? i want to see him some time." "george, where did you know my son?" "in studies in college." "george, where did you stay with us?" "country, peculiar house, trees around, porch that projects at the front. vine at the side. porch at the front, and swing on the other side." all this was correct.[57] miss helen vance and george pelham had belonged at the same time to a society formed for mutual aid in the art of writing. she came to a sitting some time after it had begun. mrs piper, in her normal state, had never met her. nevertheless, george pelham asks her at once, "how is the society getting on?" a little later on, the following dialogue takes place between miss vance and george pelham: "now, whom do you have to correct your writings?" "we correct one another's." "but do they give satisfaction?" "yes." "what, in their corrections?" "yes, but not as much as you; your corrections were better than theirs." "well, that is what i am trying to get out of you." "in other words, george, you wanted a compliment from me." "oh, bosh, you know me better than that." miss warner had two sittings with mrs piper[58] five years after george pelham's death. he had known her when she was quite a child, but he had not seen her for three years before he died, and in eight years a child becomes a tall young girl. consequently, at the first sitting, george pelham did not recognise miss warner at all. at the second sitting he admitted this and said, "i do not think i ever knew you very well." "very little. you used to come and see my mother." "i heard of you, i suppose." "i saw you several times. you used to come with mr rogers." "yes, i remembered about mr rogers when i saw you before." "yes, you spoke of him." "yes, but i cannot seem to place you. i long to place all my friends, and could do so before i had been gone so long. you see, i am farther away--every day i get further away from you. i do not recall your face; you must have changed." at this moment dr hodgson said, "do you remember mrs warner?" "of course, oh, very well. for pity's sake, are you her little daughter?" "yes." "by jove! how you have grown! i thought so much of your mother, a charming woman." george pelham not only recognises his friends,[59] as we have just seen; he also remembers their opinions, their occupations, their habits. james howard is an author. he asks him, "why don't you write on this subject?" (the future life). rogers writes also. he asks, "what is rogers writing now?" "a novel." "i don't mean that. isn't he writing something about me?" "yes, he is preparing a memoir of you." "that is kind of him. one is pleased not to be forgotten. he was always very good to me when i was alive." he remembers the opinions of his father, and the discussions they had upon philosophical questions. "i should like to convince my father," he says; "but it will be hard. my mother will be easier." he says to james howard, "do you remember how we used to ask each other for books of certain kinds, about certain books, where they were, and you always knew just where to find them." formerly, when james howard and george pelham were talking together in the evening, the first-named habitually smoked a long pipe. at a sitting held in the library where these conversations used to take place, george pelham said to mr howard, "get the long pipe and smoke." katharine is one of james howard's daughters, who plays the violin. formerly her practising used to greatly annoy george pelham, who lived with the howards. he said to her at a sitting, "katharine, how is the violin? to hear you playing is horrible, horrible." mrs howard replies, "yes, george, but don't you see she likes her music because it is the best she has." "no, but that is what i used to say." "marte" is a pseudonym adopted by dr hodgson to designate a well-known american writer. he is a monist, a partisan of darwinism, convinced that the death of the body is for us the end of all. at a sitting george pelham said to him, "evolution is all right in the real life, as darwin says, but it goes on evoluting in the ideal life, which fact he, of course, knew nothing of until he came here." george pelham also recognises objects which have belonged to him, principally those which have some remembered emotional association. john hart, at the first sitting at which george pelham appeared, gave some sleeve-links he was wearing, and asked, "who gave them to me?" "that's mine. i sent that to you." "when?" "before i came here. that's mine. mother gave you that." "no!" "well, father then, father and mother together. you got those after i passed out. mother took them, gave them to father, and father gave them to you. i want you to keep them. i will them to you." all this is correct. at another sitting mrs howard gives a photograph. she placed it on the top of the medium's head. "do you recognise this?" "yes, it is your summer house; but i have forgotten the name of the town." "don't you remember d.?" "oh, the little brick house and the vine, grape-vine some call it. yes, i remember it all; it comes back as distinctly as the daylight. where is the little outhouse?" all this is correct. the outhouse which george pelham was surprised not to see was a henhouse left just out of the photograph. at another sitting mrs howard put a book on the medium's head. we must not forget that the medium's eyes are shut, and the ocular globes upturned. "do you recognise this book?" "oh, yes, it is my french lyrics." needless to add that this was correct. george pelham asks for information on the subjects which interested him in life. he asks to have things done for him. at the first sitting he said to the sitter, john hart, "go up to my room, where i write. i left things all mixed up. i wish you'd go up and straighten them out for me. lots of names, lots of letters. you answer them for me." evelyn is another of mr. howard's daughters. george pelham had given her a book, and had written her name in it. he asks her if she remembers it. he has not forgotten his former speeches either. he was fond of evelyn, but this did not prevent his constantly teasing her. thus she is weak in mathematics. at one sitting george pelham says to her, "i won't tantalise evelyn now; i used to torment her a great deal, but she will forgive me, i know." which does not prevent his adding directly after, "evelyn is a girl that can always tell how much two and two is. you have just learned, haven't you? you are not a great one for mathematics, are you?" but he adds quickly, "now be good, evelyn. it doesn't matter so much about your lessons; being good is the most important point of all." james howard had asked george pelham several questions to which the latter had not replied, asserting that he had forgotten. on this account james howard still doubted george pelham's identity. one day the former said, "george, tell me something that you and i alone know. i ask you, because several things i have asked you you have failed to get hold of. we spent a great many summers and winters together and talked on a great many things and had a great many views in common, went through a great many experiences together. tell me something now that you remember." the hand at once began to write eagerly: the occurrences related were so private that they cannot be published. at a given moment the hand wrote "private." dr hodgson then left the room. on his return james howard told him that he had obtained all the proof he could desire, and that he was "perfectly satisfied, perfectly." at the first sitting at which george pelham appeared, when john hart was the sitter, george spoke suddenly of katharine, james howard's daughter, and he said something which at the time had no meaning for john hart. "tell her, she'll know. i will solve the problems, katharine." when john hart reported these words to the howards they were more struck than by anything else. during george pelham's last stay with them he had talked frequently with katharine upon deep philosophical questions, such as time, space, eternity, and had pointed out to her how unsatisfactory the commonly-accepted solutions were. then he had added the words of the communication almost textually, "i will solve those problems some day, katharine." remark that at this time the howards had never yet seen mrs piper, that john hart knew absolutely nothing of these conversations, and that dr hodgson, who took notes at the sitting, did not at the time know the howards or of the conversations. george pelham had received a good classical education. he was a humanist. consequently a rather large number of latin expressions are found in his language; usual, no doubt, with people of his education, but with which mrs piper is not acquainted in her normal state. phinuit, who cannot have been a good latinist, does not employ them either. observation of this fact inspired professor newbold[60] with the idea of asking george pelham to translate a short fragment of greek, and he proposed the first words which occurred to him; the beginning of the paternoster: [greek: pater hêmôn ho en tois ouranois]. george pelham made some attempts, and finally translated "our father is in heaven." professor newbold then proposed a longer phrase, which he composed himself on the spot for the occasion: [greek: ouk esti thanatos; hai gar tôn thnêtôn psychai zôên zôsin athanaton, aidion, makarion]. this means, "there is no death; the souls of mortals really live an immortal eternal happy life." george pelham called to his aid stainton moses, who in his lifetime passed for a good hellenist. both together only succeeded in understanding the first proposition, "there is no death." these experiments, at all events, prove that mrs piper in the trance state can understand a little greek, though in her normal state she does not even know the letters. again, george pelham and stainton moses may have known greek tolerably well and have forgotten it: it is an accident which has happened to many of us. with regard to this translation of greek, we might form another hypothesis. we might suppose that the spirits of george pelham and stainton moses--if there are spirits--perceiving thought directly, and not its material expression, have partly understood what professor newbold wanted to say, without knowing in what language it was expressed. if they did not understand wholly and completely, it would be because a thought expressed in a foreign language has in our minds a certain vagueness. we might go further; we might suppose that mrs piper's subconsciousness perceives the thought directly, independently of the form in which it is expressed. mrs piper has often pronounced words and short sentences in foreign languages. phinuit likes to say, "bonjour, comment vous portez vous? au revoir!" and to count in french. mme. elisa, an italian, the dead sister of mrs howard, succeeded in writing or pronouncing some short sentences in more or less odd italian. i find also at a sitting where the communicator was supposed to be a young hawaian three or four words of hawaian very appropriate to the circumstances. mrs piper is ignorant of all this in her normal state. i have just said that spirits--if there are spirits--perceive thought directly. they themselves tell us this. on the other hand, they do not perceive matter, which is non-existent to them. this brings me to a new feature of the sittings, principally of those with george pelham. if this feature does not increase the proofs of identity, it is at least an evidence of the abnormal powers of the medium.[61] george pelham is asked to go and see what a certain person is doing at a given time and to come back and relate it. he goes, and partially succeeds. this is what appears to happen: if the act is strongly conceived in the mind of the person he is watching, he perceives it clearly; if it is nearly automatic, he perceives it vaguely; if it is wholly automatic, he does not perceive it at all. he often says that actions have occurred which have only been planned and not executed, at other times he reports past actions as present. this is because spirits have not, it appears, a clear notion of time. i have unfortunately neither time nor space to give examples of this. can we say that the communicator george pelham has never made a partially or wholly erroneous assertion? no. but the number of such assertions is very small, which was not the case when phinuit reigned alone. here is one such assertion, at which there has been much cavilling; people have insisted on seeing in it the stamp of mrs piper and her social environment, and not at all the stamp of the aristocratic george pelham. george pelham is asked, "could you not tell us something which your mother has done?" he replies,[62] "i saw her brush my clothes and put them away. i was by her side as she did it. i saw her take my sleeve buttons from a small box and give them to my father. i saw her put some papers in a tin box." when mrs pelham is questioned by letter, she replies, "george's clothes were brushed and put away, not by me, but by the man who had valeted him." and the hasty conclusion is, mrs piper on this occasion thought herself among her own class. she forgot that mrs pelham did not brush and put away clothes herself. this is perhaps a too hasty triumph. the most highly-bred women may occasionally brush and put away clothing. now suppose that what i have said above about the way in which spirits perceive our actions should be true. george pelham may have seen the project of the action in his step-mother's mind, and not its execution by the valet. it may be objected that he ought to have supposed she would not do it herself. why? i do not see it. perhaps he knew that his step-mother was capable, occasionally, of putting away clothes herself. george pelham is often asked questions which he cannot answer. but he does not at all pretend to have forgotten nothing. if there is another world, spirits do not go there to ruminate on what has happened in our incomplete life. they go there to be carried away in the vortex of a higher and greater activity. if, therefore, they sometimes forget, it is not astonishing. nevertheless, they seem to forget less than we do. footnotes: [55] those readers who are interested in this question are recommended to read dr hodgson's report, _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xiii., _trans._ [56] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xiii. p. 300. [57] _ibid._, p. 458. [58] _proc. of s.p.r._, p. 324. [59] for reports of these sittings see _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. viii. pp. 413-441. [60] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xiv. p. 46. [61] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xiii. p. 329. [62] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xiii. p. 303. chapter xi george pelham's philosophy--the nature of the soul--the first moments after death--life in the next world--george pelham contradicts stainton moses--space and time in the next world--how spirits see us--means of communication. the communicator, george pelham, did not confine himself to obtaining recognition from his friends; he talked a great deal of philosophy with them, especially with dr hodgson. indeed, if he had not done so, the omission might have created a doubt as to his identity, for in his lifetime he was fond of such discussions. but for the present dr hodgson has kept back these speculations from the other side of the grave, thinking quite rightly that no value would attach to them until unmistakable evidence had been produced for the existence of "another world." still there are to be found among the reports of the sittings some fragments of these philosophic theories, and they form an interesting subject of study. the philosophy may be only that of mrs piper. but it may on the other hand be the philosophy of the discarnate george pelham, and for that reason it is not unworthy of examination. supposing, however, that the assertions made are actually those of an inhabitant of the other world who in this world was intelligent, honest and cultivated, the question still arises whether we must regard them as expressing absolute truth. surely not; if another world exists beyond this one, its inhabitants have mounted one step--but one step only--above us on the infinite ladder of existence. they do not see the eternal face to face. it is quite possible that they may be able to see clearly truths of which we have no glimpse, but we are not bound to believe more than we like of what they tell us. if the existence of the discarnate george pelham is established, a new light is undoubtedly thrown on the old problem as to the nature of the soul, a problem as old as the world itself. the disciples of plato's socrates tried to interpret it by the charming analogy of the lyre and its harmony; asking whether man may not be compared to a lyre and his soul to its harmony, a harmony which ceases to exist when the instrument is broken. using more modern terms, we may ask whether the soul is the resultant of the forces of the bodily organism, or whether it is the indestructible and mysterious motor which produces the action of that organism. george pelham declares that the soul is in truth the motor, and that the body is merely a machine used temporarily by the soul to act upon the obscure world of matter. he speaks to this effect: thought exists outside matter and is in no way dependent upon matter. the destruction of the body does not have as its consequence the destruction of thought. after the dissolution of the body the ego continues its existence, but it then perceives thought directly, is much more free, and can express itself much more clearly than when it was stifled by matter. the soul and thought are one; thought is the inseparable attribute of the ego or individual soul. on its arrival in this world the soul is ready to register innumerable new thoughts; it is a _tabula rasa_ upon which nothing has been inscribed. this is a noble thought, if true, and one that wonderfully widens our narrow outlook. but, as i have said, i reserve my right of critical examination. elsewhere george pelham says, "we have an astral facsimile--the words are his--of our physical body, a facsimile which persists after the dissolution of the physical body." this would seem to be the astral body of the theosophists. but the term "facsimile" is perplexing, as i have always believed that the particular form which humanity actually has was entirely determined by the laws of our physical universe, that it was an adaptation to its surroundings, and that if a modification, however slight, were made in, for instance, the laws of gravity, the human shape would undergo a corresponding variation. sir william crookes has lately made some interesting observations on this subject. but to this question i will return again. now, the physics of the next world must be very different from the physics of this world, seeing that the next world is not material, or at least that its matter is excessively subtle. how then should the shape we men have in this world persist in the next? now, if we have an astral body which accompanies our ego in the next world, and if that astral body consists of a fluid similar to what we suppose ether to be, or identical with that ether, this fluid must be matter in some form, though matter obviously subject to quite other laws than those of our world of palpable substance. moreover, there is no proof that the soul is not the resultant of the organic forces of this astral body. if this astral body, as is probable, in its turn suffers disintegration, there is no proof that the soul survives this second disaggregation. if all these suppositions were proved, the old problem concerning the nature of the soul would have been carried back a stage, but it would not have been solved. but, as things are, this is, perhaps, to carry speculation too far. let us curb our ambition and ask george pelham what are the sensations felt immediately after death. everything was dark, he says; by degrees consciousness returned and he awoke to a new life. "i could not distinguish anything at first.[63] darkest hours just before dawn, you know that, jim. i was puzzled, confused." this is probable enough. if things are thus, death must be a sort of birth into another world, and it is easy to understand that the soul which has been just born into that new world cannot see or comprehend much in it till some time after such birth. james howard remarked to george pelham that he must have been surprised to find himself still living, to which george pelham replied, "perfectly so. greatly surprised. i did not believe in a future life. it was beyond my reasoning powers. now it is as clear to me as daylight." elsewhere he says that when he found that he actually lived again he jumped for joy. this joy is comprehensible enough; those of us who are resigned to the prospect of annihilation are few. the thought that death is annihilation makes us, against all principles of logic, shiver to the very marrow. such a feeling perhaps points to a revolt of the soul within that knows itself immortal and cannot without a shiver of fear face the idea of non-existence, an idea in opposition to its very nature. with the impressions of george pelham may be compared those of another communicator called frederick atkin morton, who had passed into the next world in quite a different way. this morton had lately started a newspaper; anxiety, overwork, and perhaps other causes made him lose his reason. his insanity lasted but a short time; in one of its attacks he shot himself in the head and was killed on the spot. the first time that he tried to communicate, his remarks showed great incoherence;--no matter for surprise if dr hodgson's observations on this subject are recalled. but his thoughts soon became clear, and at the second sitting his communications were definite enough. this is how he relates to his brother dick his impressions about his own death. he does not speak of suicide, an action which he probably committed without full consciousness of what he was doing, but at the end of the sitting mrs piper's hand wrote the word "pistol." death had been due to a pistol shot.[64] "when on sunday," he says, "i began to lose my mental equilibrium, then suddenly i realised nothing and nobody." in answer to the question as to what his next experience was he goes on: "i found i was in this world. i did not know for the moment where i was only i felt strange and freer; my head was light in weight, also my body ... my thoughts began to clear when i observed i had departed from my material body. ever since then i have been trying to reach you, dick. i saw a light and many faces beckoning me on and trying to comfort me, showing and assuring me i should soon be all right, and almost instantly i found i was. then i called for you and tried to tell you all about where and how i was, and, with one exception, this is the only chance i have had. now you see i am taking advantage of the opportunity." after the question of how a man passes into the next world, the most interesting one to us is how he feels when he gets there. generally speaking, the reports are satisfactory. one of professor hyslop's uncles, though he seems to have had a happy life here, says to his nephew, among other things,[65] "i would not return for all i ever owned--music, flowers, walks, drives, pleasures of all kinds, books and everything." another communicator, john hart, the first sitter to whom george pelham appeared, said on his own first appearance, "our world is the abode of peace and plenty." if this is the case, what a pleasant surprise awaits us, for in this world we have not much experience of peace and plenty. but i fear that john hart has exaggerated; every day the reaper's sickle casts from this world into the other such elements of discord, not to reckon those who must long ago have been there, that i wonder what means are taken to prevent their creating a disturbance. however this may be, if when we leave this world we pass into another, let us hope that the new world will be a better place than the old one, or else we shall have every reason to regret that death is not annihilation. but george pelham, in his turn, assures us that we do not lose by the change. he died, it will be remembered, at the age of thirty-two. when dr hodgson asked him whether he had not gone too soon, he replied with emphasis, "no, hodgson, no, not too soon." if, however, spirits are happy, more or less happy, according to the spiritualists, as they are more or less developed--and there seems nothing inadmissible in this theory--we must suppose that their happiness is not purely contemplative. one could soon have enough of such happiness as that. they are active; they are, as we are, occupied, though we cannot understand wherein their occupation consists. that this is so is affirmed and reaffirmed in the sittings, and we might assume it, even if the spirits did not assert it. george pelham says to his friend, james howard, that he will have an occupation soon.[66] the first time that i read this statement, in a review which only reproduced a short fragment and in no way gave the real effect of these sittings, i remember that the impression produced on me was very disagreeable. how unsophisticated, i thought, must these so-called investigators be not to see that such a phrase as that cannot come from a spirit; it bears too clearly the stamp of earth! since then reflection has made me admit that spirits might very well also have their occupations; the next world, if it exists, must be a sphere of fresh activity. work is the universal law. when george pelham was asked in what consisted the occupations of spirits, he replied that they were like the noblest occupations of men, and consisted in helping others to advance. this reply will doubtless not satisfy those who are actuated only by an idle curiosity, but it contains a profound philosophic truth. if our varied occupations upon earth are regarded from a somewhat superior point of view, it will be seen that their ultimate end is nothing else than the perfection of mankind. those of us who have evolved furthest realise this, and the rest do not; the case must be the same in the next world, though george pelham does not say so. all our efforts and exertions are regarded with indifference by nature who has no use for them, but the necessities of life make men feel that they are brothers, and oblige them to polish one another, like the stones of the beach rolled to and fro by the waves and rounded and polished by rubbing one against another. willingly or not, consciously or unconsciously, we force one another to advance and to improve in all respects. the world has been, i think with justice, compared to a crucible in which souls are purified by pain and work and prepared for higher ends. i should not like to go as far as schopenhauer and say that it is a mere penal settlement. a celebrated english medium, william stainton moses, in a book well known to spiritualist readers, _spirit teachings_, developed, or rather allowed his spirit-guides to develop, the theory that souls leave this earth taking with them all their desires and all their evil passions. having no body in the next world to enable them to gratify these desires they are subjected to a veritable punishment of tantalus. thereupon they endeavour to satisfy their material passions at least, if i may so say, vicariously; they urge on incarnate men, all unaware, to abandon themselves to these vices and passions. they incite the gambler to play, the drunkard to drink; in a word, they push, as far as in them lies, every vicious man to the bottom of the abyss created by his own vice; crime and debauchery intoxicate them and fill them with joy. further developed and noble souls, in spite of all their efforts, are unable to conjure away the influence of the undeveloped and evil souls. in a word, we have here the old fable of demons and angels arranged to suit the doctrines of modern spiritualism. it is indeed the old fable with a difference; demons desire the perdition of man from jealousy, because being themselves eternally condemned they wish to drag down with them as many souls as possible; the evil souls of stainton moses desire the perdition of man to gratify their own bad inclinations. demons are spirits, wicked indeed, but yet spirits, whereas the evil souls of stainton moses are only miserable ghosts driven mad by love of matter. certainly everything is possible, as professor flournoy says, but this theory is somewhat astonishing, for it seems to make the inhabitants of the next world gravitate round our miserable earth, and is like the old astronomical theory that placed our little globe in the centre of the universe. if there be another world, it is hard to believe that its inhabitants spend the greater part of their time in attending to us, some of them to harm us and the rest to do us good. professor william romaine newbold, in a sitting which took place on june 19, 1895, asked george pelham what we ought to think of this theory of stainton moses.[67] professor newbold.--"does the soul carry with it into its new life all its passions and animal appetites?" george pelham.--"oh, no, indeed, not at all. why, my good friend and scholar, you would have this world of ours a decidedly material one if it were so." professor newbold.--"the writings of stainton moses claimed that the soul carried with it all its passions and appetites, and was very slowly purified of them." george pelham.--"it is all untrue." professor newbold.--"and that the souls of the bad hover over the earth goading sinners on to their own destruction." george pelham.--"not so. not at all so. i claim to understand this, and it is emphatically not so. sinners are sinners only in one life." the result of this denial of moses's doctrine was that george pelham was asked to find stainton moses and beg him to come himself and communicate. here is a fragment of conversation between professor newbold and the discarnate stainton moses. professor newbold.--"you taught that evil spirits tempt sinners to their own destruction?" w. s. moses.--"i have found out differently since i came over here. this particular statement given me by my friends as their medium when i was in the body is not true."[68] professor newbold.--"your second statement was that the soul carries its passions and appetites with it." w. s. moses.--"material passions. untrue. it is not so. i believed that we had every desire after reaching this life as when in the body, but i find that we leave all such behind; in other words, evil thoughts die with the body." so on this point the teaching of george pelham differs from that of stainton moses. but, says professor newbold, for the most part they agree pretty well. now when we reach this other world it is certain that we shall at first be completely at a loss there, as all that we here regard as indispensable conditions of existence will there be lacking. spirits say that they do not perceive matter which is for them as if non-existent, whereas here present-day science asserts that outside matter moved by force there is nothing. it would be strange if the science of to-morrow were to prove that matter is only a sort of temporary illusion of mind. here we conceive nothing outside space and time, whereas spirits seem to have but confused notions of space and time. such, in the first place, is the view which they constantly assert; and, in the next place, if they are asked, for example, how long it is since they died they are generally unable to say. in their communications again, they often relate as occurring in the present actions that have taken place long ago. i have said already that george pelham has often been asked to go and see what certain absent persons are doing and to return and report it; he has generally been successful, but he has sometimes made the curious mistake of taking the past for the present. here is an illustration. he is told to go and see what mrs howard, absent at the time, was doing; he returns and reports. dr hodgson writes to ask mrs howard what she was doing at the time of the sitting, and hears from her in reply that she did none of the things reported on the day of the sitting, but that she had done them all in the course of the afternoon and evening of the preceding day.[69] it seems likely that george pelham had read the thoughts of mrs howard, and in his inability to appreciate time had taken the past for the present. the same sort of thing seems to occur in the case of space. phinuit, to oblige professor newbold, goes to find stainton moses. phinuit says that he inhabits a great sphere, and that stainton moses lives in a very distant part of this sphere. but in spite of this he brings him back almost at once. when the medium is presented with objects likely to attract the so-called spirits with whom the sitters are anxious to communicate, these spirits for the most part arrive at once, no matter where they may have died; john hart, who died at naples, communicates two days afterwards at boston. but it is hardly to be presumed that the spirits are there waiting for us. if their appearance can be hastened or delayed by sympathy or antipathy, on the other hand what we call distance seems not to disturb them in the least; and yet we are perpetually finding in the communications such phrases as, "every day i am getting further from you," "now i am very far away from you." but such phrases are probably not to be interpreted literally. the spirits go further from us as they make progress in the spiritual world and doubtless also as the things of this world occupy less and less place in their recollections. the spirits see us but they do not see our bodies, since they do not perceive matter. they see the spirit within us but it appears to them more or less obscure, as long as it is within the body. "it is by the spiritual part of your being that i see you," says george pelham, "that i am able to follow you and to tell you from time to time what you are doing." and what do they think of our life upon earth? here is a quotation from george pelham which will tell us:[70] "remember we always shall have our friends in the dream life, _i.e._, your life so to speak, which will attract us for ever and ever, and so long as we have any friends sleeping in the material world; you to us are more like as we understand sleep, you look shut up as one in prison." professor hyslop had a sister who died as a very young child; she sends a short message to her brother saying that he dreams while she lives and that she sends him her love. our life then would seem to be but a sleep accompanied by dreams which are sometimes terrible nightmares. if this be so we can but hope for dawn and waking, and wish soon to hear the crowing of the cock which will put to flight the phantoms of the night. happy should we be if we had a certainty that it would be so! this reminds me of a fine passage in a spanish poet, which i cannot refrain from quoting: "to live is to dream; experience teaches that man dreams what he is till the moment of awakening. the king dreams that he is a king and passes his days in the error, giving orders and disposing of life and property. the rich man dreams the wealth that is the cause of his anxiety; the poor man dreams the poverty and need from which he suffers. i too dream that i am here laden with chains, and in by-gone days i dreamt that i was happy. our dreams are but dreams within a dream." so our world may be compared with the cave of which plato speaks in the seventh book of the _republic_. in the conversation between dr hodgson and george pelham, when george pelham promised that if he were the first to die and if he found that he had another life he would do all that he could to prove its existence, they referred to the old platonic myth. in the communications of the so-called george pelham allusion was made to the allegory, and that justifies me in briefly recalling it. plato imagines prisoners who from their birth have been enchained in a dark cave in such a way that they are not able either to move or to turn their heads, and can only look straight in front of them. behind and above the captives a great fire burns, and between the fire and the captives men pass to and fro carrying in their hands vessels, statues, images of animals and plants, and many other objects. the shadows of these men and of the objects that they carry are thrown upon that wall of the cavern which is opposite to the captives, who thus know nothing of the external world but these shadows which they take to be realities, and they spend their time discussing the shadows, naming them and classifying them. one of the captives is carried off from the gloomy place and transported into the external world. at first the light dazzles him and he can distinguish nothing. but by degrees, as time goes on, his sight adapts itself to its surroundings and he learns to look upon the stars and moon, and the sun itself. when he has been brought back into the cave and again sits beside his companions, he takes part in their discussions and tries to make them understand that what they take for realities are only shadows. but they, confident in the results of their lengthy reflections on the subject, laugh him to scorn. the same thing would happen to a soul which had dwelt for a time in the world of spirit and had been brought back into the world of matter. when plato's captive is brought back into the cave, his eyes, no longer used to half-darkness, can distinguish nothing for some time; if he is questioned about the shadows of the passing objects he does not see them, and his answers are full of confusion. perhaps something like this happens to the discarnate spirits who try to manifest themselves to us by borrowing the organism of a medium. such at least is the suggestion of george pelham; in that way he would explain the incoherence, the confusion, the false statements made by many of the communicating spirits:[71] "for us to get into communication with you, we have to enter into your sphere, as one like yourself asleep. this is just why we make mistakes as you call them, or get confused and muddled so to put it. i am not less intelligent now. but there are many difficulties. i am far clearer on all points than i was, shut up in the body. 'don't view me with a critic's eye, but pass my imperfections by.'" george pelham also tells us how we may summon the spirits of those with whom we desire to communicate. the thoughts of his friends reach him; if he is to come and make himself manifest his friends must think of him. he adds that, so far from the communications being injurious to the communicating spirits or the sitters, they are positively to be desired. on one occasion dr hodgson asked what became of the medium during the trance.[72] george pelham.--"she passes out as your ethereal goes out when you sleep." dr hodgson.--"well, do you see that there is a conflict, because the brain substance is, so to speak, saturated with her tendencies of thought?" george pelham.--"no, not that, but the solid substance called brain--it is difficult to control it simply because it is material; her mind leaves the brain empty as it were, and i myself, or other spiritual mind or thought, take the empty brain, and there is where and when the conflict arises." all this is very unintelligible in the present condition of our knowledge. but here is another passage even less intelligible and one which in its _naïveté_ almost suggests that the speaker is playing with us. george pelham says to his friend james howard at the first sitting at which james howard was present:[73] "your voice, jim, i can distinguish with your accent and articulation, but it sounds like a big brass drum. mine would sound to you like the faintest whisper." j. howard.--"our conversation, then, is something like telephoning?" george pelham.--"yes." j. howard.--"by long-distance telephone." george pelham laughs. understand who may! are these only analogies? one does not know what to think. another difficult thing to understand is the "weakness" which the spirits complain that they feel, especially towards the end of the sittings. george pelham actually says that we must not demand from spirits just what they have not got, namely, strength. if the spirits mean that the medium's "light" grows weak and no longer provides them with the unknown something that they require in order to communicate, why do they not express themselves more clearly? it will perhaps be thought that i have dwelt a little too long on what i have called the philosophy of george pelham. i have thought it best to do so, and there is no harm done so long as i leave it to my readers to believe as much as they like. footnotes: [63] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xiii. p. 301. [64] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xiv. p. 18. [65] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xvi. p. 315. [66] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xiii. p. 301. [67] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xiv. p. 36. [68] in another sitting w. s. moses says that, as he held this view very strongly in life, he felt sure that he had been told it by his spirit-guides. [69] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xiii. pp. 305, 306. [70] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xiii. p. 362. [71] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xiii. pp. 362, 363. [72] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xiii. p. 434. [73] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xiii. p. 301. chapter xii william stainton moses--what george pelham thinks of him--how imperator and his assistants have replaced phinuit. for those of my readers who are unacquainted with spiritualist literature, and in order to facilitate the understanding of what follows, i must give a short sketch of the life of the english medium, william stainton moses. he was born in 1839, and died in 1892. he studied at oxford, and was then curate at maughold, near ramsey, in the isle of man. his great kindness made him beloved by all his parishioners there. when an epidemic of smallpox drove even the doctors away, he remained faithfully at his post, caring for bodies and comforting souls. but he had precarious health, and was overworked at maughold. he obtained another curacy, where there was less work, at saint george's, douglas, also in the isle of man. it was at douglas that the friendship, broken only by death, was formed between him and dr stanhope speer. a throat-affection soon after prevented his preaching, and he left the service of the church to give himself up to teaching. he went to london, where he became tutor to the son of dr stanhope speer, who was living there. finally, at the beginning of 1871, he obtained a mastership in university college school, and there he remained till 1889. till 1872 william stainton moses knew nothing of spiritualism. if he had vaguely heard of it, he had no doubt hastened to condemn the new superstition which carried off sheep from his flock. however, in 1872, mrs speer, being ill and confined to her room, read dale owen's book, _the debatable land_. the book interested her, and she asked stainton moses to read it. he did so, but only to please his friend's wife. nevertheless he became curious to know how much truth there might be in the matter. he visited mediums, and took dr speer with him, and both were soon convinced that here was a new force. it was at the time when spiritualistic phenomena were attracting much attention in the united states and england, and when learned bodies were appealed to from all sides to put an end to these phantasmagoria. it was the period when the materialised apparition of katie king appeared and talked to numerous spectators who came from widely separated places. sir william crookes could see her and photograph her as much as he pleased; heedless of his environment, he published what seemed to him the truth. thereupon the man whose brain had till then been considered one of the most lucid and best organised which humanity has produced, lost considerably in the opinion of his contemporaries. but no doubt the future will avenge him. the speer family and stainton moses now began to hold sittings by themselves. stainton moses[74] at once showed himself to be an extraordinarily powerful medium. neither he nor anybody else had suspected this mediumship till now. many other mediumships have been revealed in the same way, suddenly, by experiment. this shows that faculties, valuable for the study of these disturbing problems, may exist in some of us who least expect it. the physical phenomena which occurred in the presence of stainton moses were numerous and varied. these phenomena cannot be due to the subconsciousness of stainton moses, and they seem to point to external intervention more clearly than do the communications he has left us. the best known of these communications is entitled _spirit teachings_. it is a long dialogue between self-styled disincarnated spirits and stainton moses. stainton moses also wrote automatically without being entranced. _spirit teachings_, among other things, was obtained in this way. the medium is still saturated with his theological education; he discusses, he cavils, and his spirit-guides show him the absurdity of a great part of his beliefs. we know that his robust faith began to be shaken by doubt about the time when his mediumship revealed itself. if we left the above-mentioned phenomena out of consideration, we might not unreasonably be tempted to see in these dialogues only a doubling of personality; on one hand the personality of the clergyman defending his doctrines foot by foot, on the other hand the personality of the reasoning man formulating his own objections to them. the self-styled spirit-guides of stainton moses formed a united group obeying one chief, who called himself imperator. rector, doctor, prudens, were his subordinates. naturally, they asserted they were the souls of men who had lived on earth; the above names were borrowed for the circumstance; their real names were revealed to stainton moses, who wrote them in one of his note-books, but always refused to publish them. i beg the reader to observe this detail, which will become important later. stainton moses had the temperament of an apostle but not at all that of a man of science. the contents of the messages interested him much more than their origin. the former clergyman liked better to discuss a doubtful text than patiently to accumulate facts while guarding himself in all possible ways against fraud. certainly he was scrupulously honourable; no conscious falsehood ever passed his lips, but his temperament makes his interpretations doubtful, and with reason. he was one of the first members of the society for psychical research, but the methods which the society adopted from the beginning were not of a kind to please him; for his part, he believed that abundant proofs already existed, and he saw no use in minutely examining a large number of small facts. dr speer's son, whom stainton moses had taught, praises his judgment, his modesty, his inexhaustible charity. modest he really was, and it never occurred to him to be vain of the miraculous phenomena which occurred in his presence; he never thought of making a venal use of his mediumship. although he published his communications, he hardly ever published reports of his phenomena. it was frederic myers who published these from the note-books of the speer family and of stainton moses himself. the notes are in agreement, although they were made separately, and without any idea of publication. the son of dr speer asserts that stainton moses never refused a discussion, and never despised an opponent. but, on the other hand, frederic myers, who knew him well, assures us that he bore contradiction badly, and was quickly irritated by it. the manner in which he retired from the society for psychical research tends to prove that it is myers who is right. the son of dr speer, in his gratitude to his former master, must have deceived himself. i will now explain the reason of this long preamble about stainton moses. at a sitting which took place on june 19, 1895, professor newbold, conversing with george pelham, obtained from him the enunciation of doctrines which contradicted those given by stainton moses in _spirit teachings_. professor newbold[75] then asked,-"do you know of stainton moses?" george pelham.--"no, not very much. why?" professor newbold.--"did you ever know of him or know what he did?" g. p.--"i only have an idea from having met him here." professor n.--"can you tell me what he said?" g. p.--"no, only that he was w. stainton moses. i found him for e.[76] and hodgson." professor n.--"did you tell hodgson this?" g. p.--"i do not think so." at the sitting on the next day, professor newbold returns to the charge. "can you bring stainton moses here?" g. p.--"i will do my best." professor n.--"is he far advanced?" g. p.--"oh, no, i should say not. he will have to think for a while yet." professor n.--"what do you mean?" g. p.--"well, have you forgotten all i told you before?" professor n.--"you mean about progression by repentance?" g. p.--"certainly i do." professor n.--"was not he good?" g. p.--"yes, but not perfect by any means." professor n.--"was he a true medium?" g. p.--"true, yes, very true; his 'light' was very true, yet he made a great many mistakes and deceived himself." phinuit, sent to find stainton moses, ends by bringing him. george pelham warns the sitter against the confusions and incoherences of stainton moses's communications. "when he arrives," says george pelham, "i will wake him up." professor n.--"is he asleep?" g. p.--"oh, billie, you are stupid, i fear, at times. i do not mean wake him up in a material sense." professor n.--"nor did i." g. p.--"well, then, old man, don't be wasting light." professor n.--"i'm not wasting light, but i am obliged to find out what you mean." g. p.--"well, this is what i wish also." professor n.--"stainton moses has been nearly three years in the spirit.... do you mean to say that he is not yet free from confusion?" these explanatory passages would be of great value if we were sure that we were not dealing with a secondary personality of mrs piper. later still, george pelham returns to the probable mental confusion of stainton moses, and to the necessity for taking certain precautions in order to obtain clear communications. he was quite right. these sittings, in which stainton moses was the self-styled communicator, are exactly those which make the spiritualist hypothesis most difficult to accept. all the exact information given existed already in the minds of those present; all the rest was untrue. stainton moses had an excellent chance of proving his identity. we have said that he had written down the real names of his "spirit-guides" or "controls" in one of his note-books. at the time these sittings were taking place in america, frederic myers, in england, was studying these note-books in order to publish so much of them as he thought fit. he knew these names, but i believe he was the only person in the world who knew them. stainton moses was told, "give us the names of your spirit-guides; it will be a splendid proof. mr myers knows them, but we do not. we will send them to him, and if they are correct we shall no longer be able to have a reasonable doubt of your identity." the self-styled stainton moses seemed perfectly to understand what was asked of him; he gave the names, and every one of them was wrong. in october 1896 dr hodgson made george pelham understand the necessity of obtaining exact information from stainton moses, in order that the problem, which seemed to interest george pelham as much as it did dr hodgson, might be solved. stainton moses then said that he would ask the help of his former spirit-guides. the latter communicated directly several times, in november and december 1896 and in january 1897. but finally they demanded that the "light" of the medium should be put at their exclusive disposal. imperator explained that these unconsidered experiments with all sorts of spirits--more or less undeveloped and disturbed--as communicators, had made mrs piper as a medium into a machine "worn out," and incapable of being really useful. he, imperator, and his friends would be able to restore her in time. but they must have the right to keep away such communicators as they should judge likely to injure her again. dr hodgson explained the importance of trying this experiment to mrs piper in her normal state. mrs piper, docile as usual, consented. the last appearance of phinuit occurred on january 26, 1897. phinuit had formerly said, "they find fault with me, they won't understand that i do all i can, but when they do not hear my voice any longer they will regret me." however, he is not regretted. whoever the controls imperator, rector, doctor and prudens may be, since they have controlled the communications, these have acquired a coherence, clearness and exactness unknown before; errors are rare, and evident falsehood unknown. besides, mrs piper enters the trance differently. formerly there was more or less painful struggle; she had violent convulsions and spasmodic movements; at present she enters the trance quietly, as if she were falling asleep. if, in truth, mrs piper entranced is merely an automaton, a "machine," of which use is made to communicate between two worlds, it is perfectly evident that, on this side as well as the other, it is well to have honourable and experienced experimenters. phinuit was not perhaps wanting in experience, but he was assuredly wanting in honesty; or possibly he did not perceive the extreme importance of veracity in these matters; he did not lie for the pleasure of lying, but he did not hesitate to lie, if needs were, to escape from some difficulty. the new report of professor hyslop, which i am about briefly to analyse, will show us the new phase of mrs piper's mediumship. the results are already good. imperator asserts nevertheless that the "machine" still needs repair, and that he will obtain still more wonderful results by-and-by. footnotes: [74] for an account of the mediumship of w. stainton moses the reader is referred to mr f. w. h. myers's articles in the _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. ix. p. 245, and vol. xi. p. 24. [75] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xiv. p. 36. [76] another communicator. chapter xiii professor hyslop and the journalists--the so-called "confession" of mrs piper--precautions taken by professor hyslop during his experiments--impressions of the sittings. the last report[77] we possess of the phenomena accompanying mrs piper's trance is that of professor james hervey hyslop, of columbia university, new york. this report appeared in november 1901. the minutes of the sittings, the notes, the remarks of the sitter, the discussion of hypotheses, the account of experiments made at the university in order to throw light on certain points, all together make a report of 650 pages of close reading. it refers, notwithstanding, only to sixteen sittings, of which the first took place on december 23, 1898. but the smallest incidents and the slightest arguments are scrupulously weighed. it is, in short, a work of considerable extent. professor hyslop has an absolutely sincere and very lucid mind. it is a pleasure to follow him through this mass of facts and arguments; everything is scrupulously classified, and the whole is illuminated by a high intelligence. professor hyslop occupies with good right an eminent place amongst the thinkers of the united states. besides his classes, he gives numerous lectures, which are well attended. the report he has published has been long waited for. as he is a man of mark and has long occupied himself with psychical research, the inquisitive journalists on the other side of the atlantic quickly found out that he had been experimenting with mrs piper. he was interviewed; he was prudent, and contented himself with recommending the reporters to study the preceding reports published upon the same case. but reporters are not so easily contented; they have to satisfy an exacting master in the public, which wants to know everything, and which would cease to purchase any paper simple enough to say, "i have done all i could to get information on this point for you, but i have failed." the public will have none of such honesty as that, though if a falsehood is offered, it is not angry; in the first place, because at the moment it does not recognise the falsehood, and in the second, because by the time it finds out it is busy over something else. consequently, as they must live, journalists find themselves sometimes obliged to invent. so the reporters put into professor hyslop's mouth the following sensational words, "in a year i shall be able to demonstrate the immortality of the soul scientifically." these words were reproduced by the greater number of the american papers and by a large number of english ones. specialist publications in france in their turn commented on them. it will be understood with what eagerness the report was expected after this by all men interested in psychical studies. they have not been disappointed. professor hyslop is too modest for such unbounded pretension; he knows that the great problem will not be solved at one stroke, nor by one man. "i do not claim," he says, "to demonstrate anything scientifically, not even the facts i offer." this phrase does not at all resemble the declaration put into his mouth. but if he has not definitively and scientifically proved the immortality of the soul, he has approached the problem very nearly and thrown a vivid light on more than one point. in any case the journalists have advertised him thoroughly, perhaps without intending it. speaking of journalists, i must relate another quite recent incident, which is interesting to us, as it concerns mrs piper personally. one of the editors of the _new york herald_ interviewed mrs piper and on october 20, 1901, published an article somewhat speciously entitled, "the confessions of mrs leonora piper." in this article it was stated that mrs piper intended to give up the work she had been doing for the s.p.r. in order to devote herself to other and more congenial pursuits, that it was on account of her own desire to understand the phenomena that she first allowed her trances to be investigated and placed herself in the hands of scientific men, with the understanding that she should submit to any tests they chose to apply, and that now, after fourteen years' work, the subject not being yet cleared up, she felt disinclined for further investigation. her own view of the phenomena was expressed in this article as follows:--"the theory of telepathy strongly appeals to me as the most plausible and genuinely scientific solution of the problem.... i do not believe that spirits of the dead have spoken through me when i have been in the trance state.... it may be that they have, but i do not affirm it.... i never heard of anything being said by myself during a trance which might not have been latent in my own mind or in the mind of the person in charge of the sitting, or in the mind of the person trying to get communication with someone in another state of existence, or of some companion present with such a person, or in the mind of some absent person alive somewhere else in the world." in the _boston advertiser_ of october 25, 1901, there appeared a statement dictated by mrs piper to a representative of the paper, saying that she had made no such statement as that published in _the new york herald_ to the effect that "spirits of the departed do not control" her, and later in the _boston journal_ for october 29, 1901, there appeared an account of interviews with dr hodgson and mrs piper, in which mrs piper stated that though she had said "something to the effect that" she "would never hold another sitting with mr hodgson," and that she "would die first" to a _new york herald_ reporter the summer before, when she gave the original interview, she now intended, regardless of whatever may have been said, to go on with the present arrangement with dr hodgson and the society as formerly. she still held and expressed the view that the manifestations are not spiritualistic, and felt that the telepathic theory is more probable than the spiritualistic hypothesis. it will be seen that in none of these reports is there any justification for the somewhat sensational use of the word "confessions" in the original article. mrs piper made no statements, as the use of that word suggests, concerning the source of her knowledge; she expressed her preference for one of two hypothetical explanations of the origin of that knowledge. no question was raised in the original article as to mrs piper's honesty or as to the genuineness of her trance phenomena; on the contrary she is represented by the reporter of the _new york herald_ as holding a view of those phenomena which asserts that they are not fraudulent. she expresses her personal preference for the telepathic hypothesis rather than the spiritualist hypothesis as an explanation of them; on this point it should be remembered that the medium is not in a more favourable position for forming an opinion than those who sit with her, since she does not remember what passes while she is in trance, and is therefore dependent for her knowledge on the reports of the sitters. the allegation of the _new york herald_ as to her intention to discontinue the sittings was unfounded; after a suspension of some months owing to the state of her health, she gave a sitting to dr hodgson on october 21, the day after the article in the _herald_ appeared, and it was then arranged to resume the sittings after a further interval of three months. this has been done, and mrs piper gave sittings to dr hodgson all through the spring of last year, and is still doing so through the winter of 1902-1903. the reader will excuse this digression on a subject which made some stir at the time, and is interesting as throwing light on the medium's own attitude towards her trance phenomena. to return to professor hyslop's report. professor hyslop told only his wife and dr hodgson of his intention to have sittings with mrs piper. the days were fixed, not with mrs piper in the normal state, but with imperator, the chief of the present controls, while she was in trance. now we must never forget that mrs piper has no recollection of what happens during the trance. professor hyslop's name was not given to imperator; dr hodgson called him the "four times friend," because professor hyslop had at first asked for four sittings. i should not call this a transparent pseudonym. professor hyslop had once been present at one of mrs piper's sittings, and his name had been pronounced. although there seemed to be small chance of her recognising him, as the sitting had taken place six years before, and professor hyslop did not then wear a beard as he now does, he put on a mask while he was in a closed carriage at some distance from mrs piper's house. he kept on his mask during the first two sittings, and then the precaution became useless, because his father's name was pronounced by mrs piper at the end of the second. dr hodgson presented him as mr smith, which name is given to all new sitters. professor hyslop never spoke before mrs piper in her normal state, except twice to utter short sentences, and he took pains to change his voice as much as possible. he avoided all contact with the medium throughout all the sitting. most of the facts were obtained from the communicators without previous questioning. when professor hyslop was obliged to ask a question, he did so in such a way that it did not contain a suggestion of the answer. to prevent mrs piper's seeing him during the sitting, he kept always behind her right shoulder, the easiest position too for reading the writing. but when we recollect that mrs piper's head is always buried in pillows during the trance, we shall think this a superfluous precaution. as i have said in the preceding chapter, phinuit no longer manifests. this is what now appears to take place on the "other side." rector places himself in the "machine," and it is he who produces the automatic writing. this rector seems to have had much experience of these phenomena. the communicator comes close to rector and speaks to him, in whatever manner spirits may speak. imperator remains outside the "machine," and prevents the approach of all those likely to injure it, or who have nothing to do with the sitter. besides, before he allows a communicator to enter the "machine," he gives him advice as to what he should do, and helps him to arrange and clear up his ideas. imperator's two other helpers, doctor and prudens, appear but rarely. george pelham appears sometimes, when his services are needed. the communicators were few in number during professor hyslop's sixteen sittings. they were, his father, robert hyslop, who gave much the most important communications; his uncle, carruthers; his cousin, robert harvey macclellan; his brother charles, who died in 1864, aged four years and a half; his sister annie, who also died in 1864, aged three years; his uncle, james macclellan; and lastly, another macclellan named john. professor hyslop's father, robert hyslop, is the communicator who takes up the greater part of the sittings. but he cannot remain long in the "machine," he complains of having his ideas confused, of suffocating or getting weak; for example, he says, "i am getting weak, james, i am going away for a moment; wait for me." during these absences imperator sends another member of the family in his place "so that the light may not be wasted." it would thus seem that the "weakness" which the spirits complain of is only a feeling they have when they have been in contact with the "machine" for a certain time; imperator says that then they are like a sick and delirious man. this explains the words of george pelham, "you must not ask of us just what we have not got--strength." but it is indispensable to say that the former communicators did not explain enough about this weakness; and they were not sufficiently well inspired to go out when they felt it coming on. dr hodgson at last, having often remarked this semi-delirium of the communicators towards the end of a sitting, when the light was failing, succeeded in suggesting to them to go away when they felt themselves getting weak. the possibility of this suggestion is interesting to those who prefer the hypothesis of telepathy. footnotes: [77] professor hyslop's report is contained in _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xvi. chapter xiv the communications of mr robert hyslop--peculiar expressions--incidents. after we have read the report of professor hyslop, weighed the slightest facts with him, discussed the arguments for and against with him, we cannot be surprised at his having ended by adhering to the spiritualist hypothesis; in other words, we cannot be surprised that, in spite of his previous prejudice, he should have ended by exclaiming, "i have been talking with my father, my brother, my uncles. whatever supernormal powers we may be pleased to attribute to mrs piper's secondary personalities, it would be difficult to make me believe that these secondary personalities could have thus completely reconstituted the mental personality of my dead relatives. to admit this would involve me in too many improbabilities. i prefer to believe that i have been talking to my dead relatives in person; it is simpler." this is the conclusion at which professor hyslop has arrived, and he takes the reader with him, in spite of himself. as may be imagined, i do not pretend to do the same in a hurried sketch like the present. here, as was the case with george pelham, the incidents quoted are only examples selected from a great number; some important detail of the said incidents may even be accidentally omitted. if the forgotten detail lays the incident open to some great objection, the reader must blame me only for it, and turn to professor hyslop's book for himself.[78] professor hyslop's father, mr robert hyslop, was a private person in the strictest sense of the word; he never did anything to attract public attention to him; he did not write in the papers, and never, or hardly ever, lived in towns. he was born in 1821, and lived on his farm in ohio till 1889, when he went into a neighbouring state. he returned to his old home in august 1896, ill with a sort of cancer of the larynx. the old home then belonged to his brother-in-law, james carruthers, and he died there on the 29th of the same month. in 1860 he had contracted a spinal affection, the result of over-exertion, and this had degenerated, some years later, into locomotor ataxy; he lost by degrees the use of one of his legs and used a crutch; there was afterwards an improvement, but he could never walk without a stick. in 1876 he had a slight attack of apoplexy, which affected his hearing, one ear being quite deaf. three years before his death he further had the misfortune to lose his voice, probably from paralysis of the larynx. a year before his death a fresh affliction was added to all the others; he thought it was catarrh, but it was probably cancer of the larynx; and it was accompanied by frequent spasms which threatened his life. in short, for thirty-five years at least, mr robert hyslop was an invalid. his life was by necessity passed indoors, or at least on his farm. this life was necessarily without events calculated to attract a stranger's notice. there was consequently very little possibility that the medium could obtain information about him by normal means. but when an obscure man like mr robert hyslop returns from the beyond to establish his identity by relating a number of small facts, too slight and unimportant to have been observed outside his intimate circle, such a man furnishes us with a much stronger presumption in favour of a future life than a personage in public life could do. even if the latter only reported incidents of his private life, it would be easier to suppose that the medium had been able to procure them. during nearly all his life, but principally during the last twenty years, the thoughts of mr robert hyslop turned on a small number of subjects--his solicitude for his family; the administration of his farm, which gave him much care; the fulfilment of his religious duties, in which he never failed; and lastly, political events, which much interested him, because they naturally reacted upon his private affairs. consequently the greater part of the facts i shall quote belonged to one or other of these four categories of his preoccupations. but, to begin with, it will be useful to speak of a point which characterises an individual as clearly as his features do--i mean his speech. each of us has his own language, his familiar expressions; each of us expresses himself in his own way under given circumstances. when buffon said "the style is the man," he expressed an absolute truth. when somebody talks to us by telephone, without giving his name, we say, without a shade of hesitation, "it is so-and-so. i know him by his style." i repeat that everybody has this individuality of expression; it is, however, less marked in educated people. but men only slightly cultivated use stereotyped expressions, above all when they are growing old; the language of some of them is almost entirely composed of aphorisms and proverbs. if mr robert hyslop did not altogether belong to this class, he yet, his son tells us, used particular expressions, and always the same in analogous cases; some of them indeed were altogether peculiar to him. now, when he communicates through mrs piper, he uses the same language that he used when alive. professor hyslop has incessantly occasion to remark, "this expression is quite like my father; he would have used it when he was alive in such a case." there is even a passage of the communications so characteristic in this way that it is nearly too much so; it would almost suggest fraud. i will reproduce one of these passages.[79] "keep quiet, don't worry about anything, as i used to say. it does not pay. you are not the strongest man, you know, and health is important for you. cheer up now and be quite yourself. remember it does not pay, and life is too short there for you to spend it in worrying. what you cannot have, be content without, but do not worry, and not for me. devoted you were to me always, and i have nothing to complain of except your uneasy temperament, and that i will certainly help." when a father has repeated the same advice in the same terms hundreds of times in his life, and when, after his death, he repeats it again through an intermediary, it must certainly be difficult to say, "that is not he; it is not my father." i should much like to give the reader the greatest possible number of these small facts, which convince us almost in spite of ourselves. but it is impossible to do so without surrounding them with commentaries indispensable to bring out all their importance. thus, mr robert had a horse named tom, an old and faithful servant. it had grown too old to work, but he would not kill it. he pensioned it, so to speak, and left it to die a natural death on the farm. at one sitting he asks, "where is tom?" and as james hyslop did not understand what tom he was speaking of, the communicator added, "tom, the horse, what has become of him?" mr robert hyslop wrote with quill pens, which he trimmed himself; he had often trimmed them for his son james. he recalls this detail about the quill pens at one of the sittings. he was very bald, and had complained of feeling his head cold during the night. his wife made him a black cap which he wore once. at one of the sittings he spoke of this cap. james hyslop, who had been away from home a long time, had never heard of any black cap. but he wrote to his step-mother, who corroborated the statement. at another sitting the communicator, robert hyslop, said that there were always two bottles on his desk, one round and one square. professor hyslop was ignorant of this detail, as of the preceding. his step-mother, when questioned, had difficulty in remembering this, but his brother recalled it at once; the round bottle held ink and the square one contained gum. another time robert hyslop asks, "do you remember the penknife i cut my nails with?" "no, father, not very well." "the little penknife with the brown handle. i had it in my vest and then coat pocket. you certainly must remember it?" "was this after you went west?" "yes." professor hyslop was unaware of the existence of this penknife. he wrote separately to his step-mother, brother and sister, asking them if their father had possessed a brown-handled penknife with which he cut his nails, without telling them why he wanted this information. all three replied, "yes, we have it still." but it appears that mr robert hyslop did not keep the knife either in his coat or waistcoat pockets, but in his trousers pocket. these little facts will suffice as examples. i will go on to more important ones. mr robert hyslop had a son who had caused him much anxiety all his life. he had often talked of these anxieties to his favourite son james, and had died carrying them with him into the grave. he speaks of them repeatedly during the sittings exactly as he did in life. "don't you remember, james, that we often talked of your brother and the trouble he gave us? don't worry about it any more, all will go well now, and if i know that you do not worry i shall be all right." he remembers all the members of his family and names them correctly, except for two odd mistakes of which i shall speak later. he alludes to incidents in the lives, and traits in the characters of each of them. he sends them expressions of affection, "have i forgotten anybody, james, my son? i should not like to forget anybody." he specially asks after his youngest child, henrietta; he wants to know if she has succeeded in her examinations, and he expresses delight when he hears that, on the whole, life promises well for her. mr robert hyslop was an orthodox calvinist; he belonged to the small, very strict sect of associate presbyterians and refused to join the united presbyterian church in 1858. he was extremely rigid in religious matters. when he caused his son james to be educated, he hoped the latter would become a minister, though he left him free choice. when he saw his son modify his religious beliefs he was very much pained. by degrees, however, he became resigned. it is easy to understand from all this that religious preoccupations were in the foreground in his mind. he often talked of religion to his family, he read the bible and numerous commentaries on it, and sometimes, rather than allow his family to go to the church of a less orthodox sect, he himself preached to them at home. consequently, if he had not alluded to his former religious life during the sittings, the omission might have caused a grave doubt of his identity. but this is not the case; he constantly alludes to his ancient religious ideas. at one of the first sittings he says, for example, "do you remember what my feeling was about this life? well, i was not so far wrong after all. i felt sure that there would be some knowledge of this life but you were doubtful, remember you had your own ideas, which were only yours, james." this last phrase, "you have your own ideas," professor hyslop remarks, had been often repeated to him by his father in his lifetime. "he meant that i was the only one of his children who was sceptical, and this was true." robert hyslop's former religious ideas were the cause of a strange incident. one day dr hodgson said to him, "mr hyslop, you ought to look for my father and make friends with him. he had religious ideas like yours. i think you would understand each other very well, and i should be pleased." at a following sitting the communicator said to dr hodgson, "i have met your father; we talked, and we liked each other very much, but he was not very orthodox when he was alive." dr hodgson's father was really a wesleyan--that is to say, he belonged to a very liberal sect. but in another place robert hyslop adds, "orthodoxy does not matter here; i should have changed my mind about many things if i had known." in another sitting he says to his son, alluding to the telepathic hypothesis, "let that thought theory alone. i made theories all my life, and what good did it do me? it only filled my mind with doubts." in short, it appears that robert hyslop, the rigid calvinist, has greatly modified his views since he has been disincarnated. at the last visit professor hyslop paid to his father, in january or february 1895, a long conversation took place between them on religious and philosophical subjects. professor hyslop spoke of his psychical studies. the possibility of communication between the two worlds was discussed at length, and swedenborg and his works were mentioned. during the sittings robert hyslop constantly returns to this conversation, which had made a profound impression on him; much more profound than would have been expected, considering his religious views. he recalls the points which were discussed by him and his son one after another, and adds, "you remember i promised to come back to you after i had left the body, and i have been trying to find an opportunity ever since." now, no such promise had been made explicitly. but james hyslop had written to his father on his deathbed, "father, when all is over, you will try to come back to me." robert hyslop must from that moment have resolved to return if possible; and he must have believed he had told his son so, which was not the case. when he was living in ohio, mr robert hyslop had a neighbour named samuel cooper. one day cooper's dogs killed some sheep belonging to robert hyslop. an estrangement followed, which lasted several years. at one of the sittings in which dr hodgson represented professor hyslop, he asked a question which the latter had sent him in writing. professor hyslop hoped the question would turn his father's attention to the incidents of his life in ohio. the question was, "do you remember samuel cooper, and can you say anything about him?" the communicator replied, "james refers to the old friend i had in the west. i remember the visits we used to make to each other well, and the long talks we had concerning philosophical topics." at another sitting, when dr hodgson was again alone, he returned to the same idea. "i had a friend named cooper who was of a philosophical turn of mind and for whom i had great respect, with whom i had some friendly discussion and correspondence. i had some of his letters ... you will find them." another time, when professor hyslop was present, he said, "i am trying to remember cooper's school." the next day he returns to the point, "you asked me, james, what i knew about cooper. did you think i was no longer friend of his? i had kept some of his letters; and i think they were with you." in all this there was not a trace of samuel cooper, and professor hyslop did not know what to think. he therefore put a direct question in order to bring his father back to the point he had in mind. "i wanted to know if you remembered anything about the dogs killing sheep?" "oh, i should think i did ... but i had forgotten all about it. that was what we had the discussion about.... yes, very well, james, but just what you asked me this for i could not quite make out as he was no relation of mine ... if i could have recalled what you were getting at i would have tried to tell you. he is here, but i see him seldom." this episode is interesting. all that robert hyslop said at first about cooper has nothing to do with samuel cooper, but is entirely true of an old friend of his, dr joseph cooper. robert hyslop had really had many philosophical discussions with him, and they had corresponded. professor hyslop had perhaps heard his name, but did not know that he was an old friend of his father. it was his step-mother who told him this, in the course of an inquiry he made amongst his relatives to clear up doubtful incidents in the sittings. we see that disincarnated beings are capable of misunderstanding as well as ourselves. but the following is the most dramatic incident. professor hyslop, remembering that his father had thought his last illness catarrh, while he himself believed it to be cancer of the larynx, asked the communicator a question aimed at bringing up the word "catarrh." he asked, "do you know what the trouble was when you passed out?" the double meaning of the word "trouble" caused a curious misunderstanding, which the telepathic hypothesis will find it difficult to explain. the communicator replied in distress, "no, i did not realise that we had the least trouble, james, ever. i thought we were always most congenial to each other. i do not remember any trouble--tell me what it was about? you do not mean with me, do you?" "father, you misunderstand me. i mean with the sickness." "oh, yes, i hear--i know now. yes, my stomach." "yes, was there anything else the matter?" "yes, stomach, liver and head--difficult to breathe. my heart, james, made me suffer. don't you remember what a trouble i had to breathe? i think it was my heart which made me suffer the most--my heart and my lungs. tightness of the chest--my heart failed me; but at last i went to sleep." a little further on he says, "do you know, the last thing i recall is your speaking to me. and you were the last to do so. i remember seeing your face; but i was too weak to answer." this dialogue at first disconcerted professor hyslop. he had tried to make his father tell the name of the malady from which the latter thought he suffered--catarrh. it was only when he read over the notes of the sitting, a little later, that he perceived all at once that his father had been describing the last hours of his life in the terms habitual to him. professor hyslop had been mistaken again. the doctor had noticed pain in the stomach at 7 a.m. the heart action began to decline at 9.30; this was shortly followed by terrible difficulty in breathing, and death followed. when his father's eyelids fell, james hyslop said, "he is gone," and he was the last to speak. this last incident seems to indicate that consciousness in the dying lasts much longer than is believed. soon after professor hyslop asked his father if he remembered some special medicine he had sent him from new york. the communicator had much trouble in remembering the very strange name of this medicine, but ended by giving it, though incorrectly spelled. during the first fifteen sittings professor hyslop had asked as few questions as possible, and when he was obliged to do so, he had so expressed them that they should not contain the answer. but at the 16th sitting he abandoned this reserve intentionally. he wished to see what the result would be if he took the same tone with the communicator as is taken with a friend in flesh and blood. professor hyslop says, "the result was that i talked with my disincarnated father with as much ease as if i were talking with him living, through the telephone. we understood each other at a hint, as in an ordinary conversation." they spoke of everything--of a fence which robert hyslop was thinking of repairing when he died; of the taxes he had left unpaid; of the cares two of his children had caused him, one of whom had never given him much satisfaction, while the other was an invalid; of the election of president m'kinley and of many other things. can it be said that there were no inexact statements made by the communicator during all these sittings? there are some, but very few. i shall speak of them in the following chapter. in any case, there is no trace of a single intentional untruth in the whole sixteen sittings. footnotes: [78] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xvi. in what follows here there is no attempt to give the actual words of professor hyslop's communicators. _trans._ [79] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xvi. p. 40. chapter xv the "influence" again--other incidents--statistics. at this point i must return to a fact which is surprising on any hypothesis we may prefer: the utility of presenting to the medium objects which have belonged to the person from whom we wish to obtain the supposed communications. phinuit used to say that he found the "influence" of the dead persons on these objects, and the "influence" was all the stronger if the object had been worn or carried long, and if it had passed through few hands; different successive "influences" seem to weaken one another. i have said that we are totally ignorant of the nature of this "influence," but i have also said that it might not improbably be supposed to consist of vibrations left by our thoughts and feelings upon material objects. however this may be, phinuit seemed to read this "influence," and draw from it the greater part of the information he gave. generally, in spite of his affirmations to the contrary, he did not appear to be in direct relation with the communicators at all. since the disappearance of the phinuit _régime_ and the appearance of that of imperator, the presentation of small objects is still of use; but it must be remarked that it has never been indispensable, and that communicators often appear without having been attracted by any "influence." but under the present system the information received appears to be much less read from the "influence"; there is much more sense of the real presence of the communicators. of what use, then, are the small objects given to the medium? neither the controls nor the communicators have explained, which is a pity. under the new system managed by imperator and his helpers such small articles seem chiefly useful for "holding" the communicator, for preventing his going away, and for maintaining a certain cohesion in his thoughts. rector constantly repeats, "give me something to keep him and clear up his ideas." the communicator would apparently need a _point de repère_ in order to remain at the desired place, and this _point de repère_ would be furnished him by some object he has often used, the "influence" left on which he seems to perceive more clearly than anything else. according to george pelham, we may also suppose that the communicator somehow perceives the mind of the sitter, but this mind is imprisoned in matter, and greatly clouded by it; the communicator only recognises the mind of the sitter when it is functioning actively, if i may thus express it; when the sitter is thinking, and, above all, thinking of the communicator. this is why, when the communicator perceives that his ideas are becoming confused, he constantly says reproachfully to the sitter, "oh! why don't you speak? say something to me, help me. you want me to work for you, but you will not do anything for me." the dead cousin of professor hyslop, robert macclellan, says to him, for example, "speak to me, for heaven's sake. help me to reach you." analogous passages are very numerous. i return to professor hyslop's report. the most important communicator after his father during the sittings was his uncle carruthers, whose name, however, was always mangled by rector, and given as _clarke_ or _charles_. this uncle had died only twenty days before the first sitting.[80] at his first communication he inquires anxiously about his wife eliza, robert hyslop's sister, whom his death had left desolate. "it is i, james," he says to the inquirer. "give my love to eliza; tell her not to get discouraged, she will be better soon. i see her often in despair." professor hyslop asks, "do you know why she grieves?" "yes, because i left her; but i did not really leave her. i wish i could tell you all i would like ... you would not think i had left entirely. will you comfort her? she ought not to be left lonely." "yes, i will comfort her." "i am so glad!" at that time professor hyslop did not guess that his aunt was so completely alone and in such deep despair. he only found this out on inquiry. i will quote another incident of "uncle carruthers'" communications, because on account of its stamp of vivid realism it is one of those which the telepathic hypothesis does not explain satisfactorily. mr carruthers suddenly perceives the presence of dr hodgson and says, "you are not robert hyslop's son, are you? you are not george."[81] dr hodgson replies, "no, i am not george." "no, james, i know you very well, but this one" (speaking again to dr hodgson), "did you know the boys? did you know me?" i shall only quote one more incident of these interesting sittings. the communicator this time is professor hyslop's brother charles, who died in 1864 aged four and a half. robert hyslop's last child had been born long after charles's death. "james, i am your brother charles. i am happy. give my love to my new sister henrietta. tell her i shall know her some day. our father often talks of her." a little further comes this curious phrase, "our father would much like you to have his pictures, _if you are still in the body, james_." i have said there were some inexact statements, but they are very few. i will quote two concerning proper names. the family name of "uncle carruthers" could never be given properly. he was always called uncle charles or clarke. the error is probably attributable to rector, to whom the name carruthers was not familiar. the other mistake is odder still, though it may also be attributed to rector. robert hyslop's second wife was named margaret, familiarly called maggie. now, although it was impossible to misunderstand when robert hyslop was talking of his wife, this name maggie never came correctly. professor hyslop waited a long time without rectifying the mistake; he waited for the communicator to perceive it and correct it himself, but this spontaneous correction was not made. at last he wanted the matter cleared up, and dr hodgson explained that the name of professor hyslop's step-mother had not been given. rector, failing to understand, gave up his place to george pelham, who began by administering a tolerably sharp scolding to the sitters. "well, why do you not come out and say, give me my step-mother's name, and not confuse him about anything except what you really want? by jove! i remember how you confused me, and i don't want any more of it. i am going to find out, and if your step-mother has a name you shall have it." george pelham went out of the "machine" and returned shortly, saying, "i do not see any reason for anxiety about _margaret_." margaret was really the name asked for, but one would have expected to obtain it in its more habitual form, maggie. however, it is easy to understand that robert hyslop should not have given the familiar name of his wife to a stranger like george pelham. while professor hyslop was preparing his report, a number of his friends who knew of his researches asked him what proportion of truth and error he had met with in these manifestations. this frequently-repeated question suggested to him the idea of making tables in which this proportion should be made clear at a glance. this kind of statistics would be important for the class of persons who think themselves stronger-minded than the rest, and who tell you, "i only believe in the eloquence of figures." such people do not realise that battalions of figures are like battalions of men, not always so strong as is supposed. however, professor hyslop took all the "incidents" or statements made by the communicators and classed them according to the amount of truth or error they contained. he then divided the incidents into factors. i will give an example which will help me to define later on what professor hyslop means by _incident_ and _factor_[82]: "my aunt susan visited my brother." this is an incident, or statement of a complete fact. this incident is composed of four factors which are not necessarily connected with one another. the first is _my aunt_, the second the name _susan_, the third the _visit_, the fourth _my brother_. therefore an incident may be defined as a name, a conception or a combination of conceptions forming an independent fact; it may be again a combination of possibly independent facts forming a single whole in the mind of the communicator. the factors would be the facts, names, actions, or events which do not necessarily suggest each other, or which are not necessarily suggested by a given name or fact. naturally, in tables constructed on these lines, the facts cannot be classified according to their importance as _proofs_; they can only be reckoned as true or false. thus incidents which have only a restricted value as proofs are on a level with others which are in themselves very valuable as proofs. this is really the weak point of these statistics. the proofs need to be examined one by one, and not as a whole. however, the tables have one advantage; the greatest sceptic, after a glance at them, can no longer invoke chance, the great _deus ex machinâ_ of the ignorant and indolent. professor hyslop has constructed a table for each sitting, and a table of the sittings as a whole. i cannot reproduce these tables for the readers, who would require the notes of the sittings to understand them. i shall only give the definite results. thus, out of 205 incidents, 152 are classed as true, 37 as indeterminate, and only 16 as false. out of the 927 factors composing these incidents, 717 are classed as true, 167 as indeterminate, and 43 as false.[83] it should be said that professor hyslop has perhaps overestimated the number of false and unverifiable incidents. many incidents or factors classed as false or unverifiable have been later found to be exact. and besides, the incidents of a transcendental and consequently unverifiable nature might have been omitted from these tables. but in this case again it has been thought better to give the false and doubtful facts full play. the reader must draw from these results whatever conclusion seems to him the most correct. footnotes: [80] _see_ professor hyslop's report, _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xvi. p. 90, etc., for "carruthers." [81] name of one of professor hyslop's brothers. [82] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xvi. p. 115. [83] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xvi. p. 121. chapter xvi examination of the telepathic hypothesis--some arguments which render its acceptance difficult. i have mentioned in passing what should be understood by the word _telepathy_. i shall repeat my explanation; it is necessary that the reader should have it well in mind, as in this chapter i am about to examine the telepathic hypothesis and endeavour to find out if it will cover the facts which we are studying. by telepathy is here meant, not only the power of obtaining information from the consciousness and subconsciousness of the sitters on the part of the secondary personalities of mrs piper, but also their power to read the consciousness and subconsciousness of persons somewhere or anywhere else on earth, no matter where, distance in no way increasing the difficulty of this reading. this is evidently among hypotheses a wide and far-reaching one, and yet, if we reject the spiritualistic hypothesis, there is no other which will cover all the facts. the following arguments here briefly indicated are, with others, developed at length in professor hyslop's book. i shall not again go over those which circumstances have necessitated my explaining with sufficient clearness before in the course of this work. to begin with, what is the origin of this telepathic hypothesis? is it justified by the facts of experimental or spontaneous observation among psychologists? certainly not; if we only reckoned the experiments and observations of official psychology, the hypothesis of telepathy, as we understand it, would be almost unfounded. this hypothesis is in reality founded on our ignorance; we may admit it temporarily, because we are ignorant of the latent powers of the human mind, and because we have every reason to think these latent powers great and numerous. i think that the first wide use of it was made in the famous book by gurney, myers, and podmore, _phantasms of the living_. the telepathic hypothesis might very well be admitted as an explanation of the facts recorded in that book, although the spiritualistic hypothesis would explain them as well, or even better. but when we are considering other facts, such as those of mrs piper's trance, for example, the telepathic hypothesis, in order to explain them, must be stretched beyond permitted limits. in the first place, with regard to reading the consciousness of those present, it would seem that, if we were dealing with telepathy, the so-called communicator ought generally to bring out the facts of which the sitters have been thinking most intently. but this hardly ever happens; in professor hyslop's sittings it never happens. certainly many of the incidents related were in the consciousness of the sitters, but the latter were not thinking about them till the communicator recalled them. for the same way, if we were dealing with telepathy, it is to be supposed that the communicators would be the persons whom the sitters expect. now this is far from being the case. in the fifteen years during which mrs piper's mediumship has been studied, a great number of communicators have appeared about whom nobody was thinking. professor hyslop, among others, says that he has met with several communicators whom he did not in the least expect. others whom he expected did not appear. it is a fact worthy of remark that in professor hyslop's sittings only those persons appeared who were capable of telling something of a nature to prove their identity; the others seem to have been systematically put aside by imperator, even when information concerning them was abundant in the consciousness and subconsciousness of the sitter. it would seem that, if we were dealing with telepathy, the self-styled communicators would most easily utter the least remote ideas of the sitters' minds; the nearest, most vivid ideas ought to appear first. now this is far from being the case. it seems to make no difference to the communicator whether the idea is familiar or otherwise to the minds of the living. when it is a question of facts entirely unknown to the sitters and known only to persons living at a great distance, this distance might be expected to affect telepathic mind-reading; nothing in nature authorises us to neglect this law of distance. we can only conceive the telepathic process as a propulsion of waves through space; these waves should decrease with distance; the contrary is absolutely inconceivable. now this does not happen; if the fact exists only in the consciousness of a person who is at the time at the far ends of the earth, it makes no difference in the precision of the details. if an analogy should be made between telepathy--as we must conceive it, to explain the phenomena--and wireless telegraphy, mrs piper entranced must be regarded as a mere coherer of the telepathic waves. but this analogy is non-existent; wireless telegraphy is far from being unaffected by distance, and besides, when the coherer functions, it is because another instrument is emitting particular waves. when a fact known only to a distant person is reported, as in mrs piper's phenomena, it rarely happens that the distant person was actively thinking of the fact, which was lying unnoticed in the lowest strata of his consciousness. when the experimenter makes his inquiries at the conclusion of the sitting, it is often found that a definite effort on the part of the absent person is required before the fact is recalled to memory. it would be well to reflect before we grant to telepathy a power of omniscience, independent of all known laws. another well-observed fact, opposed to the telepathic theory, is the selection made amongst incidents by the communicator. if we were dealing with telepathy, the secondary personalities of the medium would sometimes be mistaken, make blunders, record facts which the so-called communicator could never have known, but which the sitter alone knows well. now this never happens. the reported facts are always common to at least two consciousnesses, that of the communicator and that of the sitter, or that of the communicator and that of a distant person. the inaccuracies prove nothing against this argument; if they are wilful falsehoods they simply prove that the communicator is a liar, and not that he is a secondary personality of mrs piper. if the reported facts are unverifiable, this does not prove that they are inexact. if the telepathic theory expresses the truth, we must grant an almost infinite power to telepathy. this supposition is indispensable to account for the facts. then how shall we understand the errors and confusions of the communicators? how can an infinite power seem at times so limited, so finite, when the conditions remain unchanged? on the other hand, the lapses of memory and confusions are quite explicable on the spiritualistic theory; we cannot reasonably think that a change so great as death should not induce some disturbance of mind, at least temporarily, or should not greatly weaken certain groups of memories which, in the new surroundings, have no longer any practical use. a change of communicators has always been frequent, but was especially so in professor hyslop's sittings. mr robert hyslop constantly says to his son, "james, i am getting weak; wait for me, i am coming back." and then another communicator appears on the spot. the telepathic hypothesis cannot explain this fact; it would seem quite natural that the communicator should be always the same. to explain it, another hypothesis--that of suggestion on the part of the sitter--must be added to the telepathic hypothesis. but the spiritualistic hypothesis, on the other hand, explains this perfectly well, even though we may be compelled to reckon with the complications which the admission of the existence of another world may introduce. the existence of the self-styled intermediaries between sitter and communicator is another fact which does not fit in with the telepathic theory. formerly phinuit was the most common intermediary; then george pelham collaborated with him; in professor hyslop's sittings, and, i believe, in all subsequent sittings since the installation of the imperator _régime_, the intermediary is rector. it is he who presides at the functioning of the "machine," because he is particularly competent--so say the communicators. these intermediaries have very defined and life-like characters. phinuit, george pelham and rector are as unlike each other as possible. what, on the telepathic hypothesis, has had the power to create them? mrs piper's secondary personalities should have incarnated the communicator without intermediary. in order to understand this ephemeral reconstitution of a consciousness which has for ever vanished, we should have to allow that the scattered elements of this consciousness had temporarily grouped themselves around the _point de repère_ formed by the secondary personality of mrs piper. we should then see how difficult it is to explain the presence of these intermediaries. but if, on the other hand, we accept the spiritualistic hypothesis as well founded, we must admit that these intermediaries account for their presence very plausibly. here is another argument, which, i think, is very strong, against the hypothesis of telepathy. subjects in the hypnotic state, and the secondary personalities which appear in this hypnotic state, according to the precise and decisive experiments made by modern science, have an extremely definite notion of time. if you tell a hypnotised subject to perform an action in a year, at such an hour and minute, he will never fail, so to speak, although when he is awakened there remains in his memory no trace of the order. now the communicators, in the phenomena we are studying, have an extremely vague notion of time, because, they say, time is not a concept of the world in which they live. how is it that telepathy, which can do so much, owns itself incapable, or nearly so, of determining the moment when an action has been performed? what prevents it from reading the idea of time, as well as any other idea, in the minds of the persons present, since the notion of time is as clear and precise in them at least as any other notion? to conclude, i should say that we are entirely ignorant of the point where the powers of telepathy begin and end. what i have just said makes the telepathic hypothesis an unlikely explanation; but, as boileau said long ago, "le vrai peut quelque fois n'être pas vraisemblable"--truth may sometimes be unlikely. chapter xvii some considerations which strongly support the spiritualistic hypothesis--consciousness and character remain unchanged--dramatic play--errors and confusions. the unity of character and consciousness in the communicators is one of the reasons which most strongly support the spiritualistic hypothesis. if we were dealing with mrs piper's secondary personalities, the first difficulty would be found in their great number. i do not know the exact number of communicators who have asserted their appearance by means of her organism. but several hundreds may be found in the reports of the society for psychical research, and they are certainly far from being all mentioned. now each communicator has kept the same character throughout, to such an extent that, with a little practice, it is possible to recognise the communicator at the first sentence he utters, if he has already communicated. some of the communicators only appear at long intervals, but nevertheless they remain unchanged. but, on the telepathic hypothesis, it is not easy to understand that a self-styled communicator, a merely ephemeral consciousness reconstituted out of the scattered recollections of the sitters, should be thus reconstituted only at long intervals, suddenly, often without apparent cause, and always with the same characteristics. this unity of consciousness and character is particularly evident in the controls--that is, in such of the communicators as have appeared uninterruptedly for years, on account of their acting as intermediaries for others, and helping them with their experience. if it cannot reasonably be admitted that the occasional communicators are only secondary personalities of the medium, the impossibility must be extended to the controls. either all the communicators are, without exception, secondary personalities, or none of them are; for all give the same impression of intense life-likeness and reality. if they are indeed secondary personalities, science has hitherto studied none like them. i have already sketched phinuit's character, which has remained consistently the same during twelve years. the reader should also have a sufficiently clear notion of george pelham's individuality, which is also consistent; even now, when george pelham appears, we find him unchanged. the individualities of the present controls are even more marked, and not less consistent. none of those who, up to the present time, have communicated through mrs piper have in the least resembled imperator and his assistants. the principal traits of imperator's character are a profound and sincere religious sentiment, much gravity and seriousness, great benevolence, an infinite pity for man incarnate on account of the miseries of this life of darkness and chaos; and with this, an imperious temper, so that he does well to call himself imperator; he commands, and will be obeyed, but he wills only the right. the other spirits who gravitate around him--rector, doctor, prudens, and george pelham--pay him profound respect. this character of imperator is quite the same as we find in the works of stainton moses. those who decline to accept the spiritualist hypothesis on any terms may say that mrs piper has drawn the character from this source. she must at least know the book we have mentioned--_spirit teachings_. when the effort to communicate with stainton moses was made, and nothing was obtained but incoherence and falsehood, dr hodgson, wishing to discover what influence the normal mrs piper's knowledge of stainton moses's works might have upon the secondary personality calling itself stainton moses (if we are dealing with secondary personalities), took her a copy of _spirit teachings_. she read it, or it is to be concluded she did so, but there was no result, and no effect upon the communicator who called himself stainton moses. nevertheless, i repeat, it may be asserted with some probability that mrs piper took the character of imperator from this source. but then, from whence did she take the other characters? imperator and his friends speak in a distinctive biblical style. generally, at the beginning of the sittings, imperator either utters a prayer himself or dictates one to rector, who reproduces it. here is a specimen. "holy father, we are with thee in all thy ways, and to thee we come in all things. we ask thee to give us thy tender love and care. bestow thy blessings upon this thy fellow-creature. help him to be all that thou dost ask him. teach him to walk in the path of righteousness and truth. he needs thy loving care. teach him in all things to do thy holy will ... and we leave all else in thy hands. without thy care we are indeed bereft. watch over and guide his footsteps and lead him into truth and light. father, we beseech thee so to open the blinded eyes of mortals that they may know more of thee and thy tender love and care." among the phrases which ring familiarly to english ears we notice one peculiarity, and one that constantly recurs. imperator calls god "father," and yet, when he commends man to god, he calls him god's fellow-creature, his neighbour, and not his creature. evidently imperator's idea of god differs from ours; it would seem that he thinks us an emanation from the divine, eternal as the divine itself. many readers may not be inclined to attach much value to imperator's prayers. they will take them for one of the diabolical inventions of which secondary personalities are capable. evidently, if we take them apart from the rest, this is the most plausible explanation; but the character and ideas of imperator must be considered as a whole. i can assure my readers that there is nothing diabolical about him. if stainton moses and mrs piper have created him, they have created a masterpiece; imperator inspires respect in the most sceptical. there is another aspect of the phenomena which telepathy does not explain; the dramatic play. the personages at the other end of the wire act, as far as we can judge, with all the appropriateness and distinctive characteristics of reality. there are incidents of this dramatic play, which telepathy cannot explain, in nearly all the sittings. i have given some of them in passing, and will now give some more examples. at m. bourget's second sitting mrs pitman, whom i have mentioned before, suddenly appears, and speaks nearly as follows:[84] "monsieur, i come to offer you my help. i lived in france and spoke french fairly well when i was living. tell me what you want, and i can perhaps help you to communicate with this lady." in order to understand the appropriateness of this intervention we must remember that george pelham, who was acting as intermediary, had complained at the beginning of the sitting that the communicating spirit spoke french and that he did not understand her. one day george pelham is asked for information about phinuit, and is about to give it. but phinuit, who is manifesting through the voice while george pelham is doing so in writing, perceives this and cries, "you had better shut up about me!" and the spectators witnessed a sort of struggle between the head and the hand. then george pelham writes, "all right, it is settled; we will say no more about it." during a sitting in which the sitter's wife gave proofs of identity of a very private nature to her husband she said, "i tell you this, but don't let that gentleman hear." "that gentleman" could not be dr hodgson, who had left the room; it was the invisible george pelham who was habitually present at the sittings at this period. on april 30, 1894, mr james mitchell has a sitting.[85] phinuit begins by giving him appropriate advice about his health. he ends by saying, "you worry, too." then he adds, "there's a voice i hear as plainly as you would a bell rung, and she says, 'that's right, doctor, tell him not to worry, because he always did so--my dear husband--i want him to enjoy his remaining days in the body. tell him i am margaret mitchell, and i will be with him to the end of eternity, spiritually.'" the communicators often ask one or more of those present to go out of the room, and they give one or other of the following reasons, according to circumstances. the first is that very private information is about to be given. i have quoted an example in speaking of george pelham, when james howard asked him to tell something which only they two knew. george pelham, preparing to do so, begins by asking dr hodgson to leave the room. how oddly discreet for secondary personalities! on other occasions certain persons are asked to go out temporarily, because, say the controls, "you have relations and friends who want very much to communicate with you, and they prevent all communication by their insistence and their efforts." on a certain occasion professor hyslop rises and goes to the other end of the room, passing mrs piper, upon which george pelham, apparently offended, writes, "he has passed in front of imperator! why does he do that?" it would need a volume to recount all the little analogous incidents which telepathy does not explain. these will do as examples. will it be said that these small dramas resemble the creations of the same kind which occur in delirium or dreams? but in the first place, in delirium and dreams, the spectator does not realise, as he does here, the presence of persons who have given many details tending to prove their identity. again, the real cause of these creations of dream and delirium is unknown to us. we might assert, without being fanciful, that sickness is only their opportunity and not their cause. lastly, a third group of facts, which strongly militates in favour of the spiritualist hypothesis, consists of the mistakes and confusions. this would probably not be the opinion of a superficial observer; many take these errors and confusions as a reason for entirely rejecting the spiritualist hypothesis; generally because they have a strange notion of a "spirit," without any analogy in nature. deceived by absurd and antiquated theological teaching, they imagine that the most pitiable drunkard, for example, becomes a being of ideal beauty and omniscience from the day he is disincarnated. it cannot be so. our spirits, if we have them, must progress slowly. when they leap into the great unknown they do not at the same time leap into perfection; they were finite and limited, and do not become immediately infinite. disincarnated man, like incarnated man, has lapses of intelligence, memory and morality. the existence of these lapses very well explains the greater part of the mistakes in the communications. i have no room to develop this idea, but the reader can do it easily. i will only quote one example of lapse of memory. mr robert hyslop said he had a penknife with a brown handle, which he carried first in his waistcoat pocket and afterwards in his coat. on inquiry, it was discovered that he was mistaken, and that he really carried it in his trousers pocket. what man living has not made a hundred such mistakes? in order to explain the phenomena we are studying by the telepathic hypothesis, we must suppose that telepathy has infinite power with which no obstacle can interfere. then why does it make mistakes? and why does it make just the mistakes that an imperfect, finite spirit would make? must we suppose that dame telepathy is a mere incarnation of the demon of fraud and deceit? footnotes: [84] evidently addressing george pelham. [85] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xiii. p. 519. chapter xviii difficulties and objections--the identity of imperator--vision at a distance--triviality of the messages--spiritualist philosophy--life in the other world. up till now i have said a great deal of evil of telepathy. i believe that i have demonstrated, not that the theory is false, but that it is an unlikely explanation of the facts. shall we say, then, that the spiritualistic hypothesis, the only reasonable one after the dismissal of telepathy, can be accepted without difficulty and without objections? not at all. many objections, more or less serious, are still made to the spiritualistic hypothesis. to my mind there is only one that is serious; i will speak of it in conclusion. many of the others are raised by persons who have a merely superficial acquaintance with the problem; their arguments are more polemical than scientific. to begin with, some of them want to know why the controls, imperator, doctor, rector, prudens, conceal themselves under these pseudonyms. if they are, as they say, disincarnated spirits, who formerly lived in bodies, why do they not say who they were? does not their silence on this point indicate that they are only secondary personalities of the medium? this objection is not very serious. in the first place, the controls told stainton moses their names. if they do not wish these names revealed, it is without doubt for excellent reasons, which it is not difficult to imagine. there is every indication that these controls belonged to a generation considerably remote from ours; their language, the turn of their minds, and some of their assertions, all point to this. if they were well-known men, and had revealed their names, the critics would merely see a reason the more for crying fraud. they would say, "the medium has read all that, and repeats it to us in hypnosis." if, on the other hand, they were obscure persons, and had given information about their lives, the information would be unverifiable. and then the sceptics would cry on the spot, "folly; these are the inventions of the medium's secondary personality." the controls may have still other reasons for not revealing themselves to us. this life, when once it has been left behind, may seem to the spirit to be a more or less painful nightmare. there is nothing astonishing in the fact that he does not care to recall to others the part he played in this nightmare, even if the part were a distinguished one. we ourselves know nothing but this life; we do not admit that there is any other. therefore we all wish to shine in it like meteors, if possible. possibly disincarnated spirits, seeing things from a higher point of view, think otherwise. in short, the controls, imperator, rector, doctor and prudens, may refrain from speaking of their former life simply because they are wise. would it not have been wiser of phinuit to hold his tongue than to tell us a mass of improbabilities? amongst those who study these phenomena there are many who see in the triviality of the greater part of the messages a strong presumption against the spiritualist hypothesis. some of these messages are signed, it is true, by illustrious names--though that is not the case with mrs piper. but this regrettable fact may be variously explained. in the first place, there may be rogues, charlatans and fools on both sides, since it is probable that the soul passes from this world to the other just as it is, and that, if it progresses at all, it progresses slowly. how many individuals see in spiritualism only a means of putting forward their wretched personalities or of exploiting their contemporaries! such persons would not shrink from representing their lucubrations as communications from the next world; they would sign them with the most august of names if to do so would further their designs. finally, it is not even necessary to suppose that these messages are due to dishonesty; the number of mystifiers may be at least as great on the other side as on this; a sort of law of affinity which seems to rule the world of spirits may cause these lower beings to be attracted by uncultured mediums, while the great spirits are repelled by them. it would be these larvæ of the other world who give the messages which disconcert when they do not scandalise us. but the man of science should not be rebuffed by these messages which, in spite of their contents, are important, if they result in irresistible proof of the fact that there exist outside of us and around us intelligent beings resembling ourselves. but when we are dealing with developed spirits, who have begun by giving proofs of their identity, it is not true that the messages are always trivial. they often contain ideas of much breadth of view and elevation. the form is generally defective, but those who have studied mrs piper's phenomena will be indulgent to the form, and sometimes even to the matter. the spirit in contact with the medium's organism suffers, as i have said several times, from a kind of delirium; besides which the organism only responds to his efforts imperfectly. "my dear friends," says george pelham, "do not look at me too critically; to try to transmit your thoughts through the organism of a medium is like trying to crawl through a hollow log." in short, the difficulties are enormous. it may very well be that great spirits have really been the authors of very poor messages. it has happened to each of us to make poetical or other compositions in our dreams which we have thought admirable; we say in delight, "what a pity i shall not be able to remember that when i wake!" but sometimes we do remember, and then we smile with contempt at what had delighted us during sleep. now the communicators constantly repeat that they are dreaming while they are in the atmosphere of the medium. "everything seems so clear to me," says robert hyslop to his son, "and when i try to tell you, james, i cannot." these considerations prove that we must not hasten to conclude, with professor flournoy, that if there is a future life it is one of wretched degeneration, one more misery added to all the others which overwhelm us in this miserable universe. no; as professor james says, in this world we live only at the surface of our being; if death is not annihilation, then it is an awakening. it does not follow that the life of the other world is not higher and more intense than this, because communication with it is difficult. another serious objection to the spiritualist hypothesis is the philosophy with which certain too eager persons have connected it. spiritualism, which should at present be but the mere beginning of a science, is, according to them, already a philosophy for which the universe holds no secrets. how should such puny creatures as ourselves hope to solve the problems of the universe by _a priori_ reasoning? all that we can reasonably hope, is to wrench from nature some of the secrets nearest to us, surrounding ourselves with a thousand precautions in order not grossly to deceive ourselves. i rank the spiritualistic philosophy with other philosophies. perhaps some of its dicta proceed from spirits, if spirits exist, but the system as a whole most surely does not. but then, it will be said, the people who have elaborated this philosophy must have been impostors. no, not inevitably; i will even venture to say that imposture is unlikely. the key to the mystery may be found in other characteristics of humanity. the most formidable obstacle to the admission of the spiritualist hypothesis is in the messages which tend to represent the other world, in which, it appears, matter is not perceived, and space and time are unknown, as being all the same a servile copy of this, or a sketch of it. if phinuit or another control is asked to describe a communicator, the description is generally given with exactness, and is the same there as it was here; sometimes the communicator even goes so far as to wear the same clothes, made of the same material. but these descriptions are without importance, as it may be replied that the communicators or controls give these details purely to prove identity. however, i know of no message in which the communicator has been frank enough to say, "of course you may suppose that the form i have here is not the same as i had in your world." or again, "the idea of form differs totally in our world and in yours; i cannot make you understand what that idea is here, so it is of no use to question me." unfortunately neither communicators nor controls speak thus; they all say or allow it to be supposed that the human form is the same in both worlds. but when action and events in that world are represented as being the same as in this, then our credulity cries out in remonstrance. that a deceased doctor should tell us that he continues to visit his patients, a painter that he continues to daub canvas, is more than we can admit. but, it may be explained, the doctor and the painter are temporarily delirious; they do not know what they are saying. unfortunately these passages are too numerous to be always attributed to delirium. certain communicators say, with all the gravity in the world, and when they seem in full possession of themselves, that they breathe, live in houses, listen to lectures, and that a deceased child is beginning to learn to read. this is an enormous difficulty, i repeat. i point it out without trying to solve it; i am unable to offer a plausible explanation. professor hyslop has tried, but i do not think he has succeeded. chapter xix the medium's return to normal life--speeches made while the medium seems to hover between the two worlds. in mrs piper's case, the moments which precede the actual quitting of the trance offer, at least at present, a special interest. i think it well therefore to dwell on this point a little. to avoid endless circumlocutions, i shall speak as if the spiritualistic hypothesis were proved. indeed, whatever the future fate of this hypothesis may be, and in spite of the serious objection spoken of in the last chapter, it is, i believe, the only one that can be reasonably adopted for the moment. when the sitting is over and the automatic writing has ceased, mrs piper begins to return gradually to her normal state. she then utters with more or less distinctness some apparently disconnected phrases which it is sometimes difficult to catch. she is like a person talking in sleep. dr hodgson and professor hyslop have collected as many of these broken sentences as they could, keeping them separately under a different heading from the record of the rest of the sitting proper. at the end, mrs piper often asks this odd question, "did you hear my head snap?" and after her head is supposed to have snapped she looks round her in apparent astonishment and alarm, and then all is over, she no longer remembers what she has said or written during the trance. we shall see that these scraps of phrase are less incoherent than they seem, and that it is worth while to collect them. very often when numerous unsuccessful efforts have been made to recall a proper name during the sitting, mrs piper pronounces it when coming out of the trance; when she is re-entering her body, the communicator or communicators repeat the name to her insistently, and make great efforts to cause her to remember and pronounce it as she comes out of the trance. i have already quoted an example of this. m. paul bourget asked the name of the town in which the artist he was communicating with had killed herself. the name did not come, but mrs piper pronounced it as she was leaving the trance--_venice_. mr robert hyslop's name was given in the same way the first time, but accompanied by very significant scraps of speech as follows. mrs piper first tried to pronounce the name, then she said _hyslop_, and went on,-"i am he.[86] tell him i am his father. i--good-bye, sir. i shouldn't take him away that way. oh, dear. do you see the man with the cross[87] shut out everybody? did you see the light? what made the man's hair all fall off?" dr hodgson asks, "what man?" mrs piper.--"that elderly gentleman that was trying to tell me something, but it wouldn't come." at a first glance this passage seems mere incoherence, but all the portions of sentences have a very clear meaning when they are examined together with the events of the sitting. they are, as it seems, commissions with which the medium is charged as she is returning into her organism, or they are observations made among themselves by the spirits present, which the medium automatically repeats, or they are the observations and questions of the medium herself. all that mrs piper says on coming out of the trance belongs to one of these three categories. in the passage quoted, the words, "i am he. tell him that i am his father," are a commission with which the medium is charged by mr robert hyslop. mrs piper takes leave of robert hyslop with the formula, "good-bye, sir." the phrases which follow, "oh, dear. i shouldn't take him away that way. do you see the man with the cross shut out everybody?" are the remarks of spirits repeated automatically, or mrs piper's own remarks on imperator, who, seeing the light exhausted, imperiously sends off everybody, including mr robert hyslop himself, in spite of his desire to remain with his son. imperator must even have used some force, to justify the observation, "i should not take him away that way." the final phrases are always mrs piper's own questions and remarks: when she says, "did you see the light?" she alludes without doubt to the light of the other world, invisible to us. the other sentences are clear enough, when we remember that mr robert hyslop was entirely bald. there are utterances like these, only apparently incoherent on coming out of all the trances; but they vary in length. the last words, if i am not mistaken, always come from mrs piper herself, which is logically to be expected, since she gradually loses the memory of the world she has just quitted, up to the definite moment of waking, marked by the so-called snap in her head. these speeches on coming out of trance constitute, in our eyes, one more argument against the hypothesis of telepathy and secondary personalities, because there is no trace of simulation. to suppose simulation would be to accord to telepathy too much skill in the arts of deceit. these speeches bring into the foreground the question: "what becomes of the medium's spirit during the trance, if there is a spirit?" the controls say that it leaves the organism and remains in the company of the group of communicating spirits. "but then," it will be said, "if she lives for the time being in the other world, why does she not relate her impressions when she wakes?" we must not forget that for spirits our life is a sleep, and that we are only conscious of what we acquire through the medium of our five senses. when the spirit is again plunged into the prison of the body, after having left it for a time, it goes to sleep once more and forgets all; it recommences living the fragmentary life which is all that the five senses permit. the complete absence of memory in the medium when awake is no more astonishing than the same phenomenon in a subject coming out of hypnosis, during which he may have talked, and even done much. besides, during the short instants when mrs piper is as if suspended between two worlds, she still has a vague recollection of what she has just heard; the fragments of sentences she utters bear sufficient witness to this. she rarely fails to shed a few tears, and to say, "i want to stop here, i don't want to go back to the dark world!" here is a characteristic passage, as an example. mrs piper, coming out of the trance, begins to weep and murmur, "i do not want to go back to the darkness.... oh, it is, it is, it must be the window ... but i want to know.... i want to know where they are all gone[88].... it is funny ... i forgot that i was alive.... yes, mr hodgson, i forgot.... i was going to tell you something, but i have forgotten what it was.... you see, when my head snaps, i forget what i was going to say.... it must be night. oh, dear! i feel so weak.... is that my handkerchief?" on other occasions she uses an odd figure of speech. "you see rector turns round a dark board and says that's your world--and he turns round the other side and that's light, and he says that's his world. i don't want to go back to the dark world." another time she says, quite at the end, "is that my body? how it pricks!" it appears that imperator, before sending her back to the "dark world," prays for her, and she sometimes repeats fragments of the prayers automatically. "is that a blessing? say it."[89] "father be and abide with thee for evermore." "servus dei--i don't know." "i have all these to look out for. i leave thee well." "go and do the duties before thee." "blessings on thy head." "the light shall cease." "why do you say that?" "are you going? good-bye." "i want to go along the same path with you." "hear the whistle?" (this was an earthly whistle, which those present also heard.) footnotes: [86] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xvi. p. 322. [87] that is to say, imperator, who always signalises his presence by making a cross on the paper, or, with his hand, in the air. [88] the spirits in whose company she has been. [89] _proc. of s.p.r._, vol. xvi. p. 396. chapter xx encouraging results obtained--the problem must be solved. and now, can there be a conclusion to this work? it does not allow of any conclusion. the most i can do in terminating is to record certain facts. dr hodgson, professor hyslop and others, who, though unprejudiced, began these studies as sceptical as anyone, have ended, after long years of hesitation, by giving their adhesion to the spiritualist hypothesis. but, as they are careful to point out, they accept this hypothesis conditionally, and not definitely. new experiments and new facts may turn their minds in quite another direction. should we follow them? should we each admit conditionally the spiritualist hypothesis? not at all; it is not thus that knowledge is attained. whoever believes that he has excellent reasons for preferring any other hypothesis should remain unshakable in his convictions till the time when new facts may oblige him to abandon them. science does not ask that we should prefer this or the other explanation; it only asks that we should study the facts unprejudiced, that we should be sincere, and not shut our eyes childishly to the evidence. if a future life is to be, i will not say proved, but admitted by a majority, a great number of experimenters, or, if you please, observers, working independently of one another in all quarters of the globe, must reach identical conclusions. again, it must be possible for any intelligent man willing to make the effort, and retracing the path followed by the first observers, to arrive at the same conclusions. the _magister dixit_ is out of date. teachers in the present day must show their disciples the path of truth, and not try to impose upon them what they themselves regard as truth. modern science knows no infallible pope, speaking _ex cathedrâ_. further, we must not confine ourselves to the study of one side of mediumship only. the phenomena produced in the presence of mediums are various. all the phenomena classified as "psychical" must be carefully considered and thoroughly investigated. the grain must be separated from the chaff; it must be decided which among these phenomena appear to be due to spirits, which, according to the evidence, are due to incarnated minds, and finally, which (if there are such) have only ordinary physical causes. the new workmen who are entering the field of science have before them a long task of clearing the ground, but the ground seems to be of unexampled fertility; with a very little goodwill we shall reap such a harvest as has never been seen. no doubt, though mediums able to produce certain second-rate phenomena are not rare, good mediums are not easy to discover; they are less rare, however, than the bones of _anthropopithecus erectus_. when a good medium is discovered it is not necessary to call a committee together and put the value he may have for science to the vote. if the "other world" exists, it appears that no "missing link" exists between it and our own. thus the general conclusion to be drawn from the work described in this little book, and from the other work of the society for psychical research, is that devotion to these studies is far from being fruitless. even official science might turn in this direction, if only in order to defend the doctrines dear to it. it will come to that, without doubt, but will it be soon? humanity is but poor stuff, though the monists do not hesitate to hold it up to us as the highest expression in our corner of space of the consciousness of their great god pan. the great majority of human units is composed of minds in first childhood, eager only for childish things. by slightly modifying plato's allegory it is easy to arrive at an understanding of the state of humanity at the present time. imagine very imperfect, very undeveloped beings, possessing, however, an infinity of latent potentialities; imagine them born in a dark cavern where they swarm pell-mell, passing their time chiefly in devouring one another. every moment this cavern is entered, and a certain number of these poor beings are taken out of it and carried into the light of day, that they may enjoy a higher life, and admire the beauties of nature. those remaining in the cavern weep for their companions and think that they have for ever vanished. but in the vault of the cavern there are fissures through which a little light filters. a few inquisitive beings, a little more developed than their brothers, climb up to these fissures; they look out, and believe that signs are made to them from outside. they say to themselves, "those who are making signs to us are perhaps the companions who are constantly being carried off from amongst us; in that case they cannot be dead; they must be continuing to live up there." and they call to their brothers below, "come and see; it looks as if our companions who go up yonder every day are making signs to us. we are not sure; but if we unite our efforts and intelligences perhaps we shall end by being certain." do you suppose that the swarms on the ground of the cave will run? they have quite other things to do. they do not stone the importunate seekers, but they look on them askance and heap annoyances upon them. but we will drop allegory; and merely say how deplorable it is that psychical studies do not inspire more enthusiasm. the doctors at first declared that mediumship was a form of neurosis. nothing is less certain; i will even say that nothing is less probable. educated people of independent social position when by chance they discover that they possess mediumistic gifts hide them carefully, instead of offering them spontaneously for study; they do not wish to be supposed to be diseased; nobody likes to proclaim his defects in public. this is why well-known mediums are nearly all recruited from the lower classes and the poor; they are obliged to make merchandise of their gifts; they are paid to produce phenomena, and, when these do not occur spontaneously, they cheat. mediums should be sought for in the class of educated people who are not obliged to work for their daily bread. there are as many or more in this class as in any other if we would only look for them. what should such mediums fear? do not mlle. smith and mrs piper, when they allow competent persons to study their mediumship, render more valuable services to society than do so many social encumbrances, so many flies on the wheel who deafen us with their buzzing? have they any reason to be ashamed? finally, in order to attain to any result in these studies, money is needed--why not say so? interesting subjects must be paid when they need payment, and competent investigators must be paid when they need a salary. if a thousandth part of the sum devoted in a year to the art of killing were devoted to the solution of this problem, before ten years were over we should have settled the question, and humanity could boast an unexampled victory. in america and all the anglo-saxon countries many persons, as noble as they are generous, give for science, for universal instruction, for founding universities and colleges. may they be blessed! they make a noble use of their money. but it is regrettable that as much money as is needed can be found for the search after--let us say--the _anthropopithecus erectus_, and that it cannot be found for psychical research. if i am not mistaken, a prize has been offered to whoever can find the means of communicating with the planet mars. if this communication were ever established, i do not see how humanity would benefit by it, beyond the satisfaction of its curiosity; which is, however, a noble and legitimate curiosity. but how much more helpful and interesting it would be to communicate with the world beyond the grave, if such a world there be, the world whither we are all bound. perhaps some time mankind will realise this fact. edinburgh colston and coy. limited printers the salem witchcraft, the planchette mystery, and modern spiritualism, with dr. doddridge's dream. history of salem witchcraft: a review of charles w. upham's great work. from the "edinburgh review." with notes, by the editor of "the phrenological journal." new york: fowler & wells co., publishers, 753 broadway. 1886. bigotry. obstinate or blind attachment to a particular creed; unreasonable zeal or warmth in favor of a party, sect, or opinion; excessive prejudice. the practice or tenet of a bigot. prejudice. an opinion or decision of mind, formed without due examination of the facts or arguments which are necessary to a just and impartial determination. a previous bent or inclination of mind for or against any person or thing. injury or wrong of any kind; as to act to the _prejudice_ of another. superstition. excessive exactness or rigor in religious opinions or practice; excess or extravagance in religion; the doing of things not required by god, or abstaining from things not forbidden; or the belief of what is absurd, or belief without evidence. false religion; false worship. rite or practice proceeding from excess of scruples in religion. excessive nicety; scrupulous exactness. belief in the direct agency of superior powers in certain extraordinary or singular events, or in omens and prognostics.--_webster._ introduction. the object in reprinting this most interesting review is simply to show the progress made in moral, intellectual, and physical science. the reader will go back with us to a time--not very remote--when nothing was known of phrenology and psychology; when men and women were persecuted, and even put to death, through the baldest ignorance and the most pitiable superstition. if we were to go back still farther, to the holy wars, we should find cities and nations drenched in human blood through religious bigotry and intolerance. let us thank god that our lot is cast in a more fortunate age, when the light of revelation, rightly interpreted by the aid of science, points to the source of all knowledge, all truth, all light. when we know more of anatomy, physiology, physiognomy, and the natural sciences generally, there will be a spirit of broader liberality, religious tolerance, and individual freedom. then all men will hold themselves accountable to god, rather than to popes, priests, or parsons. our progenitors lived in a time that tried men's souls, as the following lucid review most painfully shows. s. r. w. contents. page the place 7 the salemite of forty years ago 8 how the subject was opened 9 careful historiography 10 the actors in the tragedy 12 philosophy of the delusion 12 character of the early settlement 13 first causes 15 death of the patriarch 16 growth of witchcraft 17 trouble in the church 18 rev. mr. burroughs 19 deodat lawson 20 parris--a malignant 20 a protean devil 21 state of physiology 22 william penn as a precedent 22 phenomena of witchcraft 23 parris and his circle 25 the inquisitions--sarah good 26 a child witch 27 the towne sisters 28 depositions of parris and his tools 31 goody nurse's excommunication 35 mary easty 36 mrs. cloyse 38 the proctor family 40 the jacobs family 41 giles and martha corey 42 decline of the delusion 44 the physio-psychological causes of the trouble 45 the last of parris 47 "one of the afflicted"--her confession 49 the transition 50 the fetish theory then and now 51 the views of modern investigators 53 importance of the subject 55 contents of the planchette mystery. page. what planchette is and does (with review of facts and phenomena) 63 the press on planchette (with further details of phenomena) 67 theory first--that the board is moved by the hands that rest 70 upon it theory second--"it is electricity or magnetism" 71 proof that electricity has nothing to do with it 78 theory third--the devil theory 79 theory of a floating ambient mentality 81 "_to daimonion_"--the demon 83 "it is some principle of nature as yet unknown" 85 theory of the agency of departed spirits 85 planchette's own theory 89 the rational difficulty 92 the medium--the doctrine of spheres 93 the moral and religious difficulty 98 what this modern development is, and what is to come of it 102 conclusion 105 how to work planchette 106 spiritualism. history of spiritualism 107 scriptural views 110 communion of saints 112 dr. doddridge's dream. pages 123-125. salem witchcraft. the place. the name of the village of salem is as familiar to americans as that of any provincial town in england or france is to englishmen and frenchmen; yet, when uttered in the hearing of europeans, it carries us back two or three centuries, and suggests an image, however faint and transient, of the life of the pilgrim fathers, who gave that sacred name to the place of their chosen habitation. if we were on the spot to-day, we should see a modern american seaport, with an interest of its own, but by no means a romantic one. at present salem is suffering its share of the adversity which has fallen upon the shipping trade, while it is still mourning the loss of some of its noblest citizens in the late civil war. no community in the republic paid its tribute of patriotic sacrifice more generously; and there were doubtless occasions when its citizens remembered the early days of glory, when their fathers helped to chase the retreating british, on the first shedding of blood in the war of independence. but now they have enough to think of under the pressure of the hour. their trade is paralyzed under the operation of the tariff; their shipping is rotting in port, except so much of it as is sold to foreigners; there is much poverty in low places and dread of further commercial adversity among the chief citizens, but there is the same vigorous pursuit of intellectual interests and pleasures, throughout the society of the place, that there always is wherever any number of new englanders have made their homes beside the church, the library, and the school. whatever other changes may occur from one age or period to another, the features of natural scenery are, for the most part, unalterable. massachusetts bay is as it was when the pilgrims cast their first look over it: its blue waters--as blue as the seas of greece--rippling up upon the sheeted snow of the sands in winter, or beating against rocks glittering in ice; in autumn the pearly waves flowing in under the thickets of gaudy foliage; and on summer evening the green surface surrounding the amethyst islands, where white foam spouts out of the caves and crevices. on land, there are still the craggy hills, and the jutting promontories of granite, where the barberry grows as the bramble does with us, and room is found for the farmstead between the crags, and for the apple-trees and little slopes of grass, and patches of tillage, where all else looks barren. the boats are out, or ranged on shore, according to the weather, just as they were from the beginning, only in larger numbers; and far away on either hand the coasts and islands, the rocks and hills and rural dwellings, are as of old, save for the shrinking of the forest, and the growth of the cities and villages, whose spires and school-houses are visible here and there. the salemite of forty years ago. yet there are changes, marked and memorable, both in salem and its neighborhood, since the date of thirty-seven years ago. there was then an exclusiveness about the place as evident to strangers, and as dear to natives, as the rivalship between philadelphia and baltimore, while far more interesting and honorable in its character. in salem society there was a singular combination of the precision and scrupulousness of puritan manners and habits of thought with the pride of a cultivated and traveled community, boasting acquaintance with people of all known faiths, and familiarity with all known ways of living and thinking, while adhering to the customs, and even the prejudices, of their fathers. while relating theological conversations held with liberal buddhists or lax mohammedans, your host would whip his horse, to get home at full speed by sunset on a saturday, that the groom's sabbath might not be encroached on for five minutes. the houses were hung with odd chinese copies of english engravings, and furnished with a variety of pretty and useful articles from china, never seen elsewhere, because none but american traders had then achieved any commerce with that country but in tea, nankeen, and silk. the salem museum was the glory of the town, and even of the state. each speculative merchant who went forth, with or without a cargo (and the trade in ice was then only beginning), in his own ship, with his wife and her babes, was determined to bring home some offering to the museum, if he should accomplish a membership of that institution by doubling either cape horn or the cape of good hope. he picked up an old cargo somewhere and trafficked with it for another; and so he went on--if not rounding the world, seeing no small part of it, and making acquaintance with a dozen eccentric potentates and barbaric chiefs, and sovereigns with widely celebrated names; and, whether the adventurer came home rich or poor, he was sure to have gained much knowledge, and to have become very entertaining in discourse. the houses of the principal merchants were pleasant abodes--each standing alone beside the street, which was an avenue thick-strewn with leaves in autumn and well shaded in summer. not far away were the woods, where lumbering went on, for the export of timber to charleston and new orleans, and for the furniture manufacture, which was the main industry of the less fertile districts of massachusetts in those days. here and there was a little lake--a "pond"--under the shadow of the woods, yielding water-lilies in summer, and ice for exportation in winter--as soon as that happy idea had occurred to some fortunate speculator. on some knoll there was sure to be a school-house. amid these and many other pleasant objects, and in the very center of the stranger's observations, there was one spectacle that had no beauty in it--just as in the happy course of the life of the salem community there is one fearful period. that dreary object is the witches' hill at salem; and that fearful chapter of history is the tragedy of the witch delusion. how the subject was opened. our reason for selecting the date of thirty-seven years ago for our glance at the salem of the last generation is, that at that time a clergyman resident there fixed the attention of the inhabitants on the history of their forefathers by delivering lectures on witchcraft. this gentleman was then a young man, of cultivated mind and intellectual tastes, a popular preacher, and esteemed and beloved in private life. in delivering those lectures he had no more idea than his audience that he was entering upon the great work and grand intellectual interest of his life. when he concluded the course, he was unconscious of having offered more than the entertainment of a day; yet the engrossing occupation of seven-and-thirty years for himself, and no little employment and interest for others, have grown out of that early effort. he was requested to print the lectures, and did so. they went through more than one edition; and every time he reverted to the subject, with some fresh knowledge gathered from new sources, he perceived more distinctly how inadequate, and even mistaken, had been his early conceptions of the character of the transactions which constituted the witch tragedy. at length he refused to reissue the volume. "i was unwilling," he says in the preface of the book before us, "to issue again what i had discovered to be an insufficient presentation of the subject." meantime, he was penetrating into mines of materials for history, furnished by the peculiar forms of administration instituted by the early rulers of the province. it was an ordinance of the general court of massachusetts, for instance, that testimony should in all cases be taken in the shape of depositions, to be preserved "in perpetual remembrance." in all trials, the evidence of witnesses was taken in writing beforehand, the witnesses being present (except in certain cases) to meet any examination in regard to their recorded testimony. these depositions were carefully preserved, in complete order: and thus we may now know as much about the landed property, the wills, the contracts, the assaults and defamation, the thievery and cheating, and even the personal morals and social demeanor of the citizens of salem of two centuries and a half ago as we could have done if they had had law-reporters in their courts, and had filed those reports, and preserved the police departments of newspapers like those of the present day. the documents relating to the witchcraft proceedings have been for the most part laid up among the state archives; but a considerable number of them have been dispersed--no doubt from their connection with family history, and under impulses of shame and remorse. of these, some are safely lodged in literary institutions, and others are in private hands, though too many have been lost. careful historiography. in a long course of years, mr. upham, and after him his sons, have searched out all documents they could hear of. when they had reason to believe that any transcription of papers was inaccurate--that gaps had been conjecturally filled up, that dates had been mistaken, or that papers had been transposed, they never rested till they had got hold of the originals, thinking the bad spelling, the rude grammar, and strange dialect of the least cultivated country people less objectionable than the unauthorized amendments of transcribers. mr. upham says he has resorted to the originals throughout. then there were the parish books and church records, to which was committed in early days very much in the life of individuals which would now be considered a matter of private concern, and scarcely fit for comment by next-door neighbors. the primitive local maps and the coast-survey chart, with the markings of original grants to settlers, and of bridges, mills, meeting-houses, private dwellings, forest roads, and farm boundaries, have been preserved. between these and deeds of conveyance it has been possible to construct a map of the district, which not only restores the external scene to the mind's eye, but casts a strong and fearful light--as we shall see presently--on the origin and course of the troubles of 1692. mr. upham and his sons have minutely examined the territory--tracing the old stone walls and the streams, fixing the gates, measuring distances, even verifying points of view, till the surrounding scenery has become as complete as could be desired. between the church books and the parish and court records, the character, repute, ways, and manners of every conspicuous resident can be ascertained; and it may be said that nothing out of the common way happened to any man, woman, or child within the district which could remain unknown at this day, if any one wished to make it out. mr. upham has wished to make out the real story of the witch tragedy; and he has done it in such a way that his readers will doubtless agree that no more accurate piece of history has ever been written than the annals of this new england township. for such a work, however, something more is required than the most minute delineation of the outward conditions of men and society; and in this higher department of his task mr. upham is above all anxious to obtain and dispense true light. the second part of his work treats of what may be called the spiritual scenery of the time. he exhibits the superstition of that age, when the belief in satanic agency was the governing idea of religious life, and the most engrossing and pervading interest known to the puritans of every country. of the young and ignorant in the new settlement beyond the seas his researches have led him to write thus: the actors in the tragedy. "however strange it seems, it is quite worthy of observation, that the actors in that tragedy, the 'afflicted children,' and other witnesses, in their various statements and operations, embraced about the whole circle of popular superstition. how those young country girls, some of them mere children, most of them wholly illiterate, could have become familiar with such fancies, to such an extent, is truly surprising. they acted out, and brought to bear with tremendous effect, almost all that can be found in the literature of that day, and the period preceding it, relating to such subjects. images and visions which had been portrayed in tales of romance, and given interest to the pages of poetry, will be made by them, as we shall see, to throng the woods, flit through the air, and hover over the heads of a terrified court. the ghosts of murdered wives and children will play their parts with a vividness of representation and artistic skill of expression that have hardly been surpassed in scenic representations on the stage. in the salem-witchcraft proceedings, the superstition of the middle ages was embodied in real action. all its extravagant absurdities and monstrosities appear in their application to human experience. we see what the effect has been, and must be, when the affairs of life, in courts of law and the relations of society, or the conduct or feelings of individuals, are suffered to be under the control of fanciful or mystical notions. when a whole people abandons the solid ground of common sense, overleaps the boundaries of human knowledge, gives itself up to wild reveries, and lets loose its passions without restraint, it presents a spectacle more terrific to behold, and becomes more destructive and disastrous, than any convulsion of mere material nature,--than tornado, conflagration, or earthquake." (vol. i. p. 468.) philosophy of the delusion. all this is no more than might have occurred to a thoughtful historian long years ago; but there is yet something else which it has been reserved for our generation to perceive, or at least to declare, without fear or hesitation. mr. upham may mean more than some people would in what he says of the new opening made by science into the dark depths of mystery covered by the term witchcraft; for he is not only the brother-in-law but the intimate friend and associate of dr. oliver wendell holmes, professor of anatomy and physiology at harvard university, and still better known to us, as he is at home, as the writer of the physiological tales, "elsie venner" and the "guardian angel," which have impressed the public as something new in the literature of fiction. it can not be supposed that mr. upham's view of the salem delusion would have been precisely what we find it here if he and dr. holmes had never met; and, but for the presence of the professor's mind throughout the book, which is most fitly dedicated to him, its readers might have perceived less clearly the true direction in which to look for a solution of the mystery of the story, and its writer might have written something less significant in the place of the following paragraph: "as showing how far the beliefs of the understanding, the perceptions of the senses, and the delusions of the imagination may be confounded, the subject belongs not only to theology and moral and political science, but to _physiology_, in its original and proper use, as embracing our whole nature; and the facts presented may help to conclusions relating to what is justly regarded as the great mystery of our being--the connection between the body and the mind." (vol. i. p. viii.) character of the early settlement. the settlement had its birth in 1620, the date of the charter granted by jamesâ i. to "the governor and company of massachusetts bay in new england." the first policy of the company was to attract families of good birth, position, education, and fortune, to take up considerable portions of land, introduce the best agriculture known, and facilitate the settling of the country. hence the tone of manners, the social organization, and the prevalence of the military spirit, which the subsequent decline in the spirit of the community made it difficult for careless thinkers to understand. not only did the wealth of this class of early settlers supply the district with roads and bridges, and clear the forest; it set up the pursuit of agriculture in the highest place, and encouraged intellectual pursuits, refined intercourse, and a loftier spirit of colonizing enterprise than can be looked for among immigrants whose energies are engrossed by the needs of the day. the mode of dress of the gentry of this class shows us something of their aspect in their new country, when prowling indians were infesting the woods a stone's throw from their fences, and when the rulers of the community took it in turn with all their neighbors to act as scouts against the savages. george corwin was thus dressed: "a wrought flowing neckcloth, a sash covered with lace, a coat with short cuffs and reaching halfway between the wrist and elbow; the skirts in plaits below; an octagon ring and cane. the last two articles are still preserved. his inventory mentions 'a silver-laced cloth coat, a velvet ditto, a satin waistcoat embroidered with gold, a trooping scarf and silver hat-band, golden-topped and embroidered, and a silver-headed cane.'" (vol. i. p. 98.) this aristocratic element was in large proportion to the total number of settlers. it lifted up the next class to a position inferior only to its own by its connection with land. the farmers formed an order by themselves--not by having peculiar institutions, but through the dignity ascribed to agriculture. the yeomanry of massachusetts hold their heads high to this day, and their fathers spoke proudly of themselves as "the farmers." they penetrated the forest in all directions, sat down beside the streams, and plowed up such level tracts as they found open to the sunshine; so that in a few years "the salem farms" constituted a well-defined territory, thinly peopled, but entirely appropriated. in due course parishes were formed round the outskirts of "salem farms," encroaching more or less in all directions, and reducing the area to that which was ultimately known as "salem village," in which some few of the original grants of five hundred acres or less remained complete, while others were divided among families or sold. long before the date of the salem tragedy, the strifes which follow upon the acquisition of land had become common, and there was much ill-blood within the bounds of the city of peace. the independence, the mode of life, and the pride of the yeomen made them excellent citizens, however, when war broke out with the indians or with any other foe; and the military spirit of the aristocracy was well sustained by that of the farmers. the dignity of the town had been early secured by the wisdom of the company at home, which had committed to the people the government of the district in which they were placed; and every citizen felt himself, in his degree, concerned in the rule and good order of the society in which he lived; but the holders of land recognized no real equality between themselves and men of other callings, while the artisans and laborers were ambitious to obtain a place in the higher class. artisans of every calling needed in a new society had been sent out from england by the company; and when all the most energetic had acquired as much land as could be had in recompense for special services to the community--as so many acres for plowing up a meadow, so many for discovering minerals, so many for foiling an indian raid,--and when the original grants had been broken up, and finally parceled out among sons and daughters, leaving no scope for new purchasers, the most ambitious of the adventurers applied for tracts in maine, where they might play their part of first families in a new settlement. the weaker, the more envious, the more ill-conditioned thus remained behind, to cavil at their prosperous neighbors, and spite them if they could. here was an evident preparation for social disturbance, when opportunity for gratifying bad passions should arise. first causes. there had been a preparation for this stage in the temper with which the adventurers had arrived in the country, and the influences which at once operated upon them there. the politics and the religion in which they had grown up were gloomy and severe. those who were not soured were sad; and, it should be remembered, they fully believed that satan and his powers were abroad, and must be contended with daily and hourly, and in every transaction of life. in their new home they found little cheer from the sun and the common daylight; for the forest shrouded the entire land beyond the barren seashore. the special enemy, the red indian, always watching them and seeking his advantage of them, was not, in their view, a simple savage. their clergy assured them that the red indians were worshipers and agents of satan; and it is difficult to estimate the effect of this belief on the minds and tempers of those who were thinking of the indians at every turn of daily life. the passion which is in the far west still spoken of as special, under the name of "indian-hating," is a mingled ferocity and fanaticism quite inconceivable by quiet christians, or perhaps by any but border adventurers; and this passion, kindled by the first demonstration of hostility on the part of the massachusetts red man, grew and spread incessantly under the painful early experiences of colonial life. every man had in turn to be scout, by day and night, in the swamp and in the forest; and every woman had to be on the watch in her husband's absence to save her babes from murderers and kidnappers. whatever else they might want to be doing, even to supply their commonest needs, the citizens had first to station themselves within hail of each other all day, and at night to drive in their cattle among the dwellings, and keep watch by turns. even on sundays patrols were appointed to look to the public safety while the community were at church. the mothers carried their babes to the meeting-house, rather than venture to stay at home in the absence of husband and neighbors. one function of the sabbath patrol indicates to us other sources of trouble. while looking for indians, the patrol was to observe who was absent from worship, to mark what the absentees were doing, and to give information to the authorities. these patrols were chosen from the leading men of the community--the most active, vigilant, and sensible--and it is conceivable that much ill-will might have been accumulated in the hearts of not only the ne'er-do-weels, but timid and jealous and angry persons who were uneasy under this sabbath inspection. such ill-will had its day of triumph when the salem tragedy arrived at its catastrophe. death of the patriarch. the ordinary experience of life was singularly accelerated in that new state of society, though in the one particular of the age attained by the primitive adventurers, the community may be regarded as favored. death made a great sweep of the patriarchs at last--shortly before the tragedy--but an unusual proportion of elders presided over social affairs for seventy years after the date of the second charter. the chief seats in the meeting-house were filled by gray-haired men and women, rich or poor as might happen; and they were allowed to retain their places, whoever else might be shifted in the yearly "seating." the title "landlord" distinguished the most dignified, and the eldest of each family of the "old planters;" a "goodman" and "goodwife" (abbreviated to "goody") were titles of honor, as signifying heads of households. the old age of these venerable persons was carefully cherished; and when, as could not but happen, many of them departed near together, the mourning of the community was deep and bitter. society seemed to be deprived of its parents, and in fear and grief it anticipated the impending calamity. except in regard to these patriarchs, and their long old age, the pace of events was very rapid. early marriages might be looked for in a society so youthful; but the rapid succession of second and subsequent marriages is a striking feature in the register. the most devoted affection seems to have had no effect in deferring a second marriage so long as a year. no time was lost in settling in life at first; families were large; and half-brothers and sisters abounded; and as they grew up they married on the portions which were given them, as a matter of course,--each having house, land, and plenishing, until at last the parents gave away all but a sufficiency for their own need or convenience, and went into the town or remained in the central mansion, turning over the land and its cares to the younger generation. when there was a failure of offspring, the practice of adoption seems to have been resorted to almost as a natural process, which, in such a state of society, it probably was. growth. in the early days of the arts of life it is usual for the separate transactions of each day to be slow and cumbrous; but the experience of life may be rapid nevertheless. while traveling was a rough jog-trot, and forest-land took years to clear, and the harvest weeks to gather, property grew fast, marriages were precipitate and repeated, one generation trod on the heels of another, and the old folks complained that the enemy made rapid conquest of the new territory which they had hoped he could not enter. when any work--of house-building, or harvesting, or nutting, or furnishing, or raising the wood-pile--had to be done, it was secured by assembling all the hands in the neighborhood, and turning the toil into a festive pleasure. we have all read of such "bees" in the rural districts of america down to the present day; and we can easily understand how the "goodmen" and "goodies" watched for the good and the evil which came out of such celebrations--the courtship and marriage, and the neighborly interest and good offices on the one hand, and the evil passions from disappointed hopes, envy, jealousy, tittle-tattle, rash judgment, and slander on the other. much that was said, done, and inferred in such meetings as these found its way long afterward into the tragedy at salem. mr. upham depicts the inner side of the young social life of which the inquisitorial meeting-house and the courts were the black shadow: "the people of the early colonial settlements had a private and interior life, as much as we have now, and the people of all ages and countries have had. it is common to regard them in no other light than as a severe, somber, and pleasure-abhorring generation. it was not so with them altogether. they had the same nature that we have. it was not all gloom and severity. they had their recreations, amusements, gayeties, and frolics. youth was as buoyant with hope and gladness, love as warm and tender, mirth as natural to innocence, wit as sprightly, then as now. there was as much poetry and romance; the merry laugh enlivened the newly opened fields, and rang through the bordering woods as loud, jocund, and unrestrained as in these older and more crowded settlements. it is true that their theology was austere, and their policy, in church and state, stern; but, in their modes of life, there were some features which gave peculiar opportunity to exercise and gratify a love of social excitement of a pleasurable kind." (vol. i. p. 200.) except such conflicts as arose about the boundaries of estates when the general court was remiss in making and enforcing its decisions, the first and greatest strifes related to church matters and theological doctrines. the farmers had more lively minds, better informed as to law, and more exercised in reasoning and judging than their class are usually supposed to have; for there never was a time when lawsuits were not going forward about the area and the rights of some landed property or other; and intelligent men were called on to follow the course of litigation, if not to serve the community in office. thus they were prepared for the strife when the operation of the two churches pressed for settlement. trouble in the church. the farmers in the rural district thenceforward to be called "salem village," desired to have a meeting-house and a minister of their own; but the town authorities insisted on taxing them for the religious establishment in salem, from which they derived no benefit. in 1670, twenty of them petitioned to be set off as a parish, and allowed to provide a minister for themselves. in two years more the petition was granted, as a compromise for larger privileges; but there were restrictions which spoiled the grace of such concession as there was. one of these restrictions was that no minister was to be permanently settled without the permission of the old church to proceed to his ordination. endless trouble arose out of this provision. the men who had contributed the land, labor, and material for the meeting-house, and the maintenance for the pastor, naturally desired to be free in their choice of their minister, while the church authorities in salem considered themselves responsible for the maintenance of true doctrine, and for leaving no opening for satan to enter the fold in the form of heresy, or any kind or degree of dissent. their fathers, the first settlers, had made the colony too hot for one of their most virtuous and distinguished citizens, because he had views of his own on infant baptism; they had brought him to judgment, magistrate and church member as he was, for not having presented his infant child at the font; he had sold his estates and gone away. if such a citizen as townsend bishop was thus lost to their society, how could the guardians of religion surrender their control over any church or pastor within their reach? they had spiritual charge of a community which had made its abode on the american shore for the single purpose of living its own religious life in its own way; and no dissent or modification from within could be permitted, any more than intrusion or molestation from without. between the ecclesiastical view on the one hand, and the civil view on the other, there was small chance of harmony between town and village, or between pastor, flock, and the overseers of both. the great point on which they were all agreed was that they were all in special danger from the extreme malice of satan, who, foiled in puritan england, was bent on revenge in america, and was visibly and audibly present in the settlement, seeking whom he might devour. quarreling began with the appearance of the first minister, a young mr. bayley, who was appointed from year to year, but never ordained the pastor till 1679, when the authorities of salem tried to force him upon the people of salem village in the face of strong opposition. the farmers disregarded the orders issued from the town, and managed their religious affairs by general meetings of their own congregation; and at length mr. bayley retired, leaving the society in a much worse temper than he had found on his arrival. a handsome gift of land was settled upon him, in acknowledgment of his services; he quitted the ministry, and practiced medicine in roxbury till his death, nearly thirty years afterward. rev. mr. burroughs. his partisans were enemies of his successor, of course. mr. burroughs was a man of even distinguished excellence in the pastoral relation, in days when risks from indians made that duty as perilous as the career of the soldier in war time; but his flock were divided, church business was neglected, he was allowed to fall into want. he withdrew, was recalled to settle accounts, was arrested for debt in full meeting--the debt being for the funeral expenses of his wife--was absolved from all blame under the cruel neglect he had experienced--and left the village. before he could hear in his remote home in maine what was doing at salem in the first days of the witch tragedy, he was summoned to his old neighborhood, was charged with sorcery on the most childish and absurd testimony conceivable, and executed in august, 1692. one of the witnesses--a young girl morbid in body and mind--poured out her remorse to him the day before his death. he, believing her a victim of satan, forgave her, prayed with her, and died honored and beloved by all who were not under the curse of the bigotry of the time. deodat lawson. the third minister was one deodat lawson, who is notable--besides his learning--for his sermon on the devil, and for some mournful mystery about his end. of his last days there is nothing known but that there was something woeful in them; but his sermon, preached at the commencement of the outbreak in salem, remains to us. it was published in america, and then widely circulated in england. it met the popular craving for light about satan and his doings; and thus, between its appropriateness to the time and occasion, and the learning and ability which it manifested, it produced an extraordinary effect in its day. in ours it is an instructive evidence of the extent to which "knowledge falsely so called" may operate on the mind of society, in the absence of science, and before the time has arrived for a clear understanding of the nature of knowledge and the conditions of its attainment. mr. lawson bore a part in the salem tragedy, and then went to england, where we hear of him from calamy as "the unhappy mr. deodat lawson," and he disappears. parris--a malignant. the fourth and last of the ministers of salem village, before the tragedy, was the mr. parris who played the most conspicuous part in it. he must have been a man of singular shamelessness, as well as remarkable selfishness, craft, ruthlessness, and withal imprudence. he began his operations with sharp bargaining about his stipend, and sharp practice in appropriating the house and land assigned for the use of successive pastors. he wrought diligently under the stimulus of his ambition till he got his meeting-house sanctioned as a true church, and himself ordained as the first pastor of salem village. this was in 1689. he immediately launched out into such an exercise of priestly power as could hardly be exceeded under any form of church government; he set his people by the ears on every possible occasion and on every possible pretense; he made his church a scandal in the land for its brawls and controversies; and on him rests the responsibility of the disease and madness which presently turned his parish into a hell, and made it famous for the murder of the wisest, gentlest, and purest christians it contained. [this man parris must have had an inferior intellect, small conscientiousness, benevolence, and veneration; large firmness, self-esteem, combativeness, destructiveness, and acquisitiveness.] a protean devil. before we look at his next proceeding, however, we must bring into view one or two facts essential to the understanding of the case. we have already observed on the universality of the belief in the ever-present agency of satan in that region and that special season. in the woods the red men were his agents--living in and for his service and his worship. in the open country, satan himself was seen, as a black horse, a black dog, as a tall, dark stranger, as a raven, a wolf, a cat, etc. strange incidents happened there as everywhere--odd bodily affections and mental movements; and when devilish influences are watched for, they are sure to be seen. everybody was prepared for manifestations of witchcraft from the first landing in the bay; and there had been more and more cases, not only rumored, but brought under investigation, for some years before the final outbreak. this suggests the next consideration: that the generation concerned had no "alternative" explanation within their reach, when perplexed by unusual appearances or actions of body or mind. they believed themselves perfectly certain about the devil and his doings; and his agency was the only solution of their difficulties, while it was a very complete one. they thought they knew that his method of working was by human agents, whom he had won over and bound to his service. they had all been brought up to believe this; and they never thought of doubting it. state of physiology. the very conception of science had then scarcely begun to be formed in the minds of the wisest men of the time; and if it had been, who was there to suggest that the handful of pulp contained in the human skull, and the soft string of marrow in the spine, and cobweb lines of nerves, apparently of no more account than the hairs of the head, could transmit thoughts, emotions, passions--all the scenery of the spiritual world! for two hundred years more there was no effectual recognition of anything of the sort. at the end of those two centuries anatomists themselves were slicing the brain like a turnip, to see what was inside it,--not dreaming of the leading facts of its structure, nor of the inconceivable delicacy of its organization. after half a century of knowledge of the main truth in regard to the brain, and nearly that period of study of its organization, by every established medical authority in the civilized world, we are still perplexed and baffled at every turn of the inquiry into the relations of body and mind. how, then, can we make sufficient allowance for the effects of ignorance in a community where theology was the main interest in life, where science was yet unborn, and where all the influences of the period concurred to produce and aggravate superstitions and bigotries which now seem scarcely credible? [the reviewer appears to be a half believer in phrenology, and yet unwilling to acknowledge his indebtedness to its teachers for the light he has received in the organization and phenomena of the brain.] william penn as a precedent. there had been misery enough caused by persecutions for witchcraft within living memory to have warned mr. parris, one would think, how he carried down his people into those troubled waters again; but at that time such trials were regarded by society as trials for murder are by us, and not as anything surprising except from the degree of wickedness. william penn presided at the trial of two swedish women in philadelphia for this gravest of crimes; and it was only by the accident of a legal informality that they escaped, the case being regarded with about the same feeling as we experienced a year or two ago when the murderess of infants, charlotte winsor, was saved from hanging by a doubt of the law. if the crime spread--as it usually did--the municipal governments issued an order for a day of fasting and humiliation, "in consideration of the extent to which satan prevails amongst us in respect of witchcraft." among the prosecutions which followed on such observances there was one here and there which turned out, too late, to have been a mistake. this kind of discovery might be made an occasion for more fasting and humiliation; but it seems to have had no effect in inducing caution or suggesting self-distrust. mr. parris and his partisans must have been aware that on occasion of the last great spread of witchcraft, the magistrates and the general court had set aside the verdict of the jury in one case of wrongful accusation, and that there were other instances in which the general heart and conscience were cruelly wounded and oppressed, under the conviction that the wisest and saintliest woman in the community had been made away with by malice, at least as much as mistaken zeal. the wife of one of the most honored and prominent citizens of boston, and the sister of the deputy governor of massachusetts, mrs. hibbins, might have been supposed safe from the gallows, while she walked in uprightness, and all holiness and gentleness of living. but her husband died; and the pack of fanatics sprang upon her, and tore her to pieces--name and fame, fortune, life, and everything. she was hanged in 1656, and the farmers of salem village and their pastor were old enough to know, in mr. parris' time, how the "famous mr. norton," an eminent pastor, "once said at his own table"--before clergymen and elders--"that one of their magistrates' wives was hanged for a witch, only for having more wit than her neighbors;" and to be aware that in boston "a deep feeling of resentment" against her persecutors rankled in the minds of some of her citizens; and that they afterward "observed solemn marks of providence set upon those who were very forward to condemn her." the story of mrs. hibbins, as told in the book before us, with the brief and simple comment of her own pleading in court, and the codicil to her will, is so piteous and so fearful, that it is difficult to imagine how any clergyman could countenance a similar procedure before the memory of the execution had died out, and could be supported in his course by officers of his church, and at length by the leading clergy of the district, the magistrates, the physicians, "and devout women not a few." [here are evidences of large cautiousness, fear, and timidity, with the vivid imagination of untrained childhood.] phenomena of witchery. in the interval between the execution of mrs. hibbins and the outbreak at salem an occasional breeze arose against some unpopular member of society. if a man's ox was ill, if the beer ran out of the cask, if the butter would not come in the churn, if a horse shied or was restless when this or that man or woman was in sight; and if a woman knew when her neighbors were talking about her (which was mrs. hibbins' most indisputable proof of connection with the devil), rumors got about of satanic intercourse; men and women made deposition that six or seven years before, they had seen the suspected person yawn in church, and had observed a "devil's teat" distinctly visible under his tongue; and children told of bears coming to them in the night, and of a buzzing devil in the humble-bee, and of a cat on the bed thrice as big as an ordinary cat. but the authorities, on occasion, exercised some caution. they fined one accused person for telling a lie, instead of treating his bragging as inspiration of the devil. they induced timely confession, or discovered flaws in the evidence, as often as they could; so that there was less disturbance in the immediate neighborhood than in some other parts of the province. where the rev. mr. parris went, however, there was no more peace and quiet, no more privacy in the home, no more harmony in the church, no more goodwill or good manners in society. as soon as he was ordained he put perplexing questions about baptism before the farmers, who rather looked to him for guidance in such matters than expected to be exercised in theological mysteries which they had never studied. he exposed to the congregation the spiritual conflicts of individual members who were too humble for their own comfort. he preached and prayed incessantly about his own wrongs and the slights he suffered, in regard to his salary and supplies; and entered satirical notes in the margin of the church records; so that he was as abundantly discussed from house to house, and from end to end of his parish, as he himself could have desired. in the very crisis of the discontent, and when his little world was expecting to see him dismissed, he saved himself, as we ourselves have of late seen other persons relieve themselves under stress of mind and circumstances, by a rush into the world of spirits. four years previously, a poor immigrant, a catholic irishwoman, had been hanged in boston for bewitching four children, named goodwin--one of whom, a girl of thirteen, had sorely tried a reverend man, less irascible than mr. parris, but nearly as excitable. the tricks that the little girl played the reverend cotton mather, when he endeavored to exorcise the evil spirits, are precisely such as are familiar to us, in cases which are common in the practice of every physician. if we can not pretend to explain them--in the true sense of explaining--that is, referring them to an ascertained law of nature, we know what to look for under certain conditions, and are aware that it is the brain and nervous system that is implicated in these phenomena, and not the prince of darkness and his train. cotton mather had no alternative at his disposal. satan or nothing was his only choice. he published the story, with all its absurd details; and it was read in almost every house in the province. at salem it wrought with fatal effect, because there was a pastor close by well qualified to make the utmost mischief out of it. [in cases of _hysteria_, the phenomena are sometimes so remarkable, that one is disposed to attribute their cause to influences beyond nature.] parris and his "circle." mr. parris had lived in the west indies for some years, and had brought several slaves with him to salem. one of these, an indian named john, and tituba his wife, seem to have been full of the gross superstitions of their people, and of the frame and temperament best adapted for the practices of demonology. in such a state of affairs the pastor actually formed, or allowed to be formed, a society of young girls between the ages of eight and eighteen to meet in his parsonage, strongly resembling those "circles" in the america of our time which have filled the lunatic asylums with thousands of victims of "spiritualist" visitations. it seems that these young persons were laboring under strong nervous excitement, which was encouraged rather than repressed by the means employed by their spiritual director. instead of treating them as the subjects of morbid delusion, mr. parris regarded them as the victims of external diabolical influence; and this influence was, strangely enough, supposed to be exercised, on the evidence of the children themselves, by some of the most pious and respectable members of the community. we need not describe the course of events. in the dull life of the country, the excitement of the proceedings in the "circle" was welcome, no doubt; and it was always on the increase. whatever trickery there might be--and no doubt there was plenty; whatever excitement to hysteria, whatever actual sharpening of common faculties, it is clear that there was more; and those who have given due and dispassionate attention to the processes of mesmerism and their effects can have no difficulty in understanding the reports handed down of what these young creatures did, and said, and saw, under peculiar conditions of the nervous system. when the physicians of the district could see no explanation of the ailments of "the afflicted children" but "the evil hand," no doubt could remain to those who consulted them of these agonies being the work of satan. the matter was settled at once. but satan can work only through human agents; and who were his instruments for the affliction of these children? here was the opening through which calamity rushed in; and for half a year this favored corner of the godly land of new england was turned into a hell. the more the children were stared at and pitied, the bolder they grew in their vagaries, till at last they broke through the restraints of public worship, and talked nonsense to the minister in the pulpit, and profaned the prayers. mr. parris assembled all the divines he could collect at his parsonage, and made his troop go through their performances--the result of which was a general groan over the manifest presence of the evil one, and a passionate intercession for "the afflicted children." [these afflicted children of salem, in 1690, were kindred to the numerous "mediums" of 1869. in the former, ignorance ascribed their actions and revelations to the devil, who bewitched certain persons. now, we simply have the more innocent "communications" from where and from whom you like.] the inquisitions.--sarah good. the first step toward relief was to learn who it was that had stricken them; and the readiest means that occurred was to ask this question of the children themselves. at first, they named no names, or what they said was not disclosed; but there was soon an end of all such delicacy. the first symptoms had occurred in november, 1691; and the first public examination of witches took place on the 1st of march following. we shall cite as few of the cases as will suffice for our purpose; for they are exceedingly painful; and there is something more instructive for us in the spectacle of the consequences, and in the suggestions of the story, than in the scenery of persecution and murder. in the first group of accused persons was one sarah good, a weak, ignorant, poor, despised woman, whose equally weak and ignorant husband had forsaken her, and left her to the mercy of evil tongues. he had called her an enemy to all good, and had said that if she was not a witch, he feared she would be one shortly. her assertions under examination were that she knew nothing about the matter; that she had hurt nobody, nor employed anybody to hurt another; that she served god; and that the god she served was he who made heaven and earth. it appears, however, that she believed in the reality of the "affliction;" for she ended by accusing a fellow-prisoner of having hurt the children. the report of the examination, noted at the time by two of the heads of the congregation, is inane and silly beyond belief; yet the celebration was unutterably solemn to the assembled crowd of fellow-worshipers; and it sealed the doom of the community, in regard to peace and good repute. a child witch. mrs. good was carried to jail. not long after her little daughter dorcas, aged four years, was apprehended at the suit of the brothers putnam, chief citizens of salem. there was plenty of testimony produced of bitings and chokings and pinchings inflicted by this infant; and she was committed to prison, and probably, as mr. upham says, fettered with the same chains which bound her mother. nothing short of chains could keep witches from flying away; and they were chained at the cost of the state, when they could not pay for their own irons. as these poor creatures were friendless and poverty-stricken, it is some comfort to find the jailer charging for "two blankets for sarah good's child," costing ten shillings. what became of little dorcas, with her healthy looks and natural childlike spirits, noticed by her accusers, we do not learn. her mother lay in chains till the 29th of june, when she was brought out to receive sentence. she was hanged on the 19th of july, after having relieved her heart by vehement speech of some of the passion which weighed upon it. she does not seem to have been capable of much thought. one of the accusers was convicted of a flagrant lie, in the act of giving testimony: but the narrator, hutchinson, while giving the fact, treats it as of no consequence, because sir matthew hale and the jury of his court were satisfied with the condemnation of a witch under precisely the same circumstances. the parting glimpse we have of this first victim is dismally true on the face of it. it is most characteristic. "sarah good appears to have been an unfortunate woman, having been subject to poverty, and consequent sadness and melancholy. but she was not wholly broken in spirit. mr. noyes, at the time of her execution, urged her very strenuously to confess. among other things, he told her 'she was a witch, and that she knew she was a witch.' she was conscious of her innocence, and felt that she was oppressed, outraged, trampled upon, and about to be murdered, under the forms of law; and her indignation was roused against her persecutors. she could not bear in silence the cruel aspersion; and although she was about to be launched into eternity, the torrent of her feelings could not be restrained, but burst upon the head of him who uttered the false accusation. 'you are a liar,' said she. 'i am no more a witch than you are a wizard; and if you take away my life, god will give you blood to drink.' hutchinson says that, in his day, there was a tradition among the people of salem, and it has descended to the present time, that the manner of mr. noyes' death strangely verified the prediction thus wrung from the incensed spirit of the dying woman. he was exceedingly corpulent, of a plethoric habit, and died of an internal hemorrhage, bleeding profusely at the mouth." (vol. ii. p. 269.) when she had been in her grave nearly twenty years, her representatives--little dorcas perhaps for one--were presented with thirty pounds sterling, as a grant from the crown, as compensation for the mistake of hanging her without reason and against evidence. the towne sisters. in the early part of the century, a devout family named towne were living at great yarmouth, in the english county of norfolk. about the time of the king's execution they emigrated to massachusetts. william towne and his wife carried with them two daughters; and another daughter and a son were born to them afterward in salem. the three daughters were baptized at long intervals, and the eldest, rebecca, must have been at least twenty years older than sarah, and a dozen or more years older than mary. a sketch of the fate of these three sisters contains within it the history of a century. on the map which mr. upham presents us with, one of the most conspicuous estates is an inclosure of 300 acres, which had a significant story of its own--too long for us to enter upon. we need only say that there had been many strifes about this property--fights about boundaries, and stripping of timber, and a series of lawsuits. yet, from 1678 onward, the actual residents in the mansion had lived in peace, taking no notice of wrangles which did not, under the conditions of purchase, affect them, but only the former proprietor. the frontispiece of mr. upham's book shows us what the mansion of an opulent landowner was like in the early days of the colony. it is the portrait of the house in which the eldest daughter of william towne was living at the date of the salem tragedy. rebecca, then the aged wife of francis nurse, was a great-grandmother, and between seventy and eighty years of age. no old age could have had a more lovely aspect than hers. her husband was, as he had always been, devoted to her, and the estate was a colony of sons and daughters, and their wives and husbands; for 'landlord nurse' had divided his land between his four sons and three sons-in-law, and had built homesteads for them all as they married and settled. mrs. nurse was in full activity of faculty, except being somewhat deaf from age; and her health was good, except for certain infirmities of long standing, which it required the zeal and the malice of such a divine as mr. parris to convert into "devil's marks." as for her repute in the society of which she was the honored head, we learn what it was by the testimony supplied by forty persons--neighbors and householders--who were inquired of in regard to their opinion of her in the day of her sore trial. some of them had known her above forty years; they had seen her bring up a large family in uprightness; they had remarked the beauty of her christian profession and conduct; and had never heard or observed any evil of her. this was rebecca, the eldest. the next, mary, was now fifty-eight years old, the wife of "goodman easty," the owner of a large farm. she had seven children, and was living in ease and welfare of every sort when overtaken by the same calamity as her sister nurse. sarah, the youngest, had married twice. her present husband was peter cloyse, whose name occurs in the parish records, and in various depositions which show that he was a prominent citizen. when mr. parris was publicly complaining of neglect in respect of firewood for the parsonage, and of lukewarmness on the part of the hearers of his services, "landlord nurse" was a member of the committee who had to deal with him; and his relatives were probably among the majority who were longing for mr. parris' apparently inevitable departure. in these circumstances, it was not altogether surprising that "the afflicted children" trained in the parsonage parlor, ventured, after their first successes, to name the honored "goody nurse" as one of the allies lately acquired by satan. they saw her here, there, everywhere, when she was sitting quietly at home; they saw her biting the black servants, choking, pinching, pricking women and children; and if she was examined, devil's marks would doubtless be found upon her. she _was_ examined by a jury of her own sex. neither the testimony of her sisters and daughters as to her infirmities, nor the disgust of decent neighbors, nor the commonest suggestions of reason and feeling, availed to save her from the injury of being reported to have what the witnesses were looking for. we have a glimpse of her in her home when the first conception of her impending fate opened upon her. four esteemed persons, one of whom was her brother-in-law, mr. cloyse, made the following deposition, in the prospect of the victim being dragged before the public: "we whose names are underwritten being desired to go to goodman nurse, his house, to speak with his wife, and to tell her that several of the afflicted persons mentioned her; and accordingly we went, and we found her in a weak and low condition in body as she told us, and had been sick almost a week. and we asked how it was otherwise with her; and she said she blessed god for it, she had more of his presence in this sickness than sometimes she have had, but not so much as she desired; but she would, with the apostle, press forward to the mark; and many other places of scripture to the like purpose. and then of her own accord she began to speak of the affliction that was among them, and in particular of mr. parris his family, and how she was grieved for them, though she had not been to see them, by reason of fits that she formerly used to have; for people said it was awful to behold: but she pitied them with all her heart, and went to god for them. but she said she heard that there was persons spoke of that were as innocent as she was, she believed; and after much to this purpose, we told her we heard that she was spoken of also. 'well,' she said, 'if it be so, the will of the lord be done:' she sat still awhile being as it were amazed; and then she said, 'well, as to this thing i am as innocent as the child unborn; but surely,' she said, 'what sin hath god found out in me unrepented of, that he should lay such an affliction upon me in my old age?' and, according to our best observation, we could not discern that she knew what we came for before we told her. israel porter, daniel andrew, elizabeth porter, peter cloyse." on the 22d of march she was brought into the thronged meeting-house to be accused before the magistrates, and to answer as she best could. we must pass over those painful pages, where nonsense, spasms of hysteria, new and strange to their worships, cunning, cruelty, blasphemy, indecency, turned the house of prayer into a hell for the time. the aged woman could explain nothing. she simply asserted her innocence, and supposed that some evil spirit was at work. one thing more she could do--she could endure with calmness malice and injustice which are too much for our composure at a distance of nearly two centuries. she felt the _animus_ of her enemies, and she pointed out how they perverted whatever she said; but no impatient word escaped her. she was evidently as perplexed as anybody present. when weary and disheartened, and worn out with the noise and the numbers and the hysterics of the "afflicted," her head drooped on one shoulder. immediately all the "afflicted" had twisted necks, and rude hands seized her head to set it upright, "lest other necks should be broken by her ill offices." everything went against her, and the result was what had been hoped by the agitators. the venerable matron was carried to jail and put in irons. depositions of parris and his tools. now mr. parris' time had arrived, and he broadly accused her of murder, employing for the purpose a fitting instrument--mrs. ann putnam, the mother of one of the afflicted children, and herself of highly nervous temperament, undisciplined mind, and absolute devotedness to her pastor. her deposition, preceded by a short one of mr. parris, will show the quality of the evidence on which judicial murder was inflicted: "mr. parris gave in a deposition against her; from which it appears, that, a certain person being sick, mercy lewis was sent for. she was struck dumb on entering the chamber. she was asked to hold up her hand if she saw any of the witches afflicting the patient. presently she held up her hand, then fell into a trance; and after a while, coming to herself, said that she saw the spectre of goody nurse and goody carrier having hold of the head of the sick man. mr. parris swore to this statement with the utmost confidence in mercy's declarations." (vol. ii. p. 275.) "the deposition of ann putnam, the wife of thomas putnam, aged about thirty years, who testifieth and saith, that on march 18, 1692, i being wearied out in helping to tend my poor afflicted child and maid, about the middle of the afternoon i lay me down on the bed to take a little rest; and immediately i was almost pressed and choked to death, that had it not been for the mercy of a gracious god and the help of those that were with me, i could not have lived many moments; and presently i saw the apparition of martha corey, who did torture me so as i can not express, ready to tear me all to pieces, and then departed from me a little while; but, before i could recover strength or well take breath, the apparition of martha corey fell upon me again with dreadful tortures, and hellish temptation to go along with her. and she also brought to me a little red book in her hand, and a black pen, urging me vehemently to write in her book; and several times that day she did most grievously torture me, almost ready to kill me. and on the 19th of march, martha corey again appeared to me; and also rebecca nurse, the wife of francis nurse, sr.; and they both did torture me a great many times this day, with such tortures as no tongue can express, because i would not yield to their hellish temptations, that, had i not been upheld by an almighty arm, i could not have lived while night. the 20th of march, being sabbath-day, i had a great deal of respite between my fits. 21st of march being the day of the examination of martha corey, i had not many fits, though i was very weak; my strength being, as i thought, almost gone; but, on 22d of march, 1692, the apparition of rebecca nurse did again set upon me in a most dreadful manner, very early in the morning, as soon as it was well light. and now she appeared to me only in her shift, and brought a little red book in her hand, urging me vehemently to write in her book; and, because i would not yield to her hellish temptations, she threatened to tear my soul out of my body, blasphemously denying the blessed god, and the power of the lord jesus christ to save my soul; and denying several places of scripture, which i told her of, to repel her hellish temptations. and for near two hours together, at this time, the apparition of rebecca nurse did tempt and torture me, and also the greater part of this day, with but very little respite. 23d of march, am again afflicted by the apparitions of rebecca nurse and martha corey, but chiefly by rebecca nurse. 24th of march, being the day of the examination of rebecca nurse, i was several times afflicted in the morning by the apparition of rebecca nurse, but most dreadfully tortured by her in the time of her examination, insomuch that the honored magistrates gave my husband leave to carry me out of the meeting-house; and, as soon as i was carried out of the meeting-house doors, it pleased almighty god, for his free grace and mercy's sake, to deliver me out of the paws of those roaring lions, and jaws of those tearing bears, that, ever since that time, they have not had power so to afflict me until this may 31, 1692. at the same moment that i was hearing my evidence read by the honored magistrates, to take my oath, i was again re-assaulted and tortured by my before-mentioned tormentor, rebecca nurse." "the testimony of ann putnam, jr., witnesseth and saith, that, being in the room where her mother was afflicted, she saw martha corey, sarah cloyse, and rebecca nurse, or their apparitions, upon her mother." "mrs. ann putnam made another deposition under oath at the same trial, which shows that she was determined to overwhelm the prisoner by the multitude of her charges. she says that rebecca nurse's apparition declared to her that 'she had killed benjamin houlton, john fuller, and rebecca shepherd;' and that she and her sister cloyse, and edward bishop's wife, had killed young john putnam's child; and she further deposed as followeth: 'immediately there did appear to me six children in winding-sheets, which called me aunt, which did most grievously affright me; and they told me that they were my sister baker's children of boston; and that goody nurse, and mistress corey of charlestown, and an old deaf woman at boston, had murdered them, and charged me to go and tell these things to the magistrates, or else they would tear me to pieces, for their blood did cry for vengeance. also there appeared to me my own sister bayley and three of her children in winding-sheets, and told me that goody nurse had murdered them.'" (vol. ii. p. 278.) all the efforts made to procure testimony against the venerable gentlewoman's character issued in a charge that she had so "railed at" a neighbor for allowing his pigs to get into her field that, some short time after, early in the morning, he had a sort of fit in his own entry, and languished in health from that day, and died in a fit at the end of the summer. "he departed this life by a cruel death," murdered by goody nurse. the jury did not consider this ground enough for hanging the old lady, who had been the ornament of their church and the glory of their village and its society. their verdict was "not guilty." not for a moment, however, could the prisoner and her family hope that their trial was over. the outside crowd clamored; the "afflicted" howled and struggled; one judge declared himself dissatisfied; another promised to have her indicted anew; and the chief justice pointed out a phrase of the prisoner's which might be made to signify that she was one of the accused gang in guilt, as well as in jeopardy. it might really seem as if the authorities were all driveling together, when we see the ingenuity and persistence with which they discussed those three words, "of our company." her remonstrance ought to have moved them: "i intended no otherwise than as they were prisoners with us, and therefore did then, and yet do, judge them not legal evidence against their fellow-prisoners. and i being something hard of hearing and full of grief, none informing me how the court took up my words, therefore had no opportunity to declare what i intended when i said they were of our company." (vol. ii. p. 285.) the foreman of the jury would have taken the favorable view of this matter, and have allowed full consideration, while other jurymen were eager to recall the mistake of their verdict; but the prisoner's silence, from failing to hear when she was expected to explain, turned the foreman against her, and caused him to declare, "whereupon these words were to me a principal evidence against her." still, it seemed too monstrous to hang her. after her condemnation, the governor reprieved her; probably on the ground of the illegality of setting aside the first verdict of the jury, in the absence of any new evidence. but the outcry against mercy was so fierce that the governor withdrew his reprieve. goody nurse's excommunication. on the next sunday there was a scene in the church, the record of which was afterward annotated by the church members in a spirit of grief and humiliation. after sacrament the elders propounded to the church, and the congregation unanimously agreed, that sister nurse, being convicted as a witch by the court, should be excommunicated in the afternoon of the same day. the place was thronged; the reverend elders were in the pulpit; the deacons presided below; the sheriff and his officers brought in the witch, and led her up the broad aisle, her chains clanking as she moved. as she stood in the middle of the aisle, the reverend mr. noyes pronounced her sentence of expulsion from the church on earth, and from all hope of salvation hereafter. as she had given her soul to satan, she was delivered over to him for ever. she was aware that every eye regarded her with horror and hate, unapproached under any other circumstances; but it appears that she was able to sustain it. she was still calm and at peace on that day, and during the fortnight of final waiting. when the time came, she traversed the streets of salem between houses in which she had been an honored guest, and surrounded by well-known faces; and then there was the hard task, for her aged limbs, of climbing the rocky and steep path on witches' hill to the place where the gibbets stood in a row, and the hangman was waiting for her, and for sarah good, and several more of whom salem chose to be rid that day. it was the 19th of july, 1692. the bodies were put out of the way on the hill, like so many dead dogs; but this one did not remain there long. by pious hands it was--nobody knew when--brought home to the domestic cemetery, where the next generation pointed out the grave, next to her husband's, and surrounded by those of her children. as for her repute, hutchinson, the historian, tells us that even excommunication could not permanently disgrace her. "her life and conversation had been such, that the remembrance thereof, in a short time after, wiped off all the reproach occasioned by the civil or ecclesiastical sentence against her." (vol. ii. p. 292.) [great god! and is this the road our ancestors had to travel in their pilgrimage in quest of freedom and christianity? are these the fruits of the misunderstood doctrine of total depravity?] thus much comfort her husband had till he died in 1695. in a little while none of his eight children remained unmarried, and he wound up his affairs. he gave over the homestead to his son samuel, and divided all he had among the others, reserving only a mare and her saddle, some favorite articles of furniture, and â£14 a year, with a right to call on his children for any further amount that might be needful. he made no will, and his children made no difficulties, but tended his latter days, and laid him in his own ground, when at seventy-seven years old he died. in 1711, the authorities of the province, sanctioned by the council of queen anne, proposed such reparation as their heart and conscience suggested. they made a grant to the representatives of rebecca nurse of â£25! in the following year something better was done, on the petition of the son samuel who inhabited the homestead. a church meeting was called; the facts of the excommunication of twenty years before were recited, and a reversal was proposed, "the general court having taken off the attainder, and the testimony on which she was convicted being not now so satisfactory to ourselves and others as it was generally in that hour of darkness and temptation." the remorseful congregation blotted out the record in the church book, "humbly requesting that the merciful god would pardon whatsoever sin, error, or mistake was in the application of that censure, and of the whole affair, through our merciful high priest, who knoweth how to have compassion on the ignorant, and those that are out of the way." (vol. ii. p. 483.) mary easty. such was the fate of rebecca, the eldest of the three sisters. mary, the next--once her playmate on the sands of yarmouth, in the old country--was her companion to the last, in love and destiny. mrs. easty was arrested, with many other accused persons, on the 21st of april, while her sister was in jail in irons. the testimony against her was a mere repetition of the charges of torturing, strangling, pricking, and pinching mr. parris' young friends, and rendering them dumb, or blind, or amazed. mrs. easty was evidently so astonished and perplexed by the assertions of the children, that the magistrates inquired of the voluble witnesses whether they might not be mistaken. as they were positive, and mrs. easty could say only that she supposed it was "a bad spirit," but did not know "whether it was witchcraft or not," there was nothing to be done but to send her to prison and put her in irons. the next we hear of her is, that on the 18th of may she was free. the authorities, it seems, would not detain her on such evidence as was offered. she was at large for two days, and no more. the convulsions and tortures of the children returned instantly, on the news being told of goody easty being abroad again; and the ministers, and elders, and deacons, and all the zealous antagonists of satan went to work so vigorously to get up a fresh case, that they bore down all before them. mercy lewis was so near death under the hands of mrs. easty's apparition that she was crying out "dear lord! receive my soul!" and thus there was clearly no time to be lost; and this choking and convulsion, says an eminent citizen, acting as a witness, "occurred very often until such time as we understood mary easty was laid in irons." there she was lying when her sister nurse was tried, excommunicated, and executed; and to the agony of all this was added the arrest of her sister sarah, mrs. cloyse. but she had such strength as kept her serene up to the moment of her death on the gibbet on the 22d of september following. we would fain give, if we had room, the petition of the two sisters, mrs. easty and mrs. cloyse, to the court, when their trial was pending; but we can make room only for the last clause of its reasoning and remonstrance. "thirdly, that the testimony of witches, or such as are afflicted as is supposed by witches, may not be improved to condemn us without other legal evidence concurring. we hope the honored court and jury will be so tender of the lives of such as we are, who have for many years lived under the unblemished reputation of christianity, as not to condemn them without a fair and equal hearing of what may be said for us as well as against us. and your poor suppliants shall be bound always to pray, etc." (vol. ii. p. 326.) still more affecting is the memorial of mrs. easty when under sentence of death and fully aware of the hopelessness of her case. she addresses the judges, the magistrates, and the reverend ministers, imploring them to consider what they are doing, and how far their course in regard to accused persons is consistent with the principles and rules of justice. she asks nothing for herself; she is satisfied with her own innocency, and certain of her doom on earth and her hope in heaven. what she desires is to induce the authorities to take time, to use caution in receiving and strictness in sifting testimony; and so shall they ascertain the truth, and absolve the innocent, the blessing of god being upon their conscientious endeavors. we do not know of any effect produced by her warning and remonstrance; but we find her case estimated, twenty years afterward, as meriting a compensation of â£20! [about one hundred dollars.] before setting forth from the jail to the witches' hill, on the day of her death, she serenely bade farewell to her husband, her many children, and her friends, some of whom related afterward that "her sayings were as serious, religious, distinct, and affectionate as could well be expressed, drawing tears from the eyes of almost all present." mrs. cloyse. the third of this family of dignified gentlewomen seems to have had a keener sensibility than her sisters, or a frame less strong to endure the shocks prepared and inflicted by the malice of the enemy. some of the incidents of her implication in the great calamity are almost too moving to be dwelt on, even in a remote time and country. mrs. cloyse drew ill-will upon herself at the outset by doing as her brother and sister nurse did. they all absented themselves from the examinations in the church, and, when the interruptions of the services became too flagrant, from sabbath worship; and they said they took that course because they disapproved of the permission given to the profanation of the place and the service. they were communicants, and persons of consideration, both in regard to character and position; and their quiet disapprobation of the proceedings of the ministers and their company of accusers subjected them to the full fury of clerical wrath and womanish spite. when the first examination of mrs. nurse took place, mrs. cloyse was of course overwhelmed with horror and grief. the next sunday, however, was sacrament sunday; and she and her husband considered it their duty to attend the ordinance. the effort to mrs. cloyse was so great that when mr. parris gave out his text, "one of you is a devil. he spake of judas iscariot," etc., and when he opened his discourse with references in his special manner to the transactions of the week, the afflicted sister of the last victim could not endure the outrage. she left the meeting. there was a fresh wind, and the door slammed as she went out, fixing the attention of all present, just as mr. parris could have desired. she had not to wait long for the consequences. on the 4th of april she was apprehended with several others; and on the 11th her examination took place, the questions being framed to suit the evidence known to be forthcoming, and mr. parris being the secretary for the occasion. the witness in one case was asked whether she saw a company eating and drinking at mr. parris', and she replied, as expected, that she did. "what were they eating and drinking?" of course, it was the devil's sacrament; and mr. parris, by leading questions, brought out the testimony that about forty persons partook of that hell-sacrament, mrs. cloyse and sarah good being the two deacons! when accused of the usual practices of cruelty to these innocent suffering children, and to the ugly, hulking indian slave, who pretended to show the marks of her teeth, mrs. cloyse gave some vent to her feelings. "when did i hurt thee?" "a great many times," said the indian. "o, you are a grievous liar!" exclaimed she. but the wrath gave way under the soul-sickness which overcame her when charged with biting and pinching a black man, and throttling children, and serving their blood at the blasphemous supper. her sisters in prison, her husband accused with her, and young girls--mere children--now manifesting a devilish cruelty to her, who had felt nothing but good-will to them--she could not sustain herself before the assembly whose eyes were upon her. she sank down, calling for water. she fainted on the floor, and some of the accusing children cried out, "oh! her spirit has gone to prison to her sister nurse!" from that examination she was herself carried to prison. when she joined her sister easty in the petition to the court in the next summer, she certainly had no idea of escaping the gallows; but it does not appear that she was ever brought to trial. mr. parris certainly never relented; for we find him from time to time torturing the feelings of this and every other family whom he supposed to be anything but affectionate to him. some of the incidents would be almost incredible to us if they were not recorded in the church and parish books in mr. parris' own distinct handwriting. on the 14th of august, when the corpse of rebecca nurse was lying among the rocks on the witches' hill, and her two sisters were in irons in boston jail (for boston had now taken the affair out of the hands of the unaided salem authorities), and his predecessor, mr. burroughs, was awaiting his execution, mr. parris invited his church members to remain after service to hear something that he had to say. he had to point out to the vigilance of the church that samuel nurse, the son of rebecca, and his wife, and peter cloyse and certain others, of late had failed to join the brethren at the lord's table, and had, except samuel nurse, rarely appeared at ordinary worship. these outraged and mourning relatives of the accused sisters were decreed to be visited by certain pious representatives of the church, and the reason of their absence to be demanded. the minister, the two deacons, and a chief member were appointed to this fearful task. the report delivered in on the 31st of august was: "brother tarbell proves sick, unmeet for discourse; brother cloyse hard to be found at home, being often with his wife in the prison at ipswich for witchcraft; and brother samuel nurse, and sometimes his wife, attends our public meeting, and he the sacrament, 11th of september, 1692: upon all which we chose to wait further." (vol. ii. p. 486.) this decision to pause was noted as the first token of the decline of the power of the ministers. mr. parris was sorely unwilling to yield even this much advantage to satan--that is, to family affection and instinct of justice. but his position was further lowered by the departure from the parish of some of the most eminent members of its society. mr. cloyse never brought his family to the village again, when his wife was once out of prison; and the name disappears from the history of salem. the proctor family. we have sketched the life of one family out of many, and we will leave the rest for such of our readers as may choose to learn more. some of the statements in the book before us disclose a whole family history in a few words; as the following in relation to john proctor and his wife: "the bitterness of the prosecutors against proctor was so vehement that they not only arrested, and tried to destroy, his wife and all his family above the age of infancy, in salem, but all her relatives in lynn, many of whom were thrown into prison. the helpless children were left destitute, and the house swept of its provisions by the sheriff. proctor's wife gave birth to a child about a fortnight after his execution. this indicates to what alone she owed her life. john proctor had spoken so boldly against the proceedings, and all who had part in them, that it was felt to be necessary to put him out of the way." (vol. ii. p. 312.) the rev. mr. noyes, the worthy coadjutor of mr. parris, refused to pray with mr. proctor before his death, unless he would confess; and the more danger there seemed to be of a revival of pity, humility, and reason, the more zealous waxed the wrath of the pious pastors against the enemy of souls. when, on the fearful 22d of september, mr. noyes stood looking at the execution, he exclaimed that it was a sad thing to see eight firebrands of hell hanging there! the spectacle was never seen again on witches' hill. the jacobs family. the jacobs family was signalized by the confession of one of its members--margaret, one of the "afflicted" girls. she brought her grandfather to the gallows, and suffered as much as a weak, ignorant, impressionable person under evil influences could suffer from doubt and remorse. but she married well seven years afterward--still feeling enough in regard to the past to refuse to be married by mr. noyes. she deserved such peace of mind as she obtained, for she retracted the confession of witchcraft which she had made, and went to prison. it was too late then to save her victims, mr. burroughs and her grandfather, but she obtained their full and free forgiveness. at that time this was the condition of the family: "no account has come to us of the deportment of george jacobs, sr., at his execution. as he was remarkable in life for the firmness of his mind, so he probably was in death. he had made his will before the delusion arose. it is dated january 29, 1692, and shows that he, like proctor, had a considerable estate.... in his infirm old age he had been condemned to die for a crime of which he knew himself innocent, and which there is some reason to believe he did not think any one capable of committing. he regarded the whole thing as a wicked conspiracy and absurd fabrication. he had to end his long life upon a scaffold in a week from that day. his house was desolated, and his property sequestered. his only son, charged with the same crime, had eluded the sheriff--leaving his family, in the hurry of his flight, unprovided for--and was an exile in foreign lands. the crazy wife of that son was in prison and in chains, waiting trial on the same charge; her little children, including an unweaned infant, left in a deserted and destitute condition in the woods. the older children were scattered he knew not where, while one of them had completed the bitterness of his lot by becoming a confessor, upon being arrested with her mother as a witch. this granddaughter, margaret, overwhelmed with fright and horror, bewildered by the statements of the accusers, and controlled probably by the arguments and arbitrary methods of address employed by her minister, mr. noyes--whose peculiar function in those proceedings seems to have been to drive persons accused to make confession--had been betrayed into that position, and became a confessor and accuser of others." (vol. ii. p. 312.) giles and martha corey. the life and death of a prominent citizen, giles corey, should not be altogether passed over in a survey of such a community and such a time. he had land, and was called "goodman corey;" but he was unpopular from being too rough for even so young a state of society. he was once tried for the death of a man whom he had used roughly, but he was only fined. he had strifes and lawsuits with his neighbors; but he won three wives, and there was due affection between him and his children. he was eighty years old when the witch delusion broke out, and was living alone with his wife martha--a devout woman who spent much of her time on her knees, praying against the snares of satan, that is, the delusion about witchcraft. she spoke freely of the tricks of the children, the blindness of the magistrates, and the falling away of many from common sense and the word of god; and while her husband attended every public meeting, she stayed at home to pray. in his fanaticism he quarreled with her, and she was at once marked out for a victim, and one of the earliest. when visited by examiners, she smiled, and conversed with entire composure, declaring that she was no witch, and that "she did not think that there were any witches." by such sayings, and by the expressions of vexation that fell from her husband, and the fanaticism of two of her four sons-in-law, she was soon brought to extremity. but her husband was presently under accusation too; and much amazed he evidently was at his position. his wife was one of the eight "firebrands of hell" whom mr. noyes saw swung off on the 22d of september. "martha corey," said the record, "protesting her innocency, concluded her life with an eminent prayer on the scaffold." her husband had been supposed certain to die in the same way; but he had chosen a different one. his anguish at his rash folly at the outset of the delusion excited the strongest desire to bear testimony on behalf of his wife and other innocent persons, and to give an emphatic blessing to the two sons-in-law who had been brave and faithful in his wife's cause. he executed a deed by which he presented his excellent children with his property in honor of their mother's memory; and, aware that if tried he would be condemned and executed, and his property forfeited, he resolved not to plead, and to submit to the consequence of standing mute. old as he was, he endured it. he stood mute, and the court had, as the authorities believed, no alternative. he was pressed to death, as devoted husbands and fathers were, here and there, in the middle ages, when they chose to save their families from the consequences of attainders by dying untried. we will not sicken our readers with the details of the slow, cruel, and disgusting death. he bore it, only praying for heavier weights to shorten his agony. such a death and such a testimony, and the execution of his wife two days later, weighed on every heart in the community; and no revival of old charges against the rough colonist had any effect in the presence of such an act as his last. he was long believed to haunt the places where he lived and died; and the attempt made by the ministers and one of their "afflicted" agents to impress the church and society with a vision which announced his damnation, was a complete failure. cotton mather showed that ann putnam had received a divine communication, proving giles corey a murderer; and ann putnam's father laid the facts before the judge; but it was too late now for visions, and for insinuations to the judges, and for clerical agitation to have any success. brother noyes hurried on a church meeting while giles corey was actually lying under the weights, to excommunicate him for witchcraft on the one hand, or suicide on the other; and the ordinance was passed. but it was of no avail against the rising tide of reason and sympathy. this was the last vision, and the last attempt to establish one in salem, if not in the province. it remained for mr. noyes, and the mathers, and mr. parris, and every clergyman concerned, to endure the popular hatred and their own self-questioning for the rest of their days. the lay authorities were stricken with remorse and humbled with grief; but their share of the retribution was more endurable than that of the pastors who had proved so wolfish toward their flocks. decline of the delusion. in the month of september, 1692, they believed themselves in the thick of "the fight between the devil and the lamb." cotton mather was nimble and triumphant on the witches' hill whenever there were "firebrands of hell" swinging there; and they all hoped to do much good work for the lord yet, for they had lists of suspected persons in their pockets, who must be brought into the courts month by month, and carted off to the hill. one of the gayest and most complacent letters on the subject of this "fight" in the correspondence of cotton mather is dated on the 20th of september, 1692, within a month of the day when he was improving the occasion at the foot of the gallows where the former pastor, rev. george burroughs, and four others were hung. in the interval fifteen more received sentence of death; giles corey had died his fearful death the day before; and in two days after, corey's widow and seven more were hanged. mather, noyes, and parris had no idea that these eight would be the last. but so it was. thus far, one only had escaped after being made sure of in the courts. the married daughter of a clergyman had been condemned, was reprieved by the governor, and was at last discharged on the ground of the insufficiency of the evidence. henceforth, after that fearful september day, no evidence was found sufficient. the accusers had grown too audacious in their selection of victims; their clerical patrons had become too openly determined to give no quarter. the rev. francis dane signed memorials to the legislature and the courts on the 18th of october, against the prosecutions. he had reason to know something about them, for we hear of nine at least of his children, grandchildren, relatives, and servants who had been brought under accusation. he pointed out the snare by which the public mind, as well as the accused themselves, had been misled--the escape afforded to such as would confess. when one spoke out, others followed. when a reasonable explanation was afforded, ordinary people were only too thankful to seize upon it. though the prisons were filled, and the courts occupied over and over again, there were no more horrors; the accused were all acquitted; and in the following may, sir william phipps discharged all the prisoners by proclamation. "such a jail-delivery has never been known in new england," is the testimony handed down. the governor was aware that the clergy, magistrates, and judges, hitherto active, were full of wrath at his course but public opinion now demanded a reversal of the administration of the last fearful year. the physio-psychological causes of the trouble. as to the striking feature of the case--the confessions of so large a proportion of the accused--mr. upham manifests the perplexity which we encounter in almost all narrators of similar scenes. in all countries and times in which trials for witchcraft have taken place, we find the historians dealing anxiously with the question--how it could happen that so many persons declared themselves guilty of an impossible offense, when the confession must seal their doom? the solution most commonly offered is one that may apply to a case here and there, but certainly can not be accepted as disposing of any large number. it is assumed that the victim preferred being killed at once to living on under suspicion, insult, and ill-will, under the imputation of having dealt with the devil. probable as this may be in the case of a stout-hearted, reasoning, forecasting person possessed of nerve to carry out a policy of suicide, it can never be believed of any considerable proportion of the ordinary run of old men and women charged with sorcery. the love of life and the horror of a cruel death at the hands of the mob or of the hangman are too strong to admit of a deliberate sacrifice so bold, on the part of terrified and distracted old people like the vast majority of the accused; while the few of a higher order, clearer in mind and stronger in nerve, would not be likely to effect their escape from an unhappy life by a lie of the utmost conceivable gravity. if, in the salem case, life was saved by confession toward the last, it was for a special reason; and it seems to be a singular instance of such a mode of escape. some other mode of explanation is needed; and the observations of modern inquiry supply it. there can be no doubt now that the sufferers under nervous disturbances, the subjects of abnormal condition, found themselves in possession of strange faculties, and thought themselves able to do new and wonderful things. when urged to explain how it was, they could only suppose, as so many of the salem victims did, that it was by "some evil spirit;" and except where there was such an intervening agency as mr. parris' "circle," the only supposition was that the intercourse between the evil spirit and themselves was direct. it is impossible even now to witness the curious phenomena of somnambulism and catalepsy without a keen sense of how natural and even inevitable it was for similar subjects of the middle ages and in puritan times to believe themselves ensnared by satan, and actually endowed with his gifts, and to confess their calamity, as the only relief to their scared and miserable minds. this explanation seems not to have occurred to mr. upham; and, for want of it, he falls into great amazement at the elaborate artifice with which the sufferers invented their confessions, and adapted them to the state of mind of the authorities and the public. with the right key in his hand, he would have seen only what was simple and natural where he now bids us marvel at the pitch of artfulness and skill attained by poor wretches scared out of their natural wits. the spectacle of the ruin that was left is very melancholy. orphan children were dispersed; homes were shut up, and properties lost; and what the temper was in which these transactions left the churches and the village, and the society of the towns, the pastors and the flocks, the lord's table, the social gathering, the justice hall, the market, and every place where men were wont to meet, we can conceive. it was evidently long before anything like a reasonable and genial temper returned to society in and about salem. the acknowledgments of error made long after were half-hearted, and so were the expressions of grief and pity in regard to the intolerable woes of the victims. it is scarcely intelligible how the admissions on behalf of the wronged should have been so reluctant, and the sympathy with the devoted love of their nearest and dearest so cold. we must cite what mr. upham says in honor of these last, for such solace is needed: "while, in the course of our story, we have witnessed some shocking instances of the violation of the most sacred affections and obligations of life, in husbands and wives, parents and children, testifying against each other, and exerting themselves for mutual destruction, we must not overlook the many instances in which filial, parental, and fraternal fidelity and love have shone conspicuously. it was dangerous to befriend an accused person. proctor stood by his wife to protect her, and it cost him his life. children protested against the treatment of their parents, and they were all thrown into prison. daniel andrew, a citizen of high standing, who had been deputy to the general court, asserted, in the boldest language, his belief of rebecca nurse's innocence; and he had to fly the country to save his life. many devoted sons and daughters clung to their parents, visited them in prison in defiance of a blood-thirsty mob; kept by their side on the way to execution; expressed their love, sympathy, and reverence to the last; and, by brave and perilous enterprise, got possession of their remains, and bore them back under the cover of midnight to their own thresholds, and to graves kept consecrated by their prayers and tears. one noble young man is said to have effected his mother's escape from the jail, and secreted her in the woods until after the delusion had passed away, provided food and clothing for her, erected a wigwam for her shelter, and surrounded her with every comfort her situation would admit of. the poor creature must, however, have endured a great amount of suffering; for one of her larger limbs was fractured in the all but desperate attempt to rescue her from the prison walls." (vol. ii. p. 348.) the act of reversal of attainder, passed early in the next century, tells us that "some of the principal accusers and witnesses in those dark and severe prosecutions have since discovered themselves to be persons of profligate and vicious conversation;" and on no other authority we are assured that, "not without spot before, they became afterward abandoned to open vice." this was doubtless true of some; but of many it was not; and of this we shall have a word to say presently. the last of parris. mr. parris' parsonage soon went to ruin, as did some of the dwellings of the "afflicted" children, who learned and practiced certain things in his house which he afterward pronounced to be arts of satan, and declared to have been pursued without his knowledge and with the cognizance of only his servants (john and tituba, the indian and the negress). barn, and well, and garden disappeared in a sorry tract of rough ground, and the dwelling became a mere handful of broken bricks. the narrative of the pastor's struggles and devices to retain his pulpit is very interesting; but they are not related to our object here; and all we need say is, that three sons and sons-in-law of mrs. nurse measured their strength against his, and, without having said an intemperate or superfluous word, or swerved from the strictest rules of congregational action, sent him out of the parish. he finally opined that "evil angels" had been permitted to tempt him and his coadjutors on either hand; he admitted that some mistakes had been made; and, said he, "i do humbly own this day, before the lord and his people, that god has been righteously spitting in my face; and i desire to lie low under all this reproach," etc.; but the remonstrants could not again sit under his ministry, and his brethren in the province did not pretend to exculpate him altogether. he buried his wife--against whom no record remains--and departed with his children, the eldest of whom, the playfellow of the "afflicted" children, he had sent away before she had taken harm in the "circle." he drifted from one small outlying congregation to another, neglected and poor, restless and untamed, though mortified, till he died in 1720. mr. noyes died somewhat earlier. he is believed not to have undergone much change, as to either his views or his temper. he was a kind-hearted and amiable man when nothing came in the way; but he could hold no terms with satan; and in this he insisted to the last that he was right. cotton mather was the survivor of the other two. he died in 1728; and he never was happy again after that last batch of executions. he trusted to his merits, and the genius he exhibited under that onslaught of satan, to raise him to the highest post of clerical power in the province, and to make him--what he desired above all else--president of harvard university. mr. upham presents us with a remarkable meditation written by the unhappy man, so simple and ingenious that it is scarcely possible to read it gravely; but the reader is not the less sensible of his misery. the argument is a sort of remonstrance with god on the recompense his services have met with. he has been appointed to serve the world, and the world does not regard him; the negroes, and (who could believe it?) the negroes are named cotton mather in contempt of him; the wise and the unwise despise him; in every company he is avoided and left alone; the female sex, and they speak basely of him; his relatives, and they are such monsters that he may truly say, "i am a brother to dragons;" the government, and it heaps indignities upon him; the university, and if he were a blockhead, it could not treat him worse than it does. he is to serve all whom he can aid, and nobody ever does anything for him; he is to serve all to whom he can be a helpful and happy minister, and yet he is the most afflicted minister in the country; and many consider his afflictions to be so many miscarriages, and his sufferings in proportion to his sins. there was no popularity or power for him from the hour when he stood to see his brother burroughs put to death on the hill. he seems never to have got over his surprise at his own failures; but he sank into deeper mortification and a more childish peevishness to the end. "one of the afflicted"--her confession. of only one of the class of express accusers--of the "afflicted"--will we speak; but not because she was the only one reclaimed. one bewildered child we have described as remorseful, and brave in her remorse; and others married as they would hardly have done if they had been among the "profligate." ann putnam's case remains the most prominent, and the most pathetic. she was twelve years old when the "circle" at mr. parris' was formed. she had no check from her parents, but much countenance and encouragement from her morbidly-disposed mother. she has the bad distinction of having been the last of the witnesses to declare a "vision" against a suspected person; but, on the other hand, she has the honor, such as it is, of having striven to humble herself before the memory of her victims. when she was nineteen her father died, and her mother followed within a fortnight, leaving the poor girl, in bad health and with scanty means, to take care of a family of children so large that there were eight, if not more, dependent on her. no doubt she was aided, and she did what she could; but she died worn out at the age of thirty-six. ten years before that date she made her peace with the church and society by offering a public confession in the meeting-house. in order to show what it was that the accusers did admit, we must make room for ann putnam's confession: "'i desire to be humbled before god for that sad and humbling providence that befell my father's family in the year about '92; that i, then being in my childhood, should, by such a providence of god, be made the instrument for the accusing of several persons of a grievous crime, whereby their lives were taken away from them, whom now i have just grounds and good reason to believe they were innocent persons; and that it was a great delusion of satan that deceived me in that sad time, whereby i justly fear that i have been instrumental with others, though ignorantly and unwittingly, to bring upon myself and this land the guilt of innocent blood; though what was said or done by me against any person i can truly and uprightly say, before god and man, i did it not out of any anger, malice, or ill-will to any person, for i had no such thing against one of them; but what i did was ignorantly, being deluded by satan. and particularly, as i was a chief instrument of accusing goodwife nurse and her two sisters, i desire to lie in the dust, and to be humbled for it, in that i was a cause, with others, of so sad a calamity to them and their families; for which cause i desire to lie in the dust, and earnestly beg forgiveness of god, and from all those unto whom i have given just cause of sorrow and offense, whose relations were taken away or accused. (signed) ann putnam.' "this confession was read before the congregation, together with her relation, august 25, 1706; and she acknowledged it. "j. green, _pastor_." (vol. ii. p. 510.) the transition. the most agreeable picture ever afforded by this remarkable community is that which our eyes rest on at the close of the story. one of the church members had refused to help to send mr. parris away, on the ground that the village had had four pastors, and had gone through worse strifes with every one; but he saw a change of scene on the advent of the fifth. the rev. joseph green was precisely the man for the place and occasion. he was young--only two-and-twenty--and full of hope and cheerfulness, while sobered by the trials of the time. he had a wife and infants, and some private property, so that he could at once plant down a happy home among his people, without any injurious dependence on them. while exemplary in clerical duty, he encouraged an opposite tone of mind to that which had prevailed--put all the devils out of sight, promoted pigeon-shooting and fishing, and headed the young men in looking after hostile indians. instead of being jealous at the uprising of new churches, he went to lay the foundations, and invited the new brethren to his home. he promoted the claims of the sufferers impoverished by the recent social convulsion; he desired to bury not only delusions, but ill offices in silence; and by his hospitality he infused a cheerful social spirit into his stricken people. the very business of "seating" the congregation was so managed under his ministry as that members of the sinning and suffering families--members not in too direct an antagonism--were brought together for prayer, singing, and sabbath-greeting, forgiving and forgetting as far as possible. thus did this excellent pastor create a new scene of peace and good-will, which grew brighter for eighteen years, when he died at the age of forty. at the earliest moment that was prudent, he induced his church to cancel the excommunication of rebecca nurse and giles corey. it was ten years more before the hard and haughty mother church in salem would do its part; but mr. green had the satisfaction of seeing that record also cleansed of its foul stains three years before his death. judge sewall had before made his penitential acknowledgment of proud error in full assembly, and had resumed his seat on the bench amid the forgiveness and respect of society; chief justice stoughton had retired from the courts in obstinate rage at his conflicts with satan having been cut short; the physicians hoped they should have no more patients "under the evil hand," to make them look foolish and feel helpless; and the tragedy was over. there were doubtless secret tears and groans, horrors of shame and remorse by night and by day, and indignant removal of the bones of the murdered from outcast graves; and abstraction of painful pages from books of record, and much stifling of any conversation which could grow into tradition. the tragedy was, no doubt, the central interest of society, families, and individuals throughout the province for the life of one generation. then, as silence had been kept in the homes as well as at church and market, the next generation entered upon life almost unconscious of the ghastly distinction which would attach in history to massachusetts in general, and salem in particular, as the scene of the delusion and the tragedy which showed the new world to be in essentials no wiser than the old. how effectually the story of that year 1692 was buried in silence is shown by a remark of mr. upham's--that it has been too common for the witch tragedy to be made a jest of, or at least to be spoken of with levity. we can have no doubt that his labors have put an end to this. it is inconceivable that there can ever again be a joke heard on the subject of witchcraft in salem. but this remark of our author brings us at once home to our own country, time, and experience. it suggests the question whether the lesson afforded by this singular perfect piece of history is more or less appropriate to our own day and generation. the fetish theory then and now. we have already observed that at the date of these events, the only possible explanation of the phenomena presented was the fetish solution which had in all ages been recurred to as a matter of course. in heathen times it was god, goddess, or nymph who gave knowledge, or power, or gifts of healing, or of prophecy, to men. in christian times it was angel, or devil, or spirit of the dead; and this conception was in full force over all christendom when the puritan emigrants settled in new england. the celebrated sermon of the rev. mr. lawson, in the work before us, discloses the elaborate doctrine held by the class of men who were supposed to know best in regard to the powers given by satan to his agents, and the evils with which he afflicted his victims; and there was not only no reason why the pastor's hearers should question his interpretations, but no possibility that they should supply any of a different kind. the accused themselves, while unable to admit or conceive that they were themselves inspired by satan, could propose no explanation but that the acts were done by "some bad spirit." and such has been the fetish tendency to this hour, through all the advance that has been made in science, and in the arts of observation and of reasoning. the fetish tendency--that of ascribing one's own consciousness to external objects, as when the dog takes a watch to be alive because it ticks, and when the savage thinks his god is angry because it thunders, and when the puritan catechumen cries out in hysteria that satan has set a witch to strangle her--that constant tendency to explain everything by the facts, the feelings, and the experience of the individual's own nature, is no nearer dying out now than at the time of the salem tragedy; and hence, in part, the seriousness and the instructiveness of this story to the present generation. ours is the generation which has seen the spread of spiritualism in europe and america, a phenomenon which deprives us of all right to treat the salem tragedy as a jest, or to adopt a tone of superiority in compassion for the agents in that dismal drama. there are hundreds, even several thousands, of lunatics in the asylums of the united states, and not a few in our own country, who have been lodged there by the pursuit of intercourse with spirits; in other words, by ascribing to living but invisible external agents movements of their own minds. mr. parris remarked, in 1692, that of old, witches were only ignorant old women; whereas, in his day, they had come to be persons of knowledge, holiness, and devotion who had been drawn into that damnation; and in our day, we hear remarks on the superior refinement of spirit-intercourses, in comparison with the witch doings at salem; but the cases are all essentially the same. in all, some peculiar and inexplicable appearances occur, and are, as a matter of course, when their reality can not be denied, ascribed to spiritual agency. we may believe that we could never act as the citizens of salem acted in their superstition and their fear; and this may be true; but the course of speculation is, in "spiritual circles," very much the same as in mr. parris' parlor. and how much less excuse there is for our generation than for his! we are very far yet from being able to explain the well-known and indisputable facts which occur from time to time, in all countries where men abide and can give an account of themselves; such facts as the phenomena of natural somnambulism, of double consciousness, of suspended sensation while consciousness is awake, and the converse--of a wide range of intellectual and instinctive operations bearing the character of marvels to such as can not wait for the solution. we are still far from being able to explain such mysteries, in the only true sense of the word _explaining_--that is, being able to refer the facts to the natural cause to which they belong; but we have an incalculable advantage over the people of former centuries in knowing that for all proved facts there is a natural cause; that every cause to which proved facts within our cognizance are related is destined to become known to us; and that, in the present case, we have learned in what direction to search for it, and have set out on the quest. none of us can offer even the remotest conjecture as to what the law of the common action of what we call mind and body may be. if we could, the discovery would have been already made. but, instead of necessarily assuming, as the salem people did, that what they witnessed was the operation of spiritual upon human beings, we have, as our field of observation and study, a region undreamed of by them--the brain as an organized part of the human frame, and the nervous system, implicating more facts, more secrets, and more marvels than our forefathers attributed to the whole body. the views of modern investigators. it is very striking to hear the modern lectures on physiological subjects delivered in every capital in europe, and to compare the calm and easy manner in which the most astonishing and the most infernal phenomena are described and discussed, with the horror and dismay that the same facts would have created if disclosed by divines in churches three centuries ago. dr. maudsley, in his recent work on "the physiology and pathology of mind," and other physicians occupied in his line of practice, lead us through the lunatic asylums of every country, pointing out as ordinary or extraordinary incidents the same "afflictions" of children and other morbid persons which we read of, one after another, in the salem story. it is a matter of course with such practitioners and authors to anticipate such phenomena when they have detected the morbid conditions which generate them. mr. upham himself is evidently very far indeed from understanding or suspecting how much light is thrown on the darkest part of his subject by physiological researches carried on to the hour when he laid down his pen. his view is confined almost exclusively to the theory of fraud and falsehood, as affording the true key. it is not probable that anybody disputes or doubts the existence of guilt and folly in many or all of the agents concerned. there was an antecedent probability of both in regard to mr. parris' slaves, and to such of the young children as they most influenced; and that kind of infection is apt to spread. moreover, experience shows us that the special excitement of that nervous condition induces moral vagaries at least as powerfully as mental delusions. in the state of temper existing among the inhabitants of the village when the mischievous club of girls was formed at the pastor's house, it was inevitable that, if magic was entered upon at all, it would be malignant magic. whatever mr. upham has said in illustration of that aspect of the case his readers will readily agree to. but there is a good deal more, even of the imperfect notices that remain after the abstraction and destruction of the records in the shame and anguish that ensued, which we, in our new dawn of science, can perceive to be an affair of the bodily organization. we are, therefore, obliged to him for rescuing this tremendous chapter of history from oblivion, and for the security in which he has placed the materials of evidence. in another generation the science of the human frame may have advanced far enough to elucidate some of the salem mysteries, together with some obscure facts in all countries, which can not be denied, while as yet they can not be understood. when that time comes, a fearful weight of imputation will be removed from the name and fame of many agents and sufferers who have been the subjects of strange maladies and strange faculties, in all times and countries. as we are now taught the new discoveries of the several nerve-centers, and the powers which are appropriated to them; and when we observe what a severance may exist between the so-called organ of any sense or faculty and the operation of the sense or faculty; and how infallibly ideas and emotion may be generated, and even beliefs created in minds sane and insane, by certain manipulations of the nerves and brain, we see how innocently this phenomenon may be presented in natural somnambulism. sleepwalkers have been known in many countries, and treated of in medical records by their physicians, who could not only walk, and perform all ordinary acts in the dark as well as in the light, but who went on writing or reading without interruption though an opaque substance--a book or a slate--was interposed, and would dot the _i's_ and cross the _t's_ with unconscious correctness without any use of their eyes. there is a wide field of inquiry open in this direction, now that the study of the nervous system has been begun, however minute is the advance as yet. importance of the subject. it is needless to dwell on the objection made to the rising hopefulness in regard to the study of man, and the mysteries of his nature. between the multitude who have still no notion of any alternative supposition to that of possession or inspiration by spirits, or, at least, intercourse with such beings, and others who fear "materialism" if too close an attention is paid to the interaction of the mind and the nerves, and those who always shrink from new notions in matters so interesting, and those who fear that religion may be implicated in any slight shown to angel or devil, and those who will not see or hear any evidence whatever which lies in a direction opposite to their prejudices, we are not likely to get on too fast. but neither can the injury lapse under neglect. the spectacle presented now is of the same three sorts of people that appear in all satires, in all literatures, since the pursuit of truth in any mode or direction became a recognized object anywhere and under any conditions. leaving out of view the multitude who are irrelevant to the case, from having no knowledge, and being therefore incapable of an opinion, there is the large company of the superficial and light-minded, who are always injuring the honor and beauty of truth by the levity, the impertinence, the absurdity of the enthusiasm they pretend, and the nonsense they talk about "some new thing." no period of society has been more familiar with that class and its mischief-making than our own. there is the other large class of the cotemporaries of any discovery or special advance, who, when they can absent themselves from the scene no longer, look and listen, and bend all their efforts to hold their ground of life-long opinion, usually succeeding so far as to escape any direct admission that more is known than when they were born. these are no ultimate hindrance. when harvey died, no physician in europe above the age of forty believed in the circulation of the blood; but the truth was perfectly safe; and so it will be with the case of the psychological relations of the nervous system when the present course of investigation has sustained a clearer verification and further advance. on this point we have the sayings of two truth-seekers, wise in quality of intellect, impartial and dispassionate in temper, and fearless in the pursuit of their aims. the late prince consort is vividly remembered for the characteristic saying which spread rapidly over the country, that he could not understand the conduct of the medical profession in england in leaving the phenomena of mesmerism to the observation of unqualified persons, instead of undertaking an inquiry which was certainly their proper business, in proportion as they professed to pursue _science_. the other authority we refer to is the late mr. hallam. a letter of his lies before us from which we quote a passage, familiar in its substance, doubtless, to his personal friends, to whom he always avowed the view which it presents, and well worthy of note to such readers as may not be aware of the observation and thought he devoted to the phenomena of mesmerism during the last quarter-century of his long life. "it appears to me probable that the various phenomena of mesmerism, together with others, independent of mesmerism properly so called, which have lately [the date is 1844] been brought to light, are fragments of some general law of nature which we are not yet able to deduce from them, merely because they are destitute of visible connection--the links being hitherto wanting which are to display the entire harmony of effects proceeding from a single cause." [persons curious to know what has been developed in this class of studies may find the same in a work published at this office, entitled the library of mesmerism and psychology--comprising the philosophy of mesmerism, clairvoyance, and mental electricity; fascination, or the power of charming; the macrocosm, or the world of sense; electrical psychology, or the doctrine of impressions; the science of the soul, treated physiologically and philosophically. complete in one illustrated volume. price, $4.] what room is there not for hopefulness when we compare such an observation as this with mr. parris' dogmatical exposition of satan's dealings with men! or when we contrast the calm and cheerful tone of the philosopher with the stubborn wrath of chief justice stoughton, and with the penitential laments of judge sewall! we might contrast it also with the wild exultation of those of the spiritualists of our own day who can form no conception of the modesty and patience requisite for the sincere search for truth, and who, once finding themselves surrounded by facts and appearances new and strange, assume that they have discovered a bridge over the bottomless "gulf beyond which lies the spirit-land," and wander henceforth in a fools' paradise, despising and pitying all who are less rash, ignorant, and presumptuous than themselves. it is this company of fanatics--the first of the three classes we spoke of--which is partly answerable for the backwardness of the second; but the blame does not rest exclusively in one quarter. there is an indolence in the medical class which is the commonest reproach against them in every age of scientific activity, and which has recently been heroically avowed and denounced in a public address by no less a member of the profession than sir thomas watson.[1] there is a conservative reluctance to change of view or of procedure. there is also a lack of moral courage, by no means surprising in an order of men whose lives are spent in charming away troubles, and easing pains and cares, and "making things pleasant"--by no means surprising, we admit, but exceedingly unfavorable to the acknowledgment of phenomena that are strange and facts that are unintelligible. [1] address on the present state of therapeutics. delivered at the opening meeting of the clinical society of london, january 10, 1868. by sir thomas watson, bart., m.d. this brings us to the third class--the very small number of persons who are, in the matter of human progress, the salt of the earth; the few who can endure to see without understanding, to hear without immediately believing or disbelieving, to learn what they can, without any consideration of what figure they themselves shall make in the transaction; and even to be unable to reconcile the new phenomena with their own prior experience or conceptions. there is no need to describe how rare this class must necessarily be, for every one who has eyes sees how near the passions and the prejudices of the human being lie to each other. these are the few who unite the two great virtues of earnestly studying the facts, and keeping their temper, composure and cheerfulness through whatever perplexity their inquiry may involve. it is remarkable that while the world is echoing all round and incessantly with the praise of the life of the man spent in following truth wherever it may lead, the world is always resounding also with the angry passions of men who resent all opinions which are not their own, and denounce with fury or with malice any countenance given to mere proposals to inquire in certain directions which they think proper to reprobate. not only was it horrible blasphemy in galileo to think as he did of the motion of the earth, but in his friends to look through his glass at the stars. this salem story is indeed shocking in every view--to our pride as rational beings, to our sympathy as human beings, to our faith as christians, to our complacency as children of the reformation. it is so shocking that some of us may regret that the details have been revived with such an abundance of evidence. but this is no matter of regret, but rather of congratulation, if we have not outgrown the need of admonition from the past. how does that consideration stand? at the end of nearly three centuries we find ourselves relieved of a heavy burden of fear and care about the perpetual and unbounded malice of satan and his agents. witchcraft has ceased to be one of the gravest curses of the human lot. we have parted with one after another of the fetish or conjectural persuasions about our relations with the world of spirit or mind, regarded as in direct opposition to the world of matter. by a succession of discoveries we have been led to an essentially different view of life and thought from any dreamed of before the new birth of science; and at this day, and in our own metropolis, we have sir henry holland telling us how certain treatment of this or that department of the nervous system will generate this or that state of belief and experience, as well as sensation. we have dr. carpenter disclosing facts of incalculable significance about brain-action without consciousness, and other vital mysteries. we have dr. maudsley showing, in the cells of the lunatic asylum, not only the very realm of satan, as our fathers would have thought, but the discovery that it is not satan, after all, that makes the havoc, but our own ignorance which has seduced us into a blasphemous superstition, instead of inciting us to the study of ourselves. and these are not all our teachers. amid the conflict of phenomena of the human mind and body, we have arrived now at the express controversy of psychology against physiology. beyond the mere statement of the fact we have scarcely advanced a step. the first can not be, with any accuracy, called a science at all, and the other is in little more than a rudimentary state; but it is no small gain to have arrived at some conception of the nature of the problem set before us, and at some liberty of hypothesis as to its conditions. in brief, and in the plainest terms, while there is still a multitude deluding and disporting itself with a false hypothesis about certain mysteries of the human mind, and claiming to have explained the marvels of spiritualism by making an objective world of their own subjective experience, the scientific physiologists [those especially who are true phrenologists] are proceeding, by observation and experiment, to penetrate more and more secrets of our intellectual and moral life. the planchette mystery. what planchette is and does. this little gyrating tripod is proving itself to be something more than a nine days' wonder. it is finding its way into thousands of families in all parts of the land. lawyers, physicians, politicians, philosophers, and even clergymen, have watched eagerly its strange antics, and listened with rapt attention to its mystic oracles. mrs. jones demands of it where jones spends his evenings; the inquisitive of both sexes are soliciting it to "tell their fortunes;" speculators are invoking its aid in making sharp bargains, and it is said that even sagacious brokers in wall street are often found listening to its vaticinations as to the price of stocks on a given future day. to all kinds of inquiries answers are given, intelligible at least, if not always true. a wonderful jumble of mental and moral possibilities is this little piece of dead matter, now giving utterance to childish drivel, now bandying jokes and badinage, now stirring the conscience by unexceptionably christian admonitions, and now uttering the baldest infidelity or the most shocking profanity; and often discoursing gravely on science, philosophy, or theology. it is true that planchette seldom assumes this variety of theme and diction under the hands of the same individual, but, in general, manifests a peculiar facility of adapting its discourse to the character of its associates. reader, with your sanction, we will seek a little further acquaintance with this new wonder. [illustration: the planchette.] the word "planchette" is french, and simply signifies a _little board_. it is usually made in the shape of a heart, about seven inches long and six inches wide at the widest part, but we suppose that any other shape and convenient size would answer as well. under the two corners of the widest end are fixed two little castors or pantograph wheels, admitting of easy motion in all horizontal directions; and in a hole, pierced through the narrow end, is fixed, upright, a lead pencil, which forms the third foot of the tripod. if this little instrument be placed upon a sheet of printing paper, and the fingers of one or more persons be laid lightly upon it, after quietly waiting a short time for the connection or _rapport_ to become established, the board, if conditions are favorable, will begin to move, carrying the fingers with it. it will move for about one person in every three or four; and sometimes it will move with the hands of two or three persons in contact with it, when it will not move for either one of the persons singly. at the first trial, from a few seconds to twenty minutes may be required to establish the motion; but at subsequent trials it will move almost immediately. the first movements are usually indefinite or in circles but as soon as some control of the motion is established, it will begin to write--at first, perhaps, in mere monosyllables, "yes," and "no," in answer to leading questions, but afterward freely writing whole sentences, and even pages. for me alone, the instrument will not move; for myself and wife it moves slightly, but its writing is mostly in monosyllables. with my daughter's hands upon it, it writes more freely, frequently giving, correctly, the names of persons present whom she may not know, and also the names of their friends, living or dead, with other and similar tests. its conversations with her are grave or gay, much according to the state of her own mind at the time; and when frivolous questions are asked, it almost always returns answers either frivolous or, i am sorry to say it, a trifle wicked. for example, she on one occasion said to it: "planchette, where did you get your education?" to her horror, it instantly wrote: "in h--l," without, however, being so fastidious as to omit the letters of the word here left out. on another occasion, after receiving from it responses to some trival questions, she said to it: "planchette, now write something of your own accord without our prompting." but instead of writing words and sentences as was expected, it immediately traced out the rude figure of a man, such as school children sometimes make upon their slates. after finishing the outlines--face, neck, arms, legs, etc., it swung around and brought the point of the pencil to the proper position for the eye, which it carefully marked in, and then proceeded to pencil out the hair. on finishing this operation, it wrote under the figure the name of a young man concerning whom my daughter's companions are in the habit of teasing her. my wife once said to it: "planchette, write the name of the article i am thinking of." she was thinking of a finger ring, on which her eye had rested a moment before. the operator, of course, knew nothing of this, and my wife expected either that the experiment would fail, or else that the letters r-i-n-g would be traced. but instead of that, the instrument moved, very slowly, and, as it were, deliberately, and traced an apparently _exact circle_ on the paper, of about the size of the finger ring she had in her mind. "will you try that over again?" said she, when a similar circle was traced, in a similar manner, but more promptly. during this experiment, one of my wife's hands, in addition to my daughter's, was resting lightly upon the board; but if the moving force had been supplied by her, either consciously or unconsciously, the motion would evidently have taken the direction of her thought, which was that of writing the letters of the word, instead of a direction unthought of. while planchette, in her intercourse with me, has failed to distinguish herself either as a preacher or a philosopher, i regret to say that she has not proved herself a much more successful prophet. while the recent contest for the united states senatorship from the state of new york was pending, i said to my little oracular friend: "planchette, will you give me a test?" "yes." "do you know who will be the next u.â s. senator from this state?" "yes." "please write the name of the person who will be chosen." "_mr. sutton_," was written. said i, "i have not the pleasure of knowing that gentleman; please tell me where he resides." _ans._ "in washington." i do not relate this to disturb the happy dreams of the hon. reuben e. fenton by suggesting any dire contingencies that may yet happen to mar the prospect before him. in justice to my little friend, however, i must not omit to state that in respect to questions as to the kind of weather we shall have on the morrow? will such person go, or such a one come? or shall i see, or do this, that, or the other thing? its responses have been generally correct. to rush to a conclusion respecting the _rationale_ of so mysterious a phenomenon, under the sole guidance of an experience which has been so limited as my own, would betray an amount of egoism and heedlessness with which i am unwilling to be chargeable; and my readers will now be introduced to some experiences of others. a friend of mine, mr. c., residing in jersey city, with whom i have almost daily intercourse, and whose testimony is entirely trustworthy, relates the following: some five or six months ago he purchased a planchette, brought it home, and placed it in the hands of mrs. b., a widow, who was then visiting his family. mrs. b. had never tried or witnessed any experiments with planchette, and was incredulous as to her power to evoke any movements from it. she, however, placed her hands upon it, as directed, and to her surprise it soon began to move, and wrote for its first words: "take care!" "of what must i take care?" she inquired. "of your money." "where?" "in kentucky." my friend states that mrs. b.'s husband had died in albany about two years previous, bequeathing to her ten thousand dollars, which sum she had loaned to a gentleman in louisville, ky., to invest in the drug business, on condition that she and he were to share the profits; and up to this time the thought had not occurred to her that her money was not perfectly safe. at this point she inquired: "who is this that is giving this caution?" "b---w----." (the name of a friend of hers who had died at cairo, ill., some six years before.) mrs. b. "why! is my money in jeopardy?" planchette. "yes, and needs prompt attention." my friend c. here asked: "ought she to go to kentucky and attend to the matter?" "yes." so strange and unexpected was this whole communication, and so independent of the suggestions of her own mind, that she was not a little impressed by it, and thought it would at least be safe for her to make a journey to louisville and ascertain if the facts were as represented. but she had at the time no ready money to pay her traveling expenses, and not knowing how she could get the money, she asked: "when shall i be able to go?" "in two weeks from to-day," was the reply. she thought over the matter, and the next day applied to a friend of hers, a mr. w., in nassau street, who promised to lend her the money by the next tuesday or wednesday. (it was on thursday that the interview with planchette occurred.) she came home and remarked to my friend: "well, planchette has told one lie, anyhow; it said i would start for louisville _two weeks_ from that day. mr. w. is going to lend me the money, and i shall start by _next_ thursday, only _one_ week from that time." but on the next tuesday morning she received a note from mr. w. expressing regret that circumstances had occurred which would render it impossible for him to let her have the money. she immediately sought, and soon found, another person by whom she was promised the money still in time to enable her to start a couple of days before the expiration of the two weeks--thus still, as she supposed, enabling her to prove planchette to be wrong in at least that particular. but from circumstances unnecessary to detail, the money did not come until wednesday, the day before the expiration of the two weeks. she then prepared herself to start the next _morning_; but through a blunder of the expressman in carrying her trunk to the wrong depot, she was detained till the five o'clock p.m. train, when she started, just two weeks, _to the hour_, from the time the prediction was given. arriving in louisville, she learned that her friend had become involved in consequence of having made a number of bad sales for large amounts, and had actually gone into bankruptcy--reserving, however, for the security of her debt, a number of lots of ground, which his creditors were trying to get hold of. she thus arrived not a moment too soon to save herself, which she will probably do, in good part, at least, if not wholly--though the affair is still unsettled. since this article was commenced, the following fact has been furnished me from a reliable source. it is offered not only for the test which it involves, but also to illustrate the remarkable faculty which planchette sometimes manifests, of calling things by their right names. a lady well known to the community, but whose name i have not permission to disclose, recently received from planchette, writing under her own hands, a communication so remarkable that she was induced to ask for the name of the intelligence that wrote it. in answer to her request, the name of the late col. baker, who gallantly fell at ball's bluff, was given, in a perfect _fac-simile_ of his handwriting. she said to him: "for a further test, will you be kind enough to tell me where i last saw you?" she expected him to mention the place and occasion of their last interview when she had invited him to her house to tea; but planchette wrote: "_in the hall of thieves_." "in the hall of thieves," said the lady; "what on earth can be the meaning of that? o! i remember that after he was killed, his body was brought on here and laid in the city hall, and there i saw him." the press on planchette. in planchette, public journalists and pamphleteers seem to have caught the "what is it?" in a new shape, and great has been the expenditure of printer's ink in the way of narratives, queries, and speculations upon the subject. there are now lying before me the following publications and articles, in which the planchette phenomena are noticed and discussed,--from which we propose to cull and condense such statements of fact as appear to possess most intrinsic interest, and promise most aid in the solution of the mysteries. afterward we shall discuss the different theories of these writers, and also some other theories that have been propounded. "planchette's diary," edited by kate field, is an entertaining pamphlet, consisting of details in the author's experience, with little or no speculation as to the origin or laws of the phenomena. the author herself was the principal medium of the communications, but she occasionally introduces experiences of others. the pamphlet serves to put one on familiar and companionable terms with the invisible source of intelligence, whatever that may be, illustrating the leading peculiarities of the phenomena, giving some tests of an outside directing influence more or less striking, and candidly recording the failures of test answers which were mixed up with the successes. we extract two or three specimens: "may 26th--evening. our trio was reinforced by mr. b., a clever young lawyer, who regarded planchette with no favorable eye--had no faith whatever in 'spiritualism,' and maintained that for his part he thought it quite as sensible, if not more so, to attribute unknown phenomena to white rabbits as to spirits.... planchette addressed herself to mr. b. thus: 'you do not think that i am a spirit. i tell you that i am. if i am not an intelligence, in the name of common sense what am i? if you fancy i am white rabbits, then all i have to say is, that white rabbits are a deal cleverer than they have the credit of being among natural historians.' later, doubt was thrown upon the possibility of getting mental questions answered, and planchette retorted: 'do you fancy for one moment that i don't know the workings of your brain? that is not the difficulty. it is the impossibility--almost--of making two diametrically opposed magnetisms unite.' after this rebuke, mr. b. asked a mental question, and received the following answer: 'i am impelled to say that if you will persevere in these investigations, you may be placed _en rapport_ with your wife, who would undoubtedly communicate with you. if you have any faith in the immortality of the soul, you can have no doubt of the possibility of spiritual influences being brought to bear upon mortals. it is no new thing. ever since the world began, this power has been exerted in one way or another; and if you pretend to put any faith in the bible, you surely must credit the possibility of establishing this subtile connection between man and so-called angels.' this communication was glibly written until within eleven words of the conclusion, when planchette stopped, and i asked if she had finished. 'no,' she replied. 'then why don't you go on?' i continued. '_i_ can write faster than this.' planchette grew exceeding wroth at this, and dashed off an answer: 'because, my good gracious! you are not obliged to express yourself through another's brain.' i took it for granted that planchette had shot very wide of the mark in the supposed response to mr. b.'s mental query, and hence was not prepared to be told that it was satisfactory, in proof of which mr. b. wrote beneath it: 'appropriate answer to my mental question, _will my deceased wife communicate with me?_--i.â a.â b.'" "may 28th. at the breakfast-table mr. g. expressed a great desire to see planchette perform, and she was brought from her box. miss w. was also present. after several communications, miss w. asked a mental question, and planchette immediately wrote: 'miss w., that is hardly possible in the present state of the money market; but later, i dare say you will accomplish what you desire to undertake.' _miss w._ 'planchette is entirely off the track. my question was, _can you tell me anything about my nephew?_' _mr. g._ 'well, it is certainly very queer. _i_ asked a mental question to which this is to a certain extent an answer.' mr. g. was seated beside me, thoroughly intent upon planchette. miss w. was at a distance, and not in any way _en rapport_ with me. if this phenomenon of answering mental questions be clairvoyance, the situation of these two persons may account for the mixed nature of the answer, beginning with miss w. and finishing with mr. g." _putnam's monthly magazine_ for december, 1868, contains an interesting article entitled "_planchette in a new character_." what the "new character" is in which it appears, may be learned from the introductory paragraph, as follows: "we, too, have a planchette, and a planchette with this signal merit: it disclaims all pretensions to supermundane inspirations; it operates freely--indeed, with extraordinary freedom; it goes at the tap of the drum. the first touch of the operators, no matter under what circumstances it is brought out to reveal its knowledge, sets it in motion. but it brings no communications from any celestial or spiritual sources. its chirography is generally good, and frequently excellent. its remarks evince an intelligence often above that of the operators, and its talent at answering or evading difficult questions is admirable. we have no theories about it." it seems, from other passages in the article, that this planchette disclaims the ability to tell anything that is not contained in the minds of the persons present, although it frequently gives theories in direct contradiction to the opinions of all present, and argues them with great persistence until driven up into a corner. it simply assumes the name of "planchet," leaving off the feminine termination of the word; and "on being remonstrated with for illiteracy, it defended itself by saying, 'i always was a bad _speler_,'--an orthographical blunder," says the writer, "that no one in the room was capable of making." although the writer in the paragraph above quoted disclaims all theories on the subject, he does propound a theory, such as it is; but of this we defer our notice until we come to put the several theories that have been offered into the hopper and grind them up together; at which time we will take some further notice of the amusing peculiarities of this writer's planchette. the _ladies' repository_ of november, 1868, contains an article, written by rev. a.â d. field, entitled "planchette; or, spirit-rapping made easy." this writer mentions a number of test questions asked by him of planchette, the answers to which were all false. yet he acknowledges that "the mysterious little creature called planchette is no humbug; that some mysterious will-power causes it to answer questions, and that it is useless to ignore these things, or to laugh at them." the writer submits a theory by which he thinks these mysteries may be explained, in a measure, if not wholly, but this, with others, will be reserved for notice hereafter. _harper's monthly magazine_ for december, 1868, contains an article entitled "_the confessions of a reformed planchettist_." in this article, the writer, no doubt drawing wholly or in part from his imagination, details a series of tricks which he had successfully practiced upon the credulity of others, and concludes by propounding a very sage and charitable theory to account for _all_ planchette phenomena, on which theory we shall yet have a word to offer. _hours at home_, of february, 1869, contains an article, by j.â t. headley, entitled "_planchette at the confessional_." in this article, the writer cogently argues the claims of these new phenomena upon the attention of scientific men. he says: "that it [the planchette] writes things never dreamed of by the operators, is proved by their own testimony and the testimony of others, beyond all contradiction;" and goes so far as to assert that to whatever cause these phenomena may be attributed, "they will seriously affect the whole science of mental philosophy." he relates a number of facts, more or less striking, and propounds a theory in their explanation, to which, with others, we will recur by-and-by. the foregoing are a few of the most noted, among the many less important, lucubrations that have fallen under our notice concerning this interesting subject--enough, however, to indicate the intense public interest which the performances of this little board are exciting. we will now proceed to notice some of the _theories_ that have been advanced for the solution of the mystery. theory first--that the board is moved by the hands that rest upon it. it is supposed that this movement is made either by design or unconsciously, and that the answers are either the result of adroit guessing, or the expressions of some appropriate thoughts or memories which had been previously slumbering in the minds of the operators, and happen to be awakened at the moment. after detailing his exploits (whether real or imaginary he has left us in doubt) in a successful and sustained course of deception, the writer in _harper's_ reaches this startling conclusion of the whole matter: "it would only write when i moved it, and then it wrote precisely what i dictated. that persons write 'unconsciously,' i do not believe. as well tell me a man might pick pockets without knowing it. nor am i at all prepared to believe the assertions of those who declare that they do not move the board. i know what operators will do in such cases; i know the distortion, the disregard of truth which association with this immoral board superinduces." this writer has somewhat the advantage of me. i confess i have no means of coming to the knowledge of the truth but those of careful thought, patient observation, and collection of facts, and deduction from them. but here is a mind that can with one bold dive reach the inner mysteries of the sensible and supersensible world, penetrate the motives and impulses that govern the specific moral acts of men, and disclose at once to us the horrible secret of a conspiracy which, without preconcert, has been entered into by thousands of men, women, and children in all parts of the land, to cheat the rest of the human race--a conspiracy, too, in which certain members of innumerable private families have banded together to play tricks upon their fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters! i feel awed by the overshadowing presence of such a mind--in fact, i do not feel quite _at home_ with him, and therefore most respectfully bow myself out of his presence without further ceremony. as to the hypothesis that the person or persons whose hands are on the board move it _unconsciously_, this is met by the fact that the persons are perfectly awake and in their senses, and are just as conscious of what they are doing or not doing as at any other time. or if it be morally possible to suppose that they all, invariably, and with one accord, _lie_ when they assert that the board moves without their volition, how is it that the answers which they give to questions, some of them mentally, are in so large a proportion of cases, _appropriate_ answers? how is it, for example, that planchette, under the hands of my own daughter, has, in numerous cases, given correctly the names of persons whom she had never seen or heard of before, giving also the names of their absent relatives, the places of their residence, etc., all of which were absolutely unknown by every person present except the questioner? a theory propounded by the rev. dr. patton, of chicago, in an article published in _the advance_, some time since, may be noticed under this head. he says: "how, then, shall we account for the writing which is performed without any direct volition? our method refers it to an automatic power of mind separate from conscious volition. *â *â * very common is the experience of an automatic power in the pen, by which it finishes a word, or two or three words, after the thoughts have consciously gone on to what is to follow. we infer, then, from ordinary facts known to the habitual penman, that _if a fixed idea is in the mind_ at the time when the nervous and volitional powers are exercised with a pen, it will often express itself spontaneously through the pen, when the mental faculties are at work otherwise. we suppose, then, that planchette is simply an arrangement by which, through the outstretched arms and fingers, the mind comes into such relation with the delicate movements of the pencil, that its automatic power finds play, and the _ideas present in the mind are transferred unconsciously to paper_." (italics our own.) that may all be, doctor, and no marvel about it. that the "fixed idea"--"the ideas _present in the mind_," should be "transferred unconsciously to paper," by means of planchette, is no more wonderful than that the same thing should be done by the pen, and _without_ the intervention of that little board. but for the benefit of a sorely mystified world, be good enough to tell us how ideas that are _not_ present, and that _never were_ present, in the mind, can be transferred to paper by this automatic power of the mind. grant that the mind possesses an automatic power to work in _grooves_, as it were, or in a manner in which it has been previously _trained_ to work, as is illustrated by the delicate fingerings of the piano, all correct and skillful to the nicest shade, while the mind of the performer may for the moment be occupied in conversation; but not since the world began has there been an instance in which the mind, acting solely from itself, by "automatic powers" or otherwise, has been able to body forth any idea which was not previously within itself. that planchette does sometimes write things of which the person or persons under whose hands it moves never had the slightest knowledge or even conception, it would be useless to deny. theory second--it is electricity, or magnetism. that electricity, or magnetism (a form of the same thing), is the agent of the production of these phenomena, is a theory which, perhaps, has more advocates among the masses than any other. it is the theory urged by mr. headley with a great amount of confidence in his article already referred to; and with his arguments, as those of an able and, in some sense, _representative_ writer on this subject, we shall be principally occupied for a few paragraphs. when this theory is offered in seriousness as a final solution of the mystery in question, we are tempted to ask, who is electricity? what is his mental and moral _status_? and how and where did he get his education? or if by "electricity" is here simply meant the subtile, imponderable, and _impersonal_ fluid commonly known by that name, then let us ask, who is at the other end of the wire?--for there must evidently be a _who_ as well as a _what_ in the case. but when the advocates of the electrical theory are brought to their strict definitions, they are compelled to admit that this agent is nothing more than a medium of the power and intelligence that are manifested. now a medium, which signifies simply a _middle_, distinctly implies two opposite ends or extremes, and as applied in this case, one of those ends or extremes must be the source, and the other the recipient of the power or influence that is transmitted through the medium or middle; and it is an axiom of common sense that no medium can be a perfect medium which has anything to do with the origination or qualification of that which is intended simply to flow through it, or which is not absolutely free from action except as it is acted upon. that there are so-called mediums which refract, pervert, falsify, or totally obliterate the characteristics of that which was intended to be transmitted through them, is not to be denied; but these are by no means perfect or reliable mediums, either in physical or psychic matters. if the little instrument in question, therefore, is, through the medium of electricity or any other agency, brought under perfect control and then driven to write a communication, the force that drives and the intelligence that directs it can not be attributed to the medium itself, but to something behind and beyond it which must embrace _in itself_ all the active powers and qualifications to produce the effect. now let us see where mr. headley gets the active powers and qualifications to produce the phenomena manifested by his planchette. he shall speak for himself: "that a spirit, good or bad, has anything to do with this piece of board and the tips of children's fingers, is too absurd a supposition to be entertained for a moment. we are driven, therefore, to the conclusion that what is written (by honest operators) has its origin either in the minds of those whose hands are on the instrument, or else it results from communication with other minds through another channel than the outward senses. at all events, on this hypothesis i have been able to explain most of the phenomena i have witnessed. i had, with others, laughed at the stories told about planchette, when a lady visiting my family from the city brought, as the latest novelty, one for my daughter. experiments were of course made with it, with very little success, till a young lady came to visit us from the west, whose efforts with those of my son wrought a marvelous change. she was modest and retiring, with a rich brown complexion, large swimming eyes, dark as midnight, and a dreamy expression of countenance, and altogether a temperament that is usually found to possess great magnetic power. my son, on the contrary, is fair, full of animal life, and enjoying everything with the keenest relish. in short, they were as opposite in all respects as two beings could well be. as the phenomena produced by electricity are well known to arise from opposite poles, or differently charged bodies, they would naturally be adapted to the trial of planchette." mr. h. now finds the mysterious agency, "electricity," completely unchained, and under the hands of this couple planchette becomes "very active." indifferent to its performances at first, he was induced to give it more serious attention by the correct answers given to a couple of questions asked in a joking manner by his wife, concerning some love affairs of his before they were married, and which were known to none present except himself and wife. of course these answers, being in his wife's mind when she asked the question, were supposed to be "communicated through the agency of electricity or magnetism to the two operators," and the mystery was thus summarily disposed of. but an interest being thus for the first time aroused in mr. h.'s mind, he proceeds to inquire a little further into the peculiarities of this new phenomenon, and proceeds as follows: "seeing that planchette was so familiarly acquainted with my lady friends, i asked it point blank: 'where is mary c----?' this was a friend of my early youth and later manhood, who had always seemed to me rather a relative than an acquaintance. to my surprise it answered, 'nobody knows.' i supposed i knew, because for twenty years she had lived on the hudson river in summer, and in new york in the winter. 'is she happy?' i asked. 'better be dead,' was the reply. 'why?' 'unhappy' was written out at once. 'what makes her unhappy?' 'won't tell.' 'is she in fault, or others?' 'partly herself.' i now pushed questions in all shapes, but they were evaded. at last i asked, 'how many brothers has she?' 'one,' was the response. 'that,' said i, 'is false;' but not having heard from the family for several years, i asked again, 'how many _did_ she have?' '_three._' 'where are the other two?' i continued. 'dead.' 'what is the name of the living one?' 'john.' i could not recollect that either of them bore this name, but afterward remembered it was that of the eldest. now i had no means of ascertaining whether this was all true, but convinced it was not, i began to ask ridiculous and vexatious questions, when the answers showed excessive irritation, and finally it wrote '_devil_.' i then said: 'who are you?' 'brother of the devil.' 'what is your occupation?' 'tending fires.' 'what are you going to do with me?' 'broil you.' 'what for?' 'wicked.' now while i was excessively amused at all this, i noticed that the two young operators were greatly agitated, and begged me to stop. i saw at a glance that the very superstitious feeling that i was endeavoring to ridicule away, was creeping over them, and i desisted.... another day i asked where a certain gentleman was who failed years ago, taking in his fall a considerable amount of my own funds. i said 'where is mr. green?' 'in brazil.' 'will he ever pay me anything?' 'yes.' 'when?' 'next year.' 'how much.' 'ten thousand dollars.' neither of the operators knew anything about this affair, and the answer, 'brazil,' was so out of the way and unexpected, that all were surprised. whether the man was there or not, i could not tell, nor did i know if he ever had been there--indeed, the last time i heard from him he was in new york." now, observing that no conscious or intelligent agency in shaping these answers is assigned to the young persons whose hands were upon the board, and who, it appears, did not know anything of the persons concerning whom the inquiries were made, it would, perhaps, as we desire nothing but a true philosophy on this matter, be worth while to look a little critically at the answers and statements that were given, and the further explanations propounded by mr. h. for convenience, they may be classified as follows: 1. answers that were substantially in the interrogator's own mind when he asked the questions. such were the answers to the questions: "how many brothers _did_ she [mary c----] have?" "where did she _formerly_ live?" he tells us that "the pencil slowly wrote out in reply: '_catkill_,' leaving out the _s_;" and adds: "of course, this place was in my mind, though neither of the young people knew anything about the lady or her residence." 2. answers which he does not know were in his mind, but supposes they must have been. thus, in his own language, while commenting on the answers to questions respecting mary c---and her brothers: "nor can i account for the answer '_unhappy_,' _unless unconsciously to myself_ there passed through my mind that vague fear so common to us all when we inquire about friends of whom we have not heard for years. the death of the two brothers baffled all conjecture _unless i remembered_ that during the war i saw the death of a young man of the same name, and i wondered at the time if it was one of these brothers--whether they had joined the army." (the italics our own.) so also of planchette's answers to the questions respecting mr. green, locating him in brazil, and saying that he intended to pay him (mr. h.) ten thousand dollars next year, while mr. g. had last been reported to mr. h. as being in new york, and the latter did not know that he had ever been in brazil. but mr. h., after thinking over a certain conversation which he had previously had with mr. green respecting a business journey he had made to "_south america_," remarks: "brazil doubtless often occurred to me--in fact, i was conscious on reflection that i had more frequently located him in that country than in any other. so when the question was put, it would involuntarily flash over me _without my being conscious of it_, 'i wonder if he has gone back to south america, and if his venture is in brazil?' _magnetism caught up the flashing thought and put it on paper._" (italics our own.) such is his hypothesis to explain an hypothesis! 3. answers which he not only knows he had not in his mind when the questions were asked, but which were directly _contrary_ to his mind or opinion. such were answers to several of the questions occurring in the conversation about mary c----, as, "better be dead;" "unhappy;" fault "partly herself;" has "_one_" brother; which latter statement was so directly contrary to his mind that he even pronounced it "false," until he thought to inquire, "how many _did_ she have?" 4. answers which were not only not in his mind, but which he directly pronounces "_false_" and thus dismisses them. such, for instance, is the answer "nobody knows," to the question "where is mary c----?" "that this," says he, "was false, is evident on the very face of it." with this analysis of the leading phenomena cited by mr. h. before us, lot us look at the wonderful things which "electricity and magnetism" are made to accomplish. i do not dispute that there is such a power of the human mind as that known as clairvoyance. i have had too many proofs of this to doubt it. but i have had equally positive proofs that the development of its phenomena is dependent upon certain necessary conditions, among which are, that the agent of them, in order to be able to reveal the secret thoughts of another, must possess by nature peculiar nervous susceptibilities, enabling his psychic emanations, so to speak, to sympathetically coalesce with those of the person whose thoughts and internal mental states are to be the subject of investigation. but this sympathetic coalescence can not take place where there is the slightest psychic repulsion or antagonism to the clairvoyant on the part of the interrogating party. moreover, even when all these conditions are present, nothing can be correctly read from the mind of the questioner unless there is on his mind a _clear and distinct definition_ of the matters of which he seeks to be told. but even in class no. 1 of the above series we find that "electricity," hitherto believed to be only an imponderable and impersonal fluid, has, upon mr. h.'s theory, been able to accomplish the revealment of secret thoughts entirely independent of all these conditions. it is distinctly stated that those young persons whose hands were on the planchette knew nothing whatever of the matters which formed the several subjects of inquiry; and for aught that is stated to the contrary, they appear to have been perfectly awake and in their normal state. in addition to this, it is to be observed that mr. headley here appears in the assumed character of a captious, contentious, and somewhat irritating questioner, which, whether he intended it or not, was entirely the opposite of that harmonious and sympathetic interflow of mental states known in other cases to be necessary to a successful clairvoyant diagnosis of inward thoughts. and yet "electricity" overleaps all these obstacles, seizes facts that occurred many years previous, some of which were known only to mr. h. and wife, others only to mr. h. himself, and instantly flashes forth the appropriate answer! here is science! if there were no other phenomena connected with planchette, this alone might well challenge the attention of philosophers! but if this is wonderful, what shall we think of the achievements of this same "electricity" and "magnetism" in revealing facts of the second class--facts which the questioner himself did not and does not now _know_ were in his mind, but only _supposes they must have been_? think of a diffused element of nature, which, from the dawn of creation had been blind and dead, and only passively obedient to certain laws of equilibrium, suddenly assuming intelligence and volition, burrowing into a man's brains, rummaging among ten thousand thoughts, emotions, and experiences stored up in the archives of his memory, and finally coming to the mere fossil of a (_supposed_) experience from which the last vestige of memory-life had departed, and seizing this incident, it moves the little board with an intelligent volition, and lo, the fact stands revealed. and again, what of that spicy colloquy in which planchette writes the words "devil," "devil's brother," "stir fires," "broil you," etc.? oh, mr. h. tells us, "that was owing to the irritation of the mediums, their horror and fright, their superstition, and their repugnance to the questions that were being asked." curious, is it not? to see "electricity" seizing hold of this irritation, that horror, the other fright, and such and such a superstition, repugnance, and disgust, and, carefully arranging these mental emotions, building them up by a mysterious mason-work into a distinctly defined and sharply pronounced individuality, with a peculiar moral and intellectual character of its own, differing more from each and all of the parties present in the flesh than any one of the latter differed from another! and this individuality, too, putting forth a volition which was not _their_ volition, moving the planchette which _they_ did not move, making and arranging letters which _they_ did not make and arrange, writing intelligent words and sentences which _they_ did not write, and then causing this creation to assume the name and character of a regularly built "devil"--a character which appears to have been so far from these young persons' minds that they were unwilling to look it in the face, and were sorely afraid of it! surely, if "electricity" can do all this, then "electricity" itself is the "devil," and the less mankind have to do with it the better. but more wonderful still. it appears that "electricity" can give answers, of which not even the slightest elements previously existed in the mind of the questioner or any of the company, and which were even diametrically _contrary_ to his mind; as in the answers of class no. 3. here "electricity" swings loose, and, becoming completely independent, commences business on its "own hook." not only so, but it even goes so far beyond the sphere of mr. h.'s mind as to _fib_ a little, giving at least two answers which this writer pronounced "false," as noted in class no. 4--thus giving a still more signal display of its independent powers of invention--naughty invention though it was. seriously, had not friend headley better employ his fine talents in giving us another clever book or two about "washington and his generals," and leave mr. planchette, and that more wonderful personage, mr. electricity, to take care of themselves? we are obliged here to part company with mr. h., and pass on for the purpose of having a few words under this same head with the reverend author of "planchette, or spirit-rapping made easy," in the _ladies' repository_. i find it difficult to get at the idea of this writer, if indeed he himself has any definite idea on the subject. by the title of his article, however, and several expressions that occur in the body of it, he seems to associate the performances of the planchette with a somewhat extensive class of phenomena, in which spirit-rappings, table-tippings, etc., are included. he says: "twelve years ago i took pains to study the matter, and at that time i came to conclusions that are every day being proved to be true. i was soon satisfied that as regarded 'trance mediums,' the cause was due to one-third trickery, one-third partial insanity or monomania, and the remainder animal magnetism. i have since learned that opium and hashish (indian hemp) played an important part. it was proved that young ladies purchased written speeches which they delivered under the influence of hashish." he then goes on to speak of galvanism, magnetism, electricity, animal magnetism, and the odylic force; but, so far as we can see, without proving any necessary connection between these forces or either of them, and the subject which he aims to elucidate. quoting a former article of his, he continues: "the magnetizer of whom i spoke [an exposer of rappings] threw himself into magnetic connection with the table, and _willed_ it to move hither and thither. the will in this case seemed to be a powerful battery, putting its subject into life. now i suggest that this power be applied to machinery. we will get us a large propelling wheel, to which we will connect our machinery. we will then engage a company of mediums who shall get into _rapport_ with one wheel, and stand willing the wheel on in its evolutions.... if a table may be made to spin around the room, why may not a wheel be made to turn as well?" the writer certainly deserves credit for this sage suggestion, and a patent for his machine; but whether he will succeed in making it operate satisfactorily without calling into requisition the "monomania," the "hashish," and the "opium," remains to be seen. he then goes on to describe planchette, and afterward continues: "the mysterious little creature is called planchette, and is no humbug. and it conforms to all the customs of the old-time tipping-tables. the operator magnetizes planchette, and by a mysterious will-power causes it to answer questions. before giving illustrations, we may as well state the laws that seem to govern it. _first._ it will always answer correctly, _if the operator knows the answer_. _second._ while it will answer other questions, in all the experiments i have ever engaged in, it has never answered correctly. _third._ if a person standing by, who has strong magnetic powers, asks a question, planchette will answer. but _in all cases_, in our experiments, some ruling mind must have knowledge of what the answer should be, if a correct answer is returned." in reply to the above, we assert, _first_. that the "operator" does not "magnetize" the board at all, nor does he exercise any "will power" over it, causing it to answer questions; and if he did thus cause it to answer only those questions whose answers are already in his mind, what marvel is there in it, more than there is in my pen being caused by my will-power to trace these words and sentences? _secondly._ if by his _second_ and _third_ specifications of the supposed "laws" which govern planchette, he means to imply that it will not tell, _often_ tell, and tell with remarkable correctness, things that were never known or dreamed of by the operator, the questioner, or any one present in visible form, then he simply mistakes, as can be testified by thousands, in the most positive manner. but the great essential question is, not so much whether answers given under such and such circumstances can be _correct_, as whether answers and communications _can be given at all_, which have no origin in the minds of the persons engaged in the experiment, and which must hence be referred to some outside intelligence? the writer under review, after all, acknowledges his incompetency to unravel this subject, by saying: "there are mysteries in planchette. no one is ready to explain the mysterious connection between the mind and the little machine, but there can no longer be any doubt that these curious phenomena, table-tipping and all, are produced by magnetism and electricity.... it is useless to ignore these things, or to laugh at them. it were better to account for them, and subject the influence to the power of man.... when some scientific man will condescend to toy with planchette, we shall have the curtain drawn aside behind which the spirits have operated these years, and this calamitous spirit-rapping mania will destroy no longer." one might almost regret that this latter thought did not occur to the writer before he commenced his article, in which case, by a little patient waiting for this ideal and very condescending "scientific man," we might have been spared this diatribe of jumbled electricity, magnetism, will-power, opium, hashish, monomania, and driving wheels. electricity has nothing to do with it. from much and varied observation and experiment in reference to the performances of planchette, and of kindred phenomena, now extending over a period of about twenty years, i here record my denial, in the most emphatic manner, that electricity or magnetism, properly so called, has anything to do with the mystery at all, and call for the proof that it has. that a certain psycho-dynamic agency closely allied to, and in some of its modifications perhaps identical with, reichenbach's "od," or odylic force, may have some mediatorial part to play in the affair, i do not dispute, nor yet, for the present, do i affirm. but though this agency has sometimes been identified with what, for the want of a better term, has been called "animal magnetism," it has yet to be proved, i believe, that there are any of the properties of the magnet, or of magnetism, about it, even so much as would suffice to attract the most comminuted iron filings. it is remarkable that the assertion or hypothesis that electricity or magnetism is concerned in the production of the phenomena in question, has never yet had an origin in any high scientific authority. this is accounted for by the fact that those who are properly acquainted with this agency, and who have the proper apparatus at their command, can demonstrate the truth or falsity of such a hypothesis with the greatest ease. for an experiment, place your planchette upon a plate of glass, or some other non-conducting substance. attach to it a common pith-ball electrometer, and then let your medium place his hands upon the board. if electricity equal to the force even of a small fraction of a grain passes from the medium to the board, the pith ball, to that extent, will be deflected from its position. by means of the _torsion balance_ electrometer, invented by coulomb, the presence of almost the smallest conceivable fraction of a grain of electrical force in your planchette or your table might be detected; and with these delicate tests within reach, tell us not that the movements in question are caused by electricity till you have _proved_ it positively and beyond all dispute. in the discussion of this electrical theory we have occupied more space than we originally intended, but we have thought it might be for the interest of true science to exhibit, once for all, this ridiculous and yet very popular fallacy, in its true light. third--the devil theory. this theory, which appears to have many advocates, is well set forth in the following excerpts from an article published in the philadelphia _universe_, a catholic organ: "neither the sight of the eye, nor the touch of the hand, can discover the spring by which planchette moves. therefore it is not, in its movements, a toy. it moves--undoubtedly it moves. and how? intelligently! it answers questions of any kind put to it in any language required. it does this. this can not be done but by intelligence. well, by what description of intelligence? it can not be supposed that the divine intelligence is the motive; for how can god be conceived to make such a manifestation of himself as planchette exhibits? "a corresponding reason cuts off the idea that it is presided over by an angelic intelligence; and it is evident to all that a human mind does not control it. there is but one more character of intelligence--that of evil spirits. therefore planchette is moved by the agents of hell.... but why should the devil connect himself with planchette?... we suppose that the experienced scoundrel is ready to do anything human wickedness may ask him when souls are the price of the condescension. but his reasons for particular manifestations are of small importance here. facts are facts, and the point is, that planchette is not a toy, that it is moved by an intelligence, and that the intelligence that moves it is necessarily evil. we would therefore advise all who have a planchette to build for it a special fire of pitch and brimstone.... no one has a right to consult the enemy of god. they who do so are in danger of becoming worshipers of the devil, and of dwelling with him for ever." this theory has at least the merit of being clear, definite, and easy to be understood, if it is not in all respects convincing. but here we have an exemplification of the old paradox of an irresistible force coming in contact with an immovable body. the catholic priest tells us that planchette is _not_ a toy; that it moves by an intelligence and volition that is not human; that its moving and directing power is of the devil. the rev. dr. patton, in his article in the _advance_ (heretofore referred to), tells us that "it is a philanthropic toy, which may be used to bring to light hidden connections of mind and body, and to refute the assumptions of spiritism;" and the rev. a.â d. field, in his article in the _ladies' repository_, backs up dr. patton by saying, that it is "a mere toy," "is no humbug," is of "some use;"--and, concerning the _devil_ theory of the general power which moves it and other physical bodies, he says: there is "too often the spirit of gentleness to make the theory acceptable." the "immovable body" here, is the authority of the catholic priest; the "irresistible force" is the authority of our clerical brethren representing protestantism; and after this fair impingement of the latter upon the former, we shall, perhaps, have to adopt a compromise solution of the problem, by saying that the "immovable body" has been moved _a little_, and that the "irresistible force" has been resisted _some_. but this _devil_ theory, if what the bible teaches us concerning that personage is true, is encumbered with other difficulties; and the first of these is, that the devil, however wicked, is not a _fool_. if he should set a trap for human souls, he would not be so stupid as to tell them there is a trap there. when approaching human beings, he assumes, as the good book tells us, the garb of an angel of light; but it is not likely that he would ever say he is the devil, as planchette sometimes does--at least until he felt quite sure of his prey. and again, when, in a case slightly parallel with cases sometimes involved in the question in hand, the captious pharisees accused the saviour of men of casting out devils by beelzebub the prince of devils, he reminded them that a house or a kingdom divided against itself can not stand. now planchette, i admit, is not always a saint--in fact, she sometimes talks and acts very naughtily as well as foolishly; yet at other times, when a better _spirit_ takes possession of her, she is gentle, loving, well disposed, and does certainly give most excellent advice,--advice which could not be heeded without detriment to the devil's kingdom, and which, if universally followed, would work its overthrow entirely. it is inconceivable that satan would thus tear down with one hand what he builds up with another. but just at this point i wish to say, i think there is need of great caution in consulting planchette on matters of a weighty or serious nature, lest one should extort from her mere _confirmations_ of his own errors, either in doctrine or practice; and that nothing should in any case be accepted from it that is repugnant to the established principles of the christian religion. but we are after the _science_ of the thing now, and for the present that is our only question--a question, however, which the devil theory, as will appear from the foregoing, does not seem fully to answer. theory of a floating, ambient mentality. it is supposed by those who hold this theory, or rather hypothesis, that the assumed floating, ambient mentality is an aggregate emanation from the minds of those present in the circle; that this mentality is clothed, by some mysterious process, with a force analogous to what it possesses in the living organism, by which force it is enabled, under certain conditions, to move physical bodies and write or otherwise express its thoughts; and that in its expression of the combined intelligence of the circle, it generally follows the strongest mind, or the mind that is otherwise best qualified or conditioned to give current to the thought. although the writer of the interesting article, entitled "_planchette in a new character_," in _putnam's monthly_ for december, 1868, disclaims, at the commencement of his lucubration, all theories on the subject, yet, after collating his facts, he shows a decided leaning to the foregoing theory as the nearest approach to a satisfactory explanation. "floating, combined intelligence brought to bear upon an inanimate object," "active intellectual principle afloat in the circumambient air," are the expressions he uses as probably affording some light on the subject. this is a thought on which, as concerns its main features, many others have rested, not only in this country but in europe, especially in england, as i am told by a friend who recently visited several sections of great britain where forms of these mysterious phenomena prevail. the first difficulty that stands in the way of this hypothesis is that it supposes a thing which, if true, is quite as mysterious and inexplicable as the mystery which it purports to explain. how is it that an "intellectual principle" can detach itself from an intellectual being, of whose personality it formed the chief ingredient, and become an outside, objective, "floating," and "circumambient" entity, with a capability of thinking, willing, acting, and expressing thought, in which the original possessor of the emanated principle often has no conscious participation? and after you have told us this, then tell us how the "intellectual principle," not only of _one_, but of _several_ persons can emanate from them, become "floating" and "ambient," and then, losing separate identity, _conjoin_ and form _one_ active communicating agent with the powers aforesaid? and after you have removed from these _mere assumptions_ the aspect of physical and moral impossibility, you will have another task to perform, and that is to show us how this emanated, "combined," "floating," "circumambient" intelligence can sometimes assume an individual and seemingly _personal_ character of its own, totally distinct from, and, in some features, even _antagonistic_ to, all the characters in the circle in which the "emanation" is supposed to have its origin? it is not denied now that the answers and communications of planchette (and of the influence acting through other channels) often do exhibit a controlling influence of the mind of the medium or of other persons in the circle. but no theory should ever be considered as explaining a mystery unless it covers the _whole ground_ of that mystery. even, therefore, should we consider the theory of the "floating intelligence" of the circle reproducing itself in expression, as explaining that part of the phenomenon which identifies itself with the minds of the circle (which it does not), what shall be said of those cases in which the phenomena exhibit characteristics which are _sui generis_, and can not possibly have been derived from the minds of the circle? that phenomena of the latter class are sometimes exhibited is not only proved by many other facts that might be cited, but is clearly exemplified by this same writer in _putnam's magazine_. the intelligence whose performances and communications he relates seems to stand out with a character and individuality as strongly marked and as distinct from any and all in the circle as any one of them was distinct from another. this individuality was first shown by giving its own pet names to the different persons composing the circle--"flirt," "clarkey," "hon. clarke," "the angel," and "sassiness." the young lady designated by the last _sobriquet_, after it had been several times repeated, petitioned to be indicated thereafter "only by the initial 's,'" which the impertinent scribbler accorded only so far as omitting all the letters except the five s's, so that she was afterward recognized as "s.s.s.s.s." the writer further says: "it is always respectful to 'hon. clarke,' and when pressed to state what it thought of him, answered that he was 'a good skipper,' a reputation fairly earned by his capacity for managing a fleet of small boats. but we were not contented with so vague an answer, and our urgent demand for an analysis of his character produced the reply: 'a native crab apple, but spicy and sweet when ripe.' *â *â * when asked to go on, it wrote: 'ask me hon. clarke's character again, and i will flee to the realms of imperishable woe; or, as tabitha is here, say i'll pull your nose;' and on being taunted with its incapacity to fulfill the threat, it wrote: 'metaphorically speaking, of course.' not satisfied with this rebuff, on another occasion the subject was again pursued, and the answer elicited as follows: 'yes, but you can't fool me. i said nay once, and when i says nay i means nay.' [a mind of _its own_, then.] more than once it has lapsed into the same misuse of the verb, as: 'i not only believes it, but i knows it;' and again: 'you asks and i answers, because i am here.' *â *â * "again, on being remonstrated with for illiteracy, it defended itself by saying: 'i always was a bad speler' (_sic_); an orthographical blunder that no one in the room was capable of making. but on the whole, our planchette is a scientific and cultivated intelligence, of more than average order, though it may be, at times, slightly inaccurate in orthography, and occasionally quote incorrectly; i must even confess that there are moments when its usual elegance of diction lapses into slang terms and abrupt contradictions. but, after all, though we flatter ourselves that as a family we contain rather more than ordinary intelligence, still it is more than a match for us." who can fail to perceive, from these quotations and admissions, the marked and distinctive _individuality_ of the intelligence that was here manifested, as being of itself totally fatal to the idea of derivation from the circle? but not only was this intelligence _distinctive_, but in several instances even _antagonistic_ to that existing in the circle, as in the case reported as follows: "some one desiring to pose this ready writer, asked for its theory of the gulf stream; which it announced without hesitation to be 'turmoil in the water produced by conglomeration of icebergs.' objection was made that the warmth of the waters of the natural phenomenon rather contradicted this original view of the subject; to which planchette tritely responded: 'friction produces heat.' 'but how does friction produce heat in this case?' pursued the questioner. 'light a match,' was the inconsequent answer--planchette evidently believing that the pupil was ignorant of first principles. 'but the gulf stream flows north; how, then, can the icebergs accumulate at its source?' was the next interrogation; which elicited the contemptuous reply: 'there is as much ice and snow at the south pole as at the north, ignorant clarkey.' 'but it flows from the gulf of mexico?' pursued the undismayed. 'you've got me there, unless it flows underground,' was the cool and unexpected retort; and it wound up by declaring, sensibly, that, after all, 'it is a meeting of the north and south atlantic currents, which collide, and the eddie (_sic_) runs northward.' [at another time,] on being twice interrogated in regard to a subject, it replied tartly: 'i hate to be asked if i am sure of a fact.'" now, what could have been this intelligence which thus insisted upon preserving and asserting its individuality so distinctly as to forbid all reasonable hypothesis of a compounded derivation from the minds of the circle, even were such a thing possible? a fairy, perhaps, snugly cuddled up under the board so as to elude observation. friend "clarkey," try again, for surely _this_ time you are a little befogged, or else the present writer is _more_ so. "to daimonion" (the demon). there was published, several years ago, by gould & lincoln, boston, a little work entitled: "to daimonion, or the spiritual medium. _its nature illustrated by the history of its uniform mysterious manifestations when unduly excited._ by traverse oldfield." this author deals largely in quotations from ancient writers in illustration of his subject; and as an attempt to explain the mysteries of clairvoyance, trance, second-sight, "spirit-knockings," intelligent movements of physical bodies without hands, etc., his work has claims to our attention which do not usually pertain to the class of works to which it belongs. "_to daimonion_" (the demon), or the "spiritual medium," he supposes to be the _spiritus mundi_, or the spirit of the universe, which formed so large an element in the cosmological theories of many ancient philosophers; and this, "when unduly excited" (whatever that may mean), he supposes to be the medium, not only of many psychic and apparently preternatural phenomena described in the writings of all previous ages, but also of the similar phenomena of modern times, of which it is now admitted that planchettism is only one of the more recently developed phases. for some reason, which seemed satisfactory to him, but which we fear he has not made clear or convincing to the mass of his readers, this writer assumes it as more than probable that this _spiritus mundi_--a living essence which surrounds and pervades the world, and even the whole universe--is identical with the "nervous principle" which connects the soul with the body,--in all this unconsciously reaffirming nearly the exact theory first propounded by mesmer, in explanation of the phenomena of "animal magnetism," so called. quotations are given from herodotus, xenophon, cicero, pliny, galen, and many others, referring to phenomena well known in the times in which these several writers lived, and which he supposes can be explained only on the general hypothesis here set forth; and in the same category of marvels, to be explained in the same way, he places the performances of the snake-charmers, clairvoyants, thought-readers, etc., of modern egypt and india. this _spiritus mundi_, or "nervous principle," to which he supposes the ancients referred when they spoke of "the demon," is, according to his theory, the medium, or menstruum, by which, under certain conditions of "excitement," the thoughts and potencies of one mind, with its affections, emotions, volitions, etc., flow into another, giving rise to reflex expressions, which, to persons ignorant of this principle, have seemed possible only as the utterances of outside and supermundane intelligences. and as this same _spiritus mundi_, or demon, pervades and connects the mind equally with all _physical_ bodies, in certain _other_ states of "excitement" it moves those physical bodies, or makes sounds upon them, expressing intelligence--that intelligence always being a reflex of the mind of the person who, consciously or unconsciously, served as the exciting agent. whatever elements of truth this theory, in a _different_ mode of application, might be found to possess, in the form in which it is here presented it is encumbered by two or three difficulties which altogether seem fatal. in the first place, it wears upon its face the appearance of a thing "fixed up" to meet an emergency, and which would never have been thought of except by a mind pressed almost to a state of desperation by the want of a theory to account for a class of facts. look at it: "the spirit of the world identical with the nervous principle"!--the same, "when unduly _excited_," the medium by which a mind may _unconsciously_ move other minds and organisms, or even dead matter, in the expression of its own thoughts! where is the shadow of proof? is it anything more than the sheerest assumption? then again: even if this mere assumption were admitted for truth, it would not account for that large class of facts referred to in the course of our remarks on the "electrical theory," unless this _spiritus mundi_, demon, nervous principle, or spiritual medium, is made at once not only the "medium," but the intelligent and designing _source_ of the communication; for, as we have said before, it would be perfectly useless to deny that thoughts are sometimes communicated through the planchette and similar channels, which positively never had any existence in the minds of any of the persons visibly present. and then, too, in relation to the nature of the demon, or demons: the theory of the ancients, from whose representative minds this writer has quoted, was notoriously quite different from that which he has given. the ancients recognized good demons and evil demons. the demon of socrates was regarded by him as an invisible, individual intelligence. a legion of demons were in one instance cast out by christ from the body of a man whom they had infested; we can hardly suppose that these were simply a legion of "nervous principles" or "souls of the world." what those demons were really understood to be in those days, may be learned from a passage in the address of titus to his army, when encamped before jerusalem, in which, in order to remove from their minds the fear of death in battle, he says: "for what man of virtue is there who does not know that those souls which are severed from their fleshy bodies in battles by the sword, are received by the ether, that purest of elements, and joined to that company which are placed among the stars; that they become _good demons_ and propitious heroes, and show themselves as such to their posterity afterward?"--_josephus, wars of the jews, b. vi., chap. 1, sec. 5._ hesiod and many others might be quoted to the same purpose; but let this suffice as to the character and origin of these demons; and it may suffice also for the theory of _to daimonion_, as to the particular mystery here to be explained. it is some principle of nature as yet unknown. if there is any wisdom in this theory, it is so profound that we "don't see it." it looks very much to us as though this amounted only to the saying that "all we know about the mystery is, that it is _unknown_; all the explanation that we can give of it is, that it is inexplicable; and that the only theory of it is, that it has no theory." thus it leaves the matter just where it was before, and we should not have deemed this saying worthy of the slightest notice had we not heard and read so much grave discussion on the subject, criticising almost every other theory, and then concluding with the complacent announcement of the writer's or speaker's theory as superior to all others, that "_it is some principle or force of nature as yet unknown_!" theory of the agency of departed spirits. this theory apparently has both merits and difficulties, which at present we can only briefly notice. among the strong points in its favor, the first and most conspicuous one is, that it accords with what this mysterious intelligence, in all its numerous forms of manifestation, has steadily, against all opposition, persisted in claiming _for itself_, from its first appearance, over twenty years ago, till this day. and singularly enough, it appears as a fact which, perhaps, should be stated as a portion of the history of these phenomena, that years before public attention and investigation were challenged by the first physical manifestation that claimed a spiritual origin, an approaching and general revisitation of departed human spirits was, in several instances, the burden of _remarkable predictions_. i have in my possession a little book, or bound pamphlet, entitled, "a return of departed spirits," and bearing the imprint, "philadelphia: published by j.â r. colon, 203â½ chestnut street, 1843," in which is contained an account of strange phenomena which occurred among the shakers at new lebanon, n.â y., during the early part of that year. in the language of the author: "disembodied spirits began to take possession of the bodies of the brethren and sisters; and thus, by using them as instruments, made themselves known by speaking through the individuals whom they had got into." the writer then goes on to describe what purported to be the visitations of hundreds in that way, from different nations and tribes that had lived on earth in different ages--the consistency of the phenomena being maintained throughout. i have conversed with leading men among the shakers of the united states concerning this affair, and they tell me that the visitation was not confined to new lebanon, but extended, more or less, to all the shaker communities in the united states--not spreading from one to another, but appearing nearly simultaneously in all. they also tell me that the phenomena ceased about as suddenly as they appeared; and that when the brethren were assembled, by previous appointment, to take leave of their spirit-guests, they were exhorted by the latter to treasure up these things in their hearts; to say nothing about them to the world's people, but to wait patiently, and soon they (the spirits) would return, and make their presence known to the world generally. during the interval between the autumn of 1845 and the spring of 1847, a book, wonderful for its inculcations both of truth and error, was dictated in the mesmeric state by an uneducated boy--a.â j. davis--in which the following similar prediction occurs: "it is a truth that spirits commune with one another while one is in the body and the other in the higher spheres--and this, too, when the person in the body is unconscious of the influx, and hence can not be convinced of the fact; and this truth will ere long present itself in the form of a living demonstration. and the world will hail with delight the ushering in of that era when the interiors of men will be opened, and the spiritual communion will be established, such as is now being enjoyed by the inhabitants of mars, jupiter, and saturn."--_nat. div. rev., pp. 675, 676._ eight months after the book containing this passage was published, and more than a year after the words here quoted were dictated and written, strange rapping sounds were heard in an obscure family in an obscure village in the western part of new york. on investigation, those sounds were found to be connected with intelligence, which, rapping at certain letters of the alphabet as it was called over, spelled sentences, and claimed to be a _spirit_. the phenomena increased, assumed many other forms, extended to other mediums, and rapidly spread, not only all over this country, but over the civilized world. and wherever this intelligence has been interrogated under conditions which _itself_ prescribes for proper answers, its great leading and persistent response to the question, "what are you?" has been, "_we are spirits!_" candor also compels us to admit that this claim has been perseveringly maintained against the combined opposition of the great mass of intelligent and scientific minds to whom the world has looked for its guidance; and so successfully has it been maintained, that its converts are now numbered by millions, gathered, not from the ranks of the ignorant and superstitious, but consisting mostly of the intelligent and thinking middle classes, and of many persons occupying the highest positions in civil and social life. at first its opponents met it with expressions of utter contempt and cries of "humbug." many ingenious and scientific persons volunteered their efforts to expose the "trick;" and if they seemed, in some instances, to meet with momentary success in solving the mystery, the next day would bring with it some _new_ form of the phenomenon to which none of their theories would apply. being finally discouraged by repeated failures to explain the hidden cause of these wonders, they withdrew from the field, and for many years allowed the matter to go by default; and only within the last twelvemonth has investigation of the subject been re-aroused by the introduction into this country of the little instrument called "the planchette"--an instrument which, to our certain knowledge, was used at least ten years ago in france, and that, too, as a supposed means of communicating with departed spirits. this little board has been welcomed as a "toy" or a "game" into thousands of families, without suspicion of its having the remotest connection with so-called "spiritualism." the cry has been raised, "quidquid id est, timeo danaos et dona ferentes," but too late! the trojan walls are everywhere down; the wooden horse is already dragged into the city with all the armed heroes concealed in its bowels; the battle has commenced, and must be fought out to the bitter end, as best it may be; and in the numerous magazine and newspaper articles that have lately appeared on the subject, we have probably only the beginning of a clash of arms which must terminate one way or another. should our grave and learned philosophers find themselves overcome by this little three-legged spider, it will be mortifying; but in order to avoid that result, we fear they will have to do better than they have done yet. on the other hand, before the spiritualists can be allowed to claim the final victory in this contest, they should, it seems to me, be required to answer the following questions in a manner satisfactory to the highest intelligence and the better moral and religious sense of the community: why is it that "spirits" communicating through your mediums, by planchette or otherwise, can not relate, plainly and circumstantially, _any_ required incident of their lives, as a man would relate his history to a friend, instead of dealing so much in vague and ambiguous generalities, as they almost always do, and that, too, often in the bad grammar or bad spelling of the medium? or, as a question allied to this, why is it that what purports to be the _same_ spirit, generally, if not _always_, fails, when trial is made, to identify himself in the _same manner_ through any two different mediums? or, as another question still allied to the above, why is it that your websters, clays, calhouns, and others, speaking through mediums, so universally give the idea that they have deteriorated in intellect since they passed into the spirit-world? and why is it that so little discourse or writing that possesses real merit, and so much that is mere drivel, has come through your mediums, if _spirits_ are the authors? and why does it so often happen that the spirits--if they _are_ spirits--can not communicate anything except what is already in the mind of the medium, or at least of some other person present? it does not quite answer these questions to say that the medium is "_undeveloped_" unless you explain to us precisely on what principle the undevelopment affects the case. a speaking-trumpet may be "undeveloped"--cracked or wanting in some of its parts, so as to deteriorate the sound made through it; but we should at least expect that a man speaking through it would speak his own thoughts, and not the thoughts of the trumpet. and then, looking at this subject in its _moral_ and _social_ aspects, the question should be answered: why, on the supposition that these communications really come from immortal spirits, have they made so little progress, during the twenty years that they have been with us, in elevating the moral and social standard of human nature, in making better husbands and wives, parents and children, citizens and philanthropists, in drawing mankind together in harmony and charity, and founding and endowing great institutions for the elevation of the race? rather may we not ask, in all kindness, why is it that the spiritualist community has been little more than a babel from the beginning to the present moment? or, ascending to the class of themes that come under the head of religion: why is it that prayer is so generally ignored, and the worship of god regarded as an unworthy superstition? why is it that in the diatribes, dissertations, and speeches of those who profess to act under the sanction of the "spirits," we have a reproduction of so much of the slang and ribaldry of the infidels of the last century, and of the german rationalism of the present, which is now being rejected by the germans themselves? and why is it that in their references to the great lights of the world, we so often have confucius, jesus christ, and william shakspeare jumbled up into indistinguishability? i do not say that all these questions may not be answered consistently with the claims of the spiritual hypothesis, but i _do_ say that before our spiritualist friends can have a _right_ to expect the better portion of mankind to drink down this draft of philosophy which they have mixed, they must at least satisfy them that there is _no poison_ in it. having thus exhibited these several theories, and, to an extent, discussed them _pro et contra_, it is but fair that we should now ask planchette--using that name in a liberal sense--what is _her_ theory of the whole matter? perhaps it may be said that after raising this world of curiosity and doubt in the public mind as to its own origin and true nature, we have some semblance of a right to hold this mysterious intelligence responsible for a solution of the difficulty it has created; and perhaps if we are a little skillful in putting our questions, and occasionally call in the aid of planchette's brothers and sisters, and other members of this mysterious family, we may obtain some satisfactory results. planchette's own theory. planchette is intelligent; she can answer questions, and often answer them correctly, too. on what class of subjects, then, might she be expected to give answers more generally correct than those which relate to herself, especially if the questions be asked in a proper spirit, and under such conditions as are claimed to be requisite for correct responses? following the suggestion of this thought, the original plan of this essay has been somewhat modified, and a careful consultation instituted, of which i here submit the results: _inquirer._ planchette, excuse me if i now treat you as one on whom a little responsibility is supposed to rest. an exciter of curiosity, if as intelligent as you appear to be, should be able to satisfy curiosity; and a creator of doubts may be presumed to have some ability to solve doubts. may i not, then, expect from _you_ a solution of the mysteries which have thus far enveloped you? _planchette._ that will depend much upon the spirit in which you may interrogate me, the pertinence of your questions, and your capacity to interpret the answers. if you propose a serious and careful consultation for really useful purposes, there is another thing which you should understand in the commencement. it is that, owing to conditions and laws which may yet be explained to you, i shall be compelled to use your own mind as a scaffolding, so to speak, on which to stand to pass you down the truths you may seek, and which are above the reach of your own mind alone. keep your mind unperturbed, then, as well as intent upon your object, or i can do but little for you. _i._ the question which stands as basic to all others which i wish to ask is, what is the nature of this power, intelligence, and will that communicates with us in this mysterious manner? _p._ it is the reduplication of your own mental state; it is a spirit; it is the whole spiritual world; it is god--one or all, according to your condition and the form and aspect in which you are able to receive the communication. _i._ that is covering rather too much ground for a beginning. for definiteness, suppose we take one of those points at a time. in saying, "it is a spirit," do you mean that you yourself, the immediate communicating agent, are an intelligence outside of, and separate from, myself, and that that intelligence is the spirit or soul of a man who once occupied a physical body, as i now do? _p._ that is what i assert--only in reaffirmation of what the world, in explanation of similar phenomena, has been told a thousand times before. _i._ excuse me if i should question you a little closely on this point. there are grave difficulties in the way of an acceptance of this theory. the first of these is the _prima facie_ absurdity of the idea. _p._ absurdity! how so? _i._ it is so contrary to our ordinary course of thought; contrary, i may say, to our instincts; contrary to what the human faculties would naturally expect; contrary to the general experience of the world up to this time. in fact, the more highly educated minds of the world have long agreed in classing the idea as among the grossest of superstitions. _p._ if you would, in place of each one of these assertions, affirm directly the contrary, you would come much nearer the truth. it is certain that the highest minds, as well as the lowest, of all ages and nations, with only such exceptions as prove rather than disprove the rule, have confidently believed in the occasional interposition of spirits in mundane affairs. true, there are in this age many of the class which you call the "more highly educated minds," who, spoiled by reasonings merely sensual, and hence necessarily sophistical, do not admit such an idea; but do not even these generally admit that there is an invisible world of spirits? _i._ most of them do; all professing christians do. i do, certainly. _p._ let me test their consistency, and yours, then, by asking, do they and you hold that one and the same god made all worlds, both natural and spiritual, and all things in them? _i._ of course they do; how otherwise? _p._ then, seeing that you acknowledge the unity of the cause of all worlds and all things in them, you must acknowledge a certain union of all these in one universal system as the offspring of that one cause, must you not? _i._ yes; i suppose the totality of things, natural and spiritual, must be acknowledged as forming, in some sense, one united system, of diverse but mutually correlated parts. _p._ please tell me, then, how there can be any united system in which the component parts, divisions, and subdivisions, down even to the most minute, are not each, necessarily and always, in communication with all the others, either immediately or mediately? _i._ i see the point, and acknowledge it is ingeniously made; but do you not see that the argument fails to meet the whole difficulty? _p._ what i do see is, that in admitting a connection of any kind, whether mediate or immediate, between the natural and spiritual worlds, you admit that a communication between the two worlds--hence between all things of one and all things of the other; hence between the intelligent inhabitants of one and those of the other--is logically not only possible but probable, not to say certain; and in this admission you yield the point under immediate discussion, and virtually concede that the idea of spirit-communication is not only _not absurd_, but is, indeed, among the most reasonable of things, to which ignorance and materialistic prejudice alone have given the aspect of absurdity. _i._ well, there is something in that which looks like argument, i must admit. _p._ can you not go a little farther and admit for established fact, proved by the testimony of the book from which you derive your religious faith, that communications between spirits and mortals have sometimes taken place? _i._ true, but the bible calls the spirits thus communicating, "familiar spirits," and those who have dealings with them, "witches" and "wizards," and forbids the practice under severe penalties. how does that sound to you, my ingenious friend? _p._ the way you put it, it sounds as though you did not quite understand the full scope of my question; but no matter, since it is at once a proof and an acknowledgment on your part that spirits have communicated with mortals--the essential point in dispute, which when once admitted will render further reasonings more plain. let me ask you, however, was not the practice of consulting familiar spirits that is forbidden in the bible, a practice that was common among the heathen nations of those times? _i._ it was, and is spoken of as such in several passages. _p._ did not the heathens consult familiar spirits as petty divinities, or gods, and as such, follow their sayings and commands implicitly? and would not the israelites to whom the old testament was addressed have violated the first command in the decalogue by adopting this practice? and was not that the reason, and the only reason, why the practice was forbidden? _i._ to each of those questions i answer, yes, certainly. _p._ do the old or new testament writings anywhere command us to abstain from all intercourse with spirits?--or from any intercourse which would not be a violation of the command, "thou shalt have no other gods before me?" _i._ really i do not know that the bible contains any such command. _p._ do you not know, on the contrary, that spirits other than those called "familiar spirits," often did communicate, and with apparently good and legitimate purposes, too, with men whose names are mentioned in the bible? _i._ well, i must in candor say that there were some cases of that kind. _p._ may you not, then, from all this learn a rule which will always be a safe guide to you in respect to the matters under discussion? i submit for your consideration, that that rule is, "be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." but even if the "strangers" that may come to you, either of your own world or the spirit-world, should prove to be "angels," do not follow them implicitly, or in an unreasoning manner, nor worship them as gods, for in so doing you would render yourself amenable to the law against having dealings with "familiar spirits." _i._ i must admit that your remarks throw a somewhat new light on the subject, and i do not know that i can dispute what you say. but even admitting all your strong points thus far, the spirit-theory of planchettism and other and kindred modern wonders remains encumbered with a mass of difficulties which it seems to me must be removed before it can be considered as having much claim to the credence of good and rational minds. on some of these points i propose now to question you somewhat closely, and shall hope that you will bear with me in the same patience and candor which you have thus far manifested. _p._ ask your questions, and i shall answer them to the best of my ability. the rational difficulty. _i._ the difficulties, as they appear to me, are of a threefold character--_rational_, _moral_, and _religious_. i begin with the first, the rational difficulty. and for a point to start from, let me ask, is it true, as generally held, that when a man becomes disencumbered of the clogs and hinderances of the flesh, and passes into the spirit-world--especially into the realms of the just--his intellect becomes more clear and comprehensive? _p._ that is true, as a general rule. _i._ how is it, then, that in returning to communicate with us mortals, the alleged spirits of men who were great and wise while living on the earth, almost uniformly appear to have _degenerated_ as to their mental faculties, being seldom, if ever, able to produce anything above mediocrity? and why is it that the speaking and writing purporting to come from spirits, are so generally in the bad grammar, bad spelling, and other distinctive peculiarities of the style of the medium, and so often express precisely what the medium knows, imagines, or surmises, and nothing more? _p._ that your questions have a certain degree of pertinence, i must admit; but in making this estimate of the intelligence purporting to come from the spiritual world, have you not ignored some things which candor should have compelled you to take into the account? think for a moment. _i._ well, perhaps i ought to have made an exception in your own favor. your communication with me thus far has, i must admit, been characterized by a remarkable breadth and depth of intelligence, as well as ingenuity of argument. _p._ and what, too, of the style and merits of the communications purporting to come from spirits to other persons and through other channels--are they not, as an almost universal rule, decidedly superior to anything the medium could produce, unaided by the influence, whatever it may be, which acts upon him? _i._ perhaps they are; indeed, i must admit i have known many instances of alleged spirit-communications which, though evidently stamped with some of the characteristics of the medium, were quite above the normal capacity of the latter; yet in themselves considered, they were generally beneath the capacity of the _living man_ from whose disembodied spirit they purported to come. _p._ by just so much, then, as the production given through a medium is elevated above the medium's normal capacity, is the influence which acts upon him to be credited with the character of that production. please make a note of this point gained. and now for the question why these communications should be tinctured with the characteristics of the medium at all; and why spirits can not, as a general rule, communicate to mortals their own normal intelligence, freely and without obstruction, as man communicates with man, or spirit with spirit. but that we may be enabled to make this mystery more clear, we had better attend first to another question which i see you have in your mind--the question as to the potential agent used by spirits in making communications. the medium--the doctrine of spheres. _i._ that is what we are anxious to understand; electricity, magnetism, odylic force, or whatever you may know or believe it to be--give us all the light you can on the subject. _p._ properly speaking, neither of these, or neither without important qualifications. preparatory to the true explanation, i will lay the foundation of a new thought in your mind by asking, do you know of any body or organism in nature--unless, indeed, it be a _dead_ body--which has not something answering to an atmosphere? _i._ it has been said by some astronomers that the moon has no atmosphere; though others, again, have expressed the opinion that she has, indeed, an atmosphere, but a very rare one. _p._ precisely so; and as might have been expected from the rarity of her atmosphere, she has the smallest amount of cosmic life of any planetary body in the solar system--only enough to admit of the smallest development of vegetable and animal forms. still, every sun, planet, or other cosmic body in space is generally, and every regularly constituted form connected with that body is specifically, surrounded, and also pervaded, by its own peculiar and characteristic atmosphere; and to this universal rule, minerals, plants, animals, man, and in their own degree even the disembodied men whom you call "spirits," form no exception. _i._ do you mean to say that man and spirits, and also the lower living forms, are surrounded by a sphere of air or wind like the atmosphere of the earth, but yet no part of that atmosphere? _p._ the atmospheres of other bodies than planets are not air or wind, but in their substances are so different from what you know as the atmospheres of planets as not to have anything specifically in common with them. the specific atmospheres of flowers, and when excited by friction, those also of some metals, and even of stone crystals, are often perceptible to the sense of smell, and are in that way distinguishable not only from the atmosphere of the earth, but also from the atmospheres of each other. but properly speaking, the psychic _aura_ surrounding man and spirits should no longer be called an atmosphere, that is, an _atom-sphere_ or sphere of atoms, but simply a "sphere;" for it is not atomic, that is, material, in its constitution, but is a spiritual substance, and as such extends indefinitely into space, or rather has only an indirect relation to space at all. nor is the atmosphere, as popularly understood, the only enveloping sphere of the earth, for beyond and pervading it, and pervading also even all solid bodies, is a sublime interplanetary substance called "ether," the vehicle of light, and next approach to spiritual substance; while all bodies, solid, liquid, and gaseous, are also pervaded by electricity. _i._ all that is interesting, but the subject is new to me, and i would like to have some farther illustration. can you cite me some familiar fact to prove that man is actually surrounded and pervaded by a sphere such as you describe? _p._ i can only say that you are at times conscious of the fact yourself, as all persons are who are possessed of an ordinary degree of psychic sensitiveness. does not even the silent presence of certain persons, though entire strangers, affect you with an uncomfortable sense of repulsion, perhaps embarrassing your thoughts and speech, while in the presence of others you at once feel perfectly free, easy, at home, and experience even a marked and mysterious sense of congeniality? _i._ that is so; i have often noticed it, but never could account for it. _p._ farther than this, have you not at times when free from external disturbances, with the mind in a revery of loose thoughts, noticed the abrupt intrusion of the thought of a person altogether out of the line of your previous meditations, and then observed that the same person would come bodily into your presence very shortly afterward? _i._ i have, frequently; the same phenomenon appears to have been noticed by others, and is so common an occurrence as to have given rise to the well-known slang proverb, "speak of the devil and he will always appear." _p._ just so; but still further: have you not personally known of instances, or been credibly informed of them, in which mutually sympathizing friends of highly sensitive organizations were mysteriously and correctly impressed with each other's general conditions, even when long distances apart, and without any external communication? _i._ i have heard and read of many such cases, but could have scarcely believed them had i not had some experience of the kind myself. _p._ there must, then, be here some medium of communication; that medium is evidently not anything cognizable to either of the five outer senses. what, then, can it be but the co-related spheres of the two persons, which i have already told you are not atomic--not material but spiritual, and as such have little relation to space? _i._ that idea, if true, looks to me to be of some importance, and i would like you, if you can, to show me clearly what relation these "spheres," as you call them, have to the spiritual nature of man. _p._ consider, then, the primal meaning of the word "spirit:" it is derived from the latin _spiritus_, the basic meaning of which is _breath_, _wind_, air--nearly the same idea that you attach to the word "atmosphere." so the greek word _pneuma_, also translated "spirit," means precisely the same thing. the same meaning is likewise attached to the hebrew word _ruach_, also sometimes translated "spirit." now, carrying out this use of terms, the wind, air, or atmosphere of the earth (including the ether, electricity, and other imponderable elements) is the spirit of the earth;[2] the atmosphere of any other body, great or small, is the spirit of that body; the atmosphere, or rather sphere, being now without atoms, of a man, considered as an intellectual and moral being, is the spirit of that man; the sphere of a disembodied man or soul is the spirit of that man or soul; and so the infinite and eternal sphere of the deity which pervades and controls all creations both in the spiritual and natural universe, is the spirit of the deity, which in the bible is called the holy spirit. [2] query: have we here the _spiritus mundi_ of the old philosophers? _i._ well, those ideas seem singularly consistent with themselves, to say the least, however novel they may appear. but now another point: you have said that atmospheres or spheres surround and pervade all bodies, unless, indeed, they be _dead_ bodies--attributing, as i understand you, a kind of _cosmic_ life to plants, and a mineral life to minerals, as well as a vegetable and animal life respectively to vegetables and animals; do you mean by that to intimate that the sphere is the _effect_ or the _cause_ of the living body? _p._ of each living material form, the sphere, or at least _some_ sphere, was the cause. matter, considered simply by itself, is dead, and can only live by the influx of a surrounding sphere or spirit. it may be said at the last synthesis, that the _general_ sphere even of each microscopic monad that is in process of becoming vitalized, as well as of the great nebulous mass that is to form a universe, is the spirit of the infinite deity, which is present with atoms in the degree of atoms, as well as with worlds in the degree of worlds. this spirit, as it embodies itself in matter, becomes segregated, finited, and individualized, and forms a specific soul, spirit, or sphere by itself, now no longer deific, but always of a nature necessarily corresponding to the peculiar form and condition of the matter in which it becomes embodied. life, therefore, is not the result of organization, but organization is the result of life, which latter is eternal, never having had a beginning, and never to have an end. some of your scientific men have recently discovered what they have been pleased to term "the physical basis of life," in a microscopic and faintly vital substance called _protoplasm_, which forms the material foundation of all organic structures, both in the vegetable and animal kingdoms. they have not yet, however, discovered the source from which the life found in this substance comes--which would be plain to them if they understood the doctrine of spheres and influx as i have here given it. _i._ i thank you for this profoundly suggestive thought, even should it prove to be no more than a thought. but please now show us what bearing all this has upon the question more particularly before us--the question as to the medium and process through which this little board is moved, the tables are tipped, people are entranced and made to speak and write, and all these modern wonders are produced--also how and why it is that the alleged spirit-communications are commonly tinctured, more or less, with the peculiar characteristics of the human agents through whom they are given? _p._ you now have some idea of the doctrine of spheres; you will, however, understand that the spheres of created beings, owing to a unity of origin, are universally co-related, and, under proper conditions, can act and react upon each other. you have before had some true notion of the laws of _rapport_, which means relation or correspondence. you will understand, further, that there can be no action between any two things or beings in any department of creation except as they are in _rapport_ or correspondence with each other, and that the action can go no farther than the _rapport_ or correspondence extends. now, two spirits can always, when it is in divine order, readily communicate with each other, because they can always bring themselves into direct _rapport_ at some one or more points. though matter is widely discreted from spirit, in that the one is dead and the other is alive, yet there is a certain correspondence between the two, and between the degrees of one and the degrees of the other; and according to this correspondence, relation, or _rapport_, spirit may act upon matter. thus your spirit, in all its degrees and faculties, is in the closest _rapport_ with all the degrees of matter composing your body, and for this reason alone it is able to move it as it does, which it will no longer be able to do when that _rapport_ is destroyed by what you call death. through your body it is _en rapport_ with, and is able to act upon, surrounding matter. if, then, you are in a susceptible condition, a spirit can not only get into _rapport_ with your spirit, and through it with your body, and control its motions, or even suspend your own proper action and external consciousness by entrancement, but if you are at the same time _en rapport_ with this little board, it can, through contact of your hands, get into _rapport_ with _that_, and move it without any conscious or volitional agency on your part. furthermore, under certain favorable conditions, a spirit may, through your sphere and body combined, come into _rapport_ even with the spheres of the ultimate particles of material bodies near you, and thence with the particles and the whole bodies themselves, and may thus, even without contact of your hands, move them or make sounds upon them, as has often been witnessed. its action, however, as before said, ceases where the _rapport_ ceases; and if communications from really intelligent spirits have sometimes been defective as to the quality of the intelligence manifested, it is because there has been found nothing in the medium which could be brought into _rapport_ or correspondence with the more elevated ideas of the spirit. the spirit, too, in frequent instances, is unable to prevent its energizing influences from being diverted by the reactive power of the medium, into the channels of the imperfect types of thought and expression that are established in his mind, and it is for this simple reason that the communication is, as you say, often tinctured with the peculiarities of the medium, and even sometimes is nothing more than a reproduction of the mental states of the latter, perhaps greatly intensified. _i._ if this theory, so far seemingly very plausible, is really the correct one, it ought to go one step farther, and explain the many disorderly unintelligible rappings, thumpings, throwing of stones, hurling of furniture, etc., which often have occurred in the presence of particular persons, or at particular places.[3] [3] see an article entitled "_a remarkable case of physical phenomena_," in the _atlantic monthly_ for august, 1868. _p._ those are manifestations which, when not the designed work of evil spirits, have their proximate source in the dream-region which lies between the natural and spiritual worlds. _i._ pray tell us what you mean by the dream-region that lies between the two worlds? _p._ there are sometimes conditions in which the body is profoundly asleep, with no perturbations of the nervous system caused by previous mental and physical exercise. in this state the mind may still be perfectly awake, and independently, consciously, and even intensely active. when thus conditioned, it may be, and often is, among spirits in the spiritual world, though from the nature of the case it is seldom able to bring back into the bodily state any reminiscences of the scenes of that world. the dream state, properly speaking, is not this, but a state intermediate between this and the normal, wakeful state of the bodily senses, and is a state of broken, confused, irrational, inconsistent, and irresponsible thoughts, emotions, and apparent actions--the whole arising from confusedly intermixed bodily and spiritual states and influences. the potential spheres of spirits who desire to make manifestations to the natural world sometimes become commingled, designedly or otherwise, with the spheres of persons in the body who, in consequence of certain nervous or psychic disorders, are more or less in this dream-region even when the body is so far awake as to be _en rapport_ with external things; and in such cases, whatever manifestations may arise from the spiritual potencies with which such persons are surcharged, will of necessity be beyond the control, or possibly even beyond the cognizance, of any governing spirit, and will be irrational, inconsistent, and sometimes very annoying, or even destructive, according to the types of the dreamy mentality of the medium. if you will think for a moment, you will remember that the kind of manifestations referred to are never known to occur except in the presence of persons in a semi-somnambulic or highly hysterical state, or laboring under some analogous nervous disorders; and the persons are often of a low organization, and very ignorant. the moral and religious difficulty. _i._ i am constrained to say, my mysterious friend, that the novelty and ingenuity of your ideas surprise me greatly, and i do, in all candor, acknowledge that you have skillfully disposed of my objections to the spiritual theory of these phenomena on _rational_ grounds, and explained the philosophy of this thing, in a manner which i am at present unable to gainsay. i must still hesitate, however, to enroll myself among the converts to the spiritual theory unless you can remove another serious objection, which rests on _moral and religious grounds_. from so important and startling a development as general open communications from spirits, it seems to me that we would have a right to expect some conspicuous _good_ to mankind; yet, although this thing has been before the world now over twenty years, i am unable to see the evidence that it has wrought any improvement in the moral and social condition of the converts to its claims. pray, how do you account for that fact? _p._ my friend, that question should be addressed to the spiritualists, not to me. i will say, however, that this whole subject, long as it has been before the world, is still in a chaotic state, its laws have been very little understood, and even its essential objects and uses have been very much misconceived. i may add that, from its very nature, its real practical fruits as well as its true philosophy must necessarily be the growth of a considerable period of time. _i._ i will not, then, press the objection in that form. when we look, however, at the _religious_ tendencies of the thing, i do not think we find much promise of the "practical fruits" which you here intimate may yet come of it. i lay it down as a proposition which all history proves, that infidelity, in all its forms, is an enemy to the human race, and that it never has done or can do anybody any good, but always has done and must do harm. but it is notorious that the spirits, if they be such, with their mediums and disciples, have _generally_ (though not universally, i grant) assumed an attitude at least of _apparent_ hostility to almost every thing peculiar to the christian religion, and most essential to it, and are constantly reiterating the almost identical ribaldry and sophistry of the infidels of the last century. how shall a good and christian person who knows and has felt the truth of the vital principles of christianity become a spiritualist while spiritualism thus denies and scoffs at doctrines which he _feels_ and _knows_ to be true? _p._ the point you thus make is apparently a very strong one. but let me ask, can you not conceive that there may be a difference between the mere word-teaching of spiritualists and even spirits themselves, and the _real_ teaching of spiritualism as such? that is to say, between mere verbal utterances and phenomenal demonstrations? for illustration, suppose a man asserts at noonday that there is no sun, does he teach you there is no sun? or does he teach you that he is blind? _i._ that he is blind, of course. _p._ so, then, when a spirit comes to you and asserts that there is no god--it is seldom that they assert that, but we will take an extreme case--does he teach you that there is no god, or does he teach you that he himself is a fool? _i._ well, i should say he would teach the latter; but what use would the knowledge that he is such a fool be to us? _p._ it is one of the important providential designs of these manifestations to teach mankind that spirits in general maintain the characters that they formed to themselves during their earthly life--that, indeed, they are the identical persons they were while dwelling in the flesh--hence, that while there are just, truthful, wise, and christian spirits, there are also spirits addicted to lying, profanity, obscenity, mischief, and violence, and spirits who deny god and religion, just as they did while in your world. it has become very necessary for mankind to know all this; it certainly could in no other way be so effectually made known as by an actual manifestation of it; and it is just as necessary that you should see the _dark_ side as the _bright_ side of the picture. _i._ yet a person already adopting, or predisposed to adopt, any false doctrine asserted by a spirit, would, it seems to me, be in danger of receiving the spirit-assertion as _verbally_ true. _p._ that is to say, a person already in, or inclined to adopt, the same error that a spirit is in, would be in danger of being confirmed, for the time being, in that error, by listening to the spirit's asseveration. this, i admit, is just the effect produced for a time by the infidel word-teaching of some spirits upon those _already_ embracing, or inclined to embrace, infidel sentiments. but if you will look beyond this superficial aspect of the subject at its great phenomenal and rational teachings, i think you will see that its deeper, stronger, and more permanent tendency is, not to promote infidelity, but ultimately to destroy it for ever. i have said before, that the real object of this development has been very much misconceived; i tell you now that the great object is to purge the church itself of its latent infidelity; to renovate the christian faith; and to bring theology and religion up to that high standard which will be equal to the wants of this age, as it certainly now is not. _i._ planchette, you are now touching upon a delicate subject. you should know that we are inclined to be somewhat tenacious of our theological and religious sentiments, and not to look with favor on any innovations. nevertheless, i am curious to know how you justify yourself in this disparaging remark on the theology and religion of the day? _p._ i do not mean to be understood that there is not much that is true and good in it. there is; and i would not by a single harsh word wound the loving hearts of those who have a spark of real religious life in them. i would bind up the bruised reed, rather than break it; i would fan the smoking flax into a flame, rather than quench it. this is the sentiment of all _good_ spirits, of whom i trust i am one. but let me say most emphatically, that you want a public religion that will tower high above all other influences whatsoever; that will predominate over all, and ask favors of none; that will unite mankind in charity and brotherly love, and not divide them into hostile sects, and that will infuse its spirit into, and thus give direction to, all social and political movements. such a religion the world must have, or from this hour degenerate. _i._ why might not the religion of the existing churches accomplish these results, provided its professors would manifest the requisite zeal and energy? _p._ it is doing much good, and might, on the conditions you specify, do much more. yet the public religion has become negative to other influences, instead of positive, as it should be, from which false position it can not be reclaimed without such great and vital improvements as would almost seem to amount to a renewal _ab ovo_. _i._ on what ground do you assert that the religion of the day stands in a position "negative" to other influences? _p._ i will answer by asking: is it not patent to you and all other intelligent persons, that for the last hundred years the christian church and theology have been standing mainly on the defensive against the assaults of materialism and the encroachments of science? has it not, without adequate examination, poured contempt on mesmerism, denounced phrenology, endeavored to explain away the facts of geology and some of the higher branches of astronomy? has it not looked with a jealous eye upon the progress of science generally? and has it not been at infinite labor in merely defending the _history_ of the life, miracles, death, and resurrection of christ, against the negations of materialists, which labor might, in a great measure, have been saved if an adequate proof could have been given of the power and omnipotent working of a _present_ christ? and what is the course it has taken with reference to the present spiritual manifestations, the claims of which it can no more overthrow than it can drag the sun from the firmament? now a true church--a church to which is given the power to cast out devils, and take up serpents, or drink any deadly thing, without being harmed--will always be able to stand on the aggressive against its _real_ spiritual foes more than on the mere defensive, and in no case will it ever turn its back to a fact in science. its power will be the power of the holy spirit, and not the power of worldly wealth and fashion. when it reasons of righteousness, temperance, and judgment, felix will tremble, but it will never tremble before felix, lest he withdraw his patronage from it. _i._ i admit that the facts you state about the church's warfare in these latter days have not the most favorable aspect; but how the needed elements of theology and religion are to be supplied by demonstrations afforded by these latter-day phenomena, i do not yet quite see. _p._ if religious teachers will but study these facts, simply _as_ facts, in all the different aspects which they have presented, from their first appearance up to this time--study them in the same spirit in which the chemist studies affinities, equivalents, and isomeric compounds--in the same spirit in which the astronomer observes planets, suns, and nebulã¦--in the same spirit in which the microscopist studies monads, blood-discs, and protoplasm--always hospitable to a new fact, always willing to give up an old error for the sake of a new truth; never receiving the mere _dicta_ either of spirits or men as absolute authority, but always trusting the guidance of right reason wherever she may lead--if, i say, they will but study these great latter-day signs, providential warnings and monitions, in this spirit, i promise them that they shall soon find a _rational_ and _scientific_ ground on which to rest every real christian doctrine, from the incarnation to the crown of glory--miracles, the regeneration, the resurrection, and all, with the great advantage of having the doctrine of immortality taken out of the sphere of _faith_ and made a _fixed fact_. furthermore, i promise them, on those conditions, that they shall hereafter be able to _lead_ science rather than be dragged along unwillingly in its trail; and then science will be forever enrolled in the service of god's religion, and no longer in that of the world's materialism and infidelity. _i._ planchette, your communication has, upon the whole, been of a most startling character; tell me, i pray you, what do you call all this thing, and what is to come of it? what this modern development is, and what is to come of it. _p._ can you, then, bear an announcement still more startling than any i have yet made? _i._ i really know not; i will try; let us have it. _p._ well, then, i call it a fourth great divine epiphany or manifestation; or what you will perhaps better understand as one of the developments characterizing the beginning of a fourth great divine dispensation. what is to come of it, you will be able to judge as well as i when you understand its nature. _i._ what! so great an event heralded by so questionable an instrumentality as the rapping and table tipping spirits? _p._ be calm, and at the same time be humble. remember that it is not unusual for god to employ the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, and that when he comes to visit his people, he almost always comes in disguises, and sometimes even "as a thief in the night." besides the spirits of which you speak are only the rough but very useful pioneers to open a highway through which the king is coming with innumerable hosts of angels, who, indeed, are already near you, though you see them not. it is, indeed, an hour of temptation that has come upon all the world; but be watchful and true, prayerful and faithful, and fear not. _i._ please tell us then, if you can, something of the nature and objects of this new divine epiphany which you announce; and as you say it is a _fourth_, please tell us, in brief, what were the preceding _three_, the times of their occurrence, and how they are all distinguished from each other. _p._ the _first_ appealed only to the affections and the inner sense of the soul, and was the dispensation of the most ancient church, when god walked with man in the midst of the garden of his own interior delights, and when "enoch walked with god and was not, for god took him." but as this sense of the indwelling presence of god was little more than a mere _emotion_, for which, in that period of humanity's childhood, there was no adequate, rational, and directive intelligence, men, in process of time, began to mistake _every_ delight as being divine and holy; thus they justified themselves in their _evil_ delights, or in the gratification of their lusts and passions, considering even these as all divine. [the "sons of god" marrying the "daughters of men."--_gen._ vi. 2-4.] and as they possessed no adequate reasoning faculty to which appeals might be made for the correction of these tendencies, and thus no ground of reformation, the race gradually grew to such a towering height of wickedness that it had to be almost entirely destroyed. the _second_ age or dispensation, commencing with noah, was distinctively characterized by the more special manifestation of god in outward types and shadows, in the _adyta_ of temples and other consecrated places and things, from which, as representative seats of the divine presence, and through inspired men, were issued _laws_ to which terrible penalties were annexed, as is exemplified by the law issued from mount sinai. the evil passions of men were thus put under restraint, and a rational faculty of discriminating between right and wrong--that is to say, a _conscience_--was at the same time developed. but the sophistical use of these types and shadows (of which all ancient mythology is an outgrowth), and the accompanying perversion of the general conscience of mankind, gradually generated _idolatry_ and _magic_ with all their complicated evils, against which the jewish church, though belonging to the same general dispensation, was specially instituted to react. furthermore, as the mere restraints of penal law necessarily imply the existence in man of latent evils upon which the restraint is imposed, it is manifest that such a dispensation alone could not bring human nature to a state of perfection; and so a _third_ was instituted, in which _god was manifested in the flesh_. that is to say, he became incarnate in one man who was so constituted as to embody in himself the qualitative totality of human nature, that through this one man as the head of the body of which other men were the subordinate organs, he might become united with all others--so that by the spontaneous movings of the living christ within, and thus in perfect freedom, they might live the divine life in their very fleshly nature, previously the source of all sinful lusts, but now, together with the inner man, wholly regenerated and made anew. here, then, is a _trinity_ of divine manifestations, to the corresponding triune degrees of the nature of man--the inner or affectional degree, the intermediate, rational, or conscience degree, and the external, or sensuous degree. but while this was all that was necessary as a ground for the perfect union of man with god, in the graduated triune degrees here mentioned, and thus all that was necessary for his personal salvation in a sphere of being beyond and above the earthy, it was _not_ all that was necessary to perfect his relations to the great and mysterious realm of forms, materials, and forces which constitute the theater of his earthly struggles; nor was it quite all that was necessary to project and carry into execution the plan of that true and divine structure, order and government of human society which might be appropriately termed "the kingdom of heaven upon earth; wherefore you have now, according to a divine promise frequently repeated in the new testament, a _fourth_ great divine manifestation, which proves to be a manifestation of god in _universal science_. _i._ but that "_fourth_ manifestation" (or "_second_ coming," as we are in the habit of calling it), which was promised in the new testament, was to be attended with imposing phenomena, of which we have as yet seen nothing. it was to be a coming of christ "in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory," and the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment, etc., were to occur at the same time? _p._ certainly; but you would not, of course, insist upon putting a strictly literal interpretation upon this language, and thus turning it into utter and senseless absurdity. the _real "heaven"_ is not that boundary of your vision in upper space which you call the sky, but the interior and living reality of things. the "_clouds_" that are meant are not those sheets of condensed aqueous vapor which float above your head, but the material coatings which have hitherto obscured interior realities, and through which the divine _logos_, the "sun of righteousness," is now breaking with a "power" which moves dead matter without visible hands, and with a "great glory," or light, which reveals a spiritual world within the natural. the "_resurrection_" is not the opening of the literal graves, and re-assembling of the identical flesh, blood, and bones of dead men and nations which, during hundreds and even thousands of years, have been combining and re-combining with the universal elements; but it is the re-establishment of the long-suspended relations of spirits with the earthly sphere of being, by which they are enabled to freely manifest themselves again to their friends in the earthly life, and often to receive great benefits in return; and if you do not yet see, as accompanying and growing out of all this, the beginning of an ordeal that is to try souls, institutions, creeds, churches, and nations, as by fire, you had better wait awhile for a more full exposition of the "_last judgment_." people should learn that the kingdom of god comes not to _outward_ but to _inward_ observation, and that as for the prophetic words which have been spoken on this subject, "they are spirit, and they are life." _i._ and what of the changed aspects of science that is to grow out of this alleged peculiar divine manifestation? _p._ to answer that question fully would require volumes. be content, then, for the present, with the following brief words: hitherto science has been almost wholly materialistic in its tendencies, having nothing to do with spiritual things, but ignoring and casting doubts upon them; while _spiritual_ matters, on the other hand, have been regarded by the church wholly as matters of faith with which science has nothing to do. but through these modern manifestations, god is providentially furnishing to the world all the elements of a spiritual science which, when established and recognized, will be the stand-point from which all physical science will be viewed. it will then be more distinctly known that all external and visible forms and motions originate from invisible, spiritual, and ultimately divine causes; that between cause and effect there is always a necessary and intimate _correspondence_; and hence that the whole outer universe is but the symbol and sure index of an invisible and _vastly more real_ universe within. from this unitary basis of thought the different sciences as now correctly understood may be co-related in harmonic order as one grand science, the _known_ of which, by the rule of correspondence, will lead by easy clews to the _unknown_. the true structure and government of human society will be clearly hinted by the structure and laws of the universe, and especially by that _microcosm_, or little universe, the human organization. all the great stirring questions of the day, including the questions of suffrage, woman's rights, the relations between labor and capital, and the questions of general political reform, will be put into the way of an easy and speedy solution; and mankind will be ushered into the light of a brighter day, socially, politically, and religiously, than has ever yet dawned upon the world. _i._ my invisible friend, the wonderful nature of your communication excites my curiosity to know your name ere we part. will you have the kindness to gratify me in this particular? _p._ that i may not do. my name is of no consequence in any respect. besides, if i should give it, you might, unconsciously to yourself, be influenced to attach to it the weight of a personal authority, which is specially to be avoided in communications of this kind. there is nothing to prevent deceiving spirits from assuming great names, and you have no way of holding them responsible for their statements. with thinkers--minds that are developed to a vigorous maturity--the truth itself should be its only and sufficient authority. if what i have told you appears intrinsically rational, logical, scientific, in harmony with known facts, and appeals to your convictions with the force of truth, accept it; if not, reject it; but i advise you not to reject it before giving it a candid and careful examination. i may tell you more at some future time, but for the present, farewell. conclusion. here the interview ended. it was a part of my original plan, after reviewing various theories on this mysterious subject, to propound one of my own; but this interview with planchette has changed my mind. i confess i am amazed and confounded, and have nothing to say. the commendable motive which the invisible intelligence, whatever it may be, assigned in the last paragraph for refusing to give its name, also prompts me to withhold my own name from this publication for the present, and likewise to abstain from the explanation i intended to give of certain particulars as to the manner and circumstances of this communication. on its own intrinsic merits alone it should be permitted to rest; and as i certainly feel that my own conceptions have been greatly enlarged, not to say that i have been greatly instructed, i give it forth in the hope that it may have the same effect upon my readers. how to work planchette. we have received letters from different persons who have tried planchette, but failed to make her work. our correspondents wish to know the reason of the failure, and what conditions must be complied with on their part to remedy the difficulty. we reply by the insertion of the following rules, which should be read in connection with the descriptive paragraph near the commencement of this pamphlet: =rules to be observed in using planchette.= for some persons (strong magnetizers), "planchette" moves at once, and for one such person it moves rapidly and writes distinctly. with such a person it is not necessary for another to put their hands on; it will operate alone for them, and better than with two persons. it has been noticed that one pair of male and one pair of female hands form a more perfect battery to work "planchette" than two males or two females would do. it has also been noticed that one light and one dark complexioned person are better than two light or two dark persons would be together; also, that two females, with their hands on together, are better than the hands of two males would be. if, after observing these rules, "planchette" should refuse to write, or move, different persons must try until the necessary battery is formed to make it operate. (it is here remarked that the average number of persons able to work "planchette" is about five to eight; but it is still possible, but improbable, to have an assemblage of eight persons and not any be able to make "planchette" go.) after it is ascertained who are the proper persons to move "planchette," no end of fun, amusement, and possibly instruction, will be afforded. according to the experience of the present writer, the proportional number of those for whom planchette will work promptly, and from the first, is not quite so great as here given. but by perseverance through repeated trials, under the right mental and physical conditions, most persons may at length obtain responsive movements, more or less satisfactory. planchette, however (or the intelligence which moves her), likes to be treated with a decent respect, and has a repugnance to confusion. ask her, therefore, none but respectful questions, and _only one of these at a time_; and when there are several persons in the company anxious to obtain responses, while one is consulting let all the others keep _perfectly quiet_, and each patiently await his turn. a non-compliance with these conditions generally spoils the experiment. spiritualism. by mrs. harriet beecher stowe. [the following was written for, and published in the _christian union_. it was reprinted in the phrenological journal in 1870. we present it here, as in some measure explanatory of all the matter which precedes it. there are many who do not accept all that is claimed to be true, in modern spiritualism, who will entertain the moderate views expressed by the author of uncle tom's cabin. editor.] it is claimed that there are in the united states four million spiritualists. the perusal of the advertisements in any one of the weekly newspapers devoted to this subject will show that there is a system organized all over the union to spread these sentiments. from fifty to a hundred, and sometimes more, of lecturers advertise in a single paper, to speak up and down the land; and lyceums--progressive lyceums for children, spiritual pic-nics, and other movements of the same kind, are advertised. this kind of thing has been going on from year to year, and the indications now are that it is increasing rather than diminishing. it is claimed by the advocates of these sentiments that the number of those who boldly and openly profess them is exceeded by the greater number of those who are _secretly_ convinced, but who are unwilling to encounter the degree of obloquy or ridicule which they would probably meet on an open avowal. all these things afford matter for grave thought to those to whom none of the great and deep movements of society are indifferent. when we think how very tender and sacred are the feelings with which this has to do--what power and permanency they always must have, we can not but consider such a movement of society entitled at least to the most serious and thoughtful consideration. our own country has just been plowed and seamed by a cruel war. the bullet that has pierced thousands of faithful breasts has cut the nerve of life and hope in thousands of homes. what yearning toward the invisible state, what agonized longings must have gone up as the sound of mournful surges, during these years succeeding the war! can we wonder that any form of religion, or of superstition, which professes in the least to mitigate the anguish of that cruel separation, and to break that dreadful silence by any voice or token, has hundreds of thousands of disciples? if on review of the spiritualistic papers and pamphlets we find them full of vague wanderings and wild and purposeless flights of fancy, can we help pitying that craving of the human soul which all this represents and so imperfectly supplies? the question arises, has not the protestant religion neglected to provide some portion of the true spiritual food of the human soul, and thus produced this epidemic craving? it is often held to be a medical fact that morbid appetites are the blind cry of nature for something needed in the bodily system which is lacking. the wise nurse or mother does not hold up to ridicule the poor little culprit who secretly picks a hole in the plastering that he may eat the lime; she considers within herself what is wanting in this little one's system, and how this lack shall be more judiciously and safely supplied. if it be phosphate of lime for the bones which nature is thus blindly crying for, let us give it to him more palatably and under more attractive forms. so with the epidemic cravings of human society. the wise spiritual pastor or master would inquire what is wanting to these poor souls that they are thus with hungry avidity rushing in a certain direction, and devouring with unhealthy eagerness all manner of crudities and absurdities. may it not be spiritual food, of which their mother, the church, has abundance, which she has neglected to set before them? now, if we compare the religious teachings of the present century with those of any past one, we shall find that the practical spiritualistic belief taught by the bible has to a great extent dropped out of it. let us begin with the time of jesus christ. nothing is more evident in reading his life than that he was acting all the time in view of _unseen_ and spiritual influences, which were more pronounced and operative to him than any of the _visible_ and materialistic phenomena of the present life. in this respect the conduct of christ, if imitated in the present day, would subject a man to the imputation of superstition or credulity. he imputed things to the direct agency of invisible spirits acting in the affairs of life, that we, in the same circumstances, attribute only to the constitutional liabilities of the individual acted upon by force of circumstances. as an example of this, let us take his language toward the apostle peter. with the habits of modern christianity, the caution of christ to peter would have been expressed much on this fashion: "simon, simon, thou art impulsive, and liable to be carried away with sudden impressions. the jews are about to make an attack on me which will endanger thee." this was the exterior view of the situation, but our lord did not take it. he said, "simon, simon, satan hath desired to have thee that he may sift thee as wheat; but i have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." this satan was a person ever present in the mind of christ. he was ever in his view as the invisible force by which all the visible antagonistic forces were ruled. when his disciples came home in triumph to relate the successes of their first preaching tour, christ said, "i beheld satan as lightning fall from heaven." when the apostle peter rebuked him for prophesying the tragical end of his earthly career, christ answered not him, but the invisible spirit whose influence over him he recognized: "get thee behind me, satan! thou art an offense unto me." when the saviour's last trial approached, he announced the coming crisis in the words, "the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." when he gave himself into the hands of the sanhedrim, he said, "this is your hour and that of the powers of darkness." when disputing with the unbelieving jews, he told them that they were of their father, the devil; that he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth; that when he spoke a lie he spoke of his own, for he was a liar, and the father of lies. in short, the life of christ, as viewed by himself, was not a conflict with enemies _in the flesh_, but with an invisible enemy, artful, powerful, old as the foundations of the world, and ruling by his influences over evil spirits and men in the flesh. the same was the doctrine taught by the apostles. in reading the epistles we see in the strongest language how the whole visible world was up in arms against them. st. paul gives this catalogue of his physical and worldly sufferings, proving his right to apostleship mainly by perseverance in persecution. "in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft; of the jews five times received i forty stripes save one; thrice was i beaten with rods, once was i stoned; thrice have i suffered shipwreck--a night and a day have i been in the deep. in journeyings often, in perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils among false brethren." one would say with all this, there was a sufficient array of physical and natural causes against st. paul to stand for something. in modern language--yea, in the language of good modern christians--it would be said "what is the use of taking into account any devil or any invisible spirits to account for paul's trials and difficulties?--it is enough that the whole world has set itself against what he teaches--jew and gentile are equally antagonistic to it." but st. paul says in the face of all this, "we are not wrestling with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers and the leaders of the darkness of this world, and against wicked spirits in high places;" and st. peter, recognizing the sufferings and persecutions of the early christians, says, "be sober, be vigilant." why? "because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour." in like manner we find in the discourses of our lord and the apostles the recognition of a counteracting force of good spirits. when nathaniel, one of his early disciples, was astonished at his spiritual insight, he said to him, "thou shalt see greater things than these! hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and angels of god ascending and descending on the son of man." when he spoke of the importance of little children, he announced that each one of them had a guardian angel who beheld the face of god. when he was transfigured on the mount, moses and elijah appeared in glory, and talked with him of his death that he was to accomplish at jerusalem. in the hour of his agony in the garden, an angel appeared and ministered to him. when peter drew a sword to defend him, he said, "put up thy sword. thinkest thou that i can not now pray to my father, and he will give me more than twelve legions of angels?" thus, between two contending forces of the invisible world was christianity inaugurated. during the primitive ages the same language was used by the fathers of the church, and has ever since been traditional. but we need not say that the fashion of modern protestant theology and the custom of modern protestant christianity have been less and less of this sort. we hear from good christians, and from christian ministers, talk of this sort: a great deal is laid to the poor devil that he never thought of. if men would take care of their own affairs the devil will let them alone. we hear it said that there is no _evidence_ of the operation of invisible spirits in the course of human affairs. it is all a mere matter of physical, mental, and moral laws working out their mission with unvarying certainty. but is it a fact, then, that the great enemy whom christ so constantly spoke of is dead? are the principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness of this world, whom paul declared to be the real opponents that the christian has to arm against, all dead? if that great enemy whom christ declared the source of all opposition to himself is yet living, with his nature unchanged, there is as much reason to look for his action behind the actions of men and the vail of material causes as there was in christ's time; and if the principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness of this world, that paul speaks of, have not died, then they are now, as they were in his day, the _principal_ thing the christian should keep in mind and against which he should arm. and, on the other hand, if it is true, as christ declared, that every little child in him has a guardian angel, who always beholds the father's face; if, as st. paul says, it is true that the angels all are "ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation," then it follows that every one of us is being constantly watched over, cared for, warned, guided, and ministered to by invisible spirits. now let us notice in what regions and in what classes of mind the modern spiritualistic religion has most converts. to a remarkable degree it takes minds which have been denuded of all faith in spirits; minds which are empty, swept of all spiritual belief, are the ones into which any amount of spirits can enter and take possession. that is to say, the human soul, in a state of starvation for one of its normal and most necessary articles of food, devours right and left every marvel of modern spiritualism, however crude. the old angelology of the book of daniel and the revelation is poetical and grand. daniel sees lofty visions of beings embodying all the grand forces of nature. he is told of invisible princes who rule the destiny of nations! michael, the guardian prince of the jews, is hindered twenty-one days from coming, at the prayer of daniel, by the conflicting princes of media and persia. in the new testament, how splendid is the description of the angel of the resurrection! "and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the angel of the lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it! his countenance was as the lightning, and his raiment white as snow, and for fear of him the keepers did shake and become as dead men." we have here spiritualistic phenomena worthy of a god--worthy our highest conceptions--elevated, poetic, mysterious, grand! and communities, and systems of philosophy and theology, which have explained all the supernatural art of the bible, or which are always apologizing for it, blushing for it, ignoring and making the least they can of it--such communities will go into spiritualism by hundreds and by thousands. instead of angels, whose countenance is as the lightning, they will have ghosts and tippings and tappings and rappings. instead of the great beneficent miracles recorded in scripture, they will have senseless clatterings of furniture and breaking of crockery. instead of christ's own promise, "he that keepeth my commandments, i will love him and manifest _myself_," they will have manifestations from all sorts of anonymous spirits, good, bad, and indifferent. well, then, what is the way to deal with spiritualism? precisely what the hunter uses when he stands in the high, combustible grass and sees the fire sweeping around him on the prairies. he sets fire to the grass all around him, and it burns _from_ instead of _to_ him, and thus he fights fire with fire. spiritualism, in its crudities and errors, can be met only in that way. the true spiritualism of the bible is what will be the only remedy for the cravings of that which is false and delusive. some years ago the writer of this, in deep sorrow for the sudden death of a son, received the following letter from a roman catholic priest, in a neighboring town. he was a man eminent for holiness of life and benevolence, and has since entered the rest of the blessed. dear madam: in the deep affliction that has recently visited you i implore you to remember well that there is a communion of spirits of the departed just, which death can not prevent, and which, with prayer, can impart much consolation. this, with the condolence of every parent and child in my flock, i beg leave to offer you, wishing, in the mean time, to assure you of my heartfelt regret and sympathy. yours, very truly, james o'donnell, catholic pastor, lawrence. what is this communion which death can not prevent, and which with prayer can impart consolation? it is known in the apostles' creed as "the communion of saints." when it is considered what social penalties attach to the profession of this faith, one must admit that only some very strong cause can induce persons of standing and established reputation openly to express beliefs of this kind. the penalty is loss of confidence and being reputed of unsound mind. it is not an easy thing to profess belief in anything which destroys one's reputation for sanity, yet undoubtedly this is the result. it must also be admitted that most of the literature which has come into existence in this way is of a doubtful and disreputable kind, and of a tendency to degrade rather than elevate our conceptions of a spiritual state. yet such is the hunger, the longing, the wild craving of the human soul for the region of future immortality, its home-sickness for its future home, its perishing anguish of desire for the beloved ones who have been torn away from it, and to whom in every nerve it still throbs and bleeds, that professed words and messages from that state, however unworthy, are met with a trembling agony of eagerness, a willingness to be deceived, most sorrowful to witness. but any one who judges of the force of this temptation merely by what is published in the _banner of light_, and other papers of that class, has little estimate of what there is to be considered in the way of existing phenomena under this head. the cold scientists who, without pity and without sympathy, have supposed that they have had under their dissecting knives the very phenomena which have deluded their fellows, mistake. they have not seen them, and in the cold, unsympathizing mood of science, they never can see them. the experiences that have most weight with multitudes who believe more than they dare to utter, are secrets deep as the grave, sacred as the innermost fibers of their souls--they can not bring their voices to utter them except in some hour of uttermost confidence and to some friend of tried sympathy. they know what they have seen and what they have heard. they know the examinations they have made they know the inexplicable results, and, like mary of old, they keep all these sayings and ponder them in their hearts. they have no sympathy with the vulgar, noisy, outward phenomena of tippings and rappings and signs and wonders. they have no sympathy with the vulgar and profane attacks on the bible, which form part of the utterances of modern seers; but they can not forget, and they can not explain things which in sacred solitude or under circumstances of careful observation have come under their own notice. they have no wish to make converts--they shrink from conversation, they wait for light; but when they hear all these things scoffed at, they think within themselves--who knows? we have said that the strong, unregulated, and often false spiritualistic current of to-day is a result of the gradual departure of christendom from the true supernaturalism of primitive ages. we have shown how christ and his apostles always regarded the invisible actors on the stage of human existence as more powerful than the visible ones; that they referred to their influence over the human spirit and over the forces of nature, things which modern rationalism refers only to natural laws. we can not illustrate the departure of modern society from primitive faith better than in a single instance--a striking one. the apostles' creed is the best formula of christian faith--it is common to the greek, the roman, the reformed churches, and published by our pilgrim fathers in the new england primer in connection with the assembly's catechism. it contains the following profession: "i believe in the holy ghost; the holy catholic church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins," etc. in this sentence, according to bishop pearson on the creed, are announced four important doctrines: 1. the holy ghost; 2. the holy catholic church; 3. the communion of saints; 4. the forgiveness of sins. to each one of these the good bishop devotes some twenty or thirty pages of explanation. but it is customary with many clergymen in reading to slur the second and third articles together, thus: "i believe in the holy catholic church, the communion of saints"--that is to say, i believe in the holy catholic church, which is the communion of saints. now, in the standard edition of the english prayer book, and in all the editions published from it, the separate articles of faith are divided by semicolons--thus: "the holy ghost; the holy catholic church; the communion of saints." but in our american editions the punctuation is altered to suit a modern rationalistic idea--thus: "the holy catholic church, the communion of saints." the doctrine of the communion of saints, as held by primitive christians, and held still by the roman and greek churches, is thus dropped out of view in the modern protestant episcopal reading. but what is this doctrine? bishop pearson devotes a long essay to it, ending thus: every one may learn by this what he is to understand by this part of the article in which he professeth to believe in the communion of saints. thereby he is conceived to express thus much: "i am fully persuaded of this, as a necessary and infallible truth, that such persons as are truly sanctified in the church of christ, while they live in the crooked generations of men and struggle with all the miseries of this world, have fellowship with god the father, god the son, and god the holy ghost ... that they partake of the kindness and care of the blessed angels who take delight in ministrations for their benefit, that ... they have an intimate union and conjunction with all the saints on earth as being members of christ; nor is this union separated by the death of any, but they have communion with all the saints who, from the death of abel, have departed this life in the fear of god, and now enjoy the presence of the father, and follow the lamb whithersoever he goeth. "_and thus i believe in the communion of saints._" now, we appeal to the consciences of modern christians whether this statement of the doctrine of the communion of saints represents the doctrine that they have heard preached from the pulpit, and whether it has been made practically so much the food and nourishment of their souls as to give them all the support under affliction and bereavement which it certainly is calculated to do? do they really believe themselves to partake in their life-struggle of the kindness and care of the blessed angels who take delight in ministrations for their benefit? do they believe they are united by intimate bonds with all christ's followers? do they believe that the union is not separated by the death of any of them, but that they have communion with all the saints who have departed this life in the faith and now enjoy the presence of the father? would not a sermon conceived in the terms of this standard treatise excite an instant sensation as tending toward the errors of spiritualism? and let us recollect that the apostles' creed from which this is taken was as much a standard with our pilgrim fathers as the cambridge platform. if we look back to cotton mather's magnalia, we shall find that the belief in the ministration of angels and the conflict of invisible spirits, good and evil, in the affairs of men, was practical and influential in the times of our fathers. if we look at the first new england systematic theology, that of dr. dwight, we shall find the subject of angels and devils and their ministry among men fully considered. in the present theological course at andover that subject is wholly omitted. what may be the custom in other theological seminaries of the present day we will not say. we will now show what the teaching and the feeling of the primitive church was on the subject of the departed dead and the ministrations of angels. in _coleman's christian antiquities_, under the head of death and burial of the early christians, we find evidence of the great and wide difference which existed between the christian community and all the other world, whether jews or heathen, in regard to the vividness of their conceptions of immortality. the christian who died was not counted as lost from their number--the fellowship with him was still unbroken. the theory and the practice of the christians was to look on the departed as no otherwise severed from them than the man who has gone to new york is divided from his family in boston. he is not within the scope of the senses, he can not be addressed, but he is the same person, with the same heart, still living and loving, and partners with them of all joys and sorrows. but while they considered personal identity and consciousness unchanged and the friend as belonging to them, as much after death as before, they regarded his death as an advancement, an honor, a glory. it was customary, we are told, to celebrate the day of his death as his birth-day--the day when he was born to new immortal life. tertullian, who died in the year 220 in his treatise called the _soldier's chaplet_, says: "we make anniversary oblations for the dead--for their birth-days," meaning the day of their death. in another place he says, "it was the practice of a widow to pray for the soul of her deceased husband, desiring on his behalf present refreshment or rest, and a part in the first resurrection," and offering annually for him oblation on the day of his _falling asleep_. by this gentle term the rest of the body in the grave was always spoken of among christians. it is stated that on these anniversary days of commemorating the dead they were used to make a feast, inviting both clergy and people, but especially the poor and needy, the widows and orphans, that it might not only be a memorial of rest to the dead, but a memorial of a sweet savor in the sight of god. a christian funeral was in every respect a standing contrast to the lugubrious and depressing gloom of modern times. palms and olive branches were carried in the funeral procession, and the cypress was rejected as symbolizing gloom. psalms and hymns of a joyful and triumphant tone were sung around the corpse while it was kept in the house and on the way to the grave. st. chrysostom, speaking of funeral services, quotes passages from the psalms and hymns that were in common use, thus: "what mean our psalms and hymns? do we not glorify god and give him thanks that he hath crowned him that has departed, that he hath delivered him from trouble, that he hath set him free from all fear? consider what thou singest at the time. 'turn again to thy rest, o my soul, for the lord hath rewarded thee;' and again: 'i will fear no evil because thou art with me;' and again: 'thou art my refuge from the affliction that compasseth me about.' consider what these psalms mean. if thou believest the things which thou sayest to be true, why dost thou weep and lament and make a pageantry and a mock of thy singing? if thou believest them _not_ to be true, why dost thou play the hypocrite so much as to sing?" coleman says, also: "the sacrament of the lord's supper was administered at funerals and often at the grave itself. by this rite it was professed that the communion of saints was still perpetuated between the living and the dead. it was a favorite idea that both still continued members of the same mystical body, the same on earth and in heaven."--_antiq., p. 413._ coleman says, also, that the early christian utterly discarded all the jewish badges and customs of mourning, such as sackcloth and ashes and rent garments, and severely censured the roman custom of wearing black. st. augustine says: "why should we disfigure ourselves with black, unless we would imitate unbelieving nations, not only in their wailing for the dead, but also in their mourning apparel? be assured, these are foreign and unlawful usages." he says, also: "our brethren are not to be mourned for being liberated from this world when we know that they are not _om_itted but _pre_mitted, receding from us only that they may precede us, so that journeying and voyaging before us they are to be _desired_ but not lamented. neither should we put on black raiment for them when they have already taken their white garments; and occasion should not be given to the gentiles that they should rightly and justly reprove us, that we grieve over those as extinct and lost who we say are now alive with god, and the faith that we profess by voice and speech we deny by the testimony of our heart and bosom." are not many of the usages and familiar forms of speech of modern christendom a return to old heathenism? are they not what st. augustine calls a repudiation of the christian faith? the black garments, the funeral dreariness, the mode of speech which calls a departed friend lost--have they not become the almost invariable rule in christian life? so really and truly did the first christians believe that their friends were still one with themselves, that they considered them even in their advanced and glorified state a subject of prayers. prayer for each other was to the first christians a reality. the intimacy of their sympathy, the entire oneness of their life, made prayer for each other a necessity, and they prayed for each other instinctively as they prayed for themselves. so, st. paul says "_always_ in _every_ prayer of mine making request for you always with joy." christians are commanded without ceasing to pray for each other. as their faith forbade them to consider the departed as lost or ceasing to exist, or in any way being out of their fellowship and communion, it did not seem to them strange or improper to yield to that impulse of the loving heart which naturally breathes to the heavenly father the name of its beloved. on the contrary, it was a custom in the earliest christian times, in the solemn service of the eucharist, to commend to god in a memorial prayer the souls of their friends _departed_, but not _dead_. in coleman's _antiquities_, and other works of the same kind, many instances of this are given. we select some: arnobius, in his treatise against the heathen writers, probably in 305, speaking of the prayers offered after the consecration of the elements in the lord's supper, says "that christians prayed for pardon and peace in behalf of the living and dead." cyril, of jerusalem, reports the prayer made after consecrating the elements in holy communion in these words: "we offer this sacrifice in memory of those who have fallen asleep before us, first patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, that god by their prayers and supplications may receive our supplications and those we pray for, our holy fathers and bishops, and all that have fallen asleep before us, believing it is of great advantage to their souls to be prayed for while the holy and tremendous sacrifice lies upon the altar." a memorial of this custom has come into the protestant church in the episcopal eucharistic service where occur these words: "and we also bless thy holy name for all thy servants departed this life in thy faith and fear, beseeching thee to give us grace so to follow their good examples, that we with them may be partakers of thy heavenly kingdom." it will be seen here the progress of an idea, its corruption and its reform. the original idea with the primitive christian was this: "my friend is neither dead nor changed. he is only gone before me, and is promoted to higher joy; but he is still mine and i am his. still can i pray for him, still can he pray for me; and as when he was here on earth we can be mutually helped by each other's prayers." out of this root--so simple and so sweet--grew idolatrous exaggerations of saint worship and a monstrous system of bargain and sale of prayers for the dead. the reformation swept all this away--and, as usual with reformations, swept away a portion of the primitive truth--but it retained still the eucharistic memorial of departed friends as a fragment of primitive simplicity. the church, furthermore, appointed three festivals of commemoration of these spiritual members of the great church invisible with whom they held fellowship--the festivals of all souls, of all angels, of all saints. two of these are still retained in the episcopal church the feast of st. michael and all angels, and the feast of all saints. these days are derived from those yearly anniversaries which were common in the primitive ages. [here we have a formal deprecation of the tendency of modern orthodoxy to withdraw from what was once regarded as a proper religious belief and sentiment, and which modern spiritualists warmly accept, and make one of the chief grounds for their doctrine of intercommunication between the departed dead and the living. we expect to give our readers other papers by mrs. stowe in continuation of her discussion on the subject. * * * * * in the following letter, or extract from a letter, from mr. andrew jackson davis, one of the leading lights and exponents of spiritualism at the present day, we have a voice from the _inside_, furnishing some information with regard to the state of spiritualistic affairs in america, and some of the expected results of the movement.] "spiritualism, for the most part, is a _shower_ from the realm of intelligences and uncultured affections. it is rapidly irrigating and fertilizing everything that has root and the seed-power to grow. it is starting up the half-dead trees of sectarianism, causing the most miserable weeds to grow rapid and rank, and of course, attracting very general attention to religious feelings and super-terrene existences. "as an effect of this spiritualistic rain, you may look for an immense harvest of both wheat and tares--the grandest growths in great principles and ideas on the one hand, and a fearful crop of crudities and disorganizing superstitions on the other. there will be seen floating on the flood many of our most sacred institutions. old wagon-ruts, long-forgotten cow-tracks, every little hole and corner in the old highways, will be filled to the brim with the rain. you will hardly know the difference between the true springs and the flowing mud-pools visible on every side. many noble minds will stumble as they undertake to ford the new streams which will come up to their very door-sills, if not into their sacred and established habitations. perhaps lives may be lost; perhaps homes may be broken up; perhaps fortunes may be sacrificed; for who ever heard of a great flood, a storm of much power, or an earthquake, that did not do one, or two, or _all_ of these deplorable things? spiritualism is, indeed, all and everything which its worst enemies or best friends ever said of it;--a great rain from heaven, a storm of violence, a power unto salvation, a destroyer and a builder too--each, and all, and everything good, bad, and indifferent; for which every one, nevertheless, should be thankful, as eventually all will be when the evil subsides, when the severe rain is over, and the clouds dispersed--when even the blind will see with new eyes, the lame walk, and the mourners of the world be made to rejoice with joy unspeakable. "of course, my kind brother, you know that i look upon 'wisdom' organized into our daily lives, and 'love' inspiring every heart, as the only true heaven appointed saviour of mankind. and all spiritual growth and intellectual advancement in the goodnesses and graces of this redeemer i call an application of the harmonial philosophy. but i find, as most likely you do, that it is as hard to get the spiritualists to become harmonial philosophers as to induce ardent bible-believers to daily practice the grand essentials which dwell in the warm heart of christianity." * * * * * it is not long since the writer was in conversation with a very celebrated and popular minister of the modern church, who has for years fulfilled a fruitful ministry in new england. he was speaking of modern spiritualism as one of the most dangerous forms of error--as an unaccountable infatuation. the idea was expressed by a person present that it was after all true that the spirits of the departed friends were in reality watching over our course and interested in our affairs in this world. the clergyman, who has a fair right, by reason of his standing and influence to represent the new england pulpit, met that idea by a prompt denial. "a pleasing sentimental dream," he said, "very apt to mislead, and for which there is no scriptural and rational foundation." we have shown in our last article what the very earliest christians were in the habit of thinking with regard to the unbroken sympathy between the living and those called dead, and how the church by very significant and solemn acts pronounced them to be not only alive, but alive in a fuller, higher, and more joyful sense than those on earth. we may remember that among the primitive christians the celebration of the lord's supper was not as in our modern times a rare and unfrequent occurrence, coming at intervals of two, three, and even six months, but that it occurred every sunday, and on many of the solemn events of life, as funerals and marriages, and that one part of the celebration always consisted in recognizing by a solemn prayer the unbroken unity of the saints below and the saints in heaven. we may remember, too, that it was a belief among them that angels were invisibly present, witnessing and uniting with the eucharistic memorial--a belief of which we still have the expression in that solemn portion of the episcopal communion service which says, "wherefore with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy holy name." this part of the eucharistic service was held by the first christians to be the sacred and mysterious point of confluence when the souls of saints on earth and the blessed in heaven united. so says saint chrysostom: "the seraphim above sing the holy trisagion hymn; the holy congregation of men on earth send up the same; the general assembly of celestial and earthly creatures join together; there is one thanksgiving, one exultation; one choir of men and angels rejoicing together." and in another place he says: "the martyrs are now rejoicing in concert, partaking of the mystical songs of the heavenly choir. for if while they were in the body whenever they communicated in the sacred mysteries they made part of the choir, singing with the cherubim, 'holy, holy, holy,' as ye all that are initiated in the holy mysteries know; much more now, being joined with those whose partners they were in the earthly choir, they do with greater freedom partake of those solemn glorifications of god above." the continued identity, interest and unbroken oneness of the departed with the remaining was a topic frequently insisted on among early christian ministers--it was one reason of the rapid spread of christianity. converts flocked in clouds to the ranks of a people who professed to have vanquished death--in whose inclosure love was forever safe, and who by so many sacred and solemn acts of recognition consoled the bereaved heart with this thought, that their beloved, though unseen, was still living and loving--still watching, waiting, and caring for them. modern rationalistic religion says: "we do not know anything about them--god has taken them: of them and their estate we know nothing: whether they remember us, whether they know what we are doing, whether they care for us, whether we shall ever see them again to know them, are all questions vailed in inscrutable mystery. we must give our friends up wholly and take refuge in god." but st. augustine, speaking on the same subject, says: "therefore, if we wish to hold communion with the saints in eternal life we must think much of imitating them. they ought to recognize in us something of their virtues, that they may better offer their supplications to god for us. these [virtues] are the foot-prints which the blessed returning to their country have left, that we shall follow their path to joy. why should we not hasten and run after them that we too may see our fatherland? there a great crowd of dear ones are awaiting us, of parents, brethren, children, a multitudinous host are longing for us--now secure of their own safety, and anxious only for our salvation." now let us take the case of some poor, widowed mother, from whose heart has been torn an only son--pious, brave, and beautiful--her friend, her pride, her earthly hope--struck down suddenly as by a lightning stroke. the physical shock is terrible--the cessation of communion, if the habits of intercourse and care, if the habit, so sweet to the christian, of praying for that son, must all cease. we can see now what the primitive church would have said to such a mother: "thy son is _not_ dead. to the christian there is no death--follow his footsteps, imitate his prayerfulness and watchfulness, and that he may the better pray for thee, keep close in the great communion of saints." every sabbath would bring to her the eucharistic feast, when the church on earth and the church in heaven held their reunion, where "with angels and archangels, and all the company of heaven," they join their praises! and she might feel herself drawing near to her blessed one in glory. how consoling--how comforting such church fellowship! a mother under such circumstances would feel no temptation to resort to doubtful, perplexing sources, to glean here and there fragments of that consolation which the church was ordained to give. in every act of life the primitive church recognized that the doors of heaven were open through her ordinances and the communion of love with the departed blest unbroken. it has been our lot to know the secret history of many who are not outwardly or professedly spiritualists--persons of sober and serious habits of thought, of great self-culture and self-restraint, to whom it happened after the death of a friend to meet accidentally and without any seeking or expecting on their part with spiritualistic phenomena of a very marked type. these are histories that never will be unvailed to the judgment of a scoffing and unsympathetic world; that in the very nature of the case must forever remain secret; yet they have brought to hearts bereaved and mourning that very consolation which the christian church ought to have afforded them, and which the primitive church so amply provided. in conversation with such, we have often listened to remarks like this: "i do not seek these things--i do not search out mediums nor attend spiritual circles. i have attained all i wish to know, and am quite indifferent now whether i see another manifestation." "and what," we inquired, "is this something that you have attained?" "oh, i feel perfectly certain that my friend is not dead--but alive, unchanged, in a region of joy and blessedness, expecting me, and praying for me, and often ministering to me." compare this with the language of st. augustine, and we shall see that it is simply a return to the stand-point of the primitive church. among the open and professed spiritualists are some men and women of pure and earnest natures, and seriously anxious to do good, and who ought to be distinguished from the charlatans who have gone into it merely from motives of profit and self-interest. now it is to be remarked that this higher class of spiritualists, with one voice, declare that the subject of spiritual communication is embarrassed with formidable difficulties. they admit that lying spirits often frequent the circle, that they are powerful to deceive, and that the means of distinguishing between the wiles of evil spirits and the communications of good ones are very obscure. this, then, is the prospect. the pastures of the church have been suffered to become bare and barren of one species of food which the sheep crave and sicken for the want of. they break out of the inclosure and rush, unguided, searching for it among poisonous plants, which closely resemble it, but whose taste is deadly. those remarkable phenomena which affect belief upon this subject are not confined to paid mediums and spiritual circles, so called. they sometimes come of themselves to persons neither believing in them, looking for them, nor seeking them. thus coming they can not but powerfully and tenderly move the soul. a person in the desolation of bereavement, visited with such experiences, is in a condition which calls for the tenderest sympathy and most careful guidance. yet how little of this is there to be found! the attempt to unvail their history draws upon them, perhaps, only cold ridicule and a scarcely suppressed doubt of their veracity. they are repelled from making confidence where they ought to find the wisest guidance, and are drawn by an invisible sympathy into labyrinths of deception and error--and finally, perhaps, relapse into a colder skepticism than before. that such experiences are becoming common in our days, is a fact that ought to rouse true christians to consideration, and to searching the word of god to find the real boundaries and the true and safe paths. we have stated in the last article, and in this, what the belief and the customs of the primitive christians were in respect to the departed. we are aware that it does not follow, of course, that a custom is to be adopted in our times because the first christians preached and taught it. a man does not become like his ancestors by dressing up in their old clothes--but by acting in their _spirit_. it is quite possible to wear such robes and practice such ceremonies as the early christians did and not to be in the least like them. therefore let us not be held as advocating the practice of administering the eucharist at funerals, and of praying for the dead in the eucharistic service, because it was done in the first three centuries. but we do hold to a return to the _spirit_ which caused these customs. we hold to _that belief_ in the unbroken unity possible between those who have passed to the higher life than this. we hold to that vivid faith in things unseen which was the strength of primitive christians. the first christians _believed_ what they said they did--we do not. the unseen spiritual world, its angels and archangels, its saints and martyrs, its purity and its joys, were ever before them, and that is why they were such a mighty force in the world. st. augustine says that it was the vision of the saints gone before that inspired them with courage and contempt of death--and it is true. in another paper we shall endeavor to show how far these beliefs of the primitive church correspond with the holy scripture. dr. doddridge's dream [in concluding these psychological discussions, what is there more appropriate than the following? if it be called only a dream, or, even a delusion, what harm can come of it? is it not in keeping with scripture teachings, as now interpreted? for ourselves, we enjoy our own opinions on subjects not susceptible of proof to the external senses. others may do the same. editor.] dr. doddridge was on terms of very intimate friendship with dr. samuel clarke, and in religious conversation they spent many happy hours together. among other matters, a very favorite topic was the intermediate state of the soul, and the probability that at the instant of dissolution it was introduced into the presence of all the heavenly hosts, and the splendors around the throne of god. one evening, after a conversation of this nature, dr. doddridge retired to rest, and "in the visions of the night" his ideas were shaped into the following beautiful form. he dreamed that he was at the house of a friend, when he was taken suddenly and dangerously ill. by degrees he seemed to grow worse, and at last to expire. in an instant he was sensible that he had exchanged the prison-house and sufferings of mortality for a state of liberty and happiness. embodied in a slender, aerial form, he seemed to float in a region of pure light. beneath him lay the earth, but not a glittering city or a village, the forest or the sea were visible. there was naught to be seen below save the melancholy group of his friends, weeping around his lifeless remains. himself thrilled with delight, he was surprised at their tears, and attempted to inform them of his happy change, but by some mysterious power, utterance was denied; and as he anxiously leaned over the mourning circle, gazing fondly upon them and struggling to speak, he rose silently upon the air, their forms became more and more indistinct, and gradually melted away from his sight. reposing upon golden clouds, he found himself swiftly mounting the skies, with a venerable figure at his side, guiding his mysterious movements, and in whose countenance he discovered the lineaments of youth and age blended together, with an intimate harmony and majestic sweetness. they traveled together through a vast region of empty space, until, at length, the battlements of a glorious edifice shone in the distance, and as its form rose brilliant and distinct among the far-off shadows that flitted athwart their path, the guide informed him that the palace he beheld was, for the present, to be his mansion of rest. gazing upon its splendor, he replied that while on earth he had often heard that eye had not seen, nor ear heard, nor could the heart of man conceive, the things which god hath prepared for those who love him; but notwithstanding the building to which they were rapidly approaching was superior to anything he had before beheld, yet its grandeur had not exceeded the conceptions he had formed. the guide made no reply--they were already at the door, and entered. the guide introduced him into a spacious apartment, at the extremity of which stood a table, covered with a snow-white cloth, a golden cup, and a cluster of grapes, and then said that he must leave him, but that _he_ must remain, for in a short time he would receive a visit from the lord of the mansion, and that during the interval before his arrival, the apartment would furnish him sufficient entertainment and instruction. the guide vanished, and he was left alone. he began to examine the decorations of the room, and observed that the walls were adorned with a number of pictures. upon nearer inspection he perceived, to his astonishment, that they formed a complete biography of his own life. here he saw depicted, that angels, though unseen, had ever been his familiar attendants; and sent by god they had sometimes preserved him from imminent peril. he beheld himself first represented as an infant just expiring, when his life was prolonged by an angel gently breathing into his nostrils. most of the occurrences delineated were perfectly familiar to his recollection, and unfolded many things which he had never before understood, and which had perplexed him with many doubts and much uneasiness. among others he was particularly impressed with a picture in which he was represented as falling from his horse, when death would have been inevitable had not an angel received him in his arms and broken the force of his descent. these merciful interpositions of god filled him with joy and gratitude, and his heart overflowed with love as he surveyed in them all an exhibition of goodness and mercy far beyond all that he had imagined. suddenly his attention was arrested by a knock at the door. the lord of the mansion had arrived--the door opened and he entered. so powerful and overwhelming, and withal of such singular beauty was his appearance, that he sank down at his feet, completely overcome by his majestic presence. his lord gently raised him from the ground, and taking his hand led him forward to the table. he pressed with his fingers the juice of the grapes into the golden cup, and after having himself drank, he presented it to him, saying, "this is the new wine in my father's kingdom." no sooner had he partaken than all uneasy sensations vanished, perfect love had now cast out fear, and he conversed with the saviour as an intimate friend. like the silver rippling of a summer sea he heard fall from his lips the grateful approbation: "thy labors are finished, thy work is approved; rich and glorious is the reward." thrilled with an unspeakable bliss, that pervaded the very depths of his soul, he suddenly saw glories upon glories bursting upon his view. the doctor awoke. tears of rapture from this joyful interview were rolling down his cheeks. long did the lively impression of this charming dream remain upon his mind, and never could he speak of it without emotions of joy, and with tender and grateful remembrance. brain and mind; or, mental science considered in accordance with the principles of phrenology, and in relation to modern physiology. by henry s. drayton, a.m., m.d., and james mcneill, a.b. illustrated with over 100 portraits and diagrams. 12mo, extra cloth, $1.50. this contribution to the science of mind has been made in response to the demand of the time for a work embodying the grand principles of phrenology, as they are understood and applied to-day by the advanced exponents of mental philosophy, who accept the doctrine caught by gall, spurzheim, and combe. the following, from the table of contents, shows the scope of the work: general principles; of the temperaments; structure of the brain and skull; classification of the faculties; the selfish organs; the intellect; the semi-intellectual faculties; the organs of the social functions; the selfish sentiments; the moral and religious sentiments; how to examine heads; how character is manifested; the action of the faculties; the relation of phrenology to metaphysics and education; value of phrenology as an art; phrenology and physiology; objections and confirmations by the physiologists; phrenology in general literature. notices of the press. "phrenology is no longer a thing laughed at. the scientific researches of the last twenty years have demonstrated the fearful and wonderful complication of matter, not only with mind, but with what we call moral qualities. thereby, we believe, the divine origin of 'our frame' has been newly illustrated, and the scriptural psychology confirmed; and in the phrenological chart we are disposed to find a species of 'urim and thummim,' revealing, if not the creator's will concerning us, at least his revelation of essential character. the above work is, without doubt, the best popular presentation of the science which has yet been made. it confines itself strictly to facts, and is not written in the interest of any pet 'theory.' it is made very interesting by its copious illustrations, pictorial and narrative, and the whole is brought down to the latest information on this curious and suggestive department of knowledge."--_christian intelligencer, n.â y._ "whether a reader be inclined to believe phrenology or not, he must find the volume a mine of interest, gather many suggestions of the highest value, and rise from its perusal with clearer views of the nature of mind and the responsibilities of human life. the work constitutes a complete text-book on the subject."--_presbyterian journal, philadelphia._ "in 'brain and mind' the reader will find the fundamental ideas on which phrenology rests fully set forth and analyzed, and the science clearly and practically treated. it is not at all necessary for the reader to be a believer in the science to enjoy the study of the latest exposition of its methods. the literature of the science is extensive, but so far as we know there is no one book which so comprehensively as 'brain and mind' defines its limits and treats of its principles so thoroughly, not alone philosophically, but also in their practical relation to the everyday life of man."--_cal. advertiser._ in style and treatment it is adapted to the general reader, abounds with valuable instruction expressed in clear, practical terms, and the work constitutes by far the best text-book on phrenology published, and is adapted to both private and class study. the illustrations of the special organs and faculties are for the most part from portraits of men and women whose characters are known, and great pains have been taken to exemplify with accuracy the significance of the text in each case. for the student of mind and character the work is of the highest value. by mail, postpaid, on receipt of price, $1.50. address, fowler & wells co., publishers, 753 broadway, n.â y. [illustration: 6. combativeness. 3. friendship.] the phrenological journal is widely known in america and europe, having been before the reading world fifty years, and occupying a place in literature exclusively its own, viz.: the study of =human nature=. it has long met with the approval of the press and the people, and as a means of introducing the journal and extending an interest in the subject, we have prepared a new =phrenological chart=. this is a handsome lithograph of a symbolical head, in which the relative location of each of the organs is shown by special designs illustrating the function of each in the human mind. these sketches are not simply outlines, as shown above, but many of them are little gems of artistic design and coloring in themselves, and will help the student to locate the faculties and to impress his mind with a correct idea of their prime functions. for instance, =combativeness= is represented by a scene in a lawyer's office, where a disagreement has led to an angry dispute; =secretiveness= is shown by a picture of the cunning fox attempting to visit a hen-roost by the light of the moon; the teller's desk in a bank represents =acquisitiveness=; a butcher's shop is made to stand for =destructiveness=; the familiar scene of the "good samaritan" exhibits the influence of =benevolence=; =sublimity= is pictured by a sketch of the grand scenery of the yosemite valley. the chart also contains a printed key, giving the names and definitions of the different faculties. the whole picture is very ornamental, and must prove a feature of peculiar attraction wherever it is seen; nothing like it for design and finish being elsewhere procurable. it is mounted with rings for hanging on the wall, and will be appropriate for the home, office, library, or school. the head itself is about twelve inches wide, beautifully lithographed in colors, on heavy plate paper, about 19 x 24 inches. price, $1.00. it is published and offered as a special premium for subscribers to the =phrenological journal= for 1885. to those who prefer it, we will send the phrenological bust as a premium. the journal is published at $2.00 a year, with 15 cents extra required when the chart or bust is sent. single number, 20 cents. address fowler & wells co., publishers, 753 broadway, n.â y. transcriber's note words in italics have been surrounded with _underscores_ and bold words with =signs=. small capitals have been changed to all capitals. some of the section titles in the table of contents are different from the ones in the main text. this has not been changed. one of the page numbers in the table of contents has been changed from "82" to "81". a few punctuation errors have been corrected without note. also the following changes have been made, on page 49 "griovous" changed to "grievous" (for the accusing of several persons of a grievous crime) 110 "prostestant" changed to "protestant" (the custom of modern protestant christianity have been) 119 "occurence" changed to "occurrence" (a rare and unfrequent occurrence, coming at intervals) 119 "occured" changed to "occurred" (but that it occurred every sunday). otherwise the original was preserved, including archaic spelling and inconsistent hyphenation. occultism and common-sense by beckles willson with an introduction by prof. w. f. barrett, f.r.s. _past president of the society for psychical research_ london t. werner laurie clifford's inn e.c. contents introduction vii i. science's attitude towards the "supernatural" ii. the hypnotic state iii. phantasms of the living iv. dreams v. hallucinations vi. phantasms of the dead vii. on "hauntings" and kindred phenomena viii. the dowsing or divining rod ix. mediumistic phenomena x. more physical phenomena xi. the materialisation of "ghosts" xii. spirit-photography xiii. clairvoyance xiv. mrs piper's trance utterances afterword note the following chapters, together with professor barrett's comment thereupon, which now figures as an introduction, originally appeared in the columns of _the westminster gazette_. introduction _by professor w. f. barrett, f.r.s._ _those of us who took part in the foundation of the society for psychical research were convinced from personal investigation and from the testimony of competent witnesses that, amidst much illusion and deception, there existed an important body of facts, hitherto unrecognised by science, which, if incontestably established, would be of supreme interest and importance._ _it was hoped that by applying scientific methods to their systematic investigation these obscure phenomena might eventually be rescued from the disorderly mystery of ignorance; (but we recognised that this would be a work, not of one generation but of many.) hence to preserve continuity of effort it was necessary to form a society, the aim of which should be, as we stated at the outset, to bring to bear on these obscure questions the same spirit of exact and unimpassioned inquiry which has enabled science to solve so many problems once not less obscure nor less hotly debated. and such success as the society has achieved is in no small measure due to the wise counsel and ungrudging expenditure both of time and means which the late professor henry sidgwick gave, and which mrs sidgwick continues to give, to all the details of its work._ _turning now to the author of the following pages, everyone must recognise the industry he has shown and the fairness of spirit he has endeavoured to maintain. with different groups of phenomena, the evidential value varies enormously. the testimony of honest and even careful witnesses requires to be received with caution, owing to the intrusion of two sources of error to which untrained observers are very liable. these are unconscious_ mal-observation _and unintentional_ mis-description. _i cannot here enter into the proof of this statement, but it is fully established. oddly enough, not only a credulous observer but a cynical or ferocious sceptic is singularly prone to these errors when, for the first time, he is induced to investigate psychical phenomena which, in the pride of his superior intelligence, he has hitherto scorned. i could give some amusing illustrations of this within my own knowledge. for instance, a clever but critical friend who had frequently scoffed at the evidence for thought-transference published in the "proceedings of the society for psychical research," one day seriously informed me he had been converted to a belief in thought-transference by some conclusive experiments he had witnessed. upon inquiring where these experiments took place i found it was at a public performance of a very inferior zancig who was then touring through the provinces!_ _mr beckles willson frankly tells us that "the light heart and open mind" with which he set forth on his inquiry deserted him before he drew his labours to a close. for, entering upon the subject as a novice, he found himself unexpectedly confronted by the mass of evidence and the numerous and profoundly difficult problems which the psychical society have had to face. his conclusions are derived from a study of the available evidence, and this study has convinced him--as it has convinced, so far as i know, every other painstaking and honest inquirer--that no theories based on fraud, illusion, nor even on telepathy, are adequate to account for the whole of the phenomena he has reviewed. contrary to his prepossessions, mr willson tells us that he has been led to the conclusion that the only satisfactory explanation of these phenomena is the action of discarnate human beings--that is to say, the spiritualistic hypothesis._ _i can hardly suppose he means to apply this statement to more than the small residue of phenomena which he finds inexplicable on any other hypothesis. assuming this restricted view to be meant, the question arises, is the evidence on which it is based sufficiently_ abundant, trustworthy, _and_ conclusive, _to warrant such a far-reaching statement? here we must turn from the author to ascertain what has been the conclusion arrived at by those who have given long years to a searching experimental investigation of these phenomena, and who have approached the subject in a scientific and judicial spirit. the most noteworthy instance is the testimony of that shrewd and able investigator, the late dr hodgson. his patient and laborious inquiry into the trance phenomena of mrs piper ultimately led him to the conclusion arrived at by mr willson. dr hodgson's well-known exposure of madame blavatsky and other fraudulent mediums and his sane and cautious judgment render his opinion of great weight. then, again, we find that this also was the conclusion to which frederic myers was gradually driven. and long prior to this it was the conclusion arrived at by that acute thinker, the late professor de morgan, and it is the conclusion strongly held by the great naturalist, dr a. r. wallace, and held also by several other eminent investigators i might name._ _so momentous a conclusion, if capable of such complete verification as to be universally accepted by science, would obviously throw all other discoveries into the background. i say if capable of being verified by scientific methods, but, although the weight of opinion will, in my opinion, ultimately lead to a very wide acceptance of this conclusion, yet it seems to me highly probable that the experimental discovery of the survival of human personality after death will always elude conclusive scientific demonstration. this particular field of psychical investigation belongs to an order other than that with which science deals; and, this being so, it can never be adequately investigated with the limited faculties we now possess._ _in any case, as i said in a letter published in_ the times, _so long ago as september 1876, before science is in a position to frame any satisfactory hypothesis of the so-called spiritualistic phenomena, a number of antecedent questions will have to be investigated and decided. prominent among these, i urged more than thirty years ago, was the question whether ideas or information can be voluntarily or involuntarily transferred from one mind to another independently of the recognised organs of perception. experiments i had then recently made led me to the conclusion that something new to science, which might provisionally be called thought-transference, now known in its wider aspect as telepathy, did really exist. this, if established, would, as i pointed out, unquestionably solve some of the so-called spirit communications which had so puzzled investigators. but the idea of thought-transference was at that time just as obnoxious to official science as spiritualism. mr willson quotes the implacable disbelief, even in the possibility of telepathy, which that great man helmholtz expressed to me. and it is amusing now to recall the fierce outcry aroused by the paper i read at the british association meeting in 1876, when, after narrating certain apparently transcendental phenomena i had witnessed, i asked that a committee of scientific men should be appointed to investigate preliminary question of the possibility of thought-transference.[1] it is true the evidence on behalf of telepathy has since become so abundant that now few deny its probability, but even telepathy has not yet taken its place among the recognised scientific verities. i hope this recognition will not be long delayed, but until it occurs it is almost as illegitimate to use telepathy, as some do so freely, for the foundation of their theories of transcendental phenomena as to use the spiritualistic hypothesis itself._ [footnote 1: the spectator, _i believe, alone, generously supported me, and in an editorial article on 30th september 1876 expressed the hope that "the british association would really lake some action on the subject of the paper, in spite of the protests of the party, which we may call the party of superstitious incredulity_."] _to those who have carefully studied the evidence there is, however, little doubt that telepathy does afford an adequate explanation of certain well-attested phenomena, such as phantasms of the living or dying person. and telepathy, which may now be considered as highly probable, leads on to the evidence for man's survival after death--to this i will return later on._ _then, again, recent investigations have established the fact that the range of human personality must be extended to include something more than our normal self-consciousness. our ego is not the simple unitary thing older psychologists taught, but a composite structure embracing a self that extends far beyond the limit of our conscious waking life. just as experimental physics has shown that each pencil of sunlight embraces an almost endless succession of invisible rays as well as the visible radiation we perceive, so experimental psychology has shown that each human personality embraces an unconscious as well as a conscious self. mr myers, using du perl's conception of a threshold, has termed the former our_ subliminal self. _and just as the invisible radiation of the sun can only be rendered perceptible by some agency outside our vision, so this subliminal self reveals itself only by some agency outside our own volition. the subliminal self not only contains the record of unheeded past impressions--a latent memory--but also has activities and faculties far transcending the range of our conscious self. in this it also resembles the invisible radiation of the sun, which is the main source of life and energy in this world._ _certainly the everyday processes of the development, nutrition, and repair of our body and brain, which go on automatically and unconsciously within us, are far beyond the powers of our conscious personality. all life shares with us this miraculous automatism. no chemist, with all his appliances, can turn breadstuff into brainstuff or hay into milk. further, the subliminal self seems to have faculties which can be emancipated from the limitations of our ordinary life. glimpses of this we get when the conscious self is in abeyance, as in sleep, hypnosis, and trance. here and there we find certain individuals through whom this subor supra-liminal self manifests itself more freely than through others; they have been termed "mediums," a word, it is true, that suggests browning's "sludge." but, as scientific investigation has shown all mesmerists and dowsers are not charlatans, so it has shown all mediums are not rogues._ _this extension of human faculty, revealing, as it does, more profoundly the mysterious depths of our being, enables us to explain many phenomena that have been attributed to discarnate human beings. the question arises, does it explain all so-called spiritualistic phenomena? in my opinion, and in that of others who have given more time to their critical investigation than i have, it does not. at present we have to grope our way, but the ground is being cleared, and the direction which the future explorer of these unknown regions has to take is becoming more evident._ occultism and common-sense chapter i science's attitude towards the "supernatural" when i first ventured into the wide and misty domain of occultism, with a light heart i set forth and an open mind. my sole aim was to ascertain, as far as the means at the disposal of an ordinary man with little of the mystic in his composition would allow, what degree of probability attached to published phenomena, which the ordinary laws of nature, as most of us understand them, could not satisfactorily explain. at the threshold of my inquiry, one prominent and, as it seemed to me, disconcerting fact confronted me--namely, that although for a couple of generations "supernatural" manifestations had been promiscuously exhibited before the public, challenging full investigation and inviting belief; although almost every day the newspapers report some striking case of spirit apparition or materialisation, coincident dreams, clairvoyance, trance utterances, or possession, often seemingly well attested; yet in spite of all this testimony academic science continued to dispute the very basis of such phenomena. any investigator must needs recognise here a very anomalous situation. on the one hand are, let us say, half-a-million people, often highly intelligent, cultured, sane people, firmly protesting that they have witnessed certain astonishing occult manifestations, and on the other hand the royal society and the british association, and other organised scientific bodies established for the investigation of truth, absolutely refusing to admit such evidence or to regard it seriously. forty years ago faraday, besought to give his opinion, in this wise wrote: "they who say they see these things are not competent witnesses of facts. it would be condescension on my part to pay any more attention to them." faraday's attitude was that of huxley, spencer, tyndall, and agassiz. the first-named, however, rather gave away his prejudice by saying: "supposing the phenomena to be genuine, they do not interest me." tyndall's utterance also deserves to be recalled: "there are people amongst us who, it is alleged, can produce effects before which the discoveries of newton pale. there are men of science who would sell all that they have, and give the proceeds to the poor, for a glimpse of phenomena which are mere trifles to the spiritualist." he added: "the world will have religion of some kind, even though it should fly for it to the intellectual whoredom of spiritualism." spencer's words were: "i have settled the question in my own mind on à priori grounds." professor carpenter called spiritualism "a most mischievous epidemic delusion, comparable to the witchcraft delusion of the seventeenth century." what, then, has happened to strengthen the case of the believers in ghosts, clairvoyance, thought-transference, sensory automatism, in, say, the last quarter of a century? what new evidence exists which would make the mid-victorian scientific men reconsider their position? suppose faraday and huxley, spencer and tyndall, were alive to-day, would they see reason to alter their opinions? i remember once--and i now give it as typical--overhearing a psychical experience. it was in a first-class compartment on a train coming from wimbledon. one of my fellow-passengers, an intelligent, well-spoken man of about thirty-five, was relating to three friends the following extraordinary story. as nearly as i can recollect, i give the narrator's own words:- "one week ago last tuesday, at eleven o'clock at night, my wife, who had just retired to bed upstairs, called out to me: 'arthur! arthur!' in a tone of alarm. i sprang up and ran upstairs to see what was the matter. the servants had all gone to bed. 'arthur,' said my wife, 'i've just seen mother,' and she began to cry. 'why,' i said, 'your mother's at scarborough.' 'i know,' she said; 'but she appeared before me just there' (pointing to the foot of the bed) 'two minutes ago as plainly as you do.' well, the next morning there was a telegram on the breakfast-table: 'mother, died at eleven last night.' now, how do you account for it?" there was silence for a full minute. "a wonderful coincidence. your wife's hallucination coincided with her mother's death!" another occupant of the carriage caught up the word: "yes, coincidence. a thing which mightn't happen once in a million years." nobody else ventured a remark. yet they seemed unconvinced. there was no one to tell them--even i did not know then--that these "coincidences" were constantly happening, every year, perhaps every month; that an intelligent body of men--the society for psychical research--has made a census of such hallucinations, all apparently well attested; that newspapers devoted to occult matters constantly record these things; that volumes--monthly, weekly, almost--fairly pour from the press detailing, expounding, dissecting, elaborating such evidence; that the theory of coincidence has already been rejected by many men of the first rank of science; and that official science itself is reluctantly reconsidering its position in more than one direction. yet so slowly do the masses move in intellectual life, so tardily do truths, concerning not merely occult but physical and material investigation, percolate through to the workaday world, that the researches, the activities, the ascertained truths of students of psychical phenomena are as a closed book. perhaps the attitude of apathy with which occult phenomena and occult science are regarded by the average man is not unnatural. to him all miracles that are not scriptural and ancient and, as it were, institutional are highly improbable, if not impossible. all super-naturalism, he will tell you, is morbid. "there may be something in these things," he says, "but it is not proved. as for spiritualism, my belief is that mediums are impostors. most of the spiritualists i have seen are 'cranks'--they are certainly dupes--and i have no doubt that if i interested myself in these matters i should end by becoming also a 'crank.'" this i maintain is the position of the ordinarily educated normal man. "the moment," wrote lord lytton, "one deals with things beyond our comprehension, and in which our own senses are appealed to and baffled, we revolt from the probable, as it appears to the senses of those who have not experienced what we have." now, that is just what the candid inquirer must avoid throughout his inquiry. it is often difficult to resist employing supernormal hypotheses; but, until normal hypotheses are exhausted, the resistance must be made. on the other hand, it is well to bear in mind mr andrew lang's timely remark, "there is a point at which the explanations of common-sense arouse scepticism." at all events, not even the most materialistic man-in-the-music-hall, with two eyes in his head, can deny that the great wave of occultism, which twenty years ago seemed to be receding, is again returning with greater force and volume, submerging many of the old sceptical theories and wetting even the utterly callous and ignorant with its spray. it is not so long ago that the very fact of hypnotism was doubted--mesmer was long regarded as a mere quack--but to-day the induced trance is universally credited. to hypnotism must the miracle of telepathy now be added? has it really been ascertained, after a thousand experiments and beyond the possibility of error, that a mode of apprehension exists which has no connection with the five senses? for twenty-five years the members of the society of psychical research have carried on their investigations of both sleeping and waking subjects, under every conceivable condition, and are at last fain to announce that such a mystic faculty does exist by which brain can communicate with brain without any known sensory agency. as to the kind of "ghost" story recorded above, what an exact analogy it bears to the following, to be found in a recent volume of the "proceedings of the society for psychical research!" the statement was received from a madame broussiloff, of st petersburg:- "on the 16th (28th) of february of this year, between nine and ten o'clock in the evening, i, the undersigned, was sitting in our drawing-room--the small one--facing the large drawing-room, which i could see in its entire length. my husband, his brother, with his wife, and my mother, were also sitting in the same room with me round a large round table. i was writing down my household accounts for the day, while the others were carrying on some gay conversation. having accidentally raised my head and looked into the large drawing-room, i noticed, with astonishment, that a large grey shadow had passed from the door of the dining-room to that of the antechamber; and it came into my head that the figure i had seen bore a striking resemblance in stature to colonel ave-meinander, an acquaintance of ours, who had lived in this very lodging for a long time. at the first moment, i wished to say at once that a ghost had just flashed before me, but stopped, as i was afraid of being laughed at by my husband's brother and his wife, and also of being scolded by my husband, who, in view of the excitement which i showed when such phenomena were taking place, tried to convince me that they were the fruits of my fancy. as i knew that meinander was alive and well, and was commander of the malorossüsky 40th regiment of dragoons, i did not say anything then; but when i was going to bed i related to my mother what i had seen, and the next morning could not refrain from mentioning it to my husband. "our astonishment was extreme when, on the 18th of february (2nd of march), we learned nicholas ottovitch ave-meinander had actually died after a short illness on the 16th (28th) of february at nine o'clock in the evening, in the town of strashovo, where his regiment is stationed. "the above account is confirmed by the percipient's mother, marie von hagemeister, and by the husband, colonel alexis alexeievitch broussiloff. both state solemnly that colonel meinander died at nine p.m. on the evening of 16th february (28th) at stashovo, 1200 versts from st petersburg." to explain this phenomenon in the terms of telepathy, the grey shadow seen by madame broussiloff was not a ghost, not the "bodiless spirit in the likeness of a man," but "a waking dream projected from the brain of the seer under the impulse of the dying man's thought." but telepathy itself requires consideration and explanation. sir william crookes has repeatedly given publicity to his theory of brain-waves and to a kindred conception of ether substance, along which intelligence can be transmitted at an almost incalculable rate of speed to virtually interminable distances. that mind should effect mind in a new mode may mean no more than that brain can act upon brain by means of ethereal vibrations hitherto unsuspected. the power itself may be but a lingering vestige of our inheritance from primeval times, a long-disused faculty "dragged from the dim lumber-room of a primitive consciousness, and galvanised into a belated and halting activity." or, on the other hand, may not such faculty be regarded not as vestigial, but as rudimentary? telepathy, if we follow the gifted author of "human personality," is a promise for the future, not an idle inheritance from the past. our business now is, all mystic speculations apart, to consider the phenomena in the order in which, if not yet actually accepted, they would seem to evoke least opposition from the academic science of the day. what is the net result of the evidence for all classes of supernormal phenomena? that i shall endeavour to point out, as concisely and lucidly as i can, in the following chapters. chapter ii the hypnotic state not least of the wonders of modern psychical research is the discovery that nothing in all the phenomena is new--that under other names and by other races every sort of manifestation was familiar to the most remote peoples. this would certainly seem to meet the argument of the physicist--it is not necessary to refer again to professor tyndall's uncomplimentary phraseology--who declares that all this popular occultism is a product of the last generation or two. take hypnotism. hypnotism (or mesmerism) was formerly alleged to be an emanation from the body--an effluence of intense will-power. the belief in such an emanation is centuries old. "by the magic power of the will," wrote paracelsus, "a person on this side of the ocean may make a person on the other side hear what is said on that side ... the ethereal body of a man may know what another man thinks at a distance of 100 miles or more." twenty years ago this creed was laughed out of court by huxley, tyndall, and other leading men of science. to-day we are told by those who have witnessed the experiments of charcot, janet, and others that "the existence of an aura of spirit-force surrounding the body like an atmosphere, in some cases at all events, can be proved as a physical fact." whatever the explanation, whatever the definition of this miraculous agency, hypnotism is now universally accepted. the manifestations of its power must convince the most sceptical. a spell-bound subject is frequently made to share the sensations of the hypnotist, his ocular perceptions and his sense of touch. in the hypnotic sleep the subject easily becomes insensible to pain. a member of the society reports that he has seen a youth in this condition who suffered gladly the most injurious attacks upon his own person--who would allow his hair to be pulled, his ears pinched, his fingers even to be scorched by lighted matches. but the same youth would next moment indignantly resent the slightest injury upon his hypnotiser, who would at the time be standing at the other end of the room. one thing in common all the hypnotic methods appear to possess, the diversion of attention from external surroundings and the working of a sub-consciousness in a manner not characteristic of the ordinary life of the subject. in cases described by mr greenwood no difficulty was encountered in impersonations suggested to the subject unless they savoured too much of the ridiculous. "thus," he writes, "a suggestion that m., the subject, was myself and that i was he succeeded; and in his reverse capacity he continued the course of experiments upon himself, devising several original and ingenious varieties to which i, for the sake of the experiment, acquiesced in subjecting myself. he also behaved with considerable dignity and verve as king edward vii., until i threw a match at his head, a proceeding which appeared to conflict so strongly with dramatic verisimilitude that he lapsed back into his ordinary hypnotic condition, nor could i reinduce the impersonation. on the other hand, statements that he was the emperor of china, and that he was a nurse and i a baby, failed to carry any conviction, being either received with passive consent or rejected with scorn." it is interesting to note that in the waking state of the subject he explained that he was only conscious that he was not the characters he was bidden to assume, and if asked would have said as much, but that he was irresistibly impelled to act as though he were. the production of sleep in the subject at a distance is one of the latest attested marvels of hypnotism. the long series of experiments made in france by professor richet and professor janet would appear to attest this power. in some trials made at havre, in which the experimenters were professor janet and dr gibert, the subject of the experiment was a certain madame b. or "léonie," then a patient of dr gibert. the facts were recorded by the late f. w. myers and his brother, dr a. t. myers, who were present: "we selected (he states) by lot an hour (eleven a.m.) at which m. gibert should will, from his dispensary (which is close to his house), that madame b. should go to sleep in the pavilion. it was agreed that a rather longer time should be allowed for the process to take effect, as it had been observed that she sometimes struggled against the influence and averted the effect for a time by putting her hands in cold water, etc. at 11.25 we entered the pavilion quietly, and almost at once she descended from her room to the _salon_, profoundly asleep. we did not, of course, mention m. gibert's attempt of the previous night. but she told us in her sleep that she had been very ill in the night, and repeatedly exclaimed: 'pourquoi m. gibert m'a-t-il fait souffrir? mais j'ai lavé les mains continuellement.' this is what she does when she wishes to avoid being influenced. "in the evening (22nd) we all dined at m. gibert's, and in the evening m. gibert made another attempt to put her to sleep at a distance from his house in the rue sery--she being at the pavilion, rue de la ferme--and to bring her to his house by an effort of will. at 8.55 he retired to his study; and mm. ochorowicz, marillier, janet, and a. t. myers went to the pavilion, and waited outside in the street, out of sight of the house. at 9.22 dr myers observed madame b. coming half way out of the garden gate, and again retreating. those who saw her more closely observed that she was plainly in the somnambulistic state and was wandering about and muttering. at 9.25 she came out with eyes persistently closed, so far as could be seen, walked quickly past mm. janet and marillier without noticing them, and made for m. gibert's house, though not by the usual or shortest route. (it appeared afterwards that the bonne had seen her go into the _salon_ at 8.45 and issue thence asleep at 9.15; had not looked in between those times.) she avoided lamp-posts, vehicles, etc., but crossed and recrossed the street repeatedly. no one went in front of her or spoke to her. after eight or ten minutes she grew more uncertain in gait, and paused as though she would fall. dr myers noted the moment in the rue faure; it was 9.35. at about 9.40 she grew bolder, and at 9.45 reached the street in front of m. gibert's house. there she met him, but did not notice him, and walked into his house, where she rushed hurriedly from room to room on the ground floor. m. gibert had to take her hand before she recognised him. she then grew calm. "on the 23rd m. janet lunched in our company and retired to his own house at 4.30 (a time chosen by lot), to try to put her to sleep from thence. at 5.5 we all entered the _salon_ of the pavilion, and found her asleep with shut eyes, but sewing vigorously (being in that stage in which movements once suggested are automatically continued). passing into the talkative stage, she said to m. janet: 'c'est vous qui m'avez fait dormir à quatre heures et demi.' the impression as to the hour may have been a suggestion received from m. janet's mind. we tried to make her believe that it was m. gibert who had sent her to sleep, but she maintained that she had felt that it was m. janet. "on 24th april the whole party chanced to meet at m. janet's house at three p.m., and he then, at my suggestion, entered his study to will that madame b. should sleep. we waited in his garden, and at 3.20 proceeded together to the pavilion, which i entered first at 3.30, and found madame b. profoundly sleeping over her sewing, having ceased to sew. becoming talkative, she said to m. janet: 'c'est vous qui m'avez commandé.' she said that she fell asleep at 3.5 p.m." of the twenty-five trials made in the course of two months, eighteen were wholly and four partially successful. this somnolent state might, it is thought, have been induced by telepathy; in fact, as we shall see, telepathy will in some quarters have to bear the burden of most, if not all, of the phenomena under investigation. not only is the hypnotic subject frequently induced to do the will of the operator, but he may actually have presented to his intelligence certain ideas or images, material or imaginary, known only to the hypnotiser. after following carefully all the experiments conducted by the late professor sidgwick and others, in the presence of witnesses of repute, i do not see how it is possible to deny the fact of telepathy. in these experiments the subject or percipient was always hypnotised, remaining so to a varying degree throughout the experiment. albeit, even as regards this thought-transference, we must be on our guard against a too rash acceptance of unknown or supernormal agencies in every bona-fide experiment. certainly all experiments of the hypnotiser do not _ipso facto_ prove that any new method of apprehension has been employed. the hypnotised subject is extremely susceptible to suggestions, and might even glean an indication of what is proceeding through the look, the gestures, the very breathing, of those present. the utmost precautions, therefore, were taken by the society for psychical research when it began its experimental inquiries. the subject of the picture was always carefully chosen by one of the experimenters--mrs sidgwick or miss alice johnson. any possibility of the percipient being able to guess at the subject through chance, association, or ideas was rigorously excluded. to prevent any hint being unconsciously imparted by the third experimenter, mr g. a. smith, silence was enjoined upon him, and he was placed behind the percipient or in another room; yet the percipient actually saw and described the projecting impression as if it were a real picture before his eyes. when mr smith went downstairs with miss johnson he was asked by her to think of an eagle pursuing a sparrow. mrs sidgwick, who remained upstairs with p., the percipient, in a few minutes induced him to see a round disc of light on the imaginary lantern-sheet, and then he saw in it "something like a bird," which disappeared immediately. he went on looking (with closed eyes, of course), and presently he thought he saw "something like a bird--something like an eagle." after a pause he said: "i thought i saw a figure there--i saw 5. the bird's gone. i see 5 again; now it's gone. the bird came twice." mr smith then came upstairs, and p. had another impression of an eagle. he was told that the eagle was right, and there was something else besides, no hint being given of what the other thing was. he then said that the first thing he saw "was a little bird--a sparrow, perhaps--he could not say--about the size of a sparrow; then that disappeared, and he saw the eagle. he had told mrs sidgwick so at the time." we see the mental machinery at work in another case, where the subject agreed upon was "the babes in the wood." to begin with, p. sat with closed eyes, but, when no impression came, mr smith opened his eyes, without speaking, and made him look for the picture on a card. after we had waited a little while in vain, mr smith said to him: "do you see something like a straw hat?" p. assented to this, and then began to puzzle out something more: "a white apron, something dark--a child. it can't be another child, unless it's a boy--a boy and a girl--the boy to the right and the girl to the left. little girl with white socks on and shoes with straps." mr smith asked: "what are they doing? is it two children on a raft at sea?" p.: "no; it's like trees in the background--a copse or something. like a fairy-story--like babes in a wood or something." we see it in an even more pronounced degree where the subject sat on a sailing boat. miss johnson, who did not know what the subject of the picture was, asked miss b. whether it was anything like an animal. miss b. said: "no; got some prong sort of things--something at the bottom like a little boat. what can that be up in the air? cliffs, i suppose--cliffs in the air high up--it's joining the boat. oh, sails!--a sailing-boat--not cliffs--sails." this was not all uttered consecutively, but partly in answer to questions put by miss johnson; but, as miss johnson was ignorant of the supposed picture, her questions could, of course, give no guidance. many experiments have been made in the transference of imaginary scenes, where both operator and subject have attempted to attain a conscious unity of ideas by means of rough drawings. a slight sketch was made, which was then projected to the brain of the percipient, who proceeded to reproduce the unseen, often with amazing fidelity. in these experiments actual contact was forbidden, to avoid the risk of unconscious indications by pressure. in many cases, however, the agent and percipient have been in the same room, and there has therefore still been some possible risk of unconscious whispering; but this risk has been successfully avoided. it yet remains doubtful how far close proximity really operates in aid of telepathy, or how far its advantage is a mere effect of self-suggestion--on the part either of agent or percipient. some experimenters--notably the late mr kirk and mr glardon--have obtained results of just the same type at distances of half-a-mile or more. in the case of induction of hypnotic trance, dr gibert, as we have seen, attained at the distance of nearly a mile results which are commonly believed to exact close and actual presence. hypnotic agencies, according to myers, may be simplified into suggestion and self-suggestion. the same author defines suggestion as "successful appeal to the subliminal self." many striking cases of moral reforms produced by this means have been recorded by dr auguste voisin. for instance: "in the summer of 1884 there was at the salpêtrière a young woman of a deplorable type. jeanne sch---was a criminal lunatic, filthy in habits, violent in demeanour, and with a lifelong history of impurity and theft. m. voisin, who was one of the physicians on the staff, undertook to hypnotise her on 31st may, at a time when she could only be kept quiet by the strait jacket and _bonnet d'irrigation_, or perpetual cold douche to the head. she would not--indeed, she could not--look steadily at her operator, but raved and spat at him. m. voisin kept his face close to hers and followed her eyes wherever she moved them. in about ten minutes a stertorous sleep ensued, and in five minutes more she passed into a sleep-waking state, and began to talk incoherently. the process was repeated on many days, and gradually she became sane when in the trance, though she still raved when awake. gradually, too, she became able to obey in waking hours commands impressed on her in the trance--first trivial orders (to sweep the room and so forth), then orders involving a marked change of behaviour. nay, more; in the hypnotic state she voluntarily expressed repentance for her past life, made a confession which involved more evil than the police were cognisant of (though it agreed with facts otherwise known), and finally of her own impulse made good resolves for the future. two years later (31st july 1886) m. voisin wrote that she was then a nurse in a paris hospital, and that her conduct was irreproachable. it appeared then that this poor woman, whose history since the age of thirteen had been one of reckless folly and vice, had become capable of the steady, self-controlled work of a nurse at a hospital, the reformed character having first manifested itself in the hypnotic state, partly in obedience to suggestion, and partly as the natural result of the tranquilisation of morbid passions." there is a mass of evidence to testify to the marvellous cures that have been effected in this way. kleptomania, dipsomania, nicotinism, morphinomania, and several varieties of phobies have all been known to yield to hypnotic suggestion. nor is it always necessary that the mind of the patient should be influenced by another person; self-suggestion is at times equally efficacious. here is a case in point, taken from "proceedings," vol. xi. p. 427. the narrator is dr d. j. parsons. "sixteen years ago i was a little sick; took half-a-grain of opium, and lay down upon the bed. soon, as i began to feel the tranquillising effect of the opium, i saw three men approaching me; the one in front said: 'you smoke too much tobacco.' i replied: 'i know i do.' he then said: 'why don't you quit it?' i answered by saying: 'i have been thinking about it, but i am afraid i can't.' he extended his right arm, and placing his forefinger very near my face gave it a few very significant shakes, said, in a very impressive manner: 'you will never want to use tobacco any more as long as you live.' he continued by saying: 'you swear sometimes.' i answered: 'yes.' he said: 'will you promise to quit?' i intended to say 'yes,' but just as i was about to utter the word yes, instantly a change came over me, and i felt like i had been held under some unknown influence, which was suddenly withdrawn or exhausted. i had been a constant smoker for more than twenty years. "since the occurrence of the above incident i have not touched tobacco; have felt ever since like it would poison me, and i now feel like one draw at the pipe would kill me instantly. my desire for tobacco was suddenly and effectually torn out by the roots, but perhaps i shall never know just how it was done. "d. j. parsons, m.d. "_sweet springs, missouri._" it would seem in the above case that the suggestibility was heightened by the use of opium, which at the same time developed a monitory hallucination. leading men of science now hold that the popular belief in the dangers of hypnotism is grossly exaggerated, it being far less open to abuse than chloroform. nevertheless some danger is only too manifest, and parliament may yet be asked to do what continental governments have done--viz. to make the practice of hypnotism, save under proper medical supervision, a punishable offence. as an illustration of these dangers i may mention the testimony of an operator given before the psychical research society. owing to the ready susceptibility of one subject he began to fear that he might acquire an influence which might be inconvenient to both, and so enjoined that he should be unable to hypnotise him unless he previously recited a formula asking the operator to do so. after several failures he states: "i eventually succeeded in impressing this so strongly upon him that it became absolutely effective, and the formula became requisite, for i could not, even with the utmost co-operation on his part, influence him in the least. one night, however, after retiring to bed i was surprised by his entering the room with the request that i should waken him. i expressed astonishment and asked whether he was really asleep. he assured me that he was, and explained that while he had been conversing in the drawing-room after dinner, other persons being present, he had experimentally recited the formula _sotto voce_ and had immediately, unperceived by myself or others in the room, gone off in the hypnotic state and could not get out of it again. i protested that this was an extremely unfair trick both on himself and on me, and to guard against its recurrence i enjoined that in future a mere repetition of the formula should not suffice, but that it should be written down, signed and handed to me. this has hitherto proved completely successful, and in the absence of the document no efforts on the part of either of us has had any effect whatever." it would seem, however, that the hypnotic subject is by no means entirely at the mercy of the operator. thus dr milne bramwell, in "proceedings," vol. xii. pp. 176-203, cites a number of cases in which suggestions had been refused by hypnotic subjects. he also mentions two subjects who had rejected certain suggestions and accepted others. a miss f., for example, recited a poem, but would not help herself to a glass of water from the sideboard; while a mr g. would play one part, but not others, and committed an imaginary crime. dr bramwell comes to the following conclusion:- "the difference between the hypnotised and the normal subject, as it appears to me from a long series of observed facts, is not so much in conduct as in increased mental and physical powers. any changes in the moral sense, i have noticed, have invariably been for the better, the hypnotised subject evincing superior refinement. as regards obedience to suggestion, there is apparently little to choose between the two. a hypnotised subject, who has acquired the power of manifesting various physical and mental phenomena, will do so, in response to suggestion, for much the same reasons as one in the normal condition.... when the act demanded is contrary to the moral sense, it is usually refused by the normal subject, and invariably by the hypnotised one." the hypnotic state evinces an extraordinary extension of faculty. dr bramwell's remarkable series of experiments on "time appreciation" shows that orders were carried out by the subject at expiration of such periods as 20,290 minutes from the beginning of the order. in her normal state the female subject of this experiment was incapable of correctly calculating how many days and hours 20,290 minutes would make, and even in her hypnotised condition could reckon only with errors; yet, what is singular to relate, even when a blunder was made in the former calculation the order of the hypnotist was none the less fulfilled when the correct period expired. the conclusion is not easy to avoid: that beneath the stratum of human consciousness brought to the surface by hypnotism there is one--perhaps two--"subliminal" strata more alert and more capable than our ordinary workaday ego. what light this theory of a "subliminal" self will shed on our subject we will see when we come to discuss clairvoyance and the trance utterances of the spiritualistic "medium." chapter iii phantasms of the living we have seen that the hypnotic agent is able to project from his own brain certain thoughts and images into the mind of the percipient. "when," writes professor barrett, "the subject was in the state of trance or profound hypnotism, i noticed that not only sensations, but also ideas or emotions, occurring in the operator appeared to be reproduced in the subject without the intervention of any sign, or visible or audible communication.... in many other ways i convinced myself that the existence of a distinct idea in my own mind gave rise to some image of the idea in the subject's mind, not always a clear image, but one that could not fail to be recognised as a more or less distorted reflection of my own thought. the important point is that every care was taken to prevent any unconscious muscular action of the face, or otherwise giving any indication to the subject." this presumed mode of communication between one individual and another, without the intervention of any known sense, professor barrett, arguing on electrical analogies, is inclined to suggest might be due to some form of nervous induction. but is this faculty restricted in its operation to a hypnotised subject? if it were, the significance of the phenomena would be very much lessened. we should leave telepathy out of our account. but it is not so restricted. the ideas and images are capable of being projected not only to a hypnotised person, but to one who is apparently not under any hypnotic influence whatever. yet we still must be careful of how we call in the aid of any "supernatural" agency to account for the influences i am about to relate--the translation of ideas and motor impulses from one person to another without the aid of any known sense. the transference of pictures which we described in the last article has been achieved in hundreds of cases by an agent upon a hypnotised percipient. here we have telepathy apparently at work, but not, however, at any great distance, nor successful in conjuring up really vivid or ominous hallucinations. the scientific term for these is "sensory automatisms," and many instances of these are given by edmund gurney, author of "phantasms of the living." at an early period the society for psychical research began a "census of hallucinations," which, with gurney's book, now renders it possible for us to consider these phenomena with some certainty. the net result of all this investigation would seem to demonstrate that a large number of sensory automatisms occur amongst sane and healthy persons. we will later consider what difficulty lies in the way of attributing to telepathy the bulk of these phenomena. there is a widely accepted theory that telepathy is propagated by brain-waves, or, in sir w. crooke's phraseology, by ether-waves, of even smaller amplitude and greater frequency than those which carry x-rays. such waves are supposed to pass from one brain to another, arousing in the second brain an excitation of image similar to the excitation or image from which they start in the first place. it has been pointed out that on this view there is no theoretical reason for limiting telepathy to human beings. why may not the impulse pass between men and the lower animals, or between the lower animals themselves? i myself have exhumed from the records a case in point. general j. c. thompson describes a remarkable apparition of a dog, with every mark of reality, at the time when the dog was killed in a city more than a hundred miles distant. general thompson says: "jim, the dog whose ghost i refer to, was a beautiful collie, the pet of my family, residing at cheyenne, wyoming. his affectionate nature surpassed even that of his kind. he had a wide celebrity in the city as 'the laughing dog,' due to the fact that he manifested his recognition of acquaintances and love for his friends by a joyful laugh, as distinctively such as that of any human being. "one evening in the fall of 1905, about 7.30 p.m., i was walking with a friend on seventeenth street in denver, colorado. as we approached the entrance to the first national bank, we observed a dog lying in the middle of the pavement, and on coming up to him i was amazed at his perfect likeness to jim in cheyenne. the identity was greatly fortified by his loving recognition of me, and the peculiar laugh of jim's accompanying it. i said to my friend that nothing but the 105 miles between denver and cheyenne would keep me from making oath to the dog being jim, whose peculiarities i explained to him. "the dog astral or ghost was apparently badly hurt--he could not rise. after petting him and giving him a kind adieu, we crossed over stout street and stopped to look at him again. he had vanished. the next morning's mail brought a letter from my wife saying that jim had been accidentally killed the evening before at 7.30 p.m. i shall always believe it was jim's ghost i saw." this story, circumstantially narrated by an american general, recalls mr rider haggard's celebrated dream that he saw his dog, bob, in a dying condition, probably about three hours after the dog's death. but we need not pause on such bypaths as these. perhaps the simplest form of thought-transference at a distance is that in which we find a vague mental unrest, unaccompanied by any visual or auditory hallucination. cases are not infrequently met with where the patient suffers from acute depression and anxiety which are not connected at the time with any definite event. _the journal of the society for psychical research_, july, 1895, yields the following. miss w. writes: "on january 17th of this year (1895) i was haunted all day with an indefinable dread, amounting to positive terror if i yielded in the least to its influence. a little before six o'clock i went to my maid's room and casually inquired of her whether she believed in presentiments. she answered: 'don't let them get hold of you; it is a bad habit.' i replied: 'this is no ordinary presentiment. all day long i have felt that something terrible is impending; of what nature i do not know. i have fought against it, but to no purpose. it is a terror i am positively _possessed_ with.' i was proceeding to describe it in fuller detail, when my mother entered the room with a telegram in her hand. one glance at her face told me that my foreboding had not been a groundless depression. the telegram was to the effect that my brother had been taken very ill at cambridge and needed my mother at once to nurse him. "i presume that the intensity of my foreboding was due to the very serious nature of his illness. "i experienced at different times what are in common parlance termed 'presentiments'; but only on one other occasion has the same peculiar _terror_ (a chilling conviction of impending trouble) beset me." this is corroborated both by the maid and miss w.'s brother, an undergraduate at king's college, cambridge, who had met with a serious accident the same afternoon. the affection between brother and sister was, it is related, very close. of a well-known type of case the following is a good example. the hon. mrs fox powys is the narrator:- "july 1882. "i was expecting my husband home, and shortly after the time he ought to have arrived (about ten p.m.) i heard a cab drive up to the door, the bell ring, my husband's voice talking with the cabman, the front door open and his step come up the stairs. i went to the drawing-room, opened it, and to my astonishment saw no one. i could hardly believe he was not there, the whole thing was so vivid, and the street was particularly quiet at the time. about twenty minutes or so after this my husband _really_ arrived, though nothing sounded to me more real than it did the first time. the train was late, and he had been thinking i might be anxious." in response to further inquiries, mrs powys added: "to me the whole thing was very noisy and real, but no one else can have heard anything, for the bell i heard ring was not answered. it was a quiet street in town, and there was no vehicle of any kind passing at the time; and on finding no one on the landing as i expected, i went at once to the window, and there was nothing to be seen, and no sound to be heard, which would have been the case had the cab been driven off." here the expectation of mr fox powys' arrival seems to have caused an auditory hallucination. in other cases of a similar nature the hallucination is visual, the percipient actually seeing the figure of the expected person. the authors of "phantasms of the living" give the following case as an "interesting puzzle" and invite the reader to decide whether or not it affords evidence for telepathy. the narrator, mr w. a. s., is described as an unexceptionable witness who has never had any other visual hallucination. "january 14th, 1883. "in the month of april 1871, about two o'clock in the afternoon, i was sitting in the drawing-room of my father's house in pall mall. the window of the room fronted south; and the sun was shining brightly in at the window. i was sitting between the fireplace and the window, with my back to the light; my niece was sitting on the opposite side of the fireplace; and opposite me at the farther corner of the room was a door partly open, leading directly to the staircase. i saw what i supposed at the first moment to be dirty soapy water running in at the door; and i was in the act of jumping up to scold the housemaid for upsetting the water, when i saw that the supposed water was the tail or train of a lady's dress. the lady glided in backwards, as if she had been slid in on a slide, each part of her dress keeping its place without disturbance. she glided in till i could see the whole of her, _except the tip of her nose, her lips and the tip of her chin, which were hidden by the edge of the door_. her head was slightly turned over her shoulder, and her eye also turned, so that it appeared fixed upon me. she held her arm, which was a very fine one, in a peculiar way, as if she were proud of it. she was dressed in a pale blue evening dress, worked with white lace. i instantly recognised the figure as that of a lady whom i had known some twenty-five years or more before; and with whom i had frequently danced. she was a bright, dashing girl, a good dancer, and we were good friends, but nothing more. she had afterwards married and i had occasionally heard of her, but do not think i had seen her for certainly more than twenty or twenty-five years. she looked much as i used to see her--with long curls and bright eyes, but perhaps something stouter and more matronly. "i said to myself: 'this is one of those strange apparitions i have often heard of. i will watch it as carefully as i can.' my niece, who did not see the figure, in the course of a minute or two exclaimed: 'uncle a., what is the matter with you? you look as if you saw a ghost!' i motioned her to be quiet, as i wished to observe the thing carefully; and an impression came upon me that if i moved, the thing would disappear. i tried to find out whether there was anything in the ornaments on the walls, or anything else which could suggest the figure; but i found that all the lines close to her cut the outline of her figure at all sorts of angles, and none of these coincided with the outline of her figure, and the colour of everything around her strongly contrasted with her colour. in the course of a few minutes, i heard the door bell ring, and i heard my brother's voice in the hall. he came upstairs and walked right through the figure into the room. the figure then began to fade away rather quickly; and though i tried i could in no way recall it. "i frequently told the story in society, treating it always as something internal rather than external and supposing that the lady was still alive; and rather making a joke of it than otherwise. some years afterwards i was staying with some friends in suffolk and told the story at the dinner-table, saying that it was no ghost as the lady was still alive. the lady of the house said: 'she is not alive, as you suppose, but she has been dead some years.' we looked at the peerage and found she had died in 1871. (i afterwards found out that she had died in november, whereas the apparition was in april.) the conversation continued about her, and i said: 'poor thing, i am sorry she is dead. i have had many a merry dance with her. what did she die of?' the lady of the house said: 'poor thing indeed, she died a wretched death; she died of cancer in the face.' she never showed me the front of her face; it was always concealed by the edge of the door." i will now concern myself with the power of an agent to project himself phantasmally--that is, to make his form and features manifest to some percipient at a distance as though he were actually present. in gurney's "phantasms of the living" is given at length a case of a simple nature. here there was not one but two percipients. on a certain sunday evening in november 1881, having been reading of the great power which the human will is capable of exercising, i determined with the whole force of my being that i would be present in spirit in the front bedroom on the second floor of a house situated at 22 hogarth road, kensington, in which room slept two ladies of my acquaintance--viz. miss l. s. v., and miss e. c. v., aged respectively twenty-five and eleven years. i was living at this time at 23 kildare gardens, a distance of about three miles from hogarth road, and i had not mentioned in any way my intention of trying this experiment to either of the above ladies, for the simple reason that it was only on retiring to rest upon this sunday night that i made up my mind to do so. the time at which i determined i would be there was one o'clock in the morning, and i also had a strong intention of making my presence perceptible. "on the following thursday i went to see the ladies in question, and in the course of conversation (without any allusion to the subject on my part) the elder one told me that on the previous sunday night she had been much terrified by perceiving me standing by her bedside, and that she screamed when the apparition advanced towards her, and awoke her little sister, who saw me also. "i asked her if she was awake at the time, and she replied most decidedly in the affirmative, and upon my inquiring the time of the occurrence she replied about one o'clock in the morning. "this lady, at my request, wrote down a statement of the event and signed it. "this was the first occasion upon which i tried an experiment of this kind, and its complete success startled me very much. "besides exercising my power of volition very strongly, i put forth an effort which i cannot find words to describe. i was conscious of a mysterious influence of some sort permeating in my body, and had a distinct impression that i was exercising some force with which i had been hitherto unacquainted, but which i can now at certain times set in motion at will. "s. h. b." the account given by miss verity is as follows:- "january 18th, 1883. "on a certain sunday evening, about twelve months since, at our house in hogarth road, kensington, i distinctly saw mr b. in my room, about one o'clock. i was perfectly awake and was much terrified. i awoke my sister by screaming, and she saw the apparition herself. three days after, when i saw mr b., i told him what had happened; but it was some time before i could recover from the shock i had received, and the remembrance is too vivid to be ever erased from my memory. "l. s. verity." miss e. c. verity says: "i remember the occurrence of the event described by my sister in the annexed paragraph, and her description is quite correct. i saw the apparition which she saw, at the same time and under the same circumstances. "e. c. verity." * * * * * "the witnesses (comments gurney) have been very carefully cross-examined by the present writer. there is not the slightest doubt that their mention of the occurrence to s. h. b. was spontaneous. they had not at first intended to mention it; but when they saw him their sense of its oddness overcame their resolution. miss verity is a perfectly sober-minded and sensible witness, with no love of marvels, and with a considerable dread and dislike of this particular form of marvel." on another occasion the agent announced privately to the investigator that he would project himself at a stated time. he did so; and the lady wrote as follows:- "44 norland square, w. "on saturday night, march 22nd, 1884, at about midnight, i had a distinct impression that mr s. h. b. was present in my room, and i distinctly saw him whilst i was quite widely awake. he came towards me, and stroked my hair. i _voluntarily_ gave him this information when he called to see me on wednesday, april 2nd, telling him the time and the circumstances of the apparition, without any suggestion on his part. the appearance in my room was most vivid and quite unmistakable. "l. s. verity." mr b.'s own account runs thus: "on saturday, march 22nd, i determined to make my presence perceptible to miss v., at 44 norland square, notting hill, at twelve midnight, and as i had previously arranged with mr gurney that i should post him a letter on the evening on which i tried my next experiment (stating the time and other particulars), i sent a note to acquaint him with the above facts. "about ten days afterwards i called upon miss v., and she voluntarily told me that on march 22nd, at twelve o'clock midnight, she had seen me so vividly in her room (whilst widely awake) that her nerves had been much shaken, and she had been obliged to send for a doctor in the morning. "s. h. b." another case of a similar nature is reported by the american branch of the society for psychical research: "on july 5th, 1887, i left my house in lakewood to go to new york to spend a few days. my wife was not feeling well when i left, and after i had started i looked back and saw her standing in the door looking disconsolate and sad at my leaving. the picture haunted me all day, and at night, before i went to bed, i thought i would try to find out, if possible, her condition. i had undressed, and was sitting on the edge of the bed, when i covered my face with my hands and willed myself in lakewood at home to see if i could see her. after a little while i seemed to be standing in her room before the bed, and saw her lying there looking much better. i felt satisfied she was better, and so spent the week more comfortably regarding her condition. on saturday i went home. when she saw me she remarked: 'i don't know whether i am glad to see you or not, for i thought something had happened to you. i saw you standing in front of the bed the night (about 8.30 or before 9) you left, and as plain as could be, and i have been worrying myself about you ever since. i sent to the office and to the depôt daily to get some message from you.' after explaining my effort to find out her condition, everything became plain to her. she had seen me when i was trying to see her and find out her condition. i thought at the time i was going to see her and make her see me. "b. f. sinclair." the foregoing is corroborated by mrs sinclair. she states that she saw her husband, not as he was dressed at the moment of the experiment, but "in a suit that hung in a closet at home." the apparition caused her great anxiety, so that her husband's view of her improved appearance was not really true. the son, mr george sinclair, avers that in his mother's vision his father's face was "drawn and set, as if he was either dead or trying to accomplish something which was beyond him." another case investigated by the society is also striking. the date is 1896. "'one night, two or three years ago, i came back from the theatre to my mother's flat at 6 s---street; and after i had been into her bedroom and told her all about it, i went to bed about one a.m. i had not been asleep long when i started up frightened, fancying that i had heard someone walk down the passage towards my mother's room; but, hearing nothing more, went to sleep again. i started up alarmed in the same way three or four times before dawn. "'in the morning, upon inquiry, my mother (who was ill at the time) only told me that she had had a very disturbed night. "'then i asked my brother, who told me that he had suffered in the same way as i had, starting up several times in a frightened manner. on hearing this my mother then told me that she had seen an apparition of mr pelham. later in the day mr pelham came in, and my mother asked him casually if he had been doing anything last night; upon which he told us that he had come to bed willing that he should visit and appear to us. we made him promise not to repeat the experiment.' "mrs e., the mother, states that she was recovering from influenza at the time. at half-past ten, as she lay reading: "'a strange, creepy sensation came over me, and i felt my eyes were drawn towards the left-hand side of the room. i felt i must look, and there, distinct against the curtain, was a blue luminous mist. "'this time i was impelled to cast my eyes downward to the side of my bed, and there, creeping upwards towards me, was the same blue luminous mist. i was too terrified to move, and remember keeping the book straight up before my face, as though to ward off a blow, at the same time exerting all my strength of will and determination not to be afraid--when, suddenly, as if with a jerk, above the top of my book came the brow and eyes of mr pelham.' "instantly her fears ceased. she 'remembered that mr pelham had experimented on her before at night'; and 'in one moment mist and face were gone.' "for his part, mr pelham explains that he 'carefully imagined' himself going down the steps of his house, and so along the streets, to mrs e.'s flat, and to her drawing-room and bedroom; he then went to bed with his mind fixed on the visit and soon fell asleep. he has made other trials, but without any positive success, though during one of them mrs e. was wakened suddenly by the feeling that someone was in the room, and it occurred to her that mr pelham was again experimenting." the occurrences above related are most significant, if true, and i am bound to say the _bona fides_ of the narrators seems to me indisputable. is it a spirit showing itself partially dissociated from the living organism; evincing independence, a certain intelligence and a certain permanence? or is this a mere image of the agent, conceived in his own brain and projected telepathically to the brain of the percipient? so far, we are merely groping our way. yet, is it not possible that we have laid hands upon a credible explanation of the eternal mystery of "ghosts"? we shall see. chapter iv dreams having partially discussed the subject of phantasms projected from the brain of the agent to that of the percipient, i must now briefly describe another group for which the evidence is very abundant--that of "veridical" dreams. this is a term used to describe apparitions coinciding with other events in such a manner as to suggest a connection. your dream or hallucination is said to be veridical when it conveys an idea which is both true and previously unknown to you. making every allowance for the element of chance, there is a mass of evidence which mere coincidence cannot explain away. yet we must not overlook the frequency of dreams, even of a striking character, which may once or twice in a million times actually hit on the coincident event. but besides coincidence, there is at times another normal explanation. mr podmore relates how a neighbour of his on the night of 24th june 1894 dreamed president carnot had been assassinated. he told his family before the morning paper announcing the news had been opened. as has been pointed out, in a case of that kind it seems possible that the information may have reached the sleeper in his dreams from the shouts of a newsboy, or even from the conversation of passers-by in the street. before any supernormal theory, we must admit the possibility of a normal communication, however far-fetched it may seem. in each of the instances about to be related the fact of the dream was either recorded by the dreamer or related to a friend before the fact of any coincidence was suspected. one of the best-known cases is that of canon warburton, who writes: "somewhere about the year 1848 i went up from oxford to spend a day or two with my brother, acton warburton, then a barrister, living at 10 fish street, lincoln's inn. when i got to his chambers i found a note on the table apologising for his absence, and saying that he had gone to a dance somewhere in the west end, and intended to be home soon after one o'clock. instead of going to bed i dozed in an arm-chair, but started up wide awake exactly at one, ejaculating: 'by jove! he's down!' and seeing him coming out of a drawing-room into a brightly illuminated landing, catching his foot in the edge of the top stair, and falling headlong, just saving himself by his elbows and hands. (the house was one which i have never seen, nor did i know where it was.) thinking very little of the matter, i fell a-doze again for half-an-hour and was awakened by my brother suddenly coming in and saying, 'oh, there you are! i have just had as narrow an escape of breaking my neck as i ever had in my life. coming out of the ballroom i caught my foot, and tumbled full-length down the stairs.' "that is all. it may have been 'only a dream,' but i always thought it must have been something more." a member of the society for psychical research narrates that on 7th october 1900 he woke abruptly in the small hours of the morning with a painful conviction upon him that his wife, who was that night sleeping in another part of the house, had burst a varicose vein in the calf of her leg, and that he could feel the swelled place three inches long: "i wondered whether i ought to get up and go down to her room on the first floor, and considered whether she would be able to come up to me; but i was only partly awake, though in acute distress. my mind had been suddenly roused, but my body was still under the lethargy of sleep. i argued with myself that there was sure to be nothing in it, that i should only disturb her, and so shortly went off to sleep again. "on going to her room this morning i said i had had a horrid dream, which had woke me up, to the effect that she had burst a varicose vein, of which just now care has to be taken. 'why,' she replied, 'i had just the same experience. i woke up at 2.15, feeling sure the calf of my leg was bleeding, and my hand seemed to feel it when i put it there. i turned on the light in alarm, noticing the time, and wondered if i should be able to get up to thee, or whether i should have to wake the housekeeper. thou wast in the dream out of which i woke, examining the place.' "though i did not note the hour, two o'clock is about the time i should have guessed it to be; and the impression on my mind was vivid and terrible, knowing how dangerous such an accident would be." the foregoing is thus corroborated by the lady: "i felt twinges of pain in my leg off and on in my sleep without being entirely roused till about 2.15 a.m. then, or just before, i dreamt or had a vivid impression that a vein had burst, and that my husband, who was sleeping in another room up another flight of stairs, was there and called my attention to it. i thought it felt wet, and trickling down the leg as if bleeding, passed my hand down, and at first thought it seemed wet; but on gaining fuller consciousness found it all right, and that it was not more painful than often when i got out and stood on it. thought over the contingency of its actually bursting, and whether i could so bandage it in that case as to make it safe to go up to my husband's room, and thought i could do so. "looking at my watch, found it about 2.20." as to dreams in which a death occurs there is a vast mass of testimony. the late dr hodgson, on 19th july 1897, received the following letter:- "dear hodgson,--five minutes ago mr j. f. morse, who has all his life had dreams which were more or less verified later, came to my room and said: 'i believe my wife died last night, for i had a dream of a most remarkable nature which indicates it. i shall be able to let you know soon, for i shall get word at my office when i reach there. i will then send you word.' his wife is in a country place in delaware co. pa. she is ill, but he had no idea she would not live for months, as the enclosed letter of july 15th will show; but she was ill, and would be likely to decline slowly and gradually. i will get this off or in the mail before i hear any more. "mr morse in his appearance looks like one who had just lost a dear friend, and is in a state of great mental depression, with tears in his eyes.... "m. l. holbrook." on the evening of the same day a telegram was received announcing the unexpected death of mrs morse at 9.15 on the evening of friday, 16th july. a prominent chicago journalist, mr f. b. wilkie, reported that his wife asked him one morning in october 1885, while still engaged in dressing, and before either of them had left their sleeping-room, if he knew anyone named edsale or esdale. a negative reply was given and then a "why do you ask?" she replied: "during the night i dreamt that i was on the lake-shore and found a coffin there, with the name of edsale or esdale on it, and i am confident that someone of that name has recently been drowned there." on opening the morning paper the first item that attracted his attention was the report of the mysterious disappearance from his home in hyde park of a young man named esdale. a few days afterwards the body of a young man was found on the lake-shore. this case was carefully investigated and authenticated by dr hodgson, and bears some unusual features. of dreams that may be reasonably regarded as telepathic the following is a striking example. it is contributed to "phantasms of the living" by a mrs hilton--a lady engaged in active work, and not in any respect a "visionary." "234 burdett road, e. "april 10th, 1883. "the dream which i am about to relate occurred about two years ago. i seemed to be walking in a country road, with high grassy banks on either side. suddenly i heard the tramp of many feet. feeling a strange sense of fear i called out: 'who are these people coming?' a voice above me replied: 'a procession of the dead.' i then found myself on the bank, looking into the road where the people were walking five or six abreast. hundreds of them passed by me--neither looking aside nor looking at each other. they were people of all conditions and in all ranks of life. i saw no children amongst them. i watched the long line of people go away into the far distance, but i felt no special interest in any of them, until i saw a middle-aged friend, dressed as a gentleman farmer. i pointed to him and called out: 'who is that, please?' he turned round and called out in a loud voice: 'i am john m., of chelmsford.' then my dream ended. next day when my husband returned from the office he told me that john m., of chelmsford, had died the previous day. "i may add that i only knew the friend in question by sight and cannot recollect ever speaking to him. "marie hilton." about a year later mrs hilton experienced a dream of a similar kind, again coincident with the death of an acquaintance seen in the phantom procession. it is worth noting "remarks mr gurney," that these dreams--for all their _bizarrerie_--seem to belong to a known type. in another category of phenomena belong precognitive dreams in which certain events, especially deaths, are foretold. mr alfred cooper, of 9 henrietta street, cavendish square, w., states, and his statement is attested by the duchess of hamilton, that: "a fortnight before the death of the late earl of l----, in 1882, i called upon the duke of hamilton in hill street to see him professionally. after i had finished seeing him we went into the drawing-room where the duchess was, and the duke said to me: 'oh, cooper, how is the earl?' "the duchess said: 'what earl?' and on my answering: 'lord l----,' she replied, 'that is very odd. i have had a most extraordinary vision. i went to bed, but after being in bed a short time, i was not exactly asleep, but thought i saw a scene as if from a play before me. the actors in it were lord l----, in a chair, as if in a fit, with a man standing over him with a red beard. he was by the side of a bath, over which bath a red lamp was distinctly shown.' "i then said: 'i am attending lord l---at present; there is very little the matter with him; he is not going to die; he will be all right very soon.' "well, he got better for a week and was nearly well, but at the end of six or seven days after this i was called to see him suddenly. he had inflammation of both lungs. "i called in sir william jenner, but in six days he was a dead man. there were two male nurses attending him; one had been taken ill. but when i saw the other the dream of the duchess was exactly represented. he was standing near a bath over the earl, and, strange to say, his beard was red. there was the bath with the red lamp over it, it is rather rare to find a bath with a red lamp over it, and this brought the story to my mind. "the vision seen by the duchess was told two weeks before the death of lord l----. it is a most remarkable thing. this account, written in 1888, has been revised by the late duke of manchester, father of the duchess of hamilton, who heard the vision from his daughter on the morning after she had seen it. "mary hamilton. "alfred cooper." mr myers adds: "the duchess only knew lord l---by sight, and had not heard that he was ill. she knew she was not asleep, for she opened her eyes to get rid of the vision, and, shutting them, saw the same thing again. "an independent and concordant account has been given to me (f. w. h. m.) orally by a gentleman to whom the duchess related the dream on the morning after its occurrence." one of the most interesting and well-authenticated cases of dreams foretelling a death is that of mr fred lane, understudy to that popular actor the late william terriss. his statement is as follows:- "adelphi theatre, "december 20th, 1897. "in the early morning of december 16th, 1897, i dreamt that i saw the late mr terriss lying in a state of delirium or unconsciousness on the stairs leading to the dressing-rooms in the adelphi theatre. he was surrounded by people engaged at the theatre, amongst whom were miss millward and one of the footmen who attend the curtain, both of whom i actually saw a few hours later at the death scene. his chest was bare and clothes torn aside. everybody who was around him was trying to do something for his good. this dream was in the shape of a picture. i saw it like a tableau on which the curtain would rise and fall. i immediately after dreamt that we did not open at the adelphi theatre that evening. i was in my dressing-room in the dream, but this latter part was somewhat incoherent. the next morning, on going down to the theatre for rehearsal, the first member of the company i met was miss h----, to whom i mentioned this dream. on arriving at the theatre i also mentioned it to several other members of the company including messrs creagh henry, buxton, carter bligh, etc. this dream, though it made such an impression upon me as to cause me to relate it to my fellow-artists, did not give me the idea of any coming disaster. i may state that i have dreamt formerly of deaths of relatives and other matters which have impressed me, but the dreams have never impressed me sufficiently to make me repeat them the following morning, and have never been verified. my dream of the present occasion was the most vivid i have ever experienced; in fact, lifelike, and exactly represented the scene as i saw it at night." three members of the company--mr carter bligh, mr creagh henry, and miss h-----made statements that mr lane related his dream in their presence on the morning of 16th december. mr lane was in the vicinity of the adelphi theatre when the murderer, named prince or archer, who had been employed as a super at the theatre, stabbed terriss at the stage entrance to the theatre. the actor was taken to the charing cross hospital, where he died almost immediately. it is interesting to note that it was lane himself who ran to the hospital for the doctor, and on his return looked in at the stage entrance and saw terriss lying on the stairs just as he had seen him in the dream. while i am fully alive to the possibilities of coincidence, there certainly does not seem to be much besides levity in the theory that "it happened to be jones's hour to see a hallucination of thompson when it happened to be thompson's hour to die," especially when, as frequently happens, the hallucination occurs more than once to the same percipient. a parisian journalist, m. henri buisson, sends to "the annals of psychical science" an account of three premonitory dreams all of which were told to others before they were fulfilled. in the first, which occurred on june 8th, 1887, m. buisson saw his grandmother "stretched dead on her bed, with a smile on her face as if she slept." above the bed, in a brilliant sun, he read the date, "june 8th, 1888," just a year later; and on that day his grandmother died quite suddenly, with her face as calm as he had seen it in his dream. on another occasion m. buisson saw his mother, not dead, but very ill, and attended by a doctor, who had died more than a year before, after having been the family physician for thirty years. the next day m. buisson received a telegram saying that his mother was ill, and, in fact, she died during the day. in april 1907, m. buisson dreamt that he received notice to quit his house on pretence of a message from the prefect of police, and that on looking out of the window he saw the prefect in the street, dressed in a leather jacket, with a soft hat, and a slipper on one foot. he also dreamt that a fire had broken out. on the evening of the next day he heard the fire-engines, and on following them he found the prefect on the spot, dressed just as in the dream, having hurt one foot, he had to go about in a slipper. of still another type is the clairvoyant dream. the following is related by mr herbert j. lewis, of cardiff:- "in september 1880 i lost the landing-order of a large steamer containing a cargo of iron ore, which had arrived in the port of cardiff. she had to commence discharging at six o'clock the next morning. i received the landing-order at four o'clock in the afternoon, and when i arrived at the office at six i found that i had lost it. during all the evening i was doing my utmost to find the officials of the customs house to get a permit, as the loss was of the greatest importance, preventing the ship from discharging. i came home in a great degree of trouble about the matter, as i feared that i should lose my situation in consequence. "that night i dreamt that i saw the lost landing-order lying in a crack in the wall under a desk in the long room of the customs house. "at five the next morning i went down to the customs house and got the keeper to get up and open it. i went to the spot of which i had dreamt, and found the paper in the very place. the ship was not ready to discharge at her proper time, and i went on board at seven and delivered the landing-order, saving her from all delay. "i can certify to the truth of the above statement, "herbert j. lewis, "thomas lewis "(herbert lewis's father). "h. wallis." (mr e. j. newell, of the george and abbotsford hotel, melrose, adds the following corroborative note.) "august 14th, 1884. "i made some inquiries about mr herbert lewis's dream before i left cardiff. he had been searching throughout the room in which the order was found. his theory as to how the order got in the place in which it was found is that it was probably put there by someone (perhaps with malicious intent), as he does not see how it could have fallen so. "the fact that mr h. lewis is exceedingly short-sighted adds to the probability of the thing which you suggest, that the dream was simply an unconscious act of memory in sleep. on the other hand, he does not believe it was there when he searched. "e. j. newell." now, it seems to me in the above case that the dreamer's subliminal self may have taken note of the lost landing-order without his super-consciousness being aware of it, and that the fact returned to him in his dream. in r. l. stevenson's "across the plains" may be found a striking chapter on dreams. it contains an account of some of the most successful dream experiments ever recorded. stevenson's dreams were of no ordinary character; they were always of great vividness, and often of a markedly recurrent type. this faculty he developed to an unusual degree--to such an extent, indeed, that it became of great assistance to him in his work. by self-suggestion before sleep, we are told, the great novelist would secure "a visual and dramatic intensity of dream-representation which furnished him with the motives of some of his most striking romances." but "r. l. s." is not the only one who has secured assistance of dreams. here is an account given by a german, professor hilprecht, of an experience of a similar nature ("human personality," i. 376): "one saturday evening, about the middle of march 1893, i had been wearying myself, as i had done so often in the weeks preceding, in the vain attempt to decipher two small fragments of agate, which were supposed to belong to the finger-rings of some babylonian. the labour was much increased by the fact that the fragments presented remnants only of characters and lines, that dozens of similar small fragments had been found in the ruins of the temple of bel at nippur with which nothing could be done, that in this case furthermore i never had the originals before me, but only a hasty sketch made by one of the members of the expedition sent by the university of pennsylvania to babylonia. i could not say more than that the fragments, taking into consideration the place in which they were found and the peculiar characteristics of the cuneiform characters preserved upon them, sprang from the cassite period of babylonian history (_circa_ 1700-1140 b.c.); moreover, as the first character of the third line of the first fragment seemed to be ku, i ascribed this fragment, with an interrogation point, to king kurigalzu, while i placed the other fragment as unclassifiable with other cassite fragments upon a page of my book where i published the unclassifiable fragments. the proofs already lay before me, but i was far from satisfied. the whole problem passed yet again through my mind that march evening before i placed my mark of approval under the last correction in the book. even then i had come to no conclusion. about midnight, weary and exhausted, i went to bed and was soon in deep sleep. then i dreamed the following remarkable dream. a tall, thin priest of the old pre-christian nippur, about forty years of age and clad in a simple abba, led me to the treasure chamber of the temple, on its south-east side. he went with me into a small low-ceiled room, without windows, in which there was a large wooden chest, while scraps of agate and lapis-lazuli lay scattered on the floor. here he addressed me as follows:--'the two fragments which you have published separately upon pages 22 and 26, belong together, are not finger-rings, and their history is as follows. king kurigalzu (_circa_ 1300 b.c.) once sent to the temple of bel, among other articles of agate and lapis-lazuli, an inscribed votive cylinder of agate. then we priests suddenly received the command to make for the statue of the god ninib a pair of earrings of agate. we were in great dismay, since there was no agate as raw material at hand. in order to execute the command there was nothing for us to do but cut the votive cylinder into three parts, thus making three rings, each of which contained a portion of the original inscription. the first two rings served as earrings for the statue of the god; the two fragments which have given you so much trouble are portions of them. if you will put the two together you will have confirmation of my words. but the third ring you have not yet found in the course of your excavations and you never will find it.' with this the priest disappeared. i awoke at once and immediately told my wife the dream, that i might not forget it. next morning--sunday--i examined the fragments once more in the light of these disclosures, and to my astonishment found all the details of the dream precisely verified in so far as the means of verification were in my hands. the original inscription on the votive cylinder read: 'to the god ninib, son of bel, his lord, has kurigalzu, pontifex of bel, presented this.' the problem was at last solved." chapter v hallucinations from the occurrence in a dream of the ideas of events which happen to coincide with actual events, let us turn to apparitions occurring during the waking hours of the percipient. the late professor sidgwick, at the head of a committee, sent out the following question to 17,000 educated persons not known to have had hallucinations:--"have you ever, when believing yourself to be completely awake, had a vivid impression of seeing or being touched by a living being or inanimate object, or of hearing a voice, which impression, so far as you could discover, was not due to any external physical cause?" the replies demonstrate how frequent are hallucinations amongst healthy, normal-minded persons. no fewer than 1684, or one in ten, of the persons interrogated, had had visual and auditory and even tactile hallucinations, realistic human phantoms, and other apparitions. we find that, according to the age classification, of 1295 visual hallucinations 72 occurred while the percipients were under ten years of age, 217 between the ages of ten and nineteen, 300 between twenty and twenty-nine, 143 between thirty and thirty-nine, 81 between forty and forty-nine, 40 between fifty and fifty-nine, 22 between sixty and sixty-nine, 5 later than seventy, and 415 at unstated ages. some of the hallucinations occurred immediately after waking, others while the percipients were awake in bed; but the great bulk occurred in a fully awakened state, and a large number appeared out of doors. of hallucinations of which we may say that they are due to a projection from the agent's mind, commonly to a dying man or woman, to that of the percipient, perhaps one of the most famous is that of lord charles beresford, as described by him to the society for psychical research: "it was in the spring of 1864, whilst on board h.m.s. _racoon_, between gibraltar and marseilles, that i went into my office on the main deck to get a pipe; and as i opened the door i saw my father lying in his coffin as plainly as i could. it gave me an awful jerk and i immediately told some of the fellows who were smoking just outside the usual place between the guns, and i also told dear old onslow, our chaplain. a few days after we arrived at marseilles, and i heard of my father's death, and he had been buried that very day and at the time, half-past twelve in the day. i may add that at the time it was a bright, sunny day, and i had not been fretting about my father, as the latest news i had of him was that although very ill he was better. my dear old father and i were great chums, more so than is usual between a man of seventy-two and a boy of twenty, our respective ages then." the evidence is so bulky that we may quote only a case here and there at random: "on december 9th 1882 mr t. g. keulemans was living with his family in paris. the outbreak of an epidemic of smallpox caused him to remove three of his children, including a favourite little boy of five, to london, whence he received in the course of the ensuing month several letters giving an excellent account of their health. "on the 24th of january 1881, at half-past seven in the morning, i was suddenly awoke by hearing his voice, as i fancied, very near me. i saw a bright opaque white mass before my eyes, and in the centre of this light i saw the face of my little darling, his eyes bright, his mouth smiling. the apparition, accompanied by the sound of his voice, was too short and too sudden to be called a dream; it was too clear, too decided, to be called an effect of the imagination. so distinctly did i hear his voice that i looked round the room to see whether he was actually there. the sound i heard was that of extreme delight, such as only a happy child can utter. i thought it was the moment he woke up in london, happy and thinking of me. i said to myself: 'thank god, little isidore is happy as always.' mr keulemans describes the ensuing day as one of peculiar brightness and cheerfulness. he took a long walk with a friend, with whom he dined; and was afterwards playing a game at billiards when he again saw the apparition of his child. this made him seriously uneasy, and in spite of having received within three days the assurance of his child's perfect health he expressed to his wife a conviction that he was dead. next day a letter arrived saying that the child was ill; but the father was convinced that this was only an attempt to break the news; and, in fact, the child had died, after a few hours' illness, at the exact time of the first apparition." another case as recited by madame d----, of st gaudens, is to be found in "posthumous humanity." she says: "i was still a young girl, and slept with my elder sister. one evening we had just retired to bed and blown out the light. the smouldering fire on the hearth still feebly lighted the room. upon turning my eyes towards the fireplace i perceived, to my amazement, a priest seated before the fire and warming himself. he had the corpulence, the features, and the general appearance of one of our uncles who lived in the neighbourhood, where he was an archbishop. i at once called my sister's attention. she looked in the same direction, and saw the same apparition. she also recognised our uncle. an indescribable terror seized us both, and we cried 'help!' with all our might. my father, who slept in an adjoining room, awakened by these desperate cries, jumped out of bed and ran in with a candle in his hand. the phantom had disappeared, and we saw no one in the room. the next morning a letter was received informing us that our uncle had died the previous evening. "at wiesbaden, professor ebenan, whose old sister kept his house, stated that he had a friend residing forty or fifty miles off--likewise a professor--who was very poor and had a large family. on hearing that his wife was dying, mr e---went to see them, and brought back their eldest boy, for whom a little bed was put up in mr e----'s room. "one morning, about ten days after, mr e---called and asked me: 'do you believe that at the moment of death you may appear to one whom you love?' i replied: 'yes, i do.' 'well,' he said, 'we shall see. i have noted the day and the hour, for last night after i went to bed the child said sweetly (in german): "yes, dear mamma, i see you." to which i replied: "no, dear boy, it is i; i am come to bed." "no," he said, "it is dear mamma, she is standing there smiling at me," pointing to the side of the bed.' on his next visit mr ebenan told us that he had received a letter informing him that at that time, and on that evening, the wife had breathed her last." in some cases a vague shadowy form is seen which gradually acquires definiteness. here is an interesting example contributed to "proceedings," vol. x., by a mr t. a.:- "9th may 1892. "i saw a darkish vapour leave my father's head when he died, about twelve years ago, and it formed into a figure full-sized, and for seven consecutive nights (i) saw it in my room, and saw it go each night into the next room, in which he died. it became more distinct each night and brighter each night, till it was quite brilliant, even dazzling, by the seventh night. it lasted, say, one and a half minutes. it was quite dark when the phantom used to appear. i was quite awake, going to bed; [age] thirty two." in other cases what is first seen is a glow of light--the apparition subsequently appearing in it. mr r. w. raper, of trinity college, oxford, made the following statement to the society for psychical research:- "'just before christmas 1894 i went over to liverpool with one of my brothers and my sister. it was a very fine clear day and there was a great crowd of people shopping in the streets. we were walking down lord-street, one of the principal streets, when, passing me, i saw an old uncle of mine whom i knew very little, and had not seen for a very long time, though he lived near me. i saw three distinct shapes hobbling past (he was lame), one after another, in a line. it didn't seem to strike me at the moment as being in the least curious, not even there being three shapes in a line. i said to my sister: "i have just seen uncle e----, and i am sure he is dead." i said this, as it were, mechanically, and not feeling at all impressed. of course my brother and sister laughed. we thought nothing more about it while in liverpool. the first thing my mother said to us when getting home was: "i have some news"; and then she told us that this uncle had died early that morning. i don't know the particular hour. i saw the three shapes at about twelve in the morning. i felt perfectly fit and well, and was not thinking of my uncle in the least, nor did i know he was ill. both my brother and my sister heard me say that i had seen him and believed he was dead, and they were equally astonished at hearing of his death on our return home. my uncle and i knew each other very little. in fact, he hardly knew me by sight, although he knew me well when i was a small child.' "the corroboration from the percipient's mother and sister is quite ample; the day of the agent's death coincided with the apparition, but the hour is not certainly known." another well-known case is that of prince victor duleep singh, who writes: "on saturday, october 21st, 1893, i was in berlin with lord carnarvon. we went to a theatre together and returned before midnight. i went to bed, leaving, as i always do, a bright light in the room (electric light). as i lay in bed i found myself looking at an oleograph which hung on the wall opposite my bed. i saw distinctly the face of my father, the maharajah duleep singh, looking at me, as it were, out of this picture; not like a portrait of him, but his real head. the head about filled the picture frame. i continued looking, and still saw my father looking at me with an intent expression. though not in the least alarmed, i was so puzzled that i got out of bed to see what the picture really was. it was an oleograph commonplace picture of a girl holding a rose and leaning out of a balcony, an arch forming the background. the girl's face was quite small, whereas my father's head was the size of life and filled the frame." the prince's father had been in ill-health for some time, but nothing alarming was to be expected. on the day following the dream he mentioned it to lord carnarvon, and on the evening of that day lord carnarvon handed him a telegram announcing the elder prince's death. he had had an apoplectic seizure on the previous evening and never recovered. it is interesting to note that he had often said that he would try to appear to his son at death if they happened to be apart. the account is confirmed by lord carnarvon. it sometimes happens that the point of hallucination is not quite reached. the following instance, communicated to the society for psychical research, is straightforward enough: "'20 rankeillor street, edinburgh, "'december 27th, 1883. "'in january 1871 i was living in the west indies. on the 7th of that month i got up with a strong feeling that there was something happening at my old home in scotland. at seven a.m. i mentioned to my sister-in-law my strange dread, and said even at that hour what i dreaded was taking place. "'by the next mail i got word that at eleven a.m. on the 7th of january my sister died. the island i lived in was at st kitts, and the death took place in edinburgh. please note the hours and allow for the difference in time, and you will notice at least a remarkable coincidence. i may add i never knew of her illness. "'a. c----n.' "in answer to inquiries, mr c----n adds: 'i never at any other time had a feeling in any way resembling the particular time i wrote about. at the time i wrote about i was in perfect health, and in every way in comfortable circumstances.'" there is nothing unreasonable in the assumption that telepathy is the agency primarily concerned in these manifestations. the idea having been received, a hallucination is built up, so to speak, by the percipient. a truly hallucinable person can suggest to himself his own hallucinations with no external aid, but a non-hallucinable personage cannot induce these hallucinations at all. dr hugh wingfield stated to the society for psychical research that the case of one of his patients proved that hallucinations could be produced by self-suggestion. "he could, by a simple effort of the mind, himself believe almost any delusion--_e.g._ that he was riding on horseback, that he was a dog, or anything else, or that he saw snakes--if left to himself the delusion vanished slowly. anyone else could remove it at once by a counter-suggestion. he made," he adds, "these experiments without my consent, as i consider them unsafe." hallucination is at times accompanied by curious organic effects. one of the commonest of these is a feeling of cold--generally described as a "chill" or "cold shudder." the following example is taken from the census of hallucinations of the society for psychical research:- from miss k. m. (_the account was written in 1889._) "[about twenty years ago] i was about ten years old, and was staying with friends in kensington. between the hours of eight and nine p.m., we were all sitting in the drawing-room with the door open, [it] being a very warm evening. suddenly i experienced a cold shudder, and on looking through the door opposite which i was sitting, i saw the figure of a little old lady dressed in a long brown cloak with a large brown hat, carrying a basket, glide down the stairs and disappear in the room next the drawing-room. the impression was that of someone i had never seen. i was talking on ordinary subjects, neither ill, in grief, or anxiety. there were several other people in the room, but no one noticed anything but myself. i have never had any experience of this kind before or since." occasionally, but very rarely, pain is described as resulting from a hallucination. other effects include fainting fits and tactile impressions. noise would appear in some cases to produce visual hallucinations, by creating in the hearer a strong expectation of seeing something corresponding to it, or that may account for it. from "phantasms of the living" we glean the following:- "between sleeping and waking this morning, i perceived a dog running about in a field (an ideal white and tan sporting dog), and the next moment i heard a dog barking outside my window. keeping my closed eyes on the vision, i found that _it came and went with the_ barking of the dog outside; getting fainter, however, each time." a weak state of health on the part of the percipient would seem to be conducive to hallucinatory visions. here is a case in point contributed to the "society for psychical research proceedings," vol. x., by a professor g----: "saw an old woman with red cloak, nursing a child in her arms. she sat on a boulder. place: a grassy moor or upland, near shotts, in lanarkshire. date: over twenty years ago. early autumn, in bright sunny weather. made several attempts to reach her, but she always vanished before i could get up to the stone. place far from any dwelling, and no spot where anyone could be concealed. "[i was] walking; had been slightly troubled with insomnia which afterwards became worse. age about thirty. "no one [was with me]. i heard a vague report that a woman with red cloak was sometimes seen on the moor. can't now remember whether i had heard of that report before i saw the figure--but think i had not. "saw many years ago (age about twenty-one), a dog sitting beside me in my room: saw this only once: was troubled slightly with insomnia at the time which afterwards became worse." the percipient's own view, the collector tells us, is that the experience on the moor was entirely due to "nerves," as both then and previously when he saw the dog he had been much overworked, and in each case a severe illness followed. not always does a visual hallucination take the form of a living human form. occasionally the object seen or the sound heard is non-human in character. in insanity and in diseases such cases are frequently met with, the hallucination being often of a grotesque or horrible sort. thus we have a case in which a young child beheld a vision of dwarfish gnomes dancing on the wall. among the phantasms of inanimate objects in the collection of the late e. gurney were a star, a firework bursting into stars, a firefly, a crown, landscape vignettes, a statue, the end of a draped coffin coming in through the door, and a bright oval surrounding the words "wednesday, october 15, death." geometrical patterns, sometimes taking very complicated forms, comprise another known type of hallucination. as to a theory for hallucinations, the most acceptable one is that they have their origin in the brain, and that the senses are made to share in the deception. there is little doubt that william blake's hallucinations were voluntary. gurney refers to a friend, a painter, who was able to project a vision of his sitter out into space and paint from it. we have already seen that a hypnotic agent can cause his subject not merely to see things but to feel them, even to the extent of crying out with pain when an imaginary lighted match is applied to his finger. chapter vi phantasms of the dead thus far i have devoted myself to an investigation of phenomena for which the theory of telepathy is not inapplicable. it is, however, when we come to discuss hallucinations from which the idea of a living agent is apparently excluded that i feel myself entering on even more delicate and mysterious territory. having dealt with phantasms of persons at the point of death, i now propose to deal with phantasms of persons already dead. where, indeed, the death has been very recent, the telepathic theory still serves, for the reception conveyed by the dying agent might conceivably remain dormant in the sub-consciousness of the percipient, and only be aroused in a dream or during a propitious waking moment. this would apply to the case of a lady who saw the body of a well-known london physician, about ten hours after death, lying in a bare unfurnished room, which turned out to be a cottage hospital abroad. mr myers, in his "human personality," has collected a large number of examples of apparitions of departed spirits, upon which he lays the utmost stress, because they, more than any other kind of evidence, tend to support his great theory of the survival of personality. if, he reasons, we can gain a number of well-authenticated cases of hallucinations projected telepathically from an agent before death, an equal amount of evidence of hallucinations projected by an agent after death would prove the continuance of life beyond the grave! and some of the cases which the society of psychical research, both in this country and america, have collected are certainly of an impressive character. unhappily, most of the best and most convincing cases are too long to be given here; they cannot even profitably be summarised. in one instance mr f. g. of boston, whose high character and good position are vouched for by professor royce and dr hodgson, states that nine years after the death of a favourite sister an apparition appeared before him: "the hour was high noon, and the sun was shining cheerfully into my room. while busily smoking my cigar and writing out my orders, i suddenly became conscious that someone was sitting on my left, with one arm resting on the table. quick as a flash i turned, and distinctly saw the form of my dead sister, and for a brief second or so looked her squarely in the face; and so sure was i that it was she, that i sprang forward in delight, calling her by name, and as i did so the apparition instantly vanished." but that is not the most extraordinary part of the story. the visitation so impressed the percipient that he took the next train home and related to his parents what had occurred. he particularly mentioned a bright red line or scratch on the right-hand side of his sister's face, which he had distinctly seen: "... when i mentioned this, my mother rose trembling to her feet, and nearly fainted away, and as soon as she sufficiently recovered her self-possession, with tears streaming down her face, she exclaimed that i had indeed seen my sister, as no living mortal but herself was aware of the scratch, which she had accidentally made while doing some little act of kindness after my sister's death.... in proof, neither my father nor any of our family had detected it, and positively were unaware of the incident, yet _i saw the scratch as bright as if just made_. so strangely impressed was my mother, that even after she had retired to rest she got up and dressed, came to me, and told me _she knew_ that i had seen my sister. a few weeks later my mother died." now, is it not a little singular that, although both dr hodgson and mr myers record this incident, the theory of telepathy between a living agent and a living percipient does not occur to them? is it not conceivable that the mother, on whose mind the incident of the scratch on the features of the corpse had admittedly preyed, should have unwittingly communicated her secret to her son? in other words, the mother projected a phantasm of her dead daughter to the mind of her son. in the "proceedings of the society" there is a case which, according to mr stead, "appears to suggest that the deceased are continuing to take an interest in mundane affairs." the story is communicated by miss dodson. on sunday, 5th june 1887, close upon midnight, miss dodson was roused by hearing her name called three times. she answered twice, thinking it was her uncle. the third time she recognised the voice of her mother, who had been dead sixteen years. "i said," continued miss dodson, "'mamma!'" "she then came round a screen near my bedside with two children in her arms and placed them in my arms and put the bedclothes over them, and said: 'lucy, promise me to take care of them, for their mother is just dead.' i said: 'yes, mamma.' she repeated: '_promise_ me to take care of them.' i replied: 'yes, i promise you,' and added, 'oh, mamma, stay and speak to me, i am so wretched.' she replied: 'not yet, my child,' then she seemed to go round the screen again and i remained, feeling the children to be still in my arms and fell asleep. when i awoke there was nothing. tuesday morning, 7th june, i received the news of my sister-in-law's death. she had given birth to a child three weeks before, which i did not know till after her death." professor sidgwick says, as the result of an interesting conversation with miss dodson, that the children were of the ages corresponding with the ages of the children of her sister-in-law; they seemed to be a little girl and a baby newly born. the only way an ingenious sceptic can get round this case is by supposing that a telepathic impulse from the living brother might conceivably embody itself in the form of his mother. but the idea of a brother in belgium being able to transmit a telepathic message in the assumed shape and with the voice of his mother, who had been dead for sixteen years, and also to telepath into existence in london the two little children who were living in his house at bruges, is rather a clumsy hypothesis. but what other have we? "mr theobald, an australian, forwards to the society a paper discovered amongst the effects of his uncle, now dead. the apparition, as will be seen, occurred on october 24th, 1860, and the account is endorsed on 9th november by the percipient's father. further particulars sent to mr b---by the percipient (who is here called mr d----) are dated november 13th, 1860. the first account seems to have been sent by the percipient to his father, and by the father to mr b----" the percipient had been identified, and confirms, as will be seen, this early narrative, which is as follows:- "on the evening of wednesday, october 24th, 1860, having retired to bed about nine o'clock, i had slept, i conclude, about two hours, making it then about eleven o'clock p.m. i was awoke from my sleep by a hand touching my forehead, and the well-known voice of mrs b---pronouncing my name, e----. i started up and sat in bed, rubbed my eyes, and then saw mrs b----. from the head to the waist the figure was distinct, clear, and well defined; but from the waist downwards it was all misty, and the lower part transparent. she appeared to be dressed in black silk. her countenance was grave and rather sad, but not unhappy. "the words she first uttered were: 'i have left dear john.' what followed related entirely to myself, and she was permitted by a most kind providence to speak words of mercy, promise, and comfort, and assurance that what i most wished would come to pass. she came to me in an hour of bitter mental agony, and was sent as a messenger of mercy...." occasionally there is a curious variant, when the phantasm is auditory and not visible. in the case published in "proceedings of the society for psychical research," vol. iii. p. 90, mr wambey heard a phantasmal voice as though in colloquy with his own thought. he was planning a congratulatory letter to a friend, when the words "what, write to a dead man? write to a dead man?" sounded clearly in his ears. the friend had been dead for some days. gurney was much impressed by the unexpectedly large proportion of cases where the percipient informed us that there had been a _compact_ between himself and the deceased person that whichever passed away first should try to appear to the other. "considering," he adds, "what an extremely small number of persons make such a compact, compared with those who do not, it is difficult to resist the conclusion that its existence has a certain efficacy." a characteristic case is thus reported by a mr bellamy: "when a girl at school my wife made an agreement with a fellow-pupil, miss w., that the one of them who died first should, if divinely permitted, appear after her decease to the survivor. in 1874 my wife, who had not seen or heard anything of her former school friend for some years, casually heard of her death. the news reminded her of her former agreement, and then, becoming nervous, she told me of it. i knew of my wife's compact, but i had never seen a photograph of her friend, or heard any description of her." (mr bellamy told gurney in conversation that his mind had not been in the least dwelling on the compact.) "a night or two afterwards, as i was sleeping with my wife, a fire brightly burning in my room and a candle alight, i suddenly awoke and saw a lady sitting by the side of the bed where my wife was sleeping soundly. at once i sat up in the bed and gazed so intently that even now i can recall her form and features. had i the pencil or the brush of a millais i could transfer to canvas an exact likeness of the ghostly visitant. i remember that i was much struck, as i looked intently at her, with the careful arrangement of her coiffure, every single hair being most carefully brushed down. how long i sat and gazed i cannot say, but directly the apparition ceased to be, i got out of bed to see if any of my wife's garments had by any means optically deluded me. i found nothing in the line of vision but a bare wall. hallucination on my part i rejected as out of the question, and i doubted not that i had really seen an apparition. returning to bed, i lay till my wife some hours after awoke, and then i gave her an account of her friend's appearance. i described her colour, form, etc., all of which exactly tallied with my wife's recollection of miss w. finally i asked, 'but was there any special point to strike one in her appearance?' 'yes,' my wife promptly replied, 'we girls used to tease her at school for devoting so much time to the arrangement of her hair.' this was the very thing which i have said so much struck me. such are the simple facts. "i will only add that till 1874 i had never seen an apparition, and that i have not seen one since. "arthur bellamy." the following case, from "proceedings," vol. viii. p. 178, bears a distinct resemblance to the old-fashioned ghost stories. mrs m., the informant, writes under date 15th december 1891: "before relating my experience of having seen a ghost, i should like my readers thoroughly to understand that i had not the slightest idea that the house in which my husband and i were living was haunted, or that the family residing there for many years before us had had any family troubles. the house was delightfully situated [etc.]. the house being partly new and partly old we occupied the old part for our sleeping apartments. there were two staircases leading to them, with a landing and window, adjoining a morning sitting-room. one night on retiring to my bedroom about 11 o'clock, i thought i heard a peculiar moaning sound, and someone sobbing as if in great distress of mind. i listened very attentively, and still it continued; so i raised the gas in my bedroom, and then went to the landing window of which i have spoken, drew the blind aside; and there on the grass was a very beautiful young girl in kneeling posture before a soldier, in a general's uniform, sobbing and clasping her hands together, entreating for pardon; but alas! he only waved her away from him. so much did i feel for the girl, that without a moment's hesitation i ran down the staircase to the door opening upon the lawn, and begged her to come in and tell me her sorrow. the figures then disappeared! not in the least nervous did i feel then;--went again to my bedroom, took a sheet of writing paper and wrote down what i had seen. [mrs m. has found and sent us this paper. the following words are written in pencil on a half sheet of notepaper:--"march 13th, 1886. have just seen visions on lawn:--a soldier in general's uniform,--a young lady kneeling to him. 11.40 p.m."] my husband was away from home when this event occurred, but a lady friend was staying with me, so i went to her bedroom and told her that i had been rather frightened by some noises;--could i stay with her a little while? a few days afterwards i found myself in a very nervous state; but it seemed so strange that i was not frightened at the time. "it appears the story is only too true. the youngest daughter of this very old proud family had had an illegitimate child; and her parents and relatives would not recognise her again, and she died broken-hearted. the soldier was a near relative (also a connection of my husband's); and it was in vain she tried to gain his--the soldier's--forgiveness. [in a subsequent letter sir x. y.'s career is described. he was a distinguished officer.] "so vivid was my remembrance of the features of the soldier that some months after the occurrence, when i happened to be calling with my husband at a house where there was a portrait of him, i stepped before it and said: 'why, look! there is the general!' and sure enough it _was_." in a subsequent letter mrs m. writes: "i did see the figures on the lawn after opening the door leading on to the lawn; and they by no means disappeared instantly, but more like a dissolving view--viz. gradually; and i did not leave the door until they had passed away. it was impossible for any real persons to act such a scene.... the general was born and died (in the house where i saw him).... i was not aware that the portrait of the general was in that room (where i saw it); it was the first time i had been in that room. the misfortune to the poor girl happened in 1847 or 1848." mrs m. then mentions that a respectable local tradesman hearing of the incident remarked: "that is not an uncommon thing to see _her_ about the place, poor soul! she was a badly used girl." mr m. writes as follows under date 23rd december 1891:- "i have seen my wife's letter in regard to the recognition of sir x. y.'s picture at ----. nothing was said by me to her on the subject; but knowing the portrait to be a remarkably good likeness i proposed calling at the house (which was that of a nephew of sir x. y.'s), being anxious to see what effect it would have upon my wife. immediately on entering the room she almost staggered back, and turned pale, saying--looking hard at the picture--'why, there's the general!' ... being a connection of the family i knew all about the people, but my wife was then a stranger, and i had never mentioned such things to her; in fact they had been almost forgotten." here is a case where the phantasm was visible to several persons at the same time. it is given by mr charles a. w. lett, of the military and royal naval club, albemarle street, w. "december 3rd, 1885. "on the 5th april 1873 my wife's father, captain towns, died at his residence, cranbrook, rose bay, near sydney, n. s. wales. about six weeks after his death my wife had occasion one evening about nine o'clock to go to one of the bedrooms in the house. she was accompanied by a young lady, miss berthon, and as they entered the room--the gas burning all the time--they were amazed to see, reflected as it were on the polished surface of the wardrobe, the image of captain towns. it was barely half figure, the head, shoulders, and part of the arms only showing--in fact, it was like an ordinary medallion portrait, but life-size. the face appeared wan and pale, as it did before his death, and he wore a kind of grey flannel jacket, in which he had been accustomed to sleep. surprised and half-alarmed at what they saw, their first idea was that a portrait had been hung in the room, and that what they saw was its reflection; but there was no picture of the kind. "whilst they were looking and wondering, my wife's sister, miss towns, came into the room, and before either of the others had time to speak, she exclaimed, 'good gracious! do you see papa?' one of the housemaids happened to be passing downstairs at the moment, and she was called in and asked if she saw anything, and her reply was, 'oh, miss! the master.' graham--captain towns' old body-servant--was then sent for, and he also immediately exclaimed, 'oh, lord save us! mrs lett, it's the captain!' the butler was called, and then mrs crane, my wife's nurse, and they both said what they saw. finally, mrs towns was sent for, and, seeing the apparition, she advanced towards it with her arm extended as if to touch it, and as she passed her hand over the panel of the wardrobe the figure gradually faded away, and never again appeared, though the room was regularly occupied for a long time after. "these are the simple facts of the case, and they admit of no doubt; no kind of intimation was given to any of the witnesses; the same question was put to each one as they came into the room, and the reply was given without hesitation by each. it was by the merest accident that i did not see the apparition. i was in the house at the time, but did not hear when i was called." "c. a. w. lett." "we the undersigned, having read the above statement, certify that it is strictly accurate, as we were both witnesses of the apparition. "sara lett, "sibbie smyth "(_née_ towns.)" "mrs lett assures me," wrote gurney, "that neither she nor her sister ever experienced a hallucination of the senses on any other occasion. she is positive that the recognition of the appearance on the part of each of the later witnesses was _independent_, and not due to any suggestion from the persons already in the room." the following, taken from the "report on the census of hallucinations," may belong to either the ante-mortem or post-mortem category:- "at redhill on thanksgiving day, between eight and nine in the evening, when i was taking charge of the little daughter of a friend, during my friend's absence on that evening, i left the child sleeping in the bedroom, and went to drop the blinds in two neighbouring rooms, being absent about three minutes. on returning to the child's room in the full light of the gas-burner from above i distinctly saw, coming from the child's cot, a white figure, which figure turned, looked me full in the face, and passed down the staircase. i instantly followed, leaned over the banisters in astonishment, and saw the glistening of the white drapery as the figure passed down the staircase, through the lighted hall, and silently through the hall door itself, which was barred, chained, and locked. i felt for the moment perfectly staggered, went back to the bedroom, and found the child peacefully sleeping. i related the circumstance to the mother immediately on her return late that night. she was incredulous, but said that my description of the figure answered to that of an invalid aunt of the child's. the next morning came a telegram to say that this relation who had greatly wished to see her niece had died between eight and nine the previous evening. "i had just put down the 'pickwick papers,' with which i had been whiling away the time, was free from trouble and in good health." sister bertha, superior of the house of mercy at bovey tracey, newton abbot, states: "on the night of november 10th, 1861, i was up in my bed watching, because there was a person not quite well in the next room. i heard a voice which i recognised at once as familiar to me, and at first thought of my sister. it said in the brightest and most cheerful tone, 'i am here with you.' i answered, looking and seeing nothing, 'who are you?' the voice said, 'you mustn't know yet.' i heard nothing more and saw nothing, and am certain that the door was not opened or shut. i was not in the least frightened, and felt convinced it was lucy's [miss lucy gambier parry's] voice. "i have never doubted it from that moment. i had not heard of her being worse. the last account had been good, and i was expecting to hear that she was at torquay. in the course of the next day (the 11th), mother told me that she had died on the morning of the 10th, rather more than twelve hours before i heard her voice." a case reported by mr john e. husbands, of melbourne house, town hall square, grimsby, is interesting: "i was sleeping in a hotel in madeira in january 1885. it was a bright moonlight night. the windows were open, and the blinds up. i felt someone was in my room. on opening my eyes i saw a young fellow about twenty-five, dressed in flannels, standing at the side of my bed, and pointing with the first finger of his right hand to the place where i was lying. i lay for some seconds to convince myself of someone being really there. i then sat up and looked at him. i saw his features so plainly that i recognised them in a photograph which was shown me some days afterwards. i asked him what he wanted. he did not speak, but his eyes and hands seemed to tell me that i was in his place. as he did not answer, i struck at him with my fist as i sat up, but did not reach him, and as i was going to spring out of bed he slowly vanished through the door, which was shut, keeping his eyes upon me all the time. upon inquiry i found that the young fellow who appeared to me died in the room i was occupying." there is, too, the famous case of mrs de fréville and the gardener bard. the percipient, who had formerly been in the employ of this somewhat eccentric lady, who was especially morbid on the subject of tombs and so forth, was in the churchyard of hinxton, saffron walden, on friday, 8th may 1885. he happened to look at the square de fréville stone vault, when, to his amazement, he distinctly saw the old lady, with a white face, leaning on the rails. when he looked again she was gone, although it puzzled him to know how she could have got out of the churchyard, as, in order to reach any of the gates, she must have passed him. next day he was told that mrs de fréville was dead. as the apparition was seen about seven and a half hours after death, it could, as i have suggested, be considered a telepathic impression transmitted at the moment of death and remaining latent in the brain of the percipient; otherwise, the case belongs to the category of haunting, which we will glance at in the next chapter. chapter vii on "hauntings" and kindred phenomena "do i believe in ghosts?" asks mr andrew lang. "one can only answer: 'how do you define a ghost?' i do believe, with all students of human nature, in hallucinations of one, or of several, or even of all the senses. but as to whether such hallucinations among the sane are ever caused by physical influence from the minds of others, alive or dead, not communicated through the ordinary channels of sense, my mind is in a balance of doubt. it is a question of evidence." if the evidence of "hauntings" were measurable by bulk alone, no phase of occultism would be more completely demonstrated. it is only when we come to examine the quality of the available data that we realise how formidable a task it is we have undertaken. in nothing, perhaps, have credulity and superstition been allowed so wide a scope; nowhere is it more difficult to winnow the grain of reliable testimony from the chaff of mythology and invention. for we must remember that the belief in ghosts is as old as the hills themselves. it is common to all countries and to all nations, and in the literature of every language are to be found tales of the supernatural scarcely less plausible than many which assail our ears to-day. what i now set myself to investigate is that class of phenomena seemingly attached to various localities and comprising, besides apparitions, sights and sounds of various kinds and degrees. according to mr e. t. bennett, for twenty years assistant secretary of the psychical research society, the records of the society contain descriptions of "a large number of cases in which the evidence of the reality of phenomena incapable of ordinary explanation is absolutely conclusive." when the sounds are intelligible, or a sentence is spelt out in response to the inquiry of the auditor, the _raison d'être_ of the manifestation is more or less obvious. but there is evidence of a large number of so-called "hauntings" where steps are heard, or noises which convey no intelligible information. sometimes, also, we are told that simultaneously with the death of a friend bangs have been heard, which, but for the coincidence of their occurrence in association with a death, are without meaning. m. flammarion cites several cases of this sort. the following will serve as an illustration:--[2] [footnote 2: it will be found on page 178 of "l'inconnu et les problemes psychiques."] m. e. deschaux relates that his grandfather "was awakened one evening at eleven p.m. by three very distinct raps on the door of his room. astonished, he rose, lit the lamp, opened the door, but saw no one. supposing that some trickster had been the cause of his disturbance, he returned to bed grumbling, but again three knocks were heard on the door. he got up quickly, intending that the culprit should pay dearly for his untimely joke, but in spite of careful search, both in the passage and on the staircase, he could not discover where this mysterious culprit had disappeared to. a third time, when he was again in bed, three raps were audible on the door. this time the grandfather had a presentiment that the sound was caused by the spirit of his mother, although nothing in the tidings he had previously received from his family incited him to this supposition. five or six days after this manifestation a letter arrived from his own country announcing the death of his mother which had occurred precisely at the hour at which he had heard the knocks. at the moment of her death, his mother, who had a particular affection for him, had insisted that a dress which her 'boy in paris' had some time before sent her as a present should be brought and placed on her bed." here we seem to have a distinct motive for the visitation; but on the other hand observe how many cases we come across where the phenomena appears to be due solely to the wanton and mischievous impulses of the invisible agents. there is for example the case of a house in which spiritual manifestations, often of a disturbing character, were continually being produced, related by mr inkster gilbertson in _the occult review_ on the authority of a west end physician who is called dr macdonald. the swish of a silk dress and the slamming of doors were among the least important of the phenomena from a psychical point of view, though the sound of someone coming through a skylight and dropping on to the landing was certainly calculated to terrify the ladies, who "came up from the drawing-room screaming and shouting, expecting to find some dreadful tragedy being enacted." these manifestations consisted entirely of sounds, but at the regular sittings which were held in the house a drawer was taken from its place in the bedroom and left on the hall stand, the loose wooden leaves which converted a billiard-table into a dining-table were slid off the end and deposited on the floor, and a screen was several times seen to fold itself up without being touched. the most peculiar occurrences, however, were the antics of certain keys belonging to doors in the house. "the door of the front bedroom was often found locked, and the key would disappear." the doctor kept his eye on the key and presently saw it move round, locking the door, and then "he saw the last of the key disappearing through the hole." at another time the lady of the house, her children, and the maid were locked in for some hours. "the key would be kept away for days; then it would suddenly appear. one day it was found in mrs macdonald's lap; once it was quietly laid on the doctor's head," and so forth. on one occasion when the key was not given up the doctor called out: "won't you send us down the key before we go?" they were passing down the stairs and, before they reached the bottom, the key was gently dropped on the doctor's head. the most careful observations failed to discover the known means by which the feats could be accomplished. the evidence of the intelligence and of the mischievous disposition of these uncanny tricksters was borne out by sounds of dancing being heard outside the door just afterwards. "the possible non-ghostly explanations," says mrs sidgwick, "of what pass as ghostly phenomena may be conveniently classed with reference to the various sorts of error by which the evidence to such phenomena is liable to be affected. i should state these as (1) hoaxing, (2) exaggeration or inadequate description, (3) illusion, (4) mistaken identity, (5) hallucination.... i think, however, that anyone who has read the evidence will at once discard the first of these alternatives so far as the great mass of the first-hand narratives is concerned." there are not a few cases, however, where the ghostly manifestations have been found to be due to human agency. the following instance was brought to my notice by a well-known firm of estate agents at tunbridge wells:- "there is an old manor house in this district which is locally known as the 'haunted house.' the original mansion was, according to hasted, one of the homes of the colepepers. in the reign of charles ii. the mansion was rebuilt in the style of the period. it has, however, outlived its purpose, is out of repair and was for many years let in tenements to labourers. it is now untenanted. some few months ago the lurid tales of ghostly visitors induced a local spiritualist, encouraged by some mischievous friends, to hold a _séance_ in the house at midnight, and to perambulate the rambling building from time to time during the night. the spirits lived up to their reputation and gave all kinds of manifestations which included streams of water from invisible buckets that met the investigator as he groped up the staircase and along the passages. in the end the whole thing was found to be a hoax and to have been organised by the spiritualist's friends. he is not communicative on the subject. the old house still stands empty and deserves a better fate." the classic case of haunting in england is, perhaps, that of willingdon mill. other spectre-ridden edifices in the kingdom there may well be, but their stories, however grim and ghastly, are apt to relapse into insignificance beside those narrated of this famous tyneside building. willingdon mill, which is situated in northumberland nearly half-way between newcastle and north shields, was built about the year 1800. when, thirty-four years later, certain unaccountable noises and other phenomena began to attract attention the occupants consisted of a worthy quaker, joseph proctor by name, his wife, servants and family. joseph proctor used to keep a diary wherein he chronicled the strange happenings in his house. the greater portion of this was published in _the journal of the society for psychical research_, vol. v., but full accounts of the affair have appeared in many publications, among which may be mentioned howitt's "visits to remarkable places," crowe's "night side of nature," "the local historian's table book," and stead's "real ghost stories." it was a servant girl that first called attention to the mysterious noises. she positively affirmed that she had heard "a dull heavy tread on the boarded floor of the room unoccupied above, commonly pacing backwards and forwards and, on coming over to the window, giving the floor such a shake as to cause the windows of the nursery to rattle violently in their frames." this disturbance usually lasted about ten minutes at a time. at first the girl's tale was discredited, but before many days had elapsed every member of the family had heard precisely what the girl described. the room was vigorously searched but no clue to the phantom footsteps was forthcoming. even the expedient of covering the floor with flour was without result; the "dull, heavy tread" left no traces upon the whitened boards. it was not long before other unaccountable noises were heard all over the house and ghostly figures were seen by several persons. to illustrate the kind of occurrence that was constantly going on in the house, and which, indeed, became so frequent that they were thought very little of, i quote the following extracts from joseph proctor's diary:- "7 mo., 14th, 1841:--j. and e. p. heard the spirit in their own room, and in the room overhead, making a noise as of something heavy being hoisted or rolled, or like a barrel set down on its end; also noises in the camproom of various and unaccountable character. * * * * * "8 mo., 3rd.--since the last night there have been few nights during which some branch of the family has not heard our visitor. one night, j. p. was awoke and heard something hastily walk, with a step like that of a child of 8 or 10 years, from the foot of the bed towards the side of the room, and come back seemingly towards the door, in a run; then it gave two stamps with one foot; there was a loud rustling as if of a frock or night-dress. i need scarcely say the door was locked, and i am quite certain there was no other human being in the room save e. p., who was asleep. the two stamps aroused e. p. out of her sleep. about this time joseph, on two or three occasions, said he had heard voices from underneath his bed and from other parts of the room, and described seeing on one occasion a boy in a drab hat much like his own, the boy much like himself too, walking backwards and forwards between the windows and the wardrobe. he was afraid, but did not speak. "noises as of a band-box falling close at hand, as of someone running upstairs when no one was there, and like the raking of a coal rake, were heard about this time by different members of the family." * * * * * "8 mo., 6th.--on the night of the third, just after the previous memorandum was written, about 10.30 p.m., the servants having all retired to bed, j. and e. p. heard a noise like a clothes horse being thrown down in the kitchen. soon the noises became louder and appeared as though some persons had burst into the house on the ground floor and were clashing the doors and throwing things down. eventually j. p. got one of the servants to go downstairs with him, when all was found right, no one there, and apparently nothing moved. the noises now began on the third storey, and the servants were so much alarmed that it was difficult to get them to go to bed at all that night. * * * * * "8 mo., 6th to 12th.--my brother-in-law, george carr, was with us. he heard steppings and loud rumblings in the middle of the night, and other noises." a curious feature in this case was the number of apparitions seen. thus we have clear testimony of the presence of a lady in a lavender silk dress, of an old bald-headed man in a flowing robe like a surplice, of a lady in grey, and of a horrid eyeless spectre who glared fixedly at the world through empty eyeholes. added to these there were animals of all sorts and descriptions, cats, monkeys, rabbits and sheep. "on one occasion, during the period that thomas was courting mary, he was standing at the window outside (no followers being allowed inside, lest fabulous reports were sent abroad). he had given the usual signal. the night was clear, and the stars beamed forth their light from a cloudless sky. suddenly something appeared which arrested my father's attention. looking towards the mill, which was divided from the house by an open space, he beheld what he supposed was a whitish cat. it came walking along in close proximity to his feet. thinking miss puss very cheeky he gave her a kick; but his foot felt nothing and the cat quietly continued its march, followed by my father, until it suddenly disappeared from his gaze. still the ghost was not thought of by him. returning to the window and looking in the same direction, he again beheld it suddenly come into existence. this time it came hopping like a rabbit, coming quite as close to his feet as before. he determined to have a good rap at it, and took deliberate aim; but, as before, his foot went through it and felt nothing. again he followed it, and it disappeared at the same spot as its predecessor. the third time he went to the window, and in a few moments it made its third appearance, not like unto a cat or a rabbit, but fully as large as a sheep, and quite luminous. on it came and my father was fixed to the spot. all muscular power seemed for the moment paralysed. it moved on, disappearing at the same spot as the preceding apparitions. my father declared that if it was possible for 'hair to stand on end' his did just then. thinking that for once he had seen sufficient, he went home, keeping the knowledge of this scene to himself." it is not to be wondered at if the queer doings at willingdon mill began to be rumoured abroad. they reached the ears of a certain dr edward drury of sunderland, who was, not unnaturally, rather sceptical. he asked and obtained permission to sit up alone in the house one night accompanied only by his faithful dog and with a pair of pistols in his pocket. his opportunity came in july, 1840, when all the family, with the exception of joseph proctor himself, was away from the mill. the night was fruitful with horror, and the following letter addressed to the miller nearly a week after the event tells its own tale:- "monday morning, "6th july, 1840. "_to_ mr proctor. "dear sir,--i am sorry i was not at home to receive you yesterday, when you kindly called to inquire for me. i am happy to state that i am really surprised that i have been so little affected as i am after that horrid and most awful affair. the only bad effect i feel is a heavy dulness in one of my ears--the right one. i call it a heavy dullness, because i not only do not hear distinctly but feel in it a constant noise. this i never was affected with before; but i doubt not it will go off. i am persuaded that no one went to your house at any time _more disbelieving in respect to seeing anything peculiar_; now no one can be more satisfied than myself. i will, in the course of a few days, send you a full detail of all i saw and heard. mr spence and two other gentlemen came down to my house in the afternoon to hear my detail; but, sir, could i account for these noises from natural causes, yet, so firmly am i persuaded of the horrid apparition, that i would affirm that what i saw with my eyes was a punishment to me for my scoffing and unbelief; that i am assured that, as far as the horror is concerned, they are happy that believe and have not seen ... it will be a great source of joy to me if you never allow your young family to be in that horrid house again. hoping you will write a few lines at your leisure, i remain, dear sir, yours very truly, "edward drury." to this letter the sturdy quaker sent a characteristic reply. "willingdon, "7th mo., 9, 1840. "respected friend, e. drury,--have been at sunderland, i did not receive thine of the 6th till yesterday morning. i am glad to hear thou art getting well over the effects of thy unlooked-for visitation. i hold in respect thy bold and manly assertion of the truth in the face of that ridicule and ignorant conceit with which that which is called the supernatural, in the present day, is usually assailed. "i shall be glad to receive thy detail, in which it will be needful to be very particular in showing that thou couldst not be asleep, or attacked by nightmare, or mistake a reflection of the candle, as some sagaciously suppose. i remain, respectfully, thy friend, "josh. proctor. "_p.s._--i have about thirty witnesses to various things which cannot be satisfactorily accounted for on any other principle than that of spiritual agency." four days later dr drury wrote out a full account of his experience. "sunderland, "13th july 1840. "dear sir,--i hereby, according to promise in my last letter, forward you a true account of what i saw and heard at your house, in which i was led to pass the night from various rumours circulated by most respectable parties, particularly from an account by my esteemed friend, mr davison, whose name i mentioned to you in a former letter. having received your sanction to visit your mysterious dwelling, i went, on the 3rd of july, accompanied by a friend of mine, t. hudson. this was not according to promise, nor in accordance with my first intent, as i wrote you i would come alone; but i felt gratified at your kindness in not alluding to the liberty i had taken, as it ultimately proved for the best. i must here mention that, not expecting you at home, i had in my pocket a brace of pistols, determining in my mind to let one of them drop before the miller, as if by accident, for fear he should presume to play tricks upon me; but after my interview with you, i felt there was no occasion for weapons, and did not load them, after you had allowed us to inspect as minutely as we pleased every portion of the house. i sat down on the third storey landing, fully expecting to account for any noises that i might hear, in a philosophical manner. this was about eleven o'clock p.m. about ten minutes to twelve we both heard a noise, as if a number of people were pattering with their bare feet upon the floor; and yet, so singular was the noise, that i could not minutely determine from whence it proceeded. a few minutes afterwards we heard a noise, as if someone was knocking with his knuckles among our feet; this was followed by a hollow cough from the very room from which the apparition proceeded. the only noise after this, was as if a person was rustling against the wall in coming upstairs. at a quarter to one i told my friend that, feeling a little cold, i would like to go to bed, as we might hear the noise equally well there; he replied he would not go to bed till daylight. i took up a note which i had accidentally dropped and began to read it, after which i took out my watch to ascertain the time, and found that it wanted ten minutes to one. in taking my eyes from the watch they became riveted upon a closet door, which i distinctly saw open, and saw also the figure of a female attired in greyish garments, with the head inclining downwards, and one hand pressed upon the chest as if in pain, and the other--viz. the right hand--extended towards the floor, with the index finger pointing downward. it advanced with an apparently cautious step across the floor towards me; immediately as it approached my friend, who was slumbering, its right hand was extended towards him; i then rushed at it, giving, as mr proctor states, a most awful yell; but instead of grasping it i fell upon my friend, and i recollected nothing distinctly for nearly three hours afterwards. i have since learned that i was carried downstairs in an agony of fear and terror. * * * * * "i hereby certify that the above account is strictly true and correct in every respect. "edward drury." so intolerable became life in this uncanny house that, in 1847, joseph proctor and his family moved to south shields. for the last night of their residence was reserved a more than usually turbulent demonstration. "there were," says mr edmund proctor, "continuous noises during the night, boxes being apparently dragged with heavy thuds down the now carpetless stairs, non-human footsteps stumped on the floors, doors were, or seemed to be, clashed, and impossible furniture corded at random or dragged hither and thither by inscrutable agency; in short, a pantomimic or spiritualistic repetition of all the noises incident to a household flitting. a miserable night my father and mother had of it, as i have often heard from their own lips; not so much from terror at the unearthly noises, for to these they were habituated, as dread lest this wretched fanfaronade might portend the contemporary flight of the unwelcome visitors to the new abode. fortunately for the family this dread was not realised." after undergoing various vicissitudes, the house was finally divided into small tenements, in which condition it still remains. but of late years nothing has been seen or heard of the ghostly visitors. perhaps, smitten with dismay by the deterioration of their former dwelling-place, they have taken up their abode elsewhere. for willingdon mill, formerly gay with flowers and creepers, is now a wreck of its former self. the mill is used as a warehouse; the stables and outhouses have been pulled down; while the house stands out gaunt and forbidding, a picture of desolation and decay. mr w. t. stead, in his "real ghost stories," has given us many thrilling examples of nocturnal apparitions, and of these the uncanny experience of the rev. h. elwyn thomas, of 35 park village east, n. w., is well worth repeating. mr thomas, after having conducted a service at the church at llangynidr, accompanied three young friends of his for about half-a-mile on their homeward way. "when i wished good-night to my friends, it was about twenty minutes to nine, but still light enough to see a good distance. the subject of our conversation all the way from the chapel until we parted was a certain eccentric old character who then belonged to the crickhowell church. many laughable incidents in his life had been related by my friends for my amusement, at which i laughed heartily again and again. i walked a little farther down the road than i intended, in order to hear the end of a very amusing story about him and the vicar of a neighbouring parish. our conversation had no reference whatever to ghosts or ghostly things. neither were we in the mood befitting a ghostly visitation. personally i was a strong disbeliever in ghosts, and invariably ridiculed those who i then thought superstitious enough to believe in them. "when i had walked about a hundred yards away from my friends i saw on the bank of the canal (which runs parallel with the road for six or seven miles) what i thought at the moment was an old beggar. the spot was a very lonely one. the nearest house was a good quarter of a mile away. the night was as silent as death. not a single sound broke upon the silence from any quarter. i could not help asking myself where this old man had come from to such a place. i had not seen him in going down the road. "i then turned round quite unconcernedly to have another look at him, and had no sooner done so than i saw within half-a-yard of me one of the most remarkable and startling sights i hope it will ever be my lot to see. almost on a level with my own face i saw that of an old man, over every feature of which the putty-coloured skin was drawn tightly, except the forehead which was lined with deep wrinkles. the lips were extremely thin, and appeared perfectly bloodless. the toothless mouth stood half open. the cheeks were hollow and sunken like those of a corpse, and the eyes, which seemed far back in the middle of the head, were unnaturally luminous and piercing. this terrible object was wrapped in two bands of old yellow calico, one of which was drawn under the chin and over the cheeks and tied at the top of the head, the other was drawn round the top of the wrinkled forehead and fastened at the back of the head. so deep and indelible an impression it made on my mind, that were i an artist i could paint that face to-day, and reproduce the original (excepting, perhaps, the luminous eyes) as accurately as if it were photographed. "what i have thus tried to describe in many words, i saw at a glance. acting on the impulse of the moment, i turned my face again towards the village, and ran away from the horrible vision with all my might for about sixty yards. i then stopped and turned round to see how far i had outdistanced it, and, to my unspeakable horror, there it was still face to face with me, as if i had not moved an inch. i grasped my umbrella and raised it to strike him, and you can imagine my feelings when i could see nothing between the face and the ground except an irregular column of intense darkness, through which my umbrella went as a stick goes through water! "i am sorry to confess that i again took to my heels with increasing speed. a little farther than the place of this second encounter, the road which led towards my host's house branched off the main road, the main road itself running right through the centre of the village, in the lower end of which it ran parallel with the churchyard wall. having gone a few yards down the branch road, i reached a crisis in my fear and confusion when i felt i could act rationally: i determined to speak to the strange pursuer whatever he was, and i boldly turned round to face him for the third time, intending to ask him what he wanted, etc., "he had not followed me after i left the main road, but i could see the horribly fascinating face quite as plainly as when it was close by. it stood for two or three minutes looking intently at me from the centre of the main road. i then realised fully it was not a human being in flesh and blood; and with every vestige of fear gone i quickly walked towards it to put my questions. but i was disappointed, for no sooner had i made towards it than it moved quickly in the direction of the village. i saw it moving along, keeping the same distance from the ground, until it reached the churchyard wall; it then crossed the wall, and disappeared near where the yew-tree stood inside. the moment it disappeared i became unconscious. when i came to myself, two hours later, i was lying in the middle of the road, cold and ill. it took me quite an hour to reach my host's house, which was less than half-a-mile away, and when i reached it i looked so white and strange that my host's daughter, who had sat down with her father to wait my return, uttered a loud scream. i could not say a word to explain what had happened, though i tried hard several times. it was five o'clock in the morning when i regained my power of speech; even then i could only speak in broken sentences. the whole of the following week i was laid up with great nervous prostration. "the strangest part of my story remains yet to be told. my host, after questioning me closely in regard to the features of the face, the place i had first seen it and the spot where it disappeared, told me that fifteen years before that time an old recluse, answering in every detail to my description (calicoes, bands and all), lived in a house whose ruins still stand close by where i first saw it, that he was buried in the exact spot in the churchyard where i saw the face disappearing, and that he was a very strange character altogether. "i should like to add that i had not heard a syllable about this old man before the night in question, and that all the persons referred to in the above story are still alive." here is a curious story which recently attracted my attention in _light_. the narrator is a colonel x. "when i was a young chap i was on guard at the tower. one night the sentry came to tell me that there was something very extraordinary going on in the white chapel, which, in those days, was used as a storeroom. "i went out with him, and we saw the windows lit up. we climbed up and looked in, and saw a chapter with an altar brilliantly lit up, and presently priests in vestments and boys swinging silver censers came in and arranged themselves before an altar. then the large entrance doors opened and a procession of persons in old quaint costumes filed in. walking alone was a lady in black, and behind her was a masked man, also in black, who carried an axe. while we looked it all faded away, and there was utter darkness. "of course, i talked about this vision everywhere and got so laughed at that i resolved to keep it to myself. one day a gentleman introduced himself as the keeper of the records of the tower, and said that he had heard my story, but wished to hear it again from my own lips; and when i had told it he remarked: 'strange to say, that very same vision has been seen by someone every thirty years since anne boleyn's death.'" it not infrequently happens that houses reputed to be haunted figure in a court of law. the late dr frederick lee, in "sights and shadows," gives an account of such a case which occurred in ireland in the year 1890. "a house on the marsh at drogheda had been let by its owner, miss weir, to a mr and mrs kinney, at an annual rental of £23. "the last-named persons took possession of it in due course; but two days subsequently they became aware of the presence of a spirit or ghost in their sleeping chamber, which, as mrs kinney asserted, 'threw heavy things at her,' and so alarmed and inconvenienced her, that in a very short period both husband and wife were forced to quit their abode. "this they did shortly after they had taken possession of it; and, because of occurrences referred to, were legally advised to decline to pay any rent. the landlady, however, refusing to release them from their bargain, at once claimed a quarter's rent; and when this remained for sometime unpaid, sued them for it before judge kisby. "a solicitor, mr smith, of drogheda, appeared for the tenants, who, having given evidence of the facts concerning the ghost in question, asked leave to support their sworn testimony by that of several other people. this, however, was disallowed by the judge. "it was admitted by miss weir that nothing either on one side or the other had been said regarding the haunting when the house was let; yet that the rent was due and must be paid. "a judgment was consequently entered for the landlady although it had been shown indirectly that unquestionably the house had the reputation of being haunted, and that previous tenants had been much inconvenienced and affrighted." another case is chronicled which took place in dublin in 1885. dr lee's account is confirmed by _the evening standard_ of february 23rd of that year. "mr waldron, a solicitor, sued his next-door neighbour, one kiernan, a mate in the merchant service, to recover £500 for damages done to his house. kiernan altogether denied the charges, but asserted that waldron's residence was notoriously haunted. witnesses proved that every night from august 1884, to january 1885, stones were thrown at the windows and doors and other serious damage done--in fact that numerous extraordinary and inexplicable occurrences constantly took place. "mrs waldron, wife of the plaintiff, swore that one night she saw one of the panes of glass of a certain window cut through with a diamond, and a white hand inserted through the hole. she at once caught up a bill-hook and aimed a blow at the hand, cutting off one of the fingers. neither this finger, however, could be found nor were any traces of blood seen. "a servant of hers was sorely persecuted by noises and the sound of footsteps. mr waldron, with the aid of detectives and policemen, endeavoured to find the cause, but with no avail. the witnesses in this case were closely cross-examined, but without shaking their testimony. the facts appeared to be proved, so the jury found for kiernan, the defendant. at least twenty persons had testified on oath to the fact that the house had been known to have been haunted." the possible agency of small boys in the matter of stone-throwing is apparently overlooked, while it can be easily imagined that a servant girl, well aware of the uncanny reputation of the house she lived in, would very soon develop a capacity for hearing mysterious sounds and footsteps on the smallest provocation. then again the testimony of the plaintiff's wife was surely very damaging to her own case since she was, presumably, endeavouring to prove that the whole of the "extraordinary and inexplicable occurrences" were due to some mad freak on the part of her neighbour. on the whole i can find no class of occult phenomena of greater antiquity and persistence than that of haunting. even though the ghost may not be as visible as that of hamlet's father, yet the idea of a perturbed spirit revisiting its former haunts or the scene of its bodily murder finds credence amongst all peoples and epochs in the world's history. fable is usually the dulled image of the truth: just as what we call presentiment or rumour is a kind of aura or van-wind of truth. on these grounds alone i should be inclined to take the legendary evidence for haunting seriously, just as every man who investigates its astonishing history now perceives that witchcraft is not to be dismissed as a mere groundless superstition. indeed, i lay it down as a proposition that any belief which spontaneously and universally arises and persistently survives must have truth in the web of it. but the modern authentic testimony for haunting is so clear and strong and the attestors so clear-headed and indeed inexpugnable that we must really believe the physical sounds, with their revealed significance, actually occurred and do occur. hallucination i put here out of the question. neither will the theory of telepathy between the living serve to account for anything here. there is some other solution of the mystery. has it been propounded? we shall see. cock lane is not now to be dismissed derisively. nor are these manifestations to be treated in the spirit of one of the characters in mr wells' "love and mr lewisham"--"even if it be true--it is all wrong." chapter viii the dowsing or divining rod no serious inquirer into the mysteries of occultism should neglect to study the peculiar human faculty locally known as dowsing. science has hitherto turned a cold shoulder to the skilled wielders of the divining rod, and at first sight perhaps few subjects appear to be so little worthy of investigation. to begin with it is a matter of common geological knowledge that the mode of distribution of underground water is very different from that imagined by the professional dowser. the latter will locate a spring in a certain spot and give you scrupulous details as to its depth and the amount of water it will yield. he may go on to tell you that a few feet distant is another spring, of a totally different depth, and that between the two no water will be found. the assertions are ridiculed by the practical geologist, whose point of view is admirably expressed in the following letter. the writer is the rev. osmond fisher, m.a. (author of "physics of the earth's crust"). "harlton rectory, cambridge, "february 4th, 1896. "it appears to me that the assumption which underlies the belief in the divining rod is erroneous. it is only under exceptional circumstances, as among crystalline rocks, or where the strata are much disturbed, that underground water runs in channels like water in a pipe, so that a person can say, 'i am now standing over a spring,' whereas a few paces off he was not over one. what is called a spring, such as is reached in a well, is _usually_ a widely extended water-saturated stratum. ordinarily where water can be reached by a well, there are few spots [in the neighbourhood] where a well would not find it. "the question which is really worthy of investigation in this and similar cases seems to be how such an idea ever originated and to what it owes its vitality." from the geologist's point of view, then, the so-called "diviner" is the merest charlatan, who, so far as the finding of water or mineral veins is concerned, would be equally successful were he to substitute the dice-box or the coin for his more usual implement the hazel wand. it is, he argues, a matter of guessing--and nothing more. the question becomes complicated when we remember that among the ardent devotees of the "rod" are to be numbered country squires, m.p.'s, doctors, clergymen, and farmers, who would have nothing to gain by pretending to a power which they did not possess. the society for psychical research has devoted a considerable amount of attention to the subject. so far back as 1884 a paper on "the divining rod," prepared by mr e. r. pease, was read at a general meeting of the society. the following is an abstract:- "the divining rod is a v-shaped twig, commonly of hazelwood, but sometimes of steel watchspring, whalebone and other substances. it first came into use about three centuries ago, and during the seventeenth century it was the subject of much controversy and of numerous experiments by the learned men of the time. many theories were proposed to explain its action, but none of them would now be regarded as plausible, and various test experiments which were made uniformly failed. in 1701, the inquisition condemned the use of the rod, and after this date the popularity of divining greatly diminished. in the seventeenth century it was used to discover murderers and thieves, buried treasures, lost boundaries, and other hidden objects, as well as metals and water springs. at present it appears to be chiefly used in the west of england for the discovery of water springs, and in america for oil wells and mines. mr e. vaughan jenkins, of cheltenham, has made and presented to the society for psychical research a very valuable collection of evidence of its use in england for locating wells. he has communicated with various well-known 'diviners,' and has received direct from landowners, architects, builders, commercial firms and others, careful records of the successful choosing of well sites by diviners in places where professional geologists or local experts were hopeless of success. it seems also that diviners travel about the country and 'dowse' in localities new and strange to them.... the divining rod is always held in a position of extreme tension, and at the same time of unstable equilibrium. slight muscular contractions produce violent and startling effects. it would seem therefore that the action of the rod may be caused by unconscious movements of the diviner's hands, due possibly to a sensation of chill on reaching water-bearing spots, or perhaps merely to an unwritten practical science of the surface signs of hidden water." mr pease eventually came to the conclusion that "the evidence for the success of dowsing as a practical art is very strong--and there seems to be an unexplained residuum when all possible deductions have been made." fifty years ago dr mayo, f.r.s., came to a similar conclusion after exhaustive experiments with the divining rod, both in england and abroad, and in 1883, dr r. raymond, the distinguished secretary of the american institute of mining engineers, summed up the result of his investigations in the following opinion:--"that there is a residuum of scientific value, after making all necessary deductions for exaggeration, self-deception and fraud" in the use of the divining rod for finding springs and deposits of ore. in 1892, professor w. f. barrett, yielding to the earnest request of the council of the society for psychical research, began an investigation of the matter. it was with considerable reluctance that professor barrett undertook the work, since, as he has told us, his own prejudice against the subject was not less than that of others. he hoped, however, that a few weeks' work would enable him to relegate it "into a limbo large and broad, since called the paradise of fools." six years later professor barrett presented to the society a voluminous report, which occupies a considerable part of two volumes of the "proceedings." embodied in this report, which is a veritable masterpiece of patient and indefatigable research, is a mass of evidence so vast that it is only possible to pick out a case here and there at random. the following case was sent by miss grantham:- "100 eaton square, london, s.w., "february 1st, 1893. "my father (judge grantham) was going to dig a well on one of his farms. the rev. j. blunt was then residing in our parish, and as he had previously told us he was able to discover the presence of water underground by means of a twig, we asked him to go with us one day to see if he could find water. mr b. began by cutting a twig out of the hedge, of hazel or blackthorn, v-shaped, each side about eight inches long, then taking hold of one end in each hand between the thumb and first finger, and pointing the angle to the ground, he walked about the field in which my father proposed digging a well, and at two spots the point of the twig turned right up, exactly reversing its previous position; in fact so strong was its impulse to point upwards, that we found that unless mr b. relaxed his hold the twig broke off near his fingers. we put small sticks in these spots, and then took a boy about twelve years old who was in mr b.'s employment, and who had since quite a child shown that he possessed this power, over the same ground; he had not seen the spots at which mr b.'s twig found water, neither did we point them out to him, but at these places his twig behaved in the same way as mr b.'s. my father, mother, and four or five others, then cut similar twigs out of the hedge, but with none of us would they divine water. my father then took mr b. over some ground where he knew of the existence of an underground stream; he did not tell mr b. this, but directly mr b. passed over the places the twig again turned upwards as it had done before. a well has since been dug at one of the spots in the first field where the twig indicated water, and it was found at the depth of fifteen feet. mr b. and the boy both said that they did not feel any abnormal influence whatever when the twig divined water. "emma l. grantham." another case (from somersetshire) is quoted from in _the western gazette_ of 10th february 1893. evercreech is at the foot of the mendips. "a well has recently been sunk on the premises of messrs w. roles & son, of evercreech junction, on the site of the proposed milk factory. mr henry smart, head gardener at pennard house, was successful with the divining twig (or rod), and a well was sunk to a depth of 60 feet, when a spring was found which yielded no less than 15,000 gallons of water in ten hours. water came at such a rate that a powerful pump had to be erected temporarily by messrs hill & son, of bruton, and was kept working day and night in order to keep the water down for the purpose of walling (the well). at the present time there is 50 feet of water in the well, the supply increasing daily." professor barrett wrote to messrs roles to know if a well had been sunk previously, and if the above statement was correct. they reply that the account is quite correct, and add: "we had previously sunk a well without the use of the rod, to nearly the same depth, but it was _unsuccessful_. six yards from this useless well the diviner found the spring which now yields enough to supply a small village if required." the rev. martin r. knapp, m.a., vicar of holy trinity, dalston, writes to professor barrett as follows:- "72 forest road, dalston, n.e., "november 14th, 1896. "in the summer of 1892, i entered on the vicarage of north wootton in north somerset, and had reason at once to look for water. i was advised to try a 'water-finder,' and did so. the dowser was a retired miller, and came provided with a number of forked twigs. holding one he traversed the place, and at certain points the twig oscillated violently in his hands, and there, he professed, he should find water. "there was an interesting sidelight in the matter that i will tell you of. my builder, who came from bath, was very sceptical about the whole thing. three or four of us who were on the spot tried to see if the twigs would 'play up' with us. "we were unsuccessful till this man tried his hand, scoffing the while. but directly that he came to the spots the dowser had found the twig showed vigorous signs of animation. when his hand was being twisted in his efforts to keep the twig steady, i cried to him to hold fast, with the result that the twig twisted itself into two pieces. "at wells, close by, lived a coachman, who was reported to have the power to find, not only water but minerals. he carries neither rod nor twig, and told me when i inquired, that his sensations are undoubted and extraordinary whenever he is directly above either water or minerals. "martin r. knapp." in answer to inquiries mr knapp informed professor barrett the builder was a stranger to the locality, and the spots where the rod moved were unlikely to suggest water below. the twig in the builder's hand, mr knapp says, in every case corroborated the dowser's indications, and hence he (the builder) was unmercifully chaffed, as he had treated the whole thing with such contempt. mr knapp says it is possible that the places indicated by the dowser might have been perceived by the builder, but it was the spontaneous and vigorous movement of the twig, evidently contrary to the holder's intention and against his will, that excited their astonishment. dr hutton, f.r.s., the distinguished mathematician--to whom the royal society entrusted the gigantic labour of making an abridgment of the whole of the transactions of the royal society from its foundation in 1666 to the beginning of this century--gives the following account of his experiments with the divining rod as used by lady milbanke:- "at the time appointed (eleven a.m., 30th may 1806) the lady, with all her family, arrived at my house on woolwich common, where, after preparing the rods, etc., they walked to the grounds, accompanied by the individuals of my own family and some friends, when lady milbanke showed the experiment several times in different places, holding the rod in the manner described elsewhere. in the places where i had good reason to know that no water was to be found the rod was always quiescent, but in other places, where i knew there was water below the surface, the rods turned slowly and regularly in the manner above described, till the twigs twisted themselves off below the fingers, which are considerably indented by so forcibly holding the rod between them.[3] "all the company stood close to lady m. with all eyes intensely fixed on her hands and the rods to watch if any particular motion might be made by the fingers, but in vain; nothing of the kind was perceived, and all the company could observe no cause or reason why the rods should move in the manner they were seen to do. "after the experiments were ended, everyone of the company tried the rods in the same manner as they saw lady m. had done, but without the least motion from any of them. and in my family, among ourselves, we have since then, several times, tried if we could possibly cause the rod to turn by means of any trick or twisting of the fingers, held in the manner lady milbanke did, but in vain; we had no power to accomplish it." [footnote 3: dr hutton does not say _how_ he knew that water was, or was not, below the surface. he was not, however, one likely to make loose and random statements. according to a footnote in _the quarterly review_, vol. xxii. p. 374, it appears that the ground chosen for the experiment was a field dr hutton had bought, adjoining the new college at woolwich, then building.] the following is a remarkable case, and an important one from an evidential point of view. it is not known whether the "diviner" in this case was an amateur or not; he is now dead. _the bristol times and mirror_ of 16th june 1891 states: "the anglo-bavarian brewery at shepton mallet needed a large water supply; accordingly excavations had been made to find water, but without success. about two years since, during an exceptionally dry season, it became absolutely necessary to obtain a further supply of brewing water; hence several boring experiments were made on the property. at the suggestion of a gentleman in the locality, the services of a 'diviner' were obtained, and although the principal members of the firm professed to have no faith in his 'art,' yet he was allowed to try the fields on the company's property, and those on the neighbouring estate, and discovered the well now used by the brewery.... the soothsayer who carried the divining rod, a hazel branch, was mr charles sims, a local farmer, and a notable discoverer of wells in the district. operations were immediately commenced, and, after excavating and dynamiting through the rock, to the depth of fifty feet, a magnificent spring was discovered in a fault of the rock, which proved to be of exceptionally fine water, and of even a finer quality than the town's supply." professor barrett wrote to the secretary of the brewery to make inquiries and he replied as follows:- "shepton mallet, somersetshire, "september 12th, 1896. "replying to your letter in regard to a local diviner, we had one of the name of sims, from pilton, who successfully denoted a spot on our ground where we have had an abundant supply of water since. this was some eight years ago. "the writer of this letter also has had some considerable experience with mr lawrence of bristol, who was one of the most noted divining rod men in the west of england. he also was successful in denoting a supply for a bristol brewery with which the writer was connected; and in numerous other instances in the neighbourhood. mr lawrence bore a very high reputation. we believe he died a few months ago at a ripe old age. "the anglo-bavarian brewery ltd., "j. clifford, "_manager_." having written to ask if a previous boring had been made, and if so, what depth, and with what result, the following reply was received:- "shepton mallet, somersetshire, "september 18th, 1896. "replying to yours of the 14th, a boring was carried out to the extent of some 140 feet _without success_ on another portion of our premises, before it was successfully done at the spot indicated by the water finder; here, a well was sunk and abundant water obtained at a depth of 40 feet. "the anglo-bavarian brewery ltd., "j. clifford, "_manager_." in the following case, the best advice was obtained and some £1000 spent fruitlessly searching for an underground spring prior to the dowser's visit. the first notice of it appeared in a local newspaper, _the west sussex times and sussex standard_, from which the following letter is reprinted:- "warnham lodge, horsham, "january 3rd, 1893. "having had very great difficulty in the supply of water to this house, i sent for john mullins, of colerne, near chippenham, who, by the aid of a twig of hazel, pointed out several places where water could be found. i have sunk wells in four of the places and it each case have been most successful. "it may be said that water can be found anywhere--this is not my experience. i have had the best engineering advice and have spent many hundreds of pounds, and hitherto have not obtained sufficient water for my requirements, but now i have an abundant supply. "i certainly should not think of sinking another well without previously consulting john mullins. "henry harden." it is sometimes urged that only springs yielding a limited supply of water are found by dowsers, who fix on spots where more or less surface water can be got from shallow wells rather than run the risk of sinking a deep well. many of the cases already cited refute this notion, and the following bears on the same point. it is from messrs beamish & crawford, the well-known brewers, of cork. "cork porter brewery, cork, "december 30th, 1896. "in reply to your letter of 26th inst., we beg to state: "1. we had an old well yielding a small supply of water. it was about 30 feet deep. "2. no new well was fixed on by mullins. he bored down to a depth of about 60 feet below the bottom of the old well, and therefore about 90 feet below the surface of the ground. "3. the supply of water now obtained from the new pipes sunk by mullins is, as nearly as we can estimate, about 10,000 gallons per hour. "beamish & crawford ltd." it goes without saying that professional dowsers are not always successful in their quests. "i am inclined," states professor barrett, "to think we may take from ten to fifteen per cent. as the average percentage of failures which occur with most english dowsers of to-day, allowing a larger percentage for partial failures, meaning by this that the quantity of water estimated and the depth at which it is found have not realised the estimate formed by the dowser." what then is the secret of the dowser's often remarkable success? the question is whether, after making every allowance for shrewdness of eye, chance, coincidence, and local geological knowledge, the dowser has any instinctive or supernormal power of discovering the presence of underground water. professor barrett, who has perhaps devoted more time to the subject than any other man living, is inclined to answer in the affirmative. "there appears to be evidence," he writes, "that a more profound stratum of our personality, glimpses of which we get elsewhere in our 'proceedings,' is associated with the dowser's art; and the latter seems to afford a further striking instance of information obtained through automatic means being more remarkable than, and beyond the reach of, that derived from conscious observation and inference." in another passage he adds: "for my own part, i have been driven to believe that some dowsers- "whose exterior semblance doth belie the soul's immensity" nevertheless give us a glimpse of "the eternal deep haunted for ever by the eternal mind." chapter ix mediumistic phenomena in my inquiry so far the reader will note that i have taken one thing for granted--the fact of telepathy. in order to convince him to the extent to which this great scientific truth has convinced me, it would be necessary for me to lead him through a thousand pages of evidence for telepathic phenomena, attested by some of the leading physicists of the day. i am aware that there are still sceptics on the subject of telepathy, but the testimony is overwhelming, and every year sees the ranks of scepticism growing thinner. not many years ago a very learned man, the late professor von helmholtz, although confronted with _prima-facie_ evidence of thought transference or telepathy, declared: "i cannot believe it. neither the testimony of all the fellows of the royal society, nor even the evidence of my own senses, would lead me to believe in the transmission of them from one person to another. it is clearly impossible." an opinion in these terms is very rare to-day. we are apt to express our incredulity in language far more guarded and less emphatic. about hallucinations, however, there is no scepticism. we have remarked sensory hallucinations of an occasional nature; we now come to regard them as a cult, for i suppose there is no manifestation in the world, no gift, no prodigy even, that is not prone to the fate of being exploited for particular ends. a poet, we will say, by some rare "subliminal uprush," produces a beautiful poem. he is at once chained to his desk by publishers and compelled to go on producing poetry for the rest of his life. it is inevitable that many of his manifestations will be false; and for that reason, in spite of an occasional jewel of truth, he runs serious risks of being denounced in the end as no poet. i have no doubt it is the same with the producers or the agents of occult phenomena. sensory hallucinations may be stimulated. they may be stimulated by intoxication and disease, or they may be stimulated by the morbid conditions of a spiritualistic _séance_. everything in these conditions--the prolonged darkness, the emotional expectancy--promotes the peculiar frame of mind apparently requisite. constant exercise--perpetual aspiration develops the power of seeing visions. after a time, in well-known cases, they appear to need no inducement to come spontaneously. one well-known medium, mr hill tout, confesses that building and peopling _chateaux en espagne_ was a favourite occupation of his in his earlier days. this long-practised faculty is doubtless a potent factor in all his characterisations, and probably also in those of many another full-fledged medium. hallucinations need not be visual only; they are frequently auditory. miss freer gives an account of one induced by merely holding a shell to the ear. there is another case of a young woman in whom auditory hallucinations would be excited on hearing the sound of water running through a tap. given the basis of actual sound, the hallucinable person quickly causes it to become articulate and intelligible. thus, is it unreasonable to suppose that the vague, nebulous lights seen at dark _séances_ would furnish the raw material, so to speak, for sense deception? thus, we have the basis and beginning, from one point of view, of modern spiritualism. but before we examine the question of clairvoyance or trance utterances of spiritualistic mediums we must first of all go into the subject of physical phenomena. * * * * * so-called physical phenomena are a comparatively modern excrescence on the main growth. it is only within the last half-century that they have attained any considerable development. the faith in the communion and intervention of spirits originated before their appearance and will probably outlast their final discredit. at the best, whatever effect they may have had in advertising the movement with the vulgar, they seem to have exerted only a subsidiary influence in inducing belief with more thoughtful men and women. these physical phenomena consist chiefly of table rapping, table moving, ringing of bells, and various other manifestations for which a normal cause is not apparent. for a long time, in the early days of modern spiritualism, the cult was chiefly confined to "miracles" of this sort. one of its most notable props was the manifestations, long continued and observed by many thousands, of the famous daniel dunglas home. it is fifty years ago now since home came to england and began his _séances_, which were attended by lord dunraven, lord brougham, sir d. brewster, robert owen, bulwer lytton, t. a. trollope, garth wilkinson, and others. for thirty years home was brought before the public as a medium, dying in 1886. he seems to have been an amiable, highly emotional man, full of generous impulses, and of considerable personal charm. his frankness and sincerity impressed all those who came in touch with the man. mr andrew lang has called him "a harold skimpole, with the gift of divination." home dealt with both clairvoyance and physical manifestations. ostensibly through him came an enormous number of messages purporting to proceed from the dead friends of certain of those attending the _séances_. in the records of these _séances_ will be found the signed statements of dr garth wilkinson, dr gully, mr and mrs s. c. hall, the present earl of dunraven, earl of crawford, dr hawksley, mrs nassau senior, mr p. p. alexander, mr perdicaris, and others, that they had received messages giving details of a private nature that it seemed in the last degree probable could be known to the medium. home's manifestations were for the most part those which any attendant at a spiritualistic _séance_ can witness for himself to-day. the room he used was, compared with those used by other mediums who insisted on complete darkness, well lighted, as he had a shaded lamp, a gas-burner, or one or two candles lighted. the manifestations generally began with raps; then followed a quivering movement of the table, which one present described as like "the vibration on a small steamer when the engines begin to work"; by another as "a ship in distress, with its timbers straining in a heavy sea." then, suspended in the air, the table would float, and in its shelter musical instruments performing could be heard; the sitters could feel their knees being clasped and their dresses pulled; many things would be handed about the circle, such as handkerchiefs, flowers, and even heavy bells. during the performance messages were rapped out by the spirits, or delivered through the mouth of the medium. in this respect, where intelligence is shown, they would partake of the nature of trance utterance, a thing to be analysed later. * * * * * robert bell, a dramatist and critic, having been present at one of these _séances_, acknowledged that he had seen things which he was satisfied were "beyond the pale of material experiences." after describing various manifestations, hands felt under the table, touching the knees, and pulling the clothes, bells rung by invisible agency, and various articles thrown about the room, he proceeds to describe "levitation": "mr home was seated next the window. through the semi-darkness his head was dimly visible against the curtains, and his hands might be seen in a faint white heap before him. presently he said, in a quiet voice, 'my chair is moving--i am off the ground--don't notice me--talk of something else,' or words to that effect. it was very difficult to restrain the curiosity, not unmixed with a more serious feeling, which these few words awakened; but we talked, incoherently enough, upon some different topic. i was sitting nearly opposite mr home, and i saw his hands disappear from the table, and his head vanish into the deep shadow beyond. in a moment or two more he spoke again. this time his voice was in the air above our heads. he had risen from his chair to a height of four or five feet from the ground. as he ascended higher he described his position, which at first was perpendicular, and afterwards became horizontal. he said he felt as if he had been turned in the gentlest manner, as a child is turned in the arms of a nurse. in a moment or two more he told us that he was going to pass across the window, against the grey, silvery light of which he would be visible. we watched in profound stillness, and saw his figure pass from one side of the window to the other, feet foremost, lying horizontally in the air. he spoke to us as he passed, and told us that he would turn the reverse way and recross the window, which he did. his own tranquil confidence in the safety of what seemed from below a situation of the most novel peril gave confidence to everybody else; but with the strongest nerves it was impossible not to be conscious of a certain sensation of fear or awe. he hovered round the circle for several minutes, and passed, this time perpendicularly, over our heads. i heard his voice behind me in the air, and felt something lightly brush my chair. it was his foot, which he gave me leave to touch. turning to the spot where it was on the top of the chair, i placed my hand gently upon it, when he uttered a cry of pain, and the foot was withdrawn quickly, with a palpable shudder. it was evidently not resting on the chair, but floating; and it sprang from the touch as a bird would. he now passed over to the farthest extremity of the room, and we could judge by his voice of the altitude and distance he had attained. he had reached the ceiling, upon which he made a slight mark, and soon afterwards descended and resumed his place at the table. an incident which occurred during this aerial passage, and imparted a strange solemnity to it, was that the accordion, which we supposed to be on the ground under the window close to us, played a strain of wild pathos in the air from the distant corner of the room." a well-known physician, dr gully, who was present at this _séance_, wrote confirming the account in _the cornhill magazine_ given by the above writer. during the ensuing forty years mediumistic performances became of common and almost daily occurrence in this country. two or three forms of so-called spirit manifestation--such as materialisation, spirit photography, and slate-writing--afterwards became connected with many of the _séances_. but first the manifestations in daylight consisted of raps and tiltings of a table; afterwards, when the lights were turned out or turned very low, spirit voices, touches of spirit hands, spirit lights, spirit-born flowers, floating musical instruments, and moving about or levitation of the furniture. until sir william crookes began to investigate the alleged spiritualistic phenomena, all investigation had been undertaken by persons without scientific training. after a year of experiments he issued a detailed description of those conducted in his own laboratory in the presence of four other persons, two of whom, sir william huggins and sergeant fox, confirmed the accuracy of his report. the result was that he was able to demonstrate, he said, the existence of a hitherto unknown force, and had measured the effect produced. at all events, these inquirers were convinced of the genuineness of home's powers. suppose we glance at the possible alternative--viz. that home was a conjurer of consummate skill and ingenuity. for one of the physical phenomena, that of tilting a table at a precarious angle without displacing various small objects resting on its polished surface, mr podmore suggests an explanation. he thinks that the articles were probably held in position on the table when it was tilted by means of hairs and fine threads attached to home's dress. he has various explanations for other of the phenomena, but he confesses that there remain a few manifestations which the hypothesis of simple trickery does not seem to fit. in going over a mass of evidence relating to home, the hypothesis of conjuring seems to be rather incredible; when one bears in mind home's long career as a medium, how his private life was watched by the lynx-eyed sceptics, eager to pounce upon the evidence of trickery, and that he was never detected, it certainly seems to me, at all events, that home's immunity from exposure is strong evidence against the assumption of fraud. home was merely the type of a large class of mediums purporting to be controlled by spirit power, whose _séances_ are a feature of modern life. certain experiments of sir william crookes with home came very near to satisfying the most stringent scientific conditions, especially those in the alteration in the weight of a board. in these experiments one end of the board was on a spring balance and the other rested on a table. the board became heavier or lighter as home placed his fingers on the end resting on the table and "willed" it, and the different weights were recorded by an automatic register. this effect might have been produced, says mr podmore, by using a dark thread with a loop attached to some part of the apparatus--possibly the hook of the spring balance--and the ends fastened to home's trousers. but this particular trick does not seem to have occurred to those experimenting, and the description of the _séances_ does not exclude it. suggesting an explanation of an event does not prove that it so occurred, and mr podmore adds: "it is not easy to see how the investigators ... could have been deceived, and repeatedly deceived, by any device of the kind suggested." one of the most remarkable of daniel dunglas home's manifestations occurred on 16th december 1868, at 5 buckingham gate, london. there were present the master of lindsay (now the earl of crawford), viscount adare (the present earl of dunraven), and captain wynne. the master of lindsay has recorded the circumstances, as follows:- "i was sitting with mr home and lord adare and a cousin of his. during the sitting mr home went into a trance, and in that state was carried out of the window in the room next to where we were, and was brought in at our window. the distance between the windows was about seven feet six inches, and there was not the slightest foothold between them, nor was there more than a twelve-inch projection to each window, which served as a ledge to put flowers on. we heard the window in the next room lifted up, and almost immediately after we saw home floating in air outside our window. the moon was shining full into the room; my back was to the light, and i saw the shadow on the wall of the window-sill, and home's feet about six inches above it. he remained in this position for a few seconds, then raised the window and glided into the room feet foremost and sat down." here is lord adare's account of the central incident: "we heard home go into the next room, heard the window thrown up, and presently home appeared standing upright outside our window; he opened the window and walked in quite coolly." captain wynne, writing to home in 1877, refers to this occasion in the following words: "the fact of your having gone out of the one window and in at the other i can swear to." it is surely not a little remarkable that an occurrence of so extraordinary a nature should be testified to by three such clear-headed men as captain wynne and lords lindsay and adare. to cross from one window to another by ordinary means was clearly impossible, and it would be a brave conjurer indeed who would essay such a feat at a distance of eighty-five feet from the ground. what then is the explanation? mr podmore suggests that the three witnesses were the victims of a collective hallucination; but this theory is not easy to accept, and mr andrew lang has heaped it with ridicule. "there are," he writes, "two other points to be urged against mr podmore's theory that observers of home were hallucinated. the society's records contain plenty of 'collective, so-called telepathic hallucinations.' but surely these hallucinations offered visionary figures of persons and things not present in fact. has mr podmore one case, except home's, of a collective hallucination in which a person actually present is the hallucination; floats in the air, holds red-hot coals and so forth--appears outside of the window, for instance, when he is inside the room? of course, where conjuring is barred. again, home's marvels are attested by witnesses violently prejudiced against him, and (far from being attentively expectant) most anxious to detect and expose him." if the case of home presents difficulties to the rational sceptic, that of william stainton moses, who died in 1892, presents an even harder problem. i will refer to moses later when we come to discuss clairvoyance, but at first his mediumistic powers were manifested in physical phenomena. he was a clergyman and a scholar, an m.a. of oxford, and for nearly eighteen years english master in university college school. he was held in esteem and even affection by all who were most intimately associated with him. yet moses was responsible for table rapping, levitation of furniture, playing of musical instruments and "apports"--the latter term expressing the movement or introduction of various articles either by the request of the sitters or spontaneously, such as books, stones, shells, opera-glasses, candle-sticks, and so forth. all this began in 1872, and the phenomena observed at the various _séances_ were carefully recorded by the medium's friends, dr and mrs speer, c. t. speer, and f. w. percival. it must be borne in mind that moses was in his thirty-third year before he suspected mediumistic powers. there have been any number of hypotheses to account for the physical phenomena furnished at these _séances_. jewels, cameos, seed pearls, and other precious things were brought and given to the sitters. scent was introduced; familiar perfumes--such as sandalwood, jasmine, heliotrope, not always recognised--were a frequent occurrence at these _séances_. occasionally it would be sprayed in the air, sometimes poured into the hands of the sitters, and often it was found oozing from the medium's head and even running down. in mrs speer's diary for 30th august there is the following record:- "many things were brought from different parts of the house through the locked door this evening. mr s. m. was levitated, and when he felt for his feet they were hanging in mid-air, while his head must have almost touched the ceiling." dr speer also records a "levitation" on 3rd december: "mr m. was floated about, and a large dining-room chair was placed on the table." mrs speer tells us that they sat in the fire-light, and that the _séances_ were held in more or less complete darkness. moses' own account of the levitation is much fuller. he says that he was fully conscious that he was floating about the room, and that he marked a place on the wall with a pencil, which was afterwards found to be more than six feet from the floor. subsequently musical sounds became a feature of the manifestations. in september 1874 mrs speer gives a list of them, mentioning ten or more different kinds, including the tambourine, harp, fairy-bells, and many stringed instruments, and ascribes their production to eight different spirits. in the early materialisations of stainton moses we find that hands, and occasionally the fore arm, were seen holding lights. these spirit lights are described as hard, round, and cold to the touch. in his description of one incident at a _séance_ moses himself pens a significant passage, which seems to confirm the suspicion that the spirit lights were really bottles of phosphorised oil: "suddenly there arose from below me, apparently under the table, or near the floor, right under my nose, a cloud of luminous smoke, just like phosphorus. it fumed up in great clouds, until i seemed to be on fire, and rushed from the room in a panic. i was fairly frightened, and could not tell what was happening. i rushed to the door and opened it, and so to the front door. my hands seemed to be ablaze, and left their impress on the door and handles. it blazed for a while after i had touched it, but soon went out, and no smell or trace remained.... there seemed to be no end of smoke. it smelt distinctly phosphoric, but the smell evaporated as soon as i got out of the room into the air." such candour disarms us: can there be any ground for the theory that here was a case of self-deception on a large scale? or is there yet an alternative explanation? perhaps we shall discover one. chapter x more physical phenomena what we have to remember is that by far the greater part of the physical phenomena which is said to occur at a _séance_ is really nothing extraordinary. all physical occurrences are normal that are capable of being produced by a clever conjurer; and there is no doubt that with due preparation such a one could achieve table rapping, introduce flowers and move furniture. but the problem is, how, under the stringent conditions imposed, and in the face of the close scrutiny, to which these manifestations are subjected, they can be done. as sir oliver lodge says: "i am disposed to maintain that i have myself witnessed, in a dim light, occasional abnormal instances of movement of untouched objects." he goes on to say that "suppose an untouched object comes sailing or hurtling through the air, or suppose an object is raised or floated from the ground, how are we to regard it? this is just what a live animal could do, and so the first natural hypothesis is that some living thing is doing it: (_a_) the medium himself, acting by tricks or concealed mechanism; (_b_) a confederate--an unconscious confederate perhaps, among the sitters; (_c_) an unknown and invisible live entity, other than the people present. if in any such action the extraordinary laws of nature were superseded, if the weight of a piece of matter could be shown to have _disappeared_, or if fresh energy were introduced beyond the recognised categories of energy, then there would be no additional difficulties; but hitherto there has been no attempt to establish either of these things. indeed, it must be admitted that insufficient attention is usually paid to this aspect of ordinary, commonplace, abnormal physical phenomena. if a heavy body is raised under good conditions, we should always try to ascertain" (he does not say that it is easy to ascertain) "where its weight has gone to--that is to say, what supports it--what ultimately supports it. for instance, if experiments were conducted in a suspended room, would the whole weight of that room, as ascertained by outside balance, remain unaltered when a table or person was levitated inside it? or, could the agencies operating inside affect the bodies outside?--questions, these, which appear capable of answer, with sufficient trouble, in an organised physical laboratory; such a laboratory as does not, he supposes, yet exist, but which might exist and which will exist in the future, if the physical aspect of experimental psychology is ever to become recognised as a branch of orthodox physics." recently, dr maxwell, of paris, published his researches and observations on physical phenomena, and he states that under "material and physical phenomena" are comprised (1) raps; (2) movements of objects (_a_) without contact, or (_b_) only with such contact as is insufficient to effect the particular movement in question; (3) "apports"--_i.e._ the production of objects by some supernormal agency; (4) visual phenomena--_i.e._ the appearance of lights and of forms, luminous or otherwise, including among the latter the class of alleged phenomena known as materialisations, and (5) phenomena leaving some permanent trace, such as imprints or "direct" writings or drawings, etc. under the class of "intellectual phenomena" may be included such occurrences as automatic writing, table tilting, etc. as regards raps dr maxwell hazards certain conclusions, of which he says the most certain is the close connection of the raps with the muscular movements on the part of the sitters. every muscular movement, even a slight one, appears to be followed by a rap. thus if, without anyone necessarily touching the table, one of the sitters frees his hand from the chain made round the table by others, moves it about in a circle over the surface of the table, then raises it in the centre and brings it down towards the table, stopping suddenly within a few inches of it, a rap will be produced on the table corresponding with the sudden stoppage of the hand. similarly, a rap will be produced by a pressure of the foot on the floor, by speaking, by blowing slightly, or by touching the medium or one of the sitters. raps produced in this way by the sitters are often stronger than those produced by the medium himself. dr maxwell suggests as a working hypothesis that there is a certain accumulated force, and that if its equilibrium be suddenly disturbed by the addition of the excess of energy required for the movement, a discharge takes place producing the effect. dr maxwell has made a series of experiments with eusapia paladino. "it was about five o'clock in the evening," he writes, "and there was broad daylight in the drawing-room at l'aguélas. we were standing around the table. eusapia took the hand of one of our number and rested it on the right-hand corner of the table. the table was raised to the level of our foreheads--that is, the top reached a height of at least four and three-quarter feet from the floor.... it was impossible for eusapia to have lifted the table by normal means. one has but to consider that she touched but the corner of the table to realise what the weight must have been had she accomplished the feat by muscular effort. further, she never had sufficient hold of it. it was clearly impossible for her, under the conditions of the experiment, to have used any of the means suggested by her critics--straps, or hooks of some kind." most of the phenomena discussed by dr maxwell were obtained through the mediumship of eusapia paladino. he was a member of the committee which met in 1896 to investigate this medium, who had just concluded the series of performances held under the auspices of the society at cambridge, which were entirely unfavourable to her claims. the french committee was made aware of the fraudulent devices which the cambridge investigators claimed to have discovered. he recommends all who believe that dr hodgson and his cambridge colleagues have had the last word in the controversy to read the report which will be found in the _annales des psychiques_, for 1896. the english sitters arrive at conclusions in direct conflict with those of the french, who claim that they had long known of the tricks "discovered" at cambridge, and in consequence took means to guard against them. dr maxwell indicts the cambridge way of controlling the medium, which he says consisted, for a time at least, in affording the medium opportunities to cheat to see if she would avail herself of them. opportunities of which she took the fullest advantage. nevertheless, dr maxwell offers but little encouragement for the theory of spiritualistic agency. "i believe," he says, "in the reality of certain phenomena, of which i have repeatedly been a witness. i do not consider it necessary to attribute them to a supernatural intervention of any kind, but am disposed to think that they are produced by some force existing within ourselves." in the same way as certain psychical phenomena, such as automatic writing, trance, "controls," crystal vision, and so forth, in which an intelligence seems to be present independent of the intelligence of the medium, can be shown beyond dispute to be merely manifestations of his subliminal intelligence, frequently taking the form of a dramatic personification; so may the agency, revealing itself in raps, movements of objects, and other phenomena of a physical character, perhaps be traceable, not to any power external to the medium and the sitters, but merely to a force latent within themselves, and may be an exteriorisation in a dynamic form, in a way not yet ascertained, of their collective subliminal capacities. however strange new and unknown facts may be, we need not fear they are going to destroy the truth of the old ones. would the science of physics be overthrown if, for example, we admit the phenomenon of "raps"--_i.e._ audible vibrations in wood and other substances--is a real phenomenon, and that in certain cases there may be blows which cannot be explained by any mechanical force known to us? it would be a new force exercised on matter, but none the less would the old forces preserve their activity. pressure, temperature, and the density of air or of wood might still exercise their usual influence, and it is even likely that the transmission of vibrations by this new force would follow the same laws as other vibrations. in the opinion of the leading members of this society, some of the physical phenomena which have been adduced as among those proclaimed to have occurred, such as "apports," scent, movement of objects, passage of matter through matter, bear a perilous resemblance to conjuring tricks, of a kind fairly well known; which tricks if well done can be very deceptive. hence extreme caution is necessary, and full control must be allowed to the observers--a thing which conjurers never really allow. sir oliver lodge says that he has never seen a silent and genuinely controlled conjurer; and in so far as mediums find it necessary to insist on their own conditions, so far they must be content to be treated as conjurers. for instance, no self-registering thermometer has ever recorded the "intense cold" felt at a _séance_. flowers and fruit have made their appearance in closed rooms, but no arsenic has penetrated the walls of the hermetically sealed tube. various investigators have smelt, seen, and handled curious objects, but no trace has been preserved. we have to depend on the recollection of the observer's passing glimpse of spirit lights, of the hearing of the rustle of spirit garments, the touch, in the dark, of unknown bodies. exquisite scents, strange draperies, human forms have appeared seemingly out of nothing, and have returned whence they came unrecorded by photography, unweighed, unanalysed. briefly, then, the result of my carefully formed judgment is that a large part of the physical phenomena heard, seen, felt at the average spiritualistic _séance_ must be placed on a level with ordinary conjuring. to return to the recent case of eusapia paladino. a number of english scientists, interested in the reports of her _séances_, induced her to come to england and repeat them at cambridge. every effort was made to make the experiments as satisfactory as possible. they used netting for confining the medium or separating her from objects which they hoped would move without contact; different ways of tying her were tried; also sufficient light was used in the _séance_ room. she refused to submit to any of these conditions. the investigators pressed her at each sitting to allow some light in the room, and they long persevered in making the control in every case as complete as she would allow it to be. she permitted a very faint light usually at the beginning, but before long she insisted on complete darkness, and until the lights were extinguished the touches were never felt. the sitters then held the medium, the only method of control allowed, as firmly and continuously as possible. this she resisted, and then every form of persuasion was used, short of physical force, to induce her to submit. but she was allowed to take her own way without remonstrance when the sitters were convinced of the constant fraud practised. it is only fair to state that recent experiments on the continent have convinced a number of leading scientists of the genuineness of eusapia paladino's powers, and the conclusions arrived at by the cambridge investigators are condemned as hasty and premature. but, even of the other class, those who have lent themselves to the conditions of the investigator, while admitting the bona-fides of the medium, we are by no means prepared to regard them as necessarily the result of the action of disembodied spirits. nor do many leading spiritualists themselves. for, as we have just seen, there is still another explanation for supernormal physical movements. may there not be an unknown, or at least an unrecognised, extension of human muscular faculty? such a hypothesis is no more extravagant than would have been the hypothesis of the hertzian waves or a prediction of wireless telegraphy a few short years ago. this is not all. we must remember that there is a mass of phenomena which cannot lightly be explained away by glib references to unknown extensions of muscular faculty. of such is the fire ordeal, one of the most inexplicable and best attested of the manifestations presented by daniel dunglas home. the evidence is abundant and of high quality, the witnesses of undoubted integrity, and, from the nature of the experiment, the illuminations of the room were generally more adequate than in the case of the levitations and elongations. on one occasion, home thrust his hand into the fire, and bringing out a red-hot cinder laid it upon a pocket-handkerchief. when at the end of half-a-minute it was removed, the handkerchief was quite free from any traces of burning. not content with handling glowing embers himself, home would hand them on to others present at the _séance_, who were generally able to receive them with impunity. this effectually disposes of the theory formulated by an ingenious critic that home was in the custom of covering his hands with some fire-proof preparation as yet unknown to science! even if home possessed and used such a preparation he would find considerable difficulty in transferring it to the hands of his spectators. here is an account of a _séance_ which took place on the 9th may 1871. after various manifestations, two out of the four candles in the room were extinguished. home went to the fire, took out a piece of red-hot charcoal, and placed it on a folded cambric pocket-handkerchief which he borrowed for the purpose from one of the guests. he fanned the charcoal to white heat with his breath, but the handkerchief was only burnt in one small hole. mr crookes, who was present at the _séance_, tested the handkerchief afterwards in his laboratory and found that it had not been chemically prepared to resist the action of fire. after this exhibition- "mr home again went to the fire, and, after stirring the hot coal about with his hand, took out a red-hot piece nearly as big as an orange, and putting it on his right hand, so as almost completely to enclose it, and then blew into the small furnace thus extemporised until the lump of charcoal was nearly white hot, and then drew my attention to the lambent flame which was flickering over the coal and licking round his fingers; he fell on his knees, looked up in a reverent manner, held up the coal in front, and said, 'is not god good? are not his laws wonderful?'" among those who have left on record their testimony to this manifestation are lord lindsay, lord adare, h. d. jencken, w. m. wilkinson, s. c. hall, etc. etc. as the great mathematician professor de morgan once wittily and wisely wrote: "if i were bound to choose among things which i can conceive, i should say that there is some sort of action of some combination of will, intellect, and physical power, which is not that of any of the human beings present. but, thinking it very likely that the universe may contain a few agencies--say, half-a-million--about which no man knows anything, i cannot but suspect that a small proportion of these agencies--say, five thousand--may be severally competent to the production of all the phenomena, or may be quite up to the task among them. the physical explanations which i have seen are easy, but miserably insufficient; the spiritual hypothesis is sufficient, but ponderously difficult. time and thought will decide, the second asking the first for more results of trial." it is inconceivable that such a man as stainton moses--a hard-working parish priest and a respected schoolmaster--should deliberately have entered upon a course of trickery for the mere pleasure of mystifying a small circle of acquaintances. the whole course of his previous life, his apparently sincere religious feeling, all combine to contradict such a supposition. neither is it credible that such a petty swindler would have carried out his deceptions to the end, and have left behind fresh problems, the elucidation of which his eyes could never behold. chapter xi the materialisation of "ghosts" if much of the physical phenomena just described be well within the scope of natural possibility, it is somewhat otherwise with the class of manifestations i shall now touch upon. it is one thing to exert consciously or unconsciously, as home, cook, paladino, moses and other mediums have done, in the presence of scientifically trained witnesses, unknown and supernormal muscular power. table rapping, levitation, "apports," may all be genuine enough and accounted for in a manner which, if not wholly satisfying, is at least not unreasonable. but when those assisting at a _séance_ actually behold with their eyes and touch with their hands, and even photograph with a camera, the materialised objects of the spirits with whom the medium is in communion, the pulse of the inquirer quickens. he is now indeed approaching the crucial problem, the crowning achievement of spiritualism. for although in a former chapter we have the testimony of people who saw "ghosts," these ghosts might, to my mind, clearly be the result of telepathy. they appear on special occasions at important and significant crises, but the claim of the spiritualistic medium is that he can casually, and on the demand of one of the circle, produce a visible, tangible figure of a deceased husband, wife, parent, or friend. this materialisation is wholly a recent species of manifestation. one of the first to testify to having seen a materialised figure at a _séance_ was the well-known s. c. hall, who recognised during one of home's _séances_ the figure of his deceased sister. other mediums repeated the feat, and shadowy forms and faces began to appear and move about during their dark _séances_. it is a suspicious fact that in some cases these forms, made visible by a faintly luminous vapour, were accompanied by an odour of phosphorus. sceptics naturally took great advantage of the alleged circumstance. soon, however, a new medium, florence cook, was rumoured to have produced materialised forms in a good light which baffled all the sceptics. miss cook claimed to be "controlled" by a spirit known under the name of "katie." we have this account from a writer who early attended to examine the mystery fairly: "in a short time, however, katie--as the familiar of miss b. was termed--thought she would be able to 'materialise' herself so far as to present the whole form, if we arranged the corner cupboard so as to admit of her doing so. accordingly we opened the door, and from it suspended a rug or two opening in the centre, after the fashion of a bedouin arab's tent; formed a semicircle; sat and sang longfellow's 'footsteps of angels.' therein occurs the passage, 'then the forms of the departed enter at the open door.' and, lo and behold! though we had left miss b. tied and sealed to her chair and clad in an ordinary black dress somewhat voluminous as to the skirts, a tall, female figure, draped classically in white, with bare arms and feet, did enter at the open door, or rather down the centre from between the two rugs, and stood statuelike before us, spoke a few words, and retired; after which we entered the bedouin tent and found pretty miss b. with her dress as before, knots and seals secure, and her boots on! this was form no. 1, the first i had ever seen. it looked as material as myself; and on a subsequent occasion--for i have seen it several times--we took four very good photographic portraits of it by magnesium light. the difficulty i still felt, with the form as with the faces, was that it seemed so thoroughly material and flesh-and-blood-like." it is not my intention to speak of the multitude of early materialisations. as mr podmore points out, at these manifestations practically no precautions were taken against trickery. there was nothing, so far as can be discovered, to throw any hindrance in the way of the medium, if she chose, impersonating the spirit by exhibiting a mask through the opening of the curtain or by dressing herself up and walking about the room. nor were there any collateral circumstances to justify belief in the genuineness of the manifestations. nevertheless, miss cook's claims attracted the attention of sir william crookes. he attended several _séances_--one, once, at the house of mr luxmoor, when "katie" was standing before him in the room. he had distinctly heard from behind the curtain the sobbing and moaning habitually made by miss cook during such _séances_. at another _séance_, held at his own house, 12th march 1874, "katie," robed in white, came to the opening of the curtain and summoned him to the assistance of her medium. the man of science instantly obeyed the call, and found miss cook, attired in her ordinary black velvet dress, prone on the sofa. on another occasion he declares he saw two forms together in a good light; more than this, he actually procured a photograph of "katie." but of this i will speak later, when i come to discuss spirit photography. one of the most noted materialising mediums of to-day is charles miller, of san francisco, of whom a certain professor reichel has recently written a lengthy account. miller's _séances_ are described as very conclusive. at the first one, after miller had retired into the cabinet, "the curtain was pulled aside, showing the medium asleep, and six fully developed phantoms standing beside him. two spoke german to friends from their native land," and one discussed matters of a private nature with professor reichel. similar occurrences were many times repeated, and dematerialisations were often "made before the curtain, in full view of the sitters" and "in ample light to observe everything." professor reichel says: "in the _séances_ with mr miller i heard the spirits speak in english, french, and german, but i have been assured repeatedly that in a _séance_ of seventy-five persons, representing many of the various nationalities in san francisco, twenty-seven languages were spoken by materialised spirits, addressing different sitters." equally good results were obtained in a room taken at the palace hotel, for a special testsetting, the results of which were communicated to colonel de rochas, and again when mr miller visited the professor at los angeles. the following incidents are of special interest, as throwing light on the forces made use of in the production of the phenomena, and in reference to allegations of fraud or personation:- "a sitting took place at noon. before it began, and while miller was standing in front of the cabinet, i heard 'betsy's' voice whisper: 'go out for a moment into the sun with the professor.' accordingly i took mr miller by the arm, and together we went out into the sunshine. after a few moments we returned, and at the moment we entered the dark room the writer, as well as everyone else present, saw mr miller completely strewn with a shining, white, glittering, snowlike mass, that entirely covered his dark cheviot suit. this singular occurrence had been witnessed repeatedly--even when the medium had not previously been in the sun. at such times it appeared gradually after the room had been darkened." this snowlike mass the author regards as "the white element of magnetism, which the phantoms use in their development." he also says: "in another _séance_ held by miller, 'betsy' told me that she would show me something that often happened in _séances_ with other materialisation mediums--namely, that the medium himself frequently appeared disguised as a spirit. she asked me to come to the curtain, where she told me that the medium himself would come out draped in white muslin, and the muslin would then suddenly disappear. this was verified. when the medium came out in his disguise, i grasped him by the hand, and like a flash of lightning the white veiling vanished." reichel quotes kiesewetter to the effect that in these cases "there is a kind of pseudo-materialisation, in which the medium, in hypnosis, walks in a somnambulistic condition, playing the part of the spirit, in which case the mysterious vanishing of the spiritual veilings points to an incipient magical activity on the part of the _psyche_." large numbers of miller's materialisations were photographed, showing, besides the fully materialised forms, "several spirits who could not be seen with the physical eyes, one of whom was immediately recognised." * * * * * the experiments of sir william crookes and others by mr cromwell varley, with various mediums, supply us with the best proof we have that medium and spirit possess separate identities. of course there were, and are still, numerous so-called exposures of mediums in the act of materialisation. on other occasions the materialised form has been seized and found to be the medium himself. a typical incident of this kind was the exposure of the mediums william and rita, which took place in amsterdam, under circumstances which made it difficult for the most hardened believer to lay all the blame upon the spirits. the incident took place in the rooms of a spiritualist; the members of the circle were spiritualists; and it was aggrieved and indignant spiritualists who made the facts public. suspicion had been aroused; one of the sitters clutched at the spirit form of "charlie," and grasped rita by the coat collar. up to this point, no doubt, the spiritualist theories already referred to were elastic enough to cover the facts. but when the mediums were searched there were found in their pockets or hidden in various parts of their clothing--on rita a nearly new beard, six handkerchiefs, assorted, and a small, round scent bottle, containing phosphorised oil, bearing a resemblance all too convincing to "charlie's" spirit lamp; on williams a dirty black beard, with brown silk ribbon, and several yards of very dirty muslin--the simple ingredients which represented the spiritual make-up of the repentant pirate, john king--together with another bottle of phosphorised oil, a bottle of scent, and other "properties." but we have not to deal here with the obviously fraudulent features of modern spiritualism. years ago mr h. w. harrison summed up the position. he pointed out that there were two classes of so-called materialisations: (1) forms with flexible features, commonly bearing a strong resemblance to the medium, which move and speak. these are the forms which come out when the medium is in the cabinet; (2) forms with features which are inflexible and masklike (the epithet is not mr harrison's) and which do not move about or speak. such inflexible faces are seen chiefly when the medium is held by the sitters, or is in full view of the circle. mr harrison then continues: "we have patiently watched for years for a living, flexible face, in a good light, which face bore no resemblance to that of the medium, and was not produced on his or her own premises. hitherto this search has been prosecuted without success. mr a. r. wallace and mr crookes have witnessed a great number of form manifestations, without once recording that off the premises of the medium they have seen a living, flexible, materialised spirit-form bearing no resemblance to the sensitive. neither has mr varley made any such record." * * * * * the presumption must be one of fraud, especially when conditions are laid down which serve to prevent full investigation. i have before me the printed conditions of a north london spiritualistic society: "as a member of the society you must bear in mind that you will be bound _in honour_ to accept all the rules laid down by our spirit controls, and by the leader of the meeting, as to the conditions under which the meetings are held, such as the darkened room, the holding of hands so as to form a strongly magnetic ring in front of the medium, etc.--and it is interesting to note that the great mesmer, when he was conducting his experiments in magnetism more than one hundred years ago, had discovered the advantage of 'a circle' formed in this way, for he writes: 'the power of magnetism is augmented by establishing a direct communication between several persons. this can be done in two ways: the more simple is to form a chain, with a certain number of persons made to hold each other's hands; it can also be done by means of the 'baquet' (a mechanical contrivance invented by himself)." "no one should ever attempt to touch a spirit unless invited to do so by the spirits themselves, and the circle, once formed, must never be broken by unloosing of hands. if this becomes _really_ necessary at any time, permission should first be asked, when the controlling spirit will give instructions as to how it is to be carried out." i cannot forbear from quoting further the following passage addressed to members of the society:- "you will greatly assist us in obtaining good results if you will kindly use a little discretion in the matter of your food, especially on the day of the meeting, when fish, vegetables, fruit (especially bananas), and light food of that description are most helpful, but meat, wine, beer, or spirits (wine and spirits especially) should be carefully avoided; and we find that it is better to make a good meal in the middle of the day, a substantial tea at 5.30, and supper after the meeting, as by following this plan the members of the circle are able to give off more of the spiritual _aura_ which is used by the controls in building up the forms which appear to us, each member of the circle contributing his or her share unconsciously. "the use of non-actinic light, such as that obtained from a small dark lantern, is defended on the grounds that the actinic rays coming from the violet end of the spectrum are so rapid in their movements that they immediately break up any combination of matter produced under such circumstances. any form of light, except the red, or perhaps the yellow, rays would have this effect. that is one reason why the cabinet is employed, because that would shut off any form of light from the medium whilst the forms are building up; although on several occasions, from time to time, when the form has thus been built up fully, we have been able to use a red light strong enough to illuminate the whole of the room." so long as spiritualists, as i have before remarked, maintain this attitude, so long must they meet with incredulity on the part of official science. in nearly all these private circles the precautions taken against trickery are absurdly lacking, and, as we have just seen, frequently purposely omitted. thus we have to fall back in considering the genuine character of the phenomena on the good faith of the medium. when the medium is known to be a man of blameless life, and has long been before the public undetected in any deception, the presumption would certainly appear to be in favour of his bona-fides. but of what value is this presumption should the medium not be conscious of his actions when his impersonation of this or that character is wholly undertaken by his secondary or subliminal self? here we begin to have glimmerings of the great truth which may conceivably underlie the parable of dr jekyll and mr hyde, and investigations into the marvels of multiple personalities lead us further towards the light. * * * * * on the whole, the conclusion i have arrived at is that, where the element of fraud is eliminated, we might rationally seek for an explanation in hallucination. take the famous case of archdeacon colley and mr monck. the archdeacon actually declared that he saw the psychic or spirit form grow out of his left side: "first, several faces, one after another, of great beauty appeared, and in amazement we saw--and as i was standing close up to the medium, even touching him--i saw most plainly, several times, a perfect face and form of exquisite womanhood partially issue from dr monck, about the region of the heart. then, after several attempts, the full-formed figure, in a nebulous condition at first, but growing solider as it issued from the medium, left dr monck and stood, a separate individuality, two or three feet off, bound to him by a slender attachment, as of gossamer, which, at my request, 'samuel,' the control, severed with the medium's left hand, and there stood embodied a spirit form of unutterable loveliness, robed in attire spirit-spun--a meshy webwork from no mortal loom, of a fleeciness inimitable, and of transfiguration whiteness truly glistening." now, as mr podmore somewhat satirically points out: "it is difficult to believe that the exquisite spirit form which presented itself to mr colley's glowing imagination was merely a confection of masks, stuffed gloves, and muslin, actuated by a jointed rod, but we cannot help remembering, if mr colley did not, that articles of this kind had, a twelve-month previously, been found, under compromising circumstances, in the possession of dr monck." the recognitions which take place at _séances_ are undoubtedly to a large extent sense deceptions. there is now a professional medium at whose _séances_ spirit faces are constantly being recognised. of course the performance takes place in the dark. a faintly illuminated slate shows the profiles against the background, and one or other of the members generally recognises it. the mouth and chin of the female faces shown at these _séances_ are generally veiled, but this does not appear to affect the recognition. on the whole, the testimony for and against the reality of spirits at the better class of _séance_ is pretty evenly balanced. i hesitate to disturb it, although remarking, parenthetically, that the believers have the most, if not the best, of the literature on the subject. and for those who are deeply perplexed there is always the theory of hallucination to fall back upon. chapter xii spirit photography if the claim of the spiritualists to having achieved the materialisation of the spirits of deceased persons were restricted to the mere ocular, oral, and tactile evidence of the dark _séance_, the theory of hallucination would account for much that is perplexing. but the problem becomes complicated when the spiritualists come forward with proof that their senses have not misled them. it is only a few months since that a young man in the north of england, on photographing his mother and sisters, was greatly startled to find his late father's face also on the plate. he had not made use of the camera, we are told, for eighteen months. recently, too, a professional photographer in london was commissioned to photograph a grave which was surmounted by a beautiful basket of flowers. to his consternation, within the handle appeared the facial lineaments of the deceased. the earliest spirit photograph, as far as can be ascertained, dates from 1862, when an american photographer named mumler, on developing a photograph of himself, discovered the likeness of a cousin who had been dead some dozen years previously. the case was investigated by dr mumler of boston, who considered that many of the "spirit photographs" afterwards taken by mumler were genuine, but that others were, in our modern phrase, indubitably faked. this was put down to mumler's desire to cope with the unusual demand and satisfy his host of sitters. mumler, after twelve years' experience, writing to mr james burns, says: "i have been investigated by the best photographers in america, and have their testimony in my favour, given under oath; i have been tried in a court of justice, and been honourably acquitted; and, lastly, i have the evidence of thousands of people who have had pictures taken, and recognised the likenesses of their spirit friends, many of whom never had a picture taken during life. i have been a humble instrument in the hands of the almighty, to place a link in the great chain of evidence that binds the two worlds together. flowers, birds, and animals have frequently appeared upon the plates and one lady was delighted to recognise by her side her faithful old black retriever." not till ten years later did a photographer named hudson succeed, with the aid of a medium, in producing spirit pictures. the _modus operandi_ appeared simple. the sitter was posed before the camera, and the picture was subsequently developed, when besides the sitter's own image there appeared another figure or figures usually draped, with the features blurred or only partly distinguishable. usually these figures were recognised unhesitatingly by the sitters as portraits of deceased relatives or friends. afterwards the practice of spirit photography received a rude shock. they were examined carefully by professional photographers, and some of them were found to bear clear marks of double exposure, the background in each case being visible through the dress of the sitter--a fatal defect in spirit photography. moreover it was found that in some cases the medium had dressed up to play the rôle of spirit. whereupon several of those who had professed to recognise the "ghosts" now hastened to repudiate their recognition. but spirit photography was not to be quashed so easily. the experiments went on, and faces and figures appeared on the developed plate which seem to have considerably baffled the experts. sir william crookes now resolved to put the matter to a test by attempting to obtain a photograph of "katie," the famous "control" of miss cook, the medium. the young lady gave a series of sittings in may 1874 at sir william's house for the purpose. these sittings took place by electric light, no fewer than five cameras being simultaneously at work. the medium lay down on the floor behind a curtain, her face muffled in a shawl. when the materialisation was complete "katie" would appear in the full light in front of the curtain: "i frequently," writes sir william crookes, "drew the curtain on one side when katie was standing near; and it was a common thing for the seven or eight of us in the laboratory to see miss cook and katie at the same time, under the full blaze of the electric light. we did not on these occasions actually see the face of the medium, because of the shawl, but we saw her hands and feet; we saw her move uneasily under the influence of the intense light, and we heard her moan occasionally. i have one photograph of the two together, but katie is seated in front of miss cook's head." i have not seen these photographs of "katie," but mr podmore has, and when comparing them with contemporary portraits of miss cook herself he is inclined to consider the likeness between the two sets unmistakable. "the apparently greater breadth of 'spirit' face," he writes, "may well be due to the fact that, whereas miss cook wore hanging ringlets, 'katie's' hair is effectually concealed by the drapery, which in most cases comes down over the forehead, and falls in two thick folds on either side of the head, something like the headgear of a sphinx. again, as miss cook, when photographed, wore her ordinary dress, which concealed her feet, the apparent difference in height on some occasions between herself and the spirit figure cannot be relied upon. one piece of evidence would, indeed, have been conclusive--that the ears of the spirit form should have appeared intact, for miss cook's ears were pierced for earrings. but the encircling drapery effectually concealed both the ears and the hair of the spirit 'katie.'" the evidence for photographs of invisible people which we sometimes hear abduced as adequate is surprisingly feeble. for instance, in a recent anonymous and weak book, said to be written by a member of the society for psychical research, two photographs are reproduced which are said to have been obtained under what are considered crucial conditions; but the narrative itself at once suggests a simple trick on the part of the photographer--viz. the provision of backgrounds for sitters with vague human forms all ready depicted on them in sulphate of quinine. sir oliver lodge is of opinion that it is by no means physically impossible that some of these temporary semi-material accretions might be inadequate to appeal to our eyes, and yet be of a kind able to impress a photographic plate; but here he confesses that the evidence, to his mind, wholly breaks down, and he admits that he has never yet seen a satisfying instance of what is termed a spirit photograph; nor is it easy to imagine the kind of record apart from testimony which in such a case would be convincing, unless such photographs could be produced at will. a conviction of fraud having entered the minds of the sceptically inclined, the exposure of a certain parisian photographer, buguet, shook the faith of the credulous. buguet enjoyed in london an extraordinary success. many leading people sat to him and obtained "spirit photographs," by them clearly recognisable, of their deceased relations. no less than forty out of one hundred and twenty photographs examined by stainton moses were pronounced by the sitters to be genuine likenesses of spirits, and baffled the scrutiny of the sceptics. nevertheless buguet was arrested and charged by the french government for fraudulent production of spirit photographs. at his trial buguet disconcerted the whole spiritualistic world by confessing, he said that the whole of his spirit photographs were obtained by means of double exposure. to begin with, he employed three or four assistants to play the part of ghost. nevertheless, in spite of his confession, in spite of the trick apparatus confiscated by the police, at buguet's trial witness after witness, people high in the social and professional world, came forward to testify that they had not been deceived, that the spirit photographs were genuine. they refused to doubt the evidence of their own eyesight. one m. dessenon, a picture dealer, had obtained a spirit portrait of his wife; he had been instantly struck with the likeness, and had shown it to the lady's relatives, who exclaimed at once on its exactness. the judge asked buguet for an explanation. the prisoner replied that it was pure chance. "i had," he said, "no photograph of madame dessenon." "but," cried the witness, "my children, like myself, thought the likeness perfect. when i showed them the picture, they cried, 'it is mamma!' i have seen all m. buguet's properties and pictures, and there is nothing in the least like the picture i have obtained. i am convinced it is my wife." as a result, many spiritualists, including stainton moses and william howitt, refused to consider the case one of fraud. they regarded buguet as a genuine medium who had been bound to confess to imaginary trickery. yet after this spirit photography as a profession has not flourished in this country. there is one professional who is responsible for many ghost pictures. but in his productions appear unmistakable signs of double exposures. you see the pattern of the carpet and the curtain of the study visible through the sitter's body and clothes. in one instance at all events, where the ghost represents a well-known statesman, the head has obviously been cut from the photograph and the contour draped to hide the cut edges. but the phenomena of spirit photography are abundant enough in private circles. i have before me as i write a number of reputed spirit photographs obtained by private persons both with and without the aid of a professional medium. in one sent me by a gentleman resident at finsbury park, which is a very impressive specimen of its kind, the fact of a double exposure is obvious to the least experienced in dark-room matters. notwithstanding, the photographer has apparently made a speciality of this kind of work. "in my collection [he writes] of over two thousand specimens are portraits of atlantean priests, who flourished about 12,000 years ago, biblical patriarchs, poets, royalties, clerics, scientists, literary men, etc., pioneer spiritualists, like emma h. britten, luther marsh, wallace, and john lamont. the latest additions are, i am happy to say, my kind old friend mrs glendinning, and a worthy quartette of earnest workers in dr younger, mr thomas everitt, mr c. lacey, and david duguid." one of the most curious instances of a ghost photograph occurred in the summer of 1892. six months previously a lady had taken a photograph of the library at d---hall. she kept the plate a long time before developing it, and when developed it showed the faint but clearly recognisable figure of a man sitting in a large arm-chair. a print from the photograph was obtained and shown, when the image was immediately recognised as the likeness of the late lord d----, the owner of d---hall. what was more, it was ascertained that lord d---had actually been buried on the day the photograph was taken. a copy of the photograph was sent to professor barrett, who examined it and reported (1) that the image is too faint and blurred for any likeness to be substantiated; (2) that the plate had been exposed in the camera for an hour and the room left unguarded; (3) that actual experiments show that an appearance such as that on the plate could have been produced if a man--there were four men in the house--had sat in the chair for a few seconds during the exposure, moving his head and limbs the while. another ghost picture described by mr podmore was probably caused in a similar way. a chapel was photographed, and when the plate was developed a face was faintly seen in a panel of the woodwork, which the photographer recognised as a young acquaintance who had not long since met with a tragic death. "in fact," writes mr podmore, "when he told me the story and showed me the picture, i could easily see the faint but well-marked features of a handsome melancholy lad of eighteen. a colleague, however, to whom i showed the photograph without relating the story, at once identified the face as that of a woman of thirty. the outlines are in reality so indistinct as to leave ample room for the imagination to work on; and there is no reason to doubt that, as in the ghost of the library, the camera had merely preserved faint traces of some intruder who, during prolonged exposure, stood for a few seconds in front of it." in spite of all the damaging _exposés_ and these discouraging explanations many intelligent persons the world over will still go on believing in the genuineness of spirit photography. let me give a few examples of their testimony. m. reichel, to whom allusion has already been made, states that at one of miller's _séances_ in america, held on 29th october 1905, those present suddenly heard a great number of voices behind the curtain: "betsy told us that sometimes there are egyptian women and sometimes indians who come in a crowd to produce their phenomena. on october 29th and again on november 2nd i sent for a san francisco photographer, mr edward wyllie, to see what impression would be made on a photographic plate by the beings who appeared. some remarkable pictures were taken by flashlight. besides the fully materialised forms, there were shown on the photographs several spirits who could not be seen by the physical eyes. "in one of the latter figures i instantly recognised an uncle of mine, whom i had made acquainted with spiritualism about twelve years previously, through the assistance of another medium." a correspondent sends me an interesting account of investigating materialised spirits in daylight: "miss fairlamb (afterwards mrs mellon) was the medium, and the photographs of 'geordie' and others taken in the garden in broad daylight were quite successful. the conditions must have been most harmonious, as 'geordie' afterwards, when twilight came on, walked about the lawn, and even ventured into the house, returning to the tent, which served as a cabinet, with an umbrella and hassock in his hands." dr theodore hausmann, one of the oldest physicians in washington, u.s.a., has devoted many years to this particular phase of mediumship. he places himself before his camera in the study and photographs his spirit visitors, who have included his father, son, and president lincoln. the opening paragraph in an article he wrote is as follows:- "grieving parents, the bereaved widow and mother, will only be too happy if they can see the pictures of those again who were so dear to their hearts, and whose image gradually will vanish if nothing is left to renew their memories." there have been many touching letters from relatives of grateful thanks, who imagine themselves in this way to have received portraits of their dear ones who have passed away. in a work which i have come across in which spiritualism is by no means supported mr j. g. raupert acknowledges: "that as regards spirit photographs, he 'obtained many striking pictures of this character, under good test conditions, and attended by circumstances yielding unique and exceptionally valuable evidence.... the evidence in favour of some of these psychic pictures is as good as it is ever likely to be, and, respecting some of these obtained by the present writer, expert photographic authorities have expressed their verdict. sir william crookes has obtained them in his own house under personally imposed conditions, and many private experimenters in different parts of the world have been equally successful." this from an avowed opponent is striking testimony to some kind of manifestation which is not, in intent, at least, fraudulent. chapter xiii clairvoyance it was natural that out of all these mystic practices--those i have already indicated and the others i am about to indicate--a cult or religion should have been moulded. to this cult has been given the name of spiritualism (or spiritism, as some of the newer devotees prefer to call it). its great outstanding feature and essential mystery is, of course, physical mediumship. the creed of the believer in disembodied spirits is that the medium acts as the passive agent for certain physical and intellectual manifestations which do not belong to the rôle of the visible, tangible world in which we live. one of the forms of those manifestations is clairvoyance; others are materialisation--_i.e._ the actual incarnation of spiritual forms--physical manifestations such as table rapping, levitation, slate writing, etc., trance utterances and spirit photography. from the physical phenomena to the intellectual phenomena of clairvoyance. clairvoyance literally means clear seeing; but in spiritualism it has a technical meaning, and may be either objective or subjective. in the terminology of the cult, objective clairvoyance is described as "that psychic power or function of seeing, objectively, by and through the spiritualism sensorium of sight which pervades the physical mechanism of vision, spiritual beings and things. a few persons are born with this power; in some it is developed, and in others it has but a casual quickening. its extent is governed by the rate of vibration under which it operates; thus, one clairvoyant may see spiritual things which to another may be invisible because of the degree of difference in the intensity of the powers." further, "subjective clairvoyance is that psychic condition of a person which enables spirit intelligences to impress or photograph upon the brain of that person, at will, pictures and images which are seen as visions by that person, without the aid of the physical eye. these pictures and images may be of things spiritual or material, past or present, remote or near, hidden or uncovered, or they may have their existence simply in the conception or imagination of the spirit communicating them." putting aside, however, all "supernatural" explanation, let us consider how we can best account for the fact, if fact it be, of clairvoyance. what we see is this: that under given conditions the mouth of a man or woman by no means above, and often below, the intellectual average utters, and the hand writes of, matters absolutely outside the normal ken of the minds of such a man or woman. evidence for this phenomena is, to put it bluntly, staggering. if, unknown to a living soul, your wife or sister accidentally dropped half-a-sovereign down a deep well, and whilst she was still continuing to hug her little secret to her bosom you were present at a clairvoyant sitting where the medium in a trance informed you of the circumstances, you would no doubt be astounded. well, the manifestations of a conjurer are occasionally astounding. no matter how our reason is baffled at first, it behoves us not only to seek a natural explanation of the fact but also to ascertain and authenticate the fact itself. but a man may not implicitly trust his senses. i soon found that merely having been a witness of a mysterious phenomenon no more qualified me for passing judgment upon it, or even furnished me with a more advantageous standpoint from which to deliver my opinions, than a man who has first seen the ocean and even tasted it can explain why it is salt. no, a man after all, unless he is equipped with unusual facilities, had best stick to the recorded testimony of the cloud of witnesses. amongst these witnesses, who are also acute and experienced investigators, are lord rayleigh, mr balfour, sir william crookes, sir oliver lodge, alfred russel wallace, dr hodgson, frederic myers, professor hyslop, m. camille flammarion, professor richet, professor william james, professor janet, mr frank podmore and professor lombroso. i think it fair to assume that these men represent the white light of human intelligence of the decade. they have made a special study of the matter, and they all seem to be agreed that in the case of trance lucidity and clairvoyance the normal mind of the writer or speaker is not at work. yet there certainly would seem to be an operating intelligence, having a special character and a special knowledge. what, then, is that operating intelligence? by what means does it obtain its special knowledge? sir oliver lodge formulates two answers to the second question. 1. by telepathy from living people. 2. by direct information imparted to it by the continued, conscious, individual agency of deceased persons. these he regards as the chief customary alternative answers. but there is a wide, perhaps an impassable, gulf between these two alternatives. we can here do no more than glance at the nature of the evidence. the mystery of mediumship has probably received more attention from m. flournoy, professor of psychology in the university of geneva, than from anyone else, not excepting janet and hodgson, and our english investigators. certainly his opportunities for studying at close quarters subjects of a more normal type than the salpetrière patients are unparalleled. m. flournoy's most famous case is that of hélène smith. "hélène [he writes] was as a child quiet and dreamy, and had occasional visions, but was, on the whole, not specially remarkable. she is, to all outward appearances at the present time, healthy even to robustness. from the age of fifteen she has been employed in a large commercial establishment in geneva, and holds a position of some responsibility. but it is in 1892 that her real history begins. in that year she was persuaded by some friends to join a spiritualistic circle. it soon appeared that she was herself a powerful medium. at first her mediumship consisted in seeing visions, hearing voices, and assisting in tilting the table, whilst still retaining more or less consciousness and subsequent memory of her experiences. shortly after m. flournoy's admission to the circle, in the winter of 1894-95, miss smith's mediumship advanced a stage, and she habitually passed at the _séance_ into a trance state, retaining subsequently no memory of her visions and doings in that state. her development followed at first the normal course. she delivered messages of a personal character to her sitters, purporting to emanate from deceased friends and the like. she offered numerous proofs of clairvoyance. she was from time to time controlled by spirits of the famous dead. some of her earliest trances were under the guidance and inspiration of victor hugo. within a few months the spirit of the poet--too late, indeed, for his own post-mortem reputation, for he had already perpetrated some verses--was expelled with ignominy by a more masterful demon who called himself leopold. the newcomer was at first somewhat reticent on his own past, and when urgently questioned was apt to take refuge in moral platitudes. later, however, he revealed himself as giuseppe balsamo, count cagliostro. it then appeared that in hélène herself was reincarnated the hapless queen marie antoinette, and that others of the mortals represented mirabeau, prince of orleans, etc.... "it is hélène's extra-planetary experiences, however, which have excited most attention, and which furnished to the attendants at her circle the most convincing proofs of her dealings with the spiritual world. in november 1894, the spirit of the entranced medium was wafted--not without threatenings of sea-sickness--through the cosmic void, to arrive eventually on the planet mars. thereafter night after night she described to the listening circle the people of our neighbouring planet, their food, dress, and ways of life. at times she drew pictures of the inhabitants, human and animal--of their houses, bridges, and other edifices, and of the surrounding landscape. later she both spoke and wrote freely in the martian language. from the writings reproduced in m. flournoy's book it is clear that the characters of the martian script are unlike any in use on earth, and that the words (of which a translation is furnished) bear no resemblance, superficially at least, to any known tongue. the spirits--for several dwellers upon mars used hélène's organism to speak and write through--delivered themselves with freedom and fluency, and were consistent in their usage both of the spoken and the written words. in fact, martian, as used by the entranced hélène, has many of the characteristics of a genuine language; and it is not surprising that some of the onlookers, who may have hesitated over the authenticity of the other revelations, were apparently convinced that these martian utterances were beyond the common order of nature." all his powers m. flournoy bent to elucidate the mystery. he made up his mind that hélène must somewhere have come across one of the works containing flammarion's speculations concerning mars. the landscapes were suggested by japanese lacquer and nankin dishes. as for the language, it is just such a work of art as one might form by substituting for each word in the french dictionary an arbitrary collocation of letters, and for each letter a new and arbitrary symbol. the vowel and consonant signs are the same as in french; so are the inflections, the grammar, the construction. (take, for example, the negative ke ani=ne pas, the employment of the same word zi to express both la "the" and là "there.") if it is childish as a work of art, it is miraculous enough as a feat of memory. but the reader has not forgotten what the subliminal self is capable of achieving as regards time appreciation mentioned in an early chapter. when, however, it comes to hélène's telepathic and clairvoyant powers, m. flournoy, in spite of his long investigation, can find no explanation of the supernormal to fit the case. her mediumship since 1892 included manifestations of all kinds. they began with physical phenomena, but they soon ceased. her clairvoyant messages during trance are certainly of a remarkable character. her reception of distant scenes and persons, of which she was apparently unacquainted, has been carefully investigated and authenticated by numerous persons of reputation. it is this aspect of spiritualism which has of recent years commanded most attention from trained observers. the trance utterances of such well-known clairvoyants as the late stainton moses, mrs thompson, and mrs piper have been subjected to rigid and precise inquiry, and on the whole it is on this type of evidence that the strongest arguments of the genuineness of spiritualism really rests. it is at once the most impressive, the most interesting, and the most voluminous. * * * * * of stainton moses i have already spoken. this medium was, as we have seen, a man of character and probity, english professor at the university college school for eighteen years, a man who was never detected in the slightest fraud, and who died in 1892 regretted by a host of intimate friends. stainton moses left a mass of published testimony to his pretended communications from the spirits of deceased persons. he attached great importance to the evidence for spiritualistic doctrines. altogether the "controls" or communicators numbered thirty-eight. some of these moses or other members of the circles had known in life; others--such as swedenborg, bishop wilberforce, and president garfield--were historical personages. besides these there was a class of individuals of no particular importance, and apparently unknown to the medium and his friends. yet it is worthy of remark that the spirits by whom moses was "controlled" never withheld any data which would faciliate verification. for instance, at one _séance_ a spirit put in an appearance by raps, giving the name "rosmira." she said that she lived at kilburn and had died at torquay on 10th january 1874. she said that her husband's name was ben, and that his surname was lancaster. it turned out that a fortnight before the whole particulars were to be found in the "death" notices in _the daily telegraph_. "mr moses' spirits," comments mr podmore in his "history of spiritualism," habitually furnished accurate obituaries, or gave such other particulars of their lives as could be gathered from the daily papers, from published biographies, or from the _annual register_ and other works of reference. all the spirits, indeed, gave their names, with one exception--an exception so significant that the case is worth recording. _the pall mall gazette_ for 21st february 1874 contains the following item of intelligence:- "a cabdriver out of employment this morning threw himself under a steam-roller which was being used in repairing the road in york-place, marylebone, and was killed immediately." "mr moses was present at a _séance_ that evening, and his hand was controlled, ostensibly by the spirit of the unhappy suicide, to write an account of the incident, and to draw a rough picture of a horse attached to a vehicle. the name of the dead man, it will be seen, does not appear in the newspaper account, and out of the thirty-eight spirits who gave proofs of their identity through the mediumship of mr moses this particular spirit alone chose to remain anonymous." but a great part of moses' mediumistic career was taken up with trance utterances purporting to come from various spirits. these writings, couched in clear, vigorous english, seems to flow readily "without any conscious intervention on the part of the mortal penman." in fact, so far was this so that he was able to read a book, or otherwise occupy his mind, during their production. the claims of the celebrated medium mrs thompson were carefully investigated by a competent observer, mrs a. w. verrall, the wife of an eminent cambridge scholar, and herself of no mean scholastic attainments. i will endeavour to summarise mrs verrall's conclusions as follows:- mrs verrall says that mrs thompson was unable to ascertain the correct statements of facts which have been grouped under the four following heads:- (_a_) things known to the sitter and directly present in his consciousness. (_b_) things known to the sitter but not immediately present in his consciousness. (_c_) things that have been well known to the sitter but are at the moment so far forgotten as only to be recalled by the statements of the medium. (_d_) things unknown to the sitter. with regard to things under head (_a_) mrs verrall says: "some very clearly marked instances have come within my own observation; the cases are not very numerous, but the response from the 'control' to what has been thought but not uttered by me has been so rapid and complete that, were it not for the evidence of the other sitter, i should have been disposed to believe that i had unconsciously uttered the thought aloud. "thus, on one occasion, 'nelly' said that a red-haired girl was in my house that day, and i was wondering whether a certain friend of my daughter's, who is often at the house, would be there, when 'nelly' added: 'not so-and-so,' mentioning by name my daughter's friend, exactly as though i had uttered the passing thought. again, when 'nelly' was describing a certain bag given to me for my birthday, something she said made me for a moment think of a small leather handbag left in my house by a cousin and occasionally used by me, and she said: 'you had an uncle that died; it was not long after that.' the father of the cousin whom i had just thought of is the only uncle i have known, but his death long preceded the giving to me of the bag as a birthday present, which was what she had quite correctly described till my momentary thought apparently distracted her attention to the other bag. i have had in all some five or six instances of such apparently direct responses as the above to a thought in the sitter's mind; but when at 'nelly's' suggestion i have fixed my attention on some detail for the sake of helping her to get it, i have never succeeded in doing anything but what she calls 'muggling her.'" another difficulty arises from the fact that mediums and their controls not infrequently receive impressions as pictures, and these pictures are liable to be misinterpreted. mrs verrall writes in her report of her sitting with mrs thompson: "merrifield was said to be the name of a lady in my family. the name was given at first thus: 'merrifield, merryman, merrythought, merrifield; there is an old lady named one of these who,' etc. later, 'nelly' said: 'mrs merrythought, that's not quite right; it's like the name of a garden'; and after in vain trying to give her the name exactly, she said: 'i will tell you how names come to us. it's like a picture; i see school children enjoying themselves. you can't say merryman because that's not a name, or merrypeople.' 'nelly' later on spoke of my mother as mrs happyfield or mrs merryfield with indifference" ("proceedings," part xliv. p. 208). it is probably for this reason that so much use is made in spirit communications of symbolism. the passage in which mr myers deals with the use of symbolism in automatic messages, in his work on "human personality," should be studied in this connection. he points out that there is "no a priori ground for supposing that language will have the power to express all the thoughts and emotions of man." and if this is true of man in his present state, how much more does it apply to man in another and more advanced state? with reference to automatic writings he says: "there is a certain quality which reminds one of _translation_, or of the composition of a person writing in a language in which he is not accustomed to talk." as a result of her investigations, mrs verrall declares: "that mrs thompson is possessed of knowledge not normally obtained i regard as established beyond a doubt; that the hypothesis of fraud, conscious or unconscious, on her part fails to explain the phenomena seems to be equally certain; that to more causes than one is to be attributed the success which i have recorded seems to me likely. there is, i believe, some evidence to indicate that telepathy between the sitter and the trance personality is one of these contributory causes. but that telepathy from the living, even in an extended sense of the term, does not furnish a complete explanation of the occurrences observed by me, is my present belief." instances of clairvoyance in children are remarkably numerous. a few weeks ago the rome correspondent of _the tribune_ reported that a boy of twelve, at capua, "was discovered sobbing and crying as if his heart would break. asked by his mother the reason of his distress, he said that he had just seen his father, who was absent in america, at the point of death, assisted by two sisters of charity. next day a letter came from america announcing the father's death. remembering the boy's vision, his mother tried to keep the tale a secret lest he should be regarded as 'possessed,' but her efforts were vain, several persons having been present when he explained the cause of his grief." the explanation of telepathy would hardly seem to fit the case, since the father's death must have occurred at least eight or ten days previous to the vision. i shall reserve for my next chapter what may be regarded as the classic illustration of the marvels of clairvoyance--that of mrs piper. chapter xiv mrs piper's trance utterances almost alone amongst mediums of note, mrs piper of boston has never resorted to physical phenomena, her powers being entirely confined to trance manifestations. no single medium, not even hélène smith, has been subjected to such close and continuous observation by expert scientific observers. in 1885, this lady's case was first investigated by professor william james, of harvard (brother of the famous novelist). two years later dr hodgson and other members of the society for psychical research began their observation of her trance utterances. this course of observation has continued for twenty years, and nearly all mrs piper's utterances have been placed on record. the late dr hodgson was indefatigable in his labours to test the genuineness of the phenomena. he spared no pains, and died, i believe, convinced that all means of accounting for them had been exhausted. there is so much evidence concerning mrs piper, who, two years ago came to england at the invitation of the society for psychical research, and was subjected to numerous tests, that i hesitate how best to typify its purport. most striking is a letter to professor james in the society's "proceedings" from a well-known professor, shaler of harvard, who attended a _séance_, with a very open mind indeed, on 25th may 1894, at professor james's house in cambridge (boston). professor shaler was disposed to favour neither the medium nor even the telepathic theory. he writes: "my dear james,--at the sitting with mrs piper on may 25th i made the following notes:- "as you remember, i came to the meeting with my wife; when mrs piper entered the trance state mrs shaler took her hand. after a few irrelevant words, my wife handed mrs piper an engraved seal, which she knew, though i did not, had belonged to her brother, a gentleman from richmond, virginia, who died about a year ago. at once mrs piper began to make statements clearly relating to the deceased, and in the course of the following hour she showed a somewhat intimate acquaintance with his affairs, those of his immediate family, and those of the family in hartford, conn., with which the richmond family had had close social relations. "the statements made by mrs piper, in my opinion, entirely exclude the hypothesis that they were the results of conjectures, directed by the answers made by my wife. i took no part in the questioning, but observed very closely all that was done. "on the supposition that the medium had made very careful preparation for her sittings in cambridge, it would have been possible for her to have gathered all the information which she rendered by means of agents in the two cities, though i must confess that it would have been rather difficult to have done the work. "the only distinctly suspicious features were that certain familiar baptismal names were properly given, while those of an unusual sort could not be extracted, and also that one or two names were given correctly as regards the ceremony of baptism or the directory, but utterly wrong from the point of view of family usage. thus the name of a sister-in-law of mine, a sister of my wife's, was given as jane, which is true by the record, but in forty years' experience of an intimate sort i never knew her to be called jane--in fact, i did not at first recognise who was meant. "while i am disposed to hold to the hypothesis that the performance is one that is founded on some kind of deceit, i must confess that close observation of the medium made on me the impression that she was honest. seeing her under any other conditions, i should not hesitate to trust my instinctive sense as to the truthfulness of the woman. "i venture also to note, though with some hesitancy, the fact that the ghost of the ancient frenchman who never existed, but who purports to control mrs piper, though he speaks with a first-rate stage french accent, does not, so far as i can find, make the characteristic blunders in the order of his english words which we find in actual life. whatever the medium is, i am convinced that this 'influence' is a preposterous scoundrel. "i think i did not put strongly enough the peculiar kind of knowledge that the medium seems to have concerning my wife's brother's affairs. certain of the facts, as, for instance, those relating to the failure to find his will after his sudden death, were very neatly and dramatically rendered. they had the real-life quality. so, too, the name of a man who was to have married my wife's brother's daughter, but who died a month before the time fixed for the wedding, was correctly given, both as regards surname and christian name, though the christian name was not remembered by my wife or me. "i cannot determine how probable it is that the medium, knowing she was to have a sitting with you in cambridge, or rather a number of them, took pains to prepare for the tests by carefully working up the family history of your friends. if she had done this for thirty or so persons, i think she could, though with some difficulty, have gained just the kind of knowledge which she rendered. she would probably have forgotten that my wife's brother's given name was legh, and that of his mother gabriella, while she remembered that of mary and charles, and also that of a son in cambridge, who is called waller. so, too, the fact that all trouble on account of the missing will was within a fortnight after the death of mr page cleared away by the action of the children was unknown. the deceased is represented as still troubled, though he purported to see just what was going on in his family. "i have given you a mixture of observations and criticisms; let me say that i have no firm mind about the matter. i am curiously and yet absolutely uninterested in it, for the reason that i don't see how i can exclude the hypothesis of fraud, and until that can be excluded no advance can be made. "when i took the medium's hand, i had my usual experience with them--a few preposterous compliments concerning the clearness of my understanding, and nothing more." among those who have made a careful study at first hand of mrs piper's clairvoyance besides dr hodgson and professor james are sir oliver lodge, the late frederic myers, mrs sidgwick, walter leaf, professor romaine newbold, and professor j. h. hyslop, and all of these have recorded their conviction that the results are not explicable by fraud or misrepresentation. another account which sheds light on what occurs at mrs piper's séances is furnished by professor estlin carpenter, oxford. it is dated 14th december 1894: "dear professor james,--i had a sitting yesterday with mrs piper at your house, and was greatly interested with the results obtained, as they were entirely unexpected by me. various persons were named and described whom we could not identify (my wife was present); but the names of my father and mother were correctly given, with several details which were in no way present to my mind at the time. the illness from which my father was suffering at the time of his death was identified, but not the accident which took him from us. a penknife which i happened to have with me was rightly referred to its place on the desk in his study, and after considerable hesitation mrs piper wrote out the word _organ_ when i asked concerning other objects in the room. she added spontaneously a very remarkable item about which i was in no way thinking--viz. that on sunday afternoons or evenings (her phrase was 'twilight') we were accustomed to sing there together. she stated correctly that my mother was older than my father, but died after him; and she connected her death with my return from switzerland in a manner that wholly surprised me, the fact being that her last illness began two or three days after my arrival home from lucerne. she gave the initials of my wife's name rightly, and addressed words to her from her father, whose first name, george, was correct. she also desired me, in my father's name, not to be anxious about some family matters (which have only recently come to my knowledge), though their nature was not specified. finally, though i should have mentioned this first, as it was at the outset of the interview, she told me that i was about to start on a voyage, and described the vessel in general terms, though she could not give its name or tell me the place where it was going. i saw enough to convince me that mrs piper possesses some very extraordinary powers, but i have no theory at all as to their nature or mode of exercise." another who visited mrs piper was the famous french author, m. paul bourget, who was astonished at what he heard. he happened to have on his watch-chain a small seal which had been given him by a painter, long since dead, under the saddest circumstances, of whom it was impossible the medium could ever have heard; yet no sooner had she touched the object than she related to him the circumstance. one could quote case after case in the society's reports, but in all the time mrs piper has been under such rigid scrutiny not one suspicious instance or one pointing to normal acquisition of facts has been discovered. some have boldly hazarded the conjecture that mrs piper worked up the _dossiers_ of her sitters beforehand; inasmuch as she could easily obtain her facts in many ways; by reading private letters, for instance, or information derived from other mediums, or by employing private inquiry agents. these things are said to be habitually done by professional clairvoyants, by either going themselves or sending an agent in the capacity of, say, a book canvasser, to some town or district, and get all the information they can, to return some months later and give clairvoyant sittings. there is a belief, and it is possibly correct, that there is an organisation which gives and exchanges information thus obtained by the members of the society. perhaps this may account for the extraordinary good fortune of some spiritualists in obtaining "tests." some sitters who went to mrs piper had visited other mediums previously. but one may be sure that all precautions were taken to ensure against her knowing the names of the sitters, so that she could not use any information, even if she had obtained any, in this way. those best qualified to judge are convinced that her knowledge was not gained in this way, partly because of the precautions used and partly by reason of the information itself. as has been said, mrs piper was under the close scrutiny of dr hodgson for many years, and nothing of the kind has ever come to light. also dr hodgson arranged beforehand her sittings for more than ten years, never telling her the names of the sitters, who in almost every instance were unknown to her by sight, and were without distinction introduced under the name of "smith." she made so many correct statements at many individual sittings, and the proportion of successful sittings is so high, that it is very difficult to attribute fraud to her. about dates she appears to be very vague. she prefers to give christian names to surnames, and of the former those in common use rather than those out of the way. as her descriptions of houses or places are generally failures, she seldom attempts them. mrs piper seems to be weakest, indeed, just where the so-called medium is most successful. her strongest points are describing diseases, the character of the sitter, his idiosyncrasies, and the character of his friends, their sympathies, loves, hates, and relationships in general, unimportant incidents in their past histories, and so on. to retain such information in the memory is very difficult, and to obtain it by general means well-nigh impossible. many of the personalities or "controls" of mrs piper speak, write, and act in a way extraordinarily in consonance with those characters as they were on earth. in other words, her "controls" have well-differentiated identities. each has a different manner, a different voice, different acts, different ways of looking at things; in fact, has a different character. for example, there is the spirit of g. p., a young journalist and author who died suddenly in february 1892. a few weeks later his spirit possessed mrs piper's organism, and although he was unknown to mrs piper in life, yet for years since then he has carried on numerous prolonged conversations with his friends, including dr hodgson, and supplied numerous proofs of his knowledge of the concerns of the deceased g. p. g. p.'s personal effects, mss., etc., are referred to, as well as private conversations of the past, and, moreover, he suddenly recognises amongst those attending mrs piper's _séances_ those whom he knew during life. dr hodgson was unable to find any instance when such recognition has been incorrectly given. but g. p. is only one of several trance personations speaking through mrs piper's organism and recognised by friends. after a contemplation of mrs piper's trance utterances alone we are inevitably faced by a choice of three conclusions: either (1) fraud (and fraud i hold here to be absolutely inadmissible); or (2) the possession of some supernormal power of apprehension; or (3) communication with the spirits of deceased persons. dr hodgson was driven by sheer force of logic to accept the third of these hypotheses. others who have studied the phenomena have followed. dr j. h. hyslop has published a record of the sittings held with mrs piper in 1898 and 1899. his report contains the verbatim record of seventeen sittings, and no pains have been spared to make the record complete. it has exhaustive commentaries and accounts of experiments intended to elucidate the supposed difficulties of trance communication. professor hyslop finally arrives at the conclusion, after an extensive investigation, during which no item of the evidence has failed to be weighed and no possible source of error would seem to have escaped consideration, that spirit communication is the only explanation which fits all the facts, and he altogether rejects telepathy as being inadequate. * * * * * i hope that those who have so far followed me in this brief inquiry into the mysteries of occult phenomena will recognise the impartiality with which i have endeavoured to conduct it. i said in the beginning that i set out with a light heart as well as an open mind. i had no idea of the extent of the territory, i knew little of its voluminous literature, of the extraordinary ramifications of occultism, of the labours of the many learned men who have spent their whole lives in seeking to separate fact from superstition. my mind was light because, frankly, i believed--with a sort of inherent, temperamental belief--that, however much the testimony concerning coincident dreams, hallucinations, mediumistic manifestations, materialisation, and clairvoyance might mystify, it was all capable of normal explanation--there was nothing supernatural about it. and so throughout the inquiry i sought to show how, chiefly, telepathy was a working hypothesis in most of the manifestations, while for the physical ones, such as table rapping, levitations, and the rest, an unknown extension of human muscular power might possibly exist to solve the mystery. so far i strode forward with some confidence. but now the time has come when my confidence deserts me. telepathy breaks down. it is a key which by no amount of wriggling will turn the lock. "it is not," as one leading inquirer has said, "that telepathy is insufficient: it is superfluous." if the existence of disembodied spirits is proved, then all the other phenomena are also proved. if the case of mrs piper--under rigid surveillance for years--has convinced some of the profoundest intellects of the day--men who began by being sceptical--that disembodied spirits are responsible for her utterances, it would certainly tend to convince me. but i carefully guarded myself from conviction until i had read the evidence--even to a _résumé_ of this medium's utterances last year in london under the auspices of the society for psychical research--and i assert with confidence that no metaphysical theory has ever been formulated that will account for these manifestations save one--the survival of the human personality after death. once mrs piper is admitted as genuine, then it follows that the spiritistic manifestations which have puzzled mankind, not merely for generations or during the modern cult of spiritism, but ever since primitive times, become, as it were, emancipated. "it does seem to me," said mr balfour, in his famous society for psychical research address, "that there is at least strong ground for supposing that outside the world, as we have, from the point of science, been in the habit of conceiving it, there does lie a region, not open indeed to experimental observation in the same way as the more familiar regions of the material world are open to it, but still with regard to which some experimental information may be laboriously gleaned; and even if we cannot entertain any confident hope of discovering what laws these half-seen phenomena obey, at all events it will be some gain to have shown, not as a matter of speculation or conjecture, but as a matter of ascertained fact, that there are things in heaven and earth not hitherto dreamed of in our scientific philosophy." afterword _and so our little tour into the occult is ended and we return into the glare of common things--things which we know and can touch and find a practical use for. if only a little of this light we hold so cheap were to illumine the tenebrous fastnesses we have just left, then, perhaps we, in our dull worldly way, might be able to assimilate the mystic to the common, the unseen to the seen, the unknown to the known. but we are not vouchsafed this white light; yet, even in the shadows to which our eyes have grown accustomed, we have heard enough to make us wonder and maybe make us doubtful when some voice, even such a voice as matthew arnold's, cries out to us: "miracles are touched by ithuriel's spear"--"miracles do not happen."_ _true, miracles do not happen: but there are events of frequent occurrence in this age, as in all ages of which we have a record, which are miraculous in the sense of their being supernormal--for which science offers no consistent explanation. is not hypnotism a miracle? is not telepathy a miracle? is not the divining rod a miracle? would sir william ramsay or sir james crichton-browne throw these manifestations into the limbo of humbug and charlatanism? and supposing they, and such as they, continue incredulous--is not incredulity a fixed quantity in any society? were men ever unanimous in their impressions--in their prepossessions, in the chromatic quality with which they steep every surrounding fact before they allow their critical faculties to be focussed upon it?_ _it may be objected by the reader that i who have led him on this little tour into the wilderness of the occult have myself seen no ghosts. where are my own experiences? where the relation of my own personal contact with hypnotists, telepathists, mediums, mysteries? would not that have been of interest? it may be so: if the phenomena appertaining to those in their best and most convincing quality were always to appear on a casual summons and if i were confided in by the public at large as a sane, unprejudiced witness._ _granted that i have seen no ghosts, i have at least done this: i have met the men--better men--who have. that at the beginning was the real purpose of my brief itinerary. i designed less a tour into the occult itself than an examination of witnesses for the occult whom i met on the literary bypaths of occultism. this i hope i have done, not satisfactorily--very hurriedly--yet honestly, and wanting like a returned traveller to tell folks more ignorant than myself of what i had heard of wonders which each man must, in the last resort, see for himself and meditate upon for himself._ _the blind leading the blind--yea--but--he who hath ears let him hear!_ _one word more. i should like to see a census of all the minds which embrace a belief in the truth of supernormal phenomena. it would astonish the sceptic. it would reveal to him that the attitude of society at large towards spiritualism and the other world is not the attitude of any but a fraction of the component parts of society--not even the evenly balanced attitude of huxley towards god almighty. we should see something quite different; something even distinct and apart from religion. we should see men, often without any religion at all properly speaking, breaking out into the ejaculation of hamlet to horatio and refusing to believe that certain occurrences in their experience are to be explained away by chance or delusion. and even in religious men the conviction seems to me secular rather than arising from orthodox faith._ _"far be it from me," wrote emerson, "the impatience which cannot brook the supernatural, the vast: far be it from me the lust of explaining away all which appeals to the imagination and the great presentiments which haunt us. willingly i, too, say hail! to the unknown artful powers which transcend the ken of the understanding." amen!_ _only yesterday i picked up a book, a sort of literary autobiography, by the author of "sherlock holmes," to find the following passage:--_ _"i do not think the hypothesis of coincidence can cover the facts. it is one of several incidents in my life which have convinced me of spiritual interposition--of the promptings of some beneficent force outside ourselves which tries to help us where it can."_ a catalogue of the publications of t. werner laurie. abbeys of great britain, the (h. clairborne dixon and e. ramsden). 6s. net. 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(_all rights reserved._) contents of vol. ii. page chapter vi. spectral appearances of persons at the point of death and perturbed spirits 1 chapter vii. haunted houses and localities 79 chapter viii. modern spiritualism 133 chapter ix. modern spiritualism (_continued_) 167 chapter x. summary and conclusion 205 general index 243 spectral appearances. "now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof. in thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: it stood still, but i could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes."--_job iv. 12-16._ chapter vi. spectral appearances. examples of spectral appearances are so numerous, and the editor has collected so many, both ancient and modern, that considerable difficulty has been occasioned in determining which shall here be set forth. the following, chosen from examples, some well known and well authenticated, and others now first published, but equally interesting and important, and coming to the editor upon very high authority, deserve the best consideration of the reader. the following record describes what is known as the "chester-le-street" apparition:-"about the year of our lord 1632 (as near as i can remember, having lost my notes and the copy of the letter to serjeant hutton, but i am sure that i do most perfectly remember the substance of the story), near unto chester-in-the-street, there lived one walker, a yeoman of good estate, and a widower, who had a young woman to his kinswoman, that kept his house, who was by the neighbours suspected to be with child, and was, towards the dark of the evening one night, sent away with one mark sharp, who was a collier, one who digged coals under ground, and one that had been born at blackburn hundred in lancashire; and so she was not heard of a long time, and no noise, or little, was made about it. in the winter time after, one james graham, or grime, for so in that country they call them, being a miller, and living about two miles from the place where walker lived, was one night alone very late in the mill grinding corn; and about twelve or one of the clock at night, he came down the stairs from having been putting corn in the hopper; the mill doors being shut, there stood a woman upon the midst of the floor, with her hair about her head, hanging down and all bloody, with five large wounds on her head. he being much affrighted and amazed began to bless himself;[1] and at last asked her who she was, and what she wanted. to which she said, 'i am the spirit of such a woman who lived with walker, and being got with child by him, he promised to send me to a private place, where i should be well-looked to, till i was brought to bed, and well again; and then i should come again and keep his house. and, accordingly,' said the apparition, 'i was one night sent away with one mark sharp, who, upon a moor (naming a place that the miller knew) slew me with a pick, such as men dig coals withal and gave me these five wounds, and after threw my body into a coal-pit hard by, and hid the pick under a bank; and his shoes and stockings being bloody, he endeavoured to wash them; but seeing the blood would not forth, he hid them there.' and the apparition further told the miller that he must be the man to reveal it, or else that she must still appear and haunt him. the miller returned home very sad and heavy, but spoke not one word of what he had seen, but eschewed as much as he could to stay in the mill within night without company, thinking thereby to escape the seeing again of that frightful apparition. but notwithstanding, one night when it began to be dark, the apparition met him again and seemed very fierce and cruel, and threatened him that if he did not reveal the murder she would continually pursue and haunt him; yet, for all this, he still concealed it until s. thomas' eve before christmas; when being soon after sunset walking in his garden, she appeared again, and then so threatened him, and affrighted him, that he promised faithfully to reveal it next morning. in the morning he went to a magistrate, and made the whole matter known with all the circumstances; and diligent search being made, the body was found in a coal-pit, with five wounds in the head, and the pick and shoes and stockings yet bloody; in every circumstance as the apparition had related unto the miller; whereupon walker and mark sharp were both apprehended, but would confess nothing. at the assizes following, i think it was at durham, they were arraigned, found guilty, condemned and executed; but i could never hear they confessed the fact. there were some that reported the apparition did appear unto the judge, or the foreman of the jury, who was alive in chester-in-the-street about ten years ago, as i have been credibly informed, but of that i know no certainty. there are many persons yet alive that can remember this strange murder, and the discovery of it; for it was, and sometimes yet is, as much discoursed of in the north country, as anything that almost hath ever been heard of, and the relation printed, though now not to be gotten. i relate this with the greater confidence (though i may fail in some of the circumstances) because i saw and read the letter that was sent to serjeant hutton, who then lived at goldsburgh in yorkshire, from the judge before whom walker and mark sharp were tried, and by whom they were condemned, and had a copy of it until about the year 1658, when i had it and many other books and papers taken from me; and this i confess to be one of the most convincing stories, being of undoubted verity, that ever i read, heard, or knew of, and carrieth with it the most evident force to make the most incredulous spirit to be satisfied that there are really, sometimes, such things as apparitions.--william lumley."[2] the above account, in which the object of the spectral appearance is obvious enough, is taken from the well-known "history of durham," by that celebrated antiquarian the late mr. robert surtees. it needs no comment, telling as it does so well, in quaint but plain language, its own remarkable story. the next example to be recorded, the apparition of the rev. mr. naylor, may be found in mr. john nichols' "literary illustrations,"[3] and, though less startling than that already given, is certainly not without its own inherent interest:- "part of a letter from mr. edward walter, fellow of s. john's college, cambridge, to his friend in the country, dated 'dec. 6, 1706.' "'i should scarce have mentioned anything of the matter you write about of my own accord; but, since you have given yourself the trouble of an inquiry, i am, i think, obliged in friendship to relate all that i know of the matter; and that i do the more willingly, because i can so soon produce my authority. "'mr. shaw, to whom the apparition appeared, was rector of soldern, or souldern, in oxfordshire, late of s. john's college aforesaid; on whom mr. grove, his old fellow collegiate, called july last in his journey to the west, where he stayed a day or two, and promised to see him again on his return, which he did, and stayed three days with him; in that time one night after supper, mr. shaw told him that there happened a passage which he could not conceal from him, as being an intimate friend, and one to whom this transaction might have something more relation than another man. he proceeded therefore, and told him that about a week before that time, viz. july the 28th, 1706, as he was smoking and reading in his study about eleven or twelve at night, there came to him the apparition of mr. naylor, formerly fellow of the said college, and dead some years ago, a friend of mr. shaw's, in the same garb he used to be in, with his hands clasped before him. mr. shaw, not being much surprised, asked him how he did and desired him to sit down, which mr. naylor did. they both sat there a considerable time and entertained one another with various discourses. mr. shaw then asked him after what manner they lived in the separate state; he answered, far different from what they do here, but that he was very well. he inquired further, whether there was any of their old acquaintance in that place where he was? he answered, 'no, not one;' and then proceeded and told him that one of their old friends, naming mr. orchard, should die quickly, and he himself should not be long after. there was mention of several people's names; but who they were, or upon what occasion, mr. grove cannot or will not tell. mr. shaw then asked him whether he would not visit him again before that time; he answered, no, he could not; he had but three days allowed him, and farther he could not go. mr. shaw said, "_fiat voluntas domini_;" and the apparition left him. this is word for word as mr. shaw told mr. grove, and mr. grove told me. "'_note._--what surprised mr. grove was, that as he had in his journey homewards occasion to ride through clopton, or claxton, he called upon one mr. clark, fellow of our college aforesaid and curate there, when inquiring after college news, mr. clark told him arthur orchard[4] died that week, aug. 7, 1706, which very much shocked mr. grove, and brought to his mind the story of mr. shaw afresh. about three weeks ago mr. shaw died of apoplexy in the desk, [_i. e._ when ministering in church,] of the same distemper poor arthur orchard died of. "'_note._--since this strange completion of matters, mr. grove has told this relation, and stands to the truth of it; and that which confirms the narrative is, that he told the same to dr. baldiston, the present vice-chancellor and master of emanuel college, above a week before mr. shaw's death; and when he came to the college he was no way surprised as others were. "'what farthers my belief of its being a true vision and not a dream, is mr. grove's incredulity of stories of this nature. considering them both as men of learning and integrity, the one would not first have declared, nor the other have spread the same, were not the matter serious and real. "'edward walter.'" the following example of an apparition in scotland, unlike those already recorded, carries with it evidences of truth:-"a gentleman of rank and property in scotland served in his youth in the army of the duke of york in flanders. he occupied the same tent with two other officers, one of whom was sent on some service. one night during his absence, this gentleman while in bed saw the figure of his absent friend sitting on the vacant bed. he called to his companion, who also saw the figure, which spoke to them, and said he had just been killed at a certain place, pointing to his wound. he then requested them on returning to england, to call at a certain agent's house in a certain street, and to procure from him a document of great importance for the family of the deceased. if the agent, as was probable, should deny the possession of it, it would be found in a certain drawer of a cabinet in his room. next day it appeared that the officer had been shot as he had told them, in the manner and at the time and place indicated. after the return of the troops to england, the two friends walking together one day, found themselves in the street where the agent lived, and the request of their friend recurred to both, they having hitherto forgotten it. they called on the agent, who denied having the paper in question; when they compelled him in their presence to open the drawer of the cabinet, where it was found and restored to the widow."[5] an authentic record of the "tyrone," or "beresford apparition," will now be given. it created a very great sensation at the time of its occurrence; and the narrative which follows has been pronounced traditionally "true and accurate" by a member of the family:-"lord tyrone and miss ---were born in ireland, and were left orphans in their infancy to the care of the same person, by whom they were both educated in the principles of deism. their guardian dying when they were each of them about fourteen years of age, they fell into very different hands. "the persons on whom the care of them now devolved, used every means to eradicate the erroneous principles they had imbibed, and to persuade them to embrace revealed religion, but in vain. their arguments were strong enough to stagger their former faith. though separated from each other, their friendship was unalterable, and they continued to regard each other with a sincere and fraternal affection. "after some years were elapsed, and both were grown up, they made a solemn promise to each other that whichever should die first, would, if permitted, appear to the other, to declare what religion was most approved by the supreme being. "miss ---was shortly after addressed by sir martin beresford, to whom she was after a few years married, but a change of condition had no power to alter their friendship. the families visited each other, and often spent some weeks together. a short time after one of these visits, sir martin remarked, that when his lady came down to breakfast, her countenance was disturbed, and inquired after her health. she assured him she was quite well. he then asked her if she had hurt her wrist: 'have you sprained it?' said he, observing a black ribbon round it. she answered in the negative, and added, 'let me conjure you, sir martin, never to inquire the cause of my wearing this ribbon; you will never see me without it. if it concerned you as a husband to know, i would not for a moment conceal it: i never in my life denied you a request, but of this i entreat you to forgive me the refusal, and never to urge me further on the subject.' 'very well,' said he, smiling; 'since you beg me so earnestly, i will inquire no more.' "the conversation here ended; but breakfast was scarcely over when lady beresford eagerly inquired if the post was come in; she was told it was not. in a few minutes she rang again and repeated the inquiry. she was again answered as at first. 'do you expect letters?' said sir martin, 'that you are so anxious for the arrival of the post?' 'i do,' she answered, 'i expect to hear that lord tyrone is dead; he died last tuesday at four o'clock.' 'i never in my life,' said sir martin, 'believed you superstitious; some idle dream has surely thus alarmed you.' at that instant the servant entered and delivered to them a letter sealed with black. 'it is as i expected,' exclaimed lady beresford, 'lord tyrone is dead.' sir martin opened the letter; it came from lord tyrone's steward, and contained the melancholy intelligence of his master's death, and on the very day and hour lady beresford had before specified. sir martin begged lady beresford to compose herself, and she assured him she felt much easier than she had done for a long time; and added, 'i can communicate intelligence to you which i know will prove welcome; i can assure you, beyond the possibility of a doubt, that i shall in some months present you with a son.' sir martin received this news with the greatest joy. "after some months lady beresford was delivered of a son (she had before been the mother of only two daughters). sir martin survived the birth of his son little more than four years. "after his decease his widow seldom left home; she visited no family but that of a clergyman who resided in the same village; with them she frequently passed a few hours; the rest of her time was spent in solitude, and she appeared determined for ever to banish all other society. the clergyman's family consisted of himself, his wife, and one son, who at the time of sir martin's death was quite a youth; to this son, however, she was after a few years married, notwithstanding the disparity of years and the manifest imprudence of a connexion so unequal in every point of view. "lady beresford was treated by her young husband with contempt and cruelty, while at the same time his conduct evinced him the most abandoned libertine, utterly destitute of every principle of virtue and humanity. by this, her second husband, she had two daughters; after which such was the baseness of his conduct that she insisted on a separation. they parted for a few years, when so great was the contrition he expressed for his former conduct, that, won over by his supplications, promises, and entreaties, she was induced to pardon, and once more to reside with him, and was in time the mother of a son. "the day on which she had lain-in a month being the anniversary of her birthday, she sent for lady betty cobb (of whose friendship she had long been possessed), and a few other friends, to request them to spend the day with her. about seven, the clergyman by whom she had been christened, and with whom she had all her life been intimate, came into the room to inquire after her health. she told him she was perfectly well, and requested him to spend the day with them; for, said she, 'this is my birthday. i am forty-eight to-day.' 'no, madam,' answered the clergyman, 'you are mistaken; your mother and myself have had many disputes concerning your age, and i have at last discovered that i was right. i happened to go last week into the parish where you were born; i was resolved to put an end to the dispute; i searched the register, and find that you are forty-seven this day.' 'you have signed my death warrant,' she exclaimed; 'i have then but a few hours to live. i must therefore entreat you to leave me immediately, as i have something of importance to settle before i die.' "when the clergyman had left her, lady beresford sent to forbid the company coming, and at the same time to request lady betty cobb and her son (of whom sir martin was the father, and who was then about twenty-two years of age), to come to her apartment immediately. upon their arrival, having ordered the attendants to quit the room, 'i have something,' she said, 'of the greatest importance to communicate to you both before i die, a period which is not far distant. you, lady betty, are no stranger to the friendship which subsisted between lord tyrone and myself: we were educated under the same roof and in the same principles of deism. when the friends, into whose hands we afterwards fell, endeavoured to persuade us to embrace revealed religion, their arguments, though insufficient to convince, were powerful to stagger our former feelings, and to leave us wavering between the two opinions: in this perplexing state of doubt and uncertainty, we made a solemn promise to each other that whichever died first should (if permitted) appear to the other, and declare what religion was most acceptable to god; accordingly, one night, while sir martin and myself were in bed, i suddenly awoke and discovered lord tyrone sitting by my bedside. i screamed out and endeavoured to awake sir martin. "for heaven's sake," i exclaimed, "lord tyrone, by what means or for what reason came you hither at this time of night?" "have you then forgotten our promise?" said he; "i died last tuesday at four o'clock, and have been permitted by the supreme being to appear to you to assure you that the revealed religion is true, and the only religion by which we can be saved. i am further suffered to inform you that you will soon produce a son, who it is decreed will marry my daughter; not many years after his birth sir martin will die, and you will marry again, and to a man by whose ill-treatment you will be rendered miserable: you will have two daughters and afterwards a son, in childbirth of whom you will die in the forty-seventh year of your age." "just heavens!" i exclaimed, "and cannot i prevent this?" "undoubtedly," returned the spectre; "you are a free agent, and may prevent it all by resisting every temptation to a second marriage; but your passions are strong, you know not their power; hitherto you have had no trials. more i am not permitted to reveal, but if after this warning you persist in your infidelity, your lot in another world will be miserable indeed." "may i not ask," said i, "if you are happy?" "had i been otherwise," he replied, "i should not have been permitted to appear to you." "i may, then, infer that you are happy?" he smiled. "but how," said i, "when morning comes, shall i know that your appearance to me has been real, and not the mere representation of my own imagination?" "will not the news of my death be sufficient to convince you?" "no," i returned, "i might have had such a dream, and that dream accidentally come to pass. i will have some stronger proofs of its reality." "you shall," said he, and waving his hand, the bed curtains, which were crimson velvet, were instantly drawn through a large iron hoop by which the tester of the bed was suspended. "in that," said he, "you cannot be mistaken; no mortal arm could have performed this." "true," said i, "but sleeping we are often possessed of far more strength than when awake; though waking i could not have done it, asleep i might; and i shall still doubt." "here is a pocket-book; in this," said he, "i will write my name; you know my handwriting." i replied, "yes." he wrote with a pencil on one side of the leaves. "still," said i, "in the morning i may doubt; though waking i could not imitate your hand, asleep i might." "you are hard of belief," said he. "touch would injure you irreparably; it is not for spirits to touch mortal flesh." "i do not," said i, "regard a slight blemish." "you are a woman of courage," said he, "hold out your hand." _i did; he struck my wrist: his hand was cold as marble; in a moment the sinews shrunk up, every nerve withered._ "now," said he, "while you live let no mortal eye behold that wrist: to see it is sacrilege." he stopped; i turned to him again; he was gone. "'during the time i had conversed with him my thoughts were perfectly calm and collected; but the moment he was gone i felt chilled with horror, the very bed moved under me. i endeavoured, but in vain, to awake sir martin; all my attempts were ineffectual, and in this state of agitation and terror i lay for some time, when a shower of tears came to my relief and i fell asleep. "'in the morning sir martin arose and dressed himself as usual, without perceiving the state the curtains remained in. when i awoke i found sir martin gone down; i arose, and having put on my clothes, went to the gallery adjoining the apartment and took from thence a long broom (such as cornices are swept with); by the help of this i took down with some difficulty the curtains, as i imagined their extraordinary position might excite suspicion in the family. i then went to the bureau, took up my pocket-book, and bound a piece of black ribbon round my wrist. when i came down, the agitation of my mind had left an impression on my countenance too visible to pass unobserved by my husband. he instantly remarked it, and asked the cause; i informed him lord tyrone was no more, that he died at the hour of four on the preceding tuesday, and desired him never to question me more respecting the black ribbon, which he kindly desisted from after. you, my son, as had been foretold, i afterwards brought into the world, and in little more than four years after your birth your lamented father expired in my arms. after this melancholy event i determined, as the only probable chance to avoid the sequel of the prediction, for ever to abandon all society, to give up every pleasure resulting from it, and to pass the rest of my days in solitude and retirement. but few can long endure to exist in a state of perfect sequestration: i began an intimacy with a family, and one alone; nor could i foresee the fatal consequences which afterwards resulted from it. little did i think their son, their only son, then a mere youth, would form the person destined by fate to prove my destruction. in a very few years i ceased to regard him with indifference; i endeavoured by every possible way to conquer a passion, the fatal effects of which i too well knew. i had fondly imagined i had overcome its influence, when the evening of one fatal day terminated my fortitude and plunged me in a moment down that abyss i had so long been meditating how to shun. he had often solicited his parents for leave to go into the army, and at last obtained permission, and came to bid me adieu before his departure. the instant he entered the room he fell upon his knees at my feet, told me he was miserable, and that i alone was the cause. at that moment my fortitude forsook me, i gave myself up as lost, and regarding my fate as inevitable, without further hesitation consented to a union, the immediate result of which i knew to be misery, and its end death. the conduct of my husband after a few years amply justified a separation, and i hoped by these means to avoid the fatal sequel of the prophecy: but won over by his reiterated entreaties, i was prevailed upon to pardon and once more reside with him, though not till after i had, as i thought, passed my forty-seventh year. "'but alas! i have this day heard from indisputable authority that i have hitherto lain under a mistake with regard to my age, and that i am but forty-seven to-day. of the near approach of my death then i entertain not the slightest doubt; but i do not dread its arrival; armed with the sacred precepts of christianity i can meet the king of terrors without dismay, and without fear bid adieu to mortality for ever. "'when i am dead, as the necessity for concealment closes with my life, i could wish that you, lady betty, would unbind my wrist, take from thence the black ribbon, and let my son with yourself behold it.' lady beresford here paused for some time, but resuming the conversation she entreated her son would behave himself so as to merit the high honour he would in future receive from a union with the daughter of lord tyrone. "lady b. then expressed a wish to lay down on the bed and endeavour to compose herself to sleep. lady betty cobb and her son immediately called her domestics and quitted the room, having first desired them to watch their mistress attentively, and if they observed the smallest change in her, to call instantly. "an hour passed and all was quiet in the room. they listened at the door and everything remained still, but in half an hour more a bell rang violently; they flew to her apartment, but before they reached the door, they heard the servants exclaim, 'oh, she is dead!' lady betty then bade the servants for a few minutes to quit the room, and herself with lady beresford's son approached the bed of his mother; they knelt down by the side of it; lady betty lifted up her hand and untied the ribbon,--_the wrist was found exactly as lady beresford had described it, every sinew shrunk, every nerve withered_. "lady beresford's son, as had been predicted, is since married to lord tyrone's daughter. the black ribbon and pocket-book were formerly in the possession of lady betty cobb, marlborough buildings, bath, who, during her long life, was ever ready to attest the truth of this narration, as are, to the present hour, the whole of the tyrone and beresford families."[6] three remarkable examples of spectral appearances must now be given, because of their inherent interest and corresponding likeness. the first is recorded by glanville, a learned and pious author already referred to; the second is the case of dr. ferrar, and the third that of the "wynyard ghost story." (i.) glanville tells a story regarding the appearance of a spirit in fulfilment of a promise made during lifetime, which is full of point and purpose. it runs thus. the substance, not the exact words, of the narrative are here given:--in the seventeenth century there lived two friends, major george sydenham of dulverton in the county of somerset, and captain william dyke of the same county. they were both reputed to be unbelievers in the christian religion, if not avowed atheists. during the civil wars they had each served under the parliamentary generals, and took an active part on the side of the rebels. having held many discussions both on the subject of religion and irreligion, they eventually argued out the fact of the immortality of the soul, which each felt disposed to deny: and finally they agreed between themselves that whichever of them died first, should (if such a possibility existed,) appear on the third day after death to the survivor in major sydenham's summer-house at dulverton, and enlighten him as to the existence of a future state of rewards and punishments. in due course major sydenham died; and captain dyke, in company with a cousin of his own, a celebrated physician, who was attending a sick child at major sydenham's house, but who knew nothing of the matter in hand, arrived there. captain dyke and his relative dr. dyke, the physician, occupied the same bedroom. the latter was surprised to hear the captain ask of the servant for two of the largest candles that could be obtained, and sought an explanation. the captain then informed him of his promise to major sydenham, and of his own determined resolution to fulfil it. dr. dyke urged with considerable force that as there was no warrant for making such engagements, they were to be regarded as unquestionably wrong; and pointed out, firstly, that evil spirits might take advantage of the situation, and secondly, that such a tempting of the almighty was altogether wrong. "this may be all very true," responded captain dyke, "but as i faithfully promised to go, go i will. if you will come and sit up with me, well and good: and i shall be grateful. but if not, i shall certainly go alone." then, placing his watch on the table, he waited until half-past eleven; when taking up the candles, he walked up and down in close proximity to the entrance of the summer-house, until two o'clock, without either seeing or hearing anything extraordinary. upon this he formed two conclusions; either that the soul perished with the body, or that the laws of the spiritual world forbade his friend major sydenham abiding by his pledge. six weeks afterwards, however, captain dyke and his relation the physician had occasion to go to eton, where one of the sons of the former was to be placed at the college. they lodged at the s. christopher's inn, occupying different sleeping-rooms. on the last morning of their stay, captain dyke was unusually late, and when he entered the doctor's room was like a man struck with madness, his eyes staring, his knees refusing to support him, and his whole appearance altered. "what is the matter?" asked dr. dyke. "i have seen the major," replied the captain; "for if ever i saw him in my life, i certainly saw him just now." upon the doctor pressing for details, captain dyke gave the following account:--"after it was first light this morning, someone pulled back the curtains of my bed suddenly, and i saw the major exactly as i had seen him in life. 'i could not,' he said, 'come at the time appointed, but i am here now to tell you that there is a god, a very just and terrible god, and that if you do not turn over a new leaf you will find it so.' he then disappeared." it is said, finally, that captain dyke's truthfulness was so notorious, as to preclude the possibility of doubting his relation of the occurrence. furthermore, the apparition and warnings of his departed friend exercised a visible effect on his character and life, which latter was prolonged for two years; during which period he is said to have had the words then spoken to him always sounding in his ears. (ii.) the celebrated nicholas ferrar, of little gidding, (who, in the seventeenth century, lived a most retired, religious, and pious life,) had a brother, a physician in london. this physician made a compact with his eldest and favourite daughter that whichever of them died first should, if happy, appear to the other. this compact is said to have proved the subject of many conversations and religious discussions between father and child. the latter is reported to have been very averse to making any such agreement; but being overcome by arguments as to the reasonableness of such a course (if permitted by a gracious and merciful god) at last consented. after this she married and settled with her husband at gillingham lodge, in the county of wiltshire. here she was prematurely confined; and during her illness, one night by mistake took poison, and died quite suddenly. that very night her spirit appeared to her father in london, the curtains of whose bed she drew back, and with a sweet but mournful expression looked upon him, and then gradually faded away. in fact, and as a test of the objective reality of his daughter's apparition, dr. ferrar, deeply impressed by the occurrence, announced the death of his daughter to his family two days before he received intelligence of it by the then tardy post. (iii.) john cope sherbroke and george wynyard appear in the "army list" of 1785, the one as a captain and the other lieutenant in the 33rd regiment,--a corps which some years after had the honour to be commanded by the hon. arthur wellesley, subsequently duke of wellington. the regiment was then on service in canada, and sherbroke and wynyard, being of congenial tastes, had become great friends. it was their custom to spend in study much of the time which their brother officers devoted to idle pleasures. according to a narration[7] resting on the best authority now attainable, they were one afternoon sitting in wynyard's apartment. it was perfectly light, the hour was about four o'clock: they had dined, but neither of them had drunk wine, and they had retired from their mess to continue together the occupations of the morning. it ought to have been said that the apartment in which they were had two doors in it, the one opening into a passage and the other leading into wynyard's bedroom. there was no other means of entering the sitting-room, so that any person passing into the bedroom must have remained there unless he returned by the way he entered. this point is of consequence to the story. "as these two young officers were pursuing their studies, sherbroke, whose eyes happened accidentally to glance from the book before him towards the door which opened to the passage, all at once observed a tall youth of about twenty years of age whose appearance was that of extreme emaciation. struck with the presence of a perfect stranger, he immediately turned to his friend, who was sitting near him, and directed his attention to the guest who had thus strangely broken in upon their studies. as soon as wynyard's eyes were turned towards the mysterious visitor his countenance became suddenly agitated. 'i have heard,' says sir john sherbroke, 'of a man's being as pale as death, but i never saw a living face assume the appearance of a corpse except wynyard's at that moment.' as they looked silently at the form before them--for wynyard, who seemed to apprehend the import of the appearance, was deprived of the faculty of speech, and sherbroke, perceiving the agitation of his friend, felt no inclination to address it--as they looked silently upon the figure it proceeded slowly into the adjoining apartment, and in the act of passing them cast its eyes with an expression of somewhat melancholy affection on young wynyard. the oppression of this extraordinary presence was no sooner removed than wynyard, seizing his friend by the arm, and drawing a deep breath as if recovering from the suffocation of intense astonishment and emotion, muttered in a low and almost inaudible tone of voice, 'great god, my brother!' 'your brother!' repeated sherbroke, 'what can you mean? wynyard, there must be some deception; follow me;' and immediately taking his friend by the arm, he preceded him into the bedroom, which, as before stated, was connected with the sitting-room, and into which the strange visitor had evidently entered. it has already been said that from this chamber there was no possibility of withdrawing but by the way of the apartment, through which the figure had certainly never returned. imagine then the astonishment of the young officers when, on finding themselves in the chamber, they perceived that the room was perfectly untenanted. wynyard's mind had received an impression at the first moment of his observing him, that the figure whom he had seen was the spirit of his brother. sherbroke still persevered in strenuously believing that some delusion had been practised. they took note of the day and hour in which the event had happened, but they resolved not to mention the occurrence in the regiment, and gradually they persuaded each other that they had been imposed upon by some artifice of their fellow-officers, though they could neither account for the means of its execution. they were content to imagine anything possible rather than admit the possibility of a supernatural appearance. but though they had attempted these stratagems of self-delusion, wynyard could not help expressing his solicitude with respect to the safety of the brother whose apparition he had either seen or imagined himself to have seen; and the anxiety which he exhibited for letters from england, and his frequent mention of his brother's health, at length awakened the curiosity of his comrades, and eventually betrayed him into a declaration of the circumstances which he had in vain determined to conceal. the story of the silent and unbidden visitor was no sooner bruited abroad than the arrival of wynyard's letters from england were welcomed with more than usual eagerness, for they promised to afford the clue to the mystery which had happened among themselves. "by the first ships no intelligence relating to the story could have been received, for they had all departed from england previously to the appearance of the spirit. at length, the long wished-for vessel arrived; all the officers had letters except wynyard. they examined the several newspapers, but they contained no mention of any death or of any other circumstance connected with his family that could account for the preternatural event. there was a solitary letter for sherbroke still unopened. the officers had received their letters in the mess-room at the hour of supper. after sherbroke had broken the seal of his last packet, and cast a glance on its contents, he beckoned his friend away from the company, and departed from the room. all were silent. the suspense of the interest was now at its climax; the impatience for the return of sherbroke was inexpressible. they doubted not but that letter had contained the long-expected intelligence. "after the interval of an hour, sherbroke joined them. no one dared inquire the nature of his correspondence; but they waited in mute attention, expecting that he would himself touch upon the subject. his mind was manifestly full of thoughts that pained, bewildered, and oppressed him. he drew near to the fire-place, and leaning his head on the mantlepiece, after a pause of some moments, said in a low voice to the person who was nearest him, wynyard's brother was dead. 'dear john, break to your friend wynyard the death of his favourite brother.' _he had died on the day and at the very hour on which the friends had seen his spirit pass so mysteriously through the apartment._ "it might have been imagined that these events would have been sufficient to have impressed the mind of sherbroke with the conviction of their truth, but so strong was his prepossession against the existence or even the possibility of any preternatural intercourse with the spirits of the departed, that he still entertained a doubt of the report of his senses, supported as their testimony was by the coincidence of sight and event. some years after, on his return to england, he was with two gentlemen in piccadilly, when on the opposite side of the street he saw a person bearing the most striking resemblance to the figure which had been disclosed to wynyard and himself. his companions were acquainted with the story, and he instantly directed their attention to the gentleman opposite, as the individual who had contrived to enter and depart from wynyard's apartment without their being conscious of the means. "full of this impression, he immediately went over and addressed the gentleman. he now fully expected to elucidate the mystery. he apologized for the interruption, but excused it by relating the occurrence which had induced him to the commission of this solecism in manners. the gentleman received him as a friend. he had never been out of the country, but he was the twin brother of the youth whose spirit had been seen. "from the interesting character of this narration--the facts of the vision occurring in daylight, and to two persons; and of the subsequent verification of likeness by the party not previously acquainted with the subject of the vision, it is much to be regretted that no direct report of particulars had come to us. there is all other desirable authentication for the story, and sufficient evidence to prove that the two gentlemen believed and often told nearly what is here reported. "dr. mayo makes the following statement on the subject: 'i have had opportunities of inquiring of two near relations of this general wynyard, upon what evidence the above story rests. they told me that they had each heard it from his own mouth. more recently a gentleman, whose accuracy of recollection exceeds that of most people, had told me that he had heard the late sir john sherbroke, the other party in the ghost story, tell it in much the same way at the dinner-table. a writer in 'notes and queries' for july 3, 1858, states that the brother, not twin-brother, whose spirit appeared to wynyard and his friend, was john otway wynyard, lieutenant in the 3rd regiment of foot-guards, who died on the 15th of october, 1785. as this gentleman writes with a minute knowledge of the family history, this date may be considered as that of the alleged spiritual incident. "in 'notes and queries' for july 2nd, 1859, appeared a correspondence, giving the strongest testimony then attainable to the truth of the wynyard ghost story. a series of queries on the subject being drawn up at quebec, by sir john harvey, adjutant-general of the forces in canada, was sent to colonel gore of the same garrison, who was understood to be a survivor of the officers who were with sherbroke and wynyard at the time of the occurrence, and colonel gore explicitly replied to the following effect: he was present at sydney, in the island of cape breton, in the autumn of 1785 or 1786, when the incident happened. it was in the then new barrack, and the place was blocked up by ice so as to have no communication with any part of the world. he was one of the first persons who entered the room after the apparition was seen. the ghost passed them as they were sitting at coffee, between eight and nine in the evening, and went into g. wynyard's bed closet, the window of which was putt[i]ed down. he next day suggested to sherbroke the propriety of making a memorandum of the incident, which was done. 'i remember the date, and on the 6th of june our first letters from england brought the news of john wynyard's death, [which had happened] on the very night they saw his apparition.' colonel gore was under the impression that the person afterwards seen in one of the streets of london, by sherbroke and william wynyard, was not a brother of the latter family, but a gentleman named (he thought) hayman, noted for being like the deceased john wynyard, and who affected to dress like him." so much for these records and testimonies. the following, now to be narrated, not altogether unlike them, and producing a good result on the person who witnessed the apparition, is of almost equal interest:-"lord chedworth[8] had living with him the orphan daughter of a sister of his, a miss wright, who often related this circumstance: lord chedworth was a good man, and seemed anxious to do his duty, but, unfortunately, he had considerable intellectual doubts as to the existence of the soul in another world. he had a great friendship for a gentleman, whom he had known from his boyhood, and who was, like himself, one of those unbelieving mortals that must have ocular demonstration for everything. they often met, and often, too, renewed the subject so interesting to both; but neither could help the other to that happy conviction which was honestly wished for by each. "one morning miss wright observed on her uncle joining her at breakfast, a considerable gloom of thought and trouble displayed on his countenance. he ate little, and was unusually silent. at last, he said, 'molly' (for thus he familiarly called her), 'i had a strange visitor last night. my old friend b---came to me.' "'how?' said miss wright, 'did he come after i went to bed?' "'his spirit did,' said lord chedworth, solemnly. "'oh! my dear uncle, how could the spirit of a living man appear?' said she, smiling. "'he is dead, beyond doubt,' replied his lordship; 'listen, and then laugh as much as you please. i had not entered my bedroom many minutes when he stood before me. like you, i could not but think that i was looking on the living man, and so accosted him; but he answered, "chedworth, i died this night at eight o'clock; i come to tell you, that there is another world beyond the grave; and that there is a righteous god who judgeth all."' "'depend upon it, uncle, it was only a dream!' but while miss wright was thus speaking a groom on horseback rode up the avenue, and immediately after delivered a letter to lord chedworth, announcing the sudden death of his friend. whatever construction the reader may be disposed to put upon this narrative, it is not unimportant to add that the effect upon the mind of lord chedworth was as happy as it was permanent. all his doubts were at once removed, and for ever." the well-known lyttelton ghost story may now be fitly recorded. it created a great and widespread interest at the time of its occurrence, and was criticised and commented upon by many. several versions of it have already appeared in print, and they seem to vary in certain unimportant details. the editor, instead of writing out what has already appeared, prefers to set forth at length various documents containing independent evidence of the truth of the several apparitions, which by the courtesy and kindness of the present accomplished bearer of the title, he is enabled to embody _verbatim_ in this volume, having been permitted to transcribe them from the originals in lord lyttelton's possession. the subject of this narrative was the son of george, lord lyttelton, who was alike distinguished for the raciness of his wit and the profligacy of his manners. the latter trait of his character has induced many persons to suppose the apparition which he asserted he had seen, to have been the effect of a conscience quickened with remorse and misgivings, on account of many vices. the probability of the narrative[9] has, consequently, been much questioned; but two gentlemen, one of whom was at pitt place, the seat of lord lyttelton, and the other in the immediate neighbourhood, at the time of his lordship's death, bore ample testimony to the veracity of the whole affair. the several narratives of the singular occurrence correspond in material points; and the following are the circumstantial particulars written by the gentleman who was at the time on a visit to his lordship:-"i was at pitt place, epsom, when lord lyttelton died; lord fortescue, mrs. flood, and the two miss amphletts were also present. lord lyttelton had not long been returned from ireland, and frequently had been seized with suffocating fits; he was attacked several times by them in the course of the preceding month, while he was at his house in hill street, berkeley square. it happened that he dreamt, three days before his death, that he saw a fluttering bird, and afterwards a woman appeared to him in white apparel and said to him, 'prepare to die, you will not exist three days!' his lordship was much alarmed, and called to a servant from a closet adjoining, who found him much agitated and in a profuse perspiration; the circumstance had a considerable effect all the next day on his lordship's spirits. on the third day, while his lordship was at breakfast with the above personages, he said, 'if i live over to-night i shall have jockied the ghost, for this is the third day.' the whole party presently set off for pitt place, where they had not long arrived before his lordship was visited by one of his accustomed fits. after a short interval he recovered. he dined at five o'clock that day, and went to bed at eleven, when his servant was about to give him rhubarb and mint-water, but his lordship perceiving him stir it with a toothpick, called him a slovenly dog, and bade him go and fetch a teaspoon; but on the man's return he found his master in a fit, and the pillow being placed high, his chin bore hard upon his neck, when the servant, instead of relieving his master on the instant from his perilous situation, ran in his fright and called out for help, but on his return he found his lordship dead. "in explanation of this strange tale it is said that lord lyttelton acknowledged, previously to his death, that the woman he had seen in his dream was the 'mother' of the two misses amphletts mentioned above, whom, together with a third sister then in ireland, his lordship had seduced and prevailed on to leave their parent, who resided near his country residence in shropshire. it is further stated that mrs. amphlett died of grief through the desertion of her children at the precise time when the female vision appeared to his lordship. the most surprising part of the story, because the most difficult of explanation, yet remains to be related. on the second day miles peter andrews, one of lord lyttelton's most intimate friends, left the dinner-party at an early hour, being called away upon business to dartford, where he was the owner of certain powder-mills. he had all along professed himself one of the most determined sceptics as to the vision, and therefore ceased to think of it. on the third night, however, when he had been in bed about half an hour, and still remained, as he imagined, wide awake, his curtains were suddenly pulled aside, and lord lyttelton appeared before him in his robe-de-chambre and night-cap. mr. andrews gazed at his visitor for some time in silent wonder, and then began to reproach him for so odd a freak in coming down to dartford mills without any previous notice, as he hardly knew how on the emergency to find his lordship the requisite accommodation. 'nevertheless,' said andrews, 'i will get up and see what can be done for you.' with this view he turned aside to ring the bell; but on looking round again he could see no signs of his strange visitor. soon afterwards the bell was rung for his servant, and upon his asking what had become of lord lyttelton, the man, evidently much surprised at the question, replied that he had seen nothing of him since they had left pitt place. 'psha, you fool,' exclaimed mr. andrews, 'he was here this moment at my bedside.' the servant, more astonished than ever, declared that he did not well understand how that could be, since he must have seen him enter; whereupon mr. andrews rose, and having dressed himself, searched the house and grounds, but lord lyttelton was nowhere to be found. still, he could not help believing that his friend, who was fond of practical jokes, had played him this trick for his previously expressed scepticism in the matter of the dream. but he soon viewed the whole affair in a different light. about four o'clock on the same day an express arrived from a friend with the news of lord lyttelton's death, and the whole manner of it, as related by the valet to those who were in the house at the time. in mr. andrews's subsequent visits to pitt place, no solicitations could ever induce him to sleep there; he would invariably return, however late, to the spread eagle inn, at epsom, for the night." remarkable dream of thomas, lord lyttelton.[10] "on thursday, the 25th of november, 1779, thomas, lord lyttelton, when he came to breakfast, declared to mrs. flood, wife of frederick flood, esq., of the kingdom of ireland, and to the three miss amphletts, who were lodged in his house in hill street, london (where he then also was), that he had had an extraordinary dream the night before. he said he thought he was in a room which a bird flew into, which appearance was suddenly changed into that of a woman dressed in white, who bade him prepare to die. to which he answered, 'i hope not soon, not in two months.' she replied, 'yes, in three days.' he said he did not much regard it, because he could in some measure account for it; for that a few days before he had been with mrs. dawson when a robin-redbreast flew into her room. "when he had dressed himself that day to go to the house of lords, he said he thought he did not look as if he was likely to die. in the evening of the following day, being friday, he told the eldest miss amphlett that she looked melancholy; but, said he, 'you are foolish and fearful. i have lived two days, and, god willing, i will live out the third.' "on the morning of saturday he told the same ladies that he was very well, and believed he should bilk the ghost. some hours afterwards he went with them, mr. fortescue, and captain wolseley, to pitt place, at epsom; withdrew to his bed-chamber soon after eleven o'clock at night, talked cheerfully to his servant, and particularly inquired of him what care had been taken to provide good rolls for his breakfast the next morning, stepped into his bed with his waistcoat on, and as his servant was pulling it off, put his hand to his side, sunk back and immediately expired without a groan. he ate a good dinner after his arrival at pitt place, took an egg for his supper, and did not seem to be at all out of order, except that while he was eating his soup at dinner he had a rising in his throat, a thing which had often happened to him before, and which obliged him to spit some of it out. his physician, dr. fothergill, told me lord lyttelton had in the summer preceding a bad pain in his side, and he judged that some gut vessel in the part where he felt the pain gave way, and to that he conjectured his death was owing. his declaration of his dream and his expressions above mentioned, consequential thereon, were upon a close inquiry asserted to me to have been so, by mrs. flood, the eldest miss amphlett, captain wolseley, and his valet-de-chambre faulkner,[11] who dressed him on the thursday; and the manner of his death was related to me by william stuckey, in the presence of mr. fortescue and captain wolseley, stuckey being the servant who attended him in his bed-chamber, and in whose arms he died. "westcote.[12] "february the 13th, 1780." lord lyttelton is also asserted to have appeared to mr. andrews, his friend and boon companion, at the time of his lordship's sudden and mysterious death. of this fact testimony is furnished by mr. plumer ward, m.p., in his "illustrations of human life," from which (vol. i. p. 165) the following narrative is taken:-"i had often heard much and read much of lord lyttelton's seeing a ghost before his death, and of himself as a ghost appearing to mr. andrews; and one evening, sitting near that gentleman, during a pause in the debates in the house of commons, i ventured to ask him whether there was any and what truth in the detailed story so confidently related. mr. andrews, as perhaps i ought to have expected, did not much like the conversation. he looked grave and uneasy, and i asked pardon for my impertinent curiosity. upon this he good-naturedly said, 'it is not a subject i am fond of, and least of all in such a place as this; but if you will come and dine with me, i will tell you what is true and what is false.' i gladly accepted the proposal, and i think my recollection is perfect as to the following narrative:--'mr. andrews in his youth was the boon-companion, not to say fellow-rake, of lord lyttelton, who, as is well known, was a man distinguished for abilities, but also for a profligacy of morals which few could equal. with all this he was remarkable for what may be called unnatural cowardice in one so determinedly wicked. he never repented, yet could never stifle his conscience. he never could allow, yet never could deny, a world to come, and he contemplated with unceasing terror what would probably be his own state in such a world if there was one. he was always melancholy with fear, or mad in defiance; and probably his principal misery here was, that with all his endeavours, he never could extinguish the dread of an hereafter.... andrews was at his house at dartford when lord lyttelton died at pitt place, epsom, thirty miles off. andrews' house was full of company, and he expected lord lyttelton, whom he had left in his usual state of health, to join them the next day, which was sunday. andrews himself feeling much indisposed on the saturday evening, retired early to bed, and requested mrs. pigou, one of his guests, to do the honours of the supper-table. he admitted that, when in bed, he fell into a feverish sleep, but was waked between eleven and twelve by somebody opening his curtains. it was lord lyttelton in a night-gown and cap, which andrews recognized. he also plainly spoke to him, saying he was come to tell him all was over. the world said he informed him there was another state, and bade him repent, &c. that was not so. and i confine myself to the exact words of this relation. "'now it seems that lord lyttelton was fond of horse-play, or what we should call _mauvaise plaisanterie_; and, having often made andrews the subject of it, the latter had threatened him with manual chastisement next time it occurred. on the present occasion, thinking this annoyance renewed, he threw the first thing he could find, which were his slippers, at lord lyttelton's head. the figure retreated towards a dressing-room which had no ingress or egress except through the bed-chamber, and andrews, very angry, leapt out of bed, to follow it into the dressing-room. it was not there. surprised, he returned to the bedroom, which he strictly searched. the door was locked on the inside, yet no lord lyttelton was to be found. he was astonished, but not alarmed, so convinced was he that it was some trick of lord lyttelton, who, he supposed, had arrived, according to his engagement, but after he, andrews, had retired. he therefore rang for his servant, and asked if lord lyttelton was not come. the man said, "no." "you may depend upon it," replied he, out of humour, "he is somewhere in the house, for he was here just now, and is playing some trick." but how he could have got into the bedroom with the door locked puzzled both master and man. convinced, however, that he was somewhere in the house, andrews, in his anger, ordered that no bed should be given him, saying he might go to an inn, or sleep in the stables. be that as it may, he never appeared again, and andrews went to sleep. "'it happened that mrs. pigou was to go to town early the next morning. what was her astonishment, having heard the disturbance of the night before, to hear on her arrival about nine o'clock that lord lyttelton had died the very night he was supposed to have been seen. she immediately sent an express to dartford with the news; upon the receipt of which, andrews, (quite well, and remembering accurately all that had passed,) swooned away. he could not understand it, but it had a most serious effect upon him, so that--to use his own expression--he "was not his own man again for three years."' "such is the celebrated story; stript of its ornamentations and exaggerations; and for one, i own, if not convinced that this was a real message from heaven, which certainly i am not, i at least think the hand of providence was seen in it; working upon the imagination, if you please, and therefore suspending no law of nature (though that after all is an ambiguous term), but still providence, in a character not to be mistaken." the following remarkable occurrence of the spectral appearances of two persons, one recently dead and the other a canonized saint of the roman catholic church, which occurred about thirty years ago, is now published for the first time. it is known as "the weld ghost story:"-"philip weld was a younger son of mr. james weld of archer's lodge, near southampton, and a nephew of the late cardinal weld, the head of that ancient family, whose chief seat is lulworth castle in dorsetshire.[13] he was sent by his father in 1844 to s. edmund's college, near ware in hertfordshire, for his education. he was a boy of great piety and virtue, and gave not only satisfaction to the masters of studies, but edification to all his fellow-students. it happened that on april 16, 1846, a play-day or whole holiday, the president of the college gave the boys leave to boat upon the river at ware. "in the morning of that day philip weld had been to the holy communion at the early celebration of mass, having just finished his retreat. in the afternoon of the same day he went with his companions and some of the masters to boat on the river as arranged. this sport he enjoyed very much. when one of the masters remarked that it was time to return to the college, philip asked whether they might not have one more row. the master consented, and they rowed to the accustomed turning-point. on arriving there, and in turning the boat, philip accidentally fell out into a very deep part of the river; and, notwithstanding that every effort was made to save him, was drowned. "his dead body was brought back to the college, and the very rev. dr. cox, the president, was immensely shocked and grieved. he was very fond of philip; but what was most dreadful to him was to have to break this sad news to the boy's parents. he scarcely knew what to do, whether to write by post, or to send a messenger. at last he determined to go himself to mr. weld at southampton. so he set off the same evening, and, passing through london, reached southampton the next day, and drove from thence to archer's lodge, mr. weld's residence. "on arriving there and being shown into his private study, dr. cox found mr. weld in tears. the latter, rising from his seat and taking the doctor by the hand, said, 'my dear sir, you need not tell me what you are come for. i know it already. philip is dead. yesterday i was walking with my daughter katharine on the turnpike road, in broad daylight, and philip appeared to us both. he was standing on the causeway with another young man in a black robe by his side. my daughter was the first to perceive him. she said to me, "look there, papa: there is philip." i looked and saw him. i said to my daughter, "it is philip, indeed; but he has the look of an angel." not suspecting that he was dead, though greatly wondering that he was there, i went towards him with my daughter to embrace him; but a few yards being between us, while i was going up to him a labouring man, who was walking on the same causeway, passed between the apparition and the hedge, and as he went on i saw him pass through their apparent bodies, as if they were transparent. on perceiving this i at once felt sure that they were spirits, and going forward with my daughter to touch them, philip sweetly smiled on us, and then both he and his companion vanished away.'" "the reader may imagine how deeply affected dr. cox was on hearing this remarkable statement. he of course corroborated it by relating to the afflicted father the circumstances attendant on his son's death, which had taken place at the very hour in which he appeared to his father and sister. they all concluded that he had died in the grace of god, and that he was in happiness, because of the placid smile on his face.[14] "dr. cox asked mr. weld who the young man was in the black robe who had accompanied his son, and who appeared to have a most beautiful and angelic countenance, but he said that he had not the slightest idea. "a few weeks afterwards, however, mr. weld was on a visit to the neighbourhood of stonyhurst in lancashire. after hearing mass one morning in the chapel, he, while waiting for his carriage, was shown into the guest-room, where, walking up to the fireplace, he saw a picture above the chimney-piece, which, as it pleased god, represented a young man in a black robe with the very face, form, and attitude of the companion of philip as he saw him in the vision, and beneath the picture was inscribed 's. stanislaus kostka,'[15] one of the greatest saints of the jesuit order, and the one whom philip had chosen for his patron saint at his confirmation. his father, overpowered with emotion, fell on his knees, shedding many tears, and thanking god for this fresh proof of his son's blessedness. for in what better company could he be than in that of his patron saint, leading him, as it were, into the presence of his creator and his saviour, from the dangers and temptations of this state of exile to a condition of endless blessedness and happiness?"[16] this is, perhaps, one of the most remarkable and best-authenticated recent cases of spectral appearances which has ever been narrated. the various independent testimonies dove-tailing together so perfectly, centre in the leading supernatural fact--the actual apparition in the daytime of a person just departed this life by sudden death, seen not by one only, but by two people, simultaneously; and seen in company with the spirit of a very holy and renowned saint, the chosen patron of the youth who had just been drowned. a more clear and conclusive example of the supernatural it would be impossible to obtain. the following case in certain particulars is not unlike that just recorded; for two persons, at a distance of many hundred miles apart, saw the apparition of their departed relative who had just died in australia:-"circumstances, in the year 1848," writes a correspondent of the editor, "induced me to allow my youngest daughter to leave england, in order to join a son of mine in australia, who had left home about five years previously, to seek his fortune in that country. in england, at home, he had every opportunity of making his way in life, and settling advantageously, but had availed himself of none that had offered. after leaving school, he was placed under a private tutor's care, and duly entered at oxford. there he did nothing, or next to nothing, and left without taking any degree. soon after this, at his own suggestion, in company with a friend, whose acquaintance he had made at the university, an acquaintance which eventually ripened into a warm friendship, he went to australia; and he did not go empty-handed. a sum of money was placed to his credit with a colonial bank in the city of london having agencies in that colony, and nothing was left undone to secure for him a good start in his self-chosen and new life. i ought to add here that my own wish always had been that he should remain at home, and, after receiving orders, become vicar of a parish, the patronage of which was in the gift of a relation. man proposes, but god disposes. "in australia, as was not otherwise than i myself had anticipated, the manner of life was utterly unlike that to which he had been accustomed. ill-luck and want of success met him at every turn, as we afterwards found out; and not only did want of success meet him, but he had to undergo privations and hardships, which eventually weakened a constitution never too strong. "at the time that i consented to my daughter going out, much of the above was unknown to us. he had written complaining of ill-health and weakness, and she, with great self-denial and sisterly devotion, resolved to go. she went with the understanding that she was soon to return. just before she started, the mail brought us unexceptionally bad news of her brother's weak state of health, written by his college friend. "about six weeks after her departure, i was sitting musing in my arm-chair, on a summer afternoon, close to the window of my library, which looked out upon a lawn, to the left of which were three large and overspreading cedar-trees. all of a sudden i saw the life-like apparition of my son standing below the cedar-trees. he looked very pale, thin, and careworn, much altered, but my very son. he gazed at me intently, and with a mournful gaze, for about the space of two minutes. i could not speak--i could not move--i could not take my eyes off him. i seemed riveted to the spot; and, of course, i was at once convinced of the fact that he had died. then he seemed gradually to fade away. it was weeks before i could get the thoughts of his appearance out of my mind; and nothing that the members of my family could say served to remove the impression so indelibly stamped upon it of our loss. "some months afterwards, we received letters from my daughter (just landed) and his other friends in australia announcing his decease. he had died somewhat suddenly, having expressed the most anxious desire to see me before his death--a desire repeated again and again, and regarding which he seemed to be unquiet. "the most remarkable feature yet to be told in the circumstance was this,--that my daughter, who was reposing in the ladies' cabin of the ship, on her way to australia, saw the apparition of her brother come into the cabin, move round it by a strange motion, and then, after looking at herself with a strained and mournful look, glide out again. "events afterwards showed that these appearances, both on shipboard and at my own home, occurred at or about the very time of my dear boy's death. and nothing will convince me that the record here set down is not one of the most remarkable and undoubted examples of supernatural apparitions. may god almighty join us all together again, after these earthly separations, in his heavenly kingdom!" the following example, which has already appeared in print, is authenticated by a personal acquaintance of the editor, who has kindly written him a letter on the subject. it was first given to dr. william gregory,[17] who published it about twenty-three years ago. it is said to have occurred in 1849:[18]-"an officer occupied the same room with another officer in the west indies. one night he awoke his companion, and asked him if he saw anything in the room, when the latter answered that he saw an old man in the corner whom he did not know. 'that,' said the other, 'is my father, and i am sure he is dead.' in due time news arrived of his death in england at that very time. long afterwards the officer took his friend who had seen the vision to visit the widow, when, on entering the room, he started, and said, '_that is the portrait of the old man i saw_.' it was, in fact, the portrait of the father, whom the friend had never seen except in the vision." "this story," writes dr. gregory, "i have on the best authority; and everyone knows that such stories are not uncommon. it is very easy, but not satisfactory, to laugh at them as incredible ghost stories; but there is a natural truth in them, whatever they may be." examples of apparitions at the time of death to friends and relations are, however, so numerous that a considerable number might readily be printed. here are two, well and duly authenticated. the following statement is vouched for by the person signing the same:- "in the summer of 1816, my father and mother having retired to bed about nine o'clock, the latter was about to draw down the blind, when she observed the figure of a female approaching their house by a footpath which communicated with the village. thinking the circumstance unusual, she waited till the figure approached sufficiently near to discern its features, when she exclaimed to my father, 'why, here is my sister b----; what can have induced her to come here at this time of the evening?' she was about to prepare to go downstairs to inquire the cause of such a visit at that late time of night, when my mother observed the figure retracing its steps in the same direction by which it had come. the following morning, early, intelligence was brought to my mother that her sister b---died at the same hour at which her apparition appeared to my mother. this is a simple statement of facts. "signed by the son of the person to whom the apparition appeared. "c. j. hanmer. "33, henley street, camp hill, birmingham." the following is another statement of facts vouched for by those who formally testify to its truth:- "one evening in the autumn of the year 1868, my wife retired to bed early. on my entering the bedroom about midnight, i found her wide awake, and in a very excited state. on inquiring the cause, she stated that she believed most firmly she had seen our old friend mrs. g----, then residing at a distance, whom we believed to be in perfect health. my wife gave a minute description of her dress, which i had remembered to have seen her wear, and at the same time stated that when the apparition appeared to her, every object in the bedroom was strangely but distinctly visible. of course i tried to allay my wife's excitement by assuring her that she was suffering from the effects of an unpleasant dream, but i failed to shake her conviction that she had seen the spirit of our friend. "nothing occurred during the next day, but on the following we received a letter from a relative, stating that mrs. g---had died the night before about twelve o'clock. "it appears that mrs. g----, while in her garden, was observed to fall upon one of the flower beds. having been taken to her room, medical aid was promptly procured, but without avail: she remained unconscious from that time until the moment of her death, which occurred about twelve o'clock the same evening. "(signed) c. l. hanmer, catherine hanmer (wife of the above). "branch dispensary, camp hill, birmingham, oct. 18, 1872." the following account of the apparition of a murdered man, near the place of his death, is very remarkable. it has been published, though in another form, in australia, and is there generally accepted as true. the version given below is from those who are thoroughly competent to furnish a true and faithful account of a very impressive narrative:-"in australia, about twenty-five years ago, two graziers, who had emigrated from england, and entered into partnership, became, as was generally believed, possessed of considerable property, by an unlooked-for success in their precarious but not unprofitable occupation. one of them all of a sudden was missed, and could nowhere be found. search was made for him in every quarter, likely and unlikely, yet no tidings of him or his whereabouts could be heard. "one evening, about three weeks afterwards, his partner and companion was returning to his hut along a bye-path which skirted a deep and broad sheet of water. the shadows of twilight were deepening, and the setting sun was almost shut out by the tall shrubs, brushwood, and rank grass which grew so thick and wild. in a moment he saw the crouching figure of his companion, apparently as real and life-like as could be, sitting on the ground by the very margin of the deep pond, with his left arm bent, resting on his left knee. he was about to rush forward and speak, when the figure seemed to grow less distinct, and the ashen-coloured face wore an unusually sad and melancholy aspect; so he paused. on this the figure, becoming again more palpable, raised its right arm, and, holding down the index finger of the right hand, pointed to a dark and deep hole, where the water was still and black, immediately beside an overhanging tree. this action was deliberately done, and then twice repeated, after which the figure, growing more and more indistinct, seemed to fade away. "the grazier was mortally terrified and alarmed. for a while he stood riveted to the spot, fearing either to go forward or backward; while the silence of evening and the strange solitude, now for the first time in his australian life thoroughly experienced, overawed him completely. afterwards he turned and went home. night, which came on soon, brought him no sleep. he was restless, agitated, and disquieted. "the next morning, in company with others, the pool was dragged, and the body of his partner discovered, in the very spot towards which the figure of the phantom had twice pointed. it had been weighted and weighed down by a large stone attached to the body; while from the same spot was recovered a kind of axe or hatchet, with which the murder had evidently been committed. this was identified as having belonged to a certain adventurer, who, on being taxed and formally charged with the murder, and found to be possessed of certain valuable documents belonging to the murdered man, eventually confessed his crime, and was executed. "this incident, and its supernatural occurrences, made a deep impression; and, having been abundantly testified to, in a court of justice, as well as in common and general conversation, is not likely to be soon forgotten in the neighbourhood of ballarat, in australia, where it occurred." here, of course, the purpose of the apparition was obvious enough; and the end attained was as just and proper as it was true and righteous; for "whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." the following example of the appearance of the spirit of a dying woman to her children, who were at a distance of some hundreds of miles from her, is a plain unvarnished narrative of facts. it is now published for the first time. "a lady and her husband (who held a position of some distinction in india) were returning home (a.d. 1854) after an absence of four years, to join a family of young children, when the former was seized in egypt with an illness of a most alarming character; and, though carefully tended by an english physician and nursed with the greatest care, grew so weak that little or no hope of her recovery existed. with that true kindness which is sometimes withheld by those about a dying bed, she was properly and plainly informed of her dangerous state, and bidden to prepare for the worst. of a devout, pious, and reverential mind, she is reported to have made a careful preparation for her latter end, though no clergyman was at hand to minister the last sacrament, or to afford spiritual consolation. the only point which seemed to disturb her mind, after the delirium of fever had passed away, was a deep-seated desire to see her absent children once again, which she frequently expressed to those who attended upon her. day after day, for more than a week, she gave utterance to her longings and prayers, remarking that she would die happily if only this one wish could be gratified. "on the morning of the day of her departure hence, she fell into a long and heavy sleep, from which her attendants found it difficult to arouse her. during the whole period of it she lay perfectly tranquil. soon after noon, however, she suddenly awoke, exclaiming, 'i have seen them all: i have seen them. god be praised for jesus christ's sake!' and then slept again. towards evening, in perfect peace and with many devout exclamations, she calmly yielded up her spirit to god who gave it. her body was brought to england, and interred in the family burying-place. "the most remarkable part of this incident remains to be told. the children of the dying lady were being educated at torquay under the supervision of a friend of the family. at the very time that their mother thus slept, they were confined to the house where they lived, by a severe storm of thunder and lightning. two apartments on one floor, perfectly distinct, were then occupied by them as play and recreation rooms. all were there gathered together. no one of the children was absent. they were amusing themselves with games of chance, books, and toys, in company of a nursemaid who had never seen their parents. all of a sudden their mother, as she usually appeared, entered the larger room of the two, pausing, looked for some moments at each and smiled, passed into the next room, and then vanished away. three of the elder children recognized her at once, but were greatly disturbed and impressed at her appearance, silence, and manner. the younger and the nursemaid each and all saw a lady in white come into the smaller room, and then slowly glide by and fade away." the date of this occurrence, september 10, 1854, was carefully noted, and it was afterwards found that the two events above recorded happened almost contemporaneously. a record of the event was committed to paper, and transcribed on a fly-leaf of the family bible, from which the above account was taken and given to the editor of this book in the autumn of the year 1871, by a relation of the lady in question, who is well acquainted with the fact of her spectral appearance at torquay, and has vouched for the truth of it in the most distinct and formal manner. the husband, who was reported to have been of a somewhat sceptical habit of mind, was deeply impressed by the occurrence. and though it is seldom referred to now, it is known to have had a very deep and lasting religious effect on more than one person who was permitted directly to witness it.[19] a personal acquaintance of the editor, whom he has had the pleasure of knowing for twenty years, most kindly furnishes the following example:-"in the winter of 1872-3 i was afflicted with a long and severe illness, so severe indeed, that for six weeks i was hovering between life and death. a nurse of great knowledge and intelligence was in attendance on me; she had been brought up as a socinian, and was entirely careless as to religious belief. at the same time she was wholly devoted to her duties, and most attentive and assiduous in the same. two days after her arrival she was sitting up in the adjoining room, the folding-doors between which and the room where i was lying being open, and lights were burning in each apartment. it had struck two o'clock a.m., and from my critical position she was unwilling either to sleep or to secure temporary rest. on looking up at that moment she perceived a form bending over me. the figure was that of an aged person with attenuated features, straggling grey hair, and thin clasped hands, which were placed in the attitude of prayer. for a while she thought it was someone who had entered the room; but, after gazing at it intently, she was smitten with a strange awe, and stood watching it attentively for at least five minutes, when it gradually faded away and disappeared. "on the first opportunity she mentioned this strange occurrence to the people of the house, when she heard for the first time that my father had been lying dangerously ill at his own residence, more than a hundred miles away. at the time of my own and my father's sickness, my dangerous state, for medical and prudential reasons, was not communicated to him, and my illness was made light of, fearing the bad effect upon himself. that it was his spirit which then appeared seems undoubted: for at two o'clock p.m. a relation came to see me from the city where my father had lived, to break to me the sad news of his decease. he had departed this life exactly at the period when his apparition in the attitude of prayer had been seen by my attendant. these facts were not made known to me until some time afterwards."[20] the following story, no less interesting and impressive, appears in "the life and times of lord brougham, written by himself," published a few years ago by messrs. blackwood and co.:-"'a most remarkable thing happened to me--so remarkable that i must tell the story from the beginning. after i left the high school [in edinburgh], i went with g----, my most intimate friend, to attend the classes in the university. there was no divinity class, but we frequently in our walks discussed and speculated upon many grave subjects--among others, on the immortality of the soul, and on a future state. this question and the possibility, i will not say of ghosts walking, but of the dead appearing to the living, were subjects of much speculation; and we actually committed the folly of drawing up an agreement, written with our blood, to the effect that whichever of us died first should appear to the other, and thus solve any doubts we had entertained of the "life after death." after we had finished our classes at the college, g---went to india, having got an appointment there in the civil service. he seldom wrote to me, and after the lapse of a few years i had almost forgotten him; moreover, his family having little connection with edinburgh, i seldom saw or heard anything of them, or of him through them, so that all the old schoolboy intimacy had died out and i had nearly forgotten his existence. i had taken, as i have said, a warm bath; and while in it and enjoying the comfort of the heat after the late freezing i had undergone, i turned my head round towards the chair on which i had deposited my clothes, as i was about to get out of the bath. on the chair sat g----, looking calmly at me. how i got out of the bath i know not, but on recovering my senses i found myself sprawling on the floor. the apparition, or whatever it was that had taken the likeness of g----, had disappeared. the vision produced such a shock that i had no inclination to talk about it, or to speak about it even to stuart; but the impression it made upon me was too vivid to be easily forgotten; and so strongly was i affected by it, that i have here written down the whole history with the date, 19th december, and all the particulars as they are now fresh before me. no doubt i had fallen asleep; and that the appearance presented so distinctly to my eyes was a dream, i cannot for a moment doubt, yet for years i had had no communication with g----, nor had there been anything to recall him to my recollection; nothing had taken place during our swedish travels either connected with g---or with india, or with anything relating to him or to any member of his family. i recollected quickly enough our old discussion, and the bargain we had made. i could not discharge from my mind the impression that g---must have died, and that his appearance to me was to be received by me as a proof of a future state.' this was on december 19, 1799. in october, 1862, lord brougham added as a postscript:--'i have just been copying out from my journal the account of this strange dream: certissima mortis imago! and now to finish the story, begun about sixty years since. soon after my return to edinburgh there arrived a letter from india announcing g----'s death! and stating that he had died on the 19th of december.'" the following example of the apparition of a departed friend is, for reasons which will be apparent from the narrative, not unlike the three curious, but independent cases already recorded in the early part of the present chapter, and not altogether unlike that told by the late lord brougham. it comes directly to the editor from the pen of the person who saw the spectral appearance:-"i was sitting in my library one evening, towards the close of summer, somewhat late. the shadow of evening had been deepening for some time, for the sun had long gone down; and the expansive valley beyond and below my sloping garden was white with mist. within, beyond the heavy folds of the curtains which hung beside a single and rather small and open window, there was a grey darkness which almost enshrouded the corners of the room on either side. i had been musing and meditating on a variety of subjects, theological, metaphysical, and moral, for more than an hour; while i reposed in a low arm-chair on one side of the fire-place. "all of a sudden i saw what seemed to be an elongated perpendicular cloud of foggy-looking grey smoke, collected in the right-hand corner of the room. i could not comprehend what it was. while looking steadily at it, and rubbing my eyes (doubting for a moment whether i was awake or asleep), it seemed to form itself, by a kind of circular rolling motion of the smoke or luminous mist, into a human shape. there, before me, came out slowly, as it were, face, head, body, arms, hands and feet--at first a little indistinct in detail, but eventually so self-evident and clear that it was impossible to doubt the fact--of a figure, which a moment or two afterwards was developed into the exact and unmistakeable form of an old fellow-student at oxford, who had died soon after we left that university, and of whom i had heard nothing whatever since the day of his death about seven years previously,[21] to that moment. appearing just as he had lived, though death-like and ashen, he looked at me with a fixed and strangely-vacant stare, which appeared to grow alternately vivid and piercing, and dull and nebulous. i seemed to feel the air all at once chill and unearthly; and an indescribable sensation came over me which i had never experienced either before or afterwards. i felt almost paralyzed, and yet not altogether terrified. the form of my old college companion (who had been a very upright, devout and religious man) in a moment smiled at me, and raising his hand, pointed for a few seconds upwards. at this action a very bright mist, not exactly a light, but a luminous mist, seemed to hover over him. i tried to speak, but could not. my tongue clave to the roof of my mouth. then, protecting myself with the sign of the cross, and a mental invocation of the blessed trinity, i sheltered my eyes with my right hand for a few seconds, and then looking up again saw the apparition become more and more indistinct and soon altogether fade away. "this is my ghost story, and i have always connected the appearance with arguments and conversations which, against aggressive objectors, used to be held at oxford in defence of the christian doctrines of the resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul, in which my dead friend took so intelligent and earnest a part." not less interesting is the following account of a spectral appearance which occurred in the latter part of the afternoon of a bright autumnal day, well authenticated, and here set forth for the first time:-"the widow of a well-known bristol merchant was, in 1856, acting as lady housekeeper to a berkshire clergyman. one of her sons was an officer in the indian army, and serving in the madras presidency. it was his custom to write to his mother by every fortnightly mail. he had not missed doing so with punctual regularity. "one evening, however, between six and seven, in the month of october of the above year, the lady in question was walking on the lawn before the house, in company with the curate of the parish, a well-known oxford man, when all of a sudden both of them saw what appeared to be a dog-cart containing three men drive along the lane which skirted the lawn and flower-garden, and which was separated from it by a closely-cut box-hedge, so low as to admit of those who were walking in the garden seeing with ease and distinctness any person approaching the house in a vehicle. it was driven in the direction of the carriage entrance, and, from the sound, appeared to have entered the court-yard of the house. one of the persons in it, he who sat behind, half rose, and looking towards his mother and the clergyman, smiled, and waved his right hand as a greeting. he looked very pale and ashy; otherwise there was nothing remarkable in his appearance. both most distinctly observed the action just mentioned. immediately on seeing it, the lady exclaimed with marked feeling and excitement, 'good heavens! why, there's robert.' she at once rushed through a passage of the house, which led directly to the court-yard, only to find to her amazement and perplexity that no carriage nor dog-cart had arrived, and that the large gates of the house were, as usual, locked and fastened, and moreover had not been opened. "the impression this remarkable incident made was deep and great. no doubt whatever existed in the minds of those who had seen and heard the passing vehicle, that the form on the seat behind was the son of the lady in question. she consequently felt confident that some harm had happened to him, became miserable, and was inconsolable. no remarks or reasoning to the contrary, several of which were attempted, produced the slightest effect. a deep gloom settled over her. the sequel can soon be narrated. in the course of a few weeks the mail _viã¢_ southampton, most anxiously looked for, brought two letters to the lady in question, one intimating that her son had been suddenly struck with a most severe fever, was delirious and in great danger; the other intimating his death. this latter occurred on the very day at which the appearance in question was seen, but at a slightly different time." with the following example, as strange in itself as it is painfully interesting, this part of the subject will be brought to a close. it is only right to add that a version of the incident which now follows has already appeared in one of mr. henry spicer's interesting volumes:-"a young german lady of rank, still alive to tell the story, arriving with her friends at one of the most noted hotels in paris, an apartment of unusual magnificence on the first floor was apportioned to her use. after retiring to rest, she lay awake a long while contemplating, by the dim light of a night lamp, the costly ornaments in the room, when suddenly the folding doors opposite the bed, which she had locked, were thrown open, and amid a flood of unearthly light there entered a young man in the dress of the french navy, having his hair dressed in the peculiar mode _ã  la titus_. taking a chair, and placing it in the middle of the room, he sat down, and took from his pocket a pistol of an uncommon make, which he deliberately put to his forehead, fired, and fell back dead. at the moment of the explosion, the room became dark and still, and a low voice said softly, 'say an _ave maria_ for his soul.' "the young lady fell back, not insensible, but paralyzed with horror, and remained in a kind of cataleptic trance, fully conscious, but unable to move or speak, until at nine o'clock, no answer having been given to repeated calls of her maid, the doors were forced open. at the same moment, the powers of speech returned, and the poor young lady shrieked out to her attendants that a man had shot himself in the night, and was lying dead on the floor. nothing, however, was to be seen, and they concluded that she was suffering from the effects of a dream. "a short time afterwards, however, the proprietor of the hotel informed a gentleman of the party that the terrible scene witnessed by the young lady had in reality been enacted only three nights previously in that very room, when a young french officer put an end to his life with a pistol of a peculiar description, which, together with the body, was then lying at the morgue, awaiting identification. the gentleman examined them both, and found them exactly correspond with the description of the man and the pistol seen in the apparition. the archbishop of paris, monseigneur sibour, being exceedingly impressed by the story, called upon the young lady; and, directing her attention to the words spoken by the mysterious voice, urged her to embrace the roman catholic faith, to whose teaching, as his grace asserted, it pointed so clearly." the various examples of spectral appearances now given (and they might have been largely augmented) may certainly serve to provide cases, so inherently striking and conclusive in themselves, as to leave little or no doubt of their intrinsic truth. making every allowance for unintentional misconceptions and exaggeration in the record of them, putting aside mere rhetorical ornaments and literary additions, it seems quite impossible, being guided by the ordinary rules of evidence, not to admit the force and value of such striking facts as the above. in the cases already set forth, it is quite irrational to maintain that the disturbed imagination or wild fancy of the persons who are said to have seen the apparitions were the sole foundations of the things seen; more especially as in some instances the appearances were beheld by two or more persons at the same time, and often the same form presented itself to different people upon different occasions. it may be that some own a power of seeing disembodied spirits, which is not possessed by others, and it is tolerably certain that the large majority of people have never beheld anything of the sort. but this, after all, is but negative testimony. that which is positive, covering, it may be, a small area, is of considerable value and importance in aiding those who are open to conviction in coming to a reasonable conclusion. for existing positive evidence cannot be rudely and arrogantly set aside, when found to be, as in the case under consideration, so completely in harmony with many of the plain and specific statements of holy scripture, with the express testimony of the fathers of the christian church, and the almost universal tradition of mankind in every age. haunted houses and localities. "nations civilized as well as uncivilized: barbarians of the rudest type, and christians of the highest and deepest spirituality, have always believed that certain localities were the haunts of unquiet spirits."-_-richard h. froude._ chapter vii. haunted houses and localities. many who are unaffected by the demoralizing and degrading materialistic theories of life, which are now enunciated by some who name themselves, and whom their flattering admirers style "philosophers," will not be unwilling to allow that a considerable amount of evidence[22] is in existence, indicating that certain localities are troubled by the presence of evil spirits, who from time to time manifest their powers, or sometimes appear to mankind in forms which give a shock to those who are enabled or permitted to perceive them. if christian tradition be accepted, a belief in the official ministry of unfallen spirits,--"the armies of the living god,"--will be held, firmly[23] and intelligibly, as a most reasonable and beautiful part of almighty god's revelation, who "has ordained and constituted the services of angels and men in a wonderful order." so, by consequence, the existence and action of fallen angels, the legions of satan, and of spirits,[24] who, at the particular judgment following immediately upon death, have merited the swift and righteous condemnation of an all-just judge, will be fully admitted. the power, activity, and malice of satan is apparent from numerous statements in holy scripture; and most christian writers who have dealt with the subject of evil spirits have maintained that their power and influence are unquestionably greater in some localities than others. it is commonly held, that in lonely deserts, on lofty mountains, where the feet of men seldom tread, as well as in the mines of the earth,[25] and in vast forests where desolation reigns, the powers of the devil and his angels, being unchecked and uncurbed by the positive energizing activity of christianity, are vast. so, likewise, the universal instinct of mankind has maintained that there are certain places in which the appearances of unquiet or lost souls might be reasonably looked for, rather than in others. deserted houses and lonely roads, where crimes of violence and special wickedness have been perpetrated; deep mines,[26] localities, unblessed by holy church, where the bodies of christians have been placed to moulder away, instead of in god's holy acre, the consecrated churchyard; battlefields, where it may be that so many have been cut off in deadly sin- "unhouseled, disappointed, unanealed," have each and all been regarded as the fitting haunts of disquieted and wandering spirits. on this point southey, in "the doctor," with much force thus writes:--"the popular belief that _places_ are haunted where money has been concealed (as if, where the treasure was and the heart had been, there would the miserable soul be also), or where some great and undiscovered crime has been committed, shows how consistent this is with our natural sense of fitness." on a collateral detail of this subject (the constant and malignant activity of evil spirits), mr. john wesley, a thorough believer in the supernatural, put forth his faith and convictions with singular force and lucidity, plainly maintaining the reality and importance of all those explicit statements of holy scripture which so directly and practically bear on the point under treatment. "let us consider," wrote wesley, "what may be the employment of unholy spirits from death to the resurrection. we cannot doubt but the moment they leave the body, they find themselves surrounded by spirits of their own kind, probably human as well as diabolical. what power god may permit these to exercise over them we do not distinctly know. but it is not improbable [that] he may suffer satan to employ them as he does his own angels, in inflicting death or evils of various kinds on the men that know not god. for this end they may raise storms by sea or by land; they may shoot meteors through the air; they may occasion earthquakes; and in numberless ways afflict those whom they are not suffered to destroy. where they are not permitted to take away life, they may inflict various diseases; and many of these, which we may judge to be natural, are undoubtedly diabolical. i believe this is frequently the case with lunatics. it is observable that many of these, mentioned in the scripture, who are called 'lunatics' by one of the evangelists, are termed 'demoniacs' by another. one of the most eminent physicians i ever knew, particularly in cases of insanity, the late dr. deacon, was clearly of opinion that this was the case with many, if not with most lunatics. and it is no valid objection to this, that these diseases are so often cured by natural means; for a wound inflicted by an evil spirit might be cured as any other, unless that spirit were permitted to repeat the blow. may not some of these evil spirits be likewise employed, in conjunction with evil angels, in tempting wicked men to sin, and in procuring occasions for them? yea, and in tempting good men to sin, even after they have escaped the corruption that is in the world. herein, doubtless, they put forth all their strength, and greatly glory if they conquer."[27] although some may maintain that this passage is perhaps wanting in theological exactness, there can be little doubt that, with much force, it truly and eloquently embodies the belief of all christian people, and gives a simple and forcible explanation of scripture statements regarding the active and untiring energy of the legions of hell. again, the marquis de marsay, a pious french protestant writer of the last century, whose collected works were issued about the year 1735, sets forth from his own point of view a theory regarding the nature and character of spirits, which because it bears directly on the subject of haunted localities, and in some respects follows the teaching of the schoolmen, it may be well to quote here:-"i believe," he writes, "that there are three kind of spirits, which return to this world, after the death of their bodies. the spirits of such as are in a state of condemnation, and which are in a very miserable condition, hover about, and _haunt the places where they have committed their evil deeds and iniquities_. they remain at these places by divine permission, and do all the evil they can; whilst, at the same time, they suffer intolerable torments and are malignant. some of this kind of spirits occasionally make themselves visible.... the second kind of spirits are those which roam about, because they seek to free themselves from their state of purification[28] by other means than by resignation to divine justice; hence they seek help from those that fear god, and in so doing, withdraw themselves from the divine order.... these are not evil spirits, but such as are still in their self-will, and therefore refuse to yield to the divine order, by voluntarily submitting themselves to the punishment imposed upon them.... _the third kind of spirits, or rather souls that reappear, are those, whose punishment is to be at some certain place in this world, because they have satisfied their passions in that place, and lived according to their lusts in an idolatrous manner_; for that which now causes a man lust and pleasure, must hereafter serve as his pain and punishment. of this we have several instances; amongst others, that of a pious man, who after his death appeared to his daughter, who was likewise a pious person, and after conversing with her some time on his state, began to turn pale, to tremble, and be much distressed; and said to his daughter that the time was now arrived when he must go and remain for a time in his grave, with his putrefying and corrupting corpse; and that this happened to him every day, because in his life-time he had had too much affection and tenderness for his body." the dissertations of the schoolmen, and of certain english writers of the seventeenth century, are not unlike the above.[29] so, too, are several of their most reasonable deductions and conclusions. in fact, dr. joseph hall, sometime bishop of exeter (a.d. 1627-1641, and afterwards of norwich, from 1641 until 1656), maintained that many souls, guilty both of deadly sin (duly repented of during life), and of venial sin, in which not improbably they died, might have to suffer, by lingering, unsatisfied, because away from their creator, and about the places where they sinned in their lifetime, until their temporal punishment was complete; a theory which though from the pen of one suspected of favouring puritanism, is very like that embodied in the faith and practice of the universal church. however this may be, at all events there is scarcely a locality in which some old tradition as regards haunted houses and places does not exist; and which is not more or less accepted and believed in even now. a general rejection of the supernatural may be the case with many, and a shallow desire not to be thought superstitious or over-credulous by more, are obvious reasons why some traditions have become weakened and others obscure. but putting aside all such, half-lost, forgotten, or fading away, and making every allowance for exaggeration and hyperbole, the facts which can still be testified to by credible witnesses, the evidence which is even now on record, coupled with that innate sentiment of awe, so common to many, and often strengthened by a sound religious belief, which gives point to old traditions, are sufficient to induce the calm and the unprejudiced not too hastily to disavow the existence of a principle of almost universal acceptance with mankind, and which neither the lame and limping logic of the sceptic, nor the imperfectly marshalled facts and random conclusions of the materialist can, in the long run, either weaken or destroy. the following curious record, a fair example of numerous others, may now be suitably set forth:-"elizabeth, the third daughter of sir anthony cooke (preceptor to edward vi.) married sir thomas hobby, of bisham abbey in berkshire, and accompanied him to france, when as ambassador to queen elizabeth he went thither. on his death abroad in 1566 lady hobby brought his corpse home to bisham, where he was buried in a mortuary chapel. she afterwards married john, lord russell. by her first husband she had a son, who when quite young is said to have entertained the greatest dislike and antipathy to every kind of learning; and such was his resolute repugnance to acquiring the art of writing that in a fit of obstinacy he would wilfully and deliberately blot his writing-books in the most slovenly manner. such conduct so vexed and angered his mother, who was eminently intellectual, and like her three sisters, lady burleigh, lady bacon, and lady killigrew, an excellent classical scholar, that she beat him again and again on the shoulders and head, and at last so severely and unmercifully that he died. "it is commonly reported that, as a punishment for her unnatural cruelty, her spirit is doomed to haunt the house where this cruel act of manslaughter was perpetrated. several persons have seen the apparition, the likeness of which, both as regards feature and dress, to a pale portrait of her ladyship in antique widow's weeds still remaining at bisham, is said to be exact and lifelike. she is reported to glide through a certain chamber, in the act of washing blood stains from her hands. and on some occasions the apparition is said to have been seen in the grounds of the old mansion. "a very remarkable occurrence in connection with this narrative, took place about thirty years ago. in taking down an old oak window-shutter of the latter part of the sixteenth century, _a packet of antique copy-books of that period were discovered pushed into the wall between the joists of the skirting, and several of these books on which young hobby's name was written, were covered with blots, thus supporting the ordinary tradition_."[30] creslow in buckinghamshire,[31] like so many old manor-houses, has its ghost story. it is said to be the disturbed and restless spirit of a lady, which haunts a certain sleeping chamber in the oldest portion of the house. she has been seldom seen but often heard only too plainly by those who have ventured to sleep in this room, or to enter it after midnight. she appears to come up from the old groined crypt, and always enters by the door at the top of the nearest staircase. after entering she is heard to walk about, sometimes in a gentle, stately manner, apparently with a long silk train sweeping the floor. sometimes her motion is quick and hurried, her silk dress rustling violently as if she were engaged in a desperate struggle. this chamber, though furnished as a bedroom, is seldom used, and is said to be never entered without trepidation and awe. occasionally, however, some persons have been found bold enough to dare the harmless noises of the mysterious intruder; and many are the stories current in buckinghamshire respecting such adventures. the following will suffice as a specimen, and may be depended on as authentic:-"about the year 1850, a gentleman, not many years ago high sheriff of the county, who resides some few miles' distance from creslow, rode over to a dinner-party; and, as the night became exceedingly dark and rainy, he was urged to stay over the night if he had no objection to sleep in the haunted chamber. the offer of a bed in such a room, so far from deterring him, induced him at once to accept the invitation. he was a strong-minded man of a powerful frame and undaunted courage, and like so many others, entertained a sovereign contempt for all haunted chambers, ghosts, and apparitions. the room was prepared for him. he would neither have a fire nor a night-light, but was provided with a box of lucifers that he might light a candle if he wished. arming himself in jest with a cutlass and a brace of pistols, he took a serio-comic farewell of the family and entered his formidable dormitory. "in due course, morning dawned; the sun rose, and a most beautiful day succeeded a very wet and dismal night. the family and their guests assembled in the breakfast-room, and every countenance seemed cheered and brightened by the loveliness of the morning. they drew round the table, when the host remarked that mr. s--, the tenant of the haunted chamber, was absent. a servant was sent to summon him to breakfast, but he soon returned, saying he had knocked loudly at his door, but received no answer, and that a jug of hot water left there was still standing unused. on hearing this, two or three gentlemen ran up to the room, and, after knocking and receiving no answer, opened it and entered. it was empty. inquiry was made of the servants; they had neither seen nor heard anything of him. as he was a county magistrate, some supposed that he had gone to attend the board which met that morning at an early hour. but his horse was still in the stable; so that could not be. while they were at breakfast, however, he came in, and gave the following account of his last night's experiences:--'having entered my room,' said he, 'i locked and bolted both the doors, carefully examined the whole room, and satisfied myself that there was no living creature in it but myself, nor any entrance but those which i had secured. i got into bed, and, with the conviction that i should sleep soundly as usual till six in the morning, was soon lost in a comfortable slumber. suddenly i was awakened, and, on raising my head to listen, i certainly heard a sound resembling the light soft tread of a lady's footstep, accompanied with the rustling as of a silk gown. i sprang out of bed, and having lighted a candle, found that there was nothing either to be seen or heard. i carefully examined the whole room. i looked under the bed, into the fire-place, up the chimney, and at both the doors, which were fastened just as i had left them. i then looked at my watch, and found it was a few minutes past twelve. as all was now perfectly quiet again, i put out the candle, got into bed, and soon fell asleep. i was again aroused. the noise was now louder than before. it appeared like the violent rustling of a stiff silk dress. a second time i sprang out of bed, darted to the spot where the noise was, and tried to grasp the intruder in my arms. my arms met together, but enclosed nothing. the noise passed to another part of the room, and i followed it, groping near the floor to prevent anything passing under my arms. it was in vain, i could feel nothing. the sound died at the doorway to the crypt, and all again was still. i now left the candle burning, though i never sleep comfortably with a light in my room, and went to bed again, but certainly felt not a little perplexed at being unable to detect the cause of the noise, nor to account for its cessation when the candle was lighted.'" so that this gentleman's experience (and as to ghosts, he was a sceptic) only served to strengthen the old and unbroken tradition. of its foundation nothing very certain is known. the general facts, however, are commonly received. another example, unusually curious, relating to the castle at york, is taken from the "memoirs of sir john reresby:"-"one of my soldiers being on guard about eleven in the night at the gate of clifford tower, the very night after the witch was arraigned, he heard a great noise at the castle; and, going to the porch, he saw there a scroll of paper creep from under the door, which, as he imagined by moonshine, turned first into the shape of a monkey, and thence assumed the form of a turkey-cock, which passed to and fro by him. surprised at this, he went to the prison, and called the under-keeper, who came and saw the scroll dance up and down, and creep under the door, where there was scarce an opening of the thickness of half-a-crown. this extraordinary story i had from the mouth both of one and the other."[32] an account of the haunting of spedlin's tower was furnished to me by a scotch friend, who asserts and vouches for the authenticity of the tradition:-"spedlin's tower, the scene of one of the best accredited and most curious ghost stories perhaps ever printed, stands on the south-west bank of the annan, in dumfriesshire. the ghost story is simply this:--sir alexander jardine, of applegarth, in the time of charles ii., had confined in the dungeon of his tower of spedlin's, a miller named porteous, suspected of having wilfully set fire to his own premises. sir alexander being soon after suddenly called away to edinburgh, carried the key of the vault with him, and did not recollect or consider his prisoner's case till he was passing through the west port, where, perhaps, the sight of the warder's keys brought the matter to his mind. he immediately sent back a courier to liberate the man, but porteous had, in the meantime, died of hunger. "no sooner was he dead, than his ghost began to torment the household, and no rest was to be had within spedlin's tower by day or by night. in this dilemma, sir alexander, according to old use and wont, summoned a whole legion of ministers to his aid; and by their strenuous efforts, porteous was at length confined to the scene of his mortal agonies, where, however, he continued to scream occasionally at night, 'let me out, let me out, for i'm deein' o' hunger!' he also used to flutter against the door of the vault, and was always sure to remove the bark from any twig that was sportively thrust through the key-hole. the spell which thus compelled the spirit to remain in bondage was attached to a large black-lettered bible, used by the exorcists, and afterwards deposited in a stone niche, which still remains in the wall of the staircase; and it is certain that, after the lapse of many years, when the family repaired to a newer mansion (jardine hall), built on the other side of the river, the bible was left behind, to keep the restless spirit in order. on one occasion, indeed, the volume requiring to be rebound, was sent to edinburgh; but the ghost, getting out of the dungeon, and crossing the river, made such a disturbance in the new house, hauling the baronet and his lady out of bed, &c., that the bible was recalled before it reached edinburgh, and placed in its former situation. the good woman who told grose this story in 1788, declared that should the bible again be taken off the premises, no consideration whatever should induce her to remain there a single night. but the charm seems to be now broken, or the ghost must have become either quiet or disregarded, for the bible is at present kept at jardine hall." another example from scotland now follows, all the more remarkable, because it is still asserted that in a certain part of the mansion unusual voices, and supernatural footsteps are said to be still heard, a fact to which the late mr. hope scott often testified:--sir walter scott relates a striking occurrence which happened to him at the time abbotsford was in the course of erection. mr. bullock was then employed by him to fit the castle up with proper appurtenances, when during that person's absence in london the following extraordinary circumstance took place:--in a letter to mr. terry in the year 1818 scott wrote:--"the night before last we were awakened by a violent noise like drawing heavy boards along the new part of the house. i fancied something had fallen and thought no more about it. this was about two in the morning. last night at the same witching hour the same noise recurred. mrs. s., as you know, is rather timbersome; so up i got with beardy's broadsword under my arm, 'sat bolt upright and ready to fight.' but nothing was out of order; neither could i discover what occasioned the disturbance." now, strangely enough on the morning that mr. terry received this letter he was breakfasting with mr. erskine (afterwards lord kinneder) and the chief subject of their conversation was the sudden death of mr. bullock, which on comparing dates must have happened on the same night and as near as could possibly be ascertained at the same hour, these disturbances occurred at abbotsford. one might be induced to maintain that some drunken workmen or disorderly persons were on the premises, but this method for accounting for the coincidence will at once be exploded on reading the following passage from scott to the same gentleman:--"were you not struck with the fantastical coincidence of our nocturnal disturbance at abbotsford with the melancholy event that followed? i protest to you that the noise resembled half-a-dozen men hard at work pulling up boards and furniture, _and nothing could be more certain than that there was nobody on the premises at the time_." the following account of a haunted locality is from the pen of a scholarly and accomplished clergyman[33] in the diocese of ripon:--"some years ago i was residing in a village about eleven miles from york, and one mile and a half from another village, in which was the post office for the surrounding district. whenever i had reason to suppose a letter was lying there for me, i used to anticipate the delivery of it on the following morning, by calling for it myself in the evening before. one night, in the latter end of november, i was going, for this purpose, along the path through the fields, and when i was midway between the two villages, i passed through a little hand-gate, and after going about twenty yards from it, i was startled and alarmed by a succession of the most horrible shrieks that can possibly be conceived. they seemed scarcely human, though i felt at the time that they were certainly uttered by some man or woman, imitating the piercing scream of a hog when the fatal knife is being plunged into its throat. the panic that seized me vanished in a moment, as the thought instantaneously flashed across my mind that i was being made the victim of some ploughman's joke. being armed, as i then invariably was, with a particularly tough and stout cudgel, i ran back to the little hand-gate on tip-toe, intending to take condign vengeance on some rustic, whom i felt sure i should find crouching down behind the low hedge. just as i reached the hand-gate, the sounds suddenly ceased, and to my utmost astonishment i could see no one, although it was quite impossible for any person within the distance of two or three hundred yards to have escaped my observation. the full moon was shining brightly, with the very thinnest of fleecy clouds before her face, which did not obscure her light, but only made the whole country distinctly visible in every direction, from the absence of all strongly-defined shadow. then, again, i must confess, an unaccountably superstitious awe crept over me, and, instead of pursuing my intended route, i returned to my own home. "on the following morning, when reflecting on what had happened, i began to take a philosophical and reasonable view of the singular occurrence. in passing through the little gate i might, as i thought, have left it ajar, and that soon after it lost its nice equilibrium, and swung back to its accustomed resting-place. the hinges might have given a creaking sound, which the lonely solitude of the night had intensely magnified in my imagination. so much for the philosophical view. i then determined that i would put this view to the proof, and see if i could by any means get the gate to produce any noise similar to what i fancied i had heard. this was the reasonable view. i took care, however, to put my determination into practice at the earliest period of the evening, just, in fact, as the daylight had departed. accordingly i was at the little gate between five and six o'clock, but in spite of all kinds of efforts it would make no sign, but swung backwards and forwards on its hinges with noiseless smoothness. in the midst of my experiments a very intelligent man, a gardener by calling, came up. he was a resident of my own village, but had been working in the other village, and was then returning home from his day's labour. he expressed some surprise at seeing me there at that time of the evening, and i gave him a brief account of the reason. 'well, sir,' said he; 'if you will walk back with me, i will tell you something more about that little hand-gate.' i consented immediately, and he said to me as follows: 'some years ago, when we were all children at home, my mother had been to the other village, where she remained till night; on her return homewards, just as she passed through the little gate, she saw some kind of figure lying close by it, huddled together in a strange, mysterious manner. she was horror-stricken, and fled from the spot as fast as possible. on reaching her own cottage, she flung open the door, and fell fainting on the ground before her astonished and frightened children. when she came to herself, and was asked what had caused her evident terror, she told what she had seen, and where she had seen it. she could, however, give no definite description of the figure she had seen. she could only say, "it was something hideous." but never could she be induced to pass that place again after night-fall, as long as she lived.' 'well,' said i, 'this is a very remarkable coincidence.' 'yes,' said he, 'but i will tell you something more remarkable still. about forty years ago the land between the two villages was unenclosed. it was nothing more than a wild, uncultivated common. one night, about that period, as the villagers were going to bed, loud and piercing shrieks were heard coming from the common. some of the men dressed themselves hastily, with the intention of going and seeing what was taking place. some woman, as it seemed to them, was evidently being ill-treated. they set off on their kindly-intentioned errand, but as the sounds completely ceased, and the night was very dark, they thought it impossible to reach the exact spot where their services might be required. they went to bed, and slept soundly. on the following morning one of them was going to work at the other village, and as he passed over the common he was almost distilled to a jelly with the effect of fright at the appalling sight that suddenly met his gaze. a woman was lying before him, huddled up on the ground, quite dead, with her throat cut from ear to ear. she had evidently been murdered, on the preceding night. who she was, whence she came, why or by whom she had been murdered, was never known, and probably never will be in this world. when, a short time after this dreadful event, the common was enclosed, it so happened that the little hand-gate was put up close to the spot where the woman's lifeless body was found.' "he finished his narrative. i thanked him for it, and internally resolved never, if i could help it, to pass through those fields alone in the gloom of night, on any account whatever. i scrupulously kept my resolve." the celebrated case of the haunted room in the jewel house of the tower of london created great interest, about fifty-five years ago. additional interest and importance have been given to it by the publication of the following authentic account of mr. e. lenthal swifte,[34] which in simple but forcible language tells its own story:-"i have often purposed to leave behind me a faithful record of all that i know personally of this strange story.... forty-three years have passed, and its impression is as vividly before me as on the moment of its occurrence.... in 1814 i was appointed keeper of the crown jewels in the tower, where i resided with my family until my retirement in 1852. one saturday night in october, 1817, about 'the witching hour,' i was at supper with my then wife, our little boy, and her sister, in the sitting room of the jewel house, which--then comparatively modernized--is said to have been 'the doleful prison' of anne boleyn, and of the ten bishops whom oliver cromwell piously accommodated therein.... the room was, as it still is, irregularly shaped, having three doors and two windows, which last are cut nearly nine feet deep into the outer wall; between these is a chimney-piece projecting far into the room, and (then) surmounted with a large oil picture. on the night in question the doors were all closed; heavy and dark cloth curtains were let down over the windows, and the only light in the room was that of two candles on the table.... i sate at the foot of the table, my son on my right hand, his mother fronting the chimney-piece, and her sister on the opposite side. i had offered a glass of wine and water to my wife, when, on putting it to her lips, she paused and exclaimed, 'good god, what is that?' i looked up, and saw a cylindrical figure like a glass tube, seemingly about the thickness of my arm, and hovering between the ceiling and the table. its contents appeared to be a dense fluid, white and pale azure, like to the gathering of a summer cloud, and incessantly rolling and mingling within the cylinder. this lasted about two minutes, when it began slowly to move _before_ my sister-in-law, then following the oblong shape of the table, before my son and myself; passing _behind_ my wife it paused for a moment over her right shoulder (observe, there was no mirror opposite to her in which she could then behold it). instantly she crouched down, and, with both hands covering her shoulder, she shrieked out, 'oh, christ! it has seized me.' even now, while writing, i feel the fresh horror of that moment. i caught up my chair, struck at the wainscot behind her, rushed upstairs to the other children's room, and told the terrified nurse what i had seen.... neither my sister-in-law nor my son beheld this 'appearance.'... i am bound to add that shortly before this strange event some young lady residents in the tower had been, i know not wherefore, suspected of making phantasmagorical experiments at their windows, which, be it observed, had no command whatever on any windows in my dwelling. an additional sentry was accordingly posted so as to overlook any such attempt. happening, however, as it might, following hard at heel the visitation of my household, one of the night sentries at the jewel office was, as he said, alarmed by a figure like a huge bear issuing from underneath the door. he thrust at it with his bayonet, which stuck in the door, even as my chair dinted the wainscot. he dropped in a fit, and was carried senseless to the guard-room. his fellow-sentry declared that the man was neither asleep nor drunk, he himself having seen him the moment before awake and sober. of all this i avouch nothing more than that i saw the poor man in the guard-house prostrated with terror, and that in two or three days the fatal result, be it of fact or fancy, was that he died. let it be understood that to _all_ which i have herein set forth _as seen by myself_, i absolutely pledge my faith and my honour.--edmund lenthal swifte." another statement, regarding another apparition in the same part of the tower, stated by mr. offor to have been produced by some instrument, but which latter assertion is pronounced impossible by mr. lenthal swifte, also sufficiently illustrates the facts embodied in it:- "before the burning of the armouries there was a paved yard in front of the jewel house, from which a gloomy and ghost-like doorway led down a flight of steps to the mint. some strange noises were heard in this gloomy corner; and on a dark night at twelve the sentry saw a figure like a bear cross the pavement and disappear down the steps. this so terrified him that he fell, and in a few hours after, having recovered sufficiently to tell the tale, he died. it was fully believed to have arisen from phantasmagoria.... the soldier bore a high character for bravery and good conduct. i was then in my thirtieth year, and was present when his body was buried with military honours in the flemish burial ground, st. catherine's. "george offor." on this, however, mr. swifte thus writes:- "when on the morrow i saw the unfortunate soldier in the main guard-room, his fellow sentinel was also there, and testified to having seen him on his post just before the alarm, awake and alert, and even spoken to him. moreover, as i then heard the poor man tell his own story, the figure did not cross the pavement and disappear down the steps of the sally-port; but issued from underneath the jewel room door--as ghostly a door, indeed, as ever was opened to or closed on a doomed man; placed, too, beneath a stone archway as utterly out of the reach of my young friends' apparatus (if any such they had) as were my windows. i saw him once again on the following day, but changed beyond my recognition; in another day or two--_not_ 'in a few hours'--the brave and steady soldier, who would have mounted a breach or led a forlorn hope with unshaken nerves, died at the presence of a shadow, as the weakest woman might have died. "edmund lenthal swifte." the case of a haunted house in northamptonshire may now follow:-"a house at barby,[35] a small village about eight miles from rugby, was reputed to be haunted, and this under the following circumstances:--an old woman of the name of webb, a native of the place, and above the usual height, died on march 3, 1851, at two a.m. aged sixty-seven. late in life she had married a man of some means, who having predeceased her, left her his property, so that she was in good circumstances. her chief and notorious characteristic, however, was excessive penuriousness, being remarkably miserly in her habits; and it is believed by many in the village that she thus shortened her days. two of her neighbours, women of the names of griffin and holding, nursed her during her last illness, and her nephew, mr. hart, a farmer in the village, supplied her temporal needs; in whose favour she had made a will, by which she bequeathed to him all her possessions. "about a month after the funeral mrs. holding, who, with her uncle, lived next door to the house of the deceased (which had been entirely shut up since the funeral), was alarmed and astonished at hearing loud and heavy thumps against the partition wall, and especially against the door of a cupboard in the room wall, while other strange noises, like the dragging of furniture about the rooms (though all the furniture had been removed), and the house was empty. these were chiefly heard about two o'clock in the morning. "early in the month of april a family of the name of accleton, much needing a residence, took the deceased woman's house, the only one in the village vacant, and bringing their goods and chattels, proceeded to inhabit it. the husband was often absent, but he and his wife occupied the room in which mrs. webb had died, while their daughter, a girl about ten years of age, slept in a small bed in the corner. violent noises in the night were heard about two o'clock, thumps, tramps, and tremendous crashes, as if all the furniture had been collected together, and then violently banged on to the floor. one night at two a.m. the parents were suddenly awakened by the violent screams of the child, 'mother, mother, there's a tall woman standing by my bed, a-shaking her head at me!' the parents could see nothing, so did their best to quiet and compose the child. at four o'clock they were again awakened by the child's screams, for she had seen the woman again; in fact she appeared to her no less than seven times, on seven subsequent nights. "mrs. accleton, during her husband's absence, having engaged her mother to sleep with her one night, was suddenly aroused at the same hour of two by a strange and unusual light in her room. looking up she saw quite plainly the spirit of mrs. webb, which moved towards her with a gentle appealing manner, as though it would have said, 'speak, speak!' "this spectre appeared likewise to a mrs. radbourne, a mrs. griffiths, and a mrs. holding. they assert that luminous balls of light hovered about the room during the presence of the spirit, and that streams of light seemed to go up towards a trap-door in the ceiling, which led to the roof of the cottage. each person who saw it testified likewise to hearing a low, unearthly, moaning noise,--'strange and unnatural-like,' but somewhat similar in character to the moans of the woman in her death-agony. "the subject was, of course, discussed; and mrs. accleton suggested that its appearance might not impossibly be connected with the existence of money hoarded up in the roof, an idea which may have arisen from the miserly habits of the dead woman. this hint having been given to and taken by her nephew, mr. hart, the farmer, he proceeded to the house, and with mrs. accleton's personal help made a search. the loft above was totally dark, but by the aid of a candle there was discovered, firstly, a bundle of writings, old deeds, as they turned out to be, and afterwards a large bag of gold and bank-notes, out of which the nephew took a handful of sovereigns, and exhibited them to mrs. accleton. but the knockings, moanings, strange noises, and other disturbances did not cease upon this discovery. they did cease, however, when mr. hart, having found that certain debts were owing by her, carefully and scrupulously paid them. so much for the account of the haunted house at barby. the circumstances were most carefully investigated by sir charles isham, bart., and others, the upshot of which was that the above facts were, to the complete satisfaction of numerous enquirers, completely verified." the following comes to the editor from scotland:-"there is, without a doubt, a 'haunted room' in glamis castle. access to it now is cut off by a stone wall, and none are supposed to know where it is, except lord strathmore, his eldest son, and the factor on the estate. this wall was built some years ago by the present proprietor. strange, weird, and unearthly noises have been heard from time to time by numbers, and these by many persons wholly unprepared for the same. the following statement is from the lips of a lady who was sleeping in the castle one night, and who knew nothing of the reputation of the house:--she was undressing to retire for the night, when all of a sudden she was alarmed by a most violent noise, which made her fancy that one of the walls of the house had fallen. she rushed out into the passage, but no one but herself had been aroused by it. so she went back, and slept until morning. she mentioned the circumstance at breakfast, but the subject was evidently an unpleasant one. the conversation was at once changed, and she received a hint to take no further notice of it. some members of the family cannot bear the subject to be alluded to, and repel all inquiries." "there is no doubt," writes another correspondent, "about the reality of the noises at glamis castle. on one occasion, some years ago, the head of the family with several companions was determined to investigate the cause one night, when the disturbance was greater and more violent and alarming than usual. his lordship went to the haunted room (before it was walled up), opened the door with the key, and dropped back in a dead swoon into the arms of his companions; nor could he be ever induced to open his lips on the subject afterwards. "on another occasion a lady and her child were staying for a few days at the castle. the child was asleep in an adjoining dressing-room, and the lady, having gone to bed, lay awake for a while. suddenly a cold blast stole into the room, extinguishing the night-light by her bedside, but not affecting the one in the dressing-room beyond, in which her child had its cot. by that light she saw a tall mailed figure pass into the dressing-room from that in which she was lying. immediately thereafter there was a shriek from the child. her maternal instinct was aroused. she rushed into the dressing-room, and found the child in an agony of fear. it described what it had seen as a giant, who came and leant over its face. "an accomplished antiquarian, who has investigated this subject, writes as follows:--there is a tradition that in olden times, during one of the frequent feuds between the lindsays and the ogilvies, a large number of the latter, in flying from their enemies, came to glamis, and claimed hospitality. the master of the castle did not like to deny them the protection of his castle walls. he therefore admitted them; and on plea of hiding them, is reported to have put them into this out-of-the-way chamber. there he let them starve, and it is said that their bones lie there unto this day, the bodies never having been buried. this may have been the sight which startled the late lord strathmore on entering the haunted room--a large number of skeletons lying in the various parts of the place was a sight calculated to startle any man. and these are declared to be peculiarly revolting. some had apparently died in the act of gnawing the flesh off their own arms." the editor is indebted to henry cope caulfeild, esq., of clone house, st. leonard's, for the following:-"the account here set forth was recently told to me by a captain s----living near cardiff, south wales. "a few miles from cardiff, on the monmouth road, there is a narrow spot held in awe by the peasantry; for a murder was committed there years ago, and it is said to be haunted by unquiet spirits. "the brother of my friend, an officer in the army, who has seen active service in india, was returning with his wife in a dog-cart, some few months ago, from a dinner with some friends in the country a few miles from cardiff. it was late in the night; and as they entered the narrow part of the road just mentioned, they heard the sound of wheels behind them. they looked back, and saw the lights of a carriage, and to avoid being overtaken and passed in such a narrow road, captain s---whipped his horse, and tried to keep well in front. presently the sounds of wheels ceased; and to their great surprise, indeed consternation, they all of a sudden saw the lights and heard the wheels of a carriage some distance on in front of them. it was evidently the same; and yet it had never passed them! it seemed to stop at the side of the road, and captain s---drove his dog-cart past the strange carriage. he and his wife saw in it a dim light; there were people in it, and they seemed to be without heads! mrs. s---was paralysed with terror; her husband told his brother that he would rather face a battery of artillery than go through the horror of that moment; and the horse evidently was in sympathy with them, for he went like one mad. "it appears that the very same spectral figures had been seen by a country surgeon when passing the same place; and that the land-owners in those parts had cut down trees, and clipped and altered the appearance of the hedges on each side of the road, in order to get rid, if possible, of the ghastly horror, and of the hold which it has upon the popular mind. the _appearance_ of the carriage and its occupants, in a dim, hazy light, was to the last degree unearthly and spectral." a correspondent of the editor furnishes him with the following:-"a brother of mine, a man who is the last person in the world to believe over much, or to be in the least degree superstitious, wishing to be near a particular town, and yet within easy reach of the permanent country residence of his greatest friend, was induced (a.d. 1862) to take over the remainder of the lease of an old-fashioned furnished mansion in cheshire, where he, with his wife, children, and servants, in due course, went to reside. he was advised to take the place as well because of the reasonableness of the rent--for it was spacious and comfortably furnished--as by the recommendation of the london house-agents, a well-known firm in the west end, with whom the letting of it rested. "soon after the arrival of the family and servants, the latter protested again and again that they were disturbed almost every night by a continual 'tramp, tramp, tramp' of heavy footsteps up the stairs, and along the narrow passage, out of which were the doors which led to their bedrooms. they would have it that the house was haunted. the sounds were sometimes so loud and alarming that, as one of the servants remarked, 'it seemed like a regiment of foot soldiers marching over creaking boards.' complaints were made to my brother, who merely said that the noises must be the result of wind under the joists, or of rats, and he laughed at the whole affair. some of the servants gave warning, and left. still the sounds went on: not always, and every night, but, with certain cessations, from time to time. "in the autumn of the year 1863, a lady, her daughter of fourteen, and a maid, came to stay in the house; and as the former was somewhat of an invalid, a suite of rooms in the west wing, each communicating with the other, was apportioned to them. the second night after their arrival, the lady in question, suddenly awaking, saw in her bedroom a luminous cloud, which gradually appeared to be formed into the shape of an old man, with a most painfully depressing countenance, full of the deepest sorrow, and wearing a large full-bottomed wig. she tried to raise herself in bed, to see if it were not the effect of her half-waking fancy, or the result of a disturbed dream, but could not. the room, in which there was no natural light, seemed to be partially but quite sufficiently illuminated; and she felt confident that a spectre was before her. she gazed at it for some minutes, three at least, hearing the ticking of her watch, and counting the seconds. there the apparition stood, and seemed to be making an effort to speak, while a strange, dull, inarticulate groan seemed to come up as from the floor. upon this, seeing the bell-rope hanging within the folds of the curtains at her right hand, she braced herself up to seize it and give it a most violent pull. immediately she did this, the face of the figure bore an expression of anger, and by degrees it faded away. the bell, which hung some distance away, was heard by no one, and she was compelled to lie alone, for she feared to rise (though the apparition did not reappear) until the church clock near struck four, when, the morning having broken, she rose, and dressed herself. "in the morning, before she had said a word, her daughter, on meeting her, said, 'oh, mamma, an old man in a great wig tramped through my room twice in the night. who could it have been?' "the lady being so impressed by these occurrences, which her host and hostess would persist in saying were only the result of her own fancy, determined on leaving in the course of a few days (as she afterwards stated). on the following night, she slept with a night-light, and the door into her maid's room open. but the noise of tramping, which had been hitherto heard only in the servants' wing of the house, which was opposite, was now heard in the east side of it. 'tramp, tramp, tramp!' the sounds were heard constantly, without cessation; so much so that the master of the house, my brother, rose suddenly that very night, thinking that thieves had broken in, and rushed out to the east passage. but all in a moment, they stopped; nothing was to be heard, nothing seen; all was still. this occurred again and again. "the lady left as arranged. the noises ceased for a while, and then began once more. it was with difficulty that any of the servants could be induced to remain, believing that the house was haunted. "about ten months afterwards, my brother having forgotten all about the supposed spectre and the noises, had been out for the day, and returned home in a dog-cart, some time after midnight, in company with his groom. only the housekeeper had remained out of bed, as his return was quite uncertain. the horse and trap were put up, both the servants had gone to their rooms, and my brother was taking some refreshment in the housekeeper's apartment, by the light of the fire, when all of a sudden, a loud and decisive rap was heard at the door. thinking, of course, that it was one of the servants, he replied, 'come in.' before the words were out of his mouth, the door opened, and the apparition of the old man in a large wig stood before him. my brother was paralysed with terror for a while. he could not speak; he tried hard, as he says, but his mouth was dry and his tongue motionless. 'good god!' he exclaimed at length, 'am i awake or asleep, in my senses or gone mad?' the motionless figure, whose face was intensely sad, looked at him beseechingly. 'in god's name, what do you want, or what can i do for you?' 'too late! nothing,' was the mournful, but somewhat inarticulate response. and with that the spectre suddenly vanished away. at this moment a strong, loud, piercing, bitter wail, as of the voice of a woman, broke the awful silence. it seemed to come from the courtyard outside, and was repeated again and again round the upper part of the house. the scream was said to be like nothing human. the servants heard it, my sister-in-law was awoke by it, and the groom and housekeeper, with the others, as a consequence, came rushing downstairs. my brother, who is as brave and bold as he is remarkable for common sense, does not now dispute the reality of haunted houses. "a few months afterwards, he and his left. and after he had given up possession, he was informed, on good and credible authority, that tradition confidently asserted the mansion to have been the residence of a disreputable dutch hanger-on of william of orange, who is represented to have violently made away with one of his mistresses in that very house, in a room which overlooked the park, now a disused lumber-room, at the east end of the old mansion."[36] an american clergyman, of what is commonly termed "the protestant episcopal church," sent the following, which, as he writes, "went the round of the newspapers," and for the truth of which he himself vouches:-"few positions in life can be imagined more disagreeable than that of being imprisoned in a haunted cell in a police station. 'the new orleans times' tells a most unpleasant story of a ghost-infested cell in the fourth precinct police station in that city. it appears that several years ago 'a little old woman,' named ann murphy, committed suicide by hanging herself in this cell; and since that event no fewer than thirteen persons have attempted to destroy themselves in a similar manner; four of these attempts being attended with fatal results. one of those lately cut down before life was extinct was a girl named mary taylor, who, on recovering consciousness, declared that while lying on the floor of the cell she was aroused by a little old white woman in a faded calico dress, with no stockings and down-trodden slippers, with a faded handkerchief tied round her head. her faded dress was bound with a sort of reddish-brown tape, and her hand was long, faded, and wrinkled, while on the fourth finger of her left hand was a plain, thin gold ring. 'this little woman,' said the girl, 'beckoned me to get up, and impelled me by some mysterious power to tear my dress in strips, place one of the strips round my neck, and tie the other to the bars. i lifted my feet from the floor, and fell. i thought i was choking, a thousand lights seemed to flash before my eyes, and i forgot all until i found myself in the room with the doctors and police bending over me. it was not until then that i really comprehended what i had done, and was, i believe, under a kind of trance or influence at the time, over which i had no control.' mary taylor had never heard of the suicide of ann murphy, whose appearance, according to the police, tallied exactly with the description given by the girl. others having complained in a like manner of the ghostly occupant of the cell, the police, to test the real facts of the case, placed a night lodger who had just arrived in the city in this cheerful apartment. being thoroughly tired and worn out, he fell asleep immediately, but shortly afterwards rushed into the office in a state of terrible alarm. he, too, had been visited by the little old woman, and wisely declined to sleep another hour in the station." the following case, as may be seen from an attestation at its conclusion, is likewise well authenticated:-"an english clergyman, who was seeking a residence in a northern scottish city about ten years ago, had his attention accidentally called to an old-fashioned, pleasant-looking detached house, of some size and convenience, which had been for some time vacant, about a mile and a-half from the city. it had considerable grounds round it well timbered, a high-walled garden, and was in many respects both commodious and comfortable. one attraction, likewise, was the extremely moderate rent which was asked for it. so he secured a lease of it for a short term of years. he and his family and servants came up from england in due course, and took up their abode in it. they were not there long before it soon became evident, to some of them at least, that the house was haunted. noises of the most extraordinary character were heard in various parts. sometimes there came the sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs. at others there were knocks, both violent and gentle, at the doors, none of which could be accounted for. at midnight, on several occasions, there was a constant, uninterrupted sound in one room, as if a large sledgehammer (having been wrapped in a blanket folded several times), was steadily and regularly struck against the wall, at the head of the bed in the room, by some particularly powerful arms. 'thump, thump, thump,' it sounded, as though lifted and directed with tremendous force; and this noise often lasted, with only slight intermission, for two or three hours. on other occasions persons on the stairs or in the passages felt the air move, and heard the creaking of the floor close to them, as if someone invisible were passing quickly by. one night, between twelve and two, the master and mistress of the family were awakened by a loud and startling noise, as if all the shutters of the windows of the house had been suddenly and simultaneously burst open with the greatest violence. the crash was literally tremendous; and each believed that thieves were breaking in. so the clergyman, seizing a large presentation sword which hung on the wall of the landing, unsheathed it, and went downstairs with a light, expecting to face the intruders. he first examined the dining-room (from whence the noise seemed chiefly to come), but everything was just as usual. no shutter was open; no cupboards forced. so, too, in hall and library. nothing was moved. then he descended into the large cellars; but there, likewise, everything was untouched, and nothing unusual was seen. a large retriever dog, which lay at the foot of the front stairs, however, was greatly agitated, trembled and howled. but still nothing was to be seen. perfect silence reigned. so the clergyman and his wife returned to their sleeping-room, only to hear, all of a sudden, precisely the same strange noise repeated about ten minutes after their return, with, if anything, even greater violence. it was currently reported, and commonly believed by several residents thereabouts, that many years previously, the cast-off mistress of a scotch nobleman, having been handed over to a physician and university professor for marriage, and the latter having received from the nobleman in consideration of the marriage the gift of the house and lands in question, subsequently murdered the woman, for whom he had conceived a special dislike, and buried her body on the premises. this story, with slight but unimportant variations, was told by several; and it is quite certain that a young female scotch servant, who once lived in the house, following the sound of heavy footsteps up to an attic in the front portion of the house, which she had pledged herself to do when next she heard them, fell down in a swoon or fit at the top of the stairs; from that moment lost her reason, and is now in a lunatic asylum, near the city in question. these are facts testified to by those who know the circumstances.[37] as to the general accuracy of the foregoing, the editor is enabled, on the testimony of several, to pledge his word thereto. i am indebted for the following narrative to a friend,[38] who in her own words has given all the details of another remarkable example of a haunted house:-"monsieur de goumoã«ns, a magistrate, or a gentleman holding a high judicial position at berne in switzerland, a man of undoubted and well-established character for personal courage, as well as for moral rectitude, related to my father, mr. caulfeild of bath, with whom he was on the most intimate terms of personal friendship, the following circumstance, at once so extraordinary and so painful, which had come within the precincts of his own house, as to drive him from his place of residence. the account was given to my father in the year 1829, when he was residing with his family at berne. noises and disturbances had been frequently heard in m. de goumoã«ns' bedroom, as of footsteps, the opening and shutting of drawers, and of an escritoire when papers were shuffled about. the heavy curtains of the large old four-posted bed were drawn and undrawn by no human hand, and were sometimes suddenly flung up on to the top of the bed; while the sound of the flapping of the wings of some very large bird was often heard. all these and other sounds so disturbed m. de goumoã«ns and his wife, that the health of the latter began perceptibly and seriously to fail. examinations of the house made by himself, in conjunction with the police, and special investigations of the bedroom and other adjoining apartments, afforded no solution whatsoever of the mystery. at length madame de goumoã«ns' maid gave warning to leave her service, complaining that her sleep and peace were completely broken by these supernatural occurrences. while consulting together as to what could be done, and hesitating as to whether they might not be compelled to leave the place, the strange sounds became louder than ever. one night they were suddenly aroused by hearing sharp cries of distress from one of their children, a little boy, who slept in their room, and who in great terror called out fretfully again and again, 'let me alone; let me alone; don't you hurt me!' as he pointed into vacancy. this particular event was the last straw which broke the camel's back, and led the child's parents to determine on leaving the house immediately. "i may add that on a subsequent and more searching examination of the house, one room was found to be both locked and fastened up; regarding the character of which the owner was somewhat reticent. however, the boarding before the door, which had been papered over, was removed, the keys were forthcoming, and the room was carefully examined. on the shutters being opened, it was found just as it had been left since its occupation by a previous tenant, who had gone by the sobriquet of 'the black styger.' he was a nobleman of bad reputation, and had committed suicide in that very apartment by blowing out his brains; the traces of which with blood were found scattered both on wall and floor. it was generally believed that his disturbed spirit haunted the place." one of the most singular recent examples, testified to by two independent eye-witnesses, now deserves to be reproduced. the appearance of a large spectral bird is thus recorded by mr. henry spicer in one of his curious and thoughtfully written volumes entitled "strange things amongst us:"-"captain morgan, a gentleman of the highest honour and veracity, and who certainly was not over-gifted with ideality, arrived in london one evening in 18--, in company with a friend, and took up his lodgings in a large old-fashioned house of the last century, to which chance had directed them. captain morgan was shown into a large bed-chamber, with a huge four-posted bed, heavy hangings, and altogether that substantial appearance of good, solid respectability and comfort which associated itself with our ideas of the wealthy burghers and merchants of the time of queen anne and the first george, when so many strange crimes of romantic daring or of deep treachery stained the annals of the day, and the accursed thirst for gold, the bane of every age, appeared to exercise its most terrific influence. "captain morgan retired to bed, and slept, but was very soon awaked by a great flapping of wings close beside him, and a cold, weird-like sensation such as he had never before experienced spread through his frame. he started, and sat upright in bed; when an extraordinary appearance declared itself in the shape of an immense black bird, with outstretched wings, and red eyes flashing as it were with fire. "it was right before him and pecked furiously at his face and eyes so incessantly, that it seemed to him a wonder that he was enabled, with his arms and the pillow, to ward off the creature's determined assaults. during the battle it occurred to him that some large pet bird belonging to the family had effected its escape, and been accidentally shut up in the apartment. "again and again the creature made at him with a malignant ferocity perfectly indescribable; but though he invariably managed to baffle the attack, he noticed that he never once succeeded in _touching_ his assailant. this strange combat having lasted several minutes, the gallant officer, little accustomed to stand so long simply on the defensive, grew irritated, and leaping out of bed, dashed at his enemy. the bird retreated before him. the captain followed in close pursuit, driving his sable foe, fluttering and fighting, towards a sofa which stood in the corner of the room. the moonlight shone full into the chamber, and morgan distinctly saw the creature settle down, as if in terror, upon the embroidered seat of the sofa. "feeling now certain of his prey he paused for a second or two, then flung himself suddenly upon the black object, from which he had never removed his gaze. to his utter amazement it seemed to fade and dissolve under his very fingers. he was clutching the air; and in vain he searched, with lighted lamp, every nook and corner of the apartment, unwilling to believe that his senses could be the victims of so gross a delusion--no bird was to be found. after a long scrutiny the baffled officer once more retired to rest, and met with no further disturbance. "while dressing in the morning, he resolved to make no allusion to what he had seen, but to induce his friend, on some pretext, to change rooms with him. that unsuspecting individual readily complied, and the next day reported, with much disgust, that he had had to contend for possession of the chamber with the most extraordinary and perplexing object[39] he had ever encountered, to all appearance a huge black bird, which constantly eluded his grasp, and ultimately disappeared, leaving no clue to its mode of exit."[40] and with this, the present chapter is closed. numerous other cases of haunted localities might have been provided; some which have long been in print, others which have been heard from the lips of those whose experience and good faith testify to the truth of their narratives. in so many examples collected, almost every one owns certain features in common: and all in some measure are alike. repetition, by consequence, becomes wearisome. the cases here put on record, therefore, while sufficiently diversified, serve abundantly to set forth the reality of those facts, to a brief record of which this chapter has been devoted. modern spiritualism. "now the spirit speaketh expressly that, in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils."--_1 tim. iv. 1._ "many believe that the final assault upon christianity will be made by the enemies of god, bonded and compacted together into an universal kingdom. it may be, as some have held, that another incarnation shall take place; and that the enemy of souls will be permitted to assume man's nature. anyhow, we are told that antichrist shall _reign_. thousands, deluded by false miracles and lying wonders, will become his subjects, his willing votaries; and own him as their king. his worship will be an adroit counterfeit of the worship of the true god--his kingdom a parody of the catholic church; while its doctrines will be at once so attractive and delusive to fallen man as that the predicted apostasy will be great and widespread."--_sermons on antichrist._ chapter viii. modern spiritualism. when, in a country where for at least twelve centuries the christian religion has been accepted, and by which that country has received unknown blessings both temporal and spiritual, schools of thought arise, in which historical christianity is not simply patronized, but put out of court, the phenomenon is both portentous and noteworthy. that this is so at the present time in england with many, need scarcely be pointed out. the scepticism which has deluged the continent, coming upon a people whose religious convictions had been so seriously disturbed by the reformation, and whose conceptions of objective political truth had been so ruthlessly disorganized by the events of the commonwealth and the revolution of 1688, has found the ground well prepared for a scattering of the seeds of doubt. abroad they were sown some generations ago, and brought forth deadly fruit. the french revolution and its horrors followed as a matter of course. events before our eyes tell in very plain language that our own turn has at last come.[41] the day of trial is now upon us. true, the vulgarity of the eighteenth-century unbelievers is not at present so manifestly apparent; though it exists amongst certain active leaders of the lower classes with whom scepticism is popular. but the tone and temper of public opinion, the bold utterances of serials and newspapers, the public political policy now in vogue and popular, the too general understanding that christianity is to be as far as possible ignored in legislation--all indicate the steady and rapid progress of sceptical liberalism. the broad church party in the established communion has done much, and will no doubt do much more, to eliminate the supernatural from the minds of its admirers and of the people of england. disliking dogma, its teaching, when the fog which surrounds it allows that teaching to be partly comprehended, is of the earth earthy. it dovetails in with the low material views and carnal desires of the money-grubbing many. its ideal of bliss, not always wrapped up in philosophical jargon (and therefore sometimes intelligible), is simply commercial prosperity and temporal wealth; eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, comfort, material pleasure and ease; the conquest of nature by scientific research and progress; an enjoyment of the present and only the present; and a complete banishment of the old-world theology--useful, it may have been, in times gone by, when the world was being educated; but now to be thrown aside as lumber, worn out and valueless. in place of that historical christianity accepted since the days of s. augustine of canterbury, we are promised doubt, disbelief, a refined as well as an unrefined intellectual paganism; and in the end--though such an end may not now be contemplated by all members of that ecclesiastical school--a positive rejection of the distinct nature of god. at present, of course, the figure is decently draped. its ugly proportions and hateful outline are not apparent. its admirers have to accommodate themselves with some skill to the strong prejudices of the age; to tolerate systems which they contemn, to carry out the silent but certain operation of destruction, under the hypocritical desire of assisting mankind to complete the work of temporal progress. all this is before us and around us, if we would but note it. and this being so, the state of thought and of society, as few can fail to observe, is eminently calculated to afford those who disbelieve in the supernatural, good opportunities of advance in the direction of negations. on the other hand, the presence amongst us of a sect of persons who call themselves "spiritualists," and whose notorious words and works may be noted and criticized, is full of moment and importance. spiritualism, when first it appeared and took shape, was treated with contempt. the facts urged by its supporters were denied; the manifestations almost universally disbelieved in. it was declared to be the work of acute knaves, or the offspring of idle and imaginative dreamers. public writers treated it with scornful contempt. reports of its strange proceedings and extraordinary developments were knowingly and deliberately suppressed. it was hastily hustled off the public stage, refused a hearing, and denied a defence. this policy, however convenient to its promoters, has failed. sneers have not killed it. its ideas and theories have been recently reduced to a formal system, while its votaries have increased to an extent scarcely credited. christians and non-christians, roman catholics, church-of-england people and protestants, have ranged themselves under its banner, and accept and propagate its views. to some the existence of spurious coin proves the value of the true; and the portents of these latter times are surely full of warning and value. at all periods, it should be observed, certain classes of leaders of men's thoughts have succeeded in banishing the supernatural from the field of human action. for example, thucydides, representing the world exclusively in its natural aspect, did this. he had neither ear nor eye for the marvellous. in recent times, from the period of locke to the beginning of the present century, a similar course was adopted by a very influential school of writers, remarkable for their careful dismissal of the miraculous, both from ken and consideration. to such, the world was a machine, wound up once for all by its author, and needing no further application of that power which appeared to have spent itself, so to speak, in the act of creation. like s. peter's "scoffers," "walking after their own lusts," they practically declared, "since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."[42] but, of course, such a state of thought could only be transitory. the universal convictions of man's conscience, and the most earnest desires of his heart, produced a reversion of opinion. the very dogmatic philosophers soon found themselves at sea. reason and imagination were starved, while the understanding was profoundly flattered. this has so turned out, not once, nor twice, but continually. scepticism has followed superstition, and superstition scepticism. wherever the catholic religion, having once been had, has been deliberately cast out and denied, there, as in scotland at the present day, superstition is more than ordinarily widespread and rampant. the gnosticism and manichã¦ism of the early christian era have reproduced themselves in later times; while materialism has lived side by side with that superstition which, on the surface, it seemed so necessary for the same materialism to deny. the following faithful account of the rise of the modern system of spiritualism is borrowed from a contemporary record:-"in december, 1847, a respectable farmer and his family, named fox, settled in a house at hydesville, a hamlet near newark, in the state of new york. they were troubled from the first with noises, which in january, 1848, assumed the definite character of knockings, like that of a hammer. two children, since so famous as the misses fox, felt something heavy, like a dog, lie on their feet when in bed, and one of them felt as if a cold hand were passed over her face. the knockings went on increasing in violence, and at length it was observed, on some occasion when farmer fox tried the windows to see if they could be caused by the wind, that the knockings exactly answered the rattle accidentally made by the moving sash. this suggested the idea of inviting the noises, or rather the beings who caused them, to reply by rapping, on repetition of the letters of the alphabet, to questions put to them. this was first tried at a place called rochester, with which the family were connected, whence the term 'rochester knockings' came into use. the experiment succeeded perfectly, and this was the origin of 'spirit-rapping,' which has since grown into a regular system. the neighbours being called in, the affair soon thickened and developed into a 'movement.' the rappings revealed a murder which had taken place in the house when in other hands. public meetings were called, committees of ladies formed to examine the children, and prevent the possibility of deception. similar phenomena began to show themselves in various parts of the country, and under yet more extraordinary conditions. raps were heard on all sorts of objects--ceilings, tables, chairs, &c., and it was discovered that certain persons were better fitted than others to communicate with the spirits, to whom these noises were now attributed. such persons were called _mediums_, a name with which the world is now sufficiently familiar, and when they were present, tables and chairs would move about and rise from the ground. many other astonishing things became common, as drawing and music, executed under this strange influence, by persons who knew nothing of these arts." as to its principles and policy, no better nor fairer exposition of them can be had than from the various publications which are so largely and generally circulated. from a pamphlet written with some system[43] by mr. t. grant of maidstone, the following extracts, explanatory of the now formulated principles of modern spiritualism, are made:-"table of media. _outward._ 1. vibratory medium. 2. motive medium. 3. gesticulating medium. 4. tipping medium. 5. pantomimic medium. 6. impersonating medium. _inward._ 7. pulsatory medium. 8. manipulating medium. 9. neurological medium. 10. sympathetic medium. 11. clairlative medium. 12. homo-motor medium. _onward._ 13. symbolic medium. 14. psychologic medium. 15. psychometric medium. 16. pictorial medium. 17. duodynamic medium. 18. developing medium. _upward._ 19. therapeutic medium. 20. missionary medium. 21. telegraphic medium. 22. speaking medium. 23. clairvoyant medium. 24. impressional medium. "the _outward_ stratum includes all kinds of mediumship in which spirits act only on the physical organism, first using simply the electrical or magnetic emanations from the medium and others in the room to produce movements of objects, or concussions called rappings, and to control matter in various ways; and secondly, using portions or the whole of the medium's body by direct action of spirits upon the bodily organs, the medium's spirit being more or less passive, and not taking part in the performance.... "_vibratory mediumship._ i have often met with instances in my experience, and multitudes of persons are sometimes attacked together, with variations in accordance with individual character. the physical excitement and convulsive phenomena often witnessed at revival meetings are chiefly of this kind.... "the _motive medium_ comes next in order; he furnishes the magnetic power by which spirits are enabled to move tables and other material objects.... "the third class is _gesticulating mediumship_, which appears to be a development of the vibratory. it is exhibited by the sect of 'shakers' of the present day in the initiatory stage of their development, and was a form of mediumship common amongst the prophets of the cevennes, the votaries of s. vitus, and in most religious excitements. "_tipping mediumship_ follows next, and this again is a step in advance from the _motive_ mediumship, the movements of tables and other objects being so regulated by the intelligence of spirits as to produce telegraphic communications.... "_pantomimic media_ belong to the fifth class; they are made, by the controlling or guardian spirit, to put themselves in various postures, so as to represent any peculiarity belonging to spirit-friends who are standing by, wishing to make their presence known and to communicate. lecturers on electro-biology produce, to some extent, the same effects. "the last in this stratum is the _impersonating mediumship_, which is a development from the pantomimic. in this case the communicating spirit enters and takes full possession of the medium's body, whilst his own spirit stands aside." the writer then passes on to consider what he terms the "inward stratum," thus:-"first we have _pulsatory mediumship_, in which the medium receives communications from spirits and answers to mental questions by means of pulsations, like tiny raps, on different parts of the body, or by sounds heard only by himself. these manifestations, although very convincing to the medium himself, afford but little satisfaction to anybody else. "_manipulating mediumship_, which follows, is in fact curative mesmerism, in which, however, the will of the mesmeriser is strengthened and guided by spirits. dr. newton, of america, who visited maidstone in 1870 and made several interesting and permanent cures, is a most remarkable and successful medium of this class, many of his cures having, indeed, all the appearance of miracles. "in the next form of mediumship, the _neurological_, the spirit impresses thoughts upon the brain, and the medium puts them into words; thus the communications partake of the peculiarities of the medium, and if the medium is impressed to write, he does so in his own handwriting and mode of diction and spelling. "next comes _sympathetic mediumship_, which is an extension of the neurologic, but in which the spirits enter more intimately into sympathy with the medium. both of these last are transitional forms of mediumship, and not very reliable until carefully developed. "in _clairlative mediumship_, which succeeds in order, scenes of the past are clearly reproduced, or original scenes pictured to the mind, as in dreams and visions.[44] "the last of this inward group is called the _homo-motor_ medium, one who is in perfect sympathy and under the complete control of one individual spirit only, who, in fact, appears to live a second life on earth in union with him." and then he defines and discusses the "onward stratum":-"we begin with _symbolic mediumship_, in which the interior vision is opened by spiritual aid, and the medium sees in a vision the almost exact pre-figurations of things which will occur at some future time, or which do in reality now exist, either in germ or in full or partial development. "the second in this group, _psychologic mediumship_, is a very important form. a medium of this class is one who is in a condition to be impressed by a sympathetic spirit with any set of ideas which he desires to represent. it is sometimes done in a pictorial form, when the medium clearly sees and describes scenes which appear to the vision, such as the appearance and movements of an army, a landscape, a congregation in a cathedral, and so forth.... "the _psychometric medium_ has the power of feeling and correctly describing the characteristics of persons with whose spheres he or she is brought into sympathy or contact. the power is generally exercised by placing to the forehead, the perceptive region of the brain, anything which has been intimately connected with the person, as a piece of his hair, his handwriting, or a well-worn article of dress. some will thus read a sealed letter or the mottoes enclosed in nuts.... "_pictorial mediumship_ differs from the symbolic chiefly in the circumstance that the things seen and described by the medium do not in reality exist as material facts, but are only representations, prefiguring or bodying-forth a spiritual or psychical truth.... "the next is the _duodynamic medium_, a word signifying two powers, he being capable of exhibiting two or more forms of mediumship at the same time. these compound media, maturely developed, are said to be comparatively rare. "the last in this onward stratum is the _developing medium_, through whom spirits can very usefully assist in developing the mediumistic faculty in others. they have the power of harmonising the influences which affect them, and of rendering media passive to the action of the spirits who are seeking the control of their organisms." as regards the "upward stratum," the following definitions are given:-"the _therapeutic medium_ is one who effects the cure of many diseases through the sympathetic power of seeing and describing minutely the disorganized parts of the body, and directing the necessary treatment; sometimes the manipulating mediumship is added, when the medium not only sees the source of mischief, but also makes curative mesmeric passes at the same time. "next, we have the _missionary medium_, who is irresistibly compelled to go, without knowing why or whither, wherever the spirit guides him. under this controlling influence, media have been made to travel nearly all over the civilized world, generally without purse or scrip, or any personal knowledge of the places; the spirits raising up friends and helpers at every step as they are required." writing of a missionary medium known to himself, mr. grant adds the following:--"i am acquainted with a medium of this class in maidstone, who is too weak in body to walk far in his ordinary state, yet, under this influence, he is often made to walk long distances without feeling fatigue, at the most unreasonable hours of day or night, and he has several times been instantaneously transported from one place to another, miles apart." "speaking mediumship," writes the author quoted, "is a most useful and instructive faculty.... in most cases speakers have to be entranced, that is, their spirits have to be removed from the body for a time, in order to give the acting spirit full control; but when this has to be done the medium is but little advanced from the personating mediumship, which is one of the successive stages which a fully-developed speaking medium generally passes through. many of our most celebrated and effective preachers and speakers have been, or are, really speaking media, under the guidance of spirits, without its being suspected or understood even by themselves. this is, indeed, 'inspiration.' "the _clairvoyant medium_ follows next in order, and is in advance of the telegraphic, because he is able to see the scenes that are actually transpiring at the time in another place, no matter how far distant. "the _impressional medium_ is generally one who has advanced through the neurologic, sympathetic, clairlative, and psychologic phases, and thus become so easily and thoroughly impressible by his guardian spirit that the medium appears to live a double life, the conditions and circumstances of both states of existence finding a ready expression through his organism at all times without his being entranced, the spiritual existence becoming as much as the physical his normal state." pp. 7-18. the acts and deeds of mr. daniel home, a scotchman, and of the davenport brothers, americans, who figure very prominently as mediums in the authentic records of the spiritualists, are tolerably well known by report to many. from america, where the signs were first noticed, they came eastwards to england and the european continent, in which places the spiritual manifestations were even more remarkable than those which had occurred and been testified to in the west. under the direction of a medium, people sat round a table, and by a silent invocation of spirits, by "willing"[45] that they should come, they came, and produced the following amongst other equally strange phenomena.[46] large tables rose to the ceiling, floating in the atmosphere with a sort of undulating motion, and coming down again to the floor without noise; sprigs of flowers were torn off and presented to people by the spirit; accordions and other musical instruments were played without any visible hand holding or moving them; luminous stars and streaks of light appeared in various places, while "spirit hands" were seen and felt as palpably as mortal flesh and blood could be; answers to questions made, were given by a system of raps or by spelling out words on a child's alphabet placed on the floor. thus conversations, sometimes sensible, but frequently trivial and absurd,[47] were held with the spirits summoned. spirit hands, using material pens, ink and paper, wrote answers to queries; quoted verses from known authors, or put down original poems. in some cases the narratives published were anonymous, and only authenticated by witnesses who privately testified to the newspaper-editors their accuracy. but in some instances persons of repute and ability came forward in support of their correctness.[48] dr. gully of malvern, for example, publicly testified that he had seen mr. home float about a room for several minutes, and guaranteed the accuracy of the facts set forth in a most remarkable fashion in an early number of the "cornhill magazine." a well-known clergyman of the high church party in the church of england, gives his testimony to the truth and strangeness of certain appearances and manifestations, in the following communication to the editor of this volume:-"i was staying in the north of england with the rev. ----, in 1850. during my visit a well-known medium (at that period a clergyman of the diocese of london) spent the evening with us. eight or ten other people were there at the same time. 'table-turning' was the subject of a long and animated discussion, in which those who accepted the facts and those who rejected them were about equally divided. there was nothing to be done, therefore, but to test the question. this was determined on. a circular table about four feet in diameter, of considerable size and weight, was used. seven people sat round it, joining their hands on the table, and after conjointly _willing_ that it should turn itself in one direction or be turned, for about twelve minutes, it began to vibrate strangely and then slowly to move. at first its motion was in circles, then it moved from side to side of the room with dash and rapidity. afterwards it was strangely tilted on the other side. on one occasion later on, it rose several inches from the ground, and remained suspended in the air for nearly two minutes. as to the facts, no one could dispute them. afterwards a variety of questions were put, to which the table replied by knocking on the floor. it was agreed beforehand that one knock should stand for 'no', two for 'yes.' an alphabet was produced, and words in response were spelled out. some of the queries were trivial, some arithmetical, some momentous. the answers were usually accurate, sensible, and intelligible, but not always so. after questions had been put concerning the future state, heaven, hell, purgatory, the happiness of the good and the punishment of the wicked, a question was asked, 'where did the spirit now answering dwell when on earth?' the name of a place in devonshire was spelled out. this reply greatly interested a clergyman present, who some fifteen years previously had been curate in that county. it was followed by another:--'what was the name of the person whose spirit is here?' then the table spelt out, by means of the alphabet, the name of a yeoman who had died impenitent and blaspheming at the period before referred to. this was sufficient for me," writes the above correspondent; "what i had heard and seen convinced me that necromancy was practised. i left the house, protecting myself by the sacred sign, convinced of the sin of the practice. and though i had been a spectator and not an actor, i made a resolution, which i have scrupulously kept, never to see nor sanction such proceedings again." another somewhat similar example is here recorded. a clergyman of the church of england, intimately known to the editor of this volume, supplies the following remarkable narrative regarding the action and authors of spiritualistic manifestations:--"being a perfect and total sceptic as to the supernatural character of so-called 'spiritualism,' and believing that the results asserted to be produced by its votaries were brought about by pre-arranged trickery and the deception of confederates, i for a long time declined to be present at, or to take part in, a _sã©ance_, though earnestly pressed to do so. however, circumstances led me to attend one in the year 1862, at a house in notting hill square, london, in the month of october. prior to the operations, which were managed and conducted by a 'medium,' i was invited to examine both the room where the _sã©ance_ was to be held, and the table by which the operations were to be conducted. conversations, held by a well-known spiritualist, were to be carried on, (by means of an alphabet, raps and knockings,) with the spirits who were presumed to be present, and who were declared to have miraculously moved the table round which, for some time, seven persons, including myself, had been sitting. the room was about ten feet in height, and in the centre was a gas chandelier of three lights, all of which were burning. during the sitting, after the table had made several most remarkable gyrations, tilting one side of itself upwards and downwards at an angle of at least forty-five degrees, at the command of the chief operator it slowly ascended from the floor to the height of at least seven feet, viz. the bottom of the pendent gaselier. its plane having caused the lamp glasses to rattle by contact, the table then with a strange throbbing and vibration and slow movement began to descend. we had all removed our chairs, to give room for its ascent, and standing close to the walls around, saw it slowly come down to its place. i was so shocked and horrified at what i beheld, and now so firmly convinced that the remarkable actions we had witnessed were the result of the invocation and intervention of evil spirits, that i declined, in language most positive and unmistakable, to have any further part in such unlawful performances. when further attempts were made to obtain fresh manifestations, taking from my neck a small silver crucifix, which had been blessed by a high ecclesiastical dignitary, i made a mental act of faith in the blessed trinity, and holding the small crucifix in my closed hand, placed my hand clasping it on the table, saying mentally, 'if this be the work of evil spirits, may god almighty, for christ's sake, stop it!' the moment i did this, the table, which had been moving about strangely in several directions, and by varied singular motions, became suddenly and at once motionless. nor could it be made to stir afterwards. being perfectly convinced that such operations were of the nature of necromancy, forbidden by the church, as scripture plainly testifies, i made an earnest exhortation to those in the room, after the last manifestation, not to cooperate in such deeds any further. some maintained by rather blasphemous arguments that spiritualism was destined to, and would soon, take the place of christianity; and were kind enough to pity my ignorance, narrowness, prejudice, and sectarianism, to which i made no reply. i then left." from another source (a well-known country gentleman in one of the midland counties) has been obtained a series of questions and answers which were put, given, and taken down in the year 1856, at a gathering at which the practice of table-turning and spirit invocation was tested by those whose conviction, in the main, regarding them, as the editor is informed, agrees with that of the correspondents already quoted. similar strange phenomena occurred on this occasion likewise:- "are you a spirit who inhabited this earth? yes. how long have you been dead? no reply. have you been dead years? no. months? no. weeks? no. days? yes. how many? five days. do you mean five days? yes. did you live in this neighbourhood? yes. did you know any at this table? yes. will you point them out? yes. (it then crossed the room three times violently and stopped before three persons.) will you spell your name? yes. r---j----[49] (the way he always spelt it). are you happy? no answer. can we do you any good? no. was the baptist religion true? no. will you spell the true religion? yes--saients. is there a middle state of souls? yes. will the end of the world be soon? yes. will it be the end of the world or the end of wickedness? the end of wickedness? yes. will the world be destroyed by water? no. by fire? no. will it be partly destroyed by fire? yes. shall any of us see the last day? yes. in how many years? twenty-five years. will the last judgment be then? no. will that be the millennium? yes. will enoch and elijah come again? yes. will the jews be restored? yes. will russia conquer england? yes. will it be in the reign of queen victoria? no. in the reign of her successor? yes." the testimony of mr. crookes, the discoverer of a new metal, and a fellow of the royal society, may here be suitably recorded. unlike some other so-called "scientific investigators," he is reported to have resolved upon a careful and thorough examination of the spiritualistic phenomena. he is said to have maintained originally that, even if the alleged facts were true, he might be able to explain them by some natural law. accordingly he thoughtfully pursued his inquiries and investigations over a series of years, taking unusual care to render deception out of the question and impossible. the result has been given to the public in the "quarterly journal of science" for january, 1874,[50] from which the following quotations are made:-"the phenomena i am prepared to attest are so extraordinary and so directly oppose the most firmly-rooted articles of scientific belief--amongst others, the ubiquity and invariable action of the law of gravitation--that, even now, on recalling the details of what i witnessed, there is an antagonism in my mind between _reason_, which pronounces it to be scientifically impossible, and the consciousness that my senses, both of touch and sight--and these corroborated, as they were, by the senses of all who were present--are not lying witnesses when they testify against my preconceptions. but the supposition that there is a sort of mania or delusion which suddenly attacks a whole roomful of intelligent persons who are quite sane elsewhere, and that they all concur to the minutest particulars in the details of the occurrences of which they suppose themselves to be witnesses, seems to my mind more incredible than even the facts they attest" (pp. 77-78). under the heading of "the phenomena of percussive and other allied sounds," he makes reference to the raps and knocks of various kinds made and heard in different places, "in a living tree, on a sheet of glass, on a stretched iron wire, on a stretched membrane, a tambourine, on the roof of a cab, and on the floor of a theatre," and where no known law, and no contrivance or trickery, could afford any clue to their cause. he then inquires whether the sounds thus heard are the result of some blind, irrational, hidden material force obeying the laws of nature. his conclusion, however, was that the varied phenomena being evidently governed by intelligence, a thinking being must have been concerned in their origination. "the intelligence," he maintains, "is sometimes of such a character as to lead to the belief that it does not emanate from any person present." the movement of heavy substances at a distance from the medium is then discussed, and mr. crookes thus writes:-"on three successive evenings a small table moved slowly across the room, under conditions which i had specially pre-arranged, so as to answer any objections which might be raised to the evidence" (p. 84). again:--"on five separate occasions a heavy dining-table rose between a few inches and one and a half feet off the floor, under special circumstances which rendered trickery impossible. on another occasion a heavy table rose from the floor in full light, while i was holding the medium's hands and feet. on another occasion the table rose from the floor, not only when no person was touching it, but under conditions that i had pre-arranged, so as to assure unquestionable proof of the fact" (p. 85). once more:-"on one occasion i witnessed a chair, with a lady sitting on it, rise several inches from the ground. on another occasion, to avoid the suspicion of this being in some way performed by herself, the lady knelt on the chair in such manner that its four feet were visible to us. it then rose about three inches, remained suspended for about ten seconds, and then slowly descended. at another time two children, on separate occasions, rose from the floor with their chairs, in full daylight, under (to me) most satisfactory conditions; for i was kneeling and keeping close watch upon the feet of the chair, and observing that no one might touch them" (p. 85). respecting another class of phenomena, said to be common enough with modern spiritualists, which appeal to the sense of sight, under the head of "luminous appearances," mr. crookes thus writes:-"under the strictest test conditions i have seen a solid self-luminous body, the size and nearly the shape of a turkey's egg, float noiselessly about the room, at one time higher than anyone present could reach standing on tip-toe, and then gently descend to the floor. it was visible for more than ten minutes, and before it faded away it struck the table three times, with a sound like that of a hard, solid body. during this time the medium was lying back, apparently insensible, in an easy-chair. "i have seen luminous points of light darting about and settling on the heads of different persons; i have had questions answered by the flashing of a bright light a desired number of times in front of my face. i have seen sparks of light rising from the table to the ceiling, and again falling upon the table, striking it with an audible sound. i have had an alphabetical communication given by luminous flashes occurring before me in the air, whilst my hand was moving about amongst them. i have seen a luminous cloud floating upwards to a picture. under the strictest test conditions, i have more than once had a solid, self-luminous crystalline body placed in my hand by a hand which did not belong to any person in the room. in the light, i have seen a luminous cloud hover over a heliotrope on a side-table, break a sprig off, and carry the sprig to a lady; and on some occasions i have seen a similar luminous cloud visibly condense to the form of a hand, and carry small objects about" (p. 87). two pages later on the following occurs:-"i was sitting next to the medium, miss fox, the only other persons present being my wife and a lady relative, and i was holding the medium's two hands in one of mine, whilst her feet were resting on my feet. paper was on the table before us, and my disengaged hand was holding a pencil. a luminous hand came down from the upper part of the room, and after hovering near me for a few seconds, took the pencil from my hand, rapidly wrote on a sheet of paper, threw the pencil down, and then rose up over our heads, gradually fading into darkness" (p. 89). and then mr. crookes testifies that not only spirit-hands, but spectres or spirit-persons in their entirety, were seen:-"in the dusk of the evening, during a _sã©ance_ with mr. home at my house, the curtains of a window about eight feet from mr. home were seen to move. a dark, shadowy, semi-transparent form like that of a man was then seen by all present standing near the window, waving the curtain with his hand. as we looked, the form faded away and the curtain ceased to move. the following is a still more striking instance. as in the former case, mr. home was the medium. a phantom form came from a corner of the room, took an accordion in its hand, and then glided about the room playing the instrument. the form was visible to all present for many minutes, mr. home also being seen at the same time. coming rather close to a lady who was sitting apart from the rest of the company, she gave a slight cry, upon which it vanished" (p. 90). in conclusion mr. crookes sets forth five current theories with regard to these and similar phenomena; one of which theories is clearly expressed in the following sentence. these supernatural manifestations, he asserts, some maintain to be "the actions of evil spirits or devils, personifying who or what they please, in order to undermine christianity and to ruin men's souls" (p. 96). such a definition, it may be added, is in perfect accordance with ordinary experience, the testimony of scripture, the action and teaching of the living church, as well as a fulfilment of express and definite prophecies regarding "the latter days." modern spiritualism. continued. "superstition, in its grossest form, is the worship of evil spirits."--_john henry newman._ "let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called god, or that is worshipped.... whose coming is after the working of satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. and for this cause god shall send them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie."--_2 thess. ii. 3-11._ "the greatest intellectual triumph that can be achieved by the devil is gained when men are prepared to believe that he is not."--_sermons_, _rev. t. t. lee_ (a.d. 1796). chapter ix. modern spiritualism. (continued.) more recently the manifestations have been still further developed. from the "spiritual magazine" the following is quoted:-"the _sã©ance_ was held by appointment. our object being that of investigation, we limited the number to three, and, i must add, used every precaution we could think of to preclude the possibility of self-deception; we likewise guarded against any possible preparatory arrangement. accordingly, we changed from the library to the dining-room. we were soon seated at a heavy square table. twenty minutes passed without any manifestation; then came gentle raps, followed by the table being lifted, tilted, and gently vibrated. then raps were heard simultaneously in different and opposite parts of the room. at my suggestion, the lamp was partly turned down, when a cold current of air was felt to pass over our hands and faces. a pause ensued. the dining-room table leaf standing in the corner of the room then commenced to vibrate, and one of the leaves being taken from the stand, was passed between mr. home and the table at which we were seated. it was then raised straight up, and passing vertically over my friend, gently touched him; in passing over me, it struck me on the crown of the head, but so gently, that i could hardly realize it to be the heavy leaf of the dining-room table; the touch nevertheless caused the leaf to vibrate all but sonorously. i name this to prove how delicately balanced and suspended in the air the leaf of the table must have been to have produced the vibration. it then passed over to the right, touching my shoulders, and finally was placed upon the table at which we were seated. the distance the leaf was carried i compute at nearly twelve yards (allowing for the circuit made), and at an elevation of six feet. a small round table was then moved from the corner of the room, and placed next to my friend; and in reply to his question '_who it was_,' he received the answer, audible to us all, '_pa, pa,--dear--darling pa_.' an arm-chair behind my friend, and at a distance of three yards, was raised up straight into the air, carried over our heads, and placed upon the dining-room table to my left, a voice clearly and loudly repeating the words, 'papa's chair.' we then observed the wooden box of the accordion being carried from the extreme corner of the room up to my friend. in passing my right hand, i passed my hand under and over the box, as it travelled suspended in the air to my front. i did this to make sure of the fact of its being moved by an invisible agency, and not by means of mechanical aid.... the accordion was then taken from mr. home, carried about in the room, and played. voices were distinctly heard; a low whispering, and voices imitating the break of a wave on the shore. finally, the accordion placed itself upon the table we were seated at, and two luminous hands were distinctly seen resting on the keys of the instrument. they remained luminously visible for from twenty to thirty seconds, and then melted away. i had, in the meantime, and at the request of my friend, taken hold of the accordion; whilst so held by me, an invisible hand laid hold of the instrument, and played for two or three minutes what appeared to me to be sacred music. voices were then heard, a kind of murmuring or low whistling and breathing; at times in imitation of the murmur of the waves of the sea, at other times more plaintively melodious. the accordion was then a second time taken by an invisible power, carried over our heads, and a small piece of sacred music played,--then a hymn, voices in deep sonorous notes singing the hallelujah. i thought i could make out three voices, but my friend said he could speak to four. a jet of light then crossed the room, after which a star or brilliantly illuminated disk, followed by the appearance of a softly luminous column of light, which moved up between me and my friend. i cannot say that i could discern any distinct outline. the luminous column appeared to me to be about five to six feet high, the subdued soft light mounting from it half illumining the room. the column or luminous appearance then passed to my right, and a chair was moved and placed next to me. i distinctly heard the rustling as of a silk dress. instinctively i put my hand forward to ascertain the presence of the guest, when a soft hand seized my hand and wrist. i then felt that the skirt of a dress had covered my knees. i grasped it; it felt like thick silk, and melted away as i firmly clenched my hand on it. by this time i admit i shuddered. a heavy footstep then passed to my right, the floor vibrating to the footfall; the spirit-form now walked up to the fire-place, clapping its hands as it passed me. i then felt something press against the back of my chair; the weight was so great, that as the form leaned on my shoulder, i had to bend forward under the pressure. two hands gently pressed my forehead; i noticed a luminous appearance at my right; i was kissed, and what to me at the time made my very frame thrill again, spoken to in a sweet, low, melodious voice. the words uttered by the spirit were distinctly heard by all present. as the spirit-form passed away, it repeated the words, 'i kissed you, i kissed you,' and i felt three taps on each shoulder, audible to all present, as if in parting to reimpress me with the reality of its presence. i shuddered again, and, in spite of all my heroism, felt very 'uncanny.' my friend now called our attention to his being patted by a soft hand on his head. i heard a kiss, and then the words, 'papa, dear papa.' he said his left hand was being kissed, and that a soft, child-like hand was caressing him. a cloud of light appeared to be standing at his left." another example, from the same publication, deserves to be put on record:-"the first group of the manifestations (i use the term 'group' to mark the characteristic difference of the phenomena on each occasion,) occurred at a friend's house at great malvern. those present had only incidentally met; and, owing to a prohibition being laid upon mr. home by his medical man against trying his strength, no _sã©ance_ was attempted. i name this as characteristic. raps in different parts of the room, and the movement of furniture, however, soon told the presence of the invisibles. the library in which the party had met communicated with the hall; and the door having been left half open, a broad stream of light from the burners of the gas-lamp lit up the room. at the suggestion of one of the party, the candles were removed. the rapping, which had till then been heard in different parts of the room, suddenly made a pause, and then the unusual phenomena of the appearance of spirit-forms manifested itself. the opening of the half-closed door was suddenly darkened by an invisible agency, the room becoming pitch dark. then the wall opposite became illumined, the library now being lit up by a luminous element, for it cannot be described otherwise. between those present and the opposite and now illumined wall two spirit-forms were seen, their shadowy outline on the wall well defined. the forms moved to and fro. they made an effort to speak; the articulation, however, was too imperfect to permit of the meaning of the words to be understood. the darkening which had obscured the half-closed door was then removed, and the broad light from the hall lamp reappeared, looking quite dim in comparison with the luminous brilliancy of the light that had passed away. again the room became darkened, then illumined, and a colossal head and shoulders appeared to rise from the floor, visible only by the shadow it cast upon the illumined wall. what added to the interest was the apparent darkening and lighting up of the room at will, and that repeatedly, the library door remaining half open all the while. the time occupied by these phenomena was perhaps five to ten minutes, the manifestations terminating quite abruptly." a correspondent of the same serial gives the following facts:-"on the 1st october, 1865, i attended a _sã©ance_ at 13, victoria place, clifton, where the younger mrs. marshall, the well-known medium from london, was staying. "i had previously prepared, as a test, a series of written questions inserted in a book and numbered consecutively; my wife, who was present, was by the usual method put in communication with the spirit of her mother, and the following are a few of the results. it is important to observe that no clue was given to the medium, or to the others present, as to the nature of the answer required, the questions being put in the following form:--'will you answer the question no. 33?' &c., and as the answers were occasionally given in a different form from what was anticipated, though still quite correctly, these two facts taken together conclusively prove, as it appears to me, that the answers were neither the result of any knowledge on the part of the medium, nor any 'reflex action' from the mind of the interrogator. "the spirit having been requested to answer the question numbered 33, viz.:--'will you spell the name of the place where we lived when you left this state?' the reply, spelt through the alphabet, was 'aust.' "question no. 34 having been put in the same manner, viz.:--'where was your body buried?' the reply was, 'saint george's.' "no. 35.--'while your body was lying in the coffin, was anything put in the hand?'[51] reply, 'yes.' "no. 36.--'what was it?' reply, 'a sprig of myrtle.' "no. 37.--'by whom was it put there?' reply, 'thomas bowman.' "no. 38.--'who else were present at the time?' reply, 'ann, tommy and mary bowman bryant.' "many other replies were given of an equally satisfactory character, but i must not further trespass on your space. i would merely remark that the answers in each case were quite correct, and that the events referred to occurred upwards of forty years since." again, mr. james howell, of 7, guildford road, brighton, writes as follows in the "spiritual magazine" for november, 1867:-"when i was at the marshalls' last summer, a circumstance, unknown to anyone present save myself, was made known to me by unaccountable means. the name of a young lady who suffered and died from spinal complaint in the year 1843 was correctly spelled out, and the date of her death given. i was most intimately acquainted with her. she was good, pious, and highly intellectual. to her i owe my knowledge of the french language, and my love of its literature. i was not thinking of her at the time; in fact, she was furthest from my thoughts; yet her name--a very uncommon one, you will admit--was given correctly, 'aletta v----.' now i am honest enough to confess that a million guesses would not have guessed that name. i was astounded and affected; for it brought back to my mind a rush of thoughts, happy and sad, of those evenings when i sat by her bedside listening to her sweet voice, and imbibing the original thoughts which sprang, not only from a well-stored mind, but one instinct with genius. twenty-three years had elapsed from the time of her death; she had often promised to communicate with me from the spirit-world, if it was possible, and now that promise was fulfilled, even in the presence of others." and once more, the same writer gives the following record of facts:-"i paid a visit on monday, july 2nd, to mrs. parks, of cornwall terrace, regent's park, then staying at 7, bedford square. miss purcell, the medium, went with me; and we three had some strong and wonderful manifestations. the table was turned about merrily, and once whirled round in mid-air. it became as animated as a living being; it even ran about when not a single being touched it. knockings were heard all over the room; in chairs, in tables, under the floor, and along the wainscot. we had great trouble to keep the tables from being smashed. "during the evening, the 'blue bells of scotland' and '_marlbrook s'en va-t-en guerre_' were knocked out on the table in a beautiful and correct manner, the table beating and dancing admirable time to each tune. at a previous _sã©ance_ a well-known tune was knocked out, and my wife was requested to dance, the spirits stating that the table should accompany her; but as we could not induce her to do so, we lost the promised _pas de deux_ between a human being and a table. at my request the table also gave a series of knocks, viz. the footman's, the postman's, the tax-gatherer's, and the countryman's, which were perfect, and caused us much amusement. in one part of the room there appeared a silvery, bluish star, shining brilliantly. mrs. parks, strange to say, could not see it, but to the medium and myself it was clearly visible, at the same time too; and a brilliant member of the stellar creation it was, coming and going like those of the sky, when for a moment a veil of clouds passes over them." the conviction that such acts and deeds are the work of evil spirits is put on record in the same serial, a formal organ of the spiritualists, in the following narrative:-"mr. and mrs. c---attend a _sã©ance_ at which the spirit of 'a darling child' is manifestly present. they attend a second _sã©ance_, and through the same medium they are confirmed in the conviction of the real presence of their child. mr. c---then finds that he is himself a medium, and forthwith he purchases a small table for the exercise of his power. "his first experiment proves to him beyond a doubt that an intelligent being, though invisible, is with him; but he speedily begins to suspect that whatever the character may have been of the spirit which first manifested to him through another medium, this, which is now communicating through himself, is an evil spirit. on his 'wishing it to walk to the dining-room, it started at once.' he was struck by its heavy tread, 'so very unlike the footfalls of a young child,' and he exclaimed, 'this is _not_ the spirit of my child, if so, i want no other manifestation.' becoming more and more suspicious of the character of this particular visitant, he said, 'if thou art not the spirit of my child, march out of the house.' 'the table did, indeed, march, making a noise like the loud and well-measured footfalls of a heavy dragoon--literally shaking everything in the room.' "this gentleman then adjured the spirit in a variety of forms, and asked if it was not a bad spirit? and it said, 'yes!' then he said, 'accursed devil! by the living god i adjure thee to speak the truth! has the spirit of my child _ever_ been put in communication with myself or her mother through this or any other table?' the 'accursed devil' said, 'no, never!' then, after similar assurances, mr. c---made up his mind to believe the devil; and he closed his experiments with an auto-da-fã©, by breaking up and burning the table!" mr. chevalier, who was the first witness called before the committee appointed by the dialectical society, gives the following personal version of this experiment, 20th july, 1869. he stated that he had had seventeen years' experience of spiritualism, but it was not till 1866 that he commenced experimenting on tables. he obtained the usual phenomena, such as raps and tiltings and answers to questions. on one occasion, the answer which was given being obviously untrue, the witness peremptorily inquired why a correct answer had not been given, and the spirit in reply said, "because i am beelzebub." mr. chevalier, in continuation, said, "i continued my experiments until i heard of the 'spiritual athenã¦um.' about that time i lost a child, and heard my wife say she had been in communication with its spirit. i cautioned her, and yet was anxious to communicate also. i placed one finger on the table; it moved, and the name of the child was given. it was a french name. i told a friend of mine what had happened, but was laughed at by him; he however came, sceptic as he was. i placed one hand on the table asking mental questions, which were all answered. he then asked where my child went to school, not knowing himself, and the answer 'fenton' was given; this also was correct. frequently after this, i obtained manifestations in french and english, and messages as a child could send to a parent. at my meals i constantly rested my hand on a small table, and it seemed to join in the conversation. one day the table turned at right angles, and went into the corner of the room. i asked, 'are you my child?' but obtained no answer. i then said, 'are you from god?' but the table was still silent. i then said, 'in the name of the father, son, and holy spirit, i command you to answer--are you from god?' one loud rap, a negative, was then given. 'do you believe,' said i, 'that christ died to save us from sin?' the answer was 'no!' 'accursed spirit,' said i, 'leave the room.' the table then walked across the room, entered the adjoining one and quickened its steps. it was a small tripod table. it walked with a sidelong walk. it went to the door, shook the handle, and i opened it. the table then walked into the passage, and i repeated the adjuration, receiving the same answer. fully convinced that i was dealing with an accursed spirit, i opened the street door, and the table was immediately silent; no movement or rap was heard. i returned alone to the drawing-room, and asked if there were any spirits present. immediately i heard steps like those of a little child outside the door. i opened it, and the small table went into the corner as before, just as my child did when i reproved it for a fault. these manifestations continued until i used the adjuration, and i always found that they changed or ceased when the name of god was mentioned. one night, when sitting alone in my drawing-room, i heard a noise at the top of the house; a servant who had heard it came into the room frightened. i went to the nursery and found that the sounds came from a spot near the bed. i pronounced the adjuration and they instantly ceased. the same sounds were afterwards heard in the kitchen, and i succeeded in restoring quiet as before. "reflecting on these singular facts, i determined to inquire further and really satisfy myself that the manifestations were what i suspected them to be. i went to mrs. marshall, and took with me three clever men, who were not at all likely to be deceived. i was quite unknown; we sat at a table, and had a _sã©ance_: mrs. marshall told me the name of my child. i asked the spirit some questions, and then pronounced the adjuration. we all heard steps, which sounded as if someone was mounting the wall; in a few seconds the sounds ceased, and although mrs. marshall challenged again and again, the spirits did not answer, and she said she could not account for the phenomenon. in this case, i pronounced the adjuration mentally; no person knew what i had done. at a _sã©ance_, held at the house of a friend of mine, at which i was present, manifestations were obtained, and, as i was known to be hostile, i was entreated not to interfere. i sat for two hours a passive spectator. i then asked the name of the spirit, and it gave the name of my child. 'in the name of the father, son, and holy ghost,' said i, 'are you the spirit of my child?' it answered, 'no!' and the word 'devil' was spelled out." dr. edmunds: "how were the names spelled out?" mr. chevalier: "the legs rapped when the alphabet was called over. mrs. marshall used the alphabet herself, and the table rapped when her pencil came to the letters. my opinion of the phenomena is that the intelligence which is put in communication with us is a fallen one. it is the devil, the prince of the powers of the air. i believe we commit the crime of necromancy when we take part in these spiritual _sã©ances_." we obtain from these extracts, which might be multiplied thirty-fold from the authorized publications of the spiritualists, some idea of the nature of their _sã©ances_ and proceedings. our own statement at the outset has been more than justified as regards its moderation and accuracy from the examples provided in the extracts in question. "necromancy" has been well defined to be "the art of communicating with devils and of doing surprising things by means of their aid; particularly that of calling up the dead and extorting answers from them." now this, it seems clear, in one form or another, is precisely that which is carried on by a considerable and increasing section[52] of people in america, in england, on the continent, and elsewhere. it is practised mainly by persons who were such extreme protestants in previous times that, having almost altogether denied the supernatural, they have been reluctantly won over to a belief in it by communion with evil spirits. father perrone, the distinguished jesuit, has calculated that upwards of two thousand treatises have been published in defence of the system of these manifestations during the past fifteen years. it has been pointedly remarked by an english clergyman, of those people who once, like the ancient sadducees, rejected the idea of the existence of spirits, but who now have accepted the spiritualistic theory, that "they have given up believing in nothing, and have taken to believe in the devil."[53] and this epigrammatic saying is hardly too pointed. according to perrone, the modern professors of divination frankly allow that the phenomena have passed through three phases. first, that of mesmerism; secondly, artificial somnambulism and clairvoyance; and thirdly, spiritualism, properly so called. he gives five reasons for maintaining his theory of diabolical agency with regard to the same. 1. from the nature of the phenomena. 2. from its effects. 3. from the manner in which mesmerism operates. 4. from the malice and wickedness of the agent, who frequently utters anti-christian and blasphemous doctrines; and lastly, 5. from the frank and candid admission of the mediums or operators themselves. in most cases it may be safely assumed that evil spirits personify the souls of the departed. that such spirits are the deadly foes of man so long as he is in his period of probation, may, for all catholic christians, be also assumed. that such spirits, moreover, constantly represent the departed as continually desiring the hand of death to fall upon their earthly friends, in order, as is implied or stated, that a future of unclouded light and everlasting happiness may speedily link them together, can be seen from a careful study of the records of spiritualism. some of the facts already set forth teach this. the principle that men, whether good or bad, righteous or unrighteous, will all be certainly saved, and be for ever hereafter in bliss, is the practical heresy[54] that spiritualism in its theological aspect has most openly taught, and still continues to teach. "spiritualism," writes mr. william howitt, a convert to it from quakerism, "rejects the doctrine of eternal damnation as alike injurious to god and man. injurious to god's noblest attributes, repugnant to the principles of justice, and unavailing in men as a motive to repentance.... spiritualism knows that there are isolated passages in the gospels and in the words of our saviour capable of being made to bear an appearance favouring the doctrine of eternal punishment, but it knows that the original terms bear no such latitude, and when christ says there is a state 'where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched,' it admits the state, but denies that any of god's creatures will continue in that state a minute longer than is necessary to purge the foulness of sin and the love of sin out of their spiritual constitutions. were the solution of this supposed difficulty much harder than it is, spiritualism would place the love of god and the love of christ, and all the great and gracious attributes of god and his saviour--justice and truth and wisdom, and a charity more immeasurable than god himself recommends to mankind, confidently and courageously against so horrible and senseless a doctrine." now, though spiritualism be ignored by the press, universalism, its own offspring, is constantly and persistently maintained. spiritualism also flatly denies the great christian doctrine of the resurrection of the body:-"spiritualism teaches, on the authority of scripture and of all spirit-life, that there is no such thing as death: it is but a name given to the issue of the soul from the body. to those in bodies who witness this change, the spirit is invisible, and they only see a body which ceases all its living functions, has lost that intelligence which during so-called 'life' emanated from it, and lies stiff and cold, and to all appearance dead. but even the body is not dead. there is a law of life even in what is called dead matter, which is perpetually changing its particles and converting them into mere black earth and water, and hence into all the articles necessary for the physical life--corn, meat, wine, all foods, all fruits. the same law immediately begins to operate in the dead body, and, if unobstructed, speedily resolves it back into earth, and then forms this again into food and clothing and fresh enveloping forms for fresh human beings. the whole of the universe is in perpetual action, and the ever-revolving wheel of physical is subserving the perpetual evolution of spiritual life."[55] and again:-"the church of england and spiritualism accord, but not in the doctrine of the resurrection of the body. the spirits all assert with s. paul, that the body which rises from the death-bed is the spiritual body, and that the soul needs no other, much less an earthly body, in its spirit-home--that, in fact, nothing of the earth can ever enter heaven. that if the spirits of just men are _made perfect_, they can be nothing more, and no addition of anything belonging to this earth can add to their happiness, freedom, power, and perfection, but on the contrary. that so far from receiving at some indefinite and, probably, very distant period, their earthly bodies back again, they are continually, as they advance, casting off the subtler particles of matter that have interpenetrated their spiritual bodies."[56] with regard to the influence of the protestant reformation on that temper of mind and habit of thought which have led sceptics and those whose faith has been overturned by the blasphemies of calvin or the immoral principle of the lutheran systems and their offshoots, to become votaries of spiritualism, we cannot do better than put on record mr. howitt's deliberate judgment, expressed in language which, however painful to read in some parts, is at once forcible and pertinent:-"by the denial of the intermediate states, the protestant reformers perpetrated a more monstrous outrage on the divine justice, and more frightfully libelled the divine mercy, than by the broadest stretch of imagination one would have thought it possible. by this arbitrary extinction of some of the loveliest regions of creation, by this wiping out of vast kingdoms of god's tolerance and goodness by the sponge of protestant reaction, god's whole being was blackened, and every one of his eternal attributes dislocated and driven pell-mell into the limbo of atheism. i say atheism, for such a god could not possibly exist as this protestant theory would have made him--a god with less justice than the most stupid country squire ever established in the chair of magistracy; with less mercy than an inquisitor or a torturer with his red-hot pincers and iron boots. these atrocities were but the work of moments, but this system made the god of love and the father of jesus christ sitting in endless bliss amid a favoured few, whilst below were incalculable populations suffering the tortures of fires which no period even of millions of years should extinguish, and that without any proportion whatever to the offences of the sufferers! all who were not 'spirits of just men made perfect' were, according to this doctrine, only admissible to this common hell, this common receptacle of the middling, bad, and the most bedevilled of devils! never could any such monstrous, foul, and detestable doctrine issue from any source but that of the hearts of fiends themselves. none but devils could breed up so black a fog of blasphemy to blot out the image of a loving and paternal god from the view of his creatures. and yet the mocking devil induced the zealous protestant fathers to accept this most truly 'doctrine of devils,' as an antidote to popish error. as some glimmering of the direst consequences of this shutting-up of the middle states of the invisible world began to dawn on the protestant mind, it set about to invent remedies and apply palliatives, and by a sort of spiritual hocus-pocus, it taught that if the greatest sinners did but call on christ at the last gasp, they were converted into saints, and found themselves in heaven itself with god and the lamb. this was only making the matter worse, and holding out a premium for the continuance in every sin and selfishness to the last moment. it was an awful temptation to self-deception presented to human selfishness. millions, no doubt, have trusted to this wretched protestant reed.... yet common sense in others rejected and rejects the cruel deceit. a country poet, writing the epitaph of the blacksmith in my native village, expressed the truth on the protestant theory of no middle regions:- 'too bad for heaven, too good for hell, so where he's gone we cannot tell.'" and now to conclude this portion of our subject, regarding which not a tenth part of the examples of "spiritual" manifestations gathered has been given. to have discussed the facts and theories provided on previous pages, would have occupied several chapters. sufficient, however, is recorded to show that spiritualism is directly antagonistic to the christian religion,[57] to point out the true character of many of the signs and wonders which exist in this nineteenth century, and which testify and witness to old and unchangeable truths. the ministry of "men and of angels in a wonderful order,"[58] the practice of exorcism, the facts of diabolical agency, possession by evil spirits, the sins of witchcraft and necromancy, are all more or less intertwined with the divine revelation which god has been pleased to give to man. but the materialism of these latter days is blinding men's eyes, that they cannot see, and successfully destroying their faith in all that is beyond their cramped and narrow temporal range. intellectual paganism, and a positive disbelief in the distinct nature of god, if not openly professed, is indirectly acknowledged; while the faith of pentecost, which for generations has regenerated the world, is cast aside as worn out, effete, and valueless. the possibility of miracle is derided; providence is scouted as the fond dream of an exaggerated human self-love; belief in the power of prayer is asserted to be only a superstition, illustrative of man's ignorance of the scientific conception of law; the hypothesis of absolute invariable law, and the cognate conception of nature as a self-evolved system of self-existent forces and self-existent matter, are ideas advancing with giant strides. side by side with all this, however, stand the portentous phenomena referred to here. let the existence of one course of such facts as those related be granted, and far more follows than the pure materialist or the positivist would for a moment allow. yet none can deny the presence amongst us of such, evil in their essence and mischievous in their operations. the whole cycle represents the works of the devil and his angels--works opposed at every step in theory by the truths of christianity, and in fact by the sacraments of the church universal. man's highest and chiefest duty is to do the will of the most high: the practice of the spiritualists, on the other hand (and let men lay the warning to heart), appears to be an intentional and systematic giving up of their wills to the evil one; an invocation of evil spirits for unlawful purposes, a "willing" for supernatural intervention in things which are not lawful, and a deliberate turning away from him to whom all power is given in heaven and in earth. appendix to chapter ix. spiritualism and science. the following letter appeared in "the times" newspaper a few years ago:-"sir,--having been named by several of your correspondents as one of the scientific men who believe in spiritualism, you will perhaps allow me to state briefly what amount of evidence has forced the belief upon me. i began the investigation about eight years ago, and i esteem it a fortunate thing that at that time the more marvellous phenomena were far less common and less accessible than they are now, because i was led to experiment largely at my own house, and among friends whom i could trust, and was able to establish to my own satisfaction, by means of a great variety of tests, the occurrence of sounds and movements not traceable to any known or conceivable physical cause. having thus become thoroughly familiar with these undoubtedly genuine phenomena, i was able to compare them with the more powerful manifestations of several public mediums, and to recognize an identity of cause in both by means of a number of minute but highly characteristic resemblances. i was also able, by patient observation, to obtain tests of the reality of some of the more curious phenomena which appeared at the time, and still appear to me, to be conclusive. to go into details as to those experiences would require a volume, but i may, perhaps, be permitted briefly to describe one, from notes kept at the time, because it serves as an example of the complete security against deception which often occurs to the patient observer without seeking for it. "a lady who had seen nothing of the phenomena asked me and my sister to accompany her to a well-known public medium. we went, and had a sitting alone in the bright light of a summer's day. after a number of the usual raps and movements, our lady friend asked if the name of the deceased person she was desirous of communicating with, could be spelt out. on receiving an answer in the affirmative, the lady pointed successively to the letters of a printed alphabet while i wrote down those at which three affirmative raps occurred. neither i nor my sister knew the name the lady wished for, nor even the names of any of her deceased relatives; her own name had not been mentioned, and she had never been near the medium before. the following is exactly what happened, except that i alter the surname, which was a very unusual one, having no authority to publish it. the letters i wrote down were of the following kind:--yrnehnospmoht. after the first three--yrn--had been taken down, my friend said, "this is nonsense, we had better begin again." just then her pencil was at e, and raps came, when a thought struck me (having read of, but never witnessed, a similar occurrence), and i said, 'please go on, i think i see what is meant.' when the spelling was finished i handed the paper to her, but she could see no meaning in it till i divided it at the first h, and asked her to read each portion backwards, when to her intense astonishment the name 'henry thompson' came out, that of a deceased son of whom she had wished to hear, correct in every letter. just about that time i had been hearing _ad nauseam_ of the superhuman acuteness of mediums who detect the letters of the name the deluded visitors expect, notwithstanding all their care to pass the pencil over the letters with perfect regularity. this experience, however (for the substantial accuracy of which as above narrated i vouch), was and is, to my mind, a complete disproof of every explanation yet given of the means by which the names of deceased persons are rapped out. of course i do not expect any sceptic, whether scientific or unscientific, to accept such facts, of which i could give many, on my testimony; but neither must they expect me, nor the thousands of intelligent men to whom equally conclusive tests have occurred, to accept their short and easy methods of explaining them. "if i am not occupying too much of your valuable space i should like to make a few remarks on the misconceptions of many scientific men as to the nature of this inquiry, taking the letters of your correspondent mr. dirks as an example. in the first place, he seems to think that it is an argument against the facts being genuine that they cannot all be produced and exhibited at will; and another argument against them, that they cannot be explained by any known laws. but neither can catalepsy, the fall of meteoric stones, nor hydrophobia be produced at will; yet these are all facts, and none the less so that the first is sometimes imitated, the second was once denied, and the symptoms of the third are often greatly exaggerated, while none of them is yet brought under the domain of strict science; yet no one would make this an argument for refusing to investigate these subjects. again, i should not have expected a scientific man to state, as a reason for not examining it, that spiritualism 'is opposed to every known natural law, especially the law of gravity,' and that it 'sets chymistry, human physiology, and mechanics at open defiance;' when the facts simply are that the phenomena, if true, depend upon a cause or causes which can overcome or counteract the action of these several forces, just as some of these forces often counteract or overcome others; and this should surely be a strong inducement to a man of science to investigate the subject. "while not laying any claim myself to the title of 'a really scientific man,' there are some who deserve that epithet who have not yet been mentioned by your correspondents as at the same time spiritualists. such i consider the late dr. robert chambers, as well as dr. elliotson, professor william gregory, of edinburgh; and professor hare, of philadelphia--all unfortunately deceased; while dr. gully, of malvern, as a scientific physician, and judge edmonds, one of the best american lawyers, have had the most ample means of investigation; yet all these not only were convinced of the reality of the most marvellous facts, but also accepted the theory of modern spiritualism as the only one which would embrace and account for the facts. i am also acquainted with a living physiologist, of high rank as an original investigator, who is an equally firm believer. "in conclusion i may say that, although i have heard a great many accusations of imposture, i have never detected it myself; and, although a large proportion of the more extraordinary phenomena are such that, if impostures, they could only be performed by means of ingenious apparatus or machinery, none has ever been discovered. i consider it no exaggeration to say that the main facts are now as well established and as easily verifiable as any of the more exceptional phenomena of nature which are not yet reduced to law. they have a most important bearing on the interpretation of history, which is full of narratives of similar facts, and on the nature of life and intellect, on which physical science throws a very feeble and uncertain light; and it is my firm and deliberate belief that every branch of philosophy must suffer till they are honestly and seriously investigated, and dealt with as constituting an essential portion of the phenomena of human nature. "i am, sir, yours obediently, "alfred r. wallace." the following review, taken from the "weekly register" of august 1, 1874, will be read with interest:-"the may and june numbers of the 'fortnightly review' for 1874, contain two remarkable articles by mr. wallace, the eminent naturalist. they are entitled--'a defence of modern spiritualism.' his aim in these is to prove the objective reality of its phenomena in the first instance, and then to show that the theory which explains them can be accepted by those who, like himself, entirely disbelieve in a supernatural order. he points out that modern spiritualism is not in any way a survival or revival of old superstitions, but a completely new science. the facts upon which it rests have been known and noted from the earliest beginnings of history, but, owing to the influence of superstition, were almost universally misinterpreted. now, at last, these mists are clearing away. we have abundant materials upon which to work, and he looks forward with confidence to the establishment of a satisfactory scientific theory of a future life. such a theory will be a truly regenerating influence, resting, not on arbitrary beliefs, but on established facts, and will, for the first time, make a true religion possible and a pure morality. "at the close of the second essay, there is a sketch of the outline of the theory up to the point which it has reached as yet. of course there is still much which requires to be explained and developed. the science is only in its infancy; but still its principles can be understood and appreciated. it is taken for granted that there are no spirits but human ones, these being the only spirits of which we can have any scientific knowledge. this being assumed, mr. wallace proceeds to give a short analysis of human nature, drawn from generalizations from the 'phenomena in their entirety,' and the communications of the spirits themselves. this is contained in four propositions:-"1. man is a duality, consisting of an organized spiritual form evolved coincidently with and permeating the physical body, and having corresponding organs and development. "2. death is the separation of this duality, and effects no change in the spirit, morally or intellectually. "3. progressive evolution of the intellectual and moral nature is the destiny of individuals; the knowledge, attainments, and experience of earth-life forming the basis of spirit-life. "4. spirits can communicate through properly-endowed mediums. they are attracted to those they love or sympathise with.... but, as follows from clause 2, their communications will be fallible, and must be judged and tested just as we do those of our fellow-men. "from the acceptance of these propositions will result a far purer morality than any which either religious systems or philosophy have yet put forth, and with sanctions far more powerful and effective--'for the essential teaching of spiritualism is that we are all, in every act and thought, helping to build up a "mental fabric" which will be and constitute ourselves more completely after the death of the body than it does now. just as this fabric is well or ill built will our progress and happiness be aided or retarded. there will be no imposed rewards and punishments; but everyone will suffer the inevitable consequences of a well or ill spent life. the well-spent life is that in which those faculties which concern our personal physical well-being are subordinated to those which regard our social and intellectual well-being and the well-being of others; and that inherent feeling, which is so universal and so difficult to account for, that those latter constitute our higher nature, seems also to point to the conclusion that we are intended for a condition in which the former will be almost wholly unnecessary, and will gradually become rudimentary through disuse, while the latter will receive a corresponding development. this teaching will make a man dread to give way to passion, or falsehood, or a selfish and luxurious life--knowing that the inevitable consequences of such habits are future misery and a long and arduous struggle, in order to develop anew the faculties which had been crippled by long disuse. he will be deterred from crime, knowing that its unforeseen consequences may cause him ages of remorse, and his bad passions perpetual torment, in a state of being in which mental emotions cannot be drowned in the fierce struggles and sensual pleasures of a physical existence. and these beliefs (unlike those of theology) will have a living efficacy, because depending on facts occurring again and again within the family circle, and so bringing home the realities of the future life to the minds of even the most obtuse.' he asks us to 'contrast this system of natural and inevitable reward and retribution, dependent wholly on the proportionate development of our higher mental and moral nature, with the arbitrary system of rewards and punishments dependent on stated acts and beliefs only, as set forth by all dogmatic religions; and who can fail to see that the former is in harmony with the whole order of nature--the latter opposed to it?' we cannot enter on the religious and moral questions which this brief survey of mr. wallace's theory suggests, but we wish to make some remarks on the 'facts' on which it is founded, and his treatment of them. the point that strikes one most in these articles is their evident sincerity. mr. wallace has become a believer in spiritualism in spite of deeply-rooted prejudices against it, and he is anxious to deal thoroughly and impartially with all the facts connected with it as far as he can, without contradicting the first principles of his scientific creed. we can understand this limitation, for we, too, have first principles--first principles of which we are so certain that no seeming contradiction of them by facts could shake our belief. but the difference between our position and his is that our first principles are founded, not on facts of experience, but on a _belief_ that god has spoken to us, and is speaking every day in the church. therefore, whatever god has revealed becomes to us as a first principle, which, _ã  priori_, cannot contradict facts, and which, as our knowledge increases, we more and more find experimentally to harmonize with them and explain them. but the whole of mr. wallace's theory is founded on the assumption that god does not speak--that he, and all that concerns him, is unknown and unknowable to us; and this assumption rests, he would tell us, on facts--_i. e._ on his view of the order of nature. now, what we wish to point out is, that nothing which thus rests only on experience can, in any true sense, be called a first principle. it is merely a wide generalization, which may, any moment, be displaced by a still wider one. mr. lecky, in his 'history of rationalism,' asserts that the evidence in favour of the reality of witchcraft would be irresistible, were we not convinced, on _ã  priori_ grounds, that witchcraft is a delusion. once mr. wallace fully shared this conviction, and found himself compelled, in his own words, to 'reject or ignore' all this evidence. now, modern spiritualism has enabled him to accept all these, and other facts of a similar nature; and he expatiates on the relief he feels in being able to open his eyes to a whole host of things which he had hitherto been obliged painfully and laboriously to overlook. there is quite a string of them. socrates' demon, the ancient oracles, all miracles--those of the bible, the lives of the saints, and in the present day, answers to prayer, all the phenomena of second sight, ghosts, and occult disturbances of all sorts. we cannot refer our readers to the articles themselves for the explanations, some of them very curious, of all these things. but we should like to ask whether it may not be possible that there may be some theory yet to be found still more comprehensive than spiritualism, and which may yield a still deeper joy and relief? the one before us seems to us still to require a considerable amount of reserve, to say no more, in dealing with some of the facts. professor huxley objects to the amount of twaddle that is talked by the spirits; but to this mr. wallace replies, very justly, we think, that it is no more than we must expect, considering the mental and moral calibre of the majority of mankind; and, consequently, of spirits, who are not much improved by the mere fact of dying, not to mention that of the spiritualists themselves; and we know that the proverb, 'like attracts like,' is especially applicable to mediums. but we confess that we are surprised when we are told that 'sectarian' spirits continue to maintain special dogmas and doctrines, while yet quite unable to describe themselves as being in any situation which at all corresponds to the orthodox teaching about a future life. we cannot understand what doctrines or dogmas could survive such a _dã©sillusionnement_, whether agreeable or the reverse, as mr. wallace's future life would be to a spirit whose conceptions on the subject had been moulded on any form of christianity. nor can we conceive of any motive, except a diabolical maliciousness, which could prompt spirits to wish to keep up such delusions among their surviving friends. and yet mr. wallace explains the apparitions of our lady, &c., in modern times, as being produced by spirits with strong catholic predilections, knowing that they would be very efficacious in stimulating the cultus which they prefer. and this is said without any moral comment whatever. also allowing, as he does, the reality of the apparitions, though only of human origin, in the bible and lives of the saints, we are at a loss to see how he can say that orthodox notions of heaven are never confirmed by spirits. we should have said that it was precisely by them that most of these had been originated, not to say confirmed. if his spirits are spirits, so are ours, and quite as worthy of credit. these are only a few of the difficulties on the surface of sceptical spiritualism. but we have already exceeded our limits. we will only add that we cannot but hope that, spiritualism being so far an approach to truth that it admits an important class of facts which had lately been very much denied and ignored, may, by the difficulties which they raise, lead some minds to reconsider the position they have taken up with regard to the supernatural. there is no bridge across the chasm which divides faith from unbelief, and yet in this world the edges are so close that it is but a step, and we pass from darkness into light." summary and conclusion. "the angel of the lord tarrieth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them."--_psalm xxxiv. 7._ "god sees at one view the whole thread of my existence, not only that part of it which i have already passed through, but that which runs forward into all the depths of eternity. when i lay me down to sleep i recommend myself to his care; when i awake i give myself up to his direction. amidst all the evils that threaten me, i look up to him for help, and question not that he will either avert them, or turn them to my advantage. though i know neither the time nor the manner of the death i am to die, i am not at all solicitous about it: because i am sure that he knows them both, and that he will not fail to comfort and support me under them."--_addison._ "reverence the angels; shun the demons."--_thomas scott._ chapter x. summary and conclusion. before a brief summary is made of the contents and purport of this book, an account of a most remarkable event which occurred at oxford about forty-five years ago may be fitly chronicled. it will be known, in its general outline, by many oxford men; and was given to the editor in the month of june, 1854, by a member of brasenose college, where it had occurred. in the year 1829, a club, known as the "hell-fire club," consisting of members of the university _in statu pupillari_,--formed in some respects on the model of that existing in the last century, which met at medmenham abbey,--was accustomed to meet twice a week at brasenose college, in oxford. unbelief at that time is said to have taken coarser forms there than is the case now. then it was less dangerous, because more gross and revolting. the members of the club, however, were not unsuccessful in their imitation of the blasphemy, drunkenness and other sins which had so notoriously characterized the older society. they met twice a week, and each is reported to have endeavoured to outdo his fellow-member in rampant blasphemy and sceptical daring. the meetings were kept so private, and such judicious care was taken to preserve unity of thought and secrecy amongst the various members, that the college authorities, though partially aware of its existence, were said to be unable to interfere. on the north side of the college runs a narrow lane, connecting the square in which brasenose college faces that of all souls, with turl street. going towards the latter, on the left-hand side stands brasenose, until it is joined by the north portion of lincoln college. on the other side is the high garden wall of exeter college. it is a dreary and dismal-looking thoroughfare at best; and especially so at night. the windows of brasenose college are of a narrow jacobean type, protected both by horizontal as well as perpendicular stanchions. the lower windows, being almost level with the street, were further secured by a coarse wire netting. towards midnight on a day in december in the year above-named, one of the fellows of brasenose college was returning home, when as he approached he saw a tall man apparently draped in a long cloak, and, as he imagined, helping to assist some one to get out of the window. the window belonged to the rooms of one who was reported to be a leading member of the hell-fire club. being one of the authorities of the college, he instinctively rushed forward to detect what he imagined to be the perpetration of a distinct breach of the rules, when (as he himself afterwards declared) a thrill of horror seized him in a moment, and he felt all at once convinced that it was no human being at whom, appalled and fear-stricken, he looked. as he rushed past he saw the owner of the rooms, as he conceived, being forcibly and strugglingly dragged between the iron stanchions. the form, the features,[59] horribly distorted and stamped with a look of indescribable agony, were vividly before him; and the tall figure seemed to hold the frantic struggler in a strong grasp. he rushed past, round to the chief entrance, knocked at the gate, and then fell to the ground in a swoon. just as the porter opened it, there rose a cry from a crowd of men trooping out from a set of rooms immediately to the right of the porter's lodge. they were members of the notorious hell-fire club. in the middle of a violent speech, as profane as it is said to have been blasphemous, and with a frightful imprecation upon his lips, a chief speaker (the owner of the rooms) had suddenly broken a blood vessel, and was then lying dead on the floor. the club in question, it is reported, never met again.[60] so much on this point. a few words are perhaps needed upon another. it may be held by some that what has already been written on witchcraft and necromancy is a melancholy instance of grovelling superstition on the part of its author.[61] be it so. he is quite ready to avow his entire belief in the express statements of holy scripture, and in the general christian tradition and teaching on the subject itself and all that is necessarily involved in it. those who believe in the existence of angels, "the glorious battalions of the living god," and who frankly accept as truth the various records of holy scripture, in which their ministry to mankind is set forth, will likewise believe that s. peter's exhortation to the early christians did not simply embody a sentiment but declared a fact, when he wrote: "be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."[62] that the pagan nations owning and serving the prince of this world, and being supernaturally served by him in return, actively practised magic at the time of our blessed saviour's first coming, is generally allowed. and that the christian writers of early times, more particularly s. gregory thaumaturgus, admitted the reality and force of the sorcerers' incantations and powers, is abundantly evident from their words and reasoning. the case of the damsel of thyatira, "possessed with a spirit of divination," who "brought her masters much gain by soothsaying," clearly establishes this point; and so does the apostle's authoritative action:--"paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, i command thee in the name of jesus christ to come out of her. and he came out the same hour."[63] when, three centuries after the day of pentecost, the church of god commenced numbering up her earliest triumphs, the soothsayers, the diviners, and the dealers with evil spirits began to experience her righteous and beneficent power. constantine, urged to action by those who sat in the seats of the apostles, formally sanctioned the condemnation of magicians; but of course under julian the apostate, magic rites were not only still commonly in vogue, but were publicly patronized. later on, valentinian re-enacted the laws of constantine; and under theodosius the severest penalties were likewise enforced against the practice of magic; and, in truth, against every phase of pagan worship. but a general belief in sorcery and divination remained powerful and active long after the supreme and glorious victory of christianity in the sixth century; and the manner in which the authorities of the christian church met the belief, and, by sacraments and sacramentals, aided the faithful to withstand the legions of the devil and his human allies, is perfectly familiar to the student of history. the well-known conviction that demons had appeared to mankind under the names of sylvans, gnomes, and fauns was common enough amongst the romans prior to the revelation of christianity; while the conviction that these demons had sometimes made women the object of their passion was arrived at by many. justin martyr and s. augustine of hippo[64] seem to imply something of the sort; and marriage or commerce with demons was a charge frequently made against witches, even from the earliest times.[65] it was said that these demons owned a remarkable attachment to women with beautiful hair,--a belief possibly founded on the passage in s. paul's first epistle to the corinthians,[66] in which he exhorts women to cover their heads "because of the angels." in the middle ages the intercourse of philosophers belonging to certain secret societies with sylphs and salamanders was also believed by many:[67] and, later on, the study of astrology, with its fatalistic theories, and the restoration of the heresies of the manichees, served to aid in more systematically formulating that belief in witchcraft and the supernatural which was for centuries so universal, and which never could have become so without a sure and solid substratum of fact and truth. again, it is impossible to believe that the sorcerers of the oriental nations have been and are impostors. as regards those of modern egypt, mr. lane, in his interesting volume upon that country,[68] appears to have settled the question by expressing his conviction of the truth and reality of their supernatural performances. and similar conclusions have reluctantly but most certainly been arrived at by those who, with some knowledge and reasonable powers of observation, have witnessed the acts and deeds of the eastern dealers with evil spirits. with reference to egypt, mr. lane's statement on the subject stands thus:-"a few days after my arrival in this country my curiosity was excited on the subject of magic by a circumstance related to me by mr. salt, our consul-general. having had reason to believe that one of his servants was a thief, from the fact of several articles of property having been stolen from his house, he sent for a celebrated maghrabee magician, with a view of intimidating them, and causing the guilty one, (if any of them were guilty,) to confess his crime. the magician came, and said that he would cause the exact image of the person who had committed the thefts to appear to any youth not arrived at the age of puberty; and desired the master of the house to call in any boy whom he might choose. as several boys were then employed in a garden adjacent to the house, one of them was called for this purpose. in the palm of this boy's right hand, the magician drew with a pen a certain diagram, in the centre of which he poured a little ink. into this ink he desired the boy steadfastly to look. he then burned some incense, and several bits of paper inscribed with charms; and at the same time called for various objects to appear in the ink. the boy declared that he saw all these objects, and, last of all, the image of the guilty person; he described his stature, countenance, and dress; said that he knew him; and directly ran down into the garden, and apprehended one of the labourers, who, when brought before the master, immediately confessed that he was the thief."--p. 267.[69] the performers themselves maintain, that they have been instructed in the art by those who have traditionally received the knowledge step by step, and period by period, from the old "magicians of egypt;" and some frankly allow, that they themselves are constantly attended and waited on by a familiar spirit, demon, or genius, who actively aids them in their performances, and who is, under certain circumstances, always prepared to do their bidding. these genii, or "ginn" as they are called in egypt, "are said to be of pre-adamite origin, and in their general properties," remarks mr. lane, "are an intermediate class of beings between angels and men, but inferior in dignity to both, created of fire, and capable of assuming the forms and material fabric of men, brutes, and monsters; and of becoming invisible at pleasure. they eat and drink, propagate their species (like or in conjunction with human beings,) and are subject to death."... "the ginn," continues mr. lane, "are supposed to pervade the solid matter of the earth, as well as the firmament, where, approaching the confines of the lowest heaven, they often listen to the conversation of the angels respecting future things, thus enabling themselves to assist diviners and magicians."--p. 222. in the twentieth chapter of his interesting and attractive volume, he writes:--"i have met with many persons among the more intelligent of the egyptians who condemn these modern psylli as impostors, but none who has been able to offer a satisfactory explanation of the most common and most interesting of their performances."--p. 383. in another part of the book mr. lane concludes his chapter on "magic" thus:--"neither i nor others have been able to discover any clue by which to penetrate the mystery."[70] so likewise as regards india,[71] it is impossible to set aside the facts, which are testified to not by one but by hundreds, as to the supernatural powers of the jugglers there. identical in kind with the performances of the magicians of egypt before pharaoh and in the presence of moses and aaron, recorded in the book of exodus, the secret of the following "tricks" (familiar to any one who has been in india) has been handed down from father to son from the most remote ages; and we have no reason to doubt that the source of the power by which these acts are done is one and the same. for instance:--the juggler, giving one of the spectators a coin to hold as securely as possible within his hands, after pronouncing incantations in a monotonous voice for some minutes, suddenly stops, still keeping his seat, makes a rapid motion with his right hand, as if in the act of throwing something at the person holding the coin, at the same time breathing with his mouth upon him. instantaneously the hands of the person taking part in the performance are suddenly distended, while a horrible sensation of holding something cold and disagreeable and nasty, is immediately felt, forcing him to cast away the contents of his palms, which, to the horror and disgust of uninitiated persons, turns out to be, not the coin which before was there, but a live snake coiled up! the juggler then rises, and catching the snake, which is now crawling and wriggling on the ground, takes it by the tail, opens his mouth wide, and allows the snake to drop into it. with deliberation he appears by degrees to swallow it, until the whole, tail and all, completely disappears. he opens his mouth for the spectators to investigate; but nothing is to be seen, neither does the snake appear again. here is another instance:--a juggler will be brought to act before, perhaps, many hundreds of people, of all ages, degrees, and religions, including the soldiery of a garrison, in the public yard of a barrack. a guard of soldiers will be placed around him, to prevent either trickery or deception on his part, or interruption from the spectators. a little girl, about eight or nine years old, accompanies the man, who is also provided with a tall, narrow basket, three or four feet high, little more than a foot in width, and open all the way up. the juggler, after some altercation with the child, pretends to get angry, and lashing himself into a fury, seizes hold of the child, and inverts the basket completely over her. thus placed completely at his mercy, and in spite of her screams and entreaties, he draws his sword, and fiercely plunges it down into the basket, and brings it out dripping with blood--or what apparently is such. the child's screams become fainter and fainter, as again and again the sword is thrust through the basket; and at length they gradually cease, and everything is still. then follows a critical moment for the supposed murderer: and the exertions of the guard scarcely serve to save him from the excited soldiery. when order is at length obtained, however, the man, raising his bloody sword for an instant, strikes the basket with it, which falls, and reveals--not a murdered child weltering in blood, but an empty space, with no vestige left of the supposed victim. in a few moments the identical little girl comes rushing--from whence no one can tell--to the feet of the performer, with every sign of affection, and perfectly unhurt. be it observed that these performances commonly take place in india in places where it is impossible for any contrivances or trap-doors to exist, in the centre of court-yards at the various military stations, and before innumerable witnesses. again: in corea and china the practice of necromancy is said to be almost universal. an intelligent modern writer upon china gives an account, in the following passage, of one mode in which questions are put, and answers obtained, by a kind of divination:--written communications from spirits are not unfrequently sought for in the following manner: after the presence and desired offices of some spirit are invoked, "two or more persons support with their hands some object to which a pencil is attached in a vertical position, and extending to a table below covered with sand. it is said that the movements of the pencil, involuntary as far as the persons holding it are concerned, but governed by the influences of spirits, describe certain characters which are easily deciphered, and which often bring to light remarkable disclosures and revelations. many who regard themselves as persons of superior intelligence are firm believers in this mode of consulting spirits."[72] here, as illustrating the common principles and course of action which are adopted and followed in all parts of the world by those who seek information by forbidden means, the following may be set forth:-there is a dreary-looking house in one of the london squares which is reported to be haunted. and certainly this opinion, as the editor can testify from a careful personal enquiry, is tolerably current in the neighbourhood. a lady, curious about the fact, was present on an occasion when certain inquiries were made regarding this house by means of "planchette,"--the instrument just referred to as so commonly used in china. it is a small board, in shape like a heart, which is made to run on two wheels or castors, and a hole is provided for a pencil so to be placed with its point downward as that, when put upon a sheet of white paper the point may just touch the surface. after the usual invocation or incantation (or whatever it be), the persons who practise modern divination place their hands on the board. questions are put, and answers given. no one touches the pencil, but the board is so guided, as the necromancers and spiritualists assert, that the pencil is made to write intelligible answers to expressed (and sometimes to mere mental) queries. the following, printed _verbatim et literatim_, are in the handwriting of the lady who witnessed them put and responded to, and are given as a fair specimen of this mode of divination, now so generally practised in england:- is any house haunted in b---square? yes. what killed the two people in the haunted room? fright. what frightened them? spirits. what kind of spirits? yourself. how could any one be afraid of me? without your body. did they see them? spirits not visible. how did they know they were there? thought they saw them. did they make them feel them? no. then how did the spirits make themselves known--by what means? mesmeric. were you ever there? no. why do those spirits haunt that house? murder was committed there. who was murdered, a man or a woman? a woman. what was the name of the woman? (writing not intelligible.) who murdered her? (writing not intelligible.) is he alive or dead? dead. is it the woman's spirit, or the man's, who haunts the house? both. was the man hung? no. was the murder found out while he lived? no. are you a bad spirit? bad. is it what the bible calls "divination" to consult you in this way? yes. is it displeasing to god? perhaps. is it wrong? you know. it is only right to add that those who made and obtained the foregoing intelligible responses to intelligible questions, for good and sufficient reasons came to hold such practices to be unlawful and wicked, and threw the instrument by which they had been given into the thames. on this subject, and all its details, no words of warning could be more forcible than the following, which are quoted, in the hope that some who may have been thoughtlessly induced to adopt the practices of modern spiritualism, may be led at once to desist from the same:-"although good and evil spirits possess a powerful influence in the government of the world, yet it is strictly forbidden, in the divine laws of the old and new testament, to seek any acquaintance with them, or to place ourselves in connection with and relation to them; and it is just as little permitted for citizens of the world of spirits visibly to manifest themselves to those who are still in the present state of existence, without the express command or permission of the lord. he, therefore, that seeks intercourse with the invisible world sins deeply, and will soon repent of it; whilst he that becomes acquainted with it, without his own seeking and by divine guidance, ought to beg and pray for wisdom, courage, and strength, for he has need of all these; and let him that is introduced into such a connection, by means of illness, or the aberration of his physical nature, seek by proper means to regain his health, and detach himself from intercourse with spirits."[73] yet, with many, and an increasing number, it is to be feared such advice is wholly unheeded. for more than five-and-twenty years the subject of modern spiritualism has been under discussion in england, and the facts on which it has been founded have been before the world; but "having eyes men see not, and having ears they hear not." or, guided by the superficial opinions of those whose one-eyed materialism tinges so many of their hap-hazard theories, they put aside a consideration of the astonishing phenomena of the system of spiritualism, and absolutely deny their existence.[74] the age is shallow in its very incredulity. the wisdom of the world is foolishness indeed. when it is too late, when thousands upon thousands have become the active votaries of spiritualism, perhaps the bishops and clergy of the church of england may wake up to some realization of the enormous influence for evil,[75] both dogmatic and moral, which this diabolical system cannot do other than secure, and lift their testimony against it. mahometanism is not more directly anti-christian. yet the numbers of those who believe in spiritualism are daily increasing, and the purblind policy of ignoring its principles and action must very soon come to an end. of course materialists and sceptics reasonably doubt; for otherwise their own infallibility would ignominiously collapse. but for christians, who possess a copy of the "holy bible," and are able to read it, doubt seems to me (i write with all due humility) simply inconsequent and irrational. here, let us turn from shadow to sunshine, from that which is evil to that which is good; from the "lying wonders" of designing evil spirits, to the glorious manifestations of god almighty's power in the christian church--for the one kind are but reasonable correlatives of the other. and, for myself, i am free to confess that the evidence in favour of certain of the recent miracles said to have been wrought in the roman catholic portion of the one family of god is not only convincing, but conclusive. having long given up attributing any value to the slanders and misstatements of protestant and infidel writers, i have attempted for myself to investigate the principle of action, in the reception of evidence and the decision of authority, which is taken at rome, with regard to such events and occurrences; and briefly give it as follows:-the congregation of rites, which enquires into all miracles which demand sanction, is presided over by the cardinal-vicar. it consists of twenty-one cardinals of various nations, nine official prelates, nine consulting prelates of various nations, all the fourteen papal masters of ceremonies, fourteen ordinary members, one secretary, one deputy-secretary, and one notary and keeper of the archives--in all seventy people. four miracles are required to be distinctly proved for beatification; and two more for canonization. all these must be proved by eye, and not by ear-witnesses. in miracles where diseases have been cured, it is required, 1st, that the disease must have been of an aggravated nature, and difficult or impossible to be cured; 2ndly, that it was not on the turn; 3rdly, that no medicine had been used, or if it had that it had done no good; 4thly, the cure must be sudden; 5thly, it must be complete and perfect; and 6thly, there must have been no crisis. in the process of examination and enquiry, no step is taken, no doubt propounded, no fact allowed, without many of the members of the congregation being present: and a printed report is sent to all who may have been absent. besides the ordinary cross-examinations, which are always of a most scrutinizing character, it is the sole duty of one of the leading members of the congregation, the _promotor fidei_, as he is termed, to raise objections, and if possible to disprove every reported miracle. the members of this congregation are as keen, penetrating and business-like, and have as complete a knowledge of the unconscious delusions of the human heart, as any body of english jurymen. as ecclesiastical scholars they may be truly said to be equal to the same number of english barristers; and the head of the congregation, for shrewdness, acuteness of intellect, and judicial ability, is equal to any judge in england, who by his interpretation of the law, and his particular sentence in a special case, wills away the life or property of any englishman. the subject has been treated at length in the great work of pope benedict xiv. (a.d. 1740-1758) "on beatification," &c., as well as in the decrees of pope urban viii. and pope clement xi.; and so sifting and careful has always been the investigation, that alban butler asserts, on the authority of daubenton, that an english gentleman (not a roman catholic) being present and seeing the process of several miracles, maintained them to have been completely proved and perfectly incontestable, but was astonished beyond measure at the scrupulosity of the scrutiny when authoritatively informed that _not one of those which he had heard discussed_ had been allowed by the congregation to have been sufficiently proved. father perrone, the distinguished living theologian, also asserts that having shown the formal process for certain miracles to a lawyer of some eminence (not a roman catholic) who after examination was perfectly satisfied with both the testimony and the reasoning, the latter declared that they would certainly stand before a british jury; but was mightily astonished on hearing that the congregation did not consider that evidence to be sufficiently convincing and conclusive. similar investigations have been made in england, since the reformation, and this by ecclesiastical authority. for example: in the year before his translation to the see of norwich (_i. e._ in 1640), dr. joseph hall, then bishop of exeter, made a strict and judicial inquiry into all the circumstances of the sudden and miraculous cure of a cripple at s. madron's well, in cornwall, and the following is the recorded conviction of this pious prelate:--"the commerce which we have with the good spirits is not now discerned by the eye, but is, like themselves, spiritual. yet not so, but that even in bodily occasions we have many times insensible helps from them; in such a manner as that by the effects we can boldly say, 'here hath been an angel, though we see him not.' of this kind was that (no less than miraculous) cure which at s. madron's, in cornwall, was wrought upon a poor cripple, john trelille, where (besides the attestation of many hundreds of neighbours), i took a strict and personal examination in that last visitation which i ever did or ever shall hold. this man, that for sixteen years together was fain to walk upon his hands, by reason of the close contraction of the sinews of his legs, (upon three admonitions in a dream to wash in that well) was suddenly so restored to his limbs, that i saw him able to walk and get his own maintenance. i found here was neither art nor collusion: the thing done, the author invisible."[76] now, whatever may be thought of the principles enunciated in mr. lecky's[77] volumes on "the rise and influence of rationalism," none can deny either the marvellous faculty exhibited for gathering and marshalling facts; while some portions of his thoughtful reflections do but put into luminous language thoughts and convictions which find a cordial response from many. the following remarkable passage is singularly true and accurate in its estimate of an unmistakeable historical fact, viz., that the oxford movement to a great extent left out of consideration[78] the continued existence of modern miracles in the christian church. mr. lecky writes thus:--"at oxford these narratives (_i. e._ the record of patristic and mediã¦val miracles) hardly exercised a serious attention. what little influence they had was chiefly an influence of repression; what little was written in their favour was written for the most part in the tone of an apology, as if to attenuate a difficulty rather than to establish a creed. this was surely a very remarkable characteristic of the tractarian movement, when we remember the circumstances and attainments of its leaders, and the great prominence which miraculous evidence had long occupied in england. it was especially remarkable when we reflect that one of the great complaints which the tractarian party were making against modern theology was, that the conception of the supernatural had become faint and dim, and that its manifestations were either explained away or confined to a distant past. it would seem as if those who were most conscious of the character of their age were unable, in the very midst of their opposition, to free themselves from its tendencies."--vol. i. pp. 165-166. it must be allowed that there is some amount of truth in this temperately-made charge. whatever else may have been pressed forward, and with success, it is obvious that the active energy of the supernatural has been kept somewhat in the background. at all events it has not been made too prominent. even in books of devotion, adapted from roman catholic sources, examples of miracles have been omitted; and so the golden threads which were so rudely broken three centuries and a half ago, are still in the mire; for few have cared to gather them up once more and weave them into a perfect whole. that work has still to be done. not until there be what a modern writer terms "daring faith"--faith which can move mountains--should the work be attempted. and now, fully alive to its imperfections, i bring my book to its close. it has been briefly shown herein what a great influence the materialistic speculations of a few bold and over-confident writers have recently exercised on current thought. at the same time the presence of the supernatural in church history has been made perfectly manifest, and abundant sources pointed out from which additional examples may readily be gathered for consideration by those who may desire to gather them. side by side, however, with that which in the supernatural order is good and beneficial to man, energizes that which is evil. there are angels and there are demons. there is light and there is darkness. numberless armies of glorious spirits, as the divine revelation tells us,[79] stand, rank by rank and order by order, as the bright ornaments of the city of god. their subtlety, their quickness of penetration, their extensive knowledge of natural things, are undoubtedly perfect in proportion to the excellency of their being, inasmuch as they are pure intelligences, perfect from the hand of their maker. they know the concerns of mortal men.[80] they are our protectors, our patrons, our guides. for us they lift up their prayers to god, and they are near us in our trials and temptations. their motion is swift as thought, their activity inconceivable. as they are the friends of mankind by god's decree, so specially do they become the guardians of the regenerate and the particular protectors of the innocent and young. and their beneficent actions are not altogether unknown. the old records tell of their charity; man's experience testifies to their presence. and, furthermore, for man's behoof in his time of trial, and for his eternal advantage hereafter, were given those powers and properties which belong to the church by the grace and efficacy of the sacraments. yet, on the other hand, until the number of the elect is accomplished, the enemy of souls, the prince of the powers of the air, is permitted to wield an alarming influence; while too often the natural man, with his will free, wills to remain his servant. yea; and even the baptized, too. for by witchcraft, sorcery, and necromancy satan still works, men being his direct agents and slaves. sometimes in one form, sometimes in another, he dupes those who seek him; while his legions suggest to men's minds evil thoughts, paint dangerous objects to the imagination, frequently direct the active current of the human heart to sin, and finally turn round and accuse their captives at the tribunal of god the judge of all. so must it be to the end, for this life is man's time of probation. of dreams and warnings, omens and presentiments, much has been written. each example must be considered on its own merits; for perhaps no coherent theory will sufficiently cover and explain all the instances here already adduced. so, too, with spectral appearances and haunted localities. while experience testifies to the facts recorded, such glimpses of the supernatural may be well left to tell their own story, to leave their own impression, and set forth their own teaching. to those who possess the grace and habit of faith they will not seem over-strange, for as hamlet remarked to his friend- "there are more things in heaven and earth, horatio, than are dreamt of in our philosophy." as i prepare to lay down my pen, i cannot but notice and put on record what amid "the triumphs of science," so frequently start up to confront us, viz. the sad records of calamity brought to notice, and the gloomy scenes of deepest misery which are yet so frequently depicted. "woe is me!" is man's wail still. but with many the supernatural, as we too well know, is bidden to stand aside. the catholic religion is written of as antiquated, out of date, and effete. the truth of the christian revelation is openly denied. yet may not the terrible disasters of which we hear, and the miserable calamities which so constantly occur along the path of "human progress" and "scientific triumph," be permitted by god almighty as an intelligible and richly deserved rebuke to lofty looks and the impious and blasphemous thoughts of the proud?[81] man's life in this country is certainly not longer than it was eight or ten centuries ago. he dies as he died. nor is the race of englishmen sturdier, finer, or better grown than of old. the tombs of the crusaders tell us this. look at the stately figures of the fitzalans in bedale church, or at those of the marmions in that of tanfield, and it may be that in this practical particular deterioration instead of progress should be more fittingly and faithfully recorded. as is obvious enough, science, with all the boasting of its adherents, can, after all, effect but little. true it is that wonderful discoveries are made in the realms of nature. operations untraced before, are now accurately apprehended; and secrets, long hidden, are triumphantly brought to light. one might imagine from the random confidence of some (as guides more shallow than safe), that science had discovered an appliance for every human weakness, an antidote to every physical evil or disease, an unfailing specific against every want and woe. yet, after all its researches and with all its supposed discoveries (for many may have been known and lost), never were failures so great or misfortunes so heavy. the ugly iron ship of the present day, hideous in form and appearance, yet constructed with all the obtainable skill of modern science, at an enormous sacrifice of expense, fitted with life-boats and patent scientific life-preservers, divided into compartments, after due calculations (on a scientific method), suddenly goes down, where a fisherman of six centuries ago, in his wooden skiff, would have ridden a storm securely, and becomes an iron coffin for five or six hundred corpses, rotting where the seaweed grows. again, war, with scientific appliances--in the invention and preparation of which the great nations are active rivals--marches over a great country, defended by the highest military art and strength, and in a few short months reduces its people to spoliation, tribute, and shame. less than a century ago, nearly a twenty years' struggle would have been made, ere such a sudden and sweeping contest could have been so securely sealed. human art may do something, and science may effect more: but how frequently some little flaw or casualty defeats all! the boastings of science, consequently, become vain and vapid: its works lie in the dust. past ages have had their pride humbled; as tyre and alexandria and babylon too eloquently tell. when god, by the insolence of intellect, is thrust aside, he sometimes, nevertheless, mercifully but efficiently reminds men that he is. when the supernatural is deliberately denied and scornfully rejected, suffering may serve to open the eyes of the blind and make the dumb to speak. the general tendency in these days is to worship mind, intelligence, and power, for might, with too many, is right. literary jargon setting forth this duty may be constantly read. the wisest action for the truly wise is to turn away from such; for the noblest and proudest ambition of a christian's life should consist in being humble worshippers of him the one author of the supernatural and the natural, whose only power is infinite, whose knowledge and wisdom are boundless, and whose abiding love and mercy are over all his works. appendix to chapter x. the claims of science and faith. by my friend mr. hawker's obliging kindness i am enabled to publish the following remarkable letter:-"to mr. s. j----, merchant, plymouth. "my dear nephew,--you ask me 'to put into one of my nutshells' the pith and marrow of the controversy which at this time pervades the english mind as to the claims of science and faith. let me try: the material universe--so the sages allege--is a vast assemblage of atoms or molecules--'motes in the sunbeam' of science, which has existed for myriads of ages under a perpetual system of evolution, restructure, and change. this mighty mass is traversed by the forces electrical, or magnetic, or with other kindred names; and these by their incessant and indomitable action are adequate to account for all the phenomena of the world of matter, and of man. the upheaval of a continent; the drainage of a sea; the creation of a metal; nay, the origin of life, and the development of a species in plant, or animal, or man; these are the achievements of fixed and natural laws among the atomic materials, under the vibration of the forces alone. thus far the vaunted discoveries of science are said to have arrived. let us indulge them with the theory that these results, for they are nothing more, are accurate and real. but still, a thoughtful mind will venture to demand whence did these atoms derive their existence? and from what, and from whom, do they inherit the propensities wherewithal they are imbued? and tell me, most potent seigniors, what is the origin of these forces? and with whom resides the impulse of their action and the guidance of their control? 'nothing so difficult as a beginning.' your philosopher is mute! he has reached the horizon of his domain, and to him all beyond is doubt, and uncertainty, and guess. we must lift the veil. we must pass into the border-land between two worlds, and there inquire at the oracles of revelation touching the unseen and spiritual powers which thrill through the mighty sacrament of the visible creation. we perceive, being inspired, the realms of surrounding space peopled by immortal creatures of air- 'myriads of spiritual things that walk unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep.' these are the existences, in aspect as 'young men in white garments,' who inhabit the void place between the worlds and their maker, and their god. behold the battalions of the lord of hosts! the workers of the sky! the faithful and intelligent vassals of god the trinity! we have named them in our own poor and meagre language 'the angels,' but this title merely denotes one of their subordinate offices--messengers from on high. the gentiles called them 'gods,' but we ought to honour them by a name that should embrace and interpret their lofty dignity as an intermediate army between the kingdom and the throne; the centurions of the stars, and of men; the commanders of the forces and their guides. these are they that, each with a delegated office, fulfil what their 'king invisible' decrees; not with the dull, inert mechanism of fixed and natural law, but with the unslumbering energy and the rational obedience of spiritual life. they mould the atom; they wield the force; and, as newton rightly guessed, they rule the world of matter beneath the silent omnipotence of god. "'and he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the angels of god ascending and descending on it. and behold the lord stood above it.'--genesis xxviii. 12. _tolle, lege_, my dear nephew. "your affectionate uncle, "r. s. hawker. "morwenstow vicarage, cornwall." general index. a discerner of spirits, i. 81 abimelech's dream, i. 210 aerolites, i. 24 after-vision of a suicide, ii. 75 alexander macdonald's dream, i. 285 amulet of the grahams, i. 277 ---of the macdonald lockharts, i. 278 ann thorne bewitched, i. 194 apparition at ballarat, ii. 61 ---at time of death, ii. 59 ---in the jewel house, ii. 105 ---near cardiff, ii. 114 ---of a college friend, ii. 71 ---of a crow, ii. 131 ---of a dying father, ii. 58 ---of a dying lady to her children, ii. 64 ---of a father to his son, ii. 58 ---of a friend, ii. 60 ---of a sister, ii. 59 ---of a son to his mother and another, ii. 73 ---of an officer, ii. 10 ---of dr. ferrar's daughter, ii. 25 ---of philip weld, ii. 51 ---of rev. w. naylor, ii. 7 ---of s. stanislaus, ii. 51 ---seven years after death, ii. 71 ---to a gentleman, ii. 119 ---to a lady and her child, ii. 113 ---to a lady and her child, ii. 117 ---to a sentry, and his death thereupon, ii. 108 ---to lord brougham, ii. 68 ---to lord chedworth, ii. 35 ---to mr. andrews, ii. 41 apparitions at oxford, ii. 209 arrowsmith, trial of rev. e., i. 91 arrowsmith's hand preserved, i. 95 authentication of lamb's cure, i. 96 barony of chedworth, ii. 34 belief in god universal, i. 5 benediction, the principle of, i. 90 beresford apparition, the, ii. 11 bird, the spectral, ii. 128 bisham abbey, ghost at, ii. 91 bishop joseph hall on temporal punishment, ii. 89 bishop ken's hymn, ii. 82 blessing and cursing, power of, i. 90. bosworth's testimony, mr. t., ii. 146 bridget bishop accused of witchcraft, i. 198 bull of pope innocent viii. against witchcraft, i. 162 captain william dyke, ii. 22 cardan, jerome, i. 282 case of annie milner, i. 169 ---of martha brossier, i. 165 catharine campbell accused of witchcraft, i. 197 catholic claim to exclusive use of exorcism, i. 163 causation, the law of, i. 3 chamber, john, on "judiciall astrologie," i. 200 charles i., omens concerning, i. 267, 271 charles ireland bewitched, i. 186 chevalier's testimony concerning spiritualism, mr., ii. 180 "christ is coming" quoted, ii. 136. christian shaw bewitched, i. 197 christian writers on the supernatural, i. 31 christianity, morse on the decline of, ii. 137 citation, remarkable case of, i. 90 club, the hell-fire, ii. 207 colgarth, the philipsons of, i. 90 collins's sermon, rev. h., i. 135 cometism, the trinity of, i. 19 constantine victorious, i. 38 creslow, haunted chamber at, ii. 92 criticism upon mr. congreve, i. 20 crookes, mr. w., on spiritualism, ii. 159, 162, 164 cross of constantine, the, i. 35 ---fire seen in france in 1826, a, i. 16 cure, miraculous, i. 95 ---miraculous, by the blessed sacrament, i. 121, 125 daimonomagia, i. 174 dale-owen, mr., quoted, ii. 183, 185 death of captain speer, i. 253 ---of rev. s. b. drury, i. 251 de lisle's, miss, death, supernatural music at, i. 135 de lisle, mr., on the weld ghost story, ii. 54 ---mr. edwin, on strauss, i. 2 demons, belief in, ii. 212 denial of the supernatural, i. 1 details of the supernatural, i. 8 discovery of a lost will, i. 204 disease of witchcraft, i. 174 double apparition at time of death, ii. 55 ---in the west indies, ii. 58 dr. lamb, the sorcerer, i. 202 dr. newman on ecclesiastical miracles, i. 36 dr. samuel johnson on the lyttelton story, ii. 45 dr. william harvey's escape from death, i. 284 dream of a child, warning given in the, i. 260 ---of a dignitary realized, i. 257 ---of a housekeeper realized, i. 240 ---of a widow lady, i. 258 ---of adam rogers, i. 219 ---of andrew scott, i. 261 ---of mr. matthew talbot, i. 225 ---of mr. williams of scorrier, i. 226 ---of the princess natgotsky, i. 255 ---of the swaffham tinker, i. 215 ---prognostication of death in a, i. 250 ---remarkable, of a clergyman, i. 247 ---warning given in a, i. 254 ---warning neglected, i. 244 dreams and visions, i. 211 dreams, nature of, i. 210 ---of james jessop, i. 244, 245 ---recorded in scripture, i. 211 ---reproduction of thoughts in, i. 215 ---supernatural, i. 210 dunbar's testimony, rev. dr., ii. 218 dungeon at glamis castle, the, ii. 114 early popes martyrs, the, i. 31 eastern form of exorcism, i. 162 ecclesiastical miracles, i. 32 effect of the supernatural, i. 7 elimination of god, the, i. 19 elizabeth gorham bewitched, i. 187 ---style accused of witchcraft, i. 177 ---tibbots bewitched, i. 178 ---treslar hung for witchcraft, i. 181 ellinor shaw and mary philips, i. 182 emperor julian thwarted, the, i. 42 english canon concerning exorcism, i. 164 ---statutes against witchcraft, i. 163 "eternal," the term, i. 5 execution of frederick caulfield, i. 223 ---of lamb's servant, i. 203 exhumation of james quin, i. 236 exorcism, power of, i. 57, 69, 82 ---latin form of, i. 138 ---oriental form of, i. 162 facts of witchcraft and necromancy, i. 164 faculty of jerome cardan, i. 283 fall of aerolites, i. 25 false reasoning, i. 26 ferrers family, omen concerning, i. 272 florence newton accused of witchcraft, i. 180 friday an unlucky day, i. 282 ghost of bisham abbey, ii. 91 god and his creatures, i. 4 ---the elimination of, i. 19 guesses of science, the, i. 14 hand of arrowsmith preserved, i. 95 hanmer, mr. c. l., on an apparition, ii. 60 hannah green's testimony, i. 242 haunted houses and localities, ii. 82 ---chamber at creslow, ii. 92 ---glamis castle, ii. 114 ---house at barby, ii. 109 ---house at berne, ii. 126 ---house in cheshire, ii. 116 ---house in scotland, ii. 123 ---place at york castle, ii. 96 ---places, ii. 84 ---police cell, ii. 121 ---road near cardiff, ii. 114 ---room at glamis castle, ii. 112 ---room in the tower, ii. 104 ---spot in yorkshire, ii. 100 hell-fire club, the, ii. 207 henry spicer's testimony, mr., ii. 75 ---iv. of france, omen of death to, i. 267 herder on witchcraft, ii. 210 heresies of the modern spiritualists, ii. 185, 191 home, mr. daniel, ii. 151, 153 hospitals, christian in their origin, i. 10 howell, mr. j., on spiritualism, ii. 176, 177 howitt, mr. w., on eternal punishment, ii. 186, 188 hume on miracles, i. 23 increase mather on the tests of demoniacal possession, i. 173 ---mather's "cases of conscience," i. 195 inquiries regarding wynyard, ii. 33 jane brookes accused of witchcraft, i. 175 ---wenham accused of witchcraft, i. 192 johnson, dr. samuel, on the lyttelton ghost, ii. 45 kostka's, s. stanislaus, apparition, ii. 53 ---picture at stonyhurst, ii. 53 labarum, the, i. 37 lactantius on dreams, i. 213 lady betty cobb, ii. 15 lancashire demoniacs, the, i. 171 lane, mr., on modern necromancy, ii. 215, 217 laud, omens concerning archbishop, i. 271 law of causation, the, i. 3 lecky, mr. w. h. e., on the oxford movement, ii. 232 legion, the thundering, i. 34 longdon, mary, bewitched, i. 194 lord falkland, omen concerning, i. 270 lord litchfield's note of a presentiment, i. 281 ---testimony, i. 281 lord westcote's testimony, ii. 42 lyttelton ghost story, ii. 36, 42, 46 macdonald's, a., case of second sight, i. 285 macknish on dreams, i. 215 major george sydenham, ii. 22 marquis de marsay on spirits, ii. 86 mary of medicis, omen of death to, i. 267 media, table of spiritual, ii. 143 mines, haunted, ii. 84 ministry of angels, ii. 82 miracles at rome in 1792, i. 17 ---bishop hall on, ii. 230 ---examination of at rome, ii. 227 ---of our lord, i. 30 ---of prince hohenlohe, i. 17 ---wrought by the blessed sacrament, i. 123, 126 miracle at garswood, i. 96 ---at metz, i. 128 ---at typasa, i. 42 ---under marcus aurelius, i. 33 miraculous cure at pontoise, i. 83 ---facts, tradition of, i. 32 ---of joseph lamb, i. 95 ---of mary wood, i. 114 ---of winifred white, i. 116 mediumship, ii. 143 ---clairlative, ii. 146 ---clairvoyant, ii. 150 ---developing, ii. 148 ---duodynamic, ii. 148 ---gesticulating, ii. 144 ---homo-motor, ii. 147 ---impersonating, ii. 145 ---impressional, ii. 150 ---manipulating, ii. 145 ---missionary, ii. 149 ---motive, ii. 144 ---neurological, ii. 146 ---pantomimic, ii. 145 ---pictorial, ii. 148 ---psychologic, ii. 147 ---psychometric, ii. 148 ---pulsatory, ii. 145 ---speaking, ii. 150 ---symbolic, ii. 147 ---sympathetic, ii. 146 ---therapeutic, ii. 149 ---tipping, ii. 144 ---vibratory, ii. 144 miss weld's testimony, ii. 54 modern scientific methods, i. 10 monsignor patterson's testimony, ii. 52 more's "antidote against atheism," i. 173 mr. de lisle on miracles, i. 15 mr. de lisle's testimony, ii. 54 mr. edwin de lisle in reply to strauss, i. 4 mr. e. lenthal swifte's testimony, ii. 104 mr. george fortescue's declaration, ii. 43 mr. henry cope caulfeild's testimony, ii. 115 mr. herbert spencer answered, i. 11 mr. j. g. godwin's declaration, ii. 68 mr. laxon's wife tormented, i. 189 mr. m. p. andrews' declaration, ii. 43 mr. ralph davis on the northampton witches, i. 182 mr. rutherford's declaration, i. 263 mr. william talbot's testimony, i. 226 mrs. baillie-hamilton's testimony, ii. 66 mrs. george lee's testimony, i. 230 mrs. kempson's testimony, i. 254 murder discovered by a dream, i. 221 ---of maria martin discovered, i. 231 ---of the crippled and imbecile, i. 9 naturalistic materialism, i. 10 nature of god, i. 6 ---dreams, i. 210 necromancy recognized by the fathers, i. 161 ---in china, ii. 220 northamptonshire witches, the, i. 182 notions, reintroduction of pagan, i. 13 old traditions generally accepted, ii. 90 omen concerning archbishop laud, i. 271 ---concerning king charles i., i. 268, 269, 270 ---concerning lord falkland, i. 270 omens and prognostications, i. 263 ---the subject of, i. 263 opinions of strauss, i. 3 oracles, the cessation of, i. 282 ostrehan's, captain, testimony, ii. 218 oxenham omen, the, i. 273 pagan notions, reintroduction of, i. 13 patterson's, monsignor, information, ii. 52 perrone, father, on spiritualism, ii. 184 philipsons of colgarth, the, i. 90 planchette, use of, ii. 220, 222 plumer ward's, mr., account of the lyttelton ghost, ii. 46 plutarch on the "cessation of oracles," i. 282 popes martyrs, the early, i. 31 portrait of s. stanislaus, ii. 53 power and malice of satan, ii. 83 ---of blessing and cursing, i. 90 ---of exorcism claimed exclusively, i. 163 presentiment of lieutenant r----, i. 250 ---of death, i. 262 ---to lady warre's chaplain, i. 281 principle of benediction, the, i. 88 principles of the broad church party, ii. 137 prognostication of death in a dream, i. 250 ---of death to captain speer, i. 252 prognostications and omens, i. 263 propriety of a revelation, i. 5 purbrick, rev. e. j., on the weld ghost story, ii. 54 purport of dreams, i. 212 rebuilding of the temple, i. 42 "report on spiritualism" quoted, ii. 153 rev. dr. cox's testimony, ii. 54 rev. dr. j. m. neale's testimony i. 243 rev. edward price on the world of spirits, ii. 82 rev. g. r. winter on the swaffham tinker, i. 215 rev. h. n. oxenham's testimony, i. 277 rev. j. richardson's testimony, i. 253 rev. john wesley on evil spirits, ii. 85 rev. joseph jefferson's testimony, ii. 100 rev. mr. perring's dream realized, i. 234 rev. t. j. morris's testimony, i. 240 "rules for the spirit circle" quoted, ii. 151 s. augustine on miracles, i. 30 s. bernard on dreams, i. 214 s. cyprian on dreams, i. 214 s. cyril on dreams, i. 214 s. irenã¦us on miracles, i. 41 s. john's college, oxford, founding of, i. 267 s. pacian on miracles, i. 41 s. thomas aquinas on dreams, i. 214 sacrilege discovered by a dream, i. 232 "sadducismus triumphatus" referred to, i. 199 satan, power and malice of, ii. 83 science and faith, rev. r. s. hawker on, ii. 239 science of the pagan oracles, i. 161 "scientific view of modern spiritualism" quoted, ii. 143 scott, dream of andrew, i. 261 scripture on witchcraft and necromancy, i. 164 sã©ance at the marshalls', i. 203 ---record of, from "spiritual magazine," ii. 169 second sight, treatise on, i. 285 ---at cardiff, i. 286 ---at ramsbury, i. 288 ---jerome cardan's gift of, i. 283 sexton, dr. g., on spiritualism, ii. 225 shakespeare's conception of the supernatural, ii. 89 singular prognostication, i. 250 sir christopher heydon on astrology, i. 200 sir george caulfeild, i. 223 sir henry chauncy trying witches, i. 193 sir henry yelverton and his death, i. 95 sir martin beresford, ii. 13 sir matthew hale's evidence as to witchcraft, i. 163 sir thomas brown's evidence against witchcraft, i. 163 slade's, sir alfred, testimony, ii. 218 somerset omen, the, i. 266 sorcery of dr. lamb, i. 202 _sortes virgilianã¦_, the, i. 269, 270 sound of a drum, the, i. 278 southey on haunted localities, ii. 84 spectral dog, the, i. 280 spectre of lady hobby, the, ii. 91 spedlin's tower haunted, ii. 97 spirits, perturbed, ii. 87 ---world of, ii. 82 spiritualism despised, ii. 139 ---modern, ii. 135, 169 ---mr. w. crookes on the phenomena of, ii. 159 ---origin of, ii. 141 spiritualistic manifestations, i. 205; ii. 151, 153, 155, 157, 160, 161, 163, 169, 173, 175, 176, 177, 178, 180 statement of lord lyttelton's valet, ii. 45 stigmatization, i. 98, 100, 101, 102, 105, 109 strauss, opinions of, i. 2 successful exorcism by an english clergyman, i. 80 sudden death of ruth pierce, i. 289 supernatural banished, the, ii. 140 ---basis of life, i. 12 ---its work, i. 2 ---noises at abbotsford, ii. 99 ---religion, i. 18 surey demoniac, the, i. 177 tertullian on dreams, i. 213 testimony to the fulfilment of a solemn curse, i. 117 the chester-le-street apparition, ii. 3 the christian system, i. 26 the lyttelton ghost story, ii. 35 the misses amphlett, ii. 39 the oxenham omen, i. 274 the result of a solemn curse, i. 117 the sound of a drum, i. 278 the spectral dog, i. 280 ---bird, ii. 128 the use of the sign of the cross, ii. 4 the white bird of the oxenhams, i. 274 theories concerning dreams, i. 210 thirteen to dinner, i. 281 thomas aquinas on miracles, s., i. 28 three men rescued by a dream, i. 231 tichborne dole, the, i. 264 ---curse and prophecy, the, i. 265 ---mabella, lady, i. 264 ---sir henry, i. 265 ---sir roger, i. 264 tinley, dream of samuel, i. 262 tradition of miraculous powers, i. 32 treatise on second sight, i. 285 trial of rev. e. arrowsmith, i. 91 trinity of comteism, the, i. 19 twice-repeated dream of a sailor, i. 231 tyrone apparition, the, ii. 11 unalterable experience, i. 24 use of the sign of the cross, ii. 4 wallace, mr. a., on spiritualism and science, ii. 193 wandering souls, ii. 87 ward's account of the lyttelton ghost, mr., ii. 46 warning given in a dream, i. 238, 254 ---given to a lady by a dream, i. 242 ---to a lady, i. 258 ---to a little child, i. 260 ---to two persons in dreams, i. 258 "weekly register," the, on mr. wallace's theories, ii. 197 weld ghost story, the, ii. 49 ---philip, drowned, ii. 50 ---very rev. alfred, s. j., on the weld ghost story, ii. 54 weld's, philip, apparition, ii. 53 westcote, lord, on the lyttelton ghost, i. 33 white's dream, sir thomas, i. 266 witchcraft and necromancy, i. 152 ---and sorcery, canon melville on, i. 156 ---common in non-catholic countries, i. 201 ---condemned in scripture, i. 152, 155 ---definition of, i. 174 ---examples of, i. 176-201 ---george more on, i. 171 ---herder on, ii. 210 ---jane wenham accused of, i. 192 ---joseph glanville on, i. 175 ---recognized by the fathers, i. 161 ---rev. john wesley on, i. 160 witches, the northamptonshire, i. 182 "wonders of the invisible world," i. 198 world of spirits, the, ii. 82 wynyard ghost story, the, ii. 26 the end. chiswick press:--printed by whittingham and wilkins, tooks court, chancery lane. footnotes: [1] here in mr. surtees' record is a remarkable example of the pious and devout use of the sacred sign of the cross, which, having been universal amongst all classes before the reformation, was continued by many for long generations afterwards, and the use of which since the catholic revival in the english church has become common. [2] "history of durham," by robert surtees, esq.: under "chester-le-street." vol. ii. pp. 147-148. [3] "nichols' literary illustrations." vol. iv. p. 119, _et seq._ london, 1822. [4] arthur orchard, of s. john's college, cambridge, b.a. 1662; m.a. 1666; b.d. 1673. [5] "letters on animal magnetism," by dr. w. gregory, p. 487. london, 1851. [6] a member of the noble family of beresford thus wrote (a.d. 1873) to a friend of the editor, with reference to the above narrative:--"the tradition in our family is entirely in favour of the truth of the spectral appearance, and the account which i have read, and return, is in my opinion a true and faithful narration of it." [7] the record of this came to the editor, through a friend, from the late rev. w. hastings kelke, m.a., sometime rector of drayton beauchamp, in the county of bucks. [8] the barony of chedworth was conferred upon john howe, esq., of chedworth, co. gloucester, on may 12, 1741. he had two sons, john thynne, the nobleman referred to in the above account, and henry frederick, who in turn succeeded him in the title. his daughter mary married alexander wright, esq., whose daughter mary wright is the lady mentioned in the above narrative. miss wright's cousin john inherited as fourth baron, but died unmarried, oct. 29, 1804, when the peerage became extinct. [9] another narrative of this remarkable event, which substantially corresponds with those given in the text above is provided here. in certain respects there are discrepancies, and just those kinds of discrepancies which might reasonably have been looked for in accounts drawn up by different hands; but in the main facts, regarding which there can be no reasonable doubt, there is a remarkable and notable identity in all the leading features: "two nights before, on lord lyttelton retiring to bed, after his servant was dismissed and his light extinguished, he had heard a noise resembling the fluttering of a dove at his chamber window. this attracted his attention to the spot; when, looking in the direction of the sound, he saw the figure of an unhappy female whom he had seduced, and who, when deserted, had put a violent end to her own existence, standing in the aperture of the window from which the fluttering sound had proceeded. the form approached the foot of the bed, the room was preternaturally light, the objects of the chamber were distinctly visible. raising her hand and pointing to a dial which stood on the mantlepiece of the chimney, the figure, with a severe solemnity of voice and manner, answered to the appalled and conscience-stricken man that at that very hour, on the third day after the visitation, his life and his sins would be concluded, and nothing but their punishment remain, if he availed himself not of the warning to repentance which he had thus received. the eye of lord lyttelton glanced upon the dial; the hand was on the stroke of twelve: again the apartment was involved in total darkness--the warning spirit disappeared, and bore away at her departure all the lightness of heart and buoyancy of spirit, ready flow of wit, and vivacity of manner, which had formerly been the pride and ornament of the unhappy being to whom she had delivered her tremendous summons. such was the tale that lord lyttelton delivered to his companions. they laughed at his superstition, and endeavoured to convince him that his mind must have been impressed with this idea by some dream of a more consistent nature than dreams generally are, and that he had mistaken the visions of his sleep for the visitation of a spirit. he was consoled, but not convinced; he felt relieved by their distrust, and on the second night after the appearance of the spectre, he retreated to his apartment with his faith in the reality of the transaction somewhat shaken; and his spirits, though not revived, certainly lightened of somewhat of their oppression. on the succeeding day the guests of lord lyttelton, with the connivance of his attendant, had provided that the clocks throughout the house should be advanced an hour; by occupying the host's attention during the whole day with different and successive objects of amusement, they contributed to prevent his discovering the imposture. ten o'clock struck: the nobleman was silent and depressed. eleven struck, the depression deepened, and now not even a smile, or the slightest movement of his eye indicated him to be conscious of the efforts of his associates, as they attempted to dispel his gloom. twelve struck. 'thank god! i am safe,' exclaimed lord lyttelton, 'the ghost was a liar after all. some wine, there. congratulate me, my friends; congratulate me on my reprieve. why, what a fool i was to be cast down by so idle and absurd a circumstance! but, however, it is time for bed. we'll be up early and out with the hounds to-morrow. by my faith, it's half-past twelve, so good night!' and he returned to his chamber convinced of his security, and believing that the threatened hour of peril was now past. his guests remained together to await the completion of the time so ominously designated by the vision. a quarter of an hour had elapsed: they heard the valet descend from his master's room. it was just twelve. lord lyttelton's bell rang violently. the company ran in a body to his apartment. the clock struck one at their entrance, the unhappy nobleman lay extended on the bed before them, pale and lifeless, and his countenance terribly convulsed." in his "memoirs," sir nathaniel wraxall has the following relating to this occurrence:-"dining at pitt place, about four years after the death of lord lyttelton, in the year 1783, i had the curiosity to visit the bed-chamber, where the casement window, at which lord lyttelton asserted the dove appeared to flutter, was pointed out to me; and at his stepmother's, the dowager lady lyttelton's in portugal street, grosvenor square, who being a woman of very lively imagination, lent an implicit faith to all the supernatural facts which were supposed to have accompanied or produced lord lyttelton's end. i have frequently seen a painting which she herself executed in 1780, especially to commemorate the event: it hung in a conspicuous part of her drawing-room. there the dove appears at the window, while a female figure, habited in white, stands at the foot of the bed, announcing to lord lyttelton his dissolution. every part of the picture was faithfully designed after the description given to her by the valet-de-chambre who attended him, to whom his master related all the circumstances." [10] copied from a paper in the autograph of lord westcote, entitled "remarkable circumstances attending the death of thomas, lord lyttelton," which the present lord lyttelton most courteously entrusted to the editor of this volume, together with several other original documents relating to the same, as follows:--1. extract from mr. plumer ward's "illustrations of human life," vol. i. p. 165. 2. written account given by sir digby neave, bart., to lord lyttelton in 1860. 3. ms. containing mr. george fortescue's testimony, signed s. l. 4. the following declaration:--"chiswick, may 6th, 1867. miles peter andrews told me the story of lord lyttelton's appearance to him, driving with me at wingerworth, many years ago.--anna hunloke." [11] lord lyttelton's valet made the following statement:--"that lord lyttelton made his usual preparations for bed; that he kept every now and then looking for his watch; that when he got into bed, he ordered his curtains to be closed at the foot. it was now within a minute or two of twelve by his watch; he asked to look at mine, and seemed pleased to find it nearly keep time with his own. his lordship then put them both to his ear, to satisfy himself if they went. when it was more than a quarter after twelve by our watches, he said, 'this mysterious lady is not a true prophetess, i find.' when it was near the real hour of twelve, he said, 'come, i'll wait no longer; get me my medicine, i'll take it, and try to sleep.' i just stepped into the dressing-room to prepare the physic, and had mixed it, when i thought i heard my lord breathing very hard. i ran to him, and found him in the agonies of death."--"gentleman's magazine," vol. lxxxv. part i. p. 598, a.d. 1815. [12] in boswell's "life of samuel johnson" (vol. iv. p. 313) the doctor is recorded to have said, "it is the most extraordinary occurrence in my days. i heard it from lord westcote, his uncle. i am so glad to have evidence of the spiritual world, that i am willing to believe it." [13] "james weld, esq., seventh son of thomas weld, esq., of lulworth castle, was born april 30, 1785, married july 15, 1812, the hon. juliana anne, daughter of robert edward, tenth lord petre, and has had issue, 1. henry, 2. francis, a priest, 3. _philip_, died 1846; 1. anna maria, 2. katharine, 3. agnes, a nun, 4. charlotte."--see burke's "landed gentry," vol. ii. art. "weld of lulworth castle." [14] the right rev. monsignor patterson, the present president of s. edmund's college (a.d. 1872), kindly informs me that there is a memorial brass in front of the sanctuary of the chapel of that society, on which is figured a floriated cross, rising out of waves, with a label appended to it,--"lord save me." [15] s. stanislaus kostka was born on oct. 28, 1550, his parents being john and margaret kostka, polish nobles of wealth and repute. miraculous signs foreshadowed his birth; and the holiness and purity of his early years betokened in a marked manner the favour of god towards this child. in his fourteenth year he went to vienna to finish his studies at the jesuit college. here, his saintliness was so manifested forth by his conduct, that the fathers said, "we have in our seminary an angel under the form of stanislaus." many miraculous favours are said to have been bestowed upon him by the hands of saints and angels, too numerous and lengthy to be recorded. he commenced his noviciate in the jesuit college at rome; where, after a short but edifying sojourn, he joyfully departed this life, aged 18 years, on the morning of august 15, 1568. [16] mr. de lisle, of garendon park, leicestershire, in communicating to me the above narrative, writes as follows:--"i send you my account of the apparition of philip weld, according to my promise. i received it back this morning (july 17, 1872) from the benedictine convent at athenstone, in warwickshire, where my daughter gwendoline is a nun, and where one of the miss welds, a cousin of philip, is also a nun. she approves the accuracy of my account, and has added a paper with a few notes, which i inclose along with my own article, and from which you can correct mine so far as needed. i add here my affirmation that the above recorded narrative is a true and faithful account of what the very rev. dr. cox, then president of s. edmund's college, related to me and to mrs. de lisle in february, 1847." the editor is also greatly indebted to the very rev. alfred weld, s.j., for his courteous letters upon the subject of the above narrative, as likewise to the rev. e. j. purbrick, s.j. [17] "letters on animal magnetism," by dr. w. gregory, pp. 448-489. london, 1851. [18] "the apparition or spectral appearance of my friend's father to him in the west indies--the old gentleman having died in england, and the fact of two officers having seen it simultaneously, shows that it could not have been the result of their imagination, but that it was an objective appearance; in fact, the dead man's immortal spirit, indicating to one once bound by nature's ties to the living witness of it, that the separation of soul and body had taken place. it is firmly believed by the family, who, however, all shrink from making their names public. so, my dear doctor, you must be content with this."--e. m. c., cambridge, july 15, 1873. [19] "the narrative of the spectral appearance of a lady at torquay, forwarded to dr. f. g. lee at his special request, is copied from, and compared with that in, the family bible of h. a. t. baillie-hamilton by the undersigned, "c. margaret balfour, mary baillie-hamilton. witness, j. r. grant. "princes street, edinburgh, october 7, 1871." [20] "the above is a correct and truthful statement. "witness my hand and seal. john gill godwin. [illustration] "76, warwick street, south belgravia, nov. 6, 1874." [21] special enquiry, made since the above was penned, shows conclusively that this appearance was seen exactly seven years after the date of death.--editor. [22] the editor is in no degree concerned with paganism or pagan superstitions, nor has he gathered prã¦-christian examples. yet such will have been numerous to the ordinary student of classical history. the haunted house of damon, mentioned by plutarch, will be familiar to many. [23] the following is the original of a most beautiful verse in bishop ken's well-known "evening hymn," either mutilated in the worst of taste in most hymn-books, or else altogether eliminated and suppressed:- "you, my best guardian, while i sleep close to my bed your vigils keep; your love angelical instil, stop all the avenues of ill." [24] "what do we know of the world of spirits? little or nothing, beyond what faith and revelation afford. still we know that they surround us; that they hover over us; that they accompany us whithersoever we go; and that even in the innermost tabernacle of the soul they penetrate and have their being. good spirits and bad are around us; good spirits to aid us, to waft our lame and imperfect prayers to heaven, and to protect us in the hour of temptation or peril. 'he shall give his angels charge over thee, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.' bad angels, too, are around us and against us, percolating through every avenue of the soul, inflaming the imagination, warping the judgment, tainting the will, and too often, alas! perverting it to perdition. bad angels are around us, even within the protecting sanctuary of god's church, when summoned, permitted there by the subdued and corrupted will of man. bad angels are around us in every walk and rank and condition and event of life: we see them not, but they hover over us and around us, and they penetrate within the mysterious precincts of the soul, by many a foul and unholy thought, by many an evil suggestion to sin. and they triumph, and they gibber in their unholy glee whenever they tempt and prevail. they triumph, and they laugh the insulting laugh whenever they steep to the lips in sin an unhappy mortal, and fasten upon him the mocking thought and determination of a deathbed repentance. that is their battle ground, the battle ground of victory. the standard of deceit is then triumphant: the captive is delivered bound into their hands to do with as they list, to be tormented according to the refinement of their infernal pleasure. 'he shall be delivered unto the tormentors.'"--rev. edward price. [25] this belief prevails extensively in sweden, germany, and switzerland. [26] the souls of the dead, or spirits of some sort, are constantly heard and not unfrequently seen in mines. a shropshire miner informed the editor that, of his own knowledge, he had heard supernatural sounds of moanings and mutterings underground, and had seemed to _feel_ the passing spirits as they swept by. on one occasion, after the violent and sudden death of a comrade, the noises were unusually loud; while the horses employed underground would stand trembling and covered with perspiration whenever the spirits were heard. [27] "the life of the rev. john wesley, m.a., by robert southey, esq.," vol. ii. p. 370. london: 1858. [28] in many places on the continent, especially in france and spain, it was the custom to pray for departed souls, suffering (as their needful purification was incompleted) _in any particular locality_. dr. neale gives an example of this, occurring in a prayer which he saw printed and hung up in a church at braganza in spain, which ran thus:--"we pray, likewise, for the souls which are suffering in any place by the particular chastisement of god." and the following is translated from a french prayer-book of the last century:--"have mercy, o lord god, good and pitiful, on the souls of those who are being chastised for their transgressions in the flesh, in those places where thou willest them to suffer;" an evident reference in both cases to troubled spirits which haunt definite spots. [29] when the tone of thought in shakspeare's day is compared with that in our own, the contrast between the accurate and explicit religious statements regarding the supernatural, with the shallow and cynical scepticism of modern writers, can hardly be put down to the credit of the modern. at all events those who claim to range themselves on the side of the ancient and the true may be permitted to do so. nothing could more forcibly set forth the current belief of the sixteenth century than the following well-known utterance of the ghost in "hamlet":- "i am thy father's spirit; doom'd for a certain time to walk the night, and for the day confined to fast in fires, till the foul crimes done in my days of nature are burnt and purged away. but that i am forbid to tell the secrets of my prison-house, i could a tale unfold whose lightest word would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, thy knotted and combined locks to part, and each particular hair to stand on end, like quills upon the fretful porcupine: but this eternal blazon must not be to ears of flesh and blood." "hamlet," pp. 22-23. oxford: 1873. [30] the editor is indebted to the late revs. w. hastings kelke and h. roundell of buckingham, for the above curious example. it was intended to have been published some years ago in "the records of bucks." [31] for an accurate account by the late rev. w. hastings kelke of this curious and interesting old mansion, the property of lord clifford of chudleigh, see "the records of bucks," vol. i. pp. 255-267. aylesbury, 1858. [32] "memoirs of sir john reresby," p. 238. [33] the rev. joseph jefferson, m.a., vicar of north stainley, near ripon, who sent me the above--unaltered, and printed just as it was written--on the 2nd of june, 1873. [34] "notes and queries," vol. x. second series, sept. 8, 1860, pp. 192-193, and sept. 22, 1860, p. 236. [35] barby is a parish in the hundred of fawsley, in the county of northampton, a little more than five miles from daventry. it contains between six and seven hundred inhabitants. [36] "your account, as about to be printed, is _true and exact_, as to all the facts of the haunted house at ----, which came within my own personal knowledge. don't mention names, or we shall perhaps be damaging the property, and lay ourselves open to an action at law. i may add that the late bishop of chester [dr. graham] is said to have furnished a mutual friend, the late master of trinity, with similar accounts, which had taken place before i knew the place, verifying to an a b c the old and, no doubt, perfectly true tradition. it is strange enough i know, _but it is true_.--yours, &c., h. s. b., november, 1874." [37] the wife of the clergyman above alluded to, wrote to the editor as follows:--"having read the account which you contemplate publishing, i can testify of my own personal knowledge that it is _neither understated nor exaggerated, but is in all its details strictly true and accurate_.--june, 1874." [38] miss s. f. caulfeild, author of "avenele," "desmond," &c. [39] it seems that other places are reported to be haunted by appearances of birds. a correspondent informs the editor that this is the case with an old house in dorsetshire, not far from poole, where a wingless bird is sometimes seen. the same is said of a mansion in essex, as another correspondent declares. in one room in an old house in dean street, soho, likewise, several persons have seen a large raven, three times the size of an ordinary raven, perched on the tester of the old-fashioned bed. the inmates of the house, in 1854, whose family had had the lease for eighty years, are said to have been so accustomed to seeing it (though they knew it to be spectral) that they were undisturbed by its frequent appearance. dr. neale's story as follows (not unlike the examples already given), is very singular. regarding it he wrote:--"_it comes to me with a weight of evidence, which, strange as is the tale, i cannot disbelieve_. three friends, not very much distinguished by piety, had been dining together at the residence of one of them in norfolk. after dinner they went out and strolled through the churchyard. 'well,' said a clergyman, one of the three, 'i wonder, after all, if there is any future state or not?' they agreed that whichever died first should appear to the others and inform them. 'in what shape shall it be?' asked one of the friends. at that moment a flight of crows arose from a neighbouring field. 'a crow is as good a shape as any other,' said the clergyman; 'if i should be the first to die, i will appear in that.' he _did_ die first; and some time after his death, the other two had been dining together, and were walking in the garden afterwards. a crow settled on the head of one of them, stuck there pertinaciously, and could only be torn off by main force. and when this gentleman's carriage came to take him home, the crow perched on it, and accompanied him back." [40] "strange things amongst us." by henry spicer. 2nd ed., pp. 100-102. london: chapman & hall, 1864. [41] the following is taken from a small volume which has been gratuitously circulated very widely amongst the clergy and laity. it bears a christian title, but is altogether anti-christian from end to end:-"the unwise, idolatrous, early christian priests, in their admiration of christ, exalted him in their imagination to be god himself, forgetting the creator god, and exalting in their foolish imagination his blessed mother as the mother of god--folly that has been widely perpetuated down to these days. oh, foolish churches, how great has been your folly, how widely you have departed from the truth; therefore how little you have been able to cope with the wicked heart of man! "in like manner as the israelites, from the crucifixion down to these days, have erred in disbelieving the messiah-ship of christ, so the spurious churches have, during many ages, exalted christ in their imagination to be god. the israelites and the spurious churches being equal in their great error--the one refusing to acknowledge him as the long-promised messiah, the other exalting him in their imagination as being the messiah, the holy ghost, and god the creator also; the israelites refusing to give any glory to christ, the spurious churches madly rushing, in their ancient antagonism towards the jews, to the opposite extreme, by robbing, in their imagination, god the creator of his glory, and giving all glory to the messiah, to the great grief of the messiah. "now clearly understand, oh ye nations of the whole world! it was not god who was born out of the virgin mary, and who was crucified, but the before holy angel christ--understand this, and the holy scriptures will be plain to your comprehension--christians have erred greatly during so many generations, in like manner as the followers of mahomet and of buddah have erred--errors that were carelessly accepted by powerful rulers, evil and ignorant, and forced upon the priests and the people, generation after generation. the time is at hand, even knocking at the door, when your understanding shall be made clear, and neither the professing followers of christ, nor of buddah, nor of mahomet, nor the unwise of other sects, will continue in their many errors."--"christ is coming," pp. 135-6. "yet to-day, if one dare question the value of christianity, what a howl is raised from one end of christendom to the other! we say so advisedly, for it is the howl of fear.... though christianity to-day declines and is losing power and vigour, yet in its day it hath done great and glorious good in the work of human redemption. it was an advance upon the religions which preceded it."--"what of the dead? an address by mr. j. j. morse, in the trance state," p. 5. london: j. burns. 1873. [42] 2 st. peter iii. 3, 4. [43] "a scientific view of modern spiritualism: a paper read by mr. t. grant to the maidstone and mid-kent natural history and philosophical society on tuesday, dec. 31, 1872." london: j. burns. [44] a remarkable example of this has been courteously given to me by mr. thomas bosworth, of 198, high holborn, as follows:--"some seven or eight years ago there appeared in one of the newspapers a story to the following effect:--a commercial firm at bolton, in lancashire, had found that a considerable sum of money which had been sent to their bank by a confidential clerk, had not been placed to their credit. the clerk remembered the fact of taking the money, though not the particulars, but at the bank nothing was known of it. the clerk, feeling that he was liable to suspicion in the matter, and anxious to elucidate it, sought the help of spirit medium. the medium promised to do her best. having heard the story, she presently passed into a kind of trance. shortly after she said, 'i see you on your way to the bank--i see you go into the bank--i see you go to such and such part of the bank--i see you hand some papers to a clerk--i see him put them in such and such a place under some other papers--and i see them there now.' the clerk went to the bank, directed the cashier where to look for the money, and it was found; the cashier afterwards remembering that in the hurry of business he had there deposited it. a relation of mine saw this story in a newspaper at the time, and wrote to the firm in question, the name of which was given, asking whether the facts were as stated. he was told in reply that they were. that gentleman who was applied to, having corrected one or two unimportant details in the above narration, wrote on november 9, 1874:--'your account is a correct one. i have the answer of the firm to my enquiry at home now.'" [45] the term "willer" and "necromancer" are used as identical by easterns as well as by the aborigines of new zealand. [46] there have been published "rules to be observed for the spirit circle," "framed under the direction and impression of spirits," by emma hardinge, from which the following points are gathered. firstly, there is a definition, and it is stated that "the spirit circle is the assembling together of a given number of persons for the purpose of seeking communion with the spirits who have passed away from earth into the higher world of souls." a leading direction enjoins the inquiring votaries to "_avoid strong_ light, which by producing excessive motion in the atmosphere, disturbs the manifestations. a very subdued light is the most favourable for any manifestations of a magnetic character, especially for spiritual magnetism." "strongly positive persons of any kind" and "the dogmatical" should not be admitted. furthermore, these "rules" contain the following:-"spirit control is often deficient, and at first almost always imperfect. _by often yielding to it, your organism becomes more flexible and the spirit more experienced_; and practice in control is absolutely necessary for spirits as well as mortals. _if dark and evil-disposed spirits manifest to you, never drive them away_, but always strive to elevate them and treat them as you would mortals under similar circumstances. do not always attribute falsehoods to 'lying spirits,' or deceiving mediums. many mistakes occur in the communion of which you cannot always be aware. _strive for truth_, but rebuke error gently, and do not always attribute it to design, but rather to mistake, in so difficult and experimental a stage of the communion as mortals at present enjoy with spirits." [47] the kind of communication made to those who first consult the spirits, is just of that nature calculated to allure the superficial, the frivolous, the uninformed, triflers, and seekers after novelties; and to lead them on to a more frequent intercourse and a deeper kind of communion. [48] dr. j. g. davey, m.d., of northwoods, bristol, writes as follows:--"i have satisfied myself not only of the mere abstract truth of spiritualism, but of its great and marvellous power for good, both on moral and religious grounds. the direct and positive communications vouchsafed to me from very many near and dear relatives and friends, said to be dead, have been of the most pleasing yet startling character."--_report on spiritualism_, p. 232. london: longmans, 1871. [49] this person, whose name was most accurately given, had died five days previously. he was a servant on the estate, and had belonged to the sect of the anabaptists. [50] "notes of an enquiry into the phenomena called spiritualism, during the years 1870-73." by william crookes, f.r.s. [51] "the reader who has not been in the habit of attending _sã©ances_ should be informed that the peculiar phraseology of some of the questions is rendered necessary by the fact that if you ask the spirits, 'where did _you_ die?' or 'where were _you_ buried?' they will sometimes tell you that it was not _they_ who died and were buried, but merely the external shell or material covering of the real man."--note by the editor of the "spiritual magazine." [52] "there is scarcely a city or a considerable town in continental europe, at the present moment, where spiritualists are not reckoned by hundreds if not by thousands; where regularly established communities do not habitually meet for spiritual purposes: and they reckon among them individuals of every class and avocation."--"scepticism and spiritualism." in a letter to the "spiritual magazine," dated may 4th, 1867, judge edmunds, of america, estimated the number of spiritualists in the united states at ten millions. "in london, ten years ago," writes mr. r. dale owen, "there was but a single spiritual paper; to-day there are five."--"the debatable land," p. 175. london: trã¼bner, 1871. [53] the rev. john edwards, jun., m.a., vicar of prestbury, near cheltenham. [54] "we do not, either by faith or works, _earn_ heaven, nor are we sentenced, on any day of wrath, to hell. in the next world we simply gravitate to the position for which, by life on earth, we have fitted ourselves; and we occupy that position _because_ we are fitted for it."--"the debatable land," by r. dale owen, p. 125. london, 1871. [55] howitt's "what spiritualism has taught," p. 8. [56] howitt's "what spiritualism has taught," p. 10. [57] "spiritualism is avowedly opposed to the christian religion. 'the creed of the spirits' is published in the shape of a little tract, one of those called 'seed corn,' which active agents love to distribute gratuitously wherever readers can be found, and these are its clauses: 'i believe in god'--'i believe in the immortality of the human soul'--'i believe in right and wrong'--'i believe in the communion of spirits as ministering angels.' nothing more. those well-intending persons, therefore--and we believe that among protestants there are many--who go to _sã©ances_ out of curiosity, and who are sometimes heard to say that if spiritualism be true it must therefore be right, should be warned that they are lending countenance to persons in whose writings the doctrines of the trinity and the divinity of our lord jesus christ are emphatically denied--the holy ghost scoffed at in words too blasphemous for repetition, our blessed lady insulted, and the whole fabric of religion attacked and undermined; and whether this is done by spirits who actually manifest themselves for the purpose of leading people astray, or by impostors who work upon the credulity of their audience, the thing can have but one origin, and that is the same as that of any other work by which the arch-enemy seeks to close the heart of man against the true faith. it is time therefore to use other weapons than that of ridicule against the baneful and, we fear, widely increasing delusion."--"tablet," september 6, 1873. [58] collect for the feast of s. michael and all angels, "book of common prayer." [59] "the soul has a kind of body of a quality of its own."--tertull. cont. marc. lib. v. cap. xv. [60] this account is current, with slender and unimportant variations, at oxford; or at all events _was_ current in my days there (a.d. 1850-1854), and on what could not be regarded as other than good authority. one version is already in print--that given by mr. william maskell, at pp. 108-112 of his curious and interesting book, "odds and ends," london, 1872. he seems to imply that it was the late archdeacon of cleveland, the ven. edward churton, who saw the spectral apparitions in brasenose lane; but the archdeacon belonged to christ church, and, as his son, the rev. w. r. churton, of cambridge, informs me, was not resident at oxford at the time of the occurrence. more probably it was the archdeacon's brother, the rev. t. t. churton, sometime fellow of brasenose. [61] as to the universality of the belief in witchcraft, the reader may consult herder's "philosophy of history," bk. viii. ch. 2. and as regards the convictions of some of the leading minds of europe in times past on the subject, mr. leckey in his "history of rationalism" (vol. i. p. 66), makes the following candid admission: "it is, i think, impossible to deny that the books in defence of the belief are not only far more numerous than the later works against it, but that they also represent far more learning, dialectic skill, and even general ability. for many centuries the ablest men were not merely unwilling to repudiate the superstition; they often pressed forward earnestly and with the most intense conviction to defend it. indeed, during the period when witchcraft was most prevalent there were few writers of real eminence who did not, on some occasion, take especial pains to throw the weight of their authority into the scale. thomas aquinas was probably the ablest writer of the thirteenth century, and he assures us that diseases and tempests are often the direct acts of the devil; that the devil can transport men at his pleasure through the air; and that he can transform them into any shape. gerson, the chancellor of the university of paris, and, as many think, the author of 'the imitation,' is justly regarded as one of the master intellects of his age; and he, too, wrote in defence of the belief. bodin was unquestionably the most original political philosopher who had arisen since machiavelli, and he devoted all his learning and acuteness to crushing the rising scepticism 'on the subject of witches.'" [62] 1 s. peter v. 8. [63] acts xvi. 16-18. [64] apologia, cap. v. de civit. dei, lib. xv. cap. xxiii. [65] 1 cor. xi. 10. [66] ibid. xi. 15. [67] luther, following the current tradition of his day, believed that the devil could beget children on the bodies of women; and declared that he himself had personally come across, and was well acquainted with, one of the devil's offspring. so too did erasmus believe the fact of such generation. it is a tradition in the catholic church, that the last and great antichrist--the final antichrist--may be born of such an alliance. of course mahomet was _a_ great antichrist; for though he borrowed certain christian features and adopted many jewish notions and rabbinical traditions in his system, yet he plainly and undoubtedly fulfilled the prophetic statement of s. john the divine--"_he is antichrist, who denieth the father and the son_." (1 s. john ii. 22.) mahomet's great and leading heresy is expressed in the following dogmatic assertion of the koran: "_god neither begetteth nor is begotten_." now no system has more pertinaciously, successfully, and for so long a time opposed christianity than mahometanism--not even arianism. but modern "liberalism," so called, as still developing amongst ancient christian nations, promises even to outstrip the system of mahomet, and to be as blighting and baneful in its results. [68] "an account of the manners and customs of the modern egyptians." by e. w. lane. 5th edition. london: 1860. [69] see the whole of this chapter, which is full of information and interest. it gives a record of several other similar examples. [70] in no. 117 of the "quarterly review," there is a criticism on mr. lane's account of these necromancers; but the facts recorded by him are neither satisfactorily accounted for nor successfully explained away. [71] my brother-in-law, captain ostrehan, of the bombay staff corps, sir alfred slade, bart., and the rev. dr. dunbar, chaplain to bishop claughton, have furnished me with remarkable examples of the power of oriental necromancers. [72] nevins' "china and the chinese," p. 167. new york, 1868. [73] "theory of pneumatology," by j. h. jung-stilling, pp. 136-137. london: longmans, 1834. [74] dr. sexton in his "defence of modern spiritualism" (london: j. burns), a tractate written with ability and frankness, remarks that "it is too late in the day to sneer at this matter with a sort of self-complacency, which seems to say, 'you are a poor deluded creature: behold my superior wisdom; i don't believe in such nonsense.' here are the facts, and we demand in the true spirit of science to know what is to be done with them. if you have any theory by which they can be explained, let us hear it, in order that we may judge of its merits; if you have not, we are all the more justified in clinging to our own." and, again, referring to the inquiries of a certain dr. hare in america, he writes:--"the question with dr. hare was--did the phenomena occur, and, if so, were they produced by the direct action of those persons in whose presence they took place? the nonsensical notions mooted by unscientific opponents, and which are still urged with as much gravity as though they had been made the subject of mathematical demonstration, that electricity, magnetism, odic, or psychic forces are the agents by which the manifestations are produced, he knew well enough could not bear a moment's investigation. electricity cannot move tables, nor in fact act at all without cumbrous apparatus. magnetism cannot give intelligent responses to questions, and odic force and its twin brother psychic are probably as imaginary as the philosopher's stone; and even if their existence could be proved beyond the shadow of a doubt, they could not in the slightest degree help us to the solution of the great problem of the cause of the phenomena designated spiritual." [75] a thoughtful writer, and one who is evidently far-seeing and awake to the danger, recently made the following pertinent remarks in the _church review_:-"the presence of superstition is always the sign of a wandering from the true path; the _excess_ of superstition almost invariably the precursor of great intellectual and religious changes, if not absolute convulsions. before the great crash of paganism the necromancers and practisers of curious arts were carrying on an unusually brisk trade among the romans. we all know how prevalent was the belief in witches, wizards, and astrology at the time immediately preceding the (so-called) reformation. before the french revolution the sect founded by cagliostro and lorenza feliciani, which professed a knowledge of the ancient arts of the egyptians, found great numbers of followers. and have we not a sign of a national mental crisis in our own day in the prevalence of 'spiritualism,' which is the form which necromancy at present takes? there may be many people who are utterly unaware how large a number of their fellow-countrymen, and especially of their countrywomen, believe in spiritualism, and attend _sã©ances_. those who do so are not usually very fond of parading their belief, because they have a lurking suspicion that they may get laughed at; but this very reserve makes the bond between the votaries of spiritualism so much the stronger. it is no exaggeration to say that the practice of dealing with familiar spirits is on the increase in great britain at the present moment." (a.d. 1873.) [76] "on the invisible world," by joseph hall, d.d., &c., book i. sec. 8. father christopher davenport, better known as "sancta clara," in one of his most remarkable treatises, "paralipomena philosophica de mundo peripatetico," chap. iv. p. 68 (a.d. 1652), confirms the account in the text of the above-named bishop of exeter, giving all the details of this particular miraculous cure. it seems that both the well and chapel of s. madron were constantly visited by the faithful during the first part of the seventeenth century, especially in the month of may and on the feast of corpus christi. [77] "history of the rise and influence of the spirit of rationalism in europe," by w. e. h. lecky, m.a. fourth edition in two volumes. london, 1870. [78] dr. newman will, of course, be excepted; for his remarkable dissertation prefixed to the translation of fleury's "history" is known to many, more especially in its new form,--a volume already referred to at length in chap. ii. pp. 35-36. it is certainly quite unjust to include the tractarian school amongst those who are referred to by mr. lecky in the following passage:--"at present nearly all educated men receive an account of a miracle taking place in their own day, with an absolute and even derisive incredulity which dispenses with all examination of the evidence."--vol. i. p. 1. though many are reticent, and many more shrink from publicity and rude criticism, it is known that the direct influence of the miraculous and supernatural is by no means unknown in the church of england. [79] job xxv. 5. [80] see a most remarkable letter from the pen of my friend the rev. r. s. hawker, of morwenstow, on "the claims of science and faith," standing as an appendix to this chapter, in which the office of the angels is referred to. [81] mr. mill, who is now dead, wrote that "this world was a bungled business in which no clear-sighted man [meaning himself apparently, and modestly] could see any signs either of wisdom or of god." mr. matthew arnold, son of dr. arnold of rugby, has written that "the existence of god is an unverifiable hypothesis." a third writer maintains that the "great duty" of the philosophers "should be to eliminate the idea of god from the minds of men," a sentiment not unlike that of mr. congreve, already quoted on p. 19 of vol. i.; while a popular publication, circulated by thousands amongst the lower classes, declares that the mission of its editors is "to teach men to live without the fear of god; to die without the fear of the devil; and to attain salvation without the blood of the lamb." preliminary report of the commission appointed by the university of pennsylvania to investigate modern spiritualism in accordance with the request of the late henry seybert with a foreword by h.h. furness, jr. 1887, 1920 foreword now, at the present time, when the attention of the public is turning towards questions of psychology and psychiatry, it is most appropriate that a volume such as the present _report_ be again placed in the hands of the public. while it cannot be said that the conclusions reached by the seybert commission were final, yet material for future investigation was furnished and facts so clearly stated that the reader might form his own conclusions. the purpose and intended scope of the commission are plainly set forth in the preliminary sections, and therefore need not be entered upon here. of the members composing that commission but one is now surviving, dr. calvin b. knerr, who contributed an interesting report on the slate-writing medium, mrs. patterson. the sections by the acting-chairman, dr. horace howard furness, on mediumistic development, sealed letters, and materialization were the occasion of acrimonious and violent attack on the whole work of the commission by those periodicals devoted to spiritualism and its propaganda. age cannot wither the charm of the good humoured satire with which the acting-chairman treated these subjects; and it was largely the spirit in which they were thus approached that inspired the intense hostility on the part of the spiritual mediums and their many followers. it has been epigrammatically said that, superstition is, in many cases, the cloak that keeps a man's religion from dying of cold; possibly the same may be said of spiritualism and psychology. h.h. furness, jr. february, 1920. preliminary report of the seybert commission for investigating modern spiritualism. _to the trustees of the university of pennsylvania:_ 'the seybert commission for investigating modern spiritualism' respectfully present the following preliminary report, and request that the commission be continued, on the following grounds: the commission is composed of men whose days are already filled with duties which cannot be laid aside, and who are able, therefore, to devote but a small portion of their time to these investigations. they are conscious that your honorable body look to them for a due performance of their task, and the only assurance which they can offer of their earnestness and zeal is in thus presenting to you, from time to time, such fragmentary reports as the following, whereby they trust that successive steps in their progress may be marked. it is no small matter to be able to record any progress in a subject of so wide and deep an interest as the present. it is not too much to say that the farther our investigations extend the more imperative appears the demand for these investigations. the belief in so-called spiritualism is certainly not decreasing. it has from the first assumed a religious tone, and now claims to be ranked among the denominational faiths of the day. from the outset your commission have been deeply impressed with the seriousness of their undertaking, and have fully recognized that men eminent in intelligence and attainments yield to spiritualism an entire credence, and who can fail to stand aside in tender reverence when crushed and bleeding hearts are seen to seek it for consolation and for hope? they beg that nothing which they may say may be interpreted as indicating indifference or levity. wherever fraud in spiritualism be found, that it is, and not whatever of truth there may be therein, which is denounced, and all spiritualists who love the truth will join with us in condemnation of it. the admission of evidence concerning the so-called spiritual manifestations has been duly weighed. there is apparent force in the argument that our national histories are founded, accepted and trusted on evidence by no means as direct as that by which, it is claimed, the proofs of spiritual miracles are accompanied. but it must be remembered that the facts of profane history are vouched for by evidence which is in accord with our present experience; they are in harmony with all that is now going on in the light of day (that history repeats itself has grown into a commonplace), and we are justified in accepting them on testimony, however indirect, which is nevertheless at one with the ordinary course of events. but the phenomena of spiritualism have no such support; they are commonly regarded as in contravention of the ordinary experience of mankind (in that they are abnormal and extraordinary lies their very attractiveness to many people), and no indirect testimony concerning them can be admitted without the most thorough, the most searching scrutiny. we doubt if any thoughtful spiritualist could be found to maintain that we should unquestioningly accept all the so-called 'facts' with which their annals teem. to sift the evidence of merely half a dozen would require incalculable labor. wherefore we decided that, as we shall be held responsible for our conclusions, we must form those conclusions solely on our own observations; without at all imputing untrustworthiness to the testimony of others we can really vouch only for facts which we have ourselves observed. the late mr. henry seybert during his lifetime was known as an enthusiastic believer in modern spiritualism, and shortly before his death presented to the university of pennsylvania a sum of money sufficient to found a chair of philosophy, and to the gift added a condition that the university should appoint a commission to investigate 'all systems of morals, religion, or philosophy which assume to represent the truth, and particularly of modern spiritualism.' a commission was accordingly appointed, composed as follows: dr. william pepper, dr. joseph leidy, dr. george a. koenig, professor robert ellis thompson, professor george s. fullerton and dr. horace howard furness; to whom were afterwards added mr. coleman sellers, dr. james w. white, dr. calvin b. knerr and dr. s. weir mitchell. of this commission dr. pepper, as provost of the university, was, _ex-officio_, chairman, dr. furness, acting chairman, and professor fullerton, secretary. as a befitting preliminary, at one of our earliest meetings each member in turn expressed his entire freedom from all prejudices against the subject to be investigated, and his readiness to accept any conclusion warranted by facts; one of our number, the acting chairman, so far from being unprejudiced confessed to a leaning in favor of the substantial truth of spiritualism. we deemed ourselves fortunate at the outset in having as a counselor the late mr. thos. r. hazard, a personal friend of mr. seybert, and widely known throughout the land as an uncompromising spiritualist. by the advice of mr. hazard we addressed ourselves first to the investigation of independent slate writing, and through his aid a séance for this purpose was arranged with a noted medium, mrs. s.e. patterson. this mode of manifesting spiritualistic power, as far as it has come under our observation, is, concisely stated, the writing on the concealed surface of a slate which is in contact with a medium. in the present instance, between two slates fastened together by a hinge on one side and a screw on the other, there was placed a small fragment of slate pencil; when this fragment is bitten off by the medium, it receives, so mr. hazard assured us, additional spiritualistic power. as soon as a spirit has finished writing its communication with the pencil on the inner surface of the slates, the completion of the task is made known by the appearance of the slate pencil on the outside, upon the slates. the slates are always held in concealment under the table, and never has this remarkable passage of the pencil through the solid substance of the slate been witnessed by any one, not even by the medium herself, in all the years during which this wonderful phenomenon has been a matter of daily, almost hourly, experience. our first séance was held in the evening at the medium's own home. the slates were screwed together with the bit of slate pencil enclosed, and held by the medium between her open palms, in her lap, under the table. after waiting an hour and a half without the least response on the slates from the spirits, the attempt was abandoned for that evening much to the disappointment, not only of us all, but to the chagrin of mr. hazard, who could not understand 'what the deuce was in it, seeing that the medium was one of the very best in the world, and on the preceding evening, when he was all alone with her, the messages from the spirit of henry seybert came thick and fast.' no better success attended our second séance with this medium, although we waited patiently an hour and twenty minutes, while the slates were in the medium's lap. by the advice of the medium, in order to eliminate any possible antagonism, we divided our numbers, and only one or two of us at a time sat with her. on one occasion writing did appear on the slates, after the slates had been held by both hands of the medium for a long time in concealment under the table, but to neither of the two sitters did the screw appear to be by any means as tightly fastened after the writing as before; nor did the writing of two or three illegible words seem beyond the resources of very humble legerdemain; in fact, no legerdemain was needed, after a surreptitious loosening of the screw which, considering the state of the frame of the slate, could have been readily effected. from some cause or other the atmosphere of philadelphia is not favorable to this mode of spiritual manifestation. with the exception of the medium just alluded to, not a single professional independent slate writing medium was known to us at that time in this city, nor is there one resident here even at this present writing, as far as we know. we were, therefore, obliged to send for one to new york. with this medium, dr. henry slade, we had a number of sittings, and, however wonderful may have been the manifestations of his mediumship in the past, or elsewhere, we were forced to the conclusion that the character of those which passed under our observation was fraudulent throughout. there was really no need of any elaborate method of investigation; close observation was all that was required. at the risk of appearing inconsequent by mentioning that first which in point of time came last, we must premise that in our investigations with this medium we early discovered the character of the writing to be twofold, and the difference between the two styles to be striking. in one case the communication written on the slate by the spirits was general in its tone, legible in its chirography, and usually covered much of the surface of the slate, punctuation being attended to, the _i's_ dotted, and the _t's_ crossed. in the second, when the communication was in answer to a question addressed to a spirit the writing was clumsy, rude, scarcely legible, abrupt in terms, and sometimes very vague in substance. in short, one bore the marks of deliberation and the other of haste. this difference we found to be due to the different conditions under which the communications were written. the long messages are prepared by the medium before the séance. the short ones, answers to questions asked during the séance, are written under the table with what skill practice can confer. with this knowledge, it is clear that the investigator has to deal with a simple question of legerdemain. the slate, with its message already written, must in some way be substituted for one which the sitter knows to be clean. the short answers must be written under trying circumstances, out of sight, under the table, with all motions of the arm or hand concealed. it is useless to attempt to limit the methods whereby these two objects may be attained. all that we can do is to describe the processes which we distinctly saw this medium adopt. in its simplest form (and one which any person can try with astonishing results upon an artless, unsuspicious sitter), a slate, on which, before the sitter's visit, a message has been written, is lying face downward on the table when the séance begins. there are other slates on an adjoining table within easy reach of the medium. in order that the medium may be brought into spiritual relationship with the sitters, contact with the medium is necessary, and the sitters are therefore requested to place their hands, palms downward, in the middle of the table; on these hands the medium places his own and the séance begins. before long, the presence of spiritual power becomes manifest by raps on the table, or by vibratory movements of the table, more or less violent, and by spasmodic jerkings or twitching of the medium's arms or body. when sufficient spiritual power has been generated, the medium takes up the slate, and, still controlling with his left hand the hands of his sitters, places on it a minute fragment of slate pencil. no offer is made to show both sides (the prepared message is on the hidden side), the side in full view is perfectly clean, and it is on that side that the spirits are to write with the slate pencil; there is no need of showing the other side. with his right hand the medium holds the slate under the edge of the table, barely concealing it thereunder, and drawing it forth every few seconds to see if any writing has appeared. after waiting in vain for five or ten minutes, the medium's patience becomes exhausted, and he reaches for another slate from the table close behind him, and, ostentatiously washing both sides of it, lays it on the table in front of him (still controlling with his left hand the hands of his sitters), and removes the pencil from the first slate to the second, and on top of the second so places the first slate that the prepared message is underneath, on the inside and next to the other slate. the trick is done. all that now remains for the medium to do is to hold the two slates under the table for awhile, or rest them on the shoulder close to the ear of the sitter on the medium's right, and, by scratching with the finger nail on the frame of the slate, to imitate the writing by the spirits with the enclosed pencil. when there are two or more sitters it is only the one on the right of the medium who is privileged to hear the writing. to apply the slate to the ear of any other would disclose the way in which the sound of the writing is counterfeited. to him, therefore, who sits on the medium's left, so that the medium's hand, while holding the slates on the shoulder of the sitter on the right, is sharply outlined against the light, the motions of the medium's fingers while the sound of writing is imitated by him may be distinctly seen. by such elementary tricks of legerdemain as these are guileless, honest folk deceived. dr. slade prefers to have only two sitters at a time, one on his right and one opposite. the fourth side of the table he prefers to have unoccupied; his manipulations of the slate can be from that side more readily observed; moreover, strange spiritual antics may be there manifested, such as upsetting chairs which happen to be there, making slates appear above the edge of the table, etc. these manifestations are executed by the medium's foot, which, on one occasion, was distinctly seen before it had time to get back into its slipper by one of our number, who stooped very quickly to pick up a slate which had accidentally fallen to the floor while the spirits were trying to put it into the lap of one of the sitters. at the first two séances an ordinary wooden table was used belonging to the hotel where dr. slade lodged. at the third séance a similar but larger table was used, somewhat the worse for wear, and the joints of its leaves were far from fitting close. every crack, however, and every chink had been carefully filled up with paper to prevent, so the medium said, 'the electricity from flowing through.' the method of producing the long message which opened the séance has been described above. whenever we received other long messages, written with some care and more or less filling the side of the slate, the agency employed was adroit substitution, generally effected when the medium supposed that the attention of his sitters was engrossed with an answer just received to a question addressed to the spirits. prepared slates resting against the leg of the table behind him were substituted for those which but a moment before he had ostentatiously washed on both sides and laid on the table in front of him. the handwriting of these long messages bore an unmistakable similarity to the medium's own. when a question is written on the slate by a sitter, equal dexterity to that used in substituting the prepared slate, or even greater, is demanded of the medium, in reading the question and in writing the answer. the question is written by the sitter out of sight of the medium, to whom the slate, face downward, is handed over and a piece of pencil placed on it. the task now before the medium is first to secure the fragment of pencil and to hold it while the slate is surreptitiously turned over and the question read, then the slate is turned back again and the answer written. every step in the process we have distinctly seen. in order to seize the fragment of pencil without awakening suspicion, while holding the slate under the table, the slate is constantly brought out to see whether or not the spirits have written an answer. by this manoeuvre a double end is attained: first, it creates an atmosphere of expectation, and the sitters grow accustomed to a good deal of motion in the medium's arm that holds the slate; and secondly, by these repeated motions the pencil (which, having been cut out from a slate pencil enclosed in wood, is square, and does not roll about awkwardly), is moved by the successive jerks toward the hand which holds the slate, and is gradually brought up to within grasping distance. the forefinger is then passed over the frame of the slate, and it and the thumb seize and hold the pencil, and under cover of some violent convulsive spasms the slate is turned over and the question read. at this point it is that the medium shows his nerve: it is the critical instant, the only one when his eyes are not fastened on his visitors. on one occasion, when the question was written somewhat illegibly in a back hand, with a very light stroke, and close to the upper edge of the slate, the medium had to look at it three several times before he could make it out. after reading the question, it may be noticed that dr. slade winks three or four times rapidly; this may have been partly to veil from his visitors the fact that he had been looking intently downward, and partly through mental abstraction in devising an answer. he evidently breathes freer when this crisis is past. convulsive spasms attend the reversing of the slate, which is then generally held between his knees; only once did we note that he placed it _on_ his knees, and once we believed that he supported it by pressing it against the leg of the table. the answer is written without looking at the slate, in a coarse, large, sprawling hand, at times scarcely legible. while writing he keeps his eyes steadily fixed on his visitors, and generally rests a minute or two after it is finished. presently the slate is held near the edge of the table and close up to it, and a tremulous motion imparted to it suggests that spiritual power is then at work and that the writing is in progress. dr. slade performed several little tricks which he imputed to spiritual agency, but which were almost puerile in the simplicity of their legerdemain, and which have been repeated with perfect success by one of our number; such as tossing a slate pencil on and sometimes over the table from a slate held apparently under the table, or the playing of an accordion when held with one hand under the table. this medium's fingers are unusually long and strong, and the accordion, being quite small and with only four bellows folds, can be readily manipulated with but one hand, and when under the table is held by the keys. two compasses, which we placed on the table during one séance, remained unaffected by dr. slade's presence. at our last séance with him we noticed two slates which were not with the other slates on the small table behind him, but were on the floor resting against the leg of that table, and within easy reach of his hand as he sat at the larger table. as we had previously seen prepared slates similarly placed we kept a sharp watch on these slates. unfortunately, it was too sharp. dr. slade caught the look that was directed at them. that detected glance was sufficient to prevent the spirits from sending us the messages which they had so carefully prepared. the slates were not produced during the séance, but when it was over one of our number managed to strike them with his foot so as to displace them and reveal the writing. none of us present that day will be likely to forget the hurried way in which these slates were seized by the medium and washed. we think it worthy to be recorded that, in reply to a question, dr. slade said that professor zoellner watched him closely only during the first three or four sittings, but that afterwards professor zoellner let him do just as he pleased, fully and unreservedly submitting to all the conditions demanded by the spirits. we received from dr. slade a written expression of his satisfaction with our treatment of him, which had been throughout, so he said, entirely fair and courteous, and of his willingness at any time hereafter to sit with us again, should we desire it and his engagements permit. it is a source of regret that, in our investigations, we have received no aid from unprofessional mediums; and in dealing with professional mediums we have been continually distracted by the conflicting estimates in which these mediums are held among the spiritualists themselves. there are very, very few professional mediums, as far as our experience goes, who are accepted by all spiritualists as free from the reproach of fraud. indeed one medium with whom, by the advice of mr. hazard, we had a séance, and for whom mr. hazard vouched as one of the best of his class, we have seen denounced as a 'liar and a thief.' in the earnestness of our zeal we advertised in the local secular press, and in the leading spiritualist journals both east and west, for independent slate writing mediums, and to this widespread appeal there came but three replies, and of these, two were so remote that the promise of performance held out by the respondents did not, in our opinion, justify so large an outlay of money for traveling expenses as a journey across the continent involved. this noteworthy reluctance on the part of mediums to come before us cannot be due to any harsh or antagonistic treatment received at our hands by any medium. all mediums have been treated by us with uniform courtesy, and with every endeavor to acquiesce in the 'conditions' imposed or suggested by the spirits. and yet a well-known medium in new york, mrs. thayer, to whom the acting chairman was unknown, and with whom he was at the time having a séance, vehemently asserted that no member of the 'seybert commission' should ever have a séance with her, that the whole commission, one and all, were 'old scoundrels and should never darken her doors,' etc., etc., and confessed that the foundation of her belief was the warning (sent to her by an eminent medium whose séances the commission had attended) that she should have nothing to do with 'the seybert men, that they would do her no good.' even in instances where mediums have expressed their willingness to appear before us, we have been embarrassed by demands for compensation which we could not but deem extortionate and, practically, prohibitory; as in the case of mr. keeler, the spiritual photographer, whose terms will be found in the appendix, and in that of dr. henry rogers, whose terms were five hundred dollars if he should be successful before us, and the half of that sum if he failed. although the number of mediums whose manifestations we have been able to examine has been thus restricted, we feel ourselves justified in giving as a result of our examination of independent slate writing that, whether the agency be spiritual or material, its mode of manifestation almost wholly precludes any satisfactory investigation. there are not wanting eminent expounders of the spiritualistic faith who assert that this is as it should be, and that if in the attempt to apply the laws of the material world to spiritual manifestations we are baffled, the fault lies in us, and not in the mediums. if this be so, we must accept our fate and enlarge the adage that 'poets are born, not made,' and include spiritualists. yet, as a rule, mediums assert that they invite investigation. our experience has been, as we have just said, that as soon as an investigation, worthy of the name, begins, all manifestations of spiritualist power cease. the bare statement of the conditions whereunder the mediums maintain that the manifestations of independent slate writing are alone possible, involves the extreme difficulty, we might almost say the impossibility, of any genuine or rational investigation. even the very spirit of investigation, or of incredulity, seems to exercise a chilling effect and prevents a successful manifestation. indeed mr. hazard once told us that the true spirit in which to approach the study of spiritualism is 'an entire willingness to be deceived.' in independent slate writing, in our experience, there is a period, of longer or shorter duration, when the slate is concealed. during this period the investigator's eye must not watch it. when the slate is held under the table, knees and feet and clothing exert no deleterious effect, but the gaze of a human eye is fatal to all spiritual manifestation; although to one of our number, on three occasions, a pocket mirror, carefully adjusted, unknown to the medium, gave back the reflection of fingers, which were clearly not spiritual, opening the slates and writing the answer. there is really no step in the bare process of producing this writing, as we have observed it, which might not be accomplished by trickery or by legerdemain. of course, therefore, we were sincerely anxious to disprove in these experiments the presence of those discreditable elements, not only for the credit of human nature, but for the sake of the great scientific interest involved. we are perfectly ready to accept any fact of spiritual power; and so far from flinching from an open avowal of our belief in this revelation of a novel force in nature, we would welcome it. but no one, not a spiritualist, we should suppose, can demand of us that we should accept profound mysteries with our eyes tight shut, and our hands fast closed, and with every avenue to our reasoning faculties insurmountably barred. yet this is precisely what is demanded of us by mediums in regard to independent slate writing. we must sign a dispensation to forego the exercise of common sense, and accept as 'fact' what they choose so to term. few assertions by departed spirits are more hacknied than, 'this is a great truth,' and yet in an honest endeavor to prove that it is a 'great truth;' and not a great lie, the sincere and earnest seeker is at every turn baffled and thwarted. to eliminate from our investigations every element of distrust, or hostility, or suspicion, or chilling antagonism, we entrusted to mr. hazard's friend, mrs. patterson, vouched for by him as one of the very best mediums in the country, two carefully closed and sealed slates, enclosing, of course, the required piece of slate-pencil, with the earnest entreaty that the spirits should write therein even if it were but the merest mark, sign, or scratch, therewith we would be content, and be ready to accept independent slate writing with its train of consequences. the medium was fully impressed with the importance of the trial, and with the fame which would thereby accrue from such a wholesale conversion as that of the united seybert commission. every medium, it would appear, is under the special tutelage of a departed spirit; this spirit is termed the 'medium's control.' in the present case, when the slates were delivered to mrs. patterson, her 'control,' one 'thomas lister,' at once promised that spirit hands should shortly write within the sealed-up space. but no writing came that day nor the next, nor the next, although the medium protested that every attention should be bestowed on the refractory slates. in vain was the medium again and again adjured to put forth every power. at the end of six months the slates were received again, without any writing, according to the confession of the medium. so anxious, however, was our acting chairman that the experiment should prove successful, that, undeterred by this failure, he carefully sealed up a second slate, and placed it in the hands of the same medium, with renewed adjurations to put forth all her spiritualistic strength. at the end of a fortnight or more, after redoubled exertions of mediumistic power, to which was added the combined spiritualistic power of the medium's entire family circle, the exciting announcement was made to us that the fragment of slate pencil within the slates could no longer be heard to rattle, and that presumably the spirits had written a message for us. each medium, generally, has some peculiar mode of manifesting spiritualistic power; it is a peculiarity of this medium, as has been before stated, that the completion of the spirit message within the slates is indicated not by raps, as is frequently the case with other mediums, but by the sudden and marvelous appearance on the top of the slate of the little fragment of pencil, which had been securely fastened up within. the fact, therefore, that the pencil was no longer inside of our slates was presumptive evidence that the medium's control had been true to his word, and had written us a message. the slates were received from the medium most carefully, and a meeting of the commission hastily called. it is scarcely worth while to enter here at length on the details of that session, of the careful scrutiny to which the slates were subjected, of the unmutilated seals, of the untouched screws, etc., etc.; but it is worth while to record the feeling of grave responsibility, almost akin to solemnity, with which we all approached what, for aught we knew, might prove to be a revelation of a power as wonderful as any with which, as yet, we had ever been brought into acquaintance. just before we opened the slates it was noticed that at one corner, owing to the flexibility of the wooden frames, it was quite possible to stretch the slates far enough apart to permit the insertion of the blade of a knife, and an examination of the edges at this point revealed only too plainly discolored abrasions. when the slates were finally opened, not a stroke of writing nor a scratch was to be found, but at the suspected corner were the discolored marks, visible to this day, of the knife which had been inserted to extract the pencil, which, in its enforced outward passage, had left behind, in its scratches on the wood, a tell-tale trail of dust which the microscope revealed to be of the same substance as the pencil. the spirits had not taken even the precaution to wipe the broad knife clean from rust or dirt. the slates are preserved in our sad museum of specimens of misdirected ingenuity. we are continually confronted with statements wherein the narrator claims a spiritual solution as the only possible one of the enigma involved in the phenomena, as he observed them. to all such statements we have, first, the plain and ready answer, that we do not attempt to pass judgment on manifestations which we ourselves have not observed. all that we can vouch for is the result of our own observation. more cannot be demanded of us. secondly, experience has shown us that with every possible desire on the part of spiritualists to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, concerning marvelous phenomena, it is extremely difficult to do so. be it distinctly understood that we do not for an instant impute wilful perversion of the truth. all that we mean is that, for two reasons, it is likely that the marvels of spiritualism will be, by believers in them, incorrectly and insufficiently reported. the first reason is to be found in the mental condition of the observer; if he be excited or deeply moved his account cannot but be affected, and essential details will surely be distorted. for a second reason, note how hard it is to give a truthful account of any common, everyday occurrence. the difficulty is increased a hundred-fold, when what we would tell, partakes of the wonderful. who can truthfully describe a juggler's trick? who would hesitate to affirm that a watch, which never left the eye-sight for an instant, was broken by the juggler on an anvil; or that a handkerchief was burned before our eyes? we all know the juggler does not break the watch, and does not burn the handkerchief. we watched most closely the juggler's right hand, while the trick was done with his left. the one minute circumstance has been omitted that would have converted the trick into no-trick. it is likely to be the same in the accounts of most of the wonderful phenomena of spiritualism. for these two reasons, we laid down for ourselves at the start that in cases demanding close observation we would endeavor to have as many members as possible of the commission present at every séance. in dealing with phenomena, where all ordinary methods of investigation are excluded, we perceived clearly that our best resource lay in having the largest possible number of observers. in dismissing this subject of independent slate writing, we repeat, what we think spiritualists will generally grant, that this phenomenon can be performed by legerdemain. the burden of proof that it is not so performed rests with the mediums. this proof the mediums will neither offer themselves, nor permit others to obtain. investigators, therefore, are forced to bring to bear their own powers of close observation, sharpened and educated by experience. be it remembered that what we have here stated applies solely to the process whereby the communication is written on the slate; with the substance of the communication, whether pertinent answers to questions or dreary platitudes, we are not now dealing. whether these answers be ascribed to spirits, or to what is termed clairvoyance, they would be none the less true or false if delivered orally by the medium; all that we are sure of is that the writing down of these communications, be their substance what it may, is performed in a manner so closely resembling fraud as to be indistinguishable from it. it would be a mere matter of opinion that all independent slate writing is fraudulent; what is not a matter of opinion is the conviction, which we have unanimously reached as a commission, of its non-spiritual character in every instance that has come before us. an eminent professional juggler performed, in the presence of three of our commission, some independent slate writing far more remarkable than any which we have witnessed with mediums. in broad daylight, a slate perfectly clean on both sides was, with a small fragment of slate pencil, held under a leaf of a small ordinary table around which we were seated; the fingers of the juggler's right hand pressed the slate tight against the underside of the leaf, while the thumb completed the pressure, and remained in full view while clasping the leaf of the table. our eyes never for a fraction of a second lost sight of that thumb; it never moved; and yet in a few minutes the slate was produced, covered on both sides with writing. messages were there, and still are there, for we preserved the slate, written in french, spanish, dutch, chinese, japanese, gujerati, and ending with 'ich bin ein geist, und liebe mein lagerbier.' we were utterly baffled. for one of our number the juggler subsequently repeated the trick and revealed its every detail. we request your honorable body to note that this report is preliminary and that we do not consider our investigations in this department as finally closed, but hold ourselves ready to continue them whenever favorable circumstances arise. to the subject of 'spirit-rappings' we have devoted some time and attention, but our investigations have not been sufficiently extensive to warrant us at present in offering any positive conclusions. the difficulty attending the investigation of this mode of spiritualistic manifestation is increased by the fact, familiar to physiologists, that sounds of varying intensity may be produced in almost any portion of the human body by voluntary muscular action. to determine the exact location of this muscular activity is at times a matter of delicacy. what we can say, thus far, with assurance is that, in the cases which have come under our observation, the theory of the purely physiological origin of the sounds has been sustained by the fact that the mediums were invariably, and confessedly, cognizant of the rappings whenever they occurred, and could at once detect any spurious rappings, however exact and indistinguishable to all other ears might be the imitation. for the details of the investigation which guided us to this conclusion we refer to the appendix. there are among mediums certain specialists, whose alleged spiritual manifestations we have endeavoured to investigate, not always successfully, as, for instance, in the case of mr. w.m. keeler, through whose mediumship 'spiritual photographs' are produced. the 'conditions' which this medium demanded would have made any attempt at investigation a mere waste of time, and his terms of remuneration were, in addition, as we have before mentioned, prohibitory and suggestive of unwillingness to come before the commission. in these days of 'composite photography' it is worse than childish to claim a spiritual source for results which can be obtained at any time by any tyro in the art. mr. keeler's letter will be found in the appendix. we were more successful in procuring a séance with mr. keeler's brother, whose mediumship manifests itself by the materialization of a right hand behind a low screen, in front of which the medium sits, with his face alone visible, his entire person being concealed by black muslin. the screen is stretched across a corner of a room to about the height of the back of the medium's head, as he sits in front of it. the lights are lowered, and in a few minutes various instruments, musical and otherwise, which had been previously placed on a small table in the corner enclosed by the screen, are heard to sound, a drum is beaten, a guitar is played, etc. the music is interspersed with flashes of hand darting and waving above the screen to the right of the medium. the hand, when shaken, was found to be a right one. as a proof that the hand is spiritual and not that of the medium, the latter requests one of the visitors at the séance to sit beside him on his right, and also to be covered to the chin with the same black muslin under which all the medium, except his head, is concealed. this visitor's bare left forearm is grasped by the medium, as he says, with both his hands, and this pressure of the medium's two hands on the visitor's arm is never relaxed, as the visitor readily testifies. the proof seems, therefore, conclusive that the hand which plays the instruments behind the screen is not the medium's, and hence must be a materialized spirit. the trick is simple and highly deceptive, as any one can prove for himself by requesting a blindfolded friend to bare the left arm to the elbow, then let the experimenter grasp this bared arm, near the wrist, with the third and fourth fingers of his left hand, closing them around it tightly, and as he does so, asking the owner of the arm to note that this is his left hand, then let the experimenter, without relaxing this hold, stretch the remaining fingers and thumb up the arm as far as he can, and while clasping it with his thumb and forefinger, remark that this second pressure comes from his other hand. the conviction is complete in the mind of the blindfolded friend that he feels the grasp of two hands, whereas only the left hand of the experimenter has grasped his arm, and the right hand is free to beat a drum or play a zither. after this test, which is patent to all, we can dismiss the theory of a spiritual origin of the hand behind mr. keeler's screen. to forestall the discovery by mr. keeler's companion of this trick, and to prevent its detection by simply feeling with his free right hand after the suppositious hands of the medium, which are grasping his left forearm, a second visitor is requested to share the discomfort of the muslin envelope, and to sit on the right of the first visitor and to hold the latter's truant right hand with his left hand, while his right is exposed to view outside the curtain. again we refer to the appendix for the minutes of our meeting. we had a séance also with messrs. rothermel and powell, of whom the former is the medium, the latter, acting mainly as a reservoir of psychic force, guides and directs the séance. in this case the medium's spiritual manifestations, as well as his material arrangements, are similar to those of mr. keeler, except that instead of having a visitor whose arm may be grasped, mr. rothermel's hands are fastened in his lap by bands of tape passed around his legs and sewed to his clothes. after the black curtain had hid the hands from our sight we were not again allowed to examine them except in the most hurried and superficial way, but, even in the brief inspection which was permitted, a glance was sufficient to show that the tape had been tampered with. the close of the séance was announced by the sound of clipping scissors, and by mr. rothermel's exclamation, while still concealed, that the spirits were cutting him loose. we had no means of knowing whether the tape was cut at the beginning of the séance or not. when the muslin envelope was removed, mr. rothermel's hands were certainly free. the bands were cut, and we had no difficulty in believing that the hands which were dexterous enough to play the zither with very remarkable skill, under such conditions, behind the curtain, were deft enough to sever the cords. our séances with mrs. maud e. lord were acknowledged by the medium herself to be altogether unsatisfactory. this is much to be regretted. mrs. lord is one of the few professional mediums whose excellence is acknowledged by all spiritualists alike, and who, in her attitude towards the commission, displayed every desire to aid a full and complete investigation into the manifestations peculiar to her mediumship, and furthermore, without remuneration. in conclusion, we beg to express our regret that thus far we have not been cheered in our investigations by the discovery of a single novel fact; but, undeterred by this discouragement, we trust with your permission to continue them with what thoroughness our future opportunities may allow, and with minds as sincerely and honestly open, as heretofore, to conviction. we desire to call especial attention to professor fullerton's report in the appendix of his interviews with professors fechner, scheibner and weber, the surviving colleagues of professor zoellner in his experiments with dr. henry slade. and also to an investigation of the power of mediums to answer the questions contained in 'sealed envelopes.' william pepper, joseph leidy, george a. koenig, george s. fullerton, robt. ellis thompson, horace howard furness, coleman sellers, james w. white, calvin b. knerr, s. weir mitchell. _university of pennsylvania_, may, 1887. appendix. soon after the appointment of the seybert commission, i as secretary, was asked to make a collection of the best representative literature of spiritualism, and to prepare for the use of the commission a sketch of the rise, progress, present condition, doctrines and alleged phenomena of this belief, as well as an account of previous investigations, similar to the one contemplated by ourselves. for a number of months i busied myself diligently with this work, and finally read my sketch before the commission, at a meeting at which mr. thomas r. hazard, the well-known spiritualist, was present as our guest. i had at this time seen scarcely anything of spiritualism, but was much impressed with what i had read, and certainly in a fully receptive attitude towards phenomena supported by so much apparently strong testimony. mr. hazard declared himself quite satisfied with the tone of the paper, saying that he had come expecting to hear something very different, but that it was fair and unbiased. i mention these facts to show that my present opinion on the subject was not assumed at the outset, but has been arrived at gradually, and is based upon my own observations. i have been forced to the conclusion that spiritualism, as far at least as it has shown itself before me (and i give no opinion upon what has not fallen within my observation), presents the melancholy spectacle of gross fraud, perpetrated upon an uncritical portion of the community; that the testimony of such persons as to what they see is almost valueless, if they are habitually as inaccurate as they have been at the séances at which i have been present with them; and that there is an unwillingness on the part of mediums to have their powers freely and thoroughly investigated--a fact which makes any investigation of spiritualism difficult and expensive. my opinions are not based exclusively upon what i have seen and recorded in my work with my colleagues, but also upon observations made at various times in a private capacity; and there is but one conclusion to be appended to them all. i subjoin notes of séances, recorded by myself as secretary of the commission. their somewhat disjointed form arises from the fact that i have not thought it desirable to make changes in my notes, except such as were necessary in taking the records, which are of value as evidence, out of their contextual connection with records of business meetings and matters of no interest to the public. nothing which could be looked upon as evidence has been purposely suppressed. i have intentionally left out a description of several things which we have been unable to use, and which would have merely swelled our records; as, for example, the account of our sealing slates for the experiments with dr. slade, he afterwards having refused to have anything to do with slates sealed by us. my notes were made during the séances, or as soon as possible after them. they were arranged and copied in no case later than two days after. explanations and additions, which do not belong to the original records, but have been inserted later, are put in brackets. for a justification of the opinion of spiritualism expressed above, i refer to the records which follow. geo. s. fullerton. * * * * * march 13th, 1884. on thursday, march 13th, 1884, the commission met at 508 s. 16th street, at 8 p.m., for the examination of mrs. s.e. patterson, spiritualistic medium. for the first test, a small piece of slate pencil was placed within a double slate, and the leaves fastened together with a screw, which passed through one wooden rim into the other. the spirit-writing upon the slate should be indicated by the pencil appearing upon the outside of the slate. the slate was laid upon the medium's lap for one hour and a-half without results. meanwhile the medium wrote what purported to be messages from several spirits upon slips of paper, the handwriting varying with each message. one message was signed elias hicks, another lucretia mott, another signed h.s. was compared with a message from mr. henry seybert to mr. t.r. hazard the day before. the initials were somewhat different. the commission sat in a circle, the medium at a small table with folding leaves. one communication, signed e.h., declared that the person sitting opposite mr. hazard (mr. furness) was endowed with great mediumistic powers. the writing failing to appear on the slate it was opened, and dr. leidy, having written upon a slip of paper a question, enclosed it in the slate, which was again fastened. after half an hour's waiting, no results being obtained, the commission addressed some questions to the medium and then adjourned. the medium described her sensations during the automatic writing as a constriction at the wrist. she declared that she had no knowledge of what she wrote, was not distracted by noises, etc. (mr. furness and mr. fullerton, however, noticed that she, when interrupted, glanced back over what she had previously written before continuing.) she could not go into the trance state. just before adjournment the medium laid her hands upon the table and tried to produce "raps," but did not succeed. has been a spiritualist for nine or ten years, but has always been possessed of unusual powers. as a child saw visions, etc. declares that she is most successful as a slate writer. geo. s. fullerton, _secretary_. * * * * * wednesday, march 19th, 1884. the commission met at 508 s. 16th street, at 8 p.m. present: dr. leidy, professor koenig, mr. furness, mr. fullerton and mr. hazard. the medium was mrs. s.e. patterson. mr. furness brought two new double slates, which could be fastened by a screw. the medium cut a small piece of slate pencil and enclosed it in a double slate (one of those brought by mr. furness), into which was also put a paper upon which dr. leidy had written a question. the slate was then fastened with a screw. dr. koenig also wrote a question, which was enclosed in the other slate, the slate being screwed up by mr. furness. the medium then placed both slates upon her lap, and partially under the table. a portion of the time the upper slate was between the palms of her hands, the back of the lower hand resting on the lower slate. then one hand was placed upon each slate, the two being placed together. no results having been obtained after waiting twenty minutes, one of the new slates was laid aside, and the medium's old slate, with a piece of pencil in it, laid upon the remaining new slate in the medium's lap. the medium held from time to time a lead pencil in one hand, but was not moved to write. the medium declared that when writing appears upon the slate in her lap she feels a shock, but no other sensation. two spirit photographs were exhibited by the medium. in one the spirit was her own mother. the spirit in each appeared as a white apparition behind a person seated in the foreground. the slates remained in the lap of the medium one hour and twenty minutes. no manifestations were produced during the evening. the commission adjourned to a room at the social art club for conference. the above notes of the evening's session were read by the secretary and approved. it was resolved to meet again on the evening of wednesday, march 26th, for the next session. geo. s. fullerton, _secretary_. * * * * * march 26th, 1884. the commission met on wednesday, march 26th, at 7.30 p.m., at 1117 callowhill street. present: dr. leidy, mr. furness, mr. fullerton and mr. t.r. hazard. the medium was mr. fred. briggs. the medium gave the following answers to dr. leidy's questions: 1. has been a medium since seven years of age. now 22 years old. 2. before seven years of age could see visions, etc., but did not communicate with spirits. 3. was born in boston. lived there when not on journeys. 4. his parents had no such powers. 5. his grandfather was a west india importer, his father had no business. 6. educated in middleboro and bridgewater, mass. 7. his family, baptists. 8. he can communicate with spirits best _a._ at night, or in the evening. _b._ in cold or snowy weather. _c._ in dry weather. _d._ when in a healthy condition. 9. when in communication with spirits feels _nervous_, but cannot describe the feeling. the medium had on the table two single slates which could be laid upon each other. the table was about three and a-half feet square, and covered with a cloth. the light was kept rather dim. (the medium explained later in the evening that writing is best produced in the dark, because dark is _negative_, light _positive_, and negative conditions are most favorable to communication.) mr. furness had brought two folding slates, which could be fastened with a screw. dr. leidy and mr. furness and the medium each held a double slate under the table. mr. fullerton asked a question as requested, but received no answer from the spirits. some scratching was now heard under the table. the medium took the slate held by mr. furness (one not screwed or fastened by hinges), and it was held under the table by mr. furness, mr. hazard and mr. briggs. the medium seemed much excited, spoke rapidly, etc., and was so much overcome that he dropped the slate (one brought by mr. furness) which he was holding under the table with his left hand, and left it lying on the floor under the table. at 8 o'clock dr. koenig came in. the slate held by the medium, mr. furness and mr. hazard, was held in mr. hazard's lap, and some taps were heard. (mr. furness afterwards produced taps precisely similar by rubbing the side of his finger slowly along the side of the slate.) no writing having been obtained, the medium declared that he alone would hold the slate, as the magnetism of mr. furness was injurious. again we were invited to ask questions. dr. leidy asked: 'when and where did you die?' no answer. the medium asked mr. furness if his name were not furness. (mr. hazard had seen the medium before, and informed him that the commission was coming.) mr. furness now put his hand under the table on the hand of the medium, which was pressing the double slate (not the screwed one) up against the table. mr. furness declared that he heard a certain buzzing noise. the slate being taken out, there was found written on the inside of the under slate: i will help you all r. dale owen and something that looked like "henry furness is here." the slate on the floor being examined, there was found on the _outside_ (it was a screw-slate) i am here with you i will help you r. dale owen. some other illegible marks were found on the slate. nothing was obtained on the inside of either screw-slate. the handwriting on the two slates, purporting to be from r. dale owen, was much alike. the medium now took hold of mr. hazard's hand, and went into trance, personating esther hazard, a deceased daughter of mr. hazard. he (the medium) made convulsive motions, trembled, etc., and while in this state predicted that mr. fullerton would receive a very pleasing letter on saturday next--said that he should come to the medium for advice. [no such letter was received on that date by mr. fullerton.] he also declared that dr. koenig had brought with him a spirit named august. he declared ponto, white-feather, red jacket and thomas paine to be present. (the medium called "white-feather" _he_, mr. hazard objecting that white-feather was a woman.) the light was then turned out, and all hands laid upon the table. mr. furness laid one of his hands upon one of the medium's and upon one of mr. hazard's. (the medium afterwards asserted that mr. furness had held both his hands. but mr. furness was positive that he held only one.) mr. hazard was touched several times about the face. mr. furness was touched on the cheek and on his ear-trumpet and mr. fullerton was struck on the head by a paper thrown from the other side of the table, and touched once on the back of his left hand by what felt like human fingers. there were no more manifestations. the committee adjourned to dr. leidy's house for conference. the above notes were read and approved. geo. s. fullerton, _secretary_. * * * * * april 8th, 1884. on tuesday evening, april 8th, dr. leidy and mr. furness held another séance with the medium formerly examined, mrs. patterson. the slates used belonged to the medium, and were, as she told them, in daily, almost hourly use; the frame of one of them was far from sound, and the hole which admitted the screw was more than well worn. within these slates, after being held for a long while by both hands of the medium under the table, two or three barely legible words appeared. the screw was, by no means, as tight after the writing as before. this fact, together with the prolonged concealment, rendered it impossible to attach any real importance to the attempt to write, as far as could be made out, the name of henry seybert. under the same conditions our colleague, mr. sellers, produced writing for us very satisfactorily. geo. s. fullerton, _secretary_. * * * * * april 17th, 1884. on thursday evening, april 17th, 1884, a sitting was held by mrs. patterson with dr. koenig, mr. fullerton and mr. hazard. the medium declared herself unwell. no results were obtained. the session was in mrs. patterson's room at no. 508 s. 16th street. geo. s. fullerton, _secretary_. * * * * * may 31st, 1884. on saturday, may 31st, 1884, at 8 p.m., the commission met at the house of the provost, 1811 spruce street, for the purpose of sealing a slate to be left with the medium, mrs. patterson, who was to try to procure independent writing upon the inside surfaces. there were present dr. pepper, mr. furness, professor thompson and mr. fullerton. mr. furness brought the slate and seals. the slate was the double one used in our former tests, hinged, and fastening with a screw. a small piece of pencil was enclosed in the slate, which was perfectly clean, and the slate was screwed up by dr. pepper. the direction of the cut in the screw-head was marked by a scratch on the wood at the end of the slate. it was nearly parallel with the long diameter of the slate. mr. furness then tied the slate with red tape, passing the tape longitudinally and transversely around the middle of the slates. the first seal (red wax) was on the knot, which was over the under end of the screw. the end of the screw projected a little through the wood, but was covered by the seal. the second seal was over the ends of the tape. the head of the screw was also covered by a seal, and three (3) additional seals were affixed on the outside edges of the slates, where they were crossed by the tape. one of the three impressions at the edges of the slates was made by professor thompson's right thumb. [a test was then proposed by professor thompson, which the commission does not feel at liberty to make public, as it has not yet been carried out, and publicity may interfere with its success.] geo. s. fullerton, _secretary_. * * * * * november 5th, 1884. the commission met at the house of mr. furness, 222 west washington square, on november 5th, 1884, at 8 p.m. there were present dr. wm. pepper and mrs. pepper, dr. leidy, dr. koenig, prof. thompson, mr. furness, mr. george s. pepper, miss logan, mr. fullerton, mr. coleman sellers, and the medium, mrs. margaret fox kane, who was the guest of mr. furness at the time. those present seated themselves around an oak dining table, some eight feet by four and a-half feet and the usual height. mrs. kane was at one end of the table and mr. sellers at the other. the medium sat with her feet partly under the table, and consequently concealed from most of those present--her feet were hidden also by her dress. dr. leidy asked the question: "is any spirit present?" ans. three raps. dr. leidy: "will you confer with the man to left of the medium?" ans. two raps. (no.) dr. leidy: "to the right?" ans. three raps. professor thompson (who was the person indicated): "is the spirit male?" ans. three raps. "will it answer to the alphabet?" three raps. the alphabet was called and "henry seybert" spelled out. mr. sellers: "will henry seybert make the raps at this end of the table?" ans. no. "is he satisfied with the commission?" five raps were given for the alphabet; professor thompson called it; raps spelled out: "i will be satisfied before the investigation is through." mr. sellers: "does mr. seybert know the names of the commission?" ans. three raps. "does he know who is now speaking?" three raps. mr. sellers then pointed to the letters of the alphabet, which he had written in order on a sheet of paper, and raps spelled out: charles ceri. mrs. kane then tried standing at some distance from the table, with her hands on the back of a chair; there were some raps seemingly near or under the medium. raps were produced as members of the committee stood with the medium around the desk in the library, and close to a book-case. raps were produced according to the medium on the glass door of a book-case, upon which mr. sellers placed his hand. mr. sellers felt no vibration on the glass, but raps were heard somewhere in the vicinity. the committee then returned to the dining-room and the medium wrote upon a sheet of paper the following: "friend pepper: i am happy to meet you here to-night. i have not forgotten my promise to you, henry seybert." the paper had to be held to the light and read from the obverse side, as the message was written from right to left. mr. geo. pepper: "do you remember the year in which you made the promise?" the answer given in same way was: "it was in the year in which my spirit left the body. h.s. call the alphabet, h.s." dr. pepper called the alphabet--the sentence "let friend pepper call the alphabet" was rapped out. mr. geo. pepper called the alphabet: the letters hand were rapped out, and the communication ceased. the medium wrote then as before: "friend pepper, meet me again." it was asked whether mr. seybert would meet us on the next evening? ans. three raps. the committee adjourned at 9.30 o'clock to meet again at 8 o'clock on the next evening at the same place. geo. s. fullerton. _secretary_. the following stenographic report of the meeting of november 6th, 1884, has been read and approved by the commission before being entered upon this book. the few additions which were made when it was read, appear as foot notes. the report was approved as excellent. (a record from the notes of the stenographer--mr. j.i. gilbert.) philada., november 6th, 1884. the committee reconvened this day, at 8 o'clock p.m., at the residence of mr. h.h. furness, when the investigation of the spirit rappings, in the presence of mrs. margaret fox kane as medium, was resumed. the persons present were the following: of the committee--dr. leidy, mr. furness, dr. koenig, mr. fullerton, mr. coleman sellers, and by invitation of the committee, mr. geo. s. pepper. the medium--mrs. kane. the stenographer--mr. gilbert. the company promptly repaired to the dining-room, and there gathered around a common pine-wood table, consisting solely of its supports and top, which had been specially provided, in compliance with the direction of the medium. the dimensions of the table, approximately stated, are as follows: height, three feet; length, four feet; width, two and a-half feet. the 'spirit rappings' during the evening, aside from those heard during the test with the glass tumblers, were apparently confined to the floor-space in the immediate vicinity of, and directly beneath the table described--around which the company were seated in the order here stated. mr. sellers (to whom had been deputed the duty of eliciting the responses) occupied the chair at the end of the table more remote from the stenographer. next, upon mr. sellers' right and at the side of the table, sat mr. pepper, and mr. furness in the adjoining seat. the first chair on the side of the table to the left of mr. sellers was occupied by the medium, and the remaining chair on the same side by mr. fullerton. at the near end of the table, dr. leidy and dr. koenig were seated. the committee, with one exception, in accordance with a requirement imposed by the medium, rested their hands upon the table and fixed their minds upon the subject of the rappings. the exception was dr. koenig, who, being seated at a distance of three feet from the table, could not conveniently comply with the requirement. after the expiration of some twenty minutes, the medium requested dr. koenig to place his hands upon the table, and he promptly complied with the request and moved his chair closer to that of dr. leidy, thus depriving himself of any facilities of observation of the space beneath the table. the stenographer was at a table about four feet from the circle of the committee. the lengths of the intervals between the questions addressed to the spirits and the responses thereto, were computed by the audible second-strokes of a clock in an adjoining apartment; the periods of waiting being necessarily brief in view of the assurance of the medium (as set forth in its proper place in the report) that "when the raps come, they come right away." the "spirit rappings" varied materially in quality and character, being at times faintly, and at other times distinctly audible. the record of the investigation is as follows: mr. sellers: is any spirit present now? three raps--faint and partly indistinct--are almost instantly audible. the raps apparently emanate from the floor-space directly beneath, or in the immediate vicinity of the table. this remark is applicable to all the rappings during the séance at the pine table. the medium (interpreting the sounds): that was "yes." mr. sellers (aside): they sounded like three. the raps are immediately repeated with more distinctness. mr. sellers (aside): there are three, and they are quite distinct. (resuming): is the spirit the same one that was present last night? three raps, apparently identical with those last heard, are again audible. mr. sellers (aside): it says it is the same spirit. (resuming): i presume then it is henry seybert? (no response.) is it henry seybert? three raps--distinct and positive. mr. sellers: you promised last evening to give a communication to mr. pepper. are you able to communicate with him now? two raps--comparatively feeble. the medium (interpreting): one, two: that means "not now." mr. sellers (repeating): "not now." the medium (reflectively): but probably before he leaves. three raps--quickly, distinctly and instantly given. the medium: he said "yes," "before he leaves." (to mr. sellers): you asked that question, i think? mr. sellers: yes. (resuming): will you communicate with him before mr. pepper leaves to-night? three raps--instantaneous, quick and vigorous. the sounds in this instance are four times repeated, the repetitions being in quick succession and apparently without variation in quality or character. mr. sellers (addressing his associates): it has been very clearly shown to-night that certain sounds of greater or less volume have been produced. we have heard the sounds. we are conscious that they are raps. it is exceedingly important, in deference to the medium herself, that we should prove that she has nothing to do with the production of the sounds other than in a spiritualistic capacity. i would like to ask her if there is any test that she herself can propose which would be capable of satisfying us that she does not produce the sounds. the medium: i could name a great many tests, but they might not be satisfactory to you; for instance, the one of standing on glass tumblers, where the raps are produced on the floor. mr. sellers: will the raps be produced under such circumstances? the medium: i cannot say that they will be, any more than i can say that they will be produced through the use of the table. in fact, they are not so readily produced sometimes. mr. sellers: i understand your position. but you say that there are cases in which, when the medium is standing upon glass, the sounds are produced. the medium: oh, yes. i mention that--the producing through glass--as one of the most difficult of tests. mr. sellers: then the sounds will be just beneath your feet, will they? the medium: well, they will seem to be. they may be on the side. after a brief interval, during which mr. furness absented himself to procure glass tumblers, the colloquy with the medium was resumed. mr. sellers: while we are waiting for those tumblers, will you repeat the experiment of last night, that of standing near the table and not touching it, to see if the same character of sounds then produced can be again heard? last evening we had a very satisfactory exhibition of that. the medium: yes. but we have to keep to a certain condition; that is, you are not to break. for instance, if you will all stand up and stand touching the table--all of us--until we get started, it will be some assistance. all of the gentlemen and the medium rise and remain standing with their hands in contact with the table. the medium (continuing): this is a test, something that i have not gone through with since i was a little child almost. mr. sellers (after an interval of waiting): there seem to be no raps. (another short interval.) now, mr. seybert, cannot you produce some raps? eighty seconds here elapsed with no response, when the medium made an observation which was partly inaudible at the reporter's seat, the purport of which was that the spirit communications are sometimes retarded or facilitated by a compliance by the listeners with certain conditions. another interval of probably two minutes elapsed, when the medium suggested to dr. leidy to place his hands upon the table. the suggestion was complied with. mr. sellers inquires of the medium whether a change in her position, with regard to the table, would do any good. the medium: i will change positions with you. the change was made accordingly, but without result, and another period of waiting followed. the medium (to dr. leidy): suppose you ask some questions. you may have some friend who will respond. dr. leidy: is any spirit present whom i know, or who knows me? after a pause of ten seconds, three light raps are heard. dr. leidy: who am i? the medium explains that the responses by rappings are mainly indicative only of affirmation or negation. dr. leidy: will you repeat your taps to indicate that you are present yet? three taps are heard. mr. sellers: those are very clearly heard. the medium (to dr. leidy): ask if that is mr. seybert? dr. leidy: is mr. seybert present? three raps--very feeble. dr. leidy (to mr. sellers): was there an answer to that? mr. sellers: there was. the answer was three raps. (after an interval, in which no response is received): there seem to be no further communications. i suggest that the test with the glass tumblers be now tried. upon the suggestion of the medium, the test referred to was momentarily deferred, and mr. sellers made this inquiry: it is proposed that the medium shall stand upon tumblers. are we likely to have any demonstration? three raps--promptly given, though feeble in delivery and but faintly audible. the medium: there were three--a kind of tardy assent. mr. sellers (to the medium): as if the spirits might or might not communicate? the medium: well, that a trial might be made. three raps are here again instantly heard--the characteristics of the sounds in this instance being rapidity and energy, or positiveness. the medium: that is a quick answer. at this point attention is directed to the first of a series of experiments with four glass tumblers, which are placed together, with the bottoms upward, on the carpeted floor, in the centre of a vacant space. the medium stands directly upon these, the heels of her shoes resting upon the rear tumblers and the soles upon the front tumblers. the committee co-operate with the medium, and, in conformity with her suggestions, all the men clasp hands and form a semi-circle in front of the medium, the hands of the latter being grasped by the gentlemen nearest to her on either side. mr. sellers (after a notification from the medium to proceed): is mr. seybert still present? no response. the medium: it may be a few minutes before you will hear any rapping through these glasses. ten seconds elapse. the medium: this test is a very satisfactory one, if they do it. and they have done it a hundred times. five seconds elapse. the medium (to mr. furness): the glasses are not placed over marble, are they? mr. furness: no; the floor is of wood. mr. sellers (after another interval of waiting) informally remarked to mr. furness: we will wait probably for another minute to see if anything comes. as you know, the medium claims it is impossible for her to control these things--that she is merely one who is operated through. another interval expires. the medium: that was a very faint rap. suppose we change the position of the glasses. note by the stenographer.--no intimation is given that the rap here spoken of was heard by any one other than the medium herself. pursuant to the request just stated, the carpet is removed and the glass tumblers are located on the bare floor at a point about five feet distant from the place at which the first test was tried. the new location is in the centre of a passage way, about three feet in width, between a side-board on one side and a wall projection on the other. its selection is apparently, though not specifically, dictated by the position and movements of the medium. the medium and the committee resume their positions, the former standing on the glasses and the gentlemen facing her in a group. the medium: now, spirits, will you rap on the floor? thirty seconds here elapsed with no response, when one glass was heard to click against another, and the medium exclaimed, "oh." the medium (repeating): will you rap on the floor? thirty seconds now elapse without any demonstration. the medium (aside): it seems to be a failure. they have done it. another click of the glasses, which passes without comment. mr. sellers: we will have to set down the result of the experiment on glass tumblers as negative. it may be well to try it later. the medium (evidently reluctant to abandon the test): suppose now, as we have gone so far, we kind of form a chain. the company retained their positions with hands joined, and the spirits were repeatedly requested to make their presence known--mr. pepper, at the suggestion of the medium, asking the spirit of his friend, henry seybert, to manifest its presence by one rap--but all efforts to elicit such response proved ineffectual. the glasses were then removed and the requests were again reiterated, but with a like negative result. the medium finally remarked that she had rarely known of failures with the glass tumblers, but it had been a long time since she had tried them. she suggested that this branch of the investigation might be deferred until later. the committee acquiesced in the suggestion and returned to the pine table, where, with the medium, they resume their original positions. the stenographer is seated at the table in the rear of the company. mr. sellers: now we have returned to the table. can you indicate on the table your presence, mr. seybert? an interval of sixty-four seconds here followed. the medium: ask some questions that would interest him in life. as mr. sellers was repeating to mr. pepper the suggestion made by the medium, three raps were heard. mr. sellers: there is now a communication that he is present. mr. pepper: harry, would you like to know something about this investigation of spiritual manifestations, which you had so much at heart while living? three raps--prompt and decided. mr. sellers: do you, mr. seybert, at the present time, see the persons present? are they visible before you? two raps--noticeably slow. mr. sellers (aside): he says "no, they are not." the medium (interpreting): well, that would be too--'partially.' dr. koenig: what would that mean--that he only sees some of us, or that he sees none of us entirely, but only partially? the medium: that he sees us, but not clearly. mr. sellers: will you please rap the number of the members of the committee who are present at this time? three raps. mr. sellers: now, say how many. three raps. mr. sellers: are there only three? the medium (to mr. sellers): that answer was 'yes,' i think. mr. sellers: well, you say you can do it. please count the number of the members of the committee who are present. [a]seven raps--very slow, deliberate and distinct. [footnote a: when, in answer to mr. sellers' question, the raps counted the number of the committee present, the number seven was indicated. _this counted in mr. george s. pepper and the stenographer._--g.s.f.] mr. sellers: are there seven members of the committee present? three raps. mr. sellers: are they all seated around one table? no response. about forty seconds elapse. mr. sellers: are they seated at two tables? [b]three raps--quite feeble. [footnote b: when the raps indicated that the members of the commission sat at _two_ tables, this expressly included in the number of the commission the stenographer, who sat at a different table from that at which the members of the commission were seated at the time of asking the question.--g.s.f.] mr. sellers (to his associates): we still must go back to the one thing. the information we receive through these responses is of little importance to us compared with the information which we must obtain as to whether these sounds are produced by a disembodied spirit or by some living person; that is, in deference to the medium. (to mr. furness): do you not think so? mr. furness is understood to assent. mr. sellers (continuing): we have tried the glass tumblers. we have the sounds here. i would ask mrs. kane if it is proper for us to look below the top of the table at the time the sounds are being produced, and in such a way as to see her feet. the medium: yes, of course, you could do that, but it is not well to break, when you are standing, suddenly. as you know, you have to conform to the rules, else you will get no rappings. mr. sellers: what are the rules? the medium (disconnectedly): the rules are--every test condition, that i am perfectly willing to go through, and have gone through a thousand times--at the same time, there are times when you can break the rules. so slight a thing as the disjoining of hands may break the rules. i do not think the standing on the glass has been fully tried. mr. sellers: we will try that later. mr. furness (to the medium--informally): this investigation is one of great importance to us. there is no question about it--we have heard these curious sounds. now, as to whether they come from spirits or not--that would seem to be the very next logical step in our inquiry. i think you are entirely at one with us in every possible desire to have this phenomenon investigated. the medium: oh, certainly. but i pledge myself to conform to nothing, for--as i said in europe--i do not even say the sounds are from spirits; and, what is more, it is utterly beyond human power to detect them. i do not say they are the spirits of our departed friends, but i leave others to judge for themselves. mr. furness: then you have come to the conclusion that they are entirely independent of yourself. the medium: no, i do not know that they are entirely independent of myself. mr. furness: under what conditions can you influence them? the response, which was partly inaudible at the reporter's seat, was understood to be: "i cannot tell." mr. furness: you say that, in the generality of cases, they are beyond your control? the medium: yes. mr. furness: how in the world shall we test that? the medium: well, by-mr. furness: by--what? isolating you from the table? the medium: yes. mr. furness (applying his right hand, by her permission, to the medium's head): are you ever conscious of any vibration in your bones? the medium: no; but sometimes it causes an exhaustion, that is, under circumstances when the raps do not come freely. mr. furness: the freer the raps come, the better for you? the medium: yes; the freer the better--the less exhaustion. mr. sellers: but do you feel now, to-night, any untoward influence operating against you? the medium: no, not to-night, for it takes quite a little while before we feel those things. mr. furness: do these raps always have that vibratory sound--tr-rut--tr-rut--tr-rut? the medium: sometimes they vary. mr. furness: as a general rule i have heard them sound so. the medium: every rap has a different sound. for instance, when the spirit of mr. seybert rapped, if the sound was a good one, you would have noticed that his rap was different from that of another. every one is entirely different from another. mr. furness: do you suppose that the present conditions are such that you can throw the raps to a part of the room other than that in which you are? the medium: i do not pretend to do that, but i will try to do it. mr. furness and dr. leidy station themselves in the corner of the room, diagonally, and most remote from the pine table, at which their associates remain seated, with their hands upon the table, and 'their minds intent on having the raps produced at the corner indicated,' as requested by the medium, who also remains at the table. the medium asks, 'will the spirit rap at the other side of the room,' and, after twelve seconds, and again after forty-three seconds, repeats the inquiry. no response is received. the experiment is repeated with mr. furness and dr. koenig at the corner, but with a like negative result. at this point the attention of the committee was again directed to the attempted production of the rappings with the medium standing upon the glass tumblers. the lady proceeded to the space between the side-board and the wall where the last preceding test had been made, and there the tumblers were again arranged. the medium resumed her position upon them, with doctors leidy and koenig, and messrs. sellers and furness facing her. the medium: will the spirit rap here? twenty-three seconds elapse. dr. leidy: is any spirit present? an interval of thirty-nine seconds here followed, when the attention of the committee was momentarily diverted by an inquiry addressed to mr. furness by mr. sellers, viz.: whether a glass plate of sufficient strength to bear the weight of the medium was procurable. at this moment the medium suddenly exclaimed: 'i heard a rap. you said, "get a glass," and there was a rap.'[a] [footnote a: no one but the medium heard this rap.--g.s.f.] the medium (repeating for the information of mr. furness): somebody proposed a glass and there were three raps. dr. koenig inquires of the medium whether the meaning intended to be conveyed by the sounds is that the spirits desire to have the glass plate procured. the medium: i do not know. i know there were raps. (turning to mr. sellers, the medium adds): they may have been made by your heel on the floor but certainly there were sounds. mr. fullerton: then it was not the regular triple rap? the medium: i could not tell. just before calling attention to the alleged rap or raps the medium grasped with her right hand the woodwork of the side-board as if for support. it was then that she stated she heard the sounds. they were apparently not heard by any one but the medium. mr. sellers (addressing the spirit): will you repeat the raps we heard just now, assuming that there were some? ten minutes elapse without a response. the medium: there is no use of my standing longer, for when they come at all they come right away. mr. sellers (after scrutinizing the position of one of the feet of the medium, remarks): the edge of the heel of the shoe rests on the back tumbler. (assuming a stooping posture for a more prolonged scrutiny, he adds): we will see whether the raps will be produced now. the medium now proposes that all members of the committee shall stand up and join hands. mr. sellers and his associates accordingly stand, facing the medium, with hands joined. changes in their positions were made by some of the gentlemen from time to time, as suggested by the medium, mr. pepper and dr. koenig being the first to exchange places. this occurred after a silence of thirty seconds without any response. the medium: now, mr. seybert, if your spirit is here, will you have the kindness--i knew mr. seybert well in life--to rap? fifteen seconds elapse. the medium: no, he does not seem to respond. at the suggestion of mr. sellers, all the gentlemen approach the medium for the purpose of inducing some acknowledgment by the spirit, and inquiries similar to those already stated are repeated without result. the committee then temporarily abandon this test. all present (except the stenographer) having been seated at the large circular table in the centre of the room, mr. pepper addressed the spirit of mr. seybert, as follows: 'harry, will you communicate with me as you promised to do?' (three raps--given slowly and deliberately--are heard.) mr. sellers: will you communicate with mr. pepper by raps or by writing? (no response.) will you communicate by raps? the medium (to mr. sellers): well, my hand does feel like writing. will you give me a piece of paper?--and maybe they will give me some directions. mr. fullerton (to the medium): how does your hand feel when affected in that way? the medium: it is a peculiar feeling, like that from taking hold of electrical instruments. i do not know but that you might possibly feel it in my hand. the lady here extended her right hand upon the table toward mr. fullerton. the latter placed his left hand upon the extended hand of the medium, and subsequently remarked that the pulsation of her wrist was a little above the ordinary rate. the medium, ostensibly under spirit influence, with lead pencil in hand proceeded to write two communications from the spirit of the late henry seybert. the first of these covered two pages of paper of the size of ordinary foolscap. the medium wrote in large characters, with remarkable rapidity, and in a direction from the right to the left, or the reverse of ordinary handwriting. the writing, consequently, could be read only from the reverse side of the paper and by being held up so as to permit the gas-light to pass through it. the communications, as deciphered by mr. sellers, with the aid of mr. fullerton and the medium, were as follows: "you must not expect that i can satisfy you beyond all doubt in so short a time as you have yet had. i want to give you all in my power, and will do so if you will give me a chance. you must commence right in the first place or you shall all be disappointed for a much longer time. _princiipis obsta sero medicina paratum._ henry seybert. "mend the fault in time or we will all be puzzled. henry seybert." the foregoing were understood to be directed to mr. pepper, in accordance with the assurance given by the spirit that it would communicate with him. subsequently, when the trance condition had apparently disappeared, the medium complied with a request to write, as it would be read to her, the latin phrase at the end of the first communication. using the pencil in her right hand, she transcribed slowly and in the usual direction from left to right. the style of her handwriting was small and comparatively neat. apparently in every particular her writing in this instance was the exact opposite of that made by her while in the alleged trance condition. she here stated that, ordinarily, she wrote in the same manner in which people generally write, with her right hand and from left to right. with respect to her inability to transcribe the latin words until these had been spelled for her, she explained that she was not at all familiar with latin.[a] [footnote a: mr. george s. pepper, who was present, said that mr. seybert knew no latin.--g.s.f.] a member of the committee, commenting upon a defect in the spelling of the first of the latin words in the spirit communication, suggested that the error might be accounted for on the hypothesis that mr. seybert, in life, was accustomed to the use of poor latin. the medium farther explained that her understanding of the second communication was that it was a translation of the latin contained in the first. the glass tumblers are here again produced and the medium takes her position upon them, with mr. fullerton standing next to her upon the right and mr. furness to the left. mr. sellers remains for some moments kneeling on the floor to enable himself better to hear any sounds that may be but faintly audible. the spirits are repeatedly importuned by the medium to produce the rappings, but no response is heard until the company is about to abandon the experiment. three raps are then audible. the raps are very light but very distinct. mr. fullerton states that he heard the raps. mr. sellers: i heard a sound then, but it seemed as if it was around there. (indicating along the wall immediately in the rear of the medium.) the tumblers are here moved further away from the wall and the medium resumes her position upon them. mr. sellers: will the spirit rap again? (no response.) the medium: were any of you gentlemen acquainted with mr. seybert in his lifetime? mr. fullerton: i saw him several times before his death. if he can give an intimation now of anything he said at that time, it will indicate that he remembers it. a very faint rap is heard. the medium: there is a rap. it seems to be there again. (indicating the spot to which attention was previously called by mr. sellers.) the medium again importunes, first, 'mr. seybert' and next 'the spirits' 'to rap;' and the importunities are repeated. three raps are distinctly but faintly heard. mr. sellers: i heard them. they sounded somewhat like the others, not exactly. the medium: i heard one rap, but it is nothing for me to hear them; i want you gentlemen to hear them. mr. sellers: probably we will hear them again. while mr. sellers and mr. furness are conversing, several raps are heard, though less distinct than the preceding ones. the medium: there they are as though right under the glass. (after a silence of forty seconds): now i hear them again very light--oh, very light. mr. furness, with the permission of the medium, places his hand upon one of her feet. the medium: there are raps now, strong--yes, i hear them. mr. furness (to the medium): this is the most wonderful thing of all, mrs. kane, i distinctly feel them in your foot. there is not a particle of motion in your foot, but there is an unusual pulsation. mr. sellers here made some inquiries of the medium, concerning the shoes now worn by her. the replies, which were not direct, are here given. mr. sellers: are those the shoes which you usually wear? the medium: i wear all kinds of shoes. mr. sellers: are the sounds sometimes produced in your room when you have no shoes on. the medium: more or less. they are produced under all circumstances. following the suggestion of the medium, all present proceed through an intervening apartment to the library where the medium selects various positions--standing upon a lounge, then upon a cushioned chair, next upon a step-ladder and finally upon the side of a book-case--but all with a like unsuccessful result, no response by rappings being heard. upon an intimation being given by a member of the committee that the medium may be wearied, the further prosecution of the investigation is temporarily deferred. * * * * * after the examination of mrs. kane, and after the stenographer had left, the commission held a conference, and commissioned mr. furness to lay before mrs. kane the question of continuing or closing the investigation, so far as she was concerned. if she were sanguine of more satisfactory results at another séance, the commission was willing to prolong the investigation. geo. s. fullerton, _secretary_. below is given the letter from mr. furness, explaining why the investigation of mrs. kane was not continued. the decision to discontinue it came from her. my dear fullerton: you remember that the members of the seybert commission separated last evening with the understanding that we should meet mrs. kane again this evening, if mrs. kane desired it, and that they requested me to lay the question before her for her decision. accordingly, i had an interview with her this morning, of which the following is as accurate an account as i can remember. i told her that the commission had now had two séances with her, and that the conclusion to which they had come is that the so-called raps are confined wholly to her person, whether produced by her voluntarily or involuntarily they had not attempted to decide; furthermore, that although thus satisfied in their own minds they were anxious to treat her with all possible deference and consideration, and accordingly had desired me to say to her that if she thought another séance with her would or might modify or reverse their conclusion, they held themselves ready to meet her again this evening and renew the investigation of the manifestations; at the same time i felt it my duty to add that in that case the examination would necessarily be of the most searching description. mrs. kane replied that the manifestations at both séances had been of an unsatisfactory nature, so unsatisfactory that she really could not blame the commission for arriving at their conclusion. in her present state of health she doubted whether a third meeting would prove any better than the two already held. it might be even more unsatisfactory, and instead of removing the present belief of the commission it might add confirmation of it. in view of these considerations, she decided not to hold another séance. afterward, during the forenoon (you know she has been and still is my guest), she recurred to the subject, and added that if hereafter her health improved it would give her pleasure to make a free-will offering to the commission of a number of séances for further investigations. i forgot to tell you, when we last met, that yesterday morning, the 6th of november, i brought away from mrs. patterson our sealed slate. it contains no writing, so mrs. patterson says. during the many months that it has been in this medium's possession i have made to her the most urgent appeals, both in person and by letter, to fulfill her promise of causing the writing to appear in it. her invariable excuse has been her lack of time. i remain yours, horace howard furness, _acting chairman_. 7th november, 1884. it will be seen from the last paragraph of the preceding letter that the attempt to produce 'independent writing' on the inside of the slate sealed by the commission was without result. the slate was sealed on may 31st, 1884 (as described in the records of the meeting of that date), was placed in the hands of the medium, mrs. patterson, the next day, where it remained until november 6th. geo. s. fullerton, _secretary_. * * * * * january 16th, 1885. the commission met on friday evening, january 16th, 1885, for the purpose of examining a second slate which had been sealed by mr. furness and left with mrs. patterson, and was now returned to the commission. the slate was screwed and sealed by mr. furness, just before christmas, and was in the hands of the medium until january 12th. [so importunate was the acting chairman in his entreaties to mrs. patterson to bring to bear on these slates all her spiritual power, that at last he induced her to name a certain afternoon that should be devoted to the task. he went to her house on the day named, and sat with her while she held the slates in her lap. to increase to the utmost all available spiritual force, mrs. patterson's two daughters and her brother-in-law, mr. winner, were called in and shared the session. after sitting for nearly two hours, the little pencil had not made its appearance on the outside, but could still be heard rattling inside, and the obdurate spirits were abandoned for the day.--h.h.f.] the slate was secured as follows: [illustration] the two leaves of the slate were fastened by four screws at 1, 2, 3 and 4; one side of the slate was already secured by the hinges 8, 8; the slate had then been wrapped by the tape 9, 9, as indicated, the knot being at 4; seals had then been set over the heads of the screws, upon the tape, at 1, 2, 3 and 4, and also over the ends of the screws, upon the tape, on the other side of the slate; a seal was also placed upon the ends of the tape at 5; and two seals at one corner, at the places indicated by 6 and 7. the corner marked by the arrow (<--) was protected only by the screws and seals at 3 and 4. when the slate was shaken no sound of the rattling of the pencil was heard--a pencil-scrap having been enclosed as usual in the slate when it was sealed. the medium had declared that the pencil was gone, but said she did not know whether there was writing on the slate or not. the seals were first examined and declared intact. then dr. leidy pushed a thin knife-blade between the slates at the unprotected corner, marked by the arrow on the sketch. then mr. sellers pushed in a thick knife-blade a little to one side of dr. leidy's. (the exact place is marked on the rim of the slate itself.) both the blades were thrust straight in--dr. leidy's exactly at the corner, and mr. sellers's at the point marked, and neither of them was worked about between the slates. the slates were thus separated by the thick knife-blade about one-tenth of an inch. the seals were not broken by this. while the slates were thus separated, it was noticed that the wood was discolored and rubbed glossy on the sides of the crack. mr. sellers then removed the tape, seals and screws. the slate being opened, no pencil was found and no pencil-marks appeared on the slate. the rims were worn smooth and blackened at the corner where the slates could be separated; this was very distinct. some soap-stone dust, which dr. koenig identified under a microscope as the same with a remaining fragment of the pencil inserted (which mr. furness had preserved), was found rubbed into the same corner, showing that _the slates had been separated and the piece of pencil worked out_. mr. furness then produced three slates of the same sort (with hinges, and about 8 in. by 6.) to be used in the presence of dr. slade. they were screwed up with a bit of pencil inside, in the presence of the commission. each was marked on the inside by mr. sellers, with a scratch from a diamond. to mr. furness was delegated the work of sealing them. [as dr. slade, however, refused to use any of our sealed slates, our labor was wasted.] geo. s. fullerton, _secretary_. * * * * * the following is a stenographic report of a meeting of the commission, to consider the reports offered by several members of séances with dr. henry slade, who came to philadelphia to meet the commission. as he refused to sit with more than three of the commission at a time, it was necessary to visit him in sections. arrangements had been made to have all the members sit with him in turn, but it was soon decided that continuity of observation was valuable, and certain members were appointed to do the whole work. (a record from the notes of the stenographer, mr. j.i. gilbert.) philada., february 7th, 1885. a formal session of the seybert committee was held to-day at 8 o'clock p.m., at the residence of mr. furness, no. 222 west washington square. the session was devoted to consideration of the séances held with dr. henry slade, from january 21st to january 28th inclusive. the following is a compilation of written notes and verbal comments upon the séances by members of the committee: mr. coleman sellers (referring to notes): the committee met on january 21st, 1885, at the girard house, philadelphia, in room 24. there were present: messrs. thompson, sellers and furness, of the committee, and the medium, dr. henry slade. the séance was conducted at a pine table prepared by the medium, which was supplied with two falling leaves and stationed at a point remote from the centre of the room, and contiguous to a wall of the apartment. upon the table were two ordinary writing slates and fragments of slate pencils. the relative positions of the medium and the committee were as follows: the medium was seated in the space between the table and the wall. professor thompson occupied a chair at the side of the table to the right, and mr. furness one at the side to the left of the medium. mr. sellers was seated at the side directly opposite to the medium. after calling attention to the slates and the pencil pieces, the medium remarked that, as his baggage had not come to hand, he was apprehensive that the sitting would not be a very good one. a brief, general conversation followed, and then, complying with a direction of the medium, all present joined hands upon the table. thereupon the medium abruptly started back, and, remarking that he had received a very severe shock of some kind, inquired whether the gentlemen present had not experienced a like sensation. the responses were in the negative. the medium next proposed to give an exhibition of "spiritism" through the agency of communications invisibly written upon the apparently blank surface of one of the slates. at this point mr. sellers asked that the table be examined, and, with the assent of the medium, an examination was accordingly made by the committee; the only noteworthy result of which was the discovery immediately beneath the table-top of openings or slots into which the bars supporting the table leaves entered when turned to permit the lowering of the leaves. (mr. sellers here continued, without reference to notes): these slots and the use to which i ascertained they might be applied are worthy of special comment, as they played a very important part in all the expositions that were made of the medium slade's manifestations. the slot under the table into which the vibrating bar passed when the leaf was lowered was an inch and a-quarter in depth. at a later period of the meeting, when the opportunity was afforded, i took the slate in my hand, and, from the table side at which i was seated (the one directly opposite the medium's position) passed it into the slot, allowing it to rest there diagonally. upon removing my hand the slate remained suspended in its place, and in a position in which it could conveniently be written upon. i may add that this arrangement of the slate is said to be an essential feature of slade's favorite method of writing. the medium did not fail to notice my experiment of passing the slate into the slot, and, upon the occasion of my second attendance at the "manifestations" (which was at the third meeting of the committee), having dispensed with the table i have described and prepared another, he somewhat ostentatiously called attention to the fact that the table then produced contained no slots such as those of which i have spoken. i have a memorandum of the size of the slots. the dimensions of the table last referred to are given in mr. fullerton's report. (mr. sellers, referring again to his notes): taking a slate in his hand slade held it beneath the table leaf to his right, when almost immediately there was a succession of faintly audible sounds such as would have been made by writing on the slate under the table. a knock indicated that the writing had ceased. the medium then attempted to withdraw the slate, but in this encountered a seeming resistance, and only succeeded by a jerk, as if wrenching the slate from the grasp of a strong person who was below the table. upon the slate, which was at once inspected, appeared in a fair, running handwriting, and as if written with a pencil held firmly in hand, the following: "my friends, look well to the truth and learn wisdom, i am truly james clark." (continuing, without reference to notes): this writing differed entirely, in general appearance, from the subsequent writings upon the slate, having apparently been made with the rounded point of a pencil held in an easy and natural position for writing. in other instances the writings had a strained and artificial appearance, and had evidently been made with a pencil point which had been flattened before being used. professor thompson (to mr. sellers): do you remember that at the session of which you now speak the medium denied having any knowledge of james clark, and afterwards said that he did know of him? mr. sellers: i remember distinctly that he said he knew nothing of james clark's affairs, and that, on another day, he presented a communication from a william clark. (mr. sellers here resumed his reading from notes, as follows): the writing was obliterated from it and the slate again held under the table, when the question was asked, "will you do more." an interval of perhaps one or two minutes elapsed when the slate was exhibited, and upon it appeared the word "yes." the word had been written with a broad-ended pencil, and neither in style nor character resembled the first writing. mr. sellers, complying with the medium's request to write a question on the back of the slate, wrote "do you know the persons present?" the response which was made to this was "yes, we do." no additional manifestations by writings were made at the first meeting. during the sitting many raps were produced on the table through some invisible agency, and as these sounds, in some instances, were such as could be made by simple means and at the command of a person sitting at the table, a member of the committee reproduced the sounds. it was the conviction of the members of the committee present that the sounds thus produced were similar to the sounds said to have been made by spirits. the medium, however, professed his ability to distinguish between the two classes of sounds, and remarked that some of the sounds heard by him were such as would be made by a person touching the table and causing it to make the raps; that such sounds were not from the spirits; that when the raps were genuine they caused a peculiar sensation, a sort of tremor, in his breast, and, therefore, he could tell when the raps were spurious. (mr. sellers, aside): in other words, that none were genuine but those made by himself. (resuming, from notes): the medium, in answer to inquiries, gave a detailed description of the remarkable phenomena said to have been produced in the presence of professor zoellner--which, he said, were as unexpected to himself (slade) as they were to any one; that they were beyond his control, and evidently the work of spirits under very favorable conditions. mr. sellers here read the minutes of the meeting of january 22d, 1885, as prepared by professor fullerton. (the minutes are as follows): the committee met on thursday, january 22d, 1885, at 12 m., in the girard house, philadelphia. present: messrs. thompson, furness, fullerton and the medium, henry slade. a table measuring five or four and a-half by three feet, was used by the medium. it was an oval table with two leaves. the medium sat at one side, with mr. furness at the end of the table to his left, professor thompson at the end to his right, and mr. fullerton opposite. a circle was first formed by joining hands upon the table. a slate was passed to mr. fullerton by the medium, with the request that it be held by him under the table leaf to his (mr. fullerton's) left. the slate was held by mr. fullerton as requested, but at no time during the sitting was any writing produced on the slate. toward the close of the séance the slate was held for some time under the opposite table leaf by messrs. furness and fullerton. dr. slade, after cleaning a slate, held it under the table-leaf to his right, in the space between himself and professor thompson. the slate was not held close to the table, but in a slanting position, so that a space of perhaps four or five inches was left between the edge of the slate farthest removed from the table and the table itself. a piece of pencil, broken from a small pencil--about 1-16th to 1-12th in. cross section, was laid on the slate. a series of questions were here propounded, in each instance the inquiry being followed by a scratching sound, and the slate being then withdrawn from under the table and showing writing upon it. these writings were construed as responses. the questions and answers were as follows:-1. it was asked: will the spirits answer questions? ans. (as above). 'we will try,' 2. is the gentleman opposite a medium? (mr. fullerton.) ans. he has some power. 3. are there more spirits than one present? ans. yes, there is. 4. another communication which appeared on the slate was 'we will do more soon.' 5. ques. do you move this pencil? ans. we do, of course. 6. tell us if you will play the accordion, or try to to-day? ans. yes. the accordion (a small one) was then held partly under the leaf of the table, where the slates had been. it played a little. the members of the commission could not see it when in that position, or at least could not see the whole of it. mr. fullerton, by looking under professor thompson's arm, over the table, could occasionally catch a glimpse of it as dr. slade moved it to and fro, but saw only one corner. dr. slade then marked a slate with a line, and laid one of the bits of pencil upon the line. a large slate pencil was then laid along the edge of the slate. the slate was placed below the edge of the table beside dr. slade (to his right, as usual) when the large pencil was thrown up into the air two and a-half or three feet above the table. when the slate was brought up into view again the small bit of pencil was still in its place. this would, of course, be nothing remarkable if the medium's finger were upon the small bit of pencil at the time of the jerk. another slate was held by dr. slade on the same side of and below the table (as far as i could judge from his arm it was nearly as low as dr. slade's knee), and it was suddenly broken into many pieces, the frame being at once held up for inspection by dr. slade. it did not seem to have been broken against the table, as there was no shock felt in the table, nor did the sound indicate it. it might have been broken by a sudden blow upon the knee, as dr. slade's knees were in close proximity to the place where the slate was held. [the following are notes of points which mr. sellers asked me particularly to observe.--g.s.f.] note 1.--the bits of pencil placed upon the slates seemed to be used in writing, for pieces with sharp edges were broken and put on the slates and afterwards were found somewhat worn. note 2.--they were apparently the same pieces, as the size was the same. note 3.--the writing did not seem to have been done by drawing the slate over a pencil at the time that the scratching was heard, for the slate was partly in view, and though it moved somewhat, it did not then move enough to make, for example, a line the whole length of the slate, as was done in one instance. note 4.--the pencil was found where the writing ended, and in the case of the line cited just above, the mark on the slate was just about as wide as the rubbed part of the pencil. the pencil was rubbed and the end had been flat. note 5.--i did not notice any difference in the fineness of the earlier and later writings. the first communication began and ended with a strong broad line. note 6.--the accordion was a small one, and i cannot say whether it might not have been played upon with one hand if grasped in the right way. note 7.--in every case, what was done was done out of our sight, dr. slade declaring that the object in concealing the slates, etc., was to prevent our wills from having a negative effect upon the phenomena. my own position opposite the medium was a very bad one for observing what was going on on his side of the table. (mr. sellers here read, from notes taken by himself, the minutes of the third of the series of slade séances, as follows): the committee met on january 23d, 1885, at the girard house, philadelphia, in room 24. there were present: messrs. thompson, sellers and furness, of the committee, and the medium, dr. henry slade. the medium was seated in the space between the table and the wall. professor thompson occupied a chair at the side of the table to the right, and mr. furness one at the side to the left of the medium. mr. sellers was seated at the side directly opposite to the medium. the table made use of on this occasion was much larger than the one used at the first meeting. attention was called to the fact that there were no slots under the middle leaf of the table as there were in the other table. between the leaf and the centre of the table paper had been introduced for the purpose of stuffing the crack, a rather large one, and the explanation of the medium was, 'this is to stop a sort of draft that comes up through the crack and breaks the connection.' the members of the committee were inclined to think that the purpose was to prevent them from observing through the crack any manipulations of the slate or motions by the medium under the table. the first writing on the slate was, 'we will do all we can.' by request of the medium, a slate with a bit of pencil was then held by mr. sellers under the table leaf next to him on his left, when the question was put, 'will you try to write on the slate held by the gentleman opposite.' the response, 'we will try,' was written on the medium's slate. after taking the slate in his hand and cleanly wiping it, the medium passed it under the table leaf, when almost instantly sounds indicating writing, such as were audible at the first session, were repeated. upon being exhibited the slate contained the following: my friends,-paul's injunction was "add to your faith knowledge." this knowledge, has encouraged the desponding, and given comfort to the mourner, and gives hope to the hopeless. i am truly william clark. the appearance of this writing was much the same as that of the first day, when another long written communication was produced, but it bore no resemblance to the scrawls which were exhibited in answer to questions. a special minute is here made of observations by members of the committee upon certain features of the medium's operations, which tended to discredit the assumption of a supernatural agency in the production of the slate writings. in the above instance a slate which had been noted as standing against a leg of the table and behind the chair of the medium, but conveniently within his reach, was dexterously substituted by the medium for the slate taken from the table and the one upon which ostensibly writing was to appear. this was observed by one member. in another instance a member (mr. sellers) observed the same substitution, so far as the motion of the medium's hand and arm was concerned. by certain private marks, adroitly applied, the same member noted the fact that the slate on which the writing was exhibited was not, as the medium represented it to be, the same slate which had been taken from the table. [the foregoing note by the stenographer is somewhat incoherent, owing to his unfamiliarity with slade's séances; yet we prefer to let it remain as it is.--g.s.f.] (mr. sellers adds, parenthetically): that is, i watched the medium's operations specially with a view of informing myself whether the slate used in both instances was the same. (resuming, from notes): the medium proposed that the committee should retain the slate upon which the long message appeared. the slate was accordingly retained by the committee. professor thompson (addressing mr. sellers): was not that slate the one that i held at the time referred to? mr. sellers: it was. the slate was held by you at the same time that it was held by the medium. professor thompson: then there is an additional fact to be noted in regard to it. that fact is this. when the sounds indicating the writing process had ceased, i endeavored to pull the slate away from under the table, but the medium resisted my effort, and by powerful exertion jerked the slate out toward himself. the substitution of one slate for the other was probably made at this time, and the slate so substituted was then placed on the table. mr. sellers: that is true, most assuredly i saw the substitution, and mr. furness also saw it very plainly. from his position mr. furness saw the medium take up the other slate. note.--an explanation was here made by mr. furness to the effect that his knowledge of the substitution here spoken of was inferential, but that at another period of the séance he did distinctly see the medium grasp an unused slate. mr. sellers here resumed, from his notes: the medium then proposed to attempt the experiment of causing the chair upon which professor thompson sat, to rise from the floor, without external agency other than that of the hand of the medium on the back of the chair. in answer to the question, 'will you try to lift the chair?' the response was 'yes.' mr. sellers, being requested to write a question on the back of the slate near him, wrote the following, 'what is the time?' after some little time, during which the medium furtively glanced at the slate, the answer was given, 'a little after twelve.' upon being requested to open his left hand and hold it thus extended in a position beneath the top of the table to his left, mr. sellers complied with the request, when a slate, which had been held by the medium under the opposite leaf, was passed across, and, after touching mr. sellers's hand, fell to the floor. after several repetitions, the slate was passed into mr. sellers's hand, but the experiment was accompanied by a motion of the medium which was evidently such as would have been made if the medium had passed the slate across by his foot. [at his séances dr. slade wears slippers, into and out of which he can readily slip his feet.--g.s.f.] in answer to the question, 'are you ready to lift the gentleman?' the response, in writing, was given, 'yes.' clasping the back of the chair firmly with his right hand, and approaching it close enough to enable him to place his knee under the seat of the chair, the medium, after very considerable effort, caused the chair to rise from the floor an inch or two. the physical strain on the part of the medium was evident. professor thompson, having obtained the permission of the medium, wrote the following upon the slate, 'can a spirit, still in the body, write with a slate pencil without touching the pencil?' after some delay, and frequent surreptitious glances at the slate by the medium, the answer was, 'yes, we can tell.' this trial not being satisfactory, the same question was repeated. the answer, which was longer delayed than the one preceding it, was, 'we can do so, if the conditions are favorable.' professor thompson (interposing): do you remember the medium's remarks about the resistance of the spirits? mr. sellers: i do. professor thompson: when he was pushing and pulling the slate, and meanwhile looking at it--while moving it backward and forward--the medium remarked, 'there seems to be some kind of resistance; they don't seem to know what to make of it'--meaning that the spirits were making some resistance to his moving the slate. mr. sellers here resumed and completed the reading of his minutes, as follows: the experiment attempted on the second day, of causing a slate pencil to jump from a slate without any disturbance of the slate, was here repeated. a line was drawn upon the slate, and upon this line a small bit of pencil was placed, the success of the experiment depending upon this small piece remaining immovable upon the line. after several trials this was accomplished. the experiment of playing an accordion beneath the table was next made, and in one instance the top of the instrument was thrown upon the table. mr. sellers verbally made the following addition to his minutes: the response to the question propounded by professor thompson was attended with more than ordinary delay. upon hearing the response, viz.: 'we can do so if the conditions are favorable,' professor thompson remarked that this did not answer the question at all. professor thompson: i made that statement in regard to both of the responses. mr. sellers: the statement, then, was, that neither of the responses answered the question. whereupon the medium at once obliterated the question from the slate, and remarked, 'well, that is the best they can do,' or something of that kind, or, 'they cannot understand that.' the fact was that the medium did not understand the question himself, as it was purposely a somewhat involved question. professor thompson: the fact appears to have been demonstrated that the medium seemed to have no difficulty in catching the purport of questions of simple construction at a glance, and that a question of more than average length, which he could not perceive the sense of, or which was somewhat misleading in its terms, was not answered intelligently. professor thompson here further explained that, when writing the question spoken of, he concealed his hand from the observation of the medium. mr. sellers here imitated the motions of the body of the medium and the position of his hands at the time--the left resting on the table, and the right hand beneath the table, near the slate--after which the writing was displayed. mr. sellers next presented the minutes of the meeting of january 24th, as follows: the committee met on january 24th, 1885, at the girard house, philadelphia, in room 24. there were present: dr. leidy, mr. h.h. furness and mr. coleman sellers, with the medium, dr. henry slade. dr. leidy occupied the position previously held by professor thompson, to the right of the medium; messrs. sellers and furness were seated as at the former sittings. slates were produced and held as at the previous séances. upon one slate the following interrogatories and responses were recorded: 'spirits, are you ready to work?' answer: 'soon,' 'will you write for the gentlemen?' answer: 'we are trying to do so.' at this point the medium substituted another slate for the one which he had held in his hand, and almost immediately thereafter, upon the new slate being placed under the table, the sound of writing began and was carried on with little interruption. the writing continued for a very long time, during which the medium, removing his hand from the hands of the other gentlemen, said, 'you see that if i take my hand away from the circle and thus break the circle, the sound of the writing ceases; if i place my hand back again, the writing is repeated.' the sound of the writing, which had been temporarily suspended, recommenced when the hand of the medium returned to its former position. the medium further stated, by way of qualifying his statement on this point, 'if i do not jerk it away i can raise my hand a little.' he illustrated his meaning by slightly elevating his hand and withdrawing it from the other hands, at the same time calling attention to the fact that the sounds of the writing on the slate were continued. this modification by the medium of his original statement was regarded as intended to cover instances in which the circle had been surreptitiously broken by members of the committee without any of the results which, had been predicted. several such breaks had been made by the writer (mr. sellers) unknown to any one but himself; and the medium, finally becoming aware of this fact, observed that the circle might frequently be broken a little without any effect being apparent. professor thompson: but did not the medium make that statement at the very first séance? mr. sellers: he stated that at the first séance. (resuming, from notes): the communication inscribed upon the slate when beneath the table was in the same handwriting as the other long communications, and was evidently written with a sharpened pencil under favorable conditions. it was as follows: 'my friends: i have been made happy by the advent of my dear wife into this land of souls. the name of my dear wife is ann louisa tiers, of germantown. now we shall part no more by death, as there is no death in this life. my friends, never grieve because your friends meet the change called death, as death is but the blooming of the soul. i am john tiers.' mr. sellers, in reply to an inquiry by dr. leidy concerning the identity of the alleged author of the communication, here explained that a newspaper advertisement of even date set forth that ann louisa tiers, widow of john tiers, died on the day preceding the day of the meeting. the advertisement had been noticed by mr. furness, and it appeared to furnish the foundation for what had been imposed upon the committee. the slate used at the meeting here referred to was one which mr. furness saw substituted, and which the writer (mr. sellers) is confident was substituted. dr. leidy here stated that the communication now referred to, unlike all the other communications of the medium, which were miserable little scrawls of a few words, was a lengthy one, which covered the entire slate. he felt convinced that the slate upon which it was contained was substituted for the other one which the medium ostensibly continued to use. mr. sellers (resuming the reading of his minutes): dr. leidy then wrote on the slate the following question, 'dr. le conte--are you engaged now in the study of coleoptera?' the slate was then placed below the table, and, after the medium had been observed to glance at it repeatedly, as in the case of former exhibitions of this kind, the slate was finally reproduced with this answer written upon it, 'dr. l.c. is not present.' then the experiment was repeated of drawing a line, laying a bit of pencil on the line and then a pencil on the edge of the slate. the pencil on the edge of the slate was tossed violently over the table, passed over and fell on the other side of the table, while the piece of pencil on the mark was not disturbed. dr. leidy: it should be borne in mind that that throw was not from under the table, because when the pencil went over, the slate appeared on the outside of the table. i sat near the medium and saw that slate brought out as the pencil went up. professor thompson: the medium claimed that sometimes the pencil appeared on the side of the table opposite to that at which he was sitting, but no such thing occurred in our presence. would not it be advisable, when you say it was thrown up, to add that it was thrown from the side at which the medium was sitting? mr. sellers: in each and every case. dr. leidy (to mr. sellers): when the medium gave you and me a slate to hold, he said the spirits would make a communication. we held the slate away from him and there was not at any time a communication. (mr. sellers here resumed, from his notes): the same experiment of jerking the pencil over the table was repeated with another pencil. then, at the suggestion of one of the gentlemen present, the medium repeated the experiment made at a former session, in which a long line was drawn on the slate while the slate was apparently held without any motion. the medium then took one of the slates in his hand and placed it below the table, when it was suddenly broken. as he produced it, he called attention to the fact that the slate seemed as if broken from the top downwards. as he brought it out, the medium turned the slate over and knocked it on his knee, and in that way crushed it to pieces. he then turned it over to show on which side the crushing took place. i saw that as plainly as i saw anything. he then used a pencil and drew a zig-zag line across the slate. the pencil was worn at one end. the same experiment, which was made when professor fullerton was present, was repeated, and it was noticed that the pencil used in drawing the line was the identical one found on the slate. dr. leidy: in that part of the exhibition which purported to show how, through spiritual influence, a slate pencil might remain in contact with a slate, the medium took care not to elevate the slate to an angle of forty-five degrees. he merely raised it to the elevation which i now indicate. if he had elevated it a little more the pencil would have fallen off. mr. sellers (resuming): an accordion was then played under the manipulations of the medium, after which that gentleman told the writer that he might look under the table and witness the performance of the instrument. the writer availed himself of this permission, but, upon his looking below the table, the musical sound ceased, and no such sounds were heard during the period in which these observations were continued. the medium remarked, "that is unaccountable; there is no reason why you should not see it." nevertheless, the accordion did not produce any sound while the writer was looking at it. professor thompson: there is one point which was suggested at an earlier stage of the minutes, and which is, perhaps, worthy of being recorded. it is this. at the time at which the slate was passed to the hand of mr. sellers, under the table, the medium compelled me to sit around in a position different from that which i had occupied, in order that, in his operations, he could move his arms and lower extremities as freely as he pleased. dr. leidy: my own supposition is that, when he played the accordion freely, the medium made use of a little wire attached to a hook or something of that kind, which he could hold by fastening it to his clothing. mr. sellers: his method of manipulating the instrument was readily observable upon close attention. the accordion was a small one of the kind which is easily procurable in the market. (resuming, from notes): the next meeting of the committee, which was held on january 26th, at the girard house, was an exceedingly important one, because its result was absolutely negative. there were present, with the medium, professor thompson, mr. furness and mr. sellers. two slates were lying on the table behind him. the medium brought forward one of these, wiped it, laid a pencil on it, and placed it under the table, but without any result. he said, "we must make a circle--that will have better effect." he laid the slate back upon the table. we then joined hands, and, after a time, thinking that there was magnetic influence enough at work, the medium reached back and took the second slate--not the first one--brought that forward and put it under the table. mr. sellers asked the medium, "dr. slade, will you allow me to see that slate?" the reply was, "no, not now; the conditions are not favorable." the medium seemed rather embarrassed, and apparently regretted his reply. he laid the second slate back upon the table, in its former position, but further back. we then again formed a circle, when he seemed to hesitate a moment as to the better course for him to pursue. he then reached back, grasped the first slate, and with a sponge washed off both of its sides, though there had been no writing upon either; and then he brought forward the second slate, with the top side upward, and washed that side, though there was no occasion for the washing, as there was no writing upon that side. turning the slate over, he began washing the back of it without showing the face of the slate, and finally laid it down. mr. furness here stated that he observed, at the time, that the face of the slate contained writing. professor thompson here remarked that the medium had evidently appreciated the fact that he had been caught. mr. sellers: that fact was plainly apparent. mr. fullerton here remarked that at the séance reported by him, soon after the members were seated, the medium reached behind his (the medium's) position to get one of the slates placed near him, and accidentally turned up one, the back of which was covered with writing, whereupon he coolly remarked, 'that is the wrong slate.' mr. fullerton added that he did not at the time think of connecting this accidental exposure with what the medium was then doing, and suggested that possibly this exposure prevented dr. slade's use of this method at the séance reported by him, as it would seem that none of the communications produced on that occasion were of the sort produced by substitution of slates. mr. sellers: the methods of this medium's operations appear to me to be perfectly transparent, and i wish to say emphatically that i am astonished beyond expression at the confidence of this man in his ability to deceive, and at the recklessness of the risks which he assumes in his deceptions, which are practiced in the most barefaced manner. the only reason of our having any so-called 'manifestations' under the circumstances was because of the fact that the committee had agreed in advance to be entirely passive, and to acquiesce in every condition imposed. at the meeting here spoken of, i said to dr. slade, 'you see that we do not attempt to exercise any deleterious influence; what we want is the truth, the simple truth, and we try to exert no influence which would tend to impair the success of your operations.' the reply of the medium was, 'no, i know that you do not; but sometimes the spirits will work and sometimes they will not work.' we had no writings in any part of that sitting--everything failed. mr. furness: we did not have even raps. mr. sellers: we did not have even raps. there was no sound of any character; the day was absolutely fruitless of any result. disgusted with this evident failure, the medium decided to close the séance. he was asked, among other things, if he would write on double closed-up slates. he replied that he would not write upon them for the reason that the spirits had forbidden him to do so; that they had said they would not write on sealed slates, because many tricks had been played on them, one of which was the writing in advance of foolish and obscene matter, which, when the slates were opened, was attributed to the spirits. i said to him, 'would there be any objection by the spirits to the use of the slates if these are brought here, opened and exhibited before you prior to their being used?' he replied, 'i have been forbidden to write upon sealed slates; the spirits tell me that if i disobey them they will not write for me any more.' professor thompson: yes, i heard that statement, that it was forbidden to bring them or to offer the sealed slates to the spirits. mr. sellers (resuming from notes): as i have stated, the result of the meeting of the 26th inst. was entirely negative. that on the 27th was the last sitting. there were then present: dr. pepper, mr. furness and mr. sellers--dr. pepper occupying the seat originally occupied by professor thompson, to the right of the medium. all the manifestations that were made on that day were so similar, as far as writings and questions were concerned, to those that preceded them that it is scarcely necessary to make notes of them. two or three rather remarkable things occurred. for instance, almost at the beginning of the sitting, dr. slade exhibited both sides of two slates to show that neither side contained any writing, and then placed a piece of pencil on one slate, and, covering it with the other one, held the two together between the thumb and finger of his right hand, and placed them upon dr. pepper's shoulder near the back of that gentleman's head. the covering of slate answered the same purpose which a table would have answered, and prevented those present from observing the operation. he frequently repeated the words, 'the spirits will write upon the slate.' he held the slate in this position for some time, but there was no writing upon it. he then placed both slates upon the table before him, side by side. taking in his right hand the slate which was towards his left hand, he placed a bit of pencil upon it, held it under the table, and said, 'will the spirits write upon this slate?' he then added, 'i feel a sort of drawing, a something which seems to pull the slate down underneath the table. that often occurs.' i may here remark that, at the other sittings, the same expression was made use of at times, accompanied by the thrusting of the slate some distance under the table. the statement was that the slate seemed to be drawn some distance over to the person opposite the medium. a sound was heard, and upon the medium bringing the slate out from under the table, a zig-zag line appeared upon the slate with the pencil at the end of the line. the medium remarked, 'that is something.' then laying the slate upon the slate to his right hand, with a sponge wiped off the top of it, but did not show what was on the underside of it. he then placed his thumb beneath the slates, and turned them in such a way that the left hand, or top slate, came to be the one furthest from him as it was held behind dr. pepper's head. when holding it in that position for a moment, a scratching sound was heard in answer to the question, 'will the spirits endeavor to write on the slate thus held?' a rap followed the sound of the writing. the slates were then taken down, and the top slate taken off. upon what had previously been the top slate was written the words, 'yes, we will try.' mr. furness (interposing): that was one of the neatest things he did. mr. sellers: my habits of observation have been trained in this kind of work, and i watched the slates intently during the process. subsequently certain raps were audible, when the medium called the attention of dr. pepper to the fact that some of the raps were made upon the chair on which the doctor was seated. it was very evident that the raps were, in fact, made on that chair; there was no doubt about that at all. throughout this entire sitting the medium complained sadly of his physical disability. he said that he was afraid that he was going to lose the power of his right side, that he was becoming numb all over. the peculiar symptoms which he described will be reported upon in the observations of dr. pepper, by whom they were noted. (mr. furness here stated that the notes of dr. pepper would be read later in the evening.) mr. sellers (continuing): the medium did very little more in the way of writing. he repeated some few of the experiments previously made, such as the throwing off of the pencil. he declined to play upon the accordion, as the instrument had been broken. at this meeting two pocket compasses, one brought by mr. furness and the other by mr. sellers, were placed at a point near the circle of the hands in order to observe whether any deflection from the magnetic course occurred. no such result was noted. no change whatsoever in the needles was observed other than that which was caused by a vibration due to shakings of the table. from time to time the medium would call attention to one of the needles with the remark, 'there, one of those needles is moving now.' in point of fact, the needle at the time would show no motion other than that caused by the jarring of the table. the medium went on to say that frequently, under like circumstances, when placed close together, he had seen two needles point around in opposite directions. this might have been true, in the present instance, if the medium had placed a magnet attached to his foot at a point at which it would have been between the two needles. its effect would have been just the one which he has described. no such result was noticeable during our observations. a large part of the sitting was devoted to the discussion of the zoellner experiments, the medium narrating some of the phenomena that had been witnessed in the presence of dr. zoellner. he said, however, that zoellner was a peculiarly impressible person, and one who had entire confidence in his (the medium's) ability. before the conclusion of the séance, the writer (mr. sellers) asked the medium if he was acquainted with the methods of operation of any conjurors. the medium replied that he did not know many of them, but he always liked to have conjurors at his sittings, as they produced a very good influence upon him. at this point the following colloquy ensued: mr. sellers: do you know a man named kellar, who is exhibiting in this city? dr. slade: i do not. i never knew him. mr. sellers: you may, however, be able to explain to me a very remarkable slate-writing experiment which kellar has performed. i will state the details of it. [mr. sellers here described at length mr. kellar's trick with the fastened slates, and in concluding, asked:] how did mr. kellar do that? dr. slade: he is a medium. he does that work precisely as i do it. mr. sellers: but can he not do it by trickery? dr. slade: no it is impossible. he is a medium, and a powerful medium. (mr. sellers continued the reading of his transcript, as follows): then i described to the medium an experiment by kellar in lifting a table ostensibly merely by laying his hands upon it, and i detailed his explanation of how deceptions might occur, his custom of pulling up his sleeves and exhibiting his hands to the audience. i added, that he had done the same thing with a chair. dr. slade: i do that thing, too. i will show you how i do it the next time. he does it as i do it. he is a medium. (mr. sellers here paused to make the following verbal explanation): i pause here for the express purpose of having the fact noted that, being thoroughly familiar with the details of the methods of these experiments, i can positively assure the committee that there is no mediumistic power in mr. kellar, so far as his methods are concerned, that those methods are as easy of solution as are any other physical problems. (resuming, from notes): the inquiry was then addressed to dr. slade, 'do you know a man named guernella who, with his wife, gave séances?' 'yes,' he replied, 'i know him very well.' 'well, how does he perform his wonderful exploits in rappings, etc.?' 'he is a medium, a powerful medium. i know him very well indeed. i can assure you that all that he does is done solely by means of his mediumistic powers.' i now state to the committee that the guernellas exhibited in philadelphia some years ago as exposers of spiritualism. they did not expose it, but they performed experiments which, prior to that time, were said to have been accomplished by the aid of spirits. guernella himself, at my house, in my presence, in broad daylight, performed all the feats and exhibited the phenomena that were produced at the dark and other séances, and he repeated them until i myself became as expert as he in performing them; for which i paid him a consideration. so much for the mediumistic power. (resuming, from notes): before the close of this last séance, a letter was read to dr. slade by mr. furness, to which the medium was requested to make reply at his convenience; the object was to preserve evidence of the fact that the medium had stated that all the séances must be held under his conditions--that if the committee deviated in the slightest degree from the conditions imposed by him (dr. slade) he would 'pack up his traps and clear out.' [the letter and reply will be found annexed to this record.] at the end of this séance, the sum agreed upon, three hundred dollars, was paid to the medium in three one-hundred-dollar bills. he was asked to sign a receipt for that amount, but his nervousness was such as to make this a task of some difficulty. he made many attempts to grasp the pen presented to him, but his hand shrank from it. at last, by a violent effort, and conquering the emotions that overcame him, the medium grasped the pen and wrote the receipt. the extreme trepidation of dr. slade was possibly due to the unexpected displacement of two covered slates which he had left standing on the floor, resting against the leg of the small table at his back, and which mr. furness had overturned with his foot, the result being that at least two of the members of the committee were apprised, by the quantity of writing on one of the slates, that it was ready for immediate use. mr. sellers (aside): i saw the writing on the slates. it had manifestly been prepared for use by the medium, and up to the moment of its discovery had been carefully kept completely covered. mr. furness here read to the committee the following: before dr. slade came to philadelphia to meet this commission, i was told by a valued correspondent, an eminent spiritualist, that much of dr. slade's success in spiritual manifestations would depend on the way in which he was treated, and that he should be met in a cordial, friendly spirit. as this was but natural, and as dr. slade's life has been passed among extraordinary scenes the world over, which makes him an entertaining companion, it gave me pleasure to extend to him what little courtesies lay in my power, asking him to dine with me during his visit, and to spend the evenings at my house, if the time hung heavy on his hands at his hotel. he dined with me several times, and i consequently saw more of him than did the other commissioners. i told him more than once that, as a commissioner, i should watch him with lynx eyes, and he always gave a laughing assent. i furthermore never concealed from him that he had, by no means, converted me to spiritualism. [i last saw him in boston, when, as i was passing along shawmut avenue, i caught sight of him at a window; he eagerly beckoned me to come in, and, as i settled myself in a chair, i said to him, 'well, and how are the old spirits coming on?' whereupon he laughed and replied, 'oh, pshaw! you never believed in them, did you?'--april, 1887.] i had several séances with him in afternoons after the séances with the commission, when i was accompanied by my mother, my sister, and by several friends; of course, only by one or two others at a time. it would be superfluous to rehearse here at length what mr. sellers has set before you much better than i can, the steps to the conclusion to which we all arrived: that the long messages were written beforehand. the difference between them and the short answers to questions asked at the séance, in the character of the handwriting, is too manifest and too obtrusively patent to be disregarded. in the long message from 'william clark' on the slate which we have preserved and had photographed, 'paul's injunction' is carefully included within quotation marks. the short answers to questions were scarcely legible, and at times could be deciphered only by help of the medium himself. (this illegible handwriting is not without its use; it engrosses the attention of the sitters.) it follows, therefore, that, if prepared slates are to be used, they must be adroitly substituted for others, which the sitters know to be clean. the question is thus narrowed to one of pure legerdemain, and the medium must necessarily have several slates at hand. when two slates only are used, the prepared slate is usually lying on the table when the sitters take their seats. no attention is called to it, and some little time is taken in conversation, and in the spasmodic jerking caused by 'electric currents'; in a few minutes the slate pencil is placed on the slate; no offer is made of showing both sides, which would be quite needless, since the side which is exposed is perfectly clean, and it is on that side which the spirits are expected to write; the slate is kept almost constantly and wholly in full view and but very slightly inserted beneath the table. after an interval of waiting, during which, by constantly looking at the slate as though impatient for the writing to begin, whereby his sitters become accustomed to the appearance and disappearance of the slate, the medium reaches for a second slate, ostentatiously washes both sides, lays it on the table, removes the pencil from the first slate to the second, and places over it the first slate with its prepared message, face downward, and the trick is done. the two slates are held for a minute under the table, and are then held to the ear or on the shoulder of the sitter on the medium's right hand--never to any other sitter, since to do so would reveal the scratching of the medium's finger-nail on the rim of the slate, whereby the writing of the pencil within the slates is counterfeited. i have distinctly, three or four times, watched the motion of the medium's finger while thus scratching; as i sat facing the window the fingers which held the slate and made the fictitious writing were sharply outlined against the light. and here let me say that he who sits on the medium's left hand, the side to which he turns almost his full back, has the best position for observation. he told me many times that he did not like to have three sitters, but much preferred only two; at the third side, when unoccupied, wonderful manifestations occur, such as a chair's elevation, or being thrown down, or the appearance of the unsupported slate, etc. these manifestations are executed by the medium's foot, and lest its motions under the table should be detected, the longitudinal cracks where the two table-leaves join, were carefully stuffed with paper, although, to be sure, he once explained to me the presence of this paper as necessary to keep 'the electricity from flowing through.' although dr. slade had agreed verbally in new york that the last séance of the series should be in the presence of all the commission, he flatly refused, when in philadelphia, to hold any in the presence of more than three at a time. on one occasion, when the medium was very sure of his sitters, he placed the prepared slate, face downwards, on the table, with his fingers resting on the upper surface, then in a few minutes the slate was lifted up and the writing displayed, as though just made by spiritual agency. generally, however, when the writing is thus exhibited, it is in answer to a spoken question, and the reply is written by the medium in his lap and the slate turned over before it is placed on the table. manifestly it cannot occur as an answer to a written question, unless the written question is exposed on the upper side of the slate. how the scratching of the slate pencil is produced when the slate is lying on the table (i have been told that the sound is heard then) i cannot possibly explain, for the plain reason that i am too deaf to hear it, and i was, therefore, never on the watch for anything unusual. (nor did i ever hear the sound of writing when the slate was held on the shoulder of my opposite neighbor, but i could see, and i knew what was going on, for the slate had once been placed on my own shoulder.) when three slates are used, the third, and prepared, slate, is either on the little table behind him or on the floor resting against the supports of this little table. in either case he seizes the opportunity when his sitters are engrossed with an answer just given to a question, to substitute one of the slates which he has been using, and which he has just before ostentatiously washed on both sides, for the prepared slate. this i have distinctly seen him do twice, and once when i had arisen from my seat to read an answer on the slate, held by mr. sellers, i noticed when i resumed my seat that a certain slate which i had been watching was gone from where it had been resting against the leg of the little table, and we then immediately had the long message between closed slates. [this was the 'inferential' substitution referred to on page 59 of this appendix.] the slate which we have preserved and had photographed i saw him take from the table at his back. next, as to his answers to questions. i became so familiar with his methods in this department that i could have told at almost any instant what he was doing. after the question has been written the slate is handed to him face downward. a piece of pencil is then placed on the slate near the edge of the slate farthest from the medium's hand as it holds the slate; of course, as the writing is to be done under cover of the table, and as the medium's hand or wrist is supposed to be always visible, the pencil must be far under the table. the awkwardness, therefore, must be overcome of having to reach or grope after it before the slate can be turned over, which it must be in order to enable the medium to read the question on the under side. this difficulty is surmounted by constantly bringing out the slate and looking at it to see if any answer has appeared. by this manoeuvre a double end is attained; first, it creates an atmosphere of expectation, and the sitters grow accustomed to a good deal of motion in the arm that holds the slate; and secondly, by constantly moving the slate the fragment of pencil (which, be it noted, having been extracted from those slate pencils which are enclosed in wood, like lead pencils, is square in shape and remains stationary on the spot to which it is moved), this pencil, i repeat, is moved up to the side of the slate within reach of a thumb and finger; when this is done, it is dexterously seized by the medium, who is in turn at that instant seized by violent 'electric shocks,' under cover of which the slate is turned and generally placed between his knees, only once i think did he rest it _on_ his knee, and once i think he pressed it against the table; then he reads the question. and here he shows his nerve. it is the critical instant of the sitting, it is the only instant when his eyes are not fastened on his sitters, and i confess that his coolness won my admiration. on one occasion, when the question was written in a back-hand with a very light stroke and close to the upper edge of the slate, he looked at it three several times before he could read it. moreover, it was a question out of the common, relating to the species of a hawk and not to a spirit, and required an intelligent and definite answer. the hastiness of his reading may be inferred by the frequency with which merely the initials of the spirit friend are given in the answer. after reading the question, i noticed that dr. slade winks rapidly three or four times in a sort of mental abstraction, i suppose, while thinking out an answer, but he always breathes freer when this crisis is passed, and the violent convulsions are over, which attend his hurried writing and the re-turning of the slate. his eyes can now be fixed in turn on each of his sitters, and he can rest a minute or two. (one one occasion i saw the slate as he held it between his index and second finger, his index-finger and thumb held the slate pencil.) presently, the slate is held near to the edge of the table, and a tremulous motion is given to it as though the writing were then going on. on one occasion, when i knew he was about to use the prepared slate (professor thompson will remember what i am about to relate), i suggested that we should use a perfectly fresh pencil, so that we could be sure that that very pencil had done the writing. i was very curious to know how he would evade the test. the slate was held close to the under side of the table (the new pencil debarred him from using the double slate); when the writing was finished the slate was slapped violently against the table, and was drawn from underneath it--apparently with very great difficulty, and almost perpendicularly--and the little pencil, of course, slipped off, and in the excitement of reading the message from the 'summer-land,' who would think of looking for the pencil? it was so clever i wanted to applaud him on the spot. the other tricks, such as tossing the pencil from the slate and playing the accordion, can be perfectly explained and repeated by mr. sellers. dr. slade's fingers are unusually long and strong, and the accordion, which has but four bellows-folds, can be readily manipulated with one hand. at our last séance i noticed what were evidently two prepared slates resting against the support of the table behind him, where his prepared slates usually stood. i inferred that he would like to have some extraordinary slate writing on this occasion, and, therefore, kept a sharp watch on these slates. unfortunately it was too sharp, for one second the medium saw me looking at them. it was enough. that detected look prevented the revelation of those elaborate spirit messages. but when the séance was over and he was signing the receipt for his money, i passed round behind his chair and pushed these slates with my foot so as to make them fall over, whereupon the writing on one of them was distinctly revealed. i think dr. pepper and mr. sellers will recall how the medium instantly pushed his chair back until it was fairly over the slates and then snatched them up, and in the most hurried manner washed them both while turning his back to us. two compasses, which we placed on the table during our séance, remained unaffected by the medium's presence. during one sitting, when the spirits conveyed the slates from the medium's hand under the table to the hand of the opposite sitter, the latter failed twice to grasp the slate in time, and it fell to the floor with a crash. each time it behoved me to pick up the slate (both the other sitters were women), but the second time i stooped with the greatest alacrity and looked not at the slate but at the medium's foot, which i saw just entering his slipper, into which it most hastily settled. i think dr. slade's personal appearance noteworthy, and shall endeavor to obtain a photograph of him for preservation in our records. he is probably six feet in height, with a figure of unusual symmetry, his hands are large but shapely, the nail of the second finger of his right hand is rather longer than the others, and appeared in the centre to be slightly split and worn. his face would, i think, attract notice anywhere for its uncommon beauty. he has a small, curling, dark moustache, and short, crisp, iron-grey hair, of a texture exceeding in fineness any that i have ever seen on a man's head. his eyes are dark, and the circles around them very dark, but their expression is painful. i could not divest myself of the feeling that it was that of a hunted animal or of a haunted man. the color on his cheeks is very bright, but it is said to be artificial. he complained bitterly of ill-health and of water around his heart, which he said at times he could hear and feel "swashing about." a noteworthy man in every aspect. mr. furness then read to the committee the following: memorandum by dr. wm. pepper of an interview with dr. slade on the morning of the 27th january, with mr. furness and mr. sellers. 1811 spruce street, philadelphia. he complained immediately and very frequently of his right side, saying it felt weak and numb, and he was sure he was going to be paralyzed. careful observation showed that the right side was fully developed, the color of the right hand normal and the same as that of the left, and that the right arm, foot and leg were unusually supple and moveable. during the sitting i saw him deliberately kick my chair three (3) times with the side of his right foot, while attracting my attention to the scraping noises of the slate he was holding to my left ear; and again, when soft raps were heard and felt under the table, just beneath one of my hands, and at about the distance from him to which his leg would reach, i saw distinct movements of rotation of his thigh, as though he were producing these sounds by the ball of the toe striking under the table at that point. _february 6th_, 1885. mr. sellers offered the following resolution, which was adopted unanimously: _resolved_, that the reports of the slade séances held in philadelphia, as described by messrs. fullerton, furness, pepper and sellers, are in accordance with the observations of each of the members of the commission who were present. after a short business meeting the commission adjourned. geo. s. fullerton, _secretary_. * * * * * the following correspondence explains itself: philadelphia, january 26th, 1885. dear dr. slade:--i think you need no assurance that the seybert investigating committee have been anxious to deal with you in the fairest spirit of impartial, unbiased, scientific investigation, and i think you will bear witness to their uniformly considerate courtesy throughout our intercourse. you know how very deaf i am, and do not therefore need to be reminded that one should trust scarcely more to what a deaf man hears than to what a blind man sees. wherefore, i want you, for my sake, and that the committee may feel sure of their ground, to confirm in writing what you have more than once said to me, namely, that the committee must conform to the conditions which the spirits impose; that you cannot consent to submit to any tests, and that rather than do so you will return at once to new york; that we must accept the manifestations as given by the spirits; and that, since these manifestations are the result of a gradual growth, it is impossible, in the space of six séances, to repeat or to verify professor zoellner's experiments; and, lastly, that, if on your return to new york, the spirits so authorize it, you will be willing, if desired, to make arrangements for another series of séances with us of a higher order of manifestations. i remain respectfully, your obedient servant, horace howard furness, _acting chairman seybert commission_. no. 11 e. 13th street, n.y., february 4th, 1885. dear mr. furness:--i take this opportunity to express to you, and through you to the other members of the seybert commission, my hearty approval of the course pursued by them in their investigation of phenomena occurring in my presence. fully realizing that i am only the instrument or channel through which these manifestations are produced, it would be presumption on my part to undertake to lay down a line to be followed by the unseen intelligences, whose servant i am. hence, i did say their conditions must be acceded to or i would return to new york. that they did so, is evident to my mind from the results obtained, which i regard as a necessary preliminary to a continuation, when other experiments may be introduced with better prospects of success. it may be well not to insist on following the exact course pursued by professor zoellner, but leave it open to original or impromptu suggestions that may be adopted without previous consideration, which, if successful, would be of equal value as evidence of its genuineness, at the same time give greater breadth to the experiments. in conclusion, allow me to say that in the event of the committee desiring to continue these experiments through another series of sittings with me, it will give me pleasure to enter into arrangements for that purpose. very truly yours, henry slade. * * * * * february 13th, 1885. on february 13th, 1885, mr. furness, professor thompson and mr. fullerton, on the part of the commission, met mr. harry kellar, a professional conjurer, at egyptian hall. the men seated themselves at a common pine table, 5 ft. x 3 ft., with leaves. mr. kellar sat at one side of the table, mr. furness at one end to his left, professor thompson at one corner to mr. furness's left, and mr. fullerton opposite mr. kellar. the end of the table to mr. kellar's right was unoccupied. nine slates were found lying on a small stand about six feet from the table. these slates were washed one by one on the stand, and laid in a pile on the table at mr. kellar's right. a slate was taken from the pile, both sides washed, another slate placed upon it, and both held together under the edge of the table. a long communication appeared upon one of them (or what seemed to be one of them), purporting to come from the spirits. two more slates were taken and apparently both sides washed. one was placed on the other and both laid upon the table in front of professor thompson, one end of the slates being held by him and the other by mr. kellar. when the upper slate was removed the under side of it was covered with writing. professor thompson then changed his position to that which he held when with dr. slade--to the end of the table opposite mr. furness, and to mr. kellar's right. writing was produced in similar manner on two other slates without the committee detecting the manner in which it was produced. one of these slates was covered on both sides with the following messages: on voyage tout éveillé dans le royaume des rêves et des illusions; l'esprit se refuse à admettre les merveilles executées dans une salle éclairé devant un public incrédule qui cherche à s'expliquer les trucs employés à deviner les-kellar huye del espiritismo porque ya pasó la época de ella, y solo dá el ejercicio carácter de prestidigitacion. het blyfft onbegrypelyk hoe de heer kellar die door twee personen uit het publiek stevigwordt vast gebonden, zich in een oogwenk wist los te maken [here follow, in eight lines, sentences for which we have no types, in chinese, japanese, arabic, and gujerati. this remarkable feat closes with the following in german script:] ich bin ein geist und ich liebe mein lagerbier--hans schneider. von moltke. one slate was broken in a similar way to that broken by dr. slade. professor thompson was asked to write a question, which he did while the side of the slate on which he wrote was turned away from mr. kellar. the slate was not turned over, the written question remaining on the under side, and it was held at the usual place under the table, mr. kellar's thumb remaining above the table in full view, while the fingers held the slate up under the table. a moment after the placing of the slate under the table, it was withdrawn to admit of a small pencil being placed upon it, mr. furness having remarked the absence of the pencil. the slate was not otherwise withdrawn from under the table above two inches until its final withdrawal, and the question was always, seemingly, on the under side. when the slate was brought out a communication was found upon it in answer to professor thompson's question. the answer was on the upper side of the slate. [april, 1887: mr. kellar afterwards revealed his methods to our colleague, mr. furness.] geo. s. fullerton, _secretary_. * * * * * february 19th, 1885. the commission met on thursday, february 19th, 1885, at 8 p.m., at the house of mr. furness, to attend a séance in the presence of mrs. maud e. lord. all of the commission were present, and there were present also, at the request of the medium, several friends of members of the commission, both men and women. there were in all eighteen persons present beside the medium; these seated themselves, as directed by the medium, in a circle, which was about six or seven feet in diameter; the medium took her seat in the centre. the lights having been put out, the medium drew her chair to one side of the circle, placing her feet in contact with those of one of the persons in the circle. those composing the circle linked hands, while the medium had her hands free. the medium described a number of spirit forms as coming to those present--to one a little child, to another an old man with white hair, etc. the descriptions were in general vague and indefinite, and might have applied to many persons. nevertheless, they were in very many cases wide of the mark. sometimes a father, a mother, or other relation was described as present. in some cases the death of such relations was acknowledged by the person to whom the medium addressed herself, but in other cases the relation in question had not died, or, as in the case of a child or brother--had not existed. to give an instance of the medium's inaccuracy: mr. fullerton's grandfather was described as coming to him, and the medium, describing the form, added that mr. fullerton was not familiar with it, as his grandfather had died while he was a young man, and had had but little intercourse with him. both mr. fullerton's grandfathers died some years before he was born. many other descriptions were quite as erroneous. sometimes a form was described as coming to one person in the circle and not being recognized by that one, was referred to the next; described as standing between them, etc. the number of successes, compared with the number of failures, was not striking. whispers were heard--_one at a time_--always at a point in the circle at a distance from that at which the medium was just after the whisper heard to speak to some one in her natural voice. the whispers _were never simultaneous_ with the remark afterward made by the medium. in the short interval between the whisper and the succeeding remark by the medium, i distinctly heard, on many occasions, a rustle of clothing, and once or twice a slight creak of the chair, as though the medium had moved her body from one side to the other, which she could easily have done without taking her feet away from those of the person she faced. upon one of those present inquiring why the whisper always sounded as if made by the same voice, the medium stated that the whisper did always sound the same, and that she was sorry to have to add, that it always sounded as if made by the voice of the medium. upon one occasion a light appeared and reappeared two or three times in front of the medium, passing from near her knee up for a foot or two. the light was indistinct, apparently phosphorescent, and passed so quickly that it could not be examined. it was described by the medium, however, as a form of a child from the spirit world. those present changed their seats during the séance, as suggested, but without producing more satisfactory results. the séance lasted about two hours. at mrs. lord's own suggestion before the séance, two women present took the medium into another room, and searched her clothes. geo. s. fullerton, _secretary_. * * * * * february 20th, 1885. the commission met on friday, february 20th, 1885, at 8 p.m., again at the house of mr. furness, to attend a second séance in the presence of mrs. lord. on the part of the commission were present mr. furness, mr. sellers and mr. fullerton. there were also present several women and men, some of whom had been present at the previous sitting. the circle, when formed, was about six feet in diameter. a ring was given by the medium to mr. sellers and another to miss logan to wear during the evening, with the expectation that they might be taken by the spirits and passed to another person in the circle, in accordance with the unexpressed wish of the one holding the ring. this was not done during the evening. a small musical-box was also given to one of the women to hold, and a zither placed upon the lap of a man. the former was, during the séance, taken from the woman holding it, and passed to another person in the circle. the medium sat as before, with her hands free, while those in the circle clasped hands, as was done on the former evening, each one having his left wrist grasped by the right hand of his neighbor, or _vice versa_. the zither was undisturbed during the evening. touches were felt here and there on the knees of those in the circle, and whispers were again heard from time to time. the whispers were, as before, _never simultaneous_ with the speeches of the medium, which were heard just after in another part of the circle. i distinctly noticed, on several occasions, the same rustle, as of a change of position on the part of the medium, between the whisper and the remark by the medium. many spirit forms were described by the medium as coming to those present, with about the same proportion of success as on the former evening. at various times during the sitting, lights were seen, which appeared and disappeared rapidly. they were indistinct and phosphorescent--such as can be produced in a dark room by rubbing a match-head, or by exhibiting an object rubbed with a match. the lights--at least all that were clearly seen by several persons--were within the circle and about the medium. occasionally the medium spoke of lights as without the circle, and one or two of those present (not members of the commission) assented. but, as on two such occasions, when those opposite myself described the light as above and behind me, i saw it above and in front of me, or between me and the medium; there is no reason to believe that they were not deceived by the difficulty of judging of the distance of an indistinct and evanescent appearance in a quite dark place. the direction, but not the distance, can in such a case be readily known. after a sitting of about two hours, the attempt to produce more striking phenomena was abandoned. during both séances mrs. lord kept up an almost continuous clapping of hands--the noise was not loud, but sufficient to aid in hiding any rustle of the medium's dress, or creaking of a chair. the medium also talked constantly. at the suggestion of the medium those present joined in singing on two occasions. the whisper heard in the circle was uniformly hoarse. a list of those present at these séances and the names of the ladies who searched the medium, are appended: those present at mrs. lord's séance on thursday were: dr. and mrs. pepper, professor and mrs. fullerton, mr. and mrs. sellers, professor and mrs. thompson, geo. s. pepper, mr. leonard, miss m.m. logan, dr. leidy, mrs. a.l. wister, miss agnes irwin, walter r. furness, dr. c.b. knerr, dr. koenig, dr. h.h. furness. those present at friday's séance were: professor fullerton, miss smith, mr. and mrs. sellers, dr. leidy, mr. leonard, mr. and mrs. f. furness, mrs. a.l. wister, miss irwin and miss sophie irwin, miss logan, mr. and mrs. f.m. dick, mrs. j.e. carpenter, h.h. furness. mrs. a.l. wister, mrs. dr. pepper, women searchers. geo. s. fullerton, _secretary_. * * * * * may 27th, 1885. on may 27th, the seybert commission held a meeting at the house of mr. furness, at 8 p.m., to examine the phenomena occurring in the presence of mr. pierre l.o.a. keeler, a professional medium. there were present on the part of the commission, dr. pepper, mr. furness, dr. koenig, dr. white, dr. knerr, mr. sellers and mr. fullerton. the following friends of the commission were also present: mr. f. furness, mr. w.r. furness, mr. j. foster kirk, mr. yost, mrs. e.d. gillespie, miss gillespie, mrs. dr. mitchell, mrs. c.b. rossell, mrs. dr. pepper, mrs. sellers, mrs. a.l. wister, mrs. dr. knerr, miss agnes irwin, miss m.m. logan. there were also present, as introduced by the medium, the medium's wife, mrs. keeler; col. s.p. kase and mrs. kase, and dr. annie d. ramburger. the medium, mr. keeler, is a young man, apparently about thirty years of age, with well cut features, curly, brown hair, a small, sandy moustache, and rather worn and anxious expression; he is strongly built, about five feet eight inches high, and with rather short, quite broad, and very muscular hands and strong wrists. the hands were examined by dr. pepper and mr. fullerton after the séance. the séance was held in mr. furness's drawing-room, and a space was curtained off by the medium in the north-east corner, thus: [illustration] the curtain is represented by _a_, _b_; _c_, _d_ and _e_ are three chairs placed in front of the curtain by the medium, in one of which (_e_) he afterwards sat; _g_ denotes the position of mrs. keeler; _f_ is a small table, placed within the curtain, and upon which were a tambourine, a guitar, two bells, a hammer, a metallic ring; the asterisks show the positions of the spectators, who sat in a double row--the two marked (1) and (2) indicate the positions taken by mrs. kase and col. kase, according to the directions of the medium. the curtain, or rather curtains, were of black muslin, and arranged as follows: there was a plain black curtain, which was stretched across the corner, falling to the floor. its height, when in position, was 53 inches; it was made thus: [illustration] the cord which held the curtain was 1, 2, and the flaps which are represented as standing above it (_a_, _b_, _c_, etc.), fell down over _a'_, _b'_, _c'_, etc., and could be made to cover the shoulders of one sitting with his back against the curtain. a black curtain was also pinned against the wall, in the space curtained off, partly covering it. another curtain was added to the one pictured, as will be described later. the medium then asked col. kase to say a few words as to the necessity of observing the conditions, need of harmony, etc. and then the medium himself spoke a few words of similar import. he then drew the curtain (shown on the preceding page) along the cord (1, 2) and fastened it; placed three wooden chairs in front of the curtain, as indicated in the cut, and saying he needed to form a battery, asked miss agnes irwin to sit in chair (_d_), and mr. yost in chair (_c_), the medium himself sitting in chair (_e_). a black curtain was then passed by mrs. keeler over mr. keeler, miss irwin and mr. yost, being fastened at _g_, between _e_ and _d_, between _d_ and _c_, and beyond _a_: thus entirely covering the three sitting in front of the stretched curtain up to their necks; and when the flaps before mentioned were pulled down over their shoulders, nothing could be seen but the head of each. before this last curtain was fastened over them, the medium placed both his hands upon the forearm and wrist of miss irwin, the sleeve being pulled up for the purpose, and miss irwin grasped with her right hand the left wrist of mr. yost; his right hand being in sight to the right of the curtain. after some piano-music, the medium said he felt no power from this 'battery,' and asked mrs. e.d. gillespie to take miss irwin's place. hands and curtain were arranged as before. the lights were turned down until the room was quite dim. those present sang. during the singing, the medium turned to speak to mr. yost, and his body, which had before faced rather away from the two other persons of the 'battery' (which position would have brought his right arm out in front of the stretched curtain)--his body was now turned the other way, so that, had he released his grasp upon mrs. gillespie's arm, his own right arm could have had free play in the curtained space behind him. his left knee also no longer stood out under the curtain in front, but showed a change of position. at this time mrs. gillespie declared she felt a touch, and soon after so did mr. yost. the medium's body was distinctly inclined toward mr. yost at the time. mrs. gillespie said she felt taps, but declared that, to the best of her knowledge, she still felt the medium's two hands upon her arm. raps indicated that the spirit, george christy, was present. as one of those present played on the piano, the tambourine was played in the curtained space and thrown over the curtain; bells were rung; the guitar was thrummed a little. at this time the medium's face was toward mrs. gillespie, and his right side toward the curtain. his body was further in against the curtain than either of the others. upon being asked, mrs. gillespie again said she thought she still felt two hands upon her arm. the guitar was then thrust out, at least the end of it was, at the bottom of the curtain, between mrs. gillespie and the medium. mrs. keeler drew away the curtain from over the toes of the medium's boots, to show where his feet were; the guitar was thrummed a little. had the medium's right arm been free, the thrumming could have been done quite easily with one hand. afterwards the guitar was elevated above the curtain; the tambourine, which was by mrs. keeler placed upon a stick held up within the enclosure, was made to whirl by the motion of the stick. the phenomena occurred successively, not simultaneously. when the guitar was held up, and when the tambourine was made to whirl, both of these were to the right of the medium, chiefly behind mrs. gillespie; they were just where they might have been produced by the right arm of the medium, had it been free. two clothes-pins were then passed over the curtain, and they were used in drumming to piano-music. they could easily be used in drumming by one hand alone, the fingers being thrust into them. the pins were afterwards thrown out over the curtain. mr. sellers picked one up as soon as it fell, and found it warm in the split, as though it had been worn. the drumming was probably upon the tambourine. a hand was seen moving rapidly with a trembling motion--which prevented it from being clearly observed--above the back curtain between mr. yost and mrs. gillespie. paper was passed over the curtain into the cabinet and notes were soon thrown out. the notes could have been written upon the small table within the enclosure by the right hand of the medium, had it been free. mrs. keeler then passed a coat over the curtain, and an arm was passed through the sleeve, fingers, with the cuff around them, being shown over the curtain. they were kept moving, and a close scrutiny was not possible. mr. furness was then invited to hold a writing-tablet in front of the curtain, when the hand, almost concealed by the coat-sleeve and the flaps mentioned as attached to the curtain, wrote with a pencil on the tablet. the writing was rapid, and the hand, when not writing, was kept in constant tremulous motion. the hand was put forth in this case not over the top curtain, but came from under the flap, and could easily have been the medium's right hand were it disengaged, for it was about on a level with his shoulder and to his right, between him and mrs. gillespie. mr. furness was allowed to pass his hand close to the curtain and grasp the hand for a moment. it was a _right_ hand. soon after the medium complained of fatigue, and the sitting was discontinued. it was declared by the spiritualists present to be a fairly successful séance. when the curtains were removed, the small table in the enclosure was found to be overturned, and the bells, hammer, etc., on the floor. it is interesting to note the space within which all the manifestations occurred. they were, without exception, where they would have been had they been produced by the medium's right arm. nothing happened to the left of the medium, nor very far over to the right. the sphere of activity was between the medium and mr. yost, and most of the phenomena occurred, as, for example, the whirling of the tambourine, behind mrs. gillespie. the front curtain--_i.e._, the main curtain which hung across the corner--was 85 inches in length, and the cord which supported it, 53 inches from the floor. the three chairs which were placed in front of it were side by side, and it would not have been difficult for the medium to reach across and touch mr. yost. when mrs. keeler passed objects over the curtain, she invariably passed them to the right of the medium, although her position was on his left; and the clothes-pins, paper, pencil, etc., were all passed over at a point where the medium's right hand could easily have reached them. to have produced the phenomena by using his right hand, the medium would have to have passed it under the curtain at his back. this curtain was not quite hidden by the front one at the end near the medium, and this end both mr. sellers and dr. pepper saw rise at the beginning of the séance. the only thing worthy of consideration, as opposed to a natural explanation of the phenomena, was the grasp of the medium's hands on mrs. gillespie's arm. the grasp was evidently a tight one above the wrist, for the arm was bruised for about four inches. there was no evidence of a similar pressure above that, as the marks on the arm extended in all about five or six inches only. the pressure was sufficient to destroy the sensibility of the forearm, and it is doubtful whether mrs. gillespie with her arm in such a condition could distinguish between the grasp of one hand, with a divided pressure (applied by the two last fingers and the thumb and index) and a double grip by two hands. three of our number, mr. sellers, mr. furness and dr. white, can, with one hand, perfectly simulate the double grip. it is specially worthy of note that mrs. gillespie declared that, when the medium first laid hold of her arm with his right hand before the curtain was put over them, it was with an under grip, and she _felt his right arm under her left_. but when the medium asked her if she felt both his hands upon her arm, and she said yes, she could feel the grasp, but no arm under hers, though she moved her elbow around to find it--she felt a hand, but not an arm, and at no time during the séance did she find that arm. (taken from notes made during the séance and immediately after it.) geo. s. fullerton, _secretary_. n.b.--it should be noted that both the medium and mr. yost took off their coats before being covered with the curtain. it was suggested by dr. pepper that this might have been required by the medium as a precaution against movements on the part of mr. yost. the white shirt-sleeves would have shown against the black background. g.s.f. * * * * * december 29th, 1885. there was a meeting of the seybert commission this evening, at the house of mr. furness, on washington square, to investigate some materializations promised by the mediums, dr. rothermel and mr. powell. there were present mr. furness, dr. leidy, professor thompson, dr. s. weir mitchell, dr. white, dr. knerr, mr. fullerton, colonel kase, mr. frank furness, mrs. j. dundas lippincott, mrs. dr. pepper, mrs. a.l. wister, and a number of others. the mediums arrived with quite a bundle of apparatus, and stretched their curtain where mr. keeler had his, across the corner of the parlor, from the door leading into the hall to the edge of the window. the curtain was similar to that of mr. keeler in its general character, and, as in that case, the whole corner was draped in black. the shape of the cabinet was triangular. the mediums said it was impossible to produce materialized forms as they had expected, and proceeded to give much the same sort of a séance as mr. keeler's--in this case, however, the hands of the medium covered by the curtain being fastened with tape, instead of being held. the arrangement of the curtain, positions of the mediums, and the positions of the spectators were as indicated. [illustration: x dr. rothermel--a curtain at his back and one in front of him, his head through a hole in the upper part of the outer flap of the double curtain. y mr. powell. * * * spectators. on table (2) was a music-box, and on table (1), within the cabinet, bells, a zither, etc.] the lights were all extinguished but one, and that one was prevented from throwing light on the medium by a shade placed upon one side of it--it was turned low. the light was not so good as during mr. keeler's séance. before the lights were put out, dr. white was asked to tie the medium, and mrs. lippincott to sew the ends of the ribbon and tape with which he was tied. a ribbon was tied around each leg above the knee, and the ends sewed to his trowsers. a bit of black tape was then passed under the ribbon and tied around the wrist, the ends being knotted and sewed together by mrs. lippincott. his right hand was thus fastened to his right leg, and his left hand to his left leg; though he still had some freedom of motion, and could easily reach one hand with the other. dr. rothermel was then placed as indicated, behind the outer curtain, and the lights extinguished as described. he asked for a drink of water, which was given him by mr. powell, who stood directly in front of him while he drank it, and hid him from the audience. then the zither played, a cap was thrown out over the curtain, a hand (to the right of the medium) was shown over the curtain. bells were rung, papers thrown out, a drum accompaniment to the piano played, as by mr. keeler, and the drumsticks thrown out. mr. powell wet in a glass some handkerchiefs with water, and passed them over the curtain, they were passed out with a message written on them in indelible ink. this could easily have been done with an indelible pencil. (the small table within the curtain was within easy reach of the right hand of the medium, had it been free, and could have been used for such work.) the music-box on table (2) was set off--was rattled several times. (it could have been done by the medium's left hand if it were free.) the person, to whom each of the above-mentioned handkerchiefs was to be returned, was indicated by raps from the spirit. (the spirit was in error in returning handkerchiefs to dr. mitchell and mr. fullerton.) the zither was put out at the right and left hand lower corners of the curtain. (it could have been done by the medium, were his hands free.) the medium professed to be then controlled by the spirit of a young girl--emma hirsch. he spoke in an unnatural and squeaky voice, but occasionally lapsed into his natural voice. the spirit declared the medium unconscious, but refused to allow any medical examination of his condition. the mediums were then asked to allow dr. rothermel's hands to be examined. after a little delay, the curtain was folded back and the hands exposed. mr. fullerton was permitted to examine them by the light of a match only, and very hastily. they did not allow a candle, which had been lighted, to be brought near. as mr. fullerton approached to examine the knots, mr. powell came close and seemed very much afraid they would be touched. he kept reiterating, "don't touch them!" "don't touch them!" "it would be very dangerous!" the examination was hasty and unsatisfactory, as mr. powell and dr. rothermel both said that he (the latter) could endure it only a moment. hasty as it was, it showed that the knots, which had been on top of the wrists, were now underneath; the tapes, as is mentioned later, were, at the end of the séance, found cut close to the knots. whether the tapes were really in their former state, and not already cut, could only be known by examining them all around, and such an examination was not allowed. it should be stated that before this, and after some of the manifestations, the medium, with some convulsive movement, as if pulled and pushed by spirits, came out from under the curtain, and stood with his hands on his legs, as if tied there, but it was too dark to see whether he was really tied, or merely held his hands there, and no examination was made. soon after, the medium declared that the spirits were cutting him loose, and when the curtain was removed and lights brought, the tapes which had bound his wrists were found to be cut through close to the knots. whether this was done at the beginning of the séance, leaving the medium's hands free from the beginning, or at the time indicated by the medium, there was no means of proving. the cutting of the tapes made the tying and sewing tests quite valueless. (taken from notes made during the séance and immediately after.) geo. s. fullerton, _secretary_. * * * * * the following advertisement was, in march, 1885, inserted in _the religio-philosophical journal_, of chicago, _the banner of light_, in boston, and _the public ledger_, in philadelphia: "the seybert commission for investigating modern spiritualism," of the university of pennsylvania, hereby requests all mediums for independent slate writing, and no other at present, who are willing to submit their manifestations to the examination of this commission, to communicate with the undersigned, stating terms, etc. horace howard furness, _acting chairman_, philadelphia, pa. * * * * * spiritual photography. when mr. keeler, a well-known "spiritual photographer," was in the city, the acting chairman called on him, and requested from him in writing a statement of his terms and the conditions under which an investigation by this commission could be held. the following reply was received from him: 1614 green street, _philadelphia_, november 6th, 1885. mr. furness. dear sir:--in regard to giving the photographic séances i feel that i am obliged to ask an observance of the following conditions: that there be three séances, for which i shall expect the sum of $300. i desire only the regularly appointed members of the commission on your side to be present, i to have the privilege to invite an equal number of persons, if necessary, to harmonize the antagonistic element which might be produced by those persons not in perfect sympathy with the cause. i must have the right to demand, if conditions make it necessary, the exclusive use of the dark room and my own instrument. the séances to be given at your own residence. as i cannot guard against the influences which others may bring, i shall expect to be paid the afore-named sum whether my efforts prove satisfactory or not, although i hope for the most favorable results, and to this end i would urge the members of the commission to surround me with the most congenial and harmonious conditions possible. these séances to begin on the 12th inst. if this meets with your approval an early answer is solicited. very respectfully, w.m. keeler. memorandum for the seybert commission. i called this morning (saturday, 14th november, 1885), on mr. w. m. keeler, and told him, in effect, in the very words as well as i can remember, as follows: that i had received his letter of the 6th inst., containing his terms, and had consulted the commission in regard to them; and that our conclusion had been quickly reached. he must know how very simple a process this 'composite photography' is, and that among photographers there is no mystery whatever in it. for his own process he claimed a spiritual agency--this agency we were willing to accept (in my own case i was anxious to accept it) if, after a thorough investigation, his process could not be explained by well-known physical laws. the conditions he demanded were such as to render any investigation simply silly. his exclusive use of the dark room, which could have nothing to do with spiritual forces, for the spirits had already done their work in the camera, utterly precluded us from discovering whether his processes were in anywise different from ordinary photography. he wished to know in what way this prevented us from detecting fraud if the operations took place in a private house where he was a stranger. i replied that without for a moment impugning his honesty, he must know that unless we were present with him in the dark room, we could not affirm that our marks had not been duplicated on substituted plates. furthermore, that we had regarded his terms as intentionally prohibitory. the demand for three hundred dollars was so extraordinary that we could regard it in no other light than as a desire to avoid an investigation altogether. i asked him what his ordinary charge was, and he replied two dollars for each sitting, and that he made from twenty to forty dollars a day, when he settled down to work. that there might be no misunderstanding, i repeated my reply to his wife: that we were ready to investigate, if we could be allowed to watch the very points where material agency ceases and spiritual begins, but these very points mr. keeler forbade us to examine, and that the failure rested with him. at one time his vexation (which was manifest) a little ran away with his discretion. he asked, with somewhat of a sneer, 'how did you expect to investigate it?' i replied that 'i could not answer for others, but for myself i should have liked to have him say, when we of the commission met him, the spirits are present, through my mediumship, here is my camera in which the spirits will manifest themselves on the sensitized plates, take it, and so long as i am present with my influence, do what you please.' he laughed outright and said 'that would be a good thing.' i endeavored throughout the interview to impress him with our utter incredulity in the spiritual nature of his photographs, and yet to give him no loop to hang a charge of discourteous or illiberal treatment on. i asked him to give me, in my private capacity, a sitting at his earliest convenience, and that i should not be satisfied with less than a cherub on my head, one on each shoulder, and a full-blown angel on my breast. he laughingly assented. horace howard furness, _acting chairman seybert commission_. i ought, perhaps, to add that i showed to mr. keeler a composite photograph taken by one of my sons, wherein a spirit quite as ethereal as any of mr. keeler's, appears in the background. he looked at it, and returned it to me without remark. h.h.f. * * * * * march 30th, 1886. the seybert commission met this evening at the house of dr. pepper, to investigate spiritistic phenomena produced through the mediumship of mr. briggs (for an account of mr. briggs see a previous report). there were present, dr. pepper, dr. leidy, dr. s. weir mitchell, professor koenig, dr. white, dr. knerr, mr. fullerton and two friends of dr. pepper, mr. charles g. smith and mr. robert s. davis; also the medium, mr. fred. briggs. the séance was in dr. pepper's office; a square table (about 3-1/2 feet square) was placed in the room near the centre, and was supplemented by an oblong table (about 4 feet by 3) placed with one end touching the side of the former, upon the medium's declaring the former too small. seats were taken around the tables. a banjo, a musical box, a zither, a couple of slates and a fan were on the tables. the medium insisted that there should be total darkness, and a shawl was hung over the window to exclude all light. at first hands were joined around the table. then the medium suggested breaking the circle. his hands were then quite free. draughts of air were felt (possibly the fan); the medium kept making noises, blowing and breathing hard, talking, etc.; the slates on the table were moved, the guitar was twanged, the music-box played. during all this the medium asked that the hands of all present be kept on the table. the medium stated that mr. seybert was present. he declared that mr. seybert expressed himself as satisfied with the efforts of the commission to make a fair investigation. when the medium stated that some message had been written on one of the slates by mr. seybert, the gas was lit, and we found on one slate "i am here." no one present was able to declare it mr. seybert's handwriting, as none were familiar with his writing. the light was then turned low. mr. smith was asked to sit in the place of dr. mitchell. he held, as directed, one slate up under the table, and the medium held the other under the table over his own knee. after some conversation the medium drew out his slate, and the light being turned up we found on it: "i am with you. john pepper." it was too dark to watch the medium during this last occurrence. the conversation, which was general, would have prevented writing from being heard. light turned up--both slates held by the medium under the table--no result. the light was then turned low. dr. leidy was asked to sit next the medium. some noise and confusion resulted from making the change. then the medium asked dr. leidy to put his hand also upon a slate which the medium was holding up under the table. attention was then called to a scratching sound, which might have been writing. the slate was taken out by dr. leidy, and the light turned up. the following was written on it: "john smith is with you like a young son. john lydy." it was, of course, possible that the writing was done before dr. leidy put his hand on it, as the slate was not then examined. the medium suggested that we ask mental questions; several did so, without result. the light was then turned up. hands were joined. some feeble raps were heard; they apparently issued from under the table. slates were held under the table, but without result. the light was then turned low. a slate was held under the table by the medium. he breathed hard, and made no little noise for some time. then dr. koenig was asked to put his hand on the slate. a scratching was heard. when the light was turned up the slate contained the message: "i will help you all. dr. benj. rush." with this the séance ended. (copied from notes taken during the séance. written out the day after.) geo. s. fullerton, _secretary_. * * * * * april 11th, 1886. i attended a séance at the house of colonel kase, 1601 north 15th street, philadelphia, on april 11th, at 8.10 p.m. the medium was mrs. best. there were about a dozen persons present; at least two of them, besides mrs. best, claimed to be mediums. the séance was in colonel kase's sitting-room. the "cabinet" was made by stretching a curtain, suspended to a curved rod, across one corner. it could hold a chair, and was perhaps four feet across, or more. the medium, mrs. best, took her seat in the chair and drew the curtain. the room was made _totally_ dark--a cloth being used to cover the crack of the door. the spectators, who were arranged in a deep curve facing the cabinet, were asked to sing a hymn. as we sang, a voice from the cabinet, a deep contralto, joined in, loudly. soon something resembling in outline a human form covered with drapery appeared at the cabinet. it was indistinctly luminous. no face was visible; nor could the face of any other spirit, which appeared during the evening, be discerned even in faintest outline. the light seemed to belong entirely to the drapery. the spirit was declared to be apollonius, and made a speech in a loud, harsh voice. other similar forms appeared one after the other, and spoke in different tones--all the voices, however, with the exception of apollonius's and that of another speaker, were more or less like hoarse whispers. when the spirit of mr. t.r. hazard appeared, his voice was by no means natural, and sounded like a bad imitation. a form calling itself "lottie" appeared, kissed a medium present, and at my request passed its hands over my head and face. its hands were covered with luminous drapery which hung down perhaps a foot. i was allowed to touch it. it felt like soft tulle. a very strong odor of sandal-wood prevailed, and the smell of phosphorus, even if it had been used, could not easily, at a little distance, have been discerned. the luminous appearance of the drapery did not seem to be due to phosphorus--it did not fume. it seemed rather such as might have been produced by luminous paint--a mixture luminous in the dark after exposure to the light. i noticed on the hand, or what, from position, i inferred to be the hand, of the form, a distinctly phosphorescent appearance; it was on this account i asked it to touch me. as it passed its hand over my face i distinctly smelt phosphorus. at one time two forms appeared near each other and near the cabinet. they might easily have been produced by holding up luminous drapery. tall and then short forms then appeared one at a time. if the drapery were raised or lowered the appearance could readily have been produced, and the person holding it would have been quite invisible. the different voices that spoke _never_ spoke simultaneously. a large rug on the floor in front of the cabinet would have prevented steps from being heard, had the form been the medium. on two occasions, when i suggested that i recognized the form by asking, "is it ----?" the spirit assented, and assumed the character. both the persons i mentioned are still alive. the séance began at 8.10 p.m., and lasted two hours and a-half. there was much singing. the séance was regarded by several spiritualists who were present as a very satisfactory one. i expressly asked for their opinion. (written out on april 13th, from notes made in the car, on my way home from the séance.) geo. s. fullerton, _secretary_. * * * * * january 30th, 1887. yesterday i visited mrs. m.b. thayer, an independent slate writing medium, at 1601 north 15th street, philadelphia, in hopes of arranging for a séance at that time. i had a conversation of about half an hour with mrs. thayer, who asked what i had seen before, and with what mediums i had sat; but i was not able to get a sitting at once, mrs. thayer declaring "the conditions" unsatisfactory. she made an appointment, however, for to-day at 4 p.m. in the hall i met, on my departure, mrs. kase, the hostess of the medium, to whom i am personally known, and who told me in an 'aside' that she would not reveal my identity to the medium. this might readily have been overheard by the medium, who was standing close by. [i visited mrs. thayer alone, because she had expressed an unwillingness to appear before the commission, and we found it necessary to visit her as private persons.] upon calling to-day, i was ushered into mrs. thayer's room, in which stood a small wooden table covered with a red cloth (which hung down, perhaps a foot, on all sides from the edges of the table), ready for the séance. ten or twelve plain single slates lay in a pile on a piece of furniture near the table. mrs. thayer handed me two of these slates, which i cleaned and examined. i then marked them on the inside, or what became, when i laid them together, the inside, and held them while she tied them together with a piece of white tape. after they were tied they could be separated an eighth of an inch without difficulty. holding the slates in my hand, i examined the table and the furniture near it, and then took my seat at the table, mrs. thayer sitting opposite me. the table was about 2-1/2 x 1-1/2 feet. at the suggestion of mrs. thayer, i placed the tied slates upon the table under the cloth, and we both placed our hands upon the cloth above them. after waiting for some time for indications of writing, i withdrew the slates from under the cloth, and, as directed, held them, with my right hand up against the under surface of the table, mrs. thayer placing her left hand upon my right as i held the slates. after holding them thus for some time i was told to withdraw them, and hold them against my forehead. then i was told to open them and to scrape some pencil-dust over the inner surfaces. this i did, again closing the slates, which mrs. thayer tied as before. i was again directed to hold them up against the under surface of the table, and the medium again placed her hand upon the hand with which i held them. her hand was not wholly upon mine, but projected beyond it upon my wrist and towards my edge of the slates. after my holding the slates in this position, seemingly without result, until i was very wearied, the medium suggested my laying them upon my lap and covering them with the table cover, which hung down more on my side than on hers. she said it was necessary that the slates should be concealed. when they were in this position we joined hands upon the table, and she placed her feet upon mine under the table, thus making, as she said, a strong "battery." this seeming to be inefficacious, i was directed to wrap the slates in a cloth given me for the purpose (apparently a small table cover) and to lay them on the floor under the table, placing my left foot upon them. this i did, and the medium placed one of her feet upon my left foot, taking my hands upon the table, and again forming the "battery." after some waiting, much calling upon the spirit of foster to write (this she did at intervals during the séance) and several requests for raps (which did not come), the medium decided that we should get nothing during the sitting, and it was discontinued. i took up the slates from the floor, took off the cloth and untied the tape; no mark had been made upon them. there had been much conversation during the sitting, the medium telling me not to keep my mind on the slates, but to put myself into a condition of "passivity." she declared me mediumistic, and said that she doubted whether she would ever be able to get results with me. she stated two or three times that she saw three forms behind me, but dimly, and could not describe them. one was a "mild and gentle lady, with a beautiful hand." to the only person whom i can remember with a markedly beautiful hand, no one would have applied these adjectives. the sitting was about an hour long. (copied and arranged the same evening from notes made in the car on the way home from the séance.) geo. s. fullerton. [i arranged for another séance with mrs. thayer, to be held some days later, but at the time appointed she refused to see me, giving as excuse indisposition. g.s.f.--april, 1887.] * * * * * on the evening of january 29th, 1887, in company with dr. j.w. white, i called on mrs. thayer, at no. 1601 north 15th street. the lady seemed not to be pleased with our visit, and declared that we were no spiritualists. she reluctantly agreed to give us a séance on the following sunday, and on parting the gentleman of the house politely invited us to attend a flower séance to be held by the same lady on the following thursday. calling on sunday, mrs. thayer excused herself on account of indisposition. the next thursday we attended the flower séance, in which i felt much curiosity from the wonderful story that had been told to me by a spiritualist friend, who had seen one by the same medium several years before. the séance was held in the second story of the back building, in a room which the proprietor of the house informed me he had devoted to the purpose of spiritualist séances. about thirty persons were assembled, and, without any examination of the premises, they were seated around a long dining-table. in the company dr. koenig was the only other member of the seybert commission present. the séance was opened with an 'invocation' by a lady, and during the 'manifestations' the company sang popular airs, such as 'sweet by-and-bye,' etc. the doors and windows were all securely closed and the lights extinguished. sounds were heard of objects dropping on the table, and from time to time matches were lit and exposed, strewed before the company, cut plants and flowers. there were all of the kind sold at this season by the florists, consisting of a pine bough, fronds of ferns, roses, pinks, tulips, lilies, callas (richardia) and smilax (myrsiphyllum). at one time there fell on the table a heavy body, which proved to be a living terrapin; at another time there appeared a pigeon which flew about the room. the flower manifestation ceased, and the gas was re-lit. a lady then made some remarks on the wonderful phenomena exhibited in evidence of the truth of spiritualism, and another followed with some sentimentalities on the subject. the proprietor of the house declared that the flowers and other objects brought to view in the séance were not previously in the room, and their appearance could not be explained unless through spiritual agency. he said that in former years, at similar séances, flowers had appeared in much greater quantities. the medium, mrs. thayer, said she had not before served in a flower séance for several years. at the next act of the séance, as i understood it, a 'test' was called for. a young man, whose name i did not distinctly hear, now took the chair of the former medium. he promptly announced the appearance of the spirit of an indian girl, and then personified her by assuming a silly address in broken english. in this manner he expressed himself as seeing various spirits of friends and relatives of the company hovering among them. they were announced by the first name in a rather uncertain and expectant manner, and in a few instances they were supposed to be recognized by some of the company, but mostly did not accord with their knowledge. as an example, the medium informed dr. koenig that a tall man named charley was holding something over his head and encouraging him in some great enterprise. dr. koenig did not recognize the man, nor could he be made to comprehend anything of the subjects of which he was informed by the materialized indian girl. during this second act of the séance, i could detect nothing that could be attributed to other than ordinary human agency. the indian girl retired, and the séance closed. joseph leidy. * * * * * february 10th, 1887. i enter col. kase's house, 1601 north 15th street, in company of drs. leidy, white and mr. sommerville, a friend of the first. we are received by the colonel and pass scrutiny. the séance takes place in the second story sitting-room. this is furnished with a large oak table, a square piano, and one corner is made into an alcove, the curtains of which are thrown back and reveal several drawings in black and white--one of the young raphael. over the mantlepiece a painting representing the apparition of a spirit-form, to a young lady sitting in front of a fire-place. on entering this room find the medium, mrs. thayer, engaged in seating the audience. she is a middle-aged lady of good proportions, hair black, color flushed, the light eyes look weary, the lower face rather square, deep lines around the mouth. she is evidently not in very good humor. after a while the company, between twenty and thirty persons, mostly women, get seated. owing to the many people present i could not see what preparations had been made. medium requests that the piano be moved against the door (to keep off illicit spirits?). chair placed against the door. light turned out completely. singing of "sweet by-and-bye." medium requests a lady to invoke divine blessing. disgusting cant. more singing. darkness impenetrable. sudden bumping noise on the table. match struck by the colonel just as something crawls over my hand and falls to the floor. it is a red-bellied terrapin. some ferns appear neatly arranged on the table in front and to the left of the medium. expressions of gratification. dark. singing. a pine-bough is thrown against me. screaming on account of terrapin. match. several parties have large lilies in front of them. my neighbor a lily of the valley (he states that his wife said before he left: "i wish you would get a lily of the valley"). dark. singing. match. dr. leidy has some red lilies; some smilax and a wreath are on the table. great astonishment. colonel kase says it is wonderful, but during the centennial year they got tables loaded with flowers (the medium has not given a flower séance for some years, she says, hence the rather meagre supply.) a lady points out the fact that the flowers are quite cold and have a sort of dew on them. but i found those before me quite dry, as if they had been in the room for some time. the medium is tired and retires. mrs. x. is requested to come under the influence of her spirit-guides, and she does. she puts herself in an oratorical posture, eyes closed, and reels off the common-places of the _banner of light_: the spirits are eager for investigation, but benighted men in the flesh cannot make the conditions, and thus continue to wallow in darkness. the spirits are kind. they do not damn those poor benighted ones, but still hold out, in beautiful optimism, the hope that all those who do want to know the truth will find it! another lady, mrs. y., is now called upon to put herself under spirit-guidance, and she thereupon proceeds to enlighten the sheep-fold how it is possible that these flowers and branches and turtles can come through solid walls and closed windows. "it is all awfully simple; it is nothing but projection! the spirits understand the laws of electric projection; even the electric forces themselves understand the laws of nature and the currents. the electric force snatches the flower, or plant, and propels it along invisible wires. there is no such thing as solid substance, matter is permeable to these forces, and, therefore, it is easy to see how a terrapin can come quick as lightning through a wall." (verbatim.) mr. copeland is now called upon to give the audience some tests, a rather inoffensive looking young man with hair standing up. the light is turned down; he jerks his head and body, passes his hand over his eyes and begins to talk in broken, childish sentences. a little indian maid now controls him. the maid describes a tall, bony, black-haired gentleman standing near _me_, with a fatherly look; he is charley, and holds something, as if i were undertaking some grand enterprise. but as i do not know charley, charley disappears, and the spirit of a quaker gentleman comes to a lady not far from me--all right. soon, however, the maid is at me again. this time it is william. he has something chemical, like a discovery. have i not been across the water where people had the cholera and turned black and died? did i not very much disappoint a young lady over there? did i give her a ring? margaret, or some name like that, now comes around. have i never seen the medium before? no. then i should pay him a visit. wants to talk with me about my past and future. has much to say; and so on. do i not go often into a building where many persons work at chemistry? am i not sceptical?--rather. wants to cure my scepticism, and so on, _ad nauseam_. me is tired, me wants go. again the jerks, the rubbing of the eyes, and the indian maid is once more mr. copeland. séance terminates with the payment of one dollar, cash, at 9.30 p.m. stifling atmosphere breathed for 1-1/2 hours, for what? _quelle bêtise!_ geo. a. koenig. * * * * * saturday, march 26th, 1887. i attended a séance at the house of col. kase, 1601 north 15th street, on thursday evening, march 24th, mrs. wells acting as medium. there were about thirty persons present, of whom several seemed to be mediums. the séance was held in the sitting-room in the second story--a room separated by double doors from a smaller room behind. the back room, used as a cabinet, was shut off by portières, and the persons were arranged in front of the curtains, in the form of a deep curve, dr. leidy, dr. knerr and myself being put in the second row. mrs. thayer directed us where to sit. the room in which we sat was lighted by a single gas-jet, situated some distance behind the spectators; a piece of music was placed before this to prevent any direct light from falling on the curtains, and the gas was turned very low. mrs. wells entered the room used as a cabinet, and took her seat in a chair opposite the curtains. mrs. thayer closed the curtains. after some time spirits began to show themselves one by one between the curtains, and to whisper. mrs. thayer stepped forward and interpreted for them, calling up persons in the circle to receive communications. the forms were very indistinct from the circle, and apparently not very distinct to those called up, as they expressed some dissatisfaction. one man called up to speak with his daughter (one of the better forms) remarked that he "saw her putty good, but not very." one or two of the forms stepped out in front of the curtains (one was dressed as a man, one purported to be mary, queen of scots), but they did not advance to the circle, and the light was so dim that they could not be seen at all clearly. only on one or two occasions two forms appeared at once, and then not in front of the curtains, but one on each side of one of the curtains--this curtain being pulled together, as though some one were reaching around behind it. the appearance could very readily have been made by the medium's appearing between the two curtains, and holding up a bit of drapery at the side of one of them. the audience was evidently an uncritical one. when a spirit called for her husband, mrs. thayer, the interpreter, asked, "has anyone here a wife on the other side?" an old man present stated that his had died two years before. he asked if the spirit's name were _may_. when he came back to his seat, i heard him remark to his neighbor that that "must have been her, but she had more flesh on than when i knew her." no examination was made before or after the séance of either room or medium, and no tests of any sort were applied. the séance lasted about an hour and a-half. geo. s. fullerton, _secretary_. (copied and arranged from notes made in the car on the way home from this séance--saturday evening, march 26th, 1887.) n.b.--i have neglected to state (though it is mentioned in my notes) that the séance was commenced by an "invocation" from mrs. coleman, who sat near the curtains. it was in no wise remarkable. g.s.f. * * * * * dr. leidy. the undersigned, a member of the seybert commission, appointed by the university, in company with one or more of the other members, at different times, from march, 1884, to april, 1887, attended twelve séances with reputed spiritualist mediums. led to view spiritualism with the respect due to its importance, based on the reflection that many of the most intelligent and honorable of the community had become convinced of its truth, i undertook the investigation of the subject free from conscious prejudice, and with a desire to observe with unbiased judgment the phenomena which might be presented to me in the séances of spiritualist mediums. of the dozen séances attended in company with other members of the commission, five were held with three slate-writing mediums, two with as many rapping mediums, and five with four materializing mediums. all the mediums possessed more or less celebrity as such among the advocates of spiritualism. i further attended, unaccompanied by members of the commission, three séances, of which one was held with one of the former materializing mediums, and two with other rapping mediums. the reputed phenomena or manifestations were carefully observed, as far as circumstances would permit, _i.e._, under the conditions ordinarily exacted by mediums. i have kept a record of my observations of the spiritualist séances, but it is unnecessary to relate them here. as the result of my experience thus far, i must confess that i have witnessed no extraordinary manifestation, such as we ordinarily hear described as evidence of communication between this and the spirit world. on the contrary, all the exhibitions i have seen have been complete failures in what was attempted or expected, or they have proved to be deceptions and tricks of jugglery. sometimes accompanied by buffoonery, i never saw in them anything solemn or impressive, and never did they give the slightest positive information of interest. having thus far failed to discover anything in evidence of the truth of spiritualism, i yet remain ready to receive such evidence from an honest medium. one of the slate-writing mediums, with whom we held several séances, relieved the tedium of waiting for a slate-communication by writing in pencil on slips of paper, under spirit control, as we were assured, communications from a succession of spirits. the hand of these communications was good, and in each one different as it would appear from different individuals. there was, however, in all a similarity of expression and grammatical construction, which indicated a want of entire spirit control. one of these communications, in my possession, reads literally thus: "people have thought my manner and habit very strange indeed regarding the truth of spirit control there has been many things practiced which i see now was wrong and foolish yet the truth stills exist that we can come back and make ourselves felt you ask if i am pleased with what thomas [probably thomas r. hazard, who was with us at the time] is doing i am in many respects though there are things best left undone and unsaid you are perfectly aware of my past feelings also of my desire to have the truth properly investigated which i feel it will be and the truth and truth only sought after by the committee i am more concious now than a time back henry seybert" another communication in my possession, obtained by a friend from the same medium, at another séance, is in an equally good and strikingly different hand from the former, and reads thus: "yes both of those spirits were there and were plainly seen there was others there that were imperceptable alice cary" as examples of communications, in irregular scrawls on slips of paper, in my possession, thrown from behind a screen by a materialized spirit, at a séance of mr. keeler, are the following: "hello folks" "oh i am a big slugger" "how is your nose doc" "i am seeing the sad result of my work. h. seibert" [_sic_]. the punctuation and spelling are carefully copied. joseph leidy. * * * * * the slade-zoellner investigation. perhaps no other investigation of spiritistic phenomena has exercised so strong an influence upon the public mind in america, at least, as that conducted by professor j.c.f. zoellner and his colleagues in leipsic in 1877 and 1878. in november and december of the year 1877 and in may of 1878, professor zoellner had a number of séances with dr. henry slade, the american medium, in leipsic, the results of which he has narrated in his "scientific treatises," and which he finds of special interest in connection with certain physical speculations with which he was before this time occupied. he declares himself specially authorized to mention by name as present at some of his investigations his colleagues, professors fechner and scheibner, of the university of leipsic, and professor weber of goettingen. these three, he states, were perfectly convinced of the reality of the observed facts, and that they were not to be attributed to imposture or prestidigitation. he also mentions the presence of professor wundt at at least one of the sittings. the phenomena narrated by zoellner--the bursting of the wooden screen, the passages of coins out of closed boxes, the abnormal actions of the solid wooden rings, the tying of knots in the endless cord, the prints made upon smoked paper by the feet of four-dimentional beings--all these have become classic in spiritistic literature, and the accounts may be obtained in convenient form collected, arranged and translated into english by mr. c.c. massey, of lincoln's inn, london. of these phenomena themselves, verification is, at this late date, manifestly out of the question. the only published accounts are those made by zoellner, and in the absence of notes made at the time, all descriptions of phenomena given now by the other persons present would be valueless, except as indicating the impression made upon them at the time by the occurrences. but, though the phenomena themselves cannot be satisfactorily sifted, the men who were engaged in the investigation are, with the exception of zoellner himself, still living, and it occurred to me when in germany during the past summer, that a conference with each of these men, and an inquiry into their qualifications for making such an investigation into the phenomena of spiritism, might be of no small value. these men are: _william wundt_, professor of philosophy in the university of leipsic; _gustav theodore fechner_, now professor emeritus of physics in the university of leipsic; _w. scheibner_, professor of mathematics in the university of leipsic; and _wilhelm weber_, professor emeritus of physics in the university of goettingen--all of them men of eminence in their respective lines of scholarship. on saturday, june 19th, i called upon professor wundt at his home in leipsic; with respect to the investigation of 1877-78 he gave me the following information, which i noted down during my conversation with him, asking him to repeat the points mentioned as i noted them, so as to avoid any error or misunderstanding, and which i copied out, with merely verbal changes, two days later. professor wundt said: 1. that at the séances at which he himself was present (and he was present at two or three of them) the conditions of observation were very unsatisfactory. all hands had to be kept on the table, and no one was allowed to look under it. 2. that all that he saw done looked as if it might have been done by jugglery. 3. that the writing on slates was very suspicious--the german was bad, just such german as slade spoke. 4. that professor weber, who was present at the sittings, was a very old man at the time, and presumably not an acute observer. 5. that professor fechner, another of those present, was afflicted with an incipient cataract, and could see very little. 6. that professor zoellner himself was at the time decidedly not in his right mind; his abnormal mental condition being clearly indicated in his letters and in his intercourse with his family. 7. that he (professor wundt) had not a high respect for the scientific judgment of professor ulrici, of halle, who had been so much impressed by the report made by professor zoellner; professor ulrici he thought literary and poetical, but not scientific. it will be seen that some of the points mentioned by professor wundt are suggestive; but i will postpone an examination of his statements, as of those of each of the others, until they have all been given and can be compared. on the same day (june 19th) i called upon professor fechner, also at his home in leipsic. professor fechner, who no longer lectures, being old and feeble, and suffering from cataract of the eyes, made the following statements, each of which i translated to him for his approval, after i had set it down: 1. that he himself was present at but two sittings, and that these were not very decisive. 2. that he did not look upon slade as a juggler, but accepted the objective reality of the facts; that he did this, however, not on the strength of his own observations, for these were unsatisfactory, but because he had faith in professor zoellner's powers of observation. 3. that what he saw might have been produced by juggling. 4. that the sittings at which he was present were held at night, and that he could not remember what sort of a light they had. 5. that zoellner's mental derangement came on very gradually, so that it would be difficult to say when it began; but that from the time of his experiments with slade it was more pronounced. he (fechner) did not think, however, that it incapacitated zoellner as an observer, the derangement being emotional; but, such as it was, it was clearly shown in his family and in his intercourse with friends. 6. professor fechner referred me to professors scheibner and weber for information, saying that these two were present at most of the sittings. i failed at this time to meet professor scheibner, who, though resident in leipsic, happened to be away from home on a visit; but, having made an appointment with him by letter, i returned to leipsic on july 3d, and called upon him at his home; upon this occasion he gave me more full and satisfactory details concerning professor zoellner's investigation than i succeeded in obtaining from any of the others. the notes which i made during my conversation with him i translated to him, and corrected in accordance with his suggestions before leaving his house. after my return to halle i copied my notes out in full, and sent them by mail to professor scheibner, with the request that he correct them and return them to me at berlin, signing his name to them if they correctly represented his opinions. in answer he enclosed me the copy which i had sent him, corrected where he thought the notes inexact, and an accompanying letter, stating that he did not forbid me to use the material which he had given me, but that he did not wish to set his name to any publication, if only for the reason that he was not sufficiently familiar with the english to judge accurately as to the shades of meaning, and thus could not say whether he accurately agreed with the notes as they stand, or not. the copy which he corrected and returned to me i place at length in this report, merely translating his corrections (very literally), and inserting them at the points indicated by himself. they are enclosed in quotation marks. in some instances, my desire for exactitude in the translations has resulted in very bad english; the shape of my own paragraphs is due to the time and manner of their framing, and to a reluctance to making any changes in their form afterwards. the copy reads as follows: on july 3d, 1886, i visited professor w. scheibner, at his rooms, in leipsic, and obtained from him the following information concerning professor zoellner's spiritistic experiments with dr. henry slade, the american medium: 1. professor scheibner thinks that he was present at three or four of the regular séances with slade. slade came to professor zoellner's rooms; they sat around a table for perhaps half an hour, and then, after the séance was over, they spent an hour or two sitting informally in the same room, or in the next room, and talking. during these informal conversations surprising things would occur. raps would now and then be heard, and objects would unexpectedly be thrown about the room. in these conversations professor scheibner was present perhaps five or six times. some of these took place during the day, and some in the evening. 2. professor scheibner said that each single thing that he saw might possibly have been jugglery, "although he perceived nothing that raised a direct suspicion." the whole number of incidents taken together, however, surprised him, and seemed scarcely explicable as jugglery, for there did not seem to be the necessary time or means for preparing so many tricks, "which often connected themselves surprisingly with desires casually expressed in momentary conversations." professor scheibner said, however, that he did not regard himself as competent to form an opinion which should have scientific weight, because: (_a_) he knows nothing about jugglery; (_b_) he was merely a passive spectator, and could not, properly speaking, make observations--could not suggest conditions, "or gain the control which seemed necessary;" and (_c_) he is short-sighted, "and might easily have left unnoticed something essential." he says merely, that to him, _subjectively_, jugglery did not seem a good "or sufficient" explanation of the phenomena. 3. professor scheibner said that he had never seen anything of the kind before. he had never even, since his childhood, seen any exhibitions of jugglery; he does not go to see such things, because he is so short-sighted that if he went he would see nothing. in this connection he repeated his statement that from this, among other causes, he did not regard himself as competent to give an opinion. he said that many persons in germany had demanded his opinion, but that he had refused it because he regarded his subjective impression, without objective proofs, as scientifically valueless. 4. professor scheibner said that he did not believe in these things before. he came to the séances because professor zoellner was a personal friend. he has seen very little of the sort since. that little has been in the presence of a lady in leipsic through whom raps occurred, and psychography. this last phenomenon consisted in communication through a little contrivance, furnished with an index or pointer, which answered questions by pointing to letters laid out before it. this it did when the lady placed her hand on the machine. the questions were "usually" not asked mentally, but spoken out. there were no tests applied to these phenomena, no conditions of exact investigation. professor scheibner "holds suspicion of conscious deception to be out of the question." 5. professor zoellner was, said professor scheibner, a man of keen mind, but in his investigations apt to see "by preference" what lay in the path of his theory. he could "less easily" see what was against his theory. he was childlike and trustful in character, and might easily have been deceived by an impostor. he expected everyone to be honest and frank as he was. he started with the assumption that slade meant to be honest with him. he would have thought it wrong to doubt slade's honesty. professor zoellner, said professor scheibner, set out to find proof for four-dimentional space, in which he was already inclined to believe. his whole thought was directed to that point. 6. professor scheibner thinks that the mental disturbance under which zoellner suffered later, might be regarded as, at this time, incipient. he became more and more given to fixing his attention on a few ideas, and incapable of seeing what was against them. towards the last he was passionate when criticized. professor scheibner would not say that professor zoellner's mental disturbance was pronounced and full-formed, so to speak, but that it was incipient, and, if zoellner had lived longer, would have fully developed. zoellner himself, "whose brothers and sisters frequently[a] suffered from mental disease, often feared lest a similar fate should come upon him." [footnote a: "dessen geschwister mehrfach" etc.--the words may be taken in two senses.] 7. professor scheibner gives no opinion on spiritism. he can only say that he cannot explain the phenomena that he saw. 8. professor weber, said professor scheibner, "attended the zoellner-slade experiments under the same circumstances as he (scheibner) himself." 9. professor zoellner's book, said professor scheibner, would create the impression that weber and fechner and he agreed with zoellner throughout in his opinion of the phenomena "and their interpretation;" but this, he said, is not the case. halle a.s., _july 5th_, 1886. so much for the information given by professor scheibner. it now remained to see professor wilhelm weber, and on the evening of july 12th i called upon him at his house in goettingen. of his statements i took notes during my conversation with him, as in the former instances, and copied and arranged them the same evening at my hotel. professor weber is now eighty-three years old, and does not lecture. he is extremely excitable and somewhat incoherent when excited. i found it difficult to induce him to talk slowly enough, and systematically enough, for me to make my notes. professor weber said: 1. that he thought the things he saw in the séances with slade were different from jugglery. 2. that he did not think there was time or opportunity for slade to prepare deceptions. 3. that he himself knew nothing of jugglery, nor did professor zoellner. 4. that he can testify to the _facts_ as described by zoellner, and that he could not himself have described the occurrences better than they are described in zoellner's book:--to the _facts_ he is willing to testify, the _means_ he declares unknown to him, but does not regard jugglery as a sufficient explanation. if another can understand, he said, how jugglery can explain the facts, well and good--he can not. 5. that he had never seen anything of the kind before, and has not since; it being his only experience of spiritualism. 6. that he had the greatest freedom to experiment and set conditions, and that the conditions were favorable to observation. 7. that he regarded professor fechner as one of the best observers in the world, and professor scheibner as an excellent observer. 8. that professor zoellner _was not_ at that time, in any sense, in an abnormal mental condition. professor weber seemed unwilling to speak decidedly on the subject, but showed that he leaned to the spiritistic interpretation of the facts. he said that the things done indicated intelligence on the part of the doer. having now before us the testimony given by these survivors of the famous investigation, i will collect briefly the facts relating to each of those concerned--adding in one or two cases from other sources--and point out the nature and value of their testimony to the occurrences recorded by professor zoellner. 1. as to professor wundt, who is by profession an experimental psychologist, and an observer. professor wundt did not regard the investigation, so far as he participated, as in any respect thorough or satisfactory. the conditions of observation were not present. when called upon by professor ulrici to describe the occurrences as he saw them, he said he would not willingly describe what he had not had opportunity to observe. 2. as to professor zoellner, the chief witness and author of the book published, a number of points are worthy of note. (1.) the question of his mental condition at the time of the investigation. it is asserted by baron hellenbach (see _geburt und tod_ etc., wien, 1885, s. 96) that zoellner was of sound mind up to his death. the statement should have due weight, but the author's general attitude towards spiritism should not be overlooked. i do not consider his testimony for zoellner's sanity as good as that of fechner or scheibner against. of the four men mentioned as connected with him, wundt, weber, fechner and scheibner, three (all except weber) are decidedly of the opinion that his mental condition was not normal. the opinion of wundt, as of a man whose profession would not permit him to speak hastily upon this topic, i would regard as of special value; but if we rule that out upon the ground that wundt was not impressed by the investigation, and might naturally be inclined to underrate zoellner, who was, we have left the opinions of fechner and scheibner, both zoellner's colleagues at leipsic, both particular friends of zoellner, and both inclined to agree with him as to the reality of the facts he describes. both of them regarded zoellner at the time as of more or less unsound mind. his disease, as described by them, seems to have been chiefly emotional, showing itself in a passionate dislike of contradiction, and a tendency to overlook any evidence contrary to a cherished theory. to the general change in his nature due to his disease professor scheibner testifies; and professor fechner's belief as to his mental condition is specially worthy of note from the fact that, although recognizing it to be abnormal, he still holds his powers of observation to be sound, and upon this ground is inclined to assent to the facts described. if anyone could be tempted to make zoellner as sane as possible, it would be one in the position of professor fechner. professor weber's testimony i will examine later. upon the question whether the peculiar form of zoellner's disease would be likely to affect his powers of observation, the following points may throw some light. (2.) it is evident, both from what zoellner has himself printed and from what professor scheibner has said, that zoellner's interest in the investigation centered in his attempt to prove experimentally what he already held to be speculatively true as to a fourth dimension of space. in a paper published in the _quarterly journal of science_, for april, 1878, he says: "at the end of my first treatise, already finished in manuscript in the course of august, 1877, i called attention to the circumstance that a certain number of physical phenomena, which, by 'synthetical conclusions _à priori_' might be explained through the generalized conception of space and the platonic hypothesis of projection, coincided with so-called spiritualistic phenomena. cautiously, however, i said:--'to those of my readers who are inclined to see in spiritualistic phenomena an _empirical_ confirmation of those phenomena above deduced in regard to their _theoretical_ possibility, i beg to observe that from the point of view of idealism there must first be given a precise definition and criticism of _objective reality_'" etc. now this reference to spiritualistic phenomena was made before zoellner had seen anything of the kind, and his attitude was evidently a receptive one. moreover, we have professor scheibner's testimony to the fact that during the whole investigation his attention was entirely directed towards the subject of the fourth dimension, and an experimental demonstration of its existence. bearing in mind, therefore, the mental attitude in which, and the object with which, zoellner approached this investigation, we cannot look upon any subjective, or emotional, mental disturbance, which results, as described, in making him narrow his attention more and more upon a few ideas, and disregard or find it difficult to observe what seems contrary to them, as without objective significance, particularly where we know the man to be a total stranger to investigations of such a nature as this one, and not only quite ignorant as to possible methods of deception, but unwilling to doubt the integrity of the medium. (3.) there are things in zoellner's own accounts which indicate a certain lack of caution and accuracy on his part, and tend to lessen one's confidence in his statements. as an instance of inaccuracy, i may mention the statement he makes in his article in the _quarterly journal of science_ as to the opinions of his colleagues. professor zoellner says: "i reserve to later publication, in my own treatises, the description of further experiments obtained by me in twelve séances with mr. slade, and, as i am expressly authorized to mention, in the presence of my friends and colleagues, professor fechner, professor wilhelm weber, the celebrated electrician from goettingen, and herr scheibner, professor of mathematics in the university of leipsic, who are _perfectly_ convinced of the reality of the observed facts, altogether excluding imposture or prestidigitation." here the attitude of the four men is not correctly described, and professor zoellner's statement does them injustice, as professor scheibner remarked. at least two of the men were merely _inclined_ to accept the facts, and to these two the words "_perfectly_ convinced" will not apply. as one out of numerous instances of lack of caution, i may refer to zoellner's statements, that at certain times writing was heard upon the slates, giving no proof whatever to show that the writing was really done at the time of hearing the sounds, and apparently quite ignorant of the fact that deception may readily be practiced on this point. 3. as to professor fechner. the fact is admitted that he was, at the time of the investigation, suffering from cataract, which made all observation extremely defective. moreover, he was present at but two of the sittings, and has stated that he did not regard these as very decisive. his attitude towards the phenomena described is based on his faith in professor zoellner's powers of observation, and not on what he saw himself. he does not, therefore, as an independent witness would, add anything to the force of professor zoellner's testimony. 4. as to professor scheibner. his position is simply that he cannot see how the whole series of phenomena can reasonably be attributed to jugglery, though he admits that each single thing he saw, alone considered, might possibly be. he does not regard himself, however, as able to give an opinion which should have objective value; because he was merely a passive spectator, and could not, properly speaking, make observations--could not suggest conditions,--because he knows absolutely nothing about jugglery, and the possibilities of deception, and because he is so short-sighted that he may easily have overlooked something of importance--so short-sighted that he never goes to see a juggler, because he sees nothing. 5. as to the last witness, professor weber, his testimony agrees more decidedly with that of professor zoellner. he was present at eight séances, declares the occurrences to have been as represented by professor zoellner, and denies that zoellner was in any sense insane. but professor weber is from goettingen, and was at the time of the investigation in leipsic on a visit; it is not improbable that those of professor zoellner's colleagues, who lived and worked at the same university with him, may have had better opportunities for judging as to his mental condition than one who only saw him occasionally. moreover, professor weber's opinion as to the qualifications of the men with whom he was associated does not seem to have been always sound. one who could look upon professor fechner as one of the best observers in the world, and professor scheibner, as for the purpose in hand, an excellent observer, neglecting entirely to note that one was partly blind and that the other could not see well, might readily overlook the fact of a not very pronounced mental aberration on the part of a third person. and as to professor weber's opinion of the phenomena, it is well to note that professor weber was seventy-four years old at the time, had had no previous experience in investigations of this kind and was quite ignorant of the arts of the juggler. whatever may be a man's powers of reflection at seventy-four, it is natural to suppose that his powers of perception, especially when exercised in a quite new field, are not at that age what they were some years previously. summary. thus it would appear that of the four eminent men whose names have made famous the investigation, there is reason to believe one, _zoellner_, was of unsound mind at the time, and anxious for experimental verification of an already accepted hypothesis; another, _fechner_, was partly blind, and believed because of zoellner's observations; a third, _scheibner_, was also afflicted with defective vision, and not entirely satisfied in his own mind as to the phenomena; and a fourth, _weber_, was advanced in age, and did not even recognize the disabilities of his associates. no one of these men had ever had experiences of this sort before, nor was any one of them acquainted with the ordinary possibilities of deception. the experience of our commission with dr. slade would suggest, that the lack of such knowledge on their part was unfortunate. a consideration of all these circumstances places, it seems to me, this famous investigation in a somewhat new light, and any estimate of zoellner's testimony, based merely upon the eminence in science of his name and those of his collaborateurs, neglecting to give attention to their disqualifications for this kind of work, cannot be a fair or a true estimate. in concluding this report, i give sincere thanks to all of these gentlemen for their courtesy and frankness--a frankness which has alone made it possible for me to collect this evidence; and which, considering the nature of the evidence, must be regarded as most generous. to professor scheibner, especially, my thanks are due for the trouble he has taken in helping me to make my notes exact and truthful. geo. s. fullerton. * * * * * dr. knerr. in 1884 rumors reached me of remarkable spiritual communications from a revered friend and relative, dr. hering. these communications had come through a slate-writing medium by the name of patterson, and were received by two gentlemen whose names i am not at liberty to mention, but whom i will call a. and b. both were prominent men, and both had become thorough believers in spiritualism after several sittings with mrs. patterson. a. claimed to have received personal benefit from medicines thus prescribed, and learned the circumstances of his son's death which had occurred in some mysterious manner far away from home. b. has since died, and communications under his signature have come through this same medium. the manifestations in this province of spiritualism, independent slate-writing, would seem to be of a nature more tangible and direct than those of so-called materializing or trance mediums, and, therefore, in this instance i determined to test to the utmost what had been reported to me concerning communications from one who stood so near in life. although i received a number of messages at my first visit, written in pencil, in many different handwritings, which the medium alleged were written by spirit-control of her hand, i received but one or two in the slate. the slate was a small double slate, joined together with hinges, about 10 inches by 12 inches in dimension. inside of the slates, written on a slip of paper, carefully folded, i placed the question "can i obtain a communication from dr. hering which will be characteristic of himself?" a small piece of slate pencil chipped from an ordinary pencil, perhaps an eighth of an inch long, was placed within the slates, together with the written question. the slates were then tightly screwed together at the open end, by myself, with the blade of an old knife which was at hand to serve the purpose of a screwdriver. it was then placed by the medium in her lap, under the table, one hand, the left, resting upon the slate, the other hand remaining on top of the table, writing, with a lead pencil, messages in different handwritings, on paper. these messages came in characters bold as john hancock's, and in chirography as small and neat as the writing of charlotte bronté, whose manuscript the compositor is said to have deciphered with the aid of a magnifying glass; and between these extremes were a dozen or more styles as varied and marked as one could wish. the purport of these messages, which were written rather quickly, and without perceptible thought or hesitation, changing from one handwriting to another without the least apparent difficulty, was in some instances the veriest twaddle, while others contained tolerably good sense, even in language rather above the medium, unless appearances were misleading, for she looked the embodiment of ignorant simplicity, and spoke far from grammatically. the table at which we sat was a very ordinary little sewing-table, without any drawer or compartment, and before sitting down i examined it top and bottom, a privilege freely accorded. we had sat about ten minutes when the medium brought up the slate with the little piece of pencil, which i had scratched with a knife for identification, lying on top of the slate. the screw was in its place, seemingly as i had put it. i was requested to remove the screw, which i did, and found written across the inside surface of one of the slates the words "i will try to accede to your wish," signed with the initials of my departed friend, to whose handwriting it was not dissimilar. i was much puzzled by this answer, i confess, and immediately placed within the slates another question, this time addressed to the name of another deceased friend. again i screwed up the slates with my own hand, and kept my eyes riveted on the hands of the medium as well as my position would permit, without getting up and bending over the table. i did not have long to wait before an answer came as before, again signed with the initials of the person addressed. how the writing came in the slate i could not surmise. the following are specimens of the communications which were written by the medium's controlled, possibly self-controlled, free, right hand, at my first visit:-(in a fine, light, legible hand.) cannot say wether we can control the slate or no. will do our utmost to do so there are times when we cannot get the proper influences nor find the right conditions. c hering (in a close, heavy hand.) we have quite as much power over you as over any other medium, mediumistic forces are not confined to a few, but exist to some extent in all. be patient we will do what we can. h (in a sprawling back hand, the same as a subsequent one, signed thomas lister.) the friend you have asked for is here and will do what he can to comply with your wish it is not necessary that you should sit with any medium to convince yourself of this truth you have enough of this power to get almost any sort of manifestations you should ask for they will develope without any effort on your part but you can materially assist them tl (in a neat and precise feminine hand.) there stands by thy chair a venerable man who had passed through many years of work in his profession on the earth plane he is one that doth influence and impress thee to do many things when in the body was a phisician of the homeopathic school he sayeth that he doth feel the same interest in the progruss of the medical fraternity as when in the body. appeareth to be one of strict integrity and ranked high as a thinker thou hast many years to stay in the form and through thee a work will be completed that none other can do l mott (in a small, rather indistinct feminine hand.) i dont think the doctors knew what my trouble was. i know if doctor hering or raue had treated my case i would still be in my body but its no difference as far as i am concerned i have found this life far the best leaving my mother was hard, but now i know how to get back to her i am content cs clara swencke (in a plain masculine hand.) if you prepare a slate the doctor will give you a message on it in his own handwrite and one characteristic of him esw (in a small, rather illegible hand.) my friend tiedemann made a mistake in the medicine he prepared for me he never for a moment thought it would prove anything but a help but it had the effect of sending me to the higher life w morwitzer (in a large, generous, open hand.) yea if thee dost fix a slate so as to satisfy thyself thy friend will write on it and give thee a description of his birth into everlasting life elias hicks (in a very indistinct feminine hand.) cannot say wether we can procure the presence of any one just now that can write music were it possible to have any one conversant with it they could not only write one but many notes for you (signature indistinct.) (in a small, cramped hand of almost microscopic fineness supposed to be charlotte bronté, and occupying but very little more space than on this printed page.) the future holds much for you of success, the later portion of this and the whole of the next will be filled with prosperity you have a band of the more advanced spirits about you and were you to follow your first impressions you would never fail in your judgment cb (in a clear scholarly hand.) a man of few words when in the body i still have the same peculiarities will with your permission become one of your guiding band abernethy (in a bold masculine hand). sit for ten or fifteen minuets two evenings in the week and thus help perfect the powerful gifts you have, through them you can do much good both for others and yourself tn (in the same hand as a preceding communication signed tl) be patient; the party that wrote on the slate before is trying to do it over we sometimes have a difficulty in doing this t lister (in a slow, labored, uncouth hand.) i know one thing and that is that they didn't make any headway in killing me when they hung me nor even when they scooped my brains out afterward--damn the doctors--damn the preachers--i hate them all they lied to me preachers priests and all they told me it was all right but i have found out its all wrong. i havent seen mrs reed nor do i want to i never was sorry that i killed her, it don't make a saint out of a man to send him out the way i had to go--its only killing--they were as bad as i was--i cant see--its dark mc ginnis.[a] [footnote a: mcginnis was a murderer recently hung for the brutal killing of his mother-in-law. particulars of the murder, execution and autopsy were in all the local papers.] (in an ordinary feminine hand.) put a piece of paper on a stand place a pencil on it and i will try to make the scale for you at home there is a power that is growing on you that will enable me to do this in a few times of trying i could write my own hand this is my first time of coming here so that makes it harder for me to get control b (this doggerel came in answer to a question whether the spirits could write poetry, and is in a hand not dissimilar to the preceding communication, although the signatures differ.) when the clear bright sun was shining then they took my cherished form and they bore it to the church yard to consign it to the worm well no matter that was only the clay dress your loved one wore god had robed her for an angel she had need of this no more though the tears fell fast and faster yet you would not call me back nay be glad her feet no longer tread life's rough and thorny track yes be glad the father took her took her whilst her heart was pure oh be glad he did not leave her all life's trials to endure ac (in a sprawling hand.) your friend has lost the control i cannot say wether it will be possible to regain it now or no i find it hard work to get any hold at all. am (each letter distinct, as a child would print the alphabet.) chief there cant come any answer the magnetic current is broken for want of power we go now but will come in your own wigwam howondo * * * * * at the following séances i received slate writings repeatedly. sometimes the slate would scarcely be in the medium's hands before a message appeared, each time with the little pencil on top. i was told that i was an excellent medium, that, if i cultivated the faculty, would soon myself be able to obtain these slate writings. i was also asked to prepare a slate secured in any way i wished, and had the promise that a message would be written within it. i acceded to the request and took a slate of my own, tied it up in every direction with twine, and put my private seal upon it in several places where i had knotted the string. this slate the spirits could not overcome. i never received the promised message. i never even had the slate returned to me. after remaining in the medium's possession for several months, she having changed her residence in the meantime, she told me the slate had disappeared and somehow must have gotten lost in moving. at any rate the slate had been spirited away somehow. i will here mention that at about the third or fourth sitting i asked permission to watch the slate while it was under the table, which was freely granted, but on this occasion, and whenever i did so, there were no results. on one occasion we took the trouble to bring mrs. patterson to a room in the house of our departed friend. she was here among a small circle of intimate friends and members of the family, some inclined to belief and others skeptics. she failed utterly to obtain as much as even a scratch inside of the slates, although communications on paper came thick and fast. i may mention that on this occasion several persons sat with the slate continually in full view. i had almost decided to drop mrs. patterson and her slate writing, although reluctant to do so, because i had no certain and positive evidence of fraud with which to confront my friend, who was getting impatient at my slowness in accepting all i had seen, when i resolved to push my investigations to a point of certainty, one way or another, and hit upon the little scheme of going prepared, at my next visit to mrs. patterson, with a mirror in my pocket which i could hold under the table at an angle that would reflect whatever occurred on the other side of the table, in the medium's lap, the accustomed position of the mysterious slate. the sitting was held in broad daylight, and the table was so placed that the medium was seated with her back to a window, affording sufficient light for the experiment. i purposely avoided removing my overcoat on this day, because i wished to hide my movements as much as possible, and sat down at my side of the table with considerable misgiving as to the result of taking liberties with the spirits. the medium this time had on her table a new slate, a larger one, one which she said had belonged to the celebrated slade who had himself received messages on it. she said her old slate was broken, which was probably true; when i had last seen it it was in a battered condition. she asked if it would make any difference to me if she used the new slate. the only apparent difference between the slates was that this one was larger and did not close with a screw, therefore, thought i, more easily manipulated; consequently i did not withhold my consent. i wrote upon a slip of paper my question, "will dr. h. advise me what to do for juliet (an old colored patient)?" i folded over the slip of paper five times, put it in the slate with a small stub of pencil, and down the slates went into the lap of the medium where i could see them, lying plainly reflected in my little mirror which i had slipped out of my pocket and laid across my knees at the proper angle of reflection. mrs. patterson first wrote a letter-sheet full of alleged spirit communications, and handed them to me across the table for perusal. i took the sheet with one hand and while ostensibly scanning the written page, with the other hand i carefully adjusted my little mirror, on which my downcast and watchful eyes were fixed, when lo! in the mirror _i beheld a hand_, closely resembling that of the medium, _stealthily insert its fingers between the leaves of the slate, take out the little slip, unfold and again fold it, grasp the little pencil_, which had rolled to the front while the slate was tilted that way, _and with rapid but noiseless motion_ (had there been the least noise from the pencil, it would have been drowned by the fit of coughing, which, at that instant, seized the medium) _write across the slate from left to right, a few lines; then the leaves of the slate were closed, the little pencil laid on the top_, and, over all, two hands were folded as if in benediction. the woman opposite me, to whom the hands belonged (unless they were spirit hands) sat with uplifted eyes, a calm expression of innocence upon her face. after holding the slates so for a moment or two, and after calling to the spirit friends "to come and _please_ write in the slate," she produced them, saying, "it has come!" of course, i did all i could to master my indignation, which, at that moment, was extreme, and quietly opening the slates, i read the message pretending to have come from high authority, "the channels are obstructed, give arsenic, bryonia and pulsatilla in succeeding doses, an hour apart!" the last words were somewhat illegible, and mrs. patterson suggested another trial; she thought the spirits would write it plainer. again the slates went down; _again i saw the hand at work as before_. this second time the hurriedly written message was not much plainer than the first. mrs. patterson, who was better versed in deciphering spirit dispatches than i, offered to read it for me, but remembering that "all good things are three," i requested a third trial. after this last experiment, in which again, _for the third time, in my little mirror, i saw the stealthy fingers write on the slate_, i told the medium i was satisfied, smothered my indignant anger, and left the house as quickly as i could. for the larger part of a year i had investigated in good faith this department of spiritualism, which, in this medium's case, had turned out a downright fraud. not long after my last interview with mrs. patterson it was my good fortune to meet with an _unprofessional_ medium, a young gentleman of reputed honor and veracity, to whom i was introduced by a friend who had known him from childhood, and vouched for his honesty. this young man's mediumistic abilities had begun to develop with the planchette, and had reached the stage in which a drum and sundry musical instruments were played behind a curtain where he sat entranced, with his hands tightly bound together by a handkerchief or cord. these séances were continued with regularity on certain nights in the week, and were confined strictly to the family circle and to a few privileged friends. there was, therefore, no temptation to deceive for gain. i came into the circle as an observer, not as believer, but was impressed by the phenomena witnessed at the first séance in which the medium was under indian control. there were strange sounds, guttural tones and whoops which really might have emanated from a wild son of the forest. a drum, an accordion, a zither, a mouth-organ were all played upon. the drumsticks kept time to music, rapped on the wall, appeared above the edge of the curtain several times, brightly illuminated, as if dipped in electric light or some phosphorescent substance. as i have said, i was impressed, and might have ended in complete conversion, by manifestations from so trustworthy a source, and vouched for in such perfect sincerity, had it not, in an unlucky moment, occurred to me to apply a little harmless test. the test consisted simply in putting a dab of printer's ink on one of the drumsticks at the very last moment before the séance began. the result could not prove physically injurious to the medium, who had challenged investigation, nor to any one in the circle. the result was startling. being accorded the privilege of tying the medium's hands, i proceeded to do so with a stout cord, using a certain knot which i believe has never been known to slip or come undone. this accomplished, and while some one else fastened the medium securely to his chair, with his back to the instruments on the table, the ink, concealed in a pocket-handkerchief, was applied. in this position we left the medium, the lights were lowered and the music began. soon were heard the deep breathings preceding the trance, then the 'indian' began to manifest, at first somewhat sullenly, as if not pleased with the conditions, some of the instruments sounded, and at last the drumsticks began their tattoo. at the close of the séance, when the curtains were drawn and the lights turned up, the medium was found in his chair with his hands still tied, but great was the astonishment of everyone present at the marvelous condition of the medium's hands. how in the world printer's ink could have gotten smeared over them while under control of 'deerfoot, the indian,' no one, not even the medium, could fathom. i believe there is an explanation for these or similar phenomena, but i must leave it to the ingenious and adroit expounders of spiritualist philosophy. calvin b. knerr. * * * * * mediumistic development. at my very first séance, as a member of this commission, i was told by the spirit of elias hicks, through mrs. patterson, that i was gifted by nature with great mediumistic power. another medium, with whom i had a session shortly afterwards (i cannot remember his name, but he advertised himself as a great 'australian medium'), professed himself quite unable to exert any power in the presence of a medium so much more powerful than himself. 'father holland,' the control of mrs. williams, in new york, assured me that i merely needed development to have spiritual manifestations at my own home; and joseph caffray was so emphatic in his assertions of my extraordinary spiritual capabilities, that i began to think that it was my duty to quicken these dormant powers and not to let them 'fust in me unused,' and if successful, when i had become fully 'developed,' i could offer myself to my fellow commissioners as a _corpus vile_ on which every experiment could be made, and at a great saving of expense. spiritualists constantly reproach investigators of spiritualism with faint-heartedness and lack of patience; they allege that at the very first rebuff all investigating ardor cools, and that one failure is deemed sufficient to condemn a whole system. if the case be really thus, the spiritualists have a show of reason for this objection, and it behooves the seybert commission to give no ground for it. after much deliberation i decided to put myself in the hands of caffray for 'development.' i preferred this medium, first, because he was the most emphatic of all in his assertion of my almost unrivaled mediumistic powers, and in his confidence that indications of spiritual growth would be manifest in three or four weeks, and at the end of six weeks or of two months i might celebrate my spiritual majority by slatefuls of messages; and, secondly, mr. hazard assured me again and again that caffray was the 'greatest medium in the country;' and did not mr. hazard, by way of proof, show me a stoppered vial containing a card, on which, through caffray's mediumship, a message had been written while the closed vial was fast held in his closed hand? the first step was the purchase of two slates from caffray, for which i gave him several dollars. they were common enough to look at, but ah! they had been for months in his materializing cabinet and had absorbed spiritual power to the point of saturation, and fairly exuded it. i brought them carefully from new york, and folded them in black muslin, and laid them away in a dark drawer. caffray told me that with a beginner the spirits found it somewhat easier to write with french chalk than with slate pencil. so i bought a box of a dozen pieces, such as tailors use. the instructions which i received from caffray were to keep these slates carefully in the dark, and every evening at about the same hour to sit in total darkness, with my hands resting on them for about a half or three-quarters of an hour; to maintain a calm, equable, passive state of mind, even to think of any indifferent subject rather than to concentrate my thoughts too intently on the slate-writing. there could be no question of the result. a medium of my unusual and excessive power would find, at the end of three weeks, faint zig-zag scratches within the closed slates, and these scratches would gradually assume shape, until at last messages would be legible, probably at the end of six weeks, or of three months at the very farthest. in addition to this, i must wear, night and day, a piece of magnetized paper, about six inches square, a fresh piece every night and morning; its magnetism was exhausted in about twelve hours. when i mentioned to mr. hazard the proposed use of this magnetized paper, he assured me that it was a capital idea--that he had himself used it for a headache, and when he put it on the top of his head 'it turned all his hair backward.' i confess to dismay when i heard this; caffray had told me that i must wear this paper on the top of my head under my hat! but did it not behoove the acting chairman of the seybert commission to yield himself a willing victim to the cause of psychical research? was to be, or not to be, a medium so evenly balanced that the turning of a hair, or of a whole head of hair was to repel me? perish the thought! that paper should be worn on the top of my head, under my hat, and that hat should be worn all day long. i would eat my breakfast with that hat on, eat my dinner with that hat on, and sleep with that hat on, and that magnetized paper should remain on the top of my head, let it turn my hair to all the points of the compass, if it would! when i received the slates from caffray he had no paper that was sufficiently magnetized just then; he had some sheets that were about half done, and promised to send them to me as soon as the process was complete. in the meantime i began with the slates, sitting with them in total darkness from about a quarter past eight to nine o'clock every evening, with my hands resting on them lightly. in three or four days the paper arrived. i explained to my family that hereafter they must not infer, from the wearing of my hat indoors and at meals, either that my wits had slipped, or that i had become converted to judaism, but that my conduct was to be viewed by the light of the pure flame of research. in my secret soul i resolved that i would go at once, that very morning, to new york and plead with caffray for some slight easing of my ordeal. the 'spectre of the threshold' appeared to wear a silk hat, and i was afraid i never, never should pass him. the magnetized paper i handled with awe. it was, in outward semblance, ordinary white blotting paper, and, from some faint indications of ink here and there, looked as though it might on occasion have served its original use; but had i not paid a dollar a sheet for it? it must be good. as i started for the train i put a piece on the top of my head, gave a fond, farewell look at my hair, and planted my hat firmly on my brows. i reached the train, and while looking for a seat caught sight of my friend, miss w----. of course, i instantly bowed, and instantly there came fluttering down before her astonished and bewildered eyes a piece of blotting paper. i snatched it hastily, and in terror lest i had already broken the charm and forfeited all chance of mediumship, retired to the rear of the car and furtively replaced the precious pad. decidedly i must see caffray at once. luckily, when i reached new york i found that eminent medium at home, and, 'bonneted,' rehearsed to him my dread anticipations. he could not repress a grim laugh, and to my inexpressible relief gave me permission to wear the paper suspended round my neck next the skin. with those precious slates i sat every night, at the same hour, in darkness. i allowed nothing to interfere with this duty; no call of family, of friends, of society, was heeded. at the end of three weeks i searched every molecule of the slate for the indication of a zig-zag line, but the surface was unsullied, and its black monotony returned stare for stare. still hopeful and trustful i continued, day by day and week by week. the six weeks expired. not a zig, nor a zag. caffray was kept busy magnetizing paper. i renewed my stock and determined to push on to two months. i moved to the country and carried my slates thither, wrapped in double folds of black muslin. the days and weeks rolled on. two months passed. the slates were as clean as when they came into my possession. i would go on to three months. does not a hen sit for three weeks? where a hen gives a week, shall not i give a month? is not a medium worth more than a chicken? 'courage!' cried caffray, with each batch of paper. i went to the seashore and my slates went with me. not a single evening did i break my rule. and so it went on. the three months became four; became five; became six! and there an end, with absolutely virgin slates. i had used enough blotting paper, it seemed to me, to absorb a spot on the sun. i dare not calculate the number of hours i had spent in darkness. let spiritualistic reproaches of investigators for lack of zeal and patience be heaped up hereafter till 'ossa becomes a wart;' i care not; my withers are unwrung. _punch_ gives a receipt for making 'gooseberry fool:' 'carefully skin your gooseberries, extract the seeds and wash the pulp in three waters for six hours each. having done this with the gooseberries, the fool is perfect.' horace howard furness. * * * * * sealed letters. readers of the spiritualistic literature of the present day cannot fail to have their attention frequently called to the remarkable power attributed to certain mediums, not only of reading the contents of envelopes which are securely gummed and sealed, but of returning to the questions therein contained pertinent answers from friends in the other world. it is far from uncommon to hear of conversions to faith in spiritualism wrought by these remarkable proofs of spiritual power. at this hour, in many a loving home, responses to letters, thus sealed and answered through these mediums, are treasured as tenderest, completest proofs that love survives the grave and still encircles the living and the dead. recognizing in this phase of mediumship a department of spiritualism capable of plain, matter-of-fact investigation, which could be conducted in writing and demanding no special powers of observation, the duty of investigation devolved mainly upon the acting chairman. there are only four of these special mediums whose advertisements i have seen in spiritual papers. he who has probably the widest reputation is dr. james v. mansfield, boston. a second is mr. r.w. flint, new york city. a third is mrs. dr. eleanor martin, columbus, ohio; and lastly, also of the same name, mrs. eliza a. martin, of oxford, massachusetts. through the mediumship of the first, i have seen it stated that upward of a hundred thousand securely sealed letters have been answered; and the names of men high in our business and financial world have been cited to me as of those who had received proofs of his power which could not be questioned, nor explained on any other ground than that of clairvoyance, or of spirit communication. to him, therefore, i concluded to apply first. the choice of a subject whereon to communicate with a denizen of the other world is not easy. to follow in the well-trodden path and ask after the welfare of departed friends would only end, i well knew, in turning on that stream of generalities, not glittering, but very dull, in which a large experience had taught me that disembodied spirits chiefly delight when expatiating on the conditions of their changed existence. furthermore, it was desirable that from the investigation should be eliminated all elements of thought-transference or of mind-reading. i must select a subject on which my own mind was a blank, and where the responses would have to be definite and unambiguous, and withal quite within the scope of spiritual knowledge. at last, as fulfilling, in all honesty and sincerity, the requisite conditions, a skull in my possession was fixed on. this skull is a relic, interesting from its dramatic associations. it has been used for fifty or sixty years as a 'property' at the walnut street theatre, whenever 'hamlet' has been performed, and as 'yorick's skull' has been handled in that play, from edmund kean down to henry irving and edwin booth. it is preserved with care, and mounted on a piece of polished black marble. surely here is a skull whose experiences are singular above all ordinary skulls, and in whose career its original owner might be not unreasonably expected to cherish some interest or to have followed its fortunes with some little attention. untold possibilities for the vindication of spiritualistic truth and power hang around it, should there be an unwavering agreement by all spiritual authorities, as to the circumstances, when alive, of its original owner. surely, i concluded, the translated inhabitants of the 'summer-land' cannot have doffed the homespun honesty of mortal life; all will either confess ignorance with regard to this skull, or display their truthfulness by a substantial harmony in their reports, and thereby furnish an indisputable, irrefragable proof of the truth of spiritualism. sincere in this trust, i wrote on a small sheet of paper this question: "what was the name, age, sex, color or condition in life of the owner, when alive, of the skull here in my library? 28 february, 1885." this paper was put in an envelope, whereof the flap was then gummed to within a small distance of the point, under this point some sealing-wax was dropped, and enough was added above it to form a large, heavy, substantial impression. at the four corners additional seals, with different impressions, were placed. thus gummed, and sealed with five seals, the envelope was enclosed to dr. j.v. mansfield, with a request that it be subjected to his mediumistic power. in a few days the following was received: 'boston, march 2d, 1885. dear furness.--your package came duly to hand most respectfully say i have given the package two sittings and re'd from two different spirits (purported) answer one coroberating [_sic_] the other statement one from robt hair [_sic_] the other from dr b. rush for the two communicates my charge is 5.00 which if you will send me per registered mail i will remit you per return mail respfy j.v. mansfield i judge from the com. it relates to a skeleton.' with this letter the sealed envelope was returned, apparently in exactly the same state in which it had been sent; the seals were intact, with the exception perhaps of a few trifling fractures, for which the transit to and from boston, through the mail, would readily account. upon closer inspection, however, and upon turning the envelope so as to catch the light, i thought that a slight glazing of gum was discernible around the central seal, and from beneath its edge a minute bubble of mucilage protruded. the fee demanded was at once forwarded, and by return of mail the following 'communicates' were received, written in pencil on long strips of common paper, and in two different hands: dear furness.--yours of 28 feby before me--as to this matter under consideration i have looked it over and over again called my old friend geo combe and we are of the mind it is the skull of a female--combe says he thinks it was that of a colored woman--the age--about 40 to 44 the name of the one who inhabited it--it would not be possible for any spirit but the one who the skull belonged to if it was colored--cornelia winnie might know. respfy robt hare mch 2 '85.' in a larger, bolder hand on the second slip was the following: 'my dear townsman--pardon what may seem an intrusion--but seeing your anxiety to get the aage [_sic_] sex--col and name of a skull in your office and seeing the conclusion that dr. hare and proffr combe have arrived at--i will say that i have looked the same over and fully concur in their conclusion save in the color of the one who once annimated [_sic_] that skull. fowler spurzeheim [_sic_] and gall agree in saying that hare and combe have nothing to base an opinion upon, as to the color--yet in sex they agree yours with respect benja rush m.d. exact age could not be determined. mch 2 '85' these answers are certainly remarkable. the very words of the question inside the sealed envelope are here openly repeated, and although the six eminent, scientific ghosts, hare, combe, fowler, spurzheim, gall, and rush do not agree with each other on all points, yet a slight divergence, or contrariety, in opinion is at times observable to the grosser eyes of flesh among doctors upon earth; and then they were all in accord over the sex of the skull, in which problem, having one chance out of only two, they could not go very far afield. moreover, the very framing of the question as to sex might suggest female, and as to color might suggest black. but had not the envelope been opened? it occurred to me to cut the edges of the sealed envelope carefully, whereby i could examine the flap, on the inside. it was done. the paper of the envelope under three of the seals was torn, and deception stood revealed. the seals had been cut out, and restored to their position with mucilage. although, in legal phrase, i might rest my case here, yet i was anxious so to seal an envelope that while its contents could not be extracted without the destruction of the envelope and a betrayal of any attempted fraud, yet that an answer to the question enclosed should be quite within the clairvoyant power, so called, of the medium, if he really possessed any, and as to the existence whereof i was sincerely anxious to obtain some satisfactory proof. animated with this desire, i proceeded as follows: in the 'communicate' from the spirit of dr. hare, reference is made to cornelia winnie's possible knowledge of the information which i was seeking in regard to the skull. could this have been a lure to tempt me to knock again at the spiritual door of which dr. mansfield is the porter? at any rate i accepted the suggestion. on a sheet of note-paper i wrote: 'can cornelia winnie, or any other spirit (dr. hare refers me to the former), give me any particulars of the life or death of the colored woman who once animated this skull here in my library. i am entirely ignorant myself on the subject.' this was folded, placed in an envelope, gummed and sealed precisely as i had folded, gummed and sealed the previous letter. this i marked with ink on the outside 'no. 1.' on another sheet of similar note-paper i repeated word for word, and line for line, and dot for dot, the very same question. this paper was also folded and put into an envelope, but two or three stitches of red silk were then passed through the flap of the envelope and the enclosed paper, sewing the two securely together; these stitches were made at the point of the flap, and again at each of the four corners. over these stitches, and concealing them, seals of red sealing wax were affixed. exteriorly the two envelopes were precisely alike. the stitched envelope was marked on the outside 'no. 2.' as the contents of both were identical, a clairvoyant spirit that could answer no. 1 could answer no. 2, but nothing less than superhuman power could extract the paper from no. 2 without so tearing the envelope as to betray an un-spiritual origin. these two envelopes were enclosed to our medium with the following note: 'dear doctor mansfield. the answers to my sealed letter were so satisfactory and so very curious that i should like to follow up the interesting subject, if i am not taxing your powers too heavily. i therefore enclose two more sealed envelopes, marked no. 1 and no. 2. if it be possible, i should like to have you sit with no. 1 first. if the spirits respond, pray send me word and let me know how much i am indebted to you.' my object in asking the medium to sit first with no. 1 was that, if he were fraudulent, finding the ease with which no. 1 could be opened, he would undertake the opening of no. 2 with such freedom and assurance that the envelope would be torn beyond the healing power of mucilage, and a confession of failure would have to follow. in a few days the envelopes were returned with the following brief note: 'dear furness: send you what came to your p k the 2d gave no response my terms are $3 for each trial--warrant nothing. respectfully, j.v.m.' the spiritual communication enclosed reads as follows: 'i bress de lord for deh one mor to talk to de people of my ole home i been thar lots o tim since i com here--but o lord de massy--they no see _winne_ cos she be ded and she jus no ded at tall--now--as to dot col gal--_hed_ i could not say--sure--but i think it dinah melish--she who lov de lord too. i think it seem dina top not. will see dina som time and then i ask her--do you no minister du cachet well he here--and want the [there here follows in the original a rude drawing of a decanter and wine glass. in this scandalous allusion there is no trace, it will be observed, of phonetic spelling in the proper name] just de same. i bress de lor i don't want it. march 13, '85. cornelia winnie.' an examination of the envelope marked no. 1, by cutting it open at the edges, revealed the same story of fraud: three of the seals had been cut out, and replaced. an examination of no. 2, in the same way, readily disclosed the reason why the spirits had failed to answer, although the question assuredly presented no greater difficulties than in no. 1. an attempt had been made to start two of the seals, but meeting with unexpected resistance in the silk stitches, and finding that further effort would end in tearing the envelope in a very palpable and mundane fashion, the spirits had grown disheartened and taciturn. we shall meet this medium again, but for the present we will leave him, after pausing for a minute over his business card, which, after stating his terms in prosaic dollars and cents, thus apostrophizes his clientele: "from the bright stars, and viewless air sweet spirit, if thy home be there, answer me.--answer me." happily my experience enables me to remove all doubt as to the locality of the spirit's 'home,' and to state with positiveness its exact location. but like the german philologist's example of the remarkable incongruity in english between spelling and pronunciation, that what was written 'boz' was pronounced 'charles dickens,' so i cheerfully add to this list of incongruities that what is written 'bright stars' is pronounced 'boston,' and 'viewless air' is pronounced 'dartmouth street.' i next turned my attention to mr. r.w. flint in new york. from him i received the following circular in answer to my inquiries: "dear i am controlled by one spirit, purporting to be my guide who is the scribe for the spirits, delivering (in his own hand-writing) what is dictated to him by the spirit of communicating. i am in a normal (not trance) state, but unconscious of the composition. my hand is moved to write from right to left (backwards), independent of my will. by holding the written side up to the light, the answer can be read. the spirit-letters should be securely sealed, addressed to the spirit, giving his or her name in full, and signed by the writer's name in full; but no address on the envelope. when left open they cannot be answered, my agency being efficient only when my mind is passive, and blank to both questions and answers. put your questions clearly, directly, briefly. the mixed and many kinds defeat the object of the investigator. i have my photograph for sale, exhibiting my spirit guide's hand and arm, or form of control; taken while answering a sealed letter." [the terms here follow, with honorable notification that the money is returned in all cases when the letters are not answered.] it will be noted that this medium's 'spirit-guide' requires the names in full of both spirit and writer; i was, therefore, forced to select a spirit who knew not only me and my ways, but also the high value that is placed on that skull. mindful that eminent spiritual authority had pronounced this skull to be that of a colored woman, i decided, after deliberation, to address the spirit of w---h----, a colored servant, who had lived over forty years in one family a faithful, blameless life, and who, when he died, carried with him the respect and regards of the entire household, and whose widow and daughters still survive in honest, humble life, and to whose ears this apparent freedom with their husband's and father's name will never reach. accordingly, the following note was addressed to the spirit world: 'dear w---h----. can you tell me anything about the owner, when alive, of the skull here in the library? you remember how anxious i have always been to have my ignorance on this score enlightened. have you any message to send to your wife, m---f----? are you happy now? your old friend, horace howard furness.' this letter was put in an envelope, which was gummed and sealed with five simple seals, without the impenetrable stitches of silk, and enclosed with the fee to mr. flint. it was received again in a few days with this note:--'dear sir--i gave your sealed spirit-letter three sittings and regret to state that i have been unable to get an answer. my guide at each sitting wrote and said, the spirit called upon is not present to dictate an answer.' the fee was also returned. an examination of the envelope by cutting at the edges, as in the previous experiment, showed that the 'spirit arm' of the guide of mr. flint had not the nerve of dr. mansfield. i was at a loss to know why it stopped; it was going along in the removal of the seals very nicely; to be sure the paper was tearing perilously near where the rent could be detected from the outside, but with only a little more of dr. mansfield's pluck, and the spirit of w---h---would have been present, and the fee pocketed. however, from whatever cause, whether fright or repentance, the 'flighty purpose was o'ertook,' and the medium supposed that a little mucilage would 'clear him of the deed.' next i turned to mrs. eleanor martin, in columbus, ohio. without writing a fresh letter, i sent her the same letter to w---h----, which had been returned to me from mr. flint, and the envelope was sealed in the simple easy way with five seals, but no silk stitches. to this came the following response: 'columbus, ohio, march 25th, '85. ... please find enclosed your sealed letter, also the messages, and my terms. i learn from the messages, your letter was written upon the spiritual topic. my terms being $1.00. but in your case i find the messages are at a greater length than many and according to request of the spirit "belle" i paint the little white rose as her nature. most truly, eleanor martin. first message, written by one of my guides in spirit for the following persons: message. in earth life i was tall and fair with jet black eyes and golden hair eyes that sparkled with mirth and song and whose hair in curls one yard long. ah but many sad years ago my life was burdened with woe but the seens [_sic_] through which i passed are now with gladness overcast. i was born in your earth to await the coming of a cruel fate yes, i a true and loving wife but mine was a sad darkened life. oh a life which seemed to last to me the future, as the past, and as the lone hours drifted by my only prayer, oh could i die. cruel is the assassins hand yet so many are in your land day by day as a fearful flood hearts have flowed in tears of blood. my own the pain, i could not tell but i can say i know full well my soul ne'er found sweet peace one day and with earth i could no longer stay. my form was sold to doctors three so you have all that's left of me i come to greet you in white mull you that prizes my lonely skull. i can cause you many bright hours strew your path in purest flowers for your kindness tendered me i will _always_ guard and guide thee. you may call me your sister belle my other name i ne'er can tell they tell me it is for the best to let earth's troubles be at rest. tis _i_ who have often raped [_sic_] in your quiet room have taped [_sic_] and have impressed on your mind many inquiries of me so kind. by blind harry for a beautiful lady who gives the name belle. second message. to my dear friend horace horace you wonder if all is well yes, i'm more happy than i can tell for sorrow and trouble does not last but like a sweet dream goes gliding past in a smooth path of eternal day where dawns for each a perpetual may. dear m---tell her, and family too that i am ever to them most true and i daily guide her tender feet where'er she goes upon the street that she has my love forever more i understand her more than before. oh! yes this bright and eternal space fills each true soul with love and grace there is nothing like earth's crimes so vile no frown wreathes the face but a sweet smile and which glides along, to one and all greeting old, and young, gay, and small. the bright spirit world is everywhere and to each is appointed some care to guide earth's children on their way amid the poor, as well as the gay we dwell in fields of labor and love guiding thousands in true relms [_sic_] above. many things i would love to rehearse which would be written for me in verse but so many are here to await their joyous messages to relate many friends with me are ever near to guide our brother horace dear.- by blind harry. for a gentleman who gives his name w---h----.' the sealed envelope scarcely needed to be opened at the back for interior inspection; its exterior bore ample and all-sufficing evidence that the seals had been broken, and the gum softened; the fingers which had again pressed down the gummed edge were not as unsullied as 'sister belle's' white rose. this communication from the spirit world gave me pause. here was food for reflection. it settled many points in dispute among the scientific ghosts. first: they were all right on the question of sex; but hare, combe and cornelia winnie were wrong as to color. sister belle is not a negress, her hair is not black and in kinks, it is golden, and its curls are three feet in length, moreover, a _white_ rose is her emblem. and what a sad domestic tragedy have i not here unearthed. in reading between the lines of these verses we learn that what darkened the life of this true and loving woman was a mercenary husband, and that this husband survived her, and in his unhallowed greed sold her body, and this, too, at so exorbitant a price, that it required the united purses of three doctors to induce him to close the bargain. secondly: by the message from w---h----, that most sedate and respectful of all respectful colored servants, the moralist may learn anew the truth that death is a leveller of all distinctions. not even when the emperor charlemagne appeared at a materializing séance in a dress-coat and standing collar, and apologetically remarked that 'kings leave their ermine, sir, at the door of the tomb,' not even then was this great truth driven so profoundly home as when w---h---greeted me by my christian name, and hailed me 'brother.' need it be added that i gratefully remitted to medium number three a double fee, and do yet consider myself many times her debtor? her gratitude to me found expression in another outburst of song. had the identity of the original owner of the skull been my sole object, i might well have rested content. i had found the owner, and she had claimed her own. she was 'sister belle,' and confessed to that rare combination of golden hair with black eyes, like lady penelope rich, sir philip sydney's first love. but my duty as a member of this commission compelled me to complete my investigations, and make application to the fourth and last medium for answering sealed letters. as i have stated, this medium is also a woman, and resides in massachusetts. her circular directs the sealed letters to be 'well sealed or stitched, so that they may not be opened until returned.' to this medium, mrs. eliza a. martin, oxford, mass., was sent the same letter to w---h---that had been sent to her predecessor, of the same name, in columbus, and it was put in an envelope, merely gummed and sealed, without the silk stitches. within a few days i received the following note, enclosing my sealed envelope: 'a message awaits your order from w---h----. please state if you recognize mrs. m.f.h.--several friends came and that name was mentioned.... there are some words in an unknown tongue.' the minute that i looked at the returned envelope, i felt like standing uncovered, as in the presence of genius, a genius before which mediums one, two and three paled. nothing could excel the unsullied virginity of the seals, or of the gummed spaces between them. i felt that i must proceed with the utmost caution. with a very sharp penknife i then began to cut the edge of the envelope at one end. scarcely had the knife been drawn very slowly more than the half of an inch before it became manifest that the edge of the envelope presented more resistance than the simple fold of paper would make. i stopped and examined the severed edges. very delicate but very distinct traces were visible of a thin mucilage, perhaps of rice-water or of diluted gum-tragacanth. how exquisite and how light are the touches of ethereal, spiritual fingers! after all the trouble with my seals, when, emulating dr. watt's _busy bee_, so neat i spread my wax,' it was beginning to dawn upon me that clairvoyant eyes, quite as much as our own, require heaven's broad sunshine on black ink and white paper. the transmission of the fee brought in a few days the following: 'dictated by the spirit of w---h----. to h.h. furness. i found things very different here from what i expected. i think that is almost the universal experience. the half has not been told, nor can it ever be, for no language known to humanity can convey any definite knowledge of the mysteries of the spiritual life. i remain the same toward you and all my earthly friends. am with you frequently. was present in your library with you one day recently. i send my love to m---f---and to all others who knew me in earth-life. a friend whom we both know and respect will pass over to this side before long. will come to you again.' i cannot but think that all will agree in estimating this communication, with its adroit generalization, and in its general tone as superior to any thus far received. on another sheet of paper was written: 'there is a spirit friend present, who gives the name of marie st. clair. earth-life had not much pleasure for her, and a course of dissapation [_sic_] and sin resulted in an untimely death. born of french parentage, and inheriting some of the peculiar characteristics of that people might perhaps furnish some excuse. this spirit says furthermore, you have something which once belonged to her in your possession. "behold this ruin, 'tis a skull once of etherial spirit full--" "par quel ordre du ciel, que je ne puis compendre vous dis-je plus que je ne dois?" here is evidently 'a spirit of no common rate,' of whom we might well desire further acquaintance, albeit at the cost of losing golden-haired, black-eyed sister belle. but why should we talk of 'loss?' if, as banquo says, 'there's husbandry in heaven,' why should we not in the 'summer-land' find one and the same skull, with frugal economy, given to two owners? desirous of submitting the mother-wit of this medium to the test of stitched envelopes, i wrote the following:--'is marie st. clair pleased in having her skull carefully treasured here in my library? does it gratify her, as a spirit, that it is mounted on black marble? does she ever hover over it?' this was placed in an envelope, gummed, and sealed with five seals in the ordinary, easy-going way, and marked no. 1. the very same questions were repeated on another piece of paper and put in an envelope, which was stitched securely with silk, the stitches passing through both the envelope and the paper, and carefully concealed under the sealing wax. this was marked no. 2, and in the note accompanying these two envelopes, the medium was requested to sit with no. 1 first. the test was the same as that to which dr. mansfield had been subjected, and to which he had succumbed. the mail soon returned both envelopes, with this note:--'the reply comes to us in the affirmative to both envelopes. there is quite a communication for you from same spirit friend.' a close examination of the edges of the envelopes soon revealed the edge at which they had been opened and closed again. that edge has been preserved intact for future verification, if required, and the envelopes were opened by cutting the other edges. the seals had not been removed; as, in fact, there was no need of removing them. the paper containing the questions had not been extracted from no. 2; it still remained firmly stitched to the front of the envelope. yet the medium had evidently read it. her words are 'the reply comes in the affirmative to both envelopes,' which is a good, fair answer. i was puzzled, it must be confessed. suddenly it occurred to me to try how far one could look into the contents of the paper, supposing the end of the envelope to be open. i tried it, and lo! enough can be easily read to make out that no. 2 is a repetition of no. 1. the needle had missed taking up all the folds of the paper! the communication from marie st. clair, which accompanied these envelopes, runs thus:--'to h.h. furness. your kindly nature has often drawn the spirit of marie to your side. i consider myself indebted to you for certain acts which you will understand. not that the poor inanimate thing which you have so kindly treated, is of itself of much account, but your kindness has often drawn me to your side in moments when you little dreamed i were near. had i met in material existence one like yourself my past might have been far different. in this beautiful life, the sources and courses of all earthly misfortunes and sins appear to us like a figure seen in a dream. the lowest plane of spiritual life is as much superior to earthly existence as sunlight is superior to starlight. from marie st. clair. please inform mrs. martin why you so carefully preserved the skull, and where you obtained it, and all you know about it, and oblige yours truly, e.a. martin. there is an acrostic upon your name waiting for you here from marie.' if the fair and frail marie appears somewhat cautious in direct allusions to her skull, and to her 'earth-life,' it is certainly to her credit that she seems to have retained no taint of mercenary greed. she made no demand or reference to a fee, and a second letter had to be sent to her medium to learn the amount of my debt. this is her reply:--'your kind favour came duly to me, and as your message to your spirit friend was delivered previously, that is, as soon as it was written, i had no further effort to make than to convey the following to you: 'amants, heureux amants, voulez-vous voyager! que ce soit aux rives prochaines. patience, je n'en ai pas quand je suis si près et si loin de vous. ah! tout ce qu'il y a dans le coeur de crainte, de douleur, de desespoir, j'ai tout deviné; tout souffert, je puis tout exprimer maintenant surtout la joie. adieu! marie st. clair.' here end my investigations into the power of spirits to answer sealed questions. in every instance the envelopes had been opened and reclosed; it is therefore scarcely necessary to add that every instance has borne the stamp of fraud. there is yet one other dark chapter, perhaps the darkest of all, which my duty compelled me to read. i began with dr. mansfield, in boston; let me end with him there. in addition to the answering of sealed letters sent to him by mail, this medium exercises his mediumistic powers on questions propounded to him, or rather to the spirits through him, at his own home. his method of work, as described by several highly intelligent observers, is somewhat as follows:--there are two tables in the room of séance, at one of which sits the medium, at the other the visitor. the visitor at his table writes his question in pencil at the top of a long slip of paper, and, after folding over several times the portion of the slip on which his question is written, gums it down with mucilage and hands it to the medium, who thereupon places on the folded and gummed portion his left hand, and in a few minutes with his right hand writes down answers to the concealed questions; these answers are marvels of pertinency, and prove beyond a cavil the clairvoyant or spiritual powers of the medium. so remarkable are the results of this phase of mediumship, that through them and through the high standing and intelligence of those who believe in him, this particular medium is a tower of spiritualistic strength. examine my informants as narrowly as possible, there appeared to be no possibility of fraud. the impression had gradually deepened in my mind that here is an instance of genuine spiritual power. but the fraudulent character of his dealings with the sealed letters made me fear that _falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus_. on the 14th of may, 1885, i called on dr. mansfield at his house, no. 28 dartmouth street, and was ushered into the second story front room--a bedroom. there were, i think, three front windows looking on the street; at the farthest was the medium's table, so placed sideways to the window, and close to it, that the full light fell on the medium's left hand, as he sat at it, and faced the middle of the room. in front of the medium, as he sat at the table with his back to the wall, were the usual writing materials, lead pencils and mucilage bottle, and beyond them, on the edge of the table farthest from the medium, and between him and the rest of the room, was a row of books, octavos, etc., extending the whole length of the table and terminating in a tin box, like a deed box, with pamphlets on it. when the medium sits at his table, this row of books is between him and his visitor. the table for the visitor is a small one, near one of the other windows and six or seven feet from the medium. on this table were a number of strips of paper and a pencil. the medium, who did not ask my name, bade me take a seat at the small table and write my question on one of the strips of paper, and then to fold down the paper two or three times. i sat down and wrote, "has marie st. clair met sister belle in the other world?" i then folded that portion of the strip of paper down three times, and told the medium that it was ready for the mucilage; he came over from his table at once with a brush of mucilage, and spread it abundantly under the last fold. then, taking the strip between his thumb and forefinger, he walked with it back to his table, keeping it in my sight all the time. as soon as he took his seat and laid the strip on his table before him, i rose and approached his table, so as to keep my paper still in sight; _the row of books entirely intercepted my view of it_. the medium instantly motioned to me to return to my seat, and, i think, told me to do so. i obeyed, and as i did so could not repress a profound sigh. why had no one ever told me of that row of books? the medium did not sit in statue-like repose, but moved his body much, and his arms frequently; his hands i could not see, hidden as they were, behind the row of books. after a minute or two the medium looked up and said, 'i don't know whether i can get any communication from this spirit,' a remark which a long experience with slate-writing mediums has taught me to regard as a highly favorable omen, and as an indication that they have read the question and are now about to begin the little game, in which i always take much interest, of experiencing great difficulty in obtaining the 'rapport,' as they term it. dr. mansfield frowned, shook his head and assumed an air of great doubt and perplexity. i was certain that there would be now an ostentatious display of the strip of paper, and sure enough, in a minute more the medium, strip in hand, came over to my table, and shook his head ominously. he placed his left hand on the portion of the strip containing my question, and began tapping on it with his forefinger. 'pray, tell me,' i said, 'is that motion of your forefinger voluntary or involuntary?' 'it's my telegraph to 'em,' he replied, 'getting 'em to come.' 'i don't want to weary you,' i rejoined, 'but if that tapping will bring them, _do_ keep it up! i cannot tell you how anxious i am to hear from this spirit.' he paused, and then made some marks, like cabalistic signs, which are still to be seen on the paper. then the tapping was resumed. then more cabalistic signs were made. at last he said, 'put your left foot against mine, and your left knee against mine, and hook your forefinger into mine, and pull hard.' i did so. 'stop,' he cried, 'is it maria?' 'yes,' i replied, 'that's it, she is called "marie." it's marie!' 'i have to go by the sound,' he rejoined. we then pulled forefingers again. 'stop,' he cried, 'is there a "saint" about it?' 'yes,' i answered, 'st. is the first part of the next name! i have so longed to have her come to me.' dr. mansfield arose, gathered up the strip and returned to his table. i could go now unopposed and stand by him while he wrote the following: 'i am with you my dear bro but too xcited to speak for a moment have patience brother and i will do the best i can do to control. your sister marie st. clair.' the change in kinship, and its novelty, staggered me somewhat; clearly they manage things differently in the 'summer-land.' however, i mastered my emotion. 'and now,' i said, 'for the great question,' and was going hastily to my table to write it. 'stop,' said the medium, 'you're too excited to ask that question now. put some other questions first. then when you are calmer put the important question.' (a clever stroke! he did not know enough of me or of marie to answer _anything_ definitely--a few intermediate questions might furnish him with many a clue.) 'but, my dear sir,' i cried, 'what _can_ i ask about? i have but one thought in my mind; _that_ engulfs all others. if i don't ask that, i shall have to ask marie if she minds this pouring rain, or some twaddle about the weather.' 'well, well, you'd better ask it then, and get it off your mind, and we'll see how far marie can answer it.' (here let me recall that stanza in sister belle's communication wherein she says: "my form was sold to doctors three and you have all that's left of me," etc.) i sat down at my table and wrote: 'is it really true that sister belle's body was sold to three doctors?' i folded it down, carried it to the medium's table, watched him gum it, and still remained standing at his table, but he immediately and peremptorily waved me to my seat. again were his hands and my strip of paper, with its _freshly gummed_ fold, completely hidden from sight, behind the row of books. again the medium's arms moved. he turned to the window and hastily pulled down the shade. this puzzled me. there was no sunshine to be excluded, it was raining fast outside, the day was unusually dark, and he needed all the light he could get. i turned and looked out of my window, and there in the house just across the narrow street, at a window on a level with ours, and commanding a full view of the medium's table, sat a woman sewing, with another, i think, standing by her. 'bravo!' i thought, 'are not the four cardinal virtues, temperance, justice, _prudence_ and fortitude?' and then resumed my watch inside. dr. mansfield finished writing, and then held up the slip as though for a final revision before handing it to me. a toothpick which he had in his mouth worked energetically from side to side, and he gravely shook his head as in perplexity. 'i don't like this,' he ejaculated at last, 'i don't want to give it to you. there'll be trouble here. it's very serious. better let me tear it up.' 'let me see it,' i cried, 'i promise you i'll be calm,' and i took the strip from his fingers and read: 'dear brother--i fear such was the case--but--i could not say who--i have consulted dr. hare--and the far famed benja rush, and they agree that the body is not in the earth--i fear darling belle's body--is in process of being--wired. marie st. clair.' the last word was not, i thought, quite legible, so i appealed to the medium, and when he solemnly said 'wired,' the utterance with which i greeted it he probably thought was a groan, and, indeed, from the borderland of laughter, i did try to push it over into the land of tears, as hard as i could. my third question immediately followed: "can you give me any information as to where even a portion of the body is?" again i was waved to my seat, again my strip of paper and the hands were concealed, again the arms were nervously moved. this answer i awaited with not a little anxiety. surely, surely, marie st. clair and sister belle would remember that their joint skull was in my library. they had told me so, only a few weeks before, and as that skull was known to be fifty or sixty years old, and their united memory of it had lasted throughout those long years, surely that memory would not desert them now. and dr. 'benja' rush, who had recently greeted me as 'townsman,' he was present and surely he would come to the rescue of spiritualism, and gladly seize the chance to settle the question which he had once discussed with combe, and gall, and spurzheim by bringing forward the frail marie and the golden-haired, black-eyed belle as tenants in common (and uncommon) of the same skull. moreover, i thought, are there not to be found in anatomical museums skeletons of infants with one body and two heads? why may not this have been an instance of one head and two bodies? to be sure, one of the bodies lived in ohio and the other in massachusetts, but then when we have once started on a journey through the marvels of spiritualism, as portrayed by these four mediums, what does such a trifle as this amount to? i had, i reflected, in all seriousness, taken no single step in the investigation of these mediums that was not fully authorized by the explicit statements received from the mediums themselves. i had accepted as truth what they told me was truth. if spiritualism is hereby wounded, it is wounded in the house of its own disciples. at last my answer came: 'i am not allowed to divulge what _i_ think--much less what i know--it would be productive of more harm than good--let them have it--it is but earth at best--they have not got _our_ precious belle--she is safe in the haven of eternal repose--_i_ would not make any noise about it--but let it pass--as a discovery of it would give you pain rather than otherwise--belle says let it pass--the _triune_ that have it bought it without knowing whose it was, and such care as little as they know. marie st. clair.' i felt that it was time that a conclusion should be put to this farce, so humiliating in the thought that honest, unsuspicious, gentle men and gentle women are daily deceived by it. nevertheless, i wished to bring the 'wheel full circle' to this medium's spiritual communications of aforetime. i recalled that cornelia winnie's spirit had said that she thought the skull was dina melish's 'top not.' my fourth, and last, question therefore ran: 'do you think that by any chance dina melish would know?' to which the answer came: 'well brother, as to that she may know more than she may be willing to divulge--you see, brother, it places dinah in a very unpleasant position, _i.e._, should it be noised abroad that she was in the secret. i do not by any means censure dinah for what she may know, if _know_ she does. you could xamine dinah on that point--carefully, not allowing her to suspect your object in so doing. you might and might not elicit some light on the matter. marie st. clair.' 14 may, '85. after i had handed this last question to dr. mansfield a slight incident enabled me, to my own satisfaction, to note the exact instant when he read my question (he would say, 'clairvoyantly') behind his row of books. he once lifted his eyes to mine, and met them full for an instant in a piercing look. i do not think he suspected that i was his former correspondent (i would have told him willingly who i was if he had ever asked me), but the name 'dina melish' seemed to come back to his memory, as one that he had heard but could not localize. of course i knew that he had just read my question. i told him that these were all the questions i desired to ask him. he exhorted me to be calm, and told me a cheerful story of a young girl's having been recently buried alive, of which, i infer, the moral was, that she would have found it more comfortable all round to have been sold to the doctors. i paid him his fee and left. in conclusion, let me add that we have by no means exhausted the lessons which spiritualism, in the hands of some of its votaries, can teach us. to our purblind vision the joint ownership of one skull by two different persons presents a physiological problem more or less difficult of solution. but all difficulty vanishes as soon as 'the river is crossed.' i derived no little comfort and much light from a materializing séance which i attended shortly afterwards in boston, where both marie st. clair and sister belle appeared together, at the same time, and greeted me with affectionate warmth. to my inexpressible relief they were each well provided with skulls. they were more mature and matronly, i confess, than my ardent fancy had painted them, and sister belle's 'golden curls one yard long' were changed to very straight black hair; the golden hue which sister belle had herself ascribed to them must have been due to the light in which she saw them, 'the light that never was on sea or land.' i was pleased to find that marie's english was excellent, without a trace of foreign accent. but this, and the matronly appearance, i learned subsequently were presumably due to the age, shape and nativity of the medium through whom she materialized. for when marie afterwards appeared to me, as she did many times at another medium's séances, her appearance was quite youthful, with clustering brown curls low down on her forehead, which when i once attempted to stroke i found to be full of sharp pins; and to my expressions of gratitude that she should so kindly appear to me, she lisped in broken english: 'i am viz you olvays.' the present of an amber necklace, with the name 'marie' engraved on the silver clasp, obtained for me from her the written expression of her pleasure that i had carefully preserved what i assured her was 'the last thing on her neck before she passed over.' need i say that this document, in marie's own handwriting, invests the skull with even added interest? horace howard furness. * * * * * materialization. i think it would be difficult to find a psychological study more interesting than that which is afforded by a materializing séance. i have never attended one that did not yield abundant food for reflection, and present one problem, at least, too deep for any solution i can devise. although, perhaps, our first experience in such séances makes the deepest impression, yet the novelty never wears off, nor can custom stale its variety. the audiences are never wholly the same, and every medium has her own peculiar method. in the cities where the mediums reside, and where they hold their séances on regular days throughout the winter, the audiences are by no means composed only of those who go out of idle curiosity; these form but a small segment of the 'circle,' the majority are regular attendants, mostly those whose lives have been clouded by sorrow, and who go thither as to a church or sanctuary, and so serious and earnest is their deportment that i cannot imagine any temptation to open levity. this unaffectedly religious character of these séances cannot fail, i think, to strike even the most indifferent. the careful arrangement of the visitors who are to compose what is termed the 'circle;' the nice balancing of positive natures with negative natures, wherein the medium is guided by her delicate spiritual insight; the quiet hush; the whispered conversation; the darkened room; the darker drapery of the mysterious cabinet, with its untold possibilities; the subdued chords of the dim melodeon; the soothing tones of familiar hymns, in which all voices join; the words full of assurance of a deathless life, of immortal love, of reunion with earthly idols, not lost, but gone before only a very little distance, and now present and impatient for the medium's trance to enable them to return radiant with love and joy--all these conspire to kindle emotions deeply religious in hearts that are breaking under blows of bereavement, and of such, as i have said, the majority of the audiences are composed. every effort is made by the mediums to heighten the effect. before entering the cabinet to undergo her mysterious trance, the medium generally makes a short address, reminding the circle that this is a solemn hour, that here is the forecourt of the world beyond, thronged with living spirits, eager to return, bearing visible, tangible assurance of immortality and of enduring love, and that the mysterious agency, whereby they return, is greatly aided by a sympathetic harmony in the circle, and so forth. the medium then enters the cabinet; the curtains close; the light is lowered; the organ sounds some solemn chords, gliding into the hymn, 'nearer, my god, to thee,' which all join in singing. at its close there is a hush of anticipation; and that nature must be unimpressionable indeed, that is not stirred when the dark, heavy folds of the curtains of the cabinet are discerned to be tremulously moving; and, as they gently part, disclose a figure veiled from head to foot in robes of white. if the return of the heavenly visitant would but end here, i think the impression would be deeper and more abiding. the filmy, vague outline of the white figure thoroughly harmonizes with all established, orthodox notions of ghosts, and if this were all of the apparition vouchsafed to us, we might, perhaps, have a harder problem to deal with than when the spirit actually emerges from the cabinet with outstretched arms of greeting. a substantial, warm, breathing, flesh and blood ghost, whose foot-falls jar the floor, is slightly heterodox and taxes our credulity; if hereunto be added an unmistakable likeness to the medium in form and feature, many traces, i am afraid, of the supernatural and spiritual vanish. mindful of our endeavour as a commission, to have as many observers as possible in cases demanding close observation, i never attended a materializing séance as a member of this commission. whenever i happened to be personally known (and my ear-trumpet soon makes me a marked man), that official capacity was unavoidably imputed to me, but i never announced it nor claimed it. i was present merely as an observer on my own account, with the intention of making arrangements, if practicable, for séances with the rest of the commission, if what i saw seemed to me sufficiently remarkable to justify the expense, which experience, with other mediums in other lines, had taught me would be very considerable. i therefore took no notes, and could at this late day only after much difficulty furnish dates. wherefore all that i propose in this memorandum is to give my own private conclusion, which is worth no more than the conclusion of any other private individual, and to mention the test to which i subjected all the spirits whom i had the pleasure of specially 'interviewing'; as this test can be applied by any one, at any time, at any séance, it partakes of the nature of a general truth, which does not need the support of dates, or names, or places to uphold it. i suppose i have attended between twenty and thirty materializing séances. i do not hesitate to acknowledge that i have been throughout sincerely and extremely anxious to become converted to spiritualism. in whatever direction my judgment is warped, it is warped in favor of that belief. i cannot conceive of the texture of that mind which would not welcome such an indisputable proof of immortality as spiritualism professes to hold out. in general, then, let me say at once and emphatically that i have never seen anything which, in the smallest degree, has led me to suppose that a spirit can be, as it is termed, materialized. it is superfluous to add that i never recognized a materialized spirit; in only two instances have any spirits professed to be members of my family, and in one of those two instances, as it happened, that member was alive and in robust health, and in the other a spirit claimed a fictitious relationship, that of niece. of course this assertion applies only to those spirits who materialized especially for me. i do not pretend to answer for spirits who came to other people. all that i am quite sure of is that all the spirits who singled me out from the circle, and emerged from the cabinet for my benefit, were not only abundantly 'padded round with flesh and fat,' but also failed utterly in any attempt to establish their individuality; and moreover, in the instances where i had seen the medium before she entered the cabinet, so closely resembled the medium as, in my eyes, to be indistinguishable from her. it is, i confess, a very puzzling problem (it is, in fact, the problem to which i alluded above) to account for the faith, undoubtedly genuine, which spiritualists have in the personal reappearance of their departed friends. again and again have i asked those who have returned, from an interview with a spirit at the cabinet, to their seats beside me, whether or not they had recognized their friends beyond a peradventure, and have always received an affirmative reply, sometimes strongly affirmative. i was once taken to the cabinet by a woman and introduced to the shade of her dead husband. when we resumed our seats, i could not help asking her: 'are you _sure_ you recognized him?' whereupon she instantly retorted, with much indignation, 'do you mean to imply that i don't _know_ my _husband_?' again, at another séance, a woman, a visitor, led from the cabinet to me a materialized spirit, whom she introduced to me as 'her daughter, her dear, darling daughter,' while nothing could be clearer to me than the features of the medium in every line and lineament. again and again, men have led round the circles the materialized spirits of their wives, and introduced them to each visitor in turn; fathers have taken round their daughters, and i have seen widows sob in the arms of their dead husbands. testimony, such as this, staggers me. have i been smitten with color-blindness? before me, as far as i can detect, stands the very medium herself, in shape, size, form, and feature true to a line, and yet, one after another, honest men and women at my side, within ten minutes of each other, assert that she is the absolute counterpart of their nearest and dearest friends, nay, that she _is_ that friend. it is as incomprehensible to me as the assertion that the heavens are green, and the leaves of the trees deep blue. can it be that the faculty of observation and comparison is rare, and that our features are really vague and misty to our best friends? is it that the medium exercises some mesmeric influence on her visitors, who are thus made to accept the faces which she wills them to see? or is it, after all, only the dim light and a fresh illustration of _la nuit tous les chats sont gris_? the light, be it remembered, is always dim at these séances, and it is often made especially dim when a spirit leaves the cabinet. i think i have never been able at such times to read the arabic numerals on my watch, which happen to be unusually large and pronounced. unquestionably spiritualists will be at no loss to explain this puzzle; possibly they would say that i have here unconsciously given one of the very best of proofs of the reality and genuineness of materialization, and that my unbelief acts on the sensitive, evanescent features of the spirit like a chemical reagent, and that--but it is not worth while to weaken by anticipation their solacing arguments. in any statement of this problem we should bear in mind all the attending circumstances: the darkened room; the music; the singing; the pervading hush of expectation; the intensely concentrated attention; the strained gaze at the dark cabinet and at its white robed apparitions; and finally, the presence of a number of sympathizing believers. there is another fact about these séances which i think cannot fail to impress even the most casual observer, and this is the attractive charms which the cabinet seems to possess for the aboriginal indian. this child of nature appears to materialize with remarkable facility, and, having apparently doffed his characteristic phlegm in the happy hunting grounds, enters with extreme zest on the lighter gambols which sometimes enliven the sombre monotony of a séance. almost every medium keeps an indian 'brave' in her cohort of spirits; in fact, there is no cabinet, howe'er so ill attended, but has some indian there. it is strange, too, that, as far as i know, departed black men, who might be supposed to be quite as unsophisticated as departed red men, have hitherto developed no such materializing proclivities. it is, perhaps, even more strange that while, in my experience, italian spirits neither understand nor speak italian, and french spirits can neither comprehend nor talk french, and german spirits remain invincibly dumb in german, it is reserved to indian 'braves' to be glibly and fluently voluble in the explosive gutturals of their own well-known tongue. before a séance begins, a thorough examination of the cabinet is always tendered, a privilege of which i very seldom avail myself, and hold to be always superfluous, on the following grounds: first, if the spirits which come out of the cabinet be genuine, it is of very small moment how they got in, and no possible scrutiny of the material structure of the cabinet will disclose the process. secondly, if the spirits be fraudulent, the mediums are too quick-witted and ingenious in their methods of introducing confederates into the cabinet not to conceal all traces of mechanical contrivance far too effectually to be detected in any cursory examination. it is also to be borne in mind that much can be done under cover of the darkness, which is sometimes total for a few minutes before the séance begins, and also that the notes of the melodeon are sufficiently deep and loud to drown not a little rustling. if the mediums are deceitful i have always felt that in any endeavor to unmask them the odds are heavily in their favor. the methods are manifold whereby confederates may be introduced into the cabinet: from above, from below, and, enveloped in black stuff, from back parlors, rooms and closets. it is not what goes into the cabinet which, in my opinion, demands our scrutiny but what comes out of it; it is to the spirits to which all our tests should be applied, the cabinet and the medium are quite secondary. furthermore, it should be remembered that those who sit nearest to the cabinet are always staunch friends of the medium, or known by her to be perfectly safe and harmless. not infrequently a materialized spirit is seen to subside into the floor between the folds of the curtains at the opening of the cabinet, this is termed 'de-materialization,' and not a little mystery is ascribed to it. the mystery vanishes when we reflect how easy it is for a lithe and active young woman so to bow down quickly, even to the very ground, as to convey the impression, when her white garments are alone visible against a black background, that she has sunk into the floor. i have at times distinctly felt the faint jar caused by the medium's falling backward within the dark curtains a little too hastily. at times, when the spirit is wholly within the cabinet, and visible only through the parted folds of the curtain, the semblance of a gradual sinking is obtained by simply uniting slowly the two folds of the black curtain, beginning at the head and gradually closing them down to the feet; the room is generally so dark that the dark curtain is indistinguishable at a little distance, and the effect of slowly falling is admirably conveyed. in one instance, where the spiritual garments were not white, but particolored (the spirit was a scotch girl and wore the tartan), the effect of de-materializing was capitally given by the spirit's standing just inside the slightly parted curtains, and then allowing the whole outer costume, even to the head-dress, to fall swiftly to the floor. perhaps the best effect in this line, that i have seen, was on one occasion when a spirit had retired within the folds of the curtain, but apparently immediately reappeared again at the opening; she had been habited somewhat like a nun with white bands and fillets around the head and face; thus, too, was she clad at her reappearance, but, as i sat quite close to the cabinet, i perceived that the figure was composed merely of the garments of the former spirit, and that there was no face at all within the head-gear. i am sure the omission could not have been detected at the distance at which the rest of the circle sat. this snow-white figure was allowed to sink very, very slowly, the dark curtains uniting above it as it gradually sank, until only the oval white head-dress around what should have been a face rested for a few seconds on the very floor, and then suddenly collapsed. it was in the highest degree ingeniously devised and artistically executed. there are also various styles of appearing as well as of disappearing. i think the very best and most effective of them all is where a spirit gradually materializes before our very eyes, outside of the cabinet, far enough, indeed, outside to give the appearance to a visitor directly in front of rising up from the very centre of the room. a minute spot of white, no larger than a dollar, is first noticed on the floor; this gradually increases in size, until there is a filmy, gauzy mass which rises fold on fold like a fountain, and then, when it is about a foot and a-half high, out of it rises a spirit to her full height, and either swiftly glides to greet a loved one in the circle, or as swiftly retires to the cabinet. it is really beautiful, and its charm is not diminished by a knowledge of the simplicity of the process, which, as i have sat more than once when the cabinet was almost in profile, i soon detected. the room is very dark, the outline of the black muslin cabinet can only with difficulty be distinguished even to one sitting within six feet of it; a fold of black cloth, perhaps five feet long and four feet wide, is thrown from the cabinet forward into the room, one end is held within the cabinet at about two or three feet above the floor, and from under the extreme opposite edge, where it rests on the floor, some white tulle is slowly protruded, a very little at first, but gradually more and more is thrust out, until there is enough there to permit the spirit, who has crept out from the cabinet under the black cloth and has been busy pushing out the white tulle, to get her head and shoulders well within the mass, when she rises swiftly and gracefully, and the dark cloth is drawn back into the cabinet. i always want to applaud it; it is charming. on one occasion, a spirit tried this pretty mode of materialization, not directly in front of the cabinet, but at the side quite close to where i sat. the cabinet was merely a frame to which were attached black muslin or cloth curtains, and a spirit can emerge at the side quite as conveniently as in front. unfortunately this time, through some heedlessness, the spirit did not creep out of the frame-work with sufficient care, and some portion of her garments must have caught when she was only on her knees. i never shall forget the half-comic, half-appealing, feminine glance as her eyes looked up into mine, when she was only partially materialized and some plaguey nail had caught her angel robe. it was very hard not to spring to her assistance; but such gallantry would have been excessively ill-timed, so i was forced to sit still while the poor _animula, vagula, blandula_, worked herself free and arose unfettered by my side. perhaps this is as fitting a place as any to mention the test whereby i have tried the spirits who have come to me. as this same lovely spirit arose and looked graciously down on me and held out her hands in welcome, i arose also to my feet, and peering anxiously into her face, asked, 'is this olivia?' 'yes,' she softly murmured in reply. then ensued the following conversation which i reproduce as faithfully as i can. it was broken off once by the spirit's retiring into the cabinet, but resumed when she again appeared to me. 'ah, olive dear, how lovely of you to materialize! did you really want to come back?' 'very much, of course,' she answered. 'and do you remember the sweet years of old?' 'all of them,' she whispered. 'do you remember,' i continued, 'the old oak near sumner-place?' [a happy hit, in the longitude of boston!] 'yes, indeed, i do,' was the low reply, as her head fell gently on my shoulder. 'and do you remember, olive dear, whose names were carved on it?' 'yes; ah, yes!' 'oh, olive, there's one thing i want so much to ask you about. tell me, dear, if i speak of anything you don't remember. what was the matter with you that afternoon, one summer, when your father rode his hunter to the town, and albert followed after upon his; and then your mother trundled to the gate behind the dappled grays. do you remember it, dear?' 'perfectly.' 'well, don't you remember, nothing seemed to please you that afternoon, you left the novel all uncut upon the rosewood shelf, you left your new piano shut, something seemed to worry you. do you remember it, dear one?' 'all of it, yes, yes.' 'then you came singing down to that old oak, and kissed the place where i had carved our names with many vows. tell me, you little witch, who were you thinking of all that time?' 'all the while of you,' she sighed. 'and do you, oh, do you remember that you fell asleep under the oak, and that a little acorn fell into your bosom and you tossed it out in a pet? ah, olive dear, i found that acorn, and kissed it twice, and kissed it thrice for thee! and do you know that it has grown into a fine young oak?' 'i know it,' she answered softly and sadly, 'i often go to it!' this was almost too much for me, and as my memory, on the spur of the moment, of tennyson's _talking oak_ was growing misty, i was afraid the interview might become embarrassing for lack of reminiscences, so i said, 'dearest olivia, that is so lovely of you. there, be a good girl, good-bye now. you'll surely come and see me again the next time i come here, won't you?' 'yes, indeed, i will.' i released my arm from encircling a very human waist, and olive lifted her head from my shoulder, where she had been speaking close to my ear, and de-materialized. marie st. clair, who, on spiritual authority as i have shown above, shares the ownership with sister belle of 'yorick's' skull in my possession, has never failed to assent whenever i ask a spirit if it be she. to be sure, she varies with every different medium, but that is only one of her piquant little ways, which i early learned to overlook and at last grew to like. she is both short and tall, lean and plump, with straight hair and with curls, young and middle-aged, so that now it affords me real pleasure to meet a new variety of her; but in all her varieties she never fails to express her delight over my guarding with care that which was 'the last thing on her neck before she passed over.' i was extremely anxious to obtain a written acknowledgment of this pleasure from marie, and accordingly i took with me to one of the séances a little trinket, and told the spirit that i would give it to her if she would just write down for me a few words expressive of this pleasure, and, as she was disappearing into the cabinet, i thrust a writing-tablet and a pencil into her hand. before the séance closed, she reappeared to me, and handing me a paper claimed my promise. in full faith i gave her the little breast-pin, and after the séance, to my chagrin, i found the writing on the paper was not from her, but a message from my 'father,' announcing that he had 'found the next life a great truth,' which was, certainly, cheering, in view of the fact that he was enjoying the present in so remarkably hearty and healthy a manner. for the next séance i provided an amber necklace, on whose clasp i had 'marie' engraved, and when the spirit of the fair french girl appeared, i taxed her with her naughty, deceitful ways, and told her that i would not give her the necklace, which i had brought for her, until she gave me what i asked for, in her own writing. in a very few minutes she reappeared and handed me a paper, whereon she had written: 'i am so glad you have kept them so nicely, your marie.' (as her skull was shared by sister belle, i suppose marie was strictly logical, if ungrammatical, in referring to it as 'them.') it was enough; in a few minutes after, marie reappeared wearing the amber beads glistening round her neck. no sooner had i given the necklace than occurred another illustration of the remarkable and amiable pliancy with which materialized spirits will answer to any name with which they are addressed. the medium who conducted the séance came to me and said, 'there's a spirit in the cabinet who says she's your niece.' very thoughtlessly i replied, 'but i haven't any niece in the spirit world.' the instant after i had spoken, i felt my mistake. you must never repel any spirit that comes to you. it throws a coolness over your whole intercourse with that particular spirit-band; no spirit from it will be likely to come to you again. no surface of madrepores is more sensitive to a touch than a cabinet full of spirits to a chilling syllable of failure. to regain my lost position, therefore, i said hastily, 'but can it be effie?' (it was a mere hap-hazard name; i know no 'effie.') the medium went to the cabinet and returned with the answer, 'she says she's effie, and she wants to see you.' of course, i went with alacrity to where the curtains of the cabinet stood open, and there, just within it, saw a spirit whom i recognized as having appeared once before during the evening with marie, when the latter had materialized as a sailor-boy, and the two had danced a spiritualist horn-pipe to the tune of 'a life on the ocean wave.' 'oh, effie dear,' i said, 'is that you?' 'yes, dear uncle, i wanted so much to see you.' 'forgive me, dear,' i pleaded, 'for having forgotten you.' 'certainly i will, dear uncle, and won't you bring me a necklace, too?' 'certainly, dear,' i replied, 'when i come here again.' i have never been there since. thus is illustrated what will be, i think, the experience of every one who cares to apply this test to materialized spirits. when the investigator is unknown to the medium, a spirit materialized through that medium will confess to any name in the heavens above or the earth beneath, in the world of fiction or the world of reality. of course, it would not do to ask a spirit whether or not it were some well-known public, or equally well-known fictitious, character. you would be repelled if you should ask a spirit if it were 'yankee doodle,' but i am by no means sure that it would not confess to being 'cap'en good'in,' who accompanied yankee doodle and his father on their trip to town, and whose name is less familiar in men's mouths. all the good, earnest, simple-hearted folk who attend these séances ask the spirits, when they appear to them for the first time, if they are father, mother, brother, husband, wife, or sister, and the spirit will in every case confess the kinship asked for. but, as i have just said, the investigator need not restrict himself to his family, his friends, or his acquaintances. let him enter the world of fiction, or of poetry, or of history, he has but to call for whomsoever he will, and the materialized spirit will answer: 'lo! here am i!' let me strengthen this with the following additional illustration: not long ago at a materializing séance where i was, i think, unknown to everyone, certainly to the medium, a spirit emerged from the cabinet, clad in flowing white robes, and advanced towards me with a wavering gait, which could be readily converted into a tottering walk, if i should perchance ask if it were my great-grandmother, or could be interpreted as the feeble incertitude of a first materialization, if i should perchance descend the family tree and ask for a more youthful scion. i arose as it approached and asked: 'is this rosamund?' 'yes!' replied the spirit, still wobbling a little, and in doubt whether to assume the role of youth or of old age. 'what! fair rosamund!' i exclaimed, throwing into my voice all the joy and buoyancy i could master. the hint to the spirit was enough. all trace of senility vanished, and with equal joyousness she responded 'yes, it's indeed rosamund!' then i went on, 'dearest rosamund, there's something i want so much to ask you. do you remember who gave you that bowl just before you died?' here fair rosamund nodded her head gaily and pointed her finger at me. 'oh, no, no, no,' i said, 'you forget, fair rosamund, i wasn't there then. it was at woodstock.' 'oh, yes, yes,' she hastily rejoined, 'so it was; it was at woodstock.' 'and it was eleanor who offered you that bowl.' 'to be sure, i remember it now perfectly. it was eleanor.' 'but rosamund, fair rosamund, what made you drink that bowl? had you no suspicions?' 'no, i had no suspicions.' and here she shook her head very sadly. 'didn't you see what eleanor had in her other hand?' 'no.' 'ah, fair rosamund, i'm afraid she was a bad lot.' 'indeed she was!' (with great emphasis). 'what cruel eyes she had!' 'hadn't she, though!' 'how did she find you out?' 'i haven't an idea.' 'ah, fair rosamund, do you remember how beautiful you were [here the spirit simpered a little] after you were dead, and how the people came from far and near to look at you?' 'yes,' said fair rosamund, 'i looked down on them all the while.' and here she glided back into the cabinet. it is not impossible that a spiritualist might urge that the test which i apply is not a fair one--that guile will beget guile, that the spirits meet me as i meet them. but what other possible way have i of finding out who the spirits are, when they do not tell me in advance, but by asking them? whenever they have been announced to me as this or that spirit, i invariably treat them as the spirits of those whom they assert themselves to be, and, in my conclusions, am guided only by the pertinency of their answers to my questions. whenever william shakespeare appears to me (and, by the way, let me here parenthetically note, as throwing light on a vexed question, that shakespeare in the spirit-world 'favors' the chandos portrait, even to the two little white collar strings hanging down in front; his spirit has visited me several times, and such was his garb when i saw him most distinctly); when, i repeat, shakespeare materializes in the cabinet for me, do i not always most reverently salute him, and does he not graciously nod to me--until i venture most humbly to ask him what the misprint, 'vllorxa' in _timon of athens_ stands for, when he always slams the curtains in my face? (i meekly own that perhaps he is justified.) have i ever failed in respectful homage to general washington? did i ever evince the slightest mistrust of indian 'braves?' when a spirit comes out of the cabinet especially to me, how am i to know, or to find out, who it is but by asking? if it be not the spirit that i name, will it not, if it has a shred of honesty, set me right? what hinders it from telling me just who it is? if it be the spirit of my great-grandmother, it can be surely no satisfaction to her, after all the bother of materialization, to hold converse with me as the spirit of sally in our alley; and if she be, in every sense of the word, a 'spirity' old lady, she will instantly undeceive me, and 'let me know who i am talking to.' but why should i anticipate deceit at spiritual hands? if william shakespeare can appear to me, why not fair rosamund? hereupon a spiritualist may maintain that if the spirit said she was fair rosamund, and displayed a familiarity with the incidents of that frail woman's life and death, she probably was fair rosamund. so be it. i yield, and will go farther, and hereafter find no more difficulty, than in her case, in tennyson's olivia, marie st. clair, and in the heroes and heroines of scheherezade's thousand and one nights. although i have been thus thwarted at every turn in my investigations of spiritualism, and found fraud where i had looked for honesty, and emptiness where i had hoped for fulness, i cannot think it right to pass a verdict, universal in its application, where far less than the universe of spiritualism has been observed. my field of examination has been limited. there is an outlying region claimed by spiritualists which i have not touched, and into which i would gladly enter, were there any prospect that i should meet with more success. i am too deeply imbued with the belief that we are such stuff as dreams are made on, to be unwilling to accept a few more shadows in my sleep. unfortunately, in my experience, dante's motto must be inscribed over an investigation of spiritualism, and all hope must be abandoned by those who enter on it. if the performances which i have witnessed are, after all, in their essence spiritual, their mode of manifestation certainly places them only on the margin, the very outskirts of that realm of mystery which spiritualism claims as its own. spiritualism, pure and undefiled, if it mean anything at all, must be something far better than slate writing and raps. these grosser physical manifestations can be but the mere ooze and scum cast up by the waves on the idle pebble, the waters of a heaven-lit sea, if it exist, must lie far out beyond. the time is not far distant, i cannot but think, when the more elevated class of spiritualists will cast loose from all these physical manifestations, which, even if they be proved genuine, are but little removed from materialism, and eventually materializing séances, held on recurrent days, and at fixed hours, will become unknown. horace howard furness. index. advertisement calling for mediums appendix briggs, mr. fred., medium caffray, mr. joseph, medium flint, mr. r.w., medium fullerton, prof. g.s., on the slade-zoellner investigation furness, h.h., on materialization on mediumistic development on slade independent slate writing kane, mrs. margaret fox keeler, mr. p.l.o.a., medium keeler, mr. w.m., medium kellar, mr. harry knerr, dr., on slate writing koenig, prof. geo. a., about mrs. thayer leidy, prof. joseph, about mrs. thayer on mediums letter from mrs. kane letters, sealed lord, mrs. maud e., medium mansfield, dr. james martin, mrs. eliza a., medium martin, mrs. dr. eleanor materialization mediumistic development names of commissioners patterson, mrs. s.e., medium photographs, spiritual powell, mr., medium preface to the appendix rappings, spirit report of commission rothermel, dr. screen, use of by keeler sealed letters slade, dr. henry, examined by dr. pepper letter from personal appearance examination of resolution of commission in regard to slate writing spirit rappings spiritual photographs thayer, mrs. m.b., medium tricks of jugglers of slade wells, mrs., medium zoellner, slade-, report on calling attention to in report produced from images generously made available by the internet archive.) [illustration: c. g. helleberg] a book written by the spirits of the so-called dead, with their own materialized hands, by the process of independent slate-writing, through mrs. lizzie s. green and others, as mediums. compiled and arranged by c. g. helleberg, of cincinnati, ohio. life is real! life is earnest! and the grave is not its goal. dust thou art, to dust returnest, was not written of the soul. --longfellow. cincinnati: 1883. copyrighted, 1882, by c. g. helleberg. contents. page chapter i. introduction and biographical sketches of c. g. helleberg, madam fredrika ehrenborg, and mrs. lizzie t. green 1 chapter ii. first investigations with mrs. laura mosser and mrs. cooper 6 chapter iii. remarkable materialization seance--letters from mrs. ehrenborg describing inhabitants of other planets 14 chapter iv. madam ehrenborg and others materialize 23 chapter v. investigations by mrs. jennie mckee--first letter from emanuel swedenborg and communications from polheim and others--received five beautiful flowers from madam ehrenborg 26 chapter vi. mrs. mckee passes away and her spirit arranges her own funeral 33 chapter vii. investigations with mrs. green--remarkable dark trumpet seance, at which i received a most beautiful flower from my son emil and miss mary muth 36 chapter viii. sure identity of my father-in-law--madam ehrenborg writes to me in swedish 40 chapter ix. information of a spiritual marriage--the wedding and the wedding tour to the planet mars 45 chapter x. description of the journey to mars, and wonderful information furnished by madam ehrenborg 54 chapter xi. communications from emanuel swedenborg 108 chapter xii. communications from george washington 141 chapter xiii. communications from my son emil about ex-president garfield- greetings from madam ehrenborg--letter from rev. goddard and swedenborg's answer 157 chapter xiv. communications from president garfield, madam ehrenborg, governor j. d. williams, president abraham lincoln, judge edmonds 163 chapter xv. new years' greetings from many of my dear spirit friends and near relations 170 chapter xvi. a prayer from madam ehrenborg 173 chapter xvii. greeting from horace greeley, j. g. bennett, and henry j. raymond to f. b. plimpton, associate editor of the cincinnati daily commercial 176 chapter xviii. communications from horace greeley, governor o. p. morton, a. p. willard 180 chapter xix. communications from the drunkard, a miser, william gailard, william lloyd garrison, wilberforce, tecumseh, a suicide 187 chapter xx. communications from thomas paine, margaret fuller, and thanks of spirits 199 chapter xxi--appendix. mrs. green's medial history 204 chapter xxii. a visit to split rock, kentucky--christmas greetings from ida to her parents--annie winterburn to her brother, john winterburn, and his testimony, and her farewell to the medium, mrs. green 222 chapter xxiii. a spirit peels a banana, eats some of it, and divides the rest in four equal parts--reports of cincinnati enquirer about spirit seances at mrs. green's 231 chapter xxiv. extracts from each of two funeral discourses by bishop simpson and rev. w. h. thomas, d. d., with conclusions of c. g. helleberg 239 errata. page 3, line 26, for most communications, read most of the communications. " 24, line 7, for mrs. stebbins, read mr. stebbins. " 29, line 18, for are, read is. " 30, line 27, for their, read his. " 30, line 28, for them, read him. " 34, line 8, for was, read were. " 35, line 1, for this is, read these are. " 46, line 2, for me and my wife, read my wife and i. " 49, line 7, for edward, read edwin. " 50, line 15, for guthof, read gustaf. " 51, line 26, for thy, read the. " 57, line 16, for were, read was. " 60, line 6, for me, read us. " 60, line 26, for a, read the. " 63, line 21, for our, read the. " 68, line 8, for miscreants, read misdeeds. " 69, line 4, for daniel, read david. " 69, line 31, for laws, read love. " 71, line 24, for nearly, read nearly a third. " 76, line 30, for ever, read ever surging. " 77, line 9, for of more, read of the more. " 77, line 30, for rivulet, read violent. " 80, line 27, for of, read and. " 82, line 13, for formed, read former. " 83, last line read, and out of the ambient. " 84, line 17, for then, read there. " 86, line 1, for mighty, read weighty. " 88, line 20, omit again regained, and read required. " 90, line 14, for glory, read misery. " 91, next to last line for when, read where. " 94, line 16, for constitutional, read constituent. " 100, line 26, for beautiful, read beautifully. " 101, line 5, for originated, read originating. " 107, line 18, for you, read your. " 109, last line, for question, read questioned. " 111, line 18, for figures, read pigmies. " 115, line 10, for needs, read needs but. " 120, line 6, for or, read are. " 121, line 14, for early, read latter. " 133, line 22, for unbeliefs, read erroneous belief. " 136, line 11, for hearsay, read heresy. " 147, line 28, for he, read the. " 157, line 22, for with, read by. " 165, last line, for you thought, read your thoughts. " 167, line 14, for nationalism, read rationalism, etc. " 174, line 4, for almighty, read mighty. " 174, last line for to, read through. " 180, line 24, for arises, read arise. " 183, line 3, for pacified, read purified. " 184, line 27, for subsequent, read consequent. " 187, line 25, for trifling, read toiling. " 200, line 5, for actuate, read actuates. " 200, line 23, for adapting, read adopting. " 210, line 30, for j. & j. w. gaff, read t. & j. w. gaff. " 211, line 14, for mission, read vision. " 211, line 19, for literary, read literally. " 221, line next to bottom, for assimilation, read dissemination. " 231, line 2, for bonana, read banana. " 240, line 21, for of, read to. spirit communications. chapter i. introduction. the communications in this little volume, purporting to come from disembodied spirits, came in the manner hereinafter stated, and all that i had to do with them was to faithfully and to the letter transcribe them from the slate on which they were written into blank memorandum books which i procured for the purpose. before laying before the reader the _modus operandi_ of their delivery, i deem it proper that i should give a brief outline of my own history, especially do i feel the importance of this since i am little known outside of the circle of my immediate acquaintances. it has always been my aim in life to live uprightly before god and man, and as to the success of this noble purpose, formed in early life, i may confidently refer to my neighbors, and many of the leading citizens of cincinnati, ohio, with whom i have enjoyed an intimate social and business acquaintance for nearly forty years. i do not know why i should have been made the recipient and custodian of the truly remarkable spirit communications contained in the following pages, except from a long lifetime of honest endeavor to do right i was deemed worthy, and from the additional consideration that the spirits interested in the work knew i would cordially co-operate with them in laying the matter presented before the world, and that, happily, i possessed the pecuniary means to do so. i was born at grafriset, near fahlun, in the kingdom of sweden, march 1, 1811, and have now passed my seventy-first year. at the age of sixteen i entered the swedish army, and at nineteen became a student at upsala university, where i remained for two years. after rendering military service for five years, and passing a successful examination, i was permitted to enter the civil service of my country. in the capacity of land surveyor i served for over ten years, when a desire to personally witness the workings of republican institutions induced me to make an application to travel in foreign countries, which permission i obtained for the period of two years. in 1844 i left my native land for the united states, and in 1845 located at cincinnati, ohio, and soon thereafter engaged in the art of daguerreotyping, and afterwards photographing, and in the following year married miss annie e. franks, daughter of frederick franks, a leading and influential citizen of the city, who is still remembered as the proprietor of cincinnati's early famous museum. in religion i was raised a lutheran, but at the time (1879) of embracing spiritualism and for thirty years preceding i was a devout and earnest swedenborgian. i commenced the investigation of spiritual phenomena in 1879, and soon became convinced of the sublime truths of the spiritual philosophy. as in the following pages the exalted spirit of madam fredrika ehrenborg imparts, among other things, marvelous information in regard to the planet mars, of our solar system, it is deemed fitting that somewhat of her history should be made known in this connection: she was born march 15, 1794, in the province of wermland, in the kingdom of sweden, and at the age of seventeen married a highly esteemed nobleman, casper isac michael ehrenborg. he left the body in 1823, and was at the time chief justice of sweden. madam ehrenborg was an enthusiastic swedenborgian, and she passed to the higher life in the swedish city of linköping on the 20th of may, 1873. her life in many respects was an eventful one, and largely devoted to literary pursuits. she translated writings on religious subjects from several languages into swedish, and wrote books and pamphlets in the interest of swedenborgianism, and visited england, switzerland, denmark, germany and france in search of materials for her works. it was not my good fortune to have met this eminent lady during her mortal life, but i happily enjoyed a truly instructive and pleasant correspondence with her during the last three years of her life in the form. i commenced my investigations in september, 1881, with the celebrated medium mrs. lizzie s. green, through whose mediumship most of the communications to follow were written. for ten months i had never less than two sittings a week, and the largest portion of that time four per week, and have had ample opportunities to study her true character. as the result i am justified by the truth in proclaiming to the world my thorough conviction of her honesty, purity and simplicity of character. her education, as i have been informed, was sadly neglected in youth, and she has had few opportunities to improve in later years. she married the hon. edward h. green, of aurora, indiana, before her eighteenth year, and has devoted her succeeding years until recently to the domestic duties of life and to the raising of a family, of whom only one, a daughter, survives. her husband served with ability a numerous and intelligent constituency in the indiana legislature of 1866-7, and served recently and to general acceptance two terms of two years each as mayor of aurora, indiana, his native city. the communications of spirits contained in this volume were written by the spirits with their own materialized hands, and the process was generally as follows: a small stand of the ordinary kind in construction, covered by a table cloth, was used, the medium placing with one hand under the covering of the stand a slate on which was placed a small piece of pencil. the other hand of the medium was continually exposed to full view, as was also her entire form. both double and single slates were used. we heard the writing as it progressed, and when the slate was filled it would be indicated by distinct taps on the slate and the dropping of the pencil. the slate would be then taken out, and as the chosen scribe i would faithfully transcribe the written matter into the book aforementioned, and the slate would then be cleaned and returned under the stand, and in this manner all the matter hereinafter set forth was produced. i have reported it _verbatim et literatim_, without changing it in the slightest degree, neither adding nor taking therefrom a single word. each sitting would occupy from one to two hours, and in broad daylight. i have taken occasion to preface some of these communications with a few lines, by way of explanation and to secure clearness of understanding in relation to them. this volume is truly a book written by the spirits themselves, and whatever merit it may possess, they alone are entitled to the credit, and whatever of demerit, if any, they alone are chargeable and responsible. of one thing both the mediums and myself can truly avouch, and are willing to solemnize with our oaths, namely, that we had nothing whatever to do with the production of the communications except so far as we may have aided the communicating intelligences by furnishing them with the necessary and required conditions. i launch forth the work not, however, without misgivings as to its reception and fate in this age of incredulity and skepticism, and my only hope is that it may be instrumental in doing good, if but only in a feeble degree, which alone will be ample compensation for my time and labor. carl gustaf helleberg. _177 auburn street, cincinnati, ohio._ chapter ii. my investigations of spiritualism commenced with the excellent medium, mrs. laura mosser, now mrs. carter, through whose mediumship i had the first slate-writing, august 31, 1879, at her residence, no. 253 laurel street, cincinnati, ohio, from my spirit friend, william gailard, and my dear son emil. my truth-loving friend, mr. s. g. anderson, at my request, introduced me to mrs. mosser, at her residence, where we both on a clear sunday morning, after we had some communications between a double slate from mr. gailard and my son, saw a spirit hand between us, into which mr. anderson put his handkerchief, which was taken under the stand, and afterwards came out tied in three knots. it was written on the slate at the same time that mr. anderson's two sisters and his brother john, who all many years ago had passed away in sweden, each of them had tied a knot. during this occurrence we had mrs. mosser in full view, who was rocking in a rocking chair, and the only part hidden was her right hand when it held the slate under the small stand. from this remarkable result i concluded to go on with the investigation, and had many interesting communications, mostly concerning family relations, until the 8th of december, 1880, when i became acquainted with that most respectable lady, mrs. annie cooper, who is a true and honest medium. through her gifts i had many wonderful manifestations, consisting of slate-writings and materializations, etc. i will mention only a few. on the 11th may, 1881, among other things which appeared on the slate was the following: "good morning, my dear friend. across the deep i have communicated to you. with great pleasure i accept the opportunity of still doing so. i am anxious that all i hold dear should understand this phenomenon. hope lingers around me that i shall be able to make myself known as if on earth. one thing i thank you for, the kind appreciation of a small tribute of friendship i tried to bestow. every day since i came here i have learned something. knowledge is not stopped by the change. my friend, many persons think that when the change called death comes and the spirit is released from the body, it becomes perfect at once. that is a mistake; we come out of the earthly body with all the propensities which actuate us while in it, and we come out of them only as we are educated and progress. oh, dear friend, i can see now that there are many human beings dazed at the wiles of mistakes made by early education, instead of looking up to something higher and brighter. yes, man still asks, with prayerful heart, what are his wants to be in the future? and why was he born? and why does he die? oh, why does man mourn over a law that was ordained for the benefit of all mankind? why tears fall when he stands where the form of some loved one is laid? is hope gone? yes, because they know not where they are gone and what they are now. no one should mourn at death, for death is as legitimate as birth. yes, no science, with all its bright knowledge, has been able to penetrate this system or sphere peopled by those who once dwelt as you do now. oh, if suffering humanity could realize these beautiful truths, it would remove every doubt and dispel every fear that death transports man far away from earthly loved ones. my dear friend, to you this knowledge has been like a gentle zephyr that cools the cheeks on a warm summer evening. i am happy to be able to see you in possession of these noble sentiments. let eternal progression be engraved on your banner and you will soar far above doubt and mystery, that surround so many in earth life. man no longer bows to an angry god, nor needs a mediator to propitiate him. i am so happy to be able now to enjoy and fully realize what i believed to be true, with but little besides my own evidence and knowledge to convince me that it was a truth. i have been reproved even for an acknowledgment, but all do not understand alike. i was fully assured before my spirit left the physical habitation for spiritual inheritance that i was surrounded by angels, kind and loving, guarding and guiding me to a higher and better life. i passed through as if in a gentle slumber, awakening to meet many bright faces, yes, too many to number, that had gone before and landed safely on the bright, celestial shore. earthly views can not comprehend heavenly joys. oh, think of it, my friend, to meet those to whom you are bound to by the ties of nature in early affection, never, never to part again, but to dwell in the light of a harmonious atmosphere of love, surrounded by angels and music from the bright realms above. there is no end to life, the spirit is eternal, and as we travel onward we can look upward in hope, for there is always something above. i will be able to communicate to you on different subjects the next interview. give my love to your dear lady. i will now call on her, and we will yet meet, but not as strangers. in the language of flowers, we remember in the sweet forget me not.[1] adieu for the present. your most sincere friend, "fredrika ehrenborg." this was the first communication between the double slate from madam ehrenborg, and on the 19th of may she gave another one, as follows: "good morning, my clear friend. in love and justice for your kindness i come this morning. i feel like writing on that subject, justice, for it enters into the divine unfolding of eternity. millions stand at the bar of the great tribune waiting to hear their sentence pronounced. justice enters into the majesty of universal law. what generation can gather it and hold it in their embrace? yes, justice is the universal law, that no age, no nation can control or hold in subjection. when they have gained one step in the right direction they may then think they have gained it all, but as we ascend the steps to that mighty throne of infinity we see justice beyond the ken of hundreds of humanity that have passed away. justice is so unlimited we can compass only a part of it, according to the knowledge we possess, and have cultivated the principal subject of the development. no people or nation can make laws to govern any other nation or people who can succeed them or figure on this planet. what can finite man do to control the infinite? can he gather and control the winds and the seasons as they come and go with all their powerful influences on the globe? no; neither can he gather and control the developments of minds, or subject them to any law that he may enact. history records the rise and fall of empires; behold, they have all passed away; each gives place to another form of government, better adapted to the wants and conditions of the then existing humanity. dear friend, the heavenly trees are filled with divine fruit, whose beauty is reflected to earth. truth is mightier than man, sharper than a two-edged sword, and it will mow down every obstacle in the way of progress. the spirit world is united in trying to lay the corner-stone of a temple so large that it will contain the whole human family. oh, how grand when all can offer up the highest tribute of love to the divine unfolding spirit, and receive the sacred knowledge and love which shall bring humanity together in peace and harmony, then in truth all will be free. it gives me renewed strength to see the new and beautiful ideas floating about, spirit messengers wafted to earth, blending with man, woman and child as they go forth clearing the pathway to their eternal home, where all is love and harmony. the light of this beautiful truth is fast dawning, and suffering mortals will awake in joy to the light of it, and be crowned in the glory of the morning. it is not hard for spirits to communicate with friends on earth, but often difficult to have conditions. man must have some spirituality in his soul before he can realize the truth that his loved ones are waiting, willing to help him upwards as they stand on the bright, celestial shore. dear friend, i am sure i am gaining power, and would be able to say a great deal in a short time through this medium if no change of conditions come. i hope to help you to do what you so much desire. i can go to my dear friends across the water and help you by impressing them that all is true. now i must withdraw, but will be very happy to come again to you, and give you all the knowledge i can. i am glad to see you so interested in learning what can only be taught by those who have passed the sands of earth life, and are happy exploring the unexplored field of life beyond. good by, go on, fear not, the course you pursue is right. your true friend in spirit life, "fredrika ehrenborg." on the 24th of may, from 9 to 12 a. m., the same highly esteemed spirit friend wrote on the slate: "good morning, my dear friend. i greet you this morning, united with so many of your loved ones. your beautiful mother says it would not be heaven if we were shut out from the knowledge of our friends in the form. no, it could not be heaven if it made us selfish. i am glad you have reached that part of life and find bright rays daily. freedom brings its own reward, and the light that has been given to you will enable you to have yours while life lasts. you will never be bereft of friends on this shore. you will have them in both spheres. is it not grand to be able to understand, and even more, to appreciate, this knowledge? light is pouring in, and the minds of men are becoming more active every day. mankind are like hungry children who want food; yes, so great do they crave the knowledge of the immortality that it will take firm reasoning and true workers to supply them. we rejoice, for we are sure that progress is rapid. earth friends often wonder what spirits find to do. if they could realize even half the wonderful work that is going on, they would be astonished that spirits had accomplished so much for the welfare of humanity. i am so happy my soul expands in love. i feel i am young, and i am, for i am born again. i am contented to have struggled so many years in earth life, for it has brought me grand reward. all trials are worth the privilege and pleasure we enjoy when we reach our spirit home. i can see now that it is no hiding-place in man's true nature, and if they are not learned upon the terrestrial planet, they will have to learn before they can become celestial angels. selfishness is cold and freezing, love is genial and warms up the human soul, and thereby will promote its happiness. let love be cultivated by man, for it is a favorite flower, the flower of life and the beauty of the soul, and by it humanity is renewed continually and brought to the newness of life's beauty, truth, beauty and higher spheres of eternal existence, and without it man can never understand or have any conception of his heavenly home. oh, if love were the ruling influence, sorrow would be hard to find, heart aches would be nowhere felt. an early writer said: 'if you can not love him whom you have seen, how can you love them whom you have not seen and be beloved in return?' in loving one another we love god, for god is love. his love is manifesting in man. oh, that it may be cultivated, and not destroyed. dear friend, i feel i have given you an introduction at least in my three letters of what i believe would be a benefit to man if they could but understand how much depends upon them, not alone for themselves, but for the welfare and happiness of others. i will be able, as conditions are given, to write of my surroundings in my beautiful home, where all is love and harmony, peace reigns and all willing to submit to the ruling power. you have done more good than you are aware of. it is the greatest workers that always feel they are doing least. you send forth subjects that give new ideas to those who read them, awakening interest without any desire on their part. as i said before, if conditions are not interrupted, you will have much to read and to write. i have said all on this subject that i can, but i am not at a loss for something more to write about, for in spirit home how many beautiful things that have never yet been talked about too glorious to be enjoyed without giving the knowledge of their existence to our earth friends! a circle surrounds you this morning of loved ones near and dear, and your mother is cherished in loving kindness by children, children's children. emil is a bright spirit, and will be able to give much knowledge to those who are a great deal older. dear friend, i must withdraw and obey the law that governs my comings. all looks well for you so far as i see. no one can be really happy until their spirit is free to enjoy that happiness which is permanent, for all earthly pleasures are but temporary. farewell for the present. in god's love may you continue your journey until you arrive on the mount where no dark ravines can intervene your happiness. good bye for the present. your sincere friend in spirit life, "fredrika ehrenborg." chapter iii. remarkable materialization seance--letters from mrs. ehrenborg and others describing inhabitants of planets. in the evening of the same day i was at a materializing seance at mrs. cooper's, where the following persons besides myself were present: mr. cooper, his wife, mrs. annie cooper, the medium; dr. joseph r. wittemore, no. 50 dayton street; john winterborn, no. 19 freeman avenue; mr. oberline, mr. s. g. anderson, and mr. charles wilhelm, all of cincinnati. first, mrs. cooper sat herself in full gas-light by the small covered stand, under which was placed three bells, a walking stick, and my small spring music-box, after i had wound it up. soon after the spirits moved the box up and down and put it on end during playing, which we could see, because i put the box only half under the curtain. as soon as the playing stopped, the box was taken entirely under and finally pushed out for me to wind up. the bells were ringing and the walking stick was held up and extended to all of us to take hold of, which we did, and the spirits shook hands with us in that way. i had laid madam ehrenborg's photograph on the table, and i expressed a wish that she would materialize, when on the slate, which mrs. cooper held under the table-leaf, was written: "good evening, friends; yes, i am with you; i will try to appear; we are so happy." the gas was now turned down, but not lower than we could see each other right well, and mrs. cooper took her seat in a chair behind the curtains stretched across a corner of the room, and soon after a lady spirit greeted dr. wittemore, who, he said, was his first wife. his sister also came and nodded to him. then came a sister to anderson and a sister to mr. winterborn, together with his mother, who took a flower from him, and nodded to him very cordially. a spirit lady did the same to mr. wilhelm. mr. cooper brought now my music instrument, orgamina, from the upper room and placed it before me and i played on it with the crank. soon after a lady spirit came, dressed in a white shining robe, and beckoned to me, when mrs. cooper, who was not in a trance, invited me to come up to the curtain where the spirit stood in the opening, and i asked if it was my friend madam ehrenborg who died in sweden, europe, eight years ago, and she bowed and nodded assent. mr. winterborn gave me a flower, which i took and offered to madam ehrenborg, who took it, smelled it, and stuck it under my nose to smell, and afterwards kept it. i expressed my gladness to see her and she made graceful bows, which i answered with mine. i then went back to the music instrument to play, when madam ehrenborg came out again with a beautiful long piece of lace on her arm and wafted it to and fro, and afterwards dematerialized before us. after that came a lady and sat herself in the rocking-chair, and there dematerialized before us. mrs. cooper took now a standing position in the opening of the curtain, when a male spirit came out, stood beside her, and kissed her. when mrs. cooper took her seat behind the curtain again a tall gentleman spirit came dressed in some kind of a uniform, with a glittering star on his right breast, and mr. winterborn offered him a nosegay, which he took and held out with his hand, swinging his arm up and down, keeping time to the music of the orgamina and that for a long time. as he came out the next time he took hold of the rocking chair outside the curtain before him and swung it over his head for a long time, and afterwards lowered it down to about a foot from the floor, when he dropped it. at the same time we saw mrs. cooper, who expressed her anxiety lest the chair might fall on her. next he placed himself at the opening of the curtain, when a lady spirit took her place at his left side, and they kissed each other. mrs. cooper asked for a glass of water, which mr. cooper went after, intending to give it to his wife, but the gentleman spirit took it from him and gave it to mrs. cooper, who drank the water out of the glass. the same spirit sat himself in the lap of mrs. cooper and kissed her after he had placed a flower in her hair. mrs. cooper was coughing, and mr. winterborn gave two cough lozenges to the spirit, who gave them to mrs. cooper. the uniformed gentleman spirit came again out and took the rocking-chair with his right hand and swung it very vigorously over his head for a good while, then put it down. all the other spirits had white robes shining as snow, and all of us were exceedingly gratified at such wonderful performance. the 29th of june, 1881, among other valuable communications, came: "good morning, my dear friend; it is with the greatest pleasure i again come to communicate with you. your star of hope is increasing in brightness. i called on you and your dear lady last night (your night). you appreciate the beauties of the heavens, it was indeed grand to the natural eye." (my wife and i last evening were on the roof of our house on mount auburn looking at the comet and the stars.) "oh, i thought if i could lift the veil and show you the inner life so brightly beaming once again, what joy it would give. i have visited three planets, each one had a distinct race (of people) and different one from another, and had mostly white skin, walked erect, were all of the same physical shape, very much like the inhabitants of our planet; their features are more regular and not much contrast in size. on the first planet they were small in stature--about four feet high. on the second sphere, about five feet high and of uniform size and shape. on the third they were six feet high, with large limbs and muscles, language quite different from ours, but were highly educated; eat no animal food, subsist entirely on vegetable. the day and night are of equal length; and as this last named planet was most interesting to me i will speak first of it: they have a better system of astronomy than we do and understand it more perfectly. this planet has large water courses and a great deal of commerce. they have no religion, such as christians call religion, but a very high order of morals. they know little of the immortality of the soul. they have no wars, no courts nor prison houses, and murder is unheard of. they have no kings, no politics, no religion, consequently no wars. they live in perfect harmony; women suffer very little inconvenience in bearing children; the families are large, with eight or ten children; they are contented and happy. they have better painters in coloring in both landscapes and portraits. their architecture is perfection; their buildings are the most beautiful i ever beheld. the climate is genial the year round, never too hot, and never necessary to have fire to keep warm; but little variety in temperature. dear friend, i could say much more if i had power. i thank you for your kind attention. i will be able another time. good bye for the present. your sincere friend in spirit life, "fredrika ehrenborg." the 27th of july at a seance at mrs. cooper's, her control informed me that we meet to-day under disturbed conditions, and when i asked mrs. cooper what that meant, she said her husband wanted her to move back to louisville, as his prospects there now were better, and she had concluded to do so, in consequence of which she intended to pack up her furniture immediately after the present seance. madam ehrenborg wrote now a communication from which i will extract the following: "this dear, good woman, whom the angels will bless, is the first channel through which i have been able to reach earth and friends in this way, and now to be disturbed and taken away for a while is a loss to us. i could go to her, but not write as i write to you, the friendship formed between us before i passed away gives me strength and desires i might not have in any other way, but this form of condition will not last long. * * * i will try to communicate to you whenever condition is given, it is so easy for me to write here. there are but few who i could say so much through in so short a time. * * * mrs. cooper, if you will sit for me next wednesday from there (louisville) i hope to be able to write frequently, but not like if he was present. good bye for the present. your most sincere friend in spirit land. "fredrika ehrenborg." mrs. cooper promised to do as she was requested and we agreed, as the spirits wanted, that i at the usual hour, 9 o'clock a. m., should sit alone at home the same time as the seance should take place in louisville. wednesday, the 3d of august, i picked a few flowers and kept some of them with me, as my spirit son emil directed, and the rest were placed in a glass on the stand, which was covered, and under it i put madam ehrenborg's photograph and her letters sent me from sweden. the 5th of august i received a letter from miss sadie hare, no. 222 st. catherine street, louisville, ky., wherein she states that "mrs. cooper came quite a distance to our home the 3d of august to fulfill her engagement with you and the dear spirit friends, not having conditions at her sister's that would enable her to give opportunities to the spirits. we live a long distance apart and some distance from the street railway, but you know the distance would have to be very great to prevent mrs. cooper from keeping a spiritual engagement. * * with this you will find your communications which i have copied. respectfully yours, "sadie hare." "louisville, _august 3, 1881_. "yes, we see the photographs of our dear friend, and he has obeyed the request made. we wish we could bring just one of the white blossoms he has gathered for the occasion to you. the dear spirit friends he desired to hear from were present when he made preparations for conditions to assist them to come to you. tell him all will be well with him. the knowledge he has gained of the spirit world will not decay like the blossoms he has gathered in his beautiful bouquet. his friend doc." the control of mrs. cooper. "we have come, and see that you have had a long distance to come to make conditions for us. emil is with me, and we will do all we can to write a message to my dear friend c. g. helleberg. i have reached the medium through which i have been able to write so much in so short a time. i find her much troubled and disturbed and will not be able to say to you what i could if you were present as in former conditions, but remember what i have told you, my work in spirit life has only began, and i yet hope to say much to you and through this medium. all the changes that come to our friends in the form are not pleasant for them, but changes that come to us in our spirit home increases the happiness and joy that we dwell in, but not alone, for there is no real happiness that can be enjoyed alone, for we are united in love and harmony, and we are happy that the change called death does not sever the friendship formed in earth life. progression is the highest ambition of all good spirits. "man does not see or know the need of knowledge while in earth life, but when he enters real life and knows there is no turning backwards he feels forced by law of goodness to help all those who are yet in darkness; but, my friend, there are so many who are forgotten as soon as the spirit has left the form and believed to be dead by all they once held dear. i feel like repeating over and over again the joy i continually receive, being remembered by you who have opened the avenue for me to give and receive. be assured that your reward will come and inscribed in bright, shining letters on a banner of truth--your work well done, good and faithful servant. emil is present, and desires to send a few words to his papa and mamma. i know, my dear friend, how you missed the interview this morning you would have enjoyed so much; but be reconciled, they are more disturbed than our dear medium; but could she behold the bright spirits that stand in circle around her she would not despair. it will not be long till the way is cleared and we can draw nearer to communicate through her to you, and of every thorn comes a blessing, the severest cross is a crown to those who are willing to bear for the sake of truth and progression. i desire, my dear friend, to have these interviews repeated. had there not been a kind, genial lady to sit for you to copy what was written i would not have been able to say this much in a strange place. i thank you, my young friend, for assistance and willingness on your part, and remember, though the act may seem small to you, it is worth gratitude from us, and you may rely upon an increase of spiritual influence to assist you. accept this, my dear friend; i hope to say more again. your most sincere friend in spirit life, "fredrika ehrenborg." chapter iv. madam ehrenborg and others materialize. i received several other valuable letters of my spiritual friends from louisville, and in one of them, the 18th of august, madam ehrenborg wrote: "a request has been made for mrs. helleberg to write a letter to her sister emma and her father, that it may enable them to remain long enough to communicate that she may hear direct from them, for they are often with her, and want her to know it is not wrong for them to come or for her to look for them." in consequence of this i persuaded my wife to write a letter to them, which she did, and i sealed it up with red sealing wax, with my seal on, and sent it by mail to mrs. cooper, without any superscription. on the 25th of august we received a letter from miss hare and mrs. cooper, together with my wife's sealed letter unopened, and a long and beautiful letter from her spirit sister, emma, who had also answered for her father, which was so true and striking that her fear melted away, and concluded to investigate these strange facts. in october, mrs. cooper revisited cincinnati, during which time my wife and i had several very satisfactory seances, and on invitation from her we were present at a social materialization seance on the 28th of said month, in the evening, in company with the following persons: mr. and mrs. stebbins, miss sadie hare, mrs. gano, mr. and mrs. green, mr. cooper's mother, mr. and mrs. macky, mr. and mrs. nicely, miss sneider, mrs. artzman, dr. taylor and mr. winterborn. a curtain was stretched across a corner of the room, and the small stand was put on the floor, and under it was placed two call bells, a big brass bell, and a drum, with sticks and a walking stick. when mr. stebbins played on the violin, or we sung or played on the orgamina, the spirits kept time with the bells and drum. the walking stick was pointed to different individuals of the company, who had mental questions answered when they took hold of the uplifted stick. mr. stebbins put the end of the bow under the table, and the fiddle he laid on the floor, about a foot from the table, when the spirits played on it. the table was also lifted up and down, keeping time with our music. when mrs. cooper took her seat behind the curtain soon after, several spirits materialized to many of their relatives and friends, who recognized them, among whom were miss mary muth and madam ehrenborg. i and my wife went up to the curtain, when miss mary muth touched my wife's hand and took a flower from her. afterwards madam ehrenborg came in full form, dressed in a fine dark suit, with a black lace cap, and when my wife asked if it was mrs. ehrenborg, she nodded her head smilingly several times, and then dematerialized. we took our seats, but madam ehrenborg came again twice, when i went up to the curtain with mr. stebbins, who also saw her very plainly, how she nodded to me and kissed my hand, which was touched by her lips, and had a warm feeling. she afterwards dematerialized before us. at the same time this took place we saw and conversed with mrs. cooper, who is never in a trance state at any time. when we came home we examined madam ehrenborg's photograph, and we found her dress and every thing else apparently exactly the same as that in which the photograph was taken. her features were also the same. i had seen her materialized several times before, but always in shining white robes, and now she took on the same garment as that worn when the photograph was taken, probably to convince my wife of her identity. chapter v. investigations by mrs. jennie m'kee--first letter from emanuel swedenborg, etc. after mrs. cooper moved to louisville i made acquaintance with mrs. jennie mckee, a real lady of high moral and truthful qualities, who had wonderful medial gifts, and permitted me to come to her residence, no. 47-1/2 sherman avenue, cincinnati, for a slate-writing seance weekly, every thursday, from 9 to 11 a. m. the spirits wrote independent, in broad daylight, when she held the slate under the stand, which was never covered with any thing, and with a pencil so small (about one-eighth part of a common wheat grain) that no human fingers in the body could write with it. i commenced with her the 4th of august, 1881, and continued until she passed away to the higher life, the 17th of november the same year. during that time i received many highly valuable and remarkable communications and gifts, of which i will only mention a few. on the 8th day of september there appeared among other communications on the slate the following: "my friend, i come from a higher sphere of light and truth, in compliance with your request, and i greet you this morning in god's most holy name. i will speak to you not as i would have done when inhabited in earth form, but with a more expanded vision, and the more profound knowledge and the clearer understanding of the fundamental laws and governing principles of the great ruler of the universe. in those days in which i wrote it would have been a very unwise and dangerous thing to have given these spiritual manifestations to the people, from the fact that they were not prepared to receive the blessings, and the ultimate desire for the amelioration of mankind would have been defeated, and the result would have been disastrous." i had wished a clearer understanding about our guardian spirits, and on the slate came: "at the time of birth there are two self-constituted guardians, one from the light sphere and one from the dark, and as the child advances toward maturity, the number is greatly increased; but whether good or bad, depends entirely upon the persons themselves. thus, for instance, if man leads a life of depravity and vice, he naturally attracts spirits of a like character; on the other hand, if a man leads a moral life of purity, bearing in his heart love and good will to others, he is surrounded by pure spirits, who are attracted by those elements. thus, my friend, you see how essential it is, both for happiness here and through all eternity, that you conduct yourself so that the pure spirit of love can come and minister to you. i must leave, but will shortly come again." here i said to mrs. mckee: "if he signs his name, i would like to have the slate, so i could show it to my wife;" and he said to her (but i could not hear him): "put a paper on the slate." i cut a leaf from my annotation pocket book, and we put it on the slate loose, and mrs. mckee held the slate, with the paper and a short lead pencil on it, under the table, and on the paper, now in my possession, was the following: "dear heart, so true to my memory, my blessing with you, "emanuel swedenborg." on the 13th of october, at a seance by mrs. mckee, from 9 to 9:30 a. m., the following communication appeared on the slate: "my beloved, i am with you, and i greet you with my blessing in the name of the most high and ruling power, and not only is it i who bless you, you have attracted to you a number of highly exalted spirits, who love you for your singleness of purpose and purity of heart, with which you are promulgating the teachings you receive from us; that is why you have been selected by us, because you have been upright and moral in your life; because those who wish to investigate would be more impressed than did the communication come from other sources. fear not, we will be with you, and each word will have weight. you must expect to be criticised and doubted; but again i say, fear not, we are with you, and will turn the thought of the people. we shall eventually see our efforts crowned with success. we appeal to the senses; it would be a vain and useless thing to set up a higher authority than man's own conscience, for that is the last final tribunal at which he is judged. the errand of life, the education, unfolding and strengthening the combination of the mind, the exigencies of business, the duties of citizenship, the cares of the household, all this requires the utmost seriousness of purpose and activity; but activity is neither in the development of manhood. it is far more essential that the mind and moral nature should have careful cultivation. man should not care so much concerning the short period of natural life. from this side, through us who live by deeds, not years, in thought and feeling, instead of figures on the dial, by the happiness we produce, is our only gauge of time. there is an embodiment of selfishness underlying the human family which will first have to be eradicated through education, and it is the desire of the spirit world that man should be a brother to his fellow-man. i go now, but will be with you as often as i can. i leave my blessing for you and your household. "swedenborg." "my friend, i come to say how much i enjoy and sympathize with you, that those who were blind are beginning to see, and are in better condition for the reception and appreciation of the spiritual blessing which is being prepared for you and yours by the loved ones who are gone before. i have brought my dear life companion with me this morning, who is working with me in acquiring the knowledge which will be necessary for you in the fulfillment of the mission you have been selected for to give out the knowledge of this glorious philosophy. it is the truth, for it is vouched for by the testimony of every atom, every bright world you observe in the firmament, and lastly by the spirit of the past man made perfect. you may be called fanatic, but if spiritualism is fanaticism, it is of more value to mankind than the whole circle of the sciences. we are called away now, but will come this evening. "fredrika." "dear papa, there is much joy and rejoicing among your spirit band. i am so happy that i can come to dear mamma, and have her receive me as you do. kiss her for me. the power is too far gone to write any more. "emil." on the 20th of october, 1881, between 9 and 11 a. m., at a seance with mrs. mckee, the following communication appeared on the slate: "good morning, my friend. i am here, and greet you with my love and my blessing as the one chosen by me to help me in correcting the teachings i have put forth, and which at that time were not clearly understood even by myself, consequently i failed to render myself sufficiently intelligible to be properly understood by others. now these mistakes must be rectified, and the erroneous impression replaced by the truth. i am preparing my statements, and they will be given to you in proper time through the channels we have chosen. i have chosen you as my assistant, well knowing your loyalty, steadfastness of purpose and your fearless disposition, so like what my own was, so it would be a matter of perfect indifference whether you received commendation of the people or only arouse their condemnation. it was this prominent characteristic which proved the attractive power that has drawn me to you. i ask no one to give up his principles; i simply desire to place truth before him, and let each individual reason according to the light surrounding him. surely truth can defend itself, so we will let it speak for itself. i am happy and content with my surroundings, but i come to bring to the children of my love, the people of the new church, more light, if they will only receive it. i am impressed more fully each time i revisit your earth sphere that, had i lived at the present day, my labors would have been understood and appreciated, and i should not have felt that my best efforts were but a sad failure in comparison to what i expected or desired. i am now called away, so i now leave for this time, but will be with you soon. good bye. god bless you and yours. "swedenborg." on the 27th of october, 1881, at mrs. mckee's, swedenborg gave me a short communication, both on slate and paper, and afterwards came: "good morning, my friend, swedenborg has been called away, but he has brought me to say a word and to assist in promulgating the truth. many high and elevated spirits are banding together to spread the truth. "polheim."[2] on the 3d of november, 1881, i had a seance with mrs. mckee, and after the slate had been under the bare stand for about ten minutes a tap was heard, by which sign it was taken out from under the stand, and five exceedingly beautiful, fresh flowers, giving out a delicious perfume, were on the slate, and little dew drops had made some wet spots under them. on the slate was written the following: "good morning, my friend. i bring you some flowers. let them convey to you the dearest essence of the high power to produce. they are the handiwork of god. in them we see his ever living presence. "fredrika ehrenborg." afterwards the following communication appeared: "good morning, my beloved. i am again with you, weighty with rich blessings for you and yours, and i come also with a heart overflowing with love, tenderness and gratitude, that i am permitted, through the goodness and wisdom of the most high power, to return, and through you, my trustworthy assistant, give my thoughts and ideas to the people. we love our mediums, our channels and our doorway, through which we come to love and bless. take no heed of any unkind remarks, it is only an evidence of ignorance. keep straight on, turn neither to the right nor to the left, continue to scatter seeds by the way-sides, which will furnish food for thought, and thought will lead to investigation. investigation must necessarily lead in the acknowledgment of the truth. you can not expect to convince at once--it must be the work of time--and bear in mind, no one ever yet sought to benefit mankind who was not placed under the dark ban of suspicion. as you say, nothing can be gained by denunciation. keep on. my blessing with you. "swedenborg." chapter vi. mrs. m'kee passes away and her spirit arranges her own funeral. when the seance was over, i at once took the flowers to mrs. minor's to have them arranged according to her art for preservation and now have them in all their original beauty. the 17th of november, 1881, i went to mrs. mckee for a slate-writing seance, as for some time i have been used to do every thursday morning at 9 o'clock, where i met at the door her step-father, r. j. william, who informed me that his daughter jennie had, half an hour before, passed away to the spiritual world, and invited me up on the floor above to see her body. in the death-room i found my friend, the wonderful clairvoyant and trance medium, mrs. anna rall, and jennie's mother, who found that her head was not quite cold. from the house of mourning i went to mrs. minor's for the five flowers i had received from my dear spirit friend, mrs. fredrika ehrenborg, through the medial power of mrs. mckee, the 3d of november, and which now were preserved under glass, and afterwards went to have a seance at mrs. green's, where i placed those beautiful flowers on the small stand between us. soon we heard writing on the slate and a tap, when we found on it the following communication: "good morning, dear papa. how sad for you to look upon the face this morning, not yet cold, that had afforded you so much real happiness, and pure as the flowers before you that came through her medial powers. she entered the spirit world to meet the loved ones gone before. her suffering is no more. she saw you, and i shook hands with her. she knew me, and she was all smiles. she was glad she passed away on the morning she had an engagement with you; so your heavenly influences were there to aid her spirit. she hoped for it. she will be able to communicate to you soon and tell you how she found the new life. she will write immediately, she understands it. dear papa, try to make a house not of mourning; she wants joy, she is free from suffering and able to communicate. will see her own funeral and wishes to have a real spiritualist's funeral, becoming one who has passed away in its full faith. she wants mrs. green to repeat that beautiful poem that she so much admired: 'i _still_ live' (herself). _i would like mr. green, with others, to make some consoling remarks. the song 'there is no death,' sung._ she says that every thing so far has turned out all right, and she wants every thing done according to her desire. they all know what a devotee she was in spiritualism." (here i mentioned to mrs. green that i would go back to the house of mourning and tell them of this as soon as possible, and now came.) "that is just it. she told me all and requested me to write it. she wants them to cast away the thoughts of her old body from their minds, and to think her free spirit moving through the house as of old. she wants her dear old parents not to mourn. she wants all the mediums next to her immediate family, and spiritualists, to strengthen her so she can manifest, if possible. she says these are her wishes; they can do as they please. dear papa, i have done my duty this morning for her beautiful free spirit, and happy for the honor conferred upon me as her amanuensis. we have nothing more to communicate this morning, only she wants mrs. rall, her near and dear friend, to control affairs as far as she can, as she knows her wishes and desires, and knows she will please her and do what is right. love to dear mamma; kiss her for me. "emil." "mrs. mckee says many thanks for your kindness she will be with you often. much love to all. "emil." we were present at her beautiful funeral, where jennie herself spoke through mrs. rall over her own body, and it was in truth remarked from the people that this was the most soul-uplifting funeral services they ever had witnessed. the spirit communicates with me often. chapter vii. investigations with mrs. green--remarkable dark trumpet seance at which i received a most beautiful flower from my son emil and miss mary muth. "my investigations through the excellent medium, mrs. green, commenced the 2d of september, 1881, and i received many interesting communications from my dear and near relatives, which i value very highly, but naturally would not have the same value for the general reader, and therefore i deem it best to exclude most of them and take in only writings from exalted spirits who are more generally known. the 19th of september came: "from the higher sphere of light i come to teach you the beauties of our home, and to impart to you the golden truth and make you feel its real worth. "and to my dear old friend, your wife, i wish to prove a future life, and to assist her while she remains here, and help to guide her to our heavenly sphere. "oh, the beautiful birds that sing their lay, come to bless me every day, the flowers of fragrance, sweet and rare, and heavenly music fills the air. "from your friend, "fredrika ehrenborg." the 20th of october, 1881, i was present at mrs. green's trumpet seance in the evening in company with the following persons: mr. green, the medium's husband; mr. and mrs. stebbins, a reporter from the "enquirer," who gave his name as johnson, and mr. walker. on the stand was placed three slates, one of which was my own, three trumpets, one glass of water, and my spring music-box. on the floor stood the big tin trumpet and by it laid my guitar, and not far from mr. stebbins was his fiddle. after the light was put out and the doors locked i wound up my music-box and put it on the right hand corner of the stand before me. soon after it was taken away while playing and carried around all over our heads, and some of us were touched with it. finally it came back to me and was placed in my left hand with the spirit, whose hand i touched with both my hands. i wound it up again and the spirit took it away and carried it around the same as before, but when it came back it was placed on the left hand corner of the stand, and i laid the key close by it. afterwards i played my orgamina when the spirit voices of both sexes joined in with their songs, and so they did when we sang. i intended to wind up the music-box again and felt for it on the corner, when i discovered that both the box and key were gone. soon after we heard the box playing and going over our heads as before, and the box was replaced on the corner of the stand with the key on top. all the trumpets and the guitar were moving around in the air high above our heads, the guitar was played on in time with the music, and we all were touched and stroked on different parts of our bodies with these implements. the guitar was laid in my lap, and i sang a swedish song, accompanied by the guitar, when we heard a spirit voice singing with me, and i and the others heard the words pronounced by the spirit, which i declare were the same swedish words which i sung. mrs. stebbens was clasped around her neck by her spirit daughter ida, who whispered to and patted both her and mr. stebbins. mrs. green and mrs. stebbens saw several spirit lights, and mr. walker was informed by striking and tolling on the big tin trumpet that his father in kansas would soon pass away. i felt for my music-box again, intending to wind it up, when i, to my great surprise, found a fresh, beautiful flower on top of it, and my slate was placed in my hand. soon after the seance was closed and when the room was lighted up, we found written on one slate the name of the reporter, and on my slate the following: "dear papa, we present you the flower we promised you some time ago. the passion flower. "emil and mary." it was a large, very beautiful, quite fresh flower, which i now have preserved in a glass jar with deodorized alcohol. on seeing this flower my wife's idea was that the flower had been brought from some garden, and i thought the spirits made it, which caused me, at a slate-writing seance the 24th of october, to ask which of us was right. on the slate was this answer: "mary and i, with the assistance of the medium's band, _created it_ for you and dear mamma, and you will find a dove in the center." on a close examination we found to our astonishment a small dove there. chapter viii. sure identity of my father-in-law--madam ehrenborg writes to me in swedish. on the 8th of december, 1881, i and my wife had a slate-writing seance in the forenoon, and were present in the evening at a trumpet seance with mrs. green, and as my wife received a strong convincing test through the name of her father, it is necessary before relating the facts to make a short sketch of a part of his life. he was a swedish nobleman, named otto jacob natt och dag, who, by the favor of the dethroned king gustaf adolf the fourth, was educated in the military academy, and afterwards served as officer in a rank regiment in stockholm, which the new king charles the fourteenth, johan, the former napoleon's general bernadott, looked upon with great favor. this young nobleman wrote an anonymous book about reorganizing the swedish army, in which many good and necessary reforms were proposed. this book was not intended for sale, but a few copies had been printed for his intimate friends. some of his so-called friends reported this, and mentioned his name to the king, who became enraged that a young officer should dare to have the impertinence to interfere with his business, and want to teach him, who had such a vast experience in military affairs, the consequence of which was that he was transported to serve in a common infantry regiment, far up in the northern part of the country, a long distance from his near and dear relatives. such treatment naturally made him feel bad, and he asked permission to travel in foreign countries, which he got, and went straight to baden, in germany, where he called on his former king, gustaf adolf, and was kindly received. there he republished his book in the german language, with some additions, which the swedish minister reported to the king, who then considered him a traitor, and ordered his arrest, but his swedish friends informed him of this in time, and he went to america under the name of frederick franks, which was the name of a german student, who gave him his passport, and which he afterwards adopted and used until his death. the king, charles the fourteenth, had him adjudged, unheard and absent, by a court for high treason, for daring to pay a visit to the dethroned king, and the judgment was that he should lose his place and rank in the army. many years afterwards the king regretted his harsh and unjust treatment of his faithful, patriotic and skillful officer, and pardoned him, and ordered his swedish minister at washington to inform him of it, so he could go back and enjoy all his privileges; but his former guard officer had now been for many years a republican citizen, who, with his artistic and many other talents and business capacity, had made himself independent, and he never went back. nobody here but the family knew any thing of his swedish name, and my wife said to me that she would be more fully convinced of her father's identity if he would sign himself with that name. in the slate-writing seance in the forenoon i had put my own slate, which mrs. green never touched, under the side of the stand nearest me, and on mrs. green's slate the following appeared: "put out the slate and see if any thing is on it?" i did so, and on my slate the following sentence appeared: "god bless you both is the wish of your exalted friend, "fredrika ehrenborg." among other things was the following: "now, dear papa and mamma, we have done all we can this morning. much love to you both. grandpa will be with you to-night; grandpa helleberg, mary and julia, too, emil, gustaf and charley. you will have many bright and beautiful spirits with you this evening to cheer you on your road to the beautiful spirit world. there all are in peace and happiness--emil, frances, emma, mary, julia. "emanuel swedenborg." on the evening of the 8th of december, at the above-mentioned trumpet seance were present, besides me and my wife, the following persons: mr. and mrs. stebbins, mr. and mrs. taylor, mrs. catherine remlin, mr. and mrs. green and mrs. boggs. we had spirit singing and talking, with many other remarkable manifestations. among the spirits who spoke were garfield, washington and lincoln, three ex-presidents. two slates were put on the table by mr. green before the light was put out, and i had that afternoon bought two very small silica slates, of which i gave one to my wife, who held it in her hand, and the other, in the dark, i put on the corner of the table nearest me, which nobody else knew any thing about. when the seance was over several names and messages were written on the two big slates, and on mine was the following on both sides: "my dear daughter--oh, how happy i am that i have found a way to communicate to you. i will be with you often. "o. j. n. d." on the other side appeared: "my dear daughter--according to promise i am with you. i have many things to tell you. with my heart full of love for you, "o. j. n. d." these were the initials of my wife's father's swedish name, otto jacob natt och dag, and we were highly pleased with the result. subsequently he communicated often, signing his name in full, as above. on the 23d of march, 1882, at mrs. green's, among other communications, was the following: "dear papa--all of your swedish friends are here, and intend to use their influence to-day and give you a surprise before the seance is over. all are present except swedenborg, who we expect very soon. we are not sure of success, but we intend to try. the surprise will be grandpa franks trying to communicate inside of the double slate, with your assistance holding the slate and all of your friends influence combined. madam ehrenborg withheld her message to-day to add her strength and help grandpa with his surprise to mamma and you. * * * swedenborg has come; get the slate. this is all you will get from me to-day. your loving son, "emil." we cleaned the double slate and put it under the table, where i held on to one end of it and pressed the two slates together with my hand, while mrs. green held the other end, and we both felt and heard the writing going on inside the two slates. the writing continued about ten minutes, after which a tap was heard, when i took the slate out, opened it, and in my father-in-law's handwriting found the following communication, which i had photographed and electrotyped as seen opposite: on the 23d of july, from 9 to 11 a. m., at mrs. green's, i had cheerful writings from our three sons and grand-daughter, julia muth first, and afterwards there appeared on the slate the following communication in the swedish language: "dyra goda wän c. j. helleberg! jag prsenterar dig min högaktning och evinnerlig wänskap. "fredrika ehrenborg." which, translated into english is: "dear, good friend c. j. helleberg, i present you my esteem and eternal friendship. "fredrika ehrenborg." i had it photographed, as shown. [illustration] [illustration] chapter ix. information of a spiritual marriage--the wedding and the wedding tour to the planet mars. for a long time i had regular slate-writing seances in the light and one dark trumpet seance every week at mrs. green's residence, no. 309 longworth street, and at that time were generally present the following persons: mr. and mrs. stebbins, mr. and mrs. taylor, mrs. remlin, mr. and mrs. helleberg, all of cincinnati, and mrs. bogg, from newport, ky. in these trumpet seances the spirits not only played on musical instruments, which they carried over our heads, and very often touched us with them and their hands, but talked and sung to us with or without the trumpet. the 12th of january, 1882, our son emil astonished us with the information that he was going to marry miss ida, the spirit daughter of mr. and mrs. stebbins, and that she would be his spirit wife. in a slate-writing seance, the 16th of january, he informed me that mr. swedenborg would perform the nuptial ceremony, and who also had determined the wedding to take place on washington's birthday--the 22d of february. we were also informed that the spirit, mr. henry nieman, ida's cousin, would be the groomsman, and the spiritual miss mary muth her bridesmaid, and that a bridal trip had been arranged in which many bright and exalted spirits would take part, including madam ehrenborg. mr. swedenborg would make the wedding speech on the spiritual side, and he requested mr. green to make one on this side. mr. and mrs. stebbins, my wife and i, agreed that this remarkable wedding ceremony should take place at mr. stebbins' residence at the appointed time--the 22d of february--and we concluded to ask the spirits who we should invite, and the 16th day of february, 1882, came on the slate the following names: "pa and ma stebbins, papa and mamma helleberg, mr. and mrs. green and daughter, mrs. emma muth, mrs. remlin, mr. and mrs. taylor, miss nettie williams, and mrs. keenan. "emil and ida." at a slate-writing seance, the 20th of february, came on the slate, among many other communications, the following: "the ceremonies are to begin at four, and immediately after congratulation, supper. it will take one hour, mr. swedenborg says, to show the medium the ceremony and mr. green's address. when the vision is through, then mr. green, then supper, and, after that is settled, a trumpet seance. "emil." according to this arrangement the above persons were all invited and present, except mrs. keenan and miss nettie williams, who could not come, at the afternoon and evening seances the 22d, the 150th anniversary of washington's birthday. in the afternoon we assembled at 3 o'clock p. m., and at 4 mrs. green was in full trance, and swedenborg controlled her and blessed the contracting parties, after which mr. green made a very appropriate and beautiful address. a private clairvoyant fell in a trance and described not only the clothing of the bride and bridegroom, but many other spirits present. the bride's dress was pure, sparkling white, frosted with gold dust, with long train full of the finest lace, and a very beautiful veil, frosted also, and adorned with a handsome wreath on her head of white flowers set with three beautiful diamonds on her forehead. she had also a diamond brooch and necklace, with a splendid ring on her finger, and slippers on her feet to match. our son emil had knee-breeches of royal purple, with a beautiful white toga frosted with gold, and gold tassels and a purple and gold crown set with diamonds. (at a subsequent seance emil said: "mine was mr. swedenborg's selection, ida's was madam ehrenborg's.") during the trance state of mrs. green, the spirit winnie described the dresses in the same way as the private medium already had told us. after we had had a splendid repast the requested trumpet seance was arranged, at which all were present, and had the pleasure of being spoken to by swedenborg, emil, ida, and many other spirits, and some of them patted us with their hands. madam ehrenborg and my wife's father, otto jacob natt-och-dag (frederick franks), sung swedish with me, and mrs. jennie mckee took my hand and lifted my arm up and putting it over the table so i had to rise. it was a beautiful and most satisfactory and wonderful manifestation over which we all were highly delighted. the 23d of february, 1882, came from our spirit friends the following: "good morning, dear papa, we are here yet, but will immediately after this sitting start on our bridal tour, accompanied by swedenborg and a great many exalted spirits. we expect to return by next thursday, then mr. swedenborg will give the marriage ceremonies, and we hope to have something nice to write you then. mr. swedenborg is very much pleased because he is able to speak and control mrs. green, and was very much pleased also with the way it was conducted on your side. he says altogether it was a splendid affair on both sides, and i think so too, and now i will let my wife, mrs. ida helleberg, write. your loving son, "emil helleberg." "good morning, dear papa helleberg; emil makes me blush when he says my wife. it used to be a joke, but now it is a reality, and that is quite different. when we all meet on the evergreen shores of the summerland, then we will return the compliment and have the infair at our own home, no matter how far off it may be, you shall always receive our hospitality and our love in the cottage. with my heart full of love for you and dear mamma helleberg and sister emma, and my dear pa and ma, and mrs. green's family, i bid you good morning. "ida stebbins helleberg." "good morning, mr. helleberg: i was very much delighted with the exercises of yesterday afternoon and evening. it could not have been more perfect on both sides. i was with you all the time. it was witnessed by thousands of spirits with much interest and delight. whatever mr. swedenborg, does in the spirit world causes great commotion and interest. he is in the spirit world like some of your great men here, a leader. his every word, look, and gesture, is chronicled by the spirits; therefore you may imagine the interest they manifest towards him. nettie could not and would not leave mother. she is so lonely without me, but she was here heart and soul in spirit. with my highest regards for you all, i am your friend, "jennie." "good morning, my dear friend: as the marriage of our grand-daughter to your son has united my son edwin and your family, and that event caused or rather brought us in a positive condition, and enabled us to pick up the trumpet and manifest our appreciation of that event, i thought i would write a few lines in regard to this happy marriage, and to show our very high appreciation of this medium's family, for, as ida said, it has brought sunshine to her dear pa and ma that they could not find any-where else outside the spirit communion, and express our very high appreciation of your son emil, and that we feel very proud of them both, and of our hearts full of love for edwin and his wife, and highest regards for yourself and family and mrs. green's family, we subscribe ourselves your dear spirit friends, "amariah stebbins and permelia stebbins." "good morning, my friends, mr. helleberg and mrs. green: to say i was very much delighted, or, in fact, i have not language at my command to express to you my appreciation of yesterday's proceedings, and happy of the opportunity presented that i can write to-day. winnie described me as i was. love to my dear daughter and her husband (edwin stebbins), and regard to all, "thomas kelly." "good morning, dear son: father, brother, and all of us are here to give you our congratulations and to tell you how much we love dear ida, and that she is so sweet and beautiful. we were all with you last night, and caressed you with the trumpet. it made us so happy. father can not write to-day, but will soon. with our blessings on you and all, your loving mother, "ulrica helleberg." "good morning: i must not fail to give a few words in appreciation of the marriage feast. it was splendid, and i was very much pleased with the ceremony spiritually and mortal. love to dear anna and yourself and highest regard to all. francis, emily, susan and joseph join me and send much love to all. with my prayers for you all, i bid you good bye. "fredrick franks." "now, dear papa, we are all through, and gustaf and charles join in congratulations, and asked me to write for them, and tell you that they are so much pleased with their sister-in-law. mary, henry, and little julia and clarence, and many that i have not time to mention, join us with much love for all. two souls with but a single thought, two hearts that beat as one, we bid you good bye, "emil and ida." the 2d of march came: "good morning, my dear friend. the tourists, according to promise, have not returned. i have been sent as a messenger from mr. swedenborg to report to you that their reception on the planet mars was so grand, and they are there so nicely entertained by the spirits of that planet that they have all been invited to participate in a similar feast to take place to-day, and they all send their love and best wishes to you, and hope to be with you at your next sitting. with my highest regard and well wishes for your future prosperity, i am your spirit friend, "polheim." the 6th of march the exalted swedenborg wrote on the slate: "good morning, friends: i am here to give you the marriage ceremony i promised in pantomime on the 22d ultimo. it is brief, and does not include the address and prayer given on that occasion. * * * as you have already been united in the conjugal sense by the operation of the laws of spiritual attraction and magnetic affiliation, no formal cementation or consecration is needed, but in obedience to an ancient custom, originating in spirit life in the early dawns of the physical earth-planet, and from thence projected to mortal life, i have the pleasure of pronouncing the ceremony that blends you, in obedience to the custom stated, into blissful spiritual consociation as man and wife, which i now do in presence of the invited guests here assembled. in blissful happiness you are to live in peaceful joy, to move in heavenly love to act, so shall your onward march be unobstructed, and as you advance increasing in wisdom, expanding and abounding in love, and augmenting in power until the highest angels and seraphims shall claim you for angelic companionship. now, while the choristers join in the marriage anthem, i present for your congratulations this spiritually mated couple, who i now introduce as emil gabriel helleberg and ida stebbins helleberg. "emanuel swedenborg." just as madam ehrenborg's communications were being copied for the printer, the "banner of light"--the oldest spiritual paper in existence--of date july 1, 1882, was placed in my hands, in which i find a communication from helen barnard densmore, of philadelphia, in which she says: "philadelphia has been favored recently with a course of lectures from mr. w. j. colville, which have been well attended and received with appreciation. this truly inspired speaker is doing a great work in spreading the new gospel of spiritualism wherever he is called. his discourses are of a high order, in an intellectual and literary sense, as well as of great spiritual elevation. at one of the social receptions given to him at the residence of colonel s. p. kase, he gave a very interesting discourse on the physical life and development of the planets of our solar system as compared with the earth, which was listened to with an earnest attention and evident acceptance by those present. it was taught in this discourse that worlds were brought into existence for the sole purpose of furnishing a theater for souls to express themselves in matter upon, to the end of gaining knowledge and overcoming temptations in all forms and of all kinds; that these lives make up a system of embodiments which closes with the soul's triumph over all the evils to be found in material life. "we were told that in mercury the attainment of a high degree of physical perfection was the highest ambition of its inhabitants; that that planet was in a lower state of animal, vegetable and spiritual progress than the earth, and the cultivation of the soil was their almost universal occupation; that venus was in a high state of artistic and æsthetic cultivation; that art and music were the dominant passions there, with less intellectual and spiritual development, sensuous delights every-where abounding, and the cultivation of the beautiful the highest aim of life. on the earth the demon to be overcome was declared to be intellectualism, man's intellect being here worshiped and deified at the expense of the spiritual. "on mars and jupiter is to be found a much higher state of existence, matter being dominated by the spirit to a much greater degree than on either this earth or those planets nearest the sun; that exalted spirits from those planets, especially from mars, are sent as especial embodiments to the earth, as teachers and messengers for spiritual truth. "life on the more distant planets from the sun, beyond jupiter, was declared to be of such an exalted character that there is no language understandable on earth in which to depict its glories and achievements." chapter x. description of the journey to mars, and wonderful information furnished by madam ehrenborg. "march 9, 1882. our party of tourists, after having been carefully selected in accordance with their ability to utilize the magnetic currents that connect the planets in our solar system, and their adaptability to the electric and magnetic condition of mars, whither we were bound, started on the journey at, according to your time, midnight, february 23. we proceeded without any incident of note until we reached maluka plains, where we met a party of excursionists on a visit to our planet earth. maluka plains, named after a great prophet of mars, are located many millions of miles from the circling magnetic belts of earth, and immediately adjacent to the outer circle of the electro-magnetic atmosphere of mars. we were surprised to find that these excursionists were acquainted with our guide and leader, mr. swedenborg, for he had frequently visited the most interesting points of our stellar system. he had even been at mars in spirit while he was in the body of flesh, but he finds many things quite different from what he thought he had discovered during his spiritual visits when embodied. the party we met were on a tour of scientific exploration, and gladly availed themselves of information imparted by swedenborg and polheim, and we in return were greatly aided by data and information furnished by them to us. while this conference, or rather exchange of information, was in progress a courier was dispatched by our newly-made acquaintances to the spiritual magnates of mars concerning our coming. i shall here stop and defer a description of our first reception until our next sitting. "march 13. as we entered within the magnetic radius of mars, and were emerging from the outer into the inner concentric circles, so characteristic of that planet, we met a reception committee of several thousand, and after formal greetings, we were escorted to a magnificent edifice, where were in waiting innumerable throngs of spiritual dignitaries and others to receive us. i here desire to remark that in my use of words i resort to your own vocabulary, for the thought language of the marsians is quite different from the sound of your words, and to employ their terms would only confound you and militate against your proper conception and understanding of the narrative. for instance, i use the word edifice to indicate a structure, but they use an entirely different term and form of expression, and so on _ad infinitum_. the edifice referred to i am unable to describe, and it can only be fully understood in thought. in dimensions so great that your city of cincinnati could be settled in one corner of it without attracting but very little attention. the material of which it is composed has no fitting representative on earth in its present state of development. your diamonds and precious stones are as dim and unreflecting in comparison as a cloudy, murky day of autumn is to a bright summer day with the sun at meridian and the horizon unobstructed by cloud or a single mist. this comparison may serve to give you some idea of the absorbingly intense brilliancy of the mammoth structure, yet this is of itself but as a mote in the sunbeam to what i am assured exists in the immeasurable immensity of the higher creations in the inconceivable and boundless universe of god. oh, how diminutive is this little ball of matter called earth, when we only measurably take in the vast immensity of the infinite domain of god. and poor, puny man, what a mere speck--a mere infinitisimal animalcule. as we approached this mammoth structure, it seemed to be tremulous with motion, and the motion, superinduced by such intensely penetrating, soul dazzling strains of music as to perfectly appal with ecstatic emotion our enraptured tourists. but for the preparation of us for it by the scientific spirits, who they called the ulaetta, we could not have withstood it. i will give you this process of preparation on some future occasion, and i am sure it will be interesting to you and valuable when you come over. the ceremonies of reception were performed, not in speech, but in musical opera, which, singular to state, we were enabled to understand by the preparation mentioned. when i say musical opera i do not mean singing accompanied by music, but that the music itself was intensely operatic, and infused thought by the most astonishing and utterly inexplicable process into our interior soul consciousness. it was something worth years of suffering and pain to enjoy, and in contemplating its inconceivable grandeur i return to my own sphere, feeling how little i am, and to weep for the children of earth, still in ignorance and superstition, and i lift my voice in prayerful supplication to god to rend the veil, that poor humanity may obtain even faint glimpses of the gorgeous splendors of god's great kingdom; but i seem to hear a voice answering, not yet; wait and be patient. "march 20. we observed the most singular fact connected with the edifice wherein we were received. in approaching it we were unable to penetrate into its interior with our vision. it seemed to be a solid mass of exquisitely fine material, but on gaining admission into its interior, by some peculiar power that seemed to affect our spiritual vision and perceptions, we were enabled to see through and beyond it, and to perceive objects in the far distance. in other words, the whole structure seemed to vanish so far as to permit no obstruction to our vision far beyond its limits, and yet it was thoroughly substantial, composed of finely attenuated and spiritually sublimated material. i have so much to tell you that i must forego the pleasure of indulging in details, however interesting they might be to you. "the presiding personage at our reception was a figure of tall and commanding appearance, with a benevolent face, dignified mien, and large blue eyes, that seemed constantly tremulous with love and emotion. he held in his hand a magic wand, which ever and anon he would wave, and in harmony with these movements the most enchanting sounds of music seemed to be wafted far out in the viewless spiritual ether that surrounded and enveloped us. this wonderful fact baffles the skill of mortal pen and mortal language to describe, and you must be content with what is said as the best that can be said, so as to reach your comprehension. "as i caught the eye of this great presiding spirit i perceived the idea emanating from his mind, 'i am glad to meet you,' yet not one of these words was spoken. i essayed to answer to express my thankfulness for his friendly recognition of us, and i found i could not speak audibly, but my thought he caught immediately, and bowed in acknowledgment. he had been many thousands of years before a sage and philosopher on the planet mars, and bore about the same relation to his people as mahomet, confucius, jesus, swedenborg and others of their day have in your world; and he is pre-eminent in music. all the great spirits of mars are eminent musicians. music, intellectual expansion and spiritual growth seem to be wedded, and go hand in hand together. these are wonderful relations, but nevertheless are true. "in my next i will introduce you to some of the societies and cities of the planet, to be followed from time to time by revelations that can not fail to impress you with the greatest interest, and not only be interesting and instructive, but will be of great value to you in your after life in the spheres. my clear and venerable friend, be of good cheer, and in the sweet bye and bye i will accompany you on this very tour, and then you will perceive the difficulties in the way of giving a description so as to be understood by mortals. "march 27. after the ceremonies of reception, the details of which, fully set forth, would fill a large volume, we set out under the escort of a select delegation of forty-seven in number on a tour of inspection, a few only of the incidents of which i can imperfectly touch. many things observed by us i am not at liberty to mention, for the all-sufficient reason that you would not understand them and the world is not prepared to receive them. "our first visit was to a society of literary celebrities, located in a city of marvelous beauty. for our present use we will call the place the city of learning, and the society, the society of the literati. these names are not the real ones, but serve our purpose fully as well, indeed much better. the city is located on the border of a vast expanse of water of a golden hue, and this limpid stream is a vast musical organ of sounds, whose very vibrations, as its currents flow along, disturb the surrounding atmosphere, resulting in the production of harmonies in musical intonations, not only delightfully enrapturing, but far beyond the power of portrayal in human speech. we stood upon its brink, and were enchanted by its soul-piercing melody. ever and anon the mellowed rays of the spiritual sun of our solar system would strike upon the bosom of this majestic stream, producing in their rebound such marvelous, scintillating reflections as to cause the beautiful tints of your rainbow to pale into utter insignificance in comparison. you must elaborate in your own mind these feeble touches of my pen, for i can not stop to give minute delineations, but only the idea, and you can carry it onward in your imagination without fear of overdoing the picture or exaggerating the facts. "the ladies and gentlemen composing the society of the literati of this one city are numbered by the many thousands, with vast numbers of co-operating branches in as many different localities. we are told that there exist still higher branches, which we were not spiritually fitted to visit and comprehend. we, as spirits from earth, lacked planetary development, but we have the promise in the infinite justice of god's eternal laws that in time, though very far distant, our earth, with its encircling spiritual spheres, will reach unto the gorgeous grandeur of mars. here let us pause and reflect. "march 29. herein may be found ample food for study, inspiring elements for reflection: "_first_--how almighty is god, yet puny man is wondering whether there is a god. "_second_--how grand and noble may all his children become. "_third_--how patiently does god, through inflexible and unerring law, work out such stupendous results. "_fourth_--man while in the flesh would arrogate unto himself the attributes of a god, when in truth it requires ages of effort and progress only to disclose to him that yet he is not yet an angel. but still how grand are the possibilities before man, inviting him onward. they can not be fully conceived by the finite mind, much less described. "we saw many translucent streams, whose pellucid waters were charming to behold. there is a law appertaining to all advanced spiritual intelligences that induces the profoundest meditation, the sublimest adoration, when beholding, although only partially, the infinite variety and splendors of the creation; and i must occasionally pause in my narrative to give expression to this law of my soul. "we were next conducted to a vast building, wherein was deposited the grandest library of books, and they were simply collections on scientific subjects alone. elsewhere were vast collections on other subjects not intimately connected with science--books as tangible and objective to us as the slate on which i am writing is to your touch and sight. mr. swedenborg, being naturally of a scientific turn of mind, became absorbingly interested in this department, and it was with reluctance he took his departure therefrom. he made arrangements to return to study some things to be found here and which he has not been able to find elsewhere. he is promised aid by the members of the society of the literati. "we then visited an assembly of representative men, and i am now about to tell you something that will surprise you, but it is nevertheless true. when i use the expression representative men i mean that each planet has representatives to every other planet in the solar system. i must reserve the next sitting for a description of the grand system of planetary diplomacy--envoys extraordinary or ministers plenipotentiary, as you would call them. the power is too nearly exhausted to enter upon the subject at this sitting. we notify you now that by these ministrations and recitals you are living many, many years in advance of this age of your planet. "april 3. in your solar system you only claim eight planets, exclusive of the asteroids between mars and jupiter, but the truth is there are thirteen in number; five of them have long since passed into their spiritual orbits, and consequently are not objective to your telescopes, and this state is to be the ultimate of all planets. every planet, including the earth, is continually undergoing change, that is to say, gradually passing from the gross to the more refined, and by a continually advancing series of geologic and progressive changes from the lower to the higher, from the crude to the more refined, from the material toward the spiritual, all will ultimately in time pass into spiritual conditions or orbits. but as this theme is scientific, and not directly in the line of or pertinent to my narrative, i will abandon it, at least for the present. "in my last i told you that each planet was favored with representatives from every other planet in our system, and it is from this system, spiritually originating, that you have derived your system of international representation. i do not mean that any spirit communicated this to the nations, but that in the early formation of nationalities and the commercial intercourse between nations, susceptible public men, by reason of their exceeding impressibility, got the inspiration from surrounding spiritual influences, and to a certain degree and extent carried it into execution in the establishment of ambassadorial relations between friendly governmental powers. but there is a marked difference between your nations and the spiritual worlds in the objects and purposes of such system. in the spiritual worlds representatives are deputed one to the other for an entirely different purpose from yours in sending ministers to england, france, russia, etc. your accredited agents of government abroad are simply spies to watch other countries, lest some trivial advantage may be gained against you in some minor and unimportant matter. selfishness is the law by which they are to be governed. they are expected to be, and generally are, lorded and feasted, dined and wined, all in the high-sounding names of civilization and national urbanity. ours are sent on an entirely different mission--to gather knowledge for the benefit of all. our public and representative men are not engaged in learning the rules and laws of the stock market, how to manipulate it and how to create corners in the bountiful productions vouchsafed by the infinite, nor how to secure safe investments with large and profitable margins, but to learn the laws of the planets, to the end that they may be utilized in the development and progress of their varied and numerous peoples. through whatever other planets, farther advanced than ours--have passed, we, too, must pass, and hence by our representative spirits learning of their varied progressive experiences, they are enabled to prepare for and assist in the changes that must inevitably ensue. "i can not carry my thought further than to say in addition that our solar system, as a system in its entirety, has representatives to thousands of other solar systems revolving in space, circling around their respective central suns. you perceive that the grandeur of creative glory is looming up before us in majestic proportions, far beyond our power to comprehend and portray. we look forward with great pleasure to each succeeding meeting, when we hope to continue our narrative if conditions continue to favor us. "april 6. after feasting in the examination of the library of the society of the literati i felt an intense desire to learn something in regard to the religious teachings on the planet in its past, as applied to the embodied marsians, in the curious desire to find out whether their theological and religious history bore any resemblance to ours, and if dissimilar, wherein by contrast the dissimilarity consisted. of course, in the very nature of things, this opened up a wide field of investigation, and i can only give you points condensed and with the utmost brevity, and without any attempt at elaboration. as i have already informed you, the denizens of mars do not use our language or mode of speech, and therefore i am compelled to transfer their thoughts into our language, and you must consider that much will be lost in the transmission. "the planet mars, in point of time, is much older than the earth, and consequently has passed through many more changes; these successive changes or epochs have had their respective theologies, and i was utterly surprised to learn that in some respects they resembled ours--that is to say, their earlier theology--the later and truer has no resemblance whatever to ours or any that we have had in the past. the people of mars in the dim and distant ages of the bygone have had many gods and many bibles. their older books or bibles are now treasured as simple curiosities belonging to the infancy of the race, and the wonder now is how it was possible at any period of their history that a people could be found seemingly so hopelessly ignorant as to believe them. the same fate, my friend, awaits your bibles, korans, zend-avestas, etc. but in all their speculations in religion they were never taught to believe that their remote ancestors had fallen from an imaginary state of perfection, nor that somebody else's sufferings and death were imperatively necessary to extricate them from the peril, and to reinstate them into the loving esteem and saving grace of their creator. while they had many follies in their early history, they had none like unto our own. they never believed god to be angry and revengeful nor that he would ever destroy their own or any other world by water, fire or otherwise, nor that men were made out of dust and women from ribs, nor that fish swallowed men, preserved them in good condition in their stomachs, and delivered them subsequently and in safety upon the dry land. these silly recitals of your bible will be ridiculed and laughed at some of these coming happy days." "april 10: if you could be instantaneously transferred to the planet mars just as you are in the form you could not live a moment of time. the intensely rarefied and etherealized atmospheres surrounding that planet would not maintain animal life such as yours. yet the time has been when beings more crude, dense and undeveloped have lived and figured on the stage of mar's history. the law of evolution or unceasing progression applies to all planets and in a degree of unfoldment according to the periodic duration of time of each. hence, under the operation of this inexorable law of the creation you can readily and with quick discerning eye see the ultimate destiny of all--that is to say, the utter overcoming of the crude and unrefined by the spiritual absorption of the whole, and yet this law that lifts the lower into the higher has no limit or ending. you can therefore see in the myriad ages of future time with this law, all the while actively working, how inexpressibly refined and sublimated will become spiritual beings and spiritual essences. this constitutes a grand revelation, and presents in contemplation the grand possibilities in store for man and the fittest of all things material. while the constituent elements are the same, yet in outward manifestation the atoms composing your physical bodies, and those in the form on mars, are quite dissimilar. the same elements that exist here, either as applied to the spiritual or material, are essentially the same as exist in the remotest realms of the creation. they only differ in presentation or outward manifestation, and in the degree of their development and progression. here is another theme for contemplation and study, and the fact as here disclosed ought to fill us with proud satisfaction, for the inherent elements and qualities possessed by the millions of worlds, revolving in the unexplored immensity of space and their countless myriad hosts of people, are possessed by our world and our denizens, only differing in the intensity of their action and the degree of unfoldment or approximation toward maturity--ah, a maturity that never matures. while the law of progression is infinite it deals with the finite, and as the finite can only advance toward but never become infinite, so will this mighty law of progression carry us onward and onward, upward and upward through all coming time, and yet will never cease from its labors or find repose. what a mighty destiny before and for man! "april 14. in this and my next i will tell you some things that will surprise you, but they are veritably true. i am dealing with you in verities, however absurd and preposterous they may appear to the unprogressed mind. this is said, by your people, to be a remarkable age, and in many respects it is so. you are receiving some matter far in advance of the age in which you are living, but it will be properly recognized and appreciated in the years to come. "on the planet mars jails and prison houses for the confinement and punishment of malefactors are only historic reminiscences of the past. there are now no punishments inflicted because there are no offenders to punish. "the doctrine of sacrificial atonement, with its retarding influence, was never taught to the people of that planet. they have always been taught the supreme goodness of the creator conjoined with wisdom and almighty power. god being supremely good, and supreme in the exercise of goodness, they have not for thousands of years last past entertained the slightest apprehension that any onslaught upon their peace, happiness, and future felicity, would be permitted. from this ennobling conception of god came the desire to manifest a spirit of devotion and veneration, and consequently at an earlier period of the history of mars the worship of the people was low and groveling somewhat resembling, as i am informed, the ancient idol worship of the egyptians and israelites. at the present time the two worlds--the spiritual and material--of mars are so closely allied and interblended that the spiritual forces are enabled to exercise a positively restraining influence over the conduct and actions of those still connected with the physical, so they can not, if they would, commit wrong, or perpetrate infractions upon the law of right. by reason of this high condition of development those passing out of the material form are at once intromitted into the higher conditions of the spiritual world, because they are fitted for them. all are mediums and subject absolutely to spiritual action and control. this is what your spirit world is seeking to do for you, so, if possible, to pass over and beyond some of the rough experiences of other planets, and your people do not seem to have the good sense to see it. on mars there are no murders, arsons, robberies, forgeries, slanders, and other crimes and misdeeds, for they have progressed beyond them. do you not perceive the sublimity of this condition? and will it not be a most glorious consummation when you shall have reached the same altitude of progress. "april 17. another subject of inquiry engrossed my attention, namely, marriage. i became interested to know something of the history of this people on this subject, and i found it to be an exceedingly interesting one. at this period of mars there is no such institution as marriage in the sense you regard it. it is not an exaggeration to say that a very large per cent of your marriages are brought about as the result of the most unholy motives. passion, lust, avarice, etc., are generally the impelling influences, and seldom is witnessed a union from purely spiritual causes. it is needless to say these marriages are not only temporal, ending with the death of the body, if not sooner by an unholy judicial system of divorcement, but entail a cruel blighting curse upon the race. "the history of your own planet on the subject of marriage is but feebly understood by you. enough however is known to induce all lovers of humanity to loathe and detest it as it has been practiced in the past. it is claimed that god created animate creatures in pairs, male and female, and that, as applied to man, he cemented a union of one man and one woman in the marriage relation, and that this occurred at the commencement of the creation in the garden of eden. your conspicuous bible characters, such as abraham, david, solomon, and others, have not only ignored and trampled upon virtue in its simplest and purest forms, but with the hellish gluttony of the vampire feasting on blood, they debauched innocence, prostituted virtue to their unholy lust, and thereby destroyed the holiest relation of life. their numerous wives and concubines attest this, and yet your pious christians are waging a relentless warfare upon the mormons of utah and vehemently thundering against the polygamous practices of the latter day saints. shame for christian consistency. on this subject your advanced thinkers do not discuss those eternal and enduring spiritual laws of attraction by magnetic and soul affinity upon which alone shines forth in eternal splendor the blending of soul with soul in an everlasting conjugal union. the people of mars understand and adopt these laws, or rather harmonize and abide in them, and now while embodied their marriages are for all unending future time. as the result we discover on that planet a race of people almost perfect in their mental, moral, and physical developments, requiring only time, experience, and progression, to disclose the still more wonderful proportions of their being. the union of one man and one woman under spiritual conditions is the highest type of marriage, and constitutes the paramount and supreme intention of the deity, and is the ultimatum and consummation of the law of conjugal love--all others are fleeting, dishonoring, and only evil. "april 20. your candidates for matrimony, first obtaining each other's consent, and the approval of parents or guardians, apply to the legally constituted authorities for a license or permit to enter the holy state, and when procured they repair to a priest or magistrate, who for a few shekels pronounces a few stereotyped phrases, followed by the solemn declaration pronouncing them man and wife, closing generally with the ludicrous and farcical command, 'whom god has joined together let no man put asunder.' oh, what a caricature and farce. it is bad enough to declare whom the law has joined together, and so forth, but to assume with such solemn gravity that god has joined in wedlock's sacred union many of the marriage alliances which are mere caricatures of marriage, is not only blasphemy, but the very apex of nonsense, and is the widest possible departure from truth. "if it be true that god joins them together, no power, save himself could put asunder or disunite. to assert otherwise would amount to affirming that god is the author of failures. the difference between marriages that only have their basis in consent, license, and ceremony, and that marriage which god cements when two are joined by the divine laws of soul affinity and magnetic attraction--the one is of the earth earthy, the other is from the lord through and by the operation of eternal law, and is therefore heavenly. oh, that the children of earth might learn and conform to these subtle and glorious laws for their own good and in the interest of those to come after them. "on the planet mars the people have no license system on any subject. while you on earth are wrangling about licensing the sale of intoxicating beverages, on mars they have none to license. while here you are exercised over measures of taxation to raise revenue to support the government, on mars no taxes whatever are imposed, and public affairs for the general public good are administered freely and without compensation, purely as a labor of love. the truth is that the mundane affairs of mars are more regulated, controlled, and conducted by the spiritual powers of the planet than by those in the form. the two worlds are so intimately related to each other, and are so closely brought together, that this is not only practicable but desirable and profitable. "april 21. there is on the planet mars a subterranean passage through it from pole to pole, which mr. swedenborg informs me he has thoroughly explored. there is more truth than poetry in what is known as symmes' hole as applied to your earth. when the time comes by the settlement of your as yet vast millions of uninhabited acres, and a change takes place in northern temperature and conditions, the people of that day will discover within and through the very heart center of your earth a country nearly a third as large as the exterior surface, and by that time every thing therein will be sufficiently progressed and developed to supply the wants and invite the ambition and energies of the people of that period. but this discovery, or rather the occupation of this subterranean country, is very far off in point of time, and the human race of earth will then be quite different from what it is now. they will have so changed by the lapse of time and the law of progress as to be enabled to pass into the new country by way of the north pole with ease and safety. the north pole is the true opening, and can not be reached until the fullness of time, as i have indicated. as the area of territory of mar's surface was about being densely covered by population, and apprehensions were being entertained for the future of the race, lo and behold, the new interior country was discovered and subsequently peopled. by the time it is crowded no more will be needed, for the planet by that time will have passed into its spiritual orbit and into the ocean of spiritual ether, where suffering can never come from lack of room. this will be the future history of your planet, and you will pass through the same experiences and reach the same ultimate. behold how infinitely wise all things are forearranged. just as we need by our development new limits, new appliances and new things, they are ready for our use, and are never disclosed until we are ready for and need them. "april 24. at this time those living on the planet mars do not die or pass through the change called death as you do here. they have no diseases that cause the untimely taking off of the inhabitants. disease has long since been banished. all of the procreating elements of disease residing in the materiality of the globe or the surrounding atmosphere have been by progressive development eliminated. and even before this had fully occurred the people had learned the laws of health and the process of neutralizing and rendering harmless the lurking germs that remained. you may perceive from this what a happy people they are. there are no untimely deaths on mars. children grow up to manhood and womanhood; yet there is no fixed standard of time when all die, that is, no definite and invariable period of longevity. and right here comes in a great law, now operative on mars, that the people of earth know nothing about, for it has never been communicated before, namely, children can not die there. it was never designed that they should die here. marriage being brought about, as before stated, by the grand law of magnetic attraction or spiritual affinity, and all diseases being banished and their producing causes annihilated, nothing but absolutely sound and perfect physical and mental organizations are imparted to offspring by their progenitors. you see at once the idea, for i must be brief--the children being perfect in health of body and mind by procreation, and there being no diseases to affect them after birth, death can not touch them, in fact can touch none before the time arrives, varying in point of longevity for the separation of spirit and body. none die before the full maturity of stature, and some live to be a very advanced age. after reaching complete development or stature, they pass out of and away from the material in point of time, according to the antecedent conditions of their varied being. some arrive after maturity to the estate of progressive experience in the form sooner than others, and when this period arrives, whether it be at thirty, forty, fifty or a hundred years, they pass on to their ultimate and higher state of being in the spiritual spheres. it is known when each shall pass out of the form long before the event transpires, and all due preparation is accordingly made therefor. your scientists have discovered, and rightly, too, that about every seven years the atoms and particles composing your physical organizations change and give way to new ones. but this is gradual and imperceptible. on mars, at this period of development, the changes are much more frequent, and these successive changes determine the approach of dissolution, and instead of death in an hour or a day, it goes on perceptibly and without pain or suffering for years. every change lessens the material composites of the body, and at each a nearer approach to the spiritual takes place, until finally the physical, by the gradual process of embodied sublimation or attenuation, passes away, and the spiritual becomes supreme. this culmination is equivalent to what you call death, except that there is no attending pain, no death struggle, and no physical body afterwards to take care of and lay away. the body, by successive changes, has seemingly vanished into nothingness and been absorbed in the atmosphere. "april 27. we have been expecting you to inquire of us how the people live on the planet mars, what kind of architecture in the construction of their business houses, habitations, etc.; what kind of food they eat, and with what raiment are they clothed, etc. "you will have observed from what we have heretofore made known to you that the services of four classes of professional worthies have been dispensed with, simply because the people have progressed beyond their utility, namely, lawyers, doctors, preachers and politicians. lawyers can only thrive and exist professionally in a land where conscience is not permitted to exercise its native simplicity and positive purity, and where the lower passions and propensities are largely dominant. when conscience, active, pure and simple, is allowed to manifest its functions in perfect unrestraint, and to act as the governing power in the regulation of human conduct, the presence and office of the barrister are no longer of use. lawyers flourish as a general proposition on strife and contention, bad faith and unfair dealing; and when these shall happily end, like poor cashiered cassio, their occupation will be gone. the doctors grow opulent by medication, because of the ignorance of the people with reference to the true laws of marriage, proper antenatal conditions, neglect of proper hygiene, and ignorance as to overcoming or rendering harmless the deleterious conditions, both atmospheric and from the undeveloped state of inherent nature. but when, by progressing beyond their harmful influences, or by enlightenment and healing gifts, the people shall obtain a complete mastery over them, disease shall be banished, then the avocation of the physician ends, and he will have to seek a livelihood in other pursuits. "the preacher lives in comfortable indolence because of the ignorance and superstition of the people. his office is one of hypocrisy and fraud. hypocrisy, because if he is not a fool, he knows his teachings are not true, and of fraud, because by dissembling he extorts from his parishoners a dishonorable subsistence. when the people grow sufficiently wise they will be taught by the denizens of the spirit world truth and righteousness. then the mission or office of the sacerdotal gentlemen will be closed, and they can seek employment in the many more honorable occupations. the politician, cunning and subtle, swims along smoothly upon the rolling current of the credulity of the people and his own duplicity. he prospers because you have not as yet grown into full political manhood, and he succeeds in hoodwinking you with the belief that his heart is overflowing with patriotism and anxious solicitude for the public weal. but i must leave this class--the politicians--to the tender mercies of several gentlemen who are waiting the opportunity to contribute their part to your enterprise. "april 28. the coarse food necessary for you in order to keep up the crude materiality of which your physical make-up is composed, is not needed by the denizens of mars. in the composition of your physical bodies is a representative of all the material elements in nature--iron, calcium, wood, earth, etc.--and it is easily demonstrated by microscopic inspection and chemical analysis, that in every drop of blood in the human system all these varied and numerous elements are represented. hence man may be safely considered a microcosm, or nature in her vast domain, reflected in miniature. but you still exist in the realm of the crude, and yet you are vastly more refined than in the ages past, and forward, onward, and upward is the line of march marked out for you by the infinitely wise director of all things. on the planet mars no animal food is used, because among other reasons the physical properties of the body do not require the elements of animal flesh to replace nature's wastes. thousands of former species of animals have become extinct, swallowed up in the ever surging maelstrom of progression or absorbed in the higher forms. vegetation in the planet mars is quite different, both in expression or appearance, and constituent composition from the vegetation of your planet. here the aroma residing in the vegetable and escaping therefrom, is largely absorbed and neutralized by the grossness of the vegetable itself, while on mars the grossness has become so diminished that to the senses the aroma has almost become tangibly objective, and this aroma is food strengthening and invigorating, is nearly sufficient of itself to support existence in the form without the assistance of the more substantial fibers of the parent vegetable. yet in a certain prepared form the substantial material is used. the time is not very far distant, as i am assured, when the people there will subsist on aromatic emanations from material productions, aided by magnetic, electric, and other atmospheric properties used simply by inhalation. in the water you use are to be found teeming millions of living and moving animalcules. they are enabled to live on the elements of the water in its present gross state, but on the planet mars the water has been dispossessed of its life germinating and life sustaining properties to aquatic productions, and has thus progressed with all other things and beings. no life or form of life is now brought into being there, but such higher types as are fitted to pass with the planet into spiritual conditions; and the water being so purified by nature's refining processes is as different from your ordinary water as clear, sparkling sprays projected from your fountains and dancing in the sunbeams are to the murky waters of your rivulets immediately after a violent rain-storm. i will resume this subject in my next. "may 1. on mars they have learned how to produce from the soil itself any vegetable that naturally grows therefrom. in the soil itself reside all the constituent elements of all vegetation in their infinite variety. you may thoughtlessly answer, that in order to produce any species of vegetation used for table consumption, the seed or germ must first be sown in the soil beneath the surface, but you forget that this process is but the result of civilization and art, and that originally, that is before you learned how to obtain and use seed, the products sprang of themselves and apparently spontaneously from the earth. whence did they come? and whence were their germinating and generating powers obtained? think a little deeply on the subject, and you will be led irresistibly to the correct conclusion that in the soil exists all the requisite elements in the production of vegetation by growth. the people of mars have acquired the knowledge which enables them to produce out of the soil, abstractly considered, all the essential qualities of the vegetable without waiting for the tedious process of growth. this process is purely chemical, and everybody there understands it. hence you see they do not have to buy vegetables, for all can have their essential qualities for food without cost to the consumer. long since the ownership of the soil by individuals was abandoned for the general common good, and on this subject the primitive condition of affairs in your planet prevails universally on mars--that is to say everybody owns realty, one just as much as another. this is pure unadulterated agrarianism in its highest and most perfect form. "it is often asked in your intercourse with the world of spirits: what are the employments of spirits? what are they about? what do they do? etc. it is pertinent to inquire, what are the employments of the people of mars still embodied? what do they do since we have discovered that they do not now toil for the acquisition of riches, because they have no possible use for them; no taxes to pay, no governmental machinery to support, no lawyers to annoy, no preachers to vex, torture, and maintain, no doctors to nauseate with their drugs, no politicians to hoodwink the people and feed at the public crib, no grocery bills to look after and liquidate, etc. before we answer these and many other important queries, we shall see what the people do for raiment with which to clothe themselves, and what they do for shelter, if, indeed, shelter is necessary. if we shall discover that these are free gifts from the father, then the employments of the embodied marsians becomes a question of very interesting and pressing importance. "may 4. i suspect that you already anticipate the tenor of what we have to tell you in regard to the clothing of the people of mars, what texture, how derived, etc. your keen perceptions and astute comprehension enables you to see at a glance that if this law of progression, as applied to the material, whereby the lowest forms are reached and operated upon, lifting with its strong arms into higher and still higher conditions, be true, it must be true and in regard to all material things--the soil, rock, wood, water, etc., animal and vegetable life, and as we shall have occasion to show further on, to the mundane atmosphere surrounding the planet. all things progress and advance in like and equal ratio, leaving nothing behind or unaffected by the law. this advancing march of matter from the crude and gross into the more refined and sublimated is seemingly slow, but nevertheless sure and unerringly, indiscriminate, and precise. therefore the raiment worn by the denizens of mars has reached the same altitude of refinement as all other material things. "the seasons, once resembling yours, spring, summer, autumn, and winter, have nearly merged, that is to say, have nearly blended into one perpetual season of summer loveliness. the austerity of winter, with its stormy blasts and cold, piercing wind waves has long since ceased to be; no frosts to nip and blight the fruits and flowers; no chilling autumns, with withering leaf, to inspire with melancholy and sadness. what will surprise you in this connection is, that, while the cold temperature has wrought its work in the development of the past, and is only known to have once existed by historic relation, the intense heat of summer has also disappeared. when you have severely cold winters, almost unendurable even in your temperate zones, your wise philosophers theorize that your ultimate destiny is to freeze out; that the icebergs and ice glaziers of the north are ultimately either to roll over the now fair portions of the earth, destroying all things animate, or that their freezing breath will sweep over the globe involving in death all the fair and lovely forms of nature's productions, including godlike man, the apex and crowning glory of creation. but lo! when the earth straightens up on her axis and the cold waves retreat and sink away in their northern hiding place, and the genial and vernal season with its pleasant temperature returns, these same philosophers take a breathing spell, rest awhile, and conclude that it has not been so very cold after all; and when the summer comes, if it happens to be unusual in the intensity of its heat, and the solar rays seem to almost melt into molten ruin all things, and to scorch the forest leaves and wilt the waving harvests, these same philosophical wiseacres change tactics, reverse their position, and with one heroic bound jump to a directly opposite conclusion, namely: that we are all destined ultimately to burn up and become annihilated in a general conflagration by solar heat igniting the combustible material of the planet and its surrounding atmosphere. oh, how impotent in philosophy! a simple and humble inquiry settles the question. why destroy this fair earth, daily and hourly becoming still fairer? does god do any thing without an allwise and beneficent purpose? is it possible for him to do a silly, foolish thing? he would certainly not destroy the earth unless there was thereby some noble and beneficent purpose to subserve. what grand purpose, good and wise, can be accomplished by ending the existence of a planet that has as yet scarcely begun to live? to assume that he will do such a thing, is to assume that he has become disappointed and disgusted with his own creation, which annuls his wisdom and foresight, or that he delights in folly, making a world and then destroying it because he can, or for any other silly and insufficient reason. to thus assume is to dishonor him as a god, and to invest him with the attributes of a devil. "wonderful changes do occur marking epochs, or cycles, in the history of all planets. where you live to-day, thousands upon thousands of years ago another race of human beings lived, attaining a certain degree of development in science and art, but upon the fulfillment of their mission they passed away from the face of the earth. where you now live was once swept over by old ocean, and where the deep waters and angry billows of the atlantic now roll and revel once lived a race of people called the atlantians, but their land with its embellishments of art and progressive development became submerged by the changes of the mighty waters, and now lies buried beneath its rolling deep and lashing waves. but observe in all this that the globe goes on, and succeeding developments of man and material things come forth far in advance of the former order of things. what, if in the womb of time it is reserved for atlantis to arise from her watery entombment and to flourish again with renewed and increased grandeur, involving the submersion of other portions of the earth's surface, including your own? this would not be death to any portion of the planet in any high and exalted sense, but a progressive change, a revivifying of life, a quickening and impulsion of being in the grand advancing march of development and sublimation. as we write, the theme expands and enlarges, and as the power begins to wane we find we have not discoursed minutely on the subject of raiment, and beg your indulgence for a resume of the subject in our next. "may 5. there being, at this stage of development on mars, no winter with its concomitants of winds and storm, snow and ice, you have no difficulty in apprehending that very light material only is needed to protect and render comfortable the persons of the people. material of the texture of your lightest flannel underwear would be oppressively and uncomfortably warm, and indeed insufferable. thin and quite gauzy robes composed of finely attenuated and exquisitely refined material constitute their apparel. i have told you hitherto that of the animal kingdom only the fittest have survived the marvelous successive changes in the infinite series of progressive advancements. among those now living with the ability of propagation is an animal species somewhat resembling your sheep, but so exceedingly refined as to be remarkably striking in contrast. of course, and in the very nature of things, the fleecy wool, or, rather velvety down, that grows upon this noble animal, so distinguished for innocence, æsthetic tastes in food and refinement in habits of life, is eminently suited for purposes of habilament, and accordingly is thus utilized. they are propagated in unlimited numbers, live to an advanced age, are the common property of all the people, and have within themselves the qualities of eternal being. "the forest and other trees, shrubs and flowers, have advanced under the same law of progress. very many species of the olden time disappearing--the fittest only having survived. among those now extant on the planet, is a peculiar and quite extensively cultivated species, from which is produced a fabric resembling somewhat your cotton production, with the same difference in refinement of texture as exists between your wool and that developed on mars as herein stated. this is utilized for raiment also. besides the people there have mastered the law that spirits employ in the materialization of garments at your materializing seances, only much finer, and out of the ambient atmosphere, filled as it is with sublimated atoms and emanations, they are enabled to collect and magnetize into solidified form appropriate garments for their use and comfort. when thus magnetized into objective and tangible being it partakes of and assumes a varied hue and color, according to the progressed and advanced state of the person using the garments. in other words the magnetic aura and spiritual emanations proceeding from the individual infiltrates and becomes interwoven in the delicate fibers of the new garment extracted and brought into being from the viewless air, imparting hue and coloration presenting different appearances, whereby the grade or degree of advancement of the individual wearer is made known and determined. here you inquire of the spirits to know what sphere you are fitted to enter in the spirit world, there they know by this means in advance of leaving the body. your spirits in imparting light and knowledge to you concerning their state, tell you that a spirit and its proper sphere are known by the peculiar aura, or surroundings and clothing of the individual spirit, and this is true to the letter. but on mars this law of spirit designation that belongs to the spiritual spheres of your planet, reaches out and reveals itself in the persons of the people of mars before they have actually entered upon the spiritual journey of life in the spiritual spheres. "now the additional fact is disclosed to you that by reason of this mode of obtaining raiment the avocation of the merchant is of slender dimensions, and the manufacturer's art and pursuit, except as known and practiced by all alike, are now unknown on the planet mars. "in our next we will discourse on buildings, habitations, etc. we had hoped to reach this part of the subject in this communication, but as we advance the themes and subjects broaden and expand, and we sincerely regret that the power by this process--independent slate writing--although the purest of all, will not last us at one sitting sufficiently to fully elaborate our thoughts and descriptive delineations on a given subject. it has this advantage, however, it comes directly from the materialized fingers of the spirit without the direct use of the brain of another in transmission. adieu until our next. "may 8. the same reasons assigned in our last, why very light garments only were needed for the bodily comfort and happiness of the people of mars apply with equal propriety, force, and truth, to the subject of their habitations. "your rains are produced by vapors, mists, and emanations from your oceans, rivers, lakes, etc., which by virtue of solar attraction or a reversal of the law of gravitation the vapors, mists, etc., are drawn upward in space until a certain density is reached, differing in altitudes of height, when they become congealed by the force of the cold attenuated atmosphere there into small particles called rain drops, and these are carried along by the undercurrents of uncongealed clouds until a certain electro-magnetic condition is reached, when the clouds begin to empty and rid themselves of their burdened contents. "now we have informed you of the progress the water of mars has made in being dispossessed of its gross and weighty elements; hence there are none of these to ascend and to commingle in the formation of rain drops; hence none but the purer and refined elements of the water are exhaled and drawn upward, and consequently none but the pure and refined descend. these are in themselves comparatively light and of greatly diminished gravity, and therefore mild and pleasant in their effect. especially does this become true as a resulting necessity, from the fact that there are no fierce winds or storms or cold temperature in the surrounding atmospheric belts or zones. the rains on mars are more like your gentle dews of early autumn than your rains and showers. you at once take in the situation from this and preceding statements of facts that crude material structures are not necessary, even if the material for their construction could be found, and we have seen that such is not the case, for all things, including the material in detail out of which edifices are constructed, have progressed beyond and above their crude grossness. "in some portions of mars no structures are used at all, owing to the mildness of the climate and the total absence of inclemency in the slightest degree. in other portions the beautifully developed trees, and especially those that spread out their branches near the surface of the soil, are ample for the purposes of shelter. still in others they have a sort of building which is a grand pavilion, embracing a vast area of territory, thousands of miles in extent, under the same roof or cover, which during certain periods of the year and day become luminous and transparent. the temples and gorgeous structures, cities, and magnificent edifices have been transferred in spiritual essence to the spiritual spheres, and have ceased to be as material entities, so when the planet passes into the spiritual condition outright and in toto, all that mars could ever boast of in architectural grandeur and excellence is preserved and perpetuated with additional luster and beauty from the finishing spiritual touches by the infinite master builder. and now you perceive that other questions come up right here and require recognition and treatment. among them these: do the people on mars sleep? if so, how often and how much? "may 11. why is it that you require repose in sleep? in the infinitely wise arrangement of all things there are amply satisfactory reasons for every demand, every requirement, every manifestation, and therefore there are reasons why sleep is induced and is an imperative necessity in your present and past states of existence. "when rest in sleep is long deferred from nervous derangements or other causes, your physicians administer narcotics to induce it, for they well know, as you all do, that sleep is necessary after intervals of wakefulness in order to protract your being in the form, and why? "you have voluntary and involuntary functions or organs; the voluntary only, the involuntary never, can be suspended for certain periods of time. your respiration and blood circulation are involuntary, and as long as you remain embodied in flesh will continue to perform their appropriate functions, whether you wake or sleep, for they are not subject to or influenced by the will. and it is by the unconscious operation of these that your voluntary functions when suspended in sleep are replenished and reinvigorated. you are, as at present constituted, made up corporally of gross material, which becomes wearied and exhausted by the active exercise or operation of the voluntary functions, and the nerve force will expend itself unless periodically reimbursed and replenished, and restored to its normal condition by the intervention and recuperative power of sleep. when in the ages to come your people lose this grossness in their material composition, your inclination to sleep and the necessity for it will abate and become lessened correspondingly to your successive stages of advancement in progressive development. "thus is revealed to you the fact that on mars, at this time, the inhabitants have but very little need of sleep. they sleep, but in a modified sense as to periods, duration and manner. they rest when fatigued, and for brief periods pass into a state of languor or stupidity, to some extent analogous to your sleeping state, which is never required oftener than once a week, and then only for a few hours. "your spirit friends will tell you that they never sleep, but rest, and ever keep in mind that the people of mars are closely approximating the spiritual. then, again, on mars they do not have night as you do, and consequently not the same nocturnal influences to suggest and invite sleep. this suggests another subject germane to our line of thought. in nature you find always two extremes, that seem to stand in antipodal relations to each other. let us give a few instances in illustration: you have day and night, cold and heat, male and female, fire and water, good and evil, etc. some of these seem to be at fierce war with each other, and yet what a delusion! this seeming antagonism is but the working of a law that shall eventuate in the production of the completest harmony. undeveloped people, ignorant of the jewel-crowned truths, as yet concealed from them in the grand arcana of nature and the progressive sciences, laugh and sneer at the idea of marriages in spirit life, when the unvarnished truth is that man, considered in his independent and separate sexual relation, is but a half man, and can not become rounded out into fully developed manhood until consociated in conjunctive union with the opposite sex--not indeed and truly until the man and woman become twain, one flesh, or, in better phraseology, spiritually unitized. "the day and night will continue until finally and by gradual processes the night is banished, and vanishes in the splendor of a continuously refulgent and sunlit atmosphere. on mars this condition is almost reached, and the night there resembles the shadings thrown over the earth when a cloud passes over the face of your moon at hightide, and ultimately even this shall be no more, for in the spiritual spheres of mars, as in your exalted ones, there are no shadows to obscure or mar the radiant light of the spiritual sun, and mars itself is fast approaching this sublime condition. we must withhold what we have to say in regard to the seeming strife between good and evil for our next. "may 12. the people of christendom have had it rung in their ears for nearly two thousand years that man is essentially bad, unutterably wicked, unspeakably depraved, and, worst of all, this horrid state comes to him, not of his own creating, but by inevitable and unavoidable inheritance. in our ignorance and credulity how we have wept over the weakness and folly of our first parents in yielding to the flattery and persuasive eloquence of the cruel serpent in the pure and primitive bowers of eden. our tears have flown and flown, with no gentle, soothing hand to touch our eyes and bid them cease; no voice panoplied with authority to speak to; no words of hope and cheer. we have been told in answer to our anxious entreaties for blissful hope and loving counsel that there is a superabundance of evil in us, and a trifling, insignificant quantity of good, and that nothing short of a miracle of regeneration can save us from unutterable and unending misery in the life to come; that without this miraculous interposition of divine grace, the little good that is in us will be swallowed up and devoured by the appalling evil of our sinfully inherited natures. oh, man, how you degrade your true nobility, your godlike and divine nobility, by bowing the knee to this hideous monster of falsehood, and by kneeling at this unholy shrine. in direct opposition to this abominable and degrading doctrine stands the truth in its pristine and noble beauty. "according to this christian doctrine we behold in man a combination of good and evil, and in the struggle for the mastery the evil is to be mightier than the good. the good emanating from and partaking of the majestic excellence of the eternal, infinite god must, alas, succumb to and be overthrown by evil, its unholy rival. can man conceive of a scheme more degrading and heartless, and more completely dishonoring to god and his infinite perfections of wisdom, goodness and power--a doctrine more utterly subversive of moral goodness, deific excellence, and that more completely wrecks the moral government of god and dumps into one common funeral heap the hopes and happiness of the human race. no, no, this is not true; it is false, false, basely false. "what is the true theory of good and evil? man, oh, man, hearken to the voice of truth, and be wooed and won by its gentle entreaties. let the scales of ignorance and superstition fall from your eyes. look upward for truth, and be baptized in its beauteous light, and cleansed in its pure and holy waters. evil is the assemblage of elements in the concrete, if i may be permitted so to speak, and is simply undeveloped good, or good in a lesser degree. evil is evanescent and transitory, good is permanent and eternally enduring. the fittest of all things in the grand scheme of progression only survive, while all else is doomed to perish. the good and the true are as enduring and everlasting as the eternal god himself, while the evil and the false are fleeting, unenduring, and carry within themselves the insatiate and unappeasable elements of ultimate annihilation. be assured of this, for no truth in god's illimitable universe has been more firmly established on a more indestructible foundation. good day. "may 15. astronomers will tell you that in their observations through the telescope the planet mars presents a red brilliancy not observably characteristic of the other planets in your solar system, which they are unable to account for. considering the vastness of the subject, the immense distance in space where the scintillating orbs are chanting their silent songs of praise to god, the difficulties in the way of observation, etc., the discoveries in the domain of astronomy have been fully as remarkable, important, and satisfactory, as in any other field of scientific investigation. but still only a very little compared with the immensity of the subject has been disclosed and some of that mixed and interlarded with error. astronomy will become the greatest of all sciences when by new apparatus and new appliances the spiritual spheres belonging to the various planets shall have been discovered. this success will be achieved in the coming time. on mars the people have mastered this problem, and i was surprised to learn that they knew all about our spiritual spheres from their far distant standpoint of observation, and that they knew minutely all the characteristic and inherent qualities of your planetary atmosphere. they have long since invented instruments by which they are enabled to photograph in minute detail and perfect fidelity of representation every material object on the earth. and you will be surprised when i tell you that i inspected stockholm, london, paris, new york, your own queen city, cincinnati, etc., in a more perfect form of presentation than your artists can reproduce on canvas with pencil and brush, and at the same time i was standing in spirit in the immeasurable immensity of space on the planet mars. i can not give you even in outline, much less in detail, the modus operandi of this achievement, and will only say that the rays of light in reflective power will yet dawn upon your scientists and philosophers as the agent of discoveries and accomplishments not now even dreamed of by the people of earth. i want to add right here a prophetic statement, which you may carefully note, that the time is not so very far distant when your inspired inventors will devise and construct an instrument that will disclose to the human material eye, to the astonishment of the world, your own spirit land; for let it be well understood that your spirit world has a real, tangible, objective existence, that will yet yield its rich treasures in scientific revealments for the enlightenment and progress of your race. in very truth the spirit world is the only real and permanent one, constructed by the infinite master builder for all eternal time, while your physical and material, except their spiritual essences, are but the shadows and temporary projections from the spiritual. logically and metaphysically speaking, the spirit world is the pre-eminent cause of your world, the mere transitory effect. this being true, your keen sense hastens you at once to the conclusion, founded in reason and truth, that an effect can not be greater or more enduring than the cause that produced it, but must of necessity and in the very nature of things be infinitely less. "may 18. a people so pre-eminently advanced in all that appertains to the sublimation of their being, and all that surrounds them, and in which they come in contact, must necessarily be exceedingly refined and æsthetic in their mannerisms, habits of life, intercourse with each other, and in their vocations and employments. in the very nature of things it could not be otherwise. from what has been heretofore said relating to the highly favored and inestimably progressed denizens of mars, it is not difficult to see that their pursuits must necessarily and almost entirely relate to the realm of the intellectual and spiritual, as they have passed beyond the requirements and demands of that which pertains to the material phase of existence. physical wants require physical exertion to supply them. material requirements necessitate attention to and labor in the domain of the material, and this, for obvious reasons, that need not be stated or discussed. it may be prudent, however, to premise that when the physical constitution requires substantially gross materials to keep up and maintain the corporealities of our nature, we must look to the productions of the farm and the fruitage of the forest, and also to animal food, which are always in quality and degree in exact correspondence to our status or state of progression. but when we lose the constituent elements of corporeal being that belong to the lower strata of the constitution of things, we require something more refined and sublimated, and lo, always it is at hand to meet the exigency, for let it ever be borne in mind that the law that is incessantly and without intermission working away in solving the great problem of life and being, moving upward from the lower to the higher, is not confined in its operations to only form or species of being, but applies to and operates upon all, whether rational or irrational, animate or inanimate, and pushes all forward and upward with perfect and precise equability and in exact and equally proportional degree, none advancing more rapidly than the rest and none lagging behind. thus, you perceive the infinite order and the beautiful symmetry of the great law of evolution and progression. herein is necessitated varied changes in the value and character of vocation and employments, suited to the continued mutations of things in the endless series of progressive changes. "at one period in the history of mars the art of photography was discovered. of course it attracted great attention and challenged admiration. it was regarded not only as wonderful but marvelous. the discoverer was almost deified, for he was thought to be endowed with something of the divine nature not discoverable in others, until the art advanced step by step, improvement on improvement, when the divinity with which the discoverer had been invested by the admiring multitudes dwindled into insignificance, and the very sensible conclusion reached that he was merely highly gifted and spiritually inspired, but altogether human still. compare the primitive system of photography, limited as it was, to objects of immediate presence to that now existing, whereby worlds and systems of worlds are made tributary to its discoveries and achievements. now, instead of the wonders of the art inspiring hero worship of the men engaged in its studies and who produce the wondrous results, a feeling of awe and veneration for the continually increasing wonders of the creation is inspired. the admiration is justly transferred from man to the creator and the stupendous majesty of his laws and works. on mars photography is now and has been for a long time a favorite and delightful employment pursued by the many, for all have the advantages of it. therefore the study, not only of their own world, but numerous others, constitutes a pleasant, instructive, and intellectually remunerative employment. nor is this confined and limited to material worlds, but reaches out and embraces the spiritual spheres of each. "again, take the science of chemistry. it once only dealt with material solids, but now on mars it has reached a higher plane or sphere, and the sublimated substances, still possessed of modified degrees of matter, likewise atmospheric and spiritual substances, come within the purview and yield obedience to its powerful processes of analysis. this is still and ever will be an instructive and profitable field for those aspiring minds of the marsians bent on the acquisition of knowledge and the understanding of the infinitely varied and universal laws by which all nature and the universe are governed and controlled. "may 22. on mars the people are divided up into a very great many societies. the membership of these societies is not a matter of choice and volition. here you have degrees of social society, and you say there are three grades--the lower, middle and upper. this is so in the deceptive seeming, but in fact you have many more, but you do not understand the subtle laws governing in their formation and diversity. you also have secret societies, into which you require the consent of a certain number to gain admission, while at the same time a certain other number may object. certain arbitrary votes in number control the question of application, and by them your admission or rejection is determined. in your social society quite a different rule or policy prevails. in a certain grade or stratum true merit and worth are not considered of any moment, but wealth and pecuniary par excellence constitute the law of attraction. in other words, and what ought to burn your cheeks with shame, it matters not how morally depraved or utterly abandoned to all real intrinsic worth of manhood or womanhood, a large supply of the world's fleeting possessions constitutes the real standard of respectability, and the sure passport into the higher walks of social life. on mars they have long since passed beyond and above this purely human, unspiritual and unholy rule. there they are known and estimated as they really are, for they can not disguise their moral and spiritual status; it is read in the look, the walk, the thought-words, and most potently in the aura emitted, permeating and coloring the very garments worn, thereby disclosing by shades of color the moral, mental and spiritual degree of advancement. you have an old adage, which contains a very great truth, namely: 'birds of a feather will flock together,' 'like draws like.' under the operation of an immutable law of attraction and repulsion the societies of mars are formed, and this law, so utterly disregarded by embodied man on the earth, applies to and is operative in the spiritual spheres of all the innumerable worlds of the vast, illimitable universe of god. and this law of attraction and repulsion is indiscriminate and recognizes no distinction on account of wealth, social standing or prominence among men. it deals with spiritual laws and spiritual truths and spiritual things. there being different societies on mars, formed and governed by this great and inexorable law of selection or attraction and repulsion, you see readily that their employments must of necessity and in some regards be quite different. "may 29. we have endeavored to keep before you, at the risk of being censured for occasional reiteration and repetition, the great primary and fundamental fact that all things under the divine arrangement advance in the ascending scale of infinite and unending progression by regular and gradual series, and in equal ratio; but you must note an important fact in this connection, namely, that all do not at the same time reach the same degree of unfoldment--some a little in advance of others, and so on. the question necessarily arises, why is this so? we only desire to say in answer at this time that all do not start out on their career of animate being at precisely the same time or under the same conditions, nor with the same or equal antenatal advantages. this carries us back behind our mere entrance into physical life, through and by the laws of human physical procreation, into a domain as yet unexplored, except feebly, by mortal man. it seems to me if men could only perceive and understand the grand sublimity and variety of their antecedent being, they would no longer be blinded to the future greatness and glory in store for them. this subject, if you ever enter upon it, you will find prolific of vast knowledge, immense and perfectly astounding revelations. but the time has not yet arrived for them. the people on mars, like your own, not starting out on life's eventful and momentous journey with the same or equal advantages, have necessarily attained unto different degrees of progressive unfoldment, and by reason of this are their different and somewhat differing societies formed. in the same circle, order or stratum of society on earth, the good, the bad and the indifferent associate and seem to harmoniously blend and assimilate. but this is not true in fact. the degree of perfection attained in moral and spiritual excellence does not govern in their formation, and they are therefore incongruous, unsatisfactory and transitory. on mars two unequals in progression can not harmonize, for the law rebels, interposes insurmountable barriers, and will not allow it. those only are associated who harmonize and resemble each other, not in the accumulations of wealth, not in stature, not in facial expressions or outward physical conformation, but those who are drawn together by a sort of soul kinship, of absolute union of soul feeling, sympathetic inclinations and aspirations, having for their basis, as of prime and first importance, an equal degree of spiritual unfoldment. thus divided and separated, there are very many different societies or orders, each differing in development, inclinations and aspirations, they inevitably have dissimilar pursuits and employments, suited to tastes, wants and abilities, but all conspiring for the general good of all. "june 1. the people of mars are not so large in stature as on your earth, nor are they as large as at former periods of their history. the process of progression in casting off the gross, and also by affecting the laws of propagation, has materially reduced the present inhabitants in their physical proportions. their feet, except in the lower order, are either not shod at all, or are covered by a very light and refined material substance. the nearer the spiritual the people become the less they are affected by grosser atmospheric elements, and this is directly the opposite of your experience. here the coarser the material make-up the better can the severer conditions of your temperature be borne, and the reason is plain. "here some are progressed, physically speaking, in advance of the progress of the elements, and therefore they are detrimentally affected and influenced by them, whereas on mars a regular advance in development has been reached, and all things now smoothly and evenly pass under the operations of the law. after awhile the same law will commence to thus orderly and regularly operate with you when this difficulty will be happily overcome. the grandest achievement made by progression on mars has produced the greatest result in the formation of the heads of the people. phrenology here on earth is but feebly and imperfectly understood, although there is in it a grand and most salutary scientific truth. here, however, as yet, you have the angular and uneven formation of the cranium, with its attendant angularity of temperament and disposition. on mars the heads are so exquisitely formed and so harmonious in the external, and so perfectly symmetrical, that you observe and note it at first glance, and following this high and beautiful development is discovered a degree of wisdom and learning perfectly astonishing to a visitor from a foreign, though neighboring planet. the hair on these magnificent heads is of a fiber and texture resembling your finest silk, and from under a beautifully arched brow you behold a mild yet brilliant eye, beaming with intelligence and affection, and they can convey thoughts and ideas without the use of words or the intervention of audible sound. "june 5. hundreds, yea, thousands of years ago, the development of mind on the planet mars was extraordinary, and you can conceive what it must be now. many causes, of course, conspired and aided in bringing about this result. the natural process of development would have ultimately accomplished it unassisted by other agencies, but a wise and humane governmental system was adopted, originating in the spirit world, which constituted a complete innovation upon and revolution in previous systems, and which gave a marked impetus to the growth and advancement of mind, and which produced also a wonderful improvement in the physical constitutions of succeeding generations. that system consisted of a legislative policy of the controlling government, rigidly and unexceptionally enforced, which provided that all children born into physical life should be given up and relinquished to the control and direction of the government, and by the government reared, educated, and prepared for the duties and requirements of life. elaborate buildings, elaborately and artistically embellished and beautified were constructed at proper and convenient locations, where at a certain period of gestation, very early indeed, the expectant mother was taken and kept until a certain and proper time after parturition, when the mother was discharged and restored to freedom, and the new-born babe was taken charge of, raised and maintained by the fostering care of the government. between the period of conception and parturition, the mother was continually kept under the most elevating influences, both of body and mind. her soul was kept enraptured by the ennobling influences of music, and such music, of which you as yet have no conception. this produced in the mother the desired condition of harmony, which had a corresponding effect upon the little one concealed from mortal view. twice or thrice a week lecturers, under the pay and patronage of the government, visited these asylums and discoursed to the inmates on scientific, literary, and moral subjects. "june 8. these discourses were not only designed but efficacious in directing the minds and hearts of the auditors into the most elevating and progressively intellectual channels, and left their inevitable and unfailing impress upon the forthcoming offspring. in addition works of art, rare paintings, and exhibitions of sculpture were at certain times presented for inspection, study, and reflection, inspiring noble thoughts of the sublime and beautiful. artists of superior attainments and national renown occasionally visited these places and gave exhibitions of their skill in transferring to canvas, in an impromptu manner, their loftiest conceptions of the beautiful in landscapes, scenes, etc., which were of the rarest beauty of design. books treating of the noblest subjects were placed within ready reach and convenient access, and the inmates read them with avidity and delight. they understood that they were thus preparing the new generations, as yet unushered into life, to take their places, and that their success largely depended on the assiduity with which they availed themselves of their opportunities. the government, as before stated, took charge of the young and trained and educated them in art, music, and the sciences, and the result was soon manifest in producing a race of intellectual giants, and distinguished for their ability in the arts and sciences, and the benevolence or their religious natures. and to-day you can not find a man or woman of adult age who is not perfectly versed in all the higher branches of learning, and eminently proficient in music. if a thousand of them could be bodily transferred to america, and with her exceptional advantages, and live, they would soon, by the sheer force of intellect, rule this world, and lift it morally and intellectually upon a plane that would dazzle you to behold. and yet, my dear friend, it is laid up in the womb of time that you of earth shall reach this sublime height. "the denizens of earth may wonder at and disbelieve these relations, but nevertheless they are as true as that the eternal god is truth. they point to the destiny in store for the future inhabitants of earth, and intimate to poor disheartened mortals the certainty and greatness of the future, in which they are to figure in no mean way nor act no inconsequential part. "july 10. on mars the doctrine of discrimination on the score of sex was never taught, but the equality of the sexes has always been recognized. this indiscrimination has always been operative in employments and in the choosing of persons to fill official station at a period of their history when officers were paid out of the public exchequer for their services. of course, at this time when office is administered without compensation the rule remains undisturbed. your troubles, that is, many of them, in the present and past have arisen either from a misunderstanding of the truth or a misapplication of it and its requirements. can it be rationally maintained that truth and justice require a discrimination to be made adverse to the female? if so, there must be ample reasons for it, and what are they? we are told that, comparatively speaking, woman is the weaker. is this true? and if so, pray tell wherein? you answer physically, and thus you would establish her status in all other regards, by the rule of mere brute force, powers of endurance, and physical capabilities. do you not know that the ox and the horse, for precisely the same reason, can largely discount you? do you not realize that by this argument you are appealing to the lowest element of your nature, that which only distinguishes you as connected with matter, and which as we have already seen, is transitory and fleeting? pray lift the subject upon a higher and nobler plane and then let us have your arguments and reasoning. is man superior to woman morally? now, if you are honest, you must blush. in morals, man superior to woman! we all know this is not true. and do morals count for naught in the scale of being? in what pertains to the finer sensibilities and spiritual pureties is woman inferior? if not, are these of no moment compared with mere physical brute force? do women survive death as men do; if so, which will be of greatest value in the beautiful hereafter--brute force and physical prowess, which only have existence in the lower realms of the spiritual world, or those finer spiritual qualities possessed by woman in a much higher degree than by man as they manifest in embodied life, and which belong to the higher spiritual sphere of being in the other life? "beware, oh man, how you treat angelic woman, for the future will teach you many lessons, brought about by your arbitrary and utterly indefensible assumptions and arrogations, among which will be classed your illiberal and unjust treatment of woman. she is your equal, and your great weakness is in withholding it from her. "july 13. in giving briefly and very imperfectly a sketch of what i saw and learned on the planet mars i have been compelled necessarily to omit many things, among other reasons, because they would not only be not believed, but in many instances incite unfavorable comments, if not absolute ridicule. i am not unconscious of the fact that many things contained in the foregoing narrative, although literally true, will meet with unfavorable criticism, but i have not been writing to please or to avoid censure, but to deliver the truth, much of which i am aware is far in advance of the age in which you now live on the planet earth. but it has been thought that a little work of this kind would be kindly received and amiably treated by at least progressed minds--those who had inspirationally and intuitively drank at the fountain of spiritual wisdom and spiritual things; and, as to others, it was hoped it might cause them to think it possible, if not probable, that man is something more than a mere fleeting bauble, a mere creature of a moment. "to awaken in man the consciousness of the augustness of his being, and the mighty destiny before and awaiting its development, can not fail in this transition period, when you are passing from old theological theories and religious systems into something better, higher, holier, to subserve great and lasting good. in this transition process the great effort is to be made to direct the great body of advancing minds into the right channels, for in many cases the tendency is found to be toward the cold barrenness of materialism. "the question that is to confront you in the future is not in regard to creeds and dogmas, for they are passing away, but whether these few fleeting years of physically embodied life is the all of your being, whether death is the setting forever of the bright star of our being in the night and gloom of ended existence, or whether there is for man a glorious life of endless progress beyond the life and transitory scenes of physical embodiment. "july 14. with this my labors for the present end. the effort has been more irksome than you may conceive. the difficulties attending the act of communicating are more numerous and troublesome than the world would allow if they were fully explained. but we have done the best we could. "to you, mr. helleberg, i return my thanks and the thanks of those co-operating with me, for the patience, earnestness and honesty which have characterized your association with us in this work. our blessings rest upon you, and be assured that your greatest reward will be in the happy land which your aged footsteps are nearing. we shall shield and bless you here, and crown you in the land of immortal beatitudes. "we would be ungrateful beyond measure not to speak in acknowledgment of the virtues and noble qualities of the medium, through whose superbly developed medial powers we have been enabled to speak to the world. in consequence of our frequent contact with her noble and pure soul our first admiration for her has grown into the deepest, truest and holiest affection. heaven bless her in all her ways and walks. her noble band of spirits, tireless, indefatigable and upright, have rendered us vast assistance, without which we could not have succeeded in the slightest degree. they are capable, true and honest, and able to guard and protect their instrument, before whom is a great future career of usefulness, and she may confidently trust them in all things. "to those who may read my feeble lines i bespeak that charity you would like extended to you. judge not harshly, but with generous impulse. you are in the realm of crude materiality, in the tenement of flesh, influenced more or less by many disadvantageous surroundings, which are not spiritually inspiring or elevating, but by and by you will survive and pass beyond them. let me entreat you to study and learn of the great law of progression, which we have constantly endeavored to keep before you. in that law and its manifold manifestations reside all wisdom, love and truth. it is that law that assures your future greatness and happiness, and will work out for you a destiny, the grandeur and glory of which you can but faintly comprehend and know. you can not die. you must live forever. you can not retrace your steps, nor recede in the development of your being; neither can you stand still. therefore you must move forward, onward and upward, forever and forever. "fredrika ehrenborg." chapter xi. communications from emanuel swedenborg. the following communications, purporting to come from the spirit of emanuel swedenborg, at mrs. green's, are arranged in the order of their reception: september 26, 1881: "i greet you; good morning. you hail from dear old sweden, my native land. the same native blood that coursed through my veins flows through yours. for a long time i have realized that your thoughts have been on me and the doctrines i taught on earth, some of which i would gladly recant. in my day nothing else could have been projected through my brain, and nothing less violent, though more truthful, would have engaged attention or commanded respect. my writings, as i now see them, were a strange commingling of truth and error, though i believe with truth largely predominant. i want the world, especially my followers, the disciples of the church of new jerusalem, to eliminate, in the interest of truth, the errors and crudities that unwittingly, though reverentially, crept into my theological writings. the hells as i portrayed them i now know were magnified into undue and absurd proportions, colored and distorted by my own preconceived notions, and, moreover, largely attributable to the religious temper and theologic thought of the time in which i wrote. tell your good companion and others of like convictions to discard at once and fearlessly my unwarranted denunciation against holding intercourse with the inhabitants of the spiritual world. i misapprehended, and, alas, misinterpreted the holy visions given me. i was allowed to see prophetically that the two worlds would be brought into close communicating relations, and i ought to have seen farther--that it would occur through and by the permission and co-operative agency of god and his laws, and ought not therefore to be interdicted. this has given me vast annoyance, and i am very solicitous indeed that this shall be righted. hold fast to this spiritualism, for therein only can be found light and love and wisdom. my power to maintain control is weakening, and i must close for the present. i will meet you here again. good bye. "emanuel swedenborg." october 3, 1881 "in my communication a week ago i referred, not incidentally, but purposely, to my followers of the church of the new jerusalem. it is gratifying to me to know that they are in the main honest, faithful and intelligent people; but i regret that they have deemed it proper to resolve themselves into an exclusive sect; for, disguise it as you may, all sects are more or less exclusive. among the many curses that afflict your mortal humanity, none are to be more deplored than sectarianism and dogmatic theology. do you know that in the most ambitious moments of my earthly career, much less in the lofty moods of my medial inspiration, i never dreamed that i was to become the founder of a religious sect, especially one based on dogmatic formulas. the affirmations of material science now no longer questioned that in all organized structures reside the underlying, all-pervading and continually operating elements. disintegration, decay and ultimate destruction of the organized form apply with equal and unerring certainty to ecclesiastical bodies. modern spiritualism in this, that it is specifically and rigidly scientific, clustering beauteously around the family hearthstone, adorning and hallowing the family altar, may be distinguished by its infinite superiority to all other systems, it having no creed to establish, and steadfastly repelling all attempts at organization, is destined to survive the wreck and demolition of all theological teaching standing in antagonistic relations to it; and this god-given, heaven-inspiring humanity, embracing soul-uplifting spiritualism, is to become the universal religion of mankind. i will continue to administer to your wants and remove the scales from the eyes of the people, especially my followers. more anon. "emanuel swedenborg." on october 17, 1881, the following communication appeared on the slate: "the blessings of the most high god and the benediction of his holy angels and spirits on you and yours. what i most desire to say to you to-day is that since our last interview here i have participated with others in a discussion relative to a recent scientific discovery in the spirit world which, when imparted to the world of embodied man, will strike the learned savants of your life with mingled feelings of awe and consternation. our recent experiments were exceedingly satisfactory, and the questions that remain open are, when, to who and through whom shall it be given to the children of earth. the general expression of our society favored some time towards the close of the coming year as best adapted. in this view i concurred, for many reasons. my revered friend, let me say to you to-day, with great and positive emphasis, that the year 1882, earth time, will be the most marvelous year of the world's history, and will be characterized by the most stupendous events in all the circling centuries of past time. in that year and the succeeding one astounding spiritual revelations will be made to the denizens of this earth, utterly upsetting old, effete theological doctrines, and mercilessly demolishing now considered well established scientific conclusions, and your scientists' tests, self-complacent and arrogant in their pretensions, and possessed most fully of the spirit of vaulted ambition, the creation of their self-conceit, will awake to the consciousness that they have been mere pigmies in scientific research, and that on many subjects may have been so superficial as not to penetrate beyond the mere shadows and surface of things. i promise you that when the proper time arrives for this disclosure you shall not be overlooked or neglected. bound to you in fraternal relation of a common brotherhood, embracing in grand reciprocation the inhabitants of both the mundane and supermundane worlds, i am yours, devoted for the truth, "emanuel swedenborg." june 12, 1882 "if we concede for the sake of argument that there really exists a literal hell, as depicted by theological teaching, and which constitutes an article of faith in most of the christian sects, we are forced to inquire (and it is a legitimate subject of inquiry from the assumed premises), was hell made for man, or man for hell? and this involves the question of duration of existence in point of time antecedent. whichever way we determine, and our determination of the question from a terrestrial standpoint can only arise from speculation and conjecture, and not from proofs, one conclusion we can not escape, namely, the malevolence of the author. if hell was established prior to the time when the _fiat_ went forth bringing man into being, and was designed for his abode and accommodation, we can not reconcile the goodness of the lord with such utterly unjust and malevolent purpose, because to concede this much admits the possession of sufficiency of power to have ordered otherwise, which precludes impotency and concludes the will and purpose to so order and arrange. "if the creation of hell and man as arbitrary acts of the deity was coeval, then the same conclusion inevitably follows, before and behind the act of these creations resided in the lord the power to have differently ordered; hence we must assume that the simultaneous creation of hell and man was predetermined, and in accordance with the will-pleasure and purpose of the creator. "if, furthermore, man was first created without any reference to hell or any preconceived purpose or expectancy to establish it, and that its creation was necessitated from man's unexpected disobedience, and as the only proper means of gratifying the vengeance of an insulted god, then we unwittingly and in a very silly way declare the absence of foreknowledge in the lord, and degrade him to the level of a puny, passionate man. "to assume any of these puerile positions to be true is to assume that the lord, however august in power, and the physical, mental and spiritual ability to order and to direct, is nevertheless a moral weakling, and wholly devoid of moral excellence in degree superior to the meanest of his creatures." june 15, 1882: "if hell exists, it is plain to be seen there was a necessity for it. if created before man, there was no necessity for its existence, for the lord is governed by the idea of uses, and there was present no use for it. will it be maintained that the lord would create any thing without a use and wise purpose? it is the uses of things that so signally distinguish his creative and moral governments. "if it is said in reply that when hell was fashioned and established the lord had in contemplation the creation of man, and that it was to be subsequently rendered useful as a place of punishment for disobedience, which implies that the lord knew in advance of man's creation that he would be disobedient, then, oh, man, you are surely in the hands and under the power of a merciless demon, falsely called god. if this indeed is the true character of our lord, then truly may his weak and helpless children bow their heads in sorrow and despair. "these teachers of false theology, these false interpreters of simple truth, these false prophets of a false conception, affirm that this appalling hell, offspring of a monster creative agency, is a fixed location somewhere, which they have the candor to say, they know not. "the theologians perceiving throughout the vast domain of universal nature two confronting opposites or extremes, and that there scheme must fall if hell were left alone to be the final destiny of the entire human family, erect another falsity and construct another place or harbor for the sojourners and pilgrims of earth, and consequently they say that the lord has established somewhere in space a heaven, the location of which, although a locality, can not be ascertained. "the same questions, with equal propriety, might be propounded in reference to heaven and the same conclusions follow. was it made for man or man for it? was it made before or after man was made? where is it situate; who go there and why do they go there, and for what purpose? if the theologians answer these pertinent questions in harmony with their creeds, they would make my friend john calvin, who accompanied me here this morning and is now standing by my side, blush with shame. he now, as a noble spirit, pities the ignorance and credulity that characterized him in his religious frenzy when in the form, and the credulity and weakness of his followers." june 19, 1882: "the original conception of a literal local heaven and hell was a feeble monstrosity and far exceeding the intuitions and anticipations of its originators, it has assumed huge and alarming proportions. originally it was treated either as a human created joke, or as a wild vagary of the imagination, and in both cases without even the shadow of a foundation in fact. but as time moved along it began to grow seriously in the minds of the morbidly curious and credulously constituted, and it found many earnest advocates and believers, and they were not altogether limited to the ignorant. had this been the case it would have been harmless and short-lived. the poet in depicting the career of vice aptly illustrates the history of this conception: "'vice is a monster of such frightful mien, as to be dreaded needs but to be seen. yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, we first pity, then endure, and then embrace.'" "i unhappily lived in a day when it had been largely embraced. had i lived in the day when it was conceived and promulgated, or approximately near it and been possessed of the physical, mental and spiritual organization with which i was favored in earth life, i would have undoubtedly earnestly combated it. but in my time it had grown into prominence and general acceptance among christian sects, including the lutheran, to which i adhered before my spiritual illumination; and hence while my spiritual mediumistic unfoldment, mental adaptabilities and capabilities would not allow me to accept the literal teaching of purblind theology on the subject, i was disqualified from perceiving and promulgating the real truth. i endeavored, however, to do what the theologians have never attempted, namely, to assign reasons for the existence of heavens and hells in justification and defense of the lord. the groundlessness of my philosophy and the impotency of my reasoning i was unable to understand until the lapse of years after my entrance into the spiritual world, and then only by slow and discreet degrees. step by step only did i receive the influx of spiritual light and truth, opening my eyes to the truth and impressing my soul with the consciousness of the errors and falsities of my teachings when on the earth embodied. "in the spiritual world we are not allowed to perceive truth except by degrees and interior growth, and only as we are enabled to outgrow and disown error. our errors, whether of acts and deeds committed, duties omitted, or false theories, either taught or believed by us when in the form, follow us to the spiritual world and cling to us with a perfectly amazing and persistent tenacity, and this constitutes hell and it exists nowhere else." june 22, 1882: "in my philosophy of correspondences there was much truth, with here and there a shade of error. it was argumentative, speculative, and characterized by analogous reasoning, but not sufficiently intuitive to reach the full height of spiritual induction. but whatever errors may have crept into this department of my writings, they have been comparatively harmless. "what has given me the greatest annoyance since my departure from the flesh, or rather since i have better understood the subject; and what has given me the greatest anxiety to have eradicated from the minds of those who read me believingly, are my teachings on the subject of the hells in the spiritual world. i desire here to lay down a proposition i know to be true, whoever may state to the contrary, namely: no embodied spirit was ever enabled, no matter how highly developed the organism of the subject, to leave the body, go into the spiritual spheres, undergo experiences there, behold scenes, hold converse with their inhabitants, witness events and occurrences transpiring there, then return to the body, bring it back into normal action, and then correctly and in detail and in purity of narrative give to the world through the physical organism of the body, what it had seen, heard, and witnessed, during its temporary absence. if it were otherwise, and the spiritual world a real, fixed and objective reality, all who visited it in spirit during physical embodiment, would on returning and reanimating the body with the returning spiritual influx impart the same information and recite the same story. the directly opposite of this is true, and settles the question irrevocably in the negative as to the absolute reliability of knowledge imparted by spirits while inhabiting the natural body, although permitted by the operation of a certain law which is neither wholly spiritual nor physical, but a combination of both, to leave for a short period its tenement of flesh. even then the spirit entire does not vacate the body, even for an instant of time, for if it did life in the body would become immediately extinct. however far the _consciousness_ of the spirit may wander away from its home in the material house it must maintain an inseparable connection with it, at least by a portion of the magnetism of itself. therefore during its visits away it is nevertheless all the while connected with the body, and hampered and fettered by it, and more or less governed by its laws and conditions. it can not, therefore, on returning, and it has never been wholly absent, give fully, purely, and correctly its spiritual observations and experiences. "when i visited the spiritual world during my embodied life i was governed by this same law and subjected to the same limitations, and hence what i related was not entitled to full credence and belief. so it has been in all cases of trance in the past, and will continue to be in the future for ages yet to come. in my next i shall speak of some instances illustrative of this truth." june 26, 1882: "as illustrative of the proposition submitted in my last i will only mention a few among numerous instances. "the book of revelations states that john visited the isle of patmos on the lord's day, and was then and there in the spirit. (i should have used the expression 'entranced' or 'trance state,' or that 'the lord permitted me to see.') while thus in the spirit or trance state he was taken to the heavens. after resuming his normal condition in the body he essays to write out what he thinks he saw, or so much of it as he is enabled to retain in memory, and call up after again fully controlling the physical body. he says that he saw beasts worshiping around the throne of god, and that he saw a beast rise out of the sea with seven heads and ten horns; that a book written in heaven was handed him with the command that he eat it, which he assures us he did, etc. does any one believe that these were veritable occurrences, 'that there were beasts in heaven full of heavenly love, evinced in worshiping before the throne, and that books were written in heaven for men to eat? the koran of mahomet is an improvement on this, for it was not eaten, but preserved for use. "now, i want to say to the world, especially the new church people, that my visions of the hells had no more foundation in fact than john's beasts, dragons and golden candlesticks. the difference between john and myself, that is, the important difference, consisted in the fact that john's symbolic visions were explained to be unrealities, while i was left to believe mine to be absolute verities. in fact one was as unreal as the other, and only forcibly illustrates the unreliability of this mode of deriving true and genuine spiritual knowledge. "your own andrew jackson davis is another instance corroborative of my proposition. he avers that he has been, not 'in the spirit,' like john, nor 'in the trance state,' like myself, but, in more æsthetic phraseology, 'in the superior state.' they all practically mean the same thing. davis says he located while in the 'superior state' the spirit world proper, and found it to be in or beyond the 'milky way,' thus inflicting a cruel blow upon the science of astronomy. astronomy teaches, and correctly, too, as every well informed spirit knows, that the 'milky way' is a vast assemblage or constellation of suns, worlds and systems of solar worlds, and yet mr. davis was honest. "judge john worth edmonds, in his earlier mediumship and spiritualistic experiences, visited the other world in spirit, and his description of the hells recorded in his work entitled 'spiritualism,' was somewhat analogous to mine, and very much in harmony with it. his temperament, mental methods and spiritual development were not very dissimilar to mine, and he had been previously as thoroughly grounded in calvinism as i had been in lutheranism. so it was but natural that we should see and interpret much alike. yet in final conclusions we were in absolute antagonism, differing fully as widely as the poles are separated in distance by terrestrial measurement. "truth can not dissemble nor assume deceptive garbs, and all seeing the same things differently, proves that neither could be relied upon, for if they had been true and genuine verities, all would have seen and reported them alike." june 29, 1882: "since i have been inducted into higher light and blessed with the true knowledge i have been utterly amazed in reviewing my writings, resulting in the discovery of two facts, namely, their prolixity in matter and stupendousness in folly. it seems to me now as almost utterly incredible that in my efforts at the spiritual interpretation of the scriptures i should have written so many absolutely silly and unmeaning things. it becomes my duty, and i can not be happy without it, to make this declaration, however humiliating it may be to me, viewed from your standpoint, but the truth and the peace, happiness and progress of my spirit require it. no work was ever written but what an ingenious metaphysician might not twist out of its every paragraph an assumed interior and mysterious meaning. "but, after all, i was fortuitous in advancing many ennobling and wholesome truths. in all that i wrote i take greater pride and unto myself much rejoicing in my assaults upon the lutheran doctrine of justification by faith alone, and in my enjoining love to the neighbor. however, to believe in and teach the doctrine of love one to another, or 'love thy neighbor as thyself,' does not require an inspiration from heaven. it is the doctrine taught by universal nature and in-worked in the web and woof of human nature. to realize and understand it we have only to become even partially civilized and to commune with nature and ourselves. "a great portion of my life has been devoted to secular pursuits and the study of natural science. i also possessed some inventive genius, and during my purely secular career i was always contemplating, by silent meditation, employing the latter part of my life in the study of the properties of the human soul and its relation to the lord and human life. therefore when i came to engage the subject, it was not a spontaneous impulsion to it, as some have supposed, although it was immediately attended and characterized by a degree of spiritual illumination and inspiration. i did not approach the examination of the subject wholly free and untrammeled by prejudice and uninfluenced by bias. i had previously conceived thoroughly deep convictions relating to this subject, and i now know no amount of spiritual aid could have possibly eradicated them sufficiently to have allowed the presentation of the plain, unadulterated truth. "oh, how effectually are we enslaved by education, association and mental training. the man who can overcome them in the pursuit of truth is far superior in all that goes to make up true manhood to the crowned heads and pampered ones of earth; yea, he is not only grand and noble in the full stature of his manhood, but he is more--he is godlike." july 3, 1882: "i do not affirm the non-existence of heaven and hell, but what i would be understood as affirming is their non-existence as separate, independent and fixed localities. if you will interpret heaven to mean happiness, and hell its opposite, that is, misery, we can fully agree, for this interpretation implies what is veritably true, namely, that they are conditions, and not localities. as conditions they not only exist in the spiritual world, but also in the sensual or material, and apply to both embodied and disembodied man. "it is related that jesus said, 'the kingdom of heaven is within you,' and never was truth more completely and potently uttered. at the time he was talking to men in the body, and to _them_ he declares, 'the kingdom of heaven is _within you_.' "if he is entitled to credit as an authority on the subject, and christians certainly will not gainsay it, then it is quite clear that heaven, being in the human, spiritual beings is as a locality nowhere else. and inasmuch as it could not exist in the human being as a location, for this would give us millions upon innumerable millions of localized heavens, one for each breathing human embodied man, to become destroyed at the death of each, which is too absurd to be seriously discussed, it must necessarily follow, and as clear as the sunlight of heaven, that whatever that kingdom may in fact be, it is simply and absolutely a condition. and we can therefore readily see that as a condition, different with every human being, owing to the moral status and spiritual development of each, it perpetuates itself as truly and fully as does the spirit itself survive the dissolution of the aggregated physical atoms and forces of the material body, and moreover accompanies the real man into the spiritual world. so with its opposite--hell. "if this is conceded, and no christian can deny it with any degree of consistency, for the moment he does he dishonors jesus as an authority, then the whole foundation of a local permanent hell is swept away, and the loathsome superstructure erected thereupon falls to the ground forever. "heaven and hell, viewed in any sense, are opposites, and wherever they exist they must exist simultaneously, for some are in heaven and some in hell all the time, and therefore if the kingdom of heaven is in the children of men, so also must be the kingdom of hell, or it does not exist at all. "with my limited power i can not elaborate this point, or even present it as i should like to, and you must be content with a bare and imperfect statement." july 6, 1882: "before the mythologists of antiquity had constructed a hell they had on their hands a personal, individualized spirit of evil, known as the serpent or satan, and more modernly as the devil. investing this mythological creature with all the distinguishing attributes of the lord, save that of goodness, they must have a localized place of sufficient capacity, and properly arranged for the enjoyment by him of the fruits of his labors. divesting him of all goodness _per se_, the hell of their creation must necessarily represent his newly-acquired condition of total depravity, for previously he had been an angel in heaven, and must possess the proper and sufficient elements to enable him to gratify his hatred of the lord in the punishment of his children. it was but natural in that day that the element of fire should be chosen, as it was supposed to be the most destructive element in nature, and best calculated in its very nature to induce the most intense and excruciating suffering to physical and material bodies possessed of the animating principle of animal life. in their unspiritual and ignorant state they supposed and believed that the bodies in the other world would be similar to those in this, and therefore subject to similar effects from heat and fire. what a monstrous conception, and how utterly inexplicable that it should ever have been believed. even john the revelator took a material view of hell, and described it as a 'lake of fire and brimstone.' "i was compelled, or rather impelled, from reason or from experiences sufficiently clear, in my frequent moods or states of spiritual exaltation to depart from this grossly materialistic view. while my hells were in the plural, yet i fell into nearly as great error in my creations. they were the progeny of imperfect visions, imperfectly understood and grossly erroneous in their relation. "you have only to think a moment seriously to discover the utter folly of my hells, and i will only present one instance among many equally absurd. you will find in my 'memorable relations' that i spoke of a certain class of jews and others wading through mud, quagmires and swamps, and being injuriously affected by them, and this for the purposes of punishment. now, the conception of a spirit, composed largely of pure ether, wading in the mire and wallowing in spiritual miasmatic swamps and filthy dirt, is only equaled by the mythological conception believed in and advocated by christians that a spirit could be effected to any degree of suffering by material fire and brimstone. both conceptions are as false as god is true. "in reference to the mythological arch fiend of mankind let us summarize: first an angel in heaven; then a rebel; then a war in the peaceful realms of heaven, instigated by this fiend; then the fall from the angelic state; then a transformation into a terrible and grim devil; then the building of a hell for his use, convenience and felicity, and then turning over to his control and malignant fiendishness three-fourths or more of poor, weak beings, creatures of an infinite god, and you have fitly spoken a system that could only have originated in an orthodox hell, figuratively speaking, and by an orthodox devil, and which for malevolence far exceeds any thing ever thought of in this or any other world." july 17, 1882: "the bible makers having established a heaven and hell, with god presiding over the one and the devil over the other, were driven to the necessity of concocting a scheme for populating them. the god of their creation they represent to be possessed of infinite perfections and glory, and heaven the very ideal of grandeur and beatitude. one would very naturally conclude that in their scheme they would have so arranged that god would have had the first choice, and heaven the destination of the best and wisest of the denizens of earth. nothing short of this could have so completely enamored us of the conception and rendered heaven devoutly to be wished for; but here the arrangement in value and superlative worth meets with a severe set back. one of the weak and frail points in the scheme consists in not allowing this infinite god to have his own choice in selecting those to become consociated with him in enjoying celestial delights in heaven. human nature, by the fall in the garden of eden, became weak and subjected to malign influences with an inadequacy of repellant power to overcome them. the cruel authors of this system, while they establish their god in heaven, a far distant locality, and keep him there constantly occupied and absorbed with the music and praises of the ransomed few, turn the devil loose to roam at will, and invest him not only with the deific attribute of omnipresence, but also confer upon him the extraordinary power without restraint of assuming angel's garbs even to the deceiving of the elect. in addition they place under his authority and to do his bidding an unlimited number of smaller devils, whose services have been utilized by him in preying upon the peace and happiness of the children of this world, and in preparing their souls for eternal punishment and subservience to his will in the world to come." july 20, 1882: "to counteract this terrible invisible influence of evil no power of equal potency is furnished. they say that god's holy spirit in conjunctive co-operation with the saints embodied (they mean, of course, the preachers and good church people) is seeking man's deliverance and salvation. they confess, however, that this agency is impotent when compared with the power wielded by the devil and his invisible cohorts. they make jesus say substantially that the road that leads to heaven is narrow and circumscribed and few travel in it, while the road that leads to hell is broad and the many travel therein, 'many shall be called, but few chosen,' etc., etc. "if their system be true we are forced inevitably to conclude that when the creative energies residing in man have succeeded in producing a high order of intellection the devil straightway captures them, leaving heaven to be peopled without the presence of the great and godlike in mental power. it would seem prudent and wise that this should have been otherwise arranged in order to have rendered heaven reasonably and fairly intellectual. no wonder, therefore, that their highest conceptions of worship and gratitude consisted in keeping up around the throne of the lord a continual musical concert, both vocal and instrumental. such distinguished and illustrious souls as washington, jefferson, webster, clay, lincoln, garfield, paine, voltaire, and others, could not be induced to participate for all future time in such exercises, for their mental constitutions were too robust and great and their souls too much interested in other and more ennobling pursuits. this kind of heaven would not suit souls of such intellectual proportions, and the orthodox hell, if accompanied by suffering, would be preferable to them, because their associations, at least, would be intellectual, for the devil is said to be exceedingly wise, and all wise souls live and delight in kindred consociations." july 21, 1882: "according to the orthodox scheme, heaven, hell, and the devil, all go together, or, in other words, they are inseparably connected with and belong to the plan. heaven would be the destination of all without a hell and _vice versa_. heaven and hell are in antagonism, and there would be no strife but by and through the devil, and therefore his existence is a necessity to this end. god is too good to take part in this strife, and is either indifferent or too weak to avert it. even when the war in heaven, according to milton, was waged between the devil and the lord, with relentless fury, he would take no direct and active part, but commissioned michael his generalissimo. how could he now be expected to take an immediate and active part, even to save his own defenseless children. earthly parents act quite differently when their offspring are in peril, and so do the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air. i am talking ironically only to show the utter folly of the whole matter. "in this connection did you ever think why it is that the devil is continually seeking the moral overthrow and eternal ruin of the human family? it is not because he has any ill feeling for cause against the children of men. they have never given him any occasion, and as we have seen, in their helpless condition, they could not if they would. according to the bible and the claims of christians they have always done just as the devil wanted them to. he wanted adam and eve to eat the apple and they did so. he wanted abraham to debauch hagar, and after her ruin to turn her loose with her helpless babe on her bosom amid the wilds of the wilderness of beersheba, and abraham did so. he wanted noah to drink of the wine and become drunken, and noah hesitated not, etc. so in fact the assumption can not be maintained that the devil in capturing nine-tenths of the human family is actuated by any malignant feeling towards his victims. the reason lies elsewhere. we are assured by the bible theologians and their coadjutors that the devil is solely actuated by his intense hatred of the lord and the purpose of wreaking vengeance upon him for banishing him from heaven and the angelic state. if this is true common justice and sympathy for the suffering of the unoffending impose most seriously the duty upon the lord, either to conciliate the devil in the interest of harmony, peace and concord, and to save his helpless children, or destroy outright this malignant enemy of his. if he will do neither, nor arrest him in his diabolical work, then truly are we justified not only in withholding homage from him, but also in regarding him equally at enmity with our welfare and a party (_particeps criminis_) in causing our sufferings and preparing our eternal doom." july 27, 1882: "why seriously discuss questions that are fast fading out of sight? the advancement of mind and the development of spiritual discernment are on the eve of relegating old antiquated theories and ideas to the past ages of heathen darkness, where they properly belong. total depravity throwing its dark mantle over tender infancy--parent of the doctrine of infant damnation--is no longer taught or believed by enlightened clergymen and their followers. it only has a sickly foothold where the people are spiritually dominated by an ignorant or pusillanimous priesthood. why, therefore, seek to revive by serious discussion any interest in dogmas now almost inanimate and staggering to their final fall and eternal sleep. let them die serenely if they can, and be buried out of sight without pomp or regret. we have questions of greater moment and of much more value to mankind, and to them let us address ourselves. all things are not only progressive but eternally progressing. must we therefore resolve that systems of religion and theological dogmas are finished and settled forever. if so, when did this divinely appointed consummation take place? it certainly, if true, must be an event of recent date. by whom settled, how and when? certainly not by the old romish church and the hierarchy established at nice and laodicia, for their history since has been characterized by quarrels and dissensions, which at times have threatened their very existence. and certainly no one will seriously maintain that they have reached the high altitude of final and definite settlement by luther, calvin and others in their departure from the original faith. some of the articles of faith of these have either been discarded or quietly abandoned, and those left have been modified, and are scarcely an improvement on the originals. in candidly looking over the whole field among the religious sects now extant, only one thing is discovered to be mutually agreed upon, and that is that man lives after death. we hardly need to stop to except those semi-materialistic christians who claim that a future existence at all depends wholly on the physical resurrection of the material body at some vague and indefinite period of future time. this doctrine is so unscientific and so disconsonant with reason that we pass it by with a mere reference to it." july 28, 1882: "the catholics have three states for the dead, heaven, hell and purgatory; the thorough orthodox protestants two, striking out purgatory; while the universalists insist on expunging hell from the catalogue. some will have one god, and others a trinity of them. but they differ materially as to the course to pursue in order to obtain the divine favor, holy unction and saving grace of the lord. here they are put to the severest test. it is infinitely of less moment to ascertain how many gods rule above, or how many states of the dead, as it is to know how to reach the much desired haven of peace and happiness in the eternal world. "a prudent man would be comparatively indifferent as to how many ruling sovereigns over the destinies of man, or how many locations of consignment for their souls, so he is enabled to attain unto the highest good, and this consideration more imperatively absorbs his attention. knowledge of the former would be valueless without knowledge of the latter. and hence in seeking to become familiar with the latter is where he becomes lost in the labyrinthian mazes of divergent and perplexingly diversified theologies. "one would have you attend to the confessional, do penance and observe and conform to the dictums emanating from the roman pontiff and the imperious mandates of priests, thereby securing absolution from the consequences of sin, and due preparation for the next world. another admonishes you that your salvation depends on the nature and degree of faith in the atoning sacrifice. another that you must become regenerated and washed of inherited and committed sins by belief in and conformity to certain specific and definitely prescribed tenets. and still another, that a good, moral life is the one thing needful, jesus having paid the penalty of sin and triumphed over it for the whole of mankind. and so on, scarcely without limit, do these various and varied systems present themselves to perplex and annoy." july 31, 1882: "instead of there being one, two or three states of the dead, the truth is there are an infinite number and variety of conditions in which the children of men exist in the spiritual world with the qualification that they do not remain in them longer than they are enabled to progress out of them into other and higher ones. the plain truth is, as every intelligent and fairly progressed returning spirit will tell you, that faith and belief have nothing whatever to do in determining your status in the spiritual world, nor will what a man believes, however erroneous it may verily be, if he is honest in it, have any potency in preparing the spiritual conditions or assigning him his spiritual sphere. here we must be clearly understood, that we may avoid both misapprehension and misrepresentation. i do not affirm that false beliefs and erroneous conceptions of the hereafter do not have any effect on the spirit. they do have a very troublesome effect. they do not, however, in the slightest degree, determine the spiritual status, for this is regulated by other considerations--moral conduct, noble acts, spiritual unfoldment, etc. but when the proper sphere is reached after death, for which the new-comer is spiritually fitted, they halt him there, and for a time impede and retard his progress, at least until he shall have outgrown false beliefs and conceptions while in the material body. a man may sincerely believe that the veritable orthodox devil is his constant companion, or that the air is swarming with malevolent creatures bent on his ruin, or that he is totally depraved by inheritance, and destined to utter and endless wretchedness in the other world, or any thing else, however absurd and untrue, and yet that man's whole earth life may have been justly distinguished for charitable deeds, love of the neighbor, and in all his habits, walks and ways all that the severest moralists could require, do you not at once see that in all justice and righteousness the man's life, acts and deeds must inevitably determine his sphere or spiritual condition, without the slightest interference by what foolish things he may have believed. and yet it is nevertheless not difficult to see further, that he must disabuse his mind of those errors of conception and belief before he can make any appreciable and valuable progress. and i tell you these erroneous belief and unfounded conceptions cling to the man with more obdurate persistency than the most of mankind could be induced to believe. hence the prime importance of forming correct ideas of the future while still animating the material body." august 3, 1882: "acts of charity and deeds of benevolence are estimated by the spiritual laws of our being in just correspondence to the motives inspiring and actuating them. by the motives prompting them, more than the acts and deeds themselves, do they become either valuable or valueless to our spiritual promotion and good. i have known men who devoted a lifetime of arduous labor in the acquisition of wealth, all the while wholly regardless of the interests and wants of others, and toward the end of the puny life, and in anticipation of the near approach of death, they bequeathed their accumulations to charitable and benevolent institutions, only to find themselves the merest spiritual paupers in the spiritual world. and why? because being governed a lifetime by grasping and selfish motives, they only dispensed the accumulated results of the cultivated spirit of avarice and cupidity under the selfish and painfully delusive motive of enhancing their interests in a world to which their aged infirmity admonished them they were hastening. upon their entrance to the spiritual world the motive met them, and overshadowed them with its pitiless condemnation. "had charity and benevolence characterized their lives all along for the sake of doing good and blessing others, it would have been quite otherwise with them in the eternal world of justice and truth. "charities bestowed only possess eternal value when done for sweet charity's sake, and with the unselfish object of helping others. this constitutes love and genuine love of the neighbor, and is consequently divine and heavenly and of permanent and enduring value. "the confucian doctrine, 'do unto others as you would they should do unto you,' reiterated by the man jesus, contains the great and salutary rule of life, which if practiced with the holiest and most disinterested motives will inevitably work out a most glorious future reward for the spirit. the shepherd kings promulgated this rule in a finer sense and reduced it to the fine realm of mind. the confucian rule related to the _actions_ of men, one to the other, but the other declares, 'think of others as you would have others think of you.' if your thoughts and actions are governed by these rules you may conclude you are not far from the kingdom of heaven or angelic sphere. if you observe these because you love the right, you can not fail to love the lord with all your heart and the neighbor as yourself, thus fulfilling the law of spiritual growth and development while in the temple of flesh, and insuring a condition of superlative happiness in the spiritual world. if in your present state of development you can not do this, you can, at least, make the honest and persevering effort to do it, and your reward shall be great." august 7, 1882: "abstain from evil-doing from the conscientious conviction that it is wrong to do evil and right to abstain. do not allow yourself, in choosing between right and wrong, to be governed by a fear of future punishment, or hope of future reward, for this is cowardly and pusillanimous and of no practical value to your future happiness. do right for the sake of the right and not from the selfish motive of deriving a personal benefit. you have in your world two very injurious and reprehensible doctrines taught by learned men, namely: materialism and forgiveness of sins. they are both degrading and far reaching in their baleful consequences. christians treat materialism with scornful derision, and yet it is just as true as that the misdeeds of life can be overcome and rendered harmless in their following consequences by death-bed repentance and the blood of atonement. one is as true as the other, and my presence here in spirit proves materialism to be groundless. materialism is the doctrine of one world only, a mere passing moment of life, and suggests very naturally to make the most out of it. i do not mean to be understood as asserting that there are not good honest people who believe in this doctrine, but that they are good and honest in spite of their belief and not as a result of it. the theological heresy which proclaims the necessity of conversion, new birth, and regeneration (they are convertible terms) would be much more plausible if not supplemented by the more alarming and reprehensible doctrine of obtaining full pardon for repeated crimes and misdeeds just preceding or at the imminent moment of departing from the material body by so-called death. the first becomes bereft of its value, if indeed it has any, by the latter. it is tantamount to asking a man to liquidate an indebtedness now, when, under the law, he has ten or twenty years option. in a purely business view he realizes that the possession and use of his money for ten or twenty years is to him a matter of pecuniary interest and profit. so likewise is it with the man of the world with an organization tending to licentiousness and vice. he perceives no wisdom or practical use in becoming regenerated in the days of his youth, when in old age the opportunity is afforded to repent and thereby avoid the consequences of the loose indulgences and vices of a lifetime. every villain who has run a lifetime unwhipt of justice and unpunished for his crimes, must be fascinated with this indulgent fallacy, while all truly noble souls must silently, if not avowedly, abhor and detest it." august 10, 1882: "while the universalists are considered liberal and progressive, yet their doctrine is equally dangerous and untrue. indeed, i have more respect for the others. they (the universalists) claim to stand upon the word, and affirm that the blood and death of one man propitiated sin so far as the future life is concerned, and that therefore sinning entails no hurtful consequences but such as are met with along the journey of life from the cradle to the grave. in other words, that the consequences of sin are visited upon us during our earth life, or not at all. they attempt to justify and defend their doctrine by a mere play upon words found in isolated passages in the bible, especially the epistles in the new testament. the declarative assumptions of the bible, as translated for your use and guidance, are utterly at war with their teachings, and it is folly to deny it. in this age when the human heart and mind are reaching out for something better it is useless and unproductive of good to go back to the root of words in originals to bolster up a doctrine founded in error. the effort will always prove unprofitable and must inevitably fail of its purpose. "i am aware that some advanced and more spiritually minded universalists believe in progression in the future life, and in this regard their conclusions are better and far in advance of their premises. "i would say to those, however good and pure, who expect to awake to consciousness in an ideal world of transcendent beatitudes without shadows and crosses that they will realize a most perplexing disappointment. they will find a world more natural than this, because more substantial and enduring, and what is more they will find they lack very much of being perfect, more perfect indeed in undevelopment than in that soul growth and unfoldment that would enable them to command the joys and delights vouchsafed by association with progressed spiritual beings in the higher walks and spheres of the spiritual world. to attain unto this state is the work of time and the reward of labor. "the true doctrine is, as all shall know in time, that conscious and willful sinning, that is, where volition in choosing between the right and the wrong was within our power, is treasured up in the memory of the spirit and confronts us in the spiritual world, and will remain until outgrown and overcome by arduous effort. happiness can only be enjoyed by the finite in contrast with misery, and shadows and crosses will fall upon us, marring our joys, until in the ages of coming time we shall so expand and grow towards deific perfections and excellences as to think no evil, thus not only rendering our actions submissive to the highest wisdom, but our hearts and minds to the divine love, and in a happy union of love, wisdom, and the will, we shall become something more than finite in our approach to the infinite." august 11, 1882: "nevertheless let it be said to the humblest, struggle on, strive to battle for the right as you perceive it. if you see it not aright in good time it will be revealed unto you. be of good cheer. you must needs suffer, for suffering in the right is spiritual growth--you are continually encircled by infinite love. you shall rise step by step, unfolding this latent power and that, gradually and by discreet degrees casting aside this harrowing and distressing memory and that, all the while aided by those spirits who have passed through tribulations and sorrows into higher unfoldments and joys, until finally you shall rejoice in blissful disenthrallment from the imperfections of your past being. then you will be enabled to see why you have thus suffered and rejoice that it has been so. no pang will afflict you worse than those you have inflicted upon others, or of greater magnitude than thousands and millions have endured. be kind and forbearing to the erring, be merciful to all, even the humblest creature of the creation. deal justly with all, live uprightly, fear nothing but evil and fly from it. be brave for the right. love your neighbor, which being spiritually interpreted, means all mankind. endeavor to learn and believe truth wherever found; try, if possible, to think no evil; worship at no shrine but that of eternal truth, and no harm can come to you in the everlasting realms of immortal souls. no shadows shall darken the pathway of your progress other than those incident to your connection with matter and your undeveloped spirituality. and these shall be dissipated, facilitated, and accelerated, by the sweet memories of good deeds and good thoughts. "in the feeble communications i have given you, by the permission of the lord, i have not been able to impart my ideas in the same language and style that characterized my writings when embodied. i know they will be subjected to this criticism, but the difficulties of projecting my ideas into form in words have been many and great. if they were explained they in turn would be criticised with equal virulence. when coming within the radius of mediumistic aura we encounter obstacles great and difficult to overcome at their state of mediumship. happily in time these difficulties will be surmounted. the aura of the medium and sitter blending with my spirit magnetism, your continued thinking and also the medium, thereby disturbing the equability of the magnetic and electric emanations, and to a corresponding degree affecting the psychic forces of the communicating spirit, and other things you would not understand if told you, all conspire to enfeeble the spirit intellectually, and, to a certain extent, limit it to the mental sphere of those present, especially the medium, upon whom we are so largely dependent. if you understood the subject as it really is, you would be surprised that we could even do so well. you, my dear swedish friend, have aided us nobly; your motives being so pure and honest, we found in that itself a great auxiliary, and we sincerely thank you. i shall be with you often, and shall reward your many kindnesses by helping your sweet and interesting children in spirit life and others dear to you, to learn spiritual wisdom in their progress, and shall take a deep interest in you when you come to our life. "god bless this medium, for she is worthy. in earnest supplication we invoke the blessings of the lord, angels and spirits upon you both. "emanuel swedenborg." chapter xii. george washington. on the 16th of june the following communication was received, and those following at the dates mentioned, from the spirit of george washington: "from my home and congenial associations in the spirit world i come to you to-day feeling and hoping that i may possibly be of some service to my country, which i have never ceased to love with the tenderness of a mother's love for her children. indeed, my country--the noble young republic--was kind to and considerate of me far above my merits. "in the memorable struggle for independence i was assigned to duty at the head of the colonial army, and by this circumstance occupied a position that attracted to me more general attention than to others who were in nowise less meritorious. after seven long years of patient suffering, heroic endurance, and almost superhuman exertion, our gallant and illy-provided army won an honorable peace, and i trust an imperishable renown. a nation of freemen was brought into being, and a system of government established far in advance of its predecessors. the old roman republic, grand in many respects and a marvel of excellence for its time, was still in many regards vastly inferior to our own. being at the head of the brave army whose herculean efforts, exerted under many disadvantageous circumstances, eventuated so gloriously, it was natural, although no more worthy than many others who rendered patriotic services, that i should be chosen the first executive of the young republic. this, to me, was a most flattering testimonial of the high appreciation of and affection for the gallant citizen soldiery who so valiantly acted in the stirring and sanguinary events of the memorable contest. regarding my elevation to the chief magistracy of the nation as a reflection of public sentiment as indicated more than as a personal compliment to myself, it behooved me by discreet official conduct and patriotic action to show that the general appreciation and esteem for that noble soldiery was not misplaced nor unworthily bestowed. "if i have rendered worthy services to my country, either in the line of military duty or in the performance of civil trust, or both, they must proclaim my right to speak from my higher conscious life to my countrymen on matters pertaining to their best and dearest interests. if the gallant army that fought to a successful issue the battles of freedom in the infancy of its struggles here have claims upon the attention and consideration of the present generation, and those of the future, they beg you to earnestly consider the words that may fall from my lips and pen. i have marshaled those mighty hosts of noble souls in spirit land, and with them have recounted our struggles and sacrifices for you and those to come after you, and they are in hearty accord with what i shall deem proper to say to the nation through the much abused and little understood channel of human mediumship. you will hear from me in the immediate future in obedience to the purpose indicated." june 23, 1882: "your complex system of government needs and will receive reconstruction or remodeling. when we emerged from the revolutionary struggle, and came to give the fruits of our hard earned victory some definite shape in the formation of a government for the new nation, we adopted the articles of confederation as the best we could then devise. it required but a short time to teach us that they were defective, and that prudence and wisdom dictated something different and better. the constitution was consequently fashioned and superseded the confederation, and there has never been any disagreement as to the superior wisdom of the constitutional form of government, at least, as an improvement on the original confederation form. when this had been accomplished we were fully persuaded that the reorganization of the government under the constitution was the apex of statesmanship and the acme of the science of governmental construction, and were consequently happy and content. but alas, for poor human foresight. it very soon became evident that the new arrangement was imperfect, if not absolutely defective, and twelve amendments to the new constitution were proposed by congress and ratified by the states. after and as the result of the late unhappy conflict between discordant states, or, rather, rebellion of certain states by secession against the rightful authority and sovereignty of the federal government, several additional amendments became necessary and imperative, and they were accordingly incorporated and ingrafted upon the already amended constitution. and now others are earnestly talked of and advocated; and does this not teach you the plain lesson that your system is still imperfect? "the trouble is found to be that statesmanship is without foreknowledge, and is either blind to or oblivious of the requirements of the future. in other words, that the ceaseless mutations of human affairs, the ever acting and onward march of the law of change and progression, fail to strike the consciousness of statesmen or to secure their recognition. of one thing you may be assured, your plan of government will be revised and remodeled to its vast betterment. when the time comes this will be most vehemently resisted by those who on all questions affecting the interests of the race and the happiness of mankind persist in remaining with the bats and owls of past ages rather than to be baptized in the light of the present and the foregleams of the future. but they must get out of the way of the car of progress or be crushed beneath its merciless and continually revolving wheels." june 30, 1882: "in the formation of your present system of government three co-ordinate branches were established--the executive, legislative, and judicial--and they were designed to be checks, one upon the other. if in the zeal and frenzy of partisan strife, or under the baleful influence of venality and corruption, the legislative department should exceed its constitutional authority or enact legislation inimical to the public interests, the executive was invested with the veto privilege whereby the evil might be arrested. if, however, the president should be found to be in accord and sympathy with the legislative branch in its hurtful legislation, and gave thereto the sanction of his approving signature; or, in case the president exercised his veto power in the particular matter, and congress should pass the measure over his objections by the requisite two-thirds of each branch, then and in either of these events there still remained the supreme court with its supervisory power or power of final determination. "but it may be very properly asked, what if the supreme court should be influenced by the same or similar considerations as the other co-ordinate branches, what help, relief, or remedy, is left to the people and the nation? it can only be answered--force, revolution, rebellion. does not this plain statement present a dangerous contingency and indicate a palpable weakness? "it should be remembered that in our form of republican government all powers are derived from the people, and it should be furthermore very emphatically understood that all powers belong to them. if this view is correct, then in the hypothetical case mentioned for the purpose of illustration, the people themselves should be the last court of resort, or the high court of appeals. "it was thought by the founders of your government that the judiciary would always be pure and safe, but unfortunately experience has taught us quite differently. it is humiliating to an american citizen, whether he be in or out of the body, to be compelled to make this confession. but truth not only justifies but demands it, and it is best that it be frankly made and acknowledged." august 14, 1882: "we are not permitted, for prudential reasons, to tell you how the new system is to be fashioned. to do so would not facilitate its accomplishment, but might possibly operate detrimentally by inducing premature consideration and discussion. suffice it to say that the subject has been deliberately considered and the plan carefully matured by wise statesmanship in the realm of causation, and will be given to your world at the proper time and in the proper way. "i desire to briefly discuss two propositions: "1st. what are the duties of the citizen to the government, or what the government has the right to exact of and from the citizen? "2d. what are the duties of the government to the people, or what the people have the right to exact of and from their government? "first. the citizen owes the government affection and homage. this springs from patriotism and self-interest. "second. to render a cheerful obedience to and acquiescence in all lawfully constituted authority, reserving always and of primary importance the natural and inalienable right when all civil remedies prove unavailing, of revolution against and resistance to, tyranny, usurpation, and oppression. "third. prompt compliance with all the lawful edicts and mandates of government. if they are deemed unlawful, unjust, and oppressive, first appealing to judicial supervision and all lawful means for relief and protection--revolution the dernier ressort. "fourth. loyally protecting, defending, and sustaining the government when assailed from within or without, and when waging a just war upon a foreign foe, or in the suppression of an unjust and indefensible internal war, insurrection, or rebellion. "fifth. aiding the government both in peace and war by being honest to and with it in official station, and by helping to uphold and foster its credit and honor. "these comprise mainly the duties of the citizen to his government. he owes other duties to society and the local community in which he resides, but they are not considered pertinent or germane to our proposition. "i speak of sustaining the government in war. war is a terrible thing to contemplate, and we would gladly crush it out in its every vestige, but you seem as yet not to have outgrown and developed above and beyond it, and therefore we are compelled to notice the subject, however painful and sorrowful it may be. the time is not so very far distant in the future when nations and men will progress beyond this horrible relic of barbarism, when the fierce god of war will give place to the sweet and gentle spirit of peace and brotherly love; when all differences will be amicably adjusted without a resort to the arbitrament of the sword and the instruments of devastation, bloodshed, and death." august 17, 1882: "in a certain sense the people are the children of the government, and in a still more important sense the government is the offspring of the people. if you ask me what, under the law of your present state of development, are the duties of the child to the parent, i answer obedience, maintenance, and protection. if you ask me the duties of the parent to the child, i answer maintenance, education, and protection. the family government was the first government in the infancy of the race from which all other governments naturally and progressively sprang, and their relations and reciprocating duties are much the same. "i now reach the second proposition: what are the duties of the government to the people, or what have the people the right to demand of their government? it is the bounden duty of the government, under the constitution, to afford ample and plenary protection to the citizen in the exercise and enjoyment of civil and religious liberty. this protection is due to the humblest as well as the most exalted. the powers of your government are adequate to this end, if properly and effectively wielded, and if exercised without fear or favoritism. "again, it is the duty of government to see that public affairs are so managed that its burdens may fall lightly upon the people and mostly upon those ablest to bear them. a judicious system of obtaining revenue to meet the exigencies of government and the liquidation of the national public debt by taxing incomes on accumulated wealth and its investment in various speculative methods, would be most salutary to the attainment of the object. "in order that the wise purposes of good government be carried out, and that honesty, frugality, and the most rigid economy should characterize every department of the public service, it is essentially and indispensably important that honesty and capacity alone should be regarded as commanding qualities for public official positions. dishonesty and corruption and bribery in public stations ought to be severely punished, else there remains no safety and security to confiding constituencies. when your government offices reek with corruption and no alarm is manifested and no corrective measures adopted, you are not far from the yawning brink of the precipice over which your liberties and free institutions are sure to be precipitated. it is the duty of the government, in the interest of a confiding trusting people to hunt down the official vampires and parasites who thus insidiously prey upon the vitals of government, and inflict upon them such penalties as are commensurate with their enormous crimes. to allow them to go on with impunity and exempt from punishment is to invite and encourage corruption, and to suggest the safety of its increase." august 18, 1882: "it is the duty of government to foster, uphold, and defend labor in its unequal struggle against the greed of capital to the end that capital may not utterly crush it beneath its scornful and merciless heel. i tell you in all seriousness that on this subject you are approaching the verge of a volcano whose wrathful pent-up fires can not be much longer controlled, nor is it desirable that they should be unless a speedy change in the treatment of labor by capital, involving justice and right, is brought about. it is a delusion and in opposition to all human experience to expect capital, uncompelled by law, to become quickened in conscience and pervaded by a sense of equity and right. the government must stretch forth its strong arm and compel the exercise by authoritative and coercive power of a spirit of justice and fair dealing that belongs to a common humanity. revivify and re-adopt that virtuous and beneficent doctrine of the earlier patriotic statesmanship of the republic, namely: 'the greatest good to the greatest number.' the men and women who toil and sweat in poverty constitute the greatest number, and he must indeed be blind to truth and deaf to justice who fails to discover or concede that the toiling millions have wrongs done them by the greedy rapacity of capital, and which appeal with vehement persistency for redress--aye, we fear in a little while, for retaliative and retributive vengeance. they have the right to claim protection from the steady and stealthy encroachments of capital whereby the rich grow richer and the poor poorer. capital and labor are mutually interested in each others' welfare and prosperity, and are alike equally entitled to protection when dealing justly with each other, but under the present order of things labor is at the mercy of capital, and receives not justice at its hands. and this great government fought into existence by the common people, defended in every succeeding struggle by the common people, and which claims to be a government of the people and by the people and for the people, stands idly by with folded arms and with an apparent serene complacency permits the great masses of the people to become hopelessly impoverished, while the exclusive and favored few become enormously enriched. verily has the government by its inaction and failure to interpose, become truly and in the sight of heaven a _particeps criminis_ in producing this wretched and deplorable condition of affairs." august 21, 1882: "you have a tariff system, which for unrighteousness in the cruelty of its exactions, is without a parallel in modern times. it is unjust and oppressive; wholly indefensible, and with scarcely a palliating feature. my circumscribed power in communicating will not allow me to argue the question _in extenso_, or as i would like to. your tariff is not only unjustly discriminative, but painfully oppressive in its operations, especially so far as the interests of the consumers are concerned. why do you not honestly examine the subject in its bearings in the laudable endeavor to ascertain to whose benefit it inures. the government to some extent is benefited in the matter of revenue, but the capitalists are more largely the beneficiaries, and it is for them and their interests that you legislate. have you not yet discovered, if not by close and analytical reasoning, at least by an observance of its practical operations, that the poor artisans, skilled mechanics, and other labors immediately connected with your manufactures, are not favored by high rates of tariff, and that protection to home manufacturing by imposts on imported commodities does not enhance the interests or confer blessings upon the consumers of your manufactured articles. have you not yet realized the fact that exorbitant and restrictive protection fosters only the interests of invested capital, with no real advantage to the toiling operatives and to the oppressive detriment of consumers? if the operatives in your manufacturing establishments were benefited by high tariffs it would be manifested and plainly discernible in prosperous accumulations and in their happy contentment. the opposite of all this is true, and it does not require a philosopher to discover it. why trades unions, repeated and frequent strikes, and an unmistakably unhappy condition of unrest, if the benefits accruing from the system beneficially inured to the workmen? the masses of your toiling people are inclined to suffer and bear injuries and injustice with a patience and forbearance not characteristic of any other people under the broad canopy of heaven, and when they protest by strike or otherwise you may safely assume that they are in the right, and have just grievances. the people not directly connected with the manufacturing interest, but who are the purchasers of its products, have exhibited a still more remarkable degree of patient forbearance, for they are much more numerous and less directly dependent. they have been sorrowfully blinded to their true interests by unconscionable politicians and political tricksters, and most dearly have they paid for their confidence and ignorance. we see signs of the awakening of the hitherto slumbering sensibilities of the people, and feel assured that in the not remote future will be aroused a sentiment among the masses that will compel a change of front on this subject in the meting out of even-handed and impartial justice." august 24, 1882: "another subject of engrossing importance to your weal is the threatening and dangerous attitude of monopoly and corporate power. your railroad corporations are assuming gigantic proportions, and bode no good to you if left uncontrolled and unregulated by law. your liberties are not only menaced for many causes, but by this corporate power all the avenues and departments of your government are being influenced detrimentally to the general public interest, if not absolutely sullied by the corroding elements of corruption. these corporations, by the many influences they are enabled to exert, if left unrestrained by legislation, will control your government and its vast machinery as effectually and completely as the planets perform their circuits in obedience to the inflexible and unerring laws of the universe. "it is nonsense to talk about the absence of constitutional power over the subject. your national legislature has ample warrant, under the constitutional provision conferring authority upon congress to regulate commerce among the states, and congress should exercise that authority promptly and fearlessly. railroads are common carriers, and are, when considered in connection with this power conferred upon congress, public, and not private, highways. the supreme court of the united states has frequently affirmed this power as residing in the legislative department of the government. unless regulated and restrained, these corporations may impose such exorbitant rates of transportation as to destroy ordinary profits on manufactured and other commodities, and necessitate an insufferable and unbearable increase to meet the exigency of increased rates of transportation, and, of course, to the detriment and oppression of consumers. the government must take the matter in hand for the protection of the people. competition will prove unavailing without restrictive legislation; for the railroads would engage in pooling, and thereby render nugatory the natural advantages of competition. this monopoly constitutes the most threatening element in the country, and will be felt too soon, if not prevented by judicious exercise of governmental authority. the use of steam, as applied to railroads, steamboats, and steamships, was unknown to the founders of your government and the framers of your constitution, or more definite provisions would have been made in relation to the subject of regulating commerce. why can not your statesmen be as patriotic and as true to the public? "although mainly chartered by the states, they are not authorized by implication or otherwise to pursue the selfish course of only subserving the interests of capital, but for the convenience and benefit of the great body of the people in commerce and travel as well. they have, by exercising all undue influence, corrupted courts and legislatures, and will, ere long, as they have already to some extent, invade the sacred precincts of your elections, corrupting the sanctity of the ballot-box, and demoralizing the independence of electors. then your government will become a farce, and your free institutions subject to the whims and caprices of unholy and unconscionable monopoly power." august 25, 1882: "the great agricultural interests upon which you mostly depend for all of your material prosperity receive no protection from your tariff legislation, but are compelled to pay tribute to manufacturing by paying tariffs on manufactured agricultural implements used on the farm by the increased prices on the same. besides, this great interest (agricultural) is at the mercy of railroad corporations in high rates of transporting the products of the farm to market, and in the end the burden falls on the consumers of such products. "the recent tariff commission created by congress, and its members appointed by the president, is a miserable subterfuge and sham, as you will ultimately ascertain. the dodging of the responsibility by congress, of an immediate revision of the tariff and the correction of its abuses and vices, ought to be vigorously condemned. there exists no valid reason why the old war tariff rates should be continued in this era of profound peace and general prosperity of trade and business. under the constitution, tariff taxation can only be imposed on imported articles for the purposes of revenue to the government, and this, however arranged, is amply sufficient to afford incidental protection to home manufactories. the time is coming when free trade and open, untrammelled commerce with all nations will be the policy of all wise governments, and the sooner it is brought about the better. "the currency policy will also be changed, and a great wrong therein righted. the national banking system projected into being early in the late war, and which had its necessities for an apology, will be abrogated and done away with, and a currency furnished directly by the government to the people, without the intervention and agency of private banking corporations. this will be cheaper, safer, and more durable, predicated, as it will be, upon the good faith of the american people and their government, and secured by their prosperity. "the time will come when the flag of the american republic will float over canada, all the british possessions on this continent, the island of cuba, the natural key to the gulf of mexico, as well as over the cultivated valleys, arid plateaus, and towering mountains of the land of the montezumas, beyond the rio grande. then will your system of government be remodeled and reconstructed upon a plan infinitely superior to your present one, and the united states will not only become the greatest nation the earth has ever known, but the nucleus around which, in time, all other nations will cluster and revolve, shouting the anthem of human equality and freedom and universal liberty. "g. washington." chapter xiii. communication from my son emil about ex-president garfield--greetings from madam ehrenborg--letter from rev. goddard, and swedenborg's answer. on the 26th of september, 1881, at the hour of 9 o'clock, forenoon, it being the same memorable day on which the body of the late lamented garfield was buried, i went to mrs. green, 309 longworth street, for an independent slate-writing seance. i had previously prepared the following paper, which i laid on the table, writing downwards, and which mrs. green had no means of reading, viz: "will our dear exalted spirit friends be so kind as to give us some information of james a. garfield, our late beloved president." on the slate soon came the following, signed emil, the name of my spirit son. "good morning, dear papa. many spirits are here to greet you. our beloved and martyr president's work has just begun. he awoke immediately to consciousness and to the reality of a future life, of which he had slight knowledge. he was met by washington, the father of his country, and the martyr lincoln, with a crown prepared for him, and with many other loving kindred spirits, who had gone before to prepare for his reception, and it was the grandest one he ever had. he has been introduced to our spiritual congress, where he will finish his work, and where he will be more useful to his country. you will soon see a communication from the president in the papers." then immediately came: "dear papa, weep not for those who pass from this to higher spheres. think of them free from sorrow and pain, and wipe away your tears. "emil." oct. 10. through mrs. green. "my highly esteemed friend, good morning. baron swedenborg is prevented from meeting you to-day by reason of a called special session of the scientific institute or harmonial order of savants, of which he is a prominent member. matters of transcendent import and pressing moment now engross the attention of that honorable body of advanced spiritual minds. he requested me to thus announce his enforced absence to-day, and to say that it will afford him pleasure to be with you at your next sitting. i avail myself of this opportunity, by the kind permission of the mediums' guides, to give my blessings, and to again urge you to go on with your investigations, and to push forward the noble work set before you by the spirit world. the elements for your spiritual unfoldment are constantly at work, and will continue to work out for you a rich reward far exceeding your most confident anticipations. only fully co-operate with these elements and continue to act conjointly with your spirit friends and all will be well. "bright spirits of light around you stand, whom you have attracted from the summerland; they come to bless you with their spirit light, and make your life all beauteous and bright. "press forward, then, with fearless tread, and learn from those the world call dead; the veil is rent, their presence ever near, your soul to bless and heart to cheer. "fredrika ehrenborg." the communications from swedenborg of the 8th of september, 1881, through mrs. jennie mckee (the first one from him), and those through mrs. green of the 26th of september and 3d of october, 1881, i had printed in a small pamphlet, and sent them to divers parties, and one to the rev. john goddard, a minister of the new church in cincinnati, with the hope that he would afford the members of his congregation the opportunity to read them. in answer, i received the following reply from mr. goddard, viz: "price's hill, _august 19, 1881_. "_dear mr. helleberg_: your communication with your pamphlet came to me to-day. i hardly know what to say in reply, for i fear that nothing i can say will be of any use. i have no doubt in the world that there is such a thing as communication with spirits, nor has any intelligent and well informed new churchman. nor have i any doubt whatever that they are a very low order of spirits, and scarcely ever those whom they personate. it is clear that swedenborg never sent any such communications as these. to believe otherwise would be to believe that intelligent men in the other world lose their wits instead of increasing in wisdom. doubtless this is permitted as a forcible and compelling offset to the tremendous and increasing materialism of the day. i can not conceive of any use in it to those who desire to be led by the lord in freedom and reason. not only swedenborg declares the thing disorderly, but all experience coincides with his repeated warnings and emphasises the need of our keeping close to the lord in his divine word. i say to you frankly that i do not feel warranted in putting this pamphlet before the society, for knowing as i do the seductive and tremendously persuasive power of this influence and realizing the evil in it, i should be doing violence to my sense of duty in bringing the matter to their notice. to those capable of better things it is a delusion and a snare. with kind personal feelings to you and all your family, and deploring your connection with this dreadful sphere, i remain sincerely yours in truth, "john goddard." on november the 7th i repaired to mrs. green's, taking with me mr. goddard's letter, which i did not allow mrs. green to see, nor did i speak to her any thing in regard to its contents. i had also prepared a communication to mr. swedenborg, which i took along with me, in words as follows: "to my exalted spirit friend, emanuel swedenborg: for conferring on me the honor of receiving your communications for the people who you seek to bless with the truth, i appreciate in the highest degree, and my only hope and wish is that i may be able to do this work in a proper and efficient way. the letter before you from the rev. john goddard, minister of the church of the new jerusalem here, in answer to my pamphlet containing your three first letters to me, is a sample of what may be expected from that class. i have had the opinion that the preachers of every denomination will be the very last to accept this most beautiful truth, and, therefore, i have concluded to send the pamphlet only to free, advanced minds, and to the individual members of the different churches of the new jerusalem, if it receives your approval. with love and sincere affection, i am your willing and obedient servant, "c. g. helleberg." placing goddard's letter with mine on the stand, the following communication came on the slate: "in the adorable name of the lord i salute you good morning. the course you have pursued in regard to my communications to you meets my hearty approval. in the future be governed by the directions of your immediate guides, in whom i have the utmost confidence, for they are constantly with you, and are more intimately related to your sphere, and know best how and what to direct. i am advised of the purport of the letter to you from our good brother, mr. goddard, and have lately visited him for the purpose of observing his surroundings and perceiving his mental operations. as the result, i believe him honest and nearer your platform than he is willing to make known. he certainly concedes enough in his letter to fortify your faith, and to satisfy those under his influence that modern spiritualism, so called, sprang from the great store house of the father's love, and is in his keeping. may the good brother become so illuminated as to reach the grander conclusion fully in consonance with the truth, that his religion emanated not from the lord direct, but from the writer hereof under the spiritual instruction suited to that age, and that in lifting the veil between the two worlds of embodied and disembodied man, and permitting, yea compelling, the intercommunion between their denizens, the heavenly father has not made an assortment of evil only for you, for this would be malevolence under whatever pretext, but that all may, if they desire, hold intercourse with the terrestrial sphere. i have neither lost my wits nor retrograded in wisdom, but since i left the body i have lost much of my arrogance and pride, and am now more interested in imparting plain, simple truth, than in the construction of embellished sentences and high sounding and beautifully rounded periods. the humility taught by jesus and others anterior to his day and since embodies a sublime law of the spiritual spheres, underlying all true progression, to which i cheerfully bow in reverential adoration. if my dear brother will only humble himself as a little child, forgetting for awhile his books, and casting aside the imperious demands of his system of belle-lettres, he will then from that truly spiritually elevated altitude begin to perceive and to drink in the beauties of spiritual truth and the glories of the lord. "emanuel swedenborg." chapter xiv. communications from president garfield, madam ehrenborg, governor j. d. williams, president abraham lincoln, judge edmonds. nov. 21. among other things during this sitting with mrs. green i received the following: "good morning friends of truth. on passing out of the physical form and awakening to the consciousness of the perpetuity of my being, and a realization of my continued individuality, i was overwhelmed with the triumph of the spirit over the empire of crude matter, and as i gazed upon the worn, shattered and emaciated body, and in the presence of many kindred and other loving spirit friends, the first thought that occupied my mind was, is it possible that i have lived so long in the presence of this great truth and have known so little about it? then followed a feeling of self-chiding, yea remorse, that i had neglected so many opportunities to learn that wisdom so much needed by the newly arisen spirit, and how much i had really missed by not acquiring knowledge of the spirit world, the future of the spirit, and the laws of spiritual government. resulting from reflections like these came the impelling desire to return through whatever avenue i might find to speak to a fond mother, devoted wife, loving children, and sympathizing friends, to announce, if no more, that i not only still lived, but was fully conscious of and keenly alive to their grief and sorrow. but i would do more. having passed safely and gloriously the ordeal of so-called death, and crossed the dreaded rubicon, i am now employing my best energies in learning the initial and rudimentary laws appertaining to spirit life and spirit growth, which i ought to have learned on earth, in the fervent hope and desire that i may be of service to my country and countrymen. if i have a friend who would hear and heed me, i would say to him as my best counsel, see to it that you learn more of the spiritual side of life while here in the body, that when you pass to the higher life your spirit may be accelerated in its onward march along the highways of progress in the heavenly spheres. "j. a. garfield." at the seance the 7th of november, 1881, i placed a sealed letter, with no address on the envelope, on the stand, and no one in the body except myself knew the contents, as i had written it early in the morning at my home, on mt. auburn. i deem it best to give my letter and the answer to it in full, as it demonstrates beyond all possible controversy the ability of spirits to read and understand written matter effectually concealed from mortal view by being securely sealed up. "to my dear exalted spirit friend, madam fredrika ehrenborg: you always was on earth a valued friend of mine. since your entrance into the spirit world i have been lead to appreciate more fully your good qualities of head and heart; and your kind spiritual ministrations to me i fear i can never repay. they have made me very happy indeed. you brought the highly exalted swedenborg, and your angel husband to make god's truths clearer to us, and we know we can not return this loving kindness in any other way than in by trying to live up to them in our daily lives, and in making them known to others. during my whole life i have had so very few real friends outside of my family, but i now know that my good spirit friends have more than restored the loss of earthly friends, who i may have lamented. for a long time i have been thinking to send you a special offering of my sincere, heartfelt thanks, which i now do. your sincere and humble earth friend, "c. j. helleberg." the answer soon came in the following words on the insides of the double slate: "to my highly respected earth friend, c. j. helleberg: i know since my entrance upon a higher life more than before that you value my friendship to a very high degree, which i have tried with my spirit to reciprocate. you need not feel yourself under obligations to me or mine, for i take great pleasure in administering to your wants, and i am exceedingly happy to be able to do so, and that you appreciate we know. we are aware that our communications to you have made you and yours happy, and it rejoices us to know that we have been the instruments in doing good, and as you say, 'you can not return our loving kindness in any other way than by trying with all your might to live up to them in your daily lives, and in making them known to others.' that is just what your spirit friends wish you to do. you need not grieve for earthly friendship; those ties have soon to be broken, but have your thoughts on spirit life and friends? my noble husband and mr. swedenborg are here with us. accept my heartfelt thanks for your good wishes toward me, and for your kind allusion to my noble companion. love to your dear companion, and believe me ever your friend and guide. this is in answer to your sealed letters. "fredrika ehrenborg." the 23d of january, 1882, came the following from the former governor of indiana: "good morning my dear friend in the cause of truth. i have been present at many of your sittings, and this morning i feel the power strong enough to write and give expressions to a few humble thoughts in regard to what i have done since my entrance to the spirit world. my battles here were to put down aristocracy and the expenses of our government. i fought hard for that. i did not believe in drinking ice tea at the expense of the government. i was satisfied with a good old fashion tea like my mother made, and a suit of blue jeans. i am still at work in our spiritual congress to that end. if there is not something done speedily our government of our forefathers is gone, and instead a stronger one, or monarchy. capitalists gnawing at its vitals, and it must inevitably succumb. spirit world is constantly at work to change the influence. we are coming to every channel we can to speak, and our prayers are that we may be heard and heeded. with my blessing on you both, i bid you good day. "j. d. williams." "a. lincoln, j. a. garfield, o. p. morton, a. p. willard, emanuel swedenborg, fredrika ehrenborg, madam amalia de frese, polheim, wilberforce and otto jacob natt-och-dag are present. "emil." december 12th came the following: "kind friends: i am with you this morning to encourage you by the utterance of a few thoughts. the authority of the priesthood over the consciences and judgments of men is fast losing its hold, and creeds are in the course of ultimate extinction. the overthrow of the institution of slavery in the united states was precipitated by war, and i shudder to contemplate even the possibility that the final conflict between the prevalent creeds predicated on false theology, and succored by superstition on the one hand, and an enlightened rationalism, etc. on the other, may unhappily eventuate in bloody issues. creeds are doomed to perish. god grant they may pass away without the costly sacrifice of blood. the pages of both sacred and profane history record crimes of the darkest and deepest magnitude enacted in the holy name of religion. in her fair name the soil of the earth has been crimsoned with the precious blood of martyrs, and the ghastly horrors of the inquisition have been feebly and imperfectly told. the real truth of those horrid deeds has been faithfully chronicled in the archives of the spirit world. without malice, and in all charity, i speak of them to-day, but the truth must be boldly stated. the history of the christian system of religion is, in part, a history of foul assassination, bloodshed and rapine, and all under the impious pretext of advancing the kingdom of heaven and magnifying the glory of the lord. not only have the brave souls who dared to lift voice or hand against the hideous monster of religious fanaticism and tyranny been sacrificed as heretics, but noble and queenly women--yea, innocent and unoffending children--have fallen victims to its merciless cruelty and gluttonous rapacity for greed and power. religion and tyranny have marched hand in hand together along the highways of the past, and with the stake, the javelin, the executioner's ax, and every conceivable instrument of torture, have left behind them ruin, desolation and death as fitting and enduring monuments of their utter unrighteousness. does this terrible history, so replete with evil, offer us evidences of godlike excellence? can such a religious system, founded in falsehood, fostered by superstition, nourished by the blood of innocence, and pre-eminently distinguished by so frightful a history, much longer command the tolerant and kindly consideration of the advanced intelligence of the world, or continue to inspire the conviction that it emanated from god, and has been sustained all these centuries by the fostering care of his goodness and love? in view of all this, is it surprising to any one that he who taketh cognizance of the minutest details of human conduct has commissioned his angels and the spirits who have escaped the environments and passed beyond the limitations of the flesh to return to those in mortal on the redemptive mission of demonstrating a continued life beyond the grave, and revolutionizing the religious thought, moral tendencies and spiritual conceptions of mankind. i repeat, creeds are doomed to perish, and this angel ministry, fraught with freedom, truth and righteousness, will erect her gorgeous temples over their buried ruins. thanks be to god that i obeyed the majestic voices wafted from the spirit world, inducing, as they did, the liberation in our land of four millions of the enslaved children of chattel bondage. enjoying the communion with spirits, and learning of them and their bright homes, the heritage of the father's love, i was, while yet inhabiting the tabernacle of clay, made glad and filled with superhuman joy, and in consequence was the recipient of strength and happiness in this glorious land of the spirit. go ye, therefore, and do likewise. good day. "a. lincoln." chapter xv. new years' greetings from many of my dear spirit friends and near relatives. the 29th of december, 1881, i received with many others the following communication: "good morning, my dear friends, for such i will call you, although i have never had the pleasure of seeing you in the body, but as magnetic attraction seems to be the topic, i will write a few lines to you. some years ago i corresponded with this medium's husband, and i had the pleasure of calling her my pupil, because her mediumship was so much like that of mine and my daughter laura. i took so much interest in her and her future success, and predicted that she would be a wonderful medium in time, and now i come as her teacher to congratulate her on her success and to give her words of cheer, and to tell her that she has only ascended half way up the ladder of fame as a spirit medium; and, also, that i have come to-day by magnetic attraction, and will be here often to aid her in her development. with my prayers for you both and for your success, i bid you good morning. "judge edmonds." the 2d of january, 1882, in the forenoon, came on the slate the following: "good morning, dear papa. we are all here with our happy new year's greetings--emil, charles, gustaf, mary, julia, grandpa and grandma helleberg, grandpa natt-och-dag, swedenborg, madam ehrenborg, madam de frese, and a host of others. dear emil forgot me; i am last, but i hope not the least, in sending you a happy new year's greeting. he says i am able to do that myself, and so i am, and happy to do so. nothing affords me more real pleasure than to communicate to you. wishing you many beautiful spirit communications this coming year, i bid you good day. "jennie." after this came the following from a highly esteemed noble lady, who recently passed to the higher life, leaving an only daughter remaining in the form. madam de frese was distinguished in her native land--sweden--for her literary tastes and labors and the purity of her character. it was a great surprise by reason of her having passed on so recently: "good morning, my dear friend. with the assistance of mr. swedenborg and our kind friend madam ehrenborg, and with the aid of this medium's very highly gifted and intelligent band, i am able to write a few more lines to those i love who are yet in the body." (at this moment i said to the medium, "it is my impression that this communication is from my friend, amelia de frese, and it may be a help to convince the new church people in sweden, and her daughter, of the spiritual truth and power.") and then came: "yes, that is my object, to send them a new year's greeting from my beautiful spirit home, and to tell my dear daughter that i am not far from her, but able to advise her and control affairs mundane, and that by impression. she will be directed in the right way, and although she does not imagine that i am with her, still it is a reality. tell her to have no fear, she will be directed to do my will, and now that the dark pall is before her, and that to penetrate through it seems an impossibility, but 'ere long she will get glimpses of the summer land and of the loved ones gone before. though the clouds may lower and thicken fast and the mutterings of the storm king is heard, fear not, mother is near to ward off danger. she will know my meaning. she is in mental trouble, the weight is almost overpowering. this will help to remove it somewhat, and what she longs for. she thinks, 'oh, if mother could tell me what to do.' as a parting word, tell her that the sunshine of spiritualism will scatter the clouds and mists that now surround her, and that she will be made doubly happy by its introduction into her troubled heart, and every pulsation of that member of the body will beat with joy. with the blessings of swedenborg and madam ehrenborg, and with my heart full of love for her and highest regards for yourself and companion, and thanks for this privilege of communicating, i bid you adieu. "madam amalia de frese, of stockholm, sweden." january 9th i received the following from the same spirit: "thanks, my dear old friend, mr. helleberg, for sending the communication to my daughter. i will be there when she reads it, and make her feel my presence. i am your friend, "amalia de frese." chapter xvi. a prayer from madam ehrenborg. jan. 26, 1882. and the following came on the slate, which i then copied word for word, and herewith reproduce _verbatim et literatum_: "my dear old friend. according to promise i am here, and i will endeavor to write you a prayer: "oh, thou infinite spirit of truth, soul of all things, we humbly approach thee at this hour. we know our praises can not exalt thee for thou art already infinitely exalted. we know how vain are our adulations of thee, and that we can not change or make thee other than what thou art, a being permeating all things, ever pure and changeless. we know thou hast existed in all the past, and for thee and thine there is no ending in all the measureless immensity of future time. thou art infinite and perfect in all thy great attributes of love, wisdom, and power, the true and everlasting trinity. we know we serve thee best when we seek and labor for the good of thy children, whether they be in realms of spirit being or in mortal life. we feel the inspiration of thy words--'do good to all'--wafted to our anxious ears on every breeze, and we bow in reverence before the eternal words written on all the works of thy mighty creation, 'love one another even as i love all.' we look not for thee in temples of human construction, or in buildings vainly dedicated to thy worship, but we discover thee in all that thou hast brought into being by the creative energies of thy almighty power. we hear thy majestic voice in the mighty roar of old ocean and in the gentle murmurings of the brooklet. we hear thy voice in the thunderings of the storm king and in the soft whisperings of the zephyrs. we behold thee in the stately form of the oak and in the sweet blossoming and blooming flowers. wherever we go, wherever we look, and in whatever we behold there thou art ever present. oh, thou mighty master spirit of the universe, bless thy children every-where. strengthen thy messengers, ministering spirits from the land immortal, to teach those still in the bonds of the flesh the sublime and eternal truths of immortality. may thy children in mortal learn that wisdom which teaches righteous living, heroic dying, life-unending and eternal progression. shower divine blessings on this aged brother who is seeking to know of thee through thy ministering angels. strengthen his faith, increase his knowledge, cheer his heart, and as he nears the end of the journey of mortal life fill his soul with that joy that can only be bestowed by the spirits of dear ones who have passed to the better land. bless, oh father, this noble medium, a chosen instrument of the spirit world, through whom to transmit messages of love. bless all such instruments. encourage and invest with continually increasing powers this noble band of spirits, and enable them through their chosen and beloved medium to bless and cheer the hearts of many by the impartation of light divine, and may that light radiate through their souls as the sunbeams descending from the golden orb of day illuminates the physical world. accept, oh lord, from the fulness of our souls this our earnest prayer. amen." chapter xvii. greetings from horace greeley, j. g. bennett, and henry j. raymond, to f. b. plimpton, associate editor of the cincinnati "daily commercial." during the visit of the celebrated medium, henry slade, to cincinnati, recently, a reporter of the cincinnati "daily enquirer" visited him and secured a sitting, during which mr. f. b. plimpton, associate editor of the cincinnati "daily commercial," by invitation was present. the day following, the "enquirer" reporter, in speaking of the seance in the columns of his paper, referred to mr. plimpton in disparaging terms as being a believer in spiritualism, etc. in the succeeding issue of the "enquirer" mr. plimpton had published over his proper signature the following rejoinder: dr. slade and his "confederate." _to the editor of the enquirer._ your reporter makes much of my accidental meeting with him at the rooms of dr. slade. i had called on the doctor's general invitation (he being an entire stranger to me), not with the thought of witnessing any of the so-called manifestations, but to have a chat with him touching some points of his european experience. in the course of our conversation he incidentally mentioned that he had an appointment with a press representative, and shortly afterward your reporter came in, and was introduced to me as "mr. culbertson." having met the young gentleman on a recent social occasion, when he was introduced to me under his right name, his identity was not obscure to me, but it would have been the height of impoliteness on my part, an invited guest, to have interfered with any little plan he may have formed to entrap the magician. it is a trivial and common form of deception, and as dr. slade does not profess to be a mind-reader, it is as easy for a stranger to impose on him in that way as upon an ordinary person. so, as "mr. culbertson" your reporter remained from the beginning to the end of the sitting. why dr. slade changed his mind and allowed me to remain during the seance i do not know, and do not care to know. it seems, however, to have excited the suspicions of your acute reporter, who amusingly presents me to your readers in the light of a confidante of the doctor. this is too ridiculous to receive serious refutation. it was the sheerest accident that i was present at all. your reporter very fairly states the phenomena witnessed, except where his lively imagination charmingly interferes with strict accuracy, and tempts him to adorn his narrative with divers brass ornaments of his own invention. but he must pardon me if i decline to accept him as an expert at his own valuation, since by his own statement he stands condemned of practicing the only deception at all explicable, and then not telling the truth about it. he is, however, entitled to his own conclusions, which must be very valuable, considering the time he has devoted to investigation. there is no accounting for the superior insight which a young man has into phenomena, that have baffled old heads after years of patient study. it may be remarked, however, that to denounce as trickery and fraud phenomena otherwise not easily explained is a ready way of ridding one's self of the whole business. though not giving much attention of late years to the subject, i am a spiritualist, and not ashamed to own it. the time has passed when it is necessary to doff one's hat and apologize in this or any other intelligent community for being a spiritualist. it is, at least, as creditable as to discourse without knowledge and condemn without investigation. f. b. plimpton. on thursday, february 2d, at mrs. green's, among other matter received came the following: "respected sir: we are here this morning to ask you to go and see mr. plimpton, of the "commercial," and say to him for us, that we not only thank but congratulate him for his recent bold and manly utterances in favor of truth. the time has arrived for those blessed with the knowledge presented by spiritualism to bravely avow it, and we are glad that he has taken the initiative in the queen city of the west. the time has truly passed when such avowal entails social ostracism or any kind of persecution. the banner of truth has been unfurled, and ye brave souls marshal the veteran hosts under it and onward to victory. you will find less obstruction than you think, for believers in this much-abused gospel of light are more numerous than you conceive. besides you have myriad hosts of heaven at your backs. falter not, move onward with firm and confident step. be steadfast and true and bright laurels await you. the victory is not always to the strong, but to the active, the vigilant, and the brave. the army of spiritualism has already swollen into huge proportions, and its ranks are being daily augmented. the decree has gone forth and the triumph will come. truth shall arise for the eternal years of god are her's, and nothing can stay or retard the onward march to victory of the grand army of invisible hosts. "horace greeley. "j. g. bennett, sr. "henry j. raymond." chapter xviii. communications from horace greeley, governor o. p. morton, and a. p. willard. on the 7th of april, among other things, i received the following: "unless some changes are made in the conduct of your government direful consequences are to be apprehended. under the present mode of administration it is continually subjected to very heavy straining, and it can not much longer stand it. many reforms are needed, and the requirements of patriotism demand that they be seriously considered and acted upon. your civil service is entirely wrong, and can not be continued much longer without serious detriment to your form of government. the integrity and stability of your institutions are constantly menaced by it. you claim that you have an elective government. is the claim true? thousands of important public offices are not filled by the elective voice of the people. they are filled by appointment from purely partisan considerations--for partisan purposes and as a reward for party services and party zeal. fitness and worthiness are secondary and minor considerations. hence arise clamorings of party strife, and the engendering of the festering sore curses of corruption. the presidential office had better be abolished than to continue it invested with such vast patronage in dispensing official appointments. there exists no valid reason why the people themselves should not select from their neighbors postmasters, revenue officers, etc., as well as state, county, and township officers. the presidential office should either be dispensed with or its incumbent elected by a direct vote of the people without the intervention of the cumbersome and corrupting electoral machinery. the electing of men to elect other men to office is the dodging of a responsibility and the surrendering of a right of the people that can not be defended upon sound principles. "another danger confronts you menacingly and demands watchful attention. it is the startling aggregations of wealth among the few, and wrung from the sweat of labor. these immense accumulations find utilization in the creation of merciless monopolies which have already assumed gigantic and threatening proportions in the united states. "stock gambling is not a whit better in morals than any of the games of cards by which the unwary are fleeced out of their hard earnings. the participants and operators in the one are no better than in the other, and yet the one, under your christian civilization is applauded while the other is denounced. how long yet will the people continue to be hoodwinked and handicapped by designing political tricksters. we have seen the star of hope, but now behold the star of promise rising in its refulgent splendor, and therefore we take heart. "h. greeley." hon. o. p. morton. on the 13th of april the following communication was received, purporting to come from the late united states senator from indiana, oliver p. morton, viz: "amid the rancor and jealousies of party strife i came in for a full share of abuse and vituperation. i was denounced most bitterly as an ambitious man, wholly unconscionable and indifferent as to the means employed in the accomplishment of party ends. now, i frankly confess that i was not a saint in politics, nor always, politically speaking, perfectly orthodox. i am free to admit that i was so constituted that when i once believed a certain view to be sound and right i never hesitated to use all the appliances and machinery of party to secure its triumph. i was called a bold man in politics. i am proud of this, for it is in contradistinction to all that is sneaking. i aimed to always be right, and believed, in a certain qualified and honorable sense, that the ends justified the means. those who are vociferating so loudly and screaming so painfully about bad and corrupt men, are generally traveling in the same boat, with the same sails spread to the breeze. in my mind and heart the country's good was always a paramount consideration, and i have as few regrets as most men who have devoted as long a period to public life. the man out of office feels himself called upon to denounce the man who is in, and affects to believe himself especially endowed with the requisite qualities to purify the public service, but when safely ensconced in the incumbency he too soon finds himself a barkis, who "is willing." there are many good and true men engaged in public political life, but none perfect, and you would be as successful in ransacking _hades_ for an angel of light in your efforts to find a perfect politician. whatever is wrong and corrupt in your public service and political life will never be corrected and purified by the politicians alone. as well might you hope for a deadly eating cancer to eradicate itself, or the upas tree, with its deadly emanations, to give forth health-breeding and life-sustaining exhalations. the remedy rests alone and wholly with the great masses of the people. the prostitution of office to the debasing influences of bribery and corruption must be made odious by fixing austere penalties against the offender, and the prompt and indiscriminate enforcement of them. misfeasance and malfeasance in public office ought to be considered an unpardonable crime, and the guilty dealt with accordingly. let the people teach their officials the doctrine that a continuation of political existence depends wholly on fidelity to the public interests, and the honest, faithful and efficient administration of their official trusts. when there is willful dereliction of duty, or a failure by grossly reprehensible conduct to meet the just public expectations, not only relegate the offender to the walks of private life, but impose such punishment as shall be deemed adequate to the enormity of the crime, and will deter others from the commission of like offenses. "o. p. morton." gov. a. p. willard. may 19, 1882, i received the following from ashbel p. willard, who i learn was at one time governor of the state of indiana, viz.: "good morning, sir. i was, during my earth life, a politician, and, to a certain extent, a successful one, if success may be measured and determined by captivating the masses, and thereby securing elevation to office. i was in early life surrounded by poverty, and arose from humble conditions to the chief magistracy of the great commonwealth of indiana. i was of the common people, always kept myself closely allied to them and their interests, and if you will excuse the egotism, always felt that i was near their hearts. i was called an orator, and probably to some extent this was true, for nature had favored me highly in that direction by organization, and i have occasion to be thankful that whatever gifts i may have possessed, they were aimed to be exercised for the promotion of the public good and the happiness and prosperity of the people. in youth i obtained a common education and taught school, and by teaching the young the rudiments of education i was enabled to study and observe the different tendencies and characteristics of mind. while engaged in this pursuit i discovered some properties of my own mind and some gifts of speech, which, in public utterance, subsequently distinguished me--not so much in the forum as on the "hustings" during periodical political excitements. i soon discovered that the power i was enabled to wield in political disputations was attracting the people to me, and their voices at the ballot-box soon called me into official position and consequent prominence. "whatever faults i may have had, it is a proud satisfaction for me to know that it was never charged that i ever betrayed either a private or public trust. but in my day things were quite different from what they are now. the politicians in my day were imbued with a different and a higher patriotic sense of obligation to the public interests and the general public weal. the great war of the rebellion seems to have poisoned the divine streams of patriotism, and the politicians of to-day seem to have drank too freely therefrom. you have passed through evil times, and they are still upon you. "the best minds of the spirit world are hard at work seeking to purify the waters of political life. it must begin at the fountain head. the people, the great masses who constitute the fountain of all political power, must be awakened to a realization of the wretched condition into which they have permitted public affairs to drift. there must be a quickening of the public conscience and a revivifying of the patriotism of the early fathers of the republic. the sanctifying influences of the patriotism of the revolution must again permeate the hearts of the people. the politicians, always cunning and watchful of the tendencies and driftings of the public mind, will either fall in with the new order of things, or be forced to retire and subside from public notice. the great minds and patriotic hearts of washington, lafayette, adams, jefferson, franklin, hancock, paine, webster, clay, douglas, lincoln, garfield, and hosts of others, are coming from the skies, leaving for awhile the glorious pursuits and joys of spirit unfoldments to speak to the people, and to lead them away from the demoralizing and corrupting influences of the partisanship of the day into better channels and loftier patriotism. "how shall the work of purifying the public service, restimulation of patriotism, and the placing of the waning fortunes of the country upon the high road of prosperity be done? _first._ what is needed to be done? _second._ how shall it be done? these questions, so pregnant with mighty results, should engage your earnest and prayerful consideration. these matters may be discussed and presented to you, and i am glad that the means will be furnished to lay them before the people. "if what i have said will be the means of arousing one patriotic citizen to the necessity of the governmental reformation now in contemplation by our spiritual congress, i shall feel then supremely happy that the little effort in writing these feeble lines was not in vain. "i was known when in the form, and am still, as "ashbel p. willard." chapter xix. communications from the drunkard, a miser, william gailard, william lloyd garrison, wilberforce, tecumseh, a suicide. on may 25, 1882, came the following communication from a spirit, who declined to give his name, for reasons which he claimed to be prudential and personal to himself. it is here given in his own words: "the band of spirits who have this medium in charge, together with other exalted ones and one who is co-operating with them temporarily, have not only allowed, but invited me, unworthy as i am, to come and tell my story. it is a short and terrible one, and in deep sorrow and humiliation i proceed to tell it. "i was called, and justly so, a drunkard. by nature i was blessed with a strong and robust constitution, and i was, what is too often a curse, the child of wealthy parents. my father was rich, and this circumstance proved my ruin. i was nursed in the lap of luxury, never knew what it was to want, and consequently had no sympathy for those that suffered, or those immersed in the fierce struggles of poverty. i disdained to work with my hands for bread, and knew not the hardships and sorrows of the toiling millions. my brow was never moistened by the sweat of labor, and i grew up in the belief that the poor were intended and purposely created to serve the rich, and were deserving of naught but a bare scanty subsistence. my life of indolence and ease, my uninterrupted hours of leisure, produced their inevitable fruit in their accompaniments of vice and immorality. idleness, as i now know, is the parent of vice, and riches too frequently constitute the propagating life germs of wickedness. it was sadly true in my unhappy case. oh, fathers, mothers, heed my warning counsel: train your children to labor--to work, work, work. allow but few idle hours for dissipation and vice. keep them away, if possible, from the club room, where intoxicating beverages are indulged in and made inviting by temptation, and where lascivious conversations only tend to stimulate and develop the lower passions and propensities of their natures. wine, fair to look upon and with frequent imbibations exhilarating, contains within its alluring embrace a terrible lurking serpent whose venomous sting is fatal to all that is noble, grand, and holy. it strikes, figuratively speaking, its poisoned teeth into the very vitals of our being, and the effect follows us to the other life with its terrible retributive vengeance. oh, pity the poor inebriate, and erect all possible barriers against the terrible ravages of the fell destroyer. "the drunkard." a miser. april 24, 1882, came the following: "i am permitted to come to you to-day to relate something of my history. there is a twofold purpose in my visit. i am told that this will greatly benefit me as a spirit still bound to my idol--gold--and that i may be instrumental in warning others to avoid my condition. "i lived in the flesh more than three score years and ten, and when i laid down to die the only thing i regretted leaving was my gold and hoarded wealth. oh, i thought, if i could only take it all with me how happy i would be. the world said i was a noble man, because being avaricious and greedy, i was successful in acquiring riches. my nobility of character was measured entirely by my ability to accumulate money and property. i want to publish it to the world that money, stocks, and landed estates, are poor capital to bank on in the spirit world. they will do here, and as the world goes, will make you respectable, your society and influence coveted and all that, but you need a different kind of capital on this side of life. gold here has great purchasing power. it buys the luxuries of life, it even buys honor, virtue, and innocence, at a fearful sacrifice and cost to others, but its power, except its terrible evil following, ends with your life in the body. nothing but good deeds, noble charities, and upright living pass current in the land of souls. i was a miserable, soulless miser, and my occupation and delight consisted in adding to my coffers, and in this endeavor i forgot and ignored conscience and every thing in the pathway of the pursuit of my idol. "i belonged to a fashionable church, owned a pew, attended the services, and flattered myself that this was all that was needful to prepare my soul for happiness in the other world. no appeals of charity were ever strong enough to touch my sympathies or open my purse strings. the tears of the widow, the wails of the orphan, or the cries of the suffering, however piteous, never touched my heart or obtained from me a single penny. i stinted myself and family and contributed nothing towards the relief of want and suffering, for i was so completely enslaved by the accursed love of and passion for money. this is a humiliating confession to make, but it is, alas, for my happiness, too true. i tell you money has been my curse, and oh, how terribly have i suffered. years upon years have rolled by, and i have only partially paid the penalty of my folly. no wonder the rich man wanted some one to go back and tell his brethren of his fate. i hope i may hereby be the humble instrument in warning others against the pitfall into which i have fallen. my gold came up before me here to greet my fond gaze, and when i would joyously reach out for it, behold it would elude my grasp, thus teaching me that it had no real existence except as the haunting specter of my unholy life struggle for its possession. the light of redemption now begins to beam upon me, flooding my soul with its bright rays of hope. i feel this will do me good, and i am very thankful for the opportunity. let me be simply known as "the miser." william gailard. william gailard was an old personal friend, and the first one who called my attention to the subject of spiritualism. he had been a swedenborgian, and at times had officiated as a preacher in england before he came to the states. at a sitting with mrs. green, june 2, 1882, i was pleased to receive the following communication from him: "my old friend, mr. helleberg. i know you have been waiting and wanting to hear from me, and i have been just as anxious to respond. here in the spirit world we have order and system, and each one must bide his time. my time has come to speak a few words to you, and i assure you, my dear old friend, i seize the opportunity with pleasure i can not fully express. "i remember that the new light of spiritual truth came to me first, and i was the humble instrument in the hands of higher intelligences to assist you in obtaining it. i was a medium for exalted spirits to lead you and others into the light, and that for a great and noble purpose, for way back to that time the plans were laid for the work in which you are now engaged so nobly and fearlessly. you are also, my dear friend, a medium, for it is true that all persons whom spirits can influence, however unconscious it may be to themselves, are mediums in the true sense of the word. "you are helping others to grow and expand in spiritual knowledge, and you will be astonished when you come over to look back and see the work you have done, and to receive the plaudit, 'well done, good and faithful servant.' i have been blessed beyond measure for the little i was enabled to do, but your reward will be greater than mine. your opportunities were greater and you cheerfully yielded your energies, time, and means, to the work. "if spiritualists could only realize the treasures they are laying up for themselves by advancing the banner of truth, and the joys in consequence that await them on the golden shore, they would spare no pains or means and omit no effort in spreading the gospel of glad tidings. oh, how i would exult with joy if the new church people would see and preach this beautiful and blessed truth. they will yet get their eyes open, and step out of their little creed-bound narrowness, and stand upon the broad and heavenly platform of the lord and this spiritual truth, for they are one and the same. swedenborg will speak to them from the higher life, and i pray they may heed him. your old friend, "william gailard." wm. lloyd garrison. at the sitting june 9, 1882, came the following: "for long years before the emancipation of the slaves i waged a fierce and bitter warfare against the institution of african slavery in the united states. the overthrow of that accursed institution became the absorbing and central idea of my soul from my early manhood. all other themes, questions, and subjects, i subordinated to that one dominant purpose of my life. when i had lived to see that institution swept out of existence, equal civil rights secured, and manhood suffrage conferred, irrespective of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, i felt a sweet heavenly calm rest upon my soul, accompanied by the consciousness that i had not lived in vain. i felt that my efforts, however feeble, had helped to forward to a glorious consummation that long eventful struggle, and that by aiding in pushing along the car of progress and freedom, the world had not suffered by my having lived in it. when the victory had been achieved i had advanced far 'into the vale of years,' and realized that my life forces were well nigh exhausted. they had been mainly expended in my life work as editor, lecturer, etc., in a warfare upon an unholy condition in which upward of four millions of human beings, with god-given souls, had been placed by sheer force and without their own consent. i saw and still see needed reforms that call aloud for help, willing souls, and ready hands. reform in the currency, reform in the tariff, reform in the civil service, a complete overhauling and reconstruction of government, the overthrow of rum, and the enfranchisement of women. god will and is raising up noble souls for this noble work, and you may be assured that the spirit world is neither indifferent nor inactive. spirit bands are forming every-where, instrumentalities are being chosen, and agencies are being arranged for the work. the millions of high and exalted souls of the higher life will, ere long, descend upon the children of earth with their inspiring and propelling influence, and a revolution in the realm of mind will be inaugurated that shall eventuate in the accomplishment of needed reforms. i shall be among the number with all my strength and soul. "wm. lloyd garrison." wilberforce. july 7, 1882, at a sitting this day the following came: "the main struggle of my life was to secure the liberation of the enslaved in the dominions under the authority and jurisdiction of the british government. i lived to witness the glorious success of my labors and to rejoice thereat and therein. i fought human slavery; i mean that slavery which is recognized by law--the right of one man to own another as a chattel, and to either transfer that ownership to another for a pecuniary or other consideration, or to transmit it as an inheritance. in doing so i had to combat wealth, prejudice, and biblical religion, for the bible recognizes this right. the struggle was long, eventful, and bitter, but victory finally crowned the effort. the civilized world concedes now the justness of my cause and the value to mankind of its success. and yet you are now fastening upon yourselves a slavery more appalling and degrading than african slavery ever was, or the slavery of the heathen and strangers of the olden time. (see leviticus, 25th chapter, 44, 45 and 46th verses.) "the slavery to which i refer now is the slavery of labor to capital. if i were back again in the body, with my present light on the subject, i would fight this accursed slavery more bitterly than i did that other species of slavery, which was bad enough, but infinitely less reprehensible than that which i am now discussing. "no oppression is so utterly merciless and unconscionable as that of capital upon labor, and no other form of oppression can be so serious and hurtful in its consequences. here we behold a mighty conflict between capital and labor. capital making cruel and unreasonable exactions, seeking to obtain labor for an almost starvation pittance, while labor, unequal in the struggle, seeks to wrest from its adversary a decent and honorable requitement for its sweat. capital triumphs and labor suffers. let me tell you to-day, sir, and i would have the capitalists hear me, this contest will not always continue thus. unless a spirit of justice and fair dealing shall speedily characterize the treatment of the poor toilers by their wealthy employers a mighty crash will come, an outburst of indignation in revolution that will render the bloody scenes of the past of trivial moment in comparison. the elements are generating, the storm clouds are surely gathering, and at a moment when least expected they will burst upon the country and the world in proportions only equaled by the fierceness of the conflict and its bloody issues. let those whom it concerns beware. i beseech them, beware in time. "wilberforce." tecumseh. on the 4th day of august, 1882, between the hours of 9 and 11 a. m., came the following, which can not fail to be of interest to all who feel that our indian policy has been either wrong or ineffective, and that the indians have not been rightly treated. the eloquent simplicity of the communication can not fail to be observed: "a large delegation of indians are here and wish to be heard. we have concluded to let them speak. i will write what their leader says in as nearly his own words as possible. "nettie, _the control_." "we come to speak to palefaces at washington. me talk for my people--the redfaces in the hunting-grounds in the far west where the sun goes down. poor redfaces, nearly all gone. paleface kill many and drive them from their old and much loved hunting grounds. you tell them to go on reservation, and the big father at washington take good care of them. they go. big chief at big city send paleface agents to give them blankets, ponies, guns, and bread to eat. paleface agent start big store in wigwam and cheat redface, and give him fire-water to make him mad and crazy. when my people see how they are cheated they get mad, and put on war paint and kill much. big paleface chief say to blue-coat warriors, go and kill redface and make them come back, and let paleface agent swindle much more. now this is all wrong, and if wrong, why not make wrong right. redface only handful, paleface mighty--like the leaves on trees. if redface mighty and paleface weak, how then you like it? you then like redface be honest and not cheat, and do as big preach say about golden rule. me no like you give my people fire-water or guns. me much like better if you give red braves horses and plows, and build school-houses for little papooses. teach them how to read and make big scratch (writings) and let them learn other papooses. don't cheat. put paleface clothes on redface, especially redface papooses, and learn them how to build big houses and how to raise big much to eat and sell. then soon redface no more like hunting ground, but will love paleface and paleface ways. this much better than kill. great spirit no like paleface to kill redface or redface kill paleface. all die soon enough anyhow. upper hunting grounds are full of redfaced spirits, and they all feel bad and sorry for redface in your land. me no talk much more. me sorry--me could cry. poor redface few--soon all be gone. be good to few left, and great spirit and redfaced spirits love you much. spirit chiefs ouray and black hawk and many more are here, and all plead for their people in lower hunting grounds. they all feel much bad. good bye, chief and squaw. me thank much for this big scratch. "tecumseh." an unknown suicide. august 28, 1882, the following was received, viz: "i lived in the body thirty-five years and eight months. i went out by my own hand into the great beyond. i was a singularly constituted man, and a very unfortunate one. self-love is said to be a great ruling passion, but i never loved myself, and of course could not be expected to love anybody else. my parents were in no way assimilated and lived very unhappily together. they quarreled and wrangled constantly, and this embodies my earliest recollection when a child, and it made an impression upon me from the influence of which i never recovered. they seemed to hate each other, and i was created and grew up under the same influence of hate, and hate accompanied by a feeling of vengeance and revenge became a predominating trait of my character. my parents both belonged to church, and i have seen them both shout in church (they were methodists) and go home, quarrel and fight for hours afterwards. father would get drunk and mother would eat opium. i tell you this disgusted me with religion, and i concluded it was all a farce. i believed death ended all, and that religion was either a delusion or downright hypocrisy. besides i had a very delicate and feeble physical organization which made me more morose and sullen. melancholy finally seized me as a victim, and in a moment of utter despondency i blew out my brains and ended life in the body. but i could not get away from life--death i found to be but the commencement of another life, and i had made the great blunder and committed the foul deed of taking my life into my own hands. seventy-seven years have passed since, and the terrible shadow of the act of suicide still hovers over me and gives me pain and anguish. but thank god, i begin to climb up the mount of progression--but the summit is still far away. oh, people of earth, i pray you become not the suicide. wait with patience until nature's laws calls thee hence. remember the fate of the suicide is terrible and hard to overcome. and in my sad history fathers and mothers may learn an instructive and profitable lesson, for my father and mother have suffered more than i. thanks for your goodness. good bye. "a suicide." chapter xx. communications from thomas paine, margaret fuller, and thanks of spirits. aug. 31, 1882. the following from the spirit of thomas paine, on capital punishment, was received: "i am here to-day, sir, to say a few words in opposition to capital punishment. what is the argument in its favor? one citizen has taken the life of another citizen, and you say he has thereby forfeited his right to live. from whence do you get this doctrine? does it belong to and is it a reflex of your boasted christian civilization? the mosaic law demanded an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but is this the doctrine of jesus, the assumed founder of christianity? if you think so, you certainly have not read him attentively, and it may be profitable to you in considering the subject to read the sermon on the mount, as recorded in the fifth chapter of matthew, especially the thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth verses. "you coolly and with the utmost deliberation usher these imperfectly developed souls out of one life into another, thereby ridding yourselves of human monsters and fiends by sending them to be cares, pests, and annoyances to the people of another world. and this you call christian charity, benevolence, and fair dealing. but you say they can repent before they are shuffled off by the hangman, and thus be saved. if this be true, the best service you can render all villains and evil disposed persons is to hang them as the surest means of saving their souls in heaven, for if they are permitted to live and die natural deaths the chances are that they will never repent, and all consequently go to hell. but this is a subterfuge. it is the unholy spirit of revenge that actuates you, and you consider not the victim's good. certainly heaven is not yearning for these cutthroats and outlaws, and hell, according to orthodoxy, is already crowded and overpopulated. one man, either through ungovernable passion or malice prepense, takes the life of another. now, he generally has some real or imaginary grievance, but without even this excuse your courts take the other life, just as if one wrong justified another. your plea that protection to society demands this course is untenable. is it true that no adequate protection can be afforded except by judicial murder? would not the confinement of the culprit subserve the same purpose, with the additional humane advantage of allowing the opportunity to reform and become better, and best of all, to let the voice of god, through natural law, call him from time to eternity. "christians can not rise up to the sublime altitude of adopting, in practical life, the ennobling teachings of the nazarene including love and forgiveness, as long as they believe the god of their worship to be a vindictive and passionate being full of spleen and vengeance. to believe in such a god naturally inspires the effort to imitate his characteristics, and hence they become spiteful and vengeful, and in favor of taking human life on the scaffold, because a badly organized mortal in a fit of rage or in the pursuit of revenge for, perhaps, an imaginary wrong done him, slays his neighbor. the killing of one man by another is no worse than judicial murder, and both are relics of barbarism and a past heathen age, and you ought to have done with them. to-morrow, margaret fuller on prayer. "thomas paine." margaret fuller. sept. 1, 1882, came the following writing from the spirit of margaret fuller: "true prayer is the yearning of the soul for something it feels the need of. it need not be expressed in silent words or oral declamation. every aspiration is in the true sense a prayer. every aspiration, though silent, has its potencies, reaches out and attracts its kindred spiritual affinities. if your soul-yearnings and aspirations are of a sordid and purely earthly nature, they affect and attract corresponding influences in the invisible realm of being, permeate your soul and limit it to that sphere. if, on the other hand, your aspirations pertain to the realm of the lofty and beautiful, you render yourself thereby receptive to the grand and ennobling influences of the pure and heavenly. if you pray for riches in a worldly sense you prepare the mental, moral, and spiritual conditions to attract the spirit misers and the selfish. if you pray for spiritual illumination and aspire to moral excellence, you bring to your sphere and aid the noble and unselfish children of the more exalted spiritual spheres. if you meditate a wrong deed or action you will be successful in drawing to your assistance those unfortunates of the spirit world who have not outgrown the tendencies, inclinations, and imperfections, of their earthly careers and conditions. hence the very great importance of being mindful for what you pray. the spiritual influences that you attract and which thereby become associated with you, exert a powerful influence in directing your footsteps, molding your actions, and in the construction of your spiritual temple in the new life just before you. would you desire the companionship of spirit paupers and spirit tramps, become one yourself, and you may depend on success. would you prefer rather to be attended by good and noble spirit and spiritual influences, aspire to be good and noble yourself, and your success is assured. of one thing be enlightened, your spirit attendants during your mortal journey will be no worse than you are yourself. it is yourself that prepares the conditions and not they. if your actions are upright, your aspirations noble, and your thoughts elevated toward the divine, you thereby exert a positive repellant power that no evil can overcome, and in such a generated atmosphere an evil influence can no more dwell than oil can mix with water. bear this great law in mind, and take advantage of it and you are safe and all will be well. heed it not in conduct and thought and it will rebound upon you with damaging effect. "hesitate not to invite undeveloped spirits to your seances if your purpose be to benefit them. for such a motive on your part will draw around you the encircling influences of angels and the divine protecting love, and no harm can befall you, but much good to the poor spiritual wanderers in spiritual darkness. they must be lifted up, and you can be of great service as auxiliaries to the advanced spirits who labor for their redemption. by such a course you are praying such prayers as will bring upon you blessings from the angelic spheres "margaret fuller." at the same sitting came the following closing remarks by the medium's immediate control: "i am requested to state that with this ends the present book, and to express to you, mr. helleberg, the thanks of the spirits who have communicated for your attentiveness, painstaking, and honest purposes. the band of the medium have done all they could to assist them and from them have received benedictions. besides it has been a labor of love on our part to be, in any sense, assistants to so many exalted spirits. "we also thank you for your gentlemanly deportment towards our medium, and for the earnest and honest interest you take in her welfare. i speak for the entire band. "nettie, _the control_." [appendix.] chapter xxi. mrs. green's medial history. the following is a partial history of the development and mediumistic experiences of mrs. lizzie s. green, the medium chosen by the spirits in transmitting the matter contained in this volume: she was born in jefferson county, kentucky, on the second day of december, 1844, and consequently at this writing is in her thirty-eighth year. the following narrative of her mediumship was written by her husband, dictated by herself, and when written out was pronounced by her to be correct, and she adopts it her own. it is believed that this briefly recited history can not fail to be interesting to the general reader, since it contains matter and experiences not only absorbingly interesting but truly wonderful, and evidences the existence of a power that all thoughtful and candid persons will agree is worthy of investigation. those who have enjoyed mrs. green's acquaintance socially for years invariably speak of her as a truly honest woman, faithful wife, loving mother, steadfast friend, in intellectual capacity far above and beyond her educational advantages, and as possessed of many other sterling qualities of heart. those who have come in contact with her in the exercise of her medial gifts can not fail to have been impressed with her frankness, simplicity of character, and the unquestionable honesty of her nature. [illustration] this tribute to her integrity and moral worth is given because well merited, and by one who not desiring notoriety and fame wishes simply to be known as a friend. narrative of her mediumship. "my conscious mediumship began in the fall of 1868. it commenced by the opening of my spiritual vision, enabling me to see spirits, scenes, landscapes, etc., in their spirit world. when in the proper state or condition of passivity i have been permitted to behold innumerable throngs of spirits, and at times to hear their voices. the phase of clairaudience added to my clairvoyance i prized highly, and sorely regret that shortly afterwards a fit of sickness deprived me of the gift of hearing spirit voices, and for a time seriously retarded my other mediumistic development. i am happy to be able to state, however, that with my gradual restoration to health my clairvoyant perceptions began to increase in power and beauty, and now the voices of the arisen dear ones again greet my anxious and ever attentive ears. "i desire to state in this connection that in all my intercourse with spirits they have never deceived me in a single isolated instance. they have always been truthful and straightforward in their statements and dealings with me. "in the earlier stages of my mediumship and still sometimes i was frequently controlled to personate the peculiar and characteristic idiosyncracies of spirits during earth life, and to delineate their sickness and death. sometimes i would be rendered entirely unconscious and at other times only partially so. i shall never forget one memorable occasion of complete unconsciousness and the occurrence during it as related subsequently by eye witnesses. an old lady was present in the circle who i had never met before, and of whose history i had no means of obtaining the slightest knowledge. at the time i was wholly ignorant as to whether she had ever been a mother or the maternal head of a family, until i saw and described minutely a spirit standing by her side, who she readily recognized as her deceased son. 'what was the cause of his death?' she eagerly inquired. almost instantly my consciousness was suspended, preceded by a violent tremulous motion all over my frame. i fell to the floor in a violent fit, and so terrible was it, and so true to nature in all its terrible details that no little alarm was manifested by the various members of the circle. it thoroughly demoralized and threw them into consternation. i need only add that old mother thompson (for that was her name) has never since doubted the return of the spirit of her son george, for the poor man had not only suffered a quarter of a century from that appalling affliction, epileptic fits, but actually died in one. i soon recovered my normal condition and received the apology from the spirit for having used me so roughly, stating that his extreme anxiety to convince his beloved mother of his presence induced him to disregard delicacy and to overcome all obstacles in the way of the accomplishment of his purpose. "a little girl came to me on a certain occasion and said to me, 'please go and see my mother and tell her i am not dead.' 'where does your mother live?' i inquired. after giving me the necessary directions where and how to find her, i said: 'but your mother is a stranger to me, and perhaps if i go to her on an errand of that kind she will drive me from her door.' 'no she won't,' interposed the little pleader, 'she will be glad to learn that i am not under the cold ground but alive.' i marshaled the courage to go, yet i greatly feared the result. i was met at the door by the one i desired to see, and without giving sufficient time to explain the object of my call, i was cordially welcomed indoors. after being seated, and after the usual courtesies had passed, i opened the subject by saying, 'you have a little girl that has gone to the other world?' 'yes,' said she, falling into tears, 'she was a dear, darling child, and i have had no rest since she left me. she was the idol of my heart, and it seems that i can never become reconciled to her death. really, at times, i can scarcely realize that she is dead.' here a pause ensued, and her grief was so intense that the waters of sympathetic sorrow involuntarily flowed down my own cheeks. rallying, however, as quickly as i could, i said: 'my good woman, your mary is not dead. she stands there by your side and wants me to say to you, 'mother, i am not dead; do not weep for me, for i am still with you.' 'how! what does this mean?' exclaimed the mother in apparent bewilderment, 'i saw her poor little precious body consigned to the cold and cheerless grave.' 'yes,' i interrupted, 'but her spirit--the immortal and only valuable part of herself--was not buried beneath the ground. hold, she wishes me to describe her, and further, to prove her identity. she is a bright, blue-eyed girl of eleven or twelve summers, light auburn hair naturally inclined to curl, and falls in beautiful ringlets around her neck, forehead of the grecian mold, face even and rounded, with a mark resembling a raspberry under her right eye, and she died from scarlatina.' 'why, did you know mary when she was living?' was immediately asked. i assured her i did not. 'does the description fit her?' i inquired. 'perfectly,' was the reply; 'who told you about her,' she added. i answered: 'my good woman, believe me, until to-day i did not know you were in existence. the facts i have stated to you i obtained from your mary without the slightest knowledge of either your or her history.' after further conversation on the subject, and after describing other spirits, whom she readily recognized, the interview terminated, with a pressing invitation to return, and the assurances that she had derived from my visit inexpressible joy and happiness. in a few days thereafter i was unexpectedly called away from st. louis and have never returned. letters from friends who were cognizant of the circumstance as related by herself, inform me that mrs. collins is happy in the knowledge of spiritualism, has become reconciled to the temporary absence as to physical form of her child, and sends me her benedictions. "in 1869 while holding a circle at aurora, ind., composed of a few intimate friends and neighbors, a gentleman--a stranger to all of us--applied for admission, stating that he had been left by the east bound train, and not being able to resume his journey until the following morning, and hearing of my mediumship, he desired, if agreeable, to have a sitting, or be allowed to join the circle for that occasion. my husband cordially assented. our stranger friend had been seated but a short time when i saw a spirit forming by his side. i watched the process, and to my utter astonishment, which i at once made known, the spirit had a rope around his neck and presented a frightful appearance. i observed, 'i see a spirit with a rope around his neck, with tongue protruding,' etc. 'describe him, madam, if you please,' spoke the stranger. i did so; the spirit for the purpose changing his appearance to that of his natural condition. the stranger became very much excited, arose, seized his hat, and nervously remarked, 'this is a great test to me. several years ago i was sheriff of an interior county in indiana, and that man, jim roberts, was sentenced to be hanged for the murder of his father-in-law, and i am the one who executed the sentence of the court.' when in the act of taking his departure, he suddenly turned around, and plaintively inquired: 'has jim got any thing against me? i only did my duty as an officer of the law.' on being assured that no ill feeling was entertained by the spirit against him, but that he appeared as he did more for the purpose of a test than any thing else, he took his departure. i have never seen him since. he gave me, however, considerable notoriety in the community by relating his wonderful experience with a spiritual medium, and advised every one to shun mediums unless they were prepared and willing to have every thing connected with their past lives revealed and made known. perhaps this abused spiritualism may yet become the instrumentality of compelling people to walk uprightly in their dealings with their fellowmen. "these are a few among hundreds of such instances that i might relate, but the space allotted will not permit. i wish now briefly to refer to another phase of my mediumship. at various intervals i have had prophetic warning, and prophetic revelations have also been given me. i have also had what might be appropriately termed panoramic visions of past events of those both in and out of the body, and of events to transpire in the future of earth life. these visions, especially those prognostic of the future, have been truly wonderful. it is an oft quoted saying that 'coming events cast their shadows before,' and there remains no doubt in my mind but what spirits--whether all, i am not prepared to say--can sufficiently forecast the future as to reveal events and actions concealed from mortal discernment in the bosom of coming time. let me mention a few instances in my own experience as evidence of the existence of this power. "in 1869, myself and husband were holding a seance alone, at aurora, ind. we were living in the lower part of the city, near the river bank. aurora is situated on the banks of the ohio river, twenty-five miles below cincinnati, ohio. a little above the center of the city fronting the river a small stream, called hogan creek, empties into the ohio. three or four hundred yards above the junction of the two streams and on the banks of the aforementioned creek, is located the mammoth distillery, owned by messrs. t. & j. w. gaff & co. it has been consumed three times by fire and as often rebuilt. at the time of which i am speaking, we put blankets up to the windows in the room to be used for our dark circle, and by this means effectually excluded all external light. after extinguishing our lamp light, we sat patiently, awaiting manifestations. in the course of a half hour i saw and said, 'i see a large brick building on fire. the light from its ascending flames is flooding the river in front of the city. there, i see a poor man burning up in the fire. i see its majestic walls crumbling to pieces and falling into a huge mass of ruins.' at this juncture, we heard out doors the cry of fire! fire! and soon the bells of the quiet little city began to announce to its citizens that the insatiate fire-fiend was engaged in his terrible work of devastation and ruin. we hastened to the door only to behold, true to the vision previously given, the bosom of the river as brilliantly lighted up as though illuminated by the rays of the sun at his meridian height. t. & j. w. gaff & co.'s distillery was on fire and burned to ruins, and another concomitant of the vision was too sadly verified--a man was literally burned to ashes. "soon after this occurrence, a very dear lady friend called to see me. she contemplated a trip to indianapolis, and intended to start on the morrow train. i said to her, 'do not start to-morrow. defer it until the succeeding day. i see an accident on the road, and i see written in the air these words, "within twenty-four hours." i prevailed on her to postpone the trip in accordance with the warning of the vision. she had no occasion to regret it for the train on which she intended to be a passenger jumped the track before it reached its destination, and while no one was very seriously injured, yet it might have been otherwise had my friend been on board. she might not have escaped so luckily. "the shocking casualty of the collision between the united states mail steamers america and the united states, on the ohio river, between cincinnati and louisville, will be well remembered, especially by the people along the line of that route. the night of the painful occurrence i was a member of a circle held at the residence of mr. lewis shirley, of jeffersonville, ind. i saw the collision, the boats on fire, etc., at an hour antedating by several hours the time when the unfortunate event transpired. so thoroughly was i convinced that the verification of the vision was close at hand that i prevailed on a son of mr. shirley to meet the carrier-boy at the ferry landing early the following morning to procure a copy of a louisville daily paper. when the boy returned with the paper i was not surprised to find in its columns an account of the disaster, which i had plainly and vividly seen a number of hours prior to its actual occurrence. "on another occasion i saw a fire raging. i saw it was a two-story brick house. i saw men rolling barrels out of the burning structure, and from the rapidity of their movements and the ease and facility with which the barrels seemed to be handled and propelled along, i concluded they were empty and so expressed myself. my husband inquired, 'where is the fire at?' i placed myself in as passive a state as possible, but could get no answer. the questions were then asked: 'is it louisville?' 'no.' 'is it jeffersonville?' 'no.' 'new albany?' 'no.' 'indianapolis?' 'yes.' these answers respectively i saw written in the air or what appeared so to me. on that night, as we learned by the papers subsequently, a large barrel factory at indianapolis was destroyed by fire. "i will now relate one of a more startling nature and of more recent occurrence. the ill-fated steamer pat rogers was at the time of her destruction in the mail line service, and plied between cincinnati, ohio, and louisville, kentucky. she left port louisville for cincinnati at 2 p. m. at 4 o'clock, same afternoon, and two hours after her departure from louisville, and nine or ten hours before the terrible casualty, i saw written in the air, 'steamboat disaster to-night.' my husband remarked: 'see if you can not get the name of the boat.' presently i saw plainly the name pat rogers, which was immediately followed by presenting the whole vision, the conflagration, and passengers struggling for life amid the angry and turbulent waves. "i might narrate many more instances of this kind that belong to my individual experience, and volumes might be written if similar experiences of others should be included. "i come now to speak of my present powers and their development. when my husband had entered upon his second term as mayor of the city of aurora, he built us a home in a high altitude on a hillside overlooking the beautiful city in the valley below. here in the purer atmosphere with quiet surroundings were my present powers brought forth by a noble and trusty band of spirits whom i shall never cease to love for their fidelity to me and to truth, and for their ability and unceasing and intelligent efforts to advance the great and blessed cause of spiritualism. my dear spirit sister, alice vernette winesburgh _nee_ shirley, who, in her day, was a marvelous physical medium, has been and still is the active controlling spirit of my band, with others great and good, who sustain and aid her. she always signs her name simply nettie, by which she was called and known in earth life. she has clung to me with the true devotion of a sister, and has sustained herself in the position assigned her by the band with signal fidelity and ability. i shall speak more of this band toward the close. "in obedience to the request of the spirits we formed a circle for development, and found two gentlemen and their wives who were sufficiently liberal, and who had natural tendencies toward a belief in spiritualism. they agreed and we met twice each week, and it was not long before we discovered that power for physical manifestations was being developed. we sat in the dark around an ordinary plain stand, on which was placed a slate and pencil, a small bell, and a paper horn. we also would place on it a goblet filled with water. the manifestations began by the stand moving around and tipping. this phenomenon soon occurred in the light, and by means of it we at first were directed and instructed, using the alphabet in spelling out words. we met regularly and sat patiently. for a few months the development was slow but surely indicated progress, and the invisible operators continually exhorted us to patience, promising certain results from time to time, which they invariably performed. they stated to us what may not be generally known, namely, that all developments with a view to permanence are slow, advancing cautiously, step by step, leaving nothing neglected or uncared for. besides the health and well being of the medium should be carefully guarded and too oft by hurrying forward the development ruinous consequences resulted to the instrument and the success of the mediumship. we soon noted the fact that we were in the hands of careful, prudent, and able spirits, and we therefore implicitly obeyed their directions, and have never since had any occasion to regret it. finally the bell began to ring, and the various members of the circle were touched by materialized spirit hands. also, names and words were written on the slate and occasionally materialized locks of hair would be found on the stand upon closing the seance, which, in a few hours, would wholly dematerialize. this indicated materialization of spirit forms and was so announced to us. the next step was whispering to us through the paper trumpet, and by that means they were now enabled to give directions. after the lapse of about twelve months we were directed to procure a curtain for materialization, which we accordingly did, but before this the manifestations in the dark had become simply remarkable, not to say extraordinary. on putting up the curtain and taking my position behind it, several sittings passed without any appreciable result, until finally faces were discovered protruding from behind and above the curtain, two or three at a time, and after this it was not long until full form materializations were obtained. upon the expiration of my husband's term of office, the band insisted that we should move to cincinnati, if only for a year, assigning as the important reason, that they would be enabled there to collect and appropriate new elements necessary in the completion of the development. we had by this time learned that the wisest thing was to obey, and consequently in july, 1881, we moved to the queen city. soon after we got there the band concluded to abandon for the time being any further attempt to perfect the phase of materialization and demanded a tin trumpet, which was made according to their directions. in length, thirty-eight inches; at large end, four and one-half inches in diameter, and at the small opening one-half inch; and we commenced holding trumpet seances with amazing and astonishing results. hundreds of the best citizens of cincinnati can testify to the wonders of the trumpet circle in my presence. one seance written up by judge a. g. w. carter, of cincinnati, i here insert as illustrating partially only the magnitude of this power. it appeared in that excellent paper, _mind and matter_, of philadelphia: "my wife and myself, by invitation, were present on thursday night, january 26th, at a seance given to a select circle of ladies and gentlemen by mr. and mrs. green, at no. 309 longworth street, this city, where mrs. green daily and nightly sits, giving private seances through her mediumship to any person or persons who desire to converse with the spirits, or see manifestations, and learn about the spirit world. there were about twelve persons, ladies and gentlemen, present, and being seated according to the direction of the spirits, a dark circle for spirit manifestations was held, and with extraordinary success. there was a large trumpet or horn standing beside the table, and a small music box and a guitar and a tambourine on the table. "it was not long before the music box began its music, as well as the guitar and tambourine, and they all floated through the air, around the circle, and above our heads, and sometimes touching each one of the circle, as they were giving forth their music. singing was indulged in by the members of the circle, and during the songs, the long horn or trumpet moved from its place, and went about the circle, through the air; and through it, or inside of it, different spirits accompanied the singing with their voices; sometimes so loudly as to take the full burden of the songs upon themselves. then, when there was a cessation of singing, by means of the trumpet the spirits would freely converse with us--some in whispers, and others in sonorous voices, so that the whole company could readily hear and easily distinguish what was said. "at one time one of the company, a swede, mr. helleberg, sang a swedish song, accompanying himself on the guitar; and in singing and playing this song in his native and, to us, foreign language, he was accompanied by a loud female voice, singing in his language, through this same horn. mr. helleberg then sang a swedish love song, and was again, in perfect soprano harmony, accompanied by the female spirit voice. "these demonstrations i thought were most remarkable, as i had never seen nor heard the like before, and they fairly attested the great mediumistic ability of mrs. green. at this time, and indeed during the whole seance, mrs. green was in a profound trance at the table, and kept so by a rough and gruff indian spirit, who called himself 'chip,' and occasionally spoke to us in a rough and gruff way about his 'medy,' and the power he had to invoke and exercise in keeping her in the profound trance condition. ever and anon, also, a smart, witty and talkative indian maiden, who called herself 'winnie,' by the permission and condescension of 'chip,' would take possession of the medium, and talk most freely and interestingly to each and all of the members of the circle. "and, by the way, i must relate this peculiar and remarkable fact, the only time of its occurrence in all my long experience with the spirits. there was in the circle another trance medium, mrs. taylor, who was put into the trance condition very easily and readily. well, this spirit 'winnie' would exchange from mrs. green to mrs. taylor every once in a while, talking through each medium with equal facility, and to the great delight and edification of the members of the circle. this was indeed something remarkable, and i ventured to inquire of the spirit 'winnie' if this was a common occurrence. she replied, through one of the mediums, that it was so uncommon that she never knew of it occurring at a circle sitting before; that spirits always had their own medium, and it was very seldom that they would or could talk through more than one chosen medium, and especially at the same sitting of a circle, as was the case with us. "to narrate all that occurred at this remarkable seance would fill many printed columns. sufficient for the present to say, that we had all sorts of manifestations from the spirits through the gifted medium, mrs. green, for the long period of three full hours, and yet the medium or the spirits were not at all exhausted, and apparently not even fatigued. the manifestations, it seems to me, were quite equal to any i ever witnessed from maud lord, or any of the best mediums, and convinced me beyond all manner of doubt, that the gifted mrs. lizzie s. green is destined to take a prominent and important stand in the glorious domain of mediumship. angels bless and take care of her in all her ways. "a. g. w. c." "in the meantime, the independent slate writing progressed wonderfully, and now constitutes one of my best and most highly cherished phases. they write now with the utmost facility with their own materialized hands, and, strange as it may seem, they have actually written without the presence of any visible pencil at all. they have written long messages on the inner surfaces of double slates, the parties holding on to them at the time the messages were being written. they have done this for me in the presence of c. g. helleberg, john winterburn and william layton, and others, honorable people of cincinnati, who will take great pleasure in certifying to the same. i do not refer to these truly marvelous things in a spirit of egotism or self-boasting, for i am entitled to no credit except in so far as i may have, by prudent conduct, honest living and carefulness, assisted in securing the proper conditions for the invisible intelligences--i mean invisible to mortal eyes only. while i naturally feel proud of these noble gifts, i have learned to be humble with them, as my spirit guides have so often admonished me to be. and i feel like using them for the benefit of humanity and the upbuilding of truth. "my clairvoyance was an early and permanent development and still remains with me, the other development not seeming to materially interfere with it. "i have had with me for many years two indian spirits, from whose association i have derived great pleasure; and i have ever found them true, faithful and honest. the male indian has never given me his full and proper name, telling me that it was ugly. he was of the chippewa tribe, and has always been known as 'chip.' chip abhors fire-water and tobacco, and every thing immoral, and in very many respects widely differs from the leading characteristics of his people. the indian maiden, whom we call winnie, came to me in 1868, and gave her name as winniepesaga, and said while quite young she was drowned in a stream of water in the far west. she is sprightly, quite talkative, exceedingly smart and interesting in conversation. naturally gifted with clairvoyant powers and prophetic abilities, she has given very many remarkable tests, and by reason of her equability of temper, general good disposition and real cleverness in colloquial gifts, she is generally well liked by all who have come in contact with her spirit ministrations. she has controlled me for years, does yet, and her influence is sweet, soothing and strengthening. captain oliver c. curry died at jeffersonville, ind., in 1874, and was a lawyer by profession, and was for a long time city attorney of that city. he was a cousin of mine, and has belonged to the band for two years, and has been exceedingly active, especially in the trumpet seances. by his suavity, intelligence and witty sayings, he has made himself quite a favorite with many. assisting in the development, i have had with me several spirits familiar with the laws of science, including a distinguished french scientist, our own franklin and professor mapes. they seem to have only been engaged with the band temporarily in aiding the advancement of the development. they have my sincere thanks and profound gratitude. i come now to speak of another spirit, although of an humble name, yet a grand and highly progressed one, who has been my leading counsellor, adviser and friend. in 1868, i laid away the lifeless form of a dear little boy, and in my unutterable grief this noble spirit first appeared to me and gave me words of consolation. he has been with me ever since. he passed out of the form in the state of georgia at the early age of thirty-three and had been at the time he came to me upwards of fifty years in spirit life. he always inspires me as being the very embodiment of purity itself, and his whole ambition seems to be to do good. this spirit also possesses wonderful prophetic power, and communicates with me only in case of an exigency, when i am in trouble, or otherwise need the sustaining and guiding power of the angel world. he gives me his name as henry teaney, and no christian ever worshiped the gentle nazarene with more devotion than i do my friend and guide, henry teaney. he is pure, noble and godlike, loves the right, hates the wrong, and never condescends to any thing little, hateful, or mean. "here i close after again returning thanks from the inmost recesses of my heart to my honored and noble band of spirits engaged with and through me in the great work of advancing the kingdom of god in the dissemination of truths vouchsafed to the children of earth through spirit communion." chapter xxii. a visit to split rock, kentucky--christmas greetings from ida to her parents--annie winterburn to her brother john winterburn, and his testimony and her farewell to the medium, mrs. green. mrs. green's home proper, is at aurora, dearborn county, indiana. aurora is a beautiful and enterprising little city of five or six thousand inhabitants, and is located on the western bank of the ohio river, twenty-five miles or thereabouts below cincinnati, ohio. it can be reached from cincinnati in less than an hour's ride over the ohio and mississippi railroad, which passes through it. while her husband pursues the legal profession at aurora, mrs. g., in obedience to the wishes of her spirit guides and attendants, devotes her time and medial gifts at cincinnati from monday until saturday of each week, returning to her companion and daughter each saturday, and remaining with them over the sabbath. this statement is deemed proper in view of and as prefatory to what i am about to relate as occurring recently, and which can not fail to be estimated as a truly remarkable spirit manifestation. by the invitation of mr. green, mr. edwin stebbins, of cincinnati, and myself accompanied mrs. green to her home at aurora on saturday, august the 5th, for the purpose of joining a small party of excursionists on the day following to the celebrated split rock, some three miles down the river from aurora, on the kentucky side of the ohio. our host had chartered a small propeller steamboat known as the wave, which we boarded early sunday morning (the 6th), and it required less than a half hour to land us at our destination. our party consisted of our host and hostess and their daughter, cora b. green; mr. b. f. vandegrift, his wife, three daughters and son; james w. shirley, wife, and two small children. during the afternoon we were threatened with a rain-storm, and our party divided, some going into the caves for shelter, others repaired to a farm-house near by. the rain passed around us, after which a party of five in number, namely, mr. and mrs. green, mr. and mrs. vandegrift, and myself, reassembled on the summit of the elevation overlooking the split rock. it was suggested by me that we have a spirit seance, but we had no stand, slate or pencil. the novelty of a spirit seance on that noted spot was sufficiently suggestive and interesting to induce us to improvise a seat for the medium, which consisted of a couple of stakes driven into the ground and a fence rail placed on them. i took out my annotation book and with lead pencil placed it on mrs. g.'s lap, and she threw over them a rubber circular, making the necessary condition of darkness. we formed a semi-circle in front of the medium thus seated, and sang the "sweet bye and bye," and "nearer my god to thee." in a few moments the covering over the writing material was raised up and down three times, indicating thereby that the writing had been accomplished. in this way we received in rapid succession three communications, which i hereby transcribe and number them in the order of their production. _number one._ "good afternoon. nice picnic. many spirits with you, including madam ehrenborg and swedenborg. nettie, emil, and ida send much love to mr. helleberg and mr. stebbins." _number two._ "mr. and mrs. vandegrift's friends send their greetings from summer land. also, mr. green's friends and relatives. all happy to be with you." _number three._ "god bless you all, and hope we may all meet on this spot again. good bye. "nettie and curry." we were not only delighted but enthusiastic over the success of our enterprise. here on this spot, both romantic and famous in history, with illy-provided conditions, we had communed with the loved ones from the land of immortal souls. as the spirit daughter of mr. and mrs. stebbins, of cincinnati, ohio, is mentioned as belonging to the party of tourists that visited the planet mars, and as communicating with others at split rock, kentucky, and for other good reasons, i have deemed it not inappropriate to incorporate herein a letter of mr. stebbins to the _spiritual offering_, a paper recently established at ottumwa, iowa, and which is ably conducted and devoted to the advancement of spiritualism. [for the "spiritual offering."] independent slate writing, by edwin stebbins. on christmas evening myself and wife secured an independent slate-writing sitting with mrs. lizzie s. green, at 309 longworth street, cincinnati, ohio, and we received the following communication from our dear spirit daughter, viz: "merry, merry christmas to you all! i do not know of a better christmas gift than to give you a spirit communication on this memorable day. i am so happy and excited i can not write good. oh, i have a beautiful home and am advancing in music all the time. i have a beautiful library of books. i am a teacher, and have a nice little class. we do not have as many scholars here in the spirit world as you do. we can not teach every one like we did here. we have to be attracted to each other magnetically. therefore our work is not in vain, for by this method spiritual growth must ensue. we work in harmony together, and nothing occurs to retard our progress in learning. you would be surprised, and i rather think you are now, even at my style of composition. if you could see me as i am here, and hear me talk, you would see how fast i have progressed. oh, how happy i am in my spirit home, but my heaven is not there. it is with my dear pa and ma, but duty calls and i must obey. i have been made extremely happy by your obedience to my will and all will be well. henney says this is quite new to him, but when he saw you and me at his funeral his happiness was beyond expression. when you laid away my form of clay you did not think to see me here to talk and write to my loved ones dear. "when you're sad and sometimes cry, remember your ida, dear, is nigh, to bless and comfort you while here, and guide you to a brighter sphere. "and when the time comes for you to go we will meet you with our golden boat, and row you safely over the beautiful river to our home that i have helped prepare for you. now, thanking mrs. green for her kindness to you and ida, i bid you good night. all the relatives are here, and send you their christmas greetings. "good night, good night, to all that's here, i leave and go to a brighter sphere. wishing you all success in the new year, dear pa and ma, ever hold sacred the christmas gift i present you to-day. good night, mr. green, wife and daughter. good night, my dear pa and ma. this indeed is the happiest christmas i have spent since i left my earthly home. i must leave, but it is hard. your loving daughter, "ida." "my daughter passed away on the 18th day of december, 1875, at the age of seventeen, and she was an only child. the above message from her possesses peculiar value to me, for therein are a number of valuable tests and evidences of her identity. my belief in the return of the spirits of the departed is of brief duration in point of time antecedent, and was mainly brought about, through the mediumship of mrs. green. i can not express the real happiness i enjoy since i have been the recipient of this new light divine and i can only say, 'god speed the good work.' "cincinnati, ohio." annie winterburn. "_dear brother_: oh, how happy i am to-day to be able to write you on the inner surface of a double slate with your own precious hands holding it with the medium. you did not need this as a test, for your mind is clear and your heart is in the cause, but we give it to you because others have been thus favored, and we have resolved that you shall not be neglected when the good things pertaining to spirit intercourse are being given to others. oh, john, you do give us so much real happiness by your noble and upright conduct, and by the opportunities you give us to hold sweet communion with you. thus our lives become interblended, and the happiness of all increased. spirits do derive great benefit from mortals, and to that extent are dependent on them. when a child dies in the tender years of infancy unschooled in the multifarious concernments of mortal life, it is brought back into contact with human affairs that it may learn those experiences of earth which were denied it by its early and untimely departure from the form. in all the pursuits of your life each individual is constantly attended by spirits interested in the same, and in these and many other ways are spirits aided in their progress and happiness. whenever and by whomsoever you are told differently heed it not, but rely on what i have stated. we are interested in your proper instruction, and we will not lead you astray or into error. all those near and dear to you are here, and bid me to send you their love greetings. they pray without ceasing that you may be kept steady and firm in your high resolves and noble purposes until the end, when you shall rejoice in the anthem of victory. hold up your head, dear and precious brother; be brave and resolute in the hour of temptation. do no harm, but all the good you can in the world. and when the blessed angel called death shall beckon you away from the labors and vicissitudes of mortal life to the sunlit evergreen shores of the summer land, be assured that among the hosts of others who will meet and welcome you with happy and rejoicing hearts you will see and be enfolded lovingly in the arms of your loving sister, "annie." "i, john winterburn, resident of cincinnati, ohio, do hereby certify that the above and foregoing communication from my spirit sister came in the manner, to wit: i examined a double slate, and found it clean and without any writing whatever upon it. a small piece of slate pencil not larger than a grain of wheat was placed upon it and the slate closed. i then held on to one side of the slate, holding it tight together as folded, and the medium, mrs. green, held on to the other side. soon we heard writing, and in the course of fifteen minutes the signal was given indicating that the writing was completed, whereupon the slate was opened, and on both sides of the inner surfaces was found, neatly written, the above communication. the t's were crossed, and the i's were dotted. i know, as well as i am capable of knowing any fact requiring the exercise of my senses in their normal state, that the communication was written by invisible power, and i firmly believe it comes from the source it purports to come, namely: my dear sister, now in spirit life. the seance was in broad daylight, and under circumstances that precluded fraud or deception on the part of the medium or any one else in the body. "john winterburn, 185 longworth street." "this same mr. winterburn has had regularly one sitting a week with mrs. green for seven or eight months, and among other spirit relatives and friends who were active in communicating with him was his spirit sister annie. she seems to possess considerable poetic ability, and occasionally wrote poetry to her brother. recently mr. winterburn visited his mother country, england, and the last sitting with mrs. g. before his departure, his sister annie addressed the medium in the following feeling stanzas, which mr. winterburn copied as they came on the slate, viz: "dear medium friend, both good and true, 'tis hard that we must part from you, and though we cross the surging main, we will return to you again. "returning with our spirits' love and power from british isle or sunlit bower, our fond hearts' loving blessings to impart to comfort and cheer your noble heart. "dear brother's heart you have made glad, dispersing sorrow and conditions sad; and where'er we roam, on land or sea, our hearts shall turn in love to thee. "farewell, dear medium friend, farewell, to thee our gratitude we ne'er can tell, we can only say heart's full of love, we'll meet you on the shores above. "and there, in that bright land of joy, where mingles naught of earth's alloy, we'll lead thy steps with blessings rare to our homes above our joys to share. "angels of light, refulgent bright, be with you when you take you flight from scenes of strife and sorrows here to a just reward in a higher sphere. "farewell, farewell, alas! farewell, the parting is like a funereal knell; but when you climb the golden stair, your true friend, annie, will meet you there." chapter xxiii. a spirit peels a banana, and eats some of it, and divides the rest in four equal parts--reports of cincinnati enquirer about spirit seances at mrs. green's. i desire to speak of a recent manifestation, which baffles my ability to understand, and proves that spirits by some chemical process are enabled to operate upon material substances and cause them to vanish. i only give one instance, and leave the reader to his own reflections and to adopt his own theory. i shall simply give the fact as it occurred. i have a little grand daughter, julia muth, in the spirit world. when in the form she was partially fond of bananas. on the occasion of the recent anniversary of her eighth birthday, the 13th of july, 1882, i went to mrs. green for a seance, taking with me a large banana. these slate-writing seances, as has been heretofore explained, take place in the full light. i sat, as usual, opposite to mrs. green, with the small stand between us. i placed the fruit on a slate, with a short letter of greeting, and put it under the covering of the stand, while mrs. green held another slate of her own. the spirits, after writing on mrs. green's slate for about an hour, wrote as follows: "grandpa, take your slate from under the stand," which i immediately did, and on the slate was written, "i peeled the banana, and ate some of it, too; your little julia muth." we removed the cloth covering from the stand and found the peelings on the floor, and on my slate the banana divided in four equal parts after the end piece had disappeared. we searched diligently, but without our effort being rewarded by the discovery of the missing portion of the fruit. whither had it gone? the _cincinnati daily enquirer_ is a leading as well as an extensively circulated paper, published at cincinnati, ohio, and, in october, 1881, mrs. green was visited by a reporter of that paper, who was present at two of her trumpet seances. although probably not a believer, he turned out to be a fair minded man who would not allow his prejudices, if he had any, to interfere with an honest account of what he saw and witnessed. in three issues of that paper, to wit, october 16th, 18th and 21st, 1881, appeared his report of a visit to mrs. green, and two seances he attended. they are here inserted, in the order of the dates given. issue of october 16th: "in a neatly furnished suit of rooms over no. 309 longworth street lives mrs. l. s. green, a spiritualist medium. upon her last evening a representative of the _enquirer_ called. he was cordially received by the lady's husband, being tendered a seat in a parlor in which was a piano, a pretty set of furniture; while an old-fashioned kerosene lamp threw its brightest rays over the room from a mantel-piece. seated in a rocking-chair was mrs. green, plainly dressed, of a modest and retiring disposition, and features that stamped her as a faithful and loving wife. the mission of the newspaper man was quickly explained. her husband replied that as a rule mediums avoided reporters, as they were liable to distort and ridicule their statements. but where the thing is conducted honestly and openly, 'i can not,' he said, 'see what we have to fear from publication.' "in reply to a question, mrs. green said that she was about thirty-eight years old, and had been a clairvoyant since 1868, her first mediumistic inclinations having developed that year. her history since that time as a spiritualist has been quite full of interest. previous to her becoming a medium she was a member of the christian church, and was as great a skeptic as one could find. so, in fact, was her husband. while a member of the indiana legislature in 1867 he attended a seance, where he received a message from his dead mother. at a subsequent one, another spiritual letter came to him, telling him that his wife possessed the powers of a medium, and asking him to bring her to one of the circles. after some persuasion he finally gained her consent to go. she there saw her first spirits, that of an uncle of the medium of the assemblage, who had his head cut off by a train of cars. from that time her powers began to develop, showing themselves in messages that she wrote on paper or beheld in the air. spirits as high as five hundred a day presented themselves to her view. her continued increase as a medium so worked upon her that she lost her health, and she was compelled for the time being to abandon the business. about twelve months ago she resumed her writing--this time on slates. messages were written on the inside of folded slates, and often, after a seance, a fluid would be found on the outside of the slate, which, unless washed off then, could never be removed. this had been taken to chemist after chemist for analysis, and one and all had failed to make any thing out of it. "one evening a small lock of hair was found in the corner of the slate, in the center of which was a small lead pencil. at that time this was believed to have been placed there by some one in the circle. it was folded in a piece of paper to be retained, but the next day it disappeared. from this time out mrs. green's materializing abilities began. she had great success in her seances, and frequently described catastrophes which, on the following morning, were found to be exceedingly accurate. she foreshadowed the explosion of the steamer pat rogers, and graphically described the collision of the united states with the america. the details of a fire at a neighboring place one evening were recited by her. the next day it was learned that the hour and facts were most wonderfully correct. "while the reporter and his friend were talking mrs. green called their attention to two spirits who were standing besides them, one a brother-in-law of the first-named, and the other a friend of the latter who died twelve years ago. both were accurately described, much to the surprise and astonishment of the two skeptics. mrs. green, in explaining her power, said that she was entirely controlled by one spirit, and that when she first began to work it was shown by slaps on the hand, by shocks in her arms, etc. she did only as her influence compelled her to act, and while writing, etc., she knew not what she did, much to the surprise and astonishment of the two skeptics. many startling results of seances were recited, such as the sounding of trumpets, the ringing of bells, singing, and the appearance of different spirits were detailed." insertion of october 18th: "mrs. l. s. green, the medium, gave a seance last evening to a few friends at her house, no. 309 longworth street. there were five people present, three of whom were skeptics of the worst kind. the gathering was seated in a medium-sized; plainly-furnished room. in the center was a small stand, over which was placed a heavy green spread. as an opening, the lady took a small slate upon which was laid a bit of slate pencil. this she held with one hand in under the table, and several messages were written on it in a clear and distinct hand. then the cloth was removed, and on the table were placed a bell, two slates, washed clean, a glass of water, and a leather trumpet. at some distance from the medium stood a guitar, leaning against the wall, and a large trumpet, while near the newspaper man were two small trumpets. the light was then extinguished, the doors locked, and the seance begun. all took hold of hands, and one of the party sang. in a few minutes came a gentle tapping on the slates, then the bell rang violently, seeming to pass through air, returning and falling on the floor. the various members were touched about the face and body, and one exceedingly lady-like spirit took occasion to rub her hand down the reporter's face, testing fully the power of his nervous system. singing was continued, when the guitar was heard to play, rising in the air, apparently passing around over the different persons' heads, hitting them lightly in the face, and finally landing in the reportorial lap. "a breathing spell was taken when one of the party varied the programme with a selection upon the orgamina. the favorite old song, 'john brown,' was given, and it pleased the spirits hugely, as a deep bass voice was heard to join in with an occasional blast from the trumpet. then the trumpet took a trip around the circle, announcing its coming with a rap on the head or shoulders of each one. the bell rose in the air tingling rapidly and landed this time on the table. the familiar taps on the person were continued, then there was a tremendous note from the trumpet, and a sweet voice joined in with mrs. green, as she sang, 'nearer my god to thee.' although the manifestations were quite good, especially to the reporter, who was continually dodging imaginary trumpets and blows, the medium said the weather was bad for the most satisfactory work. the spirits announced that they were about ready to depart by a loud rap on the table and a sprinkling of those present with water. the light being turned on, the following communication was found on one of the slates: "'good evening, gentlemen. we are glad to meet you. the spirit band of the medium authorize and request me to thank the representative of that great metropolitan journal, the _enquirer_, for the terms employed in reference to their medium and her gifts in yesterday's issue of that paper. this treatment, so rare, betokens a spirit of candor and fairness commensurate with this transcendently important subject. we extend you a cordial invitation to visit us whenever and as often as it suits your convenience, and we shall always endeavor to treat you with courtesy and respect. "'nettie.' "the lines were very regular, the i's and t's are dotted, and the signature was especially plain, it being the name of one of mrs. green's controls." the third and last appeared in the issue of october 21st, and is as follows: "quite interesting--a seance held last evening--skeptics and believers assemble together. "a very interesting seance was held last evening at the residence of mrs. l. s. green, 309 longworth street. seven persons were present, including two mediums. the spirits were unusually frisky, and the manifestations were particularly gratifying to the believers, and rather dumbfounding to the skeptics. the arrangements and room were the same as in the others previously described, except that there were more musicians present. very excellent music was rendered by an orgamina, a violin, a guitar, and a music-box. the selections given were sweet enough to summon the most bashful friends of the medium from their spiritualistic retreat. the departed were less inclined to epistolary efforts, and slate-writing was not conducted with any favorable results. "during the evening one of the gentlemen sang a swedish song, accompanying himself on the guitar. a female voice at one time, and a powerful bass later, were heard plainly in concert with him. the human singer alleged quite emphatically that his spiritual aids rendered the air in the same language he did. the guitar took numerous trips around the room, sometimes high in the air, again touching those present on the head and different parts of the body. a huge tin trumpet was blown most furiously, the blast sounding like the greatest effort of the bass-horn. then it was pounded and thumped, creating a most awful din. this was explained as being the doings of a very powerfully materialized spirit. the statement was acquiesced in by a skeptic, who received a vigorous whack on the knee, fully convincing him that muscle, lots of it, too, backed the trumpet. "a little music-box was taken from the table and wafted through the room, playing its peculiarly sweet airs all the time as it sailed toward the ceiling and over those about the table. it could be heard in every corner, high and low, and if a medium or friend was carrying it, said person must have been exceedingly lively, climbing over chairs, a bed, etc., without making any noise. it was claimed that when the box ran down it was wound up by those who took it through the air. "whenever songs were sung, or selections were played upon the instruments, soprano or bass voices joined in plain to all present. members were delicately touched in the face and body. the tolling of a great bell was most cleverly imitated, and a little one was rung frequently. the spirits of loved ones were reported as standing at the sides of different members, some of whom were quickly recognized by the description given. water was sprinkled on all, and the goblet filled with this fluid was passed around, touching some in the face, others on the body. no communications were received except very brief ones." chapter xxiv. extracts from each of two funeral discourses by bishop simpson and rev. w. h. thomas, d. d., with conclusions of c. g. helleberg. in closing it has been deemed advisable and proper to append an extract from each of two funeral discourses delivered by two eminent divines--one the eminent methodist bishop, mr. simpson, and the other a distinguished minister of chicago, who, of late, experienced some little annoyance from his flock, who were mere sticklers for forms and creeds, and because their shepherd had grown a little beyond their cramped and narrow limits. bishop simpson. "the very grave itself is a passage into the beautiful and glorious. we have laid our friends in the grave, but they are around us. the little children that sat upon our knee, into whose eyes we looked with love, whose little hands have clasped our neck, on whose cheek we have imprinted the kiss, we can almost feel the throbbing of their hearts to-day. they have passed from us, but where are they? just beyond the line of the invisible. and the fathers and mothers who educated us, that directed and comforted us, where are they but just beyond the line of the invisible? the associates of our lives that walked along life's pathway, those with whom we took sweet counsel and who dropped from our side, where are they but just beyond us? not far away; but now it may be very near us. is there any thing to alarm us in this thought? no. it seems to me that sometimes when my head is on the pillow there come whispers as of joy that drop into my heart--thoughts of the sublime and beautiful and glorious, as though some angel's wing passed over my brow, and some dear one sat by my pillow and communed with my heart to raise my affections to the other and better world. the invisible is not dark, it is glorious. sometimes the veil becomes so thin it seems to me that i can almost see the bright forms through it, and my bending ear can almost hear the voices of those who are singing their melodious strains. oh, there is music all around us, though in the busy scenes of life we recognize it not. the veil of the future will soon be lifted and the invisible shall appear." rev. w. h. thomas, d. d., of chicago. "how can we linger over the bier of the departed and go in the eventide to their graves, and sit down in the stillness there, hoping in some way to come in communion with them. they carry their loves over to the other side, and is it unreasonable to suppose that a mother who has passed from these shores should still seek to be the guardian angel of the children she watched over in this life? is it unreasonable that the great hosts of life, column on column, world on world, that have gone out from this state, should seek to come with their higher wisdom and tenderer sympathy to minister to those they loved in this life, and help them to cling to the truth that saves? to me this doctrine of the spirit life, the eminence and presence of helping and guiding spirits is a comforting thought. it brings me into the presence of the innumerable host that people the spirit land. it gives me somehow a consciousness of the great fact of immortality. it gives me a sweet consciousness that my friends live on the other shore; that to me they will come as ministering angels in the dying hour to receive the spirit, tired by work, weakened by sickness, wearied with years, pale from death, and bear it to the love and life above." * * * * * if these utterances are not in harmony with spiritualism, and its central and prominent idea of the very nearness of our spirit friends and the spirit world, then i am wholly incapable of recognizing and understanding the force of plain and direct language. they can have but one meaning, and that in perfect accordance with spiritualism. i find these extracts published in the auburn _advertiser_, of new york, from which i copied them. there they are; read them carefully, and then propound the question to your own heart and intelligence, namely: what does all this mean if spiritualism be false? and if spiritualism be true, how can these men and those holding similar views, oppose spiritualism and be consistent and maintain their self-respect? c. g. helleberg. footnotes: [1] this has reference to forget-me-not seeds which she sent me from sweden. [2] this polheim was sweden's greatest architect, mathematician and builder, who projected the canal between stockholm and gottenburg. transcriber's notes: passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. punctuation has been corrected without note. errata corrections have been applied to the text. errors in the errata page and line number references have been corrected without note. the following misprints have been corrected: "erhenborg" corrected to "ehrenborg" (toc) "the the" corrected to "the" (page 19) "swendenborg" corrected to "swedenborg" (page 45) "acqainted" corrected to "acquainted" (page 54) "enternal" corrected to "eternal" (page 69) "farcial" corrected to "farcical" (page 70) "achievment" corrected to "achievement" (page 92) "enlightment" corrected to "enlightenment" (page 93) "spiriritual" corrected to "spiritual" (page 161) "righteouness" corrected to "righteousness" (page 168) "afteward" corrected to "afterward" (page 177) "chistian" corrected to "christian" (page 199) "succeessful" corrected to "successful" (page 201) missing "by" added (page 216) "beyong" corrected to "beyond" (page 239) "j." standardized to "t." (page 211) other than the corrections listed above, inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation have been retained from the original. generously made available by the internet archive.) hours with the ghosts lee's library of occult science hours with the ghosts; or xix century witchcraft by henry r. evans. practical palmistry; or hand reading made easy by comte c. de saint-germain. herrmann the magician; his life; his secrets by h. j. burlingame. all profusely illustrated. bound in holliston cloth, burnished red top, uncut edges. each, $1.00 [illustration: spirit photograph. [taken by the author.]] hours with the ghosts or nineteenth century witchcraft illustrated investigations into the phenomena of spiritualism and theosophy by henry ridgely evans the first duty we owe to the world is truth--all the truth--nothing but the truth.--"_ancient wisdom._" chicago laird & lee, publishers entered according to act of congress, in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-seven. by william h. lee, in the office of the librarian of congress, at washington. to my wife "it is no proof of wisdom to refuse to examine certain phenomena because we think it certain that they are impossible, as if our knowledge of the universe were already completed."--_prof. lodge._ "the most ardent spiritist should welcome a searching inquiry into the potential faculties of spirits still in the flesh. until we know more of _these_, those other phenomena to which he appeals must remain unintelligible because isolated, and are likely to be obstinately disbelieved because they are impossible to understand."--_f. w. h. myers: "proceedings of the society for psychical research," part xviii, april, 1891._ table of contents. author's preface 11 introductory argument 13 part first: =spiritualism= 18 _i. divisions of the subject_ 18 _ii. subjective phenomena_ 23 1. telepathy 23 2. table tilting. muscle reading 40 _iii. physical phenomena_ 46 1. psychography or slate-writing 46 2. the master of the mediums: d. d. home 93 3. rope tying and holding mediums; materializations 135 the davenport brothers 135 annie eva fay 149 charles slade 154 pierre l. o. a. keeler 160 eusapia paladino 175 f. w. tabor 182 4. spirit photography 188 5. thought photography 197 6. apparitions of the dead 201 _iv. conclusions_ 207 part second: =madame blavatsky and the theosophists= 210 _i. the priestess_ 213 _ii. what is theosophy?_ 237 _iii. madame blavatsky's confession_ 250 _iv. the writings of madame blavatsky_ 265 _v. the life and death of a famous theosophist_ 268 _vi. the mantle of madame blavatsky_ 272 _vii. the theosophical temple_ 287 _viii. conclusion_ 290 list of authorities 298 illustrations. page. fig. 1. spirit photograph, by the author frontispiece fig. 2. portrait of dr. henry slade 47 fig. 3. the holding of the slate 51 fig. 4. slate no. 1 65 fig. 5. slate no. 2 71 fig. 6. slate no. 3 77 fig. 7. home at the tuileries 97 fig. 8. crookes' apparatus no. 1 116 fig. 9. crookes' apparatus no. 1 119 fig. 10. crookes' apparatus no. 1 120 fig. 11. crookes' apparatus no. 1 121 fig. 12, 13, 14, 15. crookes' diagrams 124-125 fig. 16. crookes' apparatus no. 2 126 fig. 17. crookes' apparatus no. 2 127 fig. 18, 19, 20. crookes' diagrams 128-130 fig. 21. hammond's apparatus 133 fig. 22. the davenport's in their cabinet 139 fig. 23. trick tie and in cabinet work 143 fig. 24. charles slade's poster 158-159 fig. 25. pierre keeler's cabinet seance 162 fig. 26. pierre keeler's cabinet curtain 163 fig. 27. portrait of eusapia paladino 176 fig. 28. eusapia before the scientists 177 fig. 29. spirit photograph, by the author 191 fig. 30. spirit photograph, by pretended medium 195 fig. 31. sigel's original picture of fig. 30 199 fig. 32. portrait of madame blavatsky 215 fig. 33. mahatma letter 221 fig. 34. mahatma envelope 225 fig. 35. portrait of col. h. s. olcott 233 fig. 36. oath of secrecy of the charter members of the theosophical society 235 fig. 37. portrait of w. q. judge 241 fig. 38. portrait of mrs. annie besant 273 fig. 39. portrait of mrs. tingley 285 fig. 40. autograph of madame blavatsky 293 preface. _there are two great schools of thought in the world--materialistic and spiritualistic. with one, matter is all in all, the ultimate substratum; mind is merely the result of organized matter; everything is translated into terms of force, motion and the like. with the other, spirit or mind is the ultimate substance--god; matter is the visible expression of this invisible and eternal consciousness._ _materialism is a barren, dreary, comfortless belief, and, in the opinion of the author, is without philosophical foundation. this is an age of scientific materialism, although of late years that materialism has been rather on the wane among thinking men. in an age of such ultra materialism, therefore, it is not strange that there should come a great reaction on the part of spiritually minded people. this reaction takes the form of an increased vitality of dogmatic religion, or else culminates in the formation of spiritualistic or theosophic societies for the prosecution of occult phenomena. spiritualists are now numbered by the million. persons calling themselves mediums present certain phenomena, physical and psychical, and call public attention to them, as an evidence of life beyond the grave, and the possibility of spiritual communication between this world and the next._ _the author has had sittings with many famous mediums of this country and europe, but has seen little to convince him of the fact of spirit communication. the slate tests and so-called materializations have invariably been frauds. some experiments along the line of automatic writing and psychometry, however, have demonstrated to the writer the truth of telepathy or thought-transference. the theory of telepathy explains many of the marvels ascribed to spirit intervention in things mundane._ _in this work the author has endeavored to give an accurate account of the lives and adventures of celebrated mediums and occultists, which will prove of interest to the reader. the rise and growth of the theosophical cult in this country and europe is of historical interest. theosophy pretends to a deeper metaphysics than spiritualism, and numbers its adherents by the thousands; it is, therefore, intensely interesting to study it in its origin, its founder and its present leaders._ _the author._ hours with the ghosts. introductory argument. "if a man die, shall he live again?"--this is the question of the ages, the sphinx riddle that humanity has been trying to solve since time began. the great minds of antiquity, socrates, pythagoras, plato and aristotle were firm in their belief in the immortality of the soul. the writings of plato are luminous on the subject. the mysteries of isis and osiris, as practiced in egypt, and those of eleusis, in greece, taught the doctrine of the immortality of the individual being. the divine master of arcane knowledge, christ, proclaimed the same. in latter times, we have had such metaphysical and scientific thinkers as leibnitz, fichte, schelling, hegel and schleiermacher advocating individual existence beyond the grave. it is a strange fact that the more materialistic the age, the deeper the interest in spiritual questions. the vitality and persistence of the belief in the reality of the spiritual world is evidence of that hunger for the ideal, for god, of which the psalmist speaks--"as the heart panteth after water brooks so panteth my soul after thee, o god!" through the passing centuries, we have come into a larger, nobler conception of the universal life, and our relations to that life, in which we live, move, and have our being. granting the existence of an "eternal and infinite spirit, the intellectual organizer of the mathematical laws which the physical forces obey," and conceiving ourselves as individualized points of life in the greater life, we are constrained to believe that we bear within us the undying spark of divinity and immortality. evolution points to eternal life as the final goal of self-conscious spirit, else this mighty earth-travail, the long ages of struggle to produce man are utterly without meaning. speaking of a future life, john fiske, a leading american exponent of the doctrine of evolution, says ("the destiny of man"): "the doctrine of evolution does not allow us to take the atheistic view of the position of man. it is true that modern astronomy shows us giant balls of vapor condensing into fiery suns, cooling down into planets fit for the support of life, and at last growing cold and rigid in death, like the moon. and there are indications of a time when systems of dead planets shall fall in upon their central ember that was once a sun, and the whole lifeless mass, thus regaining heat, shall expand into a nebulous cloud like that with which we started, that the work of condensation and evolution may begin over again. these titanic events must doubtless seem to our limited vision like an endless and aimless series of cosmical changes. from the first dawning of life we see all things working together toward one mighty goal, the evolution of the most exalted spiritual qualities which characterize humanity. the body is cast aside and returns to the dust of which it was made. the earth, so marvelously wrought to man's uses, will also be cast aside. so small is the value which nature sets upon the perishable forms of matter! the question, then, is reduced to this: are man's highest spiritual qualities, into the production of which all this creative energy has gone, to disappear with the rest? are we to regard the creator's work as like that of a child, who builds houses out of blocks, just for the pleasure of knocking them down? for aught that science can tell us, it may be so, but i can see no good reason for believing any such thing." a scientific demonstration of immortality is declared to be an impossibility. but why go to science for such a demonstration? the question belongs to the domain of philosophy and religion. science deals with physical forces and their relations; collects and inventories facts. its mission is not to establish a universal metaphysic of things; that is philosophy's prerogative. all occult thinkers declare that life is from within, out. in other words life, or a spiritual principle, precedes organization. science proceeds to investigate the phenomena of the universe in the opposite way from without, in; and pronounces life to be "a fortuitous collocation of atoms." still, science has been the torch-bearer of the ages and has stripped the fungi of superstition from the tree of life. it has revealed to us the great laws of nature, though it has not explained them. we know that light, heat, and electricity are modes of motion; more than that we know not. science is largely responsible for the materialistic philosophy in vogue to-day--a philosophy that sees no reason in the universe. a powerful wave of spiritual thought has set in, as if to counteract the ultra rationalism of the age. in the vanguard of the new order of things are spiritualism and theosophy. spiritualism enters the list, and declares that the immortality of the soul is a demonstrable fact. it throws down the gauntlet of defiance to skepticism, saying: "come, i will show you that there is an existence beyond the grave. death is not a wall, but a door through which we pass into eternal life." theosophy, too, has its occult phenomena to prove the indestructibility of soul-force. both spiritualism and theosophy contain germs of truth, but both are tinctured with superstition. i purpose, if possible, to sift the wheat from the chaff. in investigating the phenomena of spiritualism and theosophy i will use the scientific as well as the philosophic method. each will act, i hope, as corrective of the other. part first. spiritualism. i. divisions of the subject. belief in the evocation of the spirits of the dead is as old as humanity. at one period of the world's history it was called thaumaturgy, at another necromancy and witchcraft, in these latter years, spiritualism. it is new wine in old bottles. on march 31, 1847, at hydeville, wayne county, new york, occurred the celebrated "knockings," the beginning of modern spiritualism. the mediums were two little girls, kate and margaretta fox, whose fame spread over three continents. it is claimed by impartial investigators that the rappings produced in the presence of the fox sisters were occasioned by natural means. voluntary disjointings of the muscles of the knee, or to use a medical term "the repeated displacement of the tendon of the _peroneus longus_ muscle in the sheath in which it slides behind the outer _malleolus_" will produce certain extraordinary sounds, particularly when the knee is brought in contact with a table or chair. snapping the toes in rapid succession will cause similar noises. the above was the explanation given of the "hydeville and rochester knockings", by professors flint, lee and coventry, of buffalo, who subjected the fox sisters to numerous examinations, and this explanation was confirmed many years after (in 1888) by the published confession of mrs. kane, _nee_ margaretta fox. spiritualism became the rage and professional mediums went about giving séances to large and interested audiences. this particular creed is still professed by a recognized semi-religious body in america and in europe. the american mediums reaped a rich harvest in the old world. the pioneer was mrs. hayden, a boston medium, who went to england in 1852, and the table-turning mania spread like wild fire within a few months. broadly speaking, the phenomena of modern spiritualism may be divided into two classes: (1) physical, (2) subjective. of the first, the "encyclopaedia britannica", in its brief but able review of the subject, says: "those which, if correctly observed and due neither to conscious or unconscious trickery nor to hallucination on the part of the observers, exhibit a force hitherto unknown to science, acting in the physical world otherwise than through the brain or muscles of the medium." the earliest of these phenomena were the mysterious rappings and movements of furniture without apparent physical cause. following these came the ringing of bells, playing on musical instruments, strange lights seen hovering about the séance-room, materializations of hands, faces and forms, "direct writing and drawing" declared to be done without human intervention, spirit photography, levitation, unfastening of ropes and bandages, elongation of the medium's body, handling fire with impunity, etc. of the second class, or subjective phenomena, we have "table-tilting and turning with contact; writing, drawing, etc., by means of the medium's hand; entrancement, trance-speaking, and impersonation by the medium of deceased persons, seeing spirits and visions and hearing phantom voices." from a general scientific point of view there are three ways of accounting for the physical phenomena of spiritualism: (1) hallucination on the part of the observers; (2) conjuring; (3) a force latent in the human personality capable of moving heavy objects without muscular contact, and of causing "percussive sounds" on table-tops, and raps upon walls and floors. hallucination has unquestionably played a part in the séance-room, but here again the statement of the "encyclopaedia britannica" is worthy of consideration: "sensory hallucination of several persons together who are not in a hypnotic state is a rare phenomenon, and therefore not a probable explanation." in my opinion, conjuring will account for seven-eighths of the so-called phenomena of professional mediums. for the balance of one-eighth, neither hallucination nor legerdemain are satisfactory explanation. hundreds of credible witnesses have borne testimony to the fact of table-turning and tilting and the movements of heavy objects without muscular contact. that such a force exists is now beyond cavil, call it what you will, magnetic, nervous, or psychic. count agenor de gasparin, in 1854, conducted a series of elaborate experiments in table-turning and tilting, in the presence of his family and a number of skeptical witnesses, and was highly successful. the experiments were made in the full light of day. the members of the circle joined hands and concentrated their minds upon the object to be moved. the count published a work on the subject "des tables tournantes," in which he stated that the movements of the table were due to a mental or nervous force emanating from the human personality. this psychic energy has been investigated by professor crookes and professor lodge, of london, and by doctor elliott coues, of washington, d. c., who calls it "telekinesis." the existence of this force sufficiently explains such phenomena of the séance-room as are not attributable to hallucination and conjuring, thus removing the necessity for the hypothesis of spirit intervention. in explanation of table-turning by "contact," i quote what j. n. maskelyne says in "the supernatural": "faraday proved to a demonstration that table-turning was simply the result of an unconscious muscular action on the part of the sitters. he constructed a little apparatus to be placed beneath the hands of those pressing upon the table, which had a pointer to indicate any pressure to one side or the other. after a time, of course, the arms of the sitters become tired and they unconsciously press more or less to the right or left. in faraday's experiments, it always proved that this pressure was exerted in the direction in which the table was expected to move, and the tell-tale pointer showed it at once. there, then, we have the explanation: expectancy and unconscious muscular action." ii. subjective phenomena. 1. telepathy. the subjective phenomena of spiritualism--trance speaking, automatic writing, etc.,--have engaged the attention of some of the best scientific minds of europe and america, as studies of abnormal or supernormal psychological conditions. if there are any facts to sustain the spiritual hypothesis, these facts exist in subjective manifestations. the following statement will be conceded by any impartial investigator: a medium, or psychic, in a state of partial or complete hypnosis frequently gives information transcending his conscious knowledge of a subject. there can be but two hypotheses for the phenomena--(1) the intelligence exhibited by the medium is "ultra-mundane," in other words, is the effect of spirit control, or, (2) it is the result of the conscious or unconscious exercise of psychic powers on the part of the medium. it is well known that persons under hypnotic influence exhibit remarkable intelligence, notwithstanding the fact that the ordinary consciousness is held in abeyance. the extraordinary results obtained by hypnotizers point to another phase of consciousness, which is none other than the subjective or "subliminal" self. mediums sometimes induce hypnosis by self-suggestion, and while in that state, the subconscious mind is in a highly receptive and exalted condition. mental suggestions or concepts pass from the mind of the sitter consciously or unconsciously to the mind of the medium, and are given back in the form of communications from the invisible world, ostensibly through spirit control. it is not absolutely necessary that the medium be in the hypnotic condition to obtain information, but the hypnotic state seems to be productive of the best results. the medium is usually honest in his belief in the reality of such ultra-mundane control, but he is ignorant of the true psychology of the case--thought transference. the english society for psychical research and its american branch have of late years popularized "telepathy", or thought transference. a series of elaborate investigations were made by messrs. edmund gurney, f. w. h. myers, and frank podmore, accounts of which are contained in the proceedings of the society. among the european investigators may be mentioned messrs. janet and gibert, richet, gibotteau, and schrenck-notzing. podmore has lately summarized the results of these studies in an interesting volume, "apparitions and thought-transference, an examination of the evidence for telepathy." thought transference or telepathy (from _tele_--at a distance, and _pathos_--feeling) he describes as "a communication between mind and mind other than through the known channels of the senses." a mass of evidence is adduced to prove the possibility of this communication. in summing up his book he says: "the experimental evidence has shown that a simple sensation or idea may be transferred from one mind to another, and that this transference may take place alike in the normal state and in the hypnotic trance. * * the personal influence of the operator in hypnotism may perhaps be regarded as a proof presumptive of telepathy." the experiments show that mental concepts or ideas may be transferred to a distance. podmore advances the following theory in explanation of the phenomena of telepathy: "if we leave fluids and radiant nerve-energy on one side, we find practically only one mode suggested for the telepathic transference--viz., that the physical changes which are the accompaniments of thought or sensation in the agent are transmitted from the brain as undulations in the intervening medium, and thus excite corresponding changes in some other brain, without any other portion of the organism being necessarily implicated in the transmission. this hypothesis has found its most philosophical champion in dr. ochorowicz, who has devoted several chapters of his book "de la suggestion mentale," to the discussion of the various theories on the subject. he begins by recalling the reciprocal convertibility of all physical forces with which we are acquainted, and especially draws attention to what he calls the law of reversibility, a law which he illustrates by a description of the photophone. the photophone is an instrument in which a mirror is made to vibrate to the human voice. the mirror reflects a ray of light, which, vibrating in its turn, falls upon a plate of selenium, modifying its electric conductivity. the intermittent current so produced is transmitted through a telephone, and the original articulate sound is reproduced. now in hypnotized subjects--and m. ochorowicz does not in this connection treat of thought-transference between persons in the normal state--the equilibrium of the nervous system, he sees reason to believe, is profoundly affected. the nerve-energy liberated in this state, he points out, 'cannot pass beyond' the subject's brain 'without being transformed. nevertheless, like any other force, it cannot remain isolated; like any other force it escapes, but in disguise. orthodox science allows it only one way out, the motor nerves. these are the holes in the dark lantern through which the rays of light escape. * * * thought remains in the brain, just as the chemical energy of the galvanic battery remains in the cells, but each is represented outside by its correlative energy, which in the case of the battery is called the electric current, but for which in the other we have as yet no name. in any case there is some correlative energy--for the currents of the motor nerves do not and cannot constitute the only dynamic equivalent of cerebral energy--to represent all the complex movements of the cerebral mechanism.'" the above hypothesis may, or may not, afford a clue to the mysterious phenomena of telepathy, but it will doubtless satisfy to some extent those thinkers who demand physical explanations of the known and unknown laws of the universe. the president of the society for psychical research (1894,) a. j. balfour, in an address on the relation of the work of the society to the general course of modern scientific investigation, is more cautious than the writers already quoted. he says: "is this telepathic action an ordinary case of action from a center of disturbance? is it equally diffused in all directions? is it like the light of a candle or the light of the sun which radiates equally into space in every direction at the same time? if it is, it must obey the law--at least, we should expect it to obey the law--of all other forces which so act through a non-absorbing medium, and its effects must diminish inversely as the square of the distance. it must, so to speak, get beaten out thinner and thinner the further it gets removed from its original source. but is this so? is it even credible that the mere thoughts, or, if you please, the neural changes corresponding to these thoughts, of any individual could have in them the energy to produce sensible effects equally in all directions, for distances which do not, as far as our investigations go, appear to have any necessary limit? it is, i think, incredible; and in any case there is no evidence whatever that this equal diffusion actually takes place. the will power, whenever will is used, or the thoughts, in cases where will is not used, have an effect, as a rule, only upon one or two individuals at most. there is no appearance of general diffusion. there is no indication of any disturbance equal at equal distances from its origin and radiating from it alike in every direction. "but if we are to reject this idea, which is the first which ordinary analogies would suggest, what are we to put in its place? are we to suppose that there is some means by which telepathic energy can be directed through space from the agent to the patient, from the man who influences to the man who is influenced? if we are to believe this, as apparently we must, we are face to face not only with a fact extraordinary in itself, but with a kind of fact which does not fit in with anything we know at present in the region either of physics or of physiology. it is true, no doubt, that we do know plenty of cases where energy is directed along a given line, like water in a pipe, or like electrical energy along the course of a wire. but then in such cases there is always some material guide existing between the two termini, between the place from which the energy comes and the place to which the energy goes. is there any such material guide in the case of telepathy? it seems absolutely impossible. there is no sign of it. we can not even form to ourselves any notion of its character, and yet, if we are to take what appears to be the obvious lesson of the observed facts, we are forced to the conclusion that in some shape or other it exists." telepathy once conceded, we have a satisfactory explanation of that class of cases in modern spiritualism on the subjective side of the question. there is no need of the hypothesis of "disembodied spirits". some years ago, i instituted a series of experiments with a number of celebrated spirit mediums in the line of thought transference, and was eminently successful in obtaining satisfactory results, especially with miss maggie gaule, of baltimore, one of the most famous of the latter day psychics. case a. about three years prior to my sitting with miss gaule, a relative by marriage died of cancer of the throat at the garfield hospital, washington, d. c. he was a retired army officer, with the brevet of general, and lived part of the time at chambersburg, penn., and the rest of the time at the national capital. he led a very quiet and unassuming life, and outside of army circles knew but few people. he was a magnificent specimen of physical manhood, six feet tall, with splendid chest and arms. his hair and beard were of a reddish color. his usual street dress was a sort of compromise with an army undress uniform, military cut frock-coat, frogged and braided top-coat, and a sherman hat. without these accessories, anyone would have recognized the military man in his walk and bearing. he and his wife thought a great deal of my mother, and frequently stopped me on the street to inquire, "how is mary?" i went to miss gaule's house with the thought of general m-fixed in my mind and the circumstances surrounding his decease. the medium greeted me in a cordial manner. i sat at one end of the room in the shadow, and she near the window in a large armchair. "you wish for messages from the dead," she remarked abruptly. "one moment, let me think." she sank back in the chair, closed her eyes, and remained in deep thought for a minute or so, occasionally passing her hand across her forehead. "i see," she said, "standing behind you, a tall, large man with reddish hair and beard. he is garbed in the uniform of an officer--i do not know whether of the army or navy. he points to his throat. says he died of a throat trouble. he looks at you and calls "mary,--how is mary?" "what is his name?" i inquired, fixing my mind on the words david m--. "i will ask", replied the medium. there was a long pause. "he speaks so faintly i can scarcely hear him. the first letter begins with d, and then comes a--i can't get it. i can't hear it." with that she opened her eyes. the surprising feature about the above case was the alleged spirit communication, "mary--how is mary?" i did not have this in my mind at the time; in fact i had completely forgotten this form of salutation on the part of gen. m--, when we had met in the old days. it is just this sort of thing that makes spirit-converts. however, the cases of unconscious telepathy cited in the "reports of the society for psychical research," are sufficient, i think, to prove the existence of this phase of the phenomena. t. j. hudson, in his work entitled "a scientific demonstration of the future life", says: * * "when a psychic transmits a message to his client containing information which is in his (the psychic's) possession, it can not reasonably be attributed to the agency of disembodied spirits. * * when the message contains facts known to some one in his immediate presence and with whom he is _en rapport_, the agency of spirits of the dead cannot be presumed. every investigator will doubtless admit that sub-conscious memory may enter as a factor in the case, and that the sub-conscious intelligence--or, to use the favorite terminology employed by mr. myers to designate the subjective mind, the 'sublimal consciousness'--of the psychic or that of his client may retain and use facts which the conscious, or objective mind may have entirely forgotten." but suppose the medium relates facts that were never in the possession of the sitter, what are we to say then? considerable controversy has been waged over this question, and the hypothesis of telepathy is scouted. minot j. savage has come to the conclusion that such cases stretch the telepathic theory too far; there can be but one plausible explanation--a communication from a disembodied spirit, operating through the mind of the medium. for the sake of lucidity, let us take an example: a has a relative b who dies in a foreign land under peculiar circumstances, _unknown to a_. a attends a séance of a psychic, c, and the latter relates the circumstances of b's death. a afterwards investigates the statements of the medium, and finds them correct. can telepathy account for c's knowledge? i think it can. the telepathic communication was recorded in a's sub-conscious mind, he being _en rapport_ with b. a unconsciously yields the points recorded in his sub-conscious mind to the psychic, c, who by reason of his peculiar powers raises them to the level of conscious thought, and gives them back in the form of a message from the dead. case b. on another occasion, i went with my friend mr. s. c., of virginia, to visit miss gaule. mr. s. c. had a young son who had recently passed the examination for admission to the u. s. naval academy, and the boy had accompanied his father to baltimore to interview the military tailors on the subject of uniforms, etc. miss gaule in her semi-trance state made the following statement: "i see a young man busy with books and papers. he has successfully passed an examination, and says something about a uniform. perhaps he is going to a military college." here again we have excellent evidence of the proof of telepathy. the spelling of names is one of the surprising things in these experiments. on one occasion my wife had a sitting with miss gaule, and the psychic correctly spelled out the names of mrs. evans' brothers--john, robert, and dudley, the latter a family name and rather unusual, and described the family as living in the west. the following example of telepathy occurred between the writer and a younger brother. case c. in the fall of 1890, i was travelling from washington to baltimore, by the b. & p. r. r. as the train approached jackson grove, a campmeeting ground, deserted at that time of the year, the engine whistle blew vigorously and the bell was rung continuously, which was something unusual, as the cars ordinarily did not stop at this isolated station, but whirled past. then the engine slowed down and the train came to a standstill. "what is the matter?" exclaimed the passengers. "my god, look there!" shouted an excited passenger, leaning out of the coach window, and pointing to the dilapidated platform of the station. i looked out and beheld a decapitated human head, standing almost upright in a pool of blood. with the other male passengers i rushed out of the car. the head was that of an old man with very white hair and beard. we found the body down an embankment at some little distance from the place of the accident. the deceased was recognized as the owner of the grove, a farmer living in the vicinity. according to the statement of the engineer, the old man was walking on the track; the warning signals were given, but proved of no avail. being somewhat deaf, he did not realize his danger. he attempted to step off the track, but the brass railing that runs along the side of the locomotive decapitated him like the knife of a guillotine. when i reached baltimore about 7 o'clock, p. m., i hurried down to the office of the "baltimore news" and wrote out an account of the tragic affair. my work at the office kept me until a late hour of the night, and i went home to bed at about 1 o'clock, a. m. my brother, who slept in an adjoining room, had retired to bed and the door between our apartments was closed. the next morning, sunday, i rose at 9 o'clock, and went down to breakfast. the family had assembled, and i was just in time to hear my brother relate the following: "i had a most peculiar dream last night. i thought i was on my way to mt. washington (he was in the habit of making frequent visits to this suburb of baltimore on the northern central r. r.) we ran down an old man and decapitated him. i was looking out of the window and saw the head standing in a pool of blood. the hair and beard were snow white. we found the body not far off, and it proved to be a farmer residing in the neighborhood of mt. washington." "you will find the counterpart of that dream in the morning paper", i remarked seriously. "i reported the accident." my father called for the paper, and proceeded to hunt its columns for the item, saying, "you undoubtedly transferred the impression to your brother." case d. this is another striking evidence of telepathic communication, in which i was one of the agents. l-was a reporter on a baltimore paper, and his apartments were the rendezvous of a coterie of bohemian actors, journalists, and _litterati_, among whom was x--, a student at the johns-hopkins university, and a poet of rare excellence. poets have a proverbial reputation for being eccentric in personal appearance; in x this eccentricity took the form of an unclipped beard that stood out in all directions, giving him a savage, anarchistic look. he vowed never under any circumstances to shave or cut this hirsute appendage. l-came to me one day, and laughingly remarked: "i am being tortured by a mental obsession. x's beard annoys me; haunts my waking and sleeping hours. i must do something about it. listen! he is coming down to my rooms, saturday evening, to do some literary work, and spend the night with me. we shall have supper together, and i want you to be present. now i propose that we drug his coffee with some harmless soporific, and when he is sound asleep, tie him, and shave off his beard. will you help me? i can provide you with a lounge to sleep on, but you must promise not to go to sleep until after the tragedy." i agreed to assist him in his practical joke, and we parted, solemnly vowing that our project should be kept secret. this was on tuesday, and no communication was had with x, until saturday morning, when l-and i met him on charles street. "don't forget to-night," exclaimed l-"i have invited e to join us in our epicurean feast." "i will be there," said x. "by the way, let me relate a curious dream i had last night. i dreamt i came down to your rooms, and had supper. e--was present. you fellows gave me something to drink which contained a drug, and i fell asleep on the bed. after that you tied my hands, and shaved off my beard. when i awoke i was terribly mad. i burst the cords that fastened my wrists together, and springing to my feet, cut l--severely with the razor." "that settles the matter", said l--, "his beard is safe from me". when we told x of our conspiracy to relieve him of his poetic hirsute appendage, he evinced the greatest astonishment. as will be seen, every particular of the practical joke had been transferred to his mind, the drugging of the coffee, the tying, and the shaving. telepathy is a logical explanation of many of the ghostly visitations of which the society for psychical research has collected such a mass of data. for example: a dies, let us say in india and b, a near relative or friend, residing in england, sees a vision of a in a dream or in the waking state. a clasps his hands, and seems to utter the words, "i am dying". when the news comes of a's death, the time of the occurrence coincides with the seeing of the vision. the spiritualist's theory is that the ghost of a was an actual entity. one of the difficulties in the way of such an hypothesis is the clothing of the deceased--_can that, too, be disembodied?_ thought transference (conscious or unconscious), i think, is the only rational explanation of such phantasms. the vision seen by the percipient is not an objective but a subjective thing--a hallucination produced by the unknown force called telepathy. the vision need not coincide exactly with the date of the death of the transmitter but may make its appearance years afterwards, remaining latent in the subjective mind of the percipient. it may, as is frequently the case, be revealed by a medium in a séance. many thoughtful writers combat the telepathic explanation of phantasms of the dead, claiming that when such are seen long after the death of persons, they afford indubitable evidence of the reality of spirit visitation. the reader is referred to the proceedings of the society for psychical research for a detailed discussion of the _pros_ and _cons_ of this most interesting subject. many of the so-called materializations of the séance-room may be accounted for by hallucinations superinduced by telepathic suggestions from the mind of the medium or sitters. but, in my opinion, the greater number of these manifestations of spirit power are the result of trickery pure and simple--theatrical beards and wigs, muslin and gossamer robes, etc., being the paraphernalia used to impersonate the shades of the departed, the imaginations of the sitters doing the rest. 2. table-tilting--muscle reading. in regard to table-tilting with contact, i have given faraday's conclusions on the subject,--unconscious muscular action on the part of the sitter or sitters. in the case of automatic writing (particularly with the planchette), unconscious muscular action is the proper explanation for the movements of the apparatus. "professor augusto tamburini, of italy, author of 'spiritismo e telepatia', a cautious investigator of psychical problems," says a reviewer in the proceedings of the society for psychical research (volume ix, p. 226), "accepts the verdict of all competent observers that imposture is inadmissible as a general explanation, and endorses the view that the muscular action which causes the movements of the table or the pencil is produced by the subliminal consciousness. he explains the definite and varying characters of the supposed authors of the messages as the result of self-suggestion. as by hypnotic or post-hypnotic suggestion a subject may be made to think he is napoleon or a chimney sweep, so, by self-suggestion, the subliminal consciousness may be made to think that he is x and y, and to tilt or wrap messages in the character of x and y." professor tamburini's explanation fails to account for the innumerable well authenticated cases where facts are obtained not within the conscious knowledge of the planchette writer or table-tilter. if telepathy does not enter into these cases, what does? there are many exhibitions, of thought transference by public psychics, that are thought transference in name only. one must be on one's guard against these pretenders to occult powers. i refer to men like our late compatriot, washington irving bishop--"muscle-reader" _par excellence_ whose fame extended throughout the civilized world. muscle-reading is performed in the following manner: let us take, for example, the reading of the figures on a bank-note. the subject gazes intently at the figures on a note, and fixes them in his mind. the muscle-reader, blindfolded or not, takes a crayon in his right hand, and lightly clasps the hand or wrist of the subject with his left. he then writes on a blackboard the correct figures on the note. this is one of the most difficult feats in the repertoire of the muscle-reader, and was excelled in by bishop and stuart cumberland. charles gatchell, an authority on the subject, says that the above named men were the only muscle-readers who have ever accomplished the feat. geometrical designs can also be reproduced on a blackboard. the finding of objects hidden in an adjoining room, or upon the person of a spectator in a public hall, or at a distance, are also accomplished by skillful muscle readers, either by clasping the hand of the subject, or one end of a short wire held by him. says gatchell, in the "_forum_" for april, 1891: "success in muscle-reading depends upon the powers of the principal and upon the susceptibility of the subject. the latter must be capable of mental concentration; he must exert no muscular self-control; he must obey his every impulse. under these conditions, the phenomena are in accordance with known laws of physiology. on the part of the principal, muscle-reading consists of an acute perception of the slight action of another's muscles. on the part of the subject, it involves a nervous impulse, accompanied by muscular action. the mind of the subject is in a state of tension or expectancy. a sudden release from this state excites, momentarily, an increased activity in the cells of the cerebral cortex. since the ideational centres, as is usually held, correspond to the motor centres, the nervous action causes a motor impulse to be transmitted to the muscles. * * in making his way to the location of a hidden object, the subject usually does not lead the muscle-reader, but the muscle-reader leads the subject. that is to say, so long as the muscle-reader moves in the right direction, the subject gives no indication, but passively moves with him. the muscle-reader perceives nothing unusual. but, the subject's mind being intently fixed on a certain course, the instant that the muscle-reader deviates from that course there is a slight, involuntary tremor, or muscular thrill, on the part of the subject, due to the sudden interruption of his previous state of mental tension. the muscle-reader, almost unconsciously, takes note of the delicate signal, and alters his course to the proper one, again leading his willing subject. in a word, he follows the line of the least resistance. in other cases the conditions are reversed; the subject unwittingly leads the principal. "the discovery of a bank-note number requires a slightly different explanation. the conditions are these: the subject is intently thinking of a certain figure. his mind is in a state of expectant attention. he is waiting for but one thing in the world to happen--for another to give audible expression to the name of that which he has in mind. the instant that the conditions are fulfilled, the mind of the subject is released from its state of tension, and the accompanying nervous action causes a slight muscular tremor, which is perceived by the acute senses of the muscle-reader. this explanation applies, also, to the pointing out of one pin among many, or of a letter or a figure on a chart. the conditions involved in the tracing of a figure on a blackboard or other surface are of a like order, although this is a severer test of a muscle-reader's powers. so long as the muscle-reader moves the crayon in the right direction, he is permitted to do so; but when he deviates from the proper course, the subject, whose hand or wrist he clasps, involuntarily indicates the fact by the usual slight muscular tremor. this, of course, is done involuntarily; but if he is fulfilling the conditions demanded of all subjects, absolute concentration of attention and absence of muscular control--he unconsciously obeys his impulse. a billiard player does the same when he follows the driven ball with his cue, as if by sheer force of will he could induce it to alter its course. the ivory is uninfluenced; the human ball obeys." iii. physical phenomena. 1. psychography, or slate-writing. one of the most interesting phases of modern mediumship, on the physical side, is psychography, or slate-writing. after an investigation extending over ten years, i am of the opinion that the majority of slate-writing feats are the results of conjuring. the process generally used is the following. the medium takes two slates, binds them together, after first having deposited a small bit of chalk or slate pencil between their surfaces, and either holds them in his hands, or lays them on the table. soon the scratching of the pencil is heard, and when the cords are removed a spirit message is found upon the surface of one of the slates. i will endeavor to explain the "modus operandi" of these startling experiments. some years ago, the most famous of the slate-writing mediums was dr. henry slade, of new york, with whom i had several sittings. i was unable to penetrate the mystery of his performance, until the summer of 1889, when light was thrown upon the subject by the conjurer c-whom i met in baltimore. [illustration: fig. 2. dr. henry slade.] "do you know the medium slade?" i asked him. "yes," said he, "and he is a conjurer like myself. i've had sittings with him. come to my rooms to-night, and i will explain the secret workings of the medium's slate-writing. but first i will treat you to a regular séance." on my way to c's home i tried to put myself in the frame of mind of a genuine seeker after transcendental knowledge. i recalled all the stories of mysterious rappings and ghostly visitations i had read or heard of. it was just the night for such eerie musings. black clouds were scurrying across the face of the moon like so many mediaeval witches mounted on the proverbial broomsticks _en route_ for a mad sabbat in some lonely churchyard. the prestidigitateur's _pension_ was a great, lumbering, gloomy old house, in an old quarter of baltimore. the windows were tightly closed and only the feeble glimmer of gaslight was emitted through the cracks of the shutters. i rang the bell and mr. c's stage-assistant, a pale-faced young man, came to the door, relieved me of my light overcoat and hat, and ushered me upstairs into the conjurer's sitting-room. a large, baize-covered table stood in the centre of the apartment, and a cabinet with a black curtain drawn across it occupied a position in a deep alcove. suspended from the roof of the cabinet was a large guitar. i took a chair and waited patiently for the appearance of the anti-spiritualist, after having first examined everything in the room--table, cabinet, and musical instruments--but i discovered no evidence of trickery anywhere. i waited and waited, but no c--. "can he have forgotten me?" i said to myself. suddenly a loud rap resounded on the table top, followed by a succession of raps from the cabinet; and the guitar began to play. i was quite startled. when the music ceased the door opened, and c-entered. "the spirits are in force to-night," he remarked with a meaning smile, as he slightly diminished the light in the apartment. "yes," i replied. "how did you do it?" "all in good time, my dear ghost-seer," was the answer. "let us try first a few of dr. slade's best slate tests." so saying he handed me a slate and directed me to wash it carefully on both sides with a damp cloth. i did so and passed it back to him. scattering some tiny fragments of pencil upon it, he held the slate pressed against the under surface of the table leaf, the fingers of his right hand holding the slate, his thumb grasping the leaf. c-then requested me to hold the other end of the slate in a similar fashion, and took my right hand in his left. heavy raps were heard on the table-top, and i felt the fingers of a spirit hand plucking at my garments from beneath the table. c--'s body seemed possessed with some strange convulsion, his hands quivered, and his eyes had a glassy look. listening attentively, i heard the sound of a pencil writing on the slate. "take care!" gasped the conjurer, breathlessly. the slate was jerked violently out of our hands by some powerful agency, but the medium regained it, and again pressed it against the table as before. in a little while he brought the slate up and there upon its upper surface was a spirit message, addressed to me--"are you convinced now?--d. d. home." at this juncture there came a knock at the door, and c--, with the slate in his hand, went to see who it was. it proved to be the pale-faced assistant. a few words in a low-tone of voice were exchanged between them, and the conjurer returned to the table, excusing the interruption by remarking, "some one to see me, that is all, but don't hurry, for i have another test to show you." after thoroughly washing both sides of the slate he placed it, with a slate pencil, under a chafing-dish cover in the center of the table. we joined hands and awaited developments. being tolerably well acquainted with conjuring devices, i manifested but little surprise in the first test when the spirit message was written, because the magician _had his fingers on the slate_. but in this test the slate was not in his possession; how then could the writing be accomplished? [illustration: fig. 3. the holding of the slate.] "hush!" said c--, "is there a spirit present?" a responsive rap resounded on the table, and after a few minutes' silence, the mysterious scratching of the slate-pencil began. i was nonplussed. "turn over the slate," said the juggler. i complied with his request and found a long message to me, covering the entire side of the slate. it was signed "cagliostro." "what do you think of dr. slade's slate tests?" inquired c--. "splendid!" i replied, "but how are they done?" his explanations made the seeming marvel perfectly plain. while the slate is being examined in the first test, the medium slips on a thimble with a piece of slate pencil attached or else has a tiny bit of pencil under his finger nail. in the act of holding the slate under the table, he writes the short message backwards on its under side. it becomes necessary, however, to turn the slate over before exhibiting it to the sitter, so that the writing may appear to have been written on its upper surface--the side that has been pressed to the table. to accomplish this the medium pretends to go into a sort of neurotic convulsion, during which state the slate is jerked away from the sitter, presumably by spirit power, and is turned over in the required position. it is not immediately brought up for examination but is held for a few seconds underneath the table top, and then produced with a certain amount of deliberation. the special difficulty of this trick consists in the medium's ability to write in reverse upon the under surface of the slate. if he wrote from left to right, in the ordinary method, it would, of course, reverse the message when the slate is examined, and give a decided clue to the mystery. this inscribing in reverse, or mirror writing, as it is often called, is exceedingly difficult to do, but nothing is impossible to a slade. but how is the writing done on the slate in the second test? asks the curious reader. nothing easier! the servant who raps at the door brings with him, concealed under his coat, a second slate, upon which the long message is written. over the writing is a pad cut from a book-slate, exactly fitting the frame of the prepared slate. it is impossible to detect the fraud when the light in the room is a trifle obscure. the medium makes an exchange of slates, returns to the table, washes both sides of the trick slate, and carelessly exhibits it to the sitter, the writing being protected of course by the pad. before placing the slate under the chafing-dish cover, he lets the pad drop into his lap. now comes a crucial point in the imposture: the writing heard beneath the slate, supposed to be the work of a disembodied spirit. the medium under cover of his handkerchief removes from his pocket an instrument known as a "pencil-clamp." this clamp consists of a small block of wood with two sharp steel points protruding from the upper edge and a piece of slate pencil fixed in the lower. the medium presses the steel points into the under surface of the table with sufficient force to attach the block securely to the table, and then rubs a pencil, previously attached to his right knee by silk sutures, against the side of the pencil fastened to the apparatus. the noise produced thereby exactly simulates that of writing upon a slate. in my case the illusion was perfect. during the examination of the message, the medium has ample opportunity to secrete the false pad and the clamp in his pocket. instead of having a servant bring the slate to him and making the exchange described above, he may have the trick slate concealed about him before the séance begins, with the message written on it, and adroitly make the substitution while the sitter is engaged in lowering the light. dr. slade almost invariably adopted the first-mentioned exchange, because it enabled his confederate to write a lucid message to the sitter. an examination of the sitter's overcoat in the hall frequently yielded valuable information in the way of names and initials extracted from letters, sealed or unsealed. sealed letters? yes; it is an easy matter to steam a gummed envelope, open it, and seal it again. another method is to wet the sealed envelope with a sponge dipped in alcohol. the writing will show up tolerably well if written upon a card. in a very short time the envelope will dry and exhibit no evidence of having been tampered with. and now as to the rest of the phenomena witnessed that evening in c--'s room. the raps on the table top were the result of an ingenious, hidden mechanism, worked by electricity; the mysterious hand that operated under the table was the juggler's right foot. he wore slippers and had the toe part of one stocking cut away. by dropping the slipper from his foot he was enabled to pull the edge of my coat, lift and shove a chair away, and perform sundry other ghostly evolutions, thanks to a well trained big toe. dr. slade who was long and lithe of limb, worked this dodge to perfection, prior to the paralytic attack which partly disabled his lower limbs. the stringed instrument which played in the cabinet was arranged as follows: inside of the guitar was a small musical box, so arranged that the steel vibrating tongues of the box came in contact with a small piece of writing paper. when the box was set to going by means of an electric current, it closely imitated the twanging of a guitar, just as a sheet of music when laid on the strings of a piano simulates a banjo. this spirit guitar is a very useful instrument in the hands of a medium. it may be made to play when it is attached to a telescopic rod, and waved in phosphorescent curves over the heads of a circle of believers in the dark séance. i shall now sum up the subject of dr. slade's spirit-slate writing, (fig. 3) and endeavor to show how grossly exaggerated the reports of the medium's performances have been, and the reasons for such misstatements. no one who is not a professional or amateur prestidigitateur can correctly report what he sees at a spiritualistic séance. it is not so much the swiftness of the hand that counts in conjuring but the ability to force the attention of the spectators in different directions away from the crucial point of the trick. the really important part of the test, then, is hidden from the audience, who imagine they have seen all when they have not. says dr. max dessoir: "it must therefore be regarded as a piece of rare naiveté if a reporter asserts that in the description of his subjective conclusions he is giving the exact objective processes." this will be seen in mr. davey's experiments. mr. davey, a member of the london society for psychical research, and an amateur magician who possessed great dexterity in the slate-writing business, gave a series of exhibitions before a number of persons, but did not inform them that the results were due to prestidigitation. no entrance fee was charged for the séances, but the sitters, who were fully impressed with the genuineness of the affair, were requested to submit written reports of what they had seen. these letters, published in vol. iv of the proceedings of the society, are admirable examples of mal-observation, for no one detected mr. davey exchanging slates and doing the writing. "the sources of error," says dr. max dessoir, in an article reproduced in the "open court," "through which such strange reports arise, may be arranged in four groups. first, the observer interpolates a fact which did not happen, but which he is led to believe has happened; thus, he imagines he has examined the slate when as a fact he never has. second, he confuses two similar ideas; he thinks he has carefully examined the slate, when in reality he has only done so hastily, or in ignorance of the point at issue. third, the witness changes the order of events a little in consequence of a very natural deception of memory; he believes he tested the slate later than he actually did. fourth and last, he passes over certain details which were purposely described to him as insignificant; he does not notice that the 'medium' asks him to close a window, and that the trick is thus rendered possible." similar experiments in slate-writing were conducted by the seybert commission with mr. harry kellar, the conjurer, after sittings were had with dr. slade, and the magician outdid the medium. the seybert commission found none of slade's tests genuine, and officially denied "the extraordinary stories of his performances with locked slates which constitute a large part of his fame." dr. slade began his spiritualistic operations in london in the year 1876, and charged a fee of a guinea a head for séances lasting a few minutes. crowds went to see him and he reaped a golden harvest from the credulous, until the grand fiasco came. slade was caught in one of his juggling séances and exposed by prof. lancaster and dr. donkin. the result was a criminal prosecution and a sensational trial lasting three days at the bow street police court. mr. maskelyne, the conjurer, was summoned as an expert witness and performed a number of the medium's tricks in the witness box. the court sentenced slade to three months' hard labor, but he took an appeal from the magistrate's decision. the appeal was sustained on the ground of a technical flaw in the indictment, and the medium fled to the continent before new summons could be served. he visited paris, leipsic, berlin, st. petersburg and other cities, giving séances before royalty and before distinguished members of scientific societies; and afterwards went to australia. he made money fast and spent it fast, but it took all of his ingenuity to elude the clutches of the police. in 1892, we find him the inmate of a workhouse in one of our western towns, penniless, friendless and a lunatic. slade's séances with prof. zoellner, of berlin, in 1878, attracted wide attention, and did more to advertise his fame as a medium than anything else in his career. zoellner's belief in the genuineness of slade's mediumistic marvels led him to write a curious work, entitled, "transcendental physics," being an inquiry into the "fourth dimension of space." poor old zoellner, he was half insane when these séances were held! we have the undisputed authority of the seybert commission for the correctness of this statement. in hamburg, dr. borchert wrote to slade offering him one thousand marks if he would produce writing between locked slates, similar to the writing alleged to have been executed at the zoellner séances, but the medium took no notice of the professor's letter. the conjurer, carl wilmann, with two friends, had a sitting with slade, but without satisfactory results for the medium. "slade," says wilmann, "was unable to distract my attention from the crucial point of the trick, and threw down the slates on the table in disgust, remarking: 'i can not obtain any results to-day, the power that controls me is exhausted. come tomorrow!'" that tomorrow never arrived for wilmann and his friends; slade did not keep his appointment, nor could wilmann succeed in obtaining another sitting with him. the medium had been warned by friends that wilmann was an expert professor of legerdemain. it was in 1886 that slade created such a furore in hamburg in spiritualistic circles. a talented conjurer of that city, named schradieck, after a few weeks' practice succeeded in eclipsing slade. he learned to write in reverse on slates, and produced writing in various colored chalks. another one of his experiments was making the slate disappear from one side of the table where it was held _a la_ slade and appear at the opposite end of the table suddenly, as if held up to view by a spirit hand. wilmann describes the effect as startling in the extreme and says schradieck produced it by means of his left foot. after slade's departure from hamburg, spirit mediums sprang up like toadstools in a single night. wilmann in his crusade against these worthies had many interesting experiences. he gives in his work "moderne wunder" several exposes of mediumistic tricks, two of which, in the sealed slate line, are very ingenious. the medium takes a slate (one furnished by the sitter if preferred), wipes it on both sides with a wet sponge, and then wraps it up carefully in a piece of ordinary white wrapping paper, allowing the package to be sealed and corded _ad libitum_. notwithstanding all the precautions used, a message appears on the slate. it is accomplished in this way. a message in reverse is written on the wrapping paper with a camel's hair brush or pointed stick, dipped in some sticky substance, and finely powdered slate pencil dust is scattered over the writing. at a little distance, especially in a dim light, it is impossible to discover the writing as it blends very well with the white paper. in wrapping up the slate the medium presses the writing on the paper against the surface of the slate and the chirography adheres thereto, very much as the greasy drawing on a lithographer's stone prints on paper. in the other experiment the medium uses a _papier mache_ slate, set in the usual wooden frame. a _papier mache_ pad is prepared with a spirit message on one surface; on the other is pasted a piece of newspaper. this pad is laid, written side down, on a sheet of newspaper. after the genuine slate has been washed, the medium proceeds to wrap it up in the newspaper, and presses the trick pad, writing up, into the frame of the slate where it exactly fits into a groove prepared for the purpose. since dr. slade's retirement from the mediumistic field, pierre l. o. a. keeler's fame as a slate-writing medium has been spread broadcast. he oscillates between boston, new york, cleveland, philadelphia, baltimore and washington, and has a very large and fashionable _clientele_. he gives evening materializing séances of the cabinet type three times a week at his rooms. during the day he gives private slate tests which are very popular. i had a sitting with him on the afternoon of april 24th, 1895. in order to gain his confidence, i went as one witnessing a slate séance for the first time, that is, i accepted _his_ slates, and had no prepared questions. i was ushered into a small, back parlor by the medium who closed the folding doors. we were alone. i made a mental photograph of the surroundings. there was no furniture except a table and two chairs placed near the window. over the table was a faded cloth, hanging some eight or ten inches below the table. upon it were several pads of paper and a heterogeneous assortment of lead pencils. leaning against the mantelpiece, within a foot or so of the medium's chair, were some thirty or forty slates. "take a seat", said mr. keeler pointing to a chair. i sat down, whereupon he seated himself opposite me, remarking as he did so, "have you brought slates with you?" "i have not," was my reply. "then, if you have no objection," he said, "we will use two of mine. please examine these two slates, wash them clean with this damp cloth, and dry them." with that he passed me two ordinary school-slates, which i inspected closely, and carefully cleaned. "be kind enough to place the slates to one side," said keeler. i complied. "have you prepared any slips with the names of friends, relatives, or others, who have passed into spirit life, with questions for them to answer?" "i have not," i replied. "kindly do so then," he answered, "and take your time about it. there is a pad on the table. please write but a single question on each slip. then fold the slips and place them on the table." i did so. "i will also make one," he continued, "it is to my spirit control, george christy." he wrote a name on a slip of paper, folded it, and tossed it among those i had prepared, passing his hand over them and fingering them, saying, "it is necessary to get a psychic impression from them." we sat in silence several minutes. after a little while mr. keeler said: "i do not know whether or not we shall get any responses this afternoon, but have patience." again we waited. "suppose you write a few more slips," he remarked, "perhaps we'll have better luck. be sure and address them to people who were old enough to write before they passed into spirit life." this surprised me, but i complied with his wishes. while writing i glanced furtively at him from time to time; his hands were in his lap, concealed by the table cloth. he looked at me occasionally, then at his lap, fixedly. _i am satisfied that he opened some of my slips, having adroitly abstracted them from the table in the act of fingering them._ [illustration: fig. 4--slate writing.] he directed me to take my handkerchief and tie the two slates on the table tightly together, holding the slates in his hands as i did so. i laid the slates on the table before me, and we waited. "i think we will succeed this time in getting responses to some of the questions. let us hold the slates." he grasped them with fingers and thumbs at one end, and i at the other in like manner, holding the slates about two inches above the table. we listened attentively, and soon was heard the scratching noise of a slate pencil moving upon a slate. the sound seemed directly under the slate, and was sufficiently impressive to startle any person making a slate test for the first time, and unacquainted with the multifarious devices of the sleight-of-hand artist. "hold the slates tightly, please!" said mr. keeler, as a convulsive tremor shook his hands. i grasped firmly my end of the slates, and waited further developments. the faint tap of a slate pencil upon a slate was heard, and the medium announced that the communications were finished. i untied the handkerchief, and turned up the inner surfaces of the slates. upon one of them several messages were written, and signed. other communications were received during the sitting. after the first messages were received, and while i was engaged in reading them, keeler quickly picked up a slate from the floor, clapped it upon the clean slate remaining on the table, and requested me to tie the two rapidly together with my handkerchief before the influence was lost. at a signal from him i unfastened the slates and found another set of answers. the same proceeding was gone through for the third set. the imitation of a pencil writing upon a slate was either made by the apparatus, described in the séance with c-in the first part of this chapter, or by some other contrivance; more than likely by simply scratching with his finger on the under surface of the slate. while my attention was absorbed in the act of writing my second set of questions, he prepared answers to two of my first set and substituted a prepared slate for the cleaned slate on the table. _i was sure he was writing under the table; i heard the faint rubbing of a soft bit of pencil upon the surface of a slate. his hands were in his lap and his eyes were fixed downwards._ several times i saw him put his fingers into his vest pockets, and he appeared to bring up small particles of something, which i believe were bits of the white and colored crayons used in writing the messages. his quiet audacity was surprising. i give below the questions and answers with my comments thereon: first slate. fig. 4. question. to mamie:-tell me the name of your dead brother? (signed) harry r. evans. answer. you must not think of me as one gone forever from you. you have made conditions by and through which i can return to you, and so long as i can do this i can not feel unhappy. so dear one, rest in the assurance that you are helping me, and that i am doing all i can to help you. let us make the best of it all and help each other as best we can, then all will be well. my home in spirit life is beautiful and awaiting you. i will be the first to greet you. _i have no dead brother. all of us are living._ i am mamie --. (the medium here cleverly evades giving a name by an equivoque.) question. to len-tell me the cause of your death, and the circumstances surrounding it? (signed) harry r. evans. answer. harry! i am very glad to see you. i am happy. you must be reconciled, and not mourn me as dead! i will try to come again soon, when i am stronger and tell of my decease.--len. (he again evades an answer.) second slate. fig. 5. question. to a. d. b.-when and where did you die? (signed) harry r. evans. answer. this all seems so strange coming back and writing just as one would if they were in the earth life and communicating with a friend. what a blessed privilege it is. i am so happy. oh, i would not come back. it is so restful here. no pain or sorrow. dear, do not think i have forgotten you, i constantly think of you and wish that you, too, might view these lovely scenes of glorious beauty. you must rest with the thought that when your life is ended upon the earth, _i will be the first to meet you_. now be patient and hopeful until we meet where there is no more parting. i am sincerely, a. d. b. (no answer at all.) observe error in first sentence: "as _one_ would if _they_ were--." a. d. b. was an educated gentleman, and not given to such ungrammatical expressions. [illustration: fig. 5--slate writing.] third slate. fig. 6. question. to b. g.-can you recall any of the conversations we had together on the b. and p. r. r. cars? (signed) h. r. evans. answer. o my dear one, i can only write a few lines that you may know that i see and hear you as you call upon me. i do not forget you. when i am stronger will come again. i do not know what conversation you refer to in the cars. b. g. (again evades answering. b. g. was very much interested in the drama, and talked continuously about the stage.) question. to c. j.-where did you die, and from what disease? (signed) h. r. evans. answer. i know the days and weeks seem long and lonely to you without me. i do not forget you; am doing the best i can to help you. c. j.--. (still another evasion of a straightforward question. the lady in spirit life to whom the question was addressed died of consumption in a roman catholic convent. she was only a society acquaintance of the writer, and not on such terms of intimacy as to warrant mr. keeler's reply.) in one corner of slate no. 2 was the following, written with a yellow crayon: "this is remarkable. how did you know we could come?--h. k. evans." scrawled across the face of slate no. 3, in red pencil, was a communication from george christy, mr. keeler's spirit control, reading as follows: "many are here who----g. c. (george christy)" (the remainder is so badly written, as to be indecipherable.) on carefully analyzing the various communications it will be observed that the handwriting of the messages from mamie--and b g.--are similar, possessing the same characteristics as regards letter formation, etc. it does not require a professional expert in chirography to detect this fact. one and the same person wrote the messages purporting to come from mamie r--, len--, b. g.--, c. j.--, and a. d. b. _in fact, the writing on all the slates is, in my opinion, the work of mr. pierre keeler._ the longer communications were doubtless prepared beforehand, being general in nature and conveying about the same information that any departed spirit might give to any inquiring mortal, but, as will be observed, _giving no adequate answers to the queries_, with the exception of the last two sentences, _which were written by the medium, after he became acquainted with the tenor of the questions upon the folded slips_. the very short communications are written in a careless hand, such as a man would dash off hastily. there is an attempt at disguise, but a clumsy one, the letters still retaining the characteristics of the more deliberate chirography of the long communications. a close inspection of the slates reveals the exact similarity of the y's, u's, i's, g's, h's, m's and n's. the handwriting of messages on slates should be, and is claimed to be, adequate evidence of the genuineness of the communication, for are we not supposed to know the handwriting of our friends? possibly mr. keeler would claim that the handwriting was the work of his control "geo. christy", who acted as a sort of amanuensis for the spirits. if this be so, why the attempts at _disguise_, and bungling attempts at that? in the séance with mr. keeler, i subjected him to no tests. he had everything his own way. _i should have brought my own marked slates with me and never let them out of my sight for an instant. i should have subjected the table to a close examination, and requested the medium to move or rather myself removed the collection of slates against the mantel, placed so conveniently within his reach._ i did not do this, because of his well known irascibility. he would probably have shown me the door and refused a sitting on any terms, as he has done to many skeptics. i was anxious to meet keeler, and preferred playing the novice rather than not get a slate test from one of the best-known and most famous of modern slate-writing mediums. [illustration: fig. 6--slate writing.] after what has been stated, i think there can be no shadow of doubt that the medium abstracted by sleight-of-hand some of the paper slips containing my written questions, read them under cover of the table, and did the slate-writing himself. all of these slate-tests, where pellets or slips of paper are used, are performed in a similar manner, as will be seen from the exposé published by the society for psychical research. in vol. viii of the proceedings of that association will be found a number of revelations, one of which throws considerable light on the keeler tests. the sitter was dr. richard hodgson, and the medium was a mrs. gillett. says dr. hodgson: "under pretence of 'magnetising' the pellets prepared by the sitter, or folding them more tightly, she substitutes a pellet of her own for one of the sitter's. reading the sitter's pellet below the table, she writes the answer on one of her own slates, a pile of which, out of the sitter's view, she keeps on a chair by her side. she then takes a second slate, places it on the table, and sponges and dries both sides, after which she takes the first slate, and turning the side upon which she has written towards herself, rubs it in several places with a dry cloth or the ends of her fingers as though cleaning it. she then places it, writing downward, on the other slate on the table, and sponges and dries the upper surface of it. she then pretends to take one of the pellets on the table and put it between the two slates. what she does, however, is to bring the pellet up from below the table, take another of the sitter's pellets on the table into her hand, and place the pellet which she has brought up from below the table between the slates, keeping in her hand the pellet just taken from the top of the table. the final step is to place a rubber band round both slates, in doing which she turns both slates over together. she professes to get the writing without the use of any chalk or pencil. some of her slates are prepared beforehand with messages or drawings. more interesting, perhaps, because of its boldness, is her method of producing writing on the sitter's own slates. under the pretence of 'magnetising' these she cleans them several times, rubs them with her hands, stands them up on end together, and while they are in this position between herself and the sitter she writes with one hand on the slate-side nearest to herself, holding the slates erect with the other hand. later on, she lays both slates together flat on the table again, the writing being on the undermost surface. she then sponges the upper surface of the top slate, turns it over, and sponges its other surface. she next withdraws the bottom slate, places it on top and sponges its top surface, keeping its under surface carefully concealed. the final step, the reversal, is made, as in the other case, with the help of the rubber band. mrs. gillett has probably other methods, also. those which i have described were all that i witnessed at my single sitting with her." my friend, dr. l. m. taylor, of washington, d. c., an investigator of spiritualistic phenomena, and skeptical like myself of the objective phases of the subject, has had many sittings with keeler for independent slate-writing. one séance in particular he is fond of relating: "on one occasion, after i had written my slips, folded them up, and tossed them on the table, i said to keeler who was obtaining his 'psychic' impression of them, 'i wish, if possible, to have a spirit tell me the numbers and the maker's name engraved in my watch. i have never taken the trouble to look at the numbers, consequently i do not know them.' 'your request is an unusual one,' replied the medium, 'but i will endeavor to gratify it.' we had some conversations on the subject that lasted several minutes. suddenly he picked up a slate pencil, and scrawled the name, _j. s. granger_ on the upper surface of one of my slates; the two slates had been previously tied together with my handkerchief and laid on the table in front of me. 'you recognize that name, do you not?' asked keeler. 'yes,' i replied, 'that is one of the names i wrote on the slips. j. s. granger was an old friend of mine who died some years ago. he was a brother-in-law of stephen a. douglass.' 'if you wish to facilitate matters,' said keeler, 'place your watch on top of the slates, concealed beneath the handkerchief, otherwise we may have to wait an hour or more without obtaining results, and there are a number of persons waiting for me in the ante-room. my time you see is limited.' "i detached my watch from its chain, and placed it in the required position. keeler then took a piece of black cloth, used to clean slates, and laid it over my slates. finally he requested me to take the covered slates and hold them in my lap. i took care to feel through the cloth that the watch was still beneath the handkerchief. in a short time i was directed to uncover the slates, and untie them, which i did. upon the inner surface of one of the slates the following message was written: 'dear friend, stephen is with me. i have been through that beautiful watch of yours, and, if i see correctly, the number is 163131. on the inside i see this--e. howard & co., boston, 211327. and then your name as follows: dr. l. m. taylor, 1221 mass. ave., n. w., washington, d. c. signed j. m. granger.' "i then compared the name and numbers in my watch with those on the slate, and found the latter correct, with the exception of one number. a relative of mine was present in the room during this séance, and i showed her the communication on the slate. afterwards we passed the slate to keeler who examined it closely. when he handed it back to me, i was surprised to see that the incorrect number was mysteriously changed to the proper one." this is a very interesting test, indeed, because of its apparently impromptu character. i have seen similar feats performed by professional conjurers as well as mediums. a dummy watch is substituted for the sitter's watch, and after the medium has ascertained the name and numbers on the sitter's timepiece, he succeeds in adroitly exchanging it again for the dummy, thanks to the black cloth. the writing on the slate in the above séance was evidently produced in the same way as that described in my sitting with keeler, after he had ascertained the name on the slip. the name of stephen, of course, was directly obtained from dr. taylor. not having been an eye witness of keeler's movements in the watch test, i am unable to say how closely dr. taylor's description coincides with the medium's actual operations. in may, 1897, mr. pierre keeler was in washington, d. c., as usual. my friend, dr. taylor, who was desirous of putting the medium to another crucial test, wrote down a list of names on a sheet of paper--cognomens of ancient egyptian, chaldean, and grecian priests and philosophers--folded the paper, and carefully sealed it in an envelope. he took ten slates with him, all of them marked with a private mark of his own. mr. keeler eyed the envelope dubiously, but passed no criticisms on the doctor's precautions to prevent trickery. the two men sat down at a table and waited for the spirits to manifest. dr. taylor, on this occasion, was absolutely certain that his slates had not been tampered with, and that the medium had not succeeded in opening the envelope. in a little while the comedy of the pencil-scratching between the tied slates began. "ah", exclaimed the physician, "a message at last!" then he thought to himself, "can the medium possibly have deluded my senses by some hypnotic power, and adroitly opened that envelope without my being aware of the fact? but no, that is impossible!" mr. keeler took the slates away from dr. taylor, and quickly opened them, _accidentally_ dropping one of them behind the table. in a second, however, he brought up the slate, and remarked: "how awkward of me. i beg your pardon," etc. on the surface of this slate was written the following sentence: "see some other medium; d--n it!--george christy." dr. taylor is positive, as he has repeatedly told me, that this message was not inscribed on his own marked slate, but was written by the medium on one of his own. the exchange, of course, must have been effected in the pretended accidental dropping of the doctor's slate by the medium. this is a very old expedient among pretenders to spirit power. all conjurers are familiar with the device. imro fox, the american magician, uses it constantly in his entertainments, with capital effect. dr. taylor, unfortunately, did not succeed in getting possession of the medium's prepared slate. another exchange was undoubtedly made by mr. keeler, and the physician had returned to him his own marked slate. when he got home that afternoon, and had time to carefully scrutinize his slates, he found that they bore no evidence of having been written upon at all. having also examined these slates, i am prepared to add my testimony to that of dr. taylor. the reader will see from the above-described séance that unless the medium (or a confederate) is enabled to read the names and questions, prepared by the sitter, his hands are practically tied in all experiments in psychology. when investigators bring their own marked slates with them, screwed tightly together, and sealed, the medium has to adopt different tactics from those employed in the tests before mentioned. he has to call in the aid of a confederate. the audacity of the sealed-slate test is without parallel in the annals of pretended mediumship. for an insight into the secrets of this phase of psychography, the reading public is indebted to a medium, the anonymous author of a remarkably interesting work, "revelations of a spirit medium." many skeptical investigators have been converted to spiritualism by these tests. they invariably say to you when approached on the subject: "i took my own marked slates, carefully screwed together, to the medium, and had lengthy messages written upon them by spirit power. _these slates never left my hands for a second._" i will quote what the writer of "revelations of a spirit medium" says on the subject: "no man ever received independent slate-writing between slates fastened together that he did not allow out of his hands a few seconds. scores of persons will tell you that they _have_ received writing under those conditions through the mediumship of the writer; but the writer will tell you how he fooled them and how you can do so if you see fit. "in the first place you will rent a house with a cellar in connection. cut a trap-door one foot square through the floor between the sills on which the floor is laid. procure a fur floor mat with long hair. cut a square out of the mat and tack it to the top of the trap door. tack the mat fast to the floor, for some one may visit you who will want to raise it up. "explain the presence of the fur by saying it is an absorbent of magnetic forces, through which you produce the writing. over the rug place a heavy pine table about four feet square; and over the table a heavy cover that reaches the floor on all sides. put your assistant in the cellar with a coal-oil stove, a tea-kettle of hot water, different colored letter wax and lead pencils, a screw driver, a pair of nippers, a pair of pliers, a pair of scissors and an assortment of wire brads. you are ready for business. "when your sitter comes in you will notice his slates, if he brings a pair, and see if they are secured in any way that your man in the cellar can not duplicate. if they are, you can touch his slates with your finger and say to him that you can not use his slates on account of the 'magnetism' with which they are saturated. he will know nothing of 'magnetic conditions' and will ask you what he is to do about it. "you will furnish him a pair of new slates with water and cloths to clean them. you also furnish him paper to write his questions on and the screws, wax, paper and mucilage to secure them with. he will write his questions and fasten the slates securely together. "you now conduct him to your séance-room and invite inspection of your table and surroundings. after the examination has been made you will seat the sitter at one side of the table with his side and arm next it. if he desires to keep hold of the slates a signal agreed upon between yourself and your assistant will cause the spirit in the cellar to open the trap door, which opens downwards, and to push through the floor and into position where the sitter can grasp one end of it, a pair of dummy slates. this dummy your assistant will continue to hold until the sitter has taken hold of it after the following performance: "your assistant lets you know everything is ready by touching your foot. you now reach and take the sitter's slates and put them below the table, and under it, telling the sitter to put his hand under from his side and hold them with you. he puts his hand under and gets hold of the dummy slates held by your assistant. "your assistant holds on until you have stood the slates on end, leaning against the table leg, and have got hold of the dummy. he then takes the sitter's slates below and closes the trap. he proceeds to open them, read the questions, answer them and refasten the slates. "you will be entertaining your sitter by twitching and jerking and making clairvoyant and clairaudient guesses for him. "when your assistant touches your foot you will know that he is ready to make the exchange again, by which the sitter will get hold of the slates he fastened. when you get the signal you give a snort and jump that jerks the end of the slates from the sitter's hand. he is now given the end of the slates held by your assistant, and you will allow the assistant to take the dummy. after sitting a moment or two longer, you will tell the sitter to take out his slates and examine them if he chooses. many times they do not open the slates until they reach their homes. "this, reader, is the man who will declare that he furnished the slates and did not allow them out of his hands a minute. "the usual method of obtaining the writing is for the medium to hold the slates alone. when this is the case the medium passes the slates below, and receives in return a dummy which he is continually thumping on the under side of the table for the purpose of showing the sitter that the slates are there all the time. "it is not necessary that you should use a cellar to get this phase of 'independent slate-writing.' you could place your table against a partition door and by fitting one of the small panels with hinges and bolts, would have a very convenient way of obtaining the assistance of the spirit in the next room. it is also possible to make a trap in a room that has a wooden wainscoting." before closing this brief survey of slate-writing experiments, i must describe an exceedingly ingenious trick, indeed, bordering on the marvelous. it is the recent invention of a western conjurer, and solves the problem of actually writing between locked slates by physical means. the effect is as follows: you request the sitter to take two slates, wash them carefully, and tie them together, after first having placed a bit of chalk between their surfaces. hold them under the table for a minute, and then hand them to the sitter for examination. a name, or a short sentence, in answer to some question, will be found scrawled across the upper surface of the bottom slate. it is accomplished in this way. you take a small pellet of iron or steel, coat it with mucilage, and dip it into chalk or slate-pencil dust. this dust will adhere and harden into a consistent mass, after a little while, completely concealing the metal, and causing the whole to resemble a bit of chalk. take this supposed pellet of chalk from your vest pocket and place it between the slates; hold the latter level beneath a table, and by moving the poles of a strong magnet against the surface of the under slate, you can cause the iron or steel to write a name or sentence, thanks to its coating of chalk dust. it is better to use slates with rather deep frames, in order that the chalked metal may write with facility. it requires considerable practice to write with ease in the manner described above. the first thing of course is to locate the position of the chalk between the locked slates. to enable you to do this, place the supposed chalk in one corner of slate no. 1 before covering with slate no. 2, or else exactly in the center of slate no. 2. in this way you will have no difficulty in affecting the metal with the magnet, when the slates are held under the table. there are various ways of holding the slates; one, is to ask the sitter to hold one end, while you hold the other, five or six inches above the table. the light is put out, and you take the magnet from your pocket and execute the writing. the noise of the magnet passing over the surface of the under slate serves to represent a disembodied spirit as doing the writing. 2. the master of the mediums. one of the most remarkable personalities serving as an exponent of spiritualism was daniel dunglas home, the napoleon of necromancy, and the past grand master of mediums. his career reads like a romance. he lived in a sort of twilight land, and hob-nobbed with kings, queens and other people of noble blood. "something unsubstantial, ghostly, seems this theurgist, in deep meditation mostly wrapped, as in a mist. vague, phantasmal and unreal, to our thoughts he seems, walking in a world ideal, in a land of dreams." he wound his serpentine way into the best society of london, paris, berlin, rome, and st. petersburg--"always despising filthy lucre," as maskelyn remarks, "but never refusing a diamond worth ten times the amount he would have received in cash, or some present, which the host of the house at which he happened to be manifesting always felt constrained to offer." this thaumaturgist of the nineteenth century was born near edinburg, scotland, on march 20, 1833, and came of a family reported to be gifted with "second sight." his father, william home, was a natural son of alexander, tenth earl of home. strange phenomena occurred during the medium's childhood. at the age of nine he was adopted by his aunt, mrs. mcneill cook, who brought him to america. he began giving séances about the year 1852. among the notable men who attended these early "sittings" were william cullen bryant, professors wells and hare, and judge edmonds. home had a tall, slight figure, a fair and freckled face--before disease made it the color of yellow wax--keen, slaty-blue eyes, thin bloodless lips, a rather snub nose, and curly auburn hair. his manners, though forward, were agreeable, and he recited such poetry as poe's "raven" and "ulalume" with powerful effect. he was altogether a weird sort of personage. his principal mediumistic manifestations were rappings, table-tipping, ghostly materializations, playing on sealed musical instruments, levitation, and handling fire with impunity. in 1855 he launched his necromantic bark on european waters. no man since cagliostro ever created so profound a sensation in the old world. he wrote his reminiscences in two large volumes, but little credence can be given them, as they are full of extravagant statements and wild fantasies. the london _punch_ (may 9th, 1868), printed the following effusion on the medium, a sort of parody on "home, sweet home:" through realms thaumaturgic the student may roam, and not light on a worker of wonders like _home_. cagliostro himself might descend from his chair, and set up our _daniel_ as grand-cophta there- _home, home, dan. home_, no medium like _home_. spirit legs, spirit hands, he gives table and chair; gravitation defying, he flies in the air; but the fact to which henceforth his fame should be pinned, is his power to raise, not himself but the wind!- _home, home, dan. home_, no medium like _home_. robert browning made him the subject of his celebrated satirical poem, "mr. sludge, the medium." some of the most celebrated scientific and literary personages of england became interested in his mysterious abilities, and among his intimate friends were the earl of dunraven, mary howitt, mrs. s. c. hall, prof. wallace, and sir edward bulwer-lytton. there is good authority for believing that home was the mysterious margrave of bulwer's weird novel, "a strange story." bulwer was an ardent believer in the supernatural and home spent many days at knebworth amid a select coterie of ghost-seers. the famous novelist relates that as home sat with him in the library of knebworth, conversing upon politics, social matters, books or other chance topics, the chairs rocked and the tables were suspended in mid-air. when the medium was requested to exert his power and found himself in condition, it is alleged, he would rise and float about the room. this in spiritualistic parlance is termed "levitation". at knebworth and other places, some of the most prominent people of the day claim to have seen home lift himself up and sail tranquilly out of a window, around the house, and come in by another window. the earl of dunraven told many stories equally strange of performances that were given in his presence. the earl declared that he had many times seen home elongate and shorten his body, and cause the closed piano to play by putting his fingers on the lid. [illustration: fig. 7--home at the tuileries.] in the autumn of 1855 the famous medium went to florence; there, also, the spirit manifestations secured him the _entree_ into the best society of the old italian city. in his memoirs he speaks of an incident occurring through his mediumship, at a séance given in florence: "upon one occasion, while the countess c-was seated at one of erard's grand-action pianos, it rose and balanced itself in the air, during the whole time she was playing." an english lady, resident at florence, in a supposed haunted house, procured the services of home to exorcise the ghost. they sat at a table in the sitting-room, and raps were heard proceeding from that piece of furniture, and rustling sounds in the room as of a person moving about in a heavy garment. the spirit being adjured in the name of the "holy trinity" to leave the premises, the demonstrations ceased. in february, 1856, the medium joined the retinue of count b--, a polish nobleman, and went to naples with his patron. from naples to rome was the next step, and, in the eternal city, the medium joined the romish church, and was adjured by the pope to abandon spirit séances forever. in 1858 we find home in st. petersburg, where he married the youngest daughter of general count de kroll, of russia, and a goddaughter of the emperor nicholas, the marriage taking place on sunday, august 1, 1858, in the private chapel attached to the house of the lady's brother-in-law, the count gregoire koucheleff-besborodko. it was a very notable affair, and alexander dumas came from paris to attend the ceremony. home's spirit power which had left him since his conversion to the roman catholic faith now returned in full force, it is said, and he saw standing near him at the wedding the spirit form of his mother. in 1862 his wife died at the chateau laroche, near perigneux, france, and the medium repaired to rome for the purpose of studying sculpture. the reports of the spirit phenomena constantly attending home's presence reached the ears of the papal authorities and he was compelled to leave the city, notwithstanding the fact that he gave positive assurance that he would give no séance. he was actually charged with being a sorcerer, like cagliostro, an accusation that reads very strange in the nineteenth century. this affair embittered home against the church, and he abandoned roman catholicism for the greek church. after the roman fiasco, the famous medium returned to england to give spiritualistic lectures and séances. a writer in "_all the year round_", gives the following pen picture of the medium, as he appeared in 1866: "he is a tall, thin man, with broad square shoulders, suggestive of a suit of clothes hung upon an iron cross. his hair is long and yellow; his teeth are large, glittering and sharp; his eyes are a pale grey, with a redness about the eye-lids, which comes and goes in a ghastly manner, as he talks. when he shows his glittering sharp teeth, and that red line comes round his slowly rolling eyes, he is not a pleasant sight to look upon. his hands are long, white and bony, and on taking them you discover that they are icy cold." a _suit of clothes hung upon an iron cross_ is a weird touch in this pen picture. home about this time intended going upon the stage, but abandoned the idea to become the secretary of the "spiritual atheneum", a society formed for the investigation of psychic phenomena. one of the most notable passages in the life of the great medium was the famous law suit in which he was concerned in england. in 1866 he became acquainted with a wealthy lady, mrs. jane lyons. in his role of medium she consulted him constantly about the welfare of her husband in the spirit world, and her business affairs. she gave him £33,000 for his services. relatives and friends of mrs. lyons, however, saw in home a cunning adventurer who was preying upon a weak-minded woman. a suit was instituted against the medium to recover the money, and the case became a _cause celebre_ in the annals of the english courts. in the autumn of 1871, home, who before that time, had been quite a "lion" at the court of napoleon iii and eugene, followed the german army from sedan to versailles, and was hand-in-glove with the king of prussia. his second marriage took place in october, 1871, at paris, and after a brief honeymoon in england he visited st. petersburg with his wife, who was a member of the noble russian family of alsakoff. on the 21st of june, 1886, the great american ghost-seer died of consumption, at auteuil, near paris, france. for years he was out of health, and he ascribed his weakness to the expenditure of vital force in working wonders during the earlier part of his career. he was buried at st. germain-en-laye, with the rites of the russian church. the funeral was a very simple one, not more than twenty persons being present, all of whom were in full evening dress. the idea was to emphasize the spiritualists' belief that death is not a subject for mourning, but is liberation, an occasion for rejoicing. the curious reader will find many accounts of home's invulnerability to fire while in the trance state, notably those of prof. crookes, contained in the proceedings of the society for psychical research. in the march, 1868, number of "_human nature_," mr. h. d. jencken writes as follows concerning a séance given by the medium: "mr. home, (after various manifestations) said, 'we have gladly shown you our power over fluids, we will now show you our power over solids.' he then knelt down before the hearth, and deliberately breaking up a glowing piece of coal in the fire place, took up a largish lump of incandescent coal and placing the same in his left hand, proceeded to explain that caloric had been extracted by a process known to them (the spirits), and that the heat could in part be returned. this he proved by alternately cooling and heating the coal; and to convince us of the fact, allowed us to handle the coal which had become cool, then suddenly resumed its heat sufficient to burn one, as i again touched it. i examined mr. home's hand, and quite satisfied myself that no artificial means had been employed to protect the skin, which did not even retain the smell of smoke. mr. home then re-seated himself, and shortly awoke from his trance quite pale and exhausted." other witnesses of the above experiment were lord lindsay, lord adare, miss douglas, mr. s. c. hall, mr. w. h. harrison and prof. wallace. mr. h. nisbet, of glasgow, relates (_human nature_, feb. 1870) that in his own home in january, 1870, mr. home took a red hot coal from the grate and put it in the hands of a lady and gentleman to whom it felt only warm. subsequently he placed the same on a folded newspaper, the result being a hole burnt through eight layers of paper. taking another blazing coal he laid it on the same journal, and carried it around the apartment for upwards of three minutes, without scorching the paper. among the crowned heads and famous people before whom mr. home appeared were napoleon iii and the empress eugénie, queen victoria, king louis i and king maximilian of bavaria, the emperor of russia, the king and queen of wurtemberg, the duchess of hamilton, the crown prince of prussia and old gen. von moltke. alexander dumas the elder, was a constant companion of the medium for a long time, and wrote columns about him. napoleon iii had two sittings with home--and it is said home materialized the spirit of the first napoleon, who appeared in his familiar cocked hat, gray overcoat and dark green uniform with white facings. "my fate?" asked louis, trembling with awe. "like mine--discrowned, and death in exile," replied the ghost; then it vanished. the empress swooned and napoleon iii fell back in his chair as if about to faint. the medium in his first séance with the french emperor succeeded only in materializing some flowers and a spirit hand, which the emperor was permitted to grasp. celia logan, the journalist, in writing of one of home's séances at a nobleman's house in london, says: "on this occasion the medium announced that he would produce balls of fire and illuminated hands. failing in the former, he declared that the spirits were not strong enough for that to-night, and so he would have to confine himself to showing the luminous hands. "the house was darkened and home groped his way alone to the head of the broad staircase, where every few minutes a pair of luminous hands were thrown up. the audience was satisfied generally. one lady, however, was not, and whispered to me--she was a half-hearted spiritualist--that it looked to her as if he had rubbed his own hands over with lucifer matches. "the host stood near the mantel piece and had seen home abstractedly place a small bottle upon it when he left the room for the staircase. that bottle the host quietly slipped into his pocket. upon examination the next day it was found to contain phosphorated olive oil or some similar preparation. "the host had declared himself to have seen home float through the air from one side of the room to the other, lift a piano several feet in the air by simply placing a finger upon it, and had seen him materialize disembodied spirits; but after the discovery of the phosphorus trick he dropped home at once." it is a significant fact that the medium while giving séances in paris in 1857 refused to meet houdin, the renowned prestidigitateur. i shall now attempt an exposé of home's physical phenomena. home's extraordinary feat of alternately cooling and heating a lump of coal taken from a blazing fire, as related by mr. h. d. jencken and others, is easily explained. it is a juggling trick. the "coal" is a piece of spongy platinum which bears a close resemblance to a lump of half burnt coal, and is palmed in the hand, as a prestidigitateur conceals a coin, a pack of cards, an egg, or a small lemon. the medium or magician advances to the grate and pretends to take a genuine lump of coal from the fire but brings up instead, at the tips of his fingers, the piece of platinum. in a secret breast pocket of his coat he has a small reservoir of hydrogen, with a tube coming down the sleeve and terminating an inch or so above the cuff. by means of certain mechanical arrangements, to enable him to let on and off the gas at the proper moment, he is able to accomplish the trick; for when a current of hydrogen is allowed to impinge upon a piece of spongy platinum, the metal becomes incandescent, and as soon as the current is arrested the platinum is restored to its normal condition. the hand may be protected from burning in various ways, one method being the repeated application of sulphuric acid to the skin, whereby it is rendered impervious to the action of fire for a short period of time; another, by wearing gloves of amianthus or asbestos cloth. with the latter, worn in a badly lighted room, the medium, without much risk of discovery, can handle red hot coals or iron with impunity. the gloves may at the proper moment be slipped off and concealed about the person. a small slip of amianthus cloth placed on a newspaper would protect it from a hot coal and the same means could be used when a coal is placed in another's hand or upon his head. as to the marvelous "levitation", either the witnesses of the alleged feat were under some hypnotic spell, or else they allowed their imaginations to run riot when describing the event. in the case of lord lindsay and lord adare, d. carpenter in his valuable paper "on fallacies respecting the supernatural" (_contemporary review_, jan., 1876) says: "a whole party of believers affirm that they saw mr. home float out of one window and in at another, while a single honest skeptic declares that mr. home was sitting in his chair all the time." it seems that there were three gentlemen present besides the medium when the alleged phenomenon took place, the two noblemen and a "cousin". it is this unnamed hard-headed cousin to whom dr. carpenter refers as the "honest skeptic." many of home's admirers have declared that he possessed the power of mesmerizing certain of his friends. these gentlemen were no doubt hypnotized and related honestly what they believed they had seen. again, the expectancy of attention and the nervous tension of the average sitter in spirit-circles tend to produce a morbidly impressible condition of mind. many mediums since home's day have performed the act of levitation, but always in a dark room. mr. angelo lewis, the writer on magic, reveals an ingenious method by which levitation is effected. when the lights are extinguished the medium--who, by the way, must be a clever ventriloquist--removes his boots and places them on his hands. "i am rising, i am rising, but pay no attention", he remarks, as he goes about the apartment, where the sitters are grouped in a circle about him, and he lightly touches the heads of various persons. a shadowy form is dimly seen and a smell of boot leather becomes apparent to the olfactory senses of many present. people jump quickly to conclusions in such matters and argue that where the feet of the medium are, his body must surely be--namely, floating in the air. the illusion is further enhanced by the performer's ventriloquial powers. "i am rising! i am touching the ceiling!" he exclaims, imitating the sound of a voice high up. when the lights are turned up, the medium is seen (this time with his boots on his feet) standing on tip-toe, as if just descended from the ceiling. sometimes before performing the levitation act, he will say, "in order to convince any skeptic present, that i really float upwards, i will write the initials of my name, or the name of some one present, on the ceiling." when the lights are raised, the letters are seen written on the ceiling in a bold scrawling hand. how is it done? the medium has concealed about him a telescopic steel rod, something like those chinese fishing rods at one time in vogue among modern disciples of izaak walton. this convenient rod when not in use folds up in a very small compass, but when it is shoved out to its full length, some three or four feet, with a bit of black chalk attached, the writing on the ceiling is easily produced. the magicians of ancient egypt displayed their mystic rods as a part of their paraphernalia, while the modern magi bear theirs in secret. a tambourine, a guitar, a bell, or a spirit hand, rubbed with phosphorus, may also be fixed to this ingenious appliance, and floated over the heads of the spectators, and even a horn may be blown, through the hollow rod. the materialization of a spirit hand which crept from beneath a table-cover, and showed itself to the "believers," was one of the most startling things in the repertoire of d. d. home, as it was in that of dr. monck's, an english medium. an explanation of monck's method of producing the hand may, perhaps, throw some light on home's "materialization." a small dummy hand, artistically executed in wax, with the fingers slightly bent, is fastened to a broad elastic band about three feet in length. this band is attached to a belt about the performer's waist and passes down his left trouser leg, allowing the hand to dangle within the trouser a few inches above the ankle. i must not forget to explain that to the wrist of the hand is appended an elastic sleeve about five inches long. the medium and two sitters take their seats at a square table, with an over-hanging table-cloth. no one is allowed to be seated at the same side of the table with the medium. this is an imperative condition. "diminish the light, please," says the medium. some one rises to lower the gas to the required dim religious light necessary to all spirit séances. "a little lower, please! lower, lower still!" remarks the medium. out the light goes. "dear, me, but this is vexatious! somebody light it again and be more careful!" he ejaculates. under cover of the darkness the agile operator crosses his left foot over his right knee, pulls down the wax hand and fixes it to the toe of his boot by means of the elastic sleeve, the apparatus being masked from the sitters by the table cloth until the time comes for the spirit materialization. the three men place their hands on the table and wait patiently for developments. presently a rap is heard under the table--disjointed knee of the medium,--and then _mirabile dictu!_ the table-cloth shakes and a delicate female hand emerges and shows itself above the edge of the table. a guitar being placed close to the fingers, they soon strum the strings, or rather appear to do so, the medium being the _deus ex machina_. the cleverest part of the whole performance is the fact that the medium never takes his hands from the table. he quietly puts his left foot down on the floor and places his right foot heavily on the false hand--off it comes from the left foot and shoots up the trouser leg like lightning. the sitters may look under the table but they see nothing. an ingenious improvement has been made to this hand-test by an american conjurer, one that enables the medium to produce the hand although his feet are secured by the sitter. "be kind enough, sir," says the performer to the investigator, "to place your feet on mine. if i should move my feet ever so little, you would know it, would you not?" the sitter replies in the affirmative. the medium, as soon as he feels the pressure of the sitter's feet, withdraws his right foot from a steel shape made in imitation of the toe of his boot, and operates the spirit hand at his leisure. after the sitting, he of course, inserts his right foot into the shape and carries it off with him. the production of spirit music was one of home's favorite experiments. there are all sorts of ways of producing this music, the most ingenious of which i give: the apparatus consists of a small circular musical box, wound up by clock work, and made to play whenever pressure is put upon a stud projecting a quarter of an inch from its surface. this box is strapped around the right leg of the medium just above his knee, and hidden beneath the trouser leg. when not in use it is on the under side of the leg. on the table a musical box is placed and covered with a soup tureen, or the top of a chafing dish. when the spectators are seated, the medium works the concealed musical box around to the upper part of his leg near the knee cap, and by pressing the stud against the under surface of the table, starts the music playing. in this way the second musical box seems to play and the acoustic effect is perfect. perhaps home used a similar contrivance; dr. monck did, and was caught in the act by the chief of the detective police. home during his séances on the continent of europe was accused of all sorts of trickery. some asserted that he had concealed about him a small but powerful electric battery for producing certain illusions, mechanical contrivances attached to his legs for making spirit raps, and last but not least, as the medium states in his "memoirs:" "they even accused me of carrying a small monkey about with me, concealed, trained to perform all sorts of ghostly tricks." people also accused him of obtaining a great deal of his information about the spirits of the departed from tombstones like an old mortality, and bribing family servants. a more probable explanation may be found perhaps in telepathy. there is one more phase of home's mediumship, the moving of heavy pieces of furniture without physical contact, that must be spoken of. in mentioning it, dr. max dessoir, author of the "psychology of conjuring,"[1] says: "we must admit that _a few_ feats, such as those of prof. crookes with home, concerning the possibility of setting inanimate objects in motion without touching them, _appear_ to lie entirely outside the sphere of jugglery." in the year 1871, prof. william crookes, (now sir william crookes) fellow of the royal society, a very eminent scientist, subjected home to some elaborate tests in order to prove or disprove by means of scientific apparatus the reality of phenomena connected with variations in the weight of bodies, with or without contact. he declared the tests to be entirely satisfactory, but ascribed the phenomena not to spiritual agency, but to a new force, "in some unknown manner connected with the human organization," which for convenience he called the "psychic force." he said in his "researches in the phenomena of spiritualism:" "of all the persons endowed with a powerful development of this psychic force, and who have been termed 'mediums' upon quite another theory of its origin, mr. daniel dunglas home is the most remarkable, and it is mainly owing to the many opportunities i have had of carrying on my investigations in his presence that i am enabled to affirm so conclusively the existence of this force." prof. crookes' experiments were conducted, as he says, in the full light, and in the presence of witnesses, among them being the famous english barrister, sergeant cox, and the astronomer, dr. huggins. heavy articles became light and light articles heavy when the medium came near them. in some cases he lightly touched them, in others refrained from contact. [illustration: fig. 8. crookes' apparatus.] the first piece of the apparatus constructed by crookes to test this psychic force consisted of a mahogany board 36 inches long by 9-1/2 inches wide and 1 inch thick. a strip of mahogany was screwed on at one end, to form a foot, the length being equal to the width of the board. this end of the board was placed on a table, while the other end was upheld by a spring balance, fastened to a strong tripod stand, as will be seen in fig. 8. "mr. home," writes prof. crookes, "placed the tips of his fingers lightly on the extreme end of the mahogany board which was resting on the support, whilst dr. a. b. [dr. huggins] and myself sat, one on each side of it, watching for any effect which might be produced. almost immediately the pointer of the balance was seen to descend. after a few seconds it rose again. this movement was repeated several times, as if by successive waves of the psychic force. the end of the board was observed to oscillate slowly up and down during the experiment. "mr. home now, of his own accord, took a small hand-bell and a little card match-box, which happened to be near, and placed one under each hand, to satisfy us, as he said, that he was not producing the downward pressure. the very slow oscillation of the spring balance became more marked, and dr. a. b., watching the index, said that he saw it descend to 6-1/2 lbs. the normal weight of the board as so suspended being 3 lbs., the additional downward pull was therefore 3-1/2 lbs. on looking immediately afterwards at the automatic register, we saw that the index had at one time descended as low as 9 lbs., showing a maximum pull of 6 lbs. upon a board whose normal weight was 3 lbs. "in order to see whether it was possible to produce much effect on the spring balance by pressure at the place where mr. home's fingers had been, i stepped upon the table and stood on one foot at the end of the board. dr. a. b., who was observing the index of the balance, said that the whole weight of my body (140 lbs.) so applied only sunk the index 1-1/2 lbs., or 2 lbs. when i jerked up and down. mr. home had been sitting in a low easy-chair, and could not, therefore, had he tried his utmost, have exerted any material influence on these results. i need scarcely add that his feet as well as his hands were closely guarded by all in the room." the next series of experiments is thus described: "on trying these experiments for the first time, i thought that actual contact between mr. home's hands and the suspended body whose weight was to be altered was essential to the exhibition of the force; but i found afterwards that this was not a necessary condition, and i therefore arranged my apparatus in the following manner:-"the accompanying cuts (figs. 9, 10 and 11) explain the arrangement. fig. 9 is a general view, and figs. 10 and 11 show the essential parts more in detail. the reference letters are the same in each illustration. a b is a mahogany board, 36 inches long by 9-1/2 inches wide, and 1 inch thick. it is suspended at the end, b, by a spring balance, c, furnished with an automatic register, d. the balance is suspended from a very firm tripod support, e. [illustration: fig. 9. crookes' apparatus.] [illustration: fig. 10. crookes' apparatus.] "the following piece of apparatus is not shown in the figures. to the moving index, o, of the spring balance, a fine steel point is soldered, projecting horizontally outwards. in front of the balance, and firmly fastened to it, is a grooved frame, carrying a flat box similar to the dark box of a photographic camera. this box is made to travel by clock-work horizontally in front of the moving index, and it contains a sheet of plate-glass which has been smoked over a flame. the projecting steel point impresses a mark on this smoked surface. if the balance is at rest, and the clock set going, the result is a perfectly straight horizontal line. if the clock is stopped and weights are placed on the end, b, of the board, the result is a vertical line, whose length depends on the weight applied. if, whilst the clock draws the plate along, the weight of the board (or the tension on the balance) varies, the result is a curved line, from which the tension in grains at any moment during the continuance of the experiments can be calculated. "the instrument was capable of registering a diminution of the force of gravitation as well as an increase; registrations of such a diminution were frequently obtained. to avoid complication, however, i will here refer only to results in which an increase of gravitation was experienced. [illustration: fig. 11. crookes' apparatus.] "the end, b, of the board being supported by the spring balance, the end, a, is supported on a wooden strip, f, screwed across its lower side and cut to a knife edge (see fig. 11). this fulcrum rests on a firm and heavy wooden stand, g h. on the board, exactly over the fulcrum, is placed a large glass vessel filled with water. i l is a massive iron stand, furnished with an arm and a ring, m n, in which rests a hemispherical copper vessel perforated with several holes at the bottom. "the iron stand is 2 inches from the board, a b, and the arm and copper vessel, m n, are so adjusted that the latter dips into the water 1-1/2 inches, being 5-1/2 inches from the bottom of i, and 2 inches from its circumference. shaking or striking the arm, m, or the vessel, n, produces no appreciable mechanical effect on the board, a b, capable of affecting the balance. dipping the hand to the fullest extent into the water in n does not produce the least appreciable action on the balance. "as the mechanical transmission of power is by this means entirely cut off between the copper vessel and the board, a b, the power of muscular control is thereby completely eliminated. "for convenience i will divide the experiments into groups, 1, 2, 3, etc., and i have selected one special instance in each to describe in detail. nothing, however, is mentioned which has not been repeated more than once, and in some cases verified, in mr. home's absence, with another person, possessing similar powers. "there was always ample light in the room where the experiments were conducted (my own dining-room) to see all that took place. "_experiment i._--the apparatus having been properly adjusted before mr. home entered the room, he was brought in, and asked to place his fingers in the water in the copper vessel, n. he stood up and dipped the tips of the fingers of his right hand in the water, his other hand and his feet being held. when he said he felt a power, force, or influence, proceeding from his hand, i set the clock going, and almost immediately the end, b, of the board was seen to descend slowly and remain down for about 10 seconds; it then descended a little further, and afterwards rose to its normal height. it then descended again, rose suddenly, gradually sunk for 17 seconds, and finally rose to its normal height, where it remained till the experiment was concluded. the lowest point marked on the glass was equivalent to a direct pull of about 5,000 grains. the accompanying figure 12 is a copy of the curve traced on the glass. [illustration: scale of seconds. fig. 12. diagram showing tension in crookes' apparatus under the influence of home.] "_experiment ii._--contact through water having proved to be as effectual as actual mechanical contact, i wished to see if the power or force could affect the weight, either through other portions of the apparatus or through the air. the glass vessel and iron stand, etc., were therefore removed, as an unnecessary complication, and mr. home's hands were placed on the stand of the apparatus at p (fig. 9). a gentleman present put his hand on mr. home's hands, and his foot on both mr. home's feet, and i also watched him closely all the time. at the proper moment the clock was again set going; the board descended and rose in an irregular manner, the result being a curved tracing on the glass, of which fig. 13 is a copy. [illustration: scale the same as in fig. 12. fig. 13. diagram showing tension in crookes' apparatus under the influence of home.] "_experiment iii._--mr. home was now placed one foot from the board, a b, on one side of it. his hands and feet were firmly grasped by a by-stander, and another tracing, of which fig. 14 is a copy, was taken on the moving glass plate. [illustration: scale the same as in fig. 12. fig. 14. diagram showing tension in crookes' apparatus under home's influence.] "_experiment iv._--(tried on an occasion when the power was stronger than on the previous occasions), mr. home was now placed 3 feet from the apparatus, his hands and feet being tightly held. the clock was set going when he gave the word, and the end, b, of the board soon descended, and again rose in an irregular manner, as shown in fig. 15. [illustration: scale the same as in fig. 12. fig. 15. diagram showing tension in crookes' apparatus under home's influence.] "the following series of experiments were tried with more delicate apparatus, and with another person, a lady, mr. home being absent. as the lady is non-professional, i do not mention her name. she has, however, consented to meet any scientific men whom i may introduce for purposes of investigation. [illustration: fig. 16. second crookes' apparatus.] "a piece of thin parchment, a, (figs. 16 and 17), is stretched tightly across a circular hoop of wood. b c is a light lever turning on d. at the end b is a vertical needle point touching the membrane a, and at c is another needle point, projecting horizontally and touching a smoked glass plate, e f. this glass plate is drawn along in the direction h g by clockwork, k. the end, b, of the lever is weighted so that it shall quickly follow the movements of the centre of the disc, a. these movements are transmitted and recorded on the glass plate, e f, by means of the lever and needle point, c. holes are cut in the side of the hoop to allow a free passage of air to the under side of the membrane. the apparatus was well tested beforehand by myself and others, to see that no shaking or jar on the table or support would interfere with the results: the line traced by the point, c, on the smoked glass was perfectly straight in spite of all our attempts to influence the lever by shaking the stand or stamping on the floor. [illustration: fig. 17. section of apparatus in fig. 16.] "_experiment v._--without having the object of the instrument explained to her, the lady was brought into the room and asked to place her fingers on the wooden stand at the points, l m, fig. 16. i then placed my hands over hers to enable me to detect any conscious or unconscious movement on her part. presently percussive noises were heard on the parchment, resembling the dropping of grains of sand on its surface. at each percussion a fragment of graphite which i had placed on the membrane was seen to be projected upwards about 1-50th of an inch, and the end, c, of the lever moved slightly up and down. sometimes the sounds were as rapid as those from an induction-coil, whilst at others they were more than a second apart. five or six tracings were taken, and in all cases a movement of the end, c, of the lever was seen to have occurred with each vibration of the membrane. "in some cases the lady's hands were not so near the membrane as l m, but were at n o, fig 17. [illustration: scale of seconds. fig. 18. diagram showing tension in crookes' apparatus (fig. 15 and 16) outside home's influence.] "the accompanying fig. 18 gives tracings taken from the plates used on these occasions. "_experiment vi._--having met with these results in mr. home's absence, i was anxious to see what action would be produced on the instrument in his presence. "accordingly i asked him to try, but without explaining the instrument to him. "i grasped mr. home's right arm above the wrist and held his hand over the membrane, about 10 inches from its surface, in the position shown at p, fig. 17. his other hand was held by a friend. after remaining in this position for about half a minute, mr. home said he felt some influence passing. i then set the clock going, and we all saw the index, c, moving up and down. the movements were much slower than in the former case, and were almost entirely unaccompanied by the percussive vibrations then noticed. "figs. 19 and 20 show the curves produced on the glass on two of these occasions. "figs. 18, 19 and 20 are magnified. "these experiments _confirm beyond doubt_ the conclusions at which i arrived in my former paper, namely, the existence of a force associated, in some manner not yet explained, with the human organization, by which force increased weight is capable of being imparted to solid bodies without physical contact. in the case of mr. home, the development of this force varies enormously, not only from week to week, but from hour to hour; on some occasions the force is inappreciable by my tests for an hour or more, and then suddenly reappears in great strength. [illustration: scale the same as in fig. 18. fig. 19. diagram showing tension in crookes' apparatus (fig. 16 and 17) under home's influence.] "it is capable of acting at a distance from mr. home (not unfrequently as far as two or three feet), but is always strongest close to him. [illustration: scale the same as on fig. 18. fig. 20. diagram showing tension in crookes' apparatus (fig. 16 and 17) under home's influence.] "being firmly convinced that there could be no manifestation of one form of force without the corresponding expenditure of some other form of force, i for a long time searched in vain for evidence of any force or power being used up in the production of these results. "now, however, having seen more of mr. home, i think i perceive what it is that this psychic force uses up for its development. in employing the terms _vital force_ or _nervous energy_, i am aware that i am employing words which convey very different significations to many investigators; but after witnessing the painful state of nervous and bodily prostration in which some of these experiments have left mr. home--after seeing him lying in an almost fainting condition on the floor, pale and speechless--i could scarcely doubt that the evolution of psychic force is accompanied by a corresponding drain on vital force." sergeant cox in speaking of the tests says, "the results appear to me conclusively to establish the important fact, that there is a force proceeding from the nerve-system capable of imparting motion and weight to solid bodies within the sphere of its influence." one of the medium's defenders has written: "home's mysterious power, whatever it may have been, was very uncertain. sometimes he could exercise it, and at others not, and these fluctuations were not seldom the source of embarrassment to him. he would often arrive at a place in obedience to an engagement, and, as he imagined, ready to perform, when he would discover himself absolutely helpless. after a séance his exhaustion appeared to be complete. "there is no more striking proof of the fact that home really possessed occult gifts of some sort--psychic force or whatever else the power may be termed--than he gave such amazing exhibitions in the early part of his history and was able to do so little toward the end. if it had been juggling he would, like other conjurors, have improved on his tricks by experience, or at all events, while his memory held out he would not have deteriorated." dr. hammond's experiments. dr. william a. hammond, the eminent neurologist, of washington, d. c., took up the cudgels against prof. crookes' "psychic force" theory, and assigned the experiments to the domain of animal electricity. he wrote as follows:[2] "place an egg in an egg-cup and balance a long lath upon the egg. though the lath be almost a plank it will obediently follow a rod of glass, gutta percha or sealing-wax, which has been previously well dried and rubbed, the former with a piece of silk, and the two latter with woolen cloth. now, in dry weather, many persons within my knowledge, have only to walk with a shuffling gait over the carpet, and then approaching the lath hold out the finger instead of the glass, sealing wax or gutta percha, and instantly the end of the lath at l rises to meet it, and the end at l is depressed. applying these principles, i arranged an apparatus exactly like that of prof. crookes, except that the spring balance was such as is used for weighing letters and was therefore very delicate, indicating quarter ounces with exactness, and that the board was thin and narrow. [illustration: fig. 21. dr. hammond's apparatus.] "applying the glass rod or stick of sealing-wax to the end resting by its foot on the table, the index of the balance at once descended, showing an increased weight of a little over three quarters of an ounce, and this without the board being raised from the table. "i then walked over a thick turkey rug for a few moments, and holding my finger under the board near the end attached to the balance, caused a fall of the index of almost half an ounce. i then rested my finger lightly on the end of the board immediately over the foot, and again the index descended and oscillated several times, just as in mr. home's experiments. the lowest point reached was six and a quarter ounces, and as the board weighed, as attached to the balance, five ounces, there was an increased weight of one and a quarter ounces. at no time was the end of the board raised from the table. "i then arranged the apparatus so as to place a thin glass tumbler nearly full of water immediately over the fulcrum, as in mr. crookes' experiment, and again the index fell and oscillated on my fingers being put into the water. "now if one person can thus, with a delicate apparatus like mine, cause the index, through electricity, to descend and ascend, it is not improbable that others, like mr. home, could show greater, or even different electrical power, as in prof. crookes' experiments. it is well known that all persons are not alike in their ability to be electrically excited. many persons, myself among them, can light the gas with the end of the finger. others cannot do it with any amount of shuffling over the carpet. "at any rate is it not much more sensible to believe that mr. home's experiments are to be thus explained than to attribute the results of his semi-mysterious attempts to spiritualism or psychic force?" 3. rope-tying and holding mediums. the davenport brothers. ira erastus and william henry davenport were born at buffalo, n. y., the former on sept. 17, 1839, and the latter on february 1, 1841. their father, ira davenport, was in the police detective department, and, it is alleged, invented the celebrated rope-tying feats after having seen the indian jugglers of the west perform similar illusions. the usual stories about ghostly phenomena attending the childhood of mediums were told about the davenport brothers, but it was not until 1855 that they started on their tour of the united states, with their father as showman or spiritual lecturer. when the civil war broke out, the brothers, accompanied by dr. j. b. ferguson, formerly an independent minister of nashville, tenn., in the capacity of lecturer, and a mr. palmer as general agent and manager, went to england to exhibit their mediumistic powers, following the example of d. d. home. with the company also was a buffalo boy named fay, of german-american parentage, who had formerly acted as ticket-taker for the mediums. he discovered the secret of the rope-tying feat, and was an adept at the coat feat, so he was employed as an "under-study" in case of the illness of william davenport, who was in rather delicate health. the brothers davenport at this period, aged respectively 25 and 23 years, had "long black curly hair, broad but not high foreheads, dark eyes, heavy eye-brows and moustaches, firm set lips, and a bright, keen look." their first performance in england was given at the concert rooms, hanover square, london, and created intense excitement. _punch_ called the _furore_ over the spirit rope-tyers the "tie-fuss fever," and said the mediums were "ministers of the interior, with a seat in the cabinet." j. n. maskelyne, the london conjurer of egyptian hall, wrote of them: "about the davenport brothers' performances, i have to say that they were and still remain the most inexplicable ever presented to the public as of spiritual origin; and had they been put forth as feats of jugglery would have awakened a considerable amount of curiosity though certainly not to the extent they did." in september, 1865, the brothers arrived in paris, and placarded the city with enormous posters announcing that the brothers davenport, spirit-mediums, would give a series of public séances at the _salle herz_. their reputation had preceded them to france and the _boulevardiers_ talked of nothing but the wonderful american mediums and their mysterious cabinet. before exhibiting in paris the davenports visited the _chateau de gennevilliers_, whose owner was an enthusiastic believer in spiritism, and gave a séance before a select party of journalists and scientific men. the exhibition was pronounced marvellous in the extreme and perfectly inexplicable. the parisian press was divided on the subject of the davenports and their advertised séances. some of the papers protested against such performances on the ground that they were dangerous to the mental health of the public, and, one writer said, "particularly to those weaker intellects which are always ready enough to accept as gospel the tricks and artifices of the adepts of sham witchcraft." m. edmond about, the famous journalist and novelist, in the _opinion nationale_, wrote a scathing denunciation of spiritism, but all to no purpose, except to inflame public curiosity. the performances of the davenports were divided into two parts: (1) the light séance, (2) the dark séance. in the light séance a cabinet, elevated from the stage by three trestles, was used. it was a simple wooden structure with three doors. in the centre door was a lozenge-shaped window covered with a curtain. upon the sides of the cabinet hung various musical instruments, a guitar, a violin, horns, tambourines, and a big dinner bell. [illustration: fig. 22. the davenport brothers in their cabinet.] a committee chosen by the audience tied the mediums' hands securely behind their backs, fastened their legs together, and pinioned them to their seats in the cabinet, and to the cross rails with strong ropes. the side doors were closed first, then the center door, but no sooner was the last fastened, than the hands of one of the mediums were thrust through the window in the centre door. in a very short time, at a signal from the mediums, the doors were opened, and the davenports stepped forth, with the ropes in their hands, every knot untied, confessedly by spirit power. the astonishment of the spectators amounted to awe. on an average it took ten minutes to pinion the brothers; but a single minute was required for their release. once more the mediums went into the cabinet, this time with the ropes lying in a coil at their feet. two minutes elapsed. hey, presto! the doors were opened, and the davenports were pronounced by the committee to be securely lashed to their seats. seals were affixed to the knots in the ropes, and the doors closed as before. pandemonium reigned. bells were rung, horns blown, tambourines thumped, violins played, and guitars vigorously twanged. heavy rappings also were heard on the ceiling, sides and floor of the cabinet, then after a brief but absolute silence, a bare hand and arm emerged from the lozenge window, and rung the big dinner bell. on opening the doors the brothers were found securely tied as before, and seals intact. an amusing feature of the exhibition occurred when a venturesome spectator volunteered to sit inside of the cabinet between the two mediums. he came out with his coat turned inside out and his hat jammed over his eyes. in the dark séance the cabinet was dispensed with and the spectators, holding hands, formed a ring around the mediums. the lights were put out and similar phenomena took place, with the addition of luminous hands, and musical instruments floating in the air. robert-houdin wrote an interesting brochure on the davenports, ("secrets of stage conjuring," translated by prof. hoffmann) from which i take the following: "the ropes used by the davenport brothers are of a cotton fibre; and they present therefore smooth surfaces, adapted to slip easily one upon another. gentlemen are summoned from the audience to tie the mediums. now, tell me, is it an easy task for an amateur to tie a man up off-hand with a rope three yards long, in a very secure way? the amateur is flurried, self-conscious, anxious to acquit himself well of the business, but he is a gentleman, not a brute, and if one of the brothers sees the ropes getting into a dangerous tangle, he gives a slight groan, as if he were being injured, and the instantaneous impulse of the other man is to loosen the cord a trifle. a fraction of an inch is an invaluable gain in the after-business of loosening the ropes. sometimes the stiffening of a muscle, the raising of a shoulder, the crooking of a knee, gives all the play required by the brothers in ridding themselves of their bonds. their muscles and joints are wonderfully supple, too; the thumbs can be laid flat in the palm of the hand, the hand itself rounded until it is no broader than the wrist, and then it is easy to pull through. violent wrenches send the ropes up toward the shoulder, vigorous shakings get the legs free; the first hand untied is thrust through the hole in the door of the cabinet, and then returns to give aid to more serious knots on his own or his brother's person. in tying themselves up the davenports used the slip-knot, a sort of bow, the ends of which have only to be pulled to be tightened or loosened." this slip-knot is a very ingenious affair. (see fig. 23.) in performing the spirit-tying, the mediums went into the cabinet with the ropes examined by the audience lying coiled at their feet. the doors were closed. they had concealed about their persons ropes in which these trick knots were already adjusted, and with which they very speedily secured themselves, having first secreted the genuine ropes. then the doors were opened. seals were affixed to the knots, but this sealing, owing to the position of the hands, and the careful exposition of the knots did not affect the slipping of the ropes sufficiently to prevent the mediums from removing and replacing their hands. [illustration: no. 23. trick-tie in cabinet work.] in the dark séance, flour was sometimes placed in the pinioned hands of the davenports. on being released from their bonds, the flour was found undisturbed. this was considered a convincing test; for how could the brothers possibly manipulate the musical instruments with their hands full of flour. one day a wag substituted a handful of snuff for flour, and when the mediums were examined, the snuff had disappeared and flour taken its place. as will be understood, in the above test the davenports emptied the flour from their hands into secret pockets and at the proper moment took out cornucopias of flour and filled their hands again before securing themselves in the famous slip-knots. among the exposés of the brothers davenport, herrmann, the conjurer, gives the following in the _cosmopolitan magazine_: "the davenports, for thirteen years, in europe and america, augmented the faith in spiritualism. unfortunately for the davenports they appeared at ithaca, new york, where is situated cornell university. the students having a scientific trend of mind, provided themselves before attending the performance with pyrotechnic balls containing phosphorus, so made as to ignite suddenly with a bright light. during the dark séance when the davenports were supposed to be bound hand and foot within the closet and when the guitars were apparently floating in the air, the students struck their lights, whereupon the spirits were found to be no other than the davenports themselves, dodging about the stage brandishing guitars and playing tunes and waving at the same time tall poles surmounted by phosphorescent spook pictures." the davenports had some stormy experiences in paris, but managed to come through all successfully, with plenty of french gold in their pockets. william died in october, 1877, at the oxford hotel, sydney, australia, having publicly denounced spiritualism. mr. fay took to raising sheep in australia, while ira davenport drifted back to his old home in buffalo, new york. many mediums, taking the cue from the davenports, have performed the cabinet act with its accompanying rope-tying, but the conjurers (anti-spiritists) have, with the aid of mechanism, brought the business to a high degree of perfection, notably mr. j. nevil maskelyne, of egyptian hall, london, and mr. harry kellar, of the united states. writing of the davenport brothers, maskelyne says: "the instantaneous tying and untying was simply marvellous, and it utterly baffled everyone to discover, until, on one occasion, the accidental falling of a piece of drapery from a window (the lozenge-shaped aperture in the door of the cabinet), at a critical moment let me into the secret. i was able in a few months to reproduce every item of the davenports' cabinet and dark séance. so close was the resemblance to the original, that _the spiritualist had no alternative but to claim us_ (maskelyne and cooke) _as most powerful spirit mediums who found it more profitable to deny the assistance of spirits_." robert-houdin's explanation of the slip-knot, used by the davenports in their dark séance, is the correct one, but he failed to fathom the mystery of the mode of release of the brothers after they were tied in the cabinet by a committee selected from the audience. anyone trying to extricate himself from bondage _a la_ houdin, no matter how slippery and serpentine he be, would find it exceedingly difficult. it seems almost incredible, but trickery was used in the light séance, as well as the dark. maskelyne, as quoted above, claimed to have penetrated the mystery, but he kept it a profound secret--though he declared that his cabinet work was trickery. the writer is indebted for an initiation into the mysteries of the davenport brothers' rope-tying to mr. h. morgan robinson (professor helmann), of washington, d. c., a very clever prestidigitateur. in the year 1895, after an unbroken silence of nineteen years, fay, ex-assistant of the davenports, determined to resume the profession of public medium. he abandoned his sheep ranch and hunted up ira davenport. they gave several performances in northern towns, and finally landed at the capital of the nation, in the spring of 1895, and advertised several séances at willard's hall. a very small audience greeted them on their first appearance. among the committee volunteering to go on the stage and tie the mediums were the writer and mr. robinson. after the séance the prestidigitateur fully explained the _modus operandi_ of the mystic tie, which is herein for the first time correctly given to the public. the medium holds out his left wrist first and has it tied securely, about the middle of the rope. two members of the committee are directed to pull the ends of the cord vigorously. "are you confident that the knots are securely tied?" he asks; when the committee respond "yes," he puts his hand quickly behind him, and places against the wrist, the wrist of his right hand, in order that they may be pinioned together. during this rapid movement he twists the rope about the knot on his left wrist, thereby allowing enough slack cord to disengage his right hand when necessary. to slip the right hand back into place is an easy matter. after both hands are presumably tied, the medium steps into the cabinet; the ends of the rope are pushed through two holes in the chair or wooden seat, by the committee and made fast to the medium's legs. bells ring, horns blow, and the performer's hand is thrust through the window of the cabinet. finally a gentleman is requested to enter the cabinet with the medium. the doors are locked and a perfect pandemonium begins; when they are opened the volunteer assistant tumbles out in great trepidation. his hat is smashed over his eyes, his cravat is tied around his leg, and he is found to have on the medium's coat, while the medium wears the gentleman's coat turned inside out. it all appears very remarkable, but the mystery is cleared up when i state that the innocent looking gentleman is invariably a confederate, what conjurers call a _plant_, because he is planted in the audience to volunteer for the special act. ira and william davenport were tied in the manner above described. often one of the brothers allowed himself to be genuinely pinioned, after having received a preconcerted signal from his partner that all was right, _i. e._, the partner had been fastened by the trick tie, calling attention to the knots in the cord, etc. the trick tie, however, is so delusive, that it is impossible to penetrate the secret in the short time allowed the committee for investigation, and there is no special reason for permitting a genuine tie-up. once in a great while, the davenports were over-reached by clever committee-men and tied up so tightly that there was no getting loose. where one brother failed to execute the trick and was genuinely fastened, the other medium performed the spirit evolutions, and cut his "confrere" loose before they came out of the cabinet. the fay-davenport revival proved a failure, and the mediums dissolved partnership in washington. kellar, the magician and former assistant of the original davenport combination, by a curious coincidence was giving his fine conjuring exhibition in the city at the same time. his tricks far eclipsed the feeble revival of the rope-tying phenomena. the fickle public crowded to see the magician and neglected the mediums. annie eva fay. one of the most famous of the materializing mediums now exhibiting in the united states is annie eva fay. she is quite an adept at the spirit-tying business, and like the davenports, uses a cabinet on the stage, but her method of tying, though clever, is inferior to that used by the brothers in their balmy days. in the center of the fay cabinet (a plain, curtained affair) is a post firmly screwed to the stage. the medium permits a committee of two from the audience to tie her to this post, and seal the bandages about her wrists with court plaster. she then takes her seat upon a small stool in front of the stanchion; the musical instruments are placed on her lap, and the curtains of the cabinet closed. immediately the evidences of _spirit power_ begin: the bell is jingled, the tambourine thumped, and the sound of a horn heard, simultaneously. the fay method of tying is designed especially to facilitate the medium's actions. cotton bandages are used, and the committee are invited to sew the knots through and through. each wrist is tied with a bandage, about an inch and a half wide by a half yard in length; and the medium then clasps her hands behind her, so that her wrists are about six inches apart. the committee now proceed to tie the ends of the bandages firmly together, and, after this is accomplished, the dangling pieces of the bandages are clipped off. it is true, the medium is firmly bound by this process, and it would be physically impossible for her to release herself, without disturbing the sewing and the seals, but it is not intended for her to release herself at all; the method pursued being altogether different from the old species of rope-tying. all being secure, the committee are requested to pass another bandage about the short ligature between the lady's wrists, and tie it in double square knots, and firmly secure this to a ring in the post of the cabinet, the medium being seated on a stool in front of the stanchion, facing the audience. her neck is likewise secured to the post by cotton bandages and her feet fastened together with a cord, the end of which passes out of the cabinet and is held by one of the committee. the peculiar manner of holding the hands, described above, enables the medium to secure for her use, a ligature of knotted cloth between her hands, some six inches long; and the central bandage, usually tied in four or five double knots, gives her about two inches play between the middle of the cotton handcuffs and the ring in the post, to which it is secured. the ring is two and a half inches in diameter, and the staple which holds it to the stanchion is a half inch. the left hand of the medium gives six additional inches, and the bandage on her wrist slips readily along her slender arm nearly half way to the elbow--"all of which," says john w. truesdell,[3] who was the first to expose miss fay's spirit pretensions, "gives the spirits a clear leeway of not less than 20 inches from the stanchion. the moment the curtain is closed, the medium, under spirit influence spreads her hands as far apart as possible, an act which stretches the knotted ligature so that the bandage about it will easily slip from the centre to either wrist; then, throwing her lithe form by a quick movement, to the left, so that her hips will pass the stanchion without moving her feet from the floor, the spirits are able, through the medium, to reach whatever may have been placed upon her lap." one of annie eva's most convincing tests is the accordion which plays, after it has been bound fast with tapes and the tapes carefully sealed at every note, so as to prevent its being performed on in the regular manner. her method of operating, though simple, is decidedly ingenious. she places a small tube in the valve-hole of the instrument, breathes and blows alternately into it, and then by fingering the keys, executes an air with excellent effect. sometimes she places a musical box on an oblong plate of glass suspended from the ceiling by four cords. the box plays and stops at word of command, much to the astonishment of listeners. "electricity," exclaims the reader! hardly so, for the box is completely insulated on the sheet of glass. then how is it done? mr. asprey vere, an investigator of spirit phenomena, tells the secret in the following words: ("modern magic"). "in the box there is placed a balance lever which when the glass is in the slightest degree tilted, arrests the fly-fan, and thus prevents the machinery from moving. at the word of command the glass is made level, and the fly-fan being released, the machinery moves, and a tune is played. when commanded to stop, either side of the cord is pulled by a confederate behind the scenes, the balance lever drops, the fly-fan is arrested, and the music stops." one of the tests presented to the american public by this medium is the "spirit-hand," constructed of painted wood or _papier mache_, which raps out answers to questions, after it has been isolated from all contact by being placed on a sheet of glass supported on the backs of two chairs. it is a trick performed by every conjurer, and the secret is a piece of black silk thread, worked by confederates stationed in the wings of the theatre, one at the right, the other at the left. the thread lies along the stage when not in use, but at the proper cue from the medium, it is lifted up and brought in contact with the wooden hand. the hand is so constructed that the palm lies on the glass sheet and the wrist, with a fancy lace cuff about it, is elevated an inch above the glass, the whole apparatus being so pivoted that a pressure of the thread from above will depress the wrist and elevate the palm. when the thread is relaxed the hand comes down on the glass with a thump and makes the spirit rap which is so effective. a rapping skull made on similar principles is also in vogue among mediums. charles slade. annie eva fay has a rival in charles slade, who is a clever performer and a most convincing talker. his cabinet test is the same as miss fay's, but he has other specialties that are worth explaining--one is the "table-raising," and another is the "spirit neck-tie." the effect of the first experiment is as follows: slade, with his arms bared and coat removed, requests several gentlemen to sit around a long table, reserving the head for himself. hands are placed on the table, and developments awaited. "do you feel the table raising?" asks the medium, after a short pause. "we do!" comes the response of the sitters. slade then rises; all stand up, and the table is seen suspended in the air, about a foot from the floor of the stage. in a little while an uncontrollable desire seems to take possession of the table to rush about the stage. frequently the medium requests several persons to get on the table, but that has no effect whatever. the same levitation takes place. the secret of this surprising mediumistic test is very simple. in the first place, the man who sits at the foot of the table is a confederate. both medium and confederate wear about their waists wide leather belts, ribbed and strengthened with steel bands, and supported from the shoulders by bands of leather and steel. in the front of each belt is a steel hinge concealed by the vest of the wearer. in the act of sitting down at the table the medium and his confederate quickly pull the hinges which catch under the top of the table when the sitters rise. the rest of the trick is easily comprehended. when the levitation act is finished the hinges are folded up and hidden under the vests of the performers. the "spirit neck-tie" is one of the best things in the whole range of mediumistic marvels, and has never to my knowledge been exposed. a rope is tied about the medium's neck with the knots at the back and the ends are thrust through two holes in one side of the cabinet, and tied in a bow knot on the outside. the holes in the cabinet must be on a level with the medium's neck, after he is seated. the curtains of the cabinet are then closed, and the committee requested to keep close watch on the bow-knot on the outside of the cabinet. the assistant in a short time pulls back the curtain from the cabinet on the side farthest from the medium, and reveals a sheeted figure which writes messages and speaks to the spectators. other materializations take place. the curtain is drawn. at this juncture the medium is heard calling: "quick, quick, release me!" the assistant unfastens the bow-knot, the ends of the rope are quickly drawn into the cabinet, and the medium comes forward, looking somewhat exhausted, with the rope still tied about his neck. the question resolves itself into two factors--either the medium gets loose the neck-tie and impersonates the spirits or the materializations are genuine. "gets loose! but that is impossible," exclaim the committee, "we watched the cord in the closest way." the secret of this surprising feat lies in a clever substitution. the tie is genuine, but the medium, after the curtains of the cabinet are closed, cuts the cord with a sharp knife, just about the region of the throat, and impersonates the ghosts, with the aid of various wigs and disguises concealed about him. then he takes a second cord from his pocket, ties it about his neck with the same number of knots as are in the original rope and twists the neck-tie around so that these knots will appear at the back of his neck. now, he exclaims, "quick, quick, unfasten the cord." as soon as his assistant has untied the simple bow knot on the outside of the cabinet, the medium quickly pulls the genuine rope into the cabinet and conceals it in his pocket. when he presents himself to the spectators the rope about his neck (presumed to be the original) is found to be correctly tied and untampered with. much of the effect depends on the rapidity with which the medium conceals the original cord and comes out of the cabinet. the author has seen this trick performed in parlors, the holes being bored in a door. charles slade makes a great parade in his advertisements about exposing the vulgar tricks of bogus mediums, but he says nothing about the secrets of his own pet illusions. his exposés are made for the purpose of enhancing his own mediumistic marvels. i insert a verbatim copy of the handbills with which he deluges the highways and byways of american cities and towns. slade will fully demonstrate the various methods employed by such renowned spiritualistic mediums as alex. hume, mrs. hoffmann, prof. taylor, chas. cooke, richard bishop, dr. arnold, and various others, in plain, open light. every possible means will be used to enlighten the auditor as to whether these so-called wonders are enacted through the aid of spirits or are the result of natural agencies. _such phenomena as_ spirit materializations, marvelous superhuman visions, spiritualistic rappings, slate writing, spirit pictures, floating tables and chairs, remarkable test of the human mind, second sight mysteries, a human being isolated from surrounding objects floating in mid-air. committees will be selected by the audience to assist slade, and to report their views as to the why and wherefore of the many strange things that will be shown during the evening. this is done so that every person attending may learn the truth regarding the tests, whether they are genuine, or caused by expert trickery. do not class or confound slade with the numerous so-called spirit mediums and spiritual exposers that travel through the country, like a set of roaming vampires, seeking whom they may devour. it is slade's object in coming to your city to enlighten the people one way or the other as to the real truth concerning these mysteries. scientific men, and many great men, have believed there was a grain of essential truth in the claims of spiritualism. it was believed more on the account of the want of power to deny it than anything else. the idea that under some strained and indefinable possibilities the spirit of the mortal man may communicate with the spirit of the departed man is something that the great heart of humanity is prone to believe, as it has faith in future existence. no skeptic will deny any man's right to such a belief, but this little grain of hope has been the foundation for such extensive and heartless mediumistic frauds that it is constantly losing ground. a night of wonderful manifestations the veil drawn so that all may have an insight into the _spirit world_ and behold many things that are strange and startling. the clergy, the press, learned synods and councils, sage philosophers and scientists, in fact, the whole world have proclaimed these philosophical idealisms to be an astounding fact. you are brought face to face with the spirits. _a small admission will be charged to defray expenses._ pierre l. o. a. keeler. pierre keeler's fame as a producer of spirit phenomena rests largely upon his materializing séances. it was his materializations that received the particular attention of the seybert commission. the late mr. henry seybert, who was an ardent believer in modern spiritualism, presented to the university of pennsylvania a sum of money to found a chair of philosophy, with the proviso that the university should appoint a commission to investigate "all systems of morals, religion or philosophy which assume to represent the truth, and particularly of modern spiritualism." the following gentlemen were accordingly appointed, and began their investigations: dr. william pepper, dr. joseph leidy, dr. george a. koenig, prof. r. e. thompson, prof. george s. fullerton, and dr. horace h. furness. subsequently others were added to the commission--dr. coleman sellers, dr. james w. white, dr. calvin b. kneer, and dr. s. weir mitchell. dr. pepper, provost of the university, was _ex-officio_ chairman; dr. furness, acting chairman, and prof. fullerton, secretary. keeler's materializations are thus described in the report of the commission: "on may 27 the seybert commission held a meeting at the house of mr. furness at 8 p. m., to examine the phenomena occurring in the presence of mr. pierre l. o. a. keeler, a professional medium. "the medium, mr. keeler, is a young man, with well cut features, curly brown hair, a small sandy mustache, and rather worn and anxious expression; he is strongly built, about 5 feet 8 inches high, and with rather short, quite broad, and very muscular hands and strong wrists. the hands were examined by dr. pepper and mr. fullerton after the séance. "the séance was held in mr. furness' drawing-room, and a space was curtained off by the medium in the northeast corner, thus, (fig. 25): [illustration: fig. 25. pierre keeler's cabinet seance.] "the curtain is represented by a, b; c, d and e are three chairs, placed in front of the curtain by the medium, in one of which (e) he afterwards sat; g denotes the position of mrs. keeler; f is a small table, placed within the curtain, and upon which was a tambourine, a guitar, two bells, a hammer, a metallic ring; the stars show the positions of the spectators, who sat in a double row--the two stars at the top facing the letter a indicate the positions taken by mrs. kase and col. kase, friends of mr. keeler, according to the directions of the medium. "the curtain, or rather curtains, were of black muslin, and arranged as follows: there was a plain black curtain, which was stretched across the corner, falling to the floor. its height, when in position, was 53 inches; it was made thus: [illustration: fig. 26. pierre keeler's cabinet curtain.] "the cord which held the curtain was 1, 2, and the flaps which are represented as standing above it (a, b, c, etc.), fell down over a1, b1, c1, etc., and could be made to cover the shoulders of one sitting with his back against the curtain. a black curtain was also pinned against the wall, in the space curtained off, partly covering it. another curtain was added to the one pictured, as will be described presently. "the medium asked col. kase to say a few words as to the necessity of observing the conditions, need of harmony, etc. and then the medium himself spoke a few words of similar import. he then drew the curtain along the cord (1, 2,) and fastened it; placed three wooden chairs in front of the curtain, as indicated in the diagram, and, saying he needed to form a battery, asked miss agnes irwin to sit in chair d, and mr. yost in chair c, the medium himself sitting in chair e. a black curtain was then fastened by mrs. keeler over mr. keeler, miss irwin and mr. yost, being fastened at g, between e and d, between d and c, and beyond a; thus entirely covering the three sitting in front of the stretched curtain up to their necks; and when the flaps before mentioned were pulled down over their shoulders, nothing could be seen but the head of each. "before the last curtain was fastened over them, the medium placed both his hands upon the forearm and wrist of miss irwin, the sleeve being pulled up for the purpose, and miss irwin grasped with her right hand the left wrist of mr. yost, his right hand being in sight to the right of the curtain. "after some piano music the medium said he felt no power from this 'battery,' and asked mrs. e. d. gillespie to take miss irwin's place. hands and curtains were arranged as before. the lights were turned down until the room was quite dim. during the singing the medium turned to speak to mr. yost, and his body, which had before faced rather away from the two other persons of the 'battery' (which position would have brought his right arm out in front of the stretched curtain), was now turned the other way, so that had he released his grasp upon mrs. gillespie's arm, his own right arm could have had free play in the curtained space behind him. his left knee also no longer stood out under the curtain in front, but showed a change of position. "at this time mrs. gillespie declared she felt a touch, and soon after so did mr. yost. the medium's body was distinctly inclined toward mr. yost at this time. mrs. gillespie said she felt taps, but declared that, to the best of her knowledge, she still felt the medium's two hands upon her arm. "raps indicated that the spirit, george christy, was present. as one of those present played on the piano, the tambourine was played in the curtained space and thrown over the curtain; bells were rung; the guitar was thrummed a little. at this time the medium's face was toward mrs. gillespie, and his right side toward the curtain. his body was further in against the curtain than either of the others. upon being asked, mrs. gillespie then said she thought she still felt two hands upon her arm. "the guitar was then thrust out, at least the end of it was, at the bottom of the curtain, between mrs. gillespie and the medium. mrs. keeler drawing the curtain from over the toes of the medium's boots, to show where his feet were; the guitar was thrummed a little. had the medium's right arm been free the thrumming could have been done quite easily with one hand. afterward the guitar was elevated above the curtain; the tambourine, which was by mrs. keeler placed upon a stick held up within the inclosure, was made to whirl by the motion of the stick. the phenomena occurred successively, not simultaneously. "when the guitar was held up, and when the tambourine was made to whirl, both of these were to the right of the medium, chiefly behind mrs. gillespie; they were just where they might have been produced by the right arm of the medium, had it been free. two clothes-pins were then passed over the curtain, and they were used in drumming to piano music. they could easily be used in drumming by one hand alone, the fingers being thrust into them. the pins were afterward thrown out over the curtain. mr. sellers picked one up as soon as it fell, and found it warm in the split, as though it had been worn. the drumming was probably upon the tambourine. "a hand was seen moving rapidly with a trembling motion--which prevented it from being clearly observed--above the back curtain, between mr. yost and mrs. gillespie. paper was passed over the curtain into the cabinet and notes were soon thrown out. the notes could have been written upon the small table within the enclosure by the right hand of the medium, had it been free. mrs. keeler then passed a coat over the curtain, and an arm was passed through the sleeve, the fingers, with the cuff around them being shown over the curtain. they were kept moving, and a close scrutiny was not possible. "mr. furness was then invited to hold a writing tablet in front of the curtain, when the hand, almost concealed by the coat-sleeve and the flaps mentioned as attached to the curtain, wrote with a pencil on the tablet. the writing was rapid, and the hand, when not writing, was kept in constant, tremulous motion. the hand was put forth, in this case not over the top curtain, but came from under the flap, and could easily have been the medium's right hand were it disengaged, for it was about on a level with his shoulder and to his right, between him and mrs. gillespie. mr. furness was allowed to pass his hand close to the curtain and grasp the hand for a moment. it was a right hand. "soon after the medium complained of fatigue, and the sitting was discontinued. it was declared by the spiritualists present to be a fairly successful séance. when the curtains were removed the small table in the enclosure was found to be overturned, and the bells, hammer, etc., on the floor. "it is interesting to note the space within which all the manifestations occurred. they were, without exception, where they would have been had they been produced by the medium's right arm. nothing happened to the left of the medium, nor very far over to the right. the sphere of activity was between the medium and mr. yost, and most of the phenomena occurred, as, for example, the whirling of the tambourine, behind mrs. gillespie. "the front curtain--that is, the main curtain which hung across the corner--was 85 inches in length, and the cord which supported it 53 inches from the floor. the three chairs which were placed in front of it were side by side, and it would not have been difficult for the medium to reach across and touch mr. yost. when mrs. keeler passed objects over the curtain, she invariably passed them to the right of the medium, although her position was on his left; and the clothes-pins, paper, pencil, etc., were all passed over at a point where the medium's right hand could easily have reached them. "to have produced the phenomena by using his right hand the medium would have had to pass it under the curtain at his back. this curtain was not quite hidden by the front one at the end, near the medium, and this end both mr. sellers and dr. pepper saw rise at the beginning of the séance. the only thing worthy of consideration, as opposed to a natural explanation of the phenomena, was the grasp of the medium's hand on mrs. gillespie's arm. "the grasp was evidently a tight one above the wrist, for the arm was bruised for about four inches. there was no evidence of a similar pressure above that, as the marks on the arm extended in all about five or six inches only. the pressure was sufficient to destroy the sensibility of the forearm, and it is doubtful whether mrs. gillespie, with her arm in such a condition could distinguish between the grasp of one hand, with a divided pressure (applied by the two last fingers and the thumb and index) and a double grip by two hands. three of our number, mr. sellers, mr. furness, and dr. white, can, with one hand, perfectly simulate the double grip. "it is specially worthy of note that mrs. gillespie declared that, when the medium first laid hold of her arms with his right hand before the curtain was put over them, it was with an undergrip, and she felt his right arm under her left. but when the medium asked her if she felt both his hands upon her arm, and she said, yes, she could feel the grasp, but no arm under hers, though she moved her elbow around to find it--she felt a hand, but not an arm, and at no time during the séance did she find that arm. "it should be noted that both the medium and mr. yost took off their coats before being covered with the curtain. it was suggested by dr. pepper that this might have been required by the medium as a precaution against movements on the part of mr. yost. the white shirt-sleeves would have shown against the black background." i attended a number of keeler's materializing exhibitions in washington, d. c., in the spring of 1895, and it is my opinion that the writing of his so-called spirit messages is a simple affair, the very long and elaborate ones being written before the séance begins and the short ones by the medium during the sitting. the latter are done in a scrawling, uncertain hand, just such penmanship one would execute when blindfolded. the evidence of dr. g. h. la fetra, of washington, d. c., is sufficiently convincing on this point. said dr. la fetra to me: "some years ago i went with a friend, col. edward hayes, to one of mr. keeler's light séances. it was rather early in the evening, and but few persons had assembled. upon the mantel piece of the séance-room were several tablets of paper. unobserved, i took up these tablets, one at a time, and drew the blade of my pen-knife across one end of each of them, so that i might identify the slips of paper torn therefrom by the nicks in them. in a little while, the room was filled with people, and the séance began; the gas being lowered to a dim religious light. when the time came for the writing, mr. keeler requested that some of the tablets of paper on the mantel be passed into the cabinet. this was done. various persons present received 'spirit' communications, the slips of paper being thrown over the curtain of the cabinet by a 'materialized' hand. some gentleman picked up the papers and read them, for the benefit of the spectators; afterwards he laid aside those not claimed by anybody. some of these 'spirit' communications covered almost an entire slip. these were carefully written, some of them in a fine hand. the short messages were roughly scrawled. after the séance, col. hayes and myself quietly pocketed a dozen or more of the slips. the next morning at my office we carefully examined them. in every instance, we found that the well-written, lengthy messages were inscribed on _unnicked_ slips, the short ones being written on _nicked_ slips." to me, this evidence of dr. la fetra seems most conclusive, proving beyond the shadow of a doubt that keeler prepared his long communications before the séance and had them concealed upon his person, throwing them out of the cabinet at the proper moment. he used the _nicked_ tablets for his short messages, written on the spot, thereby completely revealing his method of operating to the ingenious investigator. the late dr. leonard caughey, of baltimore, maryland, an intimate friend of the writer, made a specialty of anti-spiritualistic tricks, and among others performed this cabinet test of keeler's. he bought the secret from a broken-down medium for a few dollars, and added to it certain effects of his own, that far surpassed any of keeler's. the writer has seen dr. caughey give the tests, and create the utmost astonishment. his improvement on the trick consisted in the use of a spring clasp like those used by gentlemen bicycle riders to keep their trousers in at the ankles. one end terminated in a soft rubber or chamois skin tip, shaped like a thumb, the other end had four representations of fingers. two wire rings were soldered on the back of the clasp. this apparatus he had concealed under his vest. before the curtain of the cabinet was drawn, dr. caughey grasped the arm of the lady on his right in the following manner: the thumb of his left hand under her wrist, the fingers extended above it; the thumb of his right hand resting on the thumb of the left, the fingers lightly resting on the fingers of the left hand. as soon as the curtain was fastened he extended the fourth and index fingers of the left hand to the fullest extent and pressed hard upon the lady's arm, relaxing at the same time the pressure of his second and third fingers. this movement exactly simulates the grasp of two hands, and enables the medium to take away his right hand altogether. dr. caughey then took his spring clasp, opened it by inserting his thumb and first finger in the soldered rings above mentioned, and lightly fastened it on the lady's arm near the wrist, relaxing the pressure of the first and fourth fingers of the left hand at the same moment. "i will slide my right hand along your arm, and grasp you near the elbow. it will relieve the pressure about your wrist; besides be more convincing to you that there is no trickery." so saying, he quickly slid the apparatus along her arm, and left it in the position spoken of. this produces a perfect illusion, the clasp with its trick thumb and fingers working to perfection. this apparatus may also be used in the following manner: roll up your sleeves and exhibit your hands to the sitter. tell him you are going to stand behind him and grasp his arms firmly near the shoulders. take your position immediately under the gas jet. ask him to please lower the light. produce the trick clasps, distend them by means of your thumbs and fingers, and after the gas is lowered, grasp the sitter in the manner described. remove your fingers and thumbs lightly from the clasps and perform various mediumistic evolutions, such as writing a message on a pad or slate placed on the sitter's head; strike him gently on his cheek with a damp glove, etc. when the séance is over, insert your fingers and thumbs in the soldered rings, remove the clasps and conceal them quickly. eusapia paladino. the materializing medium who has caused the greatest sensation since home's death is eusapia paladino, an italian peasant woman. signor damiani, of florence, italy, discovered her alleged psychical powers in 1875, and brought her into notice. an italian count was so impressed with the manifestations witnessed in the presence of the illiterate peasant woman, that he insisted upon "a commission of scientific men being called to investigate them." in the year 1884, this commission held séances with eusapia, and afterwards declared that the phenomena witnessed were inexplicable, and unquestionably the result of forces transcending ordinary experience. in the year 1892 another commission was formed in milan to test eusapia's powers as a medium, and from this period her fame dates, as the most remarkable psychic of modern times. the report drawn up by this commission was signed by giovanni schiaparelli, director of the astronomical observatory, milan; carl du prel, doctor of philosophy, munich; angelo brofferio, professor of physics in the royal school of agriculture, portici; g. b. ermacora, doctor of physics; giorgio finzi, doctor of physics. at some of the sittings were present charles richet and the famous cesare lombroso. the conclusion arrived at by these gentlemen was that eusapia's mediumistic phenomena were most worthy of scientific attention, and were unfathomable. the medium reaped the benefit of this notoriety, and gave sittings to hundreds of investigators among the italian nobility, charging as high as $500 for a single séance. at last she was exposed by a clever american, dr. richard hodgson, of boston, secretary of the american branch of the society for psychical research. his account of the affair, communicated to the _new york herald_, jan. 10, 1897, is very interesting. speaking of the report of the milan commission, he says: [illustration: fig. 27. eusapia paladino.] [illustration: fig. 28. eusapia before the scientists.] "their report confessed to seeing and hearing many strange things, although they believed they had the hands and feet of the psychic so closely held that she could have had nothing to do with the manifestations. "chairs were moved, bells were rung, imprints of fingers were made on smoked paper and soft clay, apparitions of hands appeared on slightly luminous backgrounds, the chair of the medium and the medium herself were lifted to the table, the sound of trumpets, the contact of a seemingly human face, the touch of human hands, warm and moist, all were felt. "most of these phenomena were repeated, and the members of the commission were, with two exceptions, satisfied that no known power could have produced them. professor richet did not sign the report, but induced signora eusapia to go to an island he owned in the mediterranean, where other exacting tests were made under other scientific eyes. the investigators all agreed that the demonstrations could not be accounted for by ordinary forces. "i have found in my experience that learned scientific men are the most easily duped of any in the world. instead of having a cold, inert piece of matter to investigate by exact processes and microscopic inspections, they had a clever, bright woman doing her best to mystify them. they could not cope with her. "professor richet replied to an article i wrote, upholding his position, and brought signora eusapia paladino to cambridge, england, where i joined the investigating committee. in the party were professor lodge, of liverpool; professor f. m. c. meyer, secretary of the british society for psychical research; professor richet and mr. henry sedgwick, president of the society. "i found that the psychic, though giving a great variety of events, confined them to a very limited scope. she was seated during the tests at the end of a rectangular table and when the table was lifted it rose up directly at the other end. it was always so arranged that she was in the dark, even if the rest of the table was in the light; in the so-called light séances it was not light, the lamp being placed in an adjoining room. there were touches, punches and blows given, minor objects moved, some near and some further away; the outline of faces and hands appeared, etc. "when i came to hold her hands i found a key to the mystery. "it was chiefly that she made one hand and one foot do the work of both, by adroit substitution. given a free hand and a free foot, and nearly all the phenomena can be explained. she has very strong, supple hands, with deft fingers and great coolness and intelligence. "this is the way she substituted one hand for both. she placed one of her hands over a's hand and the other under b's hand. then, in the movements of the arms during the manifestation, she worked her hands toward each other until they rested one upon the other, with a's hand at the bottom of the pile, b's at the top and both her own, one upon the other, between. to draw out one hand and leave one and yet have the investigators feel that they still had a hand was easy. "with this hand free and in darkness there were great possibilities. there were strings, also, as i believe, which were attached to different objects and moved them. the dim outlines of faces and hands seen were clever representations of the medium's own free hand in various shapes. "it is thought that if a medium was kept clapping her hands she could do nothing with them, but one of the investigators found the signora slapping her face with one hand, producing just the same sound as if her hands met, while the other hand was free to produce mysterious phenomena. "i have tried the experiment of shifting hands when those who held them knew they were going to be tricked, and yet they did not discover when i made the exchange. i am thoroughly satisfied that signora eusapia paladino is a clever trickster." eusapia paladino was by no means disconcerted by dr. hodgson's exposé, but continued giving her séances. at the present writing she is continuing them in france with a number of new illusions. many who have had sittings with her declare that she is able to move heavy objects without contact. possibly this is due to jugglery, or it may be due to some psychic force as yet not understood. f. w. tabor. mr. f. w. tabor is a materializing medium whose specialty is the trumpet test for the production of spirit voices. i had a sitting with him at the house of mr. x, of washington, d. c., on the night of jan. 10, 1897. seven persons, including the medium, sat around an ordinary-sized table in mr. x--'s drawing room, and formed a chain of hands, in the following manner: each person placed his or her hands on the table with the thumbs crossed, and the little fingers of each hand touching the little fingers of the sitters on the right and left. a musical box was set going and the light was turned out by mr. x--, who broke the circle for that purpose, but immediately resumed his old position at the table. a large speaking trumpet of tin about three feet long had been placed upright in the center of the table, and near it was a pad of paper, and pencils. we waited patiently for some little time, the monotony being relieved by operatic airs from the music box, and the singing of hymns by the sitters. there were convulsive twitchings of the hands and feet of the medium, who complained of tingling sensations in those members. the first "phenomena" produced were balls of light dancing like will-o'-the-wisps over the table, and the materialization of a luminous spirit hand. taps upon the table signalled the arrival of mr. tabor's spirit control, "jim," a little newsboy, of san francisco, who was run over some years ago by a street car. the medium was the first person who picked up the wounded waif and endeavored to administer to him, but without avail. "jim" died soon after, and his disembodied spirit became the medium's control. soon the trumpet arose from the table and floated over the heads of the sitters, and the voice of "jim" was heard, sepulchral and awe-inspiring, through the instrument. subsequently, messages of an impersonal character were communicated to mr. x-and his wife. at one time the trumpet was heard knocking against the chandelier. during the séance several of the ladies experienced the clasp of a ghostly hand about their wrists, and considerable excitement was occasioned thereby. it is not a difficult matter to explain this trumpet test. it hinges on one fact, _freedom of the medium's right hand_! in all of these holding tests, the medium employs a subterfuge to release his hands without the knowledge of the sitter on his right. during his convulsive twitchings, he quickly jerks his right hand away, but immediately extends the fingers of his left hand, and connects the index fingers with the little finger of the sitter's left hand, thereby completing the chain, or "battery," as it is technically called. were the medium to use his thumb in making the connection the secret would be revealed, but the index finger of his left hand sufficiently simulates a little finger, and in the darkness the sitter is deceived. the right hand once released, the medium manipulates the trumpet and the phosphorescent spirit hands to his heart's content. sometimes he utilizes the telescopic rod, or a pair of steel "crazy tongs," to elevate the trumpet to the ceiling. this holding test is absurdly simple and perhaps for that reason is so convincing. mr. tabor has another method of holding which is far more deceptive than the above. i am indebted to the "revelations of a spirit medium" for an explanation of this test. "the investigators are seated in a circle around the table, male and female alternating. the person sitting on the medium's right--for he sits in the circle--grasps the medium's right wrist in his left hand, while his own right wrist is held by the sitter on his right and this is repeated clear around the circle. this makes each sitter hold the right wrist of his left hand neighbor in his left hand, while his own right hand wrist is held in the left hand of his neighbor on the left. each one's hands are thus secured and engaged, including the medium's. it will be seen that no one of the sitters can have the use of his or her hands without one or the other of their neighbors knowing it. as each hand was held by a separate person, you cannot understand how he [the medium] could get the use of either of them except the one on his right was a confederate. such was not the case, and still he _did_ have the use of one hand, the right one. but how? he took his place before the light was turned down, and those holding him say he did not let go for an instant during the séance. he did though, after the light was turned out for the purpose of getting his handkerchief to blow his nose. after blowing his nose he requested the sitter to again take his wrist, which is done, but this time it is the wrist of the left hand instead of the right. he has crossed his legs and there is but one knee to be felt, hence the sitter on the right does not feel that she is reaching across the right knee and thinks it is the left knee which she does feel to be the right. he has let his hand slip down until instead of holding the sitter on his left by the wrist he has him by the fingers, thus allowing him a little more distance, and preventing the left hand sitter using the hand to feel about and discover the right hand sitter's hand on the wrist of the hand holding his. you will see, now, that although both sitters are holding the same hand each one thinks he is holding the one on his or her side of the medium. the balance of the séance is easy." an amusing incident happened during my sitting with mr. tabor. growing somewhat weary waiting for him to "manifest," i determined to undertake some materializations on my own account. i adopted the subterfuge of getting my right hand loose from the lady on my right, and produced the spirit hand that clasped the wrist of several of the sitters in the circle. mr. x-asked "jim" if everything was all right in the circle, every hand promptly joined, and the magnetic conditions perfect. "jim" responded with three affirmative taps on the table top. i congratulate myself on having deceived "jim," a spirit operating in the fourth dimension of space, and supposedly cognizant of all that was transpiring at the séance. once, when the medium was floating the trumpet over my head, i grasped the instrument and dashed it on the table. he made no further attempt to manipulate the trumpet in my direction, and very shortly brought the séance to a close. no written communications were received during the evening. 4. spirit photography. you may deceive the human eye, say the advocates of spirit materializations, but you cannot deceive the eye of science, the _photographic camera_. then they triumphantly produce the spirit photograph as indubitable evidence of the reality of ghostly materializations. "spirit photography," says the late alexandre herrmann, in an article on magic, published in the _cosmopolitan magazine_, "was the invention of a man in london, and for ten years spiritualists accepted the pictures as genuine representations of originals in the spirit land. the snap kodak has superseded the necessity of the explanation of spirit photography." to be more explicit, there are two ways of producing spirit photographs, by _double printing_ and by _double exposure_. in the first, the scene is printed from one negative, and the spirit printed in from another. in the second method, the group with the friendly spook in proper position is arranged, and the lens of the camera uncovered, half of the required exposure being given; then the lens is capped, and the person doing duty as the sheeted ghost gets out of sight, and the exposure is completed. the result is very effective when the picture is printed, the real persons being represented sharp and well defined, while the ghost is but a hazy outline, transparent, through which the background shows. every one interested in psychic phenomena who makes a pilgrimage to the capital of the nation visits the house of dr. theodore hansmann. for ten years dr. hansmann has been an ardent student of spiritualism, and has had sittings with many celebrated mediums. the walls of his office are literally covered with spirit pictures of famous people of history, executed by spirits under supposed test conditions. there are drawings in color by raphael, michel angelo, and others. in one corner of the room is a book-case filled with slates, upon the surfaces of which are messages from the famous dead, attested by their signatures. in the fall of 1895, a correspondent of the _new york herald_ interviewed doctor hansmann on the subject of spirit photographs, and subsequently visited the united states bureau of ethnology, where an interview was had with mr. dinwiddie, an expert photographer. here is the substance of this second interview, published in the _herald_, nov. 9, 1895. "dr. hansmann's collection of 'spirit' photographs is most interesting. there is one with the face of the empress josephine, and on the same plate is the head of professor darius lyman, for a long time chief of the bureau of navigation. the head of the empress josephine has a diadem around it, and the lights and shadows remind one of the well known portrait of her. on another plate are grant and lincoln, among his other photographs dr. hansmann brought out one of a man who was described to me as an indian agent. around his head were eleven smaller 'spirit' heads of indians. in looking at the blue print closely it seemed to me as if i had seen those identical heads--the same as to light, shade and posing--somewhere before. "i was aided at the bureau of ethnology of the smithsonian institution by mr. f. webb hodge, the acting director, who on looking at the blue print named the indians directly; several of the pictures were of indians still alive. this, of course, immediately disposed of the idea of the blue print indians being spirits. [illustration: fig. 29--spirit photograph. [taken by the author.]] "moreover, mr. dinwiddie produced the negatives containing the identical portraits of these indians and made me several proofs, which on a comparison, feature by feature, light for light, and shade for shade, show unquestionably that the faces on the blue print are copies of the portraits made by the photographer of the bureau of ethnology. "mr. dinwiddie asked me to sit down for awhile, and offered to make me some spirit photographs. this he did, and the results obtained may be considered as far better examples of the art of 'spirit' photography than those of the medium, keeler. "the matter was very simply done. mr. dinwiddie asked one of the ladies from the office to come in, and, she consented to pose as a spirit. she was placed before the camera at a distance of about six feet, a red background was given her, so that it might photograph dark, and she was asked to put on a saintly expression. this she did, and mr. dinwiddie gave the plate a half-second exposure. another head was taken on the other side of the plate in much the same manner. after this was done the other or central photograph was taken with an exposure of four seconds, the plate being rather sensitive. "the plate was then taken to the dark room and developed. the negative came out very well at first, and the halo was put on afterward, when the plate had been dried. the halo was made by rubbing vignetting paste on the back, thus shutting out the light and leaving the paper its original hue. the white shadowy heads which are frequently shown in black coats, and which the mediums claim cannot be explained, are also done in this manner with vignetting paste, the picture being afterward centred over these places, which will be white, the final result showing soft and indefinite, and giving the required spiritual look. "mr. dinwiddie did not attempt to produce the hazy effect, but this is very easily accomplished in the photograph by taking the spirit heads a trifle out of focus. he claims that all of these apparent spiritual manifestations are but tricks of photography, and ones which might be accomplished by the veriest tyro, if he were to study the matter, and give his time to the experiment. it is only a wonder that the mediums do not do more of it. "the photograph mediums have always claimed that they were set upon by photographers for business reasons, but mr. dinwiddie is employed by the government and has no interests whatever in such a dispute." [illustration: fig. 30--spirit photograph by pretended medium.] the eminent authority on photography, mr. walter e. woodbury, gives many interesting exposes of mediumistic photographs in his work, "photographic amusements," which the student of the subject would do well to consult. fig. 30, taken from "photographic amusements" is a reproduction of a "spirit" photograph made by a photographer claiming to be a medium. says mr. woodbury: "fortunately, however, we were in this case able to expose the fraud. mr. w. m. murray, a prominent member of the society of amateur photographers of new york, called our attention to the similarity between one of the 'spirit' images and a portrait painting by sichel, the artist. a reproduction of the picture (fig 31) is given herewith, and it will be seen at once that the 'spirit' image is copied from it." 5. thought photography. during the year 1896 considerable stir was created by the investigation of dr. hippolyte baraduc, of paris, in the line of "thought photography," which is of interest to psychic investigators generally. dr. baraduc claimed to have gotten photographic impressions of his thoughts, "made without sunlight or electricity or contact of any material kind." these impressions he declared to be subjective, being his own personal vibrations, the result of a force emanating from the human personality, supra-mechanical, or spiritual. the experiments were carried on in a dark room, and according to his statement were highly successful. in a communication to an american correspondent, printed in the _new york herald_, january 3, 1897, he writes: "i have discovered a human, invisible light, differing altogether from the cathode rays discovered by prof. roentgen." dr. baraduc advanced the theory that our souls must be considered as centers of luminous forces, owing their existence partly to the attraction and partly to the repulsion of special and potent forces bred of the invisible cosmos. a number of french scientific journals took up the matter, and discussed "thought photography" at length, publishing numerous reproductions of the physician's photographs; but the more conservative journals of england, germany and america remained silent on the subject, as it seemed to be on the borderland between science and charlatanry. on january 11, 1897, the american newspapers contained an item to the effect that drs. s. millington miller and carleton simon, of new york city, the former a specialist in brain physiology, and the latter an expert hypnotist, had succeeded in obtaining successful thought photographs on dry plates from two hypnotized subjects. when the subjects were not hypnotized, the physicians reported no results. [illustration: fig. 31--sigel's original picture of fig 30.] as "thought photography" is without the pale of known physical laws, stronger evidence is needed to support the claims made for it than that which has been adduced by the french and american investigators. "thought photography" once established as a scientific fact, we shall have, perhaps, an explanation of genuine spirit photographs, if such there be. 6. apparitions of the dead. in my chapter on subjective phenomena, i have not recorded any cases of phantasms of the dead, though several interesting examples of such have come under my notice. i have thought it better to refer the reader to the voluminous reports of the society for psychical research (england). in regard to these cases, the society has reached the following conclusion: _between deaths and apparitions of dying persons a connection exists which is not due to chance alone. this we hold as a proved fact._ the "_literary digest_," january 12, 1895, in reviewing this report, says: "inquiries were instituted in 17,000 cases of alleged apparitions. these inquiries elicited 1,249 replies from persons [in england and wales] who affirmed that they themselves had seen the apparitions. then the society by further inquiries and cross-examinations sifted out all but eighty of these as discredited in some way, by error of memory or illusions of identity, or for some other reason, or which could be accounted for by common psychical laws. of these eighty, fifty more were thrown out, to be on the safe side, and the remaining thirty are used as a basis for scientific consideration. all these consisted of apparitions of dead persons appearing to others within twelve hours after death, and many of them appearing at the very hour and even the very minute of death. the full account of the investigation is published in the tenth volume of the society's reports, under the title, 'a census of hallucinations,' and prof. j. h. hyslop, of columbia college, wrote an article giving the gist of the report and his comments in the '_independent_,' (december 27, 1895), from which i cull these few notable paragraphs: "'the committee which conducted the research reasons as follows: since the death rate of england is 19.15 out of every thousand, the chances of any person's dying on any particular day are one in 19,000 (the ratio of 19.15 to 365 times 1,000). out of 19,000 death apparitions, therefore, one can be explained as a simple coincidence. but thirty apparitions out of 1,300 cases is in the proportion of 440 out of 19,000, so that to refer these thirty well-authenticated apparitions to coincidence is deemed impossible.' "and further on: "'this is remarkable language for the signatures of prof. and mrs. sidgwick, than whom few harder-headed skeptics could be found. it is more than borne out, however, by a consideration which the committee does not mention, but which the facts entirely justify, and it is that since many of the apparitions occurred not merely on the day, but at the very hour or minute of death, the improbability of their explanation by chance is really much greater than the figures here given. that the apparition should occur within the hour of death the chance should be 1 to 356,000, or at the minute of death 1 to 21,360,000. to get 30 cases, therefore, brought down to these limits we should have to collect thirty times these numbers of apparitions. either these statistics are of no value in a study of this kind, or the society's claim is made out that there is either a telepathic communication between the dying and those who see their apparitions, or some causal connection not yet defined or determined by science. that this connection may be due to favorable conditions in the subject of the hallucination is admitted by the committee, if the person having the apparition is suffering from grief or anxiety about the person concerned. but it has two replies to such a criticism. the first is the query how and why under the circumstances does this effect coincide generally with the death of the person concerned, when anxiety is extended over a considerable period. the second is a still more triumphant reply, and it is that a large number of the cases show that the subject of the apparition has no knowledge of the dying person's sickness, place, or condition. in that case there is no alternative to searching elsewhere for the cause. if telepathy or thought transference will not explain the connection, resort must be had to some most extraordinary hypothesis. most persons will probably accept telepathy as the easiest way out of the difficulty, though i am not sure that we are limited to this, the easiest explanation.' "professor hyslop then proceeds to consider the effect of the committee's conclusion upon existing theories and speculations regarding the relations between mind and matter, and foresees with gratification as well as apprehension the revolt likely to be initiated against materialism and which may go so far as to discredit science and carry us far back to the credulous conditions of the middle ages. he says: "'the point which the investigations of the society for psychical research have already reached creates a question of transcendent interest, no matter what the solution of it may be, and will stimulate in the near future an amount of psychological and theological speculation of the most hasty and crude sort, which it will require the profoundest knowledge of mental phenomena, normal and abnormal, and the best methods of science to counteract, and to keep within the limits of sober reason. the hardly won conquests of intellectual freedom and self-control can easily be overthrown by a reaction that will know no bounds and which it will be impossible to regulate. though there may be some moral gain from the change of beliefs, as will no doubt be the case in the long run, we have too recently escaped the intellectual, religious, and political tyranny of the middle ages to contemplate the immediate consequences of the reaction with any complacency. but no one can calculate the enormous effect upon intellectual, social, and political conditions which would ensure upon the reconciliation of science and religion by the proof of immortality." iv. conclusions. in my investigations of the physical phenomena of modern spiritualism, i have come to the following conclusion: while the majority of mediumistic manifestations are due to conjuring, there is a class of cases not ascribable to trickery, namely, those coming within the domain of psychic force--as exemplified by the experiments of gasparin, crookes, lodge, asakoff and coues. in regard to the subjective phenomena, i am convinced that the recently annunciated law of telepathy will account for them. _i discredit the theory of spirit intervention._ if this be a correct conclusion, is there anything in mediumistic phenomena that will contribute to the solution of the problem of the immortality of the soul? i think there is. the existence of a subjective or subliminal consciousness in man, as illustrated in the phenomena mentioned, seems to indicate that the human personality is really a spiritual entity, possessed of unknown resources, and capable of preserving its identity despite the shock of time and the grave. hudson says: "it is clear that the power of telepathy has nothing in common with objective methods of communications between mind and mind; and that it is not the product of muscle or nerve or any physiological combination whatever, but rather sets these at naught, with their implications of space and time.... when disease seizes the physical frame and the body grows feeble, the objective mind invariably grows correspondingly weak.... in the meantime, as the objective mind ceases to perform its functions, the subjective mind is most active and powerful. the individual may never before have exhibited any psychic power, and may never have consciously produced any psychic phenomena; yet at the supreme moment his soul is in active communication with loved ones at a distance, and the death message is often, when psychic conditions are favorable, consciously received. the records of telepathy demonstrate this proposition. nay, more; they may be cited to show that in the hour of death the soul is capable of projecting a phantasm of such strength and objectivity that it may be an object of personal experience to those for whom it is intended. moreover, it has happened that telepathic messages have been sent by the dying, at the moment of dissolution, giving all the particulars of the tragedy, when the death was caused by an unexpected blow which crushed the skull of the victim. it is obvious that in such cases it is impossible that the objective mind could have participated in the transaction. the evidence is indeed overwhelming, that, no matter what form death may assume, whether caused by lingering disease, old age, or violence, the subjective mind is never weakened by its approach or its presence. on the other hand, that the objective mind weakens with the body and perishes with the brain, is a fact confirmed by every-day observation and universal experience." this hypothesis of the objective and subjective minds has been criticised by many psychologists on the ground of its extreme dualism. no such dualism exists, they contend. however, hudson's theory is only a working hypothesis at best, to explain certain extraordinary facts in human experience. future investigators may be able to throw more light on the subject. but this one thing may be enunciated: _telepathy is an incontrovertible fact_, account for it as you may, a physical force or a spiritual energy. if physical, then it does not follow any of the known operations of physical laws as established by modern science, especially in the case of transmission of thought at a distance. it is true, that all evidence in support of telepathic communications is more or less _ex parte_ in character, and does not possess that validity which orthodox science requires of investigators. any student of the physical laws of matter can make investigations for himself, and at any time, provided he has the proper apparatus. explain to a person that water is composed of two gases, oxygen and hydrogen, and he can easily verify the fact for himself by combining the gases, in the combination of h2o, and afterwards liberate them by a current of electricity. but experiments in telepathy and clairvoyance cannot be made at will; they are isolated in character, and consequently are regarded with suspicion by orthodox science. besides this, they transcend the materialistic theories of science as regards the universe, and one is almost compelled to use the old metaphysical terms of mind and matter, body and soul, in describing the phenomena. it is an undoubted fact that science has broken away from the old theory regarding the distinction between mind and matter. says prof. wm. romaine newbold, "in the scientific world it has fallen into such disfavor that in many circles it is almost as disgraceful to avow belief in it as in witchcraft or ghosts." we have to-day a school of "physiological-psychology," calling itself "psychology without a soul." this school is devoted to the laboratory method of studying mind. "the laboratory method," says roark, in his "psychology in education," "is concerned mostly with _physiological_ psychology, which is, after all, only _physiology_, even though it be the physiology of the nervous system and the special organs of sense--the material tools of the mind. and after physiological psychology has had its rather prolix say, causal connection of the physical organs with psychic action is as obscure and impossible of explanation as ever. but the laboratory method can be of excellent service in determining the material conditions of mental action, in detecting special deficiencies and weaknesses, and in accumulating valuable statistics along these lines. "it has been asserted that no science can claim to be exact until it can be reduced to formulas of weights and measures. the assertion begs the question for the materialists. we shall probably never be able to weigh an idea or measure the cubic contents of the memory; but the rapidity with which ideas are formed or reproduced by memory has been measured in many particular instances, and the circumstances that retard or accelerate their formation or reproduction have been positively ascertained and classified." that it is possible to explain all mental phenomena in terms of physics is by no means the unanimous verdict of scientific men. a small group of students of late years have detached themselves from the purely materialistic school and broken ground in the region of the supernormal. says professor newbold (_popular science monthly_, january, 1897): "in the supernormal field, the facts already reported, should they be substantiated by further inquiry, would go far towards showing that consciousness is an entity governed by laws and possessed of powers incapable of expression in material conceptions. "i do not myself regard the theory of independence [of mind and body] as proved, but i think we have enough evidence for it to destroy in any candid mind that considers it that absolute credulity as to its possibility which at present characterizes the average man of science." part second. madame blavatsky and the theosophists. 1. the priestess. the greatest "fantaisiste" of modern times was madame blavatsky, spirit medium, priestess of isis, and founder of the theosophical society. her life is one long catalogue of wonders. in appearance she was enormously fat, had a harsh, disagreeable voice, and a violent temper, dressed in a slovenly manner, usually in loose wrappers, smoked cigarettes incessantly, and cared little or nothing for the conventionalities of life. but in spite of all--unprepossessing appearance and gross habits--she exercised a powerful personal magnetism over those who came in contact with her. she was the sphinx of the second half of this century; a pythoness in tinsel robes who strutted across the world's stage "full of sound and fury," and disappeared from view behind the dark veil of isis, which she, the fin-de-siecle prophetess, tried to draw aside during her earthly career. in searching for facts concerning the life of this really remarkable woman--remarkable for the influence she has exerted upon the thought of this latter end of the nineteenth century--i have read all that has been written about her by prominent theosophists, have talked with many who knew her intimately, and now endeavor to present the truth concerning her and her career. the leading work on the subject is "incidents in the life of madame blavatsky," compiled from information supplied by her relatives and friends, and edited by a. p. sinnett, author of "the occult world." the frontispiece to the book is a reproduction of a portrait of madame blavatsky, painted by h. schmiechen, and represents the lady seated on the steps of an ancient ruin, holding a parchment in her hand. she is garbed somewhat after the fashion of a cumaean sibyl and gazes straight before her with the deep unfathomable eyes of a mystic, as if she were reading the profound riddles of the ages, and beholding the sands of time falling hot and swift into the glass of eternity-"and all things creeping to a day of doom." [illustration: fig. 32--madame blavatsky.] sinnett's life of the high priestess is a strange concoction of monstrous absurdities; it is full of the weirdest happenings that were ever vouchsafed to mortal. we cannot put much faith in this biography, and must delve in other mines for information; but some of the remarkable passages of the book are worth perusing, particularly if the reader be prone to midnight musings of a ghostly character. helena petrovna blavatsky, the daughter of col. peter hahn of the russian army, and granddaughter of general alexis hahn von rottenstern hahn (a noble family of mecklenburg, germany, settled in russia), was born in eskaterinoslaw, in the south of russia, in 1831. "she had," says sinnett, "a strange childhood, replete with abnormal occurrences. the year of her birth was fatal for russia, as for all europe, owing to the first visit of the cholera, that terrible plague that decimated from 1830 to 1832 in turn nearly every town of the continent.... her birth was quickened by several deaths in the house, and she was ushered into the world amid coffins and desolation, on the night between july 30th and 31st, weak and apparently no denizen of this world." a hurried baptism was given lest the child die in original sin, and the ceremony was that of the greek church. during the orthodox baptismal rite no person is allowed to sit, but a child aunt of the baby, tired of standing for nearly an hour, settled down upon the floor, just behind the officiating priest. no one perceived her, as she sat nodding drowsily. the ceremony was nearing its close. the sponsors were just in the act of renouncing the evil one and his deeds, a renunciation emphasized in the greek church by thrice spitting upon the invisible enemy, when the little lady, toying with her lighted taper at the feet of the crowd, inadvertantly set fire to the long flowing robes of the priest, no one remarking the accident till it was too late. the result was an immediate conflagration, during which several persons--chiefly the old priest--were severely burnt. that was another bad omen, according to the superstitious beliefs of orthodox russia; and the innocent cause of it, the future madame blavatsky, was doomed from that day, in the eyes of all the town, to an eventful, troubled life. "mlle. hahn was born, of course, with all the characteristics of what is known in spiritualism as mediumship in the most extraordinary degree, also with gifts as a clairvoyant of an almost equally unexampled order. on various occasions while apparently in an ordinary sleep, she would answer questions, put by persons who took hold of her hand, about lost property, etc., as though she were a sibyl entranced. for years she would, in childish impulse, shock strangers with whom she came in contact, and visitors to the house, by looking them intently in the face and telling them they would die at such and such a time, or she would prophesy to them some accident or misfortune that would befall them. and since her prognostications usually came true, she was the terror, in this respect, of the domestic circle." madame v. p. jelihowsy, a sister of the seeress, has furnished to the world many extraordinary stories of mme. blavatsky's childhood, published in various russian periodicals. at the age of eleven the sibyl lost her mother, and went to live with her grandparents at saratow, her grandfather being civil governor of the place. the family mansion was a lumbering old country place "full of subterraneous galleries, long abandoned passages, turrets, and most weird nooks and corners. it looked more like a mediaeval ruined castle than a building of the last century." the ghosts of martyred serfs were supposed to haunt the uncanny building, and strange legends were told by the old family servants of weir-wolves and goblins that prowled about the dark forests of the estate. here, in this house of usher, the sibyl lived and dreamed, and at this period exhibited many abnormal psychic peculiarities, ascribed by her orthodox governess and nurses of the greek church to possession by the devil. she had at times ungovernable fits of temper; she would ride any cossack horse on the place astride a man's saddle; go into trances and scare everyone from the master of the mansion down to the humblest vodka drinker on the estate. in 1848, at the age of 17, she married general count blavatsky, a gouty old russian of 70, whom she called "the plumed raven," but left him after a brief period of marital infelicity. from this time dates her career as a thaumaturgist. she travelled through india and made an honest attempt to penetrate into the mysterious confines of thibet, but succeeded in getting only a few miles from the frontier, owing to the fanaticism of the natives. in india, as elsewhere, she was accused of being a russian spy and was generally regarded with suspicion by the police authorities. after some months of erratic wanderings she reappeared in russia, this time in tiflis, at the residence of a relative, prince ----. it was a gloomy, grewsome chateau, well suited for spiritualistic séances, and madame blavatsky, it is claimed, frightened the guests during the long winter evenings with table-tippings, spirit rappings, etc. it was then the tall candles in the drawing-room burnt low, the gobelin tapestry rustled, sighs were heard, strange music "resounded in the air," and luminous forms were seen trailing their ghostly garments across the "tufted floor." [illustration: fig. 33--mahatma letter.] the gossipy madame de jelihowsy, in her reminiscences, classifies the phenomena, witnessed in the presence of her sibylline sister, as follows: 1. direct and perfectly clearly written and verbal answers to mental questions--or "thought reading." 2. private secrets, unknown to all but the interested party, divulged, [especially in the case of those persons who mentioned insulting doubts]. 3. change of weight in furniture and persons at will. 4. letters from unknown correspondents, and immediate answers written to queries made, and found in the most out-of-the-way mysterious places. 5. appearance of objects unclaimed by anyone present. 6. sounds of musical notes in the air wherever madame blavatsky desired they should resound. in the year 1858, the high priestess was at the house of general yakontoff at pskoff, russia. one night when the drawing-room was full of visitors, she began to describe the mediumistic feat of making light objects heavy and heavy objects light. "can you perform such a miracle?" ironically asked her brother, leonide de hahn, who always doubted his sister's occult powers. "i can," was the firm reply. de hahn went to a small chess table, lifted it as though it were a feather, and said: "suppose you try your powers on this." "with pleasure!" replied mme. blavatsky. "place the table on the floor, and step aside for a minute." he complied with her request. she fixed her large blue eyes intently upon the chess table and said without removing her gaze, "lift it now." the young man exerted all his strength, but the table would not budge an inch. another guest tried with the same result, but the wood only cracked, yielding to no effort. [illustration: fig. 34--mahatma letter envelope.] "now, lift it," said madame blavatsky calmly, whereupon de hahn picked it up with the greatest ease. loud applause greeted this extraordinary feat, and the skeptical brother, so say the occultists, was utterly nonplussed. madame blavatsky, as recorded by sinnett, stated afterwards that the above phenomenon could be produced in two different ways: "first, through the exercise of her own will directing the magnetic currents so that the pressure on the table became such that no physical force could move it; second, through the action of those beings with whom she was in constant communication, and who, although unseen, were able to hold the table against all opposition." the writer has seen similar feats performed by hypnotizers with good subjects without the intervention of any ghostly intelligences. in 1870 the priestess of isis journeyed through egypt in company with a certain countess k--, and endeavored to form a spiritualistic society at cairo, for the investigation of psychic phenomena, but things growing unpleasant for her she left the land of pyramids and papyri in hot haste. it is related of her that during this egyptian sojourn she spent one night in the king's sepulchre in the bowels of the great pyramid of cheops, sleeping in the very sarcophagus where once reposed the mummy of a pharoah. weird sights were seen by the entranced occultist and strange sounds were heard on that eventful occasion within the shadowy mortuary chamber of the pyramid. at times she would let fall mysterious hints of what she saw that night, but they were as incomprehensible as the riddles of the fabled sphinx. countess paschkoff chronicles a curious story about the priestess of isis, which reminds one somewhat of the last chapter in bulwer's occult novel, "a strange story." the countess relates that she was once travelling between baalbec and the river orontes, and in the desert came across the caravan belonging to madame blavatsky. they joined company and towards nightfall pitched camp near the village of el marsum amid some ancient ruins. among the relics of a pagan civilization stood a great monument covered with outlandish hieroglyphics. the countess was curious to decipher the inscriptions, and begged madame blavatsky to unravel their meaning, but the priestess of isis, notwithstanding her great archaeological knowledge, was unable to do so. however, she said: "wait until night, and we shall see!" when the ruins were wrapped in sombre shadow, mme. blavatsky drew a great circle upon the ground about the monument, and invited the countess to stand within the mystic confines. a fire was built and upon it were thrown various aromatic herbs and incense. cabalistic spells were recited by the sorceress, as the smoke from the incense ascended, and then she thrice commanded the spirit to whom the monument was erected to appear. soon the cloud of smoke from the burning incense assumed the shape of an old man with a long white beard. a voice from a distance pierced the misty image, and spoke: "i am hiero, one of the priests of a great temple erected to the gods, that stood upon this spot. this monument was the altar. behold!" no sooner were the words pronounced than a phantasmagoric vision of a gigantic temple appeared, supported by ponderous columns, and a great city was seen covering the distant plain, but all soon faded into thin air. this story was related to a select coterie of occultists assembled in social conclave at the headquarters in new york. the question is, had the charming russian countess dreamed this, or was she trying to exploit herself as a traveler who had come "out of the mysterious east" and had seen strange things? we next hear of the famous occultist in the united states, where she associated chiefly with spirit-mediums, enchanters, professional clairvoyants, and the like. "at this period of her career she had not,"[4] says dr. eliott coues, a learned investigator of psychic phenomena, "been metamorphosed into a theosophist. she was simply exploiting as a spiritualistic medium. her most familiar spook was a ghostly fiction named 'john king.' this fellow is supposed to have been a pirate, condemned for his atrocities to serve earth-bound for a term of years, and to present himself at materializing séances on call. any medium who personates this ghost puts on a heavy black horse-hair beard and a white bed sheet and talks in sepulchral chest tones. john is as standard and sure-enough a ghost as ever appeared before the public. most of the leading mediums, both in europe and america, keep him in stock. i have often seen the old fellow in new york, philadelphia, and washington through more mediums that i can remember the names of. our late minister to portugul, mr. j. o'sullivan, has a photograph of him at full length, floating in space, holding up a peculiar globe of light shaped like a glass decanter. this trustworthy likeness was taken in europe, and i think in russia, but am not sure on that point. i once had the pleasure of introducing the pirate king to my friend prof. alfred russel wallace, in the person of pierre l. o. a. keeler, a noted medium of washington. "but the connection between the pirate and my story is this: madame blavatsky was exploiting king at the time of which i speak, and several of her letters to friends, which i have read, are curiously scribbled in red and blue pencil with sentences and signatures of 'john king,' just as, later on, 'koot hoomi' used to miraculously precipitate himself upon her stationery in all sorts of colored crayons. and, by the way, i may call the reader's attention to the fact that while the ingenious creature was operating in cairo, her mahatmas were of the egyptian order of architecture, and located in the ruins of thebes or karnak. they were not put in turbans and shifted to thibet till late in 1879." in 1875, while residing in new york, madame blavatsky conceived the idea of establishing a theosophical society. stupendous thought! cagliostro in the eighteenth century founded his egyptian free-masonry for the re-generation of mankind, and blavatsky in the nineteenth century laid the corner stone of modern theosophy for a similar purpose. cagliostro had his high priestess in the person of a beautiful wife, lorenza feliciani, and blavatsky her hierophant in the somewhat prosaic guise of a new york reporter, col. olcott, since then a famous personage in occult circles. during the civil war, olcott served in the quartermaster's department of the army and afterwards held a position in the internal revenue service of the united states. in 18-he was a newspaper man in new york, and was sent by the _graphic_ to investigate the alleged spiritualistic phenomena transpiring in the eddy family in chittenden, vermont. there he met madame blavatsky. it was his fate. [illustration: fig. 35. col. h. s. olcott.] col. olcott's description of his first sight of mme. blavatsky is interesting: "the dinner at eddy's was at noon, and it was from the entrance door of the bare and comfortless dining-room that kappes and i first saw h. p. b. she had arrived shortly before noon with a french canadian lady, and they were at table as we entered. my eye was first attracted by a scarlet garibaldian shirt the former wore, as being in vivid contrast with the dull colors around. her hair was then a thick blonde mop, worn shorter than the shoulders, and it stood out from her head, silken, soft, and crinkled to the roots, like the fleece of a cotswold ewe. this and the red shirt were what struck my attention before i took in the picture of her features. it was a massive kalmuck face, contrasting in its suggestion of power, culture, and imperiousness, as strangely with the commonplace visages about the room, as her red garment did with the gray and white tones of the wall and woodwork, and the dull costumes of the rest of the guests. all sorts of cranky people were continually coming and going at eddy's, to see the mediumistic phenomena, and it only struck me on seeing this eccentric lady that this was but one more of the sort. pausing on the door-sill, i whispered to kappes, 'good gracious! look at _that_ specimen, will you!' i went straight across and took a seat opposite her to indulge my favorite habit of character-study." commenting on this meeting, j. ransom bridges, in the _arena_, for april, 1895, remarks: "after dinner colonel olcott scraped an acquaintance by opportunely offering her a light for a cigarette which she proceeded to roll for herself. this 'light' must have been charged with theosophical _karma_, for the burning match or end of a lighted cigar--the colonel does not specify--lit a train of causes and their effects which now are making history and are world-wide in their importance. so confirmed a pessimist on theosophical questions as henry sidgwick of the london society for psychical research, says, 'even if it [the theosophical society] were to expire next year, its twenty years' existence would be a phenomenon of some interest for a historian of european society in the nineteenth century.'" [illustration: fig. 36. oath of secrecy taken by charter members of the theosophical society. [kindness of the _new york herald_.]] the séances at the eddy house must have been character studies indeed. the place where the ghosts were materialized was a large apartment over the dining room of the ancient homestead. a dark closet, at one end of the room, with a rough blanket stretched across it, served as a cabinet. red indians and pirates were the favorite materializations, but when madame blavatsky appeared on the scene, ghosts of turks, kurdish cavaliers, and kalmucks visited this earthly scene, much to the surprise of every one. olcott cites this fact as evidence of the genuineness of the materializations, remarking, "how could the ignorant eddy boys, rough, rude, uncultured farmers, get the costumes and accessories for characters of this kind in a remote vermont village." 2. what is theosophy. let us turn aside at this juncture to ask, "what is theosophy." the word theosophy (theosophia--divine knowledge) appears to have been used about the third century, a. d., by the neo-platonists, or gnostics of alexandria, but the great principles of the doctrine, however, were taught hundreds of years prior to the mystical school established at alexandria. "it is not," says an interesting writer on the subject, "an outgrowth of buddhism although many buddhists see in its doctrines the reflection of buddha. it proposes to give its followers the esoteric, or inner-spiritual meaning of the great religious teachers of the world. it asserts repeated re-incarnations, or rebirths of the soul on earth, until it is fully purged of evil, and becomes fit to be absorbed into the deity whence it came, gaining thereby nirvana, or unconsciousness." some theosophists claim that nirvana is not a state of unconsciousness, but just the converse, a state of the most intensified consciousness, during which the soul remembers all of its previous incarnations. madame blavatsky claimed that "there exists in thibet a brotherhood whose members have acquired a power over nature which enables them to perform wonders beyond the reach of ordinary men. she declared herself to be a _chela_, or disciple of these brothers (spoken of also as 'adepts' and as 'mahatmas'), and asserted that they took a special interest in the theosophical society and all initiates in occult lore, being able to cause apparitions of themselves in places where their bodies were not; and that they not only appeared but communicated intelligently with those whom they thus visited and themselves perceived what was going on where their phantoms appeared." this phantasmal appearance she called the projection of the _astral_ form. many of the phenomena witnessed in the presence of the sibyl were supposed to be the work of the mystic brotherhood who took so peculiar an interest in the theosophical society and its members. the madame did not claim to be the founder of a new religious faith, but simply the reviver of a creed that has slumbered in the orient for centuries, and declared herself to be the messenger of these mahatmas to the scoffing western world. speaking of the mahatmas, she says in "isis unveiled": * * * "travelers have met these adepts on the shores of the sacred ganges, brushed against them on the silent ruins of thebes, and in the mysterious deserted chambers of luxor. within the halls upon whose blue and golden vaults the weird signs attract attention, but whose secret meaning is never penetrated by the idle gazers, they have been seen, but seldom recognized. historical memoirs have recorded their presence in the brilliantly illuminated salons of european aristocracy. they have been encountered again on the arid and desolate plains of the great sahara, or in the caves of elephanta. they may be found everywhere, but make themselves known only to those who have devoted their lives to unselfish study, and are not likely to turn back." the theosophical society was organized in new york, nov. 17, 1875. mr. arthur lillie, in his interesting work, "madame blavatsky and her theosophy," speaking about the founding of the society, says: "its moving spirit was a mr. felt, who had visited egypt and studied its antiquities. he was a student also of the kabbala; and he had a somewhat eccentric theory that the dog-headed and hawk-headed figures painted on the egyptian monuments were not mere symbols, but accurate portraits of the 'elementals.' he professed to be able to evoke and control them. he announced that he had discovered the secret 'formularies' of the old egyptian magicians. plainly, the theosophical society at starting was an egyptian school of occultism. indeed colonel olcott, who furnishes these details ('diary leaves' in the _theosophist_, november to december, 1892), lets out that the first title suggested was the 'egyptological society.'" there were strange reports set afloat at the time of the organization of the society of the mysterious appearance of a hindoo adept in his astral body at the "lamasery" on forty-seventh street. it was said to be that of a certain mahatma koot hoomi. olcott declared that the adept left behind him as a souvenir of his presence, a turban, which was exhibited on all occasions by the enterprising hierophant. william q. judge, a noted writer on spiritualism, who had met the madame at irving place in the winter of 1874, joined the society about this time, and became an earnest advocate of the secret doctrine. one wintry evening in march, 1889, mr. judge attended a meeting of the new york anthropological society, and told the audience all about the spectral gentleman, koot hoomi. he said: "the parent society (theosophical) was founded in america by madame blavatsky, who gathered about her a few interested people and began the great work. they held a meeting to frame a constitution (1875), etc., but before anything had been accomplished a strangely foreign hindoo, dressed in the peculiar garb of his country, came before them, and, leaving a package, vanished, and no one knew whither he came or went. on opening the package they found the necessary forms of organization, rules, etc., which were adopted. the inference to be drawn was, that the strange visitor was a mahatma, interested in the foundation of the society." [illustration: fig. 37. william q. judge. [reproduced by courtesy of the _new york herald_.]] and so blavatskyism flourished, and the society gathered in disciples from all quarters. men without definite creeds are ever willing to embrace anything that savors of the mysterious, however absurd the tenets of the new doctrine may be. the objects of the theosophical society, as set forth in a number of _lucifer_, the organ of the cult, published in july, 1890, are stated to be: "1. to form a nucleus of a universal brotherhood of humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, or color. "2. to promote the study of aryan and other eastern literatures, religions and sciences. "3. to investigate laws of nature and the psychical powers of man." there is nothing of cant or humbug about the above articles. a society founded for the prosecution of such researches seems laudable enough. oriental scholars and scientists have been working in this field for many years. but the investigations, as conducted under the blavatsky régime, have savored so of charlatanism that many earnest, truth-seeking theosophists have withdrawn from the society. after seeing the society well established, madame blavatsky went to india. her career in that country was a checkered one. from this period dates the exposé of the mahatma miracles. the story reads like a romance by marie corelli. let us begin at the beginning. the headquarters of the society was first established at bombay, thence removed to madras and afterwards to adyar. a certain m. and mme. coulomb, trusted friends of madame blavatsky, were made librarian and assistant corresponding secretary respectively of the society, and took up their residence in the building known as the headquarters--a rambling east indian bungalow, such as figure in rudyard kipling's stories of oriental life. marvellous phenomena, of an occult nature, alleged to have taken place there, were attested by many theosophists. mysterious, ghostly appearances of mahatmas were seen, and messages were constantly received by supernatural means. one of the apartments of the bungalow was denominated the occult room, and in this room was a sort of cupboard against the wall, known as the _shrine_. in this shrine the ghostly missives were received and from it were sent. skeptics were convinced, and occult lodges spread rapidly over india among the dreamy, marvel-loving natives. but affairs were not destined to sail smoothly. there came a rift within the lute--madame blavatsky quarreled with her trusted lieutenants, the coulombs! in may, 1884, m. and mme. coulomb were expelled from the society by the general council, during the absence of the high priestess and col. olcott in europe. the coulombs, who had grown weary of a life of imposture, or were actuated by the more ignoble motive of revenge, made a complete exposé of the secret working of the inner brotherhood. they published portions of madame blavatsky's correspondence in the _madras christian college magazine_, for september and october, 1884; letters written to the coulombs, directing them to prepare certain impostures and letters written by the high priestess, under the signature of koot hoomi, the mythical adept.[5] this correspondence unquestionably implicated the sibyl in a conspiracy to fraudulently produce occult phenomena. she declared them to be, in whole, or in part, forgeries. at this juncture the london society for psychical research sent mr. richard hodgson, b. a., scholar of st. john's college, cambridge, england, to india to investigate the entire matter in the interest of science. he left england november, 1884, and remained in the east till april, 1885. during this period blavatskyism was sifted to the bottom. mr. hodgson's report covers several hundred pages, and proves conclusively that the occult phenomena of madame blavatsky and her co-adjutors are unworthy of credence. in his volume he gives diagrams of the trap-doors and machinery of the shrine and the occult room, and facsimiles of madame blavatsky's handwriting, which proved to be identical with that of koot hoomi, or _cute_ hoomi, as the critics dubbed him. he shows that the coulombs had told the plain unvarnished truth so far as their disclosures went; and he stigmatizes the priestess of isis in the following language: "1. she has been engaged in a long continued combination with other persons to produce by ordinary means a series of apparent marvels for the support of the theosophic movement. "2. that in particular the shrine at adyar through which letters purporting to come from mahatmas were received, was elaborately arranged with a view to the secret insertion of letters and other objects through a sliding panel at the back, and regularly used for the purpose by madame blavatsky or her agents. "3. that there is consequently a very strong general presumption that all the marvellous narratives put forward in evidence of the existence of mahatmas are to be explained as due either (_a_) to deliberate deception carried out by or at the instigation of madame blavatsky, or (_b_) to spontaneous illusion or hallucination or unconscious misrepresentation or invention on the part of the witnesses." the mysterious appearances of the ghostly mahatmas at the headquarters was shown, by mr. hodgson, to be the work of confederates, the cleverest among them being madame coulomb. sliding panels, secret doors, and many disguises were the _modus operandi_ of the occult phenomena. in regard to the letters and alleged precipitated writing, mr. hodgson says: "it has been alleged, indeed, that when madame blavatsky was at madras, instantaneous replies to mental queries had been found in the shrine (at adyar), that envelopes containing questions were returned absolutely intact to the senders, and that when they were opened replies were found within in the handwriting of a mahatma. after numerous inquiries, i found that in all cases i could hear of, the mental query was such as might easily have been anticipated by madame blavatsky; indeed, the query was whether the questioner would meet with success in his endeavor to become a pupil of the mahatma, and the answer was frequently of the indefinite and oracular sort. in some cases the envelope inserted in the shrine was one which had been previously sent to headquarters for that purpose, so that the envelope might have been opened and the answer written therein before it was placed in the shrine at all. where sufficient care was taken in the preparation of the inquiry, either no specific answer was given or the answer was delayed." a certain phenomenon, frequently mentioned by theosophists as having occurred in madame blavatsky's sitting-room, was the dropping of a letter from the ceiling, supposed to be a communication from some mahatma. in all such cases conjuring was proved to have been used--the _deus ex machina_ being either a silk thread or else a cunningly secreted trap door hidden between the wooden beams of the bungalow ceiling, operated of course by a concealed confederate. madame blavatsky's favorite method of impressing people with her occult powers was the almost immediate reception of letters from distant countries, in response to questions asked. these feats were the result of carefully contrived plans, preconcerted weeks in advance. she would telegraph in cipher to one of her numerous correspondents, east indian, for example, to write a letter in reply to a certain query, and post it at a particular date. then she would calculate the arrival of the letter, often to a nicety. her ability as a conversationalist enabled her to adroitly lead people into asking questions that would tally with the mahatma messages. but sometimes she failed, and a ludicrous fiasco was the result. mr. hodgson's report contains accounts of many such mystic letters that would arrive by post from india in the nick of time, or too late for use. among other remarkable things reported of the madame was her power of producing photographs of people far away by a sort of spiritual photography, involving no other mechanical process than the slipping of a sheet of paper between the leaves of her blotting pad. when stories of this spirit-photography were rife in london, a scientist published the following explanation of a method of making such mahatma portraits: "has the english public never heard of 'magic photography?' just a few years ago small sheets of white paper were offered for sale which on being covered with damp blotting paper developed an image as if by magic. the white sheets of paper seemed blanks. really, however, they were photographs, not containing gold, which had been bleached by immersing them in a solution of mercuric chloride. the latter gives up part of its chlorine, and this chlorine bleaches the brown silver particles of which the photograph consists, by changing them to chloride of silver. the mercuric chloride becomes mercurous chloride. this body is white, and therefore invisible on white paper. now, several substances will color this white mercurous chloride black. ammonia and hypo-sulphite of soda will do this. in the magic photographs before mentioned the blotting paper contained hypo-sulphite of soda. consequently when the alleged blank sheets of white note paper were placed between the sheets of blotting paper and slightly moistened, the hypo-sulphite of soda in the blotting paper acted chemically on the mercurous chloride in the white note paper, and the picture appeared. as this was known in 1840 to herschel, blavatsky's miracle is nothing but a commonplace conjuring experiment." 3. madame blavatsky's confession. the individual to whom the world is most indebted for a critical analysis of madame blavatsky's character and her claims as a producer of occult phenomena is vsevolod s. solovyoff, a russian journalist and _litterateur_ of considerable note. he has ruthlessly torn the veil from the priestess of isis in a remarkable book of revelations, entitled, "a modern priestess of isis." in may, 1884, he was in paris, engaged in studying occult literature, and was preparing to write a treatise on "the rare, but in my opinion, real manifestations of the imperfectly investigated spiritual powers of man." one day he read in the _matin_ that madame blavatsky had arrived in paris, and he determined to meet her. thanks to a friend in st. petersburg, he obtained a letter of introduction to the famous theosophist, and called on her a few days later, at her residence in the rue notre dame des champs. his pen picture of the interview is graphic: "i found myself in a long, mean street on the left bank of the seine, _de l'autre cote de l'eau_, as the parisians say. the coachman stopped at the number i had told him. the house was unsightly enough to look at, and at the door there was not a single carriage. "'my dear sir, you have let her slip; she has left paris,' i said to myself with vexation. "in answer to my inquiry the concierge showed me the way. i climbed a very, very dark staircase, rang, and a slovenly figure in an oriental turban admitted me into a tiny dark lobby. "to my question, whether madame blavatsky would receive me, the slovenly figure replied with an '_entrez, monsieur_,' and vanished with my card, while i was left to wait in a small low room, poorly and insufficiently furnished. "i had not long to wait. the door opened, and she was before me; a rather tall woman, though she produced the impression of being short, on account of her unusual stoutness. her great head seemed all the greater from her thick and very bright hair, touched with a scarcely perceptible gray, and very slightly frizzed, by nature and not by art, as i subsequently convinced myself. "at the first moment her plain, old earthy-colored face struck me as repulsive; but she fixed on me the gaze of her great, rolling, pale blue eyes, and in these wonderful eyes, with their hidden power, all the rest was forgotten. "i remarked, however, that she was very strangely dressed, in a sort of black sacque, and that all the fingers of her small, soft, and as it were boneless hands, with their slender points and long nails, were covered with great jewelled rings." madame blavatsky received solovyoff kindly, and they became excellent friends. she urged him to join the theosophical society, and he expressed himself as favorably impressed with the purposes of the organization. during the interview she produced her astral bell "phenomenon." she excused herself to attend to some domestic duty, and on her return to the sitting-room, the phenomenon took place. says solovyoff: "she made a sort of flourish with her hand, raised it upwards and suddenly, i heard distinctly, quite distinctly, somewhere above our heads, near the ceiling, a very melodious sound like a little silver bell or an aeolian harp. "'what is the meaning of this?' i asked. "'this means only that my master is here, although you and i cannot see him. he tells me that i may trust you, and am to do for you whatever i can. _vous etes sous sa protection_, henceforth and forever.' "she looked me straight in the eyes, and caressed me with her glance and her kindly smile." this mahatmic phenomenon ought to have absolutely convinced solovyoff, but it did not. he asked himself the question: "'why was the sound of the silver bell not heard at once, but only after she had left the room and come back again?'" a few days after this event, the russian journalist was regularly enrolled as a member of the theosophical society, and began to study madame blavatsky instead of oriental literature and occultism. he was introduced to colonel olcott, who showed him the turban that had been left at the new york headquarters by the astral koot hoomi. solovyoff witnessed other "phenomena" in the presence of madame blavatsky, which did not impress him very favorably. finally, the high priestess produced her _chef d' oeuvre_, the psychometric reading of a letter. solovyoff was rather impressed with this feat and sent an account of it to the _rebus_, but subsequently came to the conclusion that trickery had entered into it. when the coulomb exposures came, he did not see much of madame blavatsky. she was overwhelmed with letters and spent a considerable time anxiously travelling to and fro on theosophical affairs. in august, 1885, she was at wurzburg sick at heart and in body, attended by a diminutive hindoo servant, bavaji by name. she begged solovyoff to visit her, promising to give him lessons in occultism. with a determination to investigate the "phenomena," he went to the bavarian watering place, and one morning called on madame blavatsky. he found her seated in a great arm chair: "at the opposite end of the table stood the dwarfish bavaji, with a confused look in his dulled eyes. he was evidently incapable of meeting my gaze, and the fact certainly did not escape me. in front of bavaji on the table were scattered several sheets of clean paper. nothing of the sort had occurred before, so my attention was the more aroused. in his hand was a great thick pencil. i began to have ideas. "'just look at the unfortunate man,' said helena petrovna suddenly, turning to me. 'he does not look himself at all; he drives me to distraction'.... then she passed from bavaji to the london society for psychical research, and again tried to persuade me about the 'master.' bavaji stood like a statue; he could take no part in our conversation, as he did not know a word of russian. "'but such incredulity as to the evidence of your own eyes, such obstinate infidelity as yours, is simply unpardonable. in fact, it is wicked!' exclaimed helena petrovna. "i was walking about the room at the time, and did not take my eyes off bavaji. i saw that he was keeping his eyes wide open, with a sort of contortion of his whole body, while his hand, armed with a great pencil, was carefully tracing some letters on a sheet of paper. "'look; what is the matter with him?' exclaimed madame blavatsky. "'nothing particular,' i answered; 'he is writing in russian.' "i saw her whole face grow purple. she began to stir in her chair, with an obvious desire to get up and take the paper from him. but with her swollen and almost inflexible limbs, she could not do so with any speed. i made haste to seize the paper and saw on it a beautifully _drawn_ russian phrase. "bavaji was to have written, in the russian language with which he was not acquainted: 'blessed are they that believe, as said the great adept.' he had learned his task well, and remembered correctly the form of all the letters, but he had omitted two in the word 'believe,' [the effect was precisely the same as if in english he had omitted the first two and last two letters of the word.] "'blessed are they that _lie_,' i read aloud, unable to control the laughter which shook me. 'that is the best thing i ever saw. oh, bavaji! you should have got your lesson up better for examination!' "the tiny hindoo hid his face in his hands and rushed out of the room; i heard his hysterical sobs in the distance. madame blavatsky sat with distorted features." as will be seen from the above, the hindoo servant was one of the madame's mahatmas, and was caught in the act of preparing a communication from a sage in the himalayas, to solovyoff. "after this abortive phenomena," remarks the russian journalist, "things marched faster, and i saw that i should soon be in a position to send very interesting additions to the report of the psychical society."... "every day when i came to see the madame she used to try to do me a favor in the shape of some trifling 'phenomenon,' but she never succeeded. thus one day her famous 'silver bell' was heard, when suddenly something fell beside her on the ground. i hurried to pick it up--and found in my hands a pretty little piece of silver, delicately worked and strangely shaped. helena petrovna changed countenance, and snatched the object from me. i coughed significantly, smiled and turned the conversation to indifferent matters." on another occasion he was conversing with her about the "theosophist," and "she mentioned the name of subba rao, a hindoo, who had attained the highest degree of knowledge." she directed mr. solovyoff to open a drawer in her writing desk, and take from it a photograph of the adept. "i opened the drawer," says solovyoff, "found the photograph and handed it to her--together with a packet of chinese envelopes (see fig. 34), such as i well knew; they were the same in which the 'elect' used to receive the letters of the mahatmas morya and koot hoomi by 'astral post.' "'look at that, helena petrovna! i should advise you to hide this packet of the master's envelopes farther off. you are so terribly absent-minded and careless.' "it was easy to imagine what this was to her. i looked at her and was positively frightened; her face grew perfectly black. she tried in vain to speak; she could only writhe helplessly in her great arm-chair." solovyoff with great adroitness gradually drew from her a confession. "what is one to do," said madame blavatsky, plaintively, "when in order to rule men it is necessary to deceive them; almost invariably the more simple, the more silly, and the more gross the phenomenon, the more likely it is to succeed." the priestess of isis broke down completely and acknowledged that her phenomena were not genuine; the koot hoomi letters were written by herself and others in collusion with her; finally she exhibited to the journalist the apparatus for producing the "astral bell," and begged him to go into a co-partnership with her to astonish the world. he refused! the next day she declared that a black magician had spoken through her mouth, and not herself; she was not responsible for what she had said. after this he had other interviews with her; threats and promises; and lastly a most extraordinary letter, which was headed, "my confession," and reads, in part, as follows: "believe me, _i have fallen because i have made up my mind to fall_, or else to bring about a reaction by telling all god's truth about myself, _but without mercy on my enemies_. on this i am firmly resolved, and from this day i shall begin to prepare myself in order to be ready. i will fly no more. together with this letter, or a few hours later, i shall myself be in paris, and then on to london. a frenchman is ready, and a well-known journalist too, delighted to set about the work and to write at my dictation something short, but strong, and what is most important--a true history of my life. _i shall not even attempt to defend_, to justify myself. in this book i shall simply say: "in 1848, i, hating my husband, n. v. blavatsky (it may have been wrong, but still such was the nature _god_ gave me), left him, abandoned him--_a virgin_. (i shall produce documents and letters proving this, although he himself is not such a swine as to deny it.) i loved one man deeply, but still more i loved occult science, believing in magic, wizards, etc. i wandered with him here and there, in asia, in america, and in europe. i met with so-and-so. (you may call him a _wizard_, what does it matter to him?) in 1858 i was in london; there came out some story about a child, not mine (there will follow medical evidence, from the faculty of paris, and it is for this that i am going to paris). one thing and another was said of me; that i was depraved, possessed with a devil, etc. "i shall tell everything as i think fit, everything i did, for the twenty years and more, that i laughed at the _qu'en dira-t-on_, and covered up all traces of what i was _really_ occupied in, i. e., the _sciences occultes_, for the sake of my family and relations who would at that time have cursed me. i will tell how from my eighteenth year i tried to get people to talk about me, and say about me that this man and that was my lover, and _hundreds_ of them. i will tell, too, a great deal of which no one ever dreamed, and _i will prove it_. then i will inform the world how suddenly my eyes were opened to all the horror of my _moral suicide_; how i was sent to america to try my psychological capabilities; how i collected a society there, and began to expiate my faults, and attempted to make men better and to sacrifice myself for their regeneration. _i will name all_ the theosophists who were brought into the right way, drunkards and rakes, who became almost saints, especially in india, and those who enlisted as theosophists, and continued their former life, as though they were doing the work (and there are many of them) and _yet were the first_ to join the pack of hounds that were hunting me down, and to bite me.... "no! the devils will save me in this last great hour. you did not calculate on the cool determination of _despair_, which _was_ and has _passed over_.... and to this i have been brought by you. you have been the last straw which has broken the camel's back under its intolerably heavy burden. now you are at liberty to conceal nothing. repeat to all paris what you have ever heard or know about me. i have already written a letter to sinnett _forbidding him_ to publish my _memoirs_ at his own discretion. i myself will publish them with all the truth.... it will be a saturnalia of the moral depravity of mankind, this _confession_ of mine, a worthy epilogue of my stormy life.... let the psychist gentlemen, and whosoever will, set on foot a new inquiry. mohini and all the rest, even _india_, are dead for me. i thirst for one thing only, that the world may know all the reality, all the _truth_, and learn the lesson. and then _death_, kindest of all. h. blavatsky. "you may print this letter if you will, even in russia. it is all the same now." this remarkable effusion may be the result of a fever-disordered brain, it may be, as she says, the "god's truth;" at any rate it bears the ear-marks of the blavatsky style about it. the disciples of the high priestess of isis have bitterly denounced solovyoff and the revelations contained in his book. they brand him as a coward for not having published his diatribe during the lifetime of the madame, when she was able to defend herself. however that may be, solovyoff's exposures tally very well with the mass of corroborative evidence adduced by hodgson, coues, coleman, and a host of writers, who began their attacks during the earthly pilgrimage of the great sibyl. on receipt of this letter, feb 16, 1886, solovyoff resigned from the theosophical society. he denounced the high priestess to the paris theosophists, and the blavatsky lodges in that city were disrupted in consequence of the exposures. this seems to be a convincing proof of the genuineness of his revelations. after the solovyoff incident, madame blavatsky went into retirement for a while. eventually she appeared in london as full of enthusiasm as ever and added to her list of converts the countess of caithness and mrs. annie besant, the famous socialist and authoress. finally came the last act of this strange life-drama. that messenger of death, whom the mystical persian singer, omar khayyam, calls "the angel of the darker drink," held to her lips the inevitable chalice of mortality; then the "golden cord was loosened and the silver bowl was broken," and she passed into the land of shadows. it was in london, may 8, 1891, that helena petrovna blavatsky ended one of the strangest careers on record. she died calmly and peacefully in her bed, surrounded by her friends, and after her demise her body was cremated by her disciples, with occult rites and ceremonies. all that remained of her--a few handfuls of powdery white ashes--was gathered together, and divided into three equal parts. one portion was buried in london, one sent to new york city, and the third to adyar, near madras, india. the new world, the old world, and the still older world of the east were honored with the ashes of h. p. b. three civilizations, three heaps of ashes, three initials--mystic number from time immemorial, celebrated symbol of divinity known to, and revered by, cabalists, gnostics, rosicrucians, and theosophists. mr. j. ransom bridges, who had considerable correspondence with the high priestess from 1888 until her death, says (_arena_, april, 1895): "whatever may be the ultimate verdict upon the life and work of this woman, her place in history will be unique. there was a titanic display of strength in everything she did. the storms that raged in her were cyclones. those exposed to them often felt with solovyoff that if there were holy and sage _mahatmas_, they could not remain holy and sage, and have anything to do with helena petrovna blavatsky. the 'confession' she wrote rings with the mingled curses and mad laughter of a crazy mariner scuttling his own ship. yet she could be as tender and sympathetic as any mother. her mastery of some natures seemed complete; and these people she worked like galley-slaves in the theosophical tread mill of her propaganda movement. "to these disciples she was the greatest thaumaturgist known to the world since the days of the christ. the attacks upon her, the coulomb and solovyoff exposures, the continual newspaper calumnies they look upon as a gigantic conspiracy brewed by all the rules of the black art to counteract, and, if possible, to destroy the effect of her work and mission." "requiescat in pace," o priestess of isis, until your next incarnation on earth! the twentieth century will doubtless have need of your services! for the delectation of the curious let me add: the english resting place of madame blavatsky is designed after the model of an oriental "dagoba," or tomb; the american shrine is a marble niche in the wall of the theosophical headquarters, no. 144 madison avenue, the ashes reposing in a vase standing in the niche behind a hermetically-sealed glass window. the oriental shrine in adyar is a tomb modelled after the world-famous taj mahal, and is built of pink sandstone, surmounted by a small benares copper spire. 4. the writings of madame blavatsky. madame blavatsky is known to the reading world as the writer of two voluminous works of a philosophical or mystical character, explanatory of the esoteric doctrine, viz., "isis unveiled," published in 1877, and the "secret doctrine," published in 1888. in the composition of these works she claimed that she was assisted by the mahatmas who visited her apartments when she was asleep, and wrote portions of the manuscripts with their astral hands while their natural bodies reposed entranced in thibetan lamaseries. these fictions were fostered by prominent members of the theosophical society, and believed by many credulous persons. "isis unveiled" is a hodge-podge of absurdities, pseudo-science, mythology and folklore, arranged in helter-skelter fashion, with an utter disregard of logical sequence. the fact was that madame blavatsky had a very imperfect knowledge of english, and this may account for the strange mistakes in which the volume abounds, despite the aid of the ghostly mahatmas. william emmette coleman, of san francisco, has made an exhaustive analysis of the madame's writings, and declares that "isis," and the "secret doctrine" are full of plagiarisms. in "isis" he discovered "some 2,000 passages copied from other books without proper credit." speaking of the "secret doctrine," the master key to the wisdom of the ages, he says: "the 'secret doctrine' is ostensibly based upon certain stanzas, claimed to have been translated by madame blavatsky from the 'book of dzyan'--the oldest book in the world, written in a language unknown to philology. the 'book of dzyan' was the work of madame blavatsky--a compilation, in her own language, from a variety of sources, embracing the general principles of the doctrines and dogmas taught in the 'secret doctrine.' i find in this 'oldest book in the world' statements copied from nineteenth century books, and in the usual blundering manner of madame blavatsky. letters and other writings of the adepts are found in the 'secret doctrine.' in these mahatmic productions i have traced various plagiarized passages from wilson's 'vishnu purana,' and winchell's 'world life'--of like character to those in madame blavatsky's acknowledged writings. * * * a specimen of the wholesale plagiarisms in this book appears in vol. ii., pp. 599-603. nearly the whole of four pages was copied from oliver's 'pythagorean triangle,' while only a few lines were credited to that work." those who are interested in coleman's exposé are referred to appendix c, of solovyoff's book, "a modern priestess of isis." the title of this appendix is "the sources of madame blavatsky's writings." mr. coleman is at present engaged in the preparation of an elaborate work on the subject, which will in addition contain an "exposé of theosophy as a whole." it will no doubt prove of interest to students of occultism. 5. life and death of a famous theosophist. the funeral of baron de palm, conducted according to theosophical rites, is an interesting chapter in the history of the society, and worth relating. joseph henry louis charles, baron de palm, grand cross commander of the sovereign order of the holy sepulchre at jerusalem, and knight of various orders, was born at augsburg, may 10, 1809. he came to the united states rather late in life, drifted west without any settled occupation, and lived from hand to mouth in various western cities. finally he located in new york city, broken in health and spirit. he was a man of considerable culture and interested to a greater or less extent in the phenomena of modern spiritualism. a letter of introduction from the editor of the _religio-philosophical journal_, of chicago, made him acquainted with col. olcott, who introduced him to prominent members of the theosophical society. he was elected a member of the society, eventually becoming a member of the council. in the year 1875 he died, leaving behind an earnest request that col. olcott "should perform the last offices in a fashion that would illustrate the eastern notions of death and immortality."[6] he also left directions that his body should be cremated. a great deal of excitement was caused over this affair in orthodox religious circles, and public curiosity was aroused to the highest pitch. the funeral service was, as madame blavatsky described it in a letter to a european correspondent, "pagan, almost antique pagan." the ceremony was held in the great hall of the masonic temple, corner of twenty-third and sixth avenue. tickets of admission were issued of decidedly occult shape--_triangular_; some black, printed in silver; others drab, printed in black. a crowd of 2,000 people assembled to witness the obsequies. on the stage was a _triangular_ altar, with a symbolical fire burning upon it. the coffin stood near by, covered with the orders of knighthood of the deceased. a splendid choir rendered several orphic hymns composed for the occasion, with organ accompaniment, and col. olcott, as hierophant, made an invocation or _mantram_ "to the soul of the world whose breath gives and withdraws the form of everything." death is always solemn, and no subject for levity, yet i must not leave out of this chronicle the unique burlesque programme of baron de palm's funeral, published by the _new york world_, the day before the event. says the _world_: "the procession will move in the following order: "col. olcott as high priest, wearing a leopard skin and carrying a roll of papyrus (brown card board). "mr. cobb, as sacred scribe, with style and tablet. "egyptian mummy-case, borne upon a sledge drawn by four oxen. (also a slave bearing a pot of lubricating oil.) "madame blavatsky as chief mourner and also bearer of the sistrum. (she will wear a long linen garment extending to the feet, and a girdle about the waist.) "colored boy carrying three abyssinian geese (philadelphia chickens) to place upon the bier. "vice-president felt, with the eye of osiris painted on his left breast, and carrying an asp (bought at a toy store on eighth avenue.) "dr. pancoast, singing an ancient theban dirge: "'isis and nepthys, beginning and end: one more victim to amenti we send. pay we the fare, and let us not tarry. cross the styx by the roosevelt street ferry.'" "slaves in mourning gowns, carrying the offerings and libations, to consist of early potatoes, asparagus, roast beef, french pan-cakes, bock-beer, and new jersey cider. "treasurer newton, as chief of the musicians, playing the double pipe. "other musicians performing on eight-stringed harps, tom-toms, etc. "boys carrying a large lotus (sunflower). "librarian fassit, who will alternate with music by repeating the lines beginning: "'here horus comes, i see the boat. friends, stay your flowing tears; the soul of man goes through a goat in just 3,000 years.' "at the temple the ceremony will be short and simple. the oxen will be left standing on the sidewalk, with a boy near by to prevent them goring the passers-by. besides the theurgic hymn, printed above in full, the coptic national anthem will be sung, translated and adapted to the occasion as follows: "sitting cynocephalus up in a tree, i see you, and you see me. river full of crocodile, see his long snout! hoist up the shadoof and pull him right out." 6. the mantle of madame blavatsky. after madame blavatsky's death, mrs. annie besant assumed the leadership of the theosophical society, and wore upon her finger a ring that belonged to the high priestess: a ring with a green stone flecked with veins of blood red, upon the surface of which was engraved the interlaced triangles within a circle, with the indian motto, _sat_ (life), the symbol of theosophy. it was given to madame blavatsky by her indian teacher, says mrs. besant, and is very magnetic. the high priestess on her deathbed presented the mystic signet to her successor, and left her in addition many valuable books and manuscripts. the theosophical society now numbers its adherents by the thousands and has its lodges scattered over the united states, france, england and india. at the world's columbian exposition it was well represented in the great parliament of religions, by annie besant, william q. judge, of the american branch, and prof. chakravatir, a high caste brahmin of india. [illustration: fig. 38. portrait of mrs. annie besant.] mrs. besant, in an interview published in the _new york world_, dec. 11, 1892, made the following statement concerning madame blavatsky's peculiar powers: "one time she was trying to explain to me the control of the mind over certain currents in the ether about us, and to illustrate she made some little taps come on my own head. they were accompanied by the sensation one experiences on touching an electric battery. i have frequently seen her draw things to her simply by her will, without touching them. indeed, she would often check herself when strangers were about. it was natural for her, when she wanted a book that was on the table, to simply draw it to her by her power of mind, as it would be for you to reach out your hand to pick it up. and so, as i say, she often had to check herself, for she was decidedly adverse to making a show of her power. in fact, that is contrary to the law of the brotherhood to which she belonged. this law forbids them to make use of their power except as an instruction to their pupils or as an aid to the spreading of the truth. an adept may never use his knowledge for his personal advantage. he may be starving, and despite his ability to materialize banquets he may not supply himself with a crust of bread. this is what is meant in the gospel when it says: 'he saved others, himself he cannot save.' "one time she had written an article and as usual she gave me her manuscript to look over. "sometimes she wrote very good grammatic english and again she wrote very slovenly english. so she always had me go over her manuscript. in reading this particular one i found a long quotation of some twenty or thirty lines. when i finished it i went to her and said: 'where in the world did you get that quotation?' "'i got it from an indian newspaper of --,' naming the date. "'but,' i said, 'that paper cannot be in this country yet! how did you get hold of it?' "'oh, i got it, dear,' she said, with a little laugh; 'that's enough.' "of course i understood then. when the time came for the paper to arrive, i thought i would verify her quotation, so i asked her for the name, the date of the issue and the page on which the quotation would be found. she told me, giving me, we will say, 45 as the number of the page. i went to the agent, looked up the paper and there was no such quotation on page 45. then i remembered that things seen in the astral light are reversed, so i turned the number around, looked on page 54 and there was the quotation. when i went home i told her that it was all right, but that she had given me the wrong page. "'very likely,' she said. 'someone came in just as i was finishing it, and i may have forgotten to reverse the number.' "you see, anything seen in the astral light is reversed, as if you saw it in a mirror, while anything seen clairvoyantly is straight." the elevation of mrs. besant to the high priestess-ship of the theosophical society was in accord with the spirit of the age--an acknowledgment of the eternal feminine; but it did not bring repose to the organization. william q. judge, of the american branch, began dabbling, it is claimed, in mahatma messages on his own account, and charges were made against him by mrs. besant. a bitter warfare was waged in theosophical journals, and finally the american branch of the general society seceded, and organized itself into the american theosophical society. judge was made life-president and held the post until his death, in new york city, march 21st, 1896. his body was cremated and the ashes sealed in an urn, which was deposited in the society's rooms, no. 144 madison avenue. five weeks after the death of judge, the theosophical society held its annual conclave in new york city, and elected e. t. hargrove as the presiding genius of esoteric wisdom in the united states. it was originally intended to hold this convention in chicago, but the change was made for a peculiar reason. as the press reported the circumstance, "it was the result of a request by a mysterious adept whose existence had been unsuspected, and who made known his wish in a communication to the executive committee." it seems that the theosophical society is composed of two bodies, the exoteric and the esoteric. the first holds open meetings for the discussion of ethical and theosophical subjects, and the second meets privately, being composed of a secret body of adepts, learned in occultism and possessing remarkable spiritual powers. the chief of the secret order is appointed by the mahatmas, on account, it is claimed, of his or her occult development. madame blavatsky was the high priestess in this inner temple during her lifetime, and was succeeded by hierophant w. q. judge. when judge died, it seems there was no one thoroughly qualified to take his place as the head of the esoteric branch, until an examination was made of his papers. then came a surprise. judge had named as his successor a certain obscure individual whom he claimed to be a great adept, requesting that the name be kept a profound secret for a specified time. in obedience to this injunction, the great unknown was elected as chief of the inner brother-and-sisterhood. all of this made interesting copy for the new york journalists, and columns were printed about the affair. another surprise came when the convention of exoterics ("hysterics," as some of the papers called them) subscribed $25,000 for the founding of an occult temple in this country. but the greatest surprise of all was a theosophical wedding. the de palm funeral fades away into utter insignificance beside this mystic marriage. the contracting parties were claude falls wright, formerly secretary to madame blavatsky, and mary c. l. leonard, daughter of anna byford leonard, one of the best known theosophists in the west. the ceremony was performed at aryan hall, no. 144 madison avenue, n. y., in the presence of the occult body. outsiders were not admitted. however, public curiosity was partly gratified by sundry crumbs of information thrown out by the theosophical press bureau. the young couple stood beneath a seven-pointed star, made of electric light globes, and plighted their troth amid clouds of odoriferous incense. then followed weird chantings and music by an occult orchestra composed of violins and violoncellos. the unknown adept presided over the affair, as special envoy of the mahatmas. he was enveloped from head to foot in a thick white veil, said the papers. mr. wright and his bride-elect declared solemnly that they remembered many of their former incarnations; their marriage had really taken place in egypt, 5,000 years ago in one of the mysterious temples of that strange country, and the ceremony had been performed by the priests of isis. yes, they remembered it all! it seemed but as yesterday! they recalled with vividness the scene: their march up the avenue of monoliths; the lotus flowers strewn in their path by rosy children; the intoxicating perfume of the incense, burned in bronze braziers by shaven-headed priests; the hieroglyphics, emblematical of life, death and resurrection, painted upon the temple walls; the hierophant in his gorgeous vestments. oh, what a dream of old world splendor and beauty! before many months had passed, the awful secret of the veiled adept's identity was revealed. the great unknown turned out to be a _she_ instead of a _he_ adept--a certain mrs. katherine alice tingley, of new york city. the reporters began ringing the front door bell of the adept's house in the vain hope of obtaining an interview, but the newly-hatched sphinx turned a deaf ear to their entreaties. the time was not yet ripe for revelations. her friends, however, rushed into print, and told the most marvellous stories of her mediumship. w. t. stead, the english journalist and student of psychical research, reviewing the theosophical convention and its outcome, says (_borderland_, july, 1896, p. 306): "the judgeite seceders from the theosophical society held their annual convention in new york, april 26th to 27th. they have elected a young man, mr. ernest t. hargrove, as their president. a former spiritual medium and clairvoyant, by name katherine alice tingley, who claims to have been bosom friends with h. p. b. 1200 years b. c., when both were incarnated in egypt, is, however, the grand panjandrum of the cause. her first husband was a detective, her second is a clerk in the white lead company's office in brooklyn. "according to mr. hargrove she is--'the new adept; she was appointed by mr. judge, and we are going to sustain her, as we sustained him, for we know her important connection in egypt, mexico and europe.'" in the spring of 1896, mrs. tingley, accompanied by a number of prominent occultists, started on a crusade through the world to bring the truths of theosophy to the toiling millions. the crusaders before their departure were presented with a purple silk banner, bearing the legend: "truth, light, liberation for discouraged humanity." the _new york herald_ (aug. 16, 1896) says of this crusade: "when mrs. tingley and the other crusaders left this country nothing had been heard of the claim of the reincarnated blavatsky. now, however, this idea is boldly advanced in england by the american branch of the society there, and in america by burcham harding, the acting head of the society in this country. when mr. harding was seen at the theosophical headquarters, he said: "'yes, mme. blavatsky is reincarnated in mrs. tingley. she has not only been recognized by myself and other members of the american branch of the theosophical society, who knew h. p. b. in her former life, but the striking physical and facial resemblance has also been noted by members of the english branch.' "but this recognition by the english members of the society does not seem to be as strong as mr. harding would seem to have it understood. in fact, there are a number of members of that branch who boldly declare that mrs. tingley is an impostor. one of them, within the last week, addressing the english members on the subject, claimed that mme. blavatsky had foreseen that such an impostor would arise. he said: "'when mme. blavatsky lived in her body among us, she declared to all her disciples that, in her next reincarnation, she would inhabit the body of an eastern man, and she warned them to be on their guard against any assertion made by mediums or others that they were controlled by her. whatever h. p. b. lacked, she never wanted emphasis, and no one who knew anything of the founder of the theosophical society was left in any doubt as to her views upon this question. she declared that if any persons, after her death, should claim that she was speaking through them, her friends might be quite sure that it was a lie. imagine, then, the feelings of h. p. b.'s disciples on being presented with an american clairvoyant medium, in the shape of mrs. tingley, who is reported to claim that h. p. b. is reincarnated in her.' "the american branch of the society is not at all disturbed by this charge of fraud by the english branch. in connection with it mr. harding says: "'it is true that the american branch of the theosophical society has seceded from the english branch, but as mme. blavatsky, the founder, was in reality an american, it can be understood why we consider ourselves the parent society.' "of the one letter which mrs. tingley has sent to america since the arrival of the crusaders, the english theosophists are a unit in the expression of opinion that it illustrated, as did her speech in queen's hall, merely 'unmeaning platitudes and prophecies.' but the american members are quite as loud in their expressions that the english members are trying to win the sympathies of the public, and that the words are really understood by the initiate. "the letter reads: 'in thanking you for the many kind letters addressed to me as katherine tingley, as well as by other names that would not be understood by the general public, i should like to say a few words as to the future and its possibilities. many of you are destined to take an active part in the work that the future will make manifest, and it is well to press onward with a clear knowledge of the path to be trodden and with a clear vision of the goal to be reached. "'the path to be trodden is both exterior and interior, and in order to reach the goal it is necessary to tread these paths with strength, courage, faith and the essence of them all, which is wisdom. "'for these two paths, which fundamentally are one, like every duality in nature, are winding paths, and now lead through sunlight, then through deepest shade. during the last few years the large majority of students have been rounding a curve in the paths of both inner and outer work, and this wearied many. but those who persevered and faltered not will soon reap their reward. [illustration: fig. 39. portrait of mrs. tingley. [reproduced by courtesy of the _new york herald_.]] "'the present is pregnant with the promise of the near future, and that future is brighter than could be believed by those who have so recently been immersed in the shadows that are inevitable in cyclic progress. can words describe it? i think not. but if you will think of the past twenty years of ploughing and sowing and will keep in your mind the tremendous force that has been scattered broadcast throughout the world, you must surely see that the hour for reaping is near at hand, if it has not already come." the invasion of english territory by the american crusaders was resented by the british theosophists. the advocates of universal brotherhood waged bitter warfare against each other in the newspapers and periodicals. it gradually resolved itself into a struggle for supremacy between the two rival claimants for the mantle of madame blavatsky, mrs. annie besant and mrs. tingley. each pythoness ascended her sacred tripod and hysterically denounced the other as an usurper, and false prophetess. annie besant sought to disprove the idea of madame blavatsky having re-incarnated herself in the body of mrs. tingley. she claimed that the late high priestess had taken up her earthly pilgrimage again in the person of a little hindoo boy, who lived somewhere on the banks of the ganges. the puzzling problem was this: if mrs. tingley was mme. blavatsky, where was mrs. tingley? oedipus would have gone mad trying to solve this sphinx riddle. the crusade finished, mrs. tingley, with her purple banner returned to new york, where she was royally welcomed by her followers. in the wake of the american adept came the irrepressible annie besant, accompanied by a sister theosophist, the countess constance wachmeister. mrs. besant, garbed in a white linen robe of hindoo pattern, lectured on occult subjects to crowded houses in the principal cities of the east and west. in the numerous interviews accorded her by the press, she ridiculed the blavatsky-tingley re-incarnation theory. by kind permission of the _new york herald_, i reproduce a portrait of mrs. tingley. the reader will find it interesting to compare this sketch with the photograph of madame blavatsky given in this book. he will notice at once how much the two occultists do resemble each other; both are grossly fat, puffy of face, with heavy-lidded eyes and rather thick lips. 7. the theosophical temple. if all the dreams of the theosophical society are fulfilled we shall see, at no distant date, in the state of california, a sombre and mysterious building, fashioned after an egyptian temple, its pillars covered with hieroglyphic symbols, and its ponderous pylons flanking the gloomy entrance. twin obelisks will stand guard at the gateway and huge bronze sphinxes stare the tourist out of countenance. the theosophical temple will be constructed "upon certain mysterious principles, and the numbers 7 and 13 will play a prominent part in connection with the dimensions of the rooms and the steps of the stairways." the hierophants of occultism will assemble here, weird initiations like those described in moore's "epicurean" will take place, and the doctrines of hindoo pantheism will be expounded to the faithful. the revival of the egyptian mysteries seems to be one of the objects aimed at in the establishment of this mystical college. just what the egyptian mysteries were is a mooted question among egyptologists. but this does not bother the modern adept. mr. bucham harding, the leading exponent of theosophy mentioned above, says that within the temple the neophyte will be brought face to face with his own soul. "by what means cannot be revealed; but i may say that the object of initiation will be to raise the consciousness of the pupil to a plane where he will see and know his own divine soul and consciously communicate with it. once gained, this power is never lost. from this it can be seen that occultism is not so unreal as many think, and that the existence of soul is susceptible of actual demonstration. no one will be received into the mysteries until, by means of a long and severe probation, he has proved nobility of character. only persons having theosophical training will be eligible, but as any believer in brotherhood may become a theosophist, all earnest truthseekers will have an opportunity of admission. "the probation will be sufficiently severe to deter persons seeking to gratify curiosity from trying to enter. no trifler could stand the test. there will be a number of degrees. extremely few will be able to enter the highest, as eligibility to it requires eradication of every human fault and weakness. those strong enough to pass through this become adepts." the masonic fraternity, with its 33d degree and its elaborate initiations, will have to look to its laurels, as soon as the theosophical college of mystery is in good running order. everyone loves mysteries, especially when they are of the egyptian kind. cagliostro, the high priest of humbug, knew this when he evolved the egyptian rite of masonry, in the eighteenth century. speaking of freemasonry, it is interesting to note the fact, as stated by colonel olcott in "old diary leaves," that madame blavatsky and her coadjutors once seriously debated the question as to the advisability of engrafting the theosophical society on the masonic fraternity, as a sort of higher degree,--masonry representing the lesser mysteries, modern theosophy the greater mysteries. but little encouragement was given to the priestess of isis by eminent freemasons, for masonry has always been the advocate of theistic doctrines, and opposed to the pantheistic cult. at another time, the leaders of theosophy talked of imitating masonry by having degrees, an elaborate ritual, etc.; also pass words, signs and grips, in order that "one _occult_ brother might know another in the darkness as well as in the _astral_ light." this, however, was abandoned. the founding of the temple of magic and mystery in this country, with ceremonies of initiation, etc., seems to me to be a palingenesis of mme. blavatsky's ideas on the subject of occult masonry. 8. conclusions. the temple of modern theosophy, the foundation of which was laid by madame blavatsky, rests upon the truth of the mahatma stories. disbelieve these, and the entire structure falls to the ground like a house of cards. after the numerous exposures, recorded in the preceding chapters, it is difficult to place any reliance in the accounts of mahatmic miracles. there may, or may not, be sages in the east, acquainted with spiritual laws of being, but that these masters, or adepts, used madame blavatsky as a medium to announce certain esoteric doctrines to the western world, is exceedingly dubious. the first work of any literary pretensions to call attention to theosophy was sinnett's "esoteric buddhism." of that production, william emmette coleman says: "'esoteric buddhism,' by a. p. sinnett, was based upon statements contained in letters received by mr. sinnett and mr. a. o. hume, through madame blavatsky, purporting to be written by the mahatmas koot hoomi and morya--principally the former. mr. richard hodgson has kindly lent me a considerable number of the original letters of the mahatmas that leading to the production of 'esoteric buddhism.' i find in them overwhelming evidence that all of them were written by madame blavatsky. in these letters are a number of extracts from buddhist books, alleged to be translations from the originals by the mahatmic writers themselves. these letters claim for the adepts a knowledge of sanskrit, thibetan, pali and chinese. i have traced to its source each quotation from the buddhist scriptures in the letters, and they were all copied from current english translations, including even the notes and explanations of the english translators. they were principally copied from beal's 'catena of buddhist scriptures from the chinese.' in other places where the 'adept' is using his own language in explanation of buddhistic terms and ideas, i find that his presumed original language was copied nearly word for word from rhys davids' 'buddhism,' and other books. i have traced every buddhistic idea in these letters and in 'esoteric buddhism,' and every buddhistic term, such as devachan, avitchi, etc., to the books whence helena petrovna blavatsky derived them. although said to be proficient in the knowledge of thibetan and sanskrit the words and terms in these languages in the letters of the adepts were nearly all used in a ludicrously erroneous and absurd manner. the writer of those letters was an ignoramus in sanskrit and thibetan; and the mistakes and blunders in them, in these languages, are in exact accordance with the known ignorance of madame blavatsky concerning these languages. 'esoteric buddhism,' like all of madame blavatsky's works, was based upon wholesale plagiarism and ignorance." [illustration: fig. 40. madame blavatsky's autograph.] madame blavatsky never succeeded in penetrating into thibet, in whose sacred "lamaseries" and temples dwell the wonderful mahatmas of modern theosophy, but william woodville rockhill, the american traveller and oriental scholar, did, and we have a record of his adventures in "the land of the laas," published in 1891. while at serkok, he visited a famous monastery inhabited by 700 lamas. he says (page 102): "they asked endless questions concerning the state of buddhism in foreign lands. they were astonished that it no longer existed in india, and that the church of ceylon was so like the ancient buddhist one. when told of our esoteric buddhists, the mahatmas, and of the wonderful doctrines they claimed to have obtained from thibet, they were immensely amused. they declared that though in ancient times there were, doubtless, saints and sages who could perform some of the miracles now claimed by the esoterists, none were living at the present day; and they looked upon this new school as rankly heretical, and as something approaching an imposition on our credulity." "isis unveiled," and the "secret doctrine," by madame blavatsky, are supposed to contain the completest exposition of theosophy, or the inner spiritual meaning of the great religious cults of the world, but, as we have seen, they are full of plagiarisms and garbled statements, to say nothing of "spurious quotations from buddhist sacred books, manufactured by the writer to embody her own peculiar views, under the fictitious guise of genuine buddhism." this last quotation from coleman strikes the keynote of the whole subject. esoteric buddhism is a product of occidental manufacture, a figment of madame blavatsky's romantic imagination, and by no means represents the truth of oriental philosophy. as max mueller, one of the greatest living oriental scholars, has repeatedly stated, any attempt to read into oriental thought our western science and philosophy or to reconcile them, is futile to a degree; the two schools are as opposite to each other, as the negative and positive poles of a magnet, orientalism representing the former, occidentalism, the latter. oriental philosophy with its indeterminate being (or pure nothing as the absolute) ends in the utter negation of everything and affords no clue to the secret of the universe. if to believe that all is _maya_, (illusion), and that to be one with brahma (absorbed like the rain drop in the ocean) constitutes the _summum bonum_ of thinking, then there is no explanation of, or use for, evolution or progress of any kind. the effect of hindoo philosophy has been stagnation, indifferentism, and, as a result, the hindoo has no recorded history, no science, no art worthy the name. compared to it see what greek philosophy has done: it has transformed the western world: starting with self-determined being, reason, self-activity, at the heart of the universe, and the creation of individual souls by a process of evolution in time and space, and the unfolding of a splendid civilization are logical consequences. in the east, it is the destruction of self-hood; in the west the destruction of selfishness, and the preservation of self-hood. many noted theosophists claim that modern theosophy is not a religious cult, but simply an exposition of the esoteric, or inner spiritual meaning of the great religious teachers of the world. let me quote what solovyoff says on this point: "the theosophical society shockingly deceived those who joined it as members, in reliance on the regulations. it gradually grew evident that it was no universal scientific brotherhood, to which the followers of all religions might with a clear conscience belong, but a group of persons who had begun to preach in their organ, _the theosophist_, and in their other publications, a mixed religious doctrine. finally, in the last years of madame blavatsky's life, even this doctrine gave place to a direct and open propaganda of the most orthodox exoteric buddhism, under the motto of 'our lord buddha,' combined with incessant attacks on christianity. * * * now, in 1893, as the direct effect of this cause, we see an entire religious movement, we see a prosperous and growing plantation of buddhism in western europe." as a last word let me add that if, in my opinion, modern theosophy has no right to the high place it claims in the world of thought, it has performed its share in the noble fight against the crass materialism of our day, and, freed from the frauds that have too long darkened its poetical aspects, it may yet help to diffuse through the world the pure light of brotherly love and spiritual development. list of works consulted in the preparation of this volume aksakoff, alexander n. =animism and spiritism=: an attempt at a critical investigation of mediumistic phenomena, with special reference to the hypotheses of hallucination and of the unconscious; an answer to dr. e. von hartmann's work, "der spiritismus." 2 vols. leipsic, 1890. 8vo. (a profoundly interesting work by an impartial russian savant. judicial, critical and scientific.) azam, dr. =hypnotisme et altérations de la personnalité.= paris, 1887. 8vo. bernheim, hippolyte. =suggestive therapeutics=: a study of the nature and use of hypnotism. translated from the french. new york, 1889. 4to. binet, a. and féré, c. =animal magnetism.= translated from the french. new york, 1888. blavatsky, madame hélène petrovna hahn-hahn. =isis unveiled=: a master-key to the mysteries of ancient and modern science and theology. 6th ed. new york, 1891. 2 vols. 8vo. (a heterogeneous mass of poorly digested quotations from writers living and dead, with running remarks by mme. blavatsky. a hodge-podge of magic, masonry, and oriental witchcraft. pseudo-scientific.) -----=the secret doctrine=: the synthesis of science, religion, and philosophy. 2 vols. new york, 1888. 8vo. (philosophical in character. a reading of western thought into oriental religions and symbolisms. so-called quotations from the "book of dzyan," manufactured by the ingenious mind of the authoress.) crocq fils, dr. =l'hypnotisme.= paris, 1896. 4to. (an exhaustive work on hypnotism in all its phases.) crookes, william. =researches in the phenomena of spiritualism.= london, 1876. 8vo, (pamphlet). -----=psychic force and modern spiritualism.= london, 1875. 8vo, (pamphlet). (very interesting exposition of experiments made with d. d. home, the spirit medium.) davenport, r. b. =death blow to spiritualism=: true story of the fox sisters. new york, 1888. 8vo. dessoir, max. =the psychology of legerdemain.= _open court_, vol. vii. garrett, edmund. =isis very much unveiled=: being the story of the great mahatma hoax. london, 1895. 8vo. gasparin, comte agénor de. =des tables tournantes, du surnaturel et des esprits.= paris, 1854. 8vo. gatchell, charles. the methods of mind-readers. _forum_, vol. xi, pp. 192-204. gibier, dr. paul. =le spiritisme= (fakirisme occidental). étude historique, critique et expérimentale. paris, 1889. 8vo. gurney, e., myers, f. w., and podmore, f. =phantasms of the living.= 2 vols. london, 1887. (embodies the investigations of the society for psychical research into spiritualism, telepathy, thought-transference, etc.) hammond, dr. w. h. =spiritualism and nervous derangement.= new york, 1876. 8vo. hardinge-brittan, emma. =history of spiritualism.= new york. 4to. hart, ernest. =hypnotism, mesmerism and the new witchcraft.= london, 1893. 8vo. (scientific and critical. anti-spiritualistic in character.) home, d. d. =lights and shadows of spiritualism.= new york, 1878. 8vo. hudson, thomas jay. =the law of psychic phenomena.= new york, 1894. 8vo. -----=a scientific demonstration of the future life.= chicago, 1895. 8vo. james, william. =psychology.= new york, 1892. 8vo, 2 vols. jastrow, joseph. =involuntary movements.= _popular science monthly_, vol. xl, pp. 743-750. (interesting account of experiments made in a psychological laboratory to demonstrate "the readiness with which normal individuals may be made to yield evidence of unconscious and involuntary processes." throws considerable light on muscle-reading, planchette-writing, etc.) -----=the psychology of deception.= _popular science monthly_, vol. xxxiv, pp. 145-157. -----=the psychology of spiritualism.= _popular science monthly_, vol. xxxiv, pp. 721-732. (a series of articles of great value to students of psychical research.) krafft-ebing, r. =experimental study in the domain of hypnotism.= new york, 1889. leaf, walter. =a modern priestess of isis=; abridged and translated on behalf of the society for psychical research, from the russian of vsevolod s. solovyoff. london, 1895. 8vo. lillie, arthur. =madame blavatsky and her theosophy.= london, 1896. 8vo. lippitt, f. j. =physical proofs of another life=: letters to the seybert commission. washington, d. c., 1888. 8vo. macaire, sid. =mind-reading, or muscle-reading?= london, 1889. moll, albert. =hypnotism.= new york, 1892. 8vo. mattison, rev. h. =spirit-rapping unveiled.= an exposé of the origin, history theology and philosophy of certain alleged communications from the spiritual world by means of "spirit-rapping," "medium writing," "physical demonstrations," etc. new york, 1855. 8vo. myers, f. w. h. =science and a future life=, and other essays. london, 1891. 8vo. ochorowicz, dr. j. =mental suggestion= (with a preface by prof. charles richet). from the french by j. fitz-gerald. new york, 1891. 8vo. olcott, henry s. =old diary leaves.= new york, 1895. 8vo. (full of wildly improbable incidents in the career of madame blavatsky. valuable on account of its numerous quotations from american journals concerning the early history of the theosophical movement in the united states.) podmore, frank s. =apparitions and thought-transference=: examination of the evidence of telepathy. new york, 1894. 8vo. (a thoughtful scientific work on a profoundly interesting subject.) revelations of a spirit medium; or, =spiritualistic mysteries exposed=. st. paul, minn., 1891. 8vo. (one of the best exposés of physical phenomena published.) robert-houdin, j. e. =the secrets of stage conjuring.= from the french, by prof. hoffmann. new york, 1881. 8vo. (a full account of the performances of the davenport bros. in paris, by the most famous of contemporary conjurers.) roark, rurick n. =psychology in education.= new york, 1895. 8vo. rockhill, wm. w. =the land of the lamas.= new york, 1891. 8vo. seybert commission on spiritualism. =preliminary report.= new york, 1888. 8vo. (absolutely anti-spiritualistic. the psychical phases of the subject not considered.) sidgwick, mrs. h. =article "spiritualism" in "encyclopædia britannica,"= vol. 22. (an excellent resumé of spiritualism, its history and phenomena.) sinnett, a. p. (_ed._) =incidents in the life of mme. blavatsky.= london, 1886. 8vo. (interesting, but replete with wildly improbable incidents, etc. of little value as a life of the famous occultist.) -----=the occult world.= london, 1885. 8vo. -----=esoteric buddhism.= london, 1888. 8vo. society for psychical research: =proceedings.= vols. 1-11. [1882-95.] london, 1882-95. 8vo. (the most exhaustive researches yet set on foot by impartial investigators. scientific in character, and invaluable to the student. psychical phases of spiritualism mostly dealt with.) truesdell, john w. =the bottom facts concerning the science of spiritualism=: derived from careful investigations covering a period of twenty-five years. new york, 1883. 8vo. (anti-spiritualistic. exposés of physical phenomena: psychography, rope-tests, etc. of its kind, a valuable contribution to the literature of the subject.) weatherly, dr. l. a., and maskelyne, j. n. =the supernatural.= bristol, eng., 1891. 8vo. willmann, carl. =moderne wunder.= leipsic, 1892. 8vo. (contains interesting accounts of dr. slade's berlin and leipsic experiences. it is written by a professional conjurer. anti-spiritualistic.) woodbury, walter e. =photographic amusements.= new york, 1896. 8vo. (contains some interesting accounts of so-called spirit photography.) footnotes: [1] introduction to herrmann the magician, his life, his secrets, (laird & lee, publishers.) [2] spiritualism and nervous derangement, new york, 1876. p. 115. [3] the bottom facts concerning the science of spiritualism, etc., new york, 1883. [4] communication to _new york sun_, 1892. [5] note--these letters were purchased from the _christian college magazine_ by dr. elliot coues, of washington, d. c. [6] "old diary leaves"--_olcott_. transcriber's notes: passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. passages in bold are indicated by =bold=. scanned images of public domain material from the google print archive. the professor's mystery [illustration: no good ever comes of half understandings] the professor's mystery by wells hastings and brian hooker with illustrations by hanson booth [illustration] new york grosset & dunlap publishers copyright 1911 the bobbs-merrill company contents chapter page i in which things are turned upside down 1 ii the meadow of illusion 17 iii an alarm in the night 26 iv an insult in the morning 41 v beside the summer sea: an interlude 51 vi a return to the original theme 65 vii sentence of banishment confirmed with costs 77 viii how we made an unconventional journey to town 90 ix how we escaped from what we found there 104 x and how we brought home a difficulty 116 xi expressions of the family and impressions of the press 127 xii an amateur man-hunt wherein my own position is somewhat anxious 143 xiii the presence in the room 161 xiv a disappearance and an encounter 172 xv mental reservations 187 xvi meager revelations 197 xvii the borderland and a name 212 xviii doctor reid removes a source of information 223 xix in which i can not believe half i hear 235 xx nor understand all i see 247 xxi concerning the identity of the man with the high voice 258 xxii i learn what i have to do 271 xxiii i stand between two worlds 284 xxiv the consultation of an expert and a layman 302 xxv fighting with shadows 317 xxvi and rediscovering realities 332 the professor's mystery chapter i in which things are turned upside down "has the two-forty-five for boston gone yet?" the train announcer looked at me a long time; then he shifted his plug of tobacco to the other cheek and drawled: "naouw. reported forty minutes late." at this point i believe i swore. at least i have no recollection of not doing so, and i should hardly have forgotten so eminent an act of virtue under such difficult circumstances. it was not only that i had worked myself into a heat for nothing. but the train could hardly fail of losing yet more time on its way to boston, and my chances of making the steamer were about one in three. my trunk would go to liverpool without me, a prey to the inquisitive alien; and as for me i was at the mercy of the steamship company. for a moment i wondered how i could possibly have doubted my desire to go abroad that summer and to go on that boat though the heavens fell. i thought insanely of automobiles and special trains. then came the reaction and i settled back comfortably hopeless into the hands of fate. after all i did not care an improper fraction whether i stayed or went: let the gods decide. only i wished something would happen. the shining rails reached away to lose themselves in a haze of heat. somewhere a switching engine was puffing like a tired dog. knots of listless humanity stood about under the dingy roof of the platform; and the wind across the harbor brought a refreshing aroma of tidal mud and dead clams. it occurred to me that my collar was rather sticky on the inside. i walked the platform fanning myself with my hat. i bought cigarettes, magazines and a shine. i explored the station, scrutinizing faces and searching vainly for matters of interest. i exhausted my resources in filling up fifteen minutes, and the hand of the electric clock seemed as tremulous with indecision as it had before been jerky with haste. nothing happened. nothing would happen or could happen anywhere. romance was dead. feet scraped; a bell chattered; then breathing flame and smoke, and with a shriek that would have put saint george to utter rout, the down express rumbled between me and the sky, and ground heavily to a standstill. and there, framed in the wide pullman window, was a face that altered all the colors of the day, and sent me back among sleigh-bells and holly. not that i had known her well; but the week of intimate gaiety at a christmas house party had shown her so sweetly merry, so well fashioned in heart and brain and body that the sight of her renewed pleasant memories, like the reopening of a familiar book. she was smiling now; not at me, but with the same humorously pensive little smile that i remembered, that seemed to come wholly from within and to summarize her outlook upon the world. her dark brows were lifted in cool and friendly interest as she glanced over the comfortless crowd; and although i was now somewhat more at peace with the world, and no longer hot nor hurried, she seemed to me to sit there in the window of her sweltering car a thing aloof and apart, the embodiment of all unruffled daintiness. her eyes found me and she nodded, smiling. i went forward eagerly. here, at least, in a stuffy and uninteresting world was somebody cool, somebody amusing, somebody i knew. i picked up my bag and ran up the steps of her car. as i came down the aisle she half rose and stretched out a welcoming slim hand. i dropped into the chair beside her. "well, this is luck," i said. "but what are you doing here in the world in july? you belong to christmas in a setting of frosty white and green. you're out of season now." she laughed. "surely i have as much right in july as you have, mr. crosby. you are only a sort of yule-tide phantom yourself." "wasn't it a jolly week?" i asked. miss tabor's smile answered me. then turning half away with a face grown suddenly and strangely bleak: "i think it was the best christmas of my life," she said mechanically. and then with a sudden return to sunshine: "i suppose i see the professor starting on his learned pilgrimage. is it europe this summer, or the great libraries of america?" she had twitted me before upon my lack of scholarly bearing which, as i had always explained, was but a mask to unsuspected profundity. "well,"--i began, deliberately groping for a decision among the tangled fates of the afternoon, my doubtful steamer and my grudging plans, "to tell you the truth, miss tabor--" she touched my arm and pointed out of the window. "look," she said, "you haven't nearly time enough for that now. do hurry--you mustn't take chances." the platform was slipping by faster and faster, and with it sobriety and common sense and the wisdom of the beaten path. on the other hand lay the comedy of the present and that flouting of one's own arrangements which is the last word of freedom. i glanced down at her ticket, where it lay face upward on the window-sill. "to tell you the truth, miss tabor," i finished, "i am on my way to stamford," and i settled back comfortably into my seat. miss tabor regarded me tolerantly, with the air of a collector examining a doubtful specimen: one eyebrow a trifle raised, and an adorable twist at the corners of her mouth. as for me, i tried to look innocently unconcerned. it may be possible to do this; but no one is ever conscious of success at the time. "i'm going there myself," she said suddenly. "isn't this a coincidence?" "easily that. let me amend the word and call it a dispensation. but appearances are against you. you ought to be going to a lawn party--in a dog-cart." "i wonder where you ought to be going," she mused. "probably to the british museum to dig up a lot of dead authors that everybody ought to know about and nobody reads." this was altogether too near the truth. "i didn't know you lived in stamford," i said. "you appeared last christmas in a character of the daughter of gotham. wasn't there an ancestor of yours who went to sea in a bowl?" her smile faded as if a light had gone out in her. after a pause she answered rather wearily, "we've only been in stamford a few months. we had always lived in town before." we looked out of the window for a few moments in silence, while i formulated a hasty hypothesis of financial reverses which had driven the family from their city home, and registered a resolution to avoid the uncomfortable subject. still, i reflected, the lower shore of the sound is not precisely the resort of impoverished pride. had i touched upon some personal sorrow of her own? she was not in mourning. yet as she lay back in the green chair, one hand listless in her lap, the other twisting at the slender chain that ran about her neck and lost itself in the bosom of her gown, the fringe of her eyelid clear against the soft shadows of her profile, i imagined in her something of the enchanted princess bound by evil spells in some dark castle of despair. and immediately, with a surge of absurd valor, i saw myself striding, sword in hand, across the drawbridge to blow the brazen horn and do battle with the enchanter. the next moment she routed my imagination by returning lightly to the subject. "it's a lovely place. i'm out of doors the whole time, and i'm so well i get positively bored trying to work off energy. i can't get tired enough to sit still and improve my uneducated mind. ever so many nice people, too. by the way, whom do you know there?" i was on the defensive again. "why--i don't know anybody exactly there--but there are some friends of mine down at one of those beach-places in the neighborhood--the ainslies. bob was in my class." she resumed the air of the connoisseur. "why, i know them. i'm going to visit mrs. ainslie myself over the week-end. do they know you're coming?" "i'm not going to them," i said desperately. "that is, i may while i'm near by, but i haven't any definite plans. for once in my life i'm not going to have any definite plans, but just start out and see what happens to me. for six months i've been telling things i care about to a lot of kids that aren't old enough to care about anything; and now i want adventures. i went down to the station to take the first train that came along, go wherever it took me and let things happen." "you might have gone to some romantic place," she suggested. "three months would hardly be time enough for the far east, but you might have tried russia or the mediterranean." "that's just the point," i returned. "romance and adventure don't depend on time; they only depend on people. if you're the kind of person things happen to you can have adventures on fifth avenue. if you're not, you might walk through all the arabian nights and only feel bored and uncomfortable. it all depends upon turning out of your way to pick up surprises. you're walking in the wood and you see something that looks like a root peeping out from between the rocks. well, if you're the right kind of person you'll catch hold of it and pull. it may be only a root; or it may be the tail of a dragon. and in that case you ought to thank heaven for excitement, even if you're scared to death." by this time i almost believed in my own explanation. but miss tabor did not seem particularly impressed. she put on the voice and manner of a child of ten. "you must be awfully brave to like being afraid of things," she lisped; then with a sudden change of tone, "mr. crosby, suppose--only for the sake of argument--that you're making this up as you go along and that you did know perfectly well where you were going, where do you think you would have gone?" then i gave up and explained, "i was going to europe to study," i said, "for no better reason than that i had nothing more interesting to do. then my train was late and i should have missed my steamer anyway and--and then you came along and i thought i might just as well make the most of the situation. now i can go down and tell the ainslies they want to see me and all will be well." after some meditating she said, "are you as irresponsible as that about everything?" "i don't see where all the irresponsibility comes in," i protested. "it isn't a sacred and solemn duty to follow out one's own plans, especially when they were only made to fill up the want of anything more worth while, and have fallen through already. i didn't care about going to europe in the first place; then i couldn't--at least not at once; then i found something else that i did care about doing." "men," said miss tabor, "usually find a logical reason for what they do on impulse, without any reason at all." "and the proof that women always act reasonably," i retorted, "is that they never give you the reason." instead of taking that for the flippancy it was, she thought about it for some minutes; or else it reminded her of something. "besides," i went on, "this is an adventure, as far as it goes; a little one, if you like, but still with all the earmarks of romance. it was unexpected, and it fits into itself perfectly--all the parts of the scene match like a picture-puzzle--and it happened through a mixture of chance and the taking of chances. it's just that snatching at casual excitement that makes things happen to people." "don't things enough happen to people without their seeking them out?" she asked. "not to most people; and not nowadays, if they ever did. do you remember humpty dumpty's objection to alice's face, that it was just like other faces--two eyes above, nose in the middle, mouth under? well, that's the only objection i have to life; days and doings are too regular, too much according to schedule. why is a train less romantic than a stage-coach? because it runs on time and on a track; it can't do anything but be late. but the stage-coach dallies along through the countryside, with inns and highwaymen, and pretty girls driving geese to market, and all the chances of the open road. the horse of the knight-errant was better still, and for the same reason." "i don't think anything very much has ever happened to you," she said slowly. "well," said i, "i'm not pretending to be ulysses; and you've reminded me of my tender age so often that i can hardly forget it in your presence. but i have had a few exciting moments, and i want more. i don't care whether they are pleasant or not, so long as i come safe out of them somehow. they'll pay for themselves with the gold of memory." "that's just what i mean," she returned. "you talk about things as if the only question of importance were whether they are exciting. one looks at books that way, and pictures, and things that are not real. a moment ago, you put highwaymen in the same class with inns and goose-girls. do you suppose any one that was actually held up and robbed of his fortune would think of the robber as merely a pleasant thrill?" "i'd rather be robbed by a highwayman than by a railroad, anyway. at the worst, i'd have had a run for my money." she went on without smiling: "and even trains run off the track sometimes. do you think you would enjoy the memory of a railroad accident--even if you weren't hurt yourself?" "perhaps not. but there's another disadvantage of the train. it's so regular and mechanical that if anything does go wrong there is an ugly smash. it's the same way with modern people. most of us live such an ordinary habitual life that if we get thrown off the track we're likely to break up altogether." i had struck the wrong note again. the light went out in her face, as a cloud-shadow darkens a sunny field, and she looked away without answering. not to make my mistake worse by taking notice of it, i said, "after all, what should we do if things always went smoothly and there weren't any adventures?" she said quietly, "we might be normal and wholesome and comfortable," and continued looking out of the window and toying with her chain, while i cursed myself for a tactless clodhopper without the sense to avoid a danger sign. then i found myself wondering what this trouble could be that by the mere touch of an accidental allusion could strike the joy out of a creature so naturally radiant. whatever it was, it had come upon her within the last six months, or the chances of our christmas week had been singularly free from reminders of it. could there be possibly any connection between it and that chain with its hidden pendant? or was it only by accident that her hand went to it in her moments of brooding? i seemed to have noticed the chain before, and her habit of playing with it in idleness, but i could not be sure. she roused herself presently, and the talk went on, though with an undercurrent of discomfort. for my part, i was still repenting my clumsiness; and she, i suppose, felt annoyed at having shown so palpably an emotion which she had not intended for my eyes. so that, in spite of regret for the approaching end of the adventure, i was hardly sorry when our arrival at stamford supplemented speech with action. "are you expecting any one to meet you?" i asked, as the platform emptied and left us standing alone. "no, they didn't know what train i was coming on. but there's the trolley now. and it's your car, too, that is, if you're still going to the ainslies'." a short open car, with an air of putting its wheels close together in order to buck, squeaked around the curve and took us aboard. when we were well under way a short, heavy man came around the corner of the station on an unsteady run and pursued a little distance with inarticulate shoutings and violent gestures. we were too far off to see him very distinctly, but i thought he had somehow a foreign look; and unless my ears were at fault he was cursing us in italian. we left him standing in the middle of the road, shaking his fist and mopping his face with a red handkerchief. there was only one other passenger on the car, a fattish woman with blonde hair, who sat at the farther end; but for all that, it could hardly be called either a private or a comfortable conveyance. there was a badly flattened wheel forward, which banged and jolted abominably; and the motorman, instead of running slowly on that account, seemed possessed of a speed mania induced by artificial happiness. he bumped over crossings and rocked around curves at an alarming rate, accompanying the performance with occasional snatches of song; while the conductor, balanced on the back platform, read a newspaper and chewed a toothpick without paying the slightest attention. where we ran for a long stretch along the highway, an automobile came along and proceeded to have fun with us after the manner of joyous automobiles. it ran languidly beside us until we were at our best speed; then with a derisive toot, buzzed half a mile ahead. then it waited for us to come up, and repeated the evolution, "barking" at us with the engine. the motorman's songs turned to muttered anathemas. and as we turned from the roadside along a low embankment of sand across the meadows we held to a rate of speed that was really exciting. "are we making up time?" i asked. "or is it only the festive motorman?" miss tabor shook her head. "i never went so fast before. the man must be--" just then we struck a curve. i had one instant's sickening sense of danger as the front wheels bumped and thudded over the ties. miss tabor caught at my arm with a smothered cry. then the car lurched drunkenly to the edge of the embankment and slowly rolled over. chapter ii the meadow of illusion i lay for a moment half stunned, my face buried in the moist depths of the grass. it was as if earth had been suddenly engulfed in a wandering star, as if all known and familiar things had come to an instant end and i must gather my vague soul to face unimagined eternities. cautiously i raised my head and looked about. a meadow stretched blooming before me. to my left loomed the absurd bulk of the upturned trolley, on its back with wheels in air, looking for all the world a stupid mastodon puppy. a very much frightened conductor stood near by. "say," he asked hoarsely, "is yous all right? kin you look after things till joe an' me git back?" "look after things?" i repeated dully. "sure, the lydies, i mean. sure you kin. we'll beat it right off, an' i hope to gosh joe sobers up on the way! so long." he was gone before i could gather my wits for a question, and uncomprehendingly i watched the two blue-coated figures scrambling up the steep, scarred sides of the viaduct. frantically they scaled the top and made off down the tracks without so much as another glance in my direction. then of a sudden memory came upon me, and my heart contracted with a greatness of fear that i had never known. for a moment i could see her nowhere, then as i staggered to uncertain feet i found her. she lay behind me, her hand pillowing her cheek as if she slept. and as i knelt beside her to listen fearfully at her heart i laughed with half a sob, for the beat came surely and with growing strength. the sudden easing of my fear came over me drowsily until it seemed as if all the world lay in the hollow of the meadow about me and time had been blotted out. in the grass beside her i sat down to wait. to my bewildered sense we were two shadowy people in an impossible dream. a wayward tendril of dark hair had fallen across her eyes. i smoothed it softly back and my fingers brushed her hair lightly and strayingly, as my mother's had mine in bygone days, tenderly and as if we shared in the secret of sleep. i do not know when her eyes opened, but looking down i found them turned to mine. she smiled, sighed softly, and closed them. then again they opened. "i think that i should like to sit up," she said. i helped her carefully. "are you all right?" i asked. she smiled uncertainly. "i think so. i am very dizzy." my arm was half about her, and for a long moment her head rested against me. then she sat up very straight and a little apart, busying herself about her dress, giving a practised touch to her hair and the laces at her neck, and smoothing the scarcely ruffled breadths of her skirt. i gazed out across our meadow to where three black and white cows stood sleepily knee-deep in a small pool. a meadow-lark rose and crossed the field in erratic, wavering flight. a little cloud tempered the brightness and passed. "what happened?" she asked softly at last. i pointed to where the trolley lay towering behind her. she lost color a little and sprang to her feet, then she turned to me laughing. "i never saw anything look so ashamed of itself in my life," she said. "speak to it kindly, mr. crosby; it can't lie there with its feet in the air for ever." i shook my head ruefully. "i am afraid that it will have to stay there for the afternoon, at least." "but how are we--how am i--going to get home? where are the crew, and wasn't there another passenger?" i gasped. i had absolutely forgotten the other woman. she was lying not far from us in a little hollow of the long grass, and for the moment i thought that she was dead. the sallow, foreign face was yellow white, the plump hands were gripped, as if in some past convulsive agony, above her head, and this same muscular rigidity seemed to underlie incongruously every formless line of the flabby body. miss tabor's hand trembled upon my arm. "do you think that she--that she is dead?" she whispered. i stooped to the woman's wrist. the pulse came faintly with a dull throb that was unbelievably slow. but as i still fumbled the pulpy hand caught mine in a grip that made me wince, the bloodless lips stirred in a shuddering moan, and without opening her eyes she spoke. "it is hard, hard," she said, "there is too much light. will some one turn down the light?" a long convulsive tremor ran over the entire body and the hand in mine struggled in anguish. miss tabor shivered. "i am afraid that she is very much hurt," i said as gently as i could. i was ashamed of myself, but fear seemed to clutch me. then i gave myself a mental shake and caught my hat from the ground. "you will have to stay with her, i suppose, while i get some water. you might loosen her dress." it was all that i could think of. miss tabor knelt to the work without a word, and i made off across the meadow to the pool, running at my best speed. in a moment i was back again and dashed what little water my hat still held over the twitching, yellow face. the eyelids fluttered and lack-luster eyes looked into mine. the woman gasped and sat up. "that is a very dangerous thing to do, young man." the voice beneath its severity of tone was softly unctuous and vaguely latin. "a very dangerous thing, indeed. sudden shock has killed us many times. that is well known." miss tabor looked at her with pity. evidently the woman was still out of her head. "if you will sit quietly for a little while you will be better," i said. she nodded, looking curiously about her. comprehension was coming back. she took out a crumpled handkerchief and wiped the water from her face. "what on earth are we to do now?" miss tabor whispered. "we must do something, for they are expecting me home already." she glanced anxiously at the little watch at her wrist. "but i don't see how we can leave this poor woman here all by herself." "no, i don't see how we can," i answered, "but perhaps she can walk. do you think that she could climb that bank, even if you could?" miss tabor shook her head. "we must walk back and look for an easier place. but i am afraid that the car will come before we can find one." we had spoken in very low voices, but the woman looked up. "you have ten minutes before the car will arrive. i will be myself by then." "are you sure?" i asked, for i had not seen her look at a watch. she smiled scornfully. "you have ten minutes. the car will arrive then. have you lost anything in your fall?" mechanically i put my hand in my pocket, to find it empty. for a second i was thunderstruck, then i stepped over to the place where i had fallen and poked about in the grass. my pocketbook, i found immediately, and after a moment came upon my keys and change in a scarcely scattered pile. miss tabor was watching me. "nothing missing," i said. "how about you?" "oh, all my things are in my bag." and she pointed to where it lay near mine, in a tangle of blackberry vines. but when i turned from rescuing them i found her standing with her hand at her neck, searching distractedly among her laces. "what! you have lost something?" i cried. "yes," she said, and it seemed to me that her eyes were afraid, "there was a little gold chain that i wore. oh, it can't be lost, it can't be!" her manner surprised me. to all my knowledge she had been so unruffled, had borne herself with such a certain serenity, that to see her now, with frightened eyes staring and full of tears, pain written clear between the lovely brows, and with hands that trembled at her breast, startled me out of my own composure. "certainly it's not lost," i said harshly, for i was puzzled. after all, there was nothing so tragic in the loss of a little chain. then i knew better, knew that if she valued it so i would find it if it took me my vacation. "come," i said more gently, "we will look." she had gained some control over herself, and now began to search the ground where we had fallen, carefully and on her knees. i thought that she was crying softly and glanced to see if the other woman noticed. her back was turned to us and her face seemed buried in her hands. as i looked at her she spoke. "if you seek a small chain," she said listlessly, "you will find it close beside the fallen car." and there as i walked directly to it i saw the glimmer of a strand of gold straggling from beneath the upturned roof. "here it is," i cried wonderingly and drew it forth. then i stood dumbly, the thing in my hands, my mind reeling. for from the mangled clasp hung a woman's wedding-ring. chapter iii an alarm in the night there was nothing that i could ask, nothing that i could say, and aside from her thanks she was silent. so without a word i turned and helped the other woman to her feet, and still in silence the three of us walked along until we came to an easy rise where i helped them both to the track. we were just in time, for as we gained the track our trolley rounded the curve and took us aboard. so for a mile or so miss tabor and i sat in intimate aloofness, while the car bore us through the beauty of the fading summer day. everywhere birds were chanting the evening, and ever and again with growing insistence the vivid breath of the nearing sea blew past us. all my life this first summer tang of salt air had never failed to stir me. it had meant vacation and the vague trumpet call of the unknown. but now i sat unheeding, burning with an unreasoning and sullen resentment. i knew that i was a fool. what possible difference could it make to me if the acquaintance of a merry week and a few more intimate hours chose to hide a wedding-ring in her breast. it certainly was no business of mine, nor could she owe me any explanation. yet i wanted explanation more than anything else in the world. it certainly could not be her own and yet--whose was it, anyway? certainly not her mother's, for her mother i knew was alive. but then, whose could it be? and why did it matter so much? why should such a patent terror fill her at the thought of its loss? why was it again so finally and so quickly hidden away? it was even strange, i thought, that she should let the emotion that she must know i had seen, pass with no effort of explanation. i glanced at her. she was sitting, looking wearily ahead, distress was in her eyes, and every little line of her body spoke fatigue without hope; only her hands, tightly clasped in her lap, showed the determination of some hidden thought. the blue of a little bruise had begun to show near her temple. a wave of tenderness swept over me, the pity of a man for a woman tired and in unvoiced distress. who was i that i should question her? what possible claim had i upon even the least of her thoughts? she was pathetically weary and disturbed, and i was a sullen brute. i spoke to her as if conversation had been unbroken. "of course i am to take you home." she shook her head. "that's perfectly absurd," i said. "there must be some inn or other near you. i can put up there for the night and go on in the morning. in fact, i am pretty tired, myself; the nearest place that i can get supper and a bed is the best place for me." she considered for a long moment. "very well," she said at last, "i am tired and still a little dizzy; it would be nice to be taken all the way home. i don't generally mind the dark, but i suppose that we were a good deal shaken up. there is an inn, too, but it would be very silly of you to go there, unless--unless for some reason we could not put you up." "oh, come," i said, "you probably have a houseful at the present moment, and you know it. nothing is more upsetting in the world than the unexpected guest." "well, we shall see," she answered. "i am pretty sure that nobody but the family is at home, and father will want to see you and thank you. knight-errantry appeals to him. we will leave the asking to mother. if she can she will want you to stay. if she can't, well the inn is not so bad after all. there it is, by the way, on that little hill. i had no idea that we were so near home. we get off at that next electric light. will you please signal to the conductor?" the car stopped and i helped her down, taking our two bags with the strange feeling that i was suddenly coming to the end of a brief sentimental journey. our companion in misfortune, who had chosen a seat by herself, scarcely looked up. it was no great walk to the house and presently miss tabor pointed it out to me. it was large and low, set well back upon a great lawn that a tall, dark hedge divided from the outer world. as we neared the pillared gate a high-shouldered man stepped out nervously from the shadow. miss tabor put her hand upon my arm. "just wait here a moment, please," she said and ran forward to him. it had grown almost dark, but i could see that she leaned toward him, placing both hands upon his shoulders. the soft sibilance of her whispered words and the startling rumble of his bass came to me indistinctly, merely wordless tones. i grew red in the darkness and turned my back, for i had caught myself trying to listen. presently miss tabor came to me. "i didn't mean to keep you so long," she apologized, "but you see--" "it wasn't long," i said shortly, surprised to find myself angry. so as we climbed the steps the shadow had dropped between us again. for a moment i stood blinking when the door had shut behind us. the large, low room in which we stood was not brilliantly lighted, but the sudden change from the soft outdoor gloom dazzled me. the room was very large indeed, floored with dull red tile, paneled in dark oak; a great dutch fireplace, filled with flowers, breathed fragrance. opening from the room's far end, and raised three steps above its level, was a dining-room. on our entrance two chairs had been pushed back from the table, and now a slim, pretty little woman came running down the steps and across the big room. "lady, dear," she cried, "what on earth has made you so late?" she flung herself into miss tabor's arms, hugging her as a child would. miss tabor kissed her gaily. "we will tell you all about it, mother, dear," she laughed. "let me introduce mr. crosby, without whose help i should have probably been much later. and, mr. crosby, this is my mother." she greeted me graciously, turning to introduce me to her husband, who had followed her more slowly. he was a florid man and rather tall, his gray eyes being level with my own. when places had been made for us at the table, and we were gathered in the close radius of the table lights, i found myself surprised that the daughter looked so little like either. her mother was much smaller than she, one of those women who never grow thin or fat, but whose age comes upon them only as sort of dimming of color and outline. and indeed, in the more intimate light i found her looking more her years, pretty and soft and doll-like, but too delicate a vessel for any great strength of spirit, a sweet little woman, affectionate and inconsequent. her words came quickly and with a certain merry insistence, but with little nervous pauses that were almost sad in their intensity; and once when a bicycle sounded faintly from the street she stopped altogether, her hand at her heart, her head turned and listening, until her husband's quick laugh brought her blue eyes questioningly to him. then we all plunged into conversation at once as if ashamed of the sudden pause it had given us. miss tabor and i were made to give an account of our accident, or rather she gave it, and a very nicely tempered account it was, too. i was kept busy devising plausible confirmation of surprising understatements. she seemed for some reason very anxious to hide a possible seriousness in the matter, and her first brief, pleading glance bound me to her, freely accepting the judgment of her conscience for my own. under these circumstances i expected no mention of the loss and finding of the ring and there was none. both mother and father called miss tabor "lady"; so, i remembered, had all her intimates at the christmas house party. yet her bag had been initialed "m. b. t." i thought the nickname a gracious one and well suited to all the manner of her bearing. i wondered idly as they talked what the m. stood for, sure in my heart that it, too, was graceful and fitting. and as "lady" told of the beauty of the meadow where we had been delayed "almost two hours by an old flat wheel, or something like that--isn't that the term, mr. crosby?" i decided that if the rest of my three months were spent in the most humdrum of ways, my vacation as a whole would not have been a barren one. there was little conversation after we had left the table. miss tabor said that she was too sleepy to sit up--and, indeed, the strain that she had been under was already beginning to show through even the vivacity of her acting. for my part, i had no inclination to sit in the family circle that she left. i, too, was tired, and i had many things to think and little to say. so that as she got up i, too, pleaded fatigue, and my need of finding my room at the inn. "the inn! indeed you will do nothing of the sort," said mrs. tabor. "there is a bed just waiting for tired young men here." she glanced for confirmation at her daughter. miss tabor said nothing but looked across to her father. he paused an uncomfortable second, then turned to me with a smile. "of course you are to stay here," he said. his pause had troubled me, and i hesitated, but mrs. tabor would hear no arguments or excuses, and overwhelmed my stammering in a rippling torrent of proof that i was a very silly young man, and that she would not hear another word about any such an absurdity as my going; and as i stood embarrassed, mr. tabor, with another glance at his daughter, took my bag himself, and, his hand upon my shoulder, fairly bore me off to my room. i was too comfortably tired to lie long awake, even with so eventful a day to turn over in retrospect. as i floated downward into the dark through a flood of incongruous images, green meadows and roaring trains, clamorous streets and calm rooms, delicate with white and silver, i distinctly heard a step upon the porch, the click and closure of the front door, and the deep voice of the man we had met at the gate. but even my angry interest in him was weaker than the waves of drowsiness. i roused into that dubious half-consciousness which is the territory of the powers of darkness; in which the senses are vaguely alive, while no judgment restrains or questions the vagaries of imagination; the place of evil memories and needless fears, of sweeping reforms whose vanity appears with the new light, and of remembered dreams whose beauty faints upon the threshold of the day. it was still so dark that before i could place myself amid my unfamiliar surroundings, i was aware of smothered commotion. people were awake and in trouble; the house was full of swishing garments and the hurry of uncomfortable feet. some one passed my door swiftly, carrying a light, whose rays swept through the cracks and swung uncannily across the ceiling. another door opened somewhere, letting out a blur of voices, among which i seemed to distinguish the bass growl of the man at the gate. my first thought was of fire; and with the shock of that i sprang up and across the room, groping for the handle of the door. it would not open. i pulled and tugged at it, feeling above and below for a bolt. there was none, nor was any key in the keyhole. after some stumbling, i found the switch of the electric light, and in the sudden radiance explored the floor for the fallen key. it was not there; and a hurried examination of the crack showed me that the lock had been turned from the outside. i sat down on the bed and tried to gather my common sense. i remembered perfectly having left the door unlocked and the key in its place within. by what conceivable design or accident had i been made a prisoner? the melodramatic suggestions born of the hour and my excited fancy were simply absurd in such a place. i was in a connecticut suburb, a home of lawn parties and electric lights, and this was the twentieth century; yet i could find no explanation more reasonable. fire was by this time out of the question; and an accident or practical joke would have been evident by now. meanwhile, the muffled turmoil of the house continued. a man's voice and a woman's broke into inarticulate altercation, and presently i thought i heard a cry and a sound like the fall of something soft and heavy. i sprang to the door again and shook it with all my strength, but it was so solidly fitted that it did not even rattle. then some one ran softly down-stairs; the front door banged sharply; and, looking out, i saw the figure of a man, his shoulders raised and his elbows bent with haste, run swiftly across the bar of light that streamed from my window and disappear in the dark. could he have broken into the house, locking the bedrooms against interruption, and fled upon being discovered? i was opening my window to shout for help when i was arrested by a voice that there was no mistaking. "i can't! we mustn't!" she wailed. "what will he think of us?" an angry whisper answered, and of the rest i could distinguish only the tone. the whisper grew more volubly urgent, while her replies hesitated. at last she came quietly down the hall and knocked at my door. "mr. crosby--are you awake?" "i should think so," i answered. "what has happened? i'm locked in." "nothing. it's all right--really. will you come down-stairs as soon as you can, very quietly?" "certainly. half a minute. what's the matter?" "nothing," she said. "hurry!" the key turned in the lock and she was gone. i dressed with a haste that made my fingers clumsy, and ran down-stairs. the bustle in the house had quieted into an irregular murmur. miss tabor was waiting for me in the hall below. the lights were not on, and i could see only that she was wrapped in something long and dark, her hair gathered into a loose knot above her head. perhaps only the dim light made me imagine traces of tears. "thank you for being so ready," she began in a quick undertone. "now, listen! you must--" "tell me what's the trouble," i broke in. "is it burglary, or is somebody taken suddenly ill?" "there isn't any trouble," she repeated. "you must believe that, and you must do as i tell you. i'm terribly sorry, but it's impossible for you to remain here any longer. you must go away--now, at once, and without knowing or asking anything. of course there's a good reason, and of course you can be trusted not to talk or inquire. that's all. it's perfectly simple; there's nothing really surprising about it." "you mean i'm to leave this minute--in the middle of the night?" "yes; now. don't wonder or worry. think as well of us as you can--don't think about us at all! there's nothing the matter. i ought to have known. accept my apologies for all of us, and--good-by." she held out her hand. "that's all very well," i said. "of course i'll go if you wish it, and ask no questions. only tell me when i can see you again, and if there's anything in the world i can do for you. i'll be staying at the inn." a latch-key clicked behind us, and the man i had seen at the gate tiptoed in. "all right?" he whispered. "i think so; hurry," she replied, and he passed swiftly and quietly up-stairs. she turned to me a drawn face, speaking in strained monotone. "you must never see me again. you mustn't stay in town, nor try to do anything. oh, can't you understand? the only help you can give is to go--go away utterly and forget all about it as if you had never met me. honestly i'm grateful, and i think everything good of you, but--oh, go away!" "as you please," i said. "what about my things?" "wait a minute." she ran lightly up to the landing and returned with my suit-case, closed and strapped. i took my hat from the table by the door. "good-by," she said. "promise me not to try to come back." what is there in darkness and the sense of night to make even the plainest woman so lovely? she was close before me as i turned, the mysterious oval of her face wavering upward as though rising through dim water; her hair a heavier shadow against the gloom, her lips a living blossom, and her eyes luminous out of undiscoverable depths. the dark wrap she wore lost itself downward in long, fading lines; and all the hidden form and the nameless fragrance of her were wonderfully the same, one with midnight and midsummer. as i took her hand, i do not know what agony of restraint held my arms from around her; only i kept repeating over and over to myself, "i have no right--i have no right"--and because of that i could not for a moment answer her in words. suddenly from above came a sharp shock and the metallic splash of broken glass. the voices broke out in a quick murmur, and she shrank and shook as if cringing away from a blow. "oh, go quickly!" she cried. "they need me!" i opened the door. "good-by," i said weakly, "and--god bless you!" and even as i turned on the threshold to lift my hat the latch clicked behind me. chapter iv an insult in the morning i paused at the gate and looked back. in the upper windows lights were showing behind the shades, and now and then a swift shadow passed across the pane. yet the house was altogether quiet, free within and without from any evidence of the unusual. a waning moon glowed large and distorted through the shrubbery, and from all about rose the sweet breath and innumerable tiny voices of the night, comfortable chirps and rustlings, the creak of frogs and the rasp of an occasional katydid; accentuating by their multiety and smallness the sense of overwhelming peace. as i went on, a quick movement at my feet made me start; then i smiled to recognize the clumsy hurry of a toad; and the incident seemed to point the contrast between the human tension of the last half-hour and the huge normality of the outer world. with every step it grew more difficult for me to believe in the turmoil from which i had come; the strain and secrecy, the troubled voices and the moving lights became fictitious; as the scenes of a sensational story, plausible in the reading, turn to pasteboard and tinsel when we have closed the book. only the quiet gloom was real, the hush and fresh aroma of ordinary night. i had anticipated some difficulty in gaining admission to a country inn at such an hour, but as i climbed the hill i was surprised to see it still open and alight; and a glance at my watch deepened my surprise into astonishment. it was not yet midnight, and i had felt that it was at least two or three in the morning. so here was another contrast to add to the sense of unreality; and i entered the low-ceiled and dingy little office feeling like tennyson's prince returning from a fight with shadows. my room was cool and pleasant enough, but sleep and excitement had evaporated my drowsiness and i lay thinking in reminiscent circles, trying in vain to puzzle out some theory that would fit the circumstances of the night. the more i reviewed details, the more they seemed to fly apart from any reasonable association, charged as they were with one mysterious electricity. if some accident or sudden trouble had befallen the house, the nocturnal alarm would be motivated; but what motive would that furnish for driving out the guest? some unwitting provocation of my own (though i could imagine nothing of the sort) might have made my further presence unbearable; but what of the anxious bustle, the hasty conferences, the errands of the man we had met at the gate? and who was he, by the way, that he should have a latch-key and the airs of intimacy, without being, from what i had observed, an inmate of the house? the fear of infectious disease was the only thing that i could imagine that would explain the immediacy of my expulsion. but if i was the bearer of a plague, why had lady been allowed to talk with me in the hall? or if one of themselves had been stricken, why had she denied me for all time, or indeed made any mystery of the matter? then i remembered her silences during the day, the ring, hidden in her breast, and her hesitation and doubt over asking me to stay the night. whatever the trouble was, it had cast its shadow before: and i could not rid my mind of the conviction that all these matters must be fitted in, that they must all ultimately find their places in the explanation. at any rate, an explanation was due me, and i meant to have it. either there had been some foolish mistake or i had been treated outrageously. it was not curiosity, i told myself; the sorrows or the skeletons of this family were no business of mine; but i would know by what right they had ejected me. over the telephone next morning, mr. tabor was ominously agreeable. "certainly," he said. "you have a perfect right to the reason. when you have it, i think you will agree that you have no more cause for complaint than you have for remaining in the neighborhood. i will be down at once." half an hour later he was seated in my room, polished, choleric, aquiline, a man to be a fierce friend or a difficult enemy. he wasted no time in approaches. "you ask why you were sent from the house last night. well, here it is: you have arranged to go to europe, and are actually on your way there. you see my daughter on a train. you force yourself into her company, presuming upon a very slight acquaintance, and follow her home. you come upon us in such a way that we can hardly avoid receiving you as a guest. then it develops that you spent two or three hours between here and the station instead of coming straight over; and you arrive after dark. now, in any case--" "that's distorted and unjust," i interrupted, "i haven't forced myself upon anybody. besides, we came home as quickly as possible. the trolley--" "well?" he asked, drawing his white brows together. i had remembered miss tabor's version of the accident. "go on," i said, "let me hear the whole of this first." "we needn't discuss terms; the facts are that you throw aside your arrangements very conspicuously; that you follow a young lady entirely out of your way; and that you bring her home at an unreasonable hour, after wandering or loitering about the country. in any case this would have been officious and inconsiderate. but in the case of a man with such a past as yours, it might compromise her seriously. to have you staying at the house afterward was out of the question." this was too much. "what do you mean?" i said. "there's nothing the matter with my past. i've nothing whatever to be ashamed of, and this is the first time in my life i've been accused of any such thing. my university position is proof enough of that. it's a mistake or an infernal slander." he looked me straight in the eye. "i know more about you, mr. crosby, than you were prepared for," he said quietly. "don't waste time in posturing." "i beg your pardon," i retorted; "you know nothing about me, but you've said decidedly more than one gentleman can say to another without explaining himself. we're two men together. be so good as to tell me just what you charge me with." i had risen from my chair, struggling hard for enough self-control to make my words carry conviction. mr. tabor sat unmoved while he deliberately lighted a cigar, watching me over the end of it. "i have no desire to dig over your life with you," he said, "any more than i have to continue your acquaintance. i came here to tell you why our invitation to you was withdrawn. well, i've done so; you have an evil reputation. that's all." "excuse me, but that isn't all. it isn't true, and--" "there is just one more point," he went on; "when you arrived, of course none of us realized who you were or how you had come. later, when we understood the facts, you would not, under ordinary circumstances, have left until this morning. but mrs. tabor was so much excited over the matter that i saw fit to relieve her immediately, at the cost of disturbing your sleep. i owe you an apology for that, and for that only." "look here, mr. tabor," said i, more calmly, "i don't know what you have been told about me, but if it's dishonorable it's a damned lie. now, i'll wait here while you make any inquiries you like. i'll put you in communication with anybody you choose. and when you've looked me up and are satisfied, i shall expect a very complete apology for this whole matter." "thank you," he answered, "i am quite satisfied with my present information. i have no further curiosity. and now perhaps i have taken enough of your time." he rose. then i lost my temper. "that's altogether too thin!" i cried. "i'm received as your guest, and then i'm locked into my room. i'm sent away in the middle of the night, and told not to ask why. you explain it on the absurd ground that i'm a disreputable character, and then you won't either specify your charges or investigate them. i believe you are making up the whole story to cover something in your own house; and if you were a younger man i'd have it out of you." while i was speaking he had turned composedly to pick up his hat and stick. he faced me now without a quiver of the eyes. "don't bluster, mr. crosby," he said slowly, uncovering the tip of one yellow tooth in the faintest suspicion of a smile, "it isn't any real use. well, i won't offer to shake hands, but i'll wish you a pleasant summer after you've forgotten this row. shall i go first?" if there was anything more to say, i was too angry to think of it. "after you," i said through shut jaws. "good morning." i followed him down to the veranda where we went through a comedy of leave-taking for the benefit of the people in the wicker chairs. at the corner of the building, discreet swinging doors gave entrance to the bar; and as mr. tabor started down the drive, there came from within a stream of savage gutturals and the squeak and clatter of an over-tilted chair. a stocky fellow in a flannel shirt lurched through the swinging doors and followed him at a clumsy run, cursing in a tangle of english and italian so rapid and furious that by the ear alone i should have thought half a dozen people were involved. it had the multiplied brilliancy of a virtuoso's piano playing. of the dispute which followed, the words were indistinguishable; but there was no question that each was threatening the other. the italian danced and raved and gesticulated, while mr. tabor pointed a steady forefinger and retorted in low and frosty monosyllables. and presently the foreigner slouched back into the bar, which immediately filled with babbling bystanders. i followed to find him standing physically with his foot upon the low rail, and metaphorically with his back against the wall. he was the same man that had pursued our trolley-car on the day previous; a medium-sized, stocky, leather-colored rascal in a shiny black suit and blue flannel shirt, with a blue fur upon his face, and blue tattoo-marks on his hairy hands. public opinion, led by the bartender, was against him to the point of throwing him out or sending for the police; and his attempts at a defense were rendered unintelligible by volubility and by the strangest mixture of languages i ever heard in my life. imagine a slightly drunk and thoroughly excited neapolitan speaking broken english with an irish brogue, and you may have some faint impression of the effect. his muddy blur of intonations was impossible to follow; and i tried him in italian, becoming thereby a person of authority and interest. he understood me readily enough, but his own spattering patois gave me a good deal of trouble. by what i could make out, he was a sailor, formerly on ships owned by mr. tabor; and mr. tabor had discharged him and had kidnapped his wife. this sounded puzzling enough; but i could get nothing else out of him; and my further questions brought forth only angry reiterations and indefinite vows to have justice at any price. finally i persuaded the bartender to give him one more drink on condition that he went away immediately, and satisfied the crowd with some patched-up story of a hated employer whose resemblance to mr. tabor had caused an unfortunate mistake. chapter v beside the summer sea: an interlude if i had been at my wits' end before, i was now beyond it, in such a chaos of puzzled anger that i could not even think reasonably, much less come to sensible conclusions. the italian sailor with his impossible charge against mr. tabor's own impossible charge against me, were new elements which might or might not work into the situation; but at least i could not place them now; nor, for want of a motive that would bear dissection, was i ready to confess my own desire to stay on the ground until i had seen the matter through. i would go away to the sanity of the seaside, and give the vexations of the last few days time to clear. the whole experience had been so strange that i must have more perspective through which to view it clearly; and i could see nothing to gain by haste. for all that, i was perfectly clear that at length everything must come out right. not that i could define to myself exactly what "coming out right" would mean, except making mr. tabor admit himself outrageously mistaken, and his daughter--but it was better not to think about his daughter; unless i was ready to risk thinking too much about her. the very memory of her vivid face in the car-window, of her quizzical impertinences on the way, the sight of her lying motionless in the unnatural meadow, and most poignant of all, her distressed and shrouded beauty in the dim hall, lit up the last few hours as with the glamour of a dream broken suddenly by a nightmare monstrous and unconvincing. she must be put aside if possible with the rest until i could see clearly. bob ainslie and mrs. bob, boating, bathing, golf, and tennis, should be my devouring interests for the next week. after that--we should see. for a couple of miles my car traveled through open country; then with the sound on its left, passed through small wooded patches that gave way continually to open glades where lawns from little cottages and great ran down to the water's edge. my destined hostelry, i remembered, flourished under the original name of "bellevue." i did not especially pine for it, with its green-lined matting, white enameled furniture, and chattering piazzas; but it had the unquestionable advantage of being only a couple of hundred yards from the ainslies' cottage. there i hurried into my flannels and set forth in search of bob, whom i found playing the gentle game of croquet with himself, the pink ball against the green. when he saw me, he gave a viking whoop that brought mrs. ainslie from her chair upon the veranda, while he executed a solemn war-dance around me. "where, o where are the hebrew children?" he chanted, "safe now in the promised land--where's your bag?" "why, how do you do, mr. crosby?" said mrs. ainslie. "bob, what on earth will the neighbors think of you? and mr. crosby will hardly like being called a hebrew--not that i have anything against the hebrews. they are really a very fine people, but--" "but, my dear, you are talking nonsense. laurie, where is that bag? or heaven grant it be a trunk." "it's a bag," i said, "and i left it in my room at the bellevue, and a very good room it is." "bellefiddlesticks," bob snorted. "you go back to that whited caravansary and wrest away your belongings and come over here. we are going to house-party in a couple of days, and we need you in our business. your room is now southeast corner second floor, beautiful view of the sound or within sound of the view--whichever you please." "you are an idiot, but i love you," said i. "nevertheless, i'm going to stay where i am. can't be bothered with house parties. i came down here for some exercise." "i think you look tired," mrs. ainslie put in thoughtfully. "he looks sulky to me," said bob. "all right, stay where you are until you feel the need of a decent bed. bet i can beat you at croquet and give you two wickets." "you are a fattening, indolent person," i said. "what i want, and what you stand in crying need of, is exercise," and i dragged him off to the hotel tennis-courts. i was very sure in my own mind that i wanted the scuffling solitude of a hotel. my temper felt unsettled, and the last people in the world i wanted to meet were a lot of conversational visitors. bob had a hard future cut out for him, and indeed for three days i led him a life that must have nearly killed him. perhaps he may have scented some trouble behind my unusual energy, for he stuck to me like a man losing to me at tennis, beating me in long games of golf, bathing with me in the morning, and taking an oar as we rowed mrs. bob about in the evening. miss tabor had spoken of a coming visit; but of course after the disturbances in her home she would have abandoned all plans. and i certainly did not care to start the bantering flood of questions which i knew bob could not restrain should i show even the mildest curiosity about her coming. and yet she came. i had come over prepared to drag bob to the altar of another strenuous day, and i found her sitting alone on the veranda as quietly at ease as though nothing had happened. i was not even sure that she looked tired; certainly she looked serene. she stood up and shook hands with me smilingly. i thought the blue veins throbbed a trifle in her throat, but her manner was frankly free from embarrassment. "you are getting a very seaside color, mr. crosby," she said. "your vacation must be agreeing with you." i could not answer for a moment; then, as she drew her hand from mine, "what have i done?" i stammered. "what was it all about? did you too really believe--" i stopped, for she was looking coldly past me, her face blank and her eyebrows raised. "i beg your pardon," i said, taken utterly aback. her silence seemed to strike across me like a blow. "i beg your pardon, miss tabor," and i swung upon my heel. when i reached the steps, she called after me. "mr. crosby!" i turned. "bob wants to know why we shouldn't all play tennis together. he thinks that he and mary can beat us." i stood amazed. she was looking at me gaily, almost provokingly, every trace of coldness gone from the eyes that looked frankly into mine. she moved mentally too fast for me. i could read nothing but the end of our friendship in her look of a moment ago; and now she spoke as if no shadow of mystery or misunderstanding had ever fallen between us. of course, the surface of it was that i had blundered, and that she had taken the only way of showing me that my memories of her trouble must be really forgotten. the last few days were never to have been. the ainslies came out of the door together. "and you never told us that you had met miss tabor last christmas," said bob. "i call that rather cool. i just mentioned you last night, and she asked all sorts of questions about how long you had been here and how long you expected to stay. for my part, i think you must have made quite an impression." "indeed he has," laughed miss tabor. "do you know, mary, mr. crosby is the only thoroughly frivolous institution of learning i ever saw. he never spoke a word all christmas that added to the party's fund of information, except to tell us of a new and a more indigestible way to make welsh rarebit." evidently christmas was to be the last and only time that we had met. i thanked fate and my own discomfiture that i had let fall no word to the ainslies and we went off to our tennis. we won our game rather easily. miss tabor played a shade better than the average woman, covering her court with a forethoughtful ease that did the work without wasting exertion. she seemed not athletic, but to do outdoor things as some other woman might move through a ball-room. when we had finished playing, bob was a dripping ruin, and mrs. ainslie and i vigorously hot; but miss tabor, who had done no less than her share, laid aside her racquet as coolly as she had taken it up. all the way down to the beach she kept the three of us in such a shout of laughter that staider people glanced aside at us. i made the change into a bathing-suit with abandoned haste, yet i found her waiting. the sea was evidently a passion with her as it was with me. her eyes were shining with excitement, her head thrown a little back, and all her slim body, tender in every graceful line, was vibrant with the thrill of the salt air. she gave me her hand as a child might have done, and we turned up the beach, running lightly until the voices of the bathers died behind us. suddenly she stopped. "do you feel that way about it, too?" she asked. "what way? as if the first plunge of the year were a sort of sacred rite?" "yes," she answered. "there is something about it--you feel as if it were such a splendid thing that after all your waiting for it--now, when the water is there before you, you must wait a little sacrificial moment. i didn't feel like going in just at the first among all those people. do you understand what i mean? i suppose it's because on the first day i have always gone in alone early in the morning." i nodded, for that had been my custom also. without a word we turned together and went slowly down into the water. when it reached her waist, she threw her hands above her head and dived, swimming under water with long easy strokes. i looked after her a moment, then followed. we came to the surface together, drawing our breath deep and shaking the salt water from our eyes. we swam slowly back to the more crowded beach, mutually glorying in our pagan rite of baptism. we stretched out lazily in the hot sand, leaning back against a battered and upturned dory. lady had shaken down her hair, which her bathing cap had failed to keep altogether dry; and spread it lustrously dark upon the clean, sun-bleached planking. "i think i understand you now a little better, mr. crosby," she said. "why?" i asked. "i suppose because of the solemn rite of the first plunge. it somehow makes you clearer. if that is what you mean by romance, why i can agree with you." i had to be honest. "no, that's not all i mean--only part. i want things to happen to me, not merely sensations. i'm always foolishly expecting some tilt with fortune at the next turn of the road. i suppose you were right that nothing much has happened to me, or i shouldn't hunt so for the physical uplift of the unexpected. i don't want to be merely selfish--i want to help in the world, not to harm. i know that sounds crudely sentimental, but it's hard to say. i mean, for instance, that i don't want distress to prove myself against, but i do want the shock of battle where distress exists." "then people must seem to you merely means to an end." [illustration: "i suppose it must look that way to you"] "i suppose it must look that way to you," i said uncomfortably. "i'm getting tangled, but i want you to understand--" i hesitated. "when i asked questions in the hurry of the other night, it wasn't any desire to force my way into things that didn't concern me, to make an adventure of what distressed you--you mustn't think that. but it seemed to me that you were in trouble, and i wanted--" i stopped, for her face had clouded as i spoke until now i dared speak no more, blaming myself that the perplexities that possessed me had again blundered across her pain. her eyes were upon the ground where her fingers burrowed absently in the sand. when she raised them to mine there were tears in them; but they were tears unshed, and eyes that looked at me kindly. "please don't," she said. "i do understand. i would like to let you help, but--there is nothing you can help about, nothing that i can ask or tell." "forgive me," i said, and looked away from her. i think that from that morning we were better friends. neither of us again made any allusion to the night of alarm; but it was as if both now felt a share in it, a kind of blindfold sympathy not altogether comfortless. once when we were making a long tour of woods and beaches, she said suddenly: "you don't talk much about yourself, mr. crosby." "don't i?" i answered. "well, i don't suppose that what i am or have done in the world would be particularly interesting. you were right the other day, after all: nothing much has happened to me, or i shouldn't be so hungry for adventures." "oh, but you must have had some adventure; everybody has." i launched into a tale of a green parrot confiscated from an itinerant vendor and sold at auction in a candy store. i stopped suddenly. was this her way of verifying her father's opinion of me? she read my half-formed suspicion like a flash. "listen," she said with quick seriousness. "if i had, or could have, the faintest belief in anything really bad about you, don't you see that i shouldn't be here? i want you to remember that." "i ought to have known," i replied. "i'm very sorry." with that she swung back into gaiety, demanding the conclusion of the tale; but i was for the moment too deeply touched to follow. we were on our way home; and before us where the path took a little turn about a tree larger than its neighbors, a man stepped into our sight. he was walking fast, covering the ground in long nervous strides. he carried a bit of stick with which he switched smartly at the bushes along the path. for a moment we were both silent, then lady caught her breath in a long sigh. it was the man we had met at the gate. he saw us then, and took off his hat. "why, walter," lady cried; "when did you come?" "just now," he said, "just now. ainslie told me where to look for you. good fellow, ainslie. said you and mr. what's-his-name--beg pardon, i never can remember names--said you had gone for a walk." she flushed a little. "mr. crosby, let me introduce doctor reid. his memory never can catch up with him, but you mustn't mind that. walter, mr. crosby was a classmate of bob ainslie's, you know." "so he said; so he said." doctor reid jerked out the words, frowning and biting his forefinger. "excuse me, lady, but--hold on a second. got to go back next car, twelve forty-five." he looked at his watch. "twelve seven now. beg your pardon, mr.--mr. crosby. beg your pardon." they spoke together for a moment, and we continued our walk uncomfortably. miss tabor seemed uneasy, and i thought that doctor reid restrained himself to our slower pace as if he resented having to wait and thought ill of me for my very existence. i caught him frowning sidelong at me once or twice, and shooting little anxious glances at lady that angered me unreasonably. i left them at the ainslies' and went on to a hurried luncheon made tasteless by irritation. who in heaven's name was the man? a family physician would hardly go running about the country in the daughter's wake--for i could not doubt that it was she that had brought him here. why on earth should he be rude to me? i had never met the man. what business had he to behave as if he resented my being with her--or for that matter, to resent anything she did? we had planned a game of tennis for the afternoon, and doctor reid, i reflected, with savage satisfaction, could hardly be expected to make a third. bob met me at the door. "hello, old man," he said, "we have had a bitter loss; doctor reid has carried lady off with him to his distant lair." chapter vi a return to the original theme for a moment i did not know which feeling was apparent; surprise, anger, or a new and abominable sensation that combined the sense of personal injury with an intolerable sense of loss. then i saw in bob's face the reflection of my own astonishment, and tried to pull myself together. "brace up, man," he said, pounding me heartily on the shoulder. "don't look as if you saw hamlet's grandmother. she's neither married nor dead--he's only taken her home in a hurry. good lord, if i'd known you were going to be so tragic i'd have broken it as gently as a sucking dove." by that time i found words. "i'm all right," i said, "only you made me jump with your ornamental way of putting things. who is he, anyway, and what the devil right has he to come and drag her away like this in the middle of her visit?" "reid? he's only her brother." "her half-brother, you mean." "i suppose so, since the name's different. anyhow, he's no relation to bluebeard, so you needn't go looking for blood and thunder. i know you. it's just that somebody wasn't well at home, and they wanted her. nothing at all serious, he said; only if lady was on the ground she could be useful. her mother's heart is a little weak, you know. i suppose it's that." "look here, bob," said i. "there's something mysterious about that family; and although it's none of my business, i want to know whatever you can tell me about them. i want to tell you first what i know, and see if you can help me clear it up." "nonsense! you never saw a windmill yet without swearing it was a green dragon with yellow eyes and a three-pronged tail. they are not half so mysterious as you are with that hush-hush expression on your innocent countenance. tabor's an importer, with a flourishing business in red ink and spaghetti and other products of sunny it'. mrs. tabor's a dear little soul with nerves and an occasional palpitation. lady's a pippin, and reid's a strenuous sawbones that lost half a second once in his youth and has been chasing it ever since. you've been reading too much classical literature." "have you known them long?" "why, no, not so very. oh, come in out of the sun and take a sedative. you won't be happy till you've relieved your florid mind." i followed him into his den and accepted a cigarette and something cool to drink. then without more preface i told the tale of my adventure, beginning with my arrival at the tabors' home. "fine!" was his unfeeling comment, "i shall lie awake nights waiting for your next instalment of confidences. what are you going to do next?" "that's what i'm trying to decide," i growled. "and i wish you'd give me a little serious thought, if you can stand the strain. i like adventures, but my end of this one is getting rather unmanageable." "my dear man, i'm as serious as a caged owl. you've been treated outrageously, if that's any comfort to you. only i fail to see where your mystery comes in. of course, it's just as they said: mr. tabor has heard some absurd slander, or got you mixed up with somebody else; and mrs. tabor worried herself into a state about it, and they turned you out. it's a shame--or it would be if the thought of you as a desperate character who couldn't be allowed overnight in a decent family were not so ridiculous. i'll write to tabor myself and tell him that he's got the wrong mule by the wrong leg; or if you prefer, we'll delegate the job to one of your older and wiser friends. that's all there is to it." "you're leaving out altogether too much. how about my door being locked? how about the dago sailor at the inn? how about miss tabor's warning me off for all time, and then meeting me here as if she hadn't seen me since christmas?" bob smoked and frowned a moment, then brushed the difficulty aside. "accidents, old fellow, accidents. the locked door was a mistake, unless somebody thought you were too dangerous a reprobate to leave at large. the guinea was drunk, on your own showing. as for lady, she has a better head than the average, but you can't get me to waste any time figuring out how any woman's mind works. i've been married three years." "well, i'm going to find out what it all means." "it doesn't all mean anything. that's where your kaleidoscopic imagination gets to work. there isn't any conceivable connection between these details! and you talk as if they were veiled and awful hints all pointing one way. your dragons are windmills, i tell you, and your helmet's a copper kettle." "you'd think differently if you had been there. besides, i know--" i stopped short. bob was my friend, and whatever i chose to tell him was my own business; but even to him i was not betraying confidences. "bob," i said, "i can't prove it, even to you, but i know that there is something wrong; and i firmly believe that somehow or other all these things work into it. now, if you can throw any light at all, help me out." "i've told you all i know. i'm not exactly an intimate of these people, but i've known them off and on for three or four years, and there simply isn't anything unusual about them. they're just like every one else, only a little nicer--the last people on earth to act queerly or have a closet skeleton." "at any rate, they seem to want to get rid of me," i said. "well, they can't do it. if they've got some scandalous idea of me, they're going to apologize; and if they're in trouble, i'm going to make myself useful. i've fallen into an adventure, and i'm going through with it." "i'll tell you one thing," said bob, very solemnly for him, "if there is any family secret, it's nothing against lady. she's about as good and white and honest--but you don't need to be told that." "no," said i, "i don't. and perhaps that's the reason." i waited where i was for the rest of the week; partly because i was resolved not to put myself in the wrong afresh by following miss tabor's movements too immediately, and partly to give time for bob's promised vindication of my character to take effect. i could not, however, believe that it would, in itself, make any great difference; for the more i considered, the more it seemed to me that i had been right in my suspicion, and that the whole empty charge had been merely an excuse for driving me from the house and a device for terminating the acquaintance. i discovered during those few days the truth of the saying that to think is the hardest thing in the world; for my attempts to reason out the situation persistently resolved themselves into adventurous dreams and emotional reminiscences until i suspended judgment in despair and put the whole matter from my mind. and it was with an eager relief at last that i bade good-by to the ainslies and retraced my journey. bob had received in the meantime no answer to his letter; but by that time i was not to be surprised. i took my old room at the inn, got myself into white flannels with leisurely determination, and set forth to call upon miss tabor. it was not hot, and all the air was clear with that sparkling zest common enough in autumn but rare in the heat of midsummer; and as i hurried along, the beauty of the world flowed over me in a great, joyous wave of hope and resolution. the little distance between the inn and the tabors' i covered before i realized it. "is miss tabor at home?" i asked the maid at the door. she took my card and hesitated. "i'll go and see, sir," she said finally, and ushered me into the big living-room. i was all alone; voices came dimly from other parts of the house, and the room where i sat was cool and pleasant. i found my heart beating a little faster, and wondered at myself. presently the maid returned. "miss tabor is not at home," she said. somehow, i had not expected it, and for a moment i stood looking at her foolishly as she held open the door. "she is in town, is she not?" i asked clumsily. "i am not sure, sir; she is not at home, sir," the woman repeated woodenly. i trudged back through the glare of the impossibly brilliant day sick with disappointment, and wondering if she had really been away. could there be any reason why my card had not been taken to her? had some general order gone out against me? then i brought my imagination to a sudden halt. i was getting to be a fool. the probability was that the maid had simply spoken the truth; and in any case, the whole matter was easy of determination. at the inn i wrote a short note to miss tabor, saying that i was in town for a few days, regretting that i had missed her and asking when i should find a convenient hour to call. this despatched, i found myself in a state of empty hurry with nothing to do; and after supper and a game or so of erratic pool, i set out to walk off an incipient and unreasoning attack of blues. by the time i had tramped through a couple of townships and turned toward home i was fairly cheerful again. landmarks had begun to look unfamiliar in the gathering gloom, and i took my turnings a little uncertainly; so that it was with a thrill of surprise that i found myself on a crossroad that ran alongside the tabor place. the great house was largely dark and peaceful. windows below glowed dimly through the dusk; and above, a single square shone brightly. two men were coming slowly up the long driveway in front, which paralleled the road on which i stood; and as they approached the house, it seemed to me that they were walking not upon the gravel of the drive, but upon the grass beside it. when they reached the steps they turned aside, and skirting the house with a more evident avoidance of paths, crossed a stretch of lawn to what appeared to be a stable or garage some distance behind it. there was a furtiveness about the whole proceeding that i did not like, and i stood still a moment watching. presently a match was struck in a room above the garage, and the gas flared on. then, after a little, one of the men came out, running quietly across the lawn until he came to a stop beside the house and directly before me. the light from the upper window fell upon him and he stepped aside into the shade, but not before i had plainly seen his face. it was lady's half-brother, doctor reid. he seemed excited, or perhaps anxious; for his movements were more jerky than ever, and he moved restlessly and continually as he waited in the shadow. once or twice he glanced nervously over his shoulder, and i instinctively drew back under the bulk of a big maple beside the road. then he would move out beyond the edge of the shrubbery where he could see the lighted room above the garage, then return to his watching under the window. once or twice he whistled softly. there was no answer, and at last i saw his hand go back and a tiny pebble tinkled against the glass. then i held my breath, my heart hammering in my ears, for lady tabor had come to the window. she softly raised it and leaned out, her face very white in the darkness. "is that you, walter?" she called under her breath. "yes," he answered, "i have him in the garage. all clear in there? he mustn't be seen, you know, mustn't be seen at all." she laid her finger on her lips and nodded. then the window closed silently and she was gone. reid turned and ran back to the garage. when he came out again the other man was with him, and they crept past me among the shrubs, talking softly. the other man was tall, with a breadth of shoulder and thickness of chest that would have done credit to a professional strong man; yet his voice came in an absurd treble squeak, with an odd precision of articulation and phrasing. "it is very important that we shall go quietly," he was saying. "of course, of course," reid whispered. then they passed beyond hearing under the shadow of the house. presently i saw them again, silhouetted against the gray wall. they were standing close together upon the narrow terrace that ran between the driveway and the side of the house, and reid was fumbling at a pair of french windows. they opened with a faint click; and motioning the other man before him, he stepped in, closing the windows after them. i walked on, full of an impatient wonder at this new mystery, which, like its predecessors, would neither fit into any reasonable explanation nor suffer itself to be put aside as unmeaning. in front of the house i passed a big limousine, drawn up by the roadside, its engine purring softly and its lamps boring bright tunnels through the gloom. i knew it for the tabors' by the monogram on the panels; and as i went by, i noticed the chauffeur lying sleepily back in his seat puffing at a cigar. of course it had brought the stranger, and was waiting to take him back; but on what errand a man could be brought to the house like a guest and sneak in at a window like a thief was a question beyond me to fathom. after all, i thought, as i reached my room, what business was it of mine? by every canon of custom and good taste i should accept my rebuke and drop quietly out of the lives of the tabors. by staying i was forcing myself upon them, certainly against the wishes of doctor reid and mr. tabor, and possibly even against those of miss tabor, herself. nevertheless, i made up my mind perversely. of course, if miss tabor wished it, i should go, but unless she told me to go herself and of her own free will, canons of politeness might go hang; rightly or wrongly, i would see the thing to a finish. chapter vii sentence of banishment confirmed with costs i went to bed with my natural pleasure in the unexpected surfeited into a baffled irritation. i was the more annoyed when the morning brought no answer to my note; nor did the arrival of doctor reid about the middle of the forenoon tend to improve my state of mind. i found him fidgeting on the veranda, winding his watch and frowning at the furniture. "good morning, mr. crosby, good morning," he began. "i came down to have a few minutes' talk with you, but," he looked again at his watch, "i'm on my way down to my office and i find i'm a little late. would it trouble you too much to walk along with me? sorry to ask you, but i'm late already." i got my hat, and we hurried out into the glaring sunshine. reid gave the impression, i discovered, of being a much faster walker than he actually was; i had no difficulty in keeping up with him. something of the same quality was noticeable in his conversation. "beautiful morning. i always like to get in a little exercise before work. beautiful morning for a walk. fine. fine. now about that note of yours. no reason at all for your coming back here, you know. acquaintance must be entirely broken off. no excuse whatever for going on with it. impossible. perfectly impossible." i bristled at once. "is that a message from miss tabor or an objection on the part of the family? i'd like to understand this." "by my--miss tabor's authority, of course. certainly. she regrets the necessity you impose on her of telling you that she can't receive your call. maid told you yesterday she was not at home. civil answer. no occasion for carrying the matter any further. nothing more to be said. nothing." he looked at his watch again and kicked the head off a feathery dandelion. "mr. tabor told me," i said, made deliberate by his jerkiness, "that i was not a fit acquaintance for his family. that was absurd, and by this time he knows it. if i'm forbidden to call, that settles the matter; but there's got to be some sensible reason." "certainly that settles the matter. nothing more to be said. nothing at all against your character. i don't know anything about that. haven't heard a word about it. nothing against you. mrs.--miss tabor doesn't wish to see you, that's all. very unpleasant position for you. i see that. very unpleasant for me to say so. but you bring it on yourself. ought to have stayed away. nothing else to do." "do you mean to say," i demanded, "that now that my reputation is cleared that makes no difference?" "exactly. no objection to you, whatever. must have been all a mistake. very unfortunate. very much to be regretted. simply, you aren't wanted. very distressing to have to say this. you ought to have seen it. nothing for you to come back for. nothing to do but to drop it. drop it right where it is. nothing to be done." the situation opened under me. indefinite slander had been at least something to fight about, but to this there was simply no answer. i felt like a fool, and what was worse, like an intrusive fool; and i had a sickening sense that all the delightful kindliness of the days at the beach might have been the exaggeration of unwilling courtesy. but another moment of that memory brought back my faith. for me, i was certainly in the wrong, and probably an officious idiot. yet the one thing of which i could be sure was lady's honesty. i was not running from my guns just yet. "you make me out an intruder," i retorted. "well, that's been the whole case from the first. all along, i've done nothing out of the ordinary course of acquaintance with an ordinary family. but your family isn't ordinary. you put up invisible fences and then accuse me of trespassing. i don't want to drag your skeleton out of the closet; but a blind man can see that it's there. if you had a counterfeiting plant in the house, for instance, i could understand all this nonsense. it's too palpably manufactured." i could see that i had hit him, for he grew jerkier than ever. "counterfeiting, nonsense. absolutely absurd. insult to suggest such a thing. now, let's drop this and come right down to the facts. may as well be practical. nothing more to say. you're not to call. told you so already. very disagreeable business. but, of course, you won't make any further trouble. absolutely impossible. hard on you, of course, but nothing to be done." "very well," said i, "you tell me this matter is between miss tabor and myself. we'll keep it so, and the rest of you may toast in tophet. i tell you plainly i don't doubt your literal word, but i do doubt your motives and your authority. if miss tabor herself tells me to go, i'll go. otherwise, i'll await my chance to see her; and if that's intruding, why, i'll intrude. now, be as practical as you please." he gave way with a suddenness that astonished me. "just as you say, mr. crosby, just as you say. no difference whatever to me. glad to be relieved of the business. better call this afternoon, and have it over with. always best to settle things at once. she'll be in all day. quickest way of ending the whole trouble." "i'll call this afternoon." "right. say about three-thirty. i go in here. sorry to have brought you so far. sorry to have had this to do at all. very unpleasant for both of us, but life's full of unpleasantness. sorry i shan't see you again. can't be helped. good-by." i made the best of my way back, with an indistinct sense of having fought with a small tornado, and wondering whether i had won a minor victory or sealed an irrevocable defeat. true, i had gained the point of receiving my dismissal in person, but reid's very readiness of acquiescence indicated the completeness of his confidence in my discomfiture. i spent the interim planning things to say which i knew i should miserably forget when the time came to say them; and i went to keep my appointment with miss tabor feeling illogically like a malefactor going up for trial, and remembering with sickly lucidity every word of the skeptical common sense that i had been flouting from the first. she was sitting near the great dutch fireplace, and as i crossed the room she slid her book upon the table and stood up. she did not offer me her hand, nor did she notice mine. "how do you do, mr. crosby?" she said. there was an acid formality about the meaningless little sentence that took the color out of all i had intended to say. there was no answer except that i was very well; and the hollow inanity of that under the circumstances left me standing speechless, defeated before the beginning. she was standing very straight, and her eyes looked beyond me blankly, as they had on the ainslies' veranda. now she brought them to mine for an instant, and motioned me to a chair that faced hers at a little distance as if it had been placed there beforehand. "we had better sit down," she said. "i want to talk quietly to you, mr. crosby." "your brother told me that this would be a good time for me to come," said i unmeaningly. for a long time she was silent, turning over and over with reflective fingers a little ivory paper cutter. the handle of it was carved to represent a fish with its mouth open grasping the blade. somewhere in the room a clock ticked twice to every three of my heart-beats. finally she looked up decisively. "you wanted to see me, mr. crosby. i suppose it is about something in particular. please tell me what it is." "you must know as well as i do," i answered, trying to steady my tone. "i have been told that my attempt to call is an intrusion, and that you do not wish to see me again. i preferred to be told that by you, yourself." her eyes rested steadily upon mine. "well," she said, "i tell you now that it is perfectly true." there was the same formality about it all, the same sense of mechanical arrangement; not as if she were playing a part, but as if she were going through with an unpleasant purpose according to a preconceived plan. i tried to shift the burden of the situation. "why?" i asked. "it seems to me that this part of intruder has been made up and put upon me. except for crossing lines that need never have been drawn, i don't understand what i have done." "perhaps not. if you think a little, you will remember that when i asked you to go that night when--when you brought me here, i told you to forget us--that you were not to ask questions, nor try to see me again. i thought i made it very clear at that time. are you the judge of my right to close my own door?" for a moment i was too much bewildered to answer. "when we met at the ainslies'," i blurted, "you met me as a friend, as though nothing had broken what we began in the holidays. i can't believe that you were only playing a courteous part. you were your own open self. everything was all right, i am very sure, until--until this man, this--your brother came for you." she gave a scornful little laugh, leaning back indolently in her chair. "really, mr. crosby, aren't you rather overstating the case? have we been such very great friends? i have known you ten days--twelve days." i nodded dumbly. "i have no wish to hurt you," she went on more gently, "but we have really nothing like a friendship to appeal to. i am not breaking anything, because there is nothing to break. when you left here--i thought that you understood me. i don't know what my family disliked in you, and i don't think i care to know. it has nothing to do with me. but this is what i dislike. you called up my father the next morning, and demanded reasons. you went to the beach, where you knew i was invited. was i to cut you there? was i to explain to mutual friends that i didn't want to meet you? i don't think you have treated our acquaintanceship particularly well, or that you have shown much regard for my plain request." i sat stunned, the bulk of my offense looming stark before me. then, with a great surge, the memory came back of the girl who had stood with me by the water's edge, who had run childishly hand in hand with me upon the beach, who had walked with me and talked with me, who had shown me unembarrassed her gay and sweet imaginings. these things had been the truth; this was the unreality. perhaps she saw something of what was passing in my mind, for she shook her head. "don't think that because i had no heart to mar your outing, i did not mean what i had said. it was easier to be friends for a little--easier for us both. but surely you should have played your part. at the ainslies' i wanted to treat you as i should have treated anybody. do you think that you have been fair? do you think you should have risked following me? for it was a risk. you have come back here where we are the only people you know, and as soon as you come you ask for me. i don't like to say it, mr. crosby, but you have acted inconsiderately. i am very anxious that this time you should clearly understand." i got to my feet in silence. something had happened that i could not help; and as i stood there, i knew that my world had come to an end, and as in the first shock of a physical injury, felt numbly conscious of the deliberate suffering that was to follow. she had risen too, looking somehow curiously small and frail. then, of a sudden, my manhood caught at me. the wall was without seam or crevice, darkening the sky; and i knew that i could break it with a breath. "i will go," i said, "when i am sure. look at me, lady, for you know that i know." there was a sharp snap. she glanced at her hands, then dropped the broken paper knife at her feet and faced me haughtily. "know?" she said, with a dry tension in her voice, "i only know that this is to be good-by." she held out a rigid hand. i took it and stood looking soberly down at her. "is that all?" i asked. "yes," she answered. "don't make it hard for me." then her eyes grew suddenly afraid. she caught away her hand and shrank back a step, catching at the chain about her throat. "oh, don't, don't," she begged. "please, please go--you don't understand." i held myself with all my strength. "no, i don't understand," i whispered. she caught her breath with half a sob, forlornly and as a child might. "you must not understand. you are never to see me again." "you know i can't do that," i said. "you must do it," she answered very gravely. "be kind to me--" she paused, "because it's hard for me to send you away." "you must tell me one thing more than that," said i; "is there--is there any one else?" her eyes fell. "that is it," she said at last, "there is somebody else." "that is all, then," i said quietly. "i shall stay away until you send for me;" and i left her. i have no remembrance of the walk back to the inn; but i closed my door behind me softly, as if i were shutting a door upon my dreams. now i knew that the dull round of daily life, of little happenings and usual days, stretched before me, weary and indefinite. it made little difference to think that i might some day be sent for. evidently it was to be europe this summer after all. my only desire was to make my going a thing immediate and complete; to rupture so absolutely the threads of the woof that we had woven that i could feel myself separated from all, enough aloof from love to think of life. i did not stop to ask myself questions or to wonder precisely what was the nature of the impossibility that was driving me away. there would be time enough for that. i began to pack feverishly, gathering my belongings from their disposition about the room. i felt tired, as a man feels tired who has lost a battle; so that after i had packed a little i sank wearily into the chair before my bureau. then after what may have been a minute or an hour of dull unconscious thought, i fell again to my task; pulling open the drawers from where i sat, and searching their depths for little odds and ends which i piled upon the bureau top. the bottom of the second drawer was covered with an old newspaper; and i smiled as i noticed that its fabric was already turning brittle and yellowish, and read the obsolete violence of the head-lines. then a name half-way down the page caught me with a shock, and i slowly read and re-read the lines of tiny print, forming the empty phrases in my mind with no clear sense of their meaning. they were like the streams of silly words that run through one's head in a fever, or half-way along the road to sleep; and it was an eternity before they meant anything. "reid-tabor. on may 24, at the home of the bride's parents, miriam, daughter of george and charlotte bennett tabor, to doctor walter reid." chapter viii how we made an unconventional journey to town very carefully, and wondering the while in a listless fashion why i should do so at all, i tore out the notice and put it carefully away in my pocketbook. i had the explanation now; i understood it all--the hidden ring at the end of the chain, and the shadow of which it was the symbol, the mystery and disturbance of the house, the continual pretexts to get rid of me, the effort to disguise any strangeness of appearance in the life of the family. and i understood why it was true that i must go away and utterly forget. and yet--was the explanation so perfect, after all? mechanically i pulled the paper out of the drawer, and searched for the date. it was only three years back; but even that length of time would have made lady a mere child when she was married. she could not be very far beyond twenty now, certainly not more than twenty-two or three. and in any case, why should the marriage be concealed and the husband retained as a member of the family, masquerading as a brother? and how, after the ordinary announcement in the press, could the marriage have become a secret at all? then once more the whispers and pointings of a score of abnormal circumstances, uncertain, suggestive, indefinite, crowded in upon my understanding, like the confusion of simultaneous voices. it was no use. i could not imagine what it all meant, and for the moment i was too sick and weary to wonder. the bare fact was more than enough; she was married and beyond my reach, and i must go away. i went through a pantomime of supper, making the discovery that my appetite was supplemented by an unquenchable thirst and an immeasurable desire for tobacco. after that i walked, read, made dull conversation with casual acquaintances--anything to kill the interminable time, and quiet for the moment that weary spirit of unrest which kept urging me to useless thought and unprofitable action, to examine my trouble as one irritates a trivial wound, to decide or do something where nothing was to be decided or to be done. an inhabitant of the nearest comfortless piazza chair contributed the only episode worth remembering. "say," he began, "do you remember that guinea that was here the other day and started the argument with the old gent out in front? well, what did you make of that feller, anyway?" "i don't know. he was drunk, i suppose, and got the wrong man." "well, now, you take it from me, there was more to it than that. yes, sir, there's a shady story around there somewhere. you hear what i say." "is the man still around here?" i asked. "well, not now, he ain't. that's what i'm telling you. he hung about town for two or three days, i guess. maybe he got after the old man some more. he was in here after a drink once, and the barkeep threw him out. he's a good mixer, harry is, men or drinks; but he don't like guineas. well, i don't go much on them foreigners, myself." "where does your shady story come in?" "well, now, that's just it. you listen. i was coming along the street the other night, and i passed this guinea standing under a street lamp, talking to that reid feller that lives up to tabors'. doc reid, you know whom i mean? well, i was going past and i heard reid say: 'now, you understand what you got to do,' he says, 'keep quiet and keep away. the minute you show up here again or give any trouble,' he says, 'the money stops. you understand that?' he says. and you can call me a liar if you like, but i swear i saw him slip the guinea a roll. now, what do you know about that?" i put him off as well as i could. here was another point in the labyrinth, but i had no energy to think about it. i got away from the gossip at last only by taking refuge in my room. and the rest of the evening was a dreary nightmare of unreality which only expanded without changing when i tried to sleep. i tossed about endlessly, thinking thoughts that were not thoughts, dreaming evil dreams even while i watched the swollen shadows about the room and listened to the unmeaning voices and footsteps in the hallways. it seemed so much a part of this when some one pounded on my door and told me that i was wanted on the telephone, that it was a troublesome task to make me understand. i pulled on a sweater and ran down-stairs, wondering who could have called me up at one in the morning. i was not left long in doubt. "hello! this mr. crosby? hello! hello there! mr. crosby? hello!" "yes!" i said savagely, "what is it?" "doctor reid talking. can you--what? all right--hold the line a second." then lady's voice: "mr. crosby? listen: i have to go to new york in the machine now, right away. can you come with me?" "can i--? why, of course; but why doesn't--why don't you take some one else?" "no one else can go. if you're not willing--" "of course i'm willing," i said, "if i can be of use." "i knew you would. the car will be there for you in five minutes, or--wait: there's no need of waking up the whole inn. walk up to the first street corner this way, and the car will meet you there." five minutes later i was standing on the corner, shivering with interrupted sleep, while four flaming yellow eyes swung toward me down the hill. it was the same big limousine i had noticed the night before. i climbed in beside the chauffeur. with a clash and a grinding lurch the car swung around and pointed up the hill again, toward the tabors'. there was power and to spare, but i noticed that one cylinder was missing now and again. "your ignition isn't very steady," i said to the chauffeur. "what is it--valves?" he turned and looked at me with supercilious respect. "poor petrol, sir. i fancy she'll run well enough, sir." lady came running out, veiled and muffled. "come inside," she said, as i sprang down to help her in, "i'd rather have you with me." the door slammed, and we were off with a jerk that threw us back against the deep leather cushions. for a few moments we flashed under lamps and sidled around corners to an accompaniment of growling brakes and squeaking springs; then we ran out upon the smooth macadam of the highway, and settled into our speed with a steady purr. lady sat up in her corner and patted at her veil. "it was very good of you to come," she said, "but i knew we could count on you. here, take this thing--i don't want it." it was a very serviceable revolver, cold and smooth as i slipped it out of its leather holster. i made sure that it was ready for use. "it's perfectly ridiculous taking it along," she added. "we're not going on any desperate midnight errand. the mere time of night is the only thing that's even unconventional. but walter wouldn't let me come without it." i asked no questions. by this time i had learned better; and besides i did not greatly care what we were doing, or what was to happen next. i would be of service if i could, that was all. since it was to be hopelessly, it might as well be blindly, too; and the sense of adventure was gone out of me. the car swayed and sidled gently to the irregular mutter of the engine and the drowsy whining of the gears. we might almost have been motionless, except when the flare of some passing light swept across us, filling with an uncanny and sudden illumination the polished interior of the limousine, and showing me as by the glimpse of a lightning-flash the veiled and silent figure by my side. here was romance beyond my wildest imagination: night, and hurry and mysterious need, the swift rush onward through the warm gloom, the womanhood of the breathing shadow so close to me, whose thought i could not know, whose anxiety i could not seek to fathom, whose trouble i could only help by doing ignorantly what she asked of me and then leaving her in other hands. and all this that should have stirred me to chivalry seemed only dull and weary, a thankless task. the lines of _the last ride together_ began running in my mind, and i turned them over and over, trying vaguely to fill in forgotten phrases, until the rocking of the car reminded me where i was, and the sardonic incongruity of it jarred me back to earth. it was always like that: the deed a parody of the dream, the details of actual happenings making mouths at the truth that lay behind them, life sneering at itself. here were two lovers hurrying together through the night, held silent by a secret and bound by a blind trust. and they were riding through westchester in a motor-car, and the thought of a fussy medical man with a bass voice was the naked sword which lay between them. a trolley car, looking like a huge and luminous caterpillar, hung alongside us for a moment, then fell behind. our engine had not been running perfectly from the first; and now as we jolted over a section of newly mended road and began to climb a bumpy hill, the trouble suddenly became so much worse that it looked as though it meant delay. impure gasolene does not make one cylinder miss fire regularly for many revolutions and then explode once or twice with a croupy grunt. "there's something the matter with the car," said lady nervously. "i hope we're not going to break down. we mustn't break down." "the chauffeur says it's the gasolene," i answered, "but i don't believe it. it's ignition by the sound." "do you know anything about a car?" "a little," i said; and as we drew up at the side of the road, i was out and in front of the machine almost before the chauffeur had lumbered from his seat. he got out his electric lamp, and began tinkering with the carburetor. "hold on a minute," i said. "if you ball up that adjustment, it may take half an hour to get it right again. are you sure it isn't ignition?" "ignition's all right, sir," he grunted; "she's getting too much gas." "then why are three of your cylinders all right and one all wrong?" i snapped. "come around here with that lamp." once the bonnet was open it was not hard to find the trouble. the nut which held one of the wires to its connection on the magneto had dropped off, and the end of the wire was hanging loose, connecting only when the vibration of the car swung it against the binding-post. the chauffeur did not appear grieved. "we're dished," he remarked cheerfully. "i've no other nut like that." "it's probably in the underpan," i retorted. we got the pan off, and after some search in the puddle of grimy grease, were fortunate enough to find it. a moment later we were throbbing steadily on our way. "that man of yours isn't exactly delighted with his work," i commented. "i don't blame him. he isn't supposed to be waked up for forty-mile trips in the middle of the night, and he's english and worships his habits. are we all right now?" "yes; it wasn't anything. we're nearly there now; there's woodlawn." she did not speak again for some time, and i began to wonder if i had again trodden upon trouble. i seemed fated to do so at every turn. but presently she broke in with a comfortable triviality. "look here, why don't you smoke if you want to? i forgot all about it, but of course you may. i don't mind." i had not noticed it before, but the cigarette was exactly what i wanted. the bodily comfort balanced things again, and made me feel at home with the situation. we ran down riverside drive, the dark bulk of the city on our left, and on our right the glimmering breadth of the hudson, streaked with yellow gleams. thence we crossed over and continued on down fifth avenue, between blank houses and unnatural lights, the occasional clack of hoofs and hollow growl of wheels accentuating the unwonted stillness. i had somehow taken it for granted that we were going for a doctor. but when we passed madison square and kept on south along broadway, that errand became unlikely; and when we turned eastward over the rough cobbles of narrow side streets, i was in a state of blank wonder. we ran slowly, lurching and bumping, through interminable chasms of squalor where iron railings mounted to the doors and clots of bedding hung from open windows; where evil odors hung and drifted like clouds, and a sick heat lay prisoned between wall and pavement, and stragglers turned to stare after us as we went by. now and then we crossed some wider thoroughfare with its noise of cars and tangle of sagging wires overhead, and signs in foreign tongues under the corner lights. and at last we came into a city of dreadful sleep, dim and deserted and still. the scattered lamps were only yellow splotches in the dusk, the stores were barred and bared, and there was no human thing in sight save here and there a huddle of grimy clothes under the half shelter of a doorway. puffs of salt air from the river troubled the stagnant mixture of fish, leather and stale beer. we stopped before a narrow doorway pinched sidewise between two shop windows like a fish's mouth. lady leaned across me to scan the bleak windows above. "there should be a light on the top floor," she said, "yes, there it is. ask thomas to make sure of the number." he was back in a moment to say that the number was right: "and all asleep, miss, by the look of it. shall i knock somebody up? there's no bell." "no, not yet. what time is it, mr. crosby?" "twenty minutes of three," i told her. "she must have got the message before now," she said, half to herself. then, after a little thought, "stay here with the car, thomas. mr. crosby and i are going in." "you're not going into such a place at this hour!" i protested. "tell me what it is and let me go." "no, i'm coming too. don't stop to talk about it, please." the door yielded and let us into a stained and choking hallway, faintly lighted by a blue flicker of gas at the far end. the stairs were worn into creaking hollows, and the noise of our passing, though instinctively we crept upward like thieves, awakened a multitude of squeaks and scufflings behind the plaster. the banisters were everywhere loose and shaky, and in places they were entirely broken away, so that we went close along the filthy wall rather than trust to them. each hallway was like the one below; narrow, dusty and airless, with its blue spurt of gas giving us just light enough to find our way without groping. at last we reached the top, and lady knocked softly on the door at the end of the hall. there was no answer. she knocked again. i turned up the gas, and as i did so a fat beetle ran from under my feet. i stepped on it, and wished that i had not done so. "are you sure this is the place?" i whispered. "yes; i've been here before. but i don't understand. sheila knew that we were coming." "look," said i, "the door is unlatched. shall i go in?" for an instant the oppression of the place was too much for her, and she clung to my arm whispering, "i'm afraid--i'm afraid!" then before i could speak, she had caught up her courage. "yes," she said. "open it if you can." the door swung a few inches, then resisted. something soft and heavy, like a mattress, seemed to be braced against the bottom of it. i felt for the revolver in my pocket, then put my weight against the panel. the thing inside moved a little, then rolled over with a thud, and the door swung wide. what had lain against it, and now lay across the opening clearly visible in the light from behind us was the body of a woman with blood soaking into her hair. chapter ix how we escaped from what we found there we stood looking down upon her without speech. she was a tall, rather thin woman of about fifty; irish by the look of her, and still with some share of earlier good looks. the hair that fell away loosely from her broad forehead was black and straight, showing only here and there a thread of silver. the large hands lay limply open, and the face was deathly white. she had fallen away from the door with her knees pressed closely against it, as though she had been trying to open it when the blow came. "do you think she is dead?" lady breathed at last. "of course not," i answered, but i was very much afraid. i knelt down beside her and listened to her heart. i was not sure, but it seemed to me that it beat faintly; so faintly that it might have been only the drumming of my own pulses in my ears. "can you find a mirror?" i asked from the floor. lady glanced vaguely about the room, then came back to me with uncomprehending eyes. "no, i can't see any. what for?" she said dully. i sprang quickly to my feet. a chair lay overturned on the bare white boards of the floor, and i picked it up, setting it near the window. "sit there," i said, "while i rummage," and i drew her to it, half forcing her down into it. she sat very still, mechanically obedient, while i looked around me. it was a strange little room to find in this decaying tenement. on the sill of the single window that gave upon the street blossomed an uneven row of geraniums. one pot had fallen to the floor and lay shattered, the fresh green of its broken plant piteous in a sprawl of scattered earth. the whole place bore evidence of an insistent struggle for the cheerfulness of a home. white, starchy curtains were at the windows; the walls were fairly covered with pictures, colored prints for the most part, and supplements of sunday papers. a bird-cage had hung in one corner, and now lay, cage and bottom fallen apart, upon a muddle of seed and water; and a frightened canary perched upon the leg of a fallen table, blinking in the unsteady flare of the gas. the floor was spotlessly clean, its worn boards white with scrubbing, save where the flower-pot and bird-cage had been overturned, and the dark stain spread from beneath the woman's hair. the whole scene was unnaturally and strangely vivid, all its little details leaping to the eye with the stark brilliance of a flashlight. to the right of the door by which the woman lay was another door, and i crossed over to it. it opened with a squeak, and for a moment i stood looking in. this was evidently the sleeping-room. it held only a washstand, a chest and an iron bedstead; and here, too, an unextinguished gas-jet flared. i stepped in and closed the door behind me, for upon the bed lay another huddled figure. it was a man lying face downward, breathing heavily and evidently very drunk; for the whole place reeked sourly of alcohol. i pulled at his shoulder, turning him half over. for half a minute i held him so, then let him fall back as i had found him. i glanced behind me to be sure that the door was shut. the man on the bed muttered thickly, shifting his position; and something thudded upon the floor, and rolled to my feet. it was a short bit of iron, rather more thick at one end than at the other; and as i turned it over in my hands, it left a stain. somewhere i had seen such an instrument before, but i could not at the moment recall where; and i dropped the thing into my pocket not without some feeling of disgust. a small mirror hung over the washstand. this i hurriedly took down, and as hurriedly left the room, closing the door behind me. lady was still sitting where i had left her, but as i came across the room she got up. "what are you going to do?" she asked. "i'm sure i can help in some way. you were gone a long time, but i waited." "i'll show you in a moment," i said. we talked in whispers as if in the presence of death; and yet i was almost sure that the woman was alive. nevertheless, it was with a great deal of relief that i saw the mirror softly cloud before her lips. "it's all right," i cried. "she's alive." "are you sure?" "absolutely." "oh, thank god!" lady breathed "amen," said i. "what are we to do now?" "what do you think we had better do? is there any water in there?" "there's nothing in there that's of any use," i said quickly. "i should say the first thing would be to send for an ambulance, and the next for the police." "no, no!" lady cried. "whatever is to be done we must do ourselves. i came here to take her away. can't we take her as she is?" "she could be carried down-stairs easily enough," said i, surprised, "but somebody ought to be arrested for this thing. have you any notion who did it?" "her husband, i suppose," answered lady bitterly. "he is like that when he has been drinking. sheila was afraid something would happen when he came back." "sheila?" lady glanced at the figure before us. "that is sheila," she said. "she used to be my nurse." i picked the woman up in my arms. she was heavier than i had thought; not beyond my strength, but more than i could walk with safely down those crazy stairs. "i'll call the chauffeur," i said. "he can help carry her down." "yes; but i'd rather he didn't see this." "he'd see her anyhow, when we brought her down; and we can't do anything for her here. where shall i put her?" "wasn't there a bed in that room?" she asked. "slip off your coat; she will be all right on the floor for a minute." lady took off the long coat and spread it upon the boards, taking sheila's hand in her lap as i laid her down upon it. i raised the little window, and looked down into the street. the car stood there, its lights glaring monstrously down the empty street. "hi!" i called. "you chauffeur! leave the car and come up here." below, a figure detached itself from the shadow of the car. "what, sir?" he shouted up. "come up here; we want you." the man did not answer, and turned back to his car. i watched him angrily, but after a moment he crossed the sidewalk and disappeared in the hall doorway. "i wouldn't blame her husband too surely," i said, as i turned from the window. "i think the man who struck her was an italian." lady started. "what makes you think so?" she asked in a whisper. i shook my head, but did not answer. "never mind," said lady, "but you are right. her husband is an italian." it was my turn to start. "what?" i cried. "was he by any chance also a sailor?" she nodded, frightened eyes upon me. and i wondered what it was all about, for the man lying upon the bed in the inner room was the man whom i had seen at the inn bar, the man who had threatened her father, the man to whom her--her husband had given money. i met the chauffeur in the hall, puffing and evidently disgusted. "a very low quarter, sir. i was afraid for my life below; and this is a dirty, bad-smelling 'ouse, sir." "well," i said, "there is a woman who is sick in here, and miss tabor has come to take her away in the car. you are to help me to carry her down." he sniffed dolefully, and i opened the door, closing it quickly behind him. "mrs. carucci has been hurt," said miss tabor. "you are to help mr. crosby carry her down to the car." the man stared at the woman on the floor. "hurt?" he cried. "mr. crosby said she was ill." he glanced about the clean little room, disordered by the violence that had passed, and shrank back against the wall, white and staring. "what's that?" he pointed to the dark stain near the door. "that," i answered lightly, "is none of your business. suppose you take her feet." the man turned a sick green. "it's blood," he whispered. "it's murder." "nonsense, man; the woman is alive. she fell and hurt her head, that's all. at any rate, we are going to take her where she can be cared for. take her feet. we ought not to leave the car too long." the fellow shook his head. "she is dead," he repeated sullenly. "there has been murder done. i'll have nothing to do with it." miss tabor broke in: "thomas, you heard what mr. crosby said. you are to help him this instant." "i am not," he said. "i have done more and seen more than a decent man should, already. a fine district this is for this hour of the night, with cut-throats asleep in the street and a dead woman lying above. i give notice now, and i go now." "you'll do nothing of the kind," i retorted. "have you no loyalty?" "i am as honest as the next," he answered, "too honest, or i should have gone a month ago. 'tis no place for a decent, quiet man, what with a fly-by-night sawbones living in my garage, and all sorts of strange folks going and coming at the house, and calls at all hours, and lord knows what going on. 'tis no decent place. i'm through right now! for the love of god, what's that?" the sound had startled us all, and it was repeated--a sound betwixt a groan and a growl. i glanced toward the door of the inner room. "my god!" cried thomas. "there's another of them!" he started across the room, but i was before him. i turned the key in the door, and placed my back against it. from within the growls came with greater frequency. the chauffeur stood before me, shaking with the anger of terror. "very well," i said, "you go down to your car and start the engine. i will carry the woman down without you." the man hesitated. "go!" i cried, and took a step forward. he whimpered out an oath, and turning, clattered down the stairs as if the devil were after him. i turned to find lady on her feet, staring at the closed door. "carucci?" she whispered. i nodded, and went over to take up the woman. "wait a minute," cried lady. "we can't leave the bird loose. she thinks everything of him." somehow i did not laugh. "very well," i said, "but be quick," and even as i spoke there came a muttering of italian; the bed creaked, the feet came heavily to the floor. lady stretched out her hand for the bird, but it fluttered off frightened to the geranium plants. a thud came against the locked door, and another drunken mutter of italian. but now lady had the bird safe, and i latched the cage top to its flooring, and held open the door for her capture. "you carry it," i said. "i'll take the woman." we were just in time; for carucci began to realize that he was locked in, and the door shook under his fury. it was a weak-looking door at best, and as we left the room, a lower panel splintered. we fairly ran down-stairs, fearful every moment that the door would not hold long enough; for the whole building seemed to vibrate with the savage uproar above. here and there, as we turned down the dark hall, doors opened, and frightened faces, dull with sleep, looked out. once in the street, i pushed hurriedly through the knot of roughs that had gathered peering and jeering around the car, and tore open the door. "quick! get in!" i cried. lady slipped past me and up the step. "give her to me," she said. i put the woman in gently upon the seat, where lady held her close. then i turned to the chauffeur in a fury, for the engine was not running. he was fumbling at the dash, while the onlookers jostled about him. i shook him angrily. "start it, you fool!" i growled. he shrank away from me. "i'm through, i told you. i'll have nothing to do with mur--" i slapped the word short with a swing of my open hand across his mouth. without a word he turned and elbowed his way through the press behind us. i caught him by the arm. "give me that plug," i said, twisting it from his hand. and as i jammed it into its socket, i heard lady's voice at my shoulder. she was standing on the curb, one hand upon the open door of the car. "can't you make it go?" "it's all right," i shouted, reaching for the spark, "get inside!" and the engine started with a snort and a howl. the crowd had begun to mutter threateningly, and as i sprang for the other side of the car they jostled me back. "murder!" some one shouted hoarsely. "police! police! police!" from far down the block came the regular thud of running feet, and the shrill blast of a whistle; and along with it, a stumbling clatter from the tenement hallway, and carucci, a great smear of blood across his convulsed and swollen face, lurched drunkenly to the sidewalk. chapter x and how we brought home a difficulty it was a matter of seconds. i vaulted over the spare tires into the chauffeur's seat, pulling the throttle open while i felt for my pedals; and as i did so, i heard the door of the limousine slam behind me. a hasty glance over my shoulder showed me that the back of the car was clear. i jerked in the reverse and raised my feet; and with a roar and a stream of blue smoke, the machine swung backward across the street, while i twisted furiously at the wheel. one of the men caught at me as we began to move, but the suddenness of our starting helped the push i gave him to throw him off his balance. he sprawled on his back in the gutter, and an instant later i was in my second speed and half-way up the block. the policeman behind us was firing his revolver; whether at us or our tires or the sky i had no time to guess. and i took the first corner with my heart in my mouth and an empty feeling in my stomach, praying that we might get around it right side up. a shadow ran out from the curb and sprang for the running-board; but my hands and eyes were so busy in front of me that i did not know whether we missed him or ran him down. speed was impossible over the cobbles; our only chance was to take as many turnings as possible to avoid being headed, and for the next few minutes we swayed and slid around treacherous corners through a darkness that was full of shouts and whistlings and gesticulating enemies. i wondered that every blue-coated figure running blindly up the lane of our lights did not stop us, and that at every turning we had neither upset nor skidded into the opposite curb. it was wild work at the best; and considering that i was driving a heavy and unfamiliar car over slimy pavements, i can not understand now how we avoided either accident or capture. but presently the headlights showed a long, dark street, clear of interference. we raced up it at a rate that seemed to loosen every tooth in my head, and numbed my fingers upon the rattling wheel. the noise was fairly behind us. after a couple more turns, it had grown fainter; and i slowed to a saner speed, watching the street lamps for knowledge of my whereabouts. then i became conscious that there was a man beside me in the car. he was huddled in a heap on the floor, between the seat and the dash, hanging on desperately, and crowding himself into the least possible space as if to keep out of sight. as soon as i could spare a hand, i began to pound him over the head and neck. i was in no mood for half measures. he cowered back on to the running-board, shielding himself with an arm and turning up an absurd and ugly face of terror. it was our highly respectable chauffeur. "oh, for god's sake, don't, sir!" he croaked, shrinking back out of reach. "i won't interfere with you nor nothing. i'll get out as soon as we get fair away. only i'd ha' been took up sure, sir, and there's me character gone." "get into that seat and keep still," i said, "or you'll have us all taken up. get in, i tell you." he crawled into the seat, shaking and protesting. there were tears in his voice, and i think actually in his eyes. "do you know your way out of this?" i demanded. "no, sir. i haven't a notion. i'll get out and ask." he was apparently too frightened to know his own mind, but i had made up mine. he was better with us than wandering about the city, telling murder stories. "stay where you are," i snapped, "you'll go home with us, and keep your head shut." "oh, i can't think of it, sir. we'll never get home after this. i'll get out here. it's murder and resisting arrest and endangering traffic. they'll have me an accomplice." i caught at his collar as he tried to stand up, and jerked him back into the seat. before he could make another move, i had shut off and got my right hand on the revolver. i held it across my knees under the wheel, and slipped the holster off it. "you're going to sit still and keep quiet," i said, "and you're going wherever we go. do you understand?" he sat like a graven image after that, with no sound but an occasional sniff. i slid the revolver between me and the edge of the seat, and we went on. he might have known that i should never have dared to use it; but either he was too shaken and stupid to put himself in my place, or he lacked the nerve to try me. all this time we had been working westward as fast as the rough going and my divided attention would allow. now and then some one shouted after us. but it was still dark and we were soon out of sight around a corner, and the few policemen who concerned themselves with us at all did not trouble themselves to whistle up a hue and cry. presently the black bulk of the elevated gave me my bearings, and i turned north under it, running along the car tracks. the lights and the scattered traffic, and the occasional roaring of a train overhead, seemed curiously homelike and comfortable. i felt as if i were waking out of a nightmare. we crossed over to union square and hurried carefully through civilization. i was afraid of fifth avenue; even at this hour, too many of the guardians of the peace there were provided with better means of speed than their own feet; and i did not like the attention we still seemed to attract, now that we were safe away from our original trouble and running at an ordinary rate. madison avenue was decently asleep; and its empty length must have tempted me to unreasonable speed, for the few people we passed stopped to stare, and call after us unmeaningly. i expected every moment to meet a mounted policeman, and held myself ready to slow down or take a sudden corner; but none appeared, and i turned into the leafy darkness of central park with a sigh of relief. i was more than a little anxious for the safety of my passengers within. i stopped in the deepest shade i could find, and clambered out. lady's face was at the door almost before i could open it. "are you all right?" she panted. i could see only her eyes and the outline of her face like a white shadow. "yes; are you?" she laughed nervously. "i'm as well as when we started, and sheila is better. she has come to herself now. can you find some water? i have a flask here." "there are fountains all along these drives. we'll run ahead until we come to one of them." as i spoke, there was a thud behind me, and a quick patter of running feet. the excellent thomas had taken advantage of my forgetfulness to break for liberty. he was out of sight almost before i turned; and he had been thoughtful enough to throw the revolver away as he jumped. "i'm a clever idiot," i said ruefully, "your chauffeur has been trying to desert all along, and now he's done it." "but you were driving, yourself. what difference does it make?" "i was thinking of what he might say," said i. "but for that matter, i suppose i have got you into a newspaper scrape anyhow, if nothing worse. every policeman on the east side must have our number." "i was just going to ask you about that," said lady, with a queer little crow in her voice. "perhaps we had better carry this outside now." she felt about her feet and handed me a muddy strip of metal. "i took this off while you were starting the car. and i put out that red lantern thing, too." for an instant i forgot doctor reid and all the mountain of impossibility that lay between us. she had always been more than other women. and now she was that rarest thing of all, a comrade ready in a moment of need. i reached out my hand, as if she had been a man. "you're a miracle," i said, "and i'm not half good enough to be your lieutenant. good work." there was a broken whisper from the darkness within. "the water," said lady, "we're forgetting sheila." i replaced our number, lighted the tail-lamp, and a little farther on found a drinking fountain and got the water. mrs. carucci was able to speak only a few words of unsteady thanks; but that was enough to make me fall in love with the crooning voice of her. we pushed on out of town without any further adventure; and on the open roads off to the northward were free to make the most of our speed. the night slowly faded, not as if any light were coming, but as if the darkness itself were growing faint and weak. the roadside trees were still mysterious bulks against remoter gloom, but their blackness now gave a dull hint of green and the yellow glare of our lamps grew washed out and lifeless. the crowing of cocks, reiterated from place to place, sounded fictitious and unnatural. the air chilled a little and here and there we ran through a momentary blindness of mist, as if a small cloud had fallen to drift along the surface of the earth. i sat back half drowsily, with relaxed nerves; and although i had no desire for sleep, although i never loosened my hands upon the wheel, nor took my eyes for a second from the wavering end of the ribbon of light that unwound itself continually toward me, yet i felt somehow unreal and very peaceful, without will or memory, like a person in a dream. the car obeyed me without my being conscious of any movement, as if i guided it by my mere volition. slowly the pallor around me changed from green to gray; the air freshened as the stars went out; and the twitter of birds and the scattered barking of dogs underran the unvarying, inevitable drumming of the engine. that sound itself dried and hardened in the keener atmosphere. and in the pleasure of the perfect power under me, i let the car out nearly to the limit of its speed, until the sidelong sway of the body warned me that i was driving too fast for the road. we passed a milk wagon or two and an occasional early trolley. then came the dawn, so swiftly that it was full day of sunlight and shadow before i thought to look for color in the east. somehow it did not seem like morning, but like coming out of a curtained house into the midst of afternoon. it was part of this same strangeness that i only felt the exhilaration of the present without any thought of trouble that lay before me and behind. i was a conquering hero, carrying my princess home in triumph out of the castle of the enchanter. i had overcome desperate accidents and won my spurs; this page of the fairy-tale bore a picture in shining colors, and i knew of neither the last page nor the next. it was in this mood that i passed, unheeding, through the gathering familiarity of nearer landmarks, past the inn and up the winding hill, and drew up at last before the tabors' door with some vague fancy that i should hear a trumpet blown. i suppose that i was unconsciously very tired and in part asleep, so that it came upon me with the shock of a violent awakening when the front door swung open and mr. tabor hurried out to meet us, followed by doctor reid. the fairy-tale burst like a bubble, and the actuality of all that those two men stood for in my last few days and all the days to come drowned me in a breath. i got down mechanically to help them. i suppose we must have spoken a few words while lady was getting out of the car and mrs. carucci was helped down and half-carried into the house between the two men. but i do not remember. i remember only the three figures in the doorway, the drooping woman, with their arms about her. then the door closed, and lady stood alone upon the steps above me. her eyes were larger for the shadows under them; but there was no bloom upon her, and i wondered why i had thought her really beautiful. "i'll take the car around and leave it," i said. "good-by." "you're a strange man," she muttered; then with her sudden smile, "aren't you coming in to breakfast? you've had an adventure, and you ought to be hungry." her tone jarred. "never mind that," i said bitterly. "i was to go this morning, and i'm going. there's still plenty of time for my train. the sooner it's over with, the better." "what do you mean?" she asked. "mean? i mean what you told me--and one thing more, i understand now what you meant yesterday, because i found your marriage notice in an old paper." "what marriage notice? i don't understand." "yours; on the twenty-sixth of may three years ago, to doctor reid. that's all. i beg your pardon." the color came back into her face; and under the trouble of her brows i thought she almost smiled. "that was my sister," she said quietly. "my name's margaret; i thought you knew." chapter xi expressions of the family and impressions of the press with that, all the strangeness of the day, all the feeling of moving in an unnatural world which had hung about me since the dawn, blew away like the shadow of smoke. it was a summer morning of breezes and cool lights, garrulous with innumerable birds; and i was standing with my feet upon solid earth, glad beyond measure for the knowledge that i was a fool. the very idea of it had been absurd; and best of all, there were still things to be done. "god be thanked," said i to lady. she smiled down at me very sweetly. "so much as that? it doesn't sound as if you appreciated walter, mr. crosby. i can easily imagine a worse husband myself." "i don't mean that," said i hastily. "at least--" "at least you may as well come in to breakfast." "i should say he might," mr. tabor cried behind her. "i have sheila safely stowed away, and now i must make sure of you." i must have looked nearly as puzzled as i felt. "you see, mr. crosby, i owe you an apology. you helped us out of a tight place last night, and we are deeply in your debt; your coals of fire are upon all our heads." "but--" i said, and hesitated. "'but;' but that's what i say. i owe you an apology. we fired you out the other night because we had to. we had something going on here then which we did not care to have a stranger mixed up in. we had every regard for you--but, after all, you were an outsider, and we simply could not risk you. so we threw you out. you understand that i am speaking to you now in confidence, and because i take you to be a gallant gentleman. neither can i explain. of course, the explanation i did give you was a sheer bit of bluff. i know nothing against you whatever; but you forced me into saying something, and that was the most effective thing i could think of to say to a man of your kind. believe me, i hated to do it. will you shake hands?" by that time i had got my breath again. "i will do more," i said laughingly. "i will congratulate you. you are one of the ablest and most convincingly finished--a--" "liars," he prompted. "that i ever had the privilege of meeting," i concluded unblushingly. mr. tabor clapped me on the shoulder. "thank you. i am honored. we shall get along very well, i promise you. lady, lead the way where breakfast waits; this low fellow and i will follow." so the three of us made a very comfortable meal. mrs. tabor was not at table, and i supposed her breakfasting in bed, if indeed she were awake; and doctor reid, it appeared, was yet busy with his patient. we told mr. tabor our adventure, turn and turn about, and i found myself listening to lady's warm praise of what she was pleased to call my resource, with a tingling at the heart-strings. when we had done, and mr. tabor had listened very carefully, he sat frowning before him for a while; and i thought that he saw more in the recital than did we ourselves. "well," he said at last. "i suppose all's well that ends well; but i do hope that it has all ended. are you quite sure, mr. crosby, that nobody got a look at you or lady or the car who would be likely to have mind enough to give the affair clearly to the newspapers?" "i'm pretty sure of it, sir," i answered. "the only people who got a good look at anything were the little group of the usual slum roughs; and from their general air and the hour of the night, the probability is that there wasn't one of them that was not pretty well befuddled." "how about the police?" "i didn't get a good look at the police myself; but i think that we were too fast for them. you see, miss tabor had the number off, and we started with considerable speed. they may have a general idea of the car, but i think that is about all." "i wonder what carucci will do?" mused miss tabor. "he looked rather unpleasant on the sidewalk." "he will have to say something," i said uneasily. "he couldn't have careened around there very long without falling into the hands of the police; and they would certainly arrest him. they usually arrest everybody in sight when one person has got away and they don't know quite what the trouble is." mr. tabor nodded. "yes, they doubtless have him safe behind the bars by now; but i don't think that will hurt us any. personally, i can imagine no place where i should rather have him, unless it were far upon or under the deep blue sea." "but, father dear, that is terrible. if they have him in jail, he will have to talk, and he will be blamed for that poor wrecked room and everything. he'll have to give some explanation to save himself; and he must know that we are the only people that would be likely to come for sheila in an automobile." "the italian, my dear, is not that breed of man. we may be very glad for once that he is an italian. there is only about one thing in the world that a man of his race and class will not do--and that is, talk to the police. it is part of his faith not to. he will either invent some all-enfolding lie that tells nothing whatsoever, or else he will not say a word." "but he must have struck her _with_ something," said lady. "suppose they should find _that_, father. he'd have to tell them to save himself." i slipped my hand into my pocket. "i don't think they will find it," said i, and showed the thing above the table. lady shuddered, and i quickly returned it to my pocket. "just what you would expect," said mr. tabor, "and if you had left it, i am afraid carucci would have had some difficulty in explaining things. a marlinespike, isn't it? poor sheila was really very fortunate that he didn't stab her with the sharp end. a stab would have been more in his line--the beast. as it is, i don't believe the police will ever find out any of the truth of the matter." "well, even if they do," said i, "it won't do any great amount of harm. they might arrest me for speeding, but that would be about all. no one in his senses would be likely to accuse us of murder." "my good young man," mr. tabor answered, "they absolutely mustn't dream that we had any hand in it at all. they mustn't even hear of us. and neither must anybody else." lady sighed wearily. "i'm sure that it will be all right, father," she said. "the chauffeur will be quiet for the sake of his own character," i added. "he's as anxious to avoid any connection with it as we are. and as for me, sir, you may be sure that nothing shall leak out through any indiscretion of mine." mr. tabor pushed aside his finger-bowl. "i understand that, mr. crosby--and i appreciate how uncomfortable it must be for you to act in the dark. believe me, i regret very much the necessity for it, and appreciate your generosity." lady was looking at us, and i colored. "i'm very much at your service, mr. tabor," i said. "you may perhaps wonder what this italian has to do with us at all. that, at least, i can tell you. he was a sailor on one of my ships in years past, and when the girls were--" he paused. "when lady was a little girl, you understand, we took quite a voyage for mrs. tabor's health. sheila was lady's nurse--and a very pretty slip of an irish lass she was. naturally we took her along, and the rest is one of those whimsies of fate that you can never explain. this carucci fell in love with her; what attracted _her_ was more than any one of us could imagine, but at any rate she married him. married him as soon as we got back to new york. well, after that things gradually went wrong. the man got a taste for drink, which is unusual--the italians aren't a drunken people--and although i kept him on against my captain's advice for sheila's sake, in the end i had to let him go. from time to time, when there has been trouble, we have taken sheila into our family to give the poor woman some protection, though her loyalty makes it pretty hard to do much for her. carucci, however, resents our interference, and pretends that we force her from him. he is becoming very troublesome." mr. tabor had lighted a cigar, puffing it slowly throughout his story. he talked very easily; and i was ashamed of myself for wondering whether he was telling all the truth. perhaps my encounter with him had made me suspicious, but i could not forget that doctor reid had given carucci money. i felt uncomfortable; and with the mental discomfort, i realized that i had been through a sleepless and violent night, and that i was very tired. i must have shown some shadow of this sudden weariness, for lady rose from her chair decidedly and stretched out her hand. "now you must go back to your room and get some sleep, mr. crosby. you can come back this evening if you like--we should have the evening papers by then, and we shall see how much notice has been taken of us." "oh, i'm all right," i protested. "you are tired out," said lady, "i know. i'm tired myself, and i--" she stopped, flushing. her father was looking at us with half a frown, and it was to him that i turned. "well, then, i'm off," said i, "but i'll be back to help you dissect the associated press." i had not thought that i could sleep during the day, or even rest, except from worry. but the strain, and perhaps even more, the relief of the last twenty-four hours, must have relaxed me more than i knew; for i did sleep soundly until late in the afternoon. when i returned to the tabors in the evening, mrs. tabor was still invisible; and the others were seated about the big lamp in the living-room, busy over a bale of last editions. the floor was strewn with open sheets from which wild pictures and wilder words stared upward. "come in and be thrilled," was lady's greeting. "you're an unknown slayer and a mysterious criminal. we seem to be sufficiently notorious, but thus far we remain unidentified." "outrageous, the tone of these things," growled her father. "i never realized it before. they haven't got our names, though." as for doctor reid, his mind was so concentrated upon the matter in hand that he barely looked up for a mechanical salutation and plunged again into the abyss of journalism. "how is mrs. tabor?" i said, "and mrs. carucci--is she badly hurt?" "oh, mother's perfectly well. she was tired a little after sitting up for us, and went to bed early, that's all. and sheila is doing splendidly." doctor reid came abruptly to the surface. "fine. fine. very rapid recovery. blow only glanced along the bone. no fracture, no concussion. strong vitality, too. astonishing what resistance those unhygienic people have. soon be all over it." "look here," lady broke in, "here's a bird's-eye view of the tenement house, with--no, it's an x-ray view, the walls are transparent. 'arrow points to room in which mrs. carucci was discovered; cross marks location of blood-stain; inner room with disordered bed; dotted line shows how the body was carried down-stairs.' see, they've got little pictures of us carrying her down, on each floor. and here's the automobile starting away with me leaning out of the window." "and vignettes of carucci and the policeman, and a fancy sketch of sheila," said i. "like those early italian paintings, where they have two or three successive scenes on one canvas." "this is about the fullest account, too. it's pretty nearly all here, except who we are. 'carucci is in custody.' do you suppose they interviewed him?" "i doubt it," said her father. "it was probably the tenants and the men in the street." "listen to this," put in doctor reid, with an indignant snort. "outrageous, the flippant way this sheet takes everything. send a clever young ignoramus to write up important surgical cases. poke fun at every thing. listen: "'antonio carucci is a true son of neptune, born, as his name implies, under the shadow of vesuvius. he goes down to the sea in ships; and, like all good mariners since old noah himself, returns with a throat parched by many days of briny breezes. last night, being new landed from a long cruise, giuseppe sought solace in flowing flagons of chianti, until, when he tacked through the breakers of river street toward the beacon light which his lass kept ever burning in her wifely window, he had almost forgotten his own name amid the rosy aromas of his national potation. arrived at his domicil, geronimo fell into a deep sleep, with a sinuous string of spaghetti clasped firmly in his corded hand; and as he slept, he dreamed a dream,' then it goes on to treat the whole affair as a hallucination, distorting or evading all the facts. ridiculous account. rubbish. perfect rubbish." "at least, it can do us no harm," said mr. tabor, while lady and i exchanged mirthful glances. "the more the whole affair is belittled, the less danger there is of any serious gossip or investigation. what i don't like is this sort of thing." he crumpled a red and black page across his knee. "there is no substance in it, but it might stir up trouble. "'last night the perpetrators of a brutal and mysterious crime escaped without a struggle. "'they abducted a poor woman, a wife and mother, from her home. they left behind them destruction and a red stain upon the threshold. "'how did these wretches escape? why were they not apprehended? "'the answer is simple: they were rich. "'a swift automobile awaited them. the police were powerless to stop them as they sped away. "'if a poor laboring man, crazed by sorrow, commits a crime, the utmost rigor of the law awaits him. he can not purchase a great machine to speed his flight. "'neither can he purchase the machinery of justice, the skill of eminent lawyers, the shifts and delays of appeal. he must pay the penalty. "'but the rich man pays only his myrmidons. the dastards who committed last night's atrocity vanished behind a cloud of gold. "'shall we permit these things to be so? shall we allow the wealthy to avoid those punishments which we impose upon the poor? _this means you._ "'they deem themselves already secure; but though they exhaust every device of plutocracy, they shall be brought to justice in the end. "'we say to them, _we know you, and we will find you yet_.'" "that sounds threatening," i said. "but, after all, isn't it just as empty as the rest? people read that same shriek three hundred and sixty-five days in the year, and nothing much ever happens. do you think there will actually be any extra search because of that?" "i'm not so sure," mr. tabor answered. "it may not matter to the police, but the paper itself is quite capable of seeking us out. indeed, i think we are really most likely to have trouble, not from the authorities, but from reporters." "that's it," reid added. "you've put your finger on it. that's what we've got to look out for. reporters." "but what can they do?" asked lady. "suppose some reporter comes here; we won't tell him anything, and nobody else has anything to tell." "my dear child, you haven't the slightest idea what a newspaper investigation means. if they once get a hint of who we are we shall have a dozen men and women here, questioning everybody in sight--the neighbors, the servants--trying in every possible way to get at something which can be made to look sensational, and printing conjectures if they can't find facts." "besides," said doctor reid, "the poking and prying would be just as bad as the publicity. let's look at the case: 'tisn't that we're trying to conceal a specific fact; we're trying to avoid gossip, trying to avoid appearing in any way unusual, trying to seem like other people. we are like other people, except--well, now, here's the situation. three points: first, we mustn't be bothered by the police; secondly, we mustn't get into the papers; thirdly, we mustn't be investigated or talked about." "we're tolerably safe from the first," said i, "if mr. tabor is right." "good. safe from the first. then we'll pass right on to the next. now let's see what the papers will try to do. their whole purpose--" the tiny tinkle of a bell rippled from overhead. reid was on his feet in a flash and started for the door, lady following. i had risen, too, startled at the tense faces of the rest. "don't you come, father dear," she said, turning for an instant in the doorway. "it's probably only for sheila. we'll call if we need you." i heard their careful footsteps on the stairs. mr. tabor had settled back into his chair, the paper lying on his knee, his head forward, and the muscles of his neck rigid with listening. somehow in the sharp sidelong light he looked much older than i had seen him: more conquerable, more marked by time and trial; and with the listless hands and deep eyes of his night's unrest went a strange look of being physically lighted and less virile than the formidable old man i had begun to know. and as the noiseless minutes went by i grew presumptuously sorry for him. after a little he relaxed himself with an evident effort and turned to me with his careful smile. "a family man gets very fussy, mr. crosby," he said. "you learn so many things outside yourself to worry about." "hadn't i better go and leave you all free?" i asked. "it's getting time, anyway." "i wish you'd stay," he growled, "it's easier to wait when there are two." i sat down again and tried to talk; but neither of us could keep any movement in the conversation. we fell into long silences, through which the weight of the silent anxiety above pressed down like a palpable thing. at last lady's voice called softly, and we rose. "don't tell me anything," i said, as i opened the front door, "but if i can be of any earthly use, i will." "thank you, mr. crosby," he answered, shaking my hand slowly, "i know that." chapter xii an amateur man-hunt wherein my own position is somewhat anxious sheila herself opened the door for me. "you're mr. crosby, i suppose," she said, with that elusive reminiscence of a brogue that may not be put into words. "sure, i'm obliged to you. an awful weight i must have been." "you were no feather," i grinned. "where is miss tabor?" "she's in the library, sir, with a young gentleman. there's a letter here for you, sir." she pointed to a mail-strewn table near the door. sure enough there was one--from bob ainslie, i judged, by the scrawled address. a young gentleman in the library--who on earth could he be, and what did the fellow want? "i've been three days finding you, you see," he was saying, "but i guess there's no doubt i've got you right. now, i don't want to make any trouble--" the rest of the sentence was too low to hear. i had been ripping absently at the letter, and now i glanced down at it. then i stared with startled eyes and turned over the envelop to re-read the address. it was a dirty envelop, of the same shape as my own which still lay upon the table, and addressed not to me, but to mr. tabor. i carefully replaced the single sheet and as carefully stowed the whole in an inner pocket. it seemed a matter for mr. tabor's eyes alone. lady's voice came clearly through the curtained door. i thought it sounded a little strained. "mr. maclean, i don't see why you should come to me at all about this matter. if we have a dark green automobile, so have ten thousand people. and your story of millionaire kidnappers on an errand of violence is hardly the kind of thing--if this is a joke, it seems to me in very poor taste." "it won't quite do, miss tabor," the man answered. "'tisn't a joke, and maybe the best thing you can do is to be frank with me." "what am i to be frank about? you see, mr. maclean, the last man that came in to talk frankly wanted to sell us silver polish. excuse me, but you have really nothing to sell, have you?" he laughed, humorously embarrassed. "why, no. at least, i don't want to sell you anythin'. don't you sometimes call yourself lady?" "mr. maclean!" "i only mean," he hurried on, "that i found your telegram on the floor. 'coming for you in the car,' you said. honestly, don't you think we're wastin' time?" lady gave a little cry, and with two strides i was at the door and had jerked aside the curtain. "if this fellow is annoying you--" i began. the two were standing before me, lady leaning back against the table as if at bay. the man was taller than i, and thin with vibrant energy. he turned half about at my voice. "jumping june-bugs!" he cried airily. "it's crosby!" "no other, mac," i laughed. "what in the world are you ragging miss tabor about?" maclean blushed. "see here, laurie," he stammered, "i'm a newspaper man, you see? what's more, i'm thought by some to be a good one. i've got the goods on this story, and you people ought to come across. it won't hurt you any. were you the cheese that lugged the murdered scrubess down three flights of stairs?" lady looked at me imploringly. but the cat was so far out of the bag by now that i had to use my judgment. "i was," i answered. "what are you going to make out of it?" "now you're talkin'. tell me the story." "not for publication," said i, with a glance at lady, "because there's no story to publish. in the first place, you're barking up the right tree, but it's a mighty little one. in the second place, i've fallen so low as to be an assistant professor with a dignified reputation. neither miss tabor nor i is going to be head-lined to make a journalistic holiday; and if we were, you wouldn't write it." maclean gnawed a bony knuckle, and pondered. "darn you," he said. "beg your pardon, miss tabor--i s'pose i can't, after that. but you'll admit i had the goods. i don't see how i can go back with nothing. they send me out on these things because i generally make good, you see?" "your imagination always was your greatest charm. get to work, and use it. miss tabor, this human gimlet is 'stride' maclean. let me give him a decent introduction: he probably slighted the matter. this gentleman, for he was a gentleman before he became a star reporter, had the honor to belong to my class, and he sings a beautiful tenor. naturally he was popular; he may even have friends yet. we'll tell him all about it, and then perhaps we'll drown him. one crime more or less matters little to people of our dye." maclean scowled at me and laughed. "well, it all amounts to this. first, nobody has been murdered--as yet!" and i frowned at him. "secondly, nobody has been kidnapped; lastly, it isn't a story, unless you are on the comic supplement. this mrs. carucci used to be miss tabor's nurse, and when antonio beats her up too frequent, she comes up here for a vacation. well, we were late going for her because the car broke down; so when we got there, he had just smitten her over the brow and retired to a well-earned slumber. then the neighbors got inquisitive, and we ran away to escape precisely that immediate fame you were planning to give us. that's all. i will only add that branderine revived this wash-lady and we can prove it." "oh, fudge," said maclean, "i can't write anything out of that at all. we had it before, all but you people. i hate to go back without a story, too." the front door clicked, and i heard mr tabor's voice in the hall. "wait a minute," i said, with a sudden inspiration, "perhaps i can dig up another story for you. but i'll have to see mr. tabor first." i found mr. tabor in his study, glooming over a paper. "what is it?" he asked, half rising. "is anything the matter?" "i don't know," i said. "i opened a letter of yours by mistake, and it looked as if i had better bring it to you myself." he took the dirty envelop gingerly, and drew out the inclosure. across the top was a badly drawn human hand smudged in with lead-pencil. below this ran an almost illegible scrawl. "_if yu dont giv her back she wil be taken._" "what on earth does that mean?" i asked. mr. tabor knit his white brows. "it begins to look as though carucci had been let out of jail for want of proof against him. evidently he is going into the black hand business. i suppose a demand for money will come next." "but who is 'her'--his wife?" "of course," he answered quickly. "who else could it possibly be?" then, more thoughtfully, "i don't like the fellow around, but i hardly see how to get rid of him. we can't appear in court against him; and money would only make him want more." "mr. tabor," i said, "there's a man named maclean in the other room, who went to college with me. he is a reporter--" "a _what_?" "a reporter. he found miss tabor's telegram--we were careless not to have looked for it--and that gave him enough to work on until he found us. however, you needn't have any uneasiness about him. he has promised me not to use the story." "good, crosby, very good. well, what about him?" "i only thought, sir, that if he would help me, we might be able to find carucci, and scare the life out of him so that he will keep away. he can't be certain that he hasn't killed his wife, and we can threaten him with that. if he's out of jail, you certainly don't want him about. and maclean would help, i think, for the story in it. i'm sure that we could trust him not to bring us in." "very well. suppose that you try your hand at it. only you mustn't go to making inquiries that will mix us up in the matter." "i'll be careful, sir," i answered. when i spread the note out before mac he sniffed and wrinkled his nose. "well?" i said. "nothin'. there ain't any black hand. it's all dope. just a signature that any dago uses, like 'unknown friend.'" "you ought to know," said i, "but here we are with this man hanging around. take it or leave it. i should think there might be a story in it merely from his side, now that you can really connect him with the assault. anyhow, i'm going after him." "all right," mac said, "i'm with you. good afternoon, miss tabor." "good-by," she called after us; and i thought that she watched us from the window. we pursued a trolley car and settled down panting on the rear seat. maclean lay back in a meditative silence, his hands thrust deep into his trousers pockets, his shoulders hunched forward and his hat on the back of his head, staring before him where his feet loomed up in the distance. at the inn he suddenly straightened himself and slid off the car. "i thought we were going up to town?" i said as i followed. he glowered hollowly at me above a cavernous grin. "we are. but not in those flannels or that nice new college rah-rah shirt. we'd have the whole place wonderin' what you wanted, and the mothers showin' their little ones how a real gentleman ought to look." "but you're respectable enough," i protested, laughing. "are we both going to be disguised?" "disguise nothin'. you just want to cut out the comedy-chorus-man, you see? put on a jersey, or anyhow a collar that don't meet in the middle, an' old shoes. me, i look low-life anyway." i rebelled when he rolled my gray suit into a ball and jumped on it, in the interest of realism. but at last we got started. on the car, mac unfolded his plan of campaign. "this guinea didn't put the cops on, because he wanted to get you himself, you see? he's out for the money--the mazume. so he beats it up here and drops tabor a love-letter. _but_, he's just out of the jug, you see? an' he knows the force'll watch out for him. so he'll mix up with a lot of other dagoes, an' maybe get a job daytimes, so's to have an excuse for bein' here. well, he don't love work, but he does love booze; an' he gets through at five p. m. with an awful thirst. so we'll hunt for him first where they sell the demon rum." he dived into the police station, leaving me standing outside, and presently emerged with the lust of the hunter in his eye. "i've located every cheap red-eye emporium in our beautiful little city. now you spot all the fruit stores an' shoeblacks an' guinea grocers we pass, an' we'll take them later." "you'll have to be careful how you inquire after him," i said. "i ain't. i'm lookin' for his cousin, giuseppe, that looks like him. blue, an' hairy, an' tattoo-marks on his hands, you said. come on." we went through two or three saloons, where maclean loitered what seemed to me an unconscionable time, weaving into an elaborate discussion of things in general, some curiosity as to the whereabouts of an italian debtor whose name and personal affairs varied surprisingly without in the least altering his description. i knew that mac had an inventive genius, but i was astonished at its fertility of detail. "i didn't expect anythin' in those joints," he confided, as we pushed through a swinging door. "they're a peg too good for him. i just wanted to hear myself talk, an' get up my speed. now, this place looks better. you take seltzer after this, or a cigar. their snake-medicine'd poison you. me, i'm immune." it was low-ceiled and smoky, and full of large cuspidors and small tables. the bottles were fewer, and glittered with gilt ornamentation, like the bottles in a barber shop. a veil of dingy mosquito netting protected the mirrors. the bartender was blue-shaven and deliberate, with a neat trick of sliding bottles and glasses, without upsetting them, several feet along the dark, dull surface of the bar. "giovanni scalpiccio been in to-night?" mac asked casually, after ten minutes of excise problems and the pure food law. "if he has, he ain't left his visiting-card," returned the bartender. "what do you think i am--delegate from the organ-grinders' union? i don't keep tab on every i-talian dago that comes into the place. what kind of a lookin' feller is he?" "i don't know. they all look alike to me. oh, a monkey-faced guy, all tattooed--works up the line here a little. his wife owes me on a sewin'-machine. told me he was down here." "seems to me i seen that feller," the bartender reflected. "talks all chokey, don't he? yes, he was in to-night, about half an hour ago. made an argument becuz i wouldn't hang him up--if that's him." i waited, shuffling with impatience, while maclean bought cigars and slowly changed the subject. then i burst out of doors so hurriedly that i collided with two harmless-looking individuals who were coming in. "what shall we do now?" i demanded. "take a cigarette instead o' that simsbury cabbage, an' cool off. if it's our guinea, he's huntin' free drinks all up the street. we'll run into him the next two or three places, somewhere." in the next we drew a blank, but in the one after that we learned that our man had just left; and to my disgust, were forced to listen to a circumstantial account of his pleas and expedients in quest of liquor on credit. i was more certain than ever that it was carucci himself, and hurried mac on to the next saloon. to my surprise, he led the way to a table in the farthest corner and sat down with his back to the door. "you look here, laurie," he muttered, leaning across the table as the bartender went back for our order. "there's more doing in this than we're wise to. did you see those two ginks that we ran into in the door back there?" "no," said i, "what about them?" "well, that's what little mac wants to know, the first thing he does. they're after the same dago, or else they're after us, you see? every joint we've been in, those two float along after a couple of minutes, all cagey, not seein' anybody. an' they look like guineas themselves. there they come now." he spoke without turning his head, and i looked past him at the two men entering the room. they were small, sallow, and respectable, one of them decidedly fat; and they looked to me like small italian tradesmen in their sunday or traveling clothes. they stood at the bar, talking between themselves with rapid speech and gesture, and paying not the smallest attention to us. they did not even glance around the room, so absorbed were they in their own conversation. "you're crazy," said i, "they don't even know we're here." "all right. maybe you think i've covered police stuff five years without knowin' when i'm being gum-shoed. i've seen that fat bologna before, somewhere, too. i ain't after a martyr's crown. now, i tell you what you do. you pike out an' go back to that first place where we got the scent, an' wait around till i come. if they follow you there, you duck for the busy street, an' go home. if they don't i'll be along myself pretty quick. i want to know who they're after, you see?" "what do you think they are?" "i don't think yet: i'm goin' to know. now you beat it--an' for heaven's sake, jolly the barkeep for all you know how, an' try not to look as if you were wanted for arson." i obeyed, wondering if maclean's instinct for sensation had got the better of him. the two men took no notice whatever as i passed them, but went on with their talk. i heard enough to gather that they were discussing the price of butter. yet, despite my skepticism, i walked up the street with something the sensation of having just passed a small boy with an ominous snowball. the other saloon was fairly crowded, and it was some minutes before i found myself drinking a very evil beer. "say," said the bartender, sliding my change down to me, "you're the guy that asked about the guinea, ain't yer?" "why, my friend was," i said carelessly. "has he been back? he owes him for a--" "that'll do all right to tell." he leaned across the bar, dropping his voice, "the reason i asked yer's because there's two other fellers after him, too. guess _they_ sold him a grand piano, likely." he moved along to attend to other customers, leaving me staring excitedly about the room. a moment later, he came back again, swabbing the bespattered bar with a towel. as he passed me without a look, he turned his thumb over and motioned, as if the gesture were part of his work, toward the corner by the door. there sat the two little men at a table, still absorbed in discussion. my throat became suddenly dry. i had started out hunting with the hounds to find myself running with the hare; and the notion of being shadowed by unknown italians was more melodramatic than agreeable. with a confused memory of all the detective stories i had ever read seething in my mind i lounged toward the door, gained the street, and started off on a run. i turned the first corner, ran half way down the block, then walked quietly back. the two men were nowhere to be seen. as i stood on the corner, one of them, the thinner one, came slowly out of the saloon, pausing to light a cigarette, and strolled casually away from me up the street. it seemed impossible that he had any interest in me, but i would be sure. i followed carefully after him for half a dozen blocks. he neither looked around nor altered his pace in the least; and where we crossed the car tracks, i stood and watched him go steadily on out of sight. then i jumped on a passing car, congratulating myself on having carried out my instructions, even though they had been rather unnecessary. and on the outskirts of the town, i stepped off to wait for my own car. just as it turned the corner, some one touched me on the arm. "pardon; have you a match?" i swallowed my heart down again with a gulp. the fat italian scratched the match on his shoe, and breathed a soft cloud of smoke. "thank you, sare. now tell me," he took me confidentially by the elbow, "w'at is it you want with antonio carucci?" my car was passing. "i never heard of him," said i as blankly as i could. "you've got the wrong man." "excuse me, sare. no mistake at all." he smiled deprecatingly. the car was almost beyond reach. "all right," i said. "come in here, and if you can show any right to ask, i'll tell you." then, as we turned together toward the hotel behind us, i flung him on his face with a sudden wrench, and sprinted after the car. as i clung gasping on the back platform, i heard a shout, and saw him following at a waddling run, waving his arm angrily. the car stopped; and for a sickening instant, i thought that my last device had been in vain. but at that moment a couple of men ran from the sidewalk behind my pursuer and caught him by the coat. the three stood in the middle of the street, wrangling and gesticulating; and the conductor, with a disgusted jerk of the bell, started the car again. later in the evening, maclean called me up on the telephone. "say, you made a pretty good getaway for an amateur. did you see us stop your fat friend?" "what? was that you?" "sure was it; me and the other one. now listen. hello! can you hear? those two parties are plain-clothes men after the other party. that's what they let him out for, to watch him, you see? i'm with 'em now. you people better just lie as low as you can, and do nothin' at all, if you want to keep out of it. and if i get wise to anythin' i'll call you up. good-by." and his receiver went up with a cluck. chapter xiii the presence in the room "i wonder how we shall come out of it all," said lady. she was sitting at the big dining-table before a treasury of bowls and vases, with a many-colored heap of cut flowers reflected from the polished wood and the drops and splashes of spilled water. in the open window, sheila's canary was whistling merrily down a deep shaft of sunlight; and from the garden outside came the purr of a lawn-mower and the cool freshness of new-cut grass. across the still dimness of the house behind us, the further windows gave upon squares of blinding green. mr. tabor and the doctor had gone to the city upon some business of our common defense. the house hung sleepily at the heart of the hot forenoon, very quiet and open; overhead, sheila was shuffling about, with a crooning of soft irish minors. "it seems to be just a case of waiting," said i, "but the newspaper excitement is blowing over already, and we can trust maclean to keep us clear. as for the detectives, if they arrest carucci again so much the better, provided we don't appear in it. he'd be no more likely to talk then, than before." "i wonder if we can trust mr. maclean." "i'm rather sure of mac," i said. "it isn't that exactly; i'm not doubting your friend; but even so, he knows--knows absolutely that we were involved in that new york disturbance the other night. think of all we did to keep you from even suspecting something far less exciting. and he's a reporter after all, and in no way one of us. of course he's honorable, but--he's working up the carucci side of it. i'm afraid of what he may bring out, perfectly removed from us in itself, but that might suggest-oh, you see what i mean." "i wish i could hear from him," i said. "i want to know what's happening. but honestly, i think i took the safe way with him, whatever happens. it's much better to have him know what he mustn't say than to have him guessing all sorts of things with no reason for not airing them." "yes; but i wish nobody knew anything. we took a terrible risk." "i did, you mean. if i spoke beyond my authority, the fault is certainly mine. still, i'm not sure that i'm sorry, and i won't plead that i meant well." she searched carefully through the heap of flowers. "no, you're one of us now--in a way. what you did was ours, not your own-oh, i'm sure it's all right anyway, and you acted wisely. only i'm nervous about it, i suppose." she leaned back wearily. "i do get so tired of all this unnaturalness. why can't god let us live like other people?" it was the first time i had ever heard her complain; the first open confession of the weary weight that had lain so long upon her eyes; and it shook me so that for a little i did not trust myself to speak, for fear i should not speak quietly enough. she sat silent, the light gone out of her as i had seen it go on that first day, her hand twisting listlessly at her chain. "i only wish i could be more use," i said at last. she turned half toward me: "sometimes i wish you could know," she said and her eyes of a sudden glimmered and grew wet. that was more than i could bear. "lady," i cried, "why can't i know? what difference does it make? oh, i'm not questioning you; i don't want to satisfy my mere mind with your mystery. i don't care what the explanation is; i'm not after answers to questions. but it can't matter to us, whatever it is. nothing can. when i thought you were married, that didn't change anything really. it meant that i must go away, that i must never come back to you perhaps--but even that was a little thing. and nothing else in the world could be as bad as that even." "don't. please don't make it any worse--oh, stop telling me--_listen_!" she caught herself suddenly, holding up her hand. the canary poured out a long trill that sounded like tiny laughter. "sheila," i said. "she's been walking about up there all the morning. you've got so that this nightmare doesn't give you an hour's peace. i don't care what it is. you know that. you know that i couldn't be troubled by anything behind you or about you. i never shall want to know. but i want the whole right to stand in front of you and fight it, to take you away from this place and make you forget and be alive. and you know that no reason--" i do not know what stopped me. the canary was silent, and the clock ticked twice across the hush. then from the floor above a horrible scream cut through me like a frozen knife; then another, mixed with a heavy clatter of feet. we both sprang for the stairs, lady a little before me. as i tried to pass her at the foot, she caught me by the arm and clung desperately to me, her breath coming hard and fast. "no, you mustn't. don't come, do you hear? wait until i call you." the dry tension in her voice was not a thing to disregard blindly. i waited with my foot on the lowest step, my heart staggering in my ears, while she sped above out of sight. the screams had broken into a choking wail of utter terror. a door slammed. sheila's strong voice rang out angrily, then sank under a broken clamor of stumbling steps. a man leaped roughly down the first few stairs, stopped and turned as i bent forward just enough to get a half glimpse of coarse clothes and clumsy feet, and sprang back again, trampling across the upper hall. i hesitated an instant, then followed him three steps at a stride. whatever happened, i would not leave the three women alone with him. in the hall i paused, for it was empty. from the front room which i took to be mrs. tabor's came voices, lady's full and sweet, her mother's frightened and childish, and the resonant whisper of mrs. carucci. "he was here, i tell you, lady." mrs. tabor's treble rose above the murmur, and as suddenly ceased. i looked about me, uncertain. i had only been above stairs once before, and then at night. my room then had been at the rear of the house, with the whole length of hall between it and mrs. tabor's; and the stair-head where i now stood was an even midway between the two. i felt vaguely ill at ease. i knew that i should look for the intruder, and look for him upon the instant; but something held me back--perhaps a feeling that i had little right to blunder about upon this floor, to stumble perhaps into lady's own room, an intruder upon her intimate privacy. this, however, was no time for doubtful sentiment. minutes were passing, and the man must be found. i was sure that he was still in the house. very carefully i tiptoed down the hall toward the room that i had occupied. fate might grant that he was hidden there, and so i should have to search only where i had already seen. but before i reached my door, i paused before another. it was slightly ajar; and half instinctively i pushed it open. in the doorway i stood looking about me. this was lady's room, after all. a deep bed stood in the corner against the outer wall to my left; and close by, a little table with a book face-down upon it. a dress of some filmy blue stuff lay across the foot of the bed, and from beneath peeped a pair of little slippers. my face burned at my intrusion, but i held my ground. the sunlight fell heavily through the two closed windows, across the wide rug, and almost to my feet. in the outer right-hand corner was a small desk. a low table, piled with dainty feminine miscellany, stood in the center of the room. a riding-crop lay carelessly across it; and i remembered absently that the tabors had no horses. i stepped within, and cautiously closed the door behind me. then i knew. there was some one in the room. it was unmistakable, this feeling of a presence. i listened closely, but there was not a sound. the skin crawled at my temples, and i could feel the stir of hair upon my scalp, the strange primal bristling that has stirred man conscious of the unseen, since the beginning of time. for a heartbeat, i stood there with much of the clutching terror of a child, a child willing enough to face a fight, but hesitating before the sudden mystery of a place that he must pass. then i got hold of myself, and crossed over to the bed. i knew that he was not under it; but i looked to see. behind me something tinkled sweetly, and i sprang to my feet with every muscle tense. across the room and above the little desk, hung a circle of bronze with tiny bronze pendants shaped like birds and fish and leaves swinging from it on silken threads--such a thing as the japanese hang above the bed of a child to ward off evil and to chime with every breath of air. i glanced uneasily at closed door and windows as i started across the room. upon the big central table before me lay a thin film of dust, invisible save for the contrast of a streak across its edge where something had brushed along. tiptoeing around it, i glanced down at the little desk and the half-written sheet upon it. "lady, dearest," it began; and i gripped my hands at my sides. this was not lady's room, but-one of the long outer curtains of the window shivered--shivered humanly with a trembling behind it; and i reached out my hand to grip through the fold the solid shoulder of a man. in a sudden warm rush of relief, i struck at him savagely through the curtain, shouting as i struck. then i gripped the curtain about, throwing all my weight against him and crushing him back against the side of the embrasure. he grunted, and an arm tore itself free from the folds above my bent head. then there was a splash of light and a curious sharp smell that seemed to come from inside my own brain. and then nothing. i knew that i had not lain there long, when i opened my eyes. lady was kneeling on the floor beside me, very white and piteously lovely. as my mind grew clearer, the color seemed to come back into her face. "mr. crosby," she said, "i asked you not to come up-stairs at all. i want to be able to trust you. what has happened?" "happened?" i repeated dizzily. "why, i had to come up. i chased the man up here, and then i saw this door open and came in, and felt as if there was some one in here--and there was some one, there behind that curtain. i tackled him, and he hit me." i raised my head sharply: "listen--the fellow is here yet." lady pointed to the window behind me. "i think not," she said. "but i tell you he's still in the room." she smiled a little. "you are dizzy yet. come here and look, and you will see what i mean." the window was flung wide, and beneath at the foot of the wall a syringa bush lay broken. "it looks as if you were right," i said, as she carefully closed the window. "i think i'll scout around a little outside; he may not have gone clear away." i noticed that she locked the door behind us. my ideas were rather indefinite as i examined the syringa bush after the most approved fashion, and discovered no more than that somebody had broken it by dropping from above, and had gone away. so i started vaguely across the lawn toward the road. at the gate, i ran into the men who followed us on our man-hunt. "he did not come this way," said the fat one, catching me by the arm. "how do you know?" i asked. the thin italian smiled. "then you are after antonio carucci?" i had been almost trapped. "carucci?" said i. "no, i was looking for doctor reid. some one wants him on the 'phone." "why did you search the side of the house, then?" "look here," said i, "i haven't the slightest idea what you people are getting at, and i doubt if you have, either. but if you've seen doctor reid--a stocky man with a jerky walk--i wish you'd say so. they won't hold that line for ever." "we might take a look about the place for him," the fat one smiled, "while you go back to the telephone." "i won't trouble you," i retorted. "if you have any errand inside, go straight to the door. mr. tabor doesn't like his lawns trampled. good morning." i stood at the gate while they moved unwillingly away, and then went back to the house. chapter xiv a disappearance and an encounter the next few days passed by without event; and the absence of excitement was a welcome enough relief, even to me. adventures in themselves are all very well, but i prefer mine uncomplicated with nervous anxiety; and although my enlistment in the family garrison had relieved me in some measure from that torment of personal worry which had hounded me before, yet the trouble had only taken another form, the more heavy for being less selfish. i was inside the mystery now, in action if not in knowledge. what the root of the matter might be, i knew no better than before; but somehow, i had been quite sincere in saying that i did not really care. it was as if the nerve of curiosity had been blunted in me through overstrain. and i knew now that come what might, lady had begun to care for me, and that left little in the world which for myself i could fear. only for her i feared everything; and the necessity of her remaining here at the mercy of dangers which i could neither dispel nor understand was too heavy a burden for my frivolous enjoyment of adventure. i could not say so, nor try again to persuade her away from the fight. as her way was, she had dropped my interrupted protest into nothingness, as though it had never been; and my only comfort was the hope that, knowing how wholly my blindfold loyalty to them all was for her sake, might be a secret help to her. beyond taking care that one of us three men should be always in the house, we did nothing, so far as i knew, except to await events passively. doctor reid, of course, went daily to his office, where he remained often until late in the afternoon; and mr. tabor, though i understood that he was retired from active business, made two or three all-day trips to the city. what they might be doing to safeguard us from carucci or in affairs more intimate to the situation, i could not guess. at any rate, my own periods of guardianship were generally lonely; for mrs. tabor was still too shaken by our recent alarm to be much out of her room, and lady made occasion of shopping to accompany her father. perhaps i was touchy; but it seemed that she avoided the strain of being long alone with me, skating on thin ice above emotion. mrs. tabor had gone to lie down after luncheon, and i was trying to forget in a book the prospect of a long uninteresting afternoon within doors, when the telephone in the den across the hall began to ring. i hurried across, with an irritable impulse to shout, "yes, i'm coming," and picked it up. "hello!" drawled the little voice. "who is this?" i gave the number, with a mental reservation concerning some unknown person's telephone manners. "yes, i know; but who's there? who is this speaking?" "this is mr. tabor's house," said i sharply. "do you want some one in particular, or will you leave a message?" it may have been partly the voice which annoyed me: a thick, soft voice unnaturally sweet in its inflection, a voice like the caress of a fat hand. i thought there was a trace of foreign accent, but that might be imagination. "oh--might i speak with mrs. tabor, please?" "hold the line a moment," said i; and as i turned, there was mrs. tabor herself in the doorway. "is it for me?" she asked. "you know, i'm sure it's the very same person i was going to call. telephone calls cross that way all the time, just like letters." i left her, and went back to my book. a few minutes later sheila came in. "mrs. tabor"--she began. then with an astonished look about the room, "why, where is she?" "she was in mr. tabor's study, telephoning, a moment ago," i said. "is anything the matter?" "she never came up-stairs again at all. will she be out around the garden anywhere, i wonder? would you mind looking, sir, while i'll be seeing if she's in the house?" i searched not only the garden, but the entire grounds; and i did it with hurried thoroughness and a growing anxiety. sheila's alarm when i returned put an edge upon my own. "ah, the saints preserve us, what'll we do now, with mr. tabor away in the city an' that black villain of mine runnin' around the country after us? if it's him has anything to do with her--" "nonsense!" i said uneasily. "she's probably only gone over to one of the neighbors. you'd better telephone doctor reid, while i go and see." but sheila refused absolutely to use the telephone. "i never did like them things," she said, "a little ugly voice in your ear out of nowhere, like a ghost. ah, i know they're all right, but i wouldn't touch it." so i called up reid myself. he plunged in and took immediate command of the situation with his usual busy efficiency; but i could see that he was alarmed. "probably just gone to one of the neighbors. certainly. no occasion for any uneasiness. none at all. i'll just call up the people she might be with, and be sure. glad you told me. quite right. glad you told me." "you don't think there's any chance that carucci--?" "not the least. no chance at all. still, you might scout around the neighborhood a bit, and see if you see anything of him. and tell sheila to go to stamford and go through all the stores. might have gone shopping. i'll come right up and stay at the house myself." "how about mr. tabor?" i asked. "all right. no need to alarm him. not a bit. i'll call him up later, if necessary. but, of course, we'll find her at once. hurry up and get started. always best to act at once. sure to be all right. don't wait for me." it occurred to me as i started out that doctor reid did not have a very high opinion of my ability. he was one of those cocksure men who confine their sureness mostly to their own mental processes. well, we should see; and if i found myself right, i promised carucci a beating that would dampen his black hand imaginings for some time to come. my first move on leaving the house was to call up new york from the telephone booth at the inn. i was lucky enough to find maclean at the office of his paper. "say, mac," i asked him, "what did you make of that dago story?" "nothin'," mac sniffed. "nothin' at all. the gum-shoes think he croaked his old woman, an' they're waitin' for him to give himself or somebody else away, you see? then they'll grab him. course, i could have told 'em she was alive; but then that might have brought you people in, an' besides, those fellows wouldn't come across for me. reciprocity's my cry, an' always has been." "well, do you know where i can find our friend? i want to talk to him?" "sure. i found him myself, but he wouldn't scare for a darn. said tabor had his wife all right, and not one of you dared touch him. you'll find mr. giuseppe workin' on the railroad, all the live-long day--that new trolley embankment we passed on the line. they have a guinea camp back in the woods a piece. say, laurie, course your friends are all right, an' it's none o' my business; but they smell fishy to me a mile off. if i was you, i'd duck out right now. there's some nigger in this wood-pile that we don't know anythin' about, you see?" "thanks, mac," i said. "i know better than that, though. there's no trouble." "well, i'm only tellin' you what i think. that guinea put up a long howl to me about the old man that i wouldn't use and didn't more'n half believe; but i want to see you about it when you come in town, all the same. say, you ain't sore, are you?" "all right, old man," said i; and i hung up the receiver. maclean's warning came too patently from his point of view on the sinister surface of the situation to give me the slightest additional uneasiness; but it made me all the more determined to talk with carucci and at least learn whatever he thought, he knew, even though he should prove innocent of mrs. tabor's disappearance. i took the trolley to the nearest switch, and walked the couple of hundred yards between it and the new embankment. construction was in full blast, and about seventy-five italians swarmed over the work under the direction of lordly irish foremen. i sauntered about the place with as much idle curiosity as i could assume, stopping to watch little groups, going from place to place, even making a second round; but no carucci was to be seen. one or two of the men glanced at me with what i imagined was a certain sullen suspicion; but that may have been purely imaginary. from the embankment i cast about for the construction camp. the nearest wooded spot that i could see was half a mile or so across country, and i made toward this, skirting a little swamp or so, and climbing an occasional fence. as i went along, i made more and more sure that i was right; for a trodden path developed, and fence-rails were broken or left carelessly out of place. with the ugly huddle of tin-roofed huts in sight, i came upon carucci; or perhaps i should say that he came upon me. he came running to meet me down the pathway, with a sort of rolling, dancing gait that would have been very funny had i not known him. "whata you want?" he shouted. "go-a da 'way!" "that is what i am asking you," i said in italian. "you know well enough that your wife can come to you whenever she pleases. what do you want of mr. tabor?" he had stopped a little way from me, pulling off his jacket, and throwing it over his left arm. now he showed his teeth in a mechanical grin. "come-a here," he grunted, "i show you." he must have been drunk to imagine that i had not seen the knife. i took half a dozen quick steps, my hands opening and shutting, and as soon as i was within reach, i dived. i had him by the knees with a shock that reminded me that i was growing older; and as he sprawled on his back, i sprang away from him, and with a kick that must have nearly broken his fingers, sent the knife spinning away behind him. he was upon his feet in a second, and i looked for him at my throat. instead, he threw his jacket full in my face, and leaped after it. i could feel his teeth gripping at the muscles of my upper arm. it was fighting of a new kind for me, and i kneed him joyfully in the stomach, tearing with my free arm at the jacket which blinded me. for a moment he fell away, and i hurled the coat from me, and struck him in the mouth; then again, my shoulder behind it; and he went down with a grunt. i flung myself promptly on top of him, clutching him by the throat. then an arm was thrown about my neck from behind, while a strong hand ripped at my hair. "ye murtherin' baste, ye black scun, lave him alone, ye limb av hell, come out av it!" i shook myself roughly free, and whirled about to face the unexpected. "why, sheila!" i cried, "how in the world did you get here?" "oi had me rasons, an' 'twas hoigh toime." she was very angry, and her brogue was faint no longer. "'tis a swate blayguard ye are, an' bad cess to ye, sthrikin' a bit av a lad half the soize av yersilf." i glanced at the burly carucci, and laughed. the murder had died out of his eyes, and he scrambled to his feet, looking sheepish. "this seems to be rather a family meeting," i said, and pointed behind him to the shanties. "perhaps we had better be going." carucci turned to see the fat central office man trotting down the path, for all the world as if he were taking a little cross-country scamper to reduce his weight. he came on with such an inevitable matter-of-factness that it all seemed suddenly funny, like the conclusion of a farce; and when i looked around to see the other italian coming up from behind, it was quite what i expected. the fat one in front of us stooped a second in the long grass, and picked up the knife that i had kicked away. he turned it over thoughtfully, and dropped it into his pocket. "antonio carucci," he said calmly, "i arrest you for this assault with intent to kill, and for the murder of sheila carucci, your wife. and i arrest you, laurence crosby, as accessory after the fact." "what!" i cried. "anything that either of you say," put in the thin italian, "will be used against you." [illustration: "do ye think i look like a dead woman?"] sheila broke into a peal of laughter. "'tis fine countrymen ye have, antonio, an' fine bloodhounds they make, to be sure! ye poor, ignorant little men, open your mouths an' shut your eyes. 'tis a miracle i'll be showin' ye. look here--sheila macnamara, for her sins called carucci, stands before ye--an' ye say i'm murdered! ye little black, beady-eyed divils, 'tis the likes av ye that goes makin' trouble for my man. take off your dhirty little fat paws; i'll have none av it. take thim off, ye thief, ye zany loon! do ye think i look like a dead woman?" the fat italian dangled his handcuffs as if they had been eye-glasses. "it is true," he said, "she is like the description; but then, how did she come here?" "whisper!" said sheila, "i do not love me husband," antonio glared. "so while he was asleep i eloped with this other handsome young gentleman here." the two little men grew very red. "look here," i said, "you can see there has been a mistake. mrs. carucci is as well as ever, and she isn't going to make any charge against her husband. the only thing you've got on me is breaking the speed law. five dollars apiece would about cover my fine, wouldn't it?" two gravely beautiful italian smiles answered me. we watched them well out of sight; then sheila turned to her crestfallen lord and master. "out with it, ye dhrunken beast," she said, "where is she?" so that was why sheila had come here. "who?" carucci asked blankly. "who? you look innocent, don't ye, standin' there askin' me who! what have ye done with her, you an' your silly revenges? i'll teach ye to keep out av things that're none av your business, ye leather-headed, garlic-eatin' baboon, ye!" she grasped him solidly by both ears, and shook him till his greasy hair flapped. all the fight seemed to have gone out of carucci, and he squirmed away, appealing and protesting in a torrent of italian too fast and mutilated for my ear. sheila answered incongruously in the same language. "he says he don't know anything about it," she told me finally, "and for once i believe him, sir. he can lie well enough to some folks, but he can't lie to me." "well," said i, "if you believe him, you ought to know. but i wish you'd get him away from here, sheila. he's been sending black hand letters to mr. tabor." "he has, has he, the sphalpeen!" and again came the dual and ludicrous torrent of neapolitan. "'twas just the lovin' heart of him, sir. he's that impetuous. but i'll learn him manners. you go on back to the house, an' you'll hear no more from antonio. it's a beast he is sometimes when he is drunk, but he's sober enough now, sir, and when sober he has the sense to be afraid of me. have no fear, i'll send him packin'. leave him to me." i laughed. "all right, sheila," i said. "if you use the same persuasion with him that you've been using, i think you can teach him almost anything." i reached the tabors' out of breath, and stumbled panting up the steps; and at the door i stood a moment to gather my breath and thoughts, wondering if lady and mr. tabor had returned. mr. tabor's hat was still missing from the rack; and i lit a cigarette as i strolled into the living-room to wait. mrs. tabor was sitting over a piece of embroidery by the window. "you look hot," she said, glancing up, "what is the matter? have you been running?" "i've been looking for you," i stammered. "sheila thought you were lost or something." the words were out before i could stop them. "lost?" mrs. tabor repeated, raising her brows, "lost? what should make you think i was lost?" "why, sheila said you hadn't told her you were going, and she couldn't find you anywhere, and--" "you are all the strangest people," said mrs. tabor. "i have been out of town at an afternoon tea with friends at greenwich. it was the shortest little trip imaginable. has lady got back yet?" chapter xv mental reservations i sat down rather uncomfortably. we had all of us been made to look foolish, and i was here to bear the brunt of it alone. what had become of reid, i did not know; but i was much mistaken in him if he had not gone off upon some highly efficient search of his own, after alarming lady and her father. so the whole family had been upset because a rather thoughtless little woman had gone out without thinking to give notice of her intended absence, and because an officious young son-in-law had jumped at the chance to exploit his executive ability. if sheila and i had been disturbed, we had at least only acted under his direction; and the whole foolish flurry, with its risk of attracting public attention, had emanated from the jerky mind of reid. "i must plead guilty," i said, "of giving the first alarm. sheila seemed worried, and i called up doctor reid on the telephone." mrs. tabor's face clouded, and it seemed to me that something like anger gathered in her eyes. "it was very like him," she said, "he is the most selfish man in the world." she paused. "if you don't mind, mr. crosby, we will not talk about him. i am tired." i got to my feet, feeling as if i had heard something to which i had no right. "mrs. tabor," said i, "you must forgive me for having troubled you with the matter at all. i am stupid sometimes, and forgot that we had been officious and that you might be tired." she flashed forth an appealing little hand. "no, you are not to go; i didn't mean that. i'm not so truly tired that i want to be alone. in fact, i shall rest much better if you stay and keep me company." "i shall be very glad to," i answered. "i've regretted all along that i haven't been able to see you more often. besides, i'm the only man in the house for the moment, and i suppose i oughtn't to leave my post until the others come home." she raised her brows. "why, what do you mean? that sounds as if we were in a state of siege. you're a guest, mr. crosby, not a sentry on duty." i had said too much, evidently, and i felt angrily that if mrs. tabor knew nothing of affairs i should have been warned of the fact. "i didn't mean that," i said, as easily as i could manage. "only that the others are still looking for you, and i ought to let them know as soon as may be that i've been more fortunate. i'd telephone if i knew where they were." "but it's all so ridiculous. i'm not a child, you know." her petulance was rising again. "because a tramp came into the house the other day is no reason for hedging me about as if we were all back in the dark ages. it's never likely to happen again; and besides, there was no danger at the time of anything worse than losing some of the silver. i can't see the least excuse for all this mysterious caution. and it's been going on so for months--long before there was even that shadow of a reason." i tried to play up to the situation. "it's just the exaggeration of their care for you, i suppose. you haven't been quite well, and they worry needlessly because it matters so much. didn't you used to feel the same way about lady when she was little and getting over the measles?" the next instant i realized that i should hardly have used the nickname; but mrs. tabor did not seem to have noticed my slip. she was looking fixedly out through the parted curtains as though there were some one in the hall, and i instinctively glanced in the same direction. when i looked back again, she was still distrait, and i went on; "and anyway, it's splendid to see you so well at last." she smiled. "i haven't really been much laid up at all. i've only been a little overtired. people worry about me too much, mr. crosby. i have a poor heart, but i'm always pretty careful of myself; yet neither mr. tabor nor lady can seem to let me out of their sight. i don't like it." she brushed the hair from her forehead with a weary little gesture of impatience. she looked very much as a pretty spoiled child might have. yet i felt rather disloyal to the rest of them in listening. of course, mrs. tabor meant nothing; she was merely tired and fretful; but still, i did not like being made the confident of these family petulances. lady, i knew, loved her mother devotedly, and so did mr. tabor--at least, he had given every evidence of affection. "how would you like it, mr. crosby," she added, "if you could never go out for even a walk all alone? and mr. tabor has been acting so strangely all this while--as if he and lady shared some secret that they were anxious to keep from me of all people." i was by now frankly embarrassed, and i must have shown it. "i don't quite see why--" i began. "are you in the secret too?" she asked suddenly. my hair prickled. "no, of course not," i stammered. "and i don't really think that there can be any secret, mrs. tabor, or anything they would keep from you." yet i began to wonder whether she were acting cleverly in ignorance of how much i really did know, or were actually guarded from all knowledge of the admitted mystery. while i scrambled after a safe word, i heard the crunch of wheels upon the gravel. "there they are now," i said. lady and her father came hurrying into the room with all the air of having come home merely to touch base, as the children say; as if they but wished to inform themselves of developments before starting out upon another quest. lady saw her mother first. "why, mother dear!" she cried. "we--" she stopped. mr. tabor coughed. "where is walter?" he asked. "indeed, i don't know," mrs. tabor answered rather sharply. "what on earth do you want of him?" mr. tabor smiled slowly and expansively. "i don't want him at all, my dear; but i do very much want my dinner. do you think it is nearly ready? lady, suppose you poke things up in the kitchen a little, if you can. i am nearly famished." "well," said i, "i had nearly forgotten about supper, and i believe we are to have waffles at the inn to-night," and i got to my feet. "mr. crosby, waffles or no waffles, you are not to go," said mrs. tabor. "here we are just started upon a nice little visit, and these ravenous people of mine come bursting in from goodness knows where or what, and begin clamoring for food. since we must eat, you are to eat with us." i said something conventional, with an apologetic glance at mr. tabor. he was frowning at the ceiling as if he had not heard. it was hardly a comfortable meal. i felt that i should not be there, and that the others, though for no personal fault of mine, were wishing me out of the way; while mrs. tabor confined her conversation almost entirely to me in a way that made me obviously a bulwark against them. she was bright and chatty enough, but i could plainly feel the uneasiness under it; and as the meal progressed she became more uneasy still, now and then turning suddenly in her chair or laying down her fork with little abrupt decisions that came to nothing, as if she were hesitating on the brink of a plunge. twice she stretched out a hand for silence, listening over her shoulder a moment, and then hurrying back into the meaningless and disrupted conversation. as we were eating dessert, doctor reid came in for a moment. that is, he came as far as the door, and i thought mr. tabor made some sort of gesture to him below the table-top. at any rate, he turned on his heel and left, after a nervous word or two. i looked around to see mrs. tabor's face set and stern, every little prettiness of expression fled. i must have stared, for she smiled after a moment, and nodded at me mysteriously as if i alone shared the secret of the dislike she had voiced in the afternoon. "come, mother dear," lady said softly. "here are the rest of us nearly through, and you've hardly touched your ice." mrs. tabor looked up, vaguely apologetic. "why, miriam, i'm sure i beg your pardon," she said. and very meekly she took up her spoon. of course it was the most natural slip in the world, and meant absolutely nothing; but i could not put out of my mind the feeling that some unrecognized bomb had been exploded in our midst. i could not be merely imagining lady's deepening color, nor the nervous hurry with which she forced the conversation; mr. tabor and i helping as best we might, and at best ungracefully. i could not shake off that sense of a common consciousness whose existence none of us admitted, of something vividly present in all our minds but not to be noticed in words, which makes it so difficult for a whole company to keep their countenance in the face of an untactful situation; the strain which people feel when one unconscious bore afflicts the rest, when a stranger rushes in upon the heels of an unfinished intimacy, or when somebody makes an unmentionable slip of the tongue. i knew that lady and her father were embarrassed by the same trifle which embarrassed me; and through the laborious unconsciousness of the next few minutes, the name of miriam rang in all our ears until the very air seemed as it were to grow heavy with the weight of her invisible presence. the tension grew minute by minute as we talked, until i felt as if i could hardly keep on. and mrs. tabor, looking up in a comfortless pause and finding us all at gaze, broke down entirely. her eyes filled, and she pushed back her chair. "george, dear," she asked piteously, "what is the matter? what has come to you all?" then as mr. tabor hesitated for an answer, she turned with a despairing little gesture to her daughter. "you tell me what it is, miriam," she cried. mr. tabor rose from the table. "with your permission, my dear, crosby and i will go out and smoke," he said. "there isn't anything the matter. you only imagine it, and you need lady to tell you so." mrs. tabor turned to me quickly. "you can smoke here just as well," she said hurriedly, "i like it. and besides, you are the only one who seems to have anything to say this evening. these other dear stupid people are both acting as if we were sitting at baked meats instead of a pleasant ice. i can't imagine what has got into them, unless they have some dark secret of their own." she was cheering visibly as she spoke, but with the last words her face clouded again. i did my best to keep the talk moving after that, though heaven knows what i found to say. and at last the meal was over. as soon as we left the table, mr. tabor suggested that his wife was very tired, and that she should be off to bed. she agreed reluctantly enough only when lady joined her father in his importunity and said that she would go up with her. at last she rose and bade us all good night; but when she and lady were at the very door, she turned and looked back at us. then, of a sudden she ran lightly across the room and stooped to my ear. "i have a little secret of my own," she laughed across at her husband. then very swiftly, and with a catch in her voice, she whispered, "they are trying to take miriam away from me!" chapter xvi meager revelations i glanced instinctively across at mr. tabor, to see if he had overheard; but he gave no sign of having done so. he stood with one broad hand slowly tightening and relaxing over the back of his chair, his eyes following unwaveringly the slight figure as it paused beyond the curtains and lady let them fall into place, then he sat wearily down again, with a smile that did not smooth the white bristle of his brows. "that shows how tired mrs. tabor is," he said casually. "i never knew her to confuse the names in that way before." my first shock changed unreasonably into the feeling of a suspected conspirator. i was sure that he had not heard; his reference was only to his wife's calling lady "miriam," not to her whispered words; but what could those words mean? where was miriam? and if this house were in some way divided against itself, on what side was i? then i became suddenly conscious of my silence. "surely there is nothing at all strange in that," i answered. "for a mother to call her children by one another's names is the commonest thing in the world; especially when--" i stopped, wondering whether i were quite sure that miriam was dead. "yes, natural enough, of course." he spoke absently; then went on as if answering my thought; "and then, mrs. tabor was greatly shaken by our first daughter's death: so much so that she has never quite recovered herself physically. sometimes, even now, she hardly realizes, i think, that miriam is not here." he looked down at his hand, then raised his eyes steadily to mine. "that was several years ago?" i said, to say something. "two years. we have to keep walter reid out of her sight, although she is very fond of him, because his actual words and ways make her remember." perhaps it was the effort to convince himself which made him seem needlessly eager to explain. "she must be growing stronger though, all the while," i suggested. "and from now on, we shall have peace from carucci and all the other disturbances he brings in his train." he did not answer, and the discomfort of silence settled heavily down. i began to hear the clock ticking, and to be half conscious of my own breathing. some one crossed the room above us and went quietly down the upper hall toward the rear of the house. had that been miriam's room in which i found the intruder; and if so, why was it kept uncannily the same when all the family were striving to guard the mother from remembrance? presently mr. tabor roused himself with the decision of a man putting a thought away. "i meant to ask you about that," he said. "somehow or other, this black hand business must stop. i can't have reporters and detectives and blackmailing italians lurking about to cause gossip and disturb mrs. tabor, and i won't have it. we've done no more than merely to hold off the spies, and that necessity in itself was bad enough. but when it comes to having carucci break into the house and alarm the family--" he looked sharply at me. "have you heard anything further from your friend?" "nothing more than you know; but i ran across carucci this afternoon, and i think that incident is closed." i went over the afternoon's events, adding: "so there's no murder mystery now, no newspaper story, and unless sheila is very much mistaken in herself, we've heard the last of carucci. that clears the atmosphere pretty thoroughly, doesn't it?" he did not seem to be much relieved. "yes if sheila could or would really send him away. i don't doubt her loyalty to us, but she's too fond of her brute of a husband." then abruptly, after some pondering, "you answered the telephone for mrs. tabor, as i understand. did you hear the name, or recognize the voice?" "no, sir," said i uncomfortably; for it sounded very much as if he were questioning his wife's word. "it couldn't have been either of your italian detectives, for instance?" "i'm quite sure that it wasn't--that is, as sure as one can be of a voice over the 'phone. it was entirely different, a cooing, syrupy voice that seemed to be a woman's." "well," he said finally, "carucci is the storm-center, in any case." he rose, and pressed the button by the door. "ask mrs. carucci to step down to my study for a moment," he said to the maid. then he turned to me. "come in here, crosby, and we'll settle this thing." sheila appeared, bubbling with triumph, and volubly eager to recount her experiences. antonio would never dare to show the face of him to any of us again. indeed, he had promised to take the first ship he could find and be off to sea, out of mischief. his black hand bother was all nonsense anyway; he was nothing to be afraid of, more than a black-faced bogey to frighten children. "an' he'll keep his promise, sir, to me," she wound up, "for he knows well what i'll be givin' him if he don't. he's only waitin' till his week's out, so he can draw his pay; then off he goes to new york, an' away on the first steamer that'll take him. 'an' good riddance to ye, too,' says i, 'an' if ever ye bring trouble on my people again, i'll make ye wish ye'd died a bachelor,' i says to him." "he's going before that," said mr. tabor decidedly. "this is tuesday; the _catalonia_ sails on thursday, and i'll get him a berth on her. what's more, i'll see that he takes it. you know where to find him, sheila, i suppose?" "sure i do, sir. he'll be right where i saw him, workin' on the trolley. but it's hard on him, sir, losin' his week's pay, and bein' shipped off like a thief. leave him find his own ship like a man." "he's not being shipped off. i'm finding a good berth for him, which is more than he deserves, and you both ought to be grateful. now listen, i want you to go to new york with him to-morrow. take him to your own place, and don't lose sight of him until he is safe aboard and away. if he leaves you, notify me at once. i intend to be certain that he has left the country; do you understand?" "an' who's to be takin' care av me poor lamb up-stairs all the while?" sheila demanded, her brogue broadening, and her hands braced aggressively against her hips. mr. tabor glanced quickly at me. "we can do that very well, as we have done. of course your husband can be sent to prison for blackmail, if i can't otherwise be rid of him, but for your sake i should rather have him simply go away. if you are not willing to help, sheila, you need only say so." for a moment i thought she was going to refuse. but after a vain appeal or two, she gave way rather sullenly, and agreed to leave early in the morning. "that's the pity of those people," mr. tabor said to me, as he closed the door after her. "let the man do or be what he will, the woman he has possessed will hold of him to the end of her days; he can't quite lie away her faith or kick away her tenderness. i suppose it's beautiful in its way, but it gives a foothold to a lot of misery--well, now, crosby, the rest is your part. i believe sheila will keep her word; but it's against her husband, after all, and i want to make sure. will you go to new york, too, and keep an eye on them until carucci has gone? it's an unpleasant service to ask, but i can't do it for myself. and--since your vacation trip would naturally start from new york, it won't be far out of your way." i looked full at him to be sure that i understood, but i knew already that he had weighed his words. "i see," i said slowly. "is that all, or do you really want me to watch the caruccis?" "certainly i do, if you will. i'm going to be very frank with you, crosby, because you've deserved it. i did feel at one time that your former trip was managed with a little too much gallantry--that you had with the best intentions involved us in a melodrama, been the means of bringing these people down on us. but that wasn't just. nobody could have done better in your place; and if any one was to blame, it was reid, for allowing you to go at that time of night. of course, i was away from home when you started. well, you've helped us and been loyal to us, though we had no claim upon you. it all comes down to this: mrs. tabor's health is a cause of great concern to me, and has been for a long time. i feel that she must be guarded from every possible shock. as i told you, there is a condition here which we are keeping to ourselves, which is dangerous to her, and which--you must take my word for it--may be aggravated by your continual presence. i'm eliminating, so far as i can, every disturbing element, and you are such an element, through no fault of yours. i'm not banishing you, i only ask that your visits to us be no more than occasional. once in a while, a little later, we shall be very glad to see you, i hope; but not just now. is that clear?" "all but the reason for it," i said, "and i won't ask that." "i won't make any protestations or apologies," he added very deliberately. "i think you trust us. and i prove that i trust you more than you know, in telling you as much as i have." i suppose that a more sensible man in my place would have done very differently. on his own confession, mr. tabor was telling me only a part of the truth; accident and warning had combined to make me suspicious of him; and i knew by my own experience how plausibly he could lie. but whether it was his age, or his deference, or the fact that he was lady's father, all the don quixote in me came suddenly to the surface. "i'll do as you say, sir," i said. "let me know when i can do anything more," and i held out my hand. his own was moist and hot; and i noticed under the stronger light of the hall, that the veins in his temples were swollen and throbbing and that he moved listlessly, as though he had been under a great strain. before i could think about it, lady parted the curtains of the living-room. "what is it?" she asked quickly. "has anything happened?" "only that i am going to new york to see carucci sail away," i answered, "and i don't know just when i shall be back." it was plain that mr. tabor had not meant me to say so much; but that was my own affair. she followed me outside the front door. "that means that you are going away-i knew it must come to that." she was twisting nervously at her chain. "one word from you, and i won't go." she shook her head. "no, i want you to--good-by." "promise me one thing," i said. "that you'll send me word if you want me." "i promise," she answered quietly, "but i shall never have to keep that promise." as i went out of the gate, doctor reid was coming in, and stopped to speak to me. his companion stood meanwhile some distance away; but it was not too dark for me to recognize the big man with the shrill precision of speech whom i had seen him bring secretly to the house before. i set out the next morning in a humor of suspicious disillusion, all my quixotism turned sour under the dry sun. put it how i would, i was playing the part of a spy: if carucci himself was no better, the honest irish eyes of his wife made me vaguely ashamed of my task. having nevertheless undertaken it, i must put it through as well as might be. to follow the pair about would be futile, since i must presently be seen and recognized; but i conceived that merely by making sure of them at intervals during the next forty-eight hours i should be fulfilling my mission. i saw them safely on the train, and established myself in another car; and when we reached the grand central, i made straight for the scene of my midnight adventure. it was no less ugly by day than by night, and if possible even more malodorous. push-carts vended unimaginable sweetmeats along the curb to a floating population of besmeared and screaming children; bleared slatterns, flabbily overflowing their bulging garments, jabbered in window and doorway; and the squat and dingy little saloon on the corner leered beerily at all. i waited half an hour before the caruccis appeared. then i made for a telephone in a state of disgusted relief, and called up maclean. "so you're in town now for a while," he said, in answer to my expurgated account of myself. "well, i tell you how it is, laurie, i'm pretty busy to-day. let's have your number, an' i'll call you up later when i'm loose. you'll hang out at the club, won't you?" "i thought you wanted to see me about something." "oh, _that_. that wasn't anythin'-why, yes, i'll lunch with you if you're in such a hurry, but i'll have to beat it right afterwards, 'cause i've got an assignment this afternoon." at the club, he plunged immediately into the irrelevant subject. "say, i've got to slide out after grub, an' go on a spook-hunt. there's this gang of psychics or spiritualists or whatever they are, up the line here, you see? and i'm coverin' one of their sã©ances. hamlet's old grandfather comes in an' rough-houses the furniture, an' little eva says a lot more than her prayers, an' you sit in a circle holdin' hands to get a line on the higher life. don't you want to come along? you'll get some thrillin' moments." "is it a fake, then?" i asked. "oh, they're all fakes, i guess. all i ever ran across, anyway. but this death-fancier's the real squeeze--only raises the graveyard in private an' don't take any money, an' a whole lot of big doctors an' psychology profs are nutty about her, you see? it's the big show, the original new york company. you better come." "all right," i said, "bring on your mysteries. i always thought there was something in that business, really; and here's a good chance. but look here, mac, i want you to tell me what you heard from carucci." "tell you the truth," said maclean, "i'm a little bit afraid there may be something in spookery, myself. that's why i'd just as soon have you along." "it won't do, old fellow," said i; "let's have the dago story." maclean fidgeted and glowered at the table. "it's like this, laurie, you see? those folks are friends of yours, an' this yarn of the guinea's is just a dirty bit of scandal, that's all over an' done with. an' i told you i didn't believe it anyhow. i hadn't ought to have said anythin' to you in the first place; and i'd rather not say anythin' about it now unless you want. 'tain't anythin'." "mac, i've gone so far with the tabors that i need to know all i can. if it's a lie, why all right. if it's true, why you can trust me and so can they. i wasn't born last week." "well," mac grunted after a pause, "i'd better tell you, i guess, than let you go it blind--here you are. you know that doctor reid that's in with the tabors?" he lowered his voice, leaning across the table. "accordin' to the dago, he got mixed up with some woman abroad, an' married her. then he leaves her, an' comes back, an' maybe he thinks she's dead. so he marries the tabor girl, you see? then the family get wise about the other woman, an' there's an awful row, an' finally they fix it up among them to move away, an' let on that reid an' the daughter ain't married at all, not until this other woman dies, you see? an' that's what they're all keepin' so quiet about. mind you, i don't believe it, myself." "why, it's impossible," i said. "it doesn't fit together. miriam tabor died a year after reid married her, and why should they--" "sure, that's just it. sure. i told you it was all over, an' anyhow it couldn't be so." he looked at his watch, and i noticed that the monogram on the back was cut in a quaint, antique fashion. "come ahead--we've just got time." i found his eyes and held them. "one minute, mac. you're keeping back the point, so that i won't understand the story. it's no use." "no, i ain't--honest--it's all over--well, damn it, carucci says the tabor girl didn't die. he says that's only the fake they put up, an' she's alive an' around the same as ever." for a moment the words did not mean anything. i was groping madly among a mass of reminiscences, the noises in the house, the room with the presence in it, into which carucci had broken, the tangled half-confidences of the family. then the picture of lady twisting nervously at the slender chain came uppermost in imagination, and through the eddying fog of my mind the whole nightmare leaped forth in a flash of horrible clearness, a score of interwoven circumstances outlining it as with threads of fire: the wedding-ring worn hidden at her breast, her raising of unaccountable barriers, her hopelessness, the family's fear of publicity and growing anxiety over my intimate presence among them, the cloud upon mrs. tabor, her aversion to reid and the elaborate explanation of her slip in calling her daughter miriam--i leaned my forehead on my hands. maclean had me by the shoulder: "brace up, man," he muttered; "here, drink your drink. you'll have everybody looking at you." chapter xvii the borderland, and a name "it's an infernal lie," i said dully. "sure it is." maclean was thoroughly embarrassed and uncomfortable. "the way i work it out is, there's probably just enough in it somewhere for carucci to build on. maybe reid did get into some mess or other 'way back before he was married, an' carucci works that in with what he thinks he knows about the family now, an' dopes out this scandal in high life business. or maybe he don't believe it himself, an' just has it in for the old man. you can't tell whether it's muck-rakin' or mud-slingin', but it's bound to be partly both, you see? i only told you so you'd know what was around. well, are you comin'?" i got my hat mechanically, and went out with him into the dust and the heat. the sense of unreality that had been upon me that early morning in the automobile was returned now in the breathless afternoon. the hazy slit of sky overhead, the stark light and shadow of the street, had the tones of a cheap colored photograph. the very smell of the air was like a memory of itself. the roar and jangle of the traffic seemed to come from a distance through a stillness that listened; and the wail of a hand-organ on the corner somehow completed and enhanced it all. i had only had one serious illness in my life, and that had been long ago; but i remembered that upon my first venturing out of doors after it, things had looked so; and i wondered for a moment whether i were going to be ill again. but that was nonsense. i was not a person to collapse upon the hearing of bad news; and besides, this news, i did not believe. maclean had not believed it himself, in telling it to me. only, he had so much less knowledge than i of its consistency. grant for once that lady was miriam, that she was an only daughter--and they all would have done even as i had seen them doing. so lady would have worn her ring, so feared our growing intimacy, so felt the burden of an abnormality not her own, so confessed to me the barrier and in extremity lied about her name, so the family would have shrunk from any notice, and striven to rid themselves of carucci and of me. straight this way pointed every line of mystery since the beginning; here was one logical motive for all. the explanation fitted every fact; only, i could not believe it of the people. a small cloud covered the sun, and the hot street turned suddenly gray. a horse clocked heavily around the corner, the rumble of the wheels behind him suddenly muffled as they struck the asphalt of the avenue. we were going up the steps of a house, a house closed for the summer with lead-colored board shutters over the lower windows, and an outer door of the same, on which the bright brass disk of a spring lock took the place of a knob. maclean glanced again up at the number as he pressed the bell. "admit one gent and phantoms," he said sniffing. "now you put your soul in a safe pocket, an' button it in. this gang, they'd snitch it in a second." a low-voiced man in a cutaway coat opened the door, and we stood for a moment in a dark hallway smelling of cloth and furniture, while he and maclean talked together in a half-whisper, i suppose explaining my presence. then he opened another door at the side of the hall, and ushered us into the front room, where we half groped our way to a seat on the farther side, amid a low rustle of whispers. a grayish twilight filtered through the bright cracks of the shutters and between the closed folding doors at the rear. at first, the contrast with the glare of the street made it seem almost absolutely dark; and as my eyes gradually became adapted to the dimness, i remembered being shut in the closet when i was a child, and how the pale streaks from door-casing and keyhole had gradually diluted the gloom in just the same way. the recollection was so vivid that i half imagined here the same rustle and stuffiness of hanging clothes, and the sense of outrage at the shutting out of daylight. then slowly the room formed itself out of darkness into grayness: the white ceiling, with its moving shadows and bulbous cloth-enfolded chandelier; the floor and furniture, all shrouded in summer covers of grayish denim; and the indefinite shade of the walls, lightened here and there by the square of a picture turned back outward, and darkened by the gloom of the corners and the blurred figures of the dozen people or so who sat about in twos and threes talking in whispers and mutterings. at the back of the room were large folding-doors, now tightly closed. in the corner on the side toward the hall stood a grand piano, enormous and bare under its pale covering; and the outer wall was broken by a marble chimneypiece of the fifties whereupon stood lumps of bric-ã -brac tied up in bags. most of the furniture was ranged rigidly against the wall; but in the center of the floor glimmered dully the uncovered mahogany of a heavy round table. in spite of the dark and the coolness, the air was close and stuffy, as if with the presence of a multitude; and i was a trifle surprised to find that we were actually so few. "what sort of a crowd is this?" i asked maclean in an undertone. "i can't make them out." "every sort. i mean every sort that's got the social drag or the prominence in this business to get in with the crowd. but inside of that, you get 'em all kinds, you see? the chap that let us in is a philosophy prof, an' a psychic researcher--shelburgh, his name is. that old gink over there alone by himself is some other pioneer o' modern thought. i've got to find out about him later. the rest are mostly social lights, i guess. this is the emmet langdons' house, an' they're here somewhere. i can't see faces yet, can you?" i shook my head. "we seem to be in sunday edition company, anyway." "sure. all head-liners. faces on file in every office. hullo, here's the spookstress. they're off in a bunch!" a rather heavy woman in a long drab dust-coat had come in, followed by professor shelburgh, who closed the door behind them. i gathered a vague impression, only half visual, that she was middle-aged and of that plumply blond type which ages by imperceptible degrees. she made me think, somehow, of a mass of molasses candy after it has been pulled into paleness and before it has hardened; but i could not tell whether this suggestion came from her voice or from her sleepily effusive manner or was a mere fancy about a physical presence which i could hardly see. she took off her hat and coat, and sat down at the center-table, pushing back her hair and rubbing her hands over her face as if to shake off drowsiness; while the others, except maclean and myself and the gentleman in the corner, drew up their seats in a circle about the table, and placed their hands upon it. the professor counted the hands aloud in a perfunctory tone, and they all leaned forward, hand touching hand around the circle. "are we all right, mrs. mahl?" the professor asked. "all right--all right--" cooed the medium; "conditions are good to-day--i can feel 'em comin' already--sing to me, somebody." the old gentleman in the corner made a dull sound that might have been a snort or a suppressed cough. one of the women began to sing suwanee river just above her breath, and the others joined in, half-humming, half-crooning. it was like the singing of children in its toneless unison, in its dragged rhythms and slurring from note to note; and the absurd resemblance of the scene to a game of jenkins-up gave the final touch of incongruity. these people, or some of them at least, awaited the very presence of the dead; all were in quest of the supernatural or the unknown. here were the dimness, the fragile tension, the impalpable weight of mutuality, the atmosphere of a coming crisis; and this in the commonplace room, closed up for the summer, with the traffic of the avenue outside and the commonplace people within, incongruous in their ordinary clothes, sitting with their hands upon a table and humming a hackneyed melody a little off the key. there was an unreality about it all, a touch of theatrical tawdriness, of mummery and tinsel gold and canvas distances, an acuteness of that feeling which one always has in the climaxes of actual life that they can not be quite real because the setting is not strange enough. the monotonous sound and the close air made me drowsy, thinking with the hurried vividness of a doze. it was unnatural for mysteries to happen in a drawing-room; but then, mysteries were themselves unnatural, and must happen if at all in the world of there and then. though it seemed somehow that a ghost should appear only upon the storied battlements of elsinore to people in archaic dress, yet to hamlet himself those surroundings were the scene of ordinary days; and the persons of all the wonder-stories had been in their own sight contemporary citizens. macbeth saw banquo at the dinner-table, and it was the people in the street who crowded to look upon the miracles. the eventless waiting drew out interminably. there were long silences, then the humming of some other tune; and it was an episode when some one coughed or stirred. yet the monotony, despite boredom and drowsiness, did not relax the nervous tension. i still felt that something was going to happen the next minute; the air grew closer and closer, and the odd sense of crowded human intimacy was more oppressive than at first; and the rigid regularity of maclean's audible breathing was enough to tell me that even his skepticism was not proof against the same influence. the circle about the table were swaying their heads a little in time with their singing, while the old gentleman in the corner fidgeted uneasily. in the street outside, a child began to cry loudly, and was taken away still wailing around the corner. surely, i thought, i of all people ought to understand that incongruous look of strange things happening in actual life: my own had been for weeks a nightmare and a romance; and even now i was groping mentally in the maze of a revelation that had the lurid logic of a melodrama, flawlessly plausible and incredible only because i was unwilling to believe. carucci's story was a fabrication, because tangled marriages and family mysteries happen in books and newspapers, among printed people, not among those we know; yet melodrama itself builds with the material of actuality, and i had been living amid family mysteries. such things do happen to some one; and that one must be to--to others--the reality that lady was to me. i started violently, and sat bolt upright, my hair tingling and every muscle tightened. a dull rapping, like the sound of a hammer upon wood covered with cloth, came from the table. the circle were silent, leaning back in their seats, their hands still joined before them. the medium had sunk down in her chair, her arms extended along the arms of it, so that those next her had to reach out to keep hold of her hands. and above the group i saw, or imagined that i saw, the vaguest conceivable cloudiness in mid-air, like mist on a foggy night or the glimmer seen inside closed eyelids after looking at a brightly lighted window. the more i tried to make sure that i saw it, the more i doubted whether it were not merely imagination. if you hold your spread hand before a dark background, you will seem to see a cloudy blur outlining the fingers; it was like that. the rapping was repeated more loudly, and through the throbbing in my ears and the almost suffocating oppression, i caught myself remembering the scene of the knocking at the gate in macbeth. then a voice began to speak: a querulous, throaty contralto that came in jerks and pauses. "here you are again," it said; "i don't--want to talk--to any of you--i feel trouble--somewhere. where's mother?" "that's miriam," said professor shelburgh, in the tone of casual recognition. i do not know whether it was the shock of the coincident name, or only that the heat and the excitement of the day had reached their natural climax. but i grew suddenly hot and cold in waves; my skin crawled, and i felt at once a strangling hurry of heart-beats and a hollow nausea. for an instant, i set my teeth and tried to master it; but it was no use. i must get out into the open light and air, or i should make an exhibition of myself. i rose and tiptoed hurriedly across the room through an atmosphere that seemed like a heavy liquid, dizzily aware that maclean had followed me a step or two and that the group around the table looked after me in surprise. somehow, i found the door-handle. while i groped for my hat in the hallway, i heard the querulous jerky voices speaking again inside the room. and the next moment i was standing on the sun-baked sidewalk, blinking my eyes against the glare, and breathing in deep gulps. a flower-vendor called on the corner, above the distant drone of a hand-organ. horses clumped heavily past. and a sparrow sat for a second upon the green top of a hydrant, then fluttered away, chattering. chapter xviii doctor reid removes a source of information for a block or so i still felt a little queer and giddy; but air and movement soon set all to rights; and after a walk back to the club and a comfortable bath, i felt as well as ever, and rather wondered at my sudden upset. evidently it had been only the heat and the nervous excitement of the day; and i had been foolish to take scotch with my luncheon in such weather. i remembered that i had been out of gear a bit since the morning; maclean's revelation must have shaken me more than i had admitted to myself; and it only wanted the startling coincidence of a "spirit" called miriam to cap the climax. besides, if you sit for two hours in a dark and stuffy room waiting for something strange to happen, something usually will. at any rate i had had an interesting experience. for a moment, it occurred to me that the episode might have been prearranged by mac, with the idea of conveying to me in that way something which he did not wish to tell; but that was not like him, and was absurdly far-fetched besides. if the name had been taken somehow from my own thoughts, it was a remarkable case of telepathy; but no, it had been the professor, not the medium, who had named the voice; and by his tone, this had been a familiar one often heard before. if the name had any other than a chance connection with my affair, i could not fathom it. there must be in all of us an instinct for the occult, an affinity for illicit short-cuts through difficulty that comes of mental and moral indolence--the instinct that causes the school-boy to look up the answer to his problem in the back of the book, and sends ignorance running to the soothsayer. here was i, an educated man with what i hoped was not less than ordinary intelligence, in the grip of a crushing question; and instead of seeking certainty through rational search, i was mulling over a mummery which purported to be a communication from another world. i was no better than a kitchen-maid at her dream-book and fortune-teller. carucci had said that lady was secretly reid's wife--or rather that he had gone through a false form of marriage with her, having already a wife or an entanglement abroad. it was too horrible and too ruinous to all that i most hoped for to be true; it was not like the people concerned; but it was unbearably like all that i knew them to have said and done. i must know what the truth was; and the more i shrank from knowing, the more need for me to understand fully and at once. to sit still and wonder was mere cowardice. i was here to watch carucci on mr. tabor's account: before he should leave the country, i would make it my business to question him on my own. by the time i had shaken myself into so much common sense, the afternoon was far gone; and after a very early meal, i set out again for the east side with the strained calmness of a man who walks into the jaws of a crisis to escape the devils that dance with their shadows behind him. there was a mockery of evening freshness in the air, though the heat still poured upward relentlessly from the sun-baked uncleanliness underfoot. the streets were so crowded with the weary turmoil of released workers, that i made my way against the stream with some difficulty; and as i neared my destination the difficulty increased. an eddying mass of humanity filled the narrow sidewalks and overflowed into the street among rumbling drays and trampling, scrambling horses: gangs of workmen with their tools, nervous and preoccupied business men, pallid clerks and stenographers, and droves of factory hands, men and women together, clamoring in a very babel of languages. i noticed but one other man going toward the waterside--a heavily built fellow with a red handkerchief about his neck, some yards in front of me; and presently, as he turned sidewise to avoid being jostled into a lamp-post, i saw that it was carucci. there could be no mistake: it was he, in his best clothes apparently, and alone, a dozen blocks from his own street. sheila was nowhere in sight: however he had become separated from her, with or against her will, it was my business to follow him. here was my chance for a talk with him alone; and as he passed his own corner and still kept on his way southward, it began to look as if i should be killing two birds with one stone. i found it no very hard matter to keep him in sight; for the peculiar brightness of the handkerchief at his neck marked him a block away. there were other italians, to be sure, but none so gorgeously bedecked, nor whose gait was so wondrous a combination of a roll, a stagger, and a strut. to overtake him, however, among that crowd was not so easy; and i was afraid besides that coming suddenly upon him from behind might spoil my whole opportunity by making him angrily suspicious. i followed, accordingly, as best i might, for some distance; and when at last, with a swagger of grimy magnificence, he pushed through a pair of swinging doors, i thought that my chance had arrived. i waited a moment outside, that i might not seem too patently to have followed him; and as i stood there, a precocious small boy came up and looked me over. "yu're a fly cop, ain't yu?" he ventured, after a familiar inspection. i smiled, and shook my head, somehow vaguely flattered. "aw come off, y'are too. i watched yu trailin' de guinea fer de las' four blocks." "shhh!" i whispered melodramatically. "sure t'ing. yu can't fool me. wot's de game, havin' yu're pal chase along so far behind?" "you can search me," i said, frankly puzzled. "is some one else following?" "surest t'ing you know. he's right on de job." i looked the youngster over; he seemed to be telling the truth. but the detectives, i knew, were off the case; and besides them and sheila, who could have the slightest interest in carucci? he might, to be sure, have committed crimes of which i knew nothing; but then, the police could have known nothing further against him at the time of our encounter in the field, and he could hardly have done anything since. i glanced in the direction in which i had come, and saw the unmistakable jerky figure of doctor reid coming around the corner. without stopping for a second look, i plunged inside. it was one of these really enormous halls which are scattered through the lower east side, places half saloon, half music-hall, where tables fill a great floor space, where dusty, dyed palm trees vaunt a degraded splendor about the walls, and upon a low stage at the far end of the room, rouge-smeared slatterns dance in dreary simulation of a long-departed youth and mirth. a very fat and flabby woman was upon the stage as i entered, and the smoky air quivered to her raucous singsong and the jangle of a battered piano. carucci was seated near by, watching the stumbling fingers of the pianist with the greatest interest and amiability. it pleased me vaguely that the woman did not interest him. even when she had finished her crime against harmony, and clambered from the stage to beg for treats about the room and so swell the bar receipts of the house, she only received a grinning and good-natured negative from carucci. he seemed much pleased with the place, nodding and marking time to the music, and plainly puffed up at the grudging attentions of the waiter. i had seated myself in an obscure corner near the door, where a person entering would pass me by unnoticed and where carucci must have turned full about to see me. if reid had really been following me, he would have appeared by this time; yet i could hardly imagine what other errand might have brought him to this part of town. if he had been following me, instead of carucci--the very possibility made me angry. and just then doctor reid walked in at the door. there was another man with him, a very large man with a broken nose and what is known among the sporting fraternity as a cauliflower ear. they stood together, looking about them for a moment; and i bowed my head upon my folded arms. i did not want to talk to doctor reid in that place--or in any place, for that matter. when i looked up again, they were seated at carucci's table, and the waiter was bringing up drinks for all three. they seemed to be talking with the greatest good fellowship. reid, i noticed, barely tasted his drink, and watched his chance to pour the rest with a certain medical accuracy into the cuspidor beneath the table. i smiled to see how pleased he was with the way he was carrying off a perfectly evident part. every minute or so he would reach forth his hand and give the italian a couple of staccato pats in the region of his shoulder, pulling back his hand as quickly, and beaming the while with a radiance of stagy friendliness. the giant with him took things more as a matter of course. he wasted none of his drink, but drained each glass as soon as it was set before him, leaning between whiles with mighty elbows upon the table, his great disfigured hands cradling his brutal face. he seemed the last person in the world that a man of reid's type would sit at table with. perhaps reid had reason to be afraid of carucci and had employed this fellow as a sort of bodyguard. another human mockery was upon the stage; a tall, scrawny creature with some remnant of good looks and a voice that retained a surprising sweetness and charm. she sang unhappily, with an occasional scowl at the piano, where the sot on the stool jangled his notes tirelessly. carucci was getting very drunk; he was commencing to wave his arms about, and now and then the splutter of his words reached even my far corner. as for reid, he was plainly embarrassed and somewhat frightened. his hand rested beseechingly upon the italian's arm, and he looked at his burly companion with evident appeal. the big man grinned, and gave his order to the waiter with a leer that ended with thrown-back head and closed eyes. the waiter grinned in his turn and hurried off. i was getting more than a little interested. carucci tossed off the fresh drink at a gulp, and pushed back his chair. "i know," he shouted. "i knowa da troub' with all you. you can'ta fool antonio, _non cio-ã¨_?" reid had grown suddenly rigid in his seat. i got up from my table, and hurried across to them. "sit down," said the giant, and pushed carucci back into his chair with a thud. carucci scowled sullenly. "well, gimme da mon'. gimme da mon'," he growled. "i needa da mon'," and he poured forth a torrent of italian, threats for the most part about a secret he knew which he proposed to shout to the world unless somebody paid him well. the room was fairly empty, but here and there people at the tables had begun to stare. the woman on the stage stumbled in her song, and paused wearily. reid glanced again at his companion. "ah, give it to him, he's a good feller," laughed the giant. "just play he's a bank, an' make a deposit." reid drew a roll of bills from his pocket, and began slowly counting them off. the giant grew impatient. "ah, hell," he said, "here, give 'em to me," and he snatched the roll from reid's hand and gathered up the money from the table, crushing the whole into a bulging wad. "here, you; take it all. that'll hold you for a while." reid got up in protest. "sit down, you dope," the other growled, "let him have it for a while." carucci grinned drunkenly, and crammed the handful carelessly into a deep pocket, swaying to his feet. "graz'. alia ri'." his mouth opened loosely, and he slumped to the floor in a heap. the waiter had come up, and with the giant's help lifted carucci; and between them they half carried him to a doorway at the side of the room. they moved for all the world like three boon companions, arm in arm. the door closed behind them, and i glanced around. nobody appeared to be concerned in the least; and even reid, almost dancing with nervousness, no longer attracted attention. "see here," i said, "did you people drug that fellow, reid?" he whirled upon me. "you keep out of this, crosby," he stuttered; "nothing to do with you, nothing whatever." "well," i answered, "mr. tabor asked me to keep an eye on him, that's all. what am i to report? what are you going to do with him?" "um, humph! that's why you're here, then. beg pardon, i'm sure, but you startled me. bad business. bad business. but the man had to be made sure of. getting dangerous. man with me drugged him. chloral, you know. won't harm him. not at all." the giant was coming back. "here's your roll, mister," he said, with an unfriendly glance at me. "count 'em. i took out my twenty." "is he all right?" reid asked. "sure!" grinned the other. "he won't wake up till morning, and then he'll be out o' sight o' land. i got a nice ship picked out fer him." chapter xix in which i can not believe half i hear we were all upon our feet, and now reid, with a curt nod of farewell, turned away with his companion. i stepped to his other side. "one moment," i said. "i want to know a little more about this before i drop it; and right here is as good a place as any." "can't just now, crosby." he motioned me away nervously. "not possible. see you up in the country any time, and tell you all you want. not here," and he moved toward the door. "you can't help yourself," said i, "and i won't keep you long. sit down again, please." he had lugged out his watch. "you'll have to miss your train, but there are plenty more." the giant scowled at me with obvious willingness to begin a disturbance then and there; and reid glanced hesitatingly from the one to the other of us, his impulse printed plain upon his face. "certainly," i put in, "you can get rid of me in that way, for the moment, if it's worth your while. make up your mind--you're the doctor." he started angrily, flushing to the roots of his close-cropped hair; and i thought for an instant that i had mistaken my man. then the melodrama oozed out of him. he dismissed the unwilling bully with a whispered word or two, and sat sullenly down across the table. "i'll make it as short as you please," i retorted. "carucci's wife is sent down to see that he sails. i'm sent down to see that she makes good. now you come down and have him shanghaied. was this your own idea, or were you--" "no. my own initiative entirely. only practical way of making sure that he went. best to see to it personally. always better to do the thing yourself, and then you know it's done." "i understand, then, that mr. tabor didn't suggest this to you?" "exactly. tabor knows nothing about it. my own idea altogether." his triumph in his own efficiency was overriding his annoyance. "better say nothing to him whatever. he has enough to think of. always best to avoid trouble. the man's gone, and there's an end to it. is that all?" so reid's own fear of carucci had been intense enough to drive him to this dirty alternative rather than trust to our sending the man safely away. there was something unnatural here. "not quite," i said. "of course, you know the exact nature of the fellow's blackmailing story?" "certainly. pack of lies. won't discuss it. utterly absurd, the whole thing, but we can't have it go any further." "precisely, and it won't go any further, now. what i want to know is the foundation for it. you must see the reason for my knowing that much of the facts, and for trusting me with them. if there is any entanglement--" "look here, crosby," reid leaned forward across the table, his face scarlet and working, "that'll do. i don't propose to sift over my life with you. not for a minute. what's more, if we could afford a row, i'd punch your head for having the assurance to repeat that infernal slander to my face. that's all, you understand? that's all." "there's plenty of time for that," i said, lowering my voice instinctively, as i felt my own temper slipping. "i'll ask you just one more question. on your word, is miriam tabor alive, or not?" i never saw a man so broken by a word. he turned from red to greenish white, the perspiration shining on his forehead; and for a moment it seemed that he could not speak. then he dragged the words out hoarsely and unnaturally. "you've taken a damned cowardly advantage--miriam tabor was my wife, and she's dead. now are you satisfied? because i'm not." there was nothing to add. i rose in silence, and we made our way to the door. on the sidewalk, he waited for me to choose my direction; then without a word, turned pointedly in the opposite one, and walked quickly away. i set out for the carucci tenement in a state of no great comfort. by forcing a scene i had gained nothing; and i had made an overt enemy of doctor reid. not that i was particularly concerned over that development; i had never liked the man from the first; and i was impressed not so much by what he had said as by his open and disproportionate confusion. think what i might of my own side of the affair, reid had confessed to a personal concern with carucci; he had flown into a rage upon my asking for an explanation; and the name of miriam had stricken him like a blow. he had told me nothing, after all, and had made me the more anxious over what he refused to tell. if he had been absolutely in the right, i had done nothing worse than to touch upon a grief brutally; and he would have said precisely what he did say if i had been justified and he had been lying. well, carucci was out of reach, and reid worse than silenced. what chance remained to me of an answer to my problem depended upon sheila. i had no time to doubt if i should find her; for her window was lighted up, and she herself plainly to be seen, leaning far out to watch the street below as i turned the corner. when i was still half way up the block, she called to me by name, bidding me come up at once; and i answered as i picked my way along, trying to reassure her. the scene for a moment resembled a ludicrous burlesque of a serenade; nor did the street miss anything of its humor. with one accord the women in the doorways, the lounging men about the lamps and the scurrying screaming groups of youngsters underfoot caught up the implication, and began a babel of jocose advice and criticism in a dozen languages. and although i understood but little of it, and was somewhat preoccupied with graver matters, yet i was fain to dive hurriedly into the doorway with a heated and tingling countenance. the little room was itself again, save for a dull spot upon the clean-scrubbed boards; and the canary in the window paused in a burst of singing as i entered. "sheila," i said, "i am very much afraid you won't like my news." "well, sir, what's happened him?" she asked briefly. "you're right," i answered. "it's your husband, but it's nothing to be alarmed about, nothing at all dangerous. you must--" "for the love av god, don't thry to break things to me, sir. speak right out. he's not hurt, ye say; well, he's pinched then, i suppose." "no, it's not the police. he's been shanghaied, if you know what that means." "crimped? it's thrue for ye, i know; 'tis twice before he's been, but who done it i never could tell. av i thought anny av my folk that's afraid av his silly tongue wud do that dhirty thrick--" she stopped short, her strong face working. i was rather angry myself. "well, sheila, i don't believe they had anything to do with it before; but it was doctor reid who had it done to-day. i was there, but it was over before i understood what was going on." "reid? i shud ha' known 'twas reid, the shamblin' scun he is, an' small good them that loved him best ever had av him! now, the divil hould his dhirty little pinch av a soul! for why shud he harm my man?" "that's what i want to know," i said. "he's afraid of what antonio says about him, and you know--" "as far as his story ever goes it'll harm no man," she burst out, "they know well he's all bark an' no bite, if they weren't all crazy-afraid together, an' a truer man anny day than that blagyard body-snatchin' pill-roller. his own guilty heart it is, whisperin' over his shoulder, an' me poor lamb that he married an' murthered, and the child av his own body on the one day! an' the poor mother they're callin' crazy, with the soul av the daughter she cudn't let free standin' between her an' the sunshine. crazy she'll never be until they make her so, with their doctors an' questions an' whispers, an' that death-fetch reid grinnin' before her face, with the blood not dhry on him!" she paused for breath, walking up and down the room and twisting her hands. "sit down, sheila," i said, "you know this is absurd. i'm trying to get a little truth about people we both care for; and if you say things like that, how can you expect me to believe anything?" but my knees were trembling as i spoke. "mudhered it was all the same," she said sullenly, dropping back into a chair nevertheless. "when a docthor with all the learnin' that goes beyond the knowledge av a woman lets his wife die an' an innocent mite av a new-born baby go down to the grave with her, 'tis black murder it is, no less. how could she rest quiet after that, an' half her life callin' to her, an' the mother that wouldn't let her go, an' had the power to see? 'tis no docthor she wants, but a priest, an' no medicine but a handful av holy wather, like my own sister's cousin nora that used to sit an' talk with her lad that was dead evenin's by the byre wall, an' father tracy came behind an' sprinkled the two av thim, the one he could see an' the one he could not see." "who was it that died?" i asked sharply. "was it miriam? did reid lie to me when he said so, or did carucci lie when he said that reid was married to lady?" she grew suddenly quiet and cautious, as if she had said too much already, and must weigh her words. "reid told ye the truth for once," she muttered. "'twas antonio lied." "then miriam was his wife, and lady--" "yes," she answered, "it was miriam," but she did not meet my eyes. then she went on hastily, before i could speak again. "ye see, sir, 'twas like this: when miriam died, her mother's heart nearly went with her, an' so because the poor dear loved her more than enough, she did not go quite away. 'tis so some whiles, when the livin' holds too close by the dead. she used to talk to her, an' when the villain that let her die got doctors an' looked like judgment, an' said my poor soul was wrong in her head, an' ought to be taken away, an' they moved her out there in the counthry where they had no friends, an' kept her hidden as if there was a shame upon her, sure the lovin' soul of the dead girl followed her mother. they said she was crazy when she made them move her daughter's room, an' keep it up in the new house as it had been in the old, an' would sit an' talk to her there. sure, 'twas no sign at all, an' a black lie in reid's black heart to set the husband an' the daughter again' her. some folks are that way, that can see the fairy folk an' the goblins, an' speak with the wandherin' dead. a good priest mrs. tabor should have when the power tires her, an' not a lyin' schemin' brute av a docthor that wants to put her away. 'twas not much at first anyhow. but he turned their heads with his talk av asylums an' horrors to lead them away from his own wickedness." "is that the secret, then?" i asked. "is the trouble no more than their fear that mrs. tabor is insane?" "secret? what secret? there's no secret they have at all, only a wicked lie." she was growing careful again. "'tis all that docthor that's never happy but doin' harm. she's no more crazy than meself, an' no one thinks nor fears it, not even him. they only say so, because--" she stopped herself again. "sheila," i said, "tell me just one thing. how much truth is there in what your husband says?" "how do i know what he says?" she was watching me closely, as if to see that i followed her words. "he's dhrunk half the time, poor divil, an' he says one thing to-day an' one to-morrow. never ye mind him, sir." "but there must have been something for him to go on," i persisted. "did reid have some affair abroad before his marriage, or not?" she hesitated, her apparent hatred of reid struggling with her loyalty to the family and her recovered caution. "there was some matther av a woman in germany," she said at last, reluctantly, "but i never rightly knew about it, nor antonio either." then more rapidly: "an' it's angry i've been, mr. crosby, an' 'tis like i've said more meself than i mean." she paused. "has that nothing to do with the trouble in the family? sheila, you know i'm their good friend, and i'm not merely gossiping. you must have seen--" for the life of me i could not go on. "i'll say no more," she answered obstinately. "it's weary i am for you, an' the poor darlin' that's bewitched ye, but--" her eyes filled, and she shut her mouth with a snap. say what i would after that, i could not move her. she had said enough already, and she trusted a gentleman like me that it should go no further. that was all. "sheila," i said, as i rose to go, "is all you have told me true?" "thrue?" she started as if i had struck her. "yes, it's thrue--an' sorrow fell them that made it so." i took up my hat and stick from the table. "we will have another talk about this some day, sheila," i said. and i closed the door behind me. chapter xx nor understand all i see for the next few days i think i must have been nearer to a nervous breakdown than i am ever likely to be again. all the strain and the anxiety of the whole summer seemed to fall upon me in a mass; i had not the relief of taking arms against my trouble, nor of any better business than to brood and to remember, sifting misery by the hour in hopeless search after some grain of decision; and the heat and hurry of the city broke my natural sleep, and went to make a nightmare of my days. maclean was with me a good deal, taking me with him into strange corners of the town, and trying his best to bring me out of myself; but i could not talk to him of what was on my mind, and the irritation of constant pretense to carelessness vitiated much of the relief he tried to give. wherever i might be to appearance, the same spartan fox was at my breast--carucci's story and sheila's attempted contradiction, and the ambiguous trouble that overhung lady and shut me out from her. i could not fathom it; and i dared not take dangerous action in the dark. reid had passed through some scandal before his marriage; sheila had admitted so much; and her denial that miriam and lady were the same had been involved in such a maze of surmise and superstition, so evidently and angrily put forward as a defense, that i could not believe what i would of it. it might well be that mrs. tabor was oppressed even to insanity by the situation. but what was the situation? if the mother's madness of bereavement were at the root of all, what had the family to conceal? or why should not the remaining daughter marry whom she chose? sheila's explanation of the first was absurdly tenuous; and the last she had not attempted to explain. no, there was one shadow over them all: the cause of the mother's grief was the cause of the daughter's terror, and of the irrational behavior of the sane and practical men of the family. i could find no alternative; either mrs. tabor was haunted by mediã¦val ghosts, or some part of the scandal must be true. at last, one unbearably humid morning, when i was almost on the point of going blindly out to stamford on the chance of any happening that might let my anxiety escape into action, of any opportunity that might force a climax, mr. tabor called me on the telephone. "hello, mr. crosby? mr. laurence crosby?--well, crosby, this is mr. tabor talking. are you free this morning, so that you can give us a few hours of your time? you can help us very much if you will." "certainly; i'll be out as soon as i can get a train." the idea of seeing lady again was a compensation under any circumstances; but the next words destroyed that hope. "no, don't do that. what i want of you is right there in new york." he hesitated a moment. "hello--that--that same situation which occurred the other day, when you were alone in the house, and we were in town, has arisen again. you understand me?--we're looking after this neighborhood. the person in question has been gone an hour, leaving no word; may have gone to new york. now, will you meet all trains until further notice, and keep your eyes open? call us up about every half hour. in case of success, use your own judgment--don't excite any one, don't be left behind, and telephone as soon as possible. am i making this explicit enough?" "yes, perfectly. i'm to meet trains, let matters take their own course as far as possible, keep in touch, and let you know." "that's it exactly. i knew we could count on you." i was not many minutes in getting to the grand central, laying my plan of action on the way. to be sure that no one arrived unobserved in that great labyrinth of tracks and exits was no such easy matter, even though i knew the point of departure. i began by a thorough search of the waiting-rooms. then, finding, as i had expected, no trace of mrs. tabor, i learned the times and positions of all the stamford trains, and set myself to meet each one as it arrived. i had to make certain of seeing every passenger, and at the same time to keep out of the expectant throng that crowded close to the restraining ropes on a similar errand; for if mrs. tabor should appear i must not seem to be watching for her. the next hour and a half was divided between studying the clock, running my eyes dizzily over streams of hurrying humanity, racing anxiously from place to place when a late train crowded close upon its successor, and snatching a moment at the telephone in the intervals of nervous waiting. even so, i could not be morally sure that she might not slip by me somewhere unnoticed. and when at last i recognized her fragile figure far down the long platform, i was less excited than relieved. she came on quickly, carrying a little shopping-bag, and stepping with a certain bird-like alertness. it was hard to imagine that this eager, pretty lady, with her spun-glass hair and her bright eyes, could be either ill or in trouble. i let her pass me, and followed at a little distance into the waiting-room; then crossed over and met her face to face by the telephone booths on the west side. her greeting was a fresh surprise. "why, mr. crosby, this is delightfully fortunate! i was just going to call you up, and here you spring from the earth as if i had rubbed a magic ring. you must have known that i was thinking about you. you're not going away, are you? or meeting any one?" if she meant anything in particular, i had reason to feel embarrassed; but the big, childish eyes that smiled into my own seemed wholly innocent of suspicion. "no," i said. "i've been seeing somebody off, and i'm very gladly at your service for as long as you like." i was praying heaven to inspire me with mendacity. "well, that's the best that could have happened. i came in town to see some friends, and i promised myself to see you at the same time. excuse me just half a minute, while i telephone them." she slipped into the booth, leaving me hesitating outside. evidently here was my chance to call up mr. tabor, and report; but she kept glancing out at me through the glass doors as she talked, quite casually, but still with observant interest; and i dared not shut myself in a booth lest she should either suspect or escape. she was out again before i could make up my mind. "now take me to lunch," she said gaily, "and after that, if you haven't grown tired of such a frivolous old creature, you may take me where i am going. i'll set you free by two or three o'clock, at the latest." i took her to the waldorf, for no better reason than that it was cool and close at hand; wondering all the way how in the world i was to get word to the family, and keeping up my end rather absently in a conversation, which with a younger woman would have been merrily flirtatious, and wanted only relief from preoccupied anxiety to be very delightful fencing. mrs. tabor was in that state of fluffy exhilaration, that heightening and brightening of spirit which in a man would have been hilarity, and which in a woman may equally well mean the excitement of pleasure or the tension of imprisoned pain. she was a little above herself, but there was absolutely nothing to tell me why. and she kept me too busy in finding the next answer to plan what i should do the minute afterward. "of course, mr. crosby," she began when we were settled at our table, "this is another of my horrible and mysterious disappearances. i've actually come to the great city, in broad daylight, without a chaperon. isn't it reckless of me?" "desperately," i answered. "and not a soul knows where you are? won't they be shocked and surprised when they miss you?" she shook out a little laugh. "let them; it's their own fault. if i'm to be treated like an european school-girl, i shall at least have the pleasure of acting like one. they need imagination enough to conceive of my being able to take care of myself now and then. i'm not in my second childhood yet--only in my second girlhood." "at least let me telephone them that you're with me. i won't say why or where, and we can make a mystery of that." "not a bit of it." her voice sharpened just a trifle. "that would spoil the whole lesson. they needn't worry unless they choose. then when i come home, if they make a fuss over me i shall say: 'now see how silly you've been. i've been having luncheon with mr. crosby,' you wouldn't take the edge off of that disclosure?" she tilted her head on one side. "but they ought to know merely that you're safe," i ventured. "safe? what should i be but safe? no--" she put out an emphatic little hand. "i'm free from the convent, and i'm not going to be taken to task by so young and good-looking a confessor. besides, i'm ashamed of you. where's your gallantry? you don't seem to appreciate the honor of our secret at all." "perhaps the trouble is," i said cautiously, "that i don't understand the secret myself. what did you mean when you said--" "oh, _that_!" she laughed. "why, i meant the hardest thing in the world for a man to understand, and that is--just nothing at all. you had all of you been so stupid and serious and uncomfortable that night that i felt it would serve you right to make you jump. so i made a little mystery of my own, and it worked beautifully. it sounded every bit as sensible as yours, too." she was beyond me. two or three times after that i worked around to the same subject, but she evaded me so deftly that i could not for the life of me be sure whether it was evasion or unconsciousness; and my attempts to communicate with the family met with no better fortune. at last i tried to leave her for a moment on the plea of calling a taxicab. "you live on table mountain, and your name is truthful james," was her comment. "taxicabs are scarce in stamford, mr. crosby, and it would take too long to get one here. let the waiter call one of those outside." at that, i gave up with a good grace. i should be free to report as soon as i had left her with her friends, and a few minutes more or less could not matter much by now. she gave the chauffeur an address in the sixties and we were presently there: one of these new american basement houses sandwiched in among the older brownstone fronts of the more conservative blocks. during the short drive, she had been silent and i thought a little disturbed; but her farewell was bright with reawakened gaiety. "i shall measure your enjoyment by your secrecy, mr. confessor," she purred, with tilted head and raised forefinger. "you may tell my anxious warders just as much as you please, and the less you confide in them the more i shall flatter myself of your confidence in me. now i leave you to your conscience." [illustration: and there he stood on the sidewalk] she was standing in the doorway, her hand upon the bell, and i had turned back to the waiting taxicab, when a somber and respectable electric brougham turned the corner and drew slowly up to the curb. i recognized with an uncomfortable shock that the driver was no other than the tabors' former chauffeur, the unworthy thomas who had deserted lady and myself at the crisis of our midnight adventure; and i thought that under his mask of the impassive servant he recognized me somewhat uncomfortably. i glanced back to see if mrs. tabor had seen him also. she was leaning against the door of the house, clutching at the handle as if for support, or in a desperate anxiety to enter; every line of her face and figure writhing and agonized with unmistakable terror. the bang of the brougham door behind me and the sound of a shrill precise voice that i remembered made me turn my eyes to the street--and as i did so the bang of the front door sounded behind me like an echo. mrs. tabor had disappeared into the house, the brougham was starting rapidly away, and there on the sidewalk stood the man whom reid had twice brought secretly home. chapter xxi concerning the identity of the man with the high voice i had my first good look at him while he moved deliberately past me and up to the door of the house: a man past middle age, in frock-coat and silk hat in spite of the season, heavy without portliness, a figure of an elderly athlete. a shock of iron-gray hair brushed the back of his collar, and his face was a face to ponder over, a face at once square and aquiline, broad forehead, predatory nose, and the massive lips and jawbones of a conqueror, clear-cut under a skin of creamy ivory. he might have been a roman emperor in time-worn marble. while i stood irresolute, wondering whether to follow, and on what pretext i should do so, the door swung open and he passed ponderously within; and the next instant mrs. tabor appeared at the ground-floor window, motioning to me frantically. i came forward, but she as frantically waved me back, and seemed to indicate by her gestures that i was to keep the taxicab where it was. a moment later she slipped out of the door like a fugitive, ran across the sidewalk, and fell in a heap inside the cab, crying: "take me away, quickly! oh, take me away!" i directed the astonished driver to the grand central, and sprang in beside her. she was very pale and breathing in sobbing gasps; and remembering her weak heart, i was alarmed almost for her life. but she began to recover as soon as we were fairly in motion, and by the time we had gone a few blocks was apparently beyond the immediate danger of collapse. she was still, however, pitifully pale and shaken, clutching unconsciously at my arm, and whispering: "that man--that man--" like a frightened child. "whom do you mean?" i asked. "not the chauffeur? he went the other way as soon as you were inside." "chauffeur? no, what chauffeur? i mean the old man that came in after me. he comes after me everywhere. i can't get away from him. is he coming now?" she tried to look out of the window. "there's no one coming," i said blindly. "he sent his car away, and he couldn't follow us if he tried. it's all right." "really? are you quite sure?" she sat up, and began setting her hair to rights with little aimless pats and pushes. "you must think me ill or crazy, mr. crosby," she went on with a faint smile, "but if you could only understand, you would see that i'm not so absurd as i seem." "but who is he?" "he's the worst of them all. he's the head of it. my own people would hear reason if it weren't for him. he knows--oh, he knows all the things that nobody ought to. he doesn't want me ever to see miriam-i can't get away from him. i can't possibly get away from him." she was growing hysterical again, and i dared not let her go on, much as i wanted to hear more. "he isn't here, anyway," i said. "he isn't anywhere about, and he isn't coming, and you have got away from him this time. and i'm going to take you safe home and see that no one troubles you any more." i felt that i was talking like a fool, but my reassurance, fatuous as it was, had its suggestive effect. she grew steadier, and i was able to lead her mind away from its terror, until, as we reached the station, she had become almost like herself. "mr. crosby," she said as the cab stopped, "you've done me a difficult service very tactfully, and you are a wonderful nurse; i'm really quite myself now, and there's no need at all of your coming home with me. but i want you to understand a little why i had such an absurd shock. that man is insane, and i'm afraid of him. but i can't make the family believe it." i tried to pay the least possible attention. "i'd better come with you anyhow," i said carelessly, "just to be on hand. there's no harm in having a man along." she protested that she was quite well, and that there was not the slightest occasion for my trouble. and indeed, she was so marvelously recovered that it was hard for me to believe my own memory of the last few minutes: the oppression had passed from her as a slate is cleared by a sponge, and there was hardly a sign of visible nervousness to show that she had been excited. nevertheless, i could not leave her so, though i was racking my brain for an explanation, and raging at the responsibility which prevented me from hurrying back to seek it. as i was buying the tickets, a god from the machine appeared in the person of sheila, armed for travel and looking more anxious than ourselves. she took possession of the older woman like a nurse discovering a lost child. "here ye are on your way home again," she cried, "an' me thinkin' i'd have to go all the way out alone on the hot thrain, with no one better than meself. that man of mine's off to sea, mrs. tabor, an' miss margaret sent me word to come back an' make meself useful. but ye'd be knowin' that already. ye're only in the city for the day?" "mrs. tabor and i have been lunching together," i said, "and it seemed so hot in town that i hardly liked to have her go home alone." "ye've been--" sheila shot a quick glance at me. "well, there'll be no need, mr. crosby, unless ye were to come to stamford yourself anyway," and she began to inquire volubly after the health of the family. mrs. tabor turned to me. "there really is nothing for you to do, mr. crosby, except to come soon and see me again," she said brightly. "i'm quite well, and i'm in safe hands, as you see--" so far as i could tell, she was right; and i had no further need of overriding dismissal. i saw them both safely on the train, and hurried back; resolved to reach the bottom of at least this new mystery before i slept that night. my telephone call was answered by reid, upon whom i wasted no unnecessary words, telling him only that mrs. tabor had been continuously with me, and was now on her way home in charge of sheila. "why on earth didn't you 'phone before?" he snapped. "couldn't," said i shortly. "good-by," and i raced for the subway. a north-bound express was just leaving, and i had barely time to squeeze inside the door. the nearest station to the house would be sixty-sixth street; but by taking the express to seventy-second, and running back on a local, i should save time. i hung on my strap, fidgeting with impatience while we howled through the clashing darkness and flashed past the blurred brilliancy of the stations. as we passed sixty-sixth street, a local drew out in the same direction as ourselves, running for a moment side by side with us before it fell behind. its rows of lighted windows balanced almost within reach; and close inside, in one of the cross-seats amidships of the car, sat the man whose mere presence had so terrified mrs. tabor. there was no mistaking that face, even if the silk hat and formal frock-coat had not been at that season almost an identification in themselves. i could as soon have mistaken ibsen or napoleon appearing before me in the flesh. the massive head was bent forward thoughtfully, and one broad white hand lay loose along the window-sill. i noticed a plain gold ring on the little finger. then, as the express began to slacken speed, the window moved slowly past me and out of sight ahead. i had a strong sense of having seen the face many times before, though, try as i would, i could not fit it to a name. he was either some person well enough known to have his picture often in print or else the striking distinction of his features had given me that impression. the local was standing at the platform as we drew into seventy-second street, and i pushed out and across to it with small regard for the amenities of the crowded station. a score of people, it seemed, were possessed of personal designs to block my way. i dodged a chanticleer hat, caromed off a hot and angry commuter or so, and found myself scrambling at the tail of the impatient cluster before the sliding-doors. "little lively, please!" roared the guard. "lennux 'n west farms, local train! both gates!" i did my best, but there were too many ahead of me. even as i reached for that grip on the door-casing, which meant the right to squeeze inside, the door clicked shut before my face; and two dull clanks of the gong sealed my disappointment. i ran wildly along the train, trying to overtake the relay of sliding doors and jangling bells; but it was of no use. then for an infuriating minute or two the train stood still, locked and inviolable, while the station alarm chattered overhead, and through the gleaming window i could see my man sitting calmly in his place. as it creaked out into the darkness, another express growled in behind me; and i had still presence of mind enough to slip aboard. my one chance was that we might overtake that local in a favorable spot. seventy-ninth and eighty-sixth streets blurred past without a sign. then a little beyond the latter i caught sight of the local, and gradually we drew alongside. he was still there, drumming idly on the window-pane with his white fingers, and looking disinterestedly straight across at me. i had a momentary impulse to conceal my face, until i remembered that he had never seen me. so for a second we stared at each other, pursuer and pursued, the one utterly unconscious of the other. my train passed forward with increasing speed, while i counted the cars--one--two--three--he was in the fourth. either he must come into ninety-sixth street or get off at ninety-first; and the chances were in favor of my finding him still in the train at ninety-sixth. i got out there, crossed over to the local platform, and waited. when the train came in, i was opposite the fourth car. the center seat was empty, and i sought in vain among the passengers thronging to the doors. then i hurried back ahead of the crowd, and from before the ticket window ran my eyes again over the platform to make sure. well, he had left the train at the last station; it was a question of seconds. i was in the street above in less time than it takes to tell it, and swung myself recklessly aboard a passing south-bound surface car; but a stream of trucks and automobiles blocked the track; and before we passed the next corner i jumped off and ran. three blocks i went at the top of my speed, my breath growing shorter at every stride. and then, nearly a block away to the westward, i caught sight of the silk hat against the reddening sky. it was an easy matter enough to overtake the man. he walked along slowly and rather heavily, glancing upward at the numbers of the houses; and presently he paused to verify an address in a pocketbook. i might have spoken to him then, but i hesitated for a pretext. his name was what i wanted first; and in my ignorance of the circumstances it would be safer to settle one thing at a time. while i debated with myself, he went up the steps of a house near west end avenue. since it was evidently not his home, nothing could be lost by a little patient consideration; so lighting a cigarette, of which by now i felt considerable need, i strolled to and fro before the house, while i pondered my next move. five or ten minutes went by, and i was on the point of ringing the bell and asking who it was that had just come in, when the electric brougham purred around the corner, with my friend thomas sitting stolidly at the wheel. at the moment, i happened to be nearly at the other end of the block, and before i reached the spot where the brougham had drawn up my man had come out of the house. i could hardly question his servant before his face. and the next minute he had clambered in and driven decorously away. i ran as far as the corner, looking about in all directions for a taxicab. none was in sight; and to follow afoot for any distance was, of course, impossible. i should have to be content with the number of the brougham and such information as inquiries at the two houses i knew the man to have visited might yield. then a boy came by on a decrepit bicycle, and i caught at his handles. "let me take your wheel," i panted. he twisted his face into position for a howl. "nonsense, kid, i'm not going to steal it. look at me. here," i thrust a bill into his hand. "that's more than your machine's worth, and i'll send it back to you in an hour. where do you live?" he told me in a dazed sort of tone, and i was wavering on my way almost before he had finished. the wheel ran abominably hard, and was so much too low for me that my knees barely cleared the handle-bars; still, it meant all the difference between losing the brougham altogether and being able to follow it easily. all the way down to the fifties it led me, and eastward beyond madison avenue, halting at last before a rigid-looking domicile whose lower window displayed a strip of ground glass with the legend: "immanuel paulus, m. d." somehow, the name was indefinitely familiar, as the face had been. i wasted no time in surmise, but went straight up to the door. "was that doctor paulus who just came in?" i asked the maid. she looked me over cautiously. "who was it wanted to see him, sir?" "he wouldn't know me," i said, "it's only that i have something which i think he lost in the street." the trick worked, as i had expected, and a moment later my man stood before me identified, even to the shrill precision of his voice with its tinge of german accent. "i found this in front of your door, doctor," said i, "and i thought you had dropped it as you went in." and i handed him my silver pocket-knife. deliberately he produced his own, and with deliberate courtesy pointed out my mistake. i thought as the door closed behind me that there had been a glint of recognition in his eyes. but the final step remained to take; and with an aching swarm of suspicions writhing in my brain, i sought out a public telephone. "mac," i asked, "who and what is doctor immanuel paulus?" and the answer i had expected set the keystone upon a whole arch of tottering reminiscences. "biggest alienist and nerve-shark in town; biggest in the country, i guess. he was the old guy sittin' alone in the corner at that spook-hunt. d'you remember?" chapter xxii i learn what i have to do i did not sleep very much that night; but it was no longer the frustrate misery of indecision. i was done with all that, with beating myself aimlessly against blind bars and running weary circles in the wheel, with tossing helplessly in a mesh of irresoluble circumstances. i saw now what i had to do; and the problem was not what the trouble might be, not even what i must accomplish, but only how i should accomplish it. the carucci story might be true wholly, or in part, or practically not at all; it did not matter. assuming all of it, if lady was miriam, and reid had married her when he was not free to do so, she was not his wife even in law. whether his wife was now living or dead made no difference. lady was not bound to him in theory and certainly not in reality. she was free to come to me if she chose, and i had only to make her see it. but i did not for a moment believe that the trouble was so directly her concern. mrs. tabor was insane, or was feared to be: that was beyond a doubt, and that beyond a doubt was the root and center of it all; that was what the family had so elaborately striven to conceal, either because of the nature of her illusion, or because of some scandal in the events which had brought it about. that was reason enough, granting their determination to keep it secret, for all that i had seen, from the midnight alarm, which had driven me out of the house, to mrs. tabor's terror of the alienist; and her absurd suggestion that he himself was insane clenched the matter. what supported it still more was that if this were so, then all these honest people had from point to point spoken the truth; mr. tabor had, as he said, trusted me to the edge of caution; lady had told the truth in fear, and reid under pressure; sheila had told the truth, only inflated and colored by superstition. and as i thought over the substance of what she had told me, i wondered whether by some chance her tale had not been truer than i thought, nearer than even the others knew to the heart of reality. i would not take her ghosts too literally; but mrs. tabor might have some illusion of her dead daughter's presence, and i remembered the voice called miriam that had spoken in the circle of spirit-seekers. was there not surely some connection here? yet, however that might be, it all closed round a single need. i cared nothing, after all, what the shadow might be, except as that concerned my taking lady away from it. it would be like her loyalty to feel the family trouble a bond that she must not selfishly break, and like her girlhood to dream her mother's delusion a taint that must forbid her marrying. but she was wrong in both, and to-morrow i should tell her so and take her away with me. even if she were right, i should do the same: i had grown to care for the others, and i was not wholly careless of humanity; but in the face of this greater matter, family and race and right itself, if need were, might go to the devil. i was fighting for her and for myself, and for that wherein we two were one desire. i fell asleep at last thinking of that, and imagining what i should need to say and do; and the next morning i went out to stamford in a curious mood of deliberation; feeling, on the threshold of crisis, unnaturally calm and sure; as if i were somehow going with the stream, a small embodiment of predetermined force, a mouthpiece of the thing which was to be. as she had done once before, sheila opened the door for me. it was very plain that she was glad of my coming. "sure it's mr. crosby!" she exclaimed softly. "what's the matter, sir? you look white and tired like. 'tis all the world seems upset lately." "i want to see miss tabor, sheila. will you tell her that i am here?" "that's the very thing i'm not to tell her, sir. she said most particular that she was not to see any one to-day; but--" sheila frowned at me forbiddingly, "you sit down an' wait a minute, sir, an' i'll do me best. i'm a servant-girl no longer--ordhers is nothing to me." "but, sheila--" i began nervously. "but nothin', mr. crosby. you sit down an' wait," and she was gone before i could say another word. i sat in the great room, as if at the portals of judgment day, every fiber of me keenly alive, and yet my mind knowing no particular focus of thought. the future gaped before me like eternity, something too vaguely large for definition or comprehension. i remember that i kept whispering dryly to myself that man was master of his fate, and feeling infinitesimally comforted by the sophistry. the curtains at the door parted, and lady stood looking into my eyes. i saw before she spoke that she knew why i had come. "i was sure that it was you," she said at last. "sheila told me that a young man was down-stairs, and that she could not get him to go away." "she told me," i said, "that you did not wish to see me. was that true?" lady sank wearily into a chair. "sheila should not have let you in," she said. "i was afraid that you might come here; and you know that it was wrong of you to come. you know that as well as i do." she spoke monotonously, with pauses between the words, leaning back along the deep chair. the last few days must have been hard ones for her. she was very pale, the little blue veins in her temples distinct and clearly lined. it tore me to see her so; and for a moment i wondered if i had done well to come, and felt a wave of that uncomfortable reaction which meets one on the threshold of a test; for a moment only, then i knew that even though i tired her the more, it was a price that we must pay for her sake as well as mine. no good ever comes of half understandings. "no, i don't know that," i said slowly. "you don't believe that i'm altogether selfish, or that i would come now, when i know that many things have distressed you, to give you any further reason for distress." she leaned forward, one white hand raised. "please," she said, "i am not sure--not really sure--why you have come. but i am certain of this, that you have made a mistake in coming. there's nothing on earth that you can do to help us just now--there's nothing anybody can do--there's nothing anybody can do." "oh, things aren't so bad as that." i knew that i was only temporizing, and raged inwardly at myself. lady's eyes dropped, and one hand played nervously with a loop of the chain that hung about her neck. "i don't believe you can understand just how bad they are. the worst of it is that i can't tell you--oh, it wasn't fair of you to come to-day"--her voice broke ever so little, and her eyes brimmed with unshed tears--"i'm tired and disheartened, and i want advice and comfort--no, don't come near me--i can't tell you anything--there's nothing i can tell to anybody in the world." i was standing before her. "no, i can't comfort you now," i said. "i'm here to ask you things, and perhaps to hurt you very much. but you mustn't think i've come carelessly. i came because i had to--because there are things i have to understand to go on living." her eyes were frightened, but she settled herself back as if to meet whatever blow my questioning might give. "i don't think that you are very generous to-day," she said; and her voice grew harder than i had ever heard it. "neither shall i answer anything that i may not. but--but perhaps you are right--perhaps there are some things that you should know. please say what you have to say and have it done." "you told me once," i began gently, "that your name was margaret. was that true?" "true?" she wrinkled her brow. "of course it was true." it was evidently not a question that she had expected. "then who is miriam?" "oh, i told you the truth then. do you doubt it? why should you ask these things again?" i paused. certainly she was not to hear that ugly story if it were not true and i could in any way prevent it. "it may seem very strange to you," said i, "but some day i will tell you all about it. i have to know this now: do you mean that it is true you have a sister, that her name is miriam, and that she is--that she was doctor reid's wife?" the question was out at last, and my heart stopped for the answer. "why, yes," she answered, in the same disinterested tone, as if she were telling dry facts in distant history--"miriam married walter when he came back from studying abroad. she only lived about a year. they had a little girl, you know, that lived not more than about an hour. i think if she had lived, miriam would have lived too. but it was too much for her to bear. she died three days after her baby died." the unshed tears were falling now, falling quietly in the mere physical relief of tender sorrow. every rigid line of tragedy and pain had disappeared, and her trouble came upon her naturally, like sleep, a relaxation and a rest after hot-eyed days. i did not even feel any sorrow for her, so full was i of the new certainty that we were free. very reverently i came closer to her, and like a child she turned to me and hid her face against my shoulder. so we rested for a space. i do not think that either of us had any definite thought--only that peace wrapped us like a garment and that the tension of the past few weeks had somehow vanished away. at last lady drew herself quietly from me, half smiling as she brushed away her tears. "i have been very silly," she whispered, "but it's all over now. it was good of you to let me cry," and she reached her hand toward me with a gesture so intimately grateful that my love fairly broke its bounds, and i caught it almost fiercely in my own. "lady, lady dearest," i cried, "can't you see what it all means? oh, my dear, you must see. i love you. that is all i know in the world, and nothing else matters or can matter." "no, no--you must not--" she drew back from me frightened. "you must not tell me that. you have no right--and you are spoiling it all." "don't you love me?" i persisted. lady raised her eyes sadly. "there can be no such thing for you and me. i have told you why." "what have you told me?" "i've told you that even if i did--care for you--that i could not let myself care--that i can only see you even, when you treat me as a friend, and only as a friend." "you told me once, i remember, that there was some one else. i think now that you were mistaken. there neither is nor can be any one else." "but there is." the words were scarcely audible, and her eyes were turned away from me. "i know perhaps what you mean. i didn't know at the time--but i think i do now. do you mean that the some one else, the person who stands between you and me, is your mother?" lady looked past me blankly. "my mother?" she questioned. "you must see that i have to know the real truth now," i said. "you can surely trust me; and i am trying for something that means more than life. lady, you must answer me fairly. is it not because of your mother that you say these things?" "what do you know of my mother?" "i know," i answered as gently as i could, "that you all believe she is temporarily unbalanced; that doctor immanuel paulus has declared her insane." lady had gone very white again. "yes, that is the reason," she said. "but," i cried, "that is no reason at all! if you feared that my intimacy would betray this trouble you all guard as a secret--why, you see i know that now; and surely you can not doubt in your heart that i would guard any secret of yours more sacredly than anything in the world. why has it anything to do with us?" i was speaking eagerly, with that foolish burst of argumentative logic which a lover fondly imagines potent, hurling breathless words against the impregnability of conviction. "no," said lady softly. "you are wrong, because you still do not know. there is no taint of insanity in the family; we are not afraid of that. mother was taken out of herself by a great shock, not by inheritance." "yes," i said, "by the shock of your sister's death. i know that." "then you know almost everything," said lady, "except perhaps--except the reason that mother gives for my sister's death--her marriage." we were both of us for a long time silent. "you see, it is no question of the truth." she went on at last, in that terribly distant and even voice. "it is true to her--and very dreadful--so that it is dangerous for her even to remember. that is why she shrinks from walter; that is why i keep her wedding-ring." she touched the chain that hung about her neck. "and that is why--do you understand now?" i nodded wordlessly, for the world seemed coming to an end. then, thank god, i looked into the eyes of my love; and behind their despair i read appeal, the ageless call of a woman's heart to the one man of her faith. and then i had taken her in my arms. i held her close and the fragrance of her hair was in my nostrils, and soft arms had crept around my neck, bending my head to meet the upturned face. "oh, laurie, you will be kind to me," she said at last. "i can never do it all alone. you must help--oh, my dear, i have needed you so." "it will be right. you know that it is right," i whispered. "you must find the way, then, dear-i have thought so long that it was wrong to tell you that even now i can't tell what is right. only--god doesn't let some things be unless he means them--but i can't see the way. you must find it now, for her and us too." what feeling i had of another presence i do not know; but half uneasily i turned. between the curtains of the doorway stood mrs. tabor, her hands raised above her head gripped the curtains as if for support, so that she seemed rather to hang there than to stand; her eyes looked through and beyond us vacantly, and the pretty old-young face was twisted like a tragic mask. then the curtains dropped before her, and from the hall came the gasp of a stifling sob. lady was out of my arms and away as if i had not been there. her cool voice pleaded for a moment with the rising hysteria without. then all sound died, and i was left utterly alone; the silence of the great room about me, and before my mind the world of reality and the battle still to fight. chapter xxiii i stand between two worlds after a few empty minutes, i went quietly out of the house, and at the end of the drive paused to look back over the sunlit lawn with its bright flower-beds and heavy trees. my work was plain enough before me now; i saw what i had to do, and the only question was my method of approach. the impossibility of it somehow did not interest me. i did not want to think the situation over, but merely to decide at what point i should first take hold upon it; and i was eager to begin. as i stood there, i saw doctor reid, in loose flannels and with a tennis racket in his hand, come in the side gate and walk jerkily toward the garage in the rear. here was one thing to be done at least, and i might as well attend to it while i was on the ground. his springy step was on the stairs as i entered the building after him, and i overtook him at the top, shuffling from one foot to the other before an oaken door, while he hunted through his pockets for the key. he turned sharply at the sound of my coming. "what are you doing here?" was his greeting. "reid," said i, "i have to say to you that i regret forcing that matter on you the other night; and if you'll give me a little time, i want to tell you why. it will end in our pulling more or less together, instead of fighting each other." his face set for an instant, then he made up his mind. "very well. i'm free for a while. come in. no occasion perhaps for an apology: spoke too hastily myself. no sense in being emotional." he threw open the door and stepped back. "my digestion wasn't normal that day, you see. fermentation. generally a physical basis for those things. alcohol besides." i preceded him into a sudden blaze of air and sunlight, a first impression of wide space and staring cleanliness. while i blinked, reid swung a leather covered chair toward me, with a word of hasty excuse. "just been exercising, you see, and i've got to take my shower. great mistake sitting down without. i'll be with you in half a moment," and he vanished behind a rubber curtain that ran on a nickeled rod before an alcove at the back, leaving me to look about the room. it was very large, occupying the whole breadth of the building, and fitted up with an astonishing combination of convenience and hygiene. dull red tiles covered the floor and rose like a wainscot half way up the walls. above that ran a belt of white, glazed paper enameled to represent tiling; and the ceiling was of corrugated metal, also enameled white. two large windows in front, and one on either side, wide open behind wire screens, and uncurtained, let in a flood of light and air which somehow in entering seemed to exchange its outdoor freshness for the sterilized, careful purity of a laboratory. between the front windows a large glass-topped table bore a microscope and microtome covered by glass bells, a bunsen burner, and a most orderly collection of bottles and test-tubes. on one side of this was a porcelain sink, and on the other a heavy oak desk with a telephone and every utensil in place. steel sectional bookcases along the walls displayed rows of technical books and gleaming instruments. in one corner stood an iron bed, with a strip of green grass matting before it, and in the other a pair of indian clubs and a set of chest-weights flanked an anthropometric scale. the only decorations were a large print of rembrandt's _anatomy_, two or three surprisingly good nudes, and a few glaring french medical caricatures. and everything possible about the room was covered with glass--tables, desk, bookcases, the shelves above the sink, and the very window-sills. if ever a room did so, this one declared the character of its inhabitant; and looking upon its comfortless convenience, i caught myself wondering how any normal woman could endure marriage with such an antiseptic personality. then as reid issued from his bath, glowing and alert with vivid energy and contagiously alive, the idea seemed not inconceivable after all. "pretty comfortable place, eh?" he burst forth. "fine. fine. all my own idea. fitted it up according to my own notion. everything i need right here, nothing useless, plenty of light and ventilation. have a cigarette? i don't smoke often myself, but i keep 'em at hand. best form to take tobacco, if you don't inhale. popular idea all rot." i lit one and settled back. "i've just asked lady to marry me," i said, as quietly as i could. "she says that the only reason she won't is her mother. and i understand why." his face lighted for a moment. "i told tabor you'd be at the bottom of it eventually. as for the other matter--well, it has to be reckoned with. strongest motive we have. the race has got to go on." he frowned suddenly: "how much do you know?" "i know that carucci lied; i know that mrs. tabor is out of her mind; i know that her delusion takes the form of a horror of marriage, because--" i stopped, searching for a softened form of words; but reid took up the broken sentence and went evenly on, as impersonally scientific as if we had been speaking of strangers. "because of my wife's death. hysteria aggravated by introspection. fixed idea of miriam's continual presence--what's that line?--'the wish father to the thought'-the psychic element in these things, you know, does react on the physical. whole thing moves in a circle. then paranoia." "she's got to get well," i said. "what's the best chance? what can we do?" "we're doing all we can. we've called the best man in the country. you can't depend on any prognosis, you know. we don't understand these things perfectly, at best. there's no rigid line of demarcation between insanity and hysteria. nervous and mental diseases run into each other. you can't tell." "just what does doctor paulus say?" "paranoia. says if there were continual external suggestions of miriam he'd call it only hysterical; but we guard her as far as possible from anything of the kind. if she originates the hallucinations herself, it's mental. nothing to do but keep her quiet, avoid all reminders, avoid excitement, lead her mind in other directions, suggest normality. nothing more possible, unless we take her abroad for hypnotic treatment, and that doesn't seem advisable. nothing else to be done. question of time." "then it's just a question of getting rid of this fixed idea?" "well, but that's begging the whole question, crosby, don't you see? the fixed idea is the disease. you're a layman, you know, and you look at it with the simplicity of ignorance. no offense meant, but that's the plain fact, you know. paulus doesn't call it hopeless, but rome wasn't built in a day. nothing to do but wait." "i'm going to find something to do," i said, "because something has got to be done." "right spirit. right way to face a difficulty. always best to be optimistic. but of course, you mustn't risk any private experiments. you understand that. might do harm. hell's paved with good intentions, you know, and we've got an expert on the case. where there's any work for you, we'll count you in, but you mustn't butt in." i rose from my chair. "of course i've no idea of putting in my oar without authority. give me credit for that much sense--and thank you for making me understand the facts. tell mr. tabor of this conversation, will you? i'm off to new york." "certainly. certainly. by the way, crosby, i suppose i ought to congratulate you. fine. fine. well, we've all got to be patient and hope for the best. it's hard, of course. but life's a hard struggle. a hard struggle. good-by. can you see your way down?" as reid had intelligently observed, it was hard. and the hardest part of it was the waiting. i saw maclean that same night, and without evincing more than an ordinary curiosity about spiritualism, arranged to be taken to the next of the sã©ances. after that, there was nothing to do until one should be held. the slender thread of coincidence between sheila's ghost-stories and my experiences at the last one was my single chance of discovering a remedy of which the doctors did not know. probably i should discover nothing of any use; but until i could contribute some definite help, i would not go back to stamford. i had made more than enough trouble there already. it was another week before the chance came. and i was a little surprised when maclean conducted me not to the closed house we had before visited, but to the house on ninety-second street to which i had followed doctor paulus on his way home. "oh, they meet around at one another's houses," mac explained as we went up the steps. "it's a gang of social lights that's runnin' these stunts as a fad, you see? an' the psychic researchers, they ring in. now this time, see if you can't keep something on your stomach besides your hand. you missed a pile of fun last performance." it was a very different sort of house from the other; wide open and full of the sense of family inhabitance, a house full of silk hangings and new mahogany and vases of unseasonable flowers, an orchid of a house, a house where people would be like their own automobile, polished and expensive and a trifle fast. professor shelburgh was there, looking a little out of his element; and the others, by what i could tell, were mostly the same people as before; but there were more of them, twenty or twenty-five all told, chattering in groups about the brilliant room and giving it almost the air of a reception. it was evening, and the electric light and the formal dress of most of the guests added to the impression. i had my first good look at the medium before the proceedings began; a fattish, fluffy woman with large eyes, pale-haired and slow-moving, whose voluble trivialities of conversation and dress exaggerated both vulgarism and convention. for a moment or two, i wrestled with an uncanny certainty of having seen her somewhere before, groping about among recollections. then all at once i remembered; she was the woman who had been with us in the trolley accident, the woman who had so curiously discovered the whereabouts of the chain. as before, the circle formed about the center-table consisted of only a dozen or so, and the rest of us were left sitting about the walls. the doors were closed, and the extinguishing of the lights left the room in almost utter darkness. the greenish pallor about the edges of the windows made it possible to imagine rather than to see. the gloom had the solidity of closed eyelids; and perhaps because of the sudden transition from brilliant light, it had the same fullness of indefinite color and movement; as when one suddenly buries one's face in the pillow, with the light still burning. i caught myself unconsciously straining my eyes to observe these half-imaginary after-images. and despite the difference of environment, the sitters had hardly begun their tuneless crooning of old songs before i felt the same breathless closeness as before, the same saturated oppression, the same feeling of uncomfortable and even indecent overcrowding. i steadied myself with long breaths, bracing involuntarily against the tension. then all at once, the door opened silently and softly closed; and as i turned to look some one rustled past me, visible only as a solid shadow in the gloom, and without a word slipped into a seat at the table. the others made room, and a chair was moved up quietly, no one speaking or even pausing in the song. but my heart pounded in my ears and my hands heated as i clenched them, for somehow i knew as certainly as if i could have plainly seen that the new-comer was mrs. tabor. and it was as if she brought with her an increase of the already tense expectancy, as if her own nervous trouble spread out about her like a deepening of color, like a drop of blood falling into water already tinged with red. it was my own imagination, of course, the excitement of being close upon my quest, and the reaction of silence closing over the interruption of her entrance; but i felt the exertion of breathing, as if i were immersed up to the chin in water. if the atmosphere had been like a weight before, it was now like a deliberately closing vise. in the intervals of the droning hum at the table, the silence took on a quality of brittleness. little brushings and rustlings ran in waves around the room, and i thought how a breeze runs over a field of tall grass, where each tuft in turn takes up its neighbor's restlessness. it occurred to me suddenly that most of the people here were women; and the sense of crowded presence led me to imagining crowds and throngs of women grouped in pictures or dancing in rows upon the stage. and then i remembered sharply that i could not see mrs. tabor and wondered whether my certainty that it was she had any more foundation than these other fantasies. i heard my own breathing, and that of many others. i felt vaguely irritated that all these breathings were not keeping time, and instinctively brought my own into the rhythm of the predominating number. a chair creaked softly, and i started, while the skin tightened over my cheeks and my tongue dried and tasted salt. the medium seemed to be writhing about, making little soft urging noises, like muffled groans or the nameless sound that goes with lifting a heavy burden or suddenly exerting the whole strength of the body. then the peculiar padded rapping began. the incongruously matter-of-fact voice of the professor asked: "are the hands all here?" and the circle counted in a low tone while the raps went irregularly on. some woman across the room giggled nervously. why these trivial details did not interrupt and relieve the tension, i do not know; but their very absurdity seemed to intensify it; i was hot and puffy and a trifle faint. suddenly maclean gripped my knee, and muttered: "look at the table-my god, look at the table--!" i do not know just how to describe it; to say that i saw is not literally accurate, for it was really too dark to see; the table and the group around it were no more than a bulk in the midst of darkness. but as i strained my eyes toward it, that blur of unconvincing cloudiness which i had seen or fancied before swelled into mid-air, showing against the dark like black with light upon it against black in shadow. and illuminated as it were by that visible darkness, the table beneath it rose up from its place under the circle of hands, wavered as though afloat upon the rising stream of a fountain, then settled with a thud and a creak down again upon the floor. there was a momentary silence, full of crowded breathings. while i was wondering confusedly how much of it i had only imagined, professor shelburgh said calmly: "that's the best levitation we've had so far. who did it? who is there?" and the throaty, querulous contralto answered: "i did. miriam. do you want any more?" another man somewhere in the circle stammered uncomfortably: "i--well--er--i beg your pardon, but--could you move something quite beyond our reach? one of those things on the bookcase, for instance?" "what for?" whined the voice, "you wouldn't believe it anyway-i don't want to talk to you-is mother there?" maclean's hand relaxed upon my knee, and he sniffed audibly. but the answer brought my heart into my throat, for i knew who made it, beyond the possibility of mistake. "yes, dear," mrs. tabor said quietly. "what is it?" "i wanted--to see you-why didn't you come last time?-i get--lonely sometimes--" "i couldn't come before. aren't you happy?" she might have been speaking to a child crying in its bed. "i want to--come back-i want--you, mother dear-i'm very happy, but i--went away too soon." "but i've seen you every day at home, dear child." "it isn't the--the same-i can't talk--to you--there-you're afraid of--something-i see fear--in your heart--and--that frightens me." "you mustn't be afraid, miriam--you mustn't. nobody shall take you away!" a flush and a wave of nausea went over me, and i felt my hair bristling, not with nervousness, but with a kind of anger. the unwholesomeness of the whole scene was too sickening--the poor mother's hysterical fondness, the utter sincerity of her emotion, and the sentimentalism that whined in reply, so perfectly calculated to irritate and control the crippled mind. and the element of distorted love made it all the worse, a beauty turned sour. i thought of the dainty little lady that had fenced with words so deftly; and only the need to understand once for all made me endure to listen. "ask something that no one but yourself can know," the professor put in. perhaps even he felt some embarrassment. mrs. tabor hesitated. "i wonder if i ought," she said, half to herself, "i do so want to know." the voice grew steadier: "ask me what you will--mother darling-i know already--what you fear." "miriam, did i understand what--what i saw the other day?" i grew suddenly cold, and felt as if the floor were sinking under me. "the other day--? fix your mind upon it, mother dear-i see you now-i see you very much frightened-you thought a new trouble was coming--another trouble like the first--not for yourself--but--" "oh, it wasn't myself!" the dry terror of the tone was dreadfully like something i remembered. "it was for her--you know it was for her. they looked as if-does she love him, miriam? does she love him?" that was more than i would bear. the whole unnatural dialogue had been profane enough; but this new sacrilege-the switch of the electric light was in the wall behind me, and before the spirit voice could speak again, my fingers had found and pressed it. the medium gave a tearing scream that was horrible to hear, twisted herself out of her chair, and jerked and wriggled on the floor, choking and gurgling. in the sharp yellow glare, the whole room was one hysterical confusion, men and women scrambling to their feet, or sitting dazed, their hands before their eyes. the professor cried angrily: "confound it, man, you're crazy! you're crazy! you may have killed her. don't you know how dangerous it is to turn on light that way?" and stooped over the struggling woman on the floor, with scowling sidelong glances back at me. a couple of other men came forward threateningly, and a bejeweled woman, who seemed to be the hostess, cried acidly: "mercy on us, who is the fellow? one of those reporters?" "madam, i can promise you no publicity," said i, and i strode over to where mrs. tabor had sunk forward on the table, her head motionless upon her outstretched arms. maclean came to my rescue just in time. "one moment, ladies and gentlemen! look there--the lady had fainted, you see? fainted before the lights went on, you see? my friend did exactly right. now let's keep this all as quiet as possible--we don't want a sensation in the papers." then as he helped me to raise mrs. tabor from her chair, he muttered: "darn you, laurie, what in blazes was bitin' you anyhow?" between us, we half carried her from the room, while the others were attending to the medium and at cross-purposes among themselves. she had not actually fainted away, and in spite of her shock was able to walk down-stairs with a little help. the door-bell had been ringing violently as we came into the upper hall; and we were still upon the stairs when a flustered maid opened the door upon mr. tabor. "is mrs. george tabor--" he began. then he caught sight of us and sprang past the maid with a growl. "it's i, mr. tabor--crosby. she's been to an entertainment here, and broken down. i'll tell you later. have you got the car outside?" "yes, thank god. and sheila's out there too. come." "i'm perfectly well," mrs. tabor said faintly. "nothing to worry any one. why are you all so nervous about me?" "i'll go back now," said maclean, as we reached the front door, "an' hush up this gang up-stairs. there ain't goin' to be any disturbance about this. that crowd's more afraid of the leadin' dailies than they are of the devil, you see?" i nodded, and the door closed behind us. mr. tabor did not say a word as we led his wife across the sidewalk and into the palpitating car. he motioned for me to follow her. "not if you can spare me, sir," i said. "i'll be out early to-morrow. i think i've found a key to the whole trouble, and i've got to see about it." he turned, frowning into my eyes under the white bristle of his brows. "crosby," he growled, "either we've a good deal to thank you for, or else--or else you'd better not come to-morrow." chapter xxiv the consultation of an expert and a layman it was a situation in which i felt that i needed counsel, and that of an expert order; so i made my way as fast as a taxicab could carry me to the home of doctor immanuel paulus. unless i was very much mistaken, i had something which would interest him. a messenger boy was running down his steps as i climbed them, and in the hall stood doctor paulus himself, opening the yellow envelop of a telegram. he nodded without looking at me, and with some sibilance of excuse, read the message. then he thrust it into his pocket. "very sorry," he said, "but i can not give any interview this evening. i am called out of town. besides, i have not orderly arranged my ideas as yet. come around on the monday, and i will have something for your paper." "i'm not a reporter," i interrupted hastily, for already he had found his gloves and hat. "i want to see you about mrs. tabor." "what is that--mrs. tabor? carefully, carefully, young man. names are names. what have you with her to do?" by this time i had found a card. "i'm a friend of the tabors," i said, "and their trouble is no secret from me. you've been looking for a continual irritating cause of mrs. tabor's hysteria. well, i've just found one." "clever," he shrilled, "diabolically clever. but it will not do, young man. i have known these your american reporters--" "if you say that again," i burst out, "you'll have me for a patient. call the tabors on the 'phone--any of them will tell you i'm in their confidence; and i can identify myself. we're both of us wasting time." the sculptured face scowled at me for an instant, then relaxed with a piercing cackle of mirth. "good. i waste time no more, then, but i believe you. see," he spread out the telegram. "it is to her i go. now, if you come with me--" "mrs. tabor has just started home from new york in the motor," said i. "our train leaves in half an hour. are you ready?" doctor paulus did not say another word until we were safely aboard the train and out of the tunnel. then he turned suddenly upon me. "have i not seen you at a so-called spiritualistic sã©ance," he chirped. "yes," i said, "where we both heard a mysterious voice called familiarly by the name of mrs. tabor's elder daughter. what is more, i have just seen mrs. tabor herself at another sã©ance, where she talked with this so-called spirit intimately. she has been doing so, unknown to her family, for a long time; and there is your irritating cause. that's why she has hallucinations of her daughter's presence." doctor paulus received my revelation with somewhat humiliating calm. he showed not the least astonishment, nor did he answer for some minutes, but sat frowning in front of him, and drumming with a large white hand upon the window-sill. when he spoke again, it was with a smile. "mr. crosby, i find myself--yes--interested somewhat in you. first i see you at spiritualism; then before a house where another sã©ance is about to be; next i pass you in the subway, and a few minutes thereafter i presently behold you riding a child's bicycle after my brougham to discover me-now also, i recall to have seen you in the country, when i was with the young medical man who sends this impetuous telegram. therefore i say, since you are not a reporter, you have a mind either unbalanced or very well balanced. and you now bring me eagerly this information, so that you are with the tabors much interested, which may prove--you are no relation, is it not so?" he laid his hand upon my knee. "it is not your mind then, but a heart unbalanced, which produces often great mental activity." i was both embarrassed and impatient. "am i right, then, about mrs. tabor?" i asked. "isn't there a chance of a permanent cure for her by removing her from this spiritualism business? if we can only--" he held up his hand. "let us not leap to the conclusion. that is what i tell always to the doctor reid. he is a bright young man, but he leaps too much to the conclusion. so probably he has said to you that mrs. tabor is a paranoiac, which may be so; or perhaps with continual irritation of the mind, only hysteria that may be aided by removal of the irritation. i am too old to be quickly sure. now, i repeat to reid that a medical man must save his mental or physical jumps for cases of extremity. he must not jump all the time; that is how you are neurasthenic in america. hysteria, that we can by removing suggestions and introspections palliate, or perhaps cure. and there may be also hallucinations and the fixed idea. therefore it is so like a shadow of insanity. the daughter's death, we knew of that. and i have said that some continual suggestion was to be sought for, which might produce this illusion of her daughter's continual presence, such as you have perhaps found. so we are ready to consider. tell me now all that you know, carefully. not your own deductions i want, but the facts alone." when i had finished, he sat silent for a long time, frowning on his hand as it drummed idly on the window-ledge. "why do you conclude that she has for some time been attending spiritualisms unknown to her family?" he asked abruptly at last. "they all seemed to know her, and to recognize the voice called miriam. she went about it besides in a very accustomed way. and before her first disappearance this summer--the first i knew of personally--she had a telephone message from mrs. mahl. i answered it, and i recognized her voice afterward." after another long silence i ventured: "hasn't she always been worse after she has been away?" he answered in a preoccupied tone, as if i had merely tapped the current of his own thought: "it seemed at first to me a temporary breakdown only, which i looked to grow better. i have been much disappointed that it has not, and she grows periodically worse coincidently with disappearances of which they do not know in time to control them. so i tell them that some harmful practice is added to the original cause, and they assure me that no new thing comes into her life, unless--" he looked at me quizzically--"a young man whose interest in the remaining daughter causes him to follow scientists about on bicycles. i recommend quiet and the removal of reminiscences, and still the irritation goes on. now, as to spiritualism, there i have not made up my mind. i investigate it as a human abnormality, for to me, like the roman, nothing human is to be thought foreign. it looks to be trickery, and yet that is not sure, but there may be scientific interest there. certainly so great a man as lombroso found much to interest. in the end we shall, as i think, find all manifestations physical, or perhaps there is here some little known semi-psychic force disengaged from the living persons present. of the dead there is little cause to speculate. however it be of all this, there is without any doubt acute nerve-strain very bad for the neuropathic, and aggravated by belief. yes, it is perhaps cause enough, and perhaps effect only." the train was pulling into stamford as he ended, and it was not until the waiting automobile had carried us nearly to the house that doctor paulus spoke again. "i think," he said, "that possibly, i say possibly, mr. crosby, you have made a valuable discovery. at least we know now the circumstances better. but on the one hand these visits to sã©ances may be aggravating cause of the unbalancement, and on the other mere results of unnatural cravings in the unbalanced mind. it is a circle, and we seek the slenderest point where it may be broken." mr. tabor met us at the door, and as we came up the steps reid slipped eagerly past him. "splendid!" he exclaimed, wringing the great man's hand. "splendid! hoped it would be this train, but i hardly dared think so. i know how important your time is. very good of you to come out, very good indeed. now as to the case; manifestations unfortunately very clear just now. very unfortunate, but i'm afraid we have been right all along. come out to my rooms a moment, and i'll give you the whole matter in detail. better to run over the whole thing scientifically." doctor paulus smiled at me dryly: "i shall be most happy," he shrilled, and after a formal word or two with mr. tabor, stalked soberly around the house. mr. tabor and i went into the living-room without speaking. "has lady told you--?" i began. he nodded. "i hardly know what to say to you, crosby. i feel very sorry for you both. i am sorry for all of us. mrs. tabor has not been herself at all since the other day, and of course for the time everything else is secondary to her. but don't think that i'm anything but very glad personally." he held out his hand. i took it in silence, and a moment later, lady came in, greeting me very quietly, as if my presence at this time were entirely a matter of course. father and daughter evidently understood each other. we sat almost in silence until the two doctors returned, paulus frowning downward and reid more jerkily busy than ever. the scene had the air of a deliberate family council. "mr. tabor," doctor paulus began, "i have thought better not to disturb our patient by an interview just now, since she is asleep after so long a wakefulness. doctor reid besides has made the conditions very clear. only on one point he has not been able to inform me wholly: it appears that mrs. tabor has attended meetings of spiritualists habitually in secret, which accounts for those excursions of which we know lately. how long ago may we possibly date the commencement of this practice?" "she was interested in spiritualism carelessly and as a sort of fad before miriam's marriage," mr. tabor answered, "but so far as i know, she never actually attended any sittings then; and she hasn't spoken of it for years. she might, of course, have kept it secret all along; it's only within the last few months that we have tried to follow all her movements." doctor paulus settled heavily into a chair, and fell to drumming on the arm of it. lady stood beside her father, her arm resting upon his shoulder; and reid paced nervously up and down the room. a chirp and a rustle made me notice the canary hanging in the farther window. finally paulus looked up. "do you prefer to have my opinion in private?" he asked. mr. tabor was looking older than i had ever seen him. "your opinion means a great deal to all of us, doctor," he said. reid stopped a moment in his pacing. "well, my opinion is not quite positive, because i have not certainly all the facts. that is the fault with all our opinions, that we never can base them upon wholly complete data. mrs. tabor we have thought insane, and there was much to bear that out. so if i had been certain that all her illusions proceeded from within her own mind, i should have said that it was surely so. but now mr. crosby makes known to us this external suggestion of spirits, with its continual reminding of her trouble and the unnatural strain. he argues also--and i am not at all certain but that he argues rightly--that this practice, this superstition of hers, may be the cause of her deterioration, so that by removing it she will grow better or perhaps well. is it so far clear?" "quite so, exactly," reid broke in. "perfectly clear, doctor, perfectly. but why not effect rather than cause? another symptom, that's all. fixed idea, unnatural craving for communication with the other world, because the mind is unbalanced by loss." "i think that is to place the horse after the wagon, as we say. it is certainly a vicious circle, but still--" "precisely," exclaimed reid, "but the impulse comes--" doctor paulus held up a white hand. "wait a little. i do not come to conclusions hastily. now i conclude that mrs. tabor is thus far no more than hysterical, and what we have to do is first to remove entirely from her this superstitious influence." the shrill voice took suddenly a sharper edge. "moreover, doctor reid, i will say to you that only two other men in the world know more than i know of my specialty, and of those unfortunately neither one is here." he waited until reid subsided into a seat, then went slowly on: "now the question is how this harmful belief is to be removed, and that is the difficult matter." "if she were in a sanatorium--" reid began. "she'd worry herself to pieces," lady interrupted; and doctor paulus nodded heavily. "she'd feel imprisoned, and imagine and brood and worry, and the atmosphere of impersonal restraint would make her worse. we can at least help to keep her mind off herself and make her cheerful." "we can prevent from now on, i think, any further communications," said mr. tabor. "but the trouble's inside her own mind," snapped reid; and the shrill voice of his colleague added: "that is partly true, so far as she has now hallucinations and re-creates her own harm. suppose then we held her from seeking harm elsewhere, that is something; but still even so she feels restraint, and still her misbelief goes on. if we could reach that--but how to make her not thus believe?" he fell silent, and the white hand began its drumming again. i felt irritably that he was the most deliberate man in the world. suddenly i found lady's eyes upon me. "i think mr. crosby has something to suggest," she said, and with her words a suggestion came to me. reid snorted. doctor paulus smiled very gravely. "that busy mind of mr. crosby has before been useful," he said. "what is this idea, then?" "it sounds pretty wild and theatrical," said i, "but couldn't we reach the root of the trouble by making the cure come from the same source? we might tell her for ever that her ideas were false and harmful, and she'd only feel that we were profane. but if the medium herself denied them--these visions and voices must be at least partly a fake. now, if we can persuade or force her to show mrs. tabor how it's done--and i think i know how to exert pressure upon her--then might not the illusion be dispelled once for all? i mean, whether mrs. mahl is a fake or not, can't she be made to undo the work she has done, and discredit the dangerous belief she has taught?" mr. tabor was leaning forward in his chair as i finished. reid was walking the floor again and shrugging his shoulders; and lady was looking at me with eyes of absolute belief. "fake?" asked doctor paulus unexpectedly. "sham, trick, fraud," i explained, and he nodded, frowning. "oh, but this whole thing's absurd," reid put in. "crosby's a good fellow and clever, and all that, but he's a layman and this is a complicated problem. it's all one if after another. if the woman's willing to expose herself, and if she does it well, and if mother believes her, and if all this would have anything to do with the case. besides it would be a shock, a violent shock, a dangerous shock. no sense at all in it. melodrama isn't medicine." "i am not so sure," said doctor paulus. "it is unusual and what you call theatrical, but my work is unusual and many times theatrical also. i have need to act much of the time with my patients. with the individual mind one must use each time an individual cure. this at least strikes at the cause of the trouble, and might succeed. with your permission, mr. tabor, we will try it." "but her heart, man, her heart," objected reid, "what about her heart, and the shock?" "well, we can dare, i think, to risk that. every operation is a risk that we judge wise to take, and this is a malignant misbelief to be extirpated. there will be no unreasonable danger." "if we can somehow get this medium out here--" said mr. tabor. "that i shall manage, to bring her to-morrow afternoon, telling her perhaps of a private sitting in the interest of science. i am not often so much away, but this case is of importance." he rose, and looked at his watch. "is not that the motor-car now at the door?" on the step he turned to me with his quizzical smile. "it is perhaps well for us all to have your mind stimulated, mr. crosby. that is a beautiful and intelligent young lady." he looked abruptly from me to the midnight sky. "it appears, if i do not mistake, that we shall have rain," he chirped. "good night," and he stepped gravely into the limousine and closed the door with a slam. chapter xxv fighting with shadows the morning came dark and stormy, with a september gale driving in from the sound, and the trees lashing and tossing gustily through gray slants of rain. it was so dark that until nearly noon we kept the lights burning; and through the unnatural morning we sat about listlessly, unwilling to talk about the impending crisis and unable to talk long of anything else for the unspoken weight of it upon our minds. mrs. tabor kept her room, with sheila and most of the time lady busy with her. she seemed hardly to remember the night before, save as a vague shock; and physically she was less weakened by it than might have been expected; but her mind wavered continually, and she confused with her hallucination of miriam the identity of those about her. the rest of us talked and read by snatches, and stared restlessly out of the rain-flecked windows. mr. tabor and i began a game of chess. it was well on in the afternoon when the automobile came in sight, swishing through the sodden grayness with curtains drawn and hood and running-gear splashed with clinging clots of clay. none of us knew who saw it first; only that we three men were at the door together encouraging one another with our eyes. the medium greeted us with a gush of caressing politeness, glancing covertly among us as she removed her wraps, and bracing herself visibly beneath her unconcern. it was she who made the first move, after doctor paulus had introduced us and we were seated in mr. tabor's study behind closed doors. "mr. crosby is the gentleman who turned the light on me last evening," she said. i wish i could express the undulating rise and fall of her inflection. it was almost as if she sang the words. "of course with him present i would not be willing to do anything. it was very painful, besides the risk, a dreadful shock like that." "i shall not be in the room," i answered, "and i'm sorry to have caused you any discomfort, mrs. mahl. we needed the light, i thought." "oh, it wasn't the pain;" she smiled with lifted eyes. "we grow so used to it that we don't consider suffering. it was very dangerous, waking one out of control suddenly. you might have killed me, but of course you weren't aware." she turned to doctor paulus: "you understand, doctor, how it is, how it strains the vitality. the gentleman didn't realize." we had become, at the outset, four strong men leagued against an appealing and helpless woman. perhaps i should say three; for doctor paulus did not seem impressed. "yes, i know," he chirped. "we need not, however, consider that. you are here, madam, as i have told you, for a scientific experiment under my direction. mr. crosby will not be in the room. with your permission, i will now explain the nature of that experiment. there is in this house a lady, a patient of mine, mrs. tabor, who has for some time frequently sat with you. she has on these occasions habitually conversed, as she believes, with the spirit of her daughter miriam that is some years dead." "that is our greatest work." she was not looking at doctor paulus, but at the rest of us. "to be able to soften the great separation. you others hope for a reunion beyond the grave, but we ourselves know. if you could only believe--if you could realize how wonderful it is to have communion with your--" "we shall not go into that," said doctor paulus. "mrs. tabor, as i said, believes. she is therefore in a hysterical condition to which you have largely helped to contribute. i do not say she is insane; she is not. but i do say she stands on the parting of the ways, and that, to save her mind, or as it may be, her life, it is necessary that these unhealthy conversations shall cease." the medium looked now at doctor paulus. "the poor woman! isn't it terrible? but you know, i can't believe, doctor, that the sittings do anything but soothe and comfort her. it can't be that you think her insane just because she believes in spiritualism? you believe too much yourself for that." doctor paulus looked at her steadily. "i have told you plainly that she is not insane yet," he said. "see here," snapped reid. he had been shuffling his feet and fidgeting in his chair for some minutes. "no use discussing the ethics of your business with you. let's come right down to the facts. we're not asking for advice. we're stating a case. plain fact is that mrs. tabor's going insane. you can stop it by showing her that these suppressed spirits are a trick. will you do it, or not? that's the whole question." the medium had risen, and was looking for her handkerchief, eying reid with meek fearlessness. "of course, i'm used to this," she murmured, "but not among educated people. a few centuries ago, doctor, your profession was regarded in the same light. i don't imagine we can have anything in common. is the car still at the door?" "hold on, walter," mr. tabor interrupted quietly. "mrs. mahl, you must allow for our feelings in this matter. please sit down again. now, we make no charges against you. the issue is not whether you are sincere in your beliefs, nor whether we agree with them." he moved one hand in a slow, broad gesture. "all that we leave aside. the point is here: mrs. tabor's belief in these things is harmful and dangerous to her. and it must be done away with, like any other harmful and dangerous thing. we don't ask whether it is illusion or fact; we ask you, for the sake of her health, to make her believe that it is an illusion." "you know, of course, that i have no control over the spirit voice," said mrs. mahl blandly. "do you wish me to refuse to sit for her?" "here and now, we wish to have you sit for her," doctor paulus put in, "and show her, once for all, how this her daughter's spirit is made. it is to cure her of all credulousness in it, for with her mind clean of such poison she shall recover." "would you have me lie to her even for her good?" the woman was either a wonderful actress or a more wonderful self-deceiver. she turned to mr. tabor appealingly: "how can i deny my own faith? do you think the truth can ever be wrong?" mr. tabor went suddenly purple: "if it is the truth," he growled, "it's a truth out of hell, and we're going to fight it. but it isn't." not in the least disconcerted by her false move, she turned back to doctor paulus. "doctor," she said, dropping her air of martyrdom and speaking more incisively than i had yet heard her, "you are the one who knows. these gentlemen do not understand. you know that there are mysteries here that your science can't explain, whatever you think about them. you know the difference between my powers and the fakes of a two-dollar clairvoyant. you know it in spite of yourself. now tell me how you can reconcile it with your conscience, to bring me up here to listen to such a proposal as this?" the alienist's napoleonic face hardened, and his voice took a shriller edge. "we shall not go into that," he said. "and now we will make an end of this talking. you are partly sincere, but you are charlatan also. i have seen all the records, and i have attended your sittings, and i have all the data, you understand. and i have my position, so that people listen to me. you have done tricks, once, twice, many times, and i have all the facts and the dates. so. you will do as i say, and i will remember that you are part honest. or, otherwise; if you will not, then i expose you altogether, publicly." "you can say anything you like," she retorted coolly. "i don't care a bit. just because you're a big doctor, you needn't think i care. folks are so used to you scientific men denying everything, that when you support us it helps, and when you attack us it don't matter. you think your little crowd of wise ones is the whole earth. my clients have faith in me. go ahead, and expose all you want to." "wouldn't it be wiser to make friends of us?" mr. tabor asked slowly. "we'll make you a by-word," sputtered reid. "we'll run you out of the country. that's what we'll do, we'll run you out of the country." she smiled: "all right, doctor. run along." then rising to her feet again, with a sweeping gesture, "say what you will, all of you," she cried tragically, "i defy you!" and she marched over to the door. "one moment, mrs. mahl," said i. "the man who was with me at your sittings was a reporter, the only one there. if i say so, he'll scare-head you as a faker--in letters all across the front page. you won't be a serious impostor, or have the strength of a weak cause. we won't attack you and give you a chance to defend yourself, but we'll make a nationwide mock of you. you'll be a joke, with comic drawings." "you're trying to bluff me," she sneered. then all at once, her coolness gave way, and she flung herself around upon us in a flood of tears: "you're a nice crowd of men, aren't you?" she sobbed, "to make a dead set on one woman this way!" she came swiftly up to me, and caught both my hands, leaning against me with upturned face. "did you see anything wrong at my sittings? have you anything against me, that you'd swear to, yourself?" "not a thing," i answered. "what of that?" "then you'd _lie_ about me?" i could feel the hurry of her breathing. "i would," said i, "with the greatest pleasure, in every paper in new york." i stepped back. "excuse me, i'm going to telephone." she looked around at the others with the eyes of a cornered cat. then she dropped back into her chair. "very well," she sniffed, "i'll do it. i'll deny my faith to preserve my usefulness. and god will punish you." the granite face of doctor immanuel paulus relaxed into a grim smile. "the press, in america," said he. "that is a fine weapon." mrs. mahl, having finally yielded, was not long in recovering from her emotion; and while mr. tabor went to bring his wife, the two doctors rapidly discussed the precise needs of the case, and with the medium's assistance formulated a plan of action. i am bound to say that she entered into the scheme as unreservedly as though it had been from the first her own; suggesting eagerly how this and that detail might best be managed, and showing a familiarity with mrs. tabor's trouble, and with nervous abnormality in general, hardly less complete and practical than theirs. presently we heard the voices of the others in the hall, and she went quietly out to meet them. then came a confused blur of tones, mrs. tabor's in timid protest and sheila and lady in reassurance; then mr. tabor, a little louder than the rest: "not in the least, my dear. why should i? you should have told me all about it from the first." then the voices grew quieter, and at last blunted into silence behind the heavy curtains of the living-room. we waited an interminable five minutes gazing into one another's rigid faces, and hearing only the restless movement of reid. at last, doctor paulus nodded at us, and we tiptoed noiselessly across the hall to where around the edges of the close-drawn curtains we could hear and see. at a little card-table, drawn out into the center of the floor, sat mrs. tabor and the medium, face to face. between them and beyond the table was mr. tabor; lady sat on her mother's nearer side, and sheila, with her back to us, completed the circle. they were all leaning forward intently, something in the attitude of people saying grace before a meal. the windows were not covered, but the dull light of the late and stormy afternoon came inward only as a leaden grayness, in which faces and the details of the surroundings were heavily and vaguely visible, like shadows of themselves. in the window at the far end of the room, the canary hopped carelessly about his cage, with an occasional cricket-like chirp; and but for this the house was quiet enough for us to hear the swish of wind along the leaves of the vine-covered veranda and the ripple of the rain upon the glass. i knew now that my excited sensations at the previous sittings must have been imaginary in their origin; for even here, in the presence of this open and prearranged imposture, i felt the same curious sense of tension, the same intimacy as of a surrounding crowd, the same oppressive heaviness of the atmosphere. i could hardly believe in the airy spaciousness of the high room, or the physical distance between me and my fellow-watchers. my breath came laboriously, and i wondered how those within could fail to hear the slow pounding of my heart and the rustle of our heavy breathing behind the curtain. out of the corner of my eye, i saw reid raise his brows toward his superior, and he answered by a frowning nod. at last after an interval doubtless far shorter than before, but interminable to our strained anticipation, the medium shuddered slightly, and fell back in her chair. her face twisted convulsively, and her hands and head made little twitching, aimless movements, unpleasantly like the reflexive spasms of a dying animal. she moaned softly once or twice, then relaxed limply; and the voice of miriam began to speak. "here i am--mother--why did--you--bring me here?" mr. tabor leaned back, his white brows drawn into a savage knot. sheila covered her eyes and fell to rocking slowly to and fro. lady made no sign; but i knew what sacrilege it was to her, and i could hardly hold myself. yet the mother answered without regarding them. "i like to have you near me, dearest. does this place trouble you?" "why should it--trouble me?-as well--here--as anywhere-nothing matters--to me." "that's more like yourself than anything i've heard you say-george, did you hear? can you doubt now after that?" her husband answered only with a gesture, and the voice went on. "are you--sure you know me, mother?" the two scientists exchanged glances. mrs. tabor began a hurried protest, but the voice interrupted. "because you may be--only imagining--it may not be real." the querulous throaty tone was the same, but the words came each time more quickly, and the wail was dying out of them. the comic aspect of the whole scene struck me suddenly with revolting. it was so terribly important and at the same time such a tawdry practical joke. "miriam, what are you saying?" mrs. tabor was leaning forward toward the sound, her face tense and frightened. "oh, anything i please--it's quite easy-don't you begin to understand?" "oh, what do you mean? miriam! mrs. mahl, what is happening?" the medium never stirred, nor moved a muscle of her face, as the spirit-voice replied: "just the same thing that's happened right along, mrs. tabor. don't you see now? you were always so sure that any voice could do for you to recognize. you've laid yourself open to it." mrs. tabor looked for the first time as one might who listens to the dead. her voice frightened me, it was so calm. "what do you mean?" she said monotonously. i saw reid move as if to part the curtain, glancing sharply at doctor paulus as he did so; but the older man's mouth was a bloodless line, and he shook his great head, whispering: "not yet, reid; not yet." "listen," said the voice. "here's what you call miriam talking." its tone changed abruptly: "now here's me. i'm doing it." the medium rose quietly from her chair, and stepped out into the room: "the whole thing's just--a trick," she said, shifting from one voice to the other in alternate phrases. "you believe in--ghosts--and so i gave you--what you believe." she came around the table. "do you understand now?" sheila was sobbing aloud, but none of the others seemed to notice her. mrs. tabor sat for an instant as if frozen, staring vacantly in front of her. then as the medium approached, she shrank away suddenly with a childish cry of fear. "it isn't true!" she cried. "it isn't true!" and she swung limply forward upon the little table, and lay still. lady and mr. tabor were beside her in an instant, as we three sprang forward into the room. sheila was on her feet, muttering, "you've killed her, ye brute beasts--" but a look from doctor paulus silenced her, as he waved the rest of us back and bent over the unconscious woman, his broad fingers pressed along the slender wrist. for a moment we watched his face in silence, as if it were the very face of destiny. then the canary gave a sudden shrill scream, and fluttered palpitating into a corner of its cage, beating so violently against the wires that tiny feathers floated loosely out and down. the medium whispered: "oh, my god!" and cringed sidelong, raising her arms as if one struck at her. and my hair thrilled and my heart sickened and stopped, for even while she spoke, a voice came out of the empty air above our heads; a voice like nothing that i had heard before, a woman's voice thin and tremulous, with a fragile resonance in it, as though it spoke into a bell. "oh, mother, mother," it wailed. "why don't you let me go and rest?" chapter xxvi and rediscovering realities i think lady clutched at my arm, but i can not remember. the one memory that remains to me of that moment is the face of doctor paulus. his color had turned from ivory to chalk, his mouth was drawn open in a snarling square and his eyes shrank back hollowly, glaring into nothingness. for a second he stood so, clawing in front of him with his hands, a living horror. then with an effort that shook him from head to foot, the strong soul of the man commanded him. "it's nothing," he whispered, "i understand it. take hold of yourselves." the hands dropped, and he bent again over mrs. tabor. the next moment sheila had sprung out in front of us, and was speaking to the voice that we could not see. "miriam reid," she cried, in a high chanting cadence between song and speech, "if it's yourself that's here, lie down to your rest again, an' leave us. go back to your place in purgatory, darling till the white angels come to carry ye higher in their own good time. in the name av god an' mary, in the name av the blessed saints, go back! go back to your home between hell an' heaven, an' come no more among us here!" "get some water, reid," snapped doctor paulus. "quiet that woman, some of you." but sheila had done before we could move or speak to her. with her last words, she flung her arms wide apart, above her head, and brought them inward and downward in some strange formal gesture. then as swiftly and certainly as if she had planned it all from the beginning, she caught a little bottle from her breast, and sprinkled its contents in the upturned face of mrs. tabor. we caught hold of her just as she was making the sign of the cross. but she was perfectly quiet now, with nothing more to say or do, and stood motionless like the rest of us, breathing deep breaths and watching. the cool shock of the water did its work. mrs. tabor's eyelids quivered, and she gasped faintly. reid came hurrying back with a glass of water, and stood at the side of his superior, looking foolishly disappointed as he realized the anticipation of his errand. "she comes out of it all right," doctor paulus muttered. "no harm. it is more the trance condition than an ordinary faint." he looked up at sheila with a grim smile. "superstition is a fine thing--sometimes, under medical direction. now i leave her to you, reid, a few minutes. it is better that at first she sees only her own." he beckoned to the medium, and the two went out of the room together. then as we stood about, mrs. tabor caught another breath, and another. her hands groped a moment, and her eyes opened. she looked around at us wonderingly, as we raised her up in her seat. "thank god," said lady softly. and sheila answered from the other side: "the saints be praised." she sat very quietly for a little time, looking about her. lady had wiped the water from her face, and she seemed her natural self again, the girlish color returning to her cheeks and a certain bird-like vivacity in her whole pose. then, as if memory of a sudden returned to her, she crumpled over, hiding her tragic little face in her hands. she began to cry softly at first in little sobbing, heart-broken gasps, which took on gradually a wailing intensity very dreadful to hear. "oh, my dear, my dear, my dear!" she repeated over and over again, in a desolate and ceaseless iteration that grew into a horror and which alone we dared not stop. doctor paulus, we knew, must be within call and listening. i think that all of us wondered why he did not return; we resented this permitted continuance of suffering. finally it was lady who made the first move among us. she dropped on her knees beside her mother, putting her arm tenderly about the convulsed little form, and pressing her cheek close against her mother's own. "mother, dear," she whispered very softly. a pause came in mrs. tabor's sobbing and she stretched one hand half as if to push lady away, half as if to hold her as something real and tangible. "where is the doctor?" she asked. evidently doctor paulus had been listening, for at the murmured question he stepped in and came across the room to mrs. tabor. she faced him shrinkingly, but nerved herself for the question. "why have you taken her from me?" she asked brokenly, at last. doctor paulus' face was very kind and very serious. "i know that now it seems so," he answered, "but all that will for you pass away. it is not that we have taken the daughter that is dead away. for you see now, and you will understand how all that came only out of yourself, like a picture that you made of your own sorrow. it was in a circle, how you made by grieving this grief like a thing from outside coming to make you grieve the more. a circle that seems as well to begin at one point as at another, is it not so? and this cruel light so suddenly has made you see the true beginning. so now it is all gone because you have known that it was never there at all." he moved his broad hands suddenly as one waving away smoke. "there is not any longer for you that other world which never was, which was a burden and a trouble always to you because it was made out of trouble. but this good world you have again, and of that only the good part, all your dear ones here truly returned because that evil nothing is gone from between. is it not so?" she had been facing him like a creature at bay, silent and resisting, the horror in her strained little by little into desperation as he spoke. i do not know what held us from interference, for the man was blindly tottering on toward a precipice, clumsily ignorant of the condition he must face; and every fatuous word grated like sand between the teeth. one had a desire to lay physical hands upon him. "doctor," reid broke out, "for god's sake--" doctor paulus never turned his head. "be still, young man," he said quietly, and reid's voice died into a stammer as he went steadily on. "if it was cruel, this way to show you wholly the truth, so we must hurt once not to have to hurt more. but it is better to have the truth now, is it not so? for you have all these that are living, and you will be well again. oh, there is no miracle; all does not in a moment change. now and then still you will hear the voices and see these things which are not. but you will know now that they are only of yourself, and so they will go away. this we understand in the good old story of casting out devils. and it is good to be sure that the daughter is at rest, from the beginning. i want you to understand it all very clearly. you have been sick, but you are going to be well, not well all at once, remember, but better day by day, and when discouraging days come i want you to remember this: that even when things seem confused and unhappy and unreal, yet it does not make any difference. for you have your loved ones about you and they will help and when things are bad and you are a little afraid, you can call for doctor paulus. i have never given my word falsely or for encouraging alone. time and these loved ones will help, but most of all your own will will make your life what it should be, will bring you back to happiness." it is impossible to describe the convincing strength of the man as he stood towering among us; the very compellent force of his individuality was reflected in the dawning belief in mrs. tabor's eyes. like a child she laid her little hand in the doctor's great one. "i am going to try, doctor," she said. "i see that i have been sick, but with all you dear people i shall get well." and for the first time her eyes left the doctor's face and turned to the rest of us who had drawn a little apart, but as they met mine their expression changed and a flicker of the old terror came into them, a terror that was reflected in my own heart. "george," she asked sharply, "what is mr. crosby doing here?" "why, my dear--" mr. tabor stammered. "i know. i remember now." she struggled to her feet, and the old terror was upon her face. "i meant to tell you about it. mr. crosby has not been honest with us. i came into the room a while ago and found him with lady, and--" she broke off suddenly, looking quickly from one to another of our startled faces. "what is the matter with you all?" she cried; then in that level, hollow tone we had learned to fear. "i see now. you know--you have known all along; and that was the secret you were keeping from me." no one spoke. she looked downward at her hands, then glanced again in a puzzled way from one to another of us. mr. tabor was the picture of despair, old and white and worn, his whole strength shaken by the vision of our final failure. lady stood erect, her color coming and going, tragedy in her eyes; and near her sheila, a gaunt and sturdy comfort, sure in the inherited wisdom of homely faith. and as i looked at these two women, each in her own way upheld beyond her strength or her understanding, i made my resolve. i glanced at doctor paulus, but he made no sign. if i must take the responsibility of an answer upon myself i determined that at the worst i would leave no issue of the fight unknown; if we had failed, we must measure the whole depth of our failure. "mrs. tabor," i said, "there is no secret any more. lady is going to marry me." she gave me one look. "all that i had left," she whispered; and then again she began to cry, but this time softly, turning away from us toward the window at the end of the room. sheila followed and put an arm about her, and the two stood together apart from us under the fading light, while above their heads the canary burst out into a mockery of song. no one knew what to say or do; but after a little, reid's itch for efficiency drove him into speech. "it all comes right down to this, mother--" he began. a look from lady dried the words upon his tongue, and the silence fell once more. then slowly and confidently lady came over to me and slipped her dear hand into mine. "you are right, laurence," she said, "the truth is best for all of us now." "mrs. tabor," said doctor paulus, "you do not lose your daughter, but gain, i think, a very good son. indeed it is mr. crosby who has helped us much to our knowledge that you were going to be well and strong again." the calm strange voice broke in at just the precise instant to relieve the tension. mrs. tabor looked up. "oh, you need not be afraid, doctor," she said, as she wiped away her tears, "but you do well to remind me. i know--i know there's nothing really the matter with me except that i'm a little tired. and goodness gracious, what are you good people standing there so stiff and solemn for? it's all right! you've made me understand. turn the lights on, sheila--and-lady, what have you done with my ring?" she came across to where we stood together, and took a hand of each in her own. she glanced over her shoulder at paulus, "and you mustn't any of you think of going away this weather. the house is big enough to hold us--and, mr. crosby, i'm going to put you in miriam's room." the end the shadow world by hamlin garland author of "the captain of the gray-horse troop" "money magic" etc. new york and london harper & brothers publishers mcmviii copyright, 1908, by hamlin garland. copyright, 1908, by the ridgway company. all rights reserved. published september, 1908. foreword this book is a faithful record, so far as i can make it, of the most marvellous phenomena which have come under my observation during the last sixteen or seventeen years. i have used my notes (made immediately after the sittings) and also my reports to the american psychical society (of which i was at one time a director) as the basis of my story. for literary purposes i have substituted fictitious names for real names, and imaginary characters for the actual individuals concerned; but i have not allowed these necessary expedients to interfere with the precise truth of the account. for example, _miller_, an imaginary chemist, has been put in the place of a scientist much older than thirty-five, in whose library the inexplicable "third sitting" took place. _fowler_, also, is not intended to depict an individual. the man in whose shoes he stands is one of the most widely read and deeply experienced spiritists i have ever known, and i have sincerely tried to present through _fowler_ the argument which his prototype might have used. _mrs. quigg_, _miss brush_, _howard_, the _camerons_, and most of the others, are purely imaginary. the places in which the sittings took place are not indicated, for the reason that i do not wish to involve any unwilling witnesses. in the case of the psychics, they are, of course, delineated exactly as they appeared to me, although i have concealed their real names and places of residence. _mrs. smiley_, whose admirable patience under investigation makes her an almost ideal subject, is the chief figure among my "mediums," and i have tried to give her attitude toward us and toward her faith as she expressed it in our sittings, although the conversation is necessarily a mixture of imagination and memory. _mrs. hartley_ is a very real and vigorous character--a professional psychic, it is true, but a woman of intelligence and power. those in private life i have guarded with scrupulous care, and i am sure that none of them, either private or professional, will feel that i have wilfully misrepresented what took place. my aim throughout has been to deal directly and simply with the facts involved. i have not attempted to be profound or mystical or even scientific, but i have tried to present clearly, simply, and as nearly without bias as possible, an account of what i have seen and heard. the weight of evidence seems, at the moment, to be on the side of the biologists; but i am willing to reopen the case at any time, although i am, above all, a man of the open air, of the plains and the mountains, and do not intend to identify myself with any branch of metapsychical research. it is probable, therefore, that this is my one and final contribution to the study of _the shadow world_. hamlin garland. chicago, _july, 1908_. the shadow world i a hush fell over the dinner-table, and every ear was open and inclined as cameron, the host, continued: "no, i wouldn't say that. there are some things that are pretty well established--telepathy, for instance." "i don't believe even in telepathy," asserted mrs. quigg, a very positive journalist who sat at his right. "i think even _that_ is mere coincidence." several voices rose in a chorus of protest. "oh no! telepathy is real. why, i've had experiences--" "there you go!" replied mrs. quigg, still in the heat of her opposition. "you will all tell the same story. your friend was dying in bombay or vienna, and his spirit appeared to you, _à la journal of psychic research_, with a message, at the exact hour, computing difference in time (which no one ever does), and so on. i know that kind of thing--but that isn't telepathy." "what is telepathy, then?" asked little miss brush, who paints miniatures. "i can't describe a thing that doesn't exist," replied mrs. quigg. "the word means feeling at a distance, does it not, professor?" harris, a teacher of english, who seldom took a serious view of anything, answered, "i should call it a long-distance touch." "do you believe in hypnotism, dr. miller?" asked miss brush, quietly addressing her neighbor, a young scientist whose specialty was chemistry. "no," replied he; "i don't believe in a single one of these supernatural forces." "you mean you don't believe in anything you have not seen yourself," said i. to this miller slowly replied: "i believe in vienna, which i have never seen, but i don't believe in a vienna doctor who claims to be able to hypnotize a man so that he can smile while his leg is being taken off." "oh, that's a fact," stated brierly, the portrait-painter; "that happens every day in our hospitals here in new york city." "have you ever seen it done?" asked miller, bristling with opposition. "no." "well," asserted miller, "i wouldn't believe it even if i saw the operation performed." "you don't believe in any mystery unless it is familiar," said i, warming to the contest. "i certainly do not believe in these childish mysteries," responded miller, "and it is strange to me that men like sir oliver lodge and sir william crookes should believe in slate-writing and levitation and all the rest of that hocus-pocus." "nevertheless, hypnotism is a fact," insisted brierly. "you must have some faith in the big books on the subject filled with proof. think of the tests--" "i don't call it a test to stick pins into a person's tongue," said mrs. quigg. "we newspaper people all know that there are in the hypnotic business what they call 'horses'--that is to say, wretched men and boys, women sometimes, who have trained themselves so that they can hold hot pennies, eat red pepper, and do other 'stunts'--we've had their confessions times enough." "yes, but their confessions are never quite complete," retorted young howard. "when i was in college i had one of these 'horses' appeal to me for help. he was out of a job, and i told him i'd blow him to the supper of his life if he would render up the secrets of his trade. he took my offer, but jarred me by confessing that the professor really could hypnotize him. he had to make believe only part of the time. his 'stunts' were mostly real." "it's the same way with mediums," said i. "i have had a good deal of experience with them, and i've come to the conclusion that they all, even the most untrustworthy of them, start with at least some small basis of abnormal power. is it not rather suggestive that the number of practising mediums does not materially increase? if it were a mere matter of deception, would there not be thousands at the trade? as a matter of fact, there are not fifty advertising mediums in new york at this moment, though of course the number is kept down by the feeling that it is a bit disreputable to have these powers." "you're too easy on them," said howard. "i never saw one that wasn't a cheap skate." again i protested. "don't be hasty. there are nice ones. my own mother had this power in her youth, so my father tells me. her people were living in wisconsin at the time when this psychic force developed in her, and the settlers from many miles around came to see her 'perform.' an uncle, when a boy of four, did automatic writing, and one of my aunts recently wrote to me, in relation to my book _the tyranny of the dark_, that for two years (beginning when she was about seventeen) these powers of darkness made her life a hell. it won't do to be hasty in condemning the mediums wholesale. there are many decent people who are possessed by strange forces, but are shy of confessing their abnormalities. ask your family physician. he will tell you that he always has at least one patient who is troubled by occult powers." "medical men call it 'hysteria,'" said harris. "which doesn't explain anything," i answered. "many apparently healthy people possess the more elementary of these powers--often without knowing it." "we are all telepathic in some degree," declared brierly. "perhaps all the so-called messages from the dead come from living minds," i suggested--"i mean the minds of those about us. dr. reed, a friend of mine, once arranged to go with a patient to have a test sitting with a very celebrated psychic who claimed to be able to read sealed letters. just before the appointed day, reed's patient died suddenly of heart-disease, leaving a sealed letter on his desk. the doctor, fully alive to the singular opportunity, put the letter in his pocket and hastened to the medium. the magician took it in his hand and pondered. at last he said: 'this was written by a man now in the spirit world. i cannot sense it. there isn't a medium in the world who can read it, but if you will send it to any person anywhere on the planet and have it read and resealed, i will tell you what is in it. i cannot get the words unless some mind in the earth-plane has absorbed them.'" harris spoke first. "that would seem to prove a sort of universal mind reservoir, wouldn't it?" "that is the way my friend figured it. but isn't that a staggering hypothesis? i have never had a sealed letter read, but the psychic research people seem to have absolutely proved psychometry to be a fact. after you read myers you are ready to believe anything--or nothing." the hostess rose. "suppose we go into the library and have more ghost stories. come, mr. garland, we can't leave you men here to talk yourselves out on these interesting subjects. you must let us all hear what you have to say." in more or less jocose mood the company trooped out to the library, where a fire was glowing in the grate and easy-chairs abounded. the younger people, bringing cushions, placed themselves beside the hearth, while i took a seat near mrs. cameron and harris. "there!" said miss brush, with a gurgle of delight. "this is more like the proper light and surroundings for creepy tales. please go on, mr. garland. you said you'd had a good deal of experience--tell us all about it. i always think of you as a trailer, a man of the plains. how did you happen to get into this shadow world?" "it came about while i was living in boston. it was in 1891, or possibly 1892. a friend, the editor of the _arena_, asked me to become a member of the american psychical society, which he was helping to form. he wished me to go on the board of directors, because, as he said, i was 'young, a keen observer, and without emotional bias'--by which he meant that i had not been bereaved." "quite right; the loss of a child or a wife weakens even the best of us illogical," commented harris. "no man who is mourning a relative has any business to be calling himself an investigator of spiritualism." "well, the upshot was, i joined the society, became a member of the executive board, was made a special committee on 'physical phenomena'--that is to say, slate-writing, levitation, and the like--and set to work. it was like entering a new, vague, and mysterious world. the first case i investigated brought out one of the most fundamental of these facts, which is, that this shadow world lies very close to the sunny, so-called normal day. the secretary of the society had already begun to receive calls for help. a mechanic had written from south boston asking us to see his wife's automatic writing, and a farmer had come down from concord to tell us of a haunted house and the mysterious rappings on its walls. almost in a day i was made aware of the illusory side of life." "why illusory?" asked brierly. "let us call it that for the present," i answered. "among those who wrote to us was a woman from lowell whose daughter had developed strange powers. her account, so straightforward and so precise, determined us to investigate the case. therefore, our secretary (a young clergyman) and i took the train for lowell one autumn afternoon. we found mrs. jones living in a small, old-fashioned frame house standing hard against the sidewalk, and through the parlor windows, while we awaited the psychic, i watched an endless line of derby hats as the town's mechanics plodded by--incessant reminders of the practical, hard-headed world that filled the street. this was, indeed, a typical case. in half an hour we were all sitting about the table in a dim light, while the sweet-voiced mother was talking with 'charley,' her 'poltergeist'--" "what is that, please?" asked mrs. quigg. "the word means a rollicking spirit who throws things about. i did not value what happened at this sitting, for the conditions were all the psychic's own. by-the-way, she was a large, blond, strapping girl of twenty or so--one of the mill-hands--not in the least the sickly, morbid creature i had expected to see. as i say, the conditions were such as to make what took place of no scientific value, and i turned in no report upon it; but it was all very curious." "what happened? don't skip," bade mrs. cameron. "oh, the table rapped and heaved and slid about. a chair crawled to my lap and at last to the top of the table, apparently of its own motion. a little rocking-chair moved to and fro precisely as if some one were sitting in it, and so on. it was all unconvincing at the time, but as i look back upon it now, after years of experience, i am inclined to think part of it at least was genuine. and this brings me to say to mrs. quigg, and to any other doubter, that you have only to step aside into silence and shadow and wait for a moment--and the bewildering will happen, or you will imagine it to happen. i will agree to furnish from this company a medium that will astonish even our materialistic friend miller." there was a loud outcry: "what do you mean? explain yourself!" "i am perfectly certain that if this company will sit as i direct for twenty-one days at the same hour, in the same room, under the same conditions, phenomena will develop which will not merely amaze but scare some of you; and as for you, mrs. quigg, you who are so certain that nothing ever happens, you will be the first to turn pale with awe." "try me! i am wild to be 'shown.'" harris was not so boastful. "you mean, of course, that some of these highly cultured ladies would develop hysteria?" "i am not naming the condition; i only say that i have seen some very hard-headed and self-contained people cut strange capers. the trance and 'impersonation' usually come first." "let's do it!" cried out miss brush. "it would be such fun!" "you'd be the first to 'go off,'" said i, banteringly. harris agreed. "she is neuropathic." "i propose we start a psychic society here and now," said cameron. "i'll be president, mrs. quigg secretary, and garland can be the director of the awful rites. miss brush, you shall be the 'mejum.'" "oh no, no!" she cried, "please let some one else be it." this amused me, but i seized upon cameron's notion. "i accept the arrangement provided you do not hold me responsible for any ill effects," i said. "it's ticklish business. there are many who hold the whole process diabolic." "is the house ready for the question?" asked cameron. "ay, ay!" shouted every one present. "the society is formed," announced cameron. "as president, i suggest a sitting right now. how about it, garland?" "certainly!" i answered, "for i have an itching in my thumbs that tells me something witching this way comes." the guests rose in a flutter of pleased excitement. "how do we go at it?" asked mrs. cameron. "the first requisite is a small table--" "why a table?" asked mrs. quigg. "the theory is that it helps to concentrate the minds of the sitters, and it will also furnish a convenient place to rest our hands. anyhow, all the great investigators began this way," i replied, pacifically. "we may also require a pencil and a pad." miller was on his dignity. "i decline to sit at a table in that foolish way. i shall look on in lonely grandeur." the others were eager to "sit in," as young howard called it, and soon nine of us were seated about an oblong mahogany table. brierly was very serious, miss brush ecstatic, and mrs. harris rather nervous. i was careful to prepare them all for failure. "this is only a trial sitting, you know, merely to get our hands in," i warned. "must we keep still?" "oh no! you may talk, if you do so quietly. please touch fingers, so as to make a complete circuit. i don't think it really necessary, but it sometimes helps to produce the proper mental state; singing softly also tends to harmonize the 'conditions,' as the professionals say. don't argue and don't be too eager. lean back and rest. take a passive attitude toward the whole problem. i find the whole process very restful. harris, will you turn down the lights before--" "there!" said miller, "the hocus-pocus begins. why not perform in the light?" "subdued light will bring the proper negative and inward condition sooner," i replied, taking a malicious delight in his disgust. "now will some one sing 'annie laurie,' or any other sweet, low song? let us get into genial, receptive mood. miller, you and your fellow-doubters please retire to the far end of the room." in a voice that trembled a little, mrs. harris started the dear old melody, and all joined in, producing a soft and lulling chorus. at the end of the song i asked, matter-of-factly: "are the conditions right? are we sitting right?" mrs. quigg sharply queried, "whom are you talking to?" "the 'guides,'" i answered. "the 'guides'!" she exclaimed. "do you believe in the guides?" "i believe in the _belief_ of the guides," was my cryptic rejoinder. "sing again, please." i really had no faith in the conditions of the circle, but for the joke of it i kept my sitters in place for nearly an hour by dint of pretending to hear creakings and to feel throbbings, until at last little miss brush became very deeply concerned. "i feel them, too," she declared. "did some one blow on my hands? i felt a cold wave." harris got up abruptly. "i'll join the doubters," said he. "this tomfoolery is too idiotic for me." cameron followed, and mrs. quigg also rose. "i'll go with you," she said, decidedly. i was willing to quit, too, but mrs. harris and miss brush pleaded with me to continue. "close up the circle, then. probably harris was the hoodoo. things will happen now," i said, briskly, though still without any faith in the experiment. hardly had harris left the table when a shudder passed over mrs. harris, her head lifted, and her eyes closed. "what's the matter, dolly?" whispered mrs. cameron. "do you feel faint?" "don't be alarmed! mrs. harris is only passing into a sleep. not a word, harris!" i said, warningly. "please move farther away." in the dusky light the faces of all the women looked suddenly blanched and strange as the entranced woman seized upon the table with her hands, shaking it hard from side to side. the table seemed to wake to diabolic energy under her palms. this was an unexpected development, and i was almost as much surprised as the others were. "sing again," i commanded, softly. as they sang, mrs. harris withdrew her hands from the table and sat rigidly erect, yet with a peaceful look upon her face. "she does it well," i thought. "i didn't think it in the quiet little lady." at length one hand lifted and dropped limply upon the table. "it wants to write," said i. "where is the pad? i have a pencil." as i put a pencil under the hand, it was seized in a very singular way, and almost instantly mrs. cameron gasped, "that's very strange!" "hush!" said i. "wait!" holding the pencil clumsily as a crippled person might do, the hand crept over the paper, and at last, after writing several lines, stopped and lay laxly open. i passed the pad to brierly. "read it aloud," i said. he took it to the light and read: "sara, be not sceptical. believe and you will be happier. life is only the minutest segment of the great circle. martin." "my father!" exclaimed mrs. cameron. "let me see the writing." brierly handed the pad to her. she stared upon it in awe and wonder. "it is his exact signature--and dolly held the pen just as he did--he was paralyzed toward the last--and could only write by holding his pen that way." "look! it's moving again," i exclaimed. the hand caught up the pencil, and, holding it between the thumb and forefinger in a peculiar way, began moving it in the air. brierly, who sat opposite, translated these movements. "she is drawing, free-hand, in the air. she is sketching the outline of a boat. see how she measures and plumbs her lines! are you addressing me?" he asked of mrs. harris. the sleeper nodded. "can't you write?" i asked. "can't you speak?" a low gurgle in the throat was the only answer at the moment, but after a few trials a husky whisper began to be heard. "i will try," she said, and suddenly began to chuckle, rolling upon one hip and throwing one foot over the other like a man taking an easy attitude. she now held the pencil as if it were a cigarette, laughing again with such generous tone that the other women recoiled. then she spoke, huskily. "you know--san remo--sands," came brokenly from her lips. "sands?" queried the painter; "who is sands?" "sands--san remo--boats." the painter was puzzled. "i don't remember any sands at san remo. it must be some student i knew in paris. is that what you mean?" mrs. harris violently nodded. as abruptly as it came, this action left her, and then slowly, imperceptibly, her expression changed, a look of ineffable maternal sweetness came into her face; she seemed to cradle a tiny babe upon her arm. at last she sighed, "oh, the pity of it, the pity of it!" for a minute we sat in silence, so compelling were her gestures and her tone. at last i asked, "has any one here lost a little child?" mrs. cameron spoke, hesitatingly, "yes--i lost a little baby--years ago." "she is addressing you--perhaps." mrs. harris did not respond to this suggestion, but changed into an impersonation of a rollicking girl of rather common fibre. "hello, sally!" she cried out, and mrs. cameron stared at her in blank dismay as she asked, "are you talking to me?" "you bet i am, you old bag o' wool. remember geny? remember the night on the door-step? ooo! but it was cold! _you_ were to blame." "what is she talking about?" i asked, seeing that mrs. cameron was reluctant to answer this challenge. "she seems to be impersonating an old class-mate of mine at college--" "that's what!" broke in the voice. mrs. cameron went on, "her name was eugenia hull--" "is yet," laughed the voice. "same old sport. couldn't find any man good enough. you didn't like me, but no matter; i want to tell you that you're in danger of fire. don't play with fire. be careful of fire--" again a calm blankness fell upon the psychic's delicate and sensitive face, and the hand once more slowly closed upon the pencil. "my father again!" exclaimed mrs. cameron. "how could dolly have known that he held his pen in just that way? she never saw him." "do not place too much value on such performances," i cautioned. "she has probably heard you describe it. or she might have taken it out of your subconscious mind." the pencil dropped. the hand lifted. the form of the sleeper expanded with power. her face took on benignity and lofty serenity. she rose slowly, impressively, and with her hand upraised in a peculiar gesture, laid a blessing upon the head of her hostess. there was so much of sweetness and tolerance in her face, so much of dignity and power in every movement that i was moved to applaud the actress. as we all sat thus, deeply impressed by her towering attitude, mrs. cameron whispered: "why, it is bishop blank! that is exactly the way he held his hand--his robe!" "is it the bishop?" i asked. the psychic bowed and in solemn answer spoke. "tell james all will yet be well," she said, and, making the sign of blessing once more, sank back into her chair. meanwhile the irreverent ribalds in the far end of the room were disturbing the solemnity of all this communion with the shades, and at my suggestion we went up-stairs to mrs. cameron's own sitting-room, where we could be quiet. seizing a moment when mrs. harris was free from the "influence," i woke her and told her what we were about to do. she followed mrs. cameron readily, although she seemed a little dazed, and five of us continued the sitting, with mrs. quigg and cameron looking on with perfectly evident doubt of our psychic's sincerity. harris was rigidly excluded. in the quiet of this room mrs. harris passed almost immediately into trance--or what seemed like a trance--and ran swiftly over all her former impersonations. voice succeeded voice, almost without pause. the sweet mother with the child, the painter of san remo, the jovial and slangy girl, the commanding and majestic figure of the bishop--all returned repeatedly, in bewildering mixture, dropping away, one after the other, with disappointing suddenness. and yet each time the messages grew a little more definite, a little more coherent, until at last they all cleared up, and this _in opposition to our thought, to our first interpretations_. it developed that the painter was not named "sands," but "felipi," and that he was only trying to tell brierly that to succeed he should paint rocks and sands and old boats at san remo. "pauline," the woman who had seemed to hold a babe, was a friend of mrs. cameron's who had died in childbirth. and then swiftly, unaccountably, all these gentle or genial influences were scattered as if by something hellish, something diabolic. the face of the sweet little woman became fiendish in line. her lips snarled, her hands clawed like those of a cat, and out of her mouth came a hoarse imprecation. "i'll tear your heart out!" she snarled. "i'll kill you soul and body--i'll rip you limb from limb!" we all recoiled in amazement and wonder. it was as if our friend had suddenly gone insane. i confess to a feeling of profound astonishment. i had never met mrs. harris before, but as she was an intimate friend of mrs. cameron, and quite evidently a woman of culture, i could not think her so practised a joker as to be "putting all this on." while still we sat in silence, another voice uttered a wail of infinite terror and despair. "i didn't do it! _don't_ kill me! it was not _my_ work." and then, still more horrible to hear, a sound like the gurgling of blood came from the psychic's lips, mixed with babbled, frantic, incoherent words. i had a perfectly definite impression that she was impersonating some one with his throat cut. her grimaces were disgusting and terrifying. the women shivered with horror. a few seconds later and her face changed; the hideous mask became white, expressing rigid, exalted terror. her arms were drawn back as if tied at the elbow behind her back. her head was uplifted, and in a low, monotonous, hushed voice she prayed: "lord jesus, receive--" a gasping, gurgling cry cut short her prayer, and, with tongue protruding from her mouth, she presented such a picture of a strangling woman that a sudden clear conception of what it all meant came to me. "she's impersonating a woman on the scaffold," i explained. "she has shown us a murder, and now she is depicting an execution. is it mrs. r., of vermont?" i asked. she nodded slowly. "save me!" she whispered. "waken her, please. don't let her do that any more," pleaded mrs. cameron, in poignant distress. thereupon i called out, sharply: "that is enough! wake! _wake!_" in answer to my command she ceased to groan; her face smoothed out, and with a bewildered smile she opened her eyes. "what are you saying? have i been asleep?" "you have, indeed," i replied, "and you've disclosed a deal of dubious family history. how do you feel?" "i feel very funny around my neck," she answered, wonderingly. "what have you been doing to me?" she rubbed her throat. "my neck feels as if it had a band round it, and my tongue seems swollen. what have you been about?" i held up a warning hand to the others. "you went off into a quiet little trance, that's all. i was mistaken. either you are a psychic or you should have been an actress." as we stood thus confronting one another, mrs. cameron came between us, saying, "do you know, pauline came and talked with me--" at the word _pauline_ the spell seemed to fall again over the bright spirit of mrs. harris. her eyelids drooped, her limbs lost their power, and she sank into her chair as before, a helpless victim, apparently, to the hidden forces. for a moment i was at a loss. i could not believe that she was deceiving us, but it was possible that she was deceiving herself. "in either case, she must be brought out of this," i decided, and, putting my hands on her shoulders, i said: "if there is any 'control' here, let them stop this. we want no more of it. stop it!" my command was again obeyed, and the psychic slowly came back to herself, and as she did so i said, warningly, to mrs. cameron: "do not utter another word of this in mrs. harris's presence. she seems to be extremely sensitive to hypnotic influence, and i think she had better go out into the air at once." in rather subdued mood we went below to rejoin the frankly contemptuous members of the party. "well, what luck?" cried howard. "you all look rather solemn," said harris. "what about it? dolly, what have you been doing?" mrs. cameron described the sitting as wonderful, but mrs. harris only smiled vaguely, and i said: "your wife seemed to go into a trance and impersonate a number of individuals. she shows all the signs of a real sensitive." harris, who had been studying his wife with half-humorous intentness, now took command. "if you've been shamming, you need discipline; and if you haven't, you need a doctor. i think we'll go home and have it out," he added, and shortly after led her away. "some nice cool air is what we need," he said at the door. no sooner were the harrises out of the door than the women of the party fell upon me. "what do you think of it, mr. garland?" asked mrs. cameron. "if mrs. harris were not your friend, and if i had not seen other performances of the same sort, i should instantly say that she was having her joke with us. but i have seen too much of this sort of thing to take it altogether lightly. that's the way this investigating goes. one thing corroborates another. 'impersonation' in the case of a public medium may mean nothing--on the part of a psychic like your friend mrs. harris it means a very great deal. in support of this, let me tell you of a similar case. i have a friend, a perfectly trustworthy woman, and of keen intelligence, whose 'stunt,' as she laughingly calls it, is to impersonate nameless and suffering spirits who have been hurled into outer darkness by reason of their own misdeeds or by some singular chance of their taking off. my friend seems to be able in some way to free these poor 'earth-bound souls' and send them flying upward to some heaven. it's all very creepy," i added, warningly. "oh, delightful! let it be _very_ creepy," called mrs. quigg. "to begin with, my friend is as keen-eyed, as level-headed as any woman i know--the last person in the world to be taken for a 'sensitive.' i had never suspected it in her; but one night she laughingly admitted having been 'in the work' at one time, and i begged for a sitting. we were dining at her house--jack ross, a miss wilcox, and i, all intimate friends of hers, and she consented. after sitting a few minutes she turned to me and said: 'my "guide" is here. be sure to keep near me; don't let me fall.' she still spoke smilingly, but i could see she was in earnest. "'you see,' she explained, 'i seem to leave the body and to withdraw a little distance above my chair. from this height i survey my material self, which seems to be animated by an entirely alien influence. sometimes my body is moved by these forces to rise and walk about the room. in such cases it is necessary for some friend to follow close behind me, for between the going of "the spirit" and the return of my "astral self" there lies an appreciable interval when my body is as limp as an empty sack. i came very near having a bad fall once.' "'i understand,' said i. 'i'll keep an eye on you.' "in a few moments a change came over her face. she sank into a curious negative state between trance and reverie. her lips parted, and a soft voice came from them. she spoke to miss wilcox, who sat opposite her: 'sister--i am very happy. i am surrounded by children. it is beautiful here in the happy valley--warm and golden--and oh, the merry children!' "miss wilcox was deeply moved by this message and for a moment could not reply. at length she recovered her voice and asked, 'are you speaking to me?' "'yes. i am worried about mother. she is sick. go to her. she needs help. good-bye!' the smile faded; my friend's face resumed its impersonal calm. "'did you recognize the spirit?' i asked. "miss wilcox hesitated, but at last said: 'my sister was active in the work of caring for orphan children. but that proves nothing. anna may have known it--there is no test in this. it may be only mind-reading.' "'you are quite right,' i replied. 'but the message concerning your mother can be tested, can it not?' "at this moment the face of the psychic squared, and a deep, slow voice came pulsing forth. 'why do you wilfully blind your eyes? the truth will prevail. mystery is all about you. why doubt that which would comfort you?' "'who are you?' i inquired. "'i am theodore parker, the psychic's control,' was the answer. "soon after this my friend opened her eyes and smiled. 'do you know what you've said?' i asked. 'yes, i always have a dim notion of what is going on,' she answered, 'but why i am moved to speak and act as i do i don't know. it is just the same when i write automatically. i know when i do it, but i can't see the connection between my own mind and the writing. it is as if one lobe of my brain kept watch over the action of the other.' "she now passed into another period of immobility and so sat for a long time. suddenly her face hardened, became coarse, common, vicious in line. flinging out her hand, she struck me in the breast. 'what do you want of me?' she demanded, in the voice of a harridan. 'what are you all doing here? you're a nice lot of fools.' "'who are you?' i asked. "'you know who i am,' she answered, with a hoarse laugh. 'a sweet bunch you are! where's jim?' "'does any one recognize this "party"?' i asked. 'ross, this must be one of your set.' "ross laughed, and the 'influence,' thrusting her face close to his, blurted out, menacingly: 'don't know me, hey? well, here i am. i wanted a show, and they let me in. what you going to do about it?' "'i reckon you lit in the wrong door-yard,' i replied; 'nobody knows you here. skiddoo!' "she made an ugly face at me, and struck at me with her claw-like hand. 'i'd like to smash you!' "'good-bye,' said i. 'get out!' and she was gone. "before a word could be spoken, a look of hopeless, heart-piercing woe came over my friend's face. she began to moan and wring her hands most piteously. 'oh, where am i?' she wailed. 'it is so cold, so cold! so cold and dark! won't somebody help me? oh, help me!' "i gently asked: 'who are you? can't you tell us your name?' "'oh, i don't know, i can't tell,' moaned the voice. 'it's all so dark and cold and lonely. please tell me where i am. i've lost my name. all is so dark and cold. oh, pity me! let me come in. let me feel your light. i'm freezing! oh, pity me. i'm so lonely. it's so dark.' "'come in,' i said. 'we will help you.' "the hands of the psychic crept timidly up my arm and touched my cheek. 'thank you! thank you! oh, the cheer! oh, the light!' she cried, ecstatically. 'i see! i know! good-bye!' and with a sigh of ecstasy the voice ceased. "i can hardly express to you the vivid and yet sombre impression this made upon me. it was as if a chilled and weary bird, having winged its way from the winter's midnight into a warm room, had been heartened and invigorated, had rushed away confident and swift to the sun-lands of the south. "one by one other 'earth-bound souls' who, from one cause or another, were 'unable to find their way upward,' came into our ken like chilled and desperate bats condemned to whirl in endless outer darkness and silence--poor, abortive, anomalous shadows, whose voices pleaded piteously for release. nameless, agonized, bewildered, they clung like moths to the light of our psychic. "some of them appeared to be suffering all the terrors of the damned, and as they moaned and pleaded for light, the lovely face of my friend was convulsed with agony and her hands fluttered about like wounded birds. singular conception! wonderful power of suggestion! "at length, with a glad cry, the last of these blind souls saw, sighed with happiness, and seemed to vanish upward, as if into some unfathomable, fourth-dimension heaven. then the sweet first spirit, the woman with the glad children, returned to say to miss wilcox, 'be happy--george _is_ coming back to you.' "after she passed, my friend opened her eyes as before, clearly, smilingly, and said, 'have you had enough?' "'plenty,' said i. 'you nearly took my eye out in your dramatic fervor. i must say your ghosts are most unhappy creatures.' "she became very serious. 'please don't think that these spirits are my affinities. my work is purely philanthropic, so theodore parker used to tell mother. it was my duty, he said, to comfort the cheerless, to liberate the earth-bound, and so i had to have these poor creatures waiting around. that's why i gave it up. it got to be too dreadful. we never could tell what would come next. murderers and barnburners and every other accursed spirit seemed to be privileged to come into my poor empty house and abuse it, although parker and his band promised to protect me. i stopped it. i will not sit again,' she said, firmly. 'i don't like it. it would be bad enough to be dominated by one's dead friends, or the dead friends of one's friends, but to be helpless in the hands of all the demons and suicides and miscreants of the other world is intolerable. and if i am not dominated by dead people, i fear i am acting in response to the minds of vicious living people, and i don't like that. it's a dreadful feeling--can't you see it is?--this being open to every wandering gust of passion. i wouldn't let any one of my children be controlled for the world. don't ask me to sit again, and please don't let my friends know of my "gift."' "of course we promised, but the effect of that sitting i shall not soon forget. by-the-way, miss wilcox 'phoned and proved the truth of her message. her mother really was ill and in need of her." as i closed this story, cameron said: "garland, you tell that as if you believed in it." "i certainly do believe in my friend. it's no joke with her. she is quite certain that she is controlled by those 'on the other side,' and that to submit is to lose so much of her own individuality. you may call it hysteria, somnambulism, hypnotism, anything you like, but that certain people are moved subconsciously to impersonate the dead i am quite ready to believe. however, 'impersonation' is the least convincing (from my point of view) of all the phases of mediumship. i have paid very little attention to it in the course of my investigation. it has no value as evidence. you are still in the tattered fringes of 'spiritism,' even when you have seen all that impersonation can show you." "well, what do you suggest as the proper method for the society?" "as i told you at beginning, i have had a great deal of experience with these elusive 'facts,' and it chances that a practised though non-professional psychic with whom i have held many baffling sittings, is in the city. i may be able to induce her to sit for us." "oh, do, do!" cried mrs. cameron and miss brush together. "who is she?" asked miller. "i'll tell you more about her--next time," i said, tantalizingly. "she is very puzzling, i assure you. when and where shall we meet?" "here," said cameron, promptly. "i'm getting interested. bring on your marvels." "yes," said miller, and his mouth shut like a steel trap. "bring on your faker. it won't take us long to expose her little game." "bigger scientific bigots than you have been conquered," i retorted. "all right. i'll see what i can do. we'll meet one week from to-day." "yes," said cameron; "come for dinner." as i was going out, mrs. quigg detained me. "if it had been anybody but nice little mrs. harris, i should say that you had made this all up between you. as it is, i guess i'll have to admit that there is something in thought transference and hypnotism. _you were her control._" "that will serve for one evening," i retorted. "i'll make you doubt the existence of matter before we finish this series of sittings." and with this we parted. ii i was a little late at cameron's dinner-party, and no sooner had i shown my face inside the door than a chorus of excited inquiry arose. "where is the medium?" demanded cameron. "don't tell us you haven't got her!" exclaimed mrs. quigg. "i haven't her in my pocket, but she has promised to appear a little later," i replied, serenely. "why didn't you bring her to dinner?" asked mrs. cameron. "well, she seemed a little shy, and, besides, i was quite sure you would all want to discuss her, and so--" "yes, do tell us about her. who is she? does she perform for a living? what kind of a person are we to expect?" volleyed miss brush. to this i replied: "she is a native of the middle west--ohio, i believe. no, she does not do this for a living; in fact, she makes no charge for her services. she is very gentle and lady-like, and much interested, naturally, in converting you to spiritualism; for, like most psychics, she believes in spirits. she says her 'controls' have especially urged her to give me sittings. i am highly flattered to think the spirit folk should consider me so particularly valuable to their cause. seriously, i hope you will appreciate the wonderful concessions mrs. smiley is making in thus putting herself into our hands with the almost certain result of being discredited by some of us. i believe she really is doing it from a sense of duty, and is entitled to be treated fairly." "has she been in the business long?" asked mrs. quigg, with lurking sarcasm. "ever since she was about ten years old, i believe, but she sits only 'to spread the glad tidings.'" "is she married?" "yes, and has a devoted husband, and a nice little american village home. i know, for she sent me a photograph of it. she has two children 'in the other world.' please don't think all mediums the ignorant and vicious harpies which the newspapers make them out to be. i know several who are very nice, serious-minded women." at this point dinner was announced, and the dining-room became the field of a hot verbal warfare. the members of the society were all present excepting mrs. harris, who had been greatly upset by her own performance. bart brierly, the painter, was there to defend the mystery of life against our scientific friend miller, whose conception of the universe was very definite indeed. mrs. quigg supported miller. young howard was everywhere in the lists, and his raillery afforded cameron a great deal of amusement. i contented myself with listening for the first half-hour, but at last took occasion to say to miller: "like all violent opponents of the metapsychical, you know very little of the subject you are discussing. to sustain this contention, let me ask if you have ever read the account of sir william crookes's experiments with psychic force?" miller confessed that he had not. "i have avoided doing so, for i respect crookes as a chemist," he added. i continued: "crookes began by pooh-poohing the whole subject of spiritualism, very much as you do, miller; but after three years of rigid investigation, he was forced to announce himself convinced of the truth of many of the so-called spirit phenomena. it is instructive to recall that when he was willing to hazard his scientific reputation on a report of this character to the royal society, of which he was a member, his paper was thrown out. the secretary refused even to enter it upon the files of the institution." "i know about that," replied miller, "and i consider the secretary justified. to his thinking, crookes had lost his head." "no matter what he thought," i replied. "any paper by a man of crookes's standing, with his knowledge of chemistry and of life, and his long training in exact observation, should have been considered. the action of the secretary was due simply to prejudice, and many of those who voted to ignore that report are to-day more than half convinced that sir william has been justified. each of his experiments has been repeated and his findings verified by scientific men of europe. it is a pleasure to add that our own smithsonian institution published two of his speculative papers some years ago. so it goes--the heresy of to-day is the orthodoxy of to-morrow." "didn't crookes afterward repudiate that early report?" asked miller. "on the contrary, in 1898, upon being elected to the presidency of the british association for the advancement of science, he said (i think i can recall almost his exact words): 'no incident in my scientific career is more widely known than the part i took in certain psychic researches. thirty years have passed since i published an account of experiments tending to show that outside our scientific knowledge there exists a force exercised by intelligences differing from the ordinary intelligence common to mortals. this fact in my life is well understood by those who honored me with the invitation to become your president. perhaps among my audience some may feel curious as to whether i shall speak out or be silent. i elect to speak, although briefly. i have nothing to retract. i adhere to my published statements. indeed, i might add much thereto.' and when you realize that this includes his astounding experience with 'katie king,' his words become tremendous in their significance." "what was the 'katie king' experience?" asked mrs. cameron. "i never heard of it." "it is a long and very interesting story, but in substance it is this: while in a condition of contemptuous disbelief as to the alleged phenomena of spiritualism, sir william chanced to witness a séance wherein a young girl named florence cook was the medium. her doings so puzzled and interested him that he went again and again to see her. dissatisfied with the conditions under which the wonders took place, he asked miss cook to come to his house and sit for him and his friends. this she did. she was a mere girl at the time, about seventeen years of age, and yet she baffled this great chemist and all his assistants. you sometimes hear people say, 'yes, but he was in his dotage.' he was not. he was in his early prime. he brought to bear all his thirty years' training in exact observation, and all the mechanical and electrical appliances he could devise, without once detecting anything deceitful." "even in the 'katie king' episode?" asked harris. "even katie stood the test. but before going into that, let me tell you some of his other experiments. he says (among other amazing things) that he has seen a chair move on its own account, without contact with a medium. he saw daniel home--another medium with whom he had sittings--raised by invisible power completely from the floor of the room. 'under rigid test condition,' he writes, 'i have seen a solid, self-luminous body the size of an egg float noiselessly about the room!' but wait! i will quote from my notes his exact words." here i produced my note-book, and read as follows: "'i have seen a luminous cloud floating upward toward a picture. under the strictest test conditions, i have more than once had a solid, self-luminous, crystalline body placed in my hand by a hand which did not belong to any person in the room. _in the light_, i have seen a luminous cloud hover over a heliotrope on a side-table, break a sprig off, and carry it to a lady; and on some occasions i have seen a similar luminous cloud condense to the form of a hand and carry small objects about. during a séance in full light, a beautifully formed small hand rose up from an opening in a dining-table and gave me a flower. this occurred in the light in my own room, while i was holding the medium's hands and feet. i have retained one of these perfectly life-like and graceful (spirit) hands in my own, firmly resolved not to let it escape, but it gradually seemed to resolve itself into vapor, and faded in that manner from my grasp.'" "oh, come now," shouted howard, "you're joking! crookes couldn't have written that." i continued to read: "'under satisfactory test conditions, i have seen phantom forms and faces--a phantom form came from the corner of the room, took an accordion in its hand, and glided about the room playing the instrument.'" as i paused, harris said: "was all that in his report to the royal society?" "it was." "well, i don't wonder they thought he was crazy. the whole statement is preposterous." "but that is not all," i hastened to say. "under rigid conditions scales were depressed without contact, and a flower, separating itself from a bouquet, passed through a solid table." miller made a gesture of angry disgust. "to save the reputation of a really great scientist, don't quote any more of that insane dreaming." "i didn't know any one but campers in 'lily dale' could be so bug-house," added howard. i went on. "crookes might have induced his brother scientists at least to listen to his report had he stopped with this. but he proceeded to say that he had witnessed the magic birth of a sentient, palpable, intelligent human being, who walked about in his household, conversing freely, while the medium, from whom the spirit form sprang, lay in the cabinet like one dead. it was his account of this 'spirit,' who called herself 'katie king,' that caused the whole scientific world to jeer at the great chemist as a man gone mad." "we have a right to draw the line between crookes the chemist and crookes the befuddled dupe," insisted miller. mrs. cameron drew a long breath. "do you mean to say that this 'katie king' phantom actually _talked_ with the people in the room? does sir william crookes say that?" "yes. over and over again he declares that 'katie king' appeared as real as any one else in his house. he becomes quite lyrical in description of her beauty. she was like a pearl in her purity. her flesh seemed a sublimation of ordinary human flesh. and the grace of her manner was so extraordinary that lady crookes and all who saw her became deeply enamoured of her. she allowed some of them to kiss her, and crookes himself was permitted to grasp her hand and walk up and down the room with her." "how was she dressed?" asked mrs. brush. "there! now we are getting at the essentials," i exclaimed. "usually in white with a turban." "did she look like the medium?" "she was utterly unlike miss cook in several physical details. she was half a head taller, her face was broader, her ears had not been pierced, and she was free from certain facial scars that miss cook bore; and once when miss cook was suffering from a severe cold, sir william tested 'katie king's' lungs and found them in perfect health. on several occasions he and several of his friends, among them eminent scientists, saw 'katie' and the medium together, and at last succeeded in photographing them both on the same plate, although never with miss cook's face exposed, because of the danger, to one in a trance, from the shock of a flash-light." "i don't take any stock in that excuse," said howard. "but go on, i like this." "for months the great chemist brought all his skill to bear on miss cook's mediumship without detecting any fraud or finding any solution of the mystery. the sittings, which took place in his own library, were under his own conditions, and he had the assistance of several young and clever physicists, and yet he could not convict miss cook of double-dealing. the story of the final séance, when 'katie king' announced her departure, is as affecting as a scene in a play. she had said that her real name was 'annie morgan,' but that in the spirit world she was known as 'katie king.' she came, she said, to do a certain work, and now, after three years, that work was done, and she must return to the spirit world." "what was that work?" "to convince the world of the spirit life, i imagine. 'when the time came for "katie" to take her farewell,' writes crookes, 'i asked that she would let me see the last of her. accordingly when she had called each of the company up to her and had spoken a few words in private, she gave some general directions for the future guidance and protection of miss cook. from these, which were taken down in shorthand, i quote the following: "mr. crookes has done very well throughout, and i leave florrie [the medium], with the greatest confidence, in his hands." having concluded her directions, "katie" invited me into the cabinet with her, and allowed me to remain until the end.'" "touching confidence!" interrupted harris. "'after closing the curtain she conversed with me for some time, and then walked across to where miss cook was lying senseless on the floor. stooping over her, "katie" touched her and said: "wake up, florrie, wake up! i must leave you now." "'miss cook then woke, and tearfully entreated "katie" to stay a little time longer. "'"my dear, i can't; my work is done. god bless you," "katie" replied, and then continued speaking to miss cook for several minutes. for several minutes the two were conversing with each other, till at last miss cook's tears prevented her speaking. following "katie's" instructions, i then came forward to support miss cook, who was falling onto the floor, sobbing hysterically. i looked round, but the white-robed "katie" had gone, never to return to the earth-plane.'" i glanced about the table at my silent listeners, and added: "could anything be more dramatic than this sad farewell? evidently the fourth dimension is both near and very far." all the women were deeply impressed with this story, but to miller it was as idle as the blowing of the wind. "the man was duped. it is absolutely impossible to think that he was not grossly deceived." "wait a moment," said i. "i defy you or any man to remain unchanged by it. the world is just catching up to this brave pioneer. at that time there were very few scientific men in the metapsychical field. sir william stood almost alone. but public sentiment changed rapidly as the years passed. the english society for psychical research was formed, and one by one wallace, lodge, and other scientific men were convinced of the truth of these phenomena. in europe, as early as 1853, the work was taken up in the true scientific spirit, and professor marc thury and the count de gasparin completely demonstrated the fact of telekinesis; and at about the same time that the dialectical society was getting into action, flammarion, the astronomer, took up his study of the subject. but it was not until 1891 that anything like crookes's searching analysis was made of a medium. this important sitting--a sitting which marks an epoch in science--took place in milan, and was attended, among others, by lombroso and richet. for the first time, so far as is known, a flash-light photograph was taken of a table floating in the air." at this moment the bell rang, and mrs. cameron exclaimed: "there! that may be your wonder-worker." i looked at my watch. "i shouldn't wonder. she is a prompt little person." iii we trooped into the sitting-room, where mrs. smiley, a plain little woman with a sweet mouth and bright black eyes, was awaiting us. she was perceptibly abashed by the keen glances that the men directed upon her, but her manners were those of one natively thoughtful and refined. she made an excellent impression on every one. "did you bring your magic horn, mrs. smiley?" i asked, to relieve her embarrassment. "oh yes!" she answered, brightly. "i carry that just as a fiddler carries his fiddle--ready for a tune at any moment." she brought a large package from the foot of the sofa and gave it to me. i took it, but turned it over to miller. "here, open this parcel yourself, mr. scientist. i want you to be satisfied as to its character." miller undid the package as cautiously as if it were an infernal machine. as the paper opened and fell away, a short, truncated cone of tin was disclosed, with another smaller one loosely held within it. the two sections, when adjusted, made a plain megaphone, about twenty-four inches in length and some five inches in diameter at the larger end. "what do you do with that?" asked mrs. cameron. in a perfectly matter-of-fact way mrs. smiley replied: "many of the spirit voices are very faint, and cannot be heard without this horn. i am what they call a 'trumpet medium,'" she added, in further explanation. "do you mean to say spirits speak through that horn?" "yes. that is my 'phone.'" the ladies looked at one another, and harris said: "isn't it rather absurd to expect an immaterial mouth to speak through a tin tube, like the grocer's boy?" she smiled composedly. "i suppose it seems so to you, but to me it just happens." i set briskly to work arranging the library for the circle. in the middle of the room i placed a plain oaken table, which had been procured specially for the sitting. on this i stood the tin horn, upright on its larger end; beside it i laid a pad, a pencil, and a small slate. "mrs. smiley, you are to sit here," i said, drawing an arm-chair to the end of the table nearest the wall. she took her seat submissively; and looking around upon my fellow-members with a full knowledge of what was in their minds, i remarked: "if all goes well to-night, this little woman, alone and unaided, except by this megaphone, will utterly confound you. we have had many sittings. we understand each other perfectly. i am going to treat her as if she were an unconscious trickster. i am going to use every effort to discover how she accomplishes these mysterious results, and miller is to be notably remorseless. we are going to concede (for the present) the dim light required. i don't like this, but mrs. smiley is giving us every other condition, and as this is but a trial sitting, we grant it." i turned to miller. "the theory is that light acts in direct opposition to the psychic force, weakening it unaccountably. nevertheless, darkness is not absolutely essential. maxwell secured many convincing movements in the light, and no doubt we shall be able to do so later." "who is maxwell?" asked miss brush. "dr. joseph maxwell, deputy attorney-general of the court of appeals at bordeaux and doctor of medicine. he is a noted experimenter with psychic forces. indeed, he has the power himself. now, mrs. smiley, i wish to begin my tests by tying your wrists to the arms of your chair. may i do so?" "certainly," she cheerfully answered. "you may padlock me, or put me in an iron cage, if you please. i leave it all to you." "well, there is a certain virtue in knotting a silk thread, for the reason that it is almost impossible to untie, even in the light, and to break it, we will agree, invalidates the sitting. for to-night we will use the thread. miller, will you watch me?" "with the greatest pleasure in the world," he answered, "and as a scientist i am going to treat you as a possible confederate." "very good. let each watch the other." beneath the gaze of the smiling company, i took from my pocket a spool of strong silk twist, and proceeded to fasten the psychic's wrists. each arm was tied separately in such wise that she was unable to bring her hands together, and could not raise her wrists an inch from the chair. next, with the aid of mrs. cameron, i looped a long piece of tape about mrs. smiley's ankles, knotted it to the rungs of the chair at the back, and nailed the loose ends to the floor. i then drew chalk marks on the floor about the chair legs, in order that any movement of the chair, no matter how slight, might show. finally, i pushed the table about two feet away from the psychic's utmost reach. "with this arrangement we ought to be able to detect any considerable movement on your part," i said to my prisoner; "at any rate, i think we can keep you from jumping upon the table. miller, you are to sit at her left; i will keep watch and ward at her right; the others of the society may take seats as they please--only the tradition is that the sexes should alternate. cameron, please lock both doors and keep the keys in your pocket." as soon as we were all seated and cameron had locked the doors, i asked him to turn down the light, which he did, grumbling: "i don't like this part of it." "neither do i, but at a first sitting we must not expect too much. i am sure we shall be able to have more light later on. and now, while we are all getting into a harmonious frame of mind, suppose we ask mrs. smiley to tell us a little about herself. where were you born, mrs. smiley?" she replied, very simply and candidly: "i was born near cincinnati. my father was a spiritualist early in the 'craze,' as it was called, and i was about nine when i became a medium. at first we did not know that i was the psychic. demons seemed to take possession of our house, and for a few weeks nothing movable was safe. after awhile my father became sure that i was the cause of these disturbances, because everywhere i went raps were heard: the movement of small objects near where i sat made me an object of aversion or of actual terror to my school-mates. so finally my father asked me to sit. i didn't want to do so at first, but he told me it was my duty. they used to tie me in every way and experiment with me. it was very wearisome to me, but i submitted, and i have been devoted to the work ever since. after my father and mother died i gave up all opposition to my gift, and now it is a great comfort to me; for now i get messages from my father and my little daughter almost every day." "do they speak to you directly?" i asked. "yes. sometimes clairaudiently, but generally through this cone when i sit in the dark." "what do you mean by speaking?" asked howard. "do you mean they sound like actual people?" "just as real as you or any one," she answered. i was waiting to say: "don't be in haste; you will all know from actual experience what she means by voices." "have you ever seen these forces at work?" asked harris. "no; not the way you mean. i had a terrible shock once that cured me of being too curious. i was holding an accordion under a table by its bellows end, as home used to do, and while the playing was going on i just believed if i looked under the table i could see something. so i lifted the cover and peeped under. i didn't know any more for a long time. when i came to my father was bathing my face and rubbing my hands. i never tried to 'peek' after that." "do you mean that they did this to punish you for your peeping?" "yes. they don't like to have you look directly at them when they are at work." "why?" "i don't know. i never was punished again. i didn't need it." "would 'they' bat me if i were to peek?" asked howard. "they might not; but they refuse to 'work' while any one is looking." "all that is suspicious." "i know it is, but that is the way they act." "you believe 'they' are spirits?" "i _know_ they are," she repeated. "if i didn't, i would be desolate. i have been sitting now for over thirty years, and these friendly voices are a part of my life. they comfort me more than i can tell." she gave this account of herself with an air of quiet conviction that deeply impressed the circle, and at the end of her little speech i added: "she has agreed to put herself into our hands for a series of experiments, and if her health does not fail i think we shall be able to rival the doings of florence cook and daniel home, whose mediumships were the basis of crookes's report. now let each one of you spread his hands, or her hands, upon the table, just touching the little fingers, in order that a complete circuit may be established. miller and i will make connection with our psychic." "it all seems childish folly, but we'll do it," said harris. "what may we expect to happen first, mrs. smiley?" asked mrs. cameron, after we were in position. "i don't know," she answered, frankly. "i have very little control over these forces. often, when i am most anxious, nothing happens. please don't expect much of anything to-night: my first sittings in a new place are seldom very good, and so much depends upon those who make up the circle. i never sit without a fear that my power has gone never to come back." i helped her out in explanation: "the honest medium does not advertise to perform regularly, for the reason that this force, whatever it is, seems to lie almost wholly outside the will. flammarion says 'it may be set down as a rule that all professional mediums cheat.' that is putting it pretty strong; but it seems true that the condition which leads to these phenomena is a very subtle physical and mental adjustment, and that the slightest distraction or mental unrest defeats everything. if the medium is paid for her work she is too eager to serve, and everything tempts her to deceive. furthermore, it has been proved that the psychic is in the very nature of the case _extremely liable to suggestion_, and the combined wills of the sitters focussed on one desired phenomena becomes an almost irresistible force to certain psychics. on the other hand, the best observers say that the most striking proofs of spiritualism lies in the fact that the most amazing phenomena come in opposition to the will of both the psychic and the sitters. we may not secure a single movement to-night, and, indeed, we may have two or three barren sittings, but i am confident that in the end you will be satisfied. i am going to attempt to put mrs. smiley to sleep now, and when she is in her trance we can discuss her methods freely." i began to hum a low, monotonous tune, and one by one the others joined in the refrain; soon the psychic's breath became labored, and in the pauses of the song she moaned. at length she drew her hands as far away from miller's and mine as the threads would permit, thus breaking the circuit. "she is in trance," i reported. "now we have nothing to do but wait. you may say anything you please, or tell stories or sing songs, only don't argue. we will remain as we are for a while, and if the 'guides' are dissatisfied, they will order a change. generally speaking, the 'controls' are very notional, and when we get into full communication with 'them' the entire present arrangement may be broken up. the theory is that all success is due to the co-operation of those 'on the other side.'" "it looks to me like a plain case of hypnotism from this side," remarked harris. "aren't there any fixed rules to the game?" asked howard. "after many years' exhaustive study of these antic spirits (approaching them always from the naturalistic side), maxwell deduces certain helpful rules: 'use a small room,' he says, 'and have it warm. medium and sitters must not have cold hands or feet.'" "i can understand the psychic having cold feet now and then," interjected harris. "maxwell finds dry air and clear weather most favorable; rainy and windy weather often cause failures. there seems to be some connection with the electrical condition of the atmosphere. after proving that a white light deters phenomena, he uses green, violet, or yellow screens for his lamps. 'any kind of a table will do for the raps, or for levitation,' he says, 'but one with a double top seems to give best results.' his sitters use wooden chairs with cane seats, and my own experience is that a bare floor helps. he especially directs that the guide be consulted--'let the phenomena come as spontaneously as possible,' he adds." "does he find this sandwiching of the sexes helpful?" "yes. he says six or eight people, men and women alternating, make the best circle. 'take things seriously, but not solemnly,' he advises. 'don't argue; address the "control," and follow his advice. avoid confusion by electing a director and asking for only one thing at a time. keep the same people in the group for at least six sittings. sit in a circle and touch hands. be patient and good-tempered. a worried, irritated, sullen medium is a poor instrument. finally'--and this is most important--'don't overwork the medium.' and with this important statement he ends: '_i am persuaded of the absolute harmlessness of these experiments, provided they are properly conducted._'" "i am glad to know that," said mrs. quigg. "after seeing mrs. harris's trance, i was in doubt." "maxwell's hints are extremely valuable to me," i continued, "for they confirm my own methods, some of which i had to learn by tedious experience. if i had known, for instance, the folly of allowing everybody to quiz the psychic, i might have been spared many hours of tiresome sitting. maxwell is, indeed, an ideal investigator--he has made a great advance in methods, and his conclusions, though tentative, are most suggestive. no unprejudiced reader can finish his book, _metapsychical phenomena_, without feeling that its author is a brave and fearless writer, as well as a cautious and sane reasoner. his published experience throws a flood of light on mediums and their puzzling peculiarities." "but it seems to me those rules give the medium and his 'guides' the free hand," said miller, discontentedly. "by no means," i retorted. "maxwell plainly says, 'where the "control" is insisting upon something which i do not like, i politely resist, and end by getting my own way.' note the 'politely.' in short, he recognizes that a genuine medium is a very precious instrument, and he does not begin by clubbing him--or her--into submission. for all their wondrous powers, the people who possess these powers are very weak. they are not allowed to make anything more than a living out of the practise of the magic, and they live under the threat of having the power withdrawn. they are helpless in the face of a challenge to produce the phenomena, and yet the hidden forces are themselves helpless without them--" "is the table throbbing?" asked brierly. "i don't feel it." "have you ever had any convincing evidence of this psychic force--such as movement of objects without contact?" asked harris. "yes. i have had a table rise at least twenty inches from the floor in the full light, with no one present but the medium and myself, and while our finger-tips alone touched the top. it felt as if it were floating in a thick and resilient liquid, and when i pressed upon it, it oscillated, in a curious way, as if the power were applied from below and in the centre of the table. the psychic was a young girl, and i am certain played no trick. i could see her feet on the floor, and her finger-tips were, like mine, on the top of the table. this was the clearest test of levitation i ever had, but the lifting of a pencil in independent writing is the same thing in effect." "i see you have acquired all the 'patter,'" remarked miller. "oh, yes indeed; all the 'patter,' and some of the guile. for instance, when i want to use 'those who have passed on' i do so, and when i don't i invent means to deceive them." mrs. quigg caught me up on that. "can you deceive 'them'?" "i don't know that i do, really; but, at any rate, 'they' are not always mind-readers--that i have proved very conclusively. in all my experience i have never had any satisfactory evidence of the clairvoyance of these manifesting intelligences." "i thought 'they' could read one's every thought." "i do not find that 'they' can read so much as _one_ of my thoughts, and i would not invest a dollar on their recommendations. seldom does so much as a familiar name come up in my sittings, and no message of any intimate sort has ever come from the shadow world for me. the messages are intelligent, but below rather than above the average. 'they' always seem very fallible, very human to me, and nothing 'they' do startles me. i have no patience with those who make much of the morbid side of this business. to me it is neither 'theism' nor 'diabolism,' and is neither destruction of an old religion or the basis of a new one--but all this verges on the controversial, and is not good for our psychic. let's sing some good old tune, like 'suwanee river' or 'lily dale.' we must keep to the genial side of conversation. spread your hands wide on the table and be as comfortable as you can. we may have to wait a long time now, all on miller's account." "because he is a sceptic?" "no; because he's belligerent," i answered. "it doesn't matter whether you believe or not if you do not stir up controversy. miller's 'suggestion' is adverse to the serenity of the psychic, that's all. the old-time sleepy back-parlor logic has no weight with me. maxwell and flammarion are my guides." _for four hours we sat thus, and nothing happened._ how i kept them at it i do not now understand, but they stayed. we sang, joked, told stories, gossiped in desperate effort to kill time, and not one rap, tap, or crackle came to guide us or to give indication of the presence of any unusual power. part of the time mrs. smiley was awake and sorely grieved at her failure. she understood very well the position in which i seemed to stand. to miller i was a dupe, the victim of a trickster. he himself afterward confessed that at the time he almost regretted his preternatural acuteness, and was ready to take himself away in order to let the show go on. but he didn't, and from time to time i encouraged our psychic by saying: "never mind, mrs. smiley, there are other evenings to come. we will not despair." at last she sank into profound sleep, and at exactly twelve o'clock i heard a faint tapping on top of the piano, just behind miller. "hooray, here they are!" i exclaimed, with vast relief. "what is the matter?" i asked of "the presence." "aren't we sitting right?" "_no_," was the answer, by means of one decided tap. "am i right?" "_no_," answered the taps. i may explain at this point that in the accepted code of signals one tap means "_no_," three taps mean "_yes_," and two taps, "_don't know_," "_will try_," or any other doubtful state of mind. one has, of course, to guess at the precise meaning; but one may confirm one's interpretation by putting it in the form of a question that can be answered by "_yes_" or "_no_." "shall i change with miller?" i asked. three brisk taps made affirmative answer. i exchanged places with miller, but did not again touch mrs. smiley's hand. immediately thereafter the sound of soft drumming came from the piano at a point entirely out of reach of the psychic, and at my request the drummer kept time to my whistling. after some minutes of this foolery "the force" left the piano abruptly, as if with a leap, and dropped to the middle of the table. a light, fumbling noise followed, and i called out: "is every hand in the circle accounted for?" while the members of the group were, in turn, assuring me of this, a small bell on the table was taken up and rung, and the table itself was shoved powerfully toward the circle and away from the psychic. i assure you, my sitters were profoundly interested now, and some of the women were startled. a sharp, pecking sound came upon the cone. i called attention to the fact that this took place at least six feet from the psychic, and a moment later, with intent to detect her in any movement, i leaned far forward so that my head came close to her breast. i could not discern the slightest motion; i could not even hear her breathe. all this, while very impressive to me, was referred by the others to trickery on mrs. smiley's part. at my request, the drumming on the cone kept time to "dixey" and "yankee doodle," and at length i said to "the spirit": "you must have liked topical songs when you were on the earth-plane." instantly _the cone was swept violently from the table, and a deep, jovial, strong whisper came from the horn to me_. "_i do now_," was the amazing answer. "who are you?" i asked. "_wilbur thompson._" "oh, it is you, is it? well, i am glad you've found a voice; i felt rather helpless up to this moment. are we sitting right?" "_all right._" "what are you going to do for us to-night? can you raise the table?" "_i'll try_," he whispered again. "are there other 'spirits' here?" "_yes; many._" "can't 'they' write their names on the pad?" there was a moment's silence, and then the sound of writing began in the middle of the table. when this had finished, i said, "did you succeed?" again the cone rose, and another whisper, a fainter voice, answered: "_yes, but the writing is very miserable._" the rest of the sitters were silent with amazement till miller said, in a tone of disgust: "that is of no value. it is so easy for howard, or some one else, to break the circle and write or speak through the cone." "yes, we'll have to trust one another for to-night," i admitted. the psychic now began to twist and moan and struggle, choking, gasping in such evident suffering that mrs. cameron cried out: "mr. garland, don't you hear? she is ill! let me go to her!" "don't be alarmed," i replied. "this struggle almost always precedes her strongest manifestations. it seems cruel to say so, but, remember, mrs. smiley has been through these paroxysms hundreds of times. it appears very painful and exhausting, but she has assured me that 'they' take care of her. she suffers almost no ill effects from her trance." miller, living up to his character as remorseless scientist, remarked: "i'd like to control her hands. shall i try?" "not now, not till the 'guides' consent to it," i replied. "it is said to be dangerous to the psychic to touch her unexpectedly." "i can understand that it might be inconvenient," remarked harris, with biting brevity. again we sat in expectant silence until several of the group became restless. "what is she about now?" asked cameron, wearily. "she is in dead trance, apparently. please be patient a little while longer. are you still with us, 'wilbur'?" i was delighted to hear the three taps that answer "_yes_." "will you be able to do something more for us?" _tap, tap, tap_--given apparently with the pencil. i observed: "from a strictly scientific standpoint, the movement of that pencil, provided it can be proved to have taken place without the agency of any known form of force, is as important as the fall of a mountain. it heralds a new day in science. is every hand accounted for?" each answered, "_yes_." at this moment there was a rustling at the base of the cone. "listen! 'they' are at work with the horn." the cone rocked slowly on its base, and at last leaped over the shoulders of the sitters and fell with a crash to the floor. "mercy on us!" gasped mrs. cameron. "don't touch it! don't move!" i called out. "everybody clasp hands now. here is a chance for a fine test. 'wilbur,' can you put the cone back on the table?" _tap, tap_, answered "wilbur." the two taps were given slowly, and i understood them to mean "_don't know_" or "_will try_." "miller," i said, impressively, "unless some one of our circle is betraying us, we are having as good a demonstration as we could expect, barring the absence of light. be watchful. 'wilbur,' we're trusting to you now. let's see what you can do." as i spoke, the horn, with a ringing scrape, left the carpet, and a moment later bumped down upon mrs. quigg's head. "oh!" she shrieked, "it hit me!" almost immediately a breathy chuckle came from the horn: "_ha, ha! that shook you up a little, i reckon._" the other women were frozen with horror. "don't let it touch me," pleaded miss brush. and mrs. quigg, much shaken, called out: "frank howard, are you doing this?" he was highly indignant. "certainly not. are you not holding one hand and miss brush the other? i am in-no-cent; i swear it!" i commented on their dialogue severely. "see how you all treat an event that is wonderful enough to convulse the national academy of science. i do not believe the psychic's hands have moved an inch, and yet, unless some one of you is false to his trust, the miraculous has happened--are you there, 'wilbur?'" i queried of the mystic presence. the cone swung toward me, and "wilbur" answered: "_i am, old horse._" "well, wilbur, there are two bigoted scientific people here to-night, and i want you to put them to everlasting rout." "_i'll do it, don't you worry_," replied the voice, and the cone dropped with a bang on the table, again making everybody jump. "_that brought the goose-flesh_!" remarked "wilbur," with humorous satisfaction. i took a malicious delight in the mystification of my fellows. "go down and shake up young howard at the foot of the table," i suggested. "he is a little in the conjuring line himself." almost instantly howard cried out: "the blooming thing is touching me on the ear!" "observe," called i, in the tone of a man exhibiting some kind of trained animal, "the cone is now at least six feet from the psychic's utmost reach. how do you account for that, miller?" "the boy lied," said miller, curtly. howard was offended. "i'll take that out of you, old chap, when we meet in the street. i am telling the square-toed truth. i am not doing a thing but hold two very scared ladies' hands." "oh, come now!" i interposed. "if we are to be so 'tarnal suspicious of one another, we might just as well give up the sitting. if each of us must be padlocked, proof of any phenomenon is impossible." a firmer hand now seemed to grasp the cone, and a deep whisper that was almost a tone came from it. "_you are right_," this new personality said, with measured and precise utterance. "_we come with the best tests of a supremely important revelation; we come as scientists from our side of the line; and you scoff, and take it all as a piece of folly, as an entertainment. is this just? no, it is unworthy men of science._" "you are entirely justified in your indignation," i responded. "but who are you?" "_my name on the earth-plane was mitchell._" "i am glad to make your acquaintance, 'mr. mitchell,' and your rebuke is deserved. i, for one, mean to proceed in this matter seriously. what can you do for us to-night?" "_be very patient. carry this investigation forward, and this psychic will astonish the world. do not abuse her; do not tax her beyond her strength._" he spoke with the precise and rather pedantic accent of an old gentleman nurtured on the classics, and produced upon me a distinct impression of age and serious demeanor utterly different from the rollicking, not too refined "wilbur." "i will see that she is treated fairly, 'mr. mitchell,' but of course this is not a rigid test. will you be able to permit conditions more convincing?" "_yes, very much more convincing_," he replied, slowly and ponderously, "_but do not worry the instrument to-night. narrow your circle; be harmonious, and not too eager, and you will be abundantly rewarded_." "won't you tell me who you were on the earth-plane?" "_i was a friend of the father of the instrument_," he answered. the horn returned to the table quietly, and young howard was the first to speak. "that is a fine piece of ventriloquism, any way you look at it," said he. "it is a nice trick to give that peculiar tinny sound to a whisper." "so far as i can judge, so far as my sense of hearing goes (and i have kept my ear close to the psychic's face), mrs. smiley has not moved, nor uttered a sound. what is your verdict, mr. cocksure scientist?" for the first time miller's voice indicated some slight hesitation. "i haven't been able to _detect_ any movement on the part of the psychic," he replied, "but of course i can't answer for the rest of the company. the performance has no scientific value. in the dark, deceit is easy. harris may be the ventriloquist." "why not accuse the arch-conspirator of us all, our director?" exclaimed mrs. quigg. "you flatter me," i responded. "if i could produce those voices i would go on the vaudeville stage to-morrow. i give you my word i am acting in entire good faith. i am quite as eager for the truth as any of you.--but, hark! the cone is on the wing again." the megaphone was indeed moving, as if a weak, unskilled hand were struggling with it, and at last it swung feebly into the air, and a whisper that was hardly more than a breath was directed toward mrs. quigg: "_daughter!_" "are you speaking to me?" she asked, in a voice that trembled a little. the answer was but a sibilant sigh: "_yes._" "who are you?" "_mother._" the answer was so faint that no one save mrs. quigg could distinguish the word. almost at the same moment i caught the sound of other moving lips in the air just before me. "who is it?" i asked. like a little, hopeless sigh the answer came: "_jessie._" this was the name of my younger sister. then the cone dropped as though falling from exhausted hands, and i had no further message from this "spirit." as we waited breathlessly the clear, silver-sweet voice of a little girl was heard by every one at the table. "_good-evening, everybody. i am maud; i came with my mamma. i have come to ask you to be very kind to her._" "i am very glad to hear you, 'maud,'" i answered. "are there other spirits present?" "_yes, many, many spirits. my grandpa is here; he is treating my mamma so that she will not be sick. some one is here to see you, but is too weak to speak. my grandpa says 'we are trusting you.'_" with astonishing clearness this voice created in my mind (not as light would create it) the vision of a self-contained, womanly little girl, whose voice and accent formed a curious silvery replica of the psychic's, and yet i could not say that the psychic's vocal organs gave out these words. at last she said "_good-bye_," and the cone was softly laid upon the table. all of this was performed in profound silence. there was no sound in the cone, except that of the voice, no rustle of garments, no grasp of fingers on the tin; and though i leaned far over, and once more placed my ear close to the psychic's lips, i could not trace the slightest movement connecting her with the movements on the table. i had the conviction at the moment that she sat in a death-like trance at my side. a few moments later the cone was jammed together and thrown upon the floor--a movement, i had learned to know, that announced that the sitting was ended. while the sitters still waited, i said: "now, cameron, you may turn on the gas, but do so very slowly. mrs. smiley seems in deep sleep, and we are warned not to startle her." when the light became strong enough to see a form, we found our psychic sitting limply, her head drooping sidewise, her eyes closed, her face white and calm. the cone was lying not far from her chair, separated into two parts. the threads that bound her to her seat were to all appearance precisely as at the beginning of the sitting, except that they were deeply sunk into the flesh of her wrists. her chair had not moved a hair's-breadth from the chalk-marks on the floor. a moment later she opened her eyes, and, smiling rather wanly, asked of me: "did anything happen?" "oh yes, a great deal. 'wilbur' came, and 'maud,' and 'mr. mitchell.'" "i am very glad," she answered, with a faint, happy smile. mrs. cameron bent to her pityingly. "how do you feel?" "very numb, but i'll be all right in a very short time. my wrists hurt; your thread is very tight. my arms always swell. please give me a drink of water." as i held the glass to her lips i was conscience-smitten to think that for five hours she had been sitting in this constrained position--a martyr to science; but i deferred the moment of her release till miller had examined every bond. i used a small pair of scissors to cut the thread out of the deep furrows in her wrist, and it took a quarter of an hour of chafing to restore her arms to their normal condition, all of which had a convincing effect upon the doubters. miss brush was indignant. "i think it is a shame the way you have treated your psychic." "oh, this is nothing," responded mrs. smiley. "i'd be unhappy and uneasy if you didn't tie me. i'm like the old man's chickens (you've heard the story?): he had moved so much that the chickens, whenever they saw him put a cover on his wagon, would lie down and cross their feet to be tied." after mrs. cameron had taken mrs. smiley to the dining-room for a cup of tea, the rest of us remained staring at one another. "now, which of us did that?" i asked. "so far as the psychic was concerned, i don't see how she could have had any hand in it," said miller. "but, then, it was all in the dark." i had to admit that this diminished the value of the experiment. "but now listen," i said: "as we all seem to be suspicious of one another, i propose that we resort to a process of elimination. i shall take 'mitchell's' advice and narrow the circle. howard, you are a suspect. you are ruled out of the next sitting." "oh no," protested howard. "that isn't fair. i did nothing, i swear!" "you admit being a prestidigitator?" "yes, but i had nothing to do with this performance." "nevertheless, so far as conclusive proof is concerned, your presence in the circle invalidates it. now i propose that mrs. smiley go to miller's house, with no one present but mr. and mrs. cameron and mr. and mrs. miller. if we secure these same phenomena under miller's conditions, we will then readmit one by one the entire membership of the society." mrs. quigg resented being left out, and i pretended surprise. "i thought from what you had said that these 'dark shows' were of no value?" "the next one ought to have decided value if professor miller has any share in the test," she answered, quickly. "i believe in him." "and not in me? that's a nice thing to say." "i mean in his method. he is a cold, calm, merciless scientist. you're a man of imagination." "thank you," said i. "my critics would take issue with you there. however, if we get anywhere in this campaign we must begin with the smallest possible circle and slowly enlarge it. we hope also to increase the amount of light." after some further argument, cameron settled the matter by saying: "garland is right; and, to show my own scientific temper, i rule mrs. cameron and myself out of the next sitting. that will put the whole problem up to miller and garland." miller and i walked away to the club together, pondering deeply on the implications of the night's performance. "i don't see how it was done," miller repeated. "certainly she did not rise from her chair, not for an instant, and yet to believe that she did not have a hand in what took place is to admit the impossible. you have had other sittings with her, haven't you? you believe in her?" "yes, i think she is sincere, but possibly self-deceived. the fact that she is willing to put herself into our hands in this way is most convincing." "there is nothing of the trickster about her appearance, and yet i wish she had permitted us to hold her hands to-night." "miller," said i, earnestly, "if you'll go with me into this experimentation with an open mind, i'll convince you that crookes and flammarion are the true scientists. it is the fashion to smile at flammarion as a romantic astronomer, but i can't see _now_ that he is lacking in patience and caution. for all his rather fervid utterances, he keeps his head and goes on patiently investigating. he has had more experience than even crookes or lombroso. for forty years he has been searching the dark for these strange forces, and yet he says: 'we create in these séances an imaginary being; we speak to it, and in its replies it almost always reflects the mentality of the experimenter. spirits have taught us nothing. they have not led science forward a single step.... i must say that if there are spirits, or beings independent of us, in action, they know no more than we do about the other world's.' and yet as regards the physical facts of mediumship, he sustains all the investigators. 'these phenomena exist,' he says." "candidly, garland, what is your own belief?" asked miller, a few moment's later. i evaded him. "i have seen enough to make me believe in zöllner's fourth dimension, but i don't. my mind is so constructed that such wonders as we have seen to-night produce very little effect on me. they are as normal to me now as the popping of corn or the roasting of potatoes. as i say, i have demonstrated certain of these physical doings. but as for belief--well, that is not a matter of the will, but of evidence, and the evidence is not yet sufficient to bring me to any definite conclusion; in fact, in the broad day, and especially the second day after i have been through one of these astounding experiences, i begin to doubt my senses. richet speaks of this curious recession of belief, and admits his own inability to retain the conviction that, at the moment of the phenomenon, was complete. 'no sooner is the sitting over than my doubts come swarming back upon me,' he says. 'the real world which surrounds us, with its prejudices, its schemes of habitual opinions, holds us in so strong a grasp that we can scarcely free ourselves completely. certainty does not follow on demonstration, but on habit.' and in that saying you have my own mental limitations admirably put." miller plodded along by my side in silence for a few minutes, and then asked, abruptly: "what is the real reason that you keep up the fiction of the 'guide' when you don't believe in him?" "for the reason that i think mrs. smiley honest in her faith, and that to be polite to the 'guides' is one of the first requisites of a successful sitting. suppose the whole action to be terrestrial. suppose each successful sitting to be, as flammarion suggests, nothing but a subtle adjustment of our 'collective consciousness' to hers. can't you see how necessary it is that we should proceed with her full consent? after an immense experience, following closely crookes, de rochas, lodge, richet, duclaux, lombroso, and ochorowicz, maxwell says: 'i believe in these phenomena, but i see no need to attribute them to any supernatural intervention. i am inclined to think they are produced by some force within ourselves--'" "just what does he mean by that?" "i can't precisely explain. it's harder to understand than the spirit hypothesis. he himself admits this, and goes on to say that while he is certain that we are in the presence of an unknown force, he is convinced that the phenomena will ultimately be found orderly, like all other facts of nature. 'therefore, in the critical state of research, the scientific problem, it seems to me, is not whether spiritism be true or false, but whether metapsychical phenomena are real or imaginary. some future newton will discover a more complete formula than ours,' he prophesies. 'every natural fact should be studied, and if it be real, incorporated in the patrimony of knowledge.' he then adds, with the true scientist's humble acknowledgment of the infinite reach of the undiscovered universe: 'our knowledge is very limited and our experience young.'" "that is good talk," said miller in reply, "but the question is, does he really experiment in that condition of mind? an astronomer with his eye to a telescope is a highly specialized and competent being. an astronomer listening to whispers in the dark may be as simple and credulous as a child." "i grant all that. but i see in it the greater reason why men like yourself should take up the investigation of these illusive and disturbing problems. these phenomena, as flammarion says, introduce us into uncharted seas, and we need the most cautious and clearest-sighted scientists in this world as pilots. will you be one of them?" "you flatter me. as a matter of fact, i'm a very poor sailor," he answered, with a smile. iv if there is any one thing true in these manifestations of "spirit power," it is that the psychic is the agent for their production. actively or passively, consciously or unconsciously, she completes the formula--her "odic force" is the final chemical which permits precipitation. sometimes her will to produce, her wish to serve, hinders rather than helps. often when she is most persistent nothing happens. sometimes an aching foot or a disturbing thought cuts off all phenomena. for the best results, apparently, the psychic should be confident, easy of mind, and not too anxious to please. i approached this sitting at miller's house with some fear that it might end in disappointment to him and be a source of chagrin to mrs. smiley. the house was strange, our attitude intensely critical, and she was very anxious to succeed. it would be remarkable, indeed, if under these conditions she were able to meet us half-way. as we walked up the street together i did my best to reassure her. "you may trust me fully, mrs. smiley," said i; "and miller, though an inexorable scientist, is a gentleman. i am sure he will not insist on any experiment which will injure your health or give you needless pain. this is but our second sitting, and i, for one, do not expect you to be at your best." "i _hope_ we will have good work," she replied, earnestly, "but it is always harder to sit for tests. tell me about mrs. miller. is she nice? will i like her?" "she is very gentle and considerate; you will like her at once. i am sure she will be a help to you." her voice was very sincere as she said: "you don't know how anxiously i watch the make-up of my circle. it isn't because i am afraid of sceptics; i have no fear of those who do not believe; but each person brings such diverse influences, and these influences conflict and worry me, and then nothing takes place. i don't want to disappoint you and your friends, and that may hinder me." the millers occupied a modest little house far up-town, and were suburban, almost rural, in their manner of living. the chemist himself met us at the door, and, after greeting us cordially, ushered us into his library, which was a small room at the back of the hall. i observed that it had only one door and two windows, rather high up in the east wall--an excellent place for our sitting. "so this is the den of inquisition," i began; and turning to mrs. smiley, i added: "i hope you are not chilled by it." "not a bit," she answered, cheerily. as mrs. miller, a quiet little woman (not so far removed from mrs. smiley's own type), entered the door and greeted us both, the psychic's face lighted up with pleasure. this argued well for our experiment. i could see that miller had made careful preparation along the lines of my suggestion. a plain old table was standing lengthwise of the room, the windows were hung with shawls, and a worn hickory chair stood with arms wide-spread to seize its victim. after surveying the room, mrs. smiley turned to me with a note of satisfaction in her voice, and said: "i like this room and this furniture; i feel the right associations here. the air is full of spirit power." "i am glad your mind is at ease," said i, "for i am anxious for a very conclusive sitting. you tell 'mitchell' that miller is decidedly worth converting. i want 'wilbur' to do his best, for i intend to tighten the bonds on you to-night." she fearlessly faced me. "i am in your hands, mr. garland; do as you like. mr. mitchell told me this morning that he would yet convince you of the reality of the spirit world. he is assembling all the forces at his command, and will certainly do everything in his power." "i am delighted to get that assurance," i responded. "you are to sit here," said miller, indicating the hickory chair, which he had placed near the north wall. she took her seat meekly, placing her hands resignedly on the wings of the chair. "i like this chair," she said, with a smile; "it is so old-fashioned." "now," said i, "i am going to ask mrs. miller to fasten this long tape about your ankles. we mean to take every precaution in order that you may not involuntarily or subconsciously move your limbs." under close scrutiny, mrs. miller secured each foot in such wise that the knots came in the middle of the tape, and to make untying them absolutely impossible, i drew the two ends of the long ribbon back under the psychic's chair and tacked them securely to the shelf of a bookcase about two feet from the hind legs. to loosen them was entirely out of our victim's power. miller then unreeled a spool of silk twist, and this i tied squarely to the arm of the chair at a point about six feet from the loose end which i intended to hold. i knotted the silk about the psychic's wrists, drawing it to a hard knot each time, and gave the spool to miller, while retaining the loose end of the thread in my own hands. the psychic could neither touch the tips of her fingers together nor lift her arms an inch from the chair. she was as secure as if bound with a rope, but as an extra precaution i passed the thread beneath the chair-arm and pulled it taut. "this will enable us to feel the lightest movement of her hands," i said to miller, who had copied my device. "are you satisfied with the conditions?" he answered, with some reservation: "they will do. i would like to have light, but that i suppose is impossible." "no, not impossible," replied mrs. smiley, "but the work is always weaker in the light; the voices are stronger in the dark." mrs. miller took her seat exactly opposite mrs. smiley. i was at her right. miller, after turning out the gas, sat opposite me and at the psychic's left. at first the room was black as ink, but by degrees i (from my position, opposite the window) was able to perceive a faint glow of light through the curtain. mrs. smiley's back was near a wall of books, and, the room being narrow, miller's chair pretty well filled the space between the table and the window behind it. the action of a confederate was excluded by reason of the bolted door. to enter the room by the window was impossible, for the reason that the slightest noise could be heard and the least movement of the curtain would admit the light. barring the darkness, conditions were all of our own making. however, we were hardly settled in place when miller was moved to further precaution. "mrs. smiley, i would like to pin over your dress a newspaper, so that any slightest movement of your knees or feet could be heard. do you object?" "not at all," she instantly replied. "i am sure my guides will do anything they can to meet your wishes. you may nail my dress to the floor if you wish." miller turned on the light, and together we pinned a large, crisp newspaper over her knees and tacked it securely to the floor in front of her feet. the corners where the pins were inserted were well out of the reach of her tethered hands. again the lights were lowered, and at my direction miller placed his right hand on the psychic's left and touched fingers with mrs. miller. i did the same, thus connecting the circle. in this way we sat quietly conversing for some time. "i want to make it quite plain to you," i said to them all, "that i am trying to follow crookes's advice, which is to strip away all romance and all superstitious religious ideas from this subject. i am insisting on the normal character of these phenomena. whatever happens to-night, mrs. miller, please do not be alarmed. there is nothing inherently uncanny or unwholesome in these phenomena. no one knows better than your husband the essential mystery of the simplest fact. materialization, for example, is unusual; but if it happens it cannot be supernatural. nothing is supernatural. am i right, miller?" "we explain each mystery by a deeper mystery," he replied. "all depends upon the point of view. i am interested in these obscure phases of human life. if they are real they are natural. to me the spiritistic 'demonstrations' are intensely human and absorbingly interesting as dramatic material, and yet i hope i am sufficiently the scientist to be alive to the significance of these telekinetic happenings, and enough of the realist to remain critical in the midst of the wildest carnival of the invisible forces." "don't you believe in them?" asked mrs. miller, with a note of surprise in her voice. i replied, cautiously: "i am at this moment convinced of the reality of _some_ of these phenomena by reason of my own experiments; but leaving one side my personal investigation, i must believe that crookes, maxwell, and flammarion are competent witnesses. as to spiritualism--well, that is another matter." "but where does all this lead to if not to spiritualism?" asked mrs. miller. "as to the exact country, no one knows," i answered; "but the best of our experimenters are agreed that the gate opens upon a new field of science. these powers seem to be in advance of us and not a survival, and they may prove of value in the evolution of the race. that is why i want to enlist men like your husband in the work. mediumship needs just such critical attention as his. nothing like maxwell or richet's thoroughness of method has ever been used by an american physicist, so far as i know. on the contrary, our leading scientific men seem to have let the subject severely alone." "why?" asked mrs. smiley. "partly because of inherited prejudice, and partly because of their allegiance to opposing theories; and finally, i suspect, because they are connected with institutions that would not sanction such work. you can imagine how the physical department of a denominational college would investigate spirit phenomena! it was much the same way in england during the early part of last century, but they are far in advance of us now. the first notable step in the right direction was taken--as perhaps you may know--in 1869, by the dialectical society of london, which appointed a committee to look into the subject of spiritualism, with the expectation, no doubt, of being able to stop the spread of the delusion. "the investigations which followed were under the especial charge of alfred russel wallace; cromwell varley, chief of electrical engineers and telegraphers; and professor morgan, president of the mathematical society. this committee, after careful investigation, reported voluminously to this effect: 'the phenomena exist.... there is a force capable of moving heavy bodies without material contact, which force is in some unknown way dependent upon the presence of human beings.'" "which was a long way from saying that spiritism was true," remarked miller. "it certainly was sufficiently vague, you would think, to be harmless; but several of the committee refused to join in even this cautious report, insisting that the conclusions ought to be verified by some other scientist. they suggested sir william crookes, who was at this time in the early prime of his life and a renowned chemist--just the man for the work. this suggestion was acted upon by crookes a little later, and his report on this 'psychic force' had a good deal to do with the formation of the now famous society for psychical research." "i'd hate to be held responsible for that," said miller, with humorous intent--"of all the collections of 'hants' and witches." "on the continent scientific observation had already begun. count agénor de gasparin, of valleyeres, was one of the first to take up this problem of telekinesis in the modern spirit. he made a long and complicated study of table-tipping in 1853, and published his conclusions in two large volumes in paris a year later. his experiments were careful and searching, and drew the line squarely between the supernatural and the natural. he said, positively, 'the agency is not supernatural; it is physical, and determined by the will of the sitters,' and may be called the charles darwin of the subject. a year later professor marc thury, of geneva, added his testimony. he also said: 'the phenomena exist, and are mainly due to an unknown fluid, or force, which rushes from the organism of certain people.' to this force he gave the name 'psyscode.' the spirit hypothesis, he was inclined to think, was not impossible or even absurd. he used _absurd_ in the scientific sense, of course." "it is the most natural thing in the world to me," said mrs. smiley. "i would be desolate without it." "some ten years later flammarion, the renowned french astronomer, began his studies of these unknown forces, and for a long time fought the battle alone in france as sir william crookes endured the brunt of the assault in england." miller here interposed with a covert sneer in his voice: "yes, but flammarion has always had the reputation of being more of the romancer than of the astronomer." "you scientists do him an injustice," i answered, with some heat, "just as you have all been ignorantly contemptuous of crookes. i confess i used to share in some small degree your estimate of flammarion; but if you will read his latest book with attention and with candor, you cannot but be impressed with his wide experience and his patient, persistent search for the truth. i am persuaded that he has been a genuine pioneer all along. i cannot see but that he has examined very critically the scores of psychics who have come under his observation, and his reports are painstaking and cautious. his work must be considered by every student of this subject. it won't do to neglect the words of a man who has seen so much.--but here we go along lines of controversy when we should be sitting in quiet harmony. let us defer our discussion until after our séance. have patience, and i believe we can duplicate, if not surpass, the marvellous doings of even richet and lombroso. we may be able some day to take flash-light photographs of the cone while it is floating in the air." "has that ever been done?" asked mrs. miller. "oh yes; flammarion secured photos of a table floating in the air. these pictures show conclusively that the psychic had nothing to do with it--at least, not in any ordinary way. richet succeeded in fixing the apparition of a helmeted soldier on several plates. crookes photographed 'katie king' and her medium once or twice, and fontenay has succeeded in getting clear-cut images of the 'spirit' hands which play round the head of paladino. but it must be confessed that in crookes's pictures there is a lack of finality in the negatives. he never succeeded in getting the faces of both 'katie' and miss cook at the same time--and richet's photographs have a made-up look." passing abruptly to a low, humming song, i made the attempt to put our psychic to sleep. in a few minutes her hands became cold and began to flutter. at last she threw my fingers away as if she found them scorching hot. miller's hand was similarly repulsed. she then seemed to pass into quiet sleep, and i said: "withdraw a little, miller, but keep your silk thread taut." almost immediately faint raps came upon the table, and i asked: "are you there, 'mitchell'?" tap, tap, tap--"_yes._" "are we sitting right?" tap, tap, tap--"_yes_," answered the force, in a grave and deliberate way. "as to these raps," i remarked, "they are easily simulated, but they have been absolutely proven by several of our best investigators. they have been obtained on a sheet of paper held in the air, on pencils, on a strip of cloth, on an open umbrella--under every possible condition. maxwell secured them by pinching his own ear or by squeezing the arm of his neighbor. i have heard them on a man's shirt-front. they are the first manifestations of intelligent spirit power, and may be regarded in the light of established fact." "i wouldn't be hasty about admitting even that," remarked miller. "in the dark--or in the light--these obscure sounds may seem very ghostly, and yet be due to purely physical causes." we sat in silence for a few moments, and at last i asked: "is any spirit present?" almost immediately a childish voice came from the direction of the psychic, apparently issuing from her lips. "_mr. mitchell would like to have you tie the threads to the legs of the table._" "are you 'maud?'" i asked. "_yes, i am maudie_," she answered. "_mr. mitchell wants to try some experiment. he wishes you to tie the threads to the legs of the table._" i confess i didn't like the looks of this, but as a compromise measure i was willing to grant it. "if you don't object, miller, we will do as the guides desire." he hesitated. "it weakens our test. i don't understand the reason for the demand." "i suggest we yield the point for the present. perhaps 'they' will permit us to resume the thread a little later. i have found that by apparently meeting the forces half-way at the beginning we often get concessions later which will be of greater value than the tests we have ourselves devised." accordingly, i tied my end of the silk twist to the table leg at a distance of about twenty-six inches from the utmost reach of the psychic's hands. miller did the same with his end. we then resumed our seats, and waited for over an hour. during this time the psychic was absolutely silent and apparently in deep trance, and i was beginning to feel both disappointed and chagrined. miller's tone was a bit irritating. i knew exactly what was in his mind. "i've fixed her now," he was exultantly saying to himself. "she can't do a thing; even her request to have the threads tied to the table does not avail her. accustomed to have everything her own way, she fails the first time any real restraint is applied to her." i was quite at the end of my confident expectancy, when the psychic began to stir uneasily and "maudie" spoke complaining of the thread on her mother's right wrist. "_it's so tight it stops the blood_," she said. "_please loosen the thread a little. you may turn up the light_," added the little voice. while miller gave me a light, i loosened the thread on her right wrist, which was very tight; but i tied a second thread about her arm in such wise that i would surely know at the end of the sitting if it had been disturbed. the table, i observed at the time, was more than two feet from her finger-tips. i called miller's attention to this, and said: "she can't possibly untie these threads, and if she breaks them the sitting is invalidated." soon after the light was turned out "maudie" requested that we all move away from mrs. smiley, down to the lower end of the table; and although miller thought this permitted too much liberty of action on the part of the medium, i urged consent. "there are other sittings coming," i repeated once more. mrs. smiley fell again into deep sleep, but nothing took place for a long time. during this period of waiting i told stories of my experience and the curious folk i had met in search for the true explanation of these singular phenomena. "have you ever witnessed any materializations?" asked mrs. miller. "yes; but none of it was of the sort that i could swear to. i mean that it seemed to me to be either downright trickery or subconscious actions on the part of the psychic, and yet i've seen some very puzzling phantoms. i am persuaded that a great deal of what is called 'fraud' arises from the suggestibility of the psychics. lombroso speaks of this 'fixed idea' of the mediums, and their persistent, almost insane, attempt to produce the phenomena desired by the circle. you can understand how this would be if there is anything at all in hypnotism. sometimes it all seems to belong to the realm of hypnotic visions. one medium helps another to build up this unreal world. early in my career as an investigator i went to onset bay, where in july of each year all the spiritualists and 'mejums' of new england used to gather (do yet, i believe), and i shall never forget the singular assemblage of 'slate-writers,' 'spirit artists,' 'spirit photographers,' 'palmists,' and 'psychometrists' whose signs lined the street and pointed along the paths of the camp. "in its way it was as dramatic a contrast of light and shade, of the real and the unreal, as this otherwise prosaic republic can show. there under the vivid summer sun, beside the glittering sea, men and women met to commune on the incommunicable, to question the voiceless, and to embrace the intangible. it was, indeed, such a revelation of human credulity as might well have overpowered a young novelist. from the warm, pine-scented afternoon air i crept into one of these tiny cabins, and sat with my hands upon a closed slate in order to receive a message from lincoln or cæsar; i slipped beneath the shelter of a tent to have a sealed letter read by a commonplace person with an indian accent; and i sat at night in dark little parlors to watch weak men and weeping women embrace very badly designed effigies of their lost darlings." "isn't it incredible? can you imagine any reasonable person believing such things?" asked miller. "millions do," i replied. "please go on," entreated mrs. miller. "what happened to you?" "nothing really worth reporting upon. in that day of utter credulity no tests were possible, but immediately after my return to boston i had my first entirely satisfactory test of the occult. i went with mrs. rose, one of our members, to sit for 'independent slate-writing'--that is to say, writing on the inner surfaces of closed slates. up to this moment i was profoundly sceptical, but i could not doubt the reality of what happened. i took my own slates--the ordinary hinged school slates; but whether they were my own or not made no difference really, for the final test which i demanded was such that any prepared slates were useless. i'm not going into tiresome detail. i only say that while sitting at the table with both mrs. rose's hands and my own resting upon the slates _i dictated_ certain lines to be drawn upon the inside of the slates." miller's voice expressed growing interest. "and this was done?" "it was done. i had in mind the test which alfred russel wallace had used in a similar case. he dictated several words to be written while holding the slates securely in his own hands. in this instance i asked for the word 'constantinople' to be written. the psychic smiled, shrugged her shoulders, and replied: 'i'll try, but i don't believe they can spell it.' 'draw a straight line, then,' said i. 'i'll be content with a single line an inch long.' she laughingly retorted: 'it's hard to draw a straight line.' 'very well, draw a crooked line. draw a zigzag--like a stroke of lightning. draw it in yellow. draw a circle.' she said no more, but became silent, and we waited without change of position. remember that i was holding the slate during all this talk. it did not leave my hands." "what were the conditions? was it light?" asked miller. "it was about two o'clock of an afternoon, and we sat in the bay-window of the parlor. it was perfectly light. no one moved. the psychic sat opposite us, leaning back in a thoughtful pose. her hands lay in her lap, and she seemed to be merely waiting. at last a tapping came upon the slate, and she brightened up. 'it is done!' she called, exultingly. i opened the slates myself, and _there, drawn in yellow crayon, was a small circle with a zigzag yellow line crossing it exactly as i had dictated_, and under mrs. rose's hands in the corner of the slate was a gayly colored bunch of pansies. there were messages also, but i paid very little attention to them. the production of that circle under those conditions overshadowed everything else. it was a definite and complete answer to my doubt. it was, in fact, a 'miracle.' i recall going directly to a meeting of the society and reporting upon this sitting. you will find the bald statement of my experiment in the minutes of the secretary." miller was silent for a moment, then asked: "you're sure it was done after you took the slates in hand?" "i am as certain of it as i am of anything." "how do you account for it? of course it was a trick." "trickery can't account for that yellow line. the messages could have been written beforehand, but no trick of prepared slates can account for my dictated design. i have had other cases of slate-writing which were almost as inexplicable, and crookes and wallace and zöllner, as you remember, were quite convinced by evidence thus secured. crookes _saw_ the pencil at work. i have never witnessed the writing, but i have heard it at work under my hands and i have felt it under my feet. i have had writing on ten separate pages in a closed manila-pad held between my hands." miller seemed to be impressed by these statements. "i have always considered slate-writing a cheap trick, but i don't quite see how that was done--always providing your memory is not at fault." "i would not place much dependence on my present recollection," i frankly responded, "but i reported on the case at once while my mind was most accurate as to details. speaking further of these tricks, if you choose to call them such, i have had several failures, where the failure meant as much as a success. i have held two slates with a psychic (while we were both standing) when the creaking and scratching and grinding went on between my hands. i give you my word i was convinced at the moment of holding between my palms a sentient force. i felt as franklin must have felt when he played with the lightning in the bottle at the tail of his kite. once i heard the writing going on in a half-opened slate, but i did not see the pencil in motion. some of these cases of 'direct-writing' are the most convincing of all my experiences. people ask me why i didn't talk with the spirits about heaven and angels. i was not interested in their religious notions. i kept to this one line--i wanted to see a particle of matter move from a to b without a known push or pull. i paid very little attention to 'trance-mediums' like mrs. piper; and although i saw a great deal of what is called 'mind-reading' and 'thought-transference,' i did not permit the cart to get before the horse. 'independent slate-writing' interested me, for the reason that i could put the clamps on it. materialization, on the contrary, is so staged and arranged for that to prove its genuineness seems impossible at present; but slate-writing under your hand is a different matter." "i'd like to have it under _my_ hand," said miller, grimly. "you can have it if you'll go after it," i retorted, "and you can have it hard." mrs. miller was deeply interested. "tell us more. have you had other messages written in that wonderful way?" "yes, many of them. one of the most curious examples of this kind i have ever seen came to me in chicago. it was a 'new one,' as howard would say. old mr. macvicker told me one day that there was a woman on the west side who had a trick of producing independent slate-writing beneath the stem of a goblet of water--" "why under a goblet of water?" interrupted miller. "as a test. you see, nearly every one who goes to a psychic wants first of all to witness a miracle. each seeker demands that his particular message shall come hard--that is to say, under conditions impossible to the living. his reasoning is like this: 'the dead are free from the limitations of our life, therefore they should manifest themselves to us as befits their wider knowledge of the laws of the universe, and especially is it their business to outdo the most skilful conjurer! hence each man insists on locked slates and sealed letters. these the poor psychics are forced to grant. to be just to them, i must say that i have found most mediums fairly willing to meet any reasonable test; in fact, many of them seem perfectly confident of the inscrutable, and venture upon what seems to be the impossible with amazing imperturbability. all they ask is to be treated like human beings. they are seldom afraid of results. sometimes they bully the forces sadly, and make them work when they don't want to. "well, this particular psychic ushered me into her back parlor (which was flooded with sunlight), and asked me to be seated at a small table covered with a strip of cloth. she was a comfortable, plump person, evidently from kansas, in manner somewhat like the humorous wife of a prosperous village carpenter. i remember that we were rather sympathetic on various political questions. after some remarks on populism and other weighty matters, she filled a goblet with water, and, placing it upon a slate, passed it under the table with her right hand, asking me to put my hand beneath hers." "there it is!" said miller, with infinite scorn. "always in the dark or under the table. no wonder emerson called it 'a rat-hole philosophy.'" "suppose it's all the work of an 'astral' who can't abide the light?" i suggested. "i know the theory, but i can't allow it." "why not? you permit the photographer his dark-room." then, with malicious delight in his petulance, i calmly continued: "i put my left hand beneath hers and my right upon the table. i could see her left hand lying in her lap, and as she turned sidewise to the table i was able to keep in view both of her feet. we held the slate so that the top of the goblet lightly touched the under side of the stand. the psychic was all accounted for, except the hand which was resting outspread on the under side of the slate. we sat for several minutes in this way, while she explained that 'they' would probably take words out of our conversation as a test, if i desired it. 'i am here to be shown,' i replied. she laughed at me, and on two different occasions brought the slate from beneath the table with writing under the stem of the goblet. this was all very well, but i said: 'a better test would be to have them write words that i dictate.' "'i will ask them,' she said. she seemed to listen as if to voices inaudible to me, and at last said: 'they will try it.' "again we placed the goblet of water on the clean slate under the table, and while holding it as before, i said: 'now ask them to write the name "william dean howells."' "almost immediately there was a decided movement of the slate--or so it seemed to me. a power seemed to wake on the slate, not through the psychic's hand, but independent of it. i heard plainly the scratching of a pencil, at the same time that the psychic's left hand and both of her feet were in full view, and at the same time that her hand was outspread, apparently motionless, upon the under side of the slate. in a few moments the scratching paused, and the psychic, with an embarrassed smile, said: 'they don't know how to spell the middle name.'" "that is to say, _she_ was the one who could not spell the name," said miller. "that's what i thought at the time, but i helped her out, and a moment later a decided tapping on the top of the table announced the completion of the task. "as she slowly drew the slate out from under the table i was alert to see what had happened. the glass remained in the middle of the slate as before, with the water undiminished, and under the glass and confining itself to the circle of the stem were the words: william dean howells written as though acknowledging the barrier of the glass where its edge rested upon the slate." "wonderful!" exclaimed mrs. miller. "are you sure the writing was there as she drew the slate out?" queried miller. "yes, i saw the writing as she was removing the goblet; and while with her left hand she drew a little circle around the outer edge of the stem i read the words. now to say that the psychic wrote this with her finger-nail on the bottom of the slate and then turned the slate over is to me absurd. the glass of water prevented that. and yet she did it in some occult way. the transaction remains unexplained to me. i am perfectly sure she willed it, but _how_ she caused the writing--the physical change--is quite another problem. zöllner (i believe it was) secured the print of feet on the inside of a closed slate, and reasoned that only on the theory of a fourth dimension could such phenomena be explained. that reminds me of a sitting i once had with a young man wherein, to utterly confound us, the invisible hands removed his undershirt while his coat-sleeves were nailed to the chair." "oh, come now, you don't expect us to believe a miracle like that, even on your serious statement?" remarked miller. "i certainly do not," i responded, readily. "i wouldn't believe it on any one's statement. that is the discouraging thing about this whole business; you can't convince any one by any amount of evidence. a man will stand out against zöllner, crookes, lodge, and myers, discounting all the rest of the great investigators, and then crumple up like a caterpillar at the first touch of the invisible hand when it comes to him directly. this same young man gave me the most convincing demonstrations of materialized forms i have ever seen. in his own little home, under the simplest conditions, he commanded forth from a little bedroom a figure which was unmistakably not a mechanism. a lamp was burning in the room, and the young fellow was perfectly visible at the same moment as the phantom which stood and bowed three times." "what did it look like?" "it looked like a man's figure swathed in some white drapery. i could not see the face, but it was certainly not a 'dummy.' but come, let us see what the forces can do for us here to-night. i think we will need 'annie laurie' to clear the air of debate." mrs. miller began the song, and we all joined in softly. "our newspaper is a trusty watch-dog," remarked miller, significantly. as he spoke the psychic began to toss and writhe and moan pitifully. her suffering mounted to a paroxysm at last; then silence fell for a minute or two--absolute stillness; and in this hush the table took life, rose, and slid away toward us as if shoved by a powerful hand. "so far as my hearing goes, the psychic does not move," i said. "barring the light, this is a very good demonstration of movement without control. every movement of the table our way removes it farther from the reach of the psychic." "i hear nothing from the paper," confessed miller, "and yet the table is certainly moving." "i can believe this, because i have proved these movements without contact. in this case mrs. smiley cannot reach the table with her knees and her feet secured by tape nailed to the bookcase. you cannot believe she has gotten out of her skin. the newspaper is still on guard, and has uttered no alarm." "it is very perplexing," miller admitted; "but anything can happen in the dark." "i admit it is very easy to deceive our senses, but the silk thread is not to be fooled." three times the table was urged in the same direction, each paroxysm of suffering, of moaning, of struggle, on the part of the psychic, being followed a few seconds later by absolute silence. it was in these moments of profound sepulchral hush that the heavy table lurched along the floor. it was a strange and startling fact. "why are you doing this?" i asked of the forces. "as a test?" "_yes_," the raps replied. "how do you account for it, miller?" i asked, with challenge in my voice. "my conviction is that we are confronting a case of telekinesis--not as convincing as flammarion's, but still inexplicable. if that table has moved an inch, it is the same as if it had moved a foot. you should feel rewarded." miller did not reply; and even as he pondered the megaphone, which had been standing on the top of the table, began to rock on its base, and a pencil which lay beside it was fumbled as if by a rat or a kitten. in our state of strained expectancy this sound was very startling indeed. "what about that, miller?" i asked, in a tone of exultation. "who's doing that? last time you suspected howard, now here you must suspect the psychic. the movement of that pencil is of enormous significance. how can she possibly reach and handle that cone?" "she can't, unless she has freed her hands," he admitted. "let us touch hands." i gave him my left hand, and sitting thus, with all hands accounted for, we entered into communication with the "spirit" that was busy in the centre of the table. "are you present, 'wilbur'?" _tap, tap, tap._ "are you moving the table?" _tap, tap, tap._ "to get it out of reach of the psychic?" _tap, tap, tap._ suddenly, with a loud bang, something heavy fell upon the table. releasing the hands of my fellow-investigators, i felt about for this object and found that a book had been brought and thrown upon the table. a shower of others followed, till twenty-four were piled about the cone. they came whizzing with power, yet with such precision that no head was touched and the cone remained undisturbed. it was as if some roguish poltergeist had suddenly developed in the room. "miller, i find this exciting!" said i, after silver fell upon the table. "suppose we ask 'wilbur' to fetch some small object whose position you know." mrs. miller then said: "there is a box of candy on a shelf back of mrs. smiley. it is quite out of her reach. can you bring that to me, 'wilbur'?" _tap, tap, tap!_ was the decided answer, and almost immediately the box was placed on the top of the table and shoved along toward mrs. miller. "that's a good demonstration," i remarked, and 'wilbur' drummed a sharp tattoo of satisfaction. at my request he then wrote his name on a pad while miller waited and listened, his mind too busy with surmise to permit of speech. (he told me afterward that he was perfectly sure the psychic had wrenched free of her tacks and he was wondering how she would contrive to put herself back again.) finally i asked: "are you still with us, 'wilbur'?" the force tapped smartly on the tin. "now, just to show you that the psychic is not doing this, can't you hold up a book between me and the light? i want to see your hand." instantly, and to my profound amazement, a book rose in the air, and i could see _two hands_ in silhouette plainly and vigorously thumbing the volume, which was held about three feet above the table, and to the psychic's left. "miller," i said, excitedly, "i see hands!" "i do not," he answered; "but i hear a rustling." swift on the trail, i called out: "now, show me your empty hand, 'wilbur.' i want to see how big it is." a moment later i exclaimed, in profound excitement: "i can see a _large_ hand against the window, and, strangest part of all, the spread fingers are pointing _toward_ mrs. smiley, the wrist is nearest you and at least six feet from the psychic. it is a man's hand. you are not doing this, miller?" "certainly not!" he answered, curtly. "this is astonishing! it certainly is a hand and much larger than that of a woman, and _the wrist is toward you_. it is still at least four feet from the psychic. oh, for a flash-light camera now! i was perfectly certain that this is not the psychic's hand, and yet to admit that it is not is to grant the whole theory of materialization." at last the shadow disappeared. the book fell. with a ringing scrape the cone rose in the air and the voice of "wilbur" came from it life-like--almost full-toned, and with a note of humorous exultation running through it. "_i told you i'd astonish you!_" he said. "_don't get in a hurry; there's more coming._" for nearly two hours thereafter this "spirit voice" kept us all interested and busy. he was very much alive, and we alternately laughed at his quaint conceits or pondered the implications of his casual remarks. it was precisely as if a rollicking western, or, rather, southern, man were speaking to us over the 'phone. i asked: "who are you? is 'wilbur' your surname?" "_no; my middle name. my family name is thompson._" his characterization was perfect. he responded to every question with readiness and perfect aplomb. at times he played jokes on us. he bumped miller on the head, and touched him on the cheek farthest from the psychic. at my request he covered mrs. miller's ear with the large end of the horn, then reversed and nuzzled her temple with the small end. she said it felt like a caress, as if guided by a tender hand. she had become clairvoyant also, and saw many forms about the room. i could see nothing. "tell us more about yourself, 'wilbur'?" i asked. "who are you? what did you do on the earth?" "_i was a soldier._" "in the civil war?" "_yes._" "on which side?" "_that's a leading question_," he answered, with some hesitation. "oh, come now, the war is over!" "_i was on the southern side. i am jeff. w. thompson. i was a brigadier-general._" "where were you killed?" "_i was invalided home to jefferson city, and passed out there._" "how do you happen to be 'guide' to this little woman?" he hesitated again. "_i was attracted to her_," he said, and gave no further explanation. "mitchell" then came and said: "_we are deeply interested in your experiments, mr. garland, and will afford you all the aid in our power. it is hard to meet your tests--hard, i mean, for our medium, but we will assist her to fill the requirements._" "thank you. i don't see how any psychic could be more submissive." mrs. miller, deeply impressed by all this, began to inquire concerning those of the invisible host whose names were familiar to her. it was evident that she, at least, was convinced of their reality. meanwhile, the movement of the cone interested miller more than the messages. "how does she do it?" he exclaimed several times. "to touch mrs. miller means that the psychic must not only have free use of her hands: she must rise from her chair and pass behind me and the wall." "the precision of the action is my amazement," i replied. "i've noticed this same thing many times. apparently, darkness is no barrier to action on the part of these forces. that cone, you will observe, can touch you on the nose, eyelid, or ear, softly, without jar or jolt. it came to me just now like a sentient thing--like something human. such unerring flight is uncanny. could any trickster perform in the dark with such precision and gentleness? of course this is not conclusive as argument, but at the same time it has weight. whose is the eye that directs this instrument? can you tell us, 'wilbur'?" a chuckle came through the cone. "_i'm doing it._" "how can you see?" "_day and night are all the same to me._" miller held up his right hand. "prove it; touch my knuckles!" he commanded. after a moment's silent soaring the cone struck his left hand, which was farthest from the psychic, and a voice followed it with laughter, asking: "_what made you jump?_" before miller had recovered from the surprise of this, the table seemed to be grasped and shaken as if by a man of giant strength--and yet the cone and the books did not shift position. hands patted the pillows on a sofa at miller's right, and one of these cushions was flung against his chair. the room seemed to swarm with tricksy pucks. at last the cone took flight again, and moved about freely among the heap of books and over miller's head, while a variety of voices came successively from it, some of them speaking to mrs. miller and some to me. several of the names given were known to mrs. miller, and a few were recognizable by me. they all claimed to be spirits of the dead with messages of good cheer for friends on "the earth-plane," but they were all rather vague and stereotyped. once i thought i could see the cone passing between me and the window, high above the table. it seemed to float horizontally as if in water. some of the spirits were too weak to raise the cone--so "wilbur" said; too weak, even, to whisper. during all this time the psychic remained in trance--deathly still; but "between the acts" her troubled breathing and low moans could be heard. so far as hearing could define, she was still at the end of the table, where she had been placed at the beginning of the sitting. none of these movements occasioned the slightest rustling of the newspaper. when the cone was moving no sound was heard. the floor was of hard-wood, and, as one's hearing becomes very acute in the darkness, i am certain the psychic did not rise from her chair. she was, for the most part, silent as a dead woman. the force expended on the table was very great, almost furious, and even if the psychic had been able to extend her foot or release a hand she could not have produced such movement, and if she had done so we could have detected it. intelligent forces were plainly at work on the table, and writing was going on. so far as i was concerned, i was convinced that the psychic had externalized her power in some occult fashion, and that it was she who was speaking to us. it was as if she were able to _will_ the cone to rise and then to project her voice into it, all of which seems impossible the moment it is stated. at length "wilbur" said: "good-night." i rose, and miller, eagerly, expectantly, turned the light slowly on. _mrs. smiley sat precisely as we had last seen her. her eyes were closed, her head leaning against the back of her chair. her hands were fastened exactly as we had left them, and, strangest thing of all, the table was pushed away from her so that the silk threads were tight._ "do you see that, miller?" i exclaimed. "will you tell me how that final movement was made? 'wilbur' has given us an unexpected test. even if she had freed her hands, she could not have tied the threads and returned to her bonds; and if she first returned to her bonds, how could she, then, have pushed the table away? the two things are mutually exclusive. her feet are nailed to the floor, and the newspaper still on guard. are we not forced to conclude that the table was moved by some supernormal expenditure of force? her hands were here, the table there. does it not seem to you a case of the 'psychic force,' such as crookes and richet describe?" miller was confounded, but concealed it. "she may have shoved the table with her feet." "how? your newspaper is unbroken. not a tack is disturbed. but suppose she did! how about the books? did she get the books with her feet? how about the broad hand which i saw? how about the candy-box which was moved from a point seven feet away? how could she slip from her bonds? see these threads, actually sunk into her wrists!" i continued. "no, my conviction is that she has not once moved." "i cannot admit that." "you mean you dare not!" mrs. miller was indignant at our delay. "the poor thing! it is a shame! unfasten her at once! you are torturing her!" "wait a few moments," said miller, inexorably. "i want to make a few notes." meanwhile i took the psychic's pulse. it was very slow, faint, and irregular. it was, indeed, only a faint, sluggish throb at long intervals, and each throb was followed only by a feeble fluttering. her skin was cold, her arms perfectly inert and numb, and she came very slowly back to consciousness. i had a conviction at the moment that she had been out of her body. while i rubbed her hands and arms, miller took notes and measurements. there were more than two dozen books on the table, and some of them had come from shelves three feet distant and a little above the psychic's shoulders. it was true she could have reached them with a free arm, but she had no free arm! the pad in the middle of the table was scrawled upon. "wilbur" was written there, and short messages from "mr. mitchell" and other "ghosts." therefore, it is of no value to say we were collectively hypnotized. as she came to life, mrs. smiley complained of being numb. "my arms are like logs," she said, "and so are my feet. my 'guides' say that if you will put one palm to my forehead and the tips of your fingers at the base of my brain it will help me to liven up." i did as she requested, and was at once conscious of great heat and turmoil in her head. it appeared to throb as if in receding excitement. i thought of richet's observations (that in cases of materialization the psychic seemed shrunk and weakened), and narrowly scanned the helpless woman. she seemed at the moment small and bloodless. "were you conscious of groaning and gasping?" i asked. "no, i have no recollection of anything. i am told i do make a great fuss, but i don't know it. did anything happen?" "a very great deal happened," i answered. she smiled in quiet satisfaction. "i'm glad. mr. miller has been good and patient; it would have been a shame to disappoint him. if you will only keep from being too anxious you'll get anything you want." "that's what 'mitchell' said." mrs. miller patted her hands. "you must be very tired, poor thing?" "i do feel weak, but that will soon pass away. what time is it?" miller looked at his watch. "great scott! it's after one o'clock." "absorbing business, isn't it?" said i. mrs. miller invited mrs. smiley to stay the remainder of the night and took her away to bed, leaving us to measure and weigh and surmise. it seemed absurd--like a dream; and yet there lay the visible, tangible proofs of the marvel. "everything took place within her reach, provided she could have freed her hands," miller repeated, as he sat in her chair and studied the books on the table. "miller," said i, with conviction, "_that woman did not lift her wrists from that chair_! "i don't see how she did it; but to say she did not, is to admit the preposterous. i wish she had permitted us to hold her hands." "i don't know of another psychic in america who would have submitted to the test we put upon mrs. smiley to-night, but 'mitchell' has assured me he will go further: he will let us hold her hands and turn on the light. i feel as if the great mystery were almost within our grasp. by the ghost of euclid! i have the conviction at this moment that we are at the point of proving for ourselves the elongation of the psychic's limbs! suppose flammarion is right? suppose that the psychic can extend her arms beyond their normal proportions? you should be ready to give a year, ten years, to demonstrating a single one of these physical effects. if i am any judge of character, this little woman is as honest and as wholesome as mrs. miller herself. it isn't this one performance alone which proves it. it is the implication of a dozen other sittings, almost as convincing as this, that gives me hope of proving something. let us have our next sitting at cameron's. it is only fair to readmit them, for we have proven that they had nothing to do with our performance that first night. let us ask to be permitted to hold the hands and feet of the psychic, and also to take a flash-light picture of the floating cone. we may yet see these ghostly hands in the light of the lamp." miller was shaken. i could see that. he sat like one who has been dealt a stunning blow. "i don't believe it--i can't believe it," he repeated. "crookes got some photos of 'katie king,' and i fully believe that mrs. smiley may be developed further. anyhow, let's test her. now for a word of theory. this is the way it all appears to me at this time. she seems to enter successively three stages of hypnotic sleep. in the first stage the 'spirits' speak through her own throat--or she impersonates, as mrs. harris did. her second and deeper sleep permits of the movement of the cone--'telekinesis,' 'independent slate-writing,' etc. but in this final deathly trance she has the power of projecting her astral hands, whatever that may mean, and the production of spirit voices. perhaps she has an astral head--" "i don't believe a word of it! it is all impossible, monstrous!" "well, how will you explain this performance? what about the tacks, the threads, the tapes that bound her? she brought books, shook the table, touched us--how?" "i don't know; but there must be some perfectly natural way of explaining it. there is no place for the supernatural in my world. she seems a nice, simple little woman, and yet this very simplicity may be a means of throwing us off our guard. i will give a hundred dollars for permission to hold her hands while the cone is moving." "if you do not believe in tacks, will you believe in the touch of your fingers?" "if she permits me to hold her and the cone moves i will surrender." "no, you won't. you think you will, but you won't. don't deceive yourself. i've been all through it. you _can't_ believe until some fundamental change takes place in your mind. you must struggle just as richet did." "anyhow, let's turn the screws tighter. let's devise some other plan to make ourselves doubly certain of her part in the performance." with this understanding i said good-night, and took my lonely way to my apartment. it was deliciously fresh and weirdly still in the street, and as i looked up at the glowing stars and down the long, empty street my mind revolted. "can it be that the good old theory of the permanence of matter is a gross and childish thing? do the dead tell tales, after all? i wish i could believe it. perhaps old tontonava was right. perhaps if we were all to pray for the happy hunting-grounds at the same moment and in perfect faith, the lost paradise would return builded by the simple power of our thought." then richet's moving confession came to me: "it took me twenty years of patient research to arrive at my present conviction. nay (to make one last confession), i am not yet absolutely and irremediably convinced. in spite of the astounding phenomena which i have witnessed, i have still a trace of doubt--doubt which is weak, indeed, to-day, but which may, perchance, be stronger to-morrow. yet such doubts, if they come, will not be due so much to any defect in the actual experiment as to the inexorable strength of prepossession which holds me back from adopting a conclusion which contravenes the habitual and almost unanimous opinion of mankind." v at this point the sittings, which had begun so interestingly, suddenly began to fail of results. the power unaccountably weakened. miller and several others of the circle believed these failures to be due to the increased rigidity of the restraint we had imposed upon the medium. the next "session" was held in fowler's down-town office, against the hesitating protest of the psychic, who said: "the atmosphere of the place is not good." by which she meant that the associations of the office, with the hurry and worry of business, were in opposition to the mood necessary for the production of the phenomena. "the real reason," declared howard, "is this: we're now getting down to brass tacks in her business." this was literally true. at miller's suggestion a strong tape, perhaps half an inch wide, had been passed about the psychic's wrist and tied in a close, square knot, and finally a long brass tack was driven down through both strands of the tape into the chair-arm. this was in reality as secure as a handcuff. nothing happened this night beyond the movement of the table and some rather weak raps, and we all rose from our seats worn and disappointed. when we met the next night in the same place, and adjusted the ever-tightening bands upon the psychic, she sat helplessly for three hours. i began to lose confidence in her power to do anything beyond the ordinary. howard, mrs. quigg, and miss brush dropped out before the sitting was over. only brierly and myself met the psychic at the camerons' on the following thursday. again we sat patiently for long hours, with only the movement of the table and a drumming upon the top in response to our requests. miller now said: "i would like to have one more sitting in my library, to see if we can duplicate the marvels of our previous séance." we did not. the table alone moved, but it did this under absolutely test conditions. over each of the psychic's arms a lady's stocking was drawn, and pinned to her dress at the shoulder. on each hand a luminous pasteboard star was fastened, and her wrists were tied and tacked, as before. again we nailed her dress to the floor and covered her knees with a newspaper, and miller and i held threads which were knotted to her wrists. nevertheless, under these conditions the table moved while no one touched it, but always in a line away from the psychic. at the moment of the sliding of the table i closely watched the luminous stars, and asserted to the others that her hands did not stir. so that this movement, though slight, was genuinely telekinetic. a very curious incident now cut short our sitting. miller, who thought the left hand of the psychic was not in place, twitched the string which he held, and immediately mrs. smiley began to twist and sigh, and "maud" complained that her mamma had been injured by the jerking of the thread by professor miller, and said that the sitting would have to stop. we lighted up and found the psychic apparently suffering keenly from a severe cramp all through her left side, and a good deal of rubbing was necessary to restore her to anything like a normal condition. it really seemed like failure for my psychic, and i began to wonder whether the books really did fly from miller's shelves. i could not suspect the gentle little lady of _conscious_ deceit, but with a knowledge of the wonderful deceptions of somnambulists and hysterics, i began to doubt. i urged miller to try one more sitting. he consented, and we met at brierly's house. nothing happened during the first two hours, and at ten o'clock, or thereabouts, miller, brierly, and fowler withdrew, leaving me to untie and restore mrs. smiley, who was still apparently in deep sleep. it was evident that the guides had not released the psychic, and "maudie" soon spoke, asking me to put her mamma into a wooden chair, and to take the cone apart and put the smaller end upon the table. i did as she requested, and drew the psychic's chair and table together. "wilbur" insisted that i tie the psychic as before, but i replied, rather dejectedly: "oh no; let things go on as they are." he insisted, and, with very little faith in the power of the psychic, i did as i was told. i tied her wrists separately and then together, and, drawing both ends of the tape into my left hand, i passed them under the tip of my forefinger in such wise that i could feel any slightest movement of the psychic's hands. the guides asked me to fasten her wrists to the chair, but i replied: "i am satisfied." again i was brought face to face with the mystery of mediumship. sitting thus, with no one present but mrs. brierly, a woman to be trusted, the cone was drummed upon and carried about as if by a human hand. it touched my cheek at a distance of two feet from mrs. smiley's hands, and "wilbur's" voice--strong, vital, humorous--came to me, conversing as readily, as sensibly, as any living flesh-and-blood person, _and all the time i held to my tapes, carefully noting that no movement, beyond a slight tremor_, took place in the psychic's arms. just _before_ each movement of the cone she shivered convulsively and sighed, but while the cone moved she was deathly still. each time as the cone left the table it seemed to rock to and fro as though a hand were trying to grasp it, and a moment later it rose with a light spring. my impression was--my _belief_ at the moment was--that mrs. smiley had nothing to do in any ordinary way with the movement of the horn. if there is any virtue in a taut tape and my sense of touch, her arms lay like marble during the precise time the voice was speaking to me. i could detect no connection between herself and the voice. "mitchell" assured me that he approved of every test we were putting upon "the instrument," and expressed confidence that she would triumph over miller. "but the circles have been too often changed," he asserted, "and the places have not been well chosen. all must be unhurried and harmonious," he added, and i replied that i had been discouraged, but that this sitting had given me new interest. "i will be faithful to the end," i assured him. "wilbur" and "mitchell" were perfectly distinct personalities, and appeared to confer and act together. i had a sense of nearness to the solution of the mystery that thrilled me. here in the circle of my out-stretched arms the incredible was happening. i held mrs. brierly's hands, and controlled (by means of my tightly stretched tape) the movements of the psychic, and yet the megaphone was lifted, handled, used as a mouthpiece by "spirits." i felt that if at the moment i had been able to turn on a clear light i could have seen _my_ ghostly visitors. this final hour's experience revived all my confidence in mrs. smiley, and not even another long series of absolute failures could destroy my faith in her honesty or my belief in her occult powers. my patience was sorely tried by twelve almost perfectly useless sittings, during which everybody dropped away but mr. and mrs. fowler, dr. towne, brierly, and myself. they were not utterly barren sittings, but the phenomena were repetitious or slight and fugitive. mr. and mrs. fowler were friends of brierly, and, like him, avowed spiritists, but they both lent their best efforts to make the tests complete and convincing. after trying sittings here and there, we finally settled upon a series of afternoon sessions in fowler's own house. this was the twenty-sixth sitting of the series, and cameron's amateur psychical society was practically a memory. i was now going ahead pretty much on my own lines, but with an eye to catching miller and the camerons at a successful séance before concluding my search. mrs. smiley was in great distress of mind over the failure of her powers. "i guess i'm no good any more," she said. "i never sit now without a feeling that perhaps my power is gone forever. this eastern climate is so harsh for me, and i long for my own california. if you will not give up, i will keep trying as long as my guides advise it." "you have done your part," i said, with intent to console her. "please don't give up," she pleaded. "i am not giving up--on the contrary, i am only beginning to fight," i assured her, paraphrasing general grant, or some other obstinate person. "i recognize the truth of what you complain about, but i am sure that at fowler's, in a small, warm, well-aired room, you will feel at home and be secure of interruption." mrs. fowler, a very sensitive, thoughtful, dark-eyed little lady, received us at the appointed hour with quiet cordiality, and suggested that her own room up-stairs would be a comfortable and retired place. to this i agreed, and we set to work to prepare it for the sitting. fowler and i assumed control of the psychic, though brierly insisted that, as the house belonged to fowler, it would be more convincing if he were not connected with the preparation of the room. "i don't think we need to consider hair-drawn objections," i retorted. as before, we placed mrs. smiley in an arm-chair at one end of a small table; as before, we secured her ankles by looping a long tape about them and nailing the two ends to the floor behind her. mrs. fowler introduced an innovation by _sewing the tape to the sleeves of our psychic_. this made slipping out of the tape an impossibility, but, to push security still further, i drove a long brass tack down _through both tape and doubled sleeve_. not content even with this, fowler put a second tape about each wrist, to add further security and to take off the strain in case of any unconscious movement. another tape was carried across mrs. smiley's dress about four inches below her knees, and pinned there. next the ends were drawn tight and tied to the back rung of her chair. by this we intended to prevent any pushing action of the knees. as a final precaution, we nailed her dress to the floor in front with three tacks. the small end of the tin cone was then placed on the table (at the request of the psychic) and the large end deposited upright on the carpet near fowler. some sheets of paper and a pencil were laid upon the table. everything movable was entirely out of the psychic's reach. it was about three o'clock of the afternoon when, after darkening the windows, we took our seats in a little circle about the table. as usual, i guarded the psychic's right hand, while fowler sat at her left. brierly and mrs. fowler were opposite mrs. smiley. the room was lighter than at any other of our sittings--both on account of the infiltering light of day, and also because an open grate fire in the north wall sent forth an occasional flicker of red flame. we sat for some time discussing miller and harris and their attitude toward the psychic. i remarked: "to me our failures, some of them at least, have been very instructive, but the gradual falling away of our members makes evident to me how unlikely it is that any official commission will ever settle the claims of spiritualism. as maxwell has said: 'it is a slow process, and he who cannot bring himself to plod patiently and to wait uncomplainingly for hours at a time will not go far.' i confess that the half-heartedness of our members has disappointed me. i told them at the outset not to expect entertainment, but they did. it _is_ tiresome to sit night after night and get nothing for one's pains. it seems foolish and vain, but any real investigator accepts all these discomforts as part of the game. failures are sure to come when the psychic is honest. only the juggler can produce the same effects. a medium is not a leyden-jar nor an edison battery; materialization is not precisely a vaudeville 'stunt.'" "i don't call the last sitting a failure," said fowler. "the conditions were strictly test conditions, and yet matter was moved without contact. of course, the mere movement of a table, or even of the trumpet, seems rather tame, as compared with the doings of 'katie king'; but, after all, a single genuine case of telekinesis should be of the greatest value to the physicist; and, as for the psychologist, the fact of your friend, mrs. thomas, becoming entranced by 'wilbur' was startling enough, in all conscience." "i don't think miller believed in her trance," said i. "what happened?" asked brierly, who had not been present at this particular sitting. i answered: "mrs. thomas, a friend of mine, a very efficient, clear-brained person, whom, by-the-way, we had asked to come in order to fully preserve the proprieties, suddenly felt a twitching in her left hand, which was touching mine. this convulsive movement spread to her shoulder, until her whole arm began to thresh about like a flail in a most alarming way. the action became so violent at last that she called upon me for aid. i found it exceedingly difficult to subdue her agitation and silence her rebellious limb, but i did finally succeed. nor was this all. a few moments later, while helping us in the singing, my friend suddenly stopped singing and began to laugh in a deep, guttural fashion, and presently a voice--the voice of a man, apparently--came from her throat: '_haw! haw! i've got ye now! i've got ye now!_' it sounded like 'wilbur.'" this seemed to amuse mrs. smiley. "it was 'wilbur,'" she said. "he loves to jump in and seize upon some one's vocal chords that way. it's a favorite joke with him." "what horrible taste!" mrs. fowler shudderingly exclaimed. "oh, i don't know," remarked brierly. "it is actually no worse than having your hand controlled." "to have a spirit inside of one's throat is a little startling, even to me," i admitted, sympathetically. "but there was more of this business. another member of the circle--a young man--became entranced, and proceeded to impersonate lost souls, 'earth-bound spirits,' in the manner of our friend mrs. harris, and wailed and wept and moaned in most grewsome fashion. however, i think miller considered both of these performances merely cases of hysteria, induced by the darkness and the constraint of sitting about the table. and perhaps he was correct." "anything a doctor doesn't understand he calls hysteria," put in brierly. "i consider these specialists nuisances." "well, anyhow, our 'amateur spook-spotter association' seems to have come to an untimely end," said i, regretfully. "of the original number, only brierly remains. wouldn't our deserters be chagrined if we should now proceed to enjoy a really startling session?" "we will," mrs. smiley responded. "i feel the power all about me." "good!" cried fowler. "that is the way you should feel. if you are at ease, the spirits will do the rest." "sit back and rest," i said. "we have plenty of time. you've been too anxious. don't worry." in the mean while, between the sitting at miller's house and this present one, i had been reading much on the subject of the trance and of "the externalization of the fluidic double," of which the continental philosophers have much to say. if not convinced, i was at least under conviction that the liberation of the astral self was possible (if at all) only in the deepest trance, and i now attempted to discover by interrogation of mrs. smiley precisely what her own conception of the process was. "you told me once that you are conscious of leaving your body when in trance," i said. "do you always have that sensation?" "yes, i almost always have a feeling of floating in the air," she answered. "it often seems as if i had risen a few feet above and a little to one side of my material self, to which i am somehow attached. i can see my body and what goes on around it, and yet, somehow, it all seems kind of dim, like a dream. it's hard to tell you just what i mean, but i seem to be in both places at once." "do you ever have any perception of a physical connection between yourself and the sitters?" she seemed to me to answer this a bit reluctantly. "yes, i sometimes feel as though little shining threads went out from me and those in the circle, and sometimes these threads meet and twine themselves around the cone or the pencil. this means that i draw power from all my sitters." this was in accord with the accounts of a "cobwebby feeling" which both maxwell and flammarion had drawn from their mediums. maxwell makes much of this curious physical sensation which accompanied certain of m. meurice's phenomena. here also seemed to be an unconscious corroboration of albert de rochas's experiments in the "externalization of motivity," as he calls it. the "cobwebby feeling" of the fingers might mean an actual raying-out of some subtle form of matter. indeed, m. meurice, maxwell's medium, declared he could see "a sheath of filaments pass from his fingers to the objects of experimentation." "tell us about your journeys into the spirit land," i suggested. "you sometimes seem to go far away, do you not?" her voice became very wistful as she complied. "yes, sometimes i seem to go to a far-off, bright world. i don't always want to come back, but there is a little shining white ribbon that unites my spirit with my body and holds me fast. once when i had resolved never to return, that little band of light began to tug at me, and, although it broke my heart to leave my children, who were there with me, i yielded, and came back to life. it was very cheerful and lovely in that land, and i hated to come back to the cold and cruel earth-plane." "can't you tell us about it more particularly?" "no; it is so different from this plane that i have no words in which to describe it. all i can say is that it seems glorious and happy and very light." something in her gentle accent excited fowler's sympathy. "mrs. smiley, you have the blood of the martyrs in you. it takes courage to put one's self into the hands of a cold-blooded scientist like miller. even garland, here, has no pity. he's like a hound on the trail of a fawn. it's all 'material' for him. now, i am nothing but a mild-mannered editor. i have all the facts i require concerning the spirit world. i am busied with trying to make people happy here on this earth. but these scientific 'sharps' are avid for any fact which sustains the particular theory they happen to hold. not one in a hundred will go where the facts lead. their investigation is all a process of self-glorification, wherein each one thinks he must prove all the others liars or weak-minded in order to exalt himself." to this i could only reply: "i'm not a scientist, though, i must say, i sympathize with the scientific method. and as for my treatment of mrs. smiley, i am following exactly the advice of her controls. they assure me that they will take care of her." "and so they will," responded the devoted little psychic. by the closest questioning i had never been able to change a single line of her simple faith. she was perfectly certain of the spirit world. she had daily messages from "wilbur" and her spirit father, partly by voices, but mainly by intuition. her children hovered over her while she slept. "mitchell" healed her if she were ill. "maudie" comforted her loneliest hours. these voices, these hands were an integral part of her world--as necessary and as dear to her as those of her friends in the flesh. as she talked on i experienced a keen pang of regret. "why disturb her belief in the spirit world?" i asked myself. "why attempt to reduce her manifestations to natural magic? to rob her of her conviction that 'maudie' is able to come back to her would leave her poor indeed." however, as the scientist cannot permit pity to hinder his purpose, i was determined to disassociate the _facts_ of spiritualism from the _cult_ of spiritualism. i was not concerned with faith or consolation. i returned to a study of the facts as a part of nature. i was now observing closely the three levels of sleep into which mrs. smiley seemed to lower herself at will, or upon the suggestion of those in the circle. i had adopted the theory that in the lighter trance she spoke unconsciously and wrote automatically. in the second, and deeper, trance she became the somnambulist possessed of diabolic cleverness, when, with the higher senses in abeyance, she was able to deceive and to elude all detection. in the third, or death-like, trance, i was ready to admit, for the sake of argument, that she was able, as de rochas and maxwell seem to have demonstrated, to exert an unknown form of force beyond the periphery of the body--that is to say, to move objects at a distance and to produce voices from the horn. to prove that she actually left the body would do much to explain the phenomena, and i was very eager to push toward this demonstration. i had now been her chief inquisitor for nearly thirty sittings, and had developed (apparently) the power to throw her into trance almost instantly. a few moments of monotonous humming, intoned while my hand rested upon hers, generally sufficed to bring the first stage of her trance. as we had been sitting for half an hour, i now proceeded to chant my potent charm, with intent to liberate the "spirits" to their work. in a few moments she responded to my suggestion. a nervous tremor, now expected and now familiar, developed in her hands. this was followed by a slight, convulsive, straining movement of her arms. her fingers grew hot, and seemed to quiver with electric energy. ten minutes later all movement ceased. her temperature abruptly fell. her breath grew tranquil, and at last appeared to fail altogether. this was the first stage of her trance. "take your hand away, fowler," i said. "we have nothing to do now but wait. the psychic is now in the hands of 'mitchell.'" fowler remarked, with some humor: "i can tell by your tone that you're still unconvinced." "i'm like the scotchman--ready for convincement, but i'd like to see the man who could do it." after a few minutes' silence mrs. fowler asked: "what is the most conclusive phenomenon you have ever witnessed, mr. garland?" "that's a little difficult to answer," i replied, slowly, "but at the moment i think the playing of a closed piano, which i once heard, is the most inexplicable of all my experiments." "what do you mean by 'the playing of a closed piano'?" queried brierly. "i'll tell you about it. it happened during the second sitting i ever had with mrs. smiley. i was lecturing in her home town at the time, and after the close of my address, and while we were talking together, some one who was aware of mrs. smiley's mediumship suggested: 'let's go somewhere and have a sitting.' the plan pleased me, and, after some banter pro and con, we made up a party of six or eight people, and adjourned to the home of the chairman of the lecture committee, a certain miss halsey. i want to emphasize the high character of miss halsey, as well as the casual way in which we happened to go to her rooms, for it puts out of the way all question of collusion. there was no premeditation in the act, and miss halsey, who was the librarian of the city, and a pronounced disbeliever in spiritistic theories, had never met mrs. smiley before. "the circle was made up about equally of men and women, all of them well-known residents of the town. so far as most of the phenomena resulting from this sitting are concerned, they have very little value, for they took place in the dark and the medium was not closely guarded. it was only toward the end of the sitting, which, by-the-way, took place in miss halsey's library and music-room, that the unexpected suddenly happened, the inexplicable came to pass. "we were gathered about a long table, with mrs. smiley at one end sandwiched between the editor of the local paper and myself. behind me, and just within reach of my hand, stood an upright piano, with its cover down, but not locked. we had heard drumming on the table for some time, and writing had apparently taken place on the pads in the middle of the table. but all this was inconclusive, for the reason that mrs. smiley was not fastened as she is now. i took it all with a pinch of salt. my mental reservations must have reached the minds of the 'guides,' for with startling suddenness they left the table and fell upon the top of the piano. after drumming for some time, the invisible fingers seemed to drop to the strings beneath, and a treble note was sounded as if plucked by a strong hand." "you are sure the piano was closed?" "i am coming to that. highly delighted by this immediate response to my request, i said to the 'forces': 'can't you demonstrate to us that these sounds are not accidental or caused by the jarring of cars in the street? can't you pluck the bass strings?' instantly, and with clangor, the lower strings replied. thereupon i said: 'can't you play a tune?' to this only a confused jangle made answer. i was unable to secure any orderly succession of notes. 'can't you keep time while i whistle?' i insisted, with intent to show that intelligence guided these sounds. the 'spirits' twanged three times in the affirmative, and when i began to whistle 'yankee doodle' the invisible musician kept perfect time, playing according to my request--now on the treble, now on the bass. leaning far back in my chair, i placed my hand upon the lid of the closed piano, and called out to the others in the circle: 'the lid of the piano is closed. my hand is upon it. so far as the sense of touch and hearing are concerned, we have here an action absolutely unaccounted for by any scientific law. "this was at the moment absolutely convincing to me, as to the others, and i promptly reported the case to the american psychical society in boston. since then i may say i have had many experiments quite as convincing, but never a repetition of this peculiar phenomenon. it is useless to talk about secret wires, or a mouse running up and down the strings, or any other material explanation of this fact. it took place precisely as i relate it, and remains a mystery to this day." fowler remained very calm. "crookes saw in a full light an accordion playing beneath the touch of invisible fingers." "yes," i retorted, in protest, "but this action of a closed piano happened in my presence, under my hand, and there is always so much more convincing quality in the miracle which happens in one's own house. but, seriously, that performance on the closed piano remains a profound mystification to me. if it had happened in the medium's house, or in the home of some one who knew her, i might have suspected fraud--but it did not! it happened in the study of one of the most respected women in the city, a student who did not believe in psychic phenomena. furthermore, my own hand was on the lid of the piano. i was so convinced of mrs. smiley's possession of some occult force that i at once wrote to the society, telling them that a study of her phases would, in my judgment, be the most important work its directors could engage upon. this is one of my crack stories, and i wouldn't believe it as related by any one else. however, you may read my report, which i made at the time, if that will be of any satisfaction to you." "oh, i don't need it," responded mr. fowler. "i was merely trying to find out what your best experiments had been. have they all been on the physical plane?" "they are all on the physical plane--that is to say, on one plane for me. any 'spirit manifestation,' so long as we are what we are, must be an agitation of what we call 'molecules of matter,' and is to that extent physical. i have no patience with those highfilutin teachers who speak of matter as though it were ignoble in some way. matter to me is as mysterious as spirit." at this moment a slight movement of the psychic arrested me, and as we listened the silvery sweet voice of "maudie" issued from the darkness, saying: "_mr. mitchell wants mr. garland to change places with mr. fowler. be very careful as you move about. don't joggle mama. it's very dangerous to her._" as i rose to comply, "maude" called out: "_mr. mitchell wishes the threads fastened to mama's wrists. he wants you and mr. fowler to hold them the way you did at mr. miller's house._" turning up the lights, we tied a strong silk thread to each wrist, and passed the ends under each arm of the chair. fowler took one of these ends while i retained the other. i then called the attention of brierly to the fact that the table was seventeen inches from the feet of the psychic, and that the fastenings were unchanged. when his examination was completed, the lights were again turned off, and the circuit of hands restored. "maudie" then requested that the pieces of cone be put together and placed on the floor beside the table. fowler did this, and drew a chalk mark about it, numbering it "position no. 1." immediately after his return to his seat the table was strongly pushed away from the psychic. it moved in impulses, an inch or two at a time, until it was certainly six or eight inches farther from the psychic. it is impossible to conceive how this movement without contact takes place; but, then, what do we know about the action of the magnet on a pile of iron filings? how can a thought in the brain of man contract a set of muscles and lift a cannon-ball? at bottom we do not know how the will, as we call it, crosses the chasm between mind and matter--we don't even know there is a chasm. "do you feel any motion in your thread, fowler?" i asked. "nothing but a faint quiver," he replied. "neither do i, and yet the table moved." "the table is crowding against me!" called mrs. fowler, in some excitement. the fact that the table moved toward us and directly away from the psychic was in itself suspicious; but, as a matter of fact, at other sittings we obtained sidewise movements of the table--generally to the left. the present experiment did not stand alone. you must remember also that the table was at this time more than two feet from mrs. smiley's toes, her dress was tacked to the floor, and her ankles controlled by a tape whose ends were nailed to the floor four feet behind her chair. "so far as matter can testify, mrs. smiley is not concerned in this movement of the table," i said. "the question is now up to us. which of us is doing this?" "i am not," answered brierly. "nor i," declared fowler. "nor i," chimed in mrs. fowler. at this moment the psychic began to stir again. "look out!" i called, warningly. "let every hand be accounted for. some new demonstration is preparing. these periods of suffering are strangely like the pangs of childbirth. i wonder if, after all, archdeacon colley was not in the right when he asserted that he had seen the miraculous issue of phantoms. i confess that when i read it first i smiled with the rest, for his description of the process was not very poetic. he declared that he saw a white vapor steam from the side of the psychic, like vapor from a kettle, forming a little cloud, and from this nebulous mass various phantasms appeared, ranging from a little child to a full-grown man. it is curious how exactly similar all the reports of this process are. crookes speaks of a milky-white vapor which condensed to a form, and richet and maxwell describe it as a sort of condensing process. i have seen it myself, but could not believe in the evidence of my own eyes. one can see all kinds of things in the dark." peace had again fallen upon our psychic--the peace of exhaustion; as if, her struggles being over, her flesh-free spirit were at large in the room. the silence was profound, yet somehow thrilling with potency. in this hush the megaphone was lifted slightly and dropped, making us all start. it was as if a feeble hand had tried to manipulate it without success. "let us keep test conditions," i urged. "please do not make a movement now without warning me of your intentions. keep the circuit closed." here i addressed "wilbur": "let's see if you can handle the cone under strictly test conditions. come now, lift it! lift it!" i repeated the command with intent to concentrate all will-power of both psychic and sitters upon the thing desired, as maxwell was accustomed to do in his experiments with meurice. several times the forces strove to carry out my wishes, but could not. twice the horn rose from the carpet, only to fall back helplessly. fowler placed it in position each time, marking each new position, while i took note of the convulsive tremor which swept from time to time over the psychic. it was exactly as if she were a dynamo generating some unknown electrical energy, which, after accumulating for a time in her organism (as in a jar), was discharged along the direction of our will, and yet i could not detect any marked synchronism of movement between these impulses and the movement of the horn. after each fall of the cone she moaned and writhed, _but not till the hush of death came over her did the horn move_. so intense was the silence each time that we could hear the slightest breath, the minutest movement of the tin as it scraped along the rug. "it is useless to talk of a confederate," i remarked; "it is of no value to refer this action to the hands of the psychic. we must look to subtler causes for this phenomenon. perhaps maxwell's theory that some magnetic power is liberated by the contraction of the larger muscles will account for it, but in no other way." at last the megaphone soared into the air, passed over our heads, and dropped gently upon the table. it did not fall with a bang; on the contrary, it seemed to descend gently--_as if under perfect control of both hand and eye_. and yet i assert there was nothing to indicate that the psychic shared in these movements. she lay as still as a corpse. nothing but a minute continuous tremor in the thread told that she was still alive. i was enormously impressed by the silence. the darkness seemed athrill with mystery--not the mystery of the discarnate soul, but the mystery of the x-ray. i felt that we were ourselves involved in a production of each and every one of these movements. "there is no use attempting to deny this fact," i insisted to the other sitters. "either the psychic is able to control that cone by the exercise of her will over some unknown invisible force, or she has left her body and is now at work, a sentient entity in the air about us. there is the same precision in all this which lombroso observed. it really seems that the medium has the faculty of using her senses at a distance. to say that she is handling that cone with her ordinary physical limbs is absurd. this single inexplicable moving of a mass of matter from a to b makes the experiments of crookes and maxwell very much more vital to me. i shall reread their books with new interest." this result should have awed me, but it did not. i felt a deep interest, of course, but no bewilderment. my mind was perfectly clear and my senses alert to every sound, every ray of light. at this moment the psychic again began to twist and turn as if in pain, and at last the little voice of "maudie" anxiously asked: "_is mr. garland going to take a train at seven o'clock?_" this query convinced me that deep in the subconscious mind of the psychic lay the knowledge that i had thought of catching this train, and that a sense of my plan was disturbing her and interfering with our experiment. to remove the uneasiness, i replied: "no, i am going to stay; for i think 'mr. mitchell' has something very special in store for me. tell her not to think of it any more. i am in no hurry. i have no appointment elsewhere." to this "maudie" replied: "_mr. mitchell says, 'thank you'; he will do the best he can for you. he says go down-stairs now and get your supper. leave mama just where she is. he will take care of her._" as we had been sitting for nearly three hours in a dark close room we welcomed this suggestion from our thoughtful guide, although it tended to make the sitting less conclusive. as i followed my hostess down the stairs i shared her remorseful pity of poor mrs. smiley, bound and helpless in her inquisitorial seat. "mitchell" did not ask that she be fed, only that she be covered with a shawl to keep her warm. "if she is doing this for her own entertainment," i said, "she has singular tastes. if she is doing it to advance the cause of spiritualism, she is a noble creature--though a mistaken devotee, in the eyes of miller." our hostess's uneasiness concerning the psychic made the meal a hurried one. none of us felt very much like eating, and i could see that fowler was disposed to cut corners. "well, garland, what do you intend to do with the facts obtained this afternoon? you have plenty of authority behind which to shelter yourself. why not admit the truth? so far as i am concerned, i am willing to swear that mrs. smiley had no actual hand in the movement of the cone." to this i replied: "from one point of view, these phenomena are slight; but considered in the light of the manifestation of a totally new force, they are tremendous in their implication, and i must be absolutely sure of them before i assert their truth. the most impressive fact of all is that every phenomenon we obtain coheres with those obtained by maxwell, crookes, and flammarion. it will not do to admit the spirit hypothesis, or grant the objectivity of phantasms, merely because we have proved the movements of a particle of matter from a to b without a known push or a pull, for such admission is far-reaching. if maxwell is right, these phenomena--even the most complicated of them--are metapsychical, but perfectly normal. for example, he says: 'a movement without contact was forthcoming this afternoon. i placed a table upside down on a linen sheet. m. meurice and i then put our hands on the sheet, some distance away from the table. the table turned completely over. the movement was performed slowly and gently. it was four o'clock in the afternoon, and the sunlight was streaming in through an open window.' now here was a perfectly clear case of telekinesis, with no one present but dr. maxwell and his friend; but the turning over of the table does not imply the action of spirit hands." "i don't see why not," responded mrs. fowler, "if dr. maxwell had mediumistic power." "it was meurice who had the power; but it was a physical power, which went out from his organism like heat. he was often ill after his experiments, and felt nausea and a disturbing weakness in the solar plexus, as though his bodily powers had been seriously drawn upon. i have felt this myself--or so it seemed; perhaps i imagined it." fowler struck in: "but what will you do with materializations such as dr. richet studied at the villa carmen in algiers? what will you do with the photographs of the spectre of the helmeted soldier which he obtained under what he declares were test conditions?" "but were they? that's the point." "i am willing to trust a man of richet's wide knowledge and known skill in experimentation. when he says he saw, touched, and heard the apparition of a man, i am ready to believe that he had taken quite as many precautions as his newspaper critics would have done. he saw a helmeted soldier leave the séance cabinet and walk about. he clasped his hand, he affirmed, and found it warm and jointed (perfectly real), and he secured the breath of this phantom in a tube of baryta so unmistakably that the liquid was chemically changed in accordance with his test. there are thousands of other well-authenticated cases of materialization. i have seen scores of them myself. i am only quoting richet because i know you believe in his methods." "i do, indeed; but he may have been deceived, all the same. the failure of all his experiments in algiers lay in the fact that he was never able to nail his psychic down, as we have done. he was the on-looker, after all--not the experimenter he should have been and wished to be. really his photographs of the spirit 'b. b.' have not the weight as evidence of the physical manifestation, as the phenomena which we have this evening secured." fowler rose. "i have his report in my library. let me get it." he returned in a few minutes with a small blue book in his hand, from which he began to read with gusto: "'i saw, as it were, a white luminous ball floating over the floor; then rising straight upward, very rapidly, as though issuing from a trap-door, appeared b. b., born, so to speak, out of the flooring outside the curtain, which had not stirred. he tries, as it seems to me, to come among us, but he has a limping, hesitating gait. at one moment he reels as if about to fall, limping on one leg; then he goes toward the opening of the curtains of the cabinet. then, without (as i believe) opening the curtains, he sinks down, disappears into the floor.'" "what are you reading from?" i asked. "i am reading from the report which richet made to the annals of psychical science. he goes on to say: 'it appears to me that this experiment is decisive, for the formation of a luminous spot on the ground, which then changes into a living and walking being, cannot seemingly be produced by any trick. on the day after this experiment i minutely examined the flagstones [which made up the floor of the séance room], and also the coach-house and stable immediately under that part of the kiosque.' there was no trap-door, and the cobwebs on the roof of the stable were undisturbed. the photographs of the apparition were taken on five different plates simultaneously, and the figure is the same on each." "yes; but those experiments were afterward made of no value by the confession of a coachman, who admitted his complicity in the fraud." "no; that story is not true. the experiments stand, and richet still defends both himself and the circle against the charge of fraud." "but read on," i insisted. "does he not say that, in spite of all his proof, he will not even hazard an affirmation of the phenomena?" "yes, he does say that," admitted fowler; "but he also says: 'i have thought it my duty to mention these facts in the same way as sir william crookes thought it his duty in more difficult times to report the history of "katie king." i do not believe i have been deceived. i am convinced that i have been present at realities, not deceptions. certainly i cannot say in what materialization consists. _i am only ready to maintain that there is something profoundly mysterious in it, which will change from top to bottom our ideas on nature and on life._'" "he apparently was profoundly affected by what he saw," i assented, "and i am perfectly willing to grant that the character of his friends in the circle add value to what he saw. but, after all, the fact of materialization is so tremendous in its implications that even to admit its possibility is to admit more than any man of our day, who has been trained in scientific ways, is willing to be answerable for. however, the most extraordinary story i have ever read is that of archdeacon colley, rector of stockton, warwickshire, who declared in a public lecture--and many times since, over his signature--that he saw the miraculous issue of phantoms born directly from the side of a psychic. he declares he saw a winsome little girl emerge--a laughing, golden-haired creature, as alive as any one. i confess that this is too much for me, and yet if a spanish soldier can be born from a spot of light, anything at all that anybody may imagine can happen.--but let us return to our own psychics." we found mrs. smiley sitting precisely as we left her, and, picking up our thread, fowler and i located the table and the cone and reassumed our positions. the table, which was quite out of reach of mrs. smiley's hands, now stood with its end toward the three of us, sitting in a crescent shape opposite the psychic--a position which produced, so the guides said, one pole of a battery. hardly were we seated in our places when the psychic suddenly awoke and spoke in her natural voice, and i for one felt that the sitting was over. i was perfectly certain that nothing could happen out of the ordinary unless the medium were in either one or the other of her states of trance. i was now both amazed and delighted to find that the cone could be drummed upon and voices delivered through it while mrs. smiley, mentally normal, took part in the conversation. my theories were upset. i was completely mystified, though i said nothing of this to fowler. once or twice mrs. fowler declared she heard the sound of lips, and at last a voice came to her speaking the name of her father. his voice answered some of her questions correctly, but could not utter the pet name which her father used to call her. this breakdown of the individuality of the phantom voices is very characteristic. this ended the sitting. the voices had not been as strong as we had hoped for, but as we threw on the light we found a number of messages written upon the sheets of paper which fowler had put in the middle of the table. these messages were lying with the writing wrong side up, so far as the psychic was concerned. altogether we felt that the results were both significant and encouraging, and we agreed to meet three days later in the same room and under the same conditions. "what i want to do now is to hold your arms while the horn is in the air, or while the writing is going on," i said to mrs. smiley. and to this she replied: "you may make any test you please. i feel that in this house my powers will return." "that is a real gain," i said, to encourage her. vi the next sitting was an almost exact duplication of the last so far as the binding (and nailing) of the psychic was concerned, except that we sewed _two_ bands of tape to her sleeves and _four_ tacks were used at each wrist. her feet were tied separately in the middle of a long tape, and the ends brought together, carried back beneath her chair, and tacked to the floor. as before, we placed the large end of the cone on the floor, out of her reach, leaving the smaller end on the table, which we left just out of her utmost reach. on the table we placed some sheets of paper specially marked and dated, and took our seats as usual. no one was present at this sitting but mr. and mrs. fowler and myself. even the faithful brierly had been unable to share in this, the twenty-ninth experiment. i was delighted to have the circle narrow down, for fowler was a good investigator and a man of vast experience in psychic matters. outside interference was absolutely excluded. "whatever happens to-night, fowler," i said, "you and i or the spirits must be responsible for it." we began, as usual, by putting mrs. smiley into hypnotic sleep. in a few moments the familiar shuddering action took place. her palms grew moist. she said she found it difficult to submit to our touch. she asked us to put our fingers above hers, and soon after, in the midst of our singing, her voice ceased, her hands grew heavy as lead, and lay perfectly limp and dead in their bonds. again following the guidance of the raps, fowler and i moved back and sat opposite her, with mrs. fowler between us. "maudie" then spoke from the psychic's lips, asking us to move the table farther away. this i did, leaving it at least twelve inches from the utmost tips of her fingers. "maudie" then asked us to take up the larger half of the cone and unite it with the smaller part, and lay the entire cone flat across the table. we did so, marking its position by means of chalk. it was nearly three feet from the utmost extension of the psychic's hands, and yet, almost immediately, tapping came upon the cone keeping time to our singing. later, sounds were produced like the beating of a kettle-drum. a hammering was then carried on as if within the cone, and "maudie" spoke, telling us to go down and get supper, as before. i regretted this necessity very much, for up to this moment all had been clear sailing; the tapping on the cone was inexplicable on the basis of any normal action of the psychic; but to leave her alone, even while so well accounted for, weakened the test. i said as much to fowler as we sat at the dinner-table. he admitted his own disappointment. "however," he added, philosophically, "we have to take these things as they offer. we can't construct them." we discussed the implications of the sittings we had already held. "it isn't one thing only," he reminded me; "it is because of the larger fact that one phenomenon supports another that one comes to believe. thus far to-night we have _proved_ that mrs. smiley is not concerned with the drumming on the cone, haven't we?" "yes; but i want to hold her hands while the drumming takes place. i want to hear her voice at the same time with 'mitchell's.'" "we'll get it," he responded, confidently. and a little later we returned to the room where our psychic was sitting, still in deep trance. after some moments of waiting, "maudie" said: "mr. mitchell says take the table away and put the cone in its place." we moved the table a short distance to the left, and i put the cone in the centre of the rug where the table had stood, and marked the position of the cone. the psychic then passed through a period of suffering, of effort, but nothing took place. again "maudie" spoke, asking us to restore the table and cone to their former positions. "evidently the experiment designed by 'mitchell' has failed," i said, "but these failures instruct us." a convulsive restlessness again seized upon the psychic, and "maudie" asked us to sing. i hummed softly, in order to hear anything that might take place. a minute clicking sound at once developed, as though some one were lightly beating the cone with a key. these clicks answered our questions. it was "wilbur" once more. i asked him if he were going to be able to speak to us, and he tapped "_yes_." soon after this the cone was swung into the air and "wilbur's" throaty whisper was heard. i asked him if the psychic could not be awake and speak while he was present, and he answered: "_yes; we have planned that._" even as he spoke mrs. smiley passed into what seemed like a struggle for breath and awoke! "are you with us, mrs. smiley?" asked fowler. "yes. what time is it?" "about half-past eight. how do you feel?" "very numb and cold," she answered, plaintively. "i don't wonder at that," i remarked. "you've been sitting there for five hours." "is anybody present?" she asked, anxiously. i knew what she meant, and answered: "yes, 'wilbur' is here--or was a few moments ago. are you still with us, 'wilbur'?" a rapping on the cone made vigorous answer, and a few seconds later the cone took flight and "wilbur's" voice resumed general conversation with us. it was noticeable to me all through this sitting, as at others, that neither "wilbur" nor "mitchell" nor "maud" ever addressed the psychic; _they spoke of her, but never to her_. i requested further tests. "'wilbur,' i want the privilege of going to the psychic's side. i don't like this long-distance experiment. i want to get closer to these facts--if they are facts." "_you shall have the privilege_," was the reassuring answer. "shall i go now?" there was no reply through the horn, but a tapping on the table gave a doubtful "_yes_," and i crept slowly forward and took a seat at mrs. smiley's right hand. "i am very close to the ultimate mystery, mrs. smiley," i said, as i placed my hand upon her wrist. "proceed, 'wilbur.' let me hear your voice now." with tense expectation, i put my ear close to the psychic's lips and listened breathlessly. the horn soared into the air and was drummed there, as if to show that it was out of the reach of the psychic, but no voice came from it! this was a disappointment to me, as well as to fowler, and i banteringly said: "you know this failure is suspicious, wilbur.' it seems to indicate that mrs. smiley is only a wonderful ventriloquist, after all. can't you prove that she is independent of your voice? can't you do something decisive at this moment?" no reply came to this; but while my hand was firmly pressed upon her wrist (both sleeves being nailed to the chair), the loose leaves of the paper in the centre of the table were whisked away to the left. i could follow their flight, and we all heard their deposition on a couch in a corner of the room. "fowler," i said, "are you controlling your wife's hands?" "yes; we had nothing to do with that noise." this was another tense moment, for the movement of those papers was very ghostly indeed. we had demonstrated clearly that their movement was supernormal. "may i come forward?" asked fowler. tap--"_no_," was the decided answer. i then asked: "'wilbur,' do you want me to change with fowler and control mrs. fowler's hands?" an emphatic "_yes_" was rapped in reply. "they seem as anxious for a conclusive test as we are," remarked fowler. "did you mean you didn't want mrs. fowler unaccounted for?" a perfect fusillade of raps followed: "_yes, yes, yes._" fowler then came forward to mrs. smiley's left, while i returned to the table. taking both of mrs. fowler's hands in mine, and setting the toes of my shoes upon hers, i awaited developments. at this moment, while fowler was pressing the psychic's imprisoned wrists, the cone banged about most furiously, describing wide circles entirely out of mrs. smiley's reach. this action was another perfectly convincing test of the psychic's supernormal powers. as the same movement had taken place with _each_ of us in control of the psychic, each was absolved from any complicity in the matter; but i did not forget my further test. "mrs. smiley," i said, "i want mr. fowler to return to his seat, and i want to place my hand over your lips--or to muffle you in some way. _i must_ prove that you have nothing to do with the production of those voices. will you permit this test?" "certainly," she answered, with patient sweetness. "you may gag me in any way you please. i am perfectly sure you can secure the proof you want." upon this hint i acted. taking a large kerchief from my pocket, i tied it tightly around her mouth, knotting it at the back, and then, in growing excitement, challenged the ghostly voice: "now, 'wilbur,' let's hear from you." a moment later the voice came from the cone, but apparently very much muffled and blurred. "you are not articulating well," i rather sarcastically observed. instantly the voice came out clearly, more sharply than ever before. "_i was fooling you!_" jeered "wilbur." we all applauded. "there, that's better," i said. "your voice improved wonderfully." "wilbur" chuckled with glee. "_i've taken a lozenge_," he whimsically retorted, expressing a very human delight in our mystification. fowler then said: "now let's consider this a moment, garland. suppose mrs. smiley has been able to loosen the gag. how does she handle the cone? we will suppose she is a marvellous ventriloquist. how does she write on the pads on the table, and how does she whisk them away? you see, it isn't the matter of one thing, but of all that has happened." "yes, i admit that everything points to an exercise of supernormal force. it really looks, so far as anything in the dark can look, like spirits, but i prefer to think mrs. smiley has the power to project her will in some way." "i don't see how we are going to escape the spirit hypothesis," replied fowler. "'mitchell,'" i said, addressing the phantom, "i want to examine that gag, and i want to hold both hands of the psychic. will you permit that?" there was no reply to this, and fowler offered an explanation: "we had that test at a previous sitting." i explained to the invisible ones: "'wilbur,' it is absolutely essential that you should prove to me that your voice is not dependent upon the vocal chords of the psychic. you see the importance of this, do you not, mrs. smiley?" "indeed, i do," she earnestly answered, her voice sounding very faint and muffled through the kerchief. "i am anxious for the test." "very well, then. now i want you to sing a song, and while you are singing i am going to insist on 'wilbur's' speaking. will you do that, 'wilbur'?" the cone was drummed upon as if in vigorous promise of success. mrs. smiley sang, or rather hummed; but there was no response on the part of the ghostly voices, and a moment later she called, faintly: "the kerchief is slipping down, mr. garland." i rose and went to her side. as i untied the kerchief, she said, plaintively: "i am sorry we didn't get the voices. i am sure we can if we try again. please try again." and a vigorous drumming on the cone seemed to second her plea. however, it was getting very late, and i said: "i think we will postpone further experiment to-night. what are your sensations now?" "i am almost paralyzed, and still deaf, too, but that often happens. my feet are as if they did not exist." "but your mind is perfectly normal?" "yes, it seems to be." soon after this i returned to my seat; the cone was lifted high into the air silently, broken apart, and then, with the small end jangling inside the larger one, was carried over the table and back to the floor. it fell with a bang that seemed final and decisive. "that is 'good-bye,'" said mrs. smiley. upon lighting the gas we found our victim as before, sitting absolutely as we had left her. the table edge was twenty-four inches from her finger-tips. the place where the cone lay, which we had marked with chalk when it was first drummed upon, was thirty-six inches from one hand and forty inches from the other. but the most inexplicable of all--the tangible, permanent record--was the seven sheets of paper which were lying upon a couch six feet from mrs. smiley's left hand. _they were all written upon legibly, and pinned together with a black pin, which had been thrust through the writing._ "wilbur" had scrawled his name, mrs. fowler's father's name was signed to a message, and there were other signatures unknown to any of us. the pencil was on the carpet, forty inches from mrs. smiley's hand. the leaves of paper, at the moment when they were grasped and lifted, were more than forty inches from her finger-tips. how this was done i do not know: but of this i am absolutely sure: the psychic did not remove them from the table by means of her ordinary, material limbs. barring the failure to disassociate her voice from that of "wilbur," she had met every demand upon her. her powers were truly magical. i cannot say i _saw_ the cone move, but i have proven that the psychic did not surreptitiously touch it or fraudulently write upon the papers during this sitting. i cannot swear that fowler was controlling his wife's hands while the cone was floating (and while i held the psychic's imprisoned hands), but i _believe_ he was. in short, barring the one sense of sight--an all-important one, i admit--these happenings were convincing and fitted in with phenomena which i had secured with other psychics. nevertheless, i was not satisfied. i wanted brierly, or some other fifth person, in the room, in order that _both_ of the psychic's hands could be controlled at the same time that mrs. fowler's were secured. so long as a single hand was left free, the doubter would be warranted in questioning our results. the next two or three sittings were partial failures--so much so that i made no record of them. possibly, conditions were not strict enough. at any rate, the final and most conclusive sitting came three days later. it was held in fowler's house. we followed the conditions of the previous sitting very closely--the same room, the same table, the same fastenings as before. there was present a friend of fowler's, a young man who was possessed of some psychic power. we will call him frank. fowler and i took entire charge of the psychic, and her bonds were even more carefully nailed than before. we began the séance, as before, by putting her to sleep. not long after "maudie" spoke, saying: "_mr. mitchell wishes the thread fastened to mama's hands in the way mr. garland desires._" i fastened a strong thread to each wrist as i had done several times before, passing the ends under the chair-arm in such wise that any movement of the psychic would be plainly and instantly detected. we then returned to our seats, and, though conditions seemed favorable, no marked phenomena took place; the cone was lifted, it is true, but we were used to this now, and accepted it as quite commonplace. at six o'clock the voice of "maudie" came: "_please go down to supper. mr. mitchell says he will be able to give you what you ask for after you return._" i did not ask to what he referred, but i had in mind the test to prove the voices independent of the psychic's vocal organs, and at the dinner we discussed methods by which this could be made clear. "if they will let me put my hand over her mouth," i said to fowler, "i will be satisfied." "do you mean that you will believe in spirits?" he smilingly challenged me. "oh, i won't go so far as to promise that, but i confess it would help to prove their existence." "we may be about to get something more conclusive than that." "let us fix our minds on two things: first, to get the writing, or at least movement, with every hand controlled; and, second, the voices, while one of us covers mrs. smiley's mouth with a hand." "very well," acquiesced fowler. "but the unexpected is what usually happens in these performances." we were gone but twenty minutes, so eager were we for our demonstration. we found everything quite as when we left: the psychic was asleep, the fastenings undisturbed. fowler and i regained our threads and resumed our places at the sides of the table, while frank and mrs. fowler sat close together at the end opposite mrs. smiley. i ask the reader to recall that the psychic's ankles were encircled with tape which was nailed to the floor behind her chair. two bands of tape, after being sewn to her cuffs, had been tacked solidly to the chair, three strong tacks were driven down through the hem of her dress, and, finally, fowler and i were holding the threads which, after encircling the psychic's wrists, passed under the chair-arm. and yet, in spite of all these bonds and precautions, the cone was almost immediately lifted, and "mitchell" spoke through it. in a deep, clear, well-delivered, and decidedly masculine whisper, and with stately periods, he promised the complete co-operation of the spirit world in the great work to which i was devoting myself. he directed his exhortation to me, as usual; and for the benefit of those who think the spirits are always trivial or foolish, i wish to say that "mitchell's" remarks were dignified and very suggestive. he produced in my mind the distinct impression of a serious man of seventy, ornate of rhetoric, but never vague or wandering in his thought, and he never went outside the circle of mrs. smiley's mind. for fully a quarter of an hour he discussed with me the value of the investigation which we were pursuing. "_i and my band_," he assured me, "_are working as hard from our side as you are from yours, equally intent upon opening up channels of communication between the two worlds_." he solemnly urged me to proceed in this "_grand work_," and at last said, "_good-bye for the present_," and fell silent. the cone was then deposited on the table, and "maud" said: "_if mr. garland and mr. fowler will go quietly up to mama's side, holding all the time tightly to the threads, 'mr. mitchell' will do what mr. garland so much desires. please be very careful not to touch mama until i tell you. keep as far apart as you can as you go up to her. when you reach my mama's side, you may put one hand on her head and one on her wrist. 'mr. mitchell' says please have frank take mrs. fowler's hands, so that every hand in the circle is accounted for._" i was now very eager and very alert. i felt that at last, after many, many requests and many trials, i was about to secure a clear, complete, and satisfying demonstration. surely no trickster would permit such rigorous control as that toward which we were now invited. i was sorry that miller was not present to share with me the satisfaction of the moment. my admiration went out toward this heroic little woman, who was enduring so much pain and suspicion for the sake of science. "she believes in herself," i thought. "if she succeeds, all honor to her." slowly we crept to her side, being careful to touch nothing until directed by the voice of "maud." at last the childish voice said: "_mr. garland may put his right hand on top of mama's head and his left hand on her wrist. mr. fowler may place his left hand above mr. garland's and his right hand on mama's wrist. 'mr. mitchell' says he will then see if the voices will not come._" i then said aloud: "my right hand is on the psychic's head, my left is on her wrist." fowler repeated: "my left hand is above garland's right, which is on the psychic's head, and my own right hand is on the right wrist of the psychic. now, 'wilbur,' go ahead." our challenge was almost instantly caught up. while thus double-safeguarding the psychic, the cone, which was resting on the table a full yard away, rose with a sharp, metallic, scraping sound, and remained in the air for fully half a minute, during which i called out, sharply: "we are absolutely controlling the psychic; her hands are motionless; mrs. fowler, be sure you are holding both of frank's hands." "i have both his hands in mine," she answered. as the cone was gently returned to the carpet fowler was moved to say: "garland, that was a supreme test of the psychic. she was absolutely not concerned in any known way with that movement. save for a curious throbbing, wave-like motion in her scalp, she did not move. if she lifted the horn, it was by the exercise of a force unrecognized by science." to this i was forced to agree. i here definitely declare that the psychic was not concerned with the flight of the cone in any way known to biology. if she produced the voices, they too must have been examples of supernormal ventriloquism, for they came through the megaphone. of that i am as certain as one can be of an auditory impression. a few moments later we returned to our seats, while "wilbur" and "mitchell" and several other voices spoke to us. fowler, now that i had admitted telekinesis, wanted me to go further. "is the psychic speaking to us," he asked, "or are these voices independent of her?" "an investigator is never satisfied," i answered. "i must have the voices _through_ the cone while i am covering the psychic's mouth." to this "mitchell" replied: "_we are doing all we can, and we will yet be able to meet every demand you make upon us._" "i am anxious for conviction," i said. "i want to secure the voice of the psychic and your voice at the same time, 'mr. mitchell.' can you do that for me?" he seemed to hesitate, and at last said: "_we will try._" i perceived in his tone a certain doubt and indecision. again we were permitted to hold the psychic's wrists, and, as before, the cone was lifted and drummed upon as if to show its position high in the air; but no voices came. hidden forces seemed to be struggling for escape beneath our hands; the woman's brain seemed a powerful dynamo. i could not rid myself of a sense that there was an actual externalization of the psychic's nerve force, and with this conviction i could well understand why the command had so often been given not to touch her unbidden. suppose the poor naked "astral body" were abroad and a strong light were suddenly turned upon it! now came on a singularly engrossing game of "hide-and-seek." convinced that mrs. smiley was innocent of any trick in the movement of the horn, i tried every expedient to satisfy myself that "wilbur's" voice was independent of her own; but i did not succeed. mrs. smiley spoke _almost_ at the same moment but never precisely synchronous with wilbur's whisper. she answered all my questions perfectly unconcerned and unexcited, lending herself to my experiments. all in vain. at no time did i succeed in getting "wilbur's" voice at _precisely_ the same moment with her own, though the whisper, following swiftly on her speech, interjected remarks as if echoing her questions. there was always an approximate interval between her voice and the spirit whisper. this was to me very significant, and strengthened me in my belief that the entire process, while inexplicable, was, after all, not the work of spirits. when the gas was lighted we found the cone had been placed on the table, a distance of forty inches from the utmost reach of the psychic's hands. her feet were twenty-three inches from the nearest leg of the table. we carefully examined the tapes which were sewed to her sleeves. they were tied, and the doubled ends tacked precisely as described so many times, and to remove the tacks we were forced to use a hammer. it is useless to talk of a possible release of her arms during the phenomena of the cone. as i was about to leave the house that night, mrs. smiley said: "i do not feel able to sit any more for the present, mr. garland. i feel myself growing weaker, and 'mitchell' tells me i would better stop for the present. i feel that my power belongs to the world, and i want to do all i can to convince you of the truth of spiritualism, but i feel the strain very greatly." "i do not wonder at that," i responded, "and i cannot blame you for demanding a rest. no one could have endured more uncomplainingly. you have been a model subject, and we are deeply in your debt. i am sorry miller was not with us to-night; he would have been convinced of your supernormal power at least. have no fear of my report; for while i am not convinced of the spirit hypothesis, i have found you honest and patient and very brave. i thank you very sincerely for what you have done." and in this spirit we parted.[1] footnote: [1] since these words were written i have _seen_ the cone move. in the presence of another medium, with no one in the room but myself, i held the psychic's hands what time the horn circled over my head. it shone like a golden rod as it moved. i could see the gleam of light along its entire side. at last it came softly down and laid itself across my shoulder. in order to satisfy myself of its presence, i bent and touched it with my forehead. the touch seemed to disturb conditions, to break the current, for it dropped instantly to the floor. twice it answered to my request in this manner until my doubts were satisfied. it seemed to move with the swiftness of a dragonfly as silent and horizontal it hung in the air about my head. vii cameron's amateur psychic club, which had so nearly disintegrated by reason of the long series of barren sittings, was drawn together again by the news of my startling success at fowler's house. cameron at once decided that the members should hear my report, and i was notified to be ready to relate my experiences in full. we met, as before, at cameron's table, and even before the soup-plates were removed the interrogation began, and by the time the company was in full possession of the facts the coffee and cigars had appeared. "why didn't these wonders take place in our presence?" asked mrs. quigg, who had returned to something like her original truculence of doubt. "why should you and brierly be so favored?" "in this business everything comes to him who waits," i replied, a tinge of malice in my voice. "you obtained a few results, miller a few more; but fowler and i, for our pains, reaped the rich reward. by remaining long on the watch-tower we saw the armies pass. harmony and patience are essentials in the production of these marvels. with people yawning or shuffling about uneasily, results are necessarily unimportant." miller continued firm in his agnosticism. "although puzzling, i cannot grant so much as even one of the phenomena. belief in the smallest of those manifestations at my house would be uprooting to all established theories of matter--not to mention time and space." "were not the notions of galileo and darwin also subverting?" asked fowler. "is there anything sacred in error? if we are wrong in our theories about the universe, let's correct them. you do not stand out against wireless telegraphy or the röntgen ray?" miller fired at this. "i'm not going to take instruction from a tipping table or a flying hair-brush!" he fiercely retorted. "i'll take illumination from any source whatsoever," responded fowler. here i interposed: "the only question that concerns me at this stage is: does the table tip and the brush really fly? no physical fact is trivial, for it stands related to mountains and the clouds." fowler's eyes gleamed with contempt. "that's the way of you so-called scientists: you narrow the mighty fund of occult phenomena down to a floating feather. as a matter of fact, there is a sea of evidence accumulated by the investigations of men quite as scientific as miller, testimony that is neither petty nor ignoble. it is because you and your associates are so trifling in methods that the tables and the chair play leading parts in your drama." "good for you!" cheered brierly. "you're quite right. when these materialistic investigators get done with trying to prove that independent slate-writing exists, they'll begin to give some attention to the fundamental truths of the messages which the slates set forth. going after small things, they get small things. if miller and his like went forth seeking the essentials of the faith, they would find them instead of being amazed with foolish tricks of hand." "essentials such as what?" interrupted harris, with snappy suddenness. "such as--as--direct spirit communication, a knowledge of the astral, the reincarnation of souls, and--and--faith in the upward progression of the self," stammered brierly, much disturbed. here again i interposed a quieting word: "i confess that it begins to look as though the theosophist's theory of the astral (at which some of us have smiled) were in a fair way to be scientifically demonstrated. since our last meeting i have been studying the bound volumes of _the annals of psychic science_, and i have found them full of comfort. they sustain mrs. smiley at every point. to my mind, the most important event in the history of spiritism is the entrance of eusapia paladino into the clinical laboratory of cesare lombroso. nothing since crookes's experiments has had such value for the scientist." "we have heard of lombroso, but who is paladino?" asked mrs. quigg. "is she a psychic?" "she is the most renowned now living. though only an illiterate peasant woman, she has been able for more than twenty years to baffle every scientist who has studied her. her organism remains the most potent mystery on this earth." "tell us about her! who is she? where does she live?" "she was born at minerva-murge, a mountain village near bari, in italy. according to lombroso's daughter, who has written a sketch of her, she is about fifty-three years of age. her parents were peasants. she is quite uneducated, but is intelligent and rather good-looking. her hands are pretty and her feet small--facts which are of value when studying her manifestations, as you will see later on. her mother died while eusapia was a babe, and her father 'passed over' when she was twelve, leaving her at large in the world 'like a wild animal,' as she herself says. a native family of her village took her to naples, and her own story is that she was adopted soon after by some foreigners 'who wished to make me an educated and learned girl. they wanted me to take a bath every day and comb my hair every day,' she explains, with some humor. "she didn't like the life nor the people, and she soon ran away back to her friends, the apulians, and it was while she was in their house and at the precise moment when they were planning to put her in a convent that her occult powers were discovered. some friends came in to spend the evening, and, in default of anything better to do, formed a circle to make a table tip. no sooner were they all seated, as she herself relates, than 'the table began to rise, the chairs to dance, the curtains to swell, and the glasses and bottles to walk about, till everybody was scared.' after testing every other person present, the host came to the conclusion that the medium was his little ward, eusapia. this put an end to her going into a convent. she was proclaimed a medium, much to her disgust, and made to sit whole evenings at the table. 'i only did it,' she says, 'because it was a way of recompensing my hosts, whose desire to keep me with them prevented their placing me in a convent. finally i took up laundress work, thinking i might render myself independent and live as i liked without troubling about spiritualistic séances.'" "it is remarkable how many of these women psychics begin their career when they are ten or twelve years old," said miller. "mrs. smiley was about that age, wasn't she?" "yes, and so was mrs. hartley, another psychic of my acquaintance. mrs. smiley complained of the tedium of sitting. she tells me that her father kept her at it steadily, just as eusapia was not permitted to escape her fate. one day an englishwoman, wife of a certain mr. damiani, came to a séance, and was so impressed by what took place that she interested her husband in eusapia's performances. damiani then took up the young medium's development along the good old well-worn lines of american spiritualism, and she acquired all the tricks and all the 'patter.' among other notions, she picked up the idea of an english 'control' known as 'john king,' who declared himself a brother of 'kate king,' of crookes fame, and from that day eusapia has been a professional 'mejum.'" "what does she do?" asked cameron. "what is her 'phase,' as you call it?" "it must be confessed that most of her phases are of the poltergeist variety, but they are astounding. she produces the movement of mandolins, chairs, sofas, and small tables without contact (at least, such is the consensus of opinion of nearly a score of the best-known scientists of france and italy), and also materializes hands and arms. there is vastly more than the poltergeist in her, that is evident; for she has conquered every critic with her miracles. take, for instance, lombroso's conversion, a fairly typical case. he was not only sceptical of spirit phenomena, but up to 1888 was openly contemptuous of those who believed in them. however, in an article called 'the influence of civilization upon genius,' published in 1888, he made this admission: '_twenty or thirty years are enough to make the whole world admire a discovery which was treated as madness at the moment when it was made.... who knows whether my friends and i who laugh at spiritualism are not in error, just like hypnotized persons, or like lunatics; being in the dark as regards the truth, we laugh at those who are not in the same condition._'" "true enough," said fowler. "the man who has made no study of these phenomena is like one color-blind: he has never seen a landscape." "it was this candid statement by lombroso that moved professor chiaia, a friend of eusapia's, to write the great alienist a letter which was in effect a challenge. after recounting a score or two of the wonderful doings of paladino, whom he had studied carefully, he ended in this amusing fashion: 'now you see my challenge. if you have not written the paragraph cited above simply for the fun of writing it, if you have the true love for science, if you are without prejudices--you, the first alienist of italy--please take the field. when you can afford a week's vacation, indicate a place where we can meet. four gentlemen will be our seconds: you will choose two, and i will bring the other two.... if the experiment does not succeed, you will consider me but as a man suffering from hallucination, who longs to be cured of his extravagances.... if success crowns our efforts, your loyalty ... will attest the reality of these mysterious phenomena and promise to investigate their causes.'" "i hope lombroso was man enough to accept the challenge," said cameron. "nothing could be fairer than the spook-man's offer." "he did not at once take up the gage. it was not, in fact, till february, 1891, that he was able to go to naples to meet eusapia, who had begun to interest some of his trusted scientific friends. he found the great psychic quite normal in appearance and rather attractive in manner. she was of medium size, with a broad and rather serious face lit with brilliant dark eyes. the most notable thing about her physical self was a depression in her skull caused by a fall in her infancy. this scar figures largely in nearly all the reports of her." "why?" asked harris. "because they all agree that a singular sort of current of force, like a cool breeze, seems to come and go through this spot." harris groaned, and howard said: "oh, rubbish!" "rubbish or not, they all speak of this scar and its singular effects. at the time when lombroso saw her first, eusapia was just beginning to be known to scientists, but no one of special note had up to this time (1891) reported upon her. she was known as the wife of a small shop-keeper in naples, and seemed a decent, matronly person, quite untouched by mysticism. although not eager to sit for lombroso and his party of scientists, she finally consented. among those who took part in these celebrated experiments were professor tamburini, an eminent scientist; dr. bianchi, the superintendent of the insane asylum of sales; and dr. penta, a young nephew of lombroso, a resident of naples. lombroso had charge of the sittings, which were held in a room of his own choice and with the medium entirely under his control. he was astonished at the prompt response obtained. at the first sitting, while he and professor tamburini held the psychic's hands, a bell was carried tinkling through the air and a small table moved as if it were alive. many other mysterious movements took place. lombroso was very much disturbed by these inexplicable phenomena, and could not rest till he sat again. at the second séance spectral hands developed, profoundly mystifying every sitter, and lombroso went away, promising to carry forward a study of spiritism. in a letter written the following june he manfully said: '_i am filled with confusion, and regret that i combated with so much persistence the possibilities of the facts called spiritualistic. i say facts, for i am opposed to the theory._'" "did lombroso say that?" asked harris. "he wrote it, which is still more to the point, and it was his acceptance of the main _facts_ of paladino's mediumship that led other groups of scientists to take up her case. professor schiaparelli, director of the observatory at milan; gerosa, professor of physics; ermacora, doctor of natural philosophy; aksakof, councilor of state to the emperor of russia; and charles du prel, doctor of philosophy in munich, were in the next group, which met at milan with intent to settle the claims of this bold charlatan. "the sittings took place in the apartment of monsieur finzi at milan, and were more rigid and searching than any paladino had ever passed through, but she was again triumphant. she bewildered them all. lombroso himself was present during some of the sittings. the results of the series of experiments were very notable and very far-reaching. for the first time, so far as i know, a table was photographed while floating in the air--" "no!" shouted howard. "yes; and certain other telekinetic happenings were proved, to the stupefaction of most of those in the group. one special experiment, the success of which confounded the shrewdest, was the attempt to secure on a smoke-blackened paper the print of one of the spectral hands." "did it succeed?" "yes. the impression was made while paladino's hands were imprisoned beyond all question, and, what was most singular of all, the hand _that made the print smudged the wrists of one of the experimenters, and yet not a particle of black appeared on the fingers of the psychic_." "that ought to have convinced them of her honesty," remarked fowler, with a note of amusement in his voice, "but it didn't; these scientific folk are so difficult." "no," i replied, "it didn't convince them, but it jarred them not a little. in their report they admitted this much. they said, 'we do not believe we have the right to explain these things by the aid of insulting assumptions.' (by this they meant to acquit the psychic of fraud.) 'we think, on the contrary, that _these experiments have to do with phenomena of an unknown nature_, and we confess that we do not know what the conditions are that are required to produce them.'" "that seems to me like a very mild statement, but i suppose they considered it epoch-making," remarked fowler. "from this time forward learned men in russia, france, and italy successively sought paladino out and tried to expose her to the world. professor wagner, of the department of zoölogy at the university of st. petersburg, made a study of her in 1893, and found her powers real. a year later m. siemeradski, correspondent of the institute, experimented with her in rome, obtaining, among other miracles, the plucking of the strings of a closed piano under strictly test conditions." "you had that experience, did you not?" asked mrs. cameron. "yes, i've had that." "how do you account for a thing of that sort?" "i don't account for it--or if i did give my theory, you would laugh at me. wait till i tell you what these italians are doing. among the most eminent and persuasive of all eusapia's investigators was professor charles richet, the french physiologist and author. eusapia came to revere and trust him, and gave him many sittings. he, too, was bowled over. he tells the story of his conversion very charmingly. 'in my servile respect for classic tradition,' he writes, 'i laughed at crookes and his experiments; but it must be remembered in my excuse that as a professional physiologist i moved habitually along a road quite other than mystical.' his attention, he goes on to say, was first drawn to spiritist phenomena by the word of a friend who had discovered a power that caused a table to move intelligently. he was trying to explain this and one or two other little things like telepathy and prophetic vision by the word 'somnambulism,' when his friend aksakof, a great psychical expert, reproached him for not interesting himself more keenly in experiments with mediums. 'well,' said richet, 'if i were sure that a single true medium existed, i would willingly go to the ends of the world to meet him.'" "that's the spirit!" exclaimed fowler. "that is the way the scientist should feel. what then? aksakof told him all he needed to do was to go round the corner, didn't he?" "not exactly. two years later aksakof wrote to him: 'you needn't come to the end of the world; milan will do.' so richet went to milan, and took part in those very celebrated séances with eusapia. 'when i left milan,' richet says, 'i was convinced that all was true; but no sooner was i back in my accustomed channels of work than my doubts returned. i persuaded myself that all had been fraud or illusion.'" here harris interrupted: "miller can testify to this inability to retain a conviction. he, too, has slumped into doubt. how about it, miller?" "i never professed to believe," declared miller. "you were pretty well convinced that night in your study, weren't you?" i asked. "i was puzzled," he replied, guardedly. there was a general smile of amusement at his manifest evasion, and i resumed: "richet went to rome, and together with schrenk-nötzing, the philosophic expert, and siemeradski, the correspondent of the french institute, made other and still more convincing experiments, and yet doubt persisted! 'i was not yet satisfied,' he says, further. '_i invited eusapia to my house for three months. alone with her and ochorowicz, a man of penetrating perspicuity, i renewed my experiments in the best possible conditions of solitude and quiet reflection. we thus acquired a positive proof of the reality of the facts announced at milan._'" "by george, that's going it strong!" said young howard. "you've got to believe that a man like richet has seen something after three months' experiment in his own house." miller faced them all stubbornly: "and yet even richet may have been deceived." "are _you_ the only one competent to study these facts?" asked brierly, hotly. "the egotism of you professional physicists is a kind of insanity. the moment a man like richet or lombroso admits a knowledge of one of these occult facts, you who have no experience in the same phenomena jump on him like so many wolves. such bigotry is unworthy a scientist." "would you have us accept the word of any one man when that word contradicts the experience of all mankind?" asked miller. "listen to what richet says in confession of _his_ perplexity," i called out, soothingly. "he writes: 'it took me twenty years to arrive at my present conviction--nay! to make one last confession. _i am not yet absolutely and irremediably convinced._ in spite of the astounding phenomena which i have witnessed during my sixty experiments with eusapia, i have still a trace of doubt. _certainty does not follow on demonstration; it follows on habit._' so don't blame miller or myself for inability to believe in these theories, for our minds are the kind that accept the mystical with sore struggle." "go on with eusapia's career," said harris. "i am interested in her. i want the story of the investigations." "her story broadens," i resumed. "her fame spread throughout europe, and squad after squad of militant scientists grappled with her, each one perfectly sure that he was the one to unmask her to the world. she was called before kings and emperors, and everywhere she triumphed--save in cambridge, where she made a partial failure; but she redeemed herself later with both lodge and myers, so that it remains true to say that she has gone surely from one success to another and greater triumph." "but there have been other such careers--slade's and home's, for instance--which ended in disaster." "true, but nothing like her courage has ever been known. the crowning wonder of her career came when she consented to enter the special laboratories of the universities of genoa and naples. it is in the writings of morselli, professor of psychology at genoa, and in the reports of bottazzi, head of the department of physics at naples, that scepticism, such as my own, is met and conquered. i defy miller or any man of open mind to read the detailed story of these marvellous experiments and deny the existence of the basic phenomena produced by eusapia paladino." "you speak with warmth," said harris. "i do. i am at this moment fresh from a reading of the reports of bottazzi's up-to-date experiments, and i am compelled to grant that he has not only sustained crookes at every point, but has gone beyond him in his ingenuity of test and thoroughness of control. he adds the touch of certainty that we all needed to complete our own experience. he has given me courage to say what i believe mrs. smiley did for us." "won't you tell us all about it?" pleaded mrs. cameron. "please do." "it is too long and complicated. you must read it for yourself. it is too incredible to be told." "never mind, garland; we'll take it as part of your fiction. go ahead." as i looked about me, i could detect in the faces of some of my friends an expression of apprehension. the coffee had grown cold. our ice-cream had melted with neglect. every eye was fixed upon me. it was plain that harris and miller considered me "on the high-road to spiritualism." quite willing to gratify their wish to be startled, i proceeded: "you will find the latest word on all these matters in a small but valuable review, published simultaneously in london and in paris, called _the annals of psychic science_. it is edited by césar de vesme in france, and by laura i. finch in england, and is a mine of reliable psychic science. its directors are dr. dariex and professor charles richet. its 'committee' is made up of sir william crookes, camille flammarion, professor lombroso, marcel mangin, dr. joseph maxwell, professor enrico morselli, of genoa; dr. julien ochorowicz, head of the general psychologic institute of paris; professor porro, the astronomer; colonel albert de rochas, author of _the externalization of motivity_, and others of like character." "we don't want the review, we want your account," said harris. "don't spare us. give us detail--lots of it." "thank you; you shall have it hot-shot, but i'll have to generalize the story for you. the most decisive of all the tests have been made during the last eighteen months, and the final and most convincing of all within the year, under the direction of lombroso, morselli, and bottazzi. it is safe to say that with these experiments (and the reports which accompany them) a new era has dawned in biology. the facts of mediumship are in process of being scientifically observed by a score of the best-qualified men in europe, and at last we are about to study mediumship apart from any question of religious tenets." fowler took issue with me here: "it is absurd to say that no one but these physicists has ever properly studied spiritualistic phenomena; spiritists themselves have put the screws on quite as effectively as ever crookes or richet has done. some of the best investigators ever known have been spiritists." "even if that were true, their testimony would lack the convincing power that flames from morselli's book or bottazzi's report. the essential weakness of the spiritist's testimony lies in the fact that for the most part he assumes that the facts of mediumship are somehow, and necessarily, in opposition to somebody's religion. he finds it sustained (or opposed) by the bible, or he fancies it mixed with deviltry or the black art. he trembles for fear it will affect the scheme of redemption or assist some theosophical system. whereas, a man like bottazzi is engaged merely with the facts; he lets the inferences fall where they may. he is not concerned with whether eusapia's manifestations oppose christian theology or not; he wants the phenomena. he is alert to note their effect on biologic science, but he does not shrink from any report of them. so far as i am concerned, my lot is cast with these men who put the clamps on the fact and wait for larger knowledge before constructing a system of religion on the half-discovered." "i'm with you there," said miller. "and if our university officials took the same view, we americans would hold higher rank in the world's thought." "bottazzi himself says, with reference to his experiments: 'in spite of all the hundreds of those who have observed eusapia, it still remained true to say that hitherto she had been free to throw things about as she pleased.' but all this took a sharp turn when she came into bottazzi's laboratory." "just who is bottazzi?" harris asked. "he's the head of the physiological institute of the university of naples; of his age and general character i am not precisely informed, but he writes delightfully of his experiments. morselli, who preceded him in his study of eusapia, is the professor of psychology in the university of genoa. foà and herlitzka are of the same university. within the last two years eusapia has also been rigorously studied in lombroso's clinical laboratory at turin. all honor to her for breaking away from the traditions of mediumship!" mrs. quigg caught me up on this: "what do you mean by 'traditions of mediumship'?" "i mean that for the most part investigators have nearly always been kept at arm's-length by the fiction that the 'guide' should control everything, that the séance is a religious rite, that the medium must not be touched nor exposed to the light, and so on, till the scientist was reduced to the feeble rank of an on-looker in the dark, so that no real test was possible. these italians did not grant any of these traditions. they were scientists, not devotees at a new shrine." "however, i am ready to grant that some of the good old rules were justified. as you have seen in my own experiments, i have proceeded cautiously, for if you suppose mediumship to be a psycho-dynamic adjustment of the organisms in the circle--a subtle physical relationship--there is all the more reason to be careful. i did not find it necessary to mistreat mrs. smiley in order to test her powers. but _eusapia has set a new pace for mediums_. she has gone into the lion's den alone and unarmed--not once, but a hundred times. she entered lombroso's study, a room previously unexplored by her, and there placed herself before a cabinet that she was not permitted to examine--a cabinet filled with machines for dividing the true from the false. in morselli's presence she submitted to tests the like of which not even crookes was permitted to apply, and all sacred rules and regulations, all ideas of religion or questions of morality, vanished when she entered the cold, clear air of bottazzi's physiological laboratory." "this begins to sound like the grapple of a cuttlefish and a mermaid. was the woman crushed?" "no; she more than sustained her great reputation. she conquered the remorseless scientist and performed the impossible." i had the strained attention of my audience now. time was forgotten, and cries of "tell us!" "tell us all!" arose. "it is an exciting story, an incredible story--" "so much the better!" exclaimed miss brush. "i am full of enthusiasm for bottazzi," i resumed. "his was the kind of investigation i should like to put through myself. it appeals to me as no spiritualistic performance has ever done. in a sense the facts he has demonstrated make all material tests inoperative. matter is all we have to cling to when it comes to physical tests. a nail driven down through the sleeve of the medium's dress _seems_ to increase our control of her, and a metronome or a morse telegraphic sounder does add value to our testimony, and yet zöllner seems nearer right than miller: matter seems only a condition of force, and subject to change at the will of the psychic. "up to the beginning of last year bottazzi confesses that he had read little or nothing on the subject, and, like our friend miller here, considered it beneath the dignity of a scientist to be present at spiritualist circles. it is highly instructive to note that paladino, the most renowned medium of her time, was in naples at his very door; but that doesn't matter--a scientist is blind to what he does not wish to see. in this case bottazzi's eyes were opened by a young friend, professor charles foà, of turin, who sent him an account of what he and dr. herlitzka had witnessed in eusapia's presence." "they really seem to be taking the phenomena seriously over there," said harris. "these particular sittings at turin made a great sensation in italy. they were under the direction of drs. herlitzka, foà, and aggazzotti, assistants to professor mosso, of the university of turin. dr. pio foà, professor of pathologic anatomy, was also present during one séance. the conditions were all of the experimenters' own contriving. they were young men and had been companion workers in science for many years, and were accustomed to laboratory work. they all came to this experiment perfectly sure that no mediumistic phenomena could endure the light of science. at the end of their three sittings they manfully said: '_now that we are persuaded of the authenticity of the phenomena_, we feel it our duty to state the fact publicly in our turn, and to proclaim that the few pioneers in this branch of biology (destined to become one of the most important) generally saw and observed correctly.... we hope that our words may serve to stimulate some of these colleagues to study personally and attentively this group of interesting and obscure phenomena.' you will note they relate their tests, not to theology, but to unexplored biology." "i like the ring of that declaration of theirs," said harris. "go on! come to hecuba!" "bottazzi was enormously impressed by this account, which detailed coldly, critically, the most amazing experiments. with ingenuity that would have seemed satanic to paladino (had she known of it), foà and aggazzotti had laid their pipes and provided for every trick. they were confident that nothing genuine could occur, but, as a matter of record, weird performances began at once. bells were rung, tables shifted, columns of mercury lifted, mandolins played, and small objects were transported quite in the same fashion as the books were handled during our own sittings at your house, miller--in fact, the doings were much the same in character. a small stand was broken to pieces under the very eyes of the learned doctors, _and hands hit and teeth bit those whom the medium did not like_. each of the machines for registering movement, though utterly out of reach of paladino, was operated, and some of these movements were systematically recorded. "it was this care, these scrupulous and cold-blooded tests, that so profoundly affected bottazzi. these men were his friends. he knew their level-headed and remorseless accuracy. the fact that they considered the whole investigation biologic in character, and that the results of their experiments strengthened their theory of the physiological determinism of the phenomena, added to his eagerness to try for himself." "wait a moment," said cameron. "what do you mean by 'physiological determinism'?" "he means that the phenomena began and ended in the psychic's organism." "do you intend to convey that they considered the medium dishonest?" "oh no. merely that they did not relate the phenomena to the intervention of the spirits of the dead." "oh!" gasped mrs. cameron. "merely!" exclaimed harris. "'merely' is good in that case." "'after reading these articles with avidity,' bottazzi's report begins: 'professor galeotti, my associate, and i looked at each other astounded, and the same thoughts in the same words came simultaneously to our lips: "we, too, must see, must touch with our hands--and at once--here in this laboratory where experiments of the phenomena of life are daily carried on, with the impartiality of men whose object is the discovery of scientific truth, here in this quiet place where sealed doors will be superfluous. everything must be registered. will the medium be able to impress a photographic plate? will she be able to illuminate a screen treated with platino-cyanide of barium? will she be able to discharge a gold-leaf electroscope without touching it?" and so we travelled on the wings of imagination, always having before us the plummet of the strictest scientific methods.'" "now you're getting into my horizon," said miller. "that is the way i wished to proceed in mrs. smiley's case. did bottazzi get these things done?" "you're as impatient as miss brush," i replied, highly amused at his eagerness. "first you must catch your medium. bottazzi succeeded at last in getting paladino's consent, but only through the good offices of professor richet, whom she deeply loves and reverences. submissively she entered into this most crucial series of tests. she was no longer afraid of any scientist, but it was not precisely a joy to her. bottazzi invited his friend galeotti, professor of general pathology in the university of naples; dr. de amicis, professor of dermatology; dr. oscar scarpa, professor of electro-chemistry at the polytechnic high school of naples; luigi lombardi, professor of electro-technology at the same school; and dr. pansini, professor extraordinary of medical semiotics; and these gentlemen certainly made up a formidable platoon of investigation. the room in which the experiments took place was an isolated one, connected with the laboratory of experimental physiology, and belonged to that part of the university set aside for bottazzi's exclusive use. nothing could have been further from the ordinary stuffy back parlor of the 'materializing medium.' no women were present, and no outsider; as you see, conditions were as nearly perfect as the ingenuity of bottazzi and his assistants could make them." the members present nestled into their chairs with looks of satisfaction, and mrs. cameron said: "don't leave anything out. tell it all." "it is hardly necessary to say that every precaution was taken. photographs of the cabinet were made before the sittings and afterward, in order that all displacements might be recorded. provision was made for registering the action of 'john king's' spectral hands. some of these devices were concealed in an adjoining room and watched by other attendants. one little touch early in bottazzi's account impressed me deeply. a little electric motor was used to furnish power for the lamps and other apparatus, and bottazzi, in speaking of it, says: 'at the moment when the phenomena to be registered began to manifest, the circuit was closed, _and suddenly in the complete silence of the night the feeble murmur of the motor was heard_.' i thrill to the action of that faithful little material watch-dog. ghosts and hobgoblins could not silence or affright it. after all, matter is both persistent and bold." "but not sovereign," defiantly called out brierly; "the psychic dominates it." "we shall see. bottazzi declares in italics that paladino neither put her hand into the cabinet nor knew the contents of it. 'rarely has she been surrounded by such an assembly of unprejudiced minds, by such strict and attentive intellects,' he declares. and when you consider the absence of women, the mystery of the machinery, together with the stern character of the sitters, the medium's courage becomes marvellous. perfect honesty alone can sustain a medium in such an ordeal. i am ready to agree that a new era began for spiritism when eusapia entered that room, april 17, 1907." "poor paladino!" sighed mrs. cameron. "i tremble for her." "bottazzi grimly says: 'we began by restraining her inexhaustible mediumistic activity. we obliged her to do things she had never done before. we limited the field of her manifestations.... i was convinced that it was much easier for her to drag out of the cabinet a heavy table than to press an electric knob or displace the rod of a metronome.' and this theory he set himself to prove. it was beautiful to see the way he went about it." howard was also impressed. "i see eusapia's finish. she won't do a thing. the influences will criss-cross. bottazzi's cabinet is her waterloo." "observe that bottazzi was not perverse. he met the psychic half-way by forming the usual chain about the table, placing eusapia before the curtains of the little cabinet, which was a recess in the wall. bottazzi himself and his assistants had constructed this cabinet and placed everything in position before eusapia entered the room at all, and throughout the sitting she was controlled by at least two of the investigators so that she could not so much as put a hand inside the curtains. she was very uneasy, as though finding the conditions hard. nevertheless, _even at this first sitting, everything movable in the cabinet was thrown about_. the table was violently shaken and the metronome set going. bottazzi ends his first report by saying: 'the séance yielded very small results, but this is always the case at first séances. nevertheless, how many "_knowing_ people and _savans_" have formed a judgment on phenomena after séances such as this one?'" "that's a slant at you, miller," remarked harris. "yes," i agreed, "it's a slant at all commissions and committees who think they can jump in and settle this spiritistic controversy in the course of half an hour. bottazzi, like lombroso and richet, was aware that he had entered upon a long road. he knew that a tired or worried medium was helpless. he called the same circle together for the 20th, willing to try patiently for developments. all came but lombardi, whose place was taken by m. jona, an engineer. the second sitting was a wonder. warned by his first experience, bottazzi nailed or screwed every movable thing fast to the walls of the cabinet. he was resolute to force 'john,' the supposed 'guide,' to touch the electric button and press the ball of india-rubber that connected with a mercury manometer. he intended to teach the spirit hand to register its actions on a revolving cylinder of smoked tin. he wanted graven records, so that no wiseacre like harris, here, could say: 'oh, the thing never moved. you were all hypnotized!' in effect, he said: 'they tell us that a cold wind blows from the cabinet. i will put a self-registering thermometer in the cabinet and see. they say tables weighing forty pounds have been lifted. all i ask is that the bulb of a self-registering manometer be pressed. they say a morse telegraphic key has been sounded by spirit hands. very well; i will arrange a connection so that every pressure of the key will be registered on a sheet of smoked paper, so that the fact of the sound of the key shall be recorded by an infallible instrument.'" "did he get the records?" asked harris. "wait and see!" commanded cameron. "these indicate the methods which bottazzi and his assistants brought to bear on the medium. no more worship here, no awe, no hesitation, no superstition. among other things, he put into the cabinet a small table weighing about fifteen pounds, and on top of it arranged a hair-brush, a hen's feather, a bottle full of water, and a very thick glass. these articles and the table were the only objects that could be moved. his aim was to limit the spirit hands to a few movables--to see whether they could not be taught to do what was required of them. well, _that little table came out of the cabinet of its own accord in a light that made it perfectly visible_, at the precise time when three of the inexorable professors were rigidly clasping the psychic. but that is not the most remarkable thing. the psychic's feet were held by the engineer, and he observed that at _the exact moment when paladino pushed against his knee the table moved_. 'each advance of the table corresponded,' says bottazzi, 'with the most perfect synchronism, to the push of eusapia's legs against jona's knees'; in other words, she really executed movements identical with those that she would have made had she been pushing the table out of the cabinet with her _visible_ limbs." as i paused for effect, fowler said: "you say that as if you considered it very significant." "i do. in my judgment, it is the most valuable fact developed by these most searching experiments. flammarion noted this same significant relation between the movements of the psychic and the spirit hands, and so did maxwell. maxwell proved it by experiments on his own person, and now bottazzi is proving it in a larger way. 'a few moments later,' he says, 'a glass was flung from the cabinet by these invisible agencies, and this fling coincided exactly with a kick which paladino gave to jona, as if the same will governed both movements.'" miller was thinking very hard. "that certainly is very strange," he said, "but i observed nothing of it in mrs. smiley's case; on the contrary, it seemed to me that our strongest manifestations came when she was perfectly still." "hasten!" urged fowler. "come to the phantoms. i perceive his theory, but it will all be upset later by the materialized forms." "on the contrary, bottazzi declares the phantoms also conformed to this same law. he was determined upon educating 'john king,' and kept insisting that the invisible hands press the rubber ball, or lower the registry balance, or set the metronome going, and eusapia repeatedly moaned: '_i can't find_,' '_i can't see_,' or '_i don't know how_.' once she complained that the objects were _too far off--that she could not reach them!_--all of which sustained bottazzi in his belief that these activities were absolutely under her psychic control, just as the synchronism of movements convinced him that she was 'the physiologic factor in the case.' all of this is very exciting to me, for i have had the same feeling with regard to the several mediums whose activities i have closely studied. bottazzi says, with regard to the results of the first two sittings: 'these first séances show that eusapia needed to learn how to make these movements with which her invisible hands were unfamiliar, just as she would have had to learn to make them with her visible hands. you will all observe that he did not permit awe or superstitious reverence for the medium or her phantoms to balk his experiments.' a convinced spiritist who attended one of the séances was scandalized by the tone and character of the tests. these professors were continually bobbing up to see what was going on, disturbing conditions, stirring things up as with a spoon to see how it was all going on. they broke the chain of hands whenever they wanted to see what 'the spirits' were doing. in other words, these scientists were students, not devotees. they were experimenting, not communing with the dead." "others have tried that," said fowler. "but they succeeded in preventing any manifestations whatsoever." "it didn't work out so in this instance. bottazzi says that during the first séance professor scarpa irritated eusapia greatly by his impertinent curiosity, but bottazzi himself quieted her by saying: 'you see, dear eusapia, we are not here only to admire the marvellous phenomena you are able to produce, but also, and chiefly, to observe and verify and criticise. we do not doubt you or suspect any fraud, but we want to see clearly, and to follow the development of the phenomena. that is why m. scarpa surveys the cabinet between the curtains, illuminating it occasionally with an electric pocket-lamp. which do you prefer, passive admiration, of which you must have had more than enough already, or the calm affirmation of physicists who are accustomed to extort from nature secrets which she hides from physical eyes? 'in this way,' adds the master, 'eusapia's irritation was softened; she rebelled no further, but yielded with docility to the sharp, attentive scrutiny of the observer, who finally declared himself beaten, not having been able to discover at any point a shadow of fraud.'" "hurrah for eusapia!" shouted howard. "she must be a wonder!" "a spiritist would say that her guides were insisting on the most rigid test. the account goes on to say that the psychic, when entranced, was not satisfied with the grasp of two of the spies; she frequently asked, in a faint voice, for a third or even a fourth hand in order that there could be no question of her freedom from connection with the phenomena. as in the case of our own psychic, mrs. smiley co-operated to the utmost with us. she never refused to permit any test." miller here remarked: "i can't but think that our control of mrs. smiley was complete, and yet i could not (under the conditions) assert that she was not the author of the acts we witnessed in my library. i cannot bring myself to entertain, even for an instant, the spirit hypothesis, but in bottazzi's theory i glimpse an alternative." "yes, bottazzi plainly hints at his conclusions by saying: '_the invisible limbs_ of the psychic explored the cabinet.' he repeats, 'i am convinced that these _"mediumistic limbs" are capable of being taught unfamiliar duties_, like pressing an electric button of squeezing a rubber ball,' and this he proceeded patiently to exemplify. at the third sitting madame bottazzi was present (lombardi and jona being absent), and the 'force' was much greater and more active than before, probably because of the psychic's growing confidence. a small table floated in the air '_while we watched it in amazement_,' he says. one levitation lasted long enough to count fifty. 'we all had time to observe that the piece of furniture was quite isolated,' he adds. furthermore, a big black hand came from the curtain and touched madame bottazzi on the cheek, and frightened her from her place beside the medium." "i can understand that," said mrs. cameron. "think of being touched by even one's own dead!" "professor de amicis was not only touched on the arm but forcibly pulled, as if by an invisible hand. the curtain of the cabinet then enveloped him as if to embrace him, and he felt the contact of another face against his, and a mouth kissing him--" the women cried out at the thought, but i hurried on to make bottazzi's point: "_'at the same time eusapia's lips moved as if to kiss, and she made the sound of kissing, which we all distinctly heard.'_ here again, you see, is that astounding synchronism which maxwell and morselli observed between the movement of objects and the contraction of the muscles in the medium's arms and legs. bottazzi pauses to generalize: 'whatever may be the mediumistic phenomena produced, there is almost always at the same time movement of one or several parts of the medium's body.'" "what does he mean? does he mean that eusapia performed all these movements with her 'astral hands'?" asked mrs. quigg. "that is precisely his inference. 'mysterious hands,' bottazzi calls them." "but how will he account for the difference in size between eusapia's hands and the _large black hand_ that she saw and felt?" asked fowler. "bottazzi himself remarks upon this discrepancy. 'to whom does this hand belong?' he asked--'this hand, a half a yard away from the medium's head, seen while her visible hands are rigorously controlled by her two neighbors? is it the hand of a monstrous long arm which liberates itself from the medium's body, then dissolves, to afterward "materialize" afresh? is it something analogous to the pteropod of an amoeba, which projects itself from the body, then retreats into it only to reappear in another place? mystery!' but this is not the most grewsome sight; one of the professors, stealing a glance behind the medium, saw remnants of legs and arms lying about the cabinet." "horrible!" exclaimed mrs. cameron. "i'd rather believe in spirits. what does he mean to infer?" "apparently he would have us believe that materialization is a process due to the medium--or at least dependent on her will--and that these partially completed forms represent fragmentary impulses. but i'm not so much concerned just now with that as with the course of schooling through which he drove eusapia. he stuck to his plan. he put into his cabinet each time certain sounders, markers, and lamps, which could be moved, ticked, or lighted only by hands in the cabinet, and he kept the same rigid control of his medium _outside_ the cabinet. for the most part she was in the light. by means of a series of lamps the séance-room could be lighted dimly or brightly at a touch, and, while many of the phenomena in the cabinet were being performed by 'john,' eusapia's hands could be plainly seen in the grasp of her inquisitors. after seeing a mandolin move and play of itself, after having the metronome set in motion, stopped, and set going again, after having the registrations he most desired, bottazzi concludes his third sitting by saying: 'an invisible hand or foot _must_ therefore have forced down the disk, _must_ have leaned on the membrane of the receiving-drum of my apparatus, because i assured myself next day that to obtain the highest lines registered the disk had to be pressed to the extreme point. this was no ordinary case of pushing or pulling. the mysterious hand had to push the disk, and push it in a certain way. _in short, the "spirit hand" was becoming educated to its task._'" miller asked: "did these performances take place, as in the case of mrs. smiley, within the reach of her ordinary limbs?" "yes, many of them took place within a yard of her head; but some of them, and the most marvellous of them, not merely took place out of her reach, but under conditions of unexampled rigor. 'eusapia's mediumistic limbs penetrated into the cabinet,' says bottazzi. 'i begged my friends not to distract the medium's attention by requests for touches, apparitions, etc., but to concentrate their desires and their wills on the things i asked for....' what he wanted her to do was very simple, but conclusive. he wished 'the spirit hand' to press an electric button and light a red lamp within the cabinet. the coil and the switch had been dragged out of the cabinet and thrown on the table. bottazzi begged them all not to touch it. no one but scarpa, galeotti, and bottazzi knew what it was for. 'at a certain moment eusapia took hold of the first finger of my right hand and squeezed it with her fingers. a ray of light from the interior of the cabinet lit up the room'--she had pressed the contact-breaker with her invisible fingers at the precise time when she had squeezed with her visible hand the forefinger of bottazzi. she repeatedly did this. 'if one of us, be it observed, had lit the lamp, she would have screamed with pain and indignation.'" "was this the climax of his series? is this _all_ he is willing to affirm?" queried harris, with ironic inflection. "oh no, indeed. the greatest is yet to come. at the fourth sitting a new person, professor cardarelli, was introduced, and this new sitter disturbed conditions. nevertheless, the inexplicable took place. small twirling violet flames were seen to drift across the cabinet curtains, and hands and closed fists appeared over paladino's head. these have been photographed, by-the-way. some of them were of ordinary size, and others at least three times larger than the psychic's hand and fist. these flames interest me very much, for i have seen them on several occasions, but could not believe in them, even though crookes spoke of handling them. i must admit their objective reality now. it is absurd to suppose they were fraudulently produced in this laboratory. "a stethoscope was taken from cardarelli's pocket and put together--a movement requiring the action of two hands. the noise of fingers running over the keys of a typewriter in the cabinet was plainly heard, although no writing came. at the fifth sitting the mandolin again moved as if alive (no one touching it), in a light that made all its movements observable; and as it did so _eusapia's hand_ (tightly controlled by bottazzi) _made little movements as if to help the instrument to move_. _each movement, though it ended in the air, seemed to affect the mandolin._ bottazzi says: 'it would be necessary to have paladino's fingers in the palm of one's hand, as i had that evening, in order to be convinced that the evolutions, twangings of the strings, etc., all synchronized with the very delicate movements of her fingers.... i cannot describe the sensation one experiences when seeing an inanimate object moved, not for a moment merely, but for many minutes in succession, by a mysterious force.'" "we observed no such synchronism," repeated fowler. "we not only controlled mrs. smiley's hands, but nailed her to her chair. in a way, our test was more rigid than those you are describing. our results were not so dramatic, but they were produced under test conditions, and their significance is as great as that of bottazzi's lamp-lighting." "but we did not have as much light on the medium, and, by-the-way, miller, the spectral hands that i saw in your study, each larger than mrs. smiley's hands, were as real to me as those scarpa studied, and the books deposited on your table form as good a record, in their way, as the marks on his smoked-glass cylinder." "furthermore, we had writing," added fowler. "all of which bottazzi would explain by his theory of an 'astral arm.'" "yes, but he secured something still more marvellous. he obtained the print of human hands in clay and also on smoked glass. he demonstrated that the invisible limbs of the psychic cannot only move objects at a distance, _but that they can feel at a distance_. 'eusapia's attitude was that of a blindfolded person exploring space with her hands to find a lost object!' he exclaims, at one point. 'eusapia opened my right hand, stretched out my three middle fingers, and, bending them on the table, tips downward, said, in a whisper: "how hard it is! what is it?" i did not understand,' says bottazzi. 'she continued: "there, on the chair." "it is the clay," i said, quickly; "will you make the impression of a face?" "no," she replied, "it is too hard; take it away.'" some one broke the chain to carry out her desire. he looked at the desk and saw the imprint of three fingers." "what i would like to know at this point," harris quickly interposed, "is this: were the fingermarks lined like bottazzi's or like the medium's?" "he does not say in this case, but, as i recall it, they found in other instances that the lines on the impressions made by eusapia's invisible fingers were precisely like those of her material fingers, and yet no mark of flour or lamp-black remained attaching to her hands. in one case a perfumed clay was used, and, although the impressions secured 'resembled eusapia's face grown old,' no scent of the wax could be detected on her cheeks. bottazzi gives much space to these 'mediumistic explorations of the cabinet.' he could follow these blind, mysterious gropings of the invisible eusapia by closely controlling the real eusapia. 'presently she asked: "what is that round object? i feel something round."' this was, in fact, the rubber ball which connected with a tube--the tube, in its turn, passing through the wall into another room where it operated a manometer. she pressed this ball with her invisible limbs, and the column rose and registered the pressure. this was entirely satisfactory to bottazzi, who then says: 'i desire again to affirm that with her invisible limbs eusapia feels the forms of objects and their consistency, feels heat and cold, hardness and softness, dampness and dryness neither more nor less than if she were touching and feeling with the hands imprisoned in ours. she feels with other hands, but perceives with the same brain with which she uses to talk with us.' "the most astonishing physical phenomena came when the contact-breaker was thrown on the table, and eusapia called out: 'see how it moves!' '_we all directed our gaze toward the small object_,' says bottazzi, '_and we saw that it oscillated and vibrated at an elevation of an inch or two above the surface of the table, as if seized with internal shivering--eusapia's hands, held by m. galeotti and myself, being more than a foot from the contact-breaker_.'" my auditors were now in the thrall of bottazzi's story, and the silence was eloquent. at last cameron said: "it certainly seems like a clear case of 'astral.' i begin to believe in our first sitting with mrs. smiley. what do you want us to do--announce ourselves converted?" "certainly not," i replied. "we must not relax our vigilance, even though bottazzi, morselli, and their fellows seem to have proved the genuineness of the phenomena. at the same time, i admit it is a source of satisfaction to me to know that these italian scientists, with conditions all their own, are willing to affirm that eusapia '_feels with her invisible limbs_,' and explores a cabinet while sitting under rigid control more than a yard away from the objects moved. my experiences point to this. how else could the cone be handled with such precision as was shown at your house, miller? lombroso observed that chairs and vases moved as if guided by hands and eyes, and that the psychic could see as well behind her as in front. mrs. smiley has always been able to direct me _exactly_ to the point where the cone or pencil had been flung. how can letters within closed slates be formed so beautifully and so precisely without some form of seeing?" fowler was ready with an answer: "at the final analysis all perception is due to some form of vibration. to be clairaudient is simply to be able to lay hold upon a different set of pulsations in the ether, and to be clairvoyant is to perceive directly without the aid of the eye, which is only a little camera, after all." "all this is merely a kind of prelude," i resumed, "for bottazzi apparently proved that the invisible hand of eusapia's invisible arm could not penetrate a cage of wire mesh that covered the telegraphic key in the cabinet. 'how, then, can we consider it to be a spirit hand--an immaterial hand--when a wire-netting can stop it?' he very pertinently inquires." "that's what troubles me," said miller. "if a phantom hand can bring a real book and thumb its leaves, or drum with a real pencil or write, why isn't it, for all practicable purposes, a real hand?" "what _is_ a real hand?" retorted fowler. "isn't the latest word of science to the effect that matter like the human body is only a temporary condition of force?" "precisely so; and every advance along the line of these experiments goes to prove the power of mind to transform matter. it almost seems to me at times as though these psychic minds were able to reduce matter to its primal atom and reshape it. in bottazzi's seventh sitting, under the same rigorous restraint of eusapia, a vase of flowers was transported, a rose was set in a lady's hair, a small drum was seized and beaten rhythmically, an enormous black fist came out from behind the curtain, and an open hand seized bottazzi gently by the neck. now listen to his own words: 'letting go my hold of professor poso's hand,' he says, 'i felt for this ghostly hand and clasped it. _it was a left hand, neither hot nor cold, with rough, bony fingers which dissolved under pressure. it did not retire by producing a sensation of withdrawal--it dissolved, "dematerialized," melted._'" i paused to say: "remember, this is not the tale of a perfervid spiritist. on the contrary, it is the scientific account of a laboratory experiment by a physiologist of high rank. the incident is not a part of a séance in the home of a medium in a dark parlor full of side-doors and trick windows. it is a registered phenomenon in the physiological department of a great university, occurring under scientific test conditions. i confess it gives verity to many a doubtful thing i have myself seen." "it certainly staggers me," said cameron. "how does the scientific gentleman explain it?" "he goes on to say: 'another time, later on, the same hand was placed on my right forearm--i saw a human hand, of natural color, and i felt with mine the back of a lukewarm hand, rough and nervous. _the hand dissolved (i saw it with my own eyes) and retreated as if into madame paladino's body, describing a curve._ if all the observed phenomena of these seven séances were to disappear from my memory, this one i could never forget.'" fowler was smiling with calm disdain. "let him go on with his psycho-dynamic theories. he will be confounded yet. these are only the first stages of the game." "but all this happened while the hands of the psychic were merely held," protested miller. "he says he controlled her hands rigorously. why didn't he handcuff her, or nail her down? the facts he claims to have established are too subversive to accept on his word alone." this amused me. "there you go again! not satisfied with wonders, you want miracles. happily, you may be satisfied. in the eighth sitting, which took place in the same room of the physiological laboratory, with bottazzi, madame bottazzi, professor galeotti, doctors jappelli and d'errico present, eusapia submitted to the most rigorous restraint of her life. two iron rings were fastened to the floor, and by means of strong cords, which were sealed with lead seals like those used in fastening a railway car, her wrists were rigidly confined. she was, in fact, bound like a criminal; and yet the spectral hands and fists came and went, jugs of water floated about, and as a final stupendous climax, while galeotti was controlling eusapia's right arm, which was also manacled, he _saw_ the duplications of her left arm. 'look!' he exclaimed, 'i see two left arms identical in appearance. one is on the little table. the other seems to come out of the medium's shoulder, touch madame bottazzi, and then return to eusapia's body again. this is not an hallucination. i am conscious of two simultaneous visual sensations when madame bottazzi says she has been touched.'" for a moment the entire company sat in silence, as though stunned by the force of my blow. then all turned to miller as though to ask: "what do you think of that?" he slowly replied: "to grant the possible putting forth of a supernumerary arm and hand would make physiological science foolish. it is easier to imagine these gentlemen suffering a collective hallucination." "ah! bottazzi provided against all that. he called in the aid of self-registering contrivances. it won't do, miller--he proved the objective reality of 'spirit phenomena.' he lifted the whole performance to the plane of the test-tube, the electric light, and the barometer. his experiments, his deductions, came as a splendid sequence to an almost equally searching series by crookes, zöllner, wallace, thury, flammarion, maxwell, lombroso, richet, foà, and morselli. his laboratory was the crucible wherein came the final touch of heat which fuses all the discordant facts into a solid ingot of truth." "but, to me, he is misreading the facts," objected fowler. "i maintain that he is as prejudiced in his way as the spiritist. he says: 'the mediumistic limbs explored the cabinet.' a spiritist would say: '_john king_ explored the cabinet.' the synchronism he speaks of might exist, and only be a proof of what the spiritist admits--that the presence and activity of the materializing spirit are closely circumscribed by the medium." "bottazzi proved the relationship to be something more intimate than that. he demonstrated that the movement of the hands in the cabinet and of those outside had a common origin--namely, the will and brain of eusapia. he proved that these invisible hands were, after all, material, and limited in their powers. he proved that the 'spirits' shared all eusapia's likes and dislikes, and knew no more of chloride of iron or ferro-cyanide of potassium than she herself possessed--in short, while admitting the mystery of the process, he reduces all these phenomena to human, terrestrial level, and relates them wholly and simply to the brain and will of the psychic. perhaps his state of mind is best expressed at the close of his statement concerning the registration of the movements of 'the spirit hand.' he says, in effect: 'these tracings demonstrate irrefutably that the keys were repeatedly pressed with perfect synchronism, the outside key with eusapia's left hand, the one inside the cabinet by another, which a convinced spiritist would call that of a "materialized spirit," and which i believe to be neither the one nor the other, although i am not able to explain what it was.'" "oh, lame and impotent conclusion!" exclaimed brierly. "after that superb test, why didn't he frankly say the discarnate had been proved?" "because his proof, his knowledge, was not yet sufficient. besides, it requires heroic courage to admit our ignorance. 'i don't know,' he says, and that is the attitude of morselli. dr. foà believes the phenomena to come within the domain of natural law, and to result from a transmutation of energy accumulated in the medium. he calls this 'vital energy' or 'psychic energy,' and adds: 'if these phenomena appear strange by virtue of their comparative rarity, they are not really more marvellous than the biological phenomena which we witness every day.'" "according to this theory, then," said miller, "mrs. smiley has remained, as you believe, motionless in her chair, but has been able to 'energize' at a distance." "more than that. she has been able to emit supernumerary etheric limbs, perhaps a complete material double of herself, which is able to move with lightning speed and perfect precision. it is this actual externalization of both matter and sense that makes darkness so essential to the medium. vivid light forces this effluvia, this mysterious double, back into its originating body with disrupting haste. witness the several times when mrs. smiley was convulsed merely by being touched at the wrong moment." "there is a different interpretation to be put upon the psychic's hatred of light," remarked howard. "by-the-way, yet bearing on this very subject, i read in the _annals of psychic science_ the account of a singular experiment in the matter of independent writing. a certain dr. encausse, in giving a lecture before the society for psychical research at nancy, said that in 1889, having heard that a professional magnetizer named robert was able to put a subject into such a state of hypnosis that he could project lines of writing on paper without use of pen or pencil, he was curious to see the performance. together with a colleague, dr. gibier, encausse hastened to witness this marvel. one of the subjects was a girl of seventeen. the magnetizer put her to sleep, 'and during this séance,' says dr. encausse, 'we were able to obtain in full light on a sheet of paper signed by twenty witnesses, the precipitation of a whole page of written verses signed "corneille." i examined under the microscope the substance that formed the writing, and i was led to the conclusion that it consisted of globules of human blood, some scattered as if calcined, others quite distinct. i thus verified the theory of the occultists of 1850 that the nervous energy as well as the physical force of a medium, the material of which he is constituted, such as his blood, could exteriorize itself and reconstruct itself at a distance.'" "what a stunning experiment!" exclaimed cameron. "important, if true," sneered harris. "what do you know about this learned doctor?" asked miller. "nothing; but you will see that these later experiments of the italian scientists are sustaining de rochas and aksakof in their claim that the medium is in a sense dematerialized to build up the phantasms. dr. encausse goes on to say: '_moreover, the medium who had produced this phenomenon was preparing for the stage and had been studying corneille during the whole of the preceding day._ i was thus able to discover the origin of the substance of the materialization of the writing, and also its psychic origin.' in other words, he claims that the message was not from the shade of the great dramatist, but was a precipitation of the blood of the psychic and an exercise of her subconscious mind, all of which accords with bottazzi's theory. "now, then," said i, in the tone of one about to conclude, "in the light of these experiments, my own sitting at miller's, and especially those that i held at fowler's house, take on the greatest significance. miller, mrs. smiley's _visible limbs_ did not handle the books--of that i am positive--and yet i am equally certain that she governed every movement." "but what about the voices?" asked fowler. "does this theory cover the whispering personalities we heard? what about 'wilbur' and 'maudie'?" "that's easy," retorted howard. "once you explain the manipulation of the cone, the rest is merely clever ventriloquism." "there is nothing 'easy' about any of these phenomena," i answered. "as richet says, they are absurd, but they are observed facts. it would not be fair to the spiritists to end the account of these sittings without frankly stating that there were many other phenomena very difficult to explain by bottazzi's theory. there came a time, as he admits, when 'a mysterious entity behind the curtain, among us, almost in contact with us, was felt all the time.' this entity was supposed to be 'john king,' the psychic's control. this being, invisible for the most part, gave roses to those he liked, conversed freely, and in one case threw a bunch of flowers in the face of one of the sitters to whom eusapia had taken a dislike. a little later 'john' presented a small drum from behind the curtain, and, when galeotti tried to take it, 'john' pulled it out of his hands. again he offered it, and galeotti seized it, and the two fought for its possession with such violence that the drum was nearly torn to pieces." "where was paladino meanwhile?" asked miller. "seated quietly in the grasp of bottazzi and madame bottazzi. galeotti then raised the drum in his hand, high above his head and against the curtain, and requested 'john' to beat it. 'john' pushed a hand against the drum and beat a muffled tattoo. all this was utterly out of the psychic's reach. the strife over the drum would seem to argue a complete and powerful figure behind the curtain." "in other words, a spirit," said brierly. "not so fast," put in miller. "i am content to plod with these italian scientists. let us establish one supernormal fact and then reach for another. you fellows with your 'reincarnations,' and the spiritist with his foolish messages from cleopatra, raphael, and shakespeare, have confused the situation. we must begin all over again. if all that garland is detailing is true--i have not read these reports he speaks of--then it is our duty to take up the scrutiny of these facts as a part of biologic science." fowler clapped his hands. "bravo! that is all we ask of you. to study frogs and mosquitoes, to peer close into the constitution of the blood or the brain of man, is useful; but, to my mind, the questions raised by these continental experimentalists are the most vital now clamoring for answer." "bottazzi says, with regard to his eighth and final sitting: 'the results of this séance were very favorable, because they eliminated the slightest trace of suspicion or uncertainty relative to the genuineness of the phenomena. we obtained the same kind of assurance as that which we have concerning physical, chemical, or physiological phenomena. henceforth sceptics can only deny the facts by accusing us of fraud and charlatanism. i should be very much surprised if any one were bold enough to bring the charge against us, but it would not disturb our minds in the least. from this time forward the medium who wishes to prove the truth of her phenomena will be obliged to permit the same kind of experimentation which eusapia so adequately sustained.'" "well, now," said cameron, "the practical question is this: are we to go on with our investigation?" "i am ready," said miller, promptly. "garland, will you purvey another psychic and conduct the pursuit?" "yes, provided you all come in with spirits attuned, ready to wait patiently and observe silently. the law of these materializations seems to be this: the forces of the psychic are proportional to the harmoniousness of the circle and in inverse proportion to the light. accepting this law as proved by our illustrious fellow-experimenters abroad, are you ready to try again along the lines they have marked out?" as with one voice, all agreed. "very well," said i; "i will see what i can do for you in the way of a new psychic and new phenomena. we will now experiment with design to prove the identity of the reappearing dead. of this i am fully persuaded. men will be discovering new laws of nature ten thousand years from now, just as they are to-day. it is inconceivable that the secrets of the universe should ever be entirely made plain. the world of mystery retires before the dawn. nothing is really explained--what we call familiar facts are at bottom inexplicable mysteries, and must ever remain so." "then why go on? why not stop now and save ourselves the trouble of investigation?" "because there is joy in the pursuit--because it is in the nature of man to pursue this quest. who knows but the conclusions of venzano and morselli, of bottazzi and foà, have opened new vistas in human nature? these 'supernormal powers' may chance to be of immense value to the race, quite aside from their bearing upon the problem of death. furthermore, these reports come at a time when a hard-and-fast literalism of interpretation is the fashion among scientists like miller. perhaps they and the art of the day will alike be offered new inspiration by these mystifying enlargements of human faculty. i for one feel profoundly indebted to these brave and clear-brained italian scientists. i should like to see the physicists of our own universities busying themselves with this most absorbing and vital problem." "but they don't," retorted fowler. "they will not even read bottazzi's reports." and i fear he is justified in his belief. [as i am reading proof on this page a fat letter from a friend in naples comes to my desk, filled with the several corroborative accounts of a special sitting with paladino which professor bottazzi kindly arranged for them. my correspondent is a new york editor, and in his party of six was the associate professor of chemistry in a big eastern college. after detailing the many marvellous phenomena which took place in his presence, professor m---says: "in view of the phenomena with which i am habitually concerned, i did not _want_ to believe in paladino's supernormal powers, but i had to accept what i saw." these reports bring bottazzi's experiments closer to the dead. i hope they will bring them a little nearer to my readers. "bottazzi has no slightest doubt of the phenomena," is the concluding line of my friend's letter.] viii cameron's society never came together again in formal session, and i was not able to carry out my plan for developing a psychic along the line of proving the identity of the spirits manifesting. however, between the final sitting of the club and my next meeting with fowler and miller, i passed through a series of very interesting experiences more or less corroborative of the phenomena which the members had witnessed either individually or as a body. these additional experiments i proceeded at once to lay before my friends as we met at the club one quiet afternoon a couple of weeks later. "we haven't heard of any new psychic," miller began at once, as we settled into easy-chairs in a retired corner. "no," i replied. "i've been unable to get the consent of any other psychic to undergo just the inquisition i know you'd like to give, but i've had some extremely suggestive sittings recently with a young professional man who does a little mediumistic 'work' on the side." "a male psychic? that's amusing. i thought they were all female." "no. there are men psychics," replied fowler, "but they're scarce. one of the most wonderful i have ever known is a big, burly fellow of most aggressive manner. the reason why there are so few men in the business i take to be this: men are less subjective, less passive, than women, and the psychic's rôle seems to be a negative one. men are aggressive and impatient, engaged in some kind of struggle with material things, or they are intolerant of the process of developing their psychic gifts. if garland has found a male psychic, he is in luck." "so i thought. the young fellow, whom we will call peters, is only about twenty-four, a boyish professional man of refined habits. he comes of good family, and, being ambitious in his profession, is careful not to permit a knowledge of his psychical powers to reach the ears of his employers. i heard of him through a friend who is deeply interested in these matters, and who procured for me an invitation to be present at a sitting in the home of a certain dr. towne, on the east side. "we met at dinner, and during the meal dr. towne told us all he knew of mr. peters, which was little, and, turning to me, said: 'we expect you to take charge of the circle, mr. garland; it's all new to us.' "'the first thing to do,' i answered, 'is to put the young fellow at his ease. it is a mighty good sign when a medium is willing to come into a strange house to perform for a circle as critical and as unfriendly as this.' 'oh, not unfriendly,' said dr. towne. 'well,' i said, 'i wouldn't call three practising physicians, who have never seen a psychic at close range, a friendly group.'" "were there three doctors present?" asked fowler. "yes, and my friend was a notably keen-eyed man himself. i really had no faith that the young fellow could do anything remarkable for us, but i didn't say so. "we were still at the table when our young psychic was announced, and, with a knowledge of how necessary it was that he should be in a comfortable frame of mind, i went out to the library to meet him and make his acquaintance. i wished to put him at his ease--so far as i was concerned, at least. "i found him to be but a pale stripling, with slender limbs and brilliant eyes. he was plainly nervous and a little dogmatic in manner. he told me that he was twenty-four years of age, but he did not look to be nineteen. he said he had been aware of his power about four years, and that his grandfather and a man named 'evans' were those who most frequently spoke. 'i have no "guides,"' he said, rather contemptuously. "the place for the sitting was not especially favorable. it was a reception-room midway between the doctor's office and the dining-room, and was rather large and difficult to close off from the rest of the house. after the windows had been darkened in the usual manner, peters arranged the chairs so that his seat came between dr. towne and mrs. towne. dr. merriam came next to towne. this brought me two places away from peters and next to a stout german woman whose name, as i understood it, was mrs. steinert. on mrs. towne's right sat dr. paul and professor franks, my friend. within the circle towne had set a small table, on which were placed pencils and paper. the chain was formed by locking our little fingers tightly. if we may depend on the word of those present, this chain of hands remained unbroken for two hours. the room at first was perfectly dark. "for half an hour we sat at ease, talking a little now and then, but leaving the direction of the whole affair to peters. he hinted to us--and this i wish to particularly emphasize--that he went out of his body. he said: 'when i think toward any one or toward a thing, i am there. i am all around it. if i think toward a person, i am there--all around him--inside of him.' in pursuit of this idea, i then asked: 'are you conscious of your body which you have left behind? are you conscious of being in the upper part of the room, for instance, and do you see your body below you?' "'no,' said he; 'i am conscious of being in a certain place, but i am not conscious of being in two places at the same time.' he told us of his development, which came about through attendance on a circle with another psychic. he said he had been experimenting for about four years. i asked him if it had affected his health in any way, and he replied: 'no, it does not weary me any more than prolonged study might do. i am very fond of playing chess, and i find that i do not play so well after a sitting--that's all.' he said the only sign of the special condition which produced these phenomena was a nervous tremor in his limbs. "the first evidence of 'the force' came in steady tappings upon mrs. towne's chair. the young man said: 'this is my friend "evans,"' and thereupon i began to direct the sitting through 'evans.' in answer to my questions, he said that he would do what he could do for us. i asked him if he would write, and he answered by tapping that he would try. "shortly after this promise, sounds as of hands were heard about the table. sheets of paper were plainly being written upon and torn off the pad. one of these was flourished in my face, while the linked fingers of the psychic were firmly held by dr. towne and his wife. all of those in the circle excepting mrs. steinert and myself were new to this business, and much impressed. "at the precise moment when these hands were at work writing, and a little later while they patted mrs. towne's cheek and tapped on the doctor's shirt-front, i asked: 'are you controlling his hands?' "'yes,' responded the doctor, who, by-the-way, is a vigorous young scientist and had never before experimented with these forces. his reply was echoed by mrs. towne, who remained perfectly calm and clear-headed throughout the entire sitting. "thus far the phenomena were precisely similar to those we have had with mrs. smiley, but we were soon to have proofs of greater power. while the chain of hands continued unbroken, mysterious fingers clutched dr. towne's arm and drummed upon his shirt-front. at length the same mystic fingers began to take off his tie, and, while i warningly called out, 'be sure of your psychic's hands,' the doctor's collar was taken away and put around his wife's neck. his tie was then added to the collar. mrs. towne announced that, while holding firmly to the psychic, she felt the touch of _two_ hands about her face, and a few moments thereafter dr. merriam, seated next to dr. towne, said he felt a strong pressure upon his arm, as if some one were leaning upon it. "a little later these hands began to unbutton dr. towne's shirt-front, and several pencils were stuffed inside. hands patted and touched those who sat within a radius of about a yard of the psychic; apparently the forces could not reach to where i sat. i complained of this, and almost immediately the psychic said there was some one for me, and in answer to my question, 'is there some one present for me?' the pencil rapped three times upon the table in the affirmative. at my request this 'spirit' wrote his name upon a piece of paper, tore it off, and threw it in my lap. a moment later something hard and crackling came over the table. 'my cuffs have been removed,' the psychic called out. "having in mind one of the extraordinary experiments of zöllner, i then asked 'evans' to remove dr. towne's vest. i said: 'if we can get that, it will be in effect a confirmation of zöllner's theory of the fourth dimension.' "for a few moments hands touched and patted dr. towne as if with intent to make this experiment but gave it up, and peters announced that they were at work around him. it could not have been more than a minute later when i felt something soft thrown in my lap. i did not know what this was, and did not care to break the circle at the moment to find out, and the information was volunteered by the psychic that the 'spirits' had removed his vest, and this we afterward found to be the case, for at the close of the sitting his vest was lying at my feet." "oh, come now," said miller, "you don't intend to convey--" "i am telling exactly what took place," i replied. "peters then said to dr. towne: 'think of some signature, not your own, that you know very well, and i will reproduce it.' after a little silence the sound of writing could be heard, and the tap of a pencil announced that its task was done. the sheet of paper was then ripped from the pad, a very definite action, as you may believe, and the sound of the sheet being folded was plainly heard." "that would require a thumb and finger and afterward two hands," remarked miller. "precisely; and they were there, notwithstanding the hands of the psychic could be felt (so dr. towne and mrs. towne both said) with no movement but a convulsive quivering. "i then asked 'evans' if he could not lift the table for us, and he replied by tapping that he would try; and a few moments later the psychic, whose hands and feet began to pass through a period of tremor, warningly called out: 'now please be very quiet, and don't break the circle.' i could hear him take a deep breath, and a moment later the table rose and passed over mrs. towne's head so closely that she was obliged to lean to the right to avoid it, and we all heard it gently deposited not far from the psychic's right hand. while this was done, both dr. towne and mrs. towne affirmed that their fingers were locked with those of the psychic. "here, again, was a phenomenon, inconclusive in itself, from the fact that we could not see the table move, and yet which coheres with an immense body of inexplicable similar movements in the reports of flammarion and lombroso. it was impossible for the medium to lift this weight over mrs. towne's head, even if his right arm had been completely free, for the stand, though small, was heavy. i regarded this, at the moment, as an authentic case of telekinesis, and my further experience with this psychic has not weakened that conviction. "shortly after this the psychic broke up the circle, saying that, as conditions were favorable, he would try to produce materialized forms. "taking the chair which was occupied by mrs. steinert, he withdrew into the passage-way leading to the dining-room, requesting that the circle resolve itself into a half-circle facing the cabinet. you will remember that we were in a private house, and that all question of collusion is barred out. shortly after he took his seat in this little recess, two or three brilliant lights, like the twisting flame of a small candle--a curious, glowing, yet not radiant violet flame--developed, high up on the outside of the portières which formed the cabinet, and drifted across and up toward the ceiling, where they silently vanished. i think there must have been three of these, which were followed by a broad, glowing mass of what looked like white-hot metal--a singular light, unlike anything i had ever seen. it made me think of the substance described by sir william crookes and other experimenters abroad. at the moment this appeared--or possibly a little before it--a wild whoop was heard--very startling indeed, as if a door had suddenly been opened by a roguish boy and closed again. this practically ended the séance. "as we lighted up i had first interest for the object which had been thrown across to me. it proved to be a vest, which the psychic said was his. it was a soft gray vest, and matched his suit, and was without any trick seams--so far as i could see--being whole and uninjured. in the inside pocket a folded leaf of the paper from the pad was stuffed, and on this was the signature 'alfred towne,' which dr. towne said was an exact reproduction of his brother's autograph. on the sheet of paper which had been thrown to me was the simple word 'taft.' this was taken by the circle to be a prophecy on the election, but, as my wife's family name is taft, i put a different interpretation upon it. on the whole, the sitting made a profound impression upon me. it was not so much one thing as many things, all cohering with what i already knew of telekinetic phenomena. it was not a test sitting, as peters acknowledged, but it was by no means easy to deceive under the control we exercised. "there were many things of interest aside from the physical happenings. the young man did not go into a trance, but remained perfectly normal. he took part in the conversation, answered all questions, and lent himself perfectly to the experiment. he said that if we would sit with him again he was sure we could have more light. 'i don't care to be known as a medium,' he declared. 'i like the study of law, and i want to be a lawyer--not a sensitive. in the first place, the law pays better, and, in the second place, it isn't considered a nice thing to be a medium. however, i will sit again for you, if you want me to, and i am sure you will get many other things in the light.' and he added to me later: 'we can get all these phenomena with no one present but ourselves. come down to my home some evening and we will try again.'" "did you accept his invitation?" asked miller. "yes; but before i did so we had another sitting at dr. towne's house, which gave me a closer view of all that went on, for i was permitted to sit at his left and grip his little finger. the circle was slightly changed the next time, and on his right sat a young lady whom we will call miss brown. she was a wide-awake and very unexcitable person, and i believe kept close hold on the psychic's right hand. in addition to our linked fingers, the psychic's hands were tied to ours with dental floss. "there was considerable light in the room this time, and as the nervous tremor developed in the psychic's hands and legs i imagined i could see a grayish vapor form just between and a little above our clasped hands. suddenly i saw a shadowy arm dart forth from the cloud, and i felt the clasp of a firm hand on my wrist. it was a right hand. 'are you controlling the psychic's hand?' i demanded of miss brown. 'yes,' she replied, alertly. even as i spoke i saw the mysterious limb dart out and seize upon a pencil which lay upon the table. again and again i saw this 'apparition' emerge from that vaporous cloud and handle the pad in the middle of the table. i could see three fingers on the under-side of the pad as it was held before the psychic's face, and these facts i announced to the other members of the circle, who could not see as plainly as i could. sometimes the arm seemed white, sometimes black, and always it appeared to be a right hand." "that is to say, _your_ control was more vigorous than that of miss brown," remarked miller. "a doubter might say so, and yet the thread which bound us had some value. one of the most extraordinary performances was the lifting of a glass of water which set in the centre of the table. i could see the glass plainly as it rose to the psychic's lips. it seemed to be sustained by a broad beam of vapor, or it may have been a slim arm clothed in white." "probably the psychic's." "possibly; but i don't see how it could have been. however, i do not place very much value upon it as standing alone, but considered in connection with the performances of eusapia, it becomes a little more nearly credible." "but all this is very far from being an evidence of anything like intelligence," protested fowler. "it seems very trivial to me." "it does not seem trivial to me," i answered; "but i will admit that is has nothing like the value of a series of sittings i held last spring with a psychic in a mid-western city." ix the reader will have observed that up to the present moment i have not emphasized in any way the question of the identity of the "intelligences" that have manifested themselves. the reason for this lies in the fact that i was still seeking evidence concerning the processes of mediumship. however, being convinced (by reason of my own experiments, supported by those of lombroso, morselli, and bottazzi) that the facts of mediumship exist, it is my purpose to take up definitely the question of identity, which is the final and most elusive part of the problem--it may turn out to be the insoluble part of the problem. if you ask why it should be insoluble, i reply, because it concerns the mystery of death, and it may be that it is not well for us to penetrate the ultimate shadow. among all the men of the highest rank who admit the reality of apparitions and voices, there are but few as yet who are willing to assert that the dead manifest themselves. by this i mean that though some of them, like crookes, for example, believe in "the intervention of discarnate intelligences," they are not ready to grant that these intelligences are their grandfathers returning to the scene of their earthly labors. i said something like this to miller and fowler, when we met at the club one afternoon not long after the final meeting of cameron's amateur psychical society, and i added: "i must confess that most of the spirits i have met seem to me merely parasitic or secondary personalities (to use maxwell's term), drawn from the psychic or from myself. nearly every one of the mediums i have studied has had at least one guide, whose voice and habit of thought were perilously similar to her own. this, in some cases, has been laughable, as when 'rolling thunder,' a sioux chief (indians are all chiefs in the spirit world), appears and says: 'goot efening, friends; id iss a nice night alretty.' and yet i have seen a whole roomful of people receive communications from a spirit of this kind with solemn awe. i burn with shame for the sitters and psychic when this kind of thing is going on." "you visit the wrong mediums," said fowler. "such psychics are on a low plane. i never go to those who associate with indians." "but mediums are all alike in this respect. i don't suppose mrs. smiley realizes that 'maudie' would be called by a doubter a falsetto disguise of her own voice, and 'wilbur' a shrewd and humorous personification of her subconscious self; or, if she does, she probably ascribes it to the process of materialization which 'takes from' the medium. never but once have i had the sensation of being in the presence of a real spirit personality, and that happened to me only a few days ago." "it must have been an extraordinary experience to have made so deep an impression upon you," said fowler. "yes, it was extraordinary. it had the personal element in it to a much greater degree than any case i had hitherto studied, and seemed a direct attempt at identification on the part of a powerful and original individuality but recently 'passed out.' it came about in this way: "i met, not long ago, at the home of a friend in a western city, a woman who was said to be able to produce whispers independent of her own organs of speech. i was assured by those in whom i had confidence that these voices could be heard in the broad light of day, in the open air, anywhere the psychic happened to be, and that her 'work' was of an exceptionally high character. i was keenly interested, as you may imagine, and asked for a sitting. mrs. hartley, as we will call her, fixed a day and hour in her own house for the trial, and i went to the sitting a few days later with high expectations of her 'phase.' i found her living in a small frame house on a pleasant street, with nothing to indicate that it was a meeting-place of mortals and their 'spirit guides.' "mrs. hartley was quite evidently a woman of power and native intelligence. after a few minutes of general conversation she took me up to her study on the second floor, a sunny little den on the east side of the house, which was not in the least suggestive of hocus-pocus. a broad mission table, two bookcases, a few flowers, and a curious battered old black walnut table completed the furnishing of the room, which indicated something rather studious and thoughtful in the owner. "mrs. hartley asked me to be seated, and added, 'please write on a sheet of paper the names of such friends as you would like to communicate with.' she then left the room on some household errand, and while she was gone i wrote the name of her guide, 'dr. cooke' (out of compliment), and added that of a musical friend whom i will call 'ernest alexander.' i also wrote the names 'jessie' and 'david,' folded the sheet once, and retained it under my hand. upon her return the psychic seated herself at the battered oval table, and, taking up a pair of hinged school slates, began to clean them with a cloth. i am not going to detail my precautions. you must take my detective work for granted. moreover, in this case i was awaiting the voices; the slate-writing was gratuitous. she took the slates (between which i had dropped my slip of paper), and, putting them beneath the table, asked me to hold one corner." "i _wish_ they wouldn't do that," protested fowler. "it isn't necessary. i've had messages on slates held in my own hands six feet from the psychic." "as we sat thus she told me that she had never been in a trance, and that she never permitted the dark. 'i force my guides to work in the light,' she said. she declared that the whispers which i was presently to hear came to her under all conditions, and that her spirit friends talked to her familiarly as she went about her household duties. she assured me that 'they' were a great help and comfort to her. 'dr. cooke' was her ever-present guide and counsellor, and her father and brother were always near. "it was plain that she did not stand in awe of them, for after half an hour's wait she grew impatient and called out in an imperious tone: 'come, dear, i want you. come, anybody.' two or three times she spoke loudly, clearly, as if calling to some one through a thick wall. this interested me exceedingly. generally psychics are very humble and patient with their 'guides.' a few moments later the slates began to slam about so violently beneath the table that her arm was bruised, and she protested sharply: 'don't do that. you will break the slates and the table both!' thereupon the 'forces' quieted down till only a peculiar quiver remained in them. i could hear writing going on steadily. "at last a tap came to announce that the messages were written. the psychic withdrew the slates and handed them across the table to me. i opened them and took out my paper. on one slate was a message from 'dr. cooke,' the guide; on the other were these words, written in slate-pencil: '_i would that you could see me as i am now, still occupied, and happy to be busy._' this was followed by four lines and three little marks, evidently intended to symbolize a bar of music, and the whole was signed, 'e. alexander.' the writing was firm and manly, but i did not recognize it as that of my friend. "the second trial resulted in this vague communication: '_my dear friend, don't overdo. earth is but one life. many i recall. i tried to give expression to my one talent._' this was signed 'ernest alexander.' both these replies, as you see, were very general in phraseology, but the third message came closer to the individual: '_i was so tired and not myself. i am well and in the world of progress. ernest alexander._' the bar of music again appeared, this time much more 'developed.'" miller stopped me here. "all this is quite simple. mrs. hartley opened and read your note and, following up the clew, simply did some neat trick-writing beneath the table." "it is not so simple as all that," i answered. "she was interrupted about this time by the doorbell, and while she was gone i wrote on another piece of paper: 'ernest, give me a test of your identity. write a bar from the "---sonata."' this note i folded close and put in an inside pocket. "in answer to this request, when the medium returned i got these pertinent words: '_i was not a disappointment to myself, but i was at a point where nerve force failed me._' this was signed '_ernest_,' and was accompanied by another sketchy bar of music. it all looked like a real attempt to give me what i had asked for, and yet it was the kind of reply that might have been made by the medium had she known the history of my musical friend, or had she been able to take it out of my mind." "even that is a violent assumption to me," remarked miller. "so it is to me," i answered. "i can't really believe in thought transmission, and yet-i then asked for the signature of the staff, and a small '_c_' was written in the bar above, and another bar was added. now on the slates there came (with every evidence of eager haste) intimate questions concerning alexander's family: '_is my wife cared for?_' and the like. to these i replied orally. i must tell you that all along the whisper spoke of alexander's wife as 'mary,' which was wrong, although it was close to the actual name. also, after i began to speak of him as 'e. a.' the messages were all signed in that manner, all of which would seem to argue a little confusion in the psychic's mind. "a little later, _while i held the slate myself_, the mysterious 'force' wrote, '_i thank you for what you have done. i have been told my mind is clear_,' which was particularly full of meaning to me, for the reason that my friend's mind was clouded toward the close of his life." "all of which proves nothing," insisted miller. "your friend, if i conjecture rightly, was a well-known man, and the psychic could have read, and probably did read, all about his illness in the public press." "it may be so. about this time i began to hear a faint whisper, which _seemed_ to come from a point a little to the right of and a foot or two above the psychic's lips. this, she informed me, was the voice of 'dr. cooke,' her guide. i could catch only a few of the whispered words, and mrs. hartley was forced to repeat them. 'dr. cooke,' thus interpreted, said: '_your friend alexander is present, and overjoyed to talk with you._' the conversation went on with both 'dr. cooke' and the psychic standing between the alleged spirit and myself; but even then i must admit that 'alexander's' queries and answers were to the point. "under what seemed like test conditions i got two more bars of music, both much more definitive in form than the others; and these, the whisper declared, were from the third movement of the '---sonata.' this message was accompanied by a curious little device like the letter _c_ with a line drawn through it, and i said to myself: 'if this should prove to be a mark which "ernest" used in signing his manuscript, something like whistler's butterfly, i shall have a fine test of thought transmission.' "i now secured under excellent tests the writing of a singular word, which was plainly spelled but meant nothing to me. it looked like '_isinghere_.' in answer to oral questioning, the whisper said that these bars of music were part of an unpublished manuscript, a fragment, which the composer had meant to call 'isinghere.'" "what about the process?" asked miller. "did the writing appear to be supernormal?" "yes, and so did the whispering. i could detect no connection between the lips of the psychic and the voice. in one way or another i varied the conditions, so that i was at last quite convinced of the psychic's supernormal power; but that was not my quest. i was seeking proof of the identity of my friend 'e. a.' "seeing that the chief means of identification might be in the music, i persuaded my friend blake, who is a fairly competent musician, to sit with me and decipher the score which 'e. a.' persisted in setting down. i was now eager to secure a complete phrase of the music. i saw myself establishing, at the least, the most beautiful case of mind-tapping on record. 'if we can secure the score of an unpublished manuscript of alexander's composition we shall have worked a miracle,' i said to blake. "our first sitting, which took place in the home of a common friend, was mixed as to results; but the second, which we held in mrs. hartley's study one bright morning, was very fruitful. the 'powers' started in at once as if to confound us both. blake received a message written on a slate under his foot, and i got the name '_jessie_,' with the word '_sister_' written beneath it; and then suddenly the whispers changed in character. the words became swift, impetuous, imperious. '_line off all the leaves of a slate_,' the voice commanded. i understood at once, for in the previous sitting 'e. a.' had seemingly found it difficult to draw a long line. "we had brought some silicon slates of the book variety, and blake now proceeded to rule one of them with the lines of a musical staff, and on these slates, held as before beneath the table, we began to get bars of music of a character quite outside the knowledge of the psychic and myself; and, more remarkable still, the whispers, so the psychic informed us, were no longer from 'dr. cooke'; 'e. a.,' she declared, was there in person and directing the work. "furthermore, the requests that we now received were entirely different in character from 'cooke's' impersonal remarks. the whispers were quick and masterful, wonderfully like 'alexander' in content. 'he' was humorous; 'he' acknowledged mistakes in the score, calling them '_slips of the pen_.' 'he' became highly technical in his conversation with blake, talking of musical matters that were greek to me and, i venture to say, coptic to the psychic. 'he' corrected the notations himself, sometimes when blake held the slate, sometimes when i held it. part of the time 'he' indicated the corrections orally. 'he' asked blake to try the air. "at last 'he' broke off, and imperiously said: '_take the table to the piano._' this seemed to surprise the psychic, but she acquiesced, and we moved the small stand and our slates down to the little parlor; and there, with blake now holding the slate beneath the table and now playing the notes upon the piano, the score grew into a weird little melody with bass accompaniment, which seemed to me at the moment exactly like a message from my friend alexander. the first bar went through me like the sound of his voice." "now you are getting into the upper air of spiritualism," exulted fowler. "you are now receiving a message that has dignity and meaning." "so it seemed at the moment, both to blake and to myself. the music was manifestly not the kind of thing that mrs. hartley could conceive. it was absolutely _not_ commonplace. it was elliptical, touched with technical subtlety, although simple in appearance. at last a complete phrase was written out and partly harmonized. this, 'e. a.' said, was the beginning of a little piece that he had intended to call 'unghere' or 'hungarie.' nothing in all my long experience with psychics ever moved me like the first phrase of that sweet, sad melody. it seemed like the touch of identification i had been seeking." "but your friend blake was a musician," interrupted miller. "and how about your own subconscious self? you are musical, and your mind is filled with your friend alexander's music." "that is true, and i had that reservation all along. 'e. a.' may have been made up of our combined subconscious selves; i admit all that. but no matter; it was still very marvellous, even on its material side, for some of this music was written in while the slates were in blake's entire control. at times he not merely inserted them himself but withdrew them--the psychic merely clutched one corner of them. furthermore, throughout all this composition 'ernest' was master of the situation. 'dr. cooke' was superseded. there was neither feebleness nor hesitation in the voice. i could now distinguish most of the words, and the dialogue went forward exactly as if a master musician were dictating to an intelligent amanuensis a new and subtle sketch." "did the medium look at the music?" asked miller. "yes, now and then. however, most of the corrections were put in upside down, as regards her position, and during the last sitting she appeared to be no more than a mere on-looker. once as we sat holding the slate 'ernest' whispered to me: '_blake is a fine fellow. i met him twice._'" "'can you tell me where?' asked blake. "'_it was in new york city_,' was the reply; then, after a moment's hesitation: '_it was at dinner--both times!_' 'you are right,' said blake, much impressed. 'can you tell me the places?' '_once was on fifth avenue. the other was--i can't tell the location exactly; but it was where we went down a short flight of steps._' 'that is correct also,' said blake. 'how many persons were there?' '_five._' 'quite right. can you tell me who they were?' '_well, mary was there, and you, of course; but i can't be sure of the others._' "blake looked at me in astonishment, and our minds flashed along the same line. suppose the whisper were only a bit of clever ventriloquism, how did the psychic secure the information conveyed in this dialogue? it was given as i write it, with only a bit of hesitation once or twice; and yet, it may have been merely thought transference." "_merely_ thought transference!" exclaimed miller. "i consider thought transference quite as absurd as slate-writing." fowler interposed. "i consider this a simple case of spirit communication. you should be grateful for such a beautiful response." "this significant fact is not to be overlooked," i resumed: "the psychic secured almost nothing else that concerned either blake's affairs or my own. mainly the whispers had to do with 'e. a.,' which, of course, bears out miller's notion that the psychic could deal only with what was public property, and yet this little colloquy about the dinners in new york is very convincing so far as mind-reading goes. "during the third sitting, blake again being present, 'e. a.' took control, as before, from the start, and carried forward the recording of the musical fragment. '_i want you to fill in the treble, blake_,' he said. '_it's nothing but the bare melody now._' blake protested: 'i'm not up to this.' and the whisper came swiftly, '_you're too modest, blake_'; and a moment later it said: '_i hope you're not bored, garland._' if all this was a little play of the psychic's devising it was very clever, for after a few minutes of close attention to blake, 'e. a.' turned toward me and asked, with anxious haste: '_where's garland?_' 'i am here,' i answered. '_don't go away_,' he entreated. it was as if for the moment he had lost sight of me by reason of fixing his attention upon blake." "that is singular!" exclaimed fowler. "their field of vision is evidently much more restricted than we thought." "it must be very small indeed, for blake and i sat touching elbows. two or three times the whispering voice called, '_is garland here?_' and once it asked: '_what is garland doing? i see his hand moving._' i explained that i was making notes. '_don't do it!_' was the agitated request." "a very neat little touch," remarked miller. "we worked for a long time over this music, directed by the voice, both in the notation and in the execution of it. the lines were drawn for both bass and treble lengthwise of the slate, and blake found the little piece difficult to play, partly because the staves were on different leaves of the slate and partly because the notes, especially some of those put in at the beginning by the composer, were becoming blurred. it was marvellous to see how exactly these dim notes were touched up by the mysterious pencil beneath the table. but our progress was slow. 'e. a.' was very patient, though now and then he plumply opposed his will to blake's. once, especially, blake exclaimed: 'that can't be right!' "'_yes, it is right!_' insisted 'e. a.' "'but it is very unusual to construct a measure in that way.' for there was a seeming confusion of three-four time with six-eight time. "'_it is a liberty i permit myself_,' was the swift reply. "in the last bar, which did not appear to be filled satisfactorily, the composer directed the insertion of a figure 2. this meant, as became clear through a subsequent reference to his printed scores, the playing of two quarter-notes in the time of three eighth notes, but was not understood at the moment by blake. "'_never mind_,' said 'e. a.,' pleasantly, '_i will write it differently_.' the figure '2' was cancelled, and the measure was completed by a rest. this is only one of many astonishing passages in this dialogue. "in all this work 'e. a.' carried himself like the creative master. he held to a plane apparently far above the psychic's musical knowledge, and often above that of his amanuensis. he was highly technical throughout in both the composition and the playing, and blake followed his will, for the most part, as if the whispers came from alexander himself. and yet i repeat the music and all may have come from a union of blake's mind with that of the psychic, with now and then a mixture of my own subconscious self." "what was the psychic doing all this time?" asked miller. "she was listening to the voice and repeating the words which blake could not hear. she seemed merely the somewhat bored interpreter of words which she did not fully understand. it was precisely as if she were catching by wireless telephone the whispered instructions of my friend 'e. a.' i can't believe she consciously deceived us, but it is possible that these ventriloquistic voices have become a subconscious habit. "one other very curious event i must note. once, when blake was asking for a correction, the whisper exclaimed: '_i can't see it, blake!_' "'_cover it with your hand_,' interjected the 'control.' blake did so, and 'e. a.' spoke, gratefully: '_i see it now._" "seeing cannot mean the same with them that it does with us," exclaimed fowler. "you remember crookes put his finger on the print of a newspaper behind his back, and the 'spirit' spoke the word that was under his finger-tip. they apprehend by means of some form of etheric vibration not known to us." i resumed: "let me stop here for a moment to emphasize a very curious contradiction. between my first séance with mrs. hartley and this, our third attempt to secure the music, i had held two sittings in the home of a friend. mrs. hartley had come to the house about ten o'clock in the morning, bringing nothing with her except a few tips of soft slate-pencil. during the sitting i had secured in the middle of a manila pad (a pad which the psychic had never seen and which i had taken from my friend's desk) these words: '_have schumann.--e. a._' this writing i had taken to mean that 'ernest' wanted to hear some of schumann's music, and in that understanding i had called blake in to play. this had seemed at the moment perfectly conclusive and entirely satisfactory; yet now, in this final sitting, 'e. a.' suddenly reverted to this message, and whispered: '_garland, there is a certain étude which i took to schumann. i want you to regain it and take it to smart. mary will know about it. i meant to take it away, but did i? i was so badly off mentally that i don't know whether i did or not._' whereupon blake said: 'do you mean schumann the publisher?' '_yes_,' 'e. a.' replied; and i said: 'and you want the manuscript recalled from schumann and given to smart?' '_yes_,' was his very definite answer. "'very well, i will attend to it,' i replied. 'what do you want done with this fragment, "isinghere"?' i pursued. 'shall i publish it?' '_that is what it is for_,' he answered, curtly. "'how many bars are in it?' asked blake. 'forty?' '_more_,' returned the whisper. "blake made the mistake of again suggesting an answer. 'as many as sixty?' "'_yes, sixty or seventy_,' was the answer, like an echo. here blake's thought governed, but it was evident that the psychic had no clear conception of what this reference to schumann meant in the first instance, for 'e. a.' was unable to complete his sentence, which should have read: '_have schumann return a certain étude which i took.--e. a._' furthermore, the psychic evidently believed in the truth of the message or she would not have gone into it with such particularity; she would have been lacking in caution to have given me such definite and detailed information, knowing that it was all false. "so far as my own mind is concerned, i had no knowledge of such a music publisher as schumann. smart i had met. blake, however, knew of both firms. the entire message and the method of its communication were deeply exciting at the time, and completed what seemed like a highly intellectual test of identity, and we both left the house of the psychic with a feeling of having been very near to our dead friend. "'to identify one of these bars of music would be a good test,' said blake, 'but to find that _étude_ at schumann's would be a triumph.' "'to find the manuscript fragment would be still more convincing,' was my answer. "imagine my disappointment when, in answer to my inquiry, schumann replied that no such _étude_ had ever been in his hands, and alexander's family reported that no fragment called 'unghere' could be found among the composer's manuscripts." fowler shared my regret. "what about the other messages? were they all disappointing?" "no; some of them were not. the most intimate were true; and a signature which came on the slate under test conditions, and which i valued very little at the moment, turned out to be almost the exact duplicate of alexander's signature as he used to write it when a youth twenty years ago. as a matter of fact, it closely resembled the signature appended to a framed letter which used to hang upon the wall of his study. but, even so, its reproduction under these conditions is sufficiently puzzling." "what was blake's conclusion? did he put the same value upon it all that you did?" "yes, i think he was quite as deeply impressed as i. he said the music seemed like alexander's music, somehow distorted by the medium through which it came. 'it was like seeing alexander through a pane of crinkly glass,' he put it. and he added: 'i had the sense of being in long-distance contact with the composer himself.' he had no doubt of the supernormal means through which our writing came, but he remains doubtful of the value of the music as evidence of 'ernest's' return from the world of shadows." "have you tried to secure more of the music?" fowler asked. "no, not specifically; but i've had one further inconclusive sitting since then with mrs. hartley. almost immediately 'ernest' whispered a greeting and said: '_i want to go on with that music, garland. i want to put b and d and a into the first bar--it's only a bare sketch as it stands._' "to this i replied: 'i can't do it, 'ernest.' it's beyond me. wait till i can get blake again.' "this ended his attempt, although he was 'terribly anxious,' so the psychic said. i am going to try for the completion of this score through another psychic. if i can get that eighth bar taken up and carried on by 'ernest' through another psychic the case will become complicated. "i have gone into detail in my account of this experiment, for the reason that it illustrates very aptly the inextricable tangle of truth and error which most 'spirit communications' present. it typifies in little the elusive problem of spirit identification which many a veteran investigator is still at work upon, after years of study. maxwell gives a case of long-continued unintentional and unconscious deception of the general kind which went far to prevent his acceptance of the spirit hypothesis." "i don't think the failure to find the musical fragment invalidates this beautiful communication," declared fowler. "you admit that many of the messages were to the point, and that some of them were very intimate and personal." "yes, speaking generally, i would say that 'e. a.' might have uttered all the words and dictated all the messages except those that related to the publishing matter; but there is the final test. schumann declares that no such manuscript has ever been in his hands." "he may be mistaken, or 'e. a.' may have misspoken himself--for, as william james infers, the spirits find themselves tremendously hampered in their attempts to manifest themselves. furthermore, you say you could not hear all that 'e. a.' spoke--you or the psychic may have misunderstood him. in any case, it all seems to me a fine attempt at identification." "i wish i could put the same value on it now that i did when blake played the first bar of that thrilling little melody; but i can't. as it recedes it loses its power over me." "what did alexander's family think of the music?" "they thought it more like a cheyenne or omaha love-song than like a melody of 'ernest's' own composition." "but that only adds to the mystery of the mental process," objected miller. "that supposes it to have come out of your mind." "i can't believe that i had any hand in the musical part of it, and i can't persuade myself that my dead friend was present." "suppose you had been able to find that musical fragment, would it have converted you?" this was miller's challenge. "no, for even then some living person might have known of it--must have known of it; and if a knowledge of it lay in some other mind, no matter where and no matter how deeply buried in the subconscious, that knowledge, according to myers and hudson, would have been accessible to the supernormal perception of the psychic." fowler interrogated me: "but suppose a phantom form resembling 'e. a.' had _spoken_ these things to you face to face--what then?" "i would not have believed, even then." "why?" "well, for one reason, belief is not a matter of the will; it is not even dependent upon evidence." miller interrupted me. "i am interested in the writing. how do you account for the writing? as i understand it, the psychic did not, in some instances, touch the slate while the writing was going on. are you sure of blake?" "blake is as much to be trusted as i am. no, i am forced to a practical acceptance of the theory of the fluidic arm, and yet this is a most astounding admission. we must suppose that the psychic was able to read our minds and write down our mingled and confused musical conceptions by means of a supernumerary hand. it happens that i have since seen these etheric hands in action, which makes it easier for me to conceive of such a process. i have seen them dart forth from another medium precisely as described by scarpa. i have seen them lift a glass of water, and i have had them touch my knees beneath a table while slate-writing was going on--so that, given the power to read my mind, there is nothing impossible (having regard to bottazzi's definite experiments) in the idea of the etheric hand's setting down the music and reproducing the signature of 'e. a.' in fact, at a recent sitting in a private house with a young male psychic, we had this precise feat performed. said the psychic to our host, dr. towne, 'think hard of a signature that is very familiar to you,' and dr. towne fixed his mind upon the signature of his brother, and immediately, while the young man's material hands were controlled, his etheric hand seized a pencil in the middle of the table and reproduced the signature." "could you see this hand?" miller asked. "not in this case; but at a sitting which followed this, during such time as i sat beside the psychic and controlled one hand, i plainly saw the supernumerary arm and hand dart forth and seize a pencil. i saw a hand very plainly cross my knee and grasp me by the forearm. all of this has its bearing upon this very curious phenomenon of the reproduction of 'e. a's.' youthful signature, which remained very puzzling to us all." "but did you not say that 'e. a.' at times represented an opposing will?" questioned fowler--"that he disputed certain passages with blake, and that he finally carried his point in opposition to every mind in the circle?" "yes, that happened several times, and was all very convincing at the time. and yet this opposition may have been more apparent than real. it may have concerned our conscious wills only; our subconscious selves may have been in accord, working together as one." fowler was a bit irritated. "if you are disposed to make the subconscious will all-powerful and omniscient, nothing can be proved. it seems to me an evasion. however, let me ask how you would explain away a spirit form carrying the voice, the features, and the musical genius of 'e. a.'?" "well, there is the teleplastic theory of albert de rochas. he claims to have been able not merely to cause a hypnotized subject to exteriorize her astral self, but to mould this vapory substance as a sculptor models wax. so i can imagine that a momentary radiant apparition might have been created in the image of my sister or 'david' or 'e. a.'" "to my thinking, that is more complicated and incredible than the spirit hypothesis," objected fowler. "nothing can be more incredible to me than the spirit hypothesis," i replied. "but, then, everything is incredible in the last analysis. i am the more disposed to believe in the teleplastic theory, for the reason that i have recently had an opportunity to witness a particularly incredible thing: the materialization of a complete human form outside the cabinet and beside the psychic--a phenomenon which has a special bearing upon the matter of identity which we are discussing. the sitting took place in a small private house here in the city. the psychic in the case was a young business man who is careful not to advertise his power. for four years he has been holding secret developing circles whereto a few of his friends only are invited. i was present last sunday, and shared in the marvels. the place of the séance was the parlor of his apartment, his young wife and little daughter being present. there was, in addition, an elderly lady, mother-in-law of the psychic, and a polish student whom i will call jacob. i am quite sure that no one else entered or left the room during the evening. mrs. pratt, the mother-in-law, occupied a seat between me and jacob. the little girl sat at the window, and was under my eye all the time. the wife spent most of the evening at the piano on my right. the room was fairly dark, though the light of a far-away street lamp shone in at the window. "the psychic retired into a little alcove bedroom, which served as cabinet, and the curtain had hardly fallen between him and our group when the spirit voices began. the first one to speak was 'evan,' the 'guide,' and i remarked that his voice was precisely like a falsetto disguise of the psychic's own. "soon 'evan' and other spirits appeared at the opening of the curtain. the wife called them each by name, but i could see only certain curious fluctuating, cloud-like forms, like puffs of fire-lit steam. the effect was not that of illuminated gauze, but more like illuminated vapor. at length came one that spoke in a deep voice, using a foreign language. jacob, the young pole, sprang up in joyous excitement, saying that he had sat many times in this little circle, but that this was the first time a spirit had spoken to him in his own tongue. as they conversed together, i detected a close similarity of accent and of tone in their speech. it certainly sounded like the polish language, but i could not rid myself of the impression that the pole was talking to himself." "what do you mean by that?" "i mean that the accent, inflection, and quality of the ghost's voice were identical with that of the living man, and this became still more striking when, a little later, jacob returned to his seat, and the 'count,' his visitor, called for the polish national hymn. jacob then sang, and the phantom sang with him. now this seemed like a clear case of identification, and was perfectly satisfactory to jacob, but i had observed this fact: the pole was an indifferent singer--having hard work to keep the key--and the 'count' was troubled in the same way. his deep, almost toneless, singing struck me as a dead, flat, wooden echo of jacob's voice. in short, it was as if the psychic had built up a personality partly out of himself, but mainly out of his polish sitter, and as if this etheric duplication were singing in unison with its progenitor." "what nonsense!" exclaimed fowler. "did he manufacture a double out of you?" queried miller. "no one spoke to me from the shadow, except the 'guide,' although i was hoping for some new word from 'ernest,' and kept him uppermost in my mind. a form came out into the centre of the room, which the wife said was 'evan,' and requested me to shake his hand. this i did. the hand felt as if it were covered with some gauzy veiling. my belief is that it was the psychic himself who stood before me, probably in trance. i could see nothing, however. i do not remember that i could detect any shadow even; but the hand was real, and the voice and manner of speech were precisely those of the psychic himself." "i repeat that this does not necessarily imply fraud, for the mind and vocal organs of the psychic are often used in that way," fowler argued. "i grant that. up to this point i had been able to see nothing but dim outlines. but toward the end of the evening the psychic advanced from the cabinet and in a dazed way ordered the lamp to be lit. this was done. he then asked that it be turned low. this was also done. thereupon, directing his gaze toward the curtain, he called twice in a tone of command, '_come out!_' "i could place every one in the room at the moment. i could see the psychic distinctly. i could discern the color of his coat and the expression of his face. he stood at least six feet from the opening in the curtain. at his second cry, in which i detected a note of entreaty, i saw a luminous form, taller than himself, suddenly appear before the curtain and stand bowing in silence. i could perceive neither face, eyes, nor feet, but i could make out the arms under the shining robe, the shape of the head and the shoulders, and as he bowed i could see the bending of his neck. it certainly was not a clothes-horse. the covering was not so much a robe as a swathing, and we had time to discuss it briefly. "however, my eyes were mainly busy with the psychic, whose actions impressed me deeply. he had the air of an anxious man undergoing a dangerous ordeal. his right hand was stretched stiffly toward the phantom, his left was held near his heart; his knees seemed to tremble, and his body appeared to be irresistibly drawn toward the cabinet. slowly, watchfully, fearfully, he approached the phantom. the figure turned toward him, and a moment later they met--they clung together, they appeared to coalesce, and the psychic fell through the curtain to the floor of the cabinet, like a man smitten with death." "what do you wish to imply?" asked miller. "do you mean that the man and the ghost were united in some way?" "precisely so. the 'spirit' seemed drawn by some magnetic force toward the psychic, and the psychic seemed under an immense strain to keep the apparition exterior to himself. when they met the spectre vanished, and the psychic's fall seemed inevitable--a collapse from utter exhaustion. i was at the moment convinced that i had seen a vaporous entity born of the medium. it seemed a clear case of projection of the astral body. in the pause which followed the psychic's fall the young wife turned to me and said: 'sometimes, if my husband does not reach the spirit form in time, he falls _outside_ the curtain.' she did not seem especially alarmed. "the young psychic himself, however, told me afterward that he was undergoing a tremendous strain as he stood there commanding the spirit to appear. 'i had a fierce pain in the centre of my forehead,' he said. 'i couldn't get my breath. i felt as if all my substance, my strength, was being drawn out of me. my legs seemed about to give way. it is always hard to produce a form so far away from me when i am on the outside of the cabinet in the light. the greater the distance, the greater the strain.' i asked him what happened when he and the form rushed together, and he answered: 'as soon as i touched it, it re-entered my body.'"[2] "i wonder why the spirits are always clothed in that luminous gauze?" queried miller. "they are not," replied fowler. "more often they come in the clothing which was their habitual wear." "i asked this young psychic if drapery were used out of respect to us mortals, and he replied: 'no; the forms are swathed not from sense of propriety so much as to protect the body, which is often incomplete at the extremities.' the wife and jacob told me that at one of their meetings a naked hercules suddenly appeared before the curtain. the pole declared: 'he was of giant size and strength. i felt of his muscles (he was clothed only in a loincloth), and i closely studied his tremendous arms and shoulders. the medium, as you know, is a small, thin man. we called this figure "the man from mars." he was at least six feet high, and strong as a lion. he rushed back into the cabinet, and came out holding the medium above his head on his upraised palms. it was very wonderful.'" "you didn't see anything like that, did you?" asked miller. "no," i replied; "but i did see the development of a figure apparently from the floor between me and the curtain of the cabinet. my attention was called to something wavering, shimmering, and fluctuating about a foot above the carpet. it was neither steam nor flame. it seemed compounded of both luminous vapor and puffing clouds of drapery. it rose and fell in quivering impulses, expanding and contracting, but continuing to grow until at last it towered to the height of a tall man, and i could dimly discern, through dark draperies edged with light, a man's figure. "'this,' the young wife said, 'is judge white, the grandfather of the psychic,' and she conversed with him, but only for a few moments. he soon dwindled and faded and melted away in the same fashion as he had come, recalling to my mind richet's description of the birth and disappearance of 'b. b.,' in algiers. i know this sounds like the veriest dreaming, but you must remember that materializations much more wonderful have been seen and analyzed in the clinical laboratories of turin and naples. morselli, bottazzi, lombroso, porro, and foà have been confronted by similar apparitions. they saw 'sinister' faces, and were repelled by 'satanic hands agile and prompt' in cabinets of their own construction, surrounded by their own registering machinery, and richet photographed just such figures as this i have described. "the question with me is not, do these forms exist? but, what produces them? i am describing this sitting to explain what i mean by the ideoplastic or teleplastic theory. if, for example, this psychic had known me well enough to have had a very definite picture of 'e. a.,' he might have been able to model from the mind-stuff that he or the circle had thrown off, a luminous image of my friend, and, aided by my subconscious self, might have united the presence and the musical thought of ernest alexander." "it won't do!" exclaimed miller. "it's all too destructive, too preposterous!" "i insist that the spirit hypothesis is simpler," repeated fowler. "it isn't a question of simplicity," i retorted. "it's a question of fact. if the observations of scientific experimentalists are of any value, the teleplastic theory is on the point of winning acceptance." "i will not admit that," rejoined fowler. "for, even if you throw out all the enormous mass of evidence accumulated by spiritistic investigators, you still have the conversion of wallace, lodge, and lombroso, not to speak of de vesme, venzano, and other well-known men of science, to account for. even crookes himself admits that nothing but some form of spirit hypothesis is capable of explaining _all_ the phenomena; and in a recent issue of the _annals of psychic science_ lombroso writes a paper making several very strong points against the biologic theory. one of these is the simultaneous occurrence of phenomena. 'can the subconscious self act in several places at once?' he asks. a second objection lies in the fact that movements occur in opposition to the will of the psychic--as, for example, when eusapia was transported in her chair. 'can a man lift himself by his boot-straps?' is the question. 'the centre of gravity of a body cannot be altered in space unless acted upon by an external force. therefore, the phenomena of levitation cannot be considered to be produced by energy emanating from the medium.'" "i don't think that follows," i argued. "force may be exerted unconsciously and invisibly. because the psychic does not _consciously_ will to do a certain thing is no proof that the action does not originate in the deeps of her personality. we know very little of this obscure region of our minds." fowler was ready with his answer: "but let us take the case that lombroso cites of the beautiful woman spirit whose hand twice dashed the photographic plates from the grasp of those who wished to secure her picture. here was plainly an opposing will, for the psychic was lending herself to the experiment, and the spectators were eager for its success. notwithstanding which co-operation this phantom bitterly opposed the wishes of every one present, and it was _afterward_ learned that there was a special reason why she did not wish to leave positive proofs of her identity. 'it is evident, therefore,' concludes lombroso, 'that a third will can intervene in spiritistic phenomena.' "furthermore, dr. venzano, as well as de vesme, have taken up the same body of facts upon which foà and morselli base their theory, and arrive at a totally different conclusion. they call attention to a dozen events that can be explained only on the theory of discarnate intelligences. venzano observed that the forms occurred in several places at once, that they appeared in many shapes and many guises. some were like children, some had curly hair, some had beards. in one case identification was made by introducing the finger of one of the sitters within the phantom mouth to prove the loss of a molar tooth. sometimes the hair of these heads was plaited like that of a girl. some of the hands were large and black, others fair and pink--like a child's. in short, he argues that the medium could not have determined the size, shape, or color of the phantoms." "all that does not really militate against the ideoplastic theory," i retorted. "it is as easy to produce a phantom with hair plaited as it is to produce one with hair in curls. if it is a case of the modelling of the etheric vapor by the mind of the psychic, these differences would be produced naturally enough. the forcible handling of the medium by the invisible ones is a much more difficult thing for me to explain, for to imagine the psychic emitting a form of force which afterward proceeds to raise the psychic herself against her will--as mrs. smiley testifies happened again and again in her youth--is to do violence to all that we know of natural law. and yet it may be that the etheric double is able to take on part of the forces resident in the circle of sitters, and so become immensely more potent than the psychic himself, as in the case of the 'man from mars'--the hercules i have just been telling you about. then, as to the content of these messages, they may be impulses, hints, fragments of sentences caught from the air as one wireless operator intercepts communications meant for other stations than his own. so that my interview with 'e. a.' may have been a compounding of the psychic, blake, and myself, and fugitive natures afloat in the ether. in fact, i am not as near a belief in the return of the dead as i was when i began this last series of experiments. these italian scientific observers, i confess, have profoundly affected my thought." "your idea is, then," said miller, "that these apparitions are emanations of the medium's physical substance, moulded by his will and colored by the minds of his sitters?" "that is the up-to-date theory, and everything that i have experienced seems capable of a biologic interpretation against it." fowler hastened to weaken the force of this statement. "spiritists all admit that the forms of spirits are made up--partly, at least--of the psychic's material self, but that does not prove that the mind of the ghost is not a separate entity from that of the psychic. i grant that the only difference between the psycho-dynamic theory and the spiritualistic theory lies in the question of the origin of the intelligences that direct the manifestation. foà would say they spring from the subconscious self of the psychic. we say they come from the spirit world, and there we stand." miller's words were keen and without emotion. "until all phenomena are explained there will be obscure happenings and things to be explained by some one who can, but it is no final explanation to say 'a man did it' or 'an intelligence did it.' i have often been told that things cannot move in certain ways or certain things cannot be done except by intelligent action or guidance, but it may be remembered that kepler thought guiding spirits were needful for making the planets move in their elliptical orbits." "your scientists are feeding millions of people stones," exclaimed fowler. "they ask for bread, and you give them slices of granite." "better granite than slime," said miller. "i am with the biologists in this campaign. let us have the truth, no matter how unpalatable it may be. if these phenomena exist, they are in the domain of natural law and can be weighed and measured. if they are imaginary, they should be swept away, like other dreams of superstition and ignorance." fowler was not to be silenced. "i predict that you and your like will yet be forced, like lombroso, to take your place with aksakof, lodge, wallace, du prel, and crookes, who have come to admit the intervention of discarnate intelligences. lombroso says, 'we find, as i already foresaw some years ago, that these materialized bodies belong to the radiant state of matter, which has now a sure foothold in science. this is the only hypothesis that can reconcile the ancient and universal belief in the persistence of some manifestation of life after death with the results of science.' he adds: 'these beings, or remnants of beings, would not be able to obtain complete consistency to incarnate themselves, if they did not temporarily borrow a part of the medium. _but to borrow force from the medium is not the same thing as to be identical with the medium._'" "well," said i, "of this i am certain: we cannot afford to ignore such experiments as those of morselli and bottazzi. i am aware that many investigators discountenance such experiments, but i believe with venzano that the physical phenomena of mediumship cannot be, and ought not to be, considered trivial. it was the spasmodic movement of a decapitated frog that resulted in the discovery of the voltaic pile. furthermore, i intend to try every other conceivable hypothesis before accepting that of the spiritists." "what is your reason for that?" asked fowler. "because i am a scientist in my sympathies. i believe in the methods of the chemist and the electrician. i prefer the experimenter to the theorist. i like the calm, clear, concise statements of these european savans, who approach the subject, not as bereaved persons, but as biologists. i am ready to go wherever science leads, and i should be very glad to _know_ that our life here is but a link in the chain of existence. others may have more convincing knowledge than i, but at this present moment the weight of evidence seems to me to be on the side of the theory that mediumship is, after all, a question of unexplored human biology." "i don't see it that way," rejoined fowler, calmly. "suppose your biologists prove that the psychic can put forth a supernumerary arm, or maintain, for a short time, a complete double of herself. would that necessarily make the spiritist theory untenable? is it not fair to conclude that if the soul or 'astral' or 'etheric double' can act outside the living body, it can live and think and manifest after the dissolution of its material shell? does not the experimental work of bottazzi, morselli, and de rochas all make for a spiritual interpretation of life rather than for the position of the materialist? i consider that they have strengthened rather than weakened the mystic side of the universe. they are bringing the wonder of the world back to the positivist. let them go on. they will yet demonstrate, in spite of themselves, the immortality of the soul." "i hope they will," i replied. "it would be glorious at this time, when tradition begins to fail of power, to have a demonstration of immortality come through the methods of experimental science. certainly i would welcome a physical proof that my mother still thinks and lives, and that ernest and other of my dearest friends are at work on other planes and surrounded by other conditions, no matter how different from the conventional idea of paradise these environments might be; but the proof must be ample and very definite." miller put in a last word of warning: "because a phenomenon has not been explained, and no one knows how to explain it, is no reason for supposing there is anything extraphysical about it. no one has explained the first cause of the development of an embryo. no one knows what goes on in an active nerve, or why atoms are selective in their associates. ignorance is not a proper basis for speculation, and if one must have a theory, let it be one having some obvious continuity with our best physical knowledge." and at that point our argument rested. we separated, and each went his way, to be met by questions of business and politics, and to be once more blended to the all-enveloping mystery of life. footnote: [2] since this conversation i have had a letter from another well-authenticated psychic, a man making his living by honest labor as a carpenter, who gives very definitely his experience on emitting an etheric double. he says: "one evening, while sitting at the table, i began to feel as if i were swelling up. my thumb felt as big as my arm, and my arm as big as my leg. while i was perfectly aware that i was at the dinner-table, i also felt myself in the hall trying to enter the dining-room. i found the knob, i opened the door. the others saw me traverse the room toward myself. my dual body came close beside me and vanished with a snap." addendum a corroborative and technical account of psychical phenomena, involving the production of a musical score on a slate, secured by "blake."[3] this record was secured during three sittings, which took place on the forenoon and afternoon of friday, march 13th, and on the forenoon of saturday, march 14, 1908. these sittings were held in a dwelling-house on a quiet street of ordinary character. they began in a second-story front room, and were transferred to a parlor just below, where there was a piano. the room, in either case, was fairly light; now and then the window-shades were lowered, but reading and writing were easy at all times. three persons were present: the psychic, a robust, alert, intelligent woman of thirty-five; hamlin garland; and the writer, who combined the functions of amanuensis and editor. the psychic was not in a trance, and stated that she had never gone into one. she conversed throughout in ordinary voice and manner, save when, with a certain emphasis, she undertook to hasten the pace of her lagging "controls." the three sittings were attended by little noise, pounding, or violence; there was no breaking or crumpling up of slates, as had been the case during an earlier sitting on thursday. the psychic's principal "control"--to be known here as "dr. cooke"--spoke in whispers, and his words were repeated aloud by the psychic herself. these whisperings were only occasionally audible to the writer, but they were plainly heard by mr. garland. it may be added that on at least two occasions, however, the writer heard and understood replies which the psychic declared had not been audible to her. during the latter portion of these sittings, especially that of saturday, the "control" seemed to withdraw altogether, and for two or three hours the circle was in apparent communication--direct, rapid, uninterrupted--with an intelligence that may conveniently be termed the "composer." the paraphernalia for these sittings comprised the following: 1. a small, light, walnut centre-table, which mr. garland himself had assisted in repairing before the proceedings began. 2. a silicon book-slate, eight inches by five inches. there were six pages--the insides of the covers and a double leaf. these leaves lay close and flat, like those of a book. 3. a few bits of slate-pencil, from one-quarter of an inch to three-eighths of an inch in length; also a longer slate-pencil used by the writer. 4. a small writing-pad and lead-pencil, for general memoranda and notations. 5. certain fruits and flowers, such as roses, sweet-peas, pineapples, and grape-fruit. these met the psychic's needs or fancies, and were brought into close relation with pad or slate when the "forces" seemed inclined to weaken. 6. the piano. shortly after the opening of the friday-morning sitting the composer requested that the whole slate be ruled with staves for writing music. throughout the preceding wednesday and thursday attempts at the writing of music had been of constant occurrence; they had come on slates, on writing-pads, and on the leaves of closed books. these bits of musical notation had been very fragmentary and obscure; often they had consisted of less than half a dozen notes placed upon staves consisting of but three or four lines, instead of five. the most successful of these earlier efforts had been produced on a double school-slate, with a wooden, list-bound frame: two measures on a treble staff had been sprinkled with vague indications of musical script. no attempts had yet been made to bring even the best of these various writings to order and intelligibility. we were soon to learn that a scrap of music set down within three or four minutes was to require as many hours for revision, emendation, elucidation--for editing, in brief. it is but fair, however, to state that some of this time was taken up by the registering of irrelevant messages from other quarters and by digressions toward the composer's own private concerns. the staff drawn on the wooden-framed slate had been ruled crosswise. the composer now directed that the new staves to be drawn on the silicon slate should run lengthwise and should cover every page of it. this was done by the editor. provision was asked for seven measures, to which an eighth was added later. during the three minutes or so required for writing on the six pages of the slate, the position of the slate, in reference to the editor, was as follows: after considerable moving about beneath the top of the table, during which time it was principally in the hands of the psychic, it approached the writer and remained with him. the under cover of the slate (with a bit of slate-pencil tightly enclosed) rested on his knee; the upper cover was pressed against the frame of the table. the editor's thumb rested rather lightly on the middle of the nearer half of the upper cover, and his fingers assisted in supporting the nearer half of the under cover. the psychic herself had surrendered the control of the slate to the editor, and could have had no contact with it beyond touching the edge farthest from him. on the second day, saturday, during which the bass for the last four measures was produced, the slate was in the exclusive control of the editor, the psychic not touching it at all. the progress of the musical writing was both felt and heard; it was a combination of light and rapid scratching, pecking, and twitching, with an occasional slight waving motion up and down. the score, as first revealed, consisted of open-headed notes with curved stems. they gave no indications of varying values; it was impossible to distinguish quarter-notes from eighth-notes, sixteenth-notes, or grace-notes; and no rests were set down. the notes were placed but approximately as regarded lines and spaces. no stems, save in one or two instances, united the chords, the notes of which were written more or less above one another, yet detached. a few unsatisfactory attempts were made by the composer to place the bars. these were mostly put in by the editor--sometimes by the direction or with the acquiescence of the composer--and, when they were drawn in advance of the writing, their presence was always properly observed. as the revision became more close and careful, the composer directed that the work be continued down-stairs beside the piano. here every bar of the treble was played separately as soon as edited, to be pronounced satisfactory by the composer, or to be modified under his direction. the treble, on its completion--eight measures--was then played over in its entirety and pronounced by the composer to be correct. (he made one or two further emendations, however, on the following day.) the eight bars of the bass were gone over in the same fashion. the attempt to play the entire composition, treble and bass, was not satisfactory, partly owing to mechanical difficulties occasioned by the distribution of the matter on the slate and the multiplicity of corrections, and partly from lack of skill in the performer. however, two or three very brief passages were given by both hands and pronounced correct by the composer, who showed surprise that anything so "_simple_"--as he characterized it--should give so much trouble. in one instance he noted that, while the two parts, treble and bass, were correct separately, they were not played in correct time together. the composer, throughout, was most patient, persevering, courteous, and encouraging, though toward the end--in the closing measures of the bass--he showed some confusion and uncertainty. "_wait a moment_," he would say; and once the whisper asked that, as an aid to sight, the editor's hand be spread over that leaf of the slate on which work was in progress. the composer had thought, earlier--and so said--that a trained musician could easily supply the bass from the melody. his amanuensis was obliged to acknowledge frankly an inability to cope successfully with so complicated and unusual a matter. the psychic herself, though expressing a fondness for the opera, disclaimed any knowledge of musical notation, and added that never before had she performed such a function as at present. as the work of correction progressed, the composer several times asked for opportunity to make the changes himself; whereupon the pencil-tip would be enclosed in the slate and satisfactory emendations be forthcoming. in cases where corrections were made by the writer, the composer often watched the progress of the slate-pencil (a longer one than that which was used between the leaves) and gave directions: "_not there_"; "_yes, here_," and the like; and he would often acknowledge a correction with a "_thank you_," or meet a suggestion with a "_yes, if you please_." on these occasions the slate was some four feet distant from the psychic, and practically out of her sight. repeated attempts were made on both sides to get down the name of the composition. various related versions of the word appeared, none of them quite satisfactory. the composer seemed to acquiesce in our attempts to relate his title to different slavic and italian words for "gypsy," but no importance can be attached, of course, to such a piece of direct suggestion. the final version of this brief but laborious score has been preserved, and all the stages in its progress have been abundantly annotated. to follow it through in detail, however, would be but weariness. all the salient points in its production fall under one of three heads. there are, first, the passages that seem to have been produced in co-operation with the sitters. there are, second, the passages that seem to have been produced in independence of the sitters. and there are, third, the passages that seem to have been produced in direct opposition to the sitters. examples of all three classes follow; perhaps only those of the third and last class are really important. 1. the composer in co-operation. the piece, in three sharps, opened on the tonic, yet the very first note in the bass was a g-sharp. the following colloquy ensued: editor: "does the piece begin with the tonic chord of a?" composer: "_yes._" editor: "is the g-sharp, then, to be regarded as a suspension?" composer: "_of course. that makes it right. how could it be correct otherwise?_" another example. in the second bar a note which the editor had taken for an eighth-note was explained by the composer as being a grace-note. the editor pointed out that this left only five eighth-notes to fill a six-eight measure. the composer directed the insertion of an eighth-rest at the beginning of the bar. in the fourth bar there was a partial chord, e-b--a fifth. the composer's attention was drawn to this blemish. he requested the insertion of a g-sharp between, thus completing his triad. but the above examples, and others which might be related, are not without resemblances to thought transference. 2. the composer in independence. under this head may be placed his various instructions relative to tempo, expression, and the like. the signature, three sharps, was set down by the editor, as the result of an answer to his inquiry. but the time--six-eight--was written in (on the editor's request) by the composer himself. it was a distinct and separate effort, for which the pencil was put in the slate and the slate placed beneath the table. the time was set down before the notes themselves were secured. the six-eight sign was clearly and neatly written on the proper staff, in correct relation to the g-clef and to the signature; and the two figures were also in correct relation to each other. the word "moderato" was written in by the composer's direction, without any request from the editor. later, the words "with feeling" and the mark of expression "pp," were obtained in the same way. ties, grace-notes, and staccato-marks were insisted upon, here and there, with great vigor and earnestness. two further examples of the composer's independence will perhaps suffice. in the sixth measure there was a run of three eighth-notes in the treble, exactly above a corresponding run of three eighth-notes in the bass. in making his revision the composer directed that each of these three pairs of notes should be joined by stems. this took the treble notes down to the bass, and left the last half of the treble bar empty--a fact unnoticed by the editor and beyond the purview of the psychic. the composer, however, observed the hiatus, and directed the insertion of two rests. one other instance: the bar at the end of the first measure, as originally drawn by the composer, cut off two notes on leger-lines and gave them to the succeeding measure. another little colloquy: editor: "shall i draw the bar where it belongs?" composer: "_yes, if you please._" editor: "here?" composer: "_no._" editor: "there?" composer: "_yes. thank you._" 3. the composer in opposition. numerous interesting cases of cross-purposes between the composer and the circle developed during these two days. a number of salient examples follow: on the first opening of the slate, the seventh measure of the treble contained but two notes, which the composer presently declared to be quarter-notes. this left the first third of the measure vacant; and the composer, interrogated, directed the insertion of a quarter-rest. the editor objected that this gave the measure a three-quarter look, instead of the proper six-eighth look. "_that is a liberty i take_," came the answer, like a flash. at one stage the composer requested that a certain note should have a "dot" added. the editor placed the dot to the right of the note, thus lengthening its value by one-half. "_no, no_," objected the composer; "_put it on top, above the staff_." his intention had been, once more, to make a note "staccato," and he had been misunderstood. the editor, in setting down the signature of sharps on the second page of the slate, intentionally placed the last sharp a third below its proper position. he was at once brought to book by "dr. cooke," the "control." "_we are being fair by you, and you must be fair by us._" in the eighth and last measure, which did not appear to be satisfactorily completed, the composer called for the insertion of a figure 2. this meant, as became clear enough through a subsequent reference to his published scores, that he wished two quarter-notes to receive the value of three eighth-notes, but was not understood at the time by his helper. "_never mind_," said the composer, graciously, "_i will write it differently_." he cancelled the figure 2, and completed the measure with a rest. a similar instance occurred in the fifth measure, where the composer called insistently for a double sharp (×). the editor ventured to object, and the passage was tried on the piano, at the composer's request. the double sharp was felt by him to be unsatisfactory, and was sacrificed. "_it won't make much difference, anyway_," was his whispered comment. a curious point, to finish with: on the first day the editor inquired about doubtful notes by name, as, a, c-sharp, and the like, while the composer indicated their position by specifying lines and spaces--as, third space, second line, and so on. the next day, when the editor made his inquiries on the basis of lines and spaces, the composer oftenest named the notes by letter. toward the end of the last sitting, "dr. cooke" once again came to the fore and hinted that the result of our endeavors might perhaps be not a reproduction of one of the composer's manuscripts, but of a mental picture in the composer's mind. the "picture," as secured by us, was not, it must be admitted, without distortion. the composer himself used the word "scattered" in such a way as to imply that he had sketched out his ideas in life on various detached bits of paper. he added that a certain member of his family "would know." the hopes raised by this declaration have not been realized. "_no more music to-day_," whispered "dr. cooke"; and the sitting--the sittings--ended. the end footnote: [3] "blake" is my friend henry b. fuller, who had never before sat for psychic phenomena, and to whom i turned for help in securing the musical notation. victor ollnee's discipline by hamlin garland author of "the captain of the gray-house troop" "main-travelled roads" etc. harper & brothers publishers new york and london mcmxi contents i. victor reads the fateful star ii. victor interrogates his mother iii. victor makes a test iv. victor throws down the altar v. victor receives a warning vi. victor is checked in his flight vii. the return of the spirit viii. victor repairs his mother's altar ix. the law's delay x. a visit to hazel grove xi. love's translation xii. a moonlight call and a vision xiii. victor tests his theory xiv. the ordeal xv. the ring xvi. conclusion victor ollnee's discipline i victor reads the fateful star saturday had been a strenuous day for the baseball team of winona university, and victor ollnee, its redoubtable catcher, slept late. breakfast at the beta kappa fraternity house on sunday started without him, and gilbert frenson, who never played ball or tennis, and arnold macey, who was too effeminate to swing a bat, divided the sunday morning _star_ between them. "see here, gil," called macey, holding up an illustrated page, "do you suppose this woman is any relation to vic?" frenson took the paper and glanced at it casually. it contained a full-page lurid article, printed in two colors, with the picture of a tall, serpentine, heavy-eyed, yet beautiful woman, whose long arms (ending in claws) reached for the heart of a sleeping man. "what is it all about?" asked frenson, as his eyes roamed over the text. "it seems to be an attack on a medium named ollnee who pretends to be able to bring the dead to life. according to this article, she's the limit as a fraud. you don't suppose--ollnee is an unusual name--" "oh, not so very. i suppose it's another way of spelling olney. i don't see any reason to connect old vic with any such woman as that." "no, only he's always been kind of secretive about his folks. you'll admit that. why, we don't even know where he came from! nobody does, unless you do." frensen dipped into the article. "wow! this _is_ a hot one! lucile has a case for libel all right--unless the reporter happens to be telling the truth." "hello, vic!" he shouted, as a tall, broad-shouldered, but rather lean young fellow entered the room. "vic, you are discovered!" "what's the excitement?" asked the newcomer. "here's an article in the sunday paper you should see. it's all about a woman namesake of yours, a medium named lucile ollnee. the name is spelled exactly like yours. say, old man, i didn't know you were the son of an 'infamous faker.' why didn't you let us know." his tone was comic. young ollnee took the paper quietly, but, as he read, a look of bewilderment came upon his face. "how about it, vic?" repeated macey. "you seem to be hard hit. is she an aunt or a sister?" rising abruptly, victor left the room, taking the paper with him. macey uttered a word of astonishment, but frensen, after a pause, said, soberly, "there's something doing here, sissy. he didn't act a bit funny; but it's up to us to keep quiet till we know just where we stand. if that woman _is_ related to vic he's going to be fighting mad. i guess i'd better go up and see how he's taking it. he certainly did seem jolted." he turned to utter a warning. "don't say anything to the other fellows till i come back." macey promised, and frenson went up the stairs and into the little study which he and victor shared in common. the windows were open and the bird-songs and the fragrance of a glorious may morning flooded the room with joy, but in the midst of its radiance young ollnee sat, bent above the fateful printed page. as frenson entered he raised his head. "have you read this thing, frens?" he asked, tremulously. "part of it." "frens, lucy ollnee is my mother. this article is full of lies, but it's based on facts. i'd like to kill the man that wrote it," he added, savagely. "let me look at it again," said frenson. victor handed the paper to him and sat in silence while frenson went over the article with studious care. it was an exceedingly able and bitter presentation of the opposition side. it left no excuse, no palliation for a career such as that of lucile ollnee. "she is fraudulent from beginning to end," the writer passionately declared. "from her heart outward she is as vile, as remorseless, as mysterious as a vampire. no one knows from what foul nest she sprang. she battens upon the sick, the world-weary, the sorrowing. her hokus-pokus is so simple that it would deceive no one but those who are blinded by their own tears. she has just one human trait. she is said to be educating a son at an eastern university on the profits of her vile trade. it is said that she is keeping him in ignorance of her way of life." frenson looked up at his friend. "vic, what do you know of this business?" "almost nothing. i don't know very much of even my mother's relations. the first that i can remember is our home in la crescent. my father's name was paul ollnee, but i can't remember him. he died before i was three years old. we left la crescent when i was about eight and went to the city. i can't remember very much previous to that time, but after we moved to the city i know my mother set up her 'ghost-room' again." "ghost-room?" "yes, that's what i called it. i can't remember when there was not a 'ghost-room' in our house. as far back as when i was five years old we had it, and i was just getting old enough to wonder about it when we moved to the city." "what kind of a den was this ghost-room?" "it looked like any other bright and pretty room, but i never got more than a glimpse of it, for i was afraid of it. there was nice paper on the wall, i remember, and a desk with books, and there were some tall tin horns standing in the corner. oh yes, and always an old walnut table. there's something queer about that. i don't understand why my mother should have taken that table down to the city with her, but she did. it was just an old, battered-up walnut stand, and yet she seemed to think the world of it. she put it in the center of her room in the city just as she used to have it in our old home. oh, how i hated that room! there was something uncanny about it. there was always a string of strange men and women going into it with my mother, and i was always sent away to play when they came. oh, gil"--his voice broke--"she is a medium, but she's not the awful creature they make her out." "of course not. we all know how these things go." "you see, i went away to boarding-school when i was ten. this paper says i was sent away to keep me clear of the business that went on at home. i'm not sure but that is true, for i've seen very little of my mother's home life since." "didn't you visit her during vacations?" "no, she always came to see me, and we took trips here and there. we'd go east, or to colorado somewhere. oh, we've had such splendid times together, gil. she brought me presents and sent me money--" he looked out of the window for a few moments before he could go on. "and now--the other fellows will see that article, of course." "yes, the whole town will be reading it in an hour. however, they may not connect you with it." "oh yes, they will, and they'll believe every word of it, and they'll understand that i am lucy ollnee's son. this finishes me, gil. everybody will think i _knew_ how my mother earned her money, and they'll despise me for taking it." he rose in an agony of shame. "i might as well be at the bottom of the lake." "don't take it so hard, old man. you're a big favorite here," said frenson, with intent to offer consolation. "the work you've done on the team will go a long ways toward carrying you through this thing. brace up; all is not lost." the stricken youth was not listening. "just think, gil, she's been doing all this for me! i knew she claimed to have messages, but i didn't know that i was living on money earned in that way. you see, we own some houses in la crescent, and i just took it for granted that our living came from them." he was white with pain now. "this ends my career here. i've got to get out, and do it quick. i'll be the laughing stock of the whole town by noon." frenson, deeply sympathetic, did his best to minimize the effect of the disclosure, but with victor's corroboration of the reporter's charges, he was forced to admit that mrs. ollnee was either an imposter or a woman of unsound mind. little by little he drew from the stricken youth other interesting details. "i remember having a fight with a city boy by the name of barker," said victor, "because he yelled at me 'sonova medium' till i stopped his mouth with my fist. it seems to me as if it were the very next day that my mother took me to mirror lake and put me in a boarding-school. that fight must have influenced her. perhaps up to that moment our neighbors had let us alone. i can understand now why she always visited me and why she never offered to take me to the city." he did not say that this very aloofness had made of her, to him, a serene and lofty figure, but so it was. she had come to him out of the unknown distance, a mysterious queen of the fairies, with something very sad and very sweet in her face and something very appealing in her voice. there was nothing commonplace, nothing associated with toil or worry in his memory of her. her broad, full brow, her deep-blue eyes, and her frail little body put her apart from other women. as he dwelt now on her dignity, her loving care, his heart grew strong with resolution. "gilbert," he called, suddenly, "i'm going down there and defend her from those beasts." frenson was not surprised. "i reckon that's your little stunt," he retorted, student-fashion, but he was very much in earnest, nevertheless. "i'm wondering what old boyden will say." victor believed in professor boyden and honored him, but at the moment the thought of facing him was painful. boyden was one of those who tested the human soul with the electric bell, the clock, and the spymograph. delusions were among his hobbies. hysteria was a great word with him. man lived among appearances. personality was not a unit, but an aggregate, liable to disassociation, and the hysterical girl was capable of deceiving the very elect. to him, mediumship was merely the sign of immorality or epilepsy. a part of this disrupting philosophy had entered victor's head, and as he slowly and minutely re-read that cruel newspaper analysis of his sweet and gentle mother he was startled, but a little comforted by the thought that she might be the victim of her subconscious self, "she can't mean to cheat. of that i am certain. but she needs me just the same. i'm going to earn her living and mine in some honest way." two or three of his most intimate friends came up after breakfast and started in to chaff, but, being far past the stage of evasion, victor frankly confessed his relationship to the medium and hotly defended her, ending by mournfully, declaring his intention of leaving school at once and forever. thereupon, his visitors also became very serious, perceiving the tumult of doubt and despair into which he had been thrown, and one by one they fell into awkward silence and slipped away, leaving him alone with frenson, who had been giving the most careful thought to the whole situation. "of course the fellow who wrote this article had his own private grouch. any one can see that. and your friends are not going to condemn your mother on what he says. but all the same, you're wound up pretty tight, vic; there's no two ways about that. according to your own statement she does claim to hear voices, and she does claim to give messages from the dead. now, i'm not saying all this is impossible, but you know as well as i do that boyden and his kind say 'nitsky' to the whole business." "i don't care what she's done," retorted victor; "she has stood by me like a brick all these years, and now it's up to me to do something for her when she's in trouble." frenson admitted that this was a human and righteous resolution on the part of his chum and offered to help in any possible way. victor, too full of grief and despair to think clearly, went about his packing with swollen throat. there was keen pain in the thought of abandoning this bright room, of discarding all his trophies, books, and pictures, but this he did, putting nothing into his trunk but his clothing and a few photographs of his dearest girl friends. "what's the use?" he said to frenson. "it's me to the spade or the ice-tongs, now. i won't need these things any more. it's battle in the arena of trade for vic from this time on." frenson looked around at the little library. "well, i'll hold them together for a while. maybe you'll be able to come back and graduate, after all." "never! don't you see i can't take another cent of my mother's money now that i know how it's earned?" frenson listened unexcitedly. "well, now, suppose these voices should turn out to be real? suppose these messages have been from the dead?" "it wouldn't make any difference." "oh yes, it would. at least it would to me. scientific men have been against a whole lot of things in the past that turned out to be true. natural selection, for instance, and x-rays and the wireless telephone." "i see your drift, gil. you want to be a comfort to me, but i've been digging down into my memory, and i know now that my mother has been trained into these habits, these delusions, for over twenty years. it won't be an easy thing to get her out of them. she is as much deceived as the rest. i am sure of that." "well, why don't you experiment with her? make a test," suggested frenson. "would you experiment with your own mother?" asked victor. "i'd make a case out of my grandmother if as much hinged on her as swings on this question of your mother's honesty. you can't blink these charges, vic, they'll have to be met if she remains in the city." victor sat in silence for a few moments, then broke out again. "gil, i begin to understand a hundred things that have always seemed queer to me. she has kept me away from her because she _knew_ i would not sanction her way of earning money. why, i haven't slept in her house but once since i was ten years old, and that was just before i entered here. i hated where she lived; it was a ratty little hole down on the south side, and the people with her were sloppy sals. i refused to stay a second night. i can see it all now. she was living there in that way to save money for me, to keep me here. she wanted me to have just as good a chance as any of the rest of you. this room, the clothes i have on, my trinkets, everything came from her, and now there's no telling what may happen to her. that article threatens all kinds of persecution. i ought to be there this minute. i must take the very next train." "i guess you're right there, old man. it's likely to be a pretty exciting day for her. this article is apt to bring all kinds of trouble to her as well as to you." the news that victor ollnee was the son of a notorious medium ran rapidly among his classmates, and while they honored him and prized his skill on the team, they felt a certain resentment toward him. some of them thought he had not been quite honest with them, and a violent controversy was thundering in the dining-room as frenson re-entered it at one o'clock. he took victor's part, of course. "he can't help what his mother's done," he argued. "he didn't choose his mother. why slam into vic?" "we aren't slamming into him. we're sorry for him," responded one of the fellows. "but we don't see how we can afford to have him in the frat," said another. "he's a ripping good fellow and a wonder at the bat, but what can we do? he should have told us about himself. the paper here says that his mother makes a living by cheating people, by tapping spirit wires and blowing horns and hearing voices in the dark: and all that shady business is sure to reflect on us. he's a marked man which ever way you look at it. you'll see everybody rubber-necking over our fence to-day. they've begun it already." "that's so," agreed a third man. "why didn't he tell us the truth before we voted him in here?" frenson explained. "he's been telling me all about it. he says he didn't know his mother was earning her money that way." "that's the part that looks queer to us," accused the opposition. "how could he help knowing it? looks to us as if he'd been covering it up all along. this writer says the woman is a regular 'battle-ax.'" the current was setting strongly against victor, and frenson, seeing this, rose to go. "well, there's no need of taking action. poor vic is heart-broken over the whole business and is leaving on the three-o'clock train." this silenced even his critics. they began to remember what a jolly good fellow he was, and how important his work in "the diamond" had been. it was all very sad business, and they relented. "we don't want to be hard on him," they said. frenson went up to victor. "see here, captain, you must be hungry. i'll push a tray for you if you don't feel like going down among those 'indians.' i'll have to be honest with you. they're all up in the air down there and howling something fierce. i reckon i'd better hustle a turkey-leg for you." "i wish you would, gil. i can't bear to see any one but you. if i can, i want to sneak out and get to the train without catching anybody's eye. all i need now is to kill that reporter. he has smashed my world, sure thing, and i may find my poor little mother crushed under it, too." he tore the paper into little bits, snarling through his set teeth. "the fellows may believe what they please. i've done with them all. they're all against me but you, i can see that." frenson got out his pipe and filled it while his partner raged up and down the room. at last he said: "now, vickie, when you get calmed down you just remember that you've a lot of mighty good friends up here. there'll be dozens of them that this thing won't change a little bit. they'll talk, but they'll be sympathetic." victor's wrath burned itself out at last, and he consented to frenson's bringing the tray of food. but he declined to go down-stairs till the time came to start for the train. as they were crossing the hall they met little macey, who, with a startled look in his eyes, intercepted victor's passage. "i'm awfully sorry, vic," he began. "i wish i could do something for you." there was something so sincere and moving in his tone that victor's stern mood melted. his voice grew husky as he tried to jocularly reply. "never mind, sissy, i'm down, but i'm not out. good-by till next time." "that's the spirit," cheered frenson from the doorway. out on the walk a couple of the older fraternity men stood talking in low voices (of victor, of course), and as they fell apart one of them had the grace to say: "don't stay away too long, vic. we'll need you saturday." victor waved a hand. "i hope you'll be here when i return," he retorted; but as he entered the hack (which frenson had provided, as though he were taking an invalid or a lady to the train) his composure utterly gave way. "i could have stood it if the boys hadn't welched," he sobbed. "but they did; you can't fool me. they threw me down hard." "some of them did," admitted frenson. "but they were the hollow ones. the solid chaps are all right yet." "i can't blame them very much. if they believe all that stuff about my mother and think that i knew it, why of course they're right in feeling as they do." at the train the loyal frenson said, "well now, vic, if you need help any time you let me know and i'll come galloping." "that's real bold in you, gil, and if i get where i can't see my way out i'll shout." and so they parted--victor with a feeling that their companionship was ended forever, gilbert with a sense of having failed of his intent to comfort and sustain. ii victor interrogates his mother once on the train, with the towers of the university building out of sight, victor's mind went forward toward the great city whereto he was now hurrying in the spirit of one about to enter a tiger-haunted jungle. hitherto he had been unafraid of its tumult, for there his mother lived. her home, vague of outline as it was, offered refuge from the thunder and the shouting. but now its shelter was worse than useless, for its lintel was marked with a sign of shame and terror, and this the law and the lawless knew equally well. "how will she seem to me now," he asked himself. "what will she say to me when we meet?" on one point he was sternly resolved. "she must leave the city at once. we will go west somewhere. i will earn our living now." and at the moment earning a living seemed easy. the close of a beautiful spring day was spreading over the town as he made his way up the stairway into the unwonted silence of the thoroughfare. the wind was from the east, clean and cool and sweet. as he looked down at the river from the bridge and marked its water flowing swiftly from the lake toward the splendid sunset sky he exulted over the power of man, of science, to reverse the natural current of a stream. "so must i change the whole course of my mother's life," he thought with returning resolution. "it must be done. it can be done. it's all in the will." the hit-or-miss squalor of california avenue filled him with renewed and augmented disgust as he descended from the car at the corner and began his search for his mother's apartment, which was the top story of a shabby wooden building standing between two shops. the stairway reeked with associations of poverty, a shifty poverty, and victor's gorge rose at it. the second flight, though cleaner, was musty with decaying wood, and the doorway--on which a dim card was tacked--sadly needed paint. he began to realize sharply the sacrifices which had enabled him to live in the care-free comfort of his chapter-house, and his heart softened. after knocking twice without obtaining a response he tried the knob. it yielded and he went in. all was silent and dim. for an instant he hesitated. "perhaps i'm in the wrong pew after all," he thought; but as he looked about him he recognized the ghost-room furniture of his boyhood. on the wall was a familiar picture--the crayon portrait of a black-whiskered man. the same old battered walnut table which he remembered so well occupied one corner, and behind it three long tin cones stood upright on their larger ends. he shivered with disgust at them and turned to the lounge, over which, scattered as if by a gale of wind, lay the leaves of the hated sunday edition of the _star_. all else was neat and tidy, though threadbare with use. it was, indeed, very far from being "the gilded den of vice" which the reporter had depicted. oppressed by the silence, victor called out, "mother, are you here?" he thought he heard a voice, a husky whisper, say, "_go to her_"; and, a little surprised by this, he stepped to the door of the bedroom and peered in. there, sitting in an arm-chair, half hid in the gloaming, sat his mother with closed eyes and a gray-white face. "mother, are you sick?" he cried out, starting toward her. again the whisper in the air close to his ear commanded him: "_stay where you are. do not touch her._" "mother, don't you know me? it is victor." the whisper answered: "_your mother is resting. we are treating her. be patient; she will awaken soon._" for a moment victor's heart failed him, so impressive was this whisper, issuing apparently from the empty air. then a flood of rage swept over him. this voice was one of the tricks charged against her by the paper. "mother, stop that! i won't have it. do you hear me? stop it, i say!" the sleeper stirred and her eyes opened, but no sign of recognition was in them. slowly her stiffened hands withdrew from the arms of her chair and clasped themselves in her lap. her cheeks, puffed and pallid, were rigid and her eyes, turned upward and inward, gleamed coldly. the lids were half-closed. she had a horribly unfamiliar, tortured look, and he started toward her, calling upon her in a voice of anxiety. "mother, what is the matter? don't you hear me?" at last she opened her eyes and a thrill of relief ran through him as he caught a gleam of recognition there. she lifted her hands feebly, whispering, "my boy, my precious boy!" kneeling by her side, he waited for her consciousness to come back. her hands, so cold and nerveless, grew warmer, her lips smiled wearily, yet with divine maternal tenderness, and at last she spoke. "my big, splendid boy! i knew you would not desert me. i knew it; i knew it. i prayed for you." "i came by the very first train," he answered, "and i am here to defend you." a loud knocking at the door startled her and she clasped his hand tightly as she whispered: "that is another of my enemies. all day they have been coming. send them away." he put her hands down and rose tensely. "i'll smash their faces," he hotly declared. "don't be rash, victor, please." he strode to the door and opened it. a dark, handsome young woman and a grinning youth stood without. they were both a little dashed by victor's appearance as he queried, with scowling brow, "what do you want?" the man replied, "we came to have a sitting." victor exploded. "get out," he shouted. "if you come back here again i'll throw you down the stairs." thereupon he slammed the door in their faces and returned to his mother. "we've got to get away from here," he said as he came to her. "we can't stay here another day." "that must be as my guide, your grandfather, says," she replied. "there's no use talking like that to me, mother. you've got to stop this business. i won't have any more of it. it's shameful, and i won't have it." she answered, gently: "i'm under orders, victor. i can do nothing in opposition to the voices." he bent over her with knitted brow. "see here, mother, i want you to understand that this medium business has got to be cut out. look what it has let you in for! i don't believe in your voices, and you must--" she stopped him. "my son, if you do not believe in the voices you cannot believe in me. they are real. if they were not, i should go mad. they are in my ears all day long. my comfort is that they are not imaginary. others hear them, and that proves to me that they are not an illusion. if you listen they will speak to you." "i don't want them to speak to me. i want you to pack up--" "hark!" she commanded. "they are speaking now." as he listened, the same measured whisper which he had heard upon entering the house made itself distinctly heard, apparently in the air, a little higher than his mother's head. "_boy, trust in us!_" victor glanced at his mother's lips. he could not help it; base as it seemed, he suspected her of ventriloquism. "who are you?" he asked. "_your grandsire, nelson blodgett._" this reply, apparently without his mother's agency, was uttered in so plain a tone that victor's hair rose. he opened and peered into a little closet which stood behind his mother's chair. it was empty, and as he came slowly back and stood looking down into her face a low, breathy chuckle sounded in his ear. "_a smart lad. needs discipline._" a flush of rage passed over him, leaving him cold. he studied his mother in silence, convinced that she was cunningly playing upon his fears. as he pondered she said, quietly: "i'm glad you came, victor. you fill my heart with joy; but you must not stay. i do not need you. you must go back to your studies." "that i cannot do." "oh, victor, you must! i want you to graduate. father insists on it." "i tell you it is impossible. do you suppose i'm going back there where all the fellows are laughing at me? why, they're talking of throwing me out of the club! more than that, i can't take another cent of your money. if i had known how you were earning your living i would never have entered the university at all." "oh, my boy, do you doubt me? do you believe what they say against me?" this brought him face to face with the whole problem. "of course i don't believe that you cheat--purposely--but i do think you are abnormal. you can't expect me to believe that a voice can come out of the air like that. it's impossible! it's against all reason, and yet--" at this moment another knock, a gentler signal, sounded at the door, and the youth, relieved by the interruption, flared out at the unknown intruder. "go away," he shouted. "no, no; these are friends," his mother asserted, and rose to let them in. victor caught her by the arm. "what are you going to do?" "open the door. it is one of my dearest friends." "you must not give a sitting. i won't have it." the knock was repeated and she hurried away, leaving the boy confused, angry, and helpless. she returned, accompanied by two women. the first of them was a diminutive, gray-haired lady, with a frank and smiling face, whose dress proclaimed a prosperous and happy station in life. her companion was a tall young girl, whose spring suit, quiet in color and exquisitely tailored, became her notably. the youth thought, "what a stylish girl!" and the sight of her calmed him instantly. "victor," said his mother, and her tone was one of relief, "these are my dearest friends, mrs. joyce and leonora wood, her niece." victor bowed without speaking, for the heart of battle was still in him. mrs. joyce cried out: "what a fine, big fellow! i didn't expect such a stalwart son." "please be seated," said mrs. ollnee. "my son has just arrived. he saw that dreadful article in the paper and came to defend me." "that was fine of you," exclaimed mrs. joyce to victor. "that same article brought us. i would have been here before only we don't take the _star_, and i did not see the article until about an hour ago." mrs. ollnee took up her explanation. "but, louise, victor says he will not go back to college." mrs. joyce was quick to apprehend the situation. "i suppose that outrageous article made it appear necessary for you to defend both your mother and yourself," she said, searchingly. victor was not disposed to gloze matters in the least. "it made a fool of me," he responded, bitterly. "it made it impossible for me to look my friends in the face. how could i convince them that i was not sharing in the profits of my mother's business? i told them i didn't know where my allowance came from, but of course no one believed me. i know now, and i despise the whole business. i've come down here to take my mother out of it." the three women looked at one another sympathetically. mrs. joyce, who knew mrs. ollnee's history intimately, only smiled as she answered: "i don't see that you need to feel ashamed of your mother's profession. a medium is one of the most precious instruments in this world. she brings solace to many a sorrowing heart. why is her work less honorable than singing, for example? furthermore, no one is obliged to come to her. we sit of our own choice, and if we are not pleased we can refuse to pay, and we need not return. so you see it is a free contract, after all." her reasoning staggered victor. he was confused also by her frank and charming manner. he perceived that his problem was not so simple as he had imagined. hitherto, his life had been single-hearted, with nothing more difficult to decide than a question of moral philosophy; but here, now, he stood confronted by an entirely baffling entanglement of human wills. this woman, so evidently of the higher world of wealth and culture, accepted his mother's claims, and this profoundly impressed him. mrs. joyce continued. "don't take this newspaper attack too seriously, mr. ollnee. it was meant to be nasty, and it _is_ nasty; but it is not fatal. it is a cloud that will soon blow over and leave you and your mother unharmed." "it will never blow over for me," he replied, passionately, "and you must not include me in this thing. i've lived a long way from it thus far, and i don't intend to mix up with this kind of hokus-pokus." "victor," called his mother, warningly. he corrected himself. "of course i don't accuse you of wilfully deceiving anybody. i'm willing to grant that you _think_ these voices are real; but my teacher, doctor boyden, says that mediumship is only a kind of hysteria--" mrs. joyce laughed. "yes, i've read doctor boyden's books. what does he know about it? did he ever study a wonderful psychic like your mother? has he candidly examined these phenomena? never in his life! i know all about that kind of investigator. he is basing his conclusions on somebody's else's conjectures or prejudices." victor defended his master. "he has tried to experiment. he's offered prizes for mediums to meet him, but they have refused. not one would sit with him." "why should they? would you have your mother seek him out to convince him? why doesn't he come to her. there he sits in his chair, pretending to say that these phenomena are impossible, whereas i know, from many personal tests, that these voices are not merely real, but that they come from my dear ones on the other side and that they sustain and comfort me." victor was silenced, and his discomfiture was made the more complete by the smiling gaze of the young girl, who was evidently enjoying his perplexity. nevertheless, though he did not continue the argument, he held to his opinion that they were all victims of his mother's unconscious necromancy. mrs. joyce continued. "you say you know nothing about it. why not find out something about it? here is your mother. study her." "why don't we have a sitting now?" exclaimed miss wood. "it would be fun to see his face when the horns began to dance about." mrs. ollnee looked a little worried. "not now, leo, i'm too upset. it's been a terrible day for me. i haven't eaten a thing." mrs. joyce rose. "you poor dear! let's go get something. come this instant. you'll go, mr. ollnee." his first impulse was to refuse, but as he studied his mother's pale face and thought of the good effect of the outside air he relented. "yes, i'll go," he replied, ungraciously. miss wood came over to him and tried to soften his mood. "i know how you feel about all this, and i know how brutal a scientific sharp can be. my professors were all against it. just the same, it's a wonderful old world; a good deal more wonderful than some of our teachers admit." he did not reply to this, but stood watching his mother as she put on her hat and wrap. her whole expression had changed. her face had lighted up and her delicacy of feature and small, graceful hands denoted to him as never before the woman of natural refinement and intelligence. it was hard to consider her at the moment the victim of a brain disorder, and yet-mrs. joyce led the way down the creaking stairs, and victor, following in sullen silence, was surprised and a little daunted to find a luxurious automobile waiting for them. he rebelled at the curb. "you go on without me," he said, harshly. "i'll stay here till you come back." "oh no," exclaimed mrs. joyce. "please come with us. your mother will not be happy without you." miss wood remarked, humorously, "never refuse a dinner or a ride in a motor-car; that's my motto." his mother timidly lifted her face. "victor, mrs. joyce is my most loyal friend. i owe her more than you know. i _wish_ you would come." he yielded with a sense of stepping down, but as he found himself seated beside miss wood and whirring swiftly up the street his inflexible attitude softened. "for this one night i will follow; after that i lead," he promised himself. the girl mocked him with subtle intonation. "i am glad of any mystery and romance which remains in this old world, and i never quarrel with fate. if any one is disposed to exchange an autocar ride for so intangible a thing as a voice, i trade." a little later she reverted to his problem. "what right have you to pass judgment on your mother without examining her? i was just as skeptical as you are when i met her first, but she _forced_ me to believe. i am perfectly certain that she would upset doctor boyden. if he would come down quietly and sit with her she'd convince even him. she is a very dear little woman, and we all love her." mrs. joyce leaned over and spoke in his ear. "it is only through devoted beings like your mother that the bereaved are assured of life everlasting. she doesn't _tell_ me that my son is living beyond the veil; _she brings him to me_. i hear his voice and touch his hand." to this sort of thing he was forced to listen during their course down the shining avenue, and it made the whole city as unreal as a dream. when they rolled up to the wide portals of a towering hotel a new anxiety presented itself. "suppose mother should be recognized as we enter? suppose they arrest her here." a realization of his own poverty and youth and general helplessness came over him with crushing effect as he trod the hall, which seemed very vast and splendid in his eyes. he was subdued, too, by the thought that he had not silver enough in his pocket to fee the girl who took their wraps. his resolution to fight, to earn not only his own living but to rescue his mother, became fainter each moment. "can it be that yesterday i was behind the bat?" he asked himself. "surely i must be dreaming." he perceived another side to his mother's character. she seemed quite at ease amid all this splendor, and accepted whatever mrs. joyce did for her as something quite definitely her due. there was no indication of the sabbath in the gorgeous dining-room, and nothing to show that sorrow or poverty existed in the world; and seeing his mother's face flushed with pleasure, the perplexed youth relented a little further. "this one night she may have, but it must be the last of such entertainment on such terms." there was in him beneath all this antagonism a kind of dignity and manly strength which pleased mrs. joyce. she was glad to see him lighten up, and she exerted herself to that end. "there now," she said, looking about the room. "let's forget all of our troubles. let us suppose that all our friends 'on the other side' are at dinner also." victor sat in silence what time his mother decided whether she would have asparagus soup or consommã©. it was his first experience with that degree of wealth which takes no thought of price, and glancing at the figures on the bill of fare his hair rose. never in his life had he eaten a meal which cost as much as this one order of soup, and the fact that his mother gaily ordered the best indicated to him how deeply indebted she already was to her patroness. "there must be some very definite need which she supplies," he conceded, "or mrs. joyce would not so gladly pay her bills." at the same time his respect and admiration for his mother returned. as the dinner went on her cheeks glowed with faint color. her years of trouble seemed to slip away from her. she took on youthful grace and charm, glancing often at her handsome son with eyes of maternal pride and content. "it is so good to have you here," she silently expressed. he had never seen this care-free side of her, and the gayer she grew the more alien, in a sense, she became. she was instinctively the lady, of that he was assured, and though she could not follow miss wood in all of her flights of fancy and allusion, she plainly showed unusual powers of appreciation. the talk also brought out the extraordinary intimacy of the three women. it appeared that mrs. joyce and mrs. ollnee were inseparable, that she often took his mother to the opera and to the theater, and as they discussed various singers and actors, whose names alone he knew, his sense of being suburban deepened. "why does this vivid and cultured woman seek my mother's society? for what reason does she lavish money upon her? is it because of her personal charm? no," he decided, "that cannot be the reason." beneath her cordial tone he thought he detected the reserve of one who is being kind to a dependent. "she's being nice to mother," he concluded, "because she thinks she's getting something special from her. mother is a freak, not a friend. she considers her a kind of spiritual telephone." although miss wood devoted herself to the task of amusing him, and his face lost some of its gravest lines, yet he could not be denoted a careless youth, even when the wine came on. he was thinking too deeply to be outwardly ready of retort. it was too sudden a change from the pastoral air and quiet streets of winona to be instantly assimilated. he remained sullen. his mother eyed him apprehensively but admiringly. "he looks like his father," she whispered to mrs. joyce. he would have been inhuman had he not responded to certain charms in miss wood. she had a fine profile, he admitted, finer than that of any girl he knew. her eyes, too, were a little disturbing by reason of the small wrinkles of laughter at the corners, but she irritated him. she was perfectly sure of herself. nothing that he did or failed to do affected her in any other way apparently than to deepen her amusement. her manner seemed to say, "wait a few days and see what a fool you'll find yourself out to be. you're nothing but a great big country lad, trying to be a philosopher, trying to live up to a rigid code of morals. it's all a pose, a ludicrous attitude of boyish defiance." she said nothing of this of course; on the contrary, she talked of things in which he was interested, trying politely to meet him half way. she was actually a year or two younger than he, but she gave off the air of being five years older. she had explored immense tracts of human life, or at least of social life, of which he had no knowledge, and this came out in her casual references to new york and paris. her home was in los angeles, but she was now staying with her aunt. he lost his sullen reserve. the soup, the wine, the bird, and the maid softened his stern mood. by the time the coffee came on he was talking almost boyishly with his hostess and his face had lost its troubled lines. his perplexities came back as mrs. joyce passed two bills to the waiter in payment for their dinner, and he watched from the corner of his eye to see how much change came back. two dollars! eighteen dollars for four dinners! "great scot!" he inwardly groaned. "it would take me a week to earn our share of this meal!" and a returning sense of his mother's subconscious iniquity reclad him with gloom. the ride back to california avenue was less festive, for mrs. joyce took occasion to say: "my advice is this. return to college and obtain your degree. i will take care of your dear little mother." "i can't do that," he said. "i've quit. there is no use talking about that." "you shouldn't take this newspaper attack too seriously," remarked miss wood. "reporters are always exposing mediums. it is quite habitual with them, and besides, your mother has been through it before." "is that true?" he asked, with sharpened assault. "yes," mrs. ollnee admitted. "i've been attacked in this way twice." "since i have been grown up?" "yes; once since you went to winona." "i didn't know that. why didn't you tell me?" mrs. joyce interposed. "what was the use? you could have done nothing. we who understand these matters make allowances for the reporter's trade. he must earn a living some way." as she said this victor recalled the cynical close of the article. "probably the true-blue believer will condemn the detective and not the culprit," the lines ran. "there are dupes so purblind, so infatuated that nothing, not even the boldest chicanery can shake their faith; nevertheless, a few will take this article for what it is, a full and clear exposã© of a shrewd and conscienceless trickster." and yet, as he faced these intelligent women, victor could not think of them as being deceived by open chicanery, much less could he admit for a moment that his mother was capable of resorting to it. it was a dramatic and moving experience for him to go from this cushioned, splendid chariot back to the shabby little apartment which was the only home in the wide world for either his mother or himself. he was filled with a kind of rage at her, at fate, and at himself, and no sooner were they inside the door than he turned upon her with a note of resentful resolution in his voice. "mother, how could you let me in for all of this? why did you send me to college, knowing that sooner or later exposure must come?" "i trusted the voices," she replied, "just as i must continue to trust them in the future." "now, mother," he rejoined with a certain foreboding grimness of inflection, "we've got to get right down to brass tacks on that business. i can't go on any longer in ignorance of who i am and what you are. i want to know all about you and all about my father. who was my father? what was he? did he believe in this thing?" her eyes fell. "no, not while he was on this life's plane. indeed, it was my 'work' that--that separated us. he hated it and was very harsh about it. but the first thing he did after he passed on was to come back and tell me that i was right after all. he asked me to forgive him." "is that his picture up there on the wall? what did he do for a living?" "he was a really fine mind, victor; one of those men who might have been eminent had they gone out into the world. he was a student and a thinker, but he was not ambitious. he was content to be the principal of a village school and live quietly; and we were very happy till the voices began." "did he know you had the voices when he married you?" "yes, i told him all about them, but he only laughed at me. i suppose he thought it was just a fancy on my part. anyhow, he did not take them seriously, and during our courtship they gave me freedom. my guide said i need not sit for a while and father guarded me from all the evil ones on that side who are so ready to rush in and take possession of a medium. for two years i had no touch of 'the power,' and i really thought it had all gone away from me. then you came and i was very ill, and father, my control, returned to tell me that you would be a great man. 'hereafter,' he said, 'i will direct you in the education of your son.' why, victor, he named you. he said you should be called victor because you would overcome all opposition." "well, just how did your separation come about?" "when my control began to demand things from me your father accused me of playing tricks and sternly forbade any more of it. i tried not to go into trance. i fought 'the power' and this angered father. he came upon me so strong that i could do nothing with him. i heard the voices all the time and your father thought me crazy. i had what seemed like epileptic fits. i seemed to lose my identity--but i didn't; i knew all that was going on. it seemed as if i went out of my body while others entered it and used it to torment and perplex your father. then he became convinced that i was abnormal in some way and experimented with me--all in a very skeptical spirit--and gradually he lost his regard for me. i became only 'a case of hysteria' to him. i could see him change from day to day. he grew colder and more critical and more aloof all the time. this made me so ill that i was unable to keep my feet--i grew old rapidly, and another younger and prettier woman, one of his teachers, gained the love i had lost and at last he went away with her." there was a little silence before victor was able to ask, "where did he go?" "he went to denver, and i never saw him again. he died not long after." "then did you take to making a living out of the ghost-room?" "after your father left i asked my guides why they permitted him to leave me, and they said it was considered necessary to keep me in 'the work.' 'you were too happy,' they said. 'you are too valuable an instrument to live out your life simply as wife and mother. you are now to be devoted to higher aims.' since then whenever i have tried to get out of 'the work' they have brought me back. oh, you don't know what a clutch they have on me. they know my income to a dollar. they let me have just enough to live on and to educate you, but they won't let my rich friends provide me with an income. i must do their will exactly or they punish me." as she enlarged upon this phase of her life victor was appalled by it. her madness--and madness it seemed to him--was now a settled and specific part of her life. "how do they punish you?" he asked, after a pause. "they do not hesitate to throw me into convulsions, or make me do things that rob me of my friends. they bring disaster upon me whenever i try to walk my own road. every investment i make on my own judgment they defeat. did you ever plague an ant or a bug by putting something in its way, checking its advance, no matter in which direction it went?" he nodded. "yes, i've done that as a boy." "well, that is exactly how they treat me. i've given up trying to do anything in opposition to their wishes. i do the work that is laid out for me." she sighed. "yes, i've ceased to rebel. i am resigned. but, victor, you must not fail me. i shall be perfectly happy if only you will be content to go with me and to grant at least that the work i am doing is worth while. you're all i have now, and when i see you frowning at me, so like your father, i am scared. that black look is on your face this moment." "you need not be afraid of me, mother," he replied, wearily; "but you must not ask me to believe in your voices and all the rest of it. it's too unnatural and too foolish. but you're my good little mother all the same, and i'm not going to desert you. i'm going to stay right here and help you fight it out." she took his words to mean something sweet and filial and went to his arms with happiness. as she lifted her head from his shoulder he looked round the room and said, "but, mother, this ghost-room has got to go." "oh, victor, don't say that. i am ready to promise not to take money for my work, but i can't promise anything further; and as for my ghost-room, as you call it, it has so many associations with paul and your grandfather that i cannot think of giving it up. i dare not give it up." "you must quit it," he repeated. "if you give another sã©ance--for money--i will leave you and i will never come back." and on his face was the stubborn look of his father. iii victor makes a test that night was a long and restless one for the mother, but the son, with the healthy boy's power of forgetfulness, slept dreamlessly, waking only when the morning light struck beneath his eyelids. for a moment the thunder of the elevated trains in the alley puzzled him, and he rose dazedly on his elbow expecting to catch frenson at some practical joke, but as his eyes took in the faded carpet, the cheap curtains, the decrepit furniture, his brain cleared and his beleaguering worries came back upon him like a swarm of vultures. he recalled the terror of his mother's trance, the coming of her lovely friends, the ride, the luxurious dinner, and, last of all, the significant words with which they had parted. in the light of the day his situation did not seem so complicated. "we must leave this city and go out west somewhere--get shut of the whole bunch. father was right--this trance business is intolerable." his natural vigor and decision returned to him. he rose with a bound, calling to his mother with a realization of the fact that she had no cook. "who gets breakfast, you or i?" she replied, with a little flutter of dismay in her voice, "i don't believe there is a crumb of bread in the house." "never mind," he replied; "i'll go to the corner and negotiate a roll." the neighborhood did not improve with daylight acquaintance, and on his way back from the shop with a jug of cream and a paper bag in his hands he dwelt again upon his motor-car ride to the palace hotel and reviewed the eighteen-dollar meal they had eaten. he possessed sufficient sense of humor to grin as he clutched his parcels. "if miss wood were to see me now she'd experience a jolt." his smile did not last long. "mrs. joyce knows all about us," he admitted. "that's why she blew us to that feast. she was trying to compensate mother for her empty cupboard, which was very nice of her." then his thought went deeper. he began to understand that it was to provide him with a larger allowance that his mother had been living alone and doing her own work. "dear little mutter!" he said, and his heart softened toward her. "she's been walking the tight-rope, all right." she was up and at work in the tiny kitchen as he came in. "i forgot to get my supplies saturday--and yesterday i was so upset--" "never mind," he replied, gaily. "the 'royal gorge' we had last night makes breakfast supererogatory. i've attached some rolls and a bottle of cream, and if you've any coffee and sugar we're fixed." "i have sugar but no coffee. i drink--" "not on your life!" he cut in. "no burnt wheat for me!" and he tore down the stairs like mad. at the shop he found himself possessed of just seventeen cents, with which he bought a half-pound of coffee. "now i can begin my conquest of the world as all the great men have done--penniless. it's me for a stroll down-town, i reckon." the table was neatly set when he returned, and his mother, proud of her big and glowing boy, cheerily confronted him. "no matter how poor we are," she said, "we can be happy." and with her faith renewed she prepared the coffee for the cream. the sun struck into the bare little dining-room with golden charm, but these two souls, so alike yet so unlike, faced each other with returning constraint. as they talked their antagonism of purpose again developed. victor outlined his plan of going west and starting anew. to this suggestion his mother listened, then gently replied: "there are many objections to that, victor. first of all, i have no money." "can't we sell something?" she shook her head, and he, after looking around, ruefully admitted that there was nothing to sell. "but your house--" this gave him a thought. "why don't we go back to la crescent? i'll work on a farm, in a grocery--anything rather than have you keep on with this business. it's dangerous, and it isn't nice." "victor," she began, with more of self-assertion than she had hitherto voiced, "you don't understand. my mediumship is not a business, it is a sacred obligation. god has gifted me with the power of communicating with those who have passed to a higher plane, and i must respect that gift. i am in the hands of those wiser than either of us. to oppose them would be self-destruction." he listened with growing coldness and hardness. "that's all a delusion," he repeated. "modern science has proved that mediumship is just plain hysteria." "we won't argue," she replied, and her tone was that of one hurt. "i _know_, for i have had the personal experience. i am only a leaf in the wind when this power sweeps over me. so long as i live i must remain the instrument of these our supernal friends--it is my work in the world, and i must execute it." "what do you expect me to do?" he asked, almost brutally. "i'd like you to go back to your studies--" "that i will not do," he assured her in tones that expressed a final decision. "well then--will you remain here with me?" "not with you carrying on the business which i hate." "why should you hate it? to leo and mrs. joyce my mission is noble." "i hate it because i think it's foolish, unnatural, and false. i don't mean that you _consciously_ cheat, mother, but i am certain that in some way it all comes down to that." she opened her arms in a gesture of passionate appeal. "my son, these voices have educated you--they have helped me to feed and clothe you. now here i am, prove me, try me, convict me if you can. i yield myself to your tests. i _know_ the spirit life is a reality. if i did not i should perish with despair. every day, almost all hours of the day, these voices whisper in my ears. the hands of those you call the dead caress my cheek. they cheer and admonish me. they are as real to me as you are. if you can silence them, do so. i put myself into your hands. do what you will in proof of my powers." the boy was rapidly changing to the man. his mother's words beating upon his brain aroused something in him which he had not hitherto acknowledged. he thought deeply as he peered into her eyes, burning with resolution. "she is honest--but she is the victim of a fixed idea." he had heard much of "the fixed idea." "i will try her, i will rid her of her obsession." aloud he said: "the important thing is our living. how am i to pay my way? i haven't a cent. i paid out my last penny for this coffee." "i have a little money." "i told you i wouldn't take another dollar of your money, and i won't," he replied, sharply. "that's settled. i must get clear and keep clear of all this 'bunk.'" "but suppose you find my powers real?" she asked, trembling with eagerness. he hesitated. "then--well--if i believed in your powers i would still object to your earning money with--by means of your--your voices. i've got to make my own way in the world, and from this moment!" she read an unmitigable opposition in his eyes and sadly said, "you'll come here to sleep, won't you?" he conceded so much, though reluctantly. "yes, i'll sleep here, but as soon as i make a raise of any work i intend to pay for my board. as for carfare, i guess my junk will have to go into 'hock.'" he rose. "you see, i won a silver mug and a watch by being useful to the team. it's them to 'uncle jake's,'" he ended, with a return to the college youth's vocabulary, and going to his valise took out his reward for muscular merit and showed it to her. "isn't that smooth?" her eyes shone with pride. "how much do you suppose you can borrow on it?" she asked. "oh, i don't know. five dollars, maybe." "well, i'll lend you ten dollars on it." he looked at her with musing eyes. "say twenty, and you may have both mug and watch." she went to her purse and handed to him the money. he took it without hesitation. "well, here's where i hit the pavement for a job." she confronted him in a final appeal. "oh, victor, i can't bear to have you doubt me even for an hour. stay with me to-day. stay and let me talk with you. i've had so little of you. just think! for more than twelve years i've kept you away from me--i've starved myself--my mother-self--in order that you might grow to manhood untroubled by my faith, and i can't bear to have you doubt me now." he understood something of her emotion and responded to it. "you dear, faithful little mother, i realize now what i have cost you, and i'm grateful; but that's the very reason why i can't let you do any more of it. i must begin to pay you back." "all you need to do to pay me is to let me look at you," she fondly replied. "i'm proud of you, victor. i was proud of you last night. i saw leo admiring you, and mrs. joyce thinks you are splendid." he was interested. "by the way, who is miss wood?" "she's a niece of mrs. joyce. mrs. joyce is the widow of joyce the lumberman." "she seems to have all kinds of money." his face was thoughtful again. "yes, she's rich, and she has been very kind to me. she took me to california and to europe. she is always doing things for me. it was just like her to come to me yesterday--she is not one to fail in time of trouble. i don't know what i should do without her." "she certainly is nice. what about miss wood? does she believe in your--your voices?" he asked this without direct glance. "yes. she doesn't say much, but she is deeply grateful to my guides." "she's no ordinary girl, i can see that. is she rich also?" "not as mrs. joyce is rich, but the voices have sort of adopted her. they say they will make her wealthy as a queen." "what do you mean by that?" "they are telling her from week to week just how to invest her money." "do you mean to tell me that _you_ advise her how to invest her money?" "no, i mean _the voices_ advise her." "why should 'they' know anything about business?" she became evasive. "they do! they've proved it again and again. mrs. joyce's income has doubled in five years by following father's advice." he pondered on this deeply. "i don't like that. i don't see why you or your voices should be valuable in that way." "there are many things in this world for you to learn, my son," she replied with an assumption of superior wisdom. this nettled him. "it don't take much wisdom to know that if you go on advising people in that way you'll get into trouble. that's what that writer said in the paper." she closed her lips tightly as if to keep back a cutting reply, and he rose briskly. "well, see here, we must put away these dishes." she acquiesced in his postponement of the discussion, and helped him wash the dishes and set the room to rights. at last she said: "where is the morning _star_? have you seen it?" "there's a paper at the foot of the stairs; is that yours?" "yes," she replied. "i'll get it," he said, and was out of the door and back again before she fully realized that he was gone. he opened the twist of damp paper with haste, fully expecting to find some new attack on "mrs. ollnee, the blood-sucker," but there was nothing. "all the same, you're not safe in this house," he said. "they threatened to arrest you, and i don't like to leave you here alone to-day." "you need not worry about me," she replied, quietly. "father will take care of me. if he saw any real danger coming my way he would warn me of it." "he didn't warn you of the coming of the reporter, did he?" "no--he had some reason for permitting this cloud to come upon me. he knows best." "i don't believe i'd put very much faith in 'guides' that didn't keep me out of trouble." "perhaps all this is a part of our discipline. they are wiser than we. i accept even this disgrace as a good in disguise. perhaps it was all intended to bring you to me." the youth sank back again baffled by this all-inclosing acceptance. "what do you intend to do to-day?" he asked, as she rose and walked over to the little walnut table. "i am going to ask for advice." "now?" "yes; and i wish you would sit with me for a few moments and see if we cannot secure direction for the day." he was beginning to be curious--and his desire to dig deeper into his mother's brain overcame part of his repugnance. "all right," he boyishly answered, but his heart contracted with sudden fear of finding her false. "let's see what they're up to." "take a seat opposite me," she said, and there was something commanding in her voice. drawing a chair up to the old brown table--which he remembered as one of the pieces of furniture in his earliest childhood home--he took a seat. "why do you keep this rickety old thing?" he asked, shaking it viciously. "it was your grandfather's reading-table, and he likes me to keep it. besides, it is highly magnetized and very sensitive." "oh rats!" he irreverently burst forth. "you can't magnetize a piece of wood. wood is a non-conductor. you can't subvert a physical law just by saying so." "i don't mean it in that crude sense," she replied, quite mistress of herself. she had taken up and was holding between her hands a small hinged slate. "what's that for?" asked victor. "to vitalize the surface. i am able to give it vitality by my touch." she laid the slate upon the table and placed her spread hand upon it. "put your hand upon mine, victor." he did as she bade him, rebelling at the childish folly of it all. "what do you expect to do?" he asked. almost immediately the slate seemed seized by a powerful hand. it began to slide back and forth across the table violently, twisting and clattering. the youth put forth his own great strength and stopped it, but a crunching sound announced that the slate was broken. his mother said, sharply, "you mustn't do that, victor." she took up the slate and showed one corner crushed and crumbled. "you can't hold it--you mustn't try--it angers them." he marveled at the strength which had resisted him, but argued that his mother from long practice had become very muscular. hysterical people often displayed astounding power. after preparing a new slate she put it on the table as before, saying to the air, "please don't be rough, father--victor can't prevent his skepticism." three loud raps answered, and she smiled. he says, "all right. he understands." "seems to me he's mighty touchy for one on the heavenly plane," victor retorted, maliciously. "seems to me an all-seeing spirit ought to get my point of view." a vigorous tapping on the table responded to this speech. "what's that?" asked victor. "that is your father saying yes, he _does_ get your point of view." victor had a feeling that his mother was receding from him as he faced her across the table. she became the professional medium in her manner and tone. he, too, changed. he hardened, assuming the attitude of the scientific observer--hostile and derisive. his keen hazel-gray eyes grew penetrating and his lips curled in scorn. his tone hurt her, but she persisted in her sitting, and at last the slate began to tremble throughout all its parts, and a grating sound like slow writing with a pencil went on beneath it. victor could plainly follow the dotting of the i's and the crossing of the t's, till at the end a tapping indicated that it was finished. "you may take the slate, victor," said mrs. ollnee. he took it from the table and opened it. on one side, in bold script--a bit old-fashioned--stood these words: "_stay where you are. let the boy adventure into the city. await results. i will be near. father._" victor, astounded, mystified, confronted his mother with wide eyes. "now, what does that mean?" "it means that i am to keep this house just as it is and you are to seek work in the city. is that right, paul?" three taps made answer. the youth was stunned by the boldness and cleverness of all this. he was pained, too. he perceived no sign of abnormal thinking in his mother's action. she was not hysterical. _she was not entranced._ whatever she did she did consciously--and the thought that she could deliberately deceive him was shocking. he breathed quickly and a nervous clutch came into his hands. he resented being fooled. "let's try that again," he said; and his tone was precisely that of the child who sees a grown person swallow a coin and take it out of his ear. he was angry as well as sad. "don't put your hand on it," he protested. "i don't like the looks of that." she submitted, and then as he was putting it down on the table the sound of writing was heard within it. he laid his hand on the slates, and still the writing went on! with amazement he realized that both her hands were in sight and in no wise concerned in the writing. the right rested lightly and quietly on the frame of the slate, but the left, which lay on the opposite corner of the table, was quivering throughout all its minute muscles. amazed beyond words, excited, breathing deep, with a shudder of nervous excitement running over his entire body, victor listened to the mystic pencil. "how _do_ you work that?" he asked, in a whisper. "i don't know. i have nothing to do with it," she answered; and taking the upper hinge of the slate between her fingers and thumb she slowly raised it. _and still the writing went on!_ victor, holding his breath in awe, bent to look within, but as the opening grew wider the writing stopped. he snatched the slates from the table and studied the lines, which were made up of minute dots. it was all perfectly legible: "_son. i doubted. now i know._" victor sank back into his seat and stared speechlessly at the slate and the table. the problem of his mother's mediumship had taken on new elements of mystery. this physical test brought it into the range of his knowledge and interest. it was no longer a question of her honesty or sanity, it had become a problem in dynamics. how was that bit of pencil moved? the messages he ignored--they didn't matter--but the method of their production seemed to eliminate all trickery, conscious or unconscious. why did his mother's left hand quiver--and how could that writing shape itself? his voice was husky with emotion as he said: "mother, i don't understand that. you've got to tell me how that is done." she felt the desperate resolution in his voice and she solemnly answered, "my son, i don't _know_ how it is done." "but you _must_ know! who moves that pencil! your hand quivered all the time." "yes, i seem to have some physical connection with it--at times. other times all that takes place has no more connection with me than the sunlight on the floor. the world is a very mysterious place to me, victor. i don't pretend to know anything. i do as i am told." he fell silent again while his mind reviewed the entire process. then he burst out, vehemently, on a new line. "i can't believe my eyes. you've hypnotized me. mother, for god's sake don't juggle with me--don't play tricks with me. i won't stand for it. it hurts me--" he paused, confused, baffled, ready to weep. "can you, my own son, accuse me of trickery?" she asked. "you _think_ you're honest, mother--but don't you see you've become an _unconscious hypnotist_? it's your subconscious self deceiving us both. i don't know how you do it, but i know it must be a fraud." "victor," she said, solemnly, "what this power is you shall have full opportunity to determine, but i say to you that for more than twenty years i've been guided by these unseen presences. i've tested their wisdom and lived under their care. so far as this message is concerned i accept it. i was confused and frightened yesterday, but this morning i am calm. i shall do as they bid. i shall stay here while you go down into the city and see what you can find to do, and together we will test these voices." there was a ring of new-found decision in her tone that quite dashed him. he sat dumbly facing her, helpless in a whirl of mental storm. "is she more cunning than i thought? is she playing a more complex game than appears?" these thoughts vaguely shaped themselves. then his filial self answered: "but what has she to gain? she loves me. she has sacrificed herself to keep me at school--why should she deceive me?" here again a third conception came to embitter him. he spoke. "you don't seem to mind my loss of a degree?" "yes, i do, victor. i feel that very deeply, but the higher wisdom of your grandfather resigns me. i cannot tell what is behind it. by his power to read the future he may be preventing some terrible accident, some calamity by fire or water--i have an impression that it is something of that sort." "_no_," came a whisper from the air. she turned her face upward, and, listening intently, asked, "what is the reason, father?" "_discipline_," the whisper replied. "he says 'discipline,' victor." "discipline!" he echoed. "why should i be disciplined? what have i done?" "_it is not what you've done--it's what you are to do._" the voice did not reply to further questions, and the silence gave out a kind of cold contempt, which cut the boy as he waited. "let's try that slate business again," he said at last. but to this his mother would not consent. "it's of no use," she said. "they are gone. there is no 'power' present." he again faced her with alien, accusing eyes. "when will you try this again?" "to-night, when you come home." "home!" he sneered, looking about. "do you expect me to call this place home? do you expect me to hang about this scrubby hole to be disciplined by your voices?" the sound of a knock at the door gave her a moment's respite. "the postman," she explained as she rose to go to the door. she was gone for several minutes and victor heard her in friendly conversation with a pleasant male voice. some way this added to his anger and disgust. she came back with a letter in her hand which she began at once to open. "it is from louise, i mean mrs. joyce." she read it through with smiling face, then said, "victor, you must be nice to louise, she has done _everything_ for us." this brought him to his feet. "i understand all that now. it is _her_ money i've been living on--i won't touch another cent that comes from her. understand that! i won't eat another dinner that she pays for." "why, victor, you should not feel that way! what has she done to make you bitter?" "nothing. i refuse to live on her charity, that's all, and i want you to find out just how much i owe her--how much _you_ owe her--for i intend to pay her back every dollar with interest." "but she considers i've already paid her. she feels that i have always given her bounteous return for all her aid." "i don't figure it that way," he said. "she's just amusing herself--" she interrupted. "listen to what she says." she read: "'i want to tell you how much i like your son. he is so vivid and so powerful. i'm sorry he is to miss his degree. can't you persuade him to go back? i'll be glad to advance what is necessary--'" "there it is, you see! there's the rich lady helping a poor relation." "wait, son!" she pleaded, and read on. "'i feel that i owe you ten times what you've permitted me to do for you.'" "that's all very nice of her, mother, but i won't have any more of it." he pounded out the sentence with his fist. she looked up at him with mingled fear and pride. "you are exactly like your father as you say that," she declared. "oh, victor, my son! if _you_ leave me in anger i shall be desolate indeed. i can't live without you. please believe in me--and love me--for you're all i have on this earth." his anger died away. he saw her again as she really was, a pale, devoted little saint, with troubled brow and quivering lips, one who had shed her very life-blood for him--to doubt her became a monstrous cruelty. he put his arms about her and hugged her close. "i didn't mean to hurt you, mother--but your world is so strange to me. i'll stay, i'll do the best i can here; only don't work this slate trick any more. don't sit for any one but me. will you promise that?" "may i not sit for louise?" "not without me." "i dare not promise, victor. father may insist. if he does _not_ insist i will do as you wish. i will give it up." he kissed her. "dear little mother, you sha'n't live alone any more, and you shall soon have a home that is worthy of you." she was weeping, and a big lump in his own throat made speech difficult. to cover his emotion he slangily said: "well, now, it's me to the marts of trade. perhaps i'll fool the voices yet." iv victor throws down the altar "how do people get jobs," he asked himself as he set forth. "'want ads,' i suppose." he went deeper. "what am i fitted for? i can keep books--in a fashion--or i can clerk. my training has not fitted me for any special thing, unless to sell sporting-goods." this was a "lead," and his face brightened. "my work on the team ought to help me in that direction. good idea! i'll hie me to the sporting-goods houses." the first two managers with whom he talked, while much impressed by him, were completely manned, but the third was disposed to consider him till he told him his name. "no relation to mrs. ollnee, the medium?" he asked, with a grin, while poising his pencil to write. for an instant victor hesitated, then took the leap. "well, yes, i am, but then you don't want to believe that report; it's more than half a lie." the manager's smile vanished. he left the address half finished. "so you are the son they spoke of?" he said, with a cold, keen glance. "yes, i am," victor boldly answered. he closed his book. "i don't believe we can trade," he announced. "of course _i_ don't consider all mediums frauds and liars, but this house is very particular about its help--" victor turned and walked away, bitterly rebellious of soul and disheartened. for a time his anger burned so hotly within him that he meditated taking the train and leaving the city and all it held behind him. again and again his thought returned to the picture his gentle little mother had made as she had said good-by to him at the head of the stairs. to accuse her of conscious deception was like accusing a sweet girl of infanticide. how could she build up a system of fraudulent fortune-telling, so intricate, so subtle, that it baffled the eye of the reporter, who confessed that he had not been able to detect the trickery. "it is only by induction, by inference, that one gets at the _modus operandi_," he admitted. in his perturbation he walked away to the east and soon came out upon the lake-front. a bunch of men and boys of all types and sizes were playing ball on the barren ground, and with the athlete's undying love of the sport he rose and edged into the game. he could not resist showing his prowess by means of a few curves, and the crowd with instant perception began to take a vivid interest in him. a half-hour of this restored his good-nature and he returned to the caã±ons to the west, determined to find an opening somewhere. he was never dismissed rudely--he was too big and well-dressed for that--but the fact that he had no experience shut him out in most cases, and for the rest the departments were filled with salesmen. twice when he seemed about to be taken on, his name and his mothers reputation shut the door of opportunity in his face. at four o'clock he started slowly homeward, discouraged, not so much by his failure as by the fact that everybody seemed to have a knowledge of the article in the _star_. it was evident that even when a manager did not at the moment make the connection between his name and mrs. ollnee's it would certainly come out later and he would be called upon to defend himself and his mother from the sneers and jeers of his fellow-salesmen. "i'm a marked man, that's sure," he said, in dismay. all day his mind had dwelt in flashes on the glorious life at winona, but now his memory of it was poisoned by the thought that he had been a pensioner on the bounty of mrs. joyce. "the easy thing would be to change my name and skip out for the plains," he said again, "but i won't. i'll stay and fight it out right here some way." he was passing the public library at the moment and was moved to go in and look up the "want ads" in the papers. ten minutes' reading of these filled him with despair. there were so many wanting work! his feet were tired with walking and his brain weary with the movement of the street, therefore he moved on to the reference room where he found an atmosphere of study that was very grateful. accustomed to work of this kind, he asked the attendant to bring him catalogues, and was soon surrounded with books and magazines which dealt with the modern study of psychic phenomena. he fell upon one or two of these which gave exhaustive generalizations, and he was astounded to find that european men of science of the loftiest type were engaged in the study of precisely the same phenomena which his mother claimed to produce. careless of all else, he remained until six o'clock absorbed and confused by what he read. words and phrases like "telekinesis," "teleplastic," "parasitic personalities," "externalized motricity," "bio-psychic energy" danced about in his brain like fantastic insects. he fairly staggered with the weight of the conceptions laid upon him, and when at last he went out into the streets he had forgotten his race for place behind the counter. it was nearly sunset, and his afternoon--his day--had gone for naught! he was as far as ever from securing work--and wages--to keep his little mother and himself from the corrupting care of charity. he was a bit disgusted with himself, too, for wasting valuable time, and yet he was enough of the scholar to feel a glow of delight in the company he had been keeping. there was something large and free in the attitude of those italian men toward the universe, and before he had walked far he promised himself to go again and continue that line of investigation. as he walked up the avenue he came face to face with the dark, thin-faced girl who had knocked at his mother's door the day before. she seemed about to speak, but he passed her with blank look. he found his mother at the window waiting for him, and upon seeing him she hurried to meet him at the head of the stairs. "what luck?" she called, with a smile. he shook his head. "nothing doing," and received her caress rather coldly, for he perceived mrs. joyce in the room. "it isn't so easy to find a job. i'll be lucky if i dig one up in a week, i suppose." mrs. joyce greeted him cordially. "i've just been making a proposition to your mother, victor--i hope you'll let me call you victor--which is, that we all go abroad for a few months till this storm blows over." he looked at her with gravely interrogating glance. "how could we do that?" she explained. "you both go as my guests, of course. we can motor through france in june and get up into switzerland in july." he sank into a chair and dazedly studied her. "why should you offer to do all that for us?" "because i am very grateful to your mother for what she has done for me. she not only cured my mother of cancer--she has cured me of despair. she has taught me to believe again in the mystery of the world." "you mean she has done this as--as a medium?" "yes--through her guides she has given me faith in the hereafter. their advice on a hundred different things has made life easy for me. my wealth is largely due to the wisdom of mr. astor, who speaks through her. he advises, and so does your grandfather, that i take you all abroad this summer, and i think it a very nice suggestion." "oh, the suggestion came from the voices, did it?" his voice was full of scornful suggestion. "yes; but i thought of it myself yesterday as i read that terrible article. you see, i'm told by mr. bartol, my lawyer, that the city officials are about to start another campaign against all forms of mediumship. i think it best, and so does your father, that we all leave the city for a time, and escape this persecution." the beleaguered youth was not a polite deceiver at his best, and this proposal appeared to him not merely chimerical, but immoral, for the reason that his mother must have really proposed it. through her uncanny power of hypnosis, of suggestion, she had put the idea into her rich friend's head. "i won't consider any such proposition," he bluntly answered. "i don't recognize my mother's claim. you owe her nothing. i don't believe she can cure cancer, and she has no right to advise anybody in business matters." "you say that because you know nothing of the facts," mrs. joyce briskly replied. "i understand your situation perfectly. your mother has kept me informed of her worries--she has no secrets from me--and i must say i foresaw this antagonism on your part. i felt that you were growing away from her, and yet the voices advised her to keep you at school and to say nothing. to show you how close they watch you i can tell you that we've been informed of your whereabouts several times to-day. you met a young man at noon, a pale, serious young man, whose name is gilmer, who said he would help you. isn't that true?" he was properly surprised. "yes, i did meet such a man." "then you went to the library and read for a long time?" he sneered. "did the voices tell you that i was turned down everywhere on account of my mother's reputation as a medium?" "no; but they said you would oppose the idea of our going abroad, and that you were under discipline." "you're tired, victor," interposed the mother. "don't worry over me any more now. i'll get you some coffee." while she was gone on this errand mrs. joyce leaned toward victor and said: "i can understand a part of your feeling, because there was a time when i lived in the world of definite, commonplace things--but you must not oppose your mother's voices. they are as real to her as anything in this universe. i've _proved_ their reality again and again. as i say, they have advised me in my investments and always right. in a sense--in a very real sense--i owe a part of my wealth to your mother, and the little that she has permitted me to do in return for her aid is trifling. i want to do more. please be just to your dear little mother, who is truly a marvelous creature and loves you beyond all other earthly things. she lives only for you. if it were not for you she would pass on to the spirit plane to-night." victor listened to her in a sullen meditation. the whole situation was becoming incredibly fantastic, vaporous as the texture of a dream. mrs. joyce went on: "come to my house to-night for dinner. never mind the morrow till the morrow comes. come and talk with some friends of mine--they may help you." he spoke thickly: "i'm much obliged, mrs. joyce. i'm grateful for what you've done for us, but to take her money or yours now would be--would be dishonest. i can't let you feed us any longer--we've got to fight this out alone." "what will you do with her voices?" she asked. "forget 'em," he answered, curtly. "they'll force you to remember them," she warningly retorted. "i assure you they hold your fate in their hands." mrs. ollnee, returning, cut short the discussion, which was growing heated. as he drank his coffee victor recovered a part of his native courtesy. "i'm going to win out," he said, with kindling eyes. "it would have been a wonder if i had found a job the first day. i'm going to keep going till i wear out my shoes." a knock at the door made his mother start. "another reporter!" she whispered. "they're pestering me still." victor rose with a spring. "i'll attend to this reporter business," he said, hotly. "no," interposed mrs. joyce; "let me go, please!" he submitted, and she went to meet the intruder. her quiet, authoritative voice could be heard saying: "mrs. ollnee is not able to see any one. that cruel and false article of yesterday has completely upset her.--no, i am only her friend and nurse. i have nothing to say except that the article in the _star_ was false and malignant." thereupon she closed and locked the door and came back quite serious. "they've been coming almost every hour, determined to see your mother. i would have taken her away, only she persisted in saying she must remain here till you returned." "have you been here all day?" he asked, moved by the thought of her loyalty. his mother answered. "louise came about ten this morning--and except for an hour at lunch we've both been here waiting, listening." this devotion on the part of a rich and busy woman was deeply revealing. the youth was being educated swiftly into new conceptions of human nature. his mother was neither beautiful nor wise nor witty. why should she attract and hold a lady like mrs. joyce? he wondered if she had been quite honest with him. would her interest be the same if the voices had not enriched her? she returned to her invitations. "now put on your dinner-suit and come with us," she insisted. "my niece, leo, will be there--surely you will respond to that lure?" his mother laid her small hand upon his arm. "let us go, victor. i am in terror here." "why did you stay? why didn't you go before?" he demanded. "because the voices said '_wait!_'--and besides, i wanted to be here when you came." he rose. "you go. i will come after dinner and bring you home." mrs. joyce was quick on the trail of his intent. "you refuse to eat my bread! you _are_ rigorous. very well. let it be so. come, lucy, let us go." mrs. ollnee seemed to listen a moment, then rose. "you'll surely come after dinner, victor?" "yes, i'll come about nine," he replied, in a tone that was hard and cold. and she went away deeply hurt. left alone, he walked about the "ghost-room" with bitterness deepening into fury. what were these invisible, intangible barriers which confined him? he stood beside the old brown table which he had hated and feared in his boyhood. what silliness it represented. the pile of slates, some of them still bearing messages in pencil or colored crayon, offered themselves to his hand. he took up one of these and read its oracular statement: "_he will come to see the glory of the faith. his neck will bow. it is discipline. do not worry. father._" here was the source of his troubles! he dashed the slate to the floor and ground it under his heel. catching the table by the side and up-ending it, he wrenched its legs off as he would have wrung the neck of a vulture. he breathed upon it a blast of contempt and hate, and, gathering it up in fragments, was starting to throw it into the alley when the door burst open and his mother reappeared, white, breathless, appalled. "_victor_; what are you doing?" she called, with piercing intonation. he was shaken by her tone, her manner, but he answered, "i'm going to throw this accursed thing into the alley." she put herself before him with one hand pressed upon her bosom, her breath weak and fluttering. "you--shall--not! you are killing me. don't you see that is a part of me. don't you know--put it down instantly! _my very life and soul are in it._" he dropped the broken thing in a disordered pile at her feet. her anguish, which seemed both physical and mental, stunned him. as they stood thus confronting each other mrs. joyce returned. she seemed to comprehend the situation instantly, and, putting her arm about the little psychic's waist, gently said, "you'd better lie down, lucy, you are hurt." mrs. ollnee permitted herself to be led to the little couch silently sobbing. it was growing dusky in the room, and the youth, though still rebellious, was profoundly affected by this action. his hot anger died away and a swift repentance softened him. "don't cry, mother," he said, clumsily kneeling beside her. "i didn't think you cared so much about the old thing." mrs. joyce broke forth in scorn: "what a crude young barbarian you are! that table is something more than a piece of wood to her. it is a sacred altar. it is the place where the quick and the dead meet. it is sentient with the touch of spirit hands--and you have desecrated it. you have laid violent hands upon your mother's innermost heart. you will destroy her if you keep on in this way." at these words the youth for the first time caught a glimpse of the vital faith which lay behind and beneath these foolish and ridiculous practices. no matter what that worn table was to him, it stood for his mother's faith--that he now saw--and he was sorry. "i can rebuild it again," he said. "it is not hopelessly smashed. i will repair it to-morrow." the symbolism which could be read in his words seemed to comfort his mother and she grew quieter, but her face remained ghastly pale and her breathing troubled. mrs. joyce turned to him again. "you can't deceive her. she knew the instant you laid your destroying hands on that slate." he did not doubt this. in some hidden way his action had reached and acted upon his mother as she was speeding down the avenue. her sudden return proved this--and his hair rose at the thought of her clairvoyancy, and in answer to mrs. joyce's question, "why did you do it?" he replied, sullenly, but not bitterly: "i did it because i detest the thing and all that goes with it. i have hated that table all my life." "what did you think your mother would do?" "i didn't stop to think. i only wanted to get the brute out of sight. i wanted to end the whole trade at once." "you've got to be careful or you'll end your mother's earth-life. let me tell you, boy, if you want to keep her on this plane with you you must be gentle with her. any shock, especially when she is in trance, is very dangerous to her." victor began to feel his helplessness in the midst of the intangible entangling threads of his mother's faith. he now saw the folly of his action, and took an unexpected way of showing his contrition. "if you'll forgive me, mother, i'll go with you to mrs. joyce's dinner. come, let's get away from here for a little while; i feel stifled." this pleased and comforted her amazingly. she rose and placed one frail, cold hand about his neck. "dear boy! i forgive you. you didn't realize what you were doing." releasing himself he gathered up the fragments of the table and tenderly examined them. "it can be mended," he reported. "i'll do it the first thing in the morning." a faint smile came back to his mother's face. "i don't mind, victor. i feel already that this has brought us closer together. your father is here--he is smiling--and i am happier than i've been for weeks." victor dressed for his party with trembling limbs. it seemed as if he had passed through a tremendous battle wherein he had been defeated--and yet his heart was strangely light. v victor receives a warning mrs. joyce's house was a stone structure of rather characterless design which stood at the intersection of a wide boulevard and one of the narrower crosstown streets, but it seemed very palatial to victor as he wonderingly entered its looming granite portal. his mother tripped up the stairs with the air of one who feels very much at home. a man in snuff-colored livery took his hat and coat and ushered him into a large reception-room on the left, and there his hostess found him some ten minutes later. "come and meet my brother from california," she said, and led the way across the hall into the library, where a tall man with gray hair and mustache was talking with a dark, alert and smoothly shaven man of middle age. the one mrs. joyce introduced as her brother, mr. wood, and the other as mr. carew. victor was relieved to have miss wood enter and greet him cordially, for the men did not seem to value him sufficiently to include him in their conversation. mr. wood was reserved and the tone of carew's voice was cynical. leonora wood was of that severe type of beauty which requires stately gowns, and victor confessed that she was quite the finest figure of a girl he had ever met, but when mrs. joyce said, "you are to take leo out to dinner" he merely bowed, resenting her amused smile. his seat at table brought him next a very old lady--mrs. wood, senior--who beamed upon him with cheerful interest. there were several other women of that vague middle age which does not interest youth. miss wood talked extremely well, and he became interested in spite of himself. "i wonder how much longer we're going to believe in 'luck' and 'coincidence,'" she said, after some remark of his. "maybe it's all thought transference or telepathy or something." "don't tell me you really believe in such things. professor boyden says they are all a part of the spineless mysticism which is sweeping over the country." she assumed a patronizing air. "it's natural for undergraduates to quote their teachers. i wonder how long it will be before you will consider them all old fogies." he rose to the defense of his hero. "boyden will never be an old fogy. he's the most up-to-date man in america. he really is the only experimentalist along these lines. he's out for the facts." "your mother's voices say he is as blind as the rest, wilfully blind." "do you really hold stock in my mother's voices?" she gazed upon him in large-eyed wonder. "yes, don't you?" "no. how can they be anything but a delusion?" "i don't know. i only know they are profoundly mysterious and that they tell me things which convince me. they seem to know my most secret thought. i have been _forced_ to believe in them. my aunt's fortune has been doubled and my own income greatly augmented by their advice." he took this up. "tell me more about that. what did they advise you to do?" "they advised buying certain stocks in a machine for making paper boxes and recommended the universal traction company." at this moment mrs. wood, senior, plucked at his sleeve. "louise tells me you're the son of our dear medium, lucy ollnee." "i am, yes," he replied, rather ungraciously, for he was eager to revert to leo. "perhaps you're a medium yourself," the old lady pursued. "thank the lord, no! i haven't the ghost of a voice about me." she chuckled. "at your age one thinks only of love and dollars. when you are as old as i am the next world will interest you a great deal more than it does now. besides, you must believe in spirits after they have made you rich. they've made louise and leo rich--i suppose you know that?" he soon turned back to leo. "i wish people would not talk my mother's voices to me. i hear nothing else now." "it's your mother's 'atmosphere.' no one thinks of anything else when in her presence." "don't you see how intolerable all that is going to be for me?" he asked, with bitter gravity. "i can see that she isn't exactly human even to you. she's just a sort of a freak. no one loves her or seeks her for herself alone, only for what she can do. that's another reason why i must insist on her getting away from this. i will not have her treated like a wireless telephone." her eyes expressed more sympathy than she put into her voice. "i see what you mean; but, believe me, i had not thought of her in just that light, and i think you're quite wrong about my aunt. she is really very fond of your mother." he was eager to know more of what this clear-sighted girl had seen, but her neighbor, mr. carew, claimed her, and he was forced back upon grandmother wood, who talked of her new faith to him for nearly half an hour. after dinner, while the ladies were in the drawing-room and the men were smoking their cigars, the perturbed youth expected to be freed from any further inquisition, for philo wood was apparently of that type of man who has no interest in the things he cannot turn into hard cash. the merits of a new strawboard box-machine was engaging his attention at this time, but, after a few minutes of polite discussion of the weather and other general topics, carew, the lawyer, turned to victor and began an interrogation which made him wince. carew was very nice about it, but he pursued such a well-defined line of inquiry that it amounted to a cross-examination. he soon possessed himself of the fact that victor did not approve of his mother's way of life and that he was trying to secure employment in order to stop all further "fortune-telling" on his mother's part. "i don't believe in it," he reiterated. "the amazing thing to me," interposed wood, with quiet emphasis, "is that her predictions come true. i 'play the ponies' a bit"--he smiled--"and i have tried to draw mrs. ollnee into partnership with me. 'you have the spooks point out the winning horse to me,' said i to her, 'and i'll share the pot with you.'" "and she wouldn't do it?" asked carew. wood seemed to be highly amused. "no, she says her guides do not sanction gambling of any sort. and yet she advises louise to buy into a new transportation scheme that looks to me like the worst kind of a gamble. my advice counts for nothing against these voices." "that's true," admitted carew. "you might as well be the west wind so far as influencing her goes. since 'mr. astor' butted into the game my services are good only in so far as they drive tandem with his! now you say you have no belief in the thing," he said, turning again to victor. "how is that? how did that come about?" "well, in the first place, i've given some study to what professor boyden calls delusional hysteria," victor responded. wood smiled cynically. "my sister won't mind what you call it so long as it enables your mother to designate the winning stocks." the attitude of each of these men was that of watchful tolerance, and victor chafed under their assumption of superior wisdom. he plainly perceived that wood was using the psychic for his own ends, and this angered him. he shut up like a clam and left the room as soon as he could decently do so. he made his way to where leonora was sitting on a sofa in the library and took his seat beside her, with intent to continue the conversation which they had begun at the dinner, but he forgot his problems as he looked into her merry, candid eyes. her first word was a compliment to his mother. "how pretty she looks to-night! no one would suspect her of being 'the dark and subtle siren' of yesterday's _star_. her face is positively angelic at this moment. how beautiful she must have been as a girl! i must say you do not resemble her." "thank you," he said. she laughingly explained. "i mean you are so tall and dark. you must resemble your father." "i believe i do, although i cannot remember him." "i wonder if he had your absurd pride. aunt louise tells me you absolutely refuse to accept any favor from her, and that you were practically forced into coming to dinner to-night. is that true?" he leaned toward her with intense seriousness. "how would you feel if you had suddenly learned that all your clothing, your food, your theater tickets--everything had been paid for in money drawn from strangers by means of--well--hypnotism." "if i believed that i should feel as you do, but i don't. it is not so simple as all that. your mother's power seems very real to me, and so far as i can now see she has given us all value received for every dollar. by rights one-half of all our profits belongs to her, or, if you prefer, to her voices. do you know that these voices will not permit her to retain more than a scanty living out of all the wealth she makes for others? did you know that?" "i know she lives in a shabby apartment, and she tells me that she is entirely under the control of these 'guides.'" "yes, they refuse to let her keep anything beyond what she actually needs for herself and your education. i think all that should be counted in on her side, don't you? the fact that she is not enriching herself surely makes her part in the transaction a clean one." he sank away from her and brooded over this thought for a minute or two before he replied. "but the whole thing is so preposterous. have you seen her slate-writing 'stunt'?" "many times; but i don't think you should call it a 'stunt.'" "come, now, give me your honest opinion. do you think my mother unconsciously cheats?" she faced him with convincing candor. "no, i don't. i think she is perfectly simple and straightforward, and i believe the writing is supernormal." "how can you believe that? you're a college girl, mother tells me. don't the belief in these things wipe out everything you have been taught at school? it certainly rips science into strips for me, or would--if i believed it. it makes a fool of a man like boyden, that's a sure thing." mrs. joyce, looking across the room, smiled in delight at the charming picture these young people made in their animated conversation. doubtless they were glowing over tennyson's position in modern poetry or the question of meredith's ultimate standing in fiction. what the youth was really saying to the maid was this: "what did you get out of it all? what did the voices give you?" "they told me to study composition, for one thing. they told me i would compose successful songs, with the aid of--of schubert." she was a little embarrassed at the end. "and you took all that in?" she colored. "i'm afraid i didn't really believe the schubert part. however, i'm studying composition on the _chance_ of their being right." "you say they advise you on money matters. how do they do that?" "they advise my uncle through me to sell stock in a certain company and buy in another. they told me to withdraw my money from my california bank and put it into this universal traction company." "did you do that?" "yes." "i'm sorry. i wish you wouldn't take their advice. i wish you would put your money back where it came from at once." "why?" "because it scares me to think of your going into anything on my mother's advice." "but it wasn't your mother's advice. it was the advice of a great financier." "you mean a dead financier?" "yes." he did not laugh at this; on the contrary, his face darkened. "i've heard about that. did he advise your uncle to go into this same transportation company?" "yes; all our friends are in it." "you mean everybody that went to my mother for advice?" "yes." "do many go to her for help of this kind?" "no, not many; she gives sittings only to my aunt and her friends now. there were several big business men of the city who went regularly. why, mr. pettus, the president of the traction company, relies upon her." the absurdity of these great capitalists going to his mother's threadbare little apartment for counsel in ways to win millions made victor smile. he said, with a mock sigh, "i wish these voices would tell me where to find a job that would pay fifteen dollars a week." "they will--if you give yourself up to them. you must have faith." "oh, but the whole thing is dotty. why should a poor farmer like my grandfather by just merely dying become a great financier?" again his brow darkened and his voice deepened with contempt. "it's all poppycock! if he knows so much about the future why didn't he warn my mother against that reporter that came in the other day to do her up? why didn't he permit me to stay on at winona and get my degree?" the girl was troubled by his questions and evaded them. "it must have been hard to leave in the midst of your final term." "it was punishing. it was like being yanked out of the box in the middle of an inning, with the game all coming your way." she knew enough of baseball slang to catch his meaning and she smiled as she asked, "why don't you go back?" "simply because i couldn't stand the chinning i'd get from my classmates." "can't you go on with your studies here and pass your examination?" "i might do that if i could get a job that would pay me my board and leave me a little time to study." she looked up at him with smiling archness. "why not drive an automobile? you could carry your books around under the seat and study while waiting outside the shops or the theaters." "good idea!" he exclaimed, responding to her humor. "i'm pretty handy with the machine. one of my friends up at winona had one. i hope you own a car." he said this with intent to indicate his growing desire to be near her. mrs. joyce came over at this moment to inquire what they were so jolly about. leo answered: "i was just suggesting that mr. ollnee become a chauffeur. he could go on with his studies--" "capital!" exclaimed mr. joyce. "the man i have is liable to drink and very crusty in the bargain. you may have his place." "i'm afraid i wouldn't do," he responded. "i might get crusty, too." "i hope you are not liable to drink," said leo. "no, sarsaparilla is my only tipple. but this is all miss wood's joke," he explained. "i'm not joking, indeed i'm not," the girl retorted. "i don't know of any skill that is more in demand just now than that of a chauffeur. i know of one who is studying the piano. i don't see any reason why mr. ollnee should not take it up temporarily. it's perfectly honorable. witness bernard shaw's play." "oh, i'm not looking down on any job just now," he disclaimed. "all i ask is a chance to earn a living while i'm finding out what my best points are." mr. wood beckoned and leo rose to meet him. "we must be off," he said. victor bade leo good-night with such feeling of intimacy and friendliness as he had not hoped to attain for any one connected with mrs. joyce. there was something in the pressure of her hand and in the sympathetic tone of her voice at the last that he remembered with keen pleasure. mr. carew was deep in conversation with mrs. ollnee, and victor drew near with intent to know what was being said. the lawyer was very gentle, very respectful, but mrs. ollnee was undergoing a thorough investigation at his hands. he represented the calm, slow-spoken, but very keen inquisitor, and the psychic was already feeling the force of his delicate, yet penetrating sarcasm. "i would advise you not to trust your voices in matters that relate to life, limb, or fortune," he said, suavely, and a veiled threat ran beneath his words. "these voices may be deceiving you." mrs. ollnee protested with vehemence. "mr. carew, i am content to put my _soul_ into their keeping." he bowed and smiled. "your faith is very wonderful." then he added, with a glance at mrs. joyce, who was listening, "for myself, i would not put my second-best coat in their keeping." mrs. joyce intervened at this point, and, after some little discussion of a conventional topic, offered to send victor and his mother home in her car. victor was not pleased by her offer. it was only putting him just that much deeper into her debt, but he could not well refuse, especially as his mother accepted it as a matter of course. on the way he took up the question of carew's warning. "he's right, mother. you must stop advising people to buy or sell." "why so, victor?" "suppose you should advise buying the wrong thing?" "but they don't advise the wrong thing, victor. they are always right." "always?" "nobody has ever reported a failure," she declared. "well, it's sure to come. why should father or grandfather know any more about stocks now than he did before he died?" she was a little nettled by his tone. "they have the constant advice of a great financier on that side." "so miss wood told me. who is this great financier who is so willing to help you decide what to do with other people's money?" he asked, cuttingly. she hesitated a little before saying "commodore vanderbilt." he could not keep back a derisive shout. "vanderbilt! well, and you believe 'the great commodore' comes to our little hole of a home to advise us? oh, mother, that's too ridiculous." "my son," she began with some asperity, "we've been all over that ground before. you don't realize how you hurt, how you dishonor me when you doubt me and laugh at me." he felt the pain in her voice and began an apology. "i don't mean to laugh at you, mother. but you must remember that i have been a student for four years in the atmosphere of a great university, and all this business--i've got to be honest with you--it's all raving madness to me. you certainly must stop advising in business matters. mr. carew to-night intended to give you warning." "i know he did," she quietly responded. "he meant to be kind. he meant to say that you were liable at any moment to be held accountable for advice that went wrong. he told me that the courts were full of cases where mediums had led people into willing their property away, or where they had juggled with somebody else's fortunes. he told me of having convicted one woman of this and of having sent her to jail." "but have i prospered from these advices?" she asked, indignantly. "can any one accuse me of getting rich out of my 'work'? please consider that." "that does puzzle me. i can't see why 'they' help others and leave us with a bare living. and, most important of all, why do 'they' permit you to be hounded this way? why didn't 'they' warn you? why don't 'they' help me?" she sighed submissively. "of course they have their own reasons. in good time all will be revealed to us. they are wiser than we, for all the past and all the future are unrolled before their eyes." this reply silenced him. small and gentle as she was, victor realized that she could resist with the strength of iron when it came to an assault upon her faith. above the knob of their own door they found a folded newspaper, and this victor seized with misgiving. "i wonder what is coming next?" he said. she paled with a definite premonition of trouble. "open it at once," she commanded. he was as eager as she, for he, too, foresaw some new attack upon their peace. lighting the gas, he opened the paper with trembling hands. on the first page was his own photograph and the story of his leaving college to defend his mother. everything, even to the parting with frenson, was set down, luridly, side by side with the report of a celebrated murder trial. at sight of this new indignity his sense of youth and weakness came back upon him and, crumpling up the paper, he flung it upon the floor in impotent rage. "that ends the fight here," he said. "how can i go about this town seeking work to-morrow? everybody will know my story, and, what's more, here is your address given in full. don't you see that makes it impossible for either of us to remain here another day?" for the first time in her life the indomitable little psychic quailed before the persistent malice of her foes. the splintered altar of her faith lying in a disordered heap upon the floor symbolized the estrangement which she felt between her invisible guides, her son, and herself. her maternal anxiety had developed swiftly in these few hours of blissful companionship, and the world of wealth and comfort--for her boy's sake--had become suddenly of enormous importance to her. she wished him to be a happy man, and this desire weakened her abstract sense of duty to the race. she spoke aloud in a tone of entreaty, addressing herself to the intangible essences about her. "father, are you here? speak to me, help me, i need you." victor turned upon her with darkened brow. "oh, for god's sake, stop that! i don't want any advice from the air." she persisted. "paul, come to me! tell me what to do. please come!" her voice was thrilling with its weakness and appeal, but victor was furious. he refused to listen. his brow was set and stern. at last she cried out, poignantly, "they are not here. they have deserted us. what shall i do?" she turned toward the table. "rebuild my altar. you said you would. restore that and perhaps they will come to us again. they are angry with me now. they have left me, perhaps forever." "if 'they' have i shall be glad of it," he returned, brutally. "'they' have been a curse to you and to me, also. we are better off without them. come, let us pack up the few things we have and go away into the west, where no one will know even so much as our name. that is the only way left open for us." "no, no," she cried out, "that is impossible. i must remain here. i must wait until they come back to me. i can't go now, and you must not desert me," she ended, and in her voice was something very pitiful. he moved away from her and took his seat in sullen rage. for a long time he did not even look at her, though he knew she was waiting and listening. at last he rose, and his voice was harsh and hoarse. "mother, my mind is made up. there's no use talking against it. i leave this city to-morrow morning. i shall go as far as my money will carry me. i shall change my name and get rid of this whole accursed business. i've hated it, i've hated your 'ghost-room' and your voices all my life, and this is the end of it for me. if you will not go with me then i must leave you behind." she uttered a moaning cry of grief and ran like one stricken into her room, flinging herself face downward upon her bed. he listened for a few moments with something tugging at his heart-strings, but his face was set in unrelenting lines. then he rose and set to work repacking his trunk. vi victor is checked in his flight when victor woke from his uneasy sleep next morning his first glance was toward his mother's room wherein he had seen her vanish in an agony of grief and despair. all was quiet, and after dressing himself--still firmly resolved upon flight--he went to the door and silently peered in. she was sleeping peacefully, her thin hands folded on her breast, and he drew a sigh of relief. "i am glad she's able to sleep," he said, and stole back to the pantry. he studied its sparse supplies with care. there was not much to do with, but he boiled some eggs and made coffee very quietly, with intent to let his mother sleep as long as she could. he found himself less savage than the night before. "i can't leave till she wakes," he said to himself, "but i'm going, all the same." in order to pass the time of waiting he went down to the foot of the stairs to find the morning paper. he opened it with apprehension, but breathed a sigh of relief upon finding no further "scare heads" of himself. the only reference to his mother came in the midst of an editorial advocating the cleaning out of all the healers, palmists, fortune-tellers, and mediums in the city. with lofty virtue the writer went on to say that the _star_ had refused to advertise the business of these people, no matter what the pecuniary reward, and that it purposed a continuous campaign. "we intend to pursue all such women as mrs. ollnee, who fasten upon their credulous dupes like leeches," he declared. as victor read this paragraph he caught again the violence of contrast between the woman pictured by the pen of the editor and the pale, sweet, mild-voiced little woman who was his mother. it would have been funny had it not been so serious and so personal. furthermore, the paragraph strengthened him in his determination to leave the city, and he still hoped to be able to persuade his mother to go with him. at eight o'clock he once more tiptoed in to see if she still slept, and finding her in the same position his heart softened with pity. "she must have been completely tired out, poor little mother! i'm afraid what i said to her worried her." after another hour of impatient waiting he again entered her room and studied her more intently. there was something suggestive of death in the folded hands and he could detect no breathing. her face was as pale as that of a corpse, and his blood chilled a little as he approached her. he called to her at last, but she did not stir. stepping to her bedside, he laid his palm upon her wrist. it was cold as ice, and he started back filled with fear. "mother! _mother!_ are you ill?" he called. she gave no sign of life. for a long time he stood there, rigid with fear, not knowing what to do. he knew no one in all the city upon whom he could call save mrs. joyce and leo, and he did not know their street or number. he felt himself utterly alone, helpless, ignorant as a babe, and in the presence of death. gradually his brain cleared. sorrow overcame his instinctive awe of a dead body. he felt once more the pulseless arm and studied closely the rigid face. "she is gone!" he sobbingly cried, "and i was so cruel to her last night!" the memory of his harsh voice, his brutal words, came back to plague him, now that she was deaf to his remorse. how little, how gentle she was, and how self-sacrificing she had been for him! "she burned out her very soul for me," he acknowledged. he remained beside her thus till the sound of a crying babe on the floor below suggested to him the presence of neighbors. hastening down-stairs, he knocked upon the first door he came to with frantic insistence. a slatternly young woman with a crown of flaming red-gold hair came to the door. she smiled in greeting, but his first words startled her. "my mother is dead. come up and help me. i don't know what to do." his tone carried conviction, and the girl did not hesitate a moment. she turned and called: "father, come here quick. mrs. ollnee is dead." an old man with weak eyes and a loose-hung mouth shuffled forward. to him the girl explained: "this is mrs. ollnee's son. he says his mother is dead. i'm going up there. you look out for the baby." she turned back to victor. "when did she die?" "i found her cold and still this morning." "have you called a doctor?" "no, i don't know of any to call." "jimmie!" she shrieked. a boy's voice answered, "what ye want, maw?" "jimmie, you hustle into your clothes and run down the street to doctor sill's office and tell him to come up here right away. hurry now!" closing the door behind her, she started resolutely up the stairway, and her action gave victor a grateful sense of relief. "what do you think ailed her?" she asked. "i don't know. she seemed all right last night when i went to bed." this woman, young in years, was old in experience, that was evident, for she proceeded unhesitatingly to the silent bedside with that courage to meet death which seems native to all women. she, too, listened and felt for signs of life and found none. "i reckon you're right," she said, quietly. "she's cold as a stone." at her words the strong young fellow gave way. he turned his face to the wall, sobbing, tortured by the thought that his bitter and savage assault and expressed resolve to leave her had been the cause of his mother's death. "what can i do?" he asked, when he was able to speak. "i must do something--she was so good to me." the young woman, looking upon him with large tolerance and a certain measure of admiration, replied: "there's nothing to do now but wait for the doctor. you'd better come down with me and have some coffee." he did not feel in the least like eating or drinking, but he needed human companionship. therefore he followed his neighbor down the stairs and into her cluttered little living-room with submissive gratitude. the home was slovenly, but it was glorified by kindliness. a tousled baby of eighteen months was keeping the old man busy and a small boy of eight or nine was struggling into his knickerbockers, and victor, thrust into the midst of this hearty, dirty, noisy household, remembered with increasing respect his mother's dainty housekeeping. "she was a lady," he said to himself, in definition of the difference between her apartment and this. "her home was poor, but it was never ratty." mrs. bowers was kindness and consideration itself. her father, deaf and partly paralytic, was treated gently, although he was irritatingly slow of comprehension and insisted on knowing all about what had taken place up-stairs. it pained and disgusted victor inexpressibly to have his mother's condition bawled into the old man's ears, but he could not reasonably interfere. he thought of mrs. joyce, knowing that his mother would want to have her instantly informed. "i ought to telephone some friends," he said to mrs. bowers. "where is the nearest 'phone?" she told him, and he went out and down the steps in haste to let mrs. joyce know of his tragic bereavement, and when at the drug-store near by he finally succeeded in getting communication with the house he was deeply disappointed to be told by the butler that mrs. joyce was not down and could not be disturbed so early in the morning. "but i _must_ see her," he insisted. "my mother, mrs. ollnee, her friend, is--is--very sick. i am victor, her son, and i'm sure mrs. joyce would want to speak to me." the butler's voice changed. "oh, very well, mr. ollnee," he replied, knowing the intimacy which existed between his mistress and the psychic. "just hold the line; i'll call her." it was a long time before the calm, cultivated voice of mrs. joyce came over the 'phone, but it was worth the waiting for. "who is it?" she asked. "mrs. joyce, this is victor ollnee. my mother is very, very ill. i'm afraid she's dead." he heard her gasp of pain and surprise as she called: "your mother! why she seemed perfectly well last night." "i found her lying cold and still this morning. i can't detect any pulse or any breathing. can't you come over at once? please do. i don't know a soul in the city but you, and i'm in great trouble." "you poor boy! of course i'll come. i'll be over instantly. have you called a doctor?" "no, i don't know of any." "where are you now?" "at the corner drug-store." "is any one with your mother?" "no, but the woman below has been up. she is quite sure my mother is dead." "gracious heavens! i can't realize it. good-by for a few minutes. i'll come at once." victor returned to mrs. bowers' apartment with a glow of grateful affection for mrs. joyce. it was wonderful what comfort and security came to him with her voice so sincerely filled with compassion and desire to help. he wondered if leo would come with her, and asked himself how the news of his bereavement would affect her. her attitude toward him had been that of the elder sister who felt herself also to be the wiser, but he did not resent that now. he thought of the effect of his mother's death upon the press. would the _star_ forego its malignant assault upon her character now that she was gone beyond its reach? would those who threatened her with arrest be remorseful? mrs. bowers persuaded him to take another cup of hot coffee, and then together they returned to the little apartment above to wait for the coming of the doctor and mrs. joyce. the young mother became philosophical at once. "after a body gets to be forty i tell you he don't know what's going to happen next. i reckon you better set here where you can't see the bed," she added, kindly. "it don't do any good, and it only makes you grieve the harder." he obeyed her like a child and listened through his mist of tears as she rambled on. "i've had my share of trouble," she explained. "first my mother went, then my oldest boy, then my husband took sick. yes, a body has to face trouble about so often, anyway, and, besides, i don't suppose your mother was afraid of death, anyhow. i've known all along what her business was, ever since i came into the house, and i've been up to see her a few times. still i'm not much of a believer. dad is, though. it's his greatest affliction that he can't hear the voices any more. i want to say i believe in your mother. she was a mighty fine woman; but the docterin of spiritualism i never could swaller, notwithstanding i grew up 'longside of it." the sound of a decisive step on the stairs cut her short. "i bet a cookie that's the doctor!" a clear, crisp, incisive voice responded to her greeting at the door, and a moment later a beardless, rather fat young fellow was confronting victor with professional, smiling eyes. "you're not the patient," he stated, rather than asked. victor shook his head and pointed to the bed. with quick step the physician entered the bedroom and set to work upon the motionless form with methodical haste. he was still busy in this way when the whir of a motor car announced mrs. joyce. victor was at the door to meet her, and when she saw him she opened her arms and took him to her broad, maternal bosom. "you poor boy!" she said, patting his shoulder. "you're having more than your share of trouble." he frankly sobbed out his penitence and grief. "oh, mrs. joyce! she's gone, and i was so hard last night. i'll never forgive myself for what i said to her." she again patted him on the shoulder with intent to comfort him. "there, there! i don't believe you have anything to reproach yourself for, and, then, remember your mother's beautiful faith. she has not gone far away. her heaven is not distant. she is very near. she has merely cast off the garment we call flesh. she is here, close beside you, closer than ever before, touching you, knowing what you think and feel." in this way she comforted him, and in a measure drew his mind away from the memory of his cruel and unfilial words. sill approached her with thoughtful glance. "are you related to this woman?" "no, i am only a friend," replied mrs. joyce; "but this is her son." "when did you discover your mother's present condition?" "this morning." "did you fold her hands and put her in the position she occupies?" "no, that is the strange thing. when i left her last night she was--she was lying across the bed, face downward. i had just told her that i was going away and that i wanted her to go with me. she refused to do this and tried to get the voices to speak to her. they would not come, and so she, being hurt, i suppose, by what i said, ran into the room and flung herself down on the bed, weeping. i was angry at her and did not speak to her again. i went to sleep out here on the couch, and did not see her again till morning. when i looked in at eight o'clock she was lying just as she is now." sill eyed him keenly. "do you mean that you quarreled?" mrs. joyce interposed. "i can explain that," she said. "mrs. ollnee was my friend. she was what is called a medium. she is the mrs. ollnee you may have read about in the papers." "ah!" sill's tone conveyed a mingling of surprise and increased interest. "so you are the son of mrs. ollnee?" he said, turning to victor. mrs. joyce again answered for him. "yes; he has been away at school; he came home sunday to comfort and protect his mother; but, unfortunately, he does not accept her faith. he rebelled against her work, and demanded that she give up her voices. i can understand his wanting her to go away with him, and i can understand also how painful it was to her; but i don't believe that what he said had anything to do with her passing out. she was very frail at best, and has many times said that she expected to leave the body in one of her trances and never again resume her worn-out garment." "she was subject to trances, then?" "yes, though not strictly a trance-medium, she did occasionally pass out of the body." "may i take your name?" "certainly; i am mrs. john h. joyce, of prairie avenue." his manner changed. "oh yes. i should have known you, mrs. joyce, i have seen you before. what you tell me does not explain the disposal of mrs. ollnee's body. she must have gone to her death consciously, as if preparing to sleep. perhaps she intended only to enter a trance." mrs. joyce started. "she may be in trance now! have you thought of that, doctor?" victor's heart bounded at the suggestion. "do you think it possible?" he asked, excitedly. sill remained unmoved. "she does not respond to any test, i'm sorry to say. life is extinct." the entrance of doctor eberly, a tall, stooping man with deep-set eyes and a sad, worn face, cut short this explanation. eberly was mrs. joyce's family physician, and taking him aside she presented the case. eberly knew doctor sill, and together they returned to mrs. ollnee's bedside while mrs. joyce kept victor as far away from their examination as possible. "there have been many cases of this deep trance, victor, and we must not permit the coroner to come till we are absolutely convinced that your mother has gone out never to return." "she must come back," he cried, huskily. "she did so much for me. i want to do something for her." "you did a great deal for her, my dear boy. it was a great joy and comfort to her to see you growing into manhood. she was a little afraid of you, but she worshiped you all the same. your letters were an ecstasy to her." "and i wrote so seldom," he groaned. "i was so busy with my games, my studies, i hardly thought of her. if she will only come back to me i will give up everything for her." "she understood you, victor. she was a wonderful little woman, lovely in her serene, high thought. she lived on a lofty plane." "i begin to see that," he answered, contritely. "i understand her better now." the kindly mrs. bowers had slipped away back to her household below, and the men of science were still deep in a low-toned, deliberate discussion, so that victor and the woman he now knew to be his best friend were left to confront each other in mutual study. he was wondering at her interest in him, and she was weighing his grief and remorse, thinking enviously of his youth and bodily perfection. "i wish you were my son," she uttered, wistfully. doctor eberly again approached, walking in that quaint, sidewise fashion which had made him the subject of jocose remark among his pupils at the medical school. mrs. joyce was instant in inquiry. "how is she, doctor?" "life is extinct," he replied, with fateful precision. "are you sure?" she demanded. "reasonably so. one is never sure of anything that concerns the human organism," he replied, wearily. she warned him: "you must remember she was accustomed to these trances." "so i understand. nevertheless, this is something more than trance. so far as i can determine, this body is without a tenant." "the tenant may come back," she insisted. he looked away. "i know your faith, but i am quite sure all is over. _rigor mortis_ has set in." she rose emphatically. "i have a feeling that you are both mistaken. let me see her. come, victor, why do you shrink? it is but her garment lying there." she led the way to the bedside and laid her warm, plump hands on the pale, thin, cold, and rigid fingers of her friend. she stooped and peered into the sightless visage. "lucy, are you present? can you see me?" doctor sill then said: "the eyes alone puzzle me. the pupils are not precisely--" "if there is the slightest doubt--" mrs. joyce began. "oh, i didn't mean to convey that, mrs. joyce. i was merely giving you the exact point--" "she shall lie precisely as she is till to-morrow," announced mrs. joyce, firmly. "i have an 'impression' that she wishes to have it so. will you permit this?" she confronted the two physicians. "will you wait till to-morrow before reporting?" doctor eberly considered a moment. "if you insist, mrs. joyce, and if it is mr. ollnee's wish--" "yes, yes," victor cried, "i've heard of people being buried alive. it is too horrible to think about! leave us alone till to-morrow." the physicians conferred apart, and at last eberly turned to say: "it seems to us a perfectly harmless concession. we will not report the case till to-morrow. doctor sill will call in the morning and decide what further course to take." "thank you," repeated mrs. joyce. after the doctors had gone she turned to victor, saying: "there is nothing for us to do now but to wait. if lucy has gone out of her body forever she will manifest to us here in some familiar way. if she intends to return she will revive the body and speak from it sometime between now and dawn." "she seems to sleep," he said; and now that his awe and terror were lessened by his hope, he was able to study her face more exactly. "how peaceful she seems--and how little she is!" "a great soul in a dainty envelope," mrs. joyce replied. "would you mind taking my car and going to my home to tell leonora where i am? i wish also you would bring mrs. post, my seamstress, back with you. she's a good, strong, kindly soul and will be most helpful to-day." he consented readily and went away in the car, with the bright spring sunlight flooding the world, feeling himself snared in an invisible net. all thought of leaving the city passed out of his mind. he thought only of his mother and of her possible revivification. "i will fight the world here if only she will return," he said. it seemed years since the ball game of saturday wherein he had taken such joyous and honorable part. at that time his universe held no sorrow, no care, no uncertainty. now here he sat, plunged deep in mystery and confusion, face to face with death, penniless, beleaguered, and alone. "what would i do without mrs. joyce?" he asked himself. "she is a wonderful woman." strange that in a single hour he should come to lean upon her as upon an elder sister. he suddenly remembered that she had probably come away from home without her breakfast, and that she would find not so much as a crust of bread in his mother's kitchen, and the thought made him flush with shame. "what a selfish fool i am," he said, and seized the speaking-tube with intent to order the chauffeur to turn, but, reflecting that it would take only a few minutes longer to go on, he dropped the mouth-piece and the machine whirled steadily forward. as he ran up the wide steps leonora opened the door for him, looking very alert and capable, her face full of wonder and question. "how is your mother?" she quickly, tenderly, asked. he choked in his reply. "the doctors say she is--dead, but your aunt insists that it is only a trance." he turned away to hide his tears. "i am hoping she's right, but i'm afraid that the doctors--" "is there anything i can do?" she asked, her voice tremulous with sympathy. "yes, if you will please send mrs. post, the seamstress, over with me. we have no one in the house, and mrs. joyce needs help." "i will go, too," she responded, quickly. "please be seated while i call mrs. post. have you had breakfast?" "yes; but mrs. joyce has not, and i'm afraid there isn't a thing in our house to eat." "i'll take something over," she replied, and hastened away. he did not sit, he could not even compose himself to stand, but walked up and down the hall like a leopard in its cage. now and again a liveried servant passed, glancing at him curiously, but he did not mind. mingled with other whirling emotions was a feeling of gratitude toward leonora, whose air of conscious superiority had given place, for the moment, to exquisite gentleness and pity. she soon had the seamstress and some lunch bestowed in the car. "we are ready, mr. ollnee," she called. she said very little during their ride. occasionally she made some remark of general significance, or spoke to mrs. post upon the duties which she might expect to meet, and for this reserve victor was grateful. she understood him through all his worry. though he did not directly study her, he was acutely conscious of her every movement. her unruffled precision of action, her calmness, her consideration for his grief appealed to him as something very womanly and sweet. his mother's neighbors had been aroused to a staring heat of interest, and from almost every window curious faces peered. victor perceived and resented their scrutiny, but leonora seemed not to mind. she alighted calmly and carried the basket of lunch in her own hands to the stairway, though she permitted victor to lead the way. mrs. joyce met them with a grave smile. "you are prompt. i am glad to see you, leo, and you, too, mrs. post. we have a long watch before us." * * * * * it was a singular and absorbing vigil to which victor and the three women now set themselves. while greek and italian hucksters lamentably howled through the alleys and the milk-wagons and grocers' carts clattered up the streets, they waited upon the invisible and listened for the inaudible--so thin is the line between the prosaic and the mystic! each minute snap or crackle in the woodwork was to mrs. joyce a sign that the translated spirit was struggling to manifest itself; but the seamstress, stolid with years of toil and trouble, sat beside the bed with calm gaze fixed upon the small, clear-cut face half hid in the pillows, as if it mattered very little to her whether she watched with the dead or sewed robes of velvet for the living. "it's all in the day's work," she was accustomed to say. leo, with intent to comfort victor, told of several notable cases of "suspension of animation" with which the literature of the orient is filled, and victor took this to be, as she intended it to be, an attempt to comfort and sustain. at times it seemed that he must be dreaming, so unreal was the scene and so extraordinary was the composure of these women. they had the air of those who await in infinite calm leisure the certain return of a friend. now and again mrs. joyce rose and looked down upon the motionless form, and then perceiving no change resumed her seat. from time to time intruders mounted the stairs, knocked, and, getting no reply, tramped noisily down again. victor was all for throwing things in their faces, but mrs. joyce interposed. when he looked from the windows he saw grinning faces turned upward, and waiting cameras could be seen on the walk opposite, ready to snap every living thing that entered--or came from--the house. in truth, victor and his friends were enduring a state of siege. at last mrs. joyce said: "nothing is gained by your staying here, victor. why don't you go for a ride in the park? leo, take him down to the south side club." victor protested. "i cannot go for a pleasure trip at such a time as this. it is impossible!" she met him squarely. "victor, death to me is merely a passing from one plane to another. besides, i don't think your mother has altogether left us. but if she has, you can do no good by remaining here. mrs. post and i are quite sufficient. it is a glorious spring day. i beg you to go out and take the air. it will do you infinite good." "if there is nothing i can do here then i ought to resume my search for work," he replied, sturdily. "now that i cannot take my mother away with me, there is nothing for me to do but to find employment here and face our enemies as best i can." she opposed him there also. "don't do that--not now. wait. i have a plan. i'll not go into it now, but when you come back, if there is no change, we will all go home and i will explain." the young people had risen and were starting toward the door when an imperative, long drawn-out rapping startled them. "that's no reporter's rap. there is authority in that," remarked mrs. joyce, as she hurried to the door. a very tall man with a long gray beard stood there. "good-day, madam," he began, in a husky voice. "i hear that my friend, mrs. ollnee, is sick, and i've come to see about it. i'm her friend these many years and of her faith, and i think i can be of some assistance." mrs. joyce dimly remembered having seen him in the house before, so she replied, very civilly, "mrs. ollnee lies in what seems to be deep trance, although the doctors say that life is extinct." "will you let me see her?" he inquired. "i know a great deal about these conditions. my daughter was subject to them." "you may come in," she said, for his manner was gentle. "this is her son, victor." victor was vexed by the stranger's intrusion, but could not gainsay mrs. joyce. "my name is beebe, doctor beebe," he explained. "mrs. ollnee has given me many a consoling message, and i believe i've been of help to her. you're her son, eh?" "i am," replied victor, shortly. "you were the vein of her heart," the old man solemnly assured him. "her guides were forever talking of you. and now may i see her?" mrs. joyce, after a moment's hesitation, led him to the door of the room and stood aside for him to enter. after looking down into the silent face for a long time he asked, in stately fashion, "may i make momentary examination of the body?" mrs. joyce glanced at victor. "i see no objection to your feeling for her pulse or listening for her breath." "i wish to lift her eyelids," he explained. "you must not touch her!" victor broke forth. "two doctors have examined her already. why should you?" "because i, too, am one of the mystic order. i am a healer. life's mysteries are as an open book to me." as he spoke a folded paper appeared to develop out of thin air above the bed, and fell gently upon the coverlet. mrs. joyce started. "where did that come from?" the healer smiled. "from the fourth dimension." calmly taking up the folded paper, he opened it. "this is a message to you, young man." "to me?" victor exclaimed. "from whom?" "it is signed 'nelson.'" "let me see it!" demanded mrs. joyce. "what does it say?" asked victor. mrs. joyce handed it to him. "read it for yourself. it is from your grandfather." he read: "_your mother is with us, but she will return to you for a little while. her work is not yet ended. your stubborn neck must bow. there is a great mission for you, but you must acquire wisdom. learn that your plans are nothing, your strength puny, your pride pitiful. we love you, but we must chastise you. do not attempt to leave the city._ "_nelson._" as he stood reading this letter it seemed to victor that a cold wind blew upon him from the direction of his mother's body, and his blood chilled. "this is some of your jugglery," he said, turning angrily upon beebe. "i assure you, no," replied the healer, quietly. "it came from behind the veil. it is a veritable message from the shadow world. i may have had something to do with its precipitation, for i, too, am psychic, but not in any material way did i aid the guide." the whole affair seemed to victor a piece of chicanery on the part of this intruder, and he bluntly said: "i wish you'd go. you can do no good here. you have no business here." beebe seemed not to take offense. "it's natural in you young fellows to believe only in the world of business and pleasure, but you'll be taught the pettiness and uselessness of all that. your guides have a work for you to do, and the sooner you surrender to their will the better. you are fighting an invisible but overwhelming power." he addressed mrs. joyce. "this message is conclusive. mrs. ollnee, our divine instrument, has not abandoned the body. her spirit will return to its envelope soon." he turned back to victor. "as for you, young sir, there is warfare and much sorrow before you. good-day." and with lofty wafture of the hand he took himself from the room. not till he had passed entirely out of hearing did victor speak, then he burst forth. "the old fraud! i wonder how many more such visitors we are to have? i wish we could take her away from this place." "we might take her to my house," said mrs. joyce, "but i would not dare to do so without the consent of the doctors." "did you see how that man produced that message?" leo replied, "it developed right out of the air." "it was a direct materialization," confessed mrs. joyce. "my own feeling is that your grandfather sent it to assure us of your mother's return." victor silently confronted them, his anxiety lost in wonder. he had been told spiritualists were an uneducated lot, and to have these cultured and intelligent women calmly express their acceptance of a fact so destructive of all the laws of matter as this folded note, blinded him. he shifted the conversation. "isn't it horrible that i should be here without a dollar and without a single relative? i don't even know that i have a relation in the world. my mother told me that she had a brother somewhere in the west, but i don't think she ever gave me his address. there must be aunts or uncles somewhere in the east, but i have never heard from them. it seems as though she had kept me purposely ignorant of her family. you've been very good and kind to me, mrs. joyce, but i can't ask anything more of you. i can't ask you to stay here in this gloomy little hole. please go home. i'll fight it out here some way alone." "my dear boy," said mrs. joyce, "i insist on staying. i cannot leave lucy in her present condition, and i refuse to leave you alone. she is coming back to you soon, and then we will plan for the future. as for the message, you will do well to take its word to heart. it is plainly a warning that you must not leave the city." "but, mrs. joyce, think what it involves to believe that that letter dropped out of the air!" "the world has grown very vast and very mysterious to me," she solemnly responded. "i've had even more wonderful things than that take place in my own home." mrs. joyce saw that to go would be best, at least for the time, and together she and leo went down the stairway and out into the street, leaving the stubborn youth to confront his problem alone with the phlegmatic mrs. post. vii the return of the spirit youth is surrounded by mystery--nothing but magic touches him; but it is a beautiful, natural, hopeful magic. the mists of morning rise unaccountably, the rains of autumn fall without cause. the lightning, the snows, the grasses appear and vanish before the child's eyes like magical conjurations, until at last, for the most part, he accepts these miracles as commonplace because they happen regularly and often. in a world that is incomprehensible to the greatest philosopher, the lad of twenty comes and goes unmoved by the essential irresolvability of matter. so it had been with victor. under instruction he had come to speak of electricity as a fluid, of steel as a metal, as though calling them by these names explained them. he discussed the ether, calmly considering it a sort of finely attenuated jelly, something which quivered to every blow and was capable of transmitting motion instantaneously. sound, heat, and light were modes of motion, he had been told, and these words satisfied him. food taken into the body produced power, and this power was transmitted from the stomach to the brain, and from the brain to the muscles, and so the limbs were moved. but just how the meat and potatoes got finally from the brain to the nerves and so into the swing of a baseball bat did not trouble him. why should it? life and age were mere words. death he had heard described by clergymen as something to be prepared for, a dark and dismal event reserved for old people, but which did occasionally catch a man in his arrogant youth, generally in the midst of his sins. life meant having a good time, a succeeding in sport, business, or love. of course certain philosophic phrases like "continuous adjustment of the organism to the environment" and "the change of the organism from the simple to the complex" had stuck in his mind. but any real thought as to what these changes actually meant had been put aside quite properly, for the pastimes and ambitions of the student to whom study is an incidental price for a joyous hour at play. but now, here in this room, beside the motionless body of his mother, he began to think. he had a good mind. his father had left him a rich legacy in his splendid body, but also something mental--latent to this hour--which produced an irritating impatience with the vague and the mysterious. he resented the intrusion of an insoluble element into his thinking. he was repelled by the discovery that his mother was abnormal, and from the point of view of this "ghost-room" his life at the university was becoming sweeter, more precious, more normal every hour. then, too, his afternoon of reading at the library had put into his mind several new and all-powerful conceptions which had germinated there like the seeds which the indian "adept" plants in pots of sand, rising, burgeoning, blossoming on the instant. he knew the names of some of those men whose words might be counted on the side of his mother's endowment, for they were famous in physical or moral science, but he had not known before that they admitted any real belief in the kind of things which his mother professed to perform. the conception that the human soul was (as the ancients believed) a ponderable, potent entity capable of separating itself from the body, came to him with overwhelming significance. "if mother still lives," he said to the nurse, "where is she? what form has she taken?" mrs. post, in her own way, was capable of expressing herself. "she is not there. so much we know. her body is here. it is like a cloak which she has thrown down. she herself is invisible, but she will return and take up her body, and then you will see it grow warm again and her eyes will light up like lamps, and she will rise and speak to you." of course he did not believe this. that her body was a cast-off garment was easy to comprehend, but that her spirit hovered near and would re-enter its former habitation was incredible. all day he remained there, pacing to and fro, or sitting bent and somber over his problem. at noon he got a little lunch for himself and for the nurse. at two o'clock mrs. joyce returned to take him for a drive in her car. but this he again refused. thereupon she went away, promising to look in again later in the evening. at dusk he stole down into the street to mail a letter to frensen, wherein he had written: "i am a good deal of a broken reed to-day, but i am going to fight. i wish you were here to talk things over with me. i'm surrounded by people who believe in the supernatural, and i need some one like yourself to brace me up." this was true. he had been thrust into the midst of those who dwelt upon the amazing and the inexplicable in human life. the city, which had been to him so vast, so ugly, and so menacing in a material way, now became mysterious in an entirely different way. he had now a sense of its infinite drama, its network of purpose. there was some comfort, however, in the thought that amid these swarms of people his own activities were inconspicuous. to-morrow he and his mother would be forgotten in some new sensation. the air was delicately fresh and wholesome, and the faces of the girls he met had singular power to comfort him. the life of the city, sweeping on multitudinously, refreshed him like the spray of a mighty torrent foaming amid rocks and shadowed by lofty caã±on walls. he returned to his vigil stronger and better for this momentary communion with the crowd. mrs. joyce came again at nine and insisted on remaining for the night. she had quite thrown off her own gloom, being perfectly certain in her own mind that lucy ollnee would return with a marvelous story of her wanderings "on the other plane." she began to make plans for victor, "subject," she said, "to revision by your 'guides.'" "you've said that before," he retorted, "but i have no 'guides.' i don't believe in 'guides,' and i don't intend to be ruled by a lot of spooks." "be careful," she warned. "they know your every thought and they may resent your attitude." "well, let them! what do i care? suppose, for argument's sake, that these voices _do_ come from my father and my grandfather. what do they know of this great city? they were country folks. how can they direct me in what i am to do?" "they know a great deal better than any of us." "but how can they?" "because they are free from the limitations of the flesh." "i don't see how that is going to help them. their minds are just the same as they were, aren't they?" "indeed no! we grow inconceivably in knowledge and power to discern the moment we drop the flesh." "i don't see why? if they are existing they're in a world so different from this that their experience here won't help them over there, and their experience over there is of no value to us here, and even if it were, they could not express it." during their talk the night had deepened into darkness, and now, as they reached a pause in their discussion, a measured rapping could be heard, as though some one were striking with a small wand upon the brass rod of the bed. without knowing exactly why, a thrill very like fear passed over victor, but mrs. joyce smiled. "they are here! don't you hear them? they want to communicate with us." the youth's high heart sank. his boyish dread of darkness began to people this death-chamber with monstrous shadows, with malignant forces. he was very grateful for the presence of this cheery and undismayed believer in the spirit world. without her he would have been panic-stricken. she rose to enter the bedroom, and he followed as far as the threshold. it was very dark in there, and for a moment he could see nothing, could hear nothing. then a faint whisper made itself distinctly audible just above his head. "_victor, my boy_," it said. he did not reply for a moment, and mrs. joyce eagerly called, "did you hear that whisper, victor?" "yes, i heard it," he replied. "it was lucy. was it you, lucy?" asked mrs. joyce. "_yes_," came the answer. "are you still out of the body, lucy?" "_yes._" "what shall we do?" "_wait._" "is there anything you want to say to victor?" "_no, not now. father will speak._" silence again fell, and in this pause mrs. joyce took the chair which stood close beside the bed and motioned victor to another near the foot. he sat with thrilling nerves, moved, trembling in spite of himself. the room was now quite dark, save for a faint patch of light on the ceiling and another on the carpet. his mother's body could not be distinguished from the covering of the bed. as they waited, a singular, cold, and aromatic breeze began to blow over the bed from the dark corner, and then a small, brilliant, bluish flame arose near the sleeper's head, and, floating upward to the ceiling, vanished silently. it was like the flame of a candle twisted and leaping in a breeze. "the spirit light!" exclaimed mrs. joyce, ecstatically. "wasn't it beautiful? and see, there is a hand holding it!" she whispered, as another flame arose. "can't you see it?" "i see the light, but no hand," he replied. "i can see more. i see the dim form of an old man outlined on the wall. it must be your grandsire, nelson blodgett. am i right?" she asked, apparently of the dark. victor could now perceive a thin, bluish, wavering shape, like a cloud of cigar smoke, and from this a whisper seemed to come, strong and clear. "_yes, i have come to speak to my grandson._" "don't you see him now?" asked mrs. joyce. "i see nothing," he repeated; and as he spoke the misty shape vanished. "but you heard the whisper, did you not?" mrs. joyce persisted. he did not reply to her, but rose and bent above his mother. "mother, did you speak?" he asked. mrs. joyce excitedly restrained him. "sit down! you must not touch her now." "why not?" "because it is very dangerous while the spirits are using her organism." "i don't know what you mean!" he retorted, angrily. "i know that that voice sounded exactly like my mother's voice, and i want to know--" "_silence, foolish boy!_" was sternly breathed into his ear. a cloud passed over the sky, and as the room became perfectly black a fluttering gray-blue cloud developed out of the darkest corner. it had the movement of steam-wreaths, with each convolution faintly edged with light. at one moment it resembled a handful of lines, fine as cobweb, looping and waving, as if blown upward from below, and the next moment it floated past like the folds of some exquisite drapery, lifting and falling in gentle undulations. at last it rose to the height of a man, drifted across the bed, and there hung poised over the head of the sleeper. as it swung there for an instant victor could plainly detect a man's figure and face. his eyelids were closed and his features vague, but his chin and the spread of his shoulders were clearly defined. "who are you?" victor demanded, as if the apparition were an intruder. the answer came in a flat, toneless voice, neither male nor female in quality. "_i am your father._" victor leaped up impulsively, his hair on end with fright, and the apparition vanished precisely as though an open door had been closed between it and the observer. again mrs. joyce clutched him. "be careful! sit down; don't stir!" "somebody is playing a joke on me," he insisted, hotly. "i'm going to strike a light." again a voice, this time almost full-toned, but with a metallic accompaniment, as though it had passed through a horn, poured into his ear, "_you shall bow to our wisdom._" he braced himself to receive a blow, and answered through his set teeth: "i will not. i am master of myself, and i don't intend to take orders from you." "_you are fighting great powers. you will fail_," the voice replied. "_your heart is defiant. expect punishment._" victor threw out his left hand in rage. it came into contact with something in the air, something light and hollow, which fell crashing to the floor, and a faint, gasping, indrawn breath from the sleeper on the bed followed it. for an instant all was silent; then mrs. joyce cried out: "she has returned! your mother has returned! don't strike a light. wait a moment." she moved forward a little. "may i touch her?" she asked. victor thought she was speaking to him, but before he could reply the invisible one whispered: "_yes. approach slowly._" mrs. joyce laid her hand on the sleeper's brow. "she's warmer, victor! she's breathing! she has certainly come back to us." "_approach_," whispered the voice in victor's ear. he moved forward now, in awe and wonder, and stood beside the bed. slowly the room lightened, and out of the darkness the pallid face of his mother developed like the shadowy figures on a photographic plate. she was lying just as before, save for one hand, which mrs. joyce had taken. he laid his own vital, magnetic palm upon her arm, and finding it still cold and pulseless, called out: "mother, do you hear me? it is victor." her fingers moved slightly in response, and this minute sign of life melted his heart. he fell upon his knees beside her bed, weeping with gratitude and joy. viii victor repairs his mother's altar in consenting to the removal of his mother to mrs. joyce's home victor had no intention of receding from his position. on the contrary, he considered it merely a temporary measure--for the night, or at most for a few days. he entered the car, thinking only of her wishes, and when he watched her sink to sleep in her spacious and luxurious bed under mrs. joyce's generous roof he couldn't but feel relieved at the thought that she was safe and on the way back to health. it was only when he left her and went to his own splendid chamber that his nervousness returned. every day, every hour plunged him deeper into debt to these strangers; and the fact that they were treating him like a young duke was all the more disturbing. he fancied carew saying of him, as he had said of another, "oh, he's merely one of mrs. joyce's pensioners," and the thought caused him to burn with impatience. nevertheless he slept, and in the morning he forgot his perplexities in the joy of taking his breakfast with leonora. he admired her now so intensely that his own weakness, irresolution, and inactivity seemed supine. he was impatient to be doing something. his hands and his brain seemed empty. with no games, no tasks, he was disordered, lost. they were alone at the table, these young people, and naturally fell to discussing mrs. ollnee's marvelous return to life. this led him to speak of his own plans. "my course at winona fitted me for nothing," he acknowledged, bitterly. "i should have gone in for something like mechanical engineering, but i didn't. i had some fool notion of being a lawyer, and mother, i can see now, was all for having me a preacher of her faith. so here i am, helpless as a blind kitten." it was proof of his essential charm that leonora not only endured his renewed harping on this harsh string, but encouraged him to continue. "i know you chafe," she said. "i had that feeling till i began my course in cooking, and just to assure myself that i am not entirely useless and helpless in the world, i'm now going in for a training as a nurse." "a nurse!" he exclaimed. "oh, that explains something." "what does it explain?" "i wondered how you could be so calm and so efficient yesterday." she seemed pleased. "was i calm and efficient? well, that's one result of my study. i can at least keep my head when anything goes wrong." "i don't think i like your being a trained nurse," he said. she smiled. "don't you? why not?" "you're too fine for that," he answered, slowly. "you were made to command, not to serve. you should be the queen of some castle." his frankly expressed admiration did not embarrass her. she accepted his words as if they came from a boy. "castles are said to be draughty and dreadfully hard to keep in order, and besides, a queen's retainers are always getting sick, or killed, or something, so i think i'll keep on with my training as a nurse." "but there must be a whole lot of unpleasant, nasty drudgery about it." "sickness isn't nice, i'll admit, but there is no place in the world where care and sympathy mean so much." "you don't intend to go out and nurse among strangers?" "i may." "i bet you don't--not for long. some fellow will come along and say 'no more of that,' and then you'll stay home." "what sort of fiction do you read?" she asked, with the air of an older sister. "the truthful sort. your nursing is nothing but a fad." "what a wise old gray-beard you are!" he was nettled. "you need not take that superior tone with me. i'm two years older than you are." "and ten years wiser, i suppose you would declare if you dared." "i didn't say that." "no; your tone was enough. i admit you know a great deal more about baseball than i do." he winced. "that was a side-winder, all right. if i knew as much about the carpenter's trade or the sale of dry goods as i do about 'the national game' i'd stand a chance of earning my board." "why not join the league?" she suggested. "they pay good wages, i believe." he took this seriously. "i thought of that, but even if i could get into a league team, which is hardly probable, it wouldn't lead anywhere. you see, i'm getting up an ambition. i want to be rich and powerful." "football players have always been my adoration," she responded, heartily. "you'd look splendid in harness. why don't you go in for that?" "you may laugh at me now," he replied, bluntly. "but give me ten years--" "mercy, i'll be too old to admire even a football captain by that time." "you'll be only thirty-one." she sobered a little. "men have the advantage. you will be young at thirty-three, and i'll be--well, a matron. no, i'm afraid i can't wait that long. i must find my admirable short-stop or half-back, whichever he is to be, long before that." he changed his tone and appealed to her seriously. "really now, what can i do? so long as this persecution of my mother keeps up i'm in for a share of it. i can't run away, for i promised i wouldn't. so i remain, like a turkey with a string to his leg, walking round and round my little stake. what would you do in my place? come now, be good and tell me." she responded to his appeal. "don't be impatient. that's the first thing. be resigned to this luxury for a few days. the voices will tell you what to do. they may be planning a surprise for you." "all i ask of them is to quit the job and let me plan things for myself," he slowly protested. the entrance of mrs. wood, senior, ended their dialogue, and he went away with a sense of having failed to win leo's respect and confidence, as he had hoped to do. "she considers me a kid," he muttered, discontentedly. "but she will change her mind one of these days." he spent the morning with his mother, but toward noon he grew restless and went down into the library, wherein he had observed several bound volumes of the report of the psychical society. he fell to reading a long article upon "multiple personality," and followed this by the close study of an essay on hysteria, and when mrs. joyce called him to lunch he was like a man awakened from deep sleep. these articles, filled with new and bewildering conceptions of the human organism, were after all entirely materialistic in their outcome. personality was not a unit, but a combination, and the whole discussion served but to throw him into mental confusion and dismay. at lunch mrs. joyce proposed that they all take an automobile ride round the city and end up with a dinner at the club; and seeing no chance for doing anything along the line of securing employment, victor consented to the expedition. the weather was glorious, and the troubled youth's brain cleared as if the sweet, cool, lake wind had swept away the miasma which his experience of the darker side of the city had placed there. he surrendered himself to the pleasure, the luxury of it recklessly. how could he continue to brood over his future with a lovely girl by his side and a sweet and tender spring landscape unrolling before him? they fairly belted the city in their run, and in the end, as they went sweeping down the curving driveway of the lake, mrs. ollnee's face was delicately pink and her eyes were bright with happiness. to her son she seemed once more the lovely and delicate figure of his boyhood's admiration. it seemed that her death-like trance had been a horrible dream. the ride, the club-house, the dinner, were all luxurious to the point of bewilderment to victor, but he did not betray his uneasiness. he was only a little more silent, a little more meditative, as he took his place at the finely decorated table in the pavilion which faced upon the water. he determined (for the day at least) to accept everything that came his way. this recklessness completely dominated him as he looked across the board at leonora, so radiant with health and youth. no one would have detected anything morbid in mrs. ollnee. she was prettily dressed and not in the least abnormal, and victor was proud of her, even though he knew that her dresses were earned by a sort of necromancy. mrs. joyce carefully avoided any discussion of his problem, and the dinner ended as joyfully at it began. they rode home afterward, under the bright half moon, silent for very pleasure in the beautiful night. the park was full of loiterers, two and two, and on the benches under the trees others sat, two and two together. it was mating-time for all the world, and victor's blood was astir as he turned toward the stately girl whose face had driven out all others as the moon drowns out the stars. his audacity of the morning was gone, however. he looked at her now with a certain humble appeal. his subjugation had begun. at the house they all lingered for an hour on the back porch, which looked out upon a little formal garden. two slender trees stood there, and their silken rustling filled in the pauses of the conversation like the conferring voices of a distant multitude of infant seraphim. "those must be cottonwoods," victor remarked. "they are," replied mrs. joyce. "i love them. when i was a child i used to visit a farm-house in whose yard were two tall trees of this sort, and their murmur always filled me with mystical delight. i used to lie in the grass under them, hour by hour, trying to imagine what they were saying to me. ever since i had a place of my own i've had cottonwood-trees in my yard. i know they're a nuisance with their fuzz, but i love their rustling." as she paused, the leaves uttered a pleased murmur, and victor, listening with a new sense of the sentiment which his hostess concealed in a plump and unimposing form, thought he heard a sibilant whispered word in his car. "victor," it said, "i love you." he turned quickly toward his mother, but she seemed not to be listening, and a moment later she spoke to mrs. joyce, uttering some pleasant commonplace about the night. this whisper was so clear, so unmistakable, that victor could not doubt its reality. the question was which of the women had spoken it. he had a foolish wish to believe that leo had uttered it. he listened again, but heard nothing. as he was helping his mother slowly up the stairs to her room, he said: "this is all very beautiful, mother, but i can't enjoy it as i ought. i feel like a fraud every time i see mrs. joyce handing out one of those big bills. i suppose she can afford it, but i can't. we must get back to the old place, or to some new place, and live on our own resources." "we can't do that till morning, dear. let us wait until the voices speak. they have been silent to-day. perhaps they will advise us to-morrow." here was the place to tell her of the whispers he had heard, but he could not bring himself to do so. she went on: "i wish you would repair my table, your grandfather's table, as you promised, victor. i don't know why, but it helps me. but you must be careful not to use any metal about it." "why not?" "oh, that's another one of the mysteries. they seem to object to metal." "well, i'll get at it to-morrow," he said, and kissing her good-night, went to his own room. he was awake and dressed before six the next morning, and leaving a note for mrs. joyce, set out for california avenue. on the way he dropped into a cheap cafã© and got a breakfast which cost him twenty cents. he enjoyed this keenly, because, as he said, it was in his class and was paid for out of the money his mother had given him for his trophy. all was quiet at the flat, and setting to work on the table with glue and stout cord, he soon had it on its legs. looking down upon it as a completed job, he marveled at the reverence which his mother seemed to have for it, and his mind reverted to the astounding phenomena which he himself had witnessed over its top. picking up one of the folded slates, he opened it with intent to see if it held any hidden springs or false surfaces. out fluttered a folded paper. this he snatched up and studied with interest. it was a peculiar sort of parchment, veined like a bit of corn-husk, and on it, written in delicate and beautiful script, were these words: "_go to room 70, harwood bldg., to-day. danger threatens. altair._" "i wonder who altair is," he mused, staring at the bit of paper, "and what is the danger that threatens?" while still he stood debating whether to go down-town or to warn his mother, a heavy step on the stairs announced a visitor. the man (for it was plainly the tread of a man, and a fat man) knocked on the door, but did not pause for reply. "are you there, lucy?" he called, and came in. victor faced him with instant resentment of this familiarity. "who are you? what do you want here?" he demanded. the other, a tall, clumsy, broad-faced individual in costly clothing, seemed surprised and a little alarmed. "i came to see mrs. ollnee," he explained. "who are you?" "i am her son--and i want to know how you dare to push into my mother's house like this!" "my name is pettus," he answered, pacifically. "no doubt you've heard your mother speak of me." "oh yes," responded the youth. "i heard mr. carew speak of you. you're president of that transportation company they're all so wild about." a shade of apprehension passed over pettus's fat, ugly face. "carew! you've seen him? i suppose he gave me a bad name? but never mind--where will i find your mother?" victor didn't like the man, and he remained silent till pettus repeated his question, then he answered, "i can't tell you where my mother is." "you mean you won't!" "well, yes, that's what i do mean." pettus turned away. "i can find her without your aid." "what do you want with her?" "i want a sitting at once!" "you keep away from her!" victor blazed out. "i don't want her sitting for you. she's mixed up too deeply in your affairs already. carew said--" "i don't care what carew said--and i don't care whether you approve of your mother's sitting for me or not. her controls will decide that question." he tramped out and down the stairway, and from the window victor saw him whirl away in his automobile. "that man's a scoundrel and a slob," he said; "a greasy old slob. i will not have my mother sitting for such people. can't i head him off somehow?" with sudden resolution he ran down the stairway and over to the telephone booth on the corner. he got the butler at once, and was deeply relieved to find that his mother was out with mrs. joyce. "he can't see her before i do," he concluded, as he hung up the receiver. "i'll go over there and wait for her to return." as he neared the house he met leo coming out with some letters in her hand, and with the swift resiliency of youth, he asked if he might not walk with her. "certainly," she said; "i want to talk with you about your plans." "i haven't any plans," he said. "what have you been doing this morning?" he hesitated a moment, then answered: "i've been mending that old table--i suppose you heard about my smashing it?" "yes; and it seemed a very childish thing to do." "if you knew how i hate that business and everything connected with it!" "i do, and it seems absurd to me. your mother's life is very wonderful and very beautiful to me." he changed the subject. "did that man pettus call just now?" "yes." "he's a scoundrel--that chap. a four-flusher." "what makes you think that?" "well, the very looks of the man." she laughed. "he isn't pretty, but he's a very decent citizen--and has a lovely wife and two daughters." "he's a slob--his face gives him away--and besides, mr. carew the other night--" "i know," she interrupted; "mr. carew is sure we're all going to be ruined by your mother and the universal transportation company." "i hope you haven't put your money into anything pettus has control of?" "oh, don't let's talk business on a morning like this. it's criminal--let's talk about trees and birds and flowers." she might have added "and love," for when youth and springtime meet, even on a city boulevard, love is the most important subject in the encyclopedia of life. so they walked and talked and jested in the way of young men and maidens, and victor talked of himself, finding his life-history vastly absorbing when discussed by a tall girl with a splendid profile and a cultivated voice. he watched her buy her stamps at the drug-store, finding in her every movement something adorable. the poise of her bust and her fine head appealed to him with power; but her humor, her cool, clear gaze, checked the crude compliments which he was moved to utter. she could not be addressed as he had been accustomed to address his girl classmates at winona. this walk completed the severance of the ties which bound him to the university. his desire to return to his games weakened. his ambition to shine as an athlete faded. he wished to prove to this proud girl that he was neither boy nor dreamer, and that he was competent to take care of himself and his mother as well. as they were re-entering the house, he said: "don't utter a word of what i've told you. i'm going to test whether my mother has the power to read my mind or not." "i understand," she returned, "and i'm glad you're going to share in our sã©ance to-night." he frowned. "don't say 'sã©ance.' i hate that word." she laughed. "aren't you fierce! but i'll respect your prejudices so far as an utterly unprejudiced person can." "do you call yourself an unprejudiced person?" "i try to be." "but you're not. you have a prejudice against me," he insisted, forcing the personal note. "oh, you're quite mistaken," she replied; "in fact i think you're rather nice--for a boy." and she went away, leaving him to fume under this indignity. mrs. joyce and mrs. ollnee came in soon afterward, and they all took tea together quite as casually as if they were not on the edge of something very thrilling and profoundly mysterious. mrs. joyce politely asked victor what he had been doing, but his answers were evasive. he made no mention of pettus, though he was burning with desire to warn her against him. soon afterward they went to his mother's room, and once safely inside the door he turned upon her. "mother, are you going to sit for pettus to-night?" "i expect him, but i'm not sitting for him specially." "i won't have him in the circle! he is a slimy old beast. i hate him--and mr. carew warned us against him. he wasn't guessing, mother, he _knows_ that this old four-flusher is up to some deviltry. how did he find you?" "he called us up." "i simply will not have him sit with you again, and you must not advise any one to put a cent into his concern. where are you going to have this performance?" "i thought of sitting here, but i need the old table. you mended it, didn't you?" "yes, i mended it." "and you had a message from _altair_?" "how did you learn that?" "i felt it," she answered, gravely. "she said danger threatened--did she tell you what the danger was?" "no; who is _altair_ supposed to be?" "she is a very pure and high spirit--a girl of wonderful beauty--so they say. i have never seen her myself--she told me to-day that she would watch over you." at this moment a whisper was heard in the air just above her head. "_lucy!_" "yes, father." "_take the boy--sit--the old place. leave pettus out._" "yes, father." "_i will be there. pettus is under investigation._" "much obliged," said victor; and then he heard close to his ear a faint whisper: "_victor, you shall see me--altair._" he was staring straight at his mother's lips at the moment, and yet he was unable to detect any visible part in the production of the voice. she explained the whisper. "altair is smiling at you. she says she will be with us to-night." all this was very shocking to victor. utterly disconcerted and unable to confront her at the moment, he left the room. the whole problem of her mental condition, the central kernel of her philosophy was involved in that one whisper. to solve that was to solve it all. it was not so much a question of how she did it, it was a question of her right to deceive him. he seized the time between tea and dinner to return to the library. for an hour he dug into the spongy soil of metaphysics, and it happened that he fell at last upon the crookes and zã¶llner experiments (quoted at greater length in a volume of collected experience) and found there clear and direct testimony as to the mind's mastery of matter. there was abundant evidence of the handling of fire by the medium home, and slade's ability to float in the air was attested by well-known witnesses, but beyond this and closer to his own day, he came upon a detailed study of an italian psychic with her "supernumerary hands," a story which should have made the materialization of a letter seem very simple. but it did not. all the testimony of these great men, abundant as it was, slid from his mind as harmlessly as water from oiled silk. apparently, it failed to alter the texture of his thought in the slightest degree. his world was the world of youth, the good old wholesome, stable world, and he refused to be convinced. at dinner he was angered, in spite of leo's presence, by his mother's returning confidence and ease of manner. his own position had been weakened, he felt, by his acquiescence in the sitting. his desire to satisfy himself, to solve his mother's mystery, had led him to abandon his stern resolution--and he regretted it. he ate sparingly and took no wine, being resolved to retain a perfectly clear head for the evening's experiment. he was grateful to leo for keeping the talk on subjects of general interest, even though he had little part in it, and his liking for her deepened. as he neared the test he began to sharply realize that for the first time in all his life he was about to take part in one of his mother's hated "performances," and his breath was troubled by the excitement of it. "i will make this test conclusive," he said to himself, and his jaw squared. "there will be no nonsense to-night." the papers of the day had remained free from any further allusion to "the spiritual blood-suckers," and it really seemed as if the cloud might be lifting, and this consideration made his participation in the sitting all the more like a return to a lower and less defensible position. he was irritated by the methodical action with which his mother proceeded to set the stage for her farce. wood, who seemed quite at home, assisted in these preparations, leaving victor leaning in sullen silence against the wall. mrs. joyce took a seat directly opposite the little psychic, wood sat at her left, while victor, with leo at his right, completed the little crescent. mrs. ollnee, with her small, battered table before her, faced them across its top. victor made no objection to this arrangement, but kept an alert eye on every movement. he watched her closely. she first breathed into one of the horns and put it beside her, then held one of the slates between her palms for a little time. "i hope this will be illuminated to-night," she said. this remark gave victor a twinge of disgust and bewildered pain. "she is too little and sweet and fine to be the high priest of such jugglery," he thought, but did not cease his watchful attention, even for an instant. the locking of the door, the turning out of the light and the taking hands in the good old traditional way all irritated and well-nigh estranged him. why should his life be thrown into the midst of such cheap and ill-odored drama? "this shall never happen again," he vowed, beneath his breath. there was not much talk during the first half-hour, for the reason that victor was too self-accusing to talk, and the others were too solemn and too eager for results to enter upon general conversation. for the most part, they spoke in low voices and waited and listened. the first indication of anything unusual, aside from the tapping, was a breeze, a deathly cold wind, which began to blow faintly over the table from his mother, bearing a peculiar perfume (an odor like that from some oriental rug), which grew in power till each of the sitters remarked upon it. this current of air continued so long and so uninterruptedly that victor began to wonder. could it be his mother's breath? if she were not fraudulently producing it, then it must be that some window had been opened. the network of her deceit--if it was deceit--thickened. mrs. joyce then said, in a low voice: "we are to have celestial visitors to-night. that is the wind which accompanies the astral forms." "yes," said leo, "and that perfume always accompanies altair. are we to see altair?" she softly asked. a sibilant whisper replied, "_yes, soon._" a moment later, another and distinctly different voice called softly, "_my son._" "who is it?" asked victor. "_your father._" "what have you to say to me?" "_the power of the mind is limitless_," the whispered voice replied. "_matter, the strongest steel, is but a form of motion._" "what is all that to me?" asked victor. "_as you think so you will be. be strong and constant._" the vagueness of all this increased victor's irritation. "what about pettus?" the voice hesitated, weakened a little. "_i can't tell--not now--i will ask._" what followed did not come clearly and consecutively to victor, for mrs. joyce (who was expert in hearing and reporting the whispers) repeated each sentence or the substance of it to him. but he himself heard a considerable part of it. in the very midst of a sentence the voice stopped. it was as if a wire had been cut, or the receiver hung up; the silence was like death itself. victor called out to his mother: "can you hear the voices, mother? they seem to come from where you are." she did not reply, and mrs. joyce explained. "she is gone." again the cold breeze set in, with a strong, steady swell, and with it was borne a low, humming note, which grew in volume and depth till it resembled the roaring rush of a november blast through the branches of an oak. it became awesome at last, with its majesty of moaning song, and saddening with its somber suggestion of autumn and of death. it opened the shabby little room upon an empty and limitless space, upon an infinite and vacant and obscure desert wherein night and storms contended. it died away at last, leaving the air chill and pulseless, and the chamber darker than before. before any comment could be made upon this astounding phenomenon, victor perceived a faint glow of phosphorus upon the table. it increased in brilliancy till it presented a clear-cut square of some greenish glowing substance, and then a large hand in a ruffled sleeve appeared above it as if in the act of writing. "it is watts," whispered leo. "he is writing for us." bending forward, victor was able to read this message outlined in dark script on the glowing surface of what seemed to be the slate: "_the dreams of to-day are the realities of to-morrow._" these words faded and again the shadowy hand swept over the table, and this companion sentence followed: "_the realities of to-day will be but the half-truths or the gross errors of the future._ "_watts._" victor was strongly tempted to clutch this hand, but fear of something unpleasant prevented him from doing so. he was sick with apprehension, with dread of what might happen next. a feeling of guilt, of remorse, came upon him. "i am to blame for this!" he thought, and was on the point of rising and calling for the lights, when something happened which changed not merely his feeling at the moment, but the whole course of his life, so incredible, so destructive of all physical laws, of all his scientific training was the phenomenon. a hand, large and shapely, took up the glowing slate and held it like a lamp to his mother's face, so that all might see her. she sat with hands outspread upon the table, her head thrown back, her eyes closed. her arms extended in rigid lines. it seemed that the invisible ones desired to prove to victor that his mother could not and was not holding the slate. swift as light the glowing mirror disappeared, and then, as if through a window opened in the air before his eyes, victor perceived a strange face confronting him, the face of a girl with deep and tender eyes, incredibly beautiful. her eyes were in shadow, but the pure oval of her cheeks, the dainty grace of her chin, the broad, full brow and something ineffably pure in the faintly happy smile, stopped his breath with awe. he forgot his mother, his problems, his doubts, in study of the unearthly beauty of this vision. mrs. joyce whispered in ecstasy, "it is altair!" the angelic lips parted, and a low voice, so gentle it was like the murmur of a leaf, replied, "_yes, it is altair._" and to victor her voice was of exquisite delicacy. "_believe, be faithful._" no one breathed. it was as if they had been permitted to gaze upon one of heaven's angelic choir. how came she there? who was she? before these questions could be framed she disappeared, silently as a bubble on the water, leaving behind only that delicious, subtle, unaccountable odor as of tropic fruits and unknown flowers. leo, breathing a sigh of sad ecstasy, exclaimed: "is she not beautiful? never has she shown herself more glorious than to-night." victor was like one drugged and dreaming. there was no question of his mother's honesty in his mind. he did not relate the vision to her, and he winced with pain as leo spoke. he wished to recall the face, to hear that whisper again. the effect upon him was enormous, instant, unfolding. in all his life nothing mystic, nothing to disturb or rouse his imagination had hitherto come to him, and now this transcendent marvel, this face born of the invisible and intangible essence of the air, beat down his self-assurance and destroyed his smug conception of the universe. he lost sight of his hypothesis and accepted altair for what she seemed, a gloriously beautiful soul of another world, a world of purity and light and love. he remained silent as mrs. joyce rose and went to his mother. he was still in his seat when they turned up the lights. leo spoke to him, but he did not answer. strange transformation! at the moment her voice jarred upon him. she seemed commonplace, prosaic, in contrast with the woman who had looked upon him from the luminous shadow. gradually the walls he hated, the entangling relationship he feared, returned upon him; and though he realized something of the revealing character of his reticence, he had not the will to break it. he watched his mother return to her normal self with such detachment that she at last became aware of it and lifted her feeble hands in search of him. "victor, come to me!" she pleaded. he went to her then, still in a daze, and to her question, "did your father come?" he replied, brokenly, "a voice came, but i can't talk about that now--i must go out into the air." all perceived the tumult--the strange psychic condition into which he had been thrown, and were considerate enough to refrain from pressing him with inquiry. "he has been touched by 'the power,'" whispered mrs. joyce to leo. "he's under conviction." the cool, clear air and the material rush of the city throbbing in upon his brain restored the youth to something like his normal self; but he remained silent and distraught all the way home. as they entered the hall leo glanced at his face with unsmiling, penetrating intensity, and in that moment perceived that victor the boy had given place to victor the man. she experienced a swift change of relationship, and a pang of jealousy shot through her heart. she realized that the wondrous spirit face was the power that had so wrought upon and transformed him. she, too, had thrilled to the mystical beauty of the phantom, and she had read in the tremulous lips the hesitating whisper, a love for the young mortal, which had troubled her at the moment, and which became more serious to her now. they said good-night as strangers; he absorbed, absent-minded; she resentful and a little hurt. to his mother, when they were alone in her room, he said, haltingly: "mother, you must forgive me. i thought you did those things--unconsciously cheating--but now--i--give it up. i believe in you absolutely." she raised her eyes to his wet with happy tears. "my son! my splendid boy!" she said, and in her voice was song. ix the law's delay "belief," says the wise man, "is not a matter of evidence; it is a habit of mind." and notwithstanding his confession of inward transformation, victor found doubt still hidden deep in his brain when he woke the following morning. his conviction had been temporary. in his musing upon altair he began to remember some very curious details. he recalled that at first glance he had inwardly exclaimed, "how much she looks like leo!" the lips and chin were similar, only sadder, sweeter--and the poise of the head was like hers also. but the brow and the eyes were more like his mother's. it was as though altair were at once the heavenly sister of leonora and the spirit daughter of his mother, and the love which lay on the tremulous lips, the deep, serious eyes, moved him still with almost undiminished power. he was eager to see the celestial face again. he was less clear about his own physical condition at the time. he remembered feeling weak and chilled, as though some of his own vitality had gone out of his blood in the attempt to warm that unaccountable being into life. he recalled his parting with his mother as if it were the incident in a painful dream. it was all impossible, incredible, and yet--it happened! his morning mood was eager and searching. he was quite ready to see leo, ready to talk with her of all that had taken place. hitherto he had avoided any detailed story of his mother's evocations, but now he was violently curious to know whether or no she had ever performed these particular rites before. he wished to hear all that leo had to say, and he was deeply disappointed when neither she nor his hostess appeared at the breakfast table. he finished his meal hurriedly (as soon as it became evident that he was to be alone), and instead of going down-town returned to the library to re-read the famous story of sir william crookes and "katie king"--every word of which had acquired new meaning to him. he thrilled now to the calm, bald narrative, reading between the lines the inner story of the great scientist's bewildered love for the stainless vision which he had evoked but could not endow with lasting life. the boy dwelt upon the scene of their parting with peculiar pain, perceiving in it new pathos. a throb of sorrow came into his throat. was altair but a transitory flower of the dark--aloof, intangible, and sad? what meant the wistful sweetness of her smile? was she unhappy in the icy realms from which she came? did she long for human companionship? would she come again? he found himself longing for the night and another sitting with his mother. he felt vaguely the disappointment which comes to those who listen to the messages of these celestial apparitions, so commonplace, so vaporous, so inane. "katie king," surpassing all earthly women in her physical loveliness, brought no sentence of intellectual distinction from the mysterious void which was her home. in the midst of this astounding narrative he heard leo's voice in the hall, and with a guilty start put his book away and rose to meet her, remembering that he had not treated her very well after the sitting, though he could not recall the precise reason for it. gradually her step, the sound of her voice, reasserted their charm, and he returned to the breakfast-room like a boy who has been sullen and knows it, but hopes to be forgiven. his shamefaced entrance disarmed her resentment, and in her merry smile of greeting the dream face faded away. the marvelous vision of the night lost its dominion over him, and he became again the son of the morning. the girl openly mocked him. "you look pale and sheepish. what have you been doing?" "i've been reading about 'katie king.' do you believe that story?" "we must believe it when a man like sir william crookes tells it. do you believe what you saw and heard last night?" "no, i don't. how can i?" "you seemed to believe in the vision of altair," she persisted, eying him archly. "you were carried away by her wonderful beauty. i don't blame you. her loveliness is beyond anything on this earth. a vision like that of sublimated womanhood, purified of all its dross, is very hard on us mortals. altair doesn't find it necessary to eat eggs and toast, as i am doing this minute. i'm a horribly vulgar and common creature i know, and i ought to apologize, but i won't. i like being a normal human being, and if you don't like to see me eat you may go away." "i like nothing better than to see you eat, and i've just had a couple of eggs myself. i was hoping all the time you would come down and join me, but you didn't." "i didn't get to sleep as usual last night," she confessed, with a change of tone. "altair came to me and kept me stirred up till nearly two o'clock." "what do you mean?" "i mean she hung about my bed, tapping and sighing incessantly for what seemed like hours." "could you see her?" "part of the time. finally i turned up the light and got rid of her." he sat in silence for a few moments, then burst out wildly: "are we all going crazy together? when i hear you talk like that it makes me angry, and it makes me sad. i never met such people before. what does it all mean? seems like everybody around my mother is bitten by this ghost-bug." "you, too," she accused. "you caught a little of the madness last night." "i did, i admit it; but i'm going to throw it off. i won't have any more of it." "is your curiosity satisfied?" "no, it is not; but i'm not going to desert the good old sunny world i know for the kind of windy graveyard we faced last night. even the eyes of altair were sad. did you notice it?" "yes, i did," she admitted. "and that's one of the things i can't understand. the spirits all _say_ they are happy, but they _look_ wistful, and their voices indicate that they are filled with longing to return." "i'm going to break out of this circle of my mother's converts," he passionately declared. "i've got to do it, or 'll get all twisted out of shape like the rest of you. i'm going to try again to-day to reach some man who has never heard of a psychic. i'm going to some big mill and apply for manual labor. there's something uncanny in the way i'm kept circling around mother's cranky patrons. i'll get batty in the steeple if i don't get help. let's go out for a walk in the park. let's forget we're immortal souls for an hour or two. i want to see a tree. let's go to the ball game--and to the theater to-night--that'll take all the money i have left, and leave me just square with the world, so i can jump into the lake to-morrow without anybody else's money in my pocket. come, what do you say?" she perceived something more than humor in his noisy declamation, and accepted his challenge. "i'll go you," she slangily replied; "just wait till i get my walking-togs on." "you've got to hurry," he warned. "i'm going to get out of this house before anything crazy happens to me. meet me down at the corner of the boulevard." he left the room with intent to avoid both his mother and mrs. joyce. at the moment he wished to remove himself from any further argument, and his longing for the trees and the park was a genuine reaction from his long stress of the supernatural. "my search for a job can go over till to-morrow," he decided. he was sufficiently recovered from his bewilderment, his pain of the night before, to glow with pleasure as he saw leonora swinging along toward him. "she carries herself well," he said. she was dressed in a light-gray skirt and jacket, and her white hat had a long, gray quill which waved back over the rim, giving her the jaunty air of a yacht under reefed sail. her face was brilliant with color, and her eyes were alight with humor. "aunt louise wanted to know where we were going, and i said 'st. joe, michigan.'" he pretended not to see the joke. "st. joe; why st. joe?" as she caught his stride she demurely answered, "if you don't know, it's not for me to explain." "i suppose people _do_ go to st. joe for other purposes than marriage?" "it is possible, but they never get into the newspapers. we only hear of the young things who beat their angry parents by just one boat." she changed her tone. "where _shall_ we go?" "i don't object to st. joe." she pretended to be shocked. "how sudden you are! we've only known each other two days." "three. however, we might make it a trial marriage. you could put me on probation." "after your display of inconstancy last night i wouldn't trust you even for a probationary engagement." he harked back to the vision of altair. "she _was_ beautiful, wasn't she? did she really exist, or was it merely some sort of hallucination?" "i thought you weren't going to discuss these subjects?" he assented instantly. "quite right. give me a crack on the ear every time i break out. i wish i were a robin. see that chap on the lawn! his clothes grow of themselves, and as for food, all he has to do is to tap on the ground, and out pops a worm." "i prefer roast beef and asparagus tips; and as for wearing the same feathers all the time--horrible!" in such wise they talked, touching lightly on a hundred trivial subjects, yet carrying the remembrance of altair as an undertone to every word. they walked up the boulevard to the midway, then through the park to the lagoon, and the sight of the water cheered victor. "a boat!" he cried. "us for a boat-ride." he was a skilled and powerful oarsman (she had never seen his equal), and his bared arms, the roll of his splendid muscles, were a delight to her eyes. he exulted as the water cried out under the keel. "this is what i needed. i've been without a chance to kill something, or beat somebody, for three or four days. i am cracking for lack of exercise. walking isn't exercise." the heavy boat, under his sweeping strokes, cut through the water like a canoe, and the girl on the stern seat watched him with dreaming eyes, her air of patronization lost in contemplation of his skill, her hands on the tiller-rope, her attitude of ease and irresponsibility typifying the american woman, just as his intense and driving action represented the american man. he traversed the entire length of the lagoon before his need of muscular activity was met; then they drifted, exclaiming with pleasure over the charming vistas which every turn of their boat afforded. the catbirds were singing in the willows, and the banks were white and yellow with flowering shrubs, and over all the clear sunlight fell in cascades of gold. the wind was from the lake, cool but not chill; and every leaf glistened as if newly burnished. the day was perfect spring, and under its influence the two beings, young and ardent, inclined irresistibly toward each other. the girl, who, up to this moment, had been indifferent, not so say scornful, of the advances of men, gave herself up to the pleasure which the companionship of this young giant afforded her. altair and all that she represented were very far and faint, dimmed, burned away into nothingness by the vivid sun of this entrancing day. for hours they explored the lagoons, talking nonsense, the divine nonsense of youth, or sitting idly and gazing at each other with the new-born frankness of lovers. at last she said, "i'm hungry, aren't you?" "as a wolf," he responded. "shall we go home?" "home? i have no home. no, let's camp right here in the park. there must be a lunch counter somewhere." "there's something better than a lunch counter. there's the german building." "i'll stand you for a beer and sandwich," he shouted. "show it to me." returning the boat to the landing, he paid his fee with a satisfied smile. "i never gave up forty-five cents with better grace in my life," he said to her. she led the way to the cafã© in the german building, and there they ate and drank in modest fashion, while he expressed his gratitude for her guidance. "i owe you all i've got," he declared, displaying his little handful of money. "you've shown me another side of the city's life. it isn't so bad, this wild life of chicago. we'll come again. _will_ you come again?" he bent a frankly pleading gaze upon her. "indeed i will. i love it here; but aunt louise prefers to ride about in the car. however, you haven't seen all the park yet. you must see the prairies at the south end, and the spanish caravels, the convent--all the marine side of it. let's walk down the beach." he was glad to accept her guidance in this matter also, and they set off down the curving walk, slowly, as if they found each new rood of ground more enjoyable than that already traversed. he had a feeling that nothing so sweet, so perfect as this day's companionship could ever again come to him, and he lingered over each view as if determined to extract its every possible phase of enjoyment, and when two paths presented themselves, he shamelessly advised taking the longer one. so they came to the old convent, to the caravels in the south lagoon, and at last to the sand hills. this was the climax of their walk. these dunes were so different from anything he had ever seen, so remote, so suggestive, and so flooded with the light of his own growing romance, that they seemed of another and strangely beautiful land. taking seats upon the grass in the sunlight, which was just warm enough to be delightful, they absorbed the scene in silence, entranced by the sails, the far water-line, the sun, the wind, and the fluting of the birds. the few people who drifted by were unimportant as shadows; and leo took no thought of time till a cloud crossed the sun and the wind felt suddenly chill; then she rose. "we must go home, or they'll certainly think we've gone to st. joe." he returned to his jocular mood. "if i had ten dollars i'd ask you 'why not?'" "i wouldn't consent if you had a million." he pretended to be astonished. "you would not? why?" "because i believe in the pomp and circumstance of matrimony. no runaway marriages for me! when i marry, it shall be in a vast cathedral, with a mighty organ thundering and a long procession of awed and shivering brides-maids." "i'm sorry your tastes run in that way. i don't, at this time, feel able to gratify them." "nobody asked you, sir," she said; then looking about her, she sighed deeply. "i hate to leave this place. it seems as though it could never be so beautiful again. haven't we had a heavenly day?" "i dread going back to the town, for then my needs and all my life problems will swarm." "i wish i could help you," she said, sincerely. "you can," he earnestly assured her. "if you will only come out here with me now and again i shall be able to stand a whole lot of 'grief.'" they were walking westward at the moment, past the golf-course, and a sense of uneasiness filled the girl's heart. she looked up at him with a grave face. "i don't know why, but i feel an impulse to hurry. i feel as though we ought to get home as quickly as possible. they may be worried about us." he did not share her apprehension. "i don't think they'll suffer." "something urges me to run," she repeated. "we must go directly home." he quickened his step with hers, responding to the anxiety which had come into her tone, but experiencing nothing of it in his heart. what he did feel was the certainty that his day of careless ease was over. the sky seemed suddenly to have lost its brightness. the birds had fallen silent. the crowds of people seemed less festive. the world of work-worn men rolled back upon them in a noisy flood as they caught a car and went speeding down the squalid avenue. leo's anxiety seemed to increase rather than to lessen as they neared her home. "there's been some accident!" she insisted. "i can't tell what it is, but i think your mother has been hurt." he could not believe that anything serious had happened to his mother; but when they alighted to walk across the boulevard he was quite as eager to reach the house as she. the man at the door wore an expression of well-governed concern, which led leo to sharply ask: "what is it, ferguson? what has happened?" "they have taken her, miss." "taken? who? what? who have taken her?" "the bailiff, miss." "the bailiff?" "yes, miss, the officers came with a warrant just as mrs. ollnee was sitting down to luncheon, and it was ever as much as she could do to get them to wait till she had finished. mrs. joyce has gone with her." leo confronted victor with large eyes. "that was the precise moment when i had my sensation of alarm." victor was white and rigid with indignation. "where did they take her?" "to the bond street station, sir. you are to come at once." "how do i get there?" "i'll show you," volunteered leo. "is the electric out, ferguson?" "i don't think so, miss." "order it around at once." she turned to victor. "don't worry. aunt louise is not easily rattled. she is able to command all the help that is necessary. she will have her own lawyer and will see that everything is done to shield your mother from harm." he was aching with remorseful fear. "oh, if we had not stayed so long," he groaned, all the beauty and charm of the morning swept away by a wave of guilt. "only think! i left the house without a word of greeting to her! doesn't it show that there is no peace or security for either of us so long as we remain here? i have tried twice to get away from this, and now--" the electric carriage came smoothly to the door, and leo, dismissing the driver, motioned victor to enter. "i'll drive," she said; and they swept out of the gate and down the boulevard as if, by a wafture of the hand, this young girl had invoked the aid of an oriental magician. the run was easy and swift, till they reached the crowded cross-street which led westward into the city deeps; and as the carts thickened and coarse and vicious humanity began to swarm victor was moved to assert the man's prerogative. he resented the admiring glances which the loafers addressed to his companion, and a feeling of awkward helplessness came upon him. "i wish you'd let me run this car," he said, morosely. slowly they felt their way to the west, straight on toward a great railway depot, with leo deftly winding her way amid trucks and express wagons, darting past clanging street-cars, and plowing through swarms of nondescript men and slattern women, till at last she halted on a crossing, and, leaning from the window, inquired of the police officer the way to the bond street station. "right around the corner, miss," he replied, with a smile, pointing the way with his club. she turned up a narrow alley which ran parallel with the great domed shed of the railway, and drew up before an ugly doorway in a grimy brick building of depressing architecture. victor alighted with a full realization of having left heaven for a filthy, squalid hell. the clang and hiss of engines in the shed, the jar of heavy trucks, the cries of venders, the grind and howl of cars, the sodden stream of humankind, deafened and appalled him. nevertheless, he took the lead into the gloomy anteroom of the station, which was half filled with officers in uniform escorting or placidly watching dull-hued, depressed, and unkempt men and women in arrest. on inquiry of another officer, they were directed to the door of a long hall, which was in effect a tunnel. "you'll find your party in the court-room," the officer said. victor led the way through this battered hallway, and at the end of it came into a large, bare room lighted with dusty windows on the north. it was in effect a hall divided in halves by an open railing. in the eastern end of the chamber the judge was seated surrounded by his clerks examining a little group of silent men. in the western half of the room, outside the railing, sat a somber and motley assemblage of negroes, italians, and greeks, mostly young, each presenting a savage and sullen face. in the midst of such a throng of miscreated beings leo seemed of angelic loveliness and purity. before the crowd became aware of her, the keen-eyed girl had discovered the objects of their search. "there they are," she whispered, pointing to the corner at the judge's right, where mrs. joyce and mrs. ollnee were seated, in close conversation with a dark, smoothly-shaven man of middle age. "oh, i'm so glad," she added, "mr. bartol is with them." she led the way, quite fearlessly, through the aisle and directly up to the gate, where she was met by the bailiff, or warden of the room, a sullen-faced, sloppy irishman. he was too keen-eyed not to be immediately impressed by her beauty and something strong and clear and fine in her glance, but before he had time to ask her what she wanted the gentleman whom she called bartol came forward, and at his touch the officer gave way respectfully, and the two young people entered the inclosure. mrs. ollnee rose upon seeing victor, and lifted her arms to his neck. "oh, i'm so glad you've come," she murmured, in deep relief. a rustle of profound interest passed over the court-room, and such shuffling of feet and murmur of voices arose that the bailiff rapped querulously on the railing with the handle of his mallet and glared, in a vain effort to restore silence. even the judge, accustomed as he was to every phase of the human comedy, turned a sympathetic gaze upon the girl. he was a middle-aged man, with a pale and sensitive careworn face, and as he resumed his address to the men before him his gentle voice could be heard above the roar of the street in grave reprimand. the sodden convicts who stood unshaved and spiritless before him excited his pity not his wrath. victor sat down beside his mother, whispering, "what is it all about?" mr. bartol answered: "pettus, the president of the people's bank, has absconded; the bank is closed, and your mother has been arrested for complicity in his frauds." victor understood almost instantly, for this was exactly what carew had warned him about on the night of his first dinner in mrs. joyce's house. "what can we do?" he asked. "leave that to me," replied bartol. "i will see that your mother is protected." as they sat thus, waiting, while the judge disposed of a wife-beating case, victor thought of altair and the mournful and exquisite smile with which she had greeted him. what a frightful gulf gaped between these savage and bestial men--these sullen, pinched, grimy, and malodorous street-walkers, these sottish, half-human creatures, torn and bloody with one another's claws--and the celestial vision which his mother, by some inexplicable necromancy, had been able to create from the sunless world of her magic! what a measureless stretch lay between this clamorous, automatic, pitiless court (with its weary judge) and the sunny bank beside the lagoon, whereon the birds were singing and where he and leo had so lately lain to gaze on the far horizon land of wedded happiness and love! upon his musing the sounding voice of the clerk broke. "_thomas aiken_ vs. _lucile ollnee._" led by mr. bartol, mrs. ollnee and mrs. joyce moved through the gate and stood before the judge, while from the right the complainant and his witnesses and his lawyer came to oppose them. victor followed his mother and stood at the extreme left, with leo by his side. he had no care of what the miserable spectators in the seats would think of them. he was only concerned with the judge and the opposing counsel. upon the motion of the clerk, the bailiff called out, "hold up your hands, everybody," and so they all, including even leo, held up their right hands and took the oath that what they were about to say would be the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help them god. the judge, worn by the ceaseless stream of diseased, ineffectual, and halting humanity passing daily before his eyes, gazed in surprise and growing interest upon this group of handsome and well-dressed people while the prosecuting attorney presented the claims of the complaining witness, charging the defendant with conspiring to rob or defraud one, mary aiken. "where is mrs. aiken?" asked the judge. "she is too ill to appear, your honor," replied the prosecuting attorney, "but her granddaughter is here prepared to give in detail the story of how the defendant, who professes to be a medium, induced her aged and infirm grandmother to withdraw her money from certain investments in her native town and put them into the hands of another--namely, the absconding president of the people's bank, thereby impoverishing her. thomas aiken, the complainant, charges that the said defendant, lucile ollnee, has by her uncanny powers obtained large sums of money, and that she should be punished as a swindler." the judge studied the faces of the witnesses before him, then asked, "what have you to say to this, mrs. ollnee?" "it is false," she replied. the prosecution put in a word. "you will not deny that you advised these investments?" "i advised nothing," she retorted. "what my controls advised i only know in a general way." "what do you mean by 'controls'?" inquired the judge. "i am a spirit medium, and sometimes a trance medium," she replied, facing him steadily. "those whom men call the dead speak through me." "in what way?" "partly by writing, partly by means of voices." "do you mean to say that the dead speak in voices audible to others than yourself?" "yes, your honor, they often speak so loud that any one may hear them. for the most part they whisper." the prosecution again struck in. "these voices are a part of the trick, a part of her method of luring her victims on to do her will." the judge turned to the complainant, thomas aiken, a dark-faced, sullen young man. "have you heard these voices, mr. aiken?" "no, sir; i never had a sã©ance; but my sister has had a number of interviews with this woman. i know that in spite of the advice of her friends my grandmother has been induced to give away her money to this woman and to that scoundrel, pettus. we have been robbed by her. it amounts to that, and we intend to stop it." the judge turned back to mrs. ollnee. "do you wish to be tried here and now on this charge?" mr. bartol interposed. "no, your honor, we do not. this case is a very peculiar one. my client is a lady, as you may see, and should never have been brought into this court in this fashion. that she is a medium is probably true; but there is no evidence of deceit on her part. she assures me of her absolute faith in these voices, and her manner carries conviction. her friends believe in her also. she claims to be nothing more than the means of communication between this world and the world of the dead." the judge smiled faintly. "that is claiming a good deal--from my point of view. what have you to say to that?" he demanded, turning again to the complainants. a clear, low, musical voice, the voice of a young woman, answered, "the case is not uncommon, your honor." victor, craning his head forward, found himself looking directly into the big, intense black eyes of the girl he had rebuffed on the stairway the first day of his stay. she was vivid, intense, and very indignant as she said: "the woman pretends to be possessed of the power of communication with the dead, and by her arts she convinced my grandmother that her dead husband wished the withdrawal of her money from a bank in moline, and that he recommended its investment in this traction company. she played remorselessly upon the most sacred emotions of my poor old grandmother, and i have evidence to prove that this advice has been a part of a general scheme whereby this traction company, a fake concern, has been able to delude other credulous souls." as she paused her lawyer said, wearily: "it is a plain case of swindling, your honor, and we desire to press the case to its limit at once, for pettus cannot be found, and we fear the flight of the defendant." mr. bartol spoke suavely. "your honor, it is not 'a plain case of swindling.' mrs. ollnee is the personal friend of mrs. john h. joyce, whose name you know very well. it is true that messages were given advising the investment of funds in the traction company, but not only has this advice been followed by mrs. joyce, but by the defendant herself, who has kept all her own small savings in the same bank." the judge turned to mrs. ollnee. "is this true?" "it is, your honor." the judge spoke to mrs. joyce. "you believe in this woman's voices?" "i do." "yet they have advised you to put your money into the hands of a swindler." "her voices seem to have done this, yes, sir; but she herself has never advised in any way." "you distinguish between the voices of your friend and her own personality, do you?" "i do, yes, sir." the prosecuting attorney inserted a sneering word. "your honor, mrs. joyce is known to be credulous and under the influence of this trickster. she is not a competent witness. she has permitted herself to be deluded to the point where she will not believe anything ill of her medium. thomas aiken is not the only one ready to press this charge against the defendant. four others to my knowledge stand ready to testify to this woman's uncanny power for deluding and defrauding. my client finds herself stripped of her little fortune and helpless in her declining years. the acting of this medium is criminal, and we demand that she be punished." the judge turned his musing eyes upon mrs. ollnee's pale face. "have you anything further to say, mrs. ollnee?" "i have never been guilty of any deception, your honor. i claim no wisdom for myself. if it is true that the traction company is a fraud, then it must be that lying spirits have spoken impersonating my husband and my father." "that is a subterfuge," interposed the young woman, miss aiken. "she is responsible for her voices." "you accept money for your services, do you not?" the judge asked of mrs. ollnee. "not now, no sir." "did you formerly?" "yes, sir, after my husband died, i was forced to do so in order to educate my son." "is this your son?" "yes, sir." the judge addressed himself to victor. "what do you know of your mother's power as a medium? do you share her faith?" victor felt the burning eyes of the angry girl upon him as he replied: "i know very little about it, your honor. i have been away to school ever since i was ten years old." "mrs. joyce, you are a believer in mrs. ollnee's powers?" "i am, a firm believer." "you've had no reason to doubt the genuineness of these messages?" "up to the present time i have not." "you will lose heavily in this traction swindle, if it is a swindle, will you not?" "if it has failed, yes, sir." "does that shake your faith in the medium?" "not in the slightest, your honor. it is a well-known fact that lying spirits sometimes interpose." during this interrogation, which had proceeded in conversational tone, they had all remained standing before the judge, whose speculative eyes wandered from face to face with growing interest. at last he said to the prosecuting attorney: "from your own statement of it, this case is not to be tried here. i do not feel myself competent at this time to pass upon the questions involved." "she shall not escape," said miss aiken, with bitter menace. mr. bartol interposed. "we demand a trial by jury, your honor." "you shall have it," responded the judge. the aikens withdrew sullenly, and the bailiff indicated that the defendant and her party might retire to an inner office while papers were being prepared; and this they did. this room proved to be a bare, bleak place, with benches and yellow wooden chairs, as ugly as a country railway station, wherein a few officers were carelessly lounging about. they all gazed curiously at mrs. ollnee and leo, and one of them muttered to the other, "it's not often that a classy bunch like that comes into court." the indignity of it all caused leo to forget her own share in the traction company's failure. "it is shameful that you should be dragged here," she said, when the door closed behind them. "leo!" cried mrs. ollnee, in agonized voice. "do you realize that this failure means almost as much of a loss to you as it does to louise?" this affected the girl only for an instant. then she loyally said: "yes, i know. but i do not blame you for it." mrs. ollnee turned to her son. "if all they say is true, victor, we are the victims of some lying devils--" leo soothingly laid her hand on her arm. "let us not think about that just now. let us wait until we are safely out of this dreadful place." victor perceived that his mother was shaken to the very deeps of her faith. she was trembling with excitement and weakness, and his anxiety deepened into a fear that she might faint. "there are devils here," she whispered. "i feel them all about me--bestial, horrible--take me away!" "can't we go now?" he asked of the officer, who seemed to have an eye on them. "my mother is not well." "wait till the bail is fixed up," the officer replied, pleasantly but inexorably. they remained in silence till mrs. joyce and mr. bartol appeared. then victor hurried his mother out into the street, eager to escape the desolating air of this moral charnel-house. it was by no means a perfectly pure atmosphere without, but it was fresher than within, and mrs. ollnee revived almost instantly. "oh, the swarms of unclean spirits in there!" she said, looking back with a face of horror. mrs. joyce put her into the car with leo and told them to go directly home, while she, with victor, took mr. bartol to his office. victor, stunned by the new and crushing blow which had fallen upon him, turned to the great lawyer with a boy's trust and admiration. "what can we do?" he asked, as soon as they had taken their seats in the car. mr. bartol did not attempt to make light of the case. his dark, strong face was very grave as he answered: "for the present we can do very little beyond getting our bearings. it seems to me at the moment as though the whole question hinged upon the possibility of dual personality, and so far as i am concerned, i have no mind upon that matter. i must give it attention before i can reply. our immediate concern is to keep your mother from further trouble and assault. if, as the prosecution stated, there are others in this fight, they and the press can make it very unpleasant for you all. miss florence aiken has a powerful and vindictive pen. she will not cease her persecution--for she is at the bottom of the case." mrs. joyce turned to him with eager face. "i wish you would invite mrs. ollnee and her son up to your farm for a few days." "i do so with pleasure. i am going up to-night on the eight-o'clock train, and i shall be very glad to have them go with me, if they care to do so. we can then talk the whole case over at our leisure and in quiet. perhaps you can run up and stay over sunday with us." "that is the very thing," she responded; "and i'm very grateful to you." again victor felt himself helpless, whirling along in a stream of alien purpose like a leaf in a mountain torrent, and again he abandoned himself to its sweep. "i will do anything to get away from here," he replied. mr. bartol went on: "your mother's case will not come up for some days, and the rest and quiet of the farm will do you both good." to mrs. joyce he added, privately: "the whole matter interests me vastly. i don't at all mind giving some time to it, and, besides, i like the young man." mrs. joyce dropped the lawyer at his office door and sped homeward swiftly, with intent to overtake leo. she did not attempt to conceal her anxiety. "the truth is, victor, pettus and his friends called into our circle a throng of wicked, deceiving spirits. they were not what they claimed to be. they were cheats, and they have almost ruined us. your poor, sweet mother is not to blame, and i can't blame the aikens. what i cannot understand is this--why did your father and his band permit these treacherous personalities to intervene? why did they not defend her from these demons?" victor listened to her with a complete reversal to disbelief as regards his mother's mediumship. he forgot the marvels of the direct writing, the mighty murmuring wind, the dream-face of altair; all these insubstantial and evanescent perceptions were lost, submerged by the returning sea of his doubt. he saw, too, that leo's faith was shaken. he felt it beneath her brave-spoken words. the whole question of the process, as well as the content of the messages, was reopened for her. his situation grew ever darker. his way was again blocked. he could not leave his mother to her fate, and yet he could not see his way to earning a cent of money while this horrible accusation was hanging over her. he acknowledged, too, a very definite feeling of sympathy with those who had been defrauded. there was moral indignation in miss aiken's tremulous eagerness to punish. "she's not to blame," he said. "i'd do exactly as she is doing if i were in her place." x a visit to hazel grove bartol, attended by porters and greeted by conductors and brakemen, led the way to the parlor-car in a stern abstraction, which was his habit. victor studied him closely and with growing admiration. he was not tall, but his head was nobly formed and his broad mask of face lion-like in its somber dreaming. in repose it was sad, almost bitter, and in profile clear-cut and resolute. his dress was singularly tasteful and orderly, with nothing of the careless celebrity in its color or cut, and yet no one would accuse him of being the dandy. he was naturally of this method, and gave little direct thought to toilet or dress. mrs. ollnee looked upon him as her rescuer, one who had snatched her from loathsome captivity; but his manner did not invite repeated and profuse thanks. with a few words of polite explanation, he took a seat behind his wards, unfolded his newspaper, and forgot them till the conductor came through the car; then he remembered them and paid their fares. mrs. ollnee was not merely awed by his powerful visage and searching eyes; she was profoundly stirred by some psychic influence which emanated from him. she whispered to victor: "he is very sad. he is all alone. he has lost his wife and both his children. he has no hope, and often feels like leaving this life." victor did not take this communication as a "psychometric reading," for he had been able to discern almost as much with his own eyes, and, besides, all of its definite information mrs. joyce might have furnished; but his mother added something that startled him. she said: "the voices say, '_obey this man; study him. he will raise you high!_'" "what do you mean by that?" "i don't know," she replied. "that is the way i hear it. i hear other voices--they say to me, '_comfort him._'" victor was not in a mood for "voices," and cut her short by asking in detail about her arrest. "who came for you? a policeman?" "yes, but not in uniform. they were very nice about it. at first i was terribly frightened. i was afraid i should have to go in the patrol-wagon, but we were allowed to ride in the car, the policeman sitting with the driver--" victor groaned. "oh, mother, why did you give out _business_ advice!" "i gave what was given to me," she responded. "think of the disgrace of being in that court-room!" "i didn't mind the disgrace," she replied; "but it swarmed with horrible spirits. each one of those poor criminals had a cloud of other base, distorted, half-formed creatures hovering about him. it was like being in a cage with a host of obscene bats fluttering about." she shuddered. "it was horrible! it was a sweet relief when you and leo came, for a new and happy band came with you. you helped my band drive away the cloud of low beings that oppressed me; and now there is something calming and serenely helpful all about me. it comes from mr. bartol. i am no longer afraid; i am perfectly serene." victor made no attempt at elucidating her exact meaning; there was something depressing to him in this continued dependence upon spirit guidance, a guidance that had led them into so much trouble and discredit. he sat by the window, watching the faintly-outlined moonlit landscape flowing past, feeling himself to be a very small insect riding on the chariot of the king of tempests, with no power to check the speed or direct the course of his inflexible driver. his own future was but a flutter of vague shadows, his boyhood a serene, sun-warm meadow, now swiftly receding into the darkness of night. would anything so beautiful ever come again? his mother, sitting as if entranced, was looking down at her folded hands, her brow unlined; but a plaintive droop in the lines of her sensitive mouth told that she was wearied and secretly disheartened. "poor little mother!" he said, laying a hand on her arm, "you are tired." the tears came to her eyes, but she smiled back radiantly. "i don't care what comes, if only you believe in me," she said, simply; and he took her hand in both of his and pressed it like a lover. at last mr. bartol folded his paper and put away his glasses. "well, we are nearing hazel grove," he announced, smilingly. "it's only a little village, a meeting of cross-roads, but i think you'll like the country; it's the fine old rolling prairie of which you've heard." the moon was riding high as they alighted from the coach upon the platform of a low, wooden station in the midst of green fields. a clump of trees, and the lights in dimly discerned houses, gave only a faint suggestion of a town; but an open carriage was waiting for them, and entering this, they were driven away into the most delicious and fragrant silence. instantly the last trace of victor's anger and unrest fell away from him. of this simple quality had been the scenes of his life at school. in such peace and serenity his earlier years had been spent; indeed, all his life, save for the few tumultuous days in the city--and he was immediately restored and comforted by the sounds, sights, and odors of the superb spring night. "isn't it glorious!" he cried. "i feel as if i were reaching god's country again." the swiftly stepping horses whirled them up the street through a bunch of squat buildings and out along a gently rising lane to the south. ten minutes later the driver turned into a large, tree-shaded drive, and over a curving graveled drive approached a spreading white house, whose porticos shone pleasantly in the moonlight. a row of lighted windows glowed with hospitable intent, and tall vases of flowers showed dimly. "here we are!" called mr. bartol, with genial cordiality. "welcome to hazeldean." to dismount before this wide porch in the midst of the small innumerable voices of the night was like living out some delicious romance. to come to it from the reek and threat of the court-room made its serene expanse a heavenly refuge, and the beleaguered mother paused for a moment at the door to look back upon the lawn, where opulent elms and maples dreamed in the odorless gloom. "i have never seen anything so peaceful," she breathed. "only heavenly souls inhabit here." the interior was equally restful and reassuring. large rooms with simple and substantial furnishings led away from a short entrance hall. the ceilings were low and dark, and the lamps shaded. books were everywhere to be seen, many of them piled carelessly convenient to lights and chairs, as if it were both library and living-room. the first word victor spoke related to the books, and mr. bartol replied with a smile. "they are not especially well chosen. i fear you'll find them a mixed lot. i read nothing but law in the city--here i indulge my fancy. you'll wonder what my principle of selection is, and, if you ask me, i must answer--i haven't any. i buy whatever commends itself to me at the moment. one thing leads to another--romance to history, history to poetry, poetry to the drama, and so on." he greeted a very tidy maid who entered the room. "good-evening, marie. this is mrs. ollnee, and this is her son, mr. victor ollnee. please see that they are made comfortable." then again to his guests. "you must be tired." "i am so, mr. bartol," replied mrs. ollnee, "and if you'll pardon me i'll go to my room." "certainly--and you may go, too, if you feel like it," he said to victor. "i am not sleepy," replied victor. "very well," replied his host. "be seated and we'll discuss the situation for a few minutes." he led the way to a corner where two wide windows opening on the lawn made delicious mingling of night air and study light, and offering his guest a cigar, took a seat, saying: "i run out here whenever the city becomes a burden. i find i need just such a corrective to the intense life of the city. it is my rule to give no thought to legal troubles while i am here; hence the absence of codes and all legal literature. you are a college man, mrs. joyce tells me." "i was at winona last saturday, and expected to stay there till june, when i was due to graduate. then the devil broke loose, and here i am. when will my mother's case come up?" "not for some weeks, i fear. if you wish to return to your studies we can arrange that." "no. i'm done with school. i'm only worried about my mother. what do you think of her case, mr. bartol?" "i'm not informed sufficiently to say," he replied, slowly. "the whole subject of hypnotic control seems to be involved. i must know more of your mother before i can even hazard an opinion. the theories of suggestion are all rather vague to me. i have only what might be called a newspaper knowledge of them; but i have some information as to your mother's profession i gained from my friend mrs. joyce, so that i am not entirely uninformed. besides, it is a lawyer's business to know everything, and i shall at once proceed to bore into the subject." mrs. ollnee returning brought him to his feet in graceful acknowledgment of her sex, and placing a chair for her, he said, "i hope you don't mind tobacco." "not at all," she replied, quite as graciously. he placed a chair for her so that the light fell upon her face, and she knew that he intended to study her as if she were a page of strange text. "i'm glad you like it here," he said, in answer to her repeated admiration of his home, "for i suspect you'll have to stay here for the present. the city is passing through one of those moral paroxysms which come once in a year or two. last year it was the social evil; just now it concerns itself with what the reformers are pleased to call 'the occult fakers.' the feeling of a jury would be against you at present, and as i have promised mrs. joyce to take charge of your defense, i think it well for you to go into retirement here while i take time to inform myself of the case." "i do not like to trouble you." "it is no trouble, my dear madam. here is this big home, empty and completely manned. a couple of guests, especially a hearty young man, will be a godsend to my cook. she complains of not having men to feed. don't let any question of expense to me trouble you." "thank you most deeply." "don't thank me; thank louise joyce, who is both client and friend, and the one to whom i owe this pleasure." he bowed. "i never before had the opportunity of entertaining a 'psychic,' and i welcome the opportunity." she did not quite know how to take him, and neither did victor; and perceiving that doubt, bartol added: "i am quite sincere in all this. i hear a good deal, obscurely, of this curious phase of human life, but never before have i been confronted by one who claims the power of divination." "pardon me, sir, i do not claim such power." "do you not! i thought that was precisely your claim." "no, sir, i am a medium. i report what is given to me. i divine nothing of myself. i am an instrument through which those whom men call 'the dead' speak." "i see," he mused. "i will not deceive you," he began again, very gravely. "this charge against you is likely to prove serious, and you must be quite frank with me. i may require a test of your powers." "i am at your service, sir. make any test of me you please--this moment if you like." "i will not require anything of you to-night. writers tell me that 'mediums' are a dark, elusive, and uncanny set, mrs. ollnee, and i must confess that you upset my preconceptions." "there are all kinds of mediums, as there are all kinds of lawyers, mr. bartol. i am human, like the others." "if you will permit me, i will take up your defense along the lines of hypnotic control on the part of this man pettus." "i cannot presume to advise you, sir, but you must know that to me these voices come from the spirit world. i am the transmitter merely--for instance, at this moment i hear a voice and i see behind you the form of a lady, a lovely young woman--" "mother!" called victor, warningly. "don't start in on that!" "proceed," said bartol; "i am interested." the psychic, leaning forward slightly, fixed her wide, deep-blue eyes upon him. "the maid conducted me to the room which had been your wife's, but i could not stay there. this lady who stands beside you took me by the hand and led me away to another room. she is nodding at me now." "do you mean the maid led you from the room?" "no, i mean the spirit now standing behind you led me here. she says her name is margaret bartol. she said: '_comfort my dear husband. restore his faith._' she is smiling at me. she wants me to go on." bartol's face remained inscrutably calm. "where does the form seem to be?" "at your right shoulder. she says, '_tell him walter and hattie are both with me._' she listened a moment. she says, '_tell him walter's mind is perfectly clear now._'" victor thought he saw the lawyer start in surprise, but his voice was cold as he said, "go on." "she says: '_tell him the way is open. i am here. ask him to speak to me._'" bartol then spoke, but his tone plainly showed that he was testing his client's hallucination and not addressing himself to the imaginary ghost. "are you there, margaret?" "_yes_," came the answer, clearly though faintly. the renowned lawyer gazed at the medium with eyes that burned deep, and presently he asked, "what have you to say to me?" again came the clear, silvery whisper: "_much. trust the medium. she will comfort you._" victor thrilled to the importance of this moment, and much as he feared for his mother's success, he could not but admire the courage which blazed in her steady eyes. she was no longer afraid of this mighty man of the law, to whom heaven and hell were obsolete words. she was panoplied with the magic and mystery of death, and waited calmly for him to continue. at last he said: "go on. i am listening." again through the flower-scented, silent room the sibilant voice stole its way. "_father._" "who is speaking?" "_margaret._" "margaret? what margaret?" "_your 'rascal' peggy._" bartol certainly started at this reply, which conveyed an expression of mirth, but his questions continued formal. "what is your will with me?" "_mamma is here--and walter._" "can they speak?" "_they will try._" again silence fell upon the room--a silence so profound that every insect's stir was a rude interruption. at length another whisper, clearer, louder, made itself heard: "_alexander, be happy. i live._" "who are you?" "_your wife._" "you say so. can you prove your identity?" the whisper grew fainter. "_i will try. it is hard. good-by._" bartol raised his hand to his head with a gesture of surprise. "i thought i felt a touch on my hair." "the lady touched you as she passed away," mrs. ollnee explained. "she has gone. they are all gone now." "i am sorry," he said, in polite disappointment. "i wanted to pursue the interrogation. is this the usual method of your communications?" "this is one way. they write sometimes, and sometimes they speak through a megaphone; sometimes they materialize a face or a hand." he remained in profound thought for a few moments, then starting up, spoke with decision: "you are tired. go to bed. we'll have plenty of time to take up these matters to-morrow. please feel at home here and stay as long as you wish." a little later he took victor to his room, and as they stood there he remarked, "of course, all this may be and probably is mind-reading and ventriloquism--subconscious, of course." "but the writing," said victor. "you must see that. that is the weirdest thing she does. it is baffling." "my boy, the whole universe is baffling to me," his host replied, and into his voice came that tone of tragic weariness which affected the youth like a strain of solemn music. "the older i grow the more senseless, hopelessly senseless, human life appears; but i must not say such things to you. good-night." "good-night," responded victor, with swelling throat. "we owe you a great deal." "don't speak of it!" the lawyer commanded, and closed the door behind him. victor dropped into a chair. what a day this had been! within twenty-four hours he had seen and loved the dream-face of altair and had been blown upon by the winds from the vast chill and empty regions of space. he had resented leo's voice in the night, but had returned to her in the light of the morning. on the dreamy lagoon he had been her lover again, pulling at the oar with savage joy, and on the grass in the sunlight he had been the man unafraid and victorious. then came the hurried return, the visit to the court, the rescue of his mother--and here now he lay in the charity bed of his mother's lawyer! "truly i am being hurried," he said; and recalling miss aiken's final menacing remark, he added: "and if that girl and her brother can do it mother will be sent to prison." much as he feared these accusing witnesses, he acknowledged a kind of fierce beauty in florence aiken's face. as he lay thus, thinking deeply yet drowsily upon his problems, he heard a faint ticking sound beneath his head. it was too regular and persistent to be a chance creaking of the cloth, and he rose and shook the pillow to dislodge the insect which he imagined might have flown in at the window. the ticking continued. "i wonder if that _is_ a fly?" the ticking seemed to reply, "no," by means of one decided rap. to test it, he asked, "are you a spirit?" the tick counted one, two, three--"_yes._" "some one to speak to me?" _tick, tick, tick_--"yes." the answer was so plainly intelligent that the boy, silent with amazement, not unmixed with fear, lay for a few minutes in puzzled inaction. at length he asked, "who is it--father?" "tick"--no. "_grandfather?_" "_no._" he hesitated before asking the next question. "is it altair?" "_no._" he thought again. "is it walter bartol?" the answer was joyously instant. "_yes, yes, yes!_" "do you wish to speak to me?" "_yes._" "about your father?" "_yes._" "through my mother?" now came one of those baffling changes. the answer was faintly slow, "tick, tick," betraying uncertainty--and succeeding queries elicited no response. victor, excited and eager, would have gone to his mother for aid had he known where to find her room. the mood for marvels was upon him now, and altair and margaret, and all the rest of the impalpable throng, seemed waiting in the dusk and silence to communicate with him. hopelessly wide awake, he lay, while the big clock on the landing rang its little chime upon the quarter hours, but no further sign was given him of the presence of his intangible visitor; and at last the experience of the day became as unsubstantial as his dreams. he was awakened by the cackling of fowls and the bleating of calves and lambs. the sun was shining through the leafy top of a tree which lay almost against his window, and happy shadows were dancing like fairies on the coverlet of his bed. "it sounds like a real farm!" he drowsily murmured, filled with the peace of those cries, which typify the most ancient and unchanging parts of the cottager's life. he had known only the poetic side of farm life. he had seen it, heard it, tasted it only as the lad out for a holiday, and it all seemed serene and joyous to him. to his mind the luxury of quietly dozing to the music of a barn-yard was the natural habit of the farmer. he did not attempt to rise till he heard the voice of his host from the lawn beneath his window. a half an hour later he found bartol in the barn-yard surveying a span of colts which his farmer was leading back and forth before him. they were lanky, thin-necked creatures, but victor knew enough of horses to perceive in them signs of a famous breed of trotters. "you are a real farmer," he said, as he came up to his host. bartol seemed pleased. "i made it pay five per cent. last year," he responded, with pride. "of course that means counting in my time as a farmer, and not as a lawyer. how did you sleep?" "pretty well--when i got at it. i was a little excited and didn't go off as i usually do when i hit the pillow." "no wonder! i had a restless night myself." he nodded to the hostler. "that will do," and turned away. "i gave a great deal of thought to your mother's case. the fact seems to be that the human organism is a great deal more complicated than we're permitted ourselves to admit, and the tendency of the ordinary man is to make the habitual commonplace, no matter how profoundly mysterious it may be at the outset. of course at bottom we know very little of the most familiar phenomenon. why does fire burn and water run? no one really knows." they were facing the drive, which curved like a lilac ribbon through the green of the lawn, and the estate to victor's eyes had all the charm of a park combined with the suggestive music of a farmstead. "it's beautiful here!" he exclaimed. "i'm glad you like it, and i hope you and your mother will stay till we have put you both straight with the world." "if i could only do something to pay my freight, mr. bartol. i feel like a beggar and a fool to be so helpless. i was not expecting to be kicked out of college, and i'm pretty well rattled, i'll confess." "you keep your poise notably," the lawyer replied, with kindly glance. "to be so suddenly introduced to the mystery and the chicanery of the world would bewilder an older and less emotional man." they breakfasted in a big room filled with the sunlight. through the open windows the scent of snowy flowers drifted, and the food and service were of a sort that victor had never seen. a big grape-fruit, filled with sugar and berries; corn-cakes, crisp and golden; bacon delicately broiled, together with eggs (baked in little earthen cups), and last of all, coffee of such fragrance that it seemed to vie with the odor of the flowers without. each delicious dish was served deftly, quietly, by a sweet-faced maid, who seemed to feel a filial interest in her master. the service was a revelation of the perfection to which country life can be brought by one who has both wealth and culture; and victor wondered that any one could be sad amid such radiant surroundings. "i can't see why you ever return to the city," he said, with conviction. bartol smiled. "that's the perversity of our human nature. if i were forced to live here all the time the farm might pall upon me, just as if all seasons were spring. as it is, i come back to it from the turmoil of the town with never-cloying appetite. per contra, these maids and my farm-hands find a visit to the city their keenest delight. to them the parks and the artificial ponds are more beautiful than anything in nature." his tone changed. "in truth, i live on and do my work more from force of habit than from zest. so far as i can, i get back to the simple animal existence, where sun and air and food are the never-failing pleasures. i try to forget that i am a pursuer of criminals. i return to my work in the city, as i say, because it helps to keep my appetite for the rural things. i can't afford to let silence and green trees pall upon me. if i were a little more of a believer," he smiled, "i would say that you and your mother had been sent to me, for of late i have been in a deeper slough of despair than at any time since the death of my wife. i am curious to see how all this is going to affect your mother. she may find it very lonely here." "oh, i'm sure she will not." "well, now, i must be off. but before i go i will show you the catalogues of my library; and perhaps i can bring home some books which will bear on these occult subjects. i have given orders that no information as to you shall go off the place; and your mother is safe here. you may read, or hoe in the garden, or ride a horse." "i wish i might go to the city with you." "my judgment is against it. stay here for a few days till we see which way the wind is blowing." and with a cheery wave of his hand he drove away, leaving victor on the porch with the feeling of being marooned on an island--a peaceful and beautiful island, but an island nevertheless. xi love's translation to tell the truth, victor dreaded being left alone with his mother in this way. he was fully aware now of the invisible barrier between them. no matter what explanation was finally offered, she could never be the same to him again, for whether it was her subconscious self which had cunningly lured them all to the verge of disaster, or some uncontrollable impulse coming from without, in the light any explanation, she was no longer the sweet, gentle, normal mother he had hitherto thought her to be. it was not a question of being in possession of strange abilities, it was a question of being obsessed by some diabolical power--of being the prey of malignant demons avid to destroy. the more deeply he thought upon all that had come to him, the more bewildered he became; and to avoid this tumult, which brought no result, he went out and wandered about the farm. his experience was like visiting a foreign country, for the men were either swiss or german; and the walls of the farm-yard quite as un-american in their massiveness and their formal arrangement--a vivid contrast to the flimsy structures of the neighboring village. the servants (that is what they were, servants) treated him with the trained deference of those who for generations have touched their caps to the more fortunate beings of the earth, and these signs of subordination were distinctly soothing to the youth's disturbed condition of mind. instantly, and without effort, he assumed the air of the young aristocrat they thought him. he strolled down the road to the village, which was a collection of small frame cottages in neat lawns, surrounding a few general stores and a greasy, fly-specked post-office. here was the unimaginative, the prosaic, perfectly embodied. old men, bent and gray, were gossiping from benches and boxes under the awnings. clerks in their shirt-sleeves were lolling over counters. a few farmers' teams stood at the iron hitching-posts with drowsy, low-hanging heads. neither doubt nor dismay nor terror had footing here. the majesty of dawn, the mystery of midnight, did not touch these peaceful and phlegmatic souls. the spirit of man was to them less than an abstraction and the tumult of the city a far-off roar as of distant cataracts. furthermore, these matter-of-fact folk had abundant curiosity and no reverence, and they all stared at victor with round, absorbent gaze, as if with candid intent to take full invoice of his clothing, and to know him again in any disguise. he heard them say, one after the other, as he passed along, "visitor of bartol's, i guess." and he could understand that this explanation really explained, for bartol's "castle" was the resting-place of many strange birds of passage. bartol was, indeed, the constant marvel of hazel grove. why had he bought the place? why, after it was bought, should he spend so much money on it? and finally, why should he employ "foreigners"? these were a few of the queries which were put and answered and debated in the shade of the furniture store and around the air-tight store of the grocery. his farm was their never-failing wonder tale. the building of a new wall was an excitement, each whitewashing of a picket fence an event. they knew precisely the hour of departure of each blooded ram or bull, and the birth of each colt was discussed as if another son and heir had come to the owner. naturally, therefore, all visitors to "hazeldean" came in for study and comment--especially because it was well known that bartol stood high in the political councils of the party (was indeed mentioned for senator), and that his guests were likely to be "some punkins" in the world. "this young feller is liable to be the son of one of his millionaire clients," was the comment of the patient sitters. "husky chap, ain't he?" feeling something of this comment, and sensing also the sleepy materialism of the inhabitants, victor regained much of his own disbelief in the miraculous, and yet just to that degree did the pain in his heart increase, for it made of his mother something so monstrous that the conception threatened all his love and reverence for her. pity sprang up in place of the filial affection he had once known. he began to make new excuses for her. "it must be that she has become so suggestible that every sitter's mind governs her. in a sense, that removes her responsibility." and so he walked back, with all his pleasure in the farm and village eaten up by his care. his mother was waiting for him on the porch, and as he came up, asked with shining face: "isn't this heavenly, victor?" "it is very beautiful," he replied, but with less enthusiasm than she expected. "to think that yesterday i was threatened with the prison, and now--this! we have much to thank mr. bartol for." "that's just it, mother. what claim have we on this big, busy man? what right have we to sit here?" the brightness of her face dimmed a little, but she replied bravely: "i have always paid my way, victor, and i am sure last night's message meant much to mr. bartol. i always help people. if i bring back a belief in immortality do i not make fullest recompense to my host? my gift is precious, and yet i cannot sell it--i can only give it--and so when i am offered bed and board in return for my work i am not ashamed to take it. the kings of the earth are glad to honor those who, like myself, have the power to penetrate the veil." never before had she ventured upon so frank a defense of her vocation, and victor listened with a new conception of her powers. as she continued she took on dignity and quiet force. "the medium gives more for her wages than any earthly soul; and when you consider that we make the grave a gateway to the light, that our hands part the veil between the seen and the unseen, then you will see that our gifts are not abnormal, but supernormal. god has given us these powers to comfort mankind, to afford a new revelation to the world." "why didn't you make me a medium?" he asked, thrusting straight at her heart. "why did you send me away from it all?" her eyes fell, her voice wavered. "because i was weak--an earthly mother. my selfish love and pride overpowered me. i could not see you made ashamed--and besides my controls advised it for the time." he took a seat where he could look up into her face. "mother, tell me this--haven't you noticed that your controls generally advise the things you believe in?" she was stung by his question. "yes, my son, generally; but sometimes they drive me into ways i do _not_ believe in. often they are in opposition to my own will." he was silenced for the moment, and his mind took a new turn. "when did altair first come?" "soon after i met leo. she came with leo. she attends leo." "have you seen her?" "no. i am always in deepest trance when she shows herself. i hear her voice, though." "mother," he said, earnestly, "if mr. bartol gets us out of this scrape will you go away with me into some new country and give up this business?" "you don't seem to understand, victor. i can no more escape from these voices than i can run away from my own shadow. i don't want to run away. i love the thought of them. i have innumerable sweet friends on the other side. to close the door in their faces would be cruel. it would leave me so lonely that i should never smile again." "then they mean more to you than i do!" he exclaimed. "no, no! i don't mean that!" she passionately protested. "you mean more to me than all the _earthly_ things, but these heavenly hosts are very dear--besides, i shall go to them soon and i want to feel sure that i can come back to you when i have put aside the body. i fear now that our separation was a mistake. in trying to shield you from the transient disgrace of being a medium's son, i have put your soul in danger. i was weak--i own it. i was an earthly mother. i wanted my boy to be respected and rich and happy here in the earth-life. i did not realize the danger i ran of being forever separated from you by the veil of death. oh, victor, you must promise me that should i pass out suddenly you will try to keep the spirit-way open between us--will you promise this?" strange scene! strange mother! all about them the orioles were whistling, the robins chirping, and farther away the beasts of the barn-yard were bawling their wants in cheerful chorus, but here on this vine-shaded porch a pale, small woman sought a compact with her son which should outlast the grave and defy time and space. he gave his word. how could he refuse it? but his pledge was half-hearted, his eyes full of wavering. it irked him to think that in a month of bloom and passion, a world of sunny romance, a world of girls and all the sweet delights they conveyed to young men, he should be forced to discuss matter which relates to the charnel-house and the chill shadow of the tomb. he rose abruptly. "don't let's talk of this any more. let's go for a walk. let's visit the garden." she was swifter of change than he. she could turn from the air of the "ghost-room" to the glory of the peacock as swiftly as a mirror reflects its beam of light, and she caught a delightful respite from the flowers. she was accustomed to the lavish greenhouses of her wealthy patrons, but here was something that delighted her more than all their hotbeds. here were all the old-fashioned out-of-door plants and flowers, the perennials of her grandfather, to whom hot-houses were unknown. this colonial garden was another of bartol's peculiarities. he had no love for orchids, or any exotic or forced blooms. his fancy led to the glorification of phloxes, to the ripening of lilacs, and to the preservation of old-time varieties of roses--plants with human association breathing of romance and sorrow--hence his plots were filled with hardy new england roots flourishing in the richer soils of the western prairies. these colors, scents, and forms moved victor markedly, for the reason that in la crescent, as a child, he had been accustomed to visit a gaunt old woman, the path to whose door led through cinnamon roses, balsam, tiger-lilies, sweet-william, bachelor-buttons, pinks, holly-hocks, and the like--a wonderland to him then--a strange and haunting pleasure now as he walked these graveled ways and mingled the memories of the old with the vivid impressions of the new. back to the house they came at last to luncheon, and there, sitting in the beautiful dining-room, so cool, so spacious, so singularly tasteful in every detail, they gazed upon each other in a delight which was tinged with pain. such perfection of appointment, such service, all for them (two beggars), was more than embarrassing; it provoked a sense of guilt. the pretty, low-voiced, soft-soled maid came and went, bringing exquisite food in the daintiest dishes (enough food for six), anticipating every want, like the fairy of the story-books. "mother," said the youth, "this is a story!" mrs. ollnee was accustomed to the splendor of mrs. joyce's house, but she was almost as much moved as victor. she perceived the difference between the old-world simplicity of this flawless establishment and the lavish, tasteless hospitality of men like pettus. who had planned and organized this wide-walled, low-toned room, this marvelously effective cuisine? how was it possible for such service to go on during the master's absence with apparently the same unerring precision of detail? these questions remained unanswered, and they rose at last with a sense of having been, for the moment at least, in the seats of those who command the earth wisely. hardly were they returned to their hammocks on the porch when a swiftly driven car turned in at the gate. "it is louise!" exclaimed mrs. ollnee. "and leo!" added victor. with streaming veils the travelers swept up to the carriage steps covered with dust, yet smiling. "how are you?" called mrs. joyce; and then with true motor spirit, addressed the driver: "what's the time, denis?" "two hours and ten minutes from north avenue." "not so bad, considering the roads." leo had sprung out and was throwing off her cloak and veil. "i hope we're not too late for luncheon. mr. bartol has the _best_ cook, and i'm famished." her coming swept victor back into his other and normal self, and he took charge of her with a mingling of reverence and audacity which charmed her. he went out into the dining-room with her and sat beside her while she ate. "i hope you're going to stay," he said, earnestly. "stay! of course we'll stay. it's hot as july in the city--always is with the wind from the southwest. isn't it heavenly out here?" "heavenly is the word; but who did it? who organized it?" "mrs. bartol. she had the best taste of any one--and her way with the servants was beyond imitation. they all worship her memory." "i can't make myself believe i deserve all this," he said. "your coming puts the frosting on my bun." it was as if some new and utterly different spirit, or band of them, had come with this glowing girl. she radiated the vitality and the melody of youth. without being boisterous or silly, she filled the house with laughter. "there's something about hazeldean that always makes me happy. i don't know why," she said. "you make all who inhabit this house happy," said mrs. ollnee. "i can hear spirit laughter echoing to yours." "can you? is it margaret?" "yes, margaret and philip." victor did not smile; on the contrary, his face darkened, and mrs. joyce changed the tone of the conversation by asking: "did you see the paper this morning? they say you have skipped to join pettus." this seemed so funny that they all laughed, till victor remembered that both these women had lost much money through pettus. mrs. joyce sobered, too. "the star is against you, lucy, and you must keep dark for a time. they are denouncing you as a traitor and all the rest of it. did paul, or any one, advise you last night?" "no, nothing was said. i suppose they are considering the matter also. those deceiving spirits must be hunted out and driven away." "i'm going to lie down for a while," mrs. joyce announced. "my old waist-line is jolted a bit out o' plumb. leo, will you stretch out, too?" "no indeed. what i need is a walk or a game of tennis. i'm cramped from sitting so long." so it fell out that victor (penniless youth, hedged about with invisible walls, pikes, and pitfalls) was soon galloping about a tennis court in the glories of a new pair of flannel trousers and a lovely blue-striped outing shirt, trying hard not to win every game from a very good partner, who was pouting with dismay while admiring his skill. "it isn't right for any one to 'serve' as weird a ball as you do," she protested. "it's like playing with loaded dice. i begin to understand why you were not renowned as a scholar." "oh, i wasn't so bad! i stood above medium." "how could you? it must have taken all your time to learn to play tennis in the diabolical way you do--it's conjury, that's what it is!" they were in the shade, and the fresh sweet wind, heavy with the scent of growing corn and wheat, swept steadily over the court, relieving it from heat, and victor clean forgot his worriments. this girlish figure filled his eyes with pictures of unforgetable grace and charm. the swing of her skirts as she leaped for the ball, the free sweep of her arm (she had been well instructed), and the lithe bending of her waist brought the lover's sweet unease. when they came to the net now and again, he studied her fine figure with frank admiration. "you are a corker!" was his boyish word of praise. "i don't go up against many men who play the game as well as you do. your 'form' is a whole lot better than mine. i am a bit lucky, i admit. you see, i studied baseball pitching, and i know the action of a whirling sphere. i curve the ball--make it 'break,' as the english say. i can make it do all kinds of 'stunts.'" "i see you can, and i'll thank you not to try any new ones," she protested. "can you ride a horse?" his face fell a bit. "there i am a 'mutt,'" he confessed. "i never was on a horse except the wooden one in the gym." "i'm glad i can beat you at something," she said, with exultant cruelty. "i know you can row." "shall we try another set?" he asked. "not to-day, thank you. my self-respect will not stand another such drubbing. i'm going in for a cold plunge. after that you may read to me on the porch." "i'll be there with the largest tome in the library," he replied. mrs. joyce stopped him as he was going up-stairs to his room. "victor, don't worry about me. while it looks as though i have lost a good deal of money through pettus, i am by no means bankrupt. i am just about where i was when i met your mother. she has not enriched me--i mean the voices have not--neither have they impoverished me. it's just the same with leo. she's almost exactly where she was when she came east. it would seem as if they had been playing with us just to show us how unsubstantial earthly possessions are." there was a certain comfort in this explanation, and yet the fact that her losses had not eaten in upon her original capital did not remove the essential charge of dishonesty which the man aiken had brought against the ghostly advisers. florence and thomas aiken could not afford to be so lenient. they were disinherited, cheated of their rightful legacy, by the lying spirits. he was anxious, also, to know just how deeply leo was involved in the people's bank; and when she came down to the porch he led her to a distant chair beside a hammock on the eastern side of the house, and there, with a book in his hand, opened his interrogations. he began quite formally, and with a well-laid-out line of questions, but she was not the kind of witness to permit that. she broke out of his boundaries on the third query, and laughingly refused to discuss her losses. "i am holding no one but myself responsible," she said. "i was greedy--i couldn't let well enough alone, that's all." "no, that is not all," he insisted. "my mother is charged with advising people to put money into the hands of a swindler--" "i don't believe that. i think she was honest in believing that pettus would enrich us all. she was deceived like the rest of us." "but what becomes of the infallible voices?" she laughed. "they are fallible, that's all. they made a gross blunder in pettus." "mr. bartol suggests that my mother may have been hypnotized by pettus and made to work his will, and i think he's right. he thinks the whole thing comes down to illusion--to hypnotic control and telepathy." she looked thoughtful. "i had a stage of believing that; but it doesn't explain all, it only explains a small part. does it explain altair to you?" his glance fell. "nothing explains altair--nor that moaning wind--nor the writing on the slates." "and the letter--have you forgotten that?" "half an hour ago, as we were playing tennis, i _had_ forgotten it. i was cut loose from the whole blessed mess--now it all comes back upon me like a cloud." "oh, don't look at it that way. that's foolish. i think it's glorious fun, this investigating." he acknowledged her rebuke, but added, "it would be more fun if the person under the grill were not one's own mother." "that's true," she admitted; "and yet, i think you can study her without giving offense. i began in a very offensive way--i can see that now--but she met my test, and still meets every test you bring. the faith she represents isn't going to have its heart plucked out in a hurry, i can tell you that." "the immediate thing is to defend her against this man aiken. mr. bartol said he would order up a lot of books, and i'm to cram for the trial. if you have any book to suggest, i wish you'd write its title down for me." "what's the use of going to books? the judges will want the facts, and you'll have to convince them that she is what she claims to be." "how can we do that? we can't exhibit her in a trance?" "you might. perhaps her guides will give her the power." she glowed with anticipatory triumph. "imagine her confounding the jury! wouldn't that be dramatic! it would be like the old-time test of fire." he was radiant, too, for a moment, over the thought. then his face grew stern. "nothing like that is going to happen. she would fail, and that would leave us in worse case than before. our only hope is to convince the jury that she is not responsible for what her voices say. we've got to show she's auto-hypnotic." "i hope the trial will come soon." "so do i, for here i am eating somebody else's food, with no prospect of earning a cent or finding out my place in the world. i don't know just what my mother's idea was in educating me in classical english instead of some technical course, but i'm perfectly certain that i'm the most helpless mollusk that was ever kicked out of a school." real bitterness was in his voice, and she hastened to add a word of comfort. "all you need is a chance to show your powers." "what powers?" "latent powers," she smiled. "we are all supposed to have latent powers. i am seeking a career, too." he forgot himself in a return of his admiration of her. "oh, you don't have to seek. a girl like you has her career all cut out for her." she caught his meaning. "that's what i resent. why should a woman's career mean only marriage?" "i don't know--i guess because it's the most important thing for her to do." "to be some man's household drudge or pet?" "no, to be some man's inspiration." "fudge! a woman is never anybody's inspiration--after she's married." "how cynical you are! what caused it?" "observing my married friends." "oh, i am relieved! i was afraid it was through some personal experience--" this seemed funny to them both, and they laughed together. "there's nothing of 'the maiden with reluctant feet' about me," she went on. "i simply refuse to go near the brink. i find men stupid, smelly, and coarse." "i hate girls in the abstract--they giggle and whisper behind their hands and make mouths; but there is one girl who is different." he tried to be very significant at the moment. she ignored his clumsy beginning of a compliment. "all the girls who giggle should marry the men who 'crack jokes'--that's my advice." "'pears like our serious conversation is straggling out into vituperation." "whose fault is it?" "please don't force me to say it was not my fault. i'm like lincoln--i joke to hide my sorrows." "don't be irreverent." through all this youthful give and take the boy and girl were studying each other minutely, and the phrases that read so baldly came from their lips with so much music, so much of hidden meaning (at least with displayed suggestion), that each was tingling with the revelation of it. the words of youth are slight in content; it is the accompanying tone that carries to the heart. she recovered first. "now let's stop this school-boy chatter--" "you mean school-girl chatter." "both. your mother is in a very serious predicament. we must help her." he became quite serious. "i wish you would advise me. you know so much more about the whole subject than i do. i'm eager to get to work on the books. i suppose it is too much to expect that they will come up to-day?" "they might. i'll go and inquire." "no indeed, let me go. am i not an inmate here?" he disappeared into the house, leaving her to muse on his face. he began to interest her, this passionate, self-willed, moody youth. she perceived in him the soul of the conqueror. his swift change of temper, his union of sport-loving boy and ambitious man made him as interesting as a play. "he'll make his way," she decided, using the vague terms of prophecy into which a girl falls when regarding the future of a young man. it's all so delightfully mysterious, this path of the youth who makes his way upward to success. a shout announced his return, and looking up she perceived him bearing down upon her with an armful of books. "here they are!" he exulted. "red ones, blue ones, brown ones--which shall we begin on?" "blue--that's my color." "agreed! blue it is." he dumped them all down on the wide, swinging couch and fell to turning them over. "dark blue or light blue?" "dark blue." he picked up a fat volume. "_mysterious psychic forces._ know this tome?" "oh yes, indeed! it's wonderfully interesting." "i choose it! this color scheme simplifies things. now, here's another--_the dual personality_. how's that?" "um! well--pretty good." "_dual personality_ to the rear. here's a brown book--_metaphysical phenomena_." "that's a good one, too." "i'm sorry they didn't bind it in blue--and here's a measly, yellow, paper-bound book in some foreign language--italian, i guess, author, morselli." "oh, that's a book i want to read. let me take it?" "do you read italian?" "after a fashion." "then i engage you at once to translate that book to me. what is it all about?" he abandoned his seat on the couch and drew a chair close to hers. "begin at the first page and read very slowly all the way through. i wish it were a three volume edition." she looked at him with side glance. "you're not in the least subtle." "i intended to have you understand that i enjoy the thought of your reading to me. did you catch it?" "i caught it. no one else ever suggested that i was stupid." "i didn't call you stupid. i think you're haughty and domineering, but you're not stupid." "thank you," she answered, demurely. eventually they drew together, and she began to read the marvelous story of the crucial experiments which morselli and his fellows laid upon eusapia palladino. two hours passed. the robins and thrushes began their evensong, the shadows lengthened on the lawn, and still these young folk remained at their reading--victor sitting so close to his teacher's side that his cheek almost touched her shoulder. the sunset glory of the material world was forgotten in the tremendous conceptions called up by the author of this far-reaching book. sweeter hours of study victor never had. seeing the rise and fall of his interpreter's bosom and catching the faint perfume of her hair, he heard but vaguely some of the sentences, and had to have them repeated, what time her eyes were looking straight into his. at such moment she reminded him of the dream-face that had bloomed like a rose in the black night, for she was then very grave. less ardent of blood than he, she succeeded in giving her whole mind to the great italian's thesis, and the point of view--so new and so bold--stirred her like a trumpet. "i like this man," she said. "he is not afraid." once or twice mrs. joyce looked out at them, but they made such a pretty picture she had not the heart to disturb them. at seven o'clock she was forced to interrupt: "what _are_ you children up to?" "improving our minds," answered leo. "are we starting back? what time is it?" mrs. joyce smiled. "that question is a great compliment to your company. it's dinner-time." "are we starting now?" "no; we're going to stay all night." "fine!" shouted victor. "i was wondering how i could put in the evening." "it's time to dress," warned mrs. joyce. "this is no happy-go-easy establishment. i never saw such perfection of service as alexander always has. i can't get it, or if i get it i can't keep it; while here, with the master gone half the time, the wheels go like a chronometer." "it's all due to marie. she worshiped mrs. bartol, and she venerates mr. bartol." mrs. joyce cut her short. "skurry to your room. we must not be late." as they were going into the house together, leo said: "i think we would better not let our elders read this book of morselli's. it's too disturbing for them--don't you think so?" "it certainly is a twister. however, mother doesn't read any foreign language, so she's safe." xii a moonlight call and a vision upon rising from the dinner table the young people returned to their books, and at ten o'clock leo lifted her eyes from her page. "did some one drive up?" victor looked at her dazedly. "i didn't hear anybody. proceed." "mercy! it's ten o'clock. where are aunt louise and your mother? i hear mr. bartol's voice!" she exclaimed, rising hastily. "let's go get the latest news." the master of the house entered before the young people could shake off the spell of what they had been imagining. "what a waste of good moonlight!" he exclaimed, with smiling sympathy. "why aren't you youngsters out on the lawn?" "it's all your fault," responded leo. "we've been absorbing one of the books you sent up." "have you? it must have been a wonderful romance. i can't conceive of anything but a love-story keeping youth indoors on a night like this." victor defended her. "we've been reading of morselli's wonderful experiments. it's in italian, and miss wood has been translating it for me." "what luck you have!" exclaimed mr. bartol. "i engage her to re-translate it for me at the same rate." mrs. ollnee and mrs. joyce came in as he was speaking, and mrs. joyce, after disposing herself comfortably, said, "well, what is your report?" he confessed that he had been too busy with other matters to give the aiken accusation much thought. "however, i sent an armful of books out to my assistant attorney." he waved his hand toward victor. "you don't mean to read books," protested mrs. joyce, energetically, "when you've the very source of all knowledge right here in your own house? why don't you study your client and convince yourself of her powers?--then you'll know what to do and say." "i had thought of that," he said, hesitantly. "but--" "you need not fear," mrs. joyce assured him. "it's true lucy cannot always furnish the phenomena on the instant. in fact, the more eager she is the more reluctant the forces are; but you can at least try, and she is not only willing but eager for the test." bartol turned to mrs. ollnee. "are you prepared now--to-night?" he asked. "yes, this moment," she answered. mrs. joyce exulted. "the power is on her. i can see that. see how her hand trembles! one finger is signaling. don't you see it?" mr. bartol rose. "come with me into my study. mrs. joyce may come some other time. i do not want any witnesses to-night," he added, with a smile. victor watched his mother go into bartol's study with something of the feeling he might have had in seeing her enter the den of a lion. she seemed very helpless and very inexperienced in contrast with this great inquisitor, so skilled in cross-examination, so inexorable in logic, so menacing of eye. leo, perceiving victor's anxiety, proposed that they return to the porch, and to this he acceded, though it seemed like a cowardly desertion of his mother. "poor little mother," he said. "if she stands up against him she's a wonder." the girl stretched herself out on the swinging couch, and the youth took his seat on a wicker chair close beside her. mrs. joyce kept at a decent distance, so that if the young people had anything private to say she might reasonably appear not to have overheard it. talk was spasmodic, for neither of them could forget for a moment the duel which was surely going on in that inner room. indeed, mrs. joyce openly spoke of it. "if lucy is not too anxious, too eager, she will change alexander's whole conception of the universe this night." "of course you're exaggerating, aunt louise; but i certainly expect her to shake him up." "it only needs one genuine phenomenon to convince him of her sincerity. what a warrior for the cause he would make! she must stay right here in his house till she utterly overwhelms him. he took up her case at first merely because i asked him to do so; but he likes her, and is ready to take it up on her own account if he finds her sincere. but i want him to believe in the philosophy she represents." half an hour passed with no sign from within, and mrs. joyce began to yawn. "that ride made me sleepy." "why don't you go to bed?" suggested leo. she professed concern. "and leave lucy unguarded?" "nonsense! go to bed and sleep. mr. ollnee and i will stand guard till the ordeal is ended." "i believe i'll risk it," decided mrs. joyce. "i can hardly keep my eyes open." "nor your mouth shut," laughed leo. "hasten, or you'll fall asleep on the stair." left alone, the young people came nigh to forgetting that the world contained aught but dim stretches of moonlit greensward, dewy trees, and the odor of lilac blooms. in the dusk victor stood less in fear of the girl, and she, moved by the witchery of the night and the melody of his voice (into which something new and masterful had come), grew less defiant. "how still it all is?" she breathed, softly. "it is like the elysian fields after the city's noise and grime." "it's more beautiful out there." he motioned toward the lawn. "let's walk down the drive." and she complied without hesitation, a laugh in her voice. "but not too far. remember, we are guardian angels." as she reached his side he took her arm and tucked it within his own. "you might get lost," he said, in jocular explanation of his action. "how considerate you are!" she scornfully responded, but her hand remained in his keeping. there were no problems now. down through the soft dusk of the summer night they strolled, rapturously listening to the sounds that were hardly more than silences, feeling the touch of each other's garments, experiencing the magic thrill which leaps from maid to man and man to maid in times like these. "how big you are!" exclaimed the girl. "i didn't realize how much you overtopped me. i am considered tall." "and so you are--and divinely fair." "how banal! couldn't you think of a newer one?" "it was as much as ever i remembered, that. i'm not a giant in poetry. i'm a dub at any fine job." of this quality was their talk. to those of us who are old and dim-eyed, it seems of no account, perhaps, but to those who can remember similar walks and talks it is of higher worth than the lectures in the sorbonne. learning is a very chill abstraction on such a night to such a pair. would we not all go back again to this sweet land of love and longing--if we could? victor did not deliberately plan to draw leonora closer to his side, and the proud girl did not intend to permit him to do so; but somehow it happened that his arm stole round her waist as they walked the shadowy places of the drive, and their laggard feet were wholly out of rhythm to their leaping pulses. the proof of victor's naturally dependable character lay in the fact that he presumed no further. he was content with the occasional touch of her rounded hip to his, the caressing touch of her skirt as it swung about his ankle. to have attempted a kiss would have broken the spell, would have alarmed and repelled her. he honored her, loved her, but he was still in awe of her proud glance and the imperious carriage of her head. he preferred to think she suffered rather than invited the clasp of his arm. she, on her part, was astonished and a little scared by her own complaisant weakness, and as they came out into the lighter part of the walk she disengaged herself with a self-derisive remark, and asked, "do you always take such good care of the arms of your girl friends?" "always," he replied, instantly, though his heart was still in the clutch of his new-born passion. "i shall be on my guard next time.... i see mr. bartol in the doorway. don't you think we'd better go in? what time do you suppose it is?" "the saddest time in the world for me if you are going to leave me." "don't be maudlin." she had recovered her self-command, and was disposed to be extra severe. "sentimental nothings is hardly your strong point." "what is my strong point?" she was ready with an answer. "plain down-right impudence." he, too, was recovering speech. "i'm glad i have _one_ strong trait. i was afraid there was nothing about me to make a definite impression on a proud beauty like you." "please don't try to be literary. stick to your oars and your baseball raquet." "bat," he corrected. "i meant bat." "i know you did; but you said raquet." in this juvenile spat they approached the porch where mr. bartol stood waiting for them. "young people," he called, in a voice that somehow voiced a deep emotion, "do you realize that it is midnight?" protesting their amazement, they mounted the steps and entered the house; but the moment they looked into their host's face they became serious, perceiving that something very tremendous had taken place in his laboratory. "what has happened?" asked leo. "what did she do?" "i don't know yet," he replied, strangely inconclusive in tone and phrase. "i must think it all over. if i can persuade myself that the marvels which i have witnessed are realities, the universe is an entirely new and vastly different machine for me." thrilling to the excitement in his face and in his voice, they passed on. at the top of the stairs leo faced victor with eyes big with excitement. "what do you suppose came to him?" "i haven't an idea. he seemed terribly wrought up, though." "we must say good-night." she held out her hand, and he took it. "this has been the finest, most instructive day of my life." she released her hand with a little decisive, dismissing movement. "how nice of you! signor morselli should know of it. good-night!" and the smile with which she left him was delightfully provoking and mirthful. victor would have gone straight to his mother had he known where to find her, for he was eager to know what had taken place in the deeps of bartol's study. that she had been able to mystify the great lawyer, he was convinced; and yet, perhaps, this was only temporary. "he will go further. what will he find?" he was standing before his dresser slowly removing his collar and tie when the door opened and his mother entered. she was abnormally wide awake, and her eyes, violet in their intensity, betrayed so much excitement that he exclaimed: "why, mother, what's the matter? what kind of a session did you have? what has happened to you?" "victor, father tells me that mr. bartol will be convinced. he is the greatest mind i have ever met. if i can bring him to a belief in the spirit world it will be the most important victory of my life." "what did he say to you? what did he think?" "i don't know; and strange to say, i cannot read his mind. he seems convinced of the phenomena, and yet i can't tell for certain. he was skeptical at the beginning, as nearly every one is." hitherto, at every such opening, victor had rushed in to pluck the heart out of her mystery, but now he restrained himself, for fear of trapping her into some admission, which would make his own testimony more difficult in court. he took a seat on the bed and regarded her with meditative eyes, and she went on. "the voices are clamoring round me still. they want to speak to you." "i don't want to hear them--not to-night," he replied, coldly. "tell them to wait and talk to me when mr. bartol is listening." she seemed disappointed and a little hurt by his tone. "altair is here. she wishes most to speak." interest awoke in him. "what does she want of me?" she listened. "she says, '_trust mr. bartol._'" he could see nothing, hear nothing, therefore his face lost its light. "well, we've got to trust him. he's all the help in sight." something, a breath, the light caress of a hand, passed over his hair, and a whisper that was almost tone spoke in his ear, "_fear nothing, if you will be guided and protected._" sweet as this voice was, it irritated him, for he could not disassociate his mother from it. indeed, it had something subtly familiar in its utterance, and yet he could not accuse her of deceit. he only roughly said: "don't do that! i don't like that!" silence followed, and then his mother sadly said: "you have hurt her. she will not speak again." "let her show herself. how do i know who is speaking to me? let me see her face again." he added this in a gentler voice, being moved by a vivid memory of the exquisite picture altair had made. after another pause mrs. ollnee answered: "she will do so. she says soon. she has gone; but your father wants to speak to you." victor rose impatiently. "tell him to come again some other time. i'm sleepy now." she turned away saddened by his manner, and with a gentle "good-night" went softly from the room. victor regretted his bluntness, but could not free himself from a feeling that his mother's voices were deceptive or imaginary, and her visit hurt and disgusted him so deeply that the charm of his evening's companionship with leo was all but lost. "part of her phenomena are real, but these voices--" he broke off and went to his bed with a vague feeling of loss weighing him down. for a half-hour he lay in growing bitterness, and then quite suddenly he thought he detected a thin, blue vapor rising from the rag rug at the side of his bed, and for an instant he was startled. "is it smoke? or do i imagine it?" as it rose and sank, expanded and contracted, he studied it closely. it was not smoke, for it did not ascend. it was more like filmy drapery tossed by a wind from a hidden aperture in the floor. motionless, amazed, and awed, he watched it, till out of it the face of a woman looked, her wistful eyes touched with an accusing sorrow. it was altair, and her form became more real from moment to moment, until at last he could detect the swell of her bosom, draped with the folds of a shimmering white robe. as he waited a hand appeared at her side, vaguely outlined, yet alive. he could see the fingers loosely clasped about a rose. she was so beautiful that he lay gazing at her in speechless wonder. "am i dreaming?" he asked himself. "i _must_ be dreaming." and yet he could feel the air from the window. in the light of her glance he forgot all his other loves and cares. his worship for her returned like swift hunger, and he yearned to touch her, to hear her voice. "she is a dream," he decided, and his hand, lifted to test the vision, fell back upon the coverlet. as if reading his thought, altair put out her right arm and touched his wrist with a caress like the stroke of a beam of moonlight, so light and cold it was. "_victor_," she seemed to say, and his whisper was almost as light as her own. "who are you?" "_don't you know me? i am altair. do not forget me._" "i will not forget you," he answered. "i can't forget you. why do you look so sad?" "_it is cold and empty where i dwell. i come to you for happiness and warmth. you had forgotten me. you would not listen to my voice._" her reproach moved him almost to tears. "i could not see you. i was not sure." "_i do not accuse you. it is natural for you to love. when the day comes you will seek another. one whose flesh is warm. mine is cold. she is of the day. i am of the night. but do not refuse to speak to me._" her bust had grown fuller, more complete as she spoke, and yet from the waist downward she seemed but a trailing garment of convoluting, phosphorescent gauze. her left hand still hung at her side, vague, diaphanous, but her right lay upon her breast, as beautiful, as real as firelit ivory, and her face seemed to glow as though with some inward radiance. victor could follow the exquisite line of her brow, and her eyes were glorious pools of color, deep and dark with mystery and passion. slowly she sank as if kneeling, her stately head lowered, bent above him, and he felt the touch of soft lips upon his own--a kiss so warm, so human that it filled his heart with worship. gently he lifted his hand, seeking to draw her to him, and for an instant he felt her pliant body in the circle of his arms--then she dissolved, vanished--like some condensation of the atmosphere, and he was left alone, aching with longing and despair. for a long time he waited, hoping she would return. he saw the moonlight fade from the carpet. he heard the night wind amid the maple leaves, and he knew he had not been dreaming, for that strange oriental perfume lingered in the air, and on the coverlet where her exquisite hand had rested a white bloom lay, mystic and wonderful. he lifted it, and its breath, sweeter than that of any other flower he had ever held, filled him with instant languor and happy release of care. his next perception was that of sunlight. it was morning, and the kine and fowls were astir. he looked for the mysterious flower, but it was gone. he sprang from his bed and searched the room for it. "it did not exist," he sadly concluded. "it has returned to the mysterious world from whence it came." for a long time afterward he suffered with a sense of loss, while the sunlight deepened in his room and the sounds of the barn-yard brought back to him the realization that he was in effect a fugitive in the house of a stranger. slowly the normal action of his mind and body resumed its sway, and he dressed, quite sure that something abnormal had brought this vision to him. he wondered if he, too, were getting mediumistic. "am i to be a son of my mother? am i to hear voices and see visions?" he asked himself, with a note of alarm. he began to fear the disintegrating effects of these experiences. his personality; his body hitherto so solid, so stable, seemed about to develop disturbing capabilities. he was profoundly pleased and reassured to find on his dressing-room table a large white rose, a rose precisely like that which had been laid upon his coverlet by the hand of the dream-woman. it's odor was the same, and its petals were as fresh as if it had just been cut. it reassured him by convincing him that his vision was real--that it had a basis of physical change; but it also started a perplexing chain of thought. "how came the rose here? who brought it?" was his question. "it certainly was not there when i went to bed." with the flower in his hand, he still stood looking down at the place where the hand of altair had rested--still marveling at this mingling of the real and the fantastic, the dream and the rose, when something shining revealed itself half concealed by the pillow; and putting out his hand he took up a little brooch of turquoise set with diamonds, which he recognized instantly as one that leo had worn at her throat when she said good-night. sinking into a chair, he stared now at the jewel, now at the rose, while a thrill of pride, of mastery, of joy stole through him. his blood warmed. his heart quickened its beat. could it be that leo had been his visitor? was it possible that she, burning with hidden love of him, had stolen to his room, and there at his bedside, masking herself as altair, had bent to his drowsy eyes, and laid upon his lips that fervid kiss? the thought confused him, overpowered him, exalted him. his was a chivalrous nature, therefore this act, at the moment, seemed neither unmaidenly nor wrong--indeed, it appeared very beautiful in his eyes. it humbled him, made him wonder if he were worth the risk she had run? he was not abnormally self-appreciative, but he had not been left unaware of his appeal to women. his previous love-affairs had been those of the undergraduate, proceeding under the jocular supervision of his watchful fellows. his present case was in wholly different spirit. he was a man now--in fact, his quarrel with leo from the first had been over her evident determination to treat him as a lad. the memory of her serene self-possession made her self-surrender of the night all the more amazing to him. "it is cold and empty where i dwell," she had said. this meant that she loved him--longed for him--it could mean nothing else. her love had begun during their ride on the lagoon, in their delicious drowse on the grass. it had been deepened by their afternoon of sweet companionship at tennis and over their books; then came the walk in the moonlight and her acceptance of his caress in the dusky place in the path--all were preparatory to this final wondrous visit and confession. and yet her eyes had never been other than those of a friend. seemingly she had laughed at herself for the momentary weakness of yielding to his arm. her daylight expression had always been that of the humorous, self-reliant, rather intellectual girl, who acknowledges no fear of man and no sudden rush of passion, and yet--how reconcile the facts! he smiled to think how he had been deceived by her imperious air, by her expressed contempt for his interest. "and all the while she was really waiting for me to break through her reserve," he said; and this delicious explanation satisfied him for a few moments, till he went deeper into his memory of what she had said and done. he was forced to reassure himself again by the jewel and the rose that she had really come to him, so dream-like did the whole ethereal episode now seem. the more he dwelt upon the vision the deeper it moved him. it's growing significance set his blood aflame. in fiction and poesy women often sacrifice their reserve, moved by uncontrollable longing, like the heroine of mad ophelia's song, because commanded by something stronger than their sweet selves. it was hard to think of leo as one carried out of herself by love--and yet here lay the jewel of her bosom in his hand! how to meet her puzzled and excited him. up to this minute he had admired her and had paid court to her as a young man naturally addresses a handsome girl, but he was not violently in love with her; indeed, she had interested him rather less than a girl in winona, daughter of professor boyden; but now, as he was about to meet her in the breakfast-room, she possessed more power, more significance, than any woman in the world. he recalled how fine and helpful she had been during the few days of their acquaintance--her serenity, her good sense, her pungent comment began to seem very wonderful. he looked at himself in the glass, finding there a very good-looking, stalwart youth, but could not discover anything to account for the sudden blaze of leonora's self-sacrificing passion. he was neither a fool nor a peacock, and he tried to account for her love on the ground of her regard for his mother. then, like a flash of light, came the thought, "she was sleep-walking!" he had read of the marvels of hypnotism and somnambulism. perhaps in some strange way his mother's desire to have leo love her son had sent the girl straight to his bedside. there was something uncanny in her speech and in her gestures--only in her kiss had she been solidly, warmly human. and yet all this seemed so difficult to believe--and besides, if the girl came in her sleep, did it not prove her love quite as conclusively? it might be unconscious, but it was there. with heart pounding mightily, and face set and stern, he left his room and began descending the stairway, uncertain still of the way in which he should meet her. happily he found no one in the dining-room but the maid, who said to him, "mr. bartol would like to see mr. ollnee in his study as soon as mr. ollnee has had his breakfast." "very well," he replied; "i will make short work of breakfast this morning." as he sat thus awaiting leo, his mind filled with the wonder of her self-surrender, he considered carefully in what way he should greet her. "she must not know that i know," he decided. "i will greet her as if i had not found the brooch, and i will leave it where she will happen upon it accidentally." xiii victor tests his theory he was still at breakfast, deeply engaged with his alluring vision, when mrs. joyce and his mother entered the room. as he rose to greet them mrs. joyce asked, "have you seen mr. bartol?" "not yet--but he is up. i am to see him soon. where is leo?" "she is not feeling very brisk this morning, and is taking her coffee in bed." he said no more, but resumed his seat, richer by this added proof of the deep perturbation through which the girl had passed. he was disappointed, and eager to see her, but the conviction that she had been sleepless from love of him put him among the clouds. he would have forgotten his appointment with bartol had not the maid reminded him of it. even then he tried to avoid it. "you're sure he wanted me? didn't he mean my mother?" "i'm quite sure he said mister ollnee." "mother, what do you suppose he wants of me?" "i don't know, victor. perhaps he wants to talk over the trial." "come back and tell us as soon as you can," commanded mrs. joyce. "i'm crazy to know what he did last night, and what he really thinks of us?" victor promised to report, and went away to his interview with a vague alarm disturbing the blissful self-satisfaction of the early morning. he found bartol seated at a big table with a writing-pad before him and four or five open volumes disposed about as if for reference. he, too, looked old and worn and rather grim, but he greeted his guest politely. "good-morning. have you seen your mother this morning?" "yes, i have just left her at breakfast." "how is she?" "she seems quite herself--a little pale, perhaps." "be seated, please. i want to go over our case with you. first of all, i want you to tell me once more, and in full detail, all you know of your mother's life. begin at the beginning and leave nothing out. don't theorize or try to explain--give me the facts as you have observed them." this was not the kind of business to which a love-exalted youth would set himself, but victor squared himself before the brooding face and deep-set eyes of his host, and entered once more upon the story of the "ghost-room," which had been the one dark spot in his childhood, and which became again in a moment the overshadowing torment of his young manhood. as he talked the intent look of the man before him, his short, sharp, significant questions inspired him. he poured forth in eloquent and moving phrase the story of his sudden awakening to a knowledge that his mother was a paid medium, and under persecution by the press of the city. he told of his sittings with her, wherein he had savagely determined to unmask her for her own good. he admitted his complete failure. he related his experiences during the time she lay in deathly trance, and his voice lost its smooth flow as he approached the most marvelous experience of all, when the vast and murmuring wind blew through the small room and altair came with sad, sweet face, to bewitch him and to shake his conceptions of the universe to their foundation stones. he confessed his bewilderment and confusion, and ended by saying: "it's all unnatural, diseased. i can't believe it is the real side of things." "i wonder that you kept your head at all," remarked bartol. "your youth and good, hot blood protect you. have you talked with your mother about our sitting?" "only a few words. she came to my room last night and told me she had only a dim recollection of what took place. she said the voices wanted to talk to me--but i didn't want them to talk to me--and said so--and she went away." bartol mused. "belief is not a matter of evidence; it is a habit of mind. i find myself unable to follow the evidence of my own senses. my tests of your mother last night convinced me at the moment that she had the right to claim supernormal powers. she seemingly turned matter into a mere abstraction, and made the learning of physicists the chatter of children." as he spoke his memory of what he had seen freshened and his excitement increased. his voice deepened and his eyes glowed. "here are my notes of what took place, and i have spent the night in comparing my observations with those of sir william crookes concerning the medium home. in a certain very real sense the phenomena i witnessed were quite as marvelous as those crookes chronicled." he rose and began to walk up and down the room. "and yet this morning i do not believe--i cannot believe--that writing was precipitated in a closed book held in my hand, that a pen rose of its own volition and tapped upon the table. "the tendency of any mind, any science, is to harden, to crystallize, to reach a stopping point. the student is prone to think that the knowledge of the physical universe which we have must be the larger part of all that is knowable--and that soon we will have gathered it all into our text-books. of course this is the sheerest self-delusion. a little thought will make clear that all we know is as nothing compared to that which remains to be known. up to ten o'clock last night i was one of those who believe that the domain of nature is pretty thoroughly mapped out, staked, and plowed by the investigator, but this morning i find my horizons again extended. it would be foolish to say that an hour's experiments and a night of reading along new lines had overturned all the landmarks of biologic science; but i confess that the world for me has greatly changed. i held in my hand last night a force _in action_ for which science has no name and no place--and yet thirty years ago sir william crookes wrote of this same force in the spirit with which he discussed other elements and powers, and yet his testimony is not accepted by his fellows even to-day. "your mother met every test cheerfully and instantly, and demonstrated to me, as home did to crookes, as slade did to zã¶llner, that matter, as we think we know it, does not exist. she convinced me not merely of her honesty, but of her high powers as a psychic. a calm, persistent, logical purpose ran through all her manifestations, and her voices--whatever they may mean to you--advised me to sit again with her and to have you and miss wood, mrs. joyce, and marie always in the circle. this i intend to do. i feel at this moment as if no other business mattered. i have been here at my desk since midnight, reading, comparing notes, trying to convince myself that i have not gone suddenly mad. "if i was not utterly deceived, if your fresh, keen young eyes are of any use whatsoever, if the words of crookes, wallace, lombroso, and their like are of any weight, then we have in your mother a rare and subtle organism whose powers are of more importance than the rings of saturn or the canals of mars." victor was awed, carried out of himself and his small concerns by the deep voice of the great lawyer as he formulated his impassioned yet restrained musings. it was evident that he welcomed this opportunity of putting his thoughts into words, of ordering his words into argument. half in reverie and half in conscious statement to the entranced youth, he poured forth his troubled soul. "i was a materialist when your mother entered my house. i believed that the man who died went out like a candle. the grave was the end. to me the so-called revelations of buddha, gautama, christ, were the vague dreams of the heart-sick, the stricken mourners of the earth--not one of them brought a beam of hope--but in this modern spirit of experimentation, in the work of crookes and his like, i see a ray of light. your mother's impersonations of my wife, her messages--voices--may be due to mind-reading, to clairvoyance, but _the method of their delivery_ certainly lies beyond any known law. in that glows my hope. grant the possibility of direct writing, of the power of the mind to _think_ its will upon paper without the aid of hand or pen, and a whole new world is opened up, the horizons of life are infinitely extended." he paused abruptly. "i was weary of my days. yesterday i moved as a creature of habit. this morning it seems that i have a new interest. i am convinced that in defending your mother i am defending something precious to the human race; but i must be very sure of my ground. i must scrutinize every phase of her power, and you must help me. you are young and well-trained. you have a good mind, and i am persuaded you will go far. your mother worships you, lives for you. now, you and i together must make such study of her mediumship as america has never seen--a study which shall have nothing to do with any ism, fad, or prejudice. will you help me?" victor, overwhelmed by the confidence of the great lawyer, by the honor which this plea laid upon his young shoulders, could only stammer, "i will do my best." bartol thanked him. "i see now, as i never did before, that this power is a subtle, personal, psychical adjustment, and the part you are to play is a double one. first, you are her son, and your presence and influence are indispensable. secondly, you are vigorous and alert, comparatively free from the wrecking effect of bereavement such as mine. i confess i cannot trust myself in the face of the supposed appeal of my dead. i am like the doctor who refuses to practise upon his own child--my desires blind me. at the same time i see that we cannot thrust strangers upon your mother, especially in her present excited state. what i propose is a series of private experiments, including chemical tests, instantaneous photographs, and the like, which shall convince both judge and jury of the reality of these phenomena. this case will come before my friend, judge matthews, and we have in him a just and penetrating mind. if i can make him feel my own present conviction we may rest our case safely with any unprejudiced jury." he paused and picked up a volume from the table. "crookes is explicit. he says he _saw_ the lath move without visible cause, he _saw_ home thrust his hand into the hearth and stir the coals, he _saw_ the accordion play without any reason; and in all this he is sustained by other men testing each phenomenon by means of electrical registering devices. now we must duplicate these. we must go into court armed with photographs, records, and witnesses. we will make this a _cause cã©lã¨bre_--doing our small part to forward this superb and fearless european movement. i intend to be both lawyer and physicist hereafter," he ended, with a smile. that the great lawyer was now completely engaged upon his mother's defense victor exultantly perceived, and it gave him a feeling of pride and security, but this was followed by a sense of being uprooted. the sight of this man, inspired yet confounded by what had come to him in a single sitting, brought new and disturbing force to all that had happened to himself. was it possible that thought could be precipitated like dew upon a sheet of paper? "now," resumed bartol, "i have made a further discovery. there is a brotherhood of what we may call true experimentalists--beginning with marc, thury, and the count de gasparin, and running to flammarion and richet, in paris; the dialectical society, sir william crookes, alfred russell wallace, sir oliver lodge, in england; thence back to the continent, to zã¶llner, aksakof, ochorowicz, de rochas, maxwell, morselli, and lombroso. i need a condensed record of these experiments, and a synopsis of each theory. once within this group, you will learn by cross-reference the names of all those whom each of these experimentalists regard as reliable. you can work here or take the books to your room--perhaps, on the whole, morselli's record is first in importance. bring me a clear and full abstract of that as soon as you can." "i do not read italian," confessed victor; "but leo--miss wood--does; perhaps she will help me." "very good. now as to the mechanical side of this matter. i have a nephew who is an expert photographer and a clever electrician. with your permission, i will send for him and see what he can do. he is a man of high standing in his profession, and a quiet personality--one that will not irritate or alarm your mother. shall i bring him in and give her over to all?" "certainly. i'm sure mother wants you to have full charge." "very well. we will set to work at once, for our case may come up this week. at its lowest terms, the aiken charge involves--to us--the admission that our client is highly suggestible and that she has been used as an unconscious stool-pigeon by pettus. for the present we must proceed upon this basis. suggestion is more or less accepted at the present time, and we may be able to get the jury to admit our plea; but i will not conceal from you the fact that your mother stands in danger of severe punishment. the _star_ has singled her out as a scapegoat, and is behind the aikens. they will push her hard. i do not think they will follow her here, but if they do i shall send you to my nephew's home.--now to morselli. we must know just where he stands on this amazing branch of biology. will you make this synopsis to-day?" victor's eyes glowed with the fire of his awakened pride and resolution. "if you'll let me help you, mr. bartol, i'll show you what my training has been. i'm quick in some things. i will collate and put in order all the latest deductions of science--" he stopped. "but what exactly do you intend to do with my mother?" "i mean to confine her in such wise as to demonstrate precisely what she can do and what she cannot. i must divide what is conscious from that which is unconscious. i must understand precisely how she produces these messages, voices, and faces. we are agreed that she is not _consciously_ deceptive?" he questioned victor with a glance. "i _know_ she is honest." "very well, we must demonstrate her honesty. we must photograph her so-called materializations side by side with her own body, and we must register the work of these invisible hands, and in every possible way demonstrate that she is the medium and not the originating cause of these messages. in no other way can we save her from disgrace and a prison cell." the youth went away with a humming sound in his head. the thought of his gentle little mother herded with vile women within the gray walls of a penitentiary filled him with such horror that his face went drawn and white. "it shall not be! i will not have it so!" he said, and yet he saw no other way in which to prevent it. all depended upon the man whose impassioned words still rang in his ears, and his admiration for the lawyer rose to that love which youth yields to the highest manhood. mrs. joyce met him in the hall, excited, eager. "what did he say?" victor passed his hand over his face in bewilderment. "i must think," he protested. "he said so much--where is mother?" "she is on the porch--waiting. let us go out to her." he followed her with troubled face, but the bright sunshine and the songs of the birds miraculously restored him. he looked up and down the piazza hoping to see leo, but she was not in sight. he took a seat in silence, and mrs. joyce saw his mother grow pale in sympathy as she read the trouble in his face. mrs. joyce urged him to tell what had passed between them, and he replied: "i can't do it. all i can say is this: he believes mother is honest, and that she has some strange power. he will defend her in court; but he intends to study into the whole business very closely, and he wants us to help him." "of course we'll help him," responded mrs. joyce, readily. mrs. ollnee went to the heart of the problem. "just what does he want to do, victor?" "it is necessary to prove absolutely that you have nothing to do with these phenomena." "but i do have everything to do with them," she replied; "that's what being a medium means. however, i know what he needs better than you do. he wants to prove that the messages are supra-normal. very well, i am ready for any test." "it will be a fierce one, mother. he intends to use electricity and machines for recording movements and instantaneous photography." "i am willing, provided he will proceed in co-operation with your father and watts." "he will never do that," declared victor. "he will not begin by granting the very thing he's trying to prove." it was upon this most solemn conference that leo descended, pale and restrained, and though victor sprang up with new-born love in his face, she did not flush with responding warmth. her mood of the moonlit walk had utterly vanished, and he found himself checked, chilled, and thrust down from his high place of exaltation. it was as if she (ashamed of her own weakness) had resolved to punish him for presumption. he smarted under her indifference, but made no open protest, though his hand (in the pocket of his coat) rested upon the jeweled sign of her self-surrender. she lost a little of her indifference when she learned that bartol had been kept awake all night by the significance of the phenomena he had witnessed, and she joined heartily in declaring that he must be met in every demand. "oh, i wish i might see the experiments," she exclaimed. "he wishes you to do so," replied victor, eagerly. "the voices told him to have you in the circle, you and mrs. joyce--" "and marie," added mrs. ollnee. "marie is psychic." "when do we try?" asked leo, meeting his eyes a little unsteadily, so it seemed to him. again mrs. ollnee answered for him. "to-night; mr. bartol is telephoning now, arranging for it." "how do you know?" asked victor. "your father is speaking to me." "i hear him!" exclaimed mrs. joyce, listening intently. "what does he say?" asked leo. mrs. ollnee again replied. "he says: '_be brave--trust us. we will protect you._'" looking across at the girl, in whose cheeks the roses were beginning to bloom again, the youth resented the interposition of the supernatural. he was eager to approach her, to hint at the memory of her secret, sweet embrace. as he studied the exquisite curve of her lips their touch burned again upon his flesh, and he rose with sudden reassertion of himself. "come, leo, let's return to morselli." he had never called her by her first name before, and it produced a shock in them both. she looked her reproof, but he pretended not to see it, and neither mrs. joyce nor mrs. ollnee seemed to think his familiarity worthy of remark. leo coldly answered: "i can only give a little time. we must go home to-day." mrs. joyce promptly said, "we can't desert the ship now, leo." "but we have nothing to wear!" the girl retorted. "we'll send down and have some things brought up. really, this work for mr. bartol is more important than clothes." "i suppose it is," leo admitted. "but at the same time one should have a decent regard to the conventions." the colloquy which followed filled victor with dismay. it appeared that leo was really eager to get away, as if she felt herself to be in a false position. "i can't afford to drop my daily affairs in the city. why can't these experiments be put off for a day or two." "i don't think we ought to ask a great and busy lawyer to accommodate himself to our piffling social plans," replied mrs. joyce. "a few minutes ago you were wild to join these experiments, now you are crazy to go home." victor, who imagined himself in full possession of the reason for her pause, said nothing; but his eyes spoke, and the girl was restless under his glance. she gave in at last. "well, if you will send for the things i need--" victor had come from bartol's study mightily resolved to do speedily and well any work that might fall to his hand, but as he found himself seated close beside the daylight girl and listening to her voice transposing morselli into english his resolution weakened. what were ghosts, inventions, theories, compared to the satin-smooth curve of the maiden's cheek or the delicate flutter of her lashes? try as he would, his attention wandered. the book smelled of the clinic, the girl of the dawn. morselli's problem was all of the night, while on every side the young lover beheld trees flashing green mirrors to the sun, and flowers riding like dainty boats on the billows of a soft western wind. moreover, the girl's voice was like to the purling of brooks. twice she reproved him for his wandering wits and laggard pen, and the second time he said: "i can't help it. the time and place invite to other occupations. let's go for a walk." "a brave student, you are!" she mocked. "mr. bartol will find you a valuable aid in his scientific investigations!" her look, her flushed cheek, and the hint of her bosom set him a-tremble. the memory of his midnight visitor returned, filling him with springtime madness. "don't you make game of me," he stammered, warningly. "if you do--i'll--" she raised an amused glance. "what? what will you do, boy?" "boy!" her pose, her smile were challenges that struck home. with swift, outflung arm, he encircled her waist and drew her to his breast. "boy, am i?" she beat upon him, pushed him with her small hands. "let me go, brute!" he laughed at her, exulting in his strength. "oh, i am a brute now, am i? well, i'm not. i'm a man and your master. i want a kiss." she ceased to struggle, but into her face and voice came something which paralyzed his arms. repentant and ashamed, he released her and stood before her humbly, while she denounced him for "a rowdy with the manners of a burglar." "this ends our acquaintance," she added, and she spurned the book on the floor as if it were his worthless self. he was scared now, and boyishly pleaded, "don't go--don't be angry; i was only joking." she knew better than this. she had seen elemental fire flaming from his eyes, and dared not remain. with proud lift of head she walked away, leaving him penitent, bewildered, crushed. xiv the ordeal in truth, victor had not kept his head--how could he when each day brought some new temptation, some unexpected danger, or an unforeseen barrier? was ever such a week of trial and perplexity thrust upon a youth? and the worst of it lay in the fact that there were no signs of a release from these baffling foes. love's distress now came to add to his bewilderment and alarm. leo did not appear at luncheon, and her absence gave him great uneasiness till mrs. joyce explained that she had only gone to town to fetch some needed clothing. he still carried the little breast-pin in his pocket, but it no longer seemed the gage of a lovely girl's affection. he began to admit that he might be mistaken, and that his dream-woman and the jewel had no necessary connection. "one of the servants may have dropped it there," he now admitted; "and yet how could that be? it was under my pillow when i woke, and i am sure it was not there when i went to sleep. perhaps i am the one who walks in sleep. can it be possible that i took it from her room?" it was all very puzzling, but he no longer possessed the fatuous self-conceit necessary to charge leo with such self-abandonment as the dream and the discovery of the brooch had at first seemed to indicate. he sat among his elders at table, silent and depressed, very far from the triumphant mood of the morning, and yet the stream of his admiration set toward the absent one with ever stronger current. the most important thing in all the world, at the moment, was the winning of her forgiving smile. bartol was equally distraught, and though he remained politely attentive to his guests, he was plainly absorbed by some inner problem, and left to mrs. joyce the burden of the conversation. mrs. ollnee, listless and remote, glanced at her host occasionally in the manner of one who awaits an expected sign. to her son this attitude on her part was repellant, for he understood it to mean that she was neither mother nor guest, but an instrument. he wondered whether bartol had not, by some overmastering power of the mind, already assumed control of her thoughts as well as of her actions; and he chafed under the pressure of his host's abstraction. "oh, why can't she quit this business? she must stop it!" he furiously declared. altogether they made a serious and restrained company, and all felt the loss of leo. as the meal progressed mrs. joyce tried to secure from bartol some notion of what his plans were, and he gravely replied: "none of you must know. no one shall enter my 'ghost-room' till i am ready for my tests. in fact, i think i shall send you all out for a drive this afternoon so that you may not even _hear_ the tap of a hammer." victor protested that he ought to study, and to this bartol replied: "very well. take a book with you, but go off the farm. i want to be able to say that not one of the persons most interested were on the place while my preparations were going on." in truth, the man of law was not merely puzzled by the method of transmitting the messages; he had been profoundly affected by the words themselves. his wife and daughter had apparently spoken to him again, each in distinctive way, upon matters which no one but himself could recognize. but it was not alone what he had himself seen and heard and felt. the reading to which he had set himself had opened a new world of science for him. he was amazed at the enormous amount of direct evidence gathered and presented by careful men. chemists applying the methods of the retort, biologists working in their own laboratories, psychologists and medical experts experimenting as upon a clinical subject, presented the same or similar facts. in austria, in russia, in england, the results were identical. to his mind, accustomed to sift and relate evidence, the most convincing thing of all was the substantial agreement of each and all of these investigators. in a certain sense the sneer of the faithful was deserved. these men of x-ray penetration and electrical annunciators had succeeded only in paralleling the phenomena of the early days of the healer and the magician. at its lowest terms--or, as some would say, at its highest terms--mrs. ollnee's power was related to a sort of transcendental physics. her magic refilled the most ordinary block of wood or crumb of granite with all its ancient potency. it widened and deepened the physical universe inimitably. it discovered the human organism to be unspeakably subtle and complicate, and made of the soul a visible demonstrable entity. unthinkably swift as are the vibrations of the radium ray, this substance called the brain is capable of receiving, recording, giving off still more intricate and marvelous motions. of what avail to call it "material"? at times he glimpsed (as through a narrow opening) unknown regions of space, not of three or four dimensions, but an infinite number of worlds within worlds interpenetrating, undying, yet forever changing. at such moments he perceived that the scientists of to-day were but children groping among the set scenery of a dark stage, their text-books like their bibles, the records of the bewildered and stumbling myriads of the past. "how absurd," he said, "to attempt to make the present conform with the past! the hebrew scriptures, the vedas, the sagas of the north, are all useful as records of the aspirations of primitive men, but the real understanding of the universe is to be obtained now or in the future. the present contains all that the past has possessed and more. men are less of the beast and more of the spirit. their powers have intensified, grown psychic, compelling, revealing, and yet the mystery of the universe remains and must remain." in such ways and others his mind ran as he read swiftly through the wondrous record of experiments made in rome, in naples, in milan. he liked these italians better than the greatest of the englishmen for the reason that they uttered no apology to the pope. they proceeded on the assumption that they were biologists, not priests. they had no care whether their discoveries harmonized with some man's bible, or whether they did not. the question was simple: could the human organism put forth from itself a supernumerary hand or arm? could it project an etheric double of itself? could it interpenetrate matter? along these lines he proposed (with victor's aid) to study his psychic guest. he had lost sight of the fact that he was to be her defender in court--or if he remembered it, it was only as a secondary consideration. he had no faintest hope of directly proving the continued existence of his wife and children; but he could see that a demonstration of the power of the living body to project and maintain at a distance an etheric brain, a voice, made (by inference) a belief in immortality possible. this belief, this possible life of the soul, had nothing to do with the systems of celestial cosmogony built up by the followers of christ or gautama, its world was not peopled with angels, gods, or devils; it was merely another and inter-fusing material region wherein the spirit of man could move, retaining at least a dim memory of the grosser material plane from which it fled. it was inconceivable, of course, when scrutinized directly; but he caught a glint of its wonders now and then, as if from the corner of his half-closed eye. these physical marvels were kept very near to him, as he sat at his desk, by minute tappings on his penholder, on his chair-back, and by fairy chimes rung on the cut-glass decanter at his elbow. at times he felt the light touch of hands, and once, as he returned to his seat after a visit to the library, he found a sheet of strange parchment thrust under his book, and on this was written in exquisite old-fashioned script: "_thou hast thy comfort and thy instrument. hold not thy hand._" and it was signed "aurelius." this was all very startling; but he referred it to mrs. ollnee herself. to imagine it a direct message from the dead was beyond him. at four o'clock the road-wagon brought from the station a small, alert, and business-like young fellow, accompanied by various boxes, parcels, and bags. bartol met him at the door and took him at once to his study. neither of them was seen again till dinner-time. the servants were profoundly excited by all this, but were too well trained to betray their curiosity above stairs. they knew now who mrs. ollnee was, but they believed in their master's government and listened to the hammering in the study with impassive faces--while at their duties in the hall or dining-room--but permitted themselves endless conjecture in their own quarters. marie alone took no part in these discussions, though she seemed more excited than any of the others. meanwhile, victor watched and waited in a fever of anxiety for leo's return. at five o'clock she came, but went directly to her room. marie met her tense with excitement. "oh, miss leo, master has asked me to sit in the circle to-night, and i'm scared." "you mean mr. bartol has asked you?" "yes--miss." "well, you should feel exalted, marie. it will be a wonderful experience." "i suppose so, miss, but my hands are all cold and my stomach sick with thinking of it." leo laughed. "you're psychic, that's what's the matter with you." "oh, do you think so!" "let me take your hands." marie gave them. leo smiled. "cold and wet! yes, you are _it_! but don't let it interfere with dinner. i'm hungry as a bear. cheer up. i'd give anything to be a psychic." "i shall flunk it, miss; i can't go through it, really." "nonsense! it will be good as a play." half an hour later the others came in, and leo heard victor's voice in the hall with a feeling of distaste. she had gone out to him during that moonlit walk, and was suffering now a natural revulsion. it had not been love; it had been (she admitted) only physical attraction, and the fault, the weakness, had been hers. his presuming upon her moment of compliance was of the nature of man. it had frightened her to discover such deeps within herself. "we are all animals at bottom," she charged, in the unnatural cynicism of youth. notwithstanding this mood, she clothed herself handsomely in a gown which lent beauty to the exceedingly dignified rã´le she designed to play, and so costumed went to her aunt's room to hear the news. mrs. joyce was lying down, and her voice sounded tired as she said: "we were ordered out of the house at three, and have been driving ever since. alexander, so marie says, has had strange men working all the afternoon on some contrivance in his study. evidently he is going to be very scientific." leo exclaimed with delight. "now we'll see if these faces and forms are real or not." "why, leo! do you doubt?" "yes, deep in my heart i do. i cannot quite free myself from the belief that in some way lucy produces all these effects." "of course she transmits them. she's a medium." "i don't mean it that way--and i don't mean that she cheats; but somehow i never feel as if anything real came to me direct." mrs. joyce did not feel able to pursue this line of argument. "what's the matter between you and victor?" "who told you anything was the matter?" "i sensed it." "well, why didn't you sense the cause?" "he's a nice boy; you mustn't ill-treat him, leo." "your solicitude is misplaced; you should be concerned about me." "you? trust you to take care of yourself! i never knew a more self-sufficient young person. i am only waiting for some man to teach you your place." this was a frequent subject of very plain though jocular allusion between them. "a man may--some time--but not a rowdy boy. how does lucy take the promise of a test?" "very calmly. she is relying wholly on her 'band' to protect her. she feels the importance of the trial, and does not shrink from it." the miss wood whom victor met as he entered the dining-room that night was precisely the young lady he had first seen, a calm, smiling, superior person who looked down upon him with good-humored tolerance of his youth and sex, putting him into the position of the bad little boy who has promised not to do so again. she not merely loftily forgave him, she had apparently minimized the offense, and this hurt worst of all. "i'm sorry not to have been able to work to-day," she said; "but i really had to go to town." this lofty, elderly sister air after her compliance to his arm eventually angered him. his awe, his gratitude of the morning were turned into the man's desire to be master. he set his jaws in sullen slant and bided his time. "you can't treat me in this way when we're alone," he said, beneath his breath. later he was hurt by her vivid interest in the young inventor, whom bartol introduced as stinchfield. he was a small man with a round, red face and laughing blue eyes, but he spoke with authority. his knowledge was amazing for its wide grasp, but especially for its precision. he guessed at nothing; he knew--or if he did not know he said so frankly. in the few short years of his professional career he had been associated with some of the greatest masters of matter. his acquaintances were all men of exact information and trained judgment, men who lived amid physical miracles and wrought epics in steel and stone. naturally he absorbed the attention of the table, for in answer to questions he touched upon his career, and his talk was absorbing. he had been a year at panama. he had helped to survey the route for a vast colorado irrigating tunnel, and in his spare moments had perfected a number of important inventions in automobile construction. it was for all these reasons that bartol had 'phoned him, urging him to come out and assist in the infinitely more important work of reducing to law the phenomena which sprang, apparently without rule or reason, from the trances of his latest and most interesting client. "here is your chance to get a grip on the phenomena that have puzzled the world for centuries," he said. when mrs. joyce asked stinchfield if he knew anything about spirit phenomena, he replied, candidly: "not a thing, directly, mrs. joyce. of course i have read a good deal, but i have never experimented. it is not easy to secure co-operation on the part of those gifted with these powers. the trouble seems to be they consider themselves in a sense priests, keepers of a faith, whereas i have the natural tendency to think of them in terms of physics." bartol, smiling, raised a hand. "i don't want the company drawn into controversy. experts agree that argument defeats a psychic." mrs. ollnee still wore the look of one who but half listens to what is said, and mrs. joyce slyly touched her hand with the tips of her fingers. "do you want to go to your room?" she asked. mrs. ollnee shook her head. "no, i am all right." "we will have better results if we 'cut out' dessert," mrs. joyce explained to bartol. "over-eating has spoiled many a sã©ance." "is it as physical as that?" exclaimed stinchfield. "i never eat when i am on a hard case," said bartol. victor began to awaken to the crucial nature of the test which was about to be made of his mother's powers. this laughing young physicist was precisely the sort of man to put the screws severely on. it was all a problem in mechanics for him. whether the psychic suffered or rejoiced in the operation did not concern him. "if she is deceiving us in any way he will discover it," the son forecasted, with a feeling of fear at his heart. "and yet how can i defend her?" bartol said to mrs. ollnee: "would you mind dressing for the performance? i'd like you to go with mrs. joyce and marie, and clothe yourself in all black if possible, so that i can say you came into my study not merely searched, but re-clothed." she said, quite simply: "i have no objection at all. i am in your hands." after the older women left the room victor drew near to leo with a low word. "poor little mother! she is in the hands of the inquisition to-night." thrilling to the excitement of the hour, she forgot her resentful superior pose. "isn't that little man magnificent? why didn't you go in for civil engineering or chemistry?" "because no one had sense enough to advise me," he bitterly answered. "think where that funny little body has carried that head," she continued, still studying stinchfield. "if he had only been given shoulders like yours--" "i'm glad you like something about me." "i was speaking of your body as a machine for carrying a brain around over the earth." "you seem to think of me as having no brain." "oh, not quite so bad as that. you have a brain, but it's undeveloped." "i'm growing up rapidly these days. seems like i'd lived a year since our walk last night." she colored a little. "forget that and i'll forgive you." "i can't forget that." "have you any idea what the tests are to be?" she asked, in an effort to change the subject. "no, i'm outside of it all. i hope they won't scare my poor little mother out of her senses. ought i to step in and stop it?" "no, not unless the voices say so. they welcome investigation--so they've always said. what i should insist on, if i were you, is plenty of time and a series of sittings." she was speaking now in gracious mood, and he, eager to win from her a fuller expression of forgiveness, spoke again, bravely. "i hope you are not going to be angry with me?" "not at all," she replied, with disheartening, impersonal cordiality. "i was partly to blame. i forgot you were a hot-headed boy." "don't take that tone with me--i won't stand it!" "how can you help it?" she answered, with a smile, and moved toward the end of the table where bartol and stinchfield still sat smoking and leisurely sipping their coffee. the little engineer sprang up as she drew near, and stood like a soldier at attention as she said, "are you in merciless mood to-night, mr. stinchfield?" "far from it," he responded. "i'm in a receptive mood. the fact that mr. bartol has found enough in this subject to wish to investigate predisposes me to open-mindedness." "suppose we go into the library," suggested bartol, and they all followed him across the hall. leo walked with the engineer, leaving victor in the rear, hurt and suffering sorely. it was not so much her displayed interest in stinchfield as her haughty disregard of himself that touched his self-esteem. thereafter he sulked like the boy she declared him to be. when his mother came in robed in black and looking the sad young widow he was on the verge of rebellion against the whole plan of action, but he kept silence while bartol explained his design. "it is customary for 'mediums' to have things their own way, but in this case mrs. ollnee has placed herself entirely in my hands. the tests will be made in my study." he turned the key and unlocked the door. "mr. stinchfield will enter first and see that the room is as we left it." the engineer entered, and after a moment's survey called: "all is untouched. come in." bartol led the way with mrs. ollnee, and when victor, the last to enter, had paced slowly over the threshold stinchfield locked the door and handed the key to his host. the inquisition was begun. the most notable furnishing of the room was a battery of three cameras, so arranged that they could be operated instantaneously, and mrs. joyce asked, anxiously, "has the band consented to this?" "they have consented to a trial," answered mrs. ollnee, in a faint voice. she had grown very pale, and her hands were trembling. to victor this seemed like the tremor of terror, and his heart was aching with pity. on one side of the room a deep alcove lined with books had been turned into a dark-room by means of curtains, and before these draperies stood the inevitable wooden table, but beside it, inclosing a chair, was a conical cage of wire netting encircled by bands of copper. mrs. joyce exclaimed, "you do not intend to cage her in that?" "that is my intention," calmly replied bartol. "have the controls consented?" asked mrs. joyce. "yes," answered mrs. ollnee. of the further intricacies of stinchfield's preparation victor had no hint, so artfully were they concealed; but he recognized in it all a kind of humorous skepticism (which the engineer radiated in spite of his manifest wish to appear respectful); and as his mother entered her little torture tent victor said, "you needn't do this if you don't want to, mother." "your father commands it," she replied, submissively. stinchfield screwed the cage to the floor and made an attachment to a small wire which ran along the book-case to a dark corner. victor was enough of the physicist to infer that his mother was now surrounded by an electric current. bartol explained: "we are to start in total darkness, and then we intend to try various degrees and colors of lights. mrs. ollnee, how will you have us sit?" "i want victor opposite me, with leo at his right and louise at his left. mr. stinchfield will then be able to operate his wires. you, mr. bartol, sit at leo's right and nearest the cage." her voice was now quite firm, and her manner decided. "all sit at the table for a time." stinchfield snapped out the lights, one by one, till only two, one red, the other green, struggled against the darkness. when these went out the room was perfectly black. bartol then said: "in the cabinet behind the medium is a self-registering column of mercury, a typewriter, and a switch, which will light a lamp which hangs in the ceiling above the cabinet, and which has no other connection. the psychic is inclosed in a mesh of steel wire too fine to permit the putting forth of a finger. if the lamp is lighted, the column of mercury lifted, or the typewriter keys depressed, it will be by some supra-normal power of the medium. there is also on a table just inside the curtains, with paper and pencils, a small tin trumpet, a bell, and a zither upon it. if possible, we wish to obtain a written message independent of mrs. ollnee." "it is the unexpected that happens," remarked mrs. joyce. "shall we clasp hands, lucy?" "yes," answered mrs. ollnee. victor, reaching for leo's hand, tingled with something not scientific, a current of something subtler than electricity which came from her palm. he thought he detected in her fingers a returning warmth of grasp. "they are here," announced mrs. joyce, after some ten minutes of silence. "who are here?" asked bartol. "my band--and many others." "how can you tell?" "i hear them." a faint whisper soon distinguished itself, and mrs. joyce reported that mr. blodgett was speaking. "he says he realizes the importance of this test, and that he has summoned all the most powerful of the spirits within reach, and that they will do all they can. he says the wire cage is a new condition, but they will meet it. be patient; the strain on lucy is very great, but it cannot be avoided." in the silence which followed this conversation leo shuddered and clutched victor's hand as if for protection. "the other world is opening. don't you feel it?" she whispered. "i can hear the rustle of wings." he, growing very tense himself, answered: "i feel only my mother's anxiety. are you comfortable, mother?" he asked. she did not reply, and mrs. joyce said, "she is asleep." and all became silent again. "hello!" exclaimed stinchfield. "who touched me?" "no one in the circle," answered mrs. joyce, highly elated. "i certainly felt a hand on my shoulder--there it comes again! shall i flash my camera?" "_not now!_" came a clear, full whisper, apparently from the cabinet. "_you would fail now. wait._" "who spoke?" asked bartol. as there was no reply, mrs. joyce asked, "is it you, mr. blodgett?" "_no!_" the whisper replied. "is it watts?" "_yes._" "it is isaac watts. now it is his science against yours, mr. stinchfield." bartol fell into the mode at once. "we are glad to be so honored. now watts, i want--and i must have--incontestable proof of the psychic's abnormal power--nothing else can save her from state prison. do you realize that?" "_we do._" "very well, proceed." "_what would you call incontestable proof?_" "i should say a registered pressure on the key or the lighting of the lamp above the cabinet--" a vivid red flash lit up the room. stinchfield shouted, "the lamp--the lamp was lit!" his excitement, to all but bartol, was ludicrously high, and mrs. joyce openly chuckled. "what else do you want done, mr. science?" "writing independent of mrs. ollnee," replied bartol. after a long and painful silence the bell tinkled faintly, and as all listened breathlessly the zither began to play. "now who is doing that?" asked the engineer. "_turn on the green light!_" suggested the voice. stinchfield lit the green lamp, and by its glow the psychic was seen in her cage reclining limply, her face ghostly white in the light. bartol looked about the circle. every hand was in view, and yet the zither continued to play its weird and wistful little tune. leo and mrs. joyce took this as a matter of course, but the men sat in rigid amazement. "_lights out!_" whispered the voice. stinchfield put out his lamp. "that is astounding," he said. "i cannot analyze that." "_will you swear the psychic did not do it?_" asked the voice. the engineer hesitated. "yes," he finally said. "_is this sufficient?_" asked the unseen. bartol replied. "sufficient for my argument; but i do not understand these physical effects, and the jury may demand other proof. it will be necessary for us to show that the messages which misled, as well as those which comforted, came from some power outside the psychic and beyond her control. i believe that, as in the case of anna rothe--condemned by a german court to a long term of imprisonment--the charge of imposture and swindling made against mrs. ollnee must lie, unless i can demonstrate that these messages come from her subconscious self in some occult way, or from personalities other than herself. in fact, the whole case against mrs. ollnee lies in the question--does she believe in the voices as entities existing and acting outside herself--" he interrupted himself to say: "something is tapping my hand. it feels like the small tin horn." "_it is!_" came the answer in such volume that it could be heard all over the room. "_does this not prove the medium innocent of ventriloquism?_" "stinchfield--what about this?" asked bartol. the engineer could only repeat: "i don't understand it. it is out of my range." again the red lamp above the cabinet flashed, and by its momentary glow the horn was seen floating high over the cage, in which the medium sat motionless and ghastly white. "shall i flashlight that?" asked stinchfield again. "_no_," answered the voice. "_the flashlight is very dangerous. we must use it only for the supreme thing. be patient!_" there was no longer any spirit of jocularity in the room. each one acknowledged the presence of something profoundly mysterious, something capable of transforming physical science from top to bottom, something so far-reaching in its effect on law and morals as to benumb the faculties of those who perceived it. it was in no sense a religious awe with bartol; it was the humbleness which comes to the greatest minds as they confront the unknowable deeps of matter and of space. the boy and girl forgot their names, their sex. they touched hands as two infinitely small insects might do in the impenetrable night of their world (their hates as unimportant as their loves). only the bereaved wife and mother leaned forward with the believer's full faith in the heaven from which the beloved forms of her dead were about to issue. suddenly the curtains of the alcove opened, disclosing a narrow strip of some glowing white substance. it was not metal, and it was not drapery. it was something not classified in science, and stinchfield stared at it with analytic eyes, talking under breath to bartol. "it is not phosphorus, but like it. i wonder if it emits heat?" mrs. joyce explained: "it is the half-opened door into the celestial plane. i saw a face looking out." this light vanished as silently as it came, and the zither began to play again, and a multitude of fairy voices--like a splendid chorus heard far down a shining hall--sang exquisitely but sadly an unknown anthem. while still the men of law and science listened in stupefaction the voices died out, and the zither, still playing, rose in the air, and at the instant when it was sounding nearest the ceiling the red lamp above the cabinet was again lighted, and the instrument, played by two faintly perceived hands, continued floating in the air. silent, open-mouthed, staring, stinchfield heard the zither descend to the table before him. then he awoke. "i must photograph _that_!" "_not yet_," insisted the voice. "_wait for a more important sign._" in victor's mind a complete revulsion to faith had come. his heart went out in a rush of remorseful tenderness and awe. the last lingering doubt of his mother disappeared. like a flash of lightning memory swept back over his past. all he had seen and heard of the "ghost-room" stood revealed in a pure white light. "_it was all true--all of it. she has never deceived me or any one else; she is wonderful and pure as an angel!_" incredible as were the effects he had seen, and which he had rejected as unconscious trickery, not one of them was more destructive of the teaching of his books than this vision of the zither played high in the air by sad, sweet hands. he longed to clasp his mother to his bosom to ask her forgiveness, but his throat choked with an emotion he could not utter. bartol, with tense voice, said to stinchfield: "we have succeeded in paralleling crookes' experiment. with this alone i can save her." the flash of radiance from the cabinet interrupted him, and a new voice--an imperative voice--called: "_green light!_" stinchfield turned his switch, and there in the glow of the lamp stood a tall female figure with pale, sweet, oval face and dark, mysterious eyes. "it is altair!" exclaimed leo. victor shivered with awe and exalted admiration, for the eyes seemed to look straight at him. the room was filled with that familiar unaccountable odor, and a cold wind blew as before from the celestial visitant, with suggestions of limitless space and cold, white light. "_be faithful_," the sweet voice said. "_do not grieve. do your work. good-by._" the vision lasted but an instant, but in that moment stinchfield and bartol both perceived the psychic in her electric prison, lying like a corpse with lolling head and ghostly, sunken cheeks. she seemed to have lost half her bulk; like a partly filled garment she draped her chair. the engineer spoke in a voice soft, pleading, husky with excitement. "may i flashlight now?" "_not that--but this!_" uttered a man's voice, and forth from the cabinet a faintly luminous mist appeared. "_red lamp!_" in the glow of the sixteen-candle-power light the face of a bearded man was plainly seen. it wore a look of grave expectancy. "shall i fire?" asked stinchfield. "_it may destroy our instrument_," answered the figure. "_but proceed._" the blinding flash which followed was accompanied by a cry, followed by a moan, and lucy ollnee was heard to topple from her chair to the floor. in the moment of horrified silence which followed the voice commanded: "_be silent! do not stir! turn off your current._" in his excitement stinchfield turned off both light and current, and left the whole room in darkness. victor was on his feet crying out: "she has fallen! she is dying!" "_stay where you are, my son. keep the room dark. we will take care of your mother._" so absolute was his faith at the moment, victor resumed his seat, though he was trembling with fear. leo reached for his hand. "don't be frightened. they will care for her." "we have witnessed the miraculous," declared bartol, stricken into irresolution by what had taken place. mrs. joyce, accustomed to these marvels, added her word of warning. "don't go to her yet. spirits are all about her. it has been a terrible shock, but they will heal her." stunned silent, baffled by what he had seen, the scientist sat with his hand on the switches controlling the lights ready to carry out the orders of his invisible colleague. "_red light!_" commanded the voice. "_approach--quietly. victor, take charge of your mother's body. she will not re-enter it. her spirit is with us._" victor went forward and knelt in agony while the engineer lifted the cage and delivered the unconscious psychic into his hands. * * * * * lucy ollnee breathed no more. she had died as she had lived, a martyr to the unseen world. but her death was triumphant, for on the sensitive plate of each camera science and law were able to read the proof of her power. in the dark face of his grandsire victor read a stern contempt as though he said: "deny and still deny. in the end you _must_ believe." in the alcove on the pad these words were written in his mother's hand: "_do not grieve. my work is done. i do not go far. i shall be near to cheer and guide you. your future is secure. work hard, be patient, and all will be well. farewell, but not good-by._" below, written in the quaint script which victor recognized, were these words: "_men of science and of law, blazon forth the marvels you have seen and tested. make the world ring with them; in such wise will you advance veneration for god and remove the fear of death._ "_watts._" xv the ring bartol obeyed the command of the invisible powers. he gladly blazoned the triumphant death of the psychic to the world. lucy ollnee became at once a glorious martyr for her faith, a victim of science. liberal journals and religious journals alike lamented that it was necessary for the sake of proof as regards immortality "that an innocent woman should be caged and tortured to death with electric batteries," and even the _star_, leader in the war against the mediums, permitted itself an editorial word of regret, and published in full bartol's letter, and also a long interview with stinchfield, wherein he admitted the genuineness of the dead woman's claims to supra-normal power. but all this was, at the moment, of small comfort to victor. for a long time he refused to believe in the reality of his mother's death, insisting that she was in deep trance (as she had been before); but at last, when the body was to be removed to mrs. joyce's home and doctor steele and doctor eberly had both examined it and found no signs of life, he gave up all hope of her return. accompanied by mrs. joyce, he visited the california avenue flat for the last time to pack up the few things of value which his mother had been permitted to acquire. his attitude toward the chairs, the slates, the old table, had utterly changed. they were now instinct with his mother's power, permeated with some part of her subtler material self, and he was minded to preserve them. they were no longer the tools of a conjuror; they were the sacred relics of a priestess. mrs. joyce asked permission to house them for him till he had secured a home of his own, and to this he consented, for with his present feeling concerning them he was troubled by the thought of their being stored in dark vaults among masses of commonplace furniture. "i shall keep the table in my own room," said mrs. joyce. "it may be that lucy will be able to manifest herself to me through it. i have been promised such power." to this victor made no reply, for while he now believed absolutely in all that his mother claimed to do, he had not been brought to a belief in the return of the dead, and it was this fundamental doubt which made his grief so bitter. "if only she could know that i believe in her," he said to leo, on the morning of the day when his mother's body was to be taken away. "think of it! she died a thousand times for the curious and the selfish, only to be called an impostor and a cheat--and i, her only son, was afraid the charge was true. if only i could have told her that i believed in her!" "she knows," the girl gently assured him. they were seated at the moment in the library and the morning was very warm and silent. the birds seemed to be resting in preparation for their evensong. "your mother is near us--she may be listening to us this minute." "i can't believe that," he declared, sadly. "i'm not sure that i want to believe it. i can't endure the thought of my mother's destruction, and yet the notion of her floating about somewhere like a wreath of mist is sorrowful to me." leo confessed to somewhat the same feeling. "heaven--any kind of heaven--has always been incomprehensible to me, and yet we must believe there is some sort of system of rewards and punishments. anyhow, your mother's death was glorious. she died as she would have wished to die--in proving her faith." "she gave too much," he protested. "all her life she was set apart to do a martyr's work. i understand now why my father couldn't stand it. i know how he must have resented these voices, and i cannot blame him for going away. would you marry a man like stainton moses or david home?" she recoiled a little before the thought. "of course not--but--" "what?" "your mother was charming. if your father really loved her--" "he did! i'm sure of that, at first, but these 'ghosts' destroyed his home. my mother confessed to me that they tormented my father for his unbelief, and he had to go." "they are together now, and he believes." victor fixed a penetrating look upon her. "do you really believe that the dead speak to us?" "i see no reason why they shouldn't--if they want to. how else can you explain these voices?" he shook his head. "i'm afraid these modern italian scientists are right. the voices were only 'parasitic personalities,' nothing else. but let's not talk of them. i'm tired of the 'ghost-room'--all my life i've had it--and now i'm going to forget it if i can." "hush! your mother may hear you and grieve." "if she can hear me she will understand my feeling. i like the world as it is--i don't want the supernatural thrust into it." "i think you're wrong," she said, firmly. "the larger view is that of the scientist who recognizes nothing supernatural in the universe. i would not part with what your mother gave me for huge sums. i've had wonderful, thrilling experiences. remember altair!" altair! yes, he remembered her, and remembering her he recalled the graceful figure at his bedside and the touch of the faintly clinging lips. that mystery remained the most inexplicable of them all. while thus he sat, dream-filled and rapt, the girl studied him, and her face changed. "you believe in altair. what's more, you love her, and i can't blame you for it. she is more beautiful than angels. you will not forsake the 'ghost-room' so long as you have a hope that she may return." "you are mistaken," he protested. "altair is only a dream. i worship her as a figure in a vision. do you know what i think she was?" her look questioned, and he went on. "for days i have pondered on her face and figure, in the light of modern science, and i am convinced that she was nothing but a union of my mother's astral self and you." she looked at him in startled thought. "what do you mean?" he explained eagerly. "you must have noticed how much like my mother she was? her brow was the same--her eyes the same--" "yes, they were a little like hers." "but her mouth and chin were exactly like yours. her hands were like yours. she held her head exactly as you do--and then she changed; sometimes my mother predominated in her, sometimes you were the stronger." the girl was deeply affected by the significance of this analysis. "you imagined all that." he pushed on. "i did not, and, furthermore, altair never came till you sat with my mother. she never attained such power--so your aunt agrees--till i came into the circle. she represented my conception of my mother and you. i loved my mother, and i admired you--and out of my love and admiration altair was created." "that is absurd! if ever a spirit came from heaven, altair was that one. why, she was palpable! i've touched her hands." he said, slowly: "she was beautiful, i confess, so beautiful that on that first night she made even you seem coarse and material." "i felt your disdain," she thrust in, with sudden hurt. "but that was only for the moment. i could see nothing but her face--so sad, so wistful. but let me ask you something. did you, the night after our walk on the drive in the moonlight--did you dream of me?" her lip curled in a wondering smile. "what a question to ask of me!" "but did you? come now, be honest. i have a reason for asking--did you?" "what is your reason for asking?" "that night altair came to my bedside." her eyes flashed and she rose to her feet. "you have an oriental imagination." "don't go--hear me out. it was a beautiful experience." "apparently it was. to me your story is insulting." he lost patience a little, and said bluntly: "you act as if i charged _you_ with something. i say, 'altair' came, and to me her visit was very _significant_ and beautiful, because she testified to me that both you and my mother were thinking of me. it was, in fact, your united astral selves that paid that visit. altair was your materialized friendship and my mother's love." "what a fantastic notion!" she said; but she lingered, held by something new and masterful in his voice. she added, with some humor: "be kind enough to imagine that your mother's 'astral self' preponderated in that vision." "i do, for when altair stooped to kiss me--" "stop!" she cried out, sharply; "you go too far!" "leo!" he called, and his voice checked her as quickly as if he had caught her by the arm. "i am not joking; i am very serious. you must remember that i have lost both my mother and altair--you alone remain--i can't afford to lose you. you are all i have now. don't be angry with me." she considered him with a return to pity. "forgive me," she hurriedly retracted. "i am very sorry for you, and i don't want to seem unfriendly; but it is only a week since we met. what can you know of me in so short a time?" "i loved you the moment you came into my mother's room." "nonsense. you hated me." "i did not like the way you treated me; but i never hated you. i was afraid of you." "if your mother can hear you say that, she is certainly smiling, for she knows you are not afraid of anybody. you're a very stiff-necked person." "i know you have a right to laugh at me; but i believe our 'guides' have brought us together. i need you--now--and if i dared i'd ask you to wear this." he disclosed a ring in his hand. she looked at it narrowly. "i know that ring; it was your mother's. she kept it in a little velvet box together with an old-fashioned locket." "yes, it is hers. it isn't very grand, compared with your own, but i wish you'd put it on and consider it my promissory note." "_your_ promissory note!" "yes, i promise to buy it back with all the money you have lost through my mother's advice. will you wear it for me?" "where do you expect to find so much money?" "right here, in this great city. mr. bartol is to take me into his office. he's like a father to me already; but i don't expect him to give me anything. i'm going to work, and i'm going to pay you back the money you have lost." extending her little finger, she took the ring daintily on its tip. "all that sounds very romantic; and yet young men do win wealth and fame right here--and why not you?" "that's just it. i may be the future monopolizer of air-ships--" the maid, appearing at the moment, announced that a lady wished to see mr. ollnee. "did she give her name?" "no, sir; but she said she was a relative, sir." "tell her i will see her in a moment." as the maid left leo rose. "don't go!" pleaded victor. "my visitor can wait. you haven't said whether you will wear my ring or not. i don't know how long it may be before i can 'make good,' but it will help mightily to know that you are expecting me to do so." she pondered, but her face was kindly and her voice very gentle as she said: "i don't want to seem unkind now in your hour of grief, but i can't wear the ring." his eyes filled with tears, and she added: "i'll keep it for you. the real question between us will have to be decided some time in the future--when we know each other better. you need not think of paying me. go and see your relation. it may be a rich aunt come to adopt you." "couldn't you _learn_ to love me?" he asked, poignantly. "i might." she smiled. "i like you already." and she went away, leaving him with stronger will to dare and do. xvi conclusion as victor entered the library he was met by a very pale, wide-eyed young woman in a picturesque black hat. her voice was deep and full of dramatic fervor as she said: "you are victor ollnee?" "i am." her eyes, large and very dark, almost black, gazed at him appealingly, as she said: "pardon me for a little deception. i am your relation only in a spiritual sense--i share your sorrow, and in other ways i am related to you. i was eager to see you, and i did not send in my name for the reason that it would have repelled you, and you might have refused to meet me." victor thought her a very singular and very theatric young person. certainly she was under some strong stress of emotion which caused her lips to quiver and her voice to vibrate tensely. he knew her now. she was the girl he had confronted in the court-room, and he stared at her, uncertain of his footing. she seemed like some of the figures he had seen on the stage, vivid, swift of change, unreal, but her voice was vibrantly charming. he was sure she was the girl he had met on the street, and she had stood beside the man aiken during their brief appearance in the court-room. she approached a step or two, as if throwing herself on his mercy. "my name is florence aiken. i am a newspaper writer. i am the one who brought all this trouble to you. it was i who wrote that first article in the _star_ denouncing your mother." he recoiled before her quite as dramatically as she could have wished. "you wrote that!" he exclaimed. "i thought a man did that job." she could not help a slight expression of pride in her work. "it was mine, every word of it. i was terribly vindictive, i admit; but you must know i had some provocation. let me tell you? will you listen to me? please do! i'm not so heartless as i seemed in that article, and i cannot rest till i have made my peace with you." her voice, her pale face, her intense eyes, and her tense contralto voice softened his resentment. "i'll listen, but you can't expect me to forgive a thing like that." "may i sit?" "certainly," he answered, but remained standing, as if to retain his guard. "don't condemn me altogether," she pleaded. "wait till you know how much reason i had to hate the whole brood of clairvoyants, seers, and psychics. my dear old grandmother was an easy mark for the cheapest of them, and i, who paid for her nurse out of my own thin little purse, and waited upon her night and day, had a right to consider her small fortune my own. it wasn't much, but it was enough to pay the cost of a flat, and to see it all going to fakers and greasy palmists--well, it was too much. it made a crusader of me--and it would have made one of you. it was not a question of your mother--alone. i went to our managing editor at last, and told him my story. i made it clear to him that the city was full of these harpies who prey on poor old women like my grandmother. 'they ought to be driven out of town,' i said. 'cut loose,' he said; and i did. my article on your mother was honest. i believed her to be simply another one of the same sort of impostors. i took her just like three or four others whose methods i knew, and i got my cousin, frank aiken, to bring suit against her. i thought she was a crook. i feel differently to-day. since talking with judge bartol and mr. stinchfield (i handled both those assignments) i've changed my estimate of her. i have written a page article vindicating her. i've come to tell you that her death in that cage has changed the situation for me. i am convinced that she was sincere, and i want to humble myself before you, her son, and ask your forgiveness. i know you feel more like killing me, but here i am--i couldn't rest without letting you know that i need your pardon." her plea, swift, voiced in music, and illustrated by her pale face, glowing eyes, and sensitive lips, powerfully affected him. he towered over her in savage silence for a little while, then with effort he said: "i don't see how i can do anything to you, for i felt the same way--i mean i didn't believe in my mother's business." she became radiant. "didn't you?" "no. up to the very moment when that red lamp was lit i could not believe in her. i couldn't help doubting--even now i need the photographs to bolster up my belief." the reportorial instinct awoke in her. "i wish i might see those photographs--to reassure myself, not for publication. may i see them?" he did not observe that her desire for his pardon seemed suddenly to be met, even though he had not yet put it in words, and his mind was wholly on the question of the photographic tests as he slowly replied: "they are very marvelous--especially those which came on the unexposed plates." her eyes widened in wonder. "what do you mean?" "mr. stinchfield had several packages of plates opened ready to use in his cameras, but the voices only let him make one flashlight. it seems as if they knew the experiment would end my mother's life, and yet on each of the unexposed plates are faces and forms, some of which mr. bartol 'recognized.'" "let me see them--please!" she pleaded, earnestly. "they will comfort me, too, for i am under conviction." he took from his pocket a package of small photographs. "here," he said, "are the three flashlights of my grandfather, nelson blodgett." the young woman almost snatched them in her eager haste. "oh, wonderful! what a document! the medium plainly in her cage--and this figure on the same plate." "it is the most convincing picture in existence," he said, sadly, "but it cost me my mother." she fixed a dreamy gaze upon him. "if this is a spirit--then your mother can return to you. has she done so?" he moved uneasily. "i have not asked her to do that. i don't care to be controlled or guided by spirits, not even by her spirit." "why?" his voice was firm and assured as he replied: "because i want to live and work out my career like other men. i don't want to see or hear any more of the 'astral plane'--" he checked himself. "it isn't natural for a man like me to be mixed up with all this spirit business, and i'm tired of it." "i see what you mean. you want to work and woo and marry like other men. you're right; of course you're right. what have we who are young and vigorous to do with the dead, anyway? unless all human life is a mistake, a foolish thing, it's our business to live it humanly." she held out her hand for the other pictures. "let me see them all, please!" he handed them to her. "there were three cameras," he explained, "hence these duplicates. these faces are likenesses of mr. bartol's wife and two children--and these plates, remember, were not exposed--they are of altair, one of the guides." she studied the shadowy forms with keen gaze. "one of the strange things about this 'spirit photograph' business is the resemblance they all bear to pictures--i mean, they all look as if they were photographs of framed portraits or drawings." again he betrayed restlessness. "mr. stinchfield noticed that." "what is his explanation?" "he does not think they come from spirits at all." she urged him to unbosom himself. "you have a conviction? what is it?" "his theory is that they are only mental images transferred by some unknown mental power to the plates." "what about the figure of your grandsire?" "his theory is that the figure was really the etheric self of my mother--shaped to the form like my grandsire by her own mind." she stared at him. "and you accept that?" "i don't know what else to believe. yes, i accept that. i don't believe the dead have any right to talk and fool with the lives of the living the way i've been fooled with and side-tracked." his voice was full of fervor now. "i'm going to live my own life hereafter irrespective of the dead--responsible only to the living. i will not be disciplined by ghosts." the girl laid the photographs down softly and looked at him with frank admiration. "you're a very extraordinary young man," she said, sagely. "no, i'm not!" he protested. "i'm just a good average. a week ago my hottest ambition was to carry the winona ball team to victory. if i had the money and the courage i'd go back there to-morrow and finish my course." "what do you mean by courage?" "well, you know what i'd be loaded up with. to go back there now would be the devil and all. your article broke my peaceful combination just a week ago last sunday." "but i have undone my work. i have vindicated your mother. you have a right to be proud of her. she was as real a martyr as ever went to the stake." "i know, but i'll be a marked figure, all the same." "you were a marked figure before. but consider all explanations have been made--wait till you read my article. go back!" she insisted. "i wish you would." her voice was rich with pleading. "it would make me happy. i feel horribly guilty--really i do. i'm only a grubbing reporter-person--i've had to earn my way and keep house for my grandmother besides; but i'd gladly share my salary to help you return to college. please go back--it will relieve my mind of a big burden." he took her hand in the spirit in which it was offered. "i am within a few days of graduation, but--" "please go back--for the sake of a poor little newspaper wretch who feels that she has indirectly spoiled your career." she pressed his hand fervidly. "promise me this and you'll take a monstrous load off my shoulders." she had the face, the temperament of the actress, and loved to experiment on the hearts of men; but she was deeply in earnest now. bartol and stinchfield had really changed her point of view as regards mrs. ollnee, and this "situation" appealed to her at the moment with irresistible power. life was to her a drama, intense, never-ending, romantic, and at the moment she loved this splendid young man orphaned by her hand. he could not resist her caressing voice, her appealing eyes, her sensitive lips, and he said, "i promise." "thank you," she said, and, dropping his hand, she lifted burning yet tearful eyes to his face. "you are very generous." he went on, "i am sure you meant well." "i don't want to rest under false imputations," she repeated. "i did not mean well. that first article was savage. i was angry. i struck blindly, but i struck to hurt." "well, all that is ended," he replied, sadly. "my mother is to be buried to-day." she looked at him in silence for a moment. "i have one more request to make," she said, at last, and her voice was very soft and hesitating. "i'd like to look upon her face. i want to ask her forgiveness." his heart melted at this plea, and he turned away to hide his tears. when he could speak he said: "she is very beautiful. i cannot believe even now that she is dead; but i have given my consent to have her taken to the cemetery. i will show her to you." in silence she followed him up the stairway and into the cool, dark room where the coffin lay. the windows were open at the bottom, and though the shades were drawn, the chamber was filled with soft light. the cries of the barn-yard and the twitter of birds outside seemed strangely softened as the two young people so singularly brought together approached the still form of the seeress and looked into her face serene with the infinite repose of death. victor, with choking throat and burning eyes, stood at the bier unable to utter a sound; but the girl, after a long glance, took a rose from her bosom, and, with a sigh, gently laid it on the still, small, white hands of the silent form. "accept my homage," she intoned, softly, "and if you can still see and hear, pardon me and forget my bitter words." she stood a moment thereafter as if involuntarily listening, waiting, hoping--but the dead gave no sign. the end books by hamlin garland cavanagh--forest ranger the captain of the gray-horse troop. hesper money magic. the light of the star. the tyranny of the dark. the shadow world main-travelled roads prairie folks rose of dutcher's coolly the moccasin ranch. trail of the gold-seekers the long trail. boy life on the prairie. the university of michigan. [transcriber's note: the original print edition contain many obvious typos that have been corrected in this electronic edition. i have taken care to mark where changes were made within the text, and notes about the changes can be found at the end of this text. i have left hyphen irregularities as they were printed (so that both "anti-slavery" and "antislavery" will be found within the text). for additional perspective on errata within the text, see the author's remarks following the final treatise.] secret enemies of true republicanism, most important developments[a] regarding the inner life of man and the spirit world, in order to abolish revolutions and wars and to establish permanent peace on earth, also: the plan for redemption of nations from monarchical and other oppresive speculations and for the introduction of the promised new era of harmony, truth and righteousness on the whole[b] globe. written by andrew b. smolnikar, formerly eighteen years priest benedictine monk and imperial royal professor of bibical literature; afterwards since a.d. 1838, by signs according to prophecies declared and confirmed representative of messengers for the introduction of the universal republic, commonly although improperly called the millennium. published by robert d. eldridge springhill, peace union centre. post office donnally's mill, perry co.: pa. 1859. preliminary remarks attentive readers will find superabundance of signs or credentials testifying the mission of every one who comprehends this book and acts with us for the accomplishment of the great promise, if they peruse the whole book as often as necessary for a full understanding of each event mentioned herein in connexion with the whole. from this connection of events it is evident, that in collisions in to which we have come with our opposers during the performance of the duties of our mission, we were under the direction of those invisible guardians who are labouring to introduce the promised new era of truth and righteousness, while our opposers were endeavouring to support the existing systems of delusion and iniquity, and that spirits of all spheres, heavenly angels as well as infernal demons, give testimony to our mission, spirits of each sphere in such a manner as is most suitable to their sphere. by the developments made in this book the secret enemies of true republicanism are made manifest, and it is made clear, how every party and sect, notwithstanding their profession of republicanism, are supporting popery, or, what is the same monarchy, if they disregard our disclosures concerning the roman catholic and the protestant churches in reference to christ's peaceable reign which will be the universal republic of truth and righteousness[c], and if they neglect to co-operate with us for its introduction. when i say "us," i understand the whole body of messengers whom i represent. i became representative of this body by having performed and explained what has been shown to me by the spirit of truth for the introduction of the promised new era. no imaginations, but facts, events, are testifying our heavenly mission for the true freedom, harmony and peace of nations, as well as the infernal mission of those who either openly or secretly, are opposed to our mission. in this their condition they are supporting the papal imperial royal or monarchial powers. this will be evident to those who comprehend this book. then they will know that those are either wittingly deceivers, or are deceived and repeat the lies and slanders of others, who say that i make too great claims and am anxious to be a great man. i confess to be nothing else but a true republican, a man for free discussion, testifying what i know, and offering it to be duly examined and used for the welfare of nations. i had to forsake all things of this world and to devote all my time to deep investigations, till at length my studies had arrived to maturity, that i could be used by heavenly powers as an instrument or medium to disclose what is required for christ's peaceable reign on earth. but those who should have been our first labourers in the great cause of human redemption, have deceived others in regard to our mission; and i have been abused, slandered and persecuted, and have suffered more than a man could willingly bear for his fellow men, without being supported by higher powers. this support has brought me on the ground where i stand, and on which they shall arrive who will study this book with understanding[d], and then act accordingly. this book is divided into several treatises, which are so connected that every reader in order to comprehend the unexpected developments for the introduction of the promised new era, must study them in the order in which they appear. while studying in this manner, if the contents of some passage appear to him not only unexpected, but also very improbable, he will receive more light upon them in the continuation of studying this book, till at length that which appeared at the first view improbable, will be made manifest to him to be a great truth, and he will become our zealous fellow labourer in the great mission for the accomplishment of the greatest promises to the human race. i write in the expectation, that my brethren and sisters, after having perused this book, will comprehend their calling and act accordingly with their sincere servant. andrew b. smolnikar. washington d.c. march 29th, 1859. remark: i wrote this preface in the expectation of soon finding in washington means for publishing this book. but i had to wait, till at length the war in italy commenced. therefore readers are requested to study what they must know to stop revolutions and wars and to commence the new era of harmony and peace. first treatise. louis napoleon, according to a severe divine judgment emperor of france, and james buchanan, according to the merciful divine benignity president of the united states. on the 27th january, 1859, while i was ready to start from philadelphia, a messenger said, that on that day an article appeared in the german democrat of that city for my use, and handed to me the number containing that article, from which we translate the following passages: "a pamphlet of the famous mr. belly, directed to emperor napoleon iii, was announced in paris on all corners of the streets with very large letters, under the inscription napoleon and buchanan. "whereas nothing can be published in paris without the permission of the imperial censorship, it is supposed, that mr. belly acted according to a superior order to arouse the public opinion against the united states. the president's message gives the pretext for it. the united states are represented as deadly enemies of the whole latin race and of the monarchies of europe, which must fall to their feet, if that race does not commence a crusade against the heretics, and take the sword against the pirates, thieves and bankrupts of the united states." not having the original of the pamphlet and giving the following passages in a free translation from the german translation which appeared in the above quoted number of the democrat, i may be excused by those who have the french pamphlet at hand, if they should find any deviation from it. monsieur belly writes besides other things also: "the longing of the united states for cuba and mexico has not only the tendency to enlarge their territory and their interests, but they act besides this, according to a principle, which is diametrically opposite to that of france; they do not care about any civilization beyond their frontier; they have made alliance with all who are filled with hatred against the european politics. when the democratic republic obtains the supremacy in the new world, all empires and kingdoms in the world will become inimical to its interests and therefore it will be consequent and necessary to destroy them either by art or by force.... our commerce, our industry will be compelled to obey instead of being the rulers, and the discovery of the new world will lead to the remarkable result of having occasioned the death of the old. "the catholic sovereigns constituted by god and by their subjects, are obliged to introduce such circumstances as to carry into execution their legitimate claims. and those who have been elected by a band without discipline, by bankrupts and thieves, dare to declare publicly, that the hour has come for these thieves and bankrupts to attack the civilized world! are we not as much devoted to the truth, as they are to the lie? we should not delay to promote our system of salvation, while we are discussing their system of perdition. and whereas they are elevating the crime to their religion with more energy than we do our holy religion, while we appear to surrender it, we will henceforth extol the cross and draw the sword, and unite the latin race to the alliance, without which there is no salvation for civilization. "the president's message is in open opposition to the faith, the ideas, the principles and the interests, the acknowledged defender of which your majesty is. that message strikes europe on both cheeks; and i affirm that those who like to make it laughable, become pale when they reflect upon it in their closets. "mr. buchanan and the nation whom he represents, keep these things not any longer in secret. from henceforth they demand cuba, and the language in the message shows, that they will not desist from any means to obtain their object. this object is one portion of mexico and then an other, the whole central america and west indies," &c. if our profession which is expressed on the title page of this book, is true, we have received the commission to move nations and their rulers to establish the universal republic of truth and justice, harmony and peace. it will be the true reign of christ, for which all political and ecclesiastical memorable events of past centuries and of this time, are preparations. our commission, that is, the commission of messengers whom i represent, is confirmed by so many signs according to prophecies, that while i was writing the last of the five german volumes which have been published from a.d. 1838 till 1842, i have oftentimes repeated, that the key has been given in those volumes to unlock and explain so many prophecies and signs testifying our mission, that five hundred volumes could be filled, if there had not been superabundance of them already published in the five above mentioned volumes, from which it is evident, that neither monarchs amongst themselves in europe, nor political and ecclesiastical parties and sects in this country, can establish peace, but will continue to quarrel and consume every year an enormous amount of property for war preparations, and corrupt and ruin nations, and destroy many men and women during those preparations, till at length they are again and again so brutalized and enraged, that they kill each other, till all parties are so exhausted, that they are compelled to make peace, which is nothing else but an armistice; because when the true peace or christ's reign, which will be the universal republic of truth and justice, shall be established on the whole globe, soldiers and all preparations for war, will disappear, and those who are now learning how to destroy each other, will learn how to prolong their lives and improve their intellectual and moral faculties for their own temporal and eternal welfare, as well as for the welfare of others. wo! wo! wo! to the roman catholics as well as others in these united states and in all other parts of america and in europe and elsewhere, if the infernal fire of revolution and war, which is glowing, breaks out with all force in the united states of america. it would extend on the globe and consume millions of men, and amongst them also monarchs. but we write to prevent their destruction, and to prepare them to become true republicans and truly happy, and to contribute their share for the happiness of all men. after the publication of the above mentioned five volumes i made urgent applications to political and ecclesiastical rulers and their counsellors in europe by sending to some of them my books and letters, and to others letters only, showing how to obtain my books, and exhorting them to study them and act accordingly to prevent revolutions and wars and to commence the new era. after that, whenever a peculiar crisis was approaching, we have issued some publication, warning the american nation as well as other nations and their governments, and showing, that there was high time to study the contents of _our_ volumes. i am not alone, but there are invisible messengers giving testimony by my instrumentality, as superabundance of proof is given also in this volume. in this connection of matters i mention the following instance: at the end of the year 1853 my pamphlet "antichristian conspiracy against true republicanism" issued from the press; and in the first part of the year 1854 copies of that pamphlet as well as written disclosures containing most solemn warnings to the american as well as to all other nations, were sent to president pierce and to a number of congressmen in both houses. in said pamphlet and in the annexed written disclosures, the government was most solemnly exhorted to appoint a convention for examining our system or the magnetic chain of events through the course of the past centuries in connection with the events of this generation, which have not been understood so as they are made manifest in our chain for binding the dragon, the spirit of delusion and destruction, revel. xx. 2. who has given his power, and his seat, and great authority revel. xiii: 2, not only to the representative of the beast or the pope of rome, but also to the ten horns of the beast, or kings, that is monarchs, who hate the whore, that is the apostatized church, the people who have apostatized from truth and justice, and whom monarchs make desolate and naked, and eat their flesh and burn them with fire, revel. xvii: 16. "the catholic sovereigns" are according to the quoted passage of mr. belly, "constituted by god and by their subjects." the number of the democrat, which occasioned this treatise, was providentially handed to me. but here is no room to explain that which will be explained in our "monthly theological course," which is appointed in this book, and in which our system or the chain to bind the dragon, will be exhibited, and in which will be made manifest, how far "the catholic sovereigns" or monarchs are constituted by their subjects, and how their subjects would constitute them, if they were free and enlightened, as they should be according to the will of god who has endowed them with intellectual and moral faculties, to be duly developed. here we mention only, that the highest duty of monarchs is to do all in their power for that development. if monarchs would fulfil their highest duty, their subjects would become true republicans, and then monarchs would cease to be, what they now are by the appointment of the dragon, the spirit of delusion and destruction, by whose inspiration they are executioners of the degraded people whose education has been neglected, and who would have become true republicans, if monarchs had become fathers and teachers of the ignorant. but obviously appears to be as absurd, as mr. belly's assertion, that god has constituted the monarchs, although it is manifest, that the dragon has constituted them, or they are constituted "according to a severe divine judgment," according to his eternal laws, when people are so degraded, that they are not prepared for a better government, what is expressed in the following words of the revelation; "god has put in the hearts of the ten horns to fulfil his will, and agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of god shall be fulfilled," revel. xvii.: 17. in those circumstances, after the destruction, of the first napoleon's power, it was best, when the rulers or fathers of nations have neglected to fulfil their highest duty, that they have submitted their monarchies under the protection of the pope, the representative of the beast with ten horns and seven heads, till the prophecy has been fulfilled. from neglecting that rule much greater evils, most dreadful revolutions and wars originated. the history of the so called christian church, when some portions rebelled against the pope through the course of centuries until this time, is the most horrible theatre under the dominion of the dragon. therefore, after the destruction of the first napoleon we read in revel. xvii: 13, that the ten horns or monarchs agreed unanimously (in the congress of vienna, a.d. 1815,) to give their power and strength unto the beast, that is, to make the pope, the representative of the beast, a partaker of their own power and strength. this was the means for the support of their own thrones, till the prophecy has been fulfilled by what has been executed through our mediumships in the roman catholic church, and has been explained in the first three of my above mentioned five german volumes. those three volumes appeared between a.d. 1838 and 1840, and have been sent to three roman catholic monarchs, to wit, the emperor of austria, the king of bavaria and the king of france, with my hand writings, showing to the first two their highest duty to enjoin their theologians to examine those volumes and to send to me the result of their examinations, to be published with my remarks, that truth might be made manifest, and to the king of france, that he should translate those volumes into french and spread them as much as possible in his monarchy. all three have been most solemnly exhorted to do what was required in those volumes to prevent the repetition of revolutions, wars, and other plagues, which cannot be removed but must be repeated, till the heavenly message of peace made manifest by our instrumentality, is received by governments and nations. when our applications to and exhortations of political and ecclesiastical influential men in america and in europe were not regarded, and in these days of noah the earth was corrupt and filled with violence, and all flesh had corrupted his way, i mos. vi: 11 and 12, the flood of revolution broke out in europe in the year 1848, on the exact day in correspondence with prophecies given by our instrumentality and published in my volumes, and emperors and kings, and their machines of destruction, the bishops of america and in europe, and other political and ecclesiastical officers, who with all our exhortations remained obstinate sinners against the holy ghost, who has disclosed by our instrumentality that which is required for the introduction of the promised peaceable reign of christ, which according to our disclosures by a long chain of signs according to prophecies, will be the universal republic of truth and justice, harmony and peace on the whole globe, are responsible for all destruction of human life and property, which were consumed in that revolution and afterwards until this hour, and would have been saved, if the means shown in our message, had been used. ferdinand, emperor of austria, was the first compelled to give a constitution. i read it on the 18th, april, 1848, and was inspired to write on the 19th, april, or, on his birth-day a letter to him and an appeal to the inhabitants of the austrian empire, assuring them, that the calamities came, because the contents of our publications had not been regarded, although our mission had been superabundantly proven by signs according to prophecies. i confessed also, that i was ready to go instantly to vienna, and to show practically, how to make the right use of that constitution for the commencement of the new era of harmony and peace, if the emperor would publish directly my appeal to the inhabitants of his empire, and write to me, and give the security to support the constitution, which was such as the inhabitants of the empire had a right to demand, as well as the emperor had a right to watch against the abuse and to apply the proper means for the right use of the constitution. my former applications and my volumes have been sent by me directly through triest to vienna, but that my last document to emperor ferdinand was sent to his minister in washington city with an urgent exhortation to the minister, to forward it to the emperor, and with the remark that in the time in which an answer could be expected, i would send to the minister my direction, to which post office he had to send the answer; because i wrote to the emperor from the state of new-york on my journey to other states. i wrote at length to the minister, that if he receives an answer to my documents from the emperor ferdinand, he should send it to the post office of nashville, capital of the state of tennessee. i urged the emperor to send an answer as soon as possible, and i assured him, that it was impossible, to prevent new revolutions without the use of the remedy contained in our message of peace. but knowing the slowness of the business at the austrian government, i now on the 14th september 1848, at noon time to the post office of nashville to ask for letters. when i was approaching the post office, fire bells commenced to arouse people who were asking where the fire was. some answered, that it was in the presbyterian church on church street; but others remarked, that they should not be mocked in this manner; because it appeared to be quite improbable that fire should break out at that hour in that season in a church without being struck by lightning; and that was a very clear day. i asked in the post office for letters. but there was no letter for me there. on my return from the post office, the whole presbyterian church the largest in that city, on church street, was enveloped in awful flames, by which it was entirely consumed. the next night after that solemn spectacle an angel of my lord brought to me the message, (and attentive readers of this book will be convinced, that when my mission requires, i come in perceivable communication with heavenly messengers,) that on the next sunday i should proclaim in that city, that that was a prophetical fire testifying that revolutions would break out again in the austrian empire, because the bishops of that empire had neglected to fulfil their highest duty to instruct the emperor in what he should do for the pacification of nations, and that the revolution should be a solemn warning to the citizens of the united states: because judgments cannot be removed from this country, but must increase till churches of the great harlot and her daughters will be consumed, if these judgments shall not be stopped by the application of our message of peace. public halls are generally not opened for our proclamations, because we have no money to pay for their use. but at that time the masonic fraternity were carrying their instruments into their building, from which they removed them during the danger while the church opposite their building was burning. i said to them, that i had to proclaim a message against the pope of rome in correspondence with that fire, and requested them to grant their hall for that purpose, they granted it, and my proclamation was advertised in the daily newspapers of nashville. it was delivered on the next sunday after the fire in the german language before, and in the english language after noon. in the next month after that proclamation the last dreadful european revolution and war commenced in hungary in correspondence with the fact, that the bishops of hungary were the last among the bishops of europe, who have been under the direction of my heavenly leaders most solemnly warned to prevent the revolution which commenced in paris on the 24th february[e] 1848. that was in the octave of the tenth anniversary after my first public appearance in my present mission and my solemn initiation by heavenly messengers for this mission. ten years in commemoration of the ten horns of the beast were granted for repentance to the blind leaders of the blind, for whom i published a.d. 1838 the first volume of explanations of the mystery; and in that year i commenced to exhort emperor ferdinand and his bishops, that they should study that volume. but after the publication of the fifth volume a.d. 1842, the bishops of hungary were the last amongst the grandees of europe, to whom i applied; to wit, when all my applications were disregarded, i published a latin circular and sent copies of it to a number of bishops in europe. while i was preparing those copies for the mail, samuel ludvigh, a hungarian scholar, came into my room. he never before nor after that did come to me, although i met with him several times in other places, and warned him always, that he should study my writings to be converted from his materialism to the true spiritualism. but at that my meeting with him in my room i said to him, that he came at the right time, to give me directions to all bishops in hungary. he did so, and by this unexpected provision i was enabled, to send to all roman catholic bishops in hungary copies of my latin circular, in which direction to find copies of my volumes, was given and the duty of the austrian bishops was shown to study my volumes, and then to instruct the emperor and other grandees of the austrian empire and hungarian kingdom, in what they should do, to prevent revolutions and wars, and to establish the promised peace on earth. when all our endeavoring to move the blind leaders of the blind to take the medicine which was prepared in our publications to open their eyes, was disregarded, i met at length in cincinnati with the same doctor samuel ludvigh, a materialistic reformer, trusting in weapons of war, and i was inspired that i said to him, that there was high time for him to learn that he had an immortal soul and also, that he himself was a strong medium of deluding and destroying spirits, and that i was ready to give him a peculiar testimony of that truth most necessary for him to become an apostle of peace. he asked, how i could show him this. he was not ready to examine arguments and experience of others in this respect. therefore i, according to the direction of my heavenly leader said, that i would magnetize him. that was the same in that connection of things, as to say, that i would initiate him into the mystery of our close connection with departed spirits. there is the right use as well as the abuse of human magnetism. some eight years ago i published a pamphlet on "the dreadful abuse of human magnetism in the mysteries of the roman catholic church and her daughters the protestant sects." samuel ludvigh was willing that i should magnetize him directly. but i remarked, that the tavern in which i met with him, was not the proper place for our initiation or ordination. but he was inspired to ask me, that i should make a trial there in his room in which some of his materialists were with him. i was impressed to do so, and it was directly made manifest, that the legion of demons by which he was surrounded, were compelled to give way to our magnetism. and when he fell into the magnetic sleep, i said to him, that to go so deep into our magnetism as to be convinced of man's immortality and to become with us an apostle of the new era, he must visit me at my boarding house. and he promised to do so on the next following evening. i said that i would come to take him with me. but when i came i found not him, but a writing in which he imformed me, that some friends came and moved him to start with them for other places. we heard then, that he had started for europe. at length we received his german pamphlet, which was published in hamburgh, a seaport in europe, and was entitled: "the sword of revolution," in which this strange prophet samuel ludvigh, reports, that he took a sword of the american revolution and other insignia of war, and copies of his german periodical, entitled "the torch," and stopped in europe first in paris, and three days after his departure from that city, revolution broke out there. from thence he went to berlin, and from that city to vienna, and in each of those cities soon after his departure revolution broke out. at length he put his sword and other insignia of war into the national museum of hungary, and returned to america. those who will study this whole book so as to comprehend the whole connection of matters, will learn gradually better than they see when they arrive in reading it to this period, that my meeting with samuel ludvigh in cincinnati was providentially prepared for a testimony to all governments, that when samuel ludvigh who had performed since a.d. 1838 in his meetings with me manifold prophetical actions which have been mentioned in some of my former publications, and was also at that my meeting with him in cincinnati not yet disposed to become an apostle of peace, and the measure of crimes in europe was filled, the heavenly congress with whom we are connected, gave permission to the infernal demons to carry their medium with the war insignia to europe, and to announce to the infernal demons in europe, that the time had arrived for them to inspire their mediums to break out in their fury and spread destruction, for the reason that those who kept people in bondage and were the cause of their degredation, have rejected our message of peace and continued to be obstinate sinners against the holy ghost who has offered them in our publications the means for the pacification of nations. but whereas the means for peace were not used, revolutions and wars had to give a new turn to human affairs. when those who were deluding the good natured emperor ferdinand, kept him in bondage and would not make use of my above mentioned last application to him for a commencement of the millennial happiness first in the austrian empire, i, according to the direction of my heavenly leaders, made no more applications to europe, but commenced to urge presidents and other influential men at the government of the united states, to study our message and the credentials of our mission for the pacification of nations. when after all my applications to several of the predecessors of president pierce at length also he remained in the shackles of the infernal papal imperial royal magnetism, and members of the congress of all parties and sects followed his example, i was impressed that i should apply to the emperor louis napoleon and to prepare him, that he might commence to look, where to find the great refuge for his own and the true happiness of his family in their mortal bodies as well as in all eternity after their departure from this short life, every moment of which should be duly used as preparation for the eternity. he was at that time, in the spring, 1854, engaged with great preparations for the tremendous war with russia; and i wrote a document to his ambassador in washington, showing that if emperor napoleon would be truly great in this and in all future ages, and truly happy in all eternity, he instead of preparations for war with russia, should call all bishops of his empire to a latin convention with me in paris. in that convention my manuscript which i wrote a.d. 1849, in latin and in which i concentrated the system or the magnetic chain to bind the dragon, revel. xx. 2, who deludes emperors and kings to keep people in bondage so that when they break their bonds they are as the wildest beasts killing till they are killed, should be examined and bishops and their theologians should make any objection, but all which they object they must object in writing, to be then annexed to my manuscript and published with my remarks in latin and in translations, that nations and their ecclesiastical and political representatives might judge, each for himself, whether we have received or not received the commission and the credentials of our mission for the introduction of the promised new era of harmony and peace amongst all nations. a latin convention for this purpose was first appointed in the city of new-york a.d. 1849, and the archbishop of baltimore was urged by our latin manuscript epistle and english printed circular, to move the whole synod of bishops who met at that time in baltimore, to attend our latin convention, and those who could not attend it themselves to send the most qualified theologians to attend it. and john hughes bishop of new-york, was particularly exhorted, that he, as bishop of the place of the convention, was principally bound to bring his theologians to said convention. but when all my endeavoring to move bishops as well as the government of the united states to send able latin scholars to attend said convention, did not move them to do so, i translated at length that manuscript into german and into english, and appointed conventions in those languages. but i could not move such as have great influence at the government, to attend those conventions, and then to commence with power the new era. therefore i thought, that a trial should be made, whether the united states or the representative of the government of france would comprehend sooner, that nothing in the world could bring greater glory in this life and in all eternity, than the work to examine or order that our message of peace be examined by the best judges of this matter, and be applied for the introduction of the new era. in the hope that emperor napoleon would comprehend the great mission which was offered to him in our message, i wrote to his ambassador at washington, suggesting to the emperor, that i was ready to come as a citizen of the united states to paris, to exhibit the credentials which are signs according to prophecies, testifying our mission to move the governments of this world, to establish christ's peaceable reign or the universal republic of truth and justice, harmony and peace. i expected that the time for the abolition of severe judgments, the principal executor of which is emperor napoleon, was expiring. not having room in this treatise for any explanation of points which i mention, i show here one of the general tokens, by which the severity of judgments may be measured, to wit, the armies of soldiers, to keep nations in bondage and to defend them against inimical neighbours. the greater in proportion to the number of people, the number of soldiers is, the severer is the judgement. when soldiers shall not be needed, and those who are soldiers, will take up occupations beneficial to mankind, the perfect victory of christ against the dragon will be celebrated. and if all governments of a christian name would understand to-day our true christian message of peace, they could give directly to those who are soldiers, true christian occupations; and heathens could be soon converted into true christians. while emperor napoleon was gathering together warriors and provisions for the great war against russia, we offered him the best opportunity to be the first of those who should commence the new era. whether he had received from his ambassador in washington d.c. our offer or not, he may tell for himself; because i have received no answer, although i have offered to the ambassador himself, that although i was ready to go to paris and show there in our latin convention to all bishops of the french empire my mission, which is also the mission of my fellow laborers, and the credentials of our mission, i would visit the ambassador himself and give him as many evidences of this great truth as would be abundantly sufficent for him, to recommend with all his energy our offer to the emperor, if the ambassador would write to me and call me to washington. instead of an answer from the ambassador to my proposition for the true christian triumph of france and for the pacification of the world we have received at length the tremendous answer which has occasioned this my treatise. here is not the place for an investigation, whether people of "the latin race" in europe and america or others are the principal people who commit the crimes with which citizens of the united states are charged. to the article in the number of the democrat from which i have quoted some passages, a list of bankruptcies is annexed, which took place in the united states in the years 1857 and 1858. a.d. 1857 the total number of bankruptcies is 4932; and a.d. 1858, 4235. it would be of great consequence, to investigate the deeply secret principal cause of their bankuptcies, and also the native place, education and character of each bankrupt. an impartial examination would bring new contributions to know the secret conspiracy of the servants of his holiness the apocalystical dragon, to keep nations in bondage. emperor napoleon is not only a spiritualist of the last fashion, but a strong medium of dreadful deluding and destroying demons, and i know much more about his mediumship than he himself and his mediums know about it, and this treatise is written to be prefixed to documents which contain facts that should move all nations of "the latin race" as well as heretics, to come out from babylon which is made manifest, in our mission, as a habitation of demons, revel. xx.: 2. when i am preparing documents of great warning, servants of demons must send from all quarters of the world testimonies, how the infernal hosts of demons are preparing everywhere their mediums for destruction of human life and property. this and the following treatises are written to deliver other mediums as well as monarchs from the influence of deluding and destroying demons. and emperor napoleon should consider this treatise as the most precious heavenly gift, to bring him and by his instrumentality millions of others into the glorious resurrection. if he studies this book in which this treatise occupies the first place, so as to comprehend it: we have no doubt, that he will arrive on our ground and invite us to visit paris and celebrate there the glorious resurrection of those who belong to "the latin race" and are yet in their mortal bodies as well as of their departed friends. in the third of my above mentioned five german volumes is the appearance of napoleon i. reported, when he was brought on the 24th june, 1839, before me in his materialistic superficial imperial shape. but when i was looking into his interior condition, the awful distress and tremendous darkness blotted out all his imperial splendor. he and others in a similar deceitful condition are influencing the emperor. but i am writing as his most sincere friend in his behalf and that of nations, and promise to do all in my power according to my mission to assist him, that he might become a blessing to nations and with our assistance pacify the departed emperor napoleon and other congenial friends, and draw them into the glorious new era. the mediumship of emperor louis napoleon was manifest to us in correspondence with many cases of solemn warnings for the imperial court and all other members of "the latin race" in close connexion with events which happened in our mission at the same time, when those cases surprised the world. here i mention the solemn execution of the archbishop of paris in saint stephen's church by the mediumship of the priest who has been inspired and supported for that work which required more than human strength, from the infernal regions on the day and at the hour of the novena, which were most suitable according to the prophetical roman catholic calendar in correspondence with what we were doing at the same time in our charge under the heavenly direction, and in correspondence with what emperor napoleon was doing at the same time under the direction of deluding and destroying spirits. in the first three of my above mentioned five german volumes it was shown, that the doings of the popes of rome, who are under the inspiration from the inferior regions, were so controlled through the course of centuries by our heavenly congress, that those amongst the popes, who had received peculiar rolls in the great drama of the ecclessiastical and political history, had received also corresponding names to their rolls, and numbers corresponding to their names. and we will have also in this book opportunity to mention some instances of that kind. but here we made this remark on account that at the receipt of the report of the solemn murder of the archbishop, we (after having received instruction in different spirit languages which we need in disclosing the mysteries for the promised new era, and amongst those languages is also the language by numbers,) saw the great unexpected truth, that the heavenly congress who are with the lamb, were so controlling the inferior regions of the papal imperial royal demons, that in paris which is the principal seat of the intrigues connected with the papal machinations, also bishops were so counted, that when the number of their succession according to our spirit language was complete in their novena, amongst them also the number of the popish saints as well as the number of cardinals and the number of archbishops of paris corresponded to the celebration of the mystery of the execution, and that archbishop has been solemnly executed in saint stephen's church, who was in every respect most qualified for the celebration of that mystery, and the infernal executioners have received permission from the heavenly congress to effect the execution by their medium, a priest who became most qualified to be their medium; and this happened for a peculiar warning to the pope, his cardinals, archbishops, bishops and priests, that they might not wait, till a general destruction of their persons in connection with their hierarchy would take place, but that they might come out from babylon and become with us messengers of the new era. i wrote an extraordinary treatise disclosing the deep mystery of the episcopal succession in paris connected with the solemn execution of the archbishop in his complete numbers by the inspiration and assistance of destroying demons, using their sacerdotal medium, according to the permission of the heavenly congress, for a peculiar warning to the papal imperial royal hierarchy and the whole "latin race." there not being room in this book for publication of that treatise which is preserved amongst others of my manuscripts to be published in due time and in connection with other treatises which need deeper studies to be fully understood than the memorable events which we have selected for this book, we found proper to mention somewhat regarding that execution in peculiar connexion with emperor napoleon and the clergy of his empire, that they might open their eyes and stop the infernal fury which has been made manifest in the preaching of the crusade which gave occasion to this our extraordinary treatise. the position of napoleon iii. to napoleon i. according to prophecies, cannot be understood except in the magnetic chain of events shown in our system which will be explained in our monthly theological course, which is announced in this book for the introduction of the new era. although the pope of rome and the emperor napoleon, both may be destroyed at the abolition of systems which they, each in his sphere, represent, notwithstanding this we labour most earnestly, that their lives may be preserved and they come into our new jerusalem and draw millions of others into it. at the explosion of the percussion shells, in which others have been killed at the entrance to the theatre, but napoleon's life was preserved, peculiar manifestations took place. the explanation of that mystery will be annexed as an appendix to the above mentioned treatise, in which the mystery of the succession of bishops of paris is explained. the representative of bishops who have generated such fruits as are manifest in paris, has suffered death. but emperor napoleon's life was preserved at other occasions of danger as well as at the explosion of the percussion shells; and we are labouring in the expectation that he will understand this book and become with us a great apostle removing the severe judgments and the dreadful bondage, which are connected with his present government, and assisting us in the preparation for the great resurrection of those in their mortal bodies as well as of their departed friends. all that is written in this book is written for a peculiar instruction to all, and especially to those who are strong mediums of deluding and destroying spirits the great prince amongst whom is emperor napoleon. but we write this treatise, to deliver him from those miserable tyrants, and to make him a preacher of peace also to his departed friends. what we write for him, we write that it might be used by all readers. as strange as the point in the inscription, that james buchanan is according to the merciful divine benignty president of the united states, may appear not only to other governments, but also to many big men in these united states, and to millions of others who are deceived by big men, we write to undeceive all, and that also those might be saved, who would have been already destroyed, if instead of james buchanan col. fremont had been elected president of the united states. we are on quite another ground from which we consider human affairs, than that from which they are generally considered: because i speak as medium of the heavenly powers by whom i am sent to draw nations on our ground. for there is no salvation but destruction for them, if they will not arise from their present degraded condition upon our ground from which they will see matters as we see them. in the meantime we instruct them by facts, that they might know, that we are correct and they are in delusion. i am as independent from president buchanan, as his enemies are, and if he has received my writings which i have sent and directed to him, he did not make use of them; although i suppose that my writings directed to him since his presedential administration, remain in the hands of others. but in case, he had received and read those my writings, and had despised the course which is shown in our message as the course for redemption of nations from the papal imperial royal and other oppresive and speculating powers, the inscription in regard to him remains true; and when i do not despair of emperor napoleon's conversion from his dragon to our christ, i expect with great confidence, that president buchanan will be sooner converted than napoleon; although i do not know, how the heavenly congress see this matter, because i am not in their congress but only a medium of messengers sent from that congress. but in every case the inscription to this treatise is true, as the bitterest enemies of president buchanan may learn from the following items, and by studying this whole book they themselves may be brought upon our ground and assist us in drawing the president upon the same ground for the redemption of nations from all tyrannical powers. i was in cincinnati, when honorable james buchanan was nominated democratic candidate for presidency. that nomination took place on the 6th of june 1856. during the balloting of the delegates i was inspired, and said on the 4th june, to doctor b. f. white, that i felt it to be my duty to endeavor to make known to the delegates our message of peace and the credentials of our mission, and that the place for that purpose was providentially prepared a few days before that by a building having been removed at the front of burnet's hotel, the largest hotel in which the largest portion of the democratic delegates boarded, and i made the proposition to doctor b. f. white, that he should open the meeting for my address. he promised to do so. he was a strong medium of spirits of the so called republican party. but i belong to no party, supporting truth wherever i find it sufficiently proven, and working against delusion and error, wherever i have enough evidence against them. b. f. white knew somewhat in regard to our message, having heard some of my speeches and having read my pamphlet which had been published in cincinnati a few days before that nomination. we agreed strictly to observe two points; in the first place to say nothing which would have a reference to any party, and to proclaim only, what all should hear regarding our message of peace. the second point was that we should speak before sunset, and finish our speeches before night should commence. i was certain about the point which i related to dr. white, that if we would speak in the night, some disaster would happen during our speeches on that occasion. dr. white accompanied me, while we were going to the open lot, on which we had agreed to address the democratic delegates; but on our way we met with somebody who commenced to talk with dr. white. i left them talking and went to the spot agreed upon to deliver our address. but while i was waiting more than one hour there, dr. white did not come. i felt that i alone should not deliver my message there. he came at length while there was already twilight. i said to him, that it was too late and we should not speak. i assured him again, that i was determined not to speak that night. but he replied that he was determined to speak, and that he was sure, that nothing would happen. but i repeated, that some disaster would happen. then another strong medium came. he belonged to the same republican party that dr. white did, and lived with dr. white. his spirit confirmed the assertion of the spirit of dr. white, that nothing would happen, if we would address the delegates. then i would not interfere any longer, and dr. white commenced to address the assembled. while he spoke, the crowd increased and some commenced to make disturbance. at that moment the editor of the democratic review in washington city interfered, and he took the platform, addressing the audience and saying, that the speaker should not be disturbed, and that he supposed the speaker belonged to the democratic party. i said once more to dr. white, that it was high time to leave that place. but he again asserted, that he was certain, that nothing would happen. and the other medium of the republican party confirmed again dr white's assertion. at that moment i left the spot and went to dr. white's office. fifteen or twenty minutes after me dr. white and the other strong medium of deluding and destroying spirits, both came about 9 o'clock p.m. and they were frightened and said, that there was so great a disturbance, that policemen were not sufficient to check it. and they added as a very remarkable instance, that a policeman in trying to check the disturbance, lost his star. but they did not know the other particulars which appeared on the next morning in the newspapers, to wit, that the above mentioned editor of the democratic review in washington city was dangerously stabbed in his lungs. his wound proved not to be fatal, although it was so large, that when it was sounded, the air which blew out of the wound, extinguished the candlelight which was applied to see the wound. the man who stabbed the democratic reviewer from washington, could not be detected, although the circumstances, from our position considered, make it certain, that he was a medium of distroying spirits belonging to the republican party. those spirits were allowed by our leaders to give a prophetical sign. the stabbing took place about 9 o'clock p.m. on the 4th day of june, 1856. i have circumstantially related the stabbing of the democratic reviewer; because from these circumstances in connexion with what follows, it is evident to anybody who understands the prophetic languages by numbers, names and other circumstances, that by that stabbing prophecy has been given under the control of our heavenly congress who determined to interfere by our mediumship, that the democratic party, although they would come in great danger to lose the victory in their battle against the republican party, would finally conquer their opposition. i was inspired, to give opportunity to that prophecy. doctor benjamin franklin white, a spiritualist and a strong medium of spirits of his party, was the representative of the republican party; and the democratic reviewer from washington city, was the representative of the democratic party. benjamin franklin white, doctor of medicine, has most suitable names expressing his prophetical position, as we will have perhaps elsewhere opportunity to explain the mystery. as the office of the democratic reviewer in washington was expressive to the mystery of his representation, so were probably his names which i do not keep in memory, and my notes of that time are not at hand, while i am writing this. but the circumstances mentioned in connexion with what we will report on the following pages of this treatise, are superabundantly sufficient to testify that it was a great prophecy. the delegates then continued their work, till at length on the 6th day of the 6th month james buchanan was nominated candidate by democrats for the presidential chair. i looked into the next prophetical almanac which was at hand, and the name of that day was "benignus." there are roman catholic and protestant calendars which are used by our sphere of spirits in giving prophecies. that was a protestant almanac; _because_ that was a protestant affair. at the events of great importance names of our prophetical almanacs correspond to the events. _benignus_, the latin is in english _benign_, that is kind or _generous_. from thence we adopted the word _benignity_, that is _grace_ or _graciousness, generosity, kindness_, in the inscription of this treatise. if i would explain the prophetical language by numbers and names and other circumstances, this would require more room than our economy could here spare, and we could not consent to publish at this time a much larger volume than manuscript is prepared for this volume, also in case that somebody should be desirous to publish it; because this volume contains more than most readers will be prepared to study and digest thoroughly. therefore we must delay other manuscripts for other occasions, and we can explain only a little of what we know; because otherwise we could never finish our explanations. but the substance given in the prophecy on the 4th and 6th of june at the nomination of hon. james buchanan, in which he became the democratic candidate for presidency, did announce, that james buchanan will become president of the united states by the interference of the heavenly congress of spirits who are commissioned to introduce the peaceable reign of christ or the universal republic of truth and justice, harmony and peace, by the instrumentality of messengers whom i represent to move the governments and nations for action to accomplish the great object to which prophecies of all ages and of all nations have their tendency; but notwithstanding that his administration will be for the increase of the 4th beast in the 7th chap, of daniel, the number of the name of which is 666, revel. xiii, 17 and 18, and its fundamental number is 6, and notwithstanding that president buchanan will continue the administration for the support of that beast, till he arrives either on our ground or is taken away, notwithstanding this, he is given as president by the heavenly congress in divine mercy, according to the benignus, or according to the merciful divine benignity, that a great door for the commencement of the promised peaceable reign of christ will be opened, which would have been locked for this time, if the opposition had succeeded and brought their candidate col. fremont upon the presidential chair. nobody should say, that i interpret prophecy after its fulfilment. any body who has studied the first three of my german volumes, the 3d of which appeared a.d. 1840, if he knew the above, mentioned circumstances and had reflected upon them, would have been qualified to interpret the prophecy in cincinnati on the 6th day of the 6th month 1856, at noon time, while the roaring of the cannon was announcing the nomination of james buchanan. but whether he will be the great hero, to commence the millennium in the white house at washington and proclaim the millennial glory to other governments on the globe, or whether he will perish in the beast and its ten horns, as his predecessors did, and another will obtain and spread the heavenly blessings offered to president buchanan, is not expressed in the prophecy. but we write in the expectation, that at length he will comprehend this and act accordingly. after that great prophecy i thought that my duty was to behave perfectly neutral during the great struggle of the two parties, to wit, the democratic and the republican, at the presidential campaign. i delivered then in several places of the state of ohio public addresses; but i made expressedly everywhere the remark, that i was perfectly independent from all political parties and proclaiming according my mission the message of peace to all parties and sects, to prepare them for the promised new era. but after every address, notwithstanding all my protestation, republicans cried that i belonged to their party, and democrats were dissatisfied. at length i arrived in pittsburgh pa. and a medium of strong spirit manifestations and public street preacher has offered to me for a present a copy of fremont's life published by horace greeley & co.: and made the remark, that if i should read it, i would be moved to act for fremont's election. i remarked, that i would have in these circumstances scarcely sufficient time to read so much regarding fremont and also regarding buchanan, as would be necessary to know both as far as to decide according to my knowledge of both for one or the other; and then it would be against my usual course, if i should take any part in the election of the one or the other. but i took the offered book, and then i was inspired to study it with great attention, and i was astonished, that in the falsely called republican party the large number of those who are for the republican against the monarchial cause, could be so duped and deceived by miserable speculators and monarchial agents as to accept col. fremont as their candidate for presidency. here is not the place to show by the testimonies which are contained in the book published by horace greeley for a recommendation of his presidential candidate fremont, what this man is. the testimonies were not understood by the republicans who are so obscured by the papal imperial royal magnetism, that although they have eyes, they do not see matters of this kind. i make only the general remark, that the united states would have been already burning in revolutions and wars not for the republican but for the monarchial cause, if fremont had been elected president. after the perusal of that book i read also the book published by democrats for buchanan's election. then i understood that not only the heavenly congress who do not deprive men of their free will although they control their actions for the final triumph of the true republican cause, but that also i was in duty bound to enlighten citizens of pennsylvania, who had to decide the presidential election, that they might know fremont and buchanan, as they must be known for the welfare of the country. i did it when i had an opportunity. a short time after that i heard a speech of "hon. burlingame," which contained a heap of "burlygames," and misrepresentations, deluding and instigating citizens of pennsylvania against buchanan, and soliciting them to vote for fremont. then i wrote what i thought proper, that it was used by others, and under the control of our heavenly leaders good and bad people, those who co-operated in truth with us, without any other interest except the interest of nations, as well as those who co-operated for their private interest, contributed their share for buchanan's election according to the merciful divine benignity, that we could peaceably prepare people for the new era until this hour under his administration, and warn the inhabitants of the united states, that they should lose no time to avert the impending judgments, which would have already effected a general destruction without hope of escape, except by blind submission to tyrants, if the falsely called republicans who have been made blind tools of the monarchial speculations, had succeeded with the intrusion of their candidate upon the presidential chair. if president buchanan and the american nation should continue in their course until the impending general judgments would destroy the country, then also in this most deplorable case, my inscription of this treatise would remain true, and nobody else but the american nation should be blamed, that they neglected to make use of the divine mercy and the divine benignity, by virtue of which they should have at least during buchanan's administration until now made use of the precious time, and spread our message for the pacification of the world. the explanation of the given hints and what is connected with them, would need a large and special volume; but we have mentioned here as much as sufficient, and remark that if mr. horace greeley and readers of the tribune, are desirous to know their great hero col. fremont, as he is exhibited in my above mentioned treatise, i will extract out of it the passages which belong to him and to the slanderers and abusers of president buchanan, and send them to be published in the new-york tribune with such remarks of the editors as they would think proper to add, under the condition to publish then also my answers to their remarks as i should think proper to make additions for a wholesome instruction to the editors and readers of the tribune, that they might be delivered from the delusion by which the true republican cause is ruined. if they are anxious to know truth, they will understand this book and determine to act with us for the redemption of nations from the monarchial powers. in this case they are requested to write to me under the directions which are given in the proper place of this book, and assure me in their writing, that they accept the proposition, and are determined to co-operate with us for the introduction of the promised new era of harmony and peace, in which publishers and editors will have nobler occupations than they have at present in the servitude laboring hard for the support of the beast and its ten horns. this was to be mentioned in this connection in regard to hon. horace greeley and the new-york tribune. but the parties of the so-called republicans and abolitionists will receive in an other treatise of this book extraordinary lessons, that they might at length commence to co-operate with us for the introduction of the millennial glory. many of them have abused and misrepresented me in my mission. therefore i do not marvel that they have abused and misrepresented also president buchanan not only during the campaign, but also during his administration. we have made urgent appeals to him, to make use of our message against the enemies of this republic; but he has neglected to do so, or perhaps my documents did not reach himself, or the neglect must be attributed rather to his enemies than to him. they would not hear me, and probably they would not have heard him. matters have to come so far as they are made manifest in this book. after the crusade of professed monarchists in europe became as manifest, as there is the crusade of abolitionists and false republicans against him manifest in america, we expect that president buchanan will comprehend at length our mission, and endeavor to arrive upon our ground to become the great apostle of the new era. if he comprehends this book and makes use of our weapons of the spirit, he will be a partaker of the great promise, and he will convert millions of his enemies of all parties and sects into his true friends, and those who will not be converted, will be destroyed. moses and other prophets of the old testament, christ and his apostles and prophets through the course of centuries of the christian era as well as of this time, have testified our mission, and signs are continuously repeated, announcing the final victory of the cause entrusted to our mission, as those who will study this book thoroughly, will be convinced of this unexpected assertion. but here for the close of this treatise we remark for the peculiar use to president buchanan and others who are invited to become our fellow laborers in the true republican or true christian against the monarchial or antichristian cause, that in the second and third chapters of the revelation the seven churches are typical symbols of the seven states of the church, and that to one or the other of these states each church of the christian name can be reduced, from the time the revelation has been published, to the time in which christ comes or is made manifest by our mission, in which that is performed and disclosed, which is needed for his peaceable reign on earth. in the second chapter of the revelation, verses 18 to 29 is thyatira the type of the roman catholic church. in the 24th and 25th verses to those roman catholics "who have not known the depths of satan," who has brought them so on the surface and perverted the truth of the doctrine, that they keep the shadow for truth, it is said: "i will put upon you none other burden. but that which ye have, hold fast till i come," revel. ii: 24 and 25. they have to keep the heavy burden of ceremonies, feasts and fasts, and all kinds of other practices which are not proficient to intellectual and moral perfection[f] of man, although they are connected with enormous expenses for the support of priests and many others, and for all the buildings, vessels, and all kinds of instruments, not knowing what is in their depth, till christ comes. and then it is said; "and he that overcometh and keeps my works unto the end, to him will i give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as i received of my father. and will i give him the morning star," revel. ii: 26, 27 and 28. here in the quoted verses at christ's coming christ's relation to him who overcometh, is such as the relation of a father to his son, who inherits from the father all things which the father possesses. christ has not been known in the churches of babylon, as he is made known in our mission to introduce the new jerusalem. christ in his appearance in flesh was the head, that is the representative of his body of followers; but they could not establish his peaceable reign. it was necessary, that through the course of centuries matters should be so developed, as prophets of the bible as well as in the subsequent ages did prophesy; and i, to be qualified for my present mission, had to go not only through the usual studies of the roman catholic church, but i had also to study continuously, with all sincerity of my heart, the sources of human knowledge and the investigations of different parties and sects, to support the roman catholic church against the assaults of her adversaries, and was found qualified to be public imperial royal professor of bibical literature in that church. in the charge of my professorship i considered myself peculiarly bound to defend with the use of the bible that church against all aggressions of the adversaries. i did not know at that time, that the spirit of my lord was preparing me through all stages of my life for my present office. but while i was investigating the depth of the "burden," of that church, comparing it with the jewish and heathen antiquities and with the developement of the mysteries of those antiquities through the centuries of the christian era, when i was duly prepared and the time of the last development of preparations for the millennial glory arrived, i was called by messengers of the heavenly congress to "the works," which were to be performed and explained by my instrumentality, and, under the direction of heavenly leaders, who were most qualified to be my leaders in "those works," i overcame all difficulties and i kept the "works of my spiritual father jesus christ unto the end," until all has been performed and explained, that belongs to the commencement of the millennial glory, or what is the same, for the new era or the new jerusalem. and we, that is, the whole body of messengers whom i represent, have received "the iron rod and the morning star," the two symbols of our mission. the first symbol testifies, that nations which reject our message of peace, will be broken to pieces. we do not break them, but we announce to them judgments by which they will be broken. but we are laboring to save nations, that they as god's people might come out from babylon, that they be not partakers of her sins and receive not of her plagues, revel. xviii: 4. if people hear our voice, they will be partakers of the heavenly blessings prepared for them in the new era or in the new jerusalem, and while they will be saved, their political and ecclesiastical systems "as the vessels of a potter will be broken to shivers." systems that could not bring better fruits than those which the political and ecclesiastical history and the experience of our days shows, are founded in delusion and deception, which were generating continuous destruction of human life and property and all the misery which is founded in political and ecclesiastical follies. but enlightened men and women of all ages and amongst all nations have seen a new day, and to us has been entrusted "the morning star," the symbol testifying that we have received all that is needed for the new day, the new era, which our morning star is announcing. all my published works and all my manuscripts are testifying, that it is impossible to save this country from the yoke of monarchs and from the most abject degradation and servitude, by any weapons except those which have been entrusted to our charge by christ's spirit. and those who study this whole book from the commencement to the end, in the same order in which the documents are placed in it, so that they understand each portion separately and the connection of it with all that precedes, to be prepared for the right understanding of what follows, to comprehend at length the whole, will be as convinced as i am, that we, that is i and all my visible and invisible fellow laborers, have truly received the great commission to move nations for the introduction of the promised new era, which will be the universal republic of truth and justice, harmony and peace amongst all nations, the dispensation of the fulness of times, in which all in heaven and on earth will be gathered together in christ, ephes, 1: 10. readers must keep in mind, that all that is written in this book is only a preparation to the "monthly theological course" which is appointed at the end. in the "monthly course" the system or the chain to bind the dragon revel. xx: 2 will be explained and that will be made manifest, which is mentioned in this book but cannot be explained. and our proceedings in that monthly course will be then published in different languages for a testimony to all nations, to move them for co-operation, that all in heaven and on earth might be brought to harmony and peace. president buchanan! allow me to close this treatise with some important words to you! for you we need no more testimonies than those partly printed partly written documents which i have sent at different critical occasions by the mail directly to you, if they had been handed to you, and you had studied them with such attention, as they deserved to be studied by the president of the united states. those testimonies would have been sufficient to convince you, that no other weapons can be used for the victory against your enemies and the enemies of the true republican cause, by whom this country is overflowed, and who in europe are preaching crusades against you and the supporters of the cause entrusted to your care, except the weapons of christ's spirit entrusted to our care. those who are with the lamb, called, chosen and faithful, will overcome the beast and its ten horns. revel. xvii: 14. this will not take place with preparations for war and with armies of soldiers; but we have the heavenly armies upon white horses, revel. xix: 14, and offer to all our enemies reconciliation with heaven and temporal and eternal most precious blessings. but if they reject the heavenly gifts, all infernal hosts are subject to our heavenly armies, and by these executioners of divine judgments as many of our enemies will be destroyed as sufficient, to move the rest of them to repentance. although i could give thousands of instances of destruction of enemies of our cause, who have been cast into the inferior regions, because they have rejected the heavenly gifts offered them by our instrumentality, i will mention only one instance for a peculiar warning to you. a.d. 1849 at our appointment of a latin convention in the city of new-york for an examination of the magnetic chain shown by our instrumentality to bind the dragon, revel. xx: 2, i sent to president zach. taylor a copy of my printed english circular in which that convention was appointed, and a copy of my large latin letter, taken from the copy which was directed and sent to the archbishop of baltimore to be read to all bishops of the united states, who were at that time assembling their synod in baltimore. to those copies i added my english letter in which i addressed president taylor showing to him, that our message is as important for all political as for all ecclesiastical governments and especially for the government of the united states to stop the papal imperal royal or monarchial influence and to restore the true republican cause, and that therefore he, president zach. taylor, was in duty bound to send to said convention qualified latin scholars to attend it. in my printed and written documents as many items have been concentrated as would have been sufficient to move the president to do what was required, if president taylor had been qualifyed for his post. we have warned him most solemnly, that he as the twelfth president, should not be a traitor of the republican cause, as judas jscariot was a traitor of christ's cause. but my warnings were not regarded by president taylor. after the destruction of the armies of those who were deceived in europe by their leaders that they were fighting with carnal weapons for the republican cause, i wrote again to president taylor showing, that he was responsible for all destruction of human life and property, which would have been saved, if he had not neglected to fulfil his highest duty which has been shown to him in my documents; but that, notwithstanding this, according to divine mercy, to save him and by his instrumentality many others, i was again authorized to apply to him and to show, what he ought to do in those circumstances, to open the way for spreading our message of peace amongst all nations. but when all my efforts to move the president for an energetic action for the support of the true republican cause remained without effect, i committed him to the judgment of the heavenly congress. on the 9th day of july, 1850, at 5 o'clock a.m., shortly after my arrival in cleveland ohio, an angel of the lord, a holy martyr, came to me and said, that i should write directly to the congress and show that president taylor had neglected to fulfil his highest duty and deserves on this account the severest judgment. after having finished my writing on that day, i was looking to find in cleveland somebody acquainted with a congressman to whom we could entrust my document. but on that day i could not find such a man. on the 10th i went to a "free soil" minister with the expectation, that he might know such a man. that minister was not at home; but his wife said, that he had gone to the post office and was soon expected to return. he returned with the message, that president taylor died at 10 o'clock p.m. of the preceding night. then i understood the mystery, that my writing was not prepared for the congress of the united states in washington but for the heavenly congress, and i have shown to that minister my writing directed to the congress of the united states. i did not hear before, that the president had been taken sick, although i have heard afterwards, that his sickness was very short, and that his last words were, that he was departing with the consciousness, that he had fulfilled his duties. this is the consolation which ministers of darkness impart to such destroyers as general and president zach. taylor was. if he had had any regard for the lives of his fellow beings and for their true happiness, he would have understood my documents and have done what was his duty for the destruction of the beast, its image and the false prophet, which destroy every year an enormous amount of human life and property. although i have mentioned in this treatise several strange facts, some of the following will appear more strange; but they will be the more comprehended, the more this whole book shall be understood. not only the order which i received in the morning of the day on which zach. taylor departed, to write to the congress that he had neglected to fulfill his highest duty, but also the day and hour, in which he daparted, were most suitable for the celebration of the mystery of zach. taylor's death, and the tremendous fire in philadelphia at 4 o'clock p.m. or 6 hours before taylor's death, was a prophetical precursor of his death. in that fire a number of persons were killed by a terrible powder explosion commemorating the fact that the privileged murderer had been nominated president in that city. all that happened by the dreadful influence of infernal demons under the control of messengers from our congress, who have given at the exact hours on the proper day signs of a great warning. as soon as i heard of president taylor's death, i understood, that i was ordered to write to the heavenly congress of the united states, that is, the congress of the holy prophets and martyrs who have the commission to unite finally all states of all governments on the globe in christ's peaceable reign or the universal republic of truth and justice, according to the prophecies which have been given by their mediumship, while they were yet in their mortal bodies. my writing to the congress was copied by one of our departed messengers, and when president taylor departed, my writing was shown to him. such things would not appear strange to bible readers, if they would understand what they read. here is no room to explain the actions of the departed, amongst which there is also writing and reading. when the departed president was reading my document showing that he had neglected to fulfil his highest duty, his animal passion of murder was aroused, to kill the writer. that privilege was granted to him only under the condition, if he succeeds by taking a toad in possession, and by its instrumentality poisoning the water of the well at the house in which i used to stop. the water was poisoned; the prophetess and her husband with whom i boarded, when i was in that section of the country, were by drinking the water, taken sick, and they recovered as soon as they ceased to use the water, but they could not catch the toad. it happened before my arrival with them. and when i arrived in their house and would drink of that excellent water, they warned me. but i did not care about their warning and drank, and was straightway taken sick and continued to be sick, till a heavenly messenger came at the right hour and took the sickness away. at length the toad was caught and killed the right day and hour by the husband of the prophetess, who was a zealous democrat. he was in many battles with generals of napoleon i. and killed men and animals; but he assured us oftentimes, that he never had so much trouble in killing any creature, as with that toad, and never heard so pitiful lamentations as have been poured out by that toad when it was dying. zach. taylor, when he was compelled to leave the toad and to enter into the infernal regions of his inner life, into his torments, resisted as long as he could; but when the right day and hour came, he could not resist longer. if you study this whole book so, as you need to study it, you will not be surprised at such unexpected events. you read in the fifth chapter of mark, that a whole legion of demons, that is a whole regiment of soldiers who have been destroyed in a battle, have been permitted to enter into a heard of hogs. but they could not remain there, and were compelled to enter into the depth of the lake. and general taylor who had destroyed many people, after having despised reconciliation and apostleship offered to him by virtue of our mission, was at length not allowed to be with a toad, but was compelled to descend into the abyss. i have given here only some hints of strange events which are in connection with other events which could not be mentioned here, nor can we explain what we have mentioned without enlarging this treatise. but we have written a peculiar treatise in which president taylor's spirit manifestation by the instrumentality of a toad is circumstantially explained in a manuscript which will be published when required. but here we have mentioned as much as we could in this confined space, and we hope, that not only you, president buchanan, but also emperor napoleon as well as your friends and enemies in general will reflect upon such things with earnestness. on the 24th day of june 1839, i returned from philadelphia to boston with many collections to write the third of my five german volumes, and to show, that the memorable events which have been reported in my first and second volumes, happened according to prophecies, as signs testifying our mission. when, on that day, as is reported in my 3d volume, i was praying in my room and preparing to write the 3d volume, emperor napoleon, in his imperial splendour stood before me with the invitation, that i might become his medium. i looked into his inner state, and the magnetic outward splendor disappeared, and his inner wretchedness and distress were manifest, and he could not stand any longer before me, and, with an explosion like a powerful thunderclap, he left me and took the direction to europe. the title of my third volume, if we translate it from german into english, reads: "memorable events in the life of andrew bernardus smolnikar. third volume containing the explanation of prophecies, by which christ the lord, has confirmed that he has appeared unto us for the fulfilling of his promises, in order to restore his reign upon the whole earth and to give his peace to all nations, and has at his appearance appointed the author as an extraordinary messenger, and performed by him all the mysteries for the foundation of that peace &c., new-york, 1840." we read, "put on the whole armour of god, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness[g] in high places." ephes. vi: 11 and 12. these are the secret enemies whom we must know, and we must stand on a ground, on which they cannot come, and from which we will conquer them. when napoleon was allowed to approach me with the invitation, that i should follow him, that is, that i should become his medium, he was allowed in a like manner, as the tempter or devil in the 4th chapter of matthew was allowed to tempt jesus. napoleon was one of the dragons or devils, who was permitted to do so for a great instruction to all rulers on the globe. there is not one, but there are many dragons or devils, leading each his sphere of infernal demons or degraded departed spirits. you will understand the more the mystery, the farther you proceed in studying this book. now is renewed and fulfilled, what is written in the gospels, and what in the bible was not understood, receives light by our experience. jesus could not descend from his height, to become a medium of one of these rulers of darkness. and likewise i could not do this. this dragon, this spirit of delusion and destruction, when i commenced to look into his interiors was made manifest, and he could not stand any longer. he was compelled to leave me instantly and to be tormented seeking another medium. at length[h], because our message of peace has been rejected and people were so degraded, that the european revolution of 1848 opened the way to the throne of napoleon iii, napoleon i. could have this as a suitable medium to delude and destroy nations. and to this dragon so much of human life and property has been sacrificed, that for the celebration of the birth of the papal imperial royal mary on the 8th september 1855, thirty thousand soldiers have been murdered at the taking of sebastopol. nobody who does not see human affairs from our position, can duly appreciate the criminality of such a tremendous madness, from which to deliver napoleon iii. and his armies, you, president buchanan, are able to give us a powerful assistance. i do not despair of the conversion of napoleon iii himself. when people descend so deep into the society of infernal spirits that there is no other remedy than destruction of many to save the remnant, then according to divine judgment people receive such rulers as are connected with one or the other of the infernal dragons, to inspire them with the infernal furies to destroy each other. great warriors are great mediums of the princes of darkness. but if they are reached by our instrumentality, they when they are studying our message of peace, are drawing their leading spirits from their depth of misery into a better condition. napoleon iii. if he could be moved to study our message of peace and to act accordingly, could reach his uncle napoleon, and draw him into the pacification. what we mention here, is explained in our system for the promised new era. this is the joyful message, which is to be communicated by your instrumentality, president buchanan, to emperor napoleon and other monarchs, that they might study our message of peace and become our fellow laborers to draw their living and departed friends into the new era, or the new jerusalem, which is to be introduced by our instrumentality. and you, president buchanan, are powerfully exhorted, to prepare for the kingdom of our lord and his christ, revel. xi: 15. editors and translators of the new testament were so ignorant of the true christian principles that they took instead of "the kingdom of our lord and his christ" the wrong reading "the kingdoms" in plural number; but there will be one kingdom, that is, one government of our lord, and his christ. and this will be a true republican government--to give explanations about which there is no room here, but we remark, that this great truth will become self-evident to those who comprehend this book. and we expect, that you, respected president buchanan, will comprehend it and then you will take the spiritual weapons, which are comprehended in our message, for the conversion of monarchs into true republicans, which is the same, as true christians. but in the first place bishops and priests in america are to be moved, to attend our monthly theological course and then assist us at the conversion of monarchs; and we expect that by your good example and your assistance bishops and priests will learn at length to comprehend their highest duty. matters come to maturity; but we will not expatiate, because we have already extended this treatise so far: nothing but our duty to do all in our power for the pacification of nations, moved us to write it according to our mission for the redemption of oppressed humanity. postscript to the first treatise. i arrived the last time in washington city at the end of march, this year, 1859, and remained there until the 8th of april. then i walked to baltimore and wrote to hon. hicks, governor of maryland, and invited him, to study the documents which i had offered to president buchanan, but he had no time to study them, although they contain matters of great importance for all governments to remove war and establish peace on the whole globe. i mentioned many items in my letter that i expected to move the governor to accept my offer; but, received no answer. the same time a great sign was given so that i was sent speedily from baltimore to the western reserve of ohio. at my arrival there the spring was changed in a severe winter, and i commenced to write during a great storm and snow on easter saturday, april 23d 1859, a new treatise exhibiting wonders and signs in connexion with presidents and other high officers of the federal government of the united states and showing, how they are subjugated by the beast with seven heads and are supporting the ten horns of that beast, and that there will be a great destruction of human life and property in this country, as there is in europe, if it shall not be stopped by receiving and spreading our heavenly message of peace, which is developed by our mediumship. since my public appearance in my present mission there was continuous correspondence of memorable events connected with the government of the united states and memorable events connected with the steps of my mission, containing most solemn warnings to this government, and many striking instances are concentrated in said treatise which was intended to occupy the second place in this book. but we found that the book would become too large, to be bought and studied by many who might be attracted to study this and then to co-operate with us for the fulfilment of the prophecy which was given by the disappearance of the steamboat president and all persons, who were in it at the same time in which president harrison died in such connexion with what was set in type at the same time for my 4th volume, entitled: "the one thing needfull," and with the documents which were at the same time sent from europe for our use, and explained in said volume in such correspondence with the disappearance of the steamboat president and the death of president harrisson, that the prophecy contained in those events is manifest, by which the spirit assures us, that he will sweep away the antichristian government of the united states as well as other governments. knowing this, people of the united states and their officers may avoid all the dreadful destruction, which is in europe preparing the way, that at length governments and people will pay attention to our message and learn how to establish perfect peace on the whole globe. after the disappearance of president harrison and of the prophetical steamboat president, solemn warnings were repeated under all following presidents in correspondence with what happened in our mission; and in this respect president buchanan is peculiarly remarkable, and in said treatise memorable events of great warnings connected with his administration have been explained. but we must delay their publication, and every reader will find in the following treatises of this book superabundance of solemn warnings, that all might become our zealous fellow laborers for the accomplishment of the glorious promises, and that especially president buchanan might give to others good example and come from patching the old house which must crumble to pieces, in our peace union and give powerful assistance for the introduction of the promised new era. great mercy was shown through him to the country while he is yet in babylon, but was quenching the fire which would have consumed the country, if his antagonist had been elected president. therefore, notwithstanding his having neglected the one thing needful until this hour we expect, that he will arrive at length on our ground and co-operate with us in building the new jerusalem. this treatise, to which i add this postscript june 22d 1859, was written in february last, and the tremendous war and destruction in italy broke out two or three months afterwards, exactly[i] while i was explaining the thrilling prophecy given by daniel or judgement of god performed by sickles under the control of our leader in the 14th verse of the 14th chap, of the revel., "having in his hand a sharp sickle." he gave to the destroying spirit the permission to seize the medium and to show prophetically what he will do in hundreds of thousands of cases, if the right order shown in our plan, will not be restored. there is a depth in the mystery of the unexpected tragedy, in which all actors have most suitable names and offices, each for the post he occupies; and the most suitable spot as well as the most suitable day and hour were selected for the performance, with all the preceding, accompanying and following circumstances in correspondence with our doing on the same sunday sexagesima on which this year the tragedy was perpetrated, as well as what happened in the preceding years since my first public appearance in my present mission on that sunday a.d. 1838, and the initiation which has been imparted to me on that sunday for my present ministry, by the martyr on the white cloud, who has in his hand a sharp sickle, revel. xiv. 14. i give here only some hints; but the explanation is given in connexion with many other cases of a great warning to this government in the treatise, the publication of which must be delayed; for we expect that the contents of the following treatises of this book will be strong enough to awaken the enemies of president buchanan to give us assistance to awaken him from his lethargy, if he should not be sooner aroused to assist us to deliver them from their wrong course, by which they injure the great cause of the true freedom of nations. in the great ignorance in which people are regarding the inner life of man and the spirit world, they are reading many signs of the times, without understanding what they read. i mentioned above, that i started on the 8th april from washington. it is to be understood that so many signs and wonders took place and so many secrets were disclosed, while i was trying spirits in washington, that a book of this size would be too small to comprehend them. on the 8th april 1859, i finished all work which i had to perform in washington, at the same hour, in which four men were, all at once in baltimore, hung by the neck, till dead, although the black struggled some minutes longer with death than his white companions. as soon as my work was finished in washington, i started and walked to baltimore, and arrived in that city on the 9th april, when all newspapers were filled with reports of the execution, and with biographies of the executed. i had to read the reports of that execution which belongs to the links of the chain to bind the dragon revel. xx., 2. that reading occasioned my above mentioned letter to governor hicks. i thought, that perhaps after the execution of some champions of his party, he and other leaders of that party might be more prepared to receive lessons from us, than they were prepared in former times, while i was applying to them in baltimore, annapolis, and in hundreds of other cities and villages, exhorting and warning them, to study our message of peace, and co-operate with us for the true american, or, what is the same, the true republican cause. but they have despised our warnings. at length matters arrived so far that, if all other warnings of this book should not be sufficient, we expect that the spirit manifestations which are connected with that execution and are mentioned in the fourth treatise of this book, will move them to become our worthy fellow labourers for the fulfilment of the grandest promises. but we repeat, that every reader should study this book in the same order in which it is written, weighing with great attention and earnestness every sentence, till he understands it and retains in his mind all that preceded. if you have studied in this manner this treatise, you are prepared for studying the second treatise. second treatise. memorable events, by which the parties of abolitionists and republicans as well as subjects of monarchs should be aroused for co-operation with us, to draw not only the president and the congress of the united states but also monarchs on our ground for the introduction of the promised universal republic of harmony and peace on earth. as strange as our disclosures made in the first treatise may appear to those who have neglected to observe the signs of the times, they should not be surprised who know that the time for the fulfilment of the great promises in regard to mankind had arrived, although all things seem to run in quite another course than they expected. in the 6th verse of the 14th chap. of the revels. the first of the three angels spoken of in that and the following verses, commences to deliver his message. at the commencement of the last century it was known amongst german theologians, that those three angels or messengers are the three men, each of whom is representing a body of messengers by whom the contents of the prophecy given to each of those angels are to be fulfilled. the first is preaching the everlasting gospel, the contents of which are given in the 7th verse. gospel is greek evangelion and means glad tidings. the contents of the glad tiding of his preaching is that nations should be converted from their idols to god the creator of the universe, and he announces that the time of judgment had arrived. the commencement of this preaching took place with martin luther, so that he is to be considered as the representative of those, who are comprehended in the prophecy of the first of those three angels. but luther and other preachers who came at that time and afterwards against the pope of rome, and continue yet in the same spirit their work, did not know in luther's time nor afterwards, nor do they know in our time their position, except as they learn it by what is disclosed by the third angel or messenger, who commences his prophecy in the 9th verse of the 14th chap. of the revel. in the third of my five german volumes, published from a.d. 1838 to 1842 it has been shown that luther had a prophetical position, that is, he was according to the term adopted by modern spiritualists, a very strong medium, inspired and supported by his leaders, who were deluding and destroying spirits, who did not know the true god and his christ, but were prophesying judgments which took place and continue till people shall be converted from their idols to the living god. the three hundred years from luther's appearance to our appearance, were years of manifold developments preparatory to our mission. although luther was born in eisleben, that means "the life in ice," because the fire of christian charity has been extinguished, and the spirit of persecution was nourished amongst all parties and sects, notwithstanding this great preparations have taken place since his public appearance till our public appearance, and there is an admirable correspondence between his actions in the sixteenth century and my actions which took place in the same years of the nineteenth century, till luther died on the 18th day of february 1546, which year in our century, i mean 1846, was the great tropical year for dreadful renovations of judgments, for the reason that the leaders of parties and sects and their followers have rejected our message, which i commenced to proclaim after having been publicly initiated to my present mission on the 18th day of february 1838. we shall speak further on in this book regarding the great event. but we have mentioned doctor martin luther as representing the champions of protestantism against popery. their mission is only prophetical. on their position they are supporting popery or monarchy in general and they are particularly supporting a number of popish tenets regarding the bible, regarding christ and his mission and manifold other doctrines, in which when they endeavored to improve, they generally apostatized farther from truth towards materialism, than the papal hierarchy themselves; but they were continuously repeating the substance of their prophecy, that people should be converted from their idols to the living god. but by all that repetition parties and sects multiplied, and there has been since martin luther's appearance until this hour so dreadful a babylon, or confusion and delusion in social, political and ecclesiastical affairs, as there never was before. and while pious men were looking into the prophecies, to see the end of this dreadful babylon, doctor bengel of wurtemberg in germany was awakened in the first part of the last century, to compare for many years the prophetical dates of the revelation with events of the ecclesiastical history, and has shown in his book, entitled: "erklaerte offenbarung," which means "revelation explained," that christ's manifestation for overcoming his enemies and establishing his peaceable reign on earth, would take place about the year 1836. john wesley was not the author but only the copy holder of what doctor bengel has explained in the revelation. that doctor bengel was the 2nd angel representing the body of messengers spoken of in revelation xiv. 8, has been shown in my above mentioned 3d volume, in which it is made manifest, that the mission of the 2nd angel is as well prophetical, as the mission of the first angel, revel. xiv. 6. but in this treatise we had only to mention matters, which have been explained in my quoted volume. doctor bengel and the whole body of messengers who came from his school proclaiming the coming of christ about the year 1836, and wm. miller and the army of preachers with him who were proclaiming christ's coming about the year 1843, and others proclaiming it in some other period, were ignorant about the manner of his coming or of his manifestation for establishing his peaceable reign. all these and many other things have been reserved to the 3d angel or messenger, spoken of in revel. xiv. 9. this is our mission. the martyr on the white cloud in the 14th verse, having "in his hand a sharp sickle," was my leader in what i had to perform in the roman catholic church in the year 1838 as the 3d angel revel.: xiv. 9, representing the body of messengers, by whom the proclamation of the contents of revel.: xiv. 9, 10, 11, must be made everywhere. and those great events and the prophecies in which they have been predicted, have been explained in the first three of my above mentioned german volumes; and we have so many credentials or signs according to prophecies testifying our mission, that while we were writing the fifth of my above mentioned five volumes, we were repeating, that sensible readers of those volumes were aware, that five hundred volumes could be written, testifying our mission. and when they study this whole volume and comprehend it, they will be convinced of the same truth. the third angel or the messenger representing the body of messengers, by whose efficacy the beast and its image and the false prophet supporting them, will disappear from the globe, gives in the last treatise of this book the plan according to which the beast and its image and the false prophet will disappear and christ's peaceable reign will be established on the whole globe. peace would have been already established amongst nations of the christian name and they would have labored at this time powerfully in the conversion of heathens not to one or the other sect but into the peaceable reign of christ, which will be the universal republic of truth and justice, if those who have been exhorted first, to study our message of peace had fulfilled their highest duty. the first who have been powerfully urged to study our message of peace and the credentials of our mission, were bishops, doctors of divinity and other clergymen of all parties and sects where i had opportunity to reach them. but when they refused to fulfill their highest duty, i was particularly engaged to move abolitionists to study what has been providentially prepared by our instrumentality to move slaveholders themselves for co-operation with us to introduce the millennium or the universel republic of truth and justice and peace amongst all nations: because i was certain, that if the abolitionists would study it, slaveholders themselves would do the same. but alas! when jesus was explaining the dreadful condition of jerusalem, the jews did not see it. likewise also citizens of the united states do not see theirs as we see it from the position of our mission. the principal elements of the vulcano the eruption of which is yet latent, are in leaders of abolitionists, who are obstinate materialists refusing to make use of the means which are offered them in our message to extinguish the burning vulcano. they have lost discernment and judgment, when it is most necessary to make the right use of it, to liberate the country from the yoke of tyrants. although i could write volumes to illustrate my assertion, at this occasion i mention only a little of my experience in the convention to overcome evil with good, and which was in the newspapers announced under the specious title: philanthropic convention to overcome evil with good, and which was held on the 10th, 11th and 12th days of september, 1858, in utica of the state of new-york. the most influential persons in that convention were abolitionists of the garrisonian and gerrit smith's parties and spiritulists belonging to those and to the republican party. i attended that convention to offer the remedy against the pernicious effects, which are produced by the wrong course which leaders of those parties pursue for destruction of this republic, and to show the course which all true reformers have to pursue for harmony and peace of all nations. that those who are concerned and their followers might be converted to the true republican cause, and all true republicans might be strengthened not to be deceived by secret and open servants of tyrants and by deluding and destroying spirits and sectarian ministers of darkness, i find proper to insert here the article which i wrote shortly after the convention, but i did not find a chance to publish; because we are not popular, when we dare to express so great truths as are comprehended in said lengthy article which reads as follows: preparations for the resolutions "to overcome evil with good;" also: introductory remarks to expose the league by which the utica "philantrophic convention" was governed. there are many such pretenders as the garrisonian liberator of boston, who, under the specious pretext to liberate slaves, are the greatest supporters of slavery, by rejecting the means providentially prepared for deliverance of all men and women from the yoke of tyrants, and by instigating people to revolutions and other sacrilegious enterprises to ruin this country and bring it under the yoke of monarchs. while i was endeavoring in many places, to move people to study our disclosures regarding the divine plan for a peaceful abolition of all kinds of slavery by co-operation of slaveholders themselves, and for the introduction of the promised universal republic of harmony and peace, which is usually although improperly called the millennium, i found them everywhere so deluded by the infernal league, that they have neglected to study "the one thing needfull" for the true freedom of all nations. during my travelling in more than twenty of the united states i stopped several times in the western reserve of ohio. i found more worshippers of the garrisonian liberator there than in other sections of the country of the same population, those places excepted, which are inhabited by that sect of quakers who are called "progressive friends," who are progressing very fast in the arts of the infernal league for the ruin of the true republican cause. i arrived a.d. 1847 at the quaker settlement, called green plane, near xenia in ohio, and appointed there in a wesleyan meeting-house a convention, in which i proposed to explain the signs of our mission and the plan according to which, when it will be understood and spread on the globe, all kinds of slavery will be abolished. i expected that quakers and other abolitionists of that section of the country would take great interest in our movement. but i experienced afterwards, that the small popes of that section were against it, although they themselves did not disturb our convention; but a quaker and a wesleyan minister, both from a distance, were so great disturbers of it, that whenever an important point was to be examined, they directed the attention of the audience to other subjects; although that convention has been called for an examination of the points concentrated in my manuscript. when i saw, that they were in conspiracy with others in the convention, i myself dissolved it. i asked then the quaker preacher joseph dugdale, whose residence was next to the meeting-house of the convention, why he did not attend it. he answered, that he received from the spirit what he needed. i started from thence for the western reserve of ohio, and appointed in trumbol county a convention, and sent an article to the garrisonian liberator. in that article i assured the abolitionists, that from my documents which should be examined in the convention, it would be evident, that we have received the mission, and that we have as credentials of our mission a long chain of signs according to prophecies, by which we are assured, that we will abolish all kinds of slavery and monarchy by the power of the spirit, with the assistance of slaveholders themselves, when abolitionists shall comprehend our message and spread it on the globe. lloyd garrison, the head medium of the infernal league, has published my article, but with such editorial remarks, as were quite agreeable to his master, the infernal holiness. i forgot to inquire, whether my article appeared or not in the liberator, till on the first day of our convention a man remarked that our convention was small on account of garrison's editorial remarks to my article and his grand tent meeting in the neighborhood at the same time with our convention. i came from a distance, and was ignorant of the great provisions made by the infernal holiness to retain his slaves in bondage at the appointment of our convention for their deliverance. the same man had a copy of the liberator containing my article with garrison's remarks. they were read to the convention. then i made my remarks[j] and the proposition, to finish our convention so as to reach on the last day garrison's[k] grand tent meeting in lima, ohio, and proclaim there our resolutions. we did so. a committee from our convention went with me, and we arrived in lima at the garrisonian tent meeting on the last day. several thousand persons were assembled, and the first business after our arrival was the reading of a resolution, in which garrison and his fellow laborers were declared as the true ministers of the gospel, in connexsion with a fatal blow to the ministers of other sects. a general reception of the resolution was testified with "yes" from a thousand voices; but when the contrary vote was required, there was only my "no" heard; but it was so strong, that it surprised the whole audience. i added that i came to show, who the true ministers of the gospel[l] were. we agreed with the committee consisting of three public speakers, that they should make use of the first opportunity to proclaim the resolutions which have been unanimously adopted in our convention. soon after my tremendous "no" one of our committee arose and told the assembled thousands, that a committee sent from an anti-slavery convention had arrived with most important resolutions, to be publicly read in the grand tent meeting. the chairman replied, that next after the address of the man who occupied the floor, they should deliver their resolutions. they went directly on the platform. but the pharisees on the platform were anxious to find out, who the man was, that gave the strong negative vote to their resolution. some amongst them knew me personally. therefore as soon as our committee came upon the platform, the above mentioned quaker preacher joseph dugdale came to me inquiring, whether that committee belonged to my association or not. i said, that he should not ask me, but the committee, to which association they belonged. one of the deepest english investigators into the jewish and christian antiquities wrote in one of his publications, that there is no society more like the society of the old pharisees, than the society of quakers is. he knew them in england, and i know them in america, and confess that it is true in regard to the quaker speculators, who have enslaved the whole quaker society, to be in their servitude and to prepare in their ignorance of matters the subjugation of the whole country under the yoke of monarchs. joseph dugdale is the principal medium who was carried soon after that spectacle to pennsylvania, and demons were powerfully operating through him in starting the sect of the "progressive friends." but at that tent meeting he inspired the heads to be cautious in admitting our committee to speak. therefore after the address of the man after whom our committee according to the promise of the chairman were to address the tent meeting, another was announced by name, to speak, and then a second, a third, and so on, although our committee were waiting on the platform from 9 o'clock a.m. till 2 or 3 p.m. at length the chairman announced, that teams had arrived, to carry the tent from that to another place. provisions had been made, that if there should be danger for the infernal league, things might be prepared, to break of the tent. therefore when the chairman announced the advent of the teams, another pharisee mentioned, that the waiting committee had not yet spoken and the chairman said, that they should speak. the speaker, instead of reading directly the resolutions of our convention, undertook to prepare the audience by telling them, that he knew how to value the great zeal of mr. garrison for the deliverance of slaves. and as far mr. garrison and others on the platform seemed to be pleased. but as soon as he mentioned, that "garrison is not infallible," those who were ready for action, commenced to break off the tent, and there arose such a tumult amongst the assembled people, that nobody could distinguish the voice of the speaker from the noise of the crowd. these items may suffice, to make known the infallible pope, the garrisonian liberator, although i could write many volumes of extroardinary spirit manifestations in public and private meetings with members of that party, while i was endeavoring to deliver them from the shackles of the infernal holiness and his armies. but they remained so fastened, as in their "philanthropic convention" in utica, which i attended because we had been informed, that the poughkeepsie seer, andrew jackson davis, was the principal author of said convention, or, the principal medium of speculators calculating to extend the government of the infernal liberator by using said convention. andrew jackson davis is the prince of mediums of spirits, who appear as angels of light, but when they are tried by us, they are made manifest as dreadful deluding and destroying demons. after they had been made manifest to me by his deceiving publications, i tried several times to reach him personally, and to show him his dreadful situation and how he could arrive on our ground. but his cunning demons carried him away from my presence. at length i met with him on the tenth of this month september, 1858, in the "philanthropic convention" of utica. ira hitchcock was appointed chairman. his first name means in latin "wrath" or "vengence," and the second name is in the english language appropriate to the important office which our duped and deceived friend did receive in said convention. mr. davis offered some rules, to be observed in the convention they were adopted. one of those rules was, that no speaker should occupy more than twenty minutes, except the audience should desire, that after the expiration of twenty minutes he should continue to speak. mr. davis was called, to open the convention with his speech. it was read from a manuscript and contained a very imposing and deceiving view of the past and the present in the history of mankind. since his reading lasted more than one hour, i asked after its close, that it should be decided, whether those who open the meeting, should be bound by the adopted rule of twenty minutes, or be permitted to speak or read as long as they would be pleased also when they misrepresent the history in such an absurd manner as the speaker did. no regard was taken of what i said, and they proceeded in singing and speaking. the afternoon session was opened with as long a reading as the forenoon session. after the reading they debated, whether it should be directly printed in a newspaper of the place and in extra copies, or not. it was unanimously decided that it should be printed, except that i disturbed the unanimous vote with a powerful "no." but when i desired to give my reasons, that its publication would not serve "to overcome evil with good," but to increase the evil, i was stopped, as being not in order in opposition to a resolution which had been unanimously carried out. for a better understanding of the spectacles which will be mentioned afterwards, we must remark the following incident, which happened on that day, to wit, somebody mentioned, that there came many female mediums from a great distance in the expectation to be moved in the convention by spirits to speak, that therefore all these mediums should come on the platform, and speak, whenever any of them should be moved by a spirit to do so. i think that others felt the absurdity of that proposition, which if it had been, accepted, would have created great confusion and hindrance to the realization of their speculations; therefore they did not respond to his suggestion. readers should know, that if not all, certainly most of the heads and the agents of that convention were spiritualists of the latest fashion. on the afternoon of that day, after singing, i suddenly took the stand, to make use of the twenty minutes time, conceded by the rule of the convention to every speaker. i wished to show, that nobody in the convention touched the root of the evil; and that when others have neglected to study our message of peace, which shows that root and how to extirpate it, at length spiritualists have been urged to do so. but they, instead of progressing and learning by our message, how to overcome evil with good, were attached to evil spirits, and they deluded people regarding our message of peace, when we endeavored to move them to study it and act accordingly. instead of many instances of our experience testifying this, i would mention only my experience at the last public meeting of spiritualists which i attended in the city of new york. a female medium whose lying spirits were exposed by me in a public meeting of spiritualists in philadelphia on the first day of the last month (august 1858) came on the 22d of the same month to a meeting of spiritualists in new-york, in which meeting i spoke. during my speech the demon by whom she was possessed, propelled her three times to stop my speech. but when he was rebuked so terribly, that her friends could not bear any longer, they awakened her from her sleep and carried her out of the hall. but as soon as i ceased to speak, she returned; and the demon shut instantly her eyes, and said through her, that i am a judas jscariot, a jesuit, an emissary of the pope, &c. the chairman was induced, to ask the name of the spirit; but he refused to tell his name. then he said through his medium, that he is "donquixote thomas paine." the first name he pronounced so that i knew by the pronunciation, who amongst my departed friends was the controller of the lying spirit, by whom the medium was possessed. my departed friend compelled him in the first place to tell, that he was don quixote, known as the hero in the celebrated spanish romance or fable called don quixote. a similar fiction was also the speech of the demon by whom that medium was possessed, only that those who do not know me, might take the calumny of the devil for truth. after the confession that he was don quixote, to make which he was compelled by a higher power, he added according to his lying propensity, that he was thomas paine, although he was not thomas paine. when i desired to explain, from which sphere of spirits that liar came, i was stopped by a man crying behind me to the chairman, asking him whether i should be permitted or not to occupy an hour, while nobody could understand me. at such interruptions i strike sometimes the impudent demons, as they deserve to be stricken. i think, that i did not speak ten minutes, when that interruption took place. to draw my attention from the disturbing demon, henry c. wright jumped to me, saying that i should not speak, because i am not understood, and he told the audience that he knew me to be a good man, but that i could not be understood by americans. i interrupted him saying with indignation, that he did not know me and that those do not understand me, who have ears and will not hear and eyes and will not see. i felt that the audience were not prepared for further explanations; but the truth is, that while i have been speaking english on more than one thousand places in america, those who have acquired some education and paid attention to my discourses, understood me; but enemies of truth complained, that they could not understand me, or they made disturbance. not to give to demons any opportunity to enrage their mediums against me at the night session of that day, i would not attend that session. on the 11th inst. at the first opportunity at the forenoon session i offered the resolutions to be read, for a better understanding of which these remarks are a preparation. but the chairman remarked, that that was not the proper time for reading my resolutions. then i kept silence at that session. but during the afternoon session i offered several times my resolutions to be read. but ira hitchcock always interfered, pointing to some other, that he was in order to speak, although i did not see, that he arose before me for this purpose. i found proper not to attend any of the following sessions of said convention, in which i have offered the means, "to overcome evil with good;" but the infernal league hindered their communication to the people, and when the mediums of the infernal league thought, that they were removing evil and promoting good, they were doing just the contrary. if we have the mission which is proved in many of my volumes and expressed at the end of the resolutions for which we are preparing readers by these remarks, then all those who are hindering the circulation of our message of peace, are the most dreadful slaveholders and destroyers of human life and property. they keep people in shackles of delusion and ignorance of what they should know, to prevent destruction of many and subjugation of the remnant by cruel tyrants. i saw the report of the proceedings on the first day of the convention in two utica daily papers. i quote from the utica morning herald, september 11th, 1858, the following passage regarding my first interference, as follows: "at the conclusion of mr. davis' lengthy harangue, a german arose and said, he hopes that those who opens the meetings, speaks no more as twenty minutes, or not! i have prepared a speech on the root of all evil that will not dake so mooch dime as the friends who have speak!" the devil, that means calumniator, by whom this reporter was so possessed, that he knew neither orthography nor grammar, was not so bad as the devil, by whom the evening 'telegraph' was possessed. he, in the service of the heads of the convention, calls me "the member from germany," also "the teutonic individual," and what he reports, he so reports for the benefit of the infernal league according to the wishes of mediums of lying spirits, that i had to write much if i would explain the cunning malice, which is comprehended in the misrepresentations and lies in regard to the exertions which i made to move the "philanthropic convention" to an investigation of my written documents showing that which is first necessary to overcome evil with good. but here not being room, i quote only the following passage, which the telegraph has published as my saying: "i knew don ke shott; some call him don quixote, but i call him don ke shott. i can tell you all about him." mediums of lying and destroying spirits have been brought to that convention from the cities of new-york, boston and many other places of several states. to deliver those slaves from their tyrants, i mentioned, that at my last attendance of a public meeting of spiritualists in new-york a female medium was seized by a terrible devil who declared, that i was "judas iscariot[m], an emissary from the pope, a jesuit," although after my having been from a.d. 1819, till 1838 a roman catholic priest, i was working since the year 1838, according to my mission, with great zeal for the abolition of all kinds of popery. on this account i am abused and persecuted not only by the agents of the grand pope of rome, but also by such small popes, as have been assembled in said "philanthropic convention" as well as by their reporters. i mentioned in my address, that the lying spirit who said through the female medium, that i am a "judas iscariot[m], a jesuit, an emissary from the pope," did confess then, that he is "don quixote thomas paine." but that my remark was then so terribly abused, as the above quoted passage testifies. lying spirits are supported by speakers and by editors of newspapers. the reader should recollect what i said above regarding henry c. wright's assisting his colleague interrupting my speech. the herald reports it, as follows: "mr. wright finally said he had known smollnikar for some time, he was a very worthy man, but the convention could not understand him when he tried to speak english." smollnikar--"they have ears and will not hear, they have eyes and will not see." the herald has given here the substance and also the name of mr. wright. but this did not agree with the position of the heads of the convention, who have promised free speech, and then one of the principal heads of abolitionists came as judas jscariot to me, and assisted the murderer of my message, with a hypocritical address to the audience, as if he was my best friend. therefore instead of his name henry c. wright there appeared in the telegraph "a lagerbeer," as if i had spoken so in the convention, that intoxicated germans themselves had found it necessary to stop me in my speech. i did not see any german in the convention; but it would be too mild to call henry c. wright a "lagerbeer." he is a "wright" or a workman, an emissary of the infernal "ira hitchcock," the latin word "ira" means the wrath or vengence, which appeared in the chairman ira hitchcock, or hitch, that means catch the cock, that he might not cry and awaken people from their lethargy, to save the country from the infernal wrath and vengeance, which is kindled by such emissaries of his infernal holiness, as henry c. wright is, a blasphemer of the living god and his christ, and a rebel against divine decrees made manifest in our mission, but which have been despised by henry c. wright, ira hitchcock and other heads of said convention. those rebels against god and his christ had many years ago opportunity to learn the divine decrees for redemption of oppressed humanity; but they have conspired also in their last convention, to check their proclamation and to open the infernal crater of a volcano to destroy the country by rebellion and other crimes, which have been openly defended by henry c. wright and others in that convention, in which by our mission the means were offered to abolish all kinds of slavery in a peaceable manner. in my signature at the end of the resolutions as well as in my publications, you find my name correctly written. but the mentioned reporters were mediums of deluding and destroying spirits by whom they were magnetized and were made deaf and blind, so that they thought, i was a german; although they should have so much sense of discernment, and judgment, as to know from my pronunciation, that i am not a german. if i had been a german, i could not have received[n] the mission with which i am charged--because the messenger in the mission with which i am charged, must come, according to prophecies, from the slavonian nation, from the country called illyria or illyricum, from the town, named in my mother tongue kamnik, in greek and latin lithopolis, in german stein, in english stone. against the impudence with which also my language was so terribly misrepresented there is no room to make more than this remark: a.d. 1835, i wrote a latin treatise "on the congeniality of languages," showing how by the comparative study of languages many deep truths for the introduction of christ's peaceable reign or of the universal republic of truth and justice would be unravelled. before i was qualified to write such a treatise, i had to study many ancient and modern languages, some more thoroughly, and some only by looking over the grammar and dictionary. here is no room to explain the reasons, why i devoted, before writing said treatise, only some few hours and learned more than the herald and the telegraph and other scoffers of our mission have learned all their life time regarding the etymology of their own english mother tongue. if they cannot comprehend this our assertion without our explanation, i am ready to explain it in an article, if they promise to publish it in their newspapers: because it may awaken many scholars for co-operation with us to introduce the new era of union and peace of nations, who have in their ignorance of matters worked until now for disunion of nations and for destruction of human life and property. we hope, that editors and publishers of newspapers, who have by their reports misrepresented our mission, will not remain mediums of lying and destroying spirits, but will, as their duty requires, publish this article, and comprehend the importance of the preceding remarks as well as of the "resolutions" which follow and what is annexed to the resolutions, to move the american nation and by their mediumship all nations for action, to redeem oppressed humanity from the yoke of tyrants, and that those for whom it would be impossible, to publish the whole in one number, will publish it in two or three numbers. our resolutions have been offered to the convention in the following words: resolutions for the "philanthropic convention to overcome evil with good," held in utica on the 10th, 11th, and 12th september 1858. whereas the writer of the following resolutions did hear nothing in this convention of "the general fundamental cause of the existing evils in the social, religious and political relations of mankind," and according to his knowledge in no convention of the so called reformers has this general fundamental cause been found out, and will not be comprehended by them, till they come on the ground which the writer occupies, according to his mission, which is made manifest in the documents which have been offered to be read in this convention. when those documents will be read and comprehended, the following resolutions will be adopted: resolved 1st, that the general fundamental cause of the evils which are to be removed from the social, political and religious relations of mankind, is founded in the old heavens and in the old earth, that means the old institutions, which will be removed when they shall be comprehended by true reformers, since the so called reformers who are warring against those institutions from their materialistic position, are supporting those institutions, because they are mediums of those spirits who are subject to and controlled by the papal imperial royal spirits, so that materialism and the modern spiritualism are the last outbreaks of popery, and materialists and modern spiritualists are the means of the outbreak of the worst evils, which remain latent, till the materialistic spirits come in collision with the rules given by their controllers, the popish spirits. from this collision of spirits originate riots, wars and other evils, which will be removed, when the pretended reformers and mediums of deluding and destroying spirits will receive the light which has been kindled by the mediumship of the writer. resolved 2d, that the particular and in the exterior life of people manifest evils, which are easily observed by those materialists who are falsely called reformers, cannot be removed from the society, till true reformers understand the real position of the existing churches and the spiritualism in the churches as well as the modern spiritualism out of the churches; because without this understanding there is neither knowledge nor strength in the so called reformers, to effect the true reformation, and to establish the promised peace amongst all nations, for which the means are developed in the publications and manuscripts of the writer of these resolutions. it is expected, that those who have called this convention, and those who attend it are not so blind that they having called "a convention to overcome evil with good,"[o] and granted freedom of speech in this convention, this freedom being accepted by the assembly, would reject the good which is offered by the writer to overcome evil; since the writer affirms that those who are anxious to speak in this convention, have nothing to say, which has not been already many times repeated in conventions, if it is for any use at all to remove evil, but that the writer has to communicate matters to remove evil, which are not known to those who attend this convention, as will be evident, if the two documents which are offered to be read in this convention, and which have been written, one the last month, and the other during the travelling of the writer from new-york to this convention, will be read publicly to this assembly. the writer remarks especially in regard to the mediums of spirits by whom they have been brought, to speak with closed eyes in this convention, that from the documents offered to be read, it will be made manifest, that their spirits are deluding spirits, from whom the mediums will be delivered, and enlightened by spirits of truth, if they study with attention the writings which have been produced by the mediumship of the writer who signs his name and the charges which he has received for the introduction of the new heaven. andrew b. smolniker, &c. see title page. neither this lengthy nor other shorter articles which have been offered since that time to editors of newspepers did suit their taste in the general corruption of the press. i saw since that time, to wit in december, 1858, again personally mr. garrisson in his office in boston, but he was as stubborn in his pernicious course as in former times. i called very seldom, when i was in philadelphia, in the "garrisonian" antislavery office. but it happened, i think, towards the end of the winter season, a.d. 1858, while i was passing that office, that i was impressed to enter it. i found there a rich mulatto with whom i had been acquainted for years, but who was so chained by the garrisonian imposition, that although i walked several times some miles from philadelphia to teach him in his house, how our master had decreed to deliver slaves by co-operation of slaveholders themselves, the rich mulatto had never time to study our message of peace, although he seemed to burn with great zeal for redeeming slaves, and he and his wife had superabundance of time to attend antislavery meetings and conventions and to perform all prescriptions of "the garrisonian liberator." at that my meeting with him in the "anti-slavery office" i understood from his conversation with others, that they had appointed a meeting at candle-light of that day, and that that mulatto was by virtue of his office president of that meeting. i did not inquire, for what antislavery purpose that meeting was appointed, and without asking this i said to the mulatto, that i was also inclined to attend that meeting, if he would tell after their meeting to the audience, that i had a message which would need no more than three minutes time, and that my message would not interfere with their meeting. the rich mulatto accepted my offer. that meeting was held in a large church of the colored people and the church was crowded. but i was quite surprised, when i understood from their proceedings and harangues, that it was an "underground railroad" meeting, in which they disclosed so much of their secret proceedings of the transportation of slaves to canada, and endeavored by their revolutionary speeches to kindle the animal passions of the audience to rebellion that if such a meeting would have been held in france or austria or several other monarchies, all speakers would have been imprisoned in the state's prison and if not all, certainly several of them would have remained perpetually in prison. after their meeting the rich mulatto chairman announced, that i had to deliver a short message independent from their meeting. i mentioned briefly, that i am a messenger of peace, having superabundance of credentials for delivering slaves by co-operation of slaveholders themselves, if abolitionists would learn our message and give good example to slaveholders; and that, since there was no time for an explanation of the matter, they should appoint a committee to whom a manuscript of mine should be read, containing that which those should know, who are working for redemption of slaves. a committee of five colored men was appointed; but at our first meeting all members of the committee were not present, and those who came to the first meeting were so distracted with other business, that they did not pay attention to what has been read the first time, and the others had their excuses to come again, except a mulatto from west india who would have persevered, if others had done the same. but he alone could do nothing, because he was not a long time in philadelphia and had not much influence there. i have given here one case of my experience, instead of hundreds of cases, how dreadfully the colored people are duped and deceived by the heads of antislavery armies, while these heads or popes appear to have great zeal for deliverance of slaves, although they are the cause, that some of them are killed, and those who are brought to canada, become more miserable slaves than they have been before, because they are drilled in weapons to kill and be killed, while our master offers by our instrumentality to the anti-slavery champions the means to deliver white and black slaves from all forms of oppression[p] and slavery. but there are many, under the specious name of the antislavery cause, agents of monarchs and traitors of the true republican or true anti-slavery cause. and those who are not directly bribed by monarchial agents for the conversion of this country into monarchies, are mediums or instruments of deluding and destroying spirits, by whom they are so blinded that they, really believe, that they are working "for deliverance of the poor slave," while they are assisting monarchs, to enslave the whole country. i think that our friend grerrit smith is such a medium. we have tried to convert him many years ago from his delusion, and after previous preparations which we have made in his house, it was, i think, on the 18th of february, 1845, (which is the anniversary of great events in our mission,) that i met with him in a convention of antislavery ministers and other abolitionists, which was held in syracuse, n.y. he was chairman. a number of resolutions for operations in the antislavery movements had been read and adopted. then i arose and assured the audience, that if my document which i had prepared for that occasion, would be read, they could comprehend that those resolutions would be for no use, and that better means have been providentially prepared for the redemption of slaves by co-operation of slaveholders themselves, if anti-slavery champions would study to know those means and make use of them. the chairman gerrit smith asked the audience, whether my document should be read. the majority answered "yes." he asked the votes of those who would be against its reading. some voices were heard, that it should not be read. and the chairman smith said: "smolnikar, you have lost the floor." he was right, if the convention was ruled by those who had made the resolutions and by their colleagues. and i said, that if they would not receive light, they should continue in darkness, and i left directly. at length rapping spirits broke out and had great influence in his house, because he shut his eyes, when light has been offered to him from the spirit of truth by our mediumships. i tried in different times to move our friend gerrit smith to study our message and the credentials of our mission. but deluding and destroying spirits drew him in other directions. at length a.d. 1854 i tried particularly to move the congress of the united states to appoint a convention in which i promised to exhibit the means to deliver this country from monarchial influence and to establish the promised universal republic of truth, justice and peace on earth, and the credentials of our mission, and i applied to a number of congressmen in both houses to bring the subject before their respective bodies. at length, when all others had neglected to fulfil this their highest duty, i applied to hon. gerrit smith, who was at that time in the house of representatives. i mention strange things; but they will not appear strange, if readers keep in mind, that i represent the body of messengers, who are collectively called the third angel in revel. xiv: 9. in this book i give on many subjects only hints; otherwise i should have to write also a large volume of wonders and signs which happened, while i was trying in that year president pierce and members of the cabinet and the congress. but if editors of the tribune wish besides what i offered in the first treatise to show regarding their pet fremont, that they might commence to be sober in forwarding candidates for high offices, i would like to write also an other article comparing hon. gerrit smith with senator seward and to publish what happened while i was trying both in washington city; because at that our trial it was in an extraordinary mariner made manifest, that although gerrit smith was badly chained by the spirit of delusion, senator seward was found much more chained than gerrit smith. on this account our leaders moved me at the last campaign of candidates for governor of the state of new york, a.d. 1858, and i was acting in my mission in that state, while gerrit smith was proclaimed candidate by his party so that i wrote to him, what he had to do, to be favored by our leaders in his course for a high office; because the time has at length arrived in which our leaders will commence to show publicly, how they have the power to interfere in the election business of officers. and then candidates for offices and officers will commence to see the necessity of studying our message and the credentials for our mission, to become with us messengers of peace, and people will commence to abhor electing such as are so degraded, that they are not prepared to study the heavenly message made manifest for the redemption of oppressed humanity and the establishment of the promised universal republic. but how until now those who have been solemnly warned by us, to do what they as professing to be republicans and occupying high offices, were particularly bound to do, have neglected to fulfil their highest duty, we will show with few instances, that those who will be named, might arise from death to life, and all readers might be inspired for co-operation with us, since providence is instructing mankind by so remarkable cases, as are the following: at the commencement of the year 1856 i arrived in columbus, ohio, and endeavored to move the republican anti-slavery governor chase and the republican party which was the strongest in the legislature of ohio, to co-operation with us to establish the universal republic of peace on earth. for this purpose i wrote "an address to the legislature and the citizens of ohio" and sent the manuscript with an urgent recommendation to governor chase, that he after having perused the manuscript might forward it with his recommendation to the legislature of ohio. in my manuscript or my written address to the legislature as many testimonies of our mission were mentioned as would have been sufficient to move a man who has discernment in spiritual things, for co-operation with us. but the governor, after having perused my manuscript in which i urged the legislature by virtue of the memorable events which have been mentioned in it, to appoint a monthly theological course, to which qualified persons would be invited to hear the explanation of my manuscript which contains the system for the foundation of the universal republic, and for the commencement of the new era called the millennium, said when he returned it to me, that he was not the proper person to forward the manuscript to the legislature. i do not know, whether he would have entered into a discussion of the matter, if i had offered him to show, that he was not only the proper person, but that it was his most urgent duty to forward my address to the legislature. i thought that he in his new highest office of that state was too much distracted and was not prepared for our extraordinary business. wherefore i sent that same address which was directed to the legislature of ohio, to the speaker in the house, and instructed him in an extra letter of his duty, to forward my address to the house. but he belonged to the republican party and had no capacity for what was needed to establish the true republic of harmony and peace on earth, and could not be moved to do, what was shown to him to be most necessary in his circumstances. he returned my address. from him i went to the lieutenant governor or speaker in the senate. he belonged to the american. party and by his application the senate appointed a committee for examining my document. in that committee was a member of the republican party, who assured his colleagues, that he knew me, that i was a madman, having come from geauga county in which i held a convention in the year 1851. notwithstanding the most malicious conspiracy of the sectarian neighborhood we succeeded so far, that a number of resolutions in which i have concentrated what has been explained in the convention for the commencement of the millennium, have been unanimously adopted, and then published with other documents for an easier understanding of the resolutions. but materialists, papists and other sectarians, instead of having reflected upon the unexpected glorious news made manifest in that pamphlet and put them into circulation, did all in their power that the largest portion of copies of that pamphlet and the man to whom they have been given in care, disappeared, and the calumny was put into circulation, that i became mad. and when that same calumny was renewed in the senate chamber of ohio, i wrote a resolution, to be offered to that body. but members of the senate became so scared, that i could find nobody, to undertake to offer it to the senate. i wished by that resolution to move the senate to give me their chamber for a lecture, in which i wished to explain the madness of those who instead of studying our disclosures for harmony and peace of nations, are slandering and calumniating me, and ruining this country and preparing it more and more to become a spoil to enrich monarchs and their agents. then i published that address and other documents which i supposed, would be strong enough to move the legislature and other citizens of ohio to send qualified persons to the monthly theological course, which was appointed in that pamphlet. here we must extract passages from the last page for a great lesson to republicans and others that they might not be duped any longer by the blind leaders of the blind. that page contains "a great appeal to the governor, the senate and house of representatives of the state of ohio." it was written, mark well, on the 2d day of february, as is mentioned on that 32d page as well, as on the pages 31 and 29; because on the 29th page i commenced to write a paragraph as follows: "i had to wait till the composition of this epistle advanced so far, that i must finish it on this 2d day of february" &c. on that day i wrote what follows from that passage to the end of the pamphlet. and the "great appeal" reads: "fellow laborers in the great cause of human redemption! if you have studied this pamphlet with such attention as it deserves to be studied you will accept this title with gratitude to the most high, that he has chosen us in his mercy for the accomplishment of the most glorious promises".... "the first most urgent work" (which the legislature of ohio in those circumstances could do) "is to kindle with this pamphlet a light in the cabinet and the congress of the united states. 'and babylon is become a habitation of demons.' revel. xviii: 2. the fall of babylon has been proclaimed by my instrumentality for the fulfilment of the first three verses of the 18th chapter of the revelation, on easter sunday, 1838, under the direction of the powerful angel, who was sent from the heavenly congress. and since that proclamation, the habitation of demons on every place of babylon, on which my message is rejected, is made manifest ... and the numbers of votes which members of the house of representatives were casting since my first publication of the 'testimony for the superabundance of miracles,' which is reprinted on the 9th and 10th pages of this pamphlet, are testifying, from which quarters of pitfalls and deep holes the demons came who took possesion of the capitol at the present session.... on this 2nd day of february in my country roman catholic men and women bring each his own candle into the church and burn them" &c. i quoted these passages, written on the 2d day of feb., which was saturday, and given on the same day to the printer; because i had an engagement on the next following day in the country and left columbus on that saturday, feb, 2d 1856. when i returned on the next following week from the country, i heard that on that same day february 2d, 1856, the house of representatives finished at length their voting for speaker and that nathanael banks was elected speaker in the house. there is a spirit language by numbers. representatives in the house were casting votes from the time in which my article "testimony for the superabundance of miracles" appeared in two newspapers of cleveland and was then copied in my pamphlet for the legislature of ohio, to make use of it for the conversion of the congress in washington; because i saw, whenever i looked the numbers of votes cast to elect the speaker, that members of the parties casting votes were under a strong papal imperial royal delusion. when i wrote the above quoted passages on the 2nd day of february, 1856, i did not know, that at that same time they finished their voting with nathanael banks as speaker in the house. nathanael means a "gift of god." and the name banks was prophetical for what followed then in regard to the banks; because this generation could receive no more suitable gift than banks are. there is not only in numbers but also in names and in manifold other correspondences a spirit language which we understand; and in this our mission events connected with our steps testify the condition in which those are, who neglect to make use of our message of peace. the governor and the legislature of ohio did not care about our urgent appeal made to them in writing and in print, and the same time in washington the name of banks announced the terrible condition of this same country founding their trust in banks and paper-money, which will be eventually made manifest with a terrible crash. after that experience made at the republican legislature of ohio, in which we could not find assistance for the circulation of our message of peace, and for holding our monthly theological course, i remained in ohio, till i heard governor chase in a campaign for candidate fremont assert with great boldness, that he knew fremont. i did not know fremont at that time. but after having studied as much as was required to know him, i pitied governor chase and other republicans very much, that they either by ignorance of matters or by preferring private interest to the common welfare, should have ruined the country and destroyed an enormous amount of human life and property, so that the kansas affairs alone cost more than fifty millions of dollars. all the evils would have been avoided, if hon. giddings and his co-operators who have been most urgently invited to attend the above mentioned convention which was held in their vicinity in the year 1851, had not despised our invitation. but at that time matters had not arrived to that maturity in which they are now. and we write and mention some champions and leaders of parties, that they themselves and by their instrumentality many others might be awakened from their lethargy and attend at length our monthly theological course the appointment of which they will find at the end of this book, and learn that which is most needed for the support of the true republican, or what is the same, true christian against the monarchial cause. i have sent to speaker banks a copy of the pamphlet, from the last page of which i have quoted above some passages, on which page there is the admirable correspondence of the governor and the legislature of ohio with his election for speaker. but i think, that other trifling business did hinder mr. banks' comprehending wonders and signs contained in that pamphlet, and that he did not study it so deep as to comprehend the correspondence of the contents of the last page of said pamphlet with his election for speaker on the same day on which i wrote that page. in this book is no room to explain the language by numbers; but we may generally observe, that the election took place under the spell of the papel imperial royal spirits; and it was said, that it did not happen, till a roman catholic priest came into the house of representatives and performed his prayer. whether that report was true or not, is is not my business to investigate; but it is true, that the spell was taken away, when i in my application to the governor and the legislature of ohio wrote on the last page of the above quoted pamphlet: "you are requested to cast so many copies of this pamphlet in the cabinet and congress of washington, and also into the legislature of each state, as are required to kindle a great light everywhere." reference is made to the "candle-mass," as the feast of the 2d february is called. it is mary's purification and christ's presentation in the temple; and that our reference to the casting of votes for the speaker in the house of the united states destroyed the spell and they agreed at length in the prophetical name banks, with which there was already great trouble, and the greater troubles will follow the longer nations delay to apply our remedies against the manifold enormous evils with which nations are harrassed and ruined. i made some acquaintance with governor banks after my last arrival in boston in nov. 1858. i found proper to write to him a lengthy letter in which i assured him, that if he would become a great supporter of the true republican cause, he would need[q] some private lessons to know what happened in our age for the introduction of the universal republic of harmony and peace; because without that knowledge he in the present course of the republican party would contribute his share not for peace, but for revolutions and war. i offered in that letter to give him some private lessons in his house, if he would wish to receive them regarding our message of peace and the credentials of our mission, and i added, that in that season of short days and long nights there would be at candle-light good opportunity for our lessons. i went then to his house in waltham, several miles from boston. but on that evening he had not yet returned from his office, and i was informed, that on the next morning would be the best chance to speak with him. i then went there but he had not much time to speak, because he had to go to his office, and he invited me to see him in his office. from that circumstance i concluded, that he did not keep in mind the contents of my letter in which i assured him, that his office would not be the proper place for our lessons, but that the night hours in his house would suit best for our lessons; but then there was no time to expostulate with him on this point. i started then for new hampshire, and at my return to boston i wrote to him again, that i intended to see him again, but not in his office which would not be the proper place for our lessons, but in his house, that if he would be desirous to receive lessons i would remain for some days in his village and give to him lessons at candle-light. i came then to his village, and prepared one of his acquaintances, a zealous spiritualist who appeared to comprehend easier than other spiritualists! that presidents, governors and other officers cannot save this republic from the grasp of monarchs except by the use of the spiritual weapons which are concentrated in my writings for the commencement of the promised new era and that governor banks to use his influence for harmony and peace of all nations, had to take lessons from me. when i thought, that the spiritualist partly by hearing me partly by reading one of my pamphlets had understood the matter so far as necessary to move the governor to accept my proposition, he went to see governor banks. but he returned with the message, that the governor had started for hartford. i could not stay longer in waltham and understood from this circumstance that governor banks was not the officer, who would commence to open the door at the government for commencing the new era. i thought that if he would comprehend our message, by his instrumentality the legislature of massachusetts and by their instrumentality the congress of the united states might be moved for using our spiritual weapons against the anti-republican powers, i heard in november 1858, in the night before the election of the governor and the congress members governor banks deliver his speech in chelsea city. he affirmed that he did not speak for himself but for his friend burlingame, that he might be re-elected for congress. i heard this same burlingame haranguing against buchanan and for fremont during the last presidential campaign, and understood that his speech was nothing else but a heap of "burly games." mark well, that in our meetings with remarkable persons, names are expressive, but sometimes their signification is so hidden, that some letter is to be changed, to be understood. the great heap of burly games spread in newspapers and in public speeches against buchanan instead of studying our message of peace and communicating it to president buchanan to save the country, prove nothing else except that this degraded generation are preparing the way to such a tyranny as will destroy the largest part and chain the remnant of the people in such a manner that no word will be heard against the cruelty and tyranny which will keep them in slavery, if they do not sooner open their eyes and make use of our message of peace. i thought[r], that if governor banks would be converted, he would convert also his friend burlingame and act through him in the congress. i came after that in boston, to the office of governor banks to see him there; but i was told, that he was expected to be in half an hour in the office. but instead of waiting at, or returning to the office, i was told by my leader, that i had accomplished my mission in the state of massachusetts and was carried directly to other states. wonders and signs which have been given in boston and chelsea city near boston at that my visit there, are spoken of in the following treatise. but before we finish this treatise, we should mention somewhat regarding the governor of new york in connexion with the governors of ohio and massachussetts. we do not take any interest in the campaign for officers, except when we are directed by our leaders to give in this way a great lesson to nations: as it was the case in the first treatise of this book. while i intended in summer, 1858, to start from philadelphia for the west, i was directed by my leaders to new york. i arrived the same hour in the city of new york, in which the laying of the atlantic cable had been accomplished, and while spiritualists were rejoicing in a public meeting at the success, in the supposition that the success was certain and that it was a great blessing for the united states, i explained in that meeting, that the success would be a great scourge for this country, if people would not receive our message of peace and convert monarchs into true republicans. my explanation was then confirmed by signs. after the exchange of president buchanan's message with the message of queen victoria the use of the atlantic telegraph has been suspended by invisible agency, and while the city of new york, the great babylon of the united states, was celebrating the first time the success of the atlantic telegraph, the tower, the cupola and so much of the interior of the building of the city hall was destroyed, as could be reached by fire. and at the second solemn celebration of the success of the atlantic telegraph the whole quarantine with numerous buildings was destroyed by fire. the materialistic spectators who looked only on the surface, were not aware of the interior agency. but in connexion with these warning fires other signs were given testifying also in this connexsion of matters the subjugation of this country by papal imperial royal or monarchial spirits, while citizens of the united states are not yet aware of. i wrote a peculiar treatise on those signs, which will be published in due time. there was a coalescence of strange correspondences, while the queen of england was celebrating with emperor napoleon the tremendous naval exhibition at cobourgh, for the subjugation of the world by monarchs, the laying of the atlantic telegraph was accomplished and the president of the united states exchanged the message with the queen; and the destroying fires accompanied the celebration of its success, till at length also the crystal palace was consumed by fire; and the spirits who are subject to popish prelates and monks, announced the "philanthropic convention in utica," and the archbishop of new-york laid the corner stone to his new cathedral by the assistance of six suffragan bishops. all these in connexion with other memorable events happened according to the spirit language of the prophetical calendar, and i was directed to perform corresponding memorable actions which are explained in this treatise, and amongst those actions here i mention the trial of the three candidates for the governor's office of the state of new-york. i have already remarked, that i wrote to hon. gerrit smith after he had been proclaimed candidate by his party. but when he was not ready to become messenger of the new era, i wrote then two lengthy articles, one to be used by judge parker, the democratic candidate, if he would receive our message, and another to be used by the merchant morgan, the candidate of the republican party. i do not belong to any party, and i had only to try spirits of the candidates for governor in the state in which is the concentration of all monarchial speculations, against which and for the true republican cause only that governor could act with power, who would have so much understanding in spiritual things as to comprehend the substance of our message and of the credentials of our mission. such a man would be a blessing not only for his state, but for the whole country. both my articles have been written in a manner, that only that candidate could make use of the article prepared for his use, who would be convinced of our mission, which i intended to explain to him privately, if he would take an interest in my article. here follows only a synopsis of our trials of spirits at the two candidates, to wit, the democratic and the republican for the office of governor in the state of new york. according to the direction of our leaders i paid first my personal visit to judge parker of albany, democratic candidate. he appointed a certain time for an interview in which he would be ready to read my writing and hear what i had to say. but when i would return at the appointed time, my leader interfered and said, that i had to try the spirits of merchant morgan of the city of new york, candidate of the republican party. morgan appeared to be shrewd as i supposed him to be; because otherwise, having commenced in poverty he would not have become a rich merchant. when i mentioned my business with him, he replied that he had a business, which he must attend in the city, and that his clerk who was in that room, would settle my business with him; and he left the room. then i talked with his young clerk and mentioned my former charges and my present charge, as far as he may have been able to bear, and that i had with me a document which i had prepared for that campaign. i added, that whereas i belong to no party, that candidate would be most qualified for the governor's office, who would comprehend my document and make use of it. the clerk insisted, that i should go with my document to the editors of the tribune. but i replied, that my document was not prepared for the tribune, but to be studied and used by the candidate himself. but the clerk remarked, that mr. morgan would not have time to study it. and i said, that if mr. morgan would not have time, i would go to judge parker; and i assured the clerk, that if judge parker would have time to study my document and to make use of it, he would certainly become governor. then the clerk was moved, that he appointed the hour of the next following day, in which i could speak with mr. morgan. i came at the appointed hour; but mr. morgan spoke with another man, and when he saw me, he went with his man in an other room. in the mean time the clerk insisted, that i should go with my document to the editors of the tribune. i did not leave directly the room but was waiting till mr. morgan dispatched his man. then without speaking with me a word he went to other business. after that my experience i thought that in our dealings with material men we must be provided with very tangeable arguments. i made shortly before that trial acquaintance with a stubborn materialist in the city of new york. he had great influence upon people of certan classes, and had all his trust in weapons of iron to put down monarchs. i found him accessible at the point of human magnetism and convinced him by degrees so far, that he confessed that the weapons of the spirit were the right weapons to overcome the monarchial powers. he was, when i made acquaintance with him, running against judge parker. but i came after my trial of mr. morgan to him, showing that judge parker was amongst the three candidates the man who if he would comprehend our message of peace, would work powerfully for the true republican cause. during my explanation he was inspired to do all in his power for judge parker's election, if the judge should settle matters with me and pay the expenses for what was to be published in german and in english circulars from each position separately, to be put in circulation in all directions of the state of new-york. that man gave me then in writing the promise to excercise all his influence for judge parker's election, if the judge settles with me the matter. it is to be repeated, that i according to my mission, am working not for any pay or reward, but only for the great cause of my mission, satisfied with simple food and raiment, which i get when needed, from those who understand that i am working without pay for the great community of mankind. the man who gave me the above mentioned written promise gave me also money to pay my fare from new-york to albany. i arrived there on a sunday morning, which was the best time for trying judge parker's spirit. i explained to him briefly the reasons why i could not come at the appointed time, without mentioning the invisible direction; because i supposed that the judge was not yet prepared to comprehend spiritual things. but i insisted, that he, to secure his election, had to spend that sunday in studying my writings instead of going to church; for he mentioned that i did not come the proper time to him, because he was preparing to go in the church. i showed to him the title page of my pamphlet; "redemption of oppressed humanity! christ's manifestation by his messengers for the abolition of all kinds of popery." on that page not only my former offices in babylon are expressed, but also my present office is mentioned, by virtue of, which i represent the messengers by whom the promised new era will be introduced. if he had read the title page on which the substance of our message is concentrated and our mission is expressed, with such attention as to comprehend it and to reflect upon it, he could have understood, that to spend that sunday with me was exceedingly more important than to attend his sectarian church. i repeated that to study my documents on that sunday was most important for him. two things seemed to deter him from receiving my advice. in the first place he saw on the title page, that i, after having been eighteen years roman catholic priest, appeared in public for the abolition of all kinds of popery. he may have been afraid to scare roman catholics from voting for him, if he would be in any connexion with me. i found not proper to explain, that what i intended to publish in behalf of his election, would not scare but strengthen roman catholics to vote for him, but would scare many republicans and abolitionists to vote for their candidates and would draw them to him. in the second place he seemed to have been in the same opinion in which i found democratic editors of newspapers, who told me expressly that they were certain, that their candidate would be governor. when i found him not ready to study my document on sunday instead of going into his sectarian church, i did not show him the writing of the champion who was determined to act under the above mentioned condition for judge parker's election, but i reported directly to that champion that which happened at my trial of judge parker's spirits and i started straightways for the states of new england. attentive readers of this treatise do comprehend, why in the cloud of witnesses of our mission amongst the men and women of the so called republican party i selected the three acting governors, hon. chase of ohio, banks of mass, and hon. morgan of new york. they appear, because they are headmen of the three most dangerous states to the true republican cause. those are the principal states from which there is spread also into other states much zeal for freedom of nations without knowledge of the means for the true freedom. this their zeal instead of promoting the true republican cause is promoting the cause of monarchs and ruining this country. i could write much in connexion with these three governors for a warning example to all governors and all other officers; but these few hints may suffice, that all might know the necessity to study our message of peace, to promote in their offices the true democratic or true republican cause and establish peace on the whole globe. there is a general hue raised by republicans, that there is great corruption at the federal government. there is in all parties and sects a general and exceedingly great corruption; and we must repeat, that those political and ecclesiastical heads who belong to the parties of abolitionists and republicans, are the principal cause of the horrible degradation and corruption, by which this country is ruined; because since the time in which i commenced to urge the american nation by english addresses and publications, my principal applications were especially to those who profess to belong to the parties of republicans and abolitionists. if they had studied our message of peace and had applied the remedy which is comprehended in it against all kinds of degradation and corruption, we would have seen several years ago the fruits of our work. but when they in their degradation and corruption, instead of having received our message of peace, did all in their power to stop it, as i have shown, instead of hundreds of instances of our experience only by the remarkable specimen of the utica philanthropic convention, they are to be regarded as the principal cause of such awful warnings, as a specimen was given on sunday sexagesima, february 27th 1859, on the president's square of washington by the executive power of our leader who has revel. xiv:14 a sickle in his hand, and will make use of "sickles" to sweep away the scoundrels and corruptors of females. their abominations will come to day-light in this "judgment dispensation," when the criminals will least expect. the farther you proceed in reading and understanding this book, the more light you will receive in regard to the inner life of man and to the world of spirits, to know the secret enemies of true republicanism, and how to stop the degradation and corruption, by which republic is destroyed and monarchy or tyranny is established. we have selected in the first treatise such facts as should inspire every reader and especially democrats for co-operation with us, and the facts made public in this treatise, should move especially the parties of abolitionists and republicans. we will see, whether president buchanan's friends or the heads of his opposition will hear sooner the voice of our master made manifest by our mediumship for harmony and peace of all nations, and awaken not only the government of the united states but also other governments from their lethargy. human degradation and corruption having been sheltered under the cloak of virtue, and under the specious name of "free love" careless males and female having been ruined in body and soul, peculiar opportunity was given us to close this treatise with a brief report on "a treatise on the second coming of christ. by john h. noyes, putney, vt. 1840," because that treatise was handed to me on this 19th day of march, while i am travelling through cumberland county, pa. and by what happened at the reception of that treatise i was aware, that a brief report would suit best for closing this our treatise. on the 29th page of that treatise we read; "now swedenborg preached that the second coming of christ took place in 1757, and that he was himself an eye witness of the transaction. ann lee, the mother of the shakers, preached that the second coming took place in 1770, and that christ made his appearance in her person. many similar proclamations have been made from time to time, along the whole period of christian history, and especially since the reformation. the latest of this fashion that has come to our notice, is professor andreas bernardus smolnikar, who teaches that christ appeared in 1836, and appointed him 'ambassador extraordinary'" (mr. noyes quotes as his authority "signs of the times," no. 12. p. 95. then he continues his tale as follows:) "of all these we may say fearlessly, as paul says, 'though they be angels from heaven, let them be accursed' they have denied the word of god--together with these, another class of visionaries and impostors, less presumptuous, but equally foolish, may be noticed. we refer to those who either by pretended revelation, or by interpretation, have undertaken, from time to time within the last few centuries, to prophesy of the near approach of the second advent. the latest and most notable specimen of this class, is william miller, who at this time, is confidently proclaiming, 1843 is the appointed year of the second coming." i would not have noticed "noyes's treaties," if it had not been unexpectedly handed to me, when i came, while i thought i was going into the house of a man with whom i was acquainted, to his brother whom i did not know until yesterday, when i came against my expectation to him. he commenced to tell that he had a pamphlet in which mr. noyes speaks about me. then he has shown the above quoted passage in noyes's pamphlet. but i did not yet think to take notice of it, till at length he has brought this morning the pamphlet to his brother-in-law, with whom i stopped last night, and i found proper to quote the passage and to write this edition for the conclusion of this treatise. but the quoted passage is in such connexions and correspondences, that in a new large treatise i could not explain them. here we can report only the following items. in the year 1840, on easter saturday, my third german volume of "memorable events" issued from the press. those three volumes exhibit the "magnetic chain" of events to bind the dragon or serpant, the image of the spirit of delusion and destruction, who inspires such "extraordinary ambassadors", as john h. noyse is. that he belongs to those deceivers who have deluded those who belong to the anti-slavery and republican parties, and are opposed to our message of peace, is evident by the circumstance, that i commenced this treatise with the three angels or ambassadors or messengers of the 14th chapter of the revel., the 3d amongst whom commences his message in the 9th verse of that chapter. i mentioned that each of those angels or messengers represents a body or society of messengers, and that dr. bengel has pointed out in the first part of the last century, that christ will be made manifest about the year 1836; but that neither dr. bengel nor any other man did know the manner in which he was to be made manifest, till it was disclosed by the 3d angel revel. xiv: 9, or the representative of angels or ambassadors or messengers by whom the contents of the prophecy xiv. 9, 10, 11, must be fulfilled. interpreters did not understand many other things nor those verses till they may read their explanation in my above quoted three german volumes. i do not recollect, how i did entitle that my address; but it did not contain 95 pages nor was it published in several numbers, so that i did not know what those "signs of the times" were, to which noyse has reference, except that joshuah himes, the head of the millerite imposition was publishing at that time a paper, entitled "signs of the times," and since he announced, that he would publish also such views regarding christ's coming, which were not in accordance with the views of his sect, i expected to open the door to the circulation of our message of peace through that paper. i wrote therefore a preparatory article, in which i touched only such matters as that sect of adventurists could bear. and that my article was published in that paper. but when i offered the second article which touched nearer the millerites' absurdities and follies, expecting christ on the clouds and other paraphernalia, he refused to publish it, and is yet deceiving his disciples, although in the year 1840 opportunity was given to millerites, to come out from their dreadful delusion. whether joshuah himes was the first who misrepresented in so dreadful a manner our message[s], or noyse perverted what the other deceiver published, they may decide; because the other is also a dreadful deceiver, who had opportunity to communicate to his readers our disclosures concerning christ's coming, but he refused to publish our article. but to the conclusion of this treatise noyse belongs. on the 5th of january, 1837, at 5 o'clock p.m. i received from a heavenly messenger the order to prepare for starting to america. but at that time i did not know more than that in this country preparations were to be made for establishing the promised peaceable reign of christ on earth. but my extraordinary mission commenced to be made manifest after the events which happened a.d. 1838 in connexion with my mission and which are explained in my above mentioned three german volumes. instead of having studied those volumes and then reported accordingly, there came such ambassadors of darkness as we have here a specimen of john h. noyse. greater impudence could not be expected than to write about me without having studied my books in which i have published what should have been translated from the german also in other languages. in the third volume it is shown, where swedenborg, wm. miller and others stand, who wrote before me on the second coming of christ. but before i undertook to write about their standing, i read their books; then i have shown, how parties and sects, each in their own way have given testimony to our mission. the principal of those parties have been mentioned in my third volume, which was published a.d. 1840. but john h. noyse and his sect were not at that time so famous as to having been brought to my notice. at length a "noise" of his existence came to me in the following manner: about the year 1844, while i had business in new york. theophilus gates came to me after having read an address of mine in which i urged readers to co-operate for establishing a centre of our work. t. gates spoke about a certain point persuading me to adopt it for a sure success in establishing our centre. i said, that i did not know, whether i understood him correctly or not. therefore i would read if he had published anything on that subject and then i would talk with him about it. then he brought to me his pamphlet, entitled: "the battle axe," in which he endeavored to prove "the free love doctrine" by the bible as well as by authorities of this time. his greatest authority was a letter of this same john h. noyse. i gave a great lesson to th. gates who was ruining people by his infernal doctrine; but he did not digest my lesson. then i made acquaintance with some john h. noyse's disciples and asked them, how their leader became so blind as to support the damnable doctrine which opens the door to all kinds of lasciviousness, adultery and fornication, which ruins people and is diametrically opposed to the spirit of the new testament. his disciples said, that he wrote that letter in a haste, and that it was published against his intention, and that he retracted his view expressed in that letter. then i attended a meeting of perfectionists in newark, n.j. some of them were with noyse, others were against his supporting the free love doctrine. i addressed the audience. then i was invited to dinner by a perfectionist who did not belong to noyse's party. i was asked by my host, whether i did read or not, what appeared shortly before that in noyse's "perfectionist" against me. after my negative answer he gave me the number containing noyse's article against me. i took it to the meeting which was appointed on the same sunday afternoon and read that article at the meeting and explained noyse's misrepresentations of the contents of my article to which reference was made in noyse's article, and remarked that it was possible, that mr. noyse did not make purposely but only in haste those misrepresentations, and that in the case that he is a friend of truth, he would retract what he had published misrepresenting my statements. i added, that in this case i would like to see him and converse personally with him about the matter. one of his disciples said that noyse was a man ready to receive truth, and that he wished to go with me to mr. noyse and to bear travelling expenses. we started and took also another friend of mr. noyse with us. at our arrival we were cordially received, till mr. noyse heard my name. at that moment he was entirely changed, took his friends into his room, while i remained on the porch. he spoke with them so loud, that i heard every word, while he reproached to them, that they took me with them. it was nearly dinner time, and i found proper not to speak about our case, till we would be together in his printing office. it happened soon after dinner. i said that those who were present, were mr. noyse's friends, but that i expected, that they were for truth, and that also noyse will correct the errors and misrepresentations which he has published regarding my mission and regarding my statements in my article, to which he had reference in his article. but mr. noyse pertinaciously denied to have misrepresented my statements. i had in my pocket the number of the paper containing my article and that number of the perfectionist in which my publication has been misrepresented. i read corresponding passages from both, and asked the witnesses, whether noyse's report contained the same sense as my report. all his friends remained silent; but he continued to be obdurate, and repeated in the most impudent manner, that he did not misrepresent my statements. i did know nothing until yesterday about his having misrepresented as early as 1840 my doctrine regarding christ's coming and slandered and calumniated me already in that year. and when i met four or five years after that personally with him in his printing office about our business, he appeared as the most stubborn infallible pope, affirming with the most impudent affront, that what he published against me, was true. but some bystanders commenced to cry: "snake! snake! snake!" pointing out of the door of the printing office in a distance from the door to see what it was. there was a very large snake marching from a distance directly towards us and towards the door of the printing office, and went, in spite of the men gazing it, under the threshold, and sheltered its self under the floor of the printing office. it was most singular, that the devil, that means calumniator, by whom the snake was possessed, magnetized so the witnesses, that none of them took an instrument to kill the snake, although he could have easily reached one for this purpose in the printing office. after having been all so baffled, i said to mr. noyse, that the snake or the dragon is the holy ghost who comes from the depth of his printing office and inspires his readers with such infernal delusion, as appeared in his "perfectionist" against my mission, and i left directly his place. the man who has brought me to mr. noyse, left soon after that spectacle his own wife, a good natured woman, and went with another "lady" to unknown regions. and noyse left, not long after that that place, and founded in the state of new york, the oneida community, in which his followers professed publicly and published their free love doctrine, and put it in practice in that community and elsewhere, when they had opportunity to deceive and ruin the incautious, abusing the bible in the most horrible manner and anathematizing the true messengers of god. such imposters must also give testimony to our mission in a manner convenient to their position, as i have given at the close of this treatise some hints, although i could write a volume of memorable events connected with john h. noyse's "perfectionist" and confirming the given hints. but this treatise being already weighty, we do not need to add an explanation, why our leaders were pleased to furnish noyse's pamphlet to give occasion to these solemn warnings with which we close this treatise, which should be thankfully received from our directors by all parties and especially by abolitionists and republicans and by all kinds of perfectionists and spiritualists of the last fashion, who are by the abomination, called free love, so stupified, that they cannot comprehend our message, although they pretend to be reformers. but those who will become true reformers, must come on our ground according to the plan made public in the last treatise of this book by your sincere brother andrew b. smolnikar, "extraordinary ambassador" for the introduction of the new era of harmony and peace. third treatise. "the war in europe, its remote and recent causes" in connexion with our epistle to the bishops of illyria, to be communicated to the emperors of austria and france for the resurrection of the mortals as well as their departed friends from their misery and distress into the state of true happiness. instead of the treatise which was prepared to occupy this place in this book, we write on the 4th day of july, 1859, a new treatise, while others are keeping the shadow for reality, rejoicing in companies and filling my ears with explosions of crackers and thunders of guns and my nostrils with the most disagreeable smell of gun powder, while i am mourning in my solitude in the midst of hundreds of thousands of people of the city of new york and neighbourhood, because they would not receive our message of peace and learn how to bring forth fruits of the true liberty of nations. this treatise was occasioned by the book "the war in europe, its remote and recent causes" written by j. h. duganne, and published a few days ago by r. m. dewitt, nassau st., no. 60, new york. i mention it here, because it contains a collection of facts and events, by the perusal of which any body, if he reflects upon what he reads, may be aware of what we continuously repeat, that people and their political and ecclesiastical governments have apostatized from truth and justice, and cannot establish the promised peace, except according to the plan which is given in the fifth or last treatise of this book. the causes of revolutions and wars and manifold other plagues are contained in the apostasy of men from truth and righteousness. this apostasy brings mortal men into the association with departed deluding and destroying spirits, as you know, if you have comprehended the preceding treatises, and you will receive the more proof of this important truth, the farther you will proceed in studying this book. mortal men are in close connexion with congenial departed spirits. the life of man in his mortal body is a manifestation of influence from the sphere of spirits, for whose society he is prepared. by them he is moved and supported for action; they influence those who are congenial with them. but men, if they are not versed in the inner life, are not aware of this influence; although this is the first and most necessary knowledge for the abolition of revolutions and wars and manifold other plagues, which originate from the influence of destroying spirits, who themselves may be so ignorant, that the magnetic fluid which they communicate to men is pestilential, as a man who is infected with one or the other kind of plague, may be ignorant of his dreadful condition, and of the fact that he infects also others who, in their ignorance of matters, are united with his deleterious condition. if, for instance, the emperors of austria and france, and their generals and other officers, and all who sympathize with one or the other, and contribute their share for the destruction of the enemy, would know the proper condition of spirits with whom they are associated and by whom they are inspired in their destructive work, they would be exceedingly frightened, and would cry: "what shall we do to be saved?" many years before i knew anything about my present mission, i was aware by comparing the reports of the bible with the reports of other ancient and modern works and with our own experience in regard to the spirit world, that angels and demons in the bible are departed men and women of different high and low spheres, made manifest to men in mortal bodies, when there was suitable to give to men tangible testimonies, that mortals are in close connexion with departed congenial spirits. the legion, for instance, in the fifth chapter of mark, is a legion or regiment of soldiers who have been destroyed in a battle. the captain and his legion had the grave or the cave in which dead bodies were located, for a suitable location to their degraded condition; and the magnetic fluid, which they inhaled into their inner or magnetic bodies which are used by spirits, came from the decomposed and rotten cadavers, and was the most delicious influence which they could communicate to their worshipers, and their captain has shewn his terrible madness by the attacks upon his medium, while he was compelled to make manifest, what he really was. but when he was not compelled to show his real condition, he was deceiving in like manner, as now departed emperors, kings, generals and other warlike spirits are deceiving, till they bring their worshippers on the battlefield, where they effect such carnages, as we read now many reports in newspapers. in this madness the victors and their bishops and priests are feasting and singing "te deum," while the defeated are praying for the reverse, and neither party are prepared to reflect upon the crimes which they have committed by having killed their fellow men, who should have been educated and should have progressed in knowledge of truth and practice of virtue as long as their constitutions by applying the right means for the support of their physical strength and health, would have admitted. but alas! they have been wantonly killed, when they were least prepared for heaven and best disposed for the infernal regions! and others have been mangled and wounded, so that they are crippled for all their lifetime and also hindered in the right use of their intellectual and moral faculties. and all who were drilled for war, were instead of progressing in virtue, retrogressing into corruption. volumes could be written on this point of the deepest humiliation of the human race. which are "the remote and recent causes of the war in europe?" the book which occasioned this treatise, contains a series of most detestable facts and proceedings as forerunners of the eruption of the volcanoes of the infernal furies which are destroying now in the wholesale human life and property; because governments and nations are not in truth, but in delusion and confusion, the necessary consequence of which is destruction. truth will make you free. this is the teaching of the master whose religion the belligerent parties profess with words, while their actions are instigated by the infernal furies. also this book contains superabundance of testimonies of our mission, which is expressed on the title page. in my five german volumes published within the years 1838 and 1842, the mystery of iniquity of all governments which profess to be christian governments, has been disclosed, and their highest duty has been made evident to abolish those abominations and to unite with us for the introduction of christ's reign, which will be the universal republic of truth and justice, harmony and peace on the whole globe. in those volumes as well as in all my following publications it is made evident that peace can never be established on the globe in the present course of political and ecclesiastical affairs, and that, what they call peace, is only an armistice, during which the dragon and his host are inspiring the governments to amass means for new eruptions of revolutions and wars. the book which occasioned this treatise, contains a collection of testimonies confirming and illustrating our teaching, that true peace cannot be established, till governments and nations arrive on our ground. if the emperor of austria would evacuate this moment all places which he occupies in italy, and if the emperor of france and his allies would have in sincerity no other object in view, but the only one to make italy perfectly free, i mean to make italy a true republic, and would sacrifice all their strength and influence to this only object, they could not realize their object, till they would learn and receive our message of peace and adopt the plan given in this book for the introduction of the promised new era. as long as they neglect to do this, they remain under the influence of deluding and destroying spirits. but these their masters are so controlled by our leaders, that when the measure of crimes of governments and nations is again and again filled, new eruptions of destructive revolutions and wars take place on such days and under such circumstances, that by our explanations of correspondences they become peculiar warnings; as we have already given specimens of this kind also in this book; and many more will be given on suitable places of the following pages. readers should not forget that we are preparing them for the epistle to the bishops of illyria. before we commence to translate that epistle, we must give a brief epitome of the contents of the treatise, which was to be printed in lieu of this treatise, and to which reference has been made in the preceding treatise, and we must write on this 4th of july, 1859 in the midst of great noise and continuous cracking and thunder of guns and so much smell of powder, that it becomes very tedious. this morning it appeared in newspapers, that samuel jackson's pyrotechnical establishment on 10th and reed streets in philadelphia was yesterday afternoon destroyed by the explosion of fireworks, which were prepared for the exhibition on this day; but they yesterday burned mr. beck to death. we mention this case, because we saw it besides many other cases amongst the news of this day, and this jackson is one of the many strong mediums of destroying spirits whom we endeavored many years ago to deliver from those spirits; but they continue to prepare tremendous fireworks. in the octava of the outbreak of the infernal furies in the french revolution of february, 1848, spirits commenced to awaken materialists by raps through the fox girls in the vicinity of rochester of this state of new-york. they became at length generally known as rochester rapping spirits; because in the city of rochester people first commenced to assemble in large numbers and hear those rappings, or also carefully to investigate, whether those raps came, as they purported, from spirits or from some other cause. as soon as i read in newspapers the reports of those manifestations, i understood the correspondences and also, why our leaders let the infernal powers exhibit their craft in this manner. deluding and destroying spirits from the same spheres from which they have inspired their fighting mediums in europe, commenced to give testimony in this country that there is truly such a relation between the living in the mortal bodies and the departed as has been disclosed in our publications, and at the same time also to show how they were duping and deluding such as would not hear our explanations regarding the true condition of spirits, but were quite pleasing with the answers which they received through the daughters of mr. fox and other mediums who commenced then to be developed in large numbers, that is, deluding and destroying spirits or infernal demons shewed by manifold perceivable possessions, that they were closely attached to congenial men and women. i made use of that opportunity and assured citizens of the united states, that rapping spirits would be dreadful destroying spirits also in this country, if their operations will not be stopped by the application of the means which are comprehended in our message of peace. but i did not try those spirits in circles of spiritualists, till i received order from my leaders to do so. opportunity was given in pittsburgh, pa. by the reports published in some english and german newspapers regarding the mediumship of christina beil, (as the name of that medium of german parents is correctly written, but english reporters wrote it beail, although it is the german beil, that means a hatchet or axe)[t]. her mediumship aroused a general attention, and while crowds of attendants were convinced that raps by which questions were answered, were produced by spirits, sceptics denied it, and mrs. swisshelm published in her "saturday visitor" the results of her investigations of spirit rappers at christina beil's mediumship. she thought, that raps must have been produced by some trick of one or the other mortal, although she was not able to discover the trick. the same confession was made in german newspapers by a german lutheran pastor. the excitement moved a skilful german chemist who was also a strong materialist, to investigate the matter in the expectation that he might find out the trick. but he was sincere and confessed, that raps purporting to come from spirits, were produced by beings who understood the questions. but under the circumstances of his investigations they could not be produced by mortal men, and must have been produced by invisible agents. a few days before my reading of those reports, a rapping spirit had been shown to me in an extraordinary manner, to relate which in this epitome there is no room. but by that manifestation i was instructed, that i should try the rapping spirits of christiana beil in the presence of sufficient witnesses. the same german learned chemist, and a german pastor of the reformed church and other witnesses were present, when i tried the spirits of christina beil. also that pastor belonged to that school of theologians who send their departed into such an eternity, from whence there is no return to mortal men. such folly is according to our knowledge of the condition of the departed most pitiful materialism in disguise. but at our meeting with that medium in the house of her mother, soon a number of rappers commenced to show by raps in a number of places of the room, that they were ready to give answers to our questions. the medium commenced to ask, and instantly all others became silent, and the strongest amongst them gave answers with raps. to the question with whom he wished to converse, the pastor was shown by strong raps as the person with whom the spirit wished to converse, and he signified by raps also that he was ready to give his name by pointing out the letters of his name with raps. the pastor repeated the alphabet, and was quite astonished, that the letters spelled the name of his peculiar friend, a medical doctor and open materialist, who was expressedly denying man's immortality while he was in his mortal body, from which he departed a few months before that meeting. the pastor gave a number of questions, and expected to get some answer, with which he would be able to show, that such an answer could not come from that doctor. but at length the pastor confessed, that by nobody else except by that departed doctor he would expect all those answers which he had received. when all was done which would convince the greatest sceptic, if he was prepared to reflect upon the facts, i interfered and remarked, that after having received sufficient testimony from that spirit, we wished to converse with some other, if any is present. soon raps were heard of so different a sound from the former, that any observer could perceive the exchange of spirits. the first gave answers to german questions; therefore also the second was asked, whether he wished to converse in german. he answered in the negative, and the medium was pointed out by raps as the person with whom he wished to converse. then english questions were given and he consented to give his name. the alphabet was repeated, till all the letters of his name were pointed out by raps. and his name alarmed the medium exceedingly, that she commenced to cry, and also all her acquaintances were very much excited. i asked the reason, and was told, that that spirit was expected amongst the first when that girl became a medium, but they had never any test that he was present, and that they gave up all their hopes of getting any answer from him. therefore his manifestation was so unexpected, that it produced such an effect upon the medium. i understood the whole matter. that spirit was the principal guardian of that medium or she was principally possessed by him, and he had rapped generally in the name of others, when the inquirers were so congenial with the medium, that he could look into their wishes. but he did not give his name, that he might not be discovered as the deceiver who rapped in the name of others. at length i came in the charge of my mission in march, 1851. i was acquainted several years before that with that pastor and exhorted him to study my books and then to proclaim our message of peace. but my message was not popular and it teaches, that the belief of the close connexion of men in mortal bodies with congenial departed spirits is the a b c, to arrive gradually to a deep knowledge of true religion and to the true freedom and deliverance from lying destroying spirits. but pastors who became materialists, were scared when they perceived, that my message presupposes the close connexion with congenial departed. at length mediums or possessed by departed spirits alarmed the materialistic pastors. the mother of the medium belonged to the congregation of that pastor and she invited that pastor to come and be a witness. my leaders were controlling the legion of spirits, who came from different quarters with their witnesses, and in those circumstances the medical doctor reitz, a peculiar friend of that pastor, was the strong rapper and the next was the lying spirit who, when there was no stronger than he, rapped in the name of others, till he was at length in our presence compelled to give his name. after that remarkable trial of spirits, i said to the pastor, that he should instruct the trustees of his church, to give me permission to deliver some lectures in that church and to explain that of which he was a witness, but which he could not understand in the connexion of things, in which it must be understood for the commencement of the new era, which according to the testimonies given in his congregation, should be powerfully proclaimed from his church. but the pastor thought that his congregation were not prepared for so deep things. although i insisted, that i would make them very popular in the german language, which was the language of his congregation, and that it was his highest duty to make use of the opportunity to learn what is most necessary for harmony and peace of nations, he remained as obstinate as other roman catholic and protestant pastors. then i wrote an article for newspapers, in which i have shown what should be generally known regarding the spirit manifestations which commenced with raps by the mediumship of the fox girls to delude, as cunning foxes are accustomed to delude, such as would not receive truth which was disclosed in our message, and were discovered, when they were tried according to our mission at the medium christina beil's, which, means the christian hatchet or the christian axe, an instrument for destruction, that they were deluding and destroying spirits, by whose influence destruction of life and property will continue until it will be stopped by receiving and spreading our message of peace. that article was prepared in english and in german; but editors who have spread deceiving reports regarding spiritualism, refused to publish my article. i sent it then to boston, to be published there in a paper of spiritualists. but it was not popular and could not be published. matters were to arrive so far as those will find them, who study and comprehend this whole book. after that trial of spirits i returned several times to pittsburgh and paid always my visit to that learned chemist, who was converted from a materialist into an enthusiastic spiritualist. he, like many others, was expecting through his mediums to receive truth regarding the spirit world. but he was offended, when i endeavored to make him comprehend, that those spirits with whom he came in communication by his mediums, were materialistic spirits who did not speak through his mediums from the miserable condition of their inner life but from the surface of their outward condition as they while in their mortal bodies were accustomed to boast, and to cheat and delude their fellow men. in the treatise which would have occupied this place, if i had net been moved to prepare this for the celebration of the 4th of july, 1859, and its octava, that people might commence to learn, how they could become independent from the invisible and visible tyrants by whom they are now enslaved, and inspired for revolutions, wars and other crimes, i have explained some very important spirit manifestations at my meetings with the learned chemist in pittsburgh as preparations to the spirit manifestations which took place at my last visit to the city of boston and neighborhood, and which constitute the principal part of that treatise, the publication of the whole of which must be delayed, and we give here in a synopsis as preparation to our epistle to the bishops of illyria, the following items: boston is the city, in the cathedral church of which by our mediumship a.d. 1838, such, spirit manifestations took place, by which we have received the key to open the door for the promised new era of harmony and peace on earth. we will give in the next following treatise of this book some light on those manifestations. but when our disclosures on those manifestations had not been received, at length spiritualism of the last fashion gained a peculiar stronghold in boston, although materialism made great exertions to check also the modern fashion of spiritualism. since a.d. 1838 i returned several times to boston, and was trying to move some influential men or congregations for an examination of our message and of the credentials of our mission. when i arrived at the end of october, 1858, again in boston i attended on the next sunday the conference of spiritualists, which was at that time on sundays usually held in boston. as soon as they finished their ceremonies by which their conference was opened, i found proper to speak a little in my illyrian mother tongue, to arouse the attention to what i spoke then in english, and in the english language i rebuked materialists and testified our mission to restore true spiritualism. after my speech a medium arose, whom i did not know, but found out afterwards, that he was agent of the fountain house, where spiritualists had their resort and their speculations. he was rebuking a lecturer who was opposed to spiritualism, and, as i understood from the rebuke, misrepresenting facts, and came to that conference to expose spiritualism from his materialistic position, denying any manifestation from the departed. during that rebuke, for a proof, that spirits manifest themselves, he invited that lecturer and other materialists to a meeting, in which he offered to give an exact description of my mother whom he affirmed to have seen standing on my side, while i was speaking in the conference, and that although i was a perfect stranger to him, he was certain that she was my mother, and that he would give an exact description of her, so that he was confident, that i would confirm his description. there were spiritualists in the conference who knew me, that i troubled them in the utica convention and elsewhere, and they seemed not to be favorable to that proposition. on the next following sunday i made again an attempt in said conference to find out, whether there was any influential person amongst them ready to take an active interest in examining our message and the credentials of our mission. i commenced to speak from the point which was mentioned in the last conference by the medium testifying, that he saw my departed mother standing in her glory on my side while i was speaking. but i made the remark that i had two mothers in the spirit world, to wit, my first mother by whom i was born, she had great care during her life for my welfare, and having been a great medium of spirit manifestations before her departure, always anxious to know truth and act accordingly, she progressed with me also after her departure and became one of those my guardians, who take care for my provisions and protection against danger. in this her care she found a strong medium of spirit manifestations, an aged lady who was looking for the third angel, revel. xiv:9, because according to the testimonies which she had received, she was certain, that since a.d. 1836 he was preparing somewhat, and while she was looking for him since that year in europe, she was directed by her guardian to america with the assurance that she would find him in this country. at length she heard one of my german lectures and comprehended, that i had the mission of the third angel. when she commenced to testify this, my mother appeared to her and entrusted her the care, which she herself had for me before her departure. my mother was an illyrian, but this new mother was a german. whenever i had opportunity to stop and write in her house, great spirit manifestations occurred. at length also she departed and is acting amongst the women who have amongst the departed peculiar offices for the introduction of the new era. when i mentioned in said conference somewhat about these matters and understood from the speeches of others that their spirits were drawing the audience in other directions, i turned also to other places, and tried besides others those professors at cambridge, mass. who were appointed a.d. 1857 as a committee to investigate the physical phenomena which were believed by some to have been caused by spirits, while others attributed them to other causes, and those professors, after having performed their investigations, published their opinion that spirits had nothing to do with the phenomena which they had investigated. when i read that publication, i saw that readers, by the authority of those professors, were strengthened in materialism. therefore, at my return to boston i felt it to be my duty to try to move those professors of cambridge from their materialism, i saw personally those three, who belonged to the committee who have published their opinion regarding the phenomena, called spirit manifestations, and also the fourth who did not belong to the committee, but was the strongest operator to explode the truth, that departed spirits are in close connexion with congenial mortals, and that they, when circumstances are favorable and it agrees with the plan of divine government, give also to exterior senses of men perceivable proofs of this connexion. i said to them, that a.d. 1838 were greater spirit manifestations in the roman catholic cathedral church of boston by my mediumship and the mediumship of 144 witnesses, than mortal men could expect. whereas that catalogue of witnesses as well as the events which happened in connexion with our proceedings, have been published in my books, i could by the means of that catalogue in a short time convince the professors of the great truth of close connexion and mutual influence between mortals and their congenial departed, and by the public testimony of the professors the pernicious influence of their report regarding the spiritual phenomena would be abolished, and the way for the circulation of our message of peace would be opened. they should therefore appoint time and place to meet with me for this most important investigation of what departed spirits are able to effect through mortal men. with all my exertions to move the professors they remained obstinate sinners against the holy ghost who gave them opportunity to learn what is most important to correct the pernicious effect of their report and to cease to brutalize their students with their materialism. i started from massachussets to new hampshire, because in that state besides other spirit manifestations in concord a convention of those adventists was held, who besides other blasphemies of the living god and his christ teach also, that man dies as a beast, but that when christ comes on the clouds, he will awaken the righteous from death, but the wicked will be eternally annihilated. as all other pestilence which is spread in the papal and in the protestant sects is supported by the use and abuse of the bible, likewise also these "annihilators" made their discoveries of the annihilation of the wicked by the means of the bible. they are spread through the country and especially through the states of new england, and are only a branch of the dreadful materialism which has brought the human beings so on the surface of the matter, that they stifled the most needful knowledge regarding the spirit world. i warned all sects of adventists as well as others, everywhere. at length i met in october, 1858, with a portion of the adventist annihilators in a conference in providence of rhode island, and tried to convert them from their folly. but they were not ready to hear facts and then reflect upon them with a sound reason, to know man in his interior life. there are different sects of the adventist annihilators; but that same sect, with whom i met in providence, have appointed for november, 1858, a convention in concord n.h. the appointment contained a general invitation, without confinement to their sect, and i thought that there might be an opportunity for me to find some investigating minds who would listen to our message of peace. but when i commenced to speak in their convention, and their popes saw that there was danger for their spirit annihilation, they applied to the audience with their complaint, that they found in providence, that i did not believe in christ's coming on the clouds and annihilation of the wicked and am rather a kind of a spiritualist. therefore if i would remain i had to be silent, or i had to leave the hall. i replied, that in their circular was no confinement to their sect, but their invitation contained exactly the opportunity for the proclamation of our message. but the possessed popes by spirits of delusion and destruction became fierce and enraged, and i found best to leave them in their hall. my leader showed me that i should return towards boston. at my return i was trying spirits on several places. it is to be understood that volumes could be written, if i would explain what i mention in this synopsis preparatory to my epistle which i have sent in my hand-writing to the bishops in illyria to be communicated to the emperors of austria and france, and which is to be printed in this treatise, that it might reach monarchs and their agents in this book, if it should not have reached them in hand-writing. but the events which occupy the largest portion of the treatise which would have appeared here, if the celebration of the 4th of july had not moved me to write and publish this in lieu of the other, may be expressed in this epitome in the following sentences: during my travelling i am most time walking on foot. while i was walking on foot from linn, mass. to chelsea city, i found the tollgate keeper standing without occupation on the turnpike, and asked him for a direction to the strongest spiritualist in chelsea city. he directed me to a merchant. he was not at home, and i asked his clerk, to give me directions to some other spiritualist. he put several on a paper, the first of whom was mr. mansfield, and i was impressed to go to him. i was quite a stranger and without asking about the occupation of this mansfield, i asked only for a direction to his house. when i found it, i was told that mansfield was at his office no. 3. winter street in boston. without asking, what his occupation was, i came at length on the 3d of december, 1858, into his office. when i was in his office, the portraits of the dead drawn by some entranced medium with whom i was personally acquainted, and other paraphernalia reminded me, that that must be the celebrated medium j. v. mansfield, of whom i read in newspapers, that many sealed letters not only from different quarters of america but also from other parts of the globe, were directed to departed acquaintances of the writers, and answers were asked from the departed which he could not give also in the case, if he would read the letters. but answers were to be given without opening the letters, by him as writing medium of spirits. he had to return the letters without opening the seal, and to add the answers as written by his mediumship. while reading the reports regarding that medium, i thought to see him, when i would come again to boston. but while i was in the first part of november, 1858, in boston i did not remember this, and came at my return from new hampshire in the briefly related manner on the third december, 1858, against all my expectation to him. i think that he was present at the two above mentioned conferences in boston, in which i spoke before starting for new hampshire. when i conversed on the 3d of december with him in his office, he invited me to come on saturday, december 4th 1858, to his office and from thence to ride with him to his house in chelsea city and spend sunday, december 5th, with him. i was impressed to do so. that sunday was the second sunday in advent. on the 4th, after the arrival in his house we both were tired and went to bed at 10 o'clock p.m. i rested well, till i was awakened by a female departed spirit who was in great distress and entreated me to give her assistance to kill her husband. i understood it in a spiritual sense to stop the pernicious course of her husband, and promised her my assistance. as soon as i promised her my assistance my leaders took her in protection and they expelled at the same time the whole company of her task masters out of the room, and then from two places on the outside of the house, from which they were compelled to remove. after that spectacle, the detail of which here is not the place to explain, the clock struck four. from this circumstance i understood, that the scene commenced at three o'clock. there are certain hours, according to our spirit language by numbers most convenient for certain communications. as the communication requires, also the hour is selelected by my leaders in which they draw me into the inner state in which they show me, what is congruous to my mission. they put me, in that instance, from my sleep into the inner state of knowledge of what was going on. in this state i not see the female, although i was conscious, that she was surrounded by enemies of her happiness. the whole scene and explanation belonging to the treatise which will be published in an other time, these hints may suffice, to understand the following items. as soon as i saw after that scene mr. mansfield and his wife at breakfast, i told them that i had a great spirit manifestation, which mr. mansfield could not understand, except if he would study some of my writings to know somewhat about my mission he read and i explained the substance of some points in my writings to make him known somewhat about my mission. afternoon, while reading one of my pamphlets, he started suddenly and went very fast into another room, and brought directly some paper, put it on the table and said, that while he was reading my pamphlet, a spirit was impressing him to ask me to write questions which he would answer. i knew not who the woman was, who asked at three o'clock in the morning of that day my assistance to kill her husband, but i understood, that if i would follow the direction of my leader, he would reveal it in due time, i knew, that at that spirit battle, at which that female was taken under the protection of our leaders, the principal champion was the martyr john george zeigler, an american of german descent, who in his mortal body studied deeper than any other man, my five german volumes, and forsook then all for our holy mission. while he was travelling in a steamboat he was pushed into the ohio river by an enemy of our holy mission, and departed into the spirit world, in which he received such offices as he was most qualified for them. he having been the principal amongst those who took the woman in protection, while she asked my assistance, i thought, that if i would write to him questions, i would receive the information, who that woman was. it is to be understood, that mr. mansfield wished, that i should write so, that he could not see what i wrote, and then to wrap my writing, to which the spirit had to give answers. but i thought i could write in german, because i was certain that mr. mansfield could not read german. therefore i said to mr. mansfield, that i determined to write in the german language to the spirit whom i had in my mind, to whom while he was a mortal, i wrote sometimes in german, sometimes in english, but he answered always my letters in english, and he, if he is present, will answer also through you in english. but mr. mansfield remarked, that i should write my questions in english, that he had lately great troubles with questions which have been sent by otto kunz from pittsburgh in the german language to his departed, and that the last number of the spirit age contained an article of otto kunz in this respect. i remarked, that i was acquainted with otto kunz, (he is the learned chemist, by whom i was preparing my way in this treatise, for what follows) but that i did not hear anything about him for a long time, (to wit, since the summer of 1856, when i saw him the last time before my meeting with mr. mansfield). i added that i should like to see, what otto kunz had published. he brought then from an other room the number of the spiritual age, which has the date december 4th 1859. it must be added, that i had not before looked into that number, nor heard anything about otto kunz's article. but when mr. mansfield handed me that number, i read mr. kunz's article laid the paper on the table and said to mr. mansfield: i will write in english to the spirit whom i have in my mind. i had yet john george zeigler in my mind; but when i took the pencil, i was impressed to write to charlotte kunz (the departed wife of otto kunz) in english, in the supposition, that she could not write english, while she was a mortal, and that also in the spirit world she did not learn to write english, that therefore to my english address we must receive some unexpected disclosures. i wrote therefore while the medium mr. mansfield turned in the opposite direction, that he could not see, what i wrote: "charlotte kunz, if you are present, please to write what you find proper." i folded my writing, that mansfield could not see it. he was soon entranced, and gave the signs, from which i understood, that she was the person who asked at 3 o'clock a.m. my assistance, and then the communication was written by mr. mansfield in a correct english style and correct orthography and signed "charlotte kunz." the communication contains characteristic marks, that the controlling spirit was intimately connected with deep mysteries explained in my german books, but that he was not the writer, but one of the company belonging to j. v. mansfield's guardians, wrote through him according to the wishes of charlotte kunz, but wrote so, as if she herself had written. after the communication directed to me has been written, and mr. mansfield reduced into his normal state, i requested him, to copy the communication, and to give the original and the copy to me; because i was asked in the communication by charlotte kunz, professing that she was the writer, that i might write to her husband. the handwriting of the copy was different from the original. i preserved the copy and sent the original to otto kunz, with my handwriting, remarking, that that communication has been produced by his wife under the assistance of our leaders, that he, otto kunz, might contribute his share for starting the centre of our peace union. i have quoted in my writings to otto kunz one of the characteristic notes testifying that the communication had certainly been produced under the assistance or control of my leaders. and that characteristic note had reference to dante's prophecy in the 33d song of purgatory. i speak of that prophecy in the epistle to which we are preparing the way. i have explained also to mr. kunz several years before my meeting with his departed wife the substance of that prophecy. i thought, if he at the receipt of that unexpected communication would remember my explanation of that prophecy and other testimonies of my mission, he would not be too hasty in judging about what he could not understand in the communication but would expect my farther explanation regarding my communication; because the explanation could not be given in a letter, and he was also not prepared in those circumstances to study the treatise in which that communication is copied verbatim, and the preparation for its understanding and its explanation is given, and that treatise would have been published instead of this treatise, if we would not have prefered this in the expectation, that this might be more congruous to the present european war, which gives me opportunity to exhort nations and governments. and for this purpose, to communicate other important things in this treatise, we give only an epitome of the treatise which will be published in another convenient time. but mr. mansfield who has astonished many people in all quarters of the globe by having given more than forty thousand answers to sealed letters directed to departed persons, became so remarkable, that he in connexion with the well known spiritualist otto kunz deserved a peculiar treatise, and appears also in this connexion of matters as a peculiar witness; because that which has been made evident in many cases in which we tried remarkable mediums, was in a peculiar manner confirmed, while we tried the spirits of j. v. mansfield, to wit, that he has certain guardians by whom many are deluded, because those guardians give through him answers which are found correct, when they reach and control the writers of the sealed letters directed to their departed. but when this is not the case, answers are not correct. mr. mansfield told me, that the largest portion of his answers is correct. such points in regard to the relations in which the departed have been with the inquirers are revealed in the answers, as mr. mansfield could not know them. from this circumstance is also explicable, how people could be so moved, that he had received many thousands of letters, although each applicant had to send one dollar fee to the medium, and three dollars in case of a guarantee that either an answer, if received would be sent, or the money returned. when we speak of correct statements in many cases, we add that in those communications was much of delusion regarding the spirit world. at length when the measure of abominations was filled, i had to try his spirits in the manner, the substance of which is given in this epitome, the treatise being prepared to be published, whenever a publisher is ready to publish a new book, which would contain that and other treatises. from that treatise it is evident, that when otto kunz wrote his letter to his departed wife and sent it to mr. mansfield to be answered by his mediumship, the tyrants by whom mr. mansfield is guarded, took her under their subjection. but to give in a new manner a most solemn warning to all spiritualists who will not progress on our ground, i was sent to mansfield, and our guardians took under their control charlotte kunz and the spirits who are writing through mr. mansfield. the enemies of the truth, that departed spirits may use men as their writingrnediums must explain the answers by assertions which in most cases appear most ridiculous, for instance, i heard the assertion, that mansfield opens the letters. but he returns sealed letters as he receives them; although we would not deny the possibility of temptation to open one or the other letter of persons, with whom his guardians were not congenial, and therefore could not give an answer. but if i had shown to him my line directed to the departed charlotte kunz, although he has been before that in correspondence with her husband, mr. mansfield with all his guardians would not have been able to give the characteristic notes which are in the communication testifying, that some of our leaders was the superior, while j. v. mansfield's guardian was writing that communication with charlotte kunz's signature, although there are the strongest marks in the communication, that she could not write it, but that a deluding and destroying guardian of j. v. mansfield wrote it, partly according to her wishes, partly according to his own impulse, partly according to the dictation of our leader who controlled him, that he inserted the characteristic notes given by our leader. this is the epitome of that treatise, which was to be given in this treatise as a peculiar preparation to my epistle to the bishops of illyria. but before we commence to translate it, we must add also the following remarks. when our leaders compel in one place "the secret enemies of true republicanism" to bring to daylight their abominations for our peculiar use to enlighten this degraded generation, they send us corresponding testimonies also from other places, and we have collected in said treatise some extraordinary testimonies for an illustration of the answers of the sealed letters by j. v. mansfield's mediumship. a peculiar witness in this repect was doctor randolph, whose spirits i tried several years before my meeting with mansfield; but he was not ready to be converted from darkness to the light which is kindled by our disclosures. at length when i tried mansfield's spirits, newspapers commenced to publish dr. randolph's confessions. he tells: "i was a medium about eight years, during which time i made three thousand speeches," &c. "and to day i had rather seen the cholera in my house than be a spiritual medium! for years i have lived alone for spiritualism and its cognates. henceforth i live to combat many of the identical doctrines that i once accepted as heavenly truths." "i enter the arena," says he "as the champion of common sense, against what in my soul i believe to be the most tremendous enemy of god, morals and religion, that ever found foothold on the earth--the most seductive, hence most dangerous form of sensualism that ever cursed a nation, age or people." if dr. randolph had been brought from spirits of delusion on our ground, he would have assisted us to open the door for the new era. but he returned to the sects, from which spirits commenced to manifest themselves in their materialistic deluding manner, till we commenced to show, what they were, and then they commenced to be caught in their lies, and many spiritualists commenced to be scared; but they would not progress on our ground, and returned to professed materialism and sectarianism. but the concentration of all abominations of the perverted spiritualism is in the papal imperial royal courts. many spirits delude monarchs and their supporters either openly by peculiar manifestations, or without such manifestations deceiving secretly monarchs and supporters, that they prepare at length for war and commence to fight in horrible battles, which is the highest manifestation of the infernal furies. that they might stop this abominable work in which they are now engaged, i wrote the following epistle, which i give in a free translation, and then i will add some remarks for a conclusion of this treatise. you will find in this epistle some repetitions of what has been mentioned in the first treatise of this book, because when they were setting that in type i did not think about writing this treatise in which what is repeated, should be repeated so often till it is comprehended. the epistle is entitled: "most important events for rulers of nations." to p. t. anthony slomshek, prince bishop of laibach. long island, state of new-york, june 13th 1859. reverend bishop! being in occupations of my office on this anniversary of momentous events on this island, i am impressed by the spirit who has brought me to america, to write again after a long interruption, to my native country, and to direct my epistle to you, to communicate copies of it also to the bishops of triest and goricia. i asseverate before you, three witnesses, that i am not guilty of the blood which is shed in the present terrible war; although i would be most guilty, if i had not faithfully fulfilled the duties of my charge. if those to whom i have written at vienna, in our native country, and also in other countries of europe, had discharged as conscientiously the duties of their office, as i did those of my office, the promised universal peace would have been established not only in the whole of europe, but also in other parts of the globe. but whereas there was deficiency in respect to the intellectual and moral preparations of those who were in the office, the terrible consequences therof are more and more visible. to bishops i write usually in latin. but this epistle should be delivered by you to the government of austria, and published to the nations not only in german, but also in as many other languages as possible. prince bishop anthony slomshek! having had more opportunity than others who are at present bishops under the austrian government, to obtain knowledge about me during my residence in europe and by wise providence having become a bishop of the diocese, in which i was born, educated and ordained a priest, i expect that you will receive light from the spirit, to comprehend correctly the hints which may be concentrated into the space of an ordinary epistle. you know that i had from my youth an extraordinary desire to search not only the jewish and christian but also the antiquities of other nations, and to compare the results of my investigations with what others have brought to light in former times and recently, to find out, how the promised universal peace will be established. after my having been six years secular priest of the diocese of laibach, i entered the benedictine order of the monastery of saint paul in carinthia, for the purpose of obtaining more time and opportunity in that order which furnishes learned professors, than in my native country for a continuation of my investigations for the peace of nations. after my having searched two years in the library of the monastery, i became professor of biblical literature in clagenfurt, and in that city i became acquainted with you, you having been there spiritual adviser of students of divinity. during the ten years of my professorship i had opportunity to examine many points, which i would never have had opportunity to examine in the diocese of laibach. but i did not know that the spirit who was my guide from my youth, was preparing me for the office which has been entrusted to me in america. moreover, notwithstanding i had from my youth peculiar inclination to study the bible and to read not only the writings of the church fathers but also the writings of the old heathen and jews for the purpose of getting more light on the bible, during the last ten years of my professorship i did not yet know that the office with which i am commissioned in america, had been manifoldly prophesied in the bible, and the prophecy repeated by prophets of the christian centuries as well as in our time by images suitable to the seasons. neither had i any thought to make a voyage to america, till the spirit of truth showed by evident testimonials, that he called me to this country. then he opened also the way for me hither so wonderfully, that although the prelate of the monastery of saint paul resisted with all his power, and the monks who were my friends, united with him to hinder my voyage, emperor ferdinand was enlightened to let me have my passport to america. signs and wonders preceded and accompanied my voyage to america, and i reached this continent first in boston of the state of massachusetts on my birth-day, november 29, 1837. in that city all that was required for the continuation of our work, has been so prepared by invisible agents, that although i had not the least foreboding to remain in that city, i became convinced by the signs which happened there, that in the roman catholic cathedral church in boston important ocupations had been prepared for me. i did not yet know the particular occupations: but i followed faithfully the directions of the spirit and performed in that church all, that had been shown to be performed by me. on the 7th of january, 1838, one hundred and forty-four witnesses signed their names in my catalogue. also those witnesses were guided by invisible agents in such a manner, that they, too, performed in that church, what was required of them, so that on easter sunday, april 15, 1838, in the cathedral church in boston, in the presence of these 144 and many other witnesses by my instrumentality the solemn excommunication of the beast with seven heads and ten horns from the church of christ has been performed, that is, solemn declaration has been made, that the mysteries which are contained in those figuritive expressions, do not belong to the church of christ and must be therefore abolished from the earth. a long chain of signs, according to the prophecies, preceded that excommunication, and signs succeeded and are continually repeated. by these signs our mission, that is, my mission and the mission of my fellow labourers has been confirmed, and the dreadful condition of those who are opposed to our action has been most evidently developed. in the years 1838 and 1839 the first two volumes of memorable events appeared in print. those events took place in my experience for a testimony, that christ appears by his messengers for the foundation of the promised peace on earth. a box of those volumes was sent to the emperor of austria, and my written explanation was given, that in my books the will of the most high majesty has been made manifest, to whom emperors and kings are bound to submit and to learn to know the events which have been explained in my books and to become with us messengers of peace to the nations, and for this purpose to give my books to the best theologians for the strictest examination, that the result of their examination might be sent to me, to be published with my remarks, that nations might learn what is required for the foundation of the peace of the world. i assured the emperor, that dreadful revolutions and wars will be the consequence if my advice will be rejected. after having received no answer to my writings to the emperor, to the parson of his court, to a number of bishops and other influential men of the empire, and a.d. 1840, my third volume appeared, in which was shown, that the unexpected events which have been explained in the first and second volumes, happened according to prophecies, and would not have been unexpected to bishops, if they had studied prophecies and observed the signs of the times, and reflected upon the disclosures given by our forerunners upon these matters, i did not send that volume straightway to austria, but i sent a box of all three volumes to the king of bavaria, with a similar written warning to the king, as in the preceding year to the emperor of austria, and with the most urgent demand, that after the emperor of austria and his bishops had neglected to fulfil their highest duty, he should become the messenger of peace to all other monarchs and open the way to the circulation of our message. at the same time a copy of all three volumes was sent to the king of france with the most urgent written petition that he should order without delay a french translation of the three volumes to be spread everywhere in france, and our solemn assurence was added, that, if he neglects to fulfil this highest duty, revolutions and wars will be the necessary consequence of this neglect. in an ordinary epistle farther hints cannot be given in regard to what was done on our side, to move the one or the other government to order the strictest examination of our message, which contains the means for abolition[u] of all revolutions and for the foundation of the universal peace on the whole globe; but i remark, that when they would not hear our warning voice, revolution broke out in february, 1848, under such preparatory, concomitant signs, and under such corresponding events, that after having studied those events in my writings which have been after that partly published in the english language partly preserved for publication, you will see, that, after our warnings given under heavenly inspiration had been contemptuously rejected, the infernal furies had received the power, to commence to spread the flood of revolution exactly on the same day, which gives the most evident testimony, that revolution broke out according to a higher calculation on account of the contempt of our message of peace. emperor ferdinand having been compelled by that revolution to issue a constitution, i read that constitution in a newspaper on the 18th of april, 1848, and was moved on the 19th april, which was the birth-day of the emperor, to give him in consequence of my charge a written assurance that by that constitution the government and people will be saved from ruin, if the emperor accepts my offer; because in this case i was ready, to start directly for vienna, and show how the free press which was guarantied by the constitution, would be properly used for developing and spreading truth, as people have a right to demand, and its abuse impeded, as the government is bound to impede it. i have given the emperor the assurance, that this, our offer, was made under higher direction for the true happiness of the imperial family and the people. i have sent in the same writing our proclamation to the nations of the empire, and exhorted the emperor, that if he would write to me, that i should come to vienna, he should at the same time publish our proclamation in all languages of the empire; because, if he accomplishes this, by our use of the free press the door will be opened for the introduction of the promised peace of the world, but on the contrary revolutions and wars would be repeated and governments and nations ruined. those highly momentous documents were sent to the minister of the austrian government in washington to be forwarded to the emperor. informatian was given to the minister in my next letter, to which post office he should send the answer, if he should receive any for me from the austrian government. after having thus notified him i have received no answer; but very important signs were given of the approaching war in which the emperor resigned the throne and hungary was wasted. the three monarchs to whom my books have been sent, but who have neglected to make use of the means contained therein for the peace of nations, have been compelled to give up their thrones, but nations could not become partakers of the promise of the universal peace; because it will not be established by the sword but by the means contained in our message of peace, and we have received so many signs according to prophecies as evidences of our mission, that whereas since the year 1838 to 1842 five volumes have been written in this respect, i repeated while i was writing the fifth volume, that five hundred volumes could be written, if we would continue to explain prophecies of past ages and their development in the preparations for our mission and during our mission, and the signs by which our mission is confirmed. but we have explained superabundance of them, because by our explanation the dreadful condition of governments and nations has been disclosed. signs continue steadily, although the blind leaders of the blind, while the lord appears as a thief, comprehend them as little, as the pharisees did, when christ appeared and prophesied the destruction of the city and the temple. confined to a common letter, i can give only some hints. while the terrible war was raging principally in hungary, i laboured industriously at the commencement of the year 1849 to move the american bishops, to appear either personally or to send their theologians to a convention in the city of new york, to whom i offered to read in the latin language my system for the abolition of revolutions and wars and introduction of the world's peace. i did all i could to move the bishops to attend our latin convention, and to make as many objections and remarks as they would find suitable, although all must have been made in writing and handed to me, to be annexed with my remarks to my system and published in latin and in translations, that men everywhere, could learn our message of peace and all nations might become partakers of the greatest promises and the world's peace could be established. after bishops had neglected their highest duty, i translated the latin system into english and german, and made most urgent applications to several presidents and to congressmen of the united states, to move the american government, to assemble a convention for the same object, for which i endeavoured to move bishops. in the meantime lewis kossuth arrived in america, and i considered it to be my peculiar duty, to make use of what was in my power, to direct him from the spirit of destruction to peace and to explain to him my system in which is shown, how without soldiers the rights of men will be restored and the peace of the world established. after several letters of preparation, at length i met personally with him in cincinnati. but he was cunning and let me come to him in company with others, and when i required to speak privately with him, he excused himself with not having time to speak with me privately, and directed me to count pulski, who was his associate. i paid to this man several visits, and shewed to him that it was necessary for kossuth and his assistants, to study my system and to retire with me for this purpose. but the result of all my labour was, that at length kossuth had sent to me the message that it was impossible for him to give up his plan. he is a strong "medium," as those are called here who are possessed, and those who are possessed by destroying spirits, have their work, to torment rulers or also to destroy them, if they will not find salvation in our message of peace. having here only opportunity to give hints on points, on which i could write volumes, i remark, that when the american government could not be moved to call a convention for an examination of our message of peace, i wrote, when emperor napoleon iii. was preparing for war against russia, to his ambassador in washington, that the emperor would gather together the highest merits for himself and mankind, if he, instead of the war preparations against russia, would call bishops of his empire to paris, to examine with me my latin system for the foundation of the world's peace. by doing this he would make himself and his friends and at the same time all nations happy; but in the opposite course he would prepare misfortune for himself and france. i assured the ambassador of the french government in washington, that if he before he would write to the emperor, himself wished to be convinced of my assertion, i was ready if he would call me, to come myself to washington and to explain to him my system as long as would be necessary to convince him, that we have truly received from heaven the commission and credentials for the foundation of the worlds peace, and that those regents will be in this and in the future life most unhappy, who refuse to accept our invitation. i have received no answer from the ambassador of the french government. although i am writing very closely in my advanced age without spectacles, which i never used in my life, i have very little space in a common letter, to mention also the following items: the nearer we were approaching to the present revolutionary wars in europe the stronger were also the signs of warning, and they are building just now on the land which has been bought for our peace-union, a hall for our conventions, in which our system for the foundation of the world's peace will be explained and messengers of peace will be educated to be sent in all quarters of the world. but whereas, before their labors will establish the world's peace everywhere on the globe, all monarchs and their families might be exterminated, if they would not make use of the means for the foundation of the world's peace, i write this letter on this feast of pentecost and anniversary of momentous events. your predecessor, anthony aloysy wolf, prince-bishop of laibach, was one of those prince wolves, who have received my first two volumes, but were not prepared to study them, and to proclaim to emperor ferdinand and to the nations, the great things which the lord has done. those wolves have deceived in regard to our mission the emperor, the priests and the people, and by this deception they became the originators of all those murders, which have been perpetrated in revolutions and wars and manifold other manners, which would have been prevented by receiving and spreading our message of peace. these are the fruits, when wolves are made pastors of nations! by murders which are perpetrated in revolutions, wars and other ways, those who are murdered, are turned into infernal furies, instead of having been converted by suitable education, into heavenly angels. by these furies which have been murdered in revolutions and wars, nations which are now living, are instigated to murders in revolutions and wars and in manifold other manners and also to all kinds of other criminal deeds, the atmosphere is disturbed and men are tormented with all kinds of plagues, and if they are not murdered cruelly by force, their lives are shortened manifoldly, so that also those who live longest, would have lived much longer, if it would have been introduced amongst nations and duly used, what we know, but cannot use till governments introduce that which we demand. i was professor of divinity in babylon which is spoken of in the revelation; but whereas i was sincerely searching after truth for my own and the welfare of my fellow-men, matters have been disclosed to me, which i had never expected, while i was prepared without my knowledge by invisible agents for my present charge. according to this charge i am now professor of divinity or church-doctor for the promised peaceable reign of god on earth. as church-doctor i will teach bishops and priests as well as monarchs and other grandees of the kingdoms of this world, when they will be ready to hear the heavenly voice which is made manifest through so feeble an instrument as i am, how to pacify the furies into which men are converted by murders and how to draw them into the resurrection, that is, from their low to a higher condition. my apostolic name which i have obtained on the feast of the apostle andrew, november 30, 1795, is andrew. but when on the 30th november, 1826, at the solemn profession of the benedictine order i adopted by higher impulse the name bernardus, then also pope leo xii. was inspired, that he promulgated bernardus a church-doctor. he in his shortsightedness, had in his mind the celebrated monk of the twelth century. but neither that monk who was preaching crusades, nor pope leo xii. knew, that turks, heretics and other nations will be converted in true christians without blood shedding and christ's peaceable reign will be established on the whole earth. but the pope spoke as prophet of our mission who was at that time high priest and prophesied, that, whereas i adopted in the prophetical profession of the benedictine order the name bernardus, i had to pass as monk through the last epoch of my studies of preparations for my present charge, till i became doctor ecclesiã¦, church-doctor, teaching what bishops and doctors of divinity do not understand, although it is highly necessary for the peace of nations. from my first arrival in the benedictine order, when i determined to live there, till i started for america, exactly twelve years passed. by the memorable events which happened in the cathedral church in boston, a key was given us to unlock prophecies, which have been before either entirely locked, or only in some measure unlocked. some interpreters have known, that the seven churches in the second and third chapters of the revelation were prophetical churches, typifying the seven states, to which all churches of the christian name since the edition of the revelation until the foundation of the universal peace on earth may be reduced, so that every portion of the christian name belongs to the one or the other of the seven churches. in the third of the above mentioned volumes, we, that is, i under the direction of invisible assistants, have disclosed so much regarding the fulfilment of the prophecies in our time, as is abundantly sufficient for testimony of our mission. in our disclosure thyatira in the 18th verse of the second chapter of the revelation is the type of the roman catholic church. what is said concerning that church until the end of that chapter, you bishops should at length consider and digest well. you kept fast what you did not understand, till at length the lord comes by our mission, and unlocks by our mediumship the divinity for his reign of peace. we have overcome and to us was given "the rod of iron and the morning star." i speak in the name of all those who are co-operating with me according to the plan of the most high for the universal peace of all nations. we have "the iron rod," but not the iron sword. the iron rod is only a symbol of our office to announce judgments to the disobedient nations and to their rulers. they are bruised enough and broken. those who remain, should at length hear our voice, then their wrong systems will be broken to pieces, but men will be saved. for we have received not only the iron rod, but also the morning star. in the great temptations through which we had to pass, we remembered the morning star which appeared several times during the sun shine in close connexion with our steps, and once in a peculiar connection with you, prince bishop anthony slomshek! as well as in connection with the emperor of austria! you remember that i wrote at a certain occasion my opinion in regard to your sermons which appeared in print in our slavonian mother tongue, and in that my article i made also some extracts from my latin manuscript, "on the congeniality of languages[v]," to publish them with that article in the "carinthia"[w]. i finished writing that article on the 6th february, 1835. when i was on the 7th february well nigh ready to go to my students in the college, i was moved by the spirit to write instantly a prophetical conclusion to that article. when i finished that conclusion, i hurried to be in the college. after that there was much talking among the professors and others about the morning star which appeared on that forenoon during sunshine. i explored exactly the time, and found that the star appeared, when i commenced writing that prophetical conclusion, and disappeared, when i finished writing. i handed then that article to you, to deliver it to the editor of the carinthia. but there occured an accident, that the article appeared later than i expected, so in the carinthia, that the last part with the great prophecy regarding the peace of nations was published on easter saturday april 18, 1835, or on the eve of the birth-day of the emperor ferdinand the first year of his government. his birth day was celebrated that year on easter sunday. an exact calculation was made by our invisible agents. the poems of two panegyrists of the birthday of the emperor appeared in the same number immediately before our prophecy. those two adulators were types of the two adulators, joseph pletz parson of the imperial court, and anthony alosy wolf, prince bishop of laibach. these two prelates have deluded the emperor in regard to our mission, and as a consequence terrible judgments came upon governments and nations. but this writing is connected with the morning star, which should be delivered by you to the young emperor francis joseph and to many nations as well as the ancestors of the emperor, who are waiting in the empire of death for their redemption by our message. it should be delivered by you in the midst of terrible judgments. if you have the spirit which i expect in you, you yourself will carry this letter without delay to the emperor, and explain personally, what is necessary for his resurrection and strength. now he belongs in the 16th verse of the 17th chapter of the revelation. kossuth, mazzini and other heroes of the revolution are preparing the harlot for emperors and kings, who are fulfilling the judgments which are announced in that verse. but we to whom this victory is promised, belong to those, who are united with the lamb in the 14th verse of the 17th chapter of the revelation and will overcome the beast and its ten horns. to wit, we have the chain, with which the dragon, the seducing and destroying serpent, will be bound and cast into the abyss, revel. xx: 2, that is the magnetic chain of events of past times in connexion with events of this time. in this chain the genuine condition of the existing political and ecclesiastical governments appears in its true light, so that, when this chain will be duly spread and made known to nations, they will be carried from the existing babylon into the new jerusalem. who ever amongst the rulers comprehends this and carries the people into the new jerusalem, into the promised reign of peace, he himself and his family, as well as his departed or yet in mortal bodies living congenial relations will be brought into the true happiness; but on the contrary those rulers and who are attached to them, who despise our apostolic voice, will be exterminated. judgement will not cease, till at length it destroys themselves also. i have given in this epistle as many hints as are sufficient for such bishops who are not entirely dead, to believe, when i assure them, that, in our writings it has been made clear and evident, that our chain or our system, which, for peace of nations, should be made known to all political and ecclesiastical governments, is astronomically and historically correct. therefore that of the three named bishops, who receives first this epistle, should inform the other two of the matter and summon them to go directly with him to the emperor. who comprehends this, and is inspired by the holy ghost who is our director, for the accomplishment of divine decrees, is with us a messenger of god. he should as such appear before the emperor with this epistle, read to him the epistle, and explain it, and summon the emperor to become with us a messenger of god, and may he be seemingly in profit or seemingly in loss in regard to the emperor napoleon, to send this epistle to emperor napoleon, and require instantly an armistic under the condition, that he is desirous to make immediately, with condescension, a treaty of peace, to hear the "messo di dio," the messenger of god, spoken of by the prophets of the old and new testament as well as by the prophets of the succeeding ages of the christian era, and to fulfil the will of the most high for the welfare of nations. amongst those prophecies is one of the most remarkable in the 33rd song of purgatory in the divine comedy of the great italian poet dante, in which the spirit beatrice, dante's departed wife, speaks of the "five hundred, ten and five messenger of god," that is, of "smolnker messenger of god." the number 500, 10 and 5, that is the number 515, is opposed to the number 666 in the revelation, xiii: 18. the name which comprehends the mysteries which are contained in the 17th and 18th verses of the 13th chapter of the revelation and also the number 666, has been delivered into our hands, and all that belongs to the name, has been explained in my books, in which to obtain the number 666, we had to write the name with greek letters, because the revelation appeared in the greek language. and likewise also my name smolnker, as it was originally exactly pronounced, to wit, with short _o_ and short _e_ must be written with greek letters. this was the exact pronunciation of my name, as i heard it pronounced by my grandparents and my parents. and the greek letters with short _o_ and short _e_ exactly pronounced in my name smolnker, give exactly the number 515, which is the number of the messenger of god in dante's prophecy. if you add this number to the year 1321, in which dante died, you obtain the year 1836. "the messenger of god" is in the quoted prophecy the same as the 3d angel in revel, xiv. 9. that the third angel regarding whom the prophecy commences in the 9th verse of the 14th chapter of the revelation, had to appear before the public about the year 1836, and also that that angel or messenger would not be a departed but a man living in his mortal body, has been shown in the last century by doctor bengel and his disciples using admirable astronomical calculations by the means of the prophetical numbers in the revelation. my first german teacher, a franciscan monk from bavaria, inserted the letter _i_ into my name, and taught me to write my name smolniker, till at length professor valentine vodnik wrote my name as i write it now. the numbers of my name, after having received those changes, if you calculate the years, commencing with dante's death, give also highly important stopping points in the development of the mysteries of the theology for christ's peaceable reign. i can give in an epistle only some hints. by many of our forerunners many points have received partial disclosures, or there have been prepared several links for the chain, with which we will strangle the harlot and the giant who sins with the harlot, without hurting the flock and the fields, according to dante's prophecy. this prophecy mentions also the stars by which our advent is announced, and in my books several apparitions of unexpected stars are remembered in close connection with our office. in dante's prophecy is the messenger of god a collective name as well as the third angel or messenger in the 9th verse of the 14th chapter of the revelation. one man is representing the whole society by whom is accomplished what is comprehended in the prophecy. the representative had to execute and explain the mystery. at the expiration of the year 1836, which year has been so mysteriously announced by the prophets, that i knew nothing about it, i was called on the 5th day of january, 1837, at 5 o'clock p.m. to this office. the call was delivered to me by an angel of the lord, that i should make the resolution to prepare for my voyage to america. and when i said: "o lord! thy will be done!" the same moment a great light appeared over the city of klagenfurt, where i was professor of biblical literature and you were spiritual adviser in the theological seminary. you yourself have perhaps seen the light-ball, or certainly heard much and read in newspapers about it. i myself have not seen it, because i was in a deep trance and received at the same moment the order by a heavenly messenger. here is no space to say more about dante's prophecy. in my third volume of memorable events more than one hundred pages have been used for disclosing dante's strange prophecy regarding the messenger of god in the 33d or the last song of purgatory, in connection with other prophecies with which it is parallel and in connection with the prophecies which have been given a.d. 1814 at the first distribution of premiums after the fall of emperor napoleon i, when our city of laibach returned under the austrian government, and i received dante's divine comedy for the first premium out of the italian language. and whereas i am labouring since my arrival in america with the greatest zeal to save men and to bring them from purgatory into heaven, warlike spirits are murdering and casting them into hell. yet i have great confidence that by your intermediation not only the emperor of austria but also the emperor of france will hear the heavenly voice, which is sounding in this letter. i have written several months before the outbreak of this war a book in the english language ("this same book from which we take away other manuscript and publish this epistle,") to publish it as soon as circumstances will be favourable. i have shown in that book by peculiar events which occurred with emperor louis napoleon, but which are not comprehended by him and his mediums till they study to know our chain to bind the dragon, revelation, xx: 2. that emperor napoleon is a very strong medium of destroying spirits, but that i foster the hope, that he will comprehend our message of peace and draw also his uncle nepoleon i. into our reign of peace and become a great apostle of peace to the nations. both emperors, the emperor of austria as well as the emperor of france, will become truly great if they accept our message of peace, which contains the substance, that they should directly conclude peace, with all mutual condescension and with our assurance, that soldiers who will not be needed in god's keign of peace on earth, will obtain according to the plan which is to be published in the above mentioned book "(in this book)" and which after the english edition may be translated also in other languages, occupations most suitable to their strength and the best spiritual education, to be truly happy in their mortal bodies as well as after their departure. but whereas no treaty of peace can be of duration in our time, unless the governments enter into christ's peaceable reign, which to establish we have obtained the mission, you, prince bishop anthony slomshek, and also the other two witnesses who are bound to give you all possible assistance, are particularly summoned to recommend most urgently to both emperors, as soon as they conclude an armistice and prepare the way to the treaty of peace, to appoint also a healthy place, where according to the geographical situation and other circumstances bishops of both empires can easiest meet, for our convention in which my latin manuscript which should have been examined a.d. 1849 by the american bishops in the convention which was appointed in the city of new-york, is to be examined according to the same rules mentioned above, and to give me as well as the bishops information of this affair; because i am ready to do all in my power for the peace of nations. you, bishop anthony slomshek are requested, to send me directly the result, after having received and read this letter in your consistory, and direct your letter to andrew b. smolnikar, donnally's mill, perry county, pennsylvania, in north america. we cannot enter into explanations of the paints mentioned in this epistle to bishop anthony slomshek. the substance of the remote and recent causes of the war in europe and of the causes of all revolutions and wars is, that men are living on the surface, in materialism, according to their animal lusts and passions, using their reason to accomplish their animal desires, and neglecting the one thing needful to grow in the knowledge of their true inner condition and the true condition of the departed, and in corresponding virtue for high spheres of spirits to promote the true welfare of the whole human race while they are promoting their own welfare. the treasures which i collected from my early youth to this advanced age for the promotion of the common welfare, i carry with me into the spirit world. but those who, instead of having cultivated their inner man, came on the surface into the materialistic life, and lived according to their animal passions and carnal lusts and according to the custom of their party and sect, and supported blindly the performances contained in the traditions and systems which have been delivered to them by their predecessors, were preparing in their way for revolutions and wars, instead of having learned our disclosures that the time had arrived for the abolition of the old heavens and the old earth, that is, of the old ecclesiastical and political institutions, and how they are to be abolished in the most peaceable manner. in this ignorance of things which have been disclosed in our publications, those who keep up those institutions, come in collision with those who endeavour to destroy them without knowledge of their prophetical meaning and of the truth which is behind the vail of the outward form, and without preparation for a better state of human affairs. this collision is continuously preparing revolutions and wars. men on the surface, not knowing the right means for true liberty, use the means which destroy not only liberty, but also human life and property, and life is wantonly destroyed, because men in their dreadful degraded condition do not know how to appreciate it. in this condition, if the old systems would succeed so far as to crush down with absolute despotism all movements for deliverance, they could not keep for a long time people in bondage of absolutism. crevices would be always found, from which the movements of the secret aspirations for liberty would commence to be made manifest, till the eruption of the flood of revolution and war would effect great destruction of life and property. but also in the case, that the enemies of the old institutions would succeed so far as to sweep away every vestige of them on the surface of the globe, they would be as little able as the supporters of the old systems to preserve peace; because there is no pacification in the spirit world, except by receiving and spreading the means shown us from the spheres of spirits by whom we are commissioned to introduce the new era of harmony and peace amongst mortals as well as amongst their congenial departed. but the more materialism subdues the globe, the more the inner causes for new out-breaks of revolutions and wars are operating to find crevices for the outbreak, so that there is absolutism and despotism as necessary for those who without the use of the old forms promise to make people free, as for those who promise the same in the support of the new systems. emperor louis napoleon and emperor francis joseph are quite remarkable representatives of the two systems, while napoleon makes such a use of the old form as to satisfy many of the open opposers to it, and the emperor of austria endeavours to sustain with hundreds of thousands of soldiers the inheritance of the old abominations which should have been abolished by the application of our message without murder of any man and for the greatest benefit of the departed and the mortals of the family of hapsburgh, while the whole empire and all nations would have been benefited. from the scattered hints in this book you may collect, that since francis joseph's government i was rather endeavouring to effect in one or the other manner a movement in this country, by which at length also the bishops and the government of austria might be awakened from their fatal lethargy; because i saw that my direct applications to the young emperor would have been for no use. i am in no direct correspondence with my native country, and i receive news either in newspapers or from occasional reports, and shortly before i wrote the weighty epistle to anthony slomshek i met with a countryman who was professor in vienna, during the revolution of 1848, and on account that he inspired students for fighting, he had to leave the country, and he told me besides other news, that he heard that anthony slomshek was prince bishop in laibach. several years before that i received the news that he was prince bishop at saint andrew in lavant valley of carinthia, only five miles from the monastery of saint paul, where i became a monk of the benedictine order. i wrote to him, when i received that report; but i received no answer. at length the epistle which appears in this treatise, has been sent to him as to prince bishop of laibach, on the above mentioned authority. the epistle would retain in this book the same value also in the case, that the report should not be correct that he is bishop of laibach; because the facts which i relate in the epistle as facts known to him are facts of my own experience and such as occurred in close connection with my experience, and have been attested by many witnesses directly after they happened. although i made few applications directly to austria during the government of emperor francis joseph, my fellow student frederick baraga, bishop at the falls of saint mary at lake superior, extending his diocese widely amongst indians of north america, a peculiar favorite at the austrian court, after having neglected the former opportunities to study our message of peace and to spread it in the austrian government, was brought on the great popish feast of christ's body (festum corporis christi) may 22, 1856, to me in quite an unexpected manner for both but in such a connexion with the present war in europe, that if this man, at least at that time had fulfilled his highest duty, instead of the tremendous war, christ's peace would have already been established in europe. therefore, not having room to write much, i must mention at least somewhat about that our meeting showing the secret causes of the present war and of all revolutions and wars since our first proclamation of the great message entrusted to our care. on that feast, which was celebrated a.d. 1856 on the 22d day of may, my pamphlet: "redemption of oppressed humanity! christ's manifestation for the abolition of all kinds of popery!" issued from the press in the same printing establishment of cincinnati, into which bishop baraga came on that feast to see the proof-sheet of the title page of his latin book for his missionaries. our meeting on that feast in a protestant printing office was so unexpected, that we did not know each other, when we met at the compositors' room which he left while i was entering into it. i was then instructed by the compositors, that that gentleman was the same bishop baraga about whom i spoke in the pamphlet showing that while bishops were consecrating him or made him a bishop, they were crucifying christ in his members; to wit, that bishop after having become so great an apostle of the indians, that he was very renowned in our native country and at the austrian government, was made a medium by my leaders, that he opened the way for my voyage to america. but after having discovered, that our mission was not for, but against the pope, he instead of having studied my books and examined our message of peace and the credentials of our mission, became enraged. i expected that at a personal meeting with him i would make him comprehend our mission. but there was no opportunity until that feast on the 22d may, 1856, which was selected for the commencement of the spirit manifestations at my personal meetings with that medium of spirits of delusion and destruction. after having written a considerable portion of the next following treatise, i am aware that i cannot encompass within so few pages as i am desirous to do, what is to be communicated there to nations, and i take from this treatise some sheets away, in which i have given disclosures, why we have mentioned in our epistle to bishop anthony slomshek also the bishops of triest and goricia, whose predecessors should have at the same time opened the way to the circulation of our message of peace in which time bishop anthony aloysy wolf should have been their co-operator for peace. but matthew raunicher, who was at that time bishop of triest, should have been the leader of this work; because amongst those who belonged to the austrian government he was the first who received the first two volumes of my works. but he was formerly professor of dogmatics and as such also my professor, and was so fixed in the dogmas of his infallible church, that he could not study my books, to learn what all dogmatists of the so called christian denominations require, to with signs according to prophecies by which an "extraordinary ambassador" to the churches should prove his mission. i hope, that raunicher's disciples, bishop baraga and bishops and priests in illyria and elsewhere will learn at length that we have superabundance of signs according to prophecies testifying our mission against the infallibility of the church, and for the great truth, that many of the dogmas of the church are the most shocking absurdities, of they are taken as they have been delivered by the papal imperial royal hierarchy, but that we show a deeper sense, in which sound reason and science are reconciled with religion. but we close this treatise to get more room for the next following treatise, to assist the pope and his bishops to prepare for their own and the ressurrection of their departed predecessors. fourth treatise pious ix bishop of rome, louis napoleon emperor of france, francis joseph emperor of austria, the three extraordinary witnesses of our on the title-page of this book expressed mission and powerful preachers to all governments and in the first place to the government of the united states of north america, that they should submit to the government of our lord and his christ and become with us messengers to introduce the promised universal republic of truth and justice, harmony and peace on the whole globe. in the first three of my five german volumes the magnetic chain of memorable events to bind the dragon. revel xx: 2, is so developed, that the proper position of the existing governments of the so called christians is made manifest. they belong to the beast with seven heads and to its ten horns either in the old or in a new fashion. those three volumes having been published from a.d. 1838 to 1840, pope pius ix and the two named emperors to whom the world's attention is now directed, have not been mentioned in those volumes nor known to mortal men, that they will occupy the position, on which they appear according to prophecies, nor they themselves nor other men know at this time that position, if they have not studied the magnetic chain exhibited in those volumes to bind the dragon, revel, xx.:2, the large serpent, the image of the spirit of delusion and destruction by whom rulers and their supporters have been inspired with such a madness as to apply their studies how to kill men in the most cunning manner and to strip the remnant of their property and keep them in bondage. each of those volumes is of a considerable size; the third is the largest containing 864 pages. but the substance of their contents is concentrated in the latin manuscript, written at the commencement of 1849. if theologians had studied my german volumes or attended the latin convention to which they have been most earnestly invited, they had known without my explanation the position of these three great representatives, or rather they had converted them long ago into the messengers of peace. but after matters had arrived so far as they are now manifest, we must do what we can for the benefit of these three witnesses and of those who are attached to one or the other as well as for the benefit of all governments and their subjects; because all are preparing instruments for destruction of human life and property and drilling men to destroy or wound their fellow men in the most artful and cunning manner, and to reward with the highest premiums those who perform best this most criminal work. if you ask, by whose authority they are doing this, the answer is given: "and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat and great authority," revel. xiii: 2. to wit, to the representative of the beast with seven heads and ten horns. under the christian mask he became such a terrible monster, that no other epithet was more suitable for him than that of a therion, of a ferocious beast having seven heads and ten horns. having been inspired and directed by the dragon and his host, he could not teach his sons and daughters, emperors and empresses, kings and queens, a better doctrine than that which was infixed in his heads by the dragon and his host. "the seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth; and they are seven kings; five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he comes, he must continue a short space," revel. xvii: 9 and 10. it is to be understood, that in a brief treatise we can give only some hints in regard to certain links of the long chain of events, which is exhibited in the first three from a.d. 1838 to 1840 published volumes. the three at the head of this treatise mentioned witnesses are so extraordinary links added to that chain, that while i was writing those three volumes i thought that the chain was long and strong enought to bind the dragon and to establish peace on the whole globe. but when people would not spread that chain, it was after that much protracted. in the years 1841 and 1842 the 4th and 5th german volumes and then a number of english pamphlets were added; but the last links of the chain cannot be understood without some knowledge of the preceding links. in every age men were awakened, whose intellectual and moral improvement was above the general course of the age, and who were endeavoring to warn and elevate the fallen generation. they were preparing the way for our advent, and disclosing what belonged to their sphere, that it might receive more light in "the dispensation of the fulness of times" ephes. 1: 10, to introduce which we are commissioned. one of those forerunners, was doctor bengel, disclosing what belonged to his mission in the first half of the last century, so that in the same years of the 18th century remarkable disclosures have been made by his instrumentality, in which years in the 19th century heavenly messengers have given great disclosures by my instrumentality regarding christ's peaceable reign on earth. a.d. 1740 his german work "erklaerte offenbarung" (revelation explained) was published; and exactly one hundred years after that, on easter saturday, 1840, my third german volume, by which the chain to bind the dragon was complete, issued from the press. to wit, in the first and second volumes the "memorable events" are reported, which took place at our experience for the abolition of popery, or what is the same, for the abolition of monarchy; and in the third volume is shown, that memorable events which are explained in my first two volumes, happened according to prophecies which are in the bible and also in other works of ancient times and have been repeated through the course of centuries of the christian era, and that the memorable events which happened at our experience, would not have scared priests and preachers, but would have been expected by them, if they had not been ignoramuses of what our forerunners had disclosed before us, or stubborn materialistic hypocrites, not beleaving what they preach and profess by their performance. the principal of those forerunners have been mentioned in that volume, and how far each in his situation saw the objects, which have received in our mission a light which could not be obtained in former ages. doctor bengel occupies amongst those forerunners a peculiar place; because he is the second angel or messenger, spoken of in revel. xiv: 8, that is, the representative of messengers by whom the contents of that verse are fulfilled, because he was the first amongst those, who have proclaimed prophetically christ's coming or christ's manifestation to effect the fall of babylon while they were showing the time in which it had to take place, and disclosing many other deep things which were not known before, and have warned people powerfully, to prepare for christ's coming. this was done by doctor bengel and his disciples prophetically, i mean, that they saw christ's coming only in the image of the biblical prophets, and did not know the manner of his coming, and pointed out the year 1836, as the tropical year for his coming. but when that year expired, those who had before great confidence in dr. bengel's disclosures, said, that he was mistaken in the calculation of the times. but we have shown according to our mission in the 3rd. of the mentioned volumes, that doctor bengel was not mistaken in what belonged to the sphere of his mission, and his wonderful calculation was correct regarding the time, but that what he wrote regarding the manner of christ's coming and other things were not correct, which not he but the third angel, revel. xiv. 8, had to disclose; because the year 1836 was the tropical year, at the expiration of which the 3d angel had to appear, and then to perform his task and explain the prophetical images and other things which have not been understood before that explanation; because the lord came at that time as a thief, revel. xvi: 15. the thief is not seen, when he takes away what he finds suitable for his use. and the same have we done in our mission in which was gradually disclosed, that christ comes by us, his messengers, and discloses what is needed, by the direction of his invisible agents who are operating through our mediumship. if you keep all that has been said in this book, you will comprehend the hints which we have given as preparations at our approach to the development of what we have promised in the inscription of this treatise. others have tried to show from their position, and doctor bengel with application of historical and astronomical erudition endeavoured to make it most evident, that the beast with seven heads and ten horns in the 13th chapter of the revelation, is the papal monarchy. at length came the 3rd angel or messenger, revel. xiv: 9, by whose mediumship the whole chain was developed, which testifies the same. and heavenly congress of the 144,000 martyrs, revel. xiv: 1, who superintend, that prophecy given under their direction, is exactly fulfilled, (as there is the case with the prophecies of the revelation,) have given also such testimonies of this truth, that the most stubborn materialist if he studies to learn truth, finds superabundance of most striking evidences, that hosts of spirits were co-operating, that prophecy was fulfilling, till at length by unexpected events the divine seal was attached to its fulfilment by our mediumship. we will give later in this treatise striking testimonies of this truth. but here was the preparation, that you may understand the following hints on the 9th and 10th verses of the 17th chapter of the revelation in connection with the inscription of this treatise. doctor bengel was the first who has discovered, after an investigation for many years in the bullarium romanum, in which the dates of the papal letters which are known under the name of the papal bulls, bear besides the time, the place from which they issued, that is, the place of the papal see or chair, or of the papal government. in the 17th chapter is the same beast with the seven heads and ten horns which appears in the first verse of the 13th chapter, only that in the 17th chapter it appears in another state, to wit, the seer says in revelation, xvii: 3d, "i saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns." this woman is called in the 5th verse: "babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations." the same woman is called in the 3d verse of the second chapter in the second epistle to the thessalonians "the apostasia or apostasy," what your translators expressed with "a falling away." in the preceding treatise we quoted a prophecy in the 33d song of purgatory in dante's divine comedy, in which the five hundred ten and five messenger of god strangles the harlot and the giant who sins with the harlot. that harlot is the same old woman, which is called in the 17th chapter of the revelation, "the mother of harlots and abominations," and the giant is the representative of the beast, at this time pius ix, carrying on his shoulders the whole burden of abominations and blasphemies of the whole succession of the apostles whose master is the apocalyptical dragon, who has given him "power, seat and great authority," revel. xiii: 2. the word which is in your translation seat, is in greek "throne," which you understand. but by the worshipers of the beast it is usually called "the holy see," and you know if you have comprehended this book until this page, that the pope had received his holy see from "his infernal holiness, the dragon." and we will concentrate and kindle an admireable light upon this subject in this treatise. in the the 7th chapter of daniel is the 4th beast, having ten horns, the roman monarchy. this same monarchy became at length the papal monarchy, when the bishop of rome became monarch of the church and extended his monarchy or superintendency over the other monarchs and nations as far as he could, with the same view, as the heathen roman emperors had, to make rome the mistress of the globe; only that the roman bishop did this under a christian title, although his government was an antichristian government under a christian pretext. there was inspiration; but the inspiration was from the dragon and his host. the foundation of that empire is expressed in revel. xiii: 2. any body who has a christian spirit and compares that which happened in italy from easter sunday of this year until this day, july, 21st, 1859, is convinced of this truth. these are the fruits of the papal monarchy! i have superabundance of other business, and am writing occasionally since the 4th of this month the preceding and this treatise, and the reader should keep continuously in his mind, that i give only some links in this time of great delusion preparing great destruction also in this country, that there not being opportunity to study the whole chain of our disclosures people might receive as much as necessary to know the "secret ememies of true republicanism," and the inner life of man and the spirit world, that they might be saved, instead of being ruined and destroyed. "the seven heads are seven mountains. also seven kings, five of whom are fallen, and one is and the other is not yet come." this is the state of things at the time, in the 9th and 10th verses of the 17th chapter of the revelation. rome is located on a number of hills, the seven principal of which are called by the ancient writers the seven mountains. doctor bengel has shown from the ballarium romanum and other documents regarding the papal government, that since the roman emperor constantine i. the pope had the seat of his administration until the time in which doctor bengel wrote, on five of the seven mountains, to wit, 1. on the mountain coelius, 2. mountain aventinus, 3. vaticanus, 4. qurinalis, 5. esquilinus. farther is to be remarked that although popes had some times their seats in other places, for instance in avignon of france, others in opposition to them had at the same time their seat in rome, or when in some revolution they were driven from rome, they returned as soon as they could. doctor bengel when he found, that in his time the seat of the papal government was the fifth of the seven mountains, assured most solemnly, that that government would not be translocated from that upon another mountain until it crumbled to pieces, and he, by his admirable calculation, showed, that it would take place before the expiration of his century. it took place a.d. 1798, when pope pius vi. was taken captive and carried to france, and the french directory located the seat of their government in rome, not upon one of the five mountains which were successively occupied as the seat of the papal government, but upon the mountain capitolinus. on that mountain was the temple which was dedicated during the heathen rome to all heathen gods, and during the papal rome to all saints or all gods whom the pope professed to worship. but then it was taken by the french directory for the seat of the government. all these things were axactly performed, by the influence of spirits of different spheres. every actor in the great drama was influenced by spirits for whose inspiration he was best prepared. but all that took place under the vigilance of the highest order of spirits for the accomplishment of prophecies. in revelation, xvii: 10 the seven mountains are called seven kings, that is seven monarchial or dospotic or antichristian governments, governments which originated from the inspiration of the dragon, the spirit of delusion and destruction. the seven mountains are types of these seven governments. but five are fallen, that is five kings or five monarchial governments are fallen at the time which the revelator saw, that is, at the time, when the woman was sitting on the beast having seven heads and ten horns. during those five kings or during the papal governments on the live mountains that woman, which is the mother of harlots and abominations, was prepared and fostered by all the anti-christian deeds which have been perpetrated by the authority of the papal bulls which issued from the five mountains. people who came out from the exterior fashion of popery, did not return to the christian truth and christian spirit, but progressed into materialism and endeavoured to effect with weapons of war, what can only be effected according to the plan given in the following treatise. the french revolution broke out a.d. 1789, and progressed in tremendous destruction of life and property and in terrorism and distress of the survivors, that at length a.d. 1798 pope pious vi was carried captive to france, where he died; the papal monarchy or the beast having seven heads, disappeared, or the woman was sitting upon the beast, that is, took possession of the monarchy. that woman is called the harlot and the mother of harlots, and the apostasy, or defection from truth and righteousness. people polluted with this defection appear under the image of a harlot. and those who professed to act in the name of the republic or the people, after having removed the pope from his seat, located their government on the mountain capitolinus, in contempt of the saints or gods of the pope, and supported their government with a more terrible despotism, than their predecessors, the popes, did. this government of the french directory on the mountain capitolinus, is in this calculation the sixth government, or the government introduced in rome after the fall of the governments on the five of the seven mountains. when the government on those five mountains was translocated from one mountain upon an other, the government was not destroyed but only changed, as circumstances required. but when the sixth government, (called in revel. xvii: 10 "the one is" that is, the one which was in existence after the fall of the preceding five), was introduced, the former governments of the papal monarchy were entirely abolished. when this took place, "the other" in revel, xvii: 10 "was not yet come," and the government of the french republic was in the greatest danger of being overturned. in those circumstances, "the other," that is napoleon came. he returned from egypt and saved the republic; but the republic could not be sustained, and napoleon advanced gradually so far that he became at length emperor; and of him is said: "he must continue a short space." revel. xvii: 10. his government is in this calculation the seventh government. he thought, that the secular monarchy of the pope was injurious to his empire, and he required that the pope, pious vii, successor of pius vi who died in france, should give up his secular monarchy. and when the pope refused to do so, he was taken captive and brought at length to france. napoleon is in our magnetic chain the same, who according to the vulgar reading and translation is called "the man of sin, the son of perdition." 2d ep. thessal. ii: 3. we give only as many hints as are sufficient, to arouse governments and nations from their lethargy. theologians not knowing how the bible originated, nor how to make the right use of it, had made already of the first chapter of the bible the greatest abuse, and came in collision with developments of astronomy and geology as well as with the true history of man, being in that chapter nothing else but the vision or the image of the creation of the mosaic heaven and the mosaic earth, or the mosaic ecclesiastical and political institutions, which are abolished by virtue of our mission in which we show the new heaven and the new earth. interpreters and translators commenced to dupe people with the first verse of the bible, where the hebrew word "elohim" is in the plural number. but they translated that word, "god;" although those who know somewhat about the true spiritualism, may easily comprehend, that those elohim are the guardian gods or the guardian angels, departed ancestors of the jewish nation. at the administration of those guardians moses produced the ecclesiastical and political institutions of that nation. of those institutions, and of the books of that nation such a tremendous abuse was made, that from that abuse at length "the man of sin, the son of perdition" was produced. but this vulgar reading is taken in the first place from a wrong greek reading. the genuine reading gives in the first place the translation "the man of lawlessness" that is, the man who came out from a lawless state, from a state in which the ecclesiastical and political laws have been overthrown. in the second place instead of "the son of perdition" should be translated "the son of destruction," that is, the man who came through that dreadful destruction of human life and property which is preserved in history, upon the imperial throne of france, that all in him has been fulfilled, what we read in the quoted chapter, and is explained in our magnetic chain in which we have given also the genuine reading and the genuine translation, where needed to understand the prophecy, as far as it has been fulfilled[x] in napoleon i. but the explanation cannot be here repeated; but we had here to mention as much as necessary, that the supplement of its fulfilment might be understood by napoleon iii. and that the two fighting emperors and their tremendous armies in italy, as well as all other monarchs, might learn their true position and be converted from the dragon to christ and become with us messengers of peace. for this purpose we must give the following hints: "and the beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. revel. xvii: 11. you must keep in mind, that the revelator saw the state in which the harlot was sitting on the beast, that is, occupying the place of the papal monarchy. in that state of things the beast or papal monarchy was not in existence. but when the revelator was contemplating that state with marvel, the angel who has shown him this state of things, gives some prophecies of what would follow after that state. "the beast that thou sawest, was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition" revel. xvii: 8. the papal monarchy, which disappeared for a certain time, had to re-appear, and that re-appearance is its ascension from the abyss, from so deep a cave that its bottom is not seen, from the realm of darkness in reference to revel. xiii: 2, when it came into existence first by the spirit of delusion effecting great destruction, at the incursion of barbarian[y] nations into the roman empire in the 4th, 5th, and 6th centuries. at that time the bishop of rome took advantage to commence to be superintendent of the kingdoms which originated from the roman empire, and their number was successively ten, which are called the ten horns of the beast. napoleon's empire "which continued a short space," having been the seventh government, the papal monarchy which ascended out of the abyss revel. xvii: 8, was in this calculation the eighth king or government, revel. xvii: 11, and came out of the seven preceding governments, and commenced, when a.d. 1814 pope pius vii took possession of his territory after his triumphant return to rome. then the ten horns of the beast, who "are ten kings" revel. xvii: 12, (to wit, in reference to the origin of the kingdoms out of the roman empire in connexion with the origin of the papal monarchy,) the monarchs or their representatives who after the overthrow of napoleon's empire assembled in the congress of vienna, "these have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast." revel. xvii: 13. the translation being not exact, we give only the sense, that they agreed, that the representative of the beast or the pope should be with them a partaker of his temporal power, or of his monarchy, which he has lost entirely during the sixth government, and died in captivity. his successor pius vii, who commenced to restore it, was then taken by napoleon; but after napoleon's fall the old dynasties with the papal monarchy were restored. and the people continued in the great apostasy which is called the harlot, and the monarchs were fulfilling and continue to fulfil at this time in the most tremendous manner the 16th verse of the 17th chapter of the revelation, "making the harlot desolate and naked, eating her flesh and burning her with fire." in this tremendous condition they continued since they took again possession of their governments. their proceedings and the whole management of their affairs appear anti-christian. these governments "make war with the lamb." revel. xvii: 14. this they do continously, till at length we read reports of such destructions as are now in italy. but to those who are with the lamb, called and chosen and faithful, the victory against the antichristian governments is promised in the same verse. without having room for farther hints in this confinement to a small book, that it might be studied by many who could not be moved or would not have time to study a large work or would not have the means to buy it, we must give here some hints, how our victory against those who are in war with the lamb, has been secured by the most solemn promises and fulfilment of the most sublime prophecies. readers should keep in mind all hints given on the preceding pages, and should know, that i was called to america by a heavenly messenger. then followed continuous signs, by which all things were prepared the right moment, that i was directed to boston, mass., and arrived in that city on my birth day, november, 29, 1837, when i was exactly 42 years old. i had no knowledge, that my invisible guardians had prepared all that was required, that in that city great works have been performed by my instrumentality. on memorable events which happened in the roman catholic church of that city from december, 1837, until the 3d sunday after easter, 1838, by my mediumship and assistance of 144 witnesses many hundred pages have been written in my often mentioned five german volumes. readers of this book are accustomed to hear unexpected events, and we mention without explanations the following as preparatory to the light which we shall give in this treatise upon the present meeting of emperor napoleon and his army with emperor francis joseph and his army in italy, and upon the present pope in their vicinity. while i was preparing to start from boston to other places, i was instructed by unexpected wonders and signs that i must remain in boston and take care of the german catholic congregation, and the priest who had charge of it, was by invisible agents compelled to leave directly boston. for the use of our german congregation the roman catholic cathedral church was granted at the time, during which it was not occupied by the irish and american congregation. we had our service on sundays from 8 to 10 o'clock a.m. in that church, and i explained prophecies in reference to our time and the necessity of true reformation for those who would be partakers of the great promises for the fulfilment of which the time was approaching. this i knew as well as also, that i came to america to work in this country for their fulfilment according to the direction of my leaders. but i did not know, what, according to their plan was to be done. on the 6th day of january, 1838, which was saturday and the feast of epiphany or christ's manifestation, a great prophetical feast for our mission, i received the order from my guardian, the martyr in revel. xiv: 14, who was crucified and burned by the pope, and found by the heavenly congress, revel. xiv: 1, as best qualified to be my principal director in what i had to perform in the cathedral church in boston. the name of that martyr and why he was found to be my leader in that work, is in other of my writings. by him i was instructed to prepare the congregation on that feast, that those who would be willing to co-operate with us for the great reformation which was required for the fulfilment of prophecies, should be ready to come on the next following day after our sunday service in my school room and sign their names and what they would be willing to do for defraying expenses in our enterprises. on sunday the 7th of january, 1838, i delivered again a sermon suitable to inspire the congregation for the great enterprise, and asked that those who were ready for co-operation, should come directly after the service in our school room. that was a step against all precedence. the catalogue of those who belonged to the congregation, was given to me before, and trustees took great care to collect large subscriptions for us. but all this should be rejected, and only those who would be ready to work with me for the great reformation without regard to the bishop, should come and sign their names and contributions, to be regarded as my fellow labourers in the great reformation. although i have explained to them in my sermons as many signs as they could bear, that i came against all my expectations to america to prepare people for the reformation necessary for the fulfilment of the greatest promises, i, according to human insight into matters, did not expect that any would dare to sign his name. but i did, as i was ordered by my leader. after our service on sunday, january 7, 1859, there came so many that our school room was crowded. trustees and others came with them to warn the others, not to do any step for such an enterprise, without asking first the bishop, what should be done in this case. others remarked, that i knew well what i was doing. and i repeated what i have explained at our meetings in the church, that i was doing nothing except what was showed to me by the spirit, who had given also in their presence sufficient testimonies, that he was a spirit of truth and righteousness. then all were so inspired, that those who resisted most signed first their names. having been agreed that they must sign their names before me and witnesses in my catalogue the business required time, and those who came from a distance, remained to sign their names amongst the first, and the others went home, and returned afternoon. on the next following sunday we assembled again, that the names of the signers were read solemnly and distinctly in the presence of the whole congregation for other purposes, which to mention here is no room, as well as for the purpose which must be mentioned, that the congregation were expressly admonished, that at the reading of the names of the signers they should pay pecular attention, that if any mistake should be found, it might be corrected, and that all might be witnesses of what every one had signed to contribute for our enterprise. every one, called by the name, answered. most of them, if not all, were present. and if any one, for i do not recollect any case, was absent, certainly those who knew him and were present when he came to sign his name, testified, that they saw him, when he signed his name and contribution, and that his name was correctly written into my catalogue. in this manner that which was signed january 7th 1838, before witnesses was on the 14th of the same month testified by the whole congregation. signs and wonders became more manifest. i was commanded by my leader to write an encyclic latin epistle, directed to the bishops of the austrian empire, showing the necessity of true reformation that nations might become partakers of the promises. i have shown in that epistle of seven closely written sheets, what was first and most necessary; and i mentioned a number of signs which have been given in the austrian empire before i started thence to america, and a number of signs in boston after my arrival there, by which our mission was testified. after having finished writing that epistle, i was directed by the same spirit, to write to benedict fenwick roman catholic bishop of boston, a short letter, as addition to the encyclic epistle to the bishops of austria, showing to the bishops, that whereas some signs have been mentioned, which took place in the austrian empire in the presence of witnesses who have been named in the epistle, and other signs happened in boston, and of those signs he was a witness, he was in duty bound to sign first the circular epistle and to promise his co-operation with us for the great reformation of the church, which is necessary to stop judgments and to make nations partakers of the greatest promises. i added, that if he would refuse to sign, i could not go any more into his church. the bishop was a cunning jesuite. he understood that by signing that epistle he could not satisfy his pope, and he wrote to me a very enticing letter, to stop me in my reformation. but i assembled directly those of the congregation, who could be assembled that evening, friday, february 16th 1838, and explained what had happened, showing to them their duty, to make known to the congregation to assemble on next sunday in a protestant school-house in which i would explain, why i could not go any more into the church of the bishop. i convinced them after sufficient explanation of the matter, that they were satisfied, that i had to obey rather the direction of the spirit, than the wishes of the bishop. on saturday, feb. 17, 1838, i was again awakened at 3 o'clock a.m. as at my former commission, and commanded by my leader, to write again to the bishop and explain my message given to the congregation to assemble on the next day in a protestant school house unless the bishop would acknowledge his fault and do what was required. i assured him most solemnly, that all those steps were done under strict direction of the spirit who had confirmed my mission; therefore "nisi haec feceris, tecum in sacris communicare non possum." it is to be understood, that i wrote to him in latin, and said: "if thou, bishop, wilt not do this," that is, if thou wilt not sign the epistle and co-operate with us, "i can have no ecclesiastical communion with thee." the epistle was then carried and handed to him at 8 o'clock a.m. of that day. soon after that a deputation of our congregation came to me. they reported that our message according to our agreement, was spread in the congregation, but there was a means, to satisfy the spirit; because the catholic cathedral church does not belong to the bishop, but to the nations. the deputation assured me that roman catholics and protestants of different nations have contributed freely to build that church, and i could explain freely in the church what i had to communicate to the congregation; since neither the bishop nor any of his priests understood german. it was evident, that one of the three was under the influence of a prudent spirit. but i replied, that in steps of such consequence i must act strictly according to the order of the spirit. they should therefore go to the bishop. perhaps they might move him to sign the epistle. they went; but they returned with the message, that they found the bishop not well, entreating me very much that although he could not sign my encyclic epistle, i should go in the church, and difficulties would be then amicably settled. from that circumstance i understood, that the bishop did not comprehend what it was, to receive a commission by heavenly messengers, which was sufficiently attested as sent from heaven. therefore i said to the committee, that after the bishop had remained in such a darkness, i must strictly act according to the direction of the spirit who has sent me. then the man who was under influence was stronger moved to urge me to go in the church, without regard to the bishop, and explain what i wished to communicate to the congregation. when the other two belonging to the committee thought that i could not be moved, they left my room. then the third was stronger moved by his leader than before, to urge me to go in the church. then my leader brought to me the distinct message that i should go into the church and perform independently from all bishops, what would be shown to me to be performed. at that unexpected message i said to the man, that i have received the communication which i needed to tell to the congregation, that they should assemble on the next day in the church. from the message i understood, that after having excommunicated the bishop from my ecclesiastical communion, and in my last letter more distinctly than in my first, i had to omit in my performances in the church all that shows any communication with the bishop or with the pope, whose representative the bishop was. but i knew long before that, that the roman catholic church was a prophetical church, and i had to perform the prophetical ceremonies which were in use at those days on which i had to go in the church. the prophetical spirit has so provided for what i had to perform from that moment in the church, that at every performance also the passages which were taken from the bible into the roman catholic mass-book and ritual, corresponded exactly with what i was doing. on the 18th february, 1838, which was sunday sexagesima, i came the first time independently from all bishops, into the roman catholic cathedral church of boston, mass. to do what would be shown to me by inspiration. the church has prepared for that sunday from the 11th and 12th chapters of the 2d epistle to corinthians the sufferings of the apostle paul and his report, that he was caught up to the third heaven. when i was reading at the altar that section, and came to the quoted passage, "i was caught up to heaven." paul the prophet, as he appears in our mission, did not know, whether it was in or out of his body. but i know i was entranced, while my body was immoveable at the altar, and heavenly power was communicated to me, and i was ordered to explain to the audience the testimonies of my mission, commencing with the initiation which i have received twelve years before that. to wit, a.d. 1825 after my having been six years secular priest, testimonies were given, that i was called to join with priests of the benedictine order. i felt that there were sufficient testimonies of my call from heaven. but after my having moved into the monastery, matters appeared so contrary to my expectation, that i thought, that my surest way would be to write to the next bishop and to continue to labor as secular priest. in that my determination to write on the next following day to the bishop of lavant, i went to rest. but i came from my sleep into a trance of unspeakable heavenly light, during which i was surrounded by a company of spirits and magnetized or initiated by them for the great labor which i had to perform, and the temptations against which i had to act. at that initiation i did not see my mother, but i heard so distinctly her voice and with so powerful impression that it could not be effaced from my mind, when she said that i should remain in the monastery. amongst all communications which i received in europe from heavenly guides, this was the only one, which i have received from my mother; and nobody else could impress a stronger conviction than she did, in the most momentous instance in which i needed a heavenly comfort. and that initiation by heavenly messengers strengthened me, till i received on sunday sexagesima, february 18, 1838, the great initiation at the altar of the cathedral church of boston for my public appearance in my present charge and was commanded by the martyr revel. xiv: 14 to commence my address with the initiation which i had received twelve years before that. the roman catholic church has prepared for that sunday luke viii 4-15, and i explained according to the 10th verse the mystery of our mission. i had to mention some points at my public initiation to my present mission in which i had to perform in the first place in the roman catholic church what was required according to prophecies to give the pope and his bishops the most solemn divine testimony, that their prophetical administration is accomplished, and that their highest duty is to become with us messengers of the dispensation of the fulness of times ephes. 1:10, in which all in heaven and on earth should be united and pacified in christ. for this purpose the church or the people must be cleansed. to show them the necessity of the cleansing of the sanctuary, after that my public appearance in the glorious mission, demons were compelled to bring to daylight the secret abominations, of which we have in the brief hints of this treatise to mention one instance, which is in peculiar connexion with the three on the title-page named witnesses and with other regents. one man was found in our congregation, who was not in the catalogue of the 144, who have signed their names into our catalogue on the 7th january, 1838; but he was in the catalogue of those who have been given to me before that signing as belonging to the congregation, and that man appeared in that catalogue as being married, and when after our public appearance in the present mission the abominations commenced to be detected, that man was found, that he was not married with the woman with whom he lived as being married. i sent to him word, that if he wished to know his duty, he should come to me. but he would not come. this happened in the week after my public appearance in my present charge. i asked, whether the case was known in the congregation, and i was told, that it was known. on the next following sunday, which was quinquagesima or the next sunday before lent, i received the order from my leader to excommunicate that man publicly. i delivered a sermon appropriate to the case, mentioned that such a man was in the congregation, without naming him, and made the declaration that such a man does not belong to the church of christ or to our congregation till he is converted from his illegal connection. after that many other performances of our mission took place, which cannot be mentioned here, except the following: according to the agreement the signers of their names and contributions for our support and to defray the necessary expenses, had to bring a portion of their contribution before palm sunday 1838 which is the sunday before easter, and if somebody should be hindered in doing what he agreed to do, he should come and mention his reason, or if he could not come himself, he should send word by some other. in the case, that he would neglect to do the one or the other, we would send, to inquire for the reason of his having neglected his duty. this was to be mentioned for the right comprehension of the unexpected events which we must in this connexion of things report as briefly as possible. in the night from palm sunday to monday i was at one o'clock by a shock suddenly awakened and i heard the voice: "arise and take from the catalogue those who had neither brought their contributions, nor the excuse why they could not do so, and excommunicate them on the next sunday solemnly from christ's church." i arose directly, made light, took them from my catalogue and put them on another paper. then i became suddenly very drowsy and returned to bed. when i arose at the usual time, i reflected upon the unexpected communication, and i thought, that my duty was to inquire for the men, and that only under the condition that they would obstinately resist to submit to the rules of our order, they would deserve a public declaration, that they do not belong to christ's church. also it appeared quite strange, that easter sunday was appointed for that excommunication. i thought, that if i would send for and converse with them, i would perhaps find out the reason of such an unexpected order. besides all other things i had also the most convenient lodging for my performances in the new mission. but here we select only those points which are preparatory to the development of deep secrets by which the three extraordinary men mentioned on the title-page become extraordinary witnesses of our mission. the merchant with whom i boarded knew most persons of our congregation. therefore i took the paper on which i put the names according to the heavenly commission, and asked him whether he knew any of those persons who were on the paper. after his negative answer i called our messenger to give him the paper with the order to inquire at those who were acquainted with most people of our congregation, to find out those persons and invite them to come to me about important matters, without telling the case which i myself did not understand. but at the moment, when i would give him the paper, i was severly shaken and heard the voice, not to inquire for any body but to perform that which i had been commanded to do. the order having been given by the leader from whom other most important orders came, i was satisfied, that with the order were deeper things connected than i could expect. i asked the messenger whether he heard any voice. he replied, in the negative. i understood that i was taken by him into the inner state, when he shook me and said to me not to inquire for anybody, but to perform the order. from monday to tuesday in the week before easter i was again shaken and awakened by my leader at 1 o'clock a.m. and heard his voice: "arise and write for the book the order given on the preceding night to be executed on next sunday." to understand this order i must remark, that soon after my declaration made to bishop fenwick of boston, that if he refuses to sign the epistle i can have no ecclesiastical communion with him, which declaration was a polite manner in which i excommunicated the bishop, i commenced to write a book, showing that my extraordinary steps were made under higher direction testifying my extraordinary mission; because as soon as i was ordered to separate from the bishop, and to perform independently from all bishops in the roman catholic cathedral church, what would be shown me by the spirit, i understood my extraordinary mission; although i did not know, what the heavenly congress intended to perform by my mediumship. and when i was commanded by the spirit at 1 o'clock from monday to tuesday before easter 1838, to arise and to write for the book, which is now called the first of my five german volumes, i felt more than before the importance of the obligations of the 144 witnesses who have signed their names in my catalogue; and from this view i wrote that night what i inserted in the most suitable place of the manuscript, that it was then published for a testimony to all nations, that i did know nothing in regard to the deepest mystery which was intended by the heavenly congress with that excommunication. one point more as preparation for the great celebration of the easter sunday, april 15, 1838. on wednesday before easter the man who was excommunicated on sunday quinquagesima from our congregation, came to me after having separated from the woman with whom he was not married. i understood that he was under influence of an invisible power brought to me, and that i had to take him into our communion and make it publicly known on easter sunday in the same general terms without mentioning his name, in which he was separated. and i said to him, that i will mention this in our next meeting on easter sunday. when all was prepared on that great easter sunday, in the midst of our usual prophetical performances at the mass i ascended the pulpit and delivered under inspiration a sermon preparatory to the excommunication, instructed the audience then regarding the excommunicated by a distinct report, how i was three times ordered to perform that excommunication, that therefore those who are comprehended under the names of the excommunication, are as certainly excommunicated from christ's church, as i am confirmed as his messenger for establishing his reign of truth and justice, harmony and peace on the whole globe by all the signs and wonders many of which they had already heard in my addresses, others they will read in the book. the congregation knew, that i was printing a book in cambridge near boston, showing that what i was doing i was doing under the direction of heavenly messengers for the fulfilment of the greatest promises. amongst all the signs and wonders many of which you have also read in this book, one of the most remarkable signs was, that after my having excommunicated benedict fenwick, bishop of boston, in both letters, that of the 16th as well as that of the 17th february 1838, although more expressedly in the last than in the first, neither the bishop nor any other priest did interfere with my using the roman catholic cathedral church of boston, but i performed without the least disturbance all that has been shown to me by the holy martyr revel. xiv:14 and his company. i assured the congregation at the same time that the excommunication will not injure those who are comprehended in the names of the excommunicated, except if they remain obstinate after the excommunication is made known. after the necessary solemn preparation, the excommunication was performed in the most vigorous manner, and the names of the excommunicated were read so loud and distinctly, that they could be heard in every corner of the church, for the peculiar purpose that no name might be confounded with another name. after that act i continued the mass and distributed the eucharist to a large number of the congregation whom i prepared on the previous days by hearing their confessions; because, as i have mentioned before, in my extraordinary mission in the roman catholic cathedral church all that which was practised was to be repeated for a testimony that it was accomplished. without there being room here to write about the confession we mark only in general, that it had also its time in the old heaven, but we have better means of education in the new heaven. but it is to be remarked that also the man who had been excommunicated on sunday quinquagesima, came to me to the confession before easter and was received into our congregation, and this was then on easter sunday directly after my solemn sermon before i commenced to prepare the audience for hearing the excommunication of those who were to be excommunicated, distinctly announced to the congregation, and that same man received then with the others the eucharist from my hand. then he, after our service, accompanied me closely, without saying a word, to my lodging, and said when i was entering the house, that he wished to talk with me privately. when we were alone, he entreated me pitifully to receive him in christ's church or in our congregation. i was surprised, and asked him, whether he forgot, that i received him first privately, and whether he did not hear that i made that known to the congregation on that same day, and that he took also the eucharist from my hand as the confirmation of being in our congregation. he replied that all this was true, but that he heard distinctly his name, when i read those who were excommunicated, and that the spirit said to him, that he should go directly to me and tell me this. i saw that he was acting under the influence of a spirit, and to get some more information, asked him, how he could hear his name, when i pronounced loud and distinctly those who were on my paper for the excommunication, when i read them from the paper as being excommunicated, and that i could not be such a fool as to put the same name amongst the excommunicated, whom i took before privately into our communion, and announced this also publicly, immediately before the performance of the excommunication. he replied, that he did not only hear distinctly his name, but saw it also on the paper from which i read those who were excommunicated, and if i would show him the paper, on which those are who were excommunicated, he would show me his name. neither he nor any other man could read the names from that paper, which i had in the new testament book, in my pocket, and from which i read to the audience, what was to be read from that book on easter sunday; but my pulpit was so arranged, that nobody besides me could see what i read. when he demanded to see that paper, to show me his name, i took the paper from that book, to satisfy him, that he was mistaken. as soon as i had shown him the paper, he fixed his finger to a name and exclaimed: "this is my name! this is my name!" the more i assured him, that he was mistaken and that he should look better the letters of the name, to see that it was not his but quite another name, the more he affirmed, that it was his name; and the more he looked at the name, the more he asserted, that it was his name. then i named each letter of that name, asking him, whether he saw that it was the named letter, and when he answered in the affirmative to all letters, i urged him to spell the whole name. and he spelt the whole name, and it was "kaiser." this german name means in english "emperor." as soon as the man, or rather the departed spirit who urged him, that he performed all this, spelt the name kaiser, that is, emperor, the spirit seemed to be quite satisfied. after a short pause he again operated upon the man powerfully, saying, that he had brought his name on the 7th jan. into my catalogue. i understood always, that he meant that man whose name was kaiser, and i said, that his name is not in the catalogue. but when he continued to assert, that it is in the catalogue, and i repeated that i perused oftentimes that catalogue and was quite certain, that his name is not in the catalogue, and we both remained, each on his point of certainty, i said at length, that i would convince him, that i was correct, if he would tell me, who was the next before him, who put his name in the catalogue. and when he named him and also others before and after him, i opened the catalogue, and saw, that on the 100th place, which was according to that direction his place, was the name "kaiser," that means "emperor," instead of the name "geyer" that means "hawk" or "vulture." geyer was the name of the man who had brought on the 7th january, 1838, instead of his own, the name kaiser. but by all our precautions, that there might not be a mistake in any name and by all our uses of that catalogue until that moment no body discovered this! that my business with that man required more time than could be spared, because others were waiting till i dispatched him, and then all that easter sunday there was other work so that i had no time to reflect upon that case, nor, if there had been time, had i dared to think, what might have been, behind the vail, without having received peculiar revelation. having been occupied on that easter sunday with other business as well as with hearing confessions of those who came from far, i was then tired and went to rest. during my rest i was awakened by an angel of the lord, and heard the voice, that i should arise and write a communication. i arose, kindled a light and saw by the watch, that it was one o'clock after midnight, and felt that there was a company of spirits present, while i received from one the communication which was to be delivered on that day to the congregation. that was the second day of easter, a festival in the roman catholic church, and we had our service. that communication not belonging into this epitome, was mentioned, because it was a preparation to what follows. after having finished writing that communication between 1 and 2 o'clock, a.m. on easter monday, april 16, 1838, i felt much stronger than at the receipt of the first communication that i was surrounded by a company of spirits, amongst whom, at that moment, my mother approached next to me, and with an unexpected power of her voice which made such an impression upon my spirit and my whole system as may be easier felt than expressed with words, delivered the message that, i received in our ecclesiastical communion the man who directed my attention to the emperor who was excommunicated, and that that emperor was excommunicated who pretends to be apostolic majesty, and that i must write down this and publish in the book which was at that time in composition. i mentioned above, that i received by my departed mother one communication twelve years before that; and this was the second and also until this hour the last communication which i have received by the instrumentality of my mother. never in my life, at all my experience from the spirit world, i was so affected as at that communication. it was delivered after having written the first communication, and thought to extinguish the light and return to bed. at that moment i felt that, i was surrounded by a company of heavenly messengers amongst whom one was approaching nearest, and the powerful communication came. after that there was no inclination to return to bed, nor is there room here to repeat, what has been explained in the first and second of my five often mentioned german volumes, for the correct understanding of said communication, and the prophecies which have been fulfilled in said excommunication and explained in my third volume. from those explanations it is evident, that the emperor of austria who has besides other anti-christian titles also the title "apostolic majesty," is representing in that excommunication the whole body of monarchs and tyrants, who keep people in the anti-christian servitude, from which they are to be redeemed at the present manifestation of christ by his messengers. since the female sex has been much more injured and abused by monarchs and other tyrants than the masculine sex, beatrice dante's departed wife was found as most suitable heavenly messenger by whom the great prophecy in the 33d and last song of purgatory was communicated to the poet and most remarkable prophet dante, and my mother was found most suitable to deliver the above mentioned communication and to make greater impression than any other heavenly messenger upon me, when the first message was to be delivered to understand that great prophecy and thousands of other prophecies which have been locked until that time. at that moment a key was given to commence to unlock them. we give only some hints regarding the points which are the substance of the contents of the five germam volumes published from 1838 to 1842; and many volumes would be required, if we would explain the memorable events which happened afterwards for new illustrations and confirmations of the preceding events. there is a concatenation of the most solemn warnings to all the upholders and supporters of the old ruined babylon, that they should come out not to be partakers of her plagues. besides the mentioned mystery on the 100th place of our catalogue there is another mystery on the 90th place. besides those two, four or five others as you may read the whole report in those volumes, have neglected to fulfil their highest duty, and were excommunicated on easter sunday, 1838. but those four or five came after that excommunication to me and were received in our communion; but the 90th and the 100th have been brought by their mediums for the fulfilment of prophecies and for the most solemn divine assurance to political and ecclesiastical rulers, that they are in such a tremendous condition, in which they would not remain a moment, but would become directly with us messengers of peace, if they would comprehend but a little of what we know regarding their condition. after having received such an astonishing unexpected light regarding the 100th of the 144 witnesses of our catalogue, that only those can duly appreciate it who have studied my volumes, others who have neglected their duty and came in the number of the excommunicated only for an illustration of those on the 90th and 100th places, as we have explained in those volumes, came then without having been called, to me, and were received in our communion. but the 90th did not come, and his place and his names had a peculiar reference to all that which has been performed in the cathedral church of boston by our instrumentality; but i had received no communication in regard to him. therefore i thought proper to send messengers to inquire, whether anybody knew a man having the name "leo hefner" and having been in boston at the time in which the 144 witnesses signed their names in my catalogue. but after the most careful inquiry nobody brought any account of leo hefner. after that i received the communication, that that name which is on the 90th place of our catalogue, is a mystery which must be explained by me. then i commenced to explain, that most suitable names have been selected by divine wisdom for the excommunication, of the beast which has the mouth of a leo, that means in english a lion, revelation, xiii: 2, and the beast is the papal monarchy, for the foundation of which although several predecessors of pope leo i. were preparing the way, that leo or lion contributed most by his energy and principles which are expressed in his writings, to that monarchy, which afterwards pope gregory vii. endeavoured to establish with great power, and his successors triumphed at length against their adversaries, and the mouth of these lions under the christian mask swallowed as much of human life and property as it could reach, and the whole succession or family of the popes produced a "hefner." in the explanation of the expressive names which have been prepared by the heavenly congress, we take the most suitable significations which appear obviously in the names. we took the name "hefner" as a composition of german hef or hefe, which means "dregs" or "sediment," and the hebrew "ner," which means lamp, so that hefner means "dregs of the lamp" in our interpretation. the pope used the hebrew lamp and besides others especially german scholars gave him the greatest assistance, that by his anti-christian management the lamp of truth and righteousness could not burn, because there was oil consumed and dregs of the most dreadful materialism were destroying and ruining mankind. it is to be understood, that we give only some hints of what we explained in the first volume as far as our leaders found proper to do, showing gradually the great apostasy from the christian truth and immersion into materialism and ceremonialism, produced by the anti-christian management[z] of the "hefner or dregs of the lamp." in the second volume we cotinued the explanation, that is, i under the direction of invisible agents, was writing for the second volume. when i thought that regarding the beast with ten horns was sufficient explanation given for that volume, i heard on the 20th november, 1838 at noon time a heavenly voice: "count the number of the name of the beast." revelation, xiii: 17 and 18. i replied "lord! i counted it long time ago." then the heavenly voice was repeated. i asked, "is'nt lateinos" the right name? i received the answer: no. then i understood, that neither that name which was delivered by the old church father irenaeus and written with greek letters gives the number 666 and points to the affairs of the latin man, nor any other name found for an illustration of the prophecy and containing 666, expresses what is prophesied about the beast; but that hefner, contains the whole mystery; because each pope as pope has the mouth of a leo or lion, and the whole family or succession of the popes have produced the hefner, or dregs in the lamp, which cannot burn, because oil is consumed with the mouth of the leo. after my having explained for the second volume, that all circumstances testified that by "leo hefner" the papal monarchy was excommunicated from christ's church, and that in this name the whole history of popery is comprehended, showing what every pope as pope is, and what the whole succession of the popes had poduced, the heavenly voice "count the number of the name of the beast," has given the most striking divine confirmation or divine seal to our interpretation of the mystery. i wrote the family name, after having received the heavenly order, with greek letters, and to my astonishment they gave exactly the number 666, revel. xiii: 18. greek scholars should keep in mind, that the german h is expressed by the greek mark which is called by grammarians spiritus asper, and that in both syllables of hefner _e_ is long, and with this remark they will find by writing hefner with greek letters, in the name exactly the number 666. after having received the heavenly order, that i counted the number of the beast, while i was writing the manuscript and preparing the print of the second volume in philadelphia, i received soon a letter from boston containing the information, that matthew arnold who is on the 86th place of the 144 witnesses and in the deputation who after my having excommunicated bishop benedict fenwick from my ecclesiastical communion, came to move me to occupy the church for my performances, was inspired and remained when the other left my room when i received the communication to occupy the church for our work, that same man learned who the man was who brought the name leo hefner into my catalogue. since there were usually besides the witnesses also a number of others in the school room, in which names were signed in my catalogue, it seemed to be an easy task to discover the man, who had brought the name, by asking those who signed their names next the 90th. but there are thousands of discoveries quite easy, but they could not be made, till the time for their use arrived. besides me, all the 144 were also under so strict a control of invisible agents, that all happened in due time. after all other things regarding the mystery have been disclosed and also the number of the beast has been counted, i received the information, that the man who has brought the name, was a single man, quite suitable that he became a medium of pope leo xii. the first name of that medium was not leo, but he was known under the french name louis, although his german name was ludwig; and his family name was hefner. but leo hefner was not his name. he was brought as a medium of the departed pope leo xii. and he gave the name which we needed. his family name corresponded with the whole mystery of the fruits of the family or succession of the popes, but he was only a medium, and instead of his proper name a name was to be given which suited the mystery, and the pope amongst the departed who represented the succession of the popes, had to give his own name. here is no room to repeat the explanation from my often mentioned volumes, how tangibly it was shown by signs, that pope leo xii. was the leader who had brought that medium for the most astonishing excommunication of popery. the name leo has given also the stopping place, from which we count in different directions the epochs of the duration of the papal monarchy. we have done so in the third german volume and in the work which exists in latin, german and english for our monthly theological course and for the latin convention, if the emperors of france and austria comprehend us and call their bishops together, to learn the great things which are disclosed for the pacification of the world. bible students may explain many things by the hints, given in this book, for instance, how the three verses of the 18th chapter of the revelation have been fulfilled on easter sunday, april, 15, 1838, by the excommunication of the beast and its image or its ten horns from christ's church. we could name here the powerful angel, revelation, xviii: 1. but here is no room to explain, why that martyr was found most qualified for that office, that he delivered to me three times the command to perform that excommunication[aa], in which the proclamation is included: "babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of demons, and the hold of every foul beast, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." revelation, xviii: 2. interpreters did not know, how to read the text, because some manuscripts have the word "beast" and others have instead of that word "spirit." but the powerful angel who had the superintendency in these affairs, has shown, that you have to read the word "beast," because he has given to pope leo xii. the order to inspire his medium, to give for our use the name "leo," or lion who is the king amongst the beasts, for our use in the excommunication of the papal monarchy from christ's church, and the medium, although of german parents, was secreted under the french name louis, in reference to the french kings, who were for a great support, and at length for a great fall of popery. but with the imperial family of austria is an other phase. "petra dedit petro et petrus diadema rudolpho." this was the motto when the infernal holiness inspired the pope, to send the crown to the count of hapsburgh, to have that count when he becomes emperor of germany, his obedient servant. at length, after the support of all kinds of papal imperial royal abominations the departed emperor francis was allowed to take the most suitable medium in possession. the proper name of the medium should have been eagle according to the delight of emperors in that fowl. but our superintendent in those affairs took rather the hawk or vulture as a more suitable rapacious fowl, who put the name emperor instead of his name into our catalogue. that the departed emperor francis of austria became the leader of that his medium, will be shown below for a peculiar instruction of emperor francis joseph, that he might become with us messenger of the new era. but before this we must give here a very brief lesson to pope pius ix, although this whole book and especialy this treatise contain extraordinary lessons for him, and we could write a large volume of correspondences of wonders and signs in pope pious ix actions with our apostolic actions. bishops would have converted long time ago pope pius ix into a powerful preacher of the new era if they themselves had studied our message of peace, or rather the papal monarchy would have been extinguished long time before the appearance of pope pius ix. gregory xvi was the last pope in the ordinary course of affairs. while i was reading his book: "il trionfo della santa sede e della chiesa" (the triumph of the holy see and of the church,) my lord has opened my eyes, that he was near to overthrow the see of his infernal holiness, supported by such an abominable delusion as is contained in that pestilential book and other similar impositions. but i did not know at that time, by what kind of means it would be effected, till a.d. 1838 the wonderful works were executed in the cathedral church of boston, so that i expected, that bishops would, after the publication of my explanation of those events, comprehend them and instruct their pope in what was his highest duty. but they proved to be miserable servants of this their grandmaster of abominations. popes with their whole hierarchy are continuously repeating prophecies and at the same time refusing to do what is their highest duty for the fulfilment of prophecies. i could not have expected, that pope gregory xvi, that machine of darkness, would have paid attention, if i had applied directly to him. but if bishops had studied our writings and comprehended our mission and its credentials, they might have drawn also their master gregory xvi, to look into our matters. but he vegatated and died in the fulness of his prophetical position, whereas he was not ready to enter into the dispensation of the fulness of times, ephes. 1: 10, which is to be introduced by messengers whom i represent, i mentioned that the whole papal church is prophetical. in her is concentrated the prophecy of judaism and heathenism. popes who had a peculiar charge, had also names and numbers correspondent to their charge. when in pope leo xii the apostolic number was complete he prophesied, as readers must recollect, according to his leonine wisdom about a church doctor or apostle of the higher mission, and after his departure he had to inspire and bring the man into our school-room, to sign the most suitable-mysteries on the 90th place of our catalogue for the excommunication of popery from christ's church. and pope gregory xvi had to write the above quoted book, while he was yet a monk. but by that book the way was opened for him to the papal chair. he prophesied on the title-page of that book in the first place the triumph of the holy see or the papal government. and it triumphed so, when he became pope that with his successor the whole miserable machinery is breaking and breaking, till at length the church, that is, the people will triumph by receiving our message of peace, by which all kinds of popery will be abolished from the globe. he on the papal chair concentrated in his name and number of the name the whole mystery of his position. he was gregory, that means a watchman, as prophets are called, and he stands as prophet, in the full number xvi, which is as remarkable in the developments of popery as the number 666, so that the disciples of the revelator were debating, whether the spirit had given to their master the number 666, or the number 16 in revel. xiii: 18, till the spirit had shown by our instrumentality, that the number 666 is the principal number in counting the name and the periods of the duration of the government of that beast, but the number 16 comprehends many of its deep mysteries. the 4th beast in the 7th chapter of daniel was formed gradually into the shape of the papal monarchy, and 4 times 4 is the complete number in which the last ordinary pope appeared in his glory; he is the "infallible monarch of the church," as he himself has proved while he was yet a monk, in the above quoted book, that the pope is the infallible monarch of the church. by the means of that book my lord of truth and righteousness has opened my eyes, that i commenced to comprehend the infernal imposition of the dragon and his host, by which nations were so duped that they believed the papal infallibility, holiness and all other abominations and blasphemies of the living god and his christ, and that i have performed and explained what is required for the abolition of all kinds of popery. the number of the biblical writing mediums or prophets, whose books are collected in one section of the books of the old testament, is sixteen. they were as little understood as to who they were and where they were, as the popes. the number of the popes each of whom appears under the name gregory or watchman, is also sixteen, or two times eight. the last of them or the sixteenth gregory was the pope under whose administration the mysteries were performed by our instrumentality for the abolition of all kinds of popery. but he continued to rule in all his glory and to keep disturbers of his infallible monarchy in prison. he was the most glorious during the time, in which the beast or the papal monarchy is in the number eight, revelation, xvii: 11. the often mentioned catalogue of the 144 witnesses which appears in the english translation of my 4th german volume, entitled "the one thing needful," from the 533d till 538th page, is a concentration of wonders and signs, which were effected under the control of the 144,000 martyrs, revelation xiv: 1. in reference to this mystery as well as in reference to the 144 cubits of the wall of the new jerusalem, revelation, xxi: 17, their number is exactly 144. they were the stones used while we were performing in the roman catholic cathedral church what was required according to prophecies for the removal of babylon and bilding of the new jerusalem. "behold i come as a thief." revelation xvi: 15. he came so secretly, that neither on the 7th jan., 1838, while those 144 witnesses were signing their names into my catalogue nor afterwards, while they were performing each his task, we understood much of what was behind the vail, till after the great excommunication on easter sunday, 1838, the great mystery commenced gradually to be developed, and i received on the third sunday after easter, 1838, directly before the service, from my guardian the direction to deliver the valedictory sermon in order that all which, was to be executed in that church according to prophecies, had been accomplished. the church had prepared for our use on that sunday the 16th chapter of john. and i selected the text: "a little while, and ye shall not see me: and again a little while and ye shall see me, because i go to the father." john, xvi: 16. if you have comprehended this book to this page, you know, that i am jesus christ's first-born son in the dispensation of the fullness of times. ephes. 1: 10. but also after having been publicly initiated to this ministry on sunday sexagesima, february 18th, 1838, at the altar of the cathedral church of boston, i progressed slowly in the development of the mystery. all disclosures which i give are preparatory for an easier understanding of the great testimony of the three witnesses named at the caption of this treatise. i am partly going around and applying to all kinds of mediums in the cities of new york and brooklyn, and in all directions is somewhat prepared for an illustration of the testimony of the three extraordinary witnesses. on sunday, 24th inst., when the message of "the treaty of peace" between the emperors of austria and france arrived in america but was not communicated to us on that day, i wrote some of the last disclosures before this paragraph. after that i wrote two letters. but before having finished the second, i was inspired to go and i thought that i was going to a conference meeting of spiritualists; but on my way i met with one who is holding his own meetings publicly to draw the incautious into private "free love meetings," and i went with him to his public meeting. when i returned to my room i was tired, went to bed, and then i arose yesterday, july 25th, and finished at fish-oil light the second letter of july 24th, 1859. then i wrote three other letters before breakfast, at which i heard the first report of "the peace treaty." after that i was occupied all day in the cities of new york and brooklyn. i thought proper, to write this episode this morning, july 26th, before my starting to other business; because it is in such a connexion with the "peace treaty," that it will be in the proper place more particularly explained for a great illustration of the three extra-ordinary witnesses. "christ's first-born son in the dispensation of universal harmony and peace on the whole globe" is the third angel preaching powerfully in the 9th, 10th and 11th verses of the 14th chapter of the revelation. there have been a number of prophecies which have been referred to christ who has been crucified by the jews more than eighteen hundred years ago, but which cannot be understood except in regard to his first-born son and the whole body of messengers whom he represents. since our public appearance some mediums have preached that now christ's first-born son appears, and were quoting a number of biblical passages testifying this. if there would be room, i would write some pages regarding my meetings in cincinnati of ohio with the principal of those mediums. he after having been an elder in the mormon church, separated from them and was preaching "the judgment dispensation," and that christ's first-born son was coming now. although my meetings with that prophet would be for a peculiar illustration of the testimony of the three extraordinary witnesses, i can mention here only the substance, that he was often times possesed by some of the generals of napoleon i. to give from his position peculiar testimonies to our mission. once, for instance, was he so strongly inspired by his leader, that he wrote a decree by the authority of that his god, in which he appointed me to be "pope andrew i." it was a.d. 1846. he gave a copy of that decree to an editor of a newspaper in cincinnati,--to the same who publishes now in washington city the national era, which will be used before the close of this treatise in a peculiar connexion with the three witnesses, and he handed to me a copy of the same decree. at the perusal of that decree i saw that a dragon was the god by whom he was inspired, and i wrote directy a protest, to accept any office from his god who was a spirit of delusion and destruction, i handed my protest to the same editor with the remark that if he publishes the appointment for me to be pope andrew i, he must publish also my protest. he made known this to that medium who under those circumstances withdrew the decree. he was a rich general, and there is no doubt, that as pope in a new shape i had found soon support of other rich, persons to carry out the plan of the dragon for destruction. while i was writing the 4th of the five often mentioned german volumes i had to quote oftentimes the catalogue of the 144 witnesses, and was continuously aware, that not only the 90th, and the 100th, who have brought as mediums not their own names but the names which were suitable to the office of those, by whom they were inspired, obtained the places which according to our language by numbers were most suitable to the mystery which they contain, but that also those who have brought their own names, brought them as mediums of invisible agents by whom they were controlled in such a manner, that those who had peculiar charges, obtained also the places with numbers corresponding to their charges. after having observed many times this phenomenon i saw at length the necessity of publishing that catalogue with the names in the same order, in which they had been brought into the catalogue. but at that time i was not aware, that the catalogue contains exactly 144 witnesses, the complete mystical number of their represensation; because on the 538th page of "the one thing needful" that catalogue ends with "143 anthony larger," and in my first three volumes as well as in "the one thing needful" or in the 4th volume these witnesses are named "the 143 witnesses." on the 538th page the paragraph after the close of that catalogue commences: "this is the foundation catalogue of the new reign of christ on earth," and in the same paragraph these witnesses are called the 143 witnesses; because they occupy 143 places, and i was not aware that there were 144 witnesses in that catalogue, till at length i heard the voice: "count exactly the number of the witnesses." i looked then at every place, and found that on each place of the catalogue is only one witness, except the 81st place in which are two sisters together, and therefore the number of witnesses in that catalogue is 144 in reference to the 144, 000 members of the heavenly congress revelation xiv: 1, by whose wisdom names for that catalogue were wonderfully provided, and in reference to the 144 cubits of the measure of the walls of the new jerusalem, revelation xxi: 17, the chief corner stone of which being jesus christ, and the members of his peaceable kingdom are named lively stones. 1 peter ii: 5. and, those 144 were given to me as assistants to show what is to be done for the establishment of christ's peaceable reign on earth, to wit, all the ecclesiastical and political powers must co-operate with us to draw all nations into the new era. here we give only some hints, how wonderfully they are exhorted and urged by all other events, as well as by the formation of that catalogue in which is the concentration of wonders and signs. we quote the following places from the catalogue as peculiar instances in reference to the three "extra-ordinary" witnesses: "80, bischofberger with two, 81 sisters." this man came under the strong control of his guardian, and when the quoted words were signed, and on the place "81 sisters" appeared, we required the names of his sisters. but he said, the names will be made known to me another time. each signer had to give his name, but bischofberger after having put the name "sisters" on the 81st place of the catalogue, refused to give their names, and assured me that they will be made known in due time, and i received orders from my leader to let it remain as it was written. when the unexpected wonders which are concealed in that catalogue, commenced to be disclosed, it was manifest, that on the 80th place was put the representative of the beast which itself is the eighth king, revelation xvii: 11 and has ten horns. to show, that it was in the complete age or in the fulness of its glory in our age, it was put on the ten times the eighth place with suitable names. to wit, alexis means one who hinders. he hinders the redemption of mankind from oppression and the development of truth and justice, which is required for this redemption. and the family name shows who this man is, to wit, "bischofberger." the first part of this compound name is the same word, as the english word "bishop," and the german "berge" are "mountains," so that this bishop is bishop of the mountains, or on the mountains, having his seat on the mountains, in reference to the seven mountains, on which rome is located. in this his glory he has two sisters, which represent the two powers of the pope, to wit, the ecclesiastical and political power. he himself in his glory and both his powers have been typified on the 80th and 81st places of our catalogue showing to the pope his highest duty, to become with us messenger of christ's peaceable reign. on the six places which precede immediately the 80th place, those are represented who have raised the pope so high as he stands. we remark, that the german name ochs is pronounced as the english name ox and means the same beast. those representatives are in our catalogue in the following order: 74 joseph ochs, 75 conrad ochs. 76 aloysius ochs. 77 john ochs. 78 iidorus ochs. 79 joseph januarius ochs. the number six is the fundamental number of the number of the name of the beast 666, revelation xiii: 18, and to one or the other of the six classes of men who appear here as oxen, all orders of monks may be reduced. the name which stands before the name "ochs," defines nearer the position of the representative ochs. monks of all papal orders appear in reference to the pope as oxen, tame useful animals, working for the support of popery, without knowledge of their own and the true condition of the pope. but revelation xiii: 11 we read: "i beheld another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon." here are the orders of monks under the image of a therion, a ferocious beast, which appears as a lamb to those whom it entraps for the pope, but it is ferocious, although it hides its ferocity, as a dragon, till its delusion is made manifest, when it destroys the enemies of the pope. it is caught in all six shapes into our catalogue, the explanation of the mysteries of which in our volumes shows to all monks and priests the urgent necessity to become with us messengers of the new era and the explanation from the 11th verse to the end of the 13th chapter of the revelation and of other mysteries is in our volumes showing the dreadful condition of monks and priests in their present course. we have given some hints without explanations which are in my printed volumes and in the manuscript, which n.b. on this great prophetical feast, august 15, 1859, of mary's assumption into heaven and of napoleon i's birthday, i mention that i was since the twenty-first day of june last, on which day agreement was made with the printer and the manuscript of the first treatise was given him for printing this book, confined to new york, wishing to have it printed as soon as possible. but those messengers from our sphere who have the commission to count according to our spirit language by numbers, pages and lines in my publications and days for their printing in agreement with the calendar, for this purpose controlling the spirits of the compositors, did not hinder them to annoy me in manifold ways. at length i wrote on the 1st inst. my complaint and carried it to the same attorney who without charge wrote the agreement; but not having found him in his office, i myself carried it to the printer, expecting a good effect. but i was as much disappointed, as when i commenced to write the fourth treatise and thought that it would not become larger than the largest of the preceding treatises. but having become more than twice as large, we stopped the composition of the fourth treatise at the end of the 168th page, which according to the printer's calculation will be finished on the 17th inst. the portion of the fourth treatise which appears in this edition is a necessary preparation to comprehend the proper position of pope pius ix. and of the emperors of france and austria, and to understand the mysteries of the dates of the remarkable events in the last war in italy. those dates testify that those events happened under strict control of our leaders watching the infernal furies destroying men, and in so exact a correspondence with events of our mission, that if you comprehend this book and act accordingly, you will open soon the door for the new era in america and in europe; but if you neglect this the three extraordinary witnesses have such a position as to continue judgments. those who comprehend this book, will be anxious to read also the continuation and the end of the fourth treatise, and will collect as many subscribers as possible. as soon as they secure us to call a printer to our peace union centre and to publish a new edition of this book, we will send gratis to them in an extra pamphlet the "supplement to the fourth treatise," which will appear in the next edition. therefore we request those who buy this book, to give their exact direction either to those from whom they buy or to send it according to the direction on the title-page. andrew b. smolnikar. fifth treatise. the plan for redemption of nations from monarchical and other oppressive speculations and for the introduction of the promised new era of harmony, truth and righteousness on the whole globe. we write the following pages only for those who have studied all the preceding pages of this book, and concentrate the subject of what would require volumes, on few pages, to be gradually developed in our periodical. on the title-page of this book our mission is expressed, and the four preceding treatises contain superabundance of credentials or testimonials of our mission as well as the great truth, that the social, political and ecclesiastical relations of mankind are rotten and corrupt, the whole structure is a babylon, confusion and delusion, which is to be abolished and on its place truth and justice, harmony and peace are to be established by virtue of our mission. readers of this book know that i speak as medium of messengers from the heavenly congress who have the commission to introduce the new era, and as representative of messengers by whom nations are to be moved for action to escape from the plagues which continue in the ruins of babylon till people come out and establish the new jerusalem, the new order of things, in which persons of both sexes will receive such development of their intellectual and moral faculties and of their physical skill and strength as they will be qualified to receive, to enjoy themselves in their mortal bodies as well as after their departure such happiness as their persons will be capable of enjoying while they themselves will contribute, each member his or her share to the common welfare of mankind, that the whole society will progress as far as circumstances will allow. this development demands time. it could not take place in a moment, but means which have been in preparation and prepared through the course of ages may be concentrated, and when thus concentrated they may be usefully applied in accelerating the true and right education of degraded humanity, and in a few years that may be effected, which past centuries did not effect. but with all the knowledge which we have acquired for promoting the true happiness of mankind, we can do nothing for them, if they are not reached and aroused from their lethargy. if they will be redeemed from their present miserable and wretched condition, they must begin to comprehend where they are and to what point of intellectual and moral perfection with corresponding happiness and health and strength of body and mind they could arrive, if they would apply their energy and the means which are prepared by nature as well as by human skill, art and science to be used in bringing mankind from their present babylon or from the existing confusion and delusion into the new jerusalem, into the new era, into the new order of things, which is usually called the millennium, about which there are many false and wrong notions, but which will be the universal republic in which truth and righteousness will reign and all nations will be united in the great brotherhood in which they will enjoy perpetual peace. we have received the commission and the credentials of the mission to introduce this state of things. to commence with power the grand work which is to be accomplished by co-operation of men and women, who are associated amongst themselves and united with heavenly messengers who are commissioned to prepare for the promised new era, we unite and form an association which we call peace-union (friedens-verein), a union of co-operation for establishing peace. real, perpetual peace comprehends the restoration of human rights. our co-operation for this purpose needs a centre, a place on which we concentrate the means to attain our object. hence, we according to our mission, invite all who are able to contribute their share, either in money or property or any kind of mental and physical labor for the realization of the object, that they might co-operate with us to establish first a centre of our work, and according to the pattern of the centre as many other settlements as may be required for accommodation of all who would enter into the new era. the first centre should be a provisional centre, that is, a place for concentrating our co-operation so long as may be necessary, till for the same purpose a more suitable place be furnished. but not all who are invited to co-operate can have accommodation on the first central station, nor would all be ready at once, who might so desire, if buildings and other necessary conveniences were provided, which, however, is primarely to be attended to. we need co-operators everywhere to arouse as many as can be aroused for co-operation with us in these days of noah, at the approach of the flood of tribulations. in my former publications as well as in this book and in my manuscripts a superabundance of credentials are exhibited, that those men and women, who are united with us in christ's spirit, that is, in the spirit of truth and righteousness, and are living in accordance with what is required by that spirit, and are spreading the glorious news made manifest by our instrumentality for redemption of oppressed humanity, are true messengers of christ; but those clergymen who, instead of co-operating with us, are keeping people in shackles of their sects and despising our message of peace, are messengers of the deluding and destroying spirit and supporting the beast or monarchy which receives its power from the dragon, the deluding and destroying serpent which is the image of that spirit, revelation xiii: 2. we expect they will comprehend this book and commence to act with all their strength as our fellow-laborers, and become with us partakers of the blessings which will originate from our co-operation. after this preparation we ask, whether according to the common stock association or according to a true community of goods the centre and other settlements of our peace-union should be established. i wrote many years ago a plan according to a common stock association, according to which members of the peace-union should have prepared themselves and others for a true community of goods, but within seven years an exact accouut of labor furnished and of its worth as well as of other property should have been kept, and at the expiration of that period the division of profits according to the shares of labor furnished and other property invested should have taken place, and during the period of seven years all the members should have been prepared for the great community or true republic, into which mankind will finally associate, that those who would not be sufficiently prepared before the expiration of seven years to commence a true community, might at least, in seven years be prepared for it. at the end of that plan is the paragraph a portion of which we copy here as preparatory to what follows: "i have mentioned only some of the many points which are to be mentioned in more suitable times, or in the periodical; because that which has been mentioned may suffice to move those who are culled and chosen to be the first champions in starting the centre of our action. they may easily comprehend, why we are compelled to commence on so low a station, on which continuous accounts and calculations as well as many other inconveniences will make much trouble. if we would expect good success on a higher ground, we would commence on that ground. but this generation is found in such a degradation and corruption, that also the proposed plan to draw mankind from lower to higher stations, will probably not find directly sufficient support of what we need to bring mankind quickly and powerfully into the new era, which in its splendor and glory will be the great community of goods, based on true republican principles, &c." this paragraph was to be copied, because we must give some explanation of the matter, that mankind were to be prepared in manifold ways, to become gragually ready to enter into the right order of things. readers of this book know, that from a.d. 1838 till 1842 my five german volumes containing "memorable events" developing the dreadful social, ecclesiastical and political state of mankind and testifying our mission to introduce the promised new era, have been published. during and after the publication of those volumes it was evident, that our duty was to make known to those who have read or heard somewhat regarding our mission, that for a powerful co-operation we would need a centre of our action. adolph etzler published that time a book entitled: "the new world or mechanical system to perform labour of man and beast by inanimate powers." i have read it and found the principles correct, and that although all that he proposed, would not be practicable, some of his propositions could be put in practice. and when i saw that germans were so chained either by materialism or sectarianism, that instead of studying those my five german volumes and of acting accordingly they followed rather after their sectarian and materialistic leaders who have published all kinds of delusion against my books, and spoke also in a like manner publicly and privately against them, my directors moved me to tell to those who took more or less interest in the contents of my books and were skilful mechanics, that they should study etzler's book, and if they would find his propositions practicable, they should try to awaken germans with etzler's machine to study my german volumes. the best mechanic among them, after having studied etzler's book, and having seen the draughts of all parts of etzler's machine and heard etzler's explanation of all its parts, has assured me in words and in writing that he gave all his property as security, that he would put etzler's machine in operation. but a seeress who belonged to our association, and gave amongst all women the strongest testimony to our mission, although she did not see the pattern of the machine, received in a vision its whole structure and described exactly the portions which she saw in the vision, that they broke. she received that vision a considerable time before those who were expecting certain success, commenced to build etzlers machine. i was certain that the prophetical vision would be fulfilled, but i expected that afterwards would be shown how etzler's mistakes should be repaired, and that great lessons would be given to nations by the trial of that machine, the inventor of which was a great materialist, not knowing that he himself was a strong medium of spirits of a similar character as spirits of napoleon i. were, to subdue the world by physical means, while i considered that machine as the means of peculiar spirit manifestations to awaken nations from their materialism to our message of peace containing the true spiritualism. the machine was built under etzler's direction in warren county, pa., the trial was made, and the pieces broke which have been foreseen and foretold as breaking. there was a great jubilee of those who have been deluded by priestcraft, that they thought when christ was killed, that he would arise no more, when etzler as well as the man who has given me in words and in writing the pledge with his whole property that he would put the machine in operation, have left the place i said to those who have remained on the place, that in the next night would be revealed to one of them, how the mistakes made by etzler, should be corrected and the machine should be put in operation. george karle, a young lame shoemaker, a sincere seeker after truth and firm believer in our mission, was the man to whom the mystery was revealed, and he has explained at our meeting the matter in such a manner, that also those who were most opposed, have at length been convinced, after having heard his explanation how etzler's mistakes should be repaired, that he had received a true revelation, and agreed that he should be the director in rebuilding etzler's machine, to make a new trial. but before this has been done, he was brought into the allegheny river and drowned by the instrumentality of the departed mormon prophet joe smith, not directly but indirectly by the instrumentality of a cow. but a week after that, on the 30th of july, 1844, the same destroying spirit joe smith was allowed to attack me directly, to show how he would be able to kill a man in a minute, if he would be permitted. but he was seized by my guardian and cast into a combustible matter which was by his infernal electricity instantly kindled. george karle was permitted to be drowned, because the time for establishing our centre had not yet arrived, and karle had an important mission in the spirit world, and in that great mission he continues to be engaged. it is to be understood that the given hints regarding joe smith would need a peculiar treatise. i did not know him personally in his mortal body, but urged preachers of his sect to move him to meet me either in a written correspondence or personally, to learn to know his dreadful delusion. the same i published in "the one thing needful," and urged his elders, to send to him an english copy of that volume, which as readers of this book know, has been translated from the german into english. but in that year matters did not yet arrive to maturity for the conversion of mormon apostles and elders. their infernal president had to show, how his army had the power to prevent my starting the centre of our operation. but that my meeting with the departed joe smith occasioned my meeting with the mortal brigham young, while he was yet in nauvoo, but although i preached to him and his disciples the judgment dipensation, they were not yet mature to be converted, and my manuscripts in which dreadful mysteries of the mormon spiritualism are developed, must wait to be published, when nations will be prepared to read so important disclosures. i have given here some hints of my experience at and after the trial of etzler's machine, by the means of which so much regarding the inner life of man and the spirit world and the dreadful condition of mankind has been disclosed, that volumes would be needed to explain it. that experience is testifying, that time did not yet arrive for establishing the centre. people were ridiculing me and reproaching the machine, not knowing that i have only occasioned its building, and that i warned those who undertook to build it, that they should reflect upon the point, that at its first trial the pieces foretold by the seeres would break, although they would be repaired and the mistake of the inventor corrected, if they would persevere in the work of the lord. but the wife of the man who undertook the work and gave the pledge, was instigated by jesuites and their agents and made him blind in the work in which he had to persevere, that by our experience it became at length manifest, that the trial of the machine was made for great instruction of nations. people were deluded by the blind leaders of the blind and would not hear us, when we invited them after the trial for co-operation to establish a centre without trying any machine, but only using machines which have been tried by others and found to be useful. but when we will be in all directions secured with abundant means, we will support inventions for the common welfare. here is no room for further explanations, that wherever i endeavoured to start a centre of our co-operation on the plan of the common stock association, great spirit manifestations showing the dreadful condition in the existing babylon took place, and the inner life of man was more and more developed and all our sufferings have been abundantly rewarded with imperishable treasures. we give here some hints on one case the full explanation of which would need as large a volume as this volume is. during the building of etzler's machine george karle found john zeigler in a hermitage in which he employed one half of his time to chopping wood and the other to studying the bible and to prepare for a happy home in the spirit world. karle gave him some instructions regarding our mission and some of my books. zeigler discovered soon that by studying my books he would receive light which he could not obtain in other ways, and then he studied them deeper than any other mortal man, and whenever his presence was required, he came to give us assistance, and then he returned to his hermitage. in the latter part of 1849 and the commencement of 1850 i was preparing in indiana and illinois and especially near the line of both states people for our message and for co-operation to establish on the grand prairie our centre. when i thought to have found the best location for it, i found soon a man of property who paid for the land according to our plan. then i wrote to j. g. zeigler who was from his hermitage preparing people by letters for our message, that he should come, and then we would write together to such as we would invite to come as pioneers. he wrote, that he was ready to start directly. he started, but he was pushed into the ohio river in the night of the 10th of april, 1850, between 11 and 12 o'clock by a papist instigated by the power of darkness. the whole conspiracy was then detected to us; but we committed the murderer to the judgment of the heavenly court, and zeigler continues to work with us amongst the departed. he was an american well versed in english and in german, and his work is extensive. the spirit language by numbers should be known in a certain measure to biblical students; although the most celebrated amongst them know very little about it. but those who comprehend this book, may easily find out, why i met with the departed napoleon i. in the 20th line of the 20th page, and why the spirit directed me to repeat this important fact with additional circumstances on the 39th page, and why i meet with napoleon in the 39th line on the 39th page in this book. readers in looking into these mysteries should keep in mind, that the battle of solferino was fought on the same day in the year 1859, on which day i met with napoleon a.d. 1839. if you understand this book, you will easily comprehend also, why the spirit was pleased to prepare on the same 39th page before the departed napoleon the departed president taylor and buchanan in the presidential administration, who appears to live although he is yet dead. but his friends should awaken him to study this book and to co-operate with us, that he might escape the judgment in which president taylor was executed, and john george zeigler was sent by the heavenly congress to give orders to destroying spirits to carry zach. taylor into their infernal regions. "zeigler was the angel of the lord," mentioned in the first line of the 37th page of this book. he has shown to zach. taylor, when he entered from his mortal body into his inner life, my handwriting testifying, that he had neglected to fulfil his highest duty. and i have mentioned in this connexion of things this incident, that you might do what your predecessors have neglected to do. when by the departure of our martyr john george zeigler was shown, that the grand prairie was not the place for starting our centre, i wrote to the man who has bought and paid for the land, that he was at liberty either to keep that land for his use or to sell it, and then i was preparing in other states people for our message, showing them also the necessity for starting a centre of our co-operation. at lenght at the end of february and at the commencement of march of this year, 1859, was in peculiar manner made manifest, that we should start the "_centre of our community_" or the centre for establishing the true republic, which, as has been made manifest, will be a true community of goods, and a true matrimony of one man with one woman, as has been prophesied by the first christians at jerusalem, but could not be accomplished in practice till the dispensation of the fulness of times, ephes. 1: 10. or the new jerusalem, will be introduced by messengers whom i represent. if we should find before finishing the last of the 24 pages of the 8th sheet some space, we will give hints on the wonders and signs by which it has been shown, but explanation of these matters must be delayed, till we establish a printing office at the centre of our peace union community. "and fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. and all that believed were together, and had all things common. and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need." acts ii: 43, 44, & 45. "and the multitude of them that believed were of one heart, and of one soul, neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of all things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles feet; and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need." acts iv: 32, 34, & 35. this was not the commencement of the community in the jewish church, but of the great conversion of those who have been attached to the sects of the pharisees and the sadducees. besides these two sects there was a third sect, called the esseni or therapeutes. they understood that the letter of the jewish bible kills and that there was in those prophetical books a deeper, a spiritual sense of what was to come, and they retired into the deserts of egypt, and were acting from thence to convert the world to their community principles. from that association the christian religion originated. jesus christ was the descendant or offspring of the therapeutes or healers, who were powerful in healing diseases of demoniac influence. their spirittual power came from their strictly moral life, they did not abuse the procreative powers, but those who were married, used them only for obtaining children in the right season, and many of them lived in celibacy in the strictest continence all their life time. such was the life of the therapeute monk eli or heli, the father of jesus christ, luke 1:23. he, while living in the strictest celibacy arrived to an advanced age, and when the time arrived for the procreation of the messiah of the jews, he became the medium of the spirit who was selected by the heavenly congress to seize him and to procreate by his instrumentality the messiah. and when the departed spirit called gabriel or the power of god, was operating through eli that is "my god," mary was seized by her guardian and submitted, that the offspring was not the origin of a carnal co-operation, but the work of a holy spirit, so that jesus christ was the concentration of the spiritual power of the highest association amongst the jews as well as of the prophecy of the jewish nation. in one of my former writings i have given more disclosure regarding this mystery, but when we will have our own printing office, i will give a more complete explanation of the mystery, as well as of my generation, because if you comprehend this book, you know that we have superabundance of signs according to prophecies, by virtue of which i appear as the first born son of jesus christ for the introduction of his peaceable reign on earth or the great community or republic, for which we must prepare by establishing a centre of our co-operatian. here is to be mentioned that regarding the community great abuse was made of the above quoted verses from the above quoted and other biblical passages in monasteries and nunneries as well as in other associations. christ says to the angel of the church of ephesus: "but this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the nicolaitanes, which i also hate." revelation, ii: 6. and to the angel of the church in pergamos he reproaches: "so hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the nicolaitanes, which thing i hate." rev. ii: 15. nicolaitanes in the revelation are the same who are in our days known as free-lovers. some called them dr. nichol's people. but that doctor was at length converted to romanism, lecturing for the roman catholic church, and the day before yesterday or on the 14th of august, i read the advertisement of his lecturing here in new york. we expect, that he will get this book, comprehend our spiritualism and draw many roman catholics into the true catholic church, or what is the same, into our peace union. man must be restored to his true condition. a chaste, pure life in celibacy, and a true matrimony in which carnal copulation is usued only for obtaining children when sound reason or true christian spirit requires it, this is the true condition of man for his true happiness in this and in the future life. all excess in this respect is injurious to body and soul of parents and children. as long as mankind are not reduced to the right order in this respect, they remain in their degradation and misery. how they will be brought lo the right order in the true community as the only refuge for the restoration of the human race will be explained in our periodical for the common use and particularly to those who will come to our peace union, here not being room except to give hints on many points the full explanation of which requires large treatises. here we give the following hints. in the present babylon dollars and cents as the means in this state of affairs used for what man needs to support his mortal life and for committing all kinds of sins and crimes against his fellow men, occupy in so dreadful a manner the minds of men and women in general in their present degraded condition, that the one thing needful, their spiritual progress is so neglected, that probably if some few comprehend this book so far as to apply all their energy to spread it, they will have a hard task to move the public in general to study it so as it should be studied and comprehended. reader should recollect, that when i came the first time in my present charge before the public, the passage luke viii: from the 4th to the 15th verse, was prepared for my use. besides dollars and cents there are especially the sexual disorders which ruin mankind so, that they appear as dead to the truly spiritual things, for which they will get the right taste, when in the community they comprehend, that mankind belongs to two houses. americans are quite accustomed to two houses in the capitol of washington; but in the true community they will learn to be accustomed to the two houses, or two departments in one and the same house, to which mankind belong, when they arrive to the higher perfect order, so that males belong to their own house or department and females to their own, although each husband has his own wife, and each wife her own husband; but they do not meet together for carnal copulation, except in the right season for the only object to get a child, with due preparation to transfuse a holy spirit into the child. nothing is more injurious to the parents and to the child than the act of procreation without due preparation, which is in this present babylon generally neglected. besides this in this present abominable situation of mankind, the act of carnal copulation is oftentimes repeated during the pregnancy and before the child is weaned. all this has a very injurious effect upon the child and degrades and ruins also the parents. here is no room to explain the hints showing the origin of the hereditary sins, which will be abolished, when the true community will be flourishing, and the whole house of males as well as the whole house of females will support every individual belonging to the house, as well as the whole community in their common meetings will support each other in the progression towards perfection. these hints may appear quite strange to many readers. but if they will come out from the existing corruption, they may be assured, that they will comprehend me, when i give in a long dissertation a complete explanation of the given hints, in the supposition that those who have comprehended this book know our mission, and that we have received the knowledge which is required to our mission to bring nations out of their present corruption which kills many when they arrive to manhood and womanhood; and many more before that age, and not a small portion of them before or soon after they are born. and all this originates from the corrupt state introduced by the follies of men. when these follies will be removed, mankind in general will commence, within few generations, to become old and will enter into the spirit world with great imperishable riches. we read: "verily i say unto you, there is no man that has left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and the gospel's, but he shall receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands, 'after persecution,' and in the world to come eternal life." mark x: 29, 30. according to our reading in the greek text we translate: "after persecution." when the persecution is abolished, the promised great advantages will be made manifest in the true community. there will not be plurality of wives, but each husband will have his own wife. now father, mother, wife or children might resist to the determination of a person to join with the true community. those who comprehend, that this will be the true life in the true reign of christ, in his peace-union, will co-operate with us for its introduction without regard to any opposition of their nearest relatives. every one who forsakes all and acts with us as much as he can, for establishing the peace-union, will when persecution ceases and the peace-union flourishes, consider those, who are old, as his fathers and mothers, those of equal age as brothers and sisters, and those who are younger as his children, and all the property belonging to the peace-union as ours, and we will truly pray to god: "our father." not being yet in this happy condition but endeavoring to arouse a general turn towards it, we must make some provisions to support the feeble in their turn, and those who turn towards our peace-union that they might easier settle matters with those who belong to their family and will not turn into our peace-union. every individual who determines to enter into our community, brings all his property into it, after having settled all his business in the world. this property, according to our principles will be taken in possession by the community; and if it is not money but other property, it will be valued according to a very moderate price, and its value and the amount of money if he brings any, will be put into the ledger of the community, and a receipt will be given to him or her under the provisions mentioned as follows: in the possible but not probable case, that he or she should return to the former fashion, the value of the property would be returned, although not directly, but when the community would find easy to do so. in the mean time they would exchange the receipt which he or she received at the delivery of their property, with a note containing the amount of money and the time when the community promise to pay according to the value or course of money at the time received and at the time in which it would be paid to him. for instance, if a dollar received would have at the time in which it would be paid, only the value of ten cents, ten cents would be paid to him or her instead of a dollar, without any interest; because the step should be made after earnest reflection and determination, and with this provision we must deter hypocrites from joining our peace-union; but to those who would be feeble, all possible assistance would be given to strenghten them in the work which they would commence. in the true community when it will flourish, everybody will enjoy as much of its riches as is required for his bodily strength and for such an intellectual and moral improvement as to enrich as much his spirit as his faculties will be prepared to receive, that after his departure he or she enters into a happy abode of our peace union. i and other pioneers, who are preparing for the happy state which the peace-union community when flourishing will enjoy, must suffer many privations. but the spiritual treasures which during our great struggle with the opposition we acquire, we carry with us at our departure, and where our community will flourish, we will rejoice with them who will partake of the fruits of our labor, so that i will not be less happy than the happiest who will be born in our peace-union thousands of years after my departure. with this consolation every reader should follow my example and act with us for the introduction of the new era. after these hints some rules must be mentioned regarding the economy and management of affairs for the introduction and maintenance of the peace-union to realize what in christ's peaceable reign on earth is expected. as soon as circumstances will admit, a printing-office will be established on the place on which we commence our provisional peace-union centre, and a periodical based on and directed by the principle of free discussion will be published, as the nature of the case, reason and arguments for the restoration of human rights demand. and previous steps, made before we are enabled to publish the periodical, are subject to be criticized in the periodical, and we undertake such enterprises or actions as we are ready to support before the tribunal of truth and righteousness. this rule contains all that a sensible man or woman using his or her intellectual and moral faculties may demand. if we had used our whole book to develop our plan, we would not have finished our work, if the volume had been much larger than it is. but the points belonging to our plan, must be gradually developed in our periodical, and those who comprehend this book and our mission, superabundance of credentials of which are contained here, will not tarry for a moment to co-operate with all their strength with us, and to draw their mortal and their departed friends into our peace-union. members of the peace-union agree to support whatever may be shown by free discussion through our periodical to be suitable, practicable and necessary to promote the common welfare of the peace-union, which is the welfare of mankind. those who would refuse to support it, had to show the contrary in the same periodical, that it might be discussed, otherwise they would be disturbers, and if they could be by no means corrected, they would deserve to be excluded, and the peace-union, after having exhausted the means to bring them to the right order, would be compelled to declare them to be separated, and to give them the note or the certificate of their claim according to the rule above, and they return the receipt which they have obtained when they have brought their property into the peace-union. we illustrate the point with an example. i have given, for instance, some hints regarding the two departments of males separately and females separately, notwithstanding the true matrimony of one husband with one wife. when there is the right time for them to procreate a child, they will have a convenient place for the performance of the most responsible duty. this my hint, when sufficiently explained, will satisfy every friend of progression into truth, righteousness and happiness, and will give to the human affairs quite a new turn, and deliver both sexes from temptations, in which until now the whole human race succumbed and descended much under the degree of the nobler classes of brutes, and parents depraved and ruined themselves and children. from all the strange and unexpected things disclosed in this book readers may expect that i have also regarding the true matrimony and the restitution of mankind in such a condition in which they will be truly happy, a glorious message and such truths which when sufficiently explained, will satisfy all lovers of progression into the true happiness. but there may join with our peace-union some self-conceited person who would not give up what would be shown by us as necessary to be removed for the restoration of mankind to their true happiness, and what he would not be able to refute, and notwithstanding this he would remain in his bad habit. in this case he would compel us to remove him. at his removal he receives the note or certificate, while he returns the receipt which he had obtained for what he had put into the peace-union, as is explained above. but we have to add here, that if those who would be separated, had damaged the whole peace-union or some individual, the damage is to be deducted from their claim. and it is to be repeated, that nobody who joins with the peace-union, has any claim to any pay or reward for the labor performed in the peace-union, into which all men and women are invited to come and to remain in it in this mortal body and in all eternity, and to partake for him or her and their families of all riches, spiritual and physical in exchange for what they furnish. but what they brought in at their joining, is returned to them, with deduction of the damages, if they have caused any at their turn into enemies of the peace-union, or which originated by their fault, although it could not be proved, that they had a malicious intention in causing damages. this point is here to be remarked, that children before they acquire the legal age, if by whatever means they would be withdrawn from the peace-union, while their parents are living there or did not depart, should not receive the portion of the property brought for them into the peace-union, till they arrive at the legal age in which they have the right according to the laws of the country to depart from their parents; because the peace-union have the parental duties towards children who are received with their parents into the peace-union. also this is to be mentioned, that no others except who come with their parents or with their children into the peace-union, have any claim to the property which they bring into it. they settle their business with all others, when they join with the peace-union, and in the same time they make their will, how much they themselves if they would leave the peace-union and some of their children would remain in it, and how much each of the children when in full legal age, would receive, if he or she would leave the peace-union. we thought proper to concede so much to the feebleness of those who are desirous to join with the peace union, but imagine the possible case, that they might be turned out and lose their property. for them their property is secured, althought without interest, and their possible case is rather imagination, and they would become gradually so strong as to give good example to others. but we have mentioned a point which must terrify hypocrites to join to our peace union; because their hypocrisy would become in due time manifest, and then they could not stand and would be turned out with demand to repair damages. therefore they should remain in babylon till they have a sincere desire to join with us for their true conversion to our principles and corresponding acting with us. when they are determined to act for this purpose they should not be afraid to join the peace union on account of the possibility of being separated; because no person will be separated except such as deserves in consequence of immoral acts or gross omissions of what is absolutely necessary for obtaining the object of our association, after having been sufficiently instructed and exhorted that their toleration would ruin the peace union. a separate person, if he or she would think there was not sufficient cause for separation, will be permitted to publish in our periodical the reason or reasons of his or her complaint. by doing so, however, he gives occasion for members of the peace union to publish their remarks on his reasons, that truth might be made manifest; because the object of the peace union is the restoration of human rights, and therefore her members engage and promise to correct any mistake, when it is shown and it is proven. the nature and object of the peace union is, that science or knowledge in every department and every branch of enterprise directs and governs the work. therefore the man or woman who is found to be most skilful in any art, business or work, is to be elected as foreman, and continues to act as such, till some one more skilful is found. and then to him the place is to be given, however, not before it is shown, that by exchanging the place sufficient advantage will accrue to the community. the member who thinks he is able to show this, may assemble members belonging to the branch of that business, or if the case is a general case, members in general, the body of females having their votes as well as the body of males in general affairs; in particular branches the body decide who belong to that branch. whoever calls members together, shows them the case, and if the majority find his reasons to be sufficient, the person proposed obtains the office. but before votes are taken, those who are assembled, must also hear the objections. but if there is any member who thinks, that the decision was not made according to justice, he may announce the matter to the assembled, showing them their mistake and his duty that if they will not correct their mistake, he will make known the reasons of his complaint against the decision in the periodical of the peace union. and the assembled, if they see that he is right, are bound to receive thankfully that which is right, but if they see that he is wrong, they are bound to show him this. but if he, notwithstanding this, publishes his reasons, those who do not agree with him, are bound to show in their replies that he will riot act according to sound reasons, but is disposed to make disturbance, deserving to be expelled. in this case if he continues to be obstinate against evidence, he should be expelled peaceably. in the first place we need a centre. and according to the pattern of the centre as many settlements on other places will be established as will be needed to accommodate all who will find best to move from their present situation to a settlement of our peace union. but everywhere persons of our principles will be needed to instruct and strengthen the neighbours. the hints given here will be so modified to their situation as their circumstances will require. in the centre is to be concentrated, what is to be spread everywhere, to benefit in the first place members of the peace union and by their instrumentality as many others as can be reached. therefore co-operation and support from all who comprehend this book and their application to others is necessary to raise means, for establishing what is required in the centre. although all who contribute for the centre, will not have chance to reside there, they will have a chance to send some of their children or relations to the institutions of the university for the new era, which will be established there, according to our plan, according to which a great change will take place in studies, that all intellectual and moral faculties of students will be harmoniously developed, and much time will be gained for learning every day for some hours in the school and for some hours in the shops and elsewhere that to learn which each will be most qualified and inclined. wherefore those who afford money and other property for the centre and what is needed there, acquire the right to reside there, when needed as teachers, or for mechanical branches, arts, sciences, for agriculture, horticulture, &c. what mankind need for the new era, should be shown there to students theoretically and practically. therefore all who have superabundant means, if they comprehend this book, will send such an amount as they can spare, as donations, which will become spiritual treasures to the donors. when the institutions which according to our plan should be at our centre, will be established, there will be such competition of students, that there will not be room for accommodation of all. all that is given as donation for raising our institutions, will be put in our ledger for the benefit of the donors, so that, when all students could not be accommodated at our centre, those recommended by the donors would be prefered to others, the case excepted, that others be found more useful in our mission, if they study the branches. those who have no superabundance of means to give a donation, are invited to invest for establishing the centre as much as their cicumstances permit, to be invested for their benefit, as belonging to them, although without any interest in money, but with the advantage, that when all students could not be accommodated at our centre, their sons and daughters would have the preference before such as have done nothing towards the foundation of the centre. and if any have land, who are desirous that on their land a settlement might be started according to our plan for the new era, by their furnishing means for starting the centre they acquire the claim and right that their land shall be taken for that purpose rather than the land of another who had done nothing for the centre, when circumstances would not require the preference of the land of other for a new settlement of our peace union. from what has been mentioned, the following general rule may be derived: without having a centre of our communities we cannot accomplish our work. therefore all who comprehend us, are solemnly entreated to contribute without delay what their circumstances allow. if they cannot send a donation, they are entreated to send what will be regarded as theirs without bearing interests, but bearing to them all the advantages to which according to the circumstances they are qualified, to come, when all will be prepared, to the centre, if they can be employed there; otherwise they may be useful to our community on the place which they now occupy, or they may join with an other place of our community. in this case the centre settles with that community in reference to what they have advanced to the centre, to be sent, when the centre is able to do so, to that community for them, if they should not prefer to leave it in the centre to be consumed there by such students as they would send to the university in the centre of our peace union, where all the knowledge and wisdom which can be obtained, will be concentrated to bring mankind into that situation which is promised and mankind are able to attain by the right application of their intellectual and moral faculties and their physical strength, and the proper use and right application of all the knowledge which has been propagated through the course of centuries and improved in our age. no money or other property can or will be taken into the peace union, settlements to be put into their ledger for the benefit of the person who invests it, to be returned in the case that the person or one of his or her family should leave the peace union, except money that has been acquired in an honest manner. by the term _honest_ we mean a manner which is not only justifiable according to the laws of the country, but also according to the moral laws attributable to the person who invests it, at least so far, that no person or society is known to whom it should be restored. we do not mean the severest scrutiny, but the usual course of affairs; because according to our plan by those who will join the peace union, the way will be opened for a final restoration of all human affairs into the right order. to this point we must gradually proceed. by what we have remarked in regard to money as the root of all evil, if it is not managed for the commom welfere, it is a necessary evil as far as business is done with those who do not belong to our peace union, and we are compelled to make use of many evils which are yet in existence, to bring nations out of the evil into the new era. we must make such use of money as to promote the welfere of the peace union which encloses the welfere of all nations, which would not he promoted, if we would take any amount of money from those who enter into our peace union under the condition to return it in case, they would leave the peace union. under this condition we could take no more than one thousand dollars, so that, if any man or woman would come with his or her family, and bring more than one thousand dollars for each person belonging to his or her family, after having settled all matters of business with others, we could not take more than the mentioned sum under the mentioned condition, to wit, if husband and wife with parents and children, would join, for each of them one thousand dollars: the surplus they had to give as donation, if they would not accept the advice which is given below. also this is to be mentioned, that if a family comes on the place of the peace union and they invest for each member of the family a certain sum, and some of the family would be taken into the spirit world, and the others would leave the peace union, in this case only that has been invested for them, would belong to them. what was given for the departed, remains in the peace union. also in the case, that a father would come with a large or with a small family and give for each individual a certain sum, and then the others would remain, but he himself would become a backslider, his claim would be only to the money which he had invested for his own person. the same priciple is to be applied in every case, in which somebody invests a certain sum for himself, and besides also sums for others. to those who have greater riches than one thousand dollars for each individual of their family, is to be said, that they are only administrators of that property to make the poor rich and the rich truly happy. and whereas the peace union undertakes this great work, a rich person should be instructed and enlightened, that this will not take place in any other way than by a true community, for which we have given this sketch, only in this point deviating from the course which we would pursue if we would have to deal with perfect persons, that we found proper to concede, that if any body should leave the peace-union settlement, he should receive in due time the sum invested not exceeding one thousand dollars. but those whose property reaches higher, will go the safest way according to christ's direction: "go thy way, sell whatever thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and take up thy cross and follow me." mark x: 21. this man to whom christ gave that advice "had great possessions." and we give to those who have great riches the same advice, but with a different application. jesus christ, the father of the new era which is to be introduced by our mission, had not the chance in palestine, which we have in the united states. he advised as he could in his circumstances, and we give in our circumstances to the rich who have great possessions the following advice and the best for them to be saved: "give as a donation as much into our peace-union centre as you are able to do for raising our institutions as the best means for the redemption of the poor and degraded people from the existing misery and distress, and come and learn how to administer your possessions for the poor, and we will send with you to your possessions[ab] a man to commence there with you a community for the poor only, and you may call poor people of your choice together. and you should superintend, and our administrator should assist you and labor with you to educate the poor so as to make them truly rich and happy. and you, while you would have enriched our centre as much as would be possible without selling your possessions, would be the presiding elder at the community of the poor made rich by your possessions, and when you would be pleased to stop with those in the centre, you would be received as one of the founders, and you would have treasure in heaven." what i say to one i say to all rich men and women. if they receive our advice they will become very rich and happy; but now they are "wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked," revelation iii: 17. they are the heads in laodicea, which means the judgment of the people, whom they are preparing for destruction, and for themselves the hell. luke xvi: 23. from them is more required to be saved than from those who have only a small property in comparison with the great possessions of the rich, and their small property they have earned with hard labor. but it would be too troublesome to reckon, how they had acquired their riches. but instead of a long reckoning or a general confession of their sins and crimes we show them the shortest and surest way to heaven. we must say also to those who invest property not exceeding one thousand dollars for each member of their family into our peace-union with the reserve that if they leave the peace-union, that property should be returned to them in equivalent without any interest, and at a time in which the peace-union can easily do this without hurting their own business, that this reserve will continue only until the time in which they will be sufficiently strengthened in the principles of the true community, and convinced that this is the only way for redemption of oppressed humanity. when they will advance so far, they will sign the covenant of the new era, they themselves and those of their family who are of age and with them united in the spirit; and they will transfer the property which is their portion to the community, which secures their rights to the provisions for their body and their spirit to enjoy such happiness as the peace-union will be able to afford to prepare them for the society of blessed spirits. from these hints you see, that the true community consists of members who give all their property, without any reserve, and receive all the advantages which a mutual co-operation in the true brotherly spirit affords. at the commencement they must be tried. on the title-page of this book we have mentioned, that it is published at the "peace-union centre." we intended to give explanation of the matter in this plan. we are starting there the peace-union centre. about five hundred acres of land, with farmhouse, barn, orchard &c. belong to that property, on a beautiful very healthy hill, with excellent springs of soft water, romantic locations for buildings, and all kinds of institutions for the new era. the soil as far as may be cleared, is good for raising all kinds of fruits, and as much as we will need of vegetables. but our centre will be for literary institutions, surrounded with all kinds of the best mechanics and artists, from whom students will learn all kinds of work. therefore the largest portion of grain will be obtained from other settlements to which productions at the centre will be sent in exchange. about one hundred acres of the land are cleared and much more can be cleared and used for different purposes, but the largest portion of that land is toscarora mountain, producing wood, timber, stone for building, and is good for different other purposes, for instance, the top of the mountain for our observatory, &c. spring hill in racoon valley belonged to abraham, the oldest of the twelve sons of my departed friend christian long. christian was one of the students of my german books, and strong witness of our mission; but his son abraham preaching water baptism was not prepared to receive his testimony. but christian and others in his company amongst the departed, were operating and preparing this place, while we thought that we had already succeeded in taking another place in possession, seventeen miles from this place, and we have been in quite an unexpected manner instructed that springhill is the place in which we should start the peace-union centre, and we have received the place as cheap as the worth of its improvements may be valued. this is according to our principles, according to which the land belongs to the whole human family, and to the improvements only each individual may claim as much right as he has consumed labor to produce them. but it is evident also that labor never can be exactly valued, and i had to write a very large volume to expose the manifold forms of labor, in which time is wasted, to corrupt and ruin human society. all the hints given in this book, may convince any investigating mind, that there is no redemption of the degraded and wretched condition of mankind except in the community in which men will be brought gradually into the true happy state in this life and in the spirit world, and will draw their departed friends into higher spheres. being compelled by circumstances to take away manuscript containing the spirit battle by which not only this, that we have to start our peace-union as a community and in springhill, but also many other important points have been disclosed, which although they were known to us long time before that, may arouse the attention of those who would not hear us otherwise, except when they hear extraordinary spirit manifestations, which in connexion with starting our peace-union centre on this place may be published another time. but here we must mention that by quite an unexpected vision against the wishes of the medium and his wife our doctrine has been illustrated, to wit, that those who make a covenant with our peace-union community, separate so from those who remain in babylon, that if of those who are married, one partner would make such a covenant, but the other would remain in babylon, we would do all in our power to draw also that partner into our community. but if he or she would remain obstinate despiser of our heavenly message, we according to divine law would consider the person who made the covenant with our peace-union as perfectly free to marry a person belonging to our community, and labor at the same time to convert the government to acknowledge our mission and the divine law made manifest by our mediumship. "what god hath joined together let no man put asunder." matth. xix: 6. "what the devil has joined together, god puts asunder." if we have the mission expressed on the title-page, and confirmed by all signs and wonders which have been mentioned in this book, and with which hundreds of volumes could be filled, then it is evident that the devil has joined those together or the devil will keep them together, when one understands our mission and advances so far that he or she makes the covenant with our community and the other resists and will keep him or her in babylon, when he or she starts to come out of her not to be partaker of her sins. the partner, may be he or she, who remains obstinate, remains in the great whore of the 17th chapter of the revelation, is an adulterer or adulteress in the spiritual sense, and certainly with whoredom or other abominations he or she became so endarkened, that when the partner progressed so far, as to comprehend our heavenly message, the destroying devil will detain him or her from the truth made manifest in our message. those who have comprehended this book to this point, know that our case is just the contrary to the so called free love, diametrically opposed to it. a chaste husband or wife will comprehend us, but those who will continue in their fornication and adultery, will cry against us and misrepresent truth for their destruction. here is no room for explanation of a point, on which i will write an extraordinary treatise, in which i will report and explain also the mentioned vision, when the diseased stomachs will be ready to digest our most wholesome medicine. in this compression is also to be remembered, that the promise given on the 45th page in regard to the four in baltimore executed in connexion with my visit to president buchanan appears in a more dreadful shape in the portion of the 4th treatise which will appear in the second edition of this book if that edition shall be demanded, than i would have expected, when i mentioned that case. when president buchanan, governor hicks and other grandees of washington and maryland were not prepared to afford money for buying springhill for our peace union centre and for publishing this book, we read on the 42d page: "the same time a great sign was given so that i was sent speedily from baltimore to the western reserve of ohio." a.d. 1854 we commenced to prepare brother robert d. eldrige in baltimore for our mission. then happened many wonders and signs in connexion with him, till at length a sign was given in baltimore. but the principal of the four executed in baltimore was brought before me in the western reserve of ohio, and you will hear of strange spectacles in the next edition regarding that manifestation in connexion with the four presidents taylor, fillmore, pierce and buchanan. after having performed the trials of spirits in the western reserve of ohio, eldrige started with me, and after having tried spirits in different places during our travelling, we arrived at length at abraham long's, and i showed to brother eldrige some of the secret treasures on the premises of springhill, where heavenly wisdom[ac] prepared a great variety of most beautiful sceneries, magnificent fairviews on a number of sites very suitable for excellent buildings, and to all those places excellent springs of soft water may be derived by few rods of pipes, and excellent stone for buildings and superabundance of wood is most handy. we took then the deeds in the name of our peace union community[ad], and we appear as trustees, i by virtue of my mission, in duty bound to communicate the spirit who has sent me for the fulfilment of the most glorious promises to mankind, with those who will receive this spirit and will be drawn from babylon into the new jerusalem, and robert d. eldrige by virtue of his mission, who came with money and paid for the place with the rights which are given in this plan to those who invest money, and with the duty of superintendency for a good success. in those our duties all are bound to support us, who join with the peace union. on the 11th day of july, 1859, my document, entitled: "great news for the friends of progression in truth and righteousness towards the promised new era of harmony and peace amongst all nations" was set in type, the proof-sheet corrected by me, and a portion of copies struck off on the same day. we were preparing readers for the first convention which will be held in the new hall on the peace union settlement in the latter part of the next month, and requesting editors to publish that document. but i think that the warlike spirit of destruction kept most of them in the servitude of monarchs. but that document was to be set in type and printed on the same day, on which napoleon and francis joseph made their treaty of peace at villafranca for an important testimony, that spirits from our sphere have controlled the affairs also there, so that if you hurry to do what is required in this book, you will prevent immense destruction of human life and property in this country, otherwise you should know that i have done more than from a mortal man could be expected, to move you for action. but when men become such beasts that they have no sense for spiritual things, destruction is a necessary consequence. at the commencement of the first treatise page 6 you see that mr. belly gave occasion to that treatise. last month he came again to paris and remains there according to newspapers until the 20th of the next month; and i proposed that on the same day our first convention should commence in the new hall. we quote from said document in which the title of this book is copied, the close as follows: "the book with the above copied title will be published by robert d. eldrige in our convention, and then copies will be sent by him to those who send to him the money (50 cents fur one copy, twenty dollars for 50 copies, 35 dollars for 100 copies) either before or after or at the convention. he being a man of property and known as our trusty fellow labourer for improving the condition of mankind, has charge of the business department at our peace union, while, i the writer of this book and of this article am bound to devote my precious time to spiritual objects for harmony and peace of nations, requesting to direct letters which do not belong particularly to my sphere, to him under the direction: robert d. eldrige, donnally's mill, perry co: pa." this book appears small for this price; but remember the contents of page 169, and collect subscribers, and as soon as we print the second edition, we will send a large pamphlet as supplement without additional charge. in the mean time we assure you that also this small book contains so large an amount of most important points for you, that the oftener you study it, the more you will learn to appreciate its value; and the enormous labour for obtaining all the parts contained in this book cannot be paid with money, and my labour never was paid. on the 11th of this month, august, 1859, there came many people to springhill. an extraordinary medium who had been in england an elder amongst the baptisers wrote on the 13th instant to me: "i came on foot to springhill, peace union centre, a long walk of about 17 miles in hot weather. we raised the frame work of the large hall. the day (11th inst.) was fine, and all things went on well, and the work that is done, looks well and in good order. all kinds of rumors and talk: what the house is for? what they will do? why did they not build so as the hall could be seen? some one thing, some, other things, &c." the periodical, entitled: "peace union message." conventions at the peace union centre in springhill toscarora township, perry co: pa. 6 miles west of millerstown, the stopping place for the cars. our periodical, spoken of in the plan, will be published as soon, as there will be a sufficient number of subscribers. in the expectation that those who are versed in english, will comprehend us first, we will publish it first in english, in quarto, to be preserved in books and translated in as many other languages as needed; because it will contain social, ecclesiastical and political matters and movements of nations and daily news of importance, considered from our position, to draw nations from the existing confusion and degradation into the new order of things. all that will improve the condition of mankind, and what is hurtful for them, as far as we will have opportunity[ae] to reach it, will be examined from our position. but there not being room in this book, we will publish in the first number which will issue, when we are secured by subscriptions, what we will find proper to draw those amongst all nations who have somewhat new for improving mankind, to send it for publication in our periodical. every one who sends somewhat of this kind, will add his full direction and occupation. if his or her communication is found by those whom we find to be competent judges in that branch, to be such as required, it will be published when room will be for it in our periodical. but if it is not found such as to be published, the writer will be named and the reason given, why it cannot be published. if the writer should think to have been injured, our periodical would be open to publish his complaint with the preliminary requisites which will be made known in our first number as quite reasonable to save time to him and us and to the readers as well as to the printers and others. i quoted purposely some passages from the letter of our friend peter assuring that he is ours truly "in bonds for truth waiting for deliverance." if the talkers of nonsense had asked those to whom we told, why we selected that place for that building, near the farm house and the springs, they had received information. the basement of the new building is a large cellar, the first story a large hall, having in the midst a partition, which we remove when we use the whole hall, but the second story has a partition which cannot be removed and each department has its own stairs. the farm house and the new building are in a cove. the first story of the building will be provisionally[af] used for our conventions, till the substantial edifice within the most magnificent fairview will be established. with this fairview we entreat most earnestly every reader to collect as many subscribers for this book as well as for the periodical, as he or she is able to collect. the book is to be paid for at the delivery, and the periodical will cost $2 a year, money to be paid for half a year or a year at the delivery of the first number. whoever secures us five subscribers receives six copies. and those who will act as agents, after having comprehended by studying this book our plan and adopt it, are regarded as our fellow-laborers, when they show practically that they belong to our peace-union. if the expected exertions are made, we may be able to publish the first number of our periodical at the commencement of the year 1860. our first convention next month at the peace union centre is announced in our circular. but readers of this book are requested to proclaim, that on the first day of november 1859, the second convention will commence and continue for two weeks, and that only those persons of both sexes are invited to attend, who after having comprehended our mission are ready to act as missionaries or to support with their means our enterprises to establish what is needed at the centre. and for this purpose we intend to hold successively a number of conventions. the second could be attended by those who belong to the cabinet and the congress of washington, or to any legislature. each convention will last one or two weeks. those who comprehend this book will tell or write to those with whom they are acquainted, that although the contents of this book are of importance for any body, those who belong to the government need most to understand them. this book will be taken as the text-book, but also those who may have read it before many times, will receive in the convention new light to understand it better and to hear many things which are not mentioned in the book. there may be so many aroused to attend the convention that all could not be accommodated. therefore whoever and whenever he determines to attend one of our conventions, he is requested to write directly, and to give an exact direction, and put a letter stamp into his letter, and we will answer it, and tell, whether he could be accommodated in that or in any of the following conventions. boarding is to be had as moderately as we can afford it. the rule is to be observed also afterwards in this and in the next year, that whoever wishes to attend our convention, is requested to write directly, and he will receive an answer when he could be accommodated. answer may come sooner or later, because it may depend upon circumstances, when after the receipt of his or her letter our next convention would be held. probably there is in this last "form" no room, to say more than that our post-office address is on the title-page and also three or four pages before this. it has been said that the stopping place for the cars is millerstown, perry co.: pa. i desire nothing more than to draw you into the sphere of our heavenly abode as your sincere brother. andrew b. smolnikar. remark. i perused 192 pages of this book while the last form was in composition, and found a moderate number of errata as may be easily corrected by the reader; for instance, he may connect himself in the 7th line of the "preliminary remarks" the two particles in to in one word, and he may separate where he finds two words close together and change c and e, also n and u and some other letters when required, or add when a letter is omitted, or cast it out when it is superabundant. such trifles will not trouble those who are anxious to learn to understand this book, nor if they read sometimes connexion and other times connection, i always write connexion; but i was assured, that according to the present fashion connection is more used, although this use is irregular. the general rule is observed by our invisible messengers mentioned on the 169th page, while they are controlling the spirits of the compositors, that they let them commit such errata as disturb the sense on such pages, on which the reader should stop and reflect upon the connexion of matters. an astonishing lesson was given, when i received the order to stop the composition of the fourth treatise at the end of the 168th page. the manuscript for that treatise contains 85 pages, and the 168th page of this book ends in the middle of the 34th page of manuscript. the spirit who made this provision exhorts powerfully readers to digest the 168 pages and to prepare for what follows. i did not know, what our invisible agents intended to put on the 168th page, till i saw in the proof sheet the six oxen, the first of whom is joseph ox, on the 74th place of our catalogue. these oxen are supporting the mysteries on the 80th and 81st places of our catalogue, and those two mysteries are in the 4th line of the 168th page. this provision tells that you should pay peculiar attention to the contents from the 74th to the 81st page of this book, and you will find amongst the americans those who furnish as great assistance to the beast with ten horns as the six oxen on the 168th page. but on the 21st line of the 82d page, my interpretation[ag] commences, and the omission in the midst of the 83d page exhorts you that you should reflect upon the "sect of adventurists" mentioned in the 9th line from the bottom of the 83d page. in my manuscript were only adventists. but i tell you that the young boy who set in type the largest portion of this book, was a peculiar medium. noyse and himes and all those whom they represent belong to the sect of adventurists who are the greatest supporters of popery. all other marvellous things you will hear in our convention commencing november 1, 1859, on the feast of all saints. my address is page 124 of this book. set in type june 27th, 1859. transcriber's notes a. "developmments" changed to "developments". b. "wohle" changed to "whole". c. "rightousness" changed to "righteousness". d. "uderstanding" changed to "understanding". e. "febuary" changed to "february". f. "perfetion" changed to "perfection". g. "wickednes" changed to "wickedness". h. "lenghth" changed to "length". i. "axactly" changed to "exactly". j. "remaks" changed to "remarks". k. "garrsion" changed to "garrison". l. "gosple" changed to "gospel". m. "jscariot" changed to "iscariot". n. "recived" changed to "received". o. opening quotation mark added. p. "oppresion" changed to "oppression". q. "nead" changed to "need". r. "thougt" changed to "thought". s. "messsage" changed to "message". t. closing parenthesis added. u. "obolition" changed to "abolition". v. "languuages" changed to "languages". w. closing quotation mark added. x. "fulfiilled" changed to "fulfilled". y. "babarian" changed to "barbarian". z. "mangement" changed to "management". aa. "excommunicatiom" changed to "excommunication". ab. "poseessions" changed to "possessions". ac. "wisdon" changed to "wisdom". ad. "commnuity" changed to "community". ae. "oportunity" changed to "opportunity". af. "provisionaly" changed to "provisionally". ag. "interpre-pretation" changed to "interpretation" (original word spanned two lines at hypen). internet archive (https://archive.org) note: project gutenberg also has an html version of this file which includes the original illustration. see 43237-h.htm or 43237-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43237/43237-h/43237-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43237/43237-h.zip) images of the original pages are available through internet archive. see https://archive.org/details/spiritland00emmo transcriber's note: text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). [illustration: the spirit land.] the spirit land. by s. b. emmons. philadelphia: john e. potter and company. nos. 614 and 617 sansom street. entered according to act of congress, in the year 1857, by l. p. crown & co., in the clerk's office of the district court of the district of massachusetts to the reader. this volume is intended as an antidote to a species of errors that have been rife in every age of the christian church. notwithstanding the disclosures the most high made of himself to his ancient people, they were yet prone to turn aside from the worship of the true god, to follow the lying spirits of the prophets of baal, and other deceivers, from the days of moses till the destruction of jerusalem. so, likewise, under the christian dispensation, there has been a succession of antichrists, until their name is _legion_, whose teachings have clouded the understandings and blinded the moral perceptions of men, subverting the faith of many whose mountains stood strong, and who had been counted the chosen people of god. the present is viewed as an age of _isms_. men have run mad, and are chasing phantoms. they are roaming round to find some fulcrum to overturn the church and the bible; they are imagining they are receiving utterances from heaven, when nothing is uttered but the vain fantasies of their own minds and hearts. it is the grossest fanaticism--fanaticism in its most frightful form, leading its unhappy victims, not unfrequently, to flagrant crimes, and to the most horrid of all--that of self-destruction. these pages are submitted to the public with the counsel of the wisest and best of all ages, that, amid the wily arts of the adversary, we should cling to the word of god, the bible of our fathers, as the only safe and infallible guide of faith and practice. note. we would here give credit to the principal works from which valuable and important matter has been selected for these pages: whitman's popular superstitions; upham's lectures upon witchcraft; christian freeman and family visitor; abercrombie on the intellectual powers; influence of the imagination upon the nervous system, by rev. grant powers; life of adam clarke; hayward's book of all religions; miller on the second coming of christ; borrow's gypsies of spain; stone on false prophets and christs; dickens's household words; capron and barron on the spirit knockings; dick on the improvement of society; revelations of a. j. davis; the great harmonia; rogers on human and mundane agents; miss crowe's night side of nature; spiritual telegraph, &c. as the work embraces a mass of facts of an absorbing and intensely interesting character, we trust that it will commend itself to an enlightened and judicious public. the author. contents. part first. introduction. the object of this work. page nursery tales of giants, dwarfs, ghosts, fairies, and witches.-their effect upon juvenile minds.--a belief in ghosts still prevalent.--the excitability of the public mind.--ghost reported as having been seen in waltham, massachusetts. 17 chapter i. origin of popular superstitions. ignorance of correct reasoning.--conclusions from particular facts.--water boiled by heat.--signs.--breaking a mirror.--gene ral conclusions from a few facts.--a victim to superstition in new hampshire.--how signs may be multiplied.--the design of the creator in endowing us with reason. 19 chapter ii. inductive philosophy not understood. ignorance of it the cause of many superstitions.--lights seen in marshy grounds, &c.--supposed to be supernatural.--causes of these lights, and phenomena connected with them.--shrinking and swelling of pork in boiling.--cause.--supposed influence of the moon in making soap, grafting trees, cutting timber, &c.--lunar influence in matters of wedlock.--love not to be fed on moonshine. 22 chapter iii. ignorance of the causes of dreams. fruitful source of superstitions.--opinions of ancient divines. --dreams related in the scriptures.--their object.--principles of mental philosophy applied to modern dreams.--examples of singular dreams.--dreams occasioned by sickness.--fulfilment of certain dreams.--causes of the same.--remarkable case of a german student.--case of a member of congress.--amusing case concerning a passage of scripture.--necessity of a pure conscience, and a careful attention to our stomachs. 24 chapter iv. effects of the imagination on the nervous system. ignorance of it has given rise to many superstitions.--experiments of mesmer and deslon in paris.--singular developments.--trials at dr. franklin's house.--children uninfluenced by mesmeric operations. --magnetizing a tree in dr. franklin's garden.--experiments upon two females.--effect produced.--experiment upon a female by dr. sigault.--practice among the chinese.--girl frightened to death by a gypsy.--practice among the new zealanders.--killing others by incantation.--intercourse with departed spirits.--an account of perkins's metallic tractors.--their supposed influence in various diseases.--suspicions concerning them.--experiments with wooden tractors.--result of these experiments.--statements of a modern mesmerizer. 29 chapter v. ignorance of mental philosophy. this ignorance a cause of many superstitions.--case of a person who slept in a bed room supposed to be haunted.--skeleton seen by moonlight.--apparition seen by dr. gregory.--case related by dr. conolly.--ship's crew frightened by an apparition.--young lady supposed to have been murdered by pirates.--cases of impressions connected with bodily disease.--phantasms in febrile diseases.--a farmer frightened to death by a light in the road.--a figure like death striking a lady in her side with a dart.--illusion of sight and hearing.--case of a lady who saw her absent husband standing by her side.--countenance of a friend seen in a mirror.--tunes heard.--inverted objects.--visions of the world of spirits.--case of baron swedenborg.--case of a lady in boston, who saw her deceased grandmother.--the phantom ship seen in new haven.--the science of optics.--of nauscopy.--cases of mirage. 38 chapter vi. ignorance of true religion. god the supreme ruler of the universe.--the natural world governed by regular laws.--sign of the howling of a dog under the window.-lucky and unlucky days.--sir matthew hale's opinion.--early laws of connecticut.--superstition of sailors.--timidity of voltaire.-peace and happiness on all days.--how procured. 50 chapter vii. belief in witchcraft. a witch as regarded by our fathers.--compact or agreement with the devil.--carried through the air on brooms and spits.--anointing their bodies with a magical ointment.--how to prepare the same.--singular ceremonies at the meetings of witches.--how they afflicted others. --the bewitched pins shown to grace greenwood.--mode of examining and trying witches.--witch catcher in england.--how he was arrested and condemned.--singular record on a church book in scotland.-notice of the salem witchcraft.--how such superstitions are to be done away.--witches and wizards of modern times. 53 chapter viii. necromancy and fortune telling. moll pitcher, the queen of the race.--her place of abode.--company that visited her.--member of a church sent to consult her.--casting out evil spirits in syria.--account of lady hester stanhope.--the astrologer of hopkinton, massachusetts.--chief characteristic of fortune seekers.--effects produced upon them. 58 chapter ix. fairies, or wandering spirits, and gypsies. description of fairies, habits, localities, &c.--subterranean spirits in wales, called _knockers_.--the _brownies_ in scotland.--a farmer in ireland who was tormented by fairies.--method taken to appease their anger.--spenser's poem of the fairy queen.--gypsies and their employments.--casting the evil eye.--safeguard against it.--charm of the bible and key.--superstition called the _elf-shot_.--practice of poisoning animals, and the cure.--superstitions concerning the loadstone.--translation of st. luke into the gypsy tongue.-singular notions of the gypsies concerning it.--condemned by the royal edict at madrid.--the gypsy choirs at moscow.--anecdote of madame catalini. 61 chapter x. omens, charms, and divination. books published upon these things.--their injurious tendency.--a sample of their contents.--practice of boxers.--whistling in a storm at sea.--setting hens on an _odd_ number of eggs.--salutes of an _odd_ number of guns.--omen concerning the number _thirteen_. --methods of ascertaining who will be a future husband.--crossing of knives.--click of insects.--advent of comets. 76 chapter xi. modern miracles. they partake of superstition.--instructions of the savior concerning them.--object of scripture miracles.--modern miracles not satisfactory. --judge howe's opinion concerning christianity.--times of miracles ceased. 79 chapter xii. false prophets and christs. history of the prophet matthias.--his career in albany and new york. --his deceptions upon conspicuous individuals.--his arrest for alleged crimes.--account of john of leyden.--sketch of cochrane, and his impositions. 81 chapter xiii. mormon superstition. account of the golden plates found by joseph smith.--their translation and publication in a volume.--peculiar style of the writings.--attempt at imitation.--mormon preachers speaking with new tongues.--increase of the doctrine, and why.--mormon cities not to be identified.--strong indications of fabrication.-fluency and earnestness of their preachers.--traits of the cochranites.--effects produced upon their hearers.--an account of the _real_ origin of the mormon bible, and its author.--of joseph smith, jr., the mormon prophet.--his early characteristics. --exposure of the indecent ceremonies at nauvoo; as established by smith and others. 96 chapter xiv. miller delusion. prophecies of mr. miller.--his computation of time.--management to suit his own particular views.--keeping the world standing thirty years on a simple _if_.--various blunders and mistakes. --confession of his errors.--false information respecting signs. --disappearance of stars.--of the aurora borealis.--shooting stars.--sun and moon turning to blood.--darkness of the sun.-its cause.--remarkable appearances in various ages of the world. --opinion concerning halley's comet.--ignorance of the constitution of comets.--the comet of 1770.--tests of signs that shall indicate the end of time.--scientific men stationed in various parts of the earth.--no such changes as have been spoken of by the second advent preachers, observed by them. 102 chapter xv. intercourse with departed spirits. spirits, ghosts, and spectres seen in all ages.--account of the magic crystals, or divining glasses.--seeing spirits in egypt.-lady blessington's crystal in england.--spirit of lord nelson described.--the latin language commonly used by spirits.--an account of spirits that live in the sun.--spirits conversing with human beings.--mode of communication by letters of fire, or large printed _capitals_.--interview with the spirit of _pharaoh_.--his present dwelling in the planet _jupiter_.-information gleaned in conversation with him.--swedenborg's account of sir john franklin.--describes his situation, blocked up by _ice_.--spirits do not understand about _latitude_ and _longitude_.--description of the spirit of socrates, his dress, &c.--account of the emperor alexander in the spirit world.-dickens's account of fashionable dupes in england.--the sciences of astrology and magic.--practices of high titled ladies in london.--account of famous conjurers, or fortune tellers.-account of the "rappers," or "knocking spirits."--children frightened by their noises.--snapping of fingers, and clapping of hands, imitated by the spirits.--mrs. fox asks questions of a spirit.--answers given by a succession of _raps_.--account of a ghost that appeared in waltham, massachusetts.--conversation with the ghost by a gentleman.--said he had been murdered, and told by whom.--tones of the ghost, (unearthly,) its mode of walking, &c. --great excitement on account of the ghost.--mode of communication with the _rapping_ spirits.--tables and chairs moved, sounds heard, &c.--band of music, beating of the _bass drum_, and roar of artillery. --guitar played by unseen hands.--ladies' hair taken down and braided by spirits.--people touched by unseen hands.--how spirits produce the sounds of _music_.--how they make the _rapping_ noises. --account of an interview with the spirit of dr. franklin.-sounds heard like trying the batteries in the telegraph office.-occupation of franklin in the spirit world.--getting up a line of communication between the two worlds.--dr. franklin predicts great changes in the nineteenth century.--connection of _magnetism_ with the _spiritual rappings_.--clairvoyant interpreters between men and spirits.--spiritual postmasters, letter paper, and envelopes. --letters received from the spiritual worlds.--the _spirit journal_, in auburn, new york.--its pages edited, controlled, and superintended by _spirits_.--the _prophets_ and _apostles_ its conductors, acting under the lord supreme.--blunders and errors of the rapping spirits. --ignorant spirits.--mischief produced by them.--swedenborg's account of their stupidity.--how to distinguish the sounds made by an ignorant or an intelligent spirit.--wonderful precocity of infant spirits.--progression of spirits, both upwards and downwards.-the spirit of dr. channing _deteriorated_ in the other world.-theological teachings of the rapping spirits.--prophecy of swedenborg concerning the year 1852.--noises of the _rappers_ indicative of the approach of his prediction.--are to be considered as _omens_ of a new advent.--compared with the miller prophecy of 1843.--miracles, both of the rappers and the millerites.--a sick man and his bed taken up by spirits.--the body of a mr. gordon taken up by spiritual hands.--miracles wrought in favor of _millerism_.--miracles wrought in favor of _witchcraft_.-millerites taken up by spiritual hands.--strange noises made by _spirits_ among the adventists.--houses shaken, mirrors shattered to pieces, furniture broken.--four women carried through the air on a _pole_.--testimony under oath respecting it.--account of a bewitched _ventriloquist_.--witches in 1850. --what the editor of a boston journal says of them.--witches, ghosts, spooks, and hobgoblins, in all ages of the world.-account of a haunted house in boston.--every window illuminated at midnight.--a young man frightened by the scene.--singular notion of the greenlanders respecting the cause of thunder, and of the aurora borealis.--notion of the ancients concerning the foundation of the earth.--of the mathematician kepler.-performance of signor blitz.--effects produced by _ventriloquism_. --singular vibrations of the guitar.--spirit rappings considered as a new science.--noises heard by the wesley family, in 1716. --noises heard by martin luther.--empty barrels and hogsheads tumbling down stairs.--information of past, present, and future events.--the fortune tellers in comparison with the spirit rappers. --spirits unwilling or unable to spell their own names.--spiritual communications on the decline.--contrast between the doings of ancient and modern spirits.--swedenborg's information concerning the spirit of melancthon.--a clairvoyant interview with tom paine. --account of an interview with mr. sunderland.--dialogue with a young lady.--interview with a clairvoyant medium in lowell.--facts respecting mesmeric operations.--people deceived by "sympathetic spirits."--judson j. hutchinson made insane.--exposure of the deception practised upon him.--davis's account of benjamin franklin.--dr. phelps concerning the "spirit rappers."--singular developments at his house.--how tables, chairs, &c., are moved by spirits.--exhibitions of "chin music" in london.--singular transactions in england, as related by dr. thomas dick.--tricks performed by joe collins of oxford.--spirits seen by the votaries of st. vitus, and the shakers of later times. 118 chapter xvi. evil effects of popular superstitions. great waste of time.--ceremonies among the ancients.--practices in catholic countries.--injurious practices in protestant lands.--dreams, visions, signs, tricks, omens, &c.--great waste of human life.--account of the trial by _ordeal_.--murder of innocent persons.--belief in dreams and forewarnings.--modern miracles, appearances of the dead, &c.--unfavorable influence of a belief in dreams.--the death watch, new moon, &c.--predictions of nanny scott.--of the good mrs. taylor.--marriages on a stormy day.--practice of wedded couples.--moles on the wrong side of the body.--opening books, tricks, fortune telling.--practice of a lady in a clergyman's family.--disadvantageous matrimonial alliances.--anticipation of dreadful calamities.--practice of rev. john wesley.--temperaments of melancthon and luther.--luck, chance, fatality, &c.--saul and the witch of endor.--conjurers and impostors.--injury done to the cause of medicine.--king's touch in scrofula.--the _ninth_ son of a _ninth_ son.--the _seventh_ son of a _seventh_ son.--cure by the cold hands of a malefactor.--plaster on a pitchfork; polishing rusty nails. --a female heart made into pills for consumption.--heart taken out of a female in maine, and in waltham, massachusetts, and made into pills.--influence of the imagination.--account of a mr. austin, in vermont.--his singular mode of healing the sick. --account of the celebrated _rain-water_ doctor.--sketch of an _astrological_ physician in new york.--of valentine greataks and francisco bagnone.--momentary relief obtained, and why.-injury done to the cause of religion.--account of the pharisees, compared to vipers and toads, and their numerous progeny.--how we may know a pharisee.--a young man catechized by our savior. --st. paul once a pharisee.--proof.--customs among the catholics. --practices of many protestants.--mistaken views upon religion. --views concerning satan.--satan _versus_ cotton mather.--professor stuart's views concerning the devil.--_periodical_ revivals of religion; the cause.--how to have a constant revival. 165 chapter xvii. banishment of popular superstitions. how shall it be effected?--the proper use of our _reasoning faculties_.--the exercise of our understandings.--persevering self-discipline.--conduct towards believers in ghosts, signs, &c.--misconduct in families; trying tricks, &c.--how we should employ our time.--belief in an all-wise providence, as governor and controller of all events.--importance of a correct education of youth.--nursery tales and marvellous stories.--their baneful influence.--correct examples before children.--superstitious tales to be avoided.--attention to the means of education.-immense value and importance of knowledge.--no lack of means to educate the young.--money foolishly wasted in various ways. --perseverance in laudable exertions.--the blessing of heaven to crown our labors. 185 part second. miracle in springfield, massachusetts. miracle performed by spirits in springfield, massachusetts.--case of biological deception.--case of a "writing medium."--effects produced by pathetism.--incident related by miss martineau.-travelling to other countries, and to other spheres.--singular feat by a boy of dr. phelps.--wonderful case of a lady in new jersey.--advice of hon. horace greely.--testimony of rev. dr. phelps. 191 persons trained by a lecturer on magnetism. 199 scene at east boston. "circle" at the house of mr. hoyt, at east boston.--effects of vital electricity.--imitating handwritings, writing poetry, music, &c. 200 extract from the puritan recorder. facts related by a gentleman of maine.--renunciation of a spirit rapper.--murder committed at the instigation of "spirits."-conflicting testimony concerning john thompson.--experiments of mr. kellogg, the table lifter.--discovery by dr. taylor, the writing medium.--renunciation of mr. cooley, of springfield, massachusetts.--attempt to murder a family in barre, massachusetts. --sacrifice of the innocent in heathen countries.--great danger in civilized communities.--reports concerning the burning of the lunatic asylum in maine.--testimony of professor stowe.-reply of bingham to professor pond.--singular confessions of the reviewer.--intelligence said to be communicated by "spirits."-vital electricity of embodied and disembodied spirits. 203 extract from the home journal. star singers, concerts, parties, and lectures in the other spheres.--studies of french, italian, geology, chemistry, drawing, &c.--semi-clergymen, outsiders, or come-outers. 215 foretelling future events. prediction concerning the ship staffordshire.--general pierce's election foretold by professor anderson's glass bell.--false predictions of the "spirits."--error committed by professor lester.--suggestion of a lady to a sick friend.--sentiments of alexander pope. 218 visions, miracles, and wonders. sights, sounds, signs, miracles, maps, drawings, hieroglyphics. --talking cow in maine.--her prophecy.--proposition for _another_ "new church."--predictions concerning all other churches.-opinions three hundred years ago.--fate of galileo. 220 clairvoyant physicians. prescriptions from the dead.--power of the imagination.--wonderful efficacy of brown bread pills.--singular cure of palsy, by sir humphrey davy. 221 style of "supernal" compositions. fishbough's new work.--fancy-captivating publications.--refined atheism.--transcendental nonsense.--false communications relating to patriots, statesmen, orators, and divines.--mountebank scenes of "psychology."--testimony of a. j. davis, upon the tricks of the spirit demonstrators.--concealments, misstatements, and exaggerations. 223 mysterious phenomena, with their agents or causes. thumping noises in new jersey.--door opened as if struck by a mallet.--great excitement.--glass broken, &c.--knockings heard in new hackensack.--pile of lumber shaken; tables, chairs, stand, and candlestick thrown about.--bags of salt, tin ware, and cooking utensils thrown in a heap.--an english officer haunted by noises in the night.--heavy marble top tables poising themselves on two legs.--brass door knockers bewitched.--commotion among crockery, tin ware, &c.--firing a gun at noises in the walls. --tearing up floor to get at the noises.--suit brought for damages.--bed of a sick girl raised.--trembling of the house walls.--singular pranks in a factory.--jerking of the frames, and cylinder thrown at a distance.--alarm and flight of the operatives.--a chest with three men, and a man on a tub, taken up by an invisible power.--a chair broken between two men's hands.--an image seated on a stool, clad in white.--visions of beings like spirits.--knockings on the walls, and noises in the air.--a lady suspended by the tips of the fingers, as a magnet suspends a piece of iron.--electrical flashes from a lady's body.--knockings made to be heard at a distance.--quotation from a work by rev. t. hill, of waltham.--singular developments in new york.--freaks of a knob of a door bell.--fiery flashes, and fiery smacks, on kissing.--blows in the mouth from a speaking tube.-account of two girls that could move tables without touching them. --effects of storms on raising tables.--electrical circles in cincinnati.--case of a lady in strasburg.--power of giving electrical shocks to persons at a distance.--singular effects of the northern lights on a lady. 224 experiments in biology. chairs, tables, and persons moved.--biological table-liftings in east boston.--"mediums," as visible human operators.--resolve of the "rappers" at poughkeepsie.--the unseen agent that moves tables, beds, &c.--dancing plates, knives and forks, &c. 264 faculty of imitation. delivering speeches; imitating orators.--case related by walter scott.--case of a man haunted by the devil.--effects of wine and heavy eating.--voice heard by judge edmonds.--lady in providence who writes music by "spirits."--diagram of the spheres, by a lady in a magnetic state. 268 unseen letters and signatures. imitating unseen letters, signatures, and languages.--suspicions concerning professor bush.--singular feat attributed to spirits. --no difficulty in raising chairs or tables.--spirits shown by egyptian boys.--unbelief of practising "mediums."--school children forbidden to move tables, &c. 273 a dancing light. dancing light seen in southboro', massachusetts.--_ignis fatuus_ seen by dr. derham.--corpusants seen by mariners.-dampier's account of them. 274 sailors' omens. sailors' omens and superstitions.--devil's power in stirring up winds.--losing a cat overboard, a bucket, or a mop. 276 love charms. othello winning desdemona by conjuration.--execution of a young lady for giving a love powder.--her dying confession.--a charm or an allay for love. 277 effects of a belief in a ghost. effects of a belief in the reality of ghosts.--case at the university at cambridge.--a student frightened to death. 279 the invisible lady. the invisible lady in boston.--the invisible girl in london.-joice heth, the india rubber woman.--professor grimes's discovery among the "rappers."--mrs. culver respecting the rochester rappers. 280 sorcerers in the east. persons killed by the enemy's fires.--singular custom in java. 281 singular metamorphoses. men turned into tigers by eating a certain root, and turned back again by eating another.--a tiger-man shot in the woods and recognized, after having devoured some of his neighbors.--account of the wolf mania in egypt and in brittany.--a husband that lived and died a wolf. 282 pernicious errors relating to health. astrology.--vegetable oil of swallows, &c.--cleanliness, diet, &c.--ablution.--ventilation.--food.--quality of meats. 284 the spirit land. introduction. the object of this treatise upon some of the various errors of the past and present ages is to explain their nature--investigate their origin--describe their injurious effects--and to offer and recommend the necessary measures for their banishment. most persons, even those who have been well educated, can call to mind the avidity with which, in their days of childhood, they listened to the nursery tales of giants, dwarfs, ghosts, fairies, and witches. the effects of these juvenile impressions are not easily effaced from the mind, and the impressions themselves are but rarely, if ever, forgotten. to doubt, in former times, the power of charms, and the veracity of omens, and ghost stories, was deemed little less than atheism. the terror caused by them imbittered the lives of persons of all ages. it either served to shut them out of their own houses, or deterred them from going abroad after it was dark. the room in which the head of a family died was for a long time untenanted; particularly if he died without a will, or was supposed to have entertained any peculiar religious opinions. if any disconsolate maiden, or love-crossed bachelor, became the instrument of their own death, the room where the fatal deed was committed was rendered forever uninhabitable, and not unfrequently nailed up. if a drunken farmer, returning from market, fell from his horse, and by the fall broke his own neck, that spot, ever after, was haunted and impassable. in truth, there was scarcely a by-lane or cross-way but had its ghost, which appeared in the shape of a headless cow or horse. ghosts of a higher degree rode in coaches, drawn by six headless horses, and driven by a headless coachman. as for the churchyards, the legitimate habitations of spectres, clothed all in white, the numbers who swarmed there equalled the living parishioners; and to pass such a place in the night was more perilous than the storming of badajos. confuted and ridiculed as these opinions have been, in later days, the seeds of them are still widely diffused, and at times attempt to spring up in all their earlier excess. in the year 1832, crowds of men, women, and children flocked to the village of waltham, a few miles from boston, to see a ghost which was said to make its appearance towards midnight, walking to and fro in a turf meadow, declaring itself, in unearthly tones, to be the spirit of a murdered man, whose bones lay in a mud hole near by. the excitement spread many miles around, and hundreds from the city and neighboring towns hied to the spot, with eyes agape, to behold the solemn visitor from the spirit world. and such was the credulity inspired in the minds of the people, that a clergyman in the vicinity declared from his pulpit, on the following sabbath, that the awful crime of murder had been revealed by the spirit which had appeared in waltham! such is the _excitability_ of the mind, and its tendency (notwithstanding the light that has been scattered abroad) to give credence to all the vagaries and nonsense of the darker ages. chapter i. the origin of popular superstitions. ignorance of correct reasoning has undoubtedly given rise to many superstitions. inductive reasoning teaches us to infer general conclusions from particular facts which have come under our observation. this definition may be illustrated by an example. you know that water boils on the application of a certain degree of heat. you have seen this experiment tried many times without a single failure. you therefore conclude that water will always boil on the application of this degree of heat, although you have seen it applied but to a small portion of the water in creation. thus you draw this _general_ conclusion from the few _particular_ facts which you have witnessed. but had you noticed several failures in the trial, your conclusions would have been doubtful. and if the experiment had failed ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, you would have adopted an opposite conclusion. you would have said that the application of the specified degree of heat would not boil water. in this way, logical reasoning leads to the discovery of truth. now, apply this principle of sound reasoning to the whole mass of pretended _signs_. let me select one to show you the absurdity of believing in any. it is commonly reported that the breaking of a looking glass betokens death to some member of the family. this sign probably originated in the following manner: a death happened to follow the breaking of a mirror. some ignorant person immediately concluded that the breaking of the glass was a sure sign of death. the story soon spread among credulous people, and at length was handed down from generation to generation as an established truth. but you readily perceive the absurdity of forming this _general_ conclusion from _one_ or a _few_ particular facts. we all know that death does not follow the supposed sign oftener than once in a hundred times; and therefore the breaking of the glass is almost a sure sign that no death will immediately take place in the family. but as mirrors are always breaking, and people are always dying, it is not strange that the latter event should sometimes follow the former. it would be a miracle if it did not. but the events have no connection whatever with each other. the coincidence in any case is altogether accidental. we might with the same reason affirm that the breaking of a teakettle is the sign of death, or any thing else, as the breaking of a mirror. but the truth is, there is no sign in the case. it first originated in ignorance of correct reasoning, and has been perpetuated by the credulous. it is but a short time ago that a girl in exeter, n.h., broke a mirror. she believed that ill luck always followed such an event and therefore became seriously affected in her mind. finally, her strength failed, and she died a victim to her superstition. hence we perceive the great importance of a just conception and well-informed judgment upon such apparently trifling, yet oftentimes serious events, in their effects upon social and individual happiness. we have only to apply this principle of correct reasoning to every sign in existence, to find them to be superstitious. we shall find, upon investigation, that they are based upon no rational evidence, and consequently are not entitled to our belief or confidence. if they indicate any thing, it is something directly opposite to what is generally supposed, for they do not come to pass more than once in a hundred times, and therefore warrant a different conclusion. not only so. if you believe in the present pretended signs, you may make a million more equally good. a man quarrels after drinking a glass of wine; you may therefore say that taking a glass of wine is the sign of a quarrel. a man draws a prize in a lottery; you may say therefore that the purchase of a ticket is the sign of a fortune. a man dies after supper; you may say therefore that eating supper is the sign of death. in this you may multiply signs to infinity, and they will prove just as true as any now in existence. but our creator has endowed us with understanding. he has given us reason to regulate our belief by satisfactory evidence. and if we do this, we cannot believe in _any_ of the pretended signs. we must conclude that they have all originated in ignorance of correct reasoning, and are kept in remembrance by those who will not use their intellectual powers as their maker designed. chapter ii. inductive philosophy not understood. ignorance of inductive philosophy has given rise to many superstitions. by the means of inductive philosophy, we are enabled to trace effects to their true causes. for example: lights have frequently been seen dancing over marshy grounds, near tan-yards, and burying-places, and along the sea shore. credulous people have believed them to be the spirits of the uneasy dead. this belief must be considered superstitious, not having any foundation on rational evidence. philosophy teaches that these lights are occasioned by an inflammable gas, which arises from decayed animal and vegetable substances, and takes fire on coming in contact with atmospheric air. thus we may trace all effects to their true causes. many persons have supposed that pork killed in the increase of the moon would swell in boiling, while that killed in her wane would shrink. this opinion probably originated in the following manner: some person killed, at different periods of the moon, two hogs which had been born and fattened together. that killed in her increase swelled in boiling; while the other, killed in her wane, shrunk. he could conceive of no way to account for the facts but on the supposition of lunar influence. this conclusion was accordingly adopted, and at length became an established truth. yet there was no philosophy in forming this opinion from a few such facts. more experiments should have been tried; and they results would have shown that the real cause of the swelling and shrinking existed in the constitution of the animals. it would have been discovered that pork of fine and solid texture would commonly swell, whenever killed; while that of loose and coarse grain would as generally shrink. and the person would no more have thought of attributing the difference in his pork to the moon than to the spirit of bonaparte. let this philosophic principle be applied to this whole class of superstitions, and we shall arrive at similar results. there is the supposed influence of the moon on making soap, grafting trees, cutting timber, and also upon the fortunes of love-sick swains and maidens. the latter are directed to go out in the evening and stand over the bars of a gate, and, looking on the moon, repeat the following lines:- "all hail to the moon! all hail to thee! i pray thee, good moon, reveal to me, this night, who my husband shall be." they must then go directly to bed, and will dream of their future husband. upon trial of the experiment, they will probably be inclined to consider it a dreamy notion altogether; for love is of too serious a nature to be fed upon mere _moonshine_. chapter iii. ignorance of the causes of dreams. ignorance of the causes of our dreams has given rise to many superstitions. ancient divines have told us that some of our dreams proceed from ourselves, others from the deity, and others again from the devil. we know, to be sure, from experience, that dreams proceed from ourselves in _some_, if not in all cases. we admit, however, that god has spoken to some of his dependent creatures by dreams; for we learn this from the holy scriptures. but such dreams were direct revelations for the accomplishment of some divine purpose. the volume of revelation was long since closed, and all that is essential to the present and eternal happiness of mankind is plainly revealed. there is therefore no necessity for any further communications from heaven; and the gospel does not authorize us to expect any. dreams may sometimes strike a conviction upon the mind, which our waking thoughts may fail to do. and they may sometimes have the appearance of being fulfilled; and yet there may be no necessity of supposing that god has made us the special organ of divine communications. our dreams, in such cases, may be explained upon the principles of mental philosophy, without resorting to the miraculous interposition of deity for an explanation. to say that the devil is the author of all our disagreeable dreams that happen generally when we are in some trouble of body, mind, or estate, is too absurd to believe. and it is specially unbecoming the followers of jesus to harbor an opinion so unbecoming in itself, so pernicious in its consequences, and so derogatory to the supreme ruler of the universe. the true doctrine is, that our dreams originate from ourselves. some are influenced by our bodily sensations. a person with a bottle of hot water at his feet dreams of ascending ã�tna; and he finds the heat of the ground almost insupportable. another kicks the bed clothes from his feet, and dreams of walking through snow banks, even in the summer season. some dreams are influenced by the state of our stomach and bowels. the hungry prisoner dreams of well-furnished tables and the pleasures of eating. the glutton dreams of a surfeit and its attendant unpleasant sensations. some dreams are influenced by our dispositions. the person of amiable temper and cheerful spirits is frequently refreshed with delightful scenes and visions of bliss; while those of morose, gloomy, irritable, and melancholy habits are generally harassed with those of a disagreeable and oppressive character. some dreams are influenced by the state of our health. sickness is usually productive of those of an unpleasant nature; while health secures those of an opposite description. a gentleman, mentioned by locke, was not sensible of dreaming till he had a fever, at the age of twenty-six or seven. some dreams are influenced by our waking thoughts. the mathematician solves difficult problems. the poet roves in elysian groves. the miser makes great bargains. the sensualist riots in the haunts of dissipation. the criminal sees the dungeon or the gallows. the awakened sinner beholds the flames of hell, or looks upon the sceptre of pardon; and the christian anticipates heavenly joy. strong mental emotions are sometimes embodied into a dream, which, by some natural coincidence, is fulfilled. a murderer, mentioned by mr. combe, dreamed of committing murder some years before the event took place. a clergyman on a visit to the city of edinburgh, from a distance in the country, was sleeping at an inn, when he dreamed of seeing a fire, and one of his children in the midst of it. he awoke with the impression, and instantly started for home. when he arrived within sight of his house, he found it on fire, and got there in time to assist in saving one of his children, who, in the alarm and confusion, had been left in a situation of danger. without calling in question the possibility of supernatural communications in such cases, this striking occurrence may perhaps be accounted for on simple and natural principles. let us suppose that the gentleman had a servant who had shown great carelessness in regard to fire, which had often given rise in his mind to a strong apprehension that he might set fire to the house. his anxiety might be increased by being from home, and the same circumstances might make the servant still more careless. let us further suppose that the gentleman, before going to bed, had, in addition to this anxiety, suddenly recollected that there was on that day, in the neighborhood of his house, some fair or periodical merry making, from which the servant was likely to return home in a state of intoxication. it was most natural that these impressions should be embodied into a dream of his house being on fire, and that the same circumstances might lead to the dream being fulfilled. the cause of a dream may sometimes be the cause of its fulfilment. a clergyman dreamed of preaching a sermon on a particular subject. in a few weeks, he delivered the discourse. his dream was therefore fulfilled. but his waking thoughts caused the dream, for he had meditated on this very subject; and they also caused its fulfilment, for he proceeded to write and deliver the result of his meditations. a belief in the supernatural origin of dreams sometimes leads to their fulfilment. a person dreams of approaching sickness. his fears and his imagination hasten on the calamity. a general, on the eve of battle, dreamed of a defeat. his belief in dreams deprived him of courage, and, of course, the enemy conquered. we have on record the case of a german student, who dreamed that he was to die at a certain hour on the next day. his friends found him in the morning making his will and arranging his affairs. as the time drew near, he had every appearance of a person near his end. every argument was used to shake his belief in the supernatural origin of his dream, but all to no effect. at last, the physician contrived to place the hands of the clock beyond the specified hour, and by this means saved the student's life. there are instances on record where death has actually ensued in consequence of such a belief. it has been produced by the wonderful power the mind possesses over the body. and there can be no doubt that believers in dreams often take the most direct means to hasten their fulfilment. the apparent fulfilment of dreams is sometimes merely accidental. the dream happens, and the event dreamed of soon follows; but the coincidence is altogether fortuitous. a member of congress informed a friend that he frequently dreamed of the death of some one of his children, while residing at washington. the whole scene would appear before him--the sickness, the death, and the burial; and this too several times the same night, and on successive nights. his anxiety for his family caused his dreams. now, it would have been nothing strange if a member of his family had died. but in this particular instance it was not the case. in this way, however, we are always dreaming of our absent relatives, and it would be singular if a death did not sometimes occur at the time of the dream. so on all other subjects. one event may follow the other, and yet the coincidence be perfectly accidental. there are occasionally some amusing cases of this kind. a person dreamed three times in one night that he must turn to the seventh verse of the fifth chapter of ecclesiastes, and he would find important instruction. he arose in the morning, and, referring to the specified passage, found these words: "_in the multitude of dreams there are divers vanities._" finally, the occasion of some dreams seems as yet inexplicable. but as we can account for so large a portion of them, it is rational to believe that the causes of the few mysterious ones will be hereafter satisfactorily explained. we think we are safe in believing that all our dreams are caused by some principle of our intellectual or animal nature. let us then pay no further regard to them than to aim by a pure conscience before god, and a careful attention to our stomachs and health, to have them refreshing and agreeable. chapter iv. effects of the imagination on the nervous system. ignorance of the influence of the imagination upon the nervous system has given rise to many superstitions. we will give a few statements of facts to establish and illustrate this position. some time previous to 1784, a gentleman in paris, by the name of mesmer, professed to have discovered a universal remedy for all diseases; and this remedy consisted in being _magnetized_ under peculiar forms and circumstances. m. mesmer became so noted for his discovery, and he performed such extraordinary cures, that, in 1784, the french king appointed a committee, consisting of four physicians and five members of the royal academy of sciences, to investigate this matter. the committee, as soon as they had examined the whole apparatus employed in magnetizing, and taken cognizance of the manoeuvres of mesmer, and his partner, deslon, proceeded to notice the symptoms of the patients while under the influence of magnetism. these were various in different individuals. some were calm and tranquil, and felt nothing; others were affected with coughing and spitting, with pains, heats, and perspirations; and some were agitated and tortured with convulsions. these convulsions were sometimes continued for three hours, accompanied with expectoration of a viscid phlegm, ejected by violent efforts, and sometimes streaked with blood. they had involuntary motions of the limbs, of the whole body, and spasms of the throat. their eyes wandered in wild motions; they uttered piercing shrieks, wept, laughed, and hiccoughed. the commissioners observed that the great majority of those thus effected were females, and that these exhibitions did not begin until they had been under the operation of magnetism one or two hours, and that, when one became affected, the rest were soon seen in the same situation. in order to give the magnetizer the fairest opportunity to exhibit the power of his invention, and to give the most satisfactory evidence to the public, the commissioners all submitted to be operated upon themselves, and sat under the operation two hours and a half, but without the least effect upon them, except the fatigue of sitting so long in one position. they were magnetized three days in succession, but without any sensible effect being produced. the magnetizing instruments were then removed to dr. franklin's house, away from public view, parade, and high expectation, and fourteen persons were then magnetized, all of them invalids. nine of them experienced nothing, five appeared slightly affected, and the commissioners were surprised to learn, in every instance, that the poor and ignorant alone were affected. after this eight men and two women were magnetized, but without the least effect. at length a female servant submitted to the same operation, and she affirmed that she felt a heat in every part where the magnetized finger was pointed at her; that she experienced a pain in her head; and, during a continuation of the operation, she became faint, and swooned. when she had fully recovered, they ordered her eyes to be bandaged, and the operator was removed at a distance, when they made her believe that she was still under the operation, and the effects were the same, although no one operated, either near her or at a distance. she could tell the very place where she was magnetized; she felt the same heat in her back and loins, and the same pain in her eyes and ears. at the end of one quarter of an hour, a sign was made for her to be magnetized, but she felt nothing. on the following day, a man and woman were magnetized in a similar manner, and the result was the same. it was found that to direct the _imagination_ to the parts where the sensations were to be felt, was all that was necessary to produce these wonderful effects. but _children_, who had not arrived at sufficient maturity of age to be excited by these imposing forms, experienced nothing from the operation. mesmer and deslon asserted that they could magnetize a tree, and every person approaching the tree, in a given time, would be magnetized, and either fall into a swoon or in convulsions, provided the magnetizer was permitted to stand at a distance and direct his look and his cane towards the tree. accordingly, an apricot tree was selected in dr. franklin's garden, at vassy, for the experiment, and m. deslon came and magnetized the tree while the patient was retained in the house. the patient was then brought out, with a bandage over his eyes, and successively lead to four trees, which were not magnetized, and was directed to embrace each tree two minutes, while m. deslon, at a distance, stood pointing his cane to the tree actually magnetized. at the first tree, which was about twenty-seven feet from the magnetized tree, the patient sweat profusely, coughed, expectorated, and said he felt a pain in his head. at the second tree, now thirty feet from the magnetized tree, he found himself giddy, attended with headache, as before. at the third tree, his giddiness and headache were much increased, and he said he believed he was approaching the magnetized tree, although he was still twenty-eight feet from it. at length, when brought to the fourth tree, _not magnetized_, and at the distance of twenty-four feet from that which was, the young man fell down in a state of perfect insensibility; his limbs became rigid, and he was carried to a grass plot, where m. deslon went to his assistance and recovered him. and yet, in no instance had he approached within a less distance than twenty-four feet of the magnetized tree. a similar experiment was soon afterwards made on two poor females, at dr. franklin's house. these women were separated from each other. three of the commissioners remained with one of them in one chamber, and two of them with the other, in an adjoining chamber. the first had a bandage over her eyes, and was then made to believe that m. deslon came in and commenced magnetizing her, although he never entered the room. in three minutes the woman began to shiver. she felt, in succession, a pain in her head, and a pricking in her hands. she became stiff, struck her hands together, got up, stamped, &c., but nothing had been done to her. the woman in the adjoining chamber was requested to take her seat by the door, which was shut, with her sight at liberty. she was then made to believe that m. deslon would magnetize the door on the opposite side, while the commissioners would wait to witness the result. she had scarcely been seated a minute before she began to shiver. her breathing became hurried; she stretched out her arms behind her back, writhing them strongly, and bending her body forwards; a general tremor of the whole body came on. the chattering of the teeth was so loud as to be heard out of the room; and she bit her hand so as to leave the marks of her teeth in it; but m. deslon was not near the door, nor in either chamber, nor was either of the women touched, not even their pulse examined. we perceive, then, that these effects were produced solely by the imagination, and the above facts exhibit very satisfactorily the power which the mind has over the body. the symptoms were not feigned, but, in the peculiar state of mind of these persons, they were involuntary and irresistible. they believed they should be effected in this manner; the idea was formed in their imaginations, and the nerves were acted upon precisely as though what they conceived was real, and the muscular effects followed. and as the patients themselves could not explain the causes of these effects, they very naturally attributed the whole to magnetism. when the commissioners explained the matter, magnetism ceased to produce these wonderful effects. the minds of persons were enlightened upon the subject, and they no longer expected to be influenced in this manner, and accordingly they were not. dr. sigault, an eminent physician of paris, professed to be an adept in the art of mesmer. being at a great assembly one day, he caused it to be announced that he could magnetize. the voice and serious air he assumed had a very sensible effect upon a lady present, although she endeavored at first to conceal the fact. but having carried his hand to the region of the heart, he found it palpitating. she soon experienced difficulty in respiration. the muscles of her face were affected with convulsive twitches; her eyes rolled; she shortly fell down in a fainting fit, vomited her dinner, and experienced incredible weakness and languor. this seemed to corroborate the remarks of burton, in his _anatomy of melancholy_, where he says, "if, by some soothsayer, wise man, fortune teller, or physician, men be told they shall have such a disease, they will so seriously apprehend it that they will instantly labor of it--a thing familiar in china, (saith riccius, the jesuit.) if they be told they shall be sick on such a day, when that day comes they will surely be sick, and will be so terribly affected that sometimes they die upon it." a late english paper states that a young woman, named winfield, who had been on a visit to derby, returned home to radborn, taking a little dog with her by a string. on arriving there, she informed her friends she had seen a gypsy on the road, who told her, that if she led her dog by the string into the house, she would soon be a corpse. singular to relate, the young woman expired on the following morning! it was thought she died from the effect of imagination, aided by a debilitated constitution. a missionary among the new zealanders says, "there is a class of people in new zealand, called by the natives _areekee_, and whom we very improperly call _priests_. these men pretend to have intercourse with departed spirits, by which they are able to kill, by incantation, any person on whom their anger may fall. and it is a fact, that numbers fall a prey to their confidence in the efficacy of the curses of these men, and pine under the influence of despair, and die." in less than fifteen years after the trial of the pretensions of mesmer and his coadjutors, in regard to magnetism, there was originated in america, by a mr. perkins, a cause of delusion of precisely the same nature. it prevailed in all the united states, in great britain, scotland, and ireland, and to considerable extent on the continent of europe. mr. perkins prepared two small pieces of different kinds of metal drew them to a point, and polished them. these _metallic tractors_, as they were denominated, were said to have, in their joint operation, great power over the electric fluid; and by moving these points gently over the surface of an inflamed part, the heat was extracted, the swelling subsided, and, in a short time, the patient was relieved. after a while, thousands and tens of thousands were ready to certify to the happy influence of these _tractors_. mr. perkins went to england and obtained the royal letters patent, for the purpose of securing to him the advantages of his discovery; and it has been asserted by the best authority, that he returned from england possessed of ten thousand pounds sterling, which he received for the use of his tractors. but dr. haggarth, an eminent physician and philosopher, recollecting the development of animal magnetism at paris, wrote to dr. falconer, surgeon of the general hospital at bath, (england,) and stated his suspicion concerning the tractors; that their efficacy depended wholly on the imagination of the patient; and recommended the experiment of _wooden_ tractors in the place of the _metallic_. accordingly, five persons were selected for the experiment, who were laboring under chronic rheumatism in the ankle, knee, wrist, and hip. wooden tractors were prepared and painted in such a manner that the patients could not discover but that they were metal; and on the 7th of january, 1799, these _wooden_ tractors were employed for the first time. all the patients except one, were relieved. three were very much benefited. one felt his knee warmer, and he could walk much better, as he showed the medical gentlemen present. one was easier for nine hours, till he went to bed, and then his pain returned. the next day, january 8th, the metallic tractors were employed with the same effect as that of the preceding day. this led to further experiments of a similar kind, and they were continued, until the physicians became fully satisfied that the wooden tractors were of the same utility with the metallic, provided the patients _supposed_ them metallic. similar experiments were soon after made at edinburgh, and the result was the same. a servant girl, afflicted with a most acute headache, which had rendered her nights altogether restless for a fortnight, readily submitted to be pointed at with these _wooden_ tractors. the operator moved them about her head, but did not touch her. in four minutes she felt a chilliness in the head. in a minute or two more, she felt as though cold water was running down her temples, and the pain was diminished. in ten minutes more, she declared that the headache was entirely gone; and the next day she returned to express her thanks to her benefactors for the good sleep she enjoyed through the night. by similar experiments, the intelligent citizens in america soon ascertained the true cause of the deception, and when these facts came to be developed, the tractors lost all their influence on the human system, and have since been spoken of only in derision. here, again, we behold the astonishing power of the imagination over the human system, and witness the miracles that have been performed on the ignorant and unsuspecting. even in the _modern_ practice of the mesmeric art, a great deal of the success depends upon this tendency of the mind. a very respectable operator assures us, that he cannot magnetize persons unless he can first impress them with the belief that they are actually to become magnetized. they must have _faith_ in order that the effect may be produced. a public lecturer may hang up his watch before his auditors, and tell them to look upon that watch, and they will become magnetized. those who expect to be affected are thrown into the magnetic state. those who have little faith and expectation are seldom, if ever, influenced by such experiments. we, however, do not mean to avow a disbelief in the science of magnetism. on the contrary, we look forward with much interest to its perfection, unencumbered with the false pretensions of its zealous and mistaken friends. chapter v. ignorance of mental philosophy. ignorance of mental philosophy has given rise to many superstitions. many persons have believed in the real, visible appearance of ghosts, spirits, or apparitions. yet these things are clearly and satisfactorily explained on the established principles of mental philosophy. and from this source we learn that they exist alone in the _mind_, in the same manner as do other ideas and images, except in the instances recorded in scripture. they are caused by some misconception, mental operation, or bodily disorder. we will give a few examples to substantiate this position. dr. ferriar relates the case of a gentleman travelling in the highlands of scotland, who was conducted to a bed room which was reported to be haunted by the spirit of a man who had there committed suicide. in the night, he awoke under the influence of a frightful dream, and found himself sitting up in bed with a pistol grasped in his right hand. on looking around the room, he now discovered, by the moonlight, a corpse, dressed in a shroud, reared against the wall, close by the window, the features of the body and every part of the funeral apparel being distinctly perceived. on recovering from the first impulse of terror, so far as to investigate the source of the phantom, it was found to be produced by the moonbeams forming a long, bright image through the broken window. "two esteemed friends of mine," says dr. abercrombie, "while travelling in the highlands, had occasion to sleep in separate beds, in one apartment. one of them, having awoke in the night, saw, by the moonlight, a skeleton hanging from the head of his friend's bed, every part of it being perceived in the most distinct manner. he got up to investigate the source of the appearance, and found it to be produced by the moonbeams falling back upon the drapery of the bed, which had been thrown back in some unusual manner, on account of the heat of the weather. he returned to bed, and soon fell asleep. but having awoke again some time after, the skeleton was so distinctly before him, that he could not sleep without again getting up to trace the origin of the phantom. determined not to be disturbed a third time, he now brought down the curtain to its usual state, and the skeleton appeared no more." dr. dewar relates the case of a lady who was quite blind, and who never walked out without seeing a little old woman, with a crutch and a red cloak, apparently walking before her. she had no illusion when within doors. dr. gregory once took passage in a vessel to a neighboring country, to visit a lady who was in an advanced stage of consumption. on his return, he had taken a moderate dose of laudanum, with the view of preventing seasickness, and was lying on a couch, in the cabin, when the figure of a lady appeared before him in so distinct a manner, that her actual presence could not have been more vivid. he was quite awake, and fully sensible that it was a phantom produced by the opiate, in connection with his intense mental feeling; but he was unable by any effort to banish the vision. a gentleman, mentioned by dr. conolly, when in great danger of being wrecked in a boat, on the eddystone rocks, said he actually saw his family at the moment. in similar circumstances of great danger, others have described the history of their past lives, being represented to them in such a vivid manner, that, at a single glance, the whole was before them, without the power of banishing the impression. we have read the account of a whole ship's company being thrown into the utmost consternation by the apparition of a cook, who had died a few days before. he was distinctly seen walking ahead of the ship, with a peculiar gait, by which he was distinguished when alive, from having one leg shorter than the other. on steering the ship towards the object, it was found to be a piece of floating wreck! there is a story on record, of a piratical cruiser having captured a spanish vessel, during the seventeenth century, and brought her into marblehead harbor, which was then the site of a few humble dwellings. the male inhabitants were all absent on their fishing voyages. the pirates brought their prisoners ashore, carried them at the dead of night into a solitary glen, and there murdered them. among the captives was an english female passenger. the women who belonged to the place heard her dying outcries, as they rose through the midnight air, and reverberated far and wide along the silent shores. she was heard to exclaim, "o, mercy, mercy! lord jesus christ, save me! save me!" her body was buried by the pirates on the spot. the same piercing voice is believed to be heard at intervals, more or less often, almost every year, in the stillness of a calm starlight, or clear moonlight night. there is something, it is said, so wild, mysterious, and evidently superhuman in the sound, as to strike a chill of dread into the hearts of all who listen to it. a writer in the marblehead register, of april 3, 1830, declares that "there are not persons wanting at the present day, persons of unimpeachable veracity and known respectability, who still continue to believe the tradition, and to assert that they themselves have been auditors of the sounds described, which they declare were of such an unearthly nature as to preclude the idea of imposition or deception." when "the silver moon holds her way," or when the stars are glistening in the clear, cold sky, and the dark forms of the moored vessels are at rest upon the sleeping bosom of the harbor,--when no natural sound comes forth from the animate or inanimate creation but the dull and melancholy note of the winding shore, how often, at midnight, is the watcher startled from the reveries of an excited imagination by the piteous, dismal, and terrific screams of the unlaid _ghost_ of the murdered lady! erroneous impressions are often connected with some bodily disease, more especially disease in the brain. dr. gregory mentions the case of a gentleman liable to epileptic fits, in whom the paroxysm was generally preceded by the appearance of an old woman in a red cloak, who seemed to come up to him, and strike him on the head with her crutch. at that instant he fell down in the fit. another is mentioned by dr. alderston, of a man who kept a dram shop, and who would often see a soldier endeavoring to force himself into his house in a menacing manner; and in rushing forward to prevent him, would find it a mere phantom. this man was cured by bleeding and purgatives; and the source of this vision was traced to a quarrel which he had had some time before with a drunken soldier. in _delirium tremens_ such visions are common, and assume a variety of forms. similar phantasms occur in various forms in febrile diseases. a lady was attended by dr. abercrombie, having an affection of the chest. she awoke her husband one night, at the commencement of her disorder, and begged him to get up instantly, saying that she had distinctly seen a man enter the apartment, pass the foot of her bed, and go into a closet that entered from the opposite side of the room. she was quite awake, and fully convinced of the reality of the appearance. but, upon examining the closet, it was found to be a delusion, although it was almost impossible to convince the lady it was not a reality. a writer in the christian observer mentions a lady, who, during a severe illness, repeatedly saw her father, who resided at the distance of many hundred miles, come to her bedside, withdraw the curtain, and talk to her in his usual voice and manner. a farmer, mentioned by the same writer, on returning from market, was deeply affected by an extraordinarily brilliant light, which he saw upon the road, and by an appearance in the light, which he supposed to be our savior. he was greatly alarmed, and, spurring his horse, galloped home; remained agitated during the evening; was seized with typhus fever, then prevailing in the vicinity, and died in about ten days. it was afterwards ascertained, that on the morning of the same day, before he left home, he had complained of headache and languor; and there can be no doubt, says this writer, that the spectral appearance was connected with the commencement of the fever. analogous to this is the very striking case related by a physician, of a relative of his, a lady about fifty. on returning home one evening from a party, she went into a dark room to lay aside some part of her dress, when she saw distinctly before her the figure of death, as a skeleton, with his arm uplifted, and a dart in his hand. he instantly aimed a blow at her with the dart, which seemed to strike her on the left side. the same night she was seized with a fever, accompanied with symptoms of inflammation in the left side, but recovered after a severe illness. we have read the account of a lady who had an illusion affecting both her sight and hearing. she repeatedly heard her husband's voice calling to her by name, as if from an adjoining room. on one occasion, she saw his figure most distinctly, standing before the fire in the drawing room, when he had left the house half an hour before. she went and sat down within two feet of the figure, supposing it to be her husband, and was greatly astonished that he did not answer her when she spoke to him. the figure continued visible several minutes, then moved towards a window at the farther end of the room, and there disappeared. on another occasion, while adjusting her hair before a mirror, late at night, she saw the countenance of a friend, dressed in a shroud, reflected from the mirror, as if looking over her shoulder. this lady had been for some time in bad health, being affected with a lung complaint, and much nervous debility. another case of an illusion of hearing is reported of a clergyman, who was accustomed to full living, and was suddenly seized with vomiting, vertigo, and ringing in his ears, and continued in an alarming condition for several days. during this time he heard tunes most distinctly played, and in accurate succession. this patient had, at the same time, a remarkable condition of vision, all objects appearing to him inverted. this peculiarity continued about three days, and ceased gradually; the objects by degrees changing their position, first to the horizontal, and then to the erect. some profess to have visions or sights relative to the world of spirits. this was the case with swedenborg. he relates some of them in the following language: "i dined very late at my lodgings at london, and ate with great appetite, till, at the close of my repast, i perceived a kind of mist about my eyes, and the floor of my chamber was covered with hideous reptiles. they soon disappeared, the darkness was dissipated, and i saw clearly, in the midst of a brilliant light, a man seated in the corner of my chamber, who said to me, in a terrible voice, _eat not so much_. at these words, my sight became obscured; afterwards it became clear by degrees, and i found myself alone. the night following, the same man, radiant with light, appeared to me, and said, i am god the lord, creator and redeemer. i have chosen you to unfold to men the internal and spiritual sense of the sacred writings, and will dictate to you what you ought to write. at that time, i was not terrified, and the light, although very brilliant, made no unpleasant impression upon my eyes. the lord was clothed in purple, and the vision lasted a quarter of an hour. the same night, the eyes of my internal man were opened, and fitted to see things in heaven, in the world of spirits, and in hell; in which places i have found many persons of my acquaintance, some of them long since dead, and others lately deceased." in another place, he observes, "i have conversed with apostles, departed popes, emperors, and kings; with the late reformers of the church, luther, calvin, and melancthon, and with others from different countries." in conversing with melancthon, he wished to know his state in the spirit world, but melancthon did not see fit to inform him; "wherefore," says swedenborg, "i was instructed by others concerning his lot, viz., that he is sometimes in an excavated stone chamber, and at other times in hell; and that when in the chamber, he appears to be clothed in a bear's skin by reason of the cold; and that on account of the filth in his chamber, he does not admit strangers from the world, who are desirous of visiting him from the reputation of his name." the apparitions of swedenborg were probably caused by his studies, habits, and pursuits. they bear the marks of earthly origin, although he firmly believed they were from heaven. overloading his stomach at late meals, no doubt, caused some of them. he was in the habit of _eating too much_, as he himself admits. hence his brain may have been disturbed. we have all heard of the case of an elderly lady, who, being ill, called upon her physician one day for advice. she told him, among other things, that on the preceding night her sleep had been disturbed--that she had seen her grandmother in her dreams. being interrogated whether she ate any thing the preceding evening, she told the doctor she ate half a mince pie just before going to bed. "well, madam," said he, "if you had eaten the other half, you might have seen your grandfather also." the slightest examination of the accounts which remain of occurrences that were deemed supernatural by our ancestors will satisfy any one, at the present day, that they were brought about by causes entirely _natural_, although unknown to them. we will close this part of our investigation by relating the following circumstances, attested by the rev. james pierpont, pastor of a church in new haven:-"in the year 1647, a new ship of about one hundred and fifty tons, containing a valuable cargo, and several distinguished persons as passengers, put to sea from new haven in the month of january, bound to england. the vessels that came over the ensuing spring brought no tidings of her arrival in the mother country. the pious colonists were earnest and instant in their prayers that intelligence might be received of the missing vessel. in the course of the following june, a great thunder storm arose out of the north-west; after which, (the hemisphere being serene,) about an hour before sunset, a ship of like dimensions of the aforesaid, with her canvas and colors abroad, (although the wind was northerly,) appeared in the air, coming up from the harbor's mouth, which lies southward from the town, seemingly with her sails filled, under a fresh gale, holding her course north, and continuing under observation, sailing against the wind, for the space of half an hour. the phantom ship was borne along, until, to the excited imaginations of the spectators, she seemed to have approached so near that they could throw a stone into her. her main topmast then disappeared, then her mizzen topmast, then her masts were entirely carried away, and finally her hull fell off, and vanished from sight, leaving a dull and smoke-colored cloud, which soon dissolved, and the whole atmosphere became clear. all affirmed that the airy vision was a precise copy of the missing vessel, and that it was sent to announce and describe her fate. they considered it the spectre of the lost ship, and the rev. mr. davenport declared in public 'that god had condescended, for the quieting of their afflicted spirits, this extraordinary account of his sovereign disposal of those for whom so many fervent prayers were made continually.'" the results of modern science enable us to explain the mysterious appearance. it is probable that some dutch vessel, proceeding slowly, quietly, and unconsciously on her voyage from amsterdam to the new netherlands, happened at the time to be passing through the sound. at the moment the apparition was seen in the sky, she was so near, that her image was painted or delineated to the eyes of the observers, on the clouds, by the laws of optics, now generally well known, before her actual outlines could be discerned by them on the horizon. as the sun sunk behind the western hills, and his rays were gradually withdrawn, the visionary ship slowly disappeared, and the approach of the night, while it dispelled the vapors from the atmosphere, effectually concealed the vessel as she continued her course along the sound. the optical illusions that present themselves, on the sea shore, by which distant objects are raised to view, the opposite islands and capes made to loom up, lifted above the line of the apparent circumference of the earth, and thrown into every variety of shape which the imagination can conceive, are among the most beautiful phenomena of nature, and they impress the mind with the idea of enchantment and mystery, more perhaps than any others. but they have received a complete solution from modern discovery. it should be observed that the optical principles that explain these phenomena have recently afforded a foundation for the science, or rather the _art_, of _nauscopy_. there are persons, it is said, in some places in the isle of france, whose calling and profession it is to ascertain and predict the approach of vessels by their reflection in the atmosphere and on the clouds, long before they are visible to the eye or through the glass. our vision is at all times liable to be disturbed by atmospheric conditions. so long as the atmosphere between our person and the object we are looking at is of the same density, we may be said to see in a straight line to the object. but if, by any cause, a portion of that atmosphere is rendered less or more dense, the line of vision is bent, or refracted, from its course. a thorough comprehension of this truth in science has banished a mass of superstition. it has been found that, by means of powerful refraction, objects at great distances, and round the back of a hill, or considerably beneath the horizon, are brought into sight. in some countries this phenomenon is called _mirage_. the following is one of the most interesting and best-authenticated cases of the kind. in a voyage performed by captain scoresby, in 1822, he was able to recognize his father's ship, when below the horizon, from the inverted image of it which appeared in the air. "it was," says he, "so well defined, that i could distinguish, by a telescope, every sail, the general rig of the ship, and its particular character, insomuch that i confidently pronounced it to be my father's ship, the fame,--which it afterwards proved to be--though on comparing notes with my father, i found that our relative position, at the time, gave our distance from one another very nearly thirty miles, being about seventeen miles beyond the horizon, and some leagues beyond the limit of direct vision!" dr. vince, an english philosopher, was once looking through a telescope at a ship which was so far off that he could only see the upper part of the masts. the hull was entirely hidden by the bending of the water; but, between himself and the ship, he saw two perfect images of it in the air. these were of the same form and color as the real ship; but one of them was turned completely upside down. in the sandy plains of egypt, the mirage is seen to great advantage. these plains are often interrupted by small eminences, upon which the inhabitants have built their villages in order to escape the inundations of the nile. in the morning and evening, objects are seen in their natural form and position; but when the surface of the sandy ground is heated by the sun, the land seems terminated, at a particular distance, by a general inundation; the villages which are beyond it appear like so many islands in a great lake; and an inverted image of a village appears between the hills. the swedish sailors long searched for a supposed magic island, which, from time to time, could be descried between the island of aland and the coast of upland. it proved to be a rock, the image of which was presented in the air by mirage. at one time, the english saw, with terror, the coast of calais and boulogne, in france, rising up on the opposite side of the channel, and apparently approaching their island. but the most celebrated example of mirage is exhibited in the straits of messina. the inhabitants of the calabrian shore behold images of palaces, embattled ramparts, houses, and ships, and all the varied objects of towns and landscapes, in the air--being refracted images from the sicilian coast. this wonderful phenomenon is superstitiously regarded by the common people as the work of fairies. chapter vi. ignorance of true religion. ignorance of true religion has given rise to many prevailing superstitions. the savior has taught us that the father of spirits regulates the minutest events of this world, and that he alone is the supreme ruler of the universe. our experience and observation must convince us that this infinite work is accomplished by regular laws, and that infinite wisdom sees fit so to govern all events without the intervention of miracles, or through the agency of any instrumentality but his own. and by examination, we shall find that these truths are in direct opposition to the general mass of popular superstitions. there are many who believe in signs. they believe that the howling of a dog under a window betokens death to some member of the family. but how does the dog obtain this foreknowledge? who sends him on this solemn errand? if you say that his appearance at the house is accidental, then you would have us trust to _chance_ for information upon this most important subject. if you say that his knowledge of the approaching event is intuitive, then you would have us believe that the irrational brute knows more than his intelligent master. if you say that he is instigated by some wicked spirit, then you would have us admit that an enemy of mankind is more attentive to their welfare than god; for it certainly betokens the greatest kindness to notify us of our near dissolution. if you say the animal is sent by god, how will you explain the fact that the sign so often fails? not actually taking place oftener, at most, than once in a hundred times. certainly we are not to accuse the omniscient and merciful jehovah either of ignorance concerning future events, or of trifling with the feelings of his dependent creatures. we must therefore consider the sign to be altogether superstitious, and contrary to all rational evidence. some persons profess to believe in lucky and unlucky days. they say, for instance, that friday is an unlucky day. and why so? does god part with the reins of his government, and employ wicked spirits to torment his creatures on this day? does he make this day more unpropitious to human affairs than others? do facts go to show that more disasters occur on this day than on any other? paul instructs us that all days are alike, and that god rules the universe with infinite wisdom and benevolence. then why should we account friday to be an unlucky day? whence came such an opinion? from heathenism. the heathen were much influenced by this superstition; and when converted to christianity, they incorporated this among some other absurdities into their religious belief. because our savior was crucified on friday, they placed this at the head of their unlucky days. but why they did so, we cannot conceive; for the death of christ was absolutely necessary for the deliverance of mankind from sin and death. and for this reason alone, friday was the most propitious day that ever dawned upon a dying world. but the heathen converts did not consider this circumstance. they pronounced sunday, the day of his resurrection, to be the most fortunate. later christians, in a certain sense, have thought differently. sir matthew hale has remarked, that he never knew any undertaking to prosper that was commenced on the sabbath. and the early laws of connecticut prohibited any vessel from either leaving a port, or entering a port, or passing by a village on sunday. but such prohibitions are not agreeable to the notions of seamen, who, as a class, are inclined to be somewhat superstitious. we frequently meet with dissipated, unbelieving sailors, who could not be induced to put to sea on friday on any consideration; but who would rather labor seven successive nights than not sail on the sabbath. it is rather singular that sceptics should be so afraid of the day of our savior's crucifixion, and so fond of that of his resurrection. such inconsistency, however, is not uncommon. those who rail most at the credulity of others are frequently the most superstitious. those who lay the greatest claims to bravery are, for the most part, the greatest cowards. voltaire could ridicule religion in fair weather, but the moment a thunder cloud appeared, he was thrown into extreme consternation, and must have a priest to pray during its continuance for his preservation. if we would avoid the influence of this heathen superstition, we must regard _actions_ rather than _days_. if our engagements are _proper_, we have nothing to fear from the day on which they are commenced. if we feel the evidence within that god is indeed _our_ father, we shall not be prevented, by any belief in lucky or unlucky days, from doing our duty on every day, and enjoying peace and happiness on all days. chapter vii. belief in witchcraft. a witch was regarded by our fathers as a person who had made an actual, deliberate, and formal contract with satan, by which contract it was agreed that the party should become his faithful subject, and do whatever should be required in promoting his cause. and in consideration of this allegiance and service, he, on his part, agreed to exercise his supernatural powers in the person's behalf. it was considered as a transfer of allegiance from god to the devil. the agreement being concluded, satan bestows some trifling sum of money to bind the bargain; then, cutting or pricking a finger causes the individual to sign his or her name, or make the mark of a cross, with their own blood, on a piece of parchment. in addition to this signature, in some places, the devil made the witches put one hand to the crown of their head, and the other to the sole of the foot, signifying they were entirely his. before the devil quits his new subject, he delivers to her or him an imp or familiar, and sometimes two or three. they are of different shapes and forms, some resembling a cat, others a mole, a miller fly, spider, or some other insect or animal. these are to come at bidding, to do such mischief as the witch may command, and, at stated times of the day, suck the blood of the witch, through teats, on different parts of the body. feeding, suckling, or rewarding these imps was, by law, declared _felony_. sometimes a witch, in company with others of the fraternity, is carried through the air on brooms or spits, to distant meetings or sabbaths of witches. but for this they must anoint themselves with a certain magical ointment given them by the devil. lord bacon, in his philosophical works, gives a recipe for the manufacture of an ointment that enabled witches to fly in the air. it was composed of the fat of children, digged out of their graves, and of the juices of smaltage, cinquefoil, and wolfsbane, mixed with meal of fine wheat. after greasing themselves with this preparation, the witches flew up chimney, and repaired to the spot in some graveyard or dismal forest, where they were to hold their meetings with the evil one. at these meetings they have feasting and dancing, the devil himself sometimes condescending to play on the great fiddle, pipe, or harp. when the meeting breaks up, they all have the honor of kissing his majesty, who for that ceremony usually assumes the form of a he goat. witches showed their spite by causing the object of it to waste away in a long and painful disease, with a sensation of thorns stuck in the flesh. sometimes they caused their victims to swallow pins, old nails, dirt, and trash of all sorts, invisibly conveyed to them by their imps. frequently they showed their hate by drying up the milk of cows, or by killing oxen. for slight offences they would prevent butter from coming in the churn, or beer from working. grace greenwood says, that, on a visit to salem in the fall of 1850, she "was shown a vial of the veritable bewitched pins with which divers persons were sorely pricked by the wicked spite of certain witches and wizards." it was believed that satan affixed his mark or seal to the bodies of those in allegiance with him, and that the spot where this mark was made became callous and dead. in examining a witch upon trial, they would pierce the body with pins, and if any spot was found insensible to the torture, it was looked upon as ocular demonstration of guilt. another method to detect a witch, was to weigh her against the church bible. if she was guilty, the bible would preponderate. another was by making her say the lord's prayer, which no one actually possessed could do correctly. a witch could not weep but three tears, and that only out of the left eye; and this was considered by many an decisive proof of guilt. but swimming was the most infallible ordeal. they were stripped naked, and bound the right thumb to the left toe, and the left thumb to the right toe. being thus prepared, they were thrown into a pond or river. if guilty, they could not sink; for having, by their compact with the devil, renounced the water of baptism, that element renounces them, and refuses to receive them into its bosom. in 1664, a man by the name of matthew hopkins, in england, was permitted to explore the counties of essex, suffolk, and huntingdon, with a commission to discover witches, receiving twenty shillings from each town he visited. many persons were pitched upon, and through his means convicted. at length, some gentlemen, out of indignation at his barbarity, tied him in the same manner he had bound others, thumbs and toes together, in which state, putting him in the water, he swam! standing condemned on his own principles, the country was rescued from the power of his malicious imposition. the subsequent illustration of the condition of religion less than two hundred years ago will excite a few humbling thoughts. in the parish register of glammis, scotland, june, 1676, is recorded--"nae preaching here this lord's day, the minister being at gortachy, burning a witch." forty thousand persons, it is said, were put to death for witchcraft in england during the seventeenth century, and a much greater number in scotland, in proportion to its population. in 1692, the whole population of salem and vicinity were under the influence of a terrible delusion concerning witchcraft. by yielding to the sway of their credulous fancies, allowing their passions to be worked up to a tremendous pitch of excitement, and running into excesses of folly and violence, they have left a dark stain upon their memory, that will awaken a sense of shame, pity, and amazement in the minds of their latest posterity. the principal causes that led to their delusion, and to the proceedings connected with it, were, a proneness to superstition, owing in a great degree to an ignorance of natural science, too great a dependence upon the imagination, and the power of sympathy. in contemplating the errors and sufferings which ignorance of philosophy and science brought upon our fathers, we should be led to appreciate more gratefully, and to improve with more faithfulness, our own opportunities to acquire wisdom and knowledge. but we would not be understood as saying, that mere intellectual cultivation is sufficient to banish every superstition. no. for who were ever better educated than the ancient greeks and romans? and yet, who were ever more influenced by a belief in signs, omens, spectres, and witches? we believe that, when the gospel, in its purity and simplicity, shall shed its divine light abroad, and pervade the hearts of men, superstition, in all its dark and hideous forms, will recede, and vanish from the world. in concluding our remarks under this head, we would add that, in a dictionary before us, a witch is designated as a woman, and _wizard_ as a man, that pretends to some power whereby he or she can foretell future events, cure diseases, call up or drive away spirits. the art itself is called _witchcraft_. if this is a correct definition, witches and wizards are quite a numerous class of people in society at the present day; for there are many among us who presume to practise these things. chapter viii. necromancy and fortune telling. although the belief in witchcraft has nearly passed away, the civilized world is yet full of necromancers and fortune tellers. the mystic science of "palmistry" is still practised by many a haggard and muttering vagrant. the most celebrated fortune teller, perhaps, that ever lived, resided in lynn, mass. the character of "moll pitcher" is familiarly known in all parts of the commercial world. she died in 1813. her place of abode was beneath the projecting and elevated summit of high rock, in lynn, and commanded a view of the wild and indented coast of marblehead, of the extended and resounding beaches of lynn and chelsea, of nahant rocks, of the vessels and islands, of boston's beautiful bay, and of its remote southern shore. she derived her mysterious gifts by inheritance, her grandfather having practised them before, in marblehead. sailors, merchants, and adventurers of every kind visited her residence, and placed great confidence in her predictions. people came from great distances to learn the fate of missing friends or recover the possession of lost goods. the young, of both sexes, impatient at the tardy pace of time, and burning with curiosity to discern their future lot, especially as it regarded matters of wedlock, availed themselves of every opportunity to visit her lowly dwelling, and hear from her prophetic lips the revelations of these most tender incidents and important events of their coming lives. she read the future, and traced what, to mere mortal eyes, were the mysteries of the present or the past, in the arrangement and aspect of the grounds or settlings of a cup of tea or coffee. her name has every where become the generic title of fortune tellers, and occupies a conspicuous place in the legends and ballads of popular superstition. a man was suddenly missed by his friends from a certain town in this commonwealth. the church immediately sent a member to consult the far-famed fortune-telling molly pitcher. after making the necessary inquiries, she intimated that the absent person had been murdered by a family of negroes, and his body sunk in the deep waters behind their dwelling. upon this evidence, the accused were forthwith imprisoned, and the pond raked in vain, from shore to shore. a few days previous to the trial, the missing man returned to his friends, safe and sound; thus proving that the fortune teller, instead of having received from satan certain information of distant and unknown events, actually played off a piece of the grossest deception upon her credulous visitors. we are told by travellers that there is scarcely a village in syria in which there is not some one who has the credit of being able to cast out evil spirits. about eight miles from the ancient sidon, lady hester stanhope, the granddaughter of the immortal chatham, and niece of the equally immortal pitt, recently lived in a style of eastern splendor and magnificence. she spent her time in gazing at the extended canopy of heaven, as it shed its sparkling light upon the ancient hills and sacred groves of palestine--her soul absorbed in the fathomless mysteries of her loved astrology, and holding fancied communion with supernatural powers and spirits of the departed. there recently died in hopkinton, mass., an individual by the name of sheffield, who had long followed the art of fortune telling by astrology. he professed to unfold almost every secret, or mystery, even to foretelling the precise day and hour any person would die. in case of lost or stolen goods, it was only necessary to enclose a small fee in a letter, containing also a statement of your name, age, and place of residence, and forward the same by mail to his address. in two or three weeks, the information you sought, as to the person who stole the property, &c., would be forwarded to you, leaving you to judge of the case for yourself. he did quite a business in his line, and made something of a fortune out of a long-exploded science. there are many who trust to the declarations of such persons, and are often made unhappy thereby. in fact, it is doubtful if a more unhappy class can be found than those who are in the habit of consulting fortune tellers of any character. it is _discontent_, chiefly, that leads them to pry into futurity. and after having had their _fortunes told_, as it is termed, they are no better satisfied than before; for the best of fortune tellers are famous for their errors and mistakes, although it would be strange if they did not blunder upon some facts in the whole routine of their business. but we pity those who rely upon their prognostications. if told they will die at such or such a time, or if they are to meet with some dreadful accident, misfortune, or disappointment, their imaginations will lead them to anticipate and dread the event, which will be the surest way to produce its fulfilment. if a husband or wife is told that he or she will marry again, it will lead them to be dissatisfied with the partner with whom they are at present associated. and look at this subject as we will, we shall find it productive of a vast amount of evil, and therefore deserving of our entire disapprobation. chapter ix. fairies, or wandering spirits. fairies, says a certain author, are a sort of intermediate beings, between men and women, having bodies, yet with the power of rendering them _invisible_, and of passing through all sorts of enclosures. they are remarkably small of stature, with fair complexions, whence they derive their name, _fairies_. both male and female are generally clothed in green, and frequent mountains, the sunny side of hills, groves, and green meadows, where they amuse themselves with dancing, hand in hand, in a circle, by moonlight. the traces of their feet are said to be visible, next morning, on the grass, and are commonly called _fairy rings_, or _circles_. fairies have all the passions and wants of men, and are great lovers of cleanliness and propriety; for the observance of which, they frequently reward servants, by dropping money in their shoes. they likewise punish sluts and slovens by pinching them black and blue. they often change their weak and starveling elves, or children, for the more robust offspring of men. but this can only be done before baptism; for which reason it is still the custom, in the highlands, to watch by the cradle of infants till they are christened. the word _changeling_, now applied to one almost an idiot, attests the current belief of these superstitious mutations. some fairies dwell in mines, and in wales nothing is more common than these subterranean spirits, called _knockers_, who very good naturedly point out where there is a rich vein of lead or silver. in scotland there was a sort of domestic fairies, from their sun-burnt complexions, called _brownies_. these were extremely useful, performing all sorts of domestic drudgery. in the life of dr. adam clarke, we have the following account of a circumstance that took place in the town of freshford, county of kilkenny, ireland, showing the superstition prevailing in that country concerning the influence of these fairy beings: "a farmer built himself a house of three apartments, the kitchen in the middle, and a room for sleeping, &c., on either end. some time after it was finished, a cow of his died--then a horse; to these succeeded other smaller animals, and last of all his _wife_ died. full of alarm and distress, supposing himself to be an object of _fairy indignation_, he went to the _fairy man_, that is, one who pretends to know _fairy_ customs, haunts, pathways, antipathies, caprices, benevolences, &c., and he asked his advice and counsel on the subject of his losses. the wise man, after having considered all things, and cast his eye upon the house, said, 'the fairies, in their night walks from _knockshegowny_ hill, in county _tipperary_, to the county of _kilkenny_, were accustomed to pass over the very spot where one of your rooms is now built; you have blocked up their way, and they were very angry with you, and have slain your cattle, and killed your wife, and, if not appeased, may yet do worse harm to you.' the poor fellow, sadly alarmed, went, and with his own hands, deliberately pulled down the timbers, demolished the walls, and left not one stone upon another, but razed the very foundation, and left the path of these capricious gentry as open and as clear as it was before. how strong must have been this man's belief in the existence of these demi-natural and semi-supernatural beings, to have induced him thus to destroy the work of his own hands!" in spenser's epic poem, called the fairy queen, the imagination of the reader is entertained with the characters of fairies, witches, magicians, demons, and departed spirits. a kind of pleasing horror is raised in the mind, and one is amused with the strangeness and novelty of the persons who are represented in it; but to be affected by such poetry requires an odd turn of thought, a peculiar cast of fancy, with an imagination naturally fruitful and superstitious. the gypsies are a class of strolling beggars, cheats, and fortune tellers. they have been quite numerous in all the older countries, and are so still in some of them; but in the united states there are but few, some one or two tribes in the west, and a small party of them in new york state. they are probably called gypsies from the ancient egyptians, who had the character of great cheats, whence the name might afterwards pass proverbially into other languages, as it did into the greek and latin; or else the ancient egyptians being much versed in astronomy, or rather astrology, the name was afterwards assumed by these modern fortune tellers. in latin they are called _egyptii_; the italians called them _cinari_, or _cingani_; the russians, _zigani_; the turks and persians, _zingarri_; the germans, _ziguenor_; the spaniards, _gitã¡nos_; the french, _bohemians_, from the circumstance that bohemia was the first civilized country where they made their appearance. in most countries they live in the woods and forests; but in england, where every inch of land is cultivated, the covered cart and little tent are their houses, and they seldom remain more than three days in the same place. dabbling in sorcery is in some degree the province of the female gypsy. she affects to tell the future, and to prepare philters, by means of which love can be awakened in any individual towards any particular object; and such is the credulity of the human race, even in the most enlightened countries, that the profits arising from these practices are great. the following is a case in point: two females, neighbors and friends, were tried, some years since, for the murder of their husbands. it appeared that they were in love for the same individual, and had conjointly, at various times, paid sums of money to a gypsy woman to work charms to captivate his affections. whatever little effect the charms might produce, they were successful in their principal object, for the person in question carried on for some time a criminal intercourse with both. the matter came to the knowledge of the husbands, who, taking means to break off this connection, were both poisoned by their wives. till the moment of conviction, these wretched females betrayed neither emotion nor fear; but at this juncture their consternation was indescribable. they afterwards confessed that the gypsy, who had visited them in prison, had promised to shield them from conviction by means of her art. it is therefore not surprising that in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when a belief in sorcery was supported by the laws of all europe, these people were regarded as practisers of sorcery, and punished as such, when, even in the nineteenth, they still find people weak enough to place confidence in their claims to supernatural power. in telling fortunes, the first demand of the gypsy, in england, is invariably a sixpence, in order that she may cross her hands with silver; and here the same promises are made, and as easily believed, as in other countries, leading to the conclusion that mental illumination, amongst the generality of mankind, has made no progress whatever; as we observe in the nineteenth century the same gross credulity manifested as in the seventeenth, and the inhabitants of one of the countries most celebrated for the arts of civilization imposed upon by the same stale tricks which served to deceive, two centuries before, in spain, a country whose name has long and justly been considered as synonymous with every species of ignorance and barbarity. in telling fortunes, promises are the only capital requisite, and the whole art consists in properly adapting these promises to the age and condition of the parties who seek for information. the gitã¡nos are clever enough in the accomplishment of this, and generally give perfect satisfaction. their practice lies chiefly amongst females, the portion of the human race most given to curiosity and credulity. to the young maidens they promise lovers, handsome invariably, and oftentimes rich; to wives, children, and perhaps another husband; for their eyes are so penetrating, that occasionally they will develop your most secret thoughts and wishes; to the old, riches, and nothing but riches--for they have sufficient knowledge of the human heart to be aware that avarice is the last passion that becomes extinct within it. these riches are to proceed either from the discovery of hidden treasure, or from across the water. the gitã¡nos, in the exercise of this practice, find dupes almost as readily amongst the superior classes, as the veriest dregs of the population. they are also expert in chiromancy, which is the determining, from certain lines upon the hand, the quality of the physical and intellectual powers of the possessor, to which lines they give particular and appropriate names, the principal of which is called the "line of life." an ancient writer, in speaking of this art, says, "such chiromancy is not only reprobated by theologians, but by men of law and physic, as a foolish, vain, scandalous, futile, superstitious practice, smelling much of divinery and a pact with the devil." the gitã¡nos in the olden time appear to have not unfrequently been subjected to punishment as sorceresses, and with great justice, as the abominable trade which they have always driven in philters and decoctions certainly entitled them to that appellation, and to the pains and penalties reserved for those who practised what is generally termed "witchcraft." amongst the crimes laid to their charge, connected with the exercise of occult powers, there is one of a purely imaginary character, which if they were ever punished for, they had assuredly but little right to complain, as the chastisement they met with was fully merited by practices equally malefic as the one imputed to them, provided that were possible. _it was the casting the evil eye._ in the gitã¡no language, casting the evil eye is called _zuerelar nasula_, which simply means making sick, and which, according to the common superstition, is accomplished by casting an evil look at people, especially children, who, from the tenderness of their constitution, are supposed to be more easily blighted than those of a more mature age. after receiving the evil glance, they fall sick, and die in a few hours. in andalusia, a belief in the evil eye is very prevalent among the lower orders. a stag's horn is considered a good safeguard, and on that account, a small horn, tipped with silver, is frequently attached to the children's necks, by means of a cord braided from the hair of a black mare's tail. should the evil glance be cast, it is imagined that the horn receives it, and instantly snaps asunder. such horns may be purchased at the silversmiths' shops at seville. the gypsies sell remedies for the evil eye, which consist of any drugs which they happen to possess, or are acquainted with. they have been known to offer to cure the glanders in a horse, (an incurable disorder,) with the very same powders which they offer as a specific for the evil eye. the same superstition is current among all oriental people, whether turks, arabs, or hindoos; but perhaps there is no nation in the world with whom the belief is so firmly rooted as the jews; it being a subject treated of in all the old rabbinical writings, which induces the conclusion that the superstition of the evil eye is of an antiquity almost as remote as the origin of the hebrew race. the evil eye is mentioned in scripture, but not in the false and superstitious sense we have spoken of. evil in the eye, which occurs in prov. xxiii. 5, 6, merely denotes niggardness and illiberality. the hebrew words are _ain ra_, and stand in contradistinction to _ain toub_, or the benignant in eye, which denotes an inclination to bounty and liberality. the rabbins have said, "for one person who dies of sickness, there are ten who die by the evil eye." and as the jews, especially those of the east, and of barbary, place implicit confidence in all that the rabbins have written, we can scarcely wonder if, at the present day, they dread this visitation more than the cholera or the plague. "the leech," they say, "can cure those disorders; but who is capable of curing the evil eye?" it is imagined that this blight is most easily inflicted when a person is enjoying himself, with little or no care for the future, when he is reclining in the sun before his door, or when he is full of health and spirits, but principally when he is eating and drinking, on which account the jews and moors are jealous of strangers when they are taking their meals. "i was acquainted," says a late writer, "with a very handsome jewess, of fez; she had but one eye, but that one was particularly brilliant. on asking her how she lost its fellow, she informed me that she was once standing in the street, at nightfall, when she was a little girl; a moor, that was passing by, suddenly stopped, and said, 'towac ullah, (blessed be god,) how beautiful are your eyes, my child!' whereupon she went into the house, but was presently seized with a dreadful pain in the left eye, which continued during the night, and the next day the pupil came out of the socket. she added, that she did not believe the moor had any intention of hurting her, as he gazed on her so kindly; but that it was very thoughtless in him to utter words which are sure to convey evil luck." it is said to be particularly dangerous to eat in the presence of a woman; for the evil eye, if cast by a woman, is far more fatal and difficult to cure than if cast by a man. when any one falls sick of the evil eye, he must instantly call to his assistance the man cunning in such cases. the man, on coming, takes either a girdle or a handkerchief from off his own person, and ties a knot at either end; then he measures three spans with his left hand, and at the end of these three he fastens a knot, and folds it three times round his head, pronouncing this _beraka_, or blessing: "_ben porat josef, ben porat ali ain_," (joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well;) he then recommences measuring the girdle or handkerchief, and if he finds three spans and a half, instead of the three which he formerly measured, he is enabled to tell the name of the person who cast the evil eye, whether male or female. the above very much resembles the charm of the bible and key, by which many persons in england still pretend to be able to discover the thief, when an article is missed. a key is placed in a bible, in the part called solomon's song; the bible and key are then fastened strongly together, by means of a ribbon, which is wound round the bible, and passed several times through the handle of the key, which projects from the top of the book. the diviner then causes the person robbed to name the name of any person or persons whom he may suspect. the two parties, the robbed and the diviner, then standing up, support the book between them, the ends of the handle of the key resting on the tips of the fore fingers of the right hand. the diviner then inquires of the bible, whether such a one committed the theft, and commences repeating the sixth and seventh verses of the eighth chapter of the song; and if the bible and key turn round in the mean time, the person named is considered guilty. this charm has been, and still is, the source of infinite mischief, innocent individuals having irretrievably lost their character among their neighbors from recourse being had to the bible and key. the slightest motion of the finger, or rather of the nail, will cause the key to revolve, so that the people named are quite at the mercy of the diviner, who is generally a cheat, or professed conjurer, and not unfrequently a gypsy. in like manner, the barbary cunning man, by a slight contraction of his hand, measures three and a half spans, where he first measured three, and then pretends to know the person who has cast the evil eye, having, of course, first ascertained the names of those with whom his patient has lately been in company. when the person who has cast the evil eye has been discovered, by means of the magical process already described, the mother, or wife, or sister of the sufferer walks forth, pronouncing the name of the latter with a loud voice, and, making the best of her way to the house of the person guilty, takes a little of the earth from before the door of his or her sleeping apartment. some of the saliva of the culprit is then demanded, which must be given early in the morning, before breakfast; then the mother, or the wife, or the sister goes to the oven, and takes from thence seven burning coals, which are slaked in water from the bath in which the women bathe. the four ingredients, earth, saliva, coals, and water, are then mixed together in a dish, and the patient is made to take three sips, and what remains is taken to a private place and buried, the person who buries it making three paces backward, exclaiming, "may the evil eye be buried beneath the earth." many people carry papers about with them, scrawled with hieroglyphics, which are prepared by the hacumim, or sages, and sold. these papers, placed in a little bag and hung about the person, are deemed infallible preservatives from the "ain ara." like many other superstitions, the above may be founded on a physical reality. in hot countries, where the sun and moon are particularly dazzling, the belief in the evil eye is most prevalent. if we turn to the scripture, we shall probably come to the solution of the belief. "the sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night." ps. cxxi. 5, 6. to those who loiter in the sunshine, before the king of day has nearly reached his bourn in the west, the sun has an evil eye, and his glance produces brain fevers; and to those who sleep uncovered, beneath the smile of the moon, her glance is poisonous, producing insupportable itching in the eye and not unfrequently total blindness: all the charms, scrawls, and rabbinical antidotes have no power to avert these effects. the northern nations have a superstition which bears some resemblance to the evil eye. they have no brilliant sun and moon to addle the brain and poison the eye, but the gray north has its marshes, and fenny ground, and fetid mists, which produce agues, low fevers, and moping madness, and are as fatal to cattle as to man. such disorders are attributed to elves and fairies. this superstition still lingers in some parts of england, under the name of _elf-shot_, whilst, throughout the north, it is called _elle-skiod_, and _elle-vild_, (fairy wild.) it is particularly prevalent amongst shepherds and cowherds, who, from their manner of life, are most exposed to the effects of the so called elf-shot. the gitã¡nos had a venomous preparation called _drao_, or _drow_, which they were in the habit of flinging into the mangers of the cattle, for the purpose of causing sickness and death. it was the province of the women to compound the ingredients of this poison, which answered many wicked purposes. the stalls and stables were visited secretly, and the provender of the animals being poisoned, they at once fell sick; speedily there appeared the gitã¡nos, offering their services on the condition of no cure no pay, and when these were accepted, the malady was speedily removed. they used no medicines, or pretended not to, but charms only, which consisted of small variegated beans, called, in their language, _bobis_, coming from a russian word signifying _beans_. these beans they dropped into the mangers, though they doubtless administered privately a real and efficacious remedy. by these means they fostered the idea, already prevalent, that they were people possessed of supernatural gifts and powers. by means of drao, they likewise procured themselves food; poisoning swine, as their brethren in england still do, and then feasting on the flesh, the poison only affecting the head of the animal, which was abandoned as worthless; witness one of their own songs:- "by gypsy drow the porker died; i saw him stiff at evening tide; but i saw him not when morning shone, for the gypsies ate him, flesh and bone." by drao, also, they could avenge themselves on their enemies by destroying their cattle, without incurring a shadow of suspicion. revenge for injuries, real or imaginary, is sweet to all unconverted minds--to no one more than the gypsy, who, in all parts of the world, is, perhaps, the most revengeful of human beings. but if the gitã¡nos are addicted to any one superstition above others, it is in respect to the _loadstone_, to which they attribute all kinds of miraculous powers. they believe that he who is in possession of it has nothing to fear from steel or lead, from fire or water, and that death itself has no power over him. the gypsy contrabandists are particularly anxious to procure this stone, which they carry upon their persons in their expeditions. they say, that in the event of their being pursued by the revenue officers, whirlwinds of dust will arise and conceal them from the view of their enemies; the horse stealers say much the same thing, and assert that they are uniformly successful when they bear about them the precious stone. but it is said by them to effect much more. it is extraordinary in exciting the amorous propensities, and on this account it is in great request among the gypsy hags. all these women are procuresses, and find persons of both sexes weak and wicked enough to make use of their pretended knowledge in the composition of love draughts and decoctions. in the museum of natural curiosities at madrid, there is a large piece of loadstone, originally extracted from the american mines. there is scarcely a gitã¡na in madrid who is not acquainted with this circumstance, and who does not long to obtain the stone, or a part of it. several attempts have been made to steal it, all of which, however, have been unsuccessful. a translation of the gospel of st. luke was printed in the gypsy language, at madrid, in 1838. the chapters were read over and explained to some of these strange people, by the late agent of the british and foreign bible society, in spain. they said it was _lacho_, and _jucal_, and _misto_, all of which words express approval of the quality of a thing; and they purchased copies of the gypsy luke freely. the women were particularly anxious to obtain copies, though unable to read; but each wished to have one in her pocket, especially when engaged in thieving expeditions, for they all looked upon it in the light of a charm, which would preserve them from all danger and mischance; some even went so far as to say, that in this respect it was equally as efficacious as the bar lachi, or loadstone, which they are generally so eager to possess. of this gospel, five hundred copies were printed, the greatest part of which were circulated among the gypsies; but it was speedily prohibited by a royal ordinance, which appeared in the gazette of madrid, in august, 1838. before closing, under this head, we will remark that, although the gypsies in general are a kind of wandering outcasts, incapable of appreciating the blessings of a settled and civilized life, yet among the gypsies of moscow there are not a few who inhabit stately houses, go abroad in elegant equipages, and are not a whit behind the higher order of russians in appearance, nor in mental acquirements. to the female part of the gypsy colony of moscow is to be attributed the merit of this partial rise from abjectness and degradation, having from time immemorial so successfully cultivated the vocal art, that, though in the midst of a nation by whom song is more cherished and cultivated, and its principles better understood, than by any other of the civilized globe, the gypsy choirs of moscow are, by the general voice of the russian public, admitted to be unrivalled in that most amiable of all accomplishments. it is a fact, notorious in russia, that the celebrated catalini was so enchanted with the voice of one of these gypsy songsters, who, after the former had displayed her noble italian talent before a splendid audience at moscow, stepped forward, and with an astonishing burst of almost angelic melody, so enraptured every ear, that even applause forgot its duty, and the noble catalini immediately tore from her own shoulders a shawl of cashmere, which had been presented to her by the father of rome, and embracing the gypsy, insisted on her acceptance of the splendid gift, saying, that it had been intended for the matchless songster which she now perceived she herself was not. chapter x. omens, charms, and divination. many books have been published, having a tendency to deceive the credulous, who suffer themselves to be guided by any thing but reason and experience. hence the encouragement bestowed on works of enchantment, dreams, omens, and fate. mankind have always discovered a propensity to peep behind the veil of futurity, and have been lavish of money in consulting persons and books that make a pretension of unravelling the decrees of fate, which lie hidden in the labyrinths of darkness. from these sources have arisen the following superstitions, as a sample of the many that have disturbed the peace of individuals, families, and sometimes of whole communities. "a coal in the shape of a coffin, flying out of the fire to any particular person, denotes his death is not far off. a collection of tallow rising up against the wick of a candle is called a winding-sheet, and deemed an omen of mortality. if, in eating, you miss your mouth, and the food falls, it is very unlucky, and denotes sickness. to dream you are dressed in black is an unlucky omen. some quarrel is about to happen between you and a friend or relative. sickness is about to attend your family. death will deprive you of some friend or relation. lawsuits will perplex and harass you. if you undertake a journey, it will be unsuccessful. if you are in love, it denotes that your sweetheart is very unhappy, and that sickness will attend her. if you are a farmer, your crops will fail, the murrain will attack your cattle, and some dreadful accident will happen by the overturning of one of your wagons. if you are in business, some one will arrest you, and you will have great difficulty in settling the matter. to dream of hen and chickens is the forerunner of ill luck. your sweetheart will betray you and marry another. if you go to law, the case will be decided against you. if you go to sea, you will lose your goods, and narrowly escape shipwreck. to dream of coals denotes much affliction and trouble. if you are in love, your sweetheart will prove false, and do every thing to injure you. to dream you see the coals extinguished, and reduced to cinders, denotes the death of yourself, or some near friend or relation. it also indicates great losses, and forewarns you of beggary and a prison. to dream you are married is ominous of death. it also denotes poverty, a prison, and misfortunes. to dream of lying with your newly-married husband or wife denotes danger and sudden misfortunes." _popular charms_ are equally absurd and nonsensical. for example, a ring made of the hinge of a coffin is good for the cramp. a halter with which a man has been hanged, if tied about the head, will cure the headache. a drop of blood of a black cat cures convulsions in children. if a tree of any kind be split, and weak, rickety, or ruptured children are drawn through it, and afterwards the tree is bound together, so as to make it unite--as the tree heals and grows together, so will the child acquire strength. if in a family the youngest daughter be married before her older sisters, they must all dance at her wedding without shoes, to counteract their ill luck, and procure themselves husbands. and to procure luck when a person goes out to transact business, you must throw an old shoe after him. to spit on the first money received for the price of goods sold on any day will procure luck. and that boxers must spit in their hands before they set to, for luck's sake. seamen have a superstition that if they whistle in a storm, the storm will be increased. and in time of a calm, they practise whistling to _call the wind_, as they term it. among farmers, in setting a hen, it is deemed lucky to use an odd number of eggs. among soldiers, salutes with cannon must be of an odd number. a royal salute is thrice seven, or twenty-one guns. healths are drank odd. yet the number _thirteen_ is sometimes deemed ominous; it being supposed that when thirteen persons meet in a room, one of them will die within the year. to know whether a woman shall have the man she desires, it is directed to get two lemon peels, and wear them all day, one in each pocket, and at night rub the four posts of the bedstead with them. if she is to succeed, the person will appear to her in her sleep, and present her with a couple of lemons. if not, there is no room for hope. and again the fair ones are directed to take a piece of wedding cake, draw it thrice through the wedding ring, lay it under their pillow, and they will certainly dream of their future husbands. a thousand other equally successful methods have been proposed to solve the mysteries of future fortune; and yet the magical stone, that will turn all our schemes into wished-for realities, remains to be discovered. as time advances, and knowledge pervades the abodes of darkness and ignorance, all this trumpery of ghosts, witches, fairies, tricks, and omens will go down to the "tomb of the capulets." people will be able to pass through the churchyard, sleep in an old house, though the wind whistle ever so shrill, without encountering any supernatural visitations. they will become wise enough to trace private and public calamities to other causes than the crossing of knives, the click of an insect, or even the portentous advent of a comet. thanks to the illustrious names recorded in the annals of science and letters, who have contributed towards so happy a consummation. chapter xi. modern miracles. there are some who profess to believe in modern miracles. but such belief necessarily partakes of superstition. the savior gave no intimation that miracles should continue after the establishment of christianity. he promised to be with his apostles even unto the end of that age. he declared that all who believed their instructions should also have power to cast out devils, heal diseases, speak with new tongues, and withstand any deadly thing. but his promise did not extend beyond the immediate converts of the apostles. and we have no satisfactory evidence that miracles were wrought by any but these; while we have abundant testimony that our savior's promise was literally fulfilled. in fact, there was no necessity for miracles after the establishment of christianity. they were first wrought as so many testimonies that jesus was the sent of god; and at the same time, were so many significant emblems of his designs, so many types and figures, aptly representing the benefits to be conferred upon the human race. but they were not designed to be perpetuated; for a history of divine revelation was committed to writing, and translated into the prevailing languages of the civilized world. if any could be so obstinate as not to be convinced of its divine origin by the mass of evidence with which it was accompanied, neither would they believe, though one should rise from the dead. pretended modern miracles admit of an easy explanation on natural principles. diseases have been suddenly healed; but imagination effected the cure. visions, ghosts, and apparitions have been seen; but they existed only in the minds of the observers, and were caused by some mental or bodily operation. but nothing of this kind can be said of the miracles of christ. his cannot be accounted for on any natural principles, but must have been caused by divine miraculous agency. modern miracles are not supported by satisfactory evidence. they have been mostly wrought in secret. no witnesses can be produced but the most interested. this was not the case with those of our savior. they were performed openly, and in the presence of friends and enemies. they could not be deceptions; for the resurrection of a dead person could be tested by the evidence of the senses. the remark of judge howe may be appropriately introduced in this connection. he had thoroughly and impartially studied the evidences of christianity, and a firm belief in its divine origin was the result. he observed that no jury could be found that would give a verdict against christianity, if the evidences on both sides could be fairly presented before them, and they were governed in forming their opinion by the common rules of belief. the truth of this observation is confirmed by the fact, that candid inquirers after truth have uniformly risen from an examination of the evidences of christianity believers in its divine origin. the same cannot be said of modern miracles. no jury could be obtained of disinterested persons, who would give a verdict in their favor. therefore we have no satisfactory evidence of their reality. our safest course is to admit the conclusion of eminent writers of all denominations, namely, that miracles ceased with the first converts of christianity. chapter xii. pretended prophets and christs. many have professed a belief in the divine inspiration of some one of the many false prophets or christs that have appeared in different ages of the church. in the year 1830, there was a man in this country, calling himself matthias, who declared that he was the very christ, and pretended that he had come to judge the world. and strange as it may seem, he was attended by some individuals of quite respectable standing, who worshipped him as god! he appeared in pontifical robes, with his rule in his right hand, and his two-edged sword in the left. underneath a rich olive broadcloth cloak, lined and faced with silk and velvet, he wore a brown frock coat, with several stars on each breast, and a splendid golden star on his left breast. his belt was of white cloth fastened by a golden clasp, surmounted by an eagle. he occasionally put on a cocked hat, of black beaver, trimmed with green, the rear angle being surmounted by the golden symbol of glory. on being asked where his residence was, and what was his occupation, he replied, "i am a traveller, and my legal residence is zion hill, westchester county, new york; i am a jewish teacher and priest of the most high, saying and doing all that i do, under oath, by virtue of my having subscribed to all the covenants that god hath made with man from the beginning up to this time. i am chief high priest of the jews of the order of melchizedec, being the last chosen of the twelve apostles, and the first in the resurrection which is at the end of 2300 years from the birth of mahomet, which terminated in 1830, that being the summit of the power of the false prophets. i am now denouncing judgment on the gentiles, and that judgment is to be executed in this age. all the blood from zacharias till the death of the last witness is required of this generation. before this generation passeth away, this judgment shall be executed and declared. the hour of god's judgment is come." matthias commenced his public career in albany; but not making many converts there, he soon removed to the city of new york. here he met with but little success for some time; but it appears that in the autumn of 1832, he had succeeded in ingratiating himself into the favor of a number of individuals, among whom were three of the most wealthy and respectable merchants of pearl street. he represented himself to them to be the spirit of truth, which had disappeared from the earth at the death of matthias mentioned in the new testament, and that the spirit of jesus christ entered into that matthias whom he now represented, having risen again from the dead. this blasphemous impostor pretended to possess the spirit of jesus of nazareth, and that he now, at his second appearance of the spirit, was the father, and had power to do all things, forgiving sins, and communicating the holy ghost to such as believed on him. and what was most astonishing and unparalleled, these men, who were before professors of the christian religion, were blind enough to believe and confide in all he imposed on them. so completely did he succeed in deluding these men, and in impressing them with the belief that he was actually a high priest of the order of the mysterious melchizedec, upon a divine mission to establish the kingdom of god upon the earth, that he obtained entire control over them and their estates. "i know the end of all things," he would assert, illustrating it by placing a piece of paper in a drawer, leaving one end upon the outside, and saying, "you can see but one end of the paper, and so the world sees; but i see the whole length of it--i see the end." whenever he saw fit to call upon his dupes to contribute of their substance for his support and the promotion of the kingdom he was about to establish, he did so; and if they refused to provide him whatever money he desired, he threatened to visit upon them (which he declared he had the power to do) the wrath of the almighty. but if they believed in him and obeyed him in all things, he promised them that they should be called into the kingdom, and he would forgive all their sins, and they should enjoy eternal happiness. impudent and blasphemous as such language and pretensions truly were, the intended effect was produced, and the prophet received new encouragement by the gratification of pecuniary abundance. this object gained, he was enabled to adorn his person with costly apparel, and to obtain other appurtenances and furniture which he thought were necessary, that all things might correspond to the nature and dignity of the office which he had assumed. in august, 1833, two of his friends and proselytes, messrs. pierson and folger, were residing at sing sing, westchester county. thither, about that time, matthias repaired, and took up his residence with mr. folger and family. in a week or two, matthias came to the conclusion that their dwelling-place did not correspond with his character, and accordingly suggested to folger and pierson that it was their duty to hire, for his use, a house which he might consecrate wholly to himself. in this he was accommodated, not only without any hesitation, but with the acknowledgment that the request was reasonable. soon after this, it appeared to matthias's mind, that his habitation should not be subject to worldly interests or infidel intrusion; and he accordingly presumed to require of his two obedient followers the purchase of a house to be exclusively his own. with this request they agreed to comply. before it was accomplished, however, matthias manifested some new attribute of his character, and accompanied the revelation by an effort to make folger believe that the house in which he then resided at sing sing, and had purchased some time previous for the use of himself and family, was purchased at the instigation of the spirit of truth, for him, matthias--folger having been the instrument under the influence of that spirit for that purpose! so complete was matthias's control, that folger believed even this! and having resided with messrs. folger and pierson about two months, he took _this_ house, thus miraculously purchased, into his own especial charge. matthias then required these gentlemen to give him an account of their property, and having obtained this statement, which exhibited their easy circumstances, he required both of them to enter into an agreement to support him, assuring them they should receive the blessing of god by so doing. this agreement was accordingly entered into, and matthias enjoyed the full benefits of it for several months, when mr. folger became bankrupt. his wants were afterwards supplied by pierson, until the death of mr. p., which took place under very suspicious circumstances. it seems that a short time previous to this melancholy event, and while mr. pierson was yet in health, matthias prevailed upon him to assign him his whole estate. and it seemed, by matthias's account on his examination, that messrs. folger, pierson, and mills frequently declared to him that they believed him to be the _father_, and that he was qualified to establish god's kingdom on earth, and that zion hill, which was the place miraculously purchased at sing sing, was transferred to him for that purpose, together with horses, carriages, and furniture of a house in third street, new york--that it was also agreed that the house and lot in third street should be conveyed to him, and that mr. pierson directed a deed to be made out accordingly, but died before it was completed. he still considered the property as his own for the original purpose, and considered it the beginning of the establishment of the kingdom. it is certain that mr. pierson was suddenly taken sick, and it was believed to be immediately after this contract was made. he fell under the care of matthias, who would neither allow his friends to visit him, nor to call medical aid, declaring himself to "_have power of life and death_." mr. pierson's body having been removed to new jersey for interment, a post mortem examination was held by four respectable physicians, all of whom certified that they found in the stomach a "_large quantity of an unwholesome and deadly substance_." matthias was therefore arrested with the charge of having poisoned mr. pierson, on which he gave bail for appearance at court. soon after this, he went to the city of new york, and entering the family of mr. folger, resided with them for several months; but the mysterious death of mr. pierson, and the attending circumstances, having shaken the confidence of mr. folger and his family, they began to be conscious of their delusion, and resolved to abandon matthias and his principles. on announcing their determination to him, he resorted to his old practice of threats and promises, and told them they must not throw him destitute on the world; that, if they did so, the blessing of god would depart from them, and sickness and perhaps death would follow; but if they gave him money to support him, the blessing of god should continue to them. mr. folger having become bankrupt, matthias perhaps was willing to leave him--not, however, without having first insisted on a supply of money, which he obtained to the amount of six hundred and thirty dollars, and immediately left the city. on the morning of that day, matthias partook of a very little breakfast, and scarcely tasted of the coffee, alleging, as an excuse, that he was ill. immediately after breakfast, mr. folger, his wife, and children were taken sick. mr. folger did not suspect the cause of their illness, until after matthias had left the city, when, upon examination, he learned that the black woman who did the cooking for the family had also abstained from the use of coffee that morning; and from other circumstances he became confirmed that the woman was bribed by matthias to poison the family. the effort was unsuccessful, the poison producing but a temporary effect. this nefarious transaction induced mr. folger to procure the arrest of matthias, firmly convinced, at this melancholy stage, that he was a _base impostor_. the third gentleman named as one of the dupes of matthias became a lunatic under the unfortunate delusion. but on a removal to the country, and from the influence of the "prophet," he recovered, and became convinced of his lamentable error. in the sequel, it appeared that matthias had received in the aggregate, from these gentlemen, about ten thousand dollars in money, and negotiable paper, which he appropriated in furnishing the establishment at zion hill and in third street. and by whatever means he obtained money, it is evident he used it for the wildest and most extravagant purposes. his wardrobe was most bountifully supplied with new boots, shoes, and pumps; linen shirts of the most exquisite fineness, the wristbands fringed with delicate lace; silk stockings, handkerchiefs, and gloves; coats embroidered with gold; merino morning dresses; and two caps made of linen cambric, folded in the form of a mitre, richly embroidered, one with the names of the twelve apostles written around it, and "jesus matthias" adorning the front in prominent characters, the other surrounded with the names of the twelve tribes, the front like the other. with his two-edged sword (with gold chain and mountings) he was to destroy the gentiles, as gideon did the midianites. with his six feet rule he was to measure the new jerusalem, "the gates thereof, and the walls thereof," and divide it into lots for those who believed on him, and obeyed the spirit of truth, as it came from him, the trumpet. with the golden key which he possessed, he was to unlock the gates of paradise. somewhat versed in the rites and antiquities of the jews, this impostor united with a quick and active mind a considerable cunning, a fluent speech, and a vast amount of persevering impudence, and endeavored to impress his dogmas by assuming a sanctified and uncompromising air, and by invariably fixing upon his victim his remarkably fierce and penetrating eyes. he reasoned plausibly and ingeniously, and was exceedingly subtle at evasion. although he never could have obtained an extensive and permanent influence, even if his knavery had not been detected, since his schemes were too wild and incoherent, and his demands too absurd to produce an effect that would endure beyond his actual and immediate presence, yet that his blasphemous pretensions should have gained any credence among intelligent minds is to be greatly lamented. the whole history of these transactions will form a dark page in the records of modern fanaticism, and will present an enduring but melancholy evidence of the weakness of human nature. as an excuse for the conduct of matthias, or matthews, which was his real name, he was supposed by some to be laboring under monomania, partly hereditary and partly superinduced by religious fanaticism and frenzy. still, he was not without "method in his madness;" and it seems evident that, with a tinge of insanity, he was also much of a knave, and probably a dupe in part to his own imposture. during his confinement in jail, awaiting his trial for the alleged murder of mr. pierson, matthias issued a decree, commanding all the farmers to lay aside their ploughs, declaring, "as i live, there shall be no more sowing in the earth until i, the twelfth and last of the apostles, am delivered out of the house of bondage." he also prophesied that if he were convicted, white plains should be destroyed by an earthquake, and not an inhabitant be left to tell the tale of its destruction; and strange to say, men were not found wanting who believed in his absurd and blasphemous predictions. on trial, the physicians who had examined the stomach of the deceased were led to suspect poison, but could not say positively that poison had been administered; whereupon the prisoner was discharged, on the ground that no evidence had been produced to convict him either of murder or manslaughter. in the case of his arrest at the instigation of mr. folger, that gentleman afterwards wrote to the district attorney, requesting him to dismiss the case, it not appearing to be an indictable one, and declaring, that the day--"so far as passing himself for a _pure_ and _upright_ man--has passed, and there is no danger of his imposing upon any one here or elsewhere." in a letter written by mr. folger, dated new york, nov. 8, 1834, and published in the commercial advertiser, mr. folger says, "my object is now to rid myself of him and all connected with him, with as little trouble as possible. mr. pierson, myself, and family have been deeply, very deeply deluded, deceived, and imposed upon; and i regret exceedingly that the former could not have been spared to witness the deep deception. we are sensible of our error--we repent it sincerely; and although we cannot expect to recover, at present, the situation which we held in society previous to our acquaintance with this vile creature, yet in time we shall be able to show that we are enemies to him, and all who undertake to sustain him in his wickedness and plans to destroy us." for closeness of resemblance, in many striking features, to the case of matthias, was that of the anabaptists of munster, in germany, which excited the wonder of europe during the early part of the seventeenth century, and of which such strange accounts are to be found in the histories of that epoch. the similarity between the principal of this sect, known as john of leyden, and matthews, not only in doctrine, but in worldly observance, in the passion for magnificence of apparel and luxurious living, and in the rites and ceremonies exacted by each, is so remarkable as almost to lead to the conclusion that the latter had formed himself and his creed upon the model of his ancient prototype. the number of deluded proselytes who blindly followed the dictates of the anabaptist leader was at one time so great, and their power so formidable, that several princes of germany united against them; and it was not until after a vigorous siege, and an obstinate resistance, that the city of munster, of which the fanatics had obtained complete possession, was taken and their power broken down. this john of leyden wore upon his head a triple crown of gold, richly adorned with gems. around his neck he wore, suspended by a golden chain, an ornament of gold, representing the terrestrial globe, with a cross, and two swords, one of gold, the other of silver, with the inscription, "king of righteousness over the whole world." he also assumed the title of "the father," and he required all his followers to pledge themselves to do his will, and, if necessary, to suffer death at his command, or in his defence and service. he enjoined and enforced a community of goods, a surrender of all possessions, land, money, arms, and merchandise to him, as the father and lord of all, to be employed by him in the universal establishment of his kingdom; and he denounced the vengeance of heaven and eternal damnation on all such as refused to believe in him and do his will. all churches and convents he commanded to be destroyed, the priests denounced as children of darkness, and all sovereigns he would put to death. he proclaimed the nullity of all marriages, except such as were solemnized by himself or his own prophets, but enjoined polygamy, himself setting the example. each of his principal followers had from six to eight wives, and both men and women were compelled to marry. he taught that no man understood the scriptures but himself, or those whom he enlightened with his spirit, and all the prophecies in the old testament, relating to the savior, he applied to himself, and proclaimed their fulfilment in the establishment of his kingdom. in our own country, the most surprising instance of imposture and delusion, perhaps, that has occurred, was that of the cochranites, whose enormities in licentiousness made so much stir in maine and new hampshire a few years since. cochrane was an officer in the army, thrown out of commission by the reduction of the military establishment of the united states, after the conclusion of the last war with england. having become poor and penniless, he left portland, and struck off into the country, seeking his fortune, and caring not whither he went. one day, as night drew on, he found himself near a farm house, weary and hungry, and without a penny to purchase a mouthful of food or the use of a pillow for the night. the thought struck him suddenly of throwing himself upon the hospitality of the farmer, for the occasion, in the character of a minister. introducing himself as such to the family, he was cordially received, and as the country was new and destitute of clergymen, the good people forthwith despatched messengers to the neighbors, that a minister had come among them, and invited them in to attend a meeting. the impostor had not anticipated so speedy a trial of his clerical character; but having assumed it, there was no escape--he must act the part, for the time being, in the best way he could. being neither ignorant nor destitute of talents, he succeeded in acquitting himself much better than he had anticipated, and gave so much satisfaction to his audience as to induce him to persevere in the imposture he had commenced. as he acquired skill and confidence by practice in his new vocation, his popularity increased, and he soon found it a profitable occupation. he was followed by multitudes, and it was not long before he announced himself as some great one, and founded a new sect of religionists. his command over the audiences which he addressed is said to have been wonderful, and his influence over his followers unbounded. it seemed as though he was enabled to hold the victims of his impostures in a state of enchantment. a professor in an eastern college having heard of the wonderful sway which cochrane held over his disciples, and of the impressions he made upon casual hearers, determined one evening to go and witness his performances. while present, although a very cool and grave personage, he said he felt some strange, undefinable, mysterious influence creeping over him to such a degree, that he was obliged actually to tear himself away, in apprehension of the consequences. this gentleman, however, was a believer in animal magnetism, and was therefore inclined to attribute it to that cause. it was said that if the impostor did but touch the hand or neck of a female, his power over her person and reason was complete. consequently it led to the most open and loathsome sensuality. so atrocious was his conduct, that he seduced great numbers of females, married and unmarried, under the pretext of raising up a holy race of men. the peace of many families was broken up, and the village kept an establishment like a seraglio--a disgusting and melancholy commentary upon the weakness of human nature. his career, however, was but of short duration. a history of religious impostures would form a library of itself. the human mind, in all ages and countries, and under all forms of government and religion, seems to have been wonderfully susceptible of delusion and imposition upon that subject, which, of all others, is the most important for time and eternity. the court of egypt was deluded by the impostors who undertook to contend with moses. and the chosen people themselves, notwithstanding the direct disclosures which the most high had made of himself, in all their wonderful history, were prone to turn aside from the worship of the true god, to follow the lying spirits of the prophets of baal and other deceivers, from the days of moses till the destruction of jerusalem. so, likewise, under the christian dispensation, from the defection of simon magus to the wild delirium of edward irving, there have been a succession of antichrists, until their name is legion--pretenders to divine missions, the power of working miracles, the gift of tongues--perverting the scriptures, leading astray silly men and women--destroying the peace of families, throwing communities into confusion, and firebrands into the church--clouding the understandings, and blinding the moral perceptions of men, and subverting the faith of these even whose mountains stood strong, and who had been counted among the chosen people of god. "in the last days," says the apostle peter, "there shall come scoffers, walking after their own lusts,"--"chiefly them which walk after the flesh, in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government; presumptuous are they, self-willed; they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities; sporting themselves in their own deceivings, having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls; for when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error; while they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption." jude also admonishes us "to remember that they were foretold as mockers, who should be in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. these be they who separate themselves, sensual, not having the spirit." it is wonderful to observe with what precision these prophecies have been fulfilled by the clouds of impostors who have appeared--"spoken great swollen words of vanity," and fallen--since the inspired sentences were uttered. and it may be regarded as one of the evidences of the truth of inspiration, that, had the long array of apostates and deceivers actually stood before the sacred penmen, at the time of their writing, their characters all naked before them, the likenesses, from the first christian apostate to the sensual mormons, could not have been drawn with greater fidelity. the "truth of god," distinctly set forth in the book of revelation, is an infallible criterion by which to test the true character of any religious opinion or practice; nor can any radical or fundamental error long escape detection, when subjected to this plain and unerring standard. chapter xiii. mormon superstition. a certain joseph smith, jr., pretended, a few years ago, to have been directed by the spirit of god to dig, in a hill, in the township of manchester, ontario county, new york, for a set of golden plates which were there concealed, and upon which were inscribed sacred records by the hands of mormon. he obeyed the direction and found the plates. the inscriptions upon them were in an unknown tongue. but, by the special power of the spirit, smith was enabled to translate them. a volume containing these writings was soon after published, constituting, in the whole, fifteen books, purporting to have been written at different times, and by the different authors whose names they respectively bear. in these writings there seems to be a bungling attempt to imitate the style of the sacred scriptures. but the attempt is manifestly unsuccessful. nearly two thirds of the paragraphs are introduced with the phrase, "and it came to pass." in endeavoring to preserve the solemn style of the scriptures, there is great disregard of grammatical propriety. we read, "the lord _sayeth_ unto me, and i _sayeth_ unto the lord." perhaps a few extracts, selected at chance, will give the reader a more correct idea of the general style of the book than any remarks we might offer. "and it came to pass that when they had _arriven_ in the borders of the land of the lamanites." "and it came to pass that i nephi did make _bellowses_ wherewith to blow the fire." "and it came to pass that limhi and many of his people _was_ desirous to be baptized." the mormon preachers claim for themselves and the members of their church the power of working miracles, and of speaking with new tongues. they jabber with some strange sounds, and call this the speaking with tongues. they assert it as a fact, that among them the dead have been raised, and the sick healed, as in the days of christ and his apostles. from these _facts_, as they call them, they draw the conclusion that _they_ are the members of the true church of christ. the doctrine increases among men; and well it may, for there are circumstances in the condition and views of those who embrace it which are calculated to secure its success. in a large portion of the community there is a great degree of ignorance in regard to the geography of the sacred scriptures, the manners and customs of the jews, and the natural history of the bible. there are many who read their bibles daily, and with true devotional feelings, it may be, who have no idea that the places mentioned in sacred history, like those mentioned in any other history, can be traced on the map, can be found and visited at the present day, although disguised under modern names. it makes no part of their study of the bible to ascertain where the places mentioned are to be found, and what they are now called. they have no idea that the allusions to manners and customs, found in the bible, can be understood, through an acquaintance with the practices and habits of the people described; and, consequently, the study of jewish manners and customs makes no part of their preparation for understanding the scriptures. they have no idea that the allusion in scripture to facts in natural history can be verified by an acquaintance with that science, and therefore they make no exertions to understand the natural history of the bible. they do not take up the bible and read it with the expectation of being able to understand it, in regard to these particulars, as they would understand any other book. all such are prepared, by their ignorance on these subjects, to become the dupes of the mormon delusion; or, at least, they are not prepared to withstand this delusion. they open the book of mormon, claiming to be a kind of appendix to the bible. the paragraphs begin with the phrase, "and behold it came to pass." they read of the cities of zarahemla, gid, mulek, corianton, and a multitude of others. they read of prophets and preachers, of faith, repentance, and obedience; and having been accustomed, in reading the scriptures, to take all such things just as they are presented, without careful examination, they can see no reason why all this is not as much entitled to belief as are the records of the old and new testaments. but if, on the contrary, they were acquainted with the geography and the natural history of the bible, and with the manners and customs of the nations there mentioned, and especially if, in their reading of the scriptures, they were accustomed to examine carefully into these points, they would at once perceive the utter impossibility of identifying the cities mentioned in the book of mormon with any geographical traces which they can now make. they would thus perceive the deception, and be put on their guard. and then, too, upon further examination, they would discover that the manners and customs of the people, the sentiments and disputes, are not such as belong to the period of the world in which the people are represented to have lived; that they take their coloring from modern customs, from modern opinions and controversies; and, upon these discoveries, they would be led to reject the whole as a fabrication. many are deceived in consequence of the fluency of the preachers in warning sinners. they pray with fervor; the people are affected; and the spirit of god is declared to be present, owning and blessing the work. but there is deception here. it is but a few years since the cochrane delusion, as it is called, prevailed in and around the village of saco, maine. what gave that delusion so much success? it was because cochrane spoke with great fluency, warned sinners with great earnestness, and poured forth his prayers with zealous fervor. the people became affected; many were in tears; many sobbed aloud, cried for mercy, and some became prostrate on the floor. "surely," it was remarked, "the doctrines advanced by cochrane must be true, the preaching of them being so signally owned and blessed of god." in this way, men of sound judgment in other respects are carried away by false views and appearances, and become the dupes of the most extravagant sentiments and delusions. they become "zealously affected," but it is not, as the apostle says, "in a good thing." a correct knowledge of the sacred scriptures, and of proper principles in regard to the study of the bible, with sound and rational views of the nature of religion, and of the influences of the holy spirit, will serve to correct all such tendencies to error and deception. from the best account that has been published respecting the _origin_ of the mormon bible, it appears that it was written by an individual named solomon spaulding, some twenty-five years ago; but without the least intention, on the part of the author, of framing a system of delusion for his fellow-men. this spaulding was a native of ashford, in connecticut, where he was distinguished, at an early age, for his devotion to study, and for the superiority of his success over that of his schoolmates. he received an academic education, and commenced the study of law at windham; but his mind inclining to religious subjects, he abandoned the law, went to dartmouth college, prepared himself for the ministry, and was regularly ordained. for some reasons unknown he soon abandoned that profession, and established himself as a merchant at cherry valley, new york. failing in trade, he removed to conneaut, in ohio, where he built a forge; but again failed, and was reduced to great poverty. while in this condition, he endeavored to turn his education to account, by writing a book, the sale of which he hoped would enable him to pay his debts and support his family. the subject selected by him was one well suited to his religious education. it was an historical novel, containing an account of the aborigines of america, who were supposed by some to have descended from the ten tribes of israel. the work was entitled the "manuscript found," and the history commenced with one lehi, who lived in the reign of zedekiah, king of judea, six hundred years before the christian era. lehi, being warned of heaven of the dreadful calamities that were impending over jerusalem, abandoned his possessions, and fled with his family to the wilderness. after wandering for some time, they arrived at the red sea, and embarked on board a vessel. in this, after floating about for a long time, they reached america, and landed at the isthmus of darien. from the different branches of this family were made to spring all the indian nations of this continent. from time to time they rose to high degrees of civilization and refinement; but desolating wars among themselves scattered and degraded them. the manuscript was written in the style of the bible, the old english style of james the first. when the work was ready for the press, spaulding endeavored to obtain the pecuniary assistance necessary for its publication, but his affairs were in so low a condition that he could not succeed. he then removed to pittsburg, and afterwards to amity, in pennsylvania, where he died. by some means or other, the manuscript fell into the hands of joseph smith, jr., who afterwards published it under the name of the "golden bible." smith was the son of very poor and superstitious parents, and was for a long time engaged in digging for kidd's money, and other feats of like description. possessing considerable shrewdness, he became somewhat skilled in feats of necromancy and juggling. he had the address to collect about him a gang of idle and credulous young men, whom he employed in digging for hidden treasures. it is pretended that, in one of the excavations they made, the mysterious plates from which the golden bible was copied were found. such, briefly is the origin of the mormon faith--a humbug to which not a few, otherwise sensible men, have pinned their hopes of happiness here and hereafter. after the death of joseph smith, and shortly before the mormons were driven out from illinois, many of the disciples of the great impostor seceded and refused to acknowledge the leadership of the knowing twelve who became his successors. among them were a very pious mormon named mcghee vanduzen, and his wife maria. they soon gave to the world an exposition of the shameful manoeuvres attendant upon mormonism as a religion; of the absurd and indecent ceremonies which the unprincipled leaders of that wicked imposture enforced upon their infatuated disciples. smith, and his associate leaders at nauvoo, evidently established these ceremonies for the base purpose of enticing the more beautiful females among his disciples to their ruin and disgrace. the shameful character of the mysteries developed could lead to no other conclusion. says the boston traveller, of april 21, 1852, "the rapid spread of mormonism is one of the mysteries of the age. a more barefaced delusion, except that of the spiritual rappings, was never imposed on the all-swallowing credulity of mankind. yet it has gained adherents by thousands in europe as well as in the united states." chapter xiv. miller delusion. a man by the name of william miller published a book in the year 1836, in which he undertook to show that this earth would be destroyed in the year 1843. his calculation, as to the transpiration of such an event during the said year, is founded upon the prophecy of daniel, that the _sanctuary should be cleansed!_ in two thousand three hundred days. he took the days to mean years, and began his reckoning from the going forth of the commandment to restore jerusalem, mentioned in a subsequent vision. why did he not begin the reckoning from the date of the vision itself? because this would not answer mr. miller's turn. to tell the people that the earth was to be burned up in 1747, would produce little or no excitement. he must hit upon a time for the beginning which would make the end yet future, in order to gratify his love for the marvellous. that mr. miller intended to manage his reckoning of time to suit his own scheme, is obvious from his different computations of time, to _make_ his interpretations of other prophecies comport with his application of the two thousand three hundred days. daniel says, "and from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days." "blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days." taking the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days to reach from the taking away of the daily sacrifice, and setting up the abomination that maketh desolate, to the resurrection, he subtracts the thousand three hundred and thirty-five from it, and finds the remainder to be five hundred and eight, which must, to suit his calculation, be the year of our lord in which the daily sacrifice should be taken away, &c. then, to get at the taking away of a daily sacrifice, and the setting up of an abomination that maketh desolate, which should come any where in the neighborhood of this date, he makes the taking away of the daily sacrifice to be the doing away of the pagan worship in rome, and the setting up the abomination spoken of to be the commencement of the papal authority. this he sets at a.d. 508, without reference to fact, because his reckoning of prophetic time brings it so. the truth is, that the pagan character of rome ceased soon after the conversion of the emperor constantine to christianity, which was about a.d. 313. this makes about 195 years' difference in the age of the world, and brings it to an end in 1648, over 200 years ago! but let us examine a little farther. having come, as we have shown, at a.d. 508, which, having taken from the years of christ's life 33, leaves 475 from the death of christ, he proceeds to add up: the 70 weeks, or 490 years, to the crucifixion of christ, 490; from the crucifixion of christ to the taking away the daily sacrifice, 475. and here are his time, times, and half, which he takes to be the duration of the pagan reign, i.e., three years and a half, which, taking a day for a year, makes 1260. here, then, he has his whole time, down to the end of his second or papal transgression of desolation, which he has all along held to be the end of the world. but these several numbers added amount to but 2225, 75 short of the 2300, reckoning from the going forth of the decree to rebuild jerusalem. and what now shall be done? how shall the 75 years be made up to bring the end of the world to 1843? why, he succeeds in finding two different numbers in the 12th of daniel, viz., 1290 and 1335. and nothing is easier, when you have two different numbers, to substract the less from the greater. this he does in the present case, and finds the difference to be just 45. well, what of that? why, he says this is the time which was to elapse between the destruction of the great beast in his second or papal character, and the resurrection! he does not pretend that the vision mentions this, but so he fixes it. he is like a country schoolmaster, who, not always finding it easy to manage by rules, when a scholar would carry him a sum which he could not work, he would look at the answer in the book, and get the difference between that and his own, and then he would slip in the ascertained difference, somewhere in the operation, to be added or substracted, as the case might require, to bring the answer as he wished it. but although he succeeded in finding 45 years, he is still minus 30, for it brings out the end in 1813. and how shall the other 30 years be found? it must be gotten somehow, for who will believe it as it now stands? yet this extraordinary man meets with no difficulty in finding the 30 years. in his parade of parts, of factors, to make up the great whole, he sets down for the space between the putting down of the pagan power, to the setting up the same power, 30 years! and how he gets this number there, no mortal can tell. yes, he tells us himself. considering himself so great a prophet, he seems to think that his own suppositions will certainly pass among others as good authority. he therefore unblushingly tells us that he _supposes_ this 30 years. hear him, (page 96.) "therefore, to reconcile these two statements, _we must conclude_ there were 30 years from a.d. 508, when paganism ceased, before the image beast, or papal rome, would begin her reign. _if_ this is correct, then," &c. here, then, the foundation on which he keeps the world standing from 1813 to 1843, is a simple _if_. and to get in these supposititious 30 years, between the death of the pagan and the life of the papal beast, he involves himself in a maze of absurdity. he makes the taking away of the daily sacrifice to be the putting an end to the papal beast, that did daily sacrifice to idol abominations. the little horn, by whom the daily sacrifice was taken away, mr. miller takes to be the papal beast, or catholic church. this beast takes away the daily sacrifice, i.e., puts an end to the pagan beast, and yet does not exist until 30 years after the pagan beast is dead. this is truly an unheard of strait for a schemer to come to, to be obliged, in order to bring out his reckoning, to get 30 years between the existence of two beasts, one of which kills the other. the second beast slays the first, and performs many wonderful works, 30 years before he has any existence! no marvel that the man who could see into such mysteries should imagine that he could see the end of the world in 1843! mr. miller commits various other errors in his calculations and dates, as, for instance, he states that pagan rome commenced 148 years before christ, whereas rome was founded by romulus, as an independent government, 752 years before christ, being pagan from its beginning. he dates the erection of the papal authority at a.d. 538. by the papal power he means, of course,--not the papal doctrine, for that existed much earlier than 538,--but the establishment of the civil authority. and this was not until about a.d. 750. indeed, mr. miller is palpably wrong in nearly all his positions; and the reason is, he is not looking for facts, but for reckonings to fill out his own scheme. and even in this, too, he fails. on page 109 of his course of lectures, first published in 1836, speaking of events to happen in 1839, he holds the following language: "he that is filthy will be filthy still. mankind will, for a short season, give loose to all the corrupt passions of the human heart. no laws, human or divine, will be regarded; all authority will be trampled under foot; anarchy will be the order of government, and confusion _fill the world with horror and despair_. murder, treason, and crime will be _common law_, and division and disunion _the only bond of fellowship_. christians will be persecuted unto death, and dens and caves of the earth will be their retreat. _all things_ which are not _eternal_ will be _shaken to pieces_, that which cannot be shaken may remain. and this, if i am right in my calculations, will begin _on or before_ a.d. 1839. 'and at _that time_ (1839) thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.' _now_ is come salvation indeed. the people of god are _now_ to be delivered from outward foes and inbred lusts, from the corruptions of the grave and the vileness of the flesh. every one, the poor and despised child of god, will _then_ (in 1839) be delivered when he makes up his jewels.'" mr. miller, in finding that things did not take place as he prophesied, put a note in the end of his book, on the last page, stating that he had made a _mistake of one year_ in some of his computations, and hence these things which he _supposed_ would take place in 1839, according to the first computation, will not be realized until the year 1840! and yet 1840 passed over our heads, and these things did not take place. on page 296 of his lectures, he says the sixth vial was poured out in 1822, when the ottoman power began to be dried up. this he considered to be a very important sign, indicating that we were on the very brink of the _judgment day_. here he introduces rev. xvi. 12. "and the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river euphrates; and the waters thereof were dried up, that the way of the kings of the earth might be prepared." this preparation, mr. m. says, is for the last great battle, which will take place at the pouring out of the seventh vial, in the year 1839 or 1840. "at the pouring out of the seventh vial, a voice from the throne will pronounce the words, _it is done_. the kingdoms of the earth and the governments of the world will be carried away, and their places be known no more." but these kingdoms still remain. mr. miller's last assumption was, that christ would come in the spring of 1844, at the date corresponding with the ending of the jewish year for 43. mr. m. says, in his preface to his book, "if i have erred in my exposition of the prophecies, _the time, being so near at hand_, will soon expose my folly." he had already seen the folly of some of his computations, and he seemed to fear lest it might prove the same in the final result also. and this he soon experienced, as may be seen by reading his _confession_, made at the tabernacle in boston, on the evening of may 28, 1844. he there stated that what he had preached and published respecting the coming of the lord in 1843 was done honestly; (!) that he fully believed it; but that the time had now _passed_, and he was _proved to be mistaken_; that when the time arrived and the event did not take place, he felt bad--felt lonely--thought he should never have any more to say in public; that he felt worse on the account of others than he did for himself. he said there was an error somewhere in his calculations, but he could not tell where. he had now no definite time--he should wait god's time: it might come in a day, it might not come in fifty years; he could not say exactly when; he was waiting. thus the whole affair exploded--came to nought; although much evil in regard to mr. miller's prophecies may yet be experienced in the community. some will yet cling most obstinately to the system, and still maintain that christ may be expected every day, hour, or minute, while others will fix upon some other date within a short period of time. they will still refer us to certain signs in the starry heavens, endeavoring to persuade the people to believe that the whole machinery of nature is out of joint, and that this is a certain precursor to the speedy dissolution of the world. one of the second advent preachers gave the startling intelligence that "_fifteen hundred_ stars had _recently_ faded from the vault of heaven." but what are the facts? not more than _thirteen_ stars are recorded in the annals of astronomy as having been lost; and so far from having faded _recently_, some of them disappeared many ages since. it is not even certain that any stars have been blotted out. there are nearly one hundred variable stars which have periods of unusual brilliancy, and then gradually fade till nearly invisible, and after a time revive again. the thirteen missing stars may be of this description. these changes were observed many centuries ago. the bright star which appeared suddenly, with unusual splendor and brilliancy, in cassiopeia, in 1572, is supposed to be the same star which suddenly appeared in the same place, with great lustre, about the year 900, and also about 600 years before, during the intervals of which it was invisible. the same preacher adduced the aurora borealis as another sign of the last days. "is it not remarkable," says he, "that no record of them appears till _quite recently_?" but what are the facts? it was indeed supposed by many, who had not investigated the subject, that the aurora was first seen in england in 1716; but on examination we find it spoken of in 1560, in a scientific work, entitled a description of meteors, published soon after the invention of printing, subsequent to which, and before 1716, there are many accounts of the same phenomenon. many have supposed that nothing has ever before appeared, similar to the remarkable _red aurora_, which was witnessed on the evening of january 25, 1837. yet such spectacles have often been witnessed in the northern parts of sweden, lapland, and siberia, and in remote and different periods. the aurora is a great blessing in those high northern latitudes, where the sun is absent for many weeks, furnishing the inhabitants with a splendid light, in the midst of their dreary winter nights. gmelin describes the aurora borealis of those regions as differing in color according to the states of the atmosphere, "sometimes assuming the appearance of blood." he observes that "they frequently begin with single bright pillars rising in the north, and almost at the same time in the north-east, which, gradually increasing, comprehend a large space in the heavens, rush about, with incredible velocity, from place to place, and finally almost cover the whole sky to the zenith, producing an appearance as if a vast tent was expanded in the heavens, glittering with gold, rubies, and sapphire. a more beautiful spectacle cannot be painted." these lights occasionally come so far south as to illuminate the sky in our latitude. sometimes they have not appeared for many years. in 1716, these lights were seen in england, though never witnessed before by the oldest inhabitants living; and, as might be expected, they were alarmed, and actually supposed the day of judgment had come. from barber's history of new england, we learn that the first appearance of the northern lights in this country, after the period of its first settlement, was on december 11, 1719, "when they were remarkably bright; and, as people in general had never heard of such a phenomenon, they were extremely alarmed with the apprehension of the final judgment. all amusements, all business, and even sleep was interrupted, for want of a little knowledge of history." we were told by some of the advent preachers that meteors and shooting stars, falling to the earth, were never seen until 1799. but this is a great mistake. as early as the year 472, theophanes relates, "the sky appeared to be on fire, with the coruscations of flying meteors." virgil, in his book of georgics, speaks as follows:- "and oft, before tempestuous winds arise, the seeming _stars fall headlong_ from the skies, and, _shooting_ through the darkness, gild the night with sweeping glories and _long trails of light_." in 553, under the reign of justinian, were seen showers of falling stars in extraordinary numbers. in 763, under that of constantine capronymus, the same spectacle was witnessed. in 1099, in the month of november, it is said, in vogel's leipzig chronicles, that there was seen an unheard-of number of falling stars, burning torches, and fiery darts in the sky. in 1464, on the 7th of november, the great meteoric stone fell at ensisheim, in alsace. on the 8th of august, 1723, numerous falling stars appeared in many parts of the heavens, like fireflies. but we are told of the sun and moon appearing like blood, and that this sign of our lord's second coming was never witnessed, since the resurrection, till the year 1780. yet this is likewise a mistake; for in the basle chronicle of urtisus, under the year 1566, mention is made of the fact, that on the 28th and 29th of july, the sun and moon became _blood red_; and on the 7th of august, this striking phenomenon was again repeated. and, according to the frankfort chronicle of lersner, under the year 1575, on the 29th of july, a _remarkable redness of the sun_ occurred. it has been said that the _darkness_ of the sun, that occurred in 1780, was a sign given to portend the speedy destruction of the world. why was it not then witnessed simultaneously in all parts of the earth? it was confined principally to new england and witnessed only by the generation preceding the present. to be sure, thousands were appalled by the event, and a feeling that the judgment day had actually come rested upon many minds. but yet they were in a mistake. this darkness commenced on the 19th of may, between the hours of 10 and 11 a.m., and continued until the middle of the next night. persons were unable to read common print, determine the time of day by their clocks or watches, dine, or manage their business, without additional light. candles were lighted in their houses. the birds sang their evening songs, disappeared, and became silent. the fowls retired to roost. the cocks were crowing all around, as at break of day. objects could be distinguished but at a very little distance, and every thing bore the appearance and gloom of night. the legislature of connecticut was in session at this time, in hartford city. a very general opinion prevailed that the judgment day was at hand. the house of representatives, being unable to transact business, adjourned. a proposal to adjourn the council was under consideration. when the opinion of colonel davenport was asked, he answered, "i am against an adjournment. the day of judgment is either approaching, or it is not. if it is not, there is no cause for an adjournment; if it is, i choose to be found doing my duty. i wish, therefore, that candles may be brought." a similar darkness has sometimes gathered over the city of london, in consequence of a vast accumulation of smoke, so as to make it necessary for passengers in the streets to use lighted torches at midday. in 1783, a great part of europe was for weeks overspread with a haziness of atmosphere which caused great consternation. the churches were crowded with supplicants. the astronomer lalande attempted to allay the fright by endeavoring to account for the appearance, which he ascribed to an uncommon exhalation of watery particles from the great rain of the preceding year. but at last it was ascertained to be owing to smoke, occasioned by the great eruption of the volcano hecla, which covered more than three thousand square miles with burning lava, in some places to the depth of forty feet. dr. franklin was in europe at the time, and afterwards gave an account of the circumstances relating to this uncommon eruption. in fact, immense issues of smoke, from fires and volcanoes, have, from time immemorial, produced similar effects in different countries. we will subjoin a few remarkable appearances that have taken place in the heavens, that the reader may at once perceive that in scarcely any age of the world have its inhabitants been destitute of some _sign_, that might, to the timid and uninformed, be considered as the prognostication of some awful catastrophe about to happen. in 1574, on the 15th of november, _large and terrific beams of fiery light_ were seen during the night. and similar appearances are noted in vogel's chronicles, as having occurred in november, 1637, and 1661. in the old breslau collections, there is mention made of a large _moonlike meteor_, which passed off with an explosion, on the 10th of november, 1721; and of a great _fire-flash_, or _flame-emitting comet_, on the 12th day. according to vogel's chronicles, there appeared on the 30th november, 1663, _a large cross_, and other signs in the skies. on the 11th of august, 1561, there was seen, in the forenoon, _a very remarkable red meteor_, emitting frequent _flashes of light_. in 1717, _numerous meteors_ were seen at fryeburg; and at utchland, in august, 1715. on the 10th of august, 1717, _a large fire-ball_ was seen in lusace, silesia, poland, and hungary. in the frankfort chronicle of july 29, 1694, it is mentioned that _the heavens were full of fiery flames!_ as also again on the 9th of august. on february 22, 1719, _a large fire-ball_ was seen in several places. on the 22d, 1720, _an immense red cross_ was seen at novogorod and kiew; and on the 19th, 1722, _a huge fire-ball_! what would the millerites think, if they should now see "an immense red cross in the heavens," "a remarkable red meteor, emitting flashes of light during the night," or "a blood-red appearance of the sun and moon," and "showers of falling stars in extraordinary numbers"? these things are as likely to happen at the present day as they were a hundred years ago, and still the world remains as it has remained. just before the last return of halley's comet, an article was published in a religious paper in this state, going to show that the world would probably be struck and set on fire by a comet, and that, most likely, halley's would be the one to do it, as it was coming much nearer the earth than it had ever been before. the editor seemed to be ignorant that the quantity of matter that enters into the constitution of a comet is exceedingly small, and that the comet of 1770, which was quite large and bright, passed through the midst of jupiter's satellites without deranging their motions in the least perceptible degree. comets, it is believed, consist of exceedingly rare vapor; indeed, so much so, that some philosophers say that our thinnest clouds are dense in comparison. and yet this exceedingly thin vapor was to dash the world to atoms, or set it on fire, it was not fully determined which. whether comets, or any unusual appearances in the sky, are to be considered as _signs_ prognosticating the final dissolution of all things, as being near at hand, is for each to determine for himself. and in forming a judgment upon the subject, we may surely be permitted to exercise the common sense which god has given us. to lay this aside, and judge only by _feeling_ or _fancy_, is to criminally reject a light which we are _sure_ is from god, and follow one which _may_ prove an _ignis fatuus_, and land us in the quagmire of infidelity. if the scripture signs are to receive a _literal_ fulfilment, we may reasonably expect that they will conform to the four following tests:-1. they will appear _near_ the event of which they are intended as the harbinger; probably within the generation of those who will be living at the end of the world. 2. they will be witnessed in all parts of the earth, because all are alike interested. 3. they may _all_ be expected to appear, and not a single class of phenomena without the other. 4. they will be such as will impress intelligent minds with their strangeness and peculiarity. the aurora borealis conforms not to any of these tests. it has been seen for centuries, and is confined to the northern portions of the globe; having rarely, if ever, been seen so far north as the thirtieth degree of north latitude. and, as we have before remarked, the darkness of 1780 was confined principally to new england. and from a careful examination of all the accounts we have been able to collect of meteoric showers of the last and present century, the whole of them together have occupied a space on the globe less than one eighth of its surface. the shower of 1799 was probably the most extensive. its centre was near the middle of the atlantic; its edges touched the northern parts of south america, the coast of labrador and greenland, and the western shores of europe and africa. that of 1833 may be represented on a six-inch globe by the space occupied by a dollar. such magnificent scenes are calculated to impress the mind with awe; yet it is surprising that many intelligent persons should suppose them to be the precursors of the final conflagration. if the simple but reasonable tests we have given be correct, they are disarmed of their character as ominous of the destruction of the world. with regard to any changes in the order or succession of the heavenly bodies, it is only necessary to observe, that hundreds of scientific men, in europe and america, have for many years been employed in exploring the material heavens with the most powerful telescopes. many are employed, by the governments of europe, in astronomical observations, scattered over the earth, for the express purpose of making new discoveries, if possible, and of furthering the interests of science. no phenomenon escapes their notice; and should any thing extraordinary occur, it would appear before the public, vouched by names that would command universal credence. it may be unnecessary to add, that no such changes in the planets and fixed stars, as have been proclaimed to the world by some of the second advent preachers, have been observed by learned astronomers and men of science. chapter xv. intercourse with departed spirits. in no age, says a popular writer, has the world been destitute of those who professed, by some instrumentality or other, to hold intercourse with departed spirits. neither has any age been without its reputed spectres, ghosts, or apparitions. the high priest of the buddhist and hindoo temples, in former times, when arrayed in the consecrated garments for the festivals, wore a round knob, about the size of a large pendent drop of a chandelier, suspended from his neck by a chain of great value and of dazzling brilliancy. it was through the agency of this crystal that he was supposed to hold communion with the spirit or spirits to whom he and his followers accorded devotion and made intercessions; and the glass, acting as did the famed oracle of delphi, gave orders and commands, and settled all great questions that might be submitted to its spiritual master. the priest, although he might be a pattern of purity, and the quintessence of all that was good, having, however, the sin of being in years, and not able, perhaps, to hide from the spirit inhabiting the crystal all the transactions of his youth, could not hold a direct communication with it. to arrange this, a certain number of boys, and sometimes, in some of the temples, young damsels, were retained, who, having never mixed with the world, could not be supposed to be in any way contaminated by its vices. these alone were said to be capable of beholding the spirit when he chose to make his appearance in the divining glass, and interpreting to and fro the questions put and answers received. although it was not every boy or _seer_ to whom was permitted the gift of spiritual vision, yet in latter times, when divining crystals multiplied, little ragged boys would run after the passers in the streets, and offer to _see_ any thing that might be required of them, for a trifling gift, even a cake or sweetmeat. in egypt, the divining glass is superseded by putting a blot of thick black fluid into the palm of a boy's hand, and commanding him to see various people and things; of which practice lane, in his modern egyptians, gives some curious disclosures. divining mirrors were not confined to the east. dr. dee was the first english impostor who vaunted the possession of one of these priceless treasures. he had for the _seer_ one keily, an irishman; and to this, doubtless, was attributable the impression that prevailed among the astrologers and amateur spirit hunters, that when the spirits condescended to speak, they always gave speech with a very strong spice of the brogue. this "beryl," as it is called, was preserved among the strawberry hill curiosities, and fell under the hammer of george robbins at the memorable sale. it proved to be a globe of _cannel coal_. in aubrey's miscellany there is an engraving of another larger crystal, and there are with it many wonderful stories. yet, notwithstanding the magic capabilities of these mirrors, they went out of fashion until the beginning of the year 1850. this revival and its consequences are like a page out of a silly romance. the story, if told by a disinterested historian, would require authentication as belonging to 1850. we therefore turn, by way of voucher, to a publication called zadkiel's almanac for 1851. at page 46, after referring to the existence of magic crystals at the present day, the writer, says, "one of large size was a few years ago brought over to england by a friend of lady blessington, after the sale of whose effects, it recently fell into the hands of a friend of mine; and, having tested its powers, i have resolved on giving my readers an account of this wonderful mode of communicating with the spirits of the dead. the crystal is spherical, and has been turned from a large mass of pure rock crystal. i have been shown some few others, but, with the exception of one shown me by lord s., they are all much smaller. these smaller ones are said to be consecrated to angels of the planets, and are, therefore, far less powerful than lady blessington's crystal, which, being consecrated to the archangel of the sun, michael, may be consulted during four hours each day, whereas the others can generally be used only for a very brief space of time; nor can very potent spirits be called into them, or made to render themselves visible. in this larger crystal is given most important information of the actual existence of the soul after death, and of the state in which it exists and will exist until the judgment." "the first intimation we received," says dickens, in his household words, "of the revival of this notable practice of divination, was about six months ago, when we were casually informed that the son of a distinguished officer of the royal navy was, at that time, frequently engaged in developing, before a few privileged friends, the extraordinary faculty of being able to hold intercourse with the world of spirits. it was added that the revelations made through the medium of this youth were of so wonderful a nature, and carried such conviction to the minds of those who listened, that they were declared to be the result of more than human power." the conjurer was asked, on one occasion, to describe lord nelson. and, accordingly, the spirit, with an accuracy that was quite astonishing, considering that no portrait, bust, or statue of nelson is known to exist, gave a full, true, and particular account of england's hero, describing him as a very thin man, in a cocked hat, with only one eye, one arm, &c.; and the truth of the description was declared to be something truly marvellous. a demand was made that the spirit of a deceased brother of one of the querists should be summoned to appear. presently he said, "i see him; he has curly hair, and stoops a good deal. i can't exactly see his features, but i think he squints." this account of her late brother's personal appearance, though not very flattering, satisfied the lady as far as it went; but being, like macbeth,- "... bent to know, by the worst means, the worst," she required further proof of his identity. there was a pause for a minute or two, and then the spirit seer spoke again--"he has got a scroll in his hand, which he unfolds; there is this inscription on it, in _letters of fire_:- 'i am tom!'" this sublime revelation was received with a degree of solemn awe, and with suppressed throes of well-bred laughter. other cases not a whit less marvellous have been described by the narrators, who could not be reasoned out of their absurdity, insisting that there could be no deception in the matter, on account of the means employed, and the evident sincerity of the _employã©s_! these means, they said, required that the person who looked into the crystal should be perfectly _pure_; that is to say, a child free from sin, and by no means given to lying, and that the form of adjuration used was, "_in nomine domini_," &c.; latin being, as is well known, the language which spirits of all denominations are most accustomed to. when interrogated after this fashion, the spirit, if evil, fled away howling; if good, it came, when called, unless particularly engaged _in the sun_; for it appears that it is to that planet almost all spirits go when their term of purgatory is over. it seems that the spirits would sometimes get out of breath, travelling so far, and talking so much; and they then had recourse to the expedient of _letters of fire_, which seemed to be _written_ in various ways in the crystal; sometimes on flags, which the spirits hold up, but sometimes they are in _print_. in these letters of fire, the querist was counselled something like the following: "be merry. quarrel not. keep your temper, and your children too. you are a good man, but try to be better. i am wanted. let me go." we subjoin the following as specimens of conversations heard by large parties of amazed, titled, and believing listeners: "are you pharaoh, that was king of egypt?" "yes." "where do you dwell now?" "in jupiter." "how long have you been there?" "about thirty years." "where did you dwell till then?" "in the atmosphere, and was undergoing punishment till then." "were you king of egypt when moses was there?" "yes, _and aaron too_." "did you build the pyramids?" "_some._" "were any built before your time?" "yes." "do you know how long the first was built before christ?" "about three hundred years after adam; it was built then." "do you mean that it was built before the flood?" "no, it was not finished; the flood destroyed them." "what was the principal object of them?" "to hold the kings of egypt." "were there kings of egypt so soon after the creation?" "yes; that was the first country kings were in." "were you drowned in the red sea?" "_yes._" at one time swedenborg volunteered to give information about sir john franklin, when the following dialogue took place: "what is the best way to communicate with him?" "by the natives; they speak to him sometimes." "will he be home next summer?" "no." "why?" "because he cannot help himself; he is stopped by ice; but his heart does not fail him; he wants to explore." "how will he do for provisions?" "he will find _bears_, _dogs_, and _wolves_." "will he find the passage?" "no; there is a continent there." "but there is also a passage." "there is one, but he will not find it." "what latitude does he lie in chiefly?" "i do not know: _good by_." it appears strange that swedenborg, who knew so much, did not know this. but we learn in another place that "spirits do not _well_ understand about latitude and longitude." socrates's appearance is described as follows: "a tall, middle-aged man, rather bald, dressed with striped coarse trousers, very loose at the top, and tight at the bottom; a kind of frock, open in the front, and without sleeves. he is generally employed in singing praises, but was not quite happy." alexander the great appeared on horseback, in armor, the horse also in armor; deeply regrets killing clitus, and all the murders he perpetrated; amuses himself in fighting his battles over again. to give these things a sort of _ã©clat_ and popularity with the public, zadkiel sums up the whole in the following language: "in concluding this account, i may remark that _numerous children_ have seen these visions, some of them the sons and daughters of persons of high rank; and that _several adults_ have also seen visions, one of them a lady of title, and another a member of one of the highest families in england. it will be seen that delicacy prevents my naming individuals; but i can assure my readers that _above one hundred of the nobility_, and several hundreds of other highly respectable ladies and gentlemen, have examined this wonderful phenomenon, and have expressed the highest gratification and astonishment." dickens declares it to be "the fashion, especially among people of fashion, to point with pity to a tale of modern witchcraft, to an advertisement of a child's caul, or to the _bona fide_ certificates of cases from the takers of quack medicines, and to deplore the ignorance of their inferiors. delusions, however, of the grossest kind are not confined to the illiterate. a cloud of dupes have ever floated about in the higher regions of society; while it is quite a mistake to suppose that the refinements and discoveries of the nineteenth century have dispersed them. the reign of queen victoria, like that of elizabeth and anne, has its dr. dees, and lillys, and partridges, who are as successful as their precursors in gaining proselytes who can pay handsomely. damsels of high degree, fresh from boarding school, with heads more full of sympathy for the heroes and heroines of fashionable novels, and ideas more fixed upon love affairs than on any legitimate studies, can easily find out, through mysteriously-worded advertisements in the sunday papers, or through the ready agency of friends who have already become victims of the 'science' of astrology and magic, the whereabouts of these awful and wonderful beings. there are a number of styles and classes of them, all varying in appearance and mode of operations. there are the old women, who, consoled by the glories of their art, repine not at inhabiting comfortless garrets in the purlieus of the new cut, lambeth; and hiding their vocation under the mask of having stay laces or infallible corn plasters to sell, receive more visitors from the fashionable cream of belgravia than from the dross of bermondsey. disguises are sometimes resorted to, and parties of titled ladies have been known to meet, and put on the habiliments of 'charwomen,' and to pass themselves off as dress-makers. there is an old man, with unshaven beard and seldom-washed face, who lives in more comfortable circumstances, with his son, in southwark, (the favored district of the conjurers,) who, to keep up appearances, has 'engineer' hugely engraved on a great brass plate over the door, who casts nativities, and foretells events of the future, for three or five shillings, as the appearance of the visitor will warrant him in demanding; receives all his votaries sitting at a terribly littered table of dirty paper, with a well-smoked clay pipe beside him. passing to a higher grade, the 'agent,' or arranger of matters, legal, pecuniary, or domestic, only practises the black art for the love he bears it, and to oblige his friends, but never refuses a few shillings' fee, out of respect to the interests of the science. nearly all his customers are people of title." we now come to speak of events in our own country which seem to be somewhat akin to those which have so recently transpired in england. we allude to what are familiarly termed "rappers," or "knocking spirits," from the _noises_ which they are said to make. from a history of these _knockings_, as given in a pamphlet by capron and barron, of auburn, new york, we learn that they were first heard in the family of mr. michael weekman, in the town of arcadia, wayne county. he resided in the house where the noises were heard about eighteen months, and left it some time in the year 1847. he relates that one evening, about bedtime, he heard a rapping on the outside door, when he stepped to the door and opened it, but, to his surprise, found no one there. he went back, and proceeded to undress, when, just before getting into bed, he heard another rap at the door loud and distinct. he stepped to the door quickly and opened it, but, as before, found no one there. he stepped out, and looked around, supposing that some one was imposing upon him. he could discover no one, and went back into the house. after a short time he heard the rapping again; he stepped (it being often repeated) and held on the latch, so that he might ascertain if any one had taken that means to annoy him. the rapping was repeated; the door was instantly opened, but no one was to be seen. he could feel the jar of the door very plainly when the rapping was heard. as he opened the door, he sprung out, and went around the house, but no one was in sight. his family were fearful to have him go out, lest some one intended to harm him. it always remained a mystery to him; and finally, as the rapping did not at that time continue, it passed from his mind, till some time afterwards, when, one night, their little girl, then about eight years of age, was heard to scream from fright, so that the family were all alarmed by her cries, and went to her assistance. this was about midnight. she told them that something like a hand had passed over her face and head; that she had felt it on the bed and all over her, but did not feel alarmed until it touched her face. it seems that mr. weekman soon after moved away from the house, and nothing more was heard of the rapping, or other manifestations, till it was occupied by the family of mr. john d. fox, who have since become so conspicuous with "the advent of spirits." in march, 1848, they, for the first time, heard the "mysterious sounds," which seemed to be like a slight knocking in one of the bed rooms on the floor. it was in the evening, just after they had retired. at that time the whole family occupied one room, and all distinctly heard the rapping. they arose, and searched with a light, but were unable to find the cause of the knocking. it continued that night until they all fell asleep, which was not until nearly or quite midnight. from this time the noise continued to be heard every night. after having been disturbed and broken of their rest for several nights in a vain attempt to discover from whence the sounds proceeded, they resolved, on the evening of the 31st of march, that this night they would not be disturbed by it, whatever it might be. but mr. fox had not yet retired when the usual signs commenced. the girls, who occupied another bed in the same room, heard the sounds, and endeavored to imitate them by snapping their fingers. the attempt was made by the youngest girl, then about twelve years old. when she made the noise with her fingers, the sounds were repeated just as she made them. when she stopped snapping her fingers, the sounds stopped for a short time. one of the other girls then said, in _sport_, (for they were getting to be more amused than alarmed,) "now do what i do; count one, two, three, four, five, six," &c., at the same time striking one hand in the other. the same number of blows or sounds were repeated as in the former case. mrs. fox then spoke, and said, "count ten," and there were ten distinct strokes or sounds. she then said, "will you tell the age of cathy?" (one of her children;) and it was given by the same number of raps that she was years of age. in like manner the age of her different children was told correctly by this _unseen visitor_. mrs. fox then asked, if it was a _human_ being that made the noise, to manifest it by making the same noise. there was no answer to this request. she then asked if it was a _spirit_, and if so to manifest it by making two distinct sounds. instantly she heard two raps, as she desired. she then proceeded to know or inquire if it was an injured spirit, and if so to answer in the same way, and the rapping was repeated. in this way it answered her until she ascertained that it purported to be the spirit of a man who was murdered in that house by a person that had occupied it some years before; that he was a _pedler_, and that he was murdered for his money. to the question _how old he was_, there were _thirty-one_ distinct raps. by the same means it was ascertained that he was a married man, and had left a wife and five children; that his wife had been dead two years. we might relate a little different manoeuvre in the case of the _ghost_ that appeared in waltham, massachusetts, a few years since. a superstitious old man, by the name of mcclarren, a mechanic, purchased a lot of turf that had been piled up in a meadow about half way between his workshop and place of residence. upon returning to his work from supper, he used to take a basket with him, and fill it at the turf heap on his return late in the evening. it was on one of these occasions that the reputed ghost first appeared to him, and caused him some alarm, when he dare not linger to reconnoitre this strange and unexpected visitor. he resolved, however, to muster courage the next evening to accost the figure, should it again appear to him. accordingly, he went with a large bible open in his hands; and as the ghost appeared, he followed it till it crossed a ditch, when he was requested by the same to proceed no farther. thus they stood, facing each other, on either side of the ditch, when the following conversation took place between them:-_ques._ by mcclarren. "i demand of you, in the name of jesus christ, our once crucified god, whether you are mortal or immortal?" _ans._ "i am not mortal." _ques._ "what, then, are you?" _ans._ "i am the spirit of a murdered man." _ques._ "by whom were you murdered?" _ans._ "by ----, of waltham." _ques._ "where does your body lie?" _ans._ "in yonder pond, behind me." it is supposed that this affair was got up in an innocent mood, merely to test the strength of mcclarren's faith in ghosts. but it caused a wide-spread excitement; and some, who were thought to be concerned in its projection, were prosecuted and brought before a justice for examination, although nothing was proved. mcclarren testified under oath, that he believed it to be a real ghost; "_its tones_," he said, "were so _unearthly_," "and when it moved its motion was not like that in walking, but it glided along like a swan, or a boat in the water." he was neither to be reasoned nor laughed out of it. he would believe it to the day of his death. you might as well tell him he was not a living being, as to tell him he had not seen a living ghost. the advocates of the "influx from the world of spirits into our own" claim in its behalf many astonishing miracles. chairs, tables, and beds are moved up or down, to and fro, &c. at auburn, new york, on one occasion, sounds on the wall, bureau, table, floor, and other places were heard as loud as the striking with a hammer. the table was moved about the room, and turned over and back. two men in the company undertook to hold a chair down, while, at their request, a spirit moved it; and, notwithstanding they exerted all their strength, the chair could not be held still by them--a proof that spirits are far more strong and powerful than men. on another occasion, the sounds proper to a carpenter's shop were heard, apparently proceeding from the wall and table. sawing, planing, and pounding with a mallet were imitated, it is said, _to the life_. some gentlemen were at the house of the fox family at one time, and were conducted into a _dark room_. they called for the sounds to be made like a band of martial music. as they requested, the sounds were produced; the playing of the instruments and the heavy beating of the bass drum were perfectly imitated, together with the sound of the roar of distant cannon. shall we not gather from this, that in the spirit world they have their bands of music and companies of artillery, the same as in this world? we are also told of the spirit or spirits playing on a guitar in a _dark_ room, the guitar being taken from the hands of those who held it and put in tune, and played while it passed around the room above their heads. on one occasion, as it is said, it played an accompaniment, for nearly two hours, to some persons engaged in singing, being very exact both in time and tune. on one occasion, while several ladies were present, some of them requested that the spirits would take their hair down. accordingly it was done. one of them had her hair taken down and done up in a twist, and one of them had hers braided in four strands. sometimes persons have felt a hand passing over or touching their arms, head, or face, leaving a feeling of electricity upon the part touched; and the hand that thus touches them will, by request, instantly change from a natural warmth to the coldness of ice. in answer to the question, "why do these spirits require a dark room to play upon instruments of music, or to take hold of persons," they answer by saying that "they assume a tangible form in order to do these things, and we are not yet prepared for such a visitation." to the inquiry how it is they make the rapping noises that generally accompany their visits to this world, they answer, that "they are made by the will of the spirits causing a concussion of the atmosphere, and making the sounds appear in whatever place they please." a mrs. draper, of rochester, new york, had an interview with dr. franklin, at one time, while she was in a magnetized state. she said he appeared to be busily employed in establishing a line of communication between the two worlds by means of these "rappings." on another occasion, while in a clairvoyant state, at her own house, sounds were heard in exact imitation of those heard in the telegraph office. these sounds were so unusual, that miss margaretta fox, who was present, became alarmed, and said, "what does all this mean?" mrs. draper replied, "_he is trying the batteries_." soon there was a signal for the alphabet, and the following communication was spelled out to the company present. "now i am ready, my friends. there will be great changes in the nineteenth century. things that now look dark and mysterious to you, will be laid plain before your sight. mysteries are going to be revealed. the world will be enlightened. i sign my name, benjamin franklin." it seems that, in the early history of these rappings, they used to be without any limitations as to whether persons were in a magnetized state or not. the first we learn of magnetism being employed as a _medium_ of communication is in the case of a daughter of lyman granger, in rochester, new york. for a long time, answers could be obtained by any _two_ (why _two_?) of the family standing near each other. and in the freedom of the answers, no preference seemed to be manifested towards any particular members of the family. at length, one of his daughters was placed under the influence of magnetism, and became clairvoyant. from that time none of the family could get communications unless the daughter who was magnetized was present. why the communications should leave all the family except the magnetized daughter, after they once had free conversation without her, remains to be explained. the whole business now seems to be pretty much, if not wholly, monopolized by the clairvoyants. they seem to be employed as agents, or mediums of correspondence, between the two worlds, acting as interpreters between two classes of beings, or beings existing in two different states, _natural_ and _spiritual_. they act as a kind of _spiritual postmasters_ between the two countries. we find _spiritual letter paper_, and _envelopes_ to enclose the same, advertised for those who wish to avail themselves of an opportunity to write to their deceased friends in the other spheres. letters said to have been written in the spirit world have been transmitted through the established mediums to friends in this world, and have been published in some of the papers devoted to these subjects. in the new york daily tribune of february 28, 1851, we find the prospectus of a quarto journal, to be published in auburn, "to be dictated by spirits out of the flesh, and by them edited, superintended, and controlled. its object is the disclosure of truth from heaven, guiding mankind into open vision of paradise, and open communication with redeemed spirits. the circle of apostles and prophets are its conductors from the interior, holding control over its columns, and permitting no article to find place therein unless originated, dictated, or admitted by them: they acting under direction of the lord supreme." we hope the information coming through its columns will be more reliable than the communications from some of the "rapping spirits." no dependence whatever can be placed upon them. they are so blundering, awkward, and uncertain, and even trickish and deceitful, that they spoil all our notions of the dignify and purity--the _spirituality_, in fact--of the spiritual world. the advocates of the manifestations attribute the fault to _ignorant spirits_, who do not know whether the matter they attempt to speak of be true or not. swedenborg says, "there are some spirits so ignorant that they do not know but they are the ones called for, when another is meant. and the only way to detect them, in speaking, is by the difference of sound--that made by intelligent spirits being clear and lively, and that of the ignorant being low and muffled, like the striking of the hand upon a carpet." it is contended by the authors of the pamphlet from which we quote, that these ignorant spirits will ultimately _progress_ to a state of _intelligence_. but this idea of _progression_ seems to be at variance with the observations of a writer in the boston post, who was astonished at the wonderful precocity of little infants in the spirit world. "i have known," says he, "the spirit of a child, only eighteen months old when he died, and only three months in the second sphere, show as much _intelligence_, and as perfect a command of our language, as dr. channing himself seems to possess." on the other hand, when i find that "the spirit of dr. channing cannot express an idea above the rudimental conception of a mere child, i am forced to the conclusion that his mental endowments must have greatly deteriorated since he left us." it is said that the theological teachings of these spirits generally agree with those of davis, swedenborg, and others who have claimed to receive their impressions from spirits. accordingly, we find them using the term _higher and lower spheres_, instead of _heaven and hell_. swedenborg prophesied that the year 1852 would be the one to decide the fate of his church or his doctrines; and capron and barron tell us that "the probabilities now seem to be that his general spiritual theory will, not far from that time, be very generally received." we presume that the "mysterious rappings" are considered by them as so many omens of such an event. and we may reasonably conclude that they are as _decisive_ tests, as _sure_ prognostications, as were the various celestial signs of the coming of the end of the world in 1843. the believers in the "harmonial philosophy" have their miracles in attestation of their theory; and so of the millerites. on saturday evening, january 18, 1851, we are told by la roy sunderland, that mrs. cooper (clairvoyant medium) was taken to cambridge, by mr. fernald and a friend, for the purpose of visiting a gentleman who had been confined by a spinal difficulty some ten years or more. the spirits gave beautiful responses for his consolation, and in the sight of all present, _the sick man and his bed_ were moved by spiritual hands alone. the sick man and the "bed whereon he lay" were both moved by attending angels, without any human power. and more recently, a mr. gordon, it is said, has been taken up and his body moved some distance entirely by spiritual hands. were such miracles ever wrought in favor of millerism? most assuredly, if we are to believe the millerites themselves; and even more in favor of witchcraft also. at a meeting of the friends of millerism, held in waltham, in 1842, a lady was taken from her seat by some unseen power, and carried up to the ceiling of the room; and she afterwards declared that it was done without any effort on her part. more recently, (1851,) another lady of the same place testifies that she has, in a similar manner, been taken from her seat in church and carried up above the tops of the pews. and at times, at the advent meetings, strange noises have been heard, houses also have been shaken, mirrors shattered to pieces, and furniture broken, and all have been considered by the adventists as so many auguries or signs of the approaching dissolution of all things, to take place in 1843. we have already made mention of the fact, in another place, that bewitched persons used to be carried through the air, on brooms and spits, to distant meetings, or sabbaths, of witches. but we will now give a case to the point. on the 8th of september, 1692, mary osgood, wife of captain osgood, of andover, was taken before john hawthorne, and other of their majesties' justices, when she confessed that, about two years before, she was carried through the air, in company with deacon fry's wife, ebenezer baker's wife, and goody tyler, to five mile pond, where she was baptized by the devil, and that she was transported back again through the air, in company with the forenamed persons, in the same manner as she went, and _believes_ they were carried on a _pole_! she was asked by one of the justices, how many persons were upon the pole; to which she answered, as i said before, viz., four persons, and no more, but whom she had named above. are not these cases to be relied upon as much as those related by mr. sunderland? could not _four_ respectable ladies tell whether they were _actually_ carried through the air on a pole or _not_? _could_ they be deceived? possibly, in the days of chloroform, or ether, it might have been the case; but not at the period in which it actually occurred. some of the bewitched persons, as in the case of elizabeth knap, of groton, alarmed the people by their _ventriloqual_ powers, in imitating sounds and languages. and it would be nothing strange if some of our modern witches were in possession of the same talent. no wonder that the editor of one of the boston papers should have ventured the opinion, that if some of these persons had lived two hundred years ago, they would have been hanged for witchcraft. it appears to us, that if we believe in all that is alleged of the rapping spirits, and their manifestations, we must be prepared to indorse all that has been published of witches and ghosts, spooks and hobgoblins, in every age of the world, which, at present, we are not at all inclined to do. we do not believe that any of the noises heard, or any of the information given, has proceeded from beings out of the normal state. we are rather inclined to adhere to the sentiment contained in the old couplet:- "where men _believe_ in witches, witches are; but where they don't believe, there are none there." we once went to stay over night in a house said to be haunted, the house being empty at the time, the family who had occupied it having actually been frightened away by the noises they had heard. but, strange to tell, we did not hear any _noises_, neither did we expect to. there was a house in green street, boston, formerly occupied by the celebrated dr. conway, which, after his decease, was said to be haunted. a young man of our acquaintance never passed that house late at night but every window in it appeared to be illuminated. and finally, he became so alarmed about it, that as soon as he approached the vicinity of the house, he would commence running, and continue to run till it was out of sight. we have frequently known him to cross the ice on charles river to avoid passing the house. and still, we often passed the same house, at late hours of the night, without seeing any thing unusual. and we know of no reason why, unless it was because we did not believe in such things, which our friend actually did. _faith_ alone made the difference. one of the believers in the "spirit rappings" tells us that "_if_ these things are emanations from the spirit world, we are bound to believe them." true, _if_ they are; but this little conjunctive _if_ is a word of very _doubtful_ meaning. we have already shown how mr. miller kept the whole world standing thirty years on this same little _if_; and then it did not end in 1843, as he supposed it would. we must, therefore, be cautious how we depend upon a simple _if_. but we are told that, as honest persons, we are bound to believe what we cannot disprove by actual demonstration. but let us examine this for a moment. the greenlanders have an idea that thunder is caused by two old women flapping seal skins in the moon. now, who has ever been up in the moon to ascertain whether it is so or not? again, they say that the aurora borealis is owing to the spirits of their fathers frisking at football. who can say it is not so? and yet _we_ reject such belief on account of its apparent absurdity. some of the ancients have told us that the earth stands upon the back of a tortoise, or upon that of an elephant; and yet, without investigation, a majority of mankind reject the idea as being perfectly ridiculous. we might here remark, that no less a scholar than the great mathematician kepler attempted to prove that the earth is a vast animal, and that the tides are occasioned by the heavings of its prodigious lungs. many of the performances of jugglers and ventriloquists puzzle us, and yet we do not believe there is any thing supernatural in them. signor blitz once called upon the ladies in the hall where he was giving an exhibition to pass him a handkerchief with their name stamped upon it, and he would put it into a pistol and fire it off in their presence, and it should be found in the steeple of a church some quarter of a mile distant, and yet not a window or a door should be open on the occasion. a committee of honest and respectable men were despatched from the hall to the house of the church sexton, the keys procured, with a lantern, when the belfry was ascended, the handkerchief found hanging on the tongue of the bell, and returned to the lady, who instantly recognized it as the identical handkerchief she passed into the hands of the performer. now, who could prove that the thing alleged was not _actually_ done? and yet who will _believe_ that it was? we have heard distant sounds of music, and other imitations of men, birds, and animals, that deceived our sense of hearing, knowing that they were produced by the power of ventriloquism. we have seen things moved from place to place by _magnetic attraction_, and we do not think it at all strange that so light an instrument as a guitar could be thus attracted to different parts of a room by an _unseen power_, especially in a _dark_ room, and its tones be imitated by a being as yet in the _normal_ state. a guitar will give vibrations of its tones to the concussions of the air, caused by the conversation of persons present; and a stranger to the fact might possibly interpret these vibrations as something quite mysterious, and suppose the instrument, as it stood alone, to be touched by some spirit hand. when people's minds, or their imaginations, get wrought up to a certain pitch, the most trifling things are looked upon as wonderful phenomena. every thing is _new_, and _strange_, and _appalling_. we hear of the doings of the spirits at rochester, and other places, and which are called the "ushering in of a _new science_." "we know of what we speak," says the pamphlet before us, "we _know_ they are _facts, strange, new_, and to many _wonderful_!" (see page 43.) and yet the authors introduce several pages from a work by dr. adam clarke to show that, as early as 1716, the wesley family were troubled by noises made by the "knocking spirits," and that "the present manifestations have no claim to the credit of originality." the cracking of hazel nuts upon martin luther's bed posts, and the racket and rumbling upon his chamber stairs, as if many empty barrels and hogs-heads had been tumbling down, claim still greater antiquity, and belong to the same category or chapter of wonderful events. it is said to be impossible that any mere human being could inform persons, with whom they never had any previous knowledge or acquaintance, of the past, present, and future events of their lives--whether they are married or single, the number of their children living and dead, age, health, business, letters expected, the whereabout of long-absent friends, &c. it is supposed that such information must indeed emanate from the spirit world. yet precisely such things are and always have been told, more or less, by astrologers and fortune tellers, without any pretensions to being in league with spirits of the other worlds. we have said that fortune tellers do not always tell correctly; but, as poor an opinion as we have of them, we will venture to assert that they are full as correct, if not more so, in the information they give, as the members of the fox family, or any of their contemporaries, of the alleged _spiritual_ manifestations. persons of sane mind, though ever so ignorant of arithmetic or orthography, can tell at least how many children they have, and are usually able to spell their own names; but one who has spent a good deal of time in witnessing the performances of the _spirit rappers_, says, "they seem to be unwilling or unable to answer purely test questions, like that of answering their own names. i have never known them to do this," says he, "though often solicited." he also speaks of their great deficiency in mathematics, not being able to enumerate the number of children they have on earth with any thing like accuracy. "i am aware that such questions have sometimes been correctly answered, and i have heard them so answered; but i have much more frequently known them to refuse entirely, or to do it very awkwardly, or to fail entirely in the attempt. out of five numbers four were erroneously selected as the right one. the fifth was right, of course. this goes to show, at least, that spirits have greatly _deteriorated_, rather than _improved_, while inhabiting the celestial spheres." but this is not all. the facility of communication between the two classes of beings is also on the decline. the time was when ghosts or spirits held free conversation with those they visited, without calling in the aid of clairvoyancy or electricity. neither did they resort, like modern spirits, to the slow and clumsy mode of communication, through the letters of the alphabet. in spelling out a sentence by letters, one of the ladies commences repeating the alphabet; and when the desired letter is mentioned, a rap is heard. in this slow and tedious process, long sentences are communicated. no wonder that the slowness of the mode of communication should be considered as "perfectly appalling." and then, too, the substance of these communications is too absurd and ridiculous to be believed. we might here refer to the information given by the prophet swedenborg himself, in relation to the condition of the pious melancthon in the future state, that he was sometimes in an excavated stone chamber, and at other times in hell; and when in the chamber, he was covered with bear skins to protect him from the cold; and that he refuses to see visitors from this world on account of the filthiness of his apartment. this is about as probable and interesting as the account given by a female clairvoyant in cleveland, ohio, who says that she has (just) had an interview with tom paine, "who recants his errors, and is at present stopping with general washington and ethan allen, at a hotel kept by john bunyan." we here introduce the following from one of the boston papers:-"_the 'spiritual rappings' exploded._--there is a good article under this head, on the first page, to which we invite attention. the writer is an accomplished scholar, an able physician, and one of the first and best magnetizers in this country. he has investigated the 'rappings'--tested them theoretically and practically, and 'exploded' them, if our readers have not already done so for themselves. his communication is entitled to weight, and if circulated, as it should be, among the credulous and unsuspecting, might save some from the pitiful effects of a mischievous, absurd, and contemptible superstitious delusion." the article is as follows:-"about the 16th of december last, i called on mr. sunderland, in good faith, in order to hear and see manifestations from the spirit world. he received me in a friendly manner, and, with a young lady who was with me, seated me in the spirit room. we had to wait an hour or more, and while seated we devoutly invoked the spirits. finding them silent, i put on them some of my most powerful mesmeric electric formula. they persevered, however, in preserving profound silence. "when, however, the medium, mrs. cooper, had arrived, and seven of us, four gentlemen and three ladies, were seated round a square centre table, the responses were made, and came freely. the young lady with me, willing to believe, but wishing to know with absolute certainty, before she assented to the truth of the proposition, that the rappings were made by spirits, and not by the persons engaged in the business, had seated herself about three feet from the table, so that she could see under it. the following dialogue then ensued between mrs. cooper, her adopted sister, and the young lady:-"'will you sit close to the table, miss?' "'if they are spirits, they can rap just as well where i am. i am willing to be convinced, and where i am i can hear perfectly well.' "'the rule is, to sit close to the table.' "'i will not disturb, but choose to sit where i am.' "'if you will not comply with the regulation, you had better go into the other room.' "'i came to know, and i shall sit where i am.' "she was inflexible, and the work proceeded. when my turn came, i could put no test question, and was so told. i saw and felt that there was collusion, and, ashamed of myself as being the dupe of supposed and known imposition, after enduring the hour's sitting, i arose with the full conviction that all was the effect of bones and muscles, and of mesmeric action and reaction on the subjects themselves. while we were examining a piano which was used on such occasions, and our backs were turned towards the table, standing partly sidewise, i caught a glimpse of mrs. cooper's foot in the very position and act of commencing a spirit somerset on the table. she looked confused. i appeared not to have fully recognized any thing wrong, thanked them for their father's kindness and their attention, and left the domicil of the 'spiritual philosopher' under a full, stern, and abiding conviction that _there_ was not the abiding place of invisible beings--that all was mechanical which we heard, and all that any one had heard or seen was mechanical or mesmeric. "the second opportunity i had of testing the truth or falsity of these spirit communications was in the city of lowell. every thing was favorable as to place, time, and company. my eyes were every where, and raps came seldom and solitary. the medium dropped from between his fingers a small black pencil, about two inches long, with which i believe he made the raps. after it fell, we heard no more. he looked despairingly disappointed, soon went into a trance, arose, locked us into the room, and when the hour had transpired, came out voluntarily. "invited by a friend who was anxious to convince me more fully, and especially to convert the young lady who was with me at mr. sunderland's, he called at my house with the medium, and was received into my office. the young lady requested that we should stand around the table, and no one touch it. we did so. on the first response, she exclaimed, indignantly, addressing the medium, 'that, sir, was from your foot; i heard it distinctly!' he looked guilty, and his eyes flashed with anger. he asked the spirits if it was not 'nonsense,' and received the response from the foot, 'yes,' and left, evidently highly incensed. "i determined to give one more trial to the spirits. in this latter case, there were the three raps, clear and strong, and the answers highly satisfactory, as far as they went. but the difficulty was, that the spirits were capricious, and would respond only to just such as they saw fit; and the medium was pretty well acquainted with me. the perfect regularity of the knocks, and the sound, convinced me that, in this instance, it was purely mechanical. i endeavored to get the secret from the medium, and the answer was, 'if i should tell you, you would be as wise as myself.' she evidently knew how it was done. "i will now state a few facts, and conclude. 1. wood is an excellent conductor of sounds. a small worm, called at the south a sawyer, and sought for angling, can be heard three yards, as it gnaws between the wood and bark of a fallen pine; and the slightest scratch of a pin, on the end of an isolated mast, sixty feet long, can be heard distinctly. "2. in mesmeric operations, we well know that individuals _can be made to hear and see things that never occurred or existed_, and yet the subjects remain unconscious that they have been made the _subjects of mesmeric hallucination_! "3. persons highly observant and susceptible can, by their eye and feeling, when they put themselves into a semi-abnormal condition, tell, in many instances nine times out of ten, who is and who is not a believer, _and what is in the mind of the inquirer_. "4. mediums are invariably of this character. "5. in matters of faith, friendship, love, or the spirit world, many are willing to be deceived; and when they fall into the hands of the shrewd and designing, who can appear the impersonation of truth, virtue, honesty, and even piety itself, they are emphatically _humbugged_, and give their money and their testimony to confirm the fraud. "lastly. many are so sincere and honest in their intentions, that it is not in their hearts to believe that some of our most respectable men, even clergymen, would lend their names to sustain any thing but what they had believed and tested as a reality, and therefore themselves believe. "now, mr. editor, from all that i have seen and know of these spiritual communications, as 'rappings,' and from all these facts, i am free to declare, that i believe them an arrant humbug, and one, too, of the most pernicious tendency. they can all be traced to a human agency, as either mechanical or mesmeric, alone or combined; and i will give my right hand to any medium whose operation and device i cannot fully discover, trace, and demonstrate, as deducible from either the one or both of these sources, _and from no other_." a correspondent of the boston traveller, in a communication dated new york, january 22, 1852, says, "i look upon the delusion as i do upon a contagious disease. it is a moral epidemic. any man of peculiar diathesis may be its victim. it spreads by sympathy and by moral infection. men of standing and intellect gravely and seriously affirm that they have seen a man rise and float about the room like a feather, till some unbelieving wretch approaches and breaks the spell, when the aerial swimmer falls suddenly to the floor. franklin, washington, and all the signers of the declaration of independence, have visited them, and these departed worthies sanction any doctrine which the uninitiated may happen to entertain before consulting them." a. j. davis says, "there is a class of spirits who dwell in divine love more than in divine wisdom, and who are easily influenced to _feel_ precisely what the majority of those who consult them _feel_ and think, and under peculiar circumstances will say _precisely_ what the questioning minds of the circle may _ardently_ and _positively_ desire. affectionate spirits--those dwelling in the _love circles_--are readily influenced to approve the desires of the hearts of those with whom they commune on earth; as in our homes, the infant, by virtue of its cries and positive entreaties, captivates the affectionate, and perhaps intelligent, mother, who, consequently, forthwith coincides with her child's desires, submitting her judgment to its powerful appeals. thus it is, through the power of sympathy, spirits of the other world gratify all our thoughts and desires." this is the _opinion_ of mr. davis, which may pass for what it is worth. we never indorse his spiritual notions. to give an idea of the conduct exhibited at the circles, or meetings, of the "harmonials," we submit the following from the springfield republican of january, 1852:-"when we entered the hall, the meeting had not commenced, and all parties were engaged in a lively chat. soon there was a spontaneous coming to order, and the ladies formed a circle around a table. the gentlemen then formed a larger circle, entirely surrounding the ladies. a good hymn was given out and sung. during the singing, we noticed one lady growing excessively pale and cadaverous. then her hands began to twitch, and she commenced pounding upon the table. directly opposite her, a young woman was undergoing the process of being magnetized by the spirits, while she, as we were informed, was resisting them. her hands were drawn under the table by sudden and powerful jerks, and every muscle in her body seemed to be agitated with the most powerful commotion, as if she were acted upon in every part by shocks of electricity. this continued for ten or fifteen minutes, until she was, at last, in a state apparently resembling the magnetic sleep. "another lady, with a fine eye and an intellectual cast of countenance, was then moved to write, which she did, while her eyes stared and rolled as if in a state of frenzy, and every muscle seemed strained to its utmost tension. she wrote absolutely furiously, but no one but the spirits could read it, and it was passed over to another medium, who announced it a message of such utter unimportance that we have forgotten it. a brawny blacksmith was among the mediums, but he did nothing but pound on the table, and write the word 'sing.' the famous medium gordon was there, too, and he went through various contortions--got down upon his knees, stood upon his seat, and stretched up his arms and fingers, trembling all the while, as if in the highest state of nervous excitement. once he was twitched bodily under the table, uttering a scream as he went. at times, the different mediums would rise, spread their arms, slap the table, and throw their hands into motions almost inconceivably rapid. "one of the mediums, a young woman, arose by the dictation and powerful urging of the spirits, and delivered a rambling sermon. it abounded in quotations from the bible and the doctrines of universalism. "but it was when the singing was in progress that the spirits and the mediums were in the highest ecstasy. then the latter would pound, and throw their arms around, and point upwards, in the most fantastic manner possible. and thus, with singing, and pounding, and reading the bible, and writing, and preaching, the evening passed away; and while old hundred was being sung, the spirits gave their good night to the circle. "we can give but a faint idea of this scene. it is one we shall never forget, and we only wish that the respectable men we saw there, the men of age and experience, the young men and young women, could understand the pity with which a man without the circle of their sympathy regarded them. with the light of reason within them, with minds not untaught by education, and with the full and perfect revelation of god's will in their very hands, it was indeed most pitiable to see them swallowing these fantastic mummeries, and mingling them, in all their wild, furious, and unmeaning features, with the worship of him who manifests himself in the 'still small voice.' "of the sincerity of the majority of those present we have no doubt; but that there are rank impostors in this town, who are leading astray the credulous, we have as little doubt. the most that we saw on saturday night was mesmerism, and the rest a very transparent attempt at deception. at any rate, if it was any thing else, we should attribute it to any thing but good spirits. were we a devil, and should we wish to see how foolish we could make people appear, we should choose this way. o men and women, do have done with such outrageous nonsense." some have been most grossly deceived, and even made insane, by being made to believe that they were magnetized by spirits. this was the case with one of the celebrated hutchinson singers--judson j. hutchinson. mr. sunderland, in the fourth number of the spiritual philosopher, observes as follows: "we shall hear of communications from 'prophets,' 'apostles,' 'kings,' and 'statesmen,' and of divers 'revelations,' said to be made by them. we shall hear of human beings said to be magnetized by spirits. but the _good_ and the _true_ will know and understand how easy it is for some to become 'magnetized' by their own _ideas_, and to take for 'revelations' _the fancies of their own brains_. the notion about mortals being magnetized by spirits is a mistake, an _error_; and it was this error which was the principal cause of all the real difficulty in the case of judson j. hutchinson. mr. h. was made to believe that he was in company with his deceased brother, and that his own deceased children came and sat upon his knees, and put their arms about his neck. when he found himself sinking into an _abnormal state_, he was told to believe that it was _the spirits_, and that there was nothing _human_ about it. this, of course, mr. h. was ready to believe. he had heard of others being magnetized by spirits, and they were happy, very happy. and as this seemed to promise him _approximation_ to the spirit world, for which he was earnestly longing, he readily gave himself entirely to that idea." the operator, mr. hazard, of rochester, new york, suggested that mr. hutchinson should ask the spirits to move his (mr. h.'s) hand to the top of his own head, that then he (mr. h.) might know it was they. "but the operator should have known," says mr. sunderland, "that his _suggesting_ it to the mind of mr. hutchinson, in the manner he did, or, if mr. hutchinson's own mind was _directed_ to the movement of his own hand, _that_ was sufficient to cause his hand to move, _even if there had been no spirits in existence_. and so, when mr. h. went to cleveland, the difficulty was increased by a repetition of the cause. he fell into the same state again, of course, when similar _associations_ brought it up before his mind; and there he was again told by a clairvoyant lady, that she 'saw the spirits' (his brother benjamin and swedenborg) operating upon him. the effect was, to render him _insane_." his brother jesse says, that "the shock was too great for judson, on account of his bodily weakness, and that his feeble nature was too fine strung to bear up against the severe attacks, and it was with great difficulty he was brought back to milford, new hampshire." while in this state, mr. sunderland was sent for, and staid with him three days and three nights, to render him assistance. mr. s. says, "he was unfortunate in being told that he was magnetized by spirits, and still more so, perhaps, in the treatment he met with from some _uncongenial spirits_ in syracuse and in worcester." from this, as well as from some other unfortunate cases, persons are admonished to be careful to refrain from visiting such impostors. some have been told that st. paul, st. peter, st. luke, and timothy, were present, and answered questions put to them; but mr. davis and mr. sunderland declare it to be false. mr. davis says, "this point i have been led to investigate carefully; and at no one of the _circles_ referred to do i discover, upon the most critical interior retrospection, a _single_ communication from the veritable st. paul, nor from any one of his glorious compeers." so of benjamin franklin, who, it is said, has never condescended to converse but a very few times with earthly beings, though his name is often quoted in connection with clairvoyancy. the reason he is said to assign to mr. davis is, that he cannot "prevent the almost exact human imitations of his vibrations; and that they produce so much confusion and contradiction, that, he thinks it best to wait until some further improvement can be made in the mode of communication between the two worlds." yet how many are told that they have been put in communication with franklin! mr. sunderland says, "we need the same conditions, or guaranties, for believing _spirits_, that we do for believing _human_ testimony." speaking of those clairvoyants who are supposed to be exalted into the spirit sphere, so as to see and converse with spirits, he says, "whether they do, really, see the spirits, whom they think they do, must be determined by other things besides their own testimony. we are not obliged to take their own mere _ipse dixit_ upon this, any more than upon any other subject." and as yet, as has been remarked by dr. phelps, _there is no proof that what purports to be a revelation from spirits is the work of spirits at all_. mr. sunderland, for all we can see, is liable to be in an error, as well as others; and all the evidence he gives us that he has had interviews and holds conversations with spirits is that of his own testimony alone. and so of mr. davis. we have said that no dependence whatever can be placed upon the rapping spirits. dr. phelps, of stratford, connecticut, once heard a very loud rapping under the table while at his breakfast. "i asked if it was my sister. the answer was, 'yes.' 'well,' said i, 'if you are the spirit of my sister, you can tell me how many children you have in this world.' so the spirit commenced counting, and counted up to twenty-five, when i pronounced it a _lying_ spirit. i asked it, 'are you unhappy?' it answered, 'yes.' 'can i do you any good?' 'yes.' 'how?' the spirit then called for the alphabet, and spelled out, 'give me a glass of fresh gin.' 'what will you do with it,' said i. '_put it to my mouth._' i asked, 'where is your mouth?' no answer." letters, and lines written upon scraps of paper, have, it is said, been sent from the other world. the following was dropped from the ceiling of mrs. phelps's parlor when she and others were present. "sir,--sir sambo's compliments, and begs the ladies to accept as a token of his esteem." other papers have been similarly written upon, and signed "sam slick," "the devil," "beelzebub," "lorenzo dow," &c. on the 15th of march, 1850, a large turnip was thrown against dr. phelps's parlor window, having several characters carved out upon it, somewhat resembling the chinese characters. a _fac-simile_ of them may be found in davis's explanation of modern mysteries, page 55. some may receive such things as emanations from the spirit world; but to us they seem too simple and puerile to be considered as having any thing to do with the higher spheres. dr. phelps, who has been witness to every species of manoeuvre of the alleged spirit rappers, says that he has become fully satisfied that no reliance whatever is to be placed on their communications, either as a source of valuable information, or as a means of acquiring truth. "i am satisfied," says he, "that their communications are _wholly worthless_. they are often contradictory, often prove false, frequently trifling and nonsensical, and more in character with what might be expected of a company of loafers on a spree than from spirits returned from a world of retribution to 'tell the secrets of their prison house.'" with regard to moving tables, chairs, beds, &c., mr. davis says that, "at a circle of friends in bridgeport, connecticut, there was a large congregation of spirits, who, from a distance of eighty miles, or thirty above the atmosphere of our earth, directed a mighty column of vital electricity and magnetism, which column or current, penetrating all intermediate substances, and by a process of infiltration, entered the fine particles of matter which composed the table, and raised it, several successive times, three or four feet from the floor!" this we are to receive upon his authority, or upon the testimony of those who may say they saw the table moved. but if the operator can _make things appear_ that _never occurred or existed_, and can _imagine_ a thing, and have that _imagination transferred to others_, then what evidence have we that _spirits_ are concerned in the transaction? just none at all. a while ago, we heard of an italian, at the massachusetts hospital, who could raise tables from the floor without touching them; and the art of so doing, he said, he learned in italy. and how are we to account for the millerites and others being so raised, as they believed? are they not as much to be credited as those who profess a belief in the miracles of the "harmonial philosophers"? for ourselves, we are satisfied that such things, for the most part, are but a delusion, whether they are alleged to take place among those supposed to be bewitched, the adventists, or the harmonials. as to the _rapping noises_, we are inclined to think they may have something to do with the knee and toe joints, and that the two performers usually sit together, in order the better to alternate with, and _spell_ or relieve each other. upon a fair trial, it certainly has been proved that the noises cannot be produced when the joints are grasped firmly by another. but it may be doubted by some whether the joints can be made to produce the distinct rappings that are sometimes heard. we think they can. a few years ago, a boy in london gave exhibitions of what was termed "_chin music_." it was done by striking the fists upon the lower jaw. by this practice he was able to produce quite loud and distinct sounds, and play a variety of tunes, to the amusement of the public. the sounds were made by the finger joints, it was supposed; and perhaps the jaw bone may have contributed its share in the performance. the sounds given by the "rapping spirits" are by no means so remarkable as many suppose. they are often quite indistinct, and nearly inaudible. unless a person was possessed of a large share of credulity, he would never consider them as the responses of an intelligent spirit. this is the decided conviction of hundreds who have witnessed their performances in various parts of the country. yet many have been, and others will be, deceived. and, doubtless, many tender and sensitive minds may be made insane by the wicked trifling of these unprincipled impostors. certainly we have not the least desire to set at nought any thing of a _truly serious_ character. yet we are constrained to believe that the things of which we have spoken are too ridiculous and nonsensical, if not actually _sinful_, to be entitled to the least favor from the public. the learned thomas dick, in his essay on the improvement of society, gives an account of far more singular and wonderful _phenomena_ produced by _mechanical_ agency, than any that has as yet been attributed to the agency of _spirits_, as affirmed by a. j. davis, or la roy sunderland. and we here subjoin the facts of the case, for the benefit of the public:-"soon after the murder of king charles i., a commission was appointed to survey the king's house at woodstock, with the manor, park, and other demesnes belonging to that manor. one _collins_, under a feigned name, hired himself as secretary to the commissioners, who, upon the 13th october, 1649, met, and took up their residence in the king's own rooms. his majesty's bed chamber they made their kitchen, the council hall their pantry, and the presence chamber was the place where they met for the despatch of business. things being thus prepared, they met on the 16th for business; and in the midst of their first debate, there entered a large _black dog_ (as they thought,) which made a dreadful howling, overturned two or three of their chairs, and then crept under a bed and vanished. this gave them the greater surprise, as the doors were kept constantly locked, so that no real dog could get in or out. the next day their surprise was increased, when, sitting at dinner in a lower room, they heard plainly the noise of persons walking over their heads, though they well knew the doors were all locked, and there could be nobody there. presently after, they heard, also, all the wood of the king's oak brought by parcels from the dining room, and thrown with great violence into the presence chamber, as also all the chairs, stools, tables, and other furniture forcibly hurled about the room; their papers, containing the minutes of their transactions, were torn, and the ink glass broken. when all this noise had ceased, giles sharp, their secretary, proposed first to enter into these rooms; and in presence of the commissioners, from whom he received the key, he opened the doors, and found the wood spread about the room, the chairs tossed about and broken, the papers torn, but not the least track of any human creature, nor the least reason to suspect one, as the doors were all fast, and the keys in the custody of the commissioners. it was therefore unanimously agreed that the power that did this mischief must have entered at the key-hole. the night following, sharp, with two of the commissioners' servants, as they were in bed in the same room, which room was contiguous to that where the commissioners lay, had their beds' feet lifted up so much higher than their heads, that they expected to have their necks broken, and then they were let fall at once with so much violence as shook the whole house, and more than ever terrified the commissioners. on the night of the 19th, as they were all in bed in the same room, for greater safety, and lights burning by them, the candles in an instant went out, with a sulphurous smell; and that moment many trenchers of wood were hurled about the room, which next morning were found to be the same their honors had eaten out of the day before, which were all removed from the pantry, though not a lock was found opened in the whole house. the next night they fared still worse; the candles went out, as before; the curtains of their honors' beds were rattled to and fro with great violence; they received many cruel blows and bruises by eight great pewter dishes and a number of wooden trenchers being thrown on their beds, which, being heaved off, were heard rolling about the room, though in the morning none of these were to be seen. "the next night the keeper of the king's house and his dog lay in the commissioners' room, and then they had no disturbance. but on the night of the 22d, though the dog lay in the room as before, yet the candles went out, a number of brickbats fell from the chimney into the room, the dog howled piteously, their bed clothes were all stripped off, and their terror increased. on the 24th, they thought all the wood of the king's oak was violently thrown down by their bedsides; they counted sixty-four billets that fell, and some hit and shook the beds in which they lay; but in the morning none was found there, nor had the door been opened where the billet wood was kept. the next night the candles were put out, the curtains rattled, and a dreadful crack, like thunder, was heard; and one of the servants, running in haste, thinking his master was killed, found three dozen of trenchers laid smoothly under the quilt by him. but all this was nothing to what succeeded afterwards. the 29th, about midnight, the candles went out; something walked majestically through the room, and opened and shut the windows; great stones were thrown violently into the room, some of which fell on the beds, others on the floor; and at about a quarter after one, a noise was heard as of forty cannon discharged together, and again repeated at about eight minutes' intervals. this alarmed and raised all the neighborhood, who, coming into their honors' room, gathered up the great stones, fourscore in number, and laid them by in the corner of a field, where they were afterwards to be seen. this noise, like the discharge of cannon, was heard for several miles round. during these noises, the commissioners and their servants gave one another over for lost, and cried out for help; and giles sharp, snatching up a sword, had well nigh killed one of their honors, mistaking him for the spirit, as he came in his shirt from his own room to theirs. while they were together, the noise was continued, and part of the tiling of the house was stripped off, and all the windows of an upper room were taken away with it. on the 30th, at midnight, something walked into the chamber, treading like a bear; it walked many times about, then threw the warming pan violently on the floor; at the same time, a large quantity of broken glass, accompanied with great stones and horse bones, came pouring into the room with uncommon force. on the 1st of november, the most dreadful scene of all ensued. candles in every part of the room were lighted up, and a great fire made; at midnight, the candles all yet burning, a noise like the bursting of a cannon was heard in the room, and the burning billets were tossed about by it even into their honors' beds, who called giles and his companions to their relief, otherwise the house had been burned to the ground; about an hour after, the candles went out as usual, the crack as of many cannon was heard, and many pailfuls of green stinking water were thrown upon their honors' beds; great stones were also thrown in as before, the bed curtains and bedsteads torn and broken, the windows shattered, and the whole neighborhood alarmed with the most dreadful noises; nay, the very rabbit stealers, that were abroad that night in the warren, were so terrified, that they fled for fear, and left their ferrets behind them. one of their honors this night spoke, and, _in the name of god, asked what it was, and why it disturbed them so_. no answer was given to this; but the noise ceased for a while, when the spirit came again; and as they all agreed, _brought with it seven devils worse than itself_. one of the servants now lighted a large candle, and set it in the doorway between the two chambers, to see what passed; and as he watched it, he plainly saw a hoof striking the candle and candlestick into the middle of the room, and afterwards, making three scrapes over the snuff, scraped it out. upon this the same person was so bold as to draw a sword; but he had scarcely got it out, when he felt another invisible hand holding it too, and pulling it from him, and at length, prevailing, struck him so violently on the head with the pommel, that he fell down for dead with the blow. at this instant was heard another burst, like the discharge of the broadside of a ship of war, and at the interval of a minute or two between each, no less than nineteen such discharges. these shook the house so violently that they expected every moment it would fall upon their heads. the neighbors, being all alarmed, flocked to the house in great numbers, and all joined in prayer and psalm singing; during which the noise continued in the other rooms, and the discharge of cannons was heard as from without, though no visible agent was seen to discharge them. but what was the most alarming of all, and put an end to their proceedings effectually, happened the next day, as they were all at dinner, when a paper, in which they had signed a mutual agreement to reserve a part of the premises out of the general survey, and afterwards to share it equally among themselves, (which paper they had hid for the present under the earth, in a pot in one corner of the room, and in which an orange tree grew,) was consumed in a wonderful manner by the earth's taking fire, with which the pot was filled, and burning violently with a blue flame and an intolerable stench, so that they were all driven out of the house, to which they could never be again prevailed upon to return." this story has been somewhat abridged from the encyclopã¦dia britannica, where it is quoted from dr. plot's history of oxfordshire, in which these extraordinary occurrences are ascribed to satanic influence. at the time they happened, they were viewed as the effects of _supernatural powers_; and even dr. plot seems disposed to ascribe them to this cause. "though many tricks," says the doctor, "have often been played in affairs of this kind, yet many of the things above related are not reconcilable with juggling; such as the loud noises beyond the powers of man to make without such instruments as were not there; the tearing and breaking the beds; the throwing about the fire; the hoof treading out the candle; and the striving for the sword; and the blow the man received from the pommel of it." it was at length ascertained, however, that this wonderful contrivance was all the invention of the memorable joseph collins, of oxford, otherwise called _funny joe_, who, having hired himself as secretary under the name of _giles sharp_, by knowing the private traps belonging to the house, and by the help of _pulvis fulminans_, and other chemical preparations, and letting his fellow-servants into the scheme, carried on the deceit without discovery, to the very last. the occurrences which are said to have taken place at the house of the rev. dr. phelps, in stratford, connecticut, are not to be compared in their marvellousness to those we have quoted from dr. dick, and which things were the results of the _ingenuity of joe collins_. therefore, when we hear of such like occurrences in our day, there will be no necessity for us to attribute them to any supernatural influence, either good or bad; for it is a well-received maxim, that "_what man has done man can do_." to suppose that the merciful _father_ of _spirits_ would harass and frighten mankind by haunting their houses with strange noises and rappings, ghosts and hobgoblins, and spirits of the uneasy dead, would be derogatory to his paternal character. and who, for a moment, could believe that he would torment little children in this way, when our savior took them in his arms, and blessed them, and said, "of such is the kingdom of heaven"? no, we must attribute such things to any other source than as proceeding from the throne of god. up to the present time it may be that many will profess to the world that they have actually seen the spirits of the departed. yet this is no new profession, for the votaries of st. vitus, and the spiritually-minded shakers of later times, have declared to us that they have seen their departed friends and acquaintances. but even mr. davis is led to consider a large majority of these cases to be the results of cerebral agitation. "i can truthfully affirm," says he, "that the objects, localities, scenery, and personages, seen by those laboring under monomania, delirium tremens, &c., are of the same class of mental delusion, and are absolutely nothing more than the unconscious elaborations of the surcharged brain." chapter xvi. evil effects of popular superstitions. the following are some of the evils that result from a belief in popular superstitions:-1. they have caused a great waste of time. look at the practice of heathen nations. their religious ceremonies are altogether superstitious. all the time devoted to false gods must be considered as wasted. take a survey, too, of catholic countries. during the dark ages, their priests were engaged in nonsensical disputes. treatise after treatise was composed on such subjects as the following: how many angels can stand on the point of a needle? have spirits any navels? is the virgin mary the mother of god? and a thousand others equally senseless and unprofitable. in their monasteries, multitudes passed their days in repeating unintelligible prayers, poring over the legends of their saints, cutting figures in paper, and tormenting their bodies for the good of their souls. turn our attention to protestant lands, and here we find, also, that many a folio has been written on foolish and unintelligible subjects; that many a day has been occupied in trying and burning witches and heretics; that many a pharasaic custom has been scrupulously observed, and many an absurd opinion advanced and defended. even in our own times, many hours are occupied in discoursing about dreams and visions, signs and tricks, spectres and apparitions; in consulting charms and lots, and fortune tellers; in prying into future events and occurrences; in borrowing trouble on account of some supposed unfavorable omen; or in various other practices equally vain and superstitious. now, all this is wrong. time is given for no such purposes. we have but a short period allotted to us to remain in this world, and a great work to accomplish. let us then be always engaged in something useful and virtuous. 2. popular superstitions have caused a great waste of human life. cast your eye over the page of history. you there notice an account of the trial by ordeal. the accused person was required either to hold red-hot iron balls in his naked hands, or to walk over red-hot plates of iron with bare feet. if he escaped unburned, he was considered innocent; but if he was scorched, sentence of death was pronounced. or he was compelled either to thrust his arm into a caldron of boiling water, or be thrown into a deep pond. if he was either unscalded or drowned, his innocence was proved; but if he was scalded or could swim, the sentence of condemnation was passed. in neither case could life be saved, except by the interposition of a miracle; and this was not expected on such occasions. and through this superstition, thousands perished in the most cruel and unrighteous manner. a distinguished writer computes that more than one hundred thousand persons, of all ages, have suffered death for witchcraft alone. only think! one hundred thousand persons murdered for a crime of which no human person was ever guilty! there are others who bring upon themselves sickness, and even death, by their belief in signs, dreams, and forewarnings. but as the gospel sheds abroad its divine light, these things are found to recede, and to give place to more rational views of divine wisdom and goodness, in the control and arrangement of events having a relation to our being and happiness. the author of the family encyclopã¦dia says, that "the superstitious notions of ghosts, spirits, &c., are rapidly declining; and notwithstanding all the solemn tales which have been propagated, there is no reason to believe that any real spirits or celestial agents have held intercourse with man since the establishment of christianity;" and that "the history of modern miracles, appearances of the dead, &c., will be always found, when thoroughly examined, merely the phantoms of a disordered imagination." 3. popular superstitions have caused great and unnecessary misery. we need not refer to history for an illustration of this assertion. we have sufficient examples around us. look into society, and we shall find one class who pay particular attention to all signs and dreams. if any thing unfavorable is indicated, their feelings are greatly depressed; and if the contrary, they are as much elated. if a little insect, called the death watch, knocks for its mate on the wall, sleepless nights are sure to follow. if they notice the new moon over the wrong shoulder, their comfort is destroyed for a whole month. nanny scott, the old washerwoman, is sure that another death will happen in the family this year, because, when her sister-in-law was taken out to be buried, somebody shut the door before the corpse was under ground, and so shut death into the house. and her neighbor, the good mrs. taylor, suffers the baby to scratch and disfigure its face, because it is said to be unlucky to cut the nails of a child under a year old. another neighbor has seen a single raven fly over the house, or heard a cricket chirping upon the hearth, and is greatly alarmed, because such things are said to be a sign of death to some member of the family within the year. and thus many are found who are silly enough to imbitter their own lives and the lives of others by such foolish superstitions. there may be noticed another class, whose belief in the supernatural origin of signs, omens, and warnings leads them to adopt measures for their speedy fulfilment. many a wedded couple seem to think they must quarrel because it happened to storm on the day they were married; and when some dispute arises between them, they fall to fighting, to prove, if possible, the truth of the prediction. and for all this interruption of domestic harmony, they blame, not their own tempers and passions, but the decrees of fate. many a person has concluded he must live in poverty all his days, because a few moles have appeared on the wrong side of his body. and hence he neglects all industry and economy, and dissipates his time, his privileges, and his talents. we may notice a third class, who give themselves to tricks, fortune telling, and opening books, to discover the events of futurity. their spirits vary with the supposed indications of good or evil occurrences. "a lady, who moved in the first circles, was once visiting in a clergyman's family of my acquaintance," says the late rev. bernard whitman, "and it was her regular morning custom to toss up a little box of pins, and make her happiness for the day depend upon their accidental variation in falling. if they came down more heads than points, she was cheerful and happy; but if more points than heads, she was gloomy and wretched. it seemed she valued her comfort, worth at least a brass pin." many a worthy christian has not only been deprived of his happiness, but betrayed into wild, extravagant, and even sinful acts, by attempting to follow the suggestion of the passage which first meets his eye on opening the bible. many a poor wight has formed a disadvantageous matrimonial alliance, because some old hag has described black eyes and rosy cheeks as the characteristics of his future bride. we may notice, moreover, a fourth class, who are forever anticipating some dreadful calamity. let any fool solemnly proclaim that war, famine, or pestilence is approaching, and they will give more heed to it than to that holy word which assures us that our heavenly father will never leave nor forsake us. all uncommon appearances in the heavens they look upon as indications of the threatened judgments of an angry god. even the beautiful aurora borealis, which spans the blue concave above us, was so interpreted. to permit such fears to disturb and destroy our happiness is a sin against heaven. our heavenly father created us for enjoyment. he has furnished us with capacities and means of felicity. he has even commanded us to rejoice in the lord always. he has given us a religion to effect this desirable object. it is as much a part of this religion to be always cheerful, contented, and happy, as to be always temperate, just, and virtuous. and if people would take one tenth part of the pains to make themselves happy that they do to render themselves miserable, there would be ten times the present amount of happiness. "by the grace of god," says the rev. john wesley, "i never fret. i repine at nothing; i am discontented at nothing. and to have persons at my ear fretting and murmuring at every thing is like tearing the flesh from off my bones. i see god sitting upon his throne, and ruling all things well." a companion of mr. wesley says that he never saw him low-spirited in his life, nor could he endure to be with an unhappy, melancholic person. "every believer," he often remarked, "should enjoy life." "i dare no more fret," said he, "than curse or swear." would that all christians were as cheerful and consistent as mr. wesley. there would be less of dark and dismal forebodings; less of distrust, and more of solid peace and comfort, in the soul. it seems that melancthon was somewhat of a melancholic turn of mind, and, when gloomy and dejected, would call upon luther, and relate to him his troubles and afflictions. luther, being of a more lively and hopeful turn, after listening to him a short time, would jump upon his feet, and say, "come, come, let us sing the forty-sixth psalm;" and when they had sung that, all was peaceful and happy again. as to what is commonly termed good or ill luck, we may be assured that they have no other existence but in the imagination. luck means chance; but every thing, great and small, is under the wise and gracious direction of god. nothing can happen without his permission, and he permits nothing but what, in his wonderful plans, he designs to work for our good. we are kept in ignorance of the particular events that are to befall us, in order to keep alive within us an abiding sense of our dependence on god, and a constant obedience to the directions of his word, by which alone we can be prepared to meet the dispensations of his providence. the bible tells us quite enough of futurity to teach us to prepare for it, as far as it rests with us to prepare. and it is both vain and wicked to endeavor to obtain any further information from any other source, or for any one to pretend that they possess it. had it been necessary for our good that we should know every thing beforehand, the information would have been given us in the bible, or it would have been left so that we could have gathered it from general instruction and observation, as is the case with every kind of knowledge that is essential to our present as well as everlasting good. it certainly would not have been left to creaking doors, croaking ravens, or ill-made tallow candles. neither would god reveal to weak and wicked men or women the designs of his providence, which no human wisdom is able to foresee. to consult these false oracles is not only foolish, but sinful. it is foolish, because they themselves are as ignorant as those whom they pretend to teach; and it is sinful, because it is prying into that futurity which god, in mercy, as well as in wisdom, hides from man. god indeed orders all things; but when you have a mind to do a foolish thing, do not fancy that you are _fated_ to do it; this is tempting providence, not trusting god. it is charging him with folly. prudence is his gift, and you obey him better when you make use of prudence, under the direction of prayer, than when you heedlessly rash into ruin, and think you are only submitting to your fate. fancy never that you are compelled to undo yourself, or to rush upon your own destruction, in compliance with any supposed fatality. believe never that god conceals his will from a sober christian, who obeys his laws, and reveals it to a vagabond, who goes from place to place, breaking the laws both of god and man. king saul never consulted the witch until he left off serving god. the bible will direct us best. conjurers are impostors; and there are no days unlucky but those we make so by our vanity, folly, and sin. 4. popular superstitions have greatly injured the cause of medicine. that superstition which leads people to believe in the efficacy of charms is very injurious. we will enumerate a few cases by way of example. the scrofula, for instance, is frequently called the _king's evil_. it received this name because it was generally believed that the touch of a king would cure the disorder. for centuries this belief was so prevalent, that any one who should call it in question would have been considered no less than an infidel, and an enemy to his king and country. and so great was the demand for the king's touch, from invalids, that one day in seven was set apart for the king to bestow healing mercies on his subjects. vast numbers flocked to him, from wales, ireland, scotland, and many parts of the continent. an exact register was kept of the number of persons who came to charles the second for relief, from 1660 to 1664, and they amounted to twenty-three thousand six hundred and one. from may, 1667, to 1684, the number of persons touched amounted to sixty-eight thousand five hundred and six. total, ninety-two thousand one hundred and seven. the practice was begun in the year 1051, and continued until the reign of the present royal family, who were possessed of too much sense to encourage such an idle superstition. but notwithstanding this belief and practice were abandoned by the royal family, yet, with some individuals, a belief still prevails that certain persons are endowed with healing power. in 1807, a farmer in devonshire, england, who was the ninth son of a ninth son, officiated in the cure of the king's evil, and multitudes believed that they received healing from his touch. in this country, a _seventh_ son of a seventh son has officiated in similar cases, and performed incredible cures, as we are told by those who think they have received signal blessings through his instrumentality. not many years since, the cold hands of a convict, who had terminated his life on the gallows, in liverpool, were drawn over several wens a number of times to effect a cure. a person in one of our western states ran a pitchfork into his hand, and he applied a plaster to the cold iron as well as to the fresh wound. when people run a nail into their foot, they frequently save and polish the rusty iron to facilitate the recovery. some time since, in the state of maine, the body of a female was taken from the grave, her heart taken out, dried, and pulverized, and given to another member of the family, as a specific against the consumption. and the same thing has more recently been done in the town of waltham, massachusetts. the heart was reduced to a powder, and made into pills, but they did not cure the patient; while the person who took up the remains from the grave, and removed the heart, came very near losing his life, from the putrefactive state of the corpse at the time. we could relate many other cases, equally foolish and disgusting. all such things should be classed under the general name of charms, and be looked upon as relics of the grossest superstitions. why not as well have the touch of a slave as a king? why not as well apply your plaster to a tree as to a pitchfork? why not as well drink the heart of a lamb as a woman? you may say that god has determined certain cures shall follow certain applications. no such determination is published in his word, and no such conclusions can be inferred from facts. you may pretend that a special miracle is wrought in such cases. but this is incredible; for the object is not compatible with the miraculous interposition of deity. and the few cures which are reputed to have taken place can be satisfactorily accounted for, on the influence of the imagination, and other natural causes. so that such a belief is not only superstitious, but calculated to lead people to neglect the proper means of recovery, and thus injure themselves and the medical profession. in the years 1808, '9, and '10, a mr. austin of colchester, vermont, gave out that he was a gifted person in the art of healing; and if the patient would describe to him, by word of mouth, or by letter, the true symptoms of his malady, he would receive healing at his word, if indeed his disease was curable. in a very little time the obscure retreat of austin was thronged with invalids, coming from almost every section of the country; and colchester was scarcely less in favor than ballston or saratoga. the mail carriers groaned under the burden of maladies described. bar rooms at public inns, on roads leading to colchester, were decorated with letters directed to the "prophet of colchester;" and vagrants were found travelling over the country, collecting of invalids their evil symptoms, to be truly and faithfully delivered to the prophet in a given time, at the moderate price of fifty cents per letter. we were soon referred to cases wherein the most inveterate deafness was removed; the blind saw; dropsies and consumptions, in the last stages of them, were cured; and the patient, it is said, in many instances, would tell the day and the hour when their letters were received by the prophet, although they might be some hundred miles distant from the deliverer, because, at such an hour, they began to mend. the prophet, however, did not long enjoy his far-famed celebrity. his house, after a while, was deserted of invalids. the people discovered their folly, and permitted him to sink into his former merited obscurity. it was just the same with the celebrated _rain-water_ doctor, as he was called, who established himself at one time in providence, and at another time in the vicinity of boston. many of those now living can recollect the accounts of marvellous cures, and the flocking of invalids of all descriptions to his temple of health. but the community at length discovered the imposition of his practice, and left him to the undisturbed enjoyment of his rain water and his gruel. the most recent case of medical imposition practised upon the public, that has come to our knowledge, is that of a practitioner in new york city, who, by receiving a letter from sick or diseased persons, giving the year, day, and hour of their birth, immediately forwards them a package of medicine suited to their case. it seems to be a matter of astonishment to many how he arrives at a knowledge of their state of health, so as to be able to adapt his remedies to their several conditions. but it is probably done on the principles of astrology--by finding the planet under which the patient is born, the diseases appertaining to that planet, and the _plants_ belonging to the same, which are supposed to have a special effect upon the relative _planetary_ diseases. culpepper, in his english herbal, if we mistake not, arranges or classifies all plants and diseases in this way, and contends that astrology is the only true key to medical science. fortune telling is practised upon a similar plan, through the agency of _astrology_. but the whole is a deception, entirely unworthy the age in which we live. the fortune teller may hit upon an incident which is correct, once in a while, and it would be strange if he did not. and the _astrological physician_ may prescribe some little tonic, or stimulant, that will raise the drooping spirits for a time, and actually lead the hopeful patient to believe that he or she is fast recovering from their long-afflictive maladies. but the sequel too often teaches them the lesson of their sad mistake. the history of valentine greataks, the son of an irish gentleman, who lived in the time of cromwell, is very similar to what we have related of the prophet of colchester. and about the same time, francisco bagnone, a capuchin friar, was famous in italy, having a gift of healing, principally by his hands only. multitudes of sick people attended him wherever he went, to obtain healing mercy. and here, perhaps, we may find the true principle on which all the impositions of popery have been maintained for centuries gone by. it cannot be a matter of surprise that, if men, of more information than they, can be made to believe that they are delivered from disease by experiments of magnetism, tractors, or the mere touch of the hand, these should believe that they are healed by visiting the tombs of saints; by standing before their statues; being touched by nails from their coffins, rings from their fingers, or by the bones of the fingers themselves. we are by no means authorized to say that none of these persons were relieved of pains and diseases by seeking relief in this way. so great is the influence of the imagination on the nervous, vascular, and muscular systems, as has already been shown, that it would be no more than probable that obstructions, causing pain and sickness, should in some instances be removed, and lay a foundation for recovery. and, moreover, that in a still greater number of instances the power of the imagination on the origin of the nerves within the brain should counteract the motion to the brain by disease acting upon the extremities of the nerves; and thus the patient for a season might experience relief from pain, and even feel pleasure, as was the case with an artist upon the pont royal, mentioned by dr. sigault, and in the gambols of the rheumatic patient, as mentioned by dr. haygarth. but in all these cases, experiment and illustration, like those of the commissioners at paris, and like that of dr. haygarth in england, would disclose the real ground of these effects. the patients would no longer attribute them to a supernatural influence. they would learn why, in most cases, the relief supposed to be obtained was only momentary, and why all those gifted persons, both in europe and america, have had no more than an ephemeral celebrity, and, in most instances, lived to see themselves neglected, and their pretensions become the subjects of just satire and reproof. 5. popular superstitions have greatly injured the cause of religion. that superstition which allows any substitute for personal holiness is very pernicious. the pharisees considered themselves holy, because they were the descendants of faithful abraham. they fasted twice a week; paid tithes of all they possessed; made long prayers in public places; and were strict observers of all sacred days and religious ceremonies. at the same time, they neglected the weightier matters of the law--justice, mercy, faithfulness; devoured widows' houses; were proud, bigoted, and self-righteous. some people think they lived only in the times of the apostles. "but we should recollect," says the rev. george whitefield, "that vipers and toads have the most eggs, and most numerous progeny. if you were to look at the eggs of a toad through a microscope, you would be surprised at the innumerable multitude; and the pharisees are an increasing generation of vipers, which hatch and spread all over the world. if you would know a pharisee, he is one who pretends to endeavor, and talks about keeping the law of god, and does not know its spirituality. there are some of them very great men, in their own estimation, and frequently make the greatest figure in the church. one of them, a gentleman's son, because he had not broken the letter of the law, thought he was right and without sin. "o," says he, "if i have nothing to do but to keep the commandments, i am safe. i have honored my father and mother; i never stole; what need he to steal who has so good an estate? i never committed adultery." no, no! he loved his character too well for that: but our lord opens to him the law--_this one thing thou lackest; go, sell all thou hast, and give to the poor_: he loved his money more than his god; christ brought him back to the first commandment, though he catechized him first in the fifth. so paul was a pharisee. he says, '_i was alive without the law, once; i was, touching the law, blameless_." how can that be? can a man be without the law, and yet, touching the law, be blameless? says he, "i was without the law; that is, i was not brought to see its spirituality. i thought myself a very good man." no man could say of paul, black is his eye. "but," says he, "when god brought the commandment with power upon my soul, then i saw my specks, and beheld my lack of true righteousness." some roman catholics perform tedious pilgrimages; lacerate their own bodies; abstain from meats on certain days; and some have paid the pope or priests for the pardon of their sins, or purchased indulgences for the commission of wickedness. some protestants, too, attend punctually upon all religious meetings, subscribe liberally to the charities of the day, observe all gospel ordinances, and profess great attachment to the cause of christ; and yet are fretful, unkind, and disobliging in their families; censorious in their conversation; uncharitable in their judgment; grasping in their dealings, and unhappy in their dispositions. some have thought that, because christ died for the sins of the whole world they could commit sin with impunity; or, if they were elected, they could do what they pleased, and be sure of heaven at last. but all these things have no foundation in reason, experience, or revelation, and may therefore be considered superstitious. a belief in them is exceedingly injurious to the cause of piety and holiness, because it leads to the neglect of the one thing needful--a uniformly sober, righteous, and godly life. god will certainly render unto every man according to his deeds. be he pharisee or sadducee, catholic or protestant, elect or non-elect, he can escape the punishment of no sin but by repentance and reformation. and no sin is ever removed, no virtue is ever given, by miracle. our iniquities must be forsaken, and our goodness acquired, by our own exertions, aided by the promised influence of the holy spirit. and, until we have accomplished these ends, we cannot rationally expect pure and permanent happiness. there have been opinions respecting the devil, tinctured somewhat with superstition, that have contributed to bring reproach upon the scriptures, which were supposed to teach the existence of just such a being as many believed him to be. martin luther, in speaking of his confinement in the castle of wartburg, says, "the people brought me, among other things, some hazel nuts, which i put into a box, and sometimes i used to crack and eat of them. in the night time, my gentleman, the devil, came and got the nuts out of the box, and cracked them against one of the bed posts, making a very great noise and rumbling about my bed; but i regarded him nothing at all: when afterwards i began to slumber, then he kept such a racket and rumbling upon the chamber stairs, as if many empty barrels and hogsheads had been tumbling down." dr. cotton mather, in the time of new england witchcraft, took home one of the possessed damsels, to learn the ways and works of satan. when the doctor called the family to prayers, she would whistle, and sing, and yell, to drown his voice, would strike at him with her fist, and try to kick him. but her hand or foot would always recoil when within an inch or two of his body; thus giving the idea that there was a sort of invisible coat of mail, of heavenly temper, and proof against the assaults of the devil, around his sacred person. she seemed to be greatly displeased at the thought of his making public the doings of her master, the evil one; and when he attempted to write a sermon against him, she would disturb and interrupt him all manner of ways. for instance, she once knocked at his study door, and said that there was somebody down stairs that would be glad to see him; he dropped his pen, and went down: upon entering the room he found no one there but his own family. he afterwards undertook to chide her for having told a falsehood. she denied that she told a falsehood. "did not you say that there was somebody down stairs that would be glad to see me?" "well," she replied, with great pertness, "is not mrs. mather always glad to see you?" she even went much further than this in persecuting the good man while he was writing his sermon: she threw large books at his head. but he struggled manfully at these buffetings of satan, as he considered them to be, finished the sermon, related all these and other kindred circumstances in it, preached and published it. richard baxter wrote the preface to an edition printed in london, in which he declares that "he who will not be convinced, by the evidence dr. mather presents, that the child was bewitched, must be a very obdurate sadducee." a few years since, a house in maine was said to be haunted. the building and furniture were shaken, dreadful noises were heard, dismal sights were seen, and heavy blows were received. the occupant of the house had lately left a calvinistic theological seminary. he afterwards became a settled universalist preacher. "a neighboring family informed me," says the late bernard whitman, "that he now considered it the spirit of god, haunting him to forsake calvinism, and proclaim universal salvation." his explanation, though satisfactory to himself, may not be equally so to our readers. the devil should never be made a packhorse for our sins, nor should our thoughts be turned from within, causing us to neglect a watch upon our own lusts and passions, in looking for the assaults of some outward tempter. the effect sometimes produced upon the minds of children has a very unfavorable influence. a pious mother, not finding it convenient to attend her little son to rest, told him to omit his prayers for one night. "mother," said the child, "will the devil forgive me if i neglect my prayers?" "what shall we say," says the late professor stuart, "of the excessive use that has been made of the passages that speak of his influence and dominion? because, in reference to the wide-spread influence of satan, he is called the 'prince of this world,' and even the 'god of this world,' are we _literally_ to interpret passages of this nature, and thus in a clandestine manner introduce effectually the old dualism of zoroaster and the persians? this, indeed, has often, very often, been substantially done; done, i acknowledge, for the most part without any direct intention of such a nature. still there is an impression, wide spread among the lower classes of people, even in our own country, that satan is a kind of omnipotent being; and he is often represented as the successful, or rather the invincible, rival of the great redeemer. "yet the new testament is full enough of instruction relative to this subject to correct any erroneous views in relation to it, if it be duly examined. i need only appeal to the large class of passages which represent satan as a conquered enemy; as 'falling like lightning from heaven;' as being reduced to a state of impotence in respect to that deadly power which he exercises, (heb. ii. 14;) and all the evil principalities, and powers, and magistrates (1 cor. xv. 24, eph. vi. 12, col. ii. 15) as being subdued, or to be subdued and utterly discomfited, by christ; for 'the prince of this world is cast out,' (john xii. 31;) 'the son of god was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil,' (1 john iii. 8;) and christians are every where spoken of as being liberated from his dominion and power, (1 john v. 18-44.) when the apostle, therefore, calls satan 'the god of this world,' and the savior calls him 'the prince of this world,' it is the world of the wicked which is meant; for such is the usual idiom of the scriptures. and as to the power of satan over the wicked, it is every where presented in the new testament as something that will wholly cease after a time, and the reign of the prince of peace become universal. "how deeply these considerations intrench upon the long-practised methods of exhibiting satan as omnipotent and omnipresent every thinking mind will easily perceive. especially has the romish church erred here beyond all bounds of reason or moderation. according to the doctrines which they sedulously inculcate, satan has not only irresistible power over the world of the wicked, but, next to such a power, even over christians. nothing but exorcisms, and holy chrisms, and lustrations with holy water, and incantations, and the like, can keep off evil spirits, or disarm them of their fatal power. and as the consummation and chief end of all the doctrine, nothing short of the interposition of the priesthood can secure any one against destruction, either in this world or the next--an interposition, however, which is not _freely given_, as the savior commanded the disciples to impart the blessings of the gospel, but to be purchased at whatever price the church may fix upon it."--_bibliotheca sacra_, february, 1843. language sometimes used in times of excitement is prejudicial to the cause of religion. it is sometimes said that the almighty is visiting such a town; that he is coming this way; that he has taken up his abode in a certain village; that he will remain but a few days; that he has been driven away by unbelievers, and that he cannot be expected again for some months or years. now, it should be remembered that god is every where present, and that his spirit is always striving within the soul; and its voice is drowned only by the strife and tumult of our own discordant passions. the spirit is ever ready to assist us, whenever we resolve to use our own efforts in hearty coã¶peration. and if revivals of religion seem to be of a _periodical_ nature, it is because our own zeal or engagedness is too fitful. the church can enjoy a constant season of refreshing from the presence of the lord, only let its members be ever active, ever diligent, ever devoted and persevering. god works not by miracle, but through the agency of common means or efforts. we must not, therefore, defer attention to the duties of religion, in expectation of some special interposition of heaven. we should remember that a sober, righteous, and godly life is the best evidence of true conversion; and that we are called upon _to work out our own salvation_ with fear and trembling, god himself having vouchsafed to work within us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. chapter xvii. banishment of popular superstitions. seeing the evils of popular superstitions, what course shall we adopt for their banishment? or, in other words, how shall we best lend a helping hand to hasten the downfall of ignorance, error, and sin? 1. we must deliver ourselves from their domination; for we are all more or less under their influence. when any of the common signs of good or evil fortune appear before us, our thoughts involuntarily recur to the thing supposed to be signified. sometimes a momentary shudder is communicated to the whole system; unpleasant sensations are often excited; and frequently a depression of spirits is produced. and how can we free ourselves from this thraldom? by the exercise of our reason. a proper use of our reasoning faculties will enable us to accomplish this undertaking. we must endeavor to convince ourselves that all these things are the offspring of ignorance; that they have no foundation in reason, philosophy, or religion; and that they are exceedingly pernicious in their consequences. when fully persuaded of these truths, we must strive to make our feelings coincide with the dictates of our understandings. and this we can effect by persevering self-discipline. such exertions, with the blessing of heaven, will eventually deliver us from the inconvenience, vexation, and slavery of popular superstitions. and as such a consummation is most ardently to be desired, we must enter upon the duty with a zeal and earnestness commensurate with its importance. 2. we must also assist our fellow-men in the performance of this great and good work. when we meet with those who believe in ghosts, in signs, enchantments, and divination, we must try to persuade them that no dependence whatever can be placed on any of these vanities--that they are all fictions, absurdities, and abominations. and perhaps, in some cases, if we cannot produce conviction by sober sense and sound argument, we may be justified in resorting to ridicule. it is a lamentable consideration that so much time should be criminally wasted in many families in explaining tricks, relating and expounding dreams, telling fortunes, and in detailing stories of haunted houses, hobgoblins, and spirits of the supposed uneasy dead. in this way, the evil is cherished, and transmitted from generation to generation. but if we can succeed in giving an opposite direction to conversation; if we can induce people to reason upon these things, and inquire into their origin, causes, and effects, and investigate the evidence on which they are imagined to rest, and adopt rational conclusions, we shall be usefully employed. a course like this would eventually lead to the banishment of popular superstitions, with their baneful effects upon our peace and happiness; especially if we labor to impress upon the minds of others the existence of an all-wise providence, that controls and governs all things for the highest good of all, calling upon us to place our trust in him, without whose notice not even a sparrow falleth to the ground. 3. we must likewise attend to the early education of our children. it is during infancy and childhood that our heads are filled with "nursery tales" and marvellous stories. they are told us by those to whose care we are early intrusted, either to frighten us into obedience, to gratify our thirst for the new and wonderful, or to while away a tedious evening. they sink into our confiding hearts, and leave impressions the most pernicious and the most lasting. could a child be educated without any knowledge of such things, he would never be troubled with their baneful influence. our duty is therefore plain. in taking the principal care of our children at home, we should not permit them to learn any such things from our own lips; and we should evince, too, by our daily conduct, that they exert no influence on our own feelings, character, or happiness. in intrusting our offspring in early life to the care of other persons, we must charge them, as faithful guardians of the young, to conceal every thing of the kind from their knowledge. and after our children become of sufficient age to associate with others, we must caution them to avoid believing or relating any superstitious tales as they would shun known falsehoods. by persevering in this course, we shall save them from the degrading influence of popular superstitions. 4. we must, moreover, endeavor to increase the means of public education. we generally find that the most enlightened are the most free from superstition; and it therefore follows that a high degree of mental cultivation will effect a general deliverance. and how shall this great object be accomplished? we must reason with them upon the immense value and importance of knowledge. we must show them, by an appeal to facts, that all our civil, social, domestic, and religious blessings depend on the intelligence and virtue of the people. but perhaps many will complain of the scarcity of money and the want of means. if so, we must also show them, by an appeal to incontrovertible facts, that more money is annually wasted, in all our towns, in extravagant living, dress, furniture, and equipage; squandered in shows, amusements, balls, and parties; in gaming, dissipation, public parades, and intoxicating liquors, than is expended for the instruction of the rising generation. no, there is not a lack of funds. where there is a will there is also a way. the value and importance of the subject is not generally understood; or, if understood, is not properly appreciated. almost every thing else seems of more consequence than learning and wisdom. yet this will never answer. the world is growing wiser. those who will not employ the requisite means must rest contented with comparative ignorance. let _us_ not be of this unworthy number. if we feel the importance of the change in these respects, let us persevere in our laudable exertions, leaving no objections unanswered, no measures untried, until we succeed in giving our children a high degree of education. and if the father of spirits shall see fit to prolong our lives to witness the results, we shall look upon the almost universal banishment of popular superstitions. 5. finally, we must labor for the diffusion of pure and undefiled religion, adhering alone to the teachings of jesus. we shall then believe in one perfect, all-pervading spirit, who regulates all the events of this world which are above our control, and that all his various dispensations originate in perfect wisdom and goodness. we shall believe that we have no worse enemies than our own sinful lusts and passions, and that power is given us through faith to conquer these, even in this state of existence. we shall believe that it is as much our duty to be always happy as it is to be always honest and virtuous. we shall have the assurance that our heavenly father has commissioned no fate nor chance, spectres nor devils, to torment us. and if we live up to this belief, we shall secure a large share of temporal enjoyment, and be prepared for the increased and increasing felicity of the spiritual world. if we produce this state of faith and practice in ourselves and in those around us, we shall have done much for the banishment of popular superstitions and the downfall of ignorance, error, and sin. part second. miracle in springfield, massachusetts. four gentlemen in springfield, not long since, publicly attested to a "miracle," performed, as they believed, by spirits, at a "circle" where they were present. it consisted in moving a table, and a number of chairs in the room, and in shocks, resembling distant thunder, or cannon at a distance, causing the persons and the chairs and tables to tremble in such a manner that the effects were both seen and felt, the room being well lighted at the time, and an opportunity afforded for the closest inspection, so that the company unitedly declare that _they know they were not imposed upon nor deceived_. now, there is nothing very remarkable in this affair, for all might have been done by the medium himself, by first pathetizing the persons present, as it might be done without their knowledge, and while in that state could be made to see and hear any thing imagined by the operator. we are assured, by one who knows, that it is impossible for those who are fit subjects to be present at a circle without being more or less under the mesmeric influence. and, in such cases, they can be _willed_ to remember or forget what they have seen or heard. we do not consider such persons as competent witnesses in such a case as they have testified to. it may all have been induced, or it may all have been real. and if real, there was no need to refer it to the agency of spirits, since such things have been done without spirits, as in the case of joe collins, or others which we shall refer to, in this part of our volume. but here we may be told, that a thousand dollars has been offered to any one who will prove that such things are produced by any other power than that of _spirits_. but the same sum has been offered to any one who will prove that _spirits_ move tables, chairs, and the like, or that _spirits_ produce the noises and other manifestations ascribed to them. we have heard the case of a person who went to a medium and wished to know if he could be put in communication with his father, who had died several years before. he was answered in the affirmative. but the inquirer desired, as proof that it would actually be the spirit of his father that would be introduced to him, that a pencil and paper should be laid upon a table, and that the spirit of the father should come and write his own name upon the paper, the son feeling assured that, if this were done, he should at once recognize both the name and the writing. accordingly, the spirit in question came, and did as was desired, and the son declared it to be the real name and handwriting of his father. now, the philosophy of the case is this: the inquirer was first pathetized, although ignorant of the fact at the time--a thing very common, though not generally understood. thus the medium became acquainted with the name of the father as it existed in the mind of the son; but did the pencil actually write the name upon the paper? no. it was only made to _appear_ so to the mind of the inquirer. as to the handwriting, the inquirer's mind was directed to a piece of paper, and to look at the writing. of course, he saw his father's name, and the handwriting, for he could see nothing else for the time being, his mind being impressed with that one idea or object, and closed to every thing else. it was in fact, to him, his father's name and chirography, and no one's else. it could not be otherwise while his mind was under the control of the operator. we have been told of a lady, who, in a magnetized state, sits at a table and writes down information that is imparted to her, as is said, from the world of spirits. her hand and pen glide over the paper with astonishing speed and velocity, far more rapid than the most expert penman in a normal state. and what astonishes many is, that she cannot stop writing when she wishes to, and sometimes becomes so exceedingly fatigued as to beg of the spirit or spirits to grant her a little repose from the wearisome task. but the whole matter is easily accounted for, without referring it to the supposed agency of spirits. the lady's arm is first paralyzed--deprived of motion by the will of the medium or operator, so that her own mind or will has not the least control over it. she thus becomes a mere machine, under the will and control of another, whose will directs the movements of the arm and pen, and dictates what is written in answer to inquiries made of things appertaining to the spirit world, just as miss martineau declares, in her letters on magnetism, that "the volitions of the mesmerist may actuate the movements of the patient's limbs, and suggest the material of his ideas." many singular effects are produced upon the minds and feelings of subjects in a sleep-waking state, by professor williams, dr. cutter, and others, such as being made drunk with water, eating cayenne as sugar, exercising complete control over their mental as well as physical condition. we have been assured by a pathetist, who is a thorough adept in the profession, that he _can_ and often _has_ put persons in communication _apparently_ with a deceased father, mother, brother, sister, or friend. the individual is first _pathetized_ (another name for mesmerism) by him in a wakeful state, though unconscious, it may be, that he is under such an influence. his mind being in the possession and under the control of the operator, a person is now either actually or mentally (for it makes no difference) presented before him, and he is told of the fact, and asked, _do you not see your father?_ the idea of _father_ is so presented to the mind, through the organ of _form_, that the organ can take cognizance of none other than the father. the _person_, if an actual person is employed for the occasion, is then shifted or changed for another person; yet the subject perceives no difference, even if changed successively for a dozen others; it is all the same; it is _father_, and no one else, through the whole exhibition. the father speaks, the son recognizes his voice, and they converse together. the subject can be willed to hear any sound, as that of music, artillery, thunder, and the like, though no sounds whatever are in reality made. a niece of ours was operated on in this way, and she was told to look abroad and behold the majestic waves of the ocean, the pageantry of a military procession; and she saw and was delighted with the scenes that were _willed_ to pass before her. apples were oranges to her, and she sucked their juice with a delightful zest. an apple paring held before her was a beautiful bird, then a squirrel, a rabbit, or whatever the operator _willed_ it to become. the mind of the operator and the subject, in such cases, become as one, and they then hear, see, taste, and feel the same thing at the same moment. miss martineau says that, while in a mesmeric state, she saw "things out of other worlds--not the things themselves, but _impressions_ of them." "they come," says she, "from my brain. the influence does not separate soul and body, but it sets the body at rest, while it exalts and elevates the thinking powers." "a striking incident," says miss m., "occurred in one of my earliest walks after recovery from a protracted illness. my mesmerist and i had reached a headland nearly half a mile from home, and were resting there, when she proposed to mesmerize me a little--partly to refresh me for our return, and partly to see if any effect would be produced in a new place, and while a fresh breeze was blowing. she merely laid her hand upon my forehead, and in a minute or two the usual appearances came, assuming a strange air of novelty from the scene in which i was. after the blurring of the outlines, which made all objects more dim than the dull gray day had already made them, the phosphoric lights appeared, glorifying every rock and headland, the horizon, and all the vessels in sight. one of the dirtiest and meanest of the steam tugs in the port was passing at the time, and it was all dressed in heavenly radiance--the last object that my imagination would select as an element of a vision. then, and often before and since, did it occur to me, that if i had been a pious and very ignorant catholic, i could not have escaped the persuasion that i had seen heavenly visions. every glorified object before my eyes would have been a revelation; and my mesmerist, with the white halo around her head, and the illumined profile, would have been a saint or an angel." we know not whether, in this instance, the mesmerist _willed_ her subject to behold things as she did, yet as to the general truth _that the will of the operator can produce in the subject mesmerized those states of mind and body which he wills him or her to experience_, there is abundant evidence. o. s. fowler, editor of the phrenological journal, says he "can bear ample testimony to the fact, as he has seen, experienced, and _induced_ similar states by the thousand." and many others testify to the same effect. persons can be made to travel to other countries, and even to other spheres, and come back and tell what they have seen. and as persons vary in the talent of description and observation, in the normal state, so do they vary in a semi-abnormal condition. some are found to be _better travellers_, and will see more than others, and in spiritual things will differ in their descriptions as they differ in religious creeds and sentiments. thus a swedenborg, or a fishbough, sees a hell in the future state, where sinners suffer the penalty of their earthly sins; while an ambler, or a davis, discovers that all men are alike joyful and happy. mr. davis has seen fit to caution the public not to believe too quickly or too fully the things excitable persons relate; "because some minds are naturally inclined to exaggerate or enlarge upon every thing which they may feel, see, or hear." the _state_ alluded to is merely _induced_. it is not real. persons are frequently made to do what they believe is done by others, as in the case of a son of dr. phelps, of stratford, connecticut. the boy, on one occasion, was found (with a rope passed under his arms) suspended to the limb of a tree, having been taken, as was supposed, from his bed in the evening by spirits, and thus treated by them. the boy declared that when it was done, he "screamed at the top of his voice;" but it was ascertained that he made no noise at all, for if he had, the domestics, who were in the kitchen when he passed through it, must have heard him, which they did not. we have the testimony of a. j. davis, himself, that the boy "really supposed that he had called aloud; and so far from having been tied to the tree _by spirits, he had been made unconsciously instrumental in tying himself to the tree_!" "i have heard," says mr. davis, "instances of mischief cited, as occurring in dr. phelps's house, in evidence of _satanic agency_, which i now discover to have been caused or accomplished by one of the children in sport, sometimes by electrical discharges and magnetic attractions, and sometimes by the almost unpardonable mischievousness of persons unknown to the family. the wanton destruction of property alleged to have taken place on this gentleman's premises is referable, in most cases, to emanations of vital electricity, seeking its equilibrium in the atmosphere. in this manner window panes were broken and furniture injured. in woodbridge, new york, some few years ago, a young lady was affected with a disease which gave rise to similar phenomena. mysterious sounds were heard in her presence; window panes were frequently broken in her vicinity; and, in like manner, door panels were burst out, sometimes falling _towards_ her, sometimes _from_ her, and quick, concussive, and very loud sounds were heard under her feet as she ascended a flight of stairs. ultimately, the mysterious phenomena frightened her into an illness which cured the malady." "people cannot be too cautious how they receive the doings of those who profess to be in connection with spirits of the other spheres; and to those who wish to inquire into the matter, we would say, go and hear, but try to keep your wits about you, and not swallow bodily either the preachers or their strange affirmations."--_horace greely._ "under an impression that whatever is communicated by a spirit must, of course, be true, many persons are receiving these communications as the truth of god--as a new revelation from the spirit world. but if these communications are from spirits, we have no proof that they are good spirits. the presumption is, that they are bad spirits--lying spirits. at my house they often accused each other of lying--contradicted at one time what they affirmed at another; inflicted injury upon property in the most wanton manner; and have given conclusive evidence throughout that the discipline of hell, which they profess to have experienced for several years, has not been wholly effectual in improving their characters, and qualifying them for the 'higher spheres' for which many suppose that the discipline after death is a preparation."--_dr. phelps._ "many of the doings of the rapping spirits are too nonsensical and absurd to be believed. they spoil all our notions of the dignity, the _spirituality_, of the spiritual world. that a messenger should come from the spirit land to tell an old woman that her black cat did eat another old woman's white rabbit, is not in accordance with the ideas most people have of the doings and missions of beings in the enjoyment of an immortal state."--_puritan recorder._ persons trained by a lecturer. we have been informed, by a certain mesmerizer, that a distinguished lecturer upon magnetism frequently trains persons to enact certain parts in his public exhibitions. he first puts them under mesmeric influence, and while in that state they are instructed to say certain things, or to perform certain acts, which he wishes to exhibit at some subsequent lecture. to this they severally agree, and thus a regular programme, or series of performances, is made out. they are then brought out of the mesmeric state, having been previously willed by the operator to forget all that has passed while in that state. at the next meeting appointed, these persons are present, and are again put into the same state as before, when they immediately perceive, and are ready to perform, the several parts assigned to them. in fact, they are so completely under the will and control of the lecturer, that they _must_ do or say _what he wills them to do or say_, and they cannot help it, neither can they have the least recollection of what has transpired, after being restored to the normal state. scene at east boston. we were present at a "circle," at the house of a _medium_ in east boston, on the 30th of april, 1852. instead of that decorum and seriousness that might be expected while holding intercourse with departed spirits, we were surprised at the levity and sport indulged on the occasion. the spirits were laughed at, and scolded, because they made so many blunders in spelling out names, and were urged and coaxed to do better. a lady, who had buried a friend, was told that the name of the deceased was _hannah_. but she informed the medium that it was a _brother_ she had buried, and that she had never lost a _sister_. but the medium said it made no difference, as the spirits often gave the name of a sister for a brother, and sometimes a cousin for either, as they were all in the family connection, and all such dwelt together in the love circles. in spelling out the name of any deceased friend, you are presented with a card containing the alphabet, and are required to commence with the letter a, and go through the alphabet some one, two, or three times, touching each letter with a pencil as you pass over it. on touching some particular letter, a rap is given, indicating that it is the first letter of the name of your departed friend. and so of the other letters comprising the name. the spirits often made mistakes in rapping at the wrong letter, and were required to try again till they got the spelling right. we were very particular to observe that the spirit was sure to rap whenever the inquirer stopped or hesitated in passing over any letter. five or six would be eagerly watching the movement of your hand, and the least possible hesitation upon any one letter was sure to be accompanied with simultaneous raps. and as the inquirer was frequently cautioned to proceed slow, it was natural enough to hesitate on those letters comprising the name as it was spelled in their own mind. in this way the alphabet became an interpreter to the supposed spirits. we requested that some demonstrations should be given in the art of table lifting, but were told that the gentleman through whose agency the feat is performed was not present this evening. we inquired if it was necessary that any particular gentleman should be present that tables or chairs might be raised, and were told it was, and that the gentleman in question seemed to carry a large amount of electricity in a circle about his person. we have been informed by another person, who says he has, and often does, raise tables and other articles, by request of others, that he does it by controlling the vital electricity of individuals present at the time. he says he "_steals_" their vital electricity, and appropriates it to his own use, although those from whom he thus takes it are not conscious of the fact. the more persons there are in the room, the larger the amount of electricity obtained, and the greater the effects produced by it. there is nothing as yet performed by those alleged to be in connection with spirits but what he can successfully imitate, such as producing effects upon persons at a distance, imitating the handwriting of absent or deceased persons unknown to him causing persons to write music, poetry, &c., who, in a normal state, are incapable of doing either, as well as many other exploits, at the option or desire of those who are present; inquirers, oftentimes, in such cases, becoming the operators, transferring their own impressions, ideas, sentiments, and knowledge to the acting medium, and yet entirely ignorant of the fact, and astonished at the results produced. the gentleman referred to discards the agency of spirits in these transactions, and declares that the whole is done by the power of his own will in using and controlling the amount of electricity present at the time; thus proving that the mind or spirit in the body has as much power and control over electricity as the mind or spirit has _out_ of, or separate from, the body. and he is of the opinion that if scientific men would investigate the powers of electricity, and the laws by which it is controlled, they would no more think of attributing the phenomena of the times to the agency of _spirits_, than to the pope of rome. many engaged in producing these phenomena are themselves ignorant of the power or means by which they are produced, and therefore attribute them to _spiritual_ agency, which is, in fact, transferring the whole matter to a point beyond human investigation, where no mortal being can possibly explore. some seem to think that these modern developments must be the work of spirits, because, amid all the opposition arraigned against them, they still continue to progress, and are becoming more and more wonderful every day. yet the same argument is as conclusive and convincing in favor of mormonism, and other foolish and wicked extravagances, as it is in favor of the alleged spiritual manifestations. but while hundreds, and perhaps thousands, are marvelling at the strangeness of these developments, we find that several who have been engaged in them for months or years, and believed them to be emanations from the spirit world, now declare their convictions to the contrary, as will be seen by the following account from the pen of a distinguished writer, professor pond, of maine. extract from the puritan recorder. "the feats of the ancient jugglers were many of them mere acts of deception. they were known to be such by those who performed them. and the same is true of many who practise the like things now. their rappings and writings, and other strange performances, are secretly, artfully got up by themselves. i do not say that this is true in all cases; but in some cases we _know_ it is true; because the matter has been fully investigated, and public confession has been made. for example: a young woman, who had been instructed by the rochester rappers, and practised the art with them for a time, afterwards renounced it, and exposed the delusion to the world. 'all who saw her and heard her,' says my informant, 'were entirely satisfied of the truth of her statements, and that she had revealed the actual method in which the deception was effected and the deluded were blinded. another young woman in providence, almira beazely, who was noted for her rappings and revelations, and who murdered her brother to accomplish one of her own predictions, confessed, on her trial, that she made the noises herself, and explained the manner in which they were produced. she also confessed to the removal of certain articles in the house which had strangely disappeared, and which she pretended had been _taken away by spirits_. drs. lee and flint, of buffalo, assisted by two gentlemen by the name of burr, have very thoroughly investigated the matter, and explained the manner in which the mysterious noises are made. mr. burr has himself made the rappings, and made them so loud as to be heard by a congregation of fifteen hundred people. "these instances are sufficient to prove that the spiritual manifestations of our times, like those of ancient times, are in many instances a sheer deception--a vile trick, palmed off upon a wondering and credulous community, for the sake of money, or for other sinister and selfish ends. if there is any thing more than trick in these spiritual manifestations,--and i am inclined to think that, in some instances, there may be,--i should refer it, as in case of the ancient wizards, to the influence of _occult natural causes_--perhaps electricity, or animal magnetism, or something else, operating upon a nervous system of peculiar sensibility. i incline to this opinion for several reasons. "in the first place, if the noises and other manifestations were really the work of spirits, why should they not be made through one person, as well as another? why should not all mediums be alike? whereas it is confessed that only persons of a peculiar nervous temperament are capable of becoming mediums. "again: if the disclosures which are made are really from the spirit world, it might be expected that they would, at least, be _consistent with themselves_. whereas it is well known that they vary endlessly. in numerous instances, they are directly self-contradictory. 'some of the communications,' says one who had been a medium, 'were orthodox; others were infidel. some would acknowledge the truth of the bible; others would condemn it. some would be in favor of virtue; others would encourage the grossest crimes.' "another man, who had been a noted medium, but who was beginning to get his eyes opened as to the character of the proceedings, told his audience one night, 'now, any one present ask a series of questions, and i pledge myself that the answer shall be, every time, yes.' some one in the company asked, 'is john thompson alive?' the answer was, 'yes.' 'is john thompson dead?' 'yes.' 'does john thompson live in vermont?' 'yes.' 'does he live in massachusetts?' 'yes.' and so the spirits went on contradicting themselves times without number. after this, a like series of questions were answered in the negative, exhibiting the most glaring contradictions, just as the operator pleased. "but this brings me to another reason for supposing that the answers are not from departed spirits, but rather from the _mind of the operator_, or from _some other mind in communication with his_, under the influence of an electric or magnetic cause. it is an admitted fact that these answers coincide very generally with the opinions or wishes of the medium, or of some one present in consultation with him. i knew a very respectable man, who discovered that he was a medium, and who practised various experiments upon himself. upon being asked what he thought of it, he replied, 'if the answers are from the spirits, they must be _very silly spirits_; for they always answer just as i wish to have them.' another medium informs us that he can obtain any answer he pleases, by fixing his mind strongly upon it at the time. now, does this look as though the answer came from spirits? if the spirits of the dead spoke, they would be likely to speak out independently; to speak just what _they_ thought, and not what those thought with whom they were consulting. "there is another circumstance to be noted in this connection. when the requisite preparation is made, there is no need of consulting the spirits at all, in order to secure answers. you may consult with the chairs or the table just as well. this experiment was tried, not long since, at wilmington, vermont. a mr. kellogg was the medium, and he had succeeded in consulting the spirits to the satisfaction of all concerned. at length he remarked that he was about to let the company into an important secret. 'we will interrogate the _table_,' said he, 'and have nothing more to do with spirits.' he did so; and the _table talked and answered, just as the spirits had done before_. at the same time the table was made to stand on one leg, and to move about, as is usual in such cases. this experiment demonstrated, to the satisfaction of all present, that the strange appearances could be produced just as well without the spirits as with them. 'the calling for spirits,' to use the language of my informant, 'is mere garnish and fog, by which the real agency in the case is concealed.' "on the point now under consideration, viz., the possibly _electric_ character of these manifestations, i am happy to introduce the testimony of dr. samuel taylor, a respectable physician of petersham, massachusetts, whose article on the subject may be found in a late number of the boston medical and surgical journal. dr. taylor discovered accidentally that he was a medium, and he proceeded to make experiments upon himself. the manifestation, in his case, was not by rapping, but by writing--a much more convenient mode of communicating with the spirit world. on taking his pen, and holding himself in a peculiar attitude, and proposing mentally some question to the spirits, his pen would begin to oscillate in his fingers, and very soon would write out an answer; and this without any voluntary effort of his own. and what is particularly to be noticed is, the pen would always write an answer which accorded with his own opinion or wishes, that is, if he had any wish on the subject. for example: dr. taylor inquired of one of the spirits about the different forms of religion. 'i asked which was the best religion, at the same time fixing my mind sternly on the word _protestant_. my hand immediately wrote _protestant_. in the same manner, and _by direction of the same spirit_, my hand wrote successively, _methodist_, _unitarian_, and i believe one or two others. while in this state,' dr. taylor says, '_i felt a sensation like that of a light galvanic current passing through me_. sometimes it appeared to be a steady thrill, and sometimes it was intermittent, resembling light shocks of electricity.' "after numerous experiments, dr. taylor comes to the conclusion, that the strange phenomena of which he was the subject were not tricks of his own, neither did they come from the spirit world, but were the result of what he calls _detached vitalized electricity_. when this conclusion had been formed in his own mind, it occurred to him that he would put it to the test of the spirits themselves. 'accordingly i asked them,' says he, 'if this was the work of departed spirits. the answer was, "no." i asked if it was the work of the devil. again the answer was, "no." i asked if it was the effect of _detached vitalized electricity_. the answer was, "yes."' so the spirits _confirmed_ the conclusion to which the doctor had come, as they did, in fact, all his conclusions. "we have the testimony of another medium, of the same import with that of dr. taylor. mr. benjamin f. cooley, who had long been a believer and operator in the spiritual rappings, states that his mind is now entirely changed. this change was brought about in consequence of 'a deep and earnest study of the nature, power, and application of electricity, and of the susceptibility of the mind to electrical or psychological changes.' these things, he says, will produce the same mysterious and startling phenomena which have been produced throughout the country, and attributed to the operations of departed spirits. (mr. cooley has recently published a work entitled an exposition of spiritual manifestations, to which we would refer the reader.) "a part of what is done by those who claim to have familiar spirits, may be the result of unknown _natural causes_. this is the most plausible and excusable view which can possibly be taken of these practices; and yet, even in this view, they are frightfully evil. the persons who alone are susceptible to the influence of these natural causes are generally those of a diseased or delicate nervous temperament; and the effect of experimenting upon their nervous system is usually to shatter it the more. they become excitable, fantastic, and often insane. diseases are engendered, both of body and mind, which lead on to the most fearful consequences. but a short time ago, the papers gave an account of a man in barre, massachusetts, who had been much given to the rappings and other spiritual manifestations, who became, in consequence, a raving maniac, threatening the life of his family, and was committed to the lunatic asylum at worcester. other like instances are occurring frequently, from the same cause. almira beazely, the providence rapper, who murdered her brother in fulfilment of one of her own predictions, was cleared on the ground of her insanity. "but this is not the only evil of the practices in question, when viewed as the result of natural causes. for the truth is, that, in most cases, they are _not so viewed_ by those who engage in them. _they_ regard them as the work of spirits. they are, therefore, deceived; and those who follow them are deceived. both suppose they are receiving utterances from the other world, when nothing is uttered but vain fantasies from their own minds and hearts. such a deception is, manifestly, a hurtful one. it is full of danger to all concerned. to mistake one's own fancies for divine revelation, and feel conscience-bound to obey them as such, is the very essence of _fanaticism_. it is fanaticism in its most frightful form. under the influence of such an impression, persons may be led to perpetrate the greatest cruelties, and the most horrid crimes, and vainly think that they are doing god service. the wretched man in barre was led to attempt the life of his family, in obedience to a supposed revelation from the spirit world. "the practices which have been considered are of heathen origin. they originated with the ancient heathen; they were spread over a greater part of the heathen world; and they continue to pervade and curse it to the present time. among numerous heathen tribes at the present day, scarcely a calamity occurs--a death, a flood, a fit of sickness, or an instance of death--but some poor creature (and often more than one) is accused and put to death, as being the cause of it. 'the sick man is bewitched: who has bewitched him? his death (if he chance to die) has been brought about by evil spirits: who has sent the spirits upon him?' to get an answer to these questions, some old hag or conjurer is consulted; the cause of the mischief is quickly discovered, and an innocent person is put to death. probably hundreds die every year after this manner, among the heathen, _even in this nineteenth century_! and the case would soon be no better among ourselves, if we were to go, extensively and _confidently_, into the practice of consulting with familiar spirits. the spirits would unravel all mysteries for us; they would reveal all secrets; and not a man, woman, or child would long be safe from their malicious accusations. "something more than a year ago, the lunatic asylum in maine took fire, and a portion of its inmates were smothered and consumed. and there are hundreds of persons now in the state, who affirm that the building was set on fire by the keepers, with a view to cover up and conceal their own wickedness. these persons _know_ it was so; they have not the shadow of a doubt on the subject. why? not that they have a particle of evidence to this effect from our world, but because the spirits have so informed them. now, let these utterances become common, and be commonly received, and in three months' time those keepers might every one of them be dragged to the gallows, or the stake, while they were as innocent of the charge laid against them as a child unborn. "i refer to this instance just to show the sin, the evil, the exceeding peril, of indulging in those practices which have been exposed. let all those who read these things, then, beware of them and shun them. if any of us are capable of becoming _mediums_, as they are called, we had better not know it; or, if we know it, we had better refrain from all experiments. to tamper with such a power is to tamper with an already shattered nervous system, the only effect of which will be to shatter it the more. "there is nothing more striking than the difference between those representations of the future world which are made known in the bible, and which we know are true, and those which are put forth by the revealers of our own times. the former are solemn, exciting, impressive, some of them awfully so, others gloriously. while the latter, as professor stowe says, are 'so uniformly and monotonously silly, that we are compelled to think, if these are really the spirits of the dead, in dying they must have lost what little of common sense they ever possessed. if these are actual specimens of the spiritual world, then this world, hard and imperfect as it is, is altogether the most respectable part of god's creation.' "in the bible, we have frequent accounts of persons who were raised from the dead--who actually returned from the spirit world to this. but they returned uniformly with sealed lips. in not a single instance did they make any disclosures. but our modern revealers pursue a very different course. they practise no reserve. they go into the minutest particulars,--sometimes into the most disgusting details,--and publish, as one expresses it, 'a penny magazine of the spiritual world.'" in the language of the puritan recorder, "the worst of the evil is the soul-hardening familiarity they produce with the most awful subjects ever offered for human contemplation. we know of nothing in human experience so fatally destructive of all that reverence for the spiritual, that awe of the unseen, that tender emotion, as well as solemn interest, which connect themselves with the idea of the other life. who, that has a christian heart, would not prefer the silence of the grave to the thought of the dear departed one in the midst of such imaginings, and such scenic associations as are usually connected with the performances of the spirit rappers? 'they are not dead, but _sleep_.' 'they enter into _peace_,' says the prophet. and then the precious and consoling addition--'they sleep in jesus;' meaning, beyond all doubt, a state of rest, of calmness, of security, of undisturbed and beatific vision--far removed from all resemblance to this bustling life--a state in all respects the opposite of that which fancy pictures as belonging to the scenes presented in the manifestations of spiritual rappings, and spiritual table liftings and all those spiritual pantomimes, which seem to be becoming more and more extravagant and grotesque in proportion to the infidel credulity with which they are received." should any think, by reading what we have offered upon this subject in the preceding pages, that we have imputed guilt and deception to mediums, who are believed to be, many of them, above such trickery, we would merely refer such to page 29 of the reply of veriphilos credens to the communications supposed to have been written by dr. enoch pond, professor in the bangor seminary, as published in the columns of the puritan recorder. the reviewer says, "to suppose that mediums could practise deception on men of shrewdness and caution implies a greater credulity than does a faith in the most startling of their performances." "there is not the slightest degree of evidence," says this writer, "that such a case has ever occurred;" and yet on the selfsame page he says, "_there is no doubt that some mediums, when the sounds and motions have failed to come in the usual mysterious way, have counterfeited them by some sly motions of their feet and hands. i have seen such things done, in some instances!_" the same author says, page 63, "i have not attempted to justify any reliance on disclosures made to us in the way of rappings. i think it _altogether_ unsafe to do so, for the declaration has already come to us, from what purports to be the spirits themselves, that _all these manifestations are of a low order_, and are produced by the _lowest grade of spirits_." as to the plea that "spirits _must_ make the sounds," to account for the _intelligence_ communicated, it being impossible for mere "_electricity_ to originate facts," we reply by affirming that there is no intelligence given beyond a certain limit; i.e., the mind of some one or ones in connection, either present or absent, for it makes no difference. for available purposes, a person a thousand or ten thousand miles distant may yield all the amount of intelligence required in a given case. distance is no obstacle whatever. electricity counts neither time nor space. for instance, the transmission of electricity through a conducting substance is instantaneous. a wire, or other conductor, may have motion communicated to its whole length at the same moment, whatever that length may be; and it is stated that an electro-magnetic impulse may be transmitted at the rate of one hundred and eighty thousand miles in a second, thus outstripping the sun in its march! a large number of intelligent individuals, who, for a year or two past, have instituted a series of experiments upon this matter of "intelligence," have found that in no case has information been imparted beyond what existed in their own minds or that of some kindred or friend. finding this to be the case, they have wisely come to the conclusion that spirits have never originated a solitary idea; that is, _disembodied spirits_; and as to the spirit within a man, in his corporeal state, why cannot it command as much influence over vital electricity as in its disembodied existence? since both parties claim to perform by the same agent, and both claim this agent to be that of _vital electricity_, we have also come to the same conclusion, with a host of others, that the "calling for spirits is mere garnish and fog, by which the real agency in the case is concealed." extract from the home journal. "a considerable heap of books, pamphlets, and periodicals, some against, but most of them for, the 'spiritual phenomena,' has been accumulating upon our table, and now looms up large before us, demanding notice. that departed spirits have any thing to do with them is an explanation that we have never been able to accept for one moment. we should as soon think of asserting that an apple, rolling suddenly at our feet, must necessarily have fallen out of heaven, because we could not see the tree it had blown from. to bring such an astounding theory to explain such trivial phenomena is like sending a frigate to pick up a champagne bottle that might be floating down the bay. "by some of the works before us we are informed, among many other things, that in the other world every man has his name upon his front door; that swedenborg is a great man, delivers lectures, and _has a street named after him_; that in heaven parties, concerts, and _converzationes_ are frequent; that at some of the concerts, star singers of great celebrity perform, attracting inconceivable multitudes of spirits to hear them; that children take lessons in french and italian every morning; that the space allotted to some of the spirits is as large as new york; that the 'seventh sphere' (the highest heaven) is about five thousand miles from the earth; that the beds are of roses, and when the spirits recline upon them, the birds sing joyfully around, and mingle their music with the perfume of the flowers; that the celestials (not the chinese) wear white robes, edged with pink; that a man generally attends his own funeral; that spirits, on their arrival in heaven, are set to studying geology, chemistry, and other dull subjects, which they soon begin to like, and say their daily lessons with an excellent grace; that parchment is in extensive use; that spirits are allowed to visit 'earth' once a day only, and have the privilege of staying one hour; that they have books, rings, newspapers, robin redbreasts, fruit, lakes, streams, diamonds, and drawing masters in the next world. 'dora's dress,' says one of the revelations, 'was of blue satin, with a white sash; half sleeves, full; a pink velvet ribbon round her throat, fastened by a cameo. her hair was in curls each side of her face, and fastened in a knot behind.' dora, be it observed, is a departed _spirit_. "if it could be shown that all these things were really revealed, as they are said to be, we should still think them unworthy of notice. the greater part of the 'supernal theology' is utterly frivolous; and whether frivolous or not, it bears very plainly the impress of the medium's own mind, or of the unknown desires of those by whom he is surrounded. if we were called upon to minister to a mind diseased, or to find pabulum for a soul hungering after moral excellence, we should as soon think of offering a copy of the arabian nights' entertainments as a book of the 'supernal theology.' for the practical guidance of life, there is more help in any two maxims of the sermon on the mount, than in the whole literature of supernaturalism. "the manifestation mania would have died away long since but for one unfortunate circumstance. we have in our land a large number of men who may be termed semi-clergymen, or, as they are frequently called, 'outsiders,' or 'come-outers.' these are they who, either because they know too much or because they know too little, or from superfluity of naughtiness or redundancy of virtue, find it difficult to obtain a 'settlement.' these are the men who foster delusions; who, because they cannot find a way to _serve_ the public, are reduced to _prey_ upon it. they embrace the new light--whatever it may be--with a degree of sincerity, and commit themselves to it; then they push it, stimulate it, make a business of it, and live by it. o the multitude of spiritual delusions that in every age of the world have originated and derived their strength solely from the fact that the bodily necessities of certain individuals depended upon their perpetuity! that, at this moment, there are men most diligently engaged in the new spiritual line, for the purpose of securing by it a reprieve from starvation, (or work,) is a fact which we do not merely believe, but _know_." foretelling future events. many devices have been resorted to in order to foretell the events of the future. some pretend to do it by cards; some by the settlings of a tea or coffee cup; some by astrology; some by tables of letters and figures; some by the lines of the hand; and some by spirits of the dead. strenuous advocates of these various modes are found, who recount the wonderful predictions that have taken place. some spirit hunter recently prognosticated that the ship staffordshire (reported to be lost) would arrive safe at san francisco on a certain day, as she did. professor anderson had a glass bell at the melodeon, in boston, in september, 1852, that answered questions pertaining to future events. in deciding upon who would be the next president, it gave six distinct taps for pierce--the number agreed upon if he was to be the successful competitor. this was done without any aid from spirits. we very much doubt whether robach or lester would refuse a challenge from a. j. davis himself, to test their respective claims to correct predictions. yet we do not believe that any reliance can be placed upon the prophecies of either party. events may sometimes transpire in accordance with their predictions; and it would be strange if they did not, as they are always predicting, and events are ever occurring. but they never think of naming the multiplicity of failures that take place. not long since, the spirits said that a distant friend would never live to reach home; but he soon after arrived, safe and well. mr. lester told a young man of woburn that in two years he would marry a certain young lady; but in two months he was a corpse. hundreds of such failures are constantly occurring, but are kept out of sight. if generally known, they would spoil the trade. we are surprised that men professing to high attainments, as a. j. davis and some of his coadjutors, should fall back and plant themselves upon such stale trash. some two years since, while lying apparently near our end, a lady suggested to us that, if we desired, she would consult mr. lester upon the probability of our recovery. we declined the offer, choosing to leave all with the sovereign disposer of events, believing that he would permit nothing to take place but what would be for our best good, and that of all concerned. "heaven from all creatures hides the book of fate, all but the page prescribed--their _present state_; from brutes what men, from men what angels know; or who could suffer being here below? the lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day, had he thy reason, would he skip and play? pleased to the last, he crops the flowery food, and licks the hand just raised to shed his blood. o, blindness to the future! kindly given, that each may fill the circle marked by heaven. _hope humbly then_; with trembling pinions soar; wait the great teacher death, and god adore! what future bliss he gives not thee to know, but gives _that hope_ to be thy _blessing now_."--pope. visions, miracles, and wonders. the writings of the spirit rappers abound with accounts of sights, sounds, visions, and wonders. we are forcibly reminded of a similar display in the writings of the adventists, previous to the predicted end of the world in 1843--an overwhelming array of facts, calculations, signs, visions, wonders, miracles, maps, pictures, drawings, and hieroglyphics, all going to show, in the most positive manner, that in that year the world would be annihilated. and still it remains; and the works containing the omens and facts to substantiate the prediction are called to share the fate of a farmer's almanac quite out of date. some few still hold on to a semblance of the theory, like him who, in the spring of 1851, declared that a talking cow, somewhere in maine, had prophesied that the world would be burned up the following june. how lamentable to view the numbers of men and women who have given heed to such things, when assured that the day and the hour is not known even by the son himself. (matt. xxiv. 36.) many of these persons were once active in the church, and exerted an influence for good; but by remaining in their present position, their influence in the cause of christ is palsied, and their, talents buried in the earth. and yet we have propounded to us another "new church," which, according to the predictions of its adherents, is destined to destroy all other churches, as it _was to be_, according to the predictions of miller, fitch, himes, and others. in conclusion upon these things, we would add, that it has been our belief from the first, that there is nothing supernatural in the so-called _spiritual manifestations_. they all bear the marks of _earthly_ origin. the public not knowing how to explain them, the first rappings were attributed to the "spirits;" and the idea having been set afloat, it has been adopted without investigation, being the easiest way of accounting for it. to the common mind, three hundred years ago, it was plain and easy, that the world was _flat_, and rested on something--on the _back of atlas_, and he stood on a _tortoise_, and the tortoise again on _something_; and the fact that nobody could tell what, was not allowed to stumble any one; it rested on a _foundation_, and that was enough for any one to know or believe. motion, space, attraction, and repulsion were not understood, and galileo came near losing his life, and did lose his personal liberty and character, for intelligence. when the world is as fully instructed in certain principles connected with our existence as it is in the laws of the physical universe, the "rappings," we think, will cease to be a wonder. clairvoyant physicians. persons in a clairvoyant state, by being put in connection with a diseased person, feel, by sympathy, the pain and disease of the patient. but to be qualified to describe the locality of the disease, or be able to tell what organ or part is affected, the practitioner must first have studied anatomy and physiology. the more perfect they are in these branches, the more accurately can they describe the seat of the disease. their remedies are mostly botanical, and are generally safe in their operation. the _regular_ "clairvoyant physician," so to speak, does not pretend to be in league with "spirits;" but there _are_ those who profess that their prescriptions come from the other world--from those who, though dead, rest _not_ from their labors. notwithstanding the extreme simplicity of their remedies, such as any common nurse would advise, yet such is the profound sanctity and mystery thrown around them by an _unseen spirit_, that some profess to have received "wonderful healing mercies." to _believe_ that a medicine (however simple) is prescribed by a _spirit_ from above, is enough to perform a cure in any case. imagination alone is equal to the task. a very eminent allopathic physician informs us that he often rolls up brown bread pills, which, in certain cases, perform unmistakable cures. in fact, history is full of recoveries wrought out by aid of the imagination. we will subjoin a case by way of illustration. "sir humphrey davy, on one occasion in early life, was assisting dr. beddoes in his experiments on the inhalation of nitrous oxide. dr. beddoes having inferred that this agent must be a specific for palsy, a patient was selected for trial, and placed under the care of davy. previously to administering the gas, davy inserted a small thermometer under the tongue of the patient, to ascertain the temperature. the paralytic man, wholly ignorant of the process to which he was to submit, but deeply impressed by dr. beddoes with the certainty of its success, no sooner felt the thermometer between his teeth, than he concluded the talisman was in operation, and in a burst of enthusiasm declared that he had already experienced the effects of its benign influence throughout his whole body. the opportunity was too tempting to be lost. davy did nothing more, but desired his patient to return on the following day. the same ceremony was repeated, the same result followed; and at _the end of a fortnight he was dismissed wholly cured_; no remedy of any kind, except the thermometer, having ever been used." style of "supernal" compositions. in the "supernal" productions we are presented with a pedantic display of high-sounding words and phrases. to use the language of inspiration, "they speak great swelling words of vanity." a work has recently been announced with this imposing title: "macrocosm and microcosm," containing, among other things, "_the potential media_," "_the diastole and systole of nature_." a writer in the spiritual telegraph, of october 9, says, "there are very many fancy-captivating, and depravity-flattering publications--some of them filled with indications, the most specious and subtle, of a refined _atheism_. and i have seen a copy or two of a certain 'journal,' ostensibly advocating the great truths (?) of spiritual manifestations, but containing some articles in which there was a congregation of words _superlatively unmeaning and transcendentally ridiculous_." the same writer says, "i do not believe one half the communications which are said to come from george washington, benjamin franklin, henry clay, john c. calhoun, john wesley, and a host of other great names. what affinity can these spirits have with many of the thoughtless, light, and trifling circles, formed to pass off an hour, and perhaps ending with foolish mountebank scenes of psychology, falsely so called?" davis, in his great harmonia, page 206, exposes a class of "mercenary practitioners, who claim extraordinary or supernatural powers for their subjects, _who give public and vulgar exhibitions, who employ chicanery and ignorant plans, who trifle with and play fantastic tricks with their subjects_." he speaks of a class of "doctrinal practitioners, who prevert and misinterpret principles and results; who labor to make the phenomena subservient to, and illustrative of, the theological dogmas; who receive, modify, or reject, as a sectarian education and prejudice may sanction; who conceal, misstate, and magnify disclosures." enough, in all conscience, to condemn the whole farce. mysterious phenomena, with their agents or causes. a work has recently been issued in boston, by e. c. rogers, containing an exposition of mysterious agents, and dynamic laws, or science of moving powers. it is a very valuable work, and, with his consent, we shall take the liberty of introducing some of the principal facts adduced; and at the same time would advise every inquirer to purchase the work for himself, which he will never have cause to regret. on page 22, the author says, "light and heat have always been known as agents by the common sensation of their more palpable phenomena. but electricity and magnetism were not known until their phenomena were specially observed. many of the facts of these agents, before the latter had become known, were referred to spiritual agencies. it is the tendency of ignorance, in every age, to do the same thing. reason demands an agent adequate to the production of every phenomenon. if she has not been furnished with sufficient data by which to arrive at a correct conclusion, imagination, influenced by a blind marvellousness, will refer the phenomena to some supernatural cause. hence the early superstitions about chemical operations, the appearance of comets, eclipses, meteors, the 'bog lights,' and a thousand other phenomena. but as the agencies of nature have become known, and their laws and conditions of action discovered, the domination of superstition has given place to the triumph of reason and the reign of truth." "reason determines that, for every phenomenon, there is an agent; but never, without sufficient data, does she determine what that agent is. the imagination often assumes this prerogative, and gives conclusions without _facts_, or furnishes the false data from which the logical faculty draws false principles. we mention these things to show how easy it is to be deceived, by our imaginations, with regard to the causes of outward phenomena, and that the only legitimate and trustworthy process in arriving at a solution of the mysteries of nature is, to furnish the reason with _facts_, and exclude the influence of imagination. a blind precipitation of faith is also a fatal influence to all correct reasoning; for it rouses the action of the imagination, and long before the reason can possibly give a correct deduction, credulity and imagination have conjured one up; and this will be the more insisted upon as the only correct conclusion, as it is the least possessed of the real truth and the action of reason. hence it is that those persons who are most ignorant of the principles of nature are the more positive and precipitate in their decisions upon any question of mystery. they _know_ that there is no natural explanation, and the man is a fool who _attempts_ to find one." (page 34.) the first case we shall quote from the above work occurred in woodbridge, new jersey, and was published at the time in the newark daily advertiser. the phenomena made their appearance in the family of mr. j. barron, consisting, for the most part, of unusual sounds accompanying a servant girl. "the first sounds were those of a _loud thumping_, apparently against the side of the house, which commenced one evening, when the family had retired, and continued at short intervals until daylight, when it ceased. "the next evening it commenced at nightfall, when it was ascertained to be mysteriously connected with the movements of a servant girl in the family--a white girl, about fourteen years of age. while passing a window, on the stairs, for example, a _sudden jar_, accompanied with an _explosive sound, broke a pane of glass_, the girl at the same time being seized with a violent spasm. this, of course, very much alarmed her; and the physician, dr. drake, was sent for, who came and bled her. the bleeding, however, produced no apparent effect. the noise still continued, as before, at intervals, wherever the girl went, each sound producing more or less of a spasm; and the physician, with all the family, remained up during the night. at daylight the _thumping_ ceased again. in the evening the same thing was repeated, commencing a little earlier than before; and so every evening since, continuing each night until morning, and commencing each night a little earlier than before, until yesterday, when the thumping began about twelve o'clock at noon. the circumstances were soon generally spread through the neighborhood, and produced so much excitement that the house was filled, and surrounded from sunrise to sunset, for nearly a week. every imaginable means were resorted to, in order to unravel the phenomenon. at one time the girl would be removed from one apartment to another, but without effect. wherever she was placed, at certain intervals, the thumping would be heard in the room. she was taken to a neighboring house. the same result followed. when carried out of doors, however, no noise was heard. dr. drake, who was constant in his attendance during the whole period, occasionally aided by other scientific observers, was with us last evening for two hours, when we were politely allowed a variety of experiments with the girl, in addition to those heretofore tried, to satisfy ourselves that there is no imposition in the case, and, if possible, to discover the secret agent of the mystery. the girl was in an upper room, with a part of the family, when we reached the house. the noise then resembled that which would be produced by a person violently thumping the upper floor with the head of an axe, five or six times in succession, jarring the house, ceasing a few minutes, and then resuming as before. we were soon introduced into the apartment, and permitted to observe for ourselves. the girl appeared to be in perfect health, cheerful, and free from the spasms felt at first, and entirely relieved from every thing like the fear or apprehension which she manifested for some days. the invisible noise, however, continued to occur as before, though somewhat diminished in frequency, while we were in the room. in order to ascertain more satisfactorily that she did not produce it voluntarily, among other experiments we placed her on a chair on a blanket in the centre of the room, bandaged the chair with a cloth, fastening her feet on the front round, and confining her hands together on her lap. no change, however, was produced. the thumping continued as before, excepting that it was not quite so loud. the noise resembled that which would be produced by stamping on the floor with a heavy heel; yet she did not move a limb or muscle, that we could discover. she remained in this position long enough to satisfy all in the room that the girl exercised, voluntarily, no sort of agency in producing the noise. it was observed that the noise became greater the farther she was removed from any other person. we placed her in the doorway of a closet in the room, the door being ajar, to allow her to stand in the passage. in less than one minute the door flew open, as if violently struck with a mallet, accompanied with precisely such a noise as such a thump would produce. this was repeated several times, with the same effect. in short, in whatever position she was placed, whether in or out of the room, similar results, varied a little perhaps by circumstances, were produced. there is certainly no deception in the case. the noise was heard at least one hundred yards from the house." "in this case, no suspicions were entertained by the investigators that there was any supernatural or spiritual power manifested, as there was no manifestations of intelligence. they were purely physical phenomena." the next case we shall notice we copy from the spiritual telegraph of july 3, 1852, taken from an old new york paper, dated march 10, 1789. the extract is as follows:-"sir: were i to relate the many extraordinary, though not less true accounts i have heard concerning that unfortunate girl at new hackensack, your belief might perhaps be staggered and patience tired. i shall therefore only inform you of what i have been an eye-witness to. last sunday afternoon my wife and myself went to dr. thorn's, and after sitting for some time, we heard a knocking under the feet of a young woman that lives in the family; i asked the doctor what occasioned the noise: he could not tell, but replied, that he, together with several others, had examined the house, but were unable to discover the cause. i then took a candle and went with the girl into the cellar: there the knocking also continued; but as we were ascending the stairs to return, i heard a _prodigious rapping_ on each side, which alarmed me very much. i stood still some time, looking around with amazement, when i beheld some lumber, which lay at the head of the stairs, shake considerably. about eight or ten days after, we visited the girl again: the knocking was again heard, but much louder than before. our curiosity induced us to pay the third visit, when the phenomena were still more alarming. _i then saw the chairs move; a large dining table was thrown against me, and a small stand, on which stood a candle, was tossed up and thrown into my wife's lap_; after which we left the house, much surprised at what we had seen." "catharine crowe, in her night side of nature, mentions several well-authenticated cases of this character, and other writers have noticed the same phenomena. a case is given on the 410th page of miss crowe's work--that of a young officer in the english army, who, wherever he went, whether in camp or at home, or among strangers, was liable to be tormented with these _noises at night_. although they gave no particular marks of intelligence, yet they were regarded by his relatives with an abundance of superstition. they considered him "haunted." "when these sounds commenced, he would sit up in bed, and express his anger in strong execrations. if a cage bird was in his room, it was certain to be found dead in the morning; or if he kept a dog in the apartment, it would make away from him as soon as released, and never come near him again." "the phenomena in dr. phelps's case, already mentioned in this volume, consisted in the moving of articles of furniture in a manner that could not be accounted for. knives, forks, spoons, nails, blocks of wood, &c., were thrown in different directions about the house, when there appeared no visible power by which the motion could have been produced. a writer in the new haven journal and courier testifies, that while he was present, "the contents of the pantry were emptied into the kitchen, and bags of salt, tin ware, and heavy cooking utensils were thrown in a promiscuous heap upon the floor, with a loud and startling noise. loaves of delicious cake were scattered about the house. the large knocker of the outside door would thunder its fearful tones through the loud-resounding hall, chairs would deliberately move across the room, heavy marble-top tables would poise themselves upon two legs, and then fall with their contents to the floor--no person being within six feet of them." "on the 1st of october, 1850, mrs. phelps and her two children left home for pennsylvania: with this the phenomena ceased. the doctor remained at his house five weeks after, without disturbance. it was ascertained that these and other manifestations were less frequent and feebler when but one of the children was in the house; and that they were more frequent in connection with the lad, (one of the above children,) eleven years of age. these children had frequently been mesmerized into the trance state by their father; and one of them was subject to spontaneous trance, and at one time was found in the barn in a cataleptic state. since the return of the doctor's family, in the spring of 1851, he has kept the two children separate, the boy being away, lest his presence would occasion a recurrence of the same phenomena. simultaneous with the phenomena, the boy would frequently start while asleep in bed. analogous to the above are the wonderful occurrences which took place at stockwell, england, in january, 1772, as related in the work entitled night side of nature, page 370. we shall only give the most important particulars of the case, leaving the reader to consult the work itself." "on monday, january 6, 1772, about ten o'clock in the forenoon, as mrs. golding (the hostess) was in the parlor, she heard the china and glasses in the kitchen tumble down and break; her maid came to her, and told her the stone plates were falling from the shelf; mrs. golding went into the kitchen, and saw them broken. presently after, a row of plates from the next shelf fell down likewise, while she was there, and nobody near them: this astonished her much, and while she was thinking about it, other things in different places began to tumble about, some of them breaking, attended with violent noises all over the house; a clock tumbled down, and the case broke." the destruction increased with the wonder and terror of mrs. golding. wherever she went, accompanied by the servant girl, this dreadful waste of property followed. mrs. golding, in her terror, fled to a neighbor's, where she immediately fainted. a surgeon was called, and she was bled. the blood, which had hardly congested, was seen all at once to spring out of the basin upon the floor, and presently after, the basin burst to pieces, and a bottle of rum, that stood by it, broke at the same time. mrs. golding went to a second neighbor's, as the articles she had conveyed to the first were being destroyed. and while the maid remained at the first neighbor's, mrs. golding was not disturbed; but when putting up what few things remained unbroken of her mistress's in a back apartment, a jar of pickles, that stood upon a table, turned upside down, and other things were broken to pieces. meantime the disturbances had ceased at mrs. golding's house, and but little occurred at the neighbors', while mrs. golding and her servant remained apart. but as soon as they came into each other's company, the disturbance would begin again. about five o'clock on tuesday morning, mrs. golding went to the chamber of her niece, and desired her to get up, as the noises and destruction were so great she could continue in the house no longer: at this time, all the tables, chairs, drawers, &c., were tumbling about. in consequence of this resolution, mrs. golding and her maid went over the way to richard fowler's. the maid returned to mrs. pain's, to help this lady dress her children. at this time all was quiet. they then repaired to fowler's, and then began the same scenes as had happened at the other places. it must be remarked that all was quiet here as well as elsewhere, till the maid returned. when they reached mr. fowler's, he began to light a fire in his back room. when done, he put the candlestick upon the table in the fore room. this apartment mrs. golding and her maid had just passed through. this candlestick, and another with a tin lamp in it, that stood by it, were dashed together, and fell to the ground. a lantern, with which mrs. golding had been lighted across the road, sprang from a hook to the ground. a basket of coals tumbled over, and the coals rolled about the room. mrs. golding and her servant now returned home, when similar scenes were repeated. mr. pain then desired mrs. golding to send her maid for his wife to come to them. when she was gone all was quiet. when she returned she was immediately discharged, and no disturbances happened afterwards." "the account gives us the following particulars, namely: that the phenomena always depended upon the presence of the servant maid, and that they always occurred with the greatest energy when the mistress was in the company of the maid; also that, when the maid passed through a room alone, there would be little or no disturbance of its contents, but if she was soon after followed by mrs. golding, various articles would begin to play the most singular pranks. very often one article would be attracted by another, or they would fly towards each other, and striking together, fall upon the floor as if both had been charged with some physical agent which made them act like opposite poles. then, also, they would fly _from_ one another, as by _repulsive_ forces. every thing which mrs. golding had touched seems to have been in some way affected, so that afterwards, on the approach of the maid, it would be broken to atoms, sometimes, even, without her touch. the blood of mrs. golding was highly susceptible under the same circumstances, and the bowl in which it was contained and the glass ware standing by it burst to pieces." "in the year 1835, a suit was brought before the sheriff of edinburgh, scotland, for the recovery of damages suffered in a certain house owned by a mr. webster. captain molesworth was the defendant at the trial." (see night side of nature, page 400.) the following facts were developed: mr. molesworth had seriously damaged the house both as to substance and reputation. _first._ by sundry holes which he cut in the walls, tearing up the floors, &c., to discover the cause of certain noises which tormented himself and family. _second._ by the bad name he had given the house, stating that it was haunted. witnesses for the defendant were sheriff's officers, justices of the peace, and officers of the regiment quartered near; all of whom had been at the said house sundry times to aid captain molesworth detect the invisible cause of so much disturbance. the disturbance consisted in certain noises, such as knockings, pounding, scratching sounds, rustlings in different parts of a particular room; sometimes, however, in other parts of the house. certain boards of the floor would seem to be at times infected with the noises; then certain points in the walls, at which mr. molesworth would point his gun, or cut into with an axe, all to no purpose. the bed on which a young girl, aged thirteen years, had been confined by disease, would very often be raised above the floor, as if a sudden force was applied beneath it, which would greatly alarm her and the whole family, and cause the greatest perplexity. the concussions which were often produced on the walls would cause them visibly to tremble. the force that produced these results was soon discovered to be in some strange way connected with this invalid, and wherever the young invalid was moved this force accompanied her." "it is plainly exhibited, in the cases just given, that no characteristics of spiritual agency are exhibited, but those, on the contrary, of a mere physical power, associated with the organism of certain persons. "we have not," says mr. rogers, "the least possible evidence that any spirit, demoniacal or angelic, had any hand in performing the wild antics among crockery and furniture which we have seen performed in the accounts given. for it is admitted that a spiritual agent is an intelligent agent. its characteristics are those of intelligence, as every one admits. wherever, therefore, these characteristics are wanting in a class of phenomena, it is blindly absurd, greatly superstitious, even to draw the inference that they are spiritual phenomena. but what shall be said when it is asserted as a veritable certainty, and the crowd is made to stretch their throats and swallow the absurdity without a moment's examination?" "is it possible we are to be driven to the conclusion that the ground of faith in spirituality is identical with that of ignorance, superstition, fanaticism, bigotry?" we shall now proceed to give the case of angelique cottin, as reported in the night side of nature, and in the _courrier des etats unis_, and the investigations of the case as reported by m. arago, before the paris academy of sciences, 16th of february, 1846. "angelique cottin was a native of la perriere, aged fourteen, when, on the 15th of january, 1846, at eight o'clock in the evening, while weaving silk gloves at an oaken frame, in company with other girls, the frame began to jerk, and they could not by any efforts keep it steady. it seemed as if it were alive; and becoming alarmed, they called in the neighbors, who would not believe them, but desired them to sit down and go on with their work. being timid, they went one by one, and the frame remained still till angelique approached, when it recommenced its movements, while she was also attracted by the frame. thinking she was bewitched or possessed, her parents took her to the presbytery, that the spirit might be exorcised, or cast out. the curate, being a sensible man, objected, but set himself to work to observe the phenomenon, and being satisfied of the facts of the case, he bade them take her to a physician. "meanwhile, the intensity of the influence, whatever it was, augmented; not only articles made of oak, but all sorts of things, were acted upon by it, and reacted upon her, while persons who were near her, even without contact, frequently felt _electric_ shocks. the effects, which were diminished when she was on a carpet or a waxed cloth, were most remarkable when she _was on the bare earth_. they sometimes entirely ceased for three days, and then recommenced. metals were not affected. any thing touching her apron or dress would fly off, although a person held it; and monsieur herbert, while seated on a heavy tub or trough, was raised up with it. in short, the only place she could repose on was a stone covered with cork. they also kept her still by isolating her. when she was fatigued the effects diminished. a needle, suspended horizontally, oscillated rapidly with the motion of her arm, without contact; or remained fixed while deviating from the magnetic direction. great numbers of enlightened medical and scientific men witnessed these phenomena, and investigated them with every precaution to prevent imposition. she was often hurt by the violent involuntary movements she was thrown into, and was evidently afflicted by chorea, or st. vitus's dance."--_night side of nature_, page 382. "the french paper mentions the circumstance that while angelique was at work in the factory, "the cylinder she was turning was suddenly thrown a considerable distance without any visible cause; that this was repeated several times; that all the young girls in the factory fled, and ran to the curate to have him exorcise the young girl, believing she had a devil." after the priest had consigned her to the physician's care, the physician, with the father and mother, brought angelique to paris. m. arago received her, and took her to the observatory, and in the presence of mm. laugier and goujon made the following observations, which were reported to the paris academy of sciences:-"_first._ it is the left side of the body which appears to acquire this sometimes attractive, but more frequently repulsive, property. a sheet of paper, a pen, or any other light body, being placed upon a table, if the young girl approaches her left hand, even before she touches it, the object is driven to a distance as by a gust of wind. the table itself is overthrown the moment it is touched by her hand, or even by a thread which she may hold in it. "_second._ this causes instantaneously a strong commotion in her side, which draws her towards the table; but it is in the region of the pelvis that this singular repulsive force appears to concentrate itself. "_third._ as had been observed the first day, if she attempted to sit, the seat was thrown far from her, with such force that any other person occupying it was carried away with it. "_fourth._ one day a chest upon which three men were seated was moved in the same manner. another day, although the chair was held by two very strong men, it was broken between their hands. "_fifth._ these phenomena are not produced in a continued manner. they manifest themselves in a greater or less degree, and from time to time during the day; but they show themselves in their intensity in the evening, from seven to nine o'clock. "_sixth._ then the girl is obliged to continue standing, and is in great agitation. "_seventh._ she can touch no object without breaking it or throwing it upon the ground. "_eighth._ all the articles of furniture which her garments touch are displaced and overthrown. "_ninth._ at that moment many persons have felt, by coming in contact with her, a true electrical shock. "_tenth._ during the entire duration of the paroxysms, the left side of the body is warmer than the right side. "_eleventh._ it is affected by jerks, unusual movements, and a kind of trembling which seems to communicate itself to the hand which touches it. "_twelfth._ this young person presents, moreover, a peculiar sensibility to the action of the magnet. when she approaches the north pole of the magnet she feels a violent shock, while the south pole produces no effect; so that if the experimenter changes the poles, but without her knowledge, she always discovers it by the difference of sensations which she experiences. "_thirteenth._ the general health of angelique is very good. the extraordinary movements, however, and the paroxysms observed every evening, resemble what one observes in some nervous maladies." "the great fact demonstrated in this case," says e. c. rogers, "is, that, under _peculiar conditions_, the human organism gives forth a physical power which, _without visible instruments_, lifts heavy bodies, attracts or repels them according to a law of polarity, overturns them, and produces the phenomena of sound. so far as the mere movement of objects, even of great weight, in connection with certain persons, is concerned, whether in the phenomena of the so called 'spiritual manifestations,' or out of them, the immediate agent is a physical one, and is identical throughout. none but the most ignorant can deny this." for a further delineation of the facts in this case, and deductions therefrom, we refer the reader to the work of mr. rogers, on the dynamic laws and relations of man. "the next case we shall refer to is that of frederica hauffe, of the town of prevorst, in the mountainous parts of germany. it was found that in her hands, at a very early age, the hazel wand pointed out metals and water. it was also found that, in certain localities, the influences from the earth had a very powerful effect upon her susceptible nerves. it was frequently observed by the one she often accompanied in his walks through solitary places, that though she was skipping ever so gayly by his side, at certain spots a kind of seriousness and shuddering came over her, which for a long time he could not comprehend. he also observed that she experienced the same sensations in churchyards, and in churches where there were graves; and that, in such churches, she never could remain below, but was obliged to repair to the galleries. superstition, it is true, has always claimed such facts as parts of her ghostly superstructure; but they are too material for this. frederica was almost constantly in a magnetic state, and in this condition frequently communicated what was taking place at a distance, and was aware of producing sounds in space, and some ways off; but this being found to materially injure her, the habit was abandoned. she had a very high degree of susceptibility to mundane influences, and the effect was, that mineral loads and subterranean currents acted through her upon a simple stick held in her hand. at one time she was attacked with nervous fever, which continued fourteen days with great violence. this was followed by _seven years of_ magnetic life, interrupted only by very short and merely apparent intervals. after the fever, she was attacked with spasms in the breast, which continued three days. on the second day, a peasant's wife came from the village, and seating herself beside her, said, "she needs no physicians; they cannot help her;" and laid her hands on her forehead. immediately she was seized with the most direful spasms, and her forehead was as cold as if she was dead. during the whole night she cried deliriously that the woman had exercised a demoniacal influence upon her; and whenever the woman returned she was always attacked with spasms. on the third day they sent for a physician; and being then in a magnetic condition, she cried to him when he entered, although she had never seen him, "if you are a physician, you must help me!" he, well understanding her malady, laid his hands on her head; and it was remarked that, as long as he remained in the room, she saw and heard him alone, and was insensible to the presence of all other persons. the same kind of exclusive attachment has been seen in cases of persons who have fallen under the peculiar influence of the magnet or a crystal, thus showing the relation of mundane agencies to the psychological nerve centres, as well as to the nerve centres in the spine, and among the viscera. after her physician had laid his hands on her she became calm, and slept for some hours. some internal remedies and a bath were prescribed for her; but the spasms returned in the night, and for eighteen weeks she was attacked by them from twice to five or six times a day. all the remedies prescribed proving inefficacious, recourse was had to "magnetic passes," which, for a time, relieved the spasms. it was amid such sufferings and such influences that, in the month of february, 1823, after extreme tortures, she gave birth to her first child. this event was followed, for some time, by additional ills. the following is a somewhat curious circumstance, and goes to show the influence which one organization will have upon another, when a certain relation is established between them. it is this: the woman who, on a former occasion, had exerted so unhappy an influence upon the mother, produced precisely the same effects upon the child. her contact with it threw it into spasms, and the convulsions became periodical until its death. about a year after the birth of her child, being laughed at for her superstition, she was thrown into a state of rigid spasm, and became as cold and stiff as a corpse. for a long time no respiration was visible. she lay as in a dream. in this peculiar condition she spoke for three days entirely in verse and at another, she saw, for the same period, nothing but a ball of fire, that ran through her whole body as if on thin bright threads. and then, for three days, she felt as if water was falling upon her head, drop by drop; and it was at this time that she saw her own image. she saw it clad in white, seated on a stool, whilst she was lying in bed. she contemplated the vision for some time, and would have cried out, but could not; at length she made herself heard, and her husband entering, it disappeared. her susceptibility was now so great that she _heard and felt what happened at a distance_, and was so sensible to external agencies, _that the nails in the walls affected her_, which obliged her friends to remove them. the least light had a powerful influence upon her nervous system, and could not be endured. she was now induced to take a medicine which made her more calm, but threw her into a deeper trance. still she could not endure the sunlight. she was taken in a darkened carriage to her home on the mountains. "here she existed," says her physician, "only through the nervous emanation of others, and it became necessary that some one should always hold her hand; and if the person was weak, it increased her debility. the physician prescribed magnetic passes and medicines, but she fell into a magnetic sleep, _and then prescribed for herself_. her greatest suffering arose from the sensation of having a stone in her head. it seemed as if her brain was compressed, and at every breath she drew, the motion pained her. at this time a large magnet was applied to her forehead; immediately her head and face were turned round, and her mouth distorted as by a stroke of palsy. on the 28th of december she gave birth to her second child, which was followed, as before, by a long and severe illness. she continued constantly in a magnetic state. persons of various tempers now became her magnetizers. the effects of these different nervous temperaments upon hers were very serious. it brought her into special relation to so many persons, that, even _at a distance, they affected her, visions of whom would appear to her like visions of spirits_. this, moveover, brought her into a deeper magnetic condition, and rendered her more _dependent on the nervous energy of others_. another physician was employed from a distance. he gave her an amulet to wear, composed of certain substances, and a small magnet, all arranged together. occasionally this amulet, untouched by any one, would run about her head, breast, and bed covering, like a live thing." "it has already been remarked, that, in the earlier stage of her magnetic state, she was aware of _making sounds at a distance_. this she repeatedly performed, so that her friends at a distance, as they lay in bed, _heard distinctly the sounds_. this fact being communicated to her physician, dr. kerner, he, by actual experiment and observation, confirmed it. this was not performed by her will, which was inactive in her somnambulic or cataleptic state, as well as her consciousness. every nerve centre was in a most intimate _rapport_ or relation with the mundane agencies, especially that which acts in conjunction with the nervous force, and holds every animal in a certain connection with every thing out of the organism. the father of this unfortunate woman inhabited a house which formed a part of an old cathedral, where, it had been reported by former tenants, _strange sights had been seen, and strange sounds heard_. it was in this house, at the time of her somnambulic state, already spoken of, that there were heard _unusual knockings on the walls, noises in the air_, and other sounds, which, as dr. kerner remarks, "can be testified to by more than twenty credible witnesses." _there was a trampling up and down stairs by day and by night to be heard, but no one to be seen, as well as knockings on the walls and in the cellars; but, however suddenly a person flew to the place to try to detect whence the noise proceeded, they could see nothing. if they went outside, the knocking was immediately heard inside, and vice versa._ the noises at length became so perplexing, that her father declared that he could live in the house no longer. they were not only audible to every body in the house, but to the passengers in the street, who stopped to listen to them as they passed. whenever there was playing on the piano, and singing, sounds would commence on the walls." we have not room to mention all the facts in her case; but will add a few of the most remarkable. "she was very susceptible to _electrical influences_, and, what is almost incredible, _she had a preternatural feeling_ or _consciousness of human writing_. various minerals seemed to have a specific effect, when brought in contact with her. _glass and rock crystal_ had a powerful effect in waking her from the somnambulic state, or in exciting the force within her organism. this fact, and others of this character in abundance, point to the peculiar tendency of this force, in some cases of disease, to act outwardly from the nerve centres upon glass ware, window glass, &c. "we have known a child, eight years old," says mr. rogers, "who seldom, at one period, took hold of a glass dish without its soon bursting to pieces." in the case of frederica, a rock crystal, placed on the pit of her stomach, and allowed to remain there for some time, would produce a deep state of catalepsy. she was affected in the same manner by silicious sand and gravel, or even by standing some time near a glass window. if she chanced to seat herself on a sandstone beach, she was apt to become cataleptic; and once, having been for some time missed, she was at length found at the top of the house, seated on a heap of sand, so rigid, that she was unable to move away from it. whenever she was placed in a bath by her medical attendants, it was with a great deal of labor they could immerse her body beneath the surface. her specific gravity seemed to be more like cork, or a bladder of air, than that of muscle, nerve, and bone. something seemed to pervade her body, or to act upon it, so entirely opposite to the centripetal action of the earth, as to counteract this law of force in the most marked manner. this fact suggested to dr. kerner a curious experiment, which resulted in the development of another important phenomenon. he had concluded, that as all these phenomena had taken place more or less in conjunction with those usually termed _magnetic_ or _mesmeric_, there might be some relation of the forces in both, or indeed they might be identical. to test this matter, he at one time placed his fingers against hers, when he found at once there existed a mutual attraction, as between two magnets; and now, by extending his hand upward, _he raised her clear from the ground; thus she was suspended, as a magnet suspends a piece of iron_, or _another magnet, simply by a polar force_. this was repeated several times, and afterwards his wife did quite the same thing." "we have already spoken of the action which the sun's light had upon her in producing physical effects. among others it was observed that the different colored rays produced each a specific effect. the light of the moon, also, when she looked at it, produced coldness and shivering, with melancholy." the effects of these agents on the human organism are clearly explained, in the numbers of an astronomical paper, by mr. chapman, of philadelphia. "on touching frederica with a finger, during an electrical state of the atmosphere, she saw small flashes, which ascended to the ceiling; from men these were colorless, from women blue; and she perceived emanations of the same kind, and of the same variation of color, from people's eyes." concerning the power possessed in the nerve centres of this woman, to produce sounds at a distance, dr. kerner remarks as follows: "as i had been told by her parents, before her father's death, that, at the period of her early magnetic state, she was able to make herself heard by her friends, as they lay in bed at night, in the same village, in other houses, by a knocking,--as is said of the dead,--i asked her, in her sleep, whether she was able to do so now, and at what distance. she answered that she could sometimes do it. soon after this, as we were going to bed, (my children and servants being already asleep,) we heard a knocking, as if in the air over our heads; there were six knocks, at intervals of half a minute. it was a hollow, yet clear sound, soft, but distinct. we were certain there was no one near us, nor over us, from whom it could proceed; and our house stands by itself. on the following evening, when she was asleep, (we had mentioned the knocking to nobody whatever,) she asked me whether she should soon knock to us again; which, as she said it was hurtful to her, i declined." and yet, not long after this, kerner relates the following, as having taken place at his house: "on the morning of the 23d of march, 1837, at one o'clock, i suddenly awoke, and heard seven knocks, one after another, at short intervals, seeming to proceed from the middle of my chamber: my wife was awakened also; and we could not compare this knocking to any ordinary sound. mrs. hauffe lived several houses distant from us." "on the 30th of the same month, rev. mr. hermann came into _rapport_ or special relation with mrs. h., through the medium of psychological sympathy, as well as through the physical influence. previous to this he had not been troubled with strange sounds at his house, but after that period he was awakened every night, at a particular hour, by a knocking in his room,--sometimes on the floor, and sometimes on the walls,--which his wife heard as well as himself. in a great part of her magnetic state, mrs. h. was under a strong state of religious feeling, and was often engaged in prayer. rev. mr. hermann sympathized with her in this, and with the commencement of the rapping in his room, he experienced an involuntary disposition to pray." (see mr. rogers's work, where many such cases are given.) in elucidation of the effect of glass, sand, gravel, &c., upon her organism, we will state an additional fact, as related by her physician: "on the 21st of april, dr. k. was at the house of mrs. h. the window being open, he saw a quantity of gravel come in the window, which he not only saw, as he says, 'but picked it up!' to be certain that no one threw it in, he immediately looked out. on comparing it, he found it to be such gravel as lay in the front of the house." "now, let the phenomena we have related be put side by side with those which occurred at the house of rufus elmer, in springfield, massachusetts, on the 5th of april, 1852, as witnessed by professor wells, of cambridge, and others, and alleged to be the work of spirits. _first._ the table was moved in every possible direction, and with great force, when no cause of motion could be perceived. _second._ the table was forced against each one present so powerfully as to move them from their positions, together with the chairs they occupied, in all several feet. _third._ mr. wells and mr. edwards took hold of the table in such a manner as to exert their strength to the best advantage, but found the invisible power, exercised in the opposite direction, to be quite equal to their utmost efforts. _fourth_. in two instances, at least, while the hands of all the members of the circle were placed on the top of the table, and while no visible power was employed to raise the table, or otherwise to move it from its position, it was seen to rise clear of the floor, and to float in the atmosphere for several seconds, as if sustained by a denser medium than the air. _fifth._ mr. wells was rocked to and fro with great violence, and at length it poised itself on two legs, and remained in this position for some thirty seconds, when no other person was in contact with the table. _sixth._ three persons, messrs. wells, bliss, and edwards, assumed positions on the table at the same time, and while thus seated, the table was moved in various directions. _seventh._ occasionally we were made conscious of the occurrence of a powerful shock, which produced a vibratory motion of the floor of the apartment. it seemed like the motion occasioned by distant thunder, or the firing of ordnance far away, causing the tables, chairs, and other inanimate objects, and all of us, to tremble in such a manner that the effect was both seen and felt. in conclusion, it was observed that d. d. hume, the medium, frequently urged the company to hold his feet and hands. the room was well lighted, and a lamp was placed on and under the table, and every possible opportunity afforded for the closest inspection. they were therefore positive that there was no deception in the case. the conclusion was, _that it must be the work of spirits_--a singular conclusion, indeed, for men of such standing and acquirements. it might all have been accomplished, _biologically_; but admitting the whole to be literally and substantially true, they fall far short of well-attested phenomena, where it was not so much as _conjectured_ even to be _at all supernatural_." the fact is incontrovertibly evident, that physical agents, subtile and unseen, are every where at work. "force shows itself," as the elegant somerville remarks, in his connection of the physical sciences, "in every thing that exists in the heavens or on the earth." there is a physical power which not only binds satellites to their planet, and planets with suns, and sun with sun throughout the wide extent of creation, which is the cause of the disturbances, as well as the order of nature, but it physically binds man to man, and man to nature. and as every tremor it excites in one planet is immediately transmitted to the farthest limits of the system, in oscillations, which correspond in their periods with the cause producing them, like sympathetic notes in music, or vibrations from the deep tones of an organ, so every vibration, thus excited, is transmissible to the delicate centres of every organic being, provided the repulsive agent of those beings is changed in its relative condition so as to admit its influx. (see geometry and faith, by rev. t. hill, of waltham.) "it is well known to every chemist, that wherever there is chemical action going on, there is a constant evolution of some force. now, that there is a constant chemical action taking place is certain, and the sources of this action are very numerous. among others, we have that of water, (often holding in solution saline ingredients, thus increasing its action upon metallic substances,) which, percolating through the surface, acts upon all those surfaces whose materials have a strong chemical affinity for the oxygen or hydrogen of the water. wherever there is a mineral load the development of force is in some instances very great. for instance, mr. r. w. fox was able, by connecting two lodes with copper wires, and conducting the latter to the surface of the earth, and immersing them in a cell which contained a solution of sulphate of copper, to obtain an electrotype copy of an engraved copperplate. thus "the earth itself may be made a _battery_," as robert hunt says. "we know," he repeats, "that, through the superficial strata of the earth, electric currents circulate freely, whether they are composed of clay, sand, or any mixture of these with decomposed organic matter; indeed, that with any substance in a moist state, electric currents suffer no interruption." the electricity of mineral veins has attracted the attention of some of the first philosophers of europe, and has led to some highly-interesting experiments with regard to the action of this important agent in the formation, disposition, and direction of rocks and mineral veins. m. becqueral and others have made use of these currents successfully in imitating nature in her processes of making crystals and other mineral formations." "it is not, however, necessary to suppose that the agent of which we are treating particularly requires a chemical action to develop it, or the action of the electric force. experiments have proved that it is developed in every form of material action--that even the substances of the earth, without sensible alteration, exert this force. to this agent the sensitive nerve centres are extremely susceptible. the celebrated ritter, of germany, devoted much time to an investigation of this subject, and, in 1809, published supplementary treatises upon it, together with amoretti's celebrated work on the same subject--physical and historical inquiries into rhabdomancy, &c., in germany. (see dr. ashburner's translation of rheinbach, first american edition; redfield.) schubert, in his work on natural history, says, "it seems clear, from many observations, that the whole mineral (and much of the vegetable) kingdom _has a profound and mysterious relation with the organism of man_." "_this_ relation," says rogers, "is that of matter with matter connected by an imponderable agent." "the phenomena which betray this, as a fact of nature, have been observable from the earliest ages. it is certain, however, that local causes often give developments to such strange phenomena, _that it requires all the science that can be mustered to keep back the tide of superstition which will be thus aroused in the breasts of those unacquainted with the action of these agents_." some will ask the question, "if these things be true, why have we not heard of them before?" we confess that we know of no other possible reason than that such inquiries are not "_posted up_," as they should be, in matters of history and science. but, before closing this part of our subject, we propose to relate a few more incidents, by way of illustration. "in the year 1849-50, certain highly-respectable houses in the city of new york seem to have been all at once unaccountably beset with a strange power, which seized upon particular parts, and would not allow any one, not even the members of the families, to touch those seemingly consecrated things. whenever this was attempted, a loud, sharp sound would be instantly given, accompanied with a sharp and spiteful flash of light, as if the agent was determined to protect that which it had seized upon. but this was not all; it would smartly shock the intruder with a blow, as if with an unseen fist, or the like. it even seized upon the members of these families at times, and would--so to speak--make them apparently strike one another, in an unseen manner, simultaneously. it was often the case that a stranger could not call at the door without being instantly struck on the wrist or elbow, on touching the knob of the door bell; and he would see, at the same instant, an angry flash of light, as if from some demon's eye. the ladies were not allowed to kiss each other without each receiving, on the approach of their lips, a fiery smack, as from a spirit's lips. the dear little ones of these families were prevented from giving their mothers the parting salutation on retiring for the night." "there _seemed_ to be a great deal of cunning shown by this agency. if the lady of the house did not think to pay all due deference to its rules, when she wished to give orders to the servants below through the metallic speaking tube, she was sure to receive an unseen blow in the mouth, almost sufficient to stagger her: at the same instant she would see the flash of what might have been taken for a 'fiery,' if not for an 'evil eye.'" "professor loomis visited these dwellings, (see annual of scientific discovery, 1851, page 129,) and observed these phenomena. he perceived the flash whenever the hand was brought near to the knob of the door, also to the gilded frame of a mirror, the gas pipes, or any metallic body, especially when this body communicated freely with the earth. "in one house," says this scientific gentleman, in his description before the american scientific association, at new haven, "in one house, which i have had the opportunity to examine, a child, in taking hold of the knob of a door, received so severe a shock that it ran off in great fright. in passing from one parlor to the other, if the lady of the house chanced to step upon the brass plate which served as a slide for the folding doors, she received an unpleasant shock in the foot. when she touched her finger to the chandelier, there appeared a brilliant spark, and a snap." after a careful examination of several cases of this kind, professor loomis came to the conclusion "that the electricity is created (excited) by the friction of the shoes of the inmates upon the carpets of the house." "if the professor is correct in his conjecture, it would follow that every house," says mr. rogers, "with similar carpets, should become electrized, and exhibit similar phenomena, in which case we should have observed their appearance at a much earlier period, and the occurrence would have been presented much more frequently and extensively. yet the phenomena is every whit electrical; hence we are led by them to see, that when local circumstances are favorable, an agent may be developed in our midst, which may play the most singular pranks, which, it is more than probable, may be attributed to _supernatural_, and even to spiritual _powers_, if the witnesses should be ignorant of those characteristics which identify them with a well-known agent. had the characteristics in the above been contrary to those of any known agent, although the phenomena had been entirely physical, how many would have leaped to the conclusion, without a moment's thought or investigation, that the force was a power of the invisible spirit world? with regard to the phenomena of the present day, reason has been entirely set aside; hence the precipitate conclusion concerning them, even by many who lay great claim to its use and application to all other subjects. we have been truly astonished at the course of such persons." "we shall now present a few cases that bear a closer analogy to electricity, perhaps, than those we have been considering. the first we shall speak of is that of the two smyrna girls, who visited france in 1839, and exhibited what was called _their electrical powers, in moving tables without contact_. the account was published in the boston weekly magazine, of december 28, 1839. the two girls landed at marseilles, about the first of november, 1839. in hopes of realizing a splendid fortune, they intended to exhibit themselves in france, and other parts of the continent. immediately on their arrival, several persons, including several men of science and professors, visited them, and ascertained the following phenomena:-_first._ "the girls stationed themselves, facing each other, at the ends of a large _table_, keeping at a distance from it of one or two feet, according to their electrical dispositions. _second._ "when a few minutes had elapsed, a _crackling_, like that of electric fluid spreading over gilt paper, was heard, when,-_third._ "the table received a strong shake, which always made it _advance from_ the elder to the younger sister. _fourth._ "a _key_, _nails_, or any piece of _iron_ placed on the table _instantaneously stopped_ the phenomena. _fifth._ "when the iron was adapted to the _under part_ of the table, it produced no effect upon the experiment. _sixth._ "saving this singularity, the facts observed constantly followed the known laws of electricity, whether glass insulators were used, or whether one of the girls wore silk garments. in the latter case, the electric properties of both were neutralized." such was the state of matters for some days after the arrival of the young greeks; but,-_seventh._ "the temperature having become cooled, and the atmosphere having loaded itself with _humidity_, all perceptible electric virtue seemed to have deserted them. one may conceive the melancholy of these girls," the writer continues, "and the disappointment of the two greeks, their relations, who came with them to share their anticipated wealth." "in this case we have the "manifestation" of a force greatly analogous to that often witnessed at the present day. in one important respect it acted differently from electricity, in that it was broken by simply laying a _key_ or a small piece of _iron_ on the object the agent had acted upon, &c. "it must be admitted, however," says mr. rogers, "that the fact of the influence of glass insulators and the silk dress, causing a cessation of the phenomena, shows that the agent that acted upon the table was, in some way, a form of electricity, though greatly varying, in its laws of action, from that usually known to science. we have," says mr. r., "some curious facts relating to this _modified agent_, to present from matucci and others," (in the second number of our work.) "from the effects of the humidity of the atmosphere, some may conclude that the agent must have been _electricity_, inasmuch as the same state of the atmosphere produces a like effect upon the action of friction electricity. let us allow this, and turn to precisely the same phenomenon, as it has been manifested in the cases of numerous 'mediums' for the so-called '_spiritual manifestations_.'" "we will not state it upon our authority alone, but also upon that of a large number of intelligent believers in the spiritual origin of these phenomena, that the electrical condition of the atmosphere enters into the circumstances of their evolution; that in a humid state of the weather it is not only difficult, in many instances, but sometimes it is absolutely impossible, to obtain them under such a condition." we know that many of the less informed "mediums" attribute these failures to the _capriciousness of the spirits_, and frequently scold them soundly for their misdemeanors, though at other times they seem to pity them because they get so weary and fatigued in answering so many inquiries, and being so long "_on duty_." "it was thought by some who witnessed the case of angelique cottin, that the agent which acted so powerfully from her organism, overthrowing tables, twisting chairs out of stout men's hands, raising a man in a heavy tub, was electricity. c. crowe says it did cause the deviation of the magnetic needle; but m. arago, who knows more about this abused agent than a nation of theorizers, could not detect the least signs of it by the nicest tests. and yet it would give the person who touched her or her dress a powerful shock, as if it _were_ electricity. still, it may be the same agent that is ground out of plate glass, that propagates news from city to city on iron wires, and that thunders in the material heavens." "it has been supposed that because, in many instances, 'mediums' have given shocks like those given by electrized bodies, the two agents must be identical. not long since, a young lady, about sixteen years of age, miss harriett bebee, was placed in a magnetic state, in company with mrs. tamlin, both being of a clairvoyant character. the sounds were heard while they were in that state. every time these occurred a very sensible jar, like an electric shock, was experienced by miss bebee. in answer to a question, she stated that at each sound she felt as if there was electricity passing over her. several of the persons, in whose presence these sounds are heard, always receive a slight shock, so that there is a slight jar, which has sometimes been so plain as to lead persons, ignorant of the facts and the phenomenon, to accuse them of making it themselves." says a writer upon this subject, "this feeling of electricity seems to pervade nearly every thing connected with these phenomena. when the rapping is heard, the peculiar jar is felt, differing from the jar produced by a blow; and in various other ways we are reminded of the use of this subtile agent. we often see, in a dark room, bright electric flashes on the wall and other places." the same writer observes, "persons sometimes feel a sensation of electricity passing over their limbs when they stand in the vicinity of those who get the sounds most freely, although the particular persons who seem to be the mediums feel no sensation at all. in one or two instances we have seen a perceptible shock, as if caused by a galvanic battery, especially when the persons were under the influence of magnetism." "in a work published in cincinnati, by "william t. coggshall, the author says, "we have felt positive electrical influences from clairvoyants. at the present time," he continues, "what is termed 'electrical circles' are being formed every week in cincinnati, for the benefit of persons whose systems require additional electrical power. we have seen several women so powerfully electrized in these circles, that the same effects were produced upon them which would have been had they been isolated in connection with a galvanic battery." so it has been seen that, on touching angelique cottin, a person would receive a "true electric shock." this kind of shock was experienced by campeti and bleton, in passing over mineral veins and subterraneous streams, as mentioned by dr. ashburner. "many somnambulic persons," says c. crowe, "are capable of giving an electric shock; and i have met with one person, not somnambulic, who informed me that he has frequently been able to do it by an effort of the will." "when an iron plate was brought near to one of reichenbach's patients, and a crystal brought in contact with it, the effect upon it was like an electric shock, which even ascended from the elbow to the shoulder." many other cases might be cited to the same purpose. the magnet and iron have a specific action upon the nervous system; and the same agent acts also from crystals, vegetable substances, and the human hand, nay, from the earth itself." the second number of mr. rogers's work contains some interesting facts of this character. "vitality," says dr. w. e. channing, in his notes on electricity, "is dependent on physical conditions, and performs its functions by the agency of physical forces." the rev. thomas hill, in his fragmentary supplement to the ninth bridgewater treatise, observes that "all bodies are moved through the agency of other bodies, and we see nowhere a motion which is not dependent upon _physical causes_, that is, which is not produced by _physical agents_. our will employs, unconsciously, the aid of nerve and muscle; the supreme will employs, with wise designs, the intervention of the laws of _impulse_, _attraction_, and _repulsion_." "when, in the course of ages, the comparative easy problems of astronomy were solved, problems of more difficulty were brought to view. phenomena which were not _obvious_, not _pictured alphabet_, but the _fine print of creation_, _electrical_, _optical_, and _chemical phenomena_, led men into more _hidden_ knowledge." "the agents employed by the animal organization," says dr. channing, "are principles found universally in nature, and, in addition to these, a force which is peculiar to living structures--the special agent of vitality." "now, it might reasonably be expected, that if electricity, among other agents found "universally in nature," is also associated with the agent of the animal economy, it might, under favorable conditions, exhibit its characteristic phenomena. these conditions would, of course, be owing to a variation of the organism from its normal standard. the following case, given by dr. ennemoser, of germany, exhibits some of these characteristics:-the case was that of a young woman, sister of a professor at strasburg. immediately on a sudden fright, she was seized with a nervous malady, which continued for a long period, and finally terminated in her death. among the remarkable symptoms in her case were the following:-_first._ those of _somnambulism_, with more or less lucidity. _second._ her body became so highly charged with electricity that it was necessary to conduct it away by a regular process of conduction. _third._ her body would impart powerful shocks to those who came in contact, and even when they did not touch her. _fourth._ she controlled its action so as to give her brother (the professor) a "smart shock when he was several rooms off." (the account states, that when the professor received the shock, "he started up and rushed into her chamber, where she was in bed; and as soon as she saw him, she said, laughing, 'ah, you felt it, did you?'") _fifth._ she was subject, also, to spasms and paroxysms of rigor and trembling. some of the phenomena, in this case, resemble those we see exhibited by the electric fish. the case is an important one in considering the command which the nerve centres possess over the general agents associated with them." we shall now present another singular case, which occurred in this country, in the month of january, 1839, an account of which was given in silliman's journal, by a correspondent:-_first._ that "on the evening of january 28, 1839, during a somewhat extraordinary display of the northern lights, a respectable lady became so highly charged with electricity, as to give out vivid electrical sparks from the end of each finger, to the face of each of the company present." _second._ that this did not cease with the heavenly phenomena, but continued several months, during which time she was constantly charged and giving off electrical sparks to every conductor she approached. this was extremely vexatious, as she could not touch the stove, or any metallic utensil, without giving off an electrical spark, with the consequent twinge. _third._ that "the state most favorable to _this phenomena_ was an atmosphere of about eighty degrees fahrenheit, moderate exercise, and social enjoyment. it disappeared in an atmosphere approaching zero, and under the debilitating effects of fear." _fourth._ that, "when seated by the stove, reading, with her feet upon the fender, she gave sparks at the rate of three or four a minute; and under the most favorable circumstances, a spark that could be seen, heard, or felt, passed every moment." _fifth._ that "she could charge others in the same way, when insulated, who could then give sparks to others." _sixth._ "to make it satisfactory that her dress did not produce it, it was changed to cotton, and woollen, without altering the phenomenon. the lady is about thirty, of sedentary pursuits, and delicate state of health, having, for two years previously, suffered from acute rheumatism and neuralgic affections." for further investigation into the cause of singular phenomena evolved from secret agents, and the true philosophy of biology, magnetism, trance, &c., we would again refer to the numbers of a work by mr. rogers, now in process of publication. his principles and deductions challenge successful contradiction. experiments in biology. biology, so called, is one peculiar feature, or form, of mesmerism. "these experiments," says dr. richmond, "attracted much attention some three years since, in ohio, and other places, and such was the intense excitement of the public mind that, in some places, parents and the public were obliged to interfere and stop children from biologizing each other." it was found that not only muscular motion, but the exercise of the senses, could be destroyed by the will of the operator. taste was obliterated, or changed, memory destroyed, and any picture presented to the mind of the subject would be seen. tell him he saw snakes, and he would become frightened, and rush with violence over the seats and benches. tell him he was sleigh riding, and he would instantly seize the reins, and drive the horses with great glee. tell him he was a witch--an old woman in rags--and he would own the character, and confess all the crimes with which you had charged him. tell him he was a gay young lady, and another subject was about to court him, and a love scene would commence. tell him he was cold, and he would shiver, his teeth chatter; he would stamp, and thresh his hands to keep them warm. tell him it was summer--very hot, and he would begin fanning himself, fling off his coat, and, unless prevented, would divest himself of all garments tell him that a tree of fruit was before him, and he would begin to fill his pockets. sweep the room before him, and open the sky, and say that the river of life and a white throne were before him, that the judgment was set, and instantly he would assume the attitude of devotion; he would gaze with burning eye and rapt delight into the scene of glory. take him to a lake side, tell him a child was drowning in the water, and he would wade in, take it in his arms, and lay it carefully down, and weep over it in deep pity. bring before him the lightning's flash, the thunder's roll, or proclaim a god in grandeur, and a world on fire, and, as once actually took place in covington, kentucky, a dozen subjects fell in intense fright: some on to the floor, some on benches, others sought to fly, and all declared to the audience that a shower of fire seemed to be around them. any image the operator sees fit to plant in the subject's mind is readily done; any passion readily assumed; reverence, revenge, vanity, love, hate, fear, mirth, joy, grief, or ecstasy, are all _imitated_ at his bidding, and safely dispersed and reproduced with the rapidity of thought, changing in an instant both the actions and motions of the subject. tell the person he is suffocating in water, and he _will_ suffocate, unless you prevent him. tell him he is struck on the head, and he falls, as if stricken down with a hammer. no doubt a subject might be killed by a mental impression--by saying to him he was shot through the heart, or was struggling in water. this is the opinion of all operators in the art. the subject at the time is, to all appearance, in a perfectly _normal state_; his mental, moral, and physical powers seem unchanged, and he thinks at the time he can resist your power over him; he but gives you his eye, and you lead him captive by mental impressions. the only perceptible variation from the normal state is, that the _eye_, in most subjects, is clear and glassy, the same eye that is observed in some maniacs, and in consumptive patients--clear, sharp, and fearful to look at. the hidden fires of the soul seem to burn through it, with intense force. i have watched it for months, and years, in consumptives, under the wasting of vitality; and the eye kindles and sparkles with more intensity as they near their end. all impressible subjects have this eye, to a greater or less extent; all consumptives have it, as well as those who in early life are inclined to consumption. the facts and incidents under the effects of biology are truly singular and wonderful; and yet the advocates of the "spirit mania" admit there is nothing supernatural in them. for aught we can see, the phenomena put forth by the "rappers" differ not materially from the biologic developments. they seem to be identical with each other. i know it is affirmed that the developments of electro-biology do not cover the whole ground in dispute, inasmuch as _men and women only_ are found to yield to its impressions, while _chairs, tables_, and other inanimate objects remain unimpressed. but if chairs and tables are not moved by one form of magnetism, they are by another, as we have abundantly shown. and any one with half an eye cannot but see that it would require less effort to move a table, or other inanimate object, than living, intelligent beings, capable of exerting their will in opposition to the effort. dr. richmond says he has "seen an operator draw a dozen persons from their seats, by the magnetic force of his hand, at the distance of many feet. the first move of the hand would bring the head forward, then the body, and by adding his voice, 'you will stand up,' they would, _while resisting with the will, in spite of themselves_, stand up, and follow his hand around the room." if biologists have not usually exerted their power upon inanimate things, it has probably been because they did not deem it of sufficient importance. we have seen, however, a biologist raise a table to the ceiling of a room, kindly permitting it to stick there a while, to the no small amusement of the spectators! and it can be done again. by the way, we would inquire what biologist is it that has sometimes lent his aid in the raising of tables, at a "circle" in east boston, himself an unbeliever in "_spirit table-liftings_?" the editor of the spiritual telegraph says, that "in the biological experiments there is a _visible human operator_," but, "in the spiritual manifestations, no human operator can be found, or demonstrated to exist." but, pray, what is the "medium," in these manifestations, but _a visible human operator_? sometimes it takes three or four persons to produce a single demonstration. and sometimes they cannot muster _force_ enough to do this, especially if the weather be rainy. and this is probably the reason why the rappers at poughkeepsie have resolved not to admit unbelievers, nor at any time more than two or three new-comers, at a "circle," making, with the believers, ten or twelve in all--successful results never being guarantied to those invited to attend. mr. brittan himself asserts that it is "the same power that moves the _human medium_ that also moves the _wooden table_," &c. here we have a _human medium_ that is _moved to do something_, and _wooden tables_, also; and if we can discover the secret agent in the one case, we shall likewise in the other, for there is a perfect sameness or coincidence in their operations. it is the same _unseen_ power, in both cases, moving chairs, tables, tubs, troughs, bedsteads, and piles of lumber, besides other gross, ponderable bodies--cutting up an infinite variety of pranks to the _consternation_ of some, and the _amusement_ of others, as a. j. davis says of the dancing plates, knives and forks, shovel, tongs, and poker, moved by "electrical discharges and magnetic attractions," or emanations of vital electricity seeking its equilibrium in the atmosphere. faculty of imitation. the faculty of imitating signatures, of writing music, poetry, specimens of foreign tongues, &c., is no more strange than imitating the voice and gestures of those we never heard nor saw. persons of scarcely any education or talents, while under biological influence, have been made to imitate the voice of webster, everett, fillmore, and others, delivering off-hand speeches of most impassioned diction and eloquence; while, in their _normal_ state, they could scarcely frame a paragraph in the king's english, much more deliver a formal address, embellished with a profusion of metaphors, tropes, and figures, accompanied with the finished attitudes and movements of a choate, a sumner, or a banks! these mesmeric imitations refer also to mechanical and artistic power, and every talent that characterizes us as intelligent beings. some assert that mediums are in a _perfectly normal state_ during the exhibitions of the "spirit" phenomena; and yet, to the practical mesmerizer, nothing is plainer than that they are most absolutely mesmeric persons. the power of _imitation_ among mediums is various, but distinct. some draw _maps_, purporting to come from a deceased schoolmate. others draw _likenesses_; others speak in voices imitating the dead--but they can imitate the living just as well; others hear sounds--the voice of a wife, or child, or friend. walter scott relates the case of an english gentleman who was ill, and was told by his physician that he had lived in london too long, and _lived too fast_; and advised him to retire to the country and ruralize. one of his troubles was, that a set of _green_ dressed dancers would enter his drawing room, go through their evolutions, and retire. he knew it was an illusion, but could not resist the annoyance, or the impressions made on him. he returned to his country seat, and, in a few weeks, got rid of his visitors. he concluded to remain out of town, and sent to london for the furniture of his old parlor, to be placed in his country house; but when it came, and was arranged in the room, the _corps de ballet_, dressed in _green_, all rushed into the room, _exclaiming_, "here we are all again!" he had associated in his mind the furniture and the dancing apparitions, and when it returned, they came with it, and, as he thought, _spoke with voices_. we recollect of reading in a medical paper, published in boston, an account of a man who believed his house to be haunted by the devil, in consequence of which he resolved to vacate it and remove into the country. his goods were packed into a wagon, and he was just upon the point of starting with his load, when to his surprise he heard a voice, seemingly among the goods, crying out, "we are all going together." "if that is the case," said the man, "i will unload again; for if i am _to have_ the devil's company, it may as well be in one place as another." the excessive use of wine will induce a state of the brain, in which the person thinks he hears voices and sees spirits; but on close examination it will be found that it is the work of the abnormal powers, developed in the brain by stimulating agents or intense thinking. it will be recollected that swedenborg, after eating a late, heavy supper, heard a voice crying out to him in terrible accents, "eat not so much." (see chap. 5.) such phenomena may unravel the voice judge edwards heard. his long-continued meditation on death, with night, solitude, loneliness, and grief, had so impressed him that he thought he heard a sound in exact imitation of the voice of his wife. in the case related by scott, hearing was not only affected, but the organ of color was involved in the hallucination, and the _green figures_ were as plain before him as real persons. this is always one of the phenomena of ghost-seeing that the seer associates with the spectre, namely, _form_ and _color_, _voice_ and _action_. the cases of imitation referred to, and others of the same class, are the results of the _imitative mechanic power_ of the individual, brought out by the abnormal magnetic state existing at the time. for instance, if the individual has time and tune--the faculty of music within lying undeveloped--it may be brought out, and made to act, by the effects of magnetism. last winter we listened to a lecture delivered in newark, new jersey, by the rev. mr. harris, from new york city. he stated that there was a lady in providence, who, by the agency of spirits, produced musical compositions equal to the productions of the best masters, as haydn, beethoven, and others, and that a volume of these pieces were soon to be issued from the press. and although the said work has not been heard of as yet, still we doubt not that a person in a magnetic state might write very good music, even if totally ignorant of its rules, as this young lady was said to be. phrenologists often tell persons that they would make excellent tailors, dressmakers, poets, painters, musicians, &c.--persons who never attempted to operate in these callings. "all they need," it is said, "is an opportunity for the development of their powers." now, magnetism tends to develop or rouse these _dormant_ faculties into action. it also gives a far-reaching, a far-seeing grasp and perception of things, as in the case of miss martineau, who, be it remembered, was too intelligent to attribute such effects to the agency of spirits. a marked case of the increase of the _imitative power_ of persons in the magnetic condition, is found in the case of frederica hauffe. in one of her magnetic moods she informed dr. kerner that she would make a diagram of the spheres. "the sun sphere," as she called it, is very complex; but "she spun out the complicated web with unerring precision," and a pair of compasses given her to facilitate her labor only embarrassed her. it is made up of circles within circles, and sections and points, amounting to thousands, related and connected; and yet the "whole was executed," says dr. k., "in an incredible short space of time." an engraving was made of this sphere, and a year after she was shown the engraving, and said it was not correct; a point on one of the lines was wanting. on referring to the original, they found she was right. this diagram contained many curious things, and in some parts related to the highest departments of mathematics. this _faculty_ she only possessed in the magnetic state, being wholly incompetent to the task when not clairvoyant. no living artist can execute that diagram with a pen, with a fac-simile before him, with the rapidity with which that ignorant, unlettered child of nature did it. "i have, in many cases," says dr. richmond, "witnessed this imitative power of mediums with the pen, dashing off figures and images with a rashness and rapidity almost inconceivable." as far as we can see, there is no more proof of the agency of spirits in one case than in the other; and we are sure no such claim was ever set up in the case of mrs. hauffe, though living in a less enlightened region, perhaps, than these united states. we might multiply cases of this kind, but space will not permit. unseen letters and signatures. the operator in biology or magnetism often lays hold of the inquiring spectator, and uses him or her to imitate unseen letters, signatures, and sentences, in foreign languages. and no doubt but what professor bush has been made unconsciously instrumental in executing a few specimens of languages, his eyes wide open, it may be, all the while. it can be no more strange than that the son of dr. phelps should have been made unconsciously instrumental in tying himself to the limb of a tree in his father's yard, _supposing_ it to have been done by _spirits_. (see the version of the affair by a. j. davis.) a biological mesmerist assures us that he finds no difficulty in raising beds, chairs, and tables; and in the case of mr. kellogg it is shown that such things are easily done without any aid from _spirits_. in the case of dr. taylor, the writing medium, it is shown, by the testimony of the spirits themselves, if their word is to be relied on, that the phenomena in his case were not done by spirits, but were the results of vital electricity. such things are getting to be so common that we may expect soon to see the time when little ragged boys even (like those in egypt, who went through the streets offering to show the spirit of any deceased friend for a penny or a piece of cake) will offer to lift tables, or imitate handwritings, at a penny a sight. we know of several "mediums," now engaged in these things, who confess they do not understand by what power it is they raise tables, or write sentences, &c., yet they do not believe it to be done by the agency of disembodied spirits. in many schools, the children have been forbidden by their teachers to indulge in these foolish practices. this power may be electricity, in some of its forms, or some other agent that has some relation or affinity to it, as in the cases related by mr. rogers. a dancing light. a few years since the inhabitants of southboro', massachusetts, were excited and alarmed at the appearance of a _light_, about the size of a star, which for several successive nights was seen moving over a spot of land in the westerly part of the town. upon examining the premises by daylight, it was found that a quantity of bones that had been buried in the earth had been thrown upon the surface by the roots of a tree, the trunk of which had recently been prostrated by a gale of wind. by many, these bones were supposed to belong to some human being, who, it was conjectured, had been murdered, and buried beneath the spot. and the light seen hovering near was considered indicative of such an event. but if the reader will turn to the second chapter of this work, he will learn that these _dancing lights_, so called, arise from an inflammable gas, evolved from decayed animal and vegetable substances, which take fire on coming in contact with atmospheric air. this _ignis fatuus_, _jack-with-a-lantern_, or _will-with-a-wisp_ appearance is generally seen in dark nights, over boggy and marshy ground, and generally in motion, at the height of five or six feet, skipping from place to place, and frequently changing in magnitude and form. on some occasions, it is observed to be suddenly extinguished, and then to reappear at a distance from its former position. those persons who have endeavored to examine it closely have found that it moves away from them with a velocity proportioned to that of their advance--a circumstance which has had no small influence on the fears of the ignorant and superstitious. dr. denham once saw an _ignis fatuus_ in a boggy place, between two rocky hills, in a dark and calm night. he approached by degrees within two or three yards of it, and thereby had an opportunity of viewing it to the best advantage. it kept skipping about a dead thistle, till a slight motion of the air--occasioned, as he supposed, by his near approach--caused it to jump to another place; and as he advanced it kept flying before him. he observed it to be a uniform body of light, and concluded it must consist of _ignited vapor_. these appearances are common on the plains of boulogne, in italy, where they sometimes flit before the traveller on the road, saving him the expense of a torch on dark nights. sometimes they spread very wide, and then contract themselves; and sometimes they float like waves, and appear to drop sparks of fire. they shine more strongly in rainy than in dry weather. an appearance of the same kind is sometimes met with at sea, during gales of wind, and, of course, has become connected with many superstitious notions of sailors, who call it a _corpusant_. there are sometimes two together, and these are named castor and pollux. the following is a description of one, given by the voyager dampier: "after four o'clock the thunder and the rain abated, and then we saw a corpusant, at our maintopmast head. this sight rejoiced our men exceedingly, for the height of the storm is commonly over when the corpusant is seen aloft; but when they are seen lying on the deck, it is generally accounted a bad sign. a corpusant is a certain small, glittering light; when it appears, as this did, on the very top of a mainmast, or at a yardarm, it is like a star; but when it appears on the deck, it resembles a great glowworm. i have been told that when the spanish or portuguese see them they go to prayers, and bless themselves for the happy sight. i have heard some ignorant seamen discoursing how they have seen them creep, or, as they say, travel about, in the scuppers, telling many dismal stories that happened at such times; but i did never see any one stir out of the place where it was first fixed, except on deck, where every sea washeth it about. neither did i ever see any but when we had rain as well as wind, and, therefore, do believe it is some jelly." the origin and nature of the lights above described have not yet been satisfactorily explained. more accurate observations than have been made are required to furnish the basis of a correct theory respecting them. sailors' omens. sailors, usually the boldest men alive, are yet not unfrequently the very abject slaves of superstitious fear. nothing is more common than to hear them talk of noises, flashes, shadows, echoes, and other visible appearances, nightly seen and heard upon the waters. andrews, in his anecdotes, says, "superstition and profaneness, those extremes of human conduct, are too often found united in the sailor; and the man who dreads the stormy effects of drowning a cat, of whistling a contra dance while he leans over the gunwale, will, too often, wantonly defy his creator by the most daring execrations and licentious behavior." dr. pegge says that "sailors have a strange opinion of the devil's power and agency in stirring up winds, which notion seems to have been handed down from zoroaster, who imagined that there was an evil spirit, called _vato_, that could excite violent storms of wind." to lose a cat overboard, or to drown one, or to lose a bucket or a mop, is, at the present day, a very unlucky omen with common sailors. love charms. theocritus and virgil both introduce women into their pastorals, using charms and incantations to recover the affections of their sweethearts. shakspeare represents othello as accused of winning desdemona "by conjuration and mighty magic." "thou hast practised on her with foul charms; abused her delicate youth with drugs or minerals that waken motion. she is abused, stolen from me, and corrupted, by spells and medicines bought of mountebanks." in gay's shepherd's week, these are represented as country practices:- "straight to the 'pothecary's shop i went, and in love powders all my money spent. behap what will, next sunday after prayers, when to the alehouse lubberkin repairs, these golden flies into his mug i'll throw, and soon the swain with fervent love shall glow." in love melancholy, by dr. ferrand, it is said, "we have sometimes among us our silly wenches, some that, out of a foolish curiosity they have, must needs be putting in practice some of those feats that they have received by tradition from their mother perhaps, or nurse; and so, not thinking forsooth to do any harm, as they hope to paganize it to their own damnation. for it is most certain that _botanomancy_, which is done by the noise, or crackling, that box or bay leaves make when they are crushed between one's hands, or cast into the fire, was of old in use among the pagans, who were wont to bruise poppy flowers betwixt their hands, by this means thinking to know their loves." speaking of the ancient love charms, characters, amulets, or such like periapses, dr. f. says, "they are such as no christian physician ought to use, notwithstanding that the common people do to this day too superstitiously believe and put in practice many of these paganish devices." miss blandy, who was executed many years ago for poisoning her father, persisted in affirming that she thought the powder given her by her villanous lover, cranston, to administer to him, was a "love powder," which was to conciliate her father's affection to her lover. she met her death with this asseveration; and her dying request, to be buried close to her father, seems a corroborating proof, that though she was certainly the cause of his premature death, yet she was not, in the blackest sense of the word, his wilful murderer. we quote the following lines from herrick's hesperides:- a charm or an allay for love. "if so be a toad be laid in a sheepskin newly flayed, and that tied to a man, 'twill sever him and his affections ever" effects of a belief in a ghost. whenever a real ghost appears,--by which we mean some man or woman dressed up to frighten another,--if the supernatural character of the apparition has been for a moment believed, the effects on the spectator have always been injurious--sometimes producing convulsions, idiocy, madness, or even instantaneous death. the celebrated allston, the painter, when in england, related the following incident to his friend coleridge, the poet: "it was, i think," said he, "in the university of cambridge, near boston, that a certain youth took it into his wise head to convert a tom paine-ish companion of his by appearing as a ghost before him. he accordingly dressed himself up in the usual way, having previously extracted the ball from the pistol which always lay near the head of his friend's bed. upon first awakening, and seeing the apparition, the youth that was to be frightened very coolly looked his companion, the ghost, in the face, and said, 'i know you; this is a good joke; but you see i am not frightened. now you may vanish.' the ghost stood still. 'come,' said the youth, 'that is enough. i shall get angry; away!' still the ghost moved not. 'by heavens!' ejaculated the young man, 'if you do not, in three minutes, go away, i'll shoot you.' he waited the time, deliberately levelled his pistol, fired, and with a scream at the immovability of the figure, became convulsed, and soon afterwards died. the very instant he believed it to be a ghost, his human nature fell before it." the invisible lady. in the year 1804, an invisible lady and acoustic temple were exhibited in boston, as an "extraordinary aerial phenomenon." its body was made of glass it gave answers to questions asked by visitors. in london, a few years ago, there was shown an apparatus consisting of a four-footed stand, and several trumpet-mouthed tubes, from any one of which spectators received ready answers to questions. the answers were said to come from the "invisible girl;" but the true explanation of the puzzle was, that a secret tube, in the legs of the apparatus, communicated the sounds to a girl in a neighboring apartment. probably something similar was arranged in the glass body exhibited in boston; and if we mistake not, during the sojourn of joice heth, of more recent notoriety, at the albany museum, a shrewd albanian, after a minute and diligent examination, made the wonderful discovery that the old lady, or _nurse of washington_, was composed of _india rubber_, and was made to breathe, speak, cry, sing, &c., by the aid of _ventriloquism_! in a case of spirit rappings, professor grimes discovered that the party had contrived to have some levers concealed beneath the floor, and by means of certain little pegs coming through where the rappers sat, connecting with the levers, all nicely poised on a balance, they placed their feet upon them, and produced the raps at pleasure. and in the case of the rochester rappers, when their ankles were firmly held by the committee of investigation, it is said a servant girl rapped with her knuckles under the floor. mrs. culver, who had been instructed by the fox family, and had practised with them a while, afterwards renounced the craft, and exposed this among other deceptions to the world. "the girl," she says, "was instructed to rap whenever she heard their voices calling for spirits." sorcerers in the east. the operations of the men sorcerers in india are quite scientific. they set about their work in a business-like manner, and in sight of the house of their intended victim the mystic caldron begins to boil and bubble. the victim, however, is not to be terrified out of his senses. what are his enemy's fires and incantations to him? he takes no notice, and continues to live on as though there was not a sorcerer in the world. but that _smoke_: it meets his eye the first object every morning. that ruddy glare: it is the last thing he sees at night. that measured but inarticulate sound: it is never out of his ear. his thoughts dwell on the mystical business. he is preoccupied, even in company. he wonders what they are putting into the pot, and if it has any connection with the spasm that has just shot through him. he becomes nervous; he feels sick; he cannot sleep from thinking; he cannot eat for that horrid broth that bubbles forever in his mind. he gets worse and worse, and dies! but this empire of the imagination is beaten in java, where it is supposed that a housebreaker, by throwing a handful of earth upon the beds of the inmates, completely incapacitates them from moving to save their property. the man who is to be robbed, on feeling the earth fall upon him, lies as motionless as if bound hand and foot. he is under a spell, which he feels unable to break. singular metamorphoses. in the east, men are believed to be frequently metamorphosed--sometimes voluntarily, sometimes involuntarily--into tigers. the voluntary transformation is effected merely by eating a certain root, whereupon the person is instantly changed into a tiger; and when tired of this character, he has only to eat another, when, as quick as thought, he subsides from a tiger into a man. but sometimes mistakes happen. an individual of an inquiring disposition once felt a strong curiosity to know the sensations attendant on transformation; but, being a prudent man, he set about the transformation with all necessary precaution. having provided himself with "the insane root that takes the reason prisoner," he gave one also to his wife, desiring her to stand by and watch the event, and as soon as she saw him fairly turned into a tiger, to thrust it into his mouth. she promised, but her nerves were not equal to the performance. as soon as she saw her husband fixed in his new form, she took to flight, carrying in her hand, in the confusion of her mind, the root that would have restored him to her faithful arms. and so it befell that the poor tiger-man was obliged to take to the woods, and for many a day he dined on his old neighbors of the village, but was at last shot, and _recognized_! in this superstition will be seen the prototype of the wolf mania of mediã¦val europe. in brittany, men betook themselves to the forests in the shape of wolves, out of a morbid passion for the amusement of howling and ravening; but if they left in some secure place the clothes they had thrown off to prepare for the metamorphosis, they had but to reassume them to regain their natural forms. but sometimes a catastrophe, like that above related, took place: the wife discovered the hidden clothes, and carrying them home, in the innocent carefulness of her heart, the poor husband lived and died a _wolf_! pernicious errors relating to health. in a former part of this volume, we have spoken of several impositions upon the credulity of the public, in matters appertaining to health. the astrologists have told us that "some plants are only to be plucked at the rising of the _dogstar_, when neither sun nor moon shine, while others are to be cut with a golden knife, when the moon is just six days old." to some particular plants "a string must be fastened, a hungry dog tied thereto, who, being allured by the smell of roasted flesh set before him, may pluck it up by the roots." at one time, the vegetable oil of swallows was considered a potent remedy. it was prepared "by compounding twenty different herbs with _twenty live swallows_, well beaten together in a mortar." another medicine was prepared from _the raspings of a human skull_; another from the _moss, growing on the head of a thief_, who had been gibbeted and left to hang in the air. in addition to these, we have had "_the powder of a mummy; the liver of frogs; the blood of weasels; an ointment made of sucking whelps; the marrow of a stag; and the thigh bone of an ox_." and we have numerous modern nostrums scarcely better than these, by which the gullible public are often sorely victimized. there are many opinions among the people, which prove highly deleterious in being carried into practice. for instance, that we must "stuff a cold to cure it," when the reverse of the case is the only safe mode of procedure. in a cold, the lungs are already loaded and congested with accumulations of muco-purulent matter, which is increased by taking large quantities of food. erroneous views, in regard to cleanliness, often lead to great mischief. there is a notion with some that dirt is really healthy, especially for children. this idea probably originated from the fact, that those children who are allowed to play in the dirt are often more healthy than those who are confined in the nursery or parlor. but it should be remembered that it is not _dirt_ which promotes their health, but active exercise in the open air. this more than compensates for the injury sustained by the dirt. there is, however, something deceitful, after all, in the ruddy appearance of these children, who, like some four-footed animals, are allowed to wallow in mire and dirt; for they actually suffer more, not only from chronic, but from acute diseases, than children whose parents are in better circumstances. the pores of the skin, as we have shown in the family physician, published by us a few years since, cannot be closed with filth for any length of time, and the subject remain uninjured. it is true, some years may pass away before the bad effects appear; but in after life, scrofula, rheumatism, jaundice, and even consumption, often arise after the cause which first gave rise to them is forgotten, if indeed it were ever suspected. it is our candid opinion, that a larger part of the deaths that occur among children by typhoid, scarlet fever, and other baleful diseases, is owing to some defect in management, as to diet, air, dress, or exercise, which we will briefly show in this connection. there are some, in adult life, who abstain wholly from external ablutions, and never think of washing their bodies from one year to another. now, such persons must be considered, to say the least, to be of an uncleanly habit; and such a habit is not only unfavorable to health, but to morality. mr. wesley reckons cleanliness to be second only to godliness. we venture to affirm that he who is most guilty of personal neglect will generally be found the most ignorant and vicious. i am well acquainted with a whole family who neglect their persons _from principle_. they are a sort of _new lights_ in religious things, and hold that the true christian should "slight the hovel, as beneath his care." but there is a want of intelligence, and even of common refinement, in the family, that certainly does not, and _cannot_, add much to their own happiness or comfort, aside from the fact that it greatly annoys their neighbors. we do not pretend to say but that there are some great and good persons who are slovenly in their general appearance; but these are only exceptions to a general rule. on the contrary, common observation teaches us that it is a distinguishing mark of low-bred rowdyism, and of vicious and intemperate habits, to see young men dressed in the most loose and careless manner. a person of refinement and cultivation would feel ashamed to appear in such a manner before the public gaze. neglect of proper ventilation leads to incomparable mischief. there are many persons who live through the day in closely confined and excessively heated apartments, and also sleep in small contracted bed rooms, without the least opportunity for a current of fresh air. who can wonder that they rise in the morning with wearied limbs, languid and listless, with a furred tongue, parched mouth, and headache? they are continually subjected to inhaling, over and over, the poison, the miasma, of their own bodies, which cannot but result, in the end, to the great detriment of health. we are perfectly astonished, oftentimes, to see to what an extent such a thing is carried. take this, in connection with eating improper and badly-cooked food, fat meats, gravies, and pastries, the want of suitable protection against atmospheric changes, and active exercise in the open air, and who can marvel at the prevalence of deadly fevers, consumption, or cholera even? it is only a matter of surprise that there are not ten deaths where there is now one. look at the quality of the meats purchased for use. it is now a common practice with farmers (in order to save the milk) to sell their calves for market as soon as born; and people eagerly purchase this immatured meat because afforded at a low price. then look at the enormous quantities of _pork_ consumed. go past the sausage factories, in the cities of jersey, and you behold it heaped in piles, ready for the work of the hundreds of "choppers," driven by steam. then look into the groceries, see the array of pound sausage meat, and cheese heads, so called. a grocer in newark city informed us, last winter, that sausage meat and buckwheat cakes formed three quarters of the aliment of the citizens. and in paterson, new jersey, in the hottest of the season, calves were lying upon the pavements, ready to be slaughtered, and almost as momentarily devoured, as occasion demanded. even the poor fowls, their legs swollen with inflammation from the cords with which they were bound, and half famished for water and food, and fevered by fright and exposure, were readily purchased by men and women, to satisfy the cravings of a perverted appetite. when we behold such practices, we cannot think it strange that mortality should be so rife as it is at times, especially when the atmosphere is in a condition to affect the body in a predisposed state, favorable to the development of diseases, such as that of small-pox, cholera, fever and ague, scarlet and typhoid, (i.e., decomposing fever,) which is the concentration of all others. the food we eat may convey the disease within, and unless the state of our system is healthy and harmonious, the resisting power will not be equal to the force and action of the external elements, and consequently we shall become a prey to the contagion, whatever type or form it assumes. we are somewhat inclined to think that a. j. davis (who is a physician by profession) is correct, when he says, "the atmosphere has had the cholera, more or less, for thirty years, and will continue to have it until there occurs a geological change in many portions of the earth; and from the atmosphere the disease has been, and is, communicated epidemically to the predisposed potato plant, and also to the human system." a late english writer remarks, that "certain diseases prevail at the approach of the equinoxes." * * * * * * transcriber's note: minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed. unmatched double quotation marks occur in numerous places, particularly near the end of the text. no attempt was made to open or close these quotations unless the location of the missing double quotation mark was apparent. transcriber's note: italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by =equal signs=. obvious punctuation and spelling errors have been corrected. illustration: _photo: stirling, melbourne._ on the warpath in australia, 1920-21. _the wanderings of a spiritualist_ by sir arthur conan doyle author of "the new revelation," "the vital message," etc. "aggressive fighting for the right is the noblest sport the world affords." _theodore roosevelt._ hodder and stoughton limited london _by sir arthur conan doyle_ the new revelation ninth edition. cloth, 5/. net.. paper, 2/6 net. "this book is sir arthur conan doyle's confession of faith, very frank, very courageous and very resolute ... the courage and large-mindedness of this book deserve cordial recognition."--daily chronicle. "it is a book that demands our respect and commands our interest.... much more likely to influence the opinion of the general public than 'raymond' or the long reports of the society for psychical research."--daily news. the vital message tenth thousand. cloth, 5/. "sir arthur conan doyle's 'the new revelation' was his confession of faith. 'the vital message' seeks to show our future relations with the unseen world."--daily chronicle. "... it is a clear, earnest presentation of the case, and will serve as a useful introduction to the subject to anyone anxious to learn what the new spiritualists claim for their researches and their faith.... sir arthur writes with evident sincerity, and, within the limits of his system, with much broad-mindedness and toleration."--daily telegraph. "a splendid propaganda book, written in the author's telling and racy style, and one that will add to his prestige and renown."--two worlds. spiritualism and rationalism with a drastic examination of mr. joseph m'cabe sir arthur conan doyle's trenchant reply to the criticisms of spiritualism as formulated by mr. joseph m'cabe. paper, 1/. net. _hodder & stoughton, ltd., london, e.c.4_ contents page chapter i 9 the inception of the enterprise.--the merthyr séance.--experience of british lectures.--call from australia.--the holborn luncheon.--remarkable testimony to communication.--is individual proof necessary?--excursion to exeter.--can spiritualists continue to be christians?--their views on atonement.--the party on the "naldera." chapter ii 24 gibraltar.--spanish right versus british might.--relics of barbary rovers, and of german militarists.--ichabod!--senegal infantry.--no peace for the world.--religion on a liner.--differences of vibration.--the bishop of kwang-si.--religion in china.--whisky in excelsis.--france's masterpiece.--british errors.--a procession of giants.--the invasion of egypt.--tropical weather.--the russian horror.--an indian experiment.--aden.--bombay.--the lambeth encyclical. a great novelist.--the mango trick.--snakes.--the catamarans.--the robber castles of ceylon.--doctrine of reincarnation.--whales and whalers.--perth.--the bight. chapter iii 60 mr. hughes' letter of welcome.--challenges.--mr. carlyle smythe.--the adelaide press.--the great drought.--the wine industry.--clairvoyance.--meeting with bellchambers.--the first lecture.--the effect.--the religious lecture.--the illustrated lecture.--premonitions.--the spot light.--mr. thomas' account of the incident.--correspondence.--adelaide doctors.--a day in the bush,--the mallee fowl.--sussex in australia.--farewell to adelaide. chapter iv 84 speculations on paul and his master.--arrival at melbourne.--attack in the argus.--partial press boycott.--strength of the movement.--the prince of wales.--victorian football. rescue circle in melbourne.--burke and wills' statue.--success of the lectures.--reception at the auditorium.--luncheon of the british empire league.--mr. ryan's experience.--the federal government.--mr. hughes' personality.--the mediumship of charles bailey.--his alleged exposure.--his remarkable record.--a test sitting.--the indian nest.--a remarkable lecture.--arrival of lord forster.--the future of the empire.--kindness of australians.--prohibition. --horse-racing.--roman catholic policy. chapter v 114 more english than the english.--a day in the bush.--immigration.--a case of spirit return.--a séance.--geelong.--the lava plain.--good-nature of general ryrie.--bendigo.--down a gold mine.--prohibition v. continuance.--mrs. knight maclellan. --nerrin.--a wild drive.--electric shearing.--rich sheep stations. --cockatoo farmers.--spinnifex and mallee.--rabbits.--the great marsh. chapter vi 136 the melbourne cup.--psychic healing.--m. j. bloomfield.--my own experience.--direct healing.--chaos and ritual.--government house ball.--the rescue circle again.--sitting with mrs. harris.--a good test case.--australian botany.--the land of myrtles.--english cricket team.--great final meeting in melbourne. chapter vii 151 great reception at sydney.--importance of sydney.--journalistic luncheon.--a psychic epidemic.--gregory.--barracking.--town hall reception.--regulation of spiritualism.--an ether apport.--surfing at manly.--a challenge.--bigoted opponents.--a disgruntled photographer.--outing in the harbour.--dr. mildred creed.--leon gellert.--norman lindsay.--bishop leadbeater.--our relations with theosophy.--incongruities of h.p.b.--of d.d. home. chapter viii 176 dangerous fog.--the six photographers.--comic advertisements.--beauties of auckland.--a christian clergyman.--shadows in our american relations.--the gallipoli stone.--stevenson and the germans.--position of de rougemont.--mr. clement wragge.--atlantean theories.--a strange psychic.--wellington the windy.--a literary oasis.--a maori séance.--presentation. chapter ix 198 the anglican colony.--psychic dangers.--the learned dog.--absurd newspaper controversy.--a backward community.--the maori tongue.--their origin.--their treatment by the empire.--a fiasco.--the pa of kaiopoi.--dr. thacker.--sir joseph kinsey.--a generous collector.--scott and amundsen.--dunedin.--a genuine medium.--evidence.--the shipping strike.--sir oliver.--farewell. chapter x 223 christian origins.--mithraism.--astronomy.--exercising boats.--bad news from home.--futile strikes.--labour party.--the blue wilderness.--journey to brisbane.--warm reception.--friends and foes.--psychic experience of dr. doyle.--birds.--criticism on melbourne--spiritualist church.--ceremony.--sir matthew nathan.--alleged repudiation of queensland.--billy tea.--the bee farm.--domestic service in australia.--hon. john fihilly.--curious photograph by the state photographer.--the "orsova." chapter xi 255 medlow bath.--jenolan caves.--giant skeleton.--mrs. foster turner's mediumship.--a wonderful prophecy.--final results.--third sitting with bailey.--failure of state control.--retrospection.--melbourne presentation.--crooks.--lecture at perth.--west australia.--rabbits, sparrows and sharks. chapter xii 280 pleasing letters.--visit to candy.--snake and flying fox.--buddha's shrine.--the malaya.--naval digression.--indian trader. --elephanta.--sea snakes.--chained to a tombstone.--berlin's escape. --lord chetwynd.--lecture in the red sea.--marseilles. chapter xiii 303 the institut metaphysique.--lecture in french.--wonderful musical improviser.--camille flammarion.--test of materialised hand.--last ditch of materialism.--sitting with mrs. bisson's medium, eva.--round the aisne battlefields.--a tragic intermezzo. --anglo-french rugby match.--madame blifaud's clairvoyance. list of illustrations on the war-path in australia, 1920-1921 _frontispiece_ _facing page_ how this book was written 9 the god-speed luncheon in london. on this occasion 250 out of 290 guests rose as testimony that they were in personal touch with their dead 16 the wanderers, 1920-1921 72 bellchambers and the mallee fowl. "get along with you, do" 80 melbourne, november, 1920 96 a typical australian back-country scene by h. j. johnstone, a great painter who died unknown. painting in adelaide national gallery 128 at melbourne town hall, november 12th, 1920 144 the people of turi's canoe, after a voyage of great hardship, at last sight the shores of new zealand. from a painting by c. f. goldie and l. g. a. steele 208 laying foundation stone of spiritualist church at brisbane 240 curious photographic effect referred to in text. taken by the official photographer, brisbane. "absolutely mystifying" is his description 252 our party _en route_ to the jenolan caves, january 20th, 1921. in front of old court house in which bushrangers were tried 256 denis with a black snake at medlow bath 264 to my wife. this memorial of a journey which her help and presence changed from a duty to a pleasure. a. c. d. _july 18/21._ illustration: how this book was written. chapter i the inception of the enterprise.--the merthyr séance.--experience of british lectures.--call from australia.--the holborn luncheon.--remarkable testimony to communication.--is individual proof necessary?--excursion to exeter.--can spiritualists continue to be christians?--their views on atonement.--the party on the "naldera." this is an account of the wanderings of a spiritualist, geographical and speculative. should the reader have no interest in psychic things--if indeed any human being can be so foolish as not to be interested in his own nature and fate,--then this is the place to put the book down. it were better also to end the matter now if you have no patience with a go-as-you-please style of narrative, which founds itself upon the conviction that thought may be as interesting as action, and which is bound by its very nature to be intensely personal. i write a record of what absorbs my mind which may be very different from that which appeals to yours. but if you are content to come with me upon these terms then let us start with my apologies in advance for the pages which may bore you, and with my hopes that some may compensate you by pleasure or by profit. i write these lines with a pad upon my knee, heaving upon the long roll of the indian ocean, running large and grey under a grey streaked sky, with the rain-swept hills of ceylon, just one shade greyer, lining the eastern skyline. so under many difficulties it will be carried on, which may explain if it does not excuse any slurring of a style, which is at its best but plain english. there was one memorable night when i walked forth with my head throbbing and my whole frame quivering from the villa of mr. southey at merthyr. behind me the brazen glare of dowlais iron-works lit up the sky, and in front twinkled the many lights of the welsh town. for two hours my wife and i had sat within listening to the whispering voices of the dead, voices which are so full of earnest life, and of desperate endeavours to pierce the barrier of our dull senses. they had quivered and wavered around us, giving us pet names, sweet sacred things, the intimate talk of the olden time. graceful lights, signs of spirit power had hovered over us in the darkness. it was a different and a wonderful world. now with those voices still haunting our memories we had slipped out into the material world--a world of glaring iron works and of twinkling cottage windows. as i looked down on it all i grasped my wife's hand in the darkness and i cried aloud, "my god, if they only knew--if they could only know!" perhaps in that cry, wrung from my very soul, lay the inception of my voyage to the other side of the world. the wish to serve was strong upon us both. god had given us wonderful signs, and they were surely not for ourselves alone. i had already done the little i might. from the moment that i had understood the overwhelming importance of this subject, and realised how utterly it must change and chasten the whole thought of the world when it is whole-heartedly accepted, i felt it good to work in the matter and understood that all other work which i had ever done, or could ever do, was as nothing compared to this. therefore from the time that i had finished the history of the great war on which i was engaged, i was ready to turn all my remaining energies of voice or hand to the one great end. at first i had little of my own to narrate, and my task was simply to expound the spiritual philosophy as worked out by the thoughts and experiences of others, showing folk so far as i was able, that the superficial and ignorant view taken of it in the ordinary newspapers did not touch the heart of the matter. my own experiences were limited and inconclusive, so that it was the evidence of others which i quoted. but as i went forward signs were given in profusion to me also, such signs as were far above all error or deception, so that i was able to speak with that more vibrant note which comes not from belief or faith, but from personal experience and knowledge. i had found that the wonderful literature of spiritualism did not reach the people, and that the press was so full of would-be jocosities and shallow difficulties that the public were utterly misled. only one way was left, which was to speak to the people face to face. this was the task upon which i set forth, and it had led me to nearly every considerable city of great britain from aberdeen to torquay. everywhere i found interest, though it varied from the heavier spirit of the sleepy cathedral towns to the brisk reality of centres of life and work like glasgow or wolverhampton. many a time my halls were packed, and there were as many outside as inside the building. i have no eloquence and make profession of none, but i am audible and i say no more than i mean and can prove, so that my audiences felt that it was indeed truth so far as i could see it, which i conveyed. their earnestness and receptiveness were my great help and reward in my venture. those who had no knowledge of what my views were assembled often outside my halls, waving banners and distributing tracts, but never once in the course of addressing 150,000 people, did i have disturbance in my hall. i tried, while never flinching from truth, to put my views in such a way as to hurt no one's feelings, and although i have had clergymen of many denominations as my chairmen, i have had thanks from them and no remonstrance. my enemies used to follow and address meetings, as they had every right to do, in the same towns. it is curious that the most persistent of these enemies were jesuits on the one side and evangelical sects of the plymouth brethren type upon the other. i suppose the literal interpretation of the old testament was the common bond. however this is digression, and when the digressions are taken out of this book there will not be much left. i get back to the fact that the overwhelming effect of the merthyr séance and of others like it, made my wife and myself feel that when we had done what we could in britain we must go forth to further fields. then came the direct invitation from spiritual bodies in australia. i had spent some never-to-be-forgotten days with australian troops at the very crisis of the war. my heart was much with them. if my message could indeed bring consolation to bruised hearts and to bewildered minds--and i had boxes full of letters to show that it did--then to whom should i carry it rather than to those who had fought so splendidly and lost so heavily in the common cause? i was a little weary also after three years of incessant controversy, speaking often five times a week, and continually endeavouring to uphold the cause in the press. the long voyage presented attractions, even if there was hard work at the end of it. there were difficulties in the way. three children, boys of eleven and nine, with a girl of seven, all devotedly attached to their home and their parents, could not easily be left behind. if they came a maid was also necessary. the pressure upon me of correspondence and interviews would be so great that my old friend and secretary, major wood, would be also needed. seven of us in all therefore, and a cheque of sixteen hundred pounds drawn for our return tickets, apart from outfit, before a penny could be entered on the credit side. however, mr. carlyle smythe, the best agent in australia, had taken the matter up, and i felt that we were in good hands. the lectures would be numerous, controversies severe, the weather at its hottest, and my own age over sixty. but there are compensating forces, and i was constantly aware of their presence. i may count our adventures as actually beginning from the luncheon which was given us in farewell a week or so before our sailing by the spiritualists of england. harry engholm, most unselfish of men, and a born organiser among our most unorganised crowd, had the matter in hand, so it was bound to be a success. there was sitting room at the holborn restaurant for 290 people, and it was all taken up three weeks before the event. the secretary said that he could have filled the albert hall. it was an impressive example of the solidity of the movement showing itself for the moment round us, but really round the cause. there were peers, doctors, clergymen, officers of both services, and, above all, those splendid lower middle class folk, if one talks in our material earth terms, who are the spiritual peers of the nation. many professional mediums were there also, and i was honoured by their presence, for as i said in my remarks, i consider that in these days of doubt and sorrow, a genuine professional medium is the most useful member of the whole community. alas! how few they are! four photographic mediums do i know in all britain, with about twelve physical phenomena mediums and as many really reliable clairvoyants. what are these among so many? but there are many amateur mediums of various degrees, and the number tends to increase. perhaps there will at last be an angel to every church as in the days of john. i see dimly the time when two congregations, the living and those who have passed on, shall move forward together with the medium angel as the bridge between them. it was a wonderful gathering, and i only wish i could think that my own remarks rose to the height of the occasion. however, i did my best and spoke from my heart. i told how the australian visit had arisen, and i claimed that the message that i would carry was the most important that the mind of man could conceive, implying as it did the practical abolition of death, and the reinforcement of our present religious views by the actual experience of those who have made the change from the natural to the spiritual bodies. speaking of our own experiences, i mentioned that my wife and i had actually spoken face to face beyond all question or doubt with eleven friends or relatives who had passed over, their direct voices being in each case audible, and their conversation characteristic and evidential--in some cases marvellously so. then with a sudden impulse i called upon those in the audience who were prepared to swear that they had had a similar experience to stand up and testify. it seemed for a moment as if the whole audience were on their feet. _the times_ next day said 250 out of 290 and i am prepared to accept that estimate. men and women, of all professions and social ranks--i do not think that i exaggerated when i said that it was the most remarkable demonstration that i had ever seen and that nothing like it had ever occurred in the city of london. it was vain for those journals who tried to minimise it to urge that in a baptist or a unitarian assembly all would have stood up to testify to their own faith. no doubt they would, but this was not a case of faith, it was a case of bearing witness to fact. there were people of all creeds, church, dissent, unitarian and ex-materialists. they were testifying to an actual objective experience as they might have testified to having seen the lions in trafalgar square. if such a public agreement of evidence does not establish a fact then it is indeed impossible, as professor challis remarked long ago, to prove a thing by any human testimony whatever. i confess that i was amazed. when i remember how many years it was before i myself got any final personal proofs i should have thought that the vast majority of spiritualists were going rather upon the evidence of others than upon their own. and yet 250 out of 290 had actually joined hands across the border. i had no idea that the direct proof was so widely spread. i have always held that people insist too much upon direct proof. what direct proof have we of most of the great facts of science? we simply take the word of those who have examined. how many of us have, for example, seen the rings of saturn? we are assured that they are there, and we accept the assurance. strong telescopes are rare, and so we do not all expect to see the rings with our own eyes. in the same way strong mediums are rare, and we cannot all expect to experience the higher psychic results. but if the assurance of those who have carefully experimented, of the barretts, the hares, the crookes, the wallaces, the lodges and the lombrosos, is not enough, then it is manifest that we are dealing with this matter on different terms to those which we apply to all the other affairs of science. it would of course be different if there were a school of patient investigators who had gone equally deeply into the matter and come to opposite conclusions. then we should certainly have to find the path of truth by individual effort. but such a school does not exist. only the ignorant and inexperienced are in total opposition, and the humblest witness who has really sought the evidence has more weight than they. illustration: the god-speed luncheon in london. on this occasion 250 out of 290 guests rose as testimony that they were in personal touch with their dead. after the luncheon my wife made the final preparations--and only ladies can tell what it means to fit out six people with tropical and semi-tropical outfits which will enable them for eight months to stand inspection in public. i employed the time by running down to devonshire to give addresses at exeter and torquay, with admirable audiences at both. good evan powell had come down to give me a last séance, and i had the joy of a few last words with my arisen son, who blessed me on my mission and assured me that i would indeed bring solace to bruised hearts. the words he uttered were a quotation from my london speech at which powell had not been present, nor had the verbatim account of it appeared anywhere at that time. it was one more sign of how closely our words and actions are noted from the other side. powell was tired, having given a sitting the night before, so the proceedings were short, a few floating lights, my son and my sister's son to me, one or two greetings to other sitters, and it was over. whilst in exeter i had a discussion with those who would break away from christianity. they are a strong body within the movement, and how can christians be surprised at it when they remember that for seventy years they have had nothing but contempt and abuse for the true light-bearers of the world? is there at the present moment one single bishop, or one head of a free church, who has the first idea of psychic truth? dr. parker had, in his day, so too archdeacons wilberforce and colley, mr. haweis and a few others. general booth has also testified to spiritual communion with the dead. but what have spiritualists had in the main save misrepresentation and persecution? hence the movement has admittedly, so far as it is an organised religion--and it has already 360 churches and 1,000 building funds--taken a purely unitarian turn. this involves no disrespect towards him whom they look upon as the greatest spirit who ever trod the earth, but only a deep desire to communicate direct without intermediary with that tremendous centre of force from and to whom all things radiate or return. they are very earnest and good men, these organised religious spiritualists, and for the most part, so far as my experience goes, are converts from materialism who, having in their materialistic days said very properly that they would believe nothing which could not be proved to them, are ready now with thomas to be absolutely wholehearted when the proof of survival and spirit communion has actually reached them. there, however, the proof ends, nor will they go further than the proof extends, as otherwise their original principles would be gone. therefore they are unitarians with a breadth of vision which includes christ, krishna, buddha and all the other great spirits whom god has sent to direct different lines of spiritual evolution which correspond to the different needs of the various races of mankind. our information from the beyond is that this evolution is continued beyond the grave, and very far on until all details being gradually merged, they become one as children of god. with a deep reverence for christ it is undeniable that the organised spiritualist does not accept vicarious atonement nor original sin, and believes that a man reaps as he sows with no one but himself to pull out the weeds. it seems to me the more virile and manly doctrine, and as to the texts which seem to say otherwise, we cannot deny that the new testament has been doctored again and again in order to square the record of the scriptures with the practice of the church. professor nestle, in the preface to a work on theology (i write far from books of reference), remarks that there were actually officials named "correctores," who were appointed at the time of the council of nicæa for this purpose, and st. jerome, when he constructed the vulgate, complains to pope damasus that it is practically a new book that he is making, putting any sin arising upon the pope's head. in the face of such facts we can only accept the spirit of the new testament fortified with common sense, and using such interpretation as brings most spiritual strength to each of us. personally, i accept the view of the organised spiritual religion, for it removes difficulties which formerly stood between me and the whole christian system, but i would not say or do anything which would abash those others who are getting real spiritual help from any sort of christian belief. the gaining of spirituality and widening of the personality are the aims of life, and how it is done is the business of the individual. every creed has produced its saints and has to that extent justified its existence. i like the unitarian position of the main spiritual body, however, because it links the movement up with the other great creeds of the world and makes it more accessible to the jew, the mohammedan or the buddhist. it is far too big to be confined within the palings of christianity. here is a little bit of authentic teaching from the other side which bears upon the question. i take it from the remarkable record of mr. miller of belfast, whose dialogues with his son after the death of the latter seem to me to be as certainly true as any case which has come to my notice. on asking the young soldier some question about the exact position of christ in religion he modestly protested that such a subject was above his head, and asked leave to bring his higher guide to answer the question. using a fresh voice and in a new and more weighty manner the medium then said:-"i wish to answer your question. jesus the christ is the proper designation. jesus was perfect humanity. christ was the god idea in him. jesus, on account of his purity, manifested in the highest degree the psychic powers which resulted in his miracles. jesus never preached the blood of the lamb. the disciples after his ascension forgot the message in admiration of the man. the christ is in every human being, and so are the psychic forces which were used by jesus. if the same attention were given to spiritual development which you give to the comfort and growth of your material bodies your progress in spiritual life would be rapid and would be characterised by the same works as were performed by jesus. the one essential thing for all on earth to strive after is a fuller knowledge and growth in spiritual living." i think that the phrase, "in their admiration of the man they forgot his message," is as pregnant a one as i ever heard. to come back then to the discussion at exeter, what i said then and feel now is that every spiritualist is free to find his own path, and that as a matter of fact his typical path is a unitarian one, but that this in no way obscures the fact that our greatest leaders, lodge, barrett, ellis powell, tweedale, are devoted sons of the church, that our literature is full of christian aspiration, and that our greatest prophet, vale owen, is a priest of a particularly sacerdotal turn of mind. we are in a transition stage, and have not yet found any common theological position, or any common position at all, save that the dead carry on, that they do not change, that they can under proper physical conditions communicate with us, and that there are many physical signs by which they make their presence known to us. that is our common ground, and all beyond that is matter of individual observation and inference. therefore, we are not in a position to take on any anti-christian agitation, for it would be against the conscience of the greater part of our own people. well, it is clear that if i do not begin my book i shall finish it before i have begun, so let me end this chapter by saying that in despite of all superstition we started for australia in the good ship "naldera" (capt. lewellin, r.n.r.), on friday, august 13th, 1920. as we carried two bishops in addition to our ominous dates we were foredoomed by every nautical tradition. our party were my dear, splendid wife, who has shared both my evidence and my convictions. she it is who, by breaking up her household, leaving her beloved home, breaking the schooling of her children, and venturing out upon a sea voyage, which of all things she hates, has made the real sacrifice for the cause. as to me, i am fond of change and adventure, and heartily agree with president roosevelt when he said that the grandest sport upon earth is to champion an unpopular cause which you know to be true. with us were denis, malcolm and baby, concerning whom i wrote the "three of them" sketches some years ago. in their train was jakeman, most faithful of maids, and in mine major wood, who has been mixed up in my life ever since as young men we played both cricket and football in the same team. such was the little party who set forth to try and blow that smouldering glow of truth which already existed in australia, into a more lively flame. chapter ii gibraltar.--spanish right versus british might.--relics of barbary rovers, and of german militarists.--ichabod! senegal infantry.--no peace for the world.--religion on a liner.--differences of vibration.--the bishop of kwang-si.--religion in china.--whisky in excelsis.--france's masterpiece.--british errors.--a procession of giants.--the invasion of egypt.--tropical weather.--the russian horror.--an indian experiment.--aden.--bombay.--the lambeth encyclical.--a great novelist.--the mango trick.--snakes.--the catamarans.--the robber castles of ceylon.--doctrine of reincarnation.--whales and whalers.--perth.--the bight. we had a favourable journey across the bay and came without adventure to gibraltar, that strange crag, arabic by name, african in type, spanish by right, and british by might. i trust that my whole record has shown me to be a loyal son of the empire, and i recognise that we must have a secure line of communications with the east, but if any change could give us ceuta, on the opposite african coast, instead of this outlying corner of proud old spain, it would be good policy as well as good morality to make the change. i wonder how we should like it if the french held a garrison at mount st. michael in cornwall, which would be a very similar situation. is it worth having a latent enemy who at any time might become an active one, or is it wiser to hold them to us by the memory of a great voluntary act of justice? they would pay, of course, for all quays, breakwaters and improvements, which would give us the money to turn ceuta into a worthy substitute, which could be held without offending the pride of a great nation, as old and proud as ourselves. the whole lesson of this great war is that no nation can do what is unjust with impunity, and that sooner or later one's sin will find one out. how successful seemed all the scheming of frederick of prussia! but what of silesia and of poland now? only on justice can you build with a permanent foundation, and there is no justice in our tenure of gibraltar. we had only an hour ashore, a great joy to the children, and carried away a vague impression of grey-shirted tommies, swarthy loungers, one long, cobblestoned street, scarlet blossoms, and a fine governor's house, in which i picture that brave old warrior, smith-dorrien, writing a book which will set all the critics talking, and the military clubs buzzing a year or two from now. i do not know if he was really forced to fight at le cateau, though our sympathies must always go to the man who fights, but i do feel that if he had had his way and straightened the salient of ypres, there would have been a mighty saving of blood and tears. there were sentimental reasons against it, but i can think of no material ones--certainly none which were worth all the casualties of the salient. i had only one look at the place, and that by night, but never shall i forget the murderous loop, outlined by star shells, nor the horrible noises which rose up from that place of wrath and misery. on august 19th we were running up the eastern spanish coast, a most desolate country of high bare cliffs and barren uplands, studded with aged towers which told of pirate raids of old. these mediterranean shore dwellers must have had a hellish life, when the barbary rover was afloat, and they might be wakened any night by the moslem yell. truly, if the object of human life was chastening by suffering, then we have given it to each other in full measure. if this were the only life i do not know how the hypothesis of the goodness of god could be sustained, since our history has been one hardly broken record of recurring miseries, war, famine, and disease, from the ice to the equator. i should still be a materialist, as i was of yore, if it were not for the comfort and teaching from beyond, which tells me that this is the worst--far the worst--and that by its standard everything else becomes most gloriously better, so long as we help to make it so. "if the boys knew what it was like over here," said a dead soldier, "they would just jump for it." he added however, "if they did that they would surely miss it." we cannot bluff providence, or short-circuit things to our liking. we got ashore once more at marseilles. i saw converted german merchant ships, with names like "burgomeister müller," in the harbour, and railway trucks with "mainz-cöln" still marked upon their flanks--part of the captured loot. germany, that name of terror, how short is the time since we watched you well-nigh all-powerful, mighty on land, dangerous on the sea, conquering the world with your commerce and threatening it with your arms! you had everything, numbers, discipline, knowledge, industry, bravery, organisation, all in the highest--such an engine as the world has never seen. and now--ichabod! ichabod! your warships lie under the waves, your liners fly the flags of your enemies, your mother rhine on either bank hears the bugles of your invaders. what was wanting in you to bring you to such a pass? was it not spirituality? had not your churches become as much a department of state as the post office, where every priest and pastor was in state pay, and said that which the state ordained? all other life was at its highest, but spiritual life was dead, and because it was dead all the rest had taken on evil activities which could only lead to dissolution and corruption. had germany obeyed the moral law would she not now be great and flourishing, instead of the ruin which we see? was ever such an object lesson in sin and its consequence placed before the world? but let us look to it, for we also have our lesson to learn, and our punishment is surely waiting if we do not learn it. if now after such years we sink back into old ruts and do not make an earnest effort for real religion and real active morality, then we cumber the ground, and it is time that we were swept away, for no greater chance of reform can ever come to us. i saw some of the senegal troops in the streets of marseilles--a whole battalion of them marching down for re-embarkation. they are fierce, hard soldiers, by the look of them, for the negro is a natural fighter, as the prize ring shows, and these have long service training upon the top of this racial pugnacity. they look pure savages, with the tribal cuts still upon their faces, and i do not wonder that the germans objected to them, though we cannot doubt that the germans would themselves have used their askaris in europe as well as in africa if they could have done so. the men who had as allies the murderers of the armenians would not stick at trifles. i said during the war, and i can clearly see now, that the way in which the war was fought will prove hardly second to the war itself as a misfortune to the human race. a clean war could end in a clean peace. but how can we ever forget the poison gas, the zeppelin bombardments of helpless cities, the submarine murders, the scattering of disease germs, and all the other atrocities of germany? no water of oblivion can ever wash her clean. she had one chance, and only one. it was to at once admit it all herself and to set to work purging her national guilt by punishing guilty individuals. perhaps she may even now save herself and clear the moral atmosphere of the world by doing this. but time passes and the signs are against it. there can be no real peace in the world until voluntary reparation has been made. forced reparation can only make things worse, for it cannot satisfy us, and it must embitter them. i long for real peace, and should love to see our spiritualist bodies lead the van. but the time is not yet and it is realities we need, not phrases. old travellers say that they never remember the mediterranean so hot. we went down it with a following breeze which just neutralised our own head wind, the result being a quivering tropical heat. with the red sea before us it was no joke to start our trials so soon, and already the children began to wilt. however, major wood kept them at work for the forenoons and discipline still flourished. on the third day out we were south of crete, and saw an island lying there which is surely the same in the lee of which paul's galley took refuge when euroclydon was behaving so badly. i had been asked to address the first-class passengers upon psychic religion that evening, and it was strange indeed to speak in those waters, for i knew well that however ill my little pip-squeak might compare with that mighty voice, yet it was still the same battle of the unseen against the material, raging now as it did 2,000 years ago. some 200 of the passengers, with the bishop of kwang-si, turned up, and a better audience one could not wish, though the acoustic properties of the saloon were abominable. however, i got it across, though i was as wet as if i had fallen overboard when i had finished. i was pleased to learn afterwards that among the most keen of my audience were every colored man and woman on the ship, parsees, hindoos, japanese and mohammedans. "do you believe it is true?" they were asked next day. "we _know_ that it is true," was the answer, and it came from a lady with a red caste-mark like a wafer upon her forehead. so far as i could learn she spoke for all the eastern folk. and the others? at least i set them talking and thinking. i heard next morning of a queue of six waiting at the barber's all deep in theological discussion, with the barber himself, razor in hand, joining warmly in. "there has never been so much religion talked on a p. & o. ship since the line was started," said one old traveller. it was all good-humoured and could do no harm. before we had reached port said all my books on the subject were lent out to eager readers, and i was being led aside into remote corners and cross-questioned all day. i have a number of good psychic photographs with me, some of them of my own taking, and all of them guaranteed, and i find these valuable as making folk realise that my words do in truth represent realities. i have the famous fairy photos also, which will appear in england in the christmas number of the _strand_. i feel as if it were a delay-action mine which i had left behind me. i can imagine the cry of "fake!" which will arise. but they will stand investigation. it has of course nothing to do with spiritualism proper, but everything which can shake the mind out of narrow, material grooves, and make it realise that endless worlds surround us, separated only by difference of vibration, must work in the general direction of truth. "difference of vibration"--i have been trying lately to get behind mere words and to realise more clearly what this may mean. it is a fascinating and fruitful line of thought. it begins with my electric fan whizzing over my head. as it starts with slow vibration i see the little propellers. soon they become a dim mist, and finally i can see them no more. but they are there. at any moment, by slowing the movement, i can bring them back to my vision. why do i not see it all the time? because the impression is so fast that my retina has not time to register it. can we not imagine then that some objects may emit the usual light waves, long enough and slow enough to leave a picture, but that other objects may send waves which are short and steep, and therefore make so swift an impression that it is not recorded? that, so far as i can follow it, is what we mean by an object with a higher rate of vibration. it is but a feeling out into the dark, but it is a hypothesis which may serve us to carry on with, though the clairvoyant seems to be not a person with a better developed physical retina, but rather one who has the power to use that which corresponds with the retina in their own etheric bodies which are in harmony with etheric waves from outside. when a man can walk round a room and examine the pictures with the back of his head, as tom tyrrell has done, it is clear that it is not his physical retina which is working. in countless cases inquirers into magnetic phenomena have caused their subjects to read with various parts of their bodies. it is the other body, the etheric body, the "spiritual" body of paul, which lies behind all such phenomena--that body which is loose with all of us in sleep, but only exceptionally in waking hours. once we fully understand the existence of that deathless etheric body, merged in our own but occasionally detachable, we have mastered many a problem and solved many a ghost story. however, i must get back to my cretan lecture. the bishop was interested, and i lent him one of the rev. charles tweedale's pamphlets next day, which shows how sadly christianity has wandered away from its early faith of spiritual gifts and communion of saints. both have now become words instead of things, save among our ranks. the bishop is a good fellow, red and rough like a boer farmer, but healthy, breezy, and apostolic. "do mention his kind grey eyes," says my wife. he may die a martyr yet in that inland diocese of china--and he would not shrink from it. meanwhile, apart from his dogma, which must be desperately difficult to explain to an educated chinaman, he must always be a centre of civilisation and social effort. a splendid fellow--but he suffers from what all bishops and all cardinals and all popes suffer from, and that is superannuation. a physiologist has said that few men can ever entertain a new idea after fifty. how then can any church progress when all its leaders are over that age? this is why christianity has stagnated and degenerated. if here and there one had a new idea, how could it survive the pressure of the others? it is hopeless. in this particular question of psychic religion the whole order is an inversion, for the people are ahead of the clergy and the clergy of the bishops. but when the laymen lead strongly enough the others will follow unless they wish to see the whole church organisation dissolve. he was very interesting upon the state of christianity in china. protestantism, thanks to the joint british and american missions, is gaining upon roman catholicism, and has now far outstripped it, but the roman catholic organisations are very wealthy on account of ancient valuable concessions and well-invested funds. in case of a bolshevist movement that may be a source of danger, as it gives a reason for attack. the bishop made the very striking remark that if the whites cleared right out of china all the christian churches of divers creeds would within a generation merge into one creed. "what have we to do," they say, "with these old historical quarrels which are hardly intelligible to us? we are all followers of christ, and that is enough." truly, the converted seem far ahead of those who converted them. it is the priesthoods, the organisations, the funds and the vested interests which prevent the churches from being united. in the meanwhile ninety per cent. of our population shows what it thinks by never entering into a church at all. personally, i can never remember since i reached manhood feeling myself the better for having gone into one. and yet i have been an earnest seeker for truth. verily, there is something deep down which is rotten. it is want of fact, want of reality, words instead of things. only last sunday i shuddered as i listened to the hymns, and it amazed me to look around and see the composed faces of those who were singing them. do they think what they are saying, or does faith atrophy some part of the brain? we are "born through water and blood into the true church." we drink precious blood. "he hath broken the teeth in their jaw." can such phrases really mean anything to any thoughtful man? if not, why continue them? you will have your churches empty while you do. people will not argue about it--they will, and do, simply stay away. and the clergy go on stating and restating incredible unproved things, while neglecting and railing at those which could be proved and believed. on our lines those nine out of ten could be forced back to a reconsideration of their position, even though that position would not square with all the doctrines of present-day christianity, which would, i think, have offended the early christians as much as it does the earnest thinkers of to-day. port said came at last, and we entered the suez canal. it is a shocking thing that the entrance to this, one of the most magnificent of the works of man, are flanked by great sky advertisements of various brands of whisky. the sale of whisky may or may not be a tolerable thing, but its flaunting advertisements, dewar, johnny walker, and the rest, have surely long been intolerable. if anything would make me a total prohibitionist those would. they are shameless. i do not know if some middle way could be found by which light alcoholic drinks could remain--so light that drunkenness would be hardly possible--but if this cannot be done, then let us follow the noble example of america. it is indeed shameful to see at the very point of the world where some noble sentiment might best be expressed these huge reminders of that which has led to so much misery and crime. to a frenchman it must seem even worse than to us, while what the abstemious mohammedan can think is beyond my imagination. in that direction at least the religion of mohammed has done better than that of christ. if all those esquimaux, south sea islanders and others who have been converted to christianity and then debauched by drink, had followed the prophet instead, it cannot be denied that their development would have been a happier and a higher one, though the cast-iron doctrines and dogmas of the moslem have dangers of their own. has france ever had the credit she deserves for the splendid faith with which she followed that great beneficent genius lesseps in his wonderful work? it is beautiful from end to end, french in its neatness, its order, its exquisite finish. truly the opposition of our people, both experts and public, was a disgrace to us, though it sinks into insignificance when compared with our colossal national stupidity over the channel tunnel. when our descendants compute the sums spent in shipping and transhipping in the great war, the waste of merchant ships and convoys, the sufferings of the wounded, the delay in reinforcements, the dependence upon the weather, they will agree that our sin had found us out and that we have paid a fitting price for our stupidity. unhappily, it was not our blind guides who paid it, but it was the soldier and sailor and taxpayer, for the nation always pays collectively for the individual blunder. would a hundred million pounds cover the cost of that one? well can i remember how a year before war was declared, seeing clearly what was coming, i sent three memoranda to the naval and military authorities and to the imperial council of defence pointing out exactly what the situation would be, and especially the danger to our transports. it is admitted now that it was only the strange inaction of the german light forces, and especially their want of comprehension of the possibilities of the submarine, which enabled our expeditionary force to get across at all, so that we might have lost the war within the first month. but as to my poor memoranda, which proved so terribly correct, i might as well have dropped them into my own wastepaper basket instead of theirs, and so saved the postage. my only convert was captain, now general, swinton, part inventor of the tanks, who acted as secretary to the imperial defence committee, and who told me at the time that my paper had set him thinking furiously. which leads my thoughts to the question of the torpedoing of merchant vessels by submarines. so sure was i that the germans would do this, that after knocking at official doors in vain, i published a sketch called "danger," which was written a year before the war, and depicted all that afterwards occurred, even down to such small details as the ships zig-zagging up channel to escape, and the submarines using their guns to save torpedoes. i felt as if, like solomon eagle, i could have marched down fleet street with a brazier on my head if i could only call people's attention to the coming danger. i saw naval officers on the point, but they were strangely blind, as is shown by the comments printed at the end of "danger," which give the opinions of several admirals pooh-poohing my fears. among others i saw captain beatty, as he then was, and found him alive to the possible danger, though he did not suggest a remedy. his quiet, brisk personality impressed me, and i felt that our national brain-errors might perhaps be made good in the end by the grit that is in us. but how hard were our tasks from our want of foresight. admiral von capelle did me the honour to say during the war, in the german reichstag, that i was the only man who had prophesied the conditions of the great naval war. as a matter of fact, both fisher and scott had done so, though they had not given it to the public in the same detail--but nothing had been done. we know now that there was not a single harbour proof against submarines on our whole east coast. truly the hand of the lord was over england. nothing less could have saved her. we tied up to the bank soon after entering the canal, and lay there most of the night while a procession of great ships moving northwards swept silently past us in the ring of vivid light cast by their searchlights and our own. i stayed on deck most of the night to watch them. the silence was impressive--those huge structures sweeping past with only the slow beat of their propellers and the wash of their bow wave on either side. no sooner had one of these great shapes slid past than, looking down the canal, one saw the brilliant head light of another in the distance. they are only allowed to go at the slowest pace, so that their wash may not wear away the banks. finally, the last had passed, and we were ourselves able to cast off our warps and push southwards. i remained on deck seeing the sun rise over the eastern desert, and then a wonderful slow-moving panorama of egypt as the bank slid slowly past us. first desert, then green oases, then the long line of rude fortifications from kantara downwards, with the camp fires smoking, groups of early busy tommies and endless dumps of stores. here and to the south was the point where the turks with their german leaders attempted the invasion of egypt, carrying flat-bottomed boats to ford the canal. how they were ever allowed to get so far is barely comprehensible, but how they were ever permitted to get back again across one hundred miles of desert in the face of our cavalry and camelry is altogether beyond me. even their guns got back untaken. they dropped a number of mines in the canal, but with true turkish slovenliness they left on the banks at each point the long bamboos on which they had carried them across the desert, which considerably lessened the work of those who had to sweep them up. the sympathies of the egyptians seems to have been against us, and yet they have no desire to pass again under the rule of the turk. our dominion has had the effect of turning a very poor country into a very rich one, and of securing some sort of justice for the fellah or peasant, but since we get no gratitude and have no trade preference it is a little difficult to see how we are the better for all our labours. so long as the canal is secure--and it is no one's interest to injure it--we should be better if the country governed itself. we have too many commitments, and if we have to take new ones, such as mesopotamia, it would be well to get rid of some of the others where our task is reasonably complete. "we never let the youngsters grow up," said a friendly critic. there is, however, i admit, another side to the question, and the idea of permitting a healthy moral place like port said to relapse into the hotbed of gambling and syphilis which it used to be, is repugnant to the mind. which is better--that a race be free, immoral and incompetent, or that it be forced into morality and prosperity? that question meets us at every turn. the children have been delighted by the fish on the surface of the canal. their idea seems to be that the one aim and object of our excursion is to see sharks in the sea and snakes in australia. we did actually see a shark half ashore upon a sandbank in one of the lower lakes near suez. it was lashing about with a frantic tail, and so got itself off into deep water. to the west all day we see the very wild and barren country through which our ancestors used to drive upon the overland route when they travelled by land from cairo to suez. the smoke of a tiny mail-train marks the general line of that most desolate road. in the evening we were through the canal and marked the rugged shore upon our left down which the israelites pursued their way in the direction of sinai. one wonders how much truth there is in the narrative. on the one hand it is impossible to doubt that something of the sort did occur. on the other, the impossibility of so huge a crowd living on the rare wells of the desert is manifest. but numbers are not the strong point of an oriental historian. perhaps a thousand or two may have followed their great leader upon that perilous journey. i have heard that moses either on his own or through his wife was in touch with babylonian habits. this would explain those tablets of stone, or of inscribed clay burned into brick, which we receive as the ten commandments, and which only differ from the moral precepts of other races in the strange limitations and omissions. at least ten new ones have long been needed to include drunkenness, gluttony, pride, envy, bigotry, lying and the rest. the weather grows hotter and hotter, so that one aged steward who has done 100 voyages declares it to be unique. one passenger has died. several stewards have collapsed. the wind still keeps behind us. in the midst of all this i had an extensively signed petition from the second class passengers that i should address them. i did so, and spoke on deck for forty minutes to a very attentive audience which included many of the officers of the ship. i hope i got my points across to them. i was a sad example of sweated labour when i had finished. my wife tells me that the people were impressed. as i am never aware of the presence of any individual when i am speaking on this subject i rely upon my wife's very quick and accurate feminine impressions. she sits always beside me, notes everything, gives me her sympathetic atmosphere which is of such psychic importance, and finally reports the result. if any point of mine seems to her to miss its mark i unhesitatingly take it out. it interests me to hear her tell of the half-concealed sneer with which men listen to me, and how it turns into interest, bewilderment and finally something like reverence and awe as the brain gradually realises the proved truth of what i am saying, which upsets the whole philosophy on which their lives are built. there are several australian officers on board who are coming from the russian front full of dreadful stories of bolshevist atrocities, seen with their own eyes. the executioners were letts and chinese, and the instigators renegade jews, so that the russians proper seem to have been the more or less innocent dupes. they had dreadful photographs of tortured and mutilated men as corroboration. surely hell, the place of punishment and purgatorial expiation, is actually upon this earth in such cases. one leader seems to have been a sadic madman, for after torturing his victims till even the chinese executioners struck, he would sit playing a violin very exquisitely while he gloated over their agonies. all these australian boys agree that the matter will burn itself out, and that it will end in an immense massacre of jews which may involve the whole seven millions now in russia. god forbid, but the outlook is ominous! i remember a prophecy which i read early in the war that a great figure would arise in the north and have power for six years. if lenin was the great figure then he has, according to the prophet, about two years more to run. but prophecy is fitful, dangerous work. the way in which the founders of the christian faith all foretold the imminent end of the world is an example. what they dimly saw was no doubt the destruction of jerusalem, which seems to have been equally clear to ezekiel 600 years before, for his picture of cannibalism and dispersion is very exact. it is wonderful what chances of gaining direct information one has aboard a ship of this sort, with its mixed crowd of passengers, many of them famous in their own lines. i have already alluded to the officers returning from russia with their prophecies of evil. but there are many other folk with tales of deep interest. there is a mr. covell, a solid practical briton, who may prove to be a great pioneer, for he has made farming pay handsomely in the very heart of the indian plains. within a hundred miles of lucknow he has founded the townlet of covellpore, where he handles 3,000 acres of wheat and cotton with the aid of about the same number of natives. this is the most practical step i have ever heard of for forming a real indigenous white population in india. his son was with him, going out to carry on the work. mr. covell holds that the irrigation of the north west of india is one of the greatest wonders of the world, and jacob the engineer responsible. i had never heard of him, nor, i am ashamed to say, had i heard of sir leonard rogers, who is one of those great men like sir ronald ross, whom the indian medical service throws up. rogers has reduced the mortality of cholera by intravenous injections of hypertonic saline until it is only 15 per cent. general maude, i am informed, would almost certainly have been saved, had it not been that some false departmental economy had withheld the necessary apparatus. leprosy also seems in a fair way to yielding to rogers' genius for investigation. it is sad to hear that this same indian medical service which has produced such giants as fayrer, ross, and rogers is in a fair way to absolute ruin, because the conditions are such that good white candidates will no longer enter it. white doctors do not mind working with, or even under, natives who have passed the same british examinations as themselves, but they bar the native doctor who has got through a native college in india, and is on a far lower educational level than themselves. to serve under such a man is an impossible inversion. this is appreciated by the medical authorities at home, the word is given to the students, and the best men avoid the service. so unless a change is made, the end is in sight of the grand old service which has given so much to humanity. aden is remarkable only for the huge water tanks cut to catch rain, and carved out of solid rock. a whole captive people must have been set to work on so colossal a task, and one wonders where the poor wretches got water themselves the while. their work is as fresh and efficient as when they left it. no doubt it was for the watering, not of the population, but of the egyptian and other galleys on their way to punt and king solomon's mines. it must be a weary life for our garrison in such a place. there is strange fishing, sea snakes, parrot fish and the like. it is their only relaxation, for it is desert all round. monsoon and swell and drifting rain in the indian ocean. we heard that "thresh of the deep sea rain," of which kipling sings. then at last in the early morning the long quay of bombay, and the wonderful crowd of men of every race who await an incoming steamer. here at least half our passengers were disgorged, young subalterns, grey colonels, grave administrators, yellow-faced planters, all the fuel which is grown in britain and consumed in the roaring furnace of india. so devoted to their work, so unthanked and uncomprehended by those for whom they work! they are indeed a splendid set of men, and if they withdrew i wonder how long it would be before the wild men of the frontier would be in calcutta and bombay, as the picts and scots flowed over britain when the roman legions were withdrawn. what view will the coming labour governments of britain take of our imperial commitments? upon that will depend the future history of great tracts of the globe which might very easily relapse into barbarism. the ship seemed lonely when our indian friends were gone, for indeed, the pick of the company went with them. several pleased me by assuring me as they left that their views of life had been changed since they came on board the "naldera." to many i gave reading lists that they might look further into the matter for themselves. a little leaven in the great lump, but how can we help leavening it all when we know that, unlike other creeds, no true spiritualist can ever revert, so that while we continually gain, we never lose. one hears of the converts to various sects, but one does not hear of those who are driven out by their narrow, intolerant doctrines. you can change your mind about faiths, but not about facts, and hence our certain conquest. one cannot spend even a single long day in india without carrying away a wonderful impression of the gentle dignity of the indian people. our motor drivers were extraordinarily intelligent and polite, and all we met gave the same impression. india may be held by the sword, but it is certainly kept very carefully in the scabbard, for we hardly saw a soldier in the streets of this, its greatest city. i observed some splendid types of manhood, however, among the native police. we lunched at the taj mahal hotel, and got back tired and full of mixed impressions. verily the ingenuity of children is wonderful. they have turned their active minds upon the problem of paper currency with fearsome results. baby writes cheques in quaint ways upon odd bits of paper and brings them to me to be cashed. malcolm, once known as dimples, has made a series of pound and five pound notes of his own. the bank they call the money shop. i can trace every sort of atavism, the arboreal, the cave dweller, the adventurous raider, and the tribal instinct in the child, but this development seems a little premature. sunday once more, and the good bishop preaching. i wonder more and more what an educated chinaman would make of such doctrines. to take an example, he has quoted to-day with great approval, the action of peter in discarding the rite of circumcision as a proof of election. that marked, according to the bishop, the broad comprehensive mind which could not confine the mercies of god to any limited class. and yet when i take up the oecumenical pronouncement from the congress of anglican bishops which he has just attended, i find that baptism is made the test, even as the jews made circumcision. have the bishops not learned that there are millions who revere the memory of christ, whether they look upon him as god or man, but who think that baptism is a senseless survival of heathendom, like so many of our religious observances? the idea that the being who made the milky way can be either placated or incensed by pouring a splash of water over child or adult is an offence to reason, and a slur upon the divinity. two weary days upon the sea with drifting rain showers and wonderful scarlet and green sunsets. have beguiled the time with w. b. maxwell's "lamp and the mirror." i have long thought that maxwell was the greatest of british novelists, and this book confirms me in my opinion. who else could have drawn such fine detail and yet so broad and philosophic a picture? there may have been single books which were better than maxwell's best--the "garden of allah," with its gorgeous oriental colour would, for example, make a bid for first place, but which of us has so splendid a list of first class serious works as "mrs. thompson," "the rest cure," "vivian," "in cotton wool," above all, "the guarded flame"--classics, every one. our order of merit will come out very differently in a generation or so to what it stands now, and i shall expect to find my nominee at the top. but after all, what's the odds? you do your work as well as you can. you pass. you find other work to do. how the old work compares with the other fellow's work can be a matter of small concern. in colombo harbour lay h.m.s. "highflyer," which we looked upon with the reverence which everybody and everything which did well in the war deserve from us--a saucy, rakish, speedy craft. several other steamers were flying the yellow quarantine flag, but our captain confided to me that it was a recognised way of saying "no visitors," and did not necessarily bear any pathological meaning. as we had nearly two days before we resumed our voyage i was able to give all our party a long stretch on shore, finally staying with my wife for the night at the galle face hotel, a place where the preposterous charges are partly compensated for by the glorious rollers which break upon the beach outside. i was interested in the afternoon by a native conjurer giving us what was practically a private performance of the mango-tree trick. he did it so admirably that i can well understand those who think that it is an occult process. i watched the man narrowly, and believe that i solved the little mystery, though even now i cannot be sure. in doing it he began by laying several objects out in a casual way while hunting in his bag for his mango seed. these were small odds and ends including a little rag doll, very rudely fashioned, about six or eight inches long. one got accustomed to the presence of these things and ceased to remark them. he showed the seed and passed it for examination, a sort of large brazil nut. he then laid it among some loose earth, poured some water on it, covered it with a handkerchief, and crooned over it. in about a minute he exhibited the same, or another seed, the capsule burst, and a light green leaf protruding. i took it in my hands, and it was certainly a real bursting mango seed, but clearly it had been palmed and substituted for the other. he then buried it again and kept raising the handkerchief upon his own side, and scrabbling about with his long brown fingers underneath its cover. then he suddenly whisked off the handkerchief and there was the plant, a foot or so high, with thick foliage and blossoms, its root well planted in the earth. it was certainly very startling. my explanation is that by a miracle of packing the whole of the plant had been compressed into the rag doll, or little cloth cylinder already mentioned. the scrabbling of the hands under the cloth was to smooth out the leaves after it was freed from this covering. i observed that the leaves were still rather crumpled, and that there were dark specks of fungi which would not be there if the plant were straight from nature's manufactory. but it was wonderfully done when you consider that the man was squatting in our midst, we standing in a semi-circle around him, with no adventitious aid whatever. i do not believe that the famous mr. maskeleyne or any of those other wise conjurers who are good enough occasionally to put lodge, crookes and lombroso in their places, could have wrought a better illusion. the fellow had a cobra with him which he challenged me to pick up. i did so and gazed into its strange eyes, which some devilry of man's had turned to a lapis lazuli blue. the juggler said it was the result of its skin-sloughing, but i have my doubts. the poison bag had, i suppose, been extracted, but the man seemed nervous and slipped his brown hand between my own and the swaying venomous head with its peculiar flattened hood. it is a fearsome beast, and i can realise what was told me by a lover of animals that the snake was the one creature from which he could get no return of affection. i remember that i once had three in my employ when the "speckled band" was produced in london, fine, lively rock pythons, and yet in spite of this profusion of realism i had the experience of reading a review which, after duly slating the play, wound up with the scathing sentence, "the performance ended with the production of a palpably artificial serpent." such is the reward of virtue. afterwards when the necessities of several travelling companies compelled us to use dummy snakes we produced a much more realistic effect. the real article either hung down like a pudgy yellow bell rope, or else when his tail was pinched, endeavoured to squirm back and get level with the stage carpenter, who pinched him, which was not in the plot. the latter individual had no doubts at all as to the dummy being an improvement upon the real. never, save on the west coast of africa, have i seen "the league-long roller thundering on the shore," as here, where the indian ocean with its thousand leagues of momentum hits the western coast of ceylon. it looks smooth out at sea, and then you are surprised to observe that a good-sized boat has suddenly vanished. then it scoops upwards once more on the smooth arch of the billow, disappearing on the further slope. the native catamarans are almost invisible, so that you see a row of standing figures from time to time on the crest of the waves. i cannot think that any craft in the world would come through rough water as these catamarans with their long outriggers can do. man has made few more simple and more effective inventions, and if i were a younger man i would endeavour to introduce them to brighton beach, as once i introduced ski to switzerland, or auto-wheels to the british roads. i have other work to do now, but why does not some sportsman take the model, have it made in england, and then give an exhibition in a gale of wind on the south coast. it would teach our fishermen some possibilities of which they are ignorant. as i stood in a sandy cove one of them came flying in, a group of natives rushing out and pulling it up on the beach. the craft consists only of two planks edgewise and lengthwise. in the nine-inch slit between them lay a number of great twelve-pound fish, like cod, and tied to the side of the boat was a ten-foot sword fish. to catch that creature while standing on a couple of floating planks must have been sport indeed, and yet the craft is so ingenious that to a man who can at a pinch swim for it, there is very small element of danger. the really great men of our race, the inventor of the wheel, the inventor of the lever, the inventor of the catamaran are all lost in the mists of the past, but ethnologists have found that the cubic capacity of the neolithic brain is as great as our own. there are two robbers' castles, as the unhappy visitor calls them, facing the glorious sea, the one the galle face, the other the mount lavinia hotel. they are connected by an eight-mile road, which has all the colour and life and variety of the east for every inch of the way. in that glorious sun, under the blue arch of such a sky, and with the tropical trees and flowers around, the poverty of these people is very different from the poverty of a london slum. is there in all god's world such a life as that, and can it really be god's world while we suffer it to exist! surely, it is a palpable truth that no one has a right to luxuries until every one has been provided with necessities, and among such necessities a decent environment is the first. if we had spent money to fight slumland as we spent it to fight germany, what a different england it would be. the world moves all the same, and we have eternity before us. but some folk need it. a doctor came up to me in the hotel and told me that he was practising there, and had come recently from england. he had lost his son in the war, and had himself become unsettled. being a spiritualist he went to mrs. brittain, the medium, who told him that his boy had a message for him which was that he would do very well in colombo. he had himself thought of ceylon, but mrs. b. had no means of knowing that. he had obeyed the advice thus given, and was glad that he had done so. how much people may miss by cutting themselves away from these ministers of grace! in all this opposition to spiritualism the punishment continually fits the crime. once again we shed passengers and proceeded in chastened mood with empty decks where once it was hard to move. among others, good bishop banister of kwang-si had gone. i care little for his sacramental and vicarious doctrines, but i am very sure that wherever his robust, kindly, sincere personality may dwell is bound to be a centre of the true missionary effort--the effort which makes for the real original teaching of his master, submission to god and goodwill to our fellow men. now we are on the last lap with nothing but a clear stretch of salt water between our prow and west australia. our mission from being a sort of dream takes concrete form and involves definite plans. meanwhile we plough our way through a deep blue sea with the wind continually against us. i have not seen really calm water since we left the canal. we carry on with the usual routine of ship sports, which include an england and australia cricket match, in which i have the honour of captaining england, a proper ending for a long if mediocre career as a cricketer. we lost by one run, which was not bad considering our limited numbers. posers of all sorts are brought to me by thoughtful inquirers, which i answer when i can. often i can't. one which is a most reasonable objection has given me a day's thought. if, as is certain, we can remember in our next life the more important incidents of this one, why is it that in this one we can remember nothing of that previous spiritual career, which must have existed since nothing can be born in time for eternity? our friends on the other side cannot help us there, nor can even such extended spiritual visions as those of vale owen clear it up. on the whole we must admit that our theosophical friends, with whom we quarrel for their absence of evidence, have the best attempt at an explanation. i imagine that man's soul has a cycle which is complete in itself, and all of which is continuous and self conscious. this begins with earth life. then at last a point is reached, it may be a reincarnation, and a new cycle is commenced, the old one being closed to our memory until we have reached some lofty height in our further journey. pure speculation, i admit, but it would cover what we know and give us a working hypothesis. i can never excite myself much about the reincarnation idea, for if it be so, it occurs seldom, and at long intervals, with ten years spent in the other spheres for one spent here, so that even admitting all that is said by its supporters it is not of such great importance. at the present rate of change this world will be as strange as another sphere by the time we are due to tread the old stage once more. it is only fair to say that though many spiritualists oppose it, there is a strong body, including the whole french allan kardec school, who support it. those who have passed over may well be divided upon the subject since it concerns their far future and is a matter of speculation to them as to us. thrasher whales and sperm whales were seen which aroused the old whaling thrill in my heart. it was the more valuable greenland whale which i helped to catch, while these creatures are those which dear old frank bullen, a childlike sailor to the last, described in his "cruise of the cachelot." how is it that sailors write such perfect english. there are bullen and conrad, both of whom served before the mast--the two purest stylists of their generation. so was loti in france. there are some essays of bullen's, especially a description of a calm in the tropics, and again of "sunrise seen from the crow's nest," which have not been matched in our time for perfection of imagery and diction. they are both in his "idyls of the sea." if there is compensation in the beyond--and i know that there is--then frank bullen is in great peace, for his whole earthly life was one succession of troubles. when i think of his cruel stepmother, his dreadful childhood, his life on a yankee blood ship, his struggles as a tradesman, his bankruptcy, his sordid worries, and finally, his prolonged ill-health, i marvel at the unequal distribution of such burdens. he was the best singer of a chanty that i have ever heard, and i can hear him now with his rich baritone voice trolling out "sally brown" or "stormalong." may i hear him once again! our dear ones tell us that there is no great gap between what pleases us here and that which will please us in the beyond. our own brains, had we ever used them in the matter, should have instructed us that all evolution, spiritual as well as material, must be gradual. indeed, once one knows psychic truth, one can, reasoning backwards, perceive that we should unaided have come to the same conclusions, but since we have all been deliberately trained not to use our reason in religious matters, it is no wonder that we have made rather a hash of it. surely it is clear enough that in the case of an artist the artistic nature is part of the man himself. therefore, if he survives it must survive. but if it survives it must have means of expression, or it is a senseless thing. but means of expression implies appreciation from others and a life on the general lines of this one. so also of the drama, music, science and literature, if we carry on they carry on, and they cannot carry on without actual expression and a public to be served. to the east of us and just beyond the horizon lie the cocos islands, where ross established his strange little kingdom, and where the _emden_ met its end--a glorious one, as every fair minded man must admit. i have seen her stern post since then in the hall of the federal parliament at melbourne, like some fossil monster, once a terror and now for children to gaze at. as to the cocos islands, the highest point is, i understand, about twenty feet, and tidal waves are not unknown upon the pacific, so that the community holds its tenure at very short and sudden notice to quit. on the morning of september 17th a low coast line appeared upon the port bow--australia at last. it was the edge of the west australian state. the evening before a wireless had reached me from the spiritualists of perth saying that they welcomed us and our message. it was a kind thought and a helpful one. we were hardly moored in the port of fremantle, which is about ten miles from the capital, when a deputation of these good, kind people was aboard, bearing great bunches of wild flowers, most of which were new to us. their faces fell when they learned that i must go on in the ship and that there was very little chance of my being able to address them. they are only connected with the other states by one long thin railway line, 1,200 miles long, with scanty trains which were already engaged, so that unless we stuck to the ship we should have to pass ten days or so before we could resume our journey. this argument was unanswerable, and so the idea of a meeting was given up. these kind people had two motors in attendance, which must, i fear, have been a strain upon their resources, for as in the old days the true believers and practical workers are drawn from the poor and humble. however, they certainly treated us royally, and even the children were packed into the motors. we skirted the swan river, passed through the very beautiful public park, and, finally, lunched at the busy town, where bone's store would cut a respectable figure in london, with its many departments and its roof restaurant. it was surprising after our memories of england to note how good and abundant was the food. it is a charming little town, and it was strange, after viewing its settled order, to see the mill where the early settlers not so very long ago had to fight for their lives with the black fellows. those poor black fellows! their fate is a dark stain upon australia. and yet it must in justice to our settlers be admitted that the question was a very difficult one. was colonisation to be abandoned, or were these brave savages to be overcome? that was really the issue. when they speared the cattle of the settlers what were the settlers to do? of course, if a reservation could have been opened up, as in the case of the maoris, that would have been ideal. but the noble maori is a man with whom one could treat on equal terms and he belonged to a solid race. the aborigines of australia were broken wandering tribes, each at war with its neighbours. in a single reservation they would have exterminated each other. it was a piteous tragedy, and yet, even now in retrospect, how difficult it is to point out what could have been done. the spiritualists of perth seem to be a small body, but as earnest as their fellows elsewhere. a masterful looking lady, mrs. mcilwraith, rules them, and seems fit for the part. they have several mediums developing, but i had no chance of testing their powers. altogether our encounter with them cheered us on our way. we had the first taste of australian labour conditions at fremantle, for the men knocked off at the given hour, refusing to work overtime, with the result that we carried a consignment of tea, meant for their own tea-pots, another thousand miles to adelaide, and so back by train which must have been paid for out of their own pockets and those of their fellow citizens. verily, you cannot get past the golden rule, and any breach of it brings its own punishment somehow, somewhere, be the sinner a master or a man. and now we had to cross the dreaded bight, where the great waves from the southern ice come rolling up, but our luck was still in, and we went through it without a qualm. up to albany one sees the barren irregular coast, and then there were two days of blue water, which brought us at last to adelaide, our port of debarkation. the hour and the place at last! chapter iii mr. hughes' letter of welcome.--challenges.--mr. carlyle smythe.--the adelaide press.--the great drought.--the wine industry.--clairvoyance.--meeting with bellchambers.--the first lecture.--the effect.--the religious lecture.--the illustrated lecture.--premonitions.--the spot light.--mr. thomas' account of the incident.--correspondence.--adelaide doctors.--a day in the bush.--the mallee fowl.--sussex in australia.--farewell to adelaide. i was welcomed to australia by a hospitable letter from the premier, mr. hughes, who assured me that he would do what he could to make our visit a pleasant one, and added, "i hope you will see australia as it is, for i want you to tell the world about us. we are a very young country, we have a very big and very rich heritage, and the great war has made us realise that we are australians, proud to belong to the empire, but proud too of our own country." apart from mr. hughes's kind message, my chief welcome to the new land came from sydney, and took the queer form of two independant challenges to public debate, one from the christian evidence society, and the other from the local leader of the materialists. as the two positions are mutually destructive, one felt inclined to tell them to fight it out between themselves and that i would fight the winner. the christian evidence society, is, of course, out of the question, since they regard a text as an argument, which i can only accept with many qualifications, so that there is no common basis. the materialist is a more worthy antagonist, for though he is often as bigotted and inaccessible to reason as the worst type of christian, there is always a leaven of honest, open-minded doubters on whom a debate might make an impression. a debate with them, as i experienced when i met mr. maccabe, can only follow one line, they quoting all the real or alleged scandals which have ever been connected with the lowest forms of mediumship, and claiming that the whole cult is comprised therein, to which you counter with your own personal experiences, and with the evidence of the cloud of witnesses who have found the deepest comfort and enlarged knowledge. it is like two boxers each hitting the air, and both returning to their respective corners amid the plaudits of their backers, while the general public is none the better. three correspondents headed me off on the ship, and as i gave each of them a long separate interview, i was a tired man before i got ashore. mr. carlyle smythe, my impresario, had also arrived, a small alert competent gentleman, with whom i at once got on pleasant terms, which were never once clouded during our long travels together upon our tour. i was fortunate indeed to have so useful and so entertaining a companion, a musician, a scholar, and a man of many varied experiences. with his help we soon got our stuff through the customs, and made the short train journey which separates the port of adelaide from the charming city of that name. by one o'clock we were safely housed in the grand central hotel, with windows in place of port holes, and the roar of the trams to take the place of the murmurs of the great ocean. the good genius of adelaide was a figure, already almost legendary, one colonel light, who played the part of romulus and remus to the infant city. somewhere in the thirties of last century he chose the site, against strong opposition, and laid out the plan with such skill that in all british and american lands i have seen few such cities, so pretty, so orderly and so self-sufficing. when one sees all the amenities of the place, botanical gardens, zoological gardens, art gallery, museum, university, public library and the rest, it is hard to realise that the whole population is still under three hundred thousand. i do not know whether the press sets the tone to the community or the community to the press, but in any case adelaide is greatly blessed in this respect, for its two chief papers the _register_ and the _advertiser_, under sir william sowden and sir langdon bonython respectively, are really excellent, with a worldwide metropolitan tone. their articles upon the subject in which i am particularly interested, though by no means one-sided, were at least informed with knowledge and breadth of mind. in adelaide i appreciated, for the first time, the crisis which australia has been passing through in the shape of a two-years drought, only recently broken. it seems to have involved all the states and to have caused great losses, amounting to millions of sheep and cattle. the result was that the price of those cattle which survived has risen enormously, and at the time of our visit an absolute record had been established, a bullock having been sold for £41. the normal price would be about £13. sheep were about £3 each, the normal being fifteen shillings. this had, of course, sent the price of meat soaring with the usual popular unrest and agitation as a result. it was clear, however, that with the heavy rains the prices would fall. these australian droughts are really terrible things, especially when they come upon newly-opened country and in the hotter regions of queensland and the north. one lady told us that she had endured a drought in queensland which lasted so long that children of five had never seen a drop of rain. you could travel a hundred miles and find the brown earth the whole way, with no sign of green anywhere, the sheep eating twigs or gnawing bark until they died. her brother sold his surviving sheep for one shilling each, and when the drought broke had to restock at 50s. a head. this is a common experience, and all but the man with savings have to take to some subordinate work, ruined men. no doubt, with afforestation, artesian wells, irrigation and water storage things may be modified, but all these things need capital, and capital in these days is hard to seek, nor can it be expected that capitalists will pour their money into states which have wild politicians who talk lightly of past obligations. you cannot tell the investor that he is a bloated incubus one moment, and go hat in hand for further incubation the next. i fear that this grand country as a whole may suffer from the wild ideas of some of its representatives. but under it all lies the solid self-respecting british stuff, which will never repudiate a just debt, however heavily it may press. australians may groan under the burden, but they should remember that for every pound of taxation they carry the home briton carries nearly three. but to return for a moment to the droughts; has any writer of fiction invented or described a more long-drawn agony than that of the man, his nerves the more tired and sensitive from the constant unbroken heat, waiting day after day for the cloud that never comes, while under the glaring sun from the unchanging blue above him, his sheep, which represent all his life's work and his hopes, perish before his eyes? a revolver shot has often ended the long vigil and the pioneer has joined his vanished flocks. i have just come in contact with a case where two young returned soldiers, demobilised from the war and planted on the land had forty-two cattle given them by the state to stock their little farm. not a drop of water fell for over a year, the feed failed, and these two warriors of palestine and flanders wept at their own helplessness while their little herd died before their eyes. such are the trials which the australian farmer has to bear. while waiting for my first lecture i do what i can to understand the country and its problems. to this end i visited the vineyards and wine plant of a local firm which possesses every factor for success, save the capacity to answer letters. the originator started grape culture as a private hobby about 60 years ago, and now such an industry has risen that this firm alone has £700,000 sunk in the business, and yet it is only one of several. the product can be most excellent, but little or any ever reaches europe, for it cannot overtake the local demand. the quality was good and purer than the corresponding wines in europe--especially the champagnes, which seem to be devoid of that poison, whatever it may be, which has for a symptom a dry tongue with internal acidity, driving elderly gentlemen to whisky and soda. the australian product, taken in moderate doses, seems to have no poisonous quality, and is without that lime-like dryness which appears to be the cause of it. if temperance reform takes the sane course of insisting upon a lowering of the alcohol in our drinks, so that one may be surfeited before one could be drunken, then this question of good mild wines will bulk very largely in the future, and australia may supply one of the answers. with all my sympathy for the reformers i feel that wine is so useful a social agent that we should not abolish it until we are certain that there is no _via media_. the most pregnant argument upon the subject was the cartoon which showed the husband saying "my dear, it is the anniversary of our wedding. let us have a second bottle of ginger beer." we went over the vineyards, ourselves mildly interested in the vines, and the children wildly excited over the possibility of concealed snakes. then we did the vats and the cellars with their countless bottles. we were taught the secrets of fermentation, how the wonderful pasteur had discovered that the best and quickest was produced not by the grape itself, as of old, but by the scraped bloom of the grape inserted in the bottle. after viewing the number of times a bottle must be turned, a hundred at least, and the complex processes which lead up to the finished article, i will pay my wine bills in future with a better grace. the place was all polished wood and shining brass, like the fittings of a man-of-war, and a great impression of cleanliness and efficiency was left upon our minds. we only know the australian wines at present by the rough article sold in flasks, but when the supply has increased the world will learn that this country has some very different stuff in its cellars, and will try to transport it to their tables. we had a small meeting of spiritualists in our hotel sitting-room, under the direction of mr. victor cromer, a local student of the occult, who seems to have considerable psychic power. he has a small circle for psychic development which is on new lines, for the neophytes who are learning clairvoyance sit around in a circle in silence, while mr. cromer endeavours by mental effort to build up the thought form of some object, say a tree, in the centre of the room. after a time he asks each of the circle what he or she can see, and has many correct answers. with colours in the same way he can convey impressions to his pupils. it is clear that telepathy is not excluded as an explanation, but the actual effect upon the participants is according to their own account, visual rather than mental. we had an interesting sitting with a number of these developing mediums present, and much information was given, but little of it could be said to be truly evidential. after seeing such clairvoyance as that of mr. tom tyrell or others at home, when a dozen names and addresses will be given together with the descriptions of those who once owned them, one is spoiled for any lesser display. there was one man whom i had particularly determined to meet when i came to australia. this was mr. t. p. bellchambers, about whom i had read an article in some magazine which showed that he was a sort of humble jeffries or thoreau, more lonely than the former, less learned than the latter, who lived among the wild creatures in the back country, and was on such terms with our humble brothers as few men are ever privileged to attain. i had read how the eagle with the broken wing had come to him for succour, and how little birds would sit on the edge of his pannikin while he drank. him at all cost would we see. like the proverbial prophet, no one i met had ever heard of him, but on the third day of our residence there came a journalist bearing with him a rudely dressed, tangle-haired man, collarless and unkempt, with kind, irregular features and clear blue eyes--the eyes of a child. it was the man himself. "he brought me," said he, nodding towards the journalist. "he had to, for i always get bushed in a town." this rude figure fingering his frayed cap was clearly out of his true picture, and we should have to visit him in his own little clearing to see him as he really was. meanwhile i wondered whether one who was so near nature might know something of nature's more occult secrets. the dialogue ran like this: "you who are so near nature must have psychic experiences." "what's psychic? i live so much in the wild that i don't know much." "i expect you know plenty we don't know. but i meant spiritual." "supernatural?" "well, we think it is natural, but little understood." "you mean fairies and things?" "yes, and the dead." "well, i guess our fairies would be black fairies." "why not?" "well, i never saw any." "i hoped you might." "no, but i know one thing. the night my mother died i woke to find her hand upon my brow. oh, there's no doubt. her hand was heavy on my brow." "at the time?" "yes, at the very hour." "well, that was good." "animals know more about such things." "yes." "they see something. my dog gets terrified when i see nothing, and there's a place in the bush where my horse shies and sweats, he does, but there's nothing to see." "something evil has been done there. i've known many cases." "i expect that's it." so ran our dialogue. at the end of it he took a cigar, lighted it at the wrong end, and took himself with his strong simple backwoods atmosphere out of the room. assuredly i must follow him to the wilds. now came the night of my first lecture. it was in the city hall, and every seat was occupied. it was a really magnificent audience of two thousand people, the most representative of the town. i am an embarrassed and an interested witness, so let me for this occasion quote the sympathetic, not to say flattering account of the _register_. "there could not have been a more impressive set of circumstances than those which attended the first australian lecture by sir arthur conan doyle at the adelaide town hall on saturday night, september 25th. the audience, large, representative and thoughtful, was in its calibre and proportions a fitting compliment to a world celebrity and his mission. many of the intellectual leaders of the city were present--university professors, pulpit personalities, men eminent in business, legislators, every section of the community contributed a quota. it cannot be doubted, of course, that the brilliant literary fame of the lecturer was an attraction added to that strange subject which explored the 'unknown drama of the soul.' over all sir arthur dominated by his big arresting presence. his face has a rugged, kindly strength, tense and earnest in its grave moments, and full of winning animation when the sun of his rich humour plays on the powerful features." "it is not altogether a sombre journey he makes among the shadows, but apparently one of happy, as well as tender experiences, so that laughter is not necessarily excluded from the exposition. do not let that be misunderstood. there was no intrusion of the slightest flippancy--sir arthur, the whole time, exhibited that attitude of reverence and humility demanded of one traversing a domain on the borderland of the tremendous. nothing approaching a theatrical presentation of the case for spiritualism marred the discourse. it was for the most part a plain statement. first things had to be said, and the explanatory groundwork laid for future development. it was a lucid, illuminating introduction." "sir arthur had a budget of notes, but after he had turned over a few pages he sallied forth with fluent independence under the inspiration of a vast mental store of material. a finger jutted out now and again with a thrust of passionate emphasis, or his big glasses twirled during moments of descriptive ease, and occasionally both hands were held forward as though delivering settled points to the audience for its examination. a clear, well-disciplined voice, excellent diction, and conspicuous sincerity of manner marked the lecture, and no one could have found fault with the way in which sir arthur presented his case." "the lecturer approached the audience in no spirit of impatient dogmatism, but in the capacity of an understanding mind seeking to illumine the darkness of doubt in those who had not shared his great experiences. he did not dictate, but reasoned and pleaded, taking the people into his confidence with strong conviction and a consoling faith. 'i want to speak to you to-night on a subject which concerns the destiny of every man and woman in this room,' began sir arthur, bringing everybody at once into an intimate personal circle. 'no doubt the almighty, by putting an angel in king william street, could convert every one of you to spiritualism, but the almighty law is that we must use our own brains, and find out our own salvation, and it is not made too easy for us.'" it is awkward to include this kindly picture, and yet i do not know how else to give an idea of how the matter seemed to a friendly observer. i had chosen for my theme the scientific aspect of the matter, and i marshalled my witnesses and showed how professor mayo corroborated professor hare, and professor challis professor mayo, and sir william crookes all his predecessors, while russell wallace and lombroso and zollner and barrett, and lodge, and many more had all after long study assented, and i read the very words of these great men, and showed how bravely they had risked their reputations and careers for what they knew to be the truth. i then showed how the opposition who dared to contradict them were men with no practical experience of it at all. it was wonderful to hear the shout of assent when i said that what struck me most in such a position was its colossal impertinence. that shout told me that my cause was won, and from then onwards the deep silence was only broken by the occasional deep murmur of heart-felt agreement. i told them the evidence that had been granted to me, the coming of my son, the coming of my brother, and their message. "plough! plough! others will cast the seed." it is hard to talk of such intimate matters, but they were not given to me for my private comfort alone, but for that of humanity. nothing could have gone better than this first evening, and though i had no chairman and spoke for ninety minutes without a pause, i was so upheld--there is no other word for the sensation--that i was stronger at the end than when i began. a leading materialist was among my audience. "i am profoundly impressed," said he to mr. smythe, as he passed him in the corridor. that stood out among many kind messages which reached me that night. illustration: _photo: stirling, melbourne._ the wanderers, 1920-21. my second lecture, two nights later, was on the religious aspect of the matter. i had shown that the phenomena were nothing, mere material signals to arrest the attention of a material world. i had shown also that the personal benefit, the conquest of death, the communion of saints, was a high, but not the highest boon. the real full flower of spiritualism was what the wisdom of the dead could tell us about their own conditions, their present experiences, their outlook upon the secret of the universe, and the testing of religious truth from the viewpoint of two worlds instead of one. the audience was more silent than before, but the silence was that of suspense, not of dissent, as i showed them from message after message what it was exactly which awaited them in the beyond. even i, who am oblivious as a rule to my audience, became aware that they were tense with feeling and throbbing with emotion. i showed how there was no conflict with religion, in spite of the misunderstanding of the churches, and that the revelation had come to extend and explain the old, even as the christ had said that he had much more to tell but could not do it now. "entirely new ground was traversed," says my kindly chronicler, "and the audience listened throughout with rapt attention. they were obviously impressed by the earnestness of the speaker and his masterly presentation of the theme." i cannot answer for the latter but at least i can for the former, since i speak not of what i think but of what i know. how can a man fail to be earnest then? a few days later i followed up the lectures by two exhibitions of psychic pictures and photographs upon a screen. it was certainly an amazing experience for those who imagined that the whole subject was dreamland, and they freely admitted that it staggered them. they might well be surprised, for such a series has never been seen, i believe, before, including as it does choice samples from the very best collections. i showed them the record of miracle after miracle, some of them done under my very eyes, one guaranteed by russell wallace, three by sir william crookes, one of the geley series from paris, two of dr. crawford's medium with the ecto-plasm pouring from her, four illustrating the absolutely final lydia haig case on the island of rothesay, several of mr. jeffrey's collection and several also of our own society for the study of supernormal pictures, with the fine photograph of the face within a crystal. no wonder that the audience sat spellbound, while the local press declared that no such exhibition had ever been seen before in australia. it is almost too overwhelming for immediate propaganda purposes. it has a stunning, dazing effect upon the spectators. only afterwards, i think, when they come to turn it all over in their minds, do they see that the final proof has been laid before them, which no one with the least sense for evidence could reject. but the sense for evidence is not, alas, a universal human quality. i am continually aware of direct spirit intervention in my own life. i have put it on record in my "new revelation" that i was able to say that the turn of the great war would come upon the piave months before that river was on the italian war map. this was recorded at the time, before the fulfilment which occurred more than a year later--so it does not depend upon my assertion. again, i dreamed the name of the ship which was to take us to australia, rising in the middle of the night and writing it down in pencil on my cheque-book. i wrote _nadera_, but it was actually _naldera_. i had never heard that such a ship existed until i visited the p. & o. office, when they told me we should go by the _osterley_, while i, seeing the _naldera_ upon the list, thought "no, that will be our ship!" so it proved, through no action of our own, and thereby we were saved from quarantine and all manner of annoyance. never before have i experienced such direct visible intervention as occurred during my first photographic lecture at adelaide. i had shown a slide the effect of which depended upon a single spirit face appearing amid a crowd of others. the slide was damp, and as photos under these circumstances always clear from the edges when placed in the lantern, the whole centre was so thickly fogged that i was compelled to admit that i could not myself see the spirit face. suddenly, as i turned away, rather abashed by my failure, i heard cries of "there it is," and looking up again i saw this single face shining out from the general darkness with so bright and vivid an effect that i never doubted for a moment that the operator was throwing a spot light upon it, my wife sharing my impression. i thought how extraordinarily clever it was that he should pick it out so accurately at the distance. so the matter passed, but next morning mr. thomas, the operator, who is not a spiritualist, came in great excitement to say that a palpable miracle had been wrought, and that in his great experience of thirty years he had never known a photo dry from the centre, nor, as i understood him, become illuminated in such a fashion. both my wife and i were surprised to learn that he had thrown no ray upon it. mr. thomas told us that several experts among the audience had commented upon the strangeness of the incident. i, therefore, asked mr. thomas if he would give me a note as to his own impression, so as to furnish an independant account. this is what he wrote:- _"hindmarsh square, adelaide._ "_in adelaide, on september 28th, i projected a lantern slide containing a group of ladies and gentlemen, and in the centre of the picture, when the slide was reversed, appeared a human face. on the appearance of the picture showing the group the fog incidental to a damp or new slide gradually appeared covering the whole slide, and only after some minutes cleared, and then quite contrary to usual practice did so from a central point just over the face that appeared in the centre, and refused even after that to clear right off to the edge. the general experience is for a slide to clear from the outside edges to a common centre. your slide cleared only sufficiently in the centre to show the face, and did not, while the slide was on view, clear any more than sufficient to show that face. thinking that perhaps there might be a scientific explanation to this phenomenon, i hesitated before writing you, and in the meantime i have made several experiments but have not in any one particular experiment obtained the same result. i am very much interested--as are hundreds of others who personally witnessed the phenomenon._" mr. thomas, in his account, has missed the self-illuminated appearance of the face, but otherwise he brings out the points. i never gave occasion for the repetition of the phenomenon, for in every case i was careful that the slides were carefully dried beforehand. so much for the lectures at adelaide, which were five in all, and left, as i heard from all sides, a deep impression upon the town. of course, the usual abusive messages poured in, including one which wound up with the hearty words: "may you be struck dead before you leave this commonwealth." from melbourne i had news that before our arrival in australia at a public prayer meeting at the assembly hall, collins street, a presbyterian prayed that we might never reach australia's shores. as we were on the high seas at the time this was clearly a murderous petition, nor could i have believed it if a friend of mine had not actually been present and heard it. on the other hand, we received many letters of sympathy and thanks, which amply atoned. "i feel sure that many mothers, who have lost their sons in the war, will, wherever you go, bless you, as i do, for the help you have given." as this was the object of our journey it could not be denied that we had attained our end. when i say "we," i mean that such letters with inquiries came continually to my wife as well as myself, though she answered them with far greater fullness and clearness than i had time to do. hotel life began to tell upon the children, who are like horses with a profusion of oats and no exercise. on the whole they were wonderfully good. when some domestic crisis was passed the small voice of malcolm, once "dimples," was heard from the darkness of his bed, saying, "well, if i am to be good i must have a proper start. please mammie, say one, two, three, and away!" when this ceremony had been performed a still smaller voice of baby asked the same favour, so once more there was a formal start. the result was intermittent, and it is as well. i don't believe in angelic children. the adelaide doctors entertained me to dinner, and i was pleased to meet more than one who had been of my time at edinburgh. they seemed to be a very prosperous body of men. there was much interesting conversation, especially from one elderly professor named watson, who had known bully hayes and other south sea celebrities in the semi-piratical, black-birding days. he told me one pretty story. they landed upon some outlying island in carpentaria, peopled by real primitive blacks, who were rounded up by the ships crew on one of the peninsulas which formed the end of the island. these creatures, the lowest of the human race, huddled together in consternation while the white men trained a large camera upon them. suddenly three males advanced and made a speech in their own tongue which, when interpreted, proved to be an offer that those three should die in exchange for the lives of the tribe. what could the very highest do more than this, and yet it came from the lowest savages. truly, we all have something of the divine, and it is the very part which will grow and spread until it has burned out all the rest. "be a christ!" said brave old stead. at the end of countless æons we may all reach that point which not only stead but st. paul also has foreshadowed. i refreshed myself between lectures by going out to nature and to bellchambers. as it was twenty-five miles out in the bush, inaccessible by rail, and only to be approached by motor roads which were in parts like the bed of a torrent, i could not take my wife, though the boys, after the nature of boys, enjoy a journey the more for its roughness. it was a day to remember. i saw lovely south australia in the full beauty of the spring, the budding girlhood of the year, with all her winsome growing graces upon her. the brilliant yellow wattle was just fading upon the trees, but the sward was covered with star-shaped purple flowers of the knot-grass, and with familiar home flowers, each subtly altered by their transportation. it was wild bush for part of the way, but mostly of the second growth on account of forest fires as much as the woodman's axe. bellchambers came in to guide us, for there is no one to ask upon these desolate tracks, and it is easy to get bushed. mr. waite, the very capable zoologist of the museum, joined the party, and with two such men the conversation soon got to that high nature talk which represents the really permanent things of material life--more lasting than thrones and dynasties. i learned of the strange storks, the "native companions" who meet, 500 at a time, for their stately balls, where in the hush of the bush they advance, retreat, and pirouette in their dignified minuets. i heard of the bower birds, who decorate their homes with devices of glass and pebbles. there was talk, too, of the little red beetles who have such cunning ways that they can fertilise the insectivorous plants without being eaten, and of the great ants who get through galvanised iron by the aid of some acid-squirting insect which they bring with them to the scene of their assault. i heard also of the shark's egg which mr. waite had raped from sixty feet deep in sydney harbour, descending for the purpose in a diver's suit, for which i raised my hat to him. deep things came also from bellchambers' store of knowledge and little glimpses of beautiful humanity from this true gentleman. "yes," he said, "i am mostly vegetarian. you see, i know the beasts too well to bring myself to pick their bones. yes, i'm friends with most of them. birds have more sense than animals to my mind. they understand you like. they know what you mean. snakes have least of any. they don't get friendly-like in the same way. but nature helps the snakes in queer ways. some of them hatch their own eggs, and when they do nature raises the temperature of their bodies. that's queer." illustration: _photo: w. g. smith, adelaide._ bellchambers and the mallee fowl. "get along with you, do!" i carried away a mixed memory of the things i had seen. a blue-headed wren, an eagle soaring in the distance; a hideous lizard with a huge open mouth; a laughing jackass which refused to laugh; many more or less tame wallabies and kangaroos; a dear little 'possum which got under the back of my coat, and would not come out; noisy mynah birds which fly ahead and warn the game against the hunter. good little noisy mynah! all my sympathies are with you! i would do the same if i could. this senseless lust for killing is a disgrace to the race. we, of england, cannot preach, for a pheasant battue is about the worst example of it. but do let the creatures alone unless they are surely noxious! when mr. bellchambers told us how he had trained two ibises--the old religious variety--and how both had been picked off by some unknown local "sportsman" it made one sad. we had a touch of comedy, however, when mr. bellchambers attempted to expose the egg of the mallee fowl, which is covered a foot deep in mould. he scraped into the mound with his hands. the cock watched him with an expression which clearly said: "confound the fellow! what is he up to now?" he then got on the mound, and as quickly as bellchambers shovelled the earth out he kicked it back again, bellchambers in his good-humoured way crying "get along with you, do!" a good husband is the mallee cock, and looks after the family interests. but what we humans would think if we were born deep underground and had to begin our career by digging our way to the surface, is beyond imagination. there are quite a clan of bellchambers living in or near the little pioneer's hut built in a clearing of the bush. mrs. bellchambers is of sussex, as is her husband, and when they heard that we were fresh from sussex also it was wonderful to see the eager look that came upon their faces, while the bush-born children could scarce understand what it was that shook the solid old folk to their marrow. on the walls were old prints of the devil's dyke and firle beacon. how strange that old sussex should be wearing out its very life in its care for the fauna of young australia. this remarkable man is unpaid with only his scanty holding upon which to depend, and many dumb mouths dependent upon him. i shall rejoice if my efforts in the local press serve to put his affairs upon a more worthy foundation, and to make south australia realise what a valuable instrument lies to her hand. before i left adelaide i learned many pleasing things about the lectures, which did away with any shadow cast by those numerous correspondents who seemed to think that we were still living under the mosaic dispensation, and who were so absent-minded that they usually forgot to sign their names. it is a curious difference between the christian letters of abuse and those of materialists, that the former are usually anonymous and the latter signed. i heard of one man, a lame stockman, who had come 300 miles from the other side of streaky bay to attend the whole course, and who declared that he could listen all night. another seized my hand and cried, "you will never know the good you have done in this town." well, i hope it was so, but i only regard myself as the plough. others must follow with the seed. knowledge, perseverance, sanity, judgment, courage--we ask some qualities from our disciples if they are to do real good. talking of moral courage i would say that the governor of south australia, sir archibald weigall with lady weigall, had no hesitation in coming to support me with their presence. by the end of september this most successful mission in adelaide was accomplished, and early in october we were on our way to melbourne, which meant a long night in the train and a few hours of the next morning during which we saw the surface diggings of ballarat on every side of the railway line, the sandy soil pitted in every direction with the shallow claims of the miners. chapter iv speculations on paul and his master.--arrival at melbourne.--attack in the argus.--partial press boycott.--strength of the movement.--the prince of wales.--victorian football.--rescue circle in melbourne.--burke and wills' statue.--success of the lectures.--reception at the auditorium.--luncheon of the british empire league.--mr. ryan's experience.--the federal government.--mr. hughes' personality.--the mediumship of charles bailey.--his alleged exposure.--his remarkable record.--a second sitting.--the indian nest.--a remarkable lecture.--arrival of lord forster.--the future of the empire.--kindness of australians.--prohibition.--horse-racing.--roman catholic policy. one cannot help speculating about those great ones who first carried to the world the christian revelation. what were their domestic ties! there is little said about them, but we should never have known that peter had a wife were it not for a chance allusion to his mother-in-law, just as another chance allusion shows us that jesus was one of a numerous family. one thing can safely be said of paul, that he was either a bachelor or else was a domestic bully with a very submissive wife, or he would never have dared to express his well known views about women. as to his preaching, he had a genius for making a clear thing obscure, even as jesus had a genius for making an obscure thing clear. read the sermon on the mount and then a chapter of paul as a contrast in styles. apart from his style one can reconstruct him as a preacher to the extent that he had a powerful voice--no one without one could speak from the historic rocky pulpit on the hill of mars at athens, as i ascertained for myself. the slope is downwards, sound ascends, and the whole conditions are abominable. he was certainly long-winded and probably monotonous in his diction, or he could hardly have reduced one of his audience to such a deep sleep that he fell out of the window. we may add that he was a man of brisk courage in an emergency, that he was subject to such sudden trances that he was occasionally unaware himself whether he was normal or not, and that he was probably short-sighted, as he mistook the person who addressed him, and had his letters usually written for him. at least three languages were at his command, he had an intimate and practical knowledge of the occult, and was an authority upon jewish law--a good array of accomplishments for one man. there are some points about paul's august master which also help in a reconstruction of himself and his surroundings. that his mother was opposed to his mission is, i think, very probable. women are dubious about spiritual novelties, and one can well believe that her heart ached to see her noble elder son turn from the sure competence of his father's business at nazareth to the precarious existence of a wandering preacher. this domestic opposition clouded him as one can see in the somewhat cold, harsh words which he used to her, and his mode of address which began simply as "woman." his assertion to the disciples that one who followed his path had to give up his family points to the same thing. no doubt mary remained with the younger branches at nazareth while jesus pursued his ministry, though she came, as any mother would, to be near him at the end. of his own personality we know extraordinarily little, considering the supreme part that he played in the world. that he was a highly trained psychic, or as we should say, medium, is obvious to anyone who studies the miracles, and it is certainly not derogatory to say that they were done along the line of god's law rather than that they were inversions of it. i cannot doubt also that he chose his apostles for their psychic powers--if not, on what possible principle were they selected, since they were neither staunch nor learned? it is clear that peter and james and john were the inner circle of psychics, since they were assembled both at the transfiguration and at the raising of jairus' daughter. it is from unlearned open-air men who are near nature that the highest psychic powers are obtained. it has been argued that the christ was an essene, but this seems hard to believe, as the essenes were not only secluded from the world, but were certainly vegetarians and total abstainers, while jesus was neither. on the other hand baptism was not a jewish rite, and his undergoing it--if he did, indeed, undergo it--marks him as belonging to some dissenting sect. i say "if he did" because it is perfectly certain that there were forgeries and interpolations introduced into the gospels in order to square their teaching with the practice of the church some centuries later. one would look for those forgeries not in the ordinary narrative, which in the adult years bears every mark of truth, but in the passages which support ceremonial or tributes to the church--such as the allusions to baptism, "unless a man be born again," to the sacrament, "this is my body, etc.," and the whole story of ananias and sapphira, the moral of which is that it is dangerous to hold anything back from the church. physically i picture the christ as an extremely powerful man. i have known several famous healers and they were all men who looked as if they had redundant health and strength to give to others. his words to the sick woman, "who has touched me? much power" (_dunamis_ is the word in the original greek) "has gone out of me," show that his system depended upon his losing what he gave to others. therefore he was a very strong man. the mere feat of carrying a wooden cross strong enough to bear a man from jerusalem to calvary, up a hill, is no light one. it is the details which convince me that the gospel narrative is correct and really represents an actual event. take the incident during that sad journey of simon of cyrene having helped for a time with the cross. why should anyone invent such a thing, putting an actual name to the person? it is touches of this kind which place the narrative beyond all suspicion of being a pure invention. again and again in the new testament one is confronted with incidents which a writer of fiction recognises as being beyond the reach of invention, because the inventor does not put in things which have no direct bearing upon the matter in hand. take as an example how the maid, seeing peter outside the door after his escape from prison, ran back to the guests and said that it was his angel (or etheric body) which was outside. such an episode could only have been recorded because it actually occurred. but these be deep waters. let me get back to my own humble experiences, these interpolated thoughts being but things which have been found upon the wayside of our journey. on reaching melbourne we were greeted at the station by a few devoted souls who had waited for two trains before they found us. covered with the flowers which they had brought we drove to menzies hotel, whence we moved a few days later to a flat in the grand, where we were destined to spend five eventful weeks. we found the atmosphere and general psychic conditions of melbourne by no means as pleasant or receptive as those of adelaide, but this of course was very welcome as the greater the darkness the more need of the light. if spiritualism had been a popular cult in australia there would have been no object in my visit. i was welcome enough as an individual, but by no means so as an emissary, and both the churches and the materialists, in most unnatural combination, had done their best to make the soil stony for me. their chief agent had been the _argus_, a solid, stodgy paper, which amply fulfilled the material needs of the public, but was not given to spiritual vision. this paper before my arrival had a very violent and abusive leader which attracted much attention, full of such terms as "black magic," "shamanism," "witchcraft," "freak religion," "cranky faith," "cruelty," "black evil," "poison," finishing up with the assertion that i represented "a force which we believe to be purely evil." this was from a paper which whole-heartedly supports the liquor interest, and has endless columns of betting and racing news, nor did its principles cause it to refuse substantial sums for the advertising of my lectures. still, however arrogant or illogical, i hold that a paper has a perfect right to publish and uphold its own view, nor would i say that the subsequent refusal of the _argus_ to print any answer to its tirade was a real breach of the ethics of journalism. where its conduct became outrageous, however, and where it put itself beyond the pale of all literary decency, was when it reported my first lecture by describing my wife's dress, my own voice, the colour of my spectacles, and not a word of what i said. it capped this by publishing so-called answers to me by canon hughes, and by bishop phelan--critics whose knowledge of the subject seemed to begin and end with the witch of endor--while omitting the statements to which these answers applied. never in any british town have i found such reactionary intolerance as in this great city, for though the _argus_ was the chief offender, the other papers were as timid as rabbits in the matter. my psychic photographs which, as i have said, are the most wonderful collection ever shown in the world, were received in absolute silence by the whole press, though it is notorious that if i had come there with a comic opera or bedroom comedy instead of with the evidence of a series of miracles, i should have had a column. this seems to have been really due to moral cowardice, and not to ignorance, for i saw a private letter afterwards in which a sub-editor remarked that he and the chief leader-writer had both seen the photographs and that they could see no possible answer to them. there was another and more pleasing side to the local conditions, and that lay in the numbers who had already mastered the principles of spiritualism, the richer classes as individuals, the poorer as organised churches. they were so numerous that when we received an address of welcome in the auditorium to which only spiritualists were invited by ticket, the hall, which holds two thousand, was easily filled. this would mean on the same scale that the spiritualists of london could fill the albert hall several times over--as no doubt they could. their numbers were in a sense an embarrassment, as i always had the fear that i was addressing the faithful instead of those whom i had come so far to instruct. on the whole their quality and organisation were disappointing. they had a splendid spiritual paper in their midst, the _harbinger of light_, which has run for fifty years, and is most ably edited by mr. britton harvey. when i think of david gow, ernest oaten, john lewis and britton harvey i feel that our cause is indeed well represented by its press. they have also some splendid local workers, like bloomfield and tozer, whole-hearted and apostolic. but elsewhere there is the usual tendency to divide and to run into vulgarities and extravagances in which the spiritual has small share. discipline is needed, which involves central powers, and that in turn means command of the purse. it would be far better to have no spiritual churches than some i have seen. however, i seem to have got to some of my final conclusions at melbourne before i have begun our actual experience there. we found the place still full of rumours and talk about the recent visit of the prince of wales, who seems to have a perfect genius for making himself popular and beloved. may he remain unspoiled and retain the fresh kindliness of his youth. his success is due not to any ordered rule of conduct but to a perfectly natural courtesy which is his essential self and needs no effort. our waiter at the hotel who had waited upon him remarked: "god never made anything nearer to nature than that boy. he spoke to me as he might have spoken to the governor." it was a fine tribute, and characteristic of the humbler classes in this country, who have a vigour of speech and an independence of view which is very refreshing. once as i passed a public house, a broken old fellow who had been leaning against the wall with a short pipe in his mouth, stepped forward to me and said: "i am all for civil and religious liberty. there is plenty of room for your cult here, sir, and i wish you well against the bigots." i wonder from what heights that old fellow had fallen before he brought up against the public house wall? one of my first afternoons in melbourne was spent in seeing the final tie of the victorian football cup. i have played both rugby and soccer, and i have seen the american game at its best, but i consider that the victorian system has some points which make it the best of all--certainly from the spectacular point of view. there is no off-side, and you get a free kick if you catch the ball. otherwise you can run as in ordinary rugby, though there is a law about bouncing the ball as you run, which might, as it seemed to me, be cut out without harming the game. this bouncing rule was put in by mr. harrison who drew up the original rules, for the chivalrous reason that he was himself the fastest runner in the colony, and he did not wish to give himself any advantage. there is not so much man-handling in the victorian game, and to that extent it is less dramatic, but it is extraordinarily open and fast, with none of the packed scrums which become so wearisome, and with linesmen who throw in the ball the instant it goes out. there were several points in which the players seemed better than our best--one was the accurate passing by low drop kicking, very much quicker and faster than a pass by hand. another was the great accuracy of the place kicking and of the screw kicking when a runner would kick at right angles to his course. there were four long quarters, and yet the men were in such condition that they were going hard at the end. they are all, i understand, semi-professionals. altogether it was a very fine display, and the crowd was much excited. it was suggestive that the instant the last whistle blew a troop of mounted police cantered over the ground and escorted the referees to the safety of the pavilion. i began at once to endeavour to find out the conditions of local spiritualism, and had a long conversation with mr. tozer, the chairman of the movement, a slow-talking, steady-eyed man, of the type that gets a grip and does not easily let go. after explaining the general situation, which needs some explanation as it is full of currents and cross-currents caused by individual schisms and secessions, he told me in his gentle, earnest way some of his own experiences in his home circle which corroborate much which i have heard elsewhere. he has run a rescue circle for the instruction of the lower spirits who are so material that they can be reached more easily by humanity than by the higher angels. the details he gave me were almost the same as those given by mr. macfarlane of southsea who had a similar circle of which mr. tozer had certainly never heard. a wise spirit control dominates the proceedings. the medium goes into trance. the spirit control then explains what it is about to do, and who the spirit is who is about to be reformed. the next scene is often very violent, the medium having to be held down and using rough language. this comes from some low spirit who has suddenly found this means of expressing himself. at other times the language is not violent but only melancholy, the spirit declaring that he is abandoned and has not a friend in the universe. some do not realise that they are dead, but only that they wander all alone, under conditions they could not understand, in a cloud of darkness. then comes the work of regeneration. they are reasoned with and consoled. gradually they become more gentle. finally, they accept the fact that they are spirits, that their condition is their own making, and that by aspiration and repentance they can win their way to the light. when one has found the path and has returned thanks for it, another case is treated. as a rule these errant souls are unknown to fame. often they are clergymen whose bigotry has hindered development. occasionally some great sinner of the past may come into view. i have before me a written lament professing to come from alva, the bigoted governor of the lowlands. it is gruesome enough. "picture to yourself the hell i was in. blood, blood everywhere, corpses on all sides, gashed, maimed, mutilated, quivering with agony and bleeding at every pore! at the same time thousands of voices were raised in bitter reproaches, in curses and execrations! imagine the appalling spectacle of this multitude of the dead and dying, fresh from the flames, from the sword, the rack, the torture chambers and the gibbet; and the pandemonium of voices shrieking out the most terrible maledictions! imagine never being able to get away from these sights and sounds, and then tell me, was i not in hell?--a hell of greater torment than that to which i believed all heretics were consigned. such was the hell of the 'bloody alva,' from which i have been rescued by what seems to me a great merciful dispensation of almighty god." sometimes in mr. tozer's circle the souls of ancient clerics who have slumbered long show their first signs of resuscitation, still bearing their old-world intolerance with them. the spirit control purports to be a well-educated chinaman, whose presence and air of authority annoy the ecclesiastics greatly. the petrified mind leads to a long period of insensibility which means loss of ground and of time in the journey towards happiness. i was present at the return of one alleged anglican bishop of the eighteenth century, who spoke with great intolerance. when asked if he had seen the christ he answered that he had not and that he could not understand it. when asked if he still considered the christ to be god he threw up his hand and shouted violently, "stop! that is blasphemy!" the chinese control said, "he stupid man. let him wait. he learn better"--and removed him. he was succeeded by a very noisy and bigoted puritan divine who declared that no one but devils would come to a séance. on being asked whether that meant that he was himself a devil he became so abusive that the chinaman once more had to intervene. i quote all this as a curious sidelight into some developments of the subject which are familiar enough to students, but not to the general public. it is easy at a distance to sneer at such things and to ask for their evidential value, but they are very impressive to those who view them at closer quarters. as to evidence, i am informed that several of the unfortunates have been identified in this world through the information which they gave of their own careers. melbourne is a remarkable city, far more solid and old-established than the european visitor would expect. we spent some days in exploring it. there are few cities which have the same natural advantages, for it is near the sea, with many charming watering places close at hand, while inland it has some beautiful hills for the week-end villas of the citizens. edinburgh is the nearest analogy which i can recall. parks and gardens are beautiful, but, as in most british cities, the public statues are more solid than impressive. the best of them, that to burke and wills, the heroic explorers, has no name upon it to signify who the two figures are, so that they mean nothing at all to the casual observer, in spite of some excellent bas-reliefs, round the base, which show the triumphant start and the terrible end of that tragic but successful journey, which first penetrated the continent from south to north. before our departure i appealed in the press to have this omission rectified and it was, i believe, done. illustration: _photo: stirling, melbourne._ melbourne, november, 1920. mr. smythe, my agent, had been unfortunate in being unable to secure one of the very few large halls in melbourne, so we had to confine ourselves to the playhouse which has only seating for about 1,200. here i opened on october 5th, following my lectures up in the same order as in adelaide. the press was very shy, but nothing could have exceeded the warmth and receptivity of my hearers. yet on account of the inadequate reports of the press, with occasional total suppression, no one who was not present could have imagined how packed was the house, or how unanimous the audience. on october 14th the spiritualists filled the auditorium and had a special service of welcome for ourselves. when i went down to it in the tram, the conductor, unaware of my identity, said, when i asked to be put down at the auditorium, "it's no use, sir; it's jam full an hour ago." "the pilgrims," as they called us, were in special seats, the seven of us all in a line upon the right of the chair. many kind things were said, and i replied as best i might. the children will carry the remembrance of that warm-hearted reception through their lives, and they are not likely to forget how they staggered home, laden with the flowers which were literally heaped upon them. the british empire league also entertained my wife and myself to lunch, a very select company assembling who packed the room. sir joseph cook, federal chancellor of the exchequer, made a pleasant speech, recalling our adventures upon the somme, when he had his baptism of fire. in my reply i pulled the leg of my audience with some success, for i wound up by saying, very solemnly, that i was something greater than governments and the master of cabinet ministers. by the time i had finished my tremendous claims i am convinced that they expected some extravagant occult pretension, whereas i actually wound up with the words, "for i am the man in the street." there was a good deal of amusement caused. mr. thomas ryan, a very genial and capable member of the state legislature, took the chair at this function. he had no particular psychic knowledge, but he was deeply impressed by an experience in london in the presence of that remarkable little lady, miss scatcherd. mr. ryan had said that he wanted some evidence before he could accept psychic philosophy, upon which miss scatcherd said: "there is a spirit beside you now. he conveys to me that his name is roberts. he says he is worried in his mind because the home which you prepared for his widow has not been legally made over to her." all this applied to a matter in adelaide. in that city, according to mr. ryan, a séance was held that night, mr. victor cromer being the medium, at which a message came through from roberts saying that he was now easy in his mind as he had managed to convey his trouble to mr. ryan who could set it right. when these psychic laws are understood the dead as well as the living will be relieved from a load of unnecessary care; but how can these laws be ignored or pooh-poohed in the face of such instances as this which i have quoted? they are so numerous now that it is hardly an exaggeration to say that every circle of human beings which meets can supply one. mr. hughes was good enough to ask me to meet the members of the federal government at lunch, and the experience was an interesting one, for here round one small table were those who were shaping the course of this young giant among the nations. they struck me as a practical hard-worked rough-and-ready lot of men. mr. hughes dominated the conversation, which necessarily becomes one-sided as he is very deaf, though his opponents say that he has an extraordinary knack of hearing what he is not meant to hear. he told us a series of anecdotes of his stormy political youth with a great deal of vivacity, the whole company listening in silence. he is a hard, wiry man, with a high-nosed red indian face, and a good deal of healthy devilry in his composition--a great force for good during the war. after lunch he conducted me through the library, and coming to a portrait of clemenceau he cried: "that's the man i learned to admire in europe." then, turning to one of wilson, he added, "and that's the man i learned to dislike." he added a number of instances of wilson's ignorance of actual conditions, and of his ungenial coldness of heart. "if he had not been so wrapped in himself, and if he had taken lodge or some other republican with him, all could have easily been arranged." i feel that i am not indiscreet in repeating this, for hughes is not a man who conceals his opinions from the world. i have been interested in the medium bailey, who was said to have been exposed in france in 1910. the curious will find the alleged exposure in "annals of psychical science," vol. ix. bailey is an apport medium--that is to say, that among his phenomena is the bringing of objects which are said to come from a distance, passing through the walls and being precipitated down upon the table. these objects are of the strangest description--assyrian tablets (real or forged), tortoises, live birds, snakes, precious stones, &c. in this case, after being searched by the committee, he was able to produce two live birds in the séance room. at the next sitting the committee proposed an obscene and absurd examination of the medium, which he very rightly resented and refused. they then confidently declared that on the first occasion the two live birds were in his intestines, a theory so absurd that it shakes one's confidence in their judgment. they had, however, some more solid grounds for a charge against him, for they produced a married couple who swore that they had sold three such birds with a cage to bailey some days before. this bailey denied, pointing out that he could neither speak french, nor had he ever had any french money, which professor reichel, who brought him from australia, corroborated. however, the committee considered the evidence to be final, and the séances came to an end, though colonel de rochas, the leading member, wound up the incident by writing: "are we to conclude from the fraud that we have witnessed that all bailey's apports may have been fraudulent? i do not think so, and this is also the opinion of the members of the committee, who have had much experience with mediums and are conversant with the literature of the subject." reading the alleged exposure, one is struck, as so often in such cases, with its unsatisfactory nature. there is the difficulty of the language and the money. there is the disappearance of the third bird and the cage. above all, how did the birds get into the carefully-guarded seance room, especially as bailey was put in a bag during the proceedings? the committee say the bag may not have been efficient, but they also state that bailey desired the control to be made more effective. altogether it is a puzzling case. on my applying to bailey himself for information, he declared roundly that he had been the victim of a theological plot with suborned evidence. the only slight support which i can find for that view is that there was a rev. doctor among his accusers. i was told independently that professor reichel, before his death in 1918, came also to the conclusion that there had been a plot. but in any case most of us will agree with mr. stanford, bailey's australian patron, that the committee would have been wise to say nothing, continue the sittings, and use their knowledge to get at some more complete conclusion. with such a record one had to be on one's guard with mr. bailey. i had a sitting in my room at the hotel to which i invited ten guests, but the results were not impressive. we saw so-called spirit hands, which were faintly luminous, but i was not allowed to grasp them, and they were never further from the medium than he could have reached. all this was suspicious but not conclusive. on the other hand, there was an attempt at a materialisation of a head, which took the form of a luminous patch, and seemed to some of the sitters to be further from the cabinet than could be reached. we had an address purporting to come from the control, dr. whitcombe, and we also had a message written in bad italian. on the whole it was one of those baffling sittings which leave a vague unpleasant impression, and there was a disturbing suggestion of cuffs about those luminous hands. i have been reading bailey's record, however, and i cannot doubt that he has been a great apport medium. the results were far above all possible fraud, both in the conditions and in the articles brought into the room by spirit power. for example, i have a detailed account published by dr. c. w. mccarthy, of sydney, under the title, "rigid tests of the occult." during these tests bailey was sealed up in a bag, and in one case was inside a cage of mosquito curtain. the door and windows were secured and the fire-place blocked. the sitters were all personal friends, but they mutually searched each other. the medium was stripped naked before the séance. under these stringent conditions during a series of six sittings 138 articles were brought into the room, which included eighty-seven ancient coins (mostly of ptolemy), eight live birds, eighteen precious stones of modest value and varied character, two live turtles, seven inscribed babylonian tablets, one egyptian scarabæus, an arabic newspaper, a leopard skin, four nests and many other things. it seems to me perfect nonsense to talk about these things being the results of trickery. i may add that at a previous test meeting they had a young live shark about 1-1/2 feet long, which was tangled with wet seaweed and flopped about on the table. dr. mccarthy gives a photograph of the creature. my second sitting with bailey was more successful than the first. on his arrival i and others searched him and satisfied ourselves he carried nothing upon him. i then suddenly switched out all the lights, for it seemed to me that the luminous hands of the first sitting might be the result of phosphorised oil put on before the meeting and only visible in complete darkness, so that it could defy all search. i was wrong, however, for there was no luminosity at all. we then placed mr. bailey in the corner of the room, lowered the lights without turning them out, and waited. almost at once he breathed very heavily, as one in trance, and soon said something in a foreign tongue which was unintelligible to me. one of our friends, mr. cochrane, recognised it as indian, and at once answered, a few sentences being interchanged. in english the voice then said that he was a hindoo control who was used to bring apports for the medium, and that he would, he hoped, be able to bring one for us. "here it is," he said a moment later, and the medium's hand was extended with something in it. the light was turned full on and we found it was a very perfect bird's nest, beautifully constructed of some very fine fibre mixed with moss. it stood about two inches high and had no sign of any flattening which would have come with concealment. the size would be nearly three inches across. in it lay a small egg, white, with tiny brown speckles. the medium, or rather the hindoo control acting through the medium, placed the egg on his palm and broke it, some fine albumen squirting out. there was no trace of yolk. "we are not allowed to interfere with life," said he. "if it had been fertilised we could not have taken it." these words were said before he broke it, so that he was aware of the condition of the egg, which certainly seems remarkable. "where did it come from?" i asked. "from india." "what bird is it?" "they call it the jungle sparrow." the nest remained in my possession, and i spent a morning with mr. chubb, of the local museum, to ascertain if it was really the nest of such a bird. it seemed too small for an indian sparrow, and yet we could not match either nest or egg among the australian types. some of mr. bailey's other nests and eggs have been actually identified. surely it is a fair argument that while it is conceivable that such birds might be imported and purchased here, it is really an insult to one's reason to suppose that nests with fresh eggs in them could also be in the market. therefore i can only support the far more extended experience and elaborate tests of dr. mccarthy of sydney, and affirm that i believe mr. charles bailey to be upon occasion a true medium, with a very remarkable gift for apports. it is only right to state that when i returned to london i took one of bailey's assyrian tablets to the british museum and that it was pronounced to be a forgery. upon further inquiry it proved that these forgeries are made by certain jews in a suburb of bagdad--and, so far as is known, only there. therefore the matter is not much further advanced. to the transporting agency it is at least possible that the forgery, steeped in recent human magnetism, is more capable of being handled than the original taken from a mound. bailey has produced at least a hundred of these things, and no custom house officer has deposed how they could have entered the country. on the other hand, bailey told me clearly that the tablets had been passed by the british museum, so that i fear that i cannot acquit him of tampering with truth--and just there lies the great difficulty of deciding upon his case. but one has always to remember that physical mediumship has no connection one way or the other with personal character, any more than the gift of poetry. to return to this particular séance, it was unequal. we had luminous hands, but they were again within reach of the cabinet in which the medium was seated. we had also a long address from dr. whitcombe, the learned control, in which he discoursed like an absolute master upon assyrian and roman antiquities and psychic science. it was really an amazing address, and if bailey were the author of it i should hail him as a master mind. he chatted about the kings of babylon as if he had known them all, remarked that the bible was wrong in calling belthazar king as he was only crown prince, and put in all those easy side allusions which a man uses when he is absolutely full of his subject. upon his asking for questions, i said: "please give me some light as to the dematerialisation and subsequent reassembly of an object such as a bird's nest." "it involves," he answered, "some factors which are beyond your human science and which could not be made clear to you. at the same time you may take as a rough analogy the case of water which is turned into steam, and then this steam which is invisible, is conducted elsewhere to be reassembled as visible water." i thought this explanation was exceedingly apt, though of course i agree that it is only a rough analogy. on my asking if there were libraries and facilities for special study in the next world, he said that there certainly were, but that instead of studying books they usually studied the actual objects themselves. all he said was full of dignity and wisdom. it was curious to notice that, learned as he was, dr. whitcombe always referred back with reverence to dr. robinson, another control not present at the moment, as being the real expert. i am told that some of dr. robinson's addresses have fairly amazed the specialists. i notice that col. de rochas in his report was equally impressed by bailey's controls. i fear that my psychic experiences are pushing my travels into the background, but i warned the reader that it might be so when first we joined hands. to get back to the earth, let me say that i saw the procession when the new governor-general, lord forster, with his charming wife, made their ceremonial entry into melbourne, with many workman-like commonwealth troops before and behind their carriage. i knew lord forster of old, for we both served upon a committee over the olympic games, so that he gave quite a start of surprised recognition when his quick eye fell upon my face in the line of spectators. he is a man who cannot fail to be popular here, for he has the physical as well as the mental qualities. our stay in melbourne was afterwards made more pleasant by the gracious courtesy of government house for, apart from attending several functions, we were invited to a special dinner, after which i exhibited upon a screen my fairy portraits and a few of my other very wonderful psychic photographs. it was not an occasion when i could preach, but no quick intelligence could be brought in contact with such phenomena without asking itself very seriously what lay behind them. when that question is earnestly asked the battle is won. one asks oneself what will be the end of this system of little viceroys in each state and a big viceroy in the capital--however capable and excellent in themselves such viceroys may be. the smaller courts are, i understand, already doomed, and rightly so, since there is no need for them and nothing like them elsewhere. there is no possible purpose that they serve save to impose a nominal check, which is never used, upon the legislation. the governor-generalship will last no doubt until australia cuts the painter, or we let go our end of it, whichever may come first. personally, i have no fear of britain's power being weakened by a separation of her dominions. close allies which were independent might be a greater source of moral strength than actual dependencies. when the sons leave the father's house and rule their own homes, becoming fathers in turn, the old man is not weakened thereby. certainly i desire no such change, but if it came i would bear it with philosophy. i hope that the era of great military crises is for ever past, but, if it should recur, i am sure that the point of view would be the same, and that the starry union jack of the great australian nation would still fly beside the old flag which was its model. if one took a machiavelian view of british interests one would say that to retain a colony the surest way is not to remove any danger which may threaten her. we conquered canada from the french, removing in successive campaigns the danger from the north and from the west which threatened our american colonies. when we had expended our blood and money to that end, so that the colonies had nothing to fear, they took the first opportunity to force an unnecessary quarrel and to leave us. so i have fears for south africa now that the german menace has been removed. australia is, i think, loyal to the core, and yet self-interest is with every nation the basis of all policy, and so long as the british fleet can guard the shores of the great empty northern territories, a region as big as britain, germany, france and austria put together, they have need of us. there can be no doubt that if they were alone in the world in the face of the teeming millions of the east, they might, like the siberian travellers, have to throw a good deal to the wolves in order to save the remainder. brave and capable as they are, neither their numbers nor their resources could carry them through a long struggle if the enemy held the sea. they are natural shots and soldiers, so that they might be wiser to spend their money in a strategic railway right across their northern coast, rather than in direct military preparations. to concentrate rapidly before the enemy was firmly established might under some circumstances be a very vital need. but so long as the british empire lasts australia is safe, and in twenty years' time her own enlarged population will probably make her safe without help from anyone. but her empty places are a danger. history abhors a vacuum and finds some one to fill it up. i have never yet understood why the commonwealth has not made a serious effort to attract to the northern territories those italians who are flooding the argentine. it is great blood and no race is the poorer for it--the blood of ancient rome. they are used to semitropical heat and to hard work in bad conditions if there be only hope ahead. perhaps the policy of the future may turn in that direction. if that one weak spot be guarded then it seems to me that in the whole world there is no community, save only the united states, which is so safe from outside attack as australia. internal division is another matter, but there australia is in some ways stronger than the states. she has no negro question, and the strife between capital and labour is not likely to be so formidable. i wonder, by the way, how many people in the united states realise that this small community lost as many men as america did in the great war. we were struck also by the dignified resignation with which this fact was faced, and by the sense of proportion which was shown in estimating the sacrifices of various nations. we like the people here very much more than we had expected to, for one hears in england exaggerated stories of their democratic bearing. when democracy takes the form of equality one can get along with it, but when it becomes rude and aggressive one would avoid it. here one finds a very pleasing good fellowship which no one would object to. again and again we have met with little acts of kindness from people in shops or in the street, which were not personal to ourselves, but part of their normal good manners. if you ask the way or any other information, strangers will take trouble to put you right. they are kindly, domestic and straight in speech and in dealings. materialism and want of vision in the broader affairs of life seem to be the national weakness, but that may be only a passing phase, for when a nation has such a gigantic material proposition as this continent to handle it is natural that their thoughts should run on the wool and the wheat and the gold by which it can be accomplished. i am bound to say, however, that i think every patriotic australian should vote, if not for prohibition, at least for the solution which is most dear to myself, and that is the lowering of the legal standard of alcohol in any drink. we have been shocked and astonished by the number of young men of decent exterior whom we have seen staggering down the street, often quite early in the day. the biblical test for drunkenness, that it was not yet the third hour, would not apply to them. i hear that bad as it is in the big towns it is worse in the small ones, and worst of all in the northern territories and other waste places where work is particularly needed. it must greatly decrease the national efficiency. a recent vote upon the question in victoria only carried total abstinence in four districts out of about 200, but a two-third majority was needed to do it. on the other hand a trial of strength in queensland, generally supposed to be rather a rowdy state, has shown that the temperance men all combined can out-vote the others. therefore it is certain that reform will not be long delayed. the other curse of the country, which is a real drag upon its progress, is the eternal horse-racing. it goes on all the year round, though it has its more virulent bouts, as for example during our visit to this town when the derby, the melbourne cup, and oaks succeeded each other. they call it sport, but i fear that in that case i am no sportsman. i would as soon call the roulette-table a sport. the whole population is unsettled and bent upon winning easy money, which dissatisfies them with the money that has to be worked for. every shop is closed when the cup is run, and you have lift-boys, waiters and maids all backing their fancies, not with half-crowns but with substantial sums. the danger to honesty is obvious, and it came under our own notice that it is not imaginary. of course we are by no means blameless in england, but it only attacks a limited class, while here it seems to the stranger to be almost universal. in fact it is so bad that it is sure to get better, for i cannot conceive that any sane nation will allow it to continue. the book-makers, however, are a powerful guild, and will fight tooth and nail. the catholic church, i am sorry to say, uses its considerable influence to prevent drink reform by legislation, and i fear that it will not support the anti-gamblers either. i wonder from what hidden spring, from what ignorant italian camarilla, this venerable and in some ways admirable church gets its secular policy, which must have central direction, since it is so consistent! when i remember the recent sequence of world events and the part played by that church, the attack upon the innocent dreyfus, the refusal to support reform in the congo, and finally the obvious leaning towards the central powers who were clearly doomed to lose, one would think that it was ruled by a council of lunatics. these matters bear no relation to faith or dogma, so that one wonders that the sane catholics have not risen in protest. no doubt the better class laymen are ahead of the clergy in this as in other religious organisations. i cannot forget how the duke of norfolk sent me a cheque for the congo reform movement at the very time when we could not get the catholic church to line up with the other sects at a reform demonstration at the albert hall. in this country also there were many brave and loyal catholics who took their own line against cardinal mannix upon the question of conscription, when that cardinal did all that one man could do to bring about the defeat of the free nations in the great war. how he could face an american audience afterwards, or how such an audience could tolerate him, is hard to understand. chapter v more english than the english.--a day in the bush.--immigration.--a case of spirit return.--a séance.--geelong.--the lava plain.--good-nature of general ryrie.--bendigo.--down a gold mine.--prohibition v. continuance.--mrs. knight maclellan.--nerrin.--a wild drive.--electric shearing.--rich sheep stations.--cockatoo farmers.--spinnifex and mallee.--rabbits.--the great marsh. in some ways the australians are more english than the english. we have been imperceptibly americanised, while our brethren over the sea have kept the old type. the australian is less ready to show emotion, cooler in his bearing, more restrained in applause, more devoted to personal liberty, keener on sport, and quieter in expression (as witness the absence of scare lines in the papers) than our people are. indeed, they remind me more of the scotch than the english, and melbourne on a sunday, without posts, or sunday papers, or any amenity whatever, is like the edinburgh of my boyhood. sydney is more advanced. there are curious anomalies in both towns. their telephone systems are so bad that they can only be balanced against each other, for they are in a class by themselves. one smiles when one recollects that one used to grumble at the london lines. on the other hand the tramway services in both towns are wonderful, and so continuous that one never hastens one's step to catch a tram since another comes within a minute. the melbourne trams have open bogey cars in front, which make a drive a real pleasure. one of our pleasant recollections in the early days of our melbourne visit was a day in the bush with mr. henry stead and his wife. my intense admiration for the moral courage and energy of the father made it easy for me to form a friendship with his son, who has shown the family qualities by the able way in which he has founded and conducted an excellent journal, _stead's monthly_. australia was lucky ever to get such an immigrant as that, for surely an honest, fearless and clear-headed publicist is the most valuable man that a young country, whose future is one long problem play, could import. we spent our day in the dandenong hills, twenty miles from melbourne, in a little hostel built in a bush clearing and run by one lucas, of good english cricket stock, his father having played for sussex. on the way we passed madame melba's place at lilydale, and the wonderful woods with their strange tree-ferns seemed fit cover for such a singing bird. coming back in stead's light american car we tried a short cut down roads which proved to be almost impossible. a rather heavier car ahead of us, with two youths in it, got embedded in the mud, and we all dismounted to heave it out. there suddenly appeared on the lonely road an enormous coloured man; he looked like a cross between negro and black fellow. he must have lived in some hut in the woods, but the way his huge form suddenly rose beside us was quite surprising. he stood in gloomy majesty surveying our efforts, and repeating a series of sentences which reminded one of german exercises. "i have no jack. i had a jack. some one has taken my jack. this is called a road. it is not a road. there is no road." we finally levered out the australian car, for which, by the way, neither occupant said a word of thanks, and then gave the black giant a shilling, which he received as a keeper takes his toll. on looking back i am not sure that this slough of despond is not carefully prepared by this negro, who makes a modest income by the tips which he gets from the unfortunates who get bogged in it. no keeper ever darted out to a trap quicker than he did when the car got stuck. stead agreed with me that the australians do not take a big enough view of their own destiny. they--or the labour party, to be more exact--are inclined to buy the ease of the moment at the cost of the greatness of their continental future. they fear immigration lest it induce competition and pull down prices. it is a natural attitude. and yet that little fringe of people on the edge of that huge island can never adequately handle it. it is like an enormous machine with a six horsepower engine to drive it. i have a great sympathy with their desire to keep the british stock as pure as possible. but the land needs the men, and somewhere they must be found. i cannot doubt that they would become loyal subjects of the empire which had adopted them. i have wondered sometimes whether in lower california and the warmer states of the union there may not be human material for australia. canada has received no more valuable stock than from the american states, so it might be that another portion of the union would find the very stamp of man that queensland and the north require. the american likes a big gamble and a broad life with plenty of elbow-room. let him bring his cotton seeds over to semi-tropical australia and see what he can make of it there. to pass suddenly to other-worldly things, which are my mission. people never seem to realise the plain fact that one positive result must always outweigh a hundred negative ones. it only needs one single case of spirit return to be established, and there is no more to be said. incidentally, how absurd is the position of those wiseacres who say "nine-tenths of the phenomena are fraud." can they not see that if they grant us one-tenth, they grant us our whole contention? these remarks are elicited by a case which occurred in 1883 in melbourne, and which should have converted the city as surely as if an angel had walked down collins street. yet nearly forty years later i find it as stagnant and material as any city i have ever visited. the facts are these, well substantiated by documentary and official evidence. mr. junor browne, a well-known citizen, whose daughter afterwards married mr. alfred deakin, subsequently premier, had two sons, frank and hugh. together with a seaman named murray they went out into the bay in their yacht the "iolanthe," and they never returned. the father was fortunately a spiritualist and upon the second day of their absence, after making all normal inquiries, he asked a sensitive, mr. george spriggs, formerly of cardiff, if he would trace them. mr. spriggs collected some of the young men's belongings, so as to get their atmosphere, and then he was able by psychometry to give an account of their movements, the last which he could see of them being that they were in trouble upon the yacht and that confusion seemed to reign aboard her. two days later, as no further news was brought in, the browne family held a séance, mr. spriggs being the medium. he fell into trance and the two lads, who had been trained in spiritual knowledge and knew the possibilities, at once came through. they expressed their contrition to their mother, who had desired them not to go, and they then gave a clear account of the capsizing of the yacht, and how they had met their death, adding that they had found themselves after death in the exact physical conditions of happiness and brightness which their father's teaching had led them to expect. they brought with them the seaman murray, who also said a few words. finally hugh, speaking through the medium, informed mr. browne that frank's arm and part of his clothing had been torn off by a fish. "a shark?" asked mr. browne. "well, it was not like any shark i have seen." mark the sequel. some weeks later a large shark of a rare deep-sea species, unknown to the fishermen, and quite unlike the ordinary blue shark with which the brownes were familiar, was taken at frankston, about twenty-seven miles from melbourne. inside it was found the bone of a human arm, and also a watch, some coins, and other articles which had belonged to frank browne. these facts were all brought out in the papers at the time, and mr. browne put much of it on record in print before the shark was taken, or any word of the missing men had come by normal means. the facts are all set forth in a little book by mr. browne himself, called "a rational faith." what have fraudulent mediums and all the other decoys to do with such a case as that, and is it not perfectly convincing to any man who is not perverse? personally, i value it not so much for the evidence of survival, since we have that so complete already, but for the detailed account given by the young men of their new conditions, so completely corroborating what so many young officers, cut off suddenly in the war, have said of their experience. "mother, if you could see how happy we are, and the beautiful home we are in, you would not weep except for joy. i feel so light in my spiritual body and have no pain, i would not exchange this life for earth life even it were in my power. poor spirits without number are waiting anxiously to communicate with their friends when an opportunity is offered." the young brownes had the enormous advantage of the education they had received from their father, so that they instantly understood and appreciated the new conditions. on october 8th we had a séance with mrs. hunter, a pleasant middle-aged woman, with a soft south of england accent. like so many of our mediums she had little sign of education in her talk. it does not matter in spiritual things, though it is a stumbling block to some inquirers. after all, how much education had the apostles? i have no doubt they were very vulgar provincial people from the average roman point of view. but they shook the world none the less. most of our educated people have got their heads so crammed with things that don't matter that they have no room for the things that do matter. there was no particular success at our sitting, but i have heard that the medium is capable of better things. on october 13th i had my first experience of a small town, for i went to geelong and lectured there. it was an attentive and cultured audience, but the hall was small and the receipts could hardly have covered the expenses. however, it is the press report and the local discussion which really matter. i had little time to inspect geelong, which is a prosperous port with 35,000 inhabitants. what interested me more was the huge plain of lava which stretches around it and connects it with melbourne. this plain is a good hundred miles across, and as it is of great depth one can only imagine that there must be monstrous cavities inside the earth to correspond with the huge amount extruded. here and there one sees stunted green cones which are the remains of the volcanoes which spewed up all this stuff. the lava has disintegrated on the surface to the extent of making good arable soil, but the harder bits remain unbroken, so that the surface is covered with rocks, which are used to build up walls for the fields after the irish fashion. every here and there a peak of granite has remained as an island amid the lava, to show what was there before the great outflow. eruptions appear to be caused by water pouring in through some crack and reaching the heated inside of the earth where the water is turned to steam, expands, and so gains the force to spread destruction. if this process went on it is clear that the whole sea might continue to pour down the crack until the heat had been all absorbed by the water. i have wondered whether the lava may not be a clever healing process of nature, by which this soft plastic material is sent oozing out in every direction with the idea that it may find the crack and then set hard and stop it up. wild speculation no doubt, but the guess must always precede the proof. the australians are really a very good-natured people. it runs through the whole race, high and low. a very exalted person, the minister of war, shares our flat in the hotel, his bedroom being imbedded among our rooms. this is general sir granville ryrie, a famous hero of palestine, covered with wounds and medals--a man, too, of great dignity of bearing. as i was dressing one morning i heard some rather monotonous whistling and, forgetting the very existence of the general, and taking it for granted that it was my eldest boy denis, i put my head out and said, "look here, old chap, consider other people's nerves and give up that rotten habit of whistling before breakfast." imagine my feelings when the deep voice of the general answered, "all right, sir arthur, i will!" we laughed together over the incident afterwards, and i told him that he had furnished me with one more example of australian good humour for my notes. on october 13th i was at the prosperous 50,000 population town of bendigo, which every one, except the people on the spot, believes to have been named after the famous boxer. this must surely be a world record, for so far as my memory serves, neither a grecian olympic athletic, nor a roman gladiator, nor a byzantine charioteer, has ever had a city for a monument. borrow, who looked upon a good honest pugilist as the pick of humanity, must have rejoiced in it. is not valour the basis of all character, and where shall we find greater valour than theirs? alas, that most of them began and ended there! it is when the sage and the saint build on the basis of the fighter that you have the highest to which humanity can attain. i had a full hall at bendigo, and it was packed, i am told, by real old-time miners, for, of course, bendigo is still the centre of the gold mining industry. mr. smythe told me that it was quite a sight to see those rows of deeply-lined, bearded faces listening so intently to what i said of that destiny which is theirs as well as mine. i never had a better audience, and it was their sympathy which helped me through, for i was very weary that night. but however weary you may be, when you climb upon the platform to talk about this subject, you may be certain that you will be less weary when you come off. that is my settled conviction after a hundred trials. on the morning after my lecture i found myself half a mile nearer to dear old england, for i descended the unity mine, and they say that the workings extend to that depth. perhaps i was not at the lowest level, but certainly it was a long journey in the cage, and reminded me of my friend bang's description of the new york elevator, when he said that the distance to his suburban villa and his town flat was the same, but the one was horizontal and the other perpendicular. it was a weird experience that peep into the profound depths of the great gold mine. time was when the quartz veins were on the surface for the poor adventurer to handle. now they have been followed underground, and only great companies and costly machinery can win it. always it is the same white quartz vein with the little yellow specks and threads running through it. we were rattled down in pitch darkness until we came to a stop at the end of a long passage dimly lit by an occasional guttering candle. carrying our own candles, and clad in miner's costume we crept along with bent heads until we came suddenly out into a huge circular hall which might have sprung from doré's imagination. the place was draped with heavy black shadows, but every here and there was a dim light. each light showed where a man was squatting toad-like, a heap of broken debris in front of him, turning it over, and throwing aside the pieces with clear traces of gold. these were kept for special treatment, while the rest of the quartz was passed in ordinary course through the mill. these scattered heaps represented the broken stuff after a charge of dynamite had been exploded in the quartz vein. it was strange indeed to see these squatting figures deep in the bowels of the earth, their candles shining upon their earnest faces and piercing eyes, and to reflect that they were striving that the great exchanges of london and new york might be able to balance with bullion their output of paper. this dim troglodyte industry was in truth the centre and mainspring of all industries, without which trade would stop. many of the men were from cornwall, the troll among the nations, where the tools of the miner are still, as for two thousand years, the natural heritage of the man. dr. stillwell, the geologist of the company, and i had a long discussion as to where the gold came from, but the only possible conclusion was that nobody knew. we know now that the old alchemists were perfectly right and that one metal may change into another. is it possible that under some conditions a mineral may change into a metal? why should quartz always be the matrix? some geological darwin will come along some day and we shall get a great awakening, for at present we are only disguising our own ignorance in this department of knowledge. i had always understood that quartz was one of the old igneous primeval rocks, and yet here i saw it in thin bands, sandwiched in between clays and slates and other water-borne deposits. the books and the strata don't agree. these smaller towns, like the metropolis itself, are convulsed with the great controversy between prohibition and continuance, no reasonable compromise between the two being suggested. every wall displays posters, on one side those very prosperous-looking children who demand that some restraint be placed upon their daddy, and on the other hair-raising statements as to the financial results of restricting the publicans. to the great disgust of every decent man they have run the prince into it, and some remark of his after his return to england has been used by the liquor party. it is dangerous for royalty to be jocose in these days, but this was a particularly cruel example of the exploitation of a harmless little joke. if others felt as i did i expect it cost the liquor interest many a vote. we had another séance, this time with mrs. knight maclellan, after my return from bendigo. she is a lady who has grown grey in the service of the cult, and who made a name in london when she was still a child by her mediumistic powers. we had nothing of an evidential character that evening save that one lady who had recently lost her son had his description and an apposite message given. it was the first of several tests which we were able to give this lady, and before we left melbourne she assured us that she was a changed woman and her sorrow for ever gone. on october 18th began a very delightful experience, for my wife and i, leaving our party safe in melbourne, travelled up country to be the guests of the hon. agar wynne and his charming wife at their station of nerrin-nerrin in western victoria. it is about 140 miles from melbourne, and as the trains are very slow, the journey was not a pleasant one. but that was soon compensated for in the warmth of the welcome which awaited us. mr. agar wynne was postmaster-general of the federal government, and author of several improvements, one of which, the power of sending long letter-telegrams at low rates during certain hours was a triumph of common sense. for a shilling one could send quite a long communication to the other end of the continent, but it must go through at the time when the telegraph clerk had nothing else to do. it was interesting to us to find ourselves upon an old-established station, typical of the real life of australia, for cities are much the same the world over. nerrin had been a sheep station for eighty years, but the comfortable verandahed bungalow house, with every convenience within it, was comparatively modern. what charmed us most, apart from the kindness of our hosts, was a huge marsh or lagoon which extended for many miles immediately behind the house, and which was a bird sanctuary, so that it was crowded with ibises, wild black swans, geese, ducks, herons and all sorts of fowl. we crept out of our bedroom in the dead of the night and stood under the cloud-swept moon listening to the chorus of screams, hoots, croaks and whistles coming out of the vast expanse of reeds. it would make a most wonderful hunting ground for a naturalist who was content to observe and not to slay. the great morass of nerrin will ever stand out in our memories. next day we were driven round the borders of this wonderful marsh, mr. wynne, after the australian fashion, taking no note of roads, and going right across country with alarming results to anyone not used to it. finally, the swaying and rolling became so terrific that he was himself thrown off the box seat and fell down between the buggy and the front wheel, narrowly escaping a very serious accident. he was able to show us the nests and eggs which filled the reed-beds, and even offered to drive us out into the morass to inspect them, a proposal which was rejected by the unanimous vote of a full buggy. i never knew an answer more decidedly in the negative. as we drove home we passed a great gum tree, and half-way up the trunk was a deep incision where the bark had been stripped in an oval shape some four foot by two. it was where some savage in days of old had cut his shield. such a mark outside a modern house with every amenity of cultured life is an object lesson of how two systems have over-lapped, and how short a time it is since this great continent was washed by a receding wave, ere the great anglo-saxon tide came creeping forward. apart from the constant charm of the wild life of the marsh there did not seem to be much for the naturalist around nerrin. opossums bounded upon the roof at night and snakes were not uncommon. a dangerous tiger-snake was killed on the day of our arrival. i was amazed also at the size of the australian eels. a returned soldier had taken up fishing as a trade, renting a water for a certain time and putting the contents, so far as he could realise them, upon the market. it struck me that after this wily digger had passed that way there would not be much for the sportsman who followed him. but the eels were enormous. he took a dozen at a time from his cunning eel-pots, and not one under six pounds. i should have said that they were certainly congers had i seen them in england. i wonder whether all this part of the country has not been swept by a tidal wave at some not very remote period. it is a low coastline with this great lava plain as a hinterland, and i can see nothing to prevent a big wave even now from sweeping the civilisation of victoria off the planet, should there be any really great disturbance under the pacific. at any rate, it is my impression that it has actually occurred once already, for i cannot otherwise understand the existence of great shallow lakes of salt water in these inland parts. are they not the pools left behind by that terrible tide? there are great banks of sand, too, here and there on the top of the lava which i can in no way account for unless they were swept here in some tremendous world-shaking catastrophe which took the beach from st. kilda and threw it up at nerrin. god save australia from such a night as that must have been if my reading of the signs be correct. illustration: a typical australian back-country scene. by h. j. johnstone, a great painter who died unknown. (painting in adelaide national gallery.) one of the sights of nerrin is the shearing of the sheep by electric machinery. these sheep are merinos, which have been bred as wool-producers to such an extent that they can hardly see, and the wool grows thick right down to their hoofs. the large stately creature is a poor little shadow when his wonderful fleece has been taken from him. the electric clips with which the operation is performed, are, i am told, the invention of a brother of garnet wolseley, who worked away at the idea, earning the name of being a half-crazy crank, until at last the invention materialised and did away with the whole slow and clumsy process of the hand-shearer. it is not, however, a pleasant process to watch even for a man, far less a sensitive woman, for the poor creatures get cut about a good deal in the process. the shearer seizes a sheep, fixes him head up between his knees, and then plunges the swiftly-moving clippers into the thick wool which covers the stomach. with wonderful speed he runs it along and the creature is turned out of its covering, and left as bare as a turkey in a poulterer's window, but, alas, its white and tender skin is too often gashed and ripped with vivid lines of crimson by the haste and clumsiness of the shearer. it was worse, they say, in the days of the hand-shearer. i am bound to say, however, that the creature makes no fuss about it, remains perfectly still, and does not appear to suffer any pain. nature is often kinder than we know, even to her most humble children, and some soothing and healing process seems to be at work. the shearers appear to be a rough set of men, and spend their whole time moving in gangs from station to station, beginning up in the far north and winding up on the plains of south australia. they are complete masters of the situation, having a powerful union at their back. they not only demand and receive some two pounds a day in wages, but they work or not by vote, the majority being able to grant a complete holiday. it is impossible to clip a wet sheep, so that after rain there is an interval of forced idleness, which may be prolonged by the vote of the men. they work very rapidly, however, when they are actually at it, and the man who tallies most fleeces, called "the ringer," receives a substantial bonus. when the great shed is in full activity it is a splendid sight with the row of stooping figures, each embracing his sheep, the buzz of the shears, the rush of the messengers who carry the clip to the table, the swift movements of the sorters who separate the perfect from the imperfect wool, and the levering and straining of the packers who compress it all into square bundles as hard as iron with 240 pounds in each. with fine wool at the present price of ninety-six pence a pound it is clear that each of these cubes stands for nearly a hundred pounds. they are rich men these sheep owners--and i am speaking here of my general inquiry and not at all of nerrin. on a rough average, with many local exceptions, one may say that an estate bears one sheep to an acre, and that the sheep may show a clear profit of one pound in the year. thus, after the first initial expense is passed, and when the flock has reached its full, one may easily make an assessment of the owner's income. estates of 10,000 acres are common, and they run up to 50,000 and 60,000 acres. they can be run so cheaply that the greater part of income is clear profit, for when the land is barb-wired into great enclosures no shepherds are needed, and only a boundary rider or two to see that all is in order. these, with a few hands at lambing time, and two or three odd-job men at the central station, make up the whole staff. it is certainly the short cut to a fortune if one can only get the plant running. can a man with a moderate capital get a share of these good things? certainly he can if he have grit and a reasonable share of that luck which must always be a factor in nature's processes. droughts, floods, cyclones, etc., are like the zero at monte carlo, which always may turn up to defeat the struggling gamester. i followed several cases where small men had managed to make good. it is reckoned that the man who gets a holding of from 300 to 500 acres is able on an average in three years to pay off all his initial expenses and to have laid the foundations of a career which may lead to fortune. one case was a london baker who knew nothing of the work. he had 300 acres and had laid it out in wheat, cows, sheep and mixed farming. he worked from morning to night, his wife was up at four, and his child of ten was picking up stones behind the furrow. but he was already making his £500 a year. the personal equation was everything. one demobilised soldier was doing well. another had come to smash. very often a deal is made between the small man and the large holder, by which the latter lets the former a corner of his estate, taking a share, say one-third, of his profits as rent. that is a plan which suits everyone, and the landlord can gradually be bought out by the "cockatoo farmer," as he is styled. there is a great wool-clip this year, and prices in london are at record figures, so that australia, which only retains 17 per cent. of her own wool, should have a very large sum to her credit. but she needs it. when one considers that the debt of this small community is heavier now than that of great britain before the war, one wonders how she can ever win through. but how can anyone win through? i don't think we have fairly realised the financial problem yet, and i believe that within a very few years there will be an international council which will be compelled to adopt some such scheme as the one put forward by my friend, mr. stilwell, under the name of "the great plan." this excellent idea was that every nation should reduce its warlike expenditure to an absolute minimum, that the difference between this minimum and the 1914 pre-war standard should be paid every year to a central fund, and that international bonds be now drawn upon the security of that fund, anticipating not its present amount but what it will represent in fifty years' time. it is, in fact, making the future help the present, exactly as an estate which has some sudden great call upon it might reasonably anticipate or mortgage its own development. i believe that the salvation of the world may depend upon some such plan, and that the council of the league of nations is the agency by which it could be made operative. australia has had two plants which have been a perfect curse to her as covering the land and offering every impediment to agriculture. they are the spinnifex in the west and the mallee scrub in the east. the latter was considered a hopeless proposition, and the only good which could be extracted from it was that the root made an ideal fire, smouldering long and retaining heat. suddenly, however, a genius named lascelles discovered that this hopeless mallee land was simply unrivalled for wheat, and his schemes have now brought seven million acres under the plough. this could hardly have been done if another genius, unnamed, had not invented a peculiar and ingenious plough, the "stump-jump plough," which can get round obstacles without breaking itself. it is not generally known that australia really heads the world for the ingenuity and efficiency of her agricultural machinery. there is an inventor and manufacturer, mackay, of sunshine, who represents the last word in automatic reapers, etc. he exports them, a shipload at a time, to the united states, which, if one considers the tariff which they have to surmount, is proof in itself of the supremacy of the article. with this wealth of machinery the real power of australia in the world is greater than her population would indicate, for a five-million nation, which, by artificial aid, does the work normally done by ten million people, becomes a ten-million nation so far as economic and financial strength is concerned. on the other hand, australia has her hindrances as well as her helps. certainly the rabbits have done her no good, though the evil is for the moment under control. an efficient rabbiter gets a pound a day, and he is a wise insurance upon any estate, for the creatures, if they get the upper-hand, can do thousands of pounds' worth of damage. this damage takes two shapes. first, they eat on all the grass and leave nothing at all for the sheep. secondly, they burrow under walls, etc., and leave the whole place an untidy ruin. little did the man who introduced the creature into australia dream how the imprecations of a continent would descend upon him. alas! that we could not linger at nerrin; but duty was calling at melbourne. besides, the days of the melbourne cup were at hand, and not only was mr. wynne a great pillar of the turf, but mr. osborne, owner of one of the most likely horses in the race, was one of the house-party. to melbourne therefore we went. we shall always, however, be able in our dreams to revisit that broad verandah, the low hospitable façade, the lovely lawn with its profusion of scented shrubs, the grove of towering gum trees, where the opossums lurked, and above all the great marsh where with dark clouds drifting across the moon we had stolen out at night to hear the crying of innumerable birds. that to us will always be the real australia. chapter vi the melbourne cup.--psychic healing.--m. j. bloomfield.--my own experience.--direct healing.--chaos and ritual.--government house ball.--the rescue circle again.--sitting with mrs. harris.--a good test case.--australian botany.--the land of myrtles.--english cricket team.--great final meeting in melbourne. it was the week of weeks in melbourne when we returned from nerrin, and everything connected with my mission was out of the question. when the whole world is living vividly here and now there is no room for the hereafter. personally, i fear i was out of sympathy with it all, though we went to the derby, where the whole male and a good part of the female population of melbourne seemed to be assembled, reinforced by contingents from every state in the federation. a fine handsome body of people they are when you see them _en masse_, strong, solid and capable, if perhaps a little lacking in those finer and more spiritual graces which come with a more matured society. the great supply of animal food must have its effect upon the mind as well as the body of a nation. lord forster appeared at the races, and probably, as an all round sportsman, took a genuine interest, but the fate of the governor who did not take an interest would be a rather weary one--like that kind-hearted roman emperor, claudius, if i remember right, who had to attend the gladiatorial shows, but did his business there so as to distract his attention from the arena. we managed to get out of attending the famous melbourne cup, and thereby found the st. kilda beach deserted for once, and i was able to spend a quiet day with my wife watching the children bathe and preparing for the more strenuous times ahead. one psychic subject which has puzzled me more than any other, is that of magnetic healing. all my instincts as a doctor, and all the traditional teaching of the profession, cry out against unexplained effects, and the opening which their acceptance must give to the quack. the man who has paid a thousand pounds for his special knowledge has a natural distaste when he sees a man who does not know the subclavian artery from the pineal gland, effecting or claiming to effect cures on some quite unconventional line. and yet ... and yet! the ancients knew a great deal which we have forgotten, especially about the relation of one body to another. what did hippocrates mean when he said, "the affections suffered by the body the soul sees with shut eyes?" i will show you exactly what he means. my friend, m. j. bloomfield, as unselfish a worker for truth as the world can show, tried for nearly two years to develop the medical powers of a clairvoyant. suddenly the result was attained, without warning. he was walking with a friend in collins street laughing over some joke. in an instant the laugh was struck from his lips. a man and woman were walking in front, their backs towards bloomfield. to his amazement he saw the woman's inner anatomy mapped out before him, and especially marked a rounded mass near the liver which he felt intuitively should not be there. his companion rallied him on his sudden gravity, and still more upon the cause of it, when it was explained. bloomfield was so certain, however, that the vision was for a purpose, that he accosted the couple, and learned that the woman was actually about to be operated on for cancer. he reassured them, saying that the object seemed clearly defined and not to have widespread roots as a cancer might have. he was asked to be present at the operation, pointed out the exact place where he had seen the growth, and saw it extracted. it was, as he had said, innocuous. with this example in one's mind the words of hippocrates begin to assume a very definite meaning. i believe that the surgeon was so struck by the incident that he was most anxious that bloomfield should aid him permanently in his diagnoses. i will now give my own experience with mr. bloomfield. denis had been suffering from certain pains, so i took him round as a test case. bloomfield, without asking the boy any questions, gazed at him for a couple of minutes. he then said that the pains were in the stomach and head, pointing out the exact places. the cause, he said, was some slight stricture in the intestine and he proceeded to tell me several facts of denis's early history which were quite correct, and entirely beyond his normal knowledge. i have never in all my experience of medicine known so accurate a diagnosis. another lady, whom i knew, consulted him for what she called a "medical reading." without examining her in any way he said: "what a peculiar throat you have! it is all pouched inside." she admitted that this was so, and that doctors in london had commented upon it. by his clairvoyant gift he could see as much as they with their laryngoscopes. mr. bloomfield has never accepted any fees for his remarkable gifts. last year he gave 3,000 consultations. i have heard of mediums with similar powers in england, but i had never before been in actual contact with one. with all my professional prejudices i am bound to admit that they have powers, just as braid and esdaile, the pioneers of hypnotism, had powers, which must sooner or later be acknowledged. there are, as i understand it, at least two quite different forms of psychic healing. in such cases as those quoted the result may be due only to subtle powers of the human organism which some have developed and others have not. the clairvoyance and the instinctive knowledge may both belong to the individual. in the other cases, however, there are the direct action and advice of a wise spirit control, a deceased physician usually, who has added to his worldly stock of knowledge. he can, of course, only act through a medium--and just there, alas, is the dangerous opening for fraud and quackery. but if anyone wishes to study the operation at its best let him read a tiny book called "one thing i know," which records the cure of the writer, the sister of an anglican canon, when she had practically been given up by doctors of this world after fifteen years of bed, but was rescued by the ministrations of dr. beale, a physician on the other side. dr. beale received promotion to a higher sphere in the course of the treatment, which was completed by his assistant and successor. it is a very interesting and convincing narrative. we were invited to another spiritual meeting at the auditorium. individuality runs riot sometimes in our movement. on this occasion a concert had been mixed up with a religious service and the effect was not good, though the musical part of the proceedings disclosed one young violinist, master hames, who should, i think, make a name in the world. i have always been against ritual, and yet now that i see the effect of being without it i begin to understand that some form of it, however elastic, is necessary. the clairvoyance was good, if genuine, but it offends me to see it turned off and on like a turn at a music hall. it is either nonsense or the holy of holies and mystery of mysteries. perhaps it was just this conflict between the priest with his ritual and the medium without any, which split the early christian church, and ended in the complete victory of the ritual, which meant the extinction not only of the medium but of the living, visible, spiritual forces which he represented. flowers, music, incense, architecture, all tried to fill the gap, but the soul of the thing had gone out of it. it must, i suppose, have been about the end of the third century that the process was completed, and the living thing had set into a petrifaction. that would be the time no doubt when, as already mentioned, special correctors were appointed to make the gospel texts square with the elaborate machinery of the church. only now does the central fire begin to glow once more through the ashes which have been heaped above it. we attended the great annual ball at the government house, where the governor-general and his wife were supported by the governors of the various states, the vice-regal party performing their own stately quadrille with a dense hedge of spectators around them. there were few chaperons, and nearly every one ended by dancing, so that it was a cheerful and festive scene. my friend major wood had played with the governor-general in the same hampshire eleven, and it was singular to think that after many years they should meet again like this. social gaieties are somewhat out of key with my present train of thought, and i was more in my element next evening at a meeting of the rescue circle under mr. tozer. mr. love was the medium and it was certainly a very remarkable and consistent performance. even those who might imagine that the different characters depicted were in fact various strands of mr. love's subconscious self, each dramatising its own peculiarities, must admit that it was a very absorbing exhibition. the circle sits round with prayer and hymns while mr. love falls into a trance state. he is then controlled by the chinaman quong, who is a person of such standing and wisdom in the other world, that other lower spirits have to obey him. the light is dim, but even so the characteristics of this chinaman get across very clearly, the rolling head, the sidelong, humorous glance the sly smile, the hands crossed and buried in what should be the voluminous folds of a mandarin's gown. he greets the company in somewhat laboured english and says he has many who would be the better for our ministrations. "send them along, please!" says mr. tozer. the medium suddenly sits straight and his whole face changes into an austere harshness. "what is this ribald nonsense?" he cries. "who are you, friend?" says tozer. "my name is mathew barret. i testified in my life to the lamb and to him crucified. i ask again: what is this ribald nonsense?" "it is not nonsense, friend. we are here to help you and to teach you that you are held down and punished for your narrow ideas, and that you cannot progress until they are more charitable." "what i preached in life i still believe." "tell us, friend, did you find it on the other side as you had preached?" "what do you mean?" "well, did you, for example, see christ?" there was an embarrassed silence. "no, i did not." "have you seen the devil?" "no, i have not." "then, bethink you, friend, that there may be truth in what we teach." "it is against all that i have preached." a moment later the chinaman was back with his rolling head and his wise smile. "he good man--stupid man. he learn in time. plenty time before him." we had a wonderful succession of "revenants." one was a very dignified anglican, who always referred to the control as "this yellow person." another was an australian soldier. "i never thought i'd take my orders from a 'chink,'" said he, "but he says 'hist!' and by gum you've got to 'hist' and no bloomin' error." yet another said he had gone down in the _monmouth_. "can you tell me anything of the action?" i asked. "we never had a chance. it was just hell." there was a world of feeling in his voice. he was greatly amused at their "sky-pilot," as he called the chaplain, and at his confusion when he found the other world quite different to what he had depicted. a terrifying ghurkha came along, who still thought he was in action and charged about the circle, upsetting the medium's chair, and only yielding to a mixture of force and persuasion. there were many others, most of whom returned thanks for the benefit derived from previous meetings. "you've helped us quite a lot," they said. between each the old chinese sage made comments upon the various cases, a kindly, wise old soul, with just a touch of mischievous humour running through him. we had an exhibition of the useless apostolic gift of tongues during the evening, for two of the ladies present broke out into what i was informed was the maori language, keeping up a long and loud conversation. i was not able to check it, but it was certainly a coherent language of some sort. in all this there was nothing which one could take hold of and quote as absolutely and finally evidential, and yet the total effect was most convincing. i have been in touch with some rescue circles, however, where the identity of the "patients," as we may call them, was absolutely traced. as i am on the subject of psychic experiences i may as well carry on, so that the reader who is out of sympathy may make a single skip of the lot. mrs. susanna harris, the american voice-medium, who is well known in london, had arrived here shortly after ourselves, and gave us a sitting. mrs. harris's powers have been much discussed, for while on the one hand she passed a most difficult test in london, where, with her mouth full of coloured water, she produced the same voice effects as on other occasions, she had no success in norway when she was examined by their psychic research committee; but i know how often these intellectuals ruin their own effects by their mental attitude, which acts like those anti-ferments which prevent a chemical effervescence. we must always get back to the principle, however, that one positive result is more important than a hundred negative ones--just as one successful demonstration in chemistry makes up for any number of failures. we cannot command spirit action, and we can only commiserate with, not blame, the medium who does not receive it when it is most desired. personally i have sat four times with mrs. harris and i have not the faintest doubt that on each of these occasions i got true psychic results, though i cannot answer for what happens in norway or elsewhere. illustration: at melbourne town hall, november 12th, 1920. shortly after her arrival in melbourne she gave us a séance in our private room at the hotel, no one being present save at my invitation. there were about twelve guests, some of whom had no psychic experience, and i do not think there was one of them who did not depart convinced that they had been in touch with preternatural forces. there were two controls, harmony, with a high girlish treble voice, and a male control with a strong decisive bass. i sat next to mrs. harris, holding her hand in mine, and i can swear to it that again and again she spoke to me while the other voices were conversing with the audience. harmony is a charming little creature, witty, friendly and innocent. i am quite ready to consider the opinion expressed by the theosophists that such controls as harmony with mrs. harris, bella with mrs. brittain, feda with mrs. leonard, and others are in reality nature-spirits who have never lived in the flesh but take an intelligent interest in our affairs and are anxious to help us. the male control, however, who always broke in with some final clinching remark in a deep voice, seemed altogether human. whilst these two controls formed, and were the chorus of the play, the real drama rested with the spirit voices, the same here as i have heard them under mrs. wriedt, mrs. johnson or mr. powell in england, intense, low, vibrating with emotion and with anxiety to get through. nearly everyone in the circle had communications which satisfied them. one lady who had mourned her husband very deeply had the inexpressible satisfaction of hearing his voice thanking her for putting flowers before his photograph, a fact which no one else could know. a voice claiming to be "moore-usborne moore," came in front of me. i said, "well, admiral, we never met, but we corresponded in life." he said, "yes, and we disagreed," which was true. then there came a voice which claimed to be mr. j. morse, the eminent pioneer of spiritualism. i said, "mr. morse, if that is you, you can tell me where we met last." he answered, "was it not in '_light_' office in london?" i said, "no, surely it was when you took the chair for me at that great meeting at sheffield." he answered, "well, we lose some of our memory in passing." as a matter of fact he was perfectly right, for after the sitting both my wife and i remembered that i had exchanged a word or two with him as i was coming out of _light_ office at least a year after the sheffield meeting. this was a good test as telepathy was excluded. general sir alfred turner also came and said that he remembered our conversations on earth. when i asked him whether he had found the conditions beyond the grave as happy as he expected he answered, "infinitely more so." altogether i should think that not less than twenty spirits manifested during this remarkable séance. the result may have been the better because mrs. harris had been laid up in bed for a week beforehand, and so we had her full force. i fancy that like most mediums, she habitually overworks her wonderful powers. such séances have been going on now for seventy years, with innumerable witnesses of credit who will testify, as i have done here, that all fraud or mistake was out of the question. and still the men of no experience shake their heads. i wonder how long they will succeed in standing between the world and the consolation which god has sent us. there is one thing very clear about mediumship and that is that it bears no relation to physical form. mrs. harris is a very large lady, tall and junoesque, a figure which would catch the eye in any assembly. she has, i believe, a dash of the mystic red indian blood in her, which may be connected with her powers. bailey, on the other hand, is a little, ginger-coloured man, while campbell of sydney, who is said to have apport powers which equal bailey, is a stout man, rather like the late corney grain. every shape and every quality of vessel may hold the psychic essence. i spend such spare time as i have in the melbourne botanical gardens, which is, i think, absolutely the most beautiful place that i have ever seen. i do not know what genius laid them out, but the effect is a succession of the most lovely vistas, where flowers, shrubs, large trees and stretches of water, are combined in an extraordinary harmony. green swards slope down to many tinted groves, and they in turn droop over still ponds mottled with lovely water plants. it is an instructive as well as a beautiful place, for every tree has its visiting card attached and one soon comes to know them. australia is preeminently the land of the myrtles, for a large proportion of its vegetation comes under this one order, which includes the gum trees, of which there are 170 varieties. they all shed their bark instead of their leaves, and have a generally untidy, not to say indecent appearance, as they stand with their covering in tatters and their white underbark shining through the rents. there is not the same variety of species in australia as in england, and it greatly helps a superficial botanist like myself, for when you have learned the ti-tree, the wild fig tree and the gum trees, you will be on terms with nature wherever you go. new zealand however offers quite a fresh lot of problems. the melbourne cricket club has made me an honorary member, so denis and i went down there, where we met the giant bowler, hugh trumble, who left so redoubtable a name in england. as the chela may look at the yogi so did denis, with adoring eyes, gaze upon trumble, which so touched his kind heart that he produced a cricket ball, used in some famous match, which he gave to the boy--a treasure which will be reverently brought back to england. i fancy denis slept with it that night, as he certainly did in his pads and gloves the first time that he owned them. we saw the english team play victoria, and it was pleasant to see the well-known faces once more. the luck was all one way, for armstrong was on the sick list, and armstrong is the mainstay of victorian cricket. rain came at a critical moment also, and gave woolley and rhodes a wicket which was impossible for a batsman. however, it was all good practice for the more exacting games of the future. it should be a fine eleven which contains a genius like hobbs, backed by such men as the bustling bulldog, hendren, a great out-field as well as a grand bat, or the wily, dangerous hearne, or douglas, cricketer, boxer, above all warrior, a worthy leader of englishmen. hearne i remember as little more than a boy, when he promised to carry on the glories of that remarkable family, of which george and alec were my own playmates. he has ended by proving himself the greatest of them all. my long interval of enforced rest came at last to an end, when the race fever had spent itself, and i was able to have my last great meeting at the town hall. it really was a great meeting, as the photograph of it will show. i spoke for over two hours, ending up by showing a selection of the photographs. i dealt faithfully with the treatment given to me by the _argus_. i take the extract from the published account. "on this, the last time in my life that i shall address a melbourne audience, i wish to thank the people for the courtesy with which we have been received. it would, however, be hypocritical upon my part if i were to thank the press. a week before i entered melbourne the _argus_ declared that i was an emissary of the devil (laughter). i care nothing for that. i am out for a fight and can take any knocks that come. but the _argus_ refused to publish a word i said. i came 12,000 miles to give you a message of hope and comfort, and i appeal to you to say whether three or four gentlemen sitting in a board-room have a right to say to the people of melbourne, 'you shall not listen to that man nor read one word of what he has to say.' (cries of 'shame!') you, i am sure, resent being spoon-fed in such a manner." the audience showed in the most hearty fashion that they did resent it, and they cheered loudly when i pointed out that my remarks did not arise, as anyone could see by looking round, from any feeling on my part that my mission had failed to gain popular support. it was a great evening, and i have never addressed a more sympathetic audience. the difficulty always is for my wife and myself to escape from our kind well-wishers, and it is touching and heartening to hear the sincere "god bless you!" which they shower upon us as we pass. this then was the climax of our mission in melbourne. it was marred by the long but unavoidable delay in the middle, but it began well and ended splendidly. on november 13th we left the beautiful town behind us, and embarked upon what we felt would be a much more adventurous period at sydney, for all we had heard showed that both our friends and our enemies were more active in the great seaport of new south wales. chapter vii great reception at sydney.--importance of sydney.--journalistic luncheon.--a psychic epidemic.--gregory.--barracking.--town hall reception.--regulation of spiritualism.--an ether apport.--surfing at manly.--a challenge.--bigoted opponents.--a disgruntled photographer.--outing in the harbour.--dr. mildred creed.--leon gellert.--norman lindsay.--bishop leadbeater.--our relations with theosophy.--incongruities of h.p.b.--of d.d. home. we had a wonderful reception at sydney. i have a great shrinking from such deputations as they catch you at the moment when you are exhausted and unkempt after a long journey, and when you need all your energies to collect your baggage and belongings so as to make your way to your hotel. but on this occasion it was so hearty, and the crowd of faces beamed such good wishes upon us that it was quite a pick-me-up to all of us. "god bless you!" and "thank god you have come!" reached us from all sides. my wife, covered with flowers, was hustled off in one direction, while i was borne away in another, and each of the children was the centre of a separate group. major wood had gone off to see to the luggage, and jakeman was herself embedded somewhere in the crowd, so at last i had to shout, "where's that little girl? where's that little boy?" until we reassembled and were able, laden with bouquets, to reach our carriage. the evening paper spread itself over the scene. "when sir conan doyle, his wife and their three children arrived from melbourne by the express this morning, an assembly of spiritualists accorded them a splendid greeting. men swung their hats high and cheered, women danced in their excitement, and many of their number rushed the party with rare bouquets. the excitement was at its highest, and sir conan being literally carried along the platform by the pressing crowds, when a digger arrived on the outskirts. 'who's that?' he asked of nobody in particular. almost immediately an urchin replied, 'the bloke that wrote "sherlock holmes."' when asked if the latter gentleman was really and irretrievably dead the author of his being remarked, 'well, you can say that a coroner has never sat upon him.'" it was a grand start, and we felt at once in a larger and more vigorous world, where, if we had fiercer foes, we at least had warm and well-organised friends. better friends than those of melbourne do not exist, but there was a method and cohesion about sydney which impressed us from the first day to the last. there seemed, also, to be fewer of those schisms which are the bane of our movement. if wells' dictum that organisation is death has truth in it, then we are very much alive. we had rooms in petty's hotel, which is an old-world hostel with a very quiet, soothing atmosphere. there i was at once engaged with the usual succession of journalists with a long list of questions which ranged from the destiny of the human soul to the chances of the test match. what with the constant visitors, the unpacking of our trunks, and the settling down of the children, we were a very weary band before evening. i had no idea that sydney was so great a place. the population is now very nearly a million, which represents more than one-sixth of the whole vast continent. it seems a weak point of the australian system that 41 per cent. of the whole population dwell in the six capital cities. the vital statistics of sydney are extraordinarily good, for the death rate is now only twelve per thousand per annum. our standard in such matters is continually rising, for i can remember the days when twenty per thousand was reckoned to be a very good result. in every civic amenity sydney stands very high. her botanical gardens are not so supremely good as those of melbourne, but her zoo is among the very best in the world. the animals seem to be confined by trenches rather than by bars, so that they have the appearance of being at large. it was only after jakeman had done a level hundred with a child under each arm that she realised that a bear, which she saw approaching, was not really in a state of freedom. as to the natural situation of sydney, especially its harbour, it is so world-renowned that it is hardly necessary to allude to it. i can well imagine that a sydney man would grow homesick elsewhere, for he could never find the same surroundings. the splendid landlocked bay with its numerous side estuaries and its narrow entrance is a grand playground for a sea-loving race. on a saturday it is covered with every kind of craft, from canoe to hundred-tonner. the fact that the water swarms with sharks seems to present no fears to these strong-nerved people, and i have found myself horrified as i watched little craft, manned by boys, heeling over in a fresh breeze until the water was up to their gunwales. at very long intervals some one gets eaten, but the fun goes on all the same. the people of sydney have their residences (bungalows with verandahs) all round this beautiful bay, forming dozens of little townlets. the system of ferry steamers becomes as important as the trams, and is extraordinarily cheap and convenient. to manly, for example, which lies some eight miles out, and is a favourite watering place, the fare is fivepence for adults and twopence for children. so frequent are the boats that you never worry about catching them, for if one is gone another will presently start. thus, the whole life of sydney seems to converge into the circular quay, from which as many as half a dozen of these busy little steamers may be seen casting off simultaneously for one or another of the oversea suburbs. now and then, in a real cyclone, the service gets suspended, but it is a rare event, and there is a supplementary, but roundabout, service of trams. the journalists of new south wales gave a lunch to my wife and myself, which was a very pleasant function. one leading journalist announced, amid laughter, that he had actually consulted me professionally in my doctoring days, and had lived to tell the tale, which contradicts the base insinuation of some orator who remarked once that though i was known to have practised, no _living_ patient of mine had ever yet been seen. nothing could have been more successful than my first lecture, which filled the town hall. there were evidently a few people who had come with intent to make a scene, but i had my audience so entirely with me, that it was impossible to cause real trouble. one fanatic near the door cried out, "anti-christ!" several times, and was then bundled out. another, when i described how my son had come back to me, cried out that it was the devil, but on my saying with a laugh that such a remark showed the queer workings of some people's minds, the people cheered loudly in assent. altogether it was a great success, which was repeated in the second, and culminated in the third, when, with a hot summer day, and the english cricketers making their debut, i still broke the record for a town hall matinée. the rush was more than the officials could cope with, and i had to stand for ten long minutes looking at the audience before it was settled enough for me to begin. some spiritualists in the audience struck up "lead, kindly light!" which gave the right note to the assemblage. mr. smythe, with all his experience, was amazed at our results. "this is no longer a mere success," he cried. "it is a triumph. it is an epidemic!" surely, it will leave some permanent good behind it and turn the public mind from religious shadows to realities. we spent one restful day seeing our cricketers play new south wales. after a promising start they were beaten owing to a phenomenal first-wicket stand in the second innings by macartney and collins, both batsmen topping the hundred. gregory seemed a dangerous bowler, making the ball rise shoulder high even on that bulli wicket, where midstump is as much as an ordinary bowler can attain. he is a tiger of a man, putting every ounce of his strength and inch of his great height into every ball, with none of the artistic finesse of a spofforth, but very effective all the same. we have no one of the same class; and that will win australia the rubber unless i am--as i hope i am--a false prophet. i was not much impressed either by the manners or by the knowledge of the game shown by the barrackers. every now and then, out of the mass of people who darken the grass slopes round the ground, you hear a raucous voice giving advice to the captain, or, perhaps, conjuring a fast bowler to bowl at the wicket when the man is keeping a perfect length outside the off stump and trying to serve his three slips. when mailey went on, because he was slow and seemed easy, they began to jeer, and, yet, you had only to watch the batsman to see that the ball was doing a lot and kept him guessing. one wonders why the neighbours of these bawlers tolerate it. in england such men would soon be made to feel that they were ill-mannered nuisances, i am bound to testify, however, that they seem quite impartial, and that the english team had no special cause for complaint. i may also add that, apart from this cricketing peculiarity, which is common to all the states, the sydney crowd is said to be one of the most good-humoured and orderly in the world. my own observation confirms this, and i should say that there was a good deal less drunkenness than in melbourne, but, perhaps the races gave me an exaggerated impression of the latter. on sunday, 28th, the spiritualists gave the pilgrims (as they called us) a reception at the town hall. there was not a seat vacant, and the sight of these 3,500 well-dressed, intelligent people must have taught the press that the movement is not to be despised. there are at least 10,000 professed spiritualists in sydney, and even as a political force they demand consideration. the seven of us were placed in the front of the platform, and the service was very dignified and impressive. when the great audience sang, "god hold you safely till we meet once more," it was almost overpowering, for it is a beautiful tune, and was sung with real feeling. in my remarks i covered a good deal of ground, but very particularly i warned them against all worldly use of this great knowledge, whether it be fortune telling, prophecies about races and stocks, or any other prostitution of our subject. i also exhorted them when they found fraud to expose it at once, as their british brethren do, and never to trifle with truth. when i had finished, the whole 3,500 people stood up, and everyone waved a handkerchief, producing a really wonderful scene. we can never forget it. once more i must take refuge behind the local observer. "the scene as sir arthur rose will be long remembered by those who were privileged to witness it. a sea of waving handkerchiefs confronted the speaker, acclaiming silently and reverently the deep esteem in which he was held by all present. never has sir arthur's earnestness in his mission been more apparent than on this occasion as he proceeded with a heart to heart talk with the spiritualists present, offering friendly criticisms, sound advice, and encouragement to the adherents of the great movement. "'he had got,' he said, 'so much into the habit of lecturing that he was going to lecture the spiritualists.' with a flash of humour sir arthur added: 'it does none of us any harm to be lectured occasionally. i am a married man myself' (laughter). 'i would say to the spiritualists', "for heaven's sake keep this thing high and unspotted. don't let it drop into the regions of fortune telling and other things which leave such an ugly impression on the public mind, and which we find it so difficult to justify. keep it in its most religious and purest aspect." at the same time, i expressed my view that there was no reason at all why a medium should not receive moderate payment for work done, since it is impossible, otherwise, that he can live. every solid spiritualist would, i am sure, agree with me that our whole subject needs regulating, and is in an unsatisfactory condition. we cannot approve of the sensation mongers who run from medium to medium (or possibly pretended medium) with no object but excitement or curiosity. the trouble is that you have to recognise a thing before you can regulate it, and the public has not properly recognised us. let them frankly do so, and take us into counsel, and then we shall get things on a solid basis. personally, i would be ready to go so far as to agree that an inquirer should take out a formal permit to consult a medium, showing that it was done for some definite object, if in return we could get state recognition for those mediums who were recommended as genuine by valid spiritual authorities. my friends will think this a reactionary proposition, but none the less i feel the need of regulation almost as much as i do that of recognition. one event which occurred to me at sydney i shall always regard as an instance of that fostering care of which i have been conscious ever since we set forth upon our journey. i had been over-tired, had slept badly and had a large meeting in the evening, so that it was imperative that i should have a nap in the afternoon. my brain was racing, however, and i could get no rest or prospect of any. the second floor window was slightly open behind me, and outside was a broad open space, shimmering in the heat of a summer day. suddenly, as i lay there, i was aware of a very distinct pungent smell of ether, coming in waves from outside. with each fresh wave i felt my over-excited nerves calming down as the sea does when oil is poured upon it. within a few minutes i was in a deep sleep, and woke all ready for my evening's work. i looked out of the window and tried to picture where the ether could have come from; then i returned thanks for one more benefit received. i do not suppose that i am alone in such interpositions, but i think that our minds are so centred on this tiny mud patch, that we are deaf and blind to all that impinges on us from beyond. having finished in sydney, and my new zealand date having not yet arrived, we shifted our quarters to manly, upon the sea coast, about eight miles from the town. here we all devoted ourselves to surf-bathing, spending a good deal of our day in the water, as is the custom of the place. it is a real romp with nature, for the great pacific rollers come sweeping in and break over you, rolling you over on the sand if they catch you unawares. it was a golden patch in our restless lives. there were surf boards, and i am told that there were men competent to ride them, but i saw none of jack london's sun gods riding in erect upon the crest of the great rollers. alas, poor jack london! what right had such a man to die, he who had more vim and passion, and knowledge of varied life than the very best of us? apart from all his splendid exuberance and exaggeration he had very real roots of grand literature within him. i remember, particularly, the little episodes of bygone days in "the jacket." the man who wrote those could do anything. those whom the american public love die young. frank norris, harold frederic, stephen crane, the author of "david harum," and now jack london--but the greatest of these was jack london. there is a grand beach at manly, and the thundering rollers carry in some flotsam from the great ocean. one morning the place was covered with beautiful blue jelly-fish, like little roman lamps with tendrils hanging down. i picked up one of these pretty things, and was just marvelling at its complete construction when i discovered that it was even more complete than i supposed, for it gave me a violent sting. for a day or two i had reason to remember my little blue castaway, with his up-to-date fittings for keeping the stranger at a distance. i was baited at sydney by a person of the name of simpson, representing christianity, though i was never clear what particular branch of religion he represented, and he was disowned by some leaders of christian thought. i believe he was president of the christian evidence society. his opposition, though vigorous, and occasionally personal, was perfectly legitimate, but his well-advertised meeting at the town hall (though no charge was made for admission) was not a success. his constant demand was that i should meet him in debate, which was, of course, out of the question, since no debate is possible between a man who considers a text to be final, and one who cannot take this view. my whole energies, so much needed for my obvious work, would have been frittered away in barren controversies had i allowed my hand to be forced. i had learned my lesson, however, at the m'cabe debate in london, when i saw clearly that nothing could come from such proceedings. on the other hand, i conceived the idea of what would be a real test, and i issued it as a challenge in the public press. "it is clear," i said, "that one single case of spirit return proves our whole contention. therefore, let the question be concentrated upon one, or, if necessary, upon three cases. these i would undertake to prove, producing my witnesses in the usual way. my opponent would act the part of hostile counsel, cross-examining and criticising my facts. the case would be decided by a majority vote of a jury of twelve, chosen from men of standing, who pledged themselves as open-minded on the question. such a test could obviously only take place in a room of limited dimensions, so that no money would be involved and truth only be at stake. that is all that i seek. if such a test can be arranged i am ready for it, either before i leave, or after i return from new zealand." this challenge was not taken up by my opponents. mr. simpson had a long tirade in the sydney papers about the evil religious effects of my mission, which caused me to write a reply in which i defined our position in a way which may be instructive to others. i said:-"the tenets which we spiritualists preach and which i uphold upon the platform are that any man who is deriving spirituality from his creed, be that creed what it may, is learning the lesson of life. for this reason we would not attack your creed, however repulsive it might seem to us, so long as you and your colleagues might be getting any benefit from it. we desire to go our own way, saying what we know to be true, and claiming from others the same liberty of conscience and of expression which we freely grant to them. "you, on the other hand, go out of your way to attack us, to call us evil names, and to pretend that those loved ones who return to us are in truth devils, and that our phenomena, though they are obviously of the same sort as those which are associated with early christianity, are diabolical in their nature. this absurd view is put forward without a shadow of proof, and entirely upon the supposed meaning of certain ancient texts which refer in reality to a very different matter, but which are strained and twisted to suit your purpose. "it is men like you and your colleagues who, by your parody of christianity and your constant exhibition of those very qualities which christ denounced in the pharisees, have driven many reasonable people away from religion and left the churches half empty. your predecessors, who took the same narrow view of the literal interpretation of the bible, were guilty of the murder of many thousands of defenceless old women who were burned in deference to the text, 'suffer no witch to live.' undeterred by this terrible result of the literal reading, you still advocate it, although you must be well aware that polygamy, slavery and murder can all be justified by such a course. "in conclusion, let me give you the advice to reconsider your position, to be more charitable to your neighbours, and to devote your redundant energies to combating the utter materialism which is all round you, instead of railing so bitterly at those who are proving immortality and the need for good living in a way which meets their spiritual wants, even though it is foreign to yours." a photographer, named mark blow, also caused me annoyance by announcing that my photographs were fakes, and that he was prepared to give £25 to any charity if he could not reproduce them. i at once offered the same sum if he could do so, and i met him by appointment at the office of the evening paper, the editor being present to see fair play. i placed my money on the table, but mr. blow did not cover it. i then produced a packet of plates from my pocket and suggested that we go straight across to mr. blow's studio and produce the photographs. he replied by asking me a long string of questions as to the conditions under which the crewe photographs were produced, noting down all my answers. i then renewed my proposition. he answered that it was absurd to expect him to produce a spirit photograph since he did not believe in such foolish things. i answered that i did not ask him to produce a spirit photograph, but to fulfil his promise which was to produce a similar result upon the plate under similar conditions. he held out that they should be his own conditions. i pointed out that any school boy could make a half-exposed impression upon a plate, and that the whole test lay in the conditions. as he refused to submit to test conditions the matter fell through, as all such foolish challenges fall through. it was equally foolish on my part to have taken any notice of it. i had a conversation with mr. maskell, the capable secretary of the sydney spiritualists, in which he described how he came out originally from leicester to australia. he had at that time developed some power of clairvoyance, but it was very intermittent. he had hesitated in his mind whether he should emigrate to australia, and sat one night debating it within himself, while his little son sat at the table cutting patterns out of paper. maskell said to his spirit guides, mentally, "if it is good that i go abroad give me the vision of a star. if not, let it be a circle." he waited for half an hour or so, but no vision came, and he was rising in disappointment when the little boy turned round and said, "daddy, here is a star for you," handing over one which he had just cut. he has had no reason to regret the subsequent decision. we had a very quiet, comfortable, and healthy ten days at the pacific hotel at manly, which was broken only by an excursion which the sydney spiritualists had organised for us in a special steamer, with the intention of showing us the glories of the harbour. our party assembled on manly pier, and the steamer was still far away when we saw the fluttering handkerchiefs which announced that they had sighted us. it was a long programme, including a picnic lunch, but it all went off with great success and good feeling. it was fairly rough within the harbour, and some of the party were sea sick, but the general good spirits rose above such trifles, and we spent the day in goodly fellowship. on sunday i was asked to speak to his congregation by mr. sanders, a very intelligent young congregational minister of manly, far above the level of australasian or, indeed, british clerics. it was a novel experience for me to be in a nonconformist pulpit, but i found an excellent audience, and i hope that they in turn found something comforting and new. one of the most interesting men whom i met in australia was dr. creed, of the new south wales parliament, an elderly medical man who has held high posts in the government. he is blessed with that supreme gift, a mind which takes a keen interest in everything which he meets in life. his researches vary from the cure of diabetes and of alcoholism (both of which he thinks that he has attained) down to the study of australian aborigines and of the palæontology of his country. i was interested to find the very high opinion which he has of the brains of the black fellows, and he asserts that their results at the school which is devoted to their education are as high as with the white australians. they train into excellent telegraphic operators and other employments needing quick intelligence. the increasing brain power of the human race seems to be in the direction of originating rather than of merely accomplishing. many can do the latter, but only the very highest can do the former. dr. creed is clear upon the fact that no very ancient remains of any sort are to be found anywhere in australia, which would seem to be against the view of a lemurian civilisation, unless the main seat of it lay to the north where the scattered islands represent the mountain tops of the ancient continent. dr. creed was one of the very few public men who had the intelligence or the courage to admit the strength of the spiritual position, and he assured me that he would help in any way. another man whom i was fortunate to meet was leon gellert, a very young poet, who promises to be the rising man in australia in this, the supreme branch of literature. he served in the war, and his verses from the front attain a very high level. his volume of war poems represents the most notable literary achievement of recent years, and its value is enhanced by being illustrated by norman lindsay, whom i look upon as one of the greatest artists of our time. i have seen three pictures of his, "the goths," "who comes?" and "the crucifixion of venus," each of which, in widely different ways, seemed very remarkable. indeed, it is the versatility of the man that is his charm, and now that he is turning more and more from the material to the spiritual it is impossible to say how high a level he may attain. another australian whose works i have greatly admired is henry lawson, whose sketches of bush life in "joe wilson" and other of his studies, remind one of a subdued bret harte. he is a considerable poet also, and his war poem, "england yet," could hardly be matched. yet another interesting figure whom i met in sydney was bishop leadbeater, formerly a close colleague of mrs. besant in the theosophical movement, and now a prelate of the so-called liberal catholic church, which aims at preserving the traditions and forms of the old roman church, but supplementing them with all modern spiritual knowledge. i fear i am utterly out of sympathy with elaborate forms, which always in the end seem to me to take the place of facts, and to become a husk without a kernel, but none the less i can see a definite mission for such a church as appealing to a certain class of mind. leadbeater, who has suffered from unjust aspersion in the past, is a venerable and striking figure. his claims to clairvoyant and other occult powers are very definite, and so far as i had the opportunity of observing him, he certainly lives the ascetic life, which the maintenance of such power demands. his books, especially the little one upon the astral plane, seem to me among the best of the sort. but the whole subject of theosophy is to me a perpetual puzzle. i asked for proofs and spiritualism has given them to me. but why should i abandon one faith in order to embrace another one? i have done with faith. it is a golden mist in which human beings wander in devious tracks with many a collision. i need the white clear light of knowledge. for that we build from below, brick upon brick, never getting beyond the provable fact. there is the building which will last. but these others seem to build from above downwards, beginning by the assumption that there is supreme human wisdom at the apex. it may be so. but it is a dangerous habit of thought which has led the race astray before, and may again. yet, i am struck by the fact that this ancient wisdom does describe the etheric body, the astral world, and the general scheme which we have proved for ourselves. but when the high priestess of the cult wrote of this she said so much that was against all our own spiritual experience, that we feel she was in touch with something very different from our angels of light. her followers appreciate that now, and are more charitable than she, but what is the worth of her occult knowledge if she so completely misread that which lies nearest to us, and how can we hope that she is more correct when she speaks of that which is at a distance? i was deeply attracted by the subject once, but madame blavatsky's personality and record repelled me. i have read the defence, and yet hodgson and the coulombs seem to me to hold the field. could any conspiracy be so broad that it included numerous forged letters, trap doors cut in floors, and actually corroborative accounts in the books of a flower seller in the bazaar? on the other hand, there is ample evidence of real psychic powers, and of the permanent esteem of men like sinnett and olcott, whom none could fail to respect. it is the attitude of these honourable men which commends and upholds her, but sometimes it seems hard to justify it. as an example, in the latter years of her life she wrote a book, "the caves and jungles of hindustan," in which she describes the fearsome adventures which she and olcott had in certain expeditions, falling down precipices and other such escapes. olcott, like the honest gentleman he was, writes in his diary that there is not a word of truth in this, and that it is pure fiction. and yet, after this very damaging admission, in the same page he winds up, "ah, if the world ever comes to know who was the mighty entity, who laboured sixty years under that quivering mask of flesh, it will repent its cruel treatment of h. p. b., and be amazed at the depth of its ignorance." these are the things which make it so difficult to understand either her or the cult with which she was associated. had she never lived these men and women would, as it seems to me, have been the natural leaders of the spiritualist movement, and instead of living in the intellectual enjoyment of far-off systems they would have concentrated upon the all-important work of teaching poor suffering humanity what is the meaning of the dark shadow which looms upon their path. even now i see no reason why they should not come back to those who need them, and help them forward upon their rocky road. of course, we spiritualists are ourselves vulnerable upon the subject of the lives of some of our mediums, but we carefully dissociate those lives from the powers which use the physical frame of the medium for their own purposes, just as the religious and inspired poetry of a verlaine may be held separate from his dissipated life. whilst upon this subject i may say that whilst in australia i had some interesting letters from a solicitor named rymer. all students of spiritualism will remember that when daniel home first came to england in the early fifties he received great kindness from the rymer family, who then lived at ealing. old rymer treated him entirely as one of the family. this bendigo rymer was the grandson of home's benefactor, and he had no love for the great medium because he considered that he had acted with ingratitude towards his people. the actual letters of his father, which he permitted me to read, bore out this statement, and i put it on record because i have said much in praise of home, and the balance should be held true. these letters, dating from about '57, show that one of the sons of old rymer was sent to travel upon the continent to study art, and that home was his companion. they were as close as brothers, but when they reached florence, and home became a personage in society there, he drifted away from rymer, whose letters are those of a splendid young man. home's health was already indifferent, and while he was laid up in his hotel he seems to have been fairly kidnapped by a strong-minded society lady of title, an englishwoman living apart from her husband. for weeks he lived at her villa, though the state of his health would suggest that it was rather as patient than lover. what was more culpable was that he answered the letters of his comrade very rudely and showed no sense of gratitude for all that the family had done for him. i have read the actual letters and confess that i was chilled and disappointed. home was an artist as well as a medium, the most unstable combination possible, full of emotions, flying quickly to extremes, capable of heroisms and self-denials, but also of vanities and ill-humour. on this occasion the latter side of his character was too apparent. to counteract the effect produced upon one's mind one should read in home's life the letter of the bavarian captain whom he rescued upon the field of battle, or of the many unfortunates whom he aided with unobtrusive charity. it cannot, however, be too often repeated--since it is never grasped by our critics--that the actual character of a man is as much separate from his mediumistic powers, as it would be from his musical powers. both are inborn gifts beyond the control of their possessor. the medium is the telegraph instrument and the telegraph boy united in one, but the real power is that which transmits the message, which he only receives and delivers. the remark applies to the fox sisters as much as it does to home. talking about home, it is astonishing how the adverse judgment of the vice-chancellor gifford, a materialist, absolutely ignorant of psychic matters, has influenced the minds of men. the very materialists who quote it, would not attach the slightest importance to the opinion of an orthodox judge upon the views of hume, payne, or any free-thinker. it is like quoting a roman tribune against a christian. the real facts of the case are perfectly clear to anyone who reads the documents with care. the best proof of how blameless home was in the matter is that of all the men of honour with whom he was on intimate terms--men like robert chambers, carter hall, lord seaton, lord adare and others--not one relaxed in their friendship after the trial. this was in 1866, but in 1868 we find these young noblemen on christian-name terms with the man who would have been outside the pale of society had the accusations of his enemies been true. whilst we were in sydney, a peculiar ship, now called the "marella," was brought into the harbour as part of the german ship surrender. it is commonly reported that this vessel, of very grandiose construction, was built to conduct the kaiser upon a triumphal progress round the world after he had won his war. it is, however, only of 8,000 tons, and, personally, i cannot believe that this would have had room for his swollen head, had he indeed been the victor. all the fittings, even to the carpet holders, are of german silver. the saloon is of pure marble, eighty by fifty, with beautiful hand-painted landscapes. the smoke-room is the reproduction of one in potsdam palace. there is a great swimming bath which can be warmed. altogether a very notable ship, and an index, not only of the danger escaped, but of the danger to come, in the form of the super-excellence of german design and manufacture. our post-bag is very full, and it takes major wood and myself all our time to keep up with the letters. many of them are so wonderful that i wish i had preserved them all, but it would have meant adding another trunk to our baggage. there are a few samples which have been rescued. many people seemed to think that i was myself a wandering medium, and i got this sort of missive: "dear sir,--_i am very anxious to ask you a question, trusting you will answer me. what i wish to know i have been corresponding with a gentleman for nearly three years. from this letter can you tell me if i will marry him. i want you to answer this as i am keeping it strictly private and would dearly love you to answer this message if possible, and if i will do quite right if i marry him. trusting to hear from you soon. yours faithfully----._ _p.s.--i thoroughly believe in spirit-ualism._" here is another. "honored sir,--_just a few lines in limited time to ask you if you tell the future. if so, what is your charges? please excuse no stamped and ad. envelope--out of stamps and in haste to catch mail. please excuse._" on the other hand, i had many which were splendidly instructive and helpful. i was particularly struck by one series of spirit messages which were received in automatic writing by a man living in the bush in north queensland and thrown upon his own resources. they were descriptive of life in the beyond, and were in parts extremely corroborative of the vale owen messages, though they had been taken long prior to that date. some of the points of resemblance were so marked and so unusual that they seem clearly to come from a common inspiration. as an example, this script spoke of the creative power of thought in the beyond, but added the detail that when the object to be created was large and important a band of thinkers was required, just as a band of workers would be here. this exactly corresponds to the teaching of vale owen's guide. chapter viii dangerous fog.--the six photographers.--comic advertisements.--beauties of auckland.--a christian clergyman.--shadows in our american relations.--the gallipoli stone.--stevenson and the germans.--position of de rougemont.--mr. clement wragge.--atlantean theories.--a strange psychic.--wellington the windy.--a literary oasis.--a maori séance.--presentation. my voyage to new zealand in the _maheno_ was pleasant and uneventful, giving me four days in which to arrange my papers and look over the many manuscripts which mediums, or, more often, would-be mediums, had discharged at me as i passed. dr. bean, my theosophic friend, who had been somewhat perturbed by my view that his people were really the officers of our movement who had deserted their army, formed an officers' corps, and so taken the money and brains and leadership away from the struggling masses, was waiting on the sydney quay, and gave me twelve books upon his subject to mend my wicked ways, so that i was equipped for a voyage round the world. i needed something, since i had left my wife and family behind me in manly, feeling that the rapid journey through new zealand would be too severe for them. in mr. carlyle smythe, however, i had an admirable "cobber," to use the pal phrase of the australian soldier. mr. smythe had only one defect as a comrade, and that was his conversation in a fog. it was of a distinctly depressing character, as i had occasion to learn when we ran into very thick weather among the rocky islands which make navigation so difficult to the north of auckland. between the screams of the siren i would hear a still small voice in the bunk above me. "we are now somewhere near the three kings. it is an isolated group of rocks celebrated for the wreck of the _elingamite_, which went ashore on just such a morning as this." (whoo-ee! remarked the foghorn). "they were nearly starved, but kept themselves alive by fish which were caught by improvised lines made from the ladies' stay-laces. many of them died." i lay digesting this and staring at the fog which crawled all round the port hole. presently he was off again. "you can't anchor here, and there is no use stopping her, for the currents run hard and she would drift on to one of the ledges which would rip the side out of her." (whoo-ee! repeated the foghorn). "the islands are perpendicular with deep water up to the rocks, so you never know they are there until you hit them, and then, of course, there is no reef to hold you up." (whoo-ee!) "close by here is the place where the _wairarapa_ went down with all hands a few years ago. it was just such a day as this when she struck the great barrier----" it was about this time that i decided to go on deck. captain brown had made me free of the bridge, so i climbed up and joined him there, peering out into the slow-drifting scud. i spent the morning there, and learned something of the anxieties of a sailor's life. captain brown had in his keeping, not only his own career and reputation, but what was far more to him, the lives of more than three hundred people. we had lost all our bearings, for we had drifted in the fog during those hours when it was too thick to move. now the scud was coming in clouds, the horizon lifting to a couple of miles, and then sinking to a few hundred yards. on each side of us and ahead were known to be rocky islands or promontories. yet we must push on to our destination. it was fine to see this typical british sailor working his ship as a huntsman might take his horse over difficult country, now speeding ahead when he saw an opening, now waiting for a fogbank to get ahead, now pushing in between two clouds. for hours we worked along with the circle of oily lead-coloured sea around us, and then the grey veil, rising and falling, drifting and waving, with danger lurking always in its shadow. there are strange results when one stares intently over such a sea, for after a time one feels that it all slopes upwards, and that one is standing deep in a saucer with the rim far above one. once in the rifts we saw a great ship feeling her way southwards, in the same difficulties as ourselves. she was the _niagara_, from vancouver to auckland. then, as suddenly as the raising of a drop-curtain, up came the fog, and there ahead of us was the narrow path which led to safety. the _niagara_ was into it first, which seemed to matter little, but really mattered a good deal, for her big business occupied the port authorities all the evening, while our little business was not even allowed to come alongside until such an hour that we could not get ashore, to the disappointment of all, and very especially of me, for i knew that some of our faithful had been waiting for twelve hours upon the quay to give me a welcoming hand. it was breakfast time on the very morning that i was advertised to lecture before we at last reached our hotel. here i received that counter-demonstration which always helped to keep my head within the limits of my hat. this was a peremptory demand from six gentlemen, who modestly described themselves as the leading photographers of the city, to see the negatives of the photographs which i was to throw upon the screen. i was assured at the same time by other photographers that they had no sympathy with such a demand, and that the others were self-advertising busybodies who had no mandate at all for such a request. my experience at sydney had shown me that such challenges came from people who had no knowledge of psychic conditions, and who did not realise that it is the circumstances under which a photograph is taken, and the witnesses who guarantee such circumstances, which are the real factors that matter, and not the negative which may be so easily misunderstood by those who have not studied the processes by which such things are produced. i therefore refused to allow my photographs to pass into ignorant hands, explaining at the same time that i had no negatives, since the photographs in most cases were not mine at all, so that the negatives would, naturally, be with dr. crawford, dr. geley, lady glenconnor, the representatives of sir william crookes, or whoever else had originally taken the photograph. their challenge thereupon appeared in the press with a long tirade of abuse attached to it, founded upon the absurd theory that all the photos had been taken by me, and that there was no proof of their truth save in my word. one gets used to being indirectly called a liar, and i can answer arguments with self-restraint which once i would have met with the toe of my boot. however, a little breeze of this sort does no harm, but rather puts ginger into one's work, and my audience were very soon convinced of the absurdity of the position of the six dissenting photographers who had judged that which they had not seen. auckland is the port of call of the american steamers, and had some of that air of activity and progress which america brings with her. the spirit of enterprise, however, took curious shapes, as in the case of one man who was a local miller, and pushed his trade by long advertisements at the head of the newspapers, which began with abuse of me and my ways, and ended by a recommendation to eat dessicated corn, or whatever his particular commodity may have been. the result was a comic jumble which was too funny to be offensive, though auckland should discourage such pleasantries, as they naturally mar the beautiful impression which her fair city and surroundings make upon the visitor. i hope i was the only victim, and that every stranger within her gates is not held up to ridicule for the purpose of calling attention to mr. blank's dessicated corn. i seemed destined to have strange people mixed up with my affairs in auckland, for there was a conjuror in the town, who, after the fashion of that rather blatant fraternity, was offering £1,000 that he could do anything i could do. as i could do nothing, it seemed easy money. in any case, the argument that because you can imitate a thing therefore the thing does not exist, is one which it takes the ingenuity of mr. maskelyne to explain. there was also an ex-spiritualist medium (so-called) who covered the papers with his advertisements, so that my little announcement was quite overshadowed. he was to lecture the night after me in the town hall, with most terrifying revelations. i was fascinated by his paragraphs, and should have liked greatly to be present, but that was the date of my exodus. among other remarkable advertisements was one "what has become of 'pelorus jack'? was he a lost soul?" now, "pelorus jack" was a white dolphin, who at one time used to pilot vessels into a new zealand harbour, gambolling under the bows, so that the question really did raise curiosity. however, i learned afterwards that my successor did not reap the harvest which his ingenuity deserved, and that the audience was scanty and derisive. what the real psychic meaning of "pelorus jack" may have been was not recorded by the press. from the hour i landed upon the quay at auckland until i waved my last farewell my visit was made pleasant, and every wish anticipated by the rev. jasper calder, a clergyman who has a future before him, though whether it will be in the church of england or not, time and the bishop will decide. whatever he may do, he will remain to me and to many more the nearest approach we are likely to see to the ideal christian--much as he will dislike my saying so. after all, if enemies are given full play, why should not friends redress the balance? i will always carry away the remembrance of him, alert as a boy, rushing about to serve anyone, mixing on equal terms with scallywags on the pier, reclaiming criminals whom he called his brothers, winning a prize for breaking-in a buckjumper, which he did in order that he might gain the respect of the stockmen; a fiery man of god in the pulpit, but with a mind too broad for special dispensations, he was like one of those wonderfully virile creatures of charles reade. the clergy of australasia are stagnant and narrow, but on the other hand, i have found men like the dean of sydney, strong of melbourne, sanders of manly, calder of auckland, and others whom it is worth crossing this world to meet. of my psychic work at auckland there is little to be said, save that i began my new zealand tour under the most splendid auspices. even sydney had not furnished greater or more sympathetic audiences than those which crowded the great town hall upon two successive nights. i could not possibly have had a better reception, or got my message across more successfully. all the newspaper ragging and offensive advertisements had produced (as is natural among a generous people) a more kindly feeling for the stranger, and i had a reception i can never forget. this town is very wonderfully situated, and i have never seen a more magnificent view than that from mount eden, an extinct volcano about 900 feet high, at the back of it. the only one which i could class with it is that from arthur's seat, also an extinct volcano about 900 feet high, as one looks on edinburgh and its environs. edinburgh, however, is for ever shrouded in smoke, while here the air is crystal clear, and i could clearly see great barrier island, which is a good eighty miles to the north. below lay the most marvellous medley of light blue water and light green land mottled with darker foliage. we could see not only the whole vista of the wonderful winding harbour, and the seas upon the east of the island, but we could look across and see the firths which connected with the seas of the west. only a seven-mile canal is needed to link the two up, and to save at least two hundred miles of dangerous navigation amid those rock-strewn waters from which we had so happily emerged. of course it will be done, and when it is done it should easily pay its way, for what ship coming from australia--or going to it--but would gladly pay the fees? the real difficulty lies not in cutting the canal, but in dredging the western opening, where shifting sandbanks and ocean currents combine to make a dangerous approach. i see in my mind's eye two great breakwaters, stretching like nippers into the pacific at that point, while, between the points of the nippers, the dredgers will for ever be at work. it will be difficult, but it is needed and it will be done. the australian davis cup quartette--norman brooks, patterson, o'hara wood and another--had come across in the _maheno_ with us and were now at the grand hotel. there also was the american team, including the formidable tilden, now world's champion. the general feeling of australasia is not as cordial as one would wish to the united states for the moment. i have met several men back from that country who rather bitterly resent the anti-british agitation which plays such a prominent part in the american press. this continual nagging is, i am sorry to say, wearing down the stolid patience of the britisher more than i can ever remember, and it is a subject on which i have always been sensitive as i have been a life-long advocate of anglo-american friendship, leading in the fullness of time to some loose form of anglo-american union. at present it almost looks as if these racial traitors who make the artificial dissensions were succeeding for a time in their work of driving a wedge between the two great sections of the english-speaking peoples. my fear is that when some world crisis comes, and everything depends upon us all pulling together, the english-speakers may neutralise each other. there lies the deadly danger. it is for us on both sides to endeavour to avoid it. everyone who is in touch with the sentiment of the british officers in flanders knows that they found men of their own heart in the brave, unassuming american officers who were their comrades, and often their pupils. it is some of the stay-at-home americans who appear to have such a false perspective, and who fail to realise that even british dominions, such as canada and australia, lost nearly as many men as the united states in the war, while britain herself laid down ten lives for every one spent by america. this is not america's fault, but when we see apparent forgetfulness of it on the part of a section of the american people when our wounds are still fresh, it cannot be wondered at that we feel sore. we do not advertise, and as a result there are few who know that we lost more men and made larger captures during the last two years of the war than our gallant ally of france. when we hear that others won the war we smile--but it is a bitter smile. strange, indeed, are some of the episodes of psychic experience. there came to me at my hotel in auckland two middle-aged hard-working women, who had come down a hundred miles from the back country to my lecture. one had lost her boy at gallipoli. she gave me a long post-mortem account from him as to the circumstances of his own death, including the military operations which led up to it. i read it afterwards, and it was certainly a very coherent account of the events both before and after the shell struck him. having handed me the pamphlet the country woman then, with quivering fingers, produced from her bosom a little silver box. out of this she took an object, wrapped in white silk. it was a small cube of what looked to me like sandstone, about an inch each way. she told me it was an apport, that it had been thrown down on her table while she and her family, including, as i understood, the friend then present, were holding a séance. a message came with it to say that it was from the boy's grave at gallipoli. what are we to say to that? was it fraud? then why were they playing tricks upon themselves? if it was, indeed, an apport, it is surely one of the most remarkable for distance and for purpose recorded of any private circle. a gentleman named moors was staying at the same hotel in auckland, and we formed an acquaintance. i find that he was closely connected with stevenson, and had actually written a very excellent book upon his comradeship with him at samoa. stevenson dabbled in the politics of samoa, and always with the best motives and on the right side, but he was of so frank and impetuous a nature that he was not trusted with any inside knowledge. of the german rule mr. moors says that for the first twelve years dr. solf was as good as he could be, and did fair justice to all. then he went on a visit to berlin, and returned "bitten by the military bug," with his whole nature changed, and began to "imponieren" in true prussian fashion. it is surely extraordinary how all the scattered atoms of a race can share the diseases of the central organism from which they sprang. i verily believe that if a german had been alone on a desert island in 1914 he would have begun to dance and brandish a club. how many cases are on record of the strange changes and wild deeds of individuals? mr. moors told me that he dropped into a developing circle of spiritualists at sydney, none of whom could have known him. one of them said, "above your head i see a man, an artist, long hair, brown eyes, and i get the name of stephens." if he was indeed unknown, this would seem fairly evidential. i was struck by one remark of mr. moors, which was that he had not only seen the natives ride turtles in the south sea lagoons, but that he had actually done so himself, and that it was by no means difficult. this was the feat which was supposed to be so absurd when de rougemont claimed to have done it. there are, of course, some gross errors which are probably pure misuse of words in that writer's narrative, but he places the critic in a dilemma which has never been fairly faced. either he is a liar, in which case he is, beyond all doubt, the most realistic writer of adventure since defoe, or else he speaks the truth, in which case he is a great explorer. i see no possible avoidance of this dilemma, so that which ever way you look at it the man deserves credit which he has never received. we set off, four of us, to visit mr. clement wragge, who is the most remarkable personality in auckland--dreamer, mystic, and yet very practical adviser on all matters of ocean and of air. on arriving at the charming bungalow, buried among all sorts of broad-leaved shrubs and trees, i was confronted by a tall, thin figure, clad in black, with a face like a sadder and thinner bernard shaw, dim, dreamy eyes, heavily pouched, with a blue turban surmounting all. on repeating my desire he led me apart into his study. i had been warned that with his active brain and copious knowledge i would never be able to hold him to the point, so, in the dialogue which followed, i perpetually headed him off as he turned down bye paths, until the conversation almost took the form of a game. "mr. wragge, you are, i know, one of the greatest authorities upon winds and currents." "well, that is one of my pursuits. when i was young i ran the ben nevis observatory in scotland and----" "it was only a small matter i wished to ask you. you'll excuse my directness as i have so little time." "certainly. what is it?" "if the maoris came, originally, from hawaii, what prevailing winds would their canoes meet in the 2,000 miles which they crossed to reach new zealand?" the dim eyes lit up with the joy of the problem, and the nervous fingers unrolled a chart of the pacific. he flourished a pair of compasses. "here is hawaii. they would start with a north-westerly trade wind. that would be a fair wind. i may say that the whole affair took place far further back than is usually supposed. we have to get back to astronomy for our fixed date. don't imagine that the obliquity of the ecliptic was always 23 degrees." "the maoris had a fair wind then?" the compasses stabbed at the map. "only down to this point. then they would come on the doldrums--the calm patch of the equator. they could paddle their canoes across that. of course, the remains at easter island prove----" "but they could not paddle all the way." "no; they would run into the south-easterly trades. then they made their way to rarotonga in tahiti. it was from here that they made for new zealand." "but how could they know new zealand was there?" "ah, yes, how did they know?" "had they compasses?" "they steered by the stars. we have a poem of theirs which numbers the star-gazer as one of the crew. we have a chart, also, cut in the rocks at hawaii, which seems to be the plot of a voyage. here is a slide of it." he fished out a photo of lines and scratches upon a rock. "of course," said he, "the root of the matter is that missionaries from atlantis permeated the pacific, coming across central america, and left their traces everywhere." ah, atlantis! i am a bit of an atlantean myself, so off we went at scratch and both enjoyed ourselves greatly until time had come to rejoin the party and meet mr. wragge's wife, a charming brahmin lady from india, who was one of the most gracious personalities i have met in my wanderings. the blue-turbaned, eager man, half western science, half eastern mystic, and his dark-eyed wife amid their profusion of flowers will linger in my memory. mrs. wragge was eager that i go and lecture in india. well, who knows? i was so busy listening to mr. wragge's atlantean theories that i had no chance of laying before him my own contribution to the subject, which is, i think, both original and valid. if the huge bulk of atlantis sank beneath the ocean, then, assuredly, it raised such a tidal wave as has never been known in the world's history. this tidal wave, since all sea water connects, would be felt equally all over the world, as the wave of krakatoa was in 1883 felt in europe. the wave must have rushed over all flat coasts and drowned every living thing, as narrated in the biblical narrative. therefore, since this catastrophe was, according to plato's account, not very much more than 10,000 years ago there should exist ample evidence of a wholesale destruction of life, especially in the flatter lands of the globe. is there such evidence? think of darwin's account of how the pampas of south america are in places one huge grave-yard. think, also, of the mammoth remains which strew the tundras of siberia, and which are so numerous that some of the arctic islands are really covered with bones. there is ample evidence of some great flood which would exactly correspond with the effect produced by the sinking of atlantis. the tragedy broadens as one thinks of it. everyone everywhere must have been drowned save only the hill-dwellers. the object of the catastrophe was, according to some occult information, to remove the atlantean race and make room for the aryan, even as the lemurian had been removed to make room for the atlantean. how long has the aryan race to run? the answer may depend upon themselves. the great war is a warning bell perhaps. i had a talk with a curious type of psychic while i was in auckland. he claimed to be a psychologist who did not need to be put _en rapport_ with his object by any material starting point. a piece of clothing is, as a rule, to a psychometrist what it would be to a bloodhound, the starting point of a chase which runs down the victim. thus van bourg, when he discovered by crystal gazing the body of mr. foxhall (i quote the name from memory) floating in the thames, began by covering the table with the missing man's garments. this is the usual procedure which will become more familiar as the public learn the full utility of a psychic. this gentlemen, mr. pearman, was a builder by trade, a heavy, rather uneducated man with the misty eye of a seer. he told me that if he desired to turn his powers upon anything he had only to sit in a dim room and concentrate his thought upon the matter, without any material nexus. for example, a murder had been done in western australia. the police asked his help. using his power, he saw the man, a stranger, and yet he _knew_ that it was the man, descending the swan river in a boat. he saw him mix with the dockmen of fremantle. then he saw him return to perth. finally, he saw him take train on the transcontinental railway. the police at once acted, and intercepted the man, who was duly convicted and hanged. this was one of several cases which this man told me, and his stories carried conviction with them. all this, although psychic, has, of course, nothing to do with spiritualism, but is an extension of the normal, though undefined, powers of the human mind and soul. the reader will be relieved to hear that i did not visit rotorua. an itinerant lecturer upon an unpopular cause has enough hot water without seeking out a geyser. my travels would make but an indifferent guide book, but i am bound to put it upon record that wellington is a very singular city plastered upon the side of a very steep hill. it is said that the plan of the city was entirely drawn up in england under the impression that the site was a flat one, and that it was duly carried out on the perpendicular instead of the horizontal. it is a town of fine buildings, however, in a splendid winding estuary ringed with hills. it is, of course, the capital, and the centre of all officialdom in new zealand, but auckland, in the north, is already the greater city. i had the opportunity of spending the day after my arrival with dr. morrice, who married the daughter of the late premier, sir r. seddon, whom i had known in years gone by. their summer house was down the bay, and so i had a long drive which gave me an admirable chance of seeing the wonderful panorama. it was blowing a full gale, and the road is so exposed that even motors are sometimes upset by the force of the wind. on this occasion nothing more serious befell us than the loss of mr. smythe's hat, which disappeared with such velocity that no one was able to say what had become of it. it simply was, and then it was not. the yellow of the foreshore, the green of the shallows, the blue mottled with purple of the deep, all fretted with lines of foam, made an exhilarating sight. the whole excursion was a brief but very pleasant break in our round of work. another pleasant experience was that i met dr. purdey, who had once played cricket with me, when we were very young, at edinburgh university. _eheu fugaces!_ i had also the pleasure of meeting mr. massey, the premier, a bluff, strong, downright man who impresses one with his force and sincerity. i had the privilege when i was at wellington of seeing the first edition of "robinson crusoe," which came out originally in three volumes. i had no idea that the three-decker dated back to 1719. it had a delightful map of the island which would charm any boy, and must have been drawn up under the personal guidance of defoe himself. i wonder that map has not been taken as an integral part of the book, and reproduced in every edition, for it is a fascinating and a helpful document. i saw this rare book in the turnbull library, which, under the loving care of mr. anderson (himself no mean poet), is a fine little collection of books got together by a wellington man of business. in a raw young land such a literary oasis is like a gothic cathedral in the midst of a suburb of modern villas. anyone can come in to consult the books, and if i were a wellingtonian i would certainly spend a good deal of time there. i handled with fitting reverence a first edition of "lyrical ballads," where, in 1798, coleridge and wordsworth made their entry hand in hand into poetical literature. i saw an original hakluyt, the book which has sent so many brave hearts a-roving. there, too, was a precious kelmscott "chaucer," a plutarch and montaigne, out of which shakespeare might have done his cribbing; capt. cook's manuscript "diary," written in the stiff hand of a very methodical man; a copy of swinburne's "poems and ballads," which is one of twenty from a recalled edition, and many other very rare and worthy volumes carefully housed and clad. i spent a mellow hour among them. i have been looking up all the old books upon the maoris which i could find, with the special intent of clearing up their history, but while doing so i found in one rather rare volume "old new zealand," an account of a maori séance, which seems to have been in the early forties, and, therefore, older than the hydesville knockings. i only wish every honest materialist could read it and compare it with the experiences which we have, ourselves, independently reported. surely they cannot persist in holding that such identical results are obtained by coincidence, or that fraud would work in exactly the same fashion in two different hemispheres. a popular young chief had been killed in battle. the white man was invited to join the solemn circle who hoped to regain touch with him. the séance was in the dark of a large hut, lit only by the ruddy glow of a low fire. the white man, a complete unbeliever, gives his evidence in grudging fashion, but cannot get past the facts. the voice came, a strange melancholy sound, like the wind blowing into a hollow vessel. "salutation! salutation to you all! to you, my tribe! family, i salute you! friends, i salute you!" when the power waned the voice cried, "speak to me, the family! speak to me!" in the published dialogue between dr. hodgson after his death and professor hyslop, hodgson cries, "speak, hyslop!" when the power seemed to wane. for some reason it would appear either by vibrations or by concentrating attention to help the communicator. "it is well with me," said the chief. "this place is a good place." he was with the dead of the tribe and described them, and offered to take messages to them. the incredulous white man asked where a book had been concealed which only the dead man knew about. the place was named and the book found. the white man himself did not know, so there was no telepathy. finally, with a "farewell!" which came from high in the air, the spirit passed back to immaterial conditions. this is, i think, a very remarkable narrative. if you take it as literally true, which i most certainly do, since our experience corroborates it, it gives us some points for reflection. one is that the process is one known in all the ages, as our biblical reading has already told us. a second is that a young barbarian chief with no advantages of religion finds the next world a very pleasant place, just as our dead do, and that they love to come back and salute those whom they have left, showing a keen memory of their earth life. finally, we must face the conclusion that the mere power of communication has no elevating effect in itself, otherwise these tribes could not have continued to be ferocious savages. it has to be united with the christ message from beyond before it will really help us upon the upward path. before i left wellington the spiritualists made me a graceful presentation of a travelling rug, and i was able to assure them that if they found the rug i would find the travelling. it is made of the beautiful woollen material in which new zealand is supreme. the presentation was made by mrs. stables, the president of the new zealand association, an energetic lady to whom the cause owes much. a greenstone penholder was given to me for my wife, and a little charm for my small daughter, the whole proceedings being marked with great cordiality and good feeling. the faithful are strong in wellington, but are much divided among themselves, which, i hope, may be alleviated as a consequence of my visit. nothing could have been more successful than my two meetings. the press was splendidly sympathetic, and i left by a night boat in high heart for my campaign in the south island. chapter ix the anglican colony.--psychic dangers.--the learned dog.--absurd newspaper controversy.--a backward community.--the maori tongue.--their origin.--their treatment by the empire.--a fiasco.--the pa of kaiopoi.--dr. thacker.--sir joseph kinsey.--a generous collector.--scott and amundsen.--dunedin.--a genuine medium.--evidence.--the shipping strike.--sir oliver.--farewell. i am afraid that the average britisher looks upon new zealand as one solid island. if he had to cross cook's strait to get from the northern to the southern half, he would never forget his lesson in geography, for it can be as nasty a bit of water as is to be found in the world, with ocean waves, mountain winds and marine currents all combining into a horrible chaos. twelve good hours separate wellington in the north from lyttelton, which is the port of christchurch in the south. a very short railway joins the two latter places. my luck held good, and i had an excellent passage, dining in wellington and breakfasting in christchurch. it is a fine city, the centre of the famous canterbury grazing country. four shiploads of people calling themselves the canterbury pilgrims arrived here in 1852, built a cathedral, were practically ruled over by bishop selwyn, and tried the successful experiment of establishing a community which should be as anglican as new england is nonconformist. the distinctive character has now largely disappeared, but a splendid and very english city remains as a memorial of their efforts. when you are on the green, sloping banks of the river avon, with the low, artistic bridges, it would not be hard to imagine that you were in the backs at cambridge. at christchurch i came across one of those little bits of psychic evidence which may be taken as certainly true, and which can be regarded, therefore, as pieces which have to be fitted into the jig-saw puzzle in order to make the completed whole, at that far off date when a completed whole is within the reach of man's brain. it concerns mr. michie, a local spiritualist of wide experience. on one occasion some years ago, he practised a short cut to psychic power, acquired through a certain method of breathing and of action, which amounts, in my opinion, to something in the nature of self-hypnotisation. i will not give details, as i think all such exercises are dangerous save for very experienced students of these matters, who know the risk and are prepared to take it. the result upon mr. michie, through some disregard upon his part of the conditions which he was directed to observe, was disastrous. he fell into an insidious illness with certain psychic symptoms, and within a few months was reduced to skin and bone. mr. michie's wife is mediumistic and liable to be controlled. one day an entity came to her and spoke through her to her husband, claiming to be the spirit of one, gordon stanley. he said: "i can sympathise with your case, because my own death was brought about in exactly the same way. i will help you, however, to fight against it and to recover." the spirit then gave an account of his own life, described himself as a clerk in cole's book arcade in melbourne, and said that his widow was living at an address in melbourne, which was duly given. mr. michie at once wrote to this address and received this reply, the original of which i have seen: _"park street, "melbourne._ "dear sir,--_i have just received your strange--i must say, your very strange letter. yes, i am mrs. stanley. my husband did die two years ago from consumption. he was a clerk in cole's arcade. i must say your letter gave me a great shock. but i cannot doubt after what you have said, for i know you are a complete stranger to me._" shortly afterwards mr. stanley returned again through the medium, said that his widow was going to marry again, and that it was with his full approbation. the incident may be taken by our enemies as illustrating the danger of psychic research, and we admit that there are forms of it which should be approached with caution, but i do not think that mankind will ever be warned off by putting a danger label upon it, so long as they think there is real knowledge to be gained. how could the motor-car or the aeroplane have been developed if hundreds had not been ready to give their lives to pay the price? here the price has been far less, and the goal far higher, but if in gaining it a man were assured that he would lose his health, his reason, or his life, it is none the less his duty to go forward if he clearly sees that there is something to be won. to meet death in conquering death is to die in victory--the ideal death. whilst i was at auckland mr. poynton, a stipendiary magistrate there, told me of a dog in christchurch which had a power of thought comparable, not merely to a human being, but even, as i understood him, to a clairvoyant, as it would bark out the number of coins in your pocket and other such questions. the alternative to clairvoyance was that he was a very quick and accurate thought-reader, but in some cases the power seemed to go beyond this. mr. poynton, who had studied the subject, mentioned four learned beasts in history: a marvellous horse in shakespeare's time, which was burned with its master in florence; the boston skipper's dog; hans, the russian horse, and darkie of christchurch. he investigated the latter himself, as one of a committee of three. on the first occasion they got no results. on the second, ninety per cent. of the questions were right, and they included sums of addition, subtraction, etc. "it was uncanny," he wrote. i called, therefore, upon mrs. mcgibbon, the owner, who allowed me to see the dog. he was a dark, vivacious fox terrier, sixteen years old, blind and deaf, which obviously impaired his powers. in spite of his blindness he dashed at me the moment he was allowed into the room, pawing at me and trembling all over with excitement. he was, in fact so excited that he was of little use for demonstration, as when once he began to bark he could not be induced to stop. occasionally he steadied down, and gave us a touch of his true quality. when a half-crown was placed before him and he was asked how many sixpences were in it, he gave five barks, and four for a florin, but when a shilling was substituted he gave twelve, which looked as if he had pennies in his mind. on the whole the performance was a failure, but as he had raised by exhibiting his gifts, £138 for war charities, i took my hat off to him all the same. i will not imitate those psychic researchers who imagine that because they do not get a result, therefore, every one else who has reported it is a cheat or a fool. on the contrary, i have no doubt that the dog had these powers, though age and excitement have now impaired them. the creature's powers were first discovered when the son of the house remarked one day: "i will give you a biscuit if you bark three times." he at once did it. "now, six times." he did so. "now, take three off." he barked three times once again. since then they have hardly found any problem he could not tackle. when asked how many males in the room he always included himself in the number, but omitted himself when asked how many human beings. one wonders how many other dogs have human brains without the humans being clever enough to detect it. i had an amusing controversy in christchurch with one of the local papers, _the press_, which represents the clerical interest, and, also, the clerical intolerance of a cathedral city. it issued an article upon me and my beliefs, severe, but quite within the limits of legitimate criticism, quoting against me professor hyslop, "who," it said, "is professor of logic at columbia, etc." to this i made the mild and obvious retort in the course of my lecture that as professor hyslop was dead, _the press_ went even further than i in saying that he "_is_ professor at columbia." instead of accepting this correction, _the press_ made the tactical error of standing by their assertion, and aggravated it by head-lines which challenged me, and quoted my statement as "typical of the inaccuracy of a spiritualist." as i rather pride myself on my accuracy, which has seldom been challenged, i answered shortly but politely, as follows: "sir,--_i am surprised that the news of the death of professor hyslop has not reached new zealand, and even more surprised that it could be imagined that i would make such a statement on a matter so intimately connected with the subject upon which i lecture without being sure of my fact. i am reported as saying 'some years,' but, if so, it was a slip of the tongue for 'some time.' the professor died either late last year or early in the present one._" i should have thought that my answer was conclusive, and would have elicited some sort of apology; but instead of this, _the press_ called loudly upon me in a leading article to apologise, though for what i know not, save that they asserted i had said "some years," whereas i claim that i actually said "some time." this drew the following rather more severe letter from me: "sir,--_i am collecting new zealand curiosities, so i will take your leading article home with me. to get the full humour of it one has to remember the sequence of events. in a leading article you remarked that professor hyslop is professor of logic. i answered with mild irony that he certainly is not, as he had been dead 'some years' or 'some time'--which of the two is perfectly immaterial, since i presume that in either case you would agree that he has ceased to be professor of logic. to this you were rash enough to reply with a challenging article with large head-lines, declaring that i had blundered, and that this was typical of the inaccuracy of spiritualists. i wrote a gentle remonstrance to show that i had not blundered, and that my assertion was essentially true, since the man was dead. this you now tacitly admit, but instead of expressing regret you ask for an apology from me. i have engaged in much newspaper controversy, but i can truly say that i can recall no such instance of effrontery as this._" this led to another leader and considerable abuse. the controversy was, however, by no means one-sided, in spite of the shadow of the cathedral. mr. peter trolove is a man of wit as well as knowledge, and wields a pretty pen. a strong man, also, is dr. john guthrie, whose letter contains words so kindly that i must quote them: "_sir arthur conan doyle stands above it all, not only as a courteous gentleman, but as a fair controversialist throughout. he is, anyhow, a chivalrous and magnanimous personality, whether or not his beliefs have any truth. fancy quoting authorities against a man who has spent great part of his life studying the subject, and who knows the authorities better than all his opponents put together--a man who has deliberately used his great gifts in an honest attempt to get at truth. i do think that christchurch has some need to apologise for its controversialists--much more need than our distinguished visitor has to apologise for what we all know to be his honest convictions._" i have never met dr. john guthrie in the flesh, but i would thank him here, should this ever meet his eye, for this kindly protest. it will be gathered that i succeeded at christchurch in performing the feat of waking up a cathedral city, and all the ex-sleepers were protesting loudly against such a disturbing inrush from the outer world. glancing at the head-lines i see that bishop brodie declared it to be "a blasphemy nurtured in fraud," the dean of christchurch writes it down as "spiritism, the abrogation of reason," the rev. john patterson calls it "an ancient delusion," the rev. mr. north says it is "a foolish paganism," and the rev. mr. ready opines that it is "a gospel of uncertainty and conjecture." such are the clerical leaders of thought in christchurch in the year 1920. i think of what the wise old chinese control said of similar types at the melbourne rescue circle. "he good man but foolish man. he learn better. never rise till he learn better. plenty time yet." who loses except themselves? the enormous number of letters which i get upon psychic subjects--which i do my best to answer--give me some curious sidelights, but they are often confidential, and would not bear publication. some of them are from devout, but narrow christians, who narrate psychic and prophetic gifts which they possess, and at the same time almost resent them on the ground that they are condemned by the bible. as if the whole bible was not psychic and prophetic! one very long letter detailed a whole succession of previsions of the most exact character, and wound up by the conviction that we were on the edge of some great discovery. this was illustrated by a simile which seemed very happy. "have you noticed a tree covered in spider webs during a fog? well, it was only through the law of the fog that we saw them. they were there all the time, but only when the moisture came could we see them." it was a good illustration. many amazing experiences are detailed to me in every town i visit, and though i have no time to verify them and go into details, none the less they fit so accurately with the various types of psychic cases with which i am familiar that i cannot doubt that such occurrences are really very common. it is the injudicious levity with which they are met which prevents their being published by those who experience them. as an amateur philologist of a superficial type, i am greatly interested in studying the maori language, and trying to learn whence these wonderful savages came before their twenty-two terrible canoes came down upon the unhappy land which would have been safer had as many shiploads of tigers been discharged upon its beach. the world is very old, and these folk have wandered from afar, and by many devious paths. surely there are celtic traces both in their appearance, their character and their language. an old maori woman smoking her pipe is the very image of an old celtic woman occupied the same way. their word for water is _wei_, and england is full of wye and way river names, dating from the days before the germans arrived. strangest of all is their name for the supreme god. a name never mentioned and taboo among them, is io. "j" is, of course, interchangeable with "i," so that we get the first two letters of jove and an approximation of jehovah. papa is parent. altogether there is good evidence that they are from the same root as some european races, preferably the celts. but on the top of this comes a whole series of japanese combinations of letters, rangi, muru, tiki, and so forth, so that many of the place names seem pure japanese. what are we to make of such a mixture? is it possible that one celtic branch, far away in the mists of time, wandered east while their racial brethren wandered west, so that part reached far corea while the others reached ireland? then, after getting a tincture of japanese terms and word endings, they continued their migration, taking to the seas, and finally subduing the darker races who inhabited the polynesian islands, so making their way to new zealand. this wild imagining would at least cover the observed facts. it is impossible to look at some of the maori faces without realising that they are of european stock. i must interpolate a paragraph here to say that i was pleased, after writing the above, to find that in my blind gropings i had come upon the main conclusions which have been put forward with very full knowledge by the well-known authority, dr. mcmillan brown. he has worked out the very fact which i surmised, that the maoris are practically of the same stock as europeans, that they had wandered japan-wards, and had finally taken to the sea. there are two points of interest which show the date of their exodus was a very ancient one. the first is that they have not the use of the bow. the second is that they have no knowledge of metals. such knowledge once possessed would never have been lost, so it is safe to say that they left asia a thousand years (as a minimum) before christ, for at that date the use of bronze, at any rate, was widespread. what adventures and vicissitudes this remarkable race, so ignorant in some directions and so advanced in others, must have endured during those long centuries. if you look at the wonderful ornaments of their old war canoes, which carry a hundred men, and can traverse the whole pacific, it seems almost incredible that human patience and ingenuity could construct the whole fabric with instruments of stone. they valued them greatly when once they were made, and the actual names of the twenty-two original invading canoes are still recorded. illustration: the people of turi's canoe, after a voyage of great hardship, at last sight the shores of new zealand. from a painting in the auckland art gallery by c. f. goldie and l. j. steele. in the public gallery of auckland they have a duplicate of one of these enormous canoes. it is 87 feet in length and the thwarts are broad enough to hold three or four men. when it was filled with its hundred warriors, with the chief standing in the centre to give time to the rowers, it must, as it dashed through the waves, have been a truly terrific object. i should think that it represented the supreme achievement of neolithic man. there are a series of wonderful pictures of maori life in the same gallery by goldie and steele. of these i reproduce, by permission, one which represents the starving crew of one canoe sighting the distant shore. the engraving only gives a faint indication of the effect of the vividly-coloured original. reference has been made to the patient industry of the maori race. a supreme example of this is that every man had his tikki, or image of a little idol made of greenstone, which was hung round his neck. now, this new zealand greenstone is one of the hardest objects in nature, and yet it is worn down without metals into these quaint figures. on an average it took ten years to make one, and it was rubbed down from a chunk of stone into an image by the constant friction of a woman's foot. it is said that the tahungas, or priests, have much hereditary knowledge of an occult sort. their oracles were famous, and i have already quoted an example of their séances. a student of maori lore told me the following interesting story. he was a student of maori words, and on one occasion a maori chief let slip an unusual word, let us say "buru," and then seemed confused and refused to answer when the englishman asked the meaning. the latter took it to a friend, a tohunga, who seemed much surprised and disturbed, and said it was a word of which a paheka or white man should know nothing. not to be beaten, my informant took it to an old and wise chief who owed him a return for some favours. this chief was also much exercised in mind when he heard the word, and walked up and down in agitation. finally he said, "friend, we are both christians. you remember the chapter in the bible where jacob wrestled with an angel. well, this word 'buru' represents that for which they were wrestling." he would say no more and there it had perforce to be left. the british empire may be proud of their treatment of the maoris. like the jews, they object to a census, but their number cannot be more than 50,000 in a population of over a million. there is no question, therefore, of our being constrained to treat them well. yet they own vast tracts of the best land in the country, and so unquestioned are their rights that when they forbade a railway to pass down the centre of the north island, the traffic had to go by sea from auckland until, at last, after many years, it was shown to the chiefs that their financial interests would be greatly aided by letting the railway through. these financial interests are very large, and many maoris are wealthy men, buying expensive motor cars and other luxuries. some of the more educated take part in legislative work, and are distinguished for their eloquence. the half-castes make a particularly fine breed, especially in their youth, for they tend as they grow older to revert to the pure maori type. new zealand has no national sin upon its conscience as regards the natives, which is more, i fear, than can be said whole-heartedly for australia, and even less for tasmania. our people never descended to the level of the old congo, but they have something on their conscience none the less. on december 18th there was some arrangement by which i should meet the maoris and see the historic pa of kaiopoi. the affair, however, was, i am sorry to say, a fiasco. as we approached the building, which was the village school room, there emerged an old lady--a very old lady--who uttered a series of shrill cries, which i was told meant welcome, though they sounded more like the other thing. i can only trust that my informants were right. inside was a very fine assemblage of atmospheric air, and of nothing else. the explanation was that there had been a wedding the night before, and that the whole community had been--well, tired. presently a large man in tweeds of the reach-me-down variety appeared upon the scene, and several furtive figures, including a row of children, materialised in corners of the big empty room. the visitors, who were more numerous than the visited, sat on a long bench and waited developments which refused to develop. my dreams of the dignified and befeathered savage were drifting away. finally, the large man, with his hands in his pockets, and looking hard at a corner of the rafters, made a speech of welcome, punctuated by long stops and gaps. he then, at our request, repeated it in maori, and the children were asked to give a maori shout, which they sternly refused to do. i then made a few feeble bleats, uncertain whether to address my remarks to the level of the large man or to that of the row of children. i ended by handing over some books for their library, and we then escaped from this rather depressing scene. but it was a very different matter with the pa. i found it intensely interesting. you could still trace quite clearly the main lines of the battle which destroyed it. it lay on about five acres of ground, with deep swamp all round save for one frontage of some hundreds of yards. that was all which really needed defence. the north island natives, who were of a sterner breed than those of the south, came down under the famous rauparaha (these maori names are sad snags in a story) and besieged the place. one can see the saps and follow his tactics, which ended by piling brushwood against the palings--please observe the root "pa" in palings--with the result that he carried the place. massacre hill stands close by, and so many of the defenders were eaten that their gnawed bones covered the ground within the memory of living men. such things may have been done by the father of the elderly gentleman who passes you in his motor car with his race glasses slung across his chest. the siege of kaiopoi was about 1831. even on a fine sunlit day i was conscious of that heavy atmosphere within the enclosure which impresses itself upon me when i am on the scene of ancient violence. so frightful an episode within so limited a space, where for months the garrison saw its horrible fate drawing nearer day by day, must surely have left some etheric record even to our blunt senses. i was indebted to dr. thacker, the mayor, for much kind attention whilst in christchurch. he is a giant man, but a crippled giant, alas, for he still bears the traces of an injury received in a historic football match, which left his and my old university of edinburgh at the top of the tree in scotland. he showed me some curious, if ghastly, relics of his practice. one of these was a tumour of the exact size and shape of a boxing glove, thumb and all, which he cut out of the back of a boxer who had lost a glove fight and taken it greatly to heart. always on many converging lines we come back to the influence of mind over matter. another most pleasant friendship which i made in christchurch was with sir joseph kinsey, who has acted as father to several successive british arctic expeditions. scott and shackleton have both owed much to him, their constant agent, adviser and friend. scott's dying hand traced a letter to him, so unselfish and so noble that it alone would put scott high in the gallery of british worthies. of all modern men of action scott seems to me the most lofty. to me he was only an acquaintance, but kinsey, who knew him well as a friend, and lady kinsey, who had all arctic exploration at her finger ends, were of the same opinion. sir joseph discussed the action of amundsen in making for the pole. when it was known that amundsen was heading south instead of pursuing his advertised intentions, kinsey smelled danger and warned scott, who, speaking from his own noble loyalty, said, "he would never do so dishonourable a thing. my plans are published and are known to all the world." however, when he reached the ice, and when pennell located the "fram," he had to write and admit that kinsey was right. it was a sad blow, that forestalling, though he took it like the man that he was. none the less, it must have preyed upon the spirits of all his party and weakened their resistance in that cruel return journey. on the other hand amundsen's expedition, which was conducted on rather less than a sixth of the cost of the british, was a triumph of organisation, and he had the good luck or deep wisdom to strike a route which was clear of those great blizzards which overwhelmed scott. the scurvy was surely a slur upon our medical preparations. according to stefansson, who knows more of the matter than any living man, lime juice is useless, vegetables are of secondary importance, but fresh animal food, be it seal, penguin, or what you will, is the final preventive. sir joseph is a passionate and discriminating collector, and has but one fault in collecting, which is a wide generosity. you have but to visit him often enough and express sufficient interest to absorb all his treasures. perhaps my protests were half-hearted, but i emerged from his house with a didrachm of alexander, a tetradrachm of some armenian monarch, a sheet of rare arctic stamps for denis, a lump of native greenstone, and a small nugget of gold. no wonder when i signed some books for him i entered the date as that of "the sacking of woomeroo," that being the name of his dwelling. the mayor, in the same spirit of hospitality, pressed upon me a huge bone of the extinct moa, but as i had never failed to impress upon my wife the extreme importance of cutting down our luggage, i could not face the scandal of appearing with this monstrous impedimentum. leaving christchurch in the journalistic uproar to which allusion has been made, our engagements took us on to dunedin, which is reached by rail in a rather tiring day's journey. a new zealand train is excellent while it is running, but it has a way of starting with an epileptic leap, and stopping with a bang, which becomes wearisome after a while. on the other hand this particular journey is beguiled by the fact that the line runs high for two hours round the curve of the hills with the pacific below, so that a succession of marvellous views opens out before you as you round each spur. there can be few more beautiful lines. dunedin was founded in 1848 by a group of scotsmen, and it is modelled so closely upon edinburgh that the familiar street names all reappear, and even portobello has its duplicate outside the town. the climate, also, i should judge to be about the same. the prevailing tone of the community is still scottish, which should mean that they are sympathetic with my mission, for nowhere is spiritualism more firmly established now than in scotland, especially in glasgow, where a succession of great mediums and of earnest workers have built up a considerable organisation. i soon found that it was so, for nowhere had i more private assurances of support, nor a better public reception, the theatre being filled at each lecture. in the intervals kind friends put their motors at my disposal and i had some splendid drives over the hills, which look down upon the winding estuary at the head of which the town is situated. at the house of mr. reynolds, of dunedin, i met one of the most powerful clairvoyants and trance mediums whom i have tested. her name is mrs. roberts, and though her worldly circumstances are modest, she has never accepted any money for her wonderful psychic gifts. for this i honour her, but, as i told her, we all sell the gifts which god has given us, and i cannot see why, and within reason, psychic gifts should not also be placed within the reach of the public, instead of being confined to a favoured few. how can the bulk of the people ever get into touch with a good medium if they are debarred from doing so in the ordinary way of business? mrs. roberts is a stout, kindly woman, with a motherly manner, and a sensitive, expressive face. when in touch with my conditions she at once gave the names of several relatives and friends who have passed over, without any slurring or mistakes. she then cried, "i see an elderly lady here--she is a beautifully high spirit--her name is selina." this rather unusual name belonged to my wife's mother, who died nearly two years ago. then, suddenly, becoming slightly convulsed, as a medium does when her mechanism is controlled by another, she cried with an indescribable intensity of feeling, "thank god! thank god to get in touch again! jean! jean! give my dear love to jean!" both names, therefore, had been got correctly, that of the mother and the daughter. is it not an affront to reason to explain away such results by wild theories of telepathy, or by anything save the perfectly plain and obvious fact that spirit communion is indeed true, and that i was really in touch with that dead lady who was, even upon earth, a beautifully high and unselfish spirit. i had a number of other communications through mrs. roberts that night, and at a second interview two days later, not one of which erred so far as names were concerned. among others was one who professed to be dr. russell wallace. i should be honoured, indeed, to think that it was so, but i was unable to hit on anything which would be evidential. i asked him if his further experience had taught him anything more about reincarnation, which he disputed in his lifetime. he answered that he now accepted it, though i am not clear whether he meant for all cases. i thanked him for any spiritual help i had from him. his answer was "me! don't thank me! you would be surprised if you knew who your real helpers are." he added, "by your work i rise. we are co-workers!" i pray that it be so, for few men have lived for whom i have greater respect; wise and brave, and mellow and good. his biography was a favourite book of mine long before i understood the full significance of spiritualism, which was to him an evolution of the spirit on parallel lines to that evolution of the body which he did so much to establish. now that my work in new zealand was drawing to a close a very grave problem presented itself to mr. smythe and myself, and that was how we were to get back to our families in australia. a strike had broken out, which at first seemed a small matter, but it was accentuated by the approach of christmas and the fact that many of the men were rather looking for an excuse for a holiday. every day things became blacker. once before mr. smythe had been held up for four months by a similar cause, and, indeed, it has become a very serious consideration for all who visit new zealand. we made a forced march for the north amid constant rumours that far from reaching australia we could not even get to the north island, as the twelve-hour ferry boats were involved in the strike. i had every trust in my luck, or, as i should prefer to say, in my helpers, and we got the _maori_ on the last ferry trip which she was sure to take. up to the last moment the firemen wavered, and we had no stewards on board, but none the less, to our inexpressible relief we got off. there was no food on the ship and no one to serve it, so we went into a small hostel at lyttleton before we started, to see what we could pick up. there was a man seated opposite to me who assumed the air of laboured courtesy and extreme dignity, which is one phase of alcoholism. "'scuse me, sir!" said he, looking at me with a glassy stare, "but you bear most 'straordinary resemblance olver lodge." i said something amiable. "yes, sir--'straordinary! have you ever seen olver lodge, sir?" "yes, i have." "well, did you perceive resemblance?" "sir oliver, as i remember him, was a tall man with a grey beard." he shook his head at me sadly. "no, sir--i heard him at wellington last week. no beard. a moustache, sir, same as your own." "you're sure it was sir oliver?" a slow smile came over his face. "blesh my soul--conan doyle--that's the name. yes, sir, you bear truly remarkable resemblance conan doyle." i did not say anything further so i daresay he has not discovered yet the true cause of the resemblance. all the nerve-wracking fears of being held up which we endured at lyttleton were repeated at wellington, where we had taken our passages in the little steamer _paloona_. in any case we had to wait for a day, which i spent in clearing up my new zealand affairs while mr. smythe interviewed the authorities and paid no less than £141 war tax upon the receipts of our lectures--a heavy impost upon a fortnight's work. next morning, with our affairs and papers all in order, we boarded our little craft. up to the last moment we had no certainty of starting. not only was the strike in the air, but it was christmas eve, and it was natural enough that the men should prefer their own homes to the stokehole of the _paloona_. agents with offers of increased pay were scouring the docks. finally our complement was completed, and it was a glad moment when the hawsers were thrown off, and after the usual uncomfortable preliminaries we found ourselves steaming in a sharp wind down the very turbulent waters of cook's strait. the place is full of cook's memory. everywhere the great man has left his traces. we passed cook's island where the _endeavour_ actually struck and had to be careened and patched. what a nerve the fellow had! so coolly and deliberately did he do his work that even now his charting holds good, i understand, in many long stretches of coast. tacking and wearing, he poked and pried into every estuary, naming capes, defining bays, plotting out positions, and yet all the while at the mercy of the winds, with a possible lee shore always before him, with no comrade within hail, and with swarms of cannibals eyeing his little ship from the beach. after i have seen his work i shall feel full of reverence every time i pass that fine statue which adorns the mall side of the great admiralty building. and now we are out in the open sea, with melbourne, sydney and love in front of our prow. behind the sun sets in a slur of scarlet above the olive green hills, while the heavy night fog, crawling up the valleys, turns each of them into a glacier. a bright star twinkles above. below a light shines out from the gloom. farewell, new zealand! i shall never see you again, but perhaps some memory of my visit may remain--or not, as god pleases. anyhow, my own memory will remain. every man looks on his own country as god's own country if it be a free land, but the new zealander has more reason than most. it is a lovely place, and contains within its moderate limits the agricultural plains of england, the lakes and hills of scotland, the glaciers of switzerland, and the fiords of norway, with a fine hearty people, who do not treat the british newcomer with ignorant contempt or hostility. there are so many interests and so many openings that it is hard to think that a man will not find a career in new zealand. canada, australia and south africa seem to me to be closely balanced so far as their attractions for the emigrant goes, but when one considers that new zealand has neither the winter of canada, the droughts of australia, nor the racial problems of africa, it does surely stand supreme, though it demands, as all of them do, both labour and capital from the newcomer. chapter x christian origins.--mithraism.--astronomy.--exercising boats.--bad news from home.--futile strikes.--labour party.--the blue wilderness.--journey to brisbane.--warm reception.--friends and foes.--psychic experience of dr. doyle.--birds.--criticism on melbourne.--spiritualist church.--ceremony.--sir matthew nathan.--alleged repudiation of queensland.--billy tea.--the bee farm.--domestic service in australia.--hon. john fihilly.--curious photograph by the state photographer.--the "orsova." the voyage back from new zealand to melbourne was pleasant and uneventful, though the boat was small and there was a sea rough enough to upset many of the passengers. we were fortunate in our captain, doorby, who, i found, was a literary confrère with two books to his credit, one of them a record of the relief ship _morning_, in which he had served at the time of scott's first expedition, the other a little book, "the handmaiden of the navy," which gave some of his adventures and experiences in the merchant service during the great war. he had been torpedoed once, and had lost, on another occasion, nearly all his crew with plague, so that he had much that was interesting to talk about. mr. blake, of the _strand magazine_, was also on board. a unitarian minister, mr. hale, was also a valuable companion, and we had much discussion over the origins of christianity, which was the more interesting to me as i had taken advantage of the voyage to re-read the acts and paul's epistles. there are no documents which can be read so often and yet reveal something new, the more so when you have that occult clue which is needful before paul can be understood. it is necessary also to know something of mythra worship and the other philosophies which paul had learned, and woven into his christianity. i have stated elsewhere my belief that all expressions about redemption by blood, the blood of the lamb, etc., are founded upon the parallel of the blood of the bull which was shed by the mythra-worshippers, and in which they were actually baptised. enlarging upon this, mr. hale pointed out on the authority, if i remember right, of pfleiderer's "christian origins," that in the mythra service something is placed over the candidate, a hide probably, which is called "putting on mythra," and corresponds with paul's expression about "putting on christ." paul, with his tremendous energy and earnestness, fixed christianity upon the world, but i wonder what peter and those who had actually heard christ's words thought about it all. we have had paul's views about christ, but we do not know christ's views about paul. he had been, as we are told by himself, a jewish pharisee of the strictest type in his youth at jerusalem, but was a roman citizen, had lived long at tarsus, which was a centre of mithraism, and was clearly famous for his learning, since festus twitted him with it. the simple tenets of the carpenter and the fishermen would take strange involved forms in such a brain as that. his epistles are presumably older than the gospels, which may, in their simplicity, represent a protest against his confused theology. it was an enjoyable voyage in the little _paloona_, and rested me after the whirlwind campaign of new zealand. in large liners one loses in romance what one gains in comfort. on a small ship one feels nearer to nature, to the water and even to the stars. on clear nights we had magnificent displays of the southern heaven. i profited by the astronomical knowledge of mr. smythe. here first i was introduced to alpha centauri, which is the nearest fixed star, and, therefore, the cobber to the sun. it is true that it is distant 3-1/2 years of light travel, and light travels at about 182,000 miles a second, but when one considers that it takes centuries for average starlight to reach us, we may consider alpha as snuggling close up to us for companionship in the lonely wastes of space. the diamond belt of orion looks homely enough with the bright solitaire sirius sparkling beside it, but there are the magellanic clouds, the scattered wisps torn from the milky way, and there is the strange black space called the coalsack, where one seems to look right past all created things into a bottomless void. what would not galileo and all the old untravelled astronomers have given to have one glimpse of this wondrous southern display? captain doorby, finding that he had time in hand, ran the ship into a small deserted bay upon the coast, and, after anchoring, ordered out all the boats for the sake of practice. it was very well done, and yet what i saw convinced me that it should be a board of trade regulation, if it is not one already, that once, at least, near the beginning of every long voyage, this should be compulsory. it is only when you come to launch them that you really realise which of the davits is rusted up, and which block is tangled, or which boat is without a plug. i was much impressed by this idea as i watched the difficulties which were encountered even in that secluded anchorage. the end of my journey was uneventful, but my joy at being reunited with my family was clouded by the news of the death of my mother. she was eighty-three years of age, and had for some years been almost totally blind, so that her change was altogether a release, but it was sad to think that we should never see the kind face and gracious presence again in its old material form. denis summed up our feelings when he cried, "what a reception grannie must have had!" there was never any one who had so broad and sympathetic a heart, a world-mother mourning over everything which was weak or oppressed, and thinking nothing of her own time and comfort in her efforts to help the sufferers. even when blind and infirm she would plot and plan for the benefit of others, thinking out their needs, and bringing about surprising results by her intervention. for my own psychic work she had, i fear, neither sympathy nor understanding, but she had an innate faith and spirituality which were so natural to her that she could not conceive the needs of others in that direction. she understands now. whilst in the blue mountains i was forced to reconsider my plans on account of the strike which has paralysed all coastal trade. if i should be able to reach tasmania i might be unable to return, and it would, indeed, be a tragic situation if my family were ready to start for england in the _naldera_, and i was unable to join them. i felt, therefore, that i was not justified in going to tasmania, even if i were able, which is very doubtful. it was sad, as it spoiled the absolute completeness of my tour, but on the other hand i felt sure that i should find plenty of work to do on the mainland, without taking so serious a risk. it is a terrible thing to see this young country, which needs every hour of time and every ounce of energy for its speedy development frittering itself away in these absurd conflicts, which never give any result to compare with the loss. one feels that in the stern contests of nations one will arise which has economic discipline, and that none other could stand against it. if the training of reorganised germany should take this shape she will conquer and she will deserve to conquer. it is a monstrous abuse that compulsory arbitration courts should be established, as is the case in australia, and that unions should either strike against their decisions, or should anticipate their decisions, as in the case of these stewards, by forcing a strike. in such a case i hold that the secretary and every other official of the union should be prosecuted and heavily fined, if not imprisoned. it is the only way by which the community can be saved from a tyranny which is quite as real as that of any autocrat. what would be said, for example, of a king who cut off the islands of tasmania and new zealand from communication with the outer world, deranging the whole christmas arrangements of countless families who had hoped to reunite? yet this is what has been done by a handful of stewards with some trivial grievance. a fireman who objects to the cooking can hold up a great vessel. there is nothing but chaos in front of a nation unless it insists upon being master in its own house, and forbids either employed or employer to do that which is for the common scathe. the time seems to be coming when britons, the world over, will have to fight for liberty against licence just as hard as ever they fought for her against tyranny. this i say with full sympathy for the labour party, which i have often been tempted to join, but have always been repelled by their attempt to bully the rest of the state instead of using those means which would certainly ensure their legitimate success, even if it took some years to accomplish. there are many anomalies and injustices, and it is only a people's party which can set them right. hereditary honours are an injustice, lands owned by feudal or royal gift are an injustice, increased private wealth through the growth of towns is an injustice, coal royalties are an injustice, the expense of the law is a glaring injustice, the support of any single religion by the state is an injustice, our divorce laws are an injustice--with such a list a real honest labour party would be a sure winner if it could persuade us all that it would not commit injustices itself, and bolster up labour artificially at the expense of every one else. it is not organised labour which moves me, for it can take care of itself, but it is the indigent governesses with thirty pounds a year, the broken people, the people with tiny pensions, the struggling widows with children--when i think of all these and then of the man who owns a county i feel that there is something deeply, deeply wrong which nothing but some great strong new force can set right. one finds in the blue mountains that opportunity of getting alone with real nature, which is so healing and soothing a thing. the wild scrub flows up the hillsides to the very grounds of the hotels, and in a very few minutes one may find oneself in the wilderness of ferns and gum trees unchanged from immemorial ages. it is a very real danger to the young or to those who have no sense of direction, for many people have wandered off and never come back alive--in fact, there is a specially enrolled body of searchers who hunt for the missing visitor. i have never in all my travels seen anything more spacious and wonderful than the view from the different sandstone bluffs, looking down into the huge gullies beneath, a thousand feet deep, where the great gum trees look like rows of cabbages. i suppose that in water lies the force which, in the course of ages, has worn down the soft, sandy rock and formed these colossal clefts, but the effects are so enormous that one is inclined to think some great earth convulsion must also have been concerned in their production. some of the cliffs have a sheer drop of over one thousand feet, which is said to be unequalled in the world. these mountains are so precipitous and tortuous, presenting such a maze to the explorer, that for many years they were a formidable barrier to the extension of the young colony. there were only about forty miles of arable land from the coast to the great hawkesbury river, which winds round the base of the mountains. then came this rocky labyrinth. at last, in 1812, four brave and persevering men--blaxland, evans, wentworth and lawson--took the matter in hand, and after many adventures, blazed a trail across, by which all the splendid hinterland was opened up, including the gold fields, which found their centre in the new town of bathurst. when one reflects that all the gold had to be brought across this wilderness, with unexplored woodlands fringing the road, it is no wonder that a race of bushrangers sprang into existence, and the marvel is that the police should ever have been able to hunt them down. so fresh is all this very vital history in the development of a nation, that one can still see upon the trees the marks of the explorers' axes, as they endeavoured to find a straight trail among the countless winding gullies. at mount york, the highest view-point, a monument has been erected to them, at the place from which they got the first glimpse of the promised land beyond. we had been told that in the tropical weather now prevailing, it was quite vain for us to go to queensland, for no one would come to listen to lectures. my own belief was, however, that this subject has stirred people very deeply, and that they will suffer any inconvenience to learn about it. mr. smythe was of opinion, at first, that my audiences were drawn from those who came from curiosity because they had read my writings, but when he found that the second and the third meetings were as full as the first, he was forced to admit that the credit of success lay with the matter rather than with the man. in any case i reflected that my presence in brisbane would certainly bring about the usual press controversy, with a free ventilation of the subject, so we determined to go. mr. smythe, for once, did not accompany us, but the very capable lady who assists him, miss sternberg, looked after all arrangements. it was a very wearisome train journey of twenty-eight hours; tropically hot, rather dusty, with a change in the middle, and the usual stuffiness of a sleeper, which was superior to the ordinary american one, but below the british standard. how the americans, with their nice sense of decency, can stand the awful accommodation their railway companies give them, or at any rate, used to give them, is incomprehensible, but public opinion in all matters asserts itself far less directly in america than in britain. australia is half-way between, and, certainly, i have seen abuses there in the management of trains, posts, telegrams and telephones, which would have evoked loud protests at home. i think that there is more initiative at home. for example, when the railway strike threatened to throttle the country, the public rose to the occasion and improvised methods which met the difficulty. i have not heard of anything of the kind in the numerous strikes with which this community is harassed. any individual action arouses attention. i remember the amusement of the hon. agar wynne when, on arriving late at melbourne, in the absence of porters, i got a trolley, placed my own luggage on it, and wheeled it to a cab. yet we thought nothing of that when labour was short in london. the country north of sydney is exactly like the blue mountains, on a lesser scale--riven ranges of sandstone covered with gum trees. i cannot understand those who say there is nothing worth seeing in australia, for i know no big city which has glorious scenery so near it as sydney. after crossing the queensland border, one comes to the darling downs, unsurpassed for cattle and wheat. our first impressions of the new state were that it was the most naturally rich of any australian colony, and the longer we were in it, the more did we realise that this was indeed so. it is so enormous, however, that it is certain, sooner or later, to be divided into a south, middle, and north, each of which will be a large and flourishing community. we observed from the railway all sorts of new vegetable life, and i was especially interested to notice that our english yellow mullein was lining the track, making its way gradually up country. even sydney did not provide a warmer and more personal welcome than that which we both received when we at last reached brisbane. at toowoomba, and other stations on the way, small deputations of spiritualists had met the train, but at brisbane the platform was crowded. my wife was covered with flowers, and we were soon made to realise that we had been misinformed in the south, when we were told that the movement was confined to a small circle. we were tired, but my wife rose splendidly to the occasion. the local paper says: "carefully concealing all feelings of fatigue and tiredness after the long and wearisome train journey from sydney, lady doyle charmed the large gathering of spiritualists assembled at the central railway station on saturday night, to meet her and her husband. in vivacious fashion, lady doyle responded to the many enthusiastic greetings, and she was obviously delighted with the floral gifts presented to her on her arrival. to a press representative, lady doyle expressed her admiration of the australian scenery, and she referred enthusiastically to the darling downs district and to the toowoomba range. during her husband's absence in new zealand, lady doyle and her children spent a holiday in the blue mountains (new south wales), and were delighted with the innumerable gorgeous beauty spots there." after a short experience, when we were far from comfortable, we found our way to the bellevue hotel, where a kindly old irish proprietress, mrs. finegan, gave us greater attention and luxury than we had found anywhere up to then on the australian continent. the usual press discussion was in full swing. the more bigoted clergy in brisbane, as elsewhere, were very vituperative, but so unreasonable and behind their own congregations in knowledge and intelligence, that they must have alienated many who heard them. father lane, for example, preaching in the cathedral, declared that the whole subject was "an abomination to the lord." he does not seem to have asked himself why the lord gave us these powers if they are an abomination. he also declared that we denied our moral responsibility to god in this life, a responsibility which must have weighed rather lightly upon father lane when he made so false a statement. the rev. l. h. jaggers, not to be outdone in absurdity by father lane, described all our fellow-mortals of india, china and japan as "demoniacal races." dr. cosh put forward the presbyterian sentiment that i was anti-christ, and a serious menace to the spiritual life of australia. really, when i see the want of all truth and charity shown by these gentlemen, it does begin to convince me of the reality of diabolical interference in the affairs of mankind, for i cannot understand why, otherwise, such efforts should be made to obscure, by falsehood and abuse, the great revelation and comfort which god has sent us. the opposition culminated in an open letter from dr. cosh in the _mail_, demanding that i should define my exact views as to the trinity, the atonement, and other such mysteries. i answered by pointing out that all the religious troubles of the past had come from the attempt to give exact definitions of things which were entirely beyond the human power of thought, and that i refused to be led along so dangerous a path. one baptist clergyman, named rowe, had the courage to say that he was on my side, but with that exception i fear that i had a solid phalanx against me. on the other hand, the general public were amazingly friendly. it was the more wonderful as it was tropical weather, even for brisbane. in that awful heat the great theatre could not hold the people, and they stood in the upper galleries, packed tightly, for an hour and a half without a movement or a murmur. it was a really wonderful sight. twice the house was packed this way, so (as the tasmanian venture was now hopeless, owing to the shipping strike) i determined to remain in our very comfortable quarters at the bellevue hotel, and give one more lecture, covering fresh ground. the subject opens up so that i am sure i could lecture for a week without repeating myself. on this occasion the house was crowded once more. the theatrical manager said, "well, if it was comic opera in the season, it could not have succeeded better!" i was rather exhausted at the end, for i spoke, as usual, with no chairman, and gave them a full ninety minutes, but it was nearing the end of my work, and the prospect of the quiet time ahead of us helped me on. i met a kinsman, dr. a. a. doyle, who is a distinguished skin specialist, in brisbane. he knew little of psychic matters, but he had met with a remarkable experience. his son, a splendid young fellow, died at the front. at that moment his father woke to find the young soldier stooping over him, his face quite close. he at once woke his wife and told her that their son, he feared, was dead. but here comes a fine point. he said to the wife, "eric has had a return of the acne of the face, for which i treated him years ago. i saw the spots." the next post brought a letter, written before eric's death, asking that some special ointment should be sent, as his acne had returned. this is a very instructive case, as showing that even an abnormal thing is reproduced at first upon the etheric body. but what has a materialist to say to the whole story? he can only evade it, or fall back upon his usual theory, that every one who reports such occurrences is either a fool or a liar. we had a pleasant sunday among the birds of queensland. mr. chisholm, an enthusiastic bird-lover, took us round to see two very large aviaries, since the haunt of the wild birds was beyond our reach. birds in captivity have always saddened me, but here i found them housed in such great structures, with every comfort included, and every natural enemy excluded, that really one could not pity them. one golden pheasant amused us, for he is a very conceited bird when all is well with him, and likes to occupy the very centre of the stage, with the spot light upon him, and a chorus of drab hens admiring him from the rear. we had caught him, however, when he was moulting, and he was so conscious of his bedraggled glories that he dodged about behind a barrel, and scuttled under cover every time we tried to put him out. a fearful thing happened one day, for a careless maid left the door ajar, and in the morning seventy of the inmates were gone. it must have been a cruel blow to mr. baldwin, who is devoted to his collection. however, he very wisely left the door open, after securing the remaining birds, and no less than thirty-four of the refugees returned. the fate of the others was probably tragic, for they were far from the mountains which are their home. mr. farmer whyte, the very progressive editor of the _daily mail_, who is miles ahead of most journalists in psychic knowledge, took us for an interesting drive through the dense woods of one tree hill. here we were courteously met by two of the original owners, one of them an iguana, a great, heavy lizard, which bolted up a tree, and the other a kangaroo, who stood among the brushwood, his ears rotating with emotion, while he gazed upon our halted car. from the summit of the hill one has a wonderful view of the ranges stretching away to the horizon in all directions, while at one's feet lies the very wide spread city. as nearly every dwelling house is a bungalow, with its own little ground, the australian cities take up great space, which is nullified by their very excellent tram services. a beautiful river, the brisbane, rather wider than the thames, winds through the town, and has sufficient depth to allow ocean steamers to come within cab-drive of the hotels. about this time i had the usual experience which every visitor to the states or to the dominions is liable to, in that his own utterances in his letters home get into print, and boomerang back upon him. my own feelings, both to the australian people and their country, have been so uniformly whole-hearted that i should have thought no mischief could be made, but at the same time, i have always written freely that which i was prepared to stand by. in this case, the extract, from a private letter, removed from all modifying context, came through as follows: "sir conan doyle, quoted in the _international psychic gazette_, in referring to his 'ups and downs' in australia, says: 'amid the "downs" is the press boycott, caused partly by ignorance and want of proportion, partly by moral cowardice and fear of finding out later that they had backed the wrong horse, or had given the wrong horse fair play. they are very backward, and far behind countries like iceland and denmark in the knowledge of what has been done in spiritualism. they are dear folk, these australians, but, lord, they want spirituality, and dynamiting out of their grooves! the presbyterians actually prayed that i might not reach the country. this is rather near murder, if they thought their rotten prayers would avail. the result was an excellent voyage, but it is the spiritual deadness of this place which gets on my nerves.'" this was copied into every paper in australia, but it was soon recognised that "this place" was not australia, but melbourne, from which the letter was dated. i have already recorded how i was treated by the leading paper in that city, and my general experience there was faithfully reflected in my remarks. therefore, i had nothing to withdraw. my more extended experience taught me that the general level of intelligence and of spirituality in the australasian towns is as high as in the average towns of great britain, though none are so far advanced as towns like manchester or glasgow, nor are there the same number of professional and educated men who have come forward and given testimony. the thirst for information was great, however, and that proved an open mind, which must now lead to a considerable extension of knowledge within the churches as well as without. my remarks had been caused by the action of the _argus_, but the _age_, the other leading melbourne paper, seemed to think that its honour was also touched, and had a very severe leading article upon my delinquencies, and my alleged views, which was, as usual, a wild travesty of my real ones. it began this article by the assertion that, apparently, i still thought that australia was inhabited by the aborigines, before i ventured to bring forward such theories. such a remark, applied to a subject which has won the assent in varying degrees of every one who has seriously examined it, and which has its foundation resting upon the labours of some of the greatest minds in the world, did not help me to recover my respect for the mentality and breadth of view of the journals of melbourne. i answered, pointing out that david syme, the very distinguished founder of the paper, by no means shared this contempt to spiritualism, as is shown by two long letters included in his published life. this attitude, and that of so many other objectors, is absolutely unintelligible to me. they must know that this cult is spreading and that many capable minds have examined and endorsed it. they must know, also, that the views we proclaim, the continuance of happy life and the practical abolition of death are, if true, the grandest advance that the human race has ever made. and yet, so often, instead of saying, "well, here is some one who is supposed to know something about the matter. let us see if this grand claim can possibly be established by evidence and argument," they break into insults and revilings as if something offensive had been laid before them. this attitude can only arise from the sluggish conservatism of the human brain, which runs easily in certain well-worn grooves, and is horrified by the idea that something may come to cause mental exertion and readjustment. illustration: laying foundation stone of spiritualist church at brisbane. i am bound to add that the general public went out of their way to show that their press did not represent their views. the following passage is typical of many: "the criticism which you have so justly resented is, i am sure, not in keeping with the views of the majority of the australian people. in my own small sphere many of my friends have been stirred deeply by your theories, and the inspiration in some cases has been so marked that the fact should afford you satisfaction. we are not all spiritually defunct. many are quite satisfied that you are giving your best for humanity, and believe that there is a tremendous revelation coming to this weary old world." the spiritualists of brisbane, greatly daring, have planned out a church which is to cost £10,000, trusting to those who work with us on the other side to see the enterprise through. the possible fallacy lies in the chance that those on the other side do not desire to see this immense movement become a separate sect, but are in favour of the peaceful penetration of all creeds by our new knowledge. it is on record that early in the movement senator talmadge asked two different spirit controls, in different states of the union, what the ultimate goal of this spiritual outburst might be, and received exactly the same answer from each, namely, that it was to prove immortality and to unify the churches. the first half has been done, so far as survival implies immortality, and the second may well come to pass, by giving such a large common platform to each church that they will learn to disregard the smaller differences. be this as it may, one could not but admire the faith and energy of mr. reinhold and the others who were determined to have a temple of their own. i laid the foundation stone at three in the afternoon under so tropical a sun that i felt as if the ceremony was going to have its immemorial accompaniment of a human sacrifice and even of a whole-burned offering. the crowd made matters worse, but a friendly bystander with an umbrella saved me from heat apoplexy. i felt the occasion was a solemn one, for it was certainly the first spiritual church in the whole of queensland, and i doubt if we have many anywhere in australia, for among our apostolic gifts poverty is conspicuous. it has always amazed me how theosophists and christian scientists get their fine halls and libraries, while we, with our zeal and our knowledge, have some bare schoolroom or worse as our only meeting place. it reflects little credit upon the rich people who accept the comforts we bring, but share none of the burdens we bear. there is a kink in their souls. i spoke at some length, and the people listened with patience in spite of the great heat. it was an occasion when i could, with propriety, lay emphasis upon the restraint and charity with which such a church should be run. the brisbane paper reports me as follows: "i would emphasise three things. mind your own business; go on quietly in your own way; you know the truth, and do not need to quarrel with other people. there are many roads to salvation. the second point i would urge is that you should live up to your knowledge. we know for certain that we live on after death, that everything we do in this world influences what comes after; therefore, we can afford to be unselfish and friendly to other religions. some spiritualists run down the bible, whereas it is from cover to cover a spiritual book. i would like to see the bible read in every spiritualistic church with particular attention paid to the passages dealing with occultism. the third point i would emphasise is that you should have nothing to do with fortune-telling or anything of that kind. all fortune-telling is really a feeling out in the dark. if good things are going to happen to you be content to wait for them, and if evil is to come nothing is to be gained by attempting to anticipate it. my sympathies are with the police in their attitude to fortune-tellers, whose black magic is far removed from the services of our mediums in striving to bring comfort to those whose loved ones have gone before. if these three things are lived up to, this church will be a source of great brightness and happiness." our work was pleasantly broken by an invitation to lunch with sir matthew nathan, at government house. sir matthew impresses one as a man of character, and as he is a financial authority he is in a position to help by his advice in restoring the credit of queensland. the matter in dispute, which has been called repudiation, does not, as it seems to me, deserve so harsh a term, as it is one of those cases where there are two sides to the question, so equally balanced that it is difficult for an outsider to pronounce a judgment. on the one hand the great squatters who hold millions of acres in the state had received the land on considerable leases which charged them with a very low rent--almost a nominal one--on condition of their taking up and developing the country. on the other hand, the government say these leases were granted under very different circumstances, the lessees have already done very well out of them, the war has made it imperative that the state raise funds, and the assets upon which the funds can be raised are all in the hands of these lessees, who should consent to a revision of their agreements. so stands the quarrel, so far as i could understand it, and the state has actually imposed the increased rates. hence the cry that they have repudiated their own contract. the result of the squatters' grievance was that mr. theodore, the premier, was unable to raise money in the london market, and returned home with the alternative of getting a voluntary loan in the colony, or of raising a compulsory loan from those who had the money. the latter has an ugly sound, and yet the need is great, and if some may be compelled to serve with their bodies i do not see why some may not also be compelled to serve with their purses. the assets of the colony compare very favourably, i believe, with others, for while these others have sold their lands, the government of queensland has still the ownership of the main tracts of the gloriously fertile country. therefore, with an issue at 6-1/2 per cent., without tax, one would think that they should have no difficulty in getting any reasonable sum. i was cinemaed in the act of applying for a small share in the issue, but i think the advertisement would have been of more value to the loan, had they captured some one of greater financial stability. the more one examines this alleged "repudiation" the less reason appears in the charge, and as it has assuredly injured queensland's credit, it is well that an impartial traveller should touch upon it. the squatters are the richer folk and in a position to influence the public opinion of the world, and in their anxiety to exploit their own grievance they seem to have had little regard for the reputation of their country. it is like a man burning down his house in the hope of roasting some other inmate of whom he disapproves. a conservative paper (the _producer's review_, january 10th, 1921), says: "no living man can say how much queensland has been damaged by the foolish partisan statements that have been uttered and published." the article proceeds to show in very convincing style, with chapter and verse, that the government has always been well within its rights, and that a conservative government on a previous occasion did the same thing, framing a bill on identical lines. on january 12th my kinsman, dr. doyle, with his charming wife, took us out into the bush for a billy tea--that is, to drink tea which is prepared as the bushmen prepare it in their tin cans. it was certainly excellent, and we enjoyed the drive and the whole experience, though uninvited guests of the mosquito tribe made things rather lively for us. i prayed that my face would be spared, as i did not wish to turn up at my lecture as if i had been having a round with dr. cosh, and i react in a most whole-hearted way to any attentions from an insect. the result was certainly remarkable, be it coincidence or not, for though my hands were like boxing-gloves, and my neck all swollen, there was not a mark upon my face. i fancy that the hardened inhabitants hardly realise what new chums endure after they are bitten by these pests. it means to me not only disfigurement, but often a sleepless night. my wife and the children seem to escape more lightly. i found many objects of interest in the bush--among others a spider's web so strong that full-sized dragon flies were enmeshed in it. i could not see the creature itself, but it must have been as big as a tarantula. our host was a large landowner as well as a specialist, and he talked seriously of leaving the country, so embittered was he by the land-policy of the government. at the same time, the fact that he could sell his estate at a fair price seemed to imply that others took a less grave view of the situation. many of the richer classes think that labour is adopting a policy of deliberate petty irritation in order to drive them out of the country, but perhaps they are over-sensitive. so full was our life in brisbane that there was hardly a day that we had not some memorable experience, even when i had to lecture in the evening. often we were going fourteen and fifteen hours a day, and a tropical day at that. on january 14th we were taken to see the largest bee-farm in australia, run by mr. h. l. jones. ever since i consigned mr. sherlock holmes to a bee farm for his old age, i have been supposed to know something of the subject, but really i am so ignorant that when a woman wrote to me and said she would be a suitable housekeeper to the retired detective because she could "segregate the queen," i did not know what she meant. on this occasion i saw the operation and many other wonderful things which make me appreciate maeterlinck's prose-poem upon the subject. there is little poetry about mr. jones however, and he is severely practical. he has numbers of little boxes with a store of bee-food compressed into one end of them. into each he thrusts a queen with eight attendants to look after her. the food is enough to last two months, so he simply puts on a postage stamp and sends it off to any one in california or south africa who is starting an apiary. several hives were opened for our inspection with the precaution of blowing in some smoke to pacify the bees. we were told that this sudden inrush of smoke gives the bees the idea that some great cataclysm has occurred, and their first action is to lay in a store of honey, each of them, as a man might seize provisions in an earthquake so as to be ready for whatever the future might bring. he showed us that the queen, fed with some special food by the workers, can lay twice her own weight of eggs in a day, and that if we could find something similar for hens we could hope for an unbroken stream of eggs. clever as the bee is it is clearly an instinctive hereditary cleverness, for man has been able to make many improvements in its methods, making artificial comb which is better than the original, in that it has cells for more workers and fewer drones. altogether it was a wonderful demonstration, which could be viewed with comfort under a veil with one's hands in one's pockets, for though we were assured they would not sting if they knew we would not hurt them, a misunderstanding was possible. one lady spectator seemed to have a sudden ambition to break the standing jump record, and we found that she had received two stings, but mr. jones and his assistants covered their hands with the creatures and were quite immune. a half-wild wallaby appeared during our visit, and after some coyness yielded to the fascination which my wife exercises over all animals, and fed out of her hand. we were assured that this had never before occurred in the case of any visitor. we found in brisbane, as in every other town, that the question of domestic service, the most important of all questions to a householder, was very acute. ladies who occupied leading positions in the town assured us that it was impossible to keep maids, and that they were compelled now to give it up in despair, and to do all their own house work with such casual daily assistance as they could get. a pound a week is a common wage for very inefficient service. it is a serious matter and no solution is in sight. english maids are, i am sorry to say, looked upon as the worst of all, for to all the other faults they add constant criticism of their employers, whom they pronounce to be "no ladies" because they are forced to do many things which are not done at home. inefficiency plus snobbishness is a dreadful mixture. altogether the lot of the australian lady is not an easy one, and we admired the brave spirit with which they rose above their troubles. this servant question bears very directly upon the imperial puzzle of the northern territory. a white man may live and even work there, but a white woman cannot possibly run a household unless domestic labour is plentiful. in that climate it simply means absolute breakdown in a year. therefore it is a mad policy which at present excludes so rigorously the chinese, indians or others who alone can make white households possible. white labour assumes a dog in the manger policy, for it will not, or cannot, do the work itself, and yet it shuts out those who could do it. it is an impossible position and must be changed. how severe and unreasonable are the coloured immigrant laws is shown by the fact that the experienced and popular commander of the _naldera_, captain lewellin, was fined at sydney a large sum of money because three goa indians deserted from his ship. there is a great demand for indian camel drivers in the north, and this no doubt was the reason for the desertion, but what a _reductio ad absurdum_ of the law which comes between the demand and the supply, besides punishing an innocent victim. as usual a large number of psychic confidences reached us, some of which were very interesting. one lady is a clairaudient, and on the occasion of her mother falling ill she heard the words "wednesday--the fifteenth." death seemed a matter of hours, and the date far distant, but the patient, to the surprise of the doctors, still lingered. then came the audible message "she will tell you where she is going." the mother had lain for two days helpless and comatose. suddenly she opened her eyes and said in a clear strong voice, "i have seen the mansions in my father's house. my husband and children await me there. i could not have imagined anything so exquisitely lovely." then she breathed her last, the date being the 15th. we were entertained to dinner on the last evening by the hon. john fihilly, acting premier of the colony, and his wife. he is an irish labour leader with a remarkable resemblance to dan o'connell in his younger days. i was pleased to see that the toast of the king was given though it was not called for at a private dinner. fihilly is a member of the government, and i tackled him upon the question of british emigrants being enticed out by specious promises on the part of colonial agents in london, only to find that no work awaited them. some deplorable cases had come within my own observation, one, an old lancashire fusilier, having walked the streets for six months. he assured me that the arrangements were now in perfect order, and that emigrants were held back in the old country until they could be sure that there was a place for them. there are so many out of work in australia that one feels some sympathy with those labour men who are against fresh arrivals. and there lies the great problem which we have not, with all our experience, managed to master. on the one side illimitable land calling for work. on the other innumerable workers calling for land. and yet the two cannot be joined. i remember how it jarred me when i saw edmonton, in western canada, filled with out-of-workers while the great land lay uninhabited. the same strange paradox meets one here. it is just the connecting link that is missing, and that link lies in wise prevision. the helpless newcomer can do nothing if he and his family are dumped down upon a hundred acres of gum trees. put yourself in their position. how can they hope with their feeble hands to clear the ground? all this early work must be done for them by the state, the owner repaying after he has made good. let the emigrant move straight on to a cleared farm, with a shack-house already prepared, and clear instructions as to the best crops, and how to get them. then it seems to me that emigration would bring no want of employment in its train. but the state must blaze the trail and the public follow after. such arrangements may even now exist, but if so they need expansion and improvement, for they do not seem to work. before leaving brisbane my attention was drawn to the fact that the state photographer, when he took the scene of the opening of the loan, had produced to all appearance a psychic effect. the brisbane papers recorded it as follows: -"'it is a remarkable result, and i cannot offer any opinion as to what caused it. it is absolutely mystifying.' such was the declaration made yesterday by the government photographer, mr. w. mobsby, in regard to the unique effect associated with a photograph he took on thursday last of sir a. conan doyle. mr. mobsby, who has been connected with photography since boyhood, explained that he was instructed to take an official photograph of the function at which sir a. conan doyle handed over his subscription to the state loan organiser. when he arrived, the entrance to the building was thronged by a large crowd, and he had to mount a stepladder, which was being used by the _daily mail_ photographer, in order to get a good view of the proceedings. mr. mobsby took only one picture, just at the moment sir a. conan doyle was mounting the steps at the government tourist bureau to meet the acting premier, mr. j. fihilly. mr. mobsby developed the film himself, and was amazed to find that while all the other figures in the picture were distinct the form of sir a. conan doyle appeared enveloped in mist and could only be dimly seen. the photograph was taken on an ordinary film with a no. 3a kodak, and careful examination does not in any way indicate the cause of the sensational result." i have had so many personal proofs of the intervention of supernormal agencies during the time that i have been engaged upon this task that i am prepared to accept the appearance of this aura as being an assurance of the presence of those great forces for whom i act as a humble interpreter. at the same time, the sceptic is very welcome to explain it as a flawed film and a coincidence. illustration: curious photographic effect referred to in the text. taken by the official photographer, brisbane, "absolutely mystifying" is his description. we returned from brisbane to sydney in the orient liner "orsova," which is a delightful alternative to the stuffy train. the sea has always been a nursing mother to me, and i suppose i have spent a clear two years of my life upon the waves. we had a restful sunday aboard the boat, disturbed only by the sunday service, which left its usual effect upon my mind. the psalms were set to some unhappy tune, very different from the grand gregorian rhythm, so that with its sudden rise to a higher level it sounded more like the neighing of horses than the singing of mortals. the words must surely offend anyone who considers what it is that he is saying--a mixture of most unmanly wailing and spiteful threats. how such literature has been perpetuated three thousand years, and how it can ever have been sacred, is very strange. altogether from first to last there was nothing, save only the lord's prayer, which could have any spiritual effect. these old observances are like an iron ball tied to the leg of humanity, for ever hampering spiritual progress. if now, after the warning of the great war, we have not the mental energy and the moral courage to get back to realities, we shall deserve what is coming to us. on january 17th we were back, tired but contented, in the medlow bath hotel in the heart of the blue mountains--an establishment which i can heartily recommend to any who desire a change from the summer heats of sydney. chapter xi medlow bath.--jenolan caves.--giant skeleton.--mrs. foster turner's mediumship.--a wonderful prophecy.--final results.--third sitting with bailey.--failure of state control.--retrospection.--melbourne presentation.--crooks.--lecture at perth.--west australia.--rabbits, sparrows and sharks. we recuperated after our brisbane tour by spending the next week at medlow bath, that little earthly paradise, which is the most restful spot we have found in our wanderings. it was built originally by mr. mark foy, a successful draper of sydney, and he is certainly a man of taste, for he has adorned it with a collection of prints and of paintings--hundreds of each--which would attract attention in any city, but which on a mountain top amid the wildest scenery give one the idea of an arabian nights palace. there was a passage some hundreds of yards long, which one has to traverse on the way to each meal, and there was a certain series of french prints, representing events of byzantine history, which i found it difficult to pass, so that i was often a late comer. a very fair library is among the other attractions of this remarkable place. before leaving we spent one long day at the famous jenolan caves, which are distant about forty-five miles. as the said miles are very up-and-down, and as the cave exploration involves several hours of climbing, it makes a fairly hard day's work. we started all seven in a motor, as depicted by the wayside photographers, but baby got sick and had to be left with jakeman at the half-way house, where we picked her up, quite recovered, on our return. it was as well, for the walk would have been quite beyond her, and yet having once started there is no return, so we should have ended by carrying her through all the subterranean labyrinths. the road is a remarkably good one, and represents a considerable engineering feat. it passes at last through an enormous archway of rock which marks the entrance to the cave formations. these caves are hollowed out of what was once a coral reef in a tropical sea, but is now sixty miles inland with a mountain upon the top of it--such changes this old world has seen. if the world were formed only that man might play his drama upon it, then mankind must be in the very earliest days of his history, for who would build so elaborate a stage if the play were to be so short and insignificant? illustration: our party en route to the jenolan caves, january 20th, 1921, in front of old court house in which bushrangers were tried. the caves are truly prodigious. they were discovered first in the pursuit of some poor devil of a bushranger who must have been hard put to it before he took up his residence in this damp and dreary retreat. a brave man, wilson, did most of the actual exploring, lowering himself by a thin rope into noisome abysses of unknown depth and charting out the whole of this devil's warren. it is so vast that many weeks would be needed to go through it, and it is usual at one visit to take only a single sample. on this occasion it was the river cave, so named because after many wanderings you come on a river about twenty feet across and forty-five feet deep which has to be navigated for some distance in a punt. the stalactite effects, though very wonderful, are not, i think, superior to those which i have seen in derbyshire, and the caves have none of that historical glamour which is needed in order to link some large natural object to our own comprehension. i can remember in derbyshire how my imagination and sympathy were stirred by a roman lady's brooch which had been found among the rubble. either a wild beast or a bandit knew best how it got there. jenolan has few visible links with the past, but one of them is a tremendous one. it is the complete, though fractured, skeleton of a very large man--seven foot four said the guide, but he may have put it on a little--who was found partly imbedded in the lime. many ages ago he seems to have fallen through the roof of the cavern, and the bones of a wallaby hard by give some indication that he was hunting at the time, and that his quarry shared his fate. he was of the black fellow type, with a low-class cranium. it is remarkable the proportion of very tall men who are dug up in ancient tombs. again and again the bogs of ireland have yielded skeletons of seven and eight feet. some years ago a scythian chief was dug up on the southern steppes of russia who was eight feet six. what a figure of a man with his winged helmet and his battle axe! all over the world one comes upon these giants of old, and one wonders whether they represented some race, further back still, who were all gigantic. the babylonian tradition in our bible says: "and there were giants in those days." the big primeval kangaroo has grown down to the smaller modern one, the wombat, which was an animal as big as a tapir, is now as small as a badger, the great saurians have become little lizards, and so it would seem not unreasonable to suppose that man may have run to great size at some unexplored period in his evolution. we all emerged rather exhausted from the bowels of the earth, dazed with the endless succession of strange gypsum formations which we had seen, minarets, thrones, shawls, coronets, some of them so made that one could imagine that the old kobolds had employed their leisure hours in fashioning their freakish outlines. it was a memorable drive home in the evening. once as a bird flew above my head, the slanting ray of the declining sun struck it and turned it suddenly to a vivid scarlet and green. it was the first of many parrots. once also a couple of kangaroos bounded across the road, amid wild cries of delight from the children. once, too, a long snake writhed across and was caught by one of the wheels of the motor. rabbits, i am sorry to say, abounded. if they would confine themselves to these primeval woods, australia would be content. this was the last of our pleasant australian excursions, and we left medlow bath refreshed not only by its charming atmosphere, but by feeling that we had gained new friends. we made our way on january 26th to sydney, where all business had to be settled up and preparations made for our homeward voyage. whilst in sydney i had an opportunity of examining several phases of mediumship which will be of interest to the psychic reader. i called upon mrs. foster turner, who is perhaps the greatest all-round medium with the highest general level of any sensitive in australia. i found a middle-aged lady of commanding and pleasing appearance with a dignified manner and a beautifully modulated voice, which must be invaluable to her in platform work. her gifts are so many that it must have been difficult for her to know which to cultivate, but she finally settled upon medical diagnosis, in which she has, i understand, done good work. her practice is considerable, and her help is not despised by some of the leading practitioners. this gift is, as i have explained previously in the case of mr. bloomfield, a form of clairvoyance, and mrs. foster turner enjoys all the other phases of that wonderful power, including psychometry, with its application to detective work, the discerning of spirits, and to a very marked degree the gift of prophecy, which she has carried upon certain occasions to a length which i have never known equalled in any reliable record of the past. here is an example for which, i am told, a hundred witnesses could be cited. at a meeting at the little theatre, castlereagh street, sydney, on a sunday evening of february, 1914, mrs. turner addressed the audience under an inspiration which claimed to be w. t. stead. he ended his address by saying that in order to prove that he spoke with a power beyond mortal, he would, on the next sunday, give a prophecy as to the future of the world. next sunday some 900 people assembled, when mrs. turner, once more under control, spoke as follows. i quote from notes taken at the time. "now, although there is not at present a whisper of a great european war at hand, yet i want to warn you that before this year, 1914, has run its course, europe will be deluged in blood. great britain, our beloved nation, will be drawn into the most awful war the world has ever known. germany will be the great antagonist, and will draw other nations in her train. austria will totter to its ruin. kings and kingdoms will fall. millions of precious lives will be slaughtered, but britain will finally triumph and emerge victorious. during the year, also, the pope of rome will pass away, and a bomb will be placed in st. paul's church, but will be discovered in time and removed before damage is done." can any prophecy be more accurate or better authenticated than that? the only equally exact prophecy on public events which i can recall is when emma hardinge britten, having been refused permission in 1860 to deliver a lecture on spiritualism in the town hall of atlanta, declared that, before many years had passed, that very town hall would be choked up with the dead and the dying, drawn from the state which persecuted her. this came literally true in the civil war a few years later, when sherman's army passed that way. mrs. foster turner's gift of psychometry is one which will be freely used by the community when we become more civilised and less ignorant. as an example of how it works, some years ago a melbourne man named cutler disappeared, and there was a considerable debate as to his fate. his wife, without giving a name, brought cutler's boot to mrs. turner. she placed it near her forehead and at once got _en rapport_ with the missing man. she described how he left his home, how he kissed his wife good-bye, all the succession of his movements during that morning, and finally how he had fallen or jumped over a bridge into the river, where he had been caught under some snag. a search at the place named revealed the dead body. if this case be compared with that of mr. foxhall, already quoted, one can clearly see that the same law underlies each. but what an ally for our c.i.d.! there was one pleasant incident in connection with my visit to mrs. foster turner. upon my asking her whether she had any psychic impression when she saw me lecturing, she said that i was accompanied on the platform by a man in spirit life, about 70 years of age, grey-bearded, with rugged eyebrows. she searched her mind for a name, and then said, "alfred russell wallace." doctor abbott, who was present, confirmed that she had given that name at the time. it will be remembered that mrs. roberts, of dunedin, had also given the name of the great spiritualistic scientist as being my coadjutor. there was no possible connection between mrs. turner and mrs. roberts. indeed, the intervention of the strike had made it almost impossible for them to communicate, even if they had known each other--which they did not. it was very helpful to me to think that so great a soul was at my side in the endeavour to stimulate the attention of the world. two days before our departure we attended the ordinary sunday service of the spiritualists at stanmore road, which appeared to be most reverently and beautifully conducted. it is indeed pleasant to be present at a religious service which in no way offends one's taste or one's reason--which cannot always be said, even of spiritualistic ones. at the end i was presented with a beautifully illuminated address from the faithful of sydney, thanking me for what they were pleased to call "the splendidly successful mission on behalf of spiritualism in sydney." "you are a specially chosen leader," it went on, "endowed with power to command attention from obdurate minds. we rejoice that you are ready to consecrate your life to the spread of our glorious gospel, which contains more proof of the eternal love of god than any other truth yet revealed to man." so ran this kindly document. it was decorated with australian emblems, and as there was a laughing jackass in the corner, i was able to raise a smile by suggesting that they had adorned it with the picture of a type of opponent with whom we were very familiar, the more so as some choice specimens had been observed in sydney. there are some gentle souls in our ranks who refrain from all retort--and morally, they are no doubt the higher--but personally, when i am moved by the malevolence and ignorance of our opponents, i cannot help hitting back at them. it was mark twain, i think, who said that, instead of turning the other cheek, he returned the other's cheek. that is my unregenerate instinct. i was able, for the first time, to give a bird's-eye view of my tour and its final results. i had, in all, addressed twenty-five meetings, averaging 2,000 people in each, or 50,000 people in all. i read aloud a letter from mr. carlyle smythe, who, with his father, had managed the tours of every lecturer of repute who had come to australia during the past thirty years. mr. smythe knew what success and failure were, and he said: "for an equal number of lectures, yours has proved the most prosperous tour in my experience. no previous tour has won such consistent success. from the push-off at adelaide to the great boom in new zealand and brisbane, it has been a great dynamic progression of enthusiasm. i have known in my career nothing parallel to it." the enemies of our cause were longing for my failure, and had, indeed, in some cases most unscrupulously announced it, so it was necessary that i should give precise details as to this great success, and to the proof which it afforded that the public mind was open to the new revelation. but, after all, the money test was the acid one. i had taken a party of seven people at a time when all expenses were doubled or trebled by the unnatural costs of travel and of living, which could not be made up for by increasing the price of admission. it would seem a miracle that i could clear this great bill of expenses in a country like australia, where the large towns are few. and yet i was able to show that i had not only done so, after paying large sums in taxation, but that i actually had seven hundred pounds over. this i divided among spiritual funds in australia, the bulk of it, five hundred pounds, being devoted to a guarantee of expenses for the next lecturer who should follow me. it seemed to me that such a lecturer, if well chosen, and properly guaranteed against loss, might devote a longer time than i, and visit the smaller towns, from which i had often the most touching appeals. if he were successful, he need not touch the guarantee fund, and so it would remain as a perpetual source of active propaganda. such was the scheme which i outlined that night, and which was eventually adopted by the spiritualists of both australia and new zealand. illustration: denis with a black snake at medlow bath. on my last evening at sydney, i attended a third séance with charles bailey, the apport medium. it was not under test conditions, so that it can claim no strict scientific value, and yet the results are worth recording. it had struck me that a critic might claim that there was phosphorescent matter inside the spectacle case, which seemed to be the only object which bailey took inside the cabinet, so i insisted on examining it, but found it quite innocent. the usual inconclusive shadowy appearance of luminous vapour was evident almost at once, but never, so far as i could judge, out of reach of the cabinet, which was simply a blanket drawn across the corner of the room. the hindoo control then announced that an apport would be brought, and asked that water be placed in a tin basin. he (that is, bailey himself, under alleged control) then emerged, the lights being half up, carrying the basin over his head. on putting it down, we all saw two strange little young tortoises swimming about in it. i say "strange," because i have seen none like them. they were about the size of a half-crown, and the head, instead of being close to the shell, was at the end of a thin neck half as long as the body. there were a dozen australians present, and they all said they had never seen any similar ones. the control claimed that he had just brought them from a tank in benares. the basin was left on the table, and while the lights were down, the creatures disappeared. it is only fair to say that they could have been removed by hand in the dark, but on examining the table, i was unable to see any of those sloppings of water which might be expected to follow such an operation. shortly afterwards there was a great crash in the dark, and a number of coins fell on to the table, and were handed to me by the presiding control as a parting present. they did not, i fear, help me much with my hotel bill, for they were fifty-six turkish copper pennies, taken "from a well," according to our informant. these two apports were all the phenomena, and the medium, who has been working very hard of late, showed every sign of physical collapse at the close. apart from the actual production in the séance room, which may be disputed, i should like to confront the honest sceptic with the extraordinary nature of the objects which bailey produces on these occasions. they cannot be disputed, for hundreds have handled them, collections of them have been photographed, there are cases full at the stanford university at california, and i am bringing a few samples back to england with me. if the whole transaction is normal, then where does he get them? i had an indian nest. does anyone import indian nests? does anyone import queer little tortoises with long, thin necks? is there a depot for turkish copper coins in australia? on the previous sitting, he got 100 chinese ones. those might be explained, since the chinaman is not uncommon in sydney, but surely he exports coins, rather than imports them. then what about 100 babylonian tablets, with legible inscriptions in assyrian, some of them cylindrical, with long histories upon them? granting that they are jewish forgeries, how do they get into the country? bailey's house was searched once by the police, but nothing was found. arabic papers, chinese schoolbooks, mandarins' buttons, tropical birds--all sorts of odd things arrive. if they are not genuine, where do they come from? the matter is ventilated in papers, and no one comes forward to damn bailey for ever by proving that he supplied them. it is no use passing the question by. it calls for an answer. if these articles can be got in any normal way, then what is the way? if not, then bailey has been a most ill-used man, and miracles are of daily occurrence in australia. this man should be under the strict, but patient and sympathetic, control of the greatest scientific observers in the world, instead of being allowed to wear himself out by promiscuous séances, given in order to earn a living. imagine our scientists expending themselves in the examination of shells, or the classification of worms, when such a subject as this awaits them. and it cannot await them long. the man dies, and then where are these experiments? but if such scientific investigation be made, it must be thorough and prolonged, directed by those who have real experience of occult matters, otherwise it will wreck itself upon some theological or other snag, as did colonel de rochas' attempt at grenoble. the longer one remains in australia, the more one is struck by the failure of state control. whenever you test it, in the telephones, the telegraphs and the post, it stands for inefficiency, with no possibility that i can see of remedy. the train service is better, but still far from good. as to the state ventures in steamboat lines and in banking, i have not enough information to guide me. on the face of it, it is evident that in each case there is no direct responsible master, and that there is no real means of enforcing discipline. i have talked to the heads of large institutions, who have assured me that the conduct of business is becoming almost impossible. when they send an urgent telegram, with a letter confirming it, it is no unusual thing for the letter to arrive first. no complaint produces any redress. the maximum compensation for sums lost in the post is, i am told, two pounds, so that the banks, whose registered letters continually disappear, suffer heavy losses. on the other hand, if they send a messenger with the money, there is a law by which all bullion carried by train has to be declared, and has to pay a commission. yet the public generally, having no standard of comparison, are so satisfied with the wretched public services, that there is a continued agitation to extend public control, and so ruin the well conducted private concerns. the particular instance which came under my notice was the ferry service of sydney harbour, which is admirably and cheaply conducted, and yet there is a clamour that it also should be dragged into this morass of slovenly inefficiency. i hope, however, that the tide will soon set the other way. i fear, from what i have seen of the actual working, that it is only under exceptional conditions, and with very rigorous and high-principled direction, that the state control of industries can be carried out. i cannot see that it is a political question, or that the democracy has any interest, save to have the public work done as well and as economically as possible. when the capitalist has a monopoly, and is exacting an undue return, it is another matter. as i look back at australia my prayers--if deep good wishes form a prayer--go out to it. save for that great vacuum upon the north, which a wise government would strive hard to fill, i see no other external danger which can threaten her people. but internally i am shadowed by the feeling that trouble may be hanging over them, though i am assured that the cool stability of their race will at last pull them through it. there are some dangerous factors there which make their position more precarious than our own, and behind a surface of civilisation there lie possible forces which might make for disruption. as a people they are rather less disciplined than a european nation. there is no large middle or leisured class who would represent moderation. labour has tried a labour government, and finding that politics will not really alter economic facts is now seeking some fresh solution. the land is held in many cases by large proprietors who work great tracts with few hands, so there is not the conservative element which makes the strength of the united states with its six million farmers, each with his stake in the land. above all, there is no standing military force, and nothing but a small, though very efficient, police force to stand between organised government and some wild attempt of the extremists. there are plenty of soldiers, it is true, and they have been treated with extreme generosity by the state, but they have been reabsorbed into the civil population. if they stand for law and order then all is well. on the other hand, there are the irish, who are fairly numerous, well organised and disaffected. there is no imperial question, so far as i can see, save with the irish, but there is this disquieting internal situation which, with the coming drop of wages, may suddenly become acute. an australian should be a sober-minded man for he has his difficulties before him. we of the old country should never forget that these difficulties have been partly caused by his splendid participation in the great war, and so strain every nerve to help, both by an enlightened sympathy and by such material means as are possible. personally, i have every sympathy with all reasonable and practical efforts to uphold the standard of living in the working classes. at present there is an almost universal opinion among thoughtful and patriotic australians that the progress of the country is woefully hampered by the constant strikes, which are declared in defiance of all agreements and all arbitration courts. the existence of labour governments, or the state control of industries, does not seem to alleviate these evil conditions, but may rather increase them, for in some cases such pressure has been put upon the government that they have been forced to subsidise the strikers--or at least those sufferers who have come out in sympathy with the original strikers. such tactics must demoralise a country and encourage labour to make claims upon capital which the latter cannot possibly grant, since in many cases the margin of profit is so small and precarious that it would be better for the capitalist to withdraw his money and invest it with no anxieties. it is clear that the tendency is to destroy the very means by which the worker earns his bread, and that the position will become intolerable unless the older, more level-headed men gain control of the unions and keep the ignorant hot-heads in order. it is the young unmarried men without responsibilities who create the situations, and it is the married men with their women and children who suffer. a table of strikes prepared recently by the _manchester guardian_ shows that more hours were lost in australia with her five or six million inhabitants than in the united kingdom with nearly fifty million. surely this must make the labour leaders reconsider their tactics. as i write the stewards' strike, which caused such extended misery, has collapsed, the sole result being a loss of nearly a million pounds in wages to the working classes, and great inconvenience to the public. the shipowners seem now in no hurry to resume the services, and if their delay will make the strikers more thoughtful it is surely to be defended. on february 1st we started from sydney in our good old "naldera" upon our homeward voyage, but the work was not yet finished. on reaching melbourne, where the ship was delayed two days, we found that a town hall demonstration had been arranged to give us an address from the victorian spiritualists, and wish us farewell. it was very short notice and there was a tram strike which prevented people from getting about, so the hall was not more than half full. none the less, we had a fine chance of getting in touch with our friends, and the proceedings were very hearty. the inscription was encased in australian wood with a silver kangaroo outside and beautiful illuminations within. it ran as follows: "we desire to place on permanent record our intense appreciation of your zealous and self-sacrificing efforts, and our deep gratitude for the great help you have given to the cause to which you have consecrated your life. the over-flowing meetings addressed by you bear evidence of the unqualified success of your mission, and many thousands bless the day when you determined to enter this great crusade beneath the southern cross.... in all these sentiments we desire to include your loyal and most devoted partner, lady doyle, whose self-sacrifice equals or exceeds your own." personally, i have never been conscious of any self-sacrifice, but the words about my wife were in no way an over-statement. i spoke in reply for about forty minutes, and gave a synopsis of the state of the faith in other centres, for each australian state is curiously self-centred and realises very little beyond its own borders. it was good for melbourne to know that sydney, brisbane, adelaide and new zealand were quite as alive and zealous as themselves. at the end of the function i gave an account of the financial results of my tour and handed over £500 as a guarantee fund for future british lecturers, and £100 to mr. britton harvey to assist his admirable paper, _the harbinger of light_. i had already expended about £100 upon spiritual causes, so that my whole balance came to £700, which is all now invested in the cause and should bring some good spiritual interest in time to come. we badly need money in order to be able to lay our case more fully before the world. i have already given the written evidence of mr. smythe that my tour was the most successful ever conducted in his time in australia. to this i may add the financial result recorded above. in view of this it is worth recording that _life_, a paper entirely under clerical management, said: "the one thing clear is that sir conan doyle's mission to australia was a mournful and complete failure, and it has left him in a very exasperated state of mind." this is typical of the perverse and unscrupulous opposition which we have continually to face, which hesitates at no lie in order to try and discredit the movement. one small incident broke the monotony of the voyage between adelaide and fremantle, across the dreaded bight. there have been considerable depredations in the coastal passenger trade of australia, and since the state boats were all laid up by the strike it was to be expected that the crooks would appear upon the big liners. a band of them came on board the _naldera_ at adelaide, but their methods were crude, and they were up against a discipline and an organisation against which they were helpless. one ruffian entered a number of cabins and got away with some booty, but was very gallantly arrested by captain lewellin himself, after a short hand-to-hand struggle. this fellow was recognised by the detectives at fremantle and was pronounced to be an old hand. in the general vigilance and search for accomplices which followed, another passenger was judged to be suspicious and he was also carried away by the detectives on a charge of previous forgery. altogether the crooks came out very badly in their encounter with the _naldera_, whose officers deserve some special recognition from the company for the able way in which the matter was handled. although my formal tour was now over, i had quite determined to speak at perth if it were humanly possible, for i could not consider my work as complete if the capital of one state had been untouched. i therefore sent the message ahead that i would fit in with any arrangements which they might make, be it by day or night, but that the ship would only be in port for a few hours. as matters turned out the _naldera_ arrived in the early morning and was announced to sail again at 3 p.m., so that the hours were awkward. they took the great theatre, however, for 1 p.m., which alarmed me as i reflected that my audience must either be starving or else in a state of repletion. everything went splendidly, however. the house was full, and i have never had a more delightfully keen set of people in front of me. of all my experiences there was none which was more entirely and completely satisfactory, and i hope that it brought a very substantial sum into the local spiritual treasury. there was quite a scene in the street afterwards, and the motor could not start for the crowds who surrounded it and stretched their kind hands and eager faces towards us. it was a wonderful last impression to bear away from australia. it is worth recording that upon a clairvoyante being asked upon this occasion whether she saw any one beside me on the platform she at once answered "an elderly man with very tufted eyebrows." this was the marked characteristic of the face of russell wallace. i was told before i left england that wallace was my guide. i have already shown that mrs. roberts, of dunedin, gave me a message direct from him to the same effect. mrs. foster turner, in sydney, said she saw him, described him and gave the name. three others have described him. each of these has been quite independent of the others. i think that the most sceptical person must admit that the evidence is rather strong. it is naturally more strong to me since i am personally conscious of his intervention and assistance. apart from my spiritual mission, i was very sorry that i could not devote some time to exploring west australia, which is in some ways the most interesting, as it is the least developed, of the states in the federation. one or two points which i gathered about it are worth recording, especially its relation to the rabbits and to the sparrows, the only hostile invaders which it has known. long may they remain so! the battle between the west australians and the rabbits was historical and wonderful. after the creatures had become a perfect pest in the east it was hoped that the great central desert would prevent them from ever reaching the west. there was no water for a thousand miles. none the less, the rabbits got across. it was a notable day when the west australian outrider, loping from west to east, met the pioneer rabbit loping from east to west. then west australia made a great effort. she built a rabbit-proof wire screen from north to south for hundreds of miles from sea to sea, with such thoroughness that the northern end projected over a rock which fringed deep water. with such thoroughness, too, did the rabbits reconnoitre this obstacle that their droppings were seen upon the far side of that very rock. there came another day of doom when two rabbits were seen on the wrong side of the wire. two dragons of the slime would not have alarmed the farmer more. a second line was built, but this also was, as i understand, carried by the attack, which is now consolidating, upon the ground it has won. however, the whole situation has been changed by the discovery elsewhere that the rabbit can be made a paying proposition, so all may end well in this curious story. a similar fight, with more success, has been made by west australia against the sparrow, which has proved an unmitigated nuisance elsewhere. the birds are slowly advancing down the line of the continental railway and their forward scouts are continually cut off. captain white, the distinguished ornithologist, has the matter in hand, and received, as i am told, a wire a few weeks ago, he being in melbourne, to the effect that two sparrows had been observed a thousand miles west of where they had any rights. he set off, or sent off, instantly to this way-side desert station in the hope of destroying them, with what luck i know not. i should be inclined to back the sparrows. this captain white is a man of energy and brains, whose name comes up always when one enquires into any question of bird or beast. he has made a remarkable expedition lately to those lonely everard ranges, which lie some distance to the north of the desolate nularbor plain, through which the continental railway passes. it must form one of the most dreadful wastes in the world, for there are a thousand miles of coast line, without one single stream emerging. afforestation may alter all that. in the everard ranges captain white found untouched savages of the stone age, who had never seen a white man before, and who treated him with absolute courtesy and hospitality. they were a fine race physically, though they lived under such conditions that there was little solid food save slugs, lizards and the like. one can but pray that the australian government will take steps to save these poor people from the sad fate which usually follows the contact between the higher and the lower. from what i heard, west australian immigrants are better looked after than in the other states. i was told in perth that nine hundred ex-service men with their families had arrived, and that all had been fitted into places, permanent or temporary, within a fortnight. this is not due to government, but to the exertions of a peculiar local society, with the strange title of "the ugly men." "handsome is as handsome does," and they seem to be great citizens. west australia calls itself the cinderella state, for, although it covers a third of the continent, it is isolated from the great centres of population. it has a very individual life of its own, however, with its gold fields, its shark fisheries, its pearlers, and the great stock-raising plain in the north. among other remarkable achievements is its great water pipe, which extends for four hundred miles across the desert, and supplies the pressure for the electric machinery at kalgurli. by a coincidence, the _narkunda_, which is the sister ship of the _naldera_, lay alongside the same quay at fremantle, and it was an impressive sight to see these two great shuttles of empire lying for a few hours at rest. in their vastness and majesty they made me think of a daring saying of my mother's, when she exclaimed that if some works of man, such as an ocean-going steamer, were compared with some works of god, such as a hill, man could sustain the comparison. it is the divine spark within us which gives us the creative power, and what may we not be when that is fully developed! the children were fishing for sharks, with a line warranted to hold eighteen pounds, with the result that malcolm's bait, lead, and everything else was carried away. but they were amply repaid by actually seeing the shark, which played about for some time in the turbid water, a brown, ugly, varminty creature, with fine lines of speed in its tapering body. "it was in adelaide, daddy, not fremantle," they protest in chorus, and no doubt they are right. chapter xii pleasing letters.--visit to candy.--snake and flying fox.--buddha's shrine.--the malaya.--naval digression.--indian trader.--elephanta.--sea snakes.--chained to a tombstone.--berlin's escape.--lord chetwynd.--lecture in the red sea.--marseilles. it was on friday, february 11th, that we drew away from the fremantle wharf, and started forth upon our long, lonely trek for colombo--a huge stretch of sea, in which it is unusual to see a single sail. as night fell i saw the last twinkling lights of australia fade away upon our starboard quarter. well, my job is done. i have nothing to add, nor have i said anything which i would wish withdrawn. my furrow gapes across two young continents. i feel, deep in my soul, that the seed will fall in due season, and that the reaping will follow the seed. only the work concerns ourselves--the results lie with those whose instruments we are. of the many kindly letters which bade us farewell, and which assured us that our work was not in vain, none was more eloquent and thoughtful than that of mr. thomas ryan, a member of the federal legislature. "long after you leave us your message will linger. this great truth, which we had long thought of as the plaything of the charlatan and crank, into this you breathed the breath of life, and, as of old, we were forced to say, 'we shall think of this again. we shall examine it more fully.' give us time--for the present only this, we are sure that this thing was not done in a corner. let me say in the few moments i am able to snatch from an over-crowded life, that we realise throughout the land how deep and far-reaching were the things of which you spoke to us. we want time, and even more time, to make them part of ourselves. we are glad you have come and raised our thoughts from the market-place to the altar." bishop leadbeater, of sydney, one of the most venerable and picturesque figures whom i met in my travels, wrote, "now that you are leaving our shores, let me express my conviction that your visit has done great good in stirring up the thought of the people, and, i hope, in convincing many of them of the reality of the other life." among very many other letters there was none i valued more than one from the rev. jasper calder, of auckland. "rest assured, sir arthur, the plough has gone deep, and the daylight will now reach the soil that has so long been in the darkness of ignorance. i somehow feel as if this is the beginning of new things for us all." it is a long and weary stretch from australia to ceylon, but it was saved from absolute monotony by the weather, which was unusually boisterous for so genial a region. two days before crossing the line we ran into a north-western monsoon, a rather rare experience, so that the doldrums became quite a lively place. even our high decks were wet with spindrift and the edge of an occasional comber, and some of the cabins were washed out. a smaller ship would have been taking heavy seas. in all that great stretch of ocean we never saw a sail or a fish, and very few birds. the loneliness of the surface of the sea is surely a very strange fact in nature. one would imagine, if the sea is really so populous as we imagine, that the surface, which is the only fixed point in very deep water, would be the gathering ground and trysting place for all life. save for the flying fish, there was not a trace in all those thousands of miles. i suppose that on such a voyage one should rest and do nothing, but how difficult it is to do nothing, and can it be restful to do what is difficult? to me it is almost impossible. i was helped through a weary time by many charming companions on board, particularly the rev. henry howard, reputed to be the best preacher in australia. some of his sermons which i read are, indeed, splendid, depending for their effect upon real thought and knowledge, without any theological emotion. he is ignorant of psychic philosophy, though, like so many men who profess themselves hostile to spiritualism, he is full of good stories which conclusively prove the very thing he denies. however, he has reached full spirituality, which is more important than spiritualism, and he must be a great influence for good wherever he goes. the rest he will learn later, either upon this side, or the other. at colombo i was interested to receive a _westminster gazette_, which contained an article by their special commissioner upon the yorkshire fairies. some correspondent has given the full name of the people concerned, with their address, which means that their little village will be crammed with chars-à-banc, and the peace of their life ruined. it was a rotten thing to do. for the rest, the _westminster_ inquiries seem to have confirmed gardner and me in every particular, and brought out the further fact that the girls had never before taken a photo in their life. one of them had, it seems, been for a short time in the employ of a photographer, but as she was only a child, and her duties consisted in running on errands, the fact would hardly qualify her, as _truth_ suggests, for making faked negatives which could deceive the greatest experts in london. there may be some loophole in the direction of thought forms, but otherwise the case is as complete as possible. we have just returned from a dream journey to candy. the old capital is in the very centre of the island, and seventy-two miles from colombo, but, finding that we had one clear night, we all crammed ourselves (my wife, the children and self) into a motor car, and made for it, while major wood and jakeman did the same by train. it was a wonderful experience, a hundred and forty miles of the most lovely coloured cinema reel that god ever released. i carry away the confused but beautiful impression of a good broad red-tinted road, winding amid all shades of green, from the dark foliage of overhanging trees, to the light stretches of the half-grown rice fields. tea groves, rubber plantations, banana gardens, and everywhere the coconut palms, with their graceful, drooping fronds. along this great road streamed the people, and their houses lined the way, so that it was seldom that one was out of sight of human life. they were of all types and colours, from the light brown of the real singalese to the negroid black of the tamils, but all shared the love of bright tints, and we were delighted by the succession of mauves, purples, crimsons, ambers and greens. water buffaloes, with the resigned and half-comic air of the london landlady who has seen better days, looked up at us from their mudholes, and jackal-like dogs lay thick on the path, hardly moving to let our motor pass. once, my lord the elephant came round a corner, with his soft, easy-going stride, and surveyed us with inscrutable little eyes. it was the unchanged east, even as it had always been, save for the neat little police stations and their smart occupants, who represented the gentle, but very efficient, british raj. it may have been the merit of that raj, or it may have been the inherent virtue of the people, but in all that journey we were never conscious of an unhappy or of a wicked face. they were very sensitive, speaking faces, too, and it was not hard to read the thoughts within. as we approached candy, our road ran through the wonderful botanical gardens, unmatched for beauty in the world, though i still give melbourne pride of place for charm. as we sped down one avenue an elderly keeper in front of us raised his gun and fired into the thick foliage of a high tree. an instant later something fell heavily to the ground. a swarm of crows had risen, so that we had imagined it was one of these, but when we stopped the car a boy came running up with the victim, which was a great bat, or flying fox, with a two-foot span of leathery wing. it had the appealing face of a mouse, and two black, round eyes, as bright as polished shoe buttons. it was wounded, so the boy struck it hard upon the ground, and held it up once more, the dark eyes glazed, and the graceful head bubbling blood from either nostril. "horrible! horrible!" cried poor denis, and we all echoed it in our hearts. this intrusion of tragedy into that paradise of a garden reminded us of the shadows of life. there is something very intimately moving in the evil fate of the animals. i have seen a man's hand blown off in warfare, and have not been conscious of the same haunting horror which the pains of animals have caused me. and here i may give another incident from our candy excursion. the boys are wild over snakes, and i, since i sat in the front of the motor, was implored to keep a look-out. we were passing through a village, where a large lump of concrete, or stone, was lying by the road. a stick, about five feet long, was resting against it. as we flew past, i saw, to my amazement, the top of the stick bend back a little. i shouted to the driver, and we first halted, and then ran back to the spot. sure enough, it was a long, yellow snake, basking in this peculiar position. the village was alarmed, and peasants came running, while the boys, wildly excited, tumbled out of the motor. "kill it!" they cried. "no, no!" cried the chauffeur. "there is the voice of the buddhist," i thought, so i cried, "no! no!" also. the snake, meanwhile, squirmed over the stone, and we saw it lashing about among the bushes. perhaps we were wrong to spare it, for i fear it was full of venom. however, the villagers remained round the spot, and they had sticks, so perhaps the story was not ended. candy, the old capital, is indeed a dream city, and we spent a long, wonderful evening beside the lovely lake, where the lazy tortoises paddled about, and the fireflies gleamed upon the margin. we visited also the old buddhist temple, where, as in all those places, the atmosphere is ruined by the perpetual demand for small coins. the few mosques which i have visited were not desecrated in this fashion, and it seems to be an unenviable peculiarity of the buddhists, whose yellow-robed shaven priests have a keen eye for money. beside the temple, but in ruins, lay the old palace of the native kings. i wish we could have seen the temple under better conditions, for it is really the chief shrine of the most numerous religion upon earth, serving the buddhist as the kaaba serves the moslem, or st. peter's the catholic. it is strange how the mind of man drags high things down to its own wretched level, the priests in each creed being the chief culprits. buddha under his boh tree was a beautiful example of sweet, unselfish benevolence and spirituality. and the upshot, after two thousand years, is that his followers come to adore a horse's tooth (proclaimed to be buddha's, and three inches long), at candy, and to crawl up adam's peak, in order to worship at a hole in the ground which is supposed to be his yard-long footstep. it is not more senseless than some christian observances, but that does not make it less deplorable. i was very anxious to visit one of the buried cities further inland, and especially to see the ancient boh tree, which must surely be the doyen of the whole vegetable kingdom, since it is undoubtedly a slip taken from buddha's original boh tree, transplanted into ceylon about two hundred years before christ. its history is certain and unbroken. now, i understand, it is a very doddering old trunk, with withered limbs which are supported by crutches, but may yet hang on for some centuries to come. on the whole, we employed our time very well, but ceylon will always remain to each of us as an earthly paradise, and i could imagine no greater pleasure than to have a clear month to wander over its beauties. monsieur clemenceau was clearly of the same opinion, for he was doing it very thoroughly whilst we were there. from colombo to bombay was a dream of blue skies and blue seas. half way up the malabar coast, we saw the old portuguese settlement of goa, glimmering white on a distant hillside. even more interesting to us was a squat battleship making its way up the coast. as we came abreast of it we recognised the _malaya_, one of that famous little squadron of evan thomas', which staved off the annihilation of beatty's cruisers upon that day of doom on the jutland coast. we gazed upon it with the reverence that it deserved. we had, in my opinion, a mighty close shave upon that occasion. if jellicoe had gambled with the british fleet he might have won a shattering victory, but surely he was wise to play safety with such tremendous interests at stake. there is an account of the action, given by a german officer, at the end of freeman's book "with the _hercules_ to kiel," which shows clearly that the enemy desired jellicoe to close with them, as giving them their only chance for that torpedo barrage which they had thoroughly practised, and on which they relied to cripple a number of our vessels. in every form of foresight and preparation, the brains seem to have been with them--but that was not the fault of the fighting seamen. surely an amateur could have foreseen that, in a night action, a star shell is better than a searchlight, that a dropping shell at a high trajectory is far more likely to hit the deck than the side, and that the powder magazine should be cut off from the turret, as, otherwise, a shell crushing the one will explode the other. this last error in construction seems to have been the cause of half our losses, and the _lion_ herself would have been a victim, but for the self-sacrifice of brave major harvey of the marines. all's well that ends well, but it was stout hearts, and not clear heads, which pulled us through. it is all very well to say let bygones be bygones, but we have no guarantee that the old faults are corrected, and certainly no one has been censured. it looks as if the younger officers had no means of bringing their views before those in authority, while the seniors were so occupied with actual administration that they had no time for thinking outside their routine. take the really monstrous fact that, at the outset of a war of torpedoes and mines, when ships might be expected to sink like kettles with a hole in them, no least provision had been made for saving the crew! boats were discarded before action, nothing wooden or inflammable was permitted, and the consideration that life-saving apparatus might be non-inflammable does not seem to have presented itself. when i wrote to the press, pointing this out with all the emphasis of which i was capable--i was ready to face the charge of hysteria in such a cause--i was gravely rebuked by a leading naval authority, and cautioned not to meddle with mysteries of which i knew nothing. none the less, within a week there was a rush order for swimming collars of india rubber. _post hoc non propter_, perhaps, but at least it verified the view of the layman. that was in the days when not one harbour had been boomed and netted, though surely a shark in a bathing pool would be innocuous compared to a submarine in an anchorage. the swimmers could get out, but the ships could not. but all this comes of seeing the white _malaya_, steaming slowly upon deep blue summer seas, with the olive-green coast of malabar on the horizon behind her. i had an interesting conversation on psychic matters with lady dyer, whose husband was killed in the war. it has been urged that it is singular and unnatural that our friends from the other side so seldom allude to the former occasions on which they have manifested. there is, i think, force in the objection. lady dyer had an excellent case to the contrary--and, indeed, they are not rare when one makes inquiry. she was most anxious to clear up some point which was left open between her husband and herself, and for this purpose consulted three mediums in london, mr. vout peters, mrs. brittain, and another. in each case she had some success. finally, she consulted mrs. leonard, and her husband, speaking through feda, under control, began a long conversation by saying, "i have already spoken to you through three mediums, two women and a man." lady dyer had not given her name upon any occasion, so there was no question of passing on information. i may add that the intimate point at issue was entirely cleared up by the husband, who rejoiced greatly that he had the chance to do so. bombay is not an interesting place for the casual visitor, and was in a state of uproar and decoration on account of the visit of the duke of connaught. my wife and i did a little shopping, which gave us a glimpse of the patient pertinacity of the oriental. the sum being 150 rupees, i asked the indian's leave to pay by cheque, as money was running low. he consented. when we reached the ship by steam-launch, we found that he, in some strange way, had got there already, and was squatting with the goods outside our cabin door. he looked askance at lloyd's bank, of which he had never heard, but none the less he took the cheque under protest. next evening he was back at our cabin door, squatting as before, with a sweat-stained cheque in his hand which, he declared, that he was unable to cash. this time i paid in english pound notes, but he looked upon them with considerable suspicion. as our ship was lying a good three miles from the shore, the poor chap had certainly earned his money, for his goods, in the first instance, were both good and cheap. we have seen the island of elephanta, and may the curse of ernulphus, which comprises all other curses, be upon that old portuguese governor who desecrated it, and turned his guns upon the wonderful stone carvings. it reminds me of abou simbel in nubia, and the whole place has an egyptian flavour. in a vast hollow in the hill, a series of very elaborate bas reliefs have been carved, showing brahma, vishnu and siva, the old hindoo trinity, with all those strange satellites, the bulls, the kites, the dwarfs, the elephant-headed giants with which hindoo mythology has so grotesquely endowed them. surely a visitor from some wiser planet, examining our traces, would judge that the human race, though sane in all else, was mad the moment that it touched religion, whether he judged it by such examples as these, or by the wearisome iteration of expressionless buddhas, the sacred crocodiles and hawk-headed gods of egypt, the monstrosities of central america, or the lambs and doves which adorn our own churches. it is only in the mohammedan faith that such an observer would find nothing which could offend, since all mortal symbolism is there forbidden. and yet if these strange conceptions did indeed help these poor people through their journey of life--and even now they come from far with their offerings--then we should morally be as the portuguese governor, if we were to say or do that which might leave them prostrate and mutilated in their minds. it was a pleasant break to our long voyage, and we were grateful to our commander, who made everything easy for us. he takes the humane view that a passenger is not merely an article of cargo, to be conveyed from port to port, but that his recreation should, in reason, be considered as well. elephanta was a little bit of the old india, but the men who conveyed us there from the launch to the shore in their ancient dhows were of a far greater antiquity. these were kolis, small, dark men, who held the country before the original aryan invasion, and may still be plying their boats when india has become turanian or slavonic, or whatever its next avatar may be. they seem to have the art of commerce well developed, for they held us up cleverly until they had extracted a rupee each, counting us over and over with great care and assiduity. at bombay we took over 200 more travellers. we had expected that the new-comers, who were mostly anglo-indians whose leave had been long overdue, would show signs of strain and climate, but we were agreeably surprised to find that they were a remarkably healthy and alert set of people. this may be due to the fact that it is now the end of the cold weather. our new companions included many native gentlemen, one of whom, the rajah of kapurthala, brought with him his spanish wife, a regal-looking lady, whose position must be a difficult one. hearne and murrell, the cricketers, old playmates and friends, were also among the new-comers. all of them seemed perturbed as to the unrest in india, though some were inclined to think that the worst was past, and that the situation was well in hand. when we think how splendidly india helped us in the war, it would indeed be sad if a serious rift came between us now. one thing i am very sure of, that if great britain should ever be forced to separate from india, it is india, and not britain, which will be the chief sufferer. we passed over hundreds of miles of absolute calm in the indian ocean. there is a wonderful passage in frank bullen's "sea idylls," in which he describes how, after a long-continued tropical calm, all manner of noxious scum and vague evil shapes come flickering to the surface. coleridge has done the same idea, for all time, in "the ancient mariner," when "the very sea did rot." in our case we saw nothing so dramatic, but the ship passed through one area where there was a great number of what appeared to be sea-snakes, creatures of various hues, from two to ten feet long, festooned or slowly writhing some feet below the surface. i cannot recollect seeing anything of the kind in any museum. these, and a couple of arab dhows, furnished our only break in a thousand miles. certainly, as an entertainment the ocean needs cutting. in the extreme south, like a cloud upon the water, we caught a glimpse of the island of socotra, one of the least visited places upon earth, though so near to the main line of commerce. what a base for submarines, should it fall into wrong hands! it has a comic-opera sultan of its own, with 15,000 subjects, and a subsidy from the british government of 200 dollars a year, which has been increased lately to 360, presumably on account of the higher cost of living. it is a curious fact that, though it is a great place of hill and plain, seventy miles by eighteen, there is only one wild animal known, namely the civet cat. a traveller, mr. jacob, who examined the place, put forward the theory that one of alexander the great's ships was wrecked there, the crew remaining, for he found certain greek vestiges, but what they were i have been unable to find out. as we approached aden, we met the _china_ on her way out. her misadventure some years ago at the island of perim, has become one of the legends of the sea. in those days, the discipline aboard p. & o. ships was less firm than at present, and on the occasion of the birthday of one of the leading passengers, the officers of the ship had been invited to the festivity. the result was that, in the middle of dinner, the ship crashed, no great distance from the lighthouse, and, it is said, though this is probably an exaggeration, that the revellers were able to get ashore over the bows without wetting their dress shoes. no harm was done, save that one unlucky rock projected, like a huge spike, through the ship's bottom, and it cost the company a good half-million before they were able to get her afloat and in service once more. however, there she was, doing her fifteen knots, and looking so saucy and new that no one would credit such an unsavoury incident in her past. early in february i gave a lantern lecture upon psychic phenomena to passengers of both classes. the red sea has become quite a favourite stamping ground of mine, but it was much more tolerable now than on that terrible night in august when i discharged arguments and perspiration to a sweltering audience. on this occasion it was a wonderful gathering, a microcosm of the world, with an english peer, an indian maharajah, many native gentlemen, whites of every type from four great countries, and a fringe of stewards, stewardesses, and nondescripts of all sorts, including the ship's barber, who is one of the most active men on the ship in an intellectual sense. all went well, and if they were not convinced they were deeply interested, which is the first stage. somewhere there are great forces which are going to carry on this work, and i never address an audience without the feeling that among them there may be some latent paul or luther whom my words may call into activity. i heard an anecdote yesterday which is worth recording. we have a boatswain who is a fine, burly specimen of a british seaman. in one of his short holidays while in mufti, in norfolk, he had an argument with a norfolk farmer, a stranger to him, who wound up the discussion by saying: "my lad, what you need is a little travel to broaden your mind." the boatswain does his 70,000 miles a year. it reminded me of the doctor who advised his patient to take a brisk walk every morning before breakfast, and then found out that he was talking to the village postman. a gentleman connected with the cinema trade told me a curious story within his own experience. last year a psychic cinema story was shown in australia, and to advertise it a man was hired who would consent to be chained to a tombstone all night. this was done in melbourne and sydney without the person concerned suffering in any way. it was very different in launceston. the man was found to be nearly mad from terror in the morning, though he was a stout fellow of the dock labourer type. his story was that in the middle of the night he had heard to his horror the sound of dripping water approaching him. on looking up he saw an evil-looking shape with water streaming from him, who stood before him and abused him a long time, frightening him almost to death. the man was so shaken that the cinema company had to send him for a voyage. of course, it was an unfair test for any one's nerves, and imagination may have played its part, but it is noticeable that a neighbouring grave contained a man who had been drowned in the esk many years before. in any case, it makes a true and interesting story, whatever the explanation. i have said that there was an english peer on board. this was lord chetwynd, a man who did much towards winning the war. now that the storm is over the public knows nothing, and apparently cares little, about the men who brought the ship of state through in safety. some day we shall get a more exact sense of proportion, but it is all out of focus at present. lord chetwynd, in the year 1915, discovered by his own personal experiments how to make an explosive far more effective than the one we were using, which was very unreliable. this he effected by a particular combination and treatment of t.n.t. and ammonia nitrate. having convinced the authorities by actual demonstration, he was given a free hand, which he used to such effect that within a year he was furnishing the main shell supply of the army. his own installation was at chilwell, near nottingham, and it turned out 19,000,000 shells, while six other establishments were erected elsewhere on the same system. within his own works lord chetwynd was so complete an autocrat that it was generally believed that he shot three spies with his own hand. thinking the rumour a useful one, he encouraged it by creating three dummy graves, which may, perhaps, be visited to this day by pious pro-germans. it should be added that lord chetwynd's explosive was not only stronger, but cheaper, than that in previous use, so that his labours saved the country some millions of pounds. it was at chilwell that the huge bombs were filled which were destined for berlin. there were 100 of them to be carried in twenty-five handley page machines. each bomb was capable of excavating 350 tons at the spot where it fell, and in a trial trip one which was dropped in the central courtyard of a large square building left not a stone standing around it. berlin was saved by a miracle, which she hardly deserved after the irresponsible glee with which she had hailed the devilish work of her own zeppelins. the original hundred bombs sent to be charged had the tails removed before being sent, and when they were returned it was found to be such a job finding the right tail for the right bomb, the permutations being endless, that it was quicker and easier to charge another hundred bombs with tails attached. this and other fortuitous matters consumed several weeks. finally, the bombs were ready and were actually on the machines in england, whence the start was to be made, when the armistice was declared. possibly a knowledge of this increased the extreme haste of the german delegates. personally, i am glad it was so, for we have enough cause for hatred in the world without adding the death of 10,000 german civilians. there is some weight, however, in the contention of those who complain that germans have devastated belgium and france, but have never been allowed to experience in their own persons what the horrors of war really are. still, if christianity and religion are to be more than mere words, we must be content that berlin was not laid in ruins at a time when the issue of the war was already decided. here we are at suez once again. it would take loti or robert hichens to describe the wonderful shades peculiar to the outskirts of egypt. deep blue sea turns to dark green, which in turn becomes the very purest, clearest emerald as it shallows into a snow-white frill of foam. thence extends the golden desert with deep honey-coloured shadows, stretching away until it slopes upwards into melon-tinted hills, dry and bare and wrinkled. at one point a few white dwellings with a group of acacias mark the spot which they call moses well. they say that a jew can pick up a living in any country, but when one surveys these terrible wastes one can only imagine that the climate has greatly changed since a whole nomad people were able to cross them. in the mediterranean we had a snap of real cold which laid many of us out, myself included. i recall the lancastrian who complained that he had swallowed a dog fight. the level of our lives had been disturbed for an instant by a feud between the children and one of the passengers who had, probably quite justly, given one of them a box on the ear. in return, they had fixed an abusive document in his cabin which they had ended by the words, "with our warmest despisings," all signing their names to it. the passenger was sportsman enough to show this document around, or we should not have known of its existence. strange little souls with their vivid hopes and fears, a parody of our own. i gave baby a daily task and had ordered her to do a map of australia. i found her weeping in the evening. "i did the map," she cried, between her sobs, "but they all said it was a pig!" she was shaken to the soul at the slight upon her handiwork. it was indeed wonderful to find ourselves at marseilles once more, and, after the usual unpleasant _douane_ formalities, which are greatly ameliorated in france as compared to our own free trade country, to be at temporary rest at the hôtel du louvre. a great funeral, that of frederic chevillon and his brother, was occupying the attention of the town. both were public officials and both were killed in the war, their bodies being now exhumed for local honour. a great crowd filed past with many banners, due decorum being observed save that some of the mourners were smoking cigarettes, which "was not handsome," as mr. pepys would observe. there was no sign of any religious symbol anywhere. it was a sunday and yet the people in the procession seemed very badly dressed and generally down-at-heel and slovenly. i think we should have done the thing better in england. the simplicity of the flag-wrapped coffins was however dignified and pleasing. the inscriptions, too, were full of simple patriotism. i never take a stroll through a french town without appreciating the gulf which lies between us and them. they have the old roman civilisation, with its ripe mellow traits, which have never touched the anglo-saxon, who, on the other hand, has his raw northern virtues which make life angular but effective. i watched a scene to-day inconceivable under our rule. four very smart officers, captains or majors, were seated outside a café. the place was crowded, but there was room for four more at this table on the sidewalk, so presently that number of negro privates came along and occupied the vacant seats. the officers smiled most good humouredly, and remarks were exchanged between the two parties, which ended in the high falsetto laugh of a negro. these black troops seemed perfectly self-respecting, and i never saw a drunken man, soldier or civilian, during two days. i have received english letters which announce that i am to repeat my australian lectures at the queen's hall, from april 11th onwards. i seem to be returning with shotted guns and going straight into action. they say that the most dangerous course is to switch suddenly off when you have been working hard. i am little likely to suffer from that. chapter xiii the institut metaphysique.--lecture in french.--wonderful musical improviser.--camille flammarion.--test of materialised hand.--last ditch of materialism.--sitting with mrs. bisson's medium, eva.--round the aisne battlefields.--a tragic intermezzo.--anglo-french rugby match.--madame blifaud's clairvoyance. one long stride took us to paris, where, under the friendly and comfortable roof of the hôtel du louvre, we were able at last to unpack our trunks and to steady down after this incessant movement. the first visit which i paid in paris was to dr. geley, head of the institut metaphysique, at 89, avenue niel. now that poor crawford has gone, leaving an imperishable name behind him, geley promises to be the greatest male practical psychic researcher, and he has advantages of which crawford could never boast, since the liberality of monsieur jean meyer has placed him at the head of a splendid establishment with laboratory, photographic room, lecture room, séance room and library, all done in the most splendid style. unless some british patron has the generosity and intelligence to do the same, this installation, with a man like geley to run it, will take the supremacy in psychic advance from britain, where it now lies, and transfer it to france. our nearest approach to something similar depends at present upon the splendid private efforts of mr. and mrs. hewat mackenzie, in the psychic college at 59, holland park, which deserve the support of everyone who realises the importance of the subject. i made a _faux pas_ with the geleys, for i volunteered to give an exhibition of my australian slides, and they invited a distinguished audience of men of science to see them. imagine my horror when i found that my box of slides was in the luggage which major wood had taken on with him in the "naldera" to england. they were rushed over by aeroplane, however, in response to my telegram, and so the situation was saved. the lecture was a private one and was attended by mr. charles richet, mr. gabrielle delanne, and a number of other men of science. nothing could have gone better, though i fear that my french, which is execrable, must have been a sore trial to my audience. i gave them warning at the beginning by quoting a remark which bernard shaw made to me once, that when he spoke french he did not say what he wanted to say, but what he could say. richet told me afterwards that he was deeply interested by the photographs, and when i noted the wonder and awe with which he treated them--he, the best known physiologist in the world--and compared it with the attitude of the ordinary lay press, it seemed a good example of the humility of wisdom and the arrogance of ignorance. after my lecture, which covered an hour and a quarter, we were favoured by an extraordinary exhibition from a medium named aubert. this gentleman has had no musical education whatever, but he sits down in a state of semi-trance and he handles a piano as i, for one, have never heard one handled before. it is a most amazing performance. he sits with his eyes closed while some one calls the alphabet, striking one note when the right letter sounds. in this way he spells out the name of the particular composer whom he will represent. he then dashes off, with tremendous verve and execution, upon a piece which is not a known composition of that author, but is an improvisation after his manner. we had grieg, mendelssohn, berlioz and others in quick succession, each of them masterly and characteristic. his technique seemed to my wife and me to be not inferior to that of paderewski. needles can be driven through him as he plays, and sums can be set before him which he will work out without ceasing the wonderful music which appears to flow through him, but quite independently of his own powers or volition. he would certainly cause a sensation in london. i had the honour next day of meeting camille flammarion, the famous astronomer, who is deeply engaged in psychic study, and was so interested in the photos which i snowed him that i was compelled to leave them in his hands that he might get copies done. flammarion is a dear, cordial, homely old gentleman with a beautiful bearded head which would delight a sculptor. he entertained us with psychic stories all lunch time. madame bisson was there and amused me with her opinion upon psychic researchers, their density, their arrogance, their preposterous theories to account for obvious effects. if she had not been a great pioneer in science, she might have been a remarkable actress, for it was wonderful how her face took off the various types. certainly, as described by her, their far-fetched precautions, which irritate the medium and ruin the harmony of the conditions, do appear very ridiculous, and the parrot cry of "fraud!" and "fake!" has been sadly overdone. all are agreed here that spiritualism has a far greater chance in england than in france, because the french temperament is essentially a mocking one, and also because the catholic church is in absolute opposition. three of their bishops, beauvais, lisieux and coutances, helped to burn a great medium, joan of arc, six hundred years ago, asserting at the trial the very accusations of necromancy which are asserted to-day. now they have had to canonise her. one would have hoped that they had learned something from the incident. dr. geley has recently been experimenting with mr. franek kluski, a polish amateur of weak health, but with great mediumistic powers. these took the form of materialisations. dr. geley had prepared a bucket of warm paraffin, and upon the appearance of the materialised figure, which was that of a smallish man, the request was made that the apparition should plunge its hand into the bucket and then withdraw it, so that when it dematerialised a cast of the hand would be left, like a glove of solidified paraffin, so narrow at the wrist that the hands could not have been withdrawn by any possible normal means without breaking the moulds. these hands i was able to inspect, and also the plaster cast which had been taken from the inside of one of them. the latter showed a small hand, not larger than a boy's, but presenting the characteristics of age, for the skin was loose and formed transverse folds. the materialised figure had also, unasked, left an impression of its own mouth and chin, which was, i think, done for evidential purposes, for a curious wart hung from the lower lip, which would mark the owner among a million. so far as i could learn, however, no identification had actually been effected. the mouth itself was thick-lipped and coarse, and also gave an impression of age. to show the thoroughness of dr. geley's work, he had foreseen that the only answer which any critic, however exacting, could make to the evidence, was that the paraffin hand had been brought in the medium's pocket. therefore he had treated with cholesterin the paraffin in his bucket, and this same cholesterin reappeared in the resulting glove. what can any sceptic have to say to an experiment like that save to ignore it, and drag us back with wearisome iteration to some real or imaginary scandal of the past? the fact is that the position of the materialists could only be sustained so long as there was a general agreement among all the newspapers to regard this subject as a comic proposition. now that there is a growing tendency towards recognising its overwhelming gravity, the evidence is getting slowly across to the public, and the old attitude of negation and derision has become puerile. i can clearly see, however, that the materialists will fall back upon their second line of trenches, which will be to admit the phenomena, but to put them down to material causes in the unexplored realms of nature with no real connection with human survival. this change of front is now due, but it will fare no better than the old one. before quitting the subject i should have added that these conclusions of dr. geley concerning the paraffin moulds taken from kluski's materialisation are shared by charles richet and count de gramont of the institute of france, who took part in the experiments. how absurd are the efforts of those who were not present to contradict the experiences of men like these. i was disappointed to hear from dr. geley that the experiments in england with the medium eva had been largely negative, though once or twice the ectoplasmic flow was, as i understand, observed. dr. geley put this comparative failure down to the fantastic precautions taken by the committee, which had produced a strained and unnatural atmosphere. it seems to me that if a medium is searched, and has all her clothes changed before entering the seance room, that is ample, but when in addition to this you put her head in a net-bag and restrict her in other ways, you are producing an abnormal self-conscious state of mind which stops that passive mood of receptivity which is essential. professor hyslop has left it on record that after a long series of rigid tests with mrs. piper he tried one sitting under purely natural conditions, and received more convincing and evidential results than in all the others put together. surely this should suggest freer methods in our research. i have just had a sitting with eva, whom i cannot even say that i have seen, for she was under her cloth cabinet when i arrived and still under it when i left, being in trance the whole time. professor jules courtier of the sorbonne and a few other men of science were present. madame bisson experiments now in the full light of the afternoon. only the medium is in darkness, but her two hands protrude through the cloth and are controlled by the sitters. there is a flap in the cloth which can be opened to show anything which forms beneath. after sitting about an hour this flap was opened, and madame bisson pointed out to me a streak of ectoplasm upon the outside of the medium's bodice. it was about six inches long and as thick as a finger. i was allowed to touch it, and felt it shrink and contract under my hand. it is this substance which can, under good conditions, be poured out in great quantities and can be built up into forms and shapes, first flat and finally rounded, by powers which are beyond our science. we sometimes call it psychoplasm in england, richet named it ectoplasm, geley calls it ideoplasm; but call it what you will, crawford has shown for all time that it is the substance which is at the base of psychic physical phenomena. madame bisson, whose experience after twelve years' work is unique, has an interesting theory. she disagrees entirely with dr. geley's view, that the shapes are thought forms, and she resents the name ideoplasm, since it represents that view. her conclusion is that eva acts the part which a "detector" plays, when it turns the hertzian waves, which are too short for our observation, into slower ones which can become audible. thus eva breaks up certain currents and renders them visible. according to her, what we see is never the thing itself but always the reflection of the thing which exists in another plane and is made visible in ours by eva's strange material organisation. it was for this reason that the word miroir appeared in one of the photographs, and excited much adverse criticism. one dimly sees a new explanation of mediumship. the light seems a colourless thing until it passes through a prism and suddenly reveals every colour in the world. a picture of madame bisson's father hung upon the wall, and i at once recognised him as the phantom which appears in the photographs of her famous book, and which formed the culminating point of eva's mediumship. he has a long and rather striking face which was clearly indicated in the ectoplasmic image. only on one occasion was this image so developed that it could speak, and then only one word. the word was "esperez." we have just returned, my wife, denis and i, from a round of the aisne battlefields, paying our respects incidentally to bossuet at meaux, fenelon at château thierry, and racine at la ferté millon. it is indeed a frightful cicatrix which lies across the brow of france--a scar which still gapes in many places as an open wound. i could not have believed that the ruins were still so untouched. the land is mostly under cultivation, but the houses are mere shells, and i cannot think where the cultivators live. when you drive for sixty miles and see nothing but ruin on either side of the road, and when you know that the same thing extends from the sea to the alps, and that in places it is thirty miles broad, it helps one to realise the debt that germany owes to her victims. if it had been in the versailles terms that all her members of parliament and journalists should be personally conducted, as we have been, through a sample section, their tone would be more reasonable. it has been a wonderful panorama. we followed the route of the thousand taxi-cabs which helped to save europe up to the place where gallieni's men dismounted and walked straight up against klück's rearguard. we saw belleau wood, where the 2nd and 46th american divisions made their fine debut and showed ludendorff that they were not the useless soldiers he had so vainly imagined. thence we passed all round that great heavy sack of germans which had formed in june, 1918, with its tip at dormans and château thierry. we noted bligny, sacred to the sacrifices of carter campbell's 51st highlanders, and braithwaite's 62nd yorkshire division, who lost between them seven thousand men in these woods. these british episodes seem quite unknown to the french, while the americans have very properly laid out fine graveyards with their flag flying, and placed engraved tablets of granite where they played their part, so that in time i really think that the average frenchman will hardly remember that we were in the war at all, while if you were to tell him that in the critical year we took about as many prisoners and guns as all the other nations put together, he would stare at you with amazement. well, what matter! with a man or a nation it is the duty done for its own sake and the sake of its own conscience and self-respect that really counts. all the rest is swank. we slept at rheims. we had stayed at the chief hotel, the golden lion, in 1912, when we were en route to take part in the anglo-german motor-car competition, organised by prince henry. we searched round, but not one stone of the hotel was standing. out of 14,000 houses in the town, only twenty had entirely escaped. as to the cathedral, either a miracle has been wrought or the german gunners have been extraordinary masters of their craft, for there are acres of absolute ruin up to its very walls, and yet it stands erect with no very vital damage. the same applies to the venerable church of st. remy. on the whole i am prepared to think that save in one fit of temper upon september 19th, 1914, the guns were never purposely turned upon this venerable building. hitting the proverbial haystack would be a difficult feat compared to getting home on to this monstrous pile which dominates the town. it is against reason to suppose that both here and at soissons they could not have left the cathedrals as they left the buildings around them. next day, we passed down the vesle and aisne, seeing the spot where french fought his brave but barren action on september 13th, 1914, and finally we reached the chemin des dames--a good name had the war been fought in the knightly spirit of old, but horribly out of place amid the ferocities with which germany took all chivalry from warfare. the huge barren countryside, swept with rainstorms and curtained in clouds, looked like some evil landscape out of vale owen's revelations. it was sown from end to end with shattered trenches, huge coils of wire and rusted weapons, including thousands of bombs which are still capable of exploding should you tread upon them too heavily. denis ran wildly about, like a terrier in a barn, and returned loaded with all sorts of trophies, most of which had to be discarded as overweight. he succeeded, however, in bringing away a prussian helmet and a few other of the more portable of his treasures. we returned by soissons, which interested me greatly, as i had seen it under war conditions in 1916. finally we reached paris after a really wonderful two days in which, owing to mr. cook's organisation and his guide, we saw more and understood more, than in a week if left to ourselves. they run similar excursions to verdun and other points. i only wish we had the time to avail ourselves of them. a tragic intermezzo here occurred in our paris experience. i suddenly heard that my brother-in-law, e. w. hornung, the author of "raffles" and many another splendid story, was dying at st. jean de luz in the pyrenees. i started off at once, but was only in time to be present at his funeral. our little family group has been thinned down these last two years until we feel like a company under hot fire with half on the ground. we can but close our ranks the tighter. hornung lies within three paces of george gissing, an author for whom both of us had an affection. it is good to think that one of his own race and calling keeps him company in his pyrennean grave. hornung, apart from his literary powers, was one of the wits of our time. i could brighten this dull chronicle if i could insert a page of his sayings. like charles lamb, he could find humour in his own physical disabilities--disabilities which did not prevent him, when over fifty, from volunteering for such service as he could do in flanders. when pressed to have a medical examination, his answer was, "my body is like a sausage. the less i know of its interior, the easier will be my mind." it was a characteristic mixture of wit and courage. during our stay in paris we went to see the anglo-french rugby match at coulombes. the french have not quite got the sporting spirit, and there was some tendency to hoot whenever a decision was given for the english, but the play of their team was most excellent, and england only won by the narrow margin of 10 to 6. i can remember the time when french rugby was the joke of the sporting world. they are certainly a most adaptive people. the tactics of the game have changed considerably since the days when i was more familiar with it, and it has become less dramatic, since ground is gained more frequently by kicking into touch than by the individual run, or even by the combined movement. but it is still the king of games. it was like the old lists, where the pick of these two knightly nations bore themselves so bravely of old, and it was an object lesson to see clement, the french back, playing on manfully, with the blood pouring from a gash in the head. marshal foch was there, and i have no doubt that he noted the incident with approval. i had a good look at the famous soldier, who was close behind me. he looks very worn, and sadly in need of a rest. his face and head are larger than his pictures indicate, but it is not a face with any marked feature or character. his eyes, however, are grey, and inexorable. his kepi was drawn down, and i could not see the upper part of the head, but just there lay the ruin of germany. it must be a very fine brain, for in political, as well as in military matters, his judgment has always been justified. there is an excellent clairvoyante in paris, madame blifaud, and i look forward, at some later date, to a personal proof of her powers, though if it fails i shall not be so absurd as to imagine that that disproves them. the particular case which came immediately under my notice was that of a mother whose son had been killed from an aeroplane, in the war. she had no details of his death. on asking madame b., the latter replied, "yes, he is here, and gives me a vision of his fall. as a proof that it is really he, he depicts the scene, which was amid songs, flags and music." as this corresponded with no episode of the war, the mother was discouraged and incredulous. within a short time, however, she received a message from a young officer who had been with her son when the accident occurred. it was on the armistice day, at salonica. the young fellow had flown just above the flags, one of the flags got entangled with his rudder, and the end was disaster. but bands, songs and flags all justified the clairvoyante. now, at last, our long journey drew to its close. greatly guarded by the high forces which have, by the goodness of providence, been deputed to help us, we are back in dear old london once more. when we look back at the 30,000 miles which we have traversed, at the complete absence of illness which spared any one of seven a single day in bed, the excellence of our long voyages, the freedom from all accidents, the undisturbed and entirely successful series of lectures, the financial success won for the cause, the double escape from shipping strikes, and, finally, the several inexplicable instances of supernormal, personal happenings, together with the three-fold revelation of the name of our immediate guide, we should be stocks and stones if we did not realise that we have been the direct instruments of god in a cause upon which he has set his visible seal. there let it rest. if he be with us, who is against us? to give religion a foundation of rock instead of quicksand, to remove the legitimate doubts of earnest minds, to make the invisible forces, with their moral sanctions, a real thing, instead of mere words upon our lips, and, incidentally, to reassure the human race as to the future which awaits it, and to broaden its appreciation of the possibilities of the present life, surely no more glorious message was ever heralded to mankind. and it begins visibly to hearken. the human race is on the very eve of a tremendous revolution of thought, marking a final revulsion from materialism, and it is part of our glorious and assured philosophy, that, though we may not be here to see the final triumph of our labours, we shall, none the less, be as much engaged in the struggle and the victory from the day when we join those who are our comrades in battle upon the further side. _printed in great britain by wyman & sons ltd., london, reading and fakenham_ "sir arthur conan doyle has given us a classic."--sir w. robertson nicoll * * * * * _the first volume of sir arthur conan doyle's history of the war_ =the british campaign in france and flanders 1914= =with maps, plans and diagrams. fourth edition= "after reading every word of this most fascinating book, the writer of this notice ventures, as a professional soldier, to endorse the author's claim, and even to suggest that sir arthur conan doyle has understated the value of a book which will be of enormous help to the student of this wondrous war as a reliable framework for his further investigations."--colonel a. m. murray, c.b., in the _observer_. "a book which should appeal to every briton and should shame those who wish to make of none effect the deeds and sacrifices recounted in its pages."--professor a. f. pollard in the _daily chronicle_ * * * * * _the second volume of sir arthur conan doyle's history of the war_ =the british campaign in france and flanders 1915= =with maps, plans and diagrams. second edition= "if any student of the war is in search of a plain statement, accurate and chronological, of what took place in these dynamic sequences of onslaughts which have strewn the plain of ypres with unnumbered dead, and which won for the canadians, the indians, and our own territorial divisions immortal fame, let him go to this volume. he will find in it few dramatic episodes, no unbridled panegyric, no purple patches. but he will own himself a much enlightened man, and, with greater knowledge, will be filled with much greater pride and much surer confidence."--_daily telegraph_ * * * * * _the third volume of sir arthur conan doyle's history of the war_ =the british campaign in france and flanders 1916= =with maps, plans and diagrams= "we gave praise, and it was high, to the first and second volumes of 'the british campaign in france and flanders.' we can give the same to the third, and more, too. for the whole of this volume is devoted to the preliminaries and the full grapple of the battle of the somme--a theme far surpassing everything that went before in magnitude and dreadfulness, but also in inspiration for our own race and in profound human import of every kind."--_observer_ _the fourth volume of sir arthur conan doyle's history of the war_ =the british campaign in france and flanders 1917= =with maps, plans and diagrams= "if sir arthur can complete the remaining two volumes with the same zest and truth as is exhibited here, it will indeed be a work which every student who fought in france in the great war will be proud to possess on his shelves."--_sunday times_ "it will find with others of the series a permanent place in all military libraries as a reliable work of reference for future students of the war."--_observer_ * * * * * _the fifth volume of sir arthur conan doyle's history of the war_ =the british campaign in france and flanders january to july, 1918= =with maps, plans and diagrams= "the history shows no abatement in vigour and readableness, but rather the opposite, and a final volume describing the great counter-attack of the allies, leading to their final victory, will bring to a close a series which, on its own lines, is unsurpassable."--_scotsman_ "sir arthur conan doyle has stuck to his great work with admirable assiduity.... he has produced an accurate and concise record of a campaign the most glorious and the most deadly in all the history of the british race, and a record well qualified to live among the notable books of the language."--_edinburgh evening dispatch_ * * * * * _the sixth volume of sir arthur conan doyle's history of the war_ =the british campaign in france and flanders july to november, 1918= =with maps, plans and diagrams= "sir arthur conan doyle's concluding volume of the interim history of the british campaign on the west front is as good as any of its predecessors."--_morning post_ "sir arthur conan doyle's 'history of the british campaign in france and flanders' is an authoritative work, which is destined for immortality.... with full confidence in the historian, with congratulations on a noble task accomplished, we open the sixth and final volume."--_british weekly_ hodder & stoughton ltd., warwick square, london, e.c.4 transcriber's note: inconsistency between toc and chapter headings have been retained as in the original. seen and unseen by e. katharine bates new york dodge publishing company 214-220 east 23rd street 1908 _first published july 1907_ _second impression october 1907_ _third impression march 1908_ --------- _popular edition 1908_ to c. e. b. in memory of one who loved and suffered and in the sure and certain hope of a joyful meeting with him, and with others who have crossed the bar contents chapter page introduction ix i. early recollections 1 ii. investigations in america, 1885-1886 13 iii. australia and new zealand 49 iv. hong kong, alaska, and new york 71 v. india, 1890-1891 80 vi. sweden and russia, 1892 97 an interlude 129 vii. lady caithness and the avenue wagram 144 viii. from oxford to wimbledon 161 ix. 1896, hauntings by the living and the dead 176 x. further experiences in america 195 xi. a haunted castle in ireland 218 xii. 1900-1901, odds and ends 232 xiii. 1903, a second visit to india 260 xiv. a family portrait and psychic photography 274 appendix 298 introduction many years ago, whilst living at oxford, i was invited by a very old friend, who had recently taken his degree, to a river picnic; with nuneham, i think, as its alleged object. unfortunately, the day proved unfavourable, and we returned in open boats, also with open umbrellas; a generally drenched and bedraggled appearance, and nothing to cheer us on the physical plane except a quantity of iced coffee which had been ordered in anticipation of a tropical day. under these rather trying conditions i can remember getting a good deal of amusement out of the companions in the special boat which proved to be my fate. our host, being a clever and interesting man himself, had collected clever and interesting people round him, on the "birds of a feather" principle, and i happened to sit between two ladies, one the wife (now, alas! the widow) of a man who was to become later on one of our most famous bishops; the other--her bosom friend and deadly rival--the wife of an equally distinguished oxford don. the iced coffee combined with the pouring rain may have been partly to blame, but certainly the conversation that went on between the two ladies, across my umbrella, was decidedly _feline_. to pass the time we were valiantly endeavouring to play "twenty questions" from the bottom of the boat, and the bishop's widow was asking the questions. she had triumphantly elicited the fact that we had thought of a _cinder_--and an historical cinder--and the twentieth and last permissible question was actually hovering on her lips. "it was the cinder that richard coeur de lion's horse fell upon," she said eagerly. of course, we all realised that this was a most obvious "slip" in the case of so highly educated a woman; but the bosom friend could not resist putting out the velvet paw: "a little confusion in the centuries, i think, dear," she said sweetly. the unfortunate questioner practically "never smiled again" during _that_ expedition. but a still more crushing blow was in store for her. the conversation turned later upon questions of style in writing or speaking, and with perhaps pardonable revenge, she said to her rival: "i always notice that you say 'one' so often--'_one_ does this or that,' and so forth." "really, dear? that is curious. now i always notice that _you_ say 'i' so continually!" the cut and thrust came with the rapidity of expert fencers. and this brings me to the real gist of my story. it is considered the most heinous offence "_to say i_," and every conceivable device is resorted to, no matter how clumsy, in order to prevent the catastrophe of a writer being forced to speak of himself in the first person. to my mind, there is a good deal of affectation and pose about this, and in anything of an autobiography it becomes insupportable. "the writer happened upon one occasion to be present, etc." "he who pens these unworthy pages was once travelling to scotland, etc. etc." which of us has not groaned under these self-conscious euphemisms? "why not say '_i_' and have done with it?" we are wont to exclaim in desperation after pages of this kind of thing. now i propose "to say _i_" and "have done with it," and not waste time in trying to find ingenious and wearisome equivalents. that is my first point. secondly, in this record of psychic experiences i mean to keep clear of another intolerable nuisance--i mean the continual introduction of capital letters and long dashes in order to conceal identity in such episodes. the motive is admirable, but the method is detestable. one can only judge by personal experience. i know that when i read a rather involved narrative of sufficiently involved psychic doings, and mr q----, miss b----, mr c----, and mr c.'s maternal aunt mrs g---figure wildly in it, i am driven desperate in trying to force some idea of personality into these meaningless letters of the alphabet. to conceal the identity of mr brown, who was once guilty of seeing a ghost, may be and most frequently is, a point of honour, but why not call him mr smith, and say he lived in buckinghamshire, and thus rouse a definite mental conception in your reader's brain, instead of calling him mr z. of w----, and thus setting up mental irritation before the ghost comes upon the scene? having cleared the ground so far, i will now mention my third and last point. it is usual when writing reminiscences of any kind to anticipate your reader's criticisms, and try to increase his interest in your experiences by a sort of false humility in deprecating their value. the idea is doubtless founded on a sound knowledge of human nature, but it may easily fall into exaggeration. nothing is, of course, so disastrous as to praise beforehand a person, a picture, a voice, a poem, a book, or anything else in the wide world, in which we wish our friends to take any special interest. such a course naturally rouses unconscious antagonism in poor, fallen human nature before we even see or hear the object of our later bitter aversion. but there is a medium in all things, and it is scarcely polite to put the intelligence of our readers sufficiently low to be manipulated by such obvious arts. moreover, it has been well said that the history of any one human being--truthfully told (i would add, intelligently assimilated)--would be of enthralling interest and value. if this be true on the ordinary physical, intellectual, and spiritual planes it should not be _less_ true, surely, where a fourth plane of psychic experience is added to the other three? then again, there is no need to apologise for experiences limited in interest or in amount. these terms are of necessity comparative. for example, my experiences are limited compared with those of some people i have known, who have been either more highly endowed with psychic gifts or who have considered it advisable to cultivate such gifts to a high point of efficiency; or lastly, with whom opportunities for experience have been more numerous. but, on the other hand, my experiences have been great compared with those of some people at least equally interested in these subjects. geographically speaking, i have been peculiarly fortunate, having had the opportunity of witnessing phenomena of this kind in many countries, differing widely in race, climate, and other conditions. i have been told many times that i could develop clairvoyance, clairaudience, or sit as a materialising medium, but have had no desire to go further in these matters. i have seen quite as much as i wish to see, i have heard quite as much as i wish to hear, and should be very sorry personally to increase either of these psychic possibilities by the practice that makes more perfect. some consider this lamentable cowardice and want of faith. each one must judge for himself in such a matter. faith in this connection may easily degenerate into foolhardiness. "greater is he that is for you than all those who are against you" has been quoted to me again and again in deprecation of my attitude in these things. it has always appeared to me a matter in which individual judgment must be exercised, and upon which no broad and general lines of conduct can be laid down. one man can cycle fifty miles in the day, and dance all night, and be the better for the experience. another attempting the same feat, but not having the same constitution, might do himself lasting injury. it is exactly the same thing on the psychic plane. our psychic constitutions differ at least as much as our physical ones. we may overtax either, and with similar consequences. we have no right to expect protection or immunity on either plane, where we neglect the warnings of that inner monitor who is always our best guide. as a final word of warning, i would say: "beware of your motives in cultivating psychic capacity." it is so easy to mistake love of notoriety, even in one's own little _milieu_, for love of truth. there is always an eager, curious crowd anxious to get "messages" or "hear raps," or to see any other little psychic parlour tricks which we may be induced to play for their benefit. at first one feels it is almost a sacred duty to satisfy, or attempt to satisfy, these psychic cormorants; but later, wisdom comes with experience. at one time i felt bound to collect my friends and acquaintances round me and tell them all i knew upon these subjects, and doubtless it was right to do so whilst i "_felt that way_," to quote an expressive americanism. but the inevitable day came when i realised that i had spent my strength and my muffins in vain; for these gatherings generally took the form of tea-parties, not too large to cope with single-handed--say from ten to twenty people. they came at 4.30 p.m. and stayed till 8 p.m., when most of them remembered they ought to have dined at 7.45 p.m., and went away saying "how immensely they had enjoyed themselves," and "how interesting it all was." and so far as any permanent good came of it, there the matter ended. believe me, when people are prepared for this development of their finer senses _they will come to you_. there is no need to go into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in. if they do come they won't stay--why should they? _they have not got there yet_, to use a thoroughly hateful and ungrammatical but absolutely accurate sentence. if you try to carry them on the back of your own knowledge and experiences, you can do so for a time, but eventually they will struggle down, or you will put them down from sheer fatigue, and then they will run back to the spot where you found them, and thence work out their own psychic evolution either in this or in some future term of existence. when their interest is exhausted--to say nothing of your patience--you will hear that they have called you a crank and lamented your "wasting your time over such nonsense." that will be _your_ share of the transaction. i know this _because i have been there--moi qui vous parle_. "let every man be persuaded in his own mind," but don't try to persuade anyone else. when the right time comes he will ask your help and counsel without any persuasion. of course, i am speaking only of private work. lectures and congresses are of the greatest possible value; for no one knows whom he may be addressing on these occasions, and the seed may be falling into soil prepared, but often unconsciously prepared, for its reception. to sum up the whole matter: 1. be strong in the conviction that eventually good must always conquer evil, but remember also that you individually may have a very bad time meanwhile if you go amongst mixed influences and evoke that which at present you are not strong enough to withstand. 2. know when to speak and when to be silent. 3. receive what comes to you spontaneously, but never allow yourself to be cajoled or persuaded into developing your mediumship to gratify curiosity; not even on the plea of scientific duty, unless you are fully conscious in your own mind that this is the special work which is laid upon you. and bearing these three simple rules in mind, we may go forward with brave hearts and level heads on the quest which has been so plainly opened out to us in this twentieth century. e. katharine bates. seen and unseen chapter i early recollections having set myself to write a personal record of psychic experiences, i must "begin at the beginning," as the children say. when only nine years old i lost my father--the rev. john ellison bates of christ church, dover--and my earliest childish experience of anything supernormal was connected with him. he had been an invalid all my short life, and i was quite accustomed to spending days at a time without seeing him. his last illness, which lasted about a fortnight, had therefore no special significance for me, and my nurse, elder brother, and godmother, who were the only three people in the house at the time, gave strict orders that none of the servants should give me a hint of his being dangerously ill. these instructions were carefully carried out, and yet i dreamed three nights running--the three nights preceding his decease--that he was dead. i was entirely devoted to my father, who had been father and mother to me in one, and these dreams no doubt broke the terrible shock of his death to me. how well i remember, that cold, dreary february morning, being hastily dressed by candle-light by strange hands, and then my dear old nurse (who had been by his bedside all night) coming in and telling me the sad news with tears streaming down her cheeks. it seemed no news at the moment; and yet i had spoken of my dreams to no one, "for fear they should come true," having some pathetic, childish notion that silence on my part might avert the catastrophe. in all his previous and numerous illnesses i had never dreamt that any special one was fatal. during the next few years of school life my psychic faculty remained absolutely in abeyance. in a fashionable school, surrounded by chattering companions and the usual paraphernalia of school work, classes, and masters, etc., i can, however, recall many a time when suddenly everything around me became unreal and i alone seemed to have any true existence; and even that was for the time merged in a rather unpleasant dream, from which i hoped soon to wake up. this sensation was quite distinct from the one--also well known to me in those days and later--of having "done all this before," and knowing just what somebody was about to say. probably both these sensations are common to most young people. it would be interesting to note which of the two is the more universal. i pass on now to the time when i was about eighteen years old, and a constant visitor, for weeks and months at a time, in the house of my godfather, the archdeacon of a northern diocese. his grandson, then a young student at oxford, of about my own age, must have been what we should now call a very good sensitive. it was with him that i sat at my first "table," more as a matter of amusement than anything else, and certainly young morton freer treated the "spirits" in the most cavalier fashion. they did not seem to resent this, and he could do pretty much what he liked with them. this may be a good opportunity for explaining that when i speak in this narrative of "spirits" i do so to save constant periphrasis, and am quite consciously "begging the question" very often, as a matter of verbal convenience. in those days i don't think we troubled ourselves much about theories, and when we found that morton and i alone could move a heavy dining-room table, or any other piece of heavy furniture quite beyond our normal powers, practically without exerting any strength at all, we looked upon it as an amusing experience without caring to inquire whether the energy involved had been generated on this side the veil or on the other side. we could certainly not have moved such weights under ordinary circumstances, even by putting forth all our combined strength, and we could only do so, for some mysterious reason, when we had been "sitting at the table" beforehand. ingenious theories of human electricity raised to a higher power by making a human battery, etc. etc., were not so common then as now, and we accepted facts without trying to solve their problems. the dear, hospitable archdeacon would put his venerable head inside the door now and then, shake it at us half in fun, and yet a good deal in earnest, and i think he was more than doubtful whether our parlour games were quite lawful! we were very innocent and very ignorant in those days on the subject of psychic laws; and probably this was our salvation, for i can remember no terrible or weird experience, such as one reads of nowadays when tyros take to experiments. and yet my knowledge and experiences of later days lead me to endorse most heartily the well-known dictum of lawrence oliphant--namely, that when he saw people sitting down in a casual, irresponsible way to "_get messages through a table_," it reminded him of an ignorant child going into a powder magazine with a lighted match in its hand. staying in this same house, i can next recall a flying visit from a brother of mine, who had just spent three months, on leave from india, in america, where he had taken introductions, and had been the guest of various hospitable naval and military men, who had shown him round the washington arsenal, west point academy, and so forth. my kind old host had begged him to take us on his way back to london; and i remember well his look of utter amazement when morton and i had lured him to "the table" one afternoon, and he was told correctly the names of two or three of these american gentlemen. "i _must_ have mentioned them to my sister in my letters," he said, turning to the younger man. i knew this was _not_ the case, but it was difficult to prove a negative. it was a relief, therefore, when my brother suggested what he considered a "real test," where previous knowledge on my part must be excluded. "let them tell me the name of a bearer i had once in india--he lived with me for more than twelve years--always returning to me when i came back from english furlough, and yet at the end of that time he suddenly disappeared, without rhyme or reason, and i have neither seen nor heard of him since. i _know_ my sister has never heard his name. _that_ would be something like a test, but, of course, it won't come off," he added cynically. the wearisome spelling out began. the table rose up at r, then at a. "quite wrong," my brother called out in triumph. "i knew how it would be when any real test came. fortunately, too, it is wildly wrong--neither the letter before nor the letter after the right one, so you cannot wriggle out of it that way." "never mind, major bates," said morton freer good-naturedly. "let us go on all the same, and see what they mean to spell out." fortunately, we did so, with a most interesting result; for the right name was given after all, but spelt in the hindoostanee and not the european fashion. the name in true hindoostanee was rã¡m dã­n--but europeans spelt it rham deen--and so my brother himself had entirely forgotten when the a was given that it had any connection with the man's name. when the whole word was spelt out, of course he remembered, and then his face was a study! "good gracious! it is right enough, and that is the real hindoostanee spelling, too. i never thought of that when the a came!" i think this episode knocked the bottom out of his scepticism for some years to come. even now this case precludes ordinary and conscious telepathy. mr podmore would be reduced to explaining that the hindoostanee spelling was latent in my brother's consciousness, though his normal self repudiated it. another curious incident--still more difficult to explain upon the thought transference theory (unless we stretch it to include a possible impact of _all_ thoughts, at all times and from all quarters of the globe, upon everyone else's brain)--occurred under the same hospitable roof. one of the archdeacon's nieces came to stay in the house about this time. she was considerably my senior, and was very kind to me, with the thoughtful kindness an older woman can show to a sensitive young girl. this awakened in me an affection which, i am thankful to say, still exists between us. this lady was considerably under thirty years old at the time, but to my young ideas she seemed already in the sear and yellow leaf from the matrimonial point of view! one must remember how different the standard of age was more than thirty years ago! it was also the time when marriage was looked upon not only as the most desirable, but as almost the only _possible_, career for a woman. so when morton and this lady and i were "sitting at the table" in the gloaming one evening, i said, with trembling eagerness: "morton, _do_ ask if carrie will ever be married," for the case seemed to me almost desperate at the advanced age of twenty-seven or twenty-eight! i must mention that for some occult reason (which i have entirely forgotten) i trusted fervently that a hungarian or polish name might be given after the satisfactory "yes" had been spelt out, but, alas! nothing of the kind occurred. "the table" began with a d, and then successively e, h, a, v were given. no one ever heard of a polish or hungarian name of the kind, and i remember saying petulantly: "oh, give it up, morton. it's all nonsense! nobody ever heard of a mr _dehav_." once more morton rescued a really good bit of evidence by his imperturbable perseverance. "wait a bit! let us see what is coming," he said. i took no further personal interest in the experiment. either morton concluded the name was finished, or there was some confusion in getting the next letters, owing doubtless to my impetuous disgust. anyway, he went on to say: "let us ask where the fellow lives at the present time." this was instantly answered by "_freshwater_," and the further information given that he was a widower. none of us knew any man, married or single, who lived at freshwater, and the incident was relegated to the limbo of failures. several years later, however, my friend _did_ marry a gentleman whose name (a very pretty one) began with the five despised letters, and he was a widower, and _had_ been living in his own house at freshwater at the time mentioned. she did not meet him until some years after our curious experience. about the same time, but in the south of england, my attention was again drawn to metapsychics by an experience connected with the death of the famous marquis of hastings, of horse-racing repute. as a young girl i lived close to the mote park at maidstone, where his sister, the present lady romney, was then living as lady constance marsham. the reverend david dale stewart and his wife (he was vicar of maidstone, and i made my home with them for some years after leaving school) were friends of hers, and she sometimes came to see them in a friendly way in the morning. on one of these occasions, when lady constance had just returned from paying her brother a visit in a small shooting-box in the eastern counties (i think), mrs stewart remarked that she was afraid the change had not done lady constance much good, as she was looking far from well. in those days lady romney was an exceptionally strong and healthy young woman. she said rather impatiently: "well, the fact is i did a very stupid thing the other day--i never did such a thing before--i fainted dead away for the first time in my life." asked for the reason of this, she told us that she and her husband and lord and lady hastings were dining quietly one evening together, two guests who had been expected not having arrived by the train specified. looking up bradshaw, and finding no other train that could bring them until quite late at night, the other four sat down to dinner. soup and fish had already been discussed, when a carriage was heard driving up to the door, and they naturally concluded that their guests had discovered some means of getting across country by another line. lord hastings said: "tell colonel and mrs ---that we began dinner, thinking they could not arrive till much later, but that we are quite alone, and beg they will join us as soon as possible." the servant went to the door, prepared with the message given, flung it open--but no carriage, no horses were there! everybody had heard it driving up, nevertheless. remembering the old family legend that a carriage and pair is heard driving up the avenue before the head of the hastings family dies, lady romney fainted dead away, very much to her own surprise and mortification; for she was, and doubtless is still, an uncommonly sensible woman, "quite above all superstitions." the episode struck me as curious at the time; but the impression passed, and a few days later i went to pay a visit to friends of mine in buckinghamshire. soon after my arrival i happened to mention the story, and was much laughed at as a "superstitious little creature, to think twice of such nonsense." "of course, everyone had been mistaken in supposing they heard wheels or horses' hoofs--nothing could be simpler!" and yet before i left that house, three weeks later, all the newspapers were full of long obituary notices of the marquis of hastings. these were so interesting that my friend's husband had reached the second long column in _the times_ before any of us remembered my story, which had been treated with so much contempt. it suddenly flashed across my mind: "owen! remember the carriage and pair and how you laughed at me!" they were forced to confess "_it was certainly rather odd_," the usual refuge of the psychically destitute! a shake of the kaleidoscope, and i see another incident before me of more personal interest. at the time of the outbreak of the afghan war, in the autumn of 1878, i was living with very old friends in oxford. my brother of the rã¡m dã­n incident was once more in india, and had been military secretary for some years at lahore to sir robert egerton, who was at that time lieutenant-governor of the punjab. when the war broke out, my brother, of course, went off to join his regiment for active service; but at the time of my experience it was impossible that he could have reached the seat of war, and i knew this well. i was in excellent spirits about him, for he had been through many campaigns, and loved active service, as all good soldiers do. moreover, i had just read a charming letter which sir robert egerton had sent him on resigning his appointment as military secretary to take up more active duty to his country. yet it was just at this juncture--when, humanly speaking, there was no cause for any special anxiety--that i woke up one morning with the gloomiest and most miserable forebodings about this special brother. nothing of the kind had ever occurred to me before, though he had been through many campaigns in india, china, abyssinia, and elsewhere. it was an overwhelming conviction of some great and definite disaster to him, and my friends in vain tried to argue me out of such an unreasonable terror by pointing out, truly enough, that he could not possibly be within the zone of danger at that time. i could only repeat: "i _know_ that something terrible has happened to him, wherever he is. it may not be death, but it is some terrible calamity." i spent the day in tears and in absolute despair, and wrote to tell him of my conviction. allowing for difference of time between quetta and oxford, my mental telegram reached me in the same hour that my brother, whilst on the march, and only thirty miles beyond quetta, was suddenly struck down in his tent by the paralysis which kept him confined to his chair--a helpless sufferer--for twenty-eight years. perhaps, now that i know so much more of mental currents, i might have received a more definite message as regards the true _nature_ of the calamity. it could not have been more marked, nor more definite as regards the _fact_ of it. my condition of hopeless misery obliged me to put off all engagements that day, and i did nothing but fret and lament over him, with the exception of writing the one letter mentioned, in which i told him of my strange and sad experience. in time, of course, the first sharp impression passed, and soon a cheery letter arrived from him, written, of course, before the fatal day. my experience in oxford occurred on the morning of 4th december 1878. it was well on in january 1879 before the corroboration arrived, in a letter written to us by a stranger. communication was delayed not only by the war, but also by the fact that my poor brother was lying at the time deprived of both movement and speech, and could only spell out later, by the alphabet, the address of his people at home. chapter ii investigations in america, 1885-1886 an interval of seven years occurs between the events recorded in the last chapter and my first visit to america, which took place in the autumn of 1885. during these years no abnormal experiences came to me, nor had i the smallest wish for any. the table turnings with morton freer were a thing of the past, and were looked back upon by me in the light of a childish amusement rather than anything else. quite other interests had come into my life, specially as regards literature and music; and i never gave a thought to spooks or spiritualism, nor did i really know anything about the latter subject. it is true that on one occasion a curate at great marlow had spoken to me about mr s. c. hall and his researches, and i think he must have given me an introduction to the dear old man, for i remember going to see him "with a lady friend" (he made a great point of this, somewhat to my amusement), and finding a charming old man with silver locks, a fine head, and a nice white frilly shirt. he spoke of his dear friend "mrs jencken," whom he considered the only reliable medium, and showed us some sheets full of hieroglyphics, which he said were messages obtained through her influence from "his dear wife." it was all so much greek to me in those days, and only true sympathy with the poor old man's evident loneliness and adoration of his wife's memory prevented my making merry over the extraordinary delusions of the old gentleman, when my companion and i had left his rooms in sussex villas. later, i lived during two years with mrs lankester and her daughters whilst looking after an invalid brother in london; and i need scarcely point out that constant intercourse with professor ray lankester in his mother's house was not calculated to encourage any psychic proclivities, even had these latter not been entirely latent with me at that time. i heard a great deal about the "slade exposure," both from professor lankester and his friend dr donkin, who often came to us with him. when arranging my american tour in 1885, mrs lankester kindly gave me an introduction to mrs edna hall, an old friend of theirs, who had been living in their house during the whole period of the slade trial. this lady--an american--lived permanently in boston, and curiously enough (in view of the preceding facts) it was she who persuaded miss greenlow and me to attend our first _sã©ance_ in boston. mrs edna hall had honoured mrs lankester's introduction most hospitably; but she was too busy a woman to do as much for us as her kindness suggested, and she had therefore introduced us to another friend--mrs maria porter--a most picturesque, clever, and characteristic figure in boston society in the eighties. both these ladies accompanied us to the "sisters berry." mrs edna hall had no sort of illusions on the subject. she said quite frankly that she only took us there because it was a feature of american life which we ought not to miss, and which would probably amuse us, if only by showing the gullibility of human nature. one is always apt to read past experiences in the light of present convictions. fortunately, i kept a diary at the time, and have a faithful record of what took place, and, which is still more valuable, of the impressions formed at the time. the extracts connected with this _sã©ance_ in boston, and later experiences in new york, are taken partly from my record at the time and partly from the chapter on "spiritualism in america," published in my book entitled "a year in the great republic." speaking of this first _sã©ance_ in boston, i see that i have said: "i went to the 'sisters berry' in a very antagonistic frame of mind, _determined beforehand that the whole thing was a swindle_ (italics are recent), accompanied by friends who were even more sceptical than myself, if that were possible." i go on then to describe the usual cabinet, and pass on to the following extract:-an old egyptian now appeared, and a man in the circle, who had been sitting near my friend miss greenlow all the evening, went up and spoke to him, and then asked "_that the lady who had been sitting near him_" might come up also, which she did; but she said she could distinguish no features, and only felt a warm, damp hand passed over hers. miss greenlow was next called up by the spirit of a young man who wished to embrace her, but who was finally proved to be the departed friend of the lady who sat next to her. miss greenlow returned to her seat, furious, declaring that it was a horrible, coarse-looking creature, unlike anyone she had ever seen in her life. mrs porter made valiant attempts to investigate the figures who came forth at intervals, but was invariably waved back by the master of the ceremonies. "will that lady kindly sit down? this spirit is not for her. it wishes to communicate with its own friends, and she is disturbing the conditions, and forcing the spirit back into the cabinet." there were evidently many old stagers there, who flew up like lamp-lighters on every possible occasion, with exclamations of: "oh, uncle charlie, is that you?" "how do you do, jem?" and so forth. one old lady, in a mob cap and black gown, was introduced as a certain sister margaret who had taught in st peter's school, boston. she came to speak to a former pupil, who gave her spiritualistic experiences in such remarkably bad grammar as reflected small credit on sister margaret's teaching of the english language. this girl told us how anxious she had always been to see her old teacher, who had appeared to her several times in the _sã©ance_ room, but never in her old garments--a sort of sister's dress. after wishing very fervently one night, sister margaret appeared dressed in mob cap and gown, saying: "don't you see my dress? i came in it at your wish." "yes," answered the girl; "and i thank you for gratifying my wish. since which time," she added, "i have been a firm believer in spiritualism." a young french girl, in draggly black garments and a shock of thick black hair, then came forward and rushed amongst us, trying to find someone to talk french with her. my friend mrs hall went up first, and then i was told to go up and speak to her. i took hold of her hands, and grasped them firmly for a moment. they seemed to be ordinary flesh and blood, but i am bound to confess that they appeared to _lengthen out_ in a somewhat abnormal fashion when the pressure was removed. her face was very cadaverous, and she spoke in a quick, hurried way, _as if time were an object_. she said she understood a little english, but could not speak it. her mother had been french; her father an indian, "un brave homme." it seemed to me that a good deal of kissing and embracing went on. one old grey-headed gentleman was constantly walking up to the cabinet and being embraced by a white figure, whose arms we could just see, thrown round his neck, in the dim light. (i note that the light here was much less than with mrs stoddart gray in new york.) the only excitement was the chance of some disturbance before we left; for mrs porter became more and more indignant with the "gross imposture," which culminated when at length she was called up and told that "a young man wished to speak with her." she asserted that it was "the most horrible, grinning, painted creature who hissed into her ears." the master of the house begged her to be patient, and try to hear what the spirit wished to say, but with a very emphatic "no, no, no" she resumed her seat, amidst a general titter of laughter. at the last we were told that three little girls, whose mother sat near the cabinet, wished to materialise, but found it difficult to do so, owing to the absence of children in the audience. the mother seemed very anxious to see them; but suddenly the gas was turned up, and the _sã©ance_ declared over--a very abrupt finale to a piece of unmitigated humbug, i should say. these extracts sufficiently show the spirit in which i entered upon my investigations and the result of that spirit. i think even mr podmore would have considered me _thoroughly sound_ on that first evening. i have no doubt that the violence of mrs porter's antagonism, and the smiling cynicism of mrs hall in face of the "american experience" she had proposed for us, added to my own preconceived prejudices. i am aware that the berry sisters have been "exposed," thus sharing the fate of all other public mediums. in the light of later experiences, however, i feel sure that i might have received something personally evidential on this occasion had my attitude of mind given hospitality to any possible visitors from the unseen. the next extracts from my diary refer to a _sã©ance_ which we attended in new york a few days after our arrival there, and some two or three weeks later than the boston sitting already described. our stay in boston had extended to three months from the original fortnight we had planned for the visit. i had taken a few very good introductions there: to dr oliver wendell holmes, colonel wentworth higginson, and others of the boston _alumni_, and as several receptions had been kindly arranged for us, and my name had appeared many times during the winter in various local papers, it would have been easy for the sisters berry to find out something about me and my companion, and utilise the knowledge by faking up a convenient spirit, who could have talked glibly of my literary tastes, and so forth. nothing of the sort occurred, however, although our first _sã©ance_ only took place a week or two before we left boston, after my three months' stay there. this fact should certainly be "counted as righteousness" to the much abused sisters! it was the more curious, that our first _sã©ance_ in new york, within a few days of our arrival, and in a metropolis where at the time we were _absolute strangers_, should have been so much more successful as regards evidential experiences. i will again quote from my diary of 1886. the medium visited on this occasion was mrs cadwell, who has since died. * * * * * we knew nothing beforehand of the medium, who lived in a small flat in an unfashionable quarter. some eight people only were assembled in the extremely small room. all were perfect strangers to miss greenlow and me, but a fancied likeness in one lady present to a picture i had seen of mrs beecher stowe led me to ask if it were she, and i was told that my surmise was correct. there was no room for a cabinet, so a curtain was hung across a tiny alcove, just the ordinary "arch" found in most rooms of the kind. when i went behind the curtain with the female medium, before the sitting began, there was barely space for us both to turn round in. the carpet on either side the curtain was one piece. there was absolutely no room for any trap-door machinery, even could such have been worked successfully in the perfect silence in which we sat, within two feet of the alcove. the room was about the size of the small back dining-room in an ordinary london lodging--say in oxford or cambridge terrace, for example. the medium sat amongst us at first, only going behind the curtain after a few moments, when she was "under control" as it is called. a little child of hers, who died some years ago at the age of four, is supposed to help in the materialisations, but is never seen outside the curtains. if she came out herself she would not be able to help the others to do so. i mention these things in the words in which they were told to me, offering no comment, but putting the case for the moment as spiritualists would put it. to do this, and then to give a faithful and unprejudiced account of what took place, seems to me the only fair way of treating such a subject. i was told again and again that too much concentration of thought on the part of the audience was deterrent. this accounts for music as an invariable accompaniment of all such sittings. it seems to harmonise the circle, to break up over-concentration, and may also, unfortunately, serve to cover the doings of dishonest mediums. it must not, however, be supposed that in this case the materialisations went on only whilst we were singing. this might point to a possible "trap-door theory," although in a city where flats abound (rooms, not human beings!) there would still be the difficulty of getting your downstairs neighbours to look kindly upon such proceedings. as a matter of fact, we were often sitting in absolute silence when fresh "spirits" appeared. i can corroborate the assertion that too much concentration of thought upon them proves deterrent to the spirits, for on more than one occasion i heard a voice from the curtain or cabinet saying: "do get the people's minds off us; we can do nothing whilst they are fixed upon us so intensely," as though _thought_ in spirit life corresponded to some physical obstacle on the earth plane. the first spirit who came (the daughter of an old gentleman sitting near me) intimated through him that she would like me to go up and help her to materialise the white veil which all in turn wore, and which, though perfectly transparent, is considered a necessary shield between them and the earth's influences; on the same principle, i suppose, that we put on blue spectacles to protect us from the blinding rays of the sun. she came out from the alcove, held both her hands in front of her, turning them backward and forward that i might be satisfied that nothing was concealed in them. the soft, clinging material of her gown ended high up on the shoulders, so there were no sleeves to be reckoned with. i stood close over her, holding out my own dress, and as she rubbed her hands to and fro a sort of white lace or net came from them, like a foam, and lay upon my gown which i was holding up towards her. i touched this material, and held it in my hands. it had substance, but was light as gossamer, and quite unlike any stuff i ever saw in a shop. the very softest gossamer tulle that old ladies sometimes produce as having belonged to their grandmothers is perhaps the nearest approach to what i then lifted in my hands, but even this does not accurately describe it. when long enough she took up the veil, unfolded it, covering her head with it, and saying very graciously "thank you" to me. other spirits now appeared for the other people in the room, who conversed with them in low tones. all these had evidently materialised before and could consequently speak with comparative ease. one, called the "angel mother" (the mother of the medium), answered questions on the spirit life in a loud american voice, prefacing every remark, whether to man or woman, by an affectionate "well, de-ar!" her answers showed considerable shrewdness, but not much depth, and were often rather wide of the mark. "nels seymour" (who appears to have belonged to a sort of christy minstrel company over here) cracked jokes all the time with a gentleman amongst the audience in a good-natured but flippant and very unspiritual manner, and even the ladies joined in the undignified punning and "play upon words" that went on all the time. the little child's voice came in as a relief every now and then. she spoke broken, childish english, but used the expressions of a grown-up person. she described several spirits as "chying" (trying) to come, but not being strong enough. i was becoming drowsy, and rather tired of the performance, when my attention was once more aroused by hearing that a very beautiful female spirit, with a diamond star in her forehead, had appeared and asked for me, saying she had been a friend of mine on earth, and wished to communicate with me. this was conveyed to me by the little child's voice, the spirit herself not having yet emerged from the curtain; but the medium's husband looked behind it, and told me of the diamond star, which he said was some "order" in spirit life. having no idea who the friend might be, i begged for some further particulars before going up to speak to her. "she passed from earth life about five years ago, and in germany," answered the medium's husband, who had conducted the conversation behind the curtain. this was less vague, and now for the first time a suspicion of the spirit's identity crossed my mind; but i would not go up until a name had been given, and i asked for this before leaving my seat. my travelling companion--a recent acquaintance--had never heard me mention the lady in question, who _had_ died in germany at the time specified. the little child said the spirit would give the name through her, and the process was a curious one. instead of mentioning the whole name or each letter of it to her father, the child _described_ each letter to him as you might describe the lines of the large capitals in a child's reading-book. the father guessed the letter from the child's description, and asked me if the first one were correct? it was; but i did not tell him so, merely saying i should like to have the christian name in full before giving any opinion. in due time the six letters (muriel, we will call it) were correctly given, and i had then no further excuse for refusing to speak to the spirit. i went up to the curtain, and she appeared in front of it. i have been frequently asked: "should you have recognised her as your friend had no name been given?" with every wish to be perfectly truthful, i find it difficult to answer this question, for the following reason:--none of the "materialisations" i saw were exactly human in face. there was no idea of a mask or clever "get up," but if one could accept the theory of a body hastily put together and assumed for a time, the result is exactly what might have been expected under the circumstances. my friend in real life was very pale, and had exquisitely chiselled features, and the ones i now looked upon were of the same _cast_. the height was also similar, and an indescribable atmosphere of refinement, purity, and quiet dignity, for which she had been remarkable; all this was present with this materialisation. more than this i cannot say, for no materialisation i have ever seen could be truthfully considered _identical_ with the human original. i did not feel frightened, but i did feel embarrassed, and naturally so, considering how unwilling and grudging my recognition of her individuality must have appeared. she seemed conscious of this, for almost immediately she mentioned her hands, holding them out for inspection, and saying: "don't you remember my hands? i was so proud of my hands!" now, as a matter of fact, my friend was noted for her beautiful hands, but she was too sensible and clever a woman to have been conceited about them, and had too much good taste ever to have made their beauty a subject of remark, even to an intimate friend. moreover, the hands now _en ã©vidence_, although well shaped and with tapering fingers, were as little identical with a human hand as the face was identical with a human face. casting about for something to say to her, my first thought was for an only and dearly loved married sister of hers, also a friend of mine, and i mentioned the latter in a guarded way, saying: "if you are in reality my friend, have you no message for _your sister_?" in a moment, and without the slightest hesitation, she said: "_tell poor jessie_," going on with a message peculiarly appropriate to the facts of the case, but of much too private a nature for publication. almost immediately afterwards, and _with no shadow of suggestion from me_, she added: "_poor jessie! she suffered terribly when i passed away so suddenly._" my friend had died in a foreign country, under peculiarly sad circumstances. she was young, beautiful, and accomplished; a prominent local figure in the well-known capital where she had spent several winters. her death was so sudden that there was not even time to put off a large afternoon "at home" arranged for that day. moreover, this sister, by a most merciful chance, happened to be spending a few months with her, out of england, at the time. these were all special facts, spontaneously referred to by her, but which would _not_ have applied equally well to the death of any other friend, even supposing such a death to have occurred abroad. the spirit spoke feebly and with difficulty, "not having much strength," she told me. i asked if her father (who had died a few months previously) were with her. "not yet," she said gently; "but i know that he has passed over." she then kissed my hand, and faded away before my eyes, not apparently returning to the curtain (close to which i stood), but vanishing into thin air. some ten days later my friend and i went again to an evening _sã©ance_ at the same house, different people being present on this occasion. a stupid, "_unintelligent_ sceptic" woman put us all out of harmony by making inane suggestions, always declaring that "_she would not for the world interfere with the conditions_," but doing so all the same. the "angel mother" came again, and rather lost her temper, i thought, with an aggravating, illogical man in the circle, who hammered away about faraday's opinions on the spirit world without much idea of what he was talking about. "nels seymour" _appeared_, as well as spoke, this time. he took my hand and kissed it; but he does not leave the cabinet, as he is the "control." it was eleven years on this day since he had "passed over," so he called it his "birthday." a very beautiful female spirit materialised and offered to sit on my lap; an offer i closed with at once. she was some five feet eight inches in height, and a large, well-developed woman. anticipating the possibility of her resting her feet on the ground, and so concealing her real weight, i moved my own feet from the ground the moment she sat down, which was easily done, as my chair was a high one. she remained for several minutes in this position, resting, of necessity, her whole weight upon me, which was about equal to that of a small kitten or a lady's muff, in the days when small muffs were in fashion. there was an _appreciable_ weight, but i have never nursed any baby that was not far heavier. the veil this time was materialised in the usual way, my friend going up to watch the process. my spirit friend appeared again, and more strongly this time. at a public _sã©ance_, where so many are eager to communicate with their friends, it is impossible to monopolise more than a few minutes of the public time, and consequently any communications are as hurried and unsatisfactory as a conversation with an intimate friend in the public reading-room of a hotel would be. * * * * * i pass over another most excellent and evidential incident as a concession to family prejudice. it has already appeared in my book on america entitled "a year in the great republic," and may be found there. * * * * * at a third materialising _sã©ance_ at the same house an excitable italian friend of mine, who had never seen anything of the kind before, came with much the same prejudices as i had felt at the boston _sã©ance_, and disturbed the conditions very much by his attitude of determined antagonism; whilst his comparative ignorance of english, and my feeble italian, made explanations, under the circumstances, rather hopeless. the whole circle was put out of harmony, and a dead weight lay upon us all. the materialisations continued, it is true; but personally it was a great relief to me when my excitable friend left, declaring that everything he had seen was "_physiquement impossible mon ange_." he departed so abruptly as to bring down much abuse upon his absent head for having "broken the battery" and almost "killed the medium" by his sudden disappearance from the circle. this awful threat had so much power over the rest of the party that we sat out to the bitter end, leaving the medium at last still in her trance, with husband and son hovering over her in an anxiety which, if acted, showed first-class dramatic power. meanwhile i had made the acquaintance of a very beautiful and charming woman in new york, to whom i had brought a letter of introduction. she has had a tragic and remarkable history; is a woman of great mental powers, in addition to very remarkable beauty; and is of the highest rank, being an austrian princess, i believe, in her own right, and having spent her youth in foreign courts. apart from these facts, which had been told me by a mutual friend before we met, i knew nothing whatever of her family history, nor whether she had brothers or sisters, alive or dead. i had spoken to her of my curious experiences, and she had discussed the matter with me from the standpoint of a thorough woman of the world, of strong mental power, who had seen too much of life to be dogmatic or narrow in her views, but too much also to believe in what is called the "supernatural," before every possible _natural_ hypothesis had been admitted and dismissed as untenable. sitting in her pretty room the day before i left new york, we had talked for some two hours on various subjects connected with life and literature, and before the final "adieux" she said laughingly: "well, have you been to any more _sã©ances_?" i said "no," and that we did not intend to do so, as our time was now so short. a few moments of careless talk on the subject ensued, and picking up a newspaper, i cast my eye over the usual list of mediums, clairvoyants, etc. a half-defined wish to see whether any spirit friend would come to me under totally different conditions and surroundings, and in an entirely different quarter of the city, led to my copying out one of the addresses at haphazard. i could not prevail upon my hostess to accompany me (she is delicate, and dreads night air), but i took the slip of paper to my hotel, thinking that my friend there might care to take the cars after dinner to this distant end of the city. my english companion proved rather indifferent and disinclined towards the expedition. this was very natural. she was not magnetic in temperament, and had no expectation of seeing any of her own friends, although, of course, she had both seen and spoken to those who came for me. however, a good dinner at the excellent windsor hotel fortified us so much after our fatigues that at the last moment we agreed to make one more attempt, no one, ourselves included, having known five minutes previously that we should leave the house. on this occasion we were ushered into a much more imposing drawing-room, and the lady herself was evidently some degrees higher in the social scale than our first mediumistic friend. the arrangements also were quite different. as we sat waiting for a few minutes (having arrived very punctually), mrs gray looked at my friend, and then described an elderly lady with grey hair who was standing over her, but, of course, invisible to our eyes. almost immediately mrs gray began rubbing her knees, and complained of pain in them, adding: "the impression of dropsy is being conveyed to me. this spirit seems to have suffered from disease of that nature." my friend--who was very self-contained and unemotional--gave no clue to the fact that she recognised anyone by this description, but as we were returning home in the cars she said quietly: "it is curious mrs gray should have described that old lady with grey hair--i suppose she meant my mother. _she_ had grey hair, and died of dropsy." on my expostulating with this lady for having given the impression that she did not recognise the description at the time she said, with conscious pride: "you don't suppose i was going to let the woman know that she had described my mother?" to give a false impression in so good a cause as determined incredulity, seems not only justifiable, but actually praiseworthy to many minds. later in the evening, the _sã©ance_ being in full swing, a spirit dressed in some kind of white "sister's" dress appeared at the door of the cabinet; and mrs stoddart gray asked if anyone in the circle could speak german, as this spirit did not seem to understand french, italian, or english, and she herself only recognised german by the sound. a gentleman volunteered his assistance, but apparently without much effect, and being a german scholar, i then offered to come to the rescue. the moment i went up to the figure she seemed to gain strength, and came quite out of the cabinet, and said to me in the most refined german (any readers who have studied the language know that there is as wide a difference between the highest and lowest type of german accent as between an educated irish "accent" and an irish brogue): "_ich bin die schwester von madame schewitsch_," mentioning the name of the foreign friend with whom i had been spending that afternoon: "_ich weisz das sie heute nach mittag bei meiner schwester waren._"[1] [1] translation: "i am the sister of madame schewitsch--i know that you spent this afternoon with my sister." she had evidently a strong, almost overwhelming desire to make some communication to me for her sister, but the difficulty in doing so seemed equally strong. it lay beyond the question of language. she spoke with sufficient strength, and i could understand perfectly her well-chosen and well-pronounced words. but some insuperable obstacle seemed to prevent her telling me what she wished to convey, and the despairing attempt to surmount this was painful in the extreme. i assured her of my willingness to help in any way possible, and made a few suggestions, but all in vain. "is it that you are not happy?" "no--no! that is not it." it seemed to me some sort of warning which she wished to convey, and had some connection with illness, for the words _achtung_ and _krankheit_ (warning and illness) were repeated more than once, but no definite message came. i then asked if she could _write_ it, and she caught eagerly at the idea. so i borrowed a pencil and some paper, and placed them on a small table in the middle of the room, with a chair in front of it. she came quite close to the table (five gas burners were more than half turned on, so there was plenty of light), sat down, and took up the pencil, but almost immediately threw it down again, saying in a most unhappy and despairing voice: "_nein! nein! ich kann es selbst nicht schreiben!_"[2] and vanished before my very eyes as she rose from the table. now had this been a case of fraud, and supposing that some woman had means of discovering the name of my new york friend and the fact of my having spent that very afternoon with her, what would have been easier than to write or give some commonplace message in a language of which she had already proved herself mistress? [2] translation: "no! no! i cannot even write it!" the episode was so painful that i decided _not_ to write to madame schewitsch about it. i have therefore no absolute corroboration of the fact that the lady mentioned had a sister who became a nun, or who was connected with some such establishment, and had passed over. this, however, is much more probable than not, because in every high-born catholic family in austria, one member in a large family almost invariably takes the veil. i have given the real name in this case, hoping madame schewitsch may perchance come across my book, and supply the information needed. i may remark, finally, that three or four months later, whilst travelling in california, i heard from my excitable and sceptical italian friend (who had given me the introduction to madame schewitsch) that this lady had had a long and most serious illness during my absence in the west, and that her husband and he had both feared she would never recover from it. this fear, fortunately, proved to be groundless. to return to the sitting. about twenty minutes after the "sister" had disappeared, a figure in white came forward very swiftly, and without a moment's hesitation pointed towards me, saying quickly: "_for you._" i went up at once, recognising who it was, but determined to give no sign of this fact. the "spirit" looked at me for a moment with surprise, as one might look at any well-known friend who passed us in the street without a greeting. as i remained silent she whispered: "don't you know me?" i am afraid _i_ gave the false impression this time, and asked her for her name. "_why, i am muriel!_" came the instant answer, mentioning the name of the first friend who had appeared to me, after spelling out her name, at the previous _sã©ances_ held in another part of new york. on this third appearance my spirit friend asked me to kiss her. i must confess that i complied with some amount of trepidation, which proved to be quite unnecessary. there was nothing the least repulsive to the touch, although it was not exactly like kissing anyone on earth; but an indescribable atmosphere of freshness and purity, which seemed always to surround this friend whilst living, was very apparent under these changed conditions. another curious little point is that i had entirely forgotten my friend's love of violets (she always wore them when possible, and used violet scent) until i smelt them distinctly whilst speaking to her. it must be remembered that until the day of the sitting, we had never dreamed of going to mrs gray's house, nor had we even heard her name. i picked it out of a newspaper by chance--amongst at least thirty others. until past seven o'clock that evening we had not decided to visit her, and the _sã©ance_ began at eight p.m., no single person in the room being present who had been at the house of the other medium some weeks previously. under these circumstances it would be difficult to account for the fact of my friend's reappearance on the ground of collusion between the two mediums. moreover, such collusion would not account for the appearance earlier in the evening of a spirit claiming to be the sister of madame schewitsch. no one hitherto has been able to suggest any _intelligent_ explanation of my personal experiences on these occasions. conjuring tricks and trap doors are, of course, "trotted out" by the _unintelligent_ sceptic, but these do not meet the difficulty of an _accurate knowledge of names and of family matters of comparatively small importance_. as i am just now chiefly concerned with presenting incidents in my life rather than in prosing over them, i resist the temptation to go further into the question of _materialisations_ either from the historical or ethical point of view, and pass on to the subject of clairvoyance. chapter ii--_continued_ investigations in america, 1885-1886 in speaking of clairvoyance i shall again have recourse to my notes taken at the time of my american visit and on the spot. i am quite convinced that where a life has been in any way eventful or at all marked, any fairly developed clairvoyant can in some way "sense" your mental and moral atmosphere. in some three or four personal cases, the notes taken at the time of such visits, paid several thousands of miles apart, might almost be read as descriptive of the same interview, with different witnesses. my travelling companion, who had led a very uneventful life, seemed to puzzle them much more. there was apparently nothing to lay hold of, and only a very shadowy, indistinct picture was given in consequence. in my own case the colours were put on freely, firmly, and without the least hesitation, and in every single instance the sketch was remarkably truthful, and yet would not have described the life of one other woman in three or four hundred. that there is a good deal of guesswork done even under the supposed influence of "trance" is quite evident to me. i am not prepared to say that such trances were in no case genuine, but the remarks made during them were frequently of a tentative nature, and the slightest good "hit" was followed up with as much ingenuity as sir richard owen displayed in putting together his skeleton from a single bone. i was told some six or seven times that my mother (who died during my infancy) was my guardian spirit, and six times her name was given to me, with some difficulty in one or two cases, but invariably without the smallest guessing on the part of the clairvoyant or any hint from me. one of my most successful interviews in new york was with a mrs parks of philadelphia--a very pleasant, good-looking, healthy woman, quite unlike the usual cadaverous medium with whom one is more familiar. her terms being rather higher than those usually asked in america (where competition has made mediums a cheap luxury), i demurred at first; upon which she said brightly: "well, don't come if you don't feel like paying that; but i never alter my prices. but i won't take your money if i don't give you satisfaction. some get satisfaction from one person and some from another--you will soon see if i am telling you the truth about your friends, and i won't take a penny from you if you are dissatisfied." i left the house saying i would think it over, and mrs parks did not at all press me to come, and from my manner could hardly have expected to see me. i had a most satisfactory interview with her next day. after referring to my mother's presence, and giving her name without any hesitation, she gave me several messages with regard to character which were singularly appropriate, and finished up by saying: "your mother does not wish you to go to mediums or mix yourself too much up with such persons. it is not necessary for you to do so; she says you have enough mediumistic power for her to be able to communicate with you directly." i could not help saying: "well, mrs parks, you are going very much against your own interests in giving me this message. i am a perfect stranger to you in this city. i have told you that i am making some little stay here, and as you have given me so much satisfaction i might have been induced to come and see you several times again before leaving." she laughed, and answered: "that is quite true; but i am an honest woman, and i am bound to give you the message that is given to me for you, even when it goes against my interest." seeing her bright, pleasant home, with every trace of comfort about it, and having received personal proof that money alone was not her consideration, i could not help asking why she continued such an arduous life. "well," she answered, "the truth is that i do it now against my own wish. my husband has always objected to it more or less. he was afraid it might injure my health, and for two years i gave it up entirely. but," she added, "the spirits would not leave me alone. it seemed as if i _had_ to come back to it, as if i were refusing to use the powers that had been given to me for the help and comfort of my fellow-creatures. i name a higher price than others, to limit my work and to keep away those who would only come from idle curiosity." she also told me that sometimes she had to give orders beforehand that certain people should not be admitted on any pretext whatever. "i can see their spirits round them before they reach the door very often, and i would not have such people, bringing such an atmosphere into my house--no, not if they gave me a hundred dollars for each sitting." i must mention one more incident connected with this period of my investigations, because it throws a strong light on some obscure problems. whilst consulting these clairvoyants, in widely different parts of america, two very near relatives of mine were almost invariably described, and the names--one male and one female--were generally given. the mediums invariably went on to say that the female spirit was further on in development than the male spirit. now there were circumstances which made this statement, viewed from this world's standpoint, not only absolutely mistaken, but almost ludicrously so. the woman's nature had been a far more faulty one--more impetuous, less balanced, and so forth. the male spirit described had been a man of very exceptional character and spirituality, whilst on earth. in spite of these facts the same "mistake," as i considered it, had consistently been made by every clairvoyant who described them; which, by-the-by, rules out telepathy as an explanation of these special experiences. it certainly seemed strange that after giving accurate descriptions of the two relatives referred to--names included--each clairvoyant should make exactly the same mistake upon so obvious a matter as the question involved. some months later, in the course of my travels, i found myself at denver in colorado. we stayed here, at first, one day only, to break our journey farther up into the rocky mountains. the previous day, when wandering about colorado springs, my friend and i had come across a lady doctor by chance; and having asked some trivial question, we were invited into her pretty little house, where we chatted for half-an-hour on various subjects--including spiritualism. we gave no account of our experiences, but simply mentioned the fact that we had some interest in the investigation. hearing this, and that we were going on to denver next day, this lady gave me the address of a young married friend who lived in that city, and who had during the previous two years suddenly developed strong mediumistic power, but was in no way a professional. she begged us to call if possible, and i took down the address, but said it was very doubtful if we could do so in the short time we should have at our disposal. at the end of a long afternoon's drive to the most interesting points of view in denver, we found ourselves close to the quarter where this young woman lived, and called at the house mentioned. the lady was not at home, and a friend who received us explained that it would be impossible for her to come down in the evening to see us, as she was delicate, and not allowed to go out at night. as we were leaving denver early next morning, this made a meeting impossible, so we left our cards, and a note to explain our visit. going into the hotel office after dinner that evening, i heard a gentleman inquiring for me by name, saying he had brought his wife to see me. i explained that i was the lady he asked for, and he then said, with the stoical resignation of the typical american husband: "i did not like her to come out, but she was bound to have her own way." the lady in question came into my bedroom upstairs after dismissing her husband, and said she "preferred a room already permeated by my influence." she then continued very simply: "i do not know whether i shall be able to help you at all, but it seems there is something i have to tell you or explain. when i read your note i felt bound to come, although my husband tried to dissuade me. it seemed to me as if the spirits came all the way with me in the cars." she then gave me quite a good sitting, but on the ordinary lines, ending up by the description of the relatives mentioned, and by making the usual "mistake" about their relative spiritual positions. this was all said in trance. when she returned to consciousness i said: "now, mrs brown (her real name), i must tell you honestly that you have made one cardinal mistake, but i am also bound to say that five or six professional mediums have done just the same as regards the same matter." i then explained, and asked if she could account for such a persistent and obvious misconception. "wait a moment," she answered; "perhaps the spirits will tell me." she looked up with a very intent expression for a minute, as though listening to some explanation which did not cover the ground of her own experience, and then said very quickly and in a monotonous voice, as though repeating a verbal message: "it has nothing exactly to do with our earthly idea of 'goodness.' spiritual life can only come to those prepared for it, within the limits of their capacity. the male spirit you mention was a clergyman of the church of england. he was a very holy man, but he was in some way creed bound. he was a man of strong creed; he clung to his creed here, and cannot quite free himself from it even now, although he has advanced very much in spiritual perception. now his wife had a very sympathetic, _apprehending_ nature. she can therefore receive spiritual light more fully and freely. that is why she has risen to a higher plane. this is not a question of character so much as of _spiritual capacity_, and in this she is the more highly gifted of the two. she is on a different plane, but she is able to help her husband very much, and in time he will join her, and they will progress together." all this was said in a quick, decided way, and without the smallest hesitation. one would hardly have expected a young woman in the midst of the rocky mountains to know the exact meaning of the term "_clergyman of the church of england_," for the word is almost unknown in america, where they speak invariably of a _minister_. yet the words were given with quick, firm precision, exactly as written down. later, in san francisco, a clairvoyant at once referred to my friend "muriel," and described her, but in rather vague terms. when i pointed this fact out she said a little impatiently, as though we were wasting time in quibbling: "_oh, well, it does not matter. the spirit tells me you know perfectly well who it is. she has already appeared to you in new york._" i had gone to this particular medium with several young friends, who were all in a very sceptical and rather frivolous state of mind. she described "an uncle," apparently over the heads of two of my friends, and gave the further information that he was surrounded by water, and appeared to have been drowned; also that he was extremely musical. this was declared to be perfectly untrue and without a grain of foundation, in fact. the woman looked puzzled and a little mortified, but turned to others in the circle, with better success, let us hope! on our return home, when the young people were telling their mother of the "awful humbug" amid shouts of laughter, the mother said quietly: "but surely you remember, my dear children, hearing of your uncle robert, who was drowned years ago, before any of you were born? he _was_ a great musician. he wanted to give up his life to art, but he was persuaded to take up another profession." i give this as an instance of the carelessness with which, when we are _determined_ to find fraud, we may do so sometimes at the expense of truth. these young girls had doubtless heard of their uncle, but the fact had possibly escaped their memories for the moment, and probably they had no wish to recall anything which could cast a doubt on their preconceived notion that "the whole thing was a swindle!" before closing the chapter of my american experiences in the years 1885 and 1886, i must give one more personal detail. when investigating various clairvoyants in the eastern states in march and april of the year 1886, i had been told more than once that a guardian band of six spirits was forming round me, and would be later supplemented by another band of six protectors. whether this had any bearing upon the following incident, i must leave my readers to decide. * * * * * about three months after this pronouncement i found myself at victoria, vancouver's island. miss greenlow and i had gone there from san francisco for a week or two, not being able at that time to make the further trip to alaska. after a very stormy voyage of two or three days we reached victoria one morning about six a.m. there was only one large double-bedded room available at the hotel, and we took this on the understanding that two separate rooms should be found for us before the evening. as we lay on our beds for a few hours of much needed rest, quite suddenly i realised that i saw something abnormal in the air--just above and in front of my head. i mentioned this with much surprise to my companion, who at once suggested the effects of liver after a sea voyage so tempestuous as ours had been. for the first few moments i was inclined to agree with her, and said so; but very shortly my opinion was altered by the fact that what i saw first as an indistinct blur gradually assumed a definite shape, and i then found there were six little swallows in front of me, apparently connected with each other by a waving ribbon, or so it appeared to me. opening and shutting one's eyes did not affect the vision. there they remained, both at the moment and for several succeeding years, during which time i was constantly in the habit of seeing "_my birds_," as we used to call them. about six months after their first appearance in the pure, clear atmosphere of victoria (vancouver), i was driving across the blackheath common on a very bright, frosty day, and looking out of the open window of my carriage, i saw my six birds as usual; but for the first time, parallel with them and lower down, were six new birds of just the same size and appearance (about half-an-inch between the tips of the wings). a few days later the new birds and the old ones had amalgamated, and twelve little swallows floated in the air before my eyes. i could not see them in the house. it needed the background of uninterrupted sky apparently to throw them into sufficient relief to be recognised. after some years, this special sign was withdrawn, and others have taken its place. for example, i have seen in the same way, during the last fourteen years, an anchor, with the chain attached to it, and caught through one end of the former, a short reaping hook. this, doubtless, has some symbolical meaning. near the anchor i see a sacrificial altar, with flames rising up from it; then a triangle, with loops at the corners, which i was once told was the sign of nostradamus. then an old-fashioned mirror in a quaintly-shaped frame, and finally a long staff, with the sign of aries at one end. i have since realised that this is very much like the "staff of faith" found on the top of many of the tombs in the roman catacombs. all these latter emblems come together as a rule, with a connecting thread binding them to each other. i cannot see them at will, but when the atmosphere is at all clear they are rarely absent, when i have time to look for them. i was much amused once by an earnest christian scientist, with whom i happened to be spending a few days on the coast of the eastern counties. she had warned me repeatedly against "phenomena" of every kind, spontaneous or induced. on a specially bright morning we were sitting together in a beautiful park, which is thrown open to strangers on special days, and, forgetting my companion's prejudices, i exclaimed involuntarily: "i never saw my signs more clearly than just now!--there must be something very pure about the atmosphere." this was too much for my friend, who bent forward eagerly, saying:--"_do let me try if i cannot see them too!_" well, she "tried" for the greater part of two hours, but absolutely in vain, and then got up, and suggested going home to luncheon. she added naã¯vely: "i _thought_ they must have something wrong about them, and i am quite sure of it now, _or i should have seen them_." but it had taken her two hours of failure to be absolutely convinced that they came straight from the devil! one sign--also birds--appeared to me on one occasion only. we had returned to denver, where miss greenlow and i were to separate after a year's constant travel together. she was going back to san francisco to take steamer for the sandwich islands, and thence on to australia; whilst i was returning to england for family reasons. i had arranged to dine with the hospitable dean of denver the evening of the day of her departure, and i had not realised how much less lonely one would have felt had my journey east corresponded more closely with her journey west, especially as she was obliged to leave the hotel about nine o'clock in the morning. waking early, and lying in bed, feeling very melancholy at the idea of being left behind and alone in the very centre of america, i looked up, and, to my delight, saw a new sign. not my little birds this time, but two big, plump father and mother birds, with a short string attached, not horizontally as before, but perpendicularly. at the end of this little string was a tiny bird, even smaller than the swallows, being evidently guided by the two big birds, and quite safe in their charge. my room communicated with that of my companion, whose door was open, and i told her of this new "sign in the heavens," adding that i hoped it had come to stay. fortunately, i found a pencil, and made a rough sketch at the time, or i might have been tempted to imagine that i had never seen it at all, for the trio never appeared again, though i have longed to see them, and have certainly required the consolation quite as much, many times, since that far-away summer morning in denver, colorado. * * * * * on reaching home after this long american trip, i found a budget of letters awaiting me--amongst them a little registered box containing a kind birthday present from the brother who has been mentioned in the introduction to this book. was it another case of mental affinity which had induced him unconsciously to choose a gold brooch with two swallows in gold and pearls? not an uncommon design; but _the birds were exactly the same size as those i was in the habit of seeing just at that time_. i never told him how extraordinarily _ã  propos_ his present had proved, but i have always looked upon that brooch as a mascot, and have certainly worn it every day since it came into my possession. chapter iii australia and new zealand shortly after the jubilee of 1887 had taken place, i sailed for australia and new zealand. my first psychic experience in the colonies took place in melbourne, some months after my landing in tasmania. the wife of one of the "prominent citizens" in melbourne had been specially invited to meet me at an afternoon reception in the house of friends to whom i had carried letters of introduction, as she was said to be so deeply interested in everything psychic, and would greatly enjoy hearing my american experiences. fortunately, the lady arrived late, and we had already enjoyed some interesting conversation before she came. a wetter "wet blanket" it has never been my fortune to encounter. she was a very handsome woman, and therefore good to look at, but in the _rã´le_ of sympathetic audience she was a miserable failure. she sat with a cold, glassy eye fixed upon me, whilst i endeavoured to continue the conversation which had been interrupted by her arrival. she might just as well have _said_ as have looked the words: "now go on making a fool of yourself!--that is just what i have come to see." the position was hopeless. so i began to talk about the weather, which is disagreeable enough from sirocco in the hot spring months (it was the end of october) to be useful. presently the daughter of the house came up to me, and said: "do, please, go on telling us your interesting experiences, miss bates; we can talk about other things at any time, and we asked mrs burroughes on purpose to meet you." the lady in question had joined another group by this time, so i was able to whisper in reply: "i am so very sorry, but i cannot possibly talk of these things before your friend--she paralyses me absolutely from any psychic point of view. she is very handsome, and i like looking at her, but i cannot talk to her except about the weather." "how very odd!" was the unexpected reply. "that is just what lizzie maynard says. and i did very much want lizzie to hear about america too, but she has gone off to the other end of the room, saying she knows you won't be able to talk whilst mrs burroughes is here." this was interesting, for i had not noticed the young girl mentioned, who had not been introduced to me. so when my young hostess asked "if she might bring lizzie to see me at my hotel next day," i gladly acquiesced, in spite of feeling very far from well at the moment. this feeling of _malaise_ increased in the night, and was, in fact, the precursor of a short but sharp attack of a form of typhoid which was running through the hotel at the time. being in bed next afternoon about four o'clock, i was dismayed to hear that miss maynard had arrived to see me, and, moreover, had arrived _alone_. i had never spoken to the girl nor even consciously set eyes on her before, but i knew she must have come at least three miles from the suburb where she lived, and would probably refuse to have a cup of tea downstairs during my absence. there was nothing for it, therefore, but to make an effort, order tea to be brought for her to my room, and send a message hoping she would not mind seeing me in my bedroom. she came up--a modest, charming-looking girl of about twenty. i explained the circumstances, and apologised for being unable to join in the tea-party, but felt rather desperate when i realised that even the effort of taking any share in the conversation was beyond me. suddenly a brilliant idea passed through my throbbing head. the day before, in planning the visit, which miss boyle had been unable to carry out herself, she had mentioned that her friend lizzie maynard was a very good automatic writer, and this seemed a solution of the difficulty. so when my little friend had finished her tea, but was still looking tired from the long walk, i said to her: "i am so sorry to be so stupid to-day, miss maynard. i cannot talk, but i can listen; or do you think possibly you could get a little writing for me? miss boyle told me you wrote automatically sometimes?" "i will try, certainly," was the ready response. "i never know, of course, what may come, and as this is our first meeting, it may be a little more difficult, but i should like to try." she found paper and pencil, and sat by my bedside, holding the pencil very loosely between the second and third fingers, instead of between the thumb and first two fingers in the usual way. she continued talking to me during the whole time, and not being well versed in automatic writing then, i could not believe that any writing could really be going on in this very casual sort of way. "is any writing really coming?" i questioned at last. "oh yes; but i can't make out the last long word," she said, turning the paper round, so that she could see it, for the first time. "kindly give me that word again," she remarked casually, and continued her conversation with me. finally the three or four sheets of rather large but not always very distinct caligraphy were submitted to me, and i saw that "miscellaneous" had been the long word at the beginning which lizzie had asked to have repeated. the whole message was intensely interesting to me, for it began: "_i who on earth was known as george eliot._" now i had more than once seen, but had never spoken to, george eliot in earth life, and although admiring her genius, as all who read her books are bound to do, there seemed no very obvious reason why she should come to me. moreover, lizzie maynard, a charming but not highly educated girl (as i discovered later), seemed to know little about the famous author beyond her name. another, and infinitely inferior, lady writer had been discussed with bated breath the day before in lizzie's presence. her books--just then in the zenith of their popularity--had newly penetrated to the colonies, and were being talked of there as though minerva herself, helmet and all complete, had suddenly arrived in melbourne. i had personally been greatly interested by one of this lady's earlier books, and had a much less definite opinion of the author then, than i have at the present moment. threshing my brains for any sort of tie with george eliot, i remembered having often stayed at oxford as a young woman, when jowett of balliol was entertaining her and mr lewes, in his own home. of course, there was no question in those far-away days of my being asked to meet such a brilliant star; but it amused me often to hear the dull and uninteresting people of some standing in the university, whom jowett had _not_ favoured with an invitation, declaring that nothing would have induced them to accept it! this was, however, but a feeble link, even when added to the righteous indignation one had so often experienced on hearing similar remarks made, about a woman too far above her critics both in genius and morals, for them to be able to catch the faintest glimpse of her personality. apparently it only now lay with me to cease asking _why_, and accept the goods provided by the gods, making the most of such an opportunity. on these occasions so many possible questions tumble over each other in the brain that it is difficult to select any one to start with. at length i asked the following question:-"what did george eliot think of the author who had been so much discussed and so highly applauded on the previous afternoon?" very quickly came the answer: "_i have no sympathy there--a mere puppet._" certainly this was not thought reading; for my own opinion then was very indefinite, and lizzie's views, as it turned out, were as enthusiastic as those of most people in the colony. it was not until several years later that i realised that an extraordinarily _apt_ criticism had been made; for a puppet is made to dance by other entities. i was longing to ask another question, but had some natural hesitation in doing so before such a young girl. moreover, i feared the answer must almost of necessity be coloured by the traditions of the latter, and therefore would be of no great value either way. but taking my courage "in both hands," i put the question: "please ask george eliot if she _now_ thinks that she was justified in the position she took up with regard to george lewes?" the answer came in a flash: "certainly. _we are one here, as we were on earth._" anything less likely to emanate from the brain of an orthodox young girl can hardly be conceived! amongst other details, george eliot said finally that she had come to know my mother in spirit life, where she was called stella. now my mother's name in earth life was ellen, which has the same root for its origin. of course, miss maynard did not then know whether my mother were alive or dead, and nothing naturally concerning her christian name. the last statement made by george eliot on this occasion was that "_before another year had rolled by, a great gift would come to me, and i must be very careful to use without abusing it_." i was too tired at the moment to ask whether "another year rolling by" meant a whole year from 28th october 1887 (the date of the message), or the end of the current year--namely, 31st december 1887. when the message had come to an end, miss maynard gathered up the scattered sheets, and promising to copy them out for me, took her departure, and left me to muse--so far as a racking brain would allow--on the curious and interesting result of her visit. no cup of tea to thirsty wayfarer was ever surely so grandly rewarded! my next adventure had a distant connection with these australian experiences. i had come out to join the friend (miss greenlow) who had been my companion in america, and who had thence sailed for sydney when i returned for a year to england. she had been anxious for me to rejoin her in australia, and from thence visit japan and china; but my arrival having been delayed by literary matters, this lady had finally lost patience, and, without my knowledge, had gone on to new zealand, and thence, as it turned out, to samoa. when i heard of the new zealand episode there was nothing for it but to follow her there, on a will-o'-the-wisp expedition, as it turned out, but, fortunately, i was unaware of this at the time. i say fortunately, because had i known that she had already left australia for samoa, i should certainly have returned to england, in despair of tracing her any further, and thereby one of my most interesting experiences would have been lost. the illness in melbourne, already referred to, detained me for over a fortnight, so it was necessary to transfer my new zealand ticket from one boat to another. so the illness also must have been one of the factors that was involved in the adventure, as i have called it. for the delay led to my meeting--in a friend's house--mr arthur kitchener (a younger brother of lord kitchener), who was introduced to me on the special ground that we were to be fellow-travellers to new zealand a day or two later. as a matter of fact, mr kitchener was on his way from england to new zealand, where he was superintending a sheep-run for his father in those days. he had come out by p. & o., and transhipped at melbourne after two or three days' delay there. several other passengers from the _massilia_ were also going on to new zealand, and naturally they felt like old friends after the five or six weeks already spent together. they thought _i_ wanted to be alone, and i thought _they_ wanted to be alone, and so i kept severely to the upper deck, feeling often lonely, and they all remained on the lower deck, wishing i would come down and talk to them sometimes. in spite of these misconceptions on either side, mr kitchener and i became sufficiently friendly for him to give me a very kind and hospitable invitation to spend the last few days of the year at his "station," about nine miles from dunback, in the dunedin district. i think i must have told him of my disappointment in missing my companion in sydney, after travelling so many thousand miles to join her, and doubtless he felt some interest in this stanley and livingstone sort of chase, with two women taking the principal characters! anyway, the invitation was given and accepted, and he kindly promised to ask one or two people to meet me in his house. all this came to pass some weeks later, on my return from the new zealand lakes, and just before an expedition to the "sounds," generally known as the "sounds trip." this is a pleasure trip, organised for early january, which is, of course, midsummer there. it lasts for ten days, and gives one the opportunity of seeing to the best advantage these glorious inlets of the sea. my week at the sheep station was to precede this, as i have explained; in fact, as the steamer sailed late in the afternoon, it was possible to go on board without stopping for the night at dunedin, whence we were to sail. but at the last moment a slight contretemps took place. owing to some delay the steamer would not be able to leave till monday, instead of the saturday morning as arranged, and our kind host insisted on extending his hospitality for the two extra days. now each day there had been some talk about having an impromptu _sã©ance_, and each day i had successfully evaded the arrangement. i have a great dislike to sitting in casual circles with strangers, and it seemed to me that no good purpose would be served by doing so. it is impossible on these occasions to convince anyone else that you are not pushing or "muscle moving," or generally playing tricks, and it has always seemed to me that the time wasted over mutual recriminations on these points, or the silly jokes that appear inevitable, when two or three human beings at a table get together in a private house; might be much more profitably spent. table turning as a parlour game is about as stupid and aimless an amusement as i know. i represented all this to mr kitchener, but in vain. he had attended some psychic meetings in dunback or dunedin, and evidently wished me to reconsider the matter. also it happened to be the last day of the year, when people are always more inclined to be obliging, i suppose; anyway that saturday night, 31st december 1887, found me sitting down to a table in the little drawing-room of that far-away sheep station. as some reward for any virtue there may have been in yielding my point, i remembered suddenly that george eliot's message on 28th october--two months previously--had been rather vague, and that it might be interesting, if the chance came, to find out whether "_before another year has rolled away_" meant a year from 28th october, or the year of which so few hours still remained to us. after the usual inanities--"_i am sure you are pushing._" "no; _you_ are! _i saw your fingers pressing heavily._" "_why, how extraordinary! that is exactly what i thought about you_," etc. etc., it was intimated that a spirit was there giving the name of george eliot, so i put my question at once. "i did not mean another year from october last--i referred to this year," was the answer. "shall i be able to write automatically?" was my next query. "no; leave that alone--it would be very dangerous for you at present." "shall i be able to hear? shall i become clair-audient?" "no," came for the second time. my next question naturally was: "then shall i be able to _see_ very soon?" "yes; for you will become clairvoyant for the first time. remember my warning to use but not abuse the gift." now i must explain that all this time a good deal of the usual kind of joking had been going on. moreover, i felt intuitively that mr kitchener thought i was deceiving myself into the idea that human muscles could not account for the movements, and, in fact, the very worst possible conditions for getting anything of value were present. so much so that i did not for one moment suppose that it was really george eliot, or that she would countenance that particular sort of buffoonery, and the incident made no impression upon me at all. i had already taken my hands off the table, when someone--mr kitchener, i think--banged it down four times, and then triumphantly observed: "_yes, of course, you will see somebody during the night, or rather at four o'clock in the morning, you see!_" the whole thing was the kind of fiasco i had expected, "degenerating into a romp," as poor corney grain used to remark about the "lancers" and the stern old lady in the suburban villa. the bathos of table turning had surely been reached when it came to banging the leg of the table down four times, and calmly announcing four o'clock as the time for my first vision! but the remarkable point is that i _did_ have my first vision that night, though it had come and gone long before four a.m. it is necessary to remember that the sun rises about three-thirty a.m. during the end of december or first week in january out there, so it would have been fairly light before four a.m.; whereas when i woke out of my first sleep that night, it was pitch dark. my room was the usual whitewashed apartment to be found in the ordinary colonial "station," with a wooden bed standing about two or three feet from the wall, and parallel with the only window in the room; which faced the door (at the foot of my bed), and was fitted with a very dark green blind, on account of the hot summer sunshine. but it was now pitch dark in the room. i woke facing the window, but turned on my side, as one generally does on such occasions, and this brought me face to face with the wall. to my infinite amazement there stood between the wall and my bed, a diaphanous figure of a woman, quite life size or rather more, with one arm held out in a protecting fashion towards me, and some drapery about the head. the features were, moreover, quite distinct, and, as i afterwards realised, the counterpart of george eliot's curious and savonarola-like countenance. but at the moment, oddly enough, i only thought of two things--first, how extraordinary that what had appeared to me such a silly waste of time overnight should have had any element of reality about it! then swiftly came the second idea: "and how in the world does it happen that i don't feel a bit frightened?" i lay there absolutely content and peaceful, with a feeling of blissful satisfaction which i have never exactly realised either before or since that one occasion. "_everything is all right--nothing can really ever go wrong--nothing at least that matters at all. all the real things are all right. i can never doubt the truth of these things after this experience. it was promised, and the promise has been redeemed._" these were the thoughts that passed idly through my brain as i lay--fully awake--and looked up at the comforting woman's figure. for it seemed more--much more--than a mere vision. i have spoken of the figure as diaphanous because it was not as solid as an ordinary human being, but, on the other hand, i could not see the wall through it: it was too solid for that. then i remembered a story told in _the athenã¦um_--of all papers--and written by a dr jephson, of his experience whilst paying a visit to lord offord, and making notes--late at night--in the library of the house for some literary work on hand. he had finished his notes, put away the book of reference, looked at his watch, found the hands marking two a.m. (so far as i remember), and had just said to himself: "well, i shall be in bed by two-thirty after all," when, turning round, he found a large leather chair close to his own, tenanted by a spanish priest in some ancient dress! thinking it might be an hallucination, he deliberately turned round--_away_ from the priest--rubbed his eyes, and then slowly looked back again. still the priest was there, and dr jephson then realised for the first time that, although not _consciously frightened_ or alarmed in any way, he was quite unable to _speak_ to the intruder. so he quietly chose a pencil, sat down, and calmly took his portrait. the priest politely remained until the sketch was completed, and then vanished. this story, read some years previously, flashed through my brain, and i thought: "_i_ will try turning round, and then seeing if she is still there." i turned deliberately, facing the window, and then realised that it was pitch dark in my room--not the faintest glimmer of light came through the heavily shrouded window. "_then it can't be four o'clock_," was my triumphant comment. it would have been too disappointing had my distinguished visitor condoned the unblushing banging down four times of the table leg, by choosing that hour for her arrival in my room! but then again, how could i _see_ her, since the room was quite dark? it was only necessary to turn round once more to the wall to realise that i _did_ see her in fact, although i ought not to have done so in theory! i saw her as distinctly as i ever saw a marble statue in the vatican gallery by the light of noon. although i had recalled the jephson story so circumstantially, it never struck me that it might be interesting to attempt any conversation, and see whether i also were tongue-tied. i did not _want_ to speak--there seemed no special reason for speaking. it was quite enough to lie there with this blissful feeling of protection and love folding me round like a cloud with golden lining. and as this consciousness held me in its loving grasp, to my infinite sorrow the kind, protecting figure disappeared, gently and very slowly, sinking into the ground on the spot where i had first seen her; and once more all was dark in the room. i lay, too happy and peaceful for movement or even speculation for some ten minutes, and then it struck me that i had better light the candle by my side, and find out what o'clock it might be. now i have a rather accurate idea of time, and can generally tell within a minute or two how long any special work may have taken me. looking at my watch, i saw it was just two-twenty-five a.m., so i settled in my own mind that i must have seen the figure at two-fifteen a.m., or possibly at two-ten a.m., for i think the experience lasted nearly five minutes altogether. anyway, i felt sure that ten minutes, as nearly as possible, had elapsed between the sinking of the figure out of sight and my lighting the match in order to consult my watch. it may have been nine minutes, or possibly eleven, but i feel confident the time mentioned would be within these limits. therefore next morning, when our host appeared, and i was chaffed about "the vision," i said boldly: "you think it all nonsense, and i confess i did not believe anything that came last night when so much joking was going on, but i was mistaken. i _did_ see, for the first time in my life, anything abnormal." and i repeated my experience, just as i have now written it down. incredulous looks greeted me, and then mr kitchener said quietly: "oh yes, you saw something at four a.m. i am not at all surprised to hear that." "not at four a.m.," i answered, "but at two-fifteen a.m. i made a special note of the time. i was asleep again long before four a.m., and never slept better in my life." he looked puzzled, and then suggested that my watch must have gone wrong; but we compared notes, and our watches were registering exactly the same hour within a minute or two. i found out later that, having learnt something of the thought transference theory at the dunedin circle or metaphysical club which he had attended, mr kitchener had attempted to _make me see_ a vision at four a.m., but as he confessed he had been fast asleep _when_ i _did_ see (_an hour and three quarters before his efforts started_), it would take a very ingenious person to prove that the latter had anything to do with the occurrence. a deeply interesting corroboration reached me, however, a few weeks later, by which time i had visited the "sounds," and many other places of interest, and had arrived safely at auckland, in the north island. on the morning of my vision, i must not forget to mention, that i had spoken of it to mr kitchener's faithful irish housekeeper, whose nationality i knew would prevent her thinking me a mere lunatic. by this time scepticism had the upper hand, and i was beginning to try to explain away everything in the true podmorian spirit. could mr kitchener or any other person present have had to do with the matter? in this case my blissful feelings would naturally be merely the result of imagination, and easily disposed of on this ground. so i questioned the little housekeeper when she brought my hot water as to whether it could have been possible for mr kitchener or anyone else in the house to have access to a clean sheet or tablecloth, and to have masqueraded in the garden outside my room. she indignantly denied the possibility. "the linen is all locked up by me; besides, no one would have been so wicked. it might have frightened you out of your senses, ma'am! do you suppose the master would have done such a thing?" no; i did not really accuse anyone of such a cruel and stupid joke. moreover, it was a little difficult, even for podmorian ingenuity, to explain how man or woman, masquerading in a white sheet in the garden outside, could convey the fairly solid figure of a faked "george eliot," who stood well out between the wall and my bed; and this through a thick green blind and curtains, when garden and room alike were shrouded in _absolute_ darkness! foiled in all my attempts to find a "sensible solution" to the mystery, i determined to write and ask lizzie maynard of melbourne if _she_ could throw any light upon matters, my decision in taking this step being strengthened by the curious coincidence which i had just discovered--_i.e._ that mr kitchener's housekeeper had lived with the maynards when they had had a house in dunedin, which was later burnt down, as so often happens in the colonies. "jane" had lost sight of the maynard family for years, and was much excited by my promising to write and tell them of my meeting with her. of course, i mentioned my strange experience and all the details connected with it--_except_ the exact hour of the occurrence. it was by a pure oversight (as i supposed) that this fact was omitted. i have had reason since to believe that i was unconsciously impressed to leave out this special detail, in order that i might receive far better evidence than would have been possible under other circumstances. had i mentioned the hour of the vision, the imagination of my young friends in melbourne might have been at work as regards the hour of _their_ experience, which was as follows:-several weeks after leaving dunback i reached auckland, and received amongst other letters one from lizzie maynard in answer to mine. mr kitchener had also written, saying what nice girls my friends the maynards must be, and how kindly they had written to his excellent little housekeeper, sending her welcome gifts, and saying that her place had never been filled in their hearts, and so forth. lizzie's letter to me began also about the excellences of "jane," and the curious coincidence through which she had been once more put in touch with her; then she went on to say: "it is indeed very remarkable about your experience, dear miss bates, but i think you will consider it much more remarkable when i tell you what _we_ were doing that night. i was spending the week-end with our mutual friends captain and mrs boyle" (in whose house she and i had encountered mrs burroughes), "and lily boyle and i were sleeping in the same room, as the house was full. "on the evening of 31st december there was a little dance arranged, to 'dance the old year out and the new year in,' and at midnight we dispersed, the visitors going home, and those in the house retiring to bed. lily and i were too much excited to get into bed at once, so i suggested that we should try to compose a letter to miss pearl" (this being the lady whose writings they greatly admired. i had allowed them to use my name as an introduction, should they wish to communicate with her at any time). lizzie went on to say how nervous they were about writing the letter, fearing that so popular an author might not take any notice of the badly expressed letter of two young colonial girls. however, she did her best, and lily boyle did _her_ best, and the result was a hopeless failure! "then," continued lizzie, "a happy thought struck me--george eliot had used my hand to convey her message to you last october; might we not, remembering this, appeal to her to help us in our difficulty? so we gave up trying to write the letter ourselves, took down planchette from its shelf, and started again. in a few moments an excellent letter was written, giving your name as an introduction, with all the little points you had specially begged us to remember in connection with miss pearl's probable prejudices. it was so splendidly written, and so quickly, that you can imagine our delight! we could not bear to give up planchette even after both our names had been signed, and i said pleadingly: '_oh, don't go away! do stop and tell us something more._' "in large letters, as you see" (lizzie enclosed the script), "was written very decidedly: "no, i cannot stay with you now--i have promised to go and see stella's daughter. "i remembered, dear miss bates, that g. eliot had said your mother's name in spirit life was _stella_, so, of course, we knew that she meant us to understand that she was going to see _you_. "unfortunately, you did not mention the hour of her visit, but we took the time when enclosed message was written--very accurately--in order to tell you about it, and the hour was just twelve-thirty a.m. do write and tell us that was the time when she appeared to you--we feel sure it must have been--but are longing to have our idea confirmed, etc. etc." now my young friends had evidently entirely forgotten the difference in time between dunedin and melbourne, and i must confess to my own amazement when i found that it was considerably over the sixty minutes, which i should have vaguely supposed it to be. in fact, i was rather disappointed to think there was so wide a margin between the two occurrences, until i casually asked a gentleman, who was staying in my hotel, if he could tell me the difference in time between the two cities. "not exactly, i'm afraid, but it is considerably over an hour. ah, there is a good atlas! i can easily calculate it for you." he remained silent for a moment, and then raising his head, said: "as nearly an hour and three quarters as possible." this was pretty good evidence of the practically simultaneous experience of my friends in melbourne at twelve-thirty a.m., with my own at two-fifteen a.m. in the neighbourhood of dunedin. when i first became acquainted with mr myers, shortly after my return from australia and new zealand, i told him this story. he was greatly interested, but pointed out that it was useless from the evidential point of view unless i would take the trouble to write one or two letters to the colonies. so i wrote to mr kitchener for confirmation of the fact that i was staying in his house on the night of 31st december 1887, and had told him of my experience next morning, exactly as here related. then i had to get miss lizzie maynard's testimony with regard to her letter to me, and finally, i think, the testimony of lily boyle and her father that miss maynard was their guest in melbourne on the occasion of the new year's eve dance. these letters are presumably still amongst the archives of the society of psychical research, and the story was printed by them in their proceedings some years ago. i may add a last evidential touch by saying that when i met miss pearl for the first time after my travels, she referred to the letter she had received--under favour of my introduction--and quite spontaneously remarked upon its excellence, adding: "i could scarcely believe that two young australian girls, as they described themselves to me, could have written such an admirable letter." i did not disclose the real source of the composition, as the popular author thinks that she has no belief in spiritualism. chapter iv hong kong, alaska, and new york the spring months of 1888 found me at brisbane, _en route_ for china, after spending a pleasant month with old friends on a well-known station belonging to the late sir arthur hodgson, named eton vale, and situated on the beautiful and healthy darling downs of queensland. before returning to sydney from new zealand, my female "dr livingstone" had reappeared upon the scene in the most unexpected manner. our "historical meeting" took place in an auckland hotel, where she suddenly turned up one day, driven back from samoa by the intense heat. so after some gentle recriminations, she "having supposed the delay on my part might mean an entire change of plan," and i having supposed--from her letters--that sydney was such a paradise that she could hardly be dragged from it even by a flaming sword, we agreed to cry "quits," and continue our travels together. so miss greenlow spent the month of march in sydney, whilst i paid my visit to queensland, and we met once more at brisbane to take steamer for thursday island, cape darwin, and eventually hong kong. only one small matter of psychic interest occurred during this voyage. i have mentioned in a previous chapter the little "swallows," which i first saw in san francisco in the year 1886. i had been accustomed to seeing them ever since that date, and had been frequently commiserated for incipient eye trouble in consequence, by more than one sceptical friend. on the very day we went on board the hong kong steamer at brisbane, a new sign appeared: a single bird, holding in its beak a ring with half hoop of five stones, presumably diamonds. i told my friend about this, but neither she nor i could imagine any significance in it. at that time we had not even met any of our fellow-passengers to speak to, for we were all taken up with settling into our cabins and trying to make ourselves as comfortable as circumstances would permit. for a whole week the same little bird and the same ring were persistently held up before me. then an inkling of the possible meaning broke upon me suddenly. within a fortnight of our sailing this suspicion was confirmed, and the little bird's warning or suggestion amply justified. but "that is another story!" curiously enough, the new "sign in the heavens" was withdrawn as soon as i had grasped its meaning. i must hasten over our delightful stay in japan, because amongst much of extreme interest from artistic, social, and various other points of view, nothing occurred which has any special bearing on my present subject. leaving japan eventually by sailing from yokohama to vancouver (washington territory), the old threads were once more put into my hands. we made the acquaintance on board the old p. & o. _abyssinia_ of the late captain macarthur, a kindly and genial naval man. he was an australian by birth, but belonged to our english navy, and was just returning home on his promotion as commander. he became rather interested in my "queer ideas," and ended by suggesting some experiments with "the table," so he persuaded the ship's carpenter to put together a small rough wooden table. the sittings were held, generally after dinner, in either my cabin or that of my "stable companion" miss greenlow. so far as i remember, we three were the only sitters, and i am bound to confess the sittings were sometimes very monotonous, even viewed from the indulgent perspective of a sea voyage. in fact, i can now recall only one incident of any real value. the dear old nurse, spoken of in my opening chapter, had now been for three or four years on the other side of the veil, but had never given me the slightest sign of her presence. but she came several times during this voyage, and always with the same object--namely, to entreat, and finally _implore me_, to give up a projected tour in alaska. miss greenlow and i had been prevented from undertaking this, two years earlier, when visiting victoria (vancouver), and she was very keen to go there from washington territory on this occasion. i was _not_ keen for the expedition, but had made no strong objection to it, and it was understood that we should go together. this was the tour which my old nurse now pleaded so anxiously should be given up, so far as _i_ was concerned. "_it will ruin your health, my darling_," she said more than once. "_don't go there; take my advice._" and on one occasion, just before landing, she added: "_you will find letters awaiting you which will enable you to make other plans._" this proved true--in a certain way. the first letter opened in the budget which fell to my share, told me of the sudden death of our family solicitor, which would have been a good excuse for a hasty return to england had any such pretext been necessary. but this was not the case, for my companion, although quite determined to go to alaska herself, was not in the least inclined to over-persuade me to accompany her. she was a very independent woman, quite accustomed to travelling alone, and i knew that neither her enjoyment nor her convenience would be affected by my decision one way or the other. i had no wish to go myself, and, moreover, thought it quite probable that my dear old nurse's warnings might be amply justified. but there were other grave considerations to be taken into account, and i still feel that i adopted the right, although not the pleasanter course, when i allowed my fellow-passengers to depart east, joking me on my want of faith in the warnings from the spirits, and accompanied my friend, very unwillingly, to alaska. my nurse's earnest entreaties were only too fully justified on the physical plane, to say nothing of the miserable discomfort of the trip (which in those days had to be made in an overcrowded cargo boat.) i took a chill in those arctic regions, which later developed into the longest and most serious illness of my life. it took months to make even a partial recovery, and the effects will remain during my life. yet i have never regretted my decision. this little episode seems to throw some light upon the way such warnings should be treated. to give no heed to them on the one hand, or to follow them blindly, _in spite of every other consideration_, on the other; these seem to me the scylla and charybdis of our lives. it shows that we _must_ judge for ourselves; we cannot shift the burden of responsibility on any other shoulders. how could we gain the real education of life were it otherwise? had i turned my back on alaska i should have gained enormously, physically speaking, and yet failed in a moral test. but my dear old nurse, who considered only--probably _saw_ only--the physical evils to be avoided, was entirely in the right, _from her standpoint_. the faithful soul was doing her best to shield her nursling from danger. a severe illness was entailed by my alaska experiences. "livingstone and stanley" were once more separated. in other words, miss greenlow was obliged to return to england alone, leaving me to be nursed through a long and painful illness by kind friends and connections in toronto. one of my doctors--the brother of my hostess--kindly made time to take me and my nurse to new york, in order that he might put me under the special care of the ship's doctor, and also be able to certify, as required, that i was in a fit condition to undertake the voyage. it was during the day or two spent in new york before sailing, that i induced this gentleman to accompany me one evening to a _sã©ance_ held by mrs stoddart gray, who has been previously mentioned in this narrative. dr theodore covernton had all the ordinary doctor's prejudices against anything unseen or unknown. he had read my book on america, and considered the chapter on "spiritualism" a lamentable lapse "from the good sense shown in the rest of the book!" i represented to him that for a physician to deny all possibilities of hypnotism or mesmerism, thought transmission, etc., meant losing some very valuable aids in his profession, and would probably soon mean being left pretty badly behind in the race. knowing of no specially good hypnotist in new york, and as there was no time to find one out, i boldly suggested that he should plunge into still deeper depths of "folly," and accompany me to the house of mrs stoddart gray. the usual performances went on, but whether owing to dr covernton's attitude of mind or other causes, nothing of any special interest to him or to me occurred. one incident impressed him, i think; certainly he could suggest no possible explanation of it, for it happened in a very fair amount of light and close to our feet. a gentleman and lady were sitting in the circle who had brought with them their little boy, a child of seven years old. i had asked the lady if she considered it wise to bring so young a child into such a _milieu_, several hours after an english child would have been put to bed, and her answer was cheery and characteristic: "well, i guess we shouldn't have much peace at home if we didn't bring charlie along with us to see his granny. we took him once, and since then he always insists upon coming. he loves talking to his granny, and he is not a bit afraid of her." at this moment a small frail woman stepped out from the cabinet, and came right up towards us, motioning to the little grandson that she wished him to go into the cabinet with her. this he did without a moment's hesitation, and the curtain fell, and concealed them both from view. the interview lasted for some minutes, and when the little boy reappeared, he was holding his granny by the hand, and was evidently on the best of terms with her. i do not expect my readers to believe me, but this is exactly what happened next: the child had brought some toys--a little train and some building blocks--"to get granny to play with him as usual," and the fragile old lady knelt down on the floor, and played with him just as any ordinary granny might have done, only with far more agility. in the very midst of their brick building and train starting, a terrible catastrophe occurred, which spoilt the rest of the evening for the poor child. granny had evidently forgotten that her time was limited, by conditions of which we are still profoundly ignorant. quite suddenly, and without a word of warning, she disappeared, not into the cabinet at her back, but right through the carpet under our feet, and well within a yard of the said feet, and this with two or three gas-jets burning over our heads! there was no mistake about it. dr covernton and i were sitting next to the father and mother, whilst the child and his grandmother played at our feet. one moment she was there; the next she had disappeared like a flash into a mere cloud of mist, and even this was quickly withdrawn, apparently through the floor. no trap-door theory could account for this, because the _woman_ had disappeared, and only the wisp of ethereal garments remained, before the latter were also dissipated. we must, moreover, note the difficulty of working a trap door immediately under the feet of a sceptical young physician, who at once investigated the carpet, hoping in vain to find in it some solution of the mystery! i have already mentioned that the whole incident took place, in light sufficiently good to read a book without straining the eyes. the poor little boy was terribly upset, and sobbed bitterly. his parents said they had brought him many times before, and such a _fiasco_ had never before taken place. mrs stoddart gray was very indignant about it. "too bad! she ought to have _known_ she was staying too long, and risking a fright for the child. if she had only gone back into the cabinet he would not have been frightened. but she stayed too long and had not enough strength to get back." the child was too thoroughly frightened and upset to admit of any consolation, and the parents were obliged to take him away, still sobbing, and asking _why_ granny had gone away like that and given him such a fright. a year later, in london, i took dr covernton--by appointment--to see dr carl hansen, who was then giving hypnotic treatment, and also doing some work in demonstrations for the society for psychical research. dr hansen tried in vain to put either dr theodore covernton or myself under the influence, so was obliged to have recourse to his wife. naturally this was considered a "_most suspicious circumstance_" by my companion; but i noticed that he was very much interested in his conversation with her--from the medical point of view--and he was sufficiently honest to admit that he could not explain what happened in his presence, upon any normal hypothesis. chapter v india, 1890-1891 in the month of november 1890 i started with a young friend for my first visit to india. my companion was still at the age when social india was naturally more interesting to her than either the historical or mystical aspects of the country. and, for myself, i went there in those days rather to see the glorious buildings of a magnificent past, than with any view of wresting occult secrets from the fakirs and yogis of the present. it was well perhaps that one's ambitions were so limited by the possible, for i am very much inclined to think that mystic india is and must remain a sealed book for the english. we must always remember the natural prejudices of a conquered race towards the conqueror. in addition to this, the hindoostanees consider (and who shall say without ample cause?) that englishmen are hopelessly "_bornã©_" and sunk in materialism, incapable of exercising an imagination which they don't possess; with a top dressing of conventional orthodoxy, so far as their own special religion is concerned, but with nothing but ridicule or thinly veiled contempt for the religious channels through which other races may be taking their spiritual food. we have given them only too much reason for these conclusions. as a consequence of this state of things, englishmen and women are looked upon as "quite impossible" from the indian point of view, and a devout and educated hindoo would no more think of discussing his transcendental ideas with such people than we should think of discussing delicate questions of art--in its various branches--with the first village yokel we happened to meet in the road. i was confirmed in these ideas by noticing the difference in the welcome accorded to a charming young swedish lady, whom we met at benares on her wedding tour. she had brought excellent native introductions from her own country, where certain rajahs and maharajahs had been entertained by her king, and thanks to these, and, as she said, "_to the fact of my not being english_," she had access to many interesting places, and took part in interesting functions, from which the rest of us were debarred. i am hoping to pay a third visit to india some day, with the special object in view of occult investigation. it remains to be seen whether, by any fortunate accident, i may then be more successful in encountering anything more interesting than the ordinary clever conjurers, who sometimes pose as fakirs, and may be found by the tourist on every hotel veranda in india. meanwhile i am limited by the title of my book to personal incidents, as to which i find one or two notes in my indian diary. making the usual tour, but including lahore--where my brother had lived at government house for several years as military secretary to sir robert egerton (who was in _his_ day), lieutenant-governor of the punjab--we came in due course to delhi. our first day there was devoted to tracing mutiny relics of all kinds, and about four p.m. in the afternoon we drove out to the famous ridge to see the mutiny memorial. this, as most people nowadays know, is a red standstone tower, with staircase of rough stone inside, and small windows pierced through at varying intervals. it stands upon an extensive marble flooring, which is inscribed with the names of the various regiments--officers and men--who took part in the renowned siege, and died for their country in consequence. as we drove towards the memorial, the whole place seemed to be in a flutter of excitement. hundreds of coolies were flocking round, and we both remarked how much more interested they appeared to be in these monuments of past events than the corresponding class of english labourers would have been. but on arrival we found there was no question of intelligent historical interest. the fact was that a poor coolie--who had just climbed up the memorial tower by the inner staircase--had fallen out of one of the windows described, and was lying on the marble floor below, at the far side from us, crushed and dying. we were told that an englishman had, fortunately, been present, and had driven off at once for a doctor. so nothing could be done for the poor man until the latter arrived. meanwhile our native servant--bobajee--had, of course, rushed off to see what was to be seen of the tragedy, and, rather to my horror, my girl friend seemed about to follow his example! it was terrible to think of the poor man lying there in his death agony; but he was already surrounded by natives, and no real help could be given without fear of doing more harm than good before the doctor was brought to the spot. therefore merely to go and look on, without being able to succour, seemed to me an added horror to the tragedy, and i turned round rather sharply on my young friend, and expostulated with her. as a matter of fact, she did _not_ go; but i am obliged to mention the incident as accounting for a certain momentary excitement and annoyance on my part, which proved to be factors in the story about to be related. allowing for difference of time between delhi and london, a very old friend of mine, lady wincote (who was then living in london, where i was in the habit of visiting her constantly when in town), was lying in bed, resting after a disturbed night, at the very hour of our visit to the mutiny memorial. it was about noon in england; she was fully awake, and had been reading. looking at her watch she realised it was time to make a move if she meant to come down for luncheon. suddenly the door opened, and _i_ walked into her bedroom, and right round the bed, until i stood between her and the window, which was to her left as she lay in bed. i was dressed in ordinary outdoor attire, and seemed much excited and annoyed about something. i was talking continuously, as it seemed to her; but she could not make out any connected sentences, and "wondered what had upset me" so much. she spoke to me, asking what had happened; but i took no notice of her questions, standing with my face to the window and my back to her for a few moments. then i turned round, and deliberately retraced my steps, past the ottoman, skirting round the bed, and was just disappearing through the door, when she made a final effort to attract my attention, asking a very practical question: "emmie! do tell me before you go, what number you are staying at in oxford terrace" (the part of town where i always stayed at that time). lady wincote said: "you made no answer at all, but whisked out of the door in a great hurry, and then for the first time i remembered _that you were in india_. it had all seemed so natural, as you had often been in my bedroom, that i only thought at the moment that you must have returned unexpectedly to london from the country. my one anxiety was to know which number on the terrace would find you, in case you had changed your address there." now all this was, fortunately, written out to me by my friend on the very day that it happened--_i.e._ 8th january 1891--and _crossed my letter to her telling her of the incident_. my letter was written a day or two later i think; but i was keeping a strict diary at the time, and under date of 8th january have the record of the event, corresponding with the date of lady wincote's letter to me.[3] [3] both my diary and lady wincote's letter were shown to mr myers on my return to england, also my letter which crossed the one from lady wincote to me. he was greatly interested in the account. probably in any case i should have written to tell this friend of the incident, on account of a conversation i had with bobajee when he returned from his ghastly entertainment. i had looked inside the memorial, and had seen that the stone steps were crumbling away and looked very unsafe, so when he came back and said: "_something bad inside there, lady sahib_," i concluded naturally that he was referring to the state of the staircase, and attributing the poor coolie's fall to some such cause. but he denied this strenuously: "_no! no! lady sahib--some bad debil inside there. he threw coolie over!_" then he went on to tell us that on one special night in the year no native man, woman, or child in the whole city could be induced to pass the mutiny memorial at midnight. the few daring souls who _had_ passed there, had found the tower all lighted up inside, and the sepoys and the british soldiers had come back, and were fighting their battles over again! the man spoke in simple good faith, and assured me that all delhi people knew this to be a fact, and gave the place a wide berth on that anniversary. the idea of the "bad debil" throwing the poor coolie down from the top of the tower, followed by this curious legend, interested me as a bit of folk-lore, but my companion was drastic in her remarks. "silly nonsense, bobajee!" was her reception of the story; and this made me feel intensely sorry for the moment, that lady wincote, who would have been as much interested as myself, should not have been present. did this moment of intense desire for her, project itself into the appearance she saw in her room? who can say? certainly it was a curious coincidence that she should see me in an annoyed and excited state just when i was feeling annoyed and excited--so many thousand miles away. delhi seems to have been specially favourable to psychic experiences, for i find another one recorded on the very day succeeding the last event. my friend, having some slight ailment, i had driven out alone with our native servant, and we made a long tour, returning about six p.m. past ludlow castle, of famous mutiny memory, and still--in the year 1891--a government bungalow. the present czar of russia was travelling through india at the time as czarewitch, with his cousin, prince george of greece, and they were expected to arrive in delhi that same evening. the royal party and suite were to be lodged at ludlow castle, and were expected within an hour. bobajee jumped off the box of my carriage, and urged me to "go look, see!" "no, bobajee! drive on--can't go look see--they no let me in." "yes, yes, lady sahib," he said eagerly--"everything ready--all gone away--nobody in there yet." with our english notions this seems inconceivable, but it proved to be absolutely true. i went in, expecting to be turned back ignominiously before i had crossed the hall, but there was positively no one there! the place was like a city of the dead. yet within an hour, a banquet arranged for about seventy people was to take place! i made the best of my opportunity, ranged through the numerous bedrooms--with hanging japanese blinds shutting them off and each one inscribed with the card of the special russian or greek general who formed part of the suite. at length i strolled into the dining-room--a long, narrow room--arranged for the coming festivity (at least sixty to seventy covers were laid), the flowers arranged on the tablecloth in the pretty, artistic indian fashion, all the beautiful glass and silver placed in readiness. nothing was wanting but the presence of the guests for whom all this preparation had been made. the short indian twilight was already upon us as i stood there for a moment, contrasting the dead and almost eerie silence, with the lights and laughter that would so quickly replace it. a fireplace was close to me as i stood at the far end of the room, looking down the whole length of the table. glancing up, i realised that the only picture in the room was hung over this fireplace. the picture in question had no artistic value--the painting was flat and poor; even the subject did not strike me for the first moment as anything very remarkable. it was the portrait of a man in the prime of life--about thirty-five, i should have supposed--with the long whiskers and rather prim pose of a portrait made by an evidently poor artist, probably thirty or forty years previous to my visit. but as i looked again, a curious sensation came over me. in spite of the painter's failure to convey anything more like a living man than a dead pressed rose is like a living rose, there was something in the eyes of the portrait that held me, something that rose triumphant above the artist's limitations. at the same moment i was conscious of a presence behind my back; of _somebody who was looking at the picture with me_; of somebody who was saying to me (not with the outer, but an inner voice): "_that is a picture of me, but i am not there--i am here, close to you; behind your shoulder--i am looking at it with you._" the impression was so strong that it seemed almost as if a hand were pressing on my shoulder. i turned round involuntarily, but no one was there. then i looked at the picture again, and always with the same weird sensation that the man whom the picture represented had been strong enough to make me feel his actual presence in the room, although i could see nothing. there was no name on the picture of either subject or artist, no possible clue to identity, and looked at as a picture alone, there was nothing in the flat, conventional presentment of the features to account for my experience. this made it the more remarkable. i could scarcely tear myself away from the almost overwhelming sense of the presence of some strong and strangely magnetic personality, but the fast fading twilight warned me not to risk an ignominious retreat. so i went hurriedly through the large and handsome drawing-room, which was filled with portraits, chiefly of deceased governors and generals, many of them admirably painted, and a striking contrast to the one poor and commonplace picture already seen. the absolute incongruity between the impression received and the object which roused it, led me to make inquiries, in spite of my friend's jokes over my powers of imagination. "anyway, i am going to clear this up," i said with determination; and in a few days my perseverance was rewarded, and my impression amply justified, by finding that i had been looking at the portrait--feeble and poor as it was--of _brigadier-general nicholson_. none of my readers need to be told that if any dead man could impress himself upon the living, this would be the man capable of such a feat. even to this day there is a small religious sect in india called the _nicholasain_, who have handed down the memory of this "god rather than man," who had to dismount from his horse occasionally, to thrash his would-be worshippers, and put a stop to their inconvenient adoration! nicholson's brilliant achievements in the mutiny; his absolute control over men of the most diverse character; the devotion with which he inspired his soldiers, and his own glorious death in the very moment of victory--all these are matters of history. i feel glad and grateful to have known, even for a few passing moments, what that influence had been; and when i found out brigadier-general nicholson's grave at delhi, after my ludlow castle experience, i left my flowers on the grave of an honoured acquaintance, rather than of a man known to me only through historical records. one more incident, or rather coincidence, and i must close my indian chapter. this also is connected with the mutiny and with delhi, but the special coincidence, to which i refer, took place at agra, when my friend and i were staying at the hotel there in the early spring of 1891. one of my oldest and most valued friends is lieutenant-colonel alfred s. jones, v.c., formerly of the 9th lancers, and one of our mutiny heroes. as everything connected with that historical tragedy seems to have perennial interest for every englishman--no matter what his creed or politics--i make no excuse for furnishing some details connected with my friend's career. his record from hart's army list is as follows:-"lieutenant-colonel jones was present at the battle of budlekee serai, and at delhi throughout the siege operations, including the assault and capture of the city, having been d.a.q.m.g. from 8th august to 23rd september 1857. served with the 9th lancers in greathead's pursuing column, and was present in the actions of bolimshuhur and alighur and battle of agra--where he was dangerously wounded, having received a musket-shot wound and twenty-two sabre cuts. he was mentioned in the despatches of sir hope grant on three different occasions, and has received the victoria cross for taking a nine-pounder gun, with the assistance of some men from his squadron, in the action of budlekee serai (medal with clasp and brevet of major)." although, as a child, i had heard of the bravery and the terrible wounds of one who was to become later in life one of my greatest friends, the actual details of the agra catastrophe were hazy in my memory. two things, however, had remained firmly imbedded in my mind--first, that a brother officer had told me that he was standing close by colonel jones when, as a young officer, the latter attended the levã©e to receive his victoria cross, and that the queen was so much agitated by his appearance that she could hardly pin it on. also, that this brother officer heard her whisper to her husband: "my god, albert! look at that poor boy! he has been cut to pieces!" the other childish memory is that the taj had been turned into a hospital at the time of the mutiny, and that my friend, amongst others, had been nursed there. this latter proved to have been a mistake on the part of my informants. it was the moti musjid (the pearl mosque) which was turned to this account, and in which my friend was nursed back to life, to the surprise of all who knew the extent of his disaster. it is specially important for people blessed, or cursed, with psychic gifts "to give no occasion to the enemy" by exaggeration or inexact memory of details. so, with the wholesome dread of a well-read reviewer before my eyes, i determined to go to the fountain-head, and ask colonel jones himself to supply me with the true incidents which make the agra episode a moving picture before our eyes. he has kindly consented to do this, and i give the narrative in his own words:-after the fall of delhi, a column, under general greathead, was sent down to lucknow, and as three squadrons of the 9th lancers were told off to go, i resigned my staff appointment, and went with my troop. after two fights--bolimshuhur and alighur--we were hurried off to agra, sixty-six miles in thirty-six hours. but on arrival we found that the agra people had recovered from their fright and greathead was fool enough to believe their story that the enemy was twelve miles away, and therefore took up ground for our camp, just by the graveyard and parade-ground, which you will remember. there was a high crop of sugar-cane, concealing everything beyond the parade-ground, and after most of the officers of the whole force had gone off to agra fort to breakfast with friends, cannon-shot began to fall amongst us; and everyone had time to fall in, as the horses had not been unsaddled. my squadron, consisting of french's and my troops, was told off as an escort to blunt's battery, f.a., which formed the left of the line, consisting of our other two squadrons, more f. artillery, 8th and 75th regiments, etc., all moving to the front through high crops. then we saw the enemy--700 or 800 yards off--and blunt unlimbered his guns, and began to fire, when we soon saw a body of cavalry moving off across our front, to turn our left flank, and blunt said we must go back to defend our camp. so he limbered up, and we all (_i.e._ our squadron and blunt's guns) began to straggle back through the high crops. but blunt said he must leave one troop with two of his guns, and french's troop was stopped for the purpose. instead of staying with it, he felt so sure we should have a chance at the cavalry we had seen (mutineers) that he came on with me, and together we formed up my troop on the parade-ground, close to blunt's guns, which we saw already unlimbered. a squadron of irregular (mutinied) cavalry was coming in our direction over the parade-ground, with a blue squadron of (mutinied) regular cavalry in support, both trotting; so, of course, we went for the red (head of the echellon they formed). then i saw french shot, and the hind quarters of his grey horse pass round the left flank of my little troop; then i gave the word gallop, and the red squadron, to my surprise, _halted_. observing its leader taking aim at me with his carbine, i inclined a little to my left, in order to stick him, never dreaming that i should be hit before i could do so, and i was almost within reach before he fired, and his bullet went through my bridle arm, so i had to take my reins on my sword hand and jam my horse into the ranks, just behind the squadron leader who had shot me. now to clear up your mystery about my being left to my fate (i had specially asked colonel jones how he happened to be left alone amongst the sepoys, whose numbers were registered by his sabre cuts in so ghastly a fashion), i was not left to my fate; on the contrary, the man on the left of my troop, who alone could see, put his lance through the squadron leader, and stayed about--outside the ring--trying to get to me to the last, and got the v.c. on my report to that effect. my troop, occupying, in double rank, about twenty yards, went straight on after the twenty yards or so front of the enemy's probable front of perhaps fifty yards. so there were plenty of sowars left to mob round me and to keep off the man who tried to save me. of course, my men were quite right in pursuing the broken force as they did, right off the field. this account has the immense advantage of being taken verbatim from colonel jones' letter just received by me. it has the _disadvantage_ that such a letter, from a brave man, would naturally possess--_i.e._ that of minimising his share in the episode to the point of making it difficult for the lay mind to realise where the heroism came in--which heroism is a vital point in my "coincidence." fortunately, i have the best authority for saying that the "blunt" mentioned in this record always maintained that colonel alfred jones had "saved his guns." it appears that at the time of the unexpected attack from the enemy, colonel jones and two or three friends (who had not gone to the fort) were breakfasting under the shade of the cemetery wall when the alarm was given. my friend, wishing to rest his charger after the long forced march from agra, had taken a spare troop horse, saddled with a _hunting saddle_. when the round shot began to fall, there was no time to get his charger. there was nothing for it but to put on sword and pistol and ride straight in to the enemy's ranks. no wonder the poor people shut up in agra were enthusiastic over this "charge of cavalry in their shirt sleeves," as they called it. in 1891 i was staying in agra, at the hotel, with my friend of the delhi incident. a certain major pulford, who had come to agra to race some ponies, divided us at the _table d'hã´te_. he and i had been neighbours for two or three days, when he asked me carelessly one evening what _i_ had been doing that afternoon, as my friend confessed to having taken a "day off." now i had spent the afternoon at the taj, and had made many inquiries about the tradition that this building had once been turned into a hospital. no one knew anything about it. one old hindoo, evidently thinking i wished him to say "_yes_," remembered hearing that this _had_ been the case "_about eighty years ago_." this last artistic touch of accuracy was fatal to his _bon㢠fides_, and i turned away in disgust. so i told major pulford my story, and we laughed over the well-known fact that a hindoo of that class always tries to find out what you wish him to say, and _then says it!_ major pulford asked why i was so keen on the subject. "because a very old friend of mine was badly wounded at agra during the mutiny, and from a child i have had the impression that he was nursed in the taj." "no," he answered. "i am sure the taj was never used as a hospital, but i think the pearl mosque may have been. this would account for the mistake, probably." now the point in this incident is the fact that i _had not mentioned my friend's name to major pulford_. had the name been a more distinctive one, i might have mentioned it, although realising that major pulford was too young a man to have known anything about the mutiny at first hand. we talked casually on the subject for a few minutes, and then he said: "of course, i was a baby at the time, but i have read and heard any amount about it, naturally. _my_ boyish hero was a fellow named jones of the 9th lancers, who was so awfully plucky in their celebrated charge, when surprised by the enemy on the agra parade-ground. i know nothing about the fellow except what i have read. i believe he is alive still, but they say he was almost cut to pieces then." "_that is the friend whom i thought had been nursed in the taj_," was my astonished answer. major pulford's delight was unbounded to have come by so strange a coincidence even thus near to the hero of his youth. for myself, i recognised that i had sat next to the only man, probably then in india, who could have given me the accurate and precise details of the whole affair! "i know every inch of the ground, and just where it all happened," he said eagerly. "do let me drive you and your friend over there to-morrow in my buggy, and i will point out every detail." he did so next day, leaving me with the most vivid impression of the scene of my friend's gallant fight for life, against such overwhelming odds. that he should still be alive and active--nearly fifty years later--seems little short of a miracle! chapter vi sweden and russia, 1892 travelling in sweden in the spring of 1892, i carried with me from england an introduction to the swedish consul at gottenburg. one of the sisters of this gentleman was married to an englishman--a mr romilly--and he and his wife chanced to come over for a visit during my stay. speaking of psychic matters one day, mr romilly told me the story of his first cousin (a well-known woman of title) and her egyptian necklace. a present had been made to her (i think on her marriage) of a very beautiful egyptian necklace with stones of the exquisite blue shade so well known by travellers in egypt. these special stones, alas! must evidently have been genuine, and rifled from some old tomb, for the owner of the necklace appeared one night by the lady's bedside, and warned her that she would have no peace so long as she persisted in wearing his property. so the lady very wisely locked up the necklace in her dressing-case, and fondly trusted the egyptian ghost would be satisfied. not a bit of it! in a short time he appeared again, and told her that she would be haunted by his unwelcome presence so long as the necklace _remained in her possession_. she then drove off with it, and deposited it with her lawyer, who locked it up in a tin case, doubtless with a secret smile at his noble client's superstitions. but nemesis lay in wait for him, and the last thing mr romilly had heard upon the subject was that the lawyer himself was made so exceedingly uncomfortable by the attentions of the egyptian gentleman that he was obliged to have necklace and tin case buried together in his back garden! to have forced a lawyer into such extreme measures was certainly a "score" for the ghost! a few months later, i met the heroine of the story at a friend's house at tea, and speaking of her relation, who had married a swedish wife, and whom i had met in gottenburg, i alluded discreetly to the story of the blue necklace. my companion at once endorsed it _in toto_, and did not seem at all annoyed by the fact that her cousin had mentioned it to me. i remember that mrs romilly "laid the cards" for me, with astonishing success, and told me she had learnt the mystic lore from an old finnish nurse, who had been brought over from finland by her own swedish grandfather when quite a young girl, and had lived in the family until her death. she assured me that the finns were specially gifted in all kinds of gipsy lore. from stockholm we paid a visit to russia, and in st petersburg i had my first personal experience since leaving home. we had engaged, as courier during our stay in the city, a german who had lived there for forty years, named kã¼ntze, i think. we were staying at the hotel de france, and this man told me one day that a celebrated french _modiste_ had rooms in our hotel, having come there to show her beautiful parisian costumes, and to take orders as usual from the russian royal family and ladies of the court. he also mentioned the frenchwoman's recent misfortune in hearing--since her arrival in russia--that her trusted manager in paris had disappeared suddenly, carrying away with him 100,000 francs. two nights later i had gone to bed as usual about ten-thirty p.m., and must have slept for nearly four hours, when i awoke feeling the heat very oppressive. it was almost the end of june at the time. getting out of bed to open my window still farther, i gazed down upon the courtyard which it overlooked, noting the absolute stillness of the house and the hot, oppressive air outside. suddenly this stillness was rent by the most horrible and appalling shrieks! peal after peal rang out. i have never heard anything so ghastly nor so blood-curdling either before or since. for a moment it seemed that one _must_ be dreaming. what horrors, to justify such awful shrieks, could be taking place at this quiet hour and in this quiet, respectable hotel? nothing less than murder suggested itself to me, and i quickly crossed the room, and turned the key in the lock. my next thought was for my companion--the miss greenlow of american days. she was sleeping next door to me, with an intervening door between us. i hammered loudly upon this, and finally opened it. i knew she always locked her outer door, but feared she might go into the passage, not realising the danger in the moment of waking, and might fall into the murderer's hands. so i called out: "wake up--wake up, miss greenlow!--_but don't open your door_. someone is being murdered out there." i had heard every other door in the passage opening, and the scared inmates rushing to and fro, so there was no question of feeling bound to give the alarm. miss greenlow, being an extremely lymphatic person, was still sleeping the sleep of the just. i gave her a good shake at last, finding knocks and calls of no avail; but she only turned over sleepily, murmuring: "oh, it's all right! i don't suppose there is anything much the matter--do go to bed again!" so i returned to my own room, and as the horrible screams had now ceased, i opened my door very gently, and looked down the dimly lighted passage. my room was a corner one, exactly at the head of the wide staircase; to the left-hand side, for anyone mounting the stairs. exactly opposite my door, with a wide passage between, was the room which had been pointed out to me as belonging to the famous french _modiste_. miss greenlow was evidently the only person in the hotel who had slept through the horrors of that night, for small groups were gathered together at various points along the corridor, and at every door some scared man or woman was looking out, anxious, like myself, to solve the dreadful mystery. at that moment my eyes lighted on my special german waiter talking in a hushed whisper to a musjig--in the usual red coat. so i beckoned to him, and very reluctantly he came to my door. being asked in german what was the meaning of the shrieks we had heard, he said at once that a lady had been taken ill suddenly. the man was a bad liar, and a child would have seen that he was repeating a made-up story. but nothing more could be got out of him, so i dismissed him impatiently, saying: "what is the good of telling me such nonsense? i shall find out for myself to-morrow." once more i shut and locked the door, and lay for an hour or two thinking over the ghastly disturbance, and wondering who could have been the hapless victim. it was now about five a.m., and full dawn. as so often happens, even after the most sleepless night, i dozed off then, and slept for more than an hour, and during my sleep i dreamed--and this was my dream. it must first be noted that the wide staircase i have described as passing close to my room was thence continued upward to the next floor. in my dream or vision i saw distinctly a woman in a white nightgown, with dark hair streaming down her back, rushing up this second flight of stairs in the most distraught and reckless fashion. in one hand she held a knife, and was trying to stab herself with it, as a musjig--in crimson coat--rushed after her, and endeavoured to wrench it out of her hand. two or three other people ran up the stairs behind her, but only this peasant seemed to have the courage or presence of mind to grapple with her. in a few moments, as it seemed to me, the vision, so startling and clear cut, faded away, and i sank into a dreamless sleep, i suppose, for it was past six a.m. when i woke finally. when the german waiter appeared with my breakfast i said rather curtly to him: "you need not have troubled to make up that foolish story last night; i know what happened--_i have seen it_." he looked very incredulous, so i went on: "the lady was trying to kill herself, and rushed up to the next floor with a knife in her hand. i saw the musjig run after her and force it from her." the man was absolutely speechless. he said not one syllable, either of corroboration or denial, but left the room as quickly as possible, looking scared, and certainly left the impression upon my mind that my vision represented what had actually taken place an hour or two previously. to my great surprise, however, our respectable and dependable courier, kã¼ntze, gave quite a different version of the affair. he came as usual to my room to take his orders for the day--miss greenlow being present--and at once referred to the terrible tragedy. "ah, poor lady! you remember my telling you about her the other day, and how her manager had run away with all that money? now _this_ frightful misfortune has happened to her, and no one knows if she will survive it. she is still alive, however, and is to be taken to the hospital at one p.m." "but what has happened, kã¼ntze?" i said impatiently, rather irritated, if the truth must be told, by his mysterious allusions and miss greenlow's assumption of profound indifference. of course, no self-respecting person, having calmly slept through such a tragedy, could be otherwise than indifferent next morning! kã¼ntze's story was far more artistic than that of the waiter, and was skilfully interwoven with shreds of truth, as i discovered later. he said that "the poor lady" was in the habit of making herself a cup of tea in the middle of the night when wakeful; also that she wore wide, hanging muslin sleeves with her night attire. she had risen as usual from a sleepless bed to make tea with her little etna. unfortunately, she had set fire to a sleeve, which at once burned up, and in a few moments she was enveloped in flames, owing to the flimsy material she wore. then the shrieks began which had so thrilled our nerves. a russian gentleman, sleeping near her, was awakened by the noise, and knowing that she was a rich woman, and had brought many valuables with her, he concluded she was being murdered; so he rushed to the rescue with a revolver, found the burning woman, and he and the musjig at length succeeded in putting out the flames. the story was well told, and perfectly credible. miss greenlow could not resist pointing out how entirely it annihilated my vision. no suicide!--no knife!--no rush up the staircase!--nothing, in fact, that might not have been, and, of course, _must have been_ a mere freak of imagination during my troubled sleep. in the face of kã¼ntze's quiet and detailed statement i could only agree with her, and so the matter rested for some months. the poor woman meanwhile remained in the hospital, and her son and daughter were telegraphed for from paris. we found them at the hotel on our return there, three weeks later, from moscow. there was then some slight hope of ultimate recovery, but within six or seven weeks from the "accident" the unfortunate woman died from shock and exhaustion. from russia we returned to stockholm and christiania, where miss greenlow took the steamer for hull, and i went up into the dovre feld mountains to join a swedish friend, already mentioned in my chapter on india. i told her my story of the poor french _modiste_ and her sad and painful accident, also about my curiously vivid and yet inaccurate vision, and we discussed the latter in quite an s.p.r. spirit! we were then in a very remote part of the dovre feld, where foreign papers were practically inaccessible. i had left my friend in norway, and returned to england a week or two before receiving a very interesting letter from her. in it she said: "i have just got hold of some french papers, and i see that poor woman you told me about, has just died in petersburg, and the real story has now come out. "it seems that it _was_ suicide after all, so your vision was quite true! "she had received large sums in advance for commissions from some of the russian nobility, and had either spent or speculated with them. that was why she had to invent the story of an embezzling manager, to cover her own shortcomings. but the truth was leaking out in spite of her endeavours, and she made up her mind to commit suicide rather than face the horrors of a russian prison. the paper goes on to say that she chose a most terrible death, little realising what the torture would be. it seems that she waited till the middle of the night you described, and then covered her whole body with oil, and set fire to it! this accounts, of course, for the horrible shrieks you heard. in her awful agony she seized a knife--that she had either secreted or found in her room--rushed out into the passage in a blaze, and when the musjig tried to stop her, she ran from him, and attempted to stab herself as she made her way up the stairs. all this you seem to have seen accurately; also the fact that the musjig pursued her and succeeded in wrenching the knife from her hands before she had injured herself with it. the paper mentions that a russian gentleman had gone to the rescue when he heard the shrieks, but this was before she had got hold of the knife, and it was the musjig alone who saved her, in the end, from immediate death." during this russian visit we had gone down to moscow from petersburg, and here again a curious adventure befell me. it was, as i have said, in the height of the summer, and one was thankful to have a large, handsome room, with three windows looking over the square, and the famous kremlin palace in the distance. my room was divided into two unequal parts, separated from each other by a door which was, during the hot season, thrown wide open and _fastened back securely_. between this door and the one opening into the outer corridor the washing apparatus stood, and also a wardrobe of white painted deal, with a very poor lock to it, as i discovered later. on retiring to rest the first night, i locked the outer door, undressed in this ante-room, and finally hung up my gown in the wardrobe i have mentioned. then, after looking out of the windows on the fast diminishing crowd below in the square, i went to bed, feeling quite cheerful, and looking forward to a long night's rest after a journey which had been hot and tiring. as so often happens, one was probably over-tired, and sleep was not to be wooed by any of the usual methods. in vain i counted sheep getting over a hedge, added a hundred up backward and forward, tried deep breathing, and other little "parlour games." it was absolutely useless. twelve o'clock struck, then the half hour, and i gathered from the stillness below that the good moscow citizens had retired to their respective homes. this seemed an added insult! then one o'clock struck, and after that i lay for a seeming eternity, before two strokes from the clock outside indicated the half hour. scarcely had the reverberation ceased when i heard cautious sounds in the corridor, which gave me a good fright, and made me regret the silence i had found so irksome. the outer door of my room was quietly being opened, creaking on its hinges in the most ordinary and commonplace way, but evidently opening under a very wary hand. "then i could not have locked it after all!" and yet i felt so convinced that i had done so! certainly i had _intended_ to do so on my first night in a strange hotel! the best i could hope was that some other new arrival had mistaken his room, and was returning late, and consequently trying to be as quiet as possible. this flashed through my mind, and brought a moment's comfort. i expected to see a man's head round the open door at the foot of my bed, and to hear a hurried apology and still more hurried retreat. i say a _man's_ head, for the footsteps, though so quiet and cautious, were without doubt a man's footsteps. but several moments passed in horrible suspense. the outer door had creaked on its hinges and opened without a shadow of doubt. _where was the man?_ the door had not closed again, so far as i could hear. from my bed i could not command a view of the smaller portion of the room, where, presumably, he must be hidden. there was nothing but the wash-hand stand and the wardrobe there. what could he be doing or _waiting for_? my comforting supposition of a mistake in the number of his room, made by an innocent guest, could not be stretched wide enough to account for the long pause. perhaps it was some robber lurking about the passages! he had tried my door gently, and found it open. i had heard the door creak on its hinges in spite of all his care. now he was doubtless waiting to make sure that this noise had not awakened me before beginning his operations! this was the only reasonable supposition, and i lay in absolute terror for some minutes, fearing to stir or almost to breathe at such close quarters, and quite incapable of rising and putting an end to my terrible suspense. i longed to hear the next "quarter" strike, but nothing relieved the dead silence in my room and in the streets outside. at long last the _quarter to two_ struck, and something in the friendly tones of the massive clock relieved the tension and gave me courage--the courage of desperation--to strike a match and light my candle before starting on a tour of discovery. the middle door was fastened back, as i had found it when taking possession of the room. in any case, that was not the door which had been opened--the sound came from the _outer_ door. i _must_ find out if anyone were hiding in the little dressing-room; and in any case, i must lock the outer door, which i had felt so certain i had locked on coming up to my room. i passed through the open _inner door_ with fear and trembling. to my relief, the small apartment was apparently empty. the wardrobe stood partly open, but nothing more terrible than my own gown was inside it. then i made my way to the outer door, which gave on to the corridor, determined to make sure of locking it firmly _this_ time. after all, it must have been a wandering guest, who had discovered his mistake at once, and retreated noiselessly! i have seldom been more absolutely dumfounded than when i turned the handle of that door, preparatory to locking it, and found _that it was securely locked already_, just as i had supposed! how could the hinges have creaked then, and whose cautious footsteps had i heard? once more my eyes fell upon the wardrobe, with its cheap varnish and lock. i had certainly not locked _this_ overnight. could it have creaked itself farther open? it did not for the moment strike me that the noise came from another quarter, and that the footsteps were still to be explained. i was only too thankful to find the barest apology of an explanation. so i locked the wardrobe as carefully as possible, noticing that the lock was not one of the first quality, and once more retired to bed, and put out my candle, greatly relieved. scarcely ten minutes had passed (as i afterwards ascertained) when the whole scene was enacted once more! the same cautious tread, the same sound of the _outer door_ creaking slowly on its hinges--there was nothing in the least uncanny about it _per se_. it was just the normal noise that any late comer would make who was thoughtful enough not to disturb a sleeping house. but my impatience got the better of my fears this time. i was not going to be decoyed out of bed a second time on a wild-goose chase. "it must have been that wardrobe door after all! as to the footsteps, i don't know and i don't care! the cheap lock must have given way, and i shall find the wardrobe door has swung open, i am sure." with this comforting assurance i turned round, and in a few minutes fell into a deep sleep, after the varied excitements of the night. next morning i stepped gaily into the smaller division of the room to begin my toilet, and triumphantly turned round to convince myself of the truth of my theory about the wardrobe door. to my infinite astonishment and perplexity _the wardrobe was securely locked_, just as i had left it in the middle of the night. i have never had any explanation of this mystery; but i changed my fine big room for a much less desirable one that morning, and made some excuse about wishing for a quieter room at the back of the house. the next evening, sitting in my new abode with my travelling companion, she showed far more interest in my adventure than in the petersburg tragedy and subsequent vision of mine. so much so that i invited her to take a pencil and see if she could get any sort of explanation of the mystery; for although not at all _intuitive_, she knew something of what is called automatic writing. i give her narrative, not as being in the slightest degree evidential, but for its intrinsic interest, and because i am personally convinced that she had not sufficient imagination to have made it up on the spur of the moment. miss greenlow's "message" was to the following effect:-about fifty years previously, a russian gentleman (an officer, i _think_, but am not certain of this) and his mistress had occupied this large front room. the man had spent all day at a rifle competition, combined with some sort of merry-making, and had returned home very late--at one-thirty a.m., in fact--very much the worse for drink. he had opened the door very carefully, trusting he should find the lady asleep; but, unfortunately, she was not only wide awake, but extremely annoyed by his late return and the state in which he had come back to her. a desperate quarrel had ensued, and getting frightened by his violence, she seized his rifle, giving him a blow on the head with the butt end of it, hoping to stun him, but with no idea of murder in her mind. whether she gave a more severe blow, in her nervousness, than she had intended, or whether the rifle fell on some specially vital spot, was not explained in the writing. anyway, the blow proved fatal--to her extreme regret and remorse. under these circumstances one would have supposed that it would be more reasonable for the lady to haunt the room, and not the gentleman; but i "tell the tale as 'twas told to us." it is, however, remarkable that in most of these stories it is the victim who appears--determined to enact the scene of his or her death--and not the murderer. i think we were also told, by-the-by, that i had slept in the room on the anniversary of the occurrence. it was obviously impossible to get any corroboration of such a story. two small points in it, however, were proved to be true. the moscow hotels, as a rule, were comparatively modern at the time of our visit, and therefore the "fifty years ago" seemed highly improbable. we learned, however, through a few discreet questions later, that this particular hotel _had_ been in existence so far back as fifty years, and also that rifle competitions had taken place on certain occasions in those far-off days. for the rest i claim nothing. i have truthfully recounted my experience without a word of exaggeration, and have never been able to account for it normally. the explanation given to us is, of course, just worth the paper it was written upon from any _evidential_ point of view. chapter vi--_continued_ sweden and russia, 1892 taking my experiences chronologically, i must now carry my readers back to england, where the autumn of this year found me in london. i had been asked to recommend a house for paying guests, well situated, in the west end of london, and newly started by a lady who had been left a widow with very slender provision. several kind women had interested themselves in the case, and had wisely suggested thinking out a means of livelihood in the future rather than merely supplying present wants. it would be difficult to imagine a person _less_ suited for the sort of employment chosen; but that is "another story." i never care to recommend anything or anybody of which or of whom i have no personal knowledge; at the same time, i was anxious to help my kindly acquaintance in her philanthropy, and as i had arranged to spend some weeks in london that autumn--to be near an invalid brother--it struck me that i might stay at the house so strongly recommended, instead of taking private rooms as usual. so i journeyed to sussex gardens, found a charming house, newly furnished and decorated, and as clean as the proverbial "new pin," and, moreover, a very good-looking mistress of the house, still a youngish woman of five or six and thirty. she spoke most warmly of the kindness she had received from the lady who had given me her address, showed me some pleasant rooms, and the arrangement was quickly completed. i chose a small sitting-room in addition to my bedroom, although, as a matter of fact, this was scarcely necessary, as i was the first guest received. only one deaf old lady appeared upon the scene during the six weeks i spent there. i had not been forty-eight hours in the house before i discovered that my hostess was a convinced and very remarkable psychic. naturally she was delighted to find someone to whom she could speak of her various experiences without being laughed at or put down as a lunatic. at the same time i am bound to confess that mrs peters, although extremely interesting, was also rather agitating, and certainly much too erratic to make an entirely satisfactory _chatelaine_. she was given to reading "aurora leigh," instead of ordering dinner, and had to be sent for occasionally to sit at the head of the table, with a volume of _browning_ or _tennyson_ firmly clutched in her reluctant hand. even when duly "found and delivered," curious things happened during the meals--especially at dinner in the evening, when she often put down knife and fork and directed my attention to the far end of the handsome dining-room, where she was wont to see the ghost of her late husband. "look, dear miss bates! surely you _must_ see him--dear henry, i mean. there he stands, beard and all, just between the sofa and the wall. i can see him as clearly as i see you!" i am bound to say i never _did_ see "dear henry"; but the fine tabby cat certainly saw something in that corner, for it would rush most frantically to the sofa, jump on to one end, and sit staring at henry (presumably), with its tail stuck out and its fur rising up, glaring into the corner with a look of combined fear and fascination. my little sitting-room was invaded at all hours by my too interesting landlady, who would suddenly remember some thrilling experience, which she wished to share with me. at length i took to my bed for three days, not in the least ill, but simply for a much-needed rest in the midst of all these excitements. a day or two after emerging from this haven of peace, i received a visit from a young lady, whose parents were well known to me in yorkshire, and who had recently become engaged to a very rich man, many years her senior; in fact, considerably older than her own father, who had lately passed away. the daughters of this family were all devoted to their father, and most of the visit was occupied in giving me details of his last illness, and in my sympathising with her upon his loss. it was, in fact, far more a visit of condolence than of congratulation upon her future prospects of happiness. as to the latter, i found it difficult to be quite truthful and yet conventionally ecstatic. to marry a man nearly old enough to be your grandfather struck me as risky, to say the least of it, even with all the emollients which riches and position undoubtedly add to domestic life. the young woman in question did not at all resent my frankness on the subject, but assured me that her greatest consolation in thinking of her late father was the fact that she was about to make a marriage which he had always wished, and of which he had emphatically given his approval on his death-bed. "i told him i had decided upon it, just before he died, and he was so relieved and happy about it," she said simply as she turned to leave the room. having mentioned that a younger sister was also in town, i sent a message to the latter, asking her to take early dinner with me on the following sunday, which happened to be my only spare day just then. on the evening of this visit from the coming bride, i had accepted an invitation to a large musical party in the house of the lady who had begged me to interest myself in mrs peters. it was within a stone's-throw of sussex gardens, and i came down to dinner at seven-thirty p.m., intending to dress later, and go round there about nine p.m. for an hour or so before dinner i had been conscious of a growing despondency, to which i could attribute no cause, and this increased so much during the meal that mrs peters noticed it at last, and asked me if i were feeling unwell. "no--not unwell--but i am absolutely miserable, and cannot imagine why." "then you have not had bad news?" was the next remark. "i feared you must have had, seeing you so silent and not able to eat anything." in answer to this i said that i had not even the excuse of hearing of other people's misfortunes, for a young lady had been calling upon me that afternoon, who was about to make what the world calls a very successful marriage. i did not, however, mention her name, as mrs peters knew none of my friends. dinner over, i felt still so unaccountably wretched that i determined to give up the evening party, and write my excuses. mrs peters did her best to combat this decision, fearing that her kind benefactress might be disappointed, and also urging that the evening's enjoyment would cheer me up. but finding me inexorable, she then said: "well, if you have quite determined not to go, shall i come into your sitting-room and see if we can get any explanation of your curious feeling of depression?" i closed with this suggestion, knowing mrs peters to be a really remarkable sensitive. so we sat in the dark for a few minutes; and then i heard a soft _frou-frou_ on mrs peters' silk gown, and knew she was tracing out words with her hand in a fashion of her own. "it is a spirit that young lady brought with her," she announced at length. "the spirit has remained here with _you_, and is worried about this marriage you spoke of. she wants you to try and break it off. she seems to have been nearly related to the lady, or perhaps a godmother; anyway, she takes great interest in her." "will she give a name?" i asked. "eliza is all i get," mrs peters replied. it then occurred to me that my young friend's name _was_ eliza, and that she had been so named after a great-aunt, to the best of my recollection; but as she was invariably called elsa, by friends and relations alike, it was only by chance that i remembered hearing her teased about her far less romantic baptismal name. i asked if no surname could be given, thinking at the moment that it would be waverly--the family name; but my thought was evidently not transferred to mrs peters, who said she could not get the name accurately, but that it was certainly _not_ waverly. i found later that the great-aunt eliza had a name entirely different from that of her descendants. nothing further happened on this occasion, except that i sent a message to "great-aunt eliza" to say that nothing would induce me to take the responsibility of trying to break off any marriage, either by the advice of people in this sphere or in any other sphere. in this case i should have had neither the authority nor the influence to make any such unwise attempt. sunday came round in due course, and brought the bride's younger sister, then a girl of twenty-four or twenty-five. we discussed the usual midday sunday dinner of roast beef and yorkshire pudding, mrs peters sitting at the head of the table, i on her right hand, and carrie waverly next to me. suddenly realising that my remarks to the latter were receiving very scant attention, i looked up, and found the girl's black eyes fixed in a basilisk stare upon our unfortunate hostess, whose own eyes were cast down, but who appeared uneasy and troubled by the determined gaze of my guest. at length the poor woman threw down her knife and fork, rose hastily from the dining-table, and made her way eagerly to the sofa at the other end of the room, where she lay down at full length, murmuring: "_i can't stand it any longer!_" carrie waverly was at length induced to come away to my sitting-room and leave the poor woman in peace, which she did, asserting her complete innocence, and assuring me she "_only wanted to see if she could make mrs peters look up at her!_" i explained to her that "sensitives" may be as much upset by this sort of thing as another person would be by a blow on the back. she looked incredulous, and then said cheerfully: "well, if it is as bad as that, don't you think you ought to go and see how she is?" "two for yourself and your own curiosity and one for her!" i thought; but i took the hint, and found mrs peters still prostrate on the sofa, but full of apologies for her sudden collapse: "you must have thought me so very rude," etc., etc. i reassured her on this point, and expressed regret that my visitor should have upset her so much by looking so fixedly at her. "it was not her fault," said mrs peters eagerly. "_it was the man standing over her._ he had his hands upon her shoulders, and was trying so hard to influence her, and she was resisting it all the time, and the whole conflict of their wills was thrown upon _me_, and i could not stand it at last--that was why i left the table," she gasped out. "could you describe the man at all?" "quite clearly," she said. "i shall never forget his face--i saw him so distinctly." she then proceeded to describe in detail the very clear-cut features and bushy eyebrows of carrie waverly's father, giving also his colouring, which was very distinctive. i suggested trying to find out what he wanted to say to his daughter, but this distressed mrs peters so much that i was sorry to have made the suggestion. "no! no! dear miss bates!--don't ask me to do that--dear henry never likes my taking messages from strangers--i have promised him that i would never do it without his permission. it upsets me so much, and i feel so weak already." so i came away, promising to look in later and see if i could do anything for her. carrie was naturally greatly interested by the accurate description given of her father, and was very impatient for me to pay mrs peters a second visit. i went in presently, and found the latter standing up, and in a state of great excitement. she had, in fact, been on the point of coming to us when i entered. "dear henry told me to take that message after all," were the words with which she greeted me. "there was some misunderstanding between the father and this daughter, and he wants her to know that it is all right now." (this seemed to me most improbable, as the devoted daughters and father were always on terms of the greatest harmony and mutual understanding. _yet it proved to be quite true._) mrs peters continued: "he is very much upset about this marriage. he tells me he was so anxious for it when on this side, but now he sees all the difficulties and possible dangers. but he says it is too late to reconsider the step now; only he is so very anxious to secure the interests of his daughter before she marries. he wishes to know whether her settlement is signed. _it is not one of which he would have approved._ and he says there are two houses, and one ought to be settled upon her--you _must_ ask about it, dear miss bates. he is most decided and so dreadfully upset about it all, because he says it was he who urged the marriage upon her." i spent the following fifteen or twenty minutes as a sort of messenger-boy between mrs peters in the dining-room and carrie waverly in my sitting-room. needless to say, _i_ knew nothing at all about the settlements or how many houses the prospective bridegroom might possess, and having no sort of curiosity about the financial affairs of my neighbours, it was not at all pleasant to be employed in this way. mrs peters, on the contrary, seemed to know everything connected with the estate and the marriage settlement, _except the fact that the latter had not yet been signed_, although reluctantly "passed" by both the lady's trustees. wherefore this special limitation in the father's knowledge it is impossible to say. he certainly showed no limitation in his knowledge of the bridegroom's character and disposition, and gave the most elaborate and detailed instructions as to how his daughter should behave towards her husband, and where she might, with advantage, cultivate tact and patience. my advice to miss waverly was to say nothing on the subject to her sister, but she wisely, as it turned out, determined to take the responsibility of telling her _everything_. she telegraphed to me next day, asking if she might come and see mrs peters and bring the bride with her. this was done, and they arrived, with several photographs, large and small, of the father, and also of the bridegroom, for identification. carrie, in fact, tried--a little unfairly perhaps--to make mrs peters identify the wrong person by forcing into notice a large photograph of the _bridegroom_ (some years senior to the father), and saying carelessly: "_there, mrs peters--that is the face you saw yesterday of my father, is it not?_" but mrs peters would have none of it. she looked staggered for a moment, then caught sight of the second picture, and turned to it with relief: "_this_ is the face i saw, whether it is your father or not," she answered, with decision. the bride begged for a private interview with mrs peters, which lasted for a considerable time. of course, i knew nothing of this interview, nor should i feel at liberty to speak of it if i did know. i may, however, be permitted to say that i have the bride's own assurance that the accurate knowledge then given her of her future husband's characteristics physical and mental, and the best way of dealing with them, "made all the difference in her married life." during that interview mrs peters also told her the number of years she would be married; and the prophecy was accurately fulfilled, which is the more remarkable, because, as a rule, it seems impossible to predicate time, even when events can be foreseen. i am happy to add that the marriage turned out a complete success, and that a marriage settlement was made more in accordance with the father's wishes, although neither trustees nor principal in the transaction, had any idea that the actual arrangements were in any way due to the strongly expressed wishes of a discarnate spirit. if this book should ever fall into their hands, and they should trace the story in spite of the thick veil i have thrown over all the circumstances, i can only trust that, in gratitude for the results, they may become reconciled with the channel through which these were made possible. people may say: "what a terrible idea that a father or a husband should trouble himself about such sordid details as money, houses, etc." but this is an extremely foolish remark, although it may appear very spiritual on the surface. it is surely the most natural thing in the world that a near relation--if permitted--should endeavour to secure comfort and happiness for a dearly loved wife or daughter; especially when, as in the above case, he felt mainly responsible for a state of affairs which might have turned out so disastrously, save for his loving care and foresight, exercised as these were from the other side of the veil. at anyrate it disposes once for all of the weary old "_cui bono_" argument, which is so futile, and yet so constantly and triumphantly quoted by stupid people, who seem to took upon it as a patent extinguisher for any psychic gifts or experiences. it is mainly in order to meet this senseless observation that i have included this story in my reminiscences. most of us are debarred from answering the "_cui bono_" bray, by the fact that our most helpful experiences are generally of a too intimate and often sacred nature to be given to a scoffing world. but this instance has the advantage of dealing entirely with material matters, and thus being on a level with the ordinary intelligence. nobody can say in this case _no good was done_. it only remains to be deeply shocked by the undignified, "nay, almost blasphemous," intervention in mundane affairs of a spirit "who should certainly have had some more worthy occupation." it is another case of the old man and the donkey. if discarnate spirits _don't_ trouble about the personal affairs of those on earth, the "_cui bono_" argument is hurled at them. if they _do_, they are called blasphemous and irreverent! the mention of the waverly family reminds me of an incident which took place when i was staying in their house in the country, a year or two earlier than the time of which i am writing. i have reserved it purposely as a sequel to this last story, which is in its proper chronological setting. in the year 1889 i was spending a pleasant fortnight with the waverlys in yorkshire, at the very time when a dear old friend of mine (mrs tennant) was dying in london. i had seen her only a week or two before, but had no knowledge of her illness, as we were not in constant correspondence, although there was a deep and strong affection between us. i did not even hear of her death, in fact, till a few weeks after it took place, having missed the announcement in the papers. when mrs tennant's sister, mrs lane, wrote me the details, i had left yorkshire, and was staying with cousins in worcestershire. thinking over the dates mentioned in describing the illness, i realised with a shock of pained surprise that the final state of unconsciousness must have set in the very evening when i was enjoying myself in yorkshire, at a large dinner-party given by my host and hostess. it seemed terrible to think that my dear and much loved friend should have been lying unconscious upon her death-bed, and that no word or sign should have come to me. then suddenly i remembered a curious little incident connected with that dinner-party. i had been admiring a pretty little slate-coloured kitten belonging to the house, which was calmly sitting upon the grand piano after dinner, when the ladies were alone in the drawing-room. after the gentlemen joined us, i was deep in conversation with my host (a remarkably interesting and intelligent man), when i noticed a small _black_ kitten run past my dress. probably i should have remarked upon it had we been less occupied in talking, for i am extremely fond of cats and animals in general. i did glance up, as a matter of fact, and satisfied myself that it was not the little slate-coloured kitty, which sat in still triumph on the piano. besides, this kitten was _black_, not slate. i thought no more of it until the guests had left and mrs waverly and i were going upstairs to bed. she and i were very affinitive, but neither she nor her family had any special interest in psychology. on this occasion, however, she said rather mysteriously: "_i think something will happen to-night to you._" a good many jokes had been made about the probably uncanny atmosphere of my room, and the various spooks who were doubtless sharing it with me, so i laughed, thinking this was only the usual family joke. but mrs waverly was quite in earnest. at first she would give no reason for her remark, "fearing i should tell her daughters," and that she would be laughed at in consequence. reassured on this point, she said to me quite seriously: "whilst you were talking to my husband this evening i saw a black kitten run straight across your dress--just opposite to me." "_well, of course, i saw the kitten!_" i answered, to her surprise; "but there is nothing very remarkable about a black kitten in the house." "_but we have no black kitten_ in the house, or anywhere on the premises. where did it go to? you never saw it again? no; it was not an ordinary kitten, and i did not suppose till this moment that anyone had seen it but myself." it was a fact that no one but mrs waverly and i had seen any kitten but the slate-coloured one already mentioned. thinking over this in the light of the sad news of my dear old friend's death, and noting the correspondence in time between her loss of consciousness and the appearance of the mysterious black kitten--seen only by mrs waverly and myself--it was impossible not to ask in the depths of my heart whether, perchance, the spirit of my faithful friend had been trying to send me some symbol of her approaching death. it may be objected that black cats are generally connected with good luck. well, i think my dear "london mother," as she called herself sometimes, would have explained this apparent contradiction very simply. she had lived through much sorrow, and was often oppressed by sore doubts of the cosmic love. i never knew any woman with such strong and passionate human sympathy, and to such fine spirits, the world, under present conditions, must always offer terrible problems. her sympathies were sometimes too keen for that robust faith which can _always_ say: "god's in his heaven! all's right with the world!" yet her last words were: "_i am so tired, and god will understand; and i am so glad to go._" to finish my chapter on a merrier note, i will mention an amusing episode connected with the evening of the black kitten's appearance. amongst the guests invited to that dinner-party was a clergyman-squire, a man of some means who had taken orders. a "squarson" is the "portmanteau name" for such a gentleman in yorkshire, i believe; one who combines squire and parson. this particular specimen of the genus was both a vegetarian and a celibate. the latter fact had been made clear to me by the many regrets expressed in the neighbourhood that he had remained a bachelor owing to religious scruples. the vegetarianism was equally certain, for i had heard orders given for special dishes to be prepared for this guest; and sitting next to him at the dinner-table, i knew that he had not touched either meat or game, although it was not a fast day. after dinner, when the gentlemen had joined us in the drawing-room, the conversation turned upon psychic matters and my experiences in america of a few years before. this extreme high churchman denounced all these, "lock, stock, and barrel." he believed that everything might have happened as described, but was equally certain that the devil alone could have had a hand in "such goings on"! perhaps it will be wise to explain that he did not make use of this latter expression! my host, instead of coming to the rescue, which he might have done, as one of "the cloth"; looked much amused when i fielded most of my adversary's theological balls. at length, being unaccustomed to such irreverent handling, my enemy lost his temper, and, as usual on such occasions, he tried to "take my wicket" by quoting texts against me! "well, all i can say is that everything you have told us is in direct opposition to holy writ. in fact, _we are specially warned in the scriptures that in the latter days seducing spirits shall arise_." at this fatal moment, when the theological closure was descending upon my unhappy head, a really brilliant thought occurred to me. was it a seducing spirit or a friendly intelligence who reminded me that my opponent had only quoted half the text--_the half that suited him_? i pointed this fact out meekly. he looked puzzled, and probably had honestly forgotten what he did not wish to remember. "finish the text? what do you mean?" he said irritably. so i finished it for him: "in the latter days seducing spirits shall arise, _forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats_." he had pressed me very hard and rather unfairly. still, the counsel of perfection would have been to refrain from the comment that, if _i_ were a celibate and vegetarian, it was not the text i should have chosen with which to clinch an argument! an interlude i have headed this chapter an _interlude_, for the following reason:-it is the only one in this book which does not record a personal experience. the opportunity came to me at florence, two years ago, of hearing one of the best old-fashioned christmas ghost stories i ever came across; also a ghost story which has two rather unique advantages. first, it has never been published before; secondly, the percipient was the matron of a boys' school (a well-known one), and wrote out her experiences _within twelve hours of their occurrence_. now, the matron of a large boys' school must, of necessity, be an exceptionally practical woman, and her daily experiences can scarcely tend to encourage undue romance or imagination. when i add that this story was given to me, and a copy of the original letter placed in my hands, by a sister of two of the schoolboys who were under the matron's supervision, i shall have cleared the way for my ghost to appear upon the scene. i must add, however, that i met this sister, a young widow, in florence, two years ago. she then told me this story, finding that i was intimately acquainted both with the county and the small county town where it happened. the matron had gone there for the prosaic purpose of taking the baths for her rheumatism. the adventure took place in the early morning of 14th april 1875, and was recorded, within a few hours, in a long letter written by the percipient to a favourite cousin. my friend, mrs barker's brothers being at school at the time, begged to be allowed to read this letter and take a copy of it. the copy was made by their sister--then a young girl--and i have it in my hands at the present moment of writing. it is, of course, necessary to change the name of the county and town, as the old family mansion, let in lodgings in 1875, has since then been sold and turned into a boarding-house. mrs barker's mother made an expedition to this town, a few years ago, to verify the facts, and went over the house, which has been considerably altered and reconstructed inside since 1875. the small park mentioned in the story is now built over entirely, as the town has increased in popularity, owing to its baths, and the family portraits here mentioned have been removed since the house was sold. i will now quote _verbatim_ from the matron's letter, _written on the morning of her experiences_. "the priory, grantwich. "14th april 1875. "my dear edie,--when you asked me once for a ghost story, i daresay you as little expected, as i did, how soon i should have to reveal to you an experience which will doubtless give you, as it has me, much ground for thought and speculation about those mysterious laws which rule the spirit world. "how true it is that thought and feeling annihilate time and space! since last night, i seem to have lived through half a lifetime, such an effect have its events had upon my inner life. but before i begin to relate the strange circumstances i have to tell you, i must describe to you more particularly this house in which they happened. "i think i told you that 'the priory'--where i am now lodging--is an old mansion, belonging to the carbury family. for some years past, it has been let to the present occupiers who make the rent by letting lodgings. some ancient pieces of furniture remain, and a great many portraits, none of the earliest date, but a handsome and respectable collection--soldiers, bishops, and judges, in their uniforms, robes, and wigs, and ladies with powdered hair, hoops, and trains. "of these portraits, _two have engaged my attention, especially, from the first moment of seeing them_, but i am not going to speak of them yet; my first object is to give you an idea of the house, or rather that part of it with which my story is connected. "i think i have told you that the grand staircase goes up from the inner hall, and that round the staircase runs a gallery; in this gallery and in the hall below, are hung most of the portraits. "on the first turn and landing of the staircase, there is a door opening into a trellised walk which leads into the garden. on a level with this door is a large window which looks on to sweeps of soft turf, shaded by fine trees. "standing often to look from this window, as i passed up and down the staircase, one tree has always riveted my attention. it is a large old plane-tree, standing by itself, and having a strange, melancholy, decayed look about it. i noticed--why, i cannot imagine--that on one side of it the ground was bare and black, though everywhere else the grass was green and fresh. i mention this, because it had struck me _before_ the strange events occurred which i am going to tell you. "you must now go with me to the top of the staircase. just at the top, on your right hand, hangs one of the portraits i mentioned. it is a life-sized painting of captain richard carbury, who landed, on the 19th september 1738, in the colony of georgia, with general oglethorpe's regiment. "opposite to this, on the other side of the gallery, is the portrait of a lady, with black, resolute brows and full, voluptuous mouth and chin. she has a high colour, an exquisite hand and arm, and an amazonian bearing. "passing from the gallery, you enter a long passage, leading to other passages and staircases, with which we have nothing to do. "i only want you now to become acquainted with my own rooms. as you enter the passage from the gallery, two doors open, one on either hand. to the right is my sitting-room, a square, cheerful room, looking on the street; to the left is my bedroom, which will require a more particular description. "it is a large, low room. as you enter from the passage, the window, which looks into the garden, is opposite to you. in the middle of the wall to your right hand stands the bed, and opposite to that, the fireplace, and, as you will see, if you have taken in my description, just at the back of the portrait of the lady with the black eyebrows, is another door. opposite to this last is yet another, which caught my attention when i first entered the room from a peculiarity about it. the upper part of this door is of glass, rendered opaque by being washed or lined with some red substance. "as soon as i was alone in the room i tried to open this door, but it was firmly fastened. i don't know why i should have felt disquieted by this circumstance, but certainly i did feel annoyed. i thought at first that it probably opened into a dressing-room. there must have been a strong light behind it, for a red light always fell on that side of the room through the coloured glass, and i could see that red light in the morning, before any light penetrated the window-blind. "i think i have now told you all that is necessary for understanding my experience. "i must ask you to remember that yesterday was the thirteenth of april. i went to bed about eleven o'clock, and soon fell asleep. i could not, however, have slept long before i woke with an unusual feeling that something strange was going to happen. "i awoke, not as one does in the morning, with a drowsy resolve not to go to sleep again because it is time to get up, but as one awakes when a journey or some similar event is imminent, for which one's faculties have to be clear, and one's body active and alert. i was rather wondering at and enjoying the unusual clearness and energy of thought of which i felt capable, when the clock in the hall began striking, and, almost at the same moment, the clock of the old church of st andrew began striking also. "i knew that both were striking twelve, though i did not count the blows, but just as the last stroke of the church clock died away, another sound caught my ear. "the door by the fireplace gave a loud crack and then opened, as if with some difficulty. "the _red door_ at the same time rattled, as if someone were trying vainly to open it. the room had previously been dark, but i now plainly saw a tall figure come through the doorway and stand near the foot of the bed. there was a dull, yellowish light round the figure, which illumined it, leaving the rest of the room in darkness; but this yellow light, i perceived, became red at one point of the figure's left side, and shone down on the floor with a red glow, like that which came through the opposite door. "the apparition stood quite silent whilst i looked at it. _the features and figure were familiar to me_ for they were those of captain richard carbury, in the portrait, who had gone out to georgia with the regiment of his excellency, general oglethorpe! "as soon as i was sure of this, i said: 'you are captain richard carbury?' "the apparition nodded. "'why do you come to me?' i said. 'cannot you speak?' "he seemed to have some difficulty in doing so, but after two or three efforts, such as one makes to move a rusty hinge, he parted his lips, and said: 'yes! i am richard carbury, and i am come to make you a witness.' "'a witness of what?' i said. 'can i be of use to you? you come from the spirit world. is it then permitted to mortals to have personal intercourse with spirits?' "he held up his hand as if to silence me. "'listen to me,' he said. 'you are not frightened of me?' "'no,' i replied; nor did i feel the slightest awe or fear. i felt stimulated, a kind of electricity ran through my veins--i longed earnestly to learn something of the mysterious realm from which he came, but i had no vulgar or superstitious fear. "'nor need you have any dread,' he returned. 'i have no wish nor power to hurt you, but you must listen to my story. once in fifty years i am allowed to leave my grave and revisit the scene of my tragical death, and this must always be on the 14th of april, which is the anniversary of the event.[4] i am also permitted to recount my story if i find anyone sleeping in this room who is willing to listen to me. are you willing?' [4] there is evidently some mistake here in the figures given by the ghost or received by the matron. if his death took place in 1741 (three years after landing in georgia), his first spirit return was due in 1791, the second, 1841, and the third, not till 1891. it appears to have been anticipated by sixteen years, if the dates given are correct. a friend suggests that "once _in_ fifty years" does not necessitate exact _intervals_ of fifty years. "i replied that i should gladly hear what he had to tell, but would he allow me to ask him one question? "he inclined his head in assent, and i said i had always thought that the spirits of the dead, if they were allowed to appear on earth, came with shadowy and skeleton forms. why did he appear with flesh like a living man? "'ah!' he said, 'that is owing to the peculiarity of my grave. i am buried in salt.' "' have you anything more to ask?' said my visitor. "'nothing more at present,' i replied. 'i am ready now to hear your story.' "'i will make it as short as possible and not detain you long. you have noticed my portrait in the gallery?' "'yes.' "'and that of the lady opposite, my cousin, lucretia carbury?' "'certainly.' (here the red door was violently shaken). "'she cannot open it,' said captain carbury, 'it is sealed.' "'when i went out to georgia,' he resumed, 'in 1738, i was engaged to be married to her; we had been betrothed by our parents in our childhood, and family reasons made it almost a necessity that we should be united, but as we grew up neither of us was very anxious to fulfil the engagement, and, to tell the truth, i was glad of the summons to join my regiment. however, after three years in that distant colony, i came home, having made up my mind i would marry lucretia and settle down on the family property--which could only be enjoyed by that means--for we were the only representatives of the family, and the property was so left by our fathers that only by marrying could we enter into possession. _either by marrying or by the death of one of us; when the whole of the property would go to the other._ i knew that lucretia was at the old house at grantwich, and i came straight to her. "'i had written to say when she might expect me, and she received me with apparent kindness and agreed to all my propositions about our marriage. i arrived late at night, and she let me into the house herself and got food for me. we supped together, and she pledged me in a cup, which i now know was drugged to make me sleep heavily. "'i then retired to my room--this room, this bed, on which you now lie! "'what i am now going to tell you has been made clear to me since; at the time i was conscious of nothing. as soon as i got into bed, i fell asleep, and whilst i thus slept lucretia came through that door (pointing to the red door opposite), and stabbed me to the heart. i will show you the instrument with which she did it, if you like.' "'pray do,' i said, and he unbuttoned his scarlet uniform coat and drew from his left side a slender dagger or stiletto. "i looked at it with great interest and asked if i might take it in my hand. "'certainly, if you wish it,' he said, 'but i do not advise you to touch it. it is rusty now from the salt, but i assure you it was bright and keen when she drove it into my heart. the stroke was so cleverly aimed that i died instantly. lucretia then made a signal, which was answered by the entrance of a man, and between them they carried my body through the door by which i entered to-night.' "he paused, and i thought he looked more ghastly. 'is anything the matter?' i asked. "'i am thinking,' he answered, 'that i can show you the rest, if you will follow me, but i must tell you that when we leave this room and enter the gallery, it is possible the murderess will follow us. shall you be afraid?' "'not in the least,' i said, 'i will follow you with pleasure, but you must allow me to put something on, as i am suffering from rheumatism, and am afraid of the cold and damp.' "'by all means,' said captain carbury. 'i will wait for you in the gallery.' "i then got up and put on my dressing-gown and slippers. whilst i was doing so, i heard a rustling in the passage as of a woman passing slowly along. i found captain carbury, and followed him along the gallery without looking round, but when we reached the end of the gallery and turned to go down the first flight of stairs, i saw the lady with the black brows--whom i now knew to be lucretia carbury, the murderess--standing in the doorway, between the gallery and the passage. "'i do not think she can come any farther,' said my guide, and he opened the door leading from the staircase into the garden. "'i am showing you just where they brought me,' said he. "'who was the man?' i asked. "'i never knew his name, but she married him afterwards.' "he then moved across the lawn _to the bare spot under the plane-tree_. here he stopped, and, pointing downwards, showed me on the bare ground an exact outline of the dagger which he had drawn from his side. "'here they dug my grave and here they buried me; a salt spring washes over me.' "at this moment the great clock of st andrew struck one. "'all that you have told me is very sad and strange,' i said, 'but now, will you allow me to ask you why you have appeared to me? is there anything you want done on earth that i can do? is there any restitution to be made, or justice to be administered? anything that you require, i am ready to do, if you will grant me one favour when you return to the spirit realm.' "i had been speaking with my eyes fixed on the ground, but now, happening to raise them, i was surprised to see that my companion appeared to be sinking into the ground. "'my time is up,' he said. '_remember!_'--and, as his head disappeared, his words came in a hollow, sepulchral voice from beneath _that spot of black earth_--'remember you are my witness!' "i was left standing alone under the plane-tree, with the thought, that in returning to my room, i might probably meet the restless spirit of lucretia carbury. "nothing of the kind, however, occurred. i passed through the doors that had opened at the touch of captain carbury, and i noticed that they closed behind me without any effort on my part. i regained my bed, and almost immediately fell asleep. all had passed so naturally, and as a matter of course, that only when i woke this morning, and thought over the events of the night, did i realise that i had passed through such an experience as is given to few human beings. "you see, dear edie, that my narrative has taken so long to write that i have no time to speak of other things, even if i could bring my mind to think of anything else, which, i confess, i should have great difficulty in doing.--ever your very affectionate, "m. porter." copied _verbatim_ from miss porter's letter, written on the morning of 14th april 1875. * * * * * so ends the story, with apologies to the s.p.r.! i claim nothing for it beyond the following _facts_: the priory still exists at grantwich, and is known to have been the family mansion of the carbury family. miss porter was undoubtedly matron of the school where my friend's brothers were educated. she was a woman of unblemished character and truthfulness, and would certainly not have _invented_ this long and detailed account of her personal experiences within a few hours of their occurrence. my friend most certainly copied this letter, which her brothers had obtained leave to read, from their school matron--miss porter herself. lastly, my friend, mrs barker's mother (who is still alive), verified the existence of the priory (as i have called it) in the town of grantwich, and it _had_ been turned into a boarding-house at the time of her visit, having been previously let in lodgings. also she found that captain richard carbury was _supposed to have died in georgia in the year 1741_, as is inferred in the story. as the murderess and her accomplice alone seem to have been aware of his return on that fateful night, this would be the natural opinion of the world. as an old associate of the s.p.r., and quite conversant with their methods, two criticisms of the story at once suggest themselves, in addition to the confusion of dates, which might perhaps be excused, owing to the abnormal nature of the interview described. but the obvious podmorian remark would be that the whole adventure was a dream on the part of miss porter, induced by her interest in the two family portraits she had seen, and the curious sensations she had experienced in looking at a specially gloomy tree in the park. this would certainly cover the ground, but it proves, perhaps, rather too much. it requires very robust "faith in unfaith" to suppose that a sensible, practical woman, suffering from rheumatism, should carry her dream to the verge of following her dream man into the garden and grounds of the house. it may be urged that _she dreamt all this also_, but "that way madness lies." we must be able to formulate that certain acts of ours took place during full consciousness, or daily life would become impossible and moral responsibility would cease. miss porter might have been in a dream all through the night--granted. but in these cases it is the "morning that brings counsel." we are all aware of the extraordinary lifelike dreams which, with the return of normal memory, we recognise as dream visions, no matter how vivid and credible they may have appeared to us in the night. but with miss porter this normal process was reversed. she went to sleep quite calmly, and first realised, upon waking in the morning, how thoroughly _abnormal_ her experiences had been. i pass on to the next criticism, which a little "editing" on my part could have averted: "is it credible that a woman, only just recovering from the surprise and marvel of such an experience, should write about it, within a few hours, to a favourite cousin, as if she were preparing a story for _the family herald_?" i confess that this was my own feeling when the record was placed in my hands. we must, however, remember--first, that the percipient was obviously a lady of great courage, or she would not have followed her ghost into the garden; secondly, that she was a keen observer and very accurate in details. probably, many generations of schoolboys, passing through her hands, may have quickened her perceptions in both these ways. as for the stilted style, that presents little difficulty, when one remembers that people of a certain rank in life never use a short word when a long one will answer the purpose! i claim nothing for the story, beyond the points already mentioned. these are matters of _fact_. each one must interpret it according to his own views and prejudices. it is quite enough for me to be responsible for the truth and accuracy of _my own_ experiences, to which we will now return. * * * * * _note._--since writing the above i have consulted the "century encyclopã¦dia," and find there: "oglethorpe--james edward, born in london, december 21st, 1696, died at cranham hall, essex, england, 1785. an english general and philanthropist. he projected the colony of georgia for insolvent debtors, and persecuted protestants; conducted the expedition for its settlement, 1733, and returned to england, 1743." the apparent discrepancy between the date 1733 given in the encyclopã¦dia, and the 1738 of captain carbury's ghostly narrative, may be due to one of two causes: the young girl copying miss porter's letter may have mistaken a three for an eight rather easily. again, captain carbury did not state that he landed _with_ general oglethorpe, 19th september 1738, but with general oglethorpe's regiment. this latter may have been a reinforcement sent out to the general after his first landing in the colony. chapter vii lady caithness and avenue wagram having spent the winter months of 1894 (from january to april) in egypt, i was returning thence in the latter month with my friend mrs judge of windsor. our route was _via_ paris, and i had arranged to spend a week there in the same hotel as the young swedish lady whom i first met in india, and who has been referred to more than once in this record. she told me she had made the acquaintance that winter of the famous "countess of caithness and duchesse de pomar," and thinking it would interest me to meet this lady, she had asked for permission to introduce me to her. as it turned out, madame brã¼gel was unable to accompany me to the house, having several engagements for the afternoon, but she promised to "put in an appearance" later. so mrs judge and i drove off to the well-known mansion in the avenue de wagram, and were received very cordially by lady caithness. i had once tried to read a very abstruse and mystic book by this lady, and had heard her spoken of as a more or less hopeless lunatic, "who imagined herself mary queen of scots," and so forth. otherwise i went without prejudice, and being accustomed to judge for myself in such matters, came to the conclusion that lady caithness was an extremely shrewd woman, with her head remarkably "well screwed on," as the saying is. as regards her claims to be mary queen of scots, i never heard these from her own lips, although i saw her daily for a week, and we had many interesting talks. she certainly _did_ claim to be in very close relations with the ill-fated queen of scotland, but i do not know what views she may have held privately as to varied manifestations of the one spirit. i have heard lord monkswell propound an interesting theory, with archdeacon wilberforce in the chair, to the effect that as one short earth life gave small scope for spiritual experience and development, he thought it quite possible that the same spirit might have several bodily manifestations simultaneously, and that the judge and the criminal might conceivably be one and the same individual in two personalities! it is possible that lady caithness may have had some such view, not theoretically (as was the case with lord monkswell), but as a matter of conviction, and apart from the limits of time and space involved in the conception of the latter. i can only say that i never heard her speak of mary queen of scots except as an entity, quite distinct from herself. but that she carried the "marie" _culte_ to great extremes is an undoubted fact. the hall and rooms on the ground floor of the avenue wagram house were arranged and furnished in close imitation of holyrood palace. i counted over fifty miniatures and other pictures of the scottish queen in the countess's beautiful bedroom alone, and later on shall have to speak more definitely of one life size and exquisitely painted portrait of the queen. but to return to this first reception. i must confess that a somewhat inconveniently keen sense of humour found only too much nourishment on this occasion. the countess was magnificently dressed, as was usual with her, in priceless lace, falling over head and shoulders, and a beautiful tiara of various coloured jewels arranged over the lace. this was eccentric perhaps, considering the occasion, but not laughable. lady caithness, in addition to geniality, had enough quiet dignity to carry off the lace and jewels with success. i was chiefly amused by the attitude of adoring humility and flattering appreciation shown by the numerous ladies already assembled when we arrived. only one man was present, and he was a priest. later i learned to appreciate the friendliness of the abbã© petit and to admire his intellectual courage and manliness. for the moment, seeing him surrounded by these female worshippers, hanging upon his lips as he discoursed to us about new readings of old truths, one was irresistibly reminded of certain scenes in moliã¨re's "_femmes savantes_." a lively little american lady (married to an italian count) plied him with numerous questions in fluent french, spoken with an atrocious accent. finally, she wished to hear the abbã©'s views upon _melchisedech!_ in the midst of other questions and answers, the kindly little man managed to turn round to her with a cheery "_ah, madame la comtesse! pour le melchisedech--nous reviendrons tout de suite ã  melchisedech!_" all the affairs of the religious universe were being wound up at a similar pace and in like fashion, and this final word of cheerful assurance would have proved absolutely disastrous to me had i not been sitting close to my friend and able to whisper to her: "_please dig your nails into my wrist--hard._" any bodily pain was preferable to the hysterical laughter which had been so long suppressed and seemed now imminent. but there was worse to come! an englishwoman, the very type of the characteristic british spinster, turned round, and addressed m. l'abbã© in laboured and extremely british french (i must leave the accent to be imagined and supplied by my reader): "mais, monsieur l'abbã©! c'est le protestantisme que vous nous enseignez la." he turned round upon her in his wrath: "mais, madame--ou mademoiselle." (no print can convey the utter scorn and contempt of this last word.) the rest of the sentence was lost to us in the loud laugh of the genial, good-tempered woman: "_moi_, mademoiselle! j'ai ã©tã© mariã©e vingt ans et j'ai six enfants!" the whole scene was too funny for words, and, with the exception of this good lady, all present took themselves as seriously as a university don! it was a real relief when the solemnity of the reception broke up and we were ushered into the adjoining dining-room for an excellent tea. here i came upon my swedish friend, who had only just arrived, and "missed all the fun." she told me there was to be a _sã©ance_ held in the house next day, and that she had been asking the countess if i might not be present. "_it might amuse you, kat!_" was her irreverent way of putting it. "_unfortunately, there seems to be some difficulty about it._" at this moment lady caithness came up, and cordially expressed her regrets that she could not accede to madame brã¼gel's suggestion. "had you been staying until next week, miss bates, i would gladly have arranged for it, but to-morrow is a very special occasion. as a matter of fact, i have promised m. petit that no one shall be present except himself and me, and the two female mediums, of course. on wednesday we are to have a crowded meeting here--all the well-known people in paris will come--and m. l'abbã© will read his paper explaining that he can no longer blind his eyes to the new light breaking upon the world through scientific discovery, etc., but that he remains a loyal son of the church, if the church will allow him to do so. it is, of course, a very trying and anxious ordeal; for many priests will be present, also a cardinal and one or more of our bishops. so the _sã©ance_ to-morrow will be specially devoted to receiving last instructions for the paper he is about to read, and some words, we trust, of encouragement and hope." of course, i hastened to assure lady caithness of my full comprehension of her point, and added that i was only sorry she should have been asked to alter her arrangements on my account. "but you will join us on wednesday at the meeting, i trust? it will be held at three p.m., in a large room on the ground floor, which is arranged for such gatherings. i shall expect you then, so we will not say good-bye." this was heaping coals of fire on my head; for so observant a woman as lady caithness must have noticed my difficulty in keeping a grave face earlier in the afternoon! now comes a curious point. as we left the house madame brã¼gel in expressing disappointment about the next evening, added: "and yet somehow i think you will go after all." "yes," i said involuntarily. "i believe i _shall_ go, but i cannot think how it will come about; nothing could be more decided than what we have just heard, and i cannot possibly put off my journey to england the end of this week." i think we were both a little disappointed when no letter arrived by the morning's post. "local letters often come by second post," urged my friend, who was very keen upon her presentiment. a long morning at the louvre prevented my reaching home till one p.m., when the _dã©jeuner ã  la fourchette_ was half way through its course. no letter on my plate! so madame brã¼gel and i agreed that the wish must have been father to the thought with both of us, and put the matter out of our heads once for all. at two-thirty p.m., however, a _dã©pãªche_ letter arrived for me. lady caithness wrote to _beg that i would make a point of being with her that evening by nine p.m._ "you will think this very inconsistent with what i told you yesterday," she wrote, "but i said only what was the exact truth, as matters then stood. it is the queen herself who has communicated with me this morning, and _insists_ upon your being present this evening. the abbã© and i can only bow to this decision. i need not tell you how pleased i shall be personally to greet you this evening." i was again shown into the spacious bedroom of the countess, where she "received" in general, quite after the manner of the french kings in the days of the old monarchy. her bed was quite a state bed too, with its beautiful silk furnishings and heavy velvet hangings. on the wall behind this, was a very valuable fresco painting, representing jacob's ladder, with the angels ascending and descending, executed by a famous modern artist. we soon descended to the ground floor, and passing through the large lecture-room, of which lady caithness had spoken, and which had sufficient gilt and cane chairs to seat a large audience; we stepped down some marble stairs into a small but exquisitely appointed room. it was a sort of chapel, in fact, built "by the queen's instructions," and used for all purposes and occasions of direct communication with her. a general impression remains with me of rare woods and exquisite marbles, and the walls were hung with framed tapestries representing various scenes in the queen's life. to me the most striking and beautiful thing in the room was a full-length, life-sized portrait of mary herself, so arranged that a hidden lamp threw its soft light on the features; whilst the hanging velvet curtains of deep crimson on either side concealed the frame of the picture, and conveyed the illusion that a living woman was standing there ready to receive her guests. i have never seen anything more perfect than the way in which this impression was conveyed, without a jarring note of sensational effect. the two french women mediums were already in the room, and i am bound to say they did not attract me pleasantly nor impress me very favourably. they were mother and daughter, and "harpy" was written large over either countenance. doubtless they were very good mediums, in spite of this fact. they _must_ have been so, unless one supposes that lady caithness and the abbã© petit were themselves abnormally strong sensitives; in which case one would have thought this extraneous help would have been unnecessary. we sat down at a fairly large wooden table, polished, but without covering of any kind, and having only one solid support to it, coming from the centre, passing down as a single wooden pillar, and spreading out in the usual fashion at the bottom. i had noted this on first entering the room. the two women sat together on my right-hand side. on my left was the abbã©, and the countess sat exactly opposite to me, with a printed alphabet pasted on to a card, and a long pencil as pointer. this made up the party. at a side table, placed some distance away, sat a pleasant young french lady, who was writing automatically all the time; a secretary to the countess, i believe. this young lady had no possible connection with the table. the _sã©ance_ began with a few words of prayer from the abbã© for light and guidance. the process was as follows:--first, the countess and then i took the printed alphabet, and pointed silently and at a fair pace to the letters, going on from one to the other without pause. at the letter needed the table did not rise, but gave a sound more like a bang than a rap. i have never heard anything _quite_ so loud and definite in my long investigation. the sound seemed to come from _within the wood_, as in ordinary "raps," when these are genuine, but it was far louder and more rapid and decided than the usual _sã©ance_ rap. there was no hesitation, no gathering up of force. any amount of vitality was evidently present, and the intelligence, from whatever source, was unerring. the countess and i were the only two persons who held the alphabet and pointed, and when _she_ held it the mediums could not have seen the letters from their position at the table with regard to hers. yet the letters were banged out (i can use no other expression) with absolute accuracy, and at a pace which, quick to start with, became more and more rapid as we wearied of the monotonous task and handed the alphabet to each other in turn. when the name of god or of our lord came, only the first letter was indicated, and then the table swayed slowly to and fro in a very reverent and characteristic way for a few seconds; after which we began the alphabet again for the next word. when these loud bangs came i could trace the reverberation in the wood, and it seemed to me practically impossible that the harpies could be producing them by any unlawful methods, whilst sitting in full light and with immovable faces, the daughter writing down the letters as quickly as these were indicated. one did not feel quite comfortable about making investigations in a private house without being invited to do so. again, if the women were tricking, and i caught them at it, there was always the chance of a disagreeable scene with people of their class. on the other hand, it was losing a great opportunity, to refrain, as a mere matter of courtesy. also i comforted myself by thinking that if anyone needed to feel ashamed it would be the ones who cheated, and not the detective. so i pushed my chair a little nearer to the table, and the next time the countess took the alphabet from me and the bangs were in full swing, i put my foot cautiously but very effectually _entirely round the one leg of the table, moving it also up and down freely_. not a vestige of another foot, nor even of the flimsiest particle of dress or other obstruction! i could positively and distinctly hear the reverberation of the loud bangs on the wood, _between me and the centre of the table_, whilst my own leg and foot were firmly embracing the single wooden pillar upon which the latter stood. so the harpies were justified, so far as this one phenomenon was concerned. the letters written down so rapidly by the daughter on large sheets of paper presented an apparently hopeless jumble, but when the sitting was over at the last, the abbã© and i were able to make out the words and sentences without great difficulty (he being accustomed to the task), and we then found a long, coherent, and at anyrate perfectly sensible, message addressed to him, and referring to the points of his coming discourse. this had to be proved upon its own merits, and without prejudice, arising from the fact that st paul's name was given as the author. it was quite as helpful as some of the apostle's letters, with the advantage of being up to date as regarded the question in hand. after all, the abbã© was about to embark upon an enterprise requiring much courage and great tact, in the forlorn hope that the walls of narrow orthodoxy and priestcraft might fall down before the trumpets of advancing knowledge and light. it may or may not have been st paul who stood by the abbã© with words of encouragement that night; but i, for one, find no difficulty in thinking it conceivable that the great apostle should take a keen interest in the evolution of the planet upon which he once lived. the charming young lady delivered up her script also. it was interesting and well written, but the only paragraph which remains in my memory was an excellent analysis of the initial difference between christianity and theosophy. the abbã© kindly copied it out for me next day, but i must quote from memory. "christianity is a stretching down of the divinity to man. "theosophy is the attempt of man, by his own efforts, to reach the divine." this seems to me both terse and true. we had sat from nine p.m. till one a.m., and i think we were all relieved when an adjournment for supper was suggested by lady caithness. her son, the duc de pomar, joined us for _this_ part of the evening, and was introduced to me. my enjoyment of the excellent fare, after so many hours of exhaustion, was only tempered by an unfortunate and violent quarrel between the mother and daughter mediums, on the score of the age of the latter! the mother declared her daughter was forty-five; the daughter said: "not a day over thirty-five," and intimated that she surely might be supposed to know her own age! the mother, however, murmured provokingly: "_moi, je sais mieux que ã§a_"; and so the wrangle went on, until i made a diversion by taking leave of my hostess and promising to be present at the lecture the "following afternoon," which, by the way, had become "this afternoon" by the time i left the hotel wagram. when i entered the house once more, it was to be shown into the large lecture-room previously described, which was already three parts full, and very shortly entirely so. lady caithness had kindly reserved a front seat for me, so i could see and hear without difficulty. on the raised platform stood my friend the abbã© looking very grave and rather nervous. a cardinal, two bishops, and some half-dozen priests were seated close to him, and very shortly the lecture, which was, i think, extempore, began. the abbã© was so manifestly in dead earnest and without any suspicion of _pose_, that one could not fail to be deeply impressed by the scene. it needed all the help of a sincere purpose and a brave heart, to stand up amongst those of his own cloth, and, in face of a partially indifferent and partially unfriendly audience, to declare boldly "the faith that was in him"--a faith that burned all the more brightly and warmly from the fact that it was being purged of the superstitions which must always become the accretions of every form of religion; the clinging refuse of weed and shell, which from time to time must be scraped off the bottom of the grand old ship if it is to convey us safely from port to harbour. the cardinal sat twirling his big seal ring, with a look of cynical amusement on his face, or so it seemed to me. as the abbã© proceeded to mention the advances made in science and the necessity for a restatement of old truths, which should bring them into line with other truths of the nineteenth century, proving the essential unity of _all truth_, and breaking down the fallacy that the vital part of religion and the vital part of science have anything to fear from one another, the cardinal's face was a study to me. "yes, of course, we know all that, you and i, but what is the use of making this fuss about it? we belong to a system, and this system has worked very well for centuries past, and will work very well for centuries to come if fools don't attempt to upset the coach by restatements and readjustments, as they are called. the people _don't want restatements_; they want a dead certainty, and that is just what we give them." all this i seemed to read in his clever, cynical countenance, in direct opposition to the thrilling sentences of the abbã© petit as he leant forward and said, with uplifted finger and prophetic intensity: "_la lumiã¨re est venue, mes frã¨res--et si vous ne la suivez pas--vous serez laissã©s seuls dans vos ã©glises._" it is impossible to exaggerate the affectionate solemnity of this appeal to his brother priests. the tragic note was relieved later by an amused smile which rippled round the audience. this puzzled me until a kind french lady sitting next to me explained that the audience were amused by the "_trã¨s chers frã¨res_" (dearly beloved brethren), with which the abbã© addressed them in this rather unorthodox lecture. it was evidently looked upon as a curious bit of "professional survival." on the following day (thursday) i was invited to lunch with lady caithness at two p.m., and being a punctual person, i arrived at that hour. the powdered footman announced that his mistress had not yet emerged from her bedroom, and showed me up into the dining-room adjoining, where i awaited her. in a few minutes i was joined here by the abbã©, who politely expressed his sorrow that he had not known of my arrival earlier. as we sat chatting together, he told me a curious experience of his of the previous night, which will certainly "cause the enemy" to smile, if not "to blaspheme." he said (of course, in french): "i was sitting last night in my room, which looks over the back of the house, and where i can hear no sounds from the avenue, and i was talking to 'la reine.' suddenly '_elle m'a frappã© sur l'ã©paule_,' and then said she must leave me at once, in order to meet the duchesse, who had just returned home. at that moment twelve o'clock struck from a neighbouring church, and i looked at my watch, and found it was indeed midnight. when madame la duchesse comes in, i am most anxious to find out whether she and the duc were returning home at that hour. you will be my witness, madame, that i have told you of this occurrence before seeing the duchesse." i assured him that i would gladly testify to this; and in a few moments the duc de pomar arrived, and almost immediately after him, lady caithness emerged from her bedroom on the other side of the dining-room. we sat down to luncheon, and i was much amused by the form of the abbã©'s question later in the meal. "_madame la duchesse! puis je vous demander sans indiscrã©tion, a quelle heure vous ãªtes revenue hier au soir?_" lady caithness looked a little surprised, but answered readily enough: "well, it must have been past midnight; i did not notice very specially." "not past midnight, mother," corrected the duc de pomar; "i heard a clock strike twelve just as we were driving through the porte cochã¨re." "_bien, madame, qu'est-ce-que je vous ai dit?_" demanded the abbã©, turning to me in triumph. he then repeated his story, and i was able to certify that he had already mentioned it to me on my arrival. the following day i took my leave of lady caithness, with a happy remembrance of her and her great kindness and hospitality to me during this pleasant week. she made me promise to let her know whenever i might happen to be passing through paris. i wrote to her the next year, when about to make a short stay in paris, on returning from algeria, and received an answer from the riviera. she had been wintering there, and had been packed and ready for the return to paris, when an obstinate chill had upset all plans. she begged me to go to the avenue wagram when i arrived and find out the latest news of her, as the doctors might give leave for the journey at any moment. ten days later i _did_ go to her house and interview the lady secretary (not the one i had seen), who was very grudging in her answers, and gave me the impression that she was accustomed to deal with persons who had some "axe to grind" by claiming acquaintance with the countess. i did not happen to have the letter in my pocket which authorised my visit, and should probably not have produced it in any case. so i turned away rather shortly, leaving my card, saying: "i must trouble you to forward this at once to lady caithness." the moment the secretary saw my name, her manner entirely changed, and became as servile as it had been "cavalier." "miss bates, i see? oh, certainly, i shall communicate at once with her ladyship. i had no idea it was miss bates. pray excuse me, so many come and ask for the duchesse, and we have to be so very particular. but, of course, _you_ must be the lady the duchesse is so very fond of. she has mentioned you often, and warned us to receive you with every courtesy." and that is my last recollection of the kindly woman, who died a few months later. no, not absolutely my last recollection: visiting scotland in 1896, i made a point of going to holyrood chapel for the express purpose of finding her grave. the plain stone slab and simple inscription seemed at first a curious contrast to the gorgeous magnificence of her home and dress and surroundings. yet i am inclined to think that they represented a side of her character which was quite as real as the other. in like manner, no one who knew of her only as a "wild visionary" could have realised the shrewd, practical woman of business and of common-sense who shared the personality of countess of caithness and duchesse de pomar. i remember that mr frederic myers made the same remark to me after a visit he paid to her, just after my return to england, for the purpose of arranging matters with regard to her generous bequest to the society for psychical research. chapter viii from oxford to wimbledon from paris to england is not a long cry, and my next reminiscence is connected with the university of oxford. i was spending a few days there with a friend in the spring of 1896, and went with her one afternoon to an oxford tea-party, with its usual sprinkling of women, married and unmarried; a few dons captured as a question of friendship, and more than a few undergraduates. amongst the latter i chanced to hear the name of a very well-known bishop, whom i had first met and known rather intimately when i was a young girl, and he a young married curate. i had also known his wife (a few years my senior) very intimately in those far-off days, so my curiosity was aroused to know if the young man in this oxford drawing-room should chance to be a son of this bishop, whom we will call the bishop of granchester. i found that my surmise was correct; the young man was introduced to me, and we were soon deep in an interesting conversation about his parents, especially his mother, who had died when he was barely three years old. he knew little or nothing about her. his father had married again, and his paternal grandmother (still alive in 1896) had never cared for his mother--from feelings of jealousy probably--so there was no one to speak to the boy about her, and he was naturally delighted to hear all my girlish recollections of her. "do come and have tea with me to-morrow afternoon, or any day that suits you," he said eagerly. "i have one or two old photographs taken of my mother when she was young, and i should like so much to know which of them you consider the best." of course, i agreed to go, mr blake-mason promising to ask a "chum" to entertain my hostess whilst he and i discussed the photographs and the old days before he was born. returning home from his rooms that february evening, i was conscious once more of an unaccountable depression, and also a certain amount of nervous irritability, which other sensitives will understand, and which often precedes some psychic happening. just after we had finished dinner, it struck me suddenly, and _for the first time_, that my discomfort might be connected with my afternoon visit. this young man's mother might be wishing to impress me in some way! i found that this was the fact, but felt unequal to going further into the matter that night. i promised to listen to anything she might wish to say next morning, and having given this promise, all unpleasant and disturbing influences disappeared, and i had a good night's rest. next morning, after breakfast, my hostess said very practically: "now do get this matter off your mind at once, or you will be worried about it all day. i am going to order dinner, and shall then be in the drawing-room, so you can have this room entirely to yourself." i sat down, and a very beautiful message was given to me by the friend of my girlhood. she was evidently very much perturbed and very anxious about something connected with her youngest son, whom i had met for the first time two days previously, and about whose affairs, i need scarcely say, i was in a state of profound ignorance. the little mother was anxious not to "give him away," nor betray confidences, and so her words were very guarded. there was evidently nothing in the least dishonourable or in any way _unworthy_ of her son in question. i gathered, rather, that he might be contemplating some step which she, from her wider outlook, considered undesirable and inexpedient; possibly even disastrous in the future. it was no business of mine, and i make it a point of honour not to "try to guess" more than i am told, and to forget what i _am_ told as soon as possible, where the affairs of other people are involved. this is, fortunately, easy for me as a rule, but in this case one sentence remains even now ringing in my ears, and if the son ever comes across this record i hope he will forgive my reproducing his mother's last beautiful words to me: "_tell my darling boy that life is so solemn and true love so sacred a thing. tell him to be very, very sure, lest he lose the substance in pursuing the shadow._" the first sentence is given verbatim. in the second my memory may be producing the sense without the exact wording, but i have no doubt at all that my words practically convey what the mother wished me to "tell her boy." this message gave me a hard problem to solve: "what should i do with it?" on the one hand, my having agreed to take the message, tacitly bound me to let him have it. on the other hand, there were various questions to consider. in the first place, mr blake-mason might probably, and very naturally, resent my writing to him on the subject, especially as i had no reason to suppose he had any knowledge of psychic matters. secondly, he might suppose (quite untruly) that i had heard some private affairs of his discussed, and had taken upon myself to convey a personal warning, under cover of his dead mother's wishes. this was perhaps exaggerating a possibility, which, nevertheless, could not be ignored. thirdly, he might consider me a harmless lunatic, conveying a message which had no slightest foundation in truth. fourthly, it might, on the other hand, give him the impression that his mother must have some access to his most private affairs; in which case he might become intensely interested in psychic matters, to the exclusion of more mundane affairs--always a danger with young people--not to mention other possibilities of psychic disaster for _inexperienced investigators_. i went over all these chances _con_, to put against the one _pro_ of his mother's loving anxiety, and my sense of responsibility to her. finally, i decided that there was no choice left for me but to send the message, and trust the consequences to a higher wisdom. i did this, adding a few words of explanation, and also of warning, in case he should recognise my absolute _bon㢠fides_ and his mother's personality, and become too much absorbed by these psychic possibilities. unfortunately, i added, in his own interests, _that it was not necessary to acknowledge the letter._ "it would doubtless reach him, and i had nothing more to do with the matter." i left oxford next day, and have never seen the young man since; nor have i ever heard from him. i concluded that he was annoyed, or that the message was quite wide of the mark. i never doubted his mother's presence with me, but i might have failed to reproduce her words to her son with sufficient accuracy for recognition. anyway, i put the matter out of my head as one of those trying episodes to which all sensitives are exposed at times, when they think more of conscience than personal convenience. three or four years passed before the corroboration of that message came to me, in a rather curious manner. a cousin of mine, having been badly wounded in the west african war, was sent to a london hospital to have the bullet, which had puzzled all the local surgeons, located and extracted. he was at the hospital for several weeks during the london season of 1899, i think. during these weeks i, in common with many other friends and relations, was in the habit of paying him occasional visits. i had gone to say good-bye to him on leaving town, when "by chance" (as we call it) he mentioned, for the _first_ time, the name of his ward sister, adding how charming and kind and capable she had proved. "by the way, she is a daughter of the bishop of granchester," he added. "you know everybody, cousin emmie! perhaps you know _her_," he said, smiling. "no; i don't know her, bertie! but i knew her mother and father very well many years ago." nothing would satisfy him but that i should ask to see her when i left the hospital, and as he seemed really anxious on the point i promised to do so, though inwardly averse from disturbing a busy woman. i asked the hall porter for her, but said i had no special business, and would not ask to see her unless she happened to be quite free. in a few moments he returned, and showed me into a pretty sitting-room on the ground floor, saying that the sister would be with me shortly. the door opened again to admit a bright, pleasant-looking young woman of seven or eight and twenty, who gave me a most cordial greeting when she heard my name, saying: "oh yes, frank told me all about meeting you at oxford." i did not feel very keen about talking of "frank" just then; but we sat down, and had a long half hour's chat on much the same lines as my conversation with her brother three years before. i had said good-bye, and she had accompanied me across the hall to the fine stone steps leading from the hospital--she had, in fact, turned towards her own apartments--when i felt i _must_ ask her one more question, so i also turned, and hurried back to her. "did your brother frank ever tell you of a letter he received from me in oxford?" i asked. "oh yes," she answered, without a touch of embarrassment. then i continued: "i never heard from him about it. i told him he need not write at the time, but i have been afraid he was hurt or annoyed, and thought it an impertinence on my part perhaps." "did frank never write?" she asked, with genuine astonishment. "i know he intended to do so. certainly he was not annoyed in any way. far from it. he was intensely interested, and _i have the best of reasons for knowing that that message from our mother made a very great difference in his life_." i thanked her for these words, without asking anything further. as i have said, it was no affair of mine, from first to last; but the verification, after such a lapse of time, was doubly satisfactory to me. again i ask: how about the "_cui bono_" argument? * * * * * another shake of the kaleidoscope, and i find myself at wimbledon, staying with a friend--now, alas! passed away--who had then a pretty house not far from the common, and with whom i often spent a few days when in london. on this occasion she had asked some friends to meet me at tea, amongst them mrs alfred wedgwood, to whom i had introduced her some years previously, and my friends "v. c. desertis" and his wife. a miss farquhar, whom i knew very slightly, was sharing a sofa with me, she sitting at one end and i at the other, leaving a vacant space between us. mrs wedgwood was talking to mr desertis at the moment, but suddenly looked across the room at our sofa, and began describing very graphically an old man of benevolent aspect sitting between miss farquhar and myself, leaning on a stick, and wearing a soft felt hat. "he has long hair, almost down to his coat collar, and he looks such a dear, kind old man!" mrs wedgwood said; then turning round, she added: "surely some of you must recognise him! he is so very clear and distinct in his whole personality." mrs desertis whispered something to her husband, who asked at once if the old gentleman's hair was very white. "yes; quite white," said mrs wedgwood hopefully. "and curly and long?" "yes; curly and quite long, reaching to his collar," continued mrs wedgwood, still more confidently. but our hopes were dashed when mr desertis turned round drily to his wife: "then it cannot possibly be my father, as you suggested. his hair was white, but _quite short_." it was a cruel blow! but mrs wedgwood still affirmed that she had never seen anyone more distinctly, whether we recognised him or not. i may here mention that i had been sleeping very badly in this house for some nights past, and regretted this the more, because i was shortly going to stay with a friend at windsor for my first "fourth of june," and wished to be specially bright and well for the coming festivities. these bad nights were later proved to have some connection with the benevolent old gentleman just described! now i will continue the sequence of events. mrs wedgwood's clairvoyant description had been forgotten by us all, as i supposed, long before the afternoon came to an end. it had passed unrecognised, and other interesting matters arose in conversation. the following day miss farquhar wrote a line to my hostess, asking if she might come to tea towards the end of the week, as she had something very interesting to tell us. she came, of course, and thus unfolded her budget: "none of you seemed very much impressed about that old gentleman mrs wedgwood described here the other day, but her words were so graphic that i felt sure she was really seeing him at the moment, so i determined to try and find out something about him. "i went to an old lady i know, one of the oldest inhabitants, and asked her if she knew anything of your predecessors in this house. she told me an elderly couple had lived here, a husband and wife, that the husband had died, and that although the wife lived away from wimbledon now, she could not bear to part with the house which her husband had been so fond of; so let it. in fact, my old friend seemed to think she must be your present landlady." this was said to my hostess, and proved to be quite true. the house had been let through an agent, and as the present owner lived in a distant county, nothing was known of her personally by my friend. then miss farquhar continued: "hearing that the old man was so devoted to the house rather suggested a reason for mrs wedgwood seeing him here, so i asked my old lady if she had known this gentleman, and if so, would she describe him. she did this, _almost word for word as mrs wedgwood had seen him_. also, she added, that he was a good deal of an invalid, often sat indoors, with a hat on for fear of draughts, and carried a stick, upon which he constantly leant for support." this was very satisfactory, and we applauded miss farquhar's detective instincts, and promised to let mrs wedgwood know about the matter. the latter took it all very quietly, only remarking that she felt sure someone ought to be able to find out about the old man. a sudden thought struck me that my disturbed nights and uncomfortable feelings, in a very cheerful and pretty bedroom, might possibly be connected with the same old man. without saying a word about this, i asked mrs wedgwood to come up into my room before she returned to london, and then i told her that i could not sleep, and had not had a peaceful night since i arrived. could she find out what was the cause? mrs wedgwood looked round for a moment, and then said in the most casual way: "not the smallest doubt of the cause. it is that old man, of course. he is earth-bound, i expect, and haunting the house. you had better take a message from him if you want to get rid of him. i would help you if i could, but i shall be late for my train if i don't start at once." next morning i took the poor old gentleman's message, which began with an apology and regrets for disturbing me, but went on pathetically: "you must forgive me, i was so very anxious to send a message to my wife, and i saw that you were a sensitive and could take it from me--i did not realise that it might cause you so much discomfort. that lady called me earth-bound, but if i am, it is only through my deep love for my dear wife, and i am permitted to watch over her. i was drawn here by my old affection for this house, and also by your presence here, knowing you could help me." he then gave the message, of which i can only remember that it was most touching in its expressions of deep affection and watchful care for his widow. as we did not know this lady's present address, and could not procure it without raising inconvenient questions, my hostess and i settled that she should lock up the message, in the hope that some day we might be able to forward it. a year later i had a most unpleasant experience of being made to feel seriously ill when i came down for a night from town, and as another clairvoyant assured me that this resulted from the message remaining undelivered and the poor old man's frantic endeavours to reach his wife's consciousness, i told my wimbledon friend that something _must_ be done. either she must procure the lady's address "_coã»te que coã»te_," or i could not come down again to wimbledon until this step had been taken. under pressure of this determination of mine the address was procured, and this led to a rather unpleasant experience. i wrote a very courteous letter to the lady, enclosing the message, and explaining that i was quite debarred from visiting my wimbledon friend until it was delivered, that i hoped, therefore, she would excuse my sending it, after more than a year's consideration of the question. i further intimated that although she might consider me a lunatic for my pains, i trusted there could be nothing to vex or hurt her in so touching an evidence of her husband's constant care and love, however little faith she might be disposed to place in the source from which the message was supposed to emanate. the answer came as a shower bath on my unfortunate head. the old lady (?) was furious. she had never heard of such wicked nonsense! "_her dear husband was quite the gentleman, both in clothes and appearance, and he was not old--not a day over sixty-eight--when he died_," etc. etc. it would have been amusing if it had not been rather pitiful to think of the poor "young" man of sixty-eight trying so hard to reach such a termagant! later, i heard that the military man, through whom the old lady's address had been given to my wimbledon hostess, had asked the husband of the latter if i were a lunatic, by any chance! and this is how some of us welcome our friends from the other side of the veil! the marvel to me is that love can still be stronger than death, in face of such ingratitude and stupidity! i have already mentioned my extreme sensitiveness to the atmosphere (psychic) of rooms, especially rooms where one sleeps. i find another instance of this in my notes. i was paying a first visit to a friend in the south of england, and a very bright, cheerful room had been allotted to me there. from the first night i felt a strong influence of a man in the room. kindly note that i do not say the influence of a _strong_ man; on the contrary, the character appeared to me that of an essentially weak man--weak rather than wicked--sensual as well as sensuous--self-indulgent, and greatly wanting in grit and will power. my hostess had two sons, one whom i knew, and the other, living abroad, whom i had never met. the influence i felt was certainly not that of the son i knew, who was both manly and strong-willed, a fine soldier, and "hard as nails," as men would say. i feared it might be the other son, however, and took an early opportunity of asking to see a photograph of the latter. my mind was quite set at rest. it was certainly not this man's influence that i had felt so strongly in my room. asking my hostess, _who_ had chiefly occupied the room, she said at once: "both my sons have slept there at different times," adding, "i am sure you have some of your queer ideas about the room--what is the matter with it?" i told her; "now that i am quite convinced that neither of your sons is implicated, i will describe to you the character of a man whom i feel sure must have slept in that room and has left a strong psychic influence behind him." i then mentioned the characteristics already given, and one or two more which have escaped my memory. my sceptical friend looked a little surprised. she said nothing at the moment, but crossed the room to a cabinet, whence she took a photograph of a man which i had never seen, and placed it in my hands. "i am bound to confess," she added, "that you have exactly described the character of my brother-in-law, who certainly has occupied the room more than once." the sequel to this little incident is rather significant. a year or two later, this lady and i, having both succumbed to influenza and bronchitis, were sent off to the same place abroad to recuperate. her attack had ended sooner than mine, so that i joined her there, and one of the first pieces of news she gave me was of the death of this brother-in-law, adding: "poor fellow! he died from a very painful disease, and suffered terribly. he had grave faults, but, as you said, they came from weakness rather than wickedness. at anyrate, he was humble-minded, for he wrote a touching letter to me when i lost a very dear relation lately, wondering why such a valuable life should have been taken and such a 'useless log' as himself be left alive." this poor man had only just passed over when i joined my friend, and i felt that he was in a very bewildered and sad state of mind. i could realise his presence so clearly, partly, no doubt, from having sensed his character so strongly, that the obvious thing seemed to be to try and help him on his new plane of life. to the superficial mind it appears very absurd, and equally irreverent, to suppose that a faulty creature on this side the veil can help a faulty creature on the _other_ side. personally, i have never had any difficulty in realising the power of prayer for those who have passed beyond our mortal sight. surely we are one large family, whether here or there? the best way to make children love each other is to persuade them to _help_ each other. is it strange that the same rule should apply to the universe that applies to the tiny portion of it that we know? anyway, i am quite sure in this case that my prayers did help and comfort this poor man in his dark experience. in a few weeks the position seemed to be altogether lightened. he thanked me for my sympathy and companionship, and i have never heard of him since. the caviller will say at once: "could not someone else have done the work equally well--either a near relation in the other sphere or a ministering angel?" the answer is: "certainly they could have done it equally well, probably far better." but the point is that it happened to be the bit of work put into _my_ hands, and at least i did my best. what more can any of us say? again i ask: how about the "_cui bono_" argument? chapter ix hauntings by the living and the dead 1896 in this same year (1896) i remember another curious incident. i was staying in london during the season, and some girl friends were very anxious that i should meet a lady whom they knew intimately and wished me to know also. as so often happens under these circumstances, we were not in the least degree interested in each other; but that has nothing to do with my story. the girls had asked various other friends, but this special lady was the _raison d'ãªtre_ of the tea-party, and they begged me to come in good time, because mrs halifax had several other engagements, and could not pay them a long visit. so i dressed hurriedly in order to keep the appointment, and went to the house feeling rather bored by the whole arrangement, little dreaming that it would be the occasion of such an interesting personal experience. the lady turned out to be exceedingly prosperous and extremely uninteresting, from my point of view. probably she would have given her ideas of me in much the same way! i realised that she had brought a son and a daughter with her, but did _not_ know that another young man (whose _face_ i have never seen) was also a son of hers. i talked to the mother for the conventional quarter of an hour, and then turned with relief to the other son whom she had mentioned, and with whom i found several old friends in common. meanwhile the room was filling up with guests; amongst these late comers i noticed the entrance of a man whose face did not impress me at all favourably. he looked dissipated and conceited. i did not speak to this man, but my strong impression about him is a factor in the story. when the lady, _par excellence_, of the entertainment rose to leave the room, followed by her son and daughter, i noticed that a second young man was also in her train; but i had not seen him previously, for the very good reason that he had been sitting behind my back all the afternoon. i did not see his face even now. my attention had been diverted from the halifax party as they rose to take leave, and i only noticed the _back_ of the second young man as they left the room, and was told later that this was another son of mrs halifax, no other comment upon him being made. in those days i was able to do more work on the psychic plane than at present, and often tried to help sad or wandering spirits by praying for them when made conscious of their presence near me. when i woke in the night--after this tea-party--therefore, and felt a presence near me, it did not at first alarm me in any way. when fully awake, however, i quickly realised that this was no poor, sad, bewildered spirit, but a very malignant and revengeful one. i _did not recognise the sex at the moment_. in fact, my consciousness was entirely engrossed by realising that this was a question of my prayers being needed by no spirit more urgently than by my own. something very malignant was in the room--something or someone far too actively and insistently wrathful and malignant to listen to any prayers or entreaties. this conviction grew so strong upon me that i lighted my candle, and getting out of bed, prayed for protection against the evil thing that was present in my room. i think i must have remained at least ten minutes on my knees, and i can remember distinctly the feeling of alarm and hopelessness that came over me when i realised how strong were the powers of darkness and how little my prayers _seemed_ to avail me. shortly, however, faith returned, and with it the confidence of victory. i returned to my bed quite calm and strong, and fell asleep knowing that the malignant presence was no longer there to worry and torment me. i have always found it as easy to communicate with incarnate spirits at a distance as with discarnate ones, so on awaking in the morning, and remembering my disagreeable experience, i asked a friend, "still in the body," what was the meaning of it. i had made up my mind that if it were in any way connected with the visitors of the previous afternoon, it must be with the dissipated-looking young man, for whom i had conceived an instinctive aversion. to my infinite surprise _his_ name was not given, but that of the younger halifax son. "it was henry halifax. it is a spirit which was haunting him and came to you afterwards." now, as i had not even seen this young man, as already explained, i could not bear to think of any false and fanciful accusation being made against him; so remonstrated with my friend. "do be careful in giving me the name. are you quite sure you mean henry halifax? are you not thinking of mr loseby?" (mentioning the name that had been given me of the other gentleman.) "no; i mean henry halifax." "but i did not even _see_ him," i urged. "_no; but you were sitting with your back to him all afternoon. don't you know the back is more psychically sensitive than any other part of the body?_" nothing was said about the malignant spirit beyond the fact that it was someone "haunting" henry halifax. the matter, once explained, i put it out of my head, having no special curiosity as to the reason of the haunting, and supposing it might have been some male acquaintance of his. that morning i went down to my wimbledon friend for a night. i arrived in time for luncheon on saturday morning, and after a pleasant walk on the common in the afternoon my friend suggested our coming home by a certain florist's shop, as she wished to buy some plants for her drawing-room. i had already met this florist's wife, a very "spooky" person, who had been introduced by us to mr myers and the society for psychical research. she was a handsome, fresh-coloured, practical woman, with nothing of the weird and pallid "ghost seer" about her comely face. but she had had some wonderful experiences, and her children also; and these had been already imparted to mr frederic myers. when the business part of our interview was concluded mrs levret turned to me, and said: "well, ma'am, i _am_ glad to see you again in these parts. have you had any curious experiences since i saw you last?" now mrs levret had so many curious experiences of her own, as to which she was wont to be very voluble, that i had never before known her express curiosity about those of anybody else. this just flashed through my mind as i answered her: "no; nothing particular, mrs levret. by-the-by, i had a rather disagreeable experience last night, but it has been explained." and in a few words i mentioned what has been already described at length. from my words she must have gathered that i supposed the haunting spirit to be that of a _man_, and that i did not attach much importance to it any way. as we left the shop my charming hostess, who was equally beloved by those in her own class and those out of it, turned round, and said pleasantly: "we must hurry home now, mrs levret, but do come up to-morrow and see miss bates. she does not leave me till the evening, and i know you will enjoy having a talk with her." mrs levret promised to come, and appeared next morning, having first ascertained that the sceptical husband of my hostess would not be upon the premises. "he does laugh at me so, ma'am," she said apologetically. so she was brought straight up to my bedroom next day, and we had an interesting talk over her own strange adventures. suddenly she looked up, and said: "_ã� propos des bottes._" "how about that young man, ma'am? what are you going to do about him?" "what young man?" i said, honestly puzzled. "and what can i do about any young man?" the halifax incident had so completely faded from my mind that i could not for the moment imagine what she meant. "the young man you told me about yesterday afternoon, ma'am," mrs levret answered stoutly. "but i can't do anything about him. what _should_ i do?" then she took up her parable in these words: "well, ma'am, i have been thinking a deal about that young man since yesterday. it seemed to take a sort of hold upon me. it seems given to me, ma'am, _that it is a young woman who is haunting him--a young woman who is not in his own rank in life--someone whom he wronged_." i was amazed by these words, and still more by the keen interest mrs levret showed in the subject. "but what can _i_ do in the matter, even if it be as you say?" was my next question. "well, ma'am, they give me to understand that the young man must be made to confess. he will never have any peace until he does. it seems to me _you_ might get him to confess." now there could be no question of confession on the outer plane, as the young man was a perfect stranger to me, and there was small chance of our ever meeting again. but i was aware that mrs levret was not speaking of the outer plane, so i agreed to take pencil and paper, and see if i could bring the spirit of henry halifax to me, and having done so, whether i could induce him to tell me the truth. he came, but for a long time would say neither yes nor no. "_what business is it of yours?_" was the constant reply to my questions. and i am bound to say it appeared a very pertinent one, from the ordinary point of view. clearly it _was_ no business of mine; but mrs levret was so much in earnest, and had impressed me so strongly with what "_had been given to her_," that i felt i must persevere, in the young fellow's own interests. so i explained that i had no wish to pry into his private affairs from any mere unworthy curiosity, but that having myself felt the malignant presence that was said to be haunting him, and being told that only confession would remove it, i hoped he would consider the matter seriously before obstinately closing the door of opportunity now open to him. "who could foretell when he might have another chance?" a long pause succeeded these words. i felt that the angry, irritable mood was passing over, and when my hand was next influenced to write, the words that came were not the usual curt "_none of your business_," but an apology for his rude reception of my efforts to help him, and a full confession, which entirely bore out mrs levret's impressions. he told me that it was only too true that he had betrayed a young woman in a different rank of life from his own. she had died in child-birth _the preceding midsummer_, and had died cursing him for his perfidy. ever since (it was now late in june) he had been haunted by her presence, seeing nothing, but always conscious of a malignant spirit tempting him to his own destruction. the mental agony was so great that he told me he did not think he could endure it much longer, and had almost decided to put an end to his life (little realising, poor fellow, that bad as this life might be, the next phase would be far worse for him). after trying to soothe and comfort him, without in any way minimising the weight of his sin or attempting to lessen his remorse for it, it struck me that it would be well to try and have a little talk with his poor young victim. so saying good-bye, and promising to remember him in future, i asked mentally for _her_ spirit to come, and then tried to influence her in the direction of forgiveness. it was a hard struggle, and no wonder. the poor young woman had trusted him, had been deceived, and finally launched into another sphere without any preparation for it. what wonder that she haunted the man who had wronged her so terribly, through pure selfishness, and that any love she had ever borne him had long since turned to deadly hate! it needed both time and patience to rouse even mere passive feelings towards him. i spoke of his deep remorse and misery. at first she only answered that she was very glad to hear it, because it showed she had succeeded in making her presence felt. by degrees, however, a more womanly view of the subject seemed to come to her. after all, he was the father of her child; the poor little baby that had mercifully followed its mother into the great unseen. she had loved him once, by her own showing. i made the most of this point, and very slowly, very grudgingly, she gave me the promise i asked for--_i.e._ that she would at least cease this revengeful haunting, even if she could not yet feel more kindly towards the one who had injured her so deeply. having extracted this promise i felt that no more could be done for the time being, and mrs levret, who had been sitting in unwonted silence during both interviews, then took her leave. i have given this case and its treatment very much _in extenso_, not only because it may be helpful to others dealing with erring and revengeful spirits, but because on my return to london _every important point in this true narrative was amply corroborated_. it took some time and a good deal of tact before the case was complete. first, i learned that henry halifax was by no means a _persona grata_ in the house where i first met him, and that my young friends there had only been allowed to ask him under some protest, and because the rest of his family were to be present. asked _why_ this should be the case, their answers were naturally vague: they only knew he was not very welcome. of course, i did not pursue the matter with these young people. they told me, however, that he was very much changed of late, and seemed so often moody, unhappy, and discontented. "i am sure _we_ should be happy enough if we had such a luxurious home and all that money," said one of them naã¯vely. now i happened to know rather intimately at that time another friend of the halifax family; a woman considerably older than the young girls mentioned, and as she had some little knowledge of psychic possibilities i determined to lay the whole story before her, trusting to her honour to keep it to herself, and not to allow any prejudice against henry halifax to arise in her mind should she know nothing of the circumstances. she had known the family from her childhood, and i knew, therefore, would not be influenced by the word of an outsider under these circumstances. but i discovered that the confession of henry halifax, the spirit, was no illusion on my part, but _the absolute truth_. young, handsome, rich, with all the world before him (he was only twenty-four at the time), this lady had been greatly puzzled by his intense depression of the last few months, and told me that he was constantly speaking of suicide. it was supposed to be a purely physical condition by his parents and others. she, however, knew an intimate man friend of his. by one of those not uncommon mistakes, whereby each one supposes the other to be in the confidence of a mutual acquaintance, she had discovered that the real trouble was mental rather than physical, and that the death of the young woman of lower social position, in child-birth, "_last midsummer_" was an actual fact! needless to say how great was her astonishment to find that the whole story had been made known to me through such a curious train of circumstances--first, my experience of the malignant spirit; secondly, my happening to go to wimbledon next day and mention the circumstances to the wife of the florist there; thirdly, _her_ strong and, as it proved, quite accurate impressions upon the subject; and fourthly, my two interviews:--first, with the betrayer, and then with the betrayed on the psychic plane. some few months later i was asked by the lady just mentioned if i should object to meeting henry halifax at dinner next evening. "not at all," was my answer. in fact, i felt it might be part of some psychic plan that i should do so. evidently this was not the case, for at the last moment a telegram came to his hostess to say he was unexpectedly prevented from returning to town. so we have never met at all! but i trust the confession may have been as efficacious as mrs levret was told that it would be. anyway, i can testify that the gentleman in question is now happily married, and, therefore, presumably no longer haunted by the revengeful spirit, who has long since, let us trust, found happiness and peace in a higher world than this. * * * * * speaking of haunting by the so-called dead reminds me of haunting by the so-called living. in this same year (1896) i was staying in cambridge for the first time in my life. oxford i have known since girlhood, but this was my first visit to the sister university; needless to say, however, that i have met many men who have graduated there. not knowing the town of cambridge myself, i had never made it a subject of discussion, and ten years ago i was not even aware that such a street as trumpington street existed, difficult as it may be for cambridge people to credit this statement. in any case, most emphatically, i did _not_ know that a very old friend of mine, who became later in life a judge, had ever lived in this street. having been a sailor in youth, he had gone up to cambridge comparatively late; this was shortly before my acquaintance with him began. not knowing cambridge at all, the question of where he lived there had never entered into our conversations together. probably i took it for granted that he was living in his college (peterhouse). the strong feeling of friendship between us had become a warmer sentiment on his side, and this led later, and inevitably, to a thorough break in our pleasant relations with each other. long years passed, during which i neither saw nor heard of my friend. i knew that he had married, and had had a somewhat successful career as a barrister in london, and that was all i knew about him. after staying for a week or two with friends in the neighbourhood of cambridge in 1896, i had taken rooms for a month _in_ cambridge, inviting one of these friends to stay with me as my guest. we came upon these special rooms in a curious way. having worked through a list of those suggested to us by a friend, none of which quite suited, i heard, by the merest chance, that possibly i might find what i wanted in trumpington street, at the house of a very respectable cambridge tradesman. we went there, but only to find that the rooms vacant could not be ready for me at the time specified, as some old customers were coming to them for three or four days. "but i want them for a _month_," i expostulated. the landlady was firm; she could not disappoint these people after promising to take them in. in spite of my disappointment, i admired her so much for this strict sense of honour that i determined to look at the rooms in case of requiring any at a future date. we went upstairs. the rooms were exactly what i required, and very clean and well furnished, so it ended by my agreeing to take them for a week later, although at a considerable inconvenience. it was in this casual way that i entered the house about the middle of may 1896. my friend was not able to join me until the morning after my arrival, so i spent the first evening alone, and retired to bed rather early. i slept well enough during the earlier part of the night, but awoke about two a.m., having had a tiresome, worrying dream about the very man i have mentioned, who had certainly not been in my thoughts for many months, or possibly years. even when fully awake, his influence was still in the room with me, and falling asleep again, there he was once more in my dream, twitting me with my want of appreciation of him in the past, and suggesting what a much more successful career i might have had through marrying him. this sort of thing went on for the rest of the night. either i woke up with a disagreeable start, still feeling the man's influence in the room, or sank into a troubled sleep, to be once more at the mercy of his reproaches! when morning came i was only too thankful to get up, and when my friend arrived on her bicycle about noon, and asked me how i had slept in the strange house, i was forced to confess that my night had been much troubled by dreams about an old friend, of whom she had never heard, by-the-by. "oh, well, we all dream about old friends sometimes," she said, "but i'm afraid in this case your dreams were not pleasant; you look tired out! anyway, it is a mercy that it was not f----'s!" and so with a joke the matter dropped. but the following night the trouble was renewed. even then i did not in any way connect it with the room in which i was sleeping, and i said nothing next day to my friend on the subject. but the _third_ night matters had gone beyond a joke. the influence was stronger than ever, the gibes and reproaches more accentuated, and, in addition to these, there was on my side the exasperation engendered by three sleepless nights. instead of feeling depressed--as on the two previous occasions--the "worm turned" at last! i spoke out loud in my vexation, as though the man himself were there listening to me. "well," i said, "i have no unkindly feeling towards _you_ of any kind. if you have nothing better to do than to come worrying me and keeping me awake in this way, it just shows how wise i was _not_ to marry you! you have nothing to do with my life now. and you can go." "standing up" in this way to the ghost of the living had a most excellent effect, upon my mind at anyrate. i felt intensely relieved, and soon fell into a long and dreamless sleep. this last experience first suggested the idea that this old friend _must have some special connection with that house_. in the morning i confessed to my friend that my second night had been as disturbed as the first, and the last the worst of all, adding: "that man is simply haunting the place. i am determined to try and find out if he ever lodged here." this was by no means easy, as it turned out. his college career was already buried in the snows of some twenty-five years. moreover, when i questioned the young daughter of our landlady as to how long her parents had lived in the house, she said at once: "just seventeen years, ma'am. father and mother came here the year i was born." this did not help me much. i asked who had rented the house previously. referring this question to her mother, she told me it had been taken from some people who had left cambridge, and "_mother thought they were both dead now_." this was a second _cul-de-sac_ for me! but i was determined to go on with my investigations, simply grounded upon the strong conviction that such repeated experiences _must_ have some foundation in fact. the girl saw i looked disappointed. "did you want to know about anyone who lived here long ago?" she ventured timidly. "yes; i wanted to find out whether an old friend of mine ever lodged here; he belonged to peterhouse," was my answer. "ah, then, i am sure he would not have lodged here," said the girl confidently. "none of the peterhouse gentlemen come here. it is always the pembroke men who come to this house." it seemed fated that i should hear no more about my living ghost. a few days later, however, the luck turned. i was told quite casually that mr pound, the well-known cambridge chemist, had occupied our house years before, and i determined to verify this some day. as mr pound combined the post office with his drugs, one often went into the shop, but hitherto i had only seen his assistants. going in one day with my friend for some stamps, mr pound himself handed them to me. here was my chance! i must confess that i hesitated to ask such an apparently absurd question on such slender grounds. in any case, was it likely that he would remember the names of all the undergraduates in the university who might have lodged with him twenty or thirty years before? i whispered to my friend: "shall i ask him?" but she did not hear, so even this small encouragement was denied me. i was actually turning to leave the shop, when resolution at length took the reins, and i found myself asking: "is it true, mr pound, that you lived many years ago at no. -trumpington street?" "quite true," was the ready answer. "i went there in the year fifty-five." (i quote this from memory, but it was in the fifties certainly.) "i wanted to ask a question about a gentleman who may have lodged with you a good deal later than that--about seventy, i should think." and i mentioned the name of my friend. mr pound's brow cleared at once, and he looked up with a beaming smile. "mr forbes," he said--"why, of course, i remember him well. he lodged with me over eighteen months." then turning to his assistant, he told him to go into the parlour and bring out the large photograph album. there was my friend, sure enough, with his big dog--the very photograph i had of him, given me in the early days of our acquaintance. mr pound was full of reminiscences. my friend had evidently been a prime favourite with him, and it was some minutes before i could squeeze in my crucial question. it seemed almost impossible to expect him to remember the exact rooms occupied by mr forbes, considering there were two or three "sets" of rooms in the house, in addition to several bedrooms which were let separately. but even here mr pound's memory proved invaluable. "which room he slept in? why, of course, i remember distinctly. he had the large front sitting-room and the bedroom at the back of it; over our living-room in those days." so i was living in mr forbes' sitting-room, and sleeping in the bedroom, he had occupied for more than eighteen months. my cambridgeshire friend was, fortunately, present as a witness that no word of mine had indicated this fact before mr pound corroborated my intuitive impression. she said afterwards, laughingly, that mr myers would certainly think i had got up a special ghost story for him the moment i set foot in cambridge. however this may be, both he and professor sidgwick were greatly interested in it, for, as they explained, there were fifty accounts of haunting by the dead to one such example of haunting by the living. of course, such a case presents innumerable difficulties; still the salient fact remains, that after a lapse of nearly thirty years i traced the rooms occupied by an old friend, in a city i had never before entered, and that this knowledge did not come to me by chance, but _as the result of a series of investigations, started by me solely on account of the experiences that came to me in a house and in a room of which i had absolutely no previous knowledge_. those interested in these subjects will naturally ask: "_do you suppose that the spirit of mr forbes came to you at the moment of your remarks to him and his to you? if so, was he conscious of any such experience?_" i can answer this last question decidedly, and in the negative; for four years later, circumstances brought me once more within the orbit of mr forbes' life. he was then living in the north of england, and he and his wife and i have discussed the question more than once. we can only suppose that the impression of his presence did in some way cling to the surroundings; that my sleeping there, even in complete ignorance of his tenancy, enabled me, as a "sensitive," to pick up this special influence from many others presumably present; and that the memories of the past galvanised the impression into some sort of temporary astral existence. the entity to whom i seemed to be speaking was doubtless _not_ the judge forbes of later life, but some distorted image of his earlier days of disappointed and often reproachful affection. when mr myers suggested that i should get mr pound to sign a paper mentioning that he had told me that mr forbes had occupied these special rooms twenty-seven years previously, the latter did so readily, only remarking that he had naturally concluded that i _knew_ my friend had lodged with him. "pound will 'smell a rat' if i go," said mr myers. so i went myself, and thus the story was made evidentially complete. chapter x further experiences in america my second visit to america was paid in the year of the diamond jubilee, 1897. after wintering in the west indies, i went on to america in the spring, chiefly with the view of meeting mrs piper for the first time, and securing a few sittings with her if possible.[5] [5] the portion of this chapter referring to "mrs piper and her controls" is published by kind permission of mr ralph shirley, editor of _the occult review_, in which my article under this heading appeared in march 1906. i was writing some articles for _borderland_ at the time, and mr stead was specially anxious for me to take this opportunity of "sampling" the famous american sensitive. this proved no easy task. my visit to boston, unfortunately, occurred at the very time when an organised attempt was being made by the american branch of the society for psychical research to get into some sort of evidential communication with the late mr stainton moses through his "controls" _imperator_, _rector_, etc. in vain i wrote to dr hodgson (to whom i carried letters of introduction) telling him of my chief reason for visiting america a second time. even the plea that i had known mr stainton moses in earth life, and that we had several intimate friends in common, was of no avail. dr hodgson expressed regrets, but assured me that _no_ sittings could be allowed under existing circumstances, and that it was impossible to make any exception to this rule. we seemed to have arrived at a _cul-de-sac_, when a bright idea struck me. why not ask the unseen themselves for a decision in the matter? i wrote again, therefore, to dr hodgson, suggesting this idea, and mentioning that i should arrive in boston on a certain date, and could be found at the hotel bellevue in that city. the next day but one after my arrival, and quite early in the morning, dr hodgson came to call upon me. it was my first sight of that genial and delightful personality. at the very moment of shaking hands, he said cheerily, and with a look of half-rueful amusement at his own discomfiture: "well, you've got to come! they insist upon it, so there is nothing more to be said." my preconceived ideas of a critical, elderly, and white-haired professor, taking himself very seriously, were dissipated on the spot; and this was the beginning of a sincere and loyal friendship between us which lasted for nine years on this sphere, and will last, i trust and believe, through whatever forms of existence may succeed to this one. we made arrangements at once for my joining dr hodgson next morning at arlington heights, where my first sitting with mrs piper took place, and where i met for the first time this refined and interesting-looking woman. i was told that with the advent of the imperator and stainton moses' controls, the character of mrs piper's mediumship had undergone a complete change. the former communications through the voice ceased, and gave place to automatic writing, except at the moment of return to the physical body, when a chance sentence or two might be uttered during the transition period, but that these were not always intelligible to the listener. mrs piper's arm and hand became curiously "dead" and limp when unconsciousness set in; the blood departed, leaving it as white and helpless as that of a corpse. by degrees this dead look disappeared. the blood flowed once more through the veins, and as i noticed this change, the hand moved gropingly towards the pencil held out by dr hodgson, and finally grasped it. the latter's long practice and infinite patience were invaluable in making out the often rather illegible script. the hospitality he gave to all attempts at definite communications, however vague and shadowy at first; the infinite patience with which he repeated again and again a question not fully comprehended--all this, combined with intelligent criticism, alert, dispassionate judgment and balance of mind, made an investigator of psychic phenomena very rarely to be met in a world where most of us evince in a marked degree "_les dã©fauts de nos qualitã©s_." to combine sympathy, patience, and receptivity with cool and critical judgment is well-nigh impossible for ordinary men and women. dr richard hodgson certainly solved the problem to a very remarkable extent. the first thing that struck me in the two sittings i had with mrs piper, was the hopeless breakdown of the thought transference theory, as accounting for the automatic writing. the ostensible reason for my presence at arlington heights was the idea entertained by the "controls" that, having known mr stainton moses in earth life, i might be able to facilitate his communications. i hope this may have been the case, but if so, it was certainly not due to any power of thought transference i may have possessed. again and again i asked for names of friends we had known in common, but nearly always in vain. even when, in despair of getting these normally, i concentrated my mind consciously on some short and easy name, the latter was not given. yet next day some of these names would appear spontaneously on the script, when my mind was entirely occupied by other subjects. references were made to mr moses' lack of appreciation for music, and he asked whether our mutual friend mrs stratton still played liszt. he also referred to his visiting the strattons, and finding them playing duets together, in london. on my return to town mrs stratton fully endorsed the fact that mr moses disliked music (this was unknown to me), but she denied emphatically that she and her husband ever played duets in his presence. mr stratton, however, corrected this impression, and reminded her of several occasions when mr moses had come to them from university college, found them at the piano, and being on very intimate terms, had begged they would finish the passage or movement; and on one or two occasions this had been done. these slight but evidential incidents, forgotten by mrs stratton herself, and unknown to me, were conveyed quite correctly in the automatic script through mrs piper--three thousand miles across the atlantic--and nearly six years after the death of mr stainton moses. the most convincing test upon these occasions, however, was the reference to a mrs lane--the lady to whom mr moses had been engaged when he passed away. very few of his friends knew of this engagement, even in england. dr hodgson, who had never met stainton moses in earth life, had naturally not heard of it. it was only by chance that i knew anything of the matter, and this merely through once meeting the lady at mrs stratton's house some time after mr moses had died. on that occasion mrs lane had a young daughter with her; i knew nothing of any other members of the family. during my second visit to mrs piper i mentioned meeting this lady--already a dim memory with me--and the "control" at once asked if i had met a _sister_ also. i answered "no," remarking that a young daughter had been with her. the writing at once continued in these words: "well, now i am giving you this as a test: she _has_ a sister, and one who has been the cause of the deepest sorrow of her life. you will find this is true when you go back to england." these words were amply justified. on applying to mrs stratton for information, she denied the possibility of there being any truth in the test. she said: "i have come to know mrs lane very intimately since you met her here. i don't believe she has any sister; anyway, i am _quite_ sure she would have told me if a sister had caused her such sorrow as you mention." i persevered, however, in getting at the truth of the matter by writing to mrs lane herself (an almost entire stranger), and asking if she cared to hear the references to herself in the piper records; if so, would she come and lunch with me? she came, and when i reached the passage about the sister, expecting that she would endorse mrs stratton's denial, i noticed, to my great surprise, that her eyes filled suddenly with tears, and that she was literally unable to speak through emotion. the tears ran down her cheeks, when at length she said in a broken voice: "_that_ is the most convincing test he could have given me! no! i have never mentioned that sister, even to mrs stratton, kind and good as she has been" (by this time i had spoken of mrs stratton's denial of the sister's existence). "i could not speak of her to _anyone_. she was the cause of the greatest sorrow in my life; _but no one upon earth knew this except mr stainton moses_. i was engaged to him at the time, and he was the natural person to turn to in my deep tribulation. no one else ever heard of the circumstances." at this second sitting of mine mr stainton moses spoke also of a valuable watch he had possessed, and expressed some regret that it had not been given to mrs lane at the time of his death. i knew nothing at all about any watch of his, but on appealing to one of his executors, an old friend of mine, found there was such a watch, which had been a presentation one, and was of considerable value. upon the death of mr moses it had been given (quite with the approval of mrs lane) to the son of a very old and esteemed friend. this executor also told me, as a curious coincidence, that when i was staying with the excitable sensitive in sussex gardens, mentioned in a previous chapter, and he and his wife had come to tea with me one afternoon (to be introduced to this remarkable lady), she had given him a similar message about the same watch, purporting to come from stainton moses. i remember perfectly well having asked mr and mrs harrington to come to tea with me one afternoon to meet my eccentric landlady, and i also remember his having a long talk with her whilst his wife and i were immersed in our own conversation. but i heard no details of this talk. he had merely said how much interested he had been in meeting mrs peters, and that she evidently had some mediumistic power. it was certainly curious that the watch should have been mentioned, first in sussex gardens, london, and six years later in arlington heights, boston, and that on each occasion the same wish with regard to it should have been expressed! during this arlington heights sitting (the second one), mr moses also referred to an ms., of which i knew nothing at the time. this allusion also was verified by his other executor, the late mr alaric watts, upon my return to england. * * * * * during this visit to america i also came across a mr knapton thompson, a hard-headed yorkshire man, who had invented a new kind of smokeless combustion stove, which must have been a good one, for our shrewd american cousins were employing him to put up these stoves in several public buildings, including the smithsonian institute in washington. mr thompson combined psychic proclivities with his smokeless invention, and had become greatly interested in the new york medium, mrs stoddart gray, who has been already mentioned in connection with my own investigations, twelve years previous to my present visit. he had written to tell mr stead of his experiences, which included several in which the julia of "julia's letters" had purported to be present. mr stead had turned this gentleman over to me by giving me an introduction, accompanied by the request that "i should see the man and report what i thought about him and his wonderful experiences." so i asked mr thompson to call upon me, and arranged to be present with him next day (saturday) at mrs stoddart gray's circle. i found that he had taken up his abode with the medium and her son during his short stays in new york, with the openly expressed intention of finding out if there were any trickery behind the scenes. he had, however, convinced himself of her _bon㢠fides_, and was deeply interested in the interviews he was able to obtain by means of these mediums, with a daughter he had lost some years previously. he was much pleased to find that i knew mrs gray already and could also testify to some very remarkable phenomena occurring to me at her house. so i met him there next afternoon, with every expectation of a good sitting. these hopes, however, were entirely destroyed owing to the presence of a noisy, vulgar man, whom they called the "whisky king." he made the most inane remarks, cracked stupid jokes, antagonised every respectable person in the room, i should suppose; and as all this took place without a word of protest from the lady of the house, one can only conclude that she considered it worth her while to endure his vulgarities. certainly the afternoon was spoilt for the rest of us, and i remarked upon this to a very pleasant, smart-looking young american lady when the sitting was over and we had retired to the reception-room to find wraps and galoshes, etc. "oh yes; wasn't he just exasperating?" she said, with ready sympathy. she looked much too young and smart and good-looking for the ordinary type of "investigator," and i could not refrain from asking how she had come into this _galã¨re_. she explained her position readily, and it was very interesting to me. she was a young married lady, and had first been brought to the house, six months before, by a cousin of hers who was staying with them in new york, and thought the experience might be amusing. "we just came in for a joke," she said; "but something happened which interested me so much that i have come again several times, and until to-day have always had an interesting time." then she told me about her first sitting. i had noticed upon her ungloved hand a very beautiful _scarabã¦us_, set in fine gold, and evidently by an artist in the craft. "yes, it is a tiffany setting," she observed, seeing my eyes drawn to it. she took off the ring, and gave it into my hands. "that ring is really the cause of my being here to-day," she continued. "the scarabã¦us was given to me some years ago by professor----" (she gave the name of a well-known american egyptologist). "he made a great pet of me when i was a child, and i begged it from him. when i was going to be married last year he insisted upon having it set for me by tiffany as a wedding present, and he then told me there was no doubt at all about its being a genuine _antique_. he had come across it many years before by a curious chance when travelling in egypt, and had been assured that it was a genuine _cleopatra_ relic. 'i can't answer for that,' he said, laughing, 'but it is certainly many centuries old. i have no doubt it is genuine so far as age goes.' well, the night my cousin and i came here together i did not take off my gloves until _after_ we had gone in to the _sã©ance_ room, so no one could have seen my ring--and you know mrs gray's sittings always begin in the dark? i took my gloves off when i found we had to sit in a circle holding hands, and one of the first materialisations was announced to be that of cleopatra." (_i_ had seen "cleopatra" more than once in 1886, in the same house--e. k. b.) "she rushed across the room in the complete darkness, seized my right hand, amongst all the hands in a circle of twenty people or more, almost tore this special ring from my finger, and said in a tone of indescribable grief and longing: '_mine! mine!_ ah, _chem!_ chem!'" this was sufficiently startling, even apart from the mention of _chem_, as the ancient name for egypt, in a _milieu_ of this kind! the ring was faithfully restored later in the evening; and the young lady who owned it had been sufficiently impressed by the circumstances to confide them to her kind professor, and also to pay more than one visit to mrs stoddart gray since the episode had occurred, which was just six months before our meeting there. during this second visit to america i made the acquaintance, and, i trust i may say, gained the friendship, of miss lilian whiting, so well known by many thousands of grateful readers. we saw a great deal of each other in boston, and during one of my long chats with her in her pretty sitting-room at the brunswick hotel, she told me of the visit of lady henry somerset and miss frances willard to that city, some years before our conversation. miss whiting also mentioned a friend who had accompanied these two ladies, and who had been taken ill, and had died very suddenly in the hospital at boston. "i never met the lady," said miss whiting, "but miss willard and lady henry told me they had been obliged to leave their friend behind owing to an attack of influenza, and asked me to call upon her someday. i went a day or two later, carrying some fruit and newspapers with me. the matron, whom i knew well, said her patient was doing splendidly, and was likely to be leaving in a few days, but that as i was a stranger, it would perhaps be better for me not to come in and see her that afternoon. so i left my little gifts, and was shocked next day to hear of her sudden and quite unexpected death. by-the-by, i believe she was stead's 'julia'--i am not sure about this, but somebody told me so lately." miss whiting then mentioned the lady's name, which i withhold, as mr stead still makes use of it as a test when strangers profess to be in communication with "julia." the day following the _sã©ance_ just described as taking place in new york, mr knapton thompson called at my hotel to ask me to accompany him to mrs stoddart gray, as he had arranged to have a short "_writing sã©ance_" that afternoon. the son was the agent as usual. on this occasion he had an alphabet mounted on card, and pointed to the letters in turn, whilst his mother wrote them down as indicated. thinking i would verify miss whiting's story if possible, my first question was: "can stead's julia give me her surname?" "julia o." was spelt out, and then the o was given again. "they often do that," said mrs gray casually--"begin the name over again, i mean." so it passed at that. the rest of the letters corroborated the surname mentioned by miss whiting. then i asked: "in what country did you pass away--europe or america, or elsewhere?" "_america_" was spelt out at once. "in what city?" "_boston._" "was it in a private house, a hospital, a hotel, or _where_ did you die?" "in a hospital" was again spelt out. "how long ago?" "_five years_" was the answer. i may note here that miss whiting had _not_ mentioned the number of years, only having said "a few years ago" when speaking of the event. _five years_ proved to be true. my last question was: "what was your age when you passed over?" "_twenty-three_" was the answer. this last, i felt sure, must be wrong. miss whiting had not mentioned any age, but it seemed to me unlikely that so young a woman should have been travelling round the country with two temperance lecturers. when these answers were being given, mrs gray's son, the medium, asked if he might put one hand on my wrist to come into magnetic conditions with me. i agreed to this, but said i should turn my eyes away from the alphabet, lest my muscles should give him any unconscious indications. when i sent these answers to mr stead on returning to england, i wrote down julia o. (ignoring the repetition of the o); and in connection with the other answers, told him, of course, of my previous conversation with miss whiting, which reduced the whole episode to one of possible thought transference. in answering me he said: "i am glad julia was able to give her name, even if it were thought transference; but, as a matter of fact, it is not her whole name which you received--she always signed her letters to me '_julia o. o...._'" this makes rather a good bit of evidence, seeing that the second o _had_ been given, but discarded by mrs gray and myself as a repetition of the first letter of the _surname!_ to resume my experiences with mr knapton thompson. in the evening of this writing incident mrs gray had another public _sã©ance_, at which i was again present, mr thompson sitting on one side of me. after some "materialisations," for other members of the circle had appeared, mrs gray announced that stead's "julia" was present in the cabinet, and wished to speak to me. i went up at once, and the form came out and stood in very fair light from the gas-burners. she seized my hands with every appearance of delight and eagerness, and her grasp was strong and tense. it is my peculiarity always to notice hands very accurately. they always seem to me to indicate character very closely; and apart from this, i am attracted by people who have well-shaped hands (not necessarily _small_ ones), and find it very difficult to ignore clumsy or ugly fingers, which, unfortunately, never escape my notice. now the medium's hands were broad, short, and flabby, as i had had plenty of opportunities of noting in the afternoon when he held my wrist. the hands which grasped mine now were, on the contrary, well made, small, and rather narrow, the true type of the american female hand. mr thompson had come up also to greet "julia," and i whispered to him: "do ask julia if there was not a mistake about her age this afternoon." "no; you ask the question yourself, miss bates," he answered. so i said rather eagerly: "julia, do tell us, please, if there was not a mistake this afternoon in your age--the answer was twenty-three. is that correct?" a very emphatic shake of the head signifying "no" was the reply to this last question, but no sounds proceeded from the lips. disappointed by this, i asked; "can you not speak to us?" she made a little gesture of rather helpless dissent; and mrs gray, who stood by, explained that probably all her strength had gone to building up the materialised body sufficiently to make it visible to us. julia bowed her head in assent to this, and then, still speechless, retired once more behind the curtains. i did not mention this appearance of julia when writing to mr stead on my return--i was so anxiously hoping that she might have tried to impress the fact of having appeared to me, upon his consciousness, as a test; but he said nothing about it in his first letters. so i let the matter alone for a time, determining to tell him some day, but much disappointed by the usual failure in getting corroborative evidence. a week later, however, at the end of a long letter on other subjects, i put this short p. s. in a casual way to him: "did julia ever tell you that she had appeared to me in new york?" in answering my letter he replied--also in a p. s.: "by-the-by, to answer your last query--yes. julia told me weeks ago that she had appeared to you in new york, _but that she could not give you her age on that occasion, because she was not accustomed to speaking through the embodiment_." now in sending the list of questions and answers to mr stead i had merely marked against the answer as to her age, "_twenty-three_," that doubtless it was an error, _but i had never hinted to him that i had asked her to correct the error in new york, or that she had been unable to speak on that occasion_. this again was a good bit of independent evidence. i will now give a description of mr knapton thompson's interview with his daughter, on the same evening that julia appeared to me. i have already said that the magnet which drew mr thompson to these _sã©ances_ was the opportunity given to him of meeting and talking to a daughter who had passed away some years previously. on this special evening the daughter materialised as usual, and came out from the cabinet. as mr thompson was sitting next to me at the time, i could distinctly hear mrs gray whisper to him: "would you not like to take your daughter into the other room, mr thompson? it is rather crowded here to-night. you would be quieter in there." mr thompson got up at once, and greeted the materialised form, and they disappeared through the folding doors to the reception-room. other matters of interest were occurring, and i had quite forgotten the absence of mr thompson in the dimly lighted room (in those days the light was always dim _at first_), until i found he was again occupying the seat next to my own. i had not noticed his return, and asked him at once 'what he had done with his daughter.' a good half hour must have elapsed between his disappearance and return. he said, quite simply and as a matter of course: "oh, she did not care to come back into this crowded room. we had half-an-hour's chat, and then she de-materialised in the other room, and i returned alone." i can only repeat that mr knapton thompson was a shrewd, practical yorkshireman, and a very successful man of business, as was proved by the orders he received in america for the stoves he had invented. he was certainly under the impression that he could be trusted to recognise his own daughter when allowed the privilege of half-an-hour's conversation with her, _tãªte-ã -tãªte_ in a private room. i cannot end this chapter without saying something about keely of philadelphia and his intuitional genius. i had hoped to have the opportunity of meeting this wonderful man during my last stay in philadelphia, u.s.a. (march 1897), but was disappointed in this expectation. therefore, on the outer plane, my connection with keely never went beyond a single interview with his wife; but this is a record of personal intuitions as well as of personal events, and i know no one with regard to whom my intuitions--absolutely lacking in any physical ground of proof, or even mental ground of comprehension--have been stronger or more obstinate. at the time of my first visit to america, so far back as 1885, i had not the faintest conception of keely's work, or what he claimed to have discovered or to be on the track of discovering. i never heard his name mentioned without being told at the same time that he was either a silly madman or a conscious impostor, and as i came with an entirely unprejudiced mind (for i had never heard of keely before landing in america), it would have been natural to accept this universal opinion. yet something stronger than reason was always silently contradicting these assertions, when made in my presence. friends and acquaintances alike in those days laughed at keely's claims, and denounced his boasted discovery as pure imposture. "'tisn't! 'tisn't! 'tisn't!" that persistent little voice kept whispering in my ear all the time, like a naughty, obstinate child who contradicts from sheer ignorance--or was it a spiritual intuition? time alone can answer that question; anyway, i kept my ideas to myself, for they had no foundation in fact at the time of which i speak. in 1897 the position for me was altered. a sensible and dependable friend of mine--a well-known banker in philadelphia--described to me his experiences and those of other prominent citizens during a demonstration of mr keely's powers; and the old insistent voice that spoke to my ignorance before, spoke now to some glimmering understanding of the claim put forth. this claim--even then jeered at by the world at large--had to wait shivering in the cold another nine years, before mr frederic soddy clothed it in respectable scientific garb by speaking publicly of the possibilities in the future connected with atomic disintegration and consequent liberation of energy. but the yelping curs of calumny that pursued keely during his lifetime are still upon the dead man's tracks. "_his_ methods were fraud and imposture, anyway"; "his wires were tubes containing compressed air," and so forth. the m.f.h. of this pack of hounds was the son of a lady whose name will always be honourably mentioned with that of keely as one of his most generous supporters. the initial misfortune in the whole matter was the forming and starting of the keely motor company to utilise the discovery, which should first have been placed under the protection of science. ignorant and impatient shareholders thought only of their own material advantages and dividends. they were keely's first enemies, with their sensational and premature advertisements of results and "_200 horse-power engines ready to patent, etc._," whilst the poor man was still struggling with his tremendous problem--_i.e. to control_ the force that he had discovered. he attempted this first by confining it, but it blew everything to atoms, and his own fingers off into the bargain! occultists--including madame blavatsky--always declared this latent atomic energy was a _fact_, but that keely would never be allowed to demonstrate it, for the world was not yet prepared for such a tremendous dynamic force to be let loose upon it, and that the most serious abuses and disasters would follow, if once he succeeded in bringing his discovery into practical working order. they said it would be one of two things: either keely's experiments in this direction would continue to fail in the crucial point necessary, _or_ that if he succeeded it would be his own death warrant, lest any mischief should accrue from his making his methods public. in view of these pronouncements, the succeeding events in keely's career are interesting. _the times_ (u.s.a.) of 6th march 1898 contained the following announcement, under keely's own signature:-after twenty-five years' labour i have solved the problem of harnessing the ether (which elsewhere he says is only the _medium_ of the force he discovered) and adapting it to commercial uses. i have finished experimenting.--my work is now completed. (signed) john w. keely. _on 18th november of this same year he died._ within two months, his generous friend and patron, mrs blomfield moore, followed him to another sphere. keely's final discovery of the means of "harnessing the ether," as he calls it, was through holding it _in rotation_ instead of in confinement. i am allowed to quote an extract from a private letter with regard to this statement. "this instrument ruptures the luminous envelopes of the hydrogen corpuscles, liberating the mysterious substance, which is put into such high rotation that it forms its own wall of confinement at 420,000 revolutions per second, as calculated. independent of this rotation in the tube, where it is projected, it could be no more held in suspension than a ray of sunshine could be held in a darkened room." i have been given to understand that a faithful account of everything that has occurred in connection with keely's discovery has been compiled, and will be published "_when the time comes for the truth to be made known_." it is, of course, possible that this disclosure may be anticipated by the arrival of another "crank and impostor" of the keely type. let us trust he may arise from _within_ and not from without, scientific circles, and thus avoid his martyrdom! meanwhile it may be interesting to quote from a published letter of lascelles-scott, the government physicist from forest gate, who visited keely's workshop in the interests of science, and who was allowed to cut and bring away with him pieces of the wire keely was using. (said to be _tubes_ by the wiseacres!) the following is the essential portion of mr lascelles-scott's letter. i only omit courteous expressions of gratitude to the editor and "to the institutions and individuals alike" of the "beautiful city of philadelphia" where he was able to carry out his investigations. letter from mr lascelles-scott to the editor of _the public ledger_, philadelphia. the only corrections of sufficient importance, to the general sense of my observations at the franklin institute last wednesday night, to call for notice in your otherwise admirable report, are the following:-although my observations were only put forward as "preliminary," inasmuch as i have not yet _completed_ the outlined programme i had in view, no words actually used by me justified the expression that "_i had formed no very definite opinions_." on the contrary, i stated more than once the very _definite opinion that mr keely has demonstrated to me, in a way which is absolutely unquestionable, the existence of a force hitherto unknown_. (the italics are mine.--e. k. b.) the conditions under which the experiments were carried out (as i distinctly stated) _were such as to preclude the possibility of the results obtained being due to any ordinary source of power, evident or concealed_. moreover, i satisfied myself that the rotation of the "vibrodyne" was neither due to, nor accompanied by, any traces of electricity or magnetism. so far my opinion is and was expressed as being of the most definite kind possible. ... i stated, and the statement was greeted by the audience with great and prolonged applause, that, after a little adjustment of the "sympathetic transmitter," it was found that by the sounding of one of the small english tuning forks i had brought with me from the other side of the atlantic, upon the said "transmitter," i could myself start the vibrodyne, and cause it to revolve rapidly, without mr keely's intervention, and i exhibited to the meeting, the fork actually used by me.--thanking you in anticipation, etc., i am, sir, yours obediently, w. lascelles-scott. one would have supposed that this testimony, in addition to that of other scientists and practical electricians, would have sufficed to disintegrate atomic stupidity and calumny, and liberate the forces of humility and sane investigation. but prejudiced ignorance dies hard! * * * * * to end my chapter on a pleasanter note than this, i will quote from a private letter which i have been privileged to read, the beautiful words in which keely describes his own achievements. _i have no power that is not communicated to me in the same way that this machine receives its power: through celestial radiation from the soul of matter, the mind force of the creator, whose instrument i am. i know who is leading me and making all things work together for good._ chapter xi a haunted castle in ireland in the year 1898 i was spending a few days in castle rush, which has been described by mr w. t. stead as the most haunted castle in ireland. it is one of the few old irish castles still inhabited, and is naturally haunted by the ghosts of the past in every meaning of the word. at the time of my stay i was recovering from a severe illness, and, in fact, was sent off to bed immediately upon arrival by my kind hostess, who, with true hospitality, thought more of her guest's comfort than the conventionalities of life, and would not hear of my lingering, even to make acquaintance with my host, on the dark autumnal evening of my arrival. this had taken place after driving many miles and waiting for a dreary long time in the little inn of a small irish township. my doctor would not hear of any railway travelling just then, so the whole forty miles from my last stopping-place had to be negotiated between the carriages of my past and present hospitable hosts. as a matter of fact, i believe i slept in one of the haunted rooms, but it looked cheerful enough when i entered from the gloom and darkness outside; and a dainty little dinner sent up by my kind friends below, and eaten when snugly tucked in between the sheets and resting on soft downy pillows, was enough to drive all thoughts of ghostly visitors from my head. i am thankful to say that i neither heard nor saw anything during my short visit, and should not even have known that my room had had any evil reputation but for the visit of an eccentric and clever old lady, who had been specially asked to the castle to meet me. after luncheon we adjourned to my bedroom, at her suggestion, and she said casually: "ah, you have this room, i see. it was terribly haunted once, but i held a sort of little service here some time ago, and cleared them all out." i must explain that this good lady took a very optimistic view of her own capacities and powers in general, and spoke--from the psychic point of view--with the honest pride that a flesh and blood charwoman might display on going over premises that she had thoroughly scrubbed and "cleaned out"! one morning after breakfast, my hostess, mrs kent, called to me to come quickly and see a curious sight. it was a pouring wet day--one of those days when the heavens open and the rain descends in buckets! i could see nothing more remarkable than the damp, autumnal leaves, the bare trees swaying in the wind-washed spaces, and the pouring, ceaseless rain. "don't you see that girl over there?" i looked again, and did see a girl just emerging from a clump of beeches, and carrying a small trunk upon her head. "what an extraordinary day to choose for travelling," i said drily. "ah, that is irish superstition!" rejoined my hostess. "that is my last kitchen-maid you see--she is walking seven miles, with that trunk on her head, sooner than wait a few hours, when i could have sent her to the station." "is she mad?" was my natural comment. "oh no! only desperately frightened. she has not been here a week yet, and she is much too terrified to be coherent. all i can make out is that nothing on earth would induce her to spend another night at rush. i could have sent her over to marley easily to-morrow morning at eight o'clock, but she would not hear of it. and whether she has really seen anything, or only been frightened by the stories of the other servants, i don't know. anyway, she has certainly the courage of her opinions, and is prepared to suffer for them! i would rather meet half-a-dozen ghosts than carry that trunk on my head seven miles in this pouring rain." then turning round carelessly, she remarked: "i suppose _you_ have not seen or heard anything, miss bates, since you came? i hope not, for i am sure you are not strong enough for mundane visitors yet, let alone the other kind." we were passing through the handsome circular hall at the time, and i said eagerly: "oh no! thank goodness, i've seen and heard nothing. i don't think i should be allowed to see anything whilst i am so weak and poorly." almost at the moment of saying these words something impelled me to place my hand upon a particular spot in the great stone wall by my side. "but there is something _here_ i don't like," i said, tapping it--"something uncanny--but i don't know what it is." mrs kent made no remark; and i thought no more of the circumstance until the following year, when i was told by mr stead that mrs kent was over in england, and had been lunching with him and asking for me. "she was giving me a most graphic account of the way you 'spotted' those skeletons at rush castle," he said. i was completely puzzled by this remark. i had never spotted a single skeleton to my knowledge, either at rush or elsewhere, and i told him so; but he persisted in saying that mrs kent had told him a very different story, and that most certainly she had mentioned me as the percipient. "she must have mixed me up with somebody else," was my final comment. "no doubt many people have queer experiences there, and she might naturally make such a mistake." "well, i gave her your address, and she is writing to ask you to have tea with her at the club, so you and she can fight it out there," he said; and the conversation drifted into other channels. next afternoon i met mrs kent at her club, and before leaving, fortunately remembered the curious mistake about the skeletons i had "spotted." "but you _did_ 'spot' them," she said, laughing. "don't you remember my asking you if you had noticed anything curious, or heard or seen anything, during your visit? at first you said 'thank goodness, no!' but immediately afterwards you put your hand on a particular part of the circular hall, and said: 'there is something uncanny just here--something i don't like.'" "yes; i remember all that. but what of it? you never told me anything about skeletons." "of course not--you were not in a condition of health to discuss such eerie questions just then. all the same, you had located the exact spot where only a week before your visit, my husband's agent told him that two skeletons had been found bricked up!" she then explained that the agent had been on the estate for many years, even before the death of the late owner of rush--her father-in-law. having some business with her husband the week before my arrival, this agent had casually mentioned that he and the former owner had found these skeletons in the very spot indicated by me, about forty years previously, and, strange to relate, had bricked them up again instead of burying them. this last fact may account in part at least for the spooky reputation of castle rush. all good psychics know that nothing disturbs a spirit so much as any informality about his funeral arrangements! to return to my visit to castle rush. some years previously i had met, on an orient steamer sailing from ceylon to naples, a brother of the owner of rush. he was a sailor, and as hard-headed and practical a man as it has ever been my lot to meet. it was in no way through meeting him that my visit to rush came about, but owing to my acquaintance with mrs kent and _her_ family. i had been greatly taken by the genial common-sense of this captain kent, and was much grieved to hear of his death when i stayed with his sister-in-law. it had occurred shortly before my visit, and under sad circumstances. on the surface he was certainly more lacking in sentiment than anyone i ever met, but must have been capable of very deep affection. when i met him he had only been married for a few months. his wife died within two years of their marriage, and going for a short holiday to castle rush soon afterwards, he said to his sister-in-law: "_i shall not live a year after her, i know!_" he was the last kind of man to make such a speech, as both mrs kent and i observed when she mentioned it to me. "but he was quite right, all the same," she added. "_he died just three days within the year from the time of his wife's death._" yet he was an exceptionally strong, sturdy, and wiry man at the time of his great sorrow. from castle rush i was going to the south of ireland to visit relations at cork. on the morning of my departure i was down in the drawing-room, rather wondering _why_ i had been brought to this old irish castle. no special object seemed to have been achieved by my visit. i did not even know then that i had discovered two skeletons! in those days i found so often some train of circumstances--a borrowed book, a stranger coming across my path, some unexpected visit paid, which were later found to have been factors in a special experience--that i was rather surprised to realise that i was leaving the "most haunted castle in ireland" and that nothing had happened. but in the very moment of saying this to myself a curiously insistent impression came to me quite suddenly, and "out of the blue." the impression was that the brother of my host, captain kent, was wishing very urgently to communicate something through me. i did not feel equal to taking any message at the time--i have already explained that i was only just recovering from a severe illness. lunch and a long drive to the station and a weary railway journey lay before me, so i determined to do nothing until i was safely established with my cousins near cork. after a long, cold, and wet journey i arrived in pouring rain, my train being more than a hour late. the kind general who came to meet me was still patiently standing on the platform, but one of the two "cars" he had engaged for me and my baggage had taken itself off! as the rain was descending in water-spouts, i need scarcely say it was the "covered car" which had driven away! this meant a thorough wetting for my cousin and me. how all the luggage (including a large bicycle, and two people, in addition to the driver) was ever piled up on that small "outside irish car" i have never been able to understand. suffice it to say the miracle was performed, and we drove up a hill at an angle of about forty-five degrees into the bargain! clearly these were not ideal conditions for receiving automatic messages! i was put to bed at once with hot bottles and hot soup, and soon forgot my past troubles in a long refreshing sleep. i was still in the invalid stage of "breakfast in bed," and when this had been cleared away, the remembrance of captain kent flashed into my mind, and i found pencil and papers at once, in order to redeem my promise. the message was rather a curious one, and its opening sentence evidently referred to the eccentric old lady whom i have mentioned as being asked to meet me at luncheon at castle rush. so far as i can remember them, the words (very characteristic of captain kent's genial but rather brusque style) ran as follows:-after speaking of the alleged hauntings at castle rush as having only too much foundation in fact, he went on: "it's all rubbish, that old woman saying she had cleared them all away! nothing of the kind. there are plenty of malicious spirits about still, _and now that an heir is coming to rush they are keener than ever to try and work some mischief_. no use saying anything to tom (his brother). he will only laugh, and say it is all skittles. but tell my little sister-in-law to pray--pray--pray. that is all they need and all she needs either." now this was not exactly the message one cared to send to a rather recent acquaintance. to begin with, the reference to mrs kent's valued friend in the opening sentence was scarcely polite! then again, the prophecy of an heir to rush was one that i regretted should have been made, as it would probably only lead to disappointment. mrs kent's first child had been a little son, from whose loss she had never recovered. when i was staying at the castle, two nice little girls, old enough to come down to early dinner, at our luncheon hour, comprised the family. another child was certainly expected to arrive about christmas-time (my visit was paid in september), but mrs kent herself was fully convinced that this would be _another girl_, as she said rather sadly. it seemed a pity to disturb her mind by raising false hopes. but, as usual, i felt bound to send the message, with the customary explanations and apologies. mrs kent was greatly interested by it and by the "pray--pray--pray," which, as she explained to me, had a very special meaning for her. it had only struck me as an exceedingly _unlikely_ message for the captain kent i had known, to send to anyone. i am glad to be able to record that the christmas gift did arrive in the shape of a baby boy, "_heir to rush_," who is still alive and flourishing, thank god! i hear that he calls himself "the master," with a true irish brogue, and lords it over his elder sisters in the regular chieftain style! to this year belongs another strong impression of psychic atmosphere, left in a room which i occupied in the south of england. it was a most comfortable room, with nothing in the least ghostly about it. merely i had an unpleasant feeling that controversies and discussions had taken place in the room, and that a want of harmony hung about it in consequence. on mentioning this rather tentatively to the master of the house--a very orthodox clergyman--i was told: "oh dear, no! nothing of the kind--you are certainly mistaken!" but when an opportunity arose i changed my room, and felt very much more comfortable in consequence of doing so. several times i had noticed on the hall table, letters which had come by post addressed to another clergyman, whose name i had not heard, and who was certainly not staying in the house. remarking upon this casually to a nice young governess one day, she said at once that the gentleman in question had spent several months with mr and mrs dale in the vicarage, but that he had died a few weeks before my arrival. "he slept in the room you had when you first came, by-the-by. i was so glad when you changed your room." "he was a clergyman, i see," was my next remark; and i looked at the envelope which had led to this explanation. "yes; he was in orders, but he had become a complete agnostic for some years. during the last few weeks of his life--when he had to keep his bed--mr dale was always going up there, and having long arguments and discussions with him; but i don't suppose it did much good: it only worried him very much. he was too ill to listen to long arguments then, and wanted just kind, soothing words, i should have thought." as the girl retreated to the school-room i naturally pondered over this fresh testimony to the truth of psychic atmosphere. no sensitive can question the _fact_, but at present we know little or nothing of the laws which condition the fact. my friend mr w. t. stead kindly allows me to mention another incident connected with personal experiences of mine in the year 1898. in the opening month of that year he lost a much-valued friend, who had worked for him loyally, both in his office and also with regard to some of his philanthropic schemes. this lady in a fit of delirium, incident upon a severe attack of illness, threw herself out of a window in her flat. a fortnight before this sad occurrence, she had seen another resident in the same set of flats throw herself out of the window, and mr stead has always feared that this acted as a suggestion upon her mind in delirium, and led her to do the same thing. her own account of the cause of her action differs somewhat from this impression, as will be seen later. mr stead was naturally greatly affected by mrs morris' sudden death and the circumstances attending it, and having some of her hair cut off after her death, he sent portions of it to at least twelve well-known clairvoyants, hoping to receive some satisfactory solution of the mystery, and also, possibly, a sign decided upon between him and this lady. they were both interested in psychic matters, and had agreed to believe in no communications from the other side purporting to come from one or other of them, unless this preliminary sign were given. mrs besant--an intimate friend of mr stead--was one of the oracles consulted, and was very confident of being able to find out all details, including the mystic sign. but both she and mr leadbeater were as absolutely unsuccessful as less gifted mortals proved to be. in spite of exceptional opportunities for coming in touch with the most noted psychics, in spite of the valuable clue given by hair cut after death, the test seemed quite hopeless, since twelve of the best clairvoyants had been consulted, and all had failed in turn. a few weeks after hearing about this from mr stead, i was invited by an old friend in london to meet at her house, at luncheon, miss rowan vincent, a non-professional sensitive, well known to many of my readers. i had never seen this lady before, and had little speech with her during the meal. she was talking very earnestly to a military man--the son-in-law of our hostess--whilst the latter and i were having an interesting conversation to ourselves. general maxwell, having a train to catch, did not accompany us to the drawing-room. on arrival there miss rowan vincent said to me very kindly: "can i do anything for _you_ now, miss bates? shall i try if i can see anything for you?" something induced me, quite against my will, to say: "do you ever get messages by writing, miss vincent?" "no; i have never done so, but i can try," she answered rather eagerly. how i bewailed my stupidity in making such a suggestion! i had diverted her mind from her own special gift, which was that of seeing a person's psychic surroundings, and had switched her on to an entirely novel and untried experiment. i had not even the excuse of being specially interested in automatic writing, which was so easily obtained at home; whereas i was greatly interested in seeing whether any of my "other side" friends could make themselves perceptible through this sensitive. however, the mischief was done past remedy. the suggestion had taken firm root in miss rowan vincent's mind, and she was not to be diverted from it. so i resigned myself patiently to the results of my own foolish remark, whilst she took pencil and paper and sat down expectantly. soon she looked up, the writing having already begun. "do you know any william? there seems to be some message from a william, as far as i can make out." having had a favourite cousin of that name, i told her it might be quite correct, and i should be glad to receive any message that came. a few moments passed, and then miss vincent said, in a puzzled tone: "it is not _from_ william--the message is _to_ some william--i cannot understand it at all." she pushed the paper rather impatiently towards me. written upon it clearly but faintly were these words: dear william,--i want to explain to you how i came to fall out of that window--it was not my fault really--someone came up behind and pushed me out. ethel. the signature was rather indistinct, but quite unmistakable to _me_; but then i knew the christian name of mr stead's friend, and realised at once that she was taking this opportunity of sending a message to him. i asked miss vincent what name was written at the bottom of the paper. "it looks like ethel," she said, "but it is not very clear. i will ask the spirit to write it again." a very bold and unmistakable signature was at once given. i concealed my excitement, and said quietly to miss vincent: "i think i know from whom the message comes and for whom it is intended, but to make quite sure it would be very satisfactory if the spirit could give through you a sign agreed upon by the sender and the recipient and unknown to everyone else." "well, i will try," said miss vincent at once. she had scarcely touched the pencil when it began describing a circle. "there is no doubt about my having to make a circle," she said, laughing. "oh, now i am to put a cross into it," she added. within a few seconds both these were given, and to _our_ great delight--as well as to his--the sign was recognised by mr stead as being the one agreed upon, and which had hopelessly puzzled all the other mediums. chapter xii 1900-1901 i must now note a curious episode connected with my friend judge forbes, whose astral influence i had traced clinging to the rooms he once occupied in cambridge. as before mentioned, he had married, and i had lost sight of him and his whole family for many years. but we had several mutual friends, through whom i had heard of the birth of his only son and only child, and later of the boy being sent to eton, and eventually entering the army. this was very shortly before the breaking out of the south african war, and the young fellow was one of many who were drafted from india, after a few months' service there, to help to defend their queen's possessions and their countrymen's lives and property in south africa. later, young forbes was shut up in ladysmith, and one cold, dismal day in january (6th january 1900) i was lying very ill in bed with a severe bronchial attack in the house of my eldest brother in hampshire, when the latter came home one evening from the winchester club and told us of the celebrated _sortie_ and the death of three young english officers. the name of forbes of the royal rifles figured amongst these, and i felt convinced that it must be the only child of my old friend. without hesitation i prepared to write a few short lines of sympathy with the heart-broken father. in vain my sister-in-law protested against my concluding at once that it must be the judge's son, since other members of the family of the same name were known to be in the army. i had not a moment's doubt that this was the boy already mentioned, and even a silence of over twenty years seemed to present no difficulty in expressing one's deep sympathy, in the face of such a sorrow. the real drawback lay in my weak state of health and physical inability to write more than a few lines. but in these i expressed a hope that _in time_ my poor friend might come to realise that his boy was "as much alive and as near to him as ever--perhaps nearer." it will indicate how entirely all relations between us had been broken off for many years, when i say that i did not even know the judge's private address, and was forced to send my letter to his court. in a day or two i received a very touching and grateful answer, pathetic not only in its grief, but even more in his frankly avowed inability to derive any consolation from the thoughts that my short note had suggested. resignation to the inscrutable will of god was the keynote of the letter. in some far-distant future he might be permitted once more to see his beloved son, but meanwhile all was gloom and misery. the episode was over. i had expressed my sincere sympathy with an overwhelming sorrow, i had received a most kind and appreciative answer--no more could be done in the matter. this was _my_ conclusion, but evidently not the conclusion of young talbot forbes. i had never seen this boy in my life, nor his mother; but i suppose my old friendship with his father, and my deep sympathy with the latter, enabled the son to approach me soon after he had passed into the next sphere. anyway, he made me conscious of his presence by my bedside during the greater part of the night following my receipt of his father's letter. owing to my severe illness i was sleeping very little, and once or twice in the night an attendant came in to make up my fire and keep the temperature of the room even, so that i had ample opportunity for realising the presence of my hitherto unknown visitor. those who know what "hearing with the inner ear" means will realise the method through which the following conversation took place, so far as i can now recall it:-_talbot._--"_yes, it is talbot forbes. i want to speak to you. please listen to me! i want to tell you, you must do more for them than this--you have to help them about me._" e. k. b.--"who do you mean by '_them_'?" _talbot._--"_my parents, of course. don't you understand what i am saying? you have to do more for them--you must make them know i am close to them._" now i could only suppose that he wished me to write again to his father, and explain more fully my own ideas on the subject of our departed friends. as this would have involved a wearisome and almost certainly _useless_ discussion on a topic which i had reason to know was very distasteful to the boy's father, i said rather shortly, and i am afraid with some of the petulance of an invalid: "oh, do be quiet, and leave me alone! i have done all i can, and there is no more to be said about it. i am very sorry for you, but i really can't help you in this. i don't know your mother or what her views about it may be; and as for your father--well, i am not going to worry and torment him about ideas that he dislikes and disapproves of, and just now, too, when he is so miserable! no, i won't do it, not even if you come and worry me about it every night." i was feeling ill and weary, and longing for sleep, and hoped this would be a quietus to my young friend. not a bit of it! his next remark was: "_what does it matter what_ you _think or what you mean to do or not to do? you have to help them, not to think about your own feelings._" this was frank at anyrate, but not altogether convincing. soon afterwards, tired out with the discussion, i really did fall asleep, and only woke a short time before my breakfast and daily budget of letters arrived. amongst these letters was one in an unknown handwriting, which proved to be from _mrs_ forbes, saying she had seen my letter to her husband, and begging that i would tell her the grounds i had for my assurance that those we love are close to us after the great change we call death. evidently the boy knew that this letter was coming to me, and was trying to prepare me to answer it in such a way as should help him to convince his mother of his continued existence in her immediate presence. as this case is one well known to the society for psychical research (the lady i have called mrs forbes appearing on their records both as mrs scott and under the pseudonym i have borrowed from them), it is unnecessary to go into further details. suffice it to say that my nocturnal visitor was successful in his aim. i answered his mother's letter as he wished. this led to a long correspondence between us, and to my making her acquaintance shortly afterwards and renewing my old friendship with her husband. mrs forbes had several sittings with mrs thompson and other mediums, became convinced of her son's presence with her, and very soon was independent of outside assistance in communicating with him. the judge also declared himself "unable to resist the evidence," but i don't think he ever quite honestly _rejoiced_ in his convictions. it is hard to eradicate prejudices and traditions after fifty years of age, and the _human_ element in his son's bright and happy messages always seemed to worry and perplex him a little. he knows all about it now! much as i deplore the earthly disappearance of such an old and faithful friend of my youth, i can sincerely rejoice in thinking of him as once more united with his son, in ways that will no longer appear to him unnatural or undesirable. during the judge's lifetime, and after the son's death, i often stayed with him and his wife in their northern home. mrs forbes used frequently to say: "it was _talbot_ who brought us all three together, we must remember!" pekin story it was during my first visit to judge and mrs forbes, in the north of england, that another curious experience came to me. this happened on the 4th of july 1900, for i remember saying to mrs forbes next morning: "i shall remember the date from its being american independence day." it was the year of the boxer rebellion in china, when the pekin embassy was in a state of siege, and by july almost all hope that any europeans would be saved from their dire peril had faded away. the memorial service, arranged by a too eager dignitary of the church to take place in st paul's, had certainly been adjourned at the last moment; but as days and weeks passed, and the little garrison was still unrelieved, very little hope was entertained. in fact, by july most people hoped and believed that their troubles must be already over, through the merciful interposition of death. a connection of mine, whom i had known well when she was a child, but had not seen for many years, was shut up with her husband, children, and sister in the pekin embassy at the time. thousands were lamenting her sad fate, and i naturally amongst them; but i wish to make clear that, owing to the years that had elapsed since i had seen this special member of the family, it was not in any sense a very personal sorrow, nor was i then--nor am i now--aware of any special tie of affinity between this lady and myself. i had gone to bed about eleven o'clock on the night of 4th july 1900, and had been in bed about half-an-hour, without any attempt at going to sleep, when suddenly i felt extremely alert in mind, very much as miss porter described herself in the captain carbury episode. almost immediately upon this feeling of mental alertness came the conviction that mabel m'leod (as i will call her) was in the room, close to me, and that she was in some dire and urgent need of help--instantaneous help, i mean. i could neither see nor hear on this occasion--i only _knew_ these facts through some power of intuition, all the more remarkable because, having made up my mind that all was over at the embassy, i had not been thinking of her or of her fellow-sufferers for some days past. my thoughts were fully engaged at the time with the grief of my host and hostess. with the knowledge of mabel's presence came also the conviction that she was _still alive_--in the physical body--and that it was no excarnate spirit that was appealing to me for help. the impression was so vivid that i called out instinctively: "what is it, mabel? what can i do for you?" there was no response, either by outward or inner voice, only the insistent appeal for help, and knowledge of some imminent danger at hand for her. i am trying to explain that something more than the usual hourly peril in which they must be living, _if on this side the veil_, was implied by the impression i received. _it was some acute and additional danger which threatened her at the moment._ feeling it was useless to waste time trying to find out by writing or other means what the exact nature of this danger might be, i jumped out of bed as quickly as possible, saying: "never mind trying to make me understand--i will pray for you, whatever it is!" so i knelt down, and prayed most earnestly that this poor woman, whose spirit had appealed for help at some dread crisis, might be comforted, and delivered from any dangers threatening her at the time. i had been very comfortably tucked up in bed, looking forward to the pleasant drowsiness which promises sleep, and i am quite sure i should not have put myself to all this inconvenience without a very strong motive. when i felt the poor, tormented spirit was calmed and soothed by the atmosphere of prayer, i returned to my bed, and eventually fell asleep. next morning i told mrs forbes of my experience, making the remark quoted about the date. the following week she and i were together at one of the meetings of the society for psychical research, at the close of which, in shaking hands with mr frederic myers, i begged him to make a note of my experience and the date. "ah, miss bates!" he said, taking out a small note-book, "i will make a note of it, but i fear there is not the remotest chance of any of them having been alive ten days ago." "then my experience goes for nothing," i answered. "it was a living woman, not an excarnate one, who came to my bedside on the 4th july." later, when the embassy was relieved, and this lady (who had presented such a "stiff upper lip" to fortune) was once more safe at home for a much-needed rest, i found that she had gone through a special time of accentuated suffering just when i felt her presence in my room. her husband was down with dysentery, and she had not enough food either for him or for her poor little children, and the strain was almost too great, even for that brave soul. of course, she had been quite unconscious of any appeal to me. but she has scottish as well as irish blood in her veins, and this heredity may have enabled her subconscious self to sense my locality and to realise my power and will to help her in her desperate need. truly it was a case of "vain is the help of man," or woman either! but we know too little of spiritual laws to be able to deny off-hand the efficacy of _any_ earnest prayer. i saw mr myers make a note of the circumstance, but, unfortunately, this cannot be found amongst his papers. i asked mrs myers about it, and she remembered distinctly her husband having mentioned the case to her when he returned home after that meeting, but when i last saw her, she had hunted amongst his papers in vain for the note which he made at the time. * * * * * early in january 1901, the day after lord robert's triumphant procession through london, i went to spend some weeks at an "open-air cure" in devonshire, high up in the hills, and in a bleak part of the county. several severe illnesses had left me so supersensitive to colds and draughts that it seemed a vital necessity to take some such drastic step, even at this inclement time of the year, unless i were prepared to sink into a state of chronic invalidism, and become a burden to myself and my neighbours for the rest of my natural life. an old friend was "second in command" in this special establishment, which she had asked me to recommend, and a bright thought struck me that i might do my friend a good turn, and myself also, by spending a few weeks in the house. i did not bargain, however, for the deep snow which fell on the very day after my arrival, nor for the howling west winds, which continued to blow during the whole of my stay. in these parts, the west wind corresponds with our eastern variety, and is quite as cold and disagreeable. nor were the surroundings inside of a very cheerful nature. all the other patients (six or seven) were quite young girls, and all more or less consumptive. several of them were very attractive, which made it seem all the more sad. without exception, all were, or had been, engaged to be married, as the coping-stone to this tragedy of their lives! in several cases the engagements had been broken off, sometimes by mutual consent, on the score of health. in a few exceptions, where love had proved stronger than prudence and common-sense, it was equally melancholy to realise that the future could hold nothing but disappointment on the one side, and a hopeless regret on the other. under these circumstances it was perhaps only to be expected that my first impressions of the establishment should not be entirely _couleur de rose_. yet the house itself was pleasant enough, and the view from the drawing-room windows was simply magnificent, including sea as well as moor. curtainless windows, with sashes thrown wide open, and chilly linoleum to replace warm carpets, were rather a trial to the uninitiated, early in january, with deep snow on the ground and fires none too plentiful. in addition to these drawbacks i had another personal one. coming in the middle of the winter, it was naturally hobson's choice as regarded the bedrooms. all the best and warmest aspects had been appropriated in the autumn, and an ugly little room, with cold, west outlook and depressing, mustard-coloured distempered walls, fell to my lot. yet even these facts did not sufficiently account for the extremely depressing effect of that room upon me. "has anyone died here lately?" was my first and natural query in a house of this kind. i had heard the girls casually mention two gentlemen patients who had been in the house the previous year--one of these had gone into rooms in a neighbouring town with his nurse. i did not hear what had become of the other one, and had not sufficient curiosity to ask the question. my friend reassured me by saying she was sure no one had died recently in _my_ room. she had only lately come to the house herself, as i knew; having been matron for some years of a small hospital in the country. "the second poor gentleman, who was a patient here, did die in the house, i believe, but that was months ago," she said, "and i understand that he had laura pearce's room," mentioning one of the girls, who had a specially cheerful apartment. it seemed quite natural that a sick man, confined to his bed, should occupy a large and sunny room, so i thought no more of the matter. still, i was always conscious of an unpleasant and sad atmosphere in my own room, and took occasion one day to ask the lady at the head of the establishment whether she knew anything of the predecessors in the house. it struck me that the psychic atmosphere in my room might be connected with some of _them_. miss hunter replied laughingly: "i can't tell you anything about them, for the very good reason that they don't exist. _i_ am the first tenant of this house. it was only built two years ago, and remained vacant for the first twelve months." then i told her very cautiously of my feeling about my room, and that i had supposed it might have to do with someone who had slept there before she took the house. two or three of the young girls were in the room at the time, and it struck me that one of them--the one who was there for her second winter--looked a little surprised and interested; but the matron passed off the subject with a few bantering words, and again i had no suspicion of the truth. six weeks passed, and my last night in the house had arrived. my nurse friend was in the habit of giving me massage twice a day, before getting up in the morning and the last thing at night. she left me on this occasion about ten-thirty p.m., expressing a hope that i should soon sleep, and have a good night before my long journey next day. "not much doubt of that," i murmured. "why, i'm half asleep already!" and i turned round, tired and yet soothed by the massage, and soon fell into a deep and dreamless sleep. several hours must have passed, when i woke up, trembling and terror-struck, after passing through an experience which seems as vivid to me to-day as on that february night or early morning. my heart was beating, my limbs trembling, beads of perspiration covered my face, as i discovered later. no wonder! i had been through an experience from which few, i imagine, return to tell the tale. for i had passed through every detail of dying, and dying a very hard and difficult death. body and soul were being literally _torn apart_, in spite of the desperate effort to cling together, and my spirit seemed to be launched into unknown depths of darkness and possible horror. it was the feeling that _i did not know where i was going nor what awaited me_ that seemed so terrible--this and the horrible fight for mastery between my poor body and soul and some unknown force that was inexorably set upon dividing them. this, so far as i can express it, exactly describes the experience i had just gone through, and from which i had awakened in such abject terror. as the beating of my heart subsided, and i could think more calmly, i remembered with startling distinctness that in the very worst of the struggle i had been vainly endeavouring to say that text in the twenty-third psalm which begins: "though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death, i will fear no evil; for thou art with me: _thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me._" i could say the first part of it quite easily, but some fiendish enemy seemed bent upon preventing my saying the last sentence, and in my terrible dream, rescue and safety depended upon my getting to the end of the text. i tried again and again, always to be driven back in despair before the crucial words were uttered. at last, with a desperate effort, i seemed to shake off the incubus which was weighing me down, and i finished the words triumphantly, and so loud that i had positively wakened myself up _by shouting them out_. with returning memory i knew this had happened, and hearing a door open and shut on the half landing below my room, i thought for the moment that someone must have heard me, and must be coming to see what was the matter. i looked at my watch--just two-thirty a.m. no one appeared; and to my relief i remembered that this was just the hour when either miss hunter or my friend went round to the invalids, giving them milk or bovril, in the night. i had no inclination to seek out either of these ladies. the horror was past, and no one could undo what i had endured; so i lay quiet, and in course of time managed to go to sleep again, not waking until the servant came into my room to light the fire at seven-thirty a.m. it happened to be a certain _minnie_ on this occasion, a very respectable young woman, who had accompanied miss hunter when she gave up the matronship of a well-known hospital, and who had therefore been with her since this establishment had been started. my night's experience convinced me so absolutely that, in spite of all that had been said, the gentleman patient _had_ died in this room, and that i had just gone through his death agonies, that instead of asking any question about it, i said very quietly to minnie, as she was on her knees lighting my fire: "the poor gentleman who died here last summer _died in this room, i find_." "yes, ma'am," she said quietly, not knowing, as it turned out, that any mystery had been made about the fact. my personal friend was guiltless of any deceit, for she had been told the story about laura pearce's room, but the young girls confessed when i went down to breakfast that they had been specially warned not to let me know the true facts. miss hunter did not appear at breakfast, as she was suffering from a chill, so i went to her bedroom to say good-bye before going up to london. feeling naturally annoyed and rather shaken by my night's experience, i said to her rather drily: "you need not have taken the trouble to deceive me about my room, miss hunter, nor to warn the girls to do the same. i know that gentleman died there, for i have just gone through his experiences." and then i told her about my terrible night. although forced to admit the facts, miss hunter fought every inch of the ground, so far as the _painful_ experiences were concerned. "such an excellent man! so interested in everything--a _clergyman_, my dear miss bates, and so _good!_ how could there be anything painful connected with his death?" etc. etc. i suggested that, as christians, we had the most overwhelming proof that holiness of life does not always preclude even mental suffering at death; but she would not hear of this argument, and doubtless considered it blasphemous. by dint of questioning, however, i made two discoveries--first, that the death was quite unexpected. the man had only been a fortnight in the house, and when i expressed surprise that he should have been moved there so late in a fatal illness, she said unguardedly: "_oh, but he was very slightly ill when he came--it was more a preventive measure. none of us had any idea that he was a dying man, the symptoms developed so suddenly._" i also elicited another fact--_i.e._ that this delightfully interesting personality "so intellectual--so full of interest in everything" (to quote miss hunter's words), had died at the age of forty, in the very prime of life. no wonder, under the circumstances of so short an illness, in the very zenith of life and enjoyment, that body and soul should have been loath to separate, and thus free the imprisoned spirit! but miss hunter was adamant, and would admit nothing. just before leaving her, it struck me that i had not yet told her about the text, so i repeated that episode, and then, for the first time, a startled look came into her eyes. she was taken by surprise, and said hastily: "that _is_ extraordinary! i was with him when he died in the night, and he kept on asking for that text. that is not so remarkable, many might have asked for that text, but i stopped once or twice after the first sentence, and he kept on urging me: "_say it to the end, miss hunter! say it to the end!_" later the good lady even consented to write out the evidential points in this story, which i sent at once to my friend dr richard hodgson. immediately upon my return to london on this occasion, i was attacked quite suddenly by a very acute form of rheumatism, which laid me on my back--perfectly helpless--for several days. when the doctor arrived, his first question was: "have you had any special shock lately? this particular form of rheumatism does not generally come on with so little warning _unless there has been a previous shock_." i was about to deny this, thinking he referred to unexpected news, but with the memory of my devonshire experience so keen and clear, i felt bound to tell him that i had certainly had a shock to my nerves twenty-four hours previously. soon after this sudden and sharp attack of illness i found myself in portugal for the first time in my life. i had gone there with an english friend--mrs frampton--in order to be near connections who had lived in the country for many years. a cousin and i spent a delightful afternoon in that cintra paradise of _monserrat_, with general and mrs sartorius, who were living there at the time of my visit to portugal. i have heard that even this charming house could tell strange tales if only walls could speak. it is easy to imagine that any spirits--carnate or discarnate--might deem it a privilege to haunt so exquisite a spot. personally, i can only testify to the hospitality of our kind host and hostess and the excellence of the spirit of "robur," which refreshed our weary bodies, and made the walk back to the cintra hotel, through the lovely woodland paths, a "thing of beauty and a joy for ever." to return to lisbon. my friend mrs frampton had never been present at any sort of psychic phenomena, so we planned a little sitting for her during one of these lisbon evenings. she and i descended in solemn state to the fine library of our host, on the ground floor, whilst his wife and sister elected to remain in the drawing-room upstairs. a sister-in-law also begged to be excused from accompanying us, and spent the whole time occupied by our _sã©ance_, in playing moody and sankey hymns, doubtless hoping thereby to exorcise the evil spirits whom we should presumably evoke. unfortunately, she did not play loud enough to divert the attention of the portuguese cook, who promptly gave warning next day, saying she could not stand these "devilish practices"! we had failed to realise that the very wall, close to which our small table was placed, divided the kitchen from the large ground-floor library, so the poor woman doubtless sat with her ear well jammed up against this partition, and considered every rap of the table leg on the floor, a distinct footstep of the devil! nothing more terrible happened to _us_ that evening than being forced to look up our english history once more, in "hume" and "green's short history of the english people," both of which volumes were close at hand. for the whole _sã©ance_ might have been an "easy lesson in english history," with john, duke of northumberland, lady jane grey, the earl of leicester, and the famous elizabeth as its exponents. all these purported to be with us that evening, and i am bound to say that all dates and details mentioned, which our middle-aged memories could not verify at the moment, were in every case corroborated by reference to the library books later. it was just before leaving england for portugal that i first met a lady (with whom i have since become more intimate), under rather exceptional circumstances--these latter were unknown to me at the time. my brother, colonel c. e. bates, was living at this time (1901) in rooms in cambridge terrace, and the drawing-room floor was occupied by a miss isabel smith, who was then only a name to us both. his landlady had given him to understand that this lady had connections in india, and was the niece of a general propert, still on the active list, and an old friend of my brother's in indian days. the last sunday before starting for lisbon i called in as usual to spend the afternoon in cambridge terrace, and found that the "drawing-room lady" had just been paying him a visit, and had left him most enthusiastic. this visit surprised me, because my brother, being a very great invalid, had an inveterate dislike to meeting strangers, with whom he generally found it difficult to carry on any lengthy conversation. but this visitor had evidently been an exception. my brother expressed some regret that i should have missed seeing her, so to please him i suggested sending his valet upstairs with his compliments, and asking if i might pay the lady a short visit, should she be disengaged. she came downstairs kindly, a second time, and we had a pleasant chat, whilst my brother and an old indian brother officer carried on their conversation. i left england a few days later, and scarcely expected to see or hear any more of miss isabel smith. fate, however, ordained otherwise. some weeks elapsed, and then i received a letter from my brother, mentioning the curious circumstances that, he had just heard, had led to his making the acquaintance of this pleasant neighbour. "it is too long a story to write," he concluded, "but i will tell you all about it next time we meet." he did so, and as his account exactly tallies with the one miss isabel smith (now mrs finch) has kindly written out for me for insertion in this volume, i will quote the latter from her own words. i must premise that miss smith turned out to be naturally clairvoyant and clair-audient, rather to the disgust of my brother, who considered himself superior to these "superstitions." her narrative is interesting not only in itself, but because it is an object lesson in the curious "hits and misses" in psychic investigation. in this case a spirit confessed to an impersonation; but it was an impersonation of the brother of a man whom my brother had really known in india--a fact entirely apart from any possible knowledge on the part of miss smith, who had never met my brother at the time of her adventure. i will now give miss smith's narrative. "when at grindelwald in the winter 1900-1901 an excarnate entity came and spoke to me. he seemed much interested in the south african campaign; told me he had been a soldier, first in the rifle brigade, then in the indian army. when i asked his name he said he was henry arthur chomley (the name of a celebrated ambassador was the one given), that he was a brother of sir frederic chomley, and had been in the rifle brigade and in india, _and had passed over two or three years before_. when, shortly afterwards, i returned to cambridge terrace, he realised the changed surroundings, and asked where i was. on learning i was in rooms he asked whether there was anyone else in the house, and on my telling him there was a paralysed military man downstairs named bates, he exclaimed 'what! charlie bates? i knew him very well in india--do ask him if he remembers me!' i said i did not know the gentleman, but would certainly ask him if an opportunity should occur. a few days after this, a message was brought up to me from colonel bates, asking for my uncle, general propert's, address in burmah. this gave me the opening. i wrote giving the required information, and suggested that i might come and have a talk with him. in my next conversation with 'colonel chomley' i told him all this, and he again said: '_mind you ask him about me!_' i answered: '_how can i, when i don't know what colonel bates' ideas are on these subjects? he might look on me as a dangerous lunatic!_' colonel chomley remarked: '_i think you will find that he is interested in psychic matters._' i discovered that this was true, for on my first visit i saw a copy of the s.p.r. proceedings lying on the table. i found him interested, but unable to get beyond the 'subliminal consciousness' theory. a few days later i asked colonel bates if he had ever met a colonel henry arthur chomley in india. he thought for a moment, then said: 'chomley? why, of course i knew a chomley, but i don't know his christian name. he was brigade major at meean meer, and i took over the brigade from him, and bought his horses, etc. where did _you_ know him?' i then told him of the spirit who had given me the name of henry arthur chomley, who said he had known him in india, and had over and over again begged to be remembered to him. the day following this conversation colonel bates sent me up his army list, open, and marked at the name of colonel _walter_ chomley, and a note explaining that it was not henry arthur, but _walter chomley_ whom he had known at meean meer. i then asked 'henry arthur' if his name was walter or henry arthur. he said: '_henry arthur. surely i ought to know my own name!_' colonel bates told the story to you the next time you (_i.e._ e. k. bates) came to see him, and i remember we discussed it together when we met again. shortly afterwards you wrote to tell me that you had looked up a _debrett_ for 1895, and had there found _colonel henry arthur chomley, a brother of sir frederic chomley, of the rifle brigade, etc._, so that henry arthur chomley was evidently alive in that year, and _had_ been in the rifle brigade. i was much pleased to get this corroborative evidence, though the mistake in initials must have been colonel bates' error, and apologised to colonel henry arthur chomley in the unseen. a few weeks later, however, you wrote again, and told me that you had been staying with a friend, who drove you over to call upon colonel and mrs henry arthur chomley, that he was a brother of sir frederic chomley, and was certainly _alive_, although not _at home_, at the time of your visit! this information startled me, and my guide, at my request, went to look up the _soi-disant_ colonel to find out what it all meant. the latter then confessed to having taken a friend's name, said a sudden impulse came over him when i first asked his name, and having told one lie, he felt bound to go on deceiving me, but that he had known both colonel bates and colonel henry arthur chomley in india, and that his own real name was anstruther!" this was miss smith's narrative. now out of this curious jumble of true and false, two points remain clear: my brother _had_ known a chomley in india, and had succeeded him as brigade major at meean meer. this chomley _was_ a brother of sir frederic chomley, the well-known diplomatist, but his name was walter, not henry arthur. yet sir frederic _had_ a brother named henry arthur, and the impersonating anstruther had borrowed the wrong brother's name when trying to pose as the friend of colonel charles bates. to make confusion worse confounded, _walter chomley_ was alive, as well as _henry arthur_, at the time of miss mabel smith's experiences, for i have seen his death within the last eight months! the second point is that, personally, my brother and i had reason to be grateful to the deceiving anstruther. he was certainly the means of introducing a pleasant acquaintance to my brother and to me. miss mabel smith's experience at grindelwald reminds me of one of my own in the same place during the following year. i had gone there with a cousin, who was eager for skating and tobogganing, in january 1902, on my way to rome. after a pleasant week at a charmingly quiet and comfortable hotel--the _alpenrã¼he_ i think was the name--my cousin wished, for purposes of policy, to change over to a more famous, but noisy and overcrowded one. so on the evening of 3rd february we found ourselves in this immense caravanserai, having exchanged our large, comfortable, steam-heated rooms for small, oblong apartments, each provided with three doors as well as the window, and a wood fire to be fed from small "five-franc baskets," and always going out at that! there was deep snow on the ground and a heavy fog of snow falling when we made our change, so that one was not in the most brilliant spirits; and being suddenly thrust into the midst of a big, heterogeneous company of strangers is never exhilarating. our bedrooms, though small and not specially comfortable, were perfectly commonplace, the very last _milieu_ with which one would have associated any interesting experience. the window of my room faced the door into the passage, my bed lay between the two; right and left of it were two other doors, each communicating with other occupied rooms. therefore i thought little the first night of noises and moving of furniture, taking for granted that these must be occurring either right or left of me, and that the clearness of the atmosphere accounted for my odd impression that a table and chair--between my bed and the window--were being moved. the following night (4th february), however, this fact was indisputable. i had heard both my neighbours retire to bed by ten p.m., as so many do who have been skating and tobogganing all day long. i had sat up reading for half-an-hour beyond this, and went to bed at eleven p.m., by which time there was perfect silence in the hotel, as no special entertainment was going on. very shortly, this movement of the furniture began again, unmistakably in my room this time. curiously enough, it did not frighten me at all nor suggest burglars (a far greater terror to me than ghosts!). i cannot at this distance of time remember _why_ the idea of mr myers should have come to me in connection with these noises; but i am quite certain that i _did_ think of him at the time, and fully expected his name to be given, when i asked if anyone wished to speak to me and were trying to attract my attention by moving the furniture about. it was greatly to my surprise, therefore, that the name of _gifford_ was given. i may here note that this was the real name given to me. he said he was a judge, one who had lived fifty or sixty years previously, that he had once unintentionally condemned an innocent man to be hanged, and he was evidently still greatly perturbed about this, and begged for my prayers. all this put mr myers entirely out of my head--_unfortunately_, as events proved. i had some further talk with judge gifford, but do not remember it in detail. next morning i told my cousin of my experience, and on the evening of the following day mentioned it in the presence of some neighbours at _table d'hã´te_ who had introduced psychic subjects to us. this gentleman and his wife were both impressed, and yet incredulous, and when my cousin laughingly declared that "gifford had come to _her_ the second night, but that she told him she was too tired out to listen to him," we all three supposed that she was turning the whole subject into ridicule. this would have been quite characteristic of her, although i have always thought she had some mediumistic faculty, and was one of the many people whom i should advise to leave these matters alone. i was the more convinced that she was merely "chaffing" on this occasion, because when i warned our acquaintances of her powers of exaggeration in "making fun" of things, she said nothing. but when we had returned to our rooms that night she remarked quite quietly: "but he _did_ come, emmie! when you said that at _table d'hã´te_ about my exaggerating things, i let it pass, because very often it is true. but what i said this evening was _absolutely correct_, though perhaps it is as well those people should not believe it. someone _did_ come to my bedside last night, and said: 'i am gifford--will you listen to me?' and i said: 'no; not to-night. i am too tired,' just as i told you." i think poor gifford came again more than once to me; but i had done all i could for him, and explained this, adding that he must now leave me alone, which he did. later my cousin returned to paris, and i went on to rome, where i received a letter from dr richard hodgson enclosing some piper script. _f. w. h. myers communicating_, said that he had come to me on the evening of 4th february, that i seemed to recognise him, and that he thought he had "got his message through to me," and hoped that i should write to dr hodgson to that effect. in answering dr hodgson's letter i denied the myers' episode _in toto_, so far as _my_ consciousness was concerned. in fact, the gifford incident put all else so entirely out of my mind that i fear i did not even mention to dr hodgson that my _first_ thought that night had been connected with mr myers. anyway, the next letter from boston enclosed an account of a sitting, where mr myers came and apologised for having misled dr hodgson about my recognition of him. his words were almost literally as follows:-"i am extremely sorry, my dear hodgson, about that affair with miss bates. i should not have thought of mentioning it to you had i not felt convinced that she recognised me. _her astral body was quite aware of my presence_, and i quite thought she had realised it on the physical plane" (the italics are mine). it would seem that the myers' message was in the very act of transmission from my astral to my normal consciousness when this man gifford must have come, switching off the telephone for mr myers, and getting on to it himself. probably his great distress of mind would have made him the stronger force of the two for the time being. there must always be many disappointments of this kind in our research. there is always something which so nearly succeeds and then just fails at last. this _must_ be the case where conditions are so fine and subtle and so easily disturbed, and where our own ignorance of many necessary factors is so profound. this makes it none the less disheartening at times! later i made an attempt with my friend baroness rosenkrantz of rome to get a message through the other way--_i.e._ from mr myers and myself to dr hodgson, _via_ mrs piper. the baroness and i had a little "sitting" alone, wrote one or two short messages with a couple of extracts from mr myers' own writings, sealed up the envelope carefully, and i forwarded it to dr hodgson. but the test failed. two years later dr hodgson spoke of the letter as being still intact. chapter xiii a second visit to india, 1903 my second visit to india took place in the early months of 1903, and i approached it this time from burmah. fielding hall's "soul of a people" had thrown its magic spell over me, and miss greenlow and i were both anxious also to see the far-famed shwã© dagon temple. i came to the conclusion from what i saw, and still more from what i heard, that mr fielding hall must have appealed sometimes to his imagination for his facts, and allowed an exquisite poetical fancy to cast its glamour even over these. but the beautiful golden temple of rangoon defies all powers of exaggeration. we went there again and again, and wandered amongst its endless small temples, representing various forms of worship, including even a chinese joss-house, which is stamped upon my memory through a disaster, which i have always connected with this special temple; rank superstition though it be. we had spent several weeks upon the irrawaddy river; had wandered through beautiful, dusty mandalay; had explored bhamo and marvelled over the exquisite visions of fairy-like beauty, painted anew for us morning and evening, on this most glorious river; and had finally returned to rangoon for a few days' rest before starting for calcutta. it was an exquisite evening, just before our departure, when we went, towards sunset, to say farewell to the shwã© dagon. at that hour it is to be seen at its best, for the level rays of the eastern sun, light up the golden cupola into startling and fairy-like magnificence. having watched this glorious spectacle for some minutes, the air grew chilly, compared with the intense heat of the day, and darkness was coming on apace as we turned to retrace our steps. a few days before, we had noticed a chinese joss-house, standing in one corner of the huge elevated platform upon which the shwã© dagon rests. in the maze of buildings, and owing to the swiftly falling darkness, we could not at once locate this temple; and most unfortunately for _me_, with the stupid persistence which such a failure sometimes brings, both miss greenlow and i were determined to find it out before leaving the golden temple. at last a joyous exclamation warned me that my friend had been successful in her quest. the first time i had seen this joss-house i had run up the steps heedlessly, but felt such an unpleasant influence on entering it that i came away at once, and only regret not having been equally prudent a second time. miss greenlow was gazing at some grotesque carvings in one corner of the temple, still dimly visible, and called out to me to come and look at them also. very reluctantly i joined her, and stood for a few minutes waiting, till she was ready to leave. there was something so gloomy, so uncanny, and depressing--i must even say _malignant_--in the building at this twilight hour, that i could stand the influence no longer, and as miss greenlow seemed inclined to linger, i hurried down the stone steps, saying: "_i can't stay in that place! i will wait for you at the top of the marble stairs._" now these steps, broken and dirty, and lined by small booths selling every imaginable toy and bit of tinsel, including small models of the various temples, led by steep flights up and down from the huge platform of ground i have mentioned. some small link-boys were crowding round as miss greenlow rejoined me, clamouring to be allowed to light us down the steps--a very necessary precaution, for the darkness was quickly replacing the exquisite sunset colouring. i am, as a rule, rather a remarkably sure-footed person, and the lanterns of the boys threw ample light upon the steps, yet the first moment of my descent i was considerably surprised to find myself at the bottom of the first whole flight of hard marble steps! i had no recollection of a slip even--one moment i was standing, carefully prepared to descend; the next i was lying on my back at the bottom of a long flight of steps, with the link-boys gaping in astonishment. they could not have been more astonished than i was! the very swiftness of the fall was probably my salvation; otherwise i think my spine _must_ have been injured. as it was, i was very much hurt, however; the pain was intense for a time, and the muscles of my back were so swollen that they stood up in ridges as big as a good-sized finger, for some time after the escapade. in fact, it was quite six weeks before all local trouble was over, and many more weeks before i had recovered from the unexpected shock. i have had several falls in my life, but never one other where there was absolutely _no_ preliminary warning or sense of slipping, however swift. the experience was exactly that of being suddenly _hurled down_ the steps by some outside force. i can only add that i deeply deplored my unguarded words to miss greenlow, when i told her i was sure there was some malignant spirit in the joss-house. perhaps he wished politely to demonstrate the correctness of my remark. the short voyage from rangoon to calcutta was made pleasant by the kindness of a european friend in rangoon, who came "to see us off," and asked if he should introduce to me a little burmese lady, very rich and very _dã©vote_, who was on board with us, going to calcutta to pay a visit to her husband, who lived in that city. "she is one of our principal native residents," my rangoon friend explained to me before introducing her. "she is also intensely interested in her buddhist religion, and i think this may interest you, from what you have told me of your investigations." so the little lady was duly presented, and thinking to open our conversation pleasantly, i remarked that mr rowell had told me that she was much interested in religious questions, and that although not a theosophist myself, i numbered several of them amongst my friends. but i found myself quite on the wrong tack. she screwed up her little mouth, as if tasting some nasty medicine, and then said in excellent colloquial english: "oh, they are no good at all. they have muddled everything up, and got it all wrong. that is why we are beginning to write tracts and send out missionaries. the great buddha made no propaganda; neither did we for many, many centuries. we believe that people must grow into this knowledge; but now when you western people come and take little bits of our system, and piece them together all wrong--well, then, we are forced to show you what is the truth! it is like a puzzle map, and all you theosophists are trying to fit the pieces in, wrong side upward." and she finished with a merry and apologetic laugh, remembering, no doubt, that i had spoken of having friends amongst these "stupid muddlers"! she gave me quite a number of the "tracts" of which she had spoken, setting forth the true buddhism, and mostly printed in mandalay, and i made a point of passing these on to some of the friends i had mentioned to her. i can only trust they were appreciated, and efficacious in reducing the confusion resulting from trying to adapt eastern mysticism to western consumption! our conversation became still more interesting when i discovered that a mysterious fellow-passenger of ours on board the _devonshire_, sailing from marseilles to rangoon, had taken this voyage at the expense of the burmese lady, and, i am sorry to say, had occasioned her a great and quite inexcusable disappointment. this man, whom i will call dr grã¶ne, was a professor at a celebrated university in the south of europe, and was certainly a scholar--if not a gentleman! he had studied the buddhist writings very deeply, and his name had been conveyed to this burmese lady as that of one eager to throw off all ties of kinship, and retire--like the great buddha himself--from the world, and find repose and enlightenment in a burmese monastery. the only thing lacking in carrying out this excellent resolve was--as usual--_money_. the native lady, delighted to hear of so learned a gentleman, and one holding such an honourable position in europe, being converted to the tenets of her religion, and thus wishing to give the best example of their influence upon him, agreed joyfully to forward the funds for his journey and to make arrangements for his stay in rangoon before proceeding to mandalay, where he was to be received as a buddhist priest after a certain course of initiation. we had all remarked dr grã¶ne on board--partly because he was so thin and tall, and walked the deck so persistently in fine weather or foul; partly because he owned an exceptionally fine and long beard, which parted and waved in the breeze as he passed to and fro in his lonely perambulations. i never saw him speak to anyone on board except my own table companion, dr gall, the secretary of the church missionary society, and a very interesting and intelligent man. this latter was also a distinguished arabic scholar, and had lent me some striking monographs he had written on the mohammedan faith, striking both by the scholarship and breadth of view and tolerance, which one does not generally associate with the society that he represented. i had seen him more than once in the company of dr grã¶ne, and when we reached colombo, and read in the papers handed to us on broad that our ship contained the famous european professor who was journeying to mandalay to become a buddhist priest, after a touching farewell with wife and children, dr gall expressed both astonishment and incredulity. "he never said a word about it to me," was his remark. "i know he has studied the buddhist religion very deeply, and he is anxious to get access to some mss., which he hopes to find in burmah; but that is not the same thing as becoming a priest. i expect the papers have exaggerated the facts." as a matter of fact, dr grã¶ne certainly gave a lecture on buddhism in colombo on the day of our arrival, for one of our fellow-passengers had the curiosity to be present, but he, also, told me nothing had been said about the lecturer becoming a priest. the matter did not specially interest me; but on arrival at rangoon, the only decent (?) hotel was crowded, and most of us had to put up with a very inferior class of accommodation. a few hours of this establishment sufficed for most of the passengers, who promptly went up country or on the river; but miss greenlow and i were obliged to spend three or four days in rangoon, and dr grã¶ne was at first our only companion. so, of course, we spoke to each other in self-defence. he talked of his home life and university work, and casually mentioned the death of his wife, _five years previously_, and the children who were awaiting him at home. this certainly tallied more with dr gall's ideas than the sensational colombo newspaper account of his wife and children, to whom, like the great buddha, he had bidden an eternal farewell! naturally one did not touch upon this delicate subject, but i asked him how long he expected to remain in rangoon. to my surprise, he said at once that his stay was quite uncertain--he might even be returning by the _devonshire_, which was to sail within a week of her arrival. it seemed a long and expensive journey to take for so short a stay; but doubtless he had business reasons, and the matter dropped from my mind. when we returned, three or four weeks later, he was no longer in rangoon apparently, and i did not expect to come upon his tracks again. the burmese lady explained the grã¶ne mystery with some bitterness, and no wonder! having come out free, upon the understanding with her, already mentioned, she had taken a room for him at the hotel, and had busied herself in buying blankets and a carpet and other small luxuries, to break the mandalay monastery to him as gently as possible. when three days passed and he made no sign of moving on, she quietly intimated that it might be as well to begin the new life without delay, and said she had written to her brother, himself a priest in the monastery, to meet dr grã¶ne at mandalay and present him to the authorities at the monastery. this must probably have been about the time that i asked him innocently how long he would be staying in rangoon. his plan had doubtless been to go to mandalay in a dilettante sort of fashion, and to live in the monastery for a time, with the hope of getting access to some valuable and little known mss.; but it did not suit his plans at all to be met at once by the brother of his benefactress, and kept under the eye of this priest, who knew exactly the circumstances under which he had been enabled to take the long journey from marseilles. being evidently a prudent man, he determined to seize the first opportunity for retreat from an impossible situation. how he raised enough money for the return voyage is not known. my burmese acquaintance thought he must have applied to one of the consulates, and that his university position would doubtless ensure his raising a loan. anyway, he shipped himself surreptitiously once more on board the _devonshire_, and arranged that the letter, containing the usual excuse of a "sudden telegram from marseilles announcing the unexpected death of a near relation," should not be handed to his benefactress until the anchor was safely weighed. it was not a pleasant story, and treachery is no less perfidious for having an intellectual motive. i felt glad that dr grã¶ne was not a fellow-countryman. having disburdened herself on this one point of righteous indignation, our little burmese lady became as bright and cheery as a child, wearing her collection of pretty native dresses, which could all have been packed easily into a fair-sized doll's trunk, with singular grace and charm. when the tender arrived to disembark us in calcutta, her husband came with it, and was speedily introduced. we had tea with them a few days later in their handsome calcutta flat, and this gave me the opportunity for a long and interesting talk with the husband, who proved to be a most intelligent and open-minded man. he spoke of fielding hall's delightful book with appreciation tinged by kindly amusement. "he has been many years in the country, but he still judges us as a foreigner." when i suggested that the judgment was at least very flattering to the burmese, this burmese gentleman laughed, and said: "flattering? yes--but not always quite true. one must see from _inside_, not from outside, to be quite true in one's judgments; and no foreigner can see from outside. it is a question of race and heredity, not of having spent twenty or thirty years, or even a lifetime, in a foreign land." i suggested that those who saw from _inside_ only, might also lack some essential factor in forming an accurate judgment. he agreed heartily to this, adding: "yes, indeed. the ideal critic must have lived neither too near nor too far--mentally as well as physically; also he must have intuition. now mr fielding hall is an artist as well as a poet, but in judging my country he lets his intuition run riot sometimes, as well as his imagination." after reporting this conversation, it is unnecessary to add that my burmese friend spoke english rather better than i did myself. we then talked about the position of woman in burmah, and how much this had been extolled and held up as a object lesson to the rest of the world. if the position of woman is the true test of a nation's civilisation, as has been so often affirmed, then certainly burmah must be in the van of the nations! yet this is scarcely borne out by facts. i put this point as politely as i could, and my mind was at once set at ease by the purely impersonal way in which he met my remark. "of course, we are not in the van of the nations, and yet it is quite true that our women have an exceptional position--quite a good enough one for an election cry for the woman's suffrage! ah, yes! i have been in england," he added, with a merry twinkle in his little black eyes. "but you must realise that the unique position of woman with us is somewhat accidental. it is not the result of philosophical or moral conviction on the part of our men; it has been the natural outcome of circumstances, and a question of expediency rather than of ethics. so it was not really a 'test paper' for us at all! our frequent wars in the past have taken the men out of their homes, and the women, at such times, were left alone to cope with not only the domestic, but the agricultural problems. all business of this kind passed through their hands, and in time they developed the qualities of industry, good judgment and power of taking responsibility, necessary for success in such a life. then when the husbands came back and found everything going on so well and without trouble to themselves, they were only too glad to fall in with the existing state of things. we burmese are lazy fellows after all. we can rise to a big call, but if our women will look after our business for us, we are quite content to smoke our pipes in peace and look on--and, of course, the one who makes the wheels go round is the one who really drives the coach. believe me, there is more of expediency than nobility in the attitude of our men towards our women, and more of laziness than either, perhaps! but fielding hall would call this blasphemy, i am afraid!" and so, with a joking word, our interesting talk came to an end, leaving me with a sincere hope that i might some day meet again both the intelligent husband and the charming wife. i found the air at simla quite marvellous for psychic possibilities, and this was certainly a great surprise to me; nor was it only a question of altitude and a dry atmosphere. missouri and the dhera doon are celebrated for the purity of air and climate generally, but the influences there were quite different. even peshawar, with its glorious crown of snow-capped mountains, brought no special psychic atmosphere to me; nor the khyber pass, where i had thoroughly expected to be haunted by the horrors of the past; nothing of the kind occurred. the beauty of the day when we visited this historic pass was only to be matched by its own extreme natural beauty; but no haunting memories hung round it for me. perhaps a night passed in those rocky defiles might have brought some weird experience, but no european would be allowed to woo adventure in this way, even with the laudable desire for advance in psychological phenomena! but i stayed there quite long enough to prove--for the hundredth time--that _an attitude of expectation_ acts with me as a deterrent rather than encouragement, where the unseen is in question. i had heard so much of simla society and simla scandals, and so little of simla beauty and loveliness!--in nature, i mean--not human nature. it is true we were there at the most exquisite time in the year, when the air was still fresh and keen, when the last snows and the first blooms of rhododendrons were greeting each other, when the long stretches of valley, brown and purple and emerald green, lay like soft velvet in the immense distances towards the horizon line. as i looked at all this, day after day, it seemed to me that simla, without its crowds of social butterflies, male and female, and the dust and the flies, and even the heat that they bring with them, was one of the most exquisitely beautiful spots that the great creator ever "thought out" in his mind. nowhere have i seen such a _velvety_ effect of rolling hill and soft mountain-side; such gorgeous atmospheric visions; such a carnival of beauty and colour. we must have seen simla at the most ideal time in the year, or people must become _blasã©_ and blinded to its intoxicating beauty, thanks to tennis tournaments and government house receptions and the whole stupid social mill. not even the beauties of kashmir have dimmed the memory of simla for me; but i would not go there again, and in the season, for anything that could be offered to me. all beauty is sacred, and i guard jealously my sacred memory of the place, known to so many merely as a byword for folly and flirtation. some strange and curious experiences came to me there, both in automatic writing and other ways; but these are of too private a nature for publication. and so, with the beauty of simla and the romance of kashmir as jewels in my memory, i must end my second visit to india. it is said that pleasant as well as painful experiences are apt to run in _threes_. i trust this may be the case. if so, it will mean that once again i shall tread upon indian soil. chapter xiv a family portrait and psychic photography in the very heart of warwickshire there is a beautiful old "half timber" hall, approached by a noble avenue of elms. the hall has come down from father to son, in the direct line, for nearly six hundred years, as the dates upon the front of the house testify. the present squire is not only an old friend of my early youth, but is connected through marriage, and he and his wife and i have always been on very friendly terms. he is the usual type of fox-hunting squire and county magistrate, did good service during the south african war by raising a corps of yeomanry from the estate, and going out with them to fight his country's battles, and, needless to say, he received a hearty ovation from his wife and his county when he returned to them in safety. he is devoted to his beautiful house and estate, and is the last man to entertain fancies or superstitions in connection with either. it is necessary to give these few words of explanation before relating an "incident in my life" for which i have always found it difficult to account, except on the supposition that some germ of psychic sensitiveness may exist, even under a hunting squire's "pink coat and top-boots." i have known greba hall since i was a child, and all its quaint old family portraits, especially those in the fine oak-panelled hall, with the old-fashioned open fireplace and "dogs" of the fifteenth century. but there were so many of these pictures massed together that i have never distinguished one from the other, with the exception of the few immediate ancestors of my friend. some years ago i was staying with a lady who lived about three miles from greba, and we had driven over there to have tea with the squire's wife, whom i will call mrs lyon. the friend i have mentioned had become interested in psychic matters since my acquaintance with her, and i had discovered that she possessed some psychometric capacity. in the interests of non-psychic readers, i may explain that psychometry is the science of learning to receive impressions and intuitions from the atmosphere surrounding any material object--a letter, a ring, a piece of pebble or shell, and so forth. we seem capable of impressing all material objects with our personality, and naturally this is especially the case in letters written and signed by us. the lady with whom i was then staying--mrs fitz herbert--had tried receiving impressions from letters several times, at my suggestion, and always with more or less success. we had been speaking of this with mrs lyon, who was always very sympathetic, and she suggested giving one of her own letters to mrs fitz herbert to be "psychometrised." the latter was sitting facing a door which led from the hall to an inner room, and over this door hung the half-length portrait of an old gentleman, whom i had never specially remarked before, as the picture was hung rather high, and there was nothing very characteristic about the face. mrs fitz herbert glanced at the portrait once or twice as she held the letter, and began her remarks upon the writer; but i had no reason to suppose that the glance was other than casual and accidental. she gave, however, a very remarkably accurate description (as it turned out) of mrs lyon's unknown friend, both as to his character and the special and rather unique conditions of his life. i was feeling naturally gratified that my "pupil" should have acquitted herself so well, when she suddenly uttered a little expression of pain and complained of severe headache. i knew that she suffered from these headaches at times, and was therefore not surprised by her asking leave to ring for the pony carriage at once, and we were soon on our way home. mrs fitz herbert was driving the pony, and as we turned out of the long elm avenue she murmured in a tone of relief: "how thankful i am to have got away from that old man! i knew he was telling me what to say about that letter, but afterwards he wanted to give me some message himself, and i could not understand it, and that is what made my head so bad." then she explained, seeing my bewilderment, that she was referring to the old gentleman whose portrait hung over the door i have mentioned. i suggested that we had better try to find out what the old man wanted to say, and we arranged to do so that evening after dinner; but as mr fitz herbert (who had a very charming tenor voice) elected to come in and sing to us, the old gentleman's communication had to be postponed until the morning. mrs fitz herbert and i sat down in the drawing-room the next day, armed with pencils and paper, so soon as her domestic duties were over. she was most anxious that _i_ should take the message, but this seemed to me absurd, considering that i had received no sort of impression about the picture and could not even recall the face. so she took up the pencil very unwillingly, and after some difficulty the name of _richard lyon_ was given, with the information that he had owned greba, and had passed over to the next sphere about one hundred and thirty years previously. but when it came to trying to find out what he wanted to say, she professed herself quite unable to grasp it, and passed the pencil determinedly over to me. much to my surprise (for i had seemed to have no link with the old man at all), he was able to write through my hand with great ease. he explained to me that he had been much devoted to the property, had lived only to improve it in every possible way, and that through his concentration of interest on this one subject his life had been a very limited one, and that now he could not get away from the remembrance of his earth life and his beloved greba. "i suppose he is trying to explain that he is earth-bound," suggested mrs fitz herbert. "yes; that is just the truth," was the eager response through my hand, "and it is so sad to think that my own descendants are the ones to keep me imprisoned in this way. i am told that i could progress, as they call it here, and be much happier if i could only forget greba, even for a time. and it worries me to see things done so differently and not to be able to do anything myself for the old place. there is no happiness for me here. do ask them to set me free," he continued rather pathetically. "but they don't _want_ to hold you down," i answered. "tell me how they do it and what you wish them to do." the old man then explained the position very carefully and sensibly. he admitted that his own deep love for his old property and surroundings and his failure in life to develop any other very deep affection, was chiefly in fault, but he added, that his portrait being hung there, in the hall of his descendants, was also very unfortunate for him. "it drags me down--i don't know why--but i am sure i could get away more easily if they would not keep that picture in the old hall." a few more practical questions elicited the following instructions:--he said the picture might remain in the _county_, so long as it was not in any house owned by a _lyon_ (there were several members of the family in warwickshire); or it might be sent to london or elsewhere, and kept by members of the lyon family, so long as they were not in the direct descent, and _did not live in his old county_. we drove over to greba that afternoon, and took the "message" with us, knowing there was no fear of encountering the gibes of my fox-hunting friend at three p.m. on any week day in the hunting season. mrs lyon was extremely interested; she not only endorsed the _richard lyon_ and his dates, but told us that he had done an immense deal for the property, as her husband had often impressed upon her, and that at his death, about one hundred and thirty years before, he had lain in state for three days in the very hall where we had taken our tea, and where his picture now hung. this was great encouragement, so we put our heads together, wondering _how_ the poor old man's entreaty might be complied with. mrs lyon remembered that several of the old portraits were shortly to be sent to a picture dealer in the neighbouring town (some ten miles away) to be cleaned, but this special picture was not in need of restoration, unfortunately. "still, i could put it with the others, and let it go to warwick, and then tell the man not to do anything with it--but what would edward say? can you _imagine_ his allowing the picture to be taken down upon this evidence?" from an acquaintance with "edward" extending over large tracts of years, i was forced to admit that even my robust imagination could not reach so far. "_skittles!_" or "_confounded cheek!_" would be his mildest reply to such a request, even from the friend of his youth! i did not care to think how much further his indignation might carry him! but i felt so strongly that something outside myself had inspired the message, with its accurate instructions, that at last i prevailed upon mrs lyon to promise she would mention the matter to her husband, and thus leave the responsibility of refusal with _him_. she did so, and the refusal was all my fancy had painted--and more! several months passed, and the following spring i was once more in the neighbourhood, staying with my own relations this time, who were related also to the squire and his wife. the first piece of news i received at dinner the night of my arrival was that the greba hall picture _had been sent in to warwick!_ i could hardly believe my ears. my relatives could tell me nothing beyond the fact, and advised my paying an early visit to greba hall during the absence of the master. i did this, and mrs lyon told me all she knew about the matter, which was not very much. "after you were here last," she said, "i spoke to edward as i promised, and, of course, he laughed the whole thing to scorn, and was very rude about our tomfoolery." "yes, i know all about that," i answered hastily. "but what happened _afterwards_--after i left warwickshire, i mean?" "that was the queerest part of it all," she resumed. "a few days after you had gone away he stood under the picture one evening, coming in from hunting and waiting for tea in the hall, and said as he looked up at old richard lyon: "'do you suppose i should allow _your_ picture to be taken down--_you_ who did so much for my property? of course not!'" "this happened once or twice, at intervals. then he _said_ nothing, but i used to notice that he always looked up at the picture whenever he came into the hall or stood by the fireplace. at last, about three months ago, he turned round suddenly, and said: "'when are you going to send those pictures to be cleaned?' now you know i had been keeping the other pictures back, with a dim hope that edward might relent. but i saw it was quite useless, so i told him they were going next day. to my intense surprise he said rather abruptly: 'then send this picture with them, and don't ask me any questions.'" his wife took the hint, and waited for no second bidding. off went the picture to the warwick shop, and there it remained for nearly six months. when it came back eventually, the squire was very triumphant on the subject, but i was equally triumphant in pointing out that nothing could alter the fact that the picture _had_ been sent away, in spite of his earlier denunciations of our folly. also i suggested that a good deal can happen in six months on either side of the veil, and that no doubt poor old richard lyon had had ample opportunity to "get free," as he called it, thanks to the unaccountable action of his descendant! i have reserved this story for my last chapter for two reasons. it happened within the last few years, but i cannot remember the exact date, and dare not inquire from my irascible hunting friend; and also it did not specially link on to any of the previous incidents described. * * * * * i must now pass on to the autumn months of 1905, which found me in eastbourne, where i have various kind friends. i had been going through a time of great anxiety, owing to family reasons, and went down to eastbourne with every prospect of finding rest and peace there. i arrived on the 11th of november, and the first few days amply justified my hopes. then a feeling of the most intense depression came over me, quite unexpected and unaccountable. my family anxieties and responsibilities were happily over. i had been able to make a wise, and, as it turned out, most admirable choice, in finding a fresh attendant for an invalid brother, and there was nothing now to be done but to rest on my oars and be thankful that a most trying time--requiring infinite patience and tact--was over. when this unaccountable depression came on so suddenly, i put it down to reaction, and expected it to pass away with returning strength, after the heavy strain. but it _increased_ as the weeks passed on into december, and did not lift until about eight a.m. on the morning of 22nd december. then i had one of the most vivid experiences of my life. as suddenly as they had enveloped me some weeks before, so did the heavy clouds now roll off, leaving me with a sense of freedom and exaltation such as i have seldom experienced. this sense of freedom and joy and happiness was so marked that i mentioned it at once to an intimate friend, who came to see me that day after breakfast. i said to her: "i can only describe it as if one had suddenly been let out of prison or taken from a dark, dismal room into one with glorious sunshine streaming through the windows, where the very sense of being alive is sufficient joy; in fact, i never felt so thoroughly alive before. and the curious thing is that there is no apparent reason for this--nothing is changed--i have not even had any specially pleasant letters. life is just the same on the outer; but on the _inner?_ well, i cannot describe it!" "but can't you account for it at all?" asked my friend, who had been with me through all the depressing influences of the former weeks and was astounded, as well as delighted, by the inexplicable change in my spirits. "well, it is the day after the shortest day," i said, laughing. "but it has never had such an extraordinary effect upon me before." all day long this exuberant feeling of delight and happiness remained. i had no specially spiritual or religious experience in connection with it, but rather the happy feeling of confidence that a child might have, who, after wandering about in unknown lanes and thorny paths, suddenly found himself transported, with no effort of his own, to the dear, familiar house and loving home faces. five days later, in a private letter, i read the first allusion to the death of dr richard hodgson. it came to me in a letter from mrs forbes, not as a fact, but as an uncorroborated report, which would probably be found incorrect. "_there is nothing about it in the times this morning, so i don't suppose it is true._" these were her exact words. i don't think i ever really doubted the truth of it, although it came as a bolt out of the blue. only a few days previously, a letter from an intimate friend of dr hodgson in america (he had brought us together) mentioned her having seen him lately and thinking he was really much depressed over his work and other matters, "_though, doubtless, if i taxed him with this he would say it was quite untrue; but i feel quite convinced that it is true_." these words had not at the time given me any clue to my own curious depression, but when the first _rumour_ of his death reached me, i felt convinced that it was true, and that i must have taken on his joyful conditions when he first found himself on the other side of the veil. i can only surmise, therefore, that the weeks of my depression _may_ have corresponded with feelings alluded to by his intimate friend; although less intuitive, if not less valued associates, may have noticed nothing but his usual cheery and genial spirits. a telegram sent to mr stead showed me clearly that my inquiry had been _his_ first intimation of anything wrong. then, in despair of getting accurate information, i wrote to sir oliver lodge, who kindly responded at once, confirming my worst fears. he was good enough to send me later the particulars of the event, supplied by professor william james. it was a bitter blow for _us_, but for _him_ how joyous an awakening! i am grateful for having had, through personal experience, even a dim reflection of that wonderful new life, so overwhelming and so exuberant, that its rays could reach to the hearts of some of those who had been honoured by his friendship. on comparing notes i found that, allowing for difference of time, forty-eight hours must have elapsed between his physical departure and my experience of his awakening to new conditions. there may be various ways of accounting for this. the spirit may not have been wholly freed at once from its physical envelope, but may have remained possibly, in some condition of unconsciousness, after the strangely sudden severance of the tie that binds body and soul together. _note._--since the above was written, i have received an explanation of the lapse of time between the passing of doctor hodgson, 20th december, and my experience of 22nd december 1905. on 6th february 1907 i had the privilege of a sitting with miss maccreadie, who not only gave an accurate description of doctor hodgson's personal appearance, and of his sudden call hence, but added that this spirit wished to explain to me that he had not been able to get entirely away from the body for quite two days after physical death, and that meanwhile he must have been in a state of trance. miss maccreadie did not know the name of the spirit whom she described so accurately, and whose message was thus conveyed to me.--e. k. b. some time after dr hodgson left us, a friend in london wrote to me that she had either just read or heard that he had made some communication, to the effect that "_he was not very happy, as he had regarded his work only from the intellectual point of view_." this seemed to me a most unlikely sort of message to come from such a man. in such cases there is nothing like going to the fountain-head for information, and this came to me in the following words, which are, i think, characteristic and certainly sensible:-"my work _was_ intellectual--how could i regard it from any other point of view? that has nothing to do with the spiritual side of things. my spiritual life was very latent, it is true; but it was sincere, so far as it went, and in this more favourable atmosphere, the buds are unfolding, and i am learning more and more of the love and wisdom which i always dimly saw and appreciated. it is the attitude of mind which is all-important, and my attitude, though critical, was never obstructive, as you know." * * * * * i should like to say a few words now on the subject of superstitions. we are _all_ superstitious in various ways and upon different points--i may laugh at _your_ superstition because it does not happen to appeal to me, but you may be quite sure you could find out my "achilles heel" if we lived together long enough. the only difference between people is, that some are honest about their superstitions and others--are not! i met a lady not long ago at a foreign _table d'hã´te_ who started our acquaintance by remarking that she was thankful to say she had not a single superstition. before we had spent ten days under the same roof i discovered that she believed in portents and lucky stones and the "whole bag of tricks," and possessed the power of seeing people in their astral bodies. this is to introduce my own strongest superstition, which is a horror of seeing the new moon for the first time through glass. _breaking_ glass is almost as disastrous in my experience, even if the article itself only costs a few pence. now i do not for one moment suggest that either one or other is the _cause_ of my subsequent misfortunes. no one surely can be childish enough to suppose such a thing; yet i have known sensible people labour this point in order to show me the folly of my ways--and thoughts. again, i am quite aware that some people may break as much glass or china as the proverbial bull, and see the moon through the former medium every month of their lives, and not be a penny the worse for it--beyond the amount of their breakages. i only maintain that for _me_ these two things are invariably the precursors of misfortune. when people say to me: "how can a sensible woman like yourself be so foolish as to think such things?" i can only truthfully answer that i should be very much _more_ foolish if so many years of my life had passed without my noticing the sequence of events. but to _explain_ the phenomena is quite another matter. it seems to me quite reasonable that, allowing the possibility of influences coming to us from the other side, some sign--no matter how trivial--might be impressed upon us as a gentle warning to be prepared for disasters, more or less severe. another curious thing is this: i have never found that avoiding seeing the moon through glass _in any artificial way_ prevents disaster. i used to let kind friends, indulgent to my "folly," lead me blindfold up to the window, carefully thrown open for my benefit. i can remember a most elaborate scene of precaution once, in an american railway carriage between philadelphia and boston, when a charming american lady, about to lecture on woman's suffrage, and grateful to me for some points i had given her with regard to the woman's question in new zealand, insisted upon having a heavy window pulled up by a negro attendant, when she found out my little weakness. it was all of no avail. left alone, i should most certainly have seen the moon through glass on that occasion, and i felt, even at the moment, that i had not really altered anything by falling in with the kind american lady's suggestion. in september 1906 i was going through a course of baths at buxton, and on a certain sunday (2nd september) i saw the moon through glass in my bedroom window in the most unmistakable way. there was no friendly cloud, no other twinkling light to throw the smallest shadow of doubt upon the fact. there was much good-humoured laughter over my "superstition" in the house; but i knew _some_ trouble was on its way, little dreaming that it was one which would alter my whole life. on the wednesday morning (5th september) i received the first intimation of what proved to be the last illness of a brother who has been mentioned in these pages already, and who had been an invalid for nearly thirty years. a point to be noticed is that on the sunday, when the sign came to me, he was in his usual health, and even on monday went out for a long drive. the first attack of angina pectoris only came on in the middle of the night of monday-tuesday, 3rd to 4th september. later, when the disease had become acute, and i was in the south of england, living in hourly suspense, and receiving telegrams and letters several times a day, another curious incident occurred which has a bearing upon our subject. as my readers are probably aware, in this sad and painful illness the only proof of unselfish affection which one can give, may be to keep away from the patient, when you know that all is being done for him that skill and devotion can suggest. the smallest agitation is almost certain to bring on a fresh attack of the terrible pain, and so long as there is _any_ hope of a rally, or, in fact, any consciousness that can possibly result in increased suffering, _everyone_ should be kept away from the patient except those who are in actual and necessary attendance. this naturally entails great mental distress and suffering upon those who are living from hour to hour, in a state of tension and suspense. after more than a fortnight of alternate hopes and fears, the position became almost unendurable, and i was making all preparations for a visit to the patient, or at least to the house where he lay (against my better judgment), when letters and a telegram arrived imploring me not to come, as a short visit from another relative had proved most disastrous in bringing on another attack of the terrible pain; from which he never really rallied. under these distressing circumstances, there could be but one course open to me. i was staying with my kind friends admiral and mrs usborne moore at this sad time, and can never feel sufficiently grateful for their goodness to me and sympathy with my distress. the admiral, as many of us know, is a most persevering student of psychic science, and i think it was by his suggestion, or at anyrate with his approval, that i determined to pay a visit to a lady of whom he had spoken to me--mrs arnold, a daughter-in-law of sir edwin arnold--who is a gifted clairvoyant. i went alone to the house, that she might not be able to connect me with my host and hostess; and the interview was a remarkable one. there were many evidential points given, which, for family reasons, it is impossible to publish. she gave me the crystal ball to hold for a good five minutes, in order that it might become impregnated by my influence; and then she took it from me, and began making a series of statements, without pausing for a moment or attempting to "fish," to use a technical term. these statements included my own life and studies and chief interests, and the number and sex of my immediate family; also the attitude of the various members towards myself, and in each case the special statement was absolutely correct. her first words were: "you are in great anxiety, i see. it is about the illness of an elderly man. _two_ people with whom you are in very intimate relations are ill, i see, but i will tell you now of the one you wish to hear about especially." she went on to describe not only my brother's surroundings and illness at the time, but also his permanent state of paralysis, adding that he was now in the country, for she saw green trees all round him and waving grass. as my brother's life for many years had been spent entirely between london and the seaside, this was a good bit of evidence. as a matter of fact, he was spending a few weeks in a country cottage for the first time in his life. the single point where she failed was as to the _time_ of his passing away. she saw at once that the illness was one from which he could not permanently recover, and gave the approximate time very tentatively. "we cannot see times exactly--they come only in symbols. for instance, i see now falling leaves; it looks like an autumn scene, and so i infer that means later on--perhaps october or november." this, as i have said, was the only mistake in the whole interview. my brother passed to the higher life on 24th september. when i saw his valet in town later, i asked him about the trees, and he explained that owing to the great heat, the leaves were all over the ground, and gave an autumnal look to everything. most of us noticed the same appearance in london and elsewhere, even quite early in september 1906. the _second_ friend lying dangerously ill was a puzzle to me at the time; but within five days of my brother's transition, i heard of the death of judge forbes, who was one of my most intimate friends, as mrs arnold had truly observed. his illness was a very short one; but on comparing notes with members of his family i found that he had taken to his bed three days _before_ my visit to mrs arnold, and was already very seriously ill, although i had no knowledge of the fact for more than a week after my interview with her. before closing these personal records i must say a few words on the much vexed question of psychic photographs. as my friend admiral usborne moore observes in a letter received from him as i write these words: "we are dealing with a great mystery here." he is himself one of those who by persevering effort is helping us to solve the mystery. it is certainly the branch of psychic science which promises the best results from an evidential point of view, but it must be a case of "each man his own photographer." there is always a tendency in human nature to be over-credulous as to our own achievements, and over-sceptical as to those of our neighbours. so for many years probably, we shall only accept our "very own" psychic photographs as quite genuine; but when a sufficient number of people are convinced by their personal experiences in this line of research, there will be some hope that the subject will go through the usual stages--(1) impossible and absurd; (2) possible, but very improbable; (3) possible, and not even abnormal; (4) finally, normal, and "_just what we knew all about from the first!_" meanwhile some of us have been experimenting, with professional assistance, and in these cases the question is not "can such photographs be faked?" we all know nowadays that faking photographs is the easiest of all possible frauds. i have spent many a half hour doing the faking myself, with an amateur photographer, by sitting for so many seconds in a chair and then vacating it in favour of some other "spook"! no, the whole question at present must be determined by our recognition or non-recognition of the photographs produced. if mr boursnell or any other photographer can produce (_as he has done_) my old nurse, who died twenty-three years ago, and was never photographed in her life, then we must find some other suggestion than that of "common or garden faking" as a solution of the mystery. there she sits, as in life, with a little knitted shawl round her shoulders and the head of a tiny child upon her lap. the eyes are closed, and give a dead look to the face, yet the features are to me quite unmistakable, and no one knew the dear old woman so well as i did. again, i have in my little picture gallery, an old and very well-known oxford professor, in whose house i stayed many times. quite unexpectedly he appeared on one of mr boursnell's plates last summer, and although this special photograph is fainter than the one just described, the likeness can only be denied by someone more anxious to be sceptical than truthful. i compared the photograph with an engraving of the professor in much earlier life--which is to be found in the life published since he passed away--with an artist friend (who had not known him). we went over the features one by one, and my friend said she noticed only one small difference, the exact length of the upper lip, and this, she considered, would be amply accounted for by the lapse of time between the two pictures and the slight lengthening of the upper lip owing to loss of teeth. the professor passed away as an old man; the picture engraved in the life represents him as he was at least twenty years before his death. but the most interesting point to me in this photograph, is the appearance on his lap of a much loved dog, a rather large fox terrier named "bob." i had not noticed bob until a daughter of the professor pointed him out to me, and now i cannot understand having missed him at first. bob was not only the most important person in the oxford household, but he was good enough to be very fond of me, so it seems to me quite natural that he should have come with his master to pay me a visit. i remember arriving at the house one dark winter's evening after an absence of over two years, and bob's welcome to me was so ecstatic that he nearly knocked me down in a vain attempt to get his paws round my neck. i heard the professor, who was always rather jealous of bob's affections, say in a whisper to his wife: "most touching thing i ever saw, that dog's welcome when miss bates arrived!" dear bob! i am so glad he can still come and see me, with his dearly loved master. another shuffle of the photographs brings to the top a sweet girlish face and figure, "sixteen summers or something less." she appeared first upon a plate in the summer of 1905, but so indistinctly as to the _face_ that i could not recognise it. a few months ago the same figure appeared again, but quite clearly this time, and involuntarily, as i looked at it, i exclaimed: "_why, of course, it is lily blake!_" now it is nearly thirty years since i met this charming child; during my first visit to egypt. she and her father (a well-known physician) and her aunt, were spending a six weeks' holiday in cairo, and i saw more of her than would otherwise have been the case, because she was the playmate of another young girl--the child of friends of mine at shepheard's hotel. lily was a sweet-looking, delicate girl, with soft, sleepy blue eyes, and was always dressed in a simple, artistic fashion. a few months after our return to england i saw in the papers the death of this pretty child; for she was little more at the time. i wrote a letter of condolence and sympathy, which was at once answered by the aunt in very kind fashion; and since then i have seen nothing to remind me of lily until this last year has brought her once more within my ken. i am only too thankful to realise that any influence so pure and beautiful as hers, may be around me sometimes in my daily life. * * * * * and now let me say, in the words of our great novelist: "come, children, let us shut up the box and the puppets, for our play is played out!" only i trust in this case we have managed to rise a little above the usual atmosphere of vanity fair. surely the aim of all psychic research should be to give us a _scientific_, as we have already, thank god, a spiritual, foundation for the "hope that is in us." spirit photographs and spirit materialisations and abnormal visions or abnormal sounds amount to very little, if we look upon them as an end in themselves, and not as the symbols and the earnest of those greater things which "eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of _man_ to conceive." i remember, years ago, in the course of a deeply interesting conversation with phillipps brooks, the late bishop of massachusetts, that i asked him what he thought about modern theosophy, which was just then becoming a _culte_ in his native town of boston. there was a great deal of talk at the time about the new philosophy and the wonderful phenomena said to accompany its propaganda. sir edwin arnold had written his "light of asia," and oliver wendell holmes had welcomed it with wondering awe, as something approaching a new revelation. and smaller people were talking about the historical blavatsky tea-cups, and hidden heirlooms found in indian gardens, and some of us were wondering how soon we should learn to fly, and what would come next. the bishop's answer to my question was so genial, so characteristic, and showed such divine common-sense! "it is not a question of _flying_," he said. "i should like to fly as much as anybody; and a queer sort of bird i should appear!" (he was well over six feet, and broad in proportion.) "if you suddenly found you could fly," he continued, "it would be _absorbing_ on monday morning, _intensely interesting_ on tuesday, _interesting_ on wednesday, and _quite pleasant_ on thursday, but by the end of the week it would be getting normal, and you would want to discover some other new power. no, believe me, the real question is not _flying_, but where you would fly, and what you would do when you got there." this sums up the case in a nut shell, and seems to me only another way of saying: "don't forget the spiritual significance beneath the scientific symbol." and i would add: "let us all join hands in the interesting and absorbing work of trying to make our symbols as scientific as we can, by finding out the laws which govern them, as well as all other things, in this universe of love and law. probably we are here to learn, above all things else, that love and law are one." * * * * * many people have had far more remarkable experiences than mine. for various good reasons i have carefully abstained from any attempt to cultivate, or in any way increase, the sensitiveness which is natural to me. i can only assure my readers that my record has been absolutely accurate. in many cases it would have been very easy to write up the stories into some far more dramatic form; but by doing so the whole aim and object of my book would have been destroyed. i wanted to trace the thread of what we at present consider abnormal, through the whole skein of a single life, hoping thereby to encourage others to do the same. it is only by putting these things down, if not for publication, then in some diary or commonplace book, that we can realise how far our normal life is, even now and here, interpenetrated by another plane of existence. and so farewell to all kind readers who have followed me to the end of my personal record of curious events--curious chiefly by reason of our present imperfect knowledge. appendix i much has been said of the folly and triviality of all messages coming, or purporting to come, from the unseen. i think here, as elsewhere, like clings to like, and we get very much what we deserve; or rather, to put it in a more philosophical and emersonian way, we receive _what belongs to us_. emerson tells us in one of his most illuminating passages, that everything which belongs to our spiritual estate is coming to us as quickly as it can travel. all the winds of heaven, all the waves of earth, are bringing it to us, and neither angel nor devil can prevent our taking what is ours or rejecting what is _not_ ours. this is a universal law, and applies to automatic writing as to everything else. emphatically we get what belongs to our spiritual estate. therefore any casual and general remarks as to the foolishness of all automatic writing, must of necessity be made by those who are ignorant of this spiritual law, or whose experience of such messages is very limited. i intend to give a few which i have myself received, in the form of an appendix to my book. with one exception, they all come from a very dear friend, who passed into the other sphere little more than a year ago under peculiarly happy circumstances. i do not wish to give his name, although it would add considerably to the interest of the narrative. i shall therefore call him mr harry denton. the messages will be given exactly in the form in which they were received, and without any editing. we never discussed theological ideas from any standpoint of _creed_; but i imagine that my friend, when here, would have looked upon jesus christ as one of the many inspired teachers of the world, and that his views were cosmic rather than religious--_in any narrow sense_--and certainly _religious_, in the broad sense of the term, rather than _theological_. the first conversation (for this is a better description of my friend's communications than the word _message_) refers to my own attitude, as compared with that of a lady friend of mine, regarding jesus of nazareth. h. d.--i see a great stream of light round you, kate, and it seems to have come with your truer conception of jesus christ. it is all right for your friend to say she prefers to put the matter aside and leave it alone. that is just the best thing she can do; in fact, the _only_ thing she can do at present. the seed is still underground, and the moment of emergence has not come. to try and force it above ground just now, would be fatal. it would also be immature and uncalled for. the old husks of man-made creeds must drop off gradually, leaving the bud they protected intact, not be torn off by an impatient hand. so far her instinct seems to me a true one. but the case is widely different for _you_. the husks _have_ fallen off, as a matter of fact, and the discomfort and sense of something wrong arose from your knowing that you were only striving desperately to clutch on to them, when the fine, strong bud was there, able and ready to take its proper share of sunshine and rain, and even to bear the cold winds of misrepresentation and misunderstanding if need be. "quit you like men, be strong." that is _your_ lesson-book, and you will never feel happy or content until you are learning it. surely you must feel how much you have gained since you faced your own facts? e. k. b.--yes, harry, i do; but i don't quite understand _your_ position. are you at the same point of view? h. d.--no; not yet. it is all rather foreign to my previous notions. i thought of jesus of nazareth as a great teacher--one of _the_ great teachers of the world--but i had still to learn his unique position as regards our chain of worlds. they tell me here that he was the _first_ to attain to the full stature of the _divine man_ as he existed in the thought of the absolute. spiritual evolution is the process, apparently the only process, whereby a son of god in this sense can appear. and ã¦ons of time have been necessary to produce this fine flower of humanity. your own band are helping me to understand this. _having attained, being the anointed one_, it is given to him to bring the whole race after him. this is quite a different conception from my former one, and the one held by most of those whom in old days we called unitarians. _you_ have had to _unlearn_, or rather to drop, some of the husks of old tradition which have been guarding the truth for you, whereas i have still _to come up to the truth_; but the point reached will be the same, whether the approach to it is from north or south--do you see? in christ jesus, they tell me, we are _all_ new creatures, as a matter of fact; because, consciously or unconsciously, we are working together with him to realise and manifest ourselves, as made after the image of god. he is the example and the pledge for us. st paul saw this, of course, and your present position illuminates his teaching for me enormously. so i have much to thank you for, kate. it is easier to learn from those we know and trust, than from strangers. and, moreover, when we can learn from the loved ones on earth _as well as through the loved ones here_, it makes the links in the golden chain complete, and helps us to realise the unity and solidarity of our common existence, _in the father--with the son_. h. d. ii another morning i had told h. d. that i had been reading an article in _the nineteenth century--and after_, i think, entitled "an agnostic's progress," and asked if he had sensed it through me at all. h. d.--yes. we will begin with that this morning. i am very glad you read it, for it is curiously like my own experiences in the same line. since coming over here, and thereby coming into such direct touch with you, i have been able to grasp the key to much that puzzled me on the other side. as my views became more spiritualised i saw there _must_ be more truth in the christian religion than outsiders supposed, and yet i knew it could not be absolutely true _in the form in which it has been handed down_. _that_ was for me unthinkable, because i saw it would be a sudden and catastrophic incursion upon a cosmos of law and order. it would mean god working in the highest departments of his creation, as he is never seen to work in the lower ones. and my faith in him prevented my entertaining such an idea! schemes and plans of salvation belong to the comparative childhood of the race, not to the full-grown spiritual man. they are still in the fairy-tale stage, holding a truth, but acting only as the husk of the truth. the unity of the race; the necessity for self-sacrifice in realising that unity: that by giving our life for our brothers we save our _life_, which is that unity in which the brethren are included--all this i could accept in christ's teaching or the teaching of the apostles; but the rest: the detail, the carefully arranged _scheme_ of the atonement, etc., as dogmatic doctrines--all these seemed to me so obviously the desperate attempts of man at a certain stage of development to fit in spiritual facts with the most probable theories; and to say that men who wrote of these things were inspired, and _therefore infallible_, was absurd. even in my short life, i had seen the world pass through several stages of belief and assimilate them in turn. as a child, i was told that god was angry with people for sinning and breaking his commandments, and so jesus christ offered to come and die on the cross to appease his just wrath. that seemed a great puzzle to me, because, although it might account for what happened _before_ christ came and _until_ he came, i could not understand why god _should go on letting people come into the world_ who would break his laws, and make him still more angry for centuries and centuries. that seemed to me, as a child, so unnecessary. later i was told it was not god's anger but his sense of justice that had to be appeased and satisfied, which was a distinct step in advance. a little later, however, i read that this was not the hidden truth of the doctrine. the religious world (the thoughtful section of it) now arrived at the idea that it was not god who needed to be satisfied or appeased in any of his attributes, but man, and that god--in the person of his son--came into the world to reconcile the world to him, and not himself to the world. this was a complete _bouleversement_ of the whole situation, though it came so gradually that few appreciated that fact. the last suggestion appeared to me by far the most luminous. in human life it is invariably the _lower_ nature that needs to be reconciled and conciliated; whilst the higher nature, in proportion to its development, is forgiving and tolerant and wide-minded, and does not prate about its own high sense of justice requiring to be appeased. the best type of _man_ punishes a wrong-doer in order that he may learn to do better and leave off tormenting and wronging his fellow-creatures; not to appease any instinct in his own breast, for that would be egotism, no matter how we might try to disguise the fact. now if it would be a blot upon the best conceivable _man_ to be egotistical, _a fortiori_ must it be upon god. to conceive otherwise is to make god in the likeness of the lower and not the higher humanity. i thought all that out very clearly. still this crux remained for me, that to be suddenly, at any arbitrary moment in the world's history, obliged, as it were, to send an absolutely divine part of himself into the world, was the way a _man_ would act faced by an unforeseen catastrophe, but not the way in which god has acted throughout the rest of our history. a succession of teachers, enlightening the world by degrees, and culminating in the anointed son of god--the flower of humanity--_this_ is entirely in line with the processes of nature and the laws of god, so far as we know them. all progress has its culminating point. ã�ons have passed to produce the most exquisite crystals, the highest forms of vegetation, of animals, of men. then came the slow processes of civilising and educating men; the dim instincts of fear and propitiation, merging, by slow degrees, in the first conceptions of love, as something apart from desire, and so forth. was i to be expected to shut my eyes to all these known facts, and bolt down the theories contained in one book, written by human authors, no matter how admirable? i felt it was impossible. then i remembered with relief that these very dogmas, as a matter of fact, were in so fluent a state, that my own bare fifty years of living had seen at least four different high-water marks! here again therefore, under my very eyes, was the universal law of progress working, the moment it _could_ work, by being released from the swaddling-clothes of the roman catholic church, which, so far as it is orthodox, is fossilised. i saw also that the whole body of dissent had moved on, taking up its pegs and planting them a little further on each time; till a city temple, with its widening theology, was an established fact. progress everywhere--slow, but sure--and the pace getting quicker, even in my short span! still, the _uniqueness_ of jesus of nazareth and his influence over the nineteen centuries was a puzzle. buddha's influence has lasted longer, mahomet's almost as long (the two cancel any way), but i have always recognised an _advance_ in the teaching of jesus christ. he brought a fresh element, in the personal note of the sonship with god. i was at this point when i came over here. now through your mind i have been able to see, and, oddly enough, to quicken in your soul, the seed already planted there. they tell me the illumination came to you years ago, at oberammergau--no, not when you were there for the passion play--four years earlier. you took it in with your head then, not with your heart. old traditions were too strong, i suppose, and you had not made up the last little bit of your mind, to be true to the convictions that had come to you through your prayers for light. and so you have gone on, see-sawing to and fro, not really believing the old orthodox ideas, but not courageously sweeping them away for yourself. so although the key was in your hands, you have not used it until now. you have given me the key, and i have been allowed, as _my_ new year's gift, to fit it in the door. this is how jesus christ has stood so long at the door of _your_ heart and knocked. he could only enter through the one door--namely, _that one opened in the highest point of your spiritual realisation_. i see now that he comes in at that door in each soul, and, as spiritual evolution unfolds in each heart, so is the special position of that door shifted; but the fact of his presence is the vital one! it was not possible for him to do otherwise than hide his face, as it were, whilst you were barring his only door of access--_i.e. your true point of realisation_. it all seems so clear to me now. and this is how he comes to so many in different guises. he is the perfected manifestation of god, as the divine man--the flower of humanity. but he can come into the heart in the narrowest creed, so long as the holder of that creed is at _his true point of growth_ and not trying to stifle god's gift of ever-advancing truth by cowardly want of trust, or fear of being worse off in the end, by being absolutely honest to himself and his own convictions in the present. it has been a long message, and you have taken much of it awkwardly, but on the whole it represents what i wanted to say. h. d. iii h. d.--i feel now that you want to know what i meant by telling miss r. it was the _likeness_ to the old world which puzzled me here. you see, we have all imbibed traditional ideas with our mother's milk, however much our intellects may have modified them. instinct is stronger than intellect, because it is more elemental. the first thing that struck me was that truths which are latent on earth are made manifest here. (here comes an interpolation.) you can take my words so easily that we must guard against wasting time in mere verbosity. i must teach you to condense more. we must strike some sort of balance between my brevity and your amplification. at present it is as well to get the instrument into proper working order before worrying too much over these details. (he then resumed.) it is as if you turned the old earth garment inside out, and saw the very fabric of it, which the earth looms have hitherto concealed by the warp and woof of the manufactured article. for instance, you are told on earth that you are making your own future conditions by right or wrong thinking. _here_ you see the absolute, _material_ results of right and wrong thinking, just as if you were looking at two different patterns, woven by two different workers. i said material results, because matter here is just as real as it was on earth, and just as illusory, in one sense, in both spheres. your matter is unreal to us. our matter is unreal to you. the truth is, both are shadows cast by an antecedent reality on the screens of the universe. the screens are the school-houses through which humanity learns its lessons. don't be worried! there is no real difficulty in using your hand; it is only trying to compromise between your redundancy and my brevity. earth is like a gallery of sculpture. (note by e. k. b.--this simile had flashed through my brain, and h. d. at once said: "yes, that is very good; you started it, and i pick it up and apply it.") all the figures and groups are perfected and complete in their marble or bronze or terra-cotta, as the case may be. some groups or figures are noble, others mediocre, others again may be sensual and degrading, but they have one quality in common--for good or bad, they are _ready made_. now go into the sculptor's studio, having studied well in the great sculpture galleries of the world. you go to the studio, we will suppose, as a pupil. he puts a lump of clay into your hands, and for the first time you are invited to model your own statues and figures, to embody your own ideas in this clay, which corresponds to thought stuff _here_. you are even made to understand that your houses will only be worthily furnished by the work of your own hands. _here_ it is the work of your own hearts, of your loving or unloving thoughts. so the first lesson we learn over here is that thought is not only creative power, as you are often told on earth, but it is also the very stuff out of which the creation must be moulded. it is, in very truth, the clay of the modeller. shakespeare said truly enough "we are such stuff as dreams are made of," but he was referring to our embodied selves. the difference between the two worlds seems to me, so far as i have arrived, as the difference between the pupil in the sculpture gallery and in the experimental studio. the chief part of the earth modelling is ready made--made by the racial thought stuff and the racial manipulation of it. _here_, for the first time, we must turn to and take a hand in the work ourselves. it would not be possible to give such individual power in any lower sphere than this, for it would be misused, and would lead to terrible tragedies. you see some slight hints of this in what is called black magic--the wilful and intentional throwing of evil conditions on other people, making hard and cruel images of them in the mind, and so forth. but all that is as child's play to what would happen if the absolute clay were put into their hands, as it is here. it is the difference between thinking out an ugly picture; and painting it and hanging it up in a gallery; for we have objectivity here as with you. naturally what comes into objective existence has more power than what remains latent. the latter can only influence exceptionally sensitive souls, and that to a comparatively small extent, whereas the former, here as with you, has a much farther range of influence. so this sort of gunpowder is not given to us until we are old enough to know better than to burn our fingers with it, in trying to make fireworks! at the same time, as all stages of evolution overlap, it is inevitable that some hint of these possibilities should be already in your world. woe be to those who misuse them! you have taken enough for this morning. h. d. iv the friend i have called mr harry denton, during his psychic researches, came, as many others have done, very strongly under the influence of "imperator," the chief of the stainton moses controls. i knew that this was the case, especially during the last three or four years of my friend's life, and i always rather resented the fact, for the limitations of imperator have always appealed to me so strongly, as to dim, perhaps unduly, his undoubted claims to appreciation. i have read many of the private stainton moses' records (thanks to my friendship with the executor, with whom these journals were left), and in all those referring to imperator's communications, there was to my mind the same note of cock-sureness and mental tyranny. there was too much of finality and self-assertion, too much of "_thus saith the lord_," about imperator's remarks for my rebellious soul. i could never be strongly impressed by any personality, however admirable, that so palpably exacted allegiance and unquestioning obedience. these must be the unconscious tribute to the genius of holiness, as to any other sort of genius; never an enforced levy upon us. so at least it seems to me. certainly i would not escape one sort of priestcraft to set up another in its place, whether the niche be filled by mrs besant or mrs eddy or mr sinnett, or any other fallible fellow-creature. not even imperator can strike me as infallible; and his own evident belief in that direction does not affect the question. it seemed to me rather to be deplored that mr denton, with his wide outlook and cosmic conceptions, should fall so strongly under any special influence, even that of the admirable imperator! so i was curious to know what his views were upon this subject from the other side of the veil. i will now leave him to speak for himself. h. d.--you want me to tell you just my position about the imperator group before and since i passed to this side? that is easily done. remember, the teaching i got through imperator was practically the first _spiritual_ teaching i ever had--the first i mean, of course, that i could assimilate, because it appealed to my reason, as well as to my sense of the fitness of things--and therefore i can never feel sufficiently grateful to him and his group; and i see that they can teach many who would not be amenable to a more distinctly spiritual appeal. imperator is a great force in his way; a sort of plough that goes over the hard, caked-up earth and throws it open to the sunshine and rain and all nature's beautiful influences, to all the possibility of divine influences on the corresponding sphere. but the limitation of imperator i see clearly now, as you always appear to have done. he is, as you say, too final and too dogmatic. this is at once his weakness and his strength: his weakness, because it limits his own spiritual receptivity; his strength, because it focusses his power in dealing with materialistic minds. a more spiritually true perspective in his communications would rule out half the souls to whom his appeal is made. _stainton moses has also progressed beyond the imperator influence, and this is why the communications between them had become so clogged and so liable to error._ s. m. could not switch on to the old wires, as in the days when his horizon was bounded by them. this accounts, i see, for much of the misconception and apparent inconsistency of the remarks made through mrs piper, but it was very disheartening for the investigator as time went on and the "light" became more and more clouded. then there was the additional fact to be faced, that mrs piper herself became, psychically rather than physically, exhausted, and less able to be used from this side. now i see you want to know about frank strong, and what he said about sin existing only on your plane, and how inconsistent this was with the previous teachings of stainton moses, who was supposed to be speaking through frank's assistance. it is so difficult to explain everything in black and white when there are so many shades of grey, so many degrees and amounts to be considered. it is like a question in mechanics. with increased momentum you get an increased rate as multiplied by space. i am not an expert, but this is practically true. in the same way, spiritual perception acts with increased momentum. all sin is failure in spiritual perception. spiritual perception corresponds with the momentum of a falling body in mechanics. only in divine mechanics it is a _rising_ body; but the same law holds good. you say truly that an action can only be called sinful when the sinner knows the higher and deliberately turns to the lower. that is true; but it is only half a truth. it is still the _lack of knowledge_ that causes sin. with the fulness of knowledge of the higher (only another way of putting fulness of spiritual perception) _must_ come the righteousness of life. it is the broken gleams, the little knowledge, which is truly a dangerous thing, for it brings responsibility, and therefore the capacity for sinning. yet the _choice_ between good and evil fully made, is the schoolmaster to bring us to the full realisation of our nature as sons of god. now when frank came over here, he was so greatly impressed by the dynamic force of spiritual perception that for the time he lost all sense of proportion and accuracy of judgment. compared with the old earth temptations, those in his sphere seemed non-existent, whilst the temptations to goodness were enormously increased. what wonder that in the delightful sensation caused by his sense of moral and spiritual freedom from old shackles, he should exclaim with youthful fervour: "sin is only possible in your sphere--it is unknown here!" any communications of which he formed the channel, would of necessity be coloured by this dominant idea of his. everything is a question of degree, and he is learning that lesson now, i find. he says: "why do people in the earth life quote our words as if we were delphic oracles?" why, indeed? but i am afraid i did much the same whilst so strongly under the imperator influence. e. k. b.--why is imperator so slow in throwing off his own spiritual limitations? h. d.--i can read your mind so easily. it is quick and alert, and has already answered its own question. it is because he has a work to do on your plane amongst those who could not come in touch with a higher spiritual development. there are spiritual as well as scientific martyrs, you must remember; and he is one of them. but the divine economy works very beautifully here. he is not conscious of any spiritual limitation, and therefore he is happy in his work, and the martyrdom i spoke of is _unconscious_. when it becomes conscious, with him it will mean that his present plane of work is finished, and that he will be removed to another "_form_" so soon as he is prepared to teach there. he is essentially a teacher, and a valuable one, for those who have not soared beyond his present perceptions. it is all so much more simple and reasonable than you suppose. it is these crusted old creeds that have misrepresented actual conditions, and yet they also have been, as imperator; doing their own work amongst the people to whom they have acted as necessary stepping-stones. that is enough for to-day; take a rest now. h. d. v the following conversation between mr denton and myself (the last of the series which i propose to give) took place, i see, at buxton, 4th september 1906. there had been some correspondence in _the daily telegraph_ about time as a fourth dimension, and i asked my friend if he could say anything to me on the subject. his reply was as follows:-time is really a form of perception, _not a thing in itself_--do you understand? your limitation of perception you call _time_. another limitation is called _distance_. this also is an illusion, or a limitation, whichever you choose to call it. _the white ray is the absolute._ the spectroscope gives you the limitation which makes the colours perceptible to your human eyes. for the one who is free from these limitations, all colours exist and are present in consciousness at the same moment. but they must be split up and observed severally to enter into the earth consciousness. it is exactly the parallel of time. _events in time coincide with the colours in the ray._ all exist simultaneously for the one who is free from limitations. all must be brought into sequence for the one who is bound by limitations. this is really the key to so many puzzles, and accounts for so many occult phenomena. as we transcend the normal earth limits ever so little, so do we develop these abnormal powers, as they are called. but here, as everywhere, the reality is just the converse of the apparent. the true norm is the perfect ray--the ceaseless sound--the perfect vision; and the abnormal is the limitation upon the earth, or upon any succeeding plane, short of the absolute. but naturally we consider that normal which happens to be our standpoint for the moment. already to me the earth limitations appear _abnormal_, and my more extended capacities mark the norm of existence for me. this must be the case naturally. _prevision_ would be more accurately termed _whole vision_--seeing the whole and not the tiny section. in moments of intense joy or realisation of any kind, time seems to cease, and a moment may hold an eternity. any absorbing emotion, joyful or sorrowful, may bring this experience. for the moment _you are out of yourselves_. this is literally true. you are living in the next dimension. time and space no longer exist for you. most of you have had some such experience, but of necessity it can be a flash only in the midst of your normal life. ask me something now. e. k. b.--a man writing lately in _the daily telegraph_ of time as a fourth dimension said something about the cube as being an infinite number of flat planes of infinite tenuity, heaped up one over the other. to the person who knew only length and breadth, the cube would have no existence. such a person would realise only an infinite number of planes in sequence. yet they would all _co-exist_ for the three-dimensional man of the present day. the suggestion appeared to be that, in exactly a similar way, events which to the three-dimensional man can only be perceived normally _in sequence_, would _co-exist_ for a four-dimensional being. this would mean practically the annihilation of time, as giving sequence. do you see truth in this idea, and can you tell me if it extends also to space? h. d.--certainly. that is just what i meant as regards distance. _all_ limitations are mental, as a matter of fact. we have them here, but infinitely fewer than in the old earth life. mind has always been able to flash from pole to pole and to affect those at a distance, because mind and distance occupy two different planes. the latter is an earth limitation. as the veil lifts a little, even on your side, so you become conscious that mind has these powers; but the powers were always there. it merely means that you have come up with your own mental capacities to some small degree. e. k. b.--is there any help here for my constant problem: why should one's individual life be only _now_ evolving in eternity? do you see what i mean? h. d.--yes; but i hardly know the answer to that tremendous problem. still, i will try to suggest a few thoughts to you. to be conscious of holiness and virtue we must have known its antithesis--evil and separation, which are really synonymous. separation from holiness _is_ evil. it is a condition, a limitation. it is to the divine essence just such a limitation as time is to the mortal. separation is therefore the antecedent cause of all limitations. these _must_ exist where the wholeness or holiness is absent. i must use the language of earth or you would not understand. logically, of course, holiness can never be absent, since it is the cause of all existence; but it is _apparently absent_, and this apparent absence, this separation, this evil in fact, acts as a spectroscope. _it analyses, and thus brings into our consciousness the white ray of the divine nature._ we can go no further than that. the divine chemistry, beyond this fact, must remain a mystery, probably for ages to come. we cannot tell _why_ things are thus arranged; we only know that it is so. as well ask _why_ the white ray of light gives out its colours only through separating them. but it is easier to speak of the co-ordination of _events_. take your own suggestion of the cube--that will help us best. take it that each life is a cube of planes, of experiences. these experiences are co-existent and knit together, as firmly in the life of a human being as the many planes are co-existing, and knit together in a mathematical cube. you can dissect the cube and slice off infinitesimal small planes in sections. so is the individual life sliced off into an infinite number of planes by the sequences of time (our three-dimensional condition). but these experiences--great or small, important or trivial (from your point of view)--_exist in the cube of that person's earth pilgrimage_, as the colours exist in the white ray. the ray may be split up into sequence, but the colours belong to it all the same, and by a _perfectly seeing eye_ would be known and recognised without the help of the spectroscope. the true seer is the one who sees the cube of your life; before whom it is spread out, without time separations, into planes of experience. this is the real secret of all _foretelling_. such people, when honest, have some amount of access to the cube of earth life, some more, some less. many mix up and confuse what they see; but they do see beyond the plane section which time gives to the normal human being. i think you have taken enough now. i will only add that, of course--as you know--there is nothing arbitrary in the cube of life, as i have called it. it is built up of necessary experiences and necessary consequences. but it is built up by love and wisdom, the two elements of the divine nature, in which we live and move and have our being. h. d. vi the next selection that i shall give from my automatic script comes from an entirely different personality, which can be sufficiently indicated by the initials e. g. e. g.--worship is a necessary part of each soul's training, and we can only worship that which we feel to be above and beyond ourselves. as we grow older and become more developed in spiritual consciousness, so do we tend more and more to worship the inner and intangible, rather than the outer and manifest. so whilst the instinct of worship is always the same, the objects and methods must continually change with our own advancing realisation and unfolding consciousness. those limitations which once made for reverence are in time found to be cramping and to lead to superstition. it is the same with the education of either children or of childish nations. in both cases a _display_ of power is necessary to command obedience, because the childish mind can only apprehend from the outer, and realise the existence of that which it sees physically demonstrated. tell a child of tender years that to be naughty is to be unhappy, and in ninety-nine cases out of one hundred he will neither understand nor believe you. but take away his toys or his sweets or put him in a corner; make him, in fact, _physically_ aware of the truth that to be naughty is to bring unpleasant consequences upon himself, and you have taken the only argument which he is capable of realising at a certain point of consciousness. this is why certain nations, at the child point of development, _must_ be treated as children. they don't realise the appeal to the spiritual, and will only misconceive you and your motives, and read cowardice in your attempt to treat from a standpoint they have not reached. it is the same with certain religions, and this is the cause of much failure in mission work. theosophy and roman catholicism appeal strongly to comparatively immature minds. those who care more for form than for essence are always in the immature stage. they love big words and mysterious sayings and doings. to have something apart from others--whether it be happiness or knowledge--is their idea of bliss. hence in most theosophists, as in all roman catholic converts, you find this note of immaturity and monopoly. i say _converts_, because those born in the roman catholic faith are on different ground. their spiritual life may grow and develop in spite of the creed limitations into which fate has cast them, but those who deliberately _choose_ such limitations give the best possible proof of their own standpoint. and the same may be said also of all strict creed religions. they have their great and valuable uses, as prison bars have their uses in a community which has not learnt to respect the rights and property of its neighbours. withdraw these bars and you let loose upon society a pestilential crew of murderers and marauders. relax the bars of creed and you will find the same result. but as bars are not necessary for the advanced souls who recognise that to murder or defraud their fellow-creatures leads to their own misery, apart from any detection or punishment, so creeds are not necessary, under a corresponding evolution of the spiritual instinct, which tallies with the social and moral instincts noted above. and as treadmills and oakum picking can be dismissed in the one case, so can much of the theological machinery for the discipline and punishment of sinners against spiritual laws be dispensed with, in the case of those who are, spiritually speaking, _coming of age_. they come then into the full liberty of sons of god, and shall be no more treated as servants, _but as sons_, as the apostle puts it. this brings me to my special subject. there are many things of great and transcending interest which we are obliged to keep secret from our younger children, partly because they would fail to understand, but still more because they would _misunderstand_, and this to their own hurt and disadvantage; not to speak of possible injury to others through them. spiritual evolution is the true doctrine, but it is not food for babes in spiritual life. to have an unlimited series of advancing lives and advancing experiences unfolded before their eyes would not only dismay and bewilder, but would also paralyse their energy for good, and terribly augment their capacity for evil--for the _not good_. until they are sufficiently versed in spiritual experience to realise the difference between purity and impurity, good and evil, god and the world, fame and peace, pleasure and happiness, the peace which passes understanding and the false glamour of sensual passion and sensuous self-indulgence, so long it is dangerous for them to know, with absolute certainty, the real facts of the case. even the terrible and abhorrent pictures of an eternal hell, of endless flames and of undying worms, have had their uses. in this form alone could the thoroughly immature mind be made to realise the discomfort and misery that would inevitably attend wrong-doing. it _was_ a truth, although not a literal truth. many literal truths convey a false impression to the immature mind, whilst a symbolic truth may convey as true an impression as such a mind is capable of receiving. the old ideas of heaven and hell are already doomed; but other ideas, equally untrue from the literal point of view, still hold their own, and will be more slowly eradicated. it is well this should be so. the world at large is not prepared yet to take this further step. frequent examinations have been found useful and inevitable in school training, both as a test of progress and still more as an encouragement. if you tell a school of boys and girls in january that a grand examination will be held the following december, do you suppose they will work as well and as diligently as if they knew there will be short examinations at easter and more important ones at midsummer? again, if you tell boys of ten years old, who are learning a little history, geography, and arithmetic, just in the rule of three and simple fractions, with perhaps a little latin; of the algebra and euclid and conic sections and higher mathematics, and latin and greek verse and hebrew and philosophy, which they must some day confront, you will puzzle and paralyse their brains, and leave only a sense of misery and revolt and helplessness, which will quickly show forth in reckless despair, even concerning the tasks which are well within their present capacity. god, in his infinite wisdom (of which ours is the feeblest reflection), acts in precisely the same way as wise fathers and wise teachers. your earth is more or less of an infant school, but before leaving it, some of you must prepare for the higher classes and learn to take your own spiritual responsibilities. it is seen that in these days of reaction and readjustment, many minds are puzzled and perplexed by the old doctrines, which they have outgrown, and which were never more than the outer husk and protection for the inner kernel--the casket for the jewel of spiritual truth. the one term of probation--the one chance for progress--the immediate heaven or hell--the great white throne of judgment, instant and inevitable--all these correspond with the frequent examinations, with the good and bad marks--the judging of the school work at the end of each term. the only difference lies in the fact that the schoolboy _knows_ he has other terms in front of him, and we are all aware that this is a very unfortunate fact where an idle boy is concerned. how often you may hear them say: "never mind! i'm a bit behind now--but i have three years more--i shall catch up later." and this is probably just what they fail to do; for with such characters it is always _to-morrow_ that is to see the reformation which so often comes only when life has taught its hard lessons to the defaulter. is it not apparent, therefore, that there has been wisdom and goodness in our very theological mistakes and illusions? the opposition to spiritualistic teachings has its good and healthy side. it is really the fierce antagonism of the undeveloped nature towards a truth it dimly apprehends to be ahead of its own development; and, tiresome as it seems, and _is_ from one point of view, it is the best safeguard for the world at large. unimaginable horrors would come to pass upon the earth were power as well as knowledge put into the hands of the crude and undeveloped. it would be arming savages with winchester rifles and quick-firing guns. _never regret_, therefore, this opposition, even whilst fighting against it in individual cases. both _must_ grow together till the harvest--the tares and wheat, the crude and the developed--and the former are the enormous majority. this is the reason why all truth must be born into each world through a fight and an agony; for it always comes as an advance upon normal conditions, no matter in which sphere it may be. and it is through the struggle that the victory comes and the light is born. let people jeer and deride when they hear of a future life, not so very different from your own; of houses and lectures and boats and horses, of pet animals, and so forth. those who jeer and deride or talk of blasphemy are still at the orthodox stage, when it is well for them to know only of _one_ school, of _one_ term, of _one_ chance, and of an immediate and final judgment for the deeds done on earth. others are old enough (spiritually speaking) to know the truth _i.e._--that god is in _all_, of an infinite series of spheres, through which each travelling soul must pass, gaining ever fresh light, growing ever into fresh knowledge and realisation of divine beauty and divine love; spheres differing little externally from the one left behind, but enormously in the capacities and qualities which by degrees the soul will unfold in the cosmic journey. the outer will become more and more the result of the inner condition; for the creative faculty, scarcely born with you, flourishes in the ascending spiral. down here you are babes, with your clothes made for you, your bottles filled for you, and dependent on others for the conditions of life, but by degrees you will enter on the full responsibility and the full joy and glory of independent existence, which yet will be unified--first into the life of the affinities--the true and completed being--and then into the life of that body of _christ_, of which st paul speaks in his prophetic moments, where "there shall be neither greek nor jew, barbarian, scythian, bond nor free," but _christos_, the glorified and crowned humanity, shall be all in all--god in man; the coping-stone of the building, whose foundations were laid as man (the image and likeness of god) in god. [transcriber's note: in memoriam michael s. hart (1947-2011), inventor of the e-book and founder of project gutenberg ] ================= across the stream by e. f. benson ================= across the stream by e. f. benson london john murray, albemarle street, w. 1919 introduction there is a very large class of persons alive to-day who believe that not only is communication with the dead possible, but that they themselves have had actual experience of it. many of these are eminent in scientific research, and on any other subject the world in general would accept their evidence. there is possibly a larger class of persons who hold that all such communications, if genuine, come not from the dead but from the devil. this is the taught opinion of the roman catholic church. a third class, far more numerous than both of these, is sure that any one who holds either of these beliefs is a dupe of conjurers, or the victim of his own disordered brain. this type of robust intellect has, during the last ten decades, affirmed that hypnotism, aviation in machines heavier than air, telepathy, wireless telegraphy, and other non-proved phenomena, are superstitious and unscientific balderdash. in an earlier century it was equally certain that the earth did not go round the sun. it is, happily, never disconcerted by the frequency with which the superstitions and impossibilities of one generation become the science of the next. the first part of this book may be accepted by the first of these three classes, the second by the second, and none of it by the third. its aim is to state rather than solve the subject with which it deals, and to suggest that the dead and the devil alike may be able to communicate with the living. e. f. benson. _book i_ chapter i certain scenes, certain pictures of his very early years of childhood, stood out for archie like clear sunlit peaks above the dim clouds that shrouded the time when the power of memory was only beginning to germinate. he had no doubt (and was probably right about it) as to which the earliest of those was: it was the face of his nurse blessington, leaning over his crib. she held a candle in her hand which a little dazzled him, but the sight of her face, tender and anxious, and divinely reassuring, was the point of that memory. he had been asleep, and had awoke with a start, and, finding himself alone in the midst of the immense desolation of the dark that pressed on him like an invader from all sides, he had lifted up his voice and yelled. then, as by a conjuring-trick, blessington had appeared with her comforting presence that quite robbed the dark of its terrors. it must still have been early in the night, for she had not yet gone to bed, and had on above her smooth grey hair her cap with its adorable blue ribands in it. at her throat was the brooch made of the same stuff as the shining shillings with which a year or two later she bought the buns and sponge-cakes for tea. he remembered no more than that; he knew nothing of what she had said: the whole of that memory consisted in the fact of the secure comfort and relief which her face brought. it was just a vignette of memory, the earliest of all; there was nothing whatever before it, and nothing for some time after. gradually the horizon widened; scenes and situations in which archie was still a detached observer, as if looking through a telescope, made themselves visible. he remembered gazing through the bars of the high nursery fire-guard at the joyful glow of the fuel. at the corner of the grate (he remembered this with extreme distinctness), there was a black coal, the edge of which was soft and bubbly. a thin streamer of smoke blew out of it, and from time to time this smoke caught light and flared very satisfactorily. but all that, the joyfulness and the satisfaction, was external to him; it was the coals and the streams of burning gas that were in themselves joyful and satisfactory. that must have been in the winter, and it was in the same winter perhaps that he came home with blessington and two other children--girls, and larger than himself--whom he grew to believe were his sisters, through a wood of fir-trees between the trunks of which shone a round red ball that resembled the coals in the nursery-grate. he knew--perhaps blessington, perhaps a sister, perhaps his mother had told him--that it was christmas eve, and he saw that when blessington spoke to him she steamed delightfully at the mouth, as if there had been a hot bath just inside her lips. at her suggestion he found he could do it, too, and his sisters also; whereafter they played hot-baths all the way home. but of the christmas day that followed he had no recollection whatever. his observation became a little less detached; he began to form in his mind an explorer's map of the places where these phenomena occurred, to be dimly aware that he was taking some sort of part in them, and was not a mere spectator, and one summer evening he definitely knew that the day-nursery and the night-nursery and the room beyond where his sisters slept were all part of the red-brick house which he and others inhabited, just as, according to blessington, the rabbit which he had seen pop into its hole in the wood beyond the lawn, had a home within it. he had already had his bath, on a patch of sunlight that lay across the nursery-floor, and escaping, slippery as a trout, from blessington's towelling hands, had run with a squeal of delight across to the window. outside was the lawn, which hitherto he had thought of as a thing apart, a picture by itself, and beyond was the wood where the rabbit had a house. on the lawn was his mother, playing croquet with his two sisters, and of a sudden it flashed upon him that the wood and the rabbit, the lawn and the croquet-players, the night-nursery, blessington, the shine of the sun low in the west, and his own wet self were all in some queer manner part of the same thing, and made up that to which he and blessington went back when, at the limit of their walk, she said it was time to go home. "oh, there's mummy," he cried. "mummy!" and he danced naked at the window. blessington caught him in the towel again. "well, i never!" she said. "that's not the way for a young gentleman to behave. there, let me dry you, dear, and put your night-shirt on, and you shall say good-night to your mamma out of the window." this was duly done, and it struck archie as a very novel and delightful discovery that he could say good-night to his mother when she was on the croquet-lawn and he up in the night-nursery. it shed a new light on existence generally, and coloured with a new interest the few drowsy moments which intervened between his being put into bed and falling asleep. blessington still moved quietly about the room, emptying his bath, and putting his clothes tidy, and he just remembered her kissing him when she had finished. he was already too suffused with drowsiness to make any response, and he slid softly out over the tides of sleep. that night he became acquainted with a new sort of experience, something hitherto quite foreign to him. once again he woke in the night and found himself surrounded by the vast dark, save where, in a corner of the nursery, there burned the shaded night-light. but now there was no sense of terror; he did not want to call for blessington, but lay open-eyed and absorbed in the amazing thing that was happening. the night-nursery (where he knew he was), and he with it, were expanding and extending, till they comprised the lawn and the wood beyond the lawn, and all else that he had ever known. his sisters and his mother and father were all there, though he could not see them; blessington was there, and graves the butler, and walter and william, the two footmen. he could not see them, any more than he could see the moon and the sun, which were there also, but they were there as part of an unusual presence that filled the place. he could not see that unusual presence either, but it was tremendously real and filled him not in the least with awe, but with the feeling with which blessington's face and his mother's face inspired him... and the next thing that he was aware of was the rattle of the blind, and blessington's voice saying, "eh, what a time of morning to have slept to. i know a sleepy-head!" he recounted this remarkable experience to blessington at breakfast, who was quite sure that it was all a dream; a nice dream, but a dream. "wasn't a dream," said archie firmly. "and where did mr. contradiction go?" asked blessington. archie knew where mr. contradiction went, for mr. contradiction lived in a very dull corner of the nursery with his face to the wall for five minutes. "well, it didn't seem like a dream," he said. "may i get down?" "yes, and say your grace." "thank god for my good dinner," said archie, who was not attending. "say it again, dear," said blessington; "and think." "i meant breakfast," said archie. "amen." the discovery of the connection, made last night, between himself in the night-nursery and his mother on the lawn, which proved that the lawn and the house were part of the same thing, produced further results that day. instead of memory consisting of different and severed pictures, it began to flow into one coherent whole. he knew, of course, already that at the end of the nursery passage was a wooden wicket-gate, and that outside that was the long gallery that skirted round three sides of the hall, while on the fourth ran a broad staircase each step of which had to be surmounted and descended either by a series of jumps, or, if the feet were tired, by the extension of one foot on to the next stair where it was joined by the other; but he began now to put these isolated facts together, and form them into the conception of a house. when the staircase was negotiated you found yourself in a large oak-floored hall, where you were not allowed to slide on purpose, though both blessington and his mother had the sense to distinguish between deliberate and unintentional slidings. there were bright rugs spread here and there over the hall, forming islands in a glassy sea. archie knew it was not made of glass really, but he chose to think that it was, for it had the qualities of a looking-glass in that it reflected his own bare-legged form above it, and the slipperiness of glass as exhibited in the window-panes of the nursery, and he chose also to think that it was to the hall-floor that the hymn alluded which was sung last sunday morning in a dazzling and populous place to which his mother had taken him. the people who sang loudest were two rows of boys dressed in crinkly white night-shirts, in company with some grown-up men who were attired in the same curious manner. but none of them went to bed, and at a pause in the proceedings archie had suddenly asked his mother, in a piercing voice, why they didn't go to bed. evidently that had puzzled her too, for she had no reply to give him except "hush, darling!" which wasn't an answer at all. then another man had begun talking all by himself. he had a quantity of hair on his chin which wagged in so delightful a manner when he spoke that archie watched him entranced for a little, and then, afraid that his mother was missing this lovely sight, said: "o mummy, _isn't_ that a funny man?" upon which blessington, magically communicated with, appeared by his side and whispered that they were going for a walk, and towed him down the aisle, still rapturously looking back at the funny man. archie had thought it all very entertaining, but he was told afterwards by his father that he had disgraced himself and should not go to church again for many sundays to come. archie was frightened of his father, and always went warily by the door of the room at the dark corner of the hall where this tremendous person lived. there were other dangers about that corner, for on the floor were two tiger-skins which looked as if the animal in question had, with the exception of its head, been squashed out flat, like as when he and blessington sometimes put a flower they had gathered on their walks between two sheets of blotting-paper, and piled books on the top, so that it ceased to be a flower, and became the map of a flower. archie wished the tigers' heads had been pressed in the same way; as it was, they were disconcertingly solid and life-like, with long teeth and snarling mouths and glaring eyes. he had always made blessington come right up to his father's door with him when he went in to say good-night, so that she should pilot him safely past the tigers on his entry and escort him by them again on his return. but one night his father had come out with him, and, finding blessington waiting there, had divined, as by some awful black magic, why the nurse was waiting, and had decreed that archie should in future make his way across the danger zone unattended. but, next evening, the trembling archie, hurrying away in the dusk, had fallen down on the glassy sea between the awful scylla and charybdis, and, convinced that his last hour had come, when these two cruel heads beheld him prostrate on the floor, had cried himself to sleep from terror of that awful ending. but next day his mother, who understood about things in general better than anybody, had caused the tigers to make friends with him, and in token of their amity they had each of them presented him with a whisker-hair. that assured their friendship, and they wished it to be understood that their snarlings and glarings were directed, not at archie, but at archie's enemies. this naturally changed their whole aspect, and archie, after he had wished his father good-night, kissed the hairy heads that had once been so terrifying, and thanked them for successfully keeping his enemies from molesting him. but though now the presence of the tigers, ceasing to be a terror by night, had become a protection to archie, their corner of the hall still constituted a danger zone to be gone by swiftly and silently, lest a raised voice or an incautious noise should cause him to be called from within the closed door of his father's room. there were risks in that room; you never quite knew whether you were not going to be blamed for doing something which you had no idea was blame-worthy. one day archie had found a lovely wax match with a blue head to it on the floor, and had put it in his pocket, where he fingered it delightedly, for he knew it to be the sort which flamed when you rubbed it against your boot or the bricks of the house, as he had seen his father do. but then, when a little later he had come to sit on his father's knee and be shown pictures in a book of natural history, it was detected that his small fingers smelled of phosphorus, and when the reason was discovered, he was told by his father that he had stolen that match. to archie's mind there was something inexplicably unfair and unjust about this; he knew quite well that the match was not his, but he had no idea that it was stealing if you appropriated something that was dropped on the floor. a thing dropped on the floor was nobody's, and anybody, so he supposed, might take it. it had been quite another affair when he had taken eight lumps of sugar out of the basin on the tea-table in the drawing-room and hidden them in his domino-box. he had been perfectly well aware that he was stealing them, and had no sense of injustice when his mother had promptly and soundly smacked him for it. but he intensely resented being told by his father that he had stolen (even though he was not smacked) when he had not the least idea that a match dropped on the floor was a stealable article at all, and he felt it far more bitter to be unjustly blamed than justly punished. "but i didn't know it was stealing, daddy," said he. "but didn't you know it wasn't yours?" "yes." "and didn't you know that to take what isn't yours is stealing?" archie couldn't explain, but he was still quite sure he had not been stealing... his father's room then, at least when that potentate was in it, was a place where extreme caution was necessary, and, however cautious you were (he had not felt guilty of the smallest temerity in picking up that match), you could never be quite sure that fate, like some great concealed cat, would not pounce upon you from the most unexpected quarter. but, considered in itself, the room had a tremendous attraction for him. there was a delicious smell about it, subtly compounded of the leather backs of books and the aroma of tobacco, which to archie's dawning perception had something virile and masculine about it. he could understand the manliness of the place, it answered to something that was shared by him, and not shared by his mother or blessington or his sisters, and belonged to a man. the furniture and the appurtenances of the room conveyed the same message; they were strong and solid, without frillings or frippery, and had a decisive air and a purpose about them which somehow concerned that mysterious difference between boys and girls and between men and women. his mother's sitting-room, it is true, seemed to archie a fairy-palace of loveliness, with its spindle-legged tables, its lace-edged curtains, its soft, silky cushions, its china, its glittering silver toys on a particular black lacquer table, its nameless feminine fragrance. but this room, with its solid leather chairs, which held small limbs as in a tender male embrace, its gun-case in the corner, its whip-rack, its few solid, sober pictures which hung above the book-shelves, struck a different and more intimate and more intelligible note. archie felt that he knew what it was all about... it was about a man, to which _genus_ he himself belonged. this particular specimen, his father, might be unjust to him, and severe to him, but in some secret inexplicable manner archie understood him, though fearing him, better than he understood either his mother or blessington, both of whom he loved. his two sisters, in the same way, had a quality of enigma about them. these floating impressions, the untranslatable instincts of early childhood, began to thicken, when archie was getting on for six years old, into thoughts capable of being solidified into language. he could not have solidified them himself, but if any one capable of presenting them to him in actual words had asked him, "is it this you mean?" he would have assented. and his solidified thoughts would have taken the following mould: there was something odd about females, and it was a mystery into which he did not at all want to enquire. they wore skirts, which perhaps concealed some abnormality, which would be fearful to contemplate. they had soft faces and soft bodies; when his mother took him on her knee--she already said that he was getting too big a boy to sit on her knee, which to archie sounded very grand and delightful--she was soft to his shoulder, and her cheek was soft to his. but when he sat on his father's knee he felt a hard, firm substance behind him, and the contrast was similar to the contrast between his mother's soft cushions and his father's leather-clad chairs. and his father had a hard, bristly cheek on which to receive archie's good-night kiss. judged by the standards of pleasure and luxury, it was not nearly as nice as his mother's, but it gave him, however great need there was for caution, a sense of identity with himself. he was of that species... and this conception of abnormality in women was strongly confirmed when, one morning, he went as usual to his mother's bedroom to see her before she went down to breakfast. she had been late in getting up that day, and, not finding her in her bedroom, archie's attention had been arrested by hearing sounds from her bathroom next door, and very naturally had turned the handle in order to enter. but a voice from inside had said: "is that you, darling? wait just a minute." "but i want to come in now," said archie. "i'm coming in." "archie, i shall be very angry if you come in before i give you leave," said the voice. then there were rustlings. "come in now." and there was his mother standing by her bath, which smelt deliciously fragrant, in a lovely blue bath-towel dressing-gown. "good-morning, darling," said she. "but you must never come into a lady's bathroom unless she gives you leave." "why not?" said archie. "you come to see me in my bath without my saying 'yes.'" she gave that delicious bubble of laughter that reminded archie of the sound of cool lemonade being poured out of the bottle. "i shan't when you're as old as me," she said. "i shall always ask your leave. and probably you won't give it me." "why not? it's only me," said archie. "you'll know when you're older," said she. archie rather despised that argument: it seemed to apply to so many situations in life. but he had already formed the very excellent habit of crediting his mother with the gift of common sense, for was it not she who had discovered that the snarl of the tiger-heads was a snarl not at archie, but at his enemies? but on this occasion it merely confirmed his conviction that women were somehow deformed. they wore skirts instead of breeches, and though, judging by his younger sister, they were normal up to about the level of the knee, it seemed likely that their legs extended no farther, but that they became like peg-tops, swelling out in one round piece till their bodies were reached. what confirmed this impression was that they seemed to run from their knees instead of striding with a swung leg. blessington always ran like that: her feet twinkled in ridiculously short steps, and after a moment or two she said: "eh, i can't run any more. i've got a bone in my leg." "and haven't i?" asked archie. "no, dear: you're just made of gristle and quicksilver," said blessington, with a sudden lyrical spasm as she looked at the shining face of her most beloved. "what's quicksilver?" asked archie. "and why haven't i got a bone in my leg? o-o-oh!" and a sudden thought struck him. "have women got bones in their legs and not boys? is that why they can't run properly? mummy can't run, nor can you; but william can, damn him." "master archie!" said blessington in her most severe voice. "what for?" asked archie. "you must never say that, master archie," said blessington, who only called him master archie on impressive occasions. "you must never say what you said after 'william can.'" "but daddy said it to william this morning," said archie. blessington still wore the iron mask on her face. it was lucky for her that archie did not know how puzzled she was as to the correct answer. "your papa says what he thinks fit," she said, "and that is right for him. but young gentlemen never say it." "how old shall i have to be--" began archie. "and look at your shoe-lace all untied," said blessington with extreme promptitude. "do it up at once, or you'll be treading on it. and then it will be time for you to go in, and you can write your letter to miss marjorie before your dinner." miss marjorie was the elder of archie's two sisters. she was ten years older than he, and at the present time was staying with her grandmother, whom archie strongly suspected of being either a witch or a man. she was large and rustling, and had a bass voice and a small moustache and a small husband, who was an earl, to whom, when he came to stay with archie's father, who appeared to be his son, every one paid a great deal of unnecessary attention. both of them, archie's father, and archie's father's father, were lords, and archie distinctly thought he ought to be a lord too, considering that both his father and his grandfather were. blessington had hinted that he would be a lord too, some day, if he were good, but when pressed she couldn't say when. in fact, there was a ridiculous reticence about the whole matter, for when he had asked his mother, in the presence of his grandfather, when he was going to be a lord, his grandfather, quite inexplicably, had giggled with laughter, and said: "i've got one foot in the grave already, archie, and you want me to have both." that was a very cryptic remark, and when archie asked william the footman what grandpapa tintagel had meant, william had said that he couldn't say, sir. on which archie, looking hastily round, and feeling sure that blessington was not present, had repeated "damn you, william," as daddy said. then william, after endeavouring not to show two rows of jolly white teeth, had said: "you must never say that to me, master archie." in fact, there was clearly a league. blessington and william, who didn't love each other, as archie had ascertained by direct questions to each, were at one over the question of him not saying that. under the stress of independent evidence, archie decided not to say it any more, without further experiments as to the effect "it" would have on his mother. if william and blessington were both agreed about it, it had clearly better not be done, any more than it was wise to walk about among the flowers of the big, herbaceous border. the gardener and the gardener's boy and his mother were all of one mind about that, and the gardener's boy had threatened to turn the hose on to him if he caught him at it. the gardener's boy was quite grown up, and so for archie he had a weight of authority that befitted his years. it was a lovely, disconnected life. there were all sorts of delightful and highly coloured strands that contributed to it, and others of a more sombre hue, and others again quite secret, which concerned archie alone, and of which he never spoke to anybody. of the delightful and highly coloured strands there were many. waking in the morning, and knowing that there was going to be another day was one of them, and perhaps that was the most delightful of all except when, rarely, it was clouded with some trouble of the evening before, as when archie had broken a window in his father's study in the laudable attempt to kill a wasp with a fire-shovel, and had been told by blessington that his father wished to see him the moment he was dressed in the morning. but usually the wakings were ecstatic; and often he used to return to consciousness in those summer months long before blessington came in to call him. the window was always open--all the windows in the night-nursery were opened as soon as he got into bed--and the blinds were up, and on the ceiling was the most delicious green light, for the early sun shone through the branches of the beeches outside, and painted archie's ceiling with a pale, milky green which was adorable to contemplate. he would pull up his night-shirt, and with his bare arms clasp his bare knees, and, lying on his back, rather unsteadily anchored, would roll backwards and forwards looking at the green light, and rehearsing all the delightful probabilities of the day. sometimes his mother had promised him that he should go out fishing on the lake when his lessons were done, and this implied the wonderful experience of seeing walter or william come out on to the lawn, and pour out of a tin gardening can a mixture of mustard and water. when the footman did that it was certain that in a short time the grass would be covered with worms, which william put in a tin box lined with moss. then archie and william, sometimes with a sister, whose presence, archie thought, was not wholly desirable, since she impeded the free flow of talk between him and william, would go down to the lake, and william, who could do everything, put worms on hooks (they did not seem to mind, for they said no word of protest), and sculled across to the sluice above which was deep water, where the fish fed, and away from the reeds, where the line got entangled, so that it was impossible to know whether you were engaged with a fish or a vegetable. the fishing-rod came out of his father's study--that was another delightful male attribute about the room--and when archie went in to ask for it, william came too, not in his livery, but in ordinary clothes, and his father said, "take good care of master archie, william. good sport, archie." sometimes again, if he was not busy, lord davidstow came out with archie instead of william. that was somehow an honour, but archie did not like it so much. once there was a great happening. william produced a curious object that looked like the bowl of a spoon with hooks set all round it. he said there were going to be no worms this time, and, instead of drifting about, he rowed up and down, while archie, with his rod over the stern, saw the spoon flashing through the water. then a great shadow came over it, and archie felt the rod bend in his hands. he was so excited that he stepped on to the seat of the boat, in order to see better, and promptly fell overboard. he was not the least frightened, and rather enjoyed the splash and the sense of soda-water round him. with both hands he held on to the fishing-rod, which seemed an absolutely essential thing to do, and sank down, down in the deep water, seeing it green and yellow above his head. and then instantly he knew he was going to be drowned, and a feeling precisely identical to that which he had experienced one night when he woke, of a universal presence round about him, took complete possession of him. then, even before he was conscious of the least sense of choking or discomfort, but was still only aware of coolness and depth and greenness, a great dark splaying object came right down upon him from above, and he found himself tucked underneath a human arm, coatless and in shirt-sleeves which he took to be william's. but still archie did not let go of the fishing-rod, and mistakenly trying to speak, bidding william take care of it, his mouth and apparently his whole interior filled with water, and drowning suddenly seemed to be a disagreeable process. next moment, however, his head emerged from the water again, and william caught hold of the boat. "let go the rod, master archie," said he, "and catch hold of the boat." "but there's a fish on it," spluttered archie. "do as i tell you, sir," said william quite crossly. archie had been told that, when he went out in the boat with william, he had to do precisely as william told him. he was not, it is true, in the boat at the moment, but the injunction probably applied. so he let go of the rod, and the moment afterwards found himself violently propelled over the side of the boat, and tumbled all abroad on the floor of it. they were but a dozen yards from land, and william having once got archie into the boat, grabbed hold of the rod with his spare hand, and swam, shoving the boat in front of him. "oh, well done, william. oh, william, i love you," screamed archie when, having righted himself, he observed this brilliant manoeuvre. "is the fish there still?" william scrambled up the bank, still holding the rod. "run indoors at once, master archie," he said. "don't wait a moment." "but william, is the fish--" began archie. "do as i tell you, sir," said william again. "i'll bring the fish for you, if i get him." archie ran with backward glances across the lawn, where he was met by blessington who had observed the accident out of the window, and, before he could explain half the thrilling things that had happened, was undressed and rubbed down and put between blankets. and then, after a few minutes, in came william, having also changed his clothes, with a great pike, and his father followed and shook hands with william, and his mother did the same, saying things that made william blush and stand first on one foot and then on the other, murmuring: "it was nothing at all, my lady," and archie asked if he and william might go out again that afternoon, and catch another pike. then in came his younger sister, jeannie, who was only two years his senior. she appeared to be on the point of crying, and she flung her arms round archie's neck in an uncomfortable sort of way, and archie told her she was messing him. after that, in reaction from those thrilling affairs, he felt suddenly tired, and, being encouraged to go to sleep, nestled down in the blankets and woke up to find that there was his fish stuffed for dinner, and for himself and william an era of unexampled popularity. archie did not understand at the time why he had suddenly blossomed into such favouritism, unless it was for having clung tight to his father's fishing-rod but he enjoyed it immensely. it was pleasant, too, not long afterwards, to be given a gold watch by his father, to present to william, with a gold chain provided by his mother. and william permitted him to put the gold watch into one waistcoat pocket, and the end of the gold chain into the other, and his father and mother and jeannie all shook hands with william again (every one seemed to be spending their time in shaking hands with william). so archie, since william was his friend more than anybody else's, kissed him, in order to mark the difference between himself and other people with regard to him. he was surprised to find that william had got a soft cheek like his mother's, and supposed that men's faces grew hard as they grew older. he instantly mentioned this surprising fact, and william appeared rather glad to leave the room. but in all archie's life no event ever occurred which approached the splendour and public magnificence of this whole experience. every day the world widened, and, lying looking at the green light on the ceiling in the cool still mornings of that summer which seemed to last for years and years, archie found himself not only speculating on what fresh joys the day would bring, but joining together in his mind the happenings that at the time seemed disconnected, but which proved to be part of a continuous thread of existence. just as the nursery passage, and the steep stairs, and his father's room, and the lawn, and the lake passed from being isolated phenomena into pieces of a whole, so things that happened proved to be the experiences of the person who was known to others as archie morris, and to archie as himself. sometimes he so tingled with vigour when he woke that, contrary to orders, he stepped out of bed and leaned out of the window, to look at the bright dewy world, with one ear alert to hear blessington's foot along the passage, in order to leap back into bed again, for now he had the night-nursery to himself, and blessington slept next door. at that hour the lawn would be covered with a shimmering grey mantle, pearl-coloured, and here and there a few diamonds had got in by mistake which shone with just the brilliance of his mother's necklace. perhaps these were the bed-clothes of the lawn, and when day came, they were covered over by the green bed-spread like that which lay on his own bed. the lake away to the right had different bed-clothes, thicker ones, but of the same colour. no doubt they were thicker because the lake was colder, for on some mornings he could not see through them at all. to the left, out of the window, rose the wood where the rabbits lived; sometimes one of them, an early riser like archie, would have found a gap in the netting and was out on the lawn nibbling the grass. the gardener did not approve of that, for the lawn, it appeared, belonged to the people who lived in archie's house, and not to the folk in the wood, and this was a trespass on the part of the rabbits, for which the punishment, rather a severe one, was death by shooting. this had added a new terror to the notice in another wood where he and blessington sometimes walked, which announced that trespassers would be prosecuted. blessington was foolhardy enough to disregard that notice altogether, saying that it was his daddy's notice, and didn't apply to them; but for some time archie never chose that walk for fear that blessington might be wrong about it, and that they would meet somebody in the wood who would instantly shoot them both for trespassing. but in childish fashion he kept those terrors to himself, sooner than enquire about them, till one day they actually did meet in that wood a man with a gun. then in a sudden wild terror archie clung to blessington, crying out, "oh, ask him not to shoot us this time!" "eh, darling," said blessington. "who's going to shoot us? it's only one of your daddy's keepers." "no, but he will shoot us," screamed archie. "we're trespassers, and he'll shoot us like the rabbits." matters being thereupon explained, and archie convinced that he and blessington were not going to be shot for trespassing, he found that he could make up for himself an entrancing story of how master rabbit and his nurse (who were good) never trespassed on the lawn, and that the rabbits he saw there corresponded to grandmamma tintagel, and so he did not care whether they were shot or not. these stories which he told himself in the early morning, looking out on to the lawn, or lying curled up on his back in bed, looking at the green ceiling, were not vague, dream-like imaginings, but were endowed with a vividness that made blessington's entry with his bath and his clothes seem less real than they. it became impossible indeed for him to disentangle reality (as judged by people like his father and the gardener) from imagination. he told himself so strongly that there was grandmamma tintagel sitting on the lawn, trespassing and nibbling grass for her breakfast, that her presence there, or her absence when there was no trespassing rabbit, became things as vivid as his subsequent dressing and breakfast. had he been definitely asked if he believed it was grandmamma tintagel, he would have said "no"; but in his imaginative life, so hard for a child to dissociate from his real life, there was no question as to her identity. it happened also that at this time his mother was reading to him the realest of all books, namely, _alice in wonderland_. no imaginative boy of five could possibly doubt the actual existence of the white rabbit in that convincing history, and archie would not have been surprised if, one morning, there had proved to be a white rabbit sitting by the fence, who looked at his watch and put on his gloves. yet he never spoke of this possibility even to blessington or william; it did not belong to the sphere of things about which it was reasonable to converse to grown-up people, simply because they were stupid about certain matters and would not understand him. the fact that grandmamma tintagel sometimes sat on the lawn in the early morning was among the topics which he kept quite completely to himself. there were other such topics. sometimes, when he lay in bed, waiting for blessington to call him, and did not choose to get up and look out of the window, it was because these other secret affairs engaged him. if he lay still, and stared at the green-hued ceiling, curious waves of shadow appeared to pass over it, and it seemed like that sunny floor of water that had closed above his head on the morning when he fell out of the boat. there was he lying in bed deep below some surface of liquid light that cut him off from the outer world, and he wondered if in a moment a splayed starfish of arms and legs which turned out to be william would dive down for him, and bring him up among the common things again. but william never made this impressive entry through the ceiling, and if he stared long enough, archie only seemed to himself to slip down and down, gently and rapturously, through deep water, and another world, the world of hidden things that dwelt below the surface, came slowly into existence, like as when, on mounting a slope, fresh valleys and hillsides arise and unfurl themselves. only, in this case, you had to go down somewhere inside yourself to become aware of them. and something, some inner consciousness, recognized and hailed them. it was not that he was getting sleepy, and sinking into the waters of dreams; rather the experience was the result of a more vivid life and awakened perceptions. but he never got further than that, and during the day he was far too busy with the affairs of normal life to trouble about those perceptions that dawned on him on still quiet mornings when he lay a-bed and stared at the ceiling with its flickering green lights and moving shadows. chapter ii archie's birthday was in november, and for a day or two before that tremendous annual event there was always a certain atmosphere of mystery abroad, which he was conscious of at odd minutes. he met marjorie on the morning of the day before he would be six, walking down the nursery passage with a parcel in her hand, the contents of which she would not divulge. that afternoon, too, his mother drove into the neighbouring town in the motor, and would not take him with her, on the excuse that she had some shopping to do, though it was the commonest thing in the world for her to take him with her when she went shopping. this year he vaguely connected these odd happenings with his birthday, as he did also the fact that a week ago blessington had brought a total stranger into the nursery, who had very politely asked him to take off his coat. the stranger had then knelt down on the floor in front of him, and had produced a tape, with which he proceeded to measure archie all over, from his hip to his knee and his knee to his ankle, and round his waist, and round his chest, and all along his arms, making notes of those things in a book. blessington had told him that mr. johnson wanted to see how much he had grown, which was certainly a very gratifying attention, especially since archie had grown a good deal, and was extremely proud of the fact. mr. johnson congratulated him too, and said that he himself hadn't grown as much as that for many a year, and tried to account for his visit on general grounds of interest in archie. but in spite of that archie connected this call with his birthday, though he did not arrive at the deduction that it meant clothes. his mother came up to tea in the nursery on her return from her mysterious drive, and said that she had just caught sight of the fairy abracadabra as she drove down the high street; she had not known that abracadabra was in the neighbourhood. she asked archie if abracadabra had called while she was out, and archie, after a moment's pause, said that he hadn't seen her... but in that pause something of the glory faded out of the bright trailing clouds. when he was asked that directly he did not feel sure whether he believed in abracadabra in the same way in which he believed in blessington or jeannie. so short a time ago--last summer only--alice in wonderland and the identity of grandmamma tintagel had been so much realler than the paltry happenings that took place in the light of common day. now, quite suddenly and unexpectedly, at the mere question as to whether he had seen abracadabra they all began to fade; indeed, it was more than fading: it was as if they passed out of sight behind a corner. archie had been told that he must never, if he could help it, hurt people's feelings. the particular occasion when that had been brought home to him was when his sister jeannie had to wear a rather delightful sort of band round her front teeth, which showed a tendency to grow crooked. she was shy about it and hoped nobody saw it, and when archie called the attention of the public to it, she turned very red. he had not had the least intention of embarrassing her, for he thought the band rather nice himself, and would have liked to have had one had his teeth been sufficiently advanced for such a decoration. but on this occasion he saw instantly and clearly that he must not hurt his mother's feelings by expressing scepticism about abracadabra. perhaps his mother still believed in her herself (though there were difficulties about supposing that, seeing that if abracadabra was not abracadabra she was certainly his mother); but, in any case, she thought archie believed in abracadabra, which made quite sufficient reason for his appearing to do so. if abracadabra was an invention designed to awe, delight, and mystify him, the most elementary obligation of not embarrassing other people enjoined on him that he must be awed, delighted, and mystified. perhaps by next year something would have happened to abracadabra, for nowadays she only made her appearance on his birthday, whereas he could remember when she paid jeannie also a birthday visit. but this year she had not come on jeannie's birthday, and the various members of the family had given her birthday presents themselves, which did not happen when abracadabra came, for she was the chief dispenser of offerings. so archie replied that abracadabra had not been during his mother's absence, and, in order to spare his mother the mortification of knowing that he had doubts about that benevolent fairy, laid himself out to ask intelligent questions. "why didn't you speak to her, mummy?" he said, "when you saw her in the high street?" "because she was in a hurry; she went by like a flash of lightning, in her pearl chariot." "was there any thunder?" asked he. "yes, just one clap; but that might have been the wheels of the chariot. what do you think she'll bring you?" archie was holding his mother's hand, and slipping her rings up and down her fingers. as he held it, he suddenly became aware what one of these presents would be. "a clock-work train," he said quickly. he knew more than that about the clock-work train. he felt perfectly certain that it was in his mother's bedroom at this moment, reposing in the big cupboard where she kept her dresses. "do you want a clock-work train?" she asked. "yes, mummy, frightfully," said he, feeling that he was playing a part, for he knew his mother knew that he wanted a clock-work train. "what else?" "oh, thousands of things. particularly a pen that writes without your dipping it in the ink." "well, if i were you i should write down all the things you want, and leave the paper lying on your counterpane when you go to sleep." "what'll that do?" asked archie. "it's the fairy-post. instead of putting letters into boxes to be posted when you want them to reach the fairies, you have always to put them on your bed. mind you address it to her fairy majesty the empress abracadabra. then, when the fairies come round to collect the post, they will find it there, and take it to abracadabra. and perhaps if she comes to-morrow--let me see, it must be a year since she was here--she will bring a few things for your birthday. i can't tell; but i think that is the best chance of getting them." certainly this seemed a very pleasant sort of plan; archie had never heard of it before, and the extremely matter-of-fact tone in which his mother spoke lit again a dawning hope in his mind that perhaps it was all true. why shouldn't be a fairy abracadabra, and a fairy-post, just as there had been, and now was no longer, a glassy sea between the rugs in the hall, and snarling tigers to keep off his enemies? if you believed a thing enough, it became real, with a few trifling exceptions--as, for instance, when, on one of the days last summer, a day crammed full of the most delightful events, archie had found himself firmly believing that that particular day was never coming to an end. true, it had come to an end, but that perhaps was because he hadn't believed strongly enough... there was a lovely story which his mother had read him about a man called joshua, who wanted a day to remain until he had killed all his enemies, and sure enough the sun stood still until he had accomplished that emphatic task. he never doubted that, because it came out of the bible, and in the spirit of joshua he set himself now to believe in abracadabra and the fairy-post. and, with that in his mind, he kept his eyes firmly away from the cupboard where his mother kept her dresses that evening, when her maid opened it, lest he should see there the parcel which he felt secretly convinced was there, and contained the clock-work train which his mother had bought, and which abracadabra would to-morrow assuredly bring out of the basket of pure gold with which she habitually travelled. archie put the letter for the fairy-post on his bed, and determined to keep awake so that he should see the fairy postman come for it. it was a very cold night, and a big fire burned in his grate, so that, though the windows as usual were all open, there was a clear, brisk warmth about the room and a frosty and soapy smell, for his bright brown hair had been washed that night--this was a special evening bath-night, for by now baths had been promoted to the morning--and stuck up all over his head in a novel and independent manner. blessington had dried it by the fire for him with hot towels, and a very extraordinary thing had happened, for when she brushed it afterwards it gave forth little cracklings, which she told him was electricity which was the thing that made the lamps burn. she had allowed him to take a brush to bed with him, and make more cracklings for five minutes until she returned to put his light out, and archie made a wonderful story to himself as he looked at the fire, that he would get an electric lamp and paste it to his head, so that he should be able to read by the light of his hair. all at once this seemed so feasible, so easy of belief that he pictured to himself everybody walking about the house in the evening lit by themselves... and then william came round the corner (he did not know what corner), carrying an electric pike for a birthday present to himself, and when blessington stole in five minutes afterwards, archie's brush had slipped from his fingers and his breath came evenly between his parted lips. there was a gap in his front teeth because a tooth had come out only to-day, embedded in a piece of toffy he was eating, which had made archie squeal with laughter, for here was a new substance called tooth-toffee... and blessington softly lifted his arm and laid it under the bedclothes without awaking him, and looked at him a moment with her old face beaming with love, and put down on his chair out of sight at the bottom of his bed the new sailor-suit, and took away the note to her fairy majesty the empress abracadabra. * * * * * archie woke next morning and instantly remembered that he had attained the magnificent age of six. six had long seemed to him one of the most delightful ages to be. eighteen was another, mainly because william was eighteen, but six was the best of all, for at eighteen you must inevitably feel that you have lived your life, and that there is nothing much left to live for; for the rest would be but a slow descent into the vale of years. but to-day he was six, and it was his birthday, and... and there was no sign of the letter he had written to abracadabra on his counterpane. but it might have slipped on to the floor, and not have been taken away by fairies after all. or it might have slipped over the bottom of the bed; and archie got up to see. no: there was no note there, but on the chair at the foot of his bed was a suit of sailor-clothes... archie gave a gasp: certainly their presence there constituted a possibility that they were for him; but he hardly dared let himself contemplate so dazzling a prospect, for fear it should be whisked out of sight. yet who could they be for, if not for him? they couldn't be blessington's, for she was a female, and wore mystery-cloaking skirts. sailor-suits were boys' clothes: harry travers, the son of a neighbouring squire, aged eight, had a sailor-suit--it was the thing that archie most envied about that young man. harry had taken the coat and trousers off one day in the summer when the two boys were playing in the copse by the lower end of the lake, and had let archie put them on for three minutes. that had been a thrilling adventure; it implied undressing out of doors, which was a very unusual thing to do, and he loved the feeling of the rough serge down his bare calves. he had, of course, offered harry the privilege of putting on his knickerbockers and jacket, if he could get into them without splitting them, but harry, from that pisgah-summit of eight years, had no desire to go back to the childish things of the land of bondage, but had danced about bare-legged while archie enjoyed his three minutes in these voluminous and grown-up lendings. and now perhaps for him, too, not for three minutes only, but for every day... and he took a leap back into bed again as blessington's tread sounded on the boards outside. archie pretended to be asleep, for he wanted to be awakened by blessington and hear his birthday greetings. he loved the return of consciousness in the morning--when he had not already been awake, and speculating about grandmamma tintagel on the lawn--to find blessington, with her hand on his shoulder, gently stirring him, and her face close to his, whispering to him, "eh, it's time to get up." so this morning, not for the first time, he simulated sleep in order to recapture that lovely sense of being awakened by love. (you must understand that he did not put it to himself like that, for archie, just at the age of six, was not a mature and self-conscious prig, but he wanted to know what blessington's greeting to him would be, when she thought she woke him up on the morning of his sixth birthday.) from the narrow chink of his eyelids not quite closed, he could see some of her movements. she took the exciting suit of sailor-clothes from the bottom of his bed, and laid it on the chair where she always put his clothes with a flannel shirt of a quite unusual shape, and his socks on top. already archie had heart-burnings at the knowledge of his knowledge of the sailor-suit. blessington meant it to be a surprise to him, and a surprise he determined it should be. in the interval there was another surprise: how would blessington wake him? she would be sure to rise to the immense importance of the occasion. she moved quietly about; she shut the windows, and brought in his bath. and then she came close up to his bed. he felt her hand stealing underneath the bedclothes to his shoulder and she shook it gently--"eh, master six," she said. oh, she had done exactly the right thing! she had divined archie, as he had divined himself, knowing himself. that was just the only thing to think about this morning. he ceased to imagine: blessington, out of her simplicity of love, had given the real birthday greeting. he rolled a little sideways, and there was her face close to his, and her hand still underneath his bed-clothes. he put up both of his hands and caught it. "many happy returns," said blessington. "wake up, my darling: it's your birthday. happy returns," she repeated. archie released her hand and flung his arm round her neck. "oh, blessington, isn't it fun?" he said. "what did you do when you were six?" "i got up directly," said blessington, kissing him, "and had my bath and put my clothes on. now, will you do the same, for i'm going downstairs for ten minutes, and then i shall be back." "all right," said archie. she went out, and archie again, as with the question of abracadabra last night, felt he must make it a surprise that there were sailor-clothes on his chair. it was quite likely that he would not be supposed to notice them at once, and so he stripped off his night-shirt, and took his bath in the prescribed manner. he had to lie down on the floor first of all, and wave his legs about; then he had to stand upright, still with no clothes on, and put his hands each side of his waist, and wave his body about eight times in each direction. then he was allowed to pour out the hot water into his bath, in order to encourage himself, but before he stepped into that delicious steamy warmth he had to bend down eight times with a long frosty expulsion of breath, and stand up eight times with a great draught of cold air in his lungs. all this had been explained to him by a stranger--not mr. johnson--who, a year ago, had come into his nursery and had been very much interested in his anatomy. archie understood that this was a doctor, though he didn't give him any medicine, but had merely showed him how to do these things, after first putting a sort of plug on archie's chest which communicated with two other plugs that the stranger put in his ears. then archie had to say "ninety-nine" several times, which seemed to be a sort of game, though it didn't lead any further (the doctor, for instance, didn't say "a hundred"), and then he had to promise to practise those contortions every morning. all this was done, and archie fled from the cold of the morning to his bath. the water was of that divinest temperature so that when he stopped still it was lovely, but when he moved he almost screamed with the rapturous heat of it. it cooled a little as he sat in it, and, still remembering that he was six, he poured a sponge-full down his spine. that over, he might wash his face and his neck, and well behind his ears with soap. up till a few months ago blessington had always superintended the bath, and done these things for him; but now he did them for himself as agent, with blessington as inspector-general in the background, who might always make the strictest scrutiny into the place behind the ears and the toe-nails to see that the effects of the bath were perfectly satisfactory. if not, blessington superintended again for the next three mornings; so archie was very careful, since it was so much grander to wash oneself than to be washed by anybody else. then came the most exciting part of the bath, for close at the side of it was a big tin full of the coldest possible water. he had then to stand up in his bath, and, after washing his face in the cold water, to put cold water everywhere within reach of him on one arm and then the other, on a chest, on a stomach, on one leg and on another right down to the foot, and finally (a vocal piece) to squeeze a full sponge down his back. archie squealed at this, and flew for a towel. he flung himself into his new clothes and was already half-dressed when blessington returned. "oh, blessington," he said, "look at me, and they're just as easy to manage as the old ones, and may i go to see harry after breakfast and show him?" "master harry will be here for tea," said blessington. "yes, but i want him to know sooner than that. did they come just ordinarily, like other clothes? or are they a birthday present?" "well, i should say they were a birthday present," said blessington. "who from?" demanded archie. and then suddenly he guessed. "oh, blessington," he said. "i like them better than anything!" he said. "well, dear, and i wish you health to wear them and strength to tear them," she said. "eh, but how you're disarranging my cap!" archie promptly handselled his clothes by spilling egg on the coat, and bread-and-butter upside down on the trousers, and, when the time came for him to make his public entry into the world, was seized with a sudden fit of shyness at the thought of anybody seeing him. the housemaid would stare, and william would laugh, and marjorie would pretend not to know him, and for the moment of leaving the day-nursery (which from this morning was to be known as archie's sitting-room) he would almost have wished himself back in his knickerbockers. but the remembered rough touch of the serge on his legs provided encouragement, and soon the new glories burst upon a sympathetic and not a mocking world. they were at breakfast downstairs, and archie, though he had already had his, was bidden by his father to have a cup of coffee, which he poured out himself at the side-table, and to drink it slowly, and at the bottom of it, among the melted sugar, there came to his astonished eyes the gleam of silver, and there was a new half-crown with his father's happy returns. thereafter came a hurried visit to harry, a motor drive with his mother and jeannie, archie sitting on the box-seat and permitted to blow the bugle practically as often as he wanted, and the return to dinner, to find that the two things he liked best, namely boiled rabbit and spotted dog pudding, formed that memorable repast. up till now he had received only two birthday presents, the clothes and the half-crown, and he could not help feeling that a visit from abracadabra was more than likely, since no one else had made the slightest allusion to clock-work trains or pens that wrote without being dipped. but in the afternoon, as he returned home from his walk with blessington and jeannie in the early dusk, he received an impression which was to be more inextricably connected with his sixth birthday than even the sailor suit. they were within a few yards of the front-door when there ran out of the bushes cyrus, the great blue persian cat. he held something in his mouth, which archie saw to be a bird. there he stood for a moment with the gleaming eyes of the successful hunter, and twitching tail, and then trotted in front of them towards the porch. simultaneously jeannie called out: "oh, blessington, cyrus has caught a thrush. we must get it from him; it may be still alive." till then archie had only thought about the cleverness of cyrus in catching a bird, which was clearly a very remarkable feat, since cyrus could only run and climb, and a bird could fly. but, as jeannie spoke, he suddenly thought of himself in the jaws of a tiger, of the clutch of the long white teeth, of the fear, and the helplessness; and a queer tremor made him catch his breath, as there smote upon him an emotion that had never yet been awakened by the passage of his sunny days. pity took hold of him for the bright-eyed bird. it suffered; his imagination told him that, and never yet had the fact of suffering come home to him. they hemmed cyrus in, and blessington took the thrush out of his mouth, while cyrus growled and struck at her with his paws, and then, greatly incensed, bounded out into the garden again, so as not to lose the chance, at this cat-hour of dusk, of a further stalk and capture. they carried the bird into the hall, where they looked at it, but it lay quite still in blessington's hand, with its helpless little claws relaxed, and with its eyes fast glazing in death. its beak was open, and on its speckled breast were two oozing drops of blood, that stained the feathers. "eh, poor thing, it's dead," said blessington. archie felt all the desolation of an unavailing pity. "no, it can't be dead, blessington," he said. "it'll get all right, won't it?" and his lip quivered. "no, dear, it's quite dead," said blessington; "but if you like we'll bury it. there'll be just time before tea. shall i run upstairs and get a box to bury it in?" without doubt this was a consoling and attractive proposal, and while blessington went to get a suitable coffin, archie held the "small slain body" in reverent hands. it was warm and soft and still; by now the bright eyes had grown quite dull, and the blood on the speckled breast was beginning to coagulate, and once again, even with the novel prospect of a bird-funeral in front of him, archie's heart melted in pity. "why did cyrus kill it, jeannie?" he said. "the thrush hadn't done any harm." "cats do kill birds," said jeannie. "same as birds kill worms, or you and william kill worms when you go out fishing." "yes, but worms aren't birds," said archie. "worms aren't nice; they don't fly and sing. it's an awful shame." blessington returned with a suitable cardboard box which had held chocolates, and into this fragrant coffin the little limp body was inserted. this certainly distracted archie from his new-found emotion. "oh, that will be nice for it," he said. "it will smell the chocolate." "it can't; it's dead," said hopeless jeannie. but blessington understood better. "yes, dear, the chocolate will be nice for it," she said, "and then we'll cover it up with leaves and put the lid on." "oh, and may it have a cris--a crisantepum?" said archie. "may i pick one?" "yes, just one." archie laid this above the bird's head, and the lid was put on. "oh, and let's have a procession to the tool-shed to get a trowel," said jeannie. "yes!" squealed archie, now thoroughly immersed in the fascinating ritual. "and i'll carry the coffin and go first, and you and blessington shall walk behind and sing." "well, we must be quick," said blessington. "no, not quick," said jeannie. "it's a funeral. what shall we sing?" "oh, anything. 'the walrus and the carpenter.' that's sad, because the oysters were dead." so, to the moving strains, the procession headed across the lawn, and found a trowel in the tool-shed, and excavated a grave underneath the laurestinus. the coffin was once more opened to see that the thrush was quite comfortable, and then deposited in its sepulchre, and the earth filled in above it. but archie felt that the ceremony was still incomplete. "ought we to say a prayer, jeannie?" he said. "no, it's only a thrush." archie considered a moment. "i don't care," he said. "i shall all the same." he took off his sailor cap and knelt down, closing his eyes. "god bless the poor thrush," he said. "good-night, thrush. i can't think of anything more. amen. say amen, jeannie." "amen," said jeannie. "and do get up from that damp earth, dear," said blessington. "and let's see who can run the fastest back to the house." blessington ran the least fast, and archie tripped over a croquet-hoop, and so jeannie won, and very nearly began telling her mother about it all before archie arrived. but, though breathless, he shrilly chipped in. "and then i picked a crisantepum, and we had a procession across the lawn, and made a lovely grave by the tool-house, and i said prayers, though jeannie told me you didn't have prayers for thrushes. mummy, when i grow up, may i be a clergyman?" "why, dear?" "don't they have lots of funerals?" "pooh; that's the undertaker," said jeannie. "besides, i did say amen, archie." "i know. but mummy, why did cyrus kill the thrush? why did he want to hurt it and kill it? that was the part i didn't like, and i expect the thrush hated it. wasn't it cruel of him? but if he kills another, may we have another funeral?" he stood still a moment, cudgelling his small brain in order to grasp exactly what he felt. "the poor thrush!" he said. "i wish cyrus hadn't killed it. but, if it's got to be dead, i like funerals." * * * * * tea, on such solemn occasions as birthday feasts, took place for archie, not in the nursery, but in the drawing-room, as better providing the proper pomp. he appreciated that, and secretly was pleased that harry travers should be ushered by william into the drawing-room, and have the door held open for him, and be announced as mr. travers. with that streak of snobbishness common to almost all small boys archie thought it rather jolly, without swaggering at all, to be able to greet his friend in the midst of these glories, so that he could see their splendour for himself. in other ways, he would have perhaps preferred the nursery, and certainly would have done so when the moment came for him to cut his birthday-cake, for the sugar on the side of it cracked and exploded, as such confectionery will do, when archie hewed his way down that white perpendicular cliff, and (a number of fragments falling on the floor), he had to stand quite still, knife in hand, till william got a housemaid's brush and scoop and removed the debris, for fear it should be trodden into the carpet. marjorie had not appeared at tea at all, and when this sumptuous affair was over, jeannie and harry and archie gathered round lady davidstow on the hearthrug with a box of chocolates planted at a fair and equal distance between them, and she told them the most delicious story about a boy whose mother had lost his birthdays, so that year after year went by without his having a birthday at all. the lights had been put out, and only the magic of leaping fire-light guided their hands to the chocolate-box, and every moment the phantasy of the story got more and more interwoven with the reality of the chocolates. eventually, while the birthday-less boy's mother was clearing out the big cupboard underneath the stairs, she came across all his birthdays put away in a purple box with a gold lock on it. "was it the cupboard underneath the stairs in the hall here?" asked archie, for questions were permitted. "yes. there they all were: eight birthdays in all, so he had one every day for more than a week. my dears! what's that?" it certainly was very startling. a noise like a mixture between the chinese gong and the bell for the servants' dinner broke in upon the quiet, with the most appalling clamour. archie swallowed a chocolate whole, and harry, with great prudence, took two more in a damp hand to sustain him in these rather alarming occurrences. "it sounds as if it was in the hall," said lady davidstow. "harry, will you open the door and see what it is?" "yes, i'll go," he said firmly. "but--but shan't archie come too?" the noise ceased as suddenly as it had begun, and with a pleasing sense of terror the two boys went to the drawing-room door and opened it. "but it's quite dark," said archie. "oh, mummy, what _is_ happening?" "i can't think. i only know one person who makes a noise the least like that." "oh, is it abracadabra?" asked archie excitedly, finding that his scepticism of the day before had vanished like smoke. it had occurred to him that abracadabra was his mother, but here was his mother telling them stories. "well, the only time i ever heard her sneeze it was just like that," said lady davidstow. archie came running back, shrieking with laughter. "and what does she do when she blows her nose?" he asked. the words were hardly out of his mouth when a piercing trumpet-blast sounded, and his mother got up. "she did it then," she whispered. "what had we better do? shall we go into the hall? she would like us to be there to meet her, perhaps, if she's coming." she went to the door, followed by the children, and they all looked out into the black hall. the wood-fire in the hearth there had died down to a mere smoulder of red, which sent its illumination hardly farther than the stone fender-curb. "but there's something there," said lady davidstow in an awe-struck whisper. "there's something sitting in the chair." "oh, mummy," said archie, coming close to her. "i don't think i like it." "i'm sure there's nothing to be frightened at, archie," said she. "which of us shall go and see what it is?" there was no volunteer for this hazardous job, for now, with eyes more accustomed to the faint light, they could all see that it was not something there, but somebody. the outlines of a head, of a body, of legs all clothed in black, could be seen, and somebody sat there perfectly still... then all of a sudden the gong and the bell and the trumpet broke out into a clamour fit to wake the dead, the great chandelier in the hall flared into light, and the black figure sprang up, throwing its darkness behind it, and there, glittering with silks and gems and gold and the flowers of fairyland, stood abracadabra. she had on a huge poke-bonnet which cast a shadow over her face, and left it terrifyingly vague. her bonnet was trimmed with sunflowers and lilies of the valley, and round the edge of it went a row of diamonds which were quite as big as the drops in a glass chandelier. another necklace of the same brilliance went round her throat and rested on a crimson satin bodice covered with gold. from her shoulders sprang spangled wings, and from below her skirt, with its garlands of roses, were silver shoes with diamond buckles. in her hand she carried a blue wand hung with bells, and by her side was a clothes-basket (such was its shape) made of gold. she stamped her foot with rage. "here's a nice welcome, lady davidstow," she said in a thin, cracked voice. "i sneezed to show i was coming, and, when i got through the keyhole, i found the hall dark, and no one to receive me. how dare you?" lady davidstow advanced with faltering steps and fell on her knees. "oh, your majesty, forgive me," she said. "why should i forgive you?" squeaked the infuriated fairy. "why shouldn't i take you away in my basket and put you in the tower of toads?" archie gasped. he would have given much for a touch of yesterday's scepticism, but he couldn't find an atom of it. the thought of his mother being whisked off to the tower of toads was insupportable. "oh, please don't," he said. "and who is that?" asked abracadabra. archie almost wished he hadn't spoken, and took hold of jeannie on one side and harry on the other. "it's me; it's archie," he said. "and you don't want me to take your ridiculous mother away?" she asked. "no, please don't," said archie. "very well, as it's your birthday, i won't. instead i'll make her extra lady-in-waiting on my peacock-staircase, and mistress of my tortoise-shell robes." "oh, mummy, that will be lovely for you," said archie, remembering that his mother was something of the kind to somebody already. then there came the giving of presents, with the surprises that occurred during such processes. archie was told to advance and put his hand in the left far corner of the golden basket, and, as he prepared to do so, abracadabra sneezed so loudly that he fled back to the bottom stair of the staircase where they had been all commanded to sit. there was a tennis racquet for harry, but the lights all went out when he had just reached the clothes-basket, and abracadabra blew her nose so preposterously that his ear sang with it afterwards. there was a great parcel for lady davidstow, as big as a football, which was found to contain, when all the paper was stripped off, nothing more than a single acid drop, in order to teach the mistress of the tortoise-shell robes better manners when her mistress came to pay a visit, and blessington, summoned from the nursery, was presented with a new cap. but the bulk of the gifts, as was proper, was for archie, a clock-work train, and a pen that needed no dipping, and a fishing-rod, and a second suit of sailor-clothes. and then the light went out again, and abracadabra began sneezing and blowing her nose with such deafening violence that the screen which stood just behind her rocked with the concussion, and the children, at the suggestion of the mistress of the tortoise-shell robes, groped their way back into the drawing-room with their presents, and shut the door till abracadabra was better. and when, from the cessation of these awful noises, they conjectured she might be better, and ventured out into the hall again, that audience-chamber was just as usual, and archie's father came out of his room, looking vexed, and asking what that beastly noise was about. but when he heard it was abracadabra, who had gone away again, he was greatly upset and said that it wasn't a beastly noise at all, but the loveliest music he had ever heard. then came bed-time, and archie, still excited, said his prayers with a special impromptu clause for abracadabra, and another for the thrush, which he suddenly remembered again, and then lay staring at the fire with his hands clasped round his knees, as his custom was. certainly abracadabra had been wonderfully real to-day, and certainly she was not his mother. then he recollected that marjorie had not appeared at all, and wondered if marjorie perhaps was abracadabra, or if the thrush was abracadabra, of cyrus... and his hands relaxed their hold on his knees, and when blessington came in he did not know that she kissed him and tucked the bed-clothes up under his chin. chapter iii archie did not often come into contact with miss schwarz, his sisters' governess; she was not a person to be lightly encountered. sometimes, if blessington was busy, he and jeannie went out for their walk with his eldest sister and miss schwarz, and on these occasions miss schwarz and marjorie would talk together in an unknown guttural tongue, very ugly to hear, which archie vaguely understood was german, and the sort of thing that everybody spoke in the country to which miss schwarz went for her holiday at midsummer and christmas. that uncouth jargon, full of such noises as you made when you cleared your throat, was quite unintelligible, and it seemed odd that marjorie should converse in it when she could speak ordinary english; but it somehow seemed to suit miss schwarz, who had a sallow face, prominent teeth, and cold grey eyes. otherwise he did not often meet her, for she led an odd secret existence in his sisters' school-room, breakfasting and having lunch downstairs in the dining-room, but eating her evening meal all by herself in the school-room. she had a black, unrustling dress for the day, and a black rustling dress for the evening, and a necklace of onyx beads which she used to finger with her dry thin hands, which reminded archie of the claws of a bird. his mother had told him that, after christmas, he would do his lessons with miss schwarz, and this prospect rather terrified him. he supposed that miss schwarz would probably teach him in the guttural language that jeannie was beginning to understand too, and he had moments of secret terror when he pictured miss schwarz, enraged at his not comprehending her, striking at him with those claw-like hands. he was coming upstairs one evening, rather later than usual, for his father had been showing him the contents of a cabinet of butterflies, and archie, enraptured with the gorgeous, brilliant creatures, had begged to be allowed to wait till the gong rang for dinner. on his way upstairs he remembered that he had lent jeannie the pen that wrote without being dipped, with which to write her german exercise. she had gone to bed early that night with a bad cold, and archie, recognizing the impossibility of going to sleep without the precious pen in his possession again, ran along the passage to the school-room, where he was likely to find it. this might entail a momentary encounter with miss schwarz, but the recovery of the pen was essential, and he entered. miss schwarz had finished her dinner, and was sitting by the fire on which steamed a kettle. she held a big glass in her hand, and was pouring something into it from a bottle. there was a high colour in her usually sallow face, and as she saw archie she made one of those guttural exclamations. "what do you want?" she said, and though she spoke english, archie noticed that she spoke it in the same thick, guttural manner as german. archie froze with terror. this was quite a new miss schwarz, a gleaming, eager miss schwarz. "oh, i lent jeannie my pen," he stammered. "i came to look for it, but it doesn't matter." "nonsense! that is not why!" said miss schwarz angrily. then she suddenly seemed to take hold of herself. "_ach_, that sweet little pen. you will find it on the table, my dear. luke, and find it. and then say good-night to poor miss schwarz. _ach_, i am so ill this evening. such a heartburn, and i was just about to take the medicine vat makes it better. do not tell any one, dear archie, that poor miss schwarz is ill. i wish to troble nobody. poor miss schwarz naiver geeve troble if she can 'elp. _ach_, you have your pen! good-night, my deear." archie fled down the passage to the nursery with terror giving wings to his heels. this miss schwarz angry one moment, and affectionate and effusive the next, was a new and a more awful person than the one he was acquainted with, and he felt sure she must be very ill indeed. it would be a terrible affair if miss schwarz was found dead in her bed, in spite of her medicine, just because he had not told anybody that she was ill, and so a doctor had not been fetched. there would be a burden on his conscience for ever if he did not tell somebody. he burst into the nursery with a wild look behind him, to make sure that miss schwarz was not following him in her evening rustling dress. "oh blessington," he cried, "miss schwarz is ill; do go and see what is the matter. i went to the school-room for my pen, and she was sitting by the fire, all red, and angry, and then polite, mixing her medicine." blessington got up from her rocking-chair. "eh, i'll go and see," she said. "don't tell her i told you," said archie. "nay, of course i won't. now you begin your undressing, and i'll be back very soon." excited and frightened and yet hugely interested, archie stood at the door of his room listening. suddenly he heard the sound of miss schwarz's voice raised almost to a scream. then there came the crash of a glass, and the ringing of a bell, while still miss schwarz's voice gabbled on, shrill and guttural. trembling, and yet unable to resist the call of his curiosity, he stole to the corner of the nursery passage, and saw william come upstairs and go along to the school-room. then blessington came out, and, instead of coming back to the nursery, she went downstairs, and presently his father came up again with her. he, too, went along the school-room passage, and suddenly, as if a tap had been turned off, the shrill voice ceased. once, for a moment, it broke out again, and as suddenly stopped, and then came the very odd sight of miss schwarz being led along the landing to her room by his father and blessington. blessington and miss schwarz entered together, his father went downstairs after a moment's conversation with william, and presently william came along the landing towards the nursery. "oh, william, what's happened?" said archie. "is miss schwarz very ill?" "well, she ain't very well," said william. "lumme!" "what does that mean?" asked archie. "it don't mean anything particular, master archie." "will miss schwarz be better in the morning?" asked archie. "lord, yes. they're always better in the morning, though they don't feel so. now blessington won't be back yet awhile, so i'm to look after you, and see you safe to bed." suddenly the thought of lying helpless in bed, with no blessington next door, and the possibility of miss schwarz guessing that archie had told of her illness, filled him with awful apprehension. she might come screaming down the passage, with her claw-like hands starving for archie's face. "oh, william, don't leave me till blessington comes back," he entreated. "no, sir, of course i won't. there, let me undo your shoes for you. you've got the laces in a knot." "and she won't hurt blessington either?" asked archie. "bless you, no sir," said william. "and there's your night-shirt. now jump into bed, and i'll open the windows." william put out the light, and archie, with a delicious sense of security seeing him seated by the fire, dozed off. once, just before he got fairly to sleep, an awful vision of miss schwarz's red face came across the field of his closed eyelids, and he started up. but in a moment william was by him. "it's all right, sir," he said. "i'm on the look out." * * * * * there was a decided air of mystery concerning miss schwarz next morning. she was better, but she remained unseen, and nobody would answer any questions about her. but in the afternoon archie met walter and the odd man carrying her luggage downstairs, and he gleaned the information that she was going away, and again, later in the day, archie saw a housemaid coming out of her bedroom with a basket full of her medicine-bottles, and he drew the conclusion that she must have been ill a long time without anybody knowing. not a syllable of news could he obtain from anybody, and, as the image of miss schwarz faded now that her dark, ill-omened presence was withdrawn, there was left in archie's mind no more than a general sense of some connection between screaming voices, red faces, indistinct utterance, and the drinking of yellow medicine out of a large glass, instead of the usual small one. there was a pleasant holiday sense for a few days after the departure of miss schwarz, for marjorie took jeannie's and archie's lessons, which made a perfect festival of learning; but immediately almost came the ominous news that a new governess was coming next day. archie believed that miss schwarz was a typical specimen of the genus governess, who were all probably in league together, and that some colleague of miss schwarz's, bent on avenging her, would render his own security a very precarious matter. it was, indeed, some consolation to know that miss bampton was a personal friend of his mother's and was not a "regular" governess at all but was just going to stay at lacebury and teach lessons; yet archie wondered, when he went downstairs on the morning after her arrival, whether he would not detect, under the guise of his mother's friend, some secret agent of miss schwarz. jeannie had lately been promoted to have breakfast with the rest of the family, and as archie opened the door he heard a burst of laughter. there was miss schwarz's secret agent sitting next his father, and she it must have been who had made them all laugh, for she was not laughing herself, and archie already knew that a joke was laughed at most by the people who hadn't made it. she was a little roundabout person, with blue eyes and a short nose and pincenez, and she got up as he entered. "and is this archie?" she said. "why, i always thought of archie as a baby. and here's an able-bodied seaman! how are you, archie?" archie stared a moment. he reviewed his suspicion about governesses in general, but certainly if this plump, genial female was a secret colleague of miss schwarz her disguise was of the most ingenious kind. but it was as well to be careful. "i'm quite well, thank you," he said, and, perceiving that a kiss had been intended, presented a sideways cheek. miss bampton made a sucking sound against it, and sat down again. "well, as i was saying," she went on, "the only plan of teaching is the co-operative principle. there are such heaps of jolly things to learn, that if the girls and i have a meeting, as i suggested, after breakfast, i'm sure we can find plenty of subjects between us. so i summon the meeting for a quarter past ten in the school-room." archie suddenly felt he was being left out. a meeting to discuss what you were going to learn sounded most promising in the way of lessons. he ran round to his mother's side. "oh, mummy, may i go to the meeting?" he said. "you must ask miss bampton," said she. archie stifled his sense of distrust, for he wanted tremendously to go to a meeting where you settled what you were going to learn. he hated lessons, in the ordinary acceptation of that term, with their tiresome copy-books, in which he had to write the same moral maxim all down the page, and the stupid exercise--called french lesson--in which he had to address himself to a cat, and say in french "of a cat," "to a cat," "with the female cat," "with the male cat," and a thing called geography, which was a brown book with lists of countries and capital towns in it. but co-operative lessons, though he had no idea what co-operation meant, sounded far more attractive. "may i come to the meeting, miss bampton?" he said. "yes, my dear, of course," said miss bampton, "if your mother will let you." thereupon there dawned for archie a great light. hitherto his lessons had been conducted by his mother, with occasional tuition from his father, and they had always made the impression that they were tasks, not difficult in themselves, but dull. he had learned the various modes of access in french to male and female cats, he had grasped the fact that rome and not berlin was the capital of italy, and paris not vienna the capital of france. but these pieces of information were mere disconnected formulae, lessons, in other words, which had to be learned, and which, if imperfectly learned, caused him to be called lazy or inattentive. in the same way, the fact that he had to write in a laborious round hand all down the page "to be good is to be happy" meant nothing more than the necessity of filling the page without a plethora of blots or erasures. but from the date of this exciting meeting on co-operative learning, a whole new horizon dawned on him. it was settled at once that he was to do his lessons with miss bampton, and from that moment they ceased to be lessons at all. instead of the lists of countries and capitals to be learned by heart, there was provided a jig-saw puzzle of the map of europe, and italy became a leg and foot, perpetually kicking sicily, and rome the button through which italy's bootlace passed. and, instead of the dreary copy-book maxims heading each page, miss bampton, in a hand quite as perfect as mr. darnell's, wrote the most stimulating sentiments on the top of each blank leaf. "he would not sit down, so we bit him" was one, and archie, with the tip of his tongue at the corner of his mouth, an attitude which is almost indispensable to round-hand orthography, was filled with delightful conjectures as to who the person was who would not sit down, and who were those tigerish people who bit him in consequence. and then miss bampton had the most delightful plans of where lessons might be done. one day, when it was snowing hard, she conceived the brilliant plan of doing lessons in the motor in the garage, which gave the most extraordinary stimulus to the proceedings, for early english history was the lesson that morning, and so she and archie and jeannie were royal anglo-saxons, specially invited to come in their coach to the coronation of william the conqueror (1066), and it would never do if, at the coronation banquet afterwards, he asked them questions about their ancestors and they didn't know. another day, when the sun shone frostily, and the lawn was covered with hoar-frost they wrapped themselves up in furs, and worked at geography, as laplanders, in the summer-house. marjorie was too old to need such spurs to industry, but miss bampton had enticing schemes for her also, giving her verse translations of heine and goethe, and encouraging her to see how near she got to the original when she translated them back into their native tongue. the christmas holidays, looked forward to with such eager expectation in the baleful reign of miss schwarz, drew near; but now, instead of counting the hours till the moment when miss schwarz, safe in the motor, would blow claw-fingered kisses to them, the children got up a round robin (or rather, a triangular robin, which marjorie translated into german), begging miss bampton to stop with them for the holidays. for she was as admirable in play-time as she was over their lessons: she told them enchanting stories on their walks, and painted for them in real smelly oil-paints the most lovely snow-scenes, pine-woods laden with whiteness, and cottages with red blinds lit from within. never had any one such a repertory of games to be played in the long dark hours between tea and bed-time, and it was during one of these that archie made a curious discovery. the game in question was "animal, vegetable, or mineral?" one of them thought of anything in heaven or earth or in the waters under the earth, and the rest, by questions answered only by "yes" or "no," had to arrive at it. on this occasion miss bampton had thought: it was known to be animal and not in the house. archie was sitting on the floor in the school-room leaning against miss bampton's knee. he had been staring at the coals, holding miss bampton's hand in his, when suddenly there came over him precisely the same sensation that he remembered feeling one night, years ago, when he woke and imagined himself and the night-nursery expanding and extending till they embraced all that existed. that sensation throbbed and thrilled through him now, and he said: "oh, miss bampton, how easy! why, it's the longest tail-feather of the thrush that cyrus killed." "oh, archie, don't guess," said jeannie. "it's no use just guessing." "but it is!" said archie. "i'm not guessing. i know. isn't it, miss bampton?" it certainly was, and so, by the rules of the game, since it had been guessed in under five minutes, miss bampton had to think again. but now archie tried in vain to recapture the mood that made miss bampton's mind so transparently clear to him. he knew what that mood felt like, that falling away of the limitations of consciousness, that expansion and extension of himself; but he could not feel it; it would not come by effort on his part; it came, he must suppose, as it chose, like a sneeze... as christmas drew near another amazing talent of miss bampton's showed itself. marjorie had been up to london one day, to combine the pains of the dentist with the pleasure of a play, and came back with a comforted tooth and the strong desire to act. instantly miss bampton rose to the occasion. "let's get up a play to act to your father and mother on new year's night," she said. "oh, it would be fun," said marjorie. "but what play could we act?" "i'll write you one," said miss bampton. and write it she did, with a speed and a lavishness of plot that would have astonished more deliberate dramatists. there was a villain, a usurper king (miss bampton); there was a fairy (marjorie); there was the rightful and youthful king (archie); who lived (act i) in painful squalor in a dungeon, attended only by the jailer's daughter (jeannie) who knew his identity and loved him, whether he was in a dungeon or on a throne. luckily, he loved her too, anywhere, and they were kind to a beggar-woman, who turned out to be the fairy, and did the rest. miss bampton was consigned to the lowest dungeon, and everybody else lived happily ever afterwards. then came the question of dresses, and marjorie rather thoughtlessly exclaimed: "i'm sure mother will let me have her abracadabra clothes for the fairy. oh--i forgot," she added, remembering that archie was present. there was an attempt (feeble, so archie thought it) on the part of miss bampton to explain this away. she said that abracadabra kept a suit of birthday clothes in every house she visited. archie received the information quite politely, said, "oh, i see," and remained wholly incredulous. his faith in the abracadabra myth had tottered before; this was the blow that finally and completely compassed its ruin, and it disappeared in the limbo of discredited imaginings, like the glassy sea between the rugs in the hall, and the snarl of the tigers at his enemies. never again would the combined crash of the servant's dinner-bell and the chinese gong make him wonder at the magnificence of abracadabra's sneezings, and when the play arrived at the stage of dress-rehearsal it was no shock to see marjorie in abracadabra's poke-bonnet and bediamonded bodice. but it must not be supposed that, with the disappearance of those childish illusions, the world became in any way duller or less highly coloured to archie; it grew, on the contrary, more and more fairy-like. the outburst of spring that year filled him with an ecstasy that could best be expressed by running fast and jumping in the air with shouts of joy. the unfolding of gummy buds on the horse-chestnut by the lake filled him with a rapture all the keener because he could not comprehend it; presently, the sight of pale green five-fingered leaves, weak as new-dropped lambs, made him race round and round blessington till she got giddy. there was a smell of damp earth in the air, of young varnished grass-blades pushing up among the discoloured and faded foliage of the lawn, and, for the hard bright skies or the sullen clouds of winter, a new and tender blue was poured over the heavens, and clouds white as washed fleeces pursued one another aloft, even as their shadows bowled over the earth beneath. birds began to sing again, and sparrows, chattering in the ivy, pulled straws and twigs about, practising for the nest-building time which would soon be upon them. a purplish mist hung over the birch-trees, and soon it changed to a mist of green as the buds expanded. violets hidden behind their leaves bedecked the lane-sides, and one morning the first primrose appeared. last year, no doubt, and in all preceding springs the same things had happened; but now for the first time they were significant, and penetrated further than the mere field of vision. they filled archie with an unreasoning joy. anything in the shape of natural history received strong encouragement from lord davidstow, as well as anything (archie did not fully grasp this) that tended to keep him out of doors when his short lessons were done, and he and jeannie started this year a series of joint collections. certain rules had to be observed: flowers that they picked must be duly pressed and mounted on sheets of cartridge paper, and their names must be ascertained. one bird's egg might be taken in the absence of the mother-bird from any nest which contained four, and must be blown and put in its labelled cell in the egg-cabinet; but when three specimens of any sort had been collected, no more must be acquired. that, perhaps, was the collection archie liked best, though the joys of the aquarium ran it close. the aquarium was a big bread-bowl lined at the bottom with spa and crystals, and in it lived caddis-worms and water-snails and a dace--probably weak in the head, for he had allowed himself to be caught in the landing-net without the least effort to get out of the way. he had an inordinate passion for small bread-pills, in pursuit of which he was so violently active that he often hit his nose against the side of the aquarium so hard that you could positively hear the stunning blow. when satiated he would still continue to rush after bread-pills, but, after holding them in his mouth a moment, he would expel them again with such force that he resembled some submarine discharging torpedoes. then there was the butterfly and moth collection, which was of short duration, and was abandoned on account of a terrible happening. the insects were emptied into the killing-bottle, and when dead transfixed with a pin, and set. but one morning archie, examining the setting-board to see if they were stiff and ready to be transferred into the cork-lined boxes, found, to his horror, that, so far from being stiff, two butterflies, a tortoiseshell and a brimstone, were alive still, with waving antennae and twitching bodies. that dreadful incident poisoned the joy of that collection; he felt himself guiltier of a worse outrage than cyrus, and all blessington's well-meant consolations that insects hardly felt anything at all would not induce him to run the risk of committing further atrocities. for a day and a night the two had writhed under their crucifixion, and that day the caterpillars were released from their breeding-cage (even including that piece of preciousness, the caterpillar of the convolvulus hawk with a horn on his tail), and the killing-bottle was relegated to the attic. the sunday church-goings for which an intermission had been ordained in consequence of archie's infant remarks about the amusingness of the man with the wagging beard, had long ago been resumed again, and this year he had a sudden attack of spurious and sentimental religion that caused his mother some little anxiety. he developed a dreadful conscience, and came to her with a serious face and confessed trivial wrong-doings. (this phase, she comforted herself to think, occurred in the autumn of this year, at a time when there was nothing much to be done in the way of collecting.) one morning archie came to her with a crime that sorely oppressed him. nearly two years ago, somebody had sent her a painted easter egg, an ostrich's egg, adorned with gilt designs of a cross and a crown and some rays, which archie had been forbidden to touch. "i touched it," he said. "i wetted my finger and rubbed it on the crown, and some of it came off." "well, dear, of course you shouldn't have done it, if i had told you not to," she said. "but don't bother about it any more. what made you come and tell me so long after?" archie grew more solemn still. "i was leaning out of the nursery-window," he said, "and i heard charles singing 'a few more years shall roll.' so i came and told you before i 'was asleep within the tomb.'" his mother laughed, quite as if she was amused. "we'll hope there'll be more than a few years before that, darling," she said. "and shall i be forgiven now i've told you?" asked archie. "yes, of course. don't think anything more about it." archie would have preferred a more sentimental treatment of his offence, and rather wished his mother bore a stronger resemblance to mrs. montgomery, in the _wide, wide world_, whose edifying tears fell so fast and frequently, and after this he tended to keep his misdeeds more to himself and repent of them in secret. simultaneously also the copy of the _wide, wide world_, which he had discovered in a passage book-case, mysteriously vanished, and no one appeared to have the slightest idea where it had gone. so, unable to stuff himself further with that brand of mawkishness, the desire that his mother should be more like mrs. montgomery faded somewhat, and there seemed but little pleasure in repentance at all, if your confessions were received in so unsentimental a manner, and it was no fun really keeping them to oneself. but for some weeks sunday morning service in church (he had expressed a wish to go to evening church as well, but his mother had told him that once was as much as was good for him) became the emotional centre of his life, though his religion was strangely mixed up with a far more mundane attraction. there was a particular choir-boy there with blue eyes, pink cheeks, and a crop of yellow curls who sang solos, and thrilled archie with a secret and perfectly sexless emotion. only last sunday he had sung "oh, for the wings of a dove," and religion and childish adoration together had brought archie to the verge of tears. he longed to be good, to live, until a few more years should roll (for he felt that he was going to die young), a noble and beautiful life; he longed also to fly away and be at rest with the choir-boy. he made up pathetic scenes in which he should be lying on his death-bed, with his weeping family round him, and the choir-boy would sing to him as he died, and they would smile at each other. when this vision proved almost too painful for contemplation he would console himself by picturing an alternative scheme, in which there were to be no death-beds at all, but instead he would get into the church choir, and sit next the choir-boy, and they would sing duets together before a rapt congregation. but, adorable though his idol was, he did not really want to know him, or even find out who he was. the idol existed for him in some remote sphere, becoming incarnate just for an hour on sunday morning, a golden-haired surpliced voice, that suggested the vanished thrills of the _wide, wide world_. he pronounced certain words rather oddly, and had a slight lisp which archie tried to copy, until one day his father told him never to say "yeth" again, or he should write out "yes" a hundred times. then came the most exciting discovery: this vocal angel proved to be the son of the head-keeper, and it was therefore perfectly easy to make his acquaintance. the notion of meeting him face to face, of exchanging a "good-morning" with him was almost overpowering, and yet archie instinctively shrank from bringing the idol into contact with actual life. he began to choose for his walk the rather dank and gloomy path that led past the keeper's cottage, and yet, when that abode where the idol lived came within sight, archie, with beating heart would avert his eyes, for fear he should see him. then one day, as they got opposite the gate, a small boy in corduroy knickerbockers with a rather greasy scarf round his neck and a snuffling nose came out, and touched his cap. there could be no doubt about his identity, and archie suffered the first real disillusionment of his life. the fading of abracadabra was nothing to this: that had been a gradual disillusionment, whereas this was sudden as a lightning-stroke. he was a shattered idol, and from that moment archie could hardly recall what it had been about, or recapture the faintest sense of the emotion which had filled him before that encounter in the wood which caused it to reel and totter and fall prone from its unsubstantial pedestal. this blow, on the top of the robust reception of his confession, did much to restore archie to the ways of normal boyhood, and it was really rather a relief to his mother, when his expanding experimenting nature took a very different turn, and he became for a time obstreperously naughty. she thought, quite rightly, that this evinced a greater vigour. that it undoubtedly did, and the imagination contained in some of archie's exploits rivalled the more visionary power that constructed death-bed scenes for himself and the idealization (cruelly shattered) of the choir-boy. one very dreary november afternoon, shortly after his seventh birthday, he was sitting alone in his mother's room. all day the sullen heavens had poured their oblique deluge on the earth, and sheets of water were being flung against the windows by the cold south-easterly gale. archie was suffering from a slight cold, and had not been out of doors for a couple of days, and this unusual detention in the house had caused him to be very cross, and also had dammed up within him a store of energy which could not disperse itself innocuously in violent movement. jeannie had gone for a motor-drive with his mother, marjorie and miss bampton were closely engaged over their rotten german, and archie that morning had been stingingly rebuked by his father for sliding down the banisters in the hall, a mode of progress strictly forbidden. blessington had not been less stinging, for an hour ago archie had been extremely rude to her, and, with a dignity that he both respected and resented, she had said, "then i've nothing more to say to you, master archie, till you've remembered your manners again." and had thereupon continued her sewing. archie knew he had been rude, but his sense of that was not yet strong enough to enable him to apologize, though of sufficient energy to make him feel woebegone and neglected. he had been allowed by his mother to sit in her room that afternoon, when she went out with jeannie, and to investigate what was known as her "work-box," which contained her "treasures." in earlier days these had been a source of deep delight: there was a minute china elephant with a silk palanquin on his back; there was a porcupine's quill, there was a set of dolls' tea-things, a pink umbrella, the ferrule of which was a pencil, a chain of amber. once these had held magic for archie: they were "mummy's treasures," and could only be seen on wet afternoons or in hours of toothache. but to-day they appeared to him perfectly rubbishy; not a gleam of glamour remained; they were as dull as the leaden skies of this interminable afternoon. archie lay in the window-seat, and wondered that his sailor-trousers only a year ago had given him so complete a sense of happiness. he rubbed one leg against the other, trying to recollect how it was that that rough serge against his bare calf felt so manly. he tried to interest himself in _alice in wonderland_, and marvelled that he could have cared about an adventure with a pack of cards. he longed to throw the book at the foolish dresden shepherdess that stood on the mantelpiece. he supposed there would be trouble if he did, that his mother would be vexed, but trouble was better than this nothing-at-all. probably it would rain again to-morrow, and he would have another day indoors, and the thought of nothing happening either to-day or to-morrow seemed the same as the thought of nothing happening for ever and ever. there was a bright fire in the hearth and beyond the steel fender a thick hearthrug of long white sheep's wool. suddenly archie remembered the odour that diffused itself when, one day, a fragment of hot coal flew out of the fire, and lodged in this same hearthrug. there was a fatty, burning smell, most curious, and simultaneously the wild, irresistible desire of doing something positively wicked enthralled him. instantly he knew what he was going to do, and with set, determined face, he took the fire-shovel in one hand and the tongs in the other, and heaped the shovel high with burning coals. he emptied them on the hearthrug. the smoke of singeing, burning wool arose, and he took several more lumps of glowing coal from the fire-place and deposited them on the rug. then a panic seized him, and he tried to stamp the conflagration out. but he only stamped the glowing coals more firmly in, and, though amazed at his audacity, he did not really want to extinguish it. he wanted something to happen. quite deliberately, though with cheeks burning with excitement, he walked out of the room, leaving the door open, and simultaneously heard the crunch of the gravel under the wheels of his mother's returning motor. he did not wish to see her, and went straight to the night-nursery (now his exclusive bedroom) and locked himself in. but he was not in the least sorry for what he had done: if anything he wished he had put more coals there. nor was he frightened at the thought of possible consequences. merely, he did not care what happened, so long as something happened. that, he reflected, it was pretty certain to do. but he made no plans. before very long he heard some one turning the handle of his door, and he kept quite still. then his father's voice said: "are you there, archie?" and still he said nothing. the voice grew louder and the handle rattled. "archie, open your door immediately," said his father. not in the least knowing why, archie proceeded to do so. he still felt absolutely defiant and desperate, but for some instinctive reason he obeyed. enormous and terrible, his father stood before him. "did you put those coals on your mother's hearthrug?" asked lord davidstow. "no," said archie. "then how did you know they were there?" asked his father. archie had something of the joy of the desperate adventurer. "because i put them there," he said. "then you have lied to me as well." "yes," said archie. lord davidstow pointed to the door. "go downstairs at once," he said, "and wait in my study." archie obeyed, still not knowing why. at the top of the stairs was standing his mother, who took a step forward towards him. "archie, my darling--" she began. "leave the boy to me," said his father, who was following him. archie marched downstairs, still without a tremor. it occurred to him that his father was going to kill him, as cyrus killed the thrush. there was a whispered conversation between his mother and father and he heard his mother say, "no, don't, don't," and he felt sure that this referred to his being killed. but he was quite certain that, whatever happened, he was not going to say he was sorry. he went into his father's study and shut the door. on the table he noticed that there was standing one of miss schwarz's medicine-bottles, and a syphon beside it, and wondered whether miss schwarz had come back. but there was no other sign of her. in another moment his father entered. "now, you thoroughly deserve a good whipping, archie," he said. "you might have burned the house down, and if you were a poor boy you'd have been put into prison for this. but your mother has been pleading for you, and, if you'll say you are sorry, and beg her pardon for burning her hearthrug, i'll let you off just this time." well, he was not going to be killed, but he was going to be whipped. archie felt his heart beating small and fast with apprehension; but he was not sorry, and did not intend to say he was. "well?" said his father. "i'm not sorry," said archie. "i'll give you one more chance," said his father, moving towards a cupboard above one of the bookcases. "i'm not sorry," said archie again. his father opened the cupboard. "lock the door," he said. but, before he could lock it, it was opened from without, and his mother entered. his father had already a cane in his hand, and he turned round as she came in. she looked at him and then at miss schwarz's medicine-bottle on the table. "go away, marion," he said. "i'm going to give the boy a lesson." she pointed at the bottle. "you had better learn yours first," she said. "never mind that. archie says he's not sorry. it is my duty to teach him." suddenly archie felt tremendously interested. he had no idea what all this was about, or what his father's lesson was, but he felt he was in the presence of some drama apart from his own. it was with a sense of the interruption of this that he saw his mother turn to him. "archie, my dear," she said. "you have vexed and grieved me very much. supposing i had felt wicked and had burned you stylograph pen, shouldn't i be sorry for having injured you? and aren't you sorry for having burned my hearthrug? what had i done to deserve that? hadn't i given you leave to sit in my room, and look at my treasures? why did you hurt me?" immediately the whole affair wore a different aspect. instead of anger and justice, there was the sound of love. his heart melted, and he ran to her. "oh mummy, i didn't mean to vex you," he cried. "i didn't think of that. you hadn't done anything beastly to me." he burst into tears. "oh, mummy, forgive me," he said. "i don't mind being whipped, at least not much; but i'm sorry; i beg your pardon. please stop my allowance till i've paid for it." "yes, dear, it's only right that you should pay some of it. you shall have no more allowance for three weeks. now go straight upstairs, and go to bed till i come to you and tell you that you may get up. and blessington tells me you have been rude to her. go and beg her pardon first." * * * * * the effect of this episode on archie's mind was that his mother understood, and his father didn't. the prospect of a whipping had not made him falter in his resolve not to say he was sorry, so long as he wasn't sorry, but the moment his mother had put his misdeeds in a sensible light he saw them sensibly, and would not have minded being whipped if by that drastic method he could have borne witness to the reality of his sorrow. but only three days later he received six smart cuts with that horrible cane for climbing on to the unparapetted roof of the house out of his bedroom window, which he had been expressly forbidden to do. but then there was no question of being sorry or not--as a matter of fact he was not--summary justice was executed for mere disobedience, and, before doing the same thing again, he added up the pleasure of going on the roof, and balanced it against the pain inflicted on the tight seat of his sailor-trousers as he bent over a chair, and found it wanting. it was during this same month which saw his seven completed years that he did a very strange and unintelligible thing, though he suffered it rather than committed it. he did it, that is to say, quite involuntarily, and did not know he was doing it till it was done. this was the manner of it. miss bampton had set him one of her delightful exercises in handwriting in his copy-book. "never brush your teeth with the housemaid's broom" she had written in her beautiful copper-plate hand at the top of the page, and archie was sitting with his tongue out copying this remarkable maxim, and amusing himself with conjectures as to what other strange habits such people as were likely to brush their teeth with the housemaid's broom might be supposed to have--perhaps they would lace their boots with the tongs, or write their letters with a poker... he had got about half-way down the page when suddenly there came over him that sensation with which he was beginning to become familiar, that feeling of extension and expansion within himself, that falling away of the limitations of consciousness which opened some new interior world to him. his pen paused, and then in the wrist of his right hand and in the fingers that still held his pen he felt a curious imperative kind of twitching, and knew that they wanted to write of their own volition, as it were, though it was not his copy that they were concerned with. under this sensation of absolute compulsion, he took a sheet of paper that lay at his elbow, and let his pen rest on it, watching with the intensest curiosity what it would do. he had no idea what would happen, but he felt that something had to be written. for a couple of minutes perhaps his pen traced random lines on the paper, moving from left to right with a much greater speed than it was wont to go, and the letters began to form themselves with a rapidity and certainty unknown to his careful, halting calligraphy, and in firm upright characters. he saw his own name traced on the paper followed by a sentence, and then his pen (still apparently obedient to some unknown impulse from his fingers) gave a great dash and stopped altogether. and this is what he read: "archie, do let me talk to you sometimes. "martin." the queer sensation had ceased altogether, and archie stared blankly at the words that he knew his hand had written. but what they meant, he had no notion, nor did he know who martin was. the whole thing was quite unintelligible to him, both the impulse that made him write, and that which he had written. miss bampton had left the room on some errand, when she had set archie his copy, and came back at this moment expecting to find the copy finished. she looked over his shoulder to see how he was getting on. "my dear, haven't you got further than that?" she said. "i thought you would have finished it by this time." she saw the other piece of paper half-concealed by archie's left hand. "why, you've been writing something else," she said. "that's why you haven't got on further. let me look." "please not," said archie. "it's private." miss bampton remembered that, a week ago, archie had been seized with a strong desire for literary composition, and had composed a very remarkable short story, which may be given in full. "chapter i "there was once a merderer with yellow eyes, and his wife said to him, "'if you merder me you will be hung.' "and he was hung on tuesday next. "finis." when archie had brought this yarn to her she had laughed so uncontrollably that he was hurt. so, in the hope of finding another such (though archie had no business to write stories in lesson-time) she said: "my dear, do show me; i won't laugh." archie hesitated; he felt shy about disclosing this sentence he had written, but, on the other hand, miss bampton, who appeared to know everything, might help him towards the interpretation. "well, it's not a story," he said. "it's just this. i wrote it without knowing. oh, miss bampton, what does it mean, and who is martin?" if it was archie who hesitated before, it was miss bampton who hesitated now. suddenly she had a clever thought. "my dear, you've been thinking about the martins that built in the sandpit last spring," she said. "don't you remember how you and jeannie made up a story about them?" this was true enough, but it failed to satisfy archie. also he had a notion that miss bampton had made a call on her ingenuity in offering this explanation. "but isn't there any other martin?" he asked. "none that you ever knew, archie," she said. "i think it's one of those in the sandpit. now get on with your copy, and we'll walk there before your dinner." the incident passed into the medley of impressions that were crowding so quickly into the storehouse of archie's consciousness, but it did not lie there quite unconnected with others. he laid it on the same shelf, so to speak, as that which held the memory of his waking vision one night in remote days, and held also the fact of his knowing what miss bampton had thought of in the guessing game. but those were among the secret things of which he spoke to nobody. one more impression for secret pondering, though of different sort from those, he had lately added to his store, and that was when a whipping seemed imminent, and he saw one of miss schwarz's medicine-bottles standing on his father's table. chapter iv lady davidstow and miss bampton were sitting together that night in lady davidstow's bedroom. she had sent her maid away, saying that she would not want her again that night, and now she held in her hand the sheet of paper covered with lines of meaningless scribbles, with the one intelligible sentence at the end, which archie had written that day when he should have been doing his copy. in the other hand she held a letter written in ink that was now rather faded, and she was comparing the two. she looked at them for some time in silence, then turned to miss bampton. "yes, you are quite right, cathie," she said. "what archie wrote might actually be in martin's handwriting. look for yourself: there's the last letter he ever wrote to me." miss bampton took the two papers from her. "there's absolutely no difference," she said. "the moment i saw what archie had written, i thought of martin's handwriting. and then it was signed 'martin.' are you sure he has never heard of him? not that that would account for the handwriting." lady davidstow shook her head. "i think it's impossible," she said. "jeannie assured me she had never spoken to him about martin, nor has blessington. he may have heard his name. he probably has heard his name mentioned. i remember mentioning it in archie's hearing the other day, but he didn't pay the slightest attention. and he can't possibly recollect him even in the vaguest way. it is five years now since martin died, and archie was then only just two, and for six months before that martin was with me at grives." cathie bampton laid down the two papers. "i can't think why you never told archie about him," she said. lady davidstow's great grey eyes grew dim. "ah, my dear, if you were martin's mother and archie's mother you would know," she said. "if you had seen your eldest son die of consumption and your second son threatened with it, you would understand how natural it was not to tell archie yet of the brother he had never consciously seen. jack agreed with me, too. i have long been prepared for archie asking questions, which certainly i would answer truthfully, and let the knowledge come to him quietly by degrees. i may have done wrong; i don't know. but i think i did right. i couldn't begin saying to archie, 'you had a brother, but he died.' more would have come out; that he died of consumption; that for fear of that archie lives so much in the open air." "but, my dear, how will archie begin to know unless you tell him?" "oh, in many ways. there is martin's picture, for instance, in my room. archie may ask who it is. or, when he hears martin's name mentioned, he will ask some time who martin was. indeed, i have often thought it odd that he hasn't. only the other day jack was talking to me about it, suggesting that it was time that archie knew. indeed, he rather urged me to tell him. and now, all of a sudden, we find archie writing in martin's handwriting, and signing with martin's name." "shall you tell lord davidstow?" asked miss bampton. "no, i certainly shall not. jack hates all that approaches the neighbourhood of anything that might be called occult or spiritualistic. he says 'pshaw,' as you know, if even hypnotism is mentioned. i did tell him about archie's intuition in that guessing game, and, as you again know, he asked you not to play it any more, though at the same time he insisted that it was a mere guess on archie's part." cathie was silent a moment. "and those scribbles of archie's?" she asked. "do they not make it more difficult for you to tell him about martin now? a sensitive boy like that might get it into his head that his dead brother was writing to him." "certainly i don't want archie to think that," said his mother. "no, i shall put off telling him now." "and if he asks?" said miss bampton. "i have an idea that he won't ask." she got up and moved about the room for a moment in silence. "my dear, all children have got a secret life of their own," she said, "and, oh, how their mothers want to be admitted! but every young thing has a walled-up place in his heart, to which he admits nobody, and, if you ask to be admitted, not only is the door shut, but locked. we all had our secret places, and i make a guess that this bit of paper--by the way, mind you put it back in the school-room where archie left it--lives in archie's secret place. how i long to get in, the darling! but all i can do is to wait outside, and take what he gives me. archie doesn't tell me everything, why should he? he didn't tell me what it was that made him put the burning coals out of the fire on to my hearthrug." "probably he didn't know." "something inside him knew, or else he wouldn't have done it. all we do is accountable for by what is inside us. impulses come from within." "but they are suggested by what is without," said miss bampton. "yes; that's the box on which the match is struck, but the fire is in the match. all you can do for a child, even your own child, is to suggest, and hope he'll take your suggestions." miss bampton got up. "it's late; i must go," she said. "but i want to ask you one thing. do you believe in the possibility of martin's having made a communication to archie?" "yes; i think i do. that's why this affair has upset me so. the idea is so strange and new, that i'm frightened about it, though why i should be so i can't tell. with my whole heart i believe that my darling is living somewhere in an existence as individual as ever, and even more vivid, because the weakness and the illness and the weariness are past. so why should i be frightened at the thought that he could communicate with archie? ah, my dear, if only he would communicate with me! or with jack! poor jack, how he would scout the idea! how shocked he would be! i suppose that's part of my secret garden which i keep from jack!" she held her friend a moment after kissing her. "jack never really got over martin's death," she said. "he couldn't bring himself into line with it. it was then that it became a settled habit with him to try to forget... just lately he has been very bad. there, good-night, my dear; i can't talk about it." * * * * * the whole incident affected archie far less than it affected either his mother or his governess, and next day when he found his scribbled paper lying where he had left it the day before, it excited no further curiosity in his mind. he put the thought of it away on his shelf of secret things which had nothing to do with his ordinary normal life. in certain moods, which, after all only lasted for a moment or two, the things that shelf contained became far more real to him than any other of his experiences; but for weeks and months at a time its contents remained out of his reach, and if he shared them, as his mother had said, with nobody else, he had no share in them himself except at these odd, queer moments. so when, next day, he came across this curious sentence again, caught by him, as by some process of wireless telegraphy, he felt but little interest in it, though he sat for a couple of minutes with his pen held idly in his hand, just to see if anything else happened. but there was no sensation that ever so faintly resembled the twitching and yearning of his hand to write he knew not what, and he crumpled the paper up, and put it into the fire. somewhere below the threshold of his conscious self lay the perceptions that were concerned with it, those perceptions that guessed what miss bampton had thought of, that somehow swam up to the surface, as he used to lie in bed of a morning, and sink into the depths that lay below the green-tinted ceiling of his room; and, while they lay dormant, it was as if they never existed. but now for some weeks there had been no light whatever on his ceiling, and morning after morning he awoke with no sense of exhilaration at all in the coming of another day, but with a drowsy depression lying thick upon him, as he heard the rustle of the endless rain in the shrubs outside, and languidly went through those exercises that used to invigorate him but now only tired him. all through the month the damp chilly weather persisted, and day after day the same lowering heavens obscured the sun; never in this bright sussex upland had there been so continuous a succession of rain-streaked hours. the wonder of seeing the lake slowly rising till it engulfed the lower end of the lawn, and made an island of the summer-house failed to stir him, and there was no magic in the unique experience of punting across the lawn to it. then, one morning early in december, the deluge was stayed, once more the sun slid up a cloudless sky, and the whole nature of the world was changed. archie had again been indoors for a couple of days, with a return of the cold that really was responsible for the burning of his mother's hearthrug, and once more the ecstasy of living possessed him. as consolation for his imprisonment, he and jeannie were both given a holiday, and, breakfast over, they scampered out, and once more saw their shadows racing in front of them. the game was to tread on somebody else's shadow. blessington's shadow did not count because anybody could tread on that; but it required real agility to tread on jeannie's, for it had the nippiest way of dodging before your foot could really descend on it. so they ran in circles round blessington, and marco, the collie, ran in circles round them; and though it counted two to tread on marco's shadow (you must not hold marco and then stamp on his shadow), no one had got nearer than a doubtful claim to have trod on his tail. quite suddenly archie stopped; he had an odd, warm sensation in his mouth that required investigation. two days ago jeannie's nose had bled, which archie thought rather grand. there had been rather a fuss about it: she was laid down on the floor, and miss bampton put the door-key down her back, and eventually some ice was brought, and it was all quite important. but now it was not his nose that was bleeding, but his mouth. "oh, i say, i'm bleeding in my mouth," he said. "that's just as good as jeannie's nose." even while he spoke he felt rather giddy, and instantly blessington's arm was round him. "eh, my dear," she said. "that'll never do. you lean against me, and we'll go home very quietly. you mustn't chase any more shadders this morning." as a matter of fact, archie did not want to. he felt a rather enjoyable lightness in his head, but he felt weak also, and disinclined to run. "oh, here it is again," he said, and once more, now with a sensation of choking, he coughed up blood. he saw blessington's tender, anxious face above him, exactly as it had appeared in the earliest of all his memories, and, as then, felt absolutely comfortable in the thought that she was there. her arm was close round his neck now, and with her other hand she made a sign to jeannie. "run straight back home, dear," she said, "and tell your mamma to come out here at once, and bring william. master archie and i are going to sit down quietly till she comes." archie rather enjoyed all this. he was completely in blessington's hands, and utterly content to be so. then blessington did a very odd thing. "well, i'm so hot with seeing you and miss jeannie running about," she said, "that i'm going to sit down, and wait for a bit. and you'll wait with me, dear, won't you? there! put your head on my knee and lie down. i know you're hot with running about." as by a conjuring trick, archie knew that blessington's cloak with its collar of rabbit's fur was tucked round him. it was rather odd to be lying with his head on blessington's knee out of doors in the winter, but he had no desire to question the propriety of all this, for it fitted in so well with his main desire, which was to stop still. a couple of minutes ago he had been running about at top-speed; now he had no wish except to do as he was told, to put himself into responsible hands. it was all rather dreamlike; his mother and william were coming here soon, but that seemed quite natural. and it was still rather grand to bleed at the mouth. then came a gentle singing in his ears, a pleasant sense of complete indolence, that never quite passed into unconsciousness, and presently it was just as natural to find himself in william's arms. out of a half-opened eye he saw william was in livery, for the blue and white stripes of his low waistcoat were close to him, and his cheek rested on william's shirt-front. and then he saw that there was a bright red stain there which certainly was not part of william's ordinary livery. "oh, william, i've messed you," he said. "i am sorry." "that's all right, master archie," said william. "it wasn't a new shirt this morning." some dim reminiscence about something william had told him concerning beer-money and washing came into his head. william had beer-money or washing; he could not remember which. "i shall pay for it anyhow," he said. still feeling rather dizzy, he had the impression of his own room with blessington and his mother near him. apparently he had been laid on the floor, for his bed looked tall beside him. then he was not on the floor any more, but in his bed, and whether it was at once or later, he never knew, but presently there was in the room the stranger who once had made him play the pointless game of saying "ninety-nine!" here he was again with a plug against archie's chest, and two other plugs in his own ears. archie remembered him quite distinctly: he was a doctor who didn't give any medicine. "shall i say 'ninety-nine'?" he asked. "no, just think 'ninety-nine,' and don't talk. if you think 'ninety-nine' it will do just as well." archie had no desire to do anything beyond what he was told to do. he thought "ninety-nine," and the stranger smiled very kindly at him. "that's capital," he said. "now just go on thinking 'ninety-nine'..." and whether he floated out of the window, or vanished like the cheshire cat, or walked away in the ordinary manner, archie was quite unaware. then he was hungry, and, behold, there was blessington with boiled rabbit, and he was sleepy and hungry again, and again sleepy. sometimes his mother was there, and sometimes his father, who looked rather odd, and sometimes william brought coals, though the housemaid usually did that; and there was blessington again, who washed his face, and then, uncovering him limb by limb, washed these also. archie could not understand why he acquiesced in this odd state of things, or why he did not ask to get up and run about and play the shadow-game again. but merely he was quite content to lie still, and he hoped that when jeannie came and talked to him she would not suggest the resumption of the game that had been so ecstatic but had been interrupted so suddenly. and miss bampton came in, and read to him something she had been writing. he noticed that she read from printed pages, not like the pages of an ordinary book, but long strips. it appeared that it was a story she had written which had got printed, and he asked whether his story about "the merderer" would ever get printed. they all came in, and talked gently and melted away again. then arrived a memorable morning when, instead of being gently awakened by blessington, he awoke entirely of his own accord, and felt strong and cross. cross he certainly proved to be, for when the morning washing began, which hitherto had been a pleasant and luxurious performance, he found that blessington could do nothing right. she put soap into his eyes, she tickled his feet and scratched his shoulder with her disgusting flannel. archie made firm complaints against each of these outrages, of a sort that would usually lead to rebuke on blessington's part. indeed, he had not been nearly so rude on the occasion when he had been told to apologize to her. but now she merely beamed at each disagreeable remark, and, instead of scolding him, she made a most cryptic answer. "eh, my darling," she said. "thank god you feel like blaming me again." "what _do_ you mean, blessington?" said archie angrily. "oh, do take care of my little toe. you've nearly pulled it off once already." "well then, i'll kiss it," said blessington. and did. archie looked at her. "why are you crying?" he asked, wriggling his foot away from her. he did not want it to be kissed. "crying? i'm just laughing," said blessington. and that was true; she was laughing. but she was crying also. an idea struck archie which had not occurred to him before. "am i ill, blessington?" he asked. "am i going to die?" at that there was no question of what blessington was doing. her laughing quite ceased, and she gave a great sob. "no, my darling, you're not going to die," she said. "get that out of your silly head. you're not..." and then she broke down altogether, and hid her face in the towel with which she had been washing archie's left foot. he saw her shoulders shaking; he knew that, for some reason, she could not speak. but she was crying, and was not cross with him for being cross. it behoved a man to administer consolation. "oh, don't cry, blessington," he said. "what is there to cry about? unless it's because i'm so cross." "i don't mind your crossness," she said. "you let me finish wiping your foot. and then i'll go down and tell your mamma--" "oh, don't say i was cross," said archie. "i'm sorry i was cross." "nay, i'll just tell her how much better you feel this morning. and i shouldn't wonder if there was a great treat coming, something you'll like ever so much." "is it another train?" asked archie. "bless the boy!" said she. "how you think about trains!" * * * * * archie ate his breakfast, and passed an entrancing morning. everybody seemed desirous of congratulating him, as if he had done something particularly meritorious, as on the occasion of his not getting drowned when he jumped out of the boat after the pike. he held a sort of levee, the most remarkable incident of which was the appearance of miss bampton with a piece of white chalk, with which she drew on the green drugget by his bed, so that he could easily see it, a great map of england and central europe. there was the south of england, with london written large, and here was lacebury also conspicuously marked. then there was the english channel with france below it, and paris in the middle, and away to the right, some distance below, the lake of geneva. then, still explaining, she made marks like caterpillars which were mountains, and said that now the mountains were covered with snow, even down to the tails of the caterpillars and below was the lake of geneva, quite blue. all the roads were covered with snow up by the caterpillars' tails, and there were no wheels on the carriages, but they slid over the frozen snow instead. there was skating up there, for they made lakes which were covered with ice. they just put water into flat places, and there was your lake, and it instantly froze. it never rained there, but if it wanted to do anything, it just snowed. usually it didn't want to do anything, and there was the sun and the snow, and wouldn't it be jolly to go there? this presented itself to archie's mind as a purely abstract proposition. of course it would be jolly to go to a place where you saw the real mountains and had a glimpse of the real lake of geneva, and slid instead of walking; but what next? did any one ever go there? apparently. right at the tail of the caterpillar was a place called grives. there it was, written down: the railway only went as far as bex, and there the sledges began. and always the sun shone, so that you sat out of doors with the snow all round you, and felt perfectly warm. suddenly archie could stand it no longer. it was like talking to a starving man about roast beef. there was roast beef somewhere in the world, and he wanted it so badly. in the same way something inside archie starved for sun and snow and thin air. "oh, shut up, miss bampton," he said. "i want it so frightfully." his mother was sitting on the edge of his bed watching the map of europe. "archie, we're going to grives in a few days," she said. "you and blessington and jeannie and i." * * * * * it was memorable moment when the boat rose up and then curtsied to the big seas that were jostling each other up the channel. archie's only knowledge of the sea was culled from a single visit to brighton two years ago, and the sea to him then appeared but one among an assembly of unusual bright objects: nigger-minstrels and tin buckets and piers and penny-in-the-slot machines. but on this bright winter day he hailed a new and glorious creature, when he saw the steep white-capped waves, grey in the bulk but lit with lovely green where they grew thin, come streaming up to the ship's side and fall away again in puffs of white smoke and squirts of high-flung foam. warmly wrapped up in his new fur-coat, he sat on deck sheltered from the weather and watched with ecstatic wonder the rollicking, untamed creatures that sent the boat now over on one side, now on the other, and threw it up and caught it again within their firm, liquid embrace. behind it lay a wake of white foam, like a long string still tying them to dazzling chalk cliffs and the wave-smothered pier, and overhead the masts, thrumming to the wind, struck right and left across a wide arc of the sky, and their shadows sped across the deck. these swervings and upliftings and descents of the ship as she whacked her way across the shifting mountains produced in him no physical discomfort, but only the sense that a new and glorious being had come into his life. all too soon, even as the jig-saw puzzle of the map of europe had warned him by the narrowness of the straits, the shores of france began to rear themselves up above the wave-moulded horizon, and presently another pier received them, and men spoke a strange tongue (probably french, though it might have been hebrew) and made novel gestures, and wore blouses, and boots that turned up at the toes more than was usual in england. there were no platforms: you had to climb the sheer carriage side from ground-level, and the engines were altogether different, and the movement of the train was other than that he was accustomed to. then, sure enough, they came after nightfall to a great town, and drove across it, keeping firmly to the wrong side of the road, though, as everybody else did the same, there were not so many collisions as might have been expected. then came the novelty of eating dinner in a restaurant perched up in another station, from the windows of which you could romantically observe train after train sliding out into the winter night. before long archie's train did the same, and then came the glorious experience of undressing in a train, while it was going at full speed. there was never so remarkable a bedroom, all gold and looking-glass and stamped leather, and instead of his bed and blessington's being put on the floor, one, which archie begged to have, was put above the other. close by him in the roof of the carriage was the electric light which, when you turned a small handle the requisite distance, dwindled to a mere speck. at some timeless hour he woke up, and found a very polite stranger in his bedroom, to whom blessington explained that they had neither spirits nor lace nor tobacco in their luggage. and the total stranger then apparently guessed that he had been misinformed, for he went away again without another word. the clever train found its way without any mistake through the darkness of the long winter's night, for next morning it was skimming along by the edge of a lake so large that no wonder it appeared on the jig-saw map of europe. the lake at home, once an almost boundless sheet of water, was no more than a wayside puddle to this; the hills at home were no more than the tunnelled earth of moles compared with those slopes on which the rows of pines looked smaller than the edging of a table-cloth against the blue. blue? archie thought he had never known what blue was till now, not what sunshine was until he saw the dazzle of it on those sparkling slopes. and they, so his mother told him, were not mountains at all: they were only hills; but soon he should see what mountains meant. as they passed through the glittering towns that stood on the edge of the lake, he could see the sleighs sliding over the streets with jingle of bells crisply sounding in the alert air. other smaller sleighs were drawn by pleased, smiling dogs. there was never such a morning of discoveries. the only drawback was that, though it ought only to have been ten o'clock, the swiss chose that it should be eleven, and thus an hour of this immortal day was lost; but his mother told him that the french had taken care of it, and would give it back to them when they returned. all this was romantic enough, but the romance grew more deep-hued yet when, in the early afternoon, archie was packed into a sleigh and the journey up through the pine-woods began. white-capped and white-cloaked stood the red-trunked trees, and now and then, with a falling puff of snow, a laden branch, free of its burden, sprang upwards again. then the pines were tired of climbing, and the sleigh left them and came out on to a plateau high above the valley. and could that have been sunshine down there? for the valley seemed choked with grey fog, and here above was real sunshine and air that refreshed you as with wine. the hills that had appeared so gigantic had sunk below them, but behind them rose the spears and precipices, remote and blue, of the real mountains, and, as they went upwards, these soared ever above them, and presently the blue on them was tinged with apricot and rose in the glow of the declining sun. and the driver cracked his whip, and the horses jingled their bells in response, and, pointing with it to a row of toy houses still far above them, he grinned at archie and said "grives." the rose of sunset had faded and the snows were turned to ivory-crystal beneath the full moon when they entered the long, lit village street, with its old carved wooden houses, deep-balconied towards the south, and the modern hotels now just opening again for the winter season. these, too, they left behind them, and again mounting a steep slope, came to where, round a sudden corner, stood the big chalet which archie's mother had taken. "and here we are," she said. archie sat staring. somehow he felt he knew the house; perhaps it was a house he had dreamed of. there were pines to right and left of it, just as there were in this picture of a house that existed somewhere in his mind; it had the same broad balconies, where you could lie all day in the sun, and look over the village roofs below and across the valley from which all afternoon they had climbed. he felt he knew it inside too: there would be rooms with wooden walls, and china stoves--where had he heard of china stoves?--and the smell of pine-wood haunting all the house. it was extraordinarily interesting... a big, genial woman had turned up the electric light outside the door when she heard the crack of the driver's whip, and stood bareheaded, ready to welcome them. archie felt that he knew something about her too. "ah, _miladi_," she said to his mother in very crisp good english, yet with a funny precision, as if she had learned it as a lesson, "i give you welcome back to grives. and how is my dear madame blessington?" archie thought his mother interrupted these greetings rather suddenly. "how are you madame seiler?" she said. "and here is my daughter jeannie and archie"--and she added something in an undertone, which sounded like the language miss schwarz used to talk. madame seiler whisked round with renewed cordiality. "and such lovely weather you have come to," she said. "the sun all day and the frost all night. but we keep out the frost and let the sun in." they passed into the entrance-hall, aromatic and warm, heated by a big china stove that roared pleasantly, and instantly, without any reason, there came into archie's mind the remembrance of the words his hand had scribbled one morning with the signature "martin." it came out of the darkness like a light seen distantly at night; it flashed like a signal and vanished again. but for one second it had been there, remote, but visible and luminous. lady davidstow, for some obscure and grown-up reason, thought good at supper that night to explain incidentally that she had written to madame seiler that blessington was coming, and that was how she had known blessington's name. archie had a very strong and wholesome confidence in his mother, but he knew that grown-up people sometimes made statements which have got (by the rules) to be accepted, but which do not always convince. blessington's saying that she could not run any more because she had a bone in her leg was an instance of this class of statement, as also was the occasion when his mother spoke, a year ago, about abracadabra's sneezings. this mode of accounting for madame seiler's knowing blessington's name came under the same head: as far as it went it might be true, and though it did not particularly interest him whether it was true, so to speak, all the way, he felt that there was something mildly mysterious about it. and, having made this unconvincing statement, his mother at once passed on to more interesting topics. it was a blow, when blessington called him next morning, to be told that he was tired with the journey and must stop in bed for breakfast. that was a perfectly unfounded statement, but, like those others, had grumblingly to be accepted, though archie knew quite well that he had never felt less tired. "you mayn't feel it, dear," said blessington, "but you are." "i should think i ought to know best," said archie. "no, i know best," said blessington firmly. "and your mamma says so, too." archie began to wonder they were not right. he did not feel tired, as he had told blessington, but something inside him said that it did not want to run about, or even skate, but it was very well pleased that his body, well wrapped up, should sit up in bed, and bask in the sun which blazed in through the opened french window communicating with the big balcony outside his room. then, after breakfast, there came in his mother with a big jovial man, whose name was dr. dobie. "i never saw such a lazy fellow," exclaimed this rather attractive person. "fancy not being up yet!" "they wouldn't let me," said archie. "well, as soon as i've had a look at you, up you shall get," said the doctor. "but i can't wait till you're dressed. now, undo your coat a minute." once again the instrument with plugs was produced, and the ninety-nine game played. "that's capital," said the doctor, "and now in a minute i'll have done with you. just put that into your mouth with the end under your tongue. there, like that." this was a very short process, and dr. dobie got up. "now, my plan for you is this," he said. "you shall dress and lie out in the sun on your balcony. and, after you've had dinner, you shall go for a sleigh drive, and walk a little on your way back. then balcony again, till it's dark." "but mayn't i skate?" asked archie, who didn't really want to. "no, not just yet. we'll have you skating before long, but not at present. the more you do as you're told, the sooner you'll skate." during the next week, but so gradually that at no moment was it a discovery, it dawned on archie that he was ill, and that his illness dated from the time when his mouth bled. the knowledge did not in the least depress him, because with it came the absolute certainty in his own mind that he was going to get quite well again. for the most part he did not feel ill, though there was often an uncomfortable period towards evening when he felt sometimes hot and sometimes cold, and one moment would want another coat on, and soon would have liked to throw off all the clothes he had. these odd feelings were accompanied by a sort of extra vividness in his perceptions: he felt tingling and alert, and the lights seemed brighter than their wont. but when this had been more marked than usual in the evening, he always felt very tired next day, and more than once he did not get up at all but had his bed pulled out on to the balcony. then, as the weeks passed on, there was less of this, and before long he was allowed to tie his toboggan to the back of the sleigh, and be towed up-hill through the pine-wood that climbed the slopes behind the village. that was a delightful experience; on each side stood the snowy trees frosted like a christmas cake, now almost meeting above the narrow track, and then standing away from it again, so that the deluge of sun poured down as into a pool, while from in front came the jingle of the horse's bells, and from below him the squeak of his runners. then they came out again on to the ski-ing slopes, where visitors to grives played the entrancing game of seeing, apparently, who could fall down most often in the most complicated manner. where the slope was steepest there was erected a sort of platform, so that the runner, flying down the slope above, was shot into the air, touching ground again yards below. or, on other mornings, when things went well, and there had been no hot-and-cold period the evening before, he tobogganed down the slope below the house to the edge of the skating-rink and sat there in the snow, with everything round frozen hard, yet feeling perfectly warm, so potent were the beams of this ineffable sun through the thin, dry air. jeannie was learning to skate and progressed, in wobbling half-circles, and shrilly announced that this and no other was the outside edge. or four of the experts in a railed-off and hallowed place at the end of the huge rink would put down an orange, and proceed to weave a mystic dance in obedience to the shouted orders of one of them. at one moment all four would be swiftly converging on a back-edge to their orange, and, just at the moment when a complicated collision seemed imminent, would somehow change their direction, and, lo, all four were sailing outwards and forwards again in big, sweeping curves. then there were the hoarse, angry cries of the curlers to listen to, and the pleasant sight of the stone sliding swiftly down the ice and butting, with a hollow chunk, into any other that stood in its way. and then a slow sliding stone would come down, and people swept violently in front of it to encourage it not to lie down and die, which for the most part it did. but always too soon, his mother or blessington would come to tell him that it was time to go home again and he would tie his toboggan to the back of the sleigh, and be pulled up-hill to the house. that was a tiresome moment, and archie found himself wondering, with a pang of jealousy, why, when so many were hale and hearty round him, it should be just he who was obliged to go and lie down on the roofed balcony, instead of skating or curling. but even when he had set-backs, and had to lie all day on the balcony, he never faltered in his belief that he was going to get well. here then, in brief, were the outward aspects of archie's life at grives, new and attractive and full of sun and dry, powdery snow. he took no active part in the activities, and was but an observer, but all the time there were inward aspects of his life, which no one shared with him, and which no one ever observed. he was always on the alert, even on those mornings of tiredness after he had had a rise of temperature the evening before, for the development of a certain thing, the existence of which came to him only in hints and whispers. but the thing itself was always there, though he had no control over its manifestations. he could no more bring it into the exterior life of the senses, he could no more see or hear it or produce any evidence of it, as he willed, than he could make the sun pierce and scatter the clouds, which for a whole week in january alternately rained and snowed on to grives. all he could do was to wait for it, and he waited in a perpetual serene excitement. it came always when he was alone: he got to think of solitude, in this present stage, as an essential for its manifestation. and, as the weeks went on, he associated it more and more with the balcony on which he lay for the greater part of the day. it, the thing he waited for, and was completely silent about even when he had intimate good-night talks with his mother, was no other than "martin" (whoever martin might be) whose presence had come into his mind with such unexpected vividness when first he saw the chalet. never was the idea of "martin" absent from his mind: it might lurk concealed behind the excitement of trailing after the sleigh, or of watching the skaters on the ice, but at all times it was ready to enfilade him. and, among all the diversions of the snow and the ice and the sun, he had an inward eye turned towards this inscrutable "martin"--no winged nester in the sand-cliffs, but somebody, somebody... lessons in a mild way had begun again before this wretched rainy and snowy week, and miss bampton sent out from home the most entrancing and topical copies. "hot outside-edge for lunch," was one, in allusion to the news of jeannie's skating; "cold inside-edge for dinner" was another. whatever the weather was, archie was out of doors all day, and jeannie, during lesson-time, used to sit out on his balcony and do her more advanced tasks, which, with his, were taken in to lady davidstow for correction. more often his mother used to sit on the balcony, too, but during this damp, abominable week she suffered from a heavy cold, and the lessons were brought to her by jeannie. and on this particular morning, jeannie had finished her french translation first, and so went in to her mother to have it corrected, leaving archie to finish the last three lines of his copy. ever since his first entry into the house, there had been for him nothing more than the perception of martin's presence. with the patience of a child who wants something, a thing only equalled by the patience of a cat watching a mouse-hole, he had never taken his inward eye off this. he was always ready for it. as jeannie went in with her completed french lesson, he laid down his pen, and looked for a moment at the streaming icicles on the eaves of his shelter, and listened with a sense of depression to the drip of the melted water that formed grey pits in the whiteness of the snow below. because there was a thaw, the air felt colder than when there were twenty degrees of frost, and the blanket on his couch was studded with condensed moisture. "it is warmer," thought archie to himself, "so it ought to _be_ warmer. but it's colder." at this moment he felt a sudden thrill in his right wrist, and thought that a melted drop had fallen on it. but he saw there was no drop there, and wondered at this sensation of touch. then he saw his fingers begin to twitch, and instantly recognized the sensation he had felt once before. he swept his incomplete copy off his pad of blotting-paper, and took his pen up again. surely he could write on his blotting-paper. at first the meaningless scribbles appeared, made more grotesque and senseless by the running of the ink. there was a pencil on the table by him, and he took that up instead of the pen, while his hand twitched and jerked to be at its task again. the day before he had pinched his finger in the hinge of a slamming window, and he saw the moon-shaped blot of blood below the nail quivering as his fingers starved to hold an instrument of writing again. then his hand settled down, like a hovering bird on to a bough, as he picked up the pencil. for a little while the scribbles went on: then, watching the marks on the blotting-paper just as an excited spectator watches the action of a play, he saw words coming. his brain did not know what they were till they appeared on the paper. "archie, archie," said the pencil, "i want to talk to you. i can't always, but sometimes i can. dear archie, try to be ready when i get through. lovely to talk to you. can't to mother." an incontrollable excitement seized the boy. "oh, who is it?" he said aloud. "is it martin?" he felt the twitching die away in his fingers, and presently he was left sitting there, his copy on the floor and the scrawl on the blotting-paper. but he had, somewhere inside him, a sense of extraordinary satisfaction. something or somebody had "got through," whatever that meant. the words in pencil on his blotting-paper had "got through." and he turned it over hastily, and picked up the unfinished copy, as the door-handle into his room rattled, and jeannie came out on to the balcony again with her corrected french exercise. several days of this chilly dripping weather, with the _foehn_ wind from the south went by, and when that ceased, and the wind veered to the north, blowing high over grives, and raising feathers of snowdust on the peaks to the north, while the sheltered valley basked in calm and sunlight again, there were eventful days of carting the snow from the rinks before any further development took place in archie's secret life. this carting of the snow was splendid fun, for, when a hand-sleigh of it was piled high, archie would squat on the front of it (thereby adding considerably to the weight) and in a shrill voice direct the men who pushed it to right or left, in order to reach the steep bank down which they discharged their burden. when they were come to the edge of it, some large, strong man lifted archie off his perch, and waited with him, while the sleigh was pushed to the very brink, and its burden overturned in a jolly lumpy avalanche that poured down the built-up bank of the rink. then archie mounted his throne again and was pulled back to where the men with spades loaded up again... when the sleigh seemed to be sufficiently full he called out "stop," and made the return journey to the side of the rink. this was all tremendously grand, and he had an idea that the clearing of the rink could never have taken place without him. certainly his sleigh worked much faster than any other, for, in his honour, those who pushed always ran to discharge their burden at top speed, instead of going slowly like the others. "oh, that was a pace," he would say as somebody lifted him off. "look, mummy, they're going to turn it over." the rink then was clear again (thanks to archie's great exertions) before his secret life made any step forward. but one afternoon, when he had been watching the skating from his balcony, something further occurred. he was alone, for his mother had gone down with jeannie to the rink, and blessington had gone shopping, and there was a bell by him, by means of which he could summon madame seiler if he wanted anything. but he had no thoughts of summoning madame seiler; he was extremely content to lie in the sun, and watch the rink sometimes, and sometimes to read a fascinating book called _the rose and the ring_, which his mother had given him. there were absurd pictures of prince bulbo, an enormously fat young gentleman, whom archie did not wish to resemble, but was rather afraid of resembling, since dr. dobie at his last visit had told him he was getting fat... it was all very peaceful and happy, and he had lost interest in jeannie's falls and even in prince bulbo's executions, and was staring placidly at a very bright spot of glistening snow which caught the sun at the edge of the rink, when lines of shadow began to pass over the field of his vision, exactly as they used to pass over the green-lit ceiling of his night-nursery at home. this was interesting: he did not feel in the least sleepy, but very wide awake, and was conscious of sinking down through this lovely luminous air, with the bright spot of light getting every moment higher above him, when he suddenly heard his name called. "archie, archie," said the voice, which was close to him, and wonderfully friendly. and at the same moment he felt on the back of his hand the touch of another hand that was smooth and young and somehow familiar, though he had never felt it before. he tried not to disturb the impression. there was some sort of spell on him, light as a gossamer-web, which the slightest movement, physical or mental, on his part, might break. "yes, i'm archie," he said. but, the moment he spoke, he knew that he had spoken somehow in the wrong way. another part of him, not his lips and their voluntary movements, should have answered. he ought to have thought the answer with that part of him that saw the lines of shadow passing across the bright steel surface of the rink below, that felt himself sinking down and down beneath the bright spot opposite... he could not have explained, but he knew it was so, and instantly there was he back on his balcony again with _the rose and the ring_ in his hand, and jeannie on the rink. madame seiler clattering dishes in the kitchen, and himself all alone, lying in the sunshine. he knew that something inside him had been tremendously happy when his name was called and his hand touched in that intimate manner, and, now that the touch and the voice were gone, he felt something akin to what he felt when he was feverish, and blessington had said "good-night" and left him. but then, he always knew that blessington had only gone into the next room, and could be summoned. and he could not summon him who had called "archie" to him. he had not the least doubt that it was martin who had called, that it was martin's hand that had been laid on his. but who was this dear person called "martin," and where was martin? secure in the knowledge that it was martin who had come to him, and touched him and called to him, he put down his book, and shut his eyes so that his feeling of being alone should be intensified. "martin," he whispered. "oh, martin!" he lay there tense and excited, sure that martin would come again. then in a dim, child-like manner, not formulating anything to himself, but only feeling his way, he knew he had called wrong. he must call differently, if he hoped to have any reply, call from inside. but, the more earnestly he attempted to "call from inside," the further he got away from that "inside" mood, which he knew, but could not recapture. "oh, what rot!" he said at length, and picked up _the rose and the ring_ again to ascertain whether bulbo was really going to be executed on this second occasion when he piled his table on his bed and his chair on his table, and his hat-box on his chair, and peeped out of the window from his horrid cell, to see whether it was eight o'clock yet... every day, in this return of frost and sunshine, archie felt stronger, and soon the desire to skate took firm hold of him. oddly enough, the pleasant dr. dobie began to agree with him, and within a day or two of the time when archie's desire to skate became a pressing need, dr. dobie sanctioned it, and archie had a humiliating hour or two. he had seen jeannie lean outwards, and announce the outside edge, he had seen jeannie lean a little inwards and proclaim the inside edge and round she went in curves that archie could not but envy. he had only got to lean outwards and inwards like that, and surely he was master of his curves. but he found that his curves were master of him, and tumbled him down instead, or would have done so if a kind swiss on skates had not always been on hand to prevent any disaster of this kind. but then jeannie had learned, so it seemed to archie, by falling down, and he resented the hand that saved him from falling. "do let me fall down," he said. "i can't learn unless i fall down." "better not fall down, sir," said this amiable young man. "i hold you; you learn best so." "but jeannie didn't," said archie. "no; but she is a girl," whispered his swiss. "oh, ought girls to fall down and not boys?" asked archie, rather interested in this new difference between the sexes. * * * * * archie was allowed, by the end of january, to skate for half an hour before lunch with his swiss hovering over him like a friendly eagle, to have lunch with jeannie seated side by side on a toboggan at the edge of the rink, and skate for half an hour again afterwards at the end of which time a second eagle appeared in the person of blessington or his mother, and carried him off to the sleigh. right on through half february lasted the golden frosty weather; then came a great snowfall, and with that the frost broke. the snow degenerated into rain, the wind veered again into the slack south, and the roofs dripped and the trees tossed their white burdens from them. but, as the snow melted, wonderful things happened in the earth at the summons of the suns of spring, for gentians pushed their lengthening stems up through the thinning crust, and put forth their star-like flowers, deep as the blue of night and brilliant as the blue of day. the call of the spring, though yet the snow-wreaths lingered, pierced through them, and the listening grasses and bulbs pricked up their little green ears above the soil. wonderful as last spring had been, the first that archie had ever consciously noticed, this alpine primavera was twice as magical, for winter was caught in her very arms, and warmed to life again. morning by morning the pine-woods steamed like the hot flank of a horse, and when the mists cleared nature's great colour-box had been busy again with fresh greens, and more vivid reds on the tree-trunks, and weak, pale snowdrops and mountain crocuses shone like silver and gold in the sheltered hollows. a more tender blue took the place of the crystallized skies of winter, and for the barren, brilliant light of the january sun was exchanged a fruitful and caressing luminousness that flooded the world instead of merely looking down upon it. soon from the lower slopes the snow was quite vanished, and instead of the tinkle of sleigh-bells there came from the pastures the deeper note from the bells of feeding cattle, which all winter long had been penned up in chalets, eating the dry cakes of last year's harvest of grass. archie had been lying in his balcony one morning writing an account of these things to miss bampton. his mother had gone back to england to take jeannie home, but would be back at the end of the week, and in the absence of an instructor archie's task was to write a long letter daily to somebody at home. this he enjoyed doing, for the search for words in which to express himself had begun to interest him, and he had just written: "if you listen very hard, you can almost hear the grass and the flowers fizzing. is it the sap? it's like fizzing anyhow. that's what i mean." as he paused at the end of his third page, he felt something in his hand that also reminded him of fizzing. there was that queer thrill and twitching in his fingers, which he recognized at once, and words, not searched for by him, but coming from some other source, began to trace themselves on the blank fourth page. to-day there were no preliminary scrawls, the firm, upright handwriting was coherent from the first. "archie, i've got through again," it wrote. "isn't it fun? if you want a test ("test?" thought archie, "what's that?") you'll find a circle cut on the bark of the pine opposite the front-door. dig in the earth just below it. there's a box and some things in it. i hid them." a wave of conscious excitement came over the boy, and instantly his hand stopped writing. "oh, bother; it's stopped," he said to himself. "i wish i hadn't interrupted it." but he had interrupted it, and, since he could not get back into that particular quiescence which, he had begun to see, always accompanied these manifestations, he could at least do what the writing suggested, and, slipping off his couch, he tip-toed downstairs in order not to let blessington hear his exit. there were two pine-trees, either of which might have been described as opposite the front-door, and he searched in vain round the first of these for any sign of the circle cut on the bark. then, coming to the other, he at once saw, with a sudden beating of his heart, a rough circle cut in the bark just opposite his eyes. a grey ring of lichen had grown into it, making it so conspicuous that he wondered he had never noticed it before. next moment he was down on his knees, grubbing up the loose earth directly below it, with the eager, absolute certainty of success. the earth came away very easily, and his hole was not yet a foot deep when he saw something white and shining at the bottom of it, and presently he drew out a small, round tin box, like that which stood on the table in his father's study, and held tobacco. he hastily filled the earth into his excavation again, and, undetected, tip-toed back to his balcony. for a while the lid resisted his efforts to open it, but soon he got it loose and looked inside. on the top lay a folded piece of paper; below there was a stick of chocolate in lead paper, a pencil, a match-box, and a photograph of a boy about nine years old whom archie instantly knew to be like himself. then he opened the piece of folded paper, and saw words written on it in a hand he knew quite well: "this is martin morris's," was the inscription, "and belongs to him alone, and not anybody else at all ever." archie read this, looked at the photograph again, and a flood of light poured in on his mind. it was no wonder that he had felt that martin was friendly and affectionate, that martin wanted to talk to him, that martin told him of the _cache_ he had made, for to whom should he tell it but to his brother? yes: martin was here, for martin had written to him, had called him... and then, in a moment, more light flashed on him. certainly martin was alive, but he was not alive in the sense that his mother was alive or blessington. in that sense martin was dead. there was nothing in the least shocking or terrifying in the discovery, and it burst upon him as the sense of spring had done. it was just a natural thing, wonderfully beautiful, to find out for certain, as he felt he had found out, that there was close to him, always perhaps, and certainly at times, this presence of the brother whom he had never seen, but who in some way, not more inexplicable than the appearance of the blue gentians pricking up through the snow, could occasionally speak to him, calling him by name, or using his hand to write with. a few days afterwards lady davidstow arrived back from england, and on the first evening of her return, after dusk had fallen, archie was sitting on the floor against her knee in front of the one open fire-place in the house, where pine-logs fizzed and smouldered and burst into flame, and glowed into a core of heat. sometimes, for that pleasant hour before bed-time, she read to him, but to-night there had been no reading, for she had been telling him of the week she had passed at home. they had moved up to london while she was there, and london was miry and foggy and cold. "altogether disgusting, dear," she said. "you don't want to go there, do you?" "not an atom," said archie firmly. "i like this place better than any i have ever been in." "i'm so glad, archie. i was afraid you would dislike it after the frost went." archie was staring dreamily at the fire, and suddenly he knew that martin was here, and he looked quickly round wondering if, by any new and lovely miracle, he should see the boy whose face was now familiar to him from the photograph. but there was nothing visible; only the firelight leaped on the wooden walls. "what is it, archie?" asked his mother. suddenly archie felt that he could preserve his secret no longer. as on the day in church when he wanted his mother to share with him the pleasure of that glorious comedian, the man with the wagging beard, so now he wanted her to share with him the secret joy of martin's presence. "mummy, i want to tell you about martin," he said. "you know whom i mean: martin, my brother." "archie, who has been telling you about martin?" she asked. archie laughed. "why, martin, of course. it's too lovely. once he called me out loud, and he writes for me. he's written for me three times, once at home and twice here. i knew he was particularly here, the moment we got here. and last time he told me about what he had hidden under the pine-tree, and i found it. don't you want to see it? i hid it away in the paper in my portmanteau. oh, and what is a test? he said it was a test." "a test? a test is a proof." archie laughed again. "that makes sense," he said. "now shall i show you the test? i kept it all together with what he wrote to me about it first." he came back in a moment with his precious possession. "look, that's what he wrote on the paper of my letter to miss bampton," he said. "he said there was a circle cut on the pine-tree, and i found it, and i dug as he told me, and found this. look! isn't it lovely, and that's martin's photograph, isn't it?" it was impossible to question the validity of this evidence, and, indeed, lady davidstow had no desire to do so. for herself, she believed implicitly in the fact of life everlasting, without which the whole creation of god, with its pains and its agonies and its yearning and its love, becomes the cruellest of all sorry jests concocted by the omnipotent power of a mind infinitely brutal and cynical, who tortures the puppets he has created with unutterable anguish, or ravishes their souls with a joy as meaningless as dreams. well she remembered martin's cutting the circle on the pine-tree, but what its significance was he had never told her. but now, five years after his death, he had told it, she could not doubt, to the brother who had no normal remembrance of him. there they were, the little pathetic tokens of his childish secrecy, a pencil, a piece of chocolate, a photograph, and, above all, the well-formed, upright handwriting identical with that of the message traced on the last page of archie's unsent letter. how it happened, what was the strange mechanism that fashioned by material means this mysterious communication between the living and the dead she had no idea, but of its having happened she had no doubt. she turned these relics over, she kissed the handwriting so long buried, and tears of tender amazement rose in her eyes. "oh archie, my darling," she said. "you lucky boy!" "aren't i?" said archie. "but does martin never write to you?" "no, dear; i suppose he cannot." "and why is he so particularly here?" demanded archie. she paused a moment. "he died here," she said. "in this house?" asked he. "which room?" "blessington's." archie gave a great sigh. "oh, mummy, do let me have that room instead of mine!" he said. _book ii_ chapter v archie was precariously perched on the side of his little una-rigged, red-sailed boat, looking with dancing blue eyes at the rocky coast all smothered in billows and sunlit spray some quarter of a mile ahead, and wondering if he would be able to make the harbour of silorno on this tack. he wondered also what was the best thing to do if he could not. there seemed to be two alternatives, the one to beat out to sea again and come in on another tack, the other to run before the wind to the head of the bay, away to the right, where he knew there was a sandy beach, tumble himself out as best he might, and, he was afraid, see his beloved _amphitrite_ being pounded to bits by the rollers; for, with all his optimism, he could not picture himself hauling her up out of harm's way. but even this seemed preferable to the other alternative, for to beat out again in such a sea seemed really a challenge to the elements to swamp him, in which case he was like to lose the _amphitrite_ and his own life as well. the wind was blowing with all the violence of a summer italian gale straight down the bay from the open sea. a high wall of rock against which the breakers smashed themselves, and would smash anything else that rode them, was in front of him; then came the narrow opening into silorno harbour for which he was making, after which the rocks, on the top of which ran the road to santa margharita, continued right up to the head of the bay. it had been rough when he started to sail there, in order to get some cigarettes, which now were stowed away in his coat which he had wrapped round them and placed where it would receive as small a share as possible of the spray that from time to time fell in a solid sheet into the boat. that seemed almost the most important thing of all, to keep the cigarettes dry, for it would be too futile to have taken all this trouble, and so greatly have ventured himself and his _amphitrite_, if at the end the cigarettes should prove to be a mash of tobacco and salt water, for they were only in a cardboard box. and next in importance came the need of demonstrating to his mother and harry and helena and jessie that he had been perfectly wise and prudent in sailing across to santa margharita, in spite of their land-lubber fears, in a freshening gale and a lumpy sea, in order to get these egyptian cigarettes instead of the despised italian brand. he made no doubt that the whole party of them were at this moment watching him through glasses from the terraced garden of the castello that sat perched at the top of the steep, olive-clothed hill in front of him, and he spared a second to wave a hand in their direction in case they were there. but he did it in a rather hurried manner, for he wanted that hand to be ready to loosen the sheet in case any more wind was on its way to him, and the other hand must retain its hold on the tiller. archie was clad in a jersey stained and whitened with salt-water, and the rest of his attire consisted of grey flannel trousers. his coat was defending to its last dry stitch the trophy of cigarettes; his shoes he had put under his coat, for it was just as well to keep them dry, while, if by any chance he had to swim, they would be of no use to him either dry or wet. the sleeves of his jersey rolled up nearly to his shoulder, disclosed slim, strong arms, incredibly browned with a month of sea-bathing, and his sockless feet were of the same fine tan of constant exposure. his hair, thick and dripping from the spray, had for the present lost its tawny curliness, and he had to throw back his head from time to time, in order to keep it out of his eyes. and in his mind there was the same wildness of out-of-doors rapture that characterized the youth of his supple body: he could have laughed with pleasure at the mere fact of this doubtful battle between himself and the wind-maddened sea. but all the time in some secret chamber of his brain there sat, so to speak, a steadfast and keen observer, who was making notes with all his might, and pushing them down into the cool caves of memory, to be brought forth (in case archie came safely to land) from their cold storage, and fitted with words which should reproduce the exultation of wind and sun and sea. and in a chamber more secret yet, a chamber not in his brain but in his heart, sat the knowledge that among the others his second cousin, helena vautier, in particular was surely looking at him from the terraced garden high above the cliff. she should see (and, for that matter, so should her sister jessie) how to handle a boat. she had been strong in her dissuasion of his starting at all, and that, if archie was quite honest with himself, was one of the principal reasons why he had insisted on doing so. she had mentioned casually the other day that there was nothing in the world she liked better than the careless "go-to-the-deuce" attitude towards danger which to her represented manliness, and archie had been only too delighted to give her this vigorous exhibition of it. but it tremendously pleased him that, on his announcement of his intention to go across the bay, she should have so strenuously dissuaded him. to his mind that conveyed the impression that she liked him as much as she liked exhibitions of manliness. he was already opposite the opening into the harbour and still several hundred yards distant, and for the time all the attention of the observer who some day was going to put this experience into words, and of the other observer who knew that helena was watching him, was diverted to the job that engaged his more superficial self. but that part of him, intent and eager though it was on the hazard that lay before it, sang and shouted with glee at the fact that he was alone out here on the sea. for this very sane and healthy personage, archie morris, might almost be described as an aqua-maniac, so intense was his passion for that gladdest and most glorious creature of god. he did not want to be a sailor, for a sailor inhabited an impregnable fort which, though surrounded by sea, was still impenetrably removed from it, and defied it by means of colossal cylinders and pounding pistons and steel sides. best of all was to be swimming in the sea, but not far removed from that was to coax and wheedle the sea through the medium of a big sail and a tiny boat: being alone with the sea, as with all lovers, was necessary to the full realization of passion. a river was a fair substitute for the sea or a lake; but there had to be a quantity of water. he loved to dive, and open his eyes under water, so as to see the sun shining through it. that was a very early passion, dating from the time when he had stepped out of a boat in his anxiety about a pike that was on the end of his line... then, for a moment, all other considerations were subordinated to keen physical activity. the wind was sweeping him across the mouth of the harbour, and he had either to put about at once to avoid being taken onto the rocks at its northern end, or, risking being swamped, put his helm even harder a-port, and tighten his sheet. with his habit of swift decision, he determined to go for it, and, throwing his leg across the tiller, he pulled on his sheet with both hands. the spray from the waves that broke themselves on the rocks fell solid and drenched him, but next moment, with but a yard or two to spare, he skimmed by them into the broadening harbour. there the promontory on which the castello stood came between him and the wind, his sail flapped idly, and in dead calm he picked up his sculls to row the _amphitrite_ to her anchorage. but, before he took them up, he laughed aloud. "gosh, what sport!" he said. * * * * * the anchorage of the _amphitrite_ lay in a bay not far from the entrance to the harbour, screened by the steep-climbing olive groves belonging to this castello of silorno which archie's mother had taken for the months of may and june: silorno itself, that incredibly picturesque huddle of pink and yellow walls, of campaniles, and lacemakers, who, with bright coloured kerchiefs over their comely heads, plied their wooden bobbins all day in the shade of its narrow streets, rose, roof over roof, at the head of the harbour. a big cobbled piazza sloped down to the quay wall where sailors chatted and dozed in the shadow all day, putting to sea for their night-fishing by the light of flares about the time of sunset. the village was impenetrable to wheeled traffic, for the road along the bay came to an end at its outskirts, and thereafter became a narrow cobbled track, built in steps where the steepness of its streets demanded. round the town rose an amphitheatre of hills broken only by the low saddle, where the final promontory on which the castello stood swam out seawards in three wooded humps of hills. and, sitting here, you could observe on days like these the breakers crashing on the reefs to the right, where the seas rolled in from the open mediterranean, while the land-locked harbour, into which archie had just brought his boat, lay smooth as a mirror at your feet towards the left. straight in front ran the ascending path that passed below the castello to the head of the promontory, where enlightened italian enterprise was building an execrable and totally useless lighthouse to supplant the little madonna chapel that had stood there for centuries. archie took down his sail, anchored the _amphitrite_, and punted himself across in a small boat to the landing-stage at the foot of the hill on which the castello stood. here the trees stood untroubled by the gale that poured high over them from the south, though on the other side of the harbour the wind roared in the olives, and turned their green to the grey of the underleaf, and the great surges beat and burst on the rocks he had narrowly avoided. but here that tumultuous stir was unfelt, and the resinous smell of pines and the clean odour of the eucalyptus-trees hung in the warm and sheltered air. out of that denser shade he passed into the belt of olives that grew higher on the slope, mixed with angled and contorted fig-trees, where the fruit was already beginning to swell and ripen. above rose the great grey bastion of the retaining fortress wall, tufted with stone-crop and valerian that was rooted in the crevices, and above that again was spread the umbrella of the stone-pine that grew at the corner of the garden. the path he followed wound round the base of this wall and passed below its easterly side, where he came into the blast of the warm south wind again that swept along the face of the castello, and made the cypresses bend and buckle like fishing-rods which feel the jerk and pull of some hooked giant of the waters. the hillside here plunged very precipitously downwards to the bay three hundred feet below, wrinkled with waves, and feathered with foam, and, lover of the sea though he was, he felt content to observe that tumult of windy water. not a sail was visible right across to the farther shore of the gulf, and to-night there would be no illumination of the fishing-boats that in calm weather rode out there, twinkling and populous as a town. but he stood looking at the sea a moment before he turned into the narrow stone passage that led to the gate of the house, as a man may look with love on his horse that, unruly and obstreperous, has yet carried him so gallantly. a girl came up the cobbled way from the town just as he turned in. she had on a very simple linen dress that the wind blew close to her body, and a flapping linen sunbonnet, tied below her chin, to prevent the wind capturing it. she was tall and slight, moved easily, as with a boyish carelessness; a very pleasant face, also boyish and quite plain, peered from under her flapping bonnet. her hands were noticeable: they were large but extremely well shaped, and the fingers showed both perception and efficiency. it may be remarked that archie had never noticed her hands at all. "hullo, jess," said he. "i'm just back. lord, i've had such a ripping afternoon. and the cigarettes are quite dry. where have you been?" "just down into silorno. cousin marion wanted a telegram sent about their sleeping-berths to-morrow." archie frowned. he had noticed that jessie was often sent on errands. people who can absolutely be relied on usually are. "i should have thought my mother might have sent pasqualino," he observed. the girl laughed. "oh, she wanted to, but i said i would go instead. you see, cousin marion and helena were getting in what might be called rather a state about you. i tried to infect them with my own calm, but they wouldn't catch it. so i thought a little walk would be pleasant." "oh, was helena frightened?" asked archie rather greedily. "yes. so was cousin marion. i wasn't." "then you were beastly unsympathetic. i had an awful shave getting into the harbour," remarked archie. "but you knew what you were about, and i didn't, nor did helena. so i preferred to have confidence in you and go for a walk, rather than observe you in what looked remarkably like danger." archie had walked up from the landing-stage with his shoes and his coat under his arm. the coat was too wet to put on, so he dusted his feet with it, and resumed his shoes. "oh, a ripping afternoon," he said again. the sound of the clanging gate into the castello was heard out in the garden, and as they walked up the dim stone-flagged passage that led out into it, another girl came running in. she, like her sister, was tall and slight, but there the resemblance altogether ended. a delicate, small-featured face, entirely feminine, gleamed below yellow hair; her eyes, set rather wide apart, giving her an adorably childish look, opened very widely below their dark eyelashes. beside her, jessie looked somewhat like a well-bred plough-boy. "oh, archie!" she cried. "how horribly rash of you! your mother and i have had a terrible half-hour." "i bring you cigarettes to soothe your disordered nerves," said archie sententiously. "i am happy to say that they are dry, though i am not." jessie had walked on, with that pleasant expression on her face that might or might not be a smile, and the two were left alone for a moment. "as if i cared about the cigarettes," she said. "you did this morning. but you weren't really anxious, were you?" "indeed i was. you were naughty to sail back in this gale. do be good now and change your clothes at once. i will bring you some fresh tea into the garden. cousin marion and i have had tea. we drank cup after cup to fortify ourselves, and looked over the wall at your boat between each sip. then we trembled and had another sip. before you got past that horrid rock, we had drained the teapot and broken our chairs with our tremblings." the strict veracity of this entertaining summary did not of course concern archie; it was sufficient that it had helena's light and picturesque touch. it made a tableau that caused him to smile to himself as he changed his shirt, that was now stiffening with salt, and put on a pair of socks over his tanned feet. all this he did hurriedly, for it was the last evening, so he told himself, that they would all be together, by which he really meant that it was the last evening on which helena would be here, since to-morrow, at break of dawn, she and his mother would start for england, leaving jessie, harry travers, and himself to follow after another fortnight. when, a week before, that scheme had been suggested, it seemed to archie the most admirable of plans, since, though his mother and helena would be gone, he would secure another fortnight of intercourse with his beloved sea instead of inhabiting that smoky cave known as london. but since then helena had begun to dawn on him, though as yet it would be an exaggeration to say that he was in love with her. but she was dawning, her light illuminated the sky above the horizon, and, if the plan was to be suggested again to him in his present attitude of attracted expectancy, it is probable that he would have voted for london and helena, rather than an extension of his days at the castello. the scheme had originally been helena's, and, like all her plans, had been exceedingly well thought out, before it was produced in the guise of an impulse, prompted by kindliness and thought for others. it was, when edited as an impulse, of the simplest and most considerate sort. the hot weather did not really suit cousin marion, so why should not cousin marion go back to england with herself, helena, as travelling companion? of course silorno was the most delicious place, and she would be ever so sorry to go, but certainly cousin marion felt the heat, and, though she was far too unselfish to suggest breaking up the party, she would be glad to go northwards earlier than the end of june, when her two months' tenancy expired. helena had produced this plan to archie one morning as they sat after breakfast under the stone-pine. "but my mother would not in the least mind going home alone, if she preferred to go before the end of june," he said. helena shook her head. "oh, i know she would say she didn't mind," she said, "or she would stop on in spite of her headaches sooner than break up the party--" "has she been having headaches?" asked archie. "yes, but you mustn't know that. she told me not to tell any one," said helena, with complete self-possession. "promise, archie." "all right." helena felt quite safe now. "so she must go back sooner than at the end of june," she continued, "and clearly i am the right person to go with her, for she hates travelling alone." "oh, we'll all go then," said archie. "it isn't the least necessary. jessie or i must go with her, for she certainly wouldn't hear of your going, and jessie is enjoying this so much that i couldn't bear that she should have her days here cut short. so it's for me to go." "that's awfully good of you," said he, only as yet half convinced. "it isn't the least. it's a necessity, though you are so kind as to make a virtue of it. and then there's this as well. cousin marion would never consent to go, if she thought it was for her sake that i was going with her. so you must go to her, and say you think that it's me whom the heat doesn't suit, and you will see if she doesn't say at once that she will go back with me. and the real reason for her going will be our secret, just yours and mine." archie looked at her for a moment in silence, and the silence was one of unspoken admiration. somehow this kindly thoughtful plan kindled his appreciation of her beauty: her beauty took on a tenderer and more touching look. before now, it had vaguely occurred to him that, of the two sisters, it was jessie who most gave up her own way to serve the ways of others; but this secret of helena's made him feel that he had done her an injustice. "but i don't want you to give up your time here if you enjoy it," he said. "ah, don't make me tell a fib, and say that i don't enjoy it," she said. "i will if you press me. i'll say it bores me frightfully, sooner than give up my plan." "well, i think it's wonderfully kind of you," he said. "now i'm to tell my mother that you are feeling the heat, and see what she says. is that it?" "yes, just that," said helena. archie had strolled indoors to put this plan to the test, and before he returned a quarter of an hour later with his mother helena had approved of her own ingenuity very warmly. she had, if her scheme succeeded, secured for herself an additional fortnight of the london season, for she and jessie were, for the present, going to make their home with their cousins and she was already satisfied that her unselfishness had made a considerable impression on archie. this was the most important thing: hitherto she felt she had failed to make her mark, so to speak. he was on excellent friendly terms with her, just as he was with jessie, but she wanted (or at any rate wished for) something more than that. it was not that she wanted him to flirt with her; she had much more serious ends in view. she wanted (and here was her perspicacity) to dazzle his eyes by means of touching his heart, for she guessed, with clear-sighted vision, that he was the kind of young man who, if he did not mean everything, would mean nothing, and she believed that she could not entangle his affection by mere superficial appeals. and, indeed, she was not a flirt herself; she was poor, and clever, and attractive, and she proposed to use her cleverness and attraction in the legitimate pursuit of securing a husband who was not poor. that archie was now lord davidstow, and at his father's death would be lord tintagel, was in his favour, and to make an impression on him, and then to go self-sacrificingly away, seemed to her a very promising manoeuvre. she was not in the least afraid of leaving jessie with him, for, with her habitual adroitness, she had conveyed to her sister, by little sighs, glances, and words that seemed to escape from her lips unawares, what her design (yet without making it appear a design) on archie was. she had but allowed her feelings, all unconsciously, to betray themselves, as when she said "darling, wouldn't it be lovely to be archie's sister, instead of only cousin?" that put it quite plainly enough, and she felt sure that jessie understood. and, in addition to this impregnable safeguard of jessie's loyalty, she was satisfied that jessie's friendliness with archie was of the most unsentimental character. indeed, to speak of her sense of security with regard to jessie would be a labouring of the point: she was so secure that her security scarcely struck her, any more than the security of a house consciously strikes its inhabitant. * * * * * the week that had passed between the acceptance of her plan and this, the last night of her stay at silorno, confirmed the soundness of her strategy. archie's frank friendliness towards herself had undergone a subtle change, while his relations with her sister remained precisely on the same calm tableland of comradeship. but below his comradeship with herself, like the sun glowing faintly through a mist without heat at present, but with penetration of light, she knew that there was growing an emotional brightness. it was with light and with a nameless quickening that his eye dwelt on her, and now as they sat in the deep dusk of the garden, illumined only by the stars that twinkled like minute golden oranges in the boughs of the stone-pine, she knew that he was looking at the pale wraith of her face, which was all the starlight left her with, in a manner that was not yet a week old. it was so dark, here in the deep shade, that she saw nothing of his sun-tanned face beyond a featureless oval, but when, from time to time, he drew on his cigarette, it leaped into distinctness. there was emotion there, or, at any rate, the stuff from which emotion is made; there was need, not yet wholly conscious of itself, but waiting, like buried treasure, to be released. and on her side, also, something was astir behind her calculated plan. she felt sorry, until the wisdom of her project laid its calming hand upon her again, that she was being so unselfish as to accompany cousin marion back to town. it would have been extraordinarily pleasant to sit here many times more with archie, and both watch and take part in the growth of the situation of which the seed had been deliberately planted by herself. it was but a weak little spike as yet, but undeniably there was the potentiality of growth in it. suddenly his face leapt into light, as he struck a match, and the gain of a fortnight's london season seemed to her insignificant. and the success of her plan, the wisdom of which she still endorsed, was but a frigid triumph, for she felt to a degree yet unknown to her his personal charm. "oh, archie, i wish i wasn't going away," she said. "it has been a nice time. i wish--no, i suppose that's selfish of me." "i want to know what is selfish of you," said he. "do you? well, as it's our last evening you shall. i wish i thought you would miss me more." he moved just a shade closer to her. "oh, i shall miss you quite enough," he said. she laughed. "i don't think you will," she said. "you'll have your bathing and your boating and your writing. i expect you will have a very jolly time." he seemed to think over this. "yes, i shall have all those things," he said. "and i like them. why shouldn't i? but--no, like you, i won't say that." "but i did," she remarked. "well, i will too. i shall miss you much more than i should have missed you if you had gone away a week ago." she, too, hesitated a moment. then very coolly she replied: "thank you very much." there was calculation in that: she had thought over her polite, chilly manner swiftly but carefully. and she had calculated rightly. he chucked away the cigarette he had only just lit. "helena, have i offended you?" he asked. "why do you speak like that?" again she traversed a second's swift thought. "of course you haven't offended me," she said lightly. "you'll have to try harder than that if you want to offend me. my dear, do try again. try to make me feel hurt." archie was a little excited. there was some small intimate contest going on, that affected him physically, with secret delight, just as he was affected in his limbs by some cross-current to the direction of his swimming, or in his brain by the tussle for the word he wanted when he was writing. he was sparring with something dear to him. "try to hurt me," she said softly. "very well," said he. "i'm glad you're going away to-morrow. will that do?" she laughed again. "it would do excellently well if you meant it," she said. "but you don't mean it." "you're very hard to please," said he. "not in the least. if you want to please me, say that you'll be very glad to see me again in a few weeks." "i certainly shall, but i shan't say it. you know it quite well enough without my assurance." she leaned forward a little. "but say it all the same, archie," she said. "say it quite out loud." archie threw back his head and shouted at the stone-pine. "i shall be very glad to see you again in--what was it?--in a few weeks," he cried. "ah, that is nice of you. no, i'm not sure that it's nice, because you've brought jessie and mr. harry out into the garden." that seemed to be the case, for undeniably the two moved out into the bright square of light cast from the lit passage within. archie got up swiftly and suddenly, with a bubble of laughter. "oh, let's be like the garden scene in _faust_," he whispered. "don't you know, when the two couples wander about? ah, they've seen us: they don't do that in well-conducted opera." this was true enough, for immediately helena's name was called by her sister. she gave a little sigh. "yes, darling," she said. "cousin marion thinks it's time you went to bed," said jessie. "and is archie there too? she wants to see him." archie and helena exchanged a quick glance in the darkness. they knew it, rather than saw it: helena, at any rate, was quite certain of it. "i must go in then," he said. "your fault for making me shout." helena recollected a revue that she and archie had seen together. "the woman pays," she said in a histrionic falsetto, and without further word ran into the house, feeling very well satisfied with herself. she was sure that she had made herself a little enigmatical to him, had roused his curiosity. decidedly he wanted to know more... * * * * * archie always slept in a hammock slung between the stone-pine and the acacia in the garden, for though that year which he had spent at grives, with which our history of his childhood closed, seemed to have eradicated the deadly seeds, he was still recommended to pass as much of his time as possible out of doors. the fourteen years that had elapsed since then had given him six feet of robust height, and there seemed now but little danger of the hereditary foe again beleaguering him. he had spent five years at eton, and now had just finished his course at cambridge, where he had contrived to combine classics and rowing in a thoroughly satisfactory manner, distinguishing himself in each. even as he seemed to have outgrown his physical weakness, so too he had outgrown, to all appearance, those strange abnormal experiences which had been his in childhood, his power of automatic writing and the inexplicable communications from his dead brother. certainly since his fourteenth year there had been no more of them; it was as if they had belonged entirely to the years when he trailed the clouds of glory that hang about childhood. but even now, in the normal vigour of his young manhood, they did not seem to him to be in the least unreal; indeed, they were to him, in spite of their fantastic and unusual nature, the most substantial treasures in his store-house of memory. the difference was that now they were sealed up: some key had been turned on them in his interior life, and they were inaccessible to him. but never for a moment did he doubt that they were there: out of reach they might be, but he still possessed them, and, though he made no effort to unlock the door, he believed that the key to them was neither lost nor broken, but, rusted, maybe, with unuse, still existed within him. some day, he felt sure, the impulse would come to him, either from without or within, to search for it, and he knew precisely where, with every prospect of finding, he would look for it. for he still had the power of letting himself lapse into that trance-condition in which he sank into a depth of sunlit waters, and in that mysterious abyss he knew he could find the key to the sealed treasures. it was long since he had penetrated there, but he knew his way. * * * * * to-night, as he lay in his hammock, he felt no wish or inclination to sleep, but lay with eyes open looking into the sombre dark of the pine above his head, where the stars twinkled at the edge of the needles of the foliage. the gale that had raged that afternoon had blown itself out: not a breath of breeze sighed in the pine, and of the fierceness of those uproarious hours there was nothing left but the ever-diminishing thunder of the waves three hundred feet below. from horizon to zenith the sky was bare and kirtled with stars, and to the east over the hills across the bay, the dove-colour that precedes the rising of the moon was soaking through the heavens. a faint odour from the thicket of tobacco-plants that grew at the foot of his hammock were spreading through the air, ineffably fragrant, and the dew brought with it the smell of damp and fruitful earth. archie lay quite still, content to rest without sleep; he was sure that he would go to sleep soon, imperceptibly to himself, and he waited quite tranquilly for the soft tide to engulf him, letting his memory hover now and then over his adventures of the afternoon, but always bringing it back to the half-hour he had sat with helena, close to where he now lay. he had, as sleep approached, the vague sense of sinking into some quiet depth; but his mind was too tranquilly disposed to do more than register this impression, and then, quite suddenly, without the transition state of drowsiness, he went fast asleep. he had noticed just before that the moon had risen. he slept long and dreamlessly, and then began to dream with extraordinary vividness. he dreamed that he had not gone to sleep at all, but still lay in his hammock, in the shade of the pine, while the garden outside was full of the white blaze of the moonlight and ebony clear-cut shadows. the thunder of the surf had quite died away, the tobacco-plants still gave out their odour, and the stars, a little quenched by the moon, had faded in the boughs of the pine. and then he perceived (but with no sense of strangeness) that there was something new in the garden, for, close to the door into the house, was standing a white marble statue. this brought his legs over the side of his hammock, and he got up to go and look at it, and then remembered, so he thought, all about it. it was the statue of helena, which she had told him was a gift from her to him, and it did not seem at all unnatural that it should have been brought out and put in the garden. but, as he had not seen it yet, he walked now across to it, and found an admirable and lovely figure. it was clad in a long greek chiton, low at the throat and reaching nearly to her feet, which were sandalled. one hand was advanced to him with a beckoning gesture; the other, with its exquisite arm bare to the shoulder, hung by her side. the statue was life-size, for, as it stood on its low marble plinth, the face was just on a level with his. exquisite in its fidelity and its beauty was that small head on its slender neck, and it endorsed the message of her beckoning hand. the lips, uncurled in a half-smile, mysteriously invited him; the body, too, was a little inclined forward towards him; next moment, surely, she would step down from her pedestal, and, like galatea, shake off the semblance of stone, and declare herself his. standing there, entranced and strangely excited, archie drank in the amazing loveliness of the figure. white and flawless, without speck or stain, the snow of the parian quarries gleamed in the moonlight. and then he saw that, just where the neck flowed, with the strength and tenderness of a river, into the shoulders, there was a small dark spot, and, taking a step nearer, he put out his hand to flick it away. but it did not come away: it was as if some little excrescence had stuck to the marble, and, making a second attempt, he felt that it was soft, and that it grew a little longer. it moved, too; it wriggled like the head of a worm, and then, with a faint feeling of disgust, he saw that it was indeed the head of a worm protruding from the marble, just as a worm comes up through earth. even as he looked, there came another such speck near the mouth; this also grew and wriggled, then came another on the arm which was put forward to welcome him. archie stood there, transfixed no longer by admiration and wonder, but by an ever-growing sense of horror. everywhere, from face and hair and hand, and from the folds of the lovely greek drapery there started out those loathsome reptiles. some nightmare of catalepsy invaded him; he could not move, he could not call out, he could not turn away his eyes, but he had to watch until where lately this masterpiece of lovely limbs had stood, there was a column, as high as himself, of wriggling corruption, bred apparently from within. then, horror adding itself to horror, this portent of decay began to move slowly towards him. still he could not move, but at last, when it was not more than a foot or two from him, he found his voice, and could scream for help. he could just hear himself shouting, but no help came. already he could feel the touch of those horrible things, and with a supreme effort he managed to move his head away from that myriad loathsome touch, and lo! he was seated upright in his hammock, and the moon was low in the west, and over the eastern hills was the light that preceded day. his face streamed with the agony of the nightmare. he sat still a little while, drinking in reassurance from the miracle of the tranquil dawn, and wondering at the suddenness with which he had gone to sleep, so that his disquieting dream had seemed the uninterrupted continuation of his consciousness. and, as his fright faded, there faded also the memory of what his dream had been: there had been something about a statue, something about worms, something connected with helena. even as he thought about it, it continued to recede from him, and before he dozed off again, the whole thing had slipped out of his memory, and when, an hour later, he got up to accompany the travellers on their early start, as far as the station, there was nothing whatever left of it. he knew only that he had awoke in a state of inexplicable terror, arising from some dream which had vanished from his memory like a mist at dawn. the three left behind adjusted themselves, as friends can do, to their narrowed circle, and moved sensibly closer to each other. they all had their tasks to sweeten the enjoyment of their leisure, for to jessie fell the martha-cares of the house, which she transacted by the aid of an italian dictionary with the cook assunta; to harry travers, now a junior don at cambridge, the preparation of a course of history lectures next term; to archie the incessant practice in the endless and elusive art of writing prose. the love of expressing what he loved in words was no less than a passion with him, and it is almost needless to add that the sea was his inspiring theme. he certainly had the prime essential of devotion both to his subject and to the technique of his art, and these little essays, called _idylls of the sea_, promised, if ever he could persuade himself to finish them, to be a really exquisite piece of work. they were the simplest sketches of fishers and ships and the like, but to satisfy him, the sea had to sound in every line of them, even as it sounded in the ears of those about whom he wrote. just now he was trying to recapture all that had made the ecstasy to him of that risky voyage homewards across the bay a few days before, and to fire his words with that thrill which he never quite despaired of communicating. as a rule, their day arranged itself very regularly: early breakfast was succeeded by a couple of hours of task, and a couple more were spent in bathing, no affair of hurried undressing, of chilly immersion and a huddling on of clothes, but of long baskings on the shore, and a mile-long ploughing, for archie at least, out into the bay or along the coast and round beyond the furthest promontory. much though he liked the companionship of the others, he was never sorry when first jessie, and then harry turned shorewards again, for the companionship of the sea was closest to him when he was alone. he would burrow his way through it on the sidestroke, buried in the foam of his progress, and, when exhausted and breathless, turn on to his back to be cradled and rocked by it, secure in its enveloping presence, even as in the days of childhood he would lie happy and serene in the knowledge that blessington was close by him. or he would dive deep and see through "the fallen day" the dazzle of the sun of the surface far above him, and then swim up again, and, after the greenness and the paleness below, find a red and glowing firmament. but best of all was it to swim out very far from land, and then just exist with arms and legs spread wide, encompassed and surrounded by mere sea. he did not want to think about anything at all, or to belabour his brain with strivings to cast into words the sea-sense; that would come afterwards, when with gnawed pencil and erased sentences he sat in the garden; but he only opened himself out to it, and drank it in through eye and ear and skin and widespread limbs... and all this, even when physically he most realized this sea-sense, was but a symbol, and the more vivid the physical consciousness of the sea became, the dimmer it also became in the light of what it stood for. for even as the sea, eternally incorruptible, received into itself, without stain, all that the putrefying land with its ordure and sewers poured into it, so round human life, with its sores and its decay, there lay an immense and eternal incorruption, which purified all life as it passed into it, and turned it into something pellucid and immortal. dying would be like that, dying was no more than being poured into this jubilant ocean, and becoming part of its clean, exuberant life... but archie had no intention of dying just yet, and indeed these metaphysical speculations only reached him like the sound of chimes blown across the water, while far clearer was harry's voice, calling from the beach, "archie, it's after twelve"; and thereupon archie would turn on his chest and swim back to land, with a frill of foam encircling his sunburnt throat and a wake of bubbles following the strokes of his strong legs. thereafter he would cast himself onto the beach with a straw hat tipped over his eyes, and his sun-tanned legs and arms spread star-fish fashion, and lie there drinking in the sun, while harry and jessie reviled him for causing lunch, for which they hungered, to be again half an hour behind the scheduled time. and archie, lighting a cigarette, turned on his elbow and called them greedy hogs for thinking about lunch, when it was possible to lie in the sun, and swim in the sea. then, as likely as not, he would himself be aware of a celestial appetite, and step into a pair of flannel trousers and a sea-stained shirt, and in turn revile their tardiness in climbing the olived terraces that lay between them and the castello. they lunched in the garden, in a strip of shade outside the house, and thereafter, without any pretence at all about the matter, harry and jessie went to their rooms for an honest italian siesta, with no excuse of lying on beds and reading, but with the avowed object of lying on beds and sleeping. but this two hours' swimming and basking and communion with the sea, instead of making archie sleepy, gave him his most productive hours of work, and wide-eyed and eager he would sit with jotted notes and scribbling-paper round him, read over the last few pages of his current story, and correct and erase and rewrite with an unquenchable optimism. there would be moments of despair, moments of wrestling with a recalcitrant sentence, when he walked about in the blaze of the sun, and bit his pencil till his teeth cracked through into the lead, moments of triumph when the impalpable sensation he wished to record seemed to surrender itself to the embrace of verbs and adjectives. up till tea-time, when the others shuffled (or so he termed it) out of the house after their slumbers, he tasted the glories and the travail of creation, or, it might be, the pangs of fruitless labour; but he knew, at any rate, the joys of ecstatic mental activity. on one such day, some weeks after his mother and helena had gone back to england, he felt himself fit to burst with all that he had stored within him, ready for expression. as they drank their coffee he had employed himself in sharpening a couple of pencils (for the work of transcription into ink came later in the day), so as not to interrupt, by any physical intrusion, the flow of all he knew was ready to be crystallized into words. sometimes the least distraction broke some kind of thread when he was in communication with the sea... it may be added that no one was ever less pompous about his aspirations. to-day harry observed the sharpening of the pencils, and commented. "so a masterpiece is signalled, archie," he said. archie blew the lead-dust from his finger. "quite right, old boy," he said. "lord! i'm full of great thoughts. do go to bed, and then i'll begin." jessie joined in. "archie, do let me hold your pencils for you," she said, "like dora in _david copperfield_. i shall feel as if i was doing something." archie laughed. "you would be," he remarked. "you would be making an uncommon nuisance of yourself." "you are polite." "no, i'm not, i'm rude. i'm being rude on purpose. i want you to be offended and go away. i want harry to go away too. i want you both to lie on your beds and snore like hogs." "i was thinking of getting a book and reading out here," said jessie. "i feel it's unsociable to leave you alone." "when you've finished being funny," remarked archie, "you may go to bed. you may get down at once. say your grace and get down. you, too, master harry. oh, harry, do you remember how you used to come to tea in the nursery and blessington made us behave properly till tea was over?" "then did you behave improperly?" asked jessie. "i don't think we did really. once we went into the shrubbery and changed clothes. at least i put on yours, but you couldn't put on mine because they were too small. that's what browning calls 'time's revenges.' i couldn't put on yours now, could i? the italian authorities would prosecute me for indecency. lord! what a little fellow you are, harry! time for a little fellow to go to bed. oh, don't rag; i never said you weren't strong. yes, jessie, you're strong too, and it's like a girl to pull my hair. ah, do shut up." archie had reasonable cause for complaint. jessie had suddenly come behind him, and taken a great handful of touzled hair into her grasp, so that archie's head was held immovable, while harry tickled his ribs. you can do nothing with your arms if your head is held quite still. presently the wicked ceased from troubling, and archie was left alone. but after jessie had gone to her room she stood still a moment before making herself comfortable for her nap, and then she laid across her nose and mouth the outspread hand that had grasped archie's hair. in her fingers there remained some faint odour of warm sea-salt, and, as by a separate memory of their own, there remained in them the sense of their closing over that brown, bright, springy handful. chapter vi archie thought no more either of his tickled ribs or his outraged hair when his friends had definitely removed themselves, and with a sigh of delight he took up a sharpened pencil and a block of scribbling paper. he had grasped something, he thought, this morning, that must instantly be committed to words, before he even read over his last page or two, for his hand starved and itched to be writing. there was an odd trembling in his fingers, and his conscious brain was full of what he wanted to say. but when he put his pencil on to the block, and concentrated his mind on that liquid message of the sea that had reached him to-day, he found that his hand had nothing to write. his brain was full of what he wanted to write, but his hand disowned the controlling impulse. again and once again he cast the thought in his brain into reasonable language, but there his hand still stayed, as if some signal was against it. simply it would not proceed. archie had known similar obstacles before, though they had never been so strong as this. probably the thought was not yet clarified enough, and for that the usual remedy was a stroll about the garden, a look at the sea from the parapetted wall. he tried this, returning again with a conviction that now he would be able to give words to the impression that was so strong in his conscious brain, and, as he took up his pencil again, again his hand seemed to be yearning to write. there was that coral-lipped anemone at the edge of the water, there was a shoal of little fishes which, as they turned, became a sheet of dazzling silver, ... all that was ready for the hand that twitched in expectancy. but again his hand would have nothing to say to that: the brain-signal showed itself to an uncomprehending instrument. suddenly, and with distaste, archie perceived what was happening, and, divorcing from his mind the message that his brain was tingling to convey, he let his mere hand, untroubled by a fighting consciousness, do what it chose. it was no longer in his own control: something, somebody else possessed it. but it was with conscious reluctance that he resigned this mechanism to the controlling agent who was not himself. he watched with absolute detachment the words that came on his paper in a firm, upright handwriting quite unlike his own. "archie, you have had a warning," his hand wrote. "now you must manage for yourself. i shall watch, but i mayn't do more. you have got to do your best and your highest. that's the root of probation. but i am always your most loving brother. when you were a child i could reach you... (then followed some meaningless scribbles). but it's martin." the pencil gave a great dash across the paper, and instantly archie knew that his hand had returned to its normal allegiance. at once the sea-thoughts that had occupied him seethed and roared in his brain, and his hand was straining to put them down. he tore off the involuntary message from his block, and, laying it aside, plunged with all the force of his conscious self into this ecstasy of conveying, with black marks on white paper, all that had obsessed him this morning as he swam out to sea, and lay between sun and water, the happiest of earthly animals, and the nearest to the key of the symbol. then, after a half-hour of pure interpretation, that was finished too, and he lay back in his chair and picked up the martin-message again. it seemed a nonsensical affair when he so regarded it. what was his warning, after all? what did that mean? he had had no warning of any sort. but it was strange that, after all those years of silence, martin should come to guide him again, though at the self-same time he told him not to look for further guidance. archie put the paper with its well-remembered, upright handwriting back on the table again, lay back in his long chair, drowsy, and fatigued after his spell of fiery writing. almost at once sleep began to invade him; the outline of the stone-pine, etched against the sky, grew blurred as his eyelids fluttered and closed. and then, without pause or transition, he saw a white statue standing close to him, on the neck of which there wriggled the tail of a worm, protruding from the fair white surface, and instantly his forgotten dream leaped into his mind, with a pang of horror. that was what his dream had been: there had been a statue standing just there, white in the moonlight, and even as he worshipped and adored it with love and boundless admiration, those foul symbols of decay had wreathed about it. next moment he plucked himself from his dozing, and there was no statue there at all, but the far more comfortable figure of jessie, standing in its place, with laughter in her eye. "oh, that's what you do, archie," she said, "when you pretend to come out into the garden to work, and despise harry and me for sleeping." archie jumped up from his chair and brandished in her face the pages of his consciously written manuscript. the leaf on which the message from martin was written still lay apart from those on the table. "i may have closed my eyes for one second," he said. "but i've written all that since lunch. oh, it's got the sea in it, jessie; i really believe there's the sea there. i'll read it you this evening, if you'll apologize for saying that i go to sleep instead of writing." she picked up the other leaf. "yes, i apologize," she said, "though you were asleep when i came out. but i want to hear what you've written, so i apologize for having thought so. and there's this other page as well." archie took it from her. "that doesn't belong," he said. "that--" he paused a moment. "do you remember what i told you about the messages i used to have from martin when i was a child?" he asked. jessie nodded. "yes; and they have ceased altogether for years, haven't they?" she said quickly. "until to-day. just now, half an hour ago, i had another. but i can't make anything out of it. he tells me that i've had a warning. i don't know what it means." jessie felt all the habitual contempt of the thoroughly normal and healthy mind for anything akin to psychical experiences. all ghosts, in her view, were to be classed under the headings of rats or lobster-salad; all such things as table-tappings and the doings of mediums under the heading of trickery. but, knowing what she did of archie's childish experiences, she could not put them down as trickery, and so was unable exactly to despise them as fraudulent. for that very reason she rather feared them; they made her feel uncomfortable. she glanced at the paper he held out to her, but without taking it. "oh, archie i distrust all that," she said. "i was really very glad when you told me that for all these years you had had no communication from him. please don't have any more." he laughed. they had talked about this before. "but you don't understand," he said. "it has nothing to do with my wanting or not; it just comes. this afternoon i couldn't help writing any more than--than one can help sneezing." "you can if you rub your nose the wrong way," said jessie flippantly. "no amount of rubbing my nose either the right way or the wrong way would have the slightest effect," said archie. "the thing is imperative: if martin wants me to write, i must write. but he says here that he's not going to guide me; i must look after myself. i'm sorry for that." "i'm not," said jessie quickly. "there's something strange and uncanny about it. i'm not sure that i think it's right even." she paused a moment. "archie, do you really believe that it is the spirit of martin that makes you write?" she said. "are you sure--" he interrupted her. "i know what you mean," he said. "it's what the roman catholics teach, that any communication of the sort, given that it is genuine, and not some mere mediumistic trick, is not less than converse with some evil being impersonating, masquerading as the spirit from whom the communication apparently comes. do you mean that?" jessie frowned, fingering the edge of the table. "yes, i suppose i do," she said. "i think the whole thing is dangerous; i don't think it's a thing to meddle with." "but i don't meddle with it," said archie. "it meddles with me. besides, did you ever hear of such an unwarranted assumption? mightn't i almost as well say that a letter which reaches me from my mother doesn't really come from her, but from some evil creature impersonating her? it seems simpler to suppose that it comes from her, that her signature is genuine, just as i believe martin's to be. do you really think that when i was a poor little consumptive chap at grives i was really possessed by an evil spirit? isn't that rather too horrible an imagining? a nice state the next world must be in, if that sort of thing is allowed! i don't for a moment think it is. can you reconcile with the idea of supreme love governing and creating all life, the notion that there, behind the scenes, there are evil and awful beings who can get leave to communicate with a child, as i was, pretending to be the spirit of the brother i never knew? does it sound likely?" jessie paused a moment again. she hated the subject, she hated the idea of archie's being concerned in these dim avenues to the unseen. she had, for herself, a perfectly unreasoning and childlike faith that there was this world, and the next world, and that god reigned supreme over both. but somehow it offended this instinctive attitude that the next world, and those who had gone there, should be mixed up with this world. they were not dead; she did not think they had ceased to exist; but they had done with this world, and it was something like a profanity to meddle with them. but then archie had not meddled, as he most truly said: they seemed to have meddled with him. their meddling had stopped altogether for a dozen years, and here on this half-sheet of paper was the evidence that something of the sort had begun again. "i thought you had dropped all interest in it," she said. "i thought it was all finished, like a childish fairy-story, like the abracadabra legend cousin marion told me about. oh, there's tea; shall we have tea?" pasqualino had spread their table underneath the stone-pine, and she hailed this as a possible dismissal of the whole affair. she did not want to talk any more about it, and, if below her silence there should lurk a fear, she preferred to cover it up, not examine it. archie got up. "certainly let us have tea," he said. "perhaps your mind will be clearer after tea. i'm not going to quit the question, jessie. the historian is at his histories, and we shall be alone, you and i, and i want to talk it out. something has happened, you see, this afternoon. martin--or somebody--has written again. you were quite right to imagine that for me the whole thing was finished, had become an abracadabra-myth as you said. as far as normal life goes, i thought it had too. but i always knew that it might come back. and it has come back without my asking for it, though it--he--says he's going to leave me alone. but, after all, he says, 'you've got to do your best and your highest.' now i ask you, as a reasonable female, does that look like a message from a devil? no, it's martin all right, bless him. but let's have tea." they moved across into the shadow of the pine, where the table sparkled with the specks of stray sunshine that filtered through the boughs. and jessie, sane and normal, held on to those evidences of the kindly ordinary human life, as an anchor to prevent her drifting out into perilous seas. but to archie no seas were perilous: they might engulf his body and drown him, and, as it seemed to him, they might engulf his spirit, but they were not perilous in his view. they were just the sea, the great encompassing presence... "archie, you are so odd," she said, knowing that he meant to have the subject talked out, and that his will dominated hers, "you spend the day bathing and sailing and writing; you eat and you sleep, and then suddenly you spring a surprise upon me, and show me a letter you have had from martin. which is you, the surprise or the archie that i know?" archie's mouth was extraordinarily full of rusk and cherry-jam. he politely disposed of them before replying. "but they're both me," he said. "of course we have all two existences." "dual personality?" she asked. "dual fiddlesticks. what i mean is that in everybody there is the conscious self and the subconscious self, but they do not make a dual personality, but one personality. most people--you, for instance, or harry, or my mother--transact everything through the conscious personality. for all practical purposes your subconscious self doesn't exist. but in some, and i'm one of them--the subconscious self is accessible. i can reach it if i want. i can make it act. it is the essential life which we all of us contain, and, as such, it is that part of ourselves with which the essential life of those who have quitted this unessential life can communicate. martin doesn't communicate with that part of me which directs and controls my conversation with you. he speaks to my subconscious self, and, by some rather unusual arrangement, my subconscious life can speak to my conscious life and convey what he says to my hand, or, as once happened, when at grives i heard him call me, to my ear. i am a medium in fact, though that would usually suggest something charlatanish. i can bring my subconscious life to the surface; sometimes, as when martin speaks to it, it comes to the surface of its own accord, with strong compulsion over my conscious self." he paused a moment. "it's all very odd," he said. "until this afternoon, my subconscious self had lain quite quiet for years. now suddenly it asserts itself and produces that page of writing, because martin talked to it, and told it to make my hand write. what other explanation is there, unless indeed you imagine that i have merely perpetrated a silly hoax? but i swear to you that something outside myself made me write. baldly stated, it was martin who spoke to my subconscious self, and my subconscious self said to my conscious self, 'take a pencil and write.' i know that is so." once again jessie had to anchor herself against this current running out to sea. there was archie sitting opposite her, large and brown and hungry, talking of things which were altogether fantastic, unless they were dangerous. and somehow, they were not either fantastic or dangerous to him; they were as ordinary as the cherry-jam which he was so profusely eating. she had suddenly come on a great undiscovered tract of country, dubious and full of dangers. "i dislike it all," she said. "i'm too ordinary, i suppose, my--my subconscious self doesn't act, you would say. but what proof is there that there is such a thing as the subconscious self? why should i suppose that there is anything of the sort? i have no reason to suppose it. it is all nonsense." archie laughed. "my dear jessie," he said, "you are arguing not with me but with yourself. you have an uneasy conviction that i am right." "not a bit," she said. "i want a proof." archie rubbed his hand over his head. "i wonder how i can give it you most easily," he said. "of course there are lots of ways, though it is quite a long time since i have practised any of them." he thought for a moment. "well, here's one," he said. "the subconscious self--to talk more nonsense, as you say--is practically unlimited by the material laws of the world. it is a sort of x-ray, a sort of wireless... i can set my subconscious self to work, and i will, to prove its existence to you." his voice sank a little, and jessie saw that his eyes were fixed on a bright speck of sunlight that gleamed on the table-cloth. a sudden ridiculous terror seized her. "don't, archie," she said. "it's such nonsense." "it isn't nonsense," said he quietly, "and you mustn't be such a baby. there's nothing to be frightened at." as he spoke he took his eyes off the bright speck at which he had been staring, and looked at her with his blue, dancing glance. "what are you going to do?" she said. "whatever you like. let me look at that bright spot there, while you sit quiet, for two minutes, and i'll tell you anything you choose. think of something, anything will do, and i'll tell you what you're thinking about." "oh, just thought-reading," said she. "_just_ thought-reading! but what is thought-reading? if you can remember what you thought about when you went up to your bedroom to sleep after lunch to-day, for instance, i'll tell you that. or, there is harry writing his history lecture for next term at this moment. i'll tell you the words he is writing. at least i think i shall be able to. but i'm out of practice. i have not cultivated the particular mood for years. but i had it when i was a child, and i expect i can get back into it." jessie felt an extreme curiosity about this. she had, even as archie had said, an uneasy conviction that he was right, and for her peace of mind she longed to have that conviction shattered. in her reasonable self she did not believe that archie could possibly tell her what harry was writing, but behind that reasonable self sat something unreasonable which wanted to be convinced that this was all nonsense. "but you won't have a fit or anything, will you?" she asked. "no. pour boiling tea over me if i do, and i shall come to myself." "but what are you going to do?" "i'm going to look at something bright. that spot of sun on the table-cloth will do. then i shall just submerge, like a submarine, and tell you what harry is writing at this moment, if that is the test you select. what fun it all is! i haven't done it, as i said, for ever so long. oh, take a bit of paper, and write down what i say. i don't suppose i shall be able to remember it." again his voice sank, as he fixed his eyes on the bright spot he had indicated, and jessie, watching him, pencil and paper in hand, saw an extraordinary change come over his face. for a few seconds it got troubled, and his eyes stared painfully, while his breath came quickly in and out of his nostrils. then he grew quite quiet again, his mouth smiled, and he spoke very slowly as if the words were dictated by a writer. "it is hopeless to try to comprehend in the whole," he said, "the splendour of that unique age. we can only think of it in fragments. one afternoon there was a new play by sophocles; another day pericles made the funeral oration for the fallen; on another the great propylaea to the acropolis were finished, socrates talked in the market-place, or supped with alcibiades. in the space of a few years all those things happened, and as yet more than twenty centuries have failed to grasp their full significance. and in this, my last lecture to you--" archie rubbed his eyes and sat up. "he has finished for the present," he said. there was a stir in the room just above them, where they sat in the garden, and harry looked out. "any tea left?" he said. archie looked up. "hullo, harry," he said. "i thought you were going to finish your lecture and not appear till dinner." "i was, but i think i'll finish it up to-morrow." "bring it down and read us as far as you've got," said archie. "jessie won't mind." "all right. it got a little purplish at the end, and that's why i stopped. i hate purples." he moved away from the window, and archie spoke to jessie. "did i say anything?" he asked. "yes; i've got it all down." archie jumped up. "now you'll see," he said. "you won't sauce me again in--in the wicious pride of your youth, as mr. venus remarked. i'm sure i got through that time." * * * * * it was the knowledge that he had indeed "got through" that jessie took up to bed with her that night. word for word harry had read out at the end of his lecture precisely the sentences that archie, in that queer dreamy state, had dictated to her, just before harry had looked out of the window and asked if there was any tea left. there was no room for doubt: even as archie had said, some piece of his mind had been able to divine exactly what harry was writing at that moment. in his conscious state he could not know what that was, but according to his own account certain people, of whom he was one, were able to direct not only their conscious selves but also the subconscious self that lay below. it, so he asserted, was practically unfettered by material laws: it could perceive what was happening at a distance, at a spot invisible to it, and it could penetrate as by some x-ray process into other minds. for its free action (in his case at any rate) the conscious self had to be obliterated; by looking at that bright spot on the table-cloth he had been able to put it to sleep, to hypnotize it, thus allowing the subconscious self to pass the portals where normally the conscious self kept guard, and to do its errand. so far there was nothing to disquiet her or make her uncomfortable. it was, as she had said, "just thought-reading," an example of a purely natural law, which, however dimly understood, was fully admitted by scientific investigators. no one, except the most hide-bound of pedants, questioned the existence of the subconscious self, and, if here was an example of an abnormal development of it, still there was nothing to fight shy of. she had asked for a proof of its powers, and undeniably she had got it... but archie had gone far beyond that in his exposition of the powers of the subconscious self, and it was this which caused her a very vivid disquiet. through the subconscious self, in those who had the gift of releasing it, of allowing its activities, could come, so he believed, communications from the individual consciousnesses which had passed out of the material world. even as the subconscious self could get into touch with the thoughts of living people (as she had seen for herself that afternoon), so also could it get into touch with the thoughts of the dead. it was thus, so archie announced, that when he was a mere child, and knew nothing whatever of conscious and subconscious selves, martin, the brother whom he had never heard of, used his hand to write with, as if it was his own, and with it wrote in the handwriting which had been his. jessie fully believed in the survival of personality; to her the so-called dead had but passed on to a further and higher plane of existence; but there was to her something inexplicably repugnant in the notion that they could come back, and speak or write to those who still lived on this plane of existence. jessie lingered late by her window, overlooking the bay, trying to disentangle and lay bare the roots of her repugnance. it was late; below in the garden she could perceive the grey lines of archie's hammock swung between the acacia and the pine, and archie lying there like a chrysalis. he was just like that, she thought; most of the world were only caterpillars, eating their way through the allotted span of their years, but archie was a stage more advanced than anybody she had ever known. this world and the next were one to him, not by any spiritual insight, but from that instinctive conviction that there was really no difference between the living and the so-called dead. it was not by any enlightenment, through any stress of prayer and aspiration that he had arrived at that. he had been gifted with it as a child; he was a medium, who by some special gift could talk to a brother, who had died long years ago, with just the same naturalness as he talked to her. if he died to-night, he would find nothing strange about it: he would but burst his chrysalis, hang for a moment, weak and fluttering, and then expand his wings. but to most people death was an awful affair. they were caterpillars; they had to learn the intermediate stage, which he was already familiar with. and yet the fact that he was a stage more advanced coupled with it a sort of helplessness for him. there he lay in his cocoon; any evil thing might attack him... jessie shook herself, mind and body; she was being fantastic in her fears and her misgivings, and with set purpose she forced herself to drink in, be penetrated by the assured serenity of the material world that lay spread before her. above wheeled the stars in the silent sky, and on the silent sea shone the constellations from the fishing-boats. the trees stood motionless in the holy summer-hushed night beneath, while, though all seemed to sleep, the great renewing forces of the world were ripening the olives and enriching the twisted buds that would flower in fresh harvest of azure on the morning glory when the sun warmed them. there was nothing to disturb her; she could let her soul lie open to the night and think out the cause for her disquietude. she hated the idea of commerce between the living and the dead; there was the root of it. the strangeness of the idea made it seem unnatural. yet where, if she examined it more closely, was the unnaturalness? why should not loving souls, who had passed that tiny rivulet called death into the fuller life beyond, be allowed to call from the other side to those they loved? was there not something exquisite, something supremely tender in the thought that martin, who had been but little more than a child when he died in that swiss chalet, should tell archie about the cache he had made under the pine-tree? it was a childish communication, it brought no message of consolation or encouragement; but it was just what martin, had he been alive on this side of death, might have told archie. besides, who knew that he did not give that as a test, as a proof of his identity, for surely nothing could have been devised so convincing? and if god willed that the dead should be able, under certain circumstances, to speak from the sunlit beyond to those who still moved among material shadows, who was she, jessie, to question so wonderful an ordinance? and if he could speak like that to a young and innocent child, why should he not continue to speak to his brother when he grew up? she looked elsewhere for the grounds of her repugnance, and for a moment thought she had found them. for she had once been to a seance, at the house of a professional medium, and that afternoon still was vivid and degrading in her memory. they had all sat round a table in a darkened room while the medium went into trance, and instantly ridiculous knockings and melodies from a musical-box began to resound in the gloom. these were supposed to be played by spirits called durward and felisy, who, for some absolutely unconjecturable reason, liked spending the afternoon in these puerile idiocies. meantime, the medium breathed heavily, which was the only evidence that he was in trance at all, and after a while said, "here's the dear cardinal," in a husky voice, and his niece, who sat next him, informed the circle that this was cardinal newman, who, like durward and felisy, could find nothing better to do on the other side than attend these awful sittings, for he always came when you paid your guinea to the medium and sat in the dark. to encourage him they lifted up their voices, at the suggestion of the medium's niece, and sang "lead, kindly light," which gratified him so much that he joined in singing the second verse and sang his own hymn to the tune given in _hymns ancient and modern_. then, when the hymn was over, he made some moral reflections and blessed them in latin. then there came materializations; the head and shoulders of durward appeared in the middle of the table. he was dressed in white, and had a large black beard, and round his ear the wire with which the beard was attached to his face was clearly visible. during this the circle was warned to keep their hands touching all round the table, for, if any one made a break, the consequences to the medium might be very serious, since the spirit had built itself up from material derived from the medium and the "electric fluid" contributed by the sitters. so, if the electric fluid was withdrawn the material would not be able to get back into the medium, who would completely collapse and possibly die, though whether durward would thereupon again become a visible and permanent dweller on this planet was not explained. by this time jessie had been so convinced of the wicked and profane fraudulence of all these proceedings that she furtively withdrew one of her hands, and thus cut off the electric fluid altogether. but durward didn't mind a bit, but continued to tell them about the joys of paradise, which, according to his account, must have been like the crystal palace erected in the middle of the botanical gardens. and when he had regaled them enough he withdrew in the direction where the medium sat, took off his beard, and became felisy with a veil and an alto voice. surely all this was enough to make one despair and contemn the whole idea of intercourse with spirits... but jessie suddenly became aware of a basic illogicality in her position. it was not intercourse with spirits she despised, but those despicable swindlers who, with the aid of false beards and musical-boxes, pretended that they could materialize and cause communication with spirits. she did not deride the memory of that afternoon because the spirits of cardinal newman and durward and felisy had moved among them, but because they hadn't. it was no use accounting for her repugnance towards genuine intercourse with spirits by her repugnance towards quacks and charlatans. the whole history of spiritualism teemed with these undesirable gentry and these faked phenomena, but they had no more connection with archie and his communications from his brother than had a forged bank-note with the credit of the bank of england. she found she did believe that the knowledge, say, of the cache beneath the pine-tree came to archie from other than normal human sources. it was known to no living being in the world, so far as she could tell, and if she looked for an explanation she must search for it in the supposition that the knowledge came to him from a living intelligence beyond the veil. she intensely disliked being forced to that conclusion, and now she knew why. it was for the reason she had suggested to him this afternoon. these things came from those regions, those conditions of existence into which people passed when they died. but in those regions there existed not only the souls of the dead who lived in an environment and under conditions at which we could not ever so faintly conjecture, but other spirits, some good, some evil. every good impulse that came into the hearts of men, came from over there; so, too, did every evil impulse that would blight, if it could, the garden of god. and who knew whether the man who by that strange faculty which archie possessed of opening the doors of his subliminal self, through which, as he averred, these messages came, might not open them to other and evil things? if possession by an evil spirit was a psychical possibility (and certainly it was not more fantastically strange than such phenomena as archie could produce) would it not be thus, and in no other way, that the evil possession would enter? yet in childhood archie had, in ignorance and in white defencelessness, opened more than once the door of his soul, and no harm surely had come to him. was she being unreasonable, full of fear where no fear was, twittering with groundless and superstitious fancies? there was yet another side to the question. if the spirits of the dead could indeed return, and speak of what they knew, was it not worth while running some risk on the chance of the wonders they might tell of the existence which now was theirs? whatever else might be of interest in human life, supreme over all was any hint or fragment of information about the timeless and everlasting day that lay beyond the dawnings and settings of the sun. nay, more: if to any one was given this wonderful gift by means of which voices could reach him from beyond the veil, was it not his duty to use this endowment for the enlightenment and consolation of those who mourned and who sat in darkness? god would never have bestowed so spiritual a gift on any, if he did not mean it to be used. the christian faith taught that the dead were alive in a wider sense than ever they had been on earth; why then should it be forbidden, to those who had this amazing gift, to speak with them, to learn about their life? the roman church had fulminated its anathemas on galileo, a thing scarcely credible to a more enlightened age; it was more than possible that its pronouncements against this intercourse with the dead was but one instance the more of a similar cowardice and narrowness. who could doubt that a man of science three hundred years ago would have been burned as a dabbler in diabolism and witchcraft, if he had exhibited a manifestation of wireless telegraphy or an x-ray photograph? but nowadays there was not a living being who did not rank such as the discoveries of a natural law. the sorcery of one age was the science of the next. jessie propounded this to herself, and her reason could not find a flaw in it. but something that sat behind her reason--superstition it might be, or instinct, or spiritual perception--refused to accept the conclusion. like a child afraid of the dark, it trembled and hung back, and no amount of logical assurance from its nurse, no amount of demonstration that the room when dark contained only the familiar things which the light made manifest, could reassure it. it didn't like the dark; nothing could persuade it that danger did not lurk in blackness... well, it was no use going over all the ground again, she knew it thoroughly now. reason made no headway against instinct, or instinct against reason, and she swept the matter from her mind, and tried to calm a certain intimate agitation that trembled there, by letting her eyes pour into her soul the superb serenity of the italian night. the moon had risen and spread across the bay a silver path to the edge of the world, and in the sky the wheeling innumerable worlds kept sentinel over the earth. never had she looked on a stillness more peaceful and more steadfast. not a breeze stirred in the cypresses, but in the thickets of ilex below the love that moved the sun and the other stars thrilled in the hearts of innumerable nightingales. that love permeated everywhere; the world was soaked in its peace... and just then, over the hills to the north, there flickered a flash of lightning from some storm very far away. long afterwards, and scarcely audible, came a muffled murmur of thunder. * * * * * jessie came downstairs next morning before either of the two young men were astir, and indeed, on going into the garden, she found archie still serenely slumbering in his hammock in spite of the sun that filtered through the pine-tree on to his brown face and curly head. but perhaps some intangible shaft from her pierced down into the gulfs of sleep, for immediately he sat up, flushed with slumber like a child, but fresh and bright-eyed from his night in the open air. "hullo, jess," he said. "you down already? i suppose i'd better get up. is it shocking for a young lady to see a young gentleman's bare feet and his pyjamas? if so, you must shut your eyes. now you're going to see them. don't scream." "i shall," said jessie. "you always wear patent leather boots and a fur-coat when we bathe." "yes, that is so. but bear it for once. lord, what a morning!" he threw off his blanket and dangled his legs over the side of the hammock, and instantly lit a cigarette. "archie, why do you smoke before breakfast?" she asked. "because it makes me feel so jolly dizzy. ah, you can't guess how good a cigarette tastes when you have had nothing but your tongue and your teeth in your mouth for eight or nine hours. hullo! here's the post. english papers? who cares for what happens in england? no letters for me, two for harry, and one for you. good-bye; i shan't wash much because i shall bathe all the morning." jessie's letter proved to be from helena, and its contents instantly absorbed her whole attention. colonel vautier, her father and lady tintagel's first cousin, had gone out to egypt over some government irrigation work, and, instead of coming back in june, would be detained out there till september. in consequence, lady tintagel hoped that the two girls would live with her instead of going back to their father's house till his return. helena's comment on this was enthusiastic, and also very characteristic. "darling jessie," she said, after the statement of this proposal, "i do hope you'll say 'yes.' cousin marion encloses a note for you, so you'll see how much she wants us to, and uncle jack--i've begun to call him uncle jack, though he isn't an uncle at all--gave quite a pleased sort of grunt when it was mentioned, which means that he approves. so don't be independent, and say you would sooner go back to oakland crescent, because i've simply set my heart on stopping here. it's horrible at home in the summer with the sun blazing into those little tiny rooms and the smell of greens flooding the house. and it really would be a kindness to cousin marion; she says so herself, as you'll find when you read her note. and besides, there's another reason which i know you can guess. in fact, i think it's our duty to come, and when duty takes the form of anything so pleasant as this, there really is not the slightest reason for neglecting it. and, as i'm the youngest, i feel that you should do as i want. besides, it's the greatest fun here. there are no end of dances and parties and dinners, and there are horses to ride and motor-cars. i'm having the loveliest tune, so it will be very selfish of you if you want to go home. but i know you will say 'yes.'" a charming enclosure from lady tintagel accompanied this: "i so much hope that you and helena will stop with us. you must think of it as a great kindness to me, for it will be the utmost comfort to me, now that both my girls are married, to have you two with me for the rest of the season. i spoke to archie about it while we were at silorno, so ask him whether he approves or not. i hope all goes well with you. is archie quite black yet from bathing? send me a line as soon as you have thought it over. helena is having the greatest success in town; every one thinks her charming, and admires her enormously." jessie read this over as she waited for archie to rejoin her at breakfast. there was every reason for accepting so cordial an invitation, and it would give pleasure to helena, to cousin marion, and apparently also to archie. she knew she would have to consent: there was no cause that could be spoken about which she could possibly adduce for refusing. a week ago that cause did not exist, but now she wondered how she could bear to see helena and archie in the close companionship which this would imply, and watch his feeling for her expanding from the bud into the flower. if she had thought that helena loved him it would all be different. but she felt certain that helena did not. there, for her, was the poignancy of it... in a manner that she could not explain, jessie knew that she knew the tokens by which love betrays its existence. she, barely yet twenty-two, had somewhere stored in her soul the language of love, which it speaks even when it thinks it is dumb--talking in its sleep, it may be. she had seen in the last week of helena's sojourn here that archie talked to her like that. "there was neither speech nor language": he said nothing of which the words betrayed his dawning passion, but his love spoke in his silence, even as the rosy clouds high above the earth herald the dawn. it was her own knowledge that enlightened her: she too knew the silent language, and knew that archie conversed in it, though no word came, when he talked to helena. something kindled behind his eye, some secret alertness possessed him... but there was the defencelessness and the blindness of love, for when helena answered him she but pretended to talk the same tongue, and jessie, knowing it, knew that she spoke a mere paltry gibberish. it sounded the same, or it looked the same; but it was nonsense, it was not authentic. yet archie never talked in the secret tongue to jessie; and, in consequence, she had never answered him in it. to-day it seemed her native tongue when she talked to him, and all she said must needs be translated out of that into the language of those who were friends, dear friends, but no more than friends. all this was instantaneous: she seemed to read it between the lines of helena's letter. she recalled, too, between the lines, the tokens that she knew. archie would look at harry, as they sat at dinner, then at his mother, then at her, in order that in due time he might look at helena. and when he spoke to any of them they never got more than one ear and an inattentive mind from him. the other ear and the attention were always with helena. helena knew that quite well: no woman or girl could fail to know it, and, by way of response, she had made this scythian retreat to england. no doubt that was clever of her, but in jessie's opinion clever people are found out even sooner than stupid ones. the only inexplicable folk are the wise, and wisdom has very little to do with cleverness. wisdom is perhaps the cleverness of the soul, that looks down with pity on the manoeuvres of the mind. archie made his absurd entry. he had a dressing-gown on, perhaps some sort of abbreviated bathing-dress, and canvas-shoes. "i didn't dress," he said, "for where's the use of dressing if you are going to undress again almost immediately?" "aren't you going to work this morning?" asked jessie. "no. this one day, as mr. wordsworth said, we'll give to idleness. i'm going to bathe all the morning instead of half the morning. i want a holiday. i think i'm overworked. what's happening in that foolish england, if you've read the papers?" "i haven't," said she. suddenly his face changed; he began to talk the secret language, which jessie understood and helena counterfeited. "and what other news?" he asked. "you had a letter from somebody." jessie pretended not to understand what she knew so well. "yes, i did have a letter," she said, determined that archie should be more direct than this. "from helena or mother?" he said carelessly. "i haven't heard from either of them, except that telegram to say they had got home safely." he was talking the secret language still; the very carelessness of his tone betrayed it. "i heard from them both," she said. "the letter was from helena, and there was an enclosure from cousin marion." archie said nothing in answer to this, but it seemed to the girl that his silence was just as eloquent in the language without words. eventually he remarked that harry was very late, and jessie knew that he had beaten her. he always did, just because he had nothing, with regard to her, at stake. "archie, i want to talk to you about what they have written to me," she said. "talk away," said archie. "i say, what good little fishes!" jessie was not proposing to yield like that. if he, in the code of the secret language, professed an indifference to what he was longing to hear, she would be indifferent too. to archie's intense irritation she continued to talk about little fishes, in a tone of great interest, till harry's entrance. she agreed they were very good; probably they were fresh sardines caught last night by the fishers. or were they... and she could not remember the italian name of the other little fish which were so like sardines. archie's serene brow clouded, and he but grunted a greeting to harry. and next moment her heart smote her. she knew how easily archie could put the sun out for her without meaning to do it, but she had, out of a sort of piqued femininity, intentionally done the same for him. she felt as if she had spoiled a child's pleasure. he was so like a child, but lovers were made of child-stuff. he got up almost immediately, and, full of a tender penitence, she followed him. one behind the other they went out into the garden, where archie, in a superb unconsciousness of her presence, became instantly absorbed in the despised english papers. "archie!" she said. he rustled with his paper. "oh, er--what?" he answered. "i wanted to talk to you about helena's letter," she said, "only you would talk about sardines. put that paper down; i can't talk through the paper." she noticed that he kept his finger on a paragraph, and she would have betted her last shilling that he had no idea what that paragraph was about. and, though a moment before she had been penitent, now she stiffened herself and determined that he should meet her more gracefully than that. "i'm sorry; i'm interrupting you," she said. "i'll tell you some other time." archie suddenly threw the paper into the air. "oh, aren't we behaving like idiots?" he said. "at heart i am, and so are you really. but i'll confess: i'm just longing to know what helena writes about. but aren't you an idiot, too? i shall like it enormously if you say you are." "i am an idiot, too," said the girl. "and cousin marion wants helena and me to live with her till father comes home. she told me to ask you if you approved." he leaned forward to her. "ah, do, jessie," he said. "i hope you will. i can't see why you shouldn't. can you?" she looked straight into the eager blue eyes that were so close to hers. for her there was a wealth of frankness and friendliness, but the light in them was not for her, and she knew it. "helena wants to," she said. "does that mean that you don't?" he asked. "i'm sorry if that is so." she got up. "no, it doesn't mean that a bit," she said. "it's delightful of you and cousin marion to want us. of course we'll come." archie rose too. "that's perfectly ripping of you," he said. "we shall be a jolly party, we four." quite suddenly a pause fell, very awkwardly, very constrainedly. "you see, my father doesn't appear much," he said at length. "that's what i meant. he is very often in the country, and--well, we don't see him much." archie soon took himself off to the sea, armed with paper and pencils, for, with four hours in front of him, there would be much basking to be done between his bathes. already another of those sea-sketches was beginning to take shape in his mind, and he found that there was no hour so fruitful in inspiration as when, after a swim, he returned to this empty, sandy beach, and lay spread out to the sun to be dried and browned and made eager for another dip. so, to-day, after the first swim, he lay for a while on his back with his arms across his face to shield his eyes from the glare, and opened his brain, so to speak, to let the sea-thoughts invade it. they came swarming in at his invitation, and presently he turned over and propped himself on his elbow and began to catch them and pin them to his paper. the rim of the sea, with its weed-fringed rocks, its diaper of moving light in the shallow water, the shoals of little fishes, almost invisible one moment, the next, as they turned, becoming a shield of silver flakes, were all ready to be hammered into sentences; and yet the hammer paused... somehow at the back of his mind was a topic that inhibited his hand, or would not allow the connection between hand and brain to be made, and he thought he knew what this was, for only this morning he had heard that helena was to be an inmate of their house in london. yet it did not seem to be that which was preventing him, and he wondered whether it was the thought of his father and his habitual intoxication, which was always like a black background at home, and which just for a moment had popped out into his conversation with jessie, that hindered him. but that again did not seem a sufficient cause for his inability to start the mechanism which translated thought into language. and then he became aware that his fingers itched and ached to write with a compelling force which he knew well. and yet only yesterday martin had said that he should not come to him again. but the quality of the force seemed unmistakable, and presently he yielded to that which he really had not the power to resist and wrote as his hand bade him write. there were but a few sentences scribbled, and then his pencil, as usually happened when the message was complete, gave a dash. he had no notion what he had written, and when it was finished he read it through. "archie, i have come through this once more," it said, "to repeat that you have been warned. but i can't get through again.--martin." so here again was this inexplicable mention of a warning, and archie's conscious mind was blank with regard to any such warning. but the repetition of it did not long occupy him, for immediately he found that the inhibition between his brain and his hand was gone, and sentence after sentence of his sea-sketch flowed through his fingers. by degrees, but not till a couple of his pages were full, did the inspiration exhaust itself, and then he lay back on the sand again full of the ecstasy that always accompanies the completion of a piece of work that has been done as the creator meant to do it. bad or good, it has fulfilled his intention. his brain brooded over that for a little, and then slipped back to the incident that had preceded it. he could make nothing at all of it, and, determining to dismiss it from his mind, and speak of it to nobody, he tore up the sheet that contained the message, buried the fragments in the sand, and lay back again roasting himself in the sun. soon that delectable warmth would increase on his bare limbs, till they cried out for the cool embraces of the sea again, and he would fling himself into it. but just for a little longer he would stew and stupefy himself in the sun and with half-closed eyes watch the vibration of the hot air over the beach and listen to the hiss of the ripples. except for them the morning was extremely quiet, the sun poured down over his outspread limbs, the sea waited for him. and, as he lay there and dozed, the memory of his evil dream went across his brain like a flash, and vanished again. * * * * * already the italian days were beginning to draw to their sunny end; they were numbered and could be easily counted. both archie and jessie counted them when they woke in the morning, and in the evening both said to themselves, "another day gone." but their reflections on this diminishing tale and the colour of their emotions were absolutely opposed, for while they both intensely enjoyed these italian hours, jessie counted them with the grudging sense of a school-boy who enumerates the remaining days of his holiday; but to archie they were the days of term-time which still (though enjoyable) must be got through before the holidays began. never before had he contemplated a stay in town with eagerness; but now, as he thought of her who would be living with them, he had never been so expectantly enamoured of london. at the close of their last day the divine serenity of june weather was troubled, and, as evening drew on, the clouds, which for a few hours past had been weaving wisps and streamers over the sky, grew to a thick curtain that stretched from horizon to horizon. it was of opaque grey, but here and there in it were lines and patches of much darker texture, as if it had been rent, and had been darned again with a blacker thread. instead of the coolness which succeeded sunset, the heat, clear no longer, but impure like the air of a closed room, got ever sultrier, and, for the refreshment of the evening breeze from the sea, there was exchanged a stifling stagnation. all life had gone out of the atmosphere: it was as if some immense othello was smothering the world. the air was heavy and charged with electricity, but as yet no remote winking of lightning nor rumble of thunder showed that there was relief coming. they had dined out in the garden, where the candles burned unwaveringly in the stillness, and afterwards had strolled to the far angle of the supporting wall of the fortress, where, if anywhere, they might find some hint of movement in this intolerable calm. but no breath visited them even there, and the very bamboos that grew at the corner of the garden-bed were as motionless as if they had been made of lead. archie mopped his streaming forehead. "if it interests anybody," he remarked, "i may say that i am going to die. i can't bear it any longer. i think i shall die in about half an hour." jessie fanned herself. that did not do a particle of good, it only seemed to make her hotter, as when you stir the water in a hot bath. but she tried to interest herself in archie's approaching decease. "and are we to take your corpse back to england to-morrow?" she asked. "just as you like. i shall have no more use for it. lord, and i haven't finished packing yet. fancy having to pack in this heat." "you needn't, surely, if you're going to die." "i must. my immortal manuscript would be lost in the general confusion caused by my death. or shall i go to bed? it can't be hotter in my hammock than here. yes, i shall get into my pyjamas, go to bed, and do my packing in the morning." he trailed off into the house, and presently appeared again attired for bed and strolled across to them. "well, i'll _wish_ you a good-night," he said, "but i very much doubt whether you'll get it. you needn't do the same to me, for i know i shan't, and your wishes would be hollow." he moved away again towards the stone-pine where his hammock was hung, a pale tall ghost of a figure against the blackness. then, quite suddenly, some panic impulse seized jessie, the result perhaps of her overstrung nerves and the overcharged atmosphere, and she sprang up, not knowing why. "wait a moment, archie," she cried. "don't go--something is going to happen." even as she spoke the whole world seemed enveloped in fire, and the core of the fire, a white-hot line, plunged downwards into the stone-pine, which was rent from top to bottom. absolute blackness filled with the deafening roar of the thunder and deluging rain succeeded, and they rushed towards the shelter of the house. for a moment they all three stood there recovering their balance from that tremendous crash and convulsion. then archie, with his soaked silk clinging close to his shoulders and legs, turned to jessie. "i wonder why you called out to me," he said. "what made you do it? you saved my life, i expect." jessie laughed; little as she was given to hysteria that laugh was half-way towards uncontrollable tears. "why, i didn't want you to die in half an hour," she said lightly. * * * * * but she remembered that moment when it came for her to save archie's life indeed. some inexplicable signal from love had flashed upon her that night, and should flash upon her again. chapter vii helena was having breakfast by the open window of her bedroom in her cousin's house. it was not yet nine in the morning, and, though she had been dancing till three o'clock, she had already had her bath, and was feeling as fresh as if she had had eight instead of hardly more than four hours in bed. outside the square was still empty of passengers, and the pale primrose-coloured sunshine of a london june shone on a wet roadway and rain-refreshed trees, for a shower had fallen not long ago, and through the open window there came in the delicious smell of damp earth. but she gave little heed to that or to the breakfast she was eating with so admirable an appetite, for her brain, cool and alert in this early hour, was very busy over her own concerns. soon she would have to go down to cousin marion and see if she could be of any use to her, for it was quite worth while doing jobs for cousin marion, as she always paid kindnesses back with a royal generosity. and she must get some flowers to give a welcoming air to archie's room, who with jessie was expected back to-day. that also would not be a waste of the time she might have spent more directly on herself. she would get some for jessie, too, for she had the character of unselfish thoughtfulness to keep up. it would be unnecessary to pay for them, for she could get them at the shop where cousin marion dealed. helena had enjoyed the most entrancing fortnight, during which time she had occasionally thought of silorno, and had oftener talked of it to cousin marion, for she had that valuable social gift of appearing to talk with keen attention of one thing while she was thinking about something quite different. she could easily interject "dear archie, it will be nice to have him back," or "darling jessie wrote me such a delicious letter: she is enjoying herself!" and if cousin marion expressed a wish to see the letter, it was equally easy to say that she had torn it up. meantime her brain would be busy with recollections of the day before, as they bore on her plans for the day to come. they might go off on to tangents for brief spaces, but her well-ordered and singly-purposed mind was never long in recalling them to their main topic. helena had made something of a sensation during these last weeks. she was not beautiful, but she was quite enchantingly pretty, and her mind had the qualities which might rightly be supposed to underlie that delicious face and inform those slim, graceful limbs. nothing seemed to mar her good-nature and her superb gift of enjoying herself. it was worth while being agreeable to everybody, and if her lot happened for an hour or two a day to be cast with elderly bores, she was indefatigable in her attention to them at the time, and in telling their friends afterwards how immensely she had enjoyed talking to them. it paid to do that sort of thing, provided that it was done with a gaiety that made it appear genuine and spontaneous: if your appreciation came bubbling out of you, no one suspected you of design, and she seemed the most designless, delicious girl in london, for it is next to impossible to see through an object that dazzles you. to crown all these gifts, she had the intensest power of enjoying herself, and there is not another key that unlocks so many doors. in this whirl and mill-race of entertainment which characterized the last gay summer that london would see for long, there was no time to make friends, but only to take the scalps of enthusiastic acquaintances. that perhaps was lucky for her. but helena, as she finished her breakfast, recalled her mind from these shining experiences, except in so far as they bore on the theme that insistently occupied her. there was no doubt, especially after that quiet talk in the paved garden outside the ball-room last night, that bertie harlow was dazzled, according to plan. heaven only knew when he had last been to a ball, for he was close on forty (helena had naturally looked him up in a peerage, since she liked to know about her friends), and she felt pretty certain that he had danced with no one but her. you could perhaps hardly call his share of the performance dancing; he had "stepped a measure," and twice trodden on her toe; but, after all, it did not matter whether your husband danced or not, since naturally, when those relations had been arrived at, he would not dance with you. many women no doubt, when they were married, would think it an advantage that their husbands did not dance, since then they would not dance with anybody else. but it was not in helena's nature prospectively to grudge him such amusements, should he desire them, when once she had got him. but she had to get him first, and to do that she had to keep him dazzled. he must not get accustomed to her. helena had a very strong belief in the desirability of simplifying life. this did not in the least imply that she thought there was anything attractive in the simple life: her simplification amounted to this, that she formulated exactly what she wanted, and then without deflection of aim did the very best with her efficient armoury of weapons to get it; while the second clause in the simplification of life was to find out what irritated or bored you, and with all your power eliminate it from your existence. if you could not get what you wanted without getting something that bored you, it was merely necessary to ascertain how the balance between these conflicting interests lay. as practically applied to the case in hand, she was aware that lord harlow bored her, though not badly, and that his nose irritated her. that she would almost certainly get used to, while on the other side of the scale were quantities of things she liked. she liked immense wealth, position, and the liberty she would undoubtedly enjoy if she married this amiable man, whom so many had tried to capture. that in itself was an incentive to her pride, and, without being a snob, she saw no objection to being a marchioness. but here the simplification ended, and a complication intruded itself. it was not so long ago that she had sat under the stone-pine with archie, and seen his face glow in the darkness as he drew on his cigarette. in point of attractiveness there was naturally no comparison between her cousin and this amiable middle-aged man; but, owing to the impossibility of even the most limited polyandry, it was clearly no use to think of marrying them both, and all that was left was to choose between them, supposing, as she most sincerely did, that it was, or soon would be, for her to choose. certainly she was not in love with archie, if she took as an example of that the ridiculous symptoms exhibited by daisy hollinger, who by some strange freak was in love with lord harlow. helena had behaved very wisely over that, for she had instantly seen the advantage of becoming great friends, in her sense of the word, with poor daisy, who poured out to her a farrago of amorous imbecility, and helena was sure that she was not in love with archie like that. anything so insane seemed incomprehensible to her (and was). but archie was a dear--she had quite wished he would kiss her that night, of course in a cousinly fashion, which she would have scorned to be offended with, whereas she did not in the least look forward to the moment when lord harlow would kiss her. apart from that, the simplification of life came in again, and against archie there were certain items which it would be imprudent to disregard. his father was a drunkard, and archie himself had been consumptive as a child. consumption ran in families, for archie's brother had died of it; and so perhaps did drunkenness, though she did archie the justice of trying and failing to remember that she had ever seen him drink wine at all. these were serious objections in a husband. there was another, perhaps not less serious. she knew from cousin marion that uncle jack had lately lost a great deal of money; there was even the question of shutting up or letting the london house next winter. of course, if she married archie, they could not spend the winter down at lacebury, or live with poor uncle jack; but london, as wife of an impoverished son, would be very different from london as the wife of a very wealthy man who, so to speak, was nobody's son. finally, there were certain stories that cousin marion had told her about queer messages and communications that had come to archie, while he was still a child, from his dead brother. that seemed to helena's practical mind pure nonsense, and yet she had been pleased to hear that, since he was but young in his teens, these rather uncomfortable phenomena had ceased. she felt that she did not believe in them; but, though they had no real existence, she disliked the thought of them. and, though it was so long since there had been any repetition of them, they might (though they were all nonsense) crop up again. she had no belief in ghosts, but she would not willingly have slept in a haunted room. the dead were dead, whereas she was very much alive. well, it was time to dress and go down to cousin marion. this long, frank meditation (for she was always frank with herself, which perhaps was the reason that she had so little of that commodity to spare for other people) had helped considerably to clear her mind and provoke simplification. and, like a good housewife who will permit no waste of what can possibly be used, she thought she would have a very useful function for archie to perform when he arrived that evening. she found lady tintagel busy with her morning's post. there was a quantity of invitations, most of which, owing to press of others, had to be declined, and helena having marked each of those with an "accept" or "refuse," laid them aside to answer. there was one, where the russian dancers were to perform, which she very much regretted having to say "no" to, since that evening was already filled, and wondered if by any contrivance it would be possible to manage it. a glance at lady tintagel's engagement book showed her that the prohibiting acceptance was for a dinner and concert at lady awcock's, where all that was stately and victorian spent evenings of unparalleled dreariness. helena had already produced the most favourable impression on lady awcock by listening to her practically endless dissertations on political society forty years ago, and she thought she could manage it. "and shall i enter all the invitation you accept in your engagement-book, cousin marion?" she asked. "yes, my dear, will you? that's really all i have for you this morning. what will you do with yourself?" helena gathered up cards and engagement-book. "i think i shall stop at home," she said. "you often do want something more, you know, and i hate not being here to do it for you." "nothing of the sort. there's the motor for you if you want to go and see anybody." helena considered. "oh, i should like to do one thing," she said. "it won't take long. may i get some flowers for archie's room and jessie's? flowers do look so cool and refreshing when you've been a day and a night in the train." "of course you may. it was nice of you to think of that. but then you do think of rather nice things for other people." "oh, shut up, cousin marion," laughed the girl. * * * * * helena retired to the table in the window with her materials and proceeded to execute a very neat and simple piece of work. the entries in lady tintagel's engagement-book were only made in pencil, and she erased the inconvenient lady awcock's name from the evening some fortnight ahead and wrote in its place that of the giver of the russian party, to whom instead of a refusal she sent a line, in her cousin's name, of grateful acceptance. then she wrote a charming little letter of penitence to lady awcock, abasing herself and at the same time pitying herself. she had done the stupidest thing; for she had accepted lady awcock's invitation on an evening when they were already engaged. the letter proceeded: "i can't tell you how disappointed i am, dear lady awcock, for i was so looking forward to another talk with you, and to hear more of those interesting things you told me; but perhaps, if i have not disgusted you beyond forgiveness, you would ask me again some day. and would you be wonderfully kind and not tell lady tintagel what a stupid thing i have done, for she lets me keep her engagement-book for her, and if she knew, i am afraid she would never trust me again." this last touch thoroughly pleased helena; it was confiding and childlike. for the rest she relied on cousin marion not happening to remember that they had once accepted an invitation to lady awcock's, and, even if she did have some impression of it, her engagement-book, with no such entry appearing in it, would show her that her memory had played her false. but probably cousin marion would remember nothing whatever about it; indeed, in the multiplicity of engagement, it seemed to helena that the risk she ran was negligible. helena found time to go to victoria to meet the travellers that afternoon, and to reflect, as she waited for the boat-train to come in, that she in her cool pink blouse and her skirt of poiret stuff would certainly present a very refreshing contrast to poor jessie in dishevelled and dusty travelling-clothes. she did not in the least want jessie to look bedraggled except in so far as she herself would gain by the contrast, for she was good-natured enough not to want any one to be at a disadvantage as long as that did not add to her own advantage. jessie was a dreadfully bad sailor, too; but it was quite enough that she should have travelled for a night and a day, without hoping that she had had a bad crossing. helena merely wanted to appear fresh and brilliant herself. at length the train came in, and, though she quite distinctly saw archie step out, she continued searching for him with her eyes in the crowd, until he made his way up to her. "ah, my dear," she said, "how lovely to see you! and don't be cross with me for coming to meet you if it bores you to be met at the station. but i did want to welcome you. and where's jessie? there she is! jessie darling, what fun!" archie did not look as if he was at all bored to be met at the station. "that's perfectly ripping of you," he said. "i am glad you came. we've been baked and boiled all the way from silorno. and the crossing! i thought it was always calm in the summer." "archie, don't allude to it," said jessie. helena took her sister's arm. "darling jessie, i am so sorry," she said. "archie's a wretch for mentioning it. now you go straight to the motor and sit there quietly. archie and i will see to your luggage." if archie, as is probable, drew the contrast he was intended to draw between the sisters, helena on her side drew another between him and lord harlow. there he stood, looking eagerly at her as they waited the emergence of their trunks, face and neck and hands so tanned by the sun that every one else looked ill and anaemic by him. he was tall and lithe and slender, with the quick movements of some wild animal, and in his brown face his blue eyes shone like transparent turquoises. he seemed an incarnation of sun and sea and wholesome virility, and, as the thought of the rather heavy kalmuck face of lord harlow, and staid aspect suitable to his forty years, she almost wondered whether, in her estimate made this morning, she had allowed enough for personal charm. but there had been other factors as well, and who knew whether below this engaging exterior there were not planted the seeds of tragic outcome? but it was certainly pleasant to reflect that his exuberance of young manhood would, she made no doubt, be all hers if she made up her mind to want it. in any case, was there another girl in london who had so attractive a second string to her bow? archie had, on the appearance of one of their pieces of luggage, insinuated himself into the crowd and helena was left outside, when a sight odd to see at a station attracted her attention. beyond, the platform lay empty, and out of some porter's shed there, there bounded a big tabby cat with a mouse in its mouth. its tail switched, its eyes gleamed with the joy of the successful hunter; but it did not prepare to eat the mouse immediately. it trotted a little farther off, lay down, and, depositing its prey, dabbed at it softly with velvet paws and sheathed claws. it even let it run a few inches away from it, and then gently shepherded it back again. once it let it seem to escape altogether, gave it a start of at least a couple of yards, while it watched it with quivering shoulders, and then playfully bounded in the air, and reminded it that it was not its own master. then there came a dismal little squeak as from a slate-pencil; the poor mouse's troubles were over, and a pleased cat blinked in the sun and licked its lips. helena followed this gruesome little drama with an interest that surprised and even rather shocked her. she was altogether on the side of the cat; the cat, according to its lights, was not being cruel, it was merely doing the natural thing with a mouse. it happened to like teasing its prey, letting it think that it had escaped, sheathing the claws that had caught it, and playing with it. there was nothing horrible about it: the cat was doing as nature intended it to do. she was rather sorry for the mouse, but that is what came of being a mouse... and there was archie, triumphant, with a porter and his rescued luggage. archie had a way with officials: he smiled at them in a confident, friendly way, and they always did what he wanted and never searched his traps. * * * * * there was a dance somewhere that night, but helena, letting the fact be reluctantly dragged out of her that there was such a thing, only said how nice it would be to go to bed early. "are you tired, dear?" asked lady tintagel. helena made a little deprecating face, the face of the prettiest little martyr in the cause of truth ever beheld. "no, i can't exactly say i am," she said. "i think--i think i was speaking on behalf of archie and jessie." "but i'm not tired either," said he. "let's go to somebody's dance. i can't dance an atom, but helena shall teach me. there's nothing like practice in public. what dance is it, by the way?" "oh, that's all right," said she. "it's your uncle and aunt toby. but, archie, i'm sure you're tired." "but i'm not, i tell you. it's whether you want to go." lady tintagel struck in. "if you all go on being so unselfish," she said, "you will never settle anything. try to be selfish for one moment helena; it won't hurt. do you want to go?" "enormously," said she, with a sign of resignation. "and you, archie?" "dying for it. let's call a taxi." "and you, jessie?" "i should hate it," said jessie very confidently. the matter, of course, was settled on those lines, and helena was duly credited with having wanted to go enormously, but with having done her utmost to efface herself for the sake of others. this was precisely the end she had in view all along, and now, having had the dance, so to speak, forced on her, she was quite free to enjoy herself. she had produced precisely the impression she wanted on archie and his mother, and, though it was likely that jessie, with her long familiarity with such manoeuvres, was not equally unenlightened, she knew, by corresponding familiarity, jessie's loyalty. she gave a little butterfly kiss to cousin marion, and a murmur of delighted thanks, and went to her sister to finish up this very complete little picture. "darling jessie," she said, "go to bed soon and sleep well. i shall tiptoe in, in the morning, and, if you're still asleep, i shall tell them not to wake you till you ring. may i do that, cousin marion?" jessie understood all this perfectly well, and her mouth had that curve in it that might or might not be a smile. "good-night," she said. "have a nice dance, and teach archie well." to speak of luck is often nothing more than another mode of expressing the success that usually attends foresight; chance favours the wise calculation. helena last night had dropped the most casual hint to lord harlow that she was probably going to this dance to-night, but she was satisfied that he had been attending, and was not unprepared to see him there. even if she had not been able to come, she suspected that he would do so, and her absence would have been delightfully explained to him afterwards. but there he was, not dancing, but standing about near the door of the ball-room, and quite obviously interested in arrivals. undoubtedly he saw the brilliant entry of herself and archie, but she contrived to put a few of the crowd between herself and him as she passed near him, and for the present gave him no more than a glance and a smile, a downdropt eye, and then one glance again, and passed with archie into the ball-room. there an ordinary old-fashioned waltz was in progress, and not one of those anaemic strollings about which were becoming popular, and she slid off with her radiant partner on to a floor not overfull. she had a moment's misgiving when she remembered that archie had said he couldn't dance, for it would vex her to appear in the clutch of a bungler; but, after all, archie could hardly be awkward if he tried. immediately all her fears vanished, for they had hardly gone up the short side of the room before she knew that if any one was the bungler it was she. she might have guessed, from seeing him walk and move, that he could dance; what she could not have guessed was that anybody could dance like this. they floated, they glided; it was the floor surely that moved under them; it was the wind of that swinging, voluptuous tune that wafted them on as in some clear eddy of sunlit water. "but, my dear, you said you couldn't dance," she exclaimed. "oh, this sort of thing," said he. "i meant the steppings and crawlings of the new style." helena was too content to talk; her whole being glowed with the satisfaction of this flowing movement. the floor got ever emptier: lines of expectant fox-trotters and bunny-huggers stood round the wall, but none of them objected to watching for a little longer the entrancing couple who now had the floor almost to themselves. couple after couple dropped off and stood looking, and to helena's gleaming eyes they passed in streaks of black and white and many-coloured hues as she and archie moved ever more freely and largely over the untenanted space. she could just see the faces of friends as she passed, and knew that lord harlow had come in and was standing by the door. there was no question of luck in that; he was but doing what she knew he was obliged to do. then the web of sound that poured out of the gallery grew more brightly coloured as it quickened to its close, and still archie and she moved without effort as if they were part of it and of each other. and then the whole fabric of that divine dream of melody and motion was shattered, for the dance was over. archie had not spoken either since he intimated that he had alluded to steppings and crawlings, and now he paused for a moment in the middle of the room, breathing just a little quickly and bewildered as with some dazzling light. ever since he had put his arm round the girl and taken her hand in his, he had had that sense of sinking into sunlit waters, where he arrived at his true and naked self. now he had swum up again, and he was clothed in black coat and white shirt, and helena was standing a step apart from him, and every one else at the edge of the room was very far away. instantly a mingling of wild consternation and triumph seized him. "oh, helena, were we doing that all by ourselves?" he said. "how frightful! let's get out of it. but wasn't it divine? may we do it again soon? or will they have nothing but crawlings?" it appeared that crawlings were to be the next item, and archie noticed that in the crowd that now came about them again a particular man had his eye on them, and was unmistakably burrowing towards them. "yes, archie; of course we will," said the girl. "go and see your aunt, and ask if we may have another waltz ever so soon. oh, here's lord harlow; i want to introduce you." this was done, and lord harlow turned to helena again. "i feel as if i had been present at some bacchic festival," he said in a very precise voice. "but you should have vine-leaves in your hair, and er--your partner a tunic and a thyrsus. i feel myself as prosaic as a bradshaw. but may i be your bradshaw?" helena looked from one to the other; if she had had a tail she would certainly have been switching it. "ah, do," she said. "a bradshaw is quite indispensable. archie, go and get a thyrsus--will a poker do, lord harlow?--and persuade mrs. morris to have another waltz before long." now that the sheer animal exhilaration of that adorable waltz, which quite precluded talking, was over, it seemed perfectly suitable, as she plodded along the weary way of the fox-trot, to talk again, and in answer to lord harlow, who had not caught archie's name, she said: "yes, lord davidstow. surely i told you about him" (she knew that she had purposely not done so). "he is lady tintagel's son, with whom i am staying." lord harlow quietly assimilated this as he turned slowly round. "and does he do other things as well as he dances?" he asked. "i think he does," said she, "though i never really thought about it. when people are such dears as archie, one doesn't consider what they do. they just are." "he certainly is. he appears very much alive." "yes, he's madly alive." she gave him a swift glance, and, guessing she had gone far enough on that tack, she put about. "i think it's possible to be too much alive," she said. "it's like a hot-water bottle that is too hot: it burns you. but you can't help being carried off your feet by it--i don't mean the hot-water bottle." he paused a moment for the purpose of phrasing. "i must weight you with a bradshaw," he said. "that will keep you to earth. we can't spare you." helena laughed. "you say things _too_ neatly," she said. "what a delicious notion! what have you done all day?" "i have waited for this evening." "and i hope it doesn't disappoint you now that it has come," she said. "it is up to my highest expectations just now," said he. suddenly it flashed into helena's mind that this was the temperature of his wooing. he was engaged in that now: those neat and proper sentences, turned as on a lathe, were the expression of it, they and the mild pleased glances that he gave her; and yet, discreet and veiled as it all was, she divined that, according to his nature and his years, it was love that inspired it. she found it quite easy to adjust herself to that level, and if his kiss (when the time came for that) was of the same respectful and finished quality, she could deal with that too. but she wondered how archie would make love... it was necessary to fox-trot a little longer, and, while trotting, trot also conversationally, and with intention she let herself press a little more against his arm. "oh, i am glad of that," she said lightly. "it is such a dreadful pity when people are disappointed. but i think i would sooner anticipate something nice and fail to get it, than not anticipate at all. can you imagine not looking forward to the delicious things you want?" "do you want very much?" he asked. "yes, everything. and i want it not only for myself but for everybody." she made the mental note that he was very shy, for he had nothing in response to this, except that his shirt creaked. but that suited her very well; she did not want him to follow this up, just yet. meantime the sedate marchings and retreats and occasional revolution of the fox-trot went decorously on. the room was very full, and, when there was nowhere to march to, they stopped where they were and marked time and rocked a little to and fro. then perhaps a narrow lane opened in front of them, and they waddled down it, brushing shoulders against the hedges. she had seen archie go to mrs. morris, after which he had appeared for a moment in the gallery where the band was, and now he was back again, standing near the door and watching her. she gave him little glances from time to time, elevated her eyebrows as if in deprecation of this unexhilarating performance, or smiled at him, guessing that he had arranged for another waltz. at last the end came, the fox-trotters ceased to clutch each other, and walked away with about as much terpsichorean fervour as they had been dancing with. dull though the last twenty minutes had been from that standpoint, helena felt quite satisfied with it, while motion--or perhaps emotion--had made her partner hot; he gently wiped his forehead with a very fine cambric handkerchief. "perfectly delicious," he said. "i should have liked that to go on for ever. and how long shall i have to wait before it begins again?" archie had sidled through the crowd up to them. "helena, we're going to have another waltz at once," he cried. "don't let us waste any of it." she laid her hand on his arm. "we?" she said. "are you quite certain?" "may i say 'we' also?" asked lord harlow. she turned towards him, but her hand still rested on archie, and he felt the slight pressure from her fingertips. "oh, i was only teasing my cousin," she said. "i had promised him another waltz. but, later, may i borrow my bradshaw again?" the band struck up, setting her a-tingle for the repetition of what had gone before. "oh, archie, come on," she cried. "_au revoir_, bradshaw." alert for movement, with the heady tune of the waltz already mounting into them like wine, they stepped off on to the floor. it was like stepping on to some moving platform; it and the tune, without any conscious effort of their own, seemed to carry them away. but archie had one question to ask before he abandoned himself. "bradshaw?" he said. "i thought you told me his name was harlow." she gave a little bubble of laughter. "oh, that was only a joke," she said. "he told me that you and i were like a bacchic festival, and he felt as prosy as a bradshaw in consequence." "but what does it matter to him what we are like?" asked he. "well, it was a compliment; he meant it nicely," said she. "don't let us talk; it rather spoils it." * * * * * helena reviewed those manoeuvres when she got home that night, and she congratulated herself on the neatness and efficiency of her dispositions. she felt sure that she had stirred up a livelier ferment in lord harlow, and had also managed to inspire him with a vague distrust and jealousy of her intimacy with archie. she suspected that he was a little sluggish in his emotions, and this would serve admirably as a stimulant. she quite realized that she had not yet brought him up to the point of proposing to her, for his inured bachelor habits would want a good deal of breaking; but it was clear to her that she had made a crack in them, and that the judicious use of archie might be profitably used to widen that crack. under the influence merely of her charms, he might hold together for a long time yet, and she wanted him, if she could have it entirely her own way, to propose to her about the end of the season. the effect of archie constantly with her would be cumulative: it was not a wedge that would cause him to fly into splinters forthwith; it would just widen the crack, prevent it closing again, and then widen it a little more. and meanwhile it was extremely pleasant always to have this wedge in her hand, to hammer from time to time, as it suited her main plan, and at others to stroke and play with. she was not in love with archie, but it made her purr to see that he was certainly falling in love with her, to dab him with sheathed claws, to wish that he had those material advantages which had made her choose the elder man. it clearly served her purpose to use him, and the using of him gave her pleasure. but the pleasure was secondary--it was the assistance he gave her in breaking up lord harlow that was of primary importance. * * * * * archie brought all his gaiety and charm to bear on his love-making. falling in love did not appear to him, at this stage, anything but the most exhilarating, almost hilarious experience. the flirtation that helena seemed to be having with lord harlow amused him enormously; not for a moment did he believe that helena meant anything. lord harlow was not the only man on whom helena exercised the perfectly legitimate attraction of her extreme prettiness and her enthusiastic child-like enjoyment. "oh, every one is so kind and so awfully nice," she said to him one day as they returned from an early morning ride. "i love them all by the handful." "including the bradshaw?" asked he. "yes, certainly including the bradshaw. don't you like him? he likes you so much." archie considered this. "i don't know if i like him or not," he said. "i don't think i ever thought about it. he doesn't matter. but you matter awfully to him. did you know that you are the most outrageous flirt, helena?" "archie, how horrid of you!" said she. "just because i like people, and to a certain extent they like me. why should i be cross and unpleasant to people, as if it was wicked to like them?" "well, if you'll give me long odds i will bet you that the bradshaw asks you to--to be his 'abc' before the end of the season," said archie. "my dear, what nonsense!" said she, with a sudden thrill of pleasure. "what can have put that into your head?" "i can see it. that's the way a man like the bradshaw looks at a girl when his--his affections are engaged. he looks as if a very dear aunt was dead. he has _amour triste_." that certainly hit off a type of gaze to which helena felt that she had been subjected, and she laughed. "well, i'll give you five to one in half-crowns," she said. "don't. some day i shall have twelve and sixpence." they turned and cantered back along the soft track. the dew of night had not yet vanished from the grass, and the geometric looking plane-leaves, the rhododendrons, and the flower-beds were still varnished with moisture, and, early though it was, riders and foot-passengers were plentiful. probably the day would be hot, for the heat haze, purplish-brown in the distance, was beginning to form in the air, softly veiling the further view. presently they dropped again into a walking-pace, and helena, whose mind had been busy on archie's description of a certain sort of love-lorn look, spoke of a subject suggested by it. "how do you think jessie is?" she asked. "that's exactly what my mother asked me last night," said he. "she's rather silent and preoccupied, isn't she?" "that struck me," said the girl. "i thought perhaps she wasn't very well, but she told me there was nothing the matter. darling jessie is so reserved. she never tells me anything. certainly she looks well: do you think she has anything on her mind?" "i don't see what she could have. but it's odd that it has struck all of us." helena sighed and shook her head with a pretty, unreproachful air. "i sometimes wish that jessie would make more of a friend of me," she said. "i try so hard to get close to her, but all the time i feel she is keeping me at arm's length. it would be lovely to have a sister who would admit me to her own, own self. but i always have to tap, so to speak, at jessie's door, and she so often says she won't open it." "was she always like that?" asked archie, seeing that helena's eyes were dim and bright. "yes, but lately i think it has been worse. i wish jessie would let me in. however, i am always waiting, and i think jessie knows that. it is no use pressing for confidence, is it? one can only wait." this picture, so simply and pathetically conveyed by helena of herself waiting, a little dim-eyed, for jessie to admit her, was very convincing, and archie wondered at the contrast between the two sisters, the one so childlike in her confidence that all the world was her friend, the other holding herself rather detached, rather aloof, without that welcoming charm of manner that surely was the expression of an adorable mind. it was not wholly the light of his dawning love that invested the sketch with such tender colouring, for there was a great finish and consistency in helena's presentation of herself which might have deceived the most neutral and heart-whole of observers. such was the first impression: then suddenly some instinct that lay below the surface surged up in rebellion against it, and washed the tender colouring out. it told him that the impression was a false one, that jessie, so far from being callous and self-centred, as was the suggestion conveyed by helena's words, was of faithful and golden heart. and then, looking idly over the crowd that was growing thick on the broad gravel walk, he suddenly caught sight of jessie herself looking at them. she was some little distance behind the rails that separated the ride from the path, and she instantly looked away, spoke to a girl who was with her, and strolled on. but archie felt quite sure that she had seen them. he turned to helena. "surely that is jessie," he said to her, pointing with his whip. helena had seen her also, and she smiled rather sadly, rather wistfully. "yes," she said. "but she doesn't want us, archie." and at that the instinct which had spoken to him so emphatically a moment before sank out of hearing again, and the colour returned to helena's deft little sketch. chapter viii it was four o'clock on an afternoon of mid-july, and the westering sun had begun to blaze into the drawing-room windows of colonel vautier's house in oakland crescent. it was pleasant enough there in the winter, for the room, being small, was easily heated; but in the summer, with even greater ease it grew oven-like, and helena, sitting by the open window for the sake of any air that might possibly wander into the dusty crescent, was obliged to pull down the blinds. she had tried sitting in her father's study, but that had an infection of stray cigar-smoke about it which she did not want to catch, and the dining-room and her own bedroom, since they faced the same way as the drawing-room, presented no counter-attractions. so, reluctantly, she was compelled to sit here, while jessie, with a book in her hand, sat at the other end of the room. jessie had a slight attack of hay-fever, and from time to time indulged in a fit of sneezing. it seemed to helena that she was being very inconsiderate: it was always possible to stifle a sneeze. but jessie never thought about other people. helena, by way of waiting patiently at jessie's door (according to the tender image she had fashioned for archie's benefit) had just expressed this opinion slightly veiled, and she was pleased to see that at this moment jessie left the room. a sound of sneezing from outside indicated that at last her sister had grasped how exceedingly unpleasant her hay-fever was for other people. then there came the sound of ascending steps, and she guessed that jessie had gone to her bedroom. the floors were wretchedly thin and ill-constructed; you could, from any room in the house, hear movements from any other room, especially since colonel vautier and jessie had such solid, resounding steps when they went anywhere. left to herself, helena cleared her decks, and enumerated her cause of complaint against providence, who ought to have been so kind to an innocent, loving little soul. in the first place, her father had finished his irrigation business in egypt unexpectedly soon, and instead of arriving in london not before september, had come two months earlier than the most pessimistic daughter could have expected. the news of his approaching arrival had provoked a perfect conspiracy against helena's comfort and her plans, for every one, including cousin marion, who had been so insistent on the girls' staying with her till he got home, had taken it for granted that they would at once rejoin him. surely it would have been sufficient for jessie to go (and she did jessie the justice of allowing that she was perfectly ready to do so), leaving helena to help cousin marion in the answering of her letters in the morning for some half-hour, in the entertaining of her numerous guests, and in accompanying her to any of those pleasant gaieties which swarmed about that desirable house. but instead, cousin marion had been quite unaware, to all appearance, of the hints helena had subtly suggested, and archie had been equally uncomprehending. when she had said, "this house seems so much more like my home than any other," he had certainly glowed with pleasure, but had not thought it was meant to have any application with regard to her going back to oakland crescent. no one had taken her hints; it had occurred to nobody how suitable it was that jessie should go to look after her father, and helena remain to look after her cousin. but since her hints were not taken, helena, like the excellent tactician she was, had retreated in preference to standing her ground and suffering defeat. she had to retreat, and she retreated with exactly the proper mixture of regret at leaving grosvenor square and of joy at her father's premature return. and when his taxi cab drew up palpitating at the door, it was she who ran down the three concrete steps from the front-door and across the awful little dusty yard called the front garden, with its cinder path that circulated round one laurel-bush, and flung herself into his arms, and helped the parlour-maid to carry in his bag, while jessie waited in the narrow entrance that reeked of the ascending fumes of dinner, for the parlour-maid, as usual, had left open the door at the head of the kitchen stairs. there was a grudge against providence even deeper than this unnecessary transplanting of herself to oakland crescent, when she might so comfortably have flourished in grosvenor square, archie had dined with them two nights ago, before taking her on to a dance, and in the interval that followed dinner, when her father and archie remained downstairs, she had a painful scene with jessie. jessie, according to helena's public version, had misunderstood her in the cruellest manner, but she knew that her real complaint here was not that her sister had cruelly misunderstood her, but had, in fact, cruelly understood her, which was more intolerable than any misunderstanding could have been. she could have borne a misunderstanding very patiently, but to be understood was of the nature of an exposure, of a kind scarcely decent, and impossible to forget. it had begun so stupidly, so innocuously. she had but left a few orchids on her dressing-table, and jessie, who naturally was not going to the dance, but was remaining at home to keep her father company, most kindly offered to get them for her. she came down again so ominously silent that helena had asked her what the trouble was, and it appeared that jessie had seen on the dressing-table the card of lord harlow with a safety-pin attached to it. "yes, darling, why not?" helena had said. "he sent me those lovely orchids--thank you so much for getting them. he is going to be there to-night, and as he sent expressly for them from harlow, naturally i shall wear them. it would be rude not to, don't you think?" jessie did not reply, and helena repeated her question. for answer, jessie had said in that soft rich voice which was the only thing that helena envied her: "you revolt me." helena became quite cool and collected. she might represent herself as being tearful and pathetic at the thought of jessie's unkindness, but that attitude was useless with jessie alone, and she never adopted it. "oh! may i ask why i revolt you?" she asked. "certainly, although you know already. archie is in love with you." helena adopted the phrases of affection. she did so simply to irritate her sister. "darling, how delicious you are!" she said. "but mayn't i wear a flower from tom, dick, or harry for that reason? i don't grant the reason for a moment; but, even if i did, what then? besides, archie hasn't given me any flowers, and one must have flowers at a dance." but jessie refused to be irritated. helena's speech seemed to have exactly the opposite effect on her: she became gentle and apologetic. "i'm sorry i said that you revolted me," she said. "it was thoughtless and stupid. but, o helena, you are so thoughtless too. do forgive me for questioning you, but--but are you intending to marry lord harlow if he asks you? if so, do make it clear to archie, before things get worse, that you have no thought of him. you like him, don't you? you might save his suffering." this was the understanding, not the misunderstanding, that was so cruel. but helena was quite capable of being cruel too. she smelled her orchids, and pinned them into her gown. simultaneously she heard feet on the stairs, and archie's resonant laugh. she got up. "i might almost think you were jealous of archie's affection for me, darling," she said, in her most suave tones. before the door opened she saw jessie's face flame with colour, and laughed to herself at the defencelessness of love. next moment archie launched himself into the room. "hullo! what fine orchids!" he said. "who sent you them, helena? i bet you the bradshaw did. what a thing it is to have opulent admirers! i wish i had got some." but since that evening, now nearly a week ago, jessie had not spoken to helena except when mere manners in the presence of other people required it. that was a tiresome, uncomfortable situation. in a big house it would not have mattered much, for they could easily have sat in different rooms; but here it made an awkwardness in the narrow existence. but helena had the consolation of knowing that she had not merely knocked at jessie's door, but had battered it in. the secret chamber stood open to her, and the shrine in it was revealed before unpitying eyes. here, then, were two grievances against the world, that might have taxed the patience of job, and certainly super-taxed the patience of helena. on the top of these, ossa on pelion, was perched an anxiety that had begun seriously to trouble her, for already it was the middle of july and lord harlow had as yet said nothing which suggested that he was going to propose to her. she knew that she charmed and captivated him, who had never looked seriously at a girl twice (nor at poor daisy once); but he was undeniably a long time making up his mind, and helena, though accustomed to repose the greatest confidence in herself, did not feel sure that she would prove equal to defeating the long-standing habit of celibacy. even the continuous use of archie in the capacity of a wedge seemed to make no impression, and she was beginning to be desperately afraid that the wedge would turn in her hand, and ask her to marry him before lord harlow succumbed. this would be a very awkward situation; most inauspicious developments might follow, for it would be tragic if she accepted archie, and lord harlow proposed immediately afterwards, while, if she refused archie, it would be a crown of tragedy if lord harlow did not propose at all. she had determined, in fact, if archie proposed first, to ask him to wait for his answer. a little breeze was stirring now, and helena pulled up the blind to let it and the sun enter together, rather than endure this stifling stagnancy any longer, and gazed with the profoundest disgust at the mean outlook. the house stood in the centre of a small curve of three-storied buildings; in front was its little square of cindery walk with the one laurel in the middle, and a row of iron palings with a gate that would not shut which separated it from the road. on the other side of that was a small demilune of a garden, which gave the place the title of crescent, and beyond that a straight row of houses all exactly alike. a milkman was going his rounds with alto cries, and slovenly cooks and parlour-maids came out of area gates with milk-jugs in their hands. a lean and mournful cat, with dirty, dishevelled fur, as unlike as possible to the sleek, smart mouser she had seen at the station, sat on a gate-post, blinking in the sun, and every now and then uttering a faint protest against existence generally. helena could have found it in her heart to mew in answer. the hot afternoon wore itself away, and presently the parlour-maid came in to lay a table for tea. this entailed a great many comings-in and a great many goings-out, and she usually left the door open, so that there oozed its way up the stairs a mixed smell of cigars and incipient cooking. the cigar smell came from the little back room adjoining the dining-room where colonel vautier, with tropical habits, spent the hour after tiffin (it seemed that he could not say "lunch") in dozings and smokings. meantime the parlour-maid came in and out, now with a large brass tea-tray, to place on the table, now with plates and cups and saucers to put on it. she breathed strongly through her nose, and wore a white apron with white braces over her sloping shoulders. from outside, during these trying moments, there came the sound of a motor-horn, and immediately afterwards the soft crunch of gravel below a motor's wheels. from where she sat, helena could look out of the window, and from her torpid discontent she leaped with a bound into a state of alert expectancy. she hazarded, so to speak, all the small change she had in her pocket. for a moment she put her slim fingers in front of her eyes and thought intensely. then she spoke to the parlour-maid. "take a tray of tea to colonel vautier in his study," she said, "and say that i have got a headache and told you to bring his tea to him there. tell miss jessie"--helena paused a moment--"tell her that a friend of mine has come to see me, and that i want to talk to him privately here. that's all: now open the door, and say that i am in." helena rushed to the looking-glass above the fire-place, and disarranged her hair a little. she took a book at random out of the shelves, and sat down with it. she heard a little stir in the hall below, and had a moment of agony in thinking that her father's door had opened. then the stairs creaked under ascending footsteps, and her visitor was announced. "who?" she said, as the parlour-maid spoke his name, and then he entered. she rose from her chair, with a smile that was almost incredulous. "but how lovely of you!" she said. "i am delighted. what a business you must have had to find your way to our dear little slum." her hopes rose high: he looked like a man who had made up his mind. he was clearly nervous, but it was the nervousness of a man who has definitely sat down in the dentist's chair, and has resolved to get rid of that aching. he sat down in the chair helena indicated, and looked round the room. it really was rather pretty. helena had the knack of projecting her graceful self into any room she much used. archie had sent a hamper of roses only this morning. "slum?" he said. "i should like to live in this slum." helena looked at him gravely. "well, there is a spare room," she said, "which we can let you. you won't mind a gurgling cistern next door, will you? but wasn't it lovely? daddy came home a whole month earlier than i had expected, so i flew back here to be with him. cousin marion wanted me to stop with her, and let jessie come back. it was sweet of her to want me, but how could i remain when daddy was here? tea?" she gave him his cup, and continued her careful prattle. "so of course i flew here," she said. "sometimes i rather wish that a fairy-prince would descend, and pick up the house, and put it somewhere where there weren't quite so many barrel-organs; but one gets accustomed to everything. i think daddy and jessie must be out. they planned going out together, i know, and i haven't seen either of them since lunch. they are such dears! they are so much to each other! sometimes i should get a little bit jealous of each of them, if i allowed myself to. ah! do have one of those little cakes. they are made in the house; you probably smelled them as you came upstairs. how lucky i asked the cook to make some to-day. sometimes she is cross, and won't; but to-day she was kind. did she have a brain-wave, do you think, and know that you were coming?" he ate one of the little cakes which really came from the pastry-cook's just round the corner, and while his mouth was full, helena proceeded with her talented conversation. she was working at full horse-power, she wanted to dazzle without intermission. "i daresay all the people who were so friendly will find their way here in time," she said, "but will you pity me, just in a superficial way, sometimes during august? darling daddy has so much to do at the colonial office, or the irrigation office, or whatever it is, that he will have to be here all august." "but he won't keep you in london?" asked he. helena laughed. "certainly he won't, for i shall keep myself," she said. "i shall try to persuade jessie to go down to lacebury with cousin marion, and i think i shall succeed. and where will you be? up in scotland, i suppose." he put down the end of the cigarette which helena had given him. he was less likely, if he was smoking, to smell the faint odour of cigar that had mounted the stairs. but, as a matter of fact, he would not have noticed the smell of burned feathers just then. he turned to her quickly. "i shall be--wherever you will permit me to be," he said. "but, wherever that is, mayn't we be together? i want never to be away from you any more. i want nothing else in the world but that." helena raised dewy eyes to him. "do you mean...?" she began. "do you mean...?" "yes. and i want your answer." "that is, 'yes,' too," she said. she had an almost irresistible desire to burst into peals of laughter, but it was not so difficult to transform that into an aspect of radiant happiness. he kissed her, and she could feel his hands laid on her shoulders, trembling. and, out of sheer gratitude, she found herself able to respond quite passably, for the innate respectability of passion touched her. he had paid her the sincerest compliment that a man can pay a girl, in expressing his desire to have her always with him, to be the father of her children, to renounce such freedom as had been his, and to take in exchange for it a devoted slavery. and, since it was exactly that which she had set her purpose to accomplish, it was no wonder that she was content. but, as soon as he had left her, without translating into the sphere of practical arrangements the when and how of their mutual pledge, helena, after one tip-toe dance round the drawing-room, sat down again and was instantly immersed in those considerations. he would have liked to dine with them that night, but archie was coming, and so, before he called again next morning, it was necessary to indulge in careful thought so as to produce a spontaneous suggestion next day. on her face she wore the happiness of child-like smiles, and throughout her meditations that never faded. occasionally it was as if the sun was withdrawn behind some fleece of a summer cloud, but, if there had been a machine for the registration of her internal sunshine, there would scarcely have been a break in the record of serene hours. archie occupied her first; she was sorry for archie, because the blow that this would be to him glanced back on to her. she had long ago made up her mind not to marry him if she could succeed in the quest now accomplished, but she regretted that now she would never see his eyes glow as he blurted out--she knew he would blurt it out, and probably kiss her with that light, rough eagerness which was so characteristic of him--the tale of his love. not so many weeks ago, at silorno, she had determined to marry him, but that was before the wider horizon opened to her. if he had proposed to her then she would certainly have accepted him, but she felt, though so much finer a future had now dawned on her, a sort of grudge against him for not having done so. that made the thought of telling him not unpleasant to her; there was an excitement in the thought of seeing his blank face--would it be blank? she thought so--when he heard her news. perhaps the sight of how much it hurt him would hurt her also, but that pain would somehow enfold a rapture, for it would be clear how much he wanted her. but why had he not kissed her, when they sat on that last evening in the dark garden at silorno? all might have been different then. never till this afternoon had a man kissed her, and that kiss had struck her as being a little prim and proper. archie would not and could not have been prim, he would have been quick and impulsive; there would have been something romantic about it, for with him she could have supplied that gleam of romance herself. there had been fleecy clouds during this part of her meditation, and they gathered again, ever so light, as she thought of cousin marion and jessie. everybody was so clever nowadays, and she was afraid that cousin marion had seen that archie was in love with her, even as jessie had done. it would be tiresome if they behaved censoriously about it, and replied frigidly to congratulations, and made cold faces at the wedding. but she thought she could get round cousin marion, who, from experience, she knew was very easily convinced, but jessie was more clear-sighted... and then, with a sense of refreshment, she remembered how jessie had betrayed herself not so many days ago. thereat the sun came out quite serenely again, and remained out when she thought of her father. he loved shooting, and helena determined that he should enjoy quantities of shooting. he loved all sorts of the nice things that money made so easily procurable, comfort and good cigars and riding and bathrooms attached to bedrooms. certainly there should be a delicious room for him in all her houses; she would name it "daddy's room." the filial sentimentality of this quite overcame her, and she murmured "darling daddy," and felt just as if she had sacrificed herself for him and made this marriage in order to secure him a comfortable old age. bertie and he would get on excellently together: they could talk about tiger-shooting, and temples, and exotic affairs--for bertie was a great traveller, and, if he wanted to travel again, she had no intention of being an apron-stringing wife. marriage became a sacrilege rather than a sacrament if it was an affair of watch-dogs on the leash, ready to follow up trails. and again she softly applauded the nobility of her sentiments. there was a faint stir and rattle of crockery in the room below, which implied that the parlour-maid was removing her father's tea. helena knew all the noises of the house, down to the gurgling sound of tooth-cleaning that came from her father's bedroom, which showed that he was nearly dressed, and now, correctly interpreting the chink of plate and tea-cup, she was certain of finding him in his study with his after-tea cigar. very likely jessie had gone there too; for she often took the evening paper in to her father and read him the news, and helena hoped that this was the case to-day. she could let jessie know the event of the afternoon with less embarrassment if there was somebody else present. she could tell her father about it much more easily than she could tell jessie alone. she would sit close to him, and whisper and hide her head... her sense of drama would make it all quite simple. she fastened one of the cream-coloured roses that archie had brought her into the front of her dress and went down to her father's room. it was a stale little apartment, dry and brown and smoked like a kippered herring, furnished chiefly with books and files and decorated with the produce of oriental bazaars, spears and shells and things suggestive of mummies. he was in a big basket chair close to the window, and in the window-seat, as she had hoped, sat jessie, with the evening paper. helena had not forgotten that she had sent a message to him that she had a headache, and to jessie that a friend had come to see her with a wish for a private conversation. she made these little plans quickly perhaps but always coolly, and remembered them afterwards. sometimes a little delicate adjustment was necessary, but she seldom got caught out... "darling daddy," she said, "may i pay you a little visit? or are you and jessie engrossed in something i shan't understand?" "no, come in, dear," said he. "how's the headache?" she hovered for a moment like some bright bird, and then perched herself on the arm of his chair, between him and her sister. "it's quite gone, ever so many thanks," she said. "i think i must have had a little snooze just before tea, which took it away. and then, as i told jessie, somebody came here especially to have a little talk to me. daddy, how delicious your cigar smells!" "and who was you visitor?" he asked. "lord harlow," said she very softly, and paused. jessie had put down her paper, and helena could feel that she was listening in tense expectation. she did not look round, but firmly laid her hand on jessie's clasping it. the other she tucked into her father's arm, and leaned her head against his shoulder. "daddy, i had a long talk to him," she said, "and he is coming here again to-morrow morning. at least, he did the talking, and i only spoke when he had said what he had come to say. oh, my dear, i am so happy, so awfully, awfully happy." helena felt that she had done that quite beautifully. if she had thought about it for ever so long, she could not have improved on it. a few boisterous ejaculations from her father followed, and, finding that jessie had disengaged her hand, she completed the circle round her father's arm. then presently she rose, with smiling and suffused face, just kissed him, and left the room. "well, i'm sure that's the best bit of news i've heard for a long time," he said. "certainly he is a good deal older than she, but there's no harm in that. i was twenty years older than your mother, jessie. and what do you think of it all?" "i think helena will be very happy," said jessie. "so do i, and i'm sure she deserves to be. if she's as kind and loving to her husband as she has been to her father, we shan't hear any complaints. dear me! what a bit of news!" he was silent a moment. "how we old folk get out of touch with young people!" he said. "if i had been told to guess who it was who would ask helena to be his wife, i should have said it was archie. didn't you think that archie was very fond of her?" mixed with jessie's misery for archie's sake, and with her bitter contempt for her sister, was a pity for helena, as deep as the sea, that she could be what she was. she could wear the roses archie had sent her, and not be burned alive by them... "i never though that helena really cared for him," she said quietly. "no? well, you were more clear-sighted than i. but i fancy marion thought so too. he's dining with us to-night, isn't he? or will helena put him off? and are we to say anything to him about it?" "i expect helena will tell us what she wishes," said jessie. he laughed. "no doubt she will. she--what's the phrase?--she pulls the strings in this piece, doesn't she? bless me, it's after six o'clock. we might go across the bridge and have a stoll in battersea park. i expect helena will like to be left alone. yes; what is it?" the parlour-maid had come in, with the request that colonel vautier would go to see helena for a minute now, or some time before dinner. accordingly he went upstairs, in high good humour, stumbling on the carpet-rods. "oh, daddy, how sweet of you to come to me at once!" she said. "archie's dining here to-night, and i think i will tell him my news myself. he's such a dear; it would hurt him to hear it from anybody else." colonel vautier felt that he had perhaps not been so wrong after all. "yes, my dear, that is kind and thoughtful of you," he said. "so i'll tell him as soon as he gets here," said she. "will you and jessie be very kind and let me have two minutes with him?" helena's eyes wandered away a minute, and returned rather dewy to her father's face. "perhaps you would tell jessie for me," she said. she opened her eyes very wide, in a sort of childlike bewilderment. "i wonder why jessie is so cold to me," she said. "i must have vexed her somehow without meaning it. i feel sad about it. she did not say one word when i told you and her my news; she did not kiss me..." "jessie is never very demonstrative," said her father, intending to speak to jessie about this. "no; perhaps that's all. thank you ever so much, daddy." she watched them going out together, and thought what a pity it was that some people were so frank as to say that others revolted them, even though they apologized afterwards. it never paid to be coarse and rude like that... helena, according to her plan, was in the drawing-room among his roses when archie arrived. "it was delicious of you to send them," she said. "and i've got--something for you." "hurrah!" said archie. "what is it?" she had put a half sovereign and a half-crown on the corner of the mantel-piece, and handed it to him. "a tip?" he said. "no; a bet. i am poor but honest." he looked at the money. "twelve and six?" he said. "when did you bet me twelve-and-six?" helena came a step closer to him. even in the middle of london there was something of sea-wind and open spaces about archie. "oh, you stupid boy!" she said. "how many half-crowns is that?" suddenly archie remembered the wager he had made with her one morning in the park, that lord harlow would propose to her before the end of the season. he pocketed the money with a shout of laughter. "ha! i knew i should win," he said, "but it wasn't nice of me to laugh. i take back the laugh. poor old bradshaw! did he mind much?" helena looked at him, still standing close to him, smiling and in silence. she really found him most attractive at that moment, and she wondered with how changed a face he would presently look at her. "yes, he proposed to me this afternoon," she said, still smiling, and still looking at him. "well, poor old bradshaw!" said archie once more. but he did not say it with quite the same confidence. she laid her hand, that soft hand with sheathed claws, on his arm. "archie, aren't you going to wish me happiness?" she asked. the lines of his laughter still lingered on his handsome mouth, but now they were merely stamped there and meant nothing. "wish you happiness?" he rapped out in a hard snappish voice. "yes; isn't it usual between friends?" "do you mean you've accepted him?" he asked. "yes, my dear. haven't i told you?" "is it a joke?" he asked. "shall i laugh?" helena moved a little away from him, and rang the bell. archie looked so strange. she had expected something far more moving and dramatic than this wooden immobility. "tell colonel vautier and miss jessie that lord davidstow has come," she said to the parlour-maid. archie said nothing till the door had closed again. he felt that he was made of wood, that everything was made of wood, he and helena and the roses he had sent, and the persian rug on which he stood. and when he spoke, it was as if a machine in his mouth said the words which had nothing whatever to do with him. "i congratulate you," he said. "i hope you will be very happy." colonel vautier entered; he had been to the cellar to get out a bottle of champagne in which to drink the health of helena and the man she had chosen. "good evening, my dear archie," he said. "i know helena has told you her news." archie shook hands, and then his eyes went back to helena again. she had never looked more entrancingly pretty, but she was made of wood. and then jessie came in; they were all there, and dinner was ready, and down they went. in this wooden world, everything went on in precisely the same way as it had done when people were made of flesh and blood. some cunning mechanical contrivance enabled them to talk and smile and eat: food tasted the same and so did the champagne in which presently they drank helena's health. it was the same prickly, bubbly stuff, with a little sting in it, that he so seldom drank. but it unfroze the surface of the stricture that bound him, as when the first stir of a thawing wind moistens the surface of ice. he began to feel again, to be conscious that somewhere within him was a deep well of the waters of pain. but anything was better than that cataleptic insensibility, which was like being unconscious, and, all the time, knowing that he was unconscious. they were not going out that night, and after dinner they sat down to a rubber of bridge, in which as usual helena took archie as a partner, because she always insisted that she could form some idea of the principles on which he played, whereas the other two but wandered in a starless and cimmerian gloom when mated with him. but helena claimed that her spiritual affinity with archie enabled her to perceive that, when he declared hearts, he wished her to understand that he hadn't got any, and that she would do well to declare something different. "bridge, properly understood," archie had enunciated once, "is a form of poker: you must bewilder and terrify your adversary. and then the fun begins, and you get fined." what added to the hilarity was the concentrated seriousness which jessie and her partner brought to bear on the game, and the miser's greed and avaricious eye with which jessie was popularly supposed to see her score mounting. all these jokes, these squibs of light-hearted nonsense, were there to-night, but there was nothing behind them. it was as if they were spoken from habit; a frigid rehearsal of some pithless drama was going on; they were tinsel flowers stuck into arid and seedless ground, and sprang no longer from the warm earth. the sense of wooden unreality soon began to close in again on archie, with that utter absence of feeling which was so far more terrible than any feeling could be, that soulless insensitiveness as of a live consciousness that knew it was dead, and he rose from the table after helena had delivered him from the consequence of some outrageous declaration, and went across to a side-table where were placed syphons and spirits. but now, instead of pouring himself out a glass of soda-water, he half filled his tumbler with whisky, and but added a cream of bubble on the top of it. immediately almost his sense of touch with life returned; there stole back into himself and the figures of colonel vautier and jessie the perception of their several identities, and into helena the love with which he had endowed her. but that, and all that it implied, was better than feeling nothing at all. he knew, too, that when jessie spoke to him, or looked at him, her voice and her eyes held for him a supreme and infinite sympathy. he could not reach it, but he knew it was there. perhaps when he got used to those new conditions of nightmare existence, he could make it accessible, get into touch with it. at present he scarcely wanted it; he wanted nothing so long as this perception of life still ran in his brain, except helena. he thought that she rather pitied him too, but it was not her pity he wanted, for it was she who had brought her pity on himself. they played two or three rubbers; jessie's miserly greed was assuaged by precisely the sum that archie had won from helena, and colonel vautier, after seeing him out, went back to his study to indulge himself in the cigar which was not permitted in the drawing-room, and the two sisters were left there. helena's brain had long been busy, beneath the habitual jests of their game, over her future relations with jessie, and she had come to the conclusion that the sooner they talked the matter out the better. she found that it affected her comfort to be practically not on speaking terms with her sister, and, since she had no shrinking from what might be a painful interview for others, she had made up her mind to ascertain exactly how jessie meant to behave to her in the few weeks for which they would be in close daily and hourly contact, for lord harlow had expressed his mind very clearly about an early date for their wedding, and helena entirely agreed with him. jessie, on her part, could scarcely manage to think about her sister at all. with archie in front of her all evening she had barely been conscious of anything but his bitter and miserable disillusionment, his awakening from the dream that had become so real to him. she was still seated at the card-table, and with that need for trivial employment which so often accompanies emotional crises, she was building a house with the cards they had been using, devoting apparently her whole faculties to its breathless construction. the strong, beautiful hands which archie had never noticed hovered over it, alighting with their building materials, putting each card delicately and firmly in place, and her grave face watched the ascending stories, as if babylon the great was rising again for the marvel of mankind. then helena sat down by her, and, leaning her arm on the table, caused a vibration that demolished babylon from garret to cellar. "oh, jessie, i'm so sorry," she said, and she was; the fall of an ingenious card-house was the sort of thing that provoked her pity. jessie swept the cards together and seemed about to get up. "it doesn't matter," she said. "it is bed-time, isn't it?" helena put her head wistfully on one side. "aren't you being horribly unkind to me?" she said. she did not suppose it was much use playing on the pathetic stop, that made, as a general rule, so insincere a bleating in her sister's ears, but it was worth trying. "i don't think there is any use in talking, helena," she said. "if i am unkind, if i can't bear what you have done, it is because i simply can't help it." helena fingered the debris of the card-house with those more delicate fingers that could caress and claw so exquisitely. essentially, she cared not one atom what jessie thought of her, but she wanted not to be uncomfortable for the next few weeks. "ah, that is it?" she added. "you are satisfied to hate and detest me because you can't help it. that seems to you a final and unanswerable excuse. but nobody else may do anything because she can't help it." "but you could have helped what you have done," said jessie. "you made archie think you cared for him. you let him fall in love with you on that assumption." "he let himself fall in love with me," said helena. "that was not my fault. besides..." she was silent a moment, weaving delicate spider-threads in her mind. she really wanted to propitiate jessie just now, otherwise she would certainly have reminded her that she, anyhow, had allowed herself to fall in love with archie, though she would not say that that was archie's fault. it would have been amusing to suggest that, but it did not seem to tend towards reconciliation. she bent her graceful head a little lower over the fallen card-house. it had collapsed with tragic suddenness, even as archie had collapsed. "besides," she went on, "it was open to archie to propose to me. he did not. we were several weeks together at silorno. and then i came to london and met bertie. was it my fault that i fell in love with him? i think you are horribly unkind to me." jessie came a step nearer. "are you in love with him?" she asked. "if you tell me you are in love with him..." "do you think i should marry him if i was not?" asked helena, looking the picture of limpid, childlike innocence. jessie made no reply. she could not say that she believed helena was in love with him, though she was assuredly going to marry him. she could not tell a lie of that essential kind; merely the words would not come. "if i have wronged you in any way, helena," she said at length, "i am most sincerely sorry for it. i ask your forgiveness unconditionally." helena rose, wreathed in tender smiles and liquid eyes. "darling, you have my forgiveness with all my heart," she said. "and may i ask you one thing? will you try to feel a little more kindly towards me? if you only knew how your unkindness hurts me." * * * * * but jessie, lying awake that night, striving, with all the sincerity that permeated her from skin to marrow, to make the effort that helena had asked of her, made no headway at all. she utterly distrusted and disbelieved her. and somewhere, lying beneath the darkness of the windless night, was archie, for whose happiness she would have given her heart's last blood. but all of it would not help him one atom while he, in the perverse dispensations of destiny, wanted only what he could not get, helena's love. he could not get it because it did not exist. she did not love; the faculty had been denied her. * * * * * suddenly she felt frightened about archie. he had sunk somewhere out of reach this evening; a lid had shut down on him. once or twice it had seemed to lift for a moment, and she remembered what made it lift. _book iii_ chapter ix late one afternoon about a week after, archie was sitting with his old nurse, blessington, in the room that had once been his day-nursery. he had left london the day after helena had so honourably paid him the five half-crowns he had won from her, and since then he had been living here alone with his father. this evening, his mother and jessie were coming down from town, his mother to remain here till she went up to london again for helena's wedding which had been fixed for the end of the first week in august, while jessie was but coming for a long week-end. helena remained in town, where she was very busy shopping, and unpacking the lovely presents which lord harlow sent or brought to her, morning, noon, and night. they were really delightful presents, and the material of them was large precious stones, exquisitely set. archie had long made it a habit, when he was at home, to pay a visit to his old nurse before he went to dress for dinner. she had become housekeeper after the fledging of the family, and now, half-way through the decade of her seventies, did little more, when archie was away, than sit white-haired and stately with her sewing or her knitting, and feel that she was very busy. but when archie came home she would burst into violent activities, and constitute herself his nurse again, to whom he was always "master archie," and quite a little boy still. it mattered not one rap to her that he had his own valet, none other indeed than william, who in days gone by had fished him out of the lake, and received a gold watch and chain for the rescue, for blessington was always in and out of his room, taking coats and trousers away to have buttons more securely adjusted, and loading her work-basket with piles of his socks and underclothing in which her eyes, still needle-sharp for all her seventy-five years, had detected holes that required darning. this habit of hers sometimes drove william nearly mad, for blessington would take away all archie's washing when it came back from the laundry, in order to inspect it thoroughly, and when his distracted valet wanted clean clothes, and applied to her for them, she would often entirely forget that she had taken them, and firmly deny the appropriation. then william would craftily manage to get her to open her cupboard door, and lo, there was all archie's clean linen. and blessington would exclaim, "eh, i must have taken it, and it went out of my head." or she would abstract his sponge from the bathroom in order to put a stitch into it, and archie, sitting in his bath, would find nothing to wash himself with. but blessington was a sacred and a beloved institution, and as long as she was happy (which she most undoubtedly was when archie was there to look after and inconvenience) no one minded these magpie-annexations of portable property. * * * * * of all hours in the day blessington loved best this evening visit of archie's, when he sat among the tokens of his childhood, the play-table which now scarcely reached up to his knees, the little arm-chair, with its bar of wood strung through the arms so as to imprison and guard the sitter, the box of oak-bricks with which he used to build houses of amazing architecture, the depleted regiments of lead-soldiers which still stood on the mantel-shelf. her great delight was to recall to him the days of his childhood, his naughtiness, the scrapes he got into, the whole patchwork of memories that retained still such lively and beloved colouring. and for him, too, during this last week, there had been in these talks a way of escape from this nightmare of his present experience; it was he himself, after all, who had put the coals on his mother's hearthrug, had fished for pike with william, had attended, in rapturous trepidation, the advents of abracadabra. these days seemed much further off from him than they did from her, for a bitter impassable water lay between them and him, while for her they had only receded a little further into the placid and sunny distance of her days. but, when he talked them over with her, he could recapture a dreamlike illusion of getting back into a life of which the most alarming feature was the presence of his father. over everything else there hung enchantment. he was sitting now in blessington's rocking-chair, having tried without success to squeeze himself into the imprisoning seat of his childhood, and she was recalling the awful episode of the burnt rug. "eh, whatever possessed you to go and do it," she said, "i can't understand to this day, master archie. i'm speaking of when you set fire to your mamma's rug." "tell me about that," said archie. "well, it was on an afternoon when you had a cold, and your mamma had allowed you to sit in her room while she went out driving. and what must you do but empty all the fire from the hearth on to her rug. you nearly got a whipping for that from your papa!" archie remembered that moment quite well, and how he had stood in his father's study, frightened but defiant, and refusing to say he was sorry when he was not. then his mother had come in and had pointed to a bottle on the table, and told his father that he ought to learn his lesson first before he gave archie one... that had puzzled him at the time, though it was clear enough now. his father still had that lesson to learn, and archie, during this last week, had begun to understand a little why his father had not yet learned it, if learning it implied the giving up of all that battles stood for. he recalled himself with a jerk: he wanted to get back into the enchanted land which blessington's reminiscences outlined for him. "yes, that hearthrug," he said. "that was a bad business, wasn't it, blessington? what do you think put it into my head to empty the fire on to it?" "bless the boy, i don't know," said blessington. "it was just mischief." "yes, but what's mischief?" asked archie. blessington was a simple and direct theologian. "well, i shouldn't wonder if it's doing what sapum wants you to do," said she, sapum being her equivalent for the arch-enemy. "i shouldn't wonder either," said archie. "but it's rather beastly of sapum to take possession of a very small boy with a bad cold in the head." "eh, he takes possession of us all, if we let him," observed blessington. "but that was the naughtiest thing you ever did, dear. i wouldn't lay it up to you now." "was i good as a rule?" asked he. "yes, master archie, for a boy you were," said blessington. "boys are more trouble than girls, as is natural and proper." "but doesn't sapum enter into girls, too?" asked he, with another thought in his mind. "yes, to be sure, but not so violent-like. and when after that you were took ill, and we all went out to--eh, what's the name of that place in switzerland--i must say you were wonderfully good. it was as if some angel took possession of you, not one of sapum's flibertigibbits. you were no trouble at all; and see how quick you got well." archie rocked himself backwards and forwards for a minute in silence. "i wish i could remember martin," he said at length. "tell me something about martin." "eh, dear lamb!" said she. "couldn't he be naughty too, when the fit took him! but then he got ill, and many's the time when i've longed for him to be naughty again, and he hadn't the spirit for it. he didn't want to die, and right up to the end he thought he'd get better. you papa never loved any one like he loved him, and nobody could help loving him. he was like a april morning, dear--sunshine one minute and squalls the next. and there was months, master archie, when we thought you would follow him." blessington grew a little tearful, with the sweet, easy tears of old-age over this, and archie changed the subject. "and abracadabra, now?" he asked. "what evenings those birthdays evenings were, weren't they? i wish abracadabra came still, bringing all we wanted. what would you choose, blessington?" blessington beamed again. "eh, i know what i'd choose," she said. "i'd choose a nice young lady to come here, and you and she take a fancy to each other, dear. that's what i'd choose. isn't there some nice young lady, master archie?" archie stopped his rocking for a moment, and a bitter word was on the end of his tongue. then he smiled back at his nurse's radiant face. "i'm going to marry you, blessington," he said, "when you're old enough. don't you go flirting with anybody else now." blessington gave a little cackle of soft, toothless laughter. "well, i never," she said. "who ever heard such a thing?" "well, you've heard of it now," said he. "blessington, i believe there's somebody else after you. i say, did you ever have any lovers once upon a time?" blessington looked solemn again. "well, there was your papa's game-keeper once," she said, "who made a silly of himself, as if i'd got nothing better to do than go and marry him. i didn't suffer any of his nonsense... and there's the sound of the motor. that'll be your mamma and miss jessie coming. there's a nice young lady now!" "do you like her better than miss helena?" asked archie. blessington nodded her head very emphatically. "not that i say she isn't a nice young lady, too," she said mysteriously. "what's the matter with her then?" asked archie. blessington looked the incarnation of discretion. "i say nothing," she said. "but there's some as are artful, and some as are not. now, my dear, you must go and see your mamma, or she'll be wondering where you are." "i'm with my young woman," said archie. "there! get along with you," said blessington. "eh, master archie, i love a talk over old times with you." * * * * * archie went reluctantly away to greet his mother and jessie, for these talks with blessington had become to him a sort of oasis in this weary wilderness of scorching sand through which he had to travel all day and for many hours of the night. she was the comforter of the troubles of his earliest childhood; it was she who had always been by him if some nightmare snatched him from sleep, or if the dark developed terrors, and that habit of calling on her for aid, established among the mists of dawning consciousness he found still alive as an instinct, when there came on him now the maturer woes of love and manhood. throughout his school life and his three years at cambridge, he had never quite let go of blessington's hand, which had been the first to direct and sustain his tottering attempts at locomotion. now, too, she was the only member of his immediate circle who did not know of his trouble, and it was an unutterable relief to feel that he was not being pitied and sympathized with by somebody. for, though there is nothing in the world better than sympathy and pity, no sufferer smarting from a recent wound wants to live exclusively in such surroundings. pity and sympathy, though they heal, yet touch the wound, and he never got over the impression when he was with his mother, for instance, that his wound was being dressed... jessie did not force that on him so much, yet with her he was always being reminded of the fact that she was helena's sister. but with blessington he could go back into the sunlight of the past: talk with her, and another occupation, temporary, he told himself, to tide him over those days, enabled him to get away to some extent, from himself. he met his mother in the hall, and instantly those anxious eyes of love, which, for all his affection for her, he found irritating, were on him. she was at his wound again, taking off the bandages, seeing how it was getting on... "and how are you, darling?" she said, looking at him with the tenderness that got on his nerves. archie kissed her. "i am quite well, thanks," he said. "i have just been having a talk with blessington." "my dear, how she would like that!" said lady tintagel with eager cordiality. "that was thoughtful of you." archie jerked himself away from her: though his mother said nothing direct, he felt that pity filled her mind. he was in its presence, and longed to get away from it. all the time another distinct piece of his mind wanted to hear about helena. but he could not ask any question about her. "how are you, archie?" said jessie quietly. archie's exasperation suddenly flared up. "i have just told my mother i am very well," he said. "i am still very well, thank you." jessie laughed; she managed better than lady tintagel. "in that case, come and have a game of golf-croquet with me," she said. "there's time before we need dress, isn't there? i do want some air so badly after town." archie glanced at the clock; he usually went to his father's study about this time, when they celebrated the approaching advent of dinner with a cocktail or two. that was the beginning of the tolerable part of the day: there was plenty of wine at dinner, and afterwards a succession of whiskies and sodas, and to be alive became quite a bearable condition again. on that first evening when helena had told him her news and paid her half-crowns he had found that alcohol broke down his sense of being stunned, of being made of wood. now he drank for another reason: by drink he got rid of the misery of normal consciousness and emerged into some sort of life again. it stimulated his brain, he could by its means escape for a little from that one perpetual thought of helena that went round in his head like a stick in a backwater, and get into the current again. sometimes he would go to his room, taking a whisky and soda with him, and wrestle with the sea-sketches he had so enthusiastically worked at at silorno. by degrees the liquid in his glass ebbed, and his pile of cigarette-ends mounted, and he would go back for fresh supplies. but, while these hours lasted, he lived, and what to-morrow should bring he did not in the least care. he could escape for a few hours now, and that was sufficient. also, when he went to bed, he could sleep heavily and dreamlessly. there was still time for a game with jessie, before going in to his father; jessie would take longer to dress for dinner than he, and there would be a few minutes to spare after she went upstairs. but, even as they were strolling across the lawn to get the croquet-balls from their box, she a little ahead of him as he nursed a match for his cigarette, he looked up, and there in front of him might have been helena. the two were of the same height and build, they moved like each other. it was jessie, of course, but just for a second, while his match burned up in the hollow of his hand, it was not she at all... he threw the match away. "get the balls out, will you?" he said. "i've left my cigarette-case in my father's room." he ran back to the house, and went in through the garden door of his father's study. lord tintagel was sitting in the big leather arm-chair, with his feet up on another, and a glass beside him. "just come for a cocktail, father," said archie. "hullo, they're not here yet. it doesn't matter; i'll take a glass of whisky and soda." "by all means; take what you like," said the other drowsily. "you mother's come, hasn't she?" "yes, mother and jessie," said archie, pouring himself out some whisky. the soda-water was nearly exhausted, but the dregs of it gurgled pleasantly over the spirit. he drank it in a couple of gulps. "what are you going to do now?" asked his father. "only have a game with jessie." "all right. call in here when it's time to go up and dress. there'll be a cocktail for you then. infernal lazy fellows the servants are not to bring them in earlier. chuck me over the evening paper, will you?" the evening remission from deadness and dulness and misery had begun for archie. he played his game with jessie, drank his cocktail, and by the end of dinner had risen to such naturalness of good spirits again, that his mother commended herself for the wisdom of her plan that he should leave london and seek a change of mind in a change of scene. he had done some writing since he had been here; he seemed pleased with the way it was going, and she talked hopefully to jessie when they held a rather protracted sitting in the drawing-room before the two men joined them. perhaps they had both overrated the strength of archie's attachment: certainly to-night he did not appear like a boy who had so lately suffered an overwhelming disappointment in his affections. "and blessington says he has been just as delightful and affectionate to her as usual," said lady tintagel. "he goes and talks to her every evening as he always did. i think you must have been wrong, dear jessie, when you thought he was so mortally hurt." jessie did not reply at once: she felt sure that she, with the insight of that love which is more comprehending than any mother's love, was somehow right about that point. it was not the mere lapse of a week that had restored archie. besides, blessington did not know about his troubles. she could easily conjecture what a relief he might find in that. she knew that she would feel the same in his place; she could understand how much easier it was to behave normally with those who did not know than with those who did. yet archie's father knew, and all through dinner she had seen how friendly and intimate the two had become. archie used to be constrained and awkward with his father, while his father used to be rather contemptuous of him. but this evening there had been none of that on either side, and now they lingered together a long time over their talk and their cigarettes. it was as if some bond of sympathy was springing up between them. but she shrank from admitting the explanation to herself: it might be that a man, who had been so bitterly disappointed about a girl, found something in another man that suited his mood. women would remind him of a woman... there was a shout of laughter in the hall outside, and archie came in, followed by his father. he did not communicate the grounds for his merriment, but, looking a little flushed, very handsome, and very content, sat down on the sofa by his mother. "well, mother darling?" he said. instantly her love yearned forth to him. "my dear, it is good to hear you laugh," she said. "what have you and your father been talking about?" the sense of being watched, the love that irritated did not trouble archie now. the sunny hours would stretch unclouded until he fell into bed. he laughed again, looking across to his father. "i say, father," he said, "shall i tell her, or would she think it not quite...?" "just as you like," said lord tintagel. the door into the garden, already ajar, swung gently open, admitting a breath of cool night-air into the room. it stirred in jessie's hair as it passed her, and moved across to archie, making the flowers in a vase near him vibrate. and for just that moment some impulse from the untainted tranquillity stirred in his soul, and his overheated, stimulated brain drank it thirstily in. his own laughter, and the subject of his laughter, the whole contents of the last hour or two, seemed stale and stuffy. the air of them was thick with the fumes of wine, with the fancies and images that it evoked, smoke-wreaths that hung heavy in the atmosphere, swirling and turning like dancers and melting into other shapes. but for that moment when the night-air came in from the crystal-clear dusk outside, that liquid tabernacle of sapphire in the holy night, where stars sang together and nightingales burned, the hot fumes dispersed, and he drew in long, tranquillizing breaths. this physical impression had, too, its psychical counterpart, for even as the air that stirred in jessie's hair brought a coolness and a refreshment to him, so from the girl herself there seemed to stream into it a current of something wholesome and human and unfevered, unvexed by desire, and untouched by bitterness... "it's rather hot in here," he said. "will you come for a stroll, jessie?" they went out together... the heavens were full of stars, and a slip of a moon was near to its setting. over the beds below the windows there hovered the fainter fragrance of sleeping flowers that stood with hanging heads and leaves that glimmered with the falling dew. beyond lay the dimmed mirror of the lake, and beside it rose the dark mass of the wood in which the nightingales were singing. the scene seemed prepared for some human love-duet, when lovers fancy that nature is arranging her most sensuous effects for their benefit, though in reality she is but pursuing the path ordained for her by the wheeling seasons, and predicted by barometers and apparatus that is concerned only with heat and movements of the moon. and, of lovers, there was one of each pair absent, as the two walked quietly towards the wood of the nightingales; for jessie there was no eager mate, and for archie none... two hungry souls, both longing, both unsatisfied, went forth on that twilit pilgrimage. spring still stirred in them, and there burned above them the everlasting choir of the stars. but that helped in no way: had they been lovers, an autumn squall or a winter snow-storm would have served their purpose just as well. archie chattered for a little while, comparing the moon to a clipped finger-nail, the dimmed mirror of the lake to a frozen rink in switzerland, with all the hollowness of superficial talk, when the tongue speaks from habit, which is as lightly rooted as the seed on stony ground. heart-whole, he had often chattered like that, and jessie had sunned herself and responded to those silly things; but now she knew, as well as he, that the babble was no more than blown sea-foam. it made her heart ache that he should talk it to her, for, though she made no claim on his love, it was miserable that he could not recognize how true a friend it was who was by his side in this song-haunted darkness. she knew--none better--that he had no love to give her, but her love that was so disciplined to go hungry without crying out, starved for a word from him that should fly the flag of friendship, noblest of all ensigns that are not of royal emblazonment. they had come to the edge of the lake, and a moor-hen steered its water-logged flight across the surface. and then archie's foolish chatter died, and he was silent as he watched the rayed ripple of water. the wash died away in the reeds, and chuckled on the bank, and at last he spoke. "why did helena treat me like that?" he said. "it wasn't fair on me. why did she encourage me? she might so easily have shown me that she didn't care. she knew: don't tell me she didn't know! do answer me. didn't she know? all the time that we were in town together she knew. and she let me go on. she was waiting to see if she could catch the bradshaw. if she couldn't, perhaps she would have taken me. was it so? you ought to know: you're her sister." his voice had risen from the first reproach of his speech to a fury of indignation. "did she love me or didn't she?" he cried. "do tell me if you know." his passion had found combustible material in her: she flamed with it. "helena doesn't love anybody," she said. "oh, archie, poor helena!" "poor helena!" said he. "why 'poor'? surely it's far more comfortable to love nobody. oh, don't remind me of that stupid rot about it being better to have loved and lost. anyhow, a worse thing is to have loved and not found. that's what has happened to me, and she made me think i had found. she meant to make me think that. damned well she succeeded, too. and, if you're right about her not loving anybody, do you mean that she doesn't love the bradshaw?" archie had closed a grip on her arm: now she shook his hand off, though loving to have it there. "i can't answer you that," she said. "and i oughtn't to have said that helena loves nobody. i withdraw that entirely." "the saying of it, you mean," said he. "you don't withdraw your belief in it." "i don't know the truth of it. what i said was only my opinion, and i withdraw it. i oughtn't to have said it." "but you keep your opinion?" asked he. "you shouldn't ask me that. i have withdrawn what i said. please accept that." in this high noon of stars she could see his face very clearly. it was not angry any longer: it was just empty, as if there was no one there behind the eyes and the mouth. it was a face empty, swept, and garnished, ready for any occupant who might take possession. the sweet, clean water of his nature must have run out on to desert sands; the cistern of the body into which it had so swiftly and boyishly bubbled all these years was empty. just for one second that impression lasted, inscrutably frightening her, with some nightmare touch. "archie," she cried, "are _you_ there? is it you?" she heard a dreary little laugh for answer. "oh, i suppose so," he said. "i answer to my name, don't i?" she longed, with a force of passion quite new to her, to be able to reach him in some way, to let her love be coined into the commoner metal of friendship, if only that could get to him, and give him the sense that he had something in his pocket worth having, even though it was not gold. she would have gleefully melted all her love into a currency that could have enriched him, for he did not want her love, and she had no other use for it except to help him in some way. and, as if to answer her yearning, he took her arm again, not angrily now, but with the quiet pressure of a man with a sympathetic friend. "you're a good pal, jessie," he said. "i'm awfully grateful to you. you won't play me false with your friendship, will you?" "no, my dear," said she, stumbling a little on the words. "i'm--i'm not like that. the more you count on me the better i shall be pleased. i'm stupid at saying things, but, oh archie, if a friend is any use to you, you've got one. and let me say, just once, how sorry i am for all this miserable business." "thanks, jessie," said he. they had turned back towards the house, and jessie, unconscious of anything else except archie, saw that they were already half across the lawn that lay dripping with dew. her thin satin shoes were soaked, and the hem of her dress trailed on the grass. but she regarded that no more than she would have regarded it had she been walking in the dark with her lover. then archie spoke again--there was no more emotion in his voice than if he had been speaking through a telephone. "do keep on trying to be friends with me, jessie," he said. "i'm nothing at all just now; i'm dead, but will you watch by the corpse? it likes to know you are there. there's no complaint if you go away, but when sometimes you have nothing to do, you might just sit with it." "archie, dear, don't talk such nonsense," she said. "i daresay it is nonsense, but it seems to me sense. i don't feel as if i was anybody... i can imagine what a house feels like that has been happily lived in for years, when the family goes away, and leaves it empty. there's a board up 'to let, unfurnished,' and the windows get dirty, and the knocker and door-handle, which were so well rubbed and polished, get dull. there used to be curtains in the windows, and in the evening passers-by in the street could see chinks of light from within, and perhaps hear sounds of laughter. but now there are no curtains, and the pictures have gone from the walls, leaving oblong marks where they used to hang. and the spirit of the house stares mournfully out, thinking of the days when there was laughter and love within its walls. haven't you ever seen a house like that? they're common enough." she pressed the hand that lay loose in the crook of her elbow. "oh, archie, you give me such a heartache," she said. "well, i won't again. but if you think me wanting in affection to mother, or you, or anybody, just remember that i'm an empty house for the present. i daresay somebody will take me again." jessie felt that this was a truer archie than he who had stopped so long in the dining-room and come in afterwards with a shout of laughter over something that he would not recount. but by now their stroll had taken them close to the long grey front of the house, and for the present archie had no more to say, and was evidently meaning to go indoors again. upstairs all was dark, but below, the five windows of the drawing-room, uncurtained and open, cast oblongs of light on to the gravel, and next to them the two windows of lord tintagel's study were lit. even as they stepped from the grass on to the walk, and their footsteps became audible again, his figure, silhouetted against the light, appeared there, and the window-sash rattled as he opened it wider. "is that you, archie?" he called. "come in and see me before you go upstairs." "all right, father," said he, "we're just coming in." jessie heard a fresh vigour in his quickened voice, and in the light from the windows she could see that his face was alert again. and it was with a sense of certainty that she guessed what had given him this sudden animation. perhaps it was only the knowledge of his father's habits that informed her, perhaps it was a brain-wave passing from him to her that told her that inside his father's room were the things for which he craved, the cool hiss of bubbling water on to the ice that swam in the spirits... "you're not going to sit up long, are you?" she said. "oh, i don't know. my father and i often have a talk in the evening. and sometimes i do some writing before i go to bed. it's quite a good time for writing when every one has gone to bed and the house is quiet." "you always used to say at silorno that you wrote best in the morning." "yes, but that was at silorno, where i could lie on the beach, and go for a swim at intervals. lord! what jolly days they were! it's a pity they are all dead." they went through the french window into the drawing-room, and found that lady tintagel had already gone upstairs. archie stood by jessie, shifting from one foot to the other, in evident impatience at her lingering. "well, you'll be wanting to go to bed," he said. "i daresay you'll go in and have a talk with my mother. and, do you know, my father's waiting for me; i think i'll join him. i shall soon come upstairs, i expect. i feel rather like writing to-night." "i'm glad you're going on with that," she said. "that's something left, isn't it? the house isn't quite empty, archie." he laughed. "no, i can trace my name in the dust on the window-panes," he said. "but i'll go to my father. good-night, jessie." * * * * * lord tintagel, rather unusually, was deep in the evening paper when archie entered. archie noticed, with some surprise, that his glass still stood untouched on the tray. "rather nasty news," he said, not looking up. "give me my drink, archie, there's a good fellow. plenty of ice and not much soda." "and what's the news?" asked archie. "well, it looks as if there might really be trouble brewing. servia has appealed to russia against the austrian ultimatum. i wonder if germany can really be at the bottom of it all. and the city takes a gloomy view of it. all russian securities are heavily down." "does that affect you?" asked archie, bringing him his drink. "yes, i've got a big account open in them. i wonder if i had better sell. of course there won't be war; we're always having these scares, and they always come to nothing. but if dealers are anxious, prices may fall a good bit yet, and i should find it difficult to pay my differences." archie poured himself out his first tumbler. he held it in his hand a moment, not tasting it, now that he had got it. delay, when the delay was voluntary, would but add deliciousness to the moment when his mouth and throat would feel that cold sting... "i don't understand," he said, watching the bubbles stream up from the sides and bottom of his glass. his father threw down the paper. "it's as simple as heads and tails," he said. "i've bought a quantity of russian mining shares, without paying for them, in the hope that they will go up. if they do, i shall sell at the higher price and pocket the difference. but if they go down i shall have to pay the difference at the next account. if the shares are each worth l8 now, and at the next account are only standing at l6, i shall have to pay l2 on each share. if i like, i can telegraph to my broker to sell now, while they're at l8. i shall have a loss because i bought them at l9, but i shall no longer be running any risks. but it's thirsty work talking. just fill my glass again." "but then, if the scare dies down again, i suppose your shares will go up," said archie. his father laughed. "sound business head you've got, archie," he said. "you've got the hang of it; it's just heads and tails. never you speculate: it's a rotten business. i've got into the habit now, but i recommend you not to take to it. it's easy enough to take to it, but it's the devil to break it. same with other things. make a habit of virtue, and you'll never go to the deuce." he watched archie a moment, who with head thrown back, and young, strong throat throbbing as he swallowed, was reaping the rewards of his delay in drinking. and when, with brightened eyes, he put his glass down, he stood there like some modern incarnation of dionysus, his face pure greek from the low-growing brown curls to the straight nose and the short round chin. with a cloak over his shoulders in exchange for his dress-clothes, with sandals for his patent leather shoes, and a wine-cup for his tall glass, he might have stepped straight from some temple-frieze, and his father wondered how any girl in her senses could have chosen the precise, pedantic man whom she was soon going to marry, when archie was but waiting, as she must have known, for his moment. he, poor fellow, was often a very dreary and dispirited boy all day; but in the evening he came to himself again, and was what he used to be. and yet, though it seemed to lord tintagel a cruel thing to wish to deprive him of the few hours of the joy of living that were his during the day, he was smitten, with the easy and vague remorse of a man only half-sober, to see the effect that alcohol had on archie, who, all his life till now, had scarcely tasted it. but he remembered when he himself had been at that stage; he remembered also his father giving him just such a warning as he now proposed to give archie. he wished he had taken notice of it, and he hoped that archie would. that evening, thirty years ago, he recalled now with extreme distinctness. the scene had taken place in this very room, and his father, already half-tipsy, as his habit was, had warned him of the dangers of drink, and he remembered how laughable and grotesque such a warning had seemed coming from lips that had lost all precision of utterance. but he told himself that he was not going to commit any such absurdity: he was perfectly sober, indeed it seemed very likely that it had never entered archie's head to think of him as a drunkard. sometimes he stumbled a little going upstairs at night, sometimes he had an impression that his pronunciation was not quite distinct; but he never became incapable, as he could remember his father becoming, and being carried off to bed by two perspiring footmen. he put down his second glass without tasting it. "there's something i want to speak to you about, archie," he said, "and you mustn't be vexed with me, because i'm only doing what i believe to be my duty. you won't be vexed, will you?" archie looked at him in surprise. "no, i don't suppose i shall, father," he said. "what is it?" his father got up and stood by his chair quite steadily, for he leaned back against the high chimney-piece. "well, i want to you be careful about that stuff," he said, pointing to the bottle. "that's one of the habits i was speaking about, which they say is so easy to keep clear of, but so hard to break. you drink rather freely, you know, whereas a few months ago you never touched wine or spirits. it's an awful snare--you may get badly entangled in it before you know you are caught at all." archie kept his lucid eyes fixed on his father's, and not a tremor of his beautiful mouth betrayed his inward laughter, his derisive merriment at this solemn adjuration delivered by a man who spoke very carefully for fear of his words all running into each other like the impress of ink on blotting-paper. it really was ludicrously funny, and the immortal mr. stiggins came into his mind. "i hope you don't think a whisky and soda after dinner is dangerous, father," he said. "you usually have one yourself, you know." he moved across to the table as he spoke, and handed his father the drink he had mixed for him but a few moments before. lord tintagel, quite missing the irony of the act, began sipping it as he talked. "no, of course not, my dear boy," he said. "i'm not a faddist who thinks there's a microbe of delirium tremens in every glass of wine. but--though you may never have heard it--your grandfather was a man who habitually took too much, and it's strange how that sort of failing runs in families." archie's mouth broadened into a smile. "skipping a generation now and then," he said gravely. his father turned sharply on him. "eh? what?" he asked. he looked hard at archie for a moment--as hard, that is, as his rather wandering power of focus allowed him--and suddenly beheld himself with archie's eyes, even as, thirty years ago, he had beheld his father when he spoke to him on precisely the same theme. he put down his glass, and a wave of shame as he saw himself as archie saw him, went over him. "i know: this doesn't come very well from me, archie," he said. "it's ridiculous, isn't it? but i meant well." he looked at the boy with a pathetic, deprecating glance. "if i make an effort, will you make one, too?" he asked. "i've gone far along that road, and i should be sorry to see you following me. i should indeed. just now i know you're unhappy, and a bottle of wine makes things more tolerable, doesn't it?" archie, in his empty, exasperated heart felt a sort of pity for his father, which was based on scorn. something inside lord tintagel was probably serious and sincere, and yet it was what he had drunk that stimulated his scruples for archie. he was in a mellow, kindly, moralizing stage in his cups that archie had often noticed before. certainly he himself did not want to become like that, but he felt that he was not within measurable distance of the need of making any resolution on the subject, so far was he from needing the exercise of his will. just at present, even as his father had said, he was unhappy, and his unhappiness melted in the sunshine of drink. he did not care for it in itself; he but took it, so he told himself, like medicine because his mind was ailing. "well, let us talk about it to-morrow," he said. "we'll make some rule, shall we, father? and don't imagine for a moment that i am vexed with you. but i shall go upstairs now, i think. i've got some writing i want to do." he hesitated a moment. "i'll just take a night-cap with me," he said. "good-night, father." "good-night, my dear boy; god bless you! we'll have a talk to-morrow." archie took the glass he had filled out into the hall, and waited there a moment, and the pity faded from his mind, leaving only contempt. it was just the maudlin mood that had prompted his father to be so ridiculous, and talk about resolutions. certainly resolutions would do him no harm, and the keeping of them would undoubtedly do him good, for, instead of the firm, masterful man whom archie had known as the rather prodigious denizen of that formidable room, there sat there now a weak, entangled creature. archie could hardly believe that, in years not so long past, he had been afraid of his father: now his whole force, that dominating, intangible quality, had vanished. occasionally he still flew into fits of anger that alarmed nobody, but that was all that was left of his power. archie sat for a few minutes on the hall-table, instead of going upstairs, for he meant, with a certain object in view, to go back to his father's room, on some trivial errand, and, as he waited, the big clock ticked him back into boyhood. there was the fire-place by which abracadabra sat on the last of her appearances; there the screen behind which, as he had subsequently ascertained, william had hidden with a trumpet and the servants' dinner-bell, there the side-door into the gardens through which, pleasingly excited, he had hurried with the box for coffin of the dead bird which the cat had killed... a hundred memories crowded about him, and not one, save where blessington was concerned, held any romance or tenderness for him. they were as meaningless as pictures taken out from the empty house and leaning against the railings in the street: in the house itself, his bitter, lonely spirit, there was nothing left but the places where once they hung. he went back to his father's room, crossing the hall with light foot, and turning the handle of the door with swiftness and silence. there was his father by the table, filling his glass again. it was just that which archie wished to verify. "i only came back for a book," he said. "good-night again." chapter x archie went straight up to his room: his brimming glass was difficult to carry quite steadily, and he reduced its contents half-way upstairs. william had orders always to put whisky and soda in his room in case he wanted to sit up and write; but sometimes william forgot, or, at any rate, did not obey, and archie wondered if the man did it on purpose, with perhaps the same excellent intentions as those which flowered so decorously in his father's mind. but to-night all was as it should be, and, as it was very hot, archie undressed and put on his pyjamas before settling down to work. writing, the absorbing joy of creation, the delicate etching of sentences that bit into the plate, still possessed him when he had taken the requisite evening dose. but to-night, though he had got his material ready, his hand could not accomplish the fashioning of it, and he got up and walked with bare feet, once or twice up and down the room, wondering why he could not link up his thoughts to his power of expression. he was nearly at the end of one of those sea-stories, which he had begun at silorno, and he knew exactly what he meant to say. the brain-centre that dictated was charged, and sufficiently stimulated, and yet he could get nothing on to paper that was worth putting there, though he was ready to write, and wanted to write. he had not drunk too much and made himself fuddled; he had not drunk too little, and left the bitter weeds of daily consciousness uncovered, like rocks at low tide. he sat and thought, wrote and impatiently erased again, and at last put down his pen. perhaps even this, the only living interest that just now existed for him, was being taken from him also, and was following down the channel which had emptied itself into helena. she had taken from him everything else that meant life: it would be like her consistency to take that also, and leave him nude and empty. it was not that she wanted the gift which she--in his vague, excited thought--seemed to be robbing him of; it was only that she and the memory of how she had treated him was a vampire to his blood. she had sucked him empty, drained him dry of happiness, of joy of life, of human interests. more than that, his love, the best thing which he had to give her, and for which she had no use, she now seemed to have treated with some devilish alchemy, so that it turned bitter; hate, like some oozy scum, rose from the depths of it, and covered its crystal with poisonous growth. this would never do; the rocks at low tide had become uncovered, and, while he slipped and stumbled among them, bruising himself at every step with the thought of helena, he could never get that abstraction and detachment which he knew were the necessary conditions of his writing. and all power of achieving that seemed taken from him; he felt himself an impotent atom, unable to order the workings of his own brain, defenceless against any thoughts that might assault him. the house was perfectly quiet; the stillness of the midsummer night had flowed into its open windows and drowned it deep in that profound tranquillity that was yet tense with the energy of the spinning world and the far-flung orbits of the myriad stars. the moon had long since sunk, but the galaxy of uncounted worlds flared on their courses, driven onwards by the inexhaustible eternity of creative forces that ran through the stars, even as it ran through the humblest herb that put forth its unnoticed blossom on the wayside. but archie, in this bitter stagnation that paralysed him, seemed to himself to have no part in life: all that current of energy that bubbled through the world, with its impulses of good and evil, love and hate, seemed to have been cut off from him. he neither loved nor hated any more. there was the nightmare of this death in life: at any price, and under whatever inspiration, he longed to be in the current again. tonight even drink had failed him. he had walked across to the window, and came back to his chair at the table where was spread the sheet of paper covered with the scrawlings and erasures which were all the last two hours had to show. and at this precise moment, as he looked at them in a dull despair, and idea flashed across the blank field of his brain. perhaps there might still be some spark of life, of individuality latent without him, which he could reach by that surrender of his conscious self which had been familiar to him in his childhood. there, just in front of him, below his shaded lamp, lay his cigarette-case, with one bright point of light on it, and, lying back in his chair with half-closed eyes he gazed at this in order to produce that hypnotic condition in which the subconscious self comes to the surface. almost at once the mysterious spell began to act. across the field of his vision there began to pass waves of light and shadow, moving upwards with a regular motion, while through them like a buoy moored in a rough sea there remained steadfast that bright speck on his cigarette-case, now for a moment submerged in a wave of shadow, but appearing again. upwards and upwards moved the waves, and then it seemed that it was they which were stationary, while he himself was sinking down through them, as through crystal-clear waters, looking up at the sunny surface which rose ever higher and more remote above him. as he sank into this dim, delicious world, the sensation of being alive again and in touch with living intelligences grew momently more vivid. it was the very seat and hearth of life that in him before had been cold and numbed; now, though surface perceptions were gradually withdrawn, his essential being tingled with the rapture of returning vitality. once or twice during this descent his ears, through which there poured the roar of rushing waters, had been startled as by some surface perception of the sound of loud rappings somewhere in the room; but they had not disturbed his steadfast gaze at the point of light; and once again he had heard a voice faintly familiar near him that said "i am coming." but he was far too intent on his progress to let the interruption break in upon it, and indeed those sounds seemed to be less an interruption than a confirmation to his surface-senses of what was happening to him... and then he knew, as he sank down to rest at last on the bottom of that unsounded sea, who it was who was filling him with the sense of life again, for, echoing not only in his ears, but somewhere in his soul, he heard the same voice, which he now clearly recognized, and which had spoken to him years ago at grives, say, "archie, i am here." * * * * * archie was conscious on two separate planes of consciousness. all round him and high above him were the gleams and aqueous shadows of the subconscious world, but here and there those seemed to be pierced, and through them, as through rents of mist, he had glimpses of the material plane. he could see, for instance, part of the sheet of paper in front of him, and he could see the far corner of his table. and by it, very faint and unfocusable, part of it in the mists of the subconscious world, part in the harder outlines of reality, there was standing the figure of a young man. how it was dressed he could not see, or did not care to notice, but when for a moment the mist cleared off its face, he recognized the strong likeness to himself, even as he had recognized the likeness to himself in the photograph which he had found in the cache. but here was no photograph: instead, mysteriously translated into outlines and features visible to mortal eyes, was the semblance of martin himself. it wavered and flickered, like the blown flame of a candle, but it was there, standing at the corner of his table. and, as it spoke, he saw the mouth move and the throat throb. "i have managed to come back, archie," he said, "because you were in such trouble, and because you didn't understand the warning you had. do you understand now?" the whole explanation flashed on him. "the dream?" he said. "the white statue of helena and the worms?" "surely. it was odd you didn't understand. you only loved the white statue. you loathed what came out of it, just as you loathe what has come out of the white statue since." archie leaned forward, peering into the mist that at this moment quite enveloped the figure. "but i love her, too, martin," he cried. "i long for her." out of the mist came the unseen voice: "you long for what she looks like," it said. "you hate what she is." "that may be. but the whole thing makes me utterly miserable." table and figure, the white paper and the tray with syphon and whisky became suddenly visible. "you must learn not to be miserable," said that compassionate mouth. "be very patient, archie. you think you are stumbling through absolute darkness, but in reality, you are flooded with light. i can't see the darkness which you feel is so impenetrable: i only see you walking towards the ineffable radiance, always moving towards it. occupy yourself, and try to grow indifferent to that part of helena which you hate. cling to love always. just cling to love. never hate; some time you may get to love what you hated." the voice sank lower. "the power is failing," it said. "i am losing touch with you." "oh, don't go," said archie. "martin, stop with me. talk to me. i want to say so much to you." he reached out his hand, and for a moment, out of the sunlit mists that had gathered again he felt, perfectly clearly, the touch of fingers that pressed his. but they died away into nothing as he clasped them, and the voice faded to the faintest whisper. "i will come again, dear archie," it said. "it is easiest at night." * * * * * the lines of shadow and light that undulated before his eyes grew thinner and more transparent, and he could see the drawn-back window-curtains and the black square of the night through them. the bright point at which he had been looking withdrew on to the surface of his cigarette-case, and slowly the whole room emerged into its normal appearance. archie became suddenly conscious of a profound physical fatigue, and, leaving all thought and reflection till to-morrow, put out his light and stepped into bed. but instead of the empty desolation that had made a wilderness round him, waters of healing had broken out in his soul, and the desert blossomed... archie slept that night the clean out-door sleep which he had been used to at silorno, and woke next morning, not with the crapulous drowsiness that now usually accompanied his wakings, but with the alert refreshment that slumber in the open air gave him. he sprang into full possession of his faculties and complete memory of what he had experienced the night before. he was quite aware that any scientific interpreter (science being best defined as the habit of denying what passes the limits of materialistic explanation) would have said that, tired with the effort to write, he had fallen asleep over his table and dreamed. but he knew better than that: the experience with its audible and visible phenomena, was not a dream, nor did it ever so faintly resemble one. a dream at best was a fantastic unreality; what he had experienced at his writing-table last night was based upon the firm foundations of reality itself. it was no hash-up of his own conscious or subconscious reflections, no extract distilled from his own mind. it came from without and entered into him, and, unlike most of the communications that purported to reach the minds of sensitives from the world that lay beyond the perception of their normal senses, there was guidance and help in it. often, if not invariably, these messages from beyond were trivial and nugatory; it was a just criticism to say that the senders of them did not appear possessed of much worth the trouble of sending. but martin's visit had not been concerned with trifles like that: he had sympathized, as a brother might, with archie's trouble; he had explained, so that archie could not longer doubt, the manner of the warning he had received before but not understood; he had spoken of archie as being wrapped, according to his own sensations, in impenetrable darkness, though, to one who looked from beyond, he was ever moving towards the ineffable radiance. it was the same discarnate intelligence that, when he was a child, had conveyed to him the knowledge of that cache under the pine-tree, which was unknown to any living being (as men count living) and that could not have been conveyed to him through any telepathic channel except one that had its source and spring not in this world. and now, from the same source, had come this message from one who saw through the gross darkness of archie's emptiness and bitter heart, and had promised to be with him again. archie had no doubt whatever, as he got up with an alertness that had not been his for weeks, of the genuineness of the communication. it linked on with martin's previous visits, and the glimpses he had received of the materialized form of his visitor confirmed exactly the recognition, years before, of the photograph he had found in the cache which martin had told him of. and the power in whose hands were all things had compassionated his trouble and had allowed, in pity for his need, the gateless barrier to be again unbarred, and a spirit, individual and recognized, to pass to and fro between him and the realms of the light invisible. it was just when his soul despaired that this happened; when he felt himself denuded of all that he had loved, empty, and cast out from life itself. just in that hour had martin been permitted to come back to him... he found his mother and jessie at breakfast when he went down; his father, as usual, had not appeared, and again, as last night when he came out of the dining-room after a prolonged sitting, he felt kindly and affectionate. but this was not from the sottish satisfaction of wine: the light came from that subtle window in his soul, from which once more the shutters had been thrown back. the moment jessie saw him she felt the quality of that change; he was like the archie of silorno again. "good morning, mother darling," he said, kissing her. "good morning, jessie. how bright and early we all are! and has everybody slept as serenely as i?" "you didn't sleep very long, archie, did you?" asked the girl, whose room was next his. "i heard you hammering at something after i had gone to bed, and i awoke once and heard you talking to somebody." archie, at the side-table helping himself to sausage, paused a moment. he made up his mind that for the present, anyhow, he preferred that jessie should not know about the return of martin. perhaps he would tell her quietly when alone... "hammering?" he said. "yes, there was a despatch-case, and i couldn't find the key. so i whacked it open. about talking--yes, i was writing last night, and i believe i read it aloud to myself before i went to bed. i never know what a thing is like unless i read it aloud." "oh, do read it aloud to me," said the girl. "when it's in order: it wasn't quite in order when i read it over. but i was sleepy and went to bed." jessie said no more, but for some reason this account left her unsatisfied. the hammering had not sounded quite like the forcing of the lock of a despatch-case; it had been like sharp blows on wood, and for a moment she had thought that archie was tapping loudly on the door that separated their rooms. it had stopped, and began again a little later. as for the talking, it had sounded precisely like two voices; one undeniably archie's, the other low and indistinct. archie changed the subject the moment he had given this explanation, and made some very surprising observations. "helena is married on the 10th of august, isn't she?" he asked. "i must get her a wedding present. and i shall come to her wedding. that will convey my good wishes in the usual manner, won't it? i want to assure her of them." both of the women looked at him in the intensest surprise. to lady tintagel he had never mentioned helena's name since the day she had accepted lord harlow, while to jessie, only last night, he had loaded her with the bitterest reproaches, and had spoken of the abject despair and emptiness which had come upon him in consequence of what she had done. and he looked at each of them in turn with that vivid, brilliant glance which had been so characteristic of him. "yes, i make a public recantation," he said. "it suddenly dawned on me last night that i have been behaving just about as stupidly as a man can behave. i've said nothing to you, mother, but jessie knows. i want her to try to forget what, for instance, i said to her last night. i can do better than that, and at any rate i propose to try. all the time that i haven't been mad with resentment i've been dead. well, i hereupon announce the resurrection of archibald. that's all i've got to say on the subject." * * * * * at that moment, swift as an arrow's flight, and certain as an intuition, there came to jessie the odd idea that it was not archie who was speaking at all. it might be his lips and tongue that fashioned the audible syllables, but it was not he in the sense that it had been he down by the lake last night. savage and bitter as he had been there, he was authentic; now, all that he said, despite the absolute naturalness of his manner, seemed to ring false. she could not account for this impression in the least. it was not the suddenness of the change in his attitude, though that surprised her: it was some remoter quality, which her brain could not analyse. something more intimate to herself than her brain had perceived it, and mere thought, mere reason, were blind to it. archie did not accompany his mother and jessie to church that morning, but waited for lord tintagel's appearance, and the discussion of the good resolutions which were to be so beneficial to each of them. he sat in his father's study, and, having to wait some time before he made a shaky and disastrous entrance, thought over, in connection with the events of last night, what he himself had said that morning at breakfast. that surely was the gist of martin's message to him: he must try to grow indifferent to that part of helena which he hated; he must learn not to be miserable, to grasp the fact that the darkness in which he seemed to walk appeared to martin no darkness at all, but a flood of light from the ineffable radiance. it was in the glow of that revelation that he had spoken at breakfast, trusting in the truth of it, and yet, as he sat now, waiting for his father, he knew he did not feel the truth of it. but, in obedience to martin, that was how he had to behave. he must behave like that--this was what martin meant--until he felt the soul within him grow up, like some cellar-sown plant, into the light. hopefully and bravely had he announced his intention, but now, when in cooler mood he scrutinized it, he began to feel how tremendous was the task set him, how firmly rooted was that passionate resentment which must be alchemized into love. it had been true--martin saw that so well--that it was the white statue, the fair form he had loved, and loved still with no less ardour than before. that, it seemed, according to his interpretation, archie must keep: it was the other that must be transformed. but it would have been an easier task, he thought, to let his love slide into indifference, then raise his hate to the same level. but that was not the king's road, the royal banners did not flame along such mean-souled ways as these. he must cling to such love for helena as he had, and transform the hate. but, first and foremost, cling to the love... it was thus that he stated to himself the message that martin seemed to have brought him last night, and, stated thus, it was a spiritual aspiration of high endeavour, and it did not occur to him how, stated ever so little differently, and yet following the lines of the communication, it assumed a diabolical aspect. the love which he had for helena was a carnal love, that sprang from desire for her enchanting prettiness; that love he was to cling to, not sacrifice an iota of it. the hate that he felt for her, arising from her falseness, her encouragement of him for just so long as she was uncertain whether she could capture a man who was nothing to her, but whose position and wealth she coveted, archie was to transform into indifference; he was to get over it. but, though it was hate, it had a spiritual quality, for it was hatred of what was mean and base, whereas his love for her had no spiritual quality: it was no more than lust, and to that under the name of love he was to cling... here, then, was another interpretation of the words he had heard last night, and, according to it, it would have been fitter to attribute the message to some intelligence far other than the innocent soul of the brother who had so mysteriously communicated with him in childlike ways. but that interpretation (and here was the subtlety of it) never entered archie's head at all. a message of apparent consolation and hope had come to him when he was feeling the full blast of his bitterness, the wind that blew from the empty desert of his heart and his stagnant brain. he had called for help from the everlasting and unseen cosmos that encompasses the little blind half-world of material existence, and from it, somewhere from it, a light had shone into his dark soul, no mere flicker, or so it seemed this morning, like that spurious sunshine which he and his father basked in together, but rays from a more potent luminary. till now archie, with the ordinary impulse of a disappointed man, had tried to banish from his mind (with certain exterior aids) the picture of the face and the form that he loved. but now he not only need not, but he must not, do that any longer: he had to cling to love. and while he waited for his father he kept recalling certain poignant moments in the growth of helena's bewitchment of him. one was the night when they sat together for the last time in the dark garden at silorno, and he wondered whether the suggestion of a cousinly kiss would disturb her. what had kept him back was the knowledge that it would not be quite a cousinly kiss on his part... then there was the moment when he had caught sight of her on the platform at charing cross: she had come to meet his train on his arrival from abroad... best of all, perhaps, for there his passion had most been fed with the fuel of her touch, had been the dance at his aunt's that same night, when the rhythm of the waltz and the melodious command of the music had welded their two young bodies into one. it was not "he and she" who had danced: it was just one perfect and complete individual. here, on this quiet sunday morning, the thought of that made him tingle and throb. it was that sort of memory which martin told him he must keep alive... it was his resentment, his anger, that must die, not that. helena had chosen somebody else, but he must long for her still. lord tintagel appeared, unusually white and shaky, and, as lunch-time was approaching, he rang for the apparatus of cocktails. "i sat up late last night, archie," he said, "bothering myself over those russian shares. it's really of you and your mother i am thinking. it won't be long before all the mines in russia will matter nothing to me, for a few feet of earth will be all i shall require. but, before i went to bed, i came to the conclusion that i was wrong to worry. i think the scare will soon pass, and the shares recover. indeed, i think the wisest thing would be not to sell, and cut my loss, but to buy more, at the lower price. i shall telegraph to my broker to-morrow. but i got into no end of a perplexity about it, and i feel all to bits this morning." he mixed himself a cocktail with a shaking hand, and shuffled back to his chair. "help yourself, archie," he said. "let me see, we were going to have a talk about something this morning. what was it? that worry about my russians has put everything out of my head." once again, as last night, it struck archie as immensely comical that this white-faced, shaky man, who was his father, should be pulling himself together with a strong cocktail in order to discuss the virtues of temperance, and make the necessary resolutions whereby to acquire them. he felt neither pity nor sympathy with him, nor yet disgust; it was only the humour of the situation, the farcical absurdity of it, that appealed to him. "we were going to make good resolutions not to drink quite so much," he said. lord tintagel finished his cocktail and put the glass down. "to be sure; that was it," he said. "it's time we took ourselves in hand. your grandfather gave me a warning, and i wish to god i had taken it. but we'll help each other--eh, archie? that will make it easier for both of us." "i don't care a toss whether i take alcohol or not," said archie. "as you remarked last night, father, i hardly touched it till a month ago." lord tintagel laughed. "but you've shown remarkable aptitude for it since," he said. "you found no difficulty at all in getting the hang of the thing." faintly, like a lost echo, there entered into archie's mind the inherent horror of such an interview between father and son. but it was drowned by the inward laughter with which the scene inspired him, and his spirit, whatever it was that watched the play, looked on as from some curtained box, where, unseen, it could giggle at unseemliness, at some uncensored farce. last night the same thing had amused him, but then he was in that contented oblivion of his troubles which alcohol lent him, whereas now it was morning and the time when he was least likely to take any but the most bitter and savage view of a situation. but all morning he had been possessed by the sunny lightness of heart with which martin's communication of last night had inspired him. he must be patient, disperse and blow away by the great winds of love the hatred and intolerance that had been obscuring his soul. and surely it was not only for helena that he must feel that nobler impulse: all that touched his daily life must be treated with the same manly tenderness. nothing must shock him, nothing must irritate him, for such emotions were narrow and limited, incompatible with the oceanic quality of love. all this seemed directly inspired by martin, who had brought him the first ray of true illumination. and yet, while he sunned himself in the light, there was something that apparently belonged to his bitter, his disappointed self that cried out for recognition, insisting that these dreams of love and tolerance were of a fibre infinitely coarser than its own rebellious attitude. it strove and cried, and the smooth edification of martin's voice silenced it again. the suggested compact between father and son soon framed itself into a treaty. there was to be nothing faddish or unreasonable about it: wine should circulate in its accustomed manner at dinner; but here, once and for all, was the end of trays brought to lord tintagel's study. a glass or two of claret should be allowed at lunch, but the cocktails and the whiskies in the evening were to be closed from henceforth. and the arrangement entered into appeared to be of a quality that sacrificed the desire of each for the sake of the other, or so at least it passed in their minds. archie stifled the snigger of his inward laughter, and thought how clear was his duty to save his father, even at this late day, from falling wholly into the pit he had digged, while to his father the compact represented itself as an effort to save archie from the path he had begun to tread. but, even as they agreed on their abstemious proceedings, there occurred to the minds of both of them a vague, luminous thought, like the flash of summer lightning far away which might move nearer... once again archie was seized with the ironic mockery that all the time had quaked like a quick-sand below his seriousness. "i haven't had my cocktail yet, father." he said. "i'll drink success to our scheme. you've had yours, you know. our plan dates from now, when i've had mine. after that--no more." his father's eyes followed him as he mixed the gin and vermouth. "well, upon my word, archie," he said, "you ought to ask me to have a drink with you." archie somehow clung to the fact that his father had had a cocktail and that he had not. "have another by all means," he said, "and i'll have two. but do be fair, father." and once again the horrible sordidness of these proceedings struck, as it seemed, his worse self, that part of himself that had all those weeks been uninspired by martin. martin was all love and tolerance: he gave no directions on such infinitesimal subjects as cocktails or whiskies. he, outside the material plane, was concerned only with the motive, the spiritual aspiration, with love and all its ineffable indulgences. * * * * * jessie was leaving for town early next morning, and once again, as twenty-four hours ago, she and archie strolled out after dinner into the dusk. but to-night, his father and he had followed the two ladies almost immediately into the drawing-room, and the two younger folk had left their elders playing a game of piquet together. that was quite unlike the usual procedure after dinner, for lord tintagel generally dozed for a little in his chair, and then retired to his study. but to-night he showed no inclination either to doze or to go away, and it was by his suggestion that the card-table had been brought out. he seemed to jessie rather restless and irritable, and had said that it was impossible to play cards with chattering going on. that had been the immediate cause of her stroll with archie. the remark had been addressed very pointedly to archie and also very rudely. but archie, checking his hot word in reply, almost without an effort, had apologized for the distraction, quietly and sufficiently. "awfully sorry, father," he had said. "i didn't mean to disturb you. come out for a stroll, jessie." so there they were in the dusk again, and again archie took jessie's arm. "father's rather jumpy to-night," he said. "but i think he wanted to get rid of us: he may wish to talk to my mother. so it was best to leave them, wasn't it?" jessie's heart swelled. she knew from last night all that archie was suffering, but the whole day he had been like this--gentle, considerate, infinitely sensitive to others, incapable of taking offence. "yes, much best," she said. "you know, archie, you do behave nicely." he knew what she meant. he knew how easy it would have been to make some provocative rejoinder to his father. but simply, he had not wanted to. martin, and martin's counsel, was still like sunlight within him. "oh, bosh," he said. "the gentle answer is so much easier than any other. i should have had to pump up indignation. but he was rather rude, wasn't he? isn't it lucky that one doesn't feel like that?" archie drew in a long breath of the vigorous night-air. to himself it seemed that he drew in a long breath of the inspiration that had come to him last night. "jessie, i'm going to save father," he said. "we had an awfully nice talk this morning, and it was so pathetic. he has been a heavy drinker for years, you know. his father was so before him. so one mustn't think it is his fault, any more than it was my fault that i had consumption when i was little. it isn't a vice, it's a disease. well, i've made a compact with him. i found that he had got it into his head--god knows how--that i--i know you'll laugh--was beginning to take to that beastly muck too. so i saw my opportunity. he's fond of me, you know; he really is, and it had seriously occurred to him that i was getting the habit. so i took advantage of that. i said i wouldn't have any more whiskies and cocktails if he wouldn't. we made a bargain about it. without swagger, it was rather a good piece of work, don't you think?" jessie knew exactly what she honestly felt, and what she honestly felt she could not possibly say. for though it was a good bargain on archie's part, the virtue of it would affect not only lord tintagel, but archie himself. but the knowledge of this added to the sincerity of her reply. "oh, archie," she said, "that was brilliant of you. do you--do you think your father will keep to it?" "he can't help it," said archie triumphantly. "i'm going to be down here, except when i go up to town for helena's wedding, and i'm always in and out of his room. i should know if he doesn't keep to it." he paused, thinking out further checks on his father. "there's william, too," he said. "william's devoted to me, simply, as far as i can tell, because he saved my life when i was a tiny kid. if i ask william to tell me whether my father gets drinks through him quietly when i'm not there, i'm sure he will let me know. how would that be?" jessie had an uncomfortable moment. the idea of getting a servant to report to archie on his father's proceedings was as repugnant to her as, she thought, it must be to archie. possibly his main motive, that of taking care of his father, was so dominant in him that he did not pause to consider the legitimacy of any means. but, somehow, it was very unlike archie to have conceived so backstairs an idea. "oh, i wouldn't quite do that," she said. "you wouldn't either, archie." "i don't see why not. the cure is more important than the means." jessie suddenly felt a sort of bewilderment. it could scarcely have been archie who said that, according to her knowledge of archie. "but surely that's impossible," she said. "what would you feel if you found your father had been setting william to spy and report on you?" archie's voice suddenly rose. "oh, what nonsense!" he said. "you speak as if i was going to break my bargain with my father. i never heard such nonsense." once again the sense of bewilderment came over jessie. that wasn't like archie... "i don't imply anything of the kind," she said. "but i do feel that it's impossible for you to get william to have an eye on your father, and report to you. and i'm almost certain that you really agree with me." archie considered this, and then laughed. "i suppose i do," he said. "but the ardour of the newly born missionary was hot within me. are missionaries born or made, by the way? anyhow, i'm a missionary now. nobody could have guessed that i was going to be a missionary." their stroll to-night was only up and down the broad gravel walk in front of the windows. it was very hot and all the drawing-room windows were open, so also were those of lord tintagel's study and the windowed door that led into the garden. as they passed this archie saw a footman bring in a tray on which were set the usual evening liquids, and he guessed that his father had forgotten or had omitted to say that the syphon and some ice was all that would be needed. he thought for a moment, intently and swiftly. "jessie, they've brought in that beastly whisky again," he said. "i must tell them to take it away: my father mustn't see it. just go down opposite the drawing-room windows, will you, and make sure my father is still playing cards, while i take the bottle away. make me a sign." archie waited outside till this was given, and then went into his father's room. the man had gone away, and he took up the whisky-bottle with the intention of putting it back in the dining-room. but, even as his fingers closed on it, without warning, his desire for drink swooped down on him like the coming of a summer storm. he half filled a glass with the spirit, poured soda-water on the top and gulped it down. that was what he wanted, and then, with a swift cunning, he rinsed out the glass with soda-water, drank that also, and, filling it half up again with water, put it on the table by the chair where he usually sat. then there was the bottle to dispose of, and he went out into the hall to take it to the dining-room. but, even as he crossed the foot of the stairs, another notion irresistibly possessed him, and up he went three steps at a time, and concealed it behind some clothes in his chest of drawers. he had discovered an excellent reason for doing that, for, if he left it in the dining-room, his father might find it there. it was much safer in his room. then, tingling and content, and feeling that martin would approve (indeed it seemed that he had prompted) this missionary enterprise, he rejoined jessie again, his eyes sparkling, his mouth gay and quivering. "i've done it," he said. "i thought at first of taking the bottle to the dining-room, but my father might have found it there." "what did you do with it?" asked jessie. archie took no time to consider. "i rang the bell and told james to take it away again to the pantry," he said. "that was clever of you, archie." "i know that. they're still playing cards, aren't they? let's have one more turn, then. jessie, i wish you weren't going away to-morrow." "i must. i promised my father to get back. and helena wants me." "oh well, that settles it," said archie. "helena must have all she wants. that is part of helena, isn't it?" for a moment jessie thought that he was speaking with the bitterest irony, but immediately afterwards she withdrew that, for it struck her that archie was, in some inexplicable way, perfectly sincere: there was the unmistakable ring of truth in his voice; he meant what he said. and, as if to endorse that, he went on: "we all do what helena wants: you, i, the bradshaw, all of us. she wants to be loved, isn't that it? and to want to be loved is a royal command; all proper people must obey. i have been a rebel you know, and,--oh jessie, how awfully ashamed i am! i let myself hate helena; i encouraged myself to hate her. but i've returned to my allegiance, thank god." she turned an enquiring face to him. "archie, dear," she said, "i am so thankful that you are so changed. you're utterly different from what you have been. last night you were bitter and terrible: you made my heart ache. but all to-day you've been absolutely your old self again. and it's so immense and so sudden. can't you tell me at all what caused it? i should love to know, if you feel like telling me." he took her arm again. "i'll tell you one thing," he said. "you did me a lot of good last night when you made me realize your friendship. that helped; i do believe that helped." jessie could not quite accept this, though it warmed her heart that archie thought of that. "but you always knew my friendship," she said. "i know i did. but i appreciated it most when i felt absolutely empty. there's something more than that, though..." he paused. "ah, do tell me," said jessie. he could not make up his mind on the instant, for he knew jessie's repugnance to the whole idea of those supernatural communications. but he felt warm and alert and expansive; besides, her friendship, which he truly valued, yearned for his confidence, which is the meat and drink of friendship. sometimes it was necessary to deceive your friends; it had been necessary for him to deceive her about the disposal of the whisky-bottle; but, though she might not approve, he could at least tell her what had made sunshine all day for him, and what was making it now. "it's this," he said. "martin came to me last night. i talked to him; i saw him. it has put me right: he has made me see things quite differently. he told me to be patient, to cling to love always, to let my hate be turned into love. i can't express to you at all what a difference that made to me. i felt he knew; he could see, as he said, that the darkness in which i thought i walked was not darkness at all. i know you have no sympathy with his coming to me: it seems to you either nonsense or something very dangerous. but i know you have sympathy with the result of it." suddenly his explanation of the voices she had heard last night occurred to him. "when you told me this morning that you had heard talking in my room," he said, "i did not mean to tell you about martin, and so i invented something--oh yes, that i had been reading aloud what i had written, to account for it. it wasn't true, but i had to tell some fib. and did you really hear conversation going on? that's awfully interesting." "i thought i did," said she. "and there was knocking or hammering. did you invent something about that too?" "oh yes," said archie. "but i don't really know what the knocking was. as i was going off into trance, i heard loud knocking of some sort, but i didn't let it disturb the oncoming of the trance. it deepened, and then martin came, and i talked with him and saw him." "oh archie, how do you know it was he?" she cried, wildly enough, hardly knowing what she meant, but speaking from the dictate of some nightmare that screamed and struggled in her mind. "why, of course it was he," said archie. "i recognized him, superficially, that is to say, from my knowledge of my own face, just as i recognized the photograph in the cache at grives from its likeness to me. but i know it was he in some far more essential and inward manner. it _was_ martin." "will he come again?" asked the girl. "i hope so, many times. indeed, he promised to. i needed him, he got permission to come to me in my need. is he not ministering to it? haven't you seen the immense change in me?" undeniably she had seen that, and for a moment a little pang of human disappointment came over her. "i'm afraid, then, the knowledge of my friendship hasn't had much to do with it," she said. "jessie, don't think i undervalue that," said archie, speaking quite frankly and sincerely. "i thank you for it tremendously; i love to know it is there. i may count on it always, mayn't i?" they still stood a moment under the star-swarming sky, sundered by the night from all other presences. "i needn't assure you of that," she said. "and, archie, i may be utterly wrong in what i feel about martin's communications to you. who knows what conditions exist for the souls of those we have loved, and whom we neither of us believe have died with the decay of the perishable body? but, my dear, do be careful. if in some miraculous way you have been given access which is denied to almost all mankind, do use it only in truth and love and reverence." "you're frightened about it," said archie. "i know i am. if martin can come to you, why should not other spirits? other spirits, intelligences terrible and devilish, might deceive you into thinking that they were he. you remember at silorno he said he couldn't come again." "i know; but i wasn't in sore need then," said he. they had again come opposite lord tintagel's study, and, even as they passed, archie saw him with his finger on the bell. instantly he guessed that he was ringing to know why the whisky had not been brought. the footman would come and say that he had brought it... archie felt an exhilarated acuteness of brain: the situation had only to be put before him for him to see the answer to it. in his presence, remembering the contract of the morning, his father could not ask for the whisky. "come in and say good-night to my father, jess," he said. they entered together and immediately afterwards the footman came in from the hall-door. lord tintagel looked at him, then back at archie, who was watching. "it's nothing, james," he said. "i rang for something, but it doesn't matter." the man left the room and immediately afterwards jessie said good-night and went also. archie turned to his father with a broad, kindly smile. "father, i believe i'm a great thought-reader," he said. "i believe i can tell you what you rang for." his father's grim face relaxed. "you young devil," he said. archie laughed. "i've guessed right, then," he said. "you surely don't want to drink success to our contract again." "but i don't know why james didn't bring the whisky as usual," said he. "i--i forgot to tell him not to." "but i didn't," said archie. "i see. well, a bargain's a bargain. only now there doesn't seem to be any particular reason for not going to bed." archie yawned rather elaborately, and went to the table where, earlier in the evening, he had put down his glass half filled with soda. he drank it, sniffing to see if there was any taint of spirit about it. but he had rinsed it thoroughly. "i came in during my stroll with jessie and took some soda," he said. "not a bad drink, but i think it makes one sleepy. i shall go to bed, too." * * * * * jessie left early next morning, expecting to be gone before anybody else made an appearance. but, just as she got into the motor, archie, rosy and suffused with sleep, like a child that has lain still and grown all night, came flying downstairs in dressing-gown and pyjamas. "had to come down and say good-bye, jessie," he said. "do come back; come down for next sunday, and we'll go up together for helena's wedding. promise!" jessie looked at that "morning face" which glowed with the exuberance of boyish health and happiness. she herself had slept very badly, dozing for a little and then being awakened by the sound of talking next door, and of peremptory resounding tappings. and here was archie, radiant and fresh and revitalized, and her love glowed at the thought that he wanted her, even though it was but friendship that he sought and friendship that he had to offer. "yes, archie, i should love to come," she said. "that's ripping. i say, shall i drive with you to the station just as i am? why shouldn't i? pyjamas and dressing-gown are perfectly decent if william will fetch me my slippers, which i seem to have forgotten, unless he lends me his boots." "your bath's ready, my lord," said william with a broad grin. "well, perhaps i'll have it then. good-bye, jess. come early on saturday." chapter xi archie was lying on the turf in front of the enclosed bathing-place where the stream debouched into the lake. there was a good stretch of deep water free from weeds, and for the last half-hour he had been swimming and diving in it. now, with hair drying back into its crisp curls under the hot sun, he lay on the short warm turf, with his chin supported on his hands, in an ecstasy of animal content. at this edge of the water the bank was made firm and solid with wooden boarding that went down into deep water, but across the estuary of the stream, broadening out into the lake, the shallow margin was fringed with bulrushes and loosestrife. a strip of low-lying meadow land behind was pink with campion and ragged-robin and starred with meadow-sweet, the scent of which mingled with the undefinable cool smell of running water. a bed of gravel made the bottom of the stream, and through the sunlit water the pebbles gleamed like topazes through some liquid veil. never before had archie been so permeated with the sense of the amazing loveliness of the world, and of the ineffable joy of living and of being part of it. he had wrestled with the swiftness of the stream as it narrowed, had clung to rocks and tree-roots below the surface, letting the current comb over and around and almost through him, then, letting go of his anchorage, had been floated down into the lake again with arms and legs outspread, and now, lying close-pressed to the turf with wet chest and dripping shoulders, he seemed to be part of the triumph of the summer, and of the immortal youth of the world. surely there was no further heaven than this possible, namely, to be young and to desire and to have desire gratified, and whet the appetite for more. there was no clearer duty in the day than to be bathed in the bliss of life, to suck out the last drop of sweetness from the world which had been created for the joy of men and the glory of god. there was no such thing as evil; evil was but the label attached by the sour-minded to the impulses and acts for which they had not sufficient vitality... and it was martin who had taught him all this. archie had come back home this morning after a day and a couple of nights in town. he had bought helena her wedding present, he had taken his completed manuscript to his publishers, he had dined and danced and supped, and filled the hours of day and night with the extravagant excesses in which up till now he had never indulged. some innate fastidiousness or morality had led him to look on the looser pleasures of youth with disdain or disgust; now he smiled indulgently at himself for his narrow priggishness. how utterly wrong he had been to think that such things stained or soiled a boy; they had but caused him to realize himself and intensified existence for him. they were the exercise of the faculties and possibilities with which god had endowed him, and which were not meant to rust in disuse. it was right for him "richly to enjoy," as martin had said: it was a crime against love and life to starve on a meatless diet... above all, he had seen helena again, had confessed and recanted the bitterness he had felt towards her, and she had forgiven him, and welcomed him back "with blessings on the falling out, that all the more endears," as the prim little poem said. archie laughed quietly to himself and said aloud: "when we fall out with those we love, and kiss again with tears." "but there weren't many tears," he added. he understood helena now. she wanted, so sensibly, to make herself quite comfortable for this journey through life. if marquises with millions desired her to go shares with them, naturally she consented. but to do that was not the least the same as taking vows and going into a nunnery. it was the nunnery that she was coming out of. of course, just for the present archie understood he would not see her, for she and the bradshaw were going a yachting tour in the norwegian fjords. but they would be back again before the end of september. so much and no more had her voice told him, but her eyes said much more intimate things, though naturally she did not express them, and when he asked if he might kiss her (that cousinly kiss which she had wanted at silorno) her lips agreed with what her eyes said. she had never been so adorably pretty, and she had never been so demurely clever. she had said nothing which a girl who was to become another man's wife in a few days should not say, and yet archie felt that he understood perfectly all the things she did not say. most brilliant perhaps of all was her warning, "i shall tell the bradshaw that i allowed you to kiss me," she cried. "but i'm not frightened: he is such a dear." gone, then, were all archie's troubles and bitternesses on this point. he had love to cling to, and he scarcely felt jealous of the bradshaw. for, if things had been the other way about, and helena had been engaged to him, would she have allowed the bradshaw to kiss her? he knew very well that she would not. archie turned over on to his back, and lay with arms and legs spread out to the sun, warming himself as with the memory of that expedition to london. but he had not in the least wished to postpone his return, since the joy of life lay so largely in its contrasts, and after thirty-six hours of that fiery furnace there had come a temporary satiety, and he wanted to lie and sleep like a gorged tiger. soon he would awake and be hungry again, but it was part of the joy of life to be satisfied and doze, and stretch out tranquil limbs. and, lying there, his ribs began to twitch again into laughter as he thought of the contract he had made with his father last sunday. archie had entered into it, with the view of encouraging and helping his father to rid himself of the chain that was riveted so closely round him, and he was delighted to do it, if his father derived support for his abstinence in the thought that he was helping archie. but archie need not abstain, so long as his father thought he was doing so, and only just now he had filled with water and sunk in the weeds several empty bottles that he had brought out in his towels from his bedroom. he knew perfectly well that he was in no danger of becoming a slave to the habit, it had served him as medicine to mitigate his misery with regard to helena, and, now that that was quite removed, it helped him to get into communication with martin. of that he felt convinced. once or twice he had tried to do so without drinking, and had failed; but alcohol seemed to drug the surface-consciousness and clear the way of access, and it was for that he used it now. it was more that it cleared the access than that it drugged him, for he found that it produced not the least effect in the way of making his head hazy or his movements wavering: it only seemed to sweep clean those mysterious channels through which communication came. the power of communicating he could not possibly give up: all happiness and joy of life sprang from it; therefore he could not possibly give up that which facilitated it. but he performed the purpose of the contract by keeping his indulgences secret from his father, and once again archie's ribs, with their smoothly swelling muscles under his brown skin, throbbed with amusement as he pictured his father's heroic struggle with himself. occasionally archie had doubts whether that struggle was quite consistently successful, for once or twice lord tintagel had shown signs of evening content and serenity, followed by morning shakiness, which indicated that he had made some temporary armistice. archie thought that perhaps he would lay some trap for his father, or make some quiet detective investigations to satisfy himself on this point. but beyond doubt his father was putting up quite a good fight on behalf of a non-existent cause. his will was to abstain, and, if occasionally he failed, it was unchristian to judge failure hardly. besides, archie only conjectured that sometimes his father's resolution was unequal to the strain imposed on it; he did not know. * * * * * all this week archie's sense of comradeship and brotherliness with martin had marvellously increased. there was nothing priggish or puritanical about martin, nor anything namby-pamby that suggested wings and halos and hymns. he was intensely human, and sympathized completely with the fact of archie's being a glorious young animal, bursting with exuberant health. that seemed quite clear, for when this morning, sometime about four o'clock, archie had gently let himself into the house in grosvenor square a little ashamed and weary, and went up to his bedroom, he became instantly aware that martin was waiting for him. there was no need for him to light his electric lamps, for dawn was already breaking, and, drawing his curtains apart, he threw off his clothes, so as to let the delicious chill of morning refresh his skin, and sat down for a moment in front of his dressing-table and looked fixedly at a bright point of light on the bevel of his looking-glass. almost immediately the waves of light and shadow began to pass before his eyes, and the room was full of vivid, peremptory tappings. then he was aware that there appeared in the reflected image of himself a strange luminous focus over his left breast and a little wisp of mist, like a puff of escaping steam, began to come from it. this grew and collected in wavering masses of weaving lines, formless at first, but then arranging themselves into definite shapes, and he saw, with a thrill of excitement and wonder, that out of them there was being built up the image of martin, which had issued out of himself. soon it was complete, and archie in the glass beheld martin's face leaning lovingly over his shoulder, and martin's arm bare like his own, and, warm and solid to the touch, was thrown round his neck. "archie, i've been with you all night," he said. "i love to see you and feel you realize yourself. throw yourself into life: live to the uttermost, and have no thought for the morrow. there is nothing in the world but love and joy. cling to them, press close to them, lose yourself in them..." martin's smile was compassionate no longer: it was a sunbeam of radiant happiness, and that happiness, so it seemed to archie, had its source in sympathy with and love for him. "don't ever think you are yielding to base impulses," he went on, "provided only you are happy. happiness is the seal and witness of what is right for you: it is the mark of god's approval. evil is always painful and repugnant; that is the seal and witness of it. the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace; and aren't you more at peace, more full of joy now that you have resolved to put hate out of your heart? isn't it sweeter to kiss helena than to curse her?" * * * * * suddenly, like the stroke of a black wing, there passed through archie an impulse of sheer abhorrence. all that martin said sounded divinely comforting and uplifting, but did there not lurk in it the whole gospel of satanism? and, as that thought crossed his mind, he saw an expression of the tenderest reproach dim for a moment the brightness of his brother's eyes, and the mouth drooped. "but you are tired now," said he, "and your trust in me is a little weakened. sleep well: it is dawn already." the apparition faded, or rather it appeared to be withdrawn again into himself, and, emerging from the light trance, archie was conscious only of an overpowering but delicious fatigue, the fatigue of utter satisfaction. he had had a glorious thirty-six hours, and, as martin said, he was tired. and martin approved. he slept the deep, recuperative sleep of youth for four or five hours, and awoke hungry and eager, and clear-eyed. he left town immediately after breakfast, motored himself down home with william holding on to the side of the car as he slowed round corners and came straight out to his beloved bathing-place. it was bliss to be alive. * * * * * he had not seen jessie during his short raid on london, for really there had not been a moment to spare; besides, jessie was coming down next day for the week-end. but she knew he had been in town, for helena said she had seen him, and, with her usual acuteness, had told her sister that archie was deliciously his old self again, and that they were the greatest friends. that, to jessie's very sensible judgment and to the intuition her love gave her, was the most inexplicable of developments. only a week ago there was no reproach bitter enough for archie's opinion on helena's conduct to him, no angry taunt of misery sufficient for her vilification. and then, in a moment, the whole of that bitterness had been dried up, the marah had been sweetened. more than that, the normal joy of life had returned in full flood to him, and the cause of all this was, in his account, the fact that the spirit of martin had shown him the true light. that archie possessed that mysterious, and, in her view, dangerous gift of mediumistic perception she did not doubt, for there was no questioning those weird manifestations of occult power which she knew had occurred in his childhood, and she felt now that she ought only to stand in an awed wonder and thankfulness that this supernormal perception of his had, in a moment, worked in him what could be called no less than a miracle. but, though she ought to feel that, she knew that she felt nothing of the kind, and, as she travelled down next day to lacebury, she set herself to analyse the causes of her mistrust. they were simple enough. first of all, there was her rooted antipathy to the whole notion of spirit-communication. instinctively it shocked her and seemed opposed to all religious faith. beyond that, there were but a couple of the most insignificant matters that appeared to her possibly connected with her mistrust, the one that archie had made a false, swift invention to account for the noises she had heard coming from his room, the other that he had proposed to get william to spy on his father with a view to ascertaining whether he was keeping his part of their bargain. she knew they were both tiny incidents, but the spirit that prompted them was in both cases utterly unlike archie. she could not imagine archie making such an invention or such a suggestion, from what she knew of him, it was outside him to do so. and if it was the influence--to call it no more than that--of martin which prompted these things, if it was the same direction as that which had taken away all his bitterness towards helena, what sort of influence was that? finally, could it be right that the boy whom helena had so cruelly led on only to disappoint should, on the eve of her marriage, suddenly become close friends with her again? there certainly he obeyed the precept of that which had spoken with him, and had promised to communicate again, and she could not but think it a dangerous, if not a diabolical counsel. but she tried to reserve her judgment; in a few minutes now she would see archie again, and could note what change for good or ill this week had brought. very likely she had been disquieting herself in vain, making wounds out of pin-pricks and mountains out of mole-hills. archie had come to meet her, and, as the train slowed down into the station, she saw him out of the carriage window. but he did not see her, for his eyes were intent on a very horrible sight. there were two tipsy women violently quarrelling, and, just as the train got in, they flew at each other, scratching and striking. the encounter lasted not more than a few seconds, for a couple of porters ran in and separated them, but jessie had seen archie's face alight with glee and amusement. as they were separated he frowned and shrugged his shoulders, and seemed to remonstrate with the man who had stopped their fighting. at that instant he saw her get out of her compartment, and ran to meet her, his face quite changed. but the moment before it had not been archie's face at all: it had been the face of some beautiful and devilish creature, alert with evil excitement. "hullo, jessie, there you are," he said. "it's ripping to see you. look at those two viragos there; they flew at each other like wild beasts. it was a horrible sight." he turned a sideways eye on her, cunning and watchful, which utterly belied the frankness of his speech, and her heart sank, and a vague, nameless terror seized her, as once again she found herself thinking that this was not archie, who so gaily took her bag for her, and ever and again looked back to where a small crowd had collected round the two women. they had a few minutes to wait, while her luggage was brought out, and once more he sauntered back into the station, leaving her in the car. from outside she could hear hoarse screams, and, long after her trunk had been put into the car, she watched the door for archie's exit. first one and then the other of the women were brought out to be taken to the police-station, and at last he emerged. "sorry to keep you waiting, jessie," he said. "but my mother wanted some magazine from the bookstall. now, if you aren't nervous, we'll make up for lost time." the road lay straight and empty before them, opening out like torn linen as they raced along it. some way ahead there were a couple of cottages by the road-side, and, as they came near them, there wandered out into the road an old and lame collie. instantly archie's face changed into a mask of impatient malignancy. "archie, take care," said jessie, "there's a dog on the road." "well, that's the dog's look-out," said he. "what right has a mangy brute like that to stop us?" he made no attempt whatever to slow down, but just at the last moment he caused the car to swerve violently, and they missed the dog by a hair's-breadth. and he turned on her a face from which all impatience and anger had vanished, and from it looked out archie's soul in agonized struggle. "i couldn't, i couldn't!" he said. "i didn't touch it, jessie: it's all right." "i thought you must run over it," said she. "why didn't you slow down, archie?" that glimpse of the agonized soul utterly vanished again. "people have got no business to keep a decrepit old beast like that," he said. "i expect the kindest thing i could do would be to turn round and put it out of its misery. never mind. i'll do it some other day." jessie clung to her glimpse of the other archie. "no, you won't," she said. "you'll risk your life and mine, too, not to hurt it." he laughed. "one can't tell what one will do," he said. "i hated and loathed that dog, but i couldn't run over it, when it came to. hope i didn't give you an awful shaking, jessie." after lunch archie proposed a campaign against a certain great pike which he had seen, and, while he went to his room to change his clothes, jessie paid a visit to blessington. the old lady was delighted to see her, and dusted a perfectly speckless chair for her. "and it's jolly for you, isn't it, blessington, having archie here so long?" said jessie. blessington made no answer for a moment. "i make no complaints," she said, "and i daresay master archie is very busy." "why, what do you mean?" asked the girl. blessington's wrinkled old face began to work, and she looked piteously at jessie. "it's a week since master archie set foot in my room," she said. "why does he never come to see me now, miss jessie? and when i meet him about the house, he's never got a word to give me. me, who has looked after him and loved him since he was born." at this moment archie's step was heard outside, and he came in. "oh, blessington, i wish you wouldn't go meddling with my things," he said roughly. "william tells me you took some flannels of mine away to mend or put a button on. where are they?" blessington got up without a word and went to her cupboard. "here they are, my lord," she said. "i have mended them." "well, please don't carry my clothes away again. come on, jessie. i'll be ready in a moment." blessington's hands came together with a trembling movement as archie twitched the flannel coat away from her. but he did not even look at her, and went out of her room, banging the door. blessington sat down again, and began to cry quietly. "there now, you see, miss jessie," she said. "and that's my own master archie." for a minute or so jessie sat with her, trying vainly to comfort her, and shocked beyond expression at archie's brutal callousness to his old nurse. and then the door opened again, and archie looked in. once again all his anger and impatience had died out of his face, his real soul looked from his eyes as from a prison-house, and his voice shook as he spoke. "go away, please, jessie, and leave me with blessington for a minute," he said. and then he came across the room to her, and knelt down by her, and took her withered old hand in his, and stroked it and kissed it. so much jessie saw before she closed the door behind her. "blessington, my old darling," said archie, "i can't think why i have been so beastly to you. it wasn't me, that's all i can tell you. i always love you. can you forgive me?" blessington's loyal devotion rose triumphant. "eh, i know how busy you've been, master archie," she said, "and i know what a thoughtless body i am with your things. but i'd like you to be angry with me fifty times, if you'll only come back to me at the end. there pray-a-don't kiss my hand, dear. it isn't right for you to do that." "where's your darling face then?" said archie. "if you don't give me a kiss this minute, i shall know you've been flirting with father's keeper again." blessington gave a little squeal of laughter. "eh, and him dead this twenty years," she said. "and you know, my dear, that whatever you did, and asked me to give you a kiss afterwards, give it you i would, because nothing you could do would stop my loving you." blessington's love, helena's love... which was real? two things so utterly different could not both be love. and for him, too, which love was real, his love for blessington, all ashed over save for the little spark that somehow lived below the cold cinders, or his love for helena that blazed and scintillated? suddenly the thought of that glowed within him, and it seemed dreadful to kiss this withered cheek. and yet the dim old eyes had never wavered in their loyalty and love for his worthless, corrupted self. "and shall we have a talk this evening again before dinner?" he asked. "eh, that would be nice if you're not too busy," said she. "all right, then. but i must run along now: jessie's waiting." "that'll never do to keep her waiting," said blessington. "and if you're going on the lake, master archie, pray be careful and don't fall in." * * * * * lady tintagel with jessie and archie were going up to town on monday to attend helena's wedding the day after, and all through the hours of that week-end there was piling up ever higher and more menacingly the storm that so soon was to burst upon europe in tempest of shot and shell. before they left on monday afternoon war was already declared between russia and germany, between germany and france, the territory of belgium was violated by the barbarian hordes who issued from the central empires, and belgium had appealed to england to uphold the treaty which germany had torn up to light the fires or war. but, as in so many english homes in these days, the inevitable still seemed the incredible, and, though from time to time they discussed the situation, life went on its normal course. indeed, there was nothing else to be done: whether england was going to war or not, dinner-time came round as usual... of them all, it was on lord tintagel that the suspense and anxiety beat most strongly, and that because the panic on the stock exchanges of europe threatened him with losses that might bring him within reach of ruin. but lady tintagel still clung to a baseless hope, less substantial than a mirage in the desert, that diplomacy would still avert disaster, archie went about the customary diversions of life with more than usual enjoyment and absorption, while for jessie there loomed in the immediate foreground a dread and a horror, which, though it concerned not warring millions, but just one individual, engrossed her entire soul. it was as if she saw him whom she loved with all the strength of her deep and loyal heart in danger of drowning, not in material waters that could but kill the body and set free the soul, but in some awful flooding evil which threatened to submerge and swallow the very source and spiritual life of him. and, all the time, he swam and splashed about in those waters, below which lay hell itself, with the same joyful gaiety as he used to churn his way out to sea at silorno. as by some hideous irony, the love of deep waters far from shore that all his life had possessed him, so that his physical self was at the zenith of its capacity for enjoyment when the profound gulfs were below him, and the land far off, so now evil, essential and primeval evil, had beckoned his soul out over unplumbed depths that seemed to him bright with celestial sunshine. not yet was he doomed to sink there, though she guessed, as in a nightmare, in what deadly peril he stood, for now and again some inkling of that which menaced him reached his true self, and he turned back with shuddering and contrition from some evil prompting. all the time this betrayed itself to jessie in things that might so reasonably have been called mere trifles. an impatient, impetuous boy, as archie undoubtedly was, might so naturally have lost his temper with a decrepit old dog which strayed on to the path of his flying car, and made him say that it would be the kindest thing to run over it. that same boy might so naturally have felt an unedifying curiosity in two drunken women fighting together, or have reasonably been annoyed when, in a hurry to change his clothes, he found that his old nurse had taken them away. indeed, it was the strength of his own reaction against such impulses that showed how alien he knew them to be to his real self. but her own feeling about them was the final test, for she knew it was based on the infallible intuition of her love for him. it was impossible that that should be mistaken, and it told her that it was not archie at all who had committed these acts, which might be trifling in themselves, but, like wisps of cloud in the sky, showed which way the great winds were blowing. and on the top of these was something which jessie could not conceive of as being a trifle, namely, archie's complete reconciliation with her sister. she could not believe that it was a noble impulse which prompted that, and extinguished his bitter resentment against her as easily as a candle is blown out. he was right to be bitter against her, and the love, with which he seemed inspired again, was not love at all. but he believed that this desire was love, and according to his account it was the spirit of martin which had taught him that and opened his blinded eyes. it was martin, then, who possessed him. and that, to jessie, was the most incredible of all. it was not, and it could not be, martin. she sat by her open window that sunday night, wishing that she could think that some madness had fallen upon her, which caused her to conceive such inconceivable things. archie's laugh still sounded in her ears, gay and boyish, as she had heard it but two minutes before she came up to bed. and she shuddered at the cause of it. once again, she and archie had strolled out after dinner, and, on passing the windows of his father's study, their steps noiseless on the grass, archie had laid his hand on her arm with a gesture to command silence, and had tiptoed with her across the gravel to his father's windows. lord tintagel was inside, and, even as they looked, he took a bottle out of which he had been pouring something, and locked it up in a cupboard. archie turned a face beaming with merriment on her. "come in," he whispered, "to say good-night. leave it all to me. it will be huge fun." he waited a moment, and began talking loudly to her on some indifferent subject for a few seconds. the he said: "come and say good-night to my father, jessie," and they entered together. lord tintagel was seated in his chair by this time: there was just one empty glass on the tray, with a syphon, and no sign of a second one. archie began walking up and down the room, his eyes looking swiftly and stealthily in every direction. "jessie and i have just come in to say good-night," he said. "we're all going up to town to-morrow. won't you really come, father?" "i've already said i won't," said lord tintagel sharply. archie suddenly saw what he had been looking for. "hullo, here's a funny thing," he said. "here's a glass on the floor." he picked it up, smelled it, and burst into a peal of laughter. "father, it's too bad of you!" he said. "there have i been keeping our bargain, while you--" he broke off, laughing again. "no, i'll confess," he said, "because i'm so pleased at having found you out. i've been having some quiet drinks up in my bedroom while you've been doing the same down here. what did you do with your bottles? i put mine in the lake. i say, that is funny, isn't it? but it's rather unsociable. let's follow germany's example, and call our treaty waste paper." and archie had laughed over that miserable sordid exposure, just as light-heartedly as he had laughed over the jolly innocent humours at silorno, and, sick at heart, jessie had left the two together with the bottle which there was no need to conceal any more. she sat long at her window in a miserable state of horror and fear and agitation, now trying to persuade herself that she was taking these things too heavily--helena had always told her she took things heavily--now letting her fears issue in terrible cohort and looking them in the face. it was her powerlessness to help that most tortured her, her fate of having to stand and watch while archie pushed out ever farther, with delight and joy, on to the perilous seas. but now there was to her a reality about it all which she had never wholly felt before. often she had told herself that she was imagining perils, but to-night, in the darkness and the quiet, she felt herself face to face with the grim, deadly facts. spiritual and ghostly enemies were about, and next moment she had slid on to her knees. no words came: she tried just to open her heart to that light that surely shone through the evil that swarmed about her. something, ever so faint, glimmered there, and presently she rose again with her soul fixed on that little spark shining within her. in any case, she must make every effort to help, instead of succumbing to her sense of powerlessness. at that moment she heard light, swift footsteps on the stairs, and instantly her mind was made up, and she came out into the broad passage just as archie was opposite her door. his face was eager and alert; there was no trace of intoxication there. "hullo, jessie," he said, smiling. "not gone to bed yet?" she had to be wise: mere helpless prayer would avail nothing if she did not exert herself and make use of her wits and her love. "no: i didn't feel sleepy," she said. "you don't look sleepy either. are you going to bed?" "no, not yet," said archie. jessie came a step closer to him. "oh, archie, are you going to talk to martin?" she asked. "mayn't i come? i should so love to, for i know all that martin means to you. you know i did hear him talking to you before. it would be lovely if i could hear you talking together, so that i knew what he said." archie looked at her. "well, i don't know why not," he said. "but you must promise not to interrupt. perhaps you'll neither hear nor see anything. but i don't see why you shouldn't try. it's just a seance. come along, jessie." he led the way into his bedroom, and shut the door. "i shall really rather like you to be here," he said. "i'm glad you suggested it. for now and then i go into very deep trance, and then i can't remember what exactly has happened. i only know that there has been round me an atmosphere--to call it that--in which i glow and expand. sometimes i rather think i struggle and groan: you mustn't mind that. it's only the protest of my material earthly self. come on: let's begin. i long for martin to come." jessie felt her dread and horror of the occult surge up in her, and it required all her resolution to remain here. but the call of her love was imperative: if she was to be permitted to help archie at all, she must learn what it was that possessed him, and find means to combat it. she had to know first what it was, penetrate, so far as her love had power, into the source of it, diagnose it, if she was to help in curing. "what are you going to do?" she said. "it's very simple; you'll soon see. sit down, jessie." he went to the window and drew aside the curtains. he put on the table in front of where he was to sit the silver top of some toilet-bottle, and then went to the door and turned out all the electric lights at the switch-board. the moonlight outside, without shining directly into the room, made the objects in it clearly though duskily visible, and jessie, where she sat with her back to the light, could see archie's face and outline, when her eyes got accustomed to the dimness, quite distinctly. he sat close to her at the end of the writing-table, and just in front of him glimmered the stopper from the toilet-bottle. "now i'm going to look at that till i go off into trance," he said. "watch what happens very closely, for i may go into deep trance, and promise me not to move till i come round again. i daresay you will neither hear nor see anything, but i don't know." for some few minutes, as far as the girl could judge, they sat in silence. once or twice archie shifted his position slightly, and she heard his shirt-front creak a little as he breathed quietly and normally. outside a little wind stirred, and the tassel of the blind tapped against the sill. then there came a change: his breathing grew louder, as if he panted for air, and now and again he moaned, and she saw his head drop forward. this moaning sound was horrible to hear, and, but for her promise, and the insistent urging of her love, she must have got up and roused him. his breath whistled between his lips as he took it in, and his face seemed to be shining with some dew of anguish, and his arms twisted and writhed as if struggling against some overmastering force. then suddenly all sign of struggle ceased, he sat bent forward, but perfectly still, and from the table in front of him came three loud, peremptory raps, as of splitting wood. from the dusk of the room came others which she could not localize. archie raised his head, and, instead of leaning over the table, sank back in his chair, his arms hanging limp by his side. he began to whisper to himself, and soon jessie caught the words. "martin, are you here?" he kept repeating. "martin, are you here? martin, martin?" there was more light in the room now. it came from a pale greyish efflorescence of illumination, globular in shape, that lay apparently over his left breast. it made its immediate neighbourhood quite bright: she could see the stud in his shirt with absolute distinctness. out of it there came a little wisp of mist that floated up like a stream of smoke above his shoulders. in the air there, independently of this, there was forming another mist-like substance, and the stream that came away from archie seemed to join this. it began to take shape: it spread upwards and downwards into the semblance of a column, its edges losing themselves in the dark. lines began to be interwoven within it: it was as if something was forming inside it, like a chicken in an egg. it lost its vagueness of outline, plaiting and weaving itself together: there appeared an arm bare to the shoulder; above that she could see a neck, and slowly above the neck there grew a smiling, splendid face. there seemed to be a grey robe cast about the body, from which the bare arm protruded, but much of this was vague. jessie felt as if some awful paralysis of terror lay over her spirit. the whole room, cool and fresh with the night-air passing through the open window, reeked, to her spiritual sense, with evil and unnameable corruption. over her conscious superficial self, the mechanism that directed her limbs and worked in her brain, she had complete control: for archie's sake she was learning about this hellish visitor who came to him. but within, her soul cried out in a horror of uttermost darkness. then her will took hold of that too: whatever god permitted must be faced for the sake of love. just then archie spoke in an odd muffled voice. "i'm going very deep," he said. "but, martin, you've made me so happy all day. you've hardly left me at all. you're getting to be part of me, aren't you? let's talk about helena. i say, she is a devil, isn't she?" jessie had not known that anything could be so horrible as the smiling face that the apparition bent on him. "but you've ceased hating her," it said. "you love her, don't you? always cling to love!" "i know, i adore her. i believe she loves me too." he laughed and licked his lips and his voice sank, so that jessie could catch no word of what he said. but he spoke for a long time, laughing occasionally, and making horrible little movements with his arms as if he clasped something. now and then he would perhaps ask a question, for in the same inaudible manner the apparition answered him, laughing sometimes in response. once or twice in that devilish colloquy she caught a word or two of hideous and carnal import, and her sickened love nearly withered within her. but because love is immortal, and cannot perish though all the blasts of hell rage against it, it still stood firm, though scorched and beaten upon. if she let it die, she felt that she would be no better than that visible incarnation of evil that smiled and bent over archie. presently that devilish whispering ceased, and she saw that the apparition was beginning to lose its clearness of outline. slowly it began to disintegrate into the weavings of mist out of which it came, and archie said, "good-bye, martin, but not for long." some of these streamers seemed to disperse in the air, others, like an eddying water-spout, seemed to draw back into that focus of light which lay over archie's breast. then that too began to fade, and in the stillness and quiet she again heard the creaking of his shirt as he lay back in his chair with closed eyes. then the struggles and moanings, the writhings of his arms began again, and again subsided, and he lay quite still. outside the night-wind stirred and dropped. then archie spoke in a tired, husky voice. "hullo, jessie," he said, "it's all over. by jove, it was ripping. but i went awfully deep. i can remember nothing after martin came. what did he say?" jessie got up. "i heard hardly anything," she said. "he spoke in whispers, and so did you." "did you see him?" asked archie. "yes, quite clearly. but i think i'll go to bed now. you look very tired." he had got up and turned on the electric light, and stood by the door rubbing his eyes. "yes, i am tired," he said, "but i'm divinely happy. tell me to-morrow whatever you can remember. good-night, jess. you are a good sort." he detained her hand for a moment. "we're cousins, jess," he said, "and you're an awfully good friend. won't you give me a kiss?" for one second she shrank from him in nameless horror. the next she put it all from her, for her shrinking, no angel of the lord, but a weak, cowardly impulse, stood full in the path of love, and while it was there she could not reach archie. "why, of course," she said, kissing him. "good-night, archie; sleep well." she went to her room, and turned on all the lights. she felt as if she had been assisting at some unclean orgy, she felt tainted and defiled by the very presence of that white evil thing that had stood close to her, and whispered and laughed with archie. as yet she had but looked on it; what lay in front of her was to grapple with it and tear it out of the tabernacle which it had begun to inhabit. as far as she could understand the situation, it was not wholly in possession as yet, for part of it, when it materialized, seemed to form itself in the air, and part only to ooze out of its victim. through what adventures and combats her way should take her she could form no conception, but what she had gained to-night, which was worth a hundred times the sickness and horror of her soul, was the certain knowledge that some spirit of discarnate evil was making its home in her beloved. it had usurped the guise of martin, it masqueraded as martin, archie thought it was martin. she remembered how, just a week ago, he had told her that he was like an empty house, denuded of the spirit that dwelt there, a living corpse by which he asked her to sit sometimes. at the time that had seemed to her just the figure by which he expressed the desolation of his heart; now it revealed itself as a true and literal statement. and there had begun to enter into him, as tenant of the uninhabited rooms, the horror that she had seen. jessie fell on her knees by her bedside, and opened her heart to the infinite love. it was through its aid alone that she would be able to accomplish the rescue for which she was willing to give her life and soul. chapter xii archie was walking back to the house in grosvenor square from oakland crescent, on the afternoon of helena's wedding. owing to the acute suspense of the european situation, the plans of the newly married couple had been changed, and, instead of setting off at once in the yacht for a month in the norwegian fjords, they had gone to a house of lord harlow's in surrey to await developments in the crisis or some kind of settlement. it was still uncertain whether england would be drawn into the war, though opinion generally regarded that as inevitable, and in this case no doubt lord harlow, an ex-guardsman, would rejoin his regiment. archie's mother, after the departure of the bridal couple, had also left town for lacebury, taking with her jessie and colonel vautier for a few days' visit; but archie had decided to stop another night in london. there had been the usual crowds and chatterings and excitement, the front pew kept for a princess, the signing of names in the vestry, the red carpets and wedding-marches, and the whole ceremony had filled archie with the greatest amusement. but the subsequent proceedings had not amused him so much, and helena's departure, looking prettier than ever, with her husband, had annoyed and exasperated him. he did not like to think of them together, and, though only a couple of nights ago he and martin had found good cause for whispers and laughter over this, it was not so diverting when it actually occurred as it had promised to be. part of that midnight seance which he could not at first remember had found its way into his conscious mind, and he knew that had been talked about, and had ascertained, with considerable relief, that jessie had not been able to hear it. but now there was a savage bitterness in his mind about it; helena seemed to have played him false again. she ought to have refused to marry the bradshaw at the last moment, and it was an ineffectual balm to know she did not care for him. perhaps, as jessie had once said (though withdrawing it afterwards), she cared for nobody, but now archie believed that she cared for him. it maddened him to think that she was the bradshaw's "abc," and in those circumstances he had judged it better to remain in town for the night, and distract his mind and soothe his longings with the amusement and aids to forgetfulness which london was so ready to offer to a young man who was looking for adventures. but london proved disappointing: it did not seem to be thinking of its amusements at all. archie called to see a friend who last week had shown himself an eager and admirable companion, but, found him to-day disinclined for another night of similar diversion, for he could neither think nor talk about anything else than the imminence of war. archie felt himself quite incapable of taking any active interest in that; it weighted nothing in the balance compared with the stern duty of seeking enjoyment and forgetting about helena. what if england did go to war with germany? certainly he hoped she would not; she had made no more than a friendly understanding with her allies--indeed they were not even allies, they were but well-disposed nations--but, even if she did, what then? there was an english fleet, was there not, which cost an immense amount of money to render invincible; but it was invincible. why, then, should he bother about it, since he was not a sailor? it was further supposed that germany had an invincible army; and there you were! and if england had no army at all to speak of, it was quite clear she could no more fight germany on land than germany could fight her by sea. so what on earth prevented a little dinner at a restaurant and an hour at a music-hall and a little supper somewhere and anything that turned up? something always turned up, and was usually amusing for an hour or two. but his friend thought otherwise, and kept diving out into the street to get some fresh edition of an evening paper hot from the press and crammed with fresh inventions, and archie left this insane patriot in disgust at his excitement over so detached an affair as a european war. he tried a second friend with no better success; there was a certain excuse for him, as he was a subaltern in the guards. but for the first friend there was none, as he was only in an office in the city. there were still four or five hours to get through before it would be reasonable to think about dinner, after which, even if he started alone, the hours would take care of themselves very pleasantly; but he had to fill the interval somehow. there were some proofs of his book waiting for him at home, and, hoping to get interested in this first-born public child of his brain, he sat down with a view to correcting them. but he found himself reading the pages as if there was nothing intelligible printed on them. true, if he forced himself to attend, he could see that grammatical sentences succeeded each other; but they conveyed no further impression. there was a lot about the sea, but why on earth had he taken the trouble to write it? he could remember writing it; he could call up an image of himself sitting in the garden at silorno, eagerly writing, conscientiously erasing, walking up and down in the attempt to frame a phrase that should exactly reproduce some mood of his mind. but what had inspired those strivings and despairs and exultations? here was the record of them, and it seemed now to be about nothing. "the rain in the night had washed the white soil into the rim of the sea, and it was clouded like absinthe." he could well remember the search for, and the finding of that particular simile. he and harry had been into genoa a week before, and, out of curiosity, had ordered absinthe at a cafe. the drink, _qua_ drink, was mildly unpleasant, resembling aniseed, but it had been worth while having it, merely to have got that perfectly fitting simile. the effect, too, had been rather remarkable; it produced a sort of heady lightness and sense of well-being; colours seemed strangely vivid and intensified, and... archie got up from his meaningless proofs. it was absinthe that would help him to fill up those dull hours till dinner-time, and he remembered having seen in some little french restaurant in soho the stuff he wanted. very likely you could get it anywhere, but he wanted it from that particular place, for there had come in one evening, when he dined there, a most melancholy-looking person who had ordered it and sat and sipped. somehow the man's face had made an impression on him, so unhappy was it. he remembered also his face half an hour afterwards, when he began his dinner, and no serener, more contented countenance could have been imagined... so he must have his absinthe from that restaurant; clearly they had a very good brand of it there. as he drove out alone that evening to dine, he heard the newsvenders shouting out the english ultimatum to germany, and saw the placards in the streets. the shouting sounded wonderfully musical, and below the roar of the street traffic was a muffled harmony as of pealing bells. the drab colours of london were shot with prismatic hues; never had the streets appeared so beautiful. there was even beauty in the fact of the outbreak of war, for england was going to war for the sake of liberty, which was a fine, a noble adventure. and how lovely the english girls and boys were, who crowded the pavements! they were like beds of exquisite flowers. for himself, he was going back to dine at the french restaurant in soho, for that would be in the nature of supporting our new allies. afterwards there were the streets and the music-halls, and all the mysteries of the short summer night. then dawn would break, rose-coloured dawn, with her finger on her lips, and sweet, silent mouth, a little ashamed of her sister, night, but sympathetic at heart. dawn was always a little prudish, a little quakerish. * * * * * the days of a divine august went by, and the line of german invasion swept forward like a tide that knows no ebb over all belgium and north-east france. the british expeditionary force started, and was swept back like the flotsam on the seashore. the call came for the raising of an army, and east and west, north and south, the recruiting offices were like choked waterways, and still the flood of men, in whose hearts the fact of england had awoke, poured in. hospitals were gorged with the returning wounded; women by the hundred and by the thousand volunteered as nurses, and went to hospitals to be trained. the whole of comfortable england, intent hitherto on its sports, its leisure, its general superiority to the rest of the world, suddenly became aware that an immense and vital danger threatened it. a chorus of objurgation arose from the brazen-throated press, each organ striving to shout the loudest, at the unpreparedness of the country, and much valuable energy was spent in headlines and recriminations. there was a shortage of guns, a shortage of ammunition, a shortage of everything which constitutes the sinews of war. the only thing of which there was not a shortage was of those who threw aside all other considerations, such as income and secure living and life itself, and gave themselves to assist, in what manner they could, the cause for which england had gone to war. to archie this all seemed a very hysterical and uncomfortable attack of nerves. in several ways it affected him personally, for william, than whom there was no more reliable servant, was among the first to leave his well-paid situation and present himself at a recruiting office. archie hated that: there would be the nuisance of getting a new servant, who did not know where precisely he ought to put archie's tooth-powder, and how to arrange his clothes. william had announced the fact too, in the suddenest of manners; he brought it out as he brought in archie's morning tea. "and if you can spare me at once, my lord," he said, "i had better go on saturday." archie felt peculiarly devilish that morning; it rained, and the absinthe that should have arrived last night had not come. "i think it's very inconsiderate of you, william," he said. "but i suppose you expect to get on well, and draw higher pay than you get here. so i shall have to raise your wages. all right; i'll give you a pound a month more, and don't let me hear any more about it." he knew perfectly well that this was not william's reason, but it amused him to suggest it. he wanted to see how william would take it. the fact that he knew that the man was devoted to him made the point. william busied himself with razors and tooth-brushes, replying nothing. "can't you hear what i say?" asked archie, pouring himself out his tea. william faced round. "yes, master archie," he said. "i heard. but i knew you didn't mean that. you know how i've served you and worked for you all these years. you would scorn to think that of me, i should say." archie had noticed the "master archie" instead of "my lord"; both william and blessington often forgot that he was "my lord," and it always used to please him that to the sense of love he was still a young boy. and, in spite of his irritation and peevish morning temper, it touched some part of him that still loved below the corruption that was spreading over him like some jungle-growing lichen. but he had to force his way through that to reply. "you must do as you think right, william," he said. william had finished the arrangements of his dressing, and stood for a moment by his bedside with archie's evening clothes bundled on to his arm. "yes, master archie," he said. "and you'll be joining up too before long, won't you? i should dearly love to be your soldier-servant, sir, if you could manage it." all archie's ill-humour returned at that unfortunate suggestion. "perhaps you had better not be impertinent," he said. "that'll do." william's face fell. "i had no thought of impertinence, my lord," he said. "i only thought--" "i told you that would do," said archie. * * * * * three days afterwards william left. he came to say good-bye to archie, who did not look up from the paper he was reading. archie was suffering inconvenience from his departure, and this was the best way of making william feel it. but when the door had shut again, and william was gone, he felt a sudden horror of the thing that seemed to be himself, and he ran out, and called william back. all these days he had not had a word or kindly gesture for him... "good-bye, william," he said. "i wish you all good luck. i've treated you like a beast these last days, and i'm awfully sorry. you're the best fellow a man could have, and you must try to forget the horrid way i've behaved." william stood with his hand in archie's for a moment. "you're always my master archie, sir," he said. * * * * * well, there was an end of william: before he had got back to his paper again archie wondered what had possessed him to throw a kind word to a dog like that, who had left him at three days' notice to join this ridiculous military conspiracy. william did not care how much he inconvenienced archie, who had always treated him more like a subordinate friend than a servant. he had helped william in a hundred ways: had given him old clothes, had constantly asked after his mother, had left his letters about for william to read if he chose. it seemed rank treachery... others were treacherous too; his mother, for instance, was immediately going up to town, to take charge of the house in grosvenor square, which was to be turned into a hospital for wounded officers. she was to become a sort of housekeeper, so archie figured it, and merely superintend domestic arrangements. she would have nothing to do with the nursing and the surgery, which had a certain fascination... he could picture a sort of pleasure in seeing a man's leg cut off, or in standing by while doctors pulled bandages off festering wounds. to feel well and strong while others were suffering had an intelligible interest: to witness decay and corruption and pain was a point that appealed to him now. but lady tintagel was going to do nothing of the sort: she was just going to be a housekeeper. it was very selfish of her; archie would certainly want, from time to time, to go up to town and spend a night or two there, and now he would have to go to a hotel or a club, instead of profiting by the spacious privacy of his father's house. charity begins at home; and his mother had started charity on most extraneous lines. jessie had followed this lead, "the lead of so-called trumps," as archie framed a private phrase. she would start by being not even a housekeeper, but a sort of kitchen-maid at the same hospital. she had an insane desire to work, to do something that cost her something, instead of engaging a kitchen-maid, and paying her wages to go to some hospital or other. there was a craze for "personal service," instead of getting other people to do work for you, if you felt work had to be done. people wanted to "do their bit," to employ an odious expression which was beginning to obtain currency. the nation was going to be mobilized; hand and heart had to serve some vague national idea. occasionally, as on the night when war was declared, archie saw an aesthetic beauty in the notion of upholding rights and liberties; but he had not then reckoned with the fact that personal inconvenience might result from that quixotic revolution. quixotism was fine in theory, but it was a dream, not to be encouraged in waking hours, when far more important and realizable commodities, like whisky and absinthe, engaged the true attention. but, whoever else was treacherous, his father at least was loyal, and showed no sign of becoming a butler or a footman, to correspond with his wife and jessie. occasionally some grave report concerning the german advance through belgium used to reach his brain, and he would walk up and down his room in the evening with a martial tread, and a glance at a sword that hung above his writing-table, and wish he was younger and able to "have a go" at those invading locusts. but invariably this mood, which was always short, was succeeded by another, not bellicose but domestic. "this damned war is going to break up home-life in england," he would say, "and i've no doubt that was what the germans aimed at. and they're succeeding too. look at this house: there's you mother going to leave us, and there's helena's husband expecting every day to be sent to france, and there's jessie leaving her father to wash up dishes. what's going to become of our english homes if that goes on?--for, mark you, they are the root of our national life. it's digging up the trees' roots to break up english homes. you and i, archie, are the only ones who are staunch to our homes. pass me that bottle, will you?" "may i help myself on the way?" said archie. "yes, of course, my dear boy. i say, it was a funny state of things when you and i used to have our evening drinks alone, instead of enjoying them and chatting over them together. your man, william, too, he's gone and enlisted, hasn't he? the old bulwarks of england are going fast: the homes are being broken up, and the very servants come and go as they choose. an establishment was an establishment in the old days: it all stood and fell together, if you see what i mean. but i wish i was young enough to have a go at the boches." "i'm thinking of going," archie would say, merely in order to enjoy his father's reply. "well, in my opinion, you'll be doing a very wrong thing, then," said lord tintagel. "i hope you won't seriously think of that. i tell you your duty is here, with your poor old father. when i'm gone you may do what you please, and i daresay you won't have very long to wait. but, while i'm here, i hope you'll remember that they say in church 'honour thy father and thy mother.' you can't go behind the commandments, or the psalms, whichever it is." but these sessions in lord tintagel's room of an evening, with the liquid in the decanter sinking steadily like a well in time of drought, were becoming rather tedious to archie. since his discovery of absinthe they had even become rather gross, and he congratulated himself on having seen the sordidness of mere swilling. that sort of thing was only fit for coarse, rough tastes; it seemed to him to lack all delicacy and aesthetic value, and he often left his father, who congratulated him on his abstemiousness after no more than a friendly glass of good fellowship, and went upstairs to his room to enjoy subtler and more refined sensations. indeed, his chief interest in that half-hour or so in his father's room was derived from the sight of his father's heavy potations, the struggle of his maundering thoughts to emerge into language, much as a tilted half-moon struggles to pierce the flying clouds on some tempestuous night. the sight of his father's deterioration and gradual wreck somehow fascinated him; there was decay and corruption there, and those no longer aroused in him that horror with which in dream he had observed the emergence of the writhing worms from the white statue of helena. such things were no longer disgusting and repulsive: they claimed kinship with something in his soul that was very potent. once martin had alluded to that vision as a warning, and he had not taken that warning, in consequence of which he had passed an utterly miserable month after helena's rejection of him. now values had altogether changed: decay no longer revolted him. but, with a hypocrisy that had become characteristic of him, he told himself that the sight of his father's nightly intoxication was a lesson to himself. he must observe that degrading spectacle, and learn from it what the result of too much whisky was. and then he retired to his bedroom to think it over as he sipped the clouded aroma of his absinthe. jessie came down for another week-end before she took her kitchen-maid situation, and brought the news that a fresh draft of lord harlow's regiment was ordered to the front, and that he would leave for france within the next day or two. archie felt a wild desire to laugh, to skip, to show his intense appreciation of these tidings. but he remembered that jessie was not his confidante to that extent, and checked his exuberant inclination. "poor helena!" he said, with an accent of great sincerity. "she must be broken-hearted. why, they've only been married a fortnight, if as much." it was excellently said, and jessie felt she would have shown herself an infidel, with regard to the general decency of the human race, if she had not accepted those words with the sincerity with which they surely must have been uttered. she resolutely put away from her all those misgivings that had assailed her when first she knew of archie's changed attitude towards her sister. "you have been a brick about helena," she said. "i want to tell you that. your forgiveness of the way she treated you seems to me beyond all praise." "oh, nonsense," said he lightly. "besides, it was so dreadfully uncomfortable being always angry and miserable. martin showed me that. but about helena: how is she bearing it?" it was now jessie's turn to be obliged to cloak her meaning. "very calmly and bravely," she said. "she would," said archie enthusiastically. "one always felt there was a steel will behind all helena's gentleness. what will she do, do you think? would she perhaps like to come down here? there isn't much to offer her, but then london in august doesn't offer much either." suddenly all jessie's mistrust stirred and erected itself. she could not believe that this scheme, which would throw helena and archie completely together, could be made with the apparent innocence with which it was put forward. how was it possible that archie, who so few weeks ago was in such depths of misery and bitterness, could honourably suggest so dangerous a plan? it could not be archie who suggested it: it came from that smiling white presence which she had seen in his room not many nights ago. and it was just that which she could not say to him. "it's nice of you to think of that," she said. "not a bit: it would be nice for me, not nice of me. and besides," he added, with an amazing cynicism, "it would be my way of 'doing my bit,' which everybody is talking about, if i could make things cheerfuller for pretty women like poor helena, whose husband has gone out to fight." the moment he had said it he was sorry. but for the moment he had forgotten he was speaking to jessie: the sentence had come out of his mouth as if he was but talking to himself. also it introduced the suggestion of his own forbearance to enlist. there was a rather awkward silence, and he felt irritated with jessie for not changing the subject which he had so incautiously brought forward. but that was like her. she had no tact in such matters, refusing to be insincere, when insincerity was so simple a matter. his irritation grew on him, and at the same time he wanted to know what jessie thought of his remaining inertly here, while all his contemporaries were enlisting. why he wanted to know he did not define: the motive perhaps belonged to the time when jessie had been so good a friend, and perhaps he knew that she was so still. "or do you think that i ought to behave like william, and serve my country?" he asked. jessie sat with eyes downcast for a moment. then she raised them and looked him in the face, with all her affection and sincerity alight in them. "do you really want to know what i think, archie?" she asked. "certainly i do." "well, i can't understand your not doing it," she said. "at the same time, i think it is a matter about which you must decide for yourself." the sincerity of his manner equalled hers. he never spoke with more apparent frankness. "shall i tell you why i don't?" he said. "it's this. do you remember one night our finding that my father was breaking the contract he made with me about drinking? do you remember how sordid and horrible the discovery was?" jessie remembered quite well how archie had laughed at it. "i remember the evening," she said. "well, we've renewed our contract," said he, "and i'm the only person in the world who can keep my father to it. if i left him he would drink himself to death. where, then, do you think my duty lies, jessie? isn't it clearly for me to save my father? can there be a more obvious duty than that? do you think i have a very delightful life down here, all alone with him? wouldn't it be vastly easier for me to join my friends and go out alongside of them? i know my conduct lays me open to misconception, but i must be thick-skinned over that. but i hope you won't misjudge me. besides, my father has said that he forbids me to go. of course i could leave him; he doesn't lock me up. but i can't see how i should be right in leaving him. i'm the one anchor he has left." he paused a moment, thinking over, with that stupendous swiftness of brain that was the result of martin's inspiration, all he had said, and remembered his light cynicism with regard to his "bit." "i know i rather shocked you just now," he said, "when i spoke of its being 'my bit' to console pretty women whose husbands had gone out. but sometimes one has to be flippant to conceal one's real thoughts on a serious subject, for i did not foresee then that we should talk it out. so there's the end of that jest." so that had been a jest, not to be taken seriously. but it was a grimmer affair for jessie not to be able to take seriously archie's seriousness. for a moment the frankness of his manner had convinced her, but very soon her conviction collapsed like a house of cards as he went on speaking. the horribleness of the discovery of his father's drinking, for instance, when what she remembered was archie's laughter! if he could say that, what credence could possibly be placed in the picture he had drawn of himself as his father's last hope? or what in the image of himself as one who must silently bear cruel misconception? she could believe none of it... yet it was not the archie whom she loved with all the sweetness and strength of her nature who spoke, but the thing that was possessing him and filling his soul from the reservoir of some immense abyss of pure evil. she felt sure she did not misjudge him; true and infinitely tragic was her comprehension. "it is entirely for you to decide, archie," she said. "i think i fully appreciate the worth of your reasons." indeed, she knew not what else to say, though the bitter doubleness of her words cut her to the heart. but, if she could help archie at all, she must at all costs retain such confidence as he gave her, must not give him the chance of quarrelling with her. to her great relief, he seemed to accept the literal value of her words, and took her arm. and this time she felt in her soul that there was sincerity in his speech. "you are a good friend, jessie," he said. "don't give me up, will you?" "i couldn't," she said quietly. * * * * * they were strolling together by the edge of the lake in the hour of sunset, and jessie, though sick at heart and tortured by the weight of her forebodings, and the tempest of fire and blood which had burst on europe, yet tried to open her heart to the sweet spell of the tranquil evening. somewhere behind the cloud of evil which had so suddenly taken shape in that host of barbarians who already had overrun belgium, and which, no less, was invading the spirit of the boy she loved with the uttermost fibre of her being, there shone the eternal serenity of omnipotent mercy. but he dealt through human means; it was through those who had left love and home and ease behind them to perish in france that that torrent would be stayed, and through her, though in ways she could not conjecture, would come the delivery of her beloved. and in the rose-flecked sky, the leafy towers of the elms, the bosom of the lake, that power also dwelt, no less than in the hearts that yearned for its presence and its manifestation. as in a glass darkly she beheld its reflection, which nothing could ever shatter. of that she must never lose sight, nor cease to keep her inward eye fixed on the gleam, which some day would signal to her. about a week later archie was spending a delectable morning at the bathing-place. never had there been so superb an imitation of italian weather in england as this year, and day after day went by in unclouded brightness and strong, fresh heat. in those delightful conditions it had been perfectly easy for him to take his mind completely away from the war, and the misconceptions which he was possibly suffering under. he gave every morning but the briefest glance to the paper, for there was a tiresome uniformity about the news, and a monotonous regularity about the daily map, which marked the progress of the german line across north-east france. he gave hardly more thought to helena, who seemed to think it more appropriate to stay in london with her father, just for the present, but had written the most characteristic of letters, saying how sweet archie's sympathy was to her, and how acute her anxiety concerning her husband. certainly at the moment this was the right attitude to take, and archie really did not much care whether she was here with him or not, for he had found his way into the paradise that forms the portico of the palace where the absinthe-drinker dwells, and not yet had he penetrated into the halls of hell that lie beyond. his pleasure in the fact of being alive, in the colours of morning and evening, in the touch of cool waters, in the whispering of wind among the firs, were quickened to an inconceivable degree; it was impossible to want anything except the privilege of enjoying this amazing thrill of existence. and with it there had returned to him the need of expressing himself in writing; a new aspect of the world had been revealed to him, and without struggle, but with an even-flowing pen he set himself to record it, in veiled phrases and descriptions through which, as in chinks of light seen at the edges of drawn blinds, there came hints and suggestions of the fresh world that had dawned on him. where before it was the clear stainlessness of the sea, the purifying breath of great winds that had been his theme, now instead the satyr crouched in the bushes, the snake lay coiled in the heather. it was from the slime and mud and from among blind crawling things that the water-lily sprang, and where before the enchantment of life moved him, he felt now only the call of putrefaction and decay. the lethal side of the created world had become exquisite in his eyes, and the beauty of it was derived from its everlasting corruption, not from the eternal upspringing of life. lust, not love, was the force that kept it young, and renewed it so that the harvest of its decay should never ceased to be reaped. his mind had become a mirror that distorted into grotesque and evil shapes every image of beauty that was reflected in it, and rejoiced in them; it seemed to him that all nature, as well as all human motive, was based upon this exquisite secret that he had discovered. but it would never do to state it with what he considered the bald realism of those ludicrous sea-pieces he had written at silorno; he must wrap his message up in a sort of mystic subtlety so that only those who had implanted in them the true instinct should be able to fill their souls with the perfume of his flowers. others might guess and wonder and be puzzled, and perhaps see so far as to put down his book with disgust that was still half incredulous; but only the initiated would be able to grasp wholly the message that lurked in his hints and allusions. his style, underneath this new inspiration, had developed into an instrument of marvellous beauty, and often, when he had written a page or two, he would read it out aloud to himself, in wonder at that exquisite diction, and all the time he felt that he was reading aloud to martin, and that martin had dictated to him. he was employed thus on this particular morning down at the bathing-place. he had already had a long swim, and, without dressing, lay down on the short turf and got out his writing-pad, when his new servant, who had taken william's place, came down with a telegram for him. he was a very good-looking boy, quick in movement and swift to smile, and already archie wondered how he could have regretted the departure of plain middle-aged william. only last evening archie, idly glancing through a field-glass, had seen the boy far off in the meadow beyond the lake in company with an extremely pretty housemaid whom he had often noticed about the passages. the two had sat there some time talking, and then archie saw the boy look quickly round, and kiss her. he liked that immensely; that was the way youth should behave. he almost hoped that it was thomas who had taken from his table one of those new ten-shilling notes that he had missed. he mustn't do it too often, for that would be a bore; but archie liked to think the boy had taken it, and perhaps converted it into a decoration for the pretty housemaid. anyhow, thomas, with his handsome face and his kissings in the meadow, and his possible pilferings, was an attractive boy, and clearly developing along the right lines. the boy hesitated a moment, seeing archie dripping and naked. "i beg your pardon, my lord," he said, "but there came a telegram for you, and i thought i had better bring it down." "certainly, but why beg my pardon?" said archie. "don't be prudish. i daresay you've got arms and legs as well as me, haven't you?" thomas grinned with that odd shy look that archie had noticed before. "yes, my lord," he said. "then what is there to be ashamed of?" archie opened the telegram and read it, and suddenly bit his lip to prevent his laughing. "is there an answer, my lord?" asked the boy. "i brought a form down in case." "well done. yes, there is an answer." archie hesitated a moment before directing the form to helena. then he wrote: "deepest sympathy with the terrible news. command me in all ways. your devoted archie." "send that at once, will you?" he said. when the boy had gone archie read the telegram again, which was from jessie, and told him that lord harlow had been killed at the front. then he smothered his face in his bent elbow, and lay shaking with laughter. chapter xiii on a september morning, some fortnight later, archie was waiting in the drawing-room at oakland crescent for helena's entry. he had seen her twice since her husband's death, and it struck him now that she always kept him waiting when she asked him to come and see her, and ascribed to that the very probable motive that she expected thereby to increase his eagerness for her coming. certainly he wanted her to come, because he was much interested and amused in the conventional little comedy she was playing, and he looked forward to the third act, on which the curtain would presently ring up. in the interval he sat very serenely smiling to himself, and tickling the end of his nose with three white feathers that he had received in the street to-day. that always diverted him extremely; a rude young woman would come up (she was invariably square and plain, and had a knobby face like a chest of drawers) and say, "aren't you ashimed not to be serving your country? you're a coward, you are," and then she would give him a white feather. he had quite a collection of them now; there were nine already which he carefully kept in his stud-box, and these three all in one day were a splendid haul. he had, to occupy his mind very pleasantly, the remembrance of his previous interviews with helena, which formed the two existing acts of the comedy. in the first she had come in, looking deliciously pretty in her deep mourning, and, with her head a little on one side, had held out both her hands to him. they had stood with hands clasped for quite a long time, and then archie kissed her because he was rather tired of holding her hands, and because he enjoyed kissing anything so pretty. that had caused a break, and they sat down side by side, and helena made some queer movements in her throat, which seemed to archie to be designed to convey the impression that she was repressing her emotion. but they did not quite fulfil their design; they looked rather as if they were due to the desire to pump up rather than keep down. then helena gave a long sigh. "oh, archie," she said, "i am utterly broken-hearted. it was so sudden, so terribly sudden. i shall never get over it. think! we had been married only a fortnight, and next day i got a letter from him, after i knew he was dead. such a sweet little letter, so cheerful and so loving." archie expected something of this sort: its conventionality, its utter insincerity, amused him enormously. and, wanting more of it, he said just the proper sort of thing to encourage her to give it him. "oh, my dear," he said, "but how you will love and cherish that letter! i don't suppose you were once out of his thoughts all the time he was in france." she shook her head. "i am sure of it," she said. "ah, what a privilege to have been loved as i was loved by such a noble, manly heart. i must always think of that, mustn't i?" archie took her hand again. the touch of those soft, cool fingers gave him pleasure; so, too, did the answering pressure of them. "yes, indeed," he said. "and you must remember, too, that it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." she repeated the quotation in a dreamy meditative voice. "yes, that is so true: it does me good to think of that," she said. "and i mustn't think of him as dead really. he is just as living as ever he was. he was so fond of you too. we often spoke of you. and his quaint, quiet humour!..." that was the general note of the first act: it had been short, for the conversation suitable to it was necessarily limited. the second showed a great advance in scope and variety of topics. also the _tempo_ was quite changed: instead of its being _largo_, it was at least _andante con moto_. this time, after again keeping him waiting, she had entered with a smile. "what a comfort you are, archie!" she said. "i have been looking forward to seeing you again. somehow you understand me, which nobody else does. i feel all the time that neither darling jessie, whenever i see her, which isn't often, for she is so busy, nor daddy quite understand me. i mean to be brave, and not lose courage, not lose gaiety even, and i think--i think that they both misjudge me. they expect me to be utterly broken. so i was at first, as you know so well, but i tried to take to heart what you said, and force myself not to despair. i feel i oughtn't to do that: i must take the burden of life up again with a smile." her hand lay open on her knee; as she said this, she turned it over towards him, making an invitation that seemed unconscious. he slipped his long brown fingers into that rosy palm. she was astonishingly like a girl he met a night or two ago. "i must get over this awful feeling of loneliness," she said, "and you are helping me so deliciously to do so. daddy is busy all day; i scarcely see him. jessie is busy also. i think she enjoys washing up knives and forks and plates for soldiers, though of course that doesn't make it any less sweet of her to do it. but, anyhow, she hasn't got much time for me. i wish--no, i suppose it's wrong to wish that." "well, confess, then," said archie, smiling at her. "yes, dear father-confessor, though i ought to say boy-confessor, for you look so young! well, i'll confess to you. i--i'm sure you won't be shocked with me. i wish jessie cared for me a little more. she is my sister, after all. but i daresay it's my fault. i haven't got the key to her heart. and, with jessie and daddy so full of other affairs, i do feel lonely. but when you are here i don't. i don't know what i should have done without you, archie. i think i might have killed myself." this was glorious. archie gave a splendid shudder. "don't talk like that," he said, in a tone of affectionate command. "you don't know how it hurts." "ah, i'm sorry. it was selfish of me. do you forgive me?" "you know i do," said he. she had brought into the room with her a long envelope, and rather absently she took out from it an enclosure of papers. "i got this to-day from the lawyers," she said. "it's about my darling's will, i think. i wonder if you would help me to understand it, i am so stupid at figures." she slid a little closer to him, leaning her hand on his shoulder and looking over him as he read. the document required, as a matter of fact, very little exercise of intelligence. the house in surrey where they had spent the week of the honeymoon was hers; and so was a very decent income of l15,000 a year, left to her without any condition whatever for her life; it was hers absolutely. the disposition of the rest of his fortune depended on whether she had a child. the details of that were not given: his lawyer only informed her what was hers. she hid her face on the hand that rested on archie's shoulder. "oh, archie, i can never go back to that house," she said, "at least not for a long time. it would be tearing open the old wound again." "yes, i understand that," said he, with another pressure of his fingers. and, thinking of the l15,000 a year without conditions, he had a wild temptation to console her further by quoting- "let us grieve not, only find strength in what remains behind." but he refrained: though, apparently, there was no limit to helena's insincerity, there might be some in her acceptance of the insincerity of others. "oh, you do understand me so well," she said. "and, archie, i want to ask a horribly selfish thing of you, but i can't help it. i am all alone now, except for you. you won't go out to the war, will you? i don't think i could bear it if you did." it was quite easy for him to promise that, but an allusion to the misconception he might incur made his acquiescence sound difficult and noble. since then, up to the day when he was now expecting her entry for the third act, he had thought over the whole situation with the imaginative vision which absinthe inspired. he had not the slightest doubt in his mind that helena, according to her capacity for loving, was in love with him, and that she thought he was still in love with her. but, when he considered it all, he found he had no longer the slightest intention of marrying her, even though she had l15,000 a year for life without conditions attached. plenty of money was no doubt a preventive of discomfort in this life, and he felt it was fine of him not to be attracted by so ignoble a bait. but no amount of money would really compensate for the inseparable companionship of helena, with her foolishness, her apparent inability to understand that her insincerities, so far from being convincing and beautiful, were no more than the most puerile and transparent counterfeits. certainly she aroused the ardour of his senses, but how long would that last? and, even while it lasted, how could it compare with his ardour for his absinthe-coloured dreams, and the ecstasy of his communion with the spirit that had made its home in him? she would interrupt all that; and, as a companion, she could not compare with his father. she would always be wanting to be caressed and made much of and admired and taken care of. it would soon become most horribly tedious. there was a further reason against marrying her, which was as potent as any. he would forfeit his revenge on her, if he did that. once, dim ages ago, it seemed, and on another plane of existence, he had loved her, and she, knowing it, had fed his devotion with smiles and glances, and at the end had chosen him whose body now decayed in some graveyard of north france, already probably desecrated by the on-swarming germans. now it was archie's turn; already, he was sure, she expected to marry him, and she would learn that he had not the least intention of doing so. that delightful situation might easily be arrived at in the third act for which he was waiting now. this time she came with flowers in her hand, and presently, as they sat side by side on the sofa talking, she put one into his button-hole. instantly he interrupted himself in what he was saying and kissed it. she gave him that long glance which he had once thought meant so much. it had not meant much then, from her point of view, but it meant a good deal more now. but to archie it had passed from being a gleam of wonder to a farthing dip. "oh, you foolish boy!" she said. he almost thought he heard martin laugh. "i don't see anything foolish about it," he said. "at least, if it's foolish, i've always been foolish." her lips moved, though not to speak: they just gathered themselves together, and a little tremor went down the arm that rested against his. he was perfectly certain of both those signals, and next moment he had folded her to him, and she lay less than unresisting in his arms. then she gently thrust him from her. "ah, how wrong of me," she said, "and yet perhaps it's not wrong. the dear bradshaw would always want me to be happy. perhaps he even thought of this when he left me so free. for this time, archie, i shan't come to you empty-handed. but, of course, we mustn't think of all that for many months yet." archie, flushed and merry-eyed, looked at her with boyish surprise. "think of what?" he said. "ah, you force me to say it, do you? of our marriage." he was adorable in her eyes just then; she could hardly realize that so few months ago she had definitely put him from her. his warm, smooth face, his crisp, curling hair, the youthful roughness and ardour of his embrace, inflamed and ravished her. he looked at her still inquiringly a moment, then threw back his head and laughed. "oh, you're delicious!" he said. "but marriage? what do you mean? a cousinly kiss, a little sympathy, a few dear little surrenders of each of us to the other: that's all i intended. well, i must be off. good-bye!" next moment, still choking with laughter, he was downstairs and out into the street. he could not resist looking up at the window, and waving a gay hand towards it. something within him, that seemed the very essence of his being, shouted and sang with glee. * * * * * the house in grosvenor square, where his mother had become housekeeper and jessie kitchen-maid, had at present in it only a few wounded officers from france, and during these two or three days in town archie could still occupy his own bedroom, while his servant slept in the dressing-room adjoining. he was out very late that night, for the completeness of his revenge on helena ran like a feeding fire through his veins, and both nourished and burned him. dawn had already broken when he let himself in, and went very quietly upstairs, not intending to go to bed till he had had an interview with martin. all night he had felt as if martin was bursting to come forth again; he was already intensely present, even though archie had not yet sunk his conscious self and opened the door of mystic communication. that controlling spirit foamed and simmered within him; he could all but break open the door himself, and project himself without invitation. he was still just confined, but only just; it seemed that at any minute he might assert himself. but archie, with the gourmand instinct that delays an actual fulfilment, teasing itself, while it knows the fulfilment is assured, lingered over his undressing, and planned to make himself cool and comfortable in his pyjamas, before he abandoned the fortress of his normal self. he brushed his teeth, he sponged face and neck with cold water, he arranged his chair in the window, and put on the table by his bed the moonstone stud on which he would focus his eyes, and stretched himself long and luxuriously till he heard his shoulder joints crack. martin seemed in a great hurry to come to-night, but martin must just wait till he was ready. and then, all of a sudden, he heard a tremendous noise of rapping. he knew that martin had come, and an awful terror seized his soul, for martin had come without being called. at that precise moment his servant next door started up, wide awake, with some loud sound in his ears that seemed to come from archie's bedroom. he tapped at his door, but, getting no answer, went in. he found archie lying on the floor, curled up together, like some twisted root of a tree, foaming at the mouth. he ran downstairs to get help, and brought up one of the nurses who was on duty. she instantly telephoned for a doctor, and woke lady tintagel. * * * * * all that day archie lay in this strange seizure, apparently quite unconscious. sometimes a paroxysm would take hold of him, and he lay with staring eyes and teeth that ground against each other, and limbs that curled into fantastic shapes. in the intervals he remained still, stiff and rigid, his eyes for the most part shut, breathing quickly, as if he had been running. then once again the panic and the agony would grip him, and with eyes wide with terror and foaming mouth he struggled and fought against the thing that mastered him. but each paroxysm left him weaker, and it was clear that he would not be able to stand many more of these attacks. yet no one could wish them prolonged; it would but be merciful if the end came soon, and spared him further suffering. towards sunset that day jessie was sitting by him, with orders to call the nurse next door if he showed signs of the restlessness which preceded the return of a seizure. she knew that, humanly speaking, he was dying, but her faith never faltered that he might still be saved, and that through her and her love salvation might come to him. medical science was of no avail; it could not combat the spiritual foe that had taken him prisoner. that rescue had to be made through spiritual means, and the two-edged sword by which alone his captor could be vanquished was the bright-shining weapon of love and prayer. it was in her hand now, as she watched and waited. he lay quite still, breathing quickly and with a shallow inspiration, but there were no signs of the restlessness for which she had to look out. but presently she observed that his eyes were no longer closed, but were open and looking steadily at the brass knob at the foot of his bed on which a sunbeam, entering through a chink at the side of the drawn window-blind made a focus of light. and, all at once, she guessed that he was looking at this with purpose, and her soul, sword in hand, crouched ready to spring. then from the bed came archie's voice. "martin," it said. there was a dead silence, and she saw forming in the air a little in front of him a nucleus of mist. it gathered volume from a little jet as of steam that appeared to come from archie himself. thicker and thicker it grew; strange lines began to interlace themselves within it, and these took form. the dimness of its outline grew firm and distinct, the shape stood detached and clear, and, bending over archie with a smile triumphant and cruel, stood the semblance she had seen once before at midnight in archie's room. he was no longer looking at the knob at the foot of his bed, but with eyes wide open and blank with some nameless terror he gazed at the apparition. jessie rose and stood opposite it on the other side of his bed. her two-edged sword was drawn now, and its bright blade gleamed in the darkness of the evil that flooded the room. and then it seemed that that incarnation of it that stood beside archie's bed was aware, for it turned and looked her full in the face, bringing to bear on her the utmost of its hellish potency. for one moment against that awful assault her soul cried out in panic. it had not dreamed that from all the crimes with which the world had withered and bled there could be distilled a tincture so poisonous. and then her love rallied her scattered courage, and she stood firm again. nothing in the world but love and prayer could prevail, but nothing, if once she could fully realize that, could prevail against them. in her hand, as in the hand of all who are foes to evil, was the irresistible weapon, could she but use its power to the full... she stood, as she knew, in the face of the deadliest peril by which any living thing, into which the breath of god has passed, can be confronted. there is no soul so strong that evil can cease to be a menace for it, and here, facing her, was the power that had already perverted all that archie held of goodness and humanity. there it stood, one victim already its helpless prisoner, and it lusted for more. and the wordless struggle, as old as evil itself, began. she would not give ground. her soul laid itself open, and let the light invisible shine on it. in this struggle there were no strivings or wrestlings; she had but to stay quiet, and in just that achievement of quietness the struggle lay. once for a moment all hell swirled and exulted round her, for her love for archie let itself contemplate the human and material aspect of him; the next she put all that away from her, and again stood with his soul, so to speak, in her uplifted hands, offering it to god. in the very storm-centre of this evil which shrieked and raged round her, there must be, and there was, a space where the peace that passeth understanding dwelt in serene calm. the storm might shift and envelope her again in its bellowings, but again and yet again she had to regain the centre where no blast of it could penetrate. how long this lasted she could not tell. her body was quite conscious of its ordinary perceptions; the blind tapped on the window, and there came from outside the stir of distant traffic. but she did not take her gaze from those awful eyes that sometimes smiled, sometimes blazed with hate. steadily and firmly she looked at them and through them, for behind them, as behind the cloud, was the sunlight of god. and then there came a change. it seemed that the power she fought was weakening. its eyes shifted; they no longer looked undeviatingly at her, but glanced round for a moment, as if they looked for some way of escape. they would come back to her again with fresh assault of smiles or hate, but each time they seemed less potent. more than once they left her face altogether for a while, and were directed on archie, as if seeking the refuge there that they knew; but, with a wordless command that they were forced to obey, she summoned them back to her again, making the spirit that directed them turn the strength of its fury on her. she gave it no rest, fixing it on herself by the strength of love and prayer. the eyes began to grow dim; the outline of the form began to waver. the interlacing lines out of which it was woven began to unravel again, and it grew shapeless. but it was not being absorbed into archie; there were no streams of mist between him and it, as when it had first taken substance. already through it she could see the wall behind it, and it grew ever fainter and thinner... there was nothing left of it now, and for the first time since the struggle began, she looked at archie. he was lying quite still with eyes closed again. and then she saw that by her side was standing another presence. it was identical in form and shape with that which had vanished, and it bent on archie so amazing a look of love that her soul, spent and sick with struggle, felt itself uplifted and refreshed again. and for one moment it looked at her, and it was as if archie himself was looking at her. and then it was there no longer. she hardly knew whether her physical eyes had seen it externally, or whether it had been some spirit-vision conveyed to them from within. there came a sound from next door, and the nurse, who was there ready to be summoned, entered. "has he been quite quiet?" she asked, and, without waiting for an answer, she went to the bed. she looked at archie a moment, then felt his elbows and knees, finding them pliant again instead of being stiff and rigid, and listened to his quiet breathing. "but there has come an extraordinary change," she said. "the seizure has passed, and yet he's alive." she beamed at jessie. "well, you are a good nurse," she said. "but i think i'll just fetch the doctor." she went out of the room, and archie, who had lain quite motionless with closed eyes, suddenly stirred and looked at the girl. "why, jessie," he said. she came close to the bed. "yes?" "what's happened?" said he. "i've had some awful nightmare. and then you broke it up. hasn't martin been here too?" "yes, archie, i think so," she said. he lay in silence a moment. "have you saved me again, jessie?" he said. 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"the contents of this volume all bear the hall-mark of the author. there is no more capable craftsman than the inventor of sherlock holmes."--_daily chronicle_. ------------london: john murray there is no death works by florence marryat published in the international series. no. cts. 85. blindfold, 50 135. brave heart and true, 50 42. mount eden, 30 13. on circumstantial evidence, 30 148. risen dead, the, 50 77. scarlet sin, a, 50 159. there is no death, 50 there is no death by florence marryat author of "love's conflict," "veronique," etc., etc. "there is no death--what seems so is transition. this life of mortal breath is but a suburb of the life elysian whose portal we call----death."--longfellow. new york national book company 3, 4, 5 and 6 mission place copyright, 1891, by united states book company there is no death. chapter i. family ghosts. it has been strongly impressed upon me for some years past to write an account of the wonderful experiences i have passed through in my investigation of the science of spiritualism. in doing so i intend to confine myself to recording facts. i will describe the scenes i have witnessed with my own eyes, and repeat the words i have heard with my own ears, leaving the deduction to be drawn from them wholly to my readers. i have no ambition to start a theory nor to promulgate a doctrine; above all things i have no desire to provoke an argument. i have had more than enough of arguments, philosophical, scientific, religious, and purely aggressive, to last a lifetime; and were i called upon for my definition of the rest promised to the weary, i should reply--a place where every man may hold his own opinion, and no one is permitted to dispute it. but though i am about to record a great many incidents that are so marvellous as to be almost incredible, i do not expect to be disbelieved, except by such as are capable of deception themselves. they--conscious of their own infirmity--invariably believe that other people must be telling lies. byron wrote, "he is a fool who denies that which he cannot disprove;" and though carlyle gives us the comforting assurance that the population of great britain consists "chiefly of fools," i pin my faith upon receiving credence from the few who are not so. why should i be disbelieved? when the late lady brassey published the "cruise of the _sunbeam_," and sir samuel and lady baker related their experiences in central africa, and livingstone wrote his account of the wonders he met with whilst engaged in the investigation of the source of the nile, and henry stanley followed up the story and added thereto, did they anticipate the public turning up its nose at their narrations, and declaring it did not believe a word they had written? yet their readers had to accept the facts they offered for credence, on their authority alone. very few of them had even _heard_ of the places described before; scarcely one in a thousand could, either from personal experience or acquired knowledge, attest the truth of the description. what was there--for the benefit of the general public--to _prove_ that the _sunbeam_ had sailed round the world, or that sir samuel baker had met with the rare beasts, birds, and flowers he wrote of, or that livingstone and stanley met and spoke with those curious, unknown tribes that never saw white men till they set eyes on them? yet had any one of those writers affirmed that in his wanderings he had encountered a gold field of undoubted excellence, thousands of fortune-seekers would have left their native land on his word alone, and rushed to secure some of the glittering treasure. why? because the authors of those books were persons well known in society, who had a reputation for veracity to maintain, and who would have been quickly found out had they dared to deceive. i claim the same grounds for obtaining belief. i have a well-known name and a public reputation, a tolerable brain, and two sharp eyes. what i have witnessed, others, with equal assiduity and perseverance, may witness for themselves. it would demand a voyage round the world to see all that the owners of the _sunbeam_ saw. it would demand time and trouble and money to see what i have seen, and to some people, perhaps, it would not be worth the outlay. but if i have journeyed into the debateable land (which so few really believe in, and most are terribly afraid of), and come forward now to tell what i have seen there, the world has no more right to disbelieve me than it had to disbelieve lady brassey. because the general public has not penetrated central africa, is no reason that livingstone did not do so; because the general public has not seen (and does not care to see) what i have seen, is no argument against the truth of what i write. to those who _do_ believe in the possibility of communion with disembodied spirits, my story will be interesting perhaps, on account of its dealing throughout in a remarkable degree with the vexed question of identity and recognition. to the materialistic portion of creation who may credit me with not being a bigger fool than the remainder of the thirty-eight millions of great britain, it may prove a new source of speculation and research. and for those of my fellow-creatures who possess no curiosity, nor imagination, nor desire to prove for themselves what they cannot accept on the testimony of others, i never had, and never shall have, anything in common. they are the sort of people who ask you with a pleasing smile if irving wrote "the charge of the light brigade," and say they like byron's "sardanapalus" very well, but it is not so funny as "our boys." now, before going to work in right earnest, i do not think it is generally known that my father, the late captain marryat, was not only a believer in ghosts, but himself a ghost-seer. i am delighted to be able to record this fact as an introduction to my own experiences. perhaps the ease with which such manifestations have come to me is a gift which i inherit from him, anyway i am glad he shared the belief and the power of spiritual sight with me. if there were no other reason to make me bold to repeat what i have witnessed, the circumstance would give me courage. my father was not like his intimate friends, charles dickens, lord lytton, and many other men of genius, highly strung, nervous, and imaginative. i do not believe my father had any "nerves," and i think he had very little imagination. almost all his works are founded on his personal experiences. his _forte_ lay in a humorous description of what he had seen. he possessed a marvellous power of putting his recollections into graphic and forcible language, and the very reason that his books are almost as popular to-day as when they were written, is because they are true histories of their time. there is scarcely a line of fiction in them. his body was as powerful and muscular as his brain. his courage was indomitable--his moral courage as well as his physical (as many people remember to their cost to this day), and his hardness of belief on many subjects is no secret. what i am about to relate therefore did not happen to some excitable, nervous, sickly sentimentalist, and i repeat that i am proud to have inherited his constitutional tendencies, and quite willing to stand judgment after him. i have heard that my father had a number of stories to relate of supernatural (as they are usually termed) incidents that had occurred to him, but i will content myself with relating such as were proved to be (at the least) very remarkable coincidences. in my work, "the life and letters of captain marryat," i relate an anecdote of him that was entered in his private "log," and found amongst his papers. he had a younger brother, samuel, to whom he was very much attached, and who died unexpectedly in england whilst my father, in command of h. m. s. _larne_, was engaged in the first burmese war. his men broke out with scurvy and he was ordered to take his vessel over to pulu pinang for a few weeks in order to get the sailors fresh fruit and vegetables. as my father was lying in his berth one night, anchored off the island, with the brilliant tropical moonlight making everything as bright as day, he saw the door of his cabin open, and his brother samuel entered and walked quietly up to his side. he looked just the same as when they had parted, and uttered in a perfectly distinct voice, "fred! i have come to tell you that i am dead!" when the figure entered the cabin my father jumped up in his berth, thinking it was some one coming to rob him, and when he saw who it was and heard it speak, he leaped out of bed with the intention of detaining it, but it was gone. so vivid was the impression made upon him by the apparition that he drew out his log at once and wrote down all particulars concerning it, with the hour and day of its appearance. on reaching england after the war was over, the first dispatches put into his hand were to announce the death of his brother, who had passed away at the very hour when he had seen him in the cabin. but the story that interests me most is one of an incident which occurred to my father during my lifetime, and which we have always called "the brown lady of rainham." i am aware that this narrative has reached the public through other sources, and i have made it the foundation of a christmas story myself. but it is too well authenticated to be omitted here. the last fifteen years of my father's life were passed on his own estate of langham, in norfolk, and amongst his county friends were sir charles and lady townshend of rainham hall. at the time i speak of, the title and property had lately changed hands, and the new baronet had re-papered, painted, and furnished the hall throughout, and come down with his wife and a large party of friends to take possession. but to their annoyance, soon after their arrival, rumors arose that the house was haunted, and their guests began, one and all (like those in the parable), to make excuses to go home again. sir charles and lady townshend might have sung, "friend after friend departs," with due effect, but it would have had none on the general exodus that took place from rainham. and it was all on account of a brown lady, whose portrait hung in one of the bedrooms, and in which she was represented as wearing a brown satin dress with yellow trimmings, and a ruff around her throat--a very harmless, innocent-looking young woman. but they all declared they had seen her walking about the house--some in the corridor, some in their bedrooms, others in the lower premises, and neither guests nor servants would remain in the hall. the baronet was naturally very much annoyed about it, and confided his trouble to my father, and my father was indignant at the trick he believed had been played upon him. there was a great deal of smuggling and poaching in norfolk at that period, as he knew well, being a magistrate of the county, and he felt sure that some of these depredators were trying to frighten the townshends away from the hall again. the last baronet had been a solitary sort of being, and lead a retired life, and my father imagined some of the tenantry had their own reasons for not liking the introduction of revelries and "high jinks" at rainham. so he asked his friends to let him stay with them and sleep in the haunted chamber, and he felt sure he could rid them of the nuisance. they accepted his offer, and he took possession of the room in which the portrait of the apparition hung, and in which she had been often seen, and slept each night with a loaded revolver under his pillow. for two days, however, he saw nothing, and the third was to be the limit of his stay. on the third night, however, two young men (nephews of the baronet) knocked at his door as he was undressing to go to bed, and asked him to step over to their room (which was at the other end of the corridor), and give them his opinion on a new gun just arrived from london. my father was in his shirt and trousers, but as the hour was late, and everybody had retired to rest except themselves, he prepared to accompany them as he was. as they were leaving the room, he caught up his revolver, "in case we meet the brown lady," he said, laughing. when the inspection of the gun was over, the young men in the same spirit declared they would accompany my father back again, "in case you meet the brown lady," they repeated, laughing also. the three gentlemen therefore returned in company. the corridor was long and dark, for the lights had been extinguished, but as they reached the middle of it, they saw the glimmer of a lamp coming towards them from the other end. "one of the ladies going to visit the nurseries," whispered the young townshends to my father. now the bedroom doors in that corridor faced each other, and each room had a double door with a space between, as is the case in many old-fashioned country houses. my father (as i have said) was in a shirt and trousers only, and his native modesty made him feel uncomfortable, so he slipped within one of the _outer_ doors (his friends following his example), in order to conceal himself until the lady should have passed by. i have heard him describe how he watched her approaching nearer and nearer, through the chink of the door, until, as she was close enough for him to distinguish the colors and style of her costume, he recognized the figure as the facsimile of the portrait of "the brown lady." he had his finger on the trigger of his revolver, and was about to demand it to stop and give the reason for its presence there, when the figure halted of its own accord before the door behind which he stood, and holding the lighted lamp she carried to her features, grinned in a malicious and diabolical manner at him. this act so infuriated my father, who was anything but lamb-like in disposition, that he sprang into the corridor with a bound, and discharged the revolver right in her face. the figure instantly disappeared--the figure at which for the space of several minutes _three_ men had been looking together--and the bullet passed through the outer door of the room on the opposite side of the corridor, and lodged in the panel of the inner one. my father never attempted again to interfere with "the brown lady of rainham," and i have heard that she haunts the premises to this day. that she did so at that time, however, there is no shadow of doubt. but captain marryat not only held these views and believed in them from personal experience--he promulgated them in his writings. there are many passages in his works which, read by the light of my assertion, prove that he had faith in the possibility of the departed returning to visit this earth, and in the theory of re-incarnation or living more than one life upon it, but nowhere does he speak more plainly than in the following extract from the "phantom ship":-"think you, philip," (says amine to her husband), "that this world is solely peopled by such dross as we are?--things of clay, perishable and corruptible, lords over beasts and ourselves, but little better? have you not, from your own sacred writings, repeated acknowledgments and proofs of higher intelligences, mixing up with mankind, and acting here below? why should what was _then_ not be _now_, and what more harm is there to apply for their aid now than a few thousand years ago? why should you suppose that they were permitted on the earth then and not permitted now? what has become of them? have they perished? have they been ordered back? to where?--to heaven? if to heaven, the world and mankind have been left to the mercy of the devil and his agents. do you suppose that we poor mortals have been thus abandoned? i tell you plainly, i think not. we no longer have the communication with those intelligences that we once had, because as we become more enlightened we become more proud and seek them not, but that they still exist a host of good against a host of evil, invisibly opposing each other, is my conviction." one testimony to such a belief, from the lips of my father, is sufficient. he would not have written it unless he had been prepared to maintain it. he was not one of those wretched literary cowards who we meet but too often now-a-days, who are too much afraid of the world to confess with their mouths the opinions they hold in their hearts. had he lived to this time i believe he would have been one of the most energetic and outspoken believers in spiritualism that we possess. so much, however, for his testimony to the possibility of spirits, good and evil, revisiting this earth. i think few will be found to gainsay the assertion that where _he_ trod, his daughter need not be ashamed to follow. before the question of spiritualism, however, arose in modern times, i had had my own little private experiences on the subject. from an early age i was accustomed to see, and to be very much alarmed at seeing, certain forms that appeared to me at night. one in particular, i remember, was that of a very short or deformed old woman, who was very constant to me. she used to stand on tiptoe to look at me as i lay in bed, and however dark the room might be, i could always see every article in it, as if illuminated, whilst she remained there. i was in the habit of communicating these visions to my mother and sisters (my father had passed from us by that time), and always got well ridiculed for my pains. "another of flo's optical illusions," they would cry, until i really came to think that the appearances i saw were due to some defect in my eye-sight. i have heard my first husband say, that when he married me he thought he should never rest for an entire night in his bed, so often did i wake him with the description of some man or woman i had seen in the room. i recall these figures distinctly. they were always dressed in white, from which circumstance i imagined that they were natives who had stolen in to rob us, until, from repeated observation, i discovered they only formed part of another and more enlarged series of my "optical illusions." all this time i was very much afraid of seeing what i termed "ghosts." no love of occult science led me to investigate the cause of my alarm. i only wished never to see the "illusions" again, and was too frightened to remain by myself lest they should appear to me. when i had been married for about two years, the head-quarters of my husband's regiment, the 12th madras native infantry, was ordered to rangoon, whilst the left wing, commanded by a major cooper, was sent to assist in the bombardment of canton. major cooper had only been married a short time, and by rights his wife had no claim to sail with the head-quarters for burmah, but as she had no friends in madras, and was moreover expecting her confinement, our colonel permitted her to do so, and she accompanied us to rangoon, settling herself in a house not far from our own. one morning, early in july, i was startled by receiving a hurried scrawl from her, containing only these words, "come! come! come!" i set off at once, thinking she had been taken ill, but on my arrival i found mrs. cooper sitting up in bed with only her usual servants about her. "what is the matter?" i exclaimed. "mark is dead," she answered me; "he sat in that chair" (pointing to one by the bedside) "all last night. i noticed every detail of his face and figure. he was in undress, and he never raised his eyes, but sat with the peak of his forage cap pulled down over his face. but i could see the back of his head and his hair, and i know it was he. i spoke to him but he did not answer me, and i am _sure_ he is dead." naturally, i imagined this vision to have been dictated solely by fear and the state of her health. i laughed at her for a simpleton, and told her it was nothing but fancy, and reminded her that by the last accounts received from the seat of war, major cooper was perfectly well and anticipating a speedy reunion with her. laugh as i would, however, i could not laugh her out of her belief, and seeing how low-spirited she was, i offered to pass the night with her. it was a very nice night indeed. as soon as ever we had retired to bed, although a lamp burned in the room, mrs. cooper declared that her husband was sitting in the same chair as the night before, and accused me of deception when i declared that i saw nothing at all. i sat up in bed and strained my eyes, but i could discern nothing but an empty arm-chair, and told her so. she persisted that major cooper sat there, and described his personal appearance and actions. i got out of bed and sat in the chair, when she cried out, "don't, don't! _you are sitting right on him!_" it was evident that the apparition was as real to her as if it had been flesh and blood. i jumped up again fast enough, not feeling very comfortable myself, and lay by her side for the remainder of the night, listening to her asseverations that major cooper was either dying or dead. she would not part with me, and on the third night i had to endure the same ordeal as on the second. after the third night the apparition ceased to appear to her, and i was permitted to return home. but before i did so, mrs. cooper showed me her pocket-book, in which she had written down against the 8th, 9th, and 10th of july this sentence: "mark sat by my bedside all night." the time passed on, and no bad news arrived from china, but the mails had been intercepted and postal communication suspended. occasionally, however, we received letters by a sailing vessel. at last came september, and on the third of that month mrs. cooper's baby was born and died. she was naturally in great distress about it, and i was doubly horrified when i was called from her bedside to receive the news of her husband's death, which had taken place from a sudden attack of fever at macao. we did not intend to let mrs. cooper hear of this until she was convalescent, but as soon as i re-entered her room she broached the subject. "are there any letters from china?" she asked. (now this question was remarkable in itself, because the mails having been cut off, there was no particular date when letters might be expected to arrive from the seat of war.) fearing she would insist upon hearing the news, i temporized and answered her, "we have received none." "but there is a letter for me," she continued: "a letter with the intelligence of mark's death. it is useless denying it. i know he is dead. he died on the 10th of july." and on reference to the official memorandum, this was found to be true. major cooper had been taken ill on the first day he had appeared to his wife, and died on the third. and this incident was the more remarkable, because they were neither of them young nor sentimental people, neither had they lived long enough together to form any very strong sympathy or accord between them. but as i have related it, so it occurred. chapter ii. my first sã�ance. i had returned from india and spent several years in england before the subject of modern spiritualism was brought under my immediate notice. cursorily i had heard it mentioned by some people as a dreadfully wicked thing, diabolical to the last degree, by others as a most amusing pastime for evening parties, or when one wanted to get some "fun out of the table." but neither description charmed me, nor tempted me to pursue the occupation. i had already lost too many friends. spiritualism (so it seemed to me) must either be humbug or a very solemn thing, and i neither wished to trifle with it or to be trifled with by it. and after twenty years' continued experience i hold the same opinion. i have proved spiritualism _not_ to be humbug, therefore i regard it in a sacred light. for, _from whatever cause_ it may proceed, it opens a vast area for thought to any speculative mind, and it is a matter of constant surprise to me to see the indifference with which the world regards it. that it _exists_ is an undeniable fact. men of science have acknowledged it, and the churches cannot deny it. the only question appears to be, "_what_ is it, and _whence_ does the power proceed?" if (as many clever people assert) from ourselves, then must these bodies and minds of ours possess faculties hitherto undreamed of, and which we have allowed to lie culpably fallow. if our bodies contain magnetic forces sufficient to raise substantial and apparently living forms from the bare earth, which our eyes are clairvoyant enough to see, and which can articulate words which our ears are clairaudient enough to hear--if, in addition to this, our minds can read each other's inmost thoughts, can see what is passing at a distance, and foretell what will happen in the future, then are our human powers greater than we have ever imagined, and we ought to do a great deal more with them than we do. and even regarding spiritualism from _that_ point of view, i cannot understand the lack of interest displayed in the discovery, to turn these marvellous powers of the human mind to greater account. to discuss it, however, from the usual meaning given to the word, namely, as a means of communication with the departed, leaves me as puzzled as before. all christians acknowledge they have spirits independent of their bodies, and that when their bodies die, their spirits will continue to live on. wherein, then, lies the terror of the idea that these liberated spirits will have the privilege of roaming the universe as they will? and if they argue the _impossibility_ of their return, they deny the records which form the only basis of their religion. no greater proof can be brought forward of the truth of spiritualism than the truth of the bible, which teems and bristles with accounts of it from beginning to end. from the period when the lord god walked with adam and eve in the garden of eden, and the angels came to abram's tent, and pulled lot out of the doomed city; when the witch of endor raised up samuel, and balaam's ass spoke, and ezekiel wrote that the hair of his head stood up because "a spirit" passed before him, to the presence of satan with jesus in the desert, and the reappearance of moses and elias, the resurrection of christ himself, and his talking and eating with his disciples, and the final account of john being caught up to heaven to receive the revelations--_all is spiritualism, and nothing else_. the protestant church that pins its faith upon the bible, and nothing but the bible, cannot deny that the spirits of mortal men have reappeared and been recognized upon this earth, as when the graves opened at the time of the christ's crucifixion, and "many bodies of those that were dead arose and went into the city, and were seen of many." the catholic church does not attempt to deny it. all her legends and miracles (which are disbelieved and ridiculed by the protestants aforesaid) are founded on the same truth--the miraculous or supernatural return (as it is styled) of those who are gone, though i hope to make my readers believe, as i do, that there is nothing miraculous in it, and far from being _super_natural it is only a continuation of nature. putting the churches and the bible, however, on one side, the history of nations proves it to be possible. there is not a people on the face of the globe that has not its (so-called) superstitions, nor a family hardly, which has not experienced some proofs of spiritual communion with earth. where learning and science have thrust all belief out of sight, it is only natural that the man who does not believe in a god nor a hereafter should not credit the existence of spirits, nor the possibility of communicating with them. but the lower we go in the scale of society, the more simple and childlike the mind, the more readily does such a faith gain credence, and the more stories you will hear to justify belief. it is just the same with religion, which is hid from the wise and prudent, and revealed to babes. if i am met here with the objection that the term "spiritualism" has been at times mixed up with so much that is evil as to become an offence, i have no better answer to make than by turning to the irrefragable testimony of the past and present to prove that in all ages, and of all religions, there have been corrupt and demoralized exponents whose vices have threatened to pull down the fabric they lived to raise. christianity itself would have been overthrown before now, had we been unable to separate its doctrine from its practice. i held these views in the month of february, 1873, when i made one of a party of friends assembled at the house of miss elizabeth philip, in gloucester crescent, and was introduced to mr. henry dunphy of the _morning post_, both of them since gone to join the great majority. mr. dunphy soon got astride of his favorite hobby of spiritualism, and gave me an interesting account of some of the _sã©ances_ he had attended. i had heard so many clever men and women discuss the subject before, that i had begun to believe on their authority that there must be "something in it," but i held the opinion that sittings in the dark must afford so much liberty for deception, that i would engage in none where i was not permitted the use of my eyesight. i expressed myself somewhat after this fashion to mr. dunphy. he replied, "then the time has arrived for you to investigate spiritualism, for i can introduce you to a medium who will show you the faces of the dead." this proposal exactly met my wishes, and i gladly accepted it. annie thomas (mrs. pender cudlip,) the novelist, who is an intimate friend of mine, was staying with me at the time and became as eager as i was to investigate the phenomena. we took the address mr. dunphy gave us of mrs. holmes, the american medium, then visiting london, and lodging in old quebec street, portman square, but we refused his introduction, preferring to go _incognito_. accordingly, the next evening, when she held a public _sã©ance_, we presented ourselves at mrs. holmes' door; and having first removed our wedding-rings, and tried to look as virginal as possible, sent up our names as miss taylor and miss turner. i am perfectly aware that this medium was said afterwards to be untrustworthy. so may a servant who was perfectly honest, whilst in my service, leave me for a situation where she is detected in theft. that does not alter the fact that she stole nothing from me. i do not think i know _a single medium_ of whom i have not (at some time or other) heard the same thing, and i do not think i know a single woman whom i have not also, at some time or other, heard scandalized by her own sex, however pure and chaste she may imagine the world holds her. the question affects me in neither case. i value my acquaintances for what they are _to me_, not for what they may be to others; and i have placed trust in my media from what i individually have seen and heard, and proved to be genuine in their presence, and not from what others may imagine they have found out about them. it is no detriment to my witness that the media i sat with cheated somebody else, either before or after. my business was only to take care that _i_ was not cheated, and i have never, in spiritualism, accepted anything at the hands of others that i could not prove for myself. mrs. holmes did not receive us very graciously on the present occasion. we were strangers to her--probably sceptics, and she eyed us rather coldly. it was a bitter night, and the snow lay so thick upon the ground that we had some difficulty in procuring a hansom to take us from bayswater to old quebec street. no other visitors arrived, and after a little while mrs. holmes offered to return our money (ten shillings), as she said if she did sit with us, there would probably be no manifestations on account of the inclemency of the weather. (often since then i have proved her assertion to be true, and found that any extreme of heat or cold is liable to make a _sã©ance_ a dead failure). but annie thomas had to return to her home in torquay on the following day, and so we begged the medium to try at least to show us something, as we were very curious on the subject. i am not quite sure what i expected or hoped for on this occasion. i was full of curiosity and anticipation, but i am sure that i never thought i should see any face which i could recognize as having been on earth. we waited till nine o'clock in hopes that a circle would be formed, but as no one else came, mrs. holmes consented to sit with us alone, warning us, however, several times to prepare for a disappointment. the lights were therefore extinguished, and we sat for the usual preliminary dark _sã©ance_, which was good, perhaps, but has nothing to do with a narrative of facts, proved to be so. when it concluded, the gas was re-lit and we sat for "spirit faces." there were two small rooms connected by folding doors. annie thomas and i, were asked to go into the back room--to lock the door communicating with the landings, and secure it with our own seal, stamped upon a piece of tape stretched across the opening--to examine the window and bar the shutter inside--to search the room thoroughly, in fact, to see that no one was concealed in it--and we did all this as a matter of business. when we had satisfied ourselves that no one could enter from the back, mr. and mrs. holmes, annie thomas, and i were seated on four chairs in the front room, arranged in a row before the folding doors, which were opened, and a square of black calico fastened across the aperture from one wall to the other. in this piece of calico was cut a square hole about the size of an ordinary window, at which we were told the spirit faces (if any) would appear. there was no singing, nor noise of any sort made to drown the sounds of preparation, and we could have heard even a rustle in the next room. mr. and mrs. holmes talked to us of their various experiences, until, we were almost tired of waiting, when something white and indistinct like a cloud of tobacco smoke, or a bundle of gossamer, appeared and disappeared again. "they are coming! i _am_ glad!" said mrs. holmes. "i didn't think we should get anything to-night,"--and my friend and i were immediately on the tiptoe of expectation. the white mass advanced and retreated several times, and finally settled before the aperture and opened in the middle, when a female face was distinctly to be seen above the black calico. what was our amazement to recognize the features of mrs. thomas, annie thomas' mother. here i should tell my readers that annie's father, who was a lieutenant in the royal navy and captain of the coastguard at morston in norfolk, had been a near neighbor and great friend of my father, captain marryat, and their children had associated like brothers and sisters. i had therefore known mrs. thomas well, and recognized her at once, as, of course, did her daughter. the witness of two people is considered sufficient in law. it ought to be accepted by society. poor annie was very much affected, and talked to her mother in the most incoherent manner. the spirit did not appear able to answer in words, but she bowed her head or shook it, according as she wished to say "yes" or "no." i could not help feeling awed at the appearance of the dear old lady, but the only thing that puzzled me was the cap she wore, which was made of white net, quilled closely round her face, and unlike any i had ever seen her wear in life. i whispered this to annie, and she replied at once, "it is the cap she was buried in," which settled the question. mrs. thomas had possessed a very pleasant but very uncommon looking face, with bright black eyes, and a complexion of pink and white like that of a child. it was some time before annie could be persuaded to let her mother go, but the next face that presented itself astonished her quite as much, for she recognized it as that of captain gordon, a gentleman whom she had known intimately and for a length of time. i had never seen captain gordon in the flesh, but i had heard of him, and knew he had died from a sudden accident. all i saw was the head of a good-looking, fair, young man, and not feeling any personal interest in his appearance, i occupied the time during which my friend conversed with him about olden days, by minutely examining the working of the muscles of his throat, which undeniably stretched when his head moved. as i was doing so, he leaned forward, and i saw a dark stain, which looked like a clot of blood, on his fair hair, on the left side of the forehead. "annie! what did captain gordon die of?" i asked. "he fell from a railway carriage," she replied, "and struck his head upon the line." i then pointed out to her the blood upon his hair. several other faces appeared, which we could not recognize. at last came one of a gentleman, apparently moulded like a bust in plaster of paris. he had a kind of smoking cap upon the head, curly hair, and a beard, but from being perfectly colorless, he looked so unlike nature, that i could not trace a resemblance to any friend of mine, though he kept on bowing in my direction, to indicate that i knew, or had known him. i examined this face again and again in vain. nothing in it struck me as familiar, until the mouth broke into a grave, amused smile at my perplexity. in a moment i recognized it as that of my dear old friend, john powles, whose history i shall relate _in extenso_ further on. i exclaimed "powles," and sprang towards it, but with my hasty action the figure disappeared. i was terribly vexed at my imprudence, for this was the friend of all others i desired to see, and sat there, hoping and praying the spirit would return, but it did not. annie thomas' mother and friend both came back several times; indeed, annie recalled captain gordon so often, that on his last appearance the power was so exhausted, his face looked like a faded sketch in water-colors, but "powles" had vanished altogether. the last face we saw that night was that of a little girl, and only her eyes and nose were visible, the rest of her head and face being enveloped in some white flimsy material like muslin. mrs. holmes asked her for whom she came, and she intimated that it was for me. i said she must be mistaken, and that i had known no one in life like her. the medium questioned her very closely, and tried to put her "out of court," as it were. still, the child persisted that she came for me. mrs. holmes said to me, "cannot you remember _anyone_ of that age connected with you in the spirit world? no cousin, nor niece, nor sister, nor the child of a friend?" i tried to remember, but i could not, and answered, "no! no child of that age." she then addressed the little spirit. "you have made a mistake. there is no one here who knows you. you had better move on." so the child did move on, but very slowly and reluctantly. i could read her disappointment in her eyes, and after she had disappeared, she peeped round the corner again and looked at me, longingly. this was "florence," my dear _lost_ child (as i then called her), who had left me as a little infant of ten days old, and whom i could not at first recognize as a young girl of ten years. her identity, however, has been proved to me since, beyond all doubt, as will be seen in the chapter which relates my reunion with her, and is headed "my spirit child." thus ended the first _sã©ance_ at which i ever assisted, and it made a powerful impression upon my mind. mrs. holmes, in bidding us good-night, said, "you two ladies must be very powerful mediums. i never held so successful a _sã©ance_ with strangers in my life before." this news elated us--we were eager to pursue our investigations, and were enchanted to think we could have _sã©ances_ at home, and as soon as annie thomas took up her residence in london, we agreed to hold regular meetings for the purpose. this was the _sã©ance_ that made me a student of the psychological phenomena, which the men of the nineteenth century term spiritualism. had it turned out a failure, i might now have been as most men are. _quien sabe?_ as it was, it incited me to go on and on, until i have seen and heard things which at that moment would have seemed utterly impossible to me. and i would not have missed the experience i have passed through for all the good this world could offer me. chapter iii. curious coincidences. before i proceed to write down the results of my private and premeditated investigations, i am reminded to say a word respecting the permission i received for the pursuit of spiritualism. as soon as i expressed my curiosity on the subject, i was met on all sides with the objection that, as i am a catholic, i could not possibly have anything to do with the matter, and it is a fact that the church strictly forbids all meddling with necromancy, or communion with the departed. necromancy is a terrible word, is it not? especially to such people as do not understand its meaning, and only associate it with the dead of night and charmed circles, and seething caldrons, and the arch fiend, in _propria persona_, with two horns and a tail. yet it seems strange to me that the catholic church, whose very doctrine is overlaid with spiritualism, and who makes it a matter of belief that the saints hear and help us in our prayers and the daily actions of our lives, and recommends our kissing the ground every morning at the feet of our guardian angel, should consider it unlawful for us to communicate with our departed relatives. i cannot see the difference in iniquity between speaking to john powles, who was and is a dear and trusted friend of mine, and saint peter of alcantara, who is an old man whom i never saw in this life. they were both men, both mortal, and are both spirits. again, surely my mother who was a pious woman all her life, and is now in the other world, would be just as likely to take an interest in my welfare, and to try and promote the prospect of our future meeting, as saint veronica guiliani, who is my patron. yet were i to spend half my time in prayer before saint veronica's altar, asking her help and guidance, i should be doing right (according to the church), but if i did the same thing at my mother's grave, or spoke to her at a _sã©ance_, i should be doing wrong. these distinctions without a difference were hard nuts to crack, and i was bound to settle the matter with my conscience before i went on with my investigations. it is a fact that i have met quite as many catholics as protestants (especially of the higher classes) amongst the investigators of spiritualism, and i have not been surprised at it, for who could better understand and appreciate the beauty of communications from the spirit world than members of that church which instructs us to believe in the communion of saints, as an ever-present, though invisible mystery. whether my catholic acquaintances had received permission to attend _sã©ances_ or not, was no concern of mine, but i took good care to procure it for myself, and i record it here, because rumors have constantly reached me of people having said behind my back that i can be "no catholic" because i am a spiritualist. my director at that time was father dalgairn, of the oratory at brompton, and it was to him i took my difficulty. i was a very constant press writer and reviewer, and to be unable to attend and report on spiritualistic meetings would have seriously militated against my professional interests. i represented this to the father, and (although under protest) i received his permission to pursue the research in the cause of science. he did more than ease my conscience. he became interested in what i had to tell him on the subject, and we had many conversations concerning it. he also lent me from his own library the lives of such saints as had heard voices and seen visions, of those in fact who (like myself) had been the victims of "optical illusions." amongst these i found the case of saint anne-catherine of emmerich, so like my own, that i began to think that i too might turn out to be a saint in disguise. it has not come to pass yet, but there is no knowing what may happen. she used to see the spirits floating beside her as she walked to mass, and heard them asking her to pray for them as they pointed to "les taches sur leurs robes." the musical instruments used to play without hands in her presence, and voices from invisible throats sound in her ears, as they have done in mine. i have only inserted this clause, however, for the satisfaction of those catholic acquaintances with whom i have sat at _sã©ances_, and who will probably be the first to exclaim against the publication of _our_ joint experiences. i trust they will acknowledge, after reading it, that i am not worse than themselves, though i may be a little bolder in avowing my opinions. before i began this chapter, i had an argument with that friend of mine called self (who has but too often worsted me in the battle of life), as to whether i should say anything about table-rapping or tilting. the very fact of so common an article of furniture as a table, as an agent of communication with the unseen world, has excited so much ridicule and opens so wide a field for chicanery, that i thought it would be wiser to drop the subject, and confine myself to those phases of the science or art, or religion, or whatever the reader may like to call it, that can be explained or described on paper. the philosophers of the nineteenth century have invented so many names for the cause that makes a table turn round--tilt--or rap--that i feel quite unable (not being a philosopher) to cope with them. it is "magnetic force" or "psychic force,"--it is "unconscious cerebration" or "brain-reading"--and it is exceedingly difficult to tell the outside world of the private reasons that convince individuals that the answers they receive are _not_ emanations from their own brains. i shall not attempt to refute their reasonings from their own standpoint. i see the difficulties in the way, so much so that i have persistently refused for many years past to sit at the table with strangers, for it is only a lengthened study of the matter that can possibly convince a person of its truth. i cannot, however, see the extreme folly myself of holding communication (under the circumstances) through the raps or tilts of a table, or any other object. these tiny indications of an influence ulterior to our own are not necessarily confined to a table. i have received them through a cardboard box, a gentleman's hat, a footstool, the strings of a guitar, and on the back of my chair, even on the pillow of my bed. and which, amongst the philosophers i have alluded to, could suggest a simpler mode of communication? i have put the question to clever men thus: "suppose yourself, after having been able to write and talk to me, suddenly deprived of the powers of speech and touch, and made invisible, so that we could not understand each other by signs, what better means than by taps or tilts on any article, when the right word or letter is named, could you think of by which to communicate with me?" and my clever men have never been able to propose an easier or more sensible plan, and if anybody can suggest one, i should very much like to hear of it. the following incidents all took place through the much-ridiculed tipping of the table, but managed to knock some sense out of it nevertheless. on looking over the note book which i faithfully kept when we first held _sã©ances_ at home, i find many tests of identity which took place through my own mediumship, and which could not possibly have been the effects of thought-reading. i devote this chapter to their relation. i hope it will be observed with what admirable caution i have headed it. i have a few drops of scotch blood in me by the mother's side, and i think they must have aided me here. "curious coincidences." why, not the most captious and unbelieving critic of them all can find fault with so modest and unpretending a title. everyone believes in the occasional possibility of "curious coincidences." it was not until the month of june, 1873, that we formed a home circle, and commenced regularly to sit together. we became so interested in the pursuit, that we used to sit every evening, and sometimes till three and four o'clock in the morning, greatly to our detriment, both mental and physical. we seldom sat alone, being generally joined by two or three friends from outside, and the results were sometimes very startling, as we were a strong circle. the memoranda of these sittings, sometimes with one party and sometimes with another, extend over a period of years, but i shall restrict myself to relating a few incidents that were verified by subsequent events. the means by which we communicated with the influences around us was the usual one. we sat round the table and laid our hands upon it, and i (or anyone who might be selected for the purpose) spelled over the alphabet, and raps or tilts occurred when the desired letter was reached. this in reality is not so tedious a process as it may appear, and once used to it, one may get through a vast amount of conversation in an hour by this means. a medium is soon able to guess the word intended to be spelt, for there are not so many after all in use in general conversation. some one had come to our table on several occasions, giving the name of "valerie," but refusing to say any more, so we thought she was an idle or frivolous spirit, and had been in the habit of driving her away. one evening, on the 1st of july, however, our circle was augmented by mr. henry stacke, when "valerie" was immediately spelled out, and the following conversation ensued. mr. stacke said to me, "who is this?" and i replied carelessly, "o! she's a little devil! she never has anything to say." the table rocked violently at this, and the taps spelled out. "je ne suis pas diable." "hullo! valerie, so you can talk now! for whom do you come?" "monsieur stacke." "where did you meet him?" "on the continent." "whereabouts?" "between dijon and macon." "how did you meet him?" "in a railway carriage." "what where you doing there?" here she relapsed into french, and said, "ce m'est impossible de dire." at this juncture mr. stacke observed that he had never been in a train between dijon and macon but once in his life, and if the spirit was with him then, she must remember what was the matter with their fellow-passenger. "mais oui, oui--il etait fou," she replied, which proved to be perfectly correct. mr. stacke also remembered that two ladies in the same carriage had been terribly frightened, and he had assisted them to get into another. "valerie" continued, "priez pour moi." "pourquoi, valerie?" "parce que j'ai beaucoup pã©chã©." there was an influence who frequented our society at that time and called himself "charlie." he stated that his full name had been "stephen charles bernard abbot,"--that he had been a monk of great literary attainments--that he had embraced the monastic life in the reign of queen mary, and apostatized for political reasons in that of elizabeth, and been "earth bound" in consequence ever since. "charlie" asked us to sing one night, and we struck up the very vulgar refrain of "champagne charlie," to which he greatly objected, asking for something more serious. i began, "ye banks and braes o' bonnie doon." "why, that's as bad as the other," said charlie. "it was a ribald and obscene song in the reign of elizabeth. the drunken roysterers used to sing it in the street as they rolled home at night." "you must be mistaken, charlie! it's a well-known scotch air." "it's no more scotch than i am," he replied. "the scotch say they invented everything. it's a tune of the time of elizabeth. ask brinley richards." having the pleasure of the acquaintance of that gentleman, who was the great authority on the origin of national ballads, i applied to him for the information, and received an answer to say that "charlie" was right, but that mr. richards had not been aware of the fact himself until he had searched some old mss. in the british museum for the purpose of ascertaining the truth. i was giving a sitting once to an officer from aldershot, a cousin of my own, who was quite prepared to ridicule every thing that took place. after having teased me into giving him a _sã©ance_, he began by cheating himself, and then accused me of cheating him, and altogether tired out my patience. at last i proposed a test, though with little hope of success. "let us ask john powles to go down to aldershot," i said, "and bring us word what your brother officers are doing." "o, yes! by jove! capital idea! here! you fellow powles, cut off to the camp, will you, and go to the barracks of the 84th, and let us know what major r---is doing." the message came back in about three minutes. "major r---has just come in from duty," spelt out powles. "he is sitting on the side of his bed, changing his uniform trousers for a pair of grey tweed." "i'm sure that's wrong," said my cousin, "because the men are never called out at this time of the day." it was then four o'clock, as we had been careful to ascertain. my cousin returned to camp the same evening, and the next day i received a note from him to say, "that fellow powles is a brick. it was quite right. r---was unexpectedly ordered to turn out his company yesterday afternoon, and he returned to barracks and changed his things for the grey tweed suit exactly at four o'clock." but i have always found my friend powles (when he _will_ condescend to do anything for strangers, which is seldom) remarkably correct in detailing the thoughts and actions of absentees, sometimes on the other side of the globe. i went one afternoon to pay an ordinary social call on a lady named mrs. w----, and found her engaged in an earnest conversation on spiritualism with a stout woman and a commonplace man--two as material looking individuals as ever i saw, and who appeared all the more so under a sultry august sun. as soon as mrs. w---saw me, she exclaimed, "o! here is mrs. ross-church. she will tell you all about the spirits. do, mrs. ross-church, sit down at the table and let us have a _sã©ance_." a _sã©ance_ on a burning, blazing afternoon in august, with two stolid and uninteresting, and worse still, _uninterested_ looking strangers, who appeared to think mrs. w---had a "bee in her bonnet." i protested--i reasoned--i pleaded--all in vain. my hostess continued to urge, and society places the guest at the mercy of her hostess. so, in an evil temper, i pulled off my gloves, and placed my hands indifferently on the table. the following words were at once rapped out-"i am edward g----. did you ever pay johnson the seventeen pounds twelve you received for my saddlery?" the gentleman opposite to me turned all sorts of colors, and began to stammer out a reply, whilst his wife looked very confused. i asked the influence, "who are you?" it replied, "_he_ knows! his late colonel! why hasn't johnson received that money?" this is what i call an "awkward" coincidence, and i have had many such occur through me--some that have driven acquaintances away from the table, vowing vengeance against me, and racking their brains to discover _who_ had told me of their secret peccadilloes. the gentleman in question (whose name even i do not remember) confessed that the identity and main points of the message were true, but he did _not_ confide to us whether johnson had ever received that seventeen pounds twelve. i had a beautiful english greyhound, called "clytie," a gift from annie thomas to me, and this dog was given to straying from my house in colville road, bayswater, which runs parallel to portobello road, a rather objectionable quarter, composed of inferior shops, one of which, a fried fish shop, was an intolerable nuisance, and used to fill the air around with its rich perfume. on one occasion "clytie" stayed away from home so much longer than usual, that i was afraid she was lost in good earnest, and posted bills offering a reward for her. "charlie" came to the table that evening and said, "don't offer a reward for the dog. send for her." "where am i to send?" i asked. "she is tied up at the fried fish shop in portobello road. send the cook to see." i told the servant in question that i had heard the greyhound was detained at the fish shop, and sent her to inquire. she returned with "clytie." her account was, that on making inquiries, the man in the shop had been very insolent to her, and she had raised her voice in reply; that she had then heard and recognized the sharp, peculiar bark of the greyhound from an upper storey, and, running up before the man could prevent her, she had found "clytie" tied up to a bedstead with a piece of rope, and had called in a policeman to enable her to take the dog away. i have often heard the assertion that spiritualism is of no practical good, and, doubtless, it was never intended to be so, but this incident was, at least, an exception to the rule. when abroad, on one occasion, i was asked by a catholic abbã© to sit with him. he had never seen any manifestations before, and he did not believe in them, but he was curious on the subject. i knew nothing of him further than that he was a priest, and a jesuit, and a great friend of my sister's, at whose house i was staying. he spoke english, and the conversation was carried on in that language. he had told me beforehand that if he could receive a perfectly private test, that he should never doubt the truth of the manifestations again. i left him, therefore, to conduct the investigation entirely by himself, i acting only as the medium between him and the influence. as soon as the table moved he put his question direct, without asking who was there to answer it. "where is my chasuble?" now a priest's chasuble, _i_ should have said, must be either hanging in the sacristy or packed away at home, or been sent away to be altered or mended. but the answer was wide of all my speculations. "at the bottom of the red sea." the priest started, but continued-"who put it there?" "elias dodo." "what was his object in doing so?" "he found the parcel a burthen, and did not expect any reward for delivering it." the abbã© really looked as if he had encountered the devil. he wiped the perspiration from his forehead, and put one more question. "of what was my chasuble made?" "your sister's wedding dress." the priest then explained to me that his sister had made him a chasuble out of her wedding dress--one of the forms of returning thanks in the church, but that after a while it became old fashioned, and the bishop, going his rounds, ordered him to get another. he did not like to throw away his sister's gift, so he decided to send the old chasuble to a priest in india, where they are very poor, and not so particular as to fashion. he confided the packet to a man called elias dodo, a sufficiently singular name, but neither he nor the priest he sent it to had ever heard anything more of the chasuble, or the man who promised to deliver it. a young artist of the name of courtney was a visitor at my house. he asked me to sit with him alone, when the table began rapping out a number of consonants--a farrago of nonsense, it appeared to me, and i stopped and said so. but mr. courtney, who appeared much interested, begged me to proceed. when the communication was finished, he said to me, "this is the most wonderful thing i have ever heard. my father has been at the table talking to me in welsh. he has told me our family motto, and all about my birth-place and relations in wales." i said, "i never heard you were a welshman." "yes! i am," he replied, "my real name is powell. i have only adopted the name of courtney for professional purposes." this was all news to me, but had it not been, _i cannot speak welsh_. i could multiply such cases by the dozen, but that i fear to tire my readers, added to which the majority of them were of so strictly private a nature that it would be impossible to put them into print. this is perhaps the greatest drawback that one encounters in trying to prove the truth of spiritualism. the best tests we receive are when the very secrets of our hearts, which we have not confided to our nearest friends, are revealed to us. i could relate (had i the permission of the persons most interested) the particulars of a well-known law suit, in which the requisite evidence, and names and addresses of witnesses, were all given though my mediumship, and were the cause of the case being gained by the side that came to me for "information." some of the coincidences i have related in this chapter might, however, be ascribed by the sceptical to the mysterious and unknown power of brain reading, whatever that may be, and however it may come, apart from mediumship, but how is one to account for the facts i shall tell you in my next chapter. chapter iv. embodied spirits. i was having a sitting one day in my own house with a lady friend, named miss clark, when a female spirit came to the table and spelt out the name "tiny." "who are you?" i asked, "and for whom do you come?" "i am a friend of major m----" (mentioning the full name), "and i want your help." "are you any relation to major m----?" "i am the mother of his child." "what do you wish me to do for you?" "tell him he must go down to portsmouth and look after my daughter. he has not seen her for years. the old woman is dead, and the man is a drunkard. she is falling into evil courses. he must save her from them." "what is your real name?" "i will not give it. there is no need. he always called me 'tiny.'" "how old is your daughter." "nineteen! her name is emily! i want her to be married. tell him to promise her a wedding trousseau. it may induce her to marry." the influence divulged a great deal more on the subject which i cannot write down here. it was an account of one of those cruel acts of seduction by which a young girl had been led into trouble in order to gratify a man's selfish lust, and astonished both miss clark and myself, who had never heard of such a person as "tiny" before. it was too delicate a matter for me to broach to major m---(who was a married man, and an intimate friend of mine), but the spirit came so many times and implored me so earnestly to save her daughter, that at last i ventured to repeat the communication to him. he was rather taken aback, but confessed it was true, and that the child, being left to his care, had been given over to the charge of some common people at portsmouth, and he had not enquired after it for some time past. neither had he ever heard of the death of the mother, who had subsequently married, and had a family. he instituted inquiries, however, at once, and found the statement to be quite true, and that the girl emily, being left with no better protection than that of the drunken old man, had actually gone astray, and not long after she was had up at the police court for stabbing a soldier in a public-house--a fit ending for the unfortunate offspring of a man's selfish passions. but the strangest part of the story to the uninitiated will lie in the fact that the woman whose spirit thus manifested itself to two utter strangers, who knew neither her history nor her name, was at the time _alive_, and living with her husband and family, as major m---took pains to ascertain. and now i have something to say on the subject of communicating with the spirits of persons still in the flesh. this will doubtless appear the most incomprehensible and fanatical assertion of all, that we wear our earthly garb so loosely, that the spirits of people still living in this world can leave the body and manifest themselves either visibly or orally to others in their normal condition. and yet it is a fact that spirits have so visited myself (as in the case i have just recorded), and given me information of which i had not the slightest previous idea. the matter has been explained to me after this fashion--that it is not really the spirit of the living person who communicates, but the spirit, or "control," that is nearest to him: in effect what the church calls his "guardian angel," and that this guardian angel, who knows his inmost thoughts and desires better even than he knows them himself, is equally capable of speaking in his name. this idea of the matter may shift the marvel from one pair of shoulders to another, but it does not do away with it. if i can receive information of events before they occur (as i will prove that i have), i present a nut for the consideration of the public jaw, which even the scientists will find difficult to crack. it was at one time my annual custom to take my children to the sea-side, and one summer, being anxious to ascertain how far the table could be made to act without the aid of "unconscious cerebration," i arranged with my friends, mr. helmore and mrs. colnaghi, who had been in the habit of sitting with us at home, that _we_ should continue to sit at the sea-side on tuesday evenings as theretofore, and _they_ should sit in london on the thursdays, when i would try to send them messages through "charlie," the spirit i have already mentioned as being constantly with us. the first tuesday my message was, "ask them how they are getting on without us," which was faithfully delivered at their table on the following thursday. the return message from them which "charlie" spelled out for us on the second tuesday, was: "tell her london is a desert without her," to which i emphatically, if not elegantly, answered, "fiddle-de-dee!" a few days afterwards i received a letter from mr. helmore, in which he said, "i am afraid 'charlie' is already tired of playing at postman, for to all our questions about you last thursday, he would only rap out, 'fiddle-de-dee.'" the circumstance to which this little episode is but an introduction happened a few days later. mr. colnaghi and mr. helmore, sitting together as usual on thursday evening, were discussing the possibility of summoning the spirits of _living persons_ to the table, when "charlie" rapped three times to intimate they could. "will you fetch some one for us, charlie?" "yes." "whom will you bring?" "mrs. ross-church." "how long will it take you to do so?" "fifteen minutes." it was in the middle of the night when i must have been fast asleep, and the two young men told me afterwards that they waited the results of their experiment with much trepidation, wondering (i suppose) if i should be conveyed bodily into their presence and box their ears well for their impertinence. exactly fifteen minutes afterwards, however, the table was violently shaken and the words were spelt out. "i am mrs. ross-church. how _dared_ you send for me?" they were very penitent (or they said they were), but they described my manner as most arbitrary, and said i went on repeating, "let me go back! let me go back! there is a great danger hanging over my children! i must go back to my children!" (and here i would remark _par parenthã¨se_, and in contradiction of the guardian angel theory, that i have always found that whilst the spirits of the departed come and go as they feel inclined, the spirits of the living invariably _beg_ to be sent back again or permitted to go, as if they were chained by the will of the medium.) on this occasion i was so positive that i made a great impression on my two friends, and the next day mr. helmore sent me a cautiously worded letter to find out if all was well with us at charmouth, but without disclosing the reason for his curiosity. the _facts_ are, that on the morning of _friday_, the day _after_ the _sã©ance_ in london, my seven children and two nurses were all sitting in a small lodging-house room, when my brother-in-law, dr. henry norris, came in from ball practice with the volunteers, and whilst exhibiting his rifle to my son, accidentally discharged it in the midst of them, the ball passing through the wall within two inches of my eldest daughter's head. when i wrote the account of this to mr. helmore, he told me of my visit to london and the words i had spelt out on the occasion. but how did i know of the occurrence the _night before_ it took place? and if i--being asleep and unconscious--did _not_ know of it, "charlie" must have done so. my ã¦rial visits to my friends, however, whilst my body was in quite another place, have been made still more palpable than this. once, when living in the regent's park, i passed a very terrible and painful night. grief and fear kept me awake most of the time, and the morning found me exhausted with the emotion i had gone through. about eleven o'clock there walked in, to my surprise, mrs. fitzgerald (better known as a medium under her maiden name of bessie williams), who lived in the goldhawk road, shepherd's bush. "i couldn't help coming to you," she commenced, "for i shall not be easy until i know how you are after the terrible scene you have passed through." i stared at her. "whom have you seen?" i asked. "who has told you of it?" "yourself," she replied. "i was waked up this morning between two and three o'clock by the sound of sobbing and crying in the front garden. i got out of bed and opened the window, and then i saw you standing on the grass plat in your night-dress and crying bitterly. i asked you what was the matter, and you told me so and so, and so and so." and here followed a detailed account of all that had happened in my own house on the other side of london, with the _very words_ that had been used, and every action that had happened. i had seen no one and spoken to no one between the occurrence and the time mrs. fitzgerald called upon me. if her story was untrue, _who_ had so minutely informed her of a circumstance which it was to the interest of all concerned to keep to themselves? when i first joined mr. d'oyley carte's "patience" company in the provinces, to play the part of "lady jane," i understood i was to have four days' rehearsal. however, the lady whom i succeeded, hearing i had arrived, took herself off, and the manager requested i would appear the same night of my arrival. this was rather an ordeal to an artist who had never sung on the operatic stage before, and who was not note perfect. however, as a matter of obligation, i consented to do my best, but i was very nervous. at the end of the second act, during the balloting scene, lady jane has to appear suddenly on the stage, with the word "away!" i forget at this distance of time whether i made a mistake in pitching the note a third higher or lower. i know it was not out of harmony, but it was sufficiently wrong to send the chorus astray, and bring my heart up into my mouth. it never occurred after the first night, but i never stood at the wings again waiting for that particular entrance but i "girded my loins together," as it were, with a kind of dread lest i should repeat the error. after a while i perceived a good deal of whispering about me in the company, and i asked poor federici (who played the colonel) the reason of it, particularly as he had previously asked me to stand as far from him as i could upon the stage, as i magnetized him so strongly that he couldn't sing if i was near him. "well! do you know," he said to me in answer, "that a very strange thing occurs occasionally with reference to you, miss marryat. while you are standing on the stage sometimes, you appear seated in the stalls. several people have seen it beside myself. i assure you it is true." "but _when_ do you see me?" i enquired with amazement. "it's always at the same time," he answered, "just before you run on at the end of the second act. of course it's only an appearance, but it's very queer." i told him then of the strange feelings of distrust of myself i experienced each night at that very moment, when my spirit seems to have preceded myself upon the stage. i had a friend many years ago in india, who (like many other friends) had permitted time and separation to come between us, and alienate us from each other. i had not seen him nor heard from him for eleven years, and to all appearance our friendship was at an end. one evening the medium i have alluded to above, mrs. fitzgerald, who was a personal friend of mine, was at my house, and after dinner she put her feet up on the sofa--a very unusual thing for her--and closed her eyes. she and i were quite alone in the drawing-room, and after a little while i whispered softly, "bessie, are you asleep?" the answer came from her control "dewdrop," a wonderfully sharp red indian girl. "no! she's in a trance. there's somebody coming to speak to you! i don't want him to come. he'll make the medium ill. but it's no use. i see him creeping round the corner now." "but why should it make her ill?" i argued, believing we were about to hold an ordinary _sã©ance_. "because he's a _live_ one, he hasn't passed over yet," replied dewdrop, "and live ones always make my medium feel sick. but it's no use. i can't keep him out. he may as well come. but don't let him stay long." "who is he, dewdrop?" i demanded curiously. "_i_ don't know! guess _you_ will! he's an old friend of yours, and his name is george." whereupon bessie fitzgerald laid back on the sofa cushions, and dewdrop ceased to speak. it was some time before there was any result. the medium tossed and turned, and wiped the perspiration from her forehead, and pushed back her hair, and beat up the cushions and threw herself back upon them with a sigh, and went through all the pantomime of a man trying to court sleep in a hot climate. presently she opened her eyes and glanced languidly around her. her unmistakable actions and the name "george" (which was that of my friend, then resident in india) had naturally aroused my suspicions as to the identity of the influence, and when bessie opened her eyes, i asked softly, "george, is that you?" at the sound of my voice the medium started violently and sprung into a sitting posture, and then, looking all round the room in a scared manner, she exclaimed, "where am i? who brought me here?" then catching sight of me, she continued, "mrs. ross-church!--florence! is this _your_ room? o! let me go! _do_ let me go!" this was not complimentary, to say the least of it, from a friend whom i had not met for eleven years, but now that i had got him i had no intention of letting him go, until i was convinced of his identity. but the terror of the spirit at finding himself in a strange place seemed so real and uncontrollable that i had the greatest difficulty in persuading him to stay, even for a few minutes. he kept on reiterating, "who brought me here? i did not wish to come. do let me go back. i am so very cold" (shivering convulsively), "so very, _very_ cold." "answer me a few questions," i said, "and then you shall go. do you know who i am?" "yes, yes, you are florence." "and what is your name?" he gave it at full length. "and do you care for me still?" "very much. but let me go." "in a minute. why do you never write to me?" "there are reasons. i am not a free agent. it is better as it is." "i don't think so. i miss your letters very much. shall i ever hear from you again?" "yes!" "and see you?" "yes; but not yet. let me go now. i don't wish to stay. you are making me very unhappy." if i could describe the fearful manner in which, during this conversation, he glanced every moment at the door, like a man who is afraid of being discovered in a guilty action, it would carry with it to my readers, as it did to me, the most convincing proof that the medium's body was animated by a totally different influence from her own. i kept the spirit under control until i had fully convinced myself that he knew everything about our former friendship and his own present surroundings; and then i let him fly back to india, and wondered if he would wake up the next morning and imagine he had been laboring under nightmare. these experiences with the spirits of the living are certainly amongst the most curious i have obtained. on more than one occasion, when i have been unable to extract the truth of a matter from my acquaintances i have sat down alone, as soon as i believed them to be asleep, and summoned their spirits to the table and compelled them to speak out. little have they imagined sometimes how i came to know things which they had scrupulously tried to hide from me. i have heard that the power to summons the spirits of the living is not given to all media, but i have always possessed it. i can do so when they are awake as well as when they are asleep, though it is not so easy. a gentleman once _dared_ me to do this with him, and i only conceal his name because i made him look ridiculous. i waited till i knew he was engaged at a dinner-party, and then about nine o'clock in the evening i sat down and summoned him to come to me. it was some little time before he obeyed, and when he did come, he was eminently sulky. i got a piece of paper and pencil, and from his dictation i wrote down the number and names of the guests at the dinner-table, also the dishes of which he had partaken, and then in pity for his earnest entreaties i let him go again. "you are making me ridiculous," he said, "everyone is laughing at me." "but why? what are you doing?" i urged. "i am standing by the mantel-piece, and i have fallen fast asleep," he answered. the next morning he came pell-mell into my presence. "what did you do to me last night?" he demanded. "i was at the watts philips, and after dinner i went fast asleep with my head upon my hand, standing by the mantel-piece, and they were all trying to wake me and couldn't. have you been playing any of your tricks upon me?" "i only made you do what you declared i couldn't," i replied. "how did you like the white soup and the turbot, and the sweetbreads, etc., etc." he opened his eyes at my nefariously obtained knowledge, and still more when i produced the paper written from his dictation. this is not a usual custom of mine--it would not be interesting enough to pursue as a custom--but i am a dangerous person to _dare_ to do anything. the old friend whose spirit visited me through mrs. fitzgerald had lost a sister to whom he was very tenderly attached before he made my acquaintance, and i knew little of her beyond her name. one evening, not many months after the interview with him which i have recorded, a spirit came to me, giving the name of my friend's sister, with this message, "my brother has returned to england, and would like to know your address. write to him to the club, leamington, and tell him where to find you." i replied, "your brother has not written to me, nor inquired after me for the last eleven years. he has lost all interest in me, and i cannot be the first to write to him, unless i am sure that he wishes it." "he has _not_ lost all interest in you," said the spirit; "he thinks of you constantly, and i hear him pray for you. he wishes to hear from you." "that may be true," i replied, "but i cannot accept it on your authority. if your brother really wishes to renew our acquaintance, let him write and tell me so." "he does not know your address, and i cannot get near enough to him to influence him." "then things must remain as they are," i replied somewhat testily. "i am a public person. he can find out my address, if he chooses to do so." the spirit seemed to reflect for a moment; then she rapped out, "wait, and i will fetch my brother. he shall come here himself and tell you what he thinks about it." in a short time there was a different movement of the table, and the name of my old friend was given. after we had exchanged a few words, and i had told him i required a test of his identity, he asked me to get a pencil and paper, and write from his dictation. i did as he requested, and he dictated the following sentence, "long time, indeed, has passed since the days you call to mind, but time, however long, does not efface the past. it has never made me cease to think of and pray for you as i felt you, too, did think of and pray for me. write to the address my sister gave you. i want to hear from you." notwithstanding the perspicuity and apparent genuineness of this message, it was some time before i could make up my mind to follow the directions it gave me. my pride stood in the way to prevent it. _ten days afterwards_, however, having received several more visits from the sister, i did as she desired me, and sent a note to her brother to the leamington club. the answer came by return of post, and contained (amongst others) _the identical words_ he had told me to write down. will mr. stuart cumberland, or any other clever man, explain to me _what_ or _who_ it was that had visited me ten days beforehand, and dictated words which could hardly have been in my correspondent's brain before he received my letter? i am ready to accept any reasonable explanation of the matter from the scientists, philosophers, chemists, or arguists of the world, and i am open to conviction, when my sense convinces me, that their reasoning is true. but my present belief is, that not a single man or woman will be found able to account on any ordinary grounds for such an extraordinary instance of "unconscious cerebration." being subject to "optical illusions," i naturally had several with regard to my spirit child, "florence," and she always came to me clothed in a white dress. one night, however, when i was living alone in the regent's park, i saw "florence" (as i imagined) standing in the centre of the room, dressed in a green riding habit slashed with orange color, with a cavalier hat of grey felt on her head, ornamented with a long green feather and a gold buckle. she stood with her back to me, but i could see her profile as she looked over her shoulder, with the skirt of her habit in her hand. this being a most extraordinary attire in which to see "florence," i felt curious on the subject, and the next day i questioned her about it. "florence!" i said, "why did you come to me last night in a green riding habit?" "i did not come to you last night, mother! it was my sister eva." "good heavens!" i exclaimed, "is anything wrong with her?" "no! she is quite well." "how could she come to me then?" "she did not come in reality, but her thoughts were much with you, and so you saw her spirit clairvoyantly." my daughter eva, who was on the stage, was at that time fulfilling a stock engagement in glasgow, and very much employed. i had not heard from her for a fortnight, which was a most unusual occurrence, and i had begun to feel uneasy. this vision made me more so, and i wrote at once to ask her if all was as it should be. her answer was to this effect: "i am so sorry i have had no time to write to you this week, but i have been so awfully busy. we play 'the colleen bawn' here next week, and i have had to get my dress ready for 'anne chute.' it's so effective. i wish you could see it. _a green habit slashed with orange, and a grey felt hat with a long green feather and a big gold buckle._ i tried it on the other night, and it looked so nice, etc., etc." well, my darling girl had had her wish, and i _had_ seen it. chapter v. optical illusions. as i have alluded to what my family termed my "optical illusions," i think it as well to describe a few of them, which appeared by the context to be something more than a mere temporary disturbance of my visual organs. i will pass over such as might be traced, truly or otherwise, to physical causes, and confine myself to those which were subsequently proved to be the reflection of something that, unknown to me, had gone before. in 1875 i was much engaged in giving dramatic readings in different parts of the country, and i visited dublin for the first time in my life, for that purpose, and put up at the largest and best-frequented hotel there. through the hospitality of the residents and the duties of my professional business, i was engaged both day and night, and when i _did_ get to bed, i had every disposition to sleep, as the saying is, like a "top." but there was something in the hotel that would not let me do so. i had a charming bedroom, cheerful, bright and pretty, and replete with every comfort, and i would retire to rest "dead beat," and fall off to sleep at once, to be waked perhaps half-a-dozen times a night by that inexplicable something (or nothing) that rouses me whenever i am about to enjoy an "optical illusion," and to see figures, sometimes one, sometimes two or three, sometimes a whole group standing by my bedside and gazing at me with looks of the greatest astonishment, as much as to ask what right i had to be there. but the most remarkable part of the matter to me was, that all the figures were those of men, and military men, to whom i was too well accustomed to be able to mistake. some were officers and others soldiers, some were in uniform, others in undress, but they all belonged to the army, and they all seemed to labor under the same feeling of intense surprise at seeing _me_ in the hotel. these apparitions were so life-like and appeared so frequently, that i grew quite uncomfortable about them, for however much one may be used to see "optical illusions," it is not pleasant to fancy there are about twenty strangers gazing at one every night as one lies asleep. spiritualism is, or was, a tabooed subject in dublin, and i had been expressly cautioned not to mention it before my new acquaintances. however, i could not keep entire silence on this subject, and dining _en famille_ one day, with a hospitable family of the name of robinson, i related to them my nightly experiences at the hotel. father, mother, and son exclaimed simultaneously. "good gracious," they said, "don't you know that that hotel was built on the site of the old barracks? the house immediately behind it, which formed part of the old building, was vacated by its last tenants on account of its being haunted. every evening at the hour the soldiers used to be marched up to bed, they heard the tramp, tramp, tramp of the feet ascending the staircase." "that may be," i replied, "but they _knew_ their house stood on the site of the barracks, and _i didn't_." my eldest daughter was spending a holiday with me once after my second marriage, and during the month of august. she had been very much overworked, and i made her lie in bed till noon. one morning i had been to her room at that hour to wake her, and on turning to leave it (in the broad daylight, remember), i encountered a man on the landing outside her door. he was dressed in a white shirt with black studs down the front, and a pair of black cloth trousers. he had dark hair and eyes, and small features; altogether, he struck me as having rather a sinister and unpleasant appearance. i stood still, with the open door in my hand, and gazed at him. he looked at me also for a minute, and then turned and walked upstairs to an upper storey where the nursery was situated, beckoning me, with a jerk of his hand, to follow him. my daughter (remarking a peculiar expression in my eyes, which i am told they assume on such occasions) said, "mother! what do you see?" "only a spirit," i answered, "and he has gone upstairs." "now, what _is_ the good of seeing them in that way," said eva, rather impatiently (for this dear child always disliked and avoided spiritualism), and i was fain to confess that i really did _not_ know the especial good of encountering a sinister-looking gentleman in shirt and trousers, on a blazing noon in august. after which the circumstance passed from my mind, until recalled again. a few months later i had occasion to change the children's nurse, and the woman who took her place was an icelandic girl named margaret thommassen, who had only been in england for three weeks. i found that she had been educated far above the average run of domestic servants, and was well acquainted with the writings of swedenborg and other authors. one day as i walked up the nursery stairs to visit the children in bed, i encountered the same man i had seen outside my daughter's room, standing on the upper landing, as though waiting my approach. he was dressed as before, but this time his arms were folded across his breast and his face downcast, as though he were unhappy about something. he disappeared as i reached the landing, and i mentioned the circumstance to no one. a few days later, margaret thommassen asked me timidly if i believed in the possibility of the spirits of the departed returning to this earth. when i replied that i did, she appeared overjoyed, and said she had never hoped to find anyone in england to whom she could speak about it. she then gave me a mass of evidence on the subject which forms a large part of the religion of the icelanders. she told me that she felt uneasy about her eldest brother, to whom she was strongly attached. he had left iceland a year before to become a waiter in germany, and had promised faithfully that so long as he lived she should hear from him every month, and when he failed to write she must conclude he was dead. margaret told me she had heard nothing from him now for three months, and each night when the nursery light was put out, someone came and sat at the foot of her bed and sighed. she then produced his photograph, and to my astonishment i recognized at once the man who had appeared to me some months before i knew that such a woman as margaret thommassen existed. he was taken in a shirt and trousers, just as i had seen him, and wore the same repulsive (to me) and sinister expression. i then told his sister that i had already seen him twice in that house, and she grew very excited and anxious to learn the truth. in consequence i sat with her in hopes of obtaining some news of her brother, who immediately came to the table, and told her that he was dead, with the circumstances under which he had died, and the address where she was to write to obtain particulars. and on margaret thommassen writing as she was directed, she obtained the practical proofs of her brother's death, without which this story would be worthless. my sister cecil lives with her family in somerset, and many years ago i went down there to visit her for the first time since she had moved into a new house which i had never seen before. she put me to sleep in the guest chamber, a large, handsome room, just newly furnished by oetzmann. but i could not sleep in it. the very first night some one walked up and down the room, groaning and sighing close to my ears, and he, she, or it especially annoyed me by continually touching the new stiff counterpane with a "scrooping" sound that set my teeth on edge, and sent my heart up into my mouth. i kept on saying, "go away! don't come near me!" for its proximity inspired me with a horror and repugnance which i have seldom felt under similar circumstances. i did not say anything at first to my sister, who is rather nervous on the subject of "bogies," but on the third night i could stand it no longer, and told her plainly the room was haunted, and i wished she would put me in her dressing-room, or with her servants, sooner than let me remain there, as i could get no rest. then the truth came out, and she confessed that the last owner of the house had committed suicide in that very room, and showed me the place on the boards, underneath the carpet, where the stain of his blood still remained. a lively sort of room to sleep all alone in. another sister of mine, blanche, used to live in a haunted house in bruges, of which a description will be found in the chapter headed, "the story of the monk." long, however, before the monk was heard of, i could not sleep in her house on account of the disturbances in my room, for which my sister used to laugh at me. but even when my husband, colonel lean, and i stayed there together, it was much the same. one night i waked him to see the figure of a woman, who had often visited me, standing at the foot of the bed. she was quaintly attired in a sort of leathern boddice or jerkin, laced up the front over a woollen petticoat of some dark color. she wore a cap of mechlin lace, with the large flaps at the side, adopted by flemish women to this day; her hair was combed tightly off her forehead, and she wore a profusion of gold ornaments. my husband could describe her as vividly as i did, which proves how plainly the apparition must have shown itself. i waked on several occasions to see this woman busy (apparently) with the contents of an old carved oak armoir which stood in a corner of the room, and which, i suppose, must have had something to do with herself. my eldest son joined me at bruges on this occasion. he was a young fellow of twenty, who had never practised, nor even enquired into spiritualism--fresh from sea, and about as free from fear or superstitious fancies as a mortal could be. he was put to sleep in a room on the other side of the house, and i saw from the first that he was grave about it, but i did not ask him the reason, though i felt sure, from personal experience, that he would hear or see something before long. in a few days he came to me and said-"mother! i'm going to take my mattress into the colonel's dressing-room to-night and sleep there." i asked him why. he replied, "it's impossible to stay in that room any longer. i wouldn't mind if they'd let me sleep, but they won't. there's something walks about half the night, whispering and muttering, and touching the bed-clothes, and though i don't believe in any of your rubbishy spirits, i'll be 'jiggered' if i sleep there any longer." so he was not "jiggered" (whatever that may be), as he refused to enter the room again. i cannot end this chapter more appropriately than by relating a very remarkable case of "optical illusion" which was seen by myself alone. it was in the month of july, 1880, and i had gone down alone to brighton for a week's quiet. i had some important literary work to finish, and the exigencies of the london season made too many demands upon my time. so i packed up my writing materials, and took a lodging all to myself, and set hard to work. i used to write all day and walk in the evening. it was light then till eight or nine o'clock, and the esplanade used to be crowded till a late hour. i was pushing my way, on the evening of the 9th of july, through the crowd, thinking of my work more than anything else, when i saw, as i fully thought, my step-son, francis lean, leaning with his back against the palings at the edge of the cliff and smiling at me. he was a handsome lad of eighteen who was supposed to have sailed in his ship for the brazils five months before. but he had been a wild young fellow, causing his father much trouble and anxiety, and my first impression was one of great annoyance, thinking naturally that, since i saw him there, he had never sailed at all, but run away from his ship at the last moment. i hastened up to him, therefore, but as i reached his side, he turned round quite methodically, and walked quickly down a flight of steps that led to the beach. i followed him, and found myself amongst a group of ordinary seamen mending their nets, but i could see francis nowhere. i did not know what to make of the occurrence, but it never struck me that it was not either the lad himself or some one remarkably like him. the same night, however, after i had retired to bed in a room that was unpleasantly brilliant with the moonlight streaming in at the window, i was roused from my sleep by someone turning the handle of my door, and there stood francis in his naval uniform, with the peaked cap on his head, smiling at me as he had done upon the cliff. i started up in bed intending to speak to him, when he laid his finger on his lips and faded away. this second vision made me think something must have happened to the boy, but i determined not to say anything to my husband about it until it was verified. shortly after my return to london, we were going, in company with my own son (also a sailor), to see his ship which was lying in the docks, when, as we were driving through poplar, i again saw my stepson francis standing on the pavement, and smiling at me. that time i spoke. i said to colonel lean, "i am sure i saw francis standing there. do you think it is possible he may not have sailed after all?" but colonel lean laughed at the idea. he believed it to be a chance likeness i had seen. only the lad was too good-looking to have many duplicates in this world. we visited the seaside after that, and in september, whilst we were staying at folkestone, colonel lean received a letter to say that his son francis had been drowned by the upsetting of a boat in the surf of the bay of callao, in the brazils, _on the 9th of july_--the day i had seen him twice in brighton, two months before we heard that he was gone. chapter vi. on scepticism. there are two classes of people who have done more harm to the cause of spiritualism than the testimony of all the scientists has done good, and those are the enthusiasts and the sceptics. the first believe everything they see or hear. without giving themselves the trouble to obtain proofs of the genuineness of the manifestations, they rush impetuously from one acquaintance to the other, detailing their experience with so much exaggeration and such unbounded faith, that they make the absurdity of it patent to all. they are generally people of low intellect, credulous dispositions, and weak nerves. they bow down before the influences as if they were so many little gods descended from heaven, instead of being, as in the majority of instances, spirits a shade less holy than our own, who, for their very shortcomings, are unable to rise above the atmosphere that surrounds this gross and material world. these are the sort of spiritualists whom _punch_ and other comic papers have very justly ridiculed. who does not remember the picture of the afflicted widow, for whom the medium has just called up the departed jones? "jones," she falters, "are you happy?" "much happier than i was down here," growls jones. "o! then you _must_ be in heaven!" "on the contrary, quite the reverse," is the reply. who also has not sat a _sã©ance_ where such people have not made themselves so ridiculous as to bring the cause they profess to adore into contempt and ignominy. yet to allow the words and deeds of fools to affect one's inward and private conviction of a matter would be tantamount to giving up the pursuit of everything in which one's fellow creatures can take a part. the second class to which i alluded--the sceptics--have not done so much injury to spiritualism as the enthusiasts, because they are as a rule, so intensely bigoted and hard-headed, and narrow-minded, that they overdo their protestations, and render them harmless. the sceptic refuses to believe _anything_, because he has found out _one_ thing to be a fraud. if one medium deceives, all the mediums must deceive. if one _sã©ance_ is a failure, none can be successful. if he gains no satisfactory test of the presence of the spirits of the departed, no one has ever gained such a test. now, such reason is neither just nor logical. again, a sceptic fully expects _his_ testimony to be accepted and believed, yet he will never believe any truth on the testimony of another person. and if he is told that, given certain conditions, he can see this or hear the other, he says, "no! i will see it and hear it without any conditions, or else i will proclaim it all a fraud." in like manner, we might say to a savage, on showing him a watch, "if you will keep your eye on those hands, you will see them move round to tell the hours and minutes," and he should reply, "i must put the watch into boiling water--those are my conditions--and if it won't go then, i will not believe it can go at all." i don't mind a man being a sceptic in spiritualism. i don't see how he can help (considering the belief in which we are reared) being a sceptic, until he has proved so strange a matter for himself. but i _do_ object to a man or a woman taking part in a _sã©ance_ with the sole intention of detecting deceit, not _when_ it has happened, but before it has happened--of bringing an argumentative, disputatious mind, full of the idea that it is going to be tricked and humbugged into (perhaps) a private circle who are sitting (like rosa dartle) "simply for information," and scattering all the harmony and good-will about him broadcast. he couldn't do it to a human assembly without breaking up the party. why should he expect to be more kindly welcomed by a spiritual one? i have seen an immense deal of courtesy shown under such circumstances to men whom i should have liked to see kicked downstairs. i have seen them enter a lady's private drawing-room, by invitation, to witness manifestations which were never, under any circumstances, made a means of gain, and have heard them argue, and doubt, and contradict, until they have given their hostess and her friends the lie to their faces. and the world in general would be quite ready to side with these (so-called) gentlemen, not because their word or their wisdom was better worth than that of their fellow guests, but because they protested against the truth of a thing which it had made up its mind to be impossible. i don't mind a sceptic myself, as i said before, but he must be unbiassed, which few sceptics are. as a rule, they have decided the question at issue for themselves before they commence to investigate it. i find that few people outside the pale of spiritualism have heard of the dialectical society, which was a scientific society assembled a few years ago for the sole purpose of enquiring into the truth of the matter. it was composed of forty members,--ten lawyers, ten scientists, ten clergymen, and ten chemists (i think that was the arrangement), and they held forty _sã©ances_, and the published report at the close of them was, that not one of these men of learning and repute could find any natural cause for the wonders he had witnessed. i know that there are a thousand obstacles in the way of belief. the extraordinarily contradictory manner in which protestants are brought up, to believe in one and the same breath that spirits were common visitants to earth at the periods of which the bible treats, but that it is impossible they can return to it now, although the lord is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. the conditions of darkness for the creation of materialized spirits, and the resemblance they sometimes bear to the medium, are two fearful stumbling-blocks. yet one must know that _all_ things are created in the dark, and that even a seed cannot sprout if you let the light in upon it, while as for the resemblance between the spirit and the medium, from whom it takes the material being that enables it to appear, if investigators would only persevere with their enquiries, they would find, as i have, that that is a disappointment which has its remedy in time. when people call on me to explain such things, i can only say that i know no more how they come than they do, or that i know how _i_ came, a living, sentient creature, into the world. besides (as i have said before), i write these pages to tell only _what i have seen_, and not to argue how it came to pass that i saw it. i have a little story to tell here which powerfully illustrates the foregoing remarks. the lines, "a woman convinced against her will is of the same opinion still," might have been penned with as much truth of sceptics. men who are sceptical, _i.e._, so thoroughly wrapt up in conceit of their powers of judgment and determination that it becomes impossible for them to believe themselves mistaken, will deny the evidence of all their senses sooner than confess they may be in the wrong. such an one may be a clever scientist or a shrewd man of business, but he can never be a genius. for genius is invariably humble of its own powers, and, therefore, open to conviction. but the lesser minds, who are only equal to grasping such details as may have been drummed into them by sheer force of study, appear to have no capability of stretching beyond a certain limit. they are hedged in and cramped by the opinions in which they have been reared, or that they have built up for themselves out of the petty material their brain affords them, and have lost their powers of elasticity. "thus far shalt thou go and no further," seems to be the fiat pronounced on too many men's reasoning faculties. instead of believing the power of god and the resources of nature to be illimitable, they want to keep them within the little circle that encompasses their own brains. "i can't see it, and therefore it cannot be." there was a time when i used to take the trouble to try and convince such men, but i have long ceased to do so. it is quite indifferent to me what they believe or don't believe. and with such minds, even if they _were_ convinced of its possibility, they would probably make no good use of spiritual intercourse. for there is no doubt it can be turned to evil uses as well as to good. some years ago i was on friendly terms with a man of this sort. he was a doctor, accounted clever in his profession, and i knew him to be an able arguist, and thought he had common sense enough not to eat his own words, but the sequel proved that i was mistaken. we had several conversations together on spiritualism, and as dr. h---was a complete disbeliever in the existence of a god and a future life, i was naturally not surprised to find that he did not place any credence in the account i gave him of my spiritualistic experiences. many medical men attribute such experiences entirely to a diseased condition of mind or body. but when i asked dr. h---what he should think if he saw them with his own eyes, i confess i was startled to hear him answer that he should say his eyes deceived him. "but if you heard them speak?" i continued. "i should disbelieve my ears." "and if you touched and handled them?" "i should mistrust my sense of feeling." "then by what means," i argued, "do you know that i am florence marryat? you can only see me and hear me and touch me! what is there to prevent your senses misleading you at the present moment?" but to this argument dr. h---only returned a pitying smile, professing to think me, on this point at least, too feeble-minded to be worthy of reply, but in reality not knowing what on earth to say. he often, however, recurred to the subject of spiritualism, and on several occasions told me that if i could procure him the opportunity of submitting a test which he might himself suggest, he should be very much obliged to me. it was about this time that a young medium named william haxby, now passed away, went to live with mr. and mrs. olive in ainger terrace, and we were invited to attend a _sã©ance_ given by him. mrs. olive, when giving the invitation, informed me that mr. haxby had been very successful in procuring direct writing in sealed boxes, and she asked me, if i wished to try the experiment, to take a secured box, with writing materials in it, to the _sã©ance_, and see what would happen to it. here was, i thought, an excellent opportunity for dr. h----'s test, and i sent for him and told him what had been proposed. i urged him to prepare the test entirely by himself, and to accompany me to the _sã©ance_ and see what occurred,--to all of which he readily consented. indeed, he became quite excited on the subject, being certain it would prove a failure; and in my presence he made the following preparations:-i. half a sheet of ordinary cream-laid note-paper and half a cedar-wood black lead pencil were placed in a jeweller's cardwood box. ii. the lid of the box was carefully glued down all round to the bottom part. iii. the box was wrapt in white writing paper, which was gummed over it. iv. it was tied eight times with a peculiar kind of silk made for tying up arteries, and the eight knots were knots known to (as dr. h---informed me) medical men only. v. each of the eight knots was sealed with sealing-wax, and impressed with dr. h----'s crest seal, which he always wore on his watch-chain. vi. the packet was again folded in brown paper, and sealed and tied to preserve the inside from injury. when dr. h---had finished it, he said to me, "if the spirits (or anybody) can write on that paper without cutting the silk, _i will believe whatever you wish_." i asked, "are you _quite_ sure that the packet could not be undone without your detecting it?" his answer was--"that silk is not to be procured except from a medical man; it is manufactured expressly for the tying of arteries; and the knots i have made are known only to medical men. they are the knots we use in tying arteries. the seal is my own crest, which never leaves my watch-chain, and i defy anyone to undo those knots without cutting them, or to tie them again, if cut. i repeat--if your friends can make, or cause to be made, the smallest mark on that paper, and return me the box in the condition it now is, _i will believe anything you choose_." and i confess i was very dubious of the result myself, and almost sorry that i had subjected the doctor's incredulity to so severe a test. on the evening appointed we attended the _sã©ance_, dr. h---taking the prepared packet with him. he was directed to place it under his chair, but he tied a string to it and put it under his foot, retaining the other end of the string in his hand. the meeting was not one for favorably impressing an unbeliever in spiritualism. there were too many people present, and too many strangers. the ordinary manifestations, to my mind, are worse than useless, unless they have been preceded by extraordinary ones; so that the doctor returned home more sceptical than before, and i repented that i had taken him there. one thing had occurred, however, that he could not account for. the packet which he had kept, as he thought, under his foot the whole time, was found, at the close of the meeting, to have disappeared. another gentleman had brought a sealed box, with paper and pencil in it, to the _sã©ance_; and at the close it was opened in the presence of all assembled, and found to contain a closely written letter from his deceased wife. but the doctor's box had evaporated, and was nowhere to be found. the door of the room had been locked all the time, and we searched the room thoroughly, but without success. dr. h---was naturally triumphant. "they couldn't undo _my_ knots and _my_ seals," he said, exulting over me, "and so they wisely did not return the packet. both packets were of course taken from the room during the sitting by some confederate of the medium. the other one was easily managed, and put back again--_mine_ proved unmanageable, and so they have retained it. i _knew_ it would be so!" and he twinkled his eyes at me as much as to say, "i have shut _you_ up. you will not venture to describe any of the marvels you have seen to me after this." of course the failure did not discompose me, nor shake my belief. i never believed spiritual beings to be omnipotent, omnipresent, nor omniscient. they had failed before, and doubtless they would fail again. but if an acrobatic performer fails to turn a double somersault on to another man's head two or three times, it does not falsify the fact that he succeeds on the fourth occasion. i was sorry that the test had been a failure, for dr. h----'s sake, but i did not despair of seeing the box again. and at the end of a fortnight it was left at my house by mr. olive, with a note to say that it had been found that morning on the mantel-piece in mr. haxby's bedroom, and he lost no time in returning it to me. it was wrapt in the brown paper, tied and sealed, apparently just as we had carried it to the _sã©ance_ in ainger terrace; and i wrote at once to dr. h---announcing its return, and asking him to come over and open it in my presence. he came, took the packet in his hand, and having stripped off the outer wrapper, examined it carefully. there were four tests, it may be remembered, applied to the packet. i. the arterial silk, procurable only from a medical man. ii. the knots to be tied only by medical men. iii. dr. h----'s own crest, always kept on his watch chain, as a seal. iv. the lid of the cardboard box, glued all round to the bottom part. as the doctor scrutinized the silk, the knots, and the seals, i watched him narrowly. "are you _quite sure_," i asked, "that it is the same paper in which you wrapt it?" "i am _quite sure_." "and the same silk?" "quite sure." "your knots have not been untied?" "i am positive that they have not." "nor your seal been tampered with?" "certainly not! it is just as i sealed it." "be careful, dr. h----," i continued. "remember i shall write down all you say." "i am willing to swear to it in a court of justice," he replied. "then will you open the packet?" dr. h---took the scissors and cut the silk at each seal and knot, then tore off the gummed white writing paper (which was as fresh as when he had put it on), and tried to pull open the card-board box. but as he could not do this in consequence of the lid being glued down, he took out his penknife and cut it all round. as he did so, he looked at me and said, "mark my words. there will be nothing written on the paper. it is impossible!" he lifted the lid, and behold _the box was empty_! the half sheet of notepaper and the half cedar wood pencil had both _entirely disappeared_. not a crumb of lead, nor a shred of paper remained behind. i looked at the doctor, and the doctor looked completely bewildered. "_well!_" i said, interrogatively. he shifted about--grew red--and began to bluster. "what do you make of it?" i asked. "how do you account for it?" "in the easiest way in the world," he replied, trying to brave it out. "it's the most transparent deception i ever saw. they've kept the thing a fortnight and had time to do anything with it. a child could see through this. surely your bright wits can want no help to an explanation." "i am not so bright as you give me credit for," i answered. "will you explain your meaning to me?" "with pleasure. they have evidently made an invisible slit in the joining of the box cover, and with a pair of fine forceps drawn the paper through it, bit by bit. for the pencil, they drew that by the same means to the slit and then pared it, little by little, with a lancet, till they could shake out the fragments." "that must have required very careful manipulation," i observed. "naturally. but they've taken a fortnight to do it in." "but how about the arterial silk?" i said. "they must have procured some from a surgeon." "and your famous knots?" "they got some surgeon to tie them!" "but your crest and seal?" "oh! they must have taken a facsimile of that in order to reproduce it. it is very cleverly done, but quite explicable!" "but you told me before you opened the packet that you would take your oath in a court of justice it had not been tampered with." "i was evidently deceived." "and you really believe, then, that an uneducated lad like mr. haxby would take the trouble to take impressions of seals and to procure arterial silk and the services of a surgeon, in order, not to mystify or convert _you_, but to gratify _me_, whose box he believes it to be." "i am sure he has done so!" "but just now you were equally sure he had _not_ done so. why should you trust your senses in one case more than in the other? and if mr. haxby has played a trick on me, as you suppose, why did you not discover the slit when you examined the box, before opening?" "because my eyes misled me!" "then after all," i concluded, "the best thing you can say of yourself is that you--a man of reputed science, skill, and sense, and with a strong belief in your own powers--are unable to devise a test in which you shall not be outwitted by a person so inferior to yourself in age, intellect and education as young haxby. but i will give you another chance. make up another packet in any way you like. apply to it the severest tests which your ingenuity can devise, or other men of genius can suggest to you, and let me give it to haxby and see if the contents can be extracted, or tampered with a second time." "it would be useless," said dr. h----. "if they were extracted through the iron panels of a fireproof safe, i would not believe it was done by any but natural means." "because you do not _wish_ to believe," i argued. "you are right," he confessed, "i do _not_ wish to believe. if you convinced me of the truth of spiritualism, you would upset all the theories i have held for the best part of my life. i don't believe in a god, nor a soul, nor a future existence, and i would rather not believe in them. we have quite enough trouble, in my opinion, in this life, without looking forward to another, and i would rather cling to my belief that when we die we have done with it once and for ever." so there ended my attempt to convince dr. h----, and i have often thought since that he was but a type of the genus sceptic. in this world, we mostly believe what we want to believe, and the thought of a future troubles us in proportion to the lives we lead here. it must often strike spiritualists (who mostly look forward to the day of their departure for another world, as a schoolboy looks forward to the commencement of the holidays) as a very strange thing, that people, as a rule, evince so little curiosity on the subject of spiritualism. the idea of the spirits of the departed returning to this world to hold communication with their friends may be a new and startling one to them, but the very wonder of it would make one expect to see them evince a little interest in a matter which concerns us all. yet the generality of carlyle's british millions either pooh-pooh the notion as too utterly ridiculous for their exalted minds to entertain, or inform you, with superior wisdom, that if spiritualism is true, they cannot see the use of it, and have no craving for any further knowledge. if these same people expected to go to canada or australia in a few months' time, how eagerly they would ask questions concerning their future home, and procure the best information on what to do, whilst they remained in england, in order to fit themselves for the journey and the change. but a journey to the other world--to the many worlds which perhaps await us--a certain proof that we shall live again (or rather, that we shall never die but need only time and patience and well-living here to reunite us to the dear one gone before)--_that_ is a subject not worthy of our trying to believe--of not sufficient importance for us to take the trouble of ascertaining. i pity from my soul the men and women who have no dead darling buried in their hearts whom they _know_ they shall meet in a home of god's own choosing when this life ends. the old, cold faiths have melted away beneath the sun of progress. we can no longer be made to believe, like little children, in a shadowy indefinite heaven where the saints sit on damp clouds with harps in their hands forever singing psalms and hymns and heavenly songs. that sort of existence could be a heaven to none, and to most it would be a hell. we do not accept it now, any more than we do the other place, with its typical fire and brimstone, and pitch-forking devils with horns and tails. but what has religion given us instead? those whose common-sense will not permit them to believe in the parson's heaven and hell generally believe (like dr. h----) in nothing at all. but spiritualism, earnestly and faithfully followed, leaves us in no doubt. spiritualists know where they are going to. the spheres are almost as familiar to them as this earth--it is not too much to say that many live in them as much as they do here, and often they seem the more real, as they are the more lasting of the two. spiritualists are in no manner of doubt _who_ their eyes will see when opening on another phase of life. _they_ do not expect to be carried straight up into abraham's bosom, and lie snugly there, whilst revengeful demons are torturing those who were, perhaps, nearest and dearest to them down below. they have a better and more substantial religion than that--a revelation that teaches them that the works we do in the flesh must bear their fruit in the spirit, and that no tardy deathbed repentance, no crying out for mercy because justice is upon us, like an unruly child howling as soon as the stick is produced for chastisement--will avail to wipe off the sins we have indulged in upon earth. they know their expiation will be a bitter one, yet not without hope, and that they will be helped, as well as help others, in the upward path that leads to ultimate perfection. the teaching of spiritualism is such as largely to increase belief in our divine father's love, our saviour's pity, and the angels' ministering help. but it does more than this, more than any religion has done before. it affords the _proof_--the only proof we have ever received, and our finite natures can accept--of a future existence. the majority of christians _hope_ and _trust_, and say they _believe_. it is the spiritualist only that _knows_. i think that the marvellous indifference displayed by the crowd to ascertain these truths for themselves must be due, in a large number of instances, to the unnatural but universal fear which is entertained of death and all things connected with it. the same people who loudly declaim again the possibility of seeing a "ghost," shudder at the idea of doing so. the creature whom they have adored and waited on with tenderest devotion passes away, and they are afraid to enter the room where his body lies. that which they clung to and wept over yesterday, they fear to look at or touch to-day, and the idea that he would return and speak to them would inspire them with horror. but why afraid of an impossibility? their very fears should teach them that there is a cause. from numerous notes made on the subject i have invariably found that those who have had the opportunity of testing the reality of spiritualism, and either rejected or denied it, have been selfish, worldly, and cold-hearted people who neither care, nor are cared for, by those who have passed on to another sphere. plenty of love is sure to bring you plenty of proof. the mourners, who have lost sight of what is dearest to them, and would give all they possess for one more look at the face they loved so much, or one more tone of the voice that was music to their ears, are only too eager and grateful to hear of a way by which their longings may be gratified, and would take any trouble and go to any expense to accomplish what they desire. it is this intense yearning to speak again with those that have left us, on the part of the bereaved, that has led to chicanery on the part of media in order to gratify it. wherever money is to be made, unfortunately cheating will step in; but because some tradesmen will sell you brass for gold is no reason to vote all jewellers thieves. the account of the raising of samuel by the witch of endor is an instance that my argument is correct. the witch was evidently an impostor, for she had no expectation of seeing samuel, and was frightened by the apparition she had evoked; but spiritualism must be a truth, because it was samuel himself who appeared and rebuked saul for calling him back to this earth. what becomes, in the face of this story, of the impassable gulf between the earthly and spiritual spheres? that atheists who believe in nothing should not believe in spiritualism is credible, natural, and consistent. but that christians should reject the theory is tantamount to acknowledging that they found their hopes of salvation upon a lie. there is no way of getting out of it. if it be _impossible_ that the spirits of the departed can communicate with men, the bible must be simply a collection of fabulous statements; if it be _wrong_ to speak with spirits, all the men whose histories are therein related were sinners, and the almighty helped them to sin; and if all the spirits who have been heard and seen and touched in modern times are devils sent on earth to lure us to our destruction, how are we to distinguish between them and the greatest spirit of all, who walked with mortal adam and eve in the garden of eden. "o! yes!" i think i hear somebody cry, "but that was in the bible;" as if the bible were a period or a place. and did it ever strike you that there is something else recorded in the bible? "and he did not many miracles there because of their _unbelief_." and yet christ came to call "not the righteous but the sinners to repentance." surely, then, the unbelieving required the conviction of the miracles more than those who knew him to be god. yet there he did them not, _because_ of their unbelief, because their _scepticism_ produced a condition in which miracles could not be wrought. and yet the nineteenth century is surprised because a sceptic, whose jarring element upsets all union and harmony, is not an acceptable addition to a spiritual meeting, and that the miracles of the present--gross and feeble, compared to those of the past, because worked by grosser material though grosser agents--ceased to be manifested when his unbelief intrudes itself upon them. chapter vii. the story of john powles. on the 4th of april, 1860, there died in india a young officer in the 12th regiment m.n.i., of the name of john powles. he was an intimate friend of my first husband for several years before his death, and had consequently become intimate with me; indeed, on several occasions he shared our house and lived with us on the terms of a brother. i was very young at that time and susceptible to influence of all sorts--extremely nervous, moreover, on the subject of "ghosts," and yet burning with curiosity to learn something of the other world--a topic which it is most difficult to induce anybody to discuss with you. people will talk of dress, or dinner, or their friend's private affairs--of anything, in fact, sooner than death and immortality and the world to come which we must all inevitably enter. even parsons--the legalized exponents of what lies beyond the grave--are no exceptions to the rule. when the bereaved sufferer goes to them for comfort, they shake their heads and "hope" and "trust," and say "god's mercy has no limits," but they cannot give him one reasonable proof to rest upon that death is but a name. john powles, however, though a careless and irreligious man, liked to discuss the unseen. we talked continually on the subject, even when he was apparently in perfect health, and he often ended our conversation by assuring me that should he die first (and he always prophesied truly that he should not reach the age of thirty) he would (were such a thing possible) come back to me. i used to laugh at the absurdity of the idea, and remind him how many friends had made the same promise to each other and never fulfilled it. for though i firmly believed that such things _had_ been, i could not realize that they would ever happen to me, or that i should survive the shock if they did. john powles' death at the last was very sudden, although the disease he died of was of long standing. he had been under the doctor's hands for a few days when he took an unexpected turn for the worse, and my husband and myself, with other friends, were summoned to his bedside to say good-bye to him. when i entered the room he said to me, "so you see it has come at last. don't forget what i said to you about it." they were his last intelligible words to me, though for several hours he grasped my dress with his hand to prevent my leaving him, and became violent and unmanageable if i attempted to quit his side. during this time, in the intervals of his delirium, he kept on entreating me to sing a certain old ballad, which had always been a great favorite with him, entitled "thou art gone from my gaze." i am sure if i sung that song once during that miserable day, i must have sung it a dozen times. at last our poor friend fell into convulsions which recurred with little intermission until his death, which took place the same evening. his death and the manner of it caused me a great shock. he had been a true friend to my husband and myself for years, and we both mourned his loss very sincerely. that, and other troubles combined, had a serious effect upon my health, and the doctors advised my immediate return to england. when an officer dies in india, it is the custom to sell all his minor effects by auction. before this took place, my husband asked me if there was anything belonging to john powles that i should like to keep in remembrance of him. the choice i made was a curious one. he had possessed a dark green silk necktie, which was a favorite of his, and when it became soiled i offered to turn it for him, when it looked as good as new. whereupon he had worn it so long that it was twice as dirty as before, so i turned it for him the second time, much to the amusement of the regiment. when i was asked to choose a keepsake of him, i said, "give me the green tie," and i brought it to england with me. the voyage home was a terrible affair. i was suffering mentally and physically, to such a degree that i cannot think of the time without a shudder. john powles' death, of course, added to my distress, and during the many months that occupied a voyage "by long sea," i hoped and expected that his spirit would appear to me. with the very strong belief in the possibility of the return to earth of the departed--or rather, i should say, with my strong belief _in_ my belief--i lay awake night after night, thinking to see my lost friend, who had so often promised to come back to me. i even cried aloud to him to appear and tell me where he was, or what he was doing, but i never heard or saw a single thing. there was silence on every side of me. ten days only after i landed in england i was delivered of a daughter, and when i had somewhat recovered my health and spirits--when i had lost the physical weakness and nervous excitability, to which most medical men would have attributed any mysterious sights or sounds i might have experienced before--then i commenced to _know_ and to _feel_ that john powles was with me again. i did not see him, but i felt his presence. i used to lie awake at night, trembling under the consciousness that he was sitting at my bedside, and i had no means of penetrating the silence between us. often i entreated him to speak, but when a low, hissing sound came close to my ear, i would scream with terror and rush from my room. all my desire to see or communicate with my lost friend had deserted me. the very idea was a terror. i was horror-struck to think he had returned, and i would neither sleep alone nor remain alone. i was advised to try a livelier place than winchester (where i then resided), and a house was taken for me at sydenham. but there, the sense of the presence of john powles was as keen as before, and so, at intervals, i continued to feel it for the space of several years--until, indeed, i became an inquirer into spiritualism as a science. i have related in the chapter that contains an account of my first _sã©ance_, that the only face i recognized as belonging to me was that of my friend john powles, and how excited i became on seeing it. it was that recognition that brought back all my old longing and curiosity to communicate with the inhabitants of the unseen world. as soon as i commenced investigations in my home circle, john powles was the very first spirit who spoke to me through the table, and from that time until the present i have never ceased to hold communion with him. he is very shy, however, (as he was, whilst with us) of conversing before strangers, and seldom intimates his presence except i am alone. at such times, however, he will talk by the hour of all such topics as interested him during his earth life. soon after it became generally known that i was attending _sã©ances_, i was introduced to miss showers, the daughter of general showers of the bombay army. this young lady, besides being little more than a child--i think she was about sixteen when we met--was not a professional medium. the _sã©ances_ to which her friends were invited to witness the extraordinary manifestations that took place in her presence were strictly private. they offered therefore an enormous advantage to investigators, as the occurrences were all above suspicion, whilst miss showers was good enough to allow herself to be tested in every possible way. i shall have occasion to refer more particularly to miss showers' mediumship further on--at present, therefore, i will confine myself to those occasions which afforded proofs of john powles' presence. mrs. and miss showers were living in apartments when i visited them, and there was no means nor opportunity of deceiving their friends, even had they had any object in doing so. i must add also, that they knew nothing of my indian life nor experiences, which were things of the past long before i met them. at the first sitting miss showers gave me for "spirit faces," she merely sat on a chair behind the window curtains, which were pinned together half-way up, so as to leave a v-shaped opening at the top. the voice of "peter" (miss showers' principal control) kept talking to us and the medium from behind the curtains all the time, and making remarks on the faces as they appeared at the opening. presently he said to me, "mrs. ross-church, here's a fellow says his name is powles, and he wants to speak to you, only he doesn't like to show himself because he's not a bit like what he used to be." "tell him not to mind that," i answered, "i shall know him under any circumstances." "well! if he was anything like that, he was a beauty," exclaimed peter; and presently a face appeared which i could not, by any stretch of imagination, decide to resemble in the slightest degree my old friend. it was hard, stiff and unlifelike. after it had disappeared, peter said, "powles says if you'll come and sit with rosie (miss showers) often, he'll look quite like himself by-and-by," and of course i was only too anxious to accept the invitation. as i was setting out another evening to sit with miss showers, the thought suddenly occurred to me to put the green necktie in my pocket. my two daughters accompanied me on that occasion, but i said nothing to them about the necktie. as soon as we had commenced, however, peter called out, "now, mrs. ross-church, hand over that necktie. powles is coming." "what necktie?" i asked, and he answered, "why powles' necktie, of course, that you've got in your pocket. he wants you to put it round his neck." the assembled party looked at me inquisitively as i produced the tie. the face of john powles appeared, very different from the time before, as he had his own features and complexion, but his hair and beard (which were auburn during life) appeared phosphoric, as though made of living fire. i mounted on a chair and tied the necktie round his throat, and asked him if he would kiss me. he shook his head. peter called out, "give him your hand." i did so, and as he kissed it, his moustaches _burned_ me. i cannot account for it. i can only relate the fact. after which he disappeared with the necktie, which i have never seen since, though we searched the little room for it thoroughly. the next thing i have to relate about john powles is so startling that i dread the criticism it will evoke; but if i had not startling stories to tell, i should not consider them worth writing down. i left my house in bayswater one sunday evening to dine with mr. and mrs. george neville in regent's park terrace, to have a _sã©ance_ afterwards with miss showers. there was a large company present, and i was placed next to miss showers at table. during dinner she told me complainingly that her mother had gone to norwood to spend the night, and she (rosie) was afraid of sleeping alone, as the spirits worried her so. in a moment it flashed across me to ask her to return to bayswater and sleep with me, for i was most desirous of testing her powers when we were alone together. miss showers accepted my invitation, and we arranged that she should go home with me. after dinner, the guests sat for a _sã©ance_, but to everybody's surprise and disappointment, nothing occurred. it was one o'clock in the morning when miss showers and i entered a cab to return to bayswater. we had hardly started when we were greeted with a loud peal of laughter close to our ears. "what's the matter, peter?" demanded miss showers. "i can't help laughing," he replied, "to think of their faces when no one appeared! did you suppose i was going to let you waste all your power with them, when i knew i was going home with you and mrs. ross-church? i mean to show you what a real good _sã©ance_ is to-night." when we reached home i let myself in with a latchkey. the house was full, for i had seven children, four servants, and a married sister staying with me; but they were all in bed and asleep. it was cold weather, and when i took miss showers into my bedroom a fire was burning in the grate. my sister was occupying a room which opened into mine; but i locked her door and my own, and put the keys under my pillow. miss showers and i then undressed and got into bed. when we had extinguished the gas, we found the room was, comparatively speaking, light, for i had stirred the fire into a blaze, and a street lamp just opposite the window threw bars of light through the venetian blinds, right across the ceiling. as soon as miss showers had settled herself in bed, she said, "i wonder what peter is going to do," and i replied, "i hope he won't strip off the bed-clothes." we were lying under four blankets, a counterpane, and an eider-down _duvet_, and as i spoke, the whole mass rose in the air, and fell over the end of the bed, leaving us quite unprotected. we got up, lit a candle, and made the bed again, tucking the clothes well in all round, but the minute we laid down the same thing was repeated. we were rather cross the second time, and abused peter for being so disagreeable, upon which the voice declared he wouldn't do it any more, but we shouldn't have provoked him to try. i said, "you had much better shew yourself to us, peter. that is what i want you to do." he replied, "here i am, my dear, close to you!" i turned my head, and there stood a dark figure beside the bed, whilst another could be plainly distinguished walking about the room. i said, "i can't see your face," and he replied, "i'll come nearer to you!" upon this the figure rose in the air until it hung suspended, face downward, over the bed. in this position it looked like a huge bat with outspread wings. it was still indistinct, except as to substance, but peter said we had exhausted all the phosphorus in our bodies by the long evening we had spent, and left him nothing to light himself up with. after a while he lowered himself on to the bed, and lay between miss showers and myself on the outside of the _duvet_. to this we greatly objected, as he was very heavy and took up a great deal of room; but it was some time before he would go away. during this manifestation, the other spirit, whom peter called the "pope," kept walking about and touching everything in the room, which was full of ornaments; and peter called out several times, "take care, pope! take care! don't break mrs. ross-church's things." the two made so much noise that they waked my sister in the adjoining room, and she knocked at the door, asking in an alarmed voice, "florence! _whom_ have you there? you will wake the whole house." when i replied, "never mind, it's only spirits," she gave one fell shriek and dived under her bed-clothes. she maintains to this day that she fully believed the steps and voices to be human. at last the manifestations became so rapid, as many as eight and ten hands touching us at once, that i asked miss showers if she would mind my tying hers together. she was very amiable and consented willingly. i therefore got out of bed again, and having securely fastened her hands in the sleeves of the nightdress she wore, i sewed them with needle and thread to the mattress. miss showers then said she felt sleepy, and with her back to me--a position she was obliged to maintain on account of her hands being sewn down--she apparently dropt off to sleep, though i knew subsequently she was in a trance. for some time afterwards nothing occurred, the figures had disappeared, the voices ceased, and i thought the _sã©ance_ was over. presently, however, i felt a hand laid on my head and the fingers began to gently stroke and pull the short curls upon my forehead. i whispered, "who is this?" and the answer came back, "don't you know me? i am powles! at last--at last--after a silence of ten years i see you and speak with you again, face to face." "how can i tell this is _your_ hand?" i said. "peter might be materializing a hand in order to deceive me." the hand immediately left my head and the _back_ of it passed over my mouth, when i felt it was covered with short hair. i then remembered how hairy john powles' hands had become from exposure to the indian sun whilst shooting, and how i had nicknamed him "esau" in consequence. i recollected also that he had dislocated the left wrist with a cricket ball. "let me feel your wrist," i said, and my hand was at once placed on the enlarged bone. "i want to trace your hand to where it springs from," i next suggested; and on receiving permission i felt from the fingers and wrist to the elbow and shoulder, where it terminated _in the middle of miss showers' back_. still i was not quite satisfied, for i used to find it very hard to believe in the identity of a person i had cared for. i was so terribly afraid of being deceived. "i want to see your face," i continued. "i cannot show you my face to-night," the voice replied, "but you shall feel it;" and the face, with beard and moustaches, was laid for a moment against my own. then the hand was replaced on my hair, and whilst it kept on pulling and stroking my curls, john powles' own voice spoke to me of everything that had occurred of importance when he and i were friends on earth. fancy, two people who were intimately associated for years, meeting alone after a long and painful separation, think of all the private things they would talk about together, and you will understand why i cannot write down the conversation that took place between us that night here. in order to convince me of his identity, john powles spoke of all the troubles i had passed through and was then enduring--he mentioned scenes, both sad and merry, which we had witnessed together; he recalled incidents which had slipped my memory, and named places and people known only to ourselves. had i been a disbeliever in spiritualism, that night must have made a convert of me. whilst the voice, in the well-remembered tones of my old friend, was speaking, and his hand wandered through my hair, miss showers continued to sleep, or to appear to sleep, with her back towards me, and her hands sewn into her nightdress sleeves, and the sleeves sewn down to the bed. but had she been wide awake and with both hands free, she could not have spoken to me in john powles' unforgotten voice of things that had occurred when she was an infant and thousands of miles away. and i affirm that the voice spoke to me of things that no one but john powles could possibly have known. he did not fail to remind me of the promise he had made, and the many times he had tried to fulfil it before, and he assured me he should be constantly with me from that time. it was daylight before the voice ceased speaking, and then both miss showers and i were so exhausted, we could hardly raise our heads from the pillows. i must not forget to add that when we _did_ open our eyes again upon this work-a-day world, we found there was hardly an article in the room that had not changed places. the pictures were all turned with their faces to the wall--the crockery from the washstand was piled in the fender--the ornaments from the mantel-piece were on the dressing-table--in fact, the whole room was topsy-turvy. when mr. william fletcher gave his first lecture in england, in the steinway hall, my husband, colonel lean, and i, went to hear him. we had never seen mr. fletcher before, nor any of his family, nor did he know we were amongst the audience. our first view of him was when he stepped upon the platform, and we were seated quite in the body of the hall, which was full. it was mr. fletcher's custom, after his lecture was concluded, to describe such visions as were presented to him, and he only asked in return that if the people and places were recognized, those who recognized them would be brave enough to say so, for the sake of the audience and himself. i can understand that strangers who went there and heard nothing that concerned themselves would be very apt to imagine it was all humbug, and that those who claimed a knowledge of the visions were simply confederates of mr. fletcher. but there is nothing more true than that circumstances alter cases. i entered steinway hall as a perfect stranger, and as a press-writer, quite prepared to expose trickery if i detected it. and this is what i heard. after mr. fletcher had described several persons and scenes unknown to me, he took out a handkerchief and began to wipe his face, as though he were very warm. "i am no longer in england, now," he said. "the scene has quite changed, and i am taken over the sea, thousands of miles away, and i am in a chamber with all the doors and windows open. oh! how hot it is! i think i am somewhere in the tropics. o! i see why i have been brought here! it is to see a young man die! this is a death chamber. he is lying on a bed. he looks very pale, and he is very near death, but he has only been ill a short time. his hair is a kind of golden chestnut color, and he has blue eyes. he is an englishman, and i can see the letter 'p' above his head. he has not been happy on earth, and he is quite content to die. he pushes all the influences that are round his bed away from him. now i see a lady come and sit down beside him. he holds her hand, and appears to ask her to do something, and i hear a strain of sweet music. it is a song he has heard in happier times, and on the breath of it his spirit passes away. it is to this lady he seems to come now. she is sitting on my left about half way down the hall. a little girl, with her hands full of blue flowers, points her out to me. the little girl holds up the flowers, and i see they are woven into a resemblance of the letter f. she tells me that is the initial letter of her mother's name and her own. and i see this message written. "'to my dearest friend, for such you ever were to me from the beginning. i have been with you through all your time of trial and sorrow, and i am rejoiced to see that a happier era is beginning for you. i am always near you. the darkness is fast rolling away, and happiness will succeed it. pray for me, and i shall be near you in your prayers. i pray god to bless you and to bless me, and to bring us together again in the summer land.' "and i see the spirit pointing with his hand far away, as though to intimate that the happiness he speaks of is only the beginning of some that will extend to a long distance of time. i see this scene more plainly than any i have ever seen before." these words were written down at the time they were spoken. colonel lean and i were sitting in the very spot indicated by mr. fletcher, and the little girl with the blue flowers was my spirit child, "florence," whose history i shall give in the next chapter. but my communications with john powles, though very extraordinary, were not satisfactory to me. i am the "thomas, surnamed didymus," of the spiritualistic world, who wants to see and touch and handle before i can altogether believe. i wanted to meet john powles and talk with him face to face, and it seemed such an impossibility for him to materialize in the light that, after his two failures with miss showers, he refused to try. i was always worrying him to tell me if we should meet in the body before i left this world, and his answer was always, "yes! but not just yet!" i had no idea then that i should have to cross the atlantic before i saw my dear old friend again. chapter viii. my spirit child. the same year that john powles died, 1860, i passed through the greatest trouble of my life. it is quite unnecessary to my narrative to relate what that trouble was, nor how it affected me, but i suffered terribly both in mind and body, and it was chiefly for this reason that the medical men advised my return to england, which i reached on the 14th of december, and on the 30th of the same month a daughter was born to me, who survived her birth for only ten days. the child was born with a most peculiar blemish, which it is necessary for the purpose of my argument to describe. on the left side of the upper lip was a mark as though a semi-circular piece of flesh had been cut out by a bullet-mould, which exposed part of the gum. the swallow also had been submerged in the gullet, so that she had for the short period of her earthly existence to be fed by artificial means, and the jaw itself had been so twisted that could she have lived to cut her teeth, the double ones would have been in front. this blemish was considered to be of so remarkable a type that dr. frederick butler of winchester, who attended me, invited several other medical men, from southampton and other places, to examine the infant with him, and they all agreed that _a similar case had never come under their notice before_. this is a very important factor in my narrative. i was closely catechized as to whether i had suffered any physical or mental shock, that should account for the injury to my child, and it was decided that the trouble i had experienced was sufficient to produce it. the case, under feigned names, was fully reported in the _lancet_ as something quite out of the common way. my little child, who was baptized by the name of "florence," lingered until the 10th of january, 1861, and then passed quietly away, and when my first natural disappointment was over i ceased to think of her except as of something which "might have been," but never would be again. in this world of misery, the loss of an infant is soon swallowed up in more active trouble. still i never quite forgot my poor baby, perhaps because at that time she was happily the "one dead lamb" of my little flock. in recounting the events of my first _sã©ance_ with mrs. holmes, i have mentioned how a young girl much muffled up about the mouth and chin appeared, and intimated that she came for me, although i could not recognize her. i was so ignorant of the life beyond the grave at that period, that it never struck me that the baby who had left me at ten days old had been growing since our separation, until she had reached the age of ten years. i could not interpret longfellow (whom i consider one of the sublimest spiritualists of the age) as i can now. "day after day we think what she is doing, in those bright realms of air: year after year, her tender steps pursuing, behold her grown more fair. . . . . . "not as a child shall we again behold her: for when, with rapture wild, in our embraces we again enfold her, she will not be a child; but a fair maiden in her father's mansion, clothed with celestial grace. and beautiful with all the soul's expansion, shall we behold her face!" * * * * * the first _sã©ance_ made such an impression on my mind that two nights afterwards i again presented myself (this time alone) at mrs. holmes' rooms to attend another. it was a very different circle on the second occasion. there were about thirty people present, all strangers to each other, and the manifestations were proportionately ordinary. another professional medium, a mrs. davenport, was present, as one of her controls, whom she called "bell," had promised, if possible, to show her face to her. as soon, therefore, as the first spirit face appeared (which was that of the same little girl that i had seen before), mrs. davenport exclaimed, "there's 'bell,'" "why!" i said, "that's the little nun we saw on monday." "o! no! that's my 'bell,'" persisted mrs. davenport. but mrs. holmes took my side, and was positive the spirit came for me. she told me she had been trying to communicate with her since the previous _sã©ance_. "i know she is nearly connected with you," she said. "have you never lost a relation of her age?" "_never!_" i replied; and at that declaration the little spirit moved away, sorrowfully as before. a few weeks after i received an invitation from mr. henry dunphy (the gentleman who had introduced me to mrs. holmes) to attend a private _sã©ance_, given at his own house in upper gloucester place, by the well-known medium florence cook. the double drawing-rooms were divided by velvet curtains, behind which miss cook was seated in an arm-chair, the curtains being pinned together half-way up, leaving a large aperture in the shape of a v. being a complete stranger to miss cook, i was surprised to hear the voice of her control direct that _i_ should stand by the curtains and hold the lower parts together whilst the forms appeared above, lest the pins should give way, and necessarily from my position i could hear every word that passed between miss cook and her guide. the first face that showed itself was that of a man unknown to me; then ensued a kind of frightened colloquy between the medium and her control. "take it away. go away! i don't like you. don't touch me--you frighten me! go away!" i heard miss cook exclaim, and then her guide's voice interposed itself, "don't be silly, florrie. don't be unkind. it won't hurt you," etc., and immediately afterwards the same little girl i had seen at mrs. holmes' rose to view at the aperture of the curtains, muffled up as before, but smiling with her eyes at me. i directed the attention of the company to her, calling her again my "little nun." i was surprised, however, at the evident distaste miss cook had displayed towards the spirit, and when the _sã©ance_ was concluded and she had regained her normal condition, i asked her if she could recall the faces she saw under trance. "sometimes," she replied. i told her of the "little nun," and demanded the reason of her apparent dread of her. "i can hardly tell you," said miss cook; "i don't know anything about her. she is quite a stranger to me, but her face is not fully developed, i think. there is _something wrong about her mouth_. she frightens me." this remark, though made with the utmost carelessness, set me thinking, and after i had returned home, i wrote to miss cook, asking her to inquire of her guides _who_ the little spirit was. she replied as follows: "dear mrs. ross-church, i have asked 'katie king,' but she cannot tell me anything further about the spirit that came through me the other evening than that she is a young girl closely connected with yourself." i was not, however, yet convinced of the spirit's identity, although "john powles" constantly assured me that it _was_ my child. i tried hard to communicate with her at home, but without success. i find in the memoranda i kept of our private _sã©ances_ at that period several messages from "powles" referring to "florence." in one he says, "your child's want of power to communicate with you is not because she is too pure, but because she is too weak. she will speak to you some day. she is _not_ in heaven." this last assertion, knowing so little as i did of a future state, both puzzled and grieved me. i could not believe that an innocent infant was not in the beatific presence--yet i could not understand what motive my friend could have in leading me astray. i had yet to learn that once received into heaven no spirit could return to earth, and that a spirit may have a training to undergo, even though it has never committed a mortal sin. a further proof, however, that my dead child had never died was to reach me from a quarter where i least expected it. i was editor of the magazine _london society_ at that time, and amongst my contributors was dr. keningale cook, who had married mabel collins, the now well-known writer of spiritualistic novels. one day dr. cook brought me an invitation from his wife (whom i had never met) to spend saturday to monday with them in their cottage at redhill, and i accepted it, knowing nothing of the proclivities of either of them, and they knowing as little of my private history as i did of theirs. and i must take this opportunity to observe that, at this period, i had never made my lost child the subject of conversation even with my most intimate friends. the memory of her life and death, and the troubles that caused it, was not a happy one, and of no interest to any but myself. so little, therefore, had it been discussed amongst us that until "florence" reappeared to revive the topic, my _elder children were ignorant_ that their sister had been marked in any way differently from themselves. it may, therefore, be supposed how unlikely it was that utter strangers and public media should have gained any inkling of the matter. i went down to redhill, and as i was sitting with the keningale cooks after dinner, the subject of spiritualism came on the _tapis_, and i was informed that the wife was a powerful trance medium, which much interested me, as i had not, at that period, had any experience of her particular class of mediumship. in the evening we "sat" together, and mrs. cook having become entranced, her husband took shorthand notes of her utterances. several old friends of their family spoke through her, and i was listening to them in the listless manner in which we hear the conversation of strangers, when my attention was aroused by the medium suddenly leaving her seat, and falling on her knees before me, kissing my hands and face, and sobbing violently the while. i waited in expectation of hearing who this might be, when the manifestations as suddenly ceased, the medium returned to her seat, and the voice of one of her guides said that the spirit was unable to speak through excess of emotion, but would try again later in the evening. i had almost forgotten the circumstance in listening to other communications, when i was startled by hearing the word "_mother!_" sighed rather than spoken. i was about to make some excited reply, when the medium raised her hand to enjoin silence, and the following communication was taken down by mr. cook as she pronounced the words. the sentences in parentheses are my replies to her. "mother! i am 'florence.' i must be very quiet. i want to feel i have a mother still. i am so lonely. why should i be so? i cannot speak well. i want to be like one of you. i want to feel i have a mother and sisters. i am so far away from you all now." ("but i always think of you, my dear dead baby.") "that's just it--your _baby_. but i'm not a baby now. i shall get nearer. they tell me i shall. i do not know if i can come when you are alone. it's all so dark. i know you are there, but _so dimly_. i've grown _all by myself_. i'm not really unhappy, but i want to get nearer you. i know you think of me, but you think of me as a baby. you don't know me as i _am_. you've seen me, because in my love i have forced myself upon you. i've not been amongst the flowers yet, but i shall be, very soon now; but i want _my mother_ to take me there. all has been given me that can be given me, but i cannot receive it, except in so far----" here she seemed unable to express herself. ("did the trouble i had before your birth affect your spirit, florence?") "only as things cause each other. i was with you, mother, all through that trouble. i should be nearer to you, _than any child you have_, if i could only get close to you." ("i can't bear to hear you speak so sadly, dear. i have always believed that _you_, at least, were happy in heaven.") "i am _not_ in heaven! but there will come a day, mother--i can laugh when i say it--when we shall go to heaven _together_ and pick blue flowers--_blue flowers_. they are so good to me here, but if your eye cannot bear the daylight you cannot see the buttercups and daisies." i did not learn till afterwards that in the spiritual language blue flowers are typical of happiness. the next question i asked her was if she thought she could write through me. "i don't seem able to write through you, but why, i know not." ("do you know your sisters, eva and ethel?") "no! no!" in a weary voice. "the link of sisterhood is only through the mother. that kind of sisterhood does not last, because there is a higher." ("do you ever see your father?") "no! he is far, far away. i went once, not more. mother, dear, he'll love me when he comes here. they've told me so, and they always tell truth here! i am but a child, yet not so very little. i seem composed of two things--a child in ignorance and a woman in years. why can't i speak at other places? i have wished and tried! i've come very near, but it seems so easy to speak now. this medium seems so different." ("i wish you could come to me when i am alone, florence.") "you _shall_ know me! i _will_ come, mother, dear. i shall always be able to come here. i _do_ come to you, but not in the same way." she spoke in such a plaintive, melancholy voice that mrs. cook, thinking she would depress my spirits, said, "don't make your state out to be sadder than it really is." her reply was very remarkable. "_i am, as i am!_ friend! when you come here, if you find that sadness _is_, you will not be able to alter it by plunging into material pleasures. _our sadness makes the world we live in._ it is not deeds that make us wrong. it is the state in which _we were born_. mother! you say i died sinless. that is nothing. i was born _in a state_. had i lived, i should have caused you more pain than you can know. i am better here. i was not fit to battle with the world, and they took me from it. mother! you won't let this make you sad. you must not." ("what can i do to bring you nearer to me?") "i don't know what will bring me nearer, but i'm helped already by just talking to you. there's a ladder of brightness--every step. i believe i've gained just one step now. o! the divine teachings are so mysterious. mother! does it seem strange to you to hear your 'baby' say things as if she knew them? i'm going now. good-bye!" and so "florence" went. the next voice that spoke was that of a guide of the medium, and i asked her for a personal description of my daughter as she then appeared. she replied, "her face is downcast. we have tried to cheer her, but she is very sad. it is the _state in which she was born_. every physical deformity is the mark of a condition. a weak body is not necessarily the mark of a weak spirit, but the _prison_ of it, because the spirit might be too passionate otherwise. you cannot judge in what way the mind is deformed because the body is deformed. it does not follow that a canker in the body is a canker in the mind. but the mind may be too exuberant--may need a canker to restrain it." i have copied this conversation, word for word, from the shorthand notes taken at the time of utterance; and when it is remembered that neither mrs. keningale cook nor her husband knew that i had lost a child--that they had never been in my house nor associated with any of my friends--it will at least be acknowledged, even by the most sceptical, that it was a very remarkable coincidence that i should receive such a communication from the lips of a perfect stranger. only once after this did "florence" communicate with me through the same source. she found congenial media nearer home, and naturally availed herself of them. but the second occasion was almost more convincing than the first. i went one afternoon to consult my solicitor in the strictest confidence as to how i should act under some very painful circumstances, and he gave me his advice. the next morning as i sat at breakfast, mrs. cook, who was still living at redhill, ran into my room with an apology for the unceremoniousness of her visit, on the score that she had received a message for me the night before which "florence" had begged her to deliver without delay. the message was to this effect: "tell my mother that i was with her this afternoon at the lawyer's, and she is _not_ to follow the advice given her, as it will do harm instead of good." mrs. cook added, "i don't know to what 'florence' alludes, of course, but i thought it best, as i was coming to town, to let you know at once." the force of this anecdote does not lie in the context. the mystery is contained in the fact of a secret interview having been overheard and commented upon. but the truth is, that having greater confidence in the counsel of my visible guide than in that of my invisible one, i abided by the former, and regretted it ever afterwards. the first conversation i held with "florence" had a great effect upon me. i knew before that my uncontrolled grief had been the cause of the untimely death of her body, but it had never struck me that her spirit would carry the effects of it into the unseen world. it was a warning to me (as it should be to all mothers) not to take the solemn responsibility of maternity upon themselves without being prepared to sacrifice their own feelings for the sake of their children. "florence" assured me, however, that communion with myself in my improved condition of happiness would soon lift her spirit from its state of depression, and consequently i seized every opportunity of seeing and speaking with her. during the succeeding twelve months i attended numerous _sã©ances_ with various media, and my spirit child (as she called herself) never failed to manifest through the influence of any one of them, though, of course, in different ways. through some she touched me only, and always with an infant's hand, that i might recognize it as hers, or laid her mouth against mine that i might feel the scar upon her lip; through others she spoke, or wrote, or showed her face, but i never attended a _sã©ance_ at which she omitted to notify her presence. once at a dark circle, held with mr. charles williams, after having had my dress and that of my next neighbor, lady archibald campbell, pulled several times as if to attract our attention, the darkness opened before us, and there stood my child, smiling at us like a happy dream, her fair hair waving about her temples, and her blue eyes fixed on me. she was clothed in white, but we saw no more than her head and bust, about which her hands held her drapery. lady archibald campbell saw her as plainly as i did. on another occasion mr. william eglinton proposed to me to try and procure the spirit-writing on his arm. he directed me to go into another room and write the name of the friend i loved best in the spirit world upon a scrap of paper, which i was to twist up tightly and take back to him. i did so, writing the name of "john powles." when i returned to mr. eglinton, he bared his arm, and holding the paper to the candle till it was reduced to tinder, rubbed his flesh with the ashes. i knew what was expected to ensue. the name written on the paper was to reappear in red or white letters on the medium's arm. the sceptic would say it was a trick of thought-reading, and that, the medium knowing what i had written, had prepared the writing during my absence. but to his surprise and mine, when at last he shook the ashes from his arm, we read, written in a bold, clear hand, the words--"florence is the dearest," as though my spirit child had given me a gentle rebuke for writing any name but her own. it seems curious to me now to look back and remember how melancholy she used to be when she first came back to me, for as soon as she had established an unbroken communication between us, she developed into the merriest little spirit i have ever known, and though her childhood has now passed away, and she is more dignified and thoughtful and womanly, she always appears joyous and happy. she has manifested largely to me through the mediumship of mr. arthur colman. i had known her, during a dark _sã©ance_ with a very small private circle (the medium being securely held and fastened the while) run about the room, like the child she was, and speak to and kiss each sitter in turn, pulling off the sofa and chair covers and piling them up in the middle of the table, and changing the ornaments of everyone present--placing the gentlemen's neckties round the throats of the ladies, and hanging the ladies' earrings in the buttonholes of the gentlemen's coats--just as she might have done had she been still with us, a happy, petted child, on earth. i have known her come in the dark and sit on my lap and kiss my face and hands, and let me feel the defect in her mouth with my own. one bright evening on the 9th of july--my birthday--arthur colman walked in quite unexpectedly to pay me a visit, and as i had some friends with me, we agreed to have a _sã©ance_. it was impossible to make the room dark, as the windows were only shaded by venetian blinds, but we lowered them, and sat in the twilight. the first thing we heard was the voice of "florence" whispering--"a present for dear mother's birthday," when something was put into my hand. then she crossed to the side of a lady present and dropped something into her hand, saying, "and a present for dear mother's friend!" i knew at once by the feel of it that what "florence" had given me was a chaplet of beads, and knowing how often, under similar circumstances, articles are merely carried about a room, i concluded it was one which lay upon my drawing-room mantel-piece, and said as much. i was answered by the voice of "aimã©e," the medium's nearest control. "you are mistaken," she said, "'florence' has given you a chaplet you have never seen before. she was exceedingly anxious to give you a present on your birthday, so i gave her the beads which were buried with me. they came from my coffin. i held them in my hand. all i ask is, that you will not shew them to arthur until i give you leave. he is not well at present, and the sight of them will upset him." i was greatly astonished, but, of course, i followed her instructions, and when i had an opportunity to examine the beads, i found that they really were strangers to me, and had not been in the house before. the present my lady friend had received was a large, unset topaz. the chaplet was made of carved wood and steel. it was not till months had elapsed that i was given permission to show it to arthur colman. he immediately recognized it as the one he had himself placed in the hands of "aimã©e" as she lay in her coffin, and when i saw how the sight affected him, i regretted i had told him anything about it. i offered to give the beads up to him, but he refused to receive them, and they remain in my possession to this day. but the great climax that was to prove beyond all question the personal identity of the spirit who communicated with me, with the body i had brought into the world, was yet to come. mr. william harrison, the editor of the _spiritualist_ (who, after seventeen years' patient research into the science of spiritualism, had never received a personal proof of the return of his own friends, or relations) wrote me word that he had received a message from his lately deceased friend, mrs. stewart, to the effect that if he would sit with the medium, florence cook, and one or two harmonious companions, she would do her best to appear to him in her earthly likeness and afford him the test he had so long sought after. mr. harrison asked me, therefore, if i would join him and miss kidlingbury--the secretary to the british national association of spiritualists--in holding a _sã©ance_ with miss cook, to which i agreed, and we met in one of the rooms of the association for that purpose. it was a very small room, about 8 feet by 16 feet, was uncarpeted and contained no furniture, so we carried in three cane-bottomed chairs for our accommodation. across one corner of the room, about four feet from the floor, we nailed an old black shawl, and placed a cushion behind it for miss cook to lean her head against. miss florence cook, who is a brunette, of a small, slight figure, with dark eyes and hair which she wore in a profusion of curls, was dressed in a high grey merino, ornamented with crimson ribbons. she informed me previous to sitting, that she had become restless during her trances lately, and in the habit of walking out amongst the circle, and she asked me as a friend (for such we had by that time become) to scold her well should such a thing occur, and order her to go back into the cabinet as if she were "a child or a dog;" and i promised her i would do so. after florence cook had sat down on the floor, behind the black shawl (which left her grey merino skirt exposed), and laid her head against the cushion, we lowered the gas a little, and took our seats on the three cane chairs. the medium appeared very uneasy at first, and we heard her remonstrating with the influences for using her so roughly. in a few minutes, however, there was a tremulous movement of the black shawl, and a large white hand was several times thrust into view and withdrawn again. i had never seen mrs. stewart (for whom we were expressly sitting) in this life, and could not, therefore, recognize the hand; but we all remarked how large and white it was. in another minute the shawl was lifted up, and a female figure crawled on its hands and knees from behind it, and then stood up and regarded us. it was impossible, in the dim light and at the distance she stood from us, to identify the features, so mr. harrison asked if she were mrs. stewart. the figure shook its head. i had lost a sister a few months previously, and the thought flashed across me that it might be her. "is it you, emily?" i asked; but the head was still shaken to express a negative, and a similar question on the part of miss kidlingbury, with respect to a friend of her own, met with the same response. "who _can_ it be?" i remarked curiously to mr. harrison. "mother! don't you know me?" sounded in "florence's" whispering voice. i started up to approach her, exclaiming, "o! my darling child! i never thought i should meet you here!" but she said, "go back to your chair, and i will come to you!" i reseated myself, and "florence" crossed the room and sat down _on my lap_. she was more unclothed on that occasion than any materialized spirit i have ever seen. she wore nothing on her head, only her hair, of which she appears to have an immense quantity, fell down her back and covered her shoulders. her arms were bare and her feet and part of her legs, and the dress she wore had no shape or style, but seemed like so many yards of soft thick muslin, wound round her body from the bosom to below the knees. she was a heavy weight--perhaps ten stone--and had well-covered limbs. in fact, she was then, and has appeared for several years past, to be, in point of size and shape, so like her eldest sister eva, that i always observe the resemblance between them. this _sã©ance_ took place at a period when "florence" must have been about seventeen years old. "florence, my darling," i said, "is this _really_ you?" "turn up the gas," she answered, "and look at my mouth." mr. harrison did as she desired, and we all saw distinctly _that peculiar defect on the lip_ with which she was born--a defect, be it remembered, which some of the most experienced members of the profession had affirmed to be "_so rare as never to have fallen under their notice before_." she also opened her mouth that we might see she had no gullet. i promised at the commencement of my book to confine myself to facts, and leave the deduction to be drawn from them to my readers, so i will not interrupt my narrative to make any remarks upon this incontrovertible proof of identity. i know it struck me dumb, and melted me into tears. at this juncture miss cook, who had been moaning and moving about a good deal behind the black shawl, suddenly exclaimed, "i can't stand this any longer," and walked out into the room. there she stood in her grey dress and crimson ribbons whilst "florence" sat on my lap in white drapery. but only for a moment, for directly the medium was fully in view, the spirit sprung up and darted behind the curtain. recalling miss cook's injunctions to me, i scolded her heartily for leaving her seat, until she crept back, whimpering, to her former position. the shawl had scarcely closed behind her before "florence" reappeared and clung to me, saying, "don't let her do that again. she frightens me so." she was actually trembling all over. "why, florence," i replied. "do you mean to tell me you are frightened of your medium? in this world it is we poor mortals who are frightened of the spirits." "i am afraid she will send me away, mother," she whispered. however, miss cook did not disturb us again, and "florence" stayed with us for some time longer. she clasped her arms round my neck, and laid her head upon my bosom, and kissed me dozens of times. she took my hand and spread it out, and said she felt sure i should recognize her hand when she thrust it outside the curtain, because it was so much like my own. i was suffering much trouble at that time, and "florence" told me the reason god had permitted her to show herself to me in her earthly deformity was so that i might be sure that she was herself, and that spiritualism was a truth to comfort me. "sometimes you doubt, mother," she said, "and think your eyes and ears have misled you; but after this you must never doubt again. don't fancy i am like this in the spirit land. the blemish left me long ago. but i put it on to-night to make you certain. don't fret, dear mother. remember _i_ am always near you. no one can take _me_ away. your earthly children may grow up and go out into the world and leave you, but you will always have your spirit child close to you." i did not, and cannot, calculate for how long "florence" remained visible on that occasion. mr. harrison told me afterwards that she had remained for nearly twenty minutes. but her undoubted presence was such a stupendous fact to me, that i could only think that _she was there_--that i actually held in my arms the tiny infant i had laid with my own hands in her coffin--that she was no more dead than i was myself, but had grown to be a woman. so i sat, with my arms tight round her, and my heart beating against hers, until the power decreased, and "florence" was compelled to give me a last kiss and leave me stupefied and bewildered by what had so unexpectedly occurred. two other spirits materialized and appeared after she had left us, but as neither of them was mrs. stewart, the _sã©ance_, as far as mr. harrison was concerned, was a failure. i have seen and heard "florence" on numerous occasions since the one i have narrated, but not with the mark upon her mouth, which she assures me will never trouble either of us again. i could fill pages with accounts of her pretty, caressing ways and her affectionate and sometimes solemn messages; but i have told as much of her story as will interest the general reader. it has been wonderful to me to mark how her ways and mode of communication have changed with the passing years. it was a simple child who did not know how to express itself that appeared to me in 1873. it is a woman full of counsel and tender warning that comes to me in 1890. but yet she is only nineteen. when she reached that age, "florence" told me she should never grow any older in years or appearance, and that she had reached the climax of womanly perfection in the spirit world. only to-night--the night before christmas day--as i write her story, she comes to me and says, "mother! you must not give way to sad thoughts. the past is past. let it be buried in the blessings that remain to you." and amongst the greatest of those blessings i reckon my belief in the existence of my spirit-child. chapter ix. the story of emily. my sister emily was the third daughter of my late father, and several years older than myself. she was a handsome woman--strictly speaking, perhaps, the handsomest of the family, and quite unlike the others. she had black hair and eyes, a pale complexion, a well-shaped nose, and small, narrow hands and feet. but her beauty had slight detractions--so slight, indeed, as to be imperceptible to strangers, but well known to her intimate friends. her mouth was a little on one side, one shoulder was half an inch higher than the other, her fingers were not quite straight, nor her toes, and her hips corresponded with her shoulders. she was clever, with a versatile, all-round talent, and of a very happy and contented disposition. she married dr. henry norris of charmouth, in dorset, and lived there many years before her death. she was an excellent wife and mother, a good friend, and a sincere christian; indeed, i do not believe that a more earnest, self-denying, better woman ever lived in this world. but she had strong feelings, and in some things she was very bigoted. one was spiritualism. she vehemently opposed even the mention of it, declared it to be diabolical, and never failed to blame me for pursuing such a wicked and unholy occupation. she was therefore about the last person whom i should have expected to take advantage of it to communicate with her friends. my sister emily died on the 20th of april, 1875. her death resulted from a sudden attack of pleurisy, and was most unexpected. i was sitting at an early dinner with my children on the same day when i received a telegram from my brother-in-law to say, "emily very ill; will telegraph when change occurs," and i had just despatched an answer to ask if i should go down to charmouth, or could be of any use, when a second message arrived, "all is over. she died quietly at two o'clock." those who have received similar shocks will understand what i felt. i was quite stunned, and could not realize that my sister had passed away from us, so completely unanticipated had been the news. i made the necessary arrangements for going down to her funeral, but my head was filled with nothing but thoughts of emily the while, and conjectures of _how_ she had died and of _what_ she had died (for that was, as yet, unknown to me), and what she had thought and said; above all, what she was thinking and feeling at that moment. i retired to rest with my brain in a whirl, and lay half the night wide awake, staring into the darkness, and wondering where my sister was. _now_ was the time (if any) for my cerebral organs to play me a trick, and conjure up a vision of the person i was thinking of. but i saw nothing; no sound broke the stillness; my eyes rested only on the darkness. i was quite disappointed, and in the morning i told my children so. i loved my sister emily dearly, and i hoped she would have come to wish me good-bye. on the following night i was exhausted by want of sleep and the emotion i had passed through, and when i went to bed i was very sleepy. i had not been long asleep, however, before i was waked up--i can hardly say by what--and there at my bedside stood emily, smiling at me. when i lost my little "florence," emily had been unmarried, and she had taken a great interest in my poor baby, and nursed her during her short lifetime, and, i believe, really mourned her loss, for (although she had children of her own) she always wore a little likeness of "florence" in a locket on her watch-chain. when emily died i had of course been for some time in communication with my spirit-child, and when my sister appeared to me that night, "florence" was in her arms, with her head resting on her shoulder. i recognized them both at once, and the only thing which looked strange to me was that emily's long black hair was combed right back in the chinese fashion, giving her forehead an unnaturally high appearance. this circumstance made the greater impression on me, because we all have such high foreheads with the hair growing off the temples that we have never been able to wear it in the style i speak of. with this exception my sister looked beautiful and most happy, and my little girl clung to her lovingly. emily did not speak aloud, but she kept on looking down at "florence," and up at me, whilst her lips formed the words, "little baby," which was the name by which she had always mentioned my spirit-child. in the morning i mentioned what i had seen to my elder girls, adding, "i hardly knew dear aunt emily, with her hair scratched back in that fashion." this apparition happened on the wednesday night, and on the friday following i travelled down to charmouth to be present at the funeral, which was fixed for saturday. i found my sister cecil there before me. as soon as we were alone, she said to me, "i am so glad you came to-day. i want you to arrange dear emily nicely in her coffin. the servants had laid her out before my arrival, and she doesn't look a bit like herself. but i haven't the nerve to touch her." it was late at night, but i took a candle at once and accompanied cecil to the death-chamber. our sister was lying, pale and calm, with a smile upon her lips, much as she had appeared to me, and with _all her black hair combed back from her forehead_. the servants had arranged it so, thinking it looked neater. it was impossible to make any alteration till the morning, but when our dear sister was carried to her grave, her hair framed her dead face in the wavy curls in which it always fell when loose; a wreath of flowering syringa was round her head, a cross of violets on her breast, and in her waxen, beautifully-moulded hands, she held three tall, white lilies. i mention this because she has come to me since with the semblance of these very flowers to ensure her recognition. after the funeral, my brother-in-law gave me the details of her last illness. he told me that on the monday afternoon, when her illness first took a serious turn and she became (as he said) delirious, she talked continually to her father, captain marryat (to whom she had been most reverentially attached), and who, she affirmed, was sitting by the side of the bed. her conversation was perfectly rational, and only disjointed when she waited for a reply to her own remarks. she spoke to him of langham and all that had happened there, and particularly expressed her surprise at his having _a beard_, saying, "does hair grow up there, father?" i was the more impressed by this account, because dr. norris, like most medical men, attributed the circumstance entirely to the distorted imagination of a wandering brain. and yet my father (whom i have never seen since his death) has been described to me by various clairvoyants, and always as _wearing a beard_, a thing he never did during his lifetime, as it was the fashion then for naval officers to wear only side whiskers. in all his pictures he is represented as clean shorn, and as he was so well known a man, one would think that (were they dissembling) the clairvoyants, in describing his personal characteristics, would follow the clue given by his portraits. for some time after my sister emily's death i heard nothing more of her, and for the reasons i have given, i never expected to see her again until we met in the spirit-world. about two years after her death, however, my husband, colonel lean, bought two tickets for a series of _sã©ances_ to be held in the rooms of the british national association of spiritualists under the mediumship of mr. william eglinton. this was the first time we had ever seen or sat with mr. eglinton, but we had heard a great deal of his powers, and were curious to test them. on the first night, which was a saturday, we assembled with a party of twelve, all complete strangers, in the rooms i have mentioned, which were comfortably lighted with gas. mr. eglinton, who is a young man inclined to stoutness, went into the cabinet, which was placed in the centre of us, with spectators all round it. the cabinet was like a large cupboard, made of wood and divided into two parts, the partition being of wire-work, so that the medium might be padlocked into it, and a curtain drawn in front of both sides. after a while, a voice called out to us not to be frightened, as the medium was coming out to get more power, and mr. eglinton, in a state of trance and dressed in a suit of evening clothes, walked out of the cabinet and commenced a tour of the circle. he touched every one in turn, but did not stop until he reached colonel lean, before whom he remained for some time, making magnetic passes down his face and figure. he then turned to re-enter the cabinet, but as he did so, some one moved the curtain from inside and mr. eglinton _actually held the curtain to one side to permit the materialized form to pass out_ before he went into the cabinet himself. the figure that appeared was that of a woman clothed in loose white garments that fell to her feet. her eyes were black and her long black hair fell over her shoulders. i suspected at the time who she was, but each one in the circle was so certain she came for him or for her, that i said nothing, and only mentally asked if it were my sister that i might receive a proof of her identity. on the following evening (sunday) colonel lean and i were "sitting" together, when emily came to the table to assure us that it was she whom we had seen, and that she would appear again on monday and show herself more clearly. i asked her to think of some means by which she could prove her identity with the spirit that then spoke to us, and she said, "i will hold up my right hand." colonel lean cautioned me not to mention this promise to any one, that we might be certain of the correctness of the test. accordingly, on the monday evening we assembled for our second _sã©ance_ with mr. eglinton, and the same form appeared, and walking out much closer to us, _held up the right hand_. colonel lean, anxious not to be deceived by his own senses, asked the company what the spirit was doing. "cannot you see?" was the answer. "she is holding up her hand." on this occasion emily came with all her old characteristics about her, and there would have been no possibility of mistaking her (at least on my part) without the proof she had promised to give us. the next startling assurance we received of her proximity happened in a much more unexpected manner. we were staying, in the autumn of the following year, at a boarding-house in the rue de vienne at brussels, with a large party of english visitors, none of whom we had ever seen till we entered the house. amongst them were several girls, who had never heard of spiritualism before, and were much interested in listening to the relation of our experiences on the subject. one evening when i was not well, and keeping my own room, some of these young ladies got hold of colonel lean and said, "oh! do come and sit in the dark with us and tell us ghost stories." now sitting in the dark and telling ghost stories to five or six nice looking girls is an occupation few men would object to, and they were all soon ensconced in the dark and deserted _salle-ã -manger_. amongst them was a young girl of sixteen, miss helen hill, who had never shown more interest than the rest in such matters. after they had been seated in the dark for some minutes, she said to colonel lean, "do you know, i can see a lady on the opposite side of the table quite distinctly, and she is nodding and smiling at you." the colonel asked what the lady was like. "she is very nice looking," replied the girl, "with dark eyes and hair, but she seems to want me to notice her ring. she wears a ring with a large blue stone in it, of such a funny shape, and she keeps on twisting it round and round her finger, and pointing to it. oh! now she has got up and is walking round the room. only fancy! she is holding up her feet for me to see. they are bare and very white, but her toes are crooked!" then miss hill became frightened and asked them to get a light. she declared that the figure had come up, close to her, and torn the lace off her wrists. and when the light was procured and her dress examined, a frill of lace that had been tacked into her sleeve that morning had totally disappeared. the young ladies grew nervous and left the room, and colonel lean, thinking the description helen hill had given of the spirit tallied with that of my sister emily, came straight up to me and surprised me by an abrupt question as to whether she had been in the habit of wearing any particular ring (for he had not seen her for several years before her death). i told him that her favorite ring was an uncut turquoise--so large and uneven that she used to call it her "potato." "had she any peculiarity about her feet?" he went on, eagerly. "why do you wish to know?" i said. "she had crooked toes, that is all." "good heavens!" he exclaimed, "then she has been with us in the _salle-ã -manger_." i have never met miss hill since, and i am not in a position to say if she has evinced any further possession of clairvoyant power; but she certainly displayed it on that occasion to a remarkable degree; for she had never even heard of the existence of my sister emily, and was very much disturbed and annoyed when told that the apparition she had described was reality and not imagination. chapter x. the story of the green lady. the story i have to tell now happened a very short time ago, and every detail is as fresh in my mind as if i had heard and seen it yesterday. mrs. guppy-volckman has been long known to the spiritualistic world as a very powerful medium, also as taking a great private interest in spiritualism, which all media do not. her means justify her, too, in gratifying her whims; and hearing that a certain house in broadstairs was haunted, she became eager to ascertain the truth. the house being empty, she procured the keys from the landlord, and proceeded on a voyage of discovery alone. she had barely recovered, at the time, from a most dangerous illness, which had left a partial paralysis of the lower limbs behind it; it was therefore with considerable difficulty that she gained the drawing-room of the house, which was on the first floor, and when there she abandoned her crutches, and sat down on the floor to recover herself. mrs. volckman was now perfectly alone. she had closed the front door after her, and she was moreover almost helpless, as it was with great difficulty that she could rise without assistance. it was on a summer's evening towards the dusky hour, and she sat on the bare floor of the empty house waiting to see what might happen. after some time (i tell this part of the story as i received it from her lips) she heard a rustling or sweeping sound, as of a long silk train coming down the uncarpeted stairs from the upper storey. the room in which she sat communicated with another, which led out upon the passage, and it was not long before the door between these two apartments opened and the figure of a woman appeared. she entered the room in which mrs. volckman sat, very cautiously, and commenced to walk round it, feeling her way along the walls as though she were blind or tipsy. she was dressed in a green satin robe that swept behind her--round the upper part of her body was a kind of scarf of glistening white material, like silk gauze--and on her head was a black velvet cap, or coif, from underneath which her long black hair fell down her back. mrs. volckman, although used all her life to manifestations and apparitions of all sorts, told me she had never felt so frightened at the sight of one before. she attempted to rise, but feeling her incapability of doing so quickly, she screamed with fear. as soon as she did so, the woman turned round and ran out of the room, apparently as frightened as herself. mrs. volckman got hold of her crutches, scrambled to her feet, found her way downstairs, and reached the outside of the house in safety. most people would never have entered it again. she, on the contrary, had an interview with the landlord, and actually, then and there, purchased a lease of the house and entered upon possession, and as soon as it was furnished and ready for occupation, she invited a party of friends to go down and stay with her at broadstairs, and make the acquaintance of the "green lady," as we had christened her. colonel lean and i were amongst the visitors, the others consisting of lady archibald campbell, miss shaw, mrs. olive, mrs. bellew, colonel greck, mr. charles williams, and mr. and mrs. henry volckman, which, with our host and hostess, made up a circle of twelve. we assembled there on a bright day in july, and the house, with its large rooms and windows facing the sea, looked cheerful enough. the room in which mrs. volckman had seen the apparition was furnished as a drawing-room, and the room adjoining it, which was divided by a _portiã¨re_ only from the larger apartment, she had converted for convenience sake into her bedroom. the first evening we sat it was about seven o'clock, and so light that we let down all the venetians, which, however, did little to remedy the evil. we had no cabinet, nor curtains, nor darkness, for it was full moon at the time, and the dancing, sparkling waves were quite visible through the interstices of the venetians. we simply sat round the table, holding hands in an unbroken circle and laughing and chatting with each other. in a few minutes mrs. volckman said something was rising beside her from the carpet, and in a few more the "green lady" was visible to us all standing between the medium and mr. williams. she was just as she had been described to us, both in dress and appearance, but her face was as white and as cold as that of a corpse, and her eyes were closed. she leaned over the table and brought her face close to each of us in turn, but she seemed to have no power of speech. after staying with us about ten minutes, she sunk as she had risen, through the carpet, and disappeared. the next evening, under precisely similar circumstances, she came again. this time she had evidently gained more vitality in a materialized condition, for when i urged her to tell me her name, she whispered, though with much difficulty, "julia!" and when lady archibald observed that she thought she had no hands, the spirit suddenly thrust out a little hand, and grasped the curls on her forehead with a violence that gave her pain. unfortunately, mr. williams' professional engagements compelled him to leave us on the following day, and mrs. volckman had been too recently ill to permit her to sit alone, so that we were not able to hold another _sã©ance_ for the "green lady" during our visit. but we had not seen the last of her. one evening mrs. bellew and i were sitting in the bay window of the drawing-room, just "between the lights," and discussing a very private matter indeed, when i saw (as i thought) my hostess maid raise the _portiã¨re_ that hung between the apartments and stand there in a listening attitude. i immediately gave mrs. volckman the hint. "let us talk of something else," i said, in a low voice. "jane is in your bedroom." "o! no! she's not," was the reply. "but i saw her lift the _portiã¨re_," i persisted; "she has only just dropped it." "you are mistaken," replied my hostess, "for jane has gone on the beach with the child." i felt sure i had _not_ been mistaken, but i held my tongue and said no more. the conversation was resumed, and as we were deep in the delicate matter, the woman appeared for the second time. "mrs. volckman," i whispered, "jane is really there. she has just looked in again." my friend rose from her seat. "come with me," she said, "and i will convince you that you are wrong." i followed her into the bedroom, where she showed me that the door communicating with the passage was locked _inside_. "now, do you see," she continued, "that no one but the 'green lady' could enter this room but through the one we are sitting in." "then it must have been the 'green lady,'" i replied, "for i assuredly saw a woman standing in the doorway." "that is likely enough," said mrs. volckman; "but if she comes again she shall have the trouble of drawing back the curtains." and thereupon she unhooped the _portiã¨re_, which consisted of two curtains, and drew them right across the door. we had hardly regained our seats in the bay window before the two curtains were sharply drawn aside, making the brass rings rattle on the rod, and the "green lady" stood in the opening we had just passed through. mrs. volckman told her not to be afraid, but to come out and speak to us; but she was apparently not equal to doing so, and only stood there for a few minutes gazing at us. i imprudently left my seat and approached her, with a view to making overtures of friendship, when she dropped the curtains over her figure. i passed through them immediately to the other side, and found the bedroom empty and the door locked inside, as before. chapter xi. the story of the monk. a lady named uniacke, a resident in bruges, whilst on a visit to my house in london, met and had a _sã©ance_ with william eglinton, with which she was so delighted that she immediately invited him to go and stay with her abroad, and as my husband and i were about to cross over to bruges to see my sister, who also resided there, we travelled in company--mr. eglinton living at mrs. uniacke's home, whilst we stayed with our own relations. mrs. uniacke was a medium herself, and had already experienced some very noisy and violent demonstrations in her own house. she was, therefore, quite prepared for her visitor, and had fitted up a spare room with a cabinet and blinds to the windows, and everything that was necessary. but, somewhat to her chagrin, we were informed at the first sitting by mr. eglinton's control, "joey," that all future _sã©ances_ were to take place at my sister's house instead. we were given no reason for the change; we were simply told to obey it. my sister's house was rather a peculiar one, and i have already alluded to it, and some of the sights and sounds by which it was haunted, in the chapter headed "optical illusions." the building is so ancient that the original date has been completely lost. a stone set into one of the walls bore an inscription to the effect that it was restored in the year 1616. and an obsolete plan of the city shows it to have stood in its present condition in 1562. prior to that period, however, probably about the thirteenth century, it is supposed, with three houses on either side of it, to have formed a convent, but no printed record remains of the fact. beneath it are subterraneous passages, choked with rubbish, which lead, no one knows whither. i had stayed in this house several times before, and always felt unpleasant influences from it, as i have related, especially in a large room on the lower floor, then used as a drawing-room, but which is said to have formed, originally, the chapel to the convent. others had felt the influence beside myself, though we never had had reason to suppose that there was any particular cause for it. when we expressed curiosity, however, to learn why "joey" desired us to hold our _sã©ance_ in my sister's house, he told us that the medium had not been brought over to bruges for _our_ pleasure or edification, but that there was a great work to be done there, and mrs. uniacke had been expressly influenced to invite him over, that the purposes of a higher power than his own should be accomplished. consequently, on the following evening mrs. uniacke brought mr. eglinton over to my sister's house, and "joey" having been asked to choose a room for the sitting, selected an _entresol_ on the upper floor, which led by two short passages to the bedrooms. the bedroom doors being locked a dark curtain was hung at the entrance of one of these passages, and "joey" declared it was a first-rate cabinet. we then assembled in the drawing-room, for the purposes of music and conversation, for we intended to hold the _sã©ance_ later in the evening. the party consisted only of the medium, mrs. uniacke, my sister, my husband, and myself. after i had sung a song or two, mr. eglinton became restless and moved away from the piano, saying the influence was too strong for him. he began walking up and down the room, and staring fixedly at the door, before which hung a _portiã¨re_. several times he exclaimed with knitted brows, "what is the matter with that door? there is something very peculiar about it." once he approached it quickly, but "joey's" voice was heard from behind the _portiã¨re_, saying, "don't come too near." mr. eglinton then retreated to a sofa, and appeared to be fighting violently with some unpleasant influence. he made the sign of the cross, then extended his fingers towards the door, as though to exorcise it: finally he burst into a mocking, scornful peal of laughter that lasted for some minutes. as it concluded, a diabolical expression came over his face. he clenched his hands, gnashed his teeth, and commenced to grope in a crouching position towards the door. we concluded he wished to get up to the room where the cabinet was, and let him have his way. he crawled, rather than walked, up the steep turret stairs, but on reaching the top, came to himself suddenly and fell back several steps. my husband, fortunately, was just behind him and saved him from a fall. he complained greatly of the influence and of a pain in his head, and we sat at the table to receive directions. in a few seconds the same spirit had taken possession of him. he left the table and groped his way towards the bedrooms, listening apparently to every sound, and with his hand holding an imaginary knife which was raised every now and then as if to strike. the expression on mr. eglinton's face during this possession is too horrible to describe. the worst passions were written as legibly there as though they had been labelled. there was a short flight of stairs leading from the _entresol_ to the corridor, closed at the head by a padded door, which we had locked for fear of accident. when, apparently in pursuit of his object, the spirit led the medium up to this door and he found it fastened, his moans were terrible. half-a-dozen times he made his weary round of the room, striving to get downstairs to accomplish some end, and to return to us moaning and baffled. at this juncture, he was so exhausted that one of his controls, "daisy," took possession of him and talked with us for some time. we asked "daisy" what the spirit was like that had controlled mr. eglinton last, and she said she did not like him--he had a bad face, no hair on the top of his head, and a long black frock. from this we concluded he had been a monk or a priest. when "daisy" had finished speaking to us "joey" desired mr. eglinton to go into the cabinet; but as soon as he rose, the same spirit got possession again and led him grovelling as before towards the bedrooms. his "guides" therefore carried him into the cabinet before our eyes. he was elevated far above our heads, his feet touching each of us in turn; he was then carried past the unshaded window, which enabled us to judge of the height he was from the ground, and finally over a large table, into the cabinet. nothing, however, of consequence occurred, and "joey" advised us to take the medium downstairs to the supper room. accordingly we adjourned there, and during supper mr. eglinton appeared to be quite himself, and laughed with us over what had taken place. as soon as the meal was over, however, the old restlessness returned on him, and he began pacing up and down the room, walking out every now and then into the corridor. in a few minutes we perceived that the uneasy spirit again controlled him, and we all followed. he went steadily towards the drawing-room, but, on finding himself pursued, turned back, and three times pronounced emphatically the word "go." he then entered the drawing-room, which was in darkness, and closed the door behind him, whilst we waited outside. in a little while he reopened it, and speaking in quite a different voice, said "bring a light! i have something to say to you." when we reassembled with a lamp we found the medium controlled by a new spirit, whom "joey" afterwards told us was one of his highest guides. motioning us to be seated, he stood before us and said, "i have been selected from amongst the controls of this medium to tell you the history of the unhappy being who has so disturbed you this evening. he is present now, and the confession of his crime through my lips will help him to throw off the earthbound condition to which it has condemned him. many years ago, the house in which we now stand was a convent, and underneath it were four subterraneous passages running north, south, east, and west, which communicated with all parts of the town. (i must here state that mr. eglinton had not previously been informed of any particulars relating to the former history of my sister's home, neither were mrs. uniacke or myself acquainted with it.) "in this convent there lived a most beautiful woman--a nun, and in one of the neighboring monasteries a priest who, against the strict law of his church, had conceived and nourished a passion for her. he was an italian who had been obliged to leave his own country, for reasons best known to himself, and nightly he would steal his way to this house, by means of one of the subterraneous passages, and attempt to overcome the nun's scruples, and make her listen to his tale of love; but she, strong in the faith, resisted him. at last, maddened one day by her repeated refusals, and his own guilty passion, he hid himself in one of the northern rooms in the upper story of this house, and watched there in the dark for her to pass him on her way from her devotions in the chapel; but she did not come. then he crept downstairs stealthily, with a dagger hid beneath his robes, and met her in the hall. he conjured her again to yield to him, but again she resisted, and he stabbed her within the door on the very spot where the medium first perceived him. her pure soul sought immediate consolation in the spirit spheres, but his has been chained down ever since to the scene of his awful crime. he dragged her body down the secret stairs (which are still existent) to the vaults beneath, and hid it in the subterraneous passage. "after a few days he sought it again, and buried it. he lived many years after, and committed many other crimes, though none so foul as this. it is his unhappy spirit that asks your prayers to help it to progress. it is for this purpose that we were brought to this city, that we might aid in releasing the miserable soul that cannot rest." i asked, "by what name shall we pray for him?" "pray for 'the distressed being.' call him by no other name." "what is your own name?" "i prefer to be unknown. may god bless you all and keep you in the way of prayer and truth and from all evil courses, and bring you to everlasting life. amen." the medium then walked up to the spot he had indicated as the scene of the murder, and knelt there for some minutes in prayer. thus concluded the first _sã©ance_ at which the monk was introduced to us. but the next day as i sat at the table with my sister only, the name of "hortense dupont" was given us, and the following conversation was rapped out. "who are you?" "i am the nun. i did love him. i couldn't help it. it is such a relief to think that he will be prayed for." "when did he murder you?" "in 1498." "what was his name?" "i cannot tell you." "his age." "thirty-five!" "and yours." "twenty-three." "are you coming to see us to-morrow?" "i am not sure." on that evening, by "joey's" orders, we assembled at seven. mr. eglinton did not feel the influence in the drawing-room that day, but directly he entered the _sã©ance_ room, he was possessed by the same spirit. his actions were still more graphic than on the first occasion. he watched from the window for the coming of his victim through the courtyard, and then recommenced his crawling stealthy pursuit, coming back each time from the locked door that barred his egress with such heart-rending moans that no one could have listened to him unmoved. at last, his agony was so great, as he strove again and again, like some dumb animal, to pass through the walls that divided him from the spot he wished to visit, whilst the perspiration streamed down the medium's face with the struggle, that we attempted to make him speak to us. we implored him in french to tell us his trouble, and believe us to be his friends; but he only pushed us away. at last we were impressed to pray for him, and kneeling down, we repeated all the well-known catholic prayers. as we commenced the "de profundis" the medium fell prostrate on the earth, and seemed to wrestle with his agony. at the "salve regina" and "ave maria" he lifted his eyes to heaven and clasped his hands, and in the "pater noster" he appeared to join. but directly we ceased praying the evil passions returned, and his face became distorted in the thirst for blood. it was an experience that no one who had seen could ever forget. at last my sister fetched a crucifix, which we placed upon his breast. it had not been there many seconds before a different expression came over his face. he seized it in both hands, straining it to his eyes, lips, and heart, holding it from him at arm's length, then passionately kissing it, as we repeated the "anima christi." finally, he held the crucifix out for each of us to kiss; a beautiful smile broke out on the medium's face, and the spirit passed out of him. mr. eglinton awoke on that occasion terribly exhausted. his face was as white as a sheet, and he trembled violently. his first words were: "they are doing something to my forehead. burn a piece of paper, and give me the ashes." he rubbed them between his eyes, when the sign of the cross became distinctly visible, drawn in deep red lines upon his forehead. the controls then said, exhausted as mr. eglinton was, we were to place him in the cabinet, as their work was not yet done. he was accordingly led in trance to the arm-chair behind the curtain, whilst we formed a circle in front of him. in a few seconds the cabinet was illuminated, and a cross of fire appeared outside of it. this manifestation having been seen twice, the head and shoulders of a nun appeared floating outside the curtain. her white coif and "chin-piece" were pinned just as the "_religieuses_" are in the habit of pinning them, and she seemed very anxious to show herself, coming close to each of us in turn, and re-appearing several times. her face was that of a young and pretty woman. "joey" said, "that's the nun, but you'll understand that this is only a preliminary trial, preparatory to a more perfect materialization." i asked the apparition if she were the "hortense dupont" that had communicated through me, and she nodded her head several times in acquiescence. thus ended our second _sã©ance_ with the monk of bruges. on the third day we were all sitting at supper in my sister's house at about ten o'clock at night, when loud raps were heard about the room, and on giving the alphabet, "joey" desired us to go upstairs and sit, and to have the door at the head of the staircase (which we had hitherto locked for fear of accidents) left open; which we accordingly did. as soon as we were seated at the table, the medium became entranced, and the same pantomime which i have related was gone through. he watched from the window that looked into the courtyard, and silently groped his way round the room, until he had crawled on his stomach up the stairs that led to the padded door. when he found, however, that the obstacle that had hitherto stood in his way was removed (by its being open) he drew a long breath and started away for the winding turret staircase, listening at the doors he passed to find out if he were overheard. when he came to the stairs, in descending which we had been so afraid he might hurt himself, he was carried down them in the most wonderful manner, only placing his hand on the balustrades, and swooping to the bottom in one flight. we had placed a lamp in the hall, so that as we followed him we could observe all his actions. when he reached the bottom of the staircase he crawled on his stomach to the door of the drawing-room (originally the chapel) and there waited and listened, darting back into the shadow every time he fancied he heard a sound. imagine our little party of four in that sombre old house, the only ones waking at that time of night, watching by the ghastly light of a turned-down lamp the acting of that terrible tragedy. we held our breath as the murderer crouched by the chapel door, opening it noiselessly to peep within, and then, retreating with his imaginary dagger in his hand, ready to strike as soon as his victim appeared. at last she seemed to come. in an instant he had sprung to meet her, stabbing her first in a half-stooping attitude, and then, apparently, finding her not dead, he rose to his full height and stabbed her twice, straight downwards. for a moment he seemed paralyzed at what he had done, starting back with both hands clasped to his forehead. then he flung himself prostrate on the supposed body, kissing the ground frantically in all directions. presently he woke to the fear of detection, and raised the corpse suddenly in his arms. he fell once beneath the supposed weight, but staggering to his feet again, seized and dragged it, slipping on the stone floor as he went, to the head of the staircase that led to the cellars below, where the mouth of one of the subterraneous passages was still to be seen. the door at the head of this flight was modern, and he could not undo the lock, so, prevented from dragging the body down the steps, he cast himself again upon it, kissing the stone floor of the hall and moaning. at last he dragged himself on his knees to the spot of the murder, and began to pray. we knelt with him, and as he heard our voices he turned on his knees towards us with outstretched hands. i suggested that he wanted the crucifix again, and went upstairs to fetch it, when the medium followed me. when i had found what i sought, he seized it from me eagerly, and carrying it to the window, whence he had so often watched, fell down again upon his knees. after praying for some time he tried to speak to us. his lips moved and his tongue protruded, but he was unable to articulate. suddenly he seized each of our hands in turn in both of his own, and wrung them violently. he tried to bless us, but the words would not come. the same beautiful smile we had seen the night before broke out over his countenance, the crucifix dropped from his hands, and he fell prostrate on the floor. the next moment mr. eglinton was asking us where he was and what on earth had happened to him, as he felt so queer. he declared himself fearfully exhausted, but said he felt that a great calm and peace had come over him notwithstanding the weakness, and he believed some great good had been accomplished. he was not again entranced, but "joey" ordered the light to be put out, and spoke to us in the direct voice as follows:-"i've just come to tell you what i know you will be very glad to hear, that through the medium's power, and our power, and the great power of god, the unhappy spirit who has been confessing his crime to you is freed to-night from the heaviest part of his burden--the being earth-chained to the spot. i don't mean to say that he will go away at once to the spheres, because he's got a lot to do still to alter the conditions under which he labors, but the worst is over. this was the special work mr. eglinton was brought to bruges to do, and ernest and i can truly say that, during the whole course of our control of him, we have never had to put forth our own powers, nor to ask so earnestly for the help of god, as in the last three days. you have all helped in a good work,--to free a poor soul from earth, and to set him on the right road, and _we_ are grateful to you and to the medium, as well as he. he will be able to progress rapidly now until he reaches his proper sphere, and hereafter the spirits of himself and the woman he murdered will work together to undo for others the harm they brought upon themselves. she is rejoicing in her high sphere at the work we have done for him, and will be the first to help and welcome him upward. there are many more earth-bound spirits in this house and the surrounding houses who are suffering as he was, though not to the same extent, nor for the same reason. but they all ask for and need your help and your prayers, and this is the greatest and noblest end of spiritualism--to aid poor, unhappy spirits to free themselves from earth and progress upwards. after a while when this spirit can control the medium with calmness, he will come himself and tell you, through him, all his history and how he came to fall. meanwhile, we thank you very much for allowing us to draw so much strength from you and helping us with your sympathy, and i hope you will believe me always to remain, your loving friend, joey." * * * * * this account, with very little alteration, was published in the _spiritualist_ newspaper, august 29th, 1879, when the _sã©ances_ had just occurred. there is a sequel to the story, however, which is almost as remarkable as itself, and which has not appeared in print till now. from bruges on this occasion my husband and i went to brussels, where we diverted ourselves by means very dissimilar to anything so grave as spiritualism. there were many sales going on in brussels at that moment, and one of our amusements was to make a tour of the salerooms and inspect the articles put up for competition. during one of these visits i was much taken by a large oil pointing, in a massive frame, measuring some six or seven feet square. it represented a man in the dress of a franciscan monk--_i.e._, a brown serge robe, knotted with cords about the waist--kneeling in prayer with outstretched hands upon a mass of burning embers. it was labelled in the catalogue as the picture of a spanish monk of the order of saint francis xavier, and was evidently a painting of some value. i was drawn to go and look at it several days in succession before the sale, and i told my husband that i coveted its possession. he laughed at me and said it would fetch a great deal more money than we could afford to give for it, in which opinion i acquiesced. the day of the sale, however, found us in our places to watch the proceedings, and when the picture of the monk was put up i bid a small sum for it. col. lean looked at me in astonishment, but i whispered to him that i was only in fun, and i should stop at a hundred francs. the bidding was very languid, however, and to my utter amazement, the picture was knocked down to me for _seventy-two francs_. i could hardly believe that it was true. directly the sale was concluded, the brokers crowded round me to ask what i would take for the painting, and they told me they had not thought of bidding until it should have reached a few hundred francs. but i told them i had got my bargain, and i meant to stick by it. when we returned next day to make arrangements for its being sent to us, the auctioneer informed us that the frame alone in which it had been sent for sale had cost three hundred francs, so that i was well satisfied with my purchase. this occurrence took place a short time before we returned to england, where we arrived long before the painting, which, with many others, was left to follow us by a cheaper and slower route. the sunday after we reached home (having seen no friends in the meanwhile), we walked into steinway hall to hear mr. fletcher's lecture. at its conclusion he passed as usual into a state of trance, and described what he saw before him. in the midst of mentioning people, places, and incidents unknown to us, he suddenly exclaimed: "now i see a very strange thing, totally unlike anything i have ever seen before, and i hardly know how to describe it. a man comes before me--a foreigner--and in a dress belonging to some monastic order, a brown robe of coarse cloth or flannel, with a rope round his waist and beads hanging, and bare feet and a shaved head. he is dragging a picture on to the platform, a very large painting in a frame, and it looks to me like a portrait of himself, kneeling on a carpet of burning wood. no! i am wrong. the man tells me the picture is _not_ a portrait of himself, but of the founder of his order, and it is in the possession of some people in this hall to-night. the man tells me to tell these people that it was _his_ spirit that influenced them to buy this painting at some place over the water, and he did so in order that they might keep it in remembrance of what they have done for him. and he desires that they shall hang that picture in some room where they may see it every day, that they may never forget the help which spirits on this earth may render by their prayers to spirits that have passed away. and he offers them through me his heartfelt thanks for the assistance given him, and he says the day is not far off when he shall pray for himself and for them, that their kindness may return into their own bosoms." * * * * * the oil painting reached england in safety some weeks afterwards, and was hung over the mantel-piece in our dining-room, where it remained, a familiar object to all our personal acquaintances. chapter xii. the mediumship of miss showers. some time before i had the pleasure of meeting miss showers, i heard, through friends living in the west of england, of the mysterious and marvellous powers possessed by a young lady of their acquaintance, who was followed by voices in the air, which held conversations with her, and the owners of which were said to have made themselves visible. i listened with curiosity, the more so, as my informants utterly disbelieved in spiritualism, and thought the phenomena were due to trickery. at the same time i conceived a great desire to see the girl of sixteen, who, for no gain or apparent object of her own, was so clever as to mystify everyone around her; and when she and her mother came to london, i was amongst the first to beg for an introduction, and i shall never forget the experiences i had with her. she was the first _private_ medium through whom my personal friends returned to converse with me; and no one but a spiritualist can appreciate the blessing of spiritual communications through a source that is above the breath of suspicion. i have already written at length about miss showers in "the story of john powles." she was a child, compared to myself, whose life had hardly commenced when mine was virtually over, and neither she, nor any member of her family, had ever had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with even the names of my former friends. yet (as i have related) john powles made miss showers his especial mouthpiece, and my daughter "florence" (then a little child) also appeared through her, though at long intervals, and rather timidly. her own controls, however, or cabinet spirits (as they call them in america)--_i.e._, such spirits as are always about the medium, and help the strangers to appear--"peter," "florence," "lenore," and "sally," were very familiar with me, and afforded me such facilities of testing their medium as do not often fall to the lot of inquirers. indeed, at one time, they always requested that i should be present at their _sã©ances_, so that i considered myself to be highly favored. and i may mention here that miss showers and i were so much _en rapport_ that her manifestations were always much stronger in my presence. we could not sit next each other at an ordinary tea or supper table, when we had no thought of, or desire to hold a _sã©ance_, without manifestations occurring in the full light. a hand, that did not belong to either of us, would make itself apparent under the table-cloth between us--a hand with power to grasp ours--or our feet would be squeezed or kicked beneath the table, or fingers would suddenly appear, and whisk the food off our plates. some of their jests were inconvenient. i have had the whole contents of a tumbler, which i was raising to my lips, emptied over my dress. it was generally known that our powers were sympathetic, and at last "peter" gave me leave, or, rather, ordered me to sit in the cabinet with "rosie," whilst the manifestations went on outside. he used to say he didn't care for me any more than if i had been "a spirit myself." one evening "peter" called me into the cabinet (which was simply a large box cupboard at one end of the dining-room) before the _sã©ance_ began, and told me to sit down at the medium's feet and "be a good girl and keep quiet." miss showers was in a low chair, and i sat with my arms resting on her lap. she did not become entranced, and we talked the whole time together. presently, without any warning, two figures stood beside us. i could not have said where they came from. i neither saw them rise from the floor nor descend from the ceiling. there was no beginning to their appearance. in a moment they were simply _there_--"peter" and "florence" (not my child, but miss showers' control of the same names). "peter" sent "florence" out to the audience, where we heard her speaking to them and their remarks upon her (there being only a thin curtain hung before the entrance of the cabinet), but he stayed with us himself. we could not see him distinctly in the dim light, but we could distinctly hear and feel him. he changed our ornaments and ribbons, and pulled the hair-pins out of our hair, and made comments on what was going on outside. after a while "florence" returned to get more power, and both spirits spoke to and touched us at the same time. during the whole of this _sã©ance_ my arms rested on miss showers' lap, and she was awake and talking to me about the spirits. one evening, at a sitting at mr. luxmore's house in hyde park square, the spirit "florence" had been walking amongst the audience in the lighted front drawing-room for a considerable time--even sitting at the piano and accompanying herself whilst she sung us a song in what she called "the planetary language." she greatly resembled her medium on that occasion, and several persons present remarked that she did so. i suppose the inferred doubt annoyed her, for before she finally left us she asked for a light, and a small oil lamp was brought to her which she placed in my hand, telling me to follow her and look at her medium, which i accordingly did. "florence" led the way into the back drawing-room, where i found miss showers reposing in an arm-chair. the first sight of her terrified me. for the purpose of making any change in her dress as difficult as possible, she wore a high, tight-fitting black velvet frock, fastened at the back, and high hessian boots, with innumerable buttons. but she now appeared to be shrunk to half her usual size, and the dress hung loosely on her figure. her arms had disappeared, but putting my hands up the dress sleeves, i found them diminished to the size of those of a little child--the fingers reaching only to where the elbows had been. the same miracle had happened to her feet, which only occupied half her boots. she looked in fact like the mummy of a girl of four or six years old. the spirit told me to feel her face. the forehead was dry, rough, and burning hot, but from the chin water was dropping freely on to the bosom of her dress. "florence" said to me, "i wanted _you_ to see her, because i know you are brave enough to tell people what you have seen." there was a marked difference in the personality of the two influences "florence" and "lenore," although both at times resembled miss showers, and sometimes more than others. "florence" was taller than her medium, and a very beautiful woman. "lenore" was much shorter and smaller, and not so pretty, but more vivacious and pert. by the invitation of mrs. macdougal gregory, i attended several _sã©ances_ with miss showers at her residence in green street, when these spirits appeared. "lenore" was fond of saying that she wouldn't or couldn't come out unless _i_ held her hand, or put my arm round her waist. to tell the truth, i didn't care for the distinction, for this influence was very peculiar in some things, and to me she always appeared "uncanny," and to leave an unpleasant feeling behind her. she was seldom completely formed, and would hold up a foot which felt like wet clay, and had no toes to it, or not the proper quantity. on occasions, too, there was a charnel-house smell about her, as if she had been buried a few weeks and dug up again, an odor which i have never smelt from any materialized spirit before or after. one evening at mrs. gregory's, when "lenore" had insisted upon walking round the circle supported by my arm, i nearly fainted from the smell. it resembled nothing but that of a putrid corpse, and when she returned to the cabinet, i was compelled to leave the room and retch from the nausea it had caused me. it was on this occasion that the sitters called "lenore" so many times back into the circle, that all the power was gone, and she was in danger of melting away before their eyes. still they entreated her to remain with them a little longer. at last she grew impatient, and complained to me of their unreasonableness. she was then raised from the floor--actually floating just outside the curtain--and she asked me to put my hands up her skirts and convince myself that she was half-dematerialized. i did as she told me, and felt that she had _no legs_, although she had been walking round the room a few minutes before. i could feel nothing but the trunk of a body, which was completely lifted off the ground. her voice, too, had grown faint and her face indistinct, and in another moment she had totally disappeared. one evening at mrs. gregory's, after the _sã©ance_ was concluded, "florence" looked round the curtain and called to me to come inside of it. i did so and found myself in total darkness. i said, "what's the good of my coming here? i can't see anything." "florence" took me by one hand, and answered, "i will lead you! don't be afraid." then some one else grasped my other hand, and "peter's" voice said, "we've got you safe. we want you to feel the medium." the two figures led me between them to the sofa on which miss showers was lying. they passed my hand all over her head and body. i felt, as before, her hands and feet shrunk to half their usual size, but her heart appeared to have become proportionately increased. when my hand was placed upon it, it was leaping up and down violently, and felt like a rabbit or some other live animal bounding in her bosom. her brain was burning as before, but her extremities were icy cold. there was no doubt at all of the abnormal condition into which the medium had been thrown, in order to produce these strong physical manifestations which were borrowed, for the time being, from her life, and could never (so they informed me) put the _whole_ of what they borrowed back again. this seems to account for the invariable deterioration of health and strength that follows physical manifestations in both sexes. these were the grounds alone on which they explained to me the fact that, on several occasions, when the materialized spirit has been violently seized and held apart from the medium, it has been found to have become, or been changed into the medium, and always with injury to the latter--as in the case of florence cook being seized by mr. volckman and sir george sitwell. mr. volckman concluded because when he seized the spirit "katie king," he found he was holding florence cook, that the latter must have impersonated the former; yet i shall tell you in its proper place how i have sat in the same room with "katie king," whilst miss cook lay in a trance between us. the medium nearly lost her life on the occasion alluded to, from the sudden disturbance of the mysterious link that bound her to the spirit. i have had it from the lips of the countess of caithness, who was one of the sitters, and stayed with miss cook till she was better, that she was in convulsions the whole night after, and that it was some time before they believed she would recover. if a medium could simulate a materialized spirit, it is hardly likely that she would (or could) simulate convulsions with a medical man standing by her bedside. "you see," said miss showers' "florence," whilst pointing out to me the decreased size of her medium under trance, "that 'rosie' is half her usual size and weight. _i_ have borrowed the other half from her, which, combined with contributions from the sitters, goes to make up the body in which i shew myself to you. if you seize and hold me tight, you _are_ holding her, _i.e._, half of her, and you increase the action of the vital half to such a degree that, if the two halves did not reunite, you would kill her. you see that i can detach certain particles from her organism for my own use, and when i dematerialize, i restore these particles to her, and she becomes once more her normal size. you only hurry the reunion by violently detaining me, so as to injure her. but you might drive her mad, or kill her in the attempt, because the particles of brain, or body, might become injured by such a violent collision. if you believe i can take them from her (as you see i do) in order to render my invisible body visible to you, why can't you believe i can make them fly together again on the approach of danger. and granted the one power, i see no difficulty in acknowledging the other." one day mrs. showers invited me to assist at a _sã©ance_ to be given expressly for friends living at a distance. when i reached the house, however, i found the friends were unable to be present, and the meeting was adjourned. mrs. showers apologized for the alteration of plan, but i was glad of it. i had often sat with "rosie" in company with others, and i wanted to sit with her quite alone, or rather to sit with her in a room quite alone, and see what would spontaneously occur, without any solicitation on our parts. we accordingly annexed the drawing-room for our sole use--locked the door, extinguished the lights, and sat down on a sofa side by side, with our arms round each other. the manifestations that followed were not all nice ones. they formed an experience to be passed through once, but not willingly repeated, and i should not relate them here, excepting that they afford so strong a proof that they were produced by a power outside and entirely distinct from our own--a power, which having once called into action, we had no means of repressing. we had sat in the dark for some minutes, without hearing or seeing anything, when i thoughtlessly called out, "now, peter, do your worst," and extending my arms, singing, "come! for my arms are empty." in a moment a large, heavy figure fell with such force into my outstretched arms as to bruise my shoulder--it seemed like a form made of wood or iron, rather than flesh and blood--and the rough treatment that ensued for both of us is almost beyond description. it seemed as if the room were filled with materialized creatures, who were determined to let us know they were not to be trifled with. our faces and hands were slapped, our hair pulled down, and our clothes nearly torn off our backs. my silk skirt being separate from the bodice was torn off at the waistband, and the trimming ripped from it, and miss showers' muslin dress was also much damaged. we were both thoroughly frightened, but no expostulations or entreaties had any effect with our tormentors. at the same time we heard the sound as of a multitude of large birds or bats swooping about the room. the fluttering of wings was incessant, and we could hear them "scrooping" up and down the walls. in the midst of the confusion, "rosie" was whisked out of my arms (for fright had made us cling tighter than ever together) and planted on the top of a table at some distance from me, at which she was so frightened she began to cry, and i called out, "powles, where are you? can't you stop them?" my appeal was heard. peter's voice exclaimed, "hullo! here's powles coming!" and all the noise ceased. we heard the advent of my friend, and in another moment he was smoothing down the ruffled hair and arranging the disordered dresses and telling me to light the gas and not be frightened. as soon as i could i obeyed his directions and found rosie sitting doubled up in the centre of the table, but the rest of the room and furniture in its usual condition. "peter" and his noisy crowd had vanished--so had "powles," and there was nothing but our torn skirts and untidy appearance to prove that we had not been having an unholy dream. "peter" is not a wicked spirit--far from it--but he is a very earthly and frivolous one. but when we consider that nine-tenths of the spirits freed from the flesh are both earthly and frivolous (if not worse), i know not what right we have to expect to receive back angels in their stead. at one time when my sister blanche (who was very sceptical as to the possibility of the occurrences i related having taken place before me) was staying in my house at bayswater, i asked miss showers if she would give us a _sã©ance_ in my own home, to which she kindly assented. this was an unusual concession on her part, because, in consequence of several accidents and scandals that had occurred from media being forcibly detained (as i have just alluded to), her mother was naturally averse to her sitting anywhere but in their own circle. however, on my promising to invite no strangers, mrs. showers herself brought her daughter to my house. we had made no preparation for the _sã©ance_ except by opening part of the folding doors between the dining-room and study, and hanging a curtain over the aperture. but i had carefully locked the door of the study, so that there should be no egress from it excepting through the dining-room, and had placed against the locked door a heavy writing-table laden with books and ornaments to make "assurance doubly sure." we sat first in the drawing-room above, where there was a piano. the lights were extinguished, and miss showers sat down to the instrument and played the accompaniment to a very simple melody, "under the willow she's sleeping." four voices, sometimes alone and sometimes _all together_, accompanied her own. one was a baritone, supposed to proceed from "peter," the second, a soprano, from "lenore." the third was a rumbling bass, from an influence who called himself "the vicar of croydon," and sung in a fat, unctuous, and conceited voice; and the fourth was a cracked and quavering treble, from another spirit called "the abbess." these were the voices, mrs. showers told me, that first followed her daughter about the house in devonshire, and gained her such an unenviable notoriety there. the four voices were perfectly distinct from one another, and sometimes blended most ludicrously and tripped each other up in a way which made the song a medley--upon which each one would declare it was the fault of the other. "the vicar of croydon" always required a great deal of solicitation before he could be induced to exhibit his powers, but having once commenced, it was difficult to make him leave off again, whereas "the abbess" was always complaining that they would not allow her to sing the solos. an infant's voice also sung some baby songs in a sweet childish treble, but she was also very shy and seldom was heard, in comparison with the rest. "all ventriloquism!" i hear some reader cry. if so, miss showers ought to have made a fortune in exhibiting her talent in public. i have heard the best ventriloquists in the world, but i never heard one who could produce _four_ voices at the same time. after the musical portion of the _sã©ance_ was over, we descended to the dining-room, where the gas was burning, and the medium passed through it to the secured study, where a mattress was laid upon the floor for her accommodation. "florence" was the first to appear, tall and beautiful in appearance, and with upraised eyes like a nun. she measured her height against the wall with me, and we found she was the taller of the two by a couple of inches,--my height being five feet six, the medium's five feet, and the spirit's five feet eight, an abnormal height for a woman. "lenore" came next, very short indeed, looking like a child of four or six, but she grew before our eyes, until her head was on a level with mine. she begged us all to observe that she had _not_ got on "rosie's" petticoat body. she said she had borrowed it on one occasion, and mrs. showers had recognized it, and slipped upstairs in the middle of the _sã©ance_ and found it missing from her daughter's chest of drawers, and that she had been so angry in consequence (fearing rosie's honor might be impeached) that she said if "lenore" did not promise never to do so again, she should not be allowed to assist at the _sã©ances_ at all. so miss "lenore," in rather a pert and defiant mood, begged mrs. showers to see that what she wore was her own property, and not that of the medium. she was succeeded on that occasion by a strange being, totally different from the other two, who called herself "sally," and said she had been a cook. she was one of those extraordinary influences for whose return to earth one can hardly account; quick, and clever, and amusing as she could be, but with an unrefined wit and manner, and to all appearance, more earthly-minded than ourselves. but do we not often ask the same question with respect to those still existent here below? what were they born for? what good do they do? why were they ever permitted to come? god, without whose permission nothing happens, alone can answer it. we had often to tease "peter" to materialize and show himself, but he invariably refused, or postponed the work to another occasion. his excuse was that the medium being so small, he could not obtain sufficient power from her to make himself appear as a big man, and he didn't like to come, "looking like a girl in a billycock hat." "i came once to mrs. showers," he said, "and she declared i was 'rosie' dressed up, and so i have resolved never to show myself again." at the close of that _sã©ance_, however, "peter" asked me to go into the study and see him wake the medium. when i entered it and made my way up to the mattress, i found miss showers extended on it in a deep sleep, whilst "peter," materialized, sat at her feet. he made me sit down next to him and take his hand and feel his features with my own hand. then he proceeded to rouse "rosie" by shaking her and calling her by name, holding me by one hand, as he did so. as miss showers yawned and woke up from her trance, the hand slipped from mine, and "peter" evaporated. when she sat up i said to her gently, "i am here! peter brought me in and was sitting on the mattress by my side till just this moment." "ha, ha!" laughed his voice close to my ear, "and i'm here still, my dears, though you can't see me." who can account for such things? i have witnessed them over and over again, yet i am unable, even to this day, to do more than believe and wonder. chapter xiii. the mediumship of william eglinton. in the stones i have related of "emily" and "the monk" i have alluded freely to the wonderful powers exhibited by william eglinton, but the marvels there spoken of were by no means the only ones i have witnessed through his mediumship. at the _sã©ance_ which produced the apparition of my sister emily, mr. eglinton's control "joey" made himself very familiar. "joey" is a remarkably small man--perhaps two-thirds lighter in weight than the medium--and looks more like a little jockey than anything else, though he says he was a clown whilst in this world, and claims to be the spirit of the immortal joe grimaldi. he has always appeared to us clothed in a tight-fitting white dress like a woven jersey suit, which makes him look still smaller than he is. he usually keeps up a continuous chatter, whether visible or invisible, and is one of the cleverest and kindest controls i know. he is also very devotional, for which the public will perhaps give him as little credit now as they did whilst he was on earth. on the first occasion of our meeting in the russell street rooms he did not show himself until quite the last, but he talked incessantly of and for the other spirits that appeared. my sister was, as i have said, the first to show herself--then came an extraordinary apparition. on the floor, about three feet from the cabinet, appeared a head--only the head and throat of a dark man, with black beard and moustaches, surmounted by the white turban usually worn by natives. it did not speak, but the eyes rolled and the lips moved, as if it tried to articulate, but without success. "joey" said the spirit came for colonel lean, and was that of a foreigner who had been decapitated. colonel lean could not recognize the features; but, strange to say, he had been present at the beheading of two natives in japan who had been found guilty of murdering some english officers, and we concluded from "joey's" description that this must be the head of one of them. i knelt down on the floor and put my face on a level with that of the spirit, that i might assure myself there was no body attached to it and concealed by the curtain of the cabinet, and i can affirm that it was _a head only_, resting on the neck--that its eyes moved and its features worked, but that there was nothing further on the floor. i questioned it, and it evidently tried hard to speak in return. the mouth opened and the tongue was thrust out, and made a sort of dumb sound, but was unable to form any words, and after a while the head sunk through the floor and disappeared. if this was not one of the pleasantest apparitions i have seen, it was one of the most remarkable. there was no possibility of trickery or deception. the decapitated head rested in full sight of the audience, and had all the peculiarities of the native appearance and expression. after this the figures of two or three englishmen came, friends of others of the audience--then "joey" said he would teach us how to "make muslin." he walked right outside the cabinet, a quaint little figure, not much bigger than a boy of twelve or thirteen, with a young, old face, and dressed in the white suit i have described. he sat down by me and commenced to toss his hands in the air, as though he were juggling with balls, saying the while, "this is the way we make ladies' dresses." as he did so, a small quantity of muslin appeared in his hands, which he kept on moving in the same manner, whilst the flimsy fabric increased and increased before our eyes, until it rose in billows of muslin above "joey's" head and fell over his body to his feet, and enveloped him until he was completely hidden from view. he kept on chattering till the last moment from under the heap of snowy muslin, telling us to be sure and "remember how he made ladies' dresses"--when, all of a sudden, in the twinkling of an eye, the heap of muslin rose into the air, and before us stood the tall figure of "abdullah," mr. eglinton's eastern guide. there had been no darkness, no pause to effect this change. the muslin had remained on the spot where it was fabricated until "joey" evaporated, and "abdullah" rose up from beneath it. now "abdullah" is not a spirit to be concealed easily. he is six foot two--a great height for a native--and his high turban adds to his stature. he is a very handsome man, with an aquiline nose and bright black eyes--a persian, i believe, by birth, and naturally dark in complexion. he does not speak english, but "salaams" continually, and will approach the sitters when requested, and let them examine the jewels, of which he wears a large quantity in his turban and ears and round his throat, or to show them and let them feel that he has lost one arm, the stump being plainly discernible through his thin clothing. "abdullah" possesses all the characteristics of the eastern nation, which are unmistakable to one who, like myself, has been familiar with them in the flesh. his features are without doubt those of a persian; so is his complexion. his figure is long and lithe and supple, as that of a cat, and he can bend to the ground and rise again with the utmost ease and grace. anybody who could pretend for a moment to suppose that mr. eglinton by "making up" could personate "abdullah" must be a fool. it would be an impossibility, even were he given unlimited time and assistance, to dress for the character. there is a peculiar boneless elasticity in the movements of a native which those who have lived in the east know that no englishmen can imitate successfully. "abdullah's" hand and feet also possess all the characteristics of his nationality, being narrow, long and nerveless, although i have heard that he can give rather too good a grip with his one hand when he chooses to exert his power or to show his dislike to any particular sitter. he has always, however, shown the utmost urbanity towards us, but he is not a particularly friendly or familiar spirit. when "abdullah" had retired on this occasion, "joey" drew back the curtain that shaded the cabinet, and showed us his medium and himself. there sat mr. eglinton attired in evening dress, with the front of his shirt as smooth and spotless as when it left the laundress' hands, lying back in his chair in a deep sleep, whilst little joey sat astride his knee, his white suit contrasting strangely with his medium's black trousers. whilst in this position he kissed mr. eglinton several times, telling him to wake up, and not look so sulky; then, having asked if we all saw him distinctly, and were satisfied he was not the medium, he bade god bless us, and the curtains closed once more upon this incomprehensible scene. mr. eglinton subsequently became an intimate friend of ours, and we often had the pleasure of sitting with him, but we never saw anything more wonderful (to my mind) than we did on our first acquaintance. when he accompanied us to bruges (as told in the history of the "monk"), "joey" took great trouble to prove to us incontrovertibly that he is not an "emanation," or double, of his medium, but a creature completely separate and wholly distinct. my sister's house being built on a very old-fashioned principle, had all the bedrooms communicating with each other. the entresol in which we usually assembled formed the connecting link to a series of six chambers, all of which opened into each other, and the entrance to the first and last of which was from the entresol. we put mr. eglinton into no. 1, locking the connecting door with no. 2, so that he had no exit except into our circle as we sat round the curtain, behind which we placed his chair. "joey" having shown himself outside the curtain, informed us he was going through the locked door at the back into our bedrooms, nos. 2, 3 and 4, and would bring us something from each room. accordingly, in another minute we heard his voice in no. 2, commenting on all he saw there; then he passed into no. 3, and so on, making a tour of the rooms, until he appeared at the communicating door of no. 5, and threw an article taken from each room into the entresol. he then told us to lift the curtain and inspect the medium, which we did, finding him fast asleep in his chair, with the door behind him locked. "joey" then returned by the way he had gone, and presented himself once more outside the cabinet, the key of the locked door being all the time in our possession. "ernest" is another well-known control of mr. eglinton's, though he seldom appears, except to give some marvellous test or advice. he is a very earnest, deep-feeling spirit, like his name, and his symbol is a cross of light; sometimes large and sometimes small, but always bright and luminous. "ernest" seldom shows his whole body. it is generally only his face that is apparent in the midst of the circle, a more convincing manifestation for the sceptic or inquirer than any number of bodies which are generally attributed to the chicanery of the medium. "ernest" always speaks in the direct voice in a gentle, bass tone, entirely distinct from "joey's" treble, and his appearance is usually indicative of a harmonious and successful meeting. "daisy," a north american indian girl, is another control of william eglinton's, but i have only heard her speak in trance. i do not know which of these spirits it is who conducts the manifestations of writing on the arm, with which mr. eglinton is very successful; sometimes it seems to be one, and sometimes the other. as he was sitting with our family at supper one evening, i mentally asked "joey" to write something on some part of his body where his hand could not reach. this was in order to prove that the writing had not been prepared by chemical means beforehand, as some people are apt to assert. in a short time mr. eglinton was observed to stop eating, and grow very fidgety and look uncomfortable, and on being questioned as to the cause, he blushed and stammered, and could give no answer. after a while he rose from table, and asked leave to retire to his room. the next morning he told us that he had been so uneasy at supper, it had become impossible for him to sit it out; that on reaching his room he had found that his back, which irritated him as though covered with a rash, _had a sentence written across it_, of which he could only make out a few words by looking at it backwards in a glass; and as there were only ladies in the house beside himself, he could not call in an interpreter to his assistance. one day, without consulting him, i placed a small card and a tiny piece of black lead between the leaves of a volume of the _leisure hour_, and asked him to hold the book with me on the dining table. i never let the book out of my hand, and it was so thick that i had difficulty afterwards in finding my card (from the corner of which i had torn a piece) again. mr. eglinton sat with me in the daylight with the family about, and all he did was to place his hand on mine, which rested on the book. the perspiration ran down his face whilst he did so, but there was no other sign of power, and, honestly, i did not expect to find any writing on my card. when i had shaken it out of the leaves of the book, however, i found a letter closely written on it from my daughter "florence" to this effect:- "dear mama,--i am so glad to be able to communicate with you again, and to demonstrate by actual fact that i am really present. of course, you quite understand that i do not write this myself. 'charlie' is present with me, and so are many more, and we all unite in sending you our love. "your daughter, florence." mr. eglinton's mediumship embraces various phases of phenomena, as may be gathered from his own relations of them, and the testimony of his friends. a narrative of his spiritual work, under the title of "'twixt two worlds," has been written and published by mr. john t. farmer, and contains some exhaustive descriptions of, and testimonies to, his undoubtedly wonderful gifts. in it appear several accounts written by myself, and which, for the benefit of such of my readers as have not seen the book in question, i will repeat here. the first is that of the "monk," given _in extenso_, as i have given it in the eleventh chapter of this book. the second is of a _sã©ance_ held on the 5th september, 1884. the circle consisted of mr. and mrs. stewart, colonel and mrs. wynch, mr. and mrs. russell-davies, mr. morgan, and colonel lean and myself, and was held in mr. eglinton's private chambers in quebec street. we sat in the front drawing-room, with one gas-burner alight, and the door having been properly secured, mr. eglinton went into the back room, which was divided by curtains from the front. he had not left us a couple of minutes before a man stepped out through the _portiã¨re_, and walked right into the midst of us. he was a large, stout man, and very dark, and most of the sitters remarked that he had a very peculiar smell. no one recognized him, and after appearing two or three times he left, and was _immediately_ succeeded by a woman, very much like him, who also had to leave us without any recognition. these two spirits, before taking a final leave, came out _together_, and seemed to examine the circle curiously. after a short interval a much smaller and slighter man came forward, and darted in a peculiar slouching attitude round the circle. colonel lean asked him to shake hands. he replied by seizing his hand, and nearly dragging him off his seat. he then darted across the room, and gave a similar proof of his muscular power to mr. stewart. but when i asked him to notice _me_, he took my hand and squeezed it firmly between his own. he had scarcely disappeared before "abdullah," with his one arm and his six feet two of height, stood before us, and salaamed all round. then came my daughter florence, a girl of nineteen by that time, very slight and feminine in appearance. she advanced two or three times, near enough to touch me with her hand, but seemed fearful to approach nearer. but the next moment she returned, dragging mr. eglinton after her. he was in deep trance, breathing with difficulty, but "florence" held him by the hand and brought him up to my side, when he detached my hands from those of the sitters either side of me, and making me stand up, he placed my daughter in my arms. as she stood folded in my embrace, she whispered a few words to me relative to a subject _known to no one but myself_, and she placed my hand upon her heart, that i might feel she was a living woman. colonel lean asked her to go to him. she tried and failed, but having retreated behind the curtain to gather strength, she appeared the second time _with mr. eglinton_, and calling colonel lean to her, embraced him. this is one of the most perfect instances on record of a spirit form being seen distinctly by ten witnesses with the medium under gas. the next materialization that appeared was for mr. stewart. this gentleman was newly arrived from australia, and a stranger to mr. eglinton. as soon as he saw the female form, who beckoned him to the _portiã¨re_ to speak to her, he exclaimed, "my god! pauline," with such genuine surprise and conviction as were unmistakable. the spirit then whispered to him, and putting her arms round his neck, affectionately kissed him. he turned after a while, and addressing his wife, told her that the spirit bore the very form and features of their niece pauline, whom they had lost the year before. mr. stewart expressed himself entirely satisfied with the identity of his niece, and said she looked just as she had done before she was taken ill. i must not omit to say that the medium also appeared with this figure, making the third time of showing himself in one evening with the spirit form. the next apparition, being the seventh that appeared, was that of a little child apparently about two years old, who supported itself in walking by holding on to a chair. i stooped down, and tried to talk to this baby, but it only cried in a fretful manner, as though frightened at finding itself with strangers, and turned away. the attention of the circle was diverted from this sight by seeing "abdullah" dart between the curtains, and stand with the child in our view, whilst mr. eglinton appeared at the same moment between the two forms, making a _tria juncta in uno_. thus ended the _sã©ance_. the second one of which i wrote took place on the 27th of the same month, and under very similar circumstances. the circle this time consisted of mrs. wheeler, mr. woods, mr. gordon, the honorable gordon sandeman, my daughter eva, my son frank, colonel lean, and myself. mr. eglinton appeared on this occasion to find some difficulty in passing under control, and he came out so frequently into the circle to gather power, that i guessed we were going to have uncommonly good manifestations. the voice of "joey," too, begged us under _no circumstances whatever_, to lose hands, as they were going to try something very difficult, and we might defeat their efforts at the very moment of victory. when the medium was at last under control in the back drawing room, a tall man, with an uncovered head of dark hair, and a large beard, appeared and walked up to a lady in the company. she was very much affected by the recognition of the spirit, which she affirmed to be that of her brother. she called him by name and kissed him, and informed us, that he was just as he had been in earth life. her emotion was so great, we thought she would have fainted, but after a while she became calm again. we next heard the notes of a clarionet. i had been told that mr. woods (a stranger just arrived from the antipodes) had lost a brother under peculiarly distressing circumstances, and that he hoped (though hardly expected) to see his brother that evening. it was the first time i had ever seen mr. woods; yet so remarkable was the likeness between the brothers, that when a spirit appeared with a clarionet in his hand, i could not help knowing who it was, and exclaimed, "oh, mr. woods, there is your brother!" the figure walked up to mr. woods and grasped his hand. as they appeared thus with their faces turned to one another, they were _strikingly_ alike both in feature and expression. this spirit's head was also bare, an unusual occurrence, and covered with thick, crisp hair. he appeared twice, and said distinctly, "god bless you!" each time to his brother. mrs. wheeler, who had known the spirit in earth life, was startled by the tone of the voice, which she recognized at once; and mr. morgan, who had been an intimate friend of his in australia, confirmed the recognition. we asked mr. woods the meaning of the clarionet, which was a black one, handsomely inlaid with silver. he told us his brother had been an excellent musician, and had won a similar instrument as a prize at some musical competition. "but," he added wonderingly, "his clarionet is locked up in my house in australia." my daughter "florence" came out next, but only a little way, at which i was disappointed, but "joey" said they were reserving the strength for a manifestation further on. he then said, "here comes a friend for mr. sandeman," and a man, wearing the masonic badge and scarf, appeared, and made the tour of the circle, giving the masonic grip to those of the craft present. he was a good looking young man, and said he had met some of those present in australia, but no one seemed to recognize him. he was succeeded by a male figure, who had materialized on the previous occasion. as he passed through the curtain, a female figure appeared beside him, bearing a very bright light, as though to show him the way. she did not come beyond the _portiã¨re_, but every one in the room saw her distinctly. on account of the dress and complexion of the male figure, we had wrongly christened him "the bedouin;" but my son, frank marryat, who is a sailor, now found out he was an east indian by addressing him in hindustani, to which he responded in a low voice. some one asked him to take a seat amongst us, upon which he seized a heavy chair in one hand and flourished it above his head. he then squatted, native fashion, on his haunches on the floor and left us, as before, by vanishing suddenly. "joey" now announced that they were going to try the experiment of "_showing us how the spirits were made from the medium_." this was the crowning triumph of the evening. mr. eglinton appeared in the very midst of us in trance. he entered the room backwards, and as if fighting with the power that pushed him in, his eyes were shut, and his breath was drawn with difficulty. as he stood thus, holding on to a chair for support, an airy mass like a cloud of tobacco smoke was seen on his left hip, his legs became illuminated by lights travelling up and down them, and a white film settled about his head and shoulders. the mass increased, and he breathed harder and harder, whilst invisible hands _pulled the filmy drapery out of his hip_ in long strips, that amalgamated as soon as formed, and fell to the ground to be succeeded by others. the cloud continued to grow thicker, and we were eagerly watching the process, when, in the twinkling of an eye, the mass had evaporated, and a spirit, full formed, stood beside him. no one could say _how_ it had been raised in the very midst of us, nor whence it came, but _it was there_. mr. eglinton then retired with the new-born spirit behind the curtains, but in another moment he came (or he was thrown out) amongst us again, and fell upon the floor. the curtains opened again, and the full figure of "ernest" appeared and raised the medium by the hand. as he saw him, mr. eglinton fell on his knees, and "ernest" drew him out of sight. thus ended the second of these two wonderful _sã©ances_. thus published reports of them were signed with the full names and addresses of those who witnessed them. william eglinton's powers embrace various phases of phenomena, amongst which levitation is a common occurrence; indeed, i do not think i have ever sat with him at a _sã©ance_ during which he has _not_ been levitated. i have seen him on several occasions rise, or be carried, into the air, so that his head touched the ceiling, and his feet were above the sitters' heads. on one occasion whilst sitting with him a perfectly new manifestation was developed. as each spirit came the name was announced, written on the air in letters of fire, which moved round the circle in front of the sitters. as the names were those of friends of the audience and not of friends of mr. eglinton, and the phenomenon ended with a letter written to me in the same manner on private affairs, it could not be attributed to a previously arranged trick. i have accompanied mr. eglinton, in the capacity of interpreter, to a professional _sã©ance_ in paris consisting of some forty persons, not one of whom could speak a word of english whilst he was equally ignorant of foreign languages. and i have heard french and german spirits return through him to converse with their friends, who were radiant with joy at communicating with them again, whilst their medium could not (had he been conscious) have understood or pronounced a single word of all the news he was so glibly repeating. i will conclude this testimony to his powers by the account of a sitting with him for slate writing--that much abused and most maligned manifestation. because a few ignorant pig-headed people who have never properly investigated the science of spiritualism decide that a thing cannot be, "because it can't," men of honor and truth are voted charlatans and tricksters, and those who believe in them fools and blind. the day will dawn yet when it will be seen which of the two classes best deserve the name. some years ago, when i first became connected in business with mr. edgar lee of the _st. stephen's review_, i found him much interested in the subject of spiritualism, though he had never had an opportunity of investigating it, and through my introduction i procured him a test _sã©ance_ with william eglinton. we met one afternoon at the medium's house in nottingham place for that purpose, and sat at an ordinary table in the back dining-room for slate-writing. the slate used on the occasion (as mr. lee had neglected to bring his own slate as requested) was one which was presented to mr. eglinton by mr. gladstone. it consisted of two slates of medium size, set in mahogany frames, with box hinges, and which, when shut, were fastened with a bramah lock and key. on the table cloth was a collection of tiny pieces of different colored chalk. in the front room, which was divided from us by folding doors, were some bookcases. mr. eglinton commenced by asking mr. lee to go into the front room by himself, and select, in his mind's eye, any book he chose as the one from which extracts should be given. mr. lee having done as he was told, returned to his former place beside us, without giving a hint as to which book he had selected. mr. gladstone's slate was then delivered over to him to clean with sponge and water; that done, he was directed to choose four pieces of chalk and place them between the slates, to lock them and retain the key. the slates were left on the table in the sight of all; mr. lee's hand remained on them all the time. all that mr. eglinton did was to place _his_ hand above mr. lee's. "you chose, i think," he commenced, "four morsels of chalk--white, blue, yellow and red. please say which word, on which line, on which page of the book you selected just now, the white chalk shall transcribe." mr. lee answered (i forget the exact numbers) somewhat in this wise, "the 3rd word on the 15th line of the 102nd page," he having, it must be remembered, no knowledge of the contents of the volume, which he had not even touched with his hand. immediately he had spoken, a scratching noise was heard between the two slates. when it ceased, mr. eglinton put the same question with regard to the blue, yellow and red chalks, which was similarly responded to. he then asked mr. lee to unlock the slates, read the words, and then fetch the book he had selected, and compare notes, and in each instance the word had been given correctly. several other experiments were then made, equally curious, the number of mr. lee's watch, which he had not taken from his pocket, and which he said he did not know himself, being amongst them. then mr. eglinton said to mr. lee, "have you any friend in the spirit-world from whom you would like to hear? if so, and you will mentally recall the name, we will try and procure some writing from him or her." (i must say here that these two were utter strangers to each other, and had met for the first time that afternoon, and indeed [as will be seen by the context] _i_ had a very slight knowledge of mr. edgar lee myself at that time.) mr. lee thought for a moment, and then replied that there was a dead friend of his from whom he should like to hear. the cleaning and locking process was gone through again, and the scratching re-commenced, and when it concluded, mr. lee unlocked the slates and read a letter to this effect:- "my dear will,--i am quite satisfied with your decision respecting bob. by all means, send him to the school you are thinking of. he will get on better there. his education requires more pushing than it gets at present. thanks for all you have done for him. god bless you.--your affectionate cousin, r. tasker." i do not pretend to give the exact words of this letter; for though they were afterwards published, i have not a copy by me. but the gist of the experiment does not lie in the exactitude of the words. when i saw the slate, i looked at mr. lee in astonishment. "who is it for?" i asked. "it is all right," he replied; "it is for me. it is from my cousin, who left his boy in my charge. _my real name is william tasker._" now, i had never heard it hinted before that edgar lee was only a _nom de plume_, and the announcement came on me as a genuine surprise. so satisfied was mr. william tasker edgar lee with his experimental _sã©ance_, that he had the slate photographed and reproduced in the _st. stephen's review_, with an account of the whole proceedings, which were sufficient to make any one stop for a moment in the midst of the world's harassing duties and think. chapter xiv. the mediumship of arthur colman. arthur colman was so intimate a friend of mr. eglinton's, and so much associated with him in my thoughts in the days when i first knew them both, that it seems only natural that i should write of him next. his powers were more confined to materialization than eglinton's, but in that he excelled. he is the most wonderful materializing medium i ever met in england; but of late years, owing to the injury it did him in his profession, he has been compelled, in justice to himself, to give up sitting for physical manifestations, and, indeed, sitting at all, except to oblige his friends. i cannot but consider this decision on his part as a great public loss; but until the public takes more interest in the next world than they do in this, it will not make it worth the while of such as mr. colman to devote their lives, health and strength to their enlightenment. for to be a good physical medium means literally to part, little by little, with one's own life, and no man can be expected to do so much for the love of a set of unbelievers and sceptics, who will use up all his powers, and then go home to call him a rogue and a cheat and a trickster. if, as i am persuaded, each one of us is surrounded by the influences we gather of our own free-will about us--the loving and noble-hearted by angels, the selfish and unbelieving by devils--and we consider how the latter preponderate over the former in this world, is it to be wondered at that most _sã©ances_ are conducted by an assemblage of evil spirits brought there by the sitters themselves? sceptical, blasphemous and sensual men and women collect together to try and find out the falsehood, _not the truth_, of spiritualism, and are tricked by the very influences that attend their footsteps and direct their daily lives; and therein lies the danger of spiritualism as a pursuit, taken up out of curiosity rather than a desire to learn. it gives increased power to the evil that surrounds ourselves, and the devil that goes out of us returns with seven other devils worse than himself. the drunkard, who, by giving rein to a weakness which he knows he should resist, has attracted to him the spirits of drunkards gone before, joins a _sã©ance_, and by the collaboration of forces, as it were, bestows increased power on the guides he has chosen for himself to lead him into greater evil. this dissertation, however, called forth by the never-ceasing wonder i feel at the indifference of the world towards such sights as i have seen, has led me further than i intended from the subject of my chapter. arthur colman is a young man of delicate constitution and appearance, who was at one time almost brought down to death's door by the demands made by physical phenomena upon his strength; but since he has given up sitting, he has regained his health, and looks quite a different person. this fact proves of itself what a tax is laid upon the unfortunate medium for such manifestations. since he has resolved, however, never to sit again, i am all the more anxious to record what i have seen through him, probably for the last time. when i first knew my husband colonel lean, he had seen nothing of spiritualism, and was proportionately curious, and naturally a little sceptical on the subject, or, rather let me say, incredulous. he was hardly prepared to receive all the marvels i told him of without proof; and mr. colman's guide, "aimã©e," was very anxious to convince him of their truth. she arranged, therefore, a _sã©ance_ at which he was to be present, and which was to be held at the house of mr. and mrs. george neville. the party dined there together previously, and consisted only of mr. and mrs. neville, arthur colman, colonel lean, and myself. as we were in the drawing-room, however, after dinner, and before we had commenced the _sã©ance_, an american lady, who was but slightly known to any of us, was announced. we had particularly wished to have no strangers present, and her advent proportionately annoyed us, but we did not know on what excuse to get rid of her. she was a pushing sort of person; and when mrs. neville told her we were going to hold a _sã©ance_, as a sort of hint that she might take her leave, it only made her resolve to stay; indeed, she declared she had had a premonition of the fact. she said that whilst in her own room that morning, a figure had appeared standing by her bed, dressed in blue and white, like the pictures of the virgin mary, and that all day she had had an impression that she must spend the evening with the nevilles, and she should hear something more about it. we could not get rid of the lady, so we were obliged to ask her to remain and assist at the _sã©ance_, which she had already made up her mind to do, so we commenced our preparations. the two drawing-rooms communicated by folding doors, which were opened, and a _portiã¨re_ drawn across the opening. in the back room we placed mr. colman's chair. he was dressed in a light grey suit, which we secured in the following manner:--his hands were first sewn inside the sleeves of the coat, then his arms were placed behind his back, and the coat sleeves sewn together to the elbow. we then sewed his trouser legs together in the same way. we then tied him round the throat, waist and legs with _white cotton_, which the least movement on his part would break, and the ends of each ligament were sealed to the wall of the room with wax and stamped with my seal with "_florence marryat_" on it. considering him thus secure, without any _possibility_ of escape unless we discovered it, we left him in the back room, and arranged ourselves on a row of five chairs before the _portiã¨re_ in the front one, which was lighted by a single gas-burner. i sat at the head of the row, then the american lady, mrs. neville, colonel lean and mr. neville. i am not sure how long we waited for the manifestations; but i do not think it was many minutes before a female figure glided from the side of the curtain and took a vacant chair by my side. i said, "_who is this?_" and she whispered, "_florence_," and laid her head down on my shoulder, and kissed my neck. i was turning towards her to distinguish her features more fully, when i became aware that a second figure was standing in front of me, and "florence" said "mother, there is powles;" and at the same time, as he bent down to speak to me, his beard touched my face. i had not had time to draw the attention of my friends to the spirits that stood by me, when i was startled by hearing one exclamation after another from the various sitters. the american lady called out, "there's the woman that came to me this morning." mr. neville said, "that is my father," and colonel lean was asking some one if he would not give his name, i looked down the line of sitters. before colonel lean there stood an old man with a long, white beard; a somewhat similar figure was in front of mr. neville. before the dark curtain appeared a woman dressed in blue and white, like a nun; and meanwhile, "florence" and "powles" still maintained their station by my side. as if this were not enough of itself to turn a mortal's brain, the _portiã¨re_ was at the same moment drawn aside, and there stood arthur colman in his grey suit, freed from all his bonds, but under the control of "aimã©e," who called out joyously to my husband, "_now, frank, will you believe?_" she dropped the curtain, the apparitions glided or faded away, and we passed into the back drawing-room, to find mr. colman still in trance, just as we had left him, and _with all the seals and stitches_ intact. not a thread of them all was broken. this is the largest number of spirits i have ever seen at one time with one medium. i have seen two materialized spirits at a time, and even three, from mr. williams and miss showers and katie cook; but on this occasion there were five apparent with the medium, all standing together before us. and this is the sort of thing that the majority of people do not consider it worth their while to take a little trouble to see. i have already related how successfully "florence" used to materialize through this medium, and numerous friends, utterly unknown to him, have revisited us through his means. his trance mediumship is as wonderful as his physical phenomena; some people might think more so. amongst others, two spirits have come back to us through mr. colman, neither of whom he knew in this life, and both of whom are, in their way, too characteristic to be mistaken. one is phillis glover the actress; the other my stepson, francis lean, who was drowned by an accident at sea. phillis glover was a woman who led a very eventful life, chiefly in america, and was a versatile genius in conversation, as in everything else. she was peculiar also, and had a half-yankee way of talking, and a store of familiar sayings and anecdotes, which she constantly introduced into her conversation. she was by no means an ordinary person whilst in this life, and in order to imitate her manner and speech successfully, one would need to be as clever a person as herself. and, without wishing to derogate from the powers of mr. colman's mind, he knows, and i know, that phillis glover was cleverer than either of us. when her influence or spirit therefore returns through him, it is quite unmistakable. it is not only that she retains all her little tricks of voice and feature and manner (which mr. colman has never seen), but she alludes to circumstances that took place in this life and people she was associated with here that he has never heard of. more, she will relate her old stories and anecdotes, and sing her old songs, and give the most incontrovertible tests of her identity, even to recalling facts and incidents that have entirely passed from our minds. when she appears through him, it is phillis glover we are sitting with again and talking with, as familiarly as we did in the days gone by. "francis," in his way too, is quite as remarkable. the circumstances of his death and the events leading to it were unknown to us, till he related them through mr. colman; and he speaks to us of the contents of private letters, and repeats conversations and alludes to circumstances and names that are known only to him and ourselves. he had a peculiar manner also--quick and nervous--and a way of cutting his words short, which his spirit preserves to the smallest particular, and which furnish the strongest proofs possible of his identity to those who knew him here below. but these are but a very few amongst the innumerable tests furnished by arthur colman's occult powers of the assured possibility of communicating with the spirits of those gone before us. chapter xv. the mediumship of mrs. guppy volckman. the mediumship of this lady is so well known, and has been so universally attested, that nothing i can write of could possibly add to her fame; and as i made her acquaintance but a short time before she relinquished sitting for manifestations, i have had but little experience of her powers, but such as i enjoyed were very remarkable. i have alluded to them in the story of "the green lady," whose apparition was due solely to mrs. guppy volckman's presence, and on that occasion she gave us another wonderful proof of her mediumship. a sheet was procured and held up at either end by mr. charles williams and herself. it was held in the light, in the centre of the room, forming a white wall of about five feet high, _i.e._, as high as their arms could conveniently reach. _both_ the hands of mrs. volckman and mr. williams were placed _outside_ the sheet, so that no trickery might be suspected through their being concealed. in a short time the head of a woman appeared above the sheet, followed by that of a man, and various pairs of hands, both large and small, which bobbed up and down, and seized the hands of the spectators, whilst the faces went close to the media, as if with the intention of kissing them. this frightened mrs. volckman, so that she frequently screamed and dropped her end of the sheet, which, had there been any deception, must inevitably have exposed it. it seemed to make no difference to the spirits, however, who reappeared directly they had the opportunity, and made her at last so nervous that she threw the sheet down and refused to hold it any more. the faces were life-size, and could move their eyes and lips; the hands were some as large as a man's, and covered with hair, and others like those of a woman or child. they had all the capability of working the fingers and grasping objects presented to them; whilst the four hands belonging to the media were kept in sight of the audience, and could not have worked machinery even if they could have concealed it. the first time i was introduced to mrs. volckman (then mrs. guppy) was at a _sã©ance_ at her own house in victoria road, where she had assembled a large party of guests, including several names well known in art and literature. we sat in a well-lighted drawing-room, and the party was so large that the circle round the table was three deep. mrs. mary hardy, the american medium (since dead), was present, and the honors of the manifestations may be therefore, i conclude, divided between the two ladies. the table, a common deal one, made for such occasions, with a round hole of about twenty inches in diameter in the middle of it, was covered with a cloth that hung down, and was nailed to the ground, leaving only the aperture free. (i must premise that this cloth had been nailed down by a committee of the gentlemen visitors, in order that there might be no suspicion of a confederate hidden underneath it.) we then sat round the table, but without placing our hands on it. in a short time hands began to appear through the open space in the table, all sorts of hands, from the woman's taper fingers and the baby's dimpled fist, to the hands of old and young men, wrinkled or muscular. some of the hands had rings on the fingers, by which the sitters recognized them, some stretched themselves out to be grasped; and some appeared in pairs, clasped together or separate. one hand took a glove from a sitter and put it on the other, showing the muscular force it possessed by the way in which it pressed down each finger and then buttoned the glove. another pair of hands talked through the dumb alphabet to us, and a third played on a musical instrument. i was leaning forward, before i had witnessed the above, peering inquisitively down the hole, and saying, "i wonder if they would have strength to take anything down with them," when a large hand suddenly appeared and very nearly took _me_ down, by seizing my nose as if it never meant to let go again. at all events, it took me a peg or two down, for i remember it brought the tears into my eyes with the force it exhibited. after the hands had ceased to appear, the table was moved away, and we sat in a circle in the light. mrs. guppy did not wish to take a part in the _sã©ance_, except as a spectator, so she retired to the back drawing-room with the baroness adelma vay and other visitors, and left mrs. hardy with the circle in the front. suddenly, however, she was levitated and carried in the sight of us all into the midst of our circle. as she felt herself rising in the air, she called out, "don't let go hands for heaven's sake." we were standing in a ring, and i had hold of the hand of prince albert of solms. as mrs. guppy came sailing over our heads, her feet caught his neck and mine, and in our anxiety to do as she had told us, we gripped tight hold of each other, and were thrown forward on our knees by the force with which she was carried past us into the centre. this was a pretty strong proof to us, whatever it may be to others, that our senses did not deceive us when we thought we saw mrs. guppy over our heads in the air. the influence that levitated her, moreover, placed her on a chair with such a bump that it broke the two front legs off. as soon as mrs. guppy had rejoined us, the order was given to put out the light and to wish for something. we unanimously asked for flowers, it being the middle of december, and a hard frost. simultaneously we smelt the smell of fresh earth, and were told to light the gas again, when the following extraordinary sight met our view. in the middle of the sitters, still holding hands, was piled up _on the carpet_ an immense quantity of mould, which had been torn up apparently with the roots that accompanied it. there were laurestinus, and laurels, and holly, and several others, just as they had been pulled out of the earth and thrown down in the midst of us. mrs. guppy looked anything but pleased at the state of her carpet, and begged the spirits would bring something cleaner next time. they then told us to extinguish the lights again, and each sitter was to wish _mentally_ for something for himself. i wished for a yellow butterfly, knowing it was december, and as i thought of it, a little cardboard box was put into my hand. prince albert whispered to me, "have you got anything?" "yes," i said; "but not what i asked for. i expect they have given me a piece of jewellery." when the gas was re-lit, i opened the box, and there lay _two yellow butterflies_; dead, of course, but none the less extraordinary for that. i wore at that _sã©ance_ a tight-fitting, high white muslin dress, over a tight petticoat body. the dress had no pocket, and i carried my handkerchief, a fine cambric one, in my hand. when the _sã©ance_ was over, i found this handkerchief had disappeared, at which i was vexed, as it had been embroidered for me by my sister emily, then dead. i inquired of every sitter if they had seen it, even making them turn out their pockets in case they had taken it in mistake for their own, but it was not to be found, and i returned home, as i thought, without it. what was my surprise on removing my dress and petticoat bodice to find the handkerchief, neatly folded into a square of about four inches, _between_ my stays and the garment beneath them; placed, moreover, over the smallest part of my waist, where no fingers could have penetrated even had my dress been loose. my woman readers may be able better than the men to appreciate the difficulty of such a manoeuvre by mortal means; indeed it would have been quite impossible for myself or anybody else to place the handkerchief in such a position without removing the stays. and it was folded so neatly also, and placed so smoothly, that there was not a crumple in the cambric. chapter xvi. the mediumship of florence cook. in writing of my own mediumship, or the mediumship of any other person, i wish it particularly to be understood that i do not intend my narrative to be, by any means, an account of _all sã©ances_ held under that control (for were i to include everything that i have seen and heard during my researches into spiritualism, this volume would swell to unconscionable dimensions), but only of certain events which i believe to be remarkable, and not enjoyed by every one in like measure. most people have read of the ordinary phenomena that take place at such meetings. my readers, therefore, will find no description here of marvels which--whether true or false--can be accounted for upon natural grounds. miss florence cook, now mrs. elgie corner, is one of the media who have been most talked of and written about. mr. alfred crookes took an immense interest in her, and published a long account of his investigation of spiritualism under her mediumship. mr. henry dunphy, of the _morning post_, wrote a series of papers for _london society_ (of which magazine i was then the editor), describing her powers, and the proof she gave of them. the first time i ever met florence cook was in his private house, when my little daughter appeared through her (_vide_ "the story of my spirit child"). on that occasion, as we were sitting at supper after the _sã©ance_--a party of perhaps thirty people--the whole dinner-table, with everything upon it, rose bodily in the air to a level with our knees, and the dishes and glasses swayed about in a perilous manner, without, however, coming to any permanent harm. i was so much astonished at, and interested by, what i saw that evening, that i became most anxious to make the personal acquaintance of miss cook. she was the medium for the celebrated spirit, "katie king," of whom so much has been believed and disbelieved, and the _sã©ances_ she gave at her parents' house in hackney for the purpose of seeing this figure alone used to be crowded by the cleverest and most scientific men of the day, sergeants cox and ballantyne, mr. s. c. hall, mr. alfred crookes, and many others, being on terms of the greatest intimacy with her. mr. william harrison, of the _spiritualist_ paper, was the one to procure me an introduction to the family and an entrance to the _sã©ances_, for which i shall always feel grateful to him. for the benefit of the uninitiated, let me begin by telling _who_ "katie king" was supposed to be. her account of herself was that her name was "annie owens morgan;" that she was the daughter of sir henry morgan, a famous buccaneer who lived about the time of the commonwealth, and suffered death upon the high seas, being, in fact, a pirate; that she herself was about twelve years old when charles the first was beheaded; that she married and had two little children; that she committed more crimes than we should like to hear of, having murdered men with her own hands, but yet died quite young, at about two or three and twenty. to all questions concerning the reason of her reappearance on earth, she returned but one answer, that it was part of the work given her to do to convince the world of the truth of spiritualism. this was the information i received from her own lips. she had appeared to the cooks some years before i saw her, and had become so much one of the family as to walk about the house at all times without alarming the inmates. she often materialized and got into bed with her medium at night, much to florrie's annoyance; and after miss cook's marriage to captain corner, he told me himself that he used to feel at first as if he had married two women, and was not quite sure which was his wife of the two. the order of these _sã©ances_ was always the same. miss cook retired to a back room, divided from the audience by a thin damask curtain, and presently the form of "katie king" would appear dressed in white, and walk out amongst the sitters in gaslight, and talk like one of themselves. florence cook (as i mentioned before) is a very small, slight brunette, with dark eyes and dark curly hair and a delicate aquiline nose. sometimes "katie" resembled her exactly; at others, she was totally different. sometimes, too, she measured the same height as her medium; at others, she was much taller. i have a large photograph of "katie" taken under limelight. in it she appears as the double of florrie cook, yet florrie was looking on whilst the picture was taken. i have sat for her several times with mr. crookes, and seen the tests applied which are mentioned in his book on the subject. i have seen florrie's dark curls _nailed down to the floor_, outside the curtain, in view of the audience, whilst "katie" walked about and talked with us. i have seen florrie placed on the scale of a weighing machine constructed by mr. crookes for the purpose, behind the curtain, whilst the balance remained in sight. i have seen under these circumstances that the medium weighed eight stone in a normal condition, and that as soon as the materialized form was fully developed, the balance ran up to four stone. moreover, i have seen both florrie and "katie" together on several occasions, so i can have no doubt on the subject that they were two separate creatures. still, i can quite understand how difficult it must have been for strangers to compare the strong likeness that existed between the medium and the spirit, without suspecting they were one and the same person. one evening "katie" walked out and perched herself upon my knee. i could feel she was a much plumper and heavier woman than miss cook, but she wonderfully resembled her in features, and i told her so. "katie" did not seem to consider it a compliment. she shrugged her shoulders, made a grimace, and said, "i know i am; i can't help it, but i was much prettier than that in earth life. you shall see, some day--you shall see." after she had finally retired that evening, she put her head out at the curtain again and said, with the strong lisp she always had, "i want mrs. ross-church." i rose and went to her, when she pulled me inside the curtain, when i found it was so thin that the gas shining through it from the outer room made everything in the inner quite visible. "katie" pulled my dress impatiently and said, "sit down on the ground," which i did. she then seated herself in my lap, saying, "and now, dear, we'll have a good 'confab,' like women do on earth." florence cook, meanwhile, was lying on a mattress on the ground close to us, wrapped in a deep trance. "katie" seemed very anxious i should ascertain beyond doubt that it was florrie. "touch her," she said, "take her hand, pull her curls. do you see that it is florrie lying there?" when i assured her i was quite satisfied there was no doubt of it, the spirit said, "then look round this way, and see what i was like in earth life." i turned to the form in my arms, and what was my amazement to see a woman fair as the day, with large grey or blue eyes, a white skin, and a profusion of golden red hair. "katie" enjoyed my surprise, and asked me, "ain't i prettier than florrie now?" she then rose and procured a pair of scissors from the table, and cut off a lock of her own hair and a lock of the medium's, and gave them to me. i have them safe to this day. one is almost black, soft and silky; the other a coarse golden red. after she had made me this present, "katie" said, "go back now, but don't tell the others to-night, or they'll all want to see me." on another very warm evening she sat on my lap amongst the audience, and i felt perspiration on her arm. this surprised me; and i asked her if, for the time being, she had the veins, nerves, and secretions of a human being; if blood ran through her body, and she had a heart and lungs. her answer was, "i have everything that florrie has." on that occasion also she called me after her into the back room, and, dropping her white garment, stood perfectly naked before me. "now," she said "you can see that i am a woman." which indeed she was, and a most beautifully-made woman too; and i examined her well, whilst miss cook lay beside us on the floor. instead of dismissing me this time, "katie" told me to sit down by the medium, and, having brought me a candle and matches, said i was to strike a light as soon as she gave three knocks, as florrie would be hysterical on awaking, and need my assistance. she then knelt down and kissed me, and i saw she was still naked. "where is your dress, katie?" i asked. "oh that's gone," she said; "i've sent it on before me." as she spoke thus, kneeling beside me, she rapped three times on the floor. i struck the match almost simultaneously with the signal; but as it flared up, "katie king" was gone like a flash of lightning, and miss cook, as she had predicted, awoke with a burst of frightened tears, and had to be soothed into tranquillity again. on another occasion "katie king" was asked at the beginning of the _sã©ance_, by one of the company, to say _why_ she could not appear in the light of more than one gasburner. the question seemed to irritate her, and she replied, "i have told you all, several times before, that i can't stay under a searching light. i don't know _why_; but i can't, and if you want to prove the truth of what i say, turn up all the gas and see what will happen to me. only remember, it you do there will be no _sã©ance_ to-night, because i shan't be able to come back again, and you must take your choice." upon this assertion it was put to the vote if the trial should be made or not, and all present (mr. s. c. hall was one of the party) decided we would prefer to witness the effect of a full glare of gas upon the materialized form than to have the usual sitting, as it would settle the vexed question of the necessity of gloom (if not darkness) for a materializing _sã©ance_ for ever. we accordingly told "katie" of our choice, and she consented to stand the test, though she said afterwards we had put her to much pain. she took up her station against the drawing-room wall, with her arms extended as if she were crucified. then three gas-burners were turned on to their full extent in a room about sixteen feet square. the effect upon "katie king" was marvellous. she looked like herself for the space of a second only, then she began gradually to melt away. i can compare the dematerialization of her form to nothing but a wax doll melting before a hot fire. first, the features became blurred and indistinct; they seemed to run into each other. the eyes sunk in the sockets, the nose disappeared, the frontal bone fell in. next the limbs appeared to give way under her, and she sank lower and lower on the carpet like a crumbling edifice. at last there was _nothing but her head_ left above the ground--then a heap of white drapery only, which disappeared with a whisk, as if a hand had pulled it after her--and we were left staring by the light of three gas-burners at the spot on which "katie king" had stood. she was always attired in white drapery, but it varied in quality. sometimes it looked like long cloth; at others like mull muslin or jaconet; oftenest it was a species of thick cotton net. the sitters were much given to asking "katie" for a piece of her dress to keep as a souvenir of their visit; and when they received it, would seal it up carefully in an envelope and convey it home; and were much surprised on examining their treasure to find it had totally disappeared. "katie" used to say that nothing material about her could be made to last without taking away some of the medium's vitality, and weakening her in consequence. one evening, when she was cutting off pieces of her dress rather lavishly, i remarked that it would require a great deal of mending. she answered, "i'll show you how we mend dresses in the spirit world." she then doubled up the front breadth of her garment a dozen times, and cut two or three round holes in it. i am sure when she let it fall again there must have been thirty or forty holes, and "katie" said, "isn't that a nice cullender?" she then commenced, whilst we stood close to her, to shake her skirt gently about, and in a minute it was as perfect as before, without a hole to be seen. when we expressed our astonishment, she told me to take the scissors and cut off her hair. she had a profusion of ringlets falling to her waist that night. i obeyed religiously, hacking the hair wherever i could, whilst she kept on saying, "cut more! cut more! not for yourself, you know, because you can't take it away." so i cut off curl after curl, and as fast as they fell to the ground, _the hair grew again upon her head_. when i had finished, "katie" asked me to examine her hair, to see if i could detect any place where i had used the scissors, and i did so without any effect. neither was the severed hair to be found. it had vanished out of sight. "katie" was photographed many times, by limelight, by mr. alfred crookes, but her portraits are all too much like her medium to be of any value in establishing her claim to a separate identity. she had always stated she should not appear on this earth after the month of may, 1874; and accordingly, on the 21st, she assembled her friends to say "good-bye" to them, and i was one of the number. "katie" had asked miss cook to provide her with a large basket of flowers and ribbons, and she sat on the floor and made up a bouquet for each of her friends to keep in remembrance of her. mine, which consists of lilies of the valley and pink geranium, looks almost as fresh to-day, nearly seventeen years after, as it did when she gave it to me. it was accompanied by the following words, which "katie" wrote on a sheet of paper in my presence:- "from annie owen de morgan (_alias_ 'katie') to her friend florence marryat ross-church. with love. _pensez ã  moi._ "_may 21st, 1874._" the farewell scene was as pathetic as if we had been parting with a dear companion by death. "katie" herself did not seem to know how to go. she returned again and again to have a last look, especially at mr. alfred crookes, who was as attached to her as she was to him. her prediction has been fulfilled, and from that day, florence cook never saw her again nor heard anything about her. her place was shortly filled by another influence, who called herself "marie," and who danced and sung in a truly professional style, and certainly as miss cook never either danced or sung. i should not have mentioned the appearance of this spirit, whom i only saw once or twice, excepting for the following reason. on one occasion miss cook (then mrs. corner) was giving a public _sã©ance_ at the rooms of the national british association of spiritualists, at which a certain sir george sitwell, a very young man, was present, and at which he declared that the medium cheated, and that the spirit "marie" was herself, dressed up to deceive the audience. letters appeared in the newspapers about it, and the whole press came down upon spiritualists, and declared them all to be either knaves or fools. these notices were published on the morning of a day on which miss cook was engaged to give another public _sã©ance_, at which i was present. she was naturally very much cut up about them. her reputation was at stake; her honor had been called into question, and being a proud girl, she resented it bitterly. her present audience was chiefly composed of friends; but, before commencing, she put it to us whether, whilst under such a stigma, she had better not sit at all. we, who had all tested her and believed in her, were unanimous in repudiating the vile charges brought against her, and in begging the _sã©ance_ should proceed. florrie refused, however, to sit unless some one remained in the cabinet with her, and she chose me for the purpose. i was therefore tied to her securely with a stout rope, and we remained thus fastened together for the whole of the evening. under which conditions "marie" appeared, and sung and danced outside the cabinet, just as she had done to sir george sitwell whilst her medium remained tied to me. so much for men who decide a matter before they have sifted it to the bottom. mrs. elgie corner has long since given up mediumship either private or public, and lives deep down in the heart of wales, where the babble and scandal of the city affect her no longer. but she told me, only last year, that she would not pass through the suffering she had endured on account of spiritualism again for all the good this world could give her. chapter xvii. the mediumship of katie cook. in the matter of producing physical phenomena the cooks are a most remarkable family, all three daughters being powerful media, and that without any solicitation on their part. the second one, katie, is by no means the least powerful of the three, although she has sat more privately than her sister florence, and not had the same scientific tests (i believe) applied to her. the first time i had an opportunity of testing katie's mediumship was at the private rooms of signor rondi, in a circle of nine or ten friends. the apartment was small and sparsely furnished, being an artist's studio. the gas was kept burning, and before the sitting commenced the door was locked and strips of paper pasted over the opening inside. the cabinet was formed of a window curtain nailed across one corner of the room, behind which a chair was placed for the medium, who is a remarkably small and slight girl--much slighter than her sister florence--with a thin face and delicate features. she was dressed, on this occasion, in a tight-fitting black gown and hessian boots that buttoned half-way to her knee, and which, she informed me, she always wore when sitting (just as miss showers did), because they had each eighteen buttons, which took a long time to fasten and unfasten. the party sat in a semicircle, close outside the curtain, and the light was lowered, but not extinguished. there was no darkness, and no holding of hands. i mention these facts to show how very simple the preparations were. in a few minutes the curtain was lifted, and a form, clothed in white, who called herself "lily," was presented to our view. she answered several questions relative to herself and the medium; and perceiving some doubt on the part of some of the sitters, she seated herself on my knee, i being nearest the curtain, and asked me to feel her body, and tell the others how differently she was made from the medium. i had already realized that she was much heavier than katie cook, as she felt like a heavy girl of nine or ten stone. i then passed my hand up and down her figure. she had full breasts and plump arms and legs, and could not have been mistaken by the most casual observers for miss cook. whilst she sat on my knee, however, she desired my husband and signor rondi to go inside the curtain and feel that the medium was seated in her chair. when they did so, they found katie was only half entranced. she thrust her feet out to view, and said, "i am not 'lily;' feel my boots." my husband had, at the same moment, one hand on miss cook's knee, and the other stretched out to feel the figure seated on my lap. there remained no doubt in _his_ mind of there being two bodies there at the same time. presently "lily" passed her hand over my dress, and remarked how nice and warm it was, and how she wished she had one on too. i asked her, "are you cold?" and she said, "wouldn't you be cold if you had nothing but this white thing on?" half-jestingly, i took my fur cloak, which was on a sofa close by, and put it round her shoulders, and told her to wear it. "lily" seemed delighted. she exclaimed, "oh, how warm it is! may i take it away with me?" i said, "yes, if you will bring it back before i go home. i have nothing else to wear, remember." she promised she would, and left my side. in another moment she called out, "turn up the gas!" we did so. "lily" was gone, and so was my large fur cloak! we searched the little room round for it. it had entirely disappeared. there was a locked cupboard in which signor rondi kept drawing materials. i insisted on its being opened, although he declared it had not been unlocked for weeks, and we found it full of dust and drawing blocks, but nothing else, so the light was again lowered, and the _sã©ance_ resumed. in a short time the heavy cloak was flung, apparently from the ceiling, evidently from somewhere higher than my head, and fell right over it. i laid it again on the sofa, and thought no more about it until i returned home. i then found, to my astonishment, and considerably to my annoyance, that the fur of my cloak (which was a new one) was all coming out. my dress was covered with it, and from that day i was never able to wear the cloak again. "lily" said she had _de_-materialized it, to take it away. of the truth of that assertion i had no proof, but i am quite sure that she did not put it together again when she brought it back. an army of moths encamped in it could not have damaged it more, and i can vouch that until that evening the fur had been as perfect as when i purchased it. i think my next sitting with katie cook was at a _sã©ance_ held in museum street, and on the invitation of mr. chas. blackburn, who is one of the most earnest friends of spiritualism, and has expended a large amount of money in its research. the only other guests were my husband, and general and mrs. maclean. we sat round a small uncovered table with the gas burning and _without a cabinet_, miss katie cook had a seat between general maclean and myself, and we made sure of her proximity to us during the whole _sã©ance_. in fact, i never let go of her hand, and even when she wished to use her pocket-handkerchief, she had to do it with my hand clinging to her own. neither did she go into a trance. we spoke to her occasionally during the sitting, and she answered us, though in a very subdued voice, as she complained of being sick and faint. in about twenty minutes, during which the usual manifestations occurred, the materialized form of "lily" appeared _in the middle of the table_, and spoke to us and kissed us all in turn. her face was very small, and she was _only formed to the waist_, but her flesh was quite firm and warm. whilst "lily" occupied the table in the full sight of all the sitters, and i had my hand upon miss cook's figure (for i kept passing my hand up and down from her face to her knees, to make sure it was not only a hand i held), some one grasped my chair from behind and shook it, and when i turned my head and spoke, in a moment one arm was round my neck and one round the neck of my husband, who sat next to me, whilst the voice of my daughter "florence" spoke to us both, and her long hair and her soft white dress swept over our faces and hands. her hair was so abundant and long, that she shook it out over my lap, that i might feel its length and texture. i asked "florence" for a piece of her hair and dress, and scissors not being forthcoming, "lily" materialized more fully, and walked round from the other side of the table and cut off a piece of "florence's" dress herself with my husband's penknife, but said they could not give me the hair that time. the two spirits remained with us for, perhaps, half an hour or more, whilst general maclean and i continued to hold miss cook a prisoner. the power then failing, they disappeared, but every one present was ready to take his oath that two presences had been with us that never entered at the door. the room was small and unfurnished, the gas was burning, the medium sat for the whole time in our sight. mrs. maclean and i were the only other women present, yet two girls bent over and kissed us, spoke to us, and placed their bare arms on our necks at one and the same time. there was again also a marked difference between the medium and the materializations. i have already described her appearance. both of these spirits had plump faces and figures, my daughter "florence's" hands especially being large and firm, and her loose hair nearly down to her knees. i had the pleasure of holding another _sã©ance_ with katie cook in the same rooms, when a new manifestation occurred. she is (as i have said) a very small woman, with very short arms. i am, on the contrary, a very large woman, with very long arms, yet the arm of the hand i held was elongated to such an extent that it reached the sitters on the other side of the table, where it would have been impossible for mine to follow it. i should think the limb must have been stretched to thrice its natural length, and that in the sight of everybody. i sat again with katie cook in her own house, where, if trickery is employed, she had every opportunity of tricking us, but the manifestations were much the same, and certainly not more marvellous than those she had exhibited in the houses of strangers. "lily" and "florence" both appeared at the same time, under circumstances that admitted of no possibility of fraud. my husband and i were accompanied on that occasion by our friends, captain and mrs. kendal, and the order of sitting round the table was as follows:--myself, katie, captain k., florence cook, my husband, mrs. cook, mrs. kendal. each member of the family, it will be observed, was held between two detectives, and their hands were not once set free. i must say also that the _sã©ance_ was a free one, courteously accorded us on the invitation of mrs. cook; and if deception had been intended, we and our friends might just as well have been left to sit with katie alone, whilst the other members of the family superintended the manifestation of the "ghosts" outside. miss florence cook, indeed (mrs. corner), objected at first to sitting with us, on the score that her mediumship usually neutralized that of her sister, but her mother insisted on her joining the circle, lest any suspicion should be excited by her absence. the cooks, indeed, are, all of them, rather averse to sitting than not, and cordially agree in disliking the powers that have been thrust upon them against their own will. these influences take possession of them, unfitting them for more practical work, and they must live. this is, i believe, the sole reason that they have never tried to make money by the exercise of their mediumship. but i, for one, fully believe them when they tell me that they consider the fact of their being media as the greatest misfortune that has ever happened to them. on the occasion of this last _sã©ance_, cherries and rosebuds were showered in profusion on the table during the evening. these may easily be believed to have been secreted in the room before the commencement of the sitting, and produced at the proper opportunity, although the hands of everybody interested in their production were fast held by strangers. but it is less easy to believe that a lady of limited income, like mrs. cook, should go to such an expense for an unpaid _sã©ance_, for the purpose of making converts of people who were strangers to her. mediumship pays very badly as it is. i am afraid it would pay still worse if the poor media had to purchase the means for producing the phenomena, especially when, in a town like london, they run (as in this instance) to hothouse fruit and flowers. one more example of katie cook's powers and i have done. we were assembled one evening by the invitation of mr. charles blackburn at his house, elgin crescent. we sat in a small breakfast room on the basement floor, so small, indeed, for the size of the party, that as we encircled a large round table, the sitters' backs touched the wall on either side, thus entirely preventing any one crossing the room whilst we were established there. the only piece of furniture of any consequence in the room, beside the chairs and table, was a trichord cabinet piano, belonging to mrs. cook (who was keeping house at the time for mr. blackburn), and which she much valued. katie cook sat amongst us as usual. in the middle of the _sã©ance_ her control "lily," who was materialized, called out, "keep hands fast. don't let go, whatever you do!" and at the same time, without seeing anything (for we were sitting in complete darkness), we became conscious that something large and heavy was passing or being carried over our heads. one of the ladies of the party became nervous, and dropped her neighbor's hand with a cry of alarm, and, at the same moment, a weighty body fell with a fearful crash on the other side of the room. "lily" exclaimed, "some one has let go hands," and mrs. cook called out; "oh! it's my piano." lights were struck, when we found the cabinet piano had actually been carried from its original position right over our heads to the opposite side of the room, where it had fallen on the floor and been seriously damaged. the two carved legs were broken off, and the sounding board smashed in. any one who had heard poor mrs. cook's lamentations over the ruin of her favorite instrument, and the expense it would entail to get it restored, would have felt little doubt as to whether _she_ had been a willing victim to this unwelcome proof of her daughter's physical mediumship. chapter xviii. the mediumship of bessie fitzgerald. one evening i went to have a cup of tea with my friend miss schonberg at shepherd's bush, when she proposed that we should go and have a _sã©ance_ with mrs. henry jencken (kate fox), who lived close by. i hailed the idea, as i had heard such great things of the medium in question, and never had an opportunity of testing them. consequently, i was proportionately disappointed when, on sending round to her house to ask if she could receive us that evening, we received a message to say that mr. jencken, her husband, had died that morning, and she could see no one. miss schonberg and i immediately cast about in our minds to see what we should do with our time, and she suggested we should call on mrs. fitzgerald. "who is mrs. fitzgerald?" i queried. "a wonderful medium," replied my friend, "whom i met at mrs. wilson's last week, and who gave me leave to call on her. let us go together." and accordingly we set forth for mrs. fitzgerald's residence in the goldhawk road. i only mention these circumstances to show how utterly unpremeditated was my first visit to her. we arrived at her house, and were ushered into a sitting-room, miss schonberg only sending up her name. in a few minutes the door opened, and a small, fair woman, dressed in black velvet, entered the room. miss schonberg saluted her, and was about to tender some explanation regarding _my_ presence there, when mrs. fitzgerald walked straight up to me and took my hand. her eyes seemed to dilate and contract, like the opening and shutting off of a light, in a manner which i have often seen since, and she uttered rapidly, "you have been married once; you have been married twice; and you will be married a third time." i answered, "if you know anything, mrs. fitzgerald, you must know that i am very much attached to my husband, and that your information can give me no pleasure to hear." "no!" she said, "no! i suppose not, but you cannot alter fate." she then proceeded to speak of things in my past life which had had the greatest influence over the whole of it, occurrences of so private and important a nature that it becomes impossible to write them down here, and for that very reason doubly convincing to the person whom they concern. presently mrs. fitzgerald wandered to her piano, and commenced to play the air of the ballad so firmly connected in my mind with john powles, "thou art gone from my gaze," whilst she turned and nodded at me saying, "_he's_ here!" in fact, after a couple of hours' conversation with her, i felt that this stranger in the black velvet dress had turned out every secret of my life, and laid it naked and bare before me. i was wonderfully attracted to her. her personality pleased me; her lonely life, living with her two babies in the goldhawk road, made me anxious to give her society and pleasure, and her wonderful gifts of clairvoyance and trance mediumship, all combined to make me desire her friendship, and i gave her a cordial invitation to my house in the regent's park, where for some years she was a constant visitor, and always sure of a hearty welcome. it was due to her kindness that i first had the opportunity to study trance mediumship at my leisure, and in a short time we became so familiar with her most constant control, "dewdrop," a red indian girl, and so accustomed to speak through mrs. fitzgerald with our own friends gone before, that we welcomed her advent to our house as the signal for holding a spiritual party. for the sake of the uninitiated and curious, i think i had better here describe what is meant by trance mediumship. a person thus gifted has the power of giving him or herself up to the control of the influences in command, who send him or her off to sleep, a sleep so deep and so like death that the spirit is actually parted _pro tem_ from the body, which other spirits, sometimes living, but far oftener dead, enter and use as if it were their own. i have mentioned in my chapter on "embodied spirits" how my living friend in india conversed with me through bessie fitzgerald in this way, also how "florence" spoke to me through the unconscious lips of mabel keningale cook. of course, i am aware that it would be so easy for a medium simply to close her eyes, and, professing to be entranced, talk a lot of commonplaces, which open-mouthed fools might accept as a new gospel, that it becomes imperative to test this class of media strictly by _what they utter_, and to place no faith in them until you are convinced that the matters they speak of cannot possibly have been known to any one except the friend whose mouthpiece they profess to be. all this i fully proved for myself from repeated trials and researches; but the unfortunate part of it is, that the more forcible and convincing the private proof, the more difficult it is to place it before the public. i must content myself, therefore, with saying that some of my dead friends (so called) came back to me so frequently through bessie fitzgerald, and familiarized themselves so completely with my present life, that i forgot sometimes that they had left this world, and flew to them (or rather to bessie) to seek their advice or ask their sympathy as naturally as if she were their earthly form. of these my daughter "florence" was necessarily the most often with me, and she and "dewdrop" generally divided the time which mrs. fitzgerald spent with us between them. i never saw a control so completely identified with its medium as "dewdrop" was with bessie. it was difficult at times to know which was which, and one could never be certain until she spoke whether the spirit or the medium had entered the house. when she _did_ speak, however, there was no mistaking them. their characters were so different. bessie fitzgerald, a quiet, soft spoken little woman, devoted to her children, and generally unobtrusive; "dewdrop," a sioux indian girl, wary and deep as her tribe and cute and saucy as a yankee, with an amount of devilry in her that must at times have proved very inconvenient. she used to play mrs. fitzgerald tricks in those days that might have brought her into serious trouble, such as controlling her whilst travelling in an omnibus, and talking her yankee indian to the passengers until she had made their hair stand on end, with the suspicion that they had a lunatic for a companion. one evening we had a large and rather "swell" evening party, chiefly composed of ladies and gentlemen of the theatrical profession, and entirely of non-spiritualists, excepting ourselves. mrs. fitzgerald had been invited to this party, and declined, because it was out of her line. we were therefore rather astonished, when all the guests were assembled, to hear her name announced and see her enter the room in a morning dress. directly i cast eyes upon her, however, i saw that it was not herself, but "dewdrop." the stride with which she walked, the waggish way she rolled from side to side, the devilry in her eye, all betokened the indian control. to make matters worse, she went straight up to colonel lean, and, throwing herself on the ground at his feet, affectionately laid her head upon his knee, and said, "i'se come to the party." imagine the astonishment of our guests! i was obliged at once, in defence of my friend, to explain to them how matters stood; and though they looked rather incredulous, they were immensely interested, and "dewdrop's" visit proved to be _the_ event of the evening. she talked to each one separately, telling them home truths, and prophesying their future in a way that made their cheeks go pale with fright, or red with conscious shame, and there was quite a contest between the men as to who should take "dewdrop" down to the supper table. when there, she made herself particularly lively, making personal remarks aloud that were, in some instances, rather trying to listen to, and which bessie fitzgerald would have cut out her tongue sooner than utter. she ate, too, of dishes which would have made bessie ill for a week. this was another strange peculiarity of "dewdrop's" control. she not only ousted the spirit; she regulated the internal machinery of her medium's body. bessie in her normal condition was a very delicate woman with a weak heart and lungs, and obliged to be most careful in her diet. she ate like a sparrow, and of the simplest things. "dewdrop," on the other hand, liked indigestible food, and devoured it freely; yet bessie has told me that she never felt any inconvenience from the food amalgamated with her system whilst under "dewdrop's" control. one day when mrs. fitzgerald was dining with us, we had some apples at dessert, which she would have liked to partake of, but was too much afraid of the after consequences. "i _dare_ not," she said; "if i were to eat a raw apple, i should have indigestion for a week." she took some preserved ginger instead; and we were proceeding with our dessert, when i saw her hand steal out and grasp an apple. i looked in her face. "dewdrop" had taken her place. "dewdrop," i said, authoritatively, "you must not eat that. you will hurt bessie. put it down directly." "i shan't," replied "dewdrop," drawing the dish towards her; "i like apples. i'm always wanting 'medy' to eat them, and she won't, so she must go away till i've had as many as i want." and in effect she ate three or four of them, and bessie would never have been cognizant of the fact unless i had informed her. on the occasion of the party to which she came uninvited, "dewdrop" remained with us to the very last, and went home in a cab, and landed mrs. fitzgerald at her house without her being aware that she had ever left it. at that time we were constantly at each other's houses, and many an evening have i spent alone with bessie in the goldhawk road, her servant out marketing and her little children asleep in the room overhead. her baby was then a great fat fellow of about fifteen months old, who was given to waking and crying for his mother. if "dewdrop" were present, she was always very impatient with these interruptions. "bother dat george," she would say; "i must go up and quiet him." then she would disappear for a few minutes, while bessie woke and talked to me, and then, in the twinkling of an eye, "dewdrop" would be back again. one day, apparently, "george" would not be comforted, for on "dewdrop's" return she said to me, "it's no good; i've had to bring him down. he's on the mat outside the door;" and there, sure enough, we found the poor baby wailing in his nightshirt. not being able to walk, how he had been spirited from the top storey to the bottom i leave my readers to determine. bessie's little girl mabel promised to be as wonderful a medium as her mother. she would come in from the garden flushed from her play with the "spirit-children," of whom she talked as familiarly as of her little neighbors next door. i have watched her playing at ball with an invisible child, and have seen the ball thrown, arrested half-way in the air, and then tossed back again just as if a living child had been mab's opponent. i had lost several infants from premature birth during my second marriage, and the eldest of these, a girl, appeared to be a constant companion of mabel's. she was always talking of what "mrs. lean's girl" (as she called her) had done and said; and one day she had a violent fit of weeping because her mother would not promise to buy her a frock like the one "mrs. lean's girl" wore. _apropos_ of these still-born children, i had a curious experience with mrs. fitzgerald. i had had no idea until then that children so born possessed any souls, or lived again, but "florence" undeceived me when she told me she had charge of her little brothers and sisters. she even professed to know the names by which they were known in the spirit world. when a still-born baby is launched upon the other side, she said it is delivered over to the nearest relative of its parent, to be called by what name he may choose. thus my first girl was christened by colonel lean's mother "gertrude," after a bosom friend of hers, and my second my father named "joan," as he said it was his favorite female name. upon subsequent inquiry, we found that mrs. lean _had_ a friend called "gertrude," and that "joan" was distinctly captain marryat's _beau ideal_ of a woman's name. however, that signified but little. i became very curious to see or speak with these unknown babies of mine, and used to worry "florence" to bring them to me. she would expostulate with me after this fashion: "dear mother, be reasonable. remember what babies they are, and that this world is quite strange to them. when your earthly children were small you never allowed them to be brought down before strangers, for fear they should cry. 'gertie' and 'yonnie' would behave just the same if i brought them back to you now." however, i went on teasing her till she made the attempt, and "gertie" returned through mrs. fitzgerald. it was a long time before we could coax her to remain with us, and when she overcame her first shyness, it was like talking to a little savage. "gertie" didn't know the meaning of anything, or the names of anything. her incessant questions of "what's a father?" "what a mother?" "what's a dog?" were very difficult to answer; but she would chatter about the spirit-world, and what she did there, as glibly as possible. she told us that she knew her brother francis (the lad who was drowned at sea) very well, and she "ran races, and francis 'chivied' her; and when he caught her, he held her under the fountain, and the spray wetted her frock, and made it look like silver." the word "_chivied_" sounding to me very much of a mundane character, i asked "gertie" where she learned it; and she said, "francis says 'chivy,' so _i_ may," and it was indeed a common expression with him. "gertie" took, after a while, such a keen interest in my ornaments and china, rather to their endangerment, that i bought a doll to see if she would play with it. at first she was vastly delighted with the "little spirit," as she called it, and nursed it just as a mortal child would have done. but when she began to question me as to the reason the doll did not look at her, or answer her, or move about, and i said it was because it was not alive, she was dreadfully disappointed. "_not alive!_" she echoed; "didn't god make it?" and when i replied in the negative, she threw it to the other end of the room, and would never look at it again. "gertie" was about five years old at this period, and seemed to have a great idea of her own importance. she always announced herself as "the princess gertie," and was very dignified in her behavior. one day, when a lady friend was present when "gertie" came and asked her to kiss her, she extended her hand instead of her face, saying, "you may kiss my hand." "yonnie" (as "joan" called herself) was but eighteen months old, and used to manifest herself, _roaring_ like a child forcibly dragged before strangers, and the only word we could ever extract from her was "sugar-plums." accordingly, i invested in some for her benefit, with which she filled her mouth so full as nearly to choke the medium, and "florence" rebuked me seriously for my carelessness, and threatened never to bring "yonnie" down to this earth again. there had been three other children--boys--whom i was equally anxious to see again, but, for some inexplicable reason, "florence" said it was impossible that they could manifest. the little girls, however, came until we were quite familiar with them. i am aware that all this must sound very childish, but had it not borne a remarkable context, i should not have related it. all the wonder of it will be found later on. mrs. fitzgerald suffered very much at this time from insomnia, which she always declared was benefitted after a visit to me. i proposed one night, therefore, when she had stayed with us later than usual, that she should remain and share my bed, and return home in the morning. she consented, and at the usual hour we retired to rest together, i taking care to lock the bedroom door and keep the gas burning; indeed, bessie was so nervous of what she might see that she would not have remained in the dark for any consideration. the bed we occupied was what is called a half tester, with a canopy and curtains on either side. as soon as ever bessie got into it, she burrowed under the clothes like a dormouse, and went fast asleep. i was too curious to see what might happen to follow her example, so my head remained on the pillow, and my eyes wide open, and turning in every direction. presently i saw the curtains on the opposite side of the bed gently shaken, next a white hand and arm appeared round them, and was passed up and down the ridge that represented bessie fitzgerald's body; finally, after several times stepping forward and retreating again, a female figure emerged and walked to the foot of the bedstead and stood there regarding me. she was, to all appearance, as solidly formed as any human creature could be, and she was as perfectly distinct as though seen by daylight. her head and bust reminded me at once of the celebrated "clytie," they were so classically and beautifully formed. her hair and skin were fair, her eyes luminously liquid and gentle, her whole attitude one of modest dignity. she was clothed in some creamy white material, thick and soft, and intermixed with dull gold. she wore no ornaments, but in her right hand she carried a long branch of palm, or olive, or myrtle, something tall and tapering, and of dark green. she scarcely could be said to smile at me, but there was an indescribable appearance of peace and tranquillity about her. when i described this apparition to bessie in the morning, she recognized it at once as that of her control, "goodness," whom she had seen clairvoyantly, but she affirmed that i was the only person who had ever given her a correct description of this influence, which was the best and purest about her. after "goodness" had remained in the same position for a few minutes, she walked back again behind the curtain, which served as a cabinet, and "florence" came out and had a whispered conversation with me. next a dark face, but only a face, said to be that of "dewdrop," peeped out four or five times, and disappeared again; then a voice said, "no more! good-night," and i turned round to where bessie lay sleeping beside me, and went to sleep myself. after that, she often came, when suffering worse than usual from insomnia, to pass the night with me, as she said my magnetism caused her to sleep, and similar manifestations always occurred when we were alone and together. mrs. fitzgerald's mediumship was by no means used, however, for the sole purpose of gratifying curiosity or foretelling the future. she was a wonderful medical diagnoser, and sat for a long time in the service of a well-known medical man. she would be ensconced in a corner of his waiting-room and tell him the exact disease of each patient that entered. she told me she could see the inside of everybody as perfectly as though they were made of glass. this gift, however, induced her to take on a reflection (as it were) of the disease she diagnosed, and after a while her failing strength compelled her to give it up. her control "dewdrop" was what she called herself, "a metal spirit," _i.e._, her advice was very trustworthy with regard to all speculations and monetary transactions. many stockbrokers and city men used regularly to consult bessie before they engaged in any speculation, and she received many valuable presents in return for her assistance in "making a pile." one gentleman, indeed, settled a large sum of money when he died on her little son in gratitude for the fortune "dewdrop" had helped him to accumulate. persons who sneer at spiritualism and declare it to be useless, little know how much advantage is taken of spiritual forethought and prevision by those who believe in it. i have never been sorry but when i have neglected to follow the advice of a medium whom i had proved to be trustworthy. in the autumn of 1883 i introduced my own entertainment of "love letters" to the provincial british public, and it had an immediate and undeniable success. my engagements poured in rapidly, and i had already booked dates for the whole spring of 1884, when mr. edgar bruce offered me an engagement at the prince of wales' (then the prince's) theatre, about to be opened in piccadilly. i had been anxiously waiting to obtain an engagement on the london boards, and was eager to accept it; still, i did not know if i would be wise in relinquishing my provincial engagements. i wrote to bessie to ask "dewdrop" what i should do; the answer was, "don't accept, only a flash in the pan." thereupon i sent to mr. bruce to ask how long the engagement was likely to last, and his answer was that he expected "the palace of truth" to run a year at least, and at any rate i was to consider myself one of a "stock company." thereupon i cancelled all my entertainment engagements, returned to london, appeared at the prince's theatre for just _eleven_ _weeks_, and got into four law suits with my disappointed patrons for my trouble. it is one of the commonest remarks made by stupid people, "if the spirits know anything, let them tell me the name of the winner of the derby, and then i will believe them," etc. i was speaking of this once to "dewdrop," and she said, "we _could_ tell if we choose, but we are not allowed to do so. if spiritualism was generally used for such things, all the world would rush to it in order to cheat one another. but if you will promise me not to open it until after the derby is run, i will give you the name of the winner now in a sealed envelope, to prove that what i say is the truth." we gave her the requisite materials, and she made a few pencil marks on a piece of paper, and sealed it up. it was the year that "shotover" won the derby. the day after the race, we opened the envelope and found the drawing of a man with a gun in his hand, a hedge, and a bird flying away on the other side; very sketchy, but perfectly intelligible to one who could read between the lines. i was at the theatre one night with bessie in a box, when i found out that "dewdrop" had taken her place. "dewdrop" was very fond of going to the play, and her remarks were so funny and so naã¯ve as to keep one constantly amused. presently, between the acts, she said to me, "do you see that man in the front row of the stalls with a bald head, sitting next to the old lady with a fat neck?" i replied i did. "now you watch," said "dewdrop;" "i'm going down there to have some fun. first i'll tickle the old man's head, and then i'll scratch the old woman's neck. now, you and 'medie' watch." the next moment bessie spoke to me in her own voice, and i told her what "dewdrop" proposed to do. "oh, poor things!" she said, compassionately, "how she will torment them!" to watch what followed was a perfect farce. first, the old man put his hand up to his bald head, and then he took out his handkerchief and flicked it, then he rubbed it, and finally _scrubbed_ it to alleviate the increasing irritation. then the old lady began the same business with her neck, and finding it of no avail, glared at the old man as if she thought _he_ had done it; in fact, they were both in such evident torture that there was no doubt "dewdrop" had kept her promise. when she returned to me she said, "there! didn't you see me walking along the front row of stalls, in my moccasins and beads and feathers, and all my war-paint on, tickling the old fellow's head?" "i didn't _see_ you, 'dewdrop,'" i answered, "but i'm sure you were there." "ah! but the old fellow _felt_ me, and so did the old girl," she replied. bessie fitzgerald is now mrs. russell davies, and carries on her _sã©ances_ in upper norwood. no one who attends them can fail to feel interested in the various phenomena he will meet with there. chapter xix. the mediumship of lottie fowler. as i was introduced to lottie fowler many years before i met bessie fitzgerald, i suppose the account of her mediumship should have come first; but i am writing this veracious narrative on no fixed or artificial plan, but just as it occurs to me, though not from memory, because notes were taken of every particular at the time of occurrence. in 1874 i was largely employed on the london press, and constantly sent to report on anything novel or curious, and likely to afford matter for an interesting article. it was for such a purpose that i received an order from one of the principal newspapers in town to go and have a complimentary _sã©ance_ with an american clairvoyant newly arrived in england, miss lottie fowler. until i received my directions i had never heard the medium's name, and i knew very little of clairvoyance. she was lodging in conduit street, and i reached her house one morning as early as ten o'clock, and sent in a card with the name of the paper only written on it. i was readily admitted. miss fowler was naturally anxious to be noticed by the press and introduced to london society. i found her a stylish-looking, well-dressed woman of about thirty, with a pleasant, intelligent face. those of my readers who have only met her since sickness and misfortune made inroads on her appearance may smile at my description, but i repeat that seventeen years ago lottie fowler was prosperous and energetic-looking. she received me very cordially, and asked me into a little back parlor, of which, as it was summer weather, both the windows and doors were left open. here, in the sunshine, she sat down and took my hand in hers, and began chatting of what she wished and hoped to do in london. suddenly her eyes closed and her head fell back. she breathed hard for a few minutes, and then sat up, still with her eyes closed, and began to talk in a high key, and in broken english. this was her well-known control, "annie," without doubt one of the best clairvoyants living. she began by explaining to me that she had been a german girl in earth life, and couldn't speak english properly, but i should understand her better when i was more familiar with her. she then commenced with my birth by the sea, described my father's personality and occupation, spoke of my mother, my brothers and sisters, my illnesses, my marriage, and my domestic life. then she said, "wait! now i'll go to your house, and tell you what i see there." she then repeated the names of all my children, giving a sketch of the character of each one, down to the "baby with the flower name," as she called my little daisy. after she had really exhausted the subject of my past and present, she said, "you'll say i've read all this out of your mind, so now i'll tell you what i see in the future. you'll be married a second time." now, at this period i was editing a fashionable magazine, and drew a large number of literary men around me. i kept open house on tuesday evenings, and had innumerable friends, and i _may_ (i don't say i _had_), but i may have sometimes speculated what my fate might be in the event of my becoming free. the _sã©ance_ i speak of took place on a wednesday morning; and when "annie" told me i should be married a second time, my thoughts involuntarily took to themselves wings, i suppose, for she immediately followed up her assertion by saying, "no! not to the man who broke the tumbler at your house last night. you will marry another soldier." "no, thank-you," i exclaimed; "no more army men for me. i've had enough of soldiers to last me a lifetime." "annie" looked very grave. "you _will_ marry another soldier," she reiterated; "i can see him now, walking up a terrace. he is very tall and big, and has brown hair cut quite short, but so soft and shiny. at the back of his head he looks as sleek as a mole. he has a broad face, a pleasant, smiling face, and when he laughs he shows very white teeth. i see him knocking at your door. he says, 'is mrs. ross-church at home?' 'yes, sir.' then he goes into a room full of books. 'florence, my wife is dead. will you be my wife?' and you say 'yes.'" "annie" spoke so naturally, and i was so astonished at her knowledge of my affairs, that it never struck me till i returned home that she had called me by my name, which had been kept carefully from her. i asked her, "when will my husband die?" "i don't see his death anywhere," she answered. "but how can i marry again unless he dies?" i said. "i don't know, but i can't tell you what i don't see. i see a house all in confusion, papers are thrown about, and everything is topsy-turvy, and two people are going different ways; and, oh, there is so much trouble and so many tears! but i don't see any death anywhere." i returned home, very much astonished at all miss fowler had said regarding my past and present, but very incredulous with respect to her prophecies for the future. yet, three years afterwards, when much of what she told me had come to pass, i was travelling from charing cross to fareham with mr. grossmith, to give our entertainment of "_entre nous_," when the train stopped as usual to water at chatham. on the platform stood colonel lean, in uniform, talking to some friends. i had never set eyes on him till that moment; but i said at once to mr. grossmith, "do you see that officer in the undress uniform? that is the man lottie fowler told me i should marry." her description had been so exact that i recognized him at once. of course, i got well laughed at, and was ready after a while to laugh at myself. two months afterwards, however, i was engaged to recite at the literary institute at chatham, where i had never set foot in my life before. colonel lean came to the recital, and introduced himself to me. he became a visitor at my house in london (which, by the by, had been changed for one in a _terrace_), and two years afterwards, in, june 1879, we were married. i have so far overcome a natural scruple to make my private affairs public, in justice to lottie fowler. it is useless narrating anything to do with the supernatural (although i have been taught that this is a wrong term, and that nothing that exists is _above_ nature, but only a continuation of it), unless one is prepared to prove that it was true. lottie fowler did not make a long stay in england on that occasion. she returned to america for some time, and i was mrs. lean before i met her again. the second visit was a remarkable one. i had been to another medium, who had made me very unhappy by some prophecies with regard to my husband's health; indeed, she had said he would not live a couple of years, and i was so excited about it that my friend miss schonberg advised our going then and there to see lottie fowler, who had just arrived in england, and was staying in vernon place, bloomsbury; and though it was late at night, we set off at once. the answer to our request to see miss fowler was that she was too tired to receive any more visitors that day. "do ask her to see me," i urged. "i won't detain her a moment; i only want to ask her one question." upon this, we were admitted, and found lottie nearly asleep. "miss fowler," i began, "you told me five years ago that i should be married a second time. well, i _am_ married, and now they tell me i shall loose my husband." and then i told her how ill he was, and what the doctors said, and what the medium said. "you told me the truth before," i continued; "tell it me now. will he die?" lottie took a locket containing his hair in her hand for a minute, and then replied confidently, "they know nothing about it. he will not die--that is not yet--not for a long while." "but _when_?" i said, despairingly. "leave that to god, child," she answered, "and be happy now." and in effect colonel lean recovered from his illness, and became strong and hearty again. but whence did miss fowler gain the confidence to assert that a man whom she had never seen, nor even heard of, should recover from a disease which the doctors pronounced to be mortal? from that time lottie and i became fast friends, and continue so to this day. it is a remarkable thing that she would never take a sixpence from me in payment for her services, though i have sat with her scores of times, nor would she accept a present, and that when she has been sorely in need of funds. she said she had been told she should never prosper if she touched my money. she has one of the most grateful and affectionate and generous natures possible, and has half-starved herself for the sake of others who lived upon her. i have seen her under sickness, and poverty, and trouble, and i think she is one of the kindest-hearted and best women living, and i am glad of even this slight opportunity to bear testimony to her disposition. at one time she had a large and fashionable _clientã¨le_ of sitters, who used to pay her handsomely for a _sã©ance_, but of late years her clients have fallen off, and her fortunes have proportionately decreased. she has now returned to the southern states of america, and says she has seen the last of england. all i can say is, that i consider her a great personal loss as a referee in all business matters as well as a prophet for the future. she also, like bessie fitzgerald, is a great medical diagnoser. she was largely consulted by physicians about the court at the time of the prince of wales' dangerous illness, and predicted his recovery from the commencement. it was through her mediumship that the body of the late lord lindesay of balcarres, which was stolen from the family vault, was eventually recovered; and the present lord lindesay gave her a beautiful little watch, enamelled and set in diamonds, in commemoration of the event. she predicted the riot that took place in london some years ago, and the tay bridge disaster; but who is so silly as to believe the prophecies of media now-a-days? there has hardly been an event in my life, since i have known lottie fowler, that she has not prepared me for beforehand, but the majority of them are too insignificant to interest the reader. one, however, the saddest i have ever been called upon to encounter, was wonderfully foretold. in february, 1886, lottie (or rather, "annie") said to me, "there is a great trouble in store for you, florris" (she always called me "florris"); "you are passing under black clouds, and there is a coffin hanging over you. it will leave your house." this made me very uneasy. no one lived in my house but my husband and myself. i asked, "is it my own coffin?" "no!" "is it my husband's?" "no; it is that of a much younger person." i questioned her very closely, but she would not tell me any more, and i tried to dismiss the idea from my mind. still it would constantly recur, for i knew, from experience, how true her predictions were. at last i felt as if i could bear the suspense no longer, and i went to her and said, "you _must_ tell me that the coffin you spoke of is not for one of my children, or the uncertainty will drive me mad." "annie" thought a minute, and then said slowly, "no; it is not for one of your children." "then i can bear anything else," i replied. the time went on, and in april an uncle of mine died. i rushed again to lottie fowler. "is _this_ the death you prophesied?" i asked her. "no," she replied; "the coffin must leave your house. but this death will be followed by another in the family," which it was within the week. the following february my next-door neighbors lost their only son. i had known the boy for years, and i was very sorry for them. as i was watching the funeral preparations from my bedroom window, i saw the coffin carried out of the hall door, which adjoined mine with only a railing between. knowing that many prophetical media _see_ the future in a series of pictures, it struck me that lottie must have seen this coffin leaving, and mistaken the house for mine. i went to her again. this proves how the prediction had weighed all this time upon my mind. "has not the death you spoke of taken place _now_?" i asked her. "has not the coffin left my house?" "no," she answered; "it will be a relative, one of the family. it is much nearer now than it was." i felt uncomfortable, but i would not allow it to make me unhappy. "annie" had said it was not one of my own children, and so long as they were spared i felt strong enough for anything. in the july following my eldest daughter came to me in much distress. she had heard of the death of a friend, one who had been associated with her in her professional life, and the news had shocked her greatly. she had always been opposed to spiritualism. she didn't see the good of it, and thought i believed in it a great deal more than was necessary. i had often asked her to accompany me to _sã©ances_, or to see trance media, and she had refused. she used to say she had no one on the other side she cared to speak to. but when her young friend died, she begged me to take her to a medium to hear some news of him, and we went together to lottie fowler. "annie" did not wait for any prompting, but opened the ball at once. "you've come here to ask me how you can see your friend who has just passed over," she said. "well, he's all right. he's in this room now, and he says you will see him very soon." "to which medium shall i go?" said my daughter. "don't go to any medium. wait a little while, and you will see him with your own eyes." my daughter was a physical medium herself, though i had prevented her sitting for fear it should injure her health; and i believed, with her, that "annie" meant that her friend would manifest through her own power. she turned to me and said, "oh, mother, i shall be awfully frightened if he appears to me at night;" and "annie" answered, "no, you won't be frightened when you see him. you will be very pleased. your meeting will be a source of great pleasure on both sides." my daughter had just signed a lucrative engagement, and was about to start on a provincial tour. her next request was, "tell me what you see for me in the future." "annie" replied, "i cannot see it clearly. another day i may be able to tell you more, but to-day it is all dim. every time i try to see it a wall seems to rise behind your head and shut it out." then she turned to me and said, "florris, that coffin is very near you now. it hangs right over your head!" i answered carelessly, "i wish it would come and have done with it. it is eighteen months now, annie, since you uttered that dismal prophecy!" little did i really believe that it was to be so quickly and so terribly fulfilled. three weeks after that _sã©ance_, my beloved child (who was staying with me) was carried out of my house in her coffin to kensal green. i was so stunned by the blow, that it was not for some time after that i remembered "annie's" prediction. when i asked her _why_ she had tortured me with the suspense of coming evil for eighteen months, she said she had been told to do so by my guardian spirits, or my brain would have been injured by the suddenness of the shock. when i asked why she had denied it would be one of my children, she still maintained that she had obeyed a higher order, because to tell the truth so long beforehand would have half-killed me as indeed it would. "annie" said she had no idea, even during that last interview, that the death she predicted was that of the girl before her. she saw her future was misty, and that the coffin was over my head, but she did not connect the two facts together. in like manner i have heard almost every event of my future through lottie fowler's lips, and she has never yet proved to be wrong, except in one instance of _time_. she predicted an event for a certain year and it did not take place till afterwards; and it has made "annie" so wary, that she steadfastly refuses now to give any dates. i always warn inquirers not to place faith in any given dates. the spirits have told me they have _no time_ in the spheres, but judge of it simply as the reflection of the future appears nearer, or further, from the sitter's face. thus, something that will happen years hence appears cloudy and far off, whilst the events of next week or next month seem bright and distinct, and quite near. this is a method of judging which can only be gained by practice, and must at all times be uncertain and misleading. i have often acted as amanuensis for lottie fowler, for letters are constantly arriving for her from every part of the world which can only be answered under trance, and she has asked me to take down the replies as "annie" dictated them. i have answered by this means the most searching questions from over the seas relating to health and money and lost articles whilst lottie was fast asleep and "annie" dictated the letters, and have received many answers thanking me for acting go-between, and saying how wonderfully correct and valuable the information "annie" had sent them had proved to be. of course, it would be impossible, in this paper, to tell of the constant intercourse i have had with lottie fowler during the last ten or twelve years, and the manner in which she has mapped out my future for me, preventing my cherishing false hopes that would never be realized, making bad bargains that would prove monetary losses, and believing in apparent friendship that was only a cloak for selfishness and treachery. i have learned many bitter lessons from her lips. i have also made a good deal of money through her means. she has told me what will happen to me between this time and the time of my death, and i feel prepared for the evil and content with the good. lottie fowler had very bad health for some time before she left england, and it had become quite necessary that she should go; but i think if the british public had known what a wonderful woman was in their midst, they would have made it better worth her while to stay amongst them. chapter xx. the mediumship of william fletcher. it may be remembered in the "story of john powles" that when, as a perfect stranger to mr. fletcher, i walked one evening into the steinway hall, i heard him describe the circumstances of my old friend's death in a very startling manner. it made such an impression on me that i became anxious to hear what more mr. fletcher might have to say to me in private, and for that purpose i wrote and made an appointment with him at his private residence in gordon square. i did not conceal my name, and i knew my name must be familiar to him; for although he had only just arrived from america, i am better known as an author in that country perhaps than in this. but i had no intention of gauging his powers by what he told me of my exterior life; and by what followed, his guide "winona" evidently guessed my ideas upon the subject. after the _sã©ance_ i wrote thus concerning it to the _banner of light_, a new york spiritualistic paper:-"i had seen many clairvoyants before, both in public and private, and had witnessed wonderful feats of skill on their part in naming and describing concealed objects, and reading print or writing when held far beyond their reach of sight; but i knew the trick of all that. if mr. fletcher is going to treat me to any mental legerdemain, i thought, as i took my way to gordon square, i shall have wasted both my time and trouble upon him; and, i confess, as i approached the house, that i felt doubtful whether i might not be deceived against my senses by the clever lecturer, whose eloquence had charmed me into desiring a more intimate acquaintance with him. even the private life of a professional person soon becomes public property in london; and had mr. fletcher wished to find out my faults and failings, he had but to apply to ----, say, my dearest friend, or the one upon whom i had bestowed most benefits, to learn the worst aspect of the worst side of my character. but the neat little page-boy answered my summons so promptly that i had no time to think of turning back again; and i was ushered through a carpeted hall, and up a staircase into a double drawing-room, strewn with evidence that my clairvoyant friend possessed not only artistic taste, but the means to indulge it. the back room into which i was shown was hung with paintings and fitted with a luxurious _causeuse_, covered with art needlework, and drawn against the open window, through which might be seen some fine old trees in the garden below, and mr. fletcher's dogs enjoying themselves beneath their shade. nothing could be further removed from one's ideas of a haunt of mystery or magic, or the abode of a man who was forced to descend to trickery for a livelihood. in a few minutes mr. fletcher entered the room and saluted me with the air of a gentleman. we did not proceed to business, however, until he had taken me round his rooms, and shown me his favorite pictures, including a portrait of sara bernhardt, etched by herself, in the character of mrs. clarkson in _l'etrangã¨re_. after which we returned to the back drawing-room, and without darkening the windows or adopting any precautions, we took our seats upon the _causeuse_ facing each other, whilst mr. fletcher laid his left hand lightly upon mine. in the course of a minute i observed several convulsive shivers pass through his frame, his eyes closed, and his head sunk back upon the cushions, apparently in sleep. i sat perfectly still and silent with my hand in his. presently he reopened his eyes quite naturally, and sitting upright, began to speak to me in a very soft, thin, feminine voice. he (or rather his guide "winona") began by saying that she would not waste my time on facts that she might have gathered from the world, but would confine herself to speaking of my inner life. thereupon, with the most astonishing astuteness, she told me of my thoughts and feelings, reading them off like a book. she repeated to me words and actions that had been said and done in privacy hundred of miles away. she detailed the characters of my acquaintance, showing who were true and who were false, giving me their names and places of residence. she told me the motives i had had for certain actions, and what was more strange, revealed truths concerning myself which i had not recognized until they were presented to me through the medium of a perfect stranger. every question i put to her was accurately answered, and i was repeatedly invited to draw further revelations from her. the fact being that i was struck almost dumb by what i had heard, and rendered incapable of doing anything but marvel at the wonderful gift that enabled a man, not only to read each thought that passed through my brain, but to see, as in a mirror, scenes that were being enacted miles away with the actors concerned in them and the motives that animated them. "winona" read the future for me as well as the past, and the first distinct prophecy she uttered has already most unexpectedly come to pass. when i announced that i was satisfied, the clairvoyant laid his head back again upon the cushions, the same convulsive shudders passed through his frame, and in another minute he was smiling in my face, and hoping i had a good _sã©ance_." this is part of the letter i wrote concerning mr. fletcher to the _banner of light_. but a description of words, however strongly put, can never carry the same weight as the words themselves. so anxious am i to make this statement as trustworthy as possible, however, that i will now go further, and give the exact words as "winona" spoke them to me on that occasion, and as i took them down from her lips. _some_ parts i _must_ omit, not for my own sake, but because of the treachery they justly ascribed to persons still living in this world. but enough will, i trust, remain to prove how intimately the spirit must have penetrated to my inner life. this is, then, the greater part of what "winona" said to me on the 27th of june, 1879: "you are a child of destiny, who never was a child. your life is fuller of tragedies than any life i ever read yet. i will not tell you of the past _facts_, because they are known to the world, and i might have heard them from others. but i will speak of yourself. i have to leave the earth-world when i come in contact with you, and enter a planetary sphere in which you dwell (and ever must dwell) _alone_. it is as if you were in a room shut off from the rest of mankind. you are one of the world's magnets. you have nothing really in common with the rest. you draw people to you, and live upon their life; and when they have no more to give, nor you to demand, the liking fades on both sides. it must be so, because the spirit requires food the same as the body; and when the store is exhausted, the affection is starved out, and the persons pass out of your life. you have often wondered to yourself why an acquaintance who seemed necessary to you to-day you can live perfectly well without to-morrow. this is the reason. more than that, if you continue to cling to those whose spiritual system you have exhausted, they would poison you, instead of nourishing you. you may not like it, but those you value most you should oftenest part with. separation will not decrease your influence over them; it will increase it. constant intercourse may be fatal to your dearest affections. you draw so much on others, you _empty_ them, and they have nothing more to give you. you have often wondered, too, why, after you have lived in a place a little while, you become sad, weary, and ill--not physically ill, but mentally so--and you feel as if you _must_ leave it, and go to another place. when you settle in this fresh place, you think at first that it is the very place where you will be content to live and die; but after a little while the same weariness and faintness comes back again, and you think you cannot breathe till you leave it, as you did the other. this is not fancy. it is because your nature has exhausted all it can draw from its surroundings, and change becomes a necessity to life. you will never be able to live long in any place without change, and let me warn you never to settle yourself down anywhere with the idea of living there entirely. were you forced to do so, you would soon die. you would be starved to death spiritually. all people are not born under a fate, but you were, and you can do very little to change it. england is the country of your fate. you will never prosper in health, mind, or money in a foreign country. it is good to go abroad for change, but never try to live there. you are thinking of going abroad now, but you will not remain there nearly so long as you anticipate. something will arise to make you alter your plans--not a real trouble--but an uneasiness. the plan you think of will not answer." (this prediction was fulfilled to the letter.) "this year completes an era in your professional career--not of ill-luck, so much as of stagnation. your work has been rather duller of late years. the christmas of 1879 will bring you brighter fortune. some one who has appeared to drop you will come forward again, and take up your cause, and bring you in much money." (this also came to pass.) "you have not nearly reached the zenith of your success. it is yet to come. it is only beginning. you will have another child, certainly _one_, but i am not sure if it will live in this world. i do not see its earth-life, but i see you in that condition. * * * * * "your nervous system was for many years strung up to its highest tension--now it is relaxed, and your physical powers are at their lowest ebb. you could not bear a child in your present condition. you must become much lighter-hearted, more contented and at ease before that comes to pass. you must have ceased to wish for a child, or even to expect it. you have never had a heart really at ease yet. all your happiness has been feverish. * * * * * "i see your evil genius. she is out of your life at present, but she crossed your path last year, and caused you much heart-burning, and not without reason. it seems to me that some sudden shock or accident put an end to the acquaintance; but she will cross your path again, and cause you more misery, perhaps, than anything else has done. she is not young, but stout, and not handsome, as it seems to me. she is addicted to drinking. i see her rolling about now under the influence of liquor. she has been married more than once. i see the name ------written in the air. she would go any lengths to take that you value from you, even to compassing your death. she is madly in love with what is yours. she would do anything to compass her ends--not only immoral things, but filth--filth. i have no hesitation in saying this. whenever she crosses your path, in public or private, flee from her as from a pestilence." (this information was correct in every detail. the name was given at full length. i repeat it as a specimen of the succinctness of intelligence given through trance mediumship.) "1883 will be a most unfortunate year for you. you will have a severe illness, your friends will not know if you are going to live or die, and during this illness you will endure great mental agony, caused through a woman, one of whose names begins with ----. you will meet her some time before, and she will profess to be your dearest friend. i see her bending over you, and telling you she is your best friend, and you are disposed to believe it. she is as tall as you are, but does not look so tall from a habit she has of carrying herself. she is not handsome, strictly speaking, but dark and very fascinating. she has a trick of keeping her eyes down when she speaks. she is possibly french, or of french extraction, but speaks english. she will get a hold upon ----'s mind that will nearly separate you." (at this juncture i asked, "how can i prevent it?") "if i told you, that if you went by the 3 o'clock train from gower street, you would be smashed, you would not take that train. when you meet a woman answering this description, stop and ask yourself whether she is the one i have warned you against, before you admit her across the threshold of your house. * * * * * "----'s character is positive for good, and negative for evil. if what is even for his good were urged upon him, he would refuse to comply; but present evil to him as a possible good, and he will stop to consider whether it is not so. if he is to be guided aright, it must be by making him believe it would be impossible for him to go wrong. elevate his nature by elevating his standard of right. make it impossible for him to lower himself, by convincing him that he _would_ be lowered. he is very conceited. admiration is the breath of his life. he is always thinking what people will say of him or his actions. he is very weak under temptation, especially the temptation of flattery. he is much too fond of women. you have a difficult task before you, and you have done much harm already through your own fault. he believes too little in the evil of others--much too little. if he were unfaithful to those who trust him, he would be quite surprised to find he had broken their hearts. your work is but beginning. hitherto all has been excitement, and there has been but little danger. now comes monotony and the fear of satiety. your fault through life has been in not asserting the positive side of your character. you were born to rule, and you have sat down a slave. either through indolence or despair of success, you have presented a negative side to the insults offered you, and in the end you have been beaten. you make a great mistake in letting your female friends read all your joys and sorrows. men would sympathize and pity. women will only take advantage of them. assert your dignity as mistress in your own house, and don't let those visitors invite themselves who do not come for you. you are, as it were, the open door for more than one false friend. i warn you especially against two unmarried women--at least, if they are married, i don't see their husbands anywhere. they are both too fond of ----; one _very much_ too fond of him, and you laugh at it, and give your leave for caresses and endearments, which should never be permitted. if i were to tell them that they visit at your house for ----, and not for you, they would be very indignant. they give you presents, and really like you; but ---is the attraction, and with one of them it only needs time, place and opportunity to cause the ruin of ---and yourself. she has an impediment in walking. i need say no more. she wants to become still more familiar, and live under the same roof with you. you must prevent it. the other is doing more harm to herself than to anyone else. she is silly and romantic, and must dream of some one. it is a pity it should be encouraged by familiarity. ---has no feeling for them beyond pity and friendship, but it is not necessary he should love a woman to make her dangerous to him. as far as i can see your lives extend, ---will love you, and you will retain your influence over him if you _choose_ to do so. but it is in your own hands what you make of him. you must not judge his nature by your own. you are shutting yourself up too much. you should be surrounded by a circle of men, so that you might not draw influence from ---alone. you should go out more, and associate with clever men, and hear what they have to say to you. you must not keep so entirely with ----. it is bad for both of you. you are making too great a demand upon his spiritual powers, and you will exhaust them too soon. a woman cannot draw spiritual life from women only. she must take it from men. there is another acquaintance i must warn you against ----; a widow, fair hair, light eyes, not clever, but cunning. she has but one purpose in visiting you. she would like to stand in your shoes. she would not hesitate to usurp your rights. be civil to her if you will, but do not encourage her visits. it were best if she passed out of your lives altogether. she can never bring you any good luck. she may be the cause of much annoyance yet. ---should have work, active and constant, or his health will fail, living in idleness, spiritually and bodily. you tell him too often that you love him. let him feel there is always a higher height to gain, a lower depth to fall to, in your esteem. he is not the only man in the world. why should you deceive him by saying so? you are much to blame." (considering that mr. fletcher had never seen, or, as far as i knew, heard of the persons he mentioned in this tirade, it becomes a matter of speculation where or from whom he gathered this keen insight to their character and personalities, every word of which i can vouch for as being strictly true.) "many spirits are round you. some wish to speak.... a grand and noble spirit stands behind you, with his hands spread in blessing over your head. he is your father. he sends this message: 'my dear child, there were so many influences antagonistic to my own in your late married life, that i found it very difficult to get near you. now they are removed. the present conditions are much more favorable to me, and i hope to be with you often, and to help you through the life that lies before you.' there is the face of a glorified spirit, just above your head, and i see the name 'powles.' this spirit is nearer you, and more attached to you than any other in spirit land. he comes only to you, and one other creature through you--your second child. he says you will know him by the token, the song; you sung to him upon his death-bed. his love for you is the best and purest, and he is always by you, though lower influences sometimes forbid his manifesting himself. your child comes floating down, and joins hands with him. she is a very pure and beautiful spirit. she intimates that her name on earth was the same as yours, but she is called by another name in the spheres--a name that has something to do with flowers. she brings me a bunch of pure white lilies, tinged with blue, with blue petals, tied with a piece of blue ribbon, and she intimates to me by gesture that her spirit-name has something to do with them. i think i must go now, but i hope you will come and sit with me again. i shall be able to tell you more next time. my name is 'winona,' and when you ask for me i will come. good-bye...." this was the end of my first _sã©ance_ with mr. fletcher, and i think even sceptics will allow that it was sufficiently startling for the first interview with an entire stranger. the following year i wrote again to the _banner of light_ concerning mr. fletcher, but will only give an extract from my letter. "i told you in my letter of last year that i had held a _sã©ance_ with mr. fletcher of so private a nature that it was impossible to make it public. during that interview 'winona' made several startling prophecies concerning the future, which, it may interest your readers to know, have already been fulfilled. wishing to procure some further proofs of mr. fletcher's power before i wrote this letter to you, i prepared a different sort of test for him last week. from a drawer full of old letters i selected, _with my eyes shut_, four folded sheets of paper, which i slipped into four blank envelopes, ready prepared for them--still without looking--and closed them in the usual manner with the adhesive gum, after which i sealed them with sealing wax. i carried these envelopes to mr. fletcher, and requested "winona" to tell me the characters of the persons by whom their contents had been written. she placed them consecutively to the medium's forehead, and as she returned them to me, one by one, i wrote her comments on each on the side of the cover. on breaking the seals, the character of each writer was found to be most accurately defined, although the letters had all been written years before--(a fact which "winona" had immediately discovered). she also told me which of my correspondents were dead, and which living. here, you will observe, there could have been no reaction of my own brain upon that of the sensitive, as i was perfectly ignorant, until i reopened the envelopes, by whom the letters had been sent to me. two months ago i was invited to join in a speculation, of the advisability of which i felt uncertain. i went therefore to mr. fletcher, and asked for an interview with "winona," intending to consult her in the matter. but before i had time to mention the subject, she broached it to me, and went on to speak of the speculation itself, of the people concerned in it, and the money it was expected to produce; and, finally, she explained to me how it would collapse, with the means that would bring it to an end, putting her decided veto on my having anything to do with it. i followed "winona's" advice, and have been thankful since that i did so, as everything has turned out just as she predicted." * * * * * i think those people who desire to gain the utmost good they can out of clairvoyance should be more ready to listen and learn, and less to cavil and to question. many who have heard me relate the results of my experience have rushed off pell-mell to the same medium, perhaps, and came away woefully disappointed. were they to review the interview they would probably find they had done all the talking, and supplied all the information, leaving the clairvoyant no work to do whatever. to such i always say, whether their aim is to obtain advice in their business, or news of a lost friend, _be perfectly passive_, until the medium has said all he or she may have to say. give them time to become _en rapport_ with you, and quietude, that he may commune with the spirits you bring with you; for it is _they_, and not _his_ controls, that furnish him with the history of your life, or point out the dangers that are threatening. when he has finished speaking, he will probably ask if you have any questions to put to him, and _then_ is your turn for talking, and for gaining any particular information you may wish to acquire. if these directions are carried out, you are likely to have a much more satisfactory _sã©ance_ than otherwise. chapter xxi. private media. people who wish to argue against spiritualism are quite sure, as a rule, that media will descend to any trickery and cheating for the sake of gain. if you reply, as in my own case, that the _sã©ances_ have been given as a free-will offering, they say that they expected introductions or popularity or advertisement in exchange. but what can be adduced against the medium who lends his or her powers to a person whom he has never seen, and probably never will see, and for no reason, excepting that his controls urge him to the deed? such a man is mr. george plummer of massachusetts, america. in december, 1887, when my mind was very unsettled, my friend miss schonberg advised me to write to this medium and ask his advice. she told me i must not expect an immediate reply, as mr. plummer kept a box into which he threw all the letters he received from strangers on spiritualistic subjects, and when he felt impressed to do so, he went and took out one, haphazard, and wrote the answer that was dictated to him. all i had to do was to enclose an addressed envelope, not a _stamped_ one, in my letter, to convey the answer back again. accordingly, i prepared a diplomatic epistle to this effect. "dear sir,--hearing that you are good enough to sit for strangers, i shall be much obliged if you will let me know what you see for me.--yours truly, f. lane." it will be seen that i transposed the letters of my name "lean." i addressed the return envelope in the same manner to the house in regent's park, which i then occupied, and i wrote it all in a feigned hand to conceal my identity as much as possible. the time went on and i heard nothing from mr. plummer. i was touring in the provinces for the whole of 1888, and at the end of the year i came back to london and settled down in a new house in a different quarter of the town. by this time i had almost forgotten mr. plummer and my letter to him, and when in _december_, 1889, two years after i had sent it, my own envelope in my own handwriting, forwarded by the postal authorities from regent's park, was brought to me, i did not at first recognize it. i kept twisting it about, and thinking how like it was to my own writing, when the truth suddenly flashed on me. i opened it and read as follows: "georgetown, november 28th, 1889. "mrs. lane,--dear madam,--please pardon me for seeming neglect in answering your request. at the time of receiving your letter i could not write, and it got mislaid. coming across it now, even at the eleventh hour, i place myself in condition to answer. i see a lady with dark blue eyes before me, of a very nervous life--warm-hearted--impulsive--tropical in her nature. a woman of intense feeling--a woman whose life has been one of constant disappointment. to-day the current of life flows on smoothly but monotonous. i sense from the sphere of this lady, a weariness of life--should think she felt like alexander, because there are no more worlds for her to conquer. she is her own worst enemy. naturally generous, she radiates her refined magnetic sphere to others, and does not get back that which she can utilize. i see a bright-complexioned gentleman in earth life--brave, generous, and kind--but does not comprehend your interior life. and yet thinks the world of you to-day. i feel from you talent of a marked order. and yet life is a disappointment. not but what you have been successful in a refined, worldly sense, but your spiritual nature has been repressed. the society you move in is one of intellectual culture; that is not of the soul. and it is soul food that you are hungering for to-day. you are an inspired woman. thought seems to you, all prepared, so to speak. but it does not seem to free the tiny little messengers of your soul life. somehow i don't feel that confidence in myself in writing to you. the best kind of a reading is usually obtained in reading to a person direct. but if i don't meet your case we will call it a failure and let it go. the year of 1890 is going to be more favorable to you than for the last ten years. i think in some way you are to meet with more reciprocity of soul. as the divining rod points to the stream of water in the earth, so i find my intuitive eye takes cognizance of your interior life. you will in a degree catch my meaning through this, and it will come clearer, more through your intuition than through your intellect. i should say to you, follow your instincts and intuitions always through life. if this throws any light over your path i am glad.--i remain, most respectfully yours, george plummer." now there are two noticeable things in this letter. first, mr. plummer's estimate of my interior life almost coincides with mr. fletcher's given in 1879, ten years before. next, although he read it through the medium of a letter written in 1887, he draws a picture of my position and surroundings in 1889. both these things appeared to me very curious as coming from a stranger across the atlantic, and i answered his letter at once, still preserving my slight incognita, and telling him that as he had read so much of my life from my handwriting of so long ago, i wished he would try to read more from words which went fresh from me to him. i also enclosed a piece of the handwriting of a friend. mr. plummer did not keep me waiting this time. his next letter was dated february 8th, 1890. "dear madam,--i received yours of january 3rd, and would have answered before, but the spirit did not move. i have been tied to a sick room going on three months, with its cares and anxieties. not the best condition for writing. the best condition to reflect your life, to give your soul strength, is to be at rest and have all earth conditions nullified. but that cannot be to-day. so i will try to penetrate the mystery of your life as best i can, and radiate to you at least some strength. the relation of soul is the difficulty of your life, and you are so perfectly inspirational that it makes the condition worse. grand types of manhood and womanhood come to you from the higher life, and your spirit and soul catch the reflection, and are disappointed because they cannot live that life. but you are getting a development out of all this friction. now if you would come in contact with that nature that could radiate to you just what you could give to it, you would be happy. love is absolute, you well know. often in the exchange of thought we give each other strength. and then every letter we write, every time we shake hands, we give some of our own personality out. you are too sensitive to the spheres of people. you have such a strong personality of life that the power that inspires you could not make the perfect junction until you get so, you had rather die than live. that was a condition of negation. now you have been running on a dead level of nothingness for two years and a half." (this was exactly the time since my daughter had been taken from me). "_i mean it seems so to you._ such a sameness of things. i get from the writing of the gentleman. a good sphere--warm hearted--true to his understanding of things. he seems to be a sort of a half-way house to you. that is, you roam in the sea of ideality, down deep, you know. and he rather holds on to matter-of-fact--sort of ballast for you. you need it. for you are, in fact, ripe for the other life, though it is not time to go yet. although a writer, yet you are a disappointed one. no mortal but yourself knows this. you have winged your way in flights, grand and lofty, and cannot _pen it_, is what is the matter. now, in time you will, more perfectly than to-day, by the touch of your pen, portray your soul and its flights. then i see you happy. this gentleman is an auxiliary power, whether the power in full of your life i do not to-day get. you are emphatically a woman of destiny, and should follow your _impressions_, for through that intuitive law you will be saved. i mean by 'saved,' leap, as it were, across difficulties instead of going round. for your soul is more positive and awake to its necessities to-day than ever before in your life, particularly in the last six months. body marriages are good under the physical law--bring certain unfoldments. but when mortal man and woman reach a certain condition of development, they become dissatisfied, and yearn for the full fruition of love. and there is no limitation of this law. women usually bow to the heart-love law, that sometimes brings great joy and misery. the time is ripe for rulers. there will be put into the field men, and more specifically women, who have exemplified love divine. they will teach the law so plainly that they who run can read. and it can only be taught by those who have embodied it. some years ago, in this country, there was a stir-up. it did its work in fermentation. the next must be humanization. the material world must come under the spiritual. women will come to the front as inspired powers. this is what comes to me to write to you to-day. if it brings strength, or one ray of sun-shine to you, i am glad.--i remain, most respectfully yours, george plummer." mr. plummer is not occupying a high position in the world, nor is he a rich man. he gains no popularity by his letters--he hears no applause--he reaps no personal benefit, nor will he take any money. it would be difficult, with any degree of reason, to charge him with cheating the public for the sake of emptying their pockets. i fail to see, therefore, how he can obtain his insight to one's interior life by mortal means, nor, unless compelled by a power superior to his own, why he should take the trouble to obtain it. another medium, whose health paid the sacrifice demanded of her for the exhibition of a power over which, at one time, she had no control, and which never brought her in anything but the thanks of her friends, is mrs. keningale cook (mabel collins), whom i have mentioned in the "story of my spirit child." there was a photographer in london, named hudson, who had been very successful in developing spirit photographs. he would prepare to take an ordinary photograph, and on developing the plate, one or more spirit forms would be found standing by the sitter, in which forms were recognized the faces of deceased friends. of course, the generality of people said that the plates were prepared beforehand with vague misty figures, and the imagination of the sitter did the rest. i had been for some time anxious to test mr. hudson's powers for myself, and one morning very early, between nine and ten o'clock, i asked mrs. cook, as a medium, to accompany me to his studio. he was not personally acquainted with either of us, and we went so early that we found him rather unwilling to set to work. indeed, at first he declined. we disturbed him at breakfast and in his shirt sleeves, and he told us his studio had been freshly painted, and it was quite impossible to use it until dry. but we pressed him to take our photographs until he consented, and we ascended to the studio. it was certainly very difficult to avoid painting ourselves, and the screen placed behind was perfectly wet. we had not mentioned a word to mr. hudson about spirit photographs, and the first plate he took out and held up to the light, we saw him draw his coat sleeve across. when we asked him what he was doing, he turned to us and said, "are you ladies spiritualists?" when we answered in the affirmative, he continued, "i rubbed out the plate because i thought there was something on it, and most sitters would object. i often have to destroy three or four negatives before i get a clear picture." we begged him not to rub out any more as we were curious to see the results. he, consequently, developed three photographs of us, sitting side by side. the first was too indistinct to be of any use. it represented us, with a third form, merely a patch of white, lying on the ground, whilst a mass of hair was over my knee. "florence" afterwards informed me that this was an attempt to depict herself. the second picture showed mrs. cook and myself as before, with "charlie" standing behind me. i have spoken of "charlie" (stephen charles bernard abbott) in "curious coincidences," and how much he was attached to me and mine. in the photograph he is represented in his cowl and monk's frock--with ropes round his waist, and his face looking down. in the third picture, an old lady in a net cap and white shawl was standing with her two hands on mrs. cook's shoulders. this was her grandmother, and the profile was so distinctly delineated, that her father, mr. mortimer collins, recognized it at once as the portrait of his mother. the old lady had been a member of the plymouth brethren sect, and wore the identical shawl of white silk with an embroidered border which she used to wear during her last years on earth. i have seen many other spirit photographs taken by mr. hudson, but i adhere to my resolution to speak only of that which i have proved by the exercise of my own senses. i have the two photographs i mention to this day, and have often wished that mr. hudson's removal from town had not prevented my sitting again to him in order to procure the likenesses of other friends. miss caroline pawley is a lady who advertises her willingness to obtain messages for others from the spirit world, but is forbidden by her guides to take presents or money. i thought at first this must be a "_ruse_." "surely," i said to a friend who knew miss pawley, "i ought to take books, or flowers, or some little offering in my hand." "if you do she will return them," was the reply. "all that is necessary is to write and make an appointment, as her time is very much taken up." accordingly i did write, and miss pawley kindly named an early date for my visit. it was but a few months after i had lost my beloved daughter, and i longed for news of her. i arrived at miss pawley's residence, a neat little house in the suburbs, and was received by my hostess, a sweet, placid-faced woman, who looked the embodiment of peace and calm happiness. after we had exchanged greetings she said to me, "you have lost a daughter." "i lost one about twenty years ago--a baby of ten days old," i replied. "i don't mean her," said miss pawley, "i mean a young woman. i will tell you how i came to know of it. i took out my memoranda yesterday and was looking it through to see what engagements i had made for to-day, and i read the names aloud to myself. as i came to the entry, 'mrs. lean, 3 o'clock,' i heard a low voice say behind me, 'that is my dear, _dear_ mother!' and when i turned round, i saw standing at my elbow a young woman about the middle height, with blue eyes and very long brown hair, and she told me that it is _she_ whom you are grieving for at present." i made no answer to this speech, for my wound was too fresh to permit me to talk of her; and miss pawley proceeded. "come!" she said cheerfully, "let us get paper and pencil and see what the dear child has to say to us." she did not go under trance, but wrote rapidly for a few moments and then handed me a letter written in the following manner. i repeat (what i have said before) that i do not test the genuineness of such a manifestation by the act itself. _anyone_ might have written the letter, but no one but myself could recognize the familiar expressions and handwriting, nor detect the apparent inconsistencies that made it so convincing. it was written in two different hands on alternate lines, the first line being written by "eva," and the next by "florence," and so on. now, my earthly children from their earliest days have never called me anything but "mother," whilst "florence," who left me before she could speak, constantly calls me "mamma." this fact alone could never have been known to miss pawley. added to which the portion written by my eldest daughter was in her own clear decided hand, whilst "florence's" contribution was in rather a childish, or "young ladylike" scribble. the lines ran thus. the italics are florence's:- "my own beloved mother. _my dear, dear, dearest mamma._ you must not grieve so terribly for me. _and knowing all we have taught you, you should not grieve._ believe me, i am not unhappy. _of course not, and she will be very happy soon._ but i suffer pain in seeing you suffer. _dear mamma, do try to see that it is for the best._ florence is right. it is best! dear mother. _and we shall all meet so soon, you know._ god bless you for all your love for me. _good-bye, dear, dearest mamma._ your own girl. _your loving little florence._" i cannot comment on this letter. i only make it public in a cause that is sacred to me. to instance another case of mediumship which is exercised for neither remuneration nor applause. i am obliged in this example to withhold the name, because to betray their identity would be to ill requite a favor which was courteously accorded me. i had heard of a family of the name of d---who held private sittings once a week, at which the mother and brothers and sisters gone before materialized and joined the circle; and having expressed my desire, through a mutual acquaintance, to assist at their _sã©ances_, mr. d---kindly sent me an invitation to one. i found he was a high-class tradesman, living in a good house in the suburbs, and that strangers were very seldom (if ever) admitted to their circle. mr. d---explained to me before the _sã©ance_ commenced, that they regarded spiritualism as a most sacred thing, that they sat only to have communication with their own relations, his wife and children, and that his wife never manifested except when they were alone. his earth family consisted of a young married daughter and her husband, and four or five children of different ages. he had lost, i think he told me, a grown-up son, and two little ones. william haxby, the medium, whom i wrote of in my chapter "on sceptics," and who had passed over since then, had been intimate with their family, and often came back to them. these explanations over, the _sã©ance_ began. the back and front parlors were divided by lace curtains only. in the back, where the young married daughter took up her position on a sofa, were a piano and an american organ. in the front parlor, which was lighted by an oil lamp, we sat about on chairs and sofas, but without any holding of hands. in a very short time the lace curtains parted and a young man's face appeared. this was the grown-up brother. "hullo! tom," they all exclaimed, and the younger ones went up and kissed him. he spoke a while to his father, telling what they proposed to do that evening, but saying his mother would not be able to materialize. as he was speaking, a little boy stood by his side. "here's harry," cried the children, and they brought their spirit brother out into the room between them. he seemed to be about five years old. his father told him to come and speak to me, and he obeyed, just like a little human child, and stood before me with his hand resting on my knee. then a little girl joined the party, and the two children walked about the room, talking to everybody in turn. as we were occupied with them, we heard the notes of the american organ. "here's haxby," said mr. d----. "now we shall have a treat." (i must say here that mr. haxby was an accomplished organist on earth.) as he heard his name, he, too, came to the curtains, and showed his face with its ungainly features, and intimated that he and "tom" would play a duet. accordingly the two instruments pealed forth together, and the spirits really played gloriously--a third influence joining in with some stringed instrument. this _sã©ance_ was so much less wonderful than many i have written of, that i should not have included a description of it, except to prove that all media do not ply their profession in order to prey upon their fellow-creatures. the d---family are only anxious to avoid observation. there could be no fun or benefit in deceiving each other, and yet they devote one evening in each week to holding communion with those they loved whilst on earth and feel are only hidden from them for a little while, and by a very flimsy veil. their _sã©ances_ truly carry out the great poet's belief. "then the forms of the departed enter at the open door; the belovã©d, the true-hearted, come to visit me once more. * * * * * with a slow and noiseless footstep comes that messenger divine, takes the vacant chair beside me, lays her gentle hand in mine. * * * * * uttered not, yet, comprehended, is the spirit's voiceless prayer. soft rebukes, in blessings ended, breathing from her lips of air." in the house of the lady i have mentioned in "the story of the monk," mrs. uniacke of bruges, i have witnessed marvellous phenomena. they were not pleasant manifestations, very far from it, but there was no doubt that they were genuine. whether they proceeded from the agency of mrs. uniacke, my sister blanche, or a young lady called miss robinson, who sat with them, or from the power of all three combined, i cannot say, but they had experienced them on several occasions before i joined them, and were eager that i should be a witness of them. we sat in mrs. uniacke's house, in a back drawing-room, containing a piano and several book-cases, full of books--some of them very heavy. we sat round a table in complete darkness, only we four women, with locked doors and bolted windows. accustomed as i was to all sorts of manifestations and mediumship, i was really frightened by what occurred. the table was most violent in its movements, our chairs were dragged from under us, and heavy articles were thrown about the room. the more mrs. uniacke expostulated and miss robinson laughed, the worse the tumult became. the books were taken from the shelves and hurled at our heads, several of the blows seriously hurting us; the keys of the piano at the further end of the room were thumped and crashed upon, as if they would be broken; and in the midst of it all miss robinson fell prone upon the floor, and commenced talking in flemish, a language of which she had no knowledge. my sister understands it, and held a conversation with the girl; and she told us afterwards that miss robinson had announced herself by the name of a fleming lately deceased in the town, and detailed many events of his life, and messages which he wished to be delivered to his family--all of which were conveyed in good and intelligible flemish. when the young lady had recovered she resumed her place at the table, as my sister was anxious i should see another table, which they called "mademoiselle" dance, whilst unseen hands thumped the piano. the manifestation not occurring, however, they thought it must be my presence, and ordered me away from the table. i went and stood up close against the folding doors that led into the front room, keeping my hand, with a purpose, on the handle. the noise and confusion palpably increased when the three ladies were left alone. "mademoiselle," who stood in a corner of the room, commenced to dance about, and the notes of the piano crashed forcibly. there was something strange to me about the manifestation of the piano. it sounded as if it were played with feet instead of hands. when the tumult was at its height, i suddenly, and without warning, threw open the folding door and let the light in upon the scene, and i saw _the music-stool mounted on the keyboard_ and hammering the notes down. as the light was admitted, both "mademoiselle" and the music-stool fell with a crash to the floor, and the _sã©ance_ was over. the ladies were seated at the table, and the floor and articles of furniture were strewn with the books which had been thrown down--the bookshelves being nearly emptied--and pots of flowers. i was never at such a pandemonium before or after. the late sir percy shelley and his wife lady shelley, having no children of their own, adopted a little girl, who, when about four or five years, was seriously burned about the chest and shoulders, and confined for some months to her bed. the child's cot stood in lady shelley's bedroom, and when her adopted mother was about to say her prayers, she was accustomed to give the little girl a pencil and piece of paper to keep her quiet. one day the child asked for pen and ink instead of a pencil, and on being refused began to cry, and said, "the _man_ said she must have pen and ink." as it was particularly enjoined that she must not cry for fear of reopening her wounds, lady shelley provided her with the desired articles, and proceeded to her devotions. when she rose from them, she saw to her surprise that the child had drawn an outline of a group of figures in the flaxman style, representing mourners kneeling round a couch with a sick man laid upon it. she did not understand the meaning of the picture, but she was struck with amazement at the execution of it, as was everybody who saw it. from that day she gave the little girl a sheet of card-board each morning, with pen and ink, and obtained a different design, the child always talking glibly of "the man" who helped her to draw. this went on until the drawings numbered thirty or forty, when a "glossary of symbols" was written out by this baby, who could neither write nor spell, which explained the whole matter. it was then discovered that the series of drawings represented the life of the soul on leaving the body, until it was lost "in the infinity of god"--a likely subject to be chosen, or understood, by a child of five. i heard this story from lady shelley's lips, and i have seen (and well examined) the original designs. they were at one time to be published by subscription, but i believe it never came to pass. i have also seen the girl who drew them, most undoubtedly under control. she was then a young married woman and completely ignorant of anything relating to spiritualism. i asked her if she remembered the circumstances under which she drew the outlines, and she laughed and said no. she knew she had drawn them, but she had no idea how. all she could tell me was that she had never done anything wonderful since, and she had no interest in spiritualism whatever. chapter xxii. various media. a very strong and remarkable clairvoyant is mr. towns, of portobello road. as a business adviser or foreteller of the future, i don't think he is excelled. the inquirer after prophecy will not find a grand mansion to receive him in portobello road. on the contrary, this soothsayer keeps a small shop in the oil trade, and is himself only an honest, and occasionally rather rough spoken, tradesman. he will see clients privately on any day when he is at home, though it is better to make an appointment, but he holds a circle on his premises each tuesday evening, to which everybody is admitted, and where the contribution is anything you may be disposed to give, from coppers to gold. these meetings, which are very well attended, are always opened by mr. towns with prayer, after which a hymn is sung, and the _sã©ance_ commences. there is full gas on all the time, and mr. towns sits in the midst of the circle. he does not go under trance, but rubs his forehead for a few minutes and then turns round suddenly and addresses members of his audience, as it may seem, promiscuously, but it is just as he is impressed. he talks, as a rule, in metaphor, or allegorically, but his meaning is perfectly plain to the person he addresses. it is not only silly women, or curious inquirers, who attend mr. towns' circles. you may see plenty of grave, and often anxious, business men around him, waiting to hear if they shall sell out their shares, or hold on till the market rises; where they are to search for lost certificates or papers of value; or on whom they are to fix the blame of money or articles of value that have disappeared. once in my presence a serious-looking man had kept his eye fixed on him for some time, evidently anxious to speak. mr. towns turned suddenly to him. "you want to know, sir," he commenced, without any preface, "where that baptismal certificate is to be found." "i do, indeed," replied the man; "it is a case of a loss of thousands if it is not forthcoming." "let me see," said mr. towns, with his finger to his forehead. "have you tried a church with a square tower without any steeple, an ugly, clumsy building, white-washed inside, standing in a village. stop! i can see the registrar books--the village's name is ----. the entry is at page 200. the name is ----. the mother's name is ----. is that the certificate you want?" "it is, indeed," said the man; "and it is in the church at ----?" "didn't i say it was in the church at ----?" replied mr. towns, who does not like to be doubted or contradicted. "go and you will find it there." and the man _did_ go and did find it there. to listen to the conversations that go on between him and his clients at these meetings, mr. towns is apparently not less successful with love affairs than with business affairs, and it is an interesting experience to attend them, if only for the sake of curiosity. but naturally, to visit him privately is to command much more of his attention. he will not, however, sit for everybody, and it is of no use attempting to deceive him. he is exceedingly keen-sighted into character, and if he takes a dislike to a man he will tell him so without the slightest hesitation. no society lies are manufactured in the little oil shop. a relative of mine, who was not the most faithful husband in the world, and who, in consequence, judged of his wife's probity by his own, went, during her temporary absence, to mr. towns to ask him a delicate question. the lady was well known to the medium, but the husband he had never seen before, and had no notion who his sitter was, until he pulled out a letter from his pocket, thrust it across the table, and said, "there! look at that letter and tell me if the writer is faithful to me." mr. towns told me that as he took the envelope in his hand, he saw the lady's face photographed upon it, and at the same moment, all the blackness of the husband's own life. he rose up like an avenging deity and pointed to the door. "this letter," he said, "was written by mrs. ----. go! man, and wash your own hands clean, and _then_ come and ask me questions about your wife." and so the "heavy swell" had to slink downstairs again. i have often gone myself to mr. towns before engaging in any new business, and always received the best advice, and been told exactly what would occur during its progress. when i was about to start on the "golden goblin" tour in management with my son--i went to him to ask if it would be successful. he not only told me what money it would bring in, but where the weak points would occur. the drama was then completed, and in course of rehearsal, and had been highly commended by all who had heard and seen it. mr. towns, however, who had neither seen nor heard it, insisted it would have to be altered before it was a complete success. this annoyed me, and i knew it would annoy my son, the author; besides, i believed it was a mistake, so i said nothing about it. before it had run a month, however, the alterations were admitted on all sides to be necessary, and were consequently made. everything that mr. towns prognosticated on that occasion came to pass, even to the strangers i should encounter on tour, and how their acquaintance would affect my future life; also how long the tour would last, and in which towns it would achieve the greatest success. i can assure some of my professional friends, that if they would take the trouble to consult a trustworthy clairvoyant about their engagements before booking them, they would not find themselves so often in the hands of the bogus manager as they do now. a short time ago i received a summons to the county court, and although i _knew_ i was in the right, yet law has so many loopholes that i felt nervous. the case was called for eleven o'clock on a certain wednesday, and the evening before i joined mr. towns' circle. when it came to my turn to question him, i said, "do you see where i shall be to-morrow morning?" he replied, "i can see you are called to appear in a court-house, but the case will be put off." "_put off_," i repeated, "but it is fixed for eleven. it can't be put off." "cases are sometimes relegated to another court," said mr. towns. then i thought he had quite got out of his depth, and replied, "you are making a mistake. this is quite an ordinary business. it can't go to a higher court. but shall i gain it?" "in the afternoon," said the medium. his answers so disappointed me that i placed no confidence in them, and went to the county court on the following morning in a nervous condition. but he was perfectly correct. the case was called for eleven, but as the defendant was not forthcoming, it was passed over, and the succeeding hearings occupied so much time, that the magistrate thought mine would never come off, so he _relegated it at two o'clock to another court_ to be heard before the registrar, who decided it at once in my favor, so that i _gained it in the afternoon_. * * * * * one afternoon in my "green sallet" days of spiritualism, when every fresh experience almost made my breath stop, i turned into the progressive library in southampton row, to ask if there were any new media come to town. mr. burns did not know of any, but asked me if i had ever attended one of mrs. olive's _sã©ances_, a series of which were being held weekly in the library rooms. i had not, and i bought a half-crown ticket for admission, and returned there the same evening. when i entered the _sã©ance_ room, the medium had not arrived, and i had time to take stock of the audience. it seemed a very sad and serious one. there was no whispering nor giggling going on, and it struck me they looked more like patients waiting the advent of the doctor, than people bound on an evening's amusement. and that, to my surprise, was what i afterwards found they actually were. mrs. olive did not keep us long waiting, and when she came in, dressed in a lilac muslin dress, with her golden hair parted plainly on her forehead, her _very_ blue eyes, and a sweet, womanly smile for her circle, she looked as unlike the popular idea of a professional medium as anyone could possibly do. she sat down on a chair in the middle of the circle, and, having closed her eyes, went off to sleep. presently she sat up, and, still with her eyes closed, said in a very pleasant, but decidedly _manly_, voice: "and now, my friends, what can i do for you?" a lady in the circle began to ask advice about her daughter. the medium held up her hand. "stop!" she exclaimed, "you are doing _my_ work. friend, your daughter is ill, you say. then it is _my_ business to see what is the matter with her. will you come here, young lady, and let me feel your pulse." having done which, the medium proceeded to detail exactly the contents of the girl's stomach, and to advise her what to eat and drink for the future. another lady then advanced with a written prescription. the medium examined her, made an alteration or two in the prescription, and told her to go on with it till further orders. my curiosity was aroused, and i whispered to my next neighbor to tell me who the control was. "sir john forbes, a celebrated physician," she replied. "he has almost as large a connection now as he had when alive." i was not exactly ill at the time, but i was not strong, and nothing that my family doctor prescribed for me seemed to do me any good. so wishing to test the abilities of "sir john forbes," i went up to the medium and knelt down by her side. "what is the matter with me, sir john?" i began. "don't call me by that name, little friend," he answered; "we have no titles on this side the world." "what shall i call you, then?" i said. "doctor, plain doctor," was the reply, but in such a kind voice. "then tell me what is the matter with me, doctor." "come nearer, and i'll whisper it in your ear." he then gave me a detailed account of the manner in which i suffered, and asked what i had been taking. when i told him, "all wrong, all wrong," he said, shaking his head. "here! give me a pencil and paper." i had a notebook in my pocket, with a metallic pencil, which i handed over to him, and he wrote a prescription in it. "take that, and you'll be all the better, little friend," he said, as he gave it to me back again. when i had time to examine what he had written, i found to my surprise that the prescription was in abbreviated latin, with the amount of each ingredient given in the regular medical shorthand. mrs. olive, a simple though intelligent looking woman, seemed a very unlikely person to me to be educated up to this degree. however, i determined to obtain a better opinion than my own, so the next time my family doctor called to see me, i said: "i have had a prescription given me, doctor, which i am anxious, with your permission, to try. i wish you would glance your eye over it and see if you approve of my taking it." at the same time i handed him the note-book, and i saw him grow very red as he looked at the prescription. "anything wrong?" i inquired. "o! dear no!" he replied in an offended tone; "you can try your remedy, and welcome, for aught i care--only, next time you wish to consult a new doctor, i advise you to dismiss the old one first." "but this prescription was not written by a doctor," i argued. at this he looked still more offended. "it's no use trying to deceive me, mrs. ross-church! that prescription was written by no one but a medical man." it was a long time before i could make him really believe _who_ had transcribed it, and under what circumstances. when he was convinced of the truth of my statement, he was very much astonished, and laid all his professional pique aside. he did more. he not only urged me to have the prescription made up, but he confessed that his first chagrin was due to the fact that he felt he should have thought of it himself. "_that_," he said, pointing to one ingredient, "is the very thing to suit your case, and it makes me feel such a fool to think that a _woman_ should think of what _i_ passed over." nothing would make this doctor believe in spiritualism, though he continued to aver that only a medical man could have prescribed the medicine; but as i saw dozens of other cases treated at the time by mrs. olive, and have seen dozens since, i know that she does it by a power not her own. for several years after that "sir john forbes" used to give me advice about my health, and when his medium married colonel greck and went to live in russia, he was so sorry to leave his numerous patients, and they to lose him, that he wanted to control _me_ in order that i might carry on his practice, but after several attempts he gave it up as hopeless. he said my brain was too active for any spirit to magnetize; and he is not the first, nor last, who has made the same attempt, and failed. "sir john forbes" was not mrs. olive's only control. she had a charming spirit called "sunshine," who used to come for clairvoyance and prophecy; and a very comical negro named "hambo," who was as humorous and full of native wit and repartee, as negroes generally are, and as mrs. olive, who is a very gentle, quiet woman, decidedly was _not_. "hambo" was the business adviser and director, and sometimes materialized, which the others did not. these three influences were just as opposite from one another, and from mrs. olive, as any creatures could possibly be. "sir john forbes," so dignified, courteous, and truly benevolent--such a thorough old _gentleman_; "sunshine," a sweet, sympathetic indian girl, full of gentle reproof for wrong and exhortations to lead a higher life; and "hambo," humorous and witty, calling a spade a spade, and occasionally descending to coarseness, but never unkind or wicked. i knew them all over a space of years until i regarded them as old friends. mrs. greck is now a widow, and residing in england, and, i hear, sitting again for her friends. if so, a great benefit in the person of "sir john forbes" has returned for a portion of mankind. i have kept a well-known physical medium to the last, not because i do not consider his powers to be completely genuine, but because they are of a nature that will not appeal to such as have not witnessed them. i allude to mr. charles williams, with whom i have sat many times alone, and also with mrs. guppy volckman. the manifestations that take place at his _sã©ances_ are always material. the much written of "john king" is his principal control, and invariably appears under his mediumship; and "ernest" is the name of another. i have seen charles williams leave the cabinet under trance and wander in an aimless manner about the room, whilst both "john king" and "ernest" were with the circle, and have heard them reprove him for rashness. i have also seen him under the same circumstances, during an afternoon _sã©ance_, mistake the window curtains for the curtains of the cabinet, and draw them suddenly aside, letting the full light of day in upon the scene, and showing vacancy where a moment before two figures had been standing and talking. once when "john king" asked colonel lean what he should bring him, he was told _mentally_ to fetch the half-hoop diamond ring from my finger and place it on that of my husband. this half-hoop ring was worn between my wedding ring and a heavy gold snake ring, and i was holding the hand of my neighbor all the time, and yet the ring was abstracted from between the other two and transferred to colonel lean's finger without my being aware of the circumstance. these and various other marvels, i have seen under mr. williams' mediumship; but as i can adduce no proof that they were genuine, except my own conviction, it would be useless to write them down here. only i could not close the list of the media with whom i have familiarly sat in london, and from whom i have received both kindness and courtesy, without including his name. it is the same with several others--with mr. frank herne (now deceased) and his wife mrs. herne, whom i first knew as mrs. bassett, a famous medium for the direct spirit voice; with mrs. wilkinson, a clairvoyant who has a large _clientã¨le_ of wealthy and aristocratic patrons; with mrs. wilkins and mr. vango, both reliable, though, as yet, less well known to the spiritualistic public; and with dr. wilson, the astrologer, who will tell you all you have ever done, and all you are ever going to do, if you will only give him the opportunity of casting your horoscope. to all and each i tender my thanks for having afforded me increased opportunities of searching into the truth of a science that possesses the utmost interest for me, and that has given me the greatest pleasure. chapter xxiii. on laying the cards. at the risk of being laughed at, i cannot refrain, in the course of this narrative of my spiritualistic experiences, from saying a few words about what is called "laying the cards." "imagine!" i fancy i hear some dear creature with nose "tip-tilted like a flower" exclaim, "any sensible woman believing in cards." and yet napoleon believed in them, and regulated the fate of nations by them; and the only times he neglected their admonitions were followed by the retreat from moscow and the defeat at waterloo. still i did not believe in card-telling till the belief was forced upon me. i always thought it rather cruel to give imprisonment and hard labor to old women who laid the cards for servant girls. who can tell whether or no it is obtaining money upon false pretences; and if it is, why not inflict the same penalty on every cheating tradesman who sells inferior articles or gives short weight? women would be told they should look after their own interests in the one case--so why not in the other? but all the difference lies in _who_ lays the cards. very few people can do it successfully, and my belief is that it must be done by a person with mediumistic power, which, in some mysterious manner, influences the disposition of the pack. i have seen cards shuffled and cut twenty times in the hope of getting rid of some number antagonistic to the inquirer's good fortune, and yet each time the same card would turn up in the juxtaposition least to be desired. however, to narrate my own experience. when i was living in brussels, years before i heard of modern spiritualism, i made the acquaintance of an irish lady called mrs. thorpe, a widow who was engaged as a _chã¢peron_ for some young belgian ladies of high birth, who had lost their mother. we lived near each other, and she often came in to have a chat with me. after a while i heard through some other friends that mrs. thorpe was a famous hand at "laying the cards;" and one day, when we were alone, i asked her to tell me my fortune. i didn't in the least believe in it, but i wanted to be amused. mrs. thorpe begged to be excused at once. she told me her predictions had proved so true, she was afraid to look into futurity any more. she had seen a son and heir for a couple who had been married twenty years without having any children, and death for a girl just about to become a bride--and both had come true; and, in fact, her employer, the baron, had strictly forbidden her doing it any more whilst in his house. however, this only fired my curiosity, and i teased her until, on my promising to preserve the strictest secrecy, she complied with my request. she predicted several things in which i had little faith, but which i religiously wrote down in case they came true--the three most important being that my husband, colonel ross-church (who was then most seriously ill in india), would not die, but that his brother, edward church, would; that i should have one more child by my first marriage--a daughter with exceedingly fair skin and hair, who would prove to be the cleverest of all my children, and that after her birth i should never live with my husband again. all these events were most unlikely to come to pass at that time, and, indeed, did not come to pass for years afterwards, yet each one was fulfilled, and the daughter who, unlike all her brothers and sisters, is fair as a lily, will be by no means the last in the race for talent. yet these cards were laid four years before her birth. mrs. thorpe told me she had learnt the art from a pupil of the identical italian countess who used to lay the cards for the emperor napoleon. but it is not an art, and it is not to be learnt. it is inspiration. many years after this, when i had just begun to study spiritualism, my sister told me of a wonderful old lady, a neighbor of hers, who had gained quite an evil reputation in the village by her prophetical powers with the cards. like mrs. thorpe, she had become afraid of herself, and professed to have given up the practice. the last time she had laid them, a girl acquaintance had walked over joyously from an adjacent village to introduce her affianced husband to her, and to beg her to tell them what would happen in their married life. the old lady had laid the cards, and saw the death card turn up three times with the marriage ring, and told the young people, much to their chagrin, that they must prepare for a disappointment, as their marriage would certainly be postponed from some obstacle arising in the way. she told me afterwards that she dared not tell them more than this. they left her somewhat sobered, but still full of hope, and started on their way home. before they reached it the young man staggered and fell down dead. no one had expected such a catastrophe. he had been apparently in the best of health and spirits. _what_ was it that had made this old lady foresee what no one else had seen? these are no trumped-up tales after the prediction had been fulfilled. everyone knew it to be true, and became frightened to look into the future for themselves. i was an exception to the general rule, however, and persuaded mrs. simmonds to lay the cards for me. i had just completed a two months' sojourn at the seaside, was in robust health, and anticipating my return home for the sake of meeting again with a friend who was very dear to me. i shuffled and cut the cards according to directions. the old lady looked rather grave. "i don't like your cards," she said, "there is a good deal of trouble before you--trouble and sickness. you will not return home so soon as you anticipate. you will be detained by illness, and when you do return, you will find a letter on the table that will cut you to the heart. i am sorry you have stayed away so long. there has been treachery in your absence, and a woman just your opposite, with dark eyes and hair, has got the better of you. however, it will be a sharp trouble, but not a lengthy one. you will see the wisdom of it before long, and be thankful it has happened." i accepted my destiny with complacency, never supposing (notwithstanding all that i had heard) that it would come true. i was within a few days of starting for home, and had received affectionate letters from my friend all the time i had been away. however, as fate and the cards would have it, i was taken ill the very day after they were laid for me, and confined for three weeks with a kind of low fever to my bed; and when weakened and depressed i returned to my home i found _the letter on my table_ that mrs. simmonds had predicted for me, to say that my friendship with my (supposed) friend _was over and done with for ever_. after this i began to have more respect for cards, or rather for the persons who successfully laid them. in 1888, when i was touring with my company with the "golden goblin," i stayed for the first time in my life in accrington. our sojourn there was to be only for a week, and, as may be supposed, the accommodation in the way of lodgings was very poor. when we had been there a few days a lady of the company said to me, "there is such a funny old woman at my lodgings, miss marryat! i wish you'd come and see her. she can tell fortunes with the cards, and i know you believe in such things. she has told my husband and me all about ourselves in the most wonderful manner; but you mustn't come when the old man is at home, because he says it's devilry, and he has forbidden her doing it." "i _am_ very much interested in that sort of thing," i replied, "and i will certainly pay her a visit, if you will tell me when i may come." a time was accordingly fixed for my going to the lady's rooms, and on my arrival there i was introduced to a greasy, snuffy old landlady, who didn't look as if she had a soul above a bottle of gin. however, i sat down at a table with her, and the cards were cut. she told me nothing that my friends might have told her concerning me, but dived at once into the future. my domestic affairs were in a very complicated state at that period, and i had no idea myself how they would end. she saw the whole situation at a glance--described the actors in the scene, the places they lived in, the people by whom they were surrounded, and exactly how the whole business would end, and _did_ end. she foretold the running of the tour, how long it would last, and which of the company would leave before it concluded. she told me that a woman in the company, whom i believed at that time to be attached to me, would prove to be one of my greatest enemies, and be the cause of estrangement between me and one of my nearest relations, and she opened my eyes to that woman's character in a way which forced me afterwards to find out that to which i might have been blind forever. and this information emanated from a dirty, ignorant, old lodging keeper, who had probably never heard of my name until it was thrust before her, and yet told me things that my most intimate and cleverest friends had no power to tell me. after the woman at accrington i never looked at a card for the purpose of divination until my attention was directed last year to a woman in london who is very clever at the same thing, and a friend asked me to go with her and see what she could tell us. this woman, who is quite of the lower class, and professedly a dressmaker, received us in a bedroom, the door of which was carefully locked. she was an elderly woman and rather intelligent and well educated for her position, but she could adduce no reason whatever for her facility in reading the cards. she told me "it _came_ to her," she didn't know why or how. it "came to her" with a vengeance for me. she rattled off my past, present and future as if she had been reading from an open book, and she mentioned the description of a person (which i completely recognized) so constantly with reference to my future, that i thought i would try her by a question. "stop a minute," i said, "this person whom you have alluded to so often--have i ever met him?" "of course you have met him," she replied, "you know him intimately." "i don't recognize the description," i returned, fallaciously. the woman turned round and looked me full in the face. "_you don't recognize him?_" she repeated in an incredulous tone, "then you must be very dull. well! i'll tell you how to recognize him. next time you meet a gentleman out walking who raises his hat, and before he shakes hands with you, draws a written or printed paper from his pocket and presents it to you, you can remember my words. _that_ is the man i mean." i laughed at the quaintness of the idea and returned home. as i was walking from the station to my own house i met the person she had described. as he neared me he raised his hat, and then putting his hand in his pocket he said, "good afternoon! i have something for you! i met burrows this morning. he was going on to you, but as he was in a great hurry he asked me if i was likely to see you to-day to give you this." and he presented me with a printed paper of regulations which i had asked the man he mentioned to procure for me. now, here was no stereotyped utterance of the cards--no stock phrase--but a deliberate prophecy of an unfulfilled event. it is upon such things that i base my opinion that, given certain persons and certain circumstances, the cards are a very fertile source of information. it is absurd in cases like those i have related to lay it all down to chance, to clever guessing, or to trickery. if my readers believe so, let me ask them to try it for themselves. if it is all folly, and any stupid, ignorant old woman can do it, of course _they_ must be able to master the trick. let them get a pack of cards and lay them according to the usual directions--there are any number of books published that will tell them how to do it--and then see if they can foretell a single event of importance correctly. they will probably find (as _i_ do) that the cards are a sealed book to them. i would give a great deal to be able to lay the cards with any degree of success for myself or my friends. but nothing "comes to me." the cards remain painted pieces of cardboard, and nothing more. and yet an ignorant creature who has no brains of her own can dive deep into the mysteries of my mind, and turn my inmost thoughts and wishes inside out,--more, can pierce futurity and tell me what _shall_ be. however, if my hearers continue to doubt my story, i can only repeat my admonition to try it for themselves. if they once succeed, they will not give it up again. chapter xxiv. spiritualism in america. i. _mrs. m. a. williams._ i went to america on a professional engagement in october, 1884. some months beforehand a very liberal offer had been made me by the spiritualists of great britain to write my experiences for the english press, but i declined to do so until i could add my american notes to them. i had corresponded (as i have shown) with the _banner of light_ in new york; and what i had heard of spiritualism in america had made me curious to witness it. but i was determined to test it on a strictly private plan. i said to myself: "i have seen and heard pretty nearly all there is to be seen and heard on the subject in england, but, with one or two exceptions, i have never sat at any _sã©ance_ where i was not known. now i am going to visit a strange country where, in a matter like spiritualism, i can conceal my identity, so as to afford the media no clue to my surroundings or the names of my deceased friends." i sailed for america quite determined to pursue a strictly secret investigation, and with that end in view i never mentioned the subject to anyone. i had a few days holiday in new york before proceeding to boston, where my work opened, and i stayed at one of the largest hotels in the city. i landed on sunday morning, and on monday evening i resolved to make my first venture. had i been a visitor in london, i should have had to search out the right sort of people, and make a dozen inquiries before i heard where the media were hiding themselves from dread of the law; but they order such things better on the other side of the atlantic. people are allowed to hold their private opinions and their private religion there without being swooped down upon and clapped into prison for rogues and vagabonds. whatever the views of the majority may be, upon this subject or any other (and heaven knows i would have each man strong enough to cling to his opinion, and brave enough to acknowledge it before the world), i think it is a discredit to a civilized country to allow old laws, that were made when we were little better than savages, to remain in force at the present day. we are far too much over-ridden by a paternal government, which has grown so blind and senile that it swallows camels while it is straining after a gnat. there was no obstacle to my wish, however, in new york. i had but to glance down the advertisement columns of the newspapers to learn where the media lived, and on what days they held their public _sã©ances_. it so happened that mrs. m. a. williams was the only one who held open house on monday evenings for materialization; and thither i determined to go. there is no such privacy as in a large _hã´tel_, where no one has the opportunity to see what his neighbor is doing. as soon, therefore, as my dinner was concluded, i put on a dark cloak, hat and veil, and walking out into the open, got into one of the cars that ran past the street where mrs. williams resided. arrived at the house, i knocked at the door, and was about to inquire if there was to be any _sã©ance_ there, that evening, when the attendant saved me the trouble by saying, "upstairs, if you please, madam," and nothing more passed between us. when i had mounted the stairs, i found myself in a large room, the floor of which was covered with a thick carpet, nailed all round the wainscotting. on one side were some thirty or forty cane-bottomed chairs, and directly facing them was the cabinet. this consisted of four uprights nailed over the carpet, with iron rods connecting them at the top. there was no roof to it, but curtains of a dark maroon color were usually drawn around, but when i entered, they were flung back over the iron rods, so as to disclose the interior. there was a stuffed armchair for the use of the medium, and in front of the cabinet a narrow table with papers and pencils on it, the use of which i did not at first discover. at the third side of the room was a harmonium, so placed that the performer sat with his back both to the cabinet and the sitters. a large gas lamp, almost like a limelight, made in a square form like a lantern, was fixed against the wall, so as to throw the light upon the cabinet, but it was fitted with a sliding shade of red silk, with which it could be darkened if necessary. i was early, and only a few visitors were occupying the chairs. i asked a lady if i might sit where i chose, and on her answering "yes," i took the chair in the front row, exactly opposite the cabinet, not forgetting that i was there in the cause of spiritualism as well as for my own interests. the seats filled rapidly and there must have been thirty-five or forty people present, when mrs. williams entered the room, and nodding to those she knew, went into the cabinet. mrs. williams is a stout woman of middle age, with dark hair and eyes, and a fresh complexion. she was dressed in a tight-fitting gown of pale blue, with a good deal of lace about the neck and sleeves. she was accompanied by a gentleman, and i then discovered for the first time that it is usual in america to have, what they call, a "conductor" of the _sã©ance_. the conductor sits close to the cabinet curtains, and, if any spirit is too weak to shew itself outside, or to speak audibly, he conveys the message it may wish to send to its friends; and when i knew how very few precautions the americans take to prevent such outrages as have occurred in england, and how many more materializations take place in an evening there than here, i saw the necessity of a conductor to protect the medium, and to regulate the order of the _sã©ance_. mrs. williams' conductor opened the proceedings with a very neat little speech. he said, "i see several strange faces here this evening, and i am very pleased to see them, and i hope they may derive both pleasure and profit from our meeting. we have only one rule for the conduct of our _sã©ances_, that you shall behave like ladies and gentlemen. you may not credit all you see, but remember this is our religion, and the religion of many present, and as you would behave yourselves reverently and decorously, if you were in a church of another persuasion to your own, so i beg of you to behave yourselves here. and if any spirits should come for you whom you do not immediately recognize, don't wound them by denying their identity. they may have been longing for this moment to meet you again, and doing their very utmost to assume once more the likeness they wore on earth; yet some fail. don't make their failure harder to bear by roughly repudiating all knowledge of them. the strangers who are present to-night may mistake the reason of this little table being placed in front of the cabinet, and think it is intended to keep them from too close an inspection of the spirits. no such thing! on the contrary, all will be invited in turn to come up and recognize their friends. but we make it a rule at these _sã©ances_ that no materialized spirit, who is strong enough to come beyond that table, shall be permitted to return to the cabinet. they must dematerialize in sight of the sitters, that no possible suspicion may rest upon the medium. these pencils and papers are placed here in case any spirit who is unable to speak may be impressed to write instead. and now we will begin the evening with a song." the accompanist then played "footsteps of angels," the audience sung it with a will, and the curtains having been drawn round mrs. williams, the shade was drawn across the gaslight, and the _sã©ance_ began. i don't think it could have been more than a minute or two before we heard a voice whispering, "father," and _three girls_, dressed in white clinging garments, appeared at the opening in the curtains. an old man with white hair left his seat and walked up to the cabinet, when they all three came out at once and hung about his neck and kissed him, and whispered to him. i almost forgot where i was. they looked so perfectly human, so joyous and girl-like, somewhere between seventeen and twenty, and they all spoke at once, so like what girls on earth would do, that it was most mystifying. the old man came back to his seat, wiping his eyes. "are those your daughters, sir?" asked one of the sitters. "yes! my three girls," he replied. "i lost them all before ten years old, but you see i've got them back again here." several other forms appeared after this--one, a little child of about three years old, who fluttered in and out of the cabinet like a butterfly, and ran laughing away from the sitters who tried to catch her. some of the meetings that took place for the first time were very affecting. one young man of about seventeen or eighteen, who was called up to see his mother's spirit, sobbed so bitterly, it broke my heart to hear him. there was not the least doubt if _he_ recognized her or no. he was so overcome, he hardly raised his eyes for the rest of the evening. one lady brought her spirit-son up to me, that i might see how perfectly he had materialized. she spoke of it as proudly as she might have done if he had passed some difficult examination. the young man was dressed in a suit of evening clothes, and he shook hands with me at his mother's bidding, with the firm grasp of a mortal. naturally, i had seen too much in england for all this to surprise me. still i had never assisted at a _sã©ance_ where everything appeared to be so strangely human--so little mystical, except indeed the rule of dematerializing before the sitters, which i had only seen "katie king" do before. but here, each form, after having been warned by the conductor that its time was up, sunk down right through the carpet as though it were the most ordinary mode of egression. some, and more especially the men, did not advance beyond the curtains; then their friends were invited to go up and speak to them, and several went inside the cabinet. there were necessarily a good many forms, familiar to the rest, of whom i knew nothing; one was an old minister under whom they had all sat, another a gentleman who had been a constant attendant at mrs. williams' _sã©ances_. once the conductor spoke to me. "i am not aware of your name," he said (and i thought, "no! my friend, and you won't be aware of it just yet either!"), "but a spirit here wishes you would come up to the cabinet." i advanced, expecting to see some friend, and there stood a catholic priest with his hand extended in blessing. i knelt down, and he gave me the usual benediction and then closed the curtains. "did you know the spirit?" the conductor asked me. i shook my head; and he continued, "he was father hayes, a well-known priest in this city. i suppose you are a catholic?" i told him "yes," and went back to my seat. the conductor addressed me again. "i think father hayes must have come to pave the way for some of your friends," he said. "here is a spirit who says she has come for a lady named 'florence,' who has just crossed the sea. do you answer to the description?" i was about to say "yes," when the curtains parted again and my daughter "florence" ran across the room and fell into my arms. "mother!" she exclaimed, "i said i would come with you and look after you--didn't i?" i looked at her. she was exactly the same in appearance as when she had come to me in england--the same luxuriant brown hair and features and figure, as i had seen under the different mediumships of florence cook, arthur colman, charles williams and william eglinton; the same form which in england had been declared to be half-a-dozen different media dressed up to represent my daughter stood before me there in new york, thousands of miles across the sea, and by the power of a person who did not even know who i was. if i had not been convinced before, how could i have helped being convinced then? "florence" appeared as delighted as i was, and kept on kissing me and talking of what had happened to me on board ship coming over, and was evidently quite _au fait_ of all my proceedings. presently she said, "there's another friend of yours here, mother! we came over together. i'll go and fetch him." she was going back to the cabinet when the conductor stopped her. "you must not return this way, please. any other you like," and she immediately made a kind of court curtsey and went down through the carpet. i was standing where "florence" had left me, wondering what would happen next, when she came _up again_ a few feet off from me, head first, and smiling as if she had discovered a new game. she was allowed to enter the cabinet this time, but a moment afterwards she popped her head out again, and said, "here's your friend, mother!" and by her side was standing william eglinton's control, "joey," clad in his white suit, with a white cap drawn over his head. "'florence' and i have come over to make new lines for you here," he said: "at least, i've come over to put her in the way of doing it, but i can't stay long, you know, because i have to go back to 'willy.'" i really didn't care if he stayed long or not. i seemed to have procured the last proof i needed of the truth of the doctrine i had held so long, that there is no such thing as death, as we understand it in this world. here were the two spiritual beings (for believing in the identity of whom i had called myself a credulous fool fifty times over, only to believe in them more deeply still) in _prã´pria personã¦_ in new york, claiming me in a land of strangers, who had not yet found out who i was. i was more deeply affected than i had ever been under such circumstances before, and more deeply thankful. "florence" made great friends with our american cousins even on her first appearance. mrs. williams' conductor told me he thought he had never heard anything more beautiful than the idea of the spirit-child crossing the ocean to guard its mother in a strange country, and particularly, as he could feel by her influence, what a pure and beautiful spirit she was. when i told him she had left this world at ten days old, he said that accounted for it, but he could see there was nothing earthly about her. i was delighted with this _sã©ance_, and hoped to sit with mrs. williams many times more, but fate decreed that i should leave new york sooner than i had anticipated. the perfect freedom with which it was conducted charmed me, and the spirits seemed so familiar with the sitters. there was no "sweet spirit, hear my prayer," business about it. no fear of being detained or handled among the spirits, and no awe, only intense tenderness on the part of their relations. it was to this cause i chiefly attributed the large number of materializations i witnessed--_forty_ having taken place that evening. they spoke far more distinctly and audibly too than those i had seen in england, but i believe the dry atmosphere of the united states is far more favorable to the process of materialization. i perceived another difference. although the female spirits were mostly clad in white, they wore dresses and not simply drapery, whilst the men were invariably attired in the clothes (or semblances of the clothes) they would have worn had they been still on earth. i left mrs. williams' rooms, determined to see as much as i possibly could of mediumship whilst i was in the united states. chapter xxv. ii. _mrs. eva hatch._ i was so disappointed at being hurried off to boston before i had seen any more of the new york media, that i took the earliest opportunity of attending a _sã©ance_ there. a few words i had heard dropped about eva hatch made me resolve to visit her first. she was one of the shaker sect, and i heard her spoken of as a remarkably pure and honest woman, and most reliable medium. her first appearance quite gave me that impression. she had a fair, placid countenance, full of sweetness and serenity, and a plump matronly figure. i went incognita, as i had done to mrs. williams, and mingled unnoticed with the crowd. mrs. hatch's cabinet was quite different from mrs. williams'. it was built of planks like a little cottage, and the roof was pierced with numerous round holes for ventilation, like a pepper-box. there was a door in the centre, with a window on either side, all three of which were shaded by dark curtains. the windows, i was told, were for the accommodation of those spirits who had not the power to materialize more than a face, or head and bust. mrs. hatch's conductor was a woman, who sat near the cabinet, as in the other case. mrs. eva hatch had not entered the cabinet five minutes before she came out again, under trance, with a very old lady with silver hair clinging to her arm, and walked round the circle. as they did so, the old lady extended her withered hand, and blessed the sitters. she came quite close to each one and was distinctly visible to all. i was told that this was the spirit of mrs. hatch's mother, and that it was her regular custom to come first and give her blessing to the _sã©ance_. i had never seen the spirit of an aged person before, and it was a beautiful sight. she was the sweetest old lady too, very small and fragile looking, and half reclining on her daughter's bosom, but smiling serenely upon every one there. when they had made the tour of the room, mrs. hatch re-entered the cabinet, and did not leave it again until the sitting was concluded. there were a great many sitters present, most of whom were old patrons of mrs. hatch, and so, naturally, their friends came for them first. it is surprising though, when once familiarized with materialization, how little one grows to care to see the spirits who come for one's next door neighbor. they are like a lot of prisoners let out, one by one, to see their friends and relations. the few moments they have to spare are entirely devoted to home matters of no possible interest to the bystander. the first wonder and possible shock at seeing the supposed dead return in their old likeness to greet those they left on earth over, one listens with languid indifference, and perhaps a little impatience for one's own turn to come, to the whispered utterances of strangers. mrs. hatch's "cabinet spirits" or "controls," however, were very interesting. one, who called herself the "spirit of prayer," came and knelt down in the middle of the circle, and prayed with us. she had asked for the gas to be extinguished first, and as she prayed she became illuminated with flashes of light, in the shape of stars and crosses, until she was visible from head to foot, and we could see her features and dress as if she had been surrounded by electricity. two more cabinet spirits were a negro and negress, who appeared together, chanting some of their native hymns and melodies. when i saw these apparitions, i thought to myself: "here is a good opportunity to discover trickery, if trickery there is." the pair were undoubtedly of the negro race. there was no mistaking their thick lips and noses and yellow-white eyes, nor their polished brown skins, which no charcoal can properly imitate. they were negroes without doubt; but how about the negro bouquet? everyone who has mixed with colored people in the east or the west knows what that is, though it is very difficult to describe, being something like warm rancid oil mingled with the fumes of charcoal, with a little worse thrown in. "now," i thought, "if these forms are human, there will be some odor attached to them, and that i am determined to find out." i caught, therefore, at the dress of the young woman as she passed, and asked her if she would kiss me. she left her companion directly, and put her arms (which were bare) round my neck, and embraced me several times; and i can declare, on my oath, that she was as completely free from anything like the smell of a colored woman as it was possible for her to be. she felt as fresh and sweet and pure as a little child. many other forms appeared and were recognized by the circle, notably a very handsome one who called herself the empress josephine; but as they could not add a grain's weight to my testimony i pass them over. i had begun to think that "florence" was not going to visit me that evening, when the conductor of the _sã©ance_ asked if there was anybody in the room who answered to the name of "bluebell." i must indulge in a little retrospect here, and tell my readers that ten years previous to the time i am writing of, i had lost my brother-in-law, edward church, under very painful circumstances. he had been left an orphan and in control of his fortune at a very early age, and had lived with my husband, colonel ross-church, and myself. but poor "ted" had been his own worst enemy. he had possessed a most generous heart and affectionate disposition, but these had led him into extravagances that swallowed up his fortune, and then he had taken to drinking and killed himself by it. i and my children had loved him dearly, but all our prayers and entreaties had had no avail, and in the end he had become so bad that the doctors had insisted upon our separation. poor "ted" had consequently died in exile, and this had been a further aggravation of our grief. for ten years i had been trying to procure communication with him in vain, and i had quite given up expecting to see him again. only once had i heard "bluebell" (his pet name for me) gasped out by an entranced clairvoyant, but nothing further had come of it. now, as i heard it for the second time, from a stranger's lips in a foreign country, it naturally roused my expectations, but i thought it might be only a message for me from "ted." "is there anyone here who recognizes the name of 'bluebell'?" repeated the conductor. "i was once called so by a friend," i said. "someone is asking for that name. you had better come up to the cabinet," she replied. i rose at once and did as she told me, but when i reached the curtain i encountered "florence." "my darling child," i said, as i embraced her, "why did you ask for 'bluebell'?" she did not answer me, except by shaking her head, placing her finger on her lips, and pointing downwards to the carpet. i did not know what to make of it. i had never known her unable to articulate before. "what is the matter, dear?" i said; "can't you speak to me to-night?" still she shook her head, and tapped my arm with her hand, to attract my attention to the fact that she was pointing vigorously downwards. i looked down, too, when, to my astonishment, i saw rise through the carpet what looked to me like the bald head of a baby or an old man, and a little figure, _not more than three feet in height_, with edward church's features, but no hair on its head, came gradually into view, and looked up in my face with a pitiful, deprecating expression, as if he were afraid i should strike him. the face, however, was so unmistakably ted's, though the figure was so ludicrously insignificant, that i could not fail to recognize him. "why, ted!" i exclaimed, "have you come back to see me at last?" and held out my hand. the little figure seized it, tried to convey it to his lips, burst into tears, and sank down through the carpet much more rapidly than he had come up. i began to cry too. it was so pitiful. with her uncle's disappearance "florence" found her tongue. "don't cry, mother," she said; "poor uncle ted is overcome at seeing you. that's why he couldn't materialize better. he was in such a terrible hurry. he'll look more like himself next time. i was trying so hard to help him, i didn't dare to use up any of the power by speaking. he'll be so much better, now he's seen you. you'll come here again, won't you?" i told her i certainly would, if i could; and, indeed, i was all anxiety to see my poor brother-in-law again. to prove how difficult it would have been to deceive me on this subject, i should like to say a little about edward church's personal appearance. he was a very remarkable looking man--indeed, i have never seen anyone a bit like him before or after. he was very small; not short only, but small altogether, with tiny hands and feet, and a little head. his hair and eyes were of the deepest black--the former parted in the middle, with a curl on either side, and was naturally waved. his complexion was very dark, his features delicate, and he wore a small pointed moustache. as a child he had suffered from an attack of confluent small-pox, which had deeply pitted his face, and almost eaten away the tip of his nose. such a man was not to be easily imitated, even if anyone in boston had ever heard of his inconsequential existence. to me, though, he had been a dear friend and brother, before the curse of drink had seemed to change his nature, and i had always been anxious to hear how he fared in that strange country whither he had been forced to journey, like all of us, _alone_. i was very pleased then to find that business would not interfere with my second visit to mrs. eva hatch, which took place two nights afterward. on this occasion "florence" was one of the first to appear, and "ted" came with her, rather weak and trembling on his second introduction to this mundane sphere, but no longer bald-headed nor under-sized. he was his full height now, about five feet seven; his head was covered with his black crisp hair, parted just as he used to wear it while on earth; in every particular he resembled what he used to be, even down to his clothes. i could have sworn i had seen that very suit of clothes; the little cut-away coat he always wore, with the natty tie and collar, and a dark blue velvet smoking cap upon his head, exactly like one i remembered being in his possession. "florence" still seemed to be acting as his interpreter and guide. when i said to him, "why! ted, you look quite like your old self to-day," she answered, "he can't talk to you, mamma, he is weak still, and he is so thankful to meet you again. he wants me to tell you that he has been trying to communicate with you often, but he never could manage it in england. he will be so glad when he can talk freely to you." whilst she was speaking, "ted" kept on looking from her to me like a deaf and dumb animal trying to understand what was going on in a manner that was truly pitiful. i stooped down and kissed his forehead. the touch seemed to break the spell that hung over him. "_forgive_," he uttered in a choked voice. "there is nothing to forgive, dear," i replied, "except as we all have need to forgive each other. you know how we all loved you, ted, and we loved you to the last and grieved for you deeply. you remember the children, and how fond you were of them and they of you. they often speak to this day of their poor uncle ted." "eva--ethel," he gasped out, naming my two elder children. at this juncture he seemed suddenly to fail, and became so weak that "florence" took him back into the cabinet again. no more spirits came for me that evening, but towards the close of the _sã©ance_ "florence" and "ted" appeared again together and embraced me fondly. "florence" said, "he's so happy now, mother; he says he shall rest in peace now that he knows that you have forgiven him. and he won't come without his hair again," she added, laughing. "i hope he won't," i answered, "for he frightened me." and then they both kissed me "good-night," and retreated to the cabinet, and i looked after them longingly and wished i could go there too. chapter xxvi. iii. _the misses berry._ no one introduced me to the misses berry. i saw their advertisement in the public papers and went incognita to their _sã©ance_, as i had done to those of others. the first thing that struck me about them was the superior class of patrons whom they drew. in the ladies' cloak room, where they left their heavy wraps and umbrellas, the conversation that took place made this sufficiently evident. helen and gertrude berry were pretty, unaffected, lady-like girls; and their conductor, mr. abrow, one of the most courteous gentlemen i have ever met. the sisters, both highly mediumistic, never sat together, but on alternate nights, but the one who did _not_ sit always took a place in the audience, in order to prevent suspicion attaching to her absence. gertrude berry had been lately married to a mr. thompson, and on account of her health gave up her _sã©ances_, soon after i made her acquaintance she was a tall, finely-formed young woman, with golden hair and a beautiful complexion. her sister helen was smaller, paler and more slightly built. she had been engaged to be married to a gentleman who died shortly before the time fixed for their wedding, and his spirit, whom she called "charley," was the principal control at her _sã©ances_, though he never showed himself. i found the _sã©ance_ room, which was not very large, crammed with chairs which had all been engaged beforehand, so mr. abrow fetched one from downstairs and placed it next his own for me, which was the very position i should have chosen. i asked him afterwards how he dared admit a stranger to such close proximity, and he replied that he was a medium himself and knew who he could and who he could _not_ trust at a glance. as my professional duties took me backwards and forwards to boston, which was my central starting-point, sometimes giving me only a day's rest there, i was in the habit afterwards, when i found i should have "a night off," of wiring to mr. abrow to keep me a seat, so difficult was it to secure one unless it were bespoken. altogether i sat five or six times with the berry sisters, and wished i could have sat fifty or sixty times instead, for i never enjoyed any _sã©ances_ so _much_ in my life before. the cabinet was formed of an inner room with a separate door, which had to undergo the process of being sealed up by a committee of strangers every evening. strips of gummed paper were provided for them, on which they wrote their names before affixing them across the inside opening of the door. on the first night i inspected the cabinet also as a matter of principle, and gummed my paper with "mrs. richardson" written on it across the door. the cabinet contained only a sofa for miss helen berry to recline upon. the floor was covered with a nailed-down carpet. the door which led into the cabinet was shaded by two dark curtains hung with rings upon a brass rod. the door of the _sã©ance_ room was situated at a right angle with that of the cabinet, both opening upon a square landing, and, to make "assurance doubly sure," the door of the _sã©ance_ room was left open, so that the eyes of the sitters at that end commanded a view, during the entire sitting, of the outside of the locked and gummed-over cabinet door. to make this fully understood, i append a diagram of the two rooms-[illustration] by the position of these doors, it will be seen how impossible it would have been for anybody to leave or enter the cabinet without being detected by the sitters, who had their faces turned towards the _sã©ance_ room door. the first materialization that appeared that evening was a bride, dressed in her bridal costume; and a gentleman, who was occupying a chair in the front row, and holding a white flower in his hand, immediately rose, went up to her, embraced her, and whispered a few words, then gave her the white flower, which she fastened in the bosom of her dress, after which he bowed slightly to the company, and, instead of resuming his seat, left the room. mr. abrow then said to me, "if you like, madam, you can take that seat now," and as the scene had excited my curiosity i accepted his offer, hoping to find some one to tell me the meaning of it. i found myself next to a very sweet-looking lady, whom i afterwards knew personally as mrs. seymour. "can you tell me why that gentleman left so suddenly?" i asked her in a whisper. "he seldom stays through a _sã©ance_," she replied; "he is a business man, and has no time to spare, but he is here every night. the lady you saw him speak to is his wife. she died on her wedding day, eleven years ago, and he has never failed to meet her on every opportunity since. he brings her a white flower every time he comes. she appears always first, in order that he may be able to return to his work." this story struck me as very interesting, and i always watched for this gentleman afterwards, and never failed to see him waiting for his bride, with the white flower in his hand. "do you expect to see any friends to-night?" i said to my new acquaintance. "o! yes!" she replied. "i have come to see my daughter 'bell.' she died some years ago, and i am bringing up the two little children she left behind her. i never do anything for them without consulting their mother. just now i have to change their nurse, and i have received several excellent characters of others, and i have brought them here this evening that 'bell' may tell me which to write for. i have the pattern for the children's winter frocks, too," she continued, producing some squares of woolen cloths, "and i always like to let 'bell' choose which she likes best." this will give my readers some idea of how much more the american spiritualists regard their departed friends as still forming part of the home circle, and interested in their domestic affairs. "bell" soon after made her appearance, and mrs. seymour brought her up to me. she was a young woman of about three or four and twenty, and looked very happy and smiling. she perused the servants' characters as practically as her mother might have done, but said she would have none of them, and mrs. seymour was to wait till she received some more. the right one had not come yet. she also looked at the patterns, and indicated the one she liked best. then, as she was about to retire, she whispered to her mother, and mrs. seymour said, to my surprise (for it must be remembered i had not disclosed my name to her), "bell tells me she knows a daughter of yours in the spirit life, called 'florence.' is that the case?" i answered i had a daughter of that name; and mrs. seymour added "'bell' says she will be here this evening, that she is a very pure and very elevated spirit, and they are great friends." very shortly after this, mr. abrow remarked, "there is a young girl in the cabinet now, who says that if her mother's name is 'mrs. richardson,' she must have married for the third time since she saw her last, for she was 'mrs. lean' then." at this remark i laughed; and mr. abrow said, "is she come for you, madam? does the cap fit?" i was obliged to acknowledge then that i _had_ given a false name in order to avoid recognition. but the mention of my married name attracted no attention to me, and was only a proof that it had not been given from any previous knowledge of mr. abrow's concerning myself. i was known in the united states as "florence marryat" only, and to this day they believe me to be still "mrs. ross-church," that being the name under which my first novels were written. so i recognized "florence" at once in the trick that had been played me, and had risen to approach the curtain, when she came _bounding_ out and ran into my arms. i don't think i had ever seen her look so charming and girlish before. she looked like an embodiment of sunshine. she was dressed in a low frock which seemed manufactured of lace and muslin, her hair fell loose down her back to her knees, and her hands were full of damask roses. this was in december, when hot-house roses were selling for a dollar a piece in boston, and she held, perhaps, twenty. their scent was delicious, and she kept thrusting them under my nose, saying, "smell my roses, mother. don't you wish you had my garden? we have _fields_ of them in the summer land! o! how i wish you were there." "shan't i come soon, darling?" i said. "no! not yet," replied "florence." "you have a lot of work to do still. but when you come, it will be all flowers for you and me." i asked her if she knew "bell," and she said, "o! yes! we came together this evening." then i asked her to come and speak to "bell's" mother, and her manner changed at once. she became shy and timid, like a young girl, unused to strangers, and quite hung on my arm, as i took her up to mrs. seymour's side. when she had spoken a few words to her in a very low voice, she turned to me and said, "i must go now, because we have a great surprise for you this evening--a _very_ great surprise." i told her i liked great surprises, when they were pleasant ones, and "florence" laughed, and went away. i found that her _dã©but_ had created such a sensation amongst the sitters--it being so unusual for a materialized spirit to appear so strong and perfect on the first occasion of using a medium--that i felt compelled to give them a little explanation on the subject. and when i told them how i had lost her as a tiny infant of ten days old--how she had returned to me through various media in england, and given such unmistakable proofs of her _identity_--and how i, being a stranger in their country, and only landed there a few weeks, had already met her through mrs. williams, mrs. hatch and miss berry--they said it was one of the most wonderful and perfect instances of materialization they had ever heard of. and when one considers how perfect the chain is, from the time when "florence" first came back to me as a child, too weak to speak, or even to understand where she was, to the years through which she had grown and became strong almost beneath my eyes, till she could "_bound_" (as i have narrated) into my arms like a human being, and talk as distinctly as (and far more sensible than) i did myself, i think my readers will acknowledge also, that hers is no common story, and that i have some reason to believe in spiritualism. miss berry's cabinet spirits were quite different from the common type. one was, or rather had been, a dancing girl--not european, but rather more, i fancy, of the asiatic or egyptian type. anyway she used to come out of the cabinet--a lithe lissom creature like a panther or a snake--and execute such twists and bounds and pirouettes, as would have made her fortune on the stage. indeed i used to think (being always on the lookout for chicanery) that no _human_ creature who could dance as she did would ever waste her talents, especially in a smart country like america, on an audience of spiritualists, whose only motive for meeting was to see their friends, and who would not pay an extra cent to look at a "cabinet spirit." another one was an indian whom they called "the brave." he was also a lithe, active creature, without an ounce of superfluous flesh upon his body, but plenty of muscle. he appeared to like the ladies of the company very much, but evidently distrusted the men. one stout, big man who was, i fancy, a bit of a sceptic, wished to test the "brave's" muscular power by feeling his biceps, and was invited to step in front of the circle for that purpose. he had no sooner approached him than the indian seized him up in his arms and threw him _right over his head_. he did not hurt him, but as the gentleman got up again, he said, "well! i weigh 200 pounds, and i didn't think any man in the room could have done that." the ladies in the circle mostly wore flowers in their bosom--bouquets, after the custom of american ladies--and they began, one and all, to detach flowers from their bouquets and give them to the "brave," "to give to his squaw." he nodded and gabbled some unintelligible sioux or cherokee in reply, and went all round the circle on his knees. the stout man had surmised that he was painted, and his long, straight, black hair was a wig. when he came to me i said, "brave! may i try if your hair is a wig?" he nodded and said, "pull--pull!" which i did, and found that it undoubtedly grew on his head. then he took my finger and drew it across his face several times to show he was not painted. i had no flowers to present him with, so i said, "come here, brave, and i'll give you something for your squaw," and when he approached near enough i kissed him. he chuckled, and his eyes sparkled with mischief as he ran chatting in his native dialect behind the curtains. in another minute he dashed out again, and coming up to me ejaculated, "no--give--squaw!" and rushed back. mr. abrow laughed heartily at this incident, and so did all the sitters, the former declaring i had entirely captivated the "brave." presently the cabinet curtains were shaken, and after a pause they parted slowly, and the figure of an indian squaw crept out. anything more malignant and vicious than her look i have seldom seen. mr. abrow asked her _who_ she wanted and _what_ she wanted, but she would not speak. she stood there silent, but scowling at me from beneath the tangles of her long black hair. at last mr. abrow said to her, "if you don't want to speak to anyone in the circle you must go away, as you are only preventing other spirits from coming." the squaw backed behind the curtains again rather sulkily, but the next time the "brave" appeared she came with him, and _never_ did he come again in my presence but what his "squaw" stood at the curtains and watched his actions. mrs. abrow told me that the "brave" had been in the habit of manifesting at their _sã©ances_ for years, but that they had never seen the "squaw" until that evening. indeed, i don't think they were very grateful to me for having by my rashness eliminated this new feature in their evening's entertainment, for the "squaw" proved to be a very earthly and undeveloped spirit, and subsequently gave them some trouble, as they could not drive her away when they wanted to do so. towards the close of the evening mr. abrow said, "there is a spirit here now who is very anxious to show himself, but it is the first time he has ever attempted to fully materialize, and he is not at all certain of success. he tells me there is a lady in the circle who has newly arrived in america, and that this lady years ago sang a song by his dying bed in india. if she will step up to the cabinet now and sing that song again he will try and shew himself to her." such of my readers as have perused "the story of john powles" will recognize at once who this was. i did, of course, and i confess that as i rose to approach the cabinet i trembled like an aspen leaf. i had tried so often, and failed so often to see this dear old friend of mine, that to think of meeting him now was like a veritable resurrection from the dead. think of it! we had parted in 1860, and this was 1884--twenty-four years afterwards. i had been a girl when we said "good-bye," and he went forth on that journey which seemed then so mysterious an one to me. i was a middle-aged woman now, who had passed through so much from which _he_ had been saved, that i felt more like his mother than his friend. of all my experiences this was to me really the most solemn and interesting. i hardly expected to see more than his face, but i walked up to the cabinet and commenced to sing in a very shaky voice the first stanza of the old song he was so fond of:- "thou art gone from my gaze like a beautiful dream, and i seek thee in vain by the meadow and stream; oft i breathe thy dear name to the winds passing by, but thy sweet voice is mute to my bosom's lone sigh. in the stillness of night when the stars mildly shine, o! then oft my heart holds communion with thine, for i feel thou art near, and where'er i may be, that the spirit of love keeps a watch over me." i had scarcely reached the finish of these lines when both the curtains of the cabinet were drawn apart so sharply that the brass rings rattled on the rod, and john powles stood before me. not a face, nor a half-formed figure, nor an apparition that was afraid to pass into the light--but _john powles himself_, stalwart and living, who stepped out briskly and took me in his arms and kissed me four or five times, as a long-parted brother might have done; and strange to say, i didn't feel the least surprised at it, but clung to him like a sister. for john powles had never once kissed me during his lifetime. although we had lived for four years in the closest intimacy, often under the same roof, we had never indulged in any familiarities. i think men and women were not so lax in their manners then as they are now; at anyrate, the only time i had ever kissed him was when he lay dead, and my husband had told me to do so. and yet it seemed quite natural on meeting him again to kiss him and cry over him. at last i ventured to say, "o, powles! is this really you?" "look at me and see for yourself," he answered. i looked up. it was indeed himself. he had possessed _very_ blue eyes in earth life, good features, a florid complexion, auburn hair, and quite a golden beard and moustache. the eyes and hair and features were just the same, only his complexion was paler, and he wore no beard. "o!" i exclaimed, "where is your beard?" "don't you remember i cut it off just before i left this world?" he said; and then i recalled the fact that he had done so owing to a government order on the subject. and bearing on this question i may mention what seems a curious thing--that spirits almost invariably return to earth the first time _just as they left it_, as though their thoughts at the moment of parting clothed them on their return. this, however, was not john powles' first _attempt_ at materialization, although it was his first success, for it may be remembered he tried to show himself through miss showers, and then he _had_ a beard. however, when i saw him through miss berry, he had none, nor did he resume it during my stay in america. when we had got over the excitement of meeting, he began to speak to me of my children, especially of the three who were born before his death, and of whom he had been very fond. he spoke of them all by name, and seemed quite interested in their prospects and affairs. but when i began to speak of other things he stopped me. "i know it all," he said, "i have been with you in spirit through all your trials, and i can never feel the slightest interest in, or affection for, those who caused them. my poor friend, you have indeed had your purgatory upon earth." "but tell me of yourself, dear powles! are you quite happy?" i asked him. he paused a moment and then replied, "quite happy, waiting for you." "surely you are not suffering still?" i said, "after all these years?" "my dear florence," he answered, "it takes more than a few years to expiate a life of sin. but i am happier than i was, and every year the burden is lighter, and coming back to you will help me so much." as he was speaking to me the curtain opened again, and there stood my brother-in-law, edward church, not looking down-spirited and miserable, as he had done at mrs. eva hatch's, but bright and smiling, and dressed in evening clothes, as also i perceived, when i had time to think of it, was john powles. i didn't know which to talk to first, but kept turning from one to the other in a dazed manner. john powles was telling me that _he_ was preparing my house for me in the summer land, and would come to take me over to it when i died, when "ted" interrupted him. "that ought to have been _my_ work, bluebell," he said, "only powles had anticipated me." "i wish i could go back with you both at once, i am sick of this world," i replied. "ted" threw his arms round me and strained me to his breast. "o! it is so hard to part again. how i wish i could carry you away in my arms to the summer land! i should have nothing left to wish for then." "you don't want to come back then, ted?" i asked him. "_want to come back_," he said with a shudder; "not for anything! why, bluebell, death is like an operation which you must inevitably undergo, but which you fear because you know so little about it. well, with me _the operation's over_. i know the worst, and every day makes the term of punishment shorter. i am _thankful_ i left the earth so soon." "you look just like your old self, ted," i said; "the same little curls and scrubby little moustache." "pull them," he answered gaily. "don't go away, bluebell, and say they were false and i was miss berry dressed up. feel my biceps," he continued, throwing up his arm as men do, "and feel my heart," placing my hand above it, "feel how it is beating for my sister bluebell." i said to john powles, "i hardly know you in evening costume. i never saw you in it before" (which was true, as all our acquaintance had taken place in india, where the officers are never allowed to appear in anything but uniform, especially in the evenings). "i wish," i continued, "that you would come next time in uniform." "i will try," he replied, and then their time was up for that occasion, and they were obliged to go. a comical thing occurred on my second visit to the berrys. of course i was all eagerness to see my brother-in-law and "powles" again, and when i was called up to the cabinet and saw a slim, dark, young man standing there, i took him at once for "ted," and, without looking at him, was just about to kiss him, when he drew backwards and said, "i am not 'edward!' i am his friend 'joseph,' to whom he has given permission to make your acquaintance." i then perceived that "joseph" was very different from "ted," taller and better looking, with a jewish cast of countenance. i stammered and apologized, and felt as awkward as if i had nearly kissed a mortal man by mistake. "joseph" smiled as if it were of very little consequence. he said he had never met "ted" on earth, but they were close friends in the spirit world, and "ted" had talked so much to him of me, that he had become very anxious to see me, and speak to me. he was a very elegant looking young man, but he did not seem to have very much to say for himself, and he gave me the impression that he had been a "masher" whilst here below, and had not quite shaken off the remembrance in the spirit world. there was one spirit who often made her appearance at these sittings and greatly interested me. this was a mother with her infant of a few weeks old. the lady was sweet and gentle looking, but it was the baby that so impressed me--a baby that never whined nor squalled, nor turned red in the face, and yet was made of neither wax nor wood, but was palpably living and breathing. i used always to go up to the cabinet when this spirit came, and ask her to let me feel the little baby. it was a tiny creature, with a waxen-looking face, and she always carried it enveloped in a full net veil, yet when i touched its hand, the little fingers tightened round mine in baby fashion, as it tried to convey them to its mouth. i had seen several spirit children materialized before, but never such a young infant as this. the mother told me she had passed away in child-birth, and the baby had gone with her. she had been a friend of the misses berry, and came to them for that reason. on christmas eve i happened to be in boston, and disengaged, and as i found it was a custom of the american spiritualists to hold meetings on that anniversary for the purpose of seeing their spirit friends, i engaged a seat for the occasion. i arrived some time before the _sã©ance_ commenced, and next to me was seated a gentleman, rather roughly dressed, who was eyeing everything about him with the greatest attention. presently he turned to me and said, rather sheepishly, "do you believe in this sort of thing?" "i do," i replied, "and i have believed in it for the last fifteen years." "have you ever seen anybody whom you recognized?" he continued. "plenty," i said. then he edged a little nearer to me, and lowered his voice. "do you know," he commenced, "that i have ridden on horseback forty miles through the snow to-day to be present at this meeting, because my old mother sent me a message that she would meet me here! i don't believe in it, you know. i've never been at a _sã©ance_ before, and i feel as if i was making a great fool of myself now, but i couldn't neglect my poor old mother's message, whatever came of it." "of course not," i answered, "and i hope your trouble will be rewarded." i had not much faith in my own words, though, because i had seen people disappointed again and again over their first _sã©ance_, from either the spirits of their friends being too weak to materialize, or from too many trying to draw power at once, and so neutralizing the effect on all. my bridegroom friend was all ready on that occasion with his white flowers in his hand and i ventured to address him and tell him how very beautiful i considered his wife's fidelity and his own. he seemed pleased at my notice, and began to talk quite freely about her. he told me she had returned to him before her body was buried, and had been with him ever since. "she is so really and truly _my wife_," he said, "as i received her at the altar, that i could no more marry again than i could if she were living in my house." when the _sã©ance_ commenced she appeared first as usual, and her husband brought her up to my side. "this is miss florence marryat, dear," he said (for by this time i had laid aside my _incognita_ with the berrys). "you know her name, don't you?" "o! yes," she answered, as she gave me her hand, "i know you quite well. i used to read your books." her face was covered with her bridal veil, and her husband turned it back that i might see her. she was a very pretty girl of perhaps twenty--quite a gipsy, with large dark eyes and dark curling hair, and a brown complexion. "she has not altered one bit since the day we were married," said her husband, looking fondly at her, "whilst i have grown into an old man." she put up her hand and stroked his cheek. "we shall be young together some day," she said. then he asked her if she was not going to kiss me, and she held up her face to mine like a child, and he dropped the veil over her again and led her away. the very next spirit that appeared was my rough friend's mother, and his astonishment and emotion at seeing her were very unmistakeable. when first he went up to the cabinet and saw her his head drooped, and his shoulders shook with the sobs he could not repress. after a while he became calmer, and talked to her, and then i saw him also bringing her up to me. "i must bring my mother to you," he said, "that you may see she has really come back to me." i rose, and the old lady shook hands with me. she must have been, at the least, seventy years old, and was a most perfect specimen of old age. her face was like wax, and her hair like silver; but every wrinkle was distinct, and her hands were lined with blue veins. she had lost her teeth, and mumbled somewhat in speaking, and her son said, "she is afraid you will not understand what she says; but she wants you to know that she will be quite happy if her return will make me believe in a future existence." "and will it?" i asked. he looked at his mother. "i don't understand it," he replied. "it seems too marvellous to be true; but how _can_ i disbelieve it, when _here she is_?" and his words were so much the echo of my own grounds for belief, that i quite sympathized with them. "john powles," and "ted," and "florence," all came to see me that evening; and when i bid "florence" "good-bye" she said, "oh, it isn't 'good-bye' yet, mother! i'm coming again, before you go." presently something that was the very farthest thing from my mind--that had, indeed, never entered it--happened to me. i was told that a young lady wanted to speak to me, and on going up to the cabinet i recognized a girl whom _i knew by sight, but had never spoken to_--one of a large family of children, living in the same terrace in london as myself, and who had died of malignant scarlet fever about a year before. "mrs. lean," she said, hurriedly, noting my surprise, "don't you know me? i am may ----." "yes, i do recognize you, my dear child," i replied; "but what makes you come to me?" "minnie and katie are so unhappy about me," she said. "they do not understand. they think i have gone away. they do not know what death is--that it is only like going into the next room, and shutting the door." "and what can i do, may?" i asked her. "tell them you have seen me, mrs. lean. say i am alive--more alive than they are; that if they sit for me, i will come to them and tell them so much they know nothing of now." "but where are your sisters?" i said. she looked puzzled. "i don't know. i can't say the place; but you will meet them soon, and you will tell them." "if i meet them, i certainly will tell them," i said; but i had not the least idea at that moment where the other girls might be. four months later, however, when i was staying in london, ontario, they burst unexpectedly into my hotel room, having driven over (i forget how many miles) to see me play. naturally i kept my promise; but though they cried when "may" was alluded to, they evidently could not believe my story of having seen her, and so, i suppose, the poor little girl's wish remains ungratified. i think the worst purgatory in the next world must be to find how comfortably our friends get on without us in this. as a rule, i did not take much interest in the spirits that did not come for me; but there was one who appeared several times with the berrys, and seemed quite like an old friend to me. this was "john brown," not her majesty's "john brown," but the hero of the song- "hang john brown on a sour apple tree, but his soul goes touting around. glory! glory! halleluia! for his soul goes touting around." when i used to hear this song sung with much shouting and some profanity in england, i imagined (and i fancy most people did) that it was a comic song in america. but it was no such thing. it was a patriotic song, and the motive is (however comically put) to give glory to god, that, _although_ they may hang "john brown" on a sour apple tree, his soul will yet "go touting around." so, rightly or wrongly, it was explained to me. "john brown" is a patriotic hero in america, and when he appeared, the whole room crowded round to see him. he was a short man, with a _singularly_ benevolent countenance, iron grey hair, mutton-chop whiskers, and deep china blue eyes. a kind of man, as he appeared to me, made for deeds of love rather than heroism, but from all accounts he was both kind and heroic. a gentleman present on christmas eve pushed forward eagerly to see the materialization, and called out, "aye! that's him--that's my old friend--that's 'john brown'--the best man that ever trod this earth." before this evening's _sã©ance_ was concluded mr. abrow said, "there is a little lady in the cabinet at present who announces herself as a very high personage. she says she is the 'princess gertrude.'" "_what_ did you say, mr. abrow?" i exclaimed, unable to believe my own ears. "'the princess gertie,' mother," said "florence," popping her head out of the curtains. "you've met her before in england, you know." i went up to the cabinet, the curtains divided, there stood my daughter "florence" as usual, but holding in front of her a little child of about seven years old. i knelt down before this spirit of my own creation. she was a fragile-looking little creature, very fair and pale, with large grey eyes and brown hair lying over her forehead. she looked like a lily with her little white hands folded meekly in front of her. "are you my little gertie, darling?" i said. "i am the 'princess gertie,'" she replied, "and 'florence' says you are my mother." "and are you glad to see me, gertie?" i asked. she looked up at her sister, who immediately prompted her. "say, 'yes, mother,' gertie." "yes! mother," repeated the little one, like a parrot. "will you come to me, darling?" i said. "may i take you in my arms?" "not this evening, mother," whispered 'florence,' "you couldn't. she is attached to me. we are tied together. you couldn't separate us. next time, perhaps, the 'princess' will be stronger, and able to talk more. i will take her back now." "but where is 'yonnie'?" i asked, and "florence" laughed. "couldn't manage two of them at once," she said. "'yonnie' shall come another day," and i returned to my seat, more mystified than usual. i alluded to the "princess gertie" in my account of the mediumship of bessie fitzgerald, and said that my allusion would find its signification further on. at that time i had hardly believed it could be true that the infants who had been born prematurely and never breathed in this world should be living, sentient spirits to meet me in the next, and half thought some grown spirit must be tricking me for its own pleasure. but here, in this strange land, where my blighted babies had never been mentioned or thought of, to meet the "princess gertie" here, calling herself by her own name, and brought by her sister "florence," set the matter beyond a doubt. it recalled to my mind how once, long before, when "aimã©e" (mr. arthur colman's guide), on being questioned as to her occupation in the spirit spheres, had said she was "a little nurse maid," and that "florence" was one too, my daughter had added, "yes! i'm mamma's nurse maid. i have enough to do to look after her babies. she just looked at me, and 'tossed' me back into the spirit world, and she's been 'tossing' babies after me ever since." i had struck up a pleasant acquaintanceship with mrs. seymour, "bell's" mother, by that time, and when i went back to my seat and told her what had occurred, she said to me, "i wish you would share the expenses of a private _sã©ance_ with me here. we can have one all to ourselves for ten dollars (two pounds), and it would be so charming to have an afternoon quite alone with our children and friends." i agreed readily, and we made arrangements with mr. abrow before we left that evening, to have a private sitting on the afternoon following christmas day, when no one was to be admitted except our two selves. when we met there the _sã©ance_ room was lighted with gas as for the evening, but we preferred to close the door. helen berry was the medium, and mr. abrow only sat with us. the rows of chairs looked very empty without any sitters, but we established ourselves on those which faced the cabinet in the front row. the first thing which happened was the advent of the "squaw," looking as malignant and vicious as ever, who crept in in her dirty blanket, with her black hair hanging over her face, and deliberately took a seat at the further end of the room. mr. abrow was unmistakably annoyed at the occurrence. he particularly disliked the influence of this spirit, which he considered had a bad effect on the _sã©ance_. he first asked her why she had come, and told her her "brave" was not coming, and to go back to him. then he tried severity, and ordered her to leave the _sã©ance_, but it was all in vain. she kept her seat with persistent obstinacy, and showed no signs of "budging." i thought i would try what kindness would do for her, and approached her with that intention, but she looked so fierce and threatening, that mr. abrow begged me not to go near her, for fear she should do me some harm. so i left her alone, and she kept her seat through the whole of the _sã©ance_, evidently with an eye upon me, and distrusting my behavior when removed from the criticism of the public. her presence, however, seemed to make no difference to our spirit friends. they trooped out of the cabinet one after another, until we had mrs. seymour's brother and her daughter "bell," who brought little "jimmie" (a little son who had gone home before herself) with her, and "florence," "ted," and "john powles," all so happy and strong and talkative, that i told mrs. seymour we only wanted a tea-table to think we were holding an "at home." last, but not least (at all events in her own estimation) came the "princess gertie." mr. abrow tried to make friends with her, but she repulsed his advances vehemently. "i don't like you, mr. mans," she kept on saying, "you's nasty. i don't like any mans. they's _all_ nasty." when i told her she was very rude, and mr. abrow was a very kind gentleman and loved little children, she still persisted she wouldn't speak "to no mans." she came quite alone on this occasion, and i took her in my arms and carried her across to mrs. seymour. she was a feather weight. i felt as if i had nothing in my arms. i said to mrs. seymour, "please tell me what this child is like. i am so afraid of my senses deceiving me that i cannot trust myself." mrs. seymour looked at her and answered, "she has a broad forehead, with dark brown hair cut across it, and falling straight to her shoulders on either side. her eyes are a greyish blue, large and heavy lidded, her nose is short, and her mouth decided for such a child." this testimony, given by a stranger, of the apparition of a child that had never lived, was an exact description (of course in embryo) of her father, colonel lean, who had never set foot in america. perhaps this is as good a proof of identity as i have given yet. our private _sã©ance_ lasted for two hours, and although the different spirits kept on entering the cabinet at intervals to gain more power, they were all with us on and off during the entire time. the last pleasant thing i saw was my dear "florence" making the "princess" kiss her hand in farewell to me, and the only unpleasant one, the sight of the sulky "squaw" creeping in after them with the evident conviction that her afternoon had been wasted. chapter xxvii. iv. _the doctor._ i wonder if it has struck any of my readers as strange that, during all these manifestations in england and america, i had never seen the form, nor heard the voice, of my late father, captain marryat. surely if these various media lived by trickery and falsehood, and wished successfully to deceive me, _some_ of them would have thought of trying to represent a man so well known, and whose appearance was so familiar. other celebrated men and women have come back and been recognized from their portraits only, but, though i have sat at numbers of _sã©ances_ given _for me_ alone, and at which i have been the principal person, my father has never reappeared at any. especially, if these manifestations are all fraud, might this have been expected in america. captain marryat's name is still "a household word" amongst the americans, and his works largely read and appreciated, and wherever i appeared amongst them i was cordially welcomed on that account. when once i had acknowledged my identity and my views on spiritualism, every medium in boston and new york had ample time to get up an imitation of my father for my benefit had they desired to do so. but never has he appeared to me; never have i been told that he was present. twice only in the whole course of my experience have i received the slightest sign from him, and on those occasions he sent me a message--once through mr. fletcher (as i have related), and once through his grandson and my son, frank marryat. that time he told me he should never appear to me and i need never expect him. but since the american media knew nothing of this strictly private communication, and i had seen, before i parted with them, _seventeen_ of my friends and relations, none of whom (except "florence," "powles," and "emily,") i had ever seen in england, it is at the least strange, considering his popularity (and granted their chicanery) that captain marryat was not amongst them. as soon as i became known at the berry's _sã©ances_ several people introduced themselves to me, and amongst others mrs. isabella beecher hooker, the sister of mrs. harriet beecher stowe and henry ward beecher. she was delighted to find me so interested in spiritualism, and anxious i should sit with a friend of hers, a great medium whose name became so rubbed out in my pencil notes, that i am not sure if it was doctor carter, or carteret, and therefore i shall speak of him here as simply "the doctor." the doctor was bound to start for washington the following afternoon, so mrs. hooker asked me to breakfast with her the next morning, by which time she would have found out if he could spare us an hour before he set out on his journey. when i arrived at her house i heard that he had very obligingly offered to give me a complimentary _sã©ance_ at eleven o'clock, so, as soon as we had finished breakfast, we set out for his abode. i found the doctor was quite a young man, and professed himself perfectly ignorant on the subject of spiritualism. he said to me, "i don't know and i don't profess to know _what_ or _who_ it is that appears to my sitters whilst i am asleep. i know nothing of what goes on, except from hearsay. i don't know whether the forms that appear are spirits, or transformations, or materializations. you must judge of that for yourself. there is one peculiarity in my _sã©ances_. they take place in utter darkness. when the apparitions (or whatever you choose to call them) appear, they must bring their own lights or you won't see them, i have no conductor to my _sã©ances_. if whatever comes can't announce itself it must remain unknown. but i think you will find that, as a rule, they can shift for themselves. this is my _sã©ance_ room." as he spoke he led us into an unfurnished bedroom, i say bedroom, because it was provided with the dressing closet fitted with pegs, usual to all bedrooms in america. this closet the doctor used as his cabinet. the door was left open, and there was no curtain hung before it. the darkness he sat in rendered that unnecessary. the bedroom was darkened by two frames, covered with black american cloth, which fitted into the windows. the doctor, having locked the bedroom door, delivered the key to me. he then requested us to go and sit for a few minutes in the cabinet to throw our influence about it. as we did so we naturally examined it. it was only a large cupboard. it had no window and no door, except that which led into the room, and no furniture except a cane-bottomed chair. when we returned to the _sã©ance_ room, the doctor saw us comfortably established on two armchairs before he put up the black frames to exclude the light. the room was then pitch dark, and the doctor had to grope his way to his cabinet. mrs. hooker and i sat for some minutes in silent expectation. then we heard the voice of a negress, singing "darkey" songs, and my friend told me it was that of "rosa," the doctor's control. presently "rosa" was heard to be expostulating with, or encouraging some one, and faint lights, like sparks from a fire, could be seen flitting about the open door of the cabinet. then the lights seemed to congregate together, and cluster about a tall form, draped in some misty material, standing just outside the cabinet. "can't you tell us who you are?" asked mrs. hooker. "you must tell your name, you know," interposed "rosa," whereupon a low voice said, "i am janet e. powles." now this was an extraordinary coincidence. i had seen mrs. powles, the mother of my friend "john powles," only once--when she travelled from liverpool to london to meet me on my return from india, and hear all the particulars of her son's death. but she had continued to correspond with me, and show me kindness till the day of her own death, and as she had a daughter of the same name, she always signed herself "janet _e._ powles." even had i expected to see the old lady, and published the fact in the boston papers, that initial _e_ would have settled the question of her identity in my mind. "mrs. powles," i exclaimed, "how good of you to come and see me." "johnny has helped me to come," she replied. "he is so happy at having met you again. he has been longing for it for so many years, and i have come to thank you for making him happy." (here was another coincidence. "john powles" was never called anything but "powles" by my husband and myself. but his mother had retained the childish name of "johnny," and i could remember how it used to vex him when she used it in her letters to him. he would say to me, "if she would only call me 'john' or 'jack,' or anything but 'johnny.'") i replied, "i may not leave my seat to go to you. will you not come to me?" for the doctor had requested us not to leave our seats, but to insist on the spirits approaching us. "mrs. powles" said, "i cannot come out further into the room to-day. i am too weak. but you shall see me." the lights then appeared to travel about her face and dress till they became stationary, and she was completely revealed to view under the semblance of her earthly likeness. she smiled and said, "we were all at the opera house on thursday night, and rejoiced at your success. 'johnny' was so proud of you. many of your friends were there beside ourselves." i then saw that, unlike the spirits at miss berry's, the form of "mrs. powles" was draped in a kind of filmy white, _over_ a dark dress. all the spirits that appeared with the doctor were so clothed, and i wondered if the filmy substance had anything to do with the lights, which looked like electricity. an incident which occurred further on seemed to confirm my idea. when "mrs. powles" had gone, which we guessed by the extinguishing of the lights, the handsome face and form of "harry montagu" appeared. i had known him well in england, before he took his fatal journey to america, and could never be mistaken in his sweet smile and fascinating manner. he did not come further than the door, either, but he was standing within twelve or fourteen feet of us for all that. he only said, "good-luck to you. we can't lose an interest in the old profession, you know, any more than in the old people." "i wish you'd come and help me, harry," i answered. "oh, i do!" he said, brightly; "several of us do. we are all links of the same chain. half the inspiration in the world comes from those who have gone before. but i must go! i'm getting crowded out. here's ada waiting to see you. good-bye!" and as his light went out, the sweet face of adelaide neilson appeared in his stead. she said, "you wept when you heard of my death; and yet you never knew me. how was that?" "did i weep?" i answered, half forgetting; "if so, it must have been because i thought it so sad that a woman so young, and beautiful, and gifted as you were, should leave the world so soon." "oh no! not sad," she answered, brightly; "glorious! glorious! i would not be back again for worlds." "have you ever seen your grave?" i asked her. she shook her head. "what are _graves_ to us? only cupboards, where you keep our cast-off clothes." "you don't ask me what the world says about you, now," i said to her. "and i don't care," she answered. "don't _you_ forget me! good-bye!" she was succeeded by a spirit who called herself "charlotte cushman," and who spoke to me kindly about my professional life. mrs. hooker told me that, to the best of her knowledge, none of these three spirits had ever appeared under the doctor's mediumship before. but now came out "florence," dancing into the room--_literally dancing_, holding out in both hands the skirt of a dress, which looked as if it were made of the finest muslin or lace, and up and down which fireflys were darting with marvellous rapidity. she looked as if clothed in electricity, and infinitely well pleased with herself. "look!" she exclaimed; "look at my dress! isn't it lovely? look at the fire! the more i shake it, the more fire comes! oh, mother! if you could only have a dress like this for the stage, what a _sensation_ you would make!" and she shook her skirts about, till the fire seemed to set a light to every part of her drapery, and she looked as if she were in flames. i observed, "i never knew you to take so much interest in your dress before, darling." "oh, it isn't the dress," she replied; "it's the _fire_!" and she really appeared as charmed with the novel experience as a child with a new toy. as she left us, a dark figure advanced into the room, and ejaculated, "ma! ma!" i recognized at once the peculiar intonation and mode of address of my stepson, francis lean, with whom, since he had announced his own death to me, i had had no communication, except through trance mediumship. "is that you, my poor boy," i said, "come closer to me. you are not afraid of me, are you?" "o, no! ma! of course not, only i was at the opera house, you know, with the others, and that piece you recited, ma--you know the one--it's all true, ma--and i don't want you to go back to england. stay here, ma--stay here!" i knew perfectly well to what the lad alluded, but i would not enter upon it before a stranger. so i only said, "you forget my children, francis--what would they say if i never went home again." this seemed to puzzle him, but after a while he answered, "then go to _them_, ma; go to _them_." all this time he had been talking in the dark, and i only knew him by the sound of his voice. i said, "are you not going to show yourself to me, francis. it is such a long time since we met." "never since you saw me at the docks. that was _me_, ma, and at brighton, too, only you didn't half believe it till you heard i was gone." "tell me the truth of the accident, francis," i asked him. "was there foul play?" "no," he replied, "but we got quarrelling about _her_ you know, and fighting, and that's how the boat upset. it was _my_ fault, ma, as much as anybody else's." "how was it your body was never found?" "it got dragged down in an undercurrent, ma. it was out at cape horn before they offered a reward for it." then he began to light up, and as soon as the figure was illuminated i saw that the boy was dressed in "jumpers" and "jersey" of dark woollen material, such as they wear in the merchant service in hot climates, but over it all--his head and shoulders included--was wound a quantity of flimsy white material i have before mentioned. "i can't bear this stuff. it makes me look like a girl," said "francis," and with his hands he tore it off. simultaneously the illumination ceased, and he was gone. i called him by name several times, but no sound came out of the darkness. it seemed as though the veiling which he disliked preserved his materialization, and that, with its protection removed, he had dissolved again. when another dark figure came out of the cabinet, and approaching me, knelt at my feet, i supposed it to be "francis" come back again, and laying my hand on the bent head, i asked, "is this you again, dear?" a strange voice answered, with the words, "forgive! forgive!" "_forgive!_" i repeated, "what have i to forgive?" "the attempt to murder your husband in 1856. arthur yelverton brooking has forgiven. he is here with me now. will you forgive too?" "certainly," i replied, "i have forgiven long ago. you expiated your sin upon the gallows. you could do no more." the figure sprung into a standing position, and lit up from head to foot, when i saw the two men standing together, arthur yelverton brooking and the madras sepoy who had murdered him. i never saw anything more brilliant than the appearance of the sepoy. he was dressed completely in white, in the native costume, with a white "puggree" or turban on his head. but his "puggree" was flashing with jewels--strings of them were hung round his neck--and his sash held a magnificent jewelled dagger. you must please to remember that i was not alone, but that this sight was beheld by mrs. hooker as well as myself (to whom it was as unexpected as to her), and that i know she would testify to it to-day. and now to explain the reason of these unlooked-for apparitions. in 1856 my husband, then lieutenant ross-church, was adjutant of the 12th madras native infantry, and arthur yelverton brooking, who had for some time done duty with the 12th, was adjutant of another native corps, both of which were stationed at madras. lieutenant church was not a favorite with his men, by whom he was considered a martinet, and one day when there had been a review on the island at madras, and the two adjutants were riding home together, a sepoy of the 12th fired at lieutenant church's back with the intent to kill him, but unfortunately the bullet struck lieutenant brooking instead, who, after lingering for twelve hours, died, leaving a young wife and a baby behind him. for this offence the sepoy was tried and hung, and on his trial the whole truth of course came out. this then was the reason that the spirits of the murdered and the murderer came like friends, because the injury had never been really intended for brooking. when i said that i had forgiven, the sepoy became (as i have told) a blaze of light, and then knelt again and kissed the hem of my dress. as he knelt there he became covered, or heaped over, with a mass of the same filmy drapery as enveloped "francis," and when he rose again he was standing in a cloud. he gathered an end of it, and laying it on my head he wound me and himself round and round with it, until we were bound up in a kind of cocoon. mrs. hooker, who watched the whole proceeding, told me afterwards that she had never seen anything like it before--that she could distinctly see the dark face and the white face close together all the time beneath the drapery, and that i was as brightly illuminated as the spirit. of this i was not aware myself, but _his_ brightness almost dazzled me. let me observe also that i have been in the east indies, and within a few yards' length of sepoys, and that i am sure i could never have been wrapt in the same cloth with a mortal one without having been made painfully aware of it in more ways than one. the spirit did not _unwind_ me again, although the winding process had taken him some time. he whisked off the wrapping with one pull, and i stood alone once more. i asked him by what name i should call him, and he said, "the spirit of light." he then expressed a wish to magnetize something i wore, so as to be the better able to approach me. i gave him a brooch containing "john powles'" hair, which his mother had given me after his death, and he carried it back into the cabinet with him. it was a valuable brooch of onyx and pearls, and i was hoping my eastern friend would not carry it _too_ far, when i found it had been replaced and fastened at my throat without my being aware of the circumstance. "arthur yelverton brooking" had disappeared before this, and neither of them came back again. these were not all the spirits that came under the doctor's mediumship during that _sã©ance_, but only those whom i had known and recognized. several of mrs. hooker's friends appeared and some of the doctor's controls, but as i have said before, they could not help my narrative, and so i omit to describe them. the _sã©ance_ lasted altogether two hours, and i was very grateful to the doctor for giving me the opportunity to study an entirely new phase of the science to me. chapter xxviii. v. _mrs. fay._ there was a young woman called "annie eva fay," who came over from america to london some years ago, and appeared at the hanover square rooms, in an exhibition after the manner of the davenport brothers and messrs. maskelyne and cook. she must not be confounded with the mrs. fay who forms the subject of this chapter, because they had nothing to do with one another. some one in boston advised me _not_ to go and sit at one of this mrs. fay's public _sã©ances_. they were described to me as being too physical and unrefined; that the influences were of a low order, and the audiences matched them. however, when i am studying a matter, i like to see everything i can and hear everything i can concerning it, and to form my own opinion independent of that of anybody else. so i walked off by myself one night to mrs. fay's address, and sat down in a quiet corner, watching everything that occurred. the circle certainly numbered some members of a humble class, but i conclude we should see that everywhere if the fees were lower. media, like other professional people, fix their charges according to the quarter of the city in which they live. but every member was silent and respectful, and evidently a believer. one young man, in deep mourning, with a little girl also in black, of about five or six years old, attracted my attention at once, from his sorrowful and abstracted manner. he had evidently come there, i thought, in the hope of seeing some one whom he had lost. mrs. fay (as she passed through the room to her cabinet) appeared a very quiet, simple-looking little woman to me, without any loudness or vulgarity about her. her cabinet was composed of two curtains only, made of some white material, and hung on uprights at one angle, in a corner of the room, the most transparent contrivance possible. anything like a bustle or confusion inside it, such as would be occasioned by dressing or "making up," would have been apparent at once to the audience outside, who were sitting by the light of an ordinary gas-burner and globe. yet mrs. fay had not been seated there above a few minutes, when there ran out into the _sã©ance_ room two of the most extraordinary materializations i had ever seen, and both of them about as opposite to mrs. fay in appearance as any creatures could be. one was an irish charwoman or apple-woman (she might have been either) with a brown, wrinkled face, a broken nose, tangled grey hair, a crushed bonnet, general dirt and disorder, and a tongue that could talk broad irish, and call "a spade a spade" at one and the same time. "biddy," as she was named, was accompanied by a street newspaper boy--one of those urchins who run after carriages and turn catherine-wheels in the mud, and who talked "gutter-slang" in a style that was utterly unintelligible to the decent portion of the sitters. these two went on in a manner that was undoubtedly funny, but not at all edifying and calculated to drive any enquirer into spiritualism out of the room, under the impression that they were evil spirits bent on our destruction. that either of them was represented by mrs. fay was out of the question. in the first place, she would, in that instance, have been so clever an actress and mimic, that she would have made her fortune on the stage--added to which the boy "teddy" was much too small for her, and "biddy" was much too large. besides, no actress, however experienced, could have "made up" in the time. i was quite satisfied, therefore, that neither of them was the medium, even if i could not have seen her figure the while, through the thin curtains, sitting in her chair. _why_ such low, physical manifestations are permitted i am unable to say. it was no wonder they had shocked the sensibility of my friend. i felt half inclined myself when they appeared to get up and run away. however, i was very glad afterwards that i did not. they disappeared after a while, and were succeeded by a much pleasanter person, a cabinet spirit called "gipsy," who looked as if she might have belonged to one of the gipsy tribes when on earth, she was so brown and arch and lively. presently the young man in black was called up, and i saw him talking to a female spirit very earnestly. after a while he took her hand and led her outside the curtain, and called the little girl whom he had left on his seat by her name. the child looked up, screamed "mamma! mamma!" and flew into the arms of the spirit, who knelt down and kissed her, and we could hear the child sobbing and saying, "oh! mamma, why did you go away?--why did you go away?" it was a very affecting scene--at least it seemed so to me. the instant recognition by the little girl, and her perfect unconsciousness but that her mother had returned _in propria persona_, would have been more convincing proof of the genuineness of spiritualism to a sceptic, than fifty miracles of greater importance. when the spirit mother had to leave again the child's agony at parting was very apparent. "take me with you," she kept on saying, and her father had actually to carry her back to her seat. when they got there they both wept in unison. afterwards he said to me in an apologetic sort of way--he was sitting next to me--"it is the first time, you see, that mary has seen her poor mother, but i wanted to have her testimony to her identity, and i think she gave it pretty plainly, poor child! she'll never be content to let me come alone now." i said, "i think it is a pity you brought her so young," and so i did. "florence" did not appear (she told me afterwards the atmosphere was so "rough" that she could not), and i began to think that no one would come for me, when a common seaman, dressed in ordinary sailor's clothes, ran out of the cabinet and began dancing a hornpipe in front of me. he danced it capitally too, and with any amount of vigorous snapping his fingers to mark the time, and when he had finished he "made a leg," as sailors call it, and stood before me. "have you come for me, my friend?" i enquired. "not exactly," he answered, "but i came with the cap'en. i came to pave the way for him. the cap'en will be here directly. we was in the _avenger_ together." (now all the world knows that my eldest brother, frederick marryat, was drowned in the wreck of the _avenger_ in 1847; but as i was a little child at the time, and had no remembrance of him, i had never dreamt of seeing him again. he was a first lieutenant when he died, so i do not know why the seaman gave him brevet rank, but i repeat his words as he said them.) after a minute or two i was called up to the cabinet, and saw my brother frederick (whom i recognized from his likeness) standing there dressed in naval uniform, but looking very stiff and unnatural. he smiled when he saw me, but did not attempt to kiss me. i said, "why! fred! is it really you? i thought you would have forgotten all about me." he replied, "forgotten little flo? why should i? do you think i have never seen you since that time, nor heard anything about you? i know everything--everything!" "you must know, then, that i have not spent a very happy life," i said. "never mind," he answered, "you needed it. it has done you good!" but all he said was without any life in it, as if he spoke mechanically--perhaps because it was the first time he had materialized. i had said "good-bye" to him, and dropped the curtain, when i heard my name called twice, "flo! flo!" and turned to receive my sister "emily" in my arms. she looked like herself exactly, but she had only time to kiss me and gasp out, "so glad, so happy to meet again," when she appeared to faint. her eyes closed, her head fell back on my shoulder, and before i had time to realize what was going to happen, she had passed _through_ the arm that supported her, and sunk down _through_ the floor. the sensation of her weight was still making my arm tingle, but "emily" was gone--_clean gone_. i was very much disappointed. i had longed to see this sister again, and speak to her confidentially; but whether it was something antagonistic in the influence of this _sã©ance_ room ("florence" said afterwards that it _was_), or there was some other cause for it, i know not, but most certainly my friends did not seem to flourish there. i had another horrible disappointment before i left. a voice from inside the cabinet called out, "here are two babies who want the lady sitting under the picture." now, there was only one picture hanging in the room, and i was sitting under it. i looked eagerly towards the cabinet, and saw issue from it the "princess gertie" leading a little toddler with a flaxen poll and bare feet, and no clothing but a kind of white chemise. this was "joan," the "yonnie" i had so often asked to see, and i rose in the greatest expectation to receive the little pair. just as they gained the centre of the room, however, taking very short and careful steps, like babies first set on their feet, the cabinet spirit "gipsy" _bounced_ out of the curtains, and saying decidedly, "here! we don't want any children about," she placed her hand on the heads of my little ones, and _pressed them down_ through the floor. they seemed to crumble to pieces before my eyes, and their place knew them no more. i couldn't help feeling angry. i exclaimed, "o! what did you do that for? those were my babies, and i have been longing to see them so." "i can't help it," replied "gipsy," "but this isn't a _sã©ance_ for children." i was so vexed that i took no more interest in the proceedings. a great number of forms appeared, thirty or forty in all, but by the time i returned to my hotel and began to jot down my notes, i could hardly remember what they were. i had been dreaming all the time of how much i should have liked to hold that little flaxen-haired "yonnie" in my arms. chapter xxix. vi. _virginia roberts._ when i returned to new york, it was under exceptional circumstances. i had taken cold whilst travelling in the western states, had had a severe attack of bronchitis and pneumonia at chicago, was compelled to relinquish my business, and as soon as i was well enough to travel, was ordered back to new york to recuperate my health. here i took up my abode in the victoria hotel, where a lady, whose acquaintance i had made on my former visit to the city, was living. as i have no permission to publish this lady's name, i must call her mrs. s----. she had been a spiritualist for some time before i knew her, and she much interested me by showing me an entry in her diary, made _four years_ previous to my arrival in america. it was an account of the utterances of a mrs. philips, a clairvoyant then resident in new york, during which she had prophesied my arrival in the city, described my personal appearance, profession, and general surroundings perfectly, and foretold my acquaintanceship with mrs. s----. the prophecy ended with words to the effect that our meeting would be followed by certain effects that would influence her future life, and that on the 17th of march, 1885, would commence a new era in her existence. it was at the beginning of march that we first lived under the same roof. as soon as mrs. s---found that i was likely to have some weeks of leisure, she became very anxious that we should visit the new york media together; for although she had so long been a believer in spiritualism, she had not (owing to family opposition) met with much sympathy on the subject, or had the opportunity of much investigation. so we determined, as soon as i was well enough to go out in the evening, that we would attend some _sã©ances_. as it happened, when that time came, we found the medium most accessible to be miss virginia roberts, of whom neither of us knew anything but what we had learned from the public papers. however, it was necessary that i should be exposed as little as possible to the night air, and so we fixed, by chance as it were, to visit miss roberts first. we found her living with her mother and brother in a small house in one of the back streets of the city. she was a young girl of sixteen, very reserved and rather timid-looking, who had to be drawn out before she could be made to talk. she had only commenced sitting a few months before, and that because her brother (who was also a medium) had had an illness and been obliged to give up his _sã©ances_ for a while. the _sã©ance_ room was very small, the manifestations taking place almost in the midst of the circle, and the cabinet (so-called) was the flimsiest contrivance i had ever seen. four uprights of iron, not thicker than the rod of a muslin blind, with cross-bars of the same, on which were hung thin curtains of lilac print, formed the construction of this cabinet, which shook and swayed about each time a form left or entered it. a harmonium for accompanying the voices, and a few chairs for the audience, was all the furniture the room contained. the first evening we went to see miss roberts there were only two or three sitters beside ourselves. the medium seemed to be pretty nearly unknown, and i resolved, as i usually do in such cases, not to expect anything, for fear i should be disappointed. mrs. s----, on the contrary, was all expectation and excitement. if she had ever sat for materializations, it had been long before, and the idea was like a new one to her. after two or three forms had appeared, of no interest to us, a gentleman in full evening dress walked suddenly out of the cabinet, and said, "kate," which was the name of mrs. s----. he was a stout, well-formed man, of an imposing presence, with dark hair and eyes, and he wore a solitaire of diamonds of unusual brilliancy in his shirt front. i had no idea who he was; but mrs. s---recognized him at once as an old lover who had died whilst under a misunderstanding with her, and she was powerfully affected--more, she was terribly frightened. it seems that she wore at her throat a brooch which he had given her; but every time he approached her with the view of touching it, she shrieked so loudly, and threw herself into such a state of nervous agitation, that i thought she would have to return home again. however, on her being accommodated with a chair in the last row so that she might have the other sitters between her and the materialized spirits, she managed to calm herself. the only friend who appeared for me that evening was "john powles;" and, to my surprise and pleasure, he appeared in the old uniform of the 12th madras native infantry. this corps wore facings of fawn, with buttons bearing the word "ava," encircled by a wreath of laurel. the mess jackets were lined with wadded fawn silk, and the waistcoats were trimmed with three lines of narrow gold braid. their "karkee," or undress uniform, established in 1859, consisted of a tunic and trousers of a sad green cloth, with the regimental buttons and a crimson silk sash. the marching dress of all officers in the indian service is made of white drill, with a cap cover of the same material. their forage cloak is of dark blue cloth, and hangs to their heels. their forage cap has a broad square peak to shelter the face and eyes. i mention these details for the benefit of those who are not acquainted with the general dress of the indian army, and to show how difficult it would have been for virginia roberts, or any other medium, to have procured them, even had she known the private wish expressed by me to "john powles" in boston, that he would try and come to me in uniform. on this first occasion of his appearing so, he wore the usual everyday coat, buttoned up to his chin, and he made me examine the buttons to see that they bore the crest and motto of the regiment. and i may say here, that before i left new york he appeared to me in every one of the various dresses i have described above, and became quite a marked figure in the city. when it was made known through the papers that an old friend of florence marryat had appeared through the mediumship of virginia roberts, in a uniform of thirty years before, i received numbers of private letters inquiring if it were true, and dozens of people visited miss roberts' _sã©ances_ for the sole purpose of seeing him. he took a great liking for mrs. s----, and when she had conquered her first fear she became quite friendly with him, and i heard, after leaving new york, that he continued to appear for her as long as she attended those _sã©ances_. there was one difference in the female spirits that came through virginia roberts from those of other media. those that were strong enough to leave the cabinet invariably disappeared by floating upwards through the ceiling. their mode of doing this was most graceful. they would first clasp their hands behind their heads and lean backward; then their feet were lifted off the ground, and they were borne upward in a recumbent position. when i related this to my friend, dr. george lefferts (under whom i was for throat treatment to recover my voice), he declared there must be some machinery connected with the uprights that supported the cabinet, by which the forms were elevated. he had got it all so "pat" that he was able to take a pencil and demonstrate to me on paper exactly how the machinery worked, and how easy it would be to swing full-sized human bodies up to the ceiling with it. how they managed to disappear when they got there he was not quite prepared to say; but if he once saw the trick done, he would explain the whole matter to me, and expose it into the bargain. i told dr. lefferts, as i have told many other clever men, that i shall be the first person open to conviction when they can convince me, and i bore him off to a private _sã©ance_ with virginia roberts for that purpose only. he was all that was charming on the occasion. he gave me a most delightful dinner at delmonico's first (for which i tender him in print my grateful recollection), and he tested all miss roberts' manifestations in the most delicate and gentlemanly manner (sceptics as a rule are neither delicate nor gentlemanly), but he could neither open my eyes to chicanery nor detect it himself. he handled and shook the frail supports of the cabinet, and confessed they were much too weak to bear any such weight as he had imagined. he searched the carpeted floor and the adjoining room for hidden machinery without finding the slightest thing to rouse his suspicions, and yet he saw the female forms float upwards through the whitewashed ceiling, and came away from the _sã©ance_ room as wise as when he had entered it. but this occurred some weeks after. i must relate first what happened after our first _sã©ance_ with miss roberts. mrs. s---and i were well enough pleased with the result to desire to test her capabilities further, and with that intent we invited her to visit us at our hotel. spiritualism is as much tabooed by one section of the american public as it is encouraged by the other, and so we resolved to breathe nothing of our intentions, but invite the girl to dine and spend the evening in our rooms with us just as if she were an ordinary visitor. consequently, we dined together at the _table d'hã´te_ before we took our way upstairs. mrs. s---and i had a private sitting-room, the windows of which were draped with white lace curtains only, and we had no other means to shut out the light. consequently, when we wished to sit, all we could do was to place a chair for virginia roberts in the window recess, behind one of these pairs of curtains, and pin them together in front of her, which formed the airiest cabinet imaginable. we then locked the door, lowered the gas, and sat down on a sofa before the curtains. in the space of five minutes, without the lace curtains having been in the slightest degree disturbed, francis lean, my stepson, walked _through_ them, and came up to my side. he was dressed in his ordinary costume of jersey and "jumpers," and had a little worsted cap upon his head. he displayed all the peculiarities of speech and manner i have noticed before; but he was much less timid, and stood by me for a long time talking of my domestic affairs, which were rather complicated, and giving me a detailed account of the accident which caused his death, and which had been always somewhat of a mystery. in doing this, he mentioned names of people hitherto unknown to me, but which i found on after inquiry to be true. he seemed quite delighted to be able to manifest so indisputably like himself, and remarked more than once, "i'm not much like a girl now, am i, ma?" next, mrs. s----'s old lover came, of whom she was still considerably alarmed, and her father, who had been a great politician and a well-known man. "florence," too, of course, though never so lively through miss roberts as through other media, but still happy though pensive, and full of advice how i was to act when i reached england again. presently a soft voice said, "aunt flo, don't you know me?" and i saw standing in front of me my niece and godchild, lilian thomas, who had died as a nun in the convent of the "dames anglaises" at bruges. she was clothed in her nun's habit, which was rather peculiar, the face being surrounded by a white cap, with a crimped border that hid all the hair, and surmounted by a white veil of some heavy woollen material which covered the head and the black serge dress. "lilian" had died of consumption, and the death-like, waxy complexion which she had had for some time before was exactly reproduced. she had not much to say for herself; indeed, we had been completely separated since she had entered the convent, but she was undoubtedly _there_. she was succeeded by my sister "emily," whom i have already so often described. and these apparitions, six in number, and all recognizable, were produced in the private room of mrs. s---and myself, and with no other person but virginia roberts, sixteen years old. it was about this time that we received an invitation to attend a private _sã©ance_ in a large house in the city, occupied by mr. and mrs. newman, who had maud lord staying with them as a visitor. maud lord's mediumship is a peculiar one. she places her sitters in a circle, holding hands. she then seats herself on a chair in the centre, and keeps on clapping her hands, to intimate that she has not changed her position. the _sã©ance_ is held in darkness, and the manifestations consist of "direct voices," _i.e._ voices that every one can hear, and by what they say to you, you must judge of their identity and truthfulness. i had only witnessed powers of this kind once before--through mrs. bassett, who is now mrs. herne--but as no one spoke to me through her whom i recognized, i have omitted to give any account of it. as soon as maud lord's sitting was fully established, i heard her addressing various members of the company, telling them who stood beside them, and i heard them putting questions to, or holding conversations with, creature who were invisible to me. the time went on, and i believed i was going to be left out of it, when i heard a voice close to my ear whisper, "arthur." at the same moment maud lord's voice sounded in my direction, saying that the lady in the brown velvet hat had a gentleman standing near her, named "arthur," who wished to be recognized. i was the only lady present in a brown velvet hat, yet i could not recall any deceased friend of the name of "arthur" who might wish to communicate with me. (it is a constant occurrence at a _sã©ance_ that the mind refuses to remember a name, or a circumstance, and on returning home, perhaps the whole situation makes itself clear, and one wonders how one could have been so dull as not to perceive it.) so i said that i knew no one in the spirit-world of that name, and maud lord replied, "well, _he_ knows _you_, at all events." a few more minutes elapsed, when i felt a touch on the third finger of my left hand, and the voice spoke again and said, "arthur! 'arthur's ring.' have you quite forgotten?" this action brought the person to my memory, and i exclaimed, "oh! johnny cope, is it you?" to explain this, i must tell my readers that when i went out to india in 1854, arthur cope of the lancers was a passenger by the same steamer; and when we landed in madras, he made me a present of a diamond ring, which i wore at that _sã©ance_ as a guard. but he was never called by anything but his nickname of "johnny," so that his real appellation had quite slipped my memory. the poor fellow died in 1856 or 1857, and i had been ungrateful enough to forget all about him, and should never have remembered his name had it not been coupled with the ring. it would have been still more remarkable, though, if maud lord, who had never seen me till that evening, had discovered an incident which happened thirty years before, and which i had completely forgotten. before i had been many days in new york, i fell ill again from exposing myself to the weather, this time with a bad throat. mrs. s---and i slept in the same room, and our sitting-room opened into the bedroom. she was indefatigable in her attentions and kindness to me during my illness, and kept running backwards and forwards from the bedroom to the sitting-room, both by night and day, to get me fresh poultices, which she kept hot on the steam stove. one evening about eleven o'clock she got out of bed in her nightdress, and went into the next room for this purpose. almost directly after she entered it, i heard a heavy fall. i called her by name, and receiving no answer, became frightened, jumped out of bed, and followed her. to my consternation, i found her stretched out, at full length, on a white bearskin rug, and quite insensible. she was a delicate woman, and i thought at first that she had fainted from fatigue; but when she showed no signs of returning consciousness, i became alarmed. i was very weak myself from my illness, and hardly able to stand, but i managed to put on a dressing-gown and summon the assistance of a lady who occupied the room next to us, and whose acquaintance we had already made. she was strong and capable, and helped me to place mrs. s---upon the sofa, where she lay in the same condition. after we had done all we could think of to bring her to herself without effect, the next-door lady became frightened. she said to me, "i don't like this. i think we ought to call in a doctor. supposing she were to die without regaining consciousness." i replied, "i should say the same, excepting i begin to believe she has not fainted at all, but is in a trance; and in that case, any violent attempts to bring her to herself might injure her. just see how quietly she breathes, and how very young she looks." when her attention was called to this fact, the next-door lady was astonished. mrs. s----, who was a woman past forty, looked like a girl of sixteen. she was a very pretty woman, but with a dash of temper in her expression which spoiled it. now with all the passions and lines smoothed out of it, she looked perfectly lovely. so she might have looked in death. but she was not dead. she was breathing. so i felt sure that the spirit had escaped for a while and left her free. i covered her up warmly on the sofa, and determined to leave her there till the trance had passed. after a while i persuaded the next-door lady to think as i did, and to go back to her own bed. as soon as she had gone, i administered my own poultice, and sat down to watch beside my friend. the time went on until seven in the morning--seven hours she had lain, without moving a limb, upon the sofa--when, without any warning, she sat up and gazed about her. i called her by name, and asked her what she wanted; but i could see at once, by her expression, that she did not know me. presently she asked me, "who are you?" i told her. "are you kate's friend?" she said. i answered, "yes." "do you know who _i_ am?" was the next question, which, of course, i answered in the negative. mrs. s---thereupon gave me the name of a german gentleman which i had never heard before. an extraordinary scene then followed. influenced by the spirit that possessed her, mrs. s---rose and unlocked a cabinet of her own, which stood in the room, and taking thence a bundle of old letters, she selected several and read portions of them aloud to me. she then told me a history of herself and the gentleman whose spirit was speaking through her, and gave me several messages to deliver to herself the following day. it will be sufficient for me to say that this history was of so private a nature, that it was most unlikely she would have confided it to me or any one, particularly as she was a woman of a most secretive nature; but names, addresses, and even words of conversations were given, in a manner which would have left no room for doubt of their truthfulness, even if mrs. s---had not confirmed them to be facts afterwards. this went on for a long time, the spirit expressing the greatest animosity against mrs. s---all the while, and then the power seemed suddenly to be spent, and she went off to sleep again upon the sofa, waking up naturally about an hour afterwards, and very much surprised to hear what had happened to her meanwhile. when we came to consider the matter, we found that this unexpected seizure had taken place upon _the 17th of march_, the day predicted by mrs. philips four years previously as one on which a new era would commence for mrs. s----. from that time she continually went into trances, and used to predict the future for herself and others; but whether she has kept it up to this day i am unable to say, as i have heard nothing from her since i left america. that event took place on the 13th of june, 1885. we had been in the habit of spending our sunday evenings in miss roberts' _sã©ance_ room, and she begged me not to miss the last opportunity. when we arrived there, we found that the accompanist who usually played the harmonium for them was unable to be present, and miss roberts asked if i would be his substitute. i said i would, on condition that they moved the instrument on a line with the cabinet, so that i might not lose a sight of what was going on. this was accordingly done, and i commenced to play "thou art gone from my gaze." almost immediately "john powles" stepped out, dressed in uniform, and stood by the harmonium with his hand upon my shoulder. "i never was much of a singer, you know, flo," he said to me; "but if you will sing that song with me, i'll try and go through it." and he actually did sing (after a fashion) the entire two verses of the ballad, keeping his hand on my shoulder the whole time. when we came to the line, "i seek thee in vain by the meadow and stream," he stooped down and whispered in my ear, "not _quite_ in vain, flo, has it been?" i do not know if my english spiritualistic friends can "cap" this story, but in america they told me it was quite a unique performance, particularly at a public _sã©ance_, where the jarring of so many diverse influences often hinders instead of helping the manifestations. "powles" appeared to be especially strong on that occasion. towards the middle of the evening a kind of whining was heard to proceed from the cabinet; and miss roberts, who was not entranced, said, "there's a baby coming out for miss marryat." at the same time the face of little "yonnie" appeared at the opening of the curtains, but nearly level with the ground, as she was crawling out on all fours. before she had had time to advance beyond them, "powles" stepped over her and came amongst us. "oh, powles!" i exclaimed, "you used to love my little babies. do pick up that one for me that i may see it properly." he immediately returned, took up "yonnie," and brought her out into the circle on his arm. the contrast of the baby's white kind of nightgown with his scarlet uniform was very striking. he carried the child to each sitter that it might be thoroughly examined; and when he had returned "yonnie" to the cabinet, he came out again on his own account. that evening i was summoned into the cabinet myself by the medium's guide, a little italian girl, who had materialized several times for our benefit. when i entered it, i stumbled up against miss roberts' chair. there was barely room for me to stand beside it. she said to me, "is that _you_, miss marryat?" and i replied, "yes; didn't you send for me?" she said "no; i didn't send, i know nothing about it!" a voice behind me said, "_i_ sent for you!" and at the same moment two strong arms were clasped round my waist, and a man's face kissed me over my shoulder. i asked, "who are you?" and he replied, "walk out of the cabinet and you shall see." i turned round, two hands were placed upon my shoulders, and i walked back into the circle with a tall man walking behind me in that position. when i could look at him in the gaslight, i recognized my brother, frank marryat, who died in 1855, and whom i had never seen since. of course, the other spirits who were familiar with mrs. s---and myself came to wish me a pleasant voyage across the atlantic, but i have mentioned them all so often that i fear i must already have tired out the patience of my readers. but in order to be impressive it is so necessary to be explicit. all i can bring forward in excuse is, that every word i have written is the honest and unbiassed truth. here, therefore, ends the account of my experience in spiritualism up to the present moment--not, by any means, the half, nor yet _the quarter of it_, but all i consider likely to interest the general public. and those who have been interested in it may see their own friends as i have done, if they will only take the same trouble that i have done. chapter xxx. "qui bono?" my friends have so often asked me this question, that i think, before i close this book, i am justified in answering it, at all events, as far as i myself am concerned. how often have i sat, surrounded by an interested audience, who knew me too well to think me either a lunatic or a liar; and after i have told them some of the most marvellous and thrilling of my experiences, they have assailed me with these questions, "but what _is_ it? and what _good_ does it do? _what is it?_" there, my friends, i confess you stagger me! i can no more tell you what it is than i can tell you what _you_ are or what _i_ am. we know that, like topsy, we "grew." we know that, given certain conditions and favorable accessories, a child comes into this world, and a seed sprouts through the dark earth and becomes a flower; but though we know the cause and see the effect, the greatest man of science, or the greatest botanist, cannot tell you how the child is made, nor how the plant grows. neither can i (or any one) tell you _what_ the power is that enables a spirit to make itself apparent. i can only say that it can do so, and refer you to the creator of you and me and the entire universe. the commonest things the earth produces are all miracles, from the growing of a mustard seed to the expansion of a human brain. what is more wonderful than the hatching of an egg? you see it done every day. it has become so common that you regard it as an event of no consequence. you know the exact number of days the bird must sit to produce a live chicken with all its functions ready for nature's use, but you see nothing wonderful in it. all birds can do the same, and you would not waste your time in speculating on the wondrous effect of heat upon a liquid substance which turns to bone and blood and flesh and feathers. if you were as familiar with the reappearance of those who have gone before as you are with chickens, you would see nothing supernatural in their manifesting themselves to you, and nothing more miraculous than in the birth of a child or the hatching of an egg. why should it be? who has fixed the abode of the spirit after death? who can say where it dwells, or that it is not permitted to return to this world, perhaps to live in it altogether? still, however the almighty sends them, the fact remains that they come, and that thousands can testify to the fact. as to the theory advanced by some people that they are devils, sent to lure us to our destruction, that is an insult to the wisdom or mercy of an omnipotent creator. they cannot come except by his permission, just as he sends children to some people and withholds them from others. and the conversation of most of those that i have talked with is all on the side of religion, prayer, and self-sacrifice. _my_ friends, at all events, have never denied the existence of a god or a saviour. they have, on the contrary (and especially "florence"), been very quick to rebuke me for anything i may have done that was wrong, for neglect of prayer and church-going, for speaking evil of my neighbors, or any other fault. they have continually inculcated the doctrine that religion consists in unselfish love to our fellow-creatures, and in devotion to god. i do not deny that there are frivolous and occasionally wicked spirits about us. is it to be wondered at? for one spirit that leaves this world calculated to do good to his fellow-creatures, a hundred leave it who will do him harm. that is really the reason that the church discourages spiritualism. she does not disbelieve in it. she knows it to be true; but she also knows it to be dangerous. since like attracts like, the numbers of thoughtless spirits who still dwell on earth would naturally attract the numbers of thoughtless spirits who have left it, and their influence is best dispensed with. talk of devils. i have known many more devils in the flesh than out of it, and could name a number of acquaintances who, when once passed out of this world, i should steadfastly refuse to have any communication with. i have no doubt myself whatever as to _what_ it is, or that i have seen my dear friends and children as i knew them upon earth. but _how_ they come or _where_ they go, i must wait until i join them to ascertain, even if i shall do it then. the second question, however, i can more easily deal with, _what good is it?_ the only wonder to me is that people who are not stone-blind to what is going on in this world can put such a question. what good is it to have one's faith in immortality and another life confirmed in an age of freethought, scepticism and utter callousness? when i look around me and see the young men nowadays--ay, and the young women too--who believe in no hereafter, who lie down and die, like the dumb animals who cannot be made to understand the love of the dear god who created them although they feel it, i cannot think of anything calculated to do them more good than the return of a father or a mother or a friend, who could convince them by ocular demonstration that there is a future life and happiness and misery, according to the one we have led here below. "oh, but," i seem to hear some readers exclaim, "we _do_ believe in all that you say. we have been taught so from our youth up, and the bible points to it in every line." you may _think_ you believe it, my friends, and in a theoretical way you may; but you do not _realize_ it, and the whole of your lives proves it. death, instead of being the blessed portal to the life elysian, the gate of which may swing open for you any day, and admit you to eternal and unfading happiness, is a far-off misty phantom, whose approach you dread, and the sight of which in others you run away from. the majority of people avoid the very mention of death. they would not look at a corpse for anything; the sight of a coffin or a funeral or a graveyard fills them with horror; the idea of it for themselves makes them turn pale with fright. is _this_ belief in the existence of a tender father and a blessed home waiting to receive them on the other side? even professed christians experience what they term a "natural" horror at the thought of death! i have known persons of fixed religious principles who had passed their lives (apparently) in prayer, and expressed their firm belief in heaven waiting for them, fight against death with all their mortal energies, and try their utmost to baffle the disease that was sent to carry them to everlasting happiness. is this logical? it is tantamount in my idea to the pauper in the workhouse who knows that directly the gate is open to let him through, he will pass from skilly, oakum, and solitary confinement to the king's palace to enjoy youth, health, and prosperity evermore; and who, when he sees the gates beginning to unclose, puts his back and all his neighbors' backs against them to keep them shut as long as possible. death should not be a "horror" to any one; and if we knew more about it, it would cease to be so. it is the _mystery_ that appals us. we see our friends die, and no word or sign comes back to tell us that there _is_ no death, so we picture them to ourselves mouldering in the damp earth till we nearly go mad with grief and dismay. some people think me heartless because i never go near the graves of those whom i love best. why should i? i might with more reason go and sit beside a pile of their cast-off garments. i could _see_ them, and they would actually retain more of their identity and influence than the corpse which i could _not_ see. i mourn their loss just the same, but i mourn it as i should do if they had settled for life in a far distant land, from which i could only enjoy occasional glimpses of their happiness. and i may say emphatically that the greatest good spiritualism does is to remove the fear of one's own death. one can never be quite certain of the changes that circumstances may bring about, nor do i like to boast overmuch. disease and weakness may destroy the nerve i flatter myself on possessing; but i think i may say that as matters stand at present _i have no fear of death whatever_, and the only trouble i can foresee in passing through it will be to witness the distress of my friends. but when i remember all those who have gathered on the other side, and whom i firmly believe will be present to help me in my passage there, i can feel nothing but a great curiosity to pierce the mysteries as yet unrevealed to me, and a great longing for the time to come when i shall join those whom i loved so much on earth. not to be happy at once by any manner of means. i am too sinful a mortal for that, but "to work out my salvation" in the way god sees best for me, to make my own heaven or hell according as i have loved and succoured my fellow-creatures here below. yet however much i may be destined to suffer, never without hope and assistance from those whom i have loved, and never without feeling that through the goodness of god each struggle or reparation brings me near to the fruition of eternal happiness. _this_ is my belief, _this_ is the good that the certain knowledge that we can never die has done for me, and the worst i wish for anybody is that they may share it with me. "oh! though oft depressed and lonely, all my fears are laid aside, if i but remember only such as these have lived and died." the end. united states book company's announcements and new publications. *.*_the books mentioned in this list can be obtained_ to order _by any bookseller if not in stock, or will be sent by the publisher post free on receipt of price_. lovell's international series =_13. on circumstantial evidence_=--by florence marryat this is a story in which love and intrigue are the two disturbing elements. miss marryat is well-known to the readers of sentimental novels. she has a bright and crisp way of presenting the frailties of the human race, which makes her stories entertaining.--_boston herald._ cloth, $1.00. paper cover, 30 cents. =_14. miss kate, or the confessions of a caretaker_=--by rita this is a novel of much interest in the first part, of the objectionable "guilty love" order in the latter half. there are some beautiful bits of character drawing in it, and some very clever hits at american foibles. this story is exceedingly well told.--_nashville american._ cloth, $1.00. paper cover, 30 cents. =_15. a vagabond lover_=--by rita is a mere sketch. the hero having been a child who was washed on shore from a shipwreck during a storm, and found by a man who believed that he had discovered the cause and generation of life. the child was made a subject for experiment; life was breathed into it, but only physical life and not its higher principle. the result is that the child grows up to manhood without one redeeming virtue, and seems to delight in doing all manner of evil.--_philadelphia record._ cloth, $1.00. paper cover, 20 cents. _=16. the search for basil lyndhurst=_--by rosa n. carey is a well written english novel, into which are woven numerous historical sketches, adding the merit of instructiveness to its other qualities.--_pittsburgh post._ cloth, $1.00. paper cover, 30 cents. =_39. sylvia arden_=--by oswald crawfurd is a novel whose story is supposed to be told by a man who confesses at the outset that life has been with him a failure. he has been successful in nothing though trying everything--and the novel deals with the most remarkable incidents in that sort of a career. it is a cleverly done book, and there is much in it which is fresh as well as exciting.--_columbus, o., journal._ cloth, $1.00. paper cover, 30 cents. =_40. young mr. ainslie's courtship_=--by f. c. philips it seems impossible for f. c. philips, the author of "as in a looking glass," to keep sensational tragedy out of his novels. in "young mr. ainslie's courtship" he has written a story which is charming, witty? and agreeable up to the very last chapter.--_san francisco chronicle._ cloth, $1.00. paper cover, 30 cents. _=41. the haute noblesse=_--by geo. manville fenn is a well wrought story of which the heroine is a child of the high aristocracy, but nevertheless such admirable traits and qualities that even the humblest reader cannot fail to love her.--_columbus, o., journal._ cloth. $1.00. paper cover, 30 cents. =_42. mount eden_=--by florence marryat miss florence marryat is well known to the readers of sentimental novels. she has a bright and crisp way of presenting the frailties of the human race, which makes her stories entertaining, even if they are devoid of all good moral purpose. they open one's eyes to the inconsistencies of life without wholly destroying his faith in his fellow citizens.--_boston herald._ cloth, $1.00. paper cover, 30 cents. _=82. a woman's heart=_--by mrs. alexander the name of this author is familiar to all lovers of fiction who will need nothing more to assure them that they will not regret the time spent in reading "a woman's heart." it is a refined and interesting story, pleasant and easy reading, as is usual with all mrs. alexander's works. cloth, $1.00. paper cover, 50 cents. _=83. syrlin=_--by ouida the announcement of a new novel by ouida, sends a thrill of delight through the countless host of faithful admirers of that petulant priestess of mild improprieties. her new books are just like her old ones. there is the usual abundance of gilded vice and wilful wickedness lugged in to give the book its wonted flavor.--_n. o. states._ cloth, $1.00. paper cover, 50 cents. =_84. the rival princess_=--by justin mccarthy and mrs. campbell praed it is a romance of contemporary english politics wherein many well-known public men appear under thin disguises. there is a stuart princess with lineal claims to the english throne, and there is an unmasked mr. gladstone, who boldly urges the abolition of the house of lords.-_-charleston sunday times._ cloth, $1.00. paper cover, 50 cents. _=85. blindfold=_--by florence marryat is, in many respects, the best novel which has been given us by the prolific pen of the well-known englishwoman. the story is novel, well told, and events follow upon each other quickly, never allowing the interest to flag.--_denver news._ cloth, $1.00. paper cover, 50 cents. united states book company, publishers, n. y. transcriber's notes: text that was written in bold is marked =like this=. page 4, "marryatt" changed to "marryat" (normalising spelling of author's name) page 18, "nor" changed to "not" (a single medium of whom i have not) page 47, "bood" changed to "blood" (where the stain of his blood still remained) page 49, "briliant" changed to "brilliant" (a room that was unpleasantly brilliant) page 58, "tempered" changed to "tampered" (it had not been tampered with) page 61, "seing" changed to "seeing" (the possibility of seeing a "ghost,") page 127, "foreigh" changed to "foreign" (he was equally ignorant of foreign languages) page 134, "succssefully" changed to "successfully" (in order to imitate her manner and speech successfully) page 137, "gupyy" changed to "guppy" (as mrs. guppy came sailing over our heads) page 138, "it" changed to "if" (i inquired of every sitter if they had seen) page 155, "eartly" changed to "earthly" (as naturally as if she were their earthly form) page 156, "fitzgarald" changed to "fitzgerald" (mrs. fitzgerald was dining with us) page 158, "fitzgereld" changed to "fitzgerald" (returned through mrs. fitzgerald) page 176, "don" changed to "done" (perhaps, than anything else has done) page 180, added missing end single quote in probable correct place (through the life that lies before you.') page 182, "forgetten" changed to "forgotten" (i had almost forgotten mr. plummer) page 185, "mamed" changed to "named" (a photographer in london, named hudson) page 189, "instrument" changed to "instruments" (the two instruments pealed forth) page 198, "ocsion" changed to "occasion" (mr. towns prognosticated on that occasion) page 201, "conducter" changed to "conductor" ("did you know the spirit?" the conductor asked) page 220, "aquaintance" changed to "acquaintance" (soon after i made her acquaintance) page 255, "creature" changed to "creatures" (creatures who were invisible to me) page 256, "mr" changed to "mrs" (mrs. s---and i slept in the same room) page 264, "christian" changed to "christians" (even professed christians experience what they term) end catalogue, no. 13, "circumstatial" changed to "circumstantial" (on circumstantial evidence) end catalogue, no. 39, "successfu" changed to "successful" (he has been successful in nothing) n.b. 1. some punctuation corrections have not been noted here. 2. two non-matching instances of latin word: "prã´pria" and "propria". left as-is. the life everlasting a reality of romance by marie corelli author of thelma, etc. contents author's prologue i. the heroine begins her story ii. the fairy ship iii. the angel of a dream iv. a bunch of heather v. an unexpected meeting vi. recognition vii. memories viii. visions ix. doubtful destiny x. strange associations xi. one way of love xii. a love-letter xiii. the house of aselzion xiv. cross and star xv. a first lesson xvi. shadow and sound xvii. the magic book xviii. dreams within a dream xix. the unknown deep xx. into the light the life everlasting a reality of romance author's prologue in the gospels of the only divine friend this world has ever had or ever will have, we read of a voice, a 'voice in the wilderness.' there have been thousands of such voices;--most of them ineffectual. all through the world's history their echoes form a part of the universal record, and from the very beginning of time they have sounded forth their warnings or entreaties in vain. the wilderness has never cared to hear them. the wilderness does not care to hear them now. why, then, do i add an undesired note to the chorus of rejected appeal? how dare i lift up my voice in the wilderness, when other voices, far stronger and sweeter, are drowned in the laughter of fools and the mockery of the profane? truly, i do not know. but i am sure that i am not moved by egotism or arrogance. it is simply out of love and pity for suffering human kind that i venture to become another voice discarded--a voice which, if heard at all, may only serve to awaken the cheap scorn and derision of the clowns of the piece. yet, should this be so, i would not have it otherwise, i have never at any time striven to be one with the world, or to suit my speech pliantly to the conventional humour of the moment. i am often attacked, yet am not hurt; i am equally often praised, and am not elated. i have no time to attend to the expression of opinions, which, whether good or bad, are to me indifferent. and whatever pain i have felt or feel, in experiencing human malice, has been, and is, in the fact that human malice should exist at all,--not for its attempted wrong towards myself. for i, personally speaking, have not a moment to waste among the mere shadows of life which are not life itself. i follow the glory,--not the gloom. so whether you, who wander in darkness of your own making, care to come towards the little light which leads me onward, or whether you prefer to turn away from me altogether into your self-created darker depths, is not my concern. i cannot force you to bear me company. god himself cannot do that, for it is his will and law that each human soul shall shape its own eternal future. no one mortal can make the happiness or salvation of another. i, like yourselves, am in the 'wilderness,'--but i know that there are ways of making it blossom like the rose! yet,--were all my heart and all my love outpoured upon you, i could not teach you the divine transfiguring charm,--unless you, equally with all your hearts and all your love, resolutely and irrevocably willed to learn. nevertheless, despite your possible indifference,--your often sheer inertia--i cannot pass you by, having peace and comfort for myself without at least offering to share that peace and comfort with you. many of you are very sad,--and i would rather you were happy. your ways of living are trivial and unsatisfactory--your so-called 'pleasant' vices lead you into unforeseen painful perplexities--your ideals of what may be best for your own enjoyment and advancement fall far short of your dreams,--your amusements pall on your over-wearied senses,--your youth hurries away like a puff of thistledown on the wind,--and you spend all your time feverishly in trying to live without understanding life. life, the first of all things, the essence of all things,--life which is yours to hold and to keep, and to re-create over and over again in your own persons,--this precious jewel you throw away, and when it falls out of your possession by your own act, you think such an end was necessary and inevitable. poor unhappy mortals! so self-sufficient, so proud, so ignorant! like some foolish rustic, who, finding a diamond, sees no difference between it and a bit of glass, you, with the whole universe sweeping around you in mighty beneficent circles of defensive, protective and ever re-creative power,--power which is yours to use and to control--imagine that the entire cosmos is the design of mere blind unintelligent chance, and that the divine life which thrills within you serves no purpose save to lead you to death! most wonderful and most pitiful it is that such folly, such blasphemy should still prevail,--and that humanity should still ascribe to the almighty creator less wisdom and less love than that with which he has endowed his creatures. for the very first lesson in the beginning of knowledge is that life is the essential being of god, and that each individual intelligent outcome of life is deathless as god himself. the 'wilderness' is wide,--and within it we all find ourselves,--some wandering far astray--some crouching listlessly among shadows, too weary to move at all--others, sauntering along in idle indifference, now and then vaguely questioning how soon and where the journey will end,--and few ever discovering that it is not a 'wilderness' at all, but a garden of sweet sights and sounds, where every day should be a glory and every night a benediction. for when the veil of mere appearances has been lifted we are no longer deceived into accepting what seems for what is. the reality of life is happiness;--the delusion of life, which we ourselves create by improper balance and imperfect comprehension of our own powers, must needs cause sorrow, because in such self-deception we only dimly see the truth, just as a person born blind may vaguely guess at the beauty of bright day. but for the soul that has found itself, there are no more misleading lights or shadows between its own everlastingness and the everlastingness of god. all the world over there are religions of various kinds, more or less suited to the various types and races of humanity. most of these forms of faith have been evolved from the brooding brain of man himself, and have nothing 'divine,' in them. in the very early ages nearly all the religious creeds were mere methods for terrorising the ignorant and the weak--and some of them were so revolting, so bloodthirsty and brutal, that one cannot now read of them without a shudder of repulsion. nevertheless, from the very first dawn of his intelligence, man appears always to have felt the necessity of believing in something stronger and more lasting than himself,--and his first gropings for truth led him to evolve desperate notions of something more cruel, more relentless, and more wicked than himself, rather than ideals of something more beautiful, more just, more faithful and more loving than he could be. the dawn of christianity brought the first glimmering suggestion that a gospel of love and pity might be more serviceable in the end to the needs of the world, than a ruthless code of slaughter and vengeance--though history shows us that the annals of christianity itself are stained with crime and shamed by the shedding of innocent blood. only in these latter days has the world become faintly conscious of the real force working behind and through all things--the soul of the divine, or the psychic element, animating and inspiring all visible and invisible nature. this soul of the divine--this psychic element, however, is almost entirely absent from the teaching of the christian creed to-day, with the result that the creed itself is losing its power. i venture to say that a very small majority of the millions of persons worshipping in the various forms of the christian church really and truly believe what they publicly profess. clergy and laity alike are tainted with this worst of all hypocrisies--that of calling god to witness their faith when they know they are faithless. it may be asked how i dare to make such an assertion? i dare, because i know! it would be impossible to the people of this or any other country to honestly believe the christian creed, and yet continue to live as they do. their lives give the lie to their avowed religion, and it is this daily spectacle of the daily life of governments, trades, professions and society which causes me to feel that the general aspect of christendom at the present day, with all its churches and solemn observances, is one of the most painful and profound hypocrisy. you who read this page,--(possibly with indignation) you call yourself a christian, no doubt. but are you? do you truly think that when death shall come to you it is really not death, but the simple transition into another and better life? do you believe in the actual immortality of your soul, and do you realise what it means? you do? you are quite sure? then, do you live as one convinced of it? are you quite indifferent to the riches and purely material advantages of this world?--are you as happy in poverty as in wealth, and are you independent of social esteem? are you bent on the very highest and most unselfish ideals of life and conduct? i do not say you are not; i merely ask if you are. if your answer is in the affirmative, do not give the lie to your creed by your daily habits, conversation and manners; for this is what thousands of professing christians do, and the clergy are by no means exempt. i know very well, of course, that i must not expect your appreciation, or even your attention, in matters purely spiritual. the world is too much with you, and you become obstinate of opinion and rooted in prejudice. nevertheless, as i said before, this is not my concern. your moods are not mine, and with your prejudices i have nothing to do. my creed is drawn from nature--nature, just, invincible, yet tender--nature, who shows us that life, as we know it now, at this very time and in this very world, is a blessing so rich in its as yet unused powers and possibilities, that it may be truly said of the greater majority of human beings that scarce one of them has ever begun to learn how to live. shakespeare, the greatest human exponent of human nature at its best and worst,--the profound thinker and artist who dealt boldly with the facts of good and evil as they truly are,--and did not hesitate to contrast them forcibly, without any of the deceptive 'half-tones' of vice and virtue which are the chief stock-in-trade of such modern authors as we may call 'degenerates,'--makes his hamlet exclaim:- "what a piece of work is man!--how noble in reason!--how infinite in faculty!--in form and moving how express and admirable!--in action how like an angel!--in apprehension how like a god!" let us consider two of these designations in particular: 'how infinite in faculty!'--and 'in apprehension how like a god!' the sentences are prophetic, like so many of shakespeare's utterances. they foretell the true condition of the soul of man when it shall have discovered its capabilities. 'infinite in faculty'--that is to say--able to do all it shall will to do. there is no end to this power,--no hindrance in either earth or heaven to its resolute working--no stint to the life-supplies on which it may draw unceasingly. and--'in apprehension how like a god!' here the word 'apprehension' is used in the sense of attaining knowledge,--to learn, or to 'apprehend' wisdom. it means, of course, that if the soul's capability of 'apprehending' or learning the true meaning and use of every fact and circumstance which environs its existence, were properly perceived and applied, then the 'image of god' in which the creator made humanity, would become the veritable likeness of the divine. but, as this powerful and infinite faculty of apprehension is seldom if ever rightly understood, and as man generally concentrates his whole effort upon ministering to his purely material needs, utterly ignoring and wilfully refusing to realise those larger claims which are purely spiritual, he presents the appearance of a maimed and imperfect object,--a creature who, having strong limbs, declines to use the same, or who, possessing incalculable wealth, crazily considers himself a pauper. jesus christ, whom we may look upon as a human incarnation of divine thought, an outcome and expression of the 'word' or law of god, came to teach us our true position in the scale of the great creative and progressive purpose,--but in the days of his coming men would not listen,--nor will they listen even now. they say with their mouths, but they do not believe with their hearts, that he rose from the dead,--and they cannot understand that, as a matter of fact, he never died, seeing that death for him (as for all who have mastered the inward constitution and commingling of the elements) was impossible. his real life was not injured or affected by the agony on the cross, or by his three days' entombment; the one was a torture to his physical frame, which to the limited perception of those who watched him 'die,' as they thought, appeared like a dissolution of the whole man,--the other was the mere rest and silence necessary for what is called the 'miracle' of the resurrection, but which was simply the natural rising of the same body, the atoms of which were re-invested and made immortal by the imperishable spirit which owned and held them in being. the whole life and so-called 'death' of christ was and is a great symbolic lesson to mankind of the infinite power of that within us which we call soul,--but which we may perhaps in these scientific days term an eternal radio-activity,--capable of exhaustless energy and of readjustment to varying conditions. life is all life. there is no such thing as death in its composition,--and the intelligent comprehension of its endless ways and methods of change and expression, is the secret of the universe. it appears to be generally accepted that we are not to know this secret,--that it is too vast and deep for our limited capacities,--and that even if we did know it, it would be of no use to us, as we are bound hard and fast by certain natural and elemental laws over which we have no control. old truisms are re-stated and violently asserted--namely, that our business is merely to be born, to live, breed and arrange things as well as we can for those who come after us, and then to die, and there an end,--a stupid round of existence not one whit higher than that of the silkworm. is it for such a monotonous, commonplace way of life and purpose as this, that humanity has been endowed with 'infinite faculty'? is it for such poor aims and ends as these that we are told in the legended account of the beginning of things, to 'replenish the earth and subdue it'? there is great meaning in that command--'subdue it!' the business of each one of us who has come into the knowledge and possession of his or her own soul, is to 'subdue' the earth,--that is, to hold it and all it contains under subjection,--not to allow its forces, whether interior or exterior, to subdue the soul. but it may perhaps be said:--"we do not yet understand all the forces with which we have to contend, and in this way they master us." that may be so,--but if it is so with any of you, it is quite your own fault. your own fault, i say,--for there is no power, human or divine, that compels you to remain in ignorance. each one of you has a master--talisman and key to all locked doors. no state education can do for you what you might do for yourselves, if you only had the will. it is your own choice entirely if you elect to live in subjection to the earth, instead of placing the earth under subjection to your dominance. then, again, you have been told to 'replenish the earth'--as well as to subdue it. in these latter days, through a cupidity as amazing as criminal, you are not 'replenishing' so much as impoverishing the earth, and think you that no interest will be exacted for your reckless plunder? you mistake! you complain of the high taxes imposed upon you by your merely material and ephemeral governments,--but you forget that the everlasting government of all worlds demands an even higher rate of compensation for such wrong or injurious uses as you make of this world, which was and is intended to serve as a place of training for the development and perfection of the whole human race, but which, owing to personal greed and selfishness, is too often turned into a mere grave for the interment of faulty civilisations. in studying the psychic side of life it should be well and distinctly understood that there is an ever living spirit within each one of us;--a spirit for which there is no limited capacity and no unfavourable surroundings. its capacity is infinite as god,--and its surroundings are always made by itself. it is its own heaven,--and once established within that everlasting centre, it radiates from the inward to the outward, thus making its own environment, not only now but for ever. it is its own life,--and in the active work of perpetually re-generating and re-creating itself, knows nothing of death. * * * * * * i must now claim the indulgence of those among my readers who possess the rare gift of patience, for anything that may seem too personal in the following statement which i feel it almost necessary to make on the subject of my own "psychic" creed. i am so often asked if i believe this or that, if i am "orthodox," if i am a sceptic, materialist or agnostic, that i should like, if possible, to make things clear between myself and these enquirers. therefore i may say at once that my belief in god and the immortality of the soul is absolute,--but that i did not attain to the faith i hold without hard training and bitter suffering. this need not be dwelt upon, being past. i began to write when i was too young to know anything of the world's worldly ways, and when i was too enthusiastic and too much carried away by the splendour and beauty of the spiritual ideal to realise the inevitable derision and scorn which are bound to fall upon untried explorers into the mysteries of the unseen; yet it was solely on account of a strange psychical experience which chanced to myself when i stood upon the threshold of what is called 'life' that i found myself producing my first book, "a romance of two worlds." it was a rash experiment, but it was the direct result of an initiation into some few of the truths behind the veil of the seeming real. i did not then know why i was selected for such an 'initiation'--and i do not know even now. it arose quite naturally out of a series of ordinary events which might happen to anyone. i was not compelled or persuaded into it, for, being alone in the world and more or less friendless, i had no opportunity to seek advice or assistance from any person as to the course of life or learning i should pursue. and i learned what i did learn because of my own unwavering intention and will to be instructed. i should here perhaps explain the tenor of the instruction which was gradually imparted to me in just such measures of proportion as i was found to be receptive. the first thing i was taught was how to bring every feeling and sense into close union with the spirit of nature. nature, i was told, is the reflection of the working-mind of the creator--and any opposition to that working-mind on the part of any living organism it has created cannot but result in disaster. pursuing this line of study, a wonderful vista of perpetual revealment was opened to me. i saw how humanity, moved by gross egoism, has in every age of the world ordained laws and morals for itself which are the very reverse of nature's teaching--i saw how, instead of helping the wheel of progress and wisdom onward, man reverses it by his obstinacy and turns it backward even on the very point of great attainment--and i was able to perceive how the sorrows and despairs of the world are caused by this one simple fact--man working against nature--while nature, ever divine and invincible, pursues her god-appointed course, sweeping her puny opponents aside and inflexibly carrying out her will to the end. and i learned how true it is that if man went with her instead of against her, there would be no more misunderstanding of the laws of the universe, and that where there is now nothing but discord, all would be divinest harmony. my first book, "a romance of two worlds," was an eager, though crude, attempt to explain and express something of what i myself had studied on some of these subjects, though, as i have already said, my mind was unformed and immature, and, therefore, i was not permitted to disclose more than a glimmering of the light i was beginning to perceive. my own probation--destined to be a severe one--had only just been entered upon; and hard and fast limits were imposed on me for a certain time. i was forbidden, for example, to write of radium, that wonderful 'discovery' of the immediate hour, though it was then, and had been for a long period, perfectly well known to my instructors, who possessed all the means of extracting it from substances as yet undreamed of by latter-day scientists. i was only permitted to hint at it under the guise of the word 'electricity'--which, after all, was not so much of a misnomer, seeing that electric force displays itself in countless millions of forms. my "electric theory of the universe" in the "romance of two worlds" foreran the utterance of the scientist who in the "hibbert journal" for january, 1905, wrote as follows:--"the last years have seen the dawn of a revolution in science as great as that which in the sphere of religion overthrew the many gods and crowned the one. matter, as we have understood it, there is none, nor probably anywhere the individual atom. the so-called atoms are systems of electronic corpuscles, bound together by their mutual forces too firmly for any human contrivance completely to sunder them,--alike in their electric composition, differing only in the rhythms of their motion. electricity is all things, and all things are electric." this was precisely my teaching in the first book i ever wrote. i was ridiculed for it, of course,--and i was told that there was no 'spiritual' force in electricity. i differ from this view; but 'radio-activity' is perhaps the better, because the truer term to employ in seeking to describe the germ or embryo of the soul, for--as scientists have proved--"radium is capable of absorbing from surrounding bodies some unknown form of energy which it can render evident as heat and light." this is precisely what the radio-activity in each individual soul of each individual human being is ordained to do,--to absorb an 'unknown form of energy which it can render evident as heat and light.' heat and light are the composition of life;--and the life which this radio-activity of soul generates in itself and of itself, can never die. or, as i wrote in "a romance of two worlds "--"like all flames, this electric (or radiant) spark can either be fanned into a fire, or allowed to escape in air,--it can never be destroyed." and again, from the same book: "all the wonders of nature are the result of light and heat alone." paracelsus, as early as about 1526, made guarded mention of the same substance or quality, describing it thus:--"the more of the humour of life it has, the more of the spirit of life abounds in that life." though truly this vital radio-active force lacks all fitting name. to material science radium, or radium chloride, is a minute salt crystal, so rare and costly to obtain that it may be counted as about three thousand times the price of gold in the market. but of the action of pure radium, the knowledge of ordinary scientific students is nil. they know that an infinitely small spark of radium salt will emit heat and light continuously without any combustion or change in its own structure. and i would here quote a passage from a lecture delivered by one of our prominent scientists in 1904. "details concerning the behaviour of several radio-active bodies were detected, as, for example, their activity was not constant; it gradually grew in strength, but the grown portion of the activity could be blown away, and the blown away part retained its activity only for a time. it decayed in a few days or weeks,--whereas the radium rose in strength again at the same rate that the other decayed. and so on constantly. it was as if a new form of matter was constantly being produced, and as if the radio-activity was a concomitant of the change of form. it was also found that radium kept on producing heat de novo so as to keep itself always a fraction of a degree above the surrounding temperature; also that it spontaneously produced electricity." does this teach no lesson on the resurrection of the dead? of the 'blown away part' which decays in a few days or weeks?--of the 'radia' or 'radiance' of the soul, rising in strength again at the same rate that the other, the body, or 'grown portion of the activity,' decays? of the 'new form of matter' and the 'radio-activity as a concomitant of the change of form'? does not science here almost unwittingly verify the words of st. paul:--"it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body"? there is nothing impossible or 'miraculous' in such a consummation, even according to modern material science,--it is merely the natural action of pure radio-activity or that etherical composition for which we have no name, but which we have vaguely called the soul for countless ages. to multitudes of people this expression 'the soul' has become overfamiliar by constant repetition, and conveys little more than the suggestion of a myth, or the hint of an imaginary existence. now there is nothing in the whole universe so real as the vital germ of the actual form and being of the living, radiant, active creature within each one of us,--the creature who, impressed and guided by our free will, works out its own delight or doom. the will of each man or woman is like the compass of a ship,--where it points, the ship goes. if the needle directs it to the rocks, there is wreck and disaster,--if to the open sea, there is clear sailing. god leaves the will of man at perfect liberty. his divine love neither constrains nor compels. we must ourselves learn the ways of right and wrong, and having learned, we must choose. we must injure ourselves. god will not injure us. we invite our own miseries. god does not send them. the evils and sorrows that afflict mankind are of mankind's own making. even in natural catastrophes, which ruin cities and devastate countries, it is well to remember that nature, which is the material expression of the mind of god, will not tolerate too long a burden of human iniquity. nature destroys what is putrescent; she covers it up with fresh earth on which healthier things may find place to grow. i tried to convey some hint of these truths in my "romance of two worlds." some few gave heed,--others wrote to me from all parts of the world concerning what they called my 'views' on the subjects treated of,--some asked to be 'initiated' into my 'experience' of the unseen,--but many of my correspondents (i say it with regret) were moved by purely selfish considerations for their own private and particular advancement, and showed, by the very tone of their letters, not only an astounding hypocrisy, but also the good opinion they entertained of their own worthiness, their own capabilities, and their own great intellectuality, forgetful of the words:--"except ye become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." now the spirit of a little child is receptive and trustful. it has no desire for argument, and it is instinctively confident that it will not be led into unnecessary difficulty or danger by its responsible guardians. this is the spirit in which, if we are sincere in our seeking for knowledge, we should and must approach the deeper psychological mysteries of nature. but as long as we interpose the darkness of personal doubt and prejudice between ourselves and the light eternal no progress can be made,--and every attempt to penetrate into the holy of holies will be met and thrust back by that 'flaming sword' which from the beginning, as now, turns every way to guard the tree of life. knowing this, and seeing that self was the stumbling-block with most of my correspondents, i was anxious to write another book at once, also in the guise of a romance, to serve as a little lamp of love whereby my readers might haply discover the real character of the obstacle which blocked their way to an intelligent soul-advancement. but the publisher i had at the time (the late mr. george bentley) assured me that if i wrote another 'spiritualistic' book, i should lose the public hearing i had just gained. i do not know why he had formed this opinion, but as he was a kindly personal friend, and took a keen interest in my career, never handing any manuscript of mine over to his 'reader,' but always reading it himself, i felt it incumbent upon me, as a young beginner, to accept the advice which i knew could only be given with the very best intentions towards me. to please him, therefore, and to please the particular public to which he had introduced me, i wrote something entirely different,--a melodramatic tale entitled: "vendetta: the story of one forgotten." the book made a certain stir, and mr. bentley next begged me to try 'a love-story, pur et simple' (i quote from his own letter). the result was my novel of "thelma," which achieved a great popular success and still remains a favourite work with a large majority of readers. i then considered myself free to move once more upon the lines which my study of psychic forces had convinced me were of pre-eminent importance. and moved by a strong conviction that men and women are hindered from attaining their full heritage of life by the obstinate interposition of their merely material selves, i wrote "ardath: the story of a dead self." the plan of this book was partially suggested by the following passages from the second apocryphal book of esdras:-"go into a field of flowers where no house is builded. and pray unto the highest continually, then will i come and talk with thee. so i went my way into the field which is called ardath, like as he commanded me, and there i sat among the flowers." in this field the prophet sees the vision of a woman. "and it came to pass while i was talking with her, behold her face upon a sudden shined exceedingly and her countenance glistened, so that i was afraid of her and mused what it might be. and i looked, and behold the woman appeared unto me no more, but there was a city builded, and a large place showed itself from the foundations." on this i raised the fabric of my own "dream city," and sought to elucidate some of the meaning of that great text in ecclesiastes which contains in itself all the philosophy of the ages: "that which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and god requireth that which is past." the book, however, so my publisher mr. bentley told me in a series of letters which i still possess, and which show how keen was his own interest in my work, was 'entirely over the heads of the general public.' his opinion was, no doubt, correct, as "ardath" still remains the least 'popular' of any book i have ever written. nevertheless it brought me the unsought and very generous praise of the late poet laureate, alfred lord tennyson, as well as the equally unsought good opinion and personal friendship of the famous statesman, william ewart gladstone, while many of the better-class literary journals vied with one another in according me an almost enthusiastic eulogy. such authorities as the "athenaeum" and "spectator" praised the whole conception and style of the work, the latter journal going as far as to say that i had beaten beckford's famous "vathek" on its own ground. whatever may now be the consensus of opinion on its merits or demerits, i know and feel it to be one of my most worthy attempts, even though it is not favoured by the million. it does not appeal to anything 'of the moment' merely, because there are very few people who can or will understand that if the soul or 'radia' of a human being is so forgetful of its highest origin as to cling to its human self only (events the hero of "ardath" clung to the shadow of his former self and to the illusory pictures of that former self's pleasures and vices and vanities) then the way to the eternal happier progress is barred. there is yet another intention in this book which seems to be missed by the casual reader, namely,--that each human soul is a germ of separate and individual spiritual existence. even as no two leaves are exactly alike on any tree, and no two blades of grass are precisely similar, so no two souls resemble each other, but are wholly different, endowed with different gifts and different capacities. individuality is strongly insisted upon in material nature. and why? because material nature is merely the reflex or mirror of the more strongly insistent individuality of psychic form. again, psychic form is generated from a divinely eternal psychic substance,--a 'radia' or emanation of god's own being which, as it progresses onward through endless aeons of constantly renewed vitality, grows more and more powerful, changing its shape often, but never its everlasting composition and quality. therefore, all the experiences of the 'soul' or psychic form, from its first entrance into active consciousness, whether in this world or in other worlds, are attracted to itself by its own inherent volition, and work together to make it what it is now and what it will be hereafter. that is what "ardath: the story of a dead self" seeks to explain, and i have nothing to take back from what i have written in its pages. in its experimental teaching it is the natural and intended sequence of "a romance of two worlds," and was meant to assist the studies of the many who had written to me asking for help. and despite the fact that some of these persons, owing to an inherent incapacity for concentrated thought upon any subject, found it too 'difficult' as they said, for casual reading, its reception was sufficiently encouraging to decide me on continuing to press upon public attention the theories therein set forth. "the soul of lilith" was, therefore, my next venture,--a third link in the chain i sought to weave between the perishable materialism of our ordinary conceptions of life, and the undying spiritual quality of life as it truly is. in this i portrayed the complete failure that must inevitably result from man's prejudice and intellectual pride when studying the marvellous mysteries of what i would call the further world,--that is to say, the 'soul' of the world which is hidden deeply behind its external appearance,--and how impossible it is and ever must be that any 'soul' should visibly manifest itself where there is undue attachment to the body. the publication of the book was a very interesting experience. it was and is still less 'popular' than "ardath"--but it has been gladly welcomed by a distinctly cultured minority of persons famous in art, science and literature, whose good opinion is well worth having. with this reward i was perfectly content, but my publisher was not so easily pleased. he wanted something that would 'sell' better. to relieve his impatience, therefore, i wrote a more or less 'sensational' novel dealing with the absinthe drinkers of paris, entitled "wormwood," which did a certain amount of good in its way, by helping to call public attention to the devastation wrought by the use of the pernicious drug among the french and other continental peoples--and after this, receiving a strong and almost imperative impetus towards that particular goal whither my mind was set, i went to work again with renewed vigour on my own favourite and long studied line of argument, indifferent alike to publisher or public. filled with the fervour of a passionate and proved faith, i wrote "barabbas: a dream of the world's tragedy,"--and this was the signal of separation from my excellent old friend, george bentley, who had not the courage to publish a poetic romance which introduced, albeit with a tenderness and reverence unspeakable, so far as my own intention was concerned, the crucifixion and resurrection of christ. he wrote to me expressing his opinion in these terms:--"i can conscientiously praise the power and feeling you exhibit for your vast subject, and the rush and beauty of the language, and above all i feel that the book is the genuine outcome of a fervent faith all too rare in these days, but--i fear its effect on the public mind." yet, when urged to a given point in the discussion, he could not deny that 'the effect on the public mind' of the passion play at ober-ammergau is generally impressive and helpful, while he was bound to admit that there was something to be said for the introduction of divine personages in the epic romances of milton and dante. what could be written in poetic verse did not, however, seem to him suitable for poetic prose, and i did not waste words in argument, as i knew the time had come for the parting of the ways. i sought my present publisher, mr. methuen, who, being aware, from a business point of view, that i had now won a certain reputation, took "barabbas" without parley. it met with an almost unprecedented success, not only in this country but all over the world. within a few months it was translated into every known european language, inclusive even of modern greek, and nowhere perhaps has it awakened a wider interest than in india, where it is published in hindustani, gujarati, and various other eastern dialects. its notable triumph was achieved despite a hailstorm of abuse rattled down upon me by the press,--a hailstorm which i, personally, found welcome and refreshing, inasmuch as it cleared the air and cleaned the road for my better wayfaring. it released me once and for all from the trammels of such obligation as is incurred by praise, and set me firmly on my feet in that complete independence which to me (and to all who seek what i have found) is a paramount necessity. for, as thomas a kempis writes: "whosoever neither desires to please men nor fears to displease them shall enjoy much peace." i took my freedom gratefully, and ever since that time of unjust and ill-considered attack from persons who were too malignantly minded to even read the work they vainly endeavoured to destroy, have been happily indifferent to all so-called 'criticism' and immune from all attempts to interrupt my progress or turn me back upon my chosen way. from henceforth i recognised that no one could hinder or oppose me but myself--and that i had the making, tinder god, of my own destiny. i followed up "barabbas" as quickly as possible by "the sorrows of satan," thus carrying out the preconceived intention i had always had of depicting, first, the martyrdom which is always the world's guerdon to absolute good,--and secondly, the awful, unimaginable torture which must, by divine law, for ever be the lot of absolute evil. the two books carried their message far and wide with astonishing success and swiftness, and i then drew some of my threads of former argument together in "the master christian," wherein i depicted christ as a child, visiting our world again as it is to-day and sorrowfully observing the wickedness which men practise in his name. this book was seized upon by thousands of readers in all countries of the world with an amazing avidity which proved how deep was the longing for some clear exposition of faith that might console as well as command,--and after its publication i decided to let it take its own uninterrupted course for a time and to change my own line of work to lighter themes, lest i should be set down as 'spiritualist' or 'theosophist,' both of which terms have been brought into contempt by tricksters. so i played with my pen, and did my best to entertain the public with stories of everyday life and love, such as the least instructed could understand, and that i now allude to the psychological side of my work is merely to explain that these six books, namely: "a romance of two worlds," "ardath: the story of a dead self," "the soul of lilith," "barabbas," "the sorrows of satan" and "the master christian" are the result of a deliberately conceived plan and intention, and are all linked together by the one theory. they have not been written solely as pieces of fiction for which i, the author, am paid by the publisher, or you, the reader, are content to be temporarily entertained,--they are the outcome of what i myself have learned, practised and proved in the daily experiences, both small and great, of daily life. you may probably say and you probably will say--"what does that matter to us? we do not care a jot for your 'experiences'--they are transcendental and absurd--they bore us to extinction." nevertheless, quite callous as you are or may be, there must come a time when pain and sorrow have you in their grip--when what you call 'death' stands face to face with you, and when you will find that all you have thought, desired or planned for your own pleasure, and all that you possess of material good or advantage, vanishes like smoke, leaving nothing behind,--when the world will seem no more than a small receding point from which you must fall into the unknown--and when that "dread of something after death, the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveller returns, puzzles the will." you have at present living among you a great professing scientist, dr. oliver lodge, who, wandering among mazy infinities, conceives it even possible to communicate with departed spirits,--while i, who have no such weight of worldly authority and learning behind me, tell you that such a thing is out of all natural law and therefore can never be. nature can and will unveil to us many mysteries that seem super-natural, when they are only manifestations of the deepest centre of the purest natural--but nothing can alter divine law, or change the system which has governed the universe from the beginning. and by this divine law and system we have to learn that the so-called 'dead' are not dead--they have merely been removed to fresh life and new spheres of action, under which circumstances they cannot possibly hold communication with us in any way unless they again assume the human form and human existence. in this case (which very frequently happens) it takes not only time for us to know them, but it also demands a certain instinctive receptiveness on our parts, or willingness to recognise them. even the risen saviour was not at first recognised by his own disciples. it is because i have been practically convinced of this truth, and because i have learned that life is not and never can be death, but only constant change and reinvestment of spirit into form, that i have presumed so far as to allude to my own faith and experience,--a 'personal' touch for which i readily apologise, knowing that it cannot be interesting to the majority who would never take the trouble to shape their lives as i seek to shape mine. still, if there are one or two out of a million who feel as i do, that life and love are of little worth if they must end in dark nothingness, these may perhaps have the patience to come with me through the pages of a narrative which is neither 'incidental' nor 'sensational' nor anything which should pertain to the modern 'romance' or 'novel,' and which has been written because the writing of it enforced itself upon me with an insistence that would take no denial. perhaps there will be at least one among those who turn over this book, who will be sufficiently interested in the psychic--that is to say the immortal and, therefore, the only real side of life--to give a little undivided attention to the subject. to that one i address myself and say: will you, to begin with, drop your burden of preconceived opinions and prejudices, whatever they are? will you set aside the small cares and trifles that affect your own material personality? will you detach yourself from your own private and particular surroundings for a space and agree to think with me? thinking is, i know, the hardest of all hard tasks to the modern mind. but if you would learn, you must undertake this trouble. if you would find the path which is made fair and brilliant by the radiance of the soul's imperishable summer, you must not grudge time. if i try, no matter how inadequately, to show you something of the mystic power that makes for happiness, do not shut your eyes in scorn or languor to the smallest flash of light through your darkness which may help you to a mastery of the secret. i say again--will you think with me? will you, for instance, think of life? what is it? of death? what is it? what is the primary object of living? what is the problem solved by dying? all these questions should have answer,--for nothing is without a meaning,--and nothing ever has been, or ever will be, without a purpose? in this world, apparently, and according to our surface knowledge of all physical and mental phenomena, it would seem that the chief business of humanity is to continually re-create itself. man exists--in his own opinion--merely to perpetuate man. all the wonders of the earth, air, fire and water,--all the sustenance drawn from the teeming bosom of nature,--all the progress of countless civilisations in ever recurring and repeated processional order,--all the sciences old and new,--are solely to nourish, support, instruct, entertain and furnish food and employment for the tiny two-legged imp of chance, spawned (as he himself asserts) out of gas and atoms. yet,--as he personally declares, through the mouth of his modern science,--he is not of real importance withal. the little planet on which he dwells would, to all seeming, move on in its orbit in the same way as it does now, without him. in itself it is a pigmy world compared with the rest of the solar system of which it is a part. nevertheless, the fact cannot be denied that his material surroundings are of a quality tending to either impress or to deceive man with a sense of his own value. the world is his oyster which he, with the sword of enterprise, will open,--and all his natural instincts urge him to perpetuate himself in some form or other incessantly and without stint. why? why is his existence judged to be necessary? why should he not cease to be? trees would grow, flowers would bloom, birds would sing, fish would glide through the rivers and the seas,--the insect and animal tribes of field and forest would enjoy their existence unmolested, and the great sun would shine on ever the same, rising at dawn, sinking at even, with unbroken exactitude and regularity if man no longer lived. why have the monstrous forces of evolution thundered their way through cycles of creation to produce so infinitesimal a prodigy? till this question is answered, so long must life seem at its best but vague and unsatisfactory. so long over all things must brood the shadow of death made more gloomy by hopeless contemplation. so long must creation appear something of a cruel farce, for which peoples and civilisations come into being merely to be destroyed and leave no trace. all the work futile,--all the education useless,--all the hope vain. only when men and women learn that their lives are not infinitesimal but infinite--that each of them possesses within himself or herself an eternal, active, conscious individual force,--a being--a form--which in its radio-active energy draws to itself and accommodates to its use, everything that is necessary for the accomplishment of its endeavours, whether such endeavours be to continue its life on this planet or to remove to other spheres; only then will it be clearly understood that all nature is the subject and servant of this radiant energy--that itself is the god-like 'image' or emanation of god, and that as such it has its eternal part to perform in the eternal movement towards the eternal highest. i now leave the following pages to the reader's attentive or indifferent consideration. to me, as i have already stated, outside opinion is of no moment. personally speaking, i should perhaps have preferred, had it been possible, to set forth the incidents narrated in the ensuing 'romance' in the form of separate essays on the nature of the mystic tuition and experience through which some of us in this workaday world have the courage to pass successfully, but i know that the masses of the people who drift restlessly to and fro upon the surface of this planet, ever seeking for comfort in various forms of religion and too often finding none, will not listen to any spiritual truth unless it is conveyed to them, as though they were children, in the form of a 'story.' i am not the heroine of the tale--though i have narrated it (more or less as told to me) in the first person singular, because it seemed to me simpler and more direct. she to whom the perfect comprehension of happiness has come with an equally perfect possession of love, is one out of a few who are seeking what she has found. many among the world's greatest mystics and philosophers have tried for the prizes she has won,--for the world possesses plato, the bible and christ, but in its apparent present ways of living has learned little or nothing from the three, so that other would-be teachers may well despair of carrying persuasion where such mighty predecessors have seemingly failed. the serious and real things of life are nowadays made subjects for derision rather than reverence;--then, again, there is unhappily an alarmingly increasing majority of weak-minded and degenerate persons, born of drunken, diseased or vicious parents, who are mentally unfit for the loftier forms of study, and in whom the mere act of thought-concentration would be dangerous and likely to upset their mental balance altogether; while by far the larger half of the social community seek to avoid the consideration of anything that is not exactly suited to their tastes. some of our most respected social institutions are nothing but so many self-opinionated and unconscious oppositions to the law of nature which is the law of god,--and thus it often happens that when obstinate humanity persists in considering its own ideas of right and wrong superior to the eternal decrees which have been visibly presented through nature since the earliest dawn of creation, a faulty civilisation sets in and is presently swept back upon its advancing wheels, and forced to begin again with primal letters of learning. in the same way a faulty soul, an imperfect individual spirit, is likewise compelled to return to school and resume the study of the lessons it has failed to put into practice. nevertheless, people cannot bear to have it plainly said or written down, as it has been said and written down over and over again any time since the world began, that all the corrupt government, wars, slaveries, plagues, diseases and despairs that afflict humanity are humanity's own sins taking vengeance upon the sinners, 'even unto the third and fourth generation.' and this not out of divine cruelty, but because of divine law which from the first ordained that evil shall slay itself, leaving room only for good. men and women alike will scarce endure to read any book which urges this unalterable fact upon their attention. they pronounce the author 'arrogant' or 'presuming to lay down the law';--and they profess to be scandalised by an encounter with honesty. nevertheless, the faithful writer of things as they are will not be disturbed by the aspect of things as they seem. spirit,--the creative essence of all that is,--works in various forms, but always on an ascending plane, and it invariably rejects and destroys whatever interrupts that onward and upward progress. being in itself the radiant outflow of the mind of god, it is the life of the universe. and it is very needful to understand and to remember that there is nothing which can properly be called super-natural, or above nature, inasmuch as this eternal spirit of energy is in and throughout all nature. therefore, what to the common mind appears miraculous or impossible, is nevertheless actually ordinary, and only seems extra-ordinary to the common mind's lack of knowledge and experience. the fountain of youth and the elixir of life were dreams of the ancient mystics and scientists, but they are not dreams to-day. to the soul that has found them they are divine realities. marie corelli "there is no death, what seems so is transition." i the heroine begins her story it is difficult at all times to write or speak of circumstances which though perfectly at one with nature appear to be removed from natural occurrences. apart from the incredulity with which the narration of such incidents is received, the mere idea that any one human creature should be fortunate enough to secure some particular advantage which others, through their own indolence or indifference, have missed, is sufficient to excite the envy of the weak or the anger of the ignorant. in all criticism it is an understood thing that the subject to be criticised must be under the critic, never above,--that is to say, never above the critic's ability to comprehend; therefore, as it is impossible that an outsider should enter at once into a clear understanding of the mystic spiritual-nature world around him, it follows that the teachings and tenets of that spiritual-nature world must be more or less a closed book to such an one,--a book, moreover, which he seldom cares or dares to try and open. in this way and for this reason the eastern philosophers and sages concealed much of their most profound knowledge from the multitude, because they rightly recognised the limitations of narrow minds and prejudiced opinions. what the fool cannot learn he laughs at, thinking that by his laughter he shows superiority instead of latent idiocy. and so it has happened that many of the greatest discoveries of science, though fully known and realised in the past by the initiated few, were never disclosed to the many until recent years, when 'wireless telegraphy' and 'light-rays' are accepted facts, though these very things were familiar to the egyptian priests and to that particular sect known as the 'hermetic brethren,' many of whom used the 'violet ray' for chemical and other purposes ages before the coming of christ. wireless telegraphy was also an ordinary method of communication between them, and they had their 'stations' for it in high towers on certain points of land as we have now. but if they had made their scientific attainments known to the multitude of their day they would have been judged as impostors or madmen. in the time of galileo men would not believe that the earth moved round the sun,--and if anyone had then declared that messages could be sent from one ship to another in mid-ocean without any visible means of communication, he would probably have been put to torture and death as a sorcerer and deliberate misleader of the public. in the same way those who write of spiritual truths and the psychic control of our life-forces are as foolishly criticised as galileo, and as wrongfully condemned. for hundreds of years man's vain presumption and belief in his own infallibility caused him to remain in error concerning the simplest elements of astronomy, which would have taught him the true position of the sphere upon which he dwells. with precisely equal obstinacy man lives to-day in ignorance of his own highest powers because he will not take the trouble to study the elements of that supreme and all-commanding mental science which would enable him to understand his own essential life and being, and the intention of his creator with regard to his progress and betterment. therefore, in the face of his persistent egotism and effrontery, and his continuous denial of the 'superhuman' (which denial is absurdly incongruous seeing that all his religions are built up on a 'superhuman' basis), it is generally necessary for students of psychic mysteries to guard the treasures of their wisdom from profane and vulgar scorn,--a scorn which amounts in their eyes to blasphemy. for centuries it has been their custom to conceal the tenets of their creed from the common knowledge for the sake of conventions; because they would, or might, be shut out from such consolations as human social intercourse can give if their spiritual attainments were found to be, as they often are, beyond the ordinary. thus they move through the world with the utmost caution, and instead of making a display of their powers they, if they are true to their faith, studiously deny the idea that they have any extraordinary or separate knowledge. they live as spectators of the progress or decay of nations, and they have no desire to make disciples, converts or confidants. they submit to the obligations of life, obey all civil codes, and are blameless and generous citizens, only preserving silence in regard to their own private beliefs, and giving the public the benefit of their acquirements up to a certain point, but shutting out curiosity where they do not wish its impertinent eyes. to this, the creed just spoken of, i, the writer of this present narrative, belong. it has nothing whatever to do with merely human dogma,--and yet i would have it distinctly understood that i am not opposed to 'forms' of religion save where they overwhelm religion itself and allow the spirit to be utterly lost in the letter. for 'the letter killeth,--the spirit giveth life.' so far as a 'form' may make a way for truth to become manifest, i am with it,--but when it is a mere sham or show, and when human souls are lost rather than saved by it, i am opposed to it. and with all my deficiencies i am conscious that i may risk the chance of a lower world's disdain, seeing that the 'higher world without end' is open to me in its imperishable brightness and beauty, to live in both now, and for ever. no one can cast me out of that glorious and indestructible universe, for 'whithersoever i go there will be the sun and the moon, and the stars and visions and communion with the gods.' and so i will fulfil the task allotted to me, and will enter at once upon my 'story'--in which form i shall endeavour to convey to my readers certain facts which are as far from fiction as the sayings of the prophets of old,--sayings that we know have been realised by the science of to-day. every great truth has at first been no more than a dream,--that is to say, a thought, or an instinctive perception of the soul reaching after its own immortal heritage. and what the soul demands it receives. * * * * * * at a time of year when the indolent languors of an exceptionally warm summer disinclined most people for continuous hard work, and when those who could afford it had left their ordinary avocations for the joys of a long holiday, i received a pressing invitation from certain persons whom i had met by chance during one london season, to join them in a yachting cruise. my intending host was an exceedingly rich man, a widower with one daughter, a delicate and ailing creature who, had she been poor, would have been irreverently styled 'a tiresome old maid,' but who by reason of being a millionaire's sole heiress was alluded to with sycophantic tenderness by all and sundry as 'poor miss catherine.' morton harland, her father, was in a certain sense notorious for having written and published a bitter, cold and pitiless attack on religion, which was the favourite reading of many scholars and literary men, and this notable performance, together with the well accredited reports of his almost fabulous wealth, secured for him two social sets,--the one composed of such human sharks as are accustomed to swim round the plutocrat,--the other of the cynical, listless, semi-bored portion of a so-called cultured class who, having grown utterly tired of themselves, presumed that it was clever to be equally tired of god. i was surprised that such a man as he was should think of including me among his guests, for i had scarcely exchanged a dozen words with him, and my acquaintance with miss harland was restricted to a few casual condolences with her respecting the state of her health. yet it so chanced that one of those vague impulses to which we can give no name, but which often play an important part in the building up of our life-dramas, moved both father and daughter to a wish for my company. moreover, the wish was so strong that though on first receiving their invitation i had refused it, they repeated it urgently, morton harland himself pressing it upon me with an almost imperative insistence. "you want rest,"--he said, peering at me narrowly with his small hard brown eyes--"you work all the time. and to what purpose?" i smiled. "to as much purpose as anyone else, i suppose,"--i answered--"but to put it plainly, i work because i love work." the lines of his mouth grew harder. "so did i love work when i was your age,"--he said--"i thought i could carve out a destiny. so i could. i have done it. but now it's done i'm tired! i'm sick of my destiny,--the thing i carved out so cleverly,--it has the stone face of a sphinx and its eyes are blank and without meaning." i was silent. my silence seemed to irritate him, and he gave me a sharp, enquiring glance. "do you hear me?" he demanded--"if you do, i don't believe you understand!" "i hear--and i quite understand,"--i replied, quietly, "your destiny, as you have made it, is that of a rich man. and you do not care about it. i think that's quite natural." he laughed harshly. "there you are again!" he exclaimed--"up in the air and riding a theory like a witch on a broomstick! it's not natural. that's just where you're wrong! it's quite un-natural. if a man has plenty of money he ought to be perfectly happy and satisfied,--he can get everything he wants,--he can move the whole world of commerce and speculation, and can shake the tree of fortune so that the apples shall always fall at his own feet. but if the apples are tasteless there's something wrong." "not with the apples," i said. "oh, i know what you mean! you would say the fault is with me, not with fortune's fruit. you may be right. catherine says you are. poor mopish catherine!--always ailing, always querulous! come and cheer her!" "but"--i ventured to say--"i hardly know her." "that's true. but she has taken a curious fancy to you. she has very few fancies nowadays,--none that wealth can gratify. her life has been a complete disillusion. if you would do her and me a kindness, come!" i was a little troubled by his pertinacity. i had never liked morton harland. his reputation, both as a man of wealth and a man of letters, was to me unenviable. he did no particular good with his money,--and such literary talent as he possessed he squandered in attacking nobler ideals than he had ever been able to attain. he was not agreeable to look at either; his pale, close-shaven face was deeply marked by lines of avarice and cunning,--his tall, lean figure had an aggressive air in its very attitude, and his unkind mouth never failed, whether in speaking or smiling, to express a sneer. apparently he guessed the vague tenor of my thoughts, for he went on:-"don't be afraid of me! i'm not an ogre, and i shan't eat you! you think me a disagreeable man--well, so i am. i've had enough in my life to make me disagreeable. and"--here he paused, passing his hand across his eyes with a worried and impatient gesture--"i've had an unexpected blow just lately. the doctors tell me that i have a mortal disease for which there is no remedy. i may live on for several years, or i may die suddenly; it's all a matter of care--or chance. i want to forget the sad news for a while if i can. i've told catherine, and i suppose i've added to her usual burden of vapours and melancholy--so we're a couple of miserable wretches. it's not very unselfish of us to ask you to come and join us under such circumstances--" as he spoke my mind suddenly made itself up. i would go. why not? a cruise on a magnificent steam yacht, replete with every comfort and luxury, was surely a fairly pleasant way of taking a holiday, even with two invalids for company. "i'm sorry," i said, as gently as i could--"very sorry that you are ill. perhaps the doctors may be mistaken. they are not always infallible. many of their doomed patients have recovered in spite of their verdict. and--as you and miss harland wish it so much--i will certainly come." his frowning face lightened, and for a moment looked almost kind. "that's right!" he said--"the fresh air and the sea will do you good. as for ourselves, sickly people though we are, we shall not obtrude our ailments upon your attention. at least _i_ shall not. catherine may--she has got into an unfortunate habit of talking about her aches and pains, and if her acquaintances have no aches and pains to discuss with her she is at a loss for conversation. however, we shall do our best to make the time go easily with you. there will be no other company on board--except my private secretary and my attendant physician,--both decent fellows who know their place and keep it." the hard look settled again in his eyes, and his ugly mouth closed firmly in its usual cruel line. my subconscious dislike of him gave me a sharp thrust of regret that, after all, i had accepted his invitation. "i was going to scotland for a change,"--i murmured, hesitatingly. "were you? then our plans coincide. we join the yacht at rothesay--you can meet us there. i propose a cruise among the western isles--the hebrides--and possibly on to norway and its fjords. what do you say?" my heart thrilled with a sudden sense of expectant joy. in my fancy i already saw the heather-crowned summits of the highland hills, bathed in soft climbing mists of amethyst and rose,--the lovely purple light that dances on the mountain lochs at the sinking of the sun,--the exquisite beauty of wild moor and rocky foreland,--and almost i was disposed to think this antipathetic millionaire an angel of blessing in disguise. "it will be delightful!" i said, with real fervour--"i shall love it! i'm glad you are going to keep to northern seas." "northern seas are the only seas possible for summer," he replied--"with the winter one goes south, as a matter of course, though i'm not sure that it is always advisable. i have found the mediterranean tiresome very often." he broke off and seemed to lose himself for a moment in a tangle of vexed thought. then he resumed quickly:--"well, next week, then. rothesay bay, and the yacht 'diana.'" things being thus settled, we shook hands and parted. in the interval between his visit and my departure from home i had plenty to do, and i heard no more of the harlands, except that i received a little note from miss catherine expressing her pleasure that i had agreed to accompany them on their cruise. "you will be very dull, i fear,"--she wrote, kindly--"but not so dull as we should be without you." this was a gracious phrase which meant as much or as little as most such phrases of a conventionally amiable character. dulness, however, is a condition of brain and body of which i am seldom conscious, so that the suggestion of its possibility did not disturb my outlook. having resolved to go, i equally resolved to enjoy the trip to the utmost limit of my capacity for enjoyment, which--fortunately for myself--is very great. before my departure from home i had to listen, of course, to the usual croaking chorus of acquaintances in the neighbourhood who were not going yachting and who, according to their own assertion, never would on any account go yachting. there is a tendency in many persons to decry every pleasure which they have no chance of sharing, and this was not lacking among my provincial gossips. "the weather has been so fine lately that we're sure to have a break soon,"--said one--"i expect you'll meet gales at sea." "i hear," said another, "that heavy rains are threatening the west coast of scotland." "such a bore, yachting!" declared a worthy woman who had never been on a yacht in her life--"the people on board get sick of each other's company in a week!" "well, you ought to pity me very much, then!"--i said, laughing--"according to your ideas, a yachting cruise appears to be the last possible form of physical suffering that can be inflicted on any human being. but i shall hope to come safely out of it all the same!" my visitors gave me a wry smile. it was quite easy to see that they envied what they considered my good fortune in getting a holiday under the most luxurious circumstances without its costing me a penny. this was the only view they took of it. it is the only view people generally take of any situation,--namely, the financial side. the night before i left home was to me a memorable one. nothing of any outward or apparent interest happened, and i was quite alone, yet i was conscious of a singular elation of both mind and body as though i were surrounded by a vibrating atmosphere of light and joy. it was an impression that came upon me suddenly, seeming to have little or nothing to do with my own identity, yet withal it was still so personal that i felt eager to praise for such a rich inflow of happiness. the impression was purely psychic i knew,--but it was worth a thousand gifts of material good. nothing seemed sad,--nothing seemed difficult in the whole universe--every shadow of trouble seemed swept away from a shining sky of peace. i threw open the lattice window of my study and stepping out on the balcony which overhung the garden, i stood there dreamily looking out upon the night. there was no moon; only a million quivering points of light flashing from the crowded stars in a heaven of dusky blue. the air was warm, and fragrant with the sweet scent of stocks and heliotrope,--there was a great silence, for it was fully midnight, and not even the drowsy twitter of a bird broke the intense quiet. the world was asleep--or seemed so--although for fifty living organisms in nature that sleep there are a thousand that wake, to whom night is the working day. i listened,--and fancied i could hear the delicate murmuring of voices hidden among the leaves and behind the trees, and the thrill of soft music flowing towards me on the sound-waves of the air. it was one of those supreme moments when i almost thought i had made some marked progress towards the attainment of my highest aims,--when the time i had spent and the patience i had exercised in cultivating and training what may be called the inward powers of sight and hearing were about to be rewarded by a full opening to my striving spirit of the gates which had till now been only set ajar. i knew,--for i had studied and proved the truth,--that every bodily sense we possess is simply an imperfect outcome of its original and existent faculty in the soul,--that our bodily ears are only the material expressions of that spiritual hearing which is fine and keen enough to catch the lightest angel whisper,--that our eyes are but the outward semblance of those brilliant inner orbs of vision which are made to look upon the supernal glories of heaven itself without fear or flinching,--and that our very sense of touch is but a rough and uncertain handling of perishable things as compared with that sure and delicate contact of the soul's personal being with the etheric substances pertaining to itself. despite my eager expectation, however, nothing more was granted to me then but just that exquisite sensation of pure joy, which like a rain of light bathed every fibre of my being. it was enough, i told myself--surely enough!--and yet it seemed to me there should be something more. it was a promise with the fulfilment close at hand, yet undeclared,--like a snow-white cloud with the sun behind it. but i was given no solution of the rapturous mystery surrounding me,--and--granting my soul an absolute freedom, it could plunge no deeper than through the immensity of stars to immensities still more profound, there to dream and hope and wait. for years i had done this,--for years i had worked and prayed, watching the pageant of poor human pride and vanity drift past me like shadows on the shore of a dead sea,--succeeding little by little in threading my way through the closest labyrinths of life, and finding out the beautiful reasons of living;--and every now and then,--as to-night,--i had felt myself on the verge of a discovery which in its divine simplicity should make all problems clear and all difficulties easy, when i had been gently but firmly held back by a force invisible, and warned, 'thus far, and no farther!' to oppose this force or make any personal effort to rebel against it, is no part of my faith,--therefore at such moments i had always yielded instantly and obediently as i yielded now. i was not allowed to fathom the occult source of my happiness, but the happiness remained,--and when i retired to rest it was with more than ordinary gratitude that i said my usual brief prayer:--for the day that is past, i thank thee, o god my father! for the night that has come, i thank thee! as one with thee and with nature i gratefully take the rest thou hast lovingly ordained. whether i sleep or wake my body and soul are thine. do with them as thou wilt, for thy command is my joy. amen. i slept as soundly and peacefully as a child, and the next day started on my journey in the brightest of bright summer weather. a friend travelled with me--one of those amiable women to whom life is always pleasant because of the pleasantness in their own natures; she had taken a house for the season in inverness-shire, and i had arranged to join her there when my trip with the harlands was over, or rather, i should say, when they had grown weary of me and i of them. the latter chance was, thought my friend, whom i will call francesca, most likely. "there's no greater boredom,"--she declared--"than the society of an imaginative invalid. such company will not be restful to you,--it will tire you out. morton harland himself may be really ill, as he says--i shouldn't wonder if he is, for he looks it!--but his daughter has nothing whatever the matter with her,--except nerves." "nerves are bad enough,"--i said. "nerves can be conquered,"--she answered, with a bright smile of wholesome conviction--"nerves are generally--well!--just selfishness!" there was some truth in this, but we did not argue the point further. we were too much engrossed with the interests of our journey north, and with the entertainment provided for us by our fellow-travellers. the train for edinburgh and glasgow was crowded with men of that particular social class who find grouse-shooting an intelligent way of using their brain and muscle, and gun-cases cumbered the ground in every corner. it wanted yet several days to the famous twelfth of august, but the weather was so exceptionally fine and brilliant that the exodus from town had begun earlier than was actually necessary for the purposes of slaughter. francesca and i studied the faces and figures of our companions with lively and unabated interest. we had a reserved compartment to ourselves, and from its secluded privacy we watched the restless pacing up and down in the adjacent corridor of sundry male creatures who seemed to have nothing whatever to think about but the day's newspaper, and nothing to do but smoke. "i am sure," said francesca, suddenly--"that in the beginning of creation we were all beasts and birds of prey, eating each other up and tearing each other to pieces. the love of prey is in us still." "not in you, surely?" i queried, with a smile. "oh, i am not talking or thinking of myself. i'm just--a woman. so are you--a woman--and something more, perhaps--something not like the rest of us." here her kind eyes regarded me a trifle wistfully. "i can't quite make you out sometimes,--i wish i could! but--apart from you and me--look at a few of these men! one has just passed our window who has the exact physiognomy of a hawk,--cruel eyes and sharp nose like a voracious beak. another i noticed a minute ago with a perfectly pig-like face,--he does not look rightly placed on two legs, his natural attitude is on four legs, grunting with his snout in the gutter!" i laughed. "you are a severe critic, francesca!" "not i. i'm not criticising at all. but i can't help seeing resemblances. and sometimes they are quite appalling. now you, for instance,"--here she laid a hand tentatively on mine--"you, in your mysterious ideas of religion, actually believe that persons who lead evil lives and encourage evil thoughts, descend the scale from which they have risen and go back to the lowest forms of life--" "i do believe that certainly"--i answered--"but--" "'but me no buts,'"--she interrupted--"i tell you there are people in this world whom i see in the very act of descending! and it makes me grow cold!" i could well understand her feeling. i had experienced it often. nothing has ever filled me with a more hopeless sense of inadequacy and utter uselessness than to watch, as i am often compelled to watch, the deplorable results of the determined choice made by certain human beings to go backward and downward rather than forward and upward,--a choice in which no outside advice can be of any avail because they will not take it even if it is offered. it is a life-and-death matter for their own wills to determine,--and no power, human or divine, can alter the course they elect to adopt. as well expect that god would revert his law of gravitation to save the silly suicide who leaps to destruction from tower or steeple, as that he would change the eternal working of his higher spiritual law to rescue the resolved soul which, knowing the difference between good and evil, deliberately prefers evil. if an angel of light, a veritable 'son of the morning' rebels, he must fall from heaven. there is no alternative; until of his own free-will he chooses to rise again. my friend and i had often talked together on these knotty points which tangled up what should be the straightness of many a life's career, and as we mutually knew each other's opinions we did not discuss them at the moment. time passed quickly,--the train rushed farther and farther north, and by six o'clock on that warm, sunshiny afternoon we were in the grimy city of glasgow, from whence we went on to a still grimier quarter, greenock, where we put up for the night. the 'best' hotel was a sorry affair, but we were too tired to mind either a bad dinner or uncomfortable rooms, and went to bed glad of any place wherein to sleep. next morning we woke up very early, refreshed and joyous, in time to see the sun rise in a warm mist of gold over a huge man-o'-war outside greenock harbour,--a sight which, in its way, was very fine and rather suggestive of a turner picture. "dear old sol!" said francesca, shading her eyes as she looked at the dazzle of glory--"his mission is to sustain life,--and the object of that war-vessel bathed in all his golden rays is to destroy it. what unscrupulous villains men are! why cannot nations resolve on peace and amity, and if differences arise agree to settle them by arbitration? it's such a pagan and brutal thing to kill thousands of innocent men just because governments quarrel." "i entirely agree with you,"--i said--"all the same i don't approve of governments that preach peace while they drain the people's pockets for the purpose of increasing armaments, after the german fashion. let us be ready with adequate defences,--but it's surely very foolish to cripple our nation at home by way of preparation for wars which may never happen." "and yet they may happen!" said francesca, her eyes still dreamily watching the sunlit heavens--"everything in the universe is engaged in some sort of a fight, so it seems to me. the tiniest insects are for ever combating each other. in the very channels of our own blood the poisonous and non-poisonous germs are constantly striving for the mastery, and how can we escape the general ordainment? life itself is a continual battle between good and evil, and if it were not so we should have no object in living. the whole business is evidently intended to be a dose conflict to the end." "there is no end!" i said. she looked at me almost compassionately. "so you imagine!" i smiled. "so i know!" a vague expression flitted over her face,--an expression with which i had become familiar. she was a most lovable and intelligent creature, but she could not think very far,--the effort wearied and perplexed her. "well, then, it must be an everlasting skirmish, i suppose!" she said, laughingly,--"i wonder if our souls will ever get tired!" "do you think god ever gets tired?" i asked. she looked startled,--then amused. "he ought to!" she declared, with vivacity--"i don't mean to be irreverent, but really, what with all the living things in all the millions of worlds trying to get what they ought not to have, and wailing and howling when they are disappointed of their wishes, he ought to be very, very tired!" "but he is not,"--i said;--"if he were, there would indeed be an end of all! should the creator be weary of his work, the work would be undone. i wish we thought of this more often!" she put her arm round me kindly. "you are a strange creature!" she said--"you think a great deal too much of all these abstruse subjects. after all, i'm glad you are going on this cruise with the harland people. they will bring you down from the spheres with a run! they will, i'm sure! you'll hear no conversation that does not turn on baths, medicines, massage, and general cure-alls! and when you come on to stay with me in inverness-shire you'll be quite commonplace and sensible!" i smiled. the dear francesca always associated 'the commonplace and sensible' together, as though they were fitted to companion each other. the complete reverse is, of course, the case, for the 'commonplace' is generally nothing more than the daily routine of body which is instinctively followed by beasts and birds as equally as by man, and has no more to do with real 'sense' or pure mentality than the ticking of a watch has to do with the enormous forces of the sun. what we call actual 'sense' is the perception of the soul,--a perception which cannot be limited to things which are merely material, inasmuch as it passes beyond outward needs and appearances and reaches to the causes which create those outward needs and appearances. i was, however, satisfied to leave my friend in possession of the field of argument, the more readily as our parting from each other was so near at hand. we journeyed together by the steamer 'columba' to rothesay, where, on entering the beautiful bay, crowded at this season with pleasure craft, the first object which attracted our attention was the very vessel for which i was bound, the 'diana,' one of the most magnificent yachts ever built to gratify the whim of a millionaire. tourists on board our steamer at once took up positions where they could obtain the best view of her, and many were the comments we heard concerning her size and the beauty of her lines as she rode at anchor on the sunlit water. "you'll be in a floating palace,"--said francesca, as we approached rothesay pier, and she bade me an affectionate adieu--"now take care of yourself, and don't fly away to the moon on what you call an etheric vibration! remember, if you get tired of the harlands to come to me at once." i promised, and we parted. on landing at rothesay i was almost immediately approached by a sailor from the 'diana,' who, spying my name on my luggage, quickly possessed himself of it and told me the motor launch was in waiting to take me over to the yacht. i was on my way across the sparkling bay before the 'columba' started out again from the pier, and francesca, standing on the steamer's deck, waved to me a smiling farewell as i went. in about ten minutes i was on board the 'diana,' shaking hands with morton harland and his daughter catherine, who, wrapped up in shawls on a deck chair, looked as though she were guarding herself from the chills of a rigorous winter rather than basking in the warm sunshine of a summer morning. "you look very well!"--she said, in tones of plaintive amiability--"and so wonderfully bright!" "it's such a bright day,"--i answered, feeling as if i ought somehow to apologise for a healthy appearance, "one can't help being happy!" she sighed and smiled faintly, and her maid appearing at that moment to take my travelling bag and wraps, i was shown the cabin, or rather the state-room which was to be mine during the cruise. it was a luxurious double apartment, bedroom and sitting-room together, divided only by the hanging folds of a rich crimson silk curtain, and exquisitely fitted with white enamelled furniture ornamented with hand-wrought silver. the bed had no resemblance whatever to a ship's berth, but was an elaborate full-sized affair, canopied in white silk embroidered with roses; the carpet was of a thick softness into which my feet sank as though it were moss, and a tall silver and crystal vase, full of gorgeous roses, was placed at the foot of a standing mirror framed in silver, so that the blossoms were reflected double. the sitting-room was provided with easy chairs, a writing-table, and a small piano, and here, too, masses of roses showed their fair faces from every corner. it was all so charming that i could not help uttering an exclamation of delight, and the maid who was unpacking my things smiled sympathetically. "it's perfectly lovely!" i said, turning to her with eagerness--"it's quite a little fairyland! but isn't this miss harland's cabin?" "oh dear no, miss,"--she replied--"miss harland wouldn't have all these things about her on any account. there are no carpets or curtains in miss harland's rooms. she thinks them very unhealthy. she has only a bit of matting on the floor, and an iron bedstead--all very plain. and as for roses!--she wouldn't have a rose near her for ever so!--she can't bear the smell of them." i made no comment. i was too enchanted with my surroundings for the moment to consider how uncomfortable my hostess chose to make herself. "who arranged these rooms?" i asked. "mr. harland gave orders to the steward to make them as pretty as he could,"--said the maid--"john" and she blushed--"has a lot of taste." i smiled. i saw at once how matters were between her and "john." just then there was a sound of thudding and grinding above my head, and i realised that we were beginning to weigh anchor. quickly tying on my yachting cap and veil, i hurried on deck, and was soon standing beside my host, who seemed pleased at the alacrity with which i had joined him, and i watched with feelings of indescribable exhilaration the 'diana' being loosed from her moorings. steam was up, and in a very short time her bowsprit swung round and pointed outward from the bay. quivering like an eager race-horse ready to start, she sprang forward; and then, with a stately sweeping curve, glided across the water, catting it into bright wavelets with her sword-like keel and churning a path behind her of opalescent foam. we were off on our voyage of pleasure at last,--a voyage which the fates had determined should, for one adventurer at least, lead to strange regions as yet unexplored. but no premonitory sign was given to me, or suggestion that i might be the one chosen to sail 'the perilous seas of fairy lands forlorn'--for in spiritual things of high import, the soul that is most concerned is always the least expectant. ii the fairy ship i was introduced that evening at dinner to mr. harland's physician, and also to his private secretary. i was not greatly prepossessed in favour of either of these gentlemen. dr. brayle was a dark, slim, clean-shaven man of middle age with expressionless brown eyes and sleek black hair which was carefully brushed and parted down the middle,--he was quiet and self-contained in manner, and yet i thought i could see that he was fully alive to the advantages of his position as travelling medical adviser to an american millionaire. i have not mentioned till now that morton harland was an american. i was always rather in the habit of forgetting the fact, as he had long ago forsworn his nationality and had naturalised himself as a british subject. but he had made his vast fortune in america, and was still the controlling magnate of many large financial interests in the states. he was, however, much more english than american, for he had been educated at oxford, and as a young man had been always associated with english society and english ways. he had married an english wife, who died when their first child, his daughter, was born, and he was wont to set down all miss catherine's mopish languors to a delicacy inherited from her mother, and to lack of a mother's care in childhood. in my opinion catherine was robust enough, but it was evident that from a very early age she had been given her own way to the fullest extent, and had been so accustomed to have every little ailment exaggerated and made the most of that she had grown to believe health of body and mind as well-nigh impossible to the human being. dr. brayle, i soon perceived, lent himself to this attitude, and i did not like the covert gleam of his mahogany-coloured eyes as he glanced rapidly from father to daughter in the pauses of conversation, watching them as narrowly as a cat might watch a couple of unwary mice. the secretary, mr. swinton, was a pale, precise-looking young man with a somewhat servile demeanour, under which he concealed an inordinately good opinion of himself. his ideas were centred in and bounded by the art of stenography,--he was an adept in shorthand and typewriting, could jot down, i forget how many crowds of jostling words a minute, and never made a mistake. he was a clock-work model of punctuality and dispatch, of respectfulness and obedience,--but he was no more than a machine,--he could not be moved to a spontaneous utterance or a spontaneous smile, unless both smile and utterance were the result of some pleasantness affecting himself. neither dr. brayle nor mr. swinton were men whom one could positively like or dislike,--they simply had the power of creating an atmosphere in which my spirit found itself swimming like a gold-fish in a bowl, wondering how it got in and how it could get out. as i sat rather silently at table i felt, rather than saw, dr. brayle regarding me with a kind of perplexed curiosity. i was as fully aware of his sensations as of my own,--i knew that my presence irritated him, though he was not clever enough to explain even to himself the cause of his irritation. so far as mr. swinton was concerned, he was comfortably wrapped up in a pachydermatous hide of self-appreciation, so that he thought nothing about me one way or the other except as a guest of his patrons, and one therefore to whom he was bound to be civil. but with dr. brayle it was otherwise. i was a puzzle to him, and--after a brief study of me--an annoyance. he forced himself into conversation with me, however, and we interchanged a few remarks on the weather and on the various beauties of the coast along which we had been sailing all day. "i see that you care very much for fine scenery," he said--"few women do." "really?" and i smiled. "is admiration of the beautiful a special privilege of men only?" "it should be,"--he answered, with a little bow--"we are the admirers of your sex." i made no answer. mr. harland looked at me with a somewhat quizzical air. "you are not a believer in compliments," he said. "was it a compliment?" i asked, laughingly--"i'm afraid i'm very dense! i did not see that it was meant as one." dr. brayle's dark brows drew together in a slight frown. with that expression on his face he looked very much like an italian poisoner of old time,--the kind of man whom caesar borgia might have employed to give the happy dispatch to his enemies by some sure and undiscoverable means known only to intricate chemistry. presently mr. harland spoke again, while he peeled a pear slowly and delicately with a deft movement of his fruit knife that suggested cruelty and the flaying alive of some sentient thing. "our little friend is of a rather strange disposition," he observed--"she has the indifference of an old-world philosopher to the saying of speeches that are merely socially agreeable. she is ardent in soul, but suspicious in mind! she imagines that a pleasant word may often be used to cover a treacherous action, and if a man is as rude and blunt as myself, for example, she prefers that he should be rude and blunt rather than that he should attempt to conceal his roughness by an amiability which it is not his nature to feel." here he looked up at me from the careful scrutiny of his nearly flayed pear. "isn't that so?" "certainly,"--i answered--"but that's not a 'strange' or original attitude of mind." the corners of his ugly mouth curled satirically. "pardon me, dear lady, it is! the normal and strictly reasonable attitude of the healthy human pigmy is that it should accept as gospel all that it is told of a nature soothing and agreeable to itself. it should believe, among other things, that it is a very precious pigmy among natural forces, destined to be immortal, and to share with divine intelligence the privileges of heaven. put out by the merest trifle, troubled by a spasm, driven almost to howling by a toothache, and generally helpless in all very aggravated adverse circumstances, it should still console itself with the idea that its being, its proportions and perfections are superb enough to draw down deity into a human shape as a creature of human necessities in order that it, the pigmy, should claim kinship with the divine now and for ever! what gorgeous blasphemy in such a scheme!--what magnificent arrogance!" i was silent, but i could almost hear my heart beating with suppressed emotion. i knew morton harland was an atheist, so far as atheism is possible to any creature born of spirit as well as matter, but i did not think he would air his opinions so openly and at once before me the first evening of my stay on board his yacht. i saw, however, that he spoke in this way hoping to move me to an answering argument for the amusement of himself and the other two men present, and therefore i did what was incumbent upon me to do in such a situation--held my peace. dr. brayle watched me curiously,--and poor catherine harland turned her plaintive eyes upon me full of alarm. she had learned to dread her father's fondness for starting topics which led to religious discussions of a somewhat heated nature. but as i did not speak, mr. harland was placed in the embarrassing position of a person propounding a theory which no one shows any eagerness to accept or to deny, and, looking slightly confused, he went on in a lighter and more casual way-"i had a friend once at oxford,--a wonderful fellow, full of strange dreams and occult fancies. he was one of those who believed in the divine half of man. he used to study curious old books and manuscripts till long past midnight, and never seemed tired. his father had lived by choice in some desert corner of egypt for forty years, and in egypt this boy had been born. of his mother he never spoke. his father died suddenly and left him a large fortune under trustees till he came of age, with instructions that he was to be taken to england and educated at oxford, and that when he came into possession of his money, he was to be left free to do as he liked with it. i met him when he was almost half-way through his university course. i was only two or three years his senior, but he always looked much younger than i. and he was, as we all said, 'uncanny '--as uncanny as our little friend,"--here indicating me by a nod of his head and a smile which was meant to be kindly--"he never practised or 'trained' for anything and yet all things came easily to him. he was as magnificent in his sports as he was in his studies, and i remember--how well i remember it!--that there came a time at last when we all grew afraid of him. if we saw him coming along the 'high' we avoided him,--he had something of terror as well as admiration for us,--and though i was of his college and constantly thrown into association with him, i soon became infected with the general scare. one night he stopped me in the quadrangle where he had his rooms--" here mr. harland broke off suddenly. "i'm boring you,"--he said--"i really have no business to inflict the recollections of my youth upon you." dr. brayle's brown eyes showed a glistening animal interest. "pray go on!" he urged--"it sounds like the chapter of a romance." "i'm not a believer in romance,"--said mr. harland, grimly--"facts are enough in themselves without any embroidered additions. this fellow was a fact,--a healthy, strong, energetic, living fact. he stopped me in the quadrangle as i tell you,--and he laid his hand on my shoulder. i shrank from his touch, and had a restless desire to get away from him. 'what's the matter with you, harland?' he said, in a grave, musical voice that was peculiarly his own--'you seem afraid of me. if you are, the fault is in yourself, not in me!' i shuffled my feet about on the stone pavement, not knowing what to say--then i stammered out the foolish excuses young men make when they find themselves in an awkward corner. he listened to my stammering remarks about 'the other fellows' with attentive patience,--then he took his hand from my shoulder with a quick, decisive movement. 'look here, harland'--he said--'you are taking up all the conventions and traditions with which our poor old alma mater is encrusted, and sticking them over you like burrs. they'll cling, remember! it's a pity you choose this way of going,--i'm starting at the farther end--where oxford leaves off and life begins!' i suppose i stared--for he went on--'i mean life that goes forward,--not life that goes backward, picking up the stale crumbs fallen from centuries that have finished their banquet and passed on. there!--i won't detain you! we shall not meet often--but don't forget what i have said,--that if you are afraid of me, or of any other man, or of any existing thing,--the fault is in yourself, not in the persons or objects you fear.' 'i don't see it,' i blurted out, angrily--'what of the other fellows? they think you're queer!' he laughed. 'bless the other fellows!' he said--'they're with you in the same boat! they think me queer because they are queer--that is,--out of line--themselves.' i was irritated by his easy indifference and asked him what he meant by 'out of line.' 'suppose you see a beautiful garden harmoniously planned,' he said, still smiling, 'and some clumsy fellow comes along and puts a crooked pigstye up among the flower beds, you would call that "out of line," wouldn't you? unsuitable, to say the least of it?' 'oh!' i said, hotly--'so you consider me and my friends crooked pigstyes in your landscape?' he made me a gay, half apologetic gesture. 'something of the type, dear boy!' he said--'but don't worry! the crooked pigstye is always a most popular kind of building in the world you will live in!' with that he bade me good-night, and went. i was very angry with him, for i was a conceited youth and thought myself and my particular associates the very cream of oxford,--but he took all the highest honours that year, and when he finally left the university he vanished, so to speak, in a blaze of intellectual glory. i have never seen him again--and never heard of him--and so i suppose his studies led him nowhere. he must be an elderly man now,--he may be lame, blind, lunatic, or what is more probable still, he may be dead, and i don't know why i think of him except that his theories were much the same as those of our little friend,"--again indicating me by a nod--"he never cared for agreeable speeches,--always rather mistrusted social conventions, and believed in a higher life after death." "or a lower,"--i put in, quietly. "ah yes! there must be a down grade, of course, if there is an up. the two would be part of each other's existence. but as i accept neither, the point does not matter." i looked at him, and i suppose my looks expressed wonder or pity or both, for he averted his glance from mine. "you are something of a spiritualist, i believe?"--said dr. brayle, lifting his hard eyes from the scrutiny of the tablecloth and fixing them upon me. "not at all,"--i answered, at once, and with emphasis. "that is, if you mean by the term 'spiritualist' a credulous person who believes in mediumistic trickery, automatic writing and the like. that is sheer nonsense and self-deception." "several experienced scientists give these matters considerable attention,"--suggested mr. swinton, primly. i smiled. "science, like everything else, has its borderland," i said--"from which the brain can easily slip off into chaos. the most approved scientific professors are liable to this dire end of their speculations. they forget that in order to understand the infinite they must first be sure of the infinite in themselves." "you speak like an oracle, fair lady!"--said mr. harland--"but despite your sage utterances man remains as finite as ever." "if he chooses the finite state certainly he does,"--i answered--"he is always what he elects to be." mr. harland seemed desirous of continuing the argument, but i would say no more. the topic was too serious and sacred with me to allow it to be lightly discussed by persons whose attitude of mind was distinctly opposed and antipathetic to all things beyond the merely mundane. after dinner, miss catherine professed herself to be suffering from neuralgia, and gathering up her shawls and wraps asked me to excuse her for going to bed early. i bade her good-night, and, leaving my host and the two other men to their smoke, i went up on deck. we were anchored off mull, and against a starlit sky of exceptional clearness the dark mountains of morven were outlined with a softness as of black velvet. the yacht rested on perfectly calm waters, shining like polished steel,--and the warm stillness of the summer night was deliciously soothing and restful. our captain and one or two of the sailors were about on duty, and i sat in the stern of the vessel looking up into the glorious heavens. the tapering bow-sprit of the 'diana' pointed aloft as it were into a woven web of stars, and i lost myself in imaginary flight among those glittering unknown worlds, oblivious of my material surroundings, and forgetting that despite the splendid evidences of a governing intelligence in the beauty and order of the universe spread about them every day, my companions in the journey of pleasure we were undertaking together were actually destitute of all faith in god, and had less perception of the existing divine than the humblest plant may possess that instinctively forces its way upward to the light. i did not think of this,--it was no use thinking about it as i could not better the position,--but i found myself curiously considering the story mr. harland had told about his college friend at oxford. i tried to picture his face and figure till presently it seemed as if i saw him,--indeed i could have sworn that a man's shadowy form stood immediately in front of me, bending upon me a searching glance from eyes that were strangely familiar. startled at this wraith of my own fancy, i half rose from my chair--then sank back again with a laugh at my imagination's too vivid power of portrayal. a figure did certainly present itself, but one of sufficient bulk to convince me of its substantiality. this was the captain of the 'diana,' a cheery-looking personage of a thoroughly nautical type, who, approaching me, lifted his cap and said: "that's a wonderfully fine yacht that has just dropped anchor behind us. she's illuminated, too. have you seen her?" "no," i answered, and turned in the direction he indicated. an involuntary exclamation escaped me. there, about half a mile to our rear, floated a schooner of exquisite proportions and fairy-like grace, outlined from stem to stern by delicate borderings of electric light as though decorated for some great festival, and making quite a glittering spectacle in the darkness of the deepening night. we could see active figures at work on deck--the sails were dropped and quickly furled,--but the quivering radiance remained running up every tapering mast and spar, so that the whole vessel seemed drawn on the dusky air with pencil points of fire. i stood up, gazing at the wonderful sight in silent amazement and admiration, with the captain beside me, and it was he who first spoke. "i can't make her out,"--he said, perplexedly,--"we never heard a sound except just when she dropped anchor, and that was almost noiseless. how she came round the point yonder so suddenly is a mystery! i was keeping a sharp look-out, too." "surely she's very large for a sailing vessel?" i queried. "the largest i've ever seen,"--he replied--"but how did she sail? that's what i want to know!" he looked so puzzled that i laughed. "well, i suppose in the usual way,"--i said--"with sails." "ay, that's all very well!"--and he glanced at me with a compassionate air as at one who knew nothing about seafaring--"but sails must have wind, and there hasn't been a capful all the afternoon or evening. yet she came in with crowded canvas full out as if there was a regular sou'wester, and found her anchorage as easy as you please. all in a minute, too. if there was a wind it wasn't a wind belonging to this world! wouldn't mr. harland perhaps like to see her?" i took the hint and ran down into the saloon, which by this time was full of the stifling odours of smoke and whisky. mr. harland was there, drinking and talking somewhat excitedly with dr. brayle, while his secretary listened and looked on. i explained why i had ventured to interrupt their conversation, and they accompanied me up on deck. the strange yacht looked more bewilderingly brilliant than ever, the heavens having somewhat clouded over, and as we all, the captain included, leaned over our own deck rail and gazed at her shining outlines, we heard the sound of delicious music and singing floating across the quiet sea. "some millionaire's toy,"--said mr. harland--"she's floating from the mysterious yacht." it was a music full of haunting sweetness and rhythmic melody, and i was not sure whether it was evolved from stringed instruments or singing voices. by climbing up on the sofa in my sitting-room i could look out through the port-hole on the near sea, rippling close to me, and bringing, as i fancied, with every ripple a new cadence, a tenderer snatch of tune. a subtle scent was on the salt air, as of roses mingling with the freshness of the scarcely moving waters,--it came, i thought, from the beautiful blossoms which so lavishly adorned my rooms. i could not see the yacht from my point of observation, but i could hear the music she had on board, and that was enough for immediate delight. leaving the port-hole open, i lay down on the sofa immediately beneath it and comprised myself to listen. the soft breath of the sea blew on my cheeks, and with every breath the delicate vibrations of appealing harmony rose and fell--it was as if these enchanting sounds were being played or sung for me alone. in a delicious languor i drowsed, as it were, with my eyes open,--losing myself in a labyrinth of happy dreams and fancies which came to me unbidden,--till presently the music died softly away like a retreating wave and ceased altogether. i waited a few minutes--listening breathlessly lest it should begin again and i lose some note of it,--then hearing no more, i softly closed the port-hole and drew the curtain. i did this with an odd reluctance, feeling somehow that i had shut out a friend; and i half apologised to this vague sentiment by reminding myself of the lateness of the hour. it was nearly midnight. i had intended writing to francesca,--but i was now disinclined for anything but rest. the music which had so entranced me throbbed still in my ears and made my heart beat with a quick sense of joy,-children--there may be several inoffensive reasons for his lighting up, and he may think no more of advertisement than you or i." "that's true,"--assented dr. brayle, with a quick concession to his patron's humour. "but people nowadays do so many queer things for mere notoriety's sake that it is barely possible to avoid suspecting them. they will even kill themselves in order to be talked about." "fortunately they don't hear what's said of them,"--returned mr. harland--"or they might alter their minds and remain alive. it's hardly worth while to hang yourself in order to be called a fool!" while this talk went on i remained silent, watching the illuminated schooner with absorbed fascination. suddenly, while i still gazed upon her, every spark with which she was, as it were, bejewelled, went out, and only the ordinary lamps common to the watches of the night on board a vessel at anchorage burned dimly here and there like red winking eyes. for the rest, she was barely visible save by an indistinct tracery of blurred black lines. the swiftness with which her brilliancy had been eclipsed startled us all and drew from captain derrick the remark that it was 'rather queer.' "what pantomimists call a 'quick change'"--said mr. harland, with a laugh--"the show is over for to-night. let us turn in. to-morrow morning we'll try and make acquaintance with the stranger, and find out for captain derrick's comfort how she managed to sail without wind!" we bade each other good-night then, and descended to our several quarters. when i found myself alone in the luxurious state-room 'suite' allotted to me, the first thing i did was to open one of the port-holes and listen to the music which still came superbly built,--sailing vessels are always more elegant than steam, though not half so useful. i expect she'll lie becalmed here for a day or two." "it's a wonder she's got round here at all,"--said the captain--"there wasn't any wind to bring her." mr. harland looked amused. "there must have been some wind, derrick,"--he answered--"only it wasn't boisterous enough for a hardy salt like you to feel it." "there wasn't a breath,"--declared derrick, firmly--"not enough to blow a baby's curl." "then how did she get here?" asked dr. brayle. captain derrick's lifted eyebrows expressed his inability to solve the enigma. "i said just now if there was a wind it wasn't a wind belonging to this world--" mr. harland turned upon him quickly. "well, there are no winds belonging to other worlds that will ever disturb our atmosphere,"--he said--"come, come, derrick, you don't think that yacht is a ghost, do you?--a sort of 'flying dutchman' spectre?" captain derrick smiled broadly. "no, sir--i don't! there's flesh and blood aboard--i've seen the men hauling down canvas, and i know that. but the way she sailed in bothers me." "all that electric light is rather ostentatious,"--said dr. brayle--"i suppose the owner wants to advertise his riches." "that doesn't follow," said mr. harland, with some sharpness--"i grant you we live in an advertising age, but i don't fancy the owner of that vessel is a pill or a plaster or even a special tea. he may want to amuse himself--it may be the birthday of his wife or one of his and a warm atmosphere of peace and comfort came over me when at last i lay down in my luxurious bed, and slipped away into the land of sleep. ah, what a land it is, that magic land of sleep!--a land 'shadowing with wings,' where amid many shifting and shimmering wonders of darkness and light, the palace of vision stands uplifted, stately and beautiful, with golden doors set open to the wanderer! i made my entrance there that night;--often and often as i had been within its enchanted precincts before, there were a million halls of marvel as yet unvisited,--and among these i found myself,--under a dome which seemed of purest crystal lit with fire,--listening to one invisible, who,--speaking as from a great height, discoursed to me of love." iii the angel of a dream the voice that spoke to me was silvery clear, and fell as it were through the air, dividing space with sweetness. it was soft and resonant, and the thrill of tenderness within it was as though an angel sang through tears. never had i heard anything so divinely pure and compassionate,--and all my being strove to lift itself towards that supernal height which seemed to be the hidden source of its melodious utterance. "o soul, wandering in the region of sleep and dreams!" said the voice,--"what is all thy searching and labour worth without love? why art thou lost in a silence without song?" i raised my eyes, seeking for the one who thus spoke to me, but could see nothing. "in life's great choral symphony"--the voice continued--"the keynote of the dominant melody is love! without the keynote there can be no music,--there is dumbness where there should be sound,--there is discord where there should be harmony. love!--the one vibrant tone to which the whole universe moves in tune,--love, the breath of god, the pulsation of his being, the glory of his work, the fulfilment of his eternal joy,--love, and love alone, is the web and texture and garment of happy immortality! o soul that seekest the way to wisdom and to power, what dost thou make of love?" i trembled and stood mute. it seemed that i was surrounded by solemn presences whose nearness i could feel but not see, and unknowing who it was that spoke to me, i was afraid to answer. "far in the past, thousands of ages ago," went on the voice--"the world we call the sorrowful star was a perfect note in a perfect scale. it was in tune with the divine symphony. but with the sweep of centuries it has lagged behind; it has fallen from light into shadow. and rather than rise to light again, it has made of itself a discord opposed to the eternal harmony. it has chosen for its keynote hate,--not love! each nation envies or despises the other,--each man struggles against his fellow-man and grudges his neighbour every small advantage,--and more than all, each creed curses the other, blasphemously calling upon god to verify and fulfil the curse! hate, not love!--this is the false note struck by the pitiful earth-world to-day, swinging out of all concordance with spherical sweetness!--hate that prefers falsehood to truth, malice to kindness, selfishness to generosity! o sorrowful star!--doomed so soon to perish!--turn, turn, even in thy last moments, back to the divine ascendant before it is too late!" i listened,--and a sense of hopeless fear possessed me. i tried to speak, and a faint whisper crept from my lips. "why,"--i murmured to myself, for i did not suppose anyone could or would hear me--"why should we and our world perish? we knew so little at the beginning, and we know so little now,--is it altogether our fault if we have lost our way?" a silence followed. a vague, impalpable sense of restraint and captivity seemed closing me in on every side,--i was imprisoned, as i thought, within invisible walls. then all at once this density of atmosphere was struck asunder by a dazzling light as of cloven wings, but i could see no actual shape or even suggestion of substance--the glowing rays were all. and the voice spoke again with grave sweetness and something of reproach. "who speaks of losing the way?" it asked--"when the way is, and has ever been, clear and plain? nature teaches it,--law and order support it. obey and ye shall live: disobey and ye shall die! there is no other ruling than this out of chaos! who is it that speaks of losing the way, when the way is, and has been and ever shall be, clear and plain?" i stretched out my hands involuntarily. my eyes filled with tears. "o angel invisible!" i prayed--"forgive my weakness and unwisdom! how can the world be saved or comforted by a love it never finds!" again a silence. again that dazzling, quivering radiance, flashing as in an atmosphere of powdered gold. "what does the world seek most ardently?" it demanded--"the love of god?--or the love of self? if it seeks the first, all things in heaven and earth shall be added to its desire--if the second, all shall be taken from it, even that which it hath!" i had, as i thought, no answer to give, but i covered my weeping eyes with both hands and knelt before the unseen speaker as to some great spirit enthroned. "love is not love that loves itself,"--went on the voice--"self is the image, not the god. wouldst thou have eternal life? then find the secret in eternal love!--'love, which can move worlds and create universes,--the love of soul for soul, angel for angel, god for god!" i raised my head, and, uncovering my eyes, looked up. but i could see nothing save that all-penetrating light which imprisoned me as it were in a circle of fire. "love is that power which clasps the things of eternity and makes them all its own,"--said the voice in stronger tones of deeper music--"it builds its solar system, its stars, its planets with a thought!--it wakes all beauty, all delight with a smile!--it lives not only now, but for ever, in a heaven of pure joy where every thousand years is but one summer day! to love there is no time, no space, no age, no death!--what it gives it receives again,--what it longs for comes to it without seeking--god withholds nothing from the faithful soul!" i still knelt, wondering if these words were intended only for me or for some other listener, for i could not now feel sure that i was without a companion in this strange experience. "there is only one way of life,"--went on the voice--"only one way--the way of love! whosoever loves greatly lives greatly; whosoever misprizes love is dead though living. give all thy heart and soul to love if thou wouldst be immortal!--for without love thou mayst seek god through all eternity and never find him!" i waited,--there was a brief silence. then a sudden wave of music broke upon my ears,--a breaking foam of rhythmic melody that rose and fell in a measured cadence of solemn sound. raising my eyes in fear and awe, i saw the lambent light around me begin to separate into countless gradations of delicate colour till presently it resembled a close and brilliant network of rainbow tints intermingled with purest gold. it was as if millions of lines had been drawn with exquisite fineness and precision so as to cause intersection or 'reciprocal meeting' at given points of calculation, and these changed into various dazzling forms too brilliant for even my dreaming sight to follow. yet i felt myself compelled to study one particular section of these lines which shone before me in a kind of pale brightness, and while i looked it varied to more and more complex 'moods' of colour and light, if one might so express it, till, by gradual degrees, it returned again to the simpler combination. "thus are the destinies of human lives woven and interwoven,"--said the voice--"from infinite and endless points of light they grow and part and mingle together, till the destined two are one. often they are entangled and disturbed by influences not their own--but from interference which through weakness or fear they have themselves permitted. but the tangle is for ever unravelled by time,--the parted threads are brought together again in the eternal weaving of spirit and matter. no power, human or divine, can entirely separate the lives which god has ordained shall come together. man's ordainment is not god's ordainment! wrong threads in the weaving are broken--no matter how,--no matter when! love must be tender yet resolved!--love must not swerve from its given pledge!--love must be all or nothing!" the light network of living golden rays still quivered before my eyes, till all at once they seemed to change to a rippling sea of fine flame with waves that gently swayed to and fro, tipped with foam-crests of prismatic hue like broken rainbows. wave after wave swept forward and broke in bright amethystine spray close to me where i knelt, and as i watched this moving mass of radiant colour in absorbed fascination, one wave, brilliant as the flush of a summer's dawn, rippled towards me, and then gently retiring, left a single rose, crimson and fragrant, close within my reach. i stooped and caught it quickly--surely it was a real rose from some dewy garden of the earth, and no dream! "one rose from all the roses in heaven!" said the mystic voice, in tones of enthralling sweetness--"one--fadeless and immortal!--only one, but sufficient for all! one love from all the million loves of men and women--one, but enough for eternity! how long the rose has awaited its flowering,--how long the love has awaited its fulfilment--only the recording angels know! such roses bloom but once in the wilderness of space and time; such love comes but once in a universe of worlds!" i listened, trembling; i held the rose against my breast between my clasped hands. "o sorrowful star!" went on the voice--"what shall become of thee if thou forsakest the way of love! o little sphere of beauty and delight, why are thy people so blind! o that their eyes were lifted unto heaven!--their hearts to joy!--their souls to love! who is it that darkens life with sorrow?--who is it that creates the delusion of death?" i found my speech suddenly. "nay, surely,"--i said, half whispering--"we must all die!" "not so!" and the mystic voice rang out imperatively--"there is no death! for god is alive!--and from him life only can emanate!" i held my peace, moved by a sudden sweet awe. "from eternal life no death can come,"--continued the voice--"from eternal love flows eternal joy. change there is,--change there must be to higher forms and higher planes,--but life and love remain as they are, indestructible--'the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever!'" i bent my face over the rose against my breast,--its perfume was deliciously soft and penetrating, and half unconsciously i kissed its velvet petals. as i did this a swift and dazzling radiance poured shower-like through the air, and again i heard mysterious chords of rhythmic melody rising and falling like distant waves of the sea. the grave, tender voice spoke once again: "rise and go hence!" it said, in tones of thrilling gentleness--"keep the gift god sends thee!--take that which is thine! meet that which hath sought thee sorrowing for many centuries! turn not aside again, neither by thine own will nor by the will of others, lest old errors prevail! pass from vision into waking!--from night to day!--from seeming death to life!--from loneliness to love!--and keep within thy heart the message of a dream!" the light beating about me like curved wings slowly paled and as slowly vanished--yet i felt that i must still kneel and wait. this atmosphere of awe and trembling gradually passed away,--and then, rising as i thought, and holding the mystic rose with one hand still against my breast, i turned to feel my way through the darkness which now encompassed me. as i did this my other hand was caught by someone in a warm, eager clasp, and i was guided along with an infinitely tender yet masterful touch which i had no hesitation in obeying. step by step i moved with a strange sense of happy reliance on my unseen companion--darkness or distance had no terrors for me. and as i went onward with my hand held firmly in that close yet gentle grasp, my thoughts became as it were suddenly cleared into a heaven of comprehension--i looked back upon years of work spread out like an arid desert uncheered by any spring of sweet water--and i saw all that my life had lacked--all to which i had unconsciously pressed forward longingly without any distinct recognition of my own aims, and only trusting to the infinite powers of god and nature to amend my incompleteness by the perfection of the everlasting whole. and now--had the answer come? at any rate, i felt i was no longer alone. someone who seemed the natural other half of myself was beside me in the shadows of sleep--i could have spoken, but would not, for fear of breaking the charm. and so i went on and on, caring little how long the journey might be, and even vaguely wishing it might continue for ever,--when presently a faint light began to peer through the gloom--i saw a glimmer of blue and grey, then white, then rose-colour--and i awoke--to find nothing of a visionary character about me unless perhaps a shaft of early morning sunshine streaming through the port-hole of my cabin could be called a reflex of the mystic glory which had surrounded me in sleep. i then remembered where i was,--yet i was so convinced of the reality of what i had seen and heard that i looked about me everywhere for that lovely crimson rose i had brought away with me from dreamland--for i could actually feel its stem still between my fingers. it was not to be seen--but there was delicate fragrance on the air as if it were blooming near me--a fragrance so fine that nothing could describe its subtly pervading odour. every word spoken by the voice of my dream was vividly impressed on my brain, and more vivid still was the recollection of the hand that had clasped mine and led me out of sleep to waking. i was conscious of its warmth yet,--and i was troubled, even while i was soothed, by the memory of the lingering caress with which it had been at last withdrawn. and i wondered as i lay for a few moments in my bed inert, and thinking of all that had chanced to me in the night, whether the long earnest patience of my soul, ever turned as it had been for years towards the attainment of a love higher than all earthly attraction, was now about to be recompensed? i knew, and had always known, that whatsoever we strongly will to possess comes to us in due season; and that steadily resolved prayers are always granted; the only drawback to the exertion of this power is the doubt as to whether the thing we desire so ardently will work us good or ill. for there is no question but that what we seek we shall find. i had sought long and unwearyingly for the clue to the secret of life imperishable and love eternal,--was the mystery about to be unveiled? i could not tell--and i dare not humour the mere thought too long. shaking my mind free from the web of marvel and perplexity in which it had been caught by the visions of the night, i placed myself in a passively receptive attitude--demanding nothing, fearing nothing, hoping nothing--but simply content with actual life, feeling life to be the outcome and expression of perfect love. iv a bunch of heather it was a glorious morning, and so warm that i went up on deck without any hat or cloak, glad to have the sunlight playing on my hair and the soft breeze blowing on my face. the scene was perfectly enchanting; the mountains were bathed in a delicate rose-purple glow reflected from the past pomp of the sun's rising,--the water was still as an inland lake, and every mast and spar of the 'diana' was reflected in it as in a mirror. a flock of sea-gulls floated round our vessel, like fairy boats--some of them rising every now and then with eager cries to wing their graceful flight high through the calm air, and alight again with a flash of silver pinions on the translucent blue. while i stood gazing in absorbed delight at the beauty which everywhere surrounded me, captain derrick called to me from his little bridge, where he stood with folded arms, looking down. "good morning! what do you think of the mystery now?" "mystery?" and then his meaning flashed upon me. "oh, the yacht that anchored near us last night! where is she?" "just so!" and the captain's look expressed volumes--"where is she?" oddly enough, i had not thought of the stranger vessel till this moment, though the music sounding from her deck had been the last thing which had haunted my ears before i had slept--and dreamed! and now--she was gone! there was not a sign of her anywhere. i looked up at the captain on his bridge and smiled. "she must have started very early!" i said. the captain's fuzzy brows met portentously. "ay! very early! so early that the watch never saw her go. he must have missed an hour and she must have gained one." "it's rather strange, isn't it?" i said--"may i come on the bridge?" "certainly." i ran up the little steps and stood beside him, looking out to the farthest line of sea and sky. "what do you think about it?" i asked, laughingly, "was she a real yacht or a ghost?" the captain did not smile. his brow was furrowed with perplexed consideration. "she wasn't a ghost," he said--"but her ways were ghostly. that is, she made no noise,--and she sailed without wind. mr. harland may say what he likes,--i stick to that. she had no steam, but she carried full sail, and she came into the sound with all her canvas bellying out as though she were driven by a stormy sou'wester. there's been no wind all night--yet she's gone, as you see--and not a man on board heard the weighing of her anchor. when she went and how she went beats me altogether!" at that moment we caught sight of a small rowing boat coming out to us from the shore, pulled by one man, who bent to his oars in a slow, listless way as though disinclined for the labour. "boat ahoy!" shouted the captain. the man looked up and signalled in answer. a couple of our sailors went to throw him a rope as he brought his craft alongside. he had come, so he slowly explained in his soft, slow, almost unintelligible highland dialect, with fresh eggs and butter, hoping to effect a sale. the steward was summoned, and bargaining began. i listened and looked on, amused and interested, and i presently suggested to the captain that it might be as well to ask this man if he too had seen the yacht whose movements appeared so baffling and inexplicable. the captain at once took the hint. "say, donald," he began, invitingly--"did you see the big yacht that came in last night about ten o'clock?" "ou ay!" was the slow answer--"but my name's no tonald,--it's just jamie." captain derrick laughed jovially. "beg pardon! jamie, then! did you see the yacht?" "ou ay! i've seen her mony a day. she's a real shentleman." i smiled. "the yacht?" jamie looked up at me. "ah, my leddy, ye'll pe makin' a fule o' jamie wi' a glance like a sun-sparkle on the sea! jamie's no fule wi' the right sort, an' the yacht is a shentleman, an' the shentleman's the yacht, for it's the shentleman that pays whateffer." captain derrick became keenly interested. "the gentleman? the owner of the yacht, you mean?" jamie nodded--"just that!"--and proceeded to count out his store of new-laid eggs with great care as he placed them in the steward's basket. "what's his name?" "ah, that's ower mickle learnin',"--said jamie, with a cunning look--"i canna say it rightly." "can you say it wrongly?" i suggested. "i wadna!" he replied, and he lifted his eyes, which were dark and piercing, to my face--"i daurna!" "is he such a very terrible gentleman, then?" enquired captain derrick, jocosely. jamie's countenance was impenetrable. "ye'll pe seein' her for yourself whateffer,"--he said--"ye'll no miss her in the waters 'twixt here an' skye." he stooped and fumbled in his basket, presently bringing out of it a small bunch of pink bell-heather,--the delicate waxen type of blossom which is found only in mossy, marshy places. "the shentleman wanted as much as i could find o' this,"--he said--"an' he had it a' but this wee bittie. will my leddy wear it for luck?" i took it from his hand. "as a gift?" i asked, smiling. "i wadna tak ony money for't,"--he answered, with a curious expression of something like fear passing over his brown, weather-beaten features--"'tis fairies' making." i put the little bunch in my dress. as i did so, he doffed his cap. "good day t'ye! i'll be no seein' ye this way again!" "why not? how do you know?" "one way in and another way out!" he said, his voice sinking to a sort of meditative croon--"one road to the west, and the other to the east!--and round about to the meeting-place! ou ay! ye'll mak it clear sailin'!" "without wind, eh?" interposed captain derrick--"like your friend the 'shentleman'? how does he manage that business?" jamie looked round with a frightened air, like an animal scenting danger,--then, shouldering his empty basket, he gave us a hasty nod of farewell, and, scrambling down the companion ladder without another word, was soon in his boat again, rowing away steadily and never once looking back. "a wild chap!" said the captain--"many of these fellows get half daft, living so much alone in desolate places like mull, and seeing nothing all their time but cloud and mountain and sea. he seems to know something about that yacht, though!" "that yacht is on your brain, captain!" i said, merrily--"i feel quite sorry for you! and yet i daresay if we meet her again the mystery will turn out to be very simple." "it will have to be either very simple or very complex!" he answered, with a laugh--"i shall need a good deal of teaching to show me how a sailing yacht can make steam speed without wind. ah, good morning, sir!" and we both turned to greet mr. harland, who had just come up on deck. he looked ill and careworn, as though he had slept badly, and he showed but faint interest in the tale of the strange yacht's sudden exit. "it amuses you, doesn't it?"--he said, addressing me with a little cynical smile wrinkling up his forehead and eyes--"anything that cannot be at once explained is always interesting and delightful to a woman! that is why spiritualistic 'mediums' make money. they do clever tricks which cannot be explained, hence their success with the credulous." "quite so"--i replied--"but just allow me to say that i am no believer in 'mediums.'" "true,--i forgot!" he rubbed his hand wearily over his brows--then asked--"did you sleep well?" "splendidly! and i must really thank you for my lovely rooms,--they are almost too luxurious! they are fit for a princess." "why a princess?" he queried, ironically--"princesses are not always agreeable personages. i know one or two,--fat, ugly and stupid. some of them are dirty in their persons and in their habits. there are certain 'princesses' in europe who ought to be washed and disinfected before being given any rooms anywhere!" i laughed. "oh, you are very bitter!" i said. "not at all. i like accuracy. 'princess' to the ingenuous mind suggests a fairy tale. i have not an ingenuous mind. i know that the princesses of the fairy tales do not exist,--unless you are one." "me!" i exclaimed, in amazement--"i'm very far from that--" "well, you are a dreamer!" he said, and resting his arms on the deck rail he looked away from me down into the sunlit sea--"you do not live here in this world with us--you think you do,--and yet in your own mind you know you do not. you dream--and your life is that of vision simply. i'm not sure that i should like to see you wake. for as long as you can dream you will believe in the fairy tale;--the 'princess' of hans andersen and the brothers grimm holds good--and that is why you should have pretty things about you,--music, roses and the like trifles,--to keep up the delicate delusion." i was surprised and just a little vexed at his way of talking. why, even with the underlying flattery of his words, should he call me a dreamer? i had worked for my own living as practically as himself in the world, and if not with such financially successful results, only because my aims had never been mere money-spinning. he had attained enormous wealth,--i a modest competence,--he was old and i was young,--he was ill and miserable,--i was well and happy,--which of us was the 'dreamer'? my thoughts were busy with this question, and he saw it. "don't perplex yourself,"--he said,--"and don't be offended with me for my frankness. my view of life is not yours,--nor are we ever likely to see things from the same standpoint. yours is the more enviable condition. you are looking well,--you feel well--you are well! health is the best of all things." he paused, and lifting his eyes from the contemplation of the water, regarded me fixedly. "that's a lovely bit of bell-heather you're wearing! it glows like fiery topaz." i explained how it had been given to me. "why, then, you've already established a connection with the strange yacht!" he said, laughing--"the owner, according to your highland fellow, has the same blossoms on board,--probably gathered from the same morass!--surely this is quite romantic and exciting!" and at breakfast, when dr. brayle and mr. swinton appeared, they all made conversation on the subject of my bunch of heather, till i got rather tired of it, and was half inclined to take it off and throw it away. yet somehow i could not do this. glancing at my own reflection in a mirror, i saw what a brilliant yet dainty touch of colour it gave to the plain white serge of my yachting dress,--it was a pretty contrast, and i left it alone. miss catherine did not get up to breakfast, but she sent for me afterwards and asked if i would mind sitting with her for a while. i did mind in a way,--for the day was fair and fine,--the 'diana' was preparing to pursue her course,--and it was far pleasanter to be on deck in the fresh air than in miss catherine's state-room, which, though quite spacious for a yacht's accommodation, looked rather dreary, having no carpet on the floor, no curtains to the bed, and no little graces of adornment anywhere,--nothing but a few shelves against the wall on which were ranged some blue and black medicine bottles, relieved by a small array of pill-boxes. but i felt sorry for the poor woman who had elected to make her life a martyrdom to nerves, and real or imaginary aches and pains, so i went to her, determined to do what i could to cheer and rouse her from her condition of chronic depression. directly i entered her cabin she said: "where did you get that bright bit of heather?" i told her the whole story, to which she listened with more patience than she usually showed for any talk in which she had not first share. "it's really quite interesting!" she said, with a reluctant smile--"i suppose it was the strange yacht that had the music on board last night. it kept me awake. i thought it was some tiresome person out in a boat with a gramophone." i laughed. "oh, miss harland!" i exclaimed--"surely you could not have thought it a gramophone! such music! it was perfectly exquisite!" "was it?" and she drew the ugly grey woollen shawl in which she was wrapped closer about her sallow throat as she sat up in her bed and looked at me--"well, it may have been, to you,--you seem to find delight in everything,--i'm sure i don't know why! of course it's very nice to have such a happy disposition--but really that music teased me dreadfully. such a bore having music when you want to go to sleep." i was silent, and having a piece of embroidery to occupy my hands i began to work at it. "i hope you're quite comfortable on board,"--she resumed, presently--"have you all you want in your rooms?" i assured her that everything was perfect. she sighed. "i wish i could say the same!" she said--"i really hate yachting, but father likes it, so i must sacrifice myself." here she sighed again. i saw she was really convinced that she was immolating herself on the altar of filial obedience. "you know he is very ill,"--she went on--"and that he cannot live long?" "he told me something about it,"--i answered--"and i said then, as i say now, that the doctors may be wrong." "oh no, they cannot be wrong in his case," she declared, shaking her head dismally--"they know the symptoms, and they can only avert the end for a time. i'm very thankful dr. brayle was able to come with us on this trip." "i suppose he is paid a good deal for his services?" i said. "eight hundred guineas"--she answered--"but, you see, he has to leave his patients in london, and find another man to attend to them during his absence. he is so very clever and so much sought after--i don't know what i should do without him, i'm sure!" "has he any special treatment for you?" i asked. "oh yes,--he gives me electricity. he has a wonderful battery--he has got it fitted up here in the next cabin--and while i hold two handles he turns it on and it runs all over me. i feel always better for the moment--but the effect soon passes." i looked at her with a smile. "i should think so! dear miss harland, do you really believe in that way of administering electricity?" "of course i do!" she answered--"you see, it's all a question of what they call bacteriology nowadays. medicine is no use unless it can kill the microbes that are eating us up inside and out. and there's scarcely any drug that can do that. electricity is the only remedy. it gives the little brutes a shock;"--and the poor lady laughed weakly--"and it kills some, but not all. it's a dreadful scheme of creation, don't you think, to make human beings no better than happy hunting grounds for invisible creatures to feed upon?" "it depends on what view you take of it,"--i said, laying down my work and trying to fix her attention, a matter which was always difficult--"we human beings are composed of good and evil particles. if the good are encouraged, they drive out the evil,--if the evil, they drive out the good. it's the same with the body as the soul,--if we encourage the health-working 'microbes' as you call them, they will drive out disease from the human organism altogether." she sank back on her pillow wearily. "we can't do it,"--she said--"all the chances are against us. what's the use of our trying to encourage 'health-working microbes'? the disease-working ones have got the upper hand. just think!--our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents are to blame for half our evils. their diseases become ours in various new forms. it's cruel,--horrible! how anyone can believe that a god of love created such a frightful scheme passes my comprehension! the whole thing is a mere business of eating to be eaten!" she looked so wan and wild that i pitied her greatly. "surely that is not what you think at the bottom of your heart?" i said, gently--"i should be very sorry for you if i thought you really meant what you say." "well, you may be as sorry for me as you like"--and the poor lady blinked away tears from her eyes--"i need someone to be sorry for me! i tell you my life is a perfect torture. every day i wonder how long i can bear it! i have such dreadful thoughts! i picture the horrible things that are happening to different people all over the world, nobody helping them or caring for them, and i almost feel as if i must scream for mercy. it wouldn't be any use screaming,--but the scream is in my soul all the same. people in prisons, people in shipwrecks, people dying by inches in hospitals, no good in their lives and no hope--and not a sign of comfort from the god whom the churches praise! it's awful! i don't see how anybody can do anything or be ambitious for anything--it's all mere waste of energy. one of the reasons that made me so anxious to have you come on this trip with us is that you always seem contented and happy,--and i want to know why? it's a question of temperament, i suppose--but do tell me why!" she stretched out her hand and touched mine appealingly. i took her worn and wasted fingers in my own and pressed them sympathetically. "my dear miss harland,"--i began. "oh, call me catherine"--she interrupted--"i'm so tired of being miss harland!" "well, catherine, then,"--i said, smiling a little--"surely you know why i am contented and happy?" "no, i do not,"--she said, with quick, almost querulous? eagerness--"i don't understand it at all. you have none of the things that please women. you don't seem to care about dress though you are always well-gowned--you don't go to balls or theatres or race-meetings,--you are a general favourite, yet you avoid society,--you've never troubled yourself to take your chances of marriage,--and so far as i know or have heard tell about you, you haven't even a lover!" my cheeks grew suddenly warm. a curious resentment awoke in me at her words--had i indeed no lover? surely i had!--one that i knew well and had known for a long time,--one for whom i had guarded my life sacredly as belonging to another as well as to myself,--a lover who loved me beyond all power of human expression,--here the rush of strange and inexplicable emotion in me was hurled back on my mind with a shock of mingled terror and surprise from a dead wall of stony fact,--it was true, of course, and catherine harland was right--i had no lover. no man had ever loved me well enough to be called by such a name. the flush cooled off my face,--the hurry of my thoughts slackened,--i took up my embroidery and began to work at it again. "that is so, isn't it?" persisted miss harland--"though you blush and grow pale as if there was someone in the background." i met her inquisitive glance and smiled. "there is no one,"--i said--"there never has been anyone." i paused; i could almost feel the warmth of the strong hand that had held mine in my dream of the past night. it was mere fancy, and i went on--"i should not care for what modern men and women call love. it seems very unsatisfactory." she sighed. "it is frequently very selfish,"--she said--"i want to tell you my love-story--may i?" "why, of course!" i answered, a little wonderingly, for i had not thought she had a love-story to tell. "it's very brief,"--she said, and her lip quivered--"there was a man who used to visit our house very often when i first came out,--he made me believe he was very fond of me. i was more than fond of him--i almost worshipped him. he was all the world to me, and though father did not like him very much he wished me to be happy, so we were engaged. that was the time of my life--the only time i ever knew what happiness was. one evening, just about three months before we were to be married, we were together at a party in the house of one of our mutual friends, and i heard him talking rather loudly in a room where he and two or three other men had gone to smoke. he said something that made me stand still and wonder whether i was mad or dreaming. 'pity me when i'm married to catherine harland!' pity him? i listened,--i knew it was wrong to listen, but i could not help myself. 'well, you'll get enough cash with her to set you all right in the world, anyhow,'--said another man, 'you can put up with a plain wife for the sake of a pretty fortune.' then he,--my love!--spoke again--'oh, i shall make the best of it,' he said--'i must have money somehow, and this is the easiest way. there's one good thing about modern life,--husbands and wives don't hunt in couples as they used to do, so when once the knot is tied i shall shift my matrimonial burden off my shoulders as much as i can. she'll amuse herself with her clothes and the household,--and she's fond of me, so i shall always have my own way. but it's an awful martyrdom to have to marry one woman on account of empty pockets when you're in love with another.' i heard,--and then--i don't know what happened." her eyes stared at me so pitifully that i was full of sorrow for her. "oh, you poor catherine!" i said, and taking her hand, i kissed it gently. the tears in her eyes brimmed over. "they found me lying on the floor insensible,"--she went on, tremulously--"and i was very ill for a long time afterwards. people could not understand it when i broke off my engagement. i told nobody why--except him. he seemed sorry and a little ashamed,--but i think he was more vexed at losing my fortune than anything else. i said to him that i had never thought about being plain,--that the idea of his loving me had made me feel beautiful. that was true!--my dear, i almost believe i should have grown into beauty if i had been sure of his love." i understood that; she was perfectly right in what to the entirely commonplace person would seem a fanciful theory. love makes all things fair, and anyone who is conscious of being tenderly loved grows lovely, as a rose that is conscious of the sun grows into form and colour. "well, it was all over then,"--she ended, with a sigh, "i never was quite myself again--i think my nerves got a sort of shock such as the great novelist, charles dickens had when he was in the railway accident--you remember the tale in forster's 'life'? how the carriage hung over the edge of an embankment but did not actually fall,--and dickens was clinging on to it all the time. he never got over it, and it was the remote cause of his death five years later. now i have felt just like that,--my life has hung over a sort of chasm ever since i lost my love, and i only cling on." "but surely,"--i ventured to say--"surely there are other things to live for than just the memory of one man's love which was not love at all! you seem to think there was some cruelty or unhappiness in the chance that separated you from him,--but really it was a special mercy and favour of god--only you have taken it in the wrong way." "i have taken it in the only possible way,"--she said--"with resignation." "oh, do you call it resignation?" i exclaimed--"to make a misery of what should have been a gladness? think of the years and years of wretchedness you might have passed with a man who was a merely selfish fortune-hunter! you would have had to see him grow colder and more callous every day--your heart would have been torn, your spirit broken--and god spared you all this by giving you your chance of freedom! such a chance! you might have made much of it, if you had only chosen!" she looked at me, but did not speak. "love comes to us in a million beautiful ways,"--i went on, heedless of how she might take my words--"the ordinary love,--or, i would say, the ordinary mating and marriage is only one way. you cannot live in the world without being loved--if you love!" she moved on her pillows restlessly. "i can't see what you mean,"--she said--"how can i love? i have nothing to love!" "but do you not see that you are shutting yourself out from love?" i said--"you will not have it! you bar its approach. you encourage your sad and morbid fancies, and think of illness when you might just as well think of health. oh, i know you will say i am 'up in the air' as your father expresses it,--but it's true all the same that if you love everything in nature--yes, everything!--sunshine, air, cloud, rain, trees, birds, blossom,--they will love you in return and give you some of their life and strength and beauty." she smiled,--a very bitter little smile. "you talk like a poet,"--she said--"and of all things in the world i hate poetry! there!--don't think me cross! go along and be happy in your own strange fanciful way! i cannot be other than i am,--dr. brayle will tell you that i'm not strong enough to share in other people's lives and aims and pleasures,--i must always consider myself." "dr. brayle tells you that?" i queried--"to consider yourself?" "of course he does. if i had not considered myself every hour and every day, i should have been dead long ago. i have to consider everything i eat and drink lest it should make me ill." i rose from my seat beside her. "i wish i could cure you!" i murmured. "my dear girl, if you could, you would, i am sure,"--she answered--"you are very kind-hearted. it has done me good to talk to you and tell you all my sad little history. i shall get up presently and have my electricity and feel quite bright for a time. but as for a cure, you might as well try to cure my father." "none are cured of any ailment unless they resolve to help along the cure themselves," i said. she gave a weary little laugh. "ah, that's one of your pet theories, but it's no use to me! i'm past all helping of myself, so you may give me up as a bad job!" "but you asked me," i went on--"did you not, to tell you why it is that i am contented and happy? do you really want to know?" a vague distrust crept into her faded eyes. "not if it's a theory!" she said--"i should not have the brain or the patience to think it out." i laughed. "it's not a theory, it's a truth"--i answered--"but truth is sometimes more difficult than theory." she looked at me half in wonder, half in appeal. "well, what is it?" "just this"--and i knelt beside her for a moment holding her hand--"i know that there are no external surroundings which we do not make for ourselves, and that our troubles are born of our own wrong thinking, and are not sent from god. i train my soul to be calm,--and my body obeys my soul. that's all!" her fingers closed on mine nervously. "but what's the use of telling me this?" she half whispered--"i don't believe in god or the soul!" i rose from my kneeling attitude. "poor catherine!" i said--"then indeed it is no use telling you anything! you are in darkness instead of daylight, and no one can make you see. oh, what can i do to help you?" "nothing,"--she answered--"my faith--it was never very much,--was taken from me altogether when i was quite young. father made it seem absurd. he's a clever man, you know--and in a few words he makes out religion to be utter nonsense." "i understand!" and indeed i did entirely understand. her father was one of a rapidly increasing class of men who are a danger to the community,--a cold, cynical shatterer of every noble ideal,--a sneerer at patriotism and honour,--a deliberate iconoclast of the most callous and remorseless type. that he had good points in his character was not to be denied,--a murderer may have these. but to be in his company for very long was to feel that there is no good in anything--that life is a mistake of nature, and death a fortunate ending of the blunder--that god is a delusion and the 'soul' a mere expression signifying certain intelligent movements of the brain only. i stood silently thinking these things, while she watched me rather wistfully. presently she said: "are you going on deck now?" "yes." "i'll join you all at luncheon. don't lose that bit of heather in your dress,--it's really quite brilliant--like a jewel." i hesitated a moment. "you're not vexed with me for speaking as i have done?" i asked her. "vexed? no, indeed! i love to hear you and see you defending your own fairy ground! for it is like a fairy tale, you know--all that you believe!" "it has practical results, anyway!"--i answered--"you must admit that." "yes--i know,--and it's just what i can't understand. we'll have another talk about it some day. would you tell dr. brayle that i shall be ready for him in ten minutes?" i assented, and left her. i made for the deck directly, the air meeting me with a rush of salty softness as i ran up the saloon stairway. what a glorious day it was! sky, sea and mountains were bathed in brilliant sunshine; the 'diana' was cutting her path swiftly through waters which marked her course on either side by a streak of white foam. i mentally contrasted the loveliness of the scene around me with the stuffy cabin i had just left, and seeing dr. brayle smoking comfortably in a long reclining chair and reading a paper i went up to him and touched him on the shoulder. "your patient wants you in ten minutes,"--i said. he rose to his feet at once, courteously offering me a chair, which i declined, and drew his cigar from his mouth. "i have two patients on board,"--he answered, smiling--"which one?" "the one who is your patient from choice, not necessity,"--i replied, coolly. "my dear lady!" his eyes blinked at me with a furtive astonishment--"if you were not so charming i should say you were--well!--shall i say it?--a trifle opinionated!" i laughed. "granted!" i said--"if it is opinionated to be honest i plead guilty! miss harland is as well as you or i,--she's only morbid." "true!--but morbidness is a form of illness,--a malady of the nerves--" i laughed again, much to his visible annoyance. "curable by outward applications of electricity?" i queried--"when the mischief is in the mind? but there!--i mustn't interfere, i suppose! nevertheless you keep miss harland ill when she might be quite well." a disagreeable line furrowed the corners of his mouth. "you think so? among your many accomplishments do you count the art of medicine?" i met his shifty brown eyes, and he dropped them quickly. "i know nothing about it,"--i answered--"except this--that the cure of any mind trouble must come from within--not from without. and i'm not a christian scientist either?" he smiled cynically. "really not? i should have thought you were!" "you would make a grave error if you thought so," i responded, curtly. a keen and watchful interest flashed over his dark face. "i should very much like to know what your theories are"--he said, suddenly--"you interest me greatly." "i'm sure i do!" i answered, smiling. he looked me up and down for a moment in perplexity--then shrugged his shoulders. "you are a strange creature!" he said--"i cannot make you out. if i were asked to give a 'professional' opinion of you i should say you were very neurotic and highly-strung, and given over to self-delusions." "thanks!"--and i made him a demure little curtsy. "i look it, don't i?" "no--you don't look it; but looks are deceptive." "there i agree with you,"--i said--"but one has to go by them sometimes. if i am 'neurotic,' my looks do not pity me, and my condition of health leaves nothing to desire." his brows met in a slight frown. he glanced at his watch. "i must go,"--he said--"miss harland will be waiting." "and the electricity will get cold!" i added, gaily. "see if you can feel my 'neurotic' pulse!" he took the hand i extended--and remained quite still. conscious of the secret force i had within myself i resolved to try if i could use it upon him in such a way as to keep him a prisoner till i chose to let him go. i watched him till his eyes began to look vague and a kind of fixity settled on his features,--he was perfectly unconscious that i held him at my pleasure,--and presently, satisfied with my experiment, i relaxed the spell and withdrew my hand. "quite regular, isn't it?" i said, carelessly. he started as if roused from a sleep, but replied quickly: "yes--oh yes--perfectly!--i had almost forgotten what i was doing. i was thinking of something else. miss harland--" "yes, miss harland is ready for you by this time"--and i smiled. "you must tell her i detained you." he nodded in a more or less embarrassed manner, and turning away from me, went rather slowly down the saloon stairs. i gave a sigh of relief when he was gone. i had from the first moment of our meeting recognised in him a mental organisation which in its godless materialism and indifference to consequences, was opposed to every healthful influence that might be brought to bear on his patients for their well-being, whatever his pretensions to medical skill might be. it was to his advantage to show them the worst side of a disease in order to accentuate his own cleverness in dealing with it,--it served his purpose to pamper their darkest imaginings, play with their whims and humour their caprices,--i saw all this and understood it. and i was glad that so far as i might be concerned, i had the power to master him. v an unexpected meeting to spend a few days on board a yacht with the same companions is a very good test of the value of sympathetic vibration in human associations. i found it so. i might as well have been quite alone on the 'diana' as with morton harland and his daughter, though they were always uniformly kind to me and thoughtful of my comfort. but between us there was 'a great gulf fixed,' though every now and again catherine harland made feeble and pathetic efforts to cross that gulf and reach me where i stood on the other side. but her strength was not equal to the task,--her will-power was sapped at its root, and every day she allowed herself to become more and more pliantly the prey of dr. brayle, who, with a subconscious feeling that i knew him to be a mere medical charlatan, had naturally warned her against me as an imaginative theorist without any foundation of belief in my own theories. i therefore shut myself within a fortress of reserve, and declined to discuss any point of either religion or science with those for whom the one was a farce and the other mere materialism. at all times when we were together i kept the conversation deliberately down to commonplaces which were safe, if dull,--and it amused me not a little to see that at this course of action on my part mr. harland was first surprised, then disappointed and finally bored. and i was glad. that i should bore him as much as he bored me was the happy consummation of my immediate desires. i talked as all conventional women talk, of the weather, of our minimum and maximum speed, of the newspaper 'sensations' and vulgarities that were served up to us whenever we called at a port for the mails,--of the fish that frequented such and such waters, of sport, of this and that millionaire whose highland castle or shooting-box was crammed with the 'elite' whose delight is to kill innocent birds and animals,--of the latest fool-flyers in aeroplanes,--in short, no fashionable jabberer of social inanities could have beaten me in what average persons call 'common-sense talk,'--talk which resulted after a while in the usual vagueness of attention accompanied by smothered yawning. i was resolved not to lift the line of thought 'up in the air' in the manner whereof i had often been accused, but to keep it level with the ground. so that when we left tobermory, where we had anchored for a couple of days, the limits of the yacht were becoming rather cramped and narrow for our differing minds, and a monotony was beginning to set in that threatened to be dangerous, if not unbearable. as the 'diana' steamed along through the drowsy misty light of the summer afternoon, past the jagged coast of the mainland, i sat quite by myself on deck, watching the creeping purple haze that partially veiled the mountains of ardnamurchan and moidart, and i began to wonder whether after all it might not be better to write to my friend francesca and tell her that her prophecies had already come true,--that i was beginning to be weary of a holiday passed in an atmosphere bereft of all joyousness, and that she must expect me in inverness-shire at once. and yet i was reluctant to end my trip with the harlands too soon. there was a secret wish in my heart which i hardly breathed to myself,--a wish that i might again see the strange vessel that had appeared and disappeared so suddenly, and make the acquaintance of its owner. it would surely be an interesting break in the present condition of things, to say the least of it. i did not know then (though i know now) why my mind so persistently busied itself with the fancied personality of the unknown possessor of the mysterious craft which, as captain derrick said, 'sailed without wind,' but i found myself always thinking about him and trying to picture his face and form. i took myself sharply to task for what i considered a foolish mental attitude,--but do what i would, the attitude remained unchanged. it was helped, perhaps, in a trifling way by the apparently fadeless quality of the pink bell-heather which had been given me by the weird-looking highland fellow who called himself jamie, for though three or four days had now passed since i first wore it, it showed no signs of withering. as a rule the delicate waxen bells of this plant turn yellow a few hours after they are plucked,--but my little bunch was as brilliantly fresh as ever. i kept it in a glass without water on the table in my sitting-room and it looked always the same. i was questioning myself as to what i should really do if my surroundings remained as hopelessly inert and uninteresting as they were at present,--go on with the 'diana' for a while longer on the chance of seeing the strange yacht again--or make up my mind to get put out at some point from which i could reach inverness easily, when mr. harland came up suddenly behind my chair and laid his hand on my shoulder. "are you in dreamland?" he enquired--and i thought his voice sounded rather weak and dispirited--"there's a wonderful light on those hills just now." i raised my eyes and saw the purple shadows being cloven and scattered one after another, by long rays of late sunshine that poured like golden wine through the dividing wreaths of vapour,--above, the sky was pure turquoise blue, melting into pale opal and emerald near the line of the grey sea which showed little flecks of white foam under the freshening breeze. bringing my gaze down from the dazzling radiance of the heavens, i turned towards mr. harland and was startled and shocked to see the drawn and livid pallor of his face and the anguish of his expression. "you are ill!" i exclaimed, and springing up in haste i offered him my chair--"do sit down!" he made a mute gesture of denial, and with slow difficulty drew another chair up beside mine, and dropped into it with an air of heavy weariness. "i am not ill now,"--he said--"a little while ago i was very ill. i was in pain--horrible pain! brayle did what he could for me--it was not much. he says i must expect to suffer now and again--until--until the end." impulsively i laid my hand on his. "i am very sorry!" i said, gently--"i wish i could be of some use to you!" he looked at me with a curious wistfulness. "you could, no doubt, if i believed as you do,"--he replied, and then was silent for a moment. presently he spoke again. "do you know i am rather disappointed in you?" "are you?" and i smiled a little--"why?" he did not answer at once. he seemed absorbed in troubled musings. when he resumed, it was in a low, meditative tone, almost as if he were speaking to himself. "when i first met you--you remember?--at one of those social 'crushes' which make the london season so infinitely tedious,--i was told you were gifted with unusual psychic power, and that you had in yourself the secret of an abounding exhaustless vitality. i repeat the words--an abounding exhaustless vitality. this interested me, because i know that our modern men and women are mostly only half alive. i heard of you that it did people good to be in your company,--that your influence upon them was remarkable, and that there was some unknown form of occult, or psychic science to which you had devoted years of study, with the result that you stood, as it were, apart from the world though in the world. this, i say, is what i heard--" "but you did not believe it,"--i interposed. "why do you say that?" he asked, quickly. "because i know you could not believe it,"--i answered--"it would be impossible for you." a gleam of satire flashed in his sunken eyes. "well, you are right there! i did not believe it. but i expected--" "i know!" and i laughed--"you expected what is called a 'singular' woman--one who makes herself 'singular,' adopts a 'singular' pose, and is altogether removed from ordinary humanity. and of course you are disappointed. i am not at all a type of the veiled priestess." "it is not that,"--he said, with a little vexation--"when i saw you i recognised you to be a very transparent creature, devoted to innocent dreams which are not life. but that secret which you are reported to possess--the secret of wonderful abounding exhaustless vitality--how does it happen that you have it? i myself see that force expressed in your very glance and gesture, and what puzzles me is that it is not an animal vitality; it is something else." i was silent. "you have not a robust physique,"--he went on--"yet you are more full of the spirit of life than men and women twice as strong as you are. you are a feminine thing, too,--and that goes against you. but one can see in you a worker--you evidently enjoy the exercise of the accomplishments you possess--and nothing comes amiss to you. i wonder how you manage it? when you joined us on this trip a few days ago, you brought a kind of atmosphere with you that was almost buoyant, and now i am disappointed, because you seem to have enclosed yourself within it, and to have left us out!" "have you not left yourselves out?" i queried, gently. "i, personally, have really nothing to do with it. just remember that when we have talked on any subject above the line of the general and commonplace your sole object has been to 'draw' me for the amusement of yourself and dr. brayle--" "ah, you saw that, did you?" he interrupted, with a faint smile. "naturally! had you believed half you say you were told of me, you would have known i must have seen it. can you wonder that i refuse to be 'drawn'?" he looked at me with an odd expression of mingled surprise and annoyance, and i met his gaze fully and frankly. his eyes shifted uneasily away from mine. "one may feel a pardonable curiosity," he said, "and a desire to know--" "to know what?" i asked, with some warmth--"how can you obtain what you are secretly craving for, if you persist in denying what is true? you are afraid of death--yet you invite it by ignoring the source of life! the curtain is down,--you are outside eternal realities altogether in a chaos of your own voluntary creation!" i spoke with some passion, and he heard me patiently. "let us try to understand each other," he said, after a pause--"though it will be difficult. you speak of 'eternal realities.' to me there are none, save the constant scattering and re-uniting of atoms. these, so far as we know of the extraordinary (and to me quite unintelligent) plan of the universe, are for ever shifting and changing into various forms and clusters of forms, such as solar systems, planets, comets, star-dust and the like. our present view of them is chiefly based on the researches of larmor and thomson of cambridge. from them and other scientists we learn that electricity exists in small particles which we can in a manner see in the 'cathode' rays,--and these particles are called 'electrons.' these compose 'atoms of matter.' well!--there are a trillion of atoms in each granule of dust,--while electrons are so much smaller, that a hundred thousand of them can lie in the diameter of an atom. i know all this,--but i do not know why the atoms or electrons should exist at all, nor what cause there should be for their constant and often violent state of movement. they apparently always have been, and always will be,--therefore they are all that can be called 'eternal realities.' sir norman lockyer tells us that the matter of the universe is undergoing a continuous process of evolution--but even if it is so, what is that to me individually? it neither helps nor consoles me for being one infinitesimal spark in the general conflagration. now you believe--" "in the force that is behind your system of electrons and atoms"--i said--"for by whatever means or substances the universe is composed, a mighty intelligence governs it--and i look to the cause more than the effect. for even i am a part of the whole,--i belong to the source of the stream as much as to the stream itself. an abstract, lifeless principle without will or intention or intelligence could not have evolved the splendours of nature or the intellectual capabilities of man--it could not have given rise to what was not in itself." he fixed his eyes steadily upon me. "that last sentence is sound argument," he said, as though reluctantly admitting the obvious,--"and i suppose i am to presume that 'itself' is the well-spring from which you draw, or imagine you draw, your psychic force?" "if i have any psychic force at all," i responded,--"where do you suppose it should come from but that which gives vitality to all animate nature? i cannot understand why you blind yourself to the open and visible fact of a divine intelligence working in and through all things. if you could but acknowledge it and set yourself in tune with it you would find life a new and far more dominant joy than it is to you now. i firmly believe that your very illness has arisen from your determined attitude of unbelief." "that's what a christian scientist would say," he answered, with a touch of scorn,--"i begin to think dr. brayle is right in his estimate of you." i held my peace. "have you no curiosity?" he demanded--"don't you want to know his opinion?" "no,"--and i smiled--"my dear mr. harland, with all your experience of the world, has it never occurred to you that there are some people whose opinions don't matter?" "brayle is a clever man,"--he said, somewhat testily, "and you are merely an imaginative woman." "then why do you trouble about me?" i asked him, quickly--"why do you want to find out that something in me which baffles both dr. brayle and yourself?" it was now his turn to be silent, and he remained so for some time, his eyes fixed on the shadowing heavens. the waves were roughening slightly and a swell from the atlantic lifted the 'diana' curtsying over their foam-flecked crests as she ploughed her way swiftly along. presently he turned to me with a smile. "let us strike a truce!"--he said--"i promise not to try and 'draw' you any more! but please do not isolate yourself from us,--try to feel that we are your friends. i want you to enjoy this trip if possible,--but i fear that we are proving rather dull company for you. we are making for skye at good speed and shall probably anchor in loch scavaig to-night. to-morrow we might land and do the excursion to loch coruisk if you care for that, though catherine is not a good walker." i felt rather remorseful as he said these words in a kindly tone. yet i knew very well that, notwithstanding all the strenuous efforts which might be made by the rules of conventional courtesy, it would be impossible for me to feel quite at home in the surroundings which he had created for himself. i inwardly resolved, however, to make the best of it and to try and steer clear of any possibilities or incidents which might tend to draw the line of demarcation too strongly between us. some instinct told me that present conditions were not to remain as they were, so i answered my host gently and assured him of my entire willingness to fall in with any of his plans. our conversation then gradually drifted into ordinary topics till towards sunset, when i went down to my cabin to dress for dinner. i had a fancy to wear the bunch of pink bell-heather that still kept its fresh and waxen-looking delicacy of bloom, and this, fastened in the lace of my white gown, was my only adornment. that night there was a distinct attempt on everybody's part to make things sociable and pleasant. catherine harland was, for once, quite cheerful and chatty, and proposed that as there was a lovely moonlight, we should all go after dinner into the deck saloon, where there was a piano, and that i should sing for them. i was rather surprised at this suggestion, as she was not fond of music. nevertheless, there had been such an evident wish shown by her and her father to lighten the monotony which had been creeping like a mental fog over us all that i readily agreed to anything which might perhaps for the moment give them pleasure. we went up on deck accordingly, and on arriving there were all smitten into awed silence by the wonderful beauty of the scene. we were anchored in loch scavaig--and the light of the moon fell with a weird splendour on the gloom of the surrounding hills, a pale beam touching the summits here and there and deepening the solemn effect of the lake and the magnificent forms of its sentinel mountains. a low murmur of hidden streams sounded on the deep stillness and enhanced the fascination of the surrounding landscape, which was more like the landscape of a dream than a reality. the deep breadths of dense darkness lying lost among the cavernous slopes of the hills were broken at intervals by strange rifts of light arising as it were from the palpitating water, which now and again showed gleams of pale emerald and gold phosphorescence,--the stars looked large and white like straying bits of the moon, and the mysterious 'swishing' of slow ripples heaving against the sides of the yacht suggested the whisperings of uncanny spirits. we stood in a silent group, entranced by the grandeur of the night and by our own loneliness in the midst of it, for there was no sign of a fisherman's hut or boat moored to the shore, or anything which could give us a sense of human companionship. a curious feeling of disappointment suddenly came over me,--i lifted my eyes to the vast dark sky with a kind of mute appeal--and moon and stars appeared to float up there like ships in a deep sea,--i had expected something more in this strange, almost spectral-looking landscape, and yet i knew not why i should expect anything. beautiful as the whole scene was, and fully as i recognised its beauty, an overpowering depression suddenly gripped me as with a cold hand,--there was a dreary emptiness in this majestic solitude that seemed to crush my spirit utterly. i moved a little away from my companions, and leaned over the deck rail, looking far into the black shadows of the shore, defined more deeply by the contrasting brilliance of the moon, and my thoughts flew with undesired swiftness to the darkest line of life's horizon--i had for the moment lost the sense of joy. how wretched all we human creatures are!--i said to my inner self,--what hope after all is there for us, imprisoned in a world which has no pity for us whatever may be our fate,--a world that goes on in precisely the same fashion whether we live or die, work or are idle? these tragic hills, this cold lake, this white moon, were the same when caesar lived, and would still be the same when we who gazed upon them now were all gone into the unknown. it seemed difficult to try and realise this obvious fact--so difficult as to be almost unnatural. supposing that any towns or villages had ever existed on this desolate shore, they had proved useless against the devouring forces of nature,--just as the splendid buried cities of south america had proved useless in all their magnificence,--useless as the 'golden age of lanka' in ceylon more than two thousand years ago. of what avail then is the struggle of human life? is it for the many or only for the few? is all the toil and sorrow of millions merely for the uplifting and perfecting of certain individual types, and is this what christ meant when he said 'many are called but few are chosen'? if so, why such waste of brain and heart and love and patience? tears came suddenly into my eyes and i started as from a bad dream when dr. brayle approached me softly from behind. "i am sorry to disturb your reverie!"--he said--"but miss harland has gone into the deck saloon and we are all waiting to hear you sing." i looked up at him. "i don't feel as if i could sing to-night,"--i replied, rather tremulously--"this lonely landscape depresses me--" he saw that my eyes were wet, and smiled. "you are overwrought," he said--"your own theories of health and vitality are not infallible! you must be taken care of. you think too much." "or too little?" i suggested. "really, my dear lady, you cannot possibly think too little where health and happiness are concerned! the sanest and most comfortable people on earth are those who eat well and never think at all. an empty brain and a full stomach make the sum total of a contented life." "so you imagine!" i said, with a slight gesture of veiled contempt. "so i know!" he answered, with emphasis--"and i have had a wide experience. now don't look daggers at me!--come and sing!" he offered me his arm, but i put it aside and walked by myself towards the deck saloon. mr. harland and catherine were seated there, with all the lights turned full on, so that the radiance of the moon through the window was completely eclipsed. the piano was open. as i came in catherine looked at me with a surprised air. "why, how pale you are!" she exclaimed--"one would think you had seen a ghost!" i laughed. "perhaps i have! loch scavaig is sufficient setting for any amount of ghosts. it's such a lonely place,"--and a slight tremor ran through me as i played a few soft chords--"what shall i sing to you?" "something of the country we are in,"--said mr. harland--"don't you know any of those old wild gaelic airs?" i thought a moment, and then to a low rippling accompaniment i sang the old celtic 'fairy's love song'- "why should i sit and sigh, pu'in' bracken, pu'in' bracken, why should i sit and sigh, on the hill-side dreary- when i see the plover rising, or the curlew wheeling, then i know my mortal lover back to me is stealing. when the day wears away sad i look adown the valley, every sound heard around sets my heart a-thrilling,- why should i sit and sigh, pu'in' bracken, pu'in' bracken, why should i sit and sigh all alone and weary! ah, but there is something wanting, oh but i am weary! come, my true and tender lover, o'er the hills to cheer me! why should i sit and sigh, pu'in' bracken, pu'in' bracken, why should i sit and sigh, all alone and weary!" i had scarcely finished the last verse when captain derrick suddenly appeared at the door of the saloon in a great state of excitement. "come out, mr. harland!" he almost shouted--"come quickly, all of you! there's that strange yacht again!" i rose from my seat at the piano trembling a little--at last!--i thought--at last! my heart was beating tumultuously, though i could not explain my own emotion to myself. in another moment we were all standing speechless and amazed, gazing at surely the most wonderful sight that had ever been seen by human eyes. there on the dark and lonely waters of loch scavaig was poised, rather than anchored, the fairy vessel of my dreams, with all sails spread,--sails that were white as milk and seemingly drenched with a sparkling dewy radiance, for they scintillated like hoar-frost in the sun and glittered against the sombre background of the mountainous shore with an almost blinding splendour. our whole crew of sailors and servants on the 'diana' came together in astonished groups, whispering among themselves, all evidently more or less scared by the strange spectacle. captain derrick waited for someone to hazard a remark, then, as we remained silent, he addressed mr. harland-"well, sir, what do you make of it?" mr. harland did not answer. for a man who professed indifference to all events and circumstances he seemed startled for once and a little afraid. catherine caught me by the arm,--she was shivering nervously. "do you think it is a real yacht?" she whispered. i was amused at this question, coming as it did from a woman who denied the supernatural. "of course it is!" i answered--"don't you see people moving about on board?" for, in the brilliant light shed by those extraordinary sails, the schooner appeared to be fully manned. several of the crew were busy on her deck and there was nothing of the phantom in their movements. "her sails must surely be lit up in that way by electricity"--said dr. brayle, who had been watching her attentively--"but how it is done and why, is rather puzzling! i never saw anything quite to resemble it." "she came into the loch like a flash,"--said captain derrick--"i saw her slide in round the point, and then without a sound of any kind, there she was, safe anchored before you could whistle. she behaved in just the same way when we first sighted her off mull." i listened to what they were saying, impatiently wondering what would be the end of their surmises and speculations. "why not exchange courtesies?" i said, suddenly,--"here we are--two yachts anchored near each other in a lonely lake,--why should we not know each other? then all the mysteries you are talking about would be cleared up." "quite true!" said mr. harland, breaking his silence at last--"but isn't it rather late to pay a call? what time is it?" "about half-past ten,"--answered dr. brayle, glancing at his watch. "oh, let us get to bed!" murmured miss catherine, pleadingly--"what's the good of making any enquiries to-night?" "well, if you don't make them to-night ten to one you won't have the chance to-morrow!"--said captain derrick, bluntly--"that yacht will repeat her former manoeuvres and vanish at sunrise." "as all spectres are traditionally supposed to do!" said dr. brayle, lighting a cigarette as he spoke and beginning to smoke it with a careless air--"i vote for catching the ghost before it melts away into the morning." while this talk went on mr. harland stepped back into the saloon and wrote a note which he enclosed in a sealed envelope. with this in his hand he came out to us again. "captain, will you get the boat lowered, please?" he said--then, as captain derrick hastened to obey this order, he turned to his secretary:--"mr. swinton, i want you to take this note to the owner of that yacht, whoever he may be, with my compliments. don't give it to anyone else but himself." mr. swinton, looking very pale and uncomfortable, took the note gingerly between his fingers. "himself--yes!"--he stammered--"and--er--if there should be no one--" "what do you mean?" and mr. harland frowned in his own particularly unpleasant way--"there's sure to be someone, even if he were the devil! you can say to him that the ladies of our party are very much interested in the beautiful illumination of his yacht, and that we'll be glad to see him on board ours, if he cares to come. be as polite as you can, and as agreeable as you like." "it has not occurred to you--i suppose you have not thought--that--that it may be an illusion?" faltered mr. swinton, uneasily, glancing at the glistening sails that shamed the silver sheen of the moon--"a sort of mirage in the atmosphere--" mr. harland gave vent to a laugh--the heartiest i had ever heard from him. "upon my word, swinton!" he exclaimed--"i should never have thought you capable of nerves! come, come!--be off with you! the boat is lowered--all's ready!" thus commanded, there was nothing for the reluctant mr. swinton but to obey, and i could not help smiling at his evident discomfiture. all his precise and matter-of-fact self-satisfaction was gone in a moment,--he was nothing but a very timorous creature, afraid to examine into what he could not at once understand. no such terrors, however, were displayed by the sailors who undertook to row him over to the yacht. they, as well as their captain, were anxious to discover the mystery, if mystery there was,--and we all, by one instinct, pressed to the gangway as he descended the companion ladder and entered the boat, which glided away immediately with a low and rhythmical plash of oars. we could watch it as it drew nearer and nearer the illuminated vessel, and our excitement grew more and more intense. for once mr. harland and his daughter had forgotten all about themselves,--and catherine's customary miserable expression of face had altogether disappeared in the keenness of her interest for something more immediately thrilling than her own ailments. so far as i was concerned, i could hardly endure the suspense that seemed to weigh on every nerve of my body during the few minutes' interval that elapsed between the departure of the boat and its drawing up alongside the strange yacht. my thoughts were all in a whirl,--i felt as if something unprecedented and almost terrifying was about to happen,--but i could not reason out the cause of my mental agitation. "there they go!" said mr. harland--"they're alongside! see!--those fellows are lowering the companion ladder--there's nothing supernatural about them! swinton's all right--look, he's on board!" we strained our eyes through the brilliant flare shed by the illuminated sails on the darkness and could see mr. swinton talking to a group of sailors. one of them went away, but returned almost immediately, followed by a man clad in white yachting flannels, who, standing near one of the shining sails, caught some of the light on his own figure with undeniably becoming effect. i was the first to perceive him, and as i looked, the impression came upon me that he was no stranger,--i had seen him often before. this sudden consciousness swiftly borne in upon me calmed all the previous tumult of my mind and i was no longer anxious as to the result of our possible acquaintance. catherine harland pressed my arm excitedly. "there he is!" she said--"that must be the owner of the yacht. he's reading father's letter." he was,--we could see the little sheet of paper turning over in his hands. and while we waited, wondering what would be his answer, the light on the sails of his vessel began to pale and die away,--beam after beam of radiance slipped off as it were like drops of water, and before we could quite realise it there was darkness where all had lately been so bright; and the canvas was hauled down. with the quenching of that intense brilliancy we lost sight of the human figures on deck and could not imagine what was to happen next. the dark shore looked darker than ever,--the outline of the yacht was now truly spectral, like a ship of black cobweb against the moon, and we looked questioningly at each other in silence. then mr. harland spoke in a low tone. "the boat is coming back,"--he said,--"i hear the oars." i leaned over the side of our vessel and tried to see through the gloom. how still the water was!--not a ripple disturbed its surface. but there were strange gleams of wandering light in its depths like dropped jewels lost on sands far below. the regular dip of oars sounded nearer and nearer. my heart was beating with painful quickness,--i could not understand the strange feeling that overpowered me. i felt as if my very soul were going out of my body to meet that oncoming boat which was cleaving its way through the darkness. another brief interval and then we saw it shoot out into a patch of moonlight--we could perceive mr. swinton seated in the stern with another figure beside him--that of a man who stood up as he neared our yacht and lifted his cap with an easy gesture of salutation, and then as the boat came alongside, caught at the guide rope and sprang lightly on the first step of the companion ladder. "why, he's actually come over to us himself!" ejaculated mr. harland,--and he hurried to the gangway just in time to receive the visitor as he stepped on deck. "well, harland, how are you?" said a mellow voice in the cheeriest of accents--"it's strange we should meet like this after so many years!" vi recognition at these words and at sight of the speaker, morton harland started back as if he had been shot. "santoris!" he exclaimed--"not possible! rafel santoris! no! you must be his son!" the stranger laughed. "my good harland! always the sceptic! miracles are many, but there is one which is beyond all performance. a man cannot be his own offspring! i am that very santoris who saw you last in oxford. come, come!--you ought to know me!" he stepped more fully into the light which was shed from the open door of the deck saloon, and showed himself to be a man of distinguished appearance, apparently about forty years of age. he was well built, with the straight back and broad shoulders of an athlete,--his face was finely featured and radiant with the glow of health and strength, and as he smiled and laid one hand on mr. harland's shoulder he looked the very embodiment of active, powerful manhood. morton harland stared at him in amazement and something of terror. "rafel santoris!" he repeated--"you are his living image,--but you cannot be himself--you are too young!" a gleam of amusement sparkled in the stranger's eyes. "don't let us talk of age or youth for the moment"--he said. "here i am,--your 'eccentric' college acquaintance whom you and several other fellows fought shy of years ago! i assure you i am quite harmless! will you present me to the ladies?" there was a brief embarrassed pause. then mr. harland turned to us where we had withdrawn ourselves a little apart and addressed his daughter. "catherine,"--he said--"this gentleman tells me he knew me at oxford, and if he is right i also knew him. i spoke of him only the other night at dinner--you remember?--but i did not tell you his name. it is rafel santoris--if indeed he is santoris!--though my santoris should be a much older man." "i extremely regret," said our visitor then, advancing and bowing courteously to catherine and myself--"that i do not fulfil the required conditions of age! will you try to forgive me?" he smiled--and we were a little confused, hardly knowing what to say. involuntarily i raised my eyes to his, and with one glance saw in those clear blue orbs that so steadfastly met mine a world of memories--memories tender, wistful and pathetic, entangled as in tears and fire. all the inward instincts of my spirit told me that i knew him well--as well as one knows the gold of the sunshine or the colour of the sky,--yet where had i seen him often and often before? while my thoughts puzzled over this question he averted his gaze from mine and went on speaking to catherine. "i understand," he said--"that you are interested in the lighting of my yacht?" "it is most beautiful and wonderful,"--answered catherine, in her coldest tone of conventional politeness, "and so unusual!" his eyebrows went up with a slightly quizzical. "yes, i suppose it is unusual," he said--"i am always forgetting that what is not quite common seems strange! but really the arrangement is very simple. the yacht is called the 'dream'--and she is, as her name implies, a 'dream' fulfilled. her sails are her only motive power. they are charged with electricity, and that is why they shine at night in a way that must seem to outsiders like a special illumination. if you will honour me with a visit to-morrow i will show you how it is managed." here captain derrick, who had been standing close by, was unable to resist the impulse of his curiosity. "excuse me, sir,"--he said, suddenly--"but may i ask how it is you sail without wind?" "certainly!--you may ask and be answered!" santoris replied. "as i have just said, our sails are our only motive power, but we do not need the wind to fill them. by a very simple scientific method, or rather let me say by a scientific application of natural means, we generate a form of electric force from the air and water as we move. this force fills the sails and propels the vessel with amazing swiftness wherever she is steered. neither calm nor storm affects her progress. when there is a good gale blowing our way, we naturally lessen the draft on our own supplies--but we can make excellent speed even in the teeth of a contrary wind. we escape all the inconveniences of steam and smoke and dirt and noise,--and i daresay in about a couple of hundred years or so my method of sailing the seas will be applied to all ships large and small, with much wonder that it was not thought of long ago." "why not apply it yourself?" asked dr. brayle, now joining in the conversation for the first time and putting the question with an air of incredulous amusement--"with such a marvellous discovery--if it is yours--you should make your fortune!" santoris glanced him over with polite tolerance. "it is possible i do not need to make it,"--he answered, then turning again to captain derrick he said, kindly, "i hope the matter seems clearer to you? we sail without wind, it is true, but not without the power that creates wind." the captain shook his head perplexedly. "well, sir, i can't quite take it in,"--he confessed--"i'd like to know more." "so you shall! harland, will you all come over to the yacht to-morrow? there may be some excursion we could do together--and you might remain and dine with me afterwards." mr. harland's face was a study. doubt and fear struggled for the mastery in his expression and he did not at once answer. then he seemed to conquer his hesitation and to recover himself. "give me a moment with you alone,"--he said, with a gesture of invitation towards the deck saloon. our visitor readily complied with this suggestion, and the two men entered the saloon together and closed the door. silence followed. catherine looked at me in questioning bewilderment,--then she called to mr. swinton, who had been standing about as though awaiting orders in his usual tiresome and servile way. "what sort of an interview did you have with that gentleman when you got on board his yacht?" she asked. "very pleasant--very pleasant indeed"--he replied--"the vessel is magnificently appointed. i have never seen such luxury. extraordinary! more than princely! mr. santoris himself i found particularly agreeable. when he had read mr. harland's note, he said he was glad to find it was from an old college companion, and that he would come over with me to renew the acquaintance. as he has done." "you were not afraid of him, then?" queried dr. brayle, sarcastically. "oh dear no! he seems quite well-bred, and i should say he must be very wealthy." "a most powerful recommendation!" murmured brayle--"the best in the world! what do you think of him?" he asked, turning suddenly to me. "i have no opinion,"--i answered, quietly. how could i say otherwise? how could i tell such a man as he was, of one who had entered my life as insistently as a flash of light, illumining all that had hitherto been dark! at that moment catherine caught my hand. "listen!" she whispered. a window of the deck saloon was open and we stood near it. dr. brayle and mr. swinton had moved away to light fresh cigars, and we two women were for the moment alone. we heard mr. harland's voice raised to a sort of smothered cry. "my god! you are santoris!" "of course i am!" and the deep answering tones were full of music,--the music of a grave and infinitely tender compassion--"why did you doubt it? and why call upon god? that is a name which has no meaning for you." there followed a silence. i looked at catherine and saw her pale face in the light of the moon, haggard in line and older than her years, and my heart was full of pity for her. she was excited beyond her usual self-i could see that the appearance of the stranger from the yacht had aroused her interest and compelled her admiration. i tried to draw her gently to a farther distance from the saloon, but she would not move. "we ought not to listen,"--i said--"catherine, come away!" she shook her head. "hush!" she softly breathed--"i want to hear!" just then mr. harland spoke again. "i am sorry!" he said--"i have wronged you and i apologise. but you can hardly wonder at my disbelief, considering your appearance, which is that of a much younger man than your actual years should make you." the rich voice of santoris gave answer. "did i not tell you and others long ago that for me there is no such thing as time, but only eternity? the soul is always young,--and i live in the spirit of youth, not in the matter of age." catherine turned her eyes upon me in wide-open amazement. "he must be mad!" she said. i made no reply either by word or look. we heard mr. harland talking, but in a lower tone, and we could not distinguish what he said. presently santoris answered, and his vibrant tones were clear and distinct. "why should it seem to you so wonderful?" he said--"you do not think it miraculous when the sculptor, standing before a shapeless block of marble, hews it out to conformity with his inward thought. the marble is mere marble, hard to deal with, difficult to shape,--yet out of its resisting roughness the thinker and worker can mould an apollo or a psyche. you find nothing marvellous in this, though the result of its shaping is due to nothing but thought and labour. yet when you see the human body, which is far easier to shape than marble, brought into submission by the same forces of thought and labour, you are astonished! surely it is a simpler matter to control the living cells of one's own fleshly organisation and compel them to do the bidding of the dominating spirit than to chisel the semblance of a god out of a block of stone!" there was a pause after this. then followed more inaudible talk on the part of mr. harland, and while we yet waited to gather further fragments of the conversation, he suddenly threw open the saloon door and called to us to come in. we at once obeyed the summons, and as we entered he said in a somewhat excited, nervous way:-"i must apologise before you ladies for the rather doubting manner in which i received my former college friend! he is rafel santoris--i ought to have known that there's only one of his type! but the curious part of it is that he should be nearly as old as i am,--yet somehow he is not!" i laughed. it would have been hard not to laugh, for the mere idea of comparing the two men, santoris in such splendid prime and morton harland in his bent, lean and wizened condition, as being of the same or nearly the same age was quite ludicrous. even catherine smiled--a weak and timorous smile. "i suppose you have grown old more quickly, father," she said--"perhaps mr. santoris has not lived at such high pressure." santoris, standing by the saloon centre table tinder the full blaze of the electric lamp, looked at her with a kindly interest. "high or low, i live each moment of my days to the full, miss harland,"--he said--"i do not drowse it or kill it--i live it! this lady,"--and he turned his eyes towards me--"looks as if she did the same!" "she does!" said mr. harland, quickly, and with emphasis--"that's quite true! you were always a good reader of character, santoris! i believe i have not introduced you properly to our little friend"--here he presented me by name and i held out my hand. santoris took it in his own with a light, warm clasp--gently releasing it again as he bowed. "i call her our little friend, because she brings such an atmosphere of joy along with her wherever she goes. we persuaded her to come with us yachting this summer for a very selfish reason--because we are disposed to be dull and she is always bright,--the advantage, you see, is all on our side! oddly enough, i was talking to her about you the other night--the very night, by the by, that your yacht came behind us off mull. that was rather a curious coincidence when you come to think of it!" "not curious at all,"--said santoris--"but perfectly natural. when will you realise that there is no such thing as 'coincidence' but only a very exact system of mathematics?" mr. harland gave a slight, incredulous gesture. "your theories again," he said--"you hold to them still! but our little friend is likely to agree with you,--when i was speaking of you to her i told her she had somewhat the same ideas as yourself. she is a sort of a 'psychist'--whatever that may mean!" "do you not know?" queried santoris, with a grave smile--"it is easy to guess by merely looking at her!" my cheeks grew warm and my eyes fell beneath his steadfast gaze. i wondered whether mr. harland or catherine would notice that in his coat he wore a small bunch of the same kind of bright pink bell-heather which was my only 'jewel of adorning' that night. the ice of introductory recognition being broken, we gathered round the saloon table and sat down, while the steward brought wine and other refreshments to offer to our guest. mr. harland's former uneasiness and embarrassment seemed now at an end, and he gave himself up to the pleasure of renewing association with one who had known him as a young man, and they began talking easily together of their days at college, of the men they had both been acquainted with, some of whom were dead, some settled abroad and some lost to sight in the vistas of uncertain fate. catherine took very little part in the conversation, but she listened intently--her colourless eyes were for once bright, and she watched the face of santoris as one might watch an animated picture. presently dr. brayle and mr. swinton, who had been pacing the deck together and smoking, paused near the saloon door. mr. harland beckoned them. "come in, come in!" he said--"santoris, this is my physician, dr. brayle, who has undertaken to look after me during this trip,"--santoris bowed--"and this is my secretary, mr. swinton, whom i sent over to your yacht just now." again santoris bowed. his slight, yet perfectly courteous salutation, was in marked contrast with the careless modern nod or jerk of the head by which the other men barely acknowledged their introduction to him. "he was afraid of his life to go to you"--continued mr. harland, with a laugh--"he thought you might be an illusion--or even the devil himself, with those fiery sails!" mr. swinton looked sheepish; santoris smiled. "this fair dreamer of dreams"--here he singled me out for notice--"is the only one of us who has not expressed either surprise or fear at the sight of your vessel or the possible knowledge of yourself, though there was one little incident connected with the pretty bunch of bell-heather she is wearing--why!--you wear the same flower yourself!" there was a moment's silence. everyone stared. the blood burned in my veins,--i felt my face crimsoning, yet i knew not why i should be embarrassed or at a loss for words. santoris came to my relief. "there's nothing remarkable in that, is there?" he queried, lightly--"bell-heather is quite common in this part of the world. i shouldn't like to try and count up the number of tourists i've lately seen wearing it!" "ah, but you don't know the interest attaching to this particular specimen!" persisted mr. harland--"it was given to our little friend by a wild highland fellow, presumably a native of mull, the very morning after she had seen your yacht for the first time, and he told her that on the previous night he had brought all of the same kind he could gather to you! surely you see the connection?" santoris shook his head. "i'm afraid i don't!" he said, smilingly. "did the 'wild highland fellow' name me?" "no--i believe he called you 'the shentleman that owns the yacht.'" "oh well!" and santoris laughed--"there are so many 'shentlemen' that own yachts! he may have got mixed in his customers. in any case, i am glad to have some little thing in common with your friend--if only a bunch of heather!" "her bunch behaves very curiously,"--put in catherine--"it never fades." santoris made no comment. it seemed as if he had not heard, or did not wish to hear. he changed the conversation, much to my comfort, and for the rest of the time he stayed with us, rather avoided speaking to me, though once or twice i met his eyes fixed earnestly upon me. the talk drifted in a desultory manner round various ordinary topics, and i, moving a little aside, took a seat near the window where i could watch the moon-rays striking a steel-like glitter on the still waters of loch scavaig, and at the same time hear all that was being said without taking any part in it. i did not wish to speak,--the uplifted joy of my soul was too intense for anything but silence. i could not tell why i was so happy,--i only knew by inward instinct that some point in my life had been reached towards which i had striven for a far longer period than i myself was aware of. there was nothing for me now but to wait with faith and patience for the next step forward--a step which i felt would not be taken alone. and i listened with interest while mr. harland put his former college friend through a kind of inquisitorial examination as to what he had been doing and where he had been journeying since they last met. santoris seemed not at all unwilling to be catechised. "when i escaped from oxford,"--he said--but here mr. harland interposed. "escaped!" he exclaimed--"you talk as if you had been kept in prison." "so i was"--santoris replied--"oxford is a prison, to all who want to feed on something more than the dry bones of learning. while there i was like the prodigal son,--exiled from my father's house. and i 'did eat the husks that the swine did eat.' many fellows have to do the same. sometimes--though not often--a man arrives with a constitution unsuited to husks. mine was--and is--such an one." "you secured honours with the husks," said mr. harland. santoris gave a gesture of airy contempt. "honours! such honours! any fellow unaddicted to drinking, with a fair amount of determined plod could win them. the alleged 'difficulties' in the way are perfectly childish. they scarcely deserve to be called the pothooks and hangers of an education. i always got my work done in two or three hours--the rest of my time at college was pure leisure,--which i employed in other and wiser forms of study than those of the general curriculum--as you know." "you mean occult mysteries and things of that sort?" "'occult' is a word of such new coinage that it is not found in many dictionaries,"--said santoris, with a mirthful look--"you will not find it, for instance, in the earlier editions of stormonth's reliable compendium. i do not care for it myself; i prefer to say 'spiritual science.'" "you believe in that?" asked catherine, abruptly. "assuredly! how can i do otherwise, seeing that it is the key to the soul of nature?" "that's too deep for me!" said dr. brayle, pouring himself out a glass of whisky and mixing it with soda-water--"if it's a riddle i give it up!" santoris was silent. there was a moment's pause. then catherine leaned forward across the table, looking at him with tired, questioning eyes. "could you not explain?" she murmured. "easily!" he answered--"anyone can understand it with a little attention. what i mean is this,--you know that the human body outwardly expresses its inward condition of health, mentality and spirituality--well, in exactly the same way nature, in her countless varying presentations of beauty and wisdom, expresses the soul of herself, or the spiritual force which supports her existence. 'spiritual science' is the knowledge, not of the outward effect so much as of the inward cause which makes the effect manifest. it is a knowledge which can be applied to the individual daily uses of life,--the more it is studied, the more reward it bestows, and the smallest portion of it thoroughly mastered, is bound to lead to some discovery, simple or complex, which lifts the immortal part of a man a step higher on the way it should go." "you are satisfied with your researches, then?" asked mr. harland. santoris smiled gravely. "do i look like a man that has failed?" he answered. mr. harland studied his handsome face and figure with ill-concealed envy. "you went abroad from oxford?" he queried. "yes. i went back to the old home in egypt--the house where i was born and bred. it had been well kept and cared for by the faithful servant to whom my father had entrusted it--as well kept as a royal chamber in the pyramids with the funeral offerings untouched and a perpetual lamp burning. it was the best of all possible places in which to continue my particular line of work without interruption--and i have stayed there most of the time, only coming away, as now, when necessary for a change and a look at the world as the world lives in these days." "and"--here mr. harland hesitated, then went on--"are you married?" santoris lifted his eyes and regarded his former college acquaintance fixedly. "that question is unnecessary"--he said--"you know i am not." there was a brief awkward pause. dr. brayle looked up with a satirical smile. "spiritual science has probably taught you to beware of the fair sex"--he said. "i do not entirely understand you"--answered santoris, coldly--"but if you mean that i am not a lover of women in the plural you are right." "perhaps of the one woman--the one rare pearl in the deep sea"--hinted dr. brayle, unabashed. "come, you are getting too personal, brayle," interrupted mr. harland, quickly, and with asperity--"santoris, your health!" he raised a glass of wine to his lips--santoris did the same--and this simple courtesy between the two principals in the conversation had the effect of putting their subordinate in his proper place. "it seems superfluous to wish health to mr. santoris," said catherine then--"he evidently has it in perfection." santoris looked at her with kindly interest. "health is a law, miss harland"--he said--"it is our own fault if we trespass against it." "ah, you say that because you are well and strong," she answered, in a plaintive tone--"but if you were afflicted and suffering you would take a different view of illness." he smiled, somewhat compassionately. "i think not,"--he said--"if i were afflicted and suffering, as you say, i should know that by my own neglect, thoughtlessness, carelessness or selfishness i had injured my organisation mentally and physically, and that, therefore, the penalty demanded was just and reasonable." "surely you do not maintain that a man is responsible for his own ailments?" said mr. harland--"that would be too far-fetched, even for you! why, as a matter of fact a wretched human being is not only cursed with his own poisoned blood but with the poisoned blood of his forefathers, and, according to the latest medical science, the very air and water swarm with germs of death for the unsuspecting victim." "or germs of life!" said santoris, quietly--"according to my knowledge or 'theory,' as you prefer to call it, there are no germs of actual death. there are germs which disintegrate effete forms of matter merely to allow the forces of life to rebuild them again--and these may propagate in the human system if it so happens that the human system is prepared to receive them. their devastating process is called disease, but they never begin their work till the being they attack has either wasted a vital opportunity or neglected a vital necessity. far more numerous are the beneficial germs of revivifying and creative power--and if these find place, they are bound to conquer those whose agency is destructive. it all depends on the soil and pasture you offer them. evil thoughts make evil blood, and in evil blood disease germinates and flourishes. pure thoughts make pure blood and rebuild the cells of health and vitality. i grant you there is such a thing as inherited disease, but this could be prevented in a great measure by making the marriage of diseased persons a criminal offence,--while much of it could be driven out by proper care in childhood. unfortunately, the proper care is seldom given." "what would you call proper care?" asked catherine. "entire absence of self-indulgence, to begin with,"--he answered--"no child should be permitted to have its own way or expect to have it. the first great lesson of life should be renunciation of self." a faint colour crept into catherine's faded cheeks. mr. harland fidgeted in his chair. "unless a man looks after himself, no one else will look after him"--he said. "reasonable care of one's self is unselfishness," replied santoris--"but anything in excess of reasonable care is pure vice. a man should work for his livelihood chiefly in order not to become a burden on others. in the same way he should take care of his health so that he may avoid being a troublesome invalid, dependent on others' compassion. to be ill is to acknowledge neglect of existing laws and incapacity of resistance to evil." "you lay down a very hard and fast rule, mr. santoris"--said dr. brayle--"many unfortunate people are ill through no fault of their own." "pardon me for my dogmatism when i say such a thing is impossible"--answered santoris--"if a human being starts his life in health he cannot be ill unless through some fault of his own. it may be a moral or a physical fault, but the trespass against the law has been made. and suppose him to be born with some inherited trouble, he can eliminate even that from his blood if he so determines. man was not meant to be sickly, but strong--he is not intended to dwell on this earth as a servant but as a master,--and all the elements of strength and individual sovereignty are contained in nature for his use and advantage if he will but accept them as frankly as they are offered ungrudgingly. i cannot grant you "--and he smiled--"even the smallest amount of voluntary or intended mischief in the divine plan!" at that moment captain derrick looked in at the saloon door to remind us that the boat was still waiting to take our visitor back to his own yacht. he rose at once, with a briefly courteous apology for having stayed so long, and we all vent with him to see him off. it was arranged that we were to join him on board his vessel next day, and either take a sail with him along the island coast or else do the excursion on foot to loch coruisk, which was a point not to be missed. as we walked all together along the moonlit deck a chance moment placed him by my side while the others were moving on ahead. i felt rather than saw his eyes upon me, and looked up swiftly in obedience to his compelling glance. there was a light of eloquent meaning in the expression of his face, but he spoke in perfectly conventional tones:-"i am glad to have met you at last,"--he said, quietly--"i have known you by name--and in the spirit--a long time." i did not answer. my heart was beating rapidly with an excitation of nameless joy and fear commingled. "to-morrow"--he went on--"we shall be able to talk together, i hope,--i feel that there are many things in which we are mutually interested." still i could not speak. "sometimes it happens"--he continued, in a voice that trembled a little--"that two people who are not immediately conscious of having met before, feel on first introduction to each other as if they were quite old friends. is it not so?" i murmured a scarcely audible assent. he bent his head and looked at me searchingly,--a smile was on his lips and his eyes were full of tenderness. "till to-morrow is not long to wait,"--he said--"not long--after so many years! good-night!" a sense of calm and sweet assurance swept over me. "good-night!" i answered, with a smile of happy response to his own--"till to-morrow!" we were close to the gangway where the others already stood. in another couple of minutes he had made his adieux to our whole party and was on his way back to his own vessel. the boat in which he sat, rowed strongly by our men, soon disappeared like a black blot on the general darkness of the water, yet we remained for some time watching, as though we could see it even when it was no longer visible. "a strange fellow!" said dr. brayle when we moved away at last, flinging the end of his cigar over the yacht side--"something of madness and genius combined." mr. harland turned quickly upon him. "you mistake,"--he answered--"there's no madness, though there is certainly genius. he's of the same mind as he was when i knew him at college. there never was a saner or more brilliant scholar." "it's curious you should meet him again like this,"--said catherine--"but surely, father, he's not as old as you are?" "he's about three and a half years younger--that's all." dr. brayle laughed. "i don't believe it for a moment!" he said--"i think he's playing a part. he's probably not the man you knew at oxford at all." we were then going to our cabins for the night, and mr. harland paused as these words were said and faced us. "he is the man!"--he said, emphatically--"i had my doubts of him at first, but i was wrong. as for 'playing a part,' that would be impossible to him. he is absolutely truthful--almost to the verge of cruelty!" a curious expression came into his eyes, as of hidden fear. "in one way i am glad to have met him again--in another i am sorry. for he is a disturber of the comfortable peace of conventions. you"--here he regarded me suddenly, as if he had almost forgotten my presence--"will like him. you have many ideas in common and will be sure to get on well together. as for me, i am his direct opposite,--the two poles are not wider apart than we are in our feelings, sentiments and beliefs." he paused, seeming to be troubled by the passing cloud of some painful thought--then he went on--"there is one thing i should perhaps explain, especially to you, brayle, to save useless argument. it is, of course, a 'craze'--but craze or not, he is absolutely immovable on one point which he calls the great fact of life,--that there is and can be no death,--that life is eternal and therefore in all its forms indestructible." "does he consider himself immune from the common lot of mortals?" asked dr. brayle, with a touch of derision. "he denies 'the common lot' altogether"--replied mr. harland--"for him, each individual life is a perpetual succession of progressive changes, and he holds that a change is never and can never be made till the person concerned has prepared the next 'costume' or mortal presentment of immortal being, according to voluntary choice and liking." "then he is mad!" exclaimed catherine. "he must be mad!" i smiled. "then i am mad too,"--i said--"for i believe as he does. may i say good-night?" and with that i left them, glad to be alone with myself and my heart's secret rapture. vii memories perfect happiness is the soul's acceptance of a sense of joy without question. and this is what i felt through all my being on that never-to-be-forgotten night. just as a tree may be glad of the soft wind blowing its leaves, or a daisy in the grass may rejoice in the warmth of the sun to which it opens its golden heart without either being able to explain the delicious ecstasy, so i was the recipient of light and exquisite felicity which could have no explanation or analysis. i did not try to think,--it was enough for me simply to be. i realised, of course, that with the harlands and their two paid attendants, the materialist dr. brayle, and the secretarial machine, swinton, rafel santoris could have nothing in common,--and as i know, by daily experience, that not even the most trifling event happens without a predestined cause for its occurrence and a purpose in its result, i was sure that the reason for his coming into touch with us at all was to be found in connection, through some mysterious intuition, with myself. however, as i say, i did not think about it,--i was content to breathe the invigorating air of peace and serenity in which my spirit seemed to float on wings. i slept like a child who is only tired out with play and pleasure,--i woke like a child to whom the world is all new and brimful of beauty. that it was a sunny day seemed right and natural--clouds and rain could hardly have penetrated the brilliant atmosphere in which i lived and moved. it was an atmosphere of my own creating, of course, and therefore not liable to be disturbed by storms unless i chose. it is possible for every human being to live in the sunshine of the soul whatever may be the material surroundings of the body. the so-called 'practical' person would have said to me:--'why are you happy?' there is no real cause for this sudden elation. you think you have met someone who is in sympathy with your tastes, ideas and feelings,--but you may be quite wrong, and this bright wave of joy into which you are plunging heedlessly may fling you bruised and broken on a desolate shore for the remainder of your life. one would think you had fallen in love at first sight. to which i should have replied that there is no such thing as falling in love at first sight,--that the very expression--'falling in love'--conveys a false idea, and that what the world generally calls 'love' is not love at all. moreover, there was nothing in my heart or mind with regard to rafel santoris save a keen interest and sense of friendship. i was sure that his beliefs were the same as mine, and that he had been working along the same lines which i had endeavoured to follow; and just as two musicians, inspired by a mutual love of their art, may be glad to play their instruments together in time and tune, even so i felt that he and i had met on a plane of thought where we had both for a long time been separately wandering. the 'dream' yacht, with its white sails spread ready for a cruise, was as beautiful by day in the sunshine under a blue sky as by night with its own electric radiance flashing its outline against the stars, and i was eager to be on board. we were, however, delayed by an 'attack of nerves' on the part of catherine, who during the morning was seized with a violent fit of hysteria to which she completely gave way, sobbing, laughing and gasping for breath in a manner which showed her to be quite unhinged and swept from self-control. dr. brayle took her at once in charge, while mr. harland fumed and fretted, pacing up and down in the saloon with an angry face and brooding eyes. he looked at me where i stood waiting, ready dressed for the excursion of the day, and said: "i'm sorry for all this worry. catherine gets worse and worse. her nerves tear her to pieces." "she allows them to do so,"--i answered--"and dr. brayle allows her to give them their way." he shrugged his shoulders. "you don't like brayle,"--he said--"but he's clever, and he does his best." "to keep his patients,"--i hinted, with a smile. he turned on his heel and faced me. "well now, come!" he said--"could you cure her?" "i could have cured her in the beginning,"--i replied, "but hardly now. no one can cure her now but herself." he paced up and down again. "she won't be able to go with us to visit santoris," he said--"i'm sure of that." "shall we put it off?" i suggested. his eyebrows went up in surprise at me. "why no, certainly not. it will be a change for you and a pleasure of which i would not deprive you. besides, i want to go myself. but catherine--" dr. brayle here entered the saloon with his softest step and most professional manner. "miss harland is better now,"--he said--"she will be quite calm in a few minutes. but she must remain quiet. it will not be safe for her to attempt any excursion today." "well, that need not prevent the rest of us from going."--said mr. harland. "oh no, certainly not! in fact, miss harland said she hoped you would go, and make her excuses to mr. santoris. i shall, of course, be in attendance on her." "you won't come, then?"--and an unconscious look of relief brightened mr. harland's features--"and as swinton doesn't wish to join us, we shall be only a party of three--captain derrick, myself and our little friend here. we may as well be off. is the boat ready?" we were informed that mr. santoris had sent his own boat and men to fetch us, and that they had been waiting for some few minutes. we at once prepared to go, and while mr. harland was getting his overcoat and searching for his field-glasses, dr. brayle spoke to me in a low tone-"the truth of the matter is that miss harland has been greatly upset by the visit of mr. santoris and by some of the things he said last night. she could not sleep, and was exceedingly troubled in her mind by the most distressing thoughts. i am very glad she has decided not to see him again to-day." "do you consider his influence harmful?" i queried, somewhat amused. "i consider him not quite sane,"--dr. brayle answered, coldly--"and highly nervous persons like miss harland are best without the society of clever but wholly irresponsible theorists." the colour burned in my cheeks. "you include me in that category, of course,"--i said, quietly--"for i said last night that if mr. santoris was mad, then i am too, for i hold the same views." he smiled a superior smile. "there is no harm in you,"--he answered, condescendingly--"you may think what you like,--you are only a woman. very clever--very charming--and full of the most delightful fancies,--but weighted (fortunately) with the restrictions of your sex. i mean no offence, i assure you,--but a woman's 'views,' whatever they are, are never accepted by rational beings." i laughed. "i see! and rational beings must always be men!" i said--"you are quite certain of that?" "in the fact that men ordain the world's government and progress, you have your answer,"--he replied. "alas, poor world!" i murmured--"sometimes it rebels against the 'rationalism' of its rulers!" just then mr. harland called me, and i hastened to join him and captain derrick. the boat which was waiting for us was manned by four sailors who wore white jerseys trimmed with scarlet, bearing the name of the yacht to which they belonged--the 'dream.' these men were dark-skinned and dark-eyed,--we took them at first for portuguese or malays, but they turned out to be from egypt. they saluted us, but did not speak, and as soon as we were seated, pulled swiftly away across the water. captain derrick watched their movements with great interest and curiosity. "plenty of grit in those chaps,"--he said, aside to mr. harland--"look at their muscular arms! i suppose they don't speak a word of english." mr. harland thereupon tried one of them with a remark about the weather. the man smiled--and the sudden gleam of his white teeth gave a wonderful light and charm to his naturally grave cast of countenance. "beautiful day!"--he said,--"very happy sky!" this expression 'happy sky' attracted me. it recalled to my mind a phrase i had once read in the translation of an inscription found in an egyptian sarcophagus--"the peace of the morning befriend thee, and the light of the sunset and the happiness of the sky." the words rang in my ears with an odd familiarity, like the verse of some poem loved and learned by heart in childhood. in a very few minutes we were alongside the 'dream' and soon on board, where rafel santoris received us with kindly courtesy and warmth of welcome. he expressed polite regret at the absence of miss harland--none for that of dr. brayle or mr. swinton--and then introduced us to his captain, an italian named marino fazio, of whom santoris said to us, smilingly:-"he is a scientist as well as a skipper--and he needs to be both in the management of such a vessel as this. he will take captain derrick in his charge and explain to him the mystery of our brilliant appearance at night, and also the secret of our sailing without wind." fazio saluted, and smiled a cheerful response. "are you ready to start now?" he asked, speaking very good english with just the slightest trace of a foreign accent. "perfectly!" fazio lifted his hand with a sign to the man at the wheel. another moment and the yacht began to move. without the slightest noise,--without the grinding of ropes, or rattling of chains, or creaking boards, she swung gracefully round, and began to glide through the water with a swiftness that was almost incredible. the sails filled, though the air was intensely warm and stirless--an air in which any ordinary schooner would have been hopelessly becalmed,--and almost before we knew it we were out of loch scavaig and flying as though borne on the wings of some great white bird, all along the wild and picturesque coast of skye towards loch bracadale. one of the most remarkable features about the yacht was the extraordinary lightness with which she skimmed the waves--she seemed to ride on their surface rather than part them with her keel. everything on board expressed the finest taste as well as the most perfect convenience, and i saw mr. plarland gazing about him in utter amazement at the elegant sumptuousness of his surroundings. santoris showed us all over the vessel, talking to us with the ease of quite an old friend. "you know the familiar axiom,"--he said--"'anything worth doing at all is worth doing well.' the 'dream' was first of all nothing but a dream in my brain till i set to work with fazio and made it a reality. owing to our discovery of the way in which to compel the waters to serve us as our motive power, we have no blackening smoke or steam, so that our furniture and fittings are preserved from dinginess and tarnish. it was possible to have the saloon delicately painted, as you see,"--here he opened the door of the apartment mentioned, and we stepped into it as into a fairy palace. it was much loftier than the usual yacht saloon, and on all sides the windows were oval shaped, set in between the most exquisitely painted panels of sea pieces, evidently the work of some great artist. overhead the ceiling was draped with pale turquoise blue silk forming a canopy, which was gathered in rich folds on all four sides, having in its centre a crystal lamp in the shape of a star. "you live like a king"--then said mr. harland, a trifle bitterly--"you know how to use your father's fortune." "my father's fortune was made to be used," answered santoris, with perfect good-humour--"and i think he is perfectly satisfied with my mode of expending it. but very little of it has been touched. i have made my own fortune." "indeed! how?" and harland looked as he evidently felt, keenly interested. "ah, that's asking too much of me!" laughed santoris. "you may be satisfied, however, that it's not through defrauding my neighbours. it's comparatively easy to be rich if you have coaxed any of mother nature's secrets out of her. she is very kind to her children, if they are kind to her,--in fact, she spoils them, for the more they ask of her the more she gives. besides, every man should make his own money even if he inherits wealth,--it is the only way to feel worthy of a place in this beautiful, ever-working world." he preceded us out of the saloon and showed us the state-rooms, of which there were five, daintily furnished in white and blue and white and rose. "these are for my guests when i have any," he said, "which is very seldom. this for a princess--if ever one should honour me with her presence!" and he opened a door on his right, through which we peered into a long, lovely room, gleaming with iridescent hues and sparkling with touches of gold and crystal. the bed was draped with cloudy lace through which a shimmer of pale rose-colour made itself visible, and the carpet of dark moss-green formed a perfect setting for the quaintly shaped furniture, which was all of sandal-wood inlaid with ivory. on a small table of carved ivory in the centre of the room lay a bunch of madonna lilies tied with a finely twisted cord of gold. we murmured our admiration, and santoris addressed himself directly to me for the first time since we had come on board. "will you go in and rest for a while till luncheon?" he said--"i placed the lilies there for your acceptance." the colour rushed to my cheeks,--i looked up at him in a little wonderment. "but i am not a princess!" his eyes smiled down into mine. "no? then i must have dreamed you were!" my heart gave a quick throb,--some memory touched my brain, but what it was i could not tell. mr. harland glanced at me and laughed. "what did i tell you the other day?" he said--"did i not call you the princess of a fairy tale? i was not far wrong!" they left me to myself then, and as i stood alone in the beautiful room which had thus been placed at my disposal, a curious feeling came over me that these luxurious surroundings were, after all, not new to my experience. i had been accustomed to them for a great part of my life. stay!--how foolish of me!--'a great part of my life'?--then what part of it? i briefly reviewed my own career,--a difficult and solitary childhood,--the hard and uphill work which became my lot as soon as i was old enough to work at all,--incessant study, and certainly no surplus of riches. then where had i known luxury? i sank into a chair, dreamily considering. the floating scent of sandal-wood and the perfume of lilies commingled was like the breath of an odorous garden in the east, familiar to me long ago, and as i sat musing i became conscious of a sudden inrush of power and sense of dominance which lifted me as it were above myself, as though i had, without any warning, been given the full control of a great kingdom and its people. catching sight of my own reflection in an opposite mirror, i was startled and almost afraid at the expression of my face, the proud light in my eyes, the smile on my lips. "what am i thinking of!" i said, half aloud--"i am not my true self to-day,--some remnant of a cast-off pride has arisen in me and made me less of a humble student. i must not yield to this overpowering demand on my soul,--it is surely an evil suggestion which asserts itself like the warning pain or fever of an impending disease. can it be the influence of santoris? no!--i will never believe it!" and yet a vague uneasiness beset me, and i rose and paced about restlessly,--then pausing where the lovely madonna lilies lay on the ivory table, i remembered they had been put there for me. i raised them gently, inhaling their delicious fragrance, and as i did so, saw, lying immediately underneath them, a golden cross of a mystic shape i knew well,--its upper half set on the face of a seven-pointed star, also of gold. with joy i took it up and kissed it reverently, and as i compared it with the one i always secretly wore on my own person, i knew that all was well, and that i need have no distrust of rafel santoris. no injurious effect on my mind could possibly be exerted by his influence--and i was thrown back on myself for a clue to that singular wave of feeling, so entirely contrary to my own disposition, which had for a moment overwhelmed me. i could not trace its source, but i speedily conquered it. fastening one of the snowy lilies in my waistband, as a contrast to the bright bit of bell-heather which i cherished even more than if it were a jewel, i presently went up on deck, where i found my host, mr. harland, captain derrick and marino fazio all talking animatedly together. "the mystery is cleared up,"--said mr. harland, addressing me as i approached--"captain derrick is satisfied. he has learned how one of the finest schooners he has ever seen can make full speed in any weather without wind." "oh no, i haven't learned how to do it,--i'm a long way off that!"--said derrick, good-humouredly--"but i've seen how it's done. and it's marvellous! if that invention could be applied to all ships--" "ah!--but first of all it would be necessary to instruct the shipbuilders!"--put in fazio--"they would have to learn their trade all over again. our yacht looks as though she were built on the same lines as all yachts,--but you know--you have seen--she is entirely different!" captain derrick gave a nod of grave emphasis. santoris meantime had come to my side. our glances met,--he saw that i had received and understood the message of the lilies, and a light and colour came into his eyes that made them beautiful. "men have not yet fully enjoyed their heritage," he said, taking up the conversation--"our yacht's motive power seems complex, but in reality it is very simple,--and the same force which propels this light vessel would propel the biggest liner afloat. nature has given us all the materials for every kind of work and progress, physical and mental--but because we do not at once comprehend them we deny their uses. nothing in the air, earth or water exists which we may not press into our service,--and it is in the study of natural forces that we find our conquest. what hundreds of years it took us to discover the wonders of steam!--how the discoverer was mocked and laughed at!--yet it was not really 'wonderful'--it was always there, waiting to be employed, and wasted by mere lack of human effort. one can say the same of electricity, sometimes called 'miraculous'--it is no miracle, but perfectly common and natural, only we have, until now, failed to apply it to our needs,--and even when wider disclosures of science are being made to us every day, we still bar knowledge by obstinacy, and remain in ignorance rather than learn. a few grains in weight of hydrogen have power enough to raise a million tons to a height of more than three hundred feet,--and if we could only find a way to liberate economically and with discretion the various forces which spirit and matter contain, we might change the whole occupation of man and make of him less a labourer than thinker, less mortal than angel! the wildest fairy-tales might come true, and earth be transformed into a paradise! and as for motive power, in a thimbleful of concentrated fuel we might take the largest ship across the widest ocean. i say if we could only find a way! some think they are finding it--" "you, for example?"--suggested mr. harland. he laughed. "i--if you like!--for example! will you come to luncheon?" he led the way, and mr. harland and i followed. captain derrick, who i saw was a little afraid of him, had arranged to take his luncheon with fazio and the other officers of the crew apart. we were waited upon by dark-skinned men attired in the picturesque costume of the east, who performed their duties with noiseless grace and swiftness. the yacht had for some time slackened speed, and appeared to be merely floating lazily on the surface of the calm water. we were told she could always do this and make almost imperceptible headway, provided there was no impending storm in the air. it seemed as if we were scarcely moving, and the whole atmosphere surrounding us expressed the most delicious tranquillity. the luncheon prepared for us was of the daintiest and most elegant description, and mr. harland, who on account of his ill-health seldom had any appetite, enjoyed it with a zest and heartiness i had never seen him display before. he particularly appreciated the wine, a rich, ruby-coloured beverage which was unlike anything i had ever tasted. "there is nothing remarkable about it,"--said santoris, i when questioned as to its origin--"it is simply real wine,--though you may say that of itself is remarkable, there being none in the market. it is the pure juice of the grape, prepared in such a manner as to nourish the blood without inflaming it. it can do you no harm,--in fact, for you, harland, it is an excellent thing." "why for me in particular?" queried harland, rather sharply. "because you need it,"--answered santoris--"my dear fellow, you are not in the best of health. and you will never get better under your present treatment." i looked up eagerly. "that is what i, too, have thought,"--i said--"only i dared not express it!" mr. harland surveyed me with an amused smile. "dared not! i know nothing you would not dare!--but with all your boldness, you are full of mere theories,--and theories never made an ill man well yet." santoris exchanged a swift glance with me. then he spoke:-"theory without practice is, of course, useless,"--he said--"but surely you can see that this lady has reached a certain plane of thought on which she herself dwells in health and content? and can she not serve you as an object lesson?" "not at all,"--replied mr. harland, almost testily--"she is a woman whose life has been immersed in study and contemplation, and because she has allowed herself to forego many of the world's pleasures she can be made happy by a mere nothing--a handful of roses--or the sound of sweet music--" "are they 'nothings'?"--interrupted santoris. "to business men they are--" "and business itself? is it not also from some points of view a 'nothing'?" "santoris, if you are going to be 'transcendental' i will have none of you!" said mr. harland, with a vexed laugh--"what i wish to say is merely this--that my little friend here, for whom i have a great esteem, let me assure her!--is not really capable of forming an opinion of the condition of a man like myself, nor can she judge of the treatment likely to benefit me. she does not even know the nature of my illness--but i can see that she has taken a dislike to my physician, brayle--" "i never 'take dislikes,' mr. harland,"--i interrupted, quickly--"i merely trust to a guiding instinct which tells me when a man is sincere or when he is acting a part. that's all." "well, you've decided that brayle is not sincere,"--he replied--"and you hardly think him clever. but if you would consider the point logically--you might enquire what motive could he possibly have for playing the humbug with me?" santoris smiled. "oh, man of 'business'! you can ask that?" we were at the end of luncheon,--the servants had retired, and mr. harland was sipping his coffee and smoking a cigar. "you can ask that?" he repeated--"you, a millionaire, with one daughter who is your sole heiress, can ask what motive a man like brayle,--worldly, calculating and without heart--has in keeping you both--both, i say--you and your daughter equally--in his medical clutches?" mr. harland's sharp eyes flashed with a sudden menace. "if i thought--" he began--then he broke off. presently he resumed--"you are not aware of the true state of affairs, santoris. wizard and scientist as you are, you cannot know everything! i need constant medical attendance--and my disease is incurable--" "no!"--said santoris, quietly--"not incurable." a sudden hope illumined harland's worn and haggard face. "not incurable! but--my good fellow, you don't even know what it is!" "i do. i also know how it began, and when,--how it has progressed, and how it will end. i know, too, how it can be checked--cut off in its development, and utterly destroyed,--but the cure would depend on yourself more than on dr. brayle or any other physician. at present no good is being done and much harm. for instance, you are in pain now?" "i am--but how can you tell?" "by the small, almost imperceptible lines on your face which contract quite unconsciously to yourself. i can stop that dreary suffering at once for you, if you will let me." "oh, i will 'let' you, certainly!" and mr. harland smiled incredulously,--"but i think you over-estimate your abilities." "i was never a boaster,"--replied santoris, cheerfully--"but you shall keep whatever opinion you like of me." and he drew from his pocket a tiny crystal phial set in a sheath of gold. "a touch of this in your glass of wine will make you feel a new man." we watched him with strained attention as he carefully allowed two small drops of liquid, bright and clear as dew to fall one after the other into mr. harland's glass. "now,"--he continued--"drink without fear, and say good-bye to all pain for at least forty-eight hours." with a docility quite unusual to him mr. harland obeyed. "may i go on smoking?" he asked. "you may." a minute passed, and mr. harland's face expressed a sudden surprise and relief. "well! what now?" asked santoris--"how is the pain?" "gone!" he answered--"i can hardly believe it--but i'm bound to admit it!" "that's right! and it will not come back--not to-day, at any rate, nor to-morrow. shall we go on deck now?" we assented. as we left the saloon he said: "you must see the glow of the sunset over loch coruisk. it's always a fine sight and it promises to be specially fine this evening,--there are so many picturesque clouds floating about. we are turning back to loch scavaig,--and when we get there we can land and do the rest of the excursion on foot. it's not much of a climb; will you feel equal to it?" this question he put to me personally. i smiled. "of course! i feel equal to anything! besides, i've been very lazy on board the 'diana,' taking no real exercise. a walk will do me good." mr. harland seated himself in one of the long reclining chairs which were placed temptingly under an awning on deck. his eyes were clearer and his face more composed than i had ever seen it. "those drops you gave me are magical, santoris!"--he said--"i wish you'd let me have a supply!" santoris stood looking down upon him kindly. "it would not be safe for you,"--he answered--"the remedy is a sovereign one if used very rarely, and with extreme caution, but in uninstructed hands it is dangerous. its work is to stimulate certain cells--at the same time (like all things taken in excess) it can destroy them. moreover, it would not agree with dr. brayle's medicines." "you really and truly think brayle an impostor?" "impostor is a strong word! no!--i will give him credit for believing in himself up to a certain point. but of course he knows that the so-called 'electric' treatment he is giving to your daughter is perfectly worthless, just as he knows that she is not really ill." "not really ill!" mr. harland almost bounced up in his chair, while i felt a secret thrill of satisfaction. "why, she's been a miserable, querulous invalid for years--" "since she broke off her engagement to a worthless rascal"--said santoris, calmly. "you see, i know all about it." i listened, astonished. how did he know, how could he know, the intimate details of a life like catherine's which could scarcely be of interest to a man such as he was? "your daughter's trouble is written on her face"--he went on--"warped affections, slain desires, disappointed hopes,--and neither the strength nor the will to turn these troubles to blessings. therefore they resemble an army of malarious germs which are eating away her moral fibre. brayle knows that what she needs is the belief that someone has an interest not only in her, but in the particularly morbid view she has taught herself to take of life. he is actively showing that interest. the rest is easy,--and will be easier when--well!--when you are gone." mr. harland was silent, drawing slow whiffs from his cigar. after a long pause, he said-"you are prejudiced, and i think you are mistaken. you only saw the man for a few minutes last night, and you know nothing of him--" "nothing,--except what he is bound to reveal,"--answered santoris. "what do you mean?" "you will not believe me if i tell you,"--and santoris, drawing a chair close to mine, sat down,--"yet i am sure this lady, who is your friend and guest, will corroborate what i say,--though, of course, you will not believe her! in fact, my dear harland, as you have schooled yourself to believe nothing, why urge me to point out a truth you decline to accept? had you lived in the time of galileo you would have been one of his torturers!" "i ask you to explain," said mr. harland, with a touch of pique--"whether i accept your explanation or not is my own affair." "quite!" agreed santoris, with a slight smile--"as i told you long ago at oxford, a man's life is his own affair entirely. he can do what he likes with it. but he can no more command the result of what he does with it than the sun can conceal its rays. each individual human being, male and female alike, moves unconsciously in the light of self-revealment, as though all his or her faults and virtues were reflected like the colours in a prism, or were set out in a window for passers-by to gaze upon. fortunately for the general peace of society, however, most passers-by are not gifted with the sight to see the involuntary display." "you speak in enigmas," said harland, impatiently--"and i'm not good at guessing them." santoris regarded him fixedly. his eyes were luminous and compassionate. "the simplest truths are to you 'enigmas,'" he said, regretfully--"a pity it is so! you ask me what i mean when i say a man is 'bound to reveal himself.' the process of self-revealment accompanies self-existence, as much as the fragrance of a rose accompanies its opening petals. you can never detach yourself from your own enveloping aura neither in body nor in soul. christ taught this when he said:--'let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven.' your 'light'--remember!--that word 'light' is not used here as a figure of speech but as a statement of fact. a positive 'light' surrounds you--it is exhaled and produced by your physical and moral being,--and those among us who have cultivated their inner organs of vision see it before they see you. it can be of the purest radiance,--equally it can be a mere nebulous film,--but whatever the moral and physical condition of the man or woman concerned it is always shown in the aura which each separate individual expresses for himself or herself. in this way dr. brayle reveals his nature to me as well as the chief tendency of his thoughts,--in this way you reveal yourself and your present state of health,--it is a proved test that cannot go wrong." mr. harland listened with his usual air of cynical tolerance and incredulity. "i have heard this sort of nonsense before,"--he said--"i have even read in otherwise reliable scientific journals about the 'auras' of people affecting us with antipathies or sympathies for or against them. but it's a merely fanciful suggestion and has no foundation in reality." "why did you wish me to explain, then?" asked santoris--"i can only tell you what i know, and--what i see!" harland moved restlessly, holding his cigar between his fingers and looking at it curiously to avoid, as i thought, the steadfast brilliancy of the compelling eyes that were fixed upon him. "these 'auras,'" he went on, indifferently, "are nothing but suppositions. i grant you that certain discoveries are being made concerning the luminosity of trees and plants which in some states of the atmosphere give out rays of light,--but that human beings do the same i decline to believe." "of course!" and santoris leaned back in his chair easily, as though at once dismissing the subject from his mind--"a man born blind must needs decline to believe in the pleasures of sight." harland's wrinkled brow deepened its furrows in a frown. "do you mean to tell me,--do you dare to tell me"--he said--"that you see any 'aura,' as you call it, round my personality?" "i do, most assuredly,"--answered santoris--"i see it as distinctly as i see yourself in the midst of it. but there is no actual light in it,--it is mere grey mist,--a mist of miasma." "thank you!" and harland laughed harshly--"you are complimentary!" "is it a time for compliments?" asked santoris, with sudden sternness--"harland, would you have me tell you all?" harland's face grew livid. he threw up his hand with a warning gesture. "no!" he said, almost violently. he clutched the arm of his chair with a nervous grip, and for one instant looked like a hunted creature caught red-handed in some act of crime. recovering himself quickly, he forced a smile. "what about our little friend's 'aura'?"-he queried, glancing at me--"does she 'express' herself in radiance?" santoris did not reply for a moment. then he turned his eyes towards me almost wistfully. "she does!"--he answered--"i wish you could see her as i see her!" there was a moment's silence. my face grew warm, and i was vaguely embarrassed, but i met his gaze fully and frankly. "and _i_ wish i could see myself as you see me,"--i said, half laughingly--"for i am not in the least aware of my own aura." "it is not intended that anyone should be visibly aware of it in their own personality,"--he answered--"but i think it is right we should realise the existence of these radiant or cloudy exhalations which we ourselves weave around ourselves, so that we may 'walk in the light as children of the light.'" his voice sank to a grave and tender tone which checked mr. harland in something he was evidently about to say, for he bit his lip and was silent. i rose from my chair and moved away then, looking--from the smooth deck of the 'dream' shadowed by her full white sails out to the peaks of the majestic hills whose picturesque beauties are sung in the wild strains of ossian, and the projecting crags, deep hollows and lofty pinnacles outlining the coast with its numerous waterfalls, lochs and shadowy creeks. a thin and delicate haze of mist hung over the land like a pale violet veil through which the sun shot beams of rose and gold, giving a vaporous unsubstantial effect to the scenery as though it were gliding with us like a cloud pageant on the surface of the calm water. the shores of loch scavaig began to be dimly seen in the distance, and presently captain derrick approached mr. harland, spy-glass in hand. "the 'diana' must have gone for a cruise,"--he said, in rather a perturbed way--"as far as i can make out, there's no sign of her where we left her this morning." mr. harland heard this indifferently. "perhaps catherine wished for a sail,"--he answered. "there are plenty on board to manage the vessel. you're not anxious?" "oh, not at all, sir, if you are satisfied,"--derrick answered. mr. harland stretched himself luxuriously in his chair. "personally, i don't mind where the 'diana' has gone to for the moment,"--he said, with a laugh--"i'm particularly comfortable where i am. santoris!" "here!" and santoris, who had stepped aside to give some order to one of his men, came up at the call. "what do you say to leaving me on board while you and my little friend go and see your sunset effect on loch coruisk by yourselves?" santoris heard this suggestion with an amused look. "you don't care for sunsets?" "oh yes, i do,--in a way. but i've seen so many of them--" "no two alike"--put in santoris. "i daresay not. still, i don't mind missing a few. just now i should like a sound sleep rather than a sunset. it's very unsociable, i know,--but--" here he half closed his eyes and seemed inclined to doze off there and then. santoris turned to me. "what do you say? can you put up with my company for an hour or two and allow me to be your guide to loch coruisk? or would you, too, rather not see the sunset?", our eyes met. a thrill of mingled joy and fear ran through me, and again i felt that strange sense of power and dominance which had previously overwhelmed me. "indeed, i have set my heart on going to loch coruisk"--i answered, lightly--"and i cannot let you off your promise to take me there! we will leave mr. harland to his siesta." "you're sure you do not mind?"--said harland, then, opening his eyes drowsily--"you will be perfectly safe with santoris." i smiled. i did not need that assurance. and i talked gaily with captain derrick on the subject of the 'diana' and the course of her possible cruise, while he scanned the waters in search of her,--and i watched with growing impatience our gradual approach to loch scavaig, which in the bright afternoon looked scarcely less dreary than at night, especially now that the 'diana' was no longer there to give some air of human occupation to the wild and barren surroundings. the sun was well inclined towards the western horizon when the 'dream' reached her former moorings and noiselessly dropped anchor, and about twenty minutes later the electric launch belonging to the vessel was lowered and i entered it with santoris, a couple of his men managing the boat as it rushed through the dark steel-coloured water to the shore. viii visions the touch of the earth seemed strange to me after nearly a week spent at sea, and as i sprang from the launch on to the rough rocks, aided by santoris, i was for a moment faint and giddy. the dark mountain summits seemed to swirl round me,--and the glittering water, shining like steel, had the weird effect of a great mirror in which a fluttering vision of something undefined and undeclared rose and passed like a breath. i recovered myself with an effort and stood still, trying to control the foolish throbbing of my heart, while my companion gave a few orders to his men in a language which i thought i knew, though i could not follow it. "are you speaking gaelic?" i asked him, with a smile. "no!--only something very like it--phoenician." he looked straight at me as he said this, and his eyes, darkly blue and brilliant, expressed a world of suggestion. he went on:-"all this country was familiar ground to the phoenician colonists of ages ago. i am sure you know that! the gaelic tongue is the genuine dialect of the ancient phoenician celtic, and when i speak the original language to a highlander who only knows his native gaelic he understands me perfectly." i was silent. we moved away from the shore, walking slowly side by side. presently i paused, looking back at the launch we had just left. "your men are not highlanders?" "no--they are from egypt." "but surely,"--i said, with some hesitation--"phoenician is no longer known or spoken?" "not by the world of ordinary men,"--he answered--"i know it and speak it,--and so do most of those who serve me. you have heard it before, only you do not quite remember." i looked at him, startled. he smiled, adding gently:--"nothing dies--not even a language!" we were not yet out of sight of the men. they had pushed the launch off shore again and were starting it back to the yacht, it being arranged that they should return for us in a couple of hours. we were following a path among slippery stones near a rushing torrent, but as we turned round a sharp bend we lost the view of loch scavaig itself and were for the first time truly alone. huge mountains, crowned with jagged pinnacles, surrounded us on all sides,--here and there tufts of heather clinging to large masses of dark stone blazed rose-purple in the declining sunshine,--the hollow sound of the falling stream made a perpetual crooning music in our ears, and the warm, stirless air seemed breathless, as though hung in suspense above us waiting for the echo of some word or whisper that should betray a life's secret. such a silence held us that it was almost unbearable,--every nerve in my body seemed like a strained harp-string ready to snap at a touch,--and yet i could not speak. i tried to get the mastery over the rising tide of thought, memory and emotion that surged in my soul like a tempest--swiftly and peremptorily i argued with myself that the extraordinary chaos of my mind was only due to my own imaginings,--nevertheless, despite my struggles, i remained caught as it were in a web that imprisoned every faculty and sense,--a web fine as gossamer, yet unbreakable as iron. in a kind of desperation i raised my eyes, burning with the heat of restrained tears, and saw santoris watching me with patient, almost appealing tenderness. i felt that he could read my unexpressed trouble, and involuntarily i stretched out my hands to him. "tell me!" i half whispered-"what is it i must know? we are strangers--and yet--" he caught my hands in his own. "not strangers!" he said, his voice trembling a little--"you cannot say that! not strangers--but old friends!" the strong gentleness of his clasp recalled the warm pressure of the invisible hands that had guided me out of darkness in my dream of a few nights past. i looked up into his face, and every line of it became suddenly, startlingly familiar. the deep-set blue eyes,--the broad brows and intellectual features were all as well known to me as might be the portrait of a beloved one to the lover, and my heart almost stood still with the wonder and terror of the recognition. "not strangers,"--he repeated, with quiet emphasis, as though to reassure me--"only since we last met we have travelled far asunder. have yet a little patience! you will presently remember me as well as i remember you!" with the rush of startled recollection i found my voice. "i remember you now!"--i said, in low, unsteady tones--"i have seen you often--often! but where? tell me where? oh, surely you know!" he still held my hands with the tenderest force,--and seemed, like myself, to find speech difficult. if two deeply attached friends, parted for many years, were all unexpectedly to meet in some solitary place where neither had thought to see a living soul, their emotion could hardly be keener than ours,--and yet--there was an invisible barrier between us--a barrier erected either by him or by myself,--something that held us apart. the sudden and overpowering demand made upon our strength by the swift and subtle attraction which drew us together was held in check by ourselves,--and it was as if we were each separately surrounded by a circle across which neither of us dared to pass. i looked at him in mingled fear and questioning--his eyes were gravely thoughtful and full of light. "yes, i know,"--he answered, at last, speaking very softly--while, gently releasing one of my hands, he held the other--"i know,--but we need not speak of that! as i have already said, you will remember all by gradual degrees. we are never permitted to entirely forget. but it is quite natural that now--at this immediate hour--we should find it strange--you, perhaps, more than i--that something impels us one to the other,--something that will not be gainsaid,--something that if all the powers of earth and heaven could intervene, which by simplest law they cannot, will take no denial!" i trembled, not with fear, but with an exquisite delight i dared not pause to analyse. he pressed my hand more closely. "we had better walk on,"--he continued, averting his gaze from mine for the moment--"if i say more just now i shall say too much--and you will be frightened,--perhaps offended. i have been guilty of so many errors in the past,--you must help me to avoid them in the future. come!"--and he turned his eyes again upon me with a smile--"let us see the sunset!" we moved on for a few moments in absolute silence, he still holding my hand and guiding me up the rough path we followed. the noise of the rushing torrent sounded louder in my ears, sometimes with a clattering insistence as though it sought to match itself against the surging of my own quick blood in an endeavour to drown my thoughts. on we went and still onward,--the path seemed interminable, though it was in reality a very short journey. but there was such a weight of unutterable things pressing on my soul like a pent-up storm craving for outlet, that every step measured itself as almost a mile. at last we paused; we were in full view of loch coruisk and its weird splendour. on all sides arose bare and lofty mountains, broken and furrowed here and there by deep hollows and corries,--supremely grand in their impressive desolation, uplifting their stony peaks around us like the walls and turrets of a gigantic fortress, and rising so abruptly and so impenetrably encompassing the black stretch of water below, that it seemed impossible for a sunbeam to force its shining entrance into such a circle of dense gloom. yet there was a shower of golden light pouring aslant down one of the highest of the hills, brightening to vivid crimson stray clumps of heather, touching into pale green some patches of moss and lichen, and giving the dazzling flash of silver to the white wings of a sea-gull which soared above our heads uttering wild cries like a creature in pain. pale blue mists were rising from the surface of the lake, and the fitful gusts of air that rushed over the rocky summits played with these impalpable vapours borne inland from the atlantic, and tossed them to and fro into fantastic shapes--some like flying forms with long hair streaming behind them--some like armed warriors, hurtling their spears against each other,--and some like veiled ghosts hurrying past as though driven to their land of shadows by shuddering fear. we stood silently hand in hand, watching the uneasy flitting of these cloud phantoms, and waiting for the deepening glow, which, when it should spread upwards from the rays of the sinking sun, would transform the wild, dark scene to one of almost supernatural splendour. suddenly santoris spoke: "now shall i tell you where we last met?" he asked, very gently--"and may i show you the reasons why we meet again?" i lifted my eyes to his. my heart beat with suffocating quickness, and thoughts were in my brain that threatened to overwhelm my small remaining stock of self-control and make of me nothing but a creature of tears and passion. i moved my lips in an effort to speak, but no sound came from them. "do not be afraid,"--he continued, in the same quiet tone--"it is true that we must be careful now as in the past we were careless,--but perfect comprehension of each other rests with ourselves. may i go on?" i gave a mute sign of assent. there was a rough craig near us, curiously shaped like a sort of throne and canopy, the canopy being formed by a thickly overhanging mass of rock and heather, and here he made me sit down, placing himself beside me. from this point we commanded a view of the head of the lake and the great mountain which closes and dominates it,--and which now began to be illumined with a strange witch-like glow of orange and purple, while a thin mist moved slowly across it like the folds of a ghostly stage curtain preparing to rise and display the first scene of some great drama. "sometimes," he then said,--"it happens, even in the world of cold and artificial convention, that a man and woman are brought together who, to their own immediate consciousness, have had no previous acquaintance with each other, and yet with the lightest touch, the swiftest glance of an eye, a million vibrations are set quivering in them like harp-strings struck by the hand of a master and responding each to each in throbbing harmony and perfect tune. they do not know how it happens--they only feel it is. then, nothing--i repeat this with emphasis--nothing can keep them apart. soul rushes to soul,--heart leaps to heart,--and all form and ceremony, custom and usage crumble into dust before the power that overwhelms them. these sudden storms of etheric vibration occur every day among the most ordinary surroundings and with the most unlikely persons, and society as at present constituted frowns and shakes its head, or jeers at what it cannot understand, calling such impetuosity folly, or worse, while remaining wilfully blind to the fact that in its strangest aspect it is nothing but the assertion of an eternal law. moreover, it is a law that cannot be set aside or broken with impunity. just as the one point of vibration sympathetically strikes the other in the system of wireless telegraphy, so, despite millions and millions of intervening currents and lines of divergence, the immortal soul-spark strikes its kindred fire across a waste of worlds until they meet in the compelling flash of that god's message called love!" he paused--then went on slowly:-"no force can turn aside one from the other,--nothing can intervene--not because it is either romance or reality, but simply because it is a law. you understand?" i bent my head silently. "it may be thousands of years before such a meeting is consummated,"--he continued--"for thousands of years are but hours in the eternal countings. yet in those thousands of years what lives must be lived!--what lessons must be learned!--what sins committed and expiated!--what precious time lost or found!--what happiness missed or wasted!" his voice thrilled--and again he took my hand and held it gently clasped. "you must believe in yourself alone,"--he said,--"if any lurking thought suggests a disbelief in me! it is quite natural that you should doubt me a little. you have studied long and deeply--you have worked hard at problems which puzzle the strongest man's brain, and you have succeeded in many things because you have kept what most men manage to lose when grappling with science,--faith. you have always studied with an uplifted heart--uplifted towards the things unseen and eternal. but it has been a lonely heart, too,--as lonely as mine!" a moment's silence followed,--a silence that seemed heavy and dark, like a passing cloud, and instinctively i looked up to see if indeed a brooding storm was not above us. a heaven of splendid colour met my gaze--the whole sky was lighted with a glory of gold and blue. but below this flaming radiance there was a motionless mass of grey vapour, hanging square as it seemed across the face of the lofty mountain at the head of the lake, like a great canvas set ready for an artist's pencil and prepared to receive the creation of his thought. i watched this in a kind of absorbed fascination, conscious that the warm hand holding mine had strengthened its close grasp,--when suddenly something sharp and brilliant, like the glitter of a sword or a forked flash of lightning, passed before my eyes with a dizzying sensation, and the lake, the mountains, the whole landscape, vanished like a fleeting mirage, and in all the visible air only the heavy curtain of mist remained. i made an effort to move--to speak--in vain! i thought some sudden illness must have seized me--yet no!--for the half-swooning feeling that had for a moment unsteadied my nerves had already passed--and i was calm enough. yet i saw more plainly than i have ever seen anything in visible nature, a slowly moving, slowly passing panorama of scenes and episodes that presented themselves in marvellous outline and colouring,--pictures that were gradually unrolled and spread out to my view on the grey background of that impalpable mist which like a shadow hung between myself and impenetrable mystery, and i realised to the full that an eternal record of every life is written not only in sound, but in light, in colour, in tune, in mathematical proportion and harmony,--and that not a word, not a thought, not an action is forgotten! a vast forest rose before me. i saw the long shadows of the leafy boughs flung thick upon the sward and the wild tropical vines hanging rope-like from the intertwisted stems. a golden moon looked warmly in between the giant branches, flooding the darkness of the scene with rippling radiance, and within its light two human beings walked,--a man and woman--their arms round each other,--their faces leaning close together. the man seemed pleading with his companion for some favour which she withheld, and presently she drew herself away from him altogether with a decided movement of haughty rejection. i could not see her face,--but her attire was regal and splendid, and on her head there shone a jewelled diadem. her lover stood apart for a moment with bent head--then he threw himself on his knees before her and caught her hand in an evident outburst of passionate entreaty. and while they stood thus together, i saw the phantom-like figure of another woman moving towards them--she came directly into the foreground of the picture, her white garments clinging round her, her fair hair flung loosely over her shoulders, and her whole demeanour expressing eagerness and fear. as she approached, the man sprang up from his knees and, with a gesture of fury, drew a dagger from his belt and plunged it into her heart! i saw her reel back from the blow--i saw the red blood well up through the whiteness of her clothing, and as she turned towards her murderer, with a last look of appeal, i recognised my own face in hers!--and in his the face of santoris! i uttered a cry,--or thought i uttered it--a darkness swept over me--and the vision vanished! * * * * * * another vivid flash struck my eyes, and i found myself looking upon the crowded thoroughfares of a great city. towers and temples, palaces and bridges, presented themselves to my gaze in a network of interminable width and architectural splendour, moving and swaying before me like a wave glittering with a thousand sparkles uplifted to the light. presently this unsteadiness of movement resolved itself into form and order, and i became, as it were, one unobserved spectator among thousands, of a scene of picturesque magnificence. it seemed that i stood in the enormous audience hall of a great palace, where there were crowds of slaves, attendants and armed men,--on all sides arose huge pillars of stone on which were carved the winged heads of monsters and fabulous gods,--and looming out of the shadows i saw the shapes of four giant sphinxes which guarded a throne set high above the crowd. a lambent light played quiveringly on the gorgeous picture, growing more and more vivid as i looked, and throbbing with colour and motion,--and i saw that on the throne there sat a woman crowned and veiled,--her right hand held a sceptre blazing with gold and gems. slaves clad in costumes of the richest workmanship and design abased themselves on either side of her, and i heard the clash of brazen cymbals and war-like music, as the crowd of people surged and swayed, and murmured and shouted, all apparently moved by some special excitement or interest. suddenly i perceived the object on which the general attention was fixed--the swooning body of a man, heavily bound in chains and lying at the foot of the throne. beside him stood a tall black slave, clad in vivid scarlet and masked,--this sinister-looking creature held a gleaming dagger uplifted ready to strike,--and as i saw this, a wild yearning arose in me to save the threatened life of the bound and helpless victim. if i could only rush to defend and drag him away from impending peril, i thought!--but no!--i was forced to stand helplessly watching the scene, with every fibre of my brain burning with pent-up anguish. at this moment, the crowned and veiled woman on the throne suddenly rose and stood upright,--with a commanding gesture she stretched out her glittering sceptre--the sign was given! swiftly the dagger gleamed through the air and struck its deadly blow straight home! i turned away my eyes in shuddering horror,--but was compelled by some invincible power to raise them again,--and the scene before me glowed red as with the hue of blood--i saw the slain victim,--the tumultuous crowd--and above all, the relentless queen who, with one movement of her little hand, had swept away a life,--and as i looked upon her loathingly, she threw back her shrouding golden veil. my own face looked full at me from under the jewelled arch of her sparkling diadem--ah, wicked soul!--i wildly cried--pitiless queen!--then, as they lifted the body of the murdered man, his livid countenance was turned towards me, and i saw again the face of santoris! dumb and despairing i sank as it were within myself, chilled with inexplicable misery, and i heard for the first time in this singular pageant of vision a voice--slow, calm, and thrilling with infinite sadness: "a life for a life!"--it said--"the old eternal law!--a life for a life! there is nothing taken which shall not be returned again--nothing lost which shall not be found--a life for a life!" then came silence and utter darkness. * * * * * * slowly brightening, slowly widening, a pale radiance like the earliest glimmer of dawn stole gently on my eyes when i again raised them. i saw the waving curve of a wide, sluggishly flowing river, and near it a temple of red granite stood surrounded with shadowing foliage and bright clumps of flowers. huge palms lifted their fronded heads to the sky, and on the edge of the quiet stream there loitered a group of girls and women. one of these stood apart, sad and alone, the others looking at her with something of pity and scorn. near her was a tall upright column of black basalt, as it seemed, bearing the sculptured head of a god. the features were calm and strong and reposeful, expressive of dignity, wisdom and power. and as i looked, more people gathered together--i heard strains of solemn music pealing from the temple close by--and i saw the solitary woman draw herself farther apart and almost disappear among the shadows. the light grew brighter in the east,--the sun shot a few advancing rays upward,--suddenly the door of the temple was thrown open, and a long procession of priests carrying flaming tapers and attended by boys in white garments and crowned with flowers made their slow and stately way towards the column with the god-like head upon it and began to circle round it, chanting as they walked, while the flower-crowned boys swung golden censers to and fro, impregnating the air with rich perfume. the people all knelt--and still the priests paced round and round, chanting and murmuring prayers,--till at last the great sun lifted the edge of its glowing disc above the horizon, and its rays springing from the east like golden arrows, struck the brow of the head set on its basalt pedestal. with the sudden glitter of this morning glory the chanting ceased,--the procession stopped; and one priest, tall and commanding of aspect, stepped forth from the rest, holding up his hands to enjoin silence. and then the head quivered as with life,--its lips moved--there was a rippling sound like the chord of a harp smitten by the wind,--and a voice, full, sweet and resonant, spoke aloud the words:-"i face the sunrise!" with a shout of joy priests and people responded: "we face the sunrise!" and he who seemed the highest in authority, raising his arms invokingly towards heaven, exclaimed: "even so, o mightiest among the mighty, let us ever remember that thy shadow is but part of thy light,--that sorrow is but the passing humour of joy--and that death is but the night which dawns again into life! we face the sunrise!" then all who were assembled joined in singing a strange half-barbaric song and chorus of triumph, to the strains of which they slowly moved off and disappeared like shapes breathed on a mirror and melting away. only the tall high priest remained,--and he stood alone, waiting, as it were, for something eagerly expected and desired. and presently the woman who had till now remained hidden among the shadows of the surrounding trees, came swiftly forward. she was very pale--her eyes shone with tears--and again i saw my own face in hers. the priest turned quickly to greet her, and i distinctly heard every word he spoke as he caught her hands in his own and drew her towards him. "everything in this world and the next i will resign," he said--"for love of thee! honour, dignity and this poor earth's renown i lay at thy feet, thou most beloved of women! what other thing created or imagined can be compared to the joy of thee?--to the sweetness of thy lips, the softness of thy bosom--the love that trembles into confession with thy smile! imprison me but in thine arms and i will count my very soul well lost for an hour of love with thee! ah, deny me not!--turn me not away from thee again!--love comes but once in life--such love as ours!--early or late, but once!" she looked at him with tender passion and pity--a look in which i thankfully saw there was no trace of pride, resentment or affected injury. "oh, my beloved!" she answered, and her voice, plaintive and sweet, thrilled on the silence like a sob of pain--"why wilt thou rush on destruction for so poor a thing as i am? knowest thou not, and wilt thou not remember that, to a priest of thy great order, the love of woman is forbidden, and the punishment thereof is death? already the people view thee with suspicion and me with scorn--forbear, o dearest, bravest soul!--be strong!" "strong?" he echoed--"is it not strong to love?--ay, the very best of strength! for what avails the power of man if he may not bend a woman to his will? child, wherever love is there can be no death, but only life! love is as the ever-flowing torrent of eternity in my veins--the pulse of everlasting youth and victory! what are the foolish creeds of man compared with this one truth of nature--love! is not the deity himself the supreme lover?--and wouldst thou have me a castaway from his holiest ordinance? ah no!--come to me, my beloved!--soul of my soul--inmost core of my heart! come to me in the silence when no one sees and no one hears--come when--" he broke off, checked by her sudden smile and look of rapture. some thought had evidently, like a ray of light, cleared her doubts away. "so be it!" she said--"i give thee all myself from henceforth!--i will come!" he uttered an exclamation of relief and joy, and drew her closer, till her head rested on his breast and her loosened hair fell in a shower across his arms. "at last!" he murmured--"at last! mine--all mine this tender soul, this passionate heart!--mine this exquisite life to do with as i will! o crown of my best manhood!--when wilt thou come to me?" she answered at once without hesitation. "to-night!" she said--"to-night, when the moon rises, meet me here in this very place,--this sacred grove where memnon hears thy vows to him broken, and my vows consecrated to thee!--and as i live i swear i will be all thine! but now--leave me to pray!" she lifted her head and looked into his adoring eyes,--then kissed him with a strange, grave tenderness as though bidding him farewell, and with a gentle gesture motioned him away. elated and flushed with joy, he obeyed her sign, and left her, disappearing in the same phantom-like way in which all the other figures in this weird dream-drama had made their exit. she watched him go with a wistful yearning gaze--then in apparent utter desperation she threw herself on her knees before the impassive head on its rocky pedestal and prayed aloud: "o hidden and unknown god whom we poor earthly creatures symbolise!--give me the strength to love unselfishly--the patience to endure uncomplainingly! thou, heart of stone, temper with thy coldest wisdom my poor throbbing heart of flesh! help me to quell the tempest in my soul, and let me be even as thou art--inflexible, immovable,--save when the sun strikes music from thy dreaming brows and tells thee it is day! forgive, o great god, forgive the fault of my beloved!--a fault which is not his, but mine, merely because i live and he hath found me fair,--let all be well for him,--but for me let nothing evermore be either well or ill--and teach me--even me--to face the sunrise!" her voice ceased--a mist came before me for a moment--and when this cleared, the same scene was presented to me under the glimmer of a ghostly moon. and she who looked so like myself, lay dead at the foot of the great statue, her hands clasped on her breast, her eyes closed, her mouth smiling as in sleep, while beside her raved and wept her priestly lover, invoking her by every tender name, clasping her lifeless body in his arms, covering her face with useless passionate kisses, and calling her back with wild grief from the silence into which her soul had fled. and i knew then that she had put all thought of self aside in a sense of devotion to duty,--she had chosen what she imagined to be the only way out of difficulty,--to save the honour of her lover she had slain herself. but--was it wise? or foolish? this thought pressed itself insistently home to my mind. she had given her life to serve a mistaken creed,--she had bowed to the conventions of a temporary code of human law--yet--surely god was above all strange and unnatural systems built up by man for his own immediate convenience, vanity or advantage, and was not love the nearest thing to god? and if those two souls were destined lovers, could they be divided, even by their own rashness? these questions were curiously urged upon my inward consciousness as i looked again upon the poor fragile corpse among the reeds and palms of the sluggishly flowing river, and heard the clamorous despair of the man to whom she might have been joy, inspiration and victory had not the world been then as it is not now--the man, who as the light of the moonbeams fell upon him, showed me in his haggard and miserable features the spectral likeness of santoris. was it right, i asked myself, that the two perfect lines of a mutual love should be swept asunder?--or if it was, as some might conceive it, right according to certain temporary and conventional views of 'rightness.' was it possible to so sever them? would it not be well if we all occasionally remembered that there is an eternal law of harmony between souls as between spheres?--and that if we ourselves bring about a divergence we also bring about discord? and again,--that if discord results by our inter-meddling, it is against the law, and must by the working of natural forces be resolved into concord again, whether such resolvance take ten, a hundred, a thousand or ten thousand years? of what use, then, is the struggle we are for ever making in our narrow and limited daily lives to resist the wise and holy teaching of nature? is it not best to yield to the insistence of the music of life while it sounds in our ears? for everything must come round to nature's way in the end--her way being god's way, and god's way the only way! so i thought, as in half-dreaming fashion i watched the vision of the dead woman and her despairing lover fade into the impenetrable shadows of mystery veiling the record of the light beyond. * * * * * * presently i became conscious of a deep murmuring sound tike the subdued hum of many thousands of voices,--and lifting my eyes i saw the wide circular sweep of a vast arena crowded with people. in the centre, and well to the front of the uplifted tiers of seats, there was a gorgeous pavilion of gold, draped with gaudy coloured silk and hung with festoons of roses, wherein sat a heavily-built, brutish-looking man royally robed and crowned, and wearing jewels in such profusion as to seem literally clothed in flashing points of light. beautiful women were gathered round him,--boys with musical instruments crouched at his feet--attendants stood on every hand to minister to his slightest call or signal,--and all eyes were fixed upon him as upon some worshipped god of a nation's idolatry. i felt and knew that i was looking upon the 'shadow-presentment' of the roman tyrant nero; and i wondered vaguely how it chanced that he, in all the splendour of his wild and terrible career of wickedness, should be brought into this phantasmagoria of dream in which i and one other alone seemed to be chiefly concerned. there were strange noises in my ears,--the loud din of trumpets--the softer sound of harps played enchantingly in some far-off distance--the ever-increasing loud buzzing of the voices of the multitude--and then all at once the roar as of angry wild beasts in impatience or pain. the time of this vision seemed to be late afternoon--i thought i could see a line of deep rose colour in a sky where the sun had lately set--the flare of torches glimmered all round the arena and beyond it, striking vivid brilliancy from the jewels on nero's breast and throwing into strong relief the groups of soldiers and people immediately around him. i perceived now that the centre of the arena, previously empty, had become the one spot on which the looks of the people began to turn--one woman stood there all alone, clad in white, her arms crossed on her breast. so still was she,--so apparently unconscious of her position, that the mob, ever irritated by calmness, grew suddenly furious, and a fierce cry arose:--"ad leones! ad leones!" the great emperor stirred from his indolent, half-reclining position and leaned forward with a sudden look of interest on his lowering features,--and as he did so a man attired in the costume of a gladiator entered the arena from one of its side doors and with a calm step and assured demeanour walked up to the front of the royal dais and there dropped on one knee. then quickly rising he drew himself erect and waited, his eyes fixed on the woman who stood as immovably as a statue, apparently resigned to some untoward fate. and again the vast crowd shouted "ad leones! ad leones!" there came a heavy grating noise of drawn bolts and bars--the sound of falling chains--then a savage animal roar--and two lean and ferocious lions sprang into the arena, lashing their tails, their manes bristling and their eyes aglare. quick as thought, the gladiator stood in their path--and i swiftly recognised the nature of the 'sport' that had brought the emperor and all this brave and glittering show of humanity out to watch what to them was merely a 'sensation'--the life of a christian dashed out by the claws and fangs of wild beasts--a common pastime, all unchecked by either the mercy of man or the intervention of god! i understood as clearly as if the explanation had been volunteered to me in so many words, that the woman who awaited her death so immovably had only one chance of rescue, and that chance was through the gladiator, who, to please the humour of the emperor, had been brought hither to combat and frighten them off their intended victim,--the reward for him, if he succeeded, being the woman herself. i gazed with aching, straining eyes on the wonderful dream-spectacle, and my heart thrilled as i saw one of the lions stealthily approach the solitary martyr and prepare to spring. like lightning, the gladiator was upon the famished brute, fighting it back in a fierce and horrible contest, while the second lion, pouncing forward and bent on a similar attack, was similarly repulsed. the battle between man and beasts was furious, prolonged and terrible to witness--and the excitement became intense. "ad leones! ad leones!" was now the universal wild shout, rising ever louder and louder into an almost frantic clamour. the woman meanwhile never stirred from her place--she might have been frozen to the ground where she stood. she appeared to notice neither the lions who were ready to devour her, nor the gladiator who combated them in her defence--and i studied her strangely impassive figure with keen interest, waiting to see her face,--for i instinctively felt i should recognise it. presently, as though in response to my thought, she turned towards me,--and as in a mirror i saw my own reflected personality again as i had seen it so many times in this chain of strange episodes with which i was so singularly concerned though still an outside spectator. between her shadow-figure and what i felt of my own existing self there seemed to be a pale connecting line of light, and all my being thrilled towards her with a curiously vague anxiety. a swirling mist came before my eyes suddenly,--and when this cleared i saw that the combat was over--the lions lay dead and weltering in their blood on the trampled sand of the arena, and the victorious gladiator stood near their prone bodies triumphant, amid the deafening cheers of the crowd. wreaths of flowers were tossed to him from the people, who stood up in their seats all round the great circle to hail him with their acclamations, and the emperor, lifting his unwieldy body from under his canopy of gold, stretched out his hand as a sign that the prize which the dauntless combatant had fought to win was his. he at once obeyed the signal;--but now the woman, hitherto so passive and immovable, stirred. fixing upon the gladiator a glance of the deepest reproach and anguish, she raised her arms warningly as though forbidding him to approach her--and then fell face forward on the ground. he rushed to her side, and kneeling down sought to lift her;--then suddenly he sprang erect with a loud cry:-"great emperor! i asked of thee a living love!--and this is dead!" a ripple of laughter ran through the crowd. the emperor leaned forward from his throne and smiled. "thank your christian god for that!" he said--"our pagan deities are kinder! they give us love for love!" the gladiator gave a wild gesture of despair and turned his face upward to the light--the face of santoris! "dead!--dead!"--he cried--"of what use then is life? dark are the beloved eyes!--cold is the generous heart!--the fight has been in vain--my victory mocks me with its triumph! the world is empty!" again the laughter of the populace stirred the air. "go to, man!"--and the rough voice of nero sounded harshly above the murmurous din--"the world was never the worse for one woman the less! wouldst thou also be a christian? take heed! our lions are still hungry! thy love is dead, 'tis true, but we have not killed her! she trusted in her god, and he has robbed thee of thy lawful possession. blame him, not us! go hence, with thy laurels bravely won! nero commends thy prowess!" he flung a purse of gold at the gladiator's feet--and then i saw the whole scene melt away into a confused mass of light and colour till all was merely a pearl-grey haze floating before my eyes. yet i was hardly allowed a moment's respite before another scene presented itself like a painting upon the curtain of vapour which hung so persistently in front of me--a scene which struck a closer chord upon my memory than any i had yet beheld. * * * * * * the cool, spacious interior of a marble-pillared hall or studio slowly disclosed itself to my view--it was open to an enchanting vista of terraced gardens and dark undulating woods, and gay parterres of brilliant blossom were spread in front of it like a wonderfully patterned carpet of intricate and exquisite design. within it was all the picturesque grace and confusion of an artist's surroundings; and at a great easel, working assiduously, was one who seemed to be the artist himself, his face turned from me towards his canvas. posed before him, in an attitude of indolent grace, was a woman, arrayed in clinging diaphanous drapery, a few priceless jewels gleaming here and there like stars upon her bosom and arms--her hair, falling in loose waves from a band of pale blue velvet fastened across it, was of a warm brown hue like an autumn leaf with the sun upon it, and i could see that whatever she might be according to the strictest canons of beauty, the man who was painting her portrait considered her more than beautiful. i heard his voice, in the low, murmurous yet perfectly distinct way in which all sounds were conveyed to me in this dream pageant--it was exactly as if persons on the stage were speaking to an audience. "if we could understand each other,"--he said--"i think all would be well with us in time and eternity!" there was a pause. the picturesque scene before me seemed to glow and gather intensity as i gazed. "if you could see what is in my heart,"--he continued--"you would be satisfied that no greater love was ever given to woman than mine for you! yet i would not say i give it to you--for i have striven against it." he paused--and when he spoke again his words were so distinct that they seemed close to my ears. "it has been wrung out of my very blood and soul--i can no more resist it than i can resist the force of the air by which i live and breathe. i ought not to love you,--you are a joy forbidden to me--and yet i feel, rightly speaking, that you are already mine--that you belong to me as the other half of myself, and that this has been so from the beginning when god first ordained the mating of souls. i tell you i feel this, but cannot explain it,--and i grasp at you as my one hope of joy!--i cannot let you go!" she was silent, save for a deep sigh that stirred her bosom under its folded lace and made her jewels sparkle like sunbeams on the sea. "if i lose you now, having known and loved you," he went on--"i lose my art. not that this would matter--" her voice trembled on the air. "it would matter a great deal"--she said, softly--"to the world!" "the world!" he echoed--"what need i care for it? nothing seems of value to me where you are not--i am nerveless, senseless, hopeless without you. my inspiration--such as it is--comes from you--" she moved restlessly--her face was turned slightly away so that i could not see it. "my inspiration comes from you,"--he repeated--"the tender look of your eyes fills me with dreams which might--i do not say would--realise themselves in a life's renown--but all this is perhaps nothing to you. what, after all, can i offer you? nothing but love! and here in florence you could command more lovers than there are days in the week, did you choose--but people say you are untouchable by love even at its best. now i--" here he stopped abruptly and laid down his brush, looking full at her. "i," he continued--"love you at neither best nor worst, but simply and entirely with all of myself--all that a man can be in passionate heart, soul and body!" (how the words rang out! i could have sworn they were spoken close beside me and not by dream-voices in a dream!) "if you loved me--ah god!--what that would mean! if you dared to brave everything--if you had the courage of love to break down all barriers between yourself and me!--but you will not do this--the sacrifice would be too great--too unusual--" "you think it would?" the question was scarcely breathed. a look of sudden amazement lightened his face--then he replied, gently-"i think it would! women are impulsive,--generous to a fault--they give what they afterwards regret--who can blame them! you have much to lose by such a sacrifice as i should ask of you--i have all to gain. i must not be selfish. but i love you!--and your love would be to more than the hope of heaven!" and now strange echoes of a modern poet's rhyme became mingled in my dream: "you have chosen and clung to the chance they sent you- life sweet as perfume and pure as prayer, but will it not one day in heaven repent you? will they solace you wholly, the days that were? will you lift up your eyes between sadness and bliss, meet mine and see where the great love is? and tremble and turn and be changed?--content you; the gate is strait; i shall not be there. yet i know this well; were you once sealed mine, mine in the blood's beat, mine in the breath, mixed into me as honey in wine, not time that sayeth and gainsayeth, nor all strong things had severed us then, not wrath of gods nor wisdom of men, nor all things earthly nor all divine, nor joy nor sorrow, nor life nor death!" i watched with a deepening thrill of anxiety the scene in the studio, and my thoughts centred themselves upon the woman who sat there so quietly, seeming all unmoved by the knowledge that she held a man's life and future fame in her hands. the artist took up his palette and brushes again and began to work swiftly, his hand trembling a little. "you have my whole confession now!"--he said--"you know that you are the eyes of the world to me--the glory of the sun and the moon! all my art is in your smile--all my life responds to your touch. without you i am--can be nothing--cosmo de medicis--" at this name a kind of shadow crept upon the scene, together with a sense of cold. "cosmo de medicis"--he repeated, slowly--"my patron, would scarcely thank me for the avowals i have made to his fair ward!--one whom he intends to honour with his own alliance. i am here by his order to paint the portrait of his future bride!--not to look at her with the eyes of a lover. but the task is too difficult--" a little sound escaped her, like a smothered cry of pain. he turned towards her. "something in your face,"--he said--"a touch of longing in your sweet eyes, has made me risk telling you all, so that you may at least choose your own way of love and life--for there is no real life without love." suddenly she rose and confronted him--and once again, as in a magic mirror, i saw my own reflected personality. there were tears in her eyes,--yet a smile quivered on her mouth. "my beloved!"--she said--and then paused, as if afraid. a look of wonder and rapture came on his face like the light of sunrise, and i recognised the now familiar features of santoris! very gently he laid down his palette and brushes and stood waiting in a kind of half expectancy, half doubt. "my beloved!" she repeated--"have you not seen?--do you not know? o my genius!--my angel!--am i so hard to read?--so difficult to win?" her voice broke in a sob--she made an uncertain step forward, and he sprang to meet her. "i love you, love you!"--she cried, passionately--"let the whole world forsake me, if only you remain! i am all yours!--do with me as you will!" he caught her in his arms--straining her to his heart with all the passion of a long-denied lover's embrace--their lips met--and for a brief space they were lost in that sudden and divine rapture that comes but once in a lifetime,--when like a shivering sense of cold the name again was whispered: "cosmo de medicis!" a shadow fell across the scene, and a woman, dark and heavy-featured, stood like a blot in the sunlit brightness of the studio,--a woman very richly attired, who gazed fixedly at the lovers with round, suspicious eyes and a sneering smile. the artist turned and saw her--his face changed from joy to a pale anxiety--yet, holding his love with one arm, he flung defiance at her with uplifted head and fearless demeanour. "spy!"--he exclaimed--"do your worst! let us have an end of your serpent vigilance and perfidy!--better death than the constant sight of you! what! have you not watched us long enough to make discovery easy? do your worst, i say, and quickly!" the cruel smile deepened on the woman's mouth,--she made no answer, but simply raised her hand. in immediate obedience to the signal, a man, clad in the florentine dress of the sixteenth century, and wearing a singular collar of jewels, stepped out from behind a curtain, attended by two other men, who, by their dress, were, or seemed to be, of inferior rank. without a word, these three threw themselves upon the unarmed and defenceless painter with the fury of wild animals pouncing on prey. there was a brief and breathless struggle--three daggers gleamed in air--a shriek rang through the stillness--another instant and the victim lay dead, stabbed to the heart, while she who had just clung to his living body and felt the warmth of his living lips against hers, dropped on her knees beside the corpse with wild waitings of madness and despair. "another crime on your soul, cosmo de medicis!"--she cried--"another murder of a nobler life than your own!--may heaven curse you for it! but you have not parted my love from me--no!--you have but united us for ever! we escape you and your spies--thus!" and snatching a dagger from the hand of one of the assassins before he could prevent her, she plunged it into her own breast. she fell without a groan, self-slain,--and i saw, as in a mist of breath on a mirror, the sudden horror on the faces of the men and the one woman who were left to contemplate the ghastly deed they had committed. and then--noting as in some old blurred picture the features of the man who wore the collar of jewels, i felt that i knew him--yet i could not place him in any corner of my immediate recognition. gradually this strange scene of cool white marble vastness with its brilliant vista of flowers and foliage under the bright italian sky, and the betrayed lovers lying dead beside each other in the presence of their murderers, passed away like a floating cloud,--and the same slow, calm voice i had heard once before now spoke again in sad, stern accents: "jealousy is cruel as the grave!--the coals thereof are coals of fire which hath a most vehement flame! many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it--if a man would give all his substance for love it would be utterly contemned!" * * * * * * i closed my eyes,--or thought i closed them--a vague terror was growing upon me,--a terror of myself and a still greater terror of the man beside me who held my hand,--yet something prevented me from turning my head to look at him, and another still stronger emotion possessed me with a force so overpowering that i could hardly breathe under the weight and pain of it, but i could give it no name. i could not think at all--and i had ceased even to wonder at the strangeness and variety of these visions or dream-episodes full of colour and sound which succeeded each other so swiftly. therefore it hardly seemed remarkable to me when i saw the heavy curtain of mist which hung in front of my eyes suddenly reft asunder in many places and broken into a semblance of the sea. * * * * * * a wild sea! gloomily grey and grand in its onsweeping wrath, its huge billows rose and fell like moving mountains convulsed by an earthquake,--light and shadow combated against each other in its dark abysmal depths and among its toppling crests of foam--i could hear the savage hiss and boom of breakers dashing themselves to pieces on some unseen rocky coast far away,--and my heart grew cold with dread as i beheld a ship in full sail struggling against the heavy onslaught of the wind on that heaving wilderness of waters, like a mere feather lost from a sea-gull's wing. flying along like a hunted creature she staggered and plunged, her bowsprit dipping into deep chasms from which she was tossed shudderingly upward again as in light contempt, and as she came nearer and nearer into my view i could discern some of the human beings on board--the man at the wheel, with keen eyes peering into the gathering gloom of the storm, his hair and face dashed with spray,--the sailors, fighting hard to save the rigging from being torn to pieces and flung into the sea,--then--a sudden huge wave swept her directly in front of me, and i saw the two distinct personalities that had been so constantly presented to me during this strange experience,--the man with the face of santoris--the woman with my own face so truly reflected that i might have been looking at myself in a mirror. and just now the resemblance to us both was made more close and striking than it had been in any of the previous visions--that is to say, the likenesses of ourselves were given almost as we now existed. the man held the woman beside him closely clasped with one arm, supporting her and himself, with the other thrown round one of the shaking masts. i saw her look up to him with the light of a great and passionate love in her eyes. and i heard him say:-"the end of sorrow and the beginning of joy! you are not afraid?" "afraid?" and her voice had no tremor--"with you?" he caught her closer to his heart and kissed her not once but many times in a kind of mingled rapture and despair. "this is death, my beloved!"--he said. and her answer pealed out with tender certainty. "no!--not death, but life!--and love!" a cry went up from the sailors--a cry of heartrending agony,--a mass of enormous billows rolling steadily on together hurled themselves like giant assassins upon the frail and helpless vessel and engulfed it--it disappeared with awful swiftness, like a small blot on the ocean sucked down into the whirl of water--the vast and solemn greyness of the sea spread over it like a pall--it was a nothing, gone into nothingness! i watched one giant wave rise in a crystalline glitter of dark sapphire and curl over the spot where all that human life and human love had disappeared,--and then--there came upon my soul a sudden sense of intense calm. the great sea smoothed itself out before my eyes into fine ripples which dispersed gradually into mist again--and almost i found my voice--almost my lips opened to ask: "what means this vision of the sea?" when a sound of music checked me on the verge of utterance--the music of delicate strings as of a thousand harps in heaven. i listened with every sense caught and entranced--my gaze still fixed half unseeingly upon the heavy grey film which hung before me--that mystic sky-canvas upon which some divine painter had depicted in life-like form and colour scenes which i, in a sort of dim strangeness, recognised yet could not understand--and as i looked a rainbow, with every hue intensified to such a burning depth of brilliancy that its light was almost intolerably dazzling, sprang in a perfect arch across the cloud! i uttered an involuntary cry of rapture--for it was like no earthly rainbow i had ever seen. its palpitating radiance seemed to penetrate into the very core and centre of space,--aerially delicate yet deep, each separate colour glowed with the fervent splendour of a heaven undreamed of by mere mortality and too glorious for mortal description. it was the shining repentance of the storm,--the assurance of joy after sorrow--the passionate love of the soul rising upwards in perfect form and beauty after long imprisonment in ice-bound depths of repression and solitude--it was anything and everything that could be thought or imagined of divinest promise! my heart beat quickly--tears sprang to my eyes--and almost unconsciously i pressed the kind, strong hand that held mine. it trembled ever so slightly--but i was too absorbed in watching that triumphal arch across the sky to heed the movement. by degrees the lustrous hues began to pale very slowly, and almost imperceptibly they grew fainter and fainter till at last all was misty grey as before, save in one place where there were long rays of light like the falling of silvery rain. and then came strange rapidly passing scenes as of cloud forms constantly shifting and changing, in all of which i discerned the same two personalities so like and yet so unlike ourselves who were the dumb witnesses of every episode,--but everything now passed in absolute silence--there was no mysterious music,--the voices had ceased--all was mute. suddenly there came a change over the face of what i thought the sky--the clouds were torn asunder as it were to show a breadth of burning amber and rose, and i beheld the semblance of a great closed gateway barred across as with gold. here a figure slowly shaped itself,--the figure of a woman who knelt against the closed barrier with hands clasped and uplifted in pitiful beseeching. so strangely desolate and solitary was her aspect in all that heavenly brilliancy that i could almost have wept for her, shut out as she seemed from some mystic unknown glory. round her swept the great circle of the heavens--beneath her and above her were the deserts of infinite space--and she, a fragile soul rendered immortal by quenchless fires of love and hope and memory, hovered between the deeps of immeasurable vastness like a fluttering leaf or flake of snow! my heart ached for her--my lips moved unconsciously in prayer: "o leave her not always exiled and alone!" i murmured, inwardly--"dear god, have pity! unbar the gate and let her in! she has waited so long!" the hand holding mine strengthened its clasp,--and the warm, close pressure sent a thrill through my veins. almost i would have turned to look at my companion--had i not suddenly seen the closed gateway in the heavens begin to open slowly, allowing a flood of golden radiance to pour out like the steady flowing of a broad stream. the kneeling woman's figure remained plainly discernible, but seemed to be gradually melting into the light which surrounded it. and then--something--i know not what--shook me down from the pinnacle of vision,--hardly aware of my own action, i withdrew my hand from my companion's, and saw--just the solemn grandeur of loch coruisk, with a deep amber glow streaming over the summit of the mountains, flung upward by the setting sun! nothing more!--i heaved an involuntary sigh--and at last, with some little hesitation and dread, looked full at santoris. his eyes met mine steadfastly--he was very pale. so we faced each other for a moment--then he said, quietly:-"how quickly the time has passed! this is the best moment of the sunset,--when that glory fades we shall have seen all!" ix doubtful destiny his voice was calm and conventional, yet i thought i detected a thrill of sadness in it which touched me to a kind of inexplicable remorse, and i turned to him quickly, hardly conscious of the words i uttered. "must the glory fade?"--i said, almost pleadingly--"why should it not remain with us?" he did not reply at once. a shadow of something like sternness clouded his brows, and i began to be afraid--yet afraid of what? not of him--but of myself, lest i should unwittingly lose all i had gained. but then the question presented itself--what had i gained? could i explain it, even to myself? there was nothing in any way tangible of which to say--"i possess this," or "i have secured that,"--for, reducing all circumstances to a prosaic level, all that i knew was that i had met in my present companion a man who had a singular, almost compelling attractiveness, and with whose personality i seemed to be familiar; also, that under some power which he might possibly have exerted, i had in an unexpected place and at an unexpected time seen certain visions or 'impressions' which might or might not be the working of my own brain under a temporary magnetic influence. i was fully aware that such things could happen--and yet--i was not by any means sure that they had so happened in this case. and while i was thus hurriedly trying to think out the problem, he replied to my question. "that depends on ourselves,"--he said--"on you perhaps more than any other." i looked up at him wonderingly. "on me?" i echoed. he smiled a little. "why, yes! a woman always decides." i turned my eyes again towards the sky. long lines of delicate pale blue and green were now intermingled with the amber light of the after-glow, and the whole scene was one of indescribable grandeur and beauty. "i wish i could understand,"--i murmured. "let me help you,"--he said, gently. "possibly i can make things clearer for you. you are just now under the spell of your own psychic impressions and memories. you think you have seen strange episodes--these are nothing but pictures stored far away back in the cells of your spiritual brain, which (through the medium of your present material brain) project on your vision not only presentments and reflections of past scenes and events, but which also reproduce the very words and sounds attending those scenes and events. that is all. loch coruisk has shown you nothing but itself in varying effects of light and cloud--there is no mystery here but the everlasting mystery of nature in which you and i play our several parts. what you have seen or heard i do not know--for each individual experience is and always must be different. all that i am fully conscious of is, that our having met and our being here together to-day is, as it were, the mending of a broken chain. but it rests with you--and even with me--to break it once more if we choose." i was silent, not because i could not but because i dared not speak. all my life seemed suddenly to hang on the point of a hair's-breadth of possibility. "i think,"--he continued in the same quiet voice--"that just now we may let things take their ordinary course. you and i"--here he paused, and impelled by some secret emotion i lifted my eyes to his. instinctively, and with a rush of feeling, we stretched out our hands to each other. he clasped mine in his own, and stooping his head kissed them tenderly. "you and i,"--he went on--"have met before in many a phase of life and on many a plane of thought--and i believe we know and realise this. let us be satisfied so far--and if destiny has anything of happiness or wisdom in store for us let us try to assist its fulfilment and not stand in the way." i found my voice suddenly. "but--if others stand in the way?"--i said. he smiled. "surely it will be our own fault if we allow them to assume such a position!" he answered. i left my hands in his another moment. the fact that he held them gave me a sense of peace and security. "sometimes on a long walk through field and forest," i said, softly--"one may miss the nearest road home. and one is glad to be told which path to follow--" "yes,"--he interrupted me--"one is glad to be told!" his eyes were bent upon me with an enigmatical expression, half commanding, half appealing. "then, will you tell me--" i began. "all that i can!" he said, drawing me a little closer towards him--"all that i may! and you--you must tell me--" "i! what can i tell you?" and i smiled--"i know nothing!" "you know one thing which is all things,"--he answered--"but for that i must still wait." he let go my hands and turned away, shading his eyes from the glare of gold which now spread far and wide over the heavens, turning the sullen waters of loch coruisk to a tawny orange against the black purple of the surrounding hills. "i see our men,"--he then said, in his ordinary tone, "they are looking for us. we must be going." my heart beat quickly. a longing to speak what i hardly dared to think, was strong upon me. but some inward restraint gripped me as with iron--and my spirit beat itself like a caged bird against its prison bars in vain. i left my rocky throne and heather canopy with slow reluctance, and he saw this. "you are sorry to come away,"--he said, kindly, and with a smile--"i can quite understand it. it is a beautiful scene." i stood quite still, looking at him. a host of recollections began to crowd upon me, threatening havoc to my self-control. "is it not something more than beautiful?" i asked, and my voice trembled in spite of myself--"to you as well as to me?" he met my earnest gaze with a sudden deeper light in his own eyes. "dear, to me it is the beginning of a new life!"--he said--"but whether it is the same to you i cannot say. i have not the right to think so far. come!" a choking sense of tears was in my throat as i moved on by his side. why could i not speak frankly and tell him that i knew as well as he did that now there was no life anywhere for me where he was not? but--had it come to this? yes, truly!--it had come to this! then was it a real love that i felt, or merely a blind obedience to some hypnotic influence? the doubt suggested itself like a whisper from some evil spirit, and i strove not to listen. presently he took my hand in his as before, and guided me carefully over the slippery boulders and stones, wet with the overflowing of the mountain torrent and the underlying morass which warned us of its vicinity by the quantity of bog-myrtle growing in profusion everywhere. almost in silence we reached the shore where the launch was in waiting for us, and in silence we sat together in the stern as the boat cut its swift way through little waves like molten gold and opal, sparkling with the iridescent reflections of the sun's after-glow. "i see mr. harland's yacht has returned to her moorings,"--he said, after a while, addressing his men, "when did she come back?" "immediately after you left, sir,"--was the reply. i looked and saw the two yachts--the 'dream' and the 'diana,' anchored in the widest part of loch scavaig--the one with the disfiguring funnels that make even the most magnificent steam yacht unsightly as compared with a sailing vessel,--the other a perfect picture of lightness and grace, resting like a bird with folded wings on the glittering surface of the water. my mind was disturbed and bewildered,--i felt that i had journeyed through immense distances of space and cycles of time during that brief excursion to loch coruisk,--and as the launch rushed onward and we lost sight of the entrance to what for me had been a veritable valley of vision, it seemed that i had lived through centuries rather than hours. one thing, however, remained positive and real in my experience, and this was the personality of santoris. with each moment that passed i knew it better--the flash of his blue eyes--his sudden fleeting smile--the turn of his head--the very gesture of his hand,--all these were as familiar to me as the reflection of my own face in a mirror. and now there was no wonderment mingled with the deepening recognition,--i found it quite natural that i should know him well,--indeed, it was to me evident that i had known him always. what troubled me, however, was a subtle fear that crept insidiously through my veins like a shuddering cold,--a terror lest something to which i could give no name, should separate us or cause us to misunderstand each other. for the psychic lines of attraction between two human beings are finer than the finest gossamer and can be easily broken and scattered even though they may or must be brought together again after long lapses of time. but so many opportunities had already been wasted, i thought, through some recklessness or folly, either on his part or mine. which of us was to blame? i looked at him half in fear, half in appeal, as he sat in the boat with his head turned a little aside from me,--he seemed grave and preoccupied. a sudden thrill of emotion stirred my heart--tears sprang to my eyes so thickly that for a moment i could scarcely see the waves that glittered and danced on all sides like millions of diamonds. a change had swept over my life,--a change so great that i was hardly able to bear it. it was too swift, too overpowering to be calmly considered, and i was glad when we came alongside the 'dream' and i saw mr. harland on deck, waiting for us at the top of the companion ladder. "well!" he called to me--"was it a good sunset?" "glorious!" i answered him--"did you see nothing of it?" "no. i slept soundly, and only woke up when brayle came over to explain that catherine had taken it into her head to have a short cruise, that he had humoured her accordingly, and that they had just come back to anchorage." by this time i was standing beside him, and santoris joined us. "so your doctor came to look after you,"--he said, with a smile--"i thought he would not trust you out of his sight too long!" "what do you mean by that?" asked harland--then his face lightened and he laughed--"well, i must own you have been a better physician than he for the moment--it is months since i have been so free from pain." "i'm very glad,"--santoris answered--"and now would you and your friend like to take the launch back to your own yacht, or will you stay and dine with me?" mr. harland thought a moment. "i'm afraid we must go"--he said, at last, with obvious reluctance--"captain derrick went back with brayle. you see, catherine is not strong, and she has not been quite herself--and we must not leave her alone. to-morrow, if you are willing, i should like to try a race with our two yachts in open sea--electricity against steam! what do you say?" "with pleasure!" and santoris looked amused--"but as i am sure to be the winner, you must give me the privilege of entertaining you all to dinner afterwards. is that settled?" "certainly!--you are hospitality itself, santoris!" and mr. harland shook him warmly by the hand--"what time shall we start the race?" "suppose we say noon?" "agreed!" we then prepared to go. i turned to santoris and in a quiet voice thanked him for his kindness in escorting me to loch coruisk, and for the pleasant afternoon we had passed. the conventional words of common courtesy seemed to myself quite absurd,--however, they had to be uttered, and he accepted them with the usual conventional acknowledgment. when i was just about to descend the companion ladder, he asked me to wait a moment, and going down to the saloon, brought me the bunch of madonna lilies i had found in that special cabin which, as he had said, was destined 'for a princess.' "you will take these, i hope?" he said, simply. i raised my eyes to his as i received the white blossoms from his hand. there was something indefinable and fleeting in his expression, and for a moment it seemed as if we had suddenly become strangers. a sense of loss and pain affected me, such as happens when someone to whom we are deeply attached assumes a cold and distant air for which we can render no explanation. he turned from me as quickly as i from him, and i descended the companion ladder followed by mr. harland. in a few seconds we had put several boat-lengths between ourselves and the 'dream,' and a rush of foolish tears to my eyes blurred the figure of santoris as he lifted his cap to us in courteous adieu. i thought mr. harland glanced at me a little inquisitively, but he said nothing--and we were soon on board the 'diana,' where catherine, stretched out in a deck chair, watched our arrival with but languid interest. dr. brayle was beside her, and looked up as we drew near with a supercilious smile. "so the electric man has not quite made away with you,"--he said, carelessly--"miss harland and i had our doubts as to whether we should ever see you again!" mr. harland's fuzzy eyebrows drew together in a marked frown of displeasure. "indeed!" he ejaculated, drily--"well, you need have had no fears on that score. the 'electric man,' as you call mr. santoris, is an excellent host and has no sinister designs on his friends." "are you quite sure of that?" and brayle, with an elaborate show of courtesy, set chairs for his patron and for me near catherine--"derrick tells me that the electric appliances on board his yacht are to him of a terrifying character and that he would not risk passing so much as one night on such a vessel!" mr. harland laughed. "i must talk to derrick,"--he said--then, approaching his daughter, he asked her kindly if she was better. she replied in the affirmative, but with some little pettishness. "my nerves are all unstrung,"--she said--"i think that friend of yours is one of those persons who draw all vitality out of everybody else. there are such people, you know, father!--people who, when they are getting old and feeble, go about taking stores of fresh life out of others." he looked amused. "you are full of fancies, catherine,"--he said--"and no logical reasoning will ever argue you out of them. santoris is all right. for one thing, he gave me great relief from pain to-day." "ah! how was that?"--and brayle looked up sharply with sudden interest. "i don't know how,"--replied harland,--"a drop or two of harmless-looking fluid worked wonders for me--and in a few moments i felt almost well. he tells me my illness is not incurable." a curious expression difficult to define flitted over brayle's face. "you had better take care," he said, curtly--"invalids should never try experiments. i'm surprised that a man in your condition should take any drug from the hand of a stranger." "most dangerous!" interpolated catherine, feebly--"how could you, father?" "well, santoris isn't quite a stranger,"--said mr. harland--"after all, i knew him at college--" "you think you knew him,"--put in brayle--"he may not be the same man." "he is the same man,"--answered mr. harland, rather testily--"there are no two of his kind in the world." brayle lifted his eyebrows with a mildly affected air of surprise. "i thought you had your doubts--" "of course!--i had and have my doubts concerning everybody and everything"--said mr. harland, "and i suppose i shall have them to the end of my days. i have sometimes doubted even your good intentions towards me." a dark flush overspread brayle's face suddenly, and as suddenly paled. he laughed a little forcedly. "i hardly think you have any reason to do so," he said. mr. harland did not answer, but turning round, addressed me. "you enjoyed yourself at loch coruisk, didn't you?" "indeed i did!" i replied, with emphasis--"it was a lovely scene!--never to be forgotten." "you and mr. santoris would be sure to get on well together," said catherine, rather crossly--"'birds of a feather,' you know!" i smiled. i was too much taken up with my own thoughts to pay attention to her evident ill-humour. i was aware that dr. brayle watched me furtively, and with a suspicious air, and there was a curious feeling of constraint in the atmosphere that made me feel i had somehow displeased my hostess, but the matter seemed to me too trifling to consider, and as soon as the conversation became general i took the opportunity to slip away and get down to my cabin, where i locked the door and gave myself up to the freedom of my own meditations. they were at first bewildered and chaotic--but gradually my mind smoothed itself out like the sea i had looked upon in my vision,--and i began to arrange and connect the various incidents of my strange experience in a more or less coherent form. according to psychic consciousness i knew what they all meant,--but according to merely material and earthly reasoning they were utterly incomprehensible. if i listened to the explanation offered by my inner self, it was this:--that rafel santoris and i had known each other for ages,--longer than we were permitted to remember,--that the brain-pictures, or rather soul-pictures, presented to me were only a few selected out of thousands which equally concerned us, and which were stored up among eternal records,--and that these few were only recalled to remind me of circumstances which i might erroneously think were all entirely forgotten. if, on the other hand, i preferred to accept what would be called a reasonable and practical solution of the enigma, i would say:--that, being imaginative and sensitive, i had been easily hypnotised by a stronger will than my own, and that for his amusement, or because he had seen in me the possibility of a 'test case,' santoris had tried his power upon me and forced me to see whatever he chose to conjure up in order to bewilder and perplex me. but if this were so, what could be his object? if i were indeed an utter stranger to him, why should he take this trouble? i found myself harassed by anxiety and dragged between two opposing influences--one which impelled me to yield myself to the deep sense of exquisite happiness, peace and consolation that swept over my spirit like the touch of a veritable benediction from heaven,--the other which pushed me back against a hard wall of impregnable fact and bade me suspect my dawning joy as though it were a foe. that night we were a curious party at dinner. never were five human beings more oddly brought into contact and conversation with each other. we were absolutely opposed at all points; in thought, in feeling and in sentiment, i could not help remembering the wonderful network of shining lines i had seen in that first dream of mine,--lines which were apparently mathematically designed to meet in reciprocal unity. the lines on this occasion between us five human beings were an almost visible tangle. i found my best refuge in silence,--and i listened in vague wonderment to the flow of senseless small talk poured out by dr. brayle, apparently for the amusement of catherine, who on her part seemed suddenly possessed by a spirit of wilfulness and enforced gaiety which moved her to utter a great many foolish things, things which she evidently imagined were clever. there is nothing perhaps more embarrassing than to hear a woman of mature years giving herself away by the childish vapidness of her talk, and exhibiting not only a lack of mental poise, but also utter tactlessness. however, catherine rattled on, and dr. brayle rattled with her,--mr. harland threw in occasional monosyllables, but for the most part was evidently caught in a kind of dusty spider's web of thought, and i spoke not at all unless spoken to. presently i met catherine's eyes fixed upon me with a sort of round, half-malicious curiosity. "i think your day's outing has done you good," she said--"you look wonderfully well!" "i am well!" i answered her--"i have been well all the time." "yes, but you haven't looked as you look to-night," she said--"you have quite a transformed air!" "transformed?"--i echoed, smiling--"in what way?" mr. harland turned and surveyed me critically. "upon my word, i think catherine is right!" he said--"there is something different about you, though i cannot explain what it is!" i felt the colour rising hotly to my face, but i endeavoured to appear unconcerned. "you look," said dr. brayle, with a quick glance from his narrowly set eyes--"as if you had been through a happy experience." "perhaps i have!" i answered quietly--"it has certainly been a very happy day!" "what is your opinion of santoris?" asked mr. harland, suddenly--"you've spent a couple of hours alone in his company,--you must have formed some idea." i replied at once, without taking thought. "i think him quite an exceptional man," i said--"good and great-hearted,--and i fancy he must have gone through much difficult experience to make him what he is." "i entirely disagree with you,"--said dr. brayle, quickly--"i've taken his measure, and i think it's a fairly correct one. i believe him to be a very clever and subtle charlatan, who affects a certain profound mysticism in order to give himself undue importance--" there was a sudden clash. mr. harland had brought his clenched fist down upon the table with a force that made the glasses ring. "i won't have that, brayle!" he said, sharply--"i tell you i won't have it! santoris is no charlatan--never was!--he won his honours at oxford like a man--his conduct all the time i ever knew him was perfectly open and blameless--he did no mean tricks, and pandered to nothing base--and if some of us fellows were frightened of him (as we were) it was because he did everything better than we could do it, and was superior to us all. that's the truth!--and there's no getting over it. nothing gives small minds a better handle for hatred than superiority--especially when that superiority is never asserted, but only felt." "you surprise me,"--murmured brayle, half apologetically--"i thought--" "never mind what you thought!" said mr. harland, with a sudden ugly irritation of manner that sometimes disfigured him--"your thoughts are not of the least importance!" dr. brayle flushed angrily and catherine looked surprised and visibly indignant. "father! how can you be so rude!" "am i rude?" and mr. harland shrugged his shoulders indifferently--"well! i may be--but i never take a man's hospitality and permit myself to listen to abuse of him afterwards." "i assure you--" began dr. brayle, almost humbly. "there, there! if i spoke hastily, i apologise. but santoris is too straightforward a man to be suspected of any dishonesty or chicanery--and certainly no one on board this vessel shall treat his name with anything but respect." here he turned to me--"will you come on deck for a little while before bedtime, or would you rather rest?" i saw that he wished to speak to me, and willingly agreed to accompany him. dinner being well over, we left the saloon, and were soon pacing the deck together under the light of a brilliant moon. instinctively we both looked towards the 'dream' yacht,--there was no illumination about her this evening save the usual lamp hung in the rigging and the tiny gleams of radiance through her port-holes,--and her graceful masts and spars were like fine black pencillings seen against the bare slope of a mountain made almost silver to the summit by the singularly searching clearness of the moonbeams. my host paused in his walk beside me to light a cigar. "i'm sure you are convinced that santoris is honest," he said--"are you not?" "in what way should i doubt him?"--i replied, evasively--"i scarcely know him!" hardly had i said this when a sudden self-reproach stung me. how dare i say that i scarcely knew one who had been known to me for ages? i leaned against the deck rail looking up at the violet sky, my heart beating quickly. my companion was still busy lighting his cigar, but when this was done to his satisfaction he resumed. "true! you scarcely know him, but you are quick to form opinions, and your instincts are often, though perhaps not always, correct. at any rate, you have no distrust of him? you like him?" "yes,"--i answered, slowly--"i--i like him--very much." and the violet sky, with its round white moon, seemed to swing in a circle about me as i spoke--knowing that the true answer of my heart was love, not liking!--that love was the magnet drawing me irresistibly, despite my own endeavour, to something i could neither understand nor imagine. "i'm glad of that," said mr. harland--"it would have worried me a little if you had taken a prejudice or felt any antipathy towards him. i can see that brayle hates him and has imbued catherine with something of his own dislike." i was silent. "he is, of course, an extraordinary man," went on mr. harland--"and he is bound to offend many and to please few. he is not likely to escape the usual fate of unusual characters. but i think--indeed i may say i am sure--his integrity is beyond question. he has curious opinions about love and marriage--almost as curious as the fixed ideas he holds concerning life and death." something cold seemed to send a shiver through my blood--was it some stray fragment of memory from the past that stirred me to a sense of pain? i forced myself to speak. "what are those opinions?" i asked, and looking up in the moonlight to my companion's face i saw that it wore a puzzled expression--"hardly conventional, i suppose?" "conventional! convention and santoris are farther apart than the poles! no--he doesn't fit into any accepted social code at all. he looks upon marriage itself as a tacit acknowledgment of inconstancy in love, and declares that if the passion existed in its truest form between man and woman any sort of formal or legal tie would be needless,--as love, if it be love, does not and cannot change. but it is no use discussing such a matter with him. the love that he believes in can only exist, if then, once in a thousand years! men and women marry for physical attraction, convenience, necessity or respectability,--and the legal bond is necessary both for their sakes and the worldly welfare of the children born to them; but love which is physical and transcendental together,--love that is to last through an imagined eternity of progress and fruition, this is a mere dream--a chimera!--and he feasts his brain upon it as though it were a nourishing fact. however, one must have patience with him--he is not like the rest of us." "no!" i murmured--and then stood silently beside him watching the moonbeams ripple on the waters in wavy links of brightness. "when you married," i said, at last--"did you not marry for love?" he puffed at his cigar thoughtfully. "well, i hardly know," he replied, after a long pause,--"looking back upon everything, i rather doubt it! i married as most men marry--on impulse. i saw a pretty face--and it seemed advisable that i should marry--but i cannot say i was moved by any great or absorbing passion for the woman i chose. she was charming and amiable in our courting days--as a wife she became peevish and querulous,--apt to sulk, too,--and she devoted herself almost entirely to the most commonplace routine of life;--however, i had nothing to justly complain of. we lived five years together before her child catherine was born,--and then she died. i cannot say that either her life or her death left any deep mark upon me--not if i am honest. i don't think i understand love--certainly not the love which rafel santoris looks upon as the secret key of the universe." instinctively my eyes turned towards the 'dream' at anchor. she looked like a phantom vessel in the moonlight. again the faint shiver of cold ran through my veins like a sense of spiritual terror. if i should lose now what i had lost before! this was my chief thought,--my hidden shuddering fear. did the whole responsibility rest with me, i wondered? mr. harland laid his hand kindly on my arm. "you look like a wan spirit in the moonbeams," he said--"so pale and wistful! you are tired, and i am selfish in keeping you up here to talk to me. go down to your cabin. i can see you are full of mystical dreams, and i am afraid santoris has rather helped you to indulge in them. he is of the same nature as you are--inclined to believe that this life as we live it is only one phase of many that are past and of many yet to come. i wish i could accept that faith!" "i wish you could!" i said--"you surely would be happier." "should i?" he gave a quick sigh. "i have my doubts! if i could be young and strong and lie through many lives always possessed of that same youth and strength, then there would be something in it--but to be old and ailing, no! the faust legend is an eternal truth--life is only worth living as long as we enjoy it." "your friend santoris enjoys it!" i said. "ah! there you touch me! he does enjoy it, and why? because he is young! though nearly as old in years as i am, he is actually young! that's the mystery of him! santoris is positively young--young in heart, young in thought, ambition, feeling and sentiment, and yet--" he broke off for a moment, then resumed. "i don't know how he has managed it, but he told me long ago that it was a man's own fault if he allowed himself to grow old. i laughed at him then, but he has certainly carried his theories into fact. he used to declare that it was either yourself or your friends that made you old. 'you will find,' he said, 'as you go on in years, that your family relations, or your professing dear friends, are those that will chiefly insist on your inviting and accepting the burden of age. they will remind you that twenty years ago you did so and so,--or that they have known you over thirty years--or they will tell you that considering your age you look well, or a thousand and one things of that kind, as if it were a fault or even a crime to be alive for a certain span of time,--whereas if you simply shook off such unnecessary attentions and went your own way, taking freely of the constant output of life and energy supplied to you by nature, you would outwit all these croakers of feebleness and decay and renew your vital forces to the end. but to do this you must have a constant aim in life and a ruling passion.' as i told you, i laughed at him and at what i called his 'folly,' but now--well, now--it's a case of 'let those laugh who win.'" "and you think he has won?" i asked. "most assuredly--i cannot deny it. but the secret of his victory is beyond me." "i should think it is beyond most people," i replied--"for if we could all keep ourselves young and strong we would take every means in our power to attain such happiness--" "would we, though?" and his brows knitted perplexedly--"if we knew, would we take the necessary trouble? we will hardly obey a physician's orders for our good even when we are really ill--would we in health follow any code of life in order to keep well?" i laughed. "perhaps not!" i said--"i expect it will always be the same thing--'many are called, but few are chosen.' goodnight!" i held out my hand. he took it in his own and kept it a moment. "it's curious we should have met santoris so soon after my telling you about him," he said--"it's one of those coincidences which one cannot explain. you are very like him in some of your ideas--you two ought to be very great friends." "ought we?"--and i smiled--"perhaps we shall be! again, good-night!" "good-night!" and i left him to his meditations and went down to my cabin, only stopping for a moment to say good-night to catherine and dr. brayle, who were playing bridge with mr. swinton and captain derrick in the saloon. once in my room, i was thankful to be alone. every extraneous thing seemed an intrusion or an impertinence,--the thoughts that filled my brain were all absorbing, and went so far beyond the immediate radius of time and space that i could hardly follow their flight. i smiled as i imagined what ordinary people would think of the experience through which i had passed and was passing. 'foolish fancies!' 'neurotic folly!' and other epithets of the kind would be heaped upon me if they knew--they, the excellent folk whose sole objects in life are so ephemeral as to be the things of the hour, the day, or the month merely, and who if they ever pause to consider eternal possibilities at all, do so reluctantly perhaps in church on sundays, comfortably dismissing them for the more solid prospect of dinner. and of love? what view of the divine passion do they take as a rule? let the millions of mistaken marriages answer! let the savage lusts and treacheries and cruelties of merely brutish and unspiritualised humanity bear witness? and how few shall be found who have even the beginnings of the nature of true love--'the love of soul for soul, angel for angel, god for god!'--the love that accepts this world and its events as one phase only of divine and immortal existence--a phase of trial and proving in which the greater number fail to pass even a first examination! as for myself, i felt and knew that _i_ had failed hopelessly and utterly in the past--and i stood now as it were on the edge of new circumstances--in fear, yet not without hope, and praying that whatsoever should chance to me i might not fail again! x strange associations the next day the race agreed upon was run in the calmest of calm weather. there was not the faintest breath of wind,--the sea was still as a pond and almost oily in its smooth, motionless shining--and it was evident at first that our captain entertained no doubt whatever as to the 'diana,' with her powerful engines, being easily able to beat the aerial-looking 'dream' schooner, which at noon-day, with all sails spread, came gliding up beside us till she lay point to point at equal distance and at nearly equal measurement with our more cumbersome vessel. mr. harland was keenly excited; dr. brayle was ready to lay any amount of wagers as to the impossibility of a sailing vessel, even granted she was moved by electricity, out-racing one of steam in such a dead calm. as the two vessels lay on the still waters, the 'diana' fussily getting up steam, and the 'dream' with sails full out as if in a stiff breeze, despite the fact that there was no wind, we discussed the situation eagerly--or rather i should say my host and his people discussed it, for i had nothing to say, knowing that the victory was sure to be with santoris. we were in very lonely waters,--there was room and to spare for plenty of racing, and when all was ready and santoris saluted us from the deck, lifting his cap and waving it in response to a similar greeting from mr. harland and our skipper, the signal to start was given. we moved off together, and for at least half an hour or more the 'dream' floated along in a kind of lazy indolence, keeping up with us easily, her canvas filled, and her keel cutting the water as if swept by a favouring gale. the result of the race was soon a foregone conclusion,--for presently, when well out on the mirror-like calm of the sea, the 'dream' showed her secret powers in earnest, and flew like a bird with a silent swiftness that was almost incredible. our yacht put on all steam in the effort to keep up with her,--in vain! on, on, with light grace and celerity her white sails carried her like the wings of a sea-gull, and almost before we could realise it she vanished altogether from our sight! i saw a waste of water spread around us emptily like a wide circle of crystal reflecting the sky, and a sense of desolation fell upon me in the mere fact that we were temporarily left alone. we steamed on and on in the direction of the vanished 'dream,'--our movements suggesting those of some clumsy four-footed animal panting its way after a bird, but unable to come up with her. "wonderful!" said mr. harland, at last, drawing a long breath,--"i would never have believed it possible!" "nor i!" agreed captain derrick--"i certainly thought she would never have managed it in such a dead calm. for though i have seen some of her mechanism i cannot entirely understand it." dr. brayle was silent. it was evident that he was annoyed--though why he should be so was not apparent. i myself was full of secret anxiety--for the 'dream' yacht's sudden and swift disappearance had filled me with a wretched sense of loneliness beyond all expression. suppose she should not return! i had no clue to her whereabouts--and with the loss of santoris i knew i should lose all that was worth having in my life. while these miserable thoughts were yet chasing each other through my brain i suddenly caught a far glimpse of white sails on the horizon. "she's coming back!" i cried, enraptured, and heedless of what i said--"oh, thank god! she's coming back!" they all looked at me in amazement. "why, what's the matter with you?" asked mr. harland, smiling. "you surely didn't think she was in any danger?" my cheeks grew warm. "i didn't know--i could not imagine--" i faltered, and turning away i met dr. brayle's eyes fixed upon me with a gleam of malice in them. "i'm sure," he said, suavely, "you are greatly interested in mr. santoris! perhaps you have met each other before?" "never!" i answered, hurriedly,--and then checked myself, startled and confused. he kept his narrow brown eyes heedfully upon me and smiled slightly. "really! i should have thought otherwise!" i did not trouble myself to reply. the white sails of the 'dream' were coming nearer and nearer over the smooth width of the sunlit water, and as she approached my heart grew warm with gratitude. life was again a thing of joy!--the world was no longer empty! that ship looked to me like a beautiful winged spirit coming towards me with radiant assurances of hope and consolation, and i lost all fear, all sadness, all foreboding, as she gradually swept up alongside in the easy triumph she had won. our crew assembled to welcome her, and cheered lustily. santoris, standing on her deck, lightly acknowledged the salutes which gave him the victory, and presently both our vessels were once more at their former places of anchorage. when all the excitement was over, i went down to my cabin to rest for a while before dressing for the dinner on board the 'dream' to which we were all invited,--and while i lay on my sofa reading, catherine harland knocked at my door and asked to come in, i admitted her at once, and she flung herself into an arm-chair with a gesture of impatience. "i'm so tired of all this yachting!" she said, peevishly. "it isn't amusing to me!" "i'm very sorry!" i answered;--"if you feel like that, why not give it up at once?" "oh, it's father's whim!" she said-"and if he makes up his mind there's no moving him. one thing, however, i'm determined to do--and that is--" here she stopped, looking at me curiously. i returned her gaze questioningly. "and that is--what?" "to get as far away as ever we can from that terrible 'dream' yacht and its owner!"--she replied--"that man is a devil!" i laughed. i could not help laughing. the estimate she had formed of one so vastly her superior as santoris struck me as more amusing than blamable. i am often accustomed to hear the hasty and narrow verdict of small-minded and unintelligent persons pronounced on men and women of high attainment and great mental ability; therefore, that she should show herself as not above the level of the common majority did not offend so much as it entertained me. however, my laughter made her suddenly angry. "why do you laugh?" she demanded. "you look quite pagan in that lace rest-gown--i suppose you call it a restgown!--with all your hair tumbling loose about you! and that laugh of yours is a pagan laugh!" i was so surprised at her odd way of speaking that for a moment i could find no words. she looked at me with a kind of hard disfavour in her eyes. "that's the reason,"--she went on--"why you find life agreeable. pagans always did. they revelled in sunshine and open air, and found all sorts of excuses for their own faults, provided they got some pleasure out of them. that's quite your temperament! and they laughed at serious things--just as you do!" the mirror showed me my own reflection, and i saw myself still smiling. "do i laugh at serious things?" i said. "dear miss harland, i am not aware of it! but i cannot take mr. santoris as a 'devil' seriously!" "he is!" and she nodded her head emphatically--"and all those queer beliefs he holds--and you hold them too!--are devilish! if you belonged to the church of rome, you would not be allowed to indulge in such wicked theories for a moment." "ah! the church of rome fortunately cannot control thought!"--i said--"not even the thoughts of its own children! and some of the beliefs of the church of rome are more blasphemous and barbarous than all the paganism of the ancient world! tell me, what are my 'wicked theories'?" "oh, i don't know!" she replied, vaguely and inconsequently--"you believe there's no death--and you think we all make our own illnesses and misfortunes,--and i've heard you say that the idea of eternal punishment is absurd--so in a way you are as bad as father, who declares there's nothing in the universe but gas and atoms--no god and no anything. you really are quite as much of an atheist as he is! dr. brayle says so." i had been standing in front of her while she thus talked, but now i resumed my former reclining attitude on the sofa and looked at her with a touch of disdain. "dr. brayle says so!"--i repeated--"dr. brayle's opinion is the least worth having in the world! now, if you really believe in devils, there's one for you!" "how can you say so?" she exclaimed, hotly--"what right have you--" "how can he call me an atheist?" i demanded-"what right has he to judge me?" the flush died off her face, and a sudden fear filled her eyes. "don't look at me like that!" she said, almost in a whisper--"it reminds me of an awful dream i had the other night!"--she paused.--"shall i tell it to you?" i nodded indifferently, yet watched her curiously the while. something in her hard, plain face had become suddenly and unpleasantly familiar. "i dreamed that i was in a painter's studio watching two murdered people die--a man and a woman. the man was like santoris--the woman resembled you! they had been stabbed,--and the woman was clinging to the man's body. dr. brayle stood beside me also watching--but the scene was strange to me, and the clothes we wore were all of some ancient time. i said to dr. brayle: 'we have killed them!' and he replied: 'yes! they are better dead than living!' it was a horrible dream!--it seemed so real! i have been frightened of you and of that man santoris ever since!" i could not speak for a moment. a recollection swept over me to which i dared not give utterance,--it seemed too improbable. "i've had nerves," she went on, shivering a little--"and that's why i say i'm tired of this yachting trip. it's becoming a nightmare to me!" i lay back on the sofa looking at her with a kind of pity. "then why not end it?" i said--"or why not let me go away? it is i who have displeased you somehow, and i assure you i'm very sorry! you and mr. harland have both been most kind to me--i've been your guest for nearly a fortnight,--that's quite sufficient holiday for me--put me ashore anywhere you like and i'll go home and get myself out of your way. will that be any comfort to you?" "i don't know that it will," she said, with a short, querulous sigh--"things have happened so strangely." she paused, looking at me--"yes--you have the face of that woman i saw in my dream!--and you have always reminded me of--" i waited eagerly. she seemed afraid to go on. "well!" i said, as quietly as i could--"do please finish what you were saying!" "it goes back to the time when i first saw you," she continued, now speaking quickly as though anxious to get it over--"you will perhaps hardly remember the occasion. it was at that great art and society "crush" in london where there was such a crowd that hundreds of people never got farther than the staircase. you were pointed out to me as a "psychist"--and while i was still listening to what was being said about you, my father came up with you on his arm and introduced us. when i saw you i felt that your features were somehow familiar,--though i could not tell where i had met you before,--and i became very anxious to see more of you. in fact, you had a perfect fascination for me! you have the same fascination now,--only it is a fascination that terrifies me!" i was silent. "the other night," she went on--"when mr. santoris first came on board i had a singular impression that he was or had been an enemy of mine,--though where or how i could not say. it was this that frightened me, and made me too ill and nervous to go with you on that excursion to loch coruisk. and i want to get away from him! i never had such impressions before--and even now,--looking at you,--i feel there's something in you which is quite "uncanny,"--it troubles me! oh!--i'm sure you mean me no harm--you are bright and amiable and adaptable and all that--but--i'm afraid of you!" "poor catherine!" i said, very gently--"these are merely nervous ideas! there is nothing to fear from me--no, nothing!" for here she suddenly leaned forward and took my hand, looking earnestly in my face--"how can you imagine such a thing possible?" "are you sure?" she half whispered--"when i called you "pagan" just now i had a sort of dim recollection of a fair woman like you,--a woman i seemed to know who was really a pagan! yet i don't know how i knew her, or where i met her--a woman who, for some reason or other, was hateful to me because i was jealous of her! these curious fancies have haunted my mind only since that man santoris came on board,--and i told dr. brayle exactly what i felt." "and what did he say?" i asked. "he said that it was all the work of santoris, who was an evident professor of psychical imposture--" i sprang up. "let him say that to me!" i exclaimed--"let him dare to say it! and i will prove who is the impostor to his face!" she retreated from me with wide-open eyes of alarm. "why do you look at me like that?" she said. "we didn't really kill you--except--in a dream!" a sudden silence fell between us; something cold and shadowy and impalpable seemed to possess the very air. if by some supernatural agency we had been momentarily deprived of life and motion, while a vast dark cloud, heavy with rain, had made its slow way betwixt us, the sense of chill and depression could hardly have been greater. presently catherine spoke again, with a little forced laugh. "what silly things i say!" she murmured--"you can see for yourself my nerves are in a bad state!--i am altogether unstrung!" i stood for a moment looking at her, and considering the perplexity in which we both seemed involved. "if you would rather not dine with mr. santoris this evening," i said, at last,--"and if you think his presence has a bad effect on you, let us make some excuse not to go. i will willingly stay with you, if you wish me to do so." she gave me a surprised glance. "you are very unselfish," she said--"and i wish i were not so fanciful. it's most kind of you to offer to stay with me and to give up an evening's pleasure--for i suppose it is a pleasure? you like mr. santoris?" the colour rushed to my face in a warm glow. "yes," i answered, turning slightly away from her--"i like him very much." "and he likes you better than he likes any of us," she said--"in fact, i believe if it had not been for you, we should never have met him in this strange way--" "why, how can you make that out?" i asked, smiling. "i never heard of him till your father spoke of him,--and never saw him till--" "till when?"--she demanded, quickly. "till the other night," i answered, hesitatingly. she searched my face with questioning eyes. "i thought you were going to say that you, like myself, had some idea or recollection of having met him before," she said. "however, i shall not ask you to sacrifice your pleasure for me,--in fact, i have made up my mind to go to this dinner, though dr. brayle doesn't wish it." "oh! dr. brayle doesn't wish it!" i echoed--"and why?" "well, he thinks it will not be good for me--and--and he hates the very sight of santoris!" i said nothing. she rose to leave my cabin. "please don't think too hardly of me!" she said, pleadingly,--"i've told you frankly just how i feel,--and you can imagine how glad i shall be when this yachting trip comes to an end." she went away then, and i stood for some minutes lost in thought. i dared not pursue the train of memories with which she had connected herself in my mind. my chief idea now was to find some convenient method of immediately concluding my stay with the harlands and leaving their yacht at some easy point of departure for home. and i resolved i would speak to santoris on this subject and trust to him for a means whereby we should not lose sight of each other, for i felt that this was imperative. and my spirit rose up within me full of joy and pride in its instinctive consciousness that i was as necessary to him as he was to me. it was a warm, almost sultry evening, and i was able to discard my serge yachting dress for one of soft white indian silk, a cooler and more presentable costume for a dinner-party on board a yacht which was furnished with such luxury as was the 'dream.' my little sprig of bell-heather still looked bright and fresh in the glass where i always kept it--but to-night when i took it in my hand it suddenly crumbled into a pinch of fine grey dust. this sudden destruction of what had seemed well-nigh indestructible startled me for a moment till i began to think that after all the little bunch of blossom had done its work,--its message had been given--its errand completed. all the madonna lilies santoris had given me were as fresh as if newly gathered,--and i chose one of these with its companion bud as my only ornament. when i joined my host and his party in the saloon he looked at me with inquisitive scrutiny. "i cannot quite make you out," he said--"you look several years younger than you did when you came on board at rothesay! is it the sea air, the sunshine, or--santoris?" "santoris!" i repeated, and laughed. "how can it be santoris?" "well, he makes himself young," mr. harland answered--"and perhaps he may make others young too. there's no telling the extent of his powers!" "quite the conjurer!" observed dr. brayle, drily--"faust should have consulted him instead of mephistopheles!" "'faust' is a wonderful legend, but absurd in the fact that the old philosopher sold his soul to the devil, merely for the love of woman,"--said mr. harland. "the joy, the sensation and the passion of love were to him supreme temptation and the only satisfaction on earth." dr. brayle's eyes gleamed. "but, after all, is this not a truth?" he asked--"is there anything that so completely dominates the life of a man as the love of a woman? it is very seldom the right woman--but it is always a woman of some kind. everything that has ever been done in the world, either good or evil, can be traced back to the influence of women on men--sometimes it is their wives who sway their actions, but it is far more often their mistresses. kings and emperors are as prone to the universal weakness as commoners,--we have only to read history to be assured of the fact. what more could faust desire than love?" "well, to me love is a mistake," said mr. harland, throwing on his overcoat carelessly--"i agree with byron's dictum 'who loves, raves!' of course it should be an ideal passion--but it never is. come, are we all ready?" we were--and we at once left the yacht in our own launch. our party consisted of mr. harland, his daughter, myself, dr. brayle and mr. swinton, and with such indifferent companions i imagined it would be difficult, if not impossible, to get even a moment with santoris alone, to tell him of my intention to leave my host and hostess as soon as might be possible. however, i determined to make some effort in this direction, if i could find even the briefest opportunity. we made our little trip across the water from the 'diana' to the 'dream' in the light of a magnificent sunset. loch scavaig was a blaze of burning colour,--and the skies above us were flushed with deep rose divided by lines of palest blue and warm gold. santoris was waiting on the deck to receive us, attended by his captain and one or two of the principals of the crew, but what attracted and charmed our eyes at the moment was a beautiful dark youth of some twelve or thirteen years of age, clad in eastern dress, who held a basket full of crimson and white rose petals, which, with a graceful gesture, he silently emptied at our feet as we stepped on board. i happened to be the first one to ascend the companion ladder, so that it looked as if this fragrant heap of delicate leaves had been thrown down for me to tread upon, but even if it had been so intended it appeared as though designed for the whole party. santoris welcomed us with the kindly courtesy which always distinguished his manner, and he himself escorted miss harland down to one of the cabins, there to take off the numerous unnecessary wraps and shawls with which she invariably clothed herself on the warmest day,--i followed them as they went, and he turned to me with a smile, saying:-"you know your room? the same you had yesterday afternoon." i obeyed his gesture, and entered the exquisitely designed and furnished apartment which he had said was for a 'princess,' and closing the door i sat down for a few minutes to think quietly. it was evident that things were coming to some sort of crisis in my life,--and shaping to some destiny which i must either accept or avoid. decisive action would rest, as i saw, entirely with myself. to avoid all difficulty, i had only to hold my peace and go my own way--refuse to know more of this singular man who seemed to be so mysteriously connected with my life, and return home to the usual safe, if dull, routine of my ordinary round of work and effort. on the other hand, to accept the dawning joy that seemed showering upon me like a light from heaven, was to blindly move on into the unknown,--to trust unquestioningly to the secret spiritual promptings of my own nature and to give myself up wholly and ungrudgingly to a love which suggested all things yet promised nothing! full of the most conflicting thoughts, i paced the room up and down slowly--the tall mirror reflected my face and figure and showed me the startlingly faithful presentment of the woman i had seen in my strange series of visions,--the woman who centuries ago had fought against convention and custom, only to be foolishly conquered by them in a thousand ways,--the woman who had slain love, only that it should rise again and confront her with deathless eyes of eternal remembrance--the woman who, drowned at last for love's sake in a sea of wrath and trembling, knelt outside the barred gate of heaven praying to enter in! and in my mind i heard again the words spoken by that sweet and solemn voice which had addressed me in the first of my dreams: "one rose from all the roses in heaven! one--fadeless and immortal--only one, but sufficient for all! one love from all the million loves of men and women--one, but enough for eternity! how long the rose has awaited its flowering--how long the love has awaited its fulfilment--only the recording angels know! such roses bloom but once in the wilderness of space and time; such love comes but once in a universe of worlds!" and then i remembered the parting command: "rise and go hence! keep the gift god sends thee!--take that which is thine!--meet that which hath sought thee sorrowing for many centuries! turn not aside again, neither by thine own will nor by the will of others, lest old errors prevail. pass from vision into waking!--from night to day!--from seeming death to life!--from loneliness to love!--and keep within thy heart the message of a dream!" dared i trust to these suggestions which the worldly-wise would call mere imagination? a profound philosopher of these latter days has defined imagination as 'an advanced perception of truth,' and avers that the discoveries of the future can always be predicted by the poet and the seer, whose receptive brains are the first to catch the premonitions of those finer issues of thought which emanate from the divine intelligence. however this may be, my own experience of life had taught me that what ordinary persons pin their faith upon as real, is often unreal,--while such promptings of the soul as are almost incapable of expression lead to the highest realities of existence. and i decided at last to let matters take their own course, though i was absolutely resolved to get away from the harlands within the next two or three days. i meant to ask mr. harland to land me at portree, where i could take the steamer for glasgow;--any excuse would serve for a hurried departure--and i felt now that departure was necessary. a soft sound of musical bells reached my ears at this moment announcing dinner,--and leaving the 'princess's' apartment, i met santoris at the entrance to the saloon. there was no one else there for the moment but himself, and as i came towards him he took my hands in his own and raised them to his lips. "you are not yet resolved!" he said, in a low tone, smiling--"take plenty of time!" i lifted my eyes to his, and all doubt seemed swept away in the light of our mutual glances--i smiled in response to his look,--and we loosened our hands quickly as mr. harland with his doctor and secretary came down from the deck, catherine joining us from the cabin where she had disburdened herself of her invalid wrappings. she was rather more elegantly attired than usual--she wore a curious purple-coloured gown with threads of gold interwoven in the stuff, and a collar of lace turned back at the throat gave her the aspect of an old italian picture--a sort of 'portrait of a lady,--artist unknown.' not a pleasant portrait, perhaps--but characteristic of a certain dull and self-centred type of woman. we were soon seated at table--a table richly, yet daintily, appointed, and adorned with the costliest flowers and fruits. the men who waited upon us were all easterns, dark-eyed and dark-skinned, and wore the eastern dress,--all their movements were swift yet graceful and dignified--they made no noise in the business of serving,--not a dish clattered, not a glass clashed. they were perfect servants, taking care to avoid the common but reprehensible method of offering dishes to persons conversing, thus interrupting the flow of talk at inopportune moments. and what talk it was!--all sorts of subjects, social and impersonal, came up for discussion, and santoris handled them with such skill that he made us forget that there was anything remarkable or unusual about himself or his surroundings, though, as a matter of fact, no more princely banquet could ever have been served in the most luxurious of palaces. half-way through the meal, when the conversation came for a moment to a pause, the most exquisite music charmed our ears--beginning softly and far away, it swelled out to rich and glorious harmonies like a full orchestra playing under the sea. we looked at each other and then at our host in charmed enquiry. "electricity again!" he said--"so simply managed that it is not worth talking about! unfortunately, it is mechanical music, and this can never be like the music evolved from brain and fingers; however, it fills in gaps of silence when conventional minds are at a strain for something to say--something quite 'safe' and unlikely to provoke discussion!" his keen blue eyes flashed with a sudden gleam of scorn in them. i looked at him half questioningly, and the scorn melted into a smile. "it isn't good form to start any subject which might lead to argument," he went on--"the modern brain must not be exercised too strenuously,--it is not strong enough to stand much effort. what do you say, harland?" "i agree," answered mr. harland. "as a rule people who dine as well as we are dining to-night have no room left for mentality--they become all digestion!" dr. brayle laughed. "nothing like a good dinner if one has an appetite for it. i think it quite possible that faust would have left his margaret for a full meal!" "i'm sure he would!" chimed in mr. swinton--"any man would!" santoris looked down the table with a curious air of half-amused inspection. his eyes, clear and searching in their swift glance, took in the whole group of us--mr. harland enjoying succulent asparagus; dr. brayle drinking champagne; mr. swinton helping himself out of some dish of good things offered to him by one of the servants; catherine playing in a sort of demure, old-maidish way with knife and fork as if she were eating against her will--and finally they rested on me, to whom the dinner was just a pretty pageant of luxury in which i scarcely took any part. "well, whatever faust would or would not do," he said, half laughingly--"it's certain that food is never at a discount. women frequently are." "women," said mr. harland, poising a stem of asparagus in the air, "are so constituted as to invariably make havoc either of themselves or of the men they profess to love. wives neglect their husbands, and husbands naturally desert their wives. devoted lovers quarrel and part over the merest trifles. the whole thing is a mistake." "what whole thing?" asked santoris, smiling. "the relations between man and woman," harland answered. "in my opinion we should conduct ourselves like the birds and animals, whose relationships are neither binding nor lasting, but are just sufficient to preserve the type. that's all that is really needed. what is called love is mere sentiment." "do you endorse that verdict, miss harland?" santoris asked, suddenly. catherine looked up, startled--her yellow skin flushed a pale red. "i don't know," she answered--"i scarcely heard--"" "your father doesn't believe in love," he said--"do you?" "i hope it exists," she murmured--"but nowadays people are so very practical--" "oh, believe me, they are no more practical now than they ever were!" averred santoris, laughing. "there's as much romance in the modern world as in the ancient;--the human heart has the same passions, but they are more deeply suppressed and therefore more dangerous. and love holds the same eternal sway--so does jealousy." dr. brayle looked up. "jealousy is an uncivilised thing," he said--"it is a kind of primitive passion from which no well-ordered mind should suffer." santoris smiled. "primitive passions are as forceful as they ever were," he answered. "no culture can do away with them. jealousy, like love, is one of the motive powers of progress. it is a great evil--but a necessary one--as necessary as war. without strife of some sort the world would become like a stagnant pool breeding nothing but weeds and the slimy creatures pertaining to foulness. even in love, the most divine of passions, there should be a wave of uncertainty and a sense of unsolved mystery to give it everlastingness." "everlastingness?" queried mr. harland--"or simply life lastingness?" "everlastingness!" repeated santoris. "love that lacks eternal stability is not love at all, but simply an affectionate understanding and agreeable companionship in this world only. for the other world or worlds--" "ah! you are going too far," interrupted mr. harland--"you know i cannot follow you! and with all due deference to the fair sex i very much doubt if any one of them would care for a love that was destined to last for ever." "no man would," interrupted brayle, sarcastically. santoris gave him a quick glance. "no man is asked to care!" he said--"nor woman either. souls are not only asked, but commanded, to care! this, however, is beyond you!" "and beyond most people," answered brayle--"such ideas are purely imaginary and transcendental." "granted!" and santoris gave him a quick, straight glance--"but what do you mean by 'imaginary' and 'transcendental'? imagination is the faculty of conceiving in the brain ideas which may with time spring to the full fruition of realisation. every item of our present-day civilisation has been 'imagined' before taking practical shape. 'transcendental' means beyond the ordinary happenings of life and life's bodily routine--and this 'beyond' expresses itself so often that there are few lives lived for a single day without some touch of its inexplicable marvel. it is on such lines as these that human beings drift away from happiness,--they will only believe what they can see, while all the time their actual lives depend on what they do not see!" there was a moment's silence. the charm of his voice was potent--and still more so the fascination of his manner and bearing, and mr. harland looked at him in something of wonder and appeal. "you are a strange fellow, santoris!" he said, at last, "and you always were! even now i can hardly believe that you are really the very santoris that struck such terror into the hearts of some of us undergrads at oxford! i say i can hardly believe it, though i know you are the man. but i wish you would tell me--" "all about myself?" and santoris smiled--"i will, with pleasure!--if the story does not bore you. there is no mystery about it--no 'black magic,' or 'occultism' of any kind. i have done nothing since i left college but adapt myself to the forces of nature, and to use them when necessary. the same way of life is open to all--and the same results are bound to follow." "results? such as--?" queried brayle. "health, youth and power!" answered santoris, with an involuntary slight clenching of the firm, well-shaped hand that rested lightly on the table,--"command of oneself!--command of body, command of spirit, and so on through an ever ascending scale! every man with the breath of god in him is a master, not a slave!" my heart beat quickly as he spoke; something rose up in me like a response to a call, and i wondered--did he assume to master me? no! i would not yield to that! if yielding were necessary, it must be my own free will that gave in, not his compelling influence! as this thought ran through my brain i met his eyes,--he smiled a little, and i saw he had guessed my mind. the warm blood rushed to my cheeks in a fervent glow, nevertheless the defiance of my soul was strong--as strong as the love which had begun to dominate me. and i listened eagerly as he went on. "i began at oxford by playing the slave part," he said--"a slave to conventions and fossil-methods of instruction. one can really learn more from studying the actual formation of rocks than from those worthy dons whom nothing will move out of their customary ruts of routine. even at that early time i felt that, given a man of health and good physical condition, with sound brain, sound lungs and firm nerves, it was not apparent why he, evidently born to rule, should put himself into the leading strings of oxford or any other forcing-bed of intellectual effort. that it would be better if such an one took himself in hand and tried to find out his own meaning, both in relation to the finite and infinite gradations of spirit and matter. and i resolved to enter upon the task--without allowing myself to fear failure or to hope for success. my aim was to discover myself and my meaning, if such a thing were possible. no atom, however infinitesimal, is without origin, history, place and use in the universe--and i, a conglomerated mass of atoms called man, resolved to search out the possibilities, finite and infinite, of my own entity. with this aim i began--with this aim i continued." "your task is not finished, then?" put in dr. brayle, with a smilingly incredulous air. "it will never be finished," answered santoris--"an eternal thing has no end." there was a moment's silence. "well,--go on, santoris!" said mr. harland, with a touch of impatience,--"and tell us especially what we all of us are chiefly anxious to know--how it is that you are young when according to the time of the world you should be old?" santoris smiled again. "ah! that is a purely personal touch of inquisitiveness!" he answered--"it is quite human and natural, of course, but not always wise. in every great lesson of life or scientific discovery people ask first of all 'how can _i_ benefit by it?' or 'how will it affect me?' and while asking the question they yet will not trouble to get an answer out of themselves,--but they turn to others for the solution of the mystery. to keep young is not at all difficult; when certain simple processes of nature are mastered the difficulty is to grow old!" we all sat silent, waiting in mute expectancy. the servants had left us, and only the fruits and dainties of dessert remained to tempt us in baskets and dishes of exquisitely coloured venetian glass, contrasting with the graceful clusters of lovely roses and lilies which added their soft charm to the decorative effect of the table, and santoris passed the wine, a choice chateau-yquem, round to us all before beginning to speak again. and when he did speak, it was in a singularly quiet, musical voice which exercised a kind of spell upon my ears--i had heard that voice before--ah!--how often! how often through the course of my life had i listened to it wonderingly in dreams of which the waking morning brought no explanation! how it had stolen upon me like an echo from far away, when alone in the pauses of work and thought i had longed for some comprehension and sympathy! and i had reproached myself for my own fancies and imaginings, deeming them wholly foolish and irresponsible! and now! now its gentle and familiar tone went straight to the centre of my spiritual consciousness, and forced me to realise that for the soul there is no escape from its immortal remembrance! xi one way of love "when i left oxford," he said--"as i told you before, i left what i conceived to be slavery--that is, a submissively ordered routine of learning in which there occurred nothing new--nothing hopeful--nothing really serviceable. i mastered all there was to master, and carried away 'honours' which i deemed hardly worth winning. it was supposed then--most people would suppose it--that as i found myself the possessor of an income of between five and six thousand a year, i would naturally 'live my life,' as the phrase goes, and enter upon what is called a social career. now to my mind a social career simply means social sham--and to live my life had always a broader application for me than for the majority of men. so, having ascertained all i could concerning myself and my affairs from my father's london solicitors, and learning exactly how i was situated with regard to finances and what is called the 'practical' side of life, i left england for egypt, the land where i was born. i had an object in view,--and that object was not only to see my own old home, but to find out the whereabouts of a certain great sage and mystic philosopher long known in the east by the name of heliobas." i started, and the blood rushed to my cheeks in a burning flame. "i think you knew him," he went on, addressing me directly, with a straight glance--"you met him some years back, did you not?" i bent my head in silent assent,--and saw the eyes of my host and hostess turned upon me in questioning scrutiny. "in a certain circle of students and mystics he was renowned," continued santoris,--"and i resolved to see what he could make of me--what he would advise, and how i should set to work to discover what i had resolved to find. however, at the end of a long and tedious journey, i met with disappointment--heliobas had removed to another sphere of action--" "he was dead, you mean," interposed mr. harland. "not at all," answered santoris, calmly. "there is no death. to put it quite simply, he had reached the top of his class in this particular school of life and learning and, therefore, was ready and willing to pass on into the higher grade. he, however, left a successor capable of maintaining the theories he inculcated,--a man named aselzion, who elected to live in an almost inaccessible spot among mountains with a few followers and disciples. him i found after considerable difficulty--and we came to understand each other so well that i stayed with him some time studying all that he deemed needful before i started on my own voyage of discovery. his methods of instruction were arduous and painful--in fact, i may say i went through a veritable ordeal of fire--" he broke off, and for a moment seemed absorbed in recollections. "you are speaking, i suppose, of some rule of life, some kind of novitiate to which you had to submit yourself," said mr. harland--"or was it merely a course of study?" "in one sense it was a sort of novitiate or probation," answered santoris, slowly, with the far-away, musing look still in his eyes--"in another it was, as you put it, 'merely' a course of study. merely! it was a course of study in which every nerve, every muscle, every sinew was tested to its utmost strength--and in which a combat between the spiritual and material was fiercely fought till the one could master the other so absolutely as to hold it in perfect subjection. well! i came out of the trial fairly well--strong enough at any rate to stand alone--as i have done ever since." "and to what did your severe ordeal lead?" asked dr. brayle, who by this time appeared interested, though still wearing his incredulous, half-sneering air--"to anything which you could not have gained just as easily without it?" santoris looked straight at him. his keen eyes glowed as though some bright fire of the soul had leaped into them. "in the first place," he answered--"it led me to power! power,--not only over myself but over all things small and great that surround or concern my being. i think you will admit that if a man takes up any line of business, it is necessary for him to understand all its technical methods and practical details. my business was and is life!--the one thing that humanity never studies, and therefore fails to master." mr. harland looked up. "life is mysterious and inexplicable," he said--"we cannot tell why we live. no one can fathom that mystery. we are here through no conscious desire of our own,--and again we are not here just as we have learned to accommodate ourselves to the fact of being anywhere!" "true!" answered santoris--"but to understand the 'why' of life we must first of all realise that its origin is love. love creates life because it must; even agnostics, when pushed to the wall in argument grant that some mysterious and mighty force is at the back of creation,--a force which is both intelligent and beneficent. the trite saying 'god is love' is true enough, but it is quite as true to say 'love is god.' the commencement of universes, solar systems and worlds is the desire of love to express itself. no more and no less than this. from desire springs action,--from action life. it only remains for each living unit to bring itself into harmonious union with this one fundamental law of the whole cosmos,--the expression and action of love which is based, as naturally it must be, on a dual entity." "what do you mean by that?" asked dr. brayle. "as a physician, and i presume as a scientist, you ought scarcely to ask," replied santoris, with a slight smile. "for you surely know there is no single thing in the universe. the very microbes of disease or health go in pairs. light and darkness,--the up and the down,--the right and the left,--the storm and the calm,--the male and the female,--all things are dual; and the sorrows of humanity are for the most part the result of ill-assorted numbers,--figures brought together that will not count up properly--wrong halves of the puzzle that will never fit into place. the mischief runs through all civilization,--wrong halves of races brought together which do not and never can assimilate,--and in an individual personal sense wrong halves of spirit and matter are often forced together which are bound by law to separate in time with some attendant disaster. the error is caused by the obstinate miscomprehension of man himself as to the nature and extent of his own powers and faculties. he forgets that he is not 'as the beasts that perish,' but that he has the breath of god in him,--that he holds within himself the seed of immortality which is perpetually re-creative. he is bound by all the laws of the universe to give that immortal life its dual entity and attendant power, without which he cannot attain his highest ends. it may take him thousands of years--cycles of time,--but it has to be done. materially speaking, he may perhaps consider that he has secured his dual entity by a pleasing or fortunate marriage--but if he is not spiritually mated, his marriage is useless,--ay! worse than useless, as it only interposes fresh obstacles between himself and his intended progress." "marriage can hardly be called a useless institution," said dr. brayle, with an uplifting of his sinister brows; "it helps to populate the world." "it does," answered santoris, calmly--"but if the pairs that are joined in marriage have no spiritual bond between them and nothing beyond the attraction of the mere body--they people the world with more or less incapable, unthinking and foolish creatures like themselves. and supposing these to be born in tens of millions, like ants or flies, they will not carry on the real purpose of man's existence to anything more than that stoppage and recoil which is called death, but which in reality is only a turning back of the wheels of time when the right road has been lost and it becomes imperative to begin the journey all over again." we sat silent; no one had any comment to offer. "we are arriving at that same old turning-point once more," he continued--"the western civilisation of two thousand years, assisted (and sometimes impeded) by the teachings of christianity, is nearing its end. out of the vast wreckage of nations, now imminent, only a few individuals can be saved,--and the storm is so close at hand that one can almost hear the mutterings of the thunder! but why should i or you or anyone else think about it? we have our own concerns to attend to--and we attend to these so well that we forget all the most vital necessities that should make them of any importance! however--in this day--nothing matters! shall i go on with my own story, or have you heard enough?" "not half enough!" said catherine harland, quite suddenly--she had scarcely spoken before, but she now leaned forward, looking eagerly interested--"you speak of power over yourself,--do you possess the same power over others?" "not unless they come into my own circle of action," he answered. "it would not be worth my while to exert any influence on persons who are, and ever must be, indifferent to me. i can, of course, defend myself against enemies--and that without lifting a hand." everyone, save myself, looked at him inquisitively,--but he did not explain his meaning. he went on very quietly with his own personal narrative. "as i have told you," he said--"i came out of my studies with aselzion successfully enough to feel justified in going on with my work alone. i took up my residence in egypt in my father's old home--a pretty place enough with wide pleasure grounds planted thickly with palm trees and richly filled with flowers,--and here i undertook the mastery and comprehension of the most difficult subject ever propounded for learning--the most evasive, complex, yet exact piece of mathematics ever set out for solving--myself! myself was my puzzle! how to unite myself with nature so thoroughly as to insinuate myself into her secrets,--possess all she could offer me,--and yet detach myself from self so completely as to be ready to sacrifice all i had gained at a moment's notice should that moment come." "you are paradoxical," said mr. harland, irritably. "what's the use of gaining anything if it is to be lost at a moment's bidding?" "it is the only way to hold and keep whatever there is to win," answered santoris, calmly--"and the paradox is no greater than that of 'he that loveth his life shall lose it.' the only 'moment' of supreme self-surrender is love--when that comes everything else must go. love alone can compass life, perfect it, complete it and carry it on to eternal happiness. but please bear in mind that i am speaking of real love,--not mere physical attraction. the two things are as different as light from darkness." "is your curious conception or ideal of love the reason, why you have never married?" asked brayle, abruptly. "precisely!" replied santoris. "it is most unquestionably and emphatically the reason why i have never married." there was a pause. i saw catherine glancing at him with a strange furtiveness in which there was something of fear. "you have never met your ideal, i suppose?" she asked, with a faint smile. "oh yes, i've met her!" he answered--"ages ago! on many occasions i have met her;--sometimes she has estranged herself from me,--sometimes she has been torn from me by others--and still more often i have, through my own folly and obstinacy, separated myself from her--but our mutual mistakes do no more than delay the inevitable union at last."--here he spoke slowly and with marked meaning--"for it is an inevitable union!--as inevitable as that of two electrons which, after spinning in space for certain periods of time, rush together at last and remain so indissolubly united that nothing can ever separate them." "and then?" queried dr. brayle, with an ironical air. "then? why, everything is possible then! beauty, perfection, wisdom, progress, creativeness, and a world--even worlds--of splendid thought and splendid ideals, bound to lead to still more splendid realisation! it is not difficult to imagine two brains, two minds moving so absolutely in unison that like a grand chord of music they strike harmony through hitherto dumb life-episodes--but think of two immortal souls full of a love as deathless as themselves, conjoined in highest effort and superb attainment!--the love of angel for angel, of god for god! you think this ideal imaginative,--transcendental--impossible!--yet i swear to you it is the most real possibility in this fleeting mirage of a world!" his voice thrilled with a warmth of feeling and conviction, and as i heard him speak i trembled inwardly with a sudden remorse--a quick sense of inferiority and shame. why could i not let myself go? why did i not give the fluttering spirit within me room to expand its wings? something opposing,--something inimical to my peace and happiness held me back--and presently i began to wonder whether i should attribute it to the influence of those with whom i was temporarily associated. i was almost confirmed in this impression when mr. harland's voice, harsh and caustic as it could be when he was irritated or worsted in an argument, broke the momentary silence. "you are more impossible now than you ever were at oxford, santoris!" he said--"you out-transcend all transcendentalism! you know, or you ought to know by this time, that there is no such thing as an immortal soul--and if you believe otherwise you have brought yourself voluntarily into that state of blind credulity. all science teaches us that we are the mere spawn of the planet on which we live,--we are here to make the best of it for ourselves and for others who come after us--and there's an end. what is called love is the mere physical attraction between the two sexes--no more,--and it soon palls. all that we gain we quickly cease to care for--it is the way of humanity." "what a poor creation humanity is, then!" said santoris, with a smile--"how astonishing that it should exist at all for no higher aims than those of the ant or the mouse! my dear harland, if your beliefs were really sound we should be bound in common duty and charity to stop the population of the world altogether--for the whole business is useless. useless and even cruel, for it is nothing but a crime to allow people to be born for no other end than extinction! however, keep your creeds! i thank heaven they are not mine!" mr. harland gave a slight movement of impatience. i could see that he was disturbed in his mind. "let's talk of something i can follow," he said--"the personal and material side of things. your perennial condition of health, for example. your apparent youth--" "oh, is it only 'apparent'?" laughed santoris, gaily--"well, to those who never knew me in my boyhood's days and are therefore never hurling me back to their 'thirty years or more ago' of friendship, etc., my youth seems very actual! you see their non-ability to count up the time i have spent on earth obliges them to accept me at my own valuation! there's really nothing to explain in the matter. everyone can keep young if he understands himself and nature. if i were to tell you the literal truth of the process, you would not believe me,--and even if you did you would not have the patience to carry it out! but what does it matter after all? if we only live for the express purpose of dying, the sooner we get the business over and done with the better--youth itself has no charms under such circumstances. all the purposes of life, however lofty and nobly planned, are bound to end in nothingness,--and it is hardly worth while taking the trouble to breathe the murderous air!" he spoke with a kind of passion--his eyes were luminous--his face transfigured with an almost superhuman glow, and we all looked at him in something of amazement. mr. harland fidgeted uneasily in his chair. "you go too far!" he said--"life is agreeable as long as it lasts--" "have you found it so?" santoris interrupted him. "has it not, even in your pursuit and attainment of wealth, brought you more pain than pleasure? number up all the possibilities of life, from the existence of the labourer in his hut to that of the king on his throne, they are none of them worth striving for or keeping if death is the ultimate end. ambition is merest folly,--wealth a temporary possession of perishable goods which must pass to others,--fame a brief noise of one's name in mouths that will soon be dumb,--and love, sex-attraction only. what a treacherous and criminal act, then, is this creation of universes!--what mad folly!--what sheer, blind, reasonless wickedness!" there was a silence. his eyes flashed from one to the other of us. "can you deny it?" he demanded. "can you find any sane, logical reason for the continuance of life which is to end in utter extinction, or for the creation of worlds doomed to eternal destruction?" no one spoke. "you have no answer ready," he said--and smiled--"naturally! for an answer is impossible! and here you have the key to what you consider my mystery--the mystery of keeping young instead of growing old--the secret of living instead of dying! it is simply the conscious practical realisation that there is no death, but only change. that is the first part of the process. change, or transmutation and transformation of the atoms and elements of which we are composed, is going on for ever without a second's cessation,--it began when we were born and before we were born--and the art of living young consists simply in using one's soul and will-power to guide this process of change towards the ends we desire, instead of leaving it to blind chance and to the association with inimical influences, which interfere with our best actions. for example--i--a man in sound health and condition--realise that with every moment some change is working in me towards some end. it rests entirely with myself as to whether the change shall be towards continuance of health or towards admission of disease--towards continuance of youth or towards the encouragement of age,--towards life as it presents itself to me now, or towards some other phase of life as i perceive it in the future. i can advance or retard myself as i please--the proper management of myself being my business. if i should suffer pain or illness i am very sure it will be chiefly through my own fault--if i invite decay and decrepitude, it will be because i allow these forces to encroach upon my well-being--in fact, briefly--i am what i will to be!--and all the laws that brought me into existence support me in this attitude of mind, body and spirit!" "if we could all become what we would be," said dr. brayle, "we should attain the millennium!" "are you sure of that?" queried santoris. "would it not rather depend on the particular choice each one of us might make? you, for example, might wish to be something that would hardly tend to your happiness,--and your wish being obtained you might become what (if you had only realised it) you would give worlds not to be! some men desire to be thieves--even murderers--and become so--but the end of their desires is not perhaps what they imagined!" "can you read people's thoughts?" asked catherine, suddenly. santoris looked amused. he replied by a counter question. "would you be sorry if i could?" she flushed a little. i smiled, knowing what was in her mind. "it would be a most unpleasant accomplishment--that of reading the thoughts of others," said mr. harland; "i would rather not cultivate it." "but mr. santoris almost implies that he possesses it," said dr. brayle, with a touch of irritation in his manner; "and, after all, 'thought-reading' is a kind of society amusement nowadays. there is nothing very difficult in it." "nothing, indeed!" agreed santoris, lightly; "and being as easy as it is, why do you not show us at once that antique piece of jewellery you have in your pocket! you brought it with you this evening to show to me and ask my opinion of its value, did you not?" brayle's eyes opened in utter amazement. if ever a man was taken completely by surprise, he was. "how did you know?" he began, stammeringly, while mr. harland, equally astonished, stared at him through his round spectacles as though challenging some defiance. santoris laughed. "thought-reading is only a society amusement, as you have just observed," he said--"and i have been amusing myself with it for the last few minutes. come!--let us see your treasure!" dr. brayle was thoroughly embarrassed,--but he tried to cover his confusion by an awkward laugh. "well, you have made a very clever hit!" he said--"quite a random shot, of course--which by mere coincidence went to its mark! it's quite true i have brought with me a curious piece of jewel-work which i always carry about wherever i go--and something moved me to-night to ask your opinion of its value, as well as to place its period. it is old italian; but even experts are not agreed as to its exact date." he put his hand in his breast pocket and drew out a small silk bag from which he took with great care a collar of jewels, designed in a kind of chain-work which made it perfectly flexible. he laid it out on the table,--and i bit my lip hard to suppress an involuntary exclamation. for i had seen the thing before--and for the immediate moment could not realise where, till a sudden flash of light through the cells of my brain reminded me of that scene of love and death in the vision of the artist's studio when the name 'cosmo de medicis' had been whispered like an evil omen. the murderer in that dream-picture had worn a collar of jewels precisely similar to the one i now saw; but i could only keep silence and listen with every nerve strained to utmost attention while santoris took the ornament in his hand and looked at it with an intent earnestness in which there was almost a touch of compassion. "a beautiful piece of workmanship," he said, at last, slowly, while mr. harland, catherine, and swinton the secretary all drew up closer to him at the table and leaned eagerly forward--"and i should say"--here he raised his eyes and looked full at the dark, brooding, sinister face of brayle--"i should say that it belonged to the medici period. it must have been part of the dress of a nobleman of that time--the design seems to me to be florentine. perhaps if these jewels could speak they might tell a strange story!--they are unhappy stones!" "unhappy!" exclaimed catherine--"you mean unlucky?" "no!--there is no such thing as luck," answered santoris, quietly, turning the collar over and over in his hands--"not for either jewels or men! but there is unhappiness,--and unhappiness simply means life being put to wrong uses. i call these gems 'unhappy' because they have been wrongfully used. a precious stone is a living thing--it absorbs influences as the earth absorbs light, and these jewels have absorbed some sense of evil that renders them less beautiful than they might be. these diamonds and rubies, these emeralds and sapphires, have not the full lustre of their own true nature,--they are in the condition of pining flowers. it will take centuries before they resume their natural brilliancy. there is some tragedy hidden among them." dr. brayle looked amused. "well, i can give you no history of them," he said--"a friend of mine bought the collar from an old jew curiosity dealer in a back street of florence and sent it to me to wear with a florentine dress at a fancy dress ball. curiously enough i chose to represent one of the medicis, some artist having told me my features resembled their type of countenance. that's the chronicle, so far as i am concerned. i rather liked it on account of its antiquity. i could have sold it many times over, but i have no desire to part with it." "naturally!"--and santoris passed on the collar to everyone to examine--"you feel a sense of proprietorship in it." catherine harland had the trinket in her hand, and a curious vague look of terror came over her face as she presently passed it back to its owner. but she made no remark and it was mr. harland who resumed the conversation. "that's an odd idea of yours about unhappy jewels," he said--"perhaps the misfortune attending the possessors of the famous blue hope diamond could be traced to some early tragedy connected with it." "unquestionably!" replied santoris. "now look at this!"--and he drew from his watch pocket a small fine gold chain to which was attached a moonstone of singular size and beauty, set in a circle of diamonds--"here is a sort of talismanic jewel--it has never known any disastrous influences, nor has it been disturbed by malevolent surroundings. it is a perfectly happy, unsullied gem! as you see, the lustre is perfect--as clear as that of a summer moon in heaven. yet it is a very old jewel and has seen more than a thousand years of life." we all examined the beautiful ornament, and as i held it in my hand a moment it seemed to emit tiny sparks of luminance like a flash of moonlight on rippling waves. "women should take care that their jewels are made happy," he continued, looking at me with a slight smile, "that is, if they want them to shine. nothing that lives is at its best unless it is in a condition of happiness--a condition which after all is quite easy to attain." "easy! i should have thought nothing was so difficult!" said mr. harland. "nothing certainly is so difficult in the ordinary way of life men choose to live," answered santoris--"for the most part they run after the shadow and forsake the light. even in work and the creative action of thought each ordinary man imagines that his especial work being all-important, it is necessary for him to sacrifice everything to it. and he does,--if he is filled with worldly ambition and selfish concentration; and he produces something--anything--which frequently proves to be ephemeral as gossamer dust. it is only when work is the outcome of a great love and keen sympathy for others that it lasts and keeps its influence. now we have talked enough about all these theories, which are not interesting to anyone who is not prepared to accept them--shall we go up on deck?" we all rose at once, santoris holding out a box of cigars to the men to help themselves. catherine and i preceded them up the saloon stairs to the deck, which was now like a sheet of silver in the light shed by one of the loveliest moons of the year. the water around was sparkling with phosphorescence and the dark mountains looked higher and more imposing than ever, rising as they seemed to do sheer up from the white splendour of the sea. i leaned over the deck rail, gazing down into the deep liquid mirror of stars below, and my heart was heavy and full of a sense of bitterness and tears. catherine had dropped languidly into a chair and was leaning back in it with a strange, far-away expression on her tired face. suddenly she spoke with an almost mournful gentleness. "do you like his theories?" i turned towards her enquiringly. "i mean, do you like the idea of there being no death and that we only change from one life to another and so on for ever?" she continued. "to me it is appalling! sometimes i think death the kindest thing that can happen--especially for women." i was in the mood to agree with her. i went up to her and knelt down by her side. "yes!" i said, and i felt the tremor of tears in my voice--"yes, for women death often seems very kind! when there is no love and no hope of love,--when the world is growing grey and the shadows are deepening towards night,--when the ones we most dearly love misjudge and mistrust us and their hearts are closed against our tenderness, then death seems the greatest god of all!--one before whom we may well kneel and offer up our prayers! who could, who would live for ever quite alone in an eternity without love? oh, how much kinder, how much sweeter would be utter extinction--" my voice broke; and catherine, moved by some sudden womanly impulse, put her arm round me. "why, you are crying!" she said, softly. "what is it? you, who are always so bright and happy!" i quickly controlled the weakness of my tears. "yes, it is foolish!" i said--"but i feel to-night as if i had wasted a good part of my life in useless research,--in looking for what has been, after all, quite close to my hand,--only that i failed to see it!--and that i must go back upon the road i thought i had passed--" here i paused. i saw she could not understand me. "catherine," i went on, abruptly--"will you let me leave you in a day or two? i have been quite a fortnight with you on board the 'diana,' and i think i have had enough holiday. i should like"--and i looked up at her from where i knelt--"i should like to part from you while we remain good friends--and i have an idea that perhaps we shall not agree so well if we learn to know more of each other." she bent her eyes upon me with a half-frightened expression. "how strange you should think that!" she murmured--"i have felt the same--and yet i really like you very much--i always liked you--i wish you would believe it!" i smiled. "dear catherine," i said--"it is no use shutting our eyes to the fact that while there is something which attracts us to each other, there is also something which repels. we cannot argue about it or analyse it. such mysterious things do occur,--and they are beyond our searching out--" "but," she interrupted, quickly--"we were not so troubled by these mysterious things till we met this man santoris--" she broke off, and i rose to my feet, as just then santoris approached, accompanied by mr. harland and the others. "i have suggested giving you a sail by moonlight before you leave," he said. "it will be an old experience for you under new conditions. sailing by moonlight in an ordinary sense is an ordinary thing,--but sailing by moonlight with the moonlight as part of our motive power has perhaps a touch of originality." as he spoke he made a sign to one of his men who came up to receive his orders, which were given in too low a tone for us to hear. easy deck chairs were placed for all the party, and we were soon seated in a group together, somewhat silently at first, our attention being entirely riveted on the wonderful, almost noiseless way in which the sails of the 'dream' were unfurled. there was no wind,--the night was warm and intensely still--the sea absolutely calm. like broad white wings, the canvas gradually spread out under the deft, quick hands of the sailors employed in handling it,--the anchor was drawn up in the same swift and silent manner--then there came an instant's pause. mr. harland drew his cigar from his mouth and looked up amazed, as we all did, at the mysterious way in which the sails filled out, pulling the cordage tightly into bands of iron strength,--and none of us could restrain an involuntary cry of wonder and admiration as their whiteness began to glitter with the radiance of hoar-frost, the strange luminance deepening in intensity till it seemed as if the whole stretch of canvas from end to end of the magnificent schooner was a mass of fine jewel-work sparkling under the moon. "well! however much i disagree with your theories of life, santoris," said mr. harland,--"i will give you full credit for this extraordinary yacht of yours! it's the most wonderful thing i ever saw, and you are a wonderful fellow to have carried out such an unique application of science. you ought to impart your secret to the world." santoris laughed lightly. "and the world would take a hundred years or more to discuss it, consider it, deny it, and finally accept it," he said--"no! one grows tired of asking the world to be either wise or happy. it prefers its own way--just as i prefer mine. it will discover the method of sailing without wind, and it will learn how to make every sort of mechanical progress without steam in time--but not in our day,--and i, personally, cannot afford to wait while it is slowly learning its abc like a big child under protest. you see we're going now!" we were 'going' indeed,--it would have been more correct to say we were flying. over the still water our vessel glided like a moving beautiful shape of white fire, swiftly and steadily, with no sound save the little hissing murmur of the water cleft under her keel. and then like a sudden whisper from fairyland came the ripple of harp-strings, running upward in phrases of exquisite melody, and a boy's voice, clear, soft and full, began to sing, with a pure enunciation which enabled us to hear every word: sailing, sailing! whither? what path of the flashing sea seems best for you and me? no matter the way, by night or day, so long as we sail together! sailing, sailing! whither? into the rosy grace of the sun's deep setting-place? we need not know how far we go, so long as we sail together! sailing, sailing! whither? to the glittering rainbow strand of love's enchanted land? we ask not where in earth or air, so long as we sail together! sailing, sailing! whither? on to the life divine,- your soul made one with mine! in heaven or hell all must be well, so long as we sail together! the song finished with a passionate chord which, played as it was with swift intensity, seemed to awaken a response from the sea,--at any rate a strange shivering echo trembled upward as it were from the water and floated into the spacious silence of the night. my heart beat with uncomfortable quickness and my eyes grew hot with the weight of suppressed tears;--why could i not escape from the cruel, restraining force that held my real self prisoner as with manacles of steel? i could not even speak; and while the others were clapping their hands in delighted applause at the beauty of both voice and song, i sat silent. "he sings well!" said santoris--"he is the eastern lad you saw when you came on deck this morning. i brought him from egypt. he will give us another song presently. shall we walk a little?" we rose and paced the deck slowly, gradually dividing in couples, catherine and dr. brayle--mr. harland and his secretary,--santoris and myself. we two paused together at the stern of the vessel looking towards the bowsprit, which seemed to pierce the distance of sea and sky like a flying arrow. "you wish to speak to me alone," said santoris, then--"do you not? though i know what you want to say!" i glanced at him with a touch of defiance. "then i need not speak," i answered. "no, you need not speak, unless you give utterance to what is in your true soul," he said--"i would rather you did not play at conventions with me." for the moment i felt almost angry. "i do not play at conventions," i murmured. "oh, do you not? is that quite candid?" i raised my eyes and met his,--he was smiling. some of the oppression in my soul suddenly gave way, and i spoke hurriedly in a low tone. "surely you know how difficult it is for me?" i said. "things have happened so strangely,--and we are surrounded here by influences that compel conventionality. i cannot speak to you as frankly as i would under other circumstances. it is easy for you to be yourself;--you have gained the mastery over all lesser forces than your own. but with me it is different--perhaps when i am away i shall be able to think more calmly--" "you are going away?" he asked, gently. "yes. it is better so." he remained silent. i went on, quickly. "i am going away because i feel inadequate and unable to cope with my present surroundings. i have had some experience of the same influences before--i know i have--" "i also!" he interrupted. "well, you must realise this better than i," and i looked at him now with greater courage--"and if you have, you know they have led to trouble. i want you to help me." "i? to help you?" he said. "how can i help you when you leave me?" there was something infinitely sad in his voice,--and the old fear came over me like a chill--'lest i should lose what i had gained!' "if i leave you," i said, tremblingly--"i do so because i am not worthy to be with you! oh, can you not see this in me?" for as i spoke he took my hand in his and held it with a kindly clasp--"i am so self-willed, so proud, so unworthy! there are a thousand things i would say to you, but i dare not--not here, or now!" "no one will approach us," he said, still holding my hand--"i am keeping the others, unconsciously to themselves, at a distance till you have finished speaking. tell me some of these thousand things!" i looked up at him and saw the deep lustre of his eyes filled with a great tenderness. he drew me a little closer to his side. "tell me," he persisted, softly--"is there very much that we do not, if we are true to each other, know already?" "you know more than i do!" i answered--"and i want to be equal with you! i do! i cannot be content to feel that i am groping in the dark weakly and blindly while you are in the light, strong and self-contained! you can help me--and you will help me! you will tell me where i should go and study as you did with aselzion!" he started back, amazed. "with aselzion! dear, forgive me! you are a woman! it is impossible that you should suffer so great an ordeal,--so severe a strain! and why should you attempt it? if you would let me, i would be sufficient for you." "but i will not let you!" i said, quickly, roused to a kind of defiant energy--"i wish to go to the very source of your instruction, and then i shall see where i stand with regard to you! if i stay here now--" "it will be the same old story over again!" he said--"love--and mistrust! then drifting apart in the same weary way! is it not possible to avoid the errors of the past?" "no!" i said, resolutely--"for me it is not possible! i cannot yield to my own inward promptings. they offer me too much happiness! i doubt the joy,--i fear the glory!" my voice trembled--the very clasp of his hand unnerved me. "i will tell you," he said, after a brief pause, "what you feel. you are perfectly conscious that between you and myself there is a tie which no power, earthly or heavenly, can break,--but you are living in a matter-of-fact world with matter-of-fact persons, and the influence they exert is to make you incredulous of the very truths which are an essential part of your spiritual existence. i understand all this. i understand also why you wish to go to the house of aselzion, and you shall go--" i uttered an exclamation of relief and pleasure. his eyes grew dark with earnest gravity as he looked at me. "you are pleased at what you cannot realise," he said, slowly--"if you go to the house of aselzion--and i see you are determined--it will be a matter of such vital import that it can only mean one of two things,--your entire happiness or your entire misery. i cannot contemplate with absolute calmness the risk you run,--and yet it is better that you should follow the dictates of your own soul than be as you are now--irresolute,--uncertain of yourself and ready to lose all you have gained!" 'to lose all i have gained.' the old insidious terror! i met his searching gaze imploringly. "i must not lose anything!" i said, and my voice sank lower,--"i cannot bear--to lose you!" his hand closed on mine with a tighter grasp. "yet you doubt!" he said, softly. "i must know!" i said, resolutely. he lifted his head with a proud gesture that was curiously familiar to me. "so the old spirit is not dead in you, my queen," he said, smiling. "the old indomitable will!--the desire to probe to the very centre of things! yet love defies analysis,--and is the only thing that binds the universe together. a fact beyond all proving--a truth which cannot be expounded by any given rule or line but which is the most emphatic force of life! my queen, it is a force that must either bend or break you!" i made no reply. he still held my hand, and we looked out together on the shining expanse of the sea where there was no vessel visible and where our schooner alone flew over the watery, moonlit surface like a winged flame. "in your working life," he continued, gently, "you have done much. you have thought clearly, and you have not been frightened away from any eternal fact by the difficulties of research. but in your living life you have missed more than you will care to know. you have been content to remain a passive recipient of influences--you have not thoroughly learned how to combine and use them. you have overcome altogether what are generally the chief obstacles in the way of a woman's higher progress,--her inherent childishness--her delight in imagining herself wronged or neglected,--her absurd way of attaching weighty importance to the merest trifles--her want of balance, and the foolish resentment she feels at being told any of her faults,--this is all past in you, and you stand free of the shackles of sheer stupidity which makes so many women impossible to deal with from a man's standpoint, and which renders it almost necessary for men to estimate them at a low intellectual standard. for even in the supreme passion of love, millions of women are only capable of understanding its merely physical side, while the union of soul with soul is never consummated: where is that love supreme in which souls meet? where is it satisfied? en-isled on heaving sands of lone desire, spirit to spirit cries, while float across the skies bright phantoms of fair lands, where fancies fade not and where dreams abide." his voice dropped to the softest musical cadence, and i looked up. he answered my look. "dear one!" he said, "you shall go to the house of aselzion, and with you will be the future!" he let go my hand very gently--i felt a sudden sense of utter loneliness. "you do not--you will not misjudge me?" i said. "i! dear, i have made so many errors of judgment in the past and i have lost you so many times, that i shall do nothing now which might lose you again!" he smiled, and for one moment i was impelled to throw hesitation to the winds and say all that i knew in my inmost self ought to be said,--but my rebellious will held me back, and i remained silent,--while he turned away and rejoined the rest of the party, with whom he was soon chatting in such a cheery, easy fashion that they appeared to forget that there was anything remarkable about him or about his wonderful vessel, which had now turned on her course and was carrying us back to loch scavaig at a speed which matched the fleetest wind. when she arrived at her former anchorage just opposite the 'diana,' we saw that all the crew of mr. harland's yacht were on deck watching our movements, which must have been well worth watching considering what an amazing spectacle the 'dream' made of herself and her glittering sails against the dark loch and mountains,--so brilliant indeed as almost to eclipse the very moon. but the light began to pale as soon as we dropped anchor, and very soon faded out completely, whereupon the sailors hauled down canvas, uttering musical cries as they pulled and braced it together. this work done, they retired, and a couple of servants waited upon our party, bringing wine and fruit as a parting refreshment before we said good-night,--and once again the sweet voice of the egyptian boy singer smote upon our ears, with a prelude of harp-strings: good-night,--farewell! if it should chance that nevermore we meet, remember that the hours we spent together here were sweet! good-night,--farewell! if henceforth different ways of life we wend, remember that i sought to walk beside you to the end! good-night,--farewell! when present things are merged into the past, remember that i love you and shall love you to the last! my heart beat with a quick and sudden agony of pain--was it, could it be true that i was of my own accord going to sever myself from one whom i knew,--whom i felt--to be all in all to me? "good-night!" said a low voice close to my ear. i started. i had lost myself in a wilderness of thought and memory. santoris stood beside me. "your friends are going," he said,--"and i too shall be gone to-morrow!" a wave of desolation overcame me. "ah, no!" i exclaimed--"surely you will not go--" "i must," he answered, quietly,--"are not you going? it has been a joy to meet you, if only for a little while--a pause in the journey,--an attempt at an understanding!--though you have decided that we must part again." i clasped my hands together in a kind of desperation. "what can i do?" i murmured--"if i yielded now to my own impulses--" "ah! if you did"--he said, wistfully--"but you will not; and perhaps, after all, it is better so. it is no doubt intended that you should be absolutely certain of yourself this time. and i will not stand in the way. good-night,--and farewell!" i looked at him with a smile, though the tears were in my eyes. "i will not say farewell!" i answered. he raised my hands lightly to his lips. "that is kind of you!" he said--"and to-morrow you shall hear from me about aselzion and the best way for you to see him. he is spending the summer in europe, which is fortunate for you, as you will not have to make so far a journey." we broke off our conversation here as the others joined us,--and in a very little while we had left the 'dream' and were returning to our own yacht. to the last, as the motor launch rushed with us through the water, i kept my eyes fixed on the reposeful figure of santoris, who with folded arms on the deck rail of his vessel, watched our departure. should i never see him again, i wondered? what was the strange impulse that had more or less moved my spirit to a kind of opposition against his, and made me so determined to seek out for myself the things that he assumed to have mastered? i could not tell. i only knew that from the moment he had begun to relate the personal narrative of his own studies and experiences, i had resolved to go through the same training whatever it was, and learn what he had learned, if such a thing were possible. i did not think i should succeed so well,--but some new knowledge i felt i should surely gain. the extraordinary attraction he exercised over me was growing too strong to resist, yet i was determined not to yield to it because i doubted both its cause and its effect. love, i knew, could not, as he had said, be analysed--but the love i had always dreamed of was not the love with which the majority of mankind are content--the mere physical delight which ends in satiety. it was something not only for time, but for eternity. away from santoris i found it quite easy to give myself up to the dream of joy which shone before me like the mirage of a promised land,--but in his company i felt as though something held me back and warned me to beware of too quickly snatching at a purely personal happiness. we reached the 'diana' in a very few minutes--we had made the little journey almost in silence, for my companions were, or appeared to be, as much lost in thought as i was. as we descended to our cabins mr. harland drew me back and detained me alone for a moment. "santoris is going away to-morrow," he said--"he will probably have set those wonderful sails of his and flown before daybreak. i'm sorry!" "so am i," i answered--"but, after all--you would hardly want him to stay, would you? his theories of life are very curious and upsetting, and you all think him a sort of charlatan playing with the mysteries of earth and heaven! if he is able to read thoughts, he cannot be altogether flattered at the opinion held of him by dr. brayle, for example!" mr. harland's brows knitted perplexedly. "he says he could cure me of my illness," he went on,--"and brayle declares that a cure is impossible." "you prefer to believe brayle, of course?" i queried. "brayle is a physician of note," he replied,--"a man who has taken his degree in medicine and knows what he is talking about. santoris is merely a mystic." i smiled a little sadly. "i see!" and i held out my hand to say good-night. "he is a century before his time, and maybe it is better to die than forestall a century." mr. harland laughed as he pressed my hand cordially. "enigmatical, as usual!" he said--"you and santoris ought to be congenial spirits!" "perhaps we are!" i answered, carelessly, as i left him;--"stranger things than that have happened!" xii a love-letter to those who are ignorant of, or indifferent to, the psychic forces working behind all humanity and creating the causes which evolve into effect, it cannot but seem strange,--even eccentric and abnormal,--that any one person, or any two persons for that matter, should take the trouble to try and ascertain the immediate intention and ultimate object of their lives. the daily routine of ordinary working, feeding and sleeping existence, varied by little social conventions and obligations which form a kind of break to the persistent monotony of the regular treadmill round, should be, they think, sufficient for any sane, well-balanced, self-respecting creature,--and if a man or woman elects to stand out of the common ruck and say: "i refuse to live in a chaos of uncertainties--i will endeavour to know why my particular atom of self is considered a necessary, if infinitesimal, part of the universe,"--such an one is looked upon with either distrust or derision. in matters of love especially, where the most ill-assorted halves persist in fitting themselves together as if they could ever make a perfect whole, a woman is considered foolish if she gives her affections where it is 'not expedient'--and a man is looked upon as having 'ruined his career' if he allows a great passion to dominate him, instead of a calm, well-weighed, respectable sort of sentiment which has its fitting end in an equally calm, well-weighed, respectable marriage. these are the laws and observances of social order, excellent in many respects, but frequently responsible for a great bulk of the misery attendant upon many forms of human relationship. it is not, however, possible to the ordinary mind to realise that somewhere and somehow, every two component parts of a whole must come together, sooner or later, and that herein may be found the key to most of the great love tragedies of the world. the wrong halves mated,--the right halves finding each other out and rushing together recklessly and inopportunely because of the resistless law which draws them together,--this is the explanation of many a life's disaster and despair, as well as of many a life's splendid attainment and victory. and the trouble or the triumph, whichever it be, will never be lessened till human beings learn that in love, which is the greatest and most divine force on earth or in heaven, the soul, not the body, must first be considered, and that no one can fulfil the higher possibilities of his or her nature, till each individual unit is conjoined with that only other portion of itself which is as one with it in thought and in the intuitive comprehension of its higher needs. i knew all this well enough, and had known it for years, and it was hardly necessary for me to dwell upon it, as i sat alone in my cabin that night, too restless to sleep, and, almost too uneasy even to think. what had happened to me was simply that i had by a curious chance or series of chances been brought into connection again with the individual soul of a man whom i had known and loved ages ago. to the psychist, such a circumstance does not seem as strange as it is to the great majority of people who realise no greater force than matter, and who have no comprehension of spirit, and no wish to comprehend it, though even the dullest of these often find themselves brought into contact with persons whom they feel they have met and known before, and are unable to understand why they receive such an impression. in my case i had not only to consider the one particular identity which seemed so closely connected with my own--but also the other individuals with whom i had become more or less reluctantly associated,--catherine harland and dr. brayle especially. mr. harland had, unconsciously to himself, been merely the link to bring the broken bits of a chain together--his secretary, mr. swinton, occupied the place of the always necessary nonentity in a group of intellectually or psychically connected beings,--and i was perfectly sure, without having any actual reason for my conviction, that if i remained much longer in catherine harland's company, her chance liking for me would turn into the old hatred with which she had hated me in a bygone time,--a hatred fostered by dr. brayle, who, plainly scheming to marry her and secure her fortune, considered me in the way (as i was) of the influence he desired to exercise over her and her father. therefore it seemed necessary i should remove myself,--moreover, i was resolved that all the years i had spent in trying to find the way to some of nature's secrets should not be wasted--i would learn, i too, what rafel santoris had learned in the house of aselzion--and then we might perhaps stand on equal ground, sure of ourselves and of each other! so ran my thoughts in the solitude and stillness of the night--a solitude and stillness so profound that the gentle push of the water against the sides of the yacht, almost noiseless as it was, sounded rough and intrusive. my port-hole was open, and i could see the sinking moon showing through it like a white face in sorrow. just then i heard a low splash as of oars. i started up and went to the sofa, where, by kneeling on the cushions. i could look through the porthole. there, gliding just beneath me, was a small boat, and my heart gave a sudden leap of joy as i recognised the man who rowed it as santoris. he smiled as i looked down,--then, standing up in the boat, guided himself alongside, till his head was nearly on a level with the port-hole. he put one hand on its edge. "not asleep yet!" he said, softly--"what have you been thinking of? the moon and the sea?--or any other mystery as deep and incomprehensible?" i stretched out my hand and laid it on his with an involuntary caressing touch. "i could not leave you without another last word,"--he said--"and i have brought you a letter"--he gave me a sealed envelope as he spoke--"which will tell you how to find aselzion. i myself will write to him also and prepare him for your arrival. when you do see him you will understand how difficult is the task you wish to undertake,--and, if you should fail, the failure will be a greater sadness to yourself than to me--for i could make things easier for you--" "i do not want things made easy for me,"--i answered quickly--"i want to do all that you have done--i want to prove myself worthy at least--" i broke off,--and looked down into his eyes. he smiled. "well!" he said--"are you beginning to remember the happiness we have so often thrown away for a trifle?" i was silent, though i folded my hand closer over his. the soft white sleepy radiance of the moon on the scarcely moving water around us made everything look dream-like and unreal, and i was hardly conscious of my own existence for the moment, so completely did it seem absorbed by some other influence stronger than any power i had ever known. "here are we two,"--he continued, softly--"alone with the night and each other, close to the verge of a perfect understanding--and yet--determined not to understand! how often that happens! every moment, every hour, all over the world, there are souls like ours, barred severally within their own shut gardens, refusing to open the doors! they talk over the walls, through the chinks and crannies, and peep through the keyholes--but they will not open the doors. how fortunate am i to-night to find even a port-hole open!" he turned up his face, full of light and laughter, to mine, and i thought then, how easy it would be to fling away all my doubts and scruples, give up the idea of making any more search for what perhaps i should never find, and take the joy which seemed proffered and the love which my heart knew was its own to claim! yet something still pulled me back, and not only pulled me back, but on and away--something which inwardly told me i had much to learn before i dared accept a happiness i had not deserved. nevertheless some of my thoughts found sudden speech. "rafel--" i began, and then paused, amazed at my own boldness in thus addressing him. he drew closer to me, the boat he stood in swaying under him. "go on!" he said, with a little tremor in his voice--"my name never sounded so sweetly in my own ears! what is it you would have me do?" "nothing!" i answered, half afraid of myself as i spoke--"nothing--but this. just to think that i am not merely wilful or rebellious in parting from you for a little while--for if it is true--" "if what is true?" he interposed, gently. "if it is true that we are friends not for a time but for eternity"--i said, in steadier tones--"then it can only be for a little while that we shall be separated. and then afterwards i shall be quite sure--" "yes--quite sure of what you are sure of now!" he said--"as sure as any immortal creature can be of an immortal truth! do you know how long we have been separated already?" i shook my head, smiling a little. "well, i will not tell you!" he answered--"it might frighten you! but by all the powers of earth and heaven, we shall not traverse such distances apart again--not if i can prevent it!" "and can you?" i asked, half wistfully. "i can! and i will! for i am stronger than you--and the strongest wins! your eyes look startled--there are glimpses of the moon in them, and they are soft eyes--not angry ones. i have seen them full of anger,--an anger that stabbed me to the heart!--but that was in the days gone by, when i was weaker than you. this time the position has changed--and _i_ am master!" "not yet!" i said, resolutely, withdrawing my hand from his--"i yield to nothing--not even to happiness--till i know!" a slight shadow darkened the attractiveness of his features. "that is what the world says of god--'i will not yield till i know!' but it is as plastic clay in his hands, all the time, and it never knows!" i was silent--and there was a pause in which no sound was heard but the movement of the water under the little boat in which he stood. then-"good-night!" he said. "good-night!" i answered, and moved by a swift impulse, i stooped and kissed the firm hand that rested so near me, gripping the edge of the port-hole. he looked up with a sudden light in his eyes. "is that a sign of grace and consolation?" he asked, smiling--"well! i am content! and i have waited so long that i can wait yet a little longer." so speaking, he let go his hold from alongside the yacht, and in another minute had seated himself in the boat and was rowing away across the moonlit water. i watched him as every stroke of the oars widened the distance between us, half hoping that he might look back, wave his hand, or even return again--but no!--his boat soon vanished like a small black speck on the sea, and i knew myself to be left alone. restraining with difficulty the tears that rose to my eyes, i shut the port-hole and drew its little curtain across it--then i sat down to read the letter he had left with me. it ran as follows: beloved,-i call you by this name as i have always called you through many cycles of time,--it should sound upon your ears as familiarly as a note of music struck in response to another similar note in far distance. you are not satisfied with the proofs given you by your own inner consciousness, which testify to the unalterable fact that you and i are, and must be, as one,--that we have played with fate against each other, and sometimes striven to escape from each other, all in vain;--it is not enough for you to know (as you do know) that the moment our eyes met our spirits rushed together in a sudden ecstasy which, had we dared to yield to it, would have outleaped convention and made of us no more than two flames in one fire! if you are honest with yourself as i am honest with myself, you will admit that this is so,--that the emotion which overwhelmed us was reasonless, formless and wholly beyond all analysis, yet more insistent than any other force having claim on our lives. but it is not sufficient for you to realise this,--or to trace through every step of the journey you have made, the gradual leading of your soul to mine,--from that last night you passed in your own home, when every fibre of your being grew warm with the prescience of coming joy, to this present moment, even through dreams of infinite benediction in which i shared--no!--it is not sufficient for you!--you must 'know'--you must learn--you must probe into deeper mysteries, and study and suffer to the last! well, if it must be so, it must,--and i shall rely on the eternal fitness of things to save you from your own possible rashness and bring you back to me,--for without you now i can do nothing more. i have done much--and much remains to be done--but if i am to attain, you must crown the attainment--if my ambition is to find completion, you alone can be its completeness. if you have the strength and the courage to face the ordeal through which aselzion sends those who seek to follow his teaching, you will indeed have justified your claim to be considered higher than merest woman,--though you have risen above that level already. the lives of women generally, and of men too, are so small and sordid and self-centred, thanks to their obstinate refusal to see anything better or wider than their own immediate outlook, that it is hardly worth while considering them in the light of that deeper knowledge which teaches of the real life behind the seeming one. in the ordinary way of existence men and women meet and mate with very little more intelligence or thought about it than the lower animals; and the results of such meeting and mating are seen in the degenerate and dying nations of to-day. moreover, they are content to be born for no other visible reason than to die--and no matter how often they may be told there is no such thing as death, they receive the assertion with as much indignant incredulity as the priesthood of rome received galileo's assurance that the earth moves round the sun. but we--you and i--who know that life, being all life, cannot die,--ought to be wiser in our present space of time than to doubt each other's infinite capability for love and the perfect world of beauty which love creates. _i_ do not doubt--my doubting days are past, and the whips of sorrow have lashed me into shape as well as into strength, but you hesitate,--because you have been rendered weak by much misunderstanding. however, it has partially comforted me to place the position fully before you, and having done this i feel that you must be free to go your own way. i do not say 'i love you!'--such a phrase from me would be merest folly, knowing that you must be mine, whether now or at the end of many more centuries. your soul is deathless as mine is--it is eternally young, as mine is,--and the force that gives us life and love is divine and indestructible, so that for us there can be no end to the happiness which is ours to claim when we will. for the rest i leave you to decide--you will go to the house of aselzion and perhaps you will remain there some time,--at any rate when you depart from thence you will have learned much, and you will know what is best for yourself and for me. my beloved, i commend you to god with all my adoring soul and am your lover, rafel santoris a folded paper fell out of this letter,--it contained full instructions as to the way i should go on the journey i intended to make to the mysterious house of aselzion--and i was glad to find that i should not have to travel as far as i had at first imagined. i began at once to make my plans for leaving the harlands as soon as possible, and before going to bed i wrote to my friend francesca, who i knew would certainly expect me to visit her in inverness-shire as soon as my cruise in the harlands' yacht was over, and briefly stated that business of an important nature called me abroad for two or three weeks, but that i fully anticipated being at home in england again before the end of october. as it was now just verging on the end of august, i thought i was allowing myself a fairly wide margin for absence. when i had folded and sealed my letter ready for posting, an irresistible sense of sleep came over me, and i yielded to it gratefully. i found myself too overcome by it even to think,--and i laid my head down upon the pillows with a peaceful consciousness that all was well,--that all would be well--and that in trying to make sure of the intentions of fate towards me both in life and love, i could not be considered as altogether foolish. of course, judged by the majority of people, i know i am already counted as worse than foolish for the impressions and experiences i here undertake to narrate, but that kind of judgment does not affect me, seeing that their own daily and hourly folly is so visibly pronounced and has such unsatisfactory and frequently disastrous results, that mine--if it indeed be folly to choose lasting and eternal things rather than ephemeral and temporal ones,--cannot but seem light in comparison. love, as the world generally conceives of it, is hardly worth having--for if we become devoted to persons who must in time be severed from us by death or other causes, we have merely wasted the wealth of our affections. only as a perfect, eternal, binding force is love of any value,--and unless one can be sure in one's own self that there is the strength and truth and courage to make it thus perfect, eternal and binding, it is better to have nothing to do with what after all is the divinest of divine passions,--the passion of creativeness, from which springs all thought, all endeavour, all accomplishment. when i woke the next morning i did not need to be told that the 'dream' had set her wonderful sails and flown. a sense of utter desolation was in the air, and my own loneliness was impressed upon me with overwhelming bitterness and force. it was a calm, brilliant morning, and when i went up on deck the magnificent scenery of loch scavaig was, to my thinking, lessened in effect by the excessive glare of the sun. the water was smooth as oil, and where the 'dream' had been anchored, showing her beautiful lines and tapering spars against the background of the mountains, there was now a dreary vacancy. the whole scene looked intolerably dull and lifeless, and i was impatient to be away from it. i said as much at breakfast, a meal at which catherine harland never appeared, and where i was accustomed to take the head of the table, at mr. harland's request, to dispense the tea and coffee. dr. brayle seemed malignly amused at my remark. "the interest of the place has evidently vanished with mr. santoris, so far as you are concerned!" he said--"he is certainly a remarkable man, and owns a remarkable yacht--but beyond that i am not sure that his room is not better than his company." "i daresay you feel it so,"--said mr. harland, who had for some moments been unusually taciturn and preoccupied--"your theories are diametrically opposed to his, and, for that matter, so are mine. but i confess i should like to have tested his medical skill--he assured me positively that he could cure me of my illness in three months." "why do you not let him try?" suggested brayle, with an air of forced lightness--"he will be a man of miracles if he can cure what the whole medical profession knows to be incurable. but i'm quite willing to retire in his favour, if you wish it." mr. harland's bristling eyebrows met over his nose in a saturnine frown. "well, are you willing?" he said--"i rather doubt it! and if you are, i'm not. i've no faith in mysticism or psychism of any kind. it bores me to think about it. and nothing has puzzled me at all concerning santoris except his extraordinarily youthful appearance. that is a problem to me,--and i should like to solve it." "he looks about thirty-eight or forty,"--said brayle, "and i should say that is his age." "that his age!" mr. harland gave a short, derisive laugh--"why, he's over sixty if he's a day! that's the mystery of it. there is not a touch of 'years' about him. instead of growing old, he grows young." brayle looked up quizzically at his patron. "i've already hinted," he said, "that he may not be the santoris you knew at oxford. he may be a relative, cleverly masquerading as the original man--" "that won't stand a moment's argument," interposed mr. harland--"and i'll tell you how i know it won't. we had a quarrel once, and i slashed his arm with a clasp-knife pretty heavily." here a sudden quiver of something,--shame or remorse perhaps--came over his hard face and changed its expression for a moment. "it was all my fault--i had a devilish temper, and he was calm--his calmness irritated me;--moreover, i was drunk. santoris knew i was drunk,--and he wanted to get me home to my rooms and to bed before i made too great a disgrace of myself--then--that happened. i remember the blood pouring from his arm--it frightened me and sobered me. well, when he came on board here the other night he showed me the scar of the very wound i had inflicted. so i know he's the same man." we all sat silent. "he was always studying the 'occult'"--went on mr. harland--"and i was scarcely surprised that he should 'think out' that antique piece of jewellery from your pocket last night. he actually told me it belonged to you ages ago, when you were quite another and more important person!" dr. brayle laughed loudly, almost boisterously. "what a fictionist the man must be!" he exclaimed. "why doesn't he write a novel? mr. swinton, i wish you would take a few notes for me of what mr. santoris said about that collar of jewels,--i should like to keep the record." mr. swinton smiled an obliging assent. "i certainly will,"--he said. "i was fortunately present when mr. santoris expressed his curious ideas about the jewels to mr. harland." "oh, well, if you are going to record it,"--said mr. harland, half laughingly--"you had better be careful to put it all down. the collar--according to santoris--belonged to dr. brayle when his personality was that of an italian nobleman residing in florence about the year 1537--he wore it on one unfortunate occasion when he murdered a man, and the jewels have not had much of a career since that period. now they have come back into his possession--" "father, who told you all this?" the voice was sharp and thin, and we turned round amazed to see catherine standing in the doorway of the saloon, white and trembling, with wild eyes looking as though they saw ghosts. dr. brayle hastened to her. "miss harland, pray go back to your cabin--you are not strong enough--" "what's the matter, catherine?" asked her father--"i'm only repeating some of the nonsense santoris told me about that collar of jewels--" "it's not nonsense!" cried catherine. "it's all true! i remember it all--we planned the murder together--he and i!"--and she pointed to dr. brayle--"i told him how the lovers used to meet in secret,--the poor hunted things!--how he--that great artist he patronised--came to her room from the garden entrance at night, and how they talked for hours behind the rose-trees in the avenue--and she--she!--i hated her because i thought you loved her--you!" and again she turned to dr. brayle, clutching at his arm--"yes--i thought you loved her!--but she--she loved him!--and--" here she paused, shuddering violently, and seemed to lose herself in chaotic ideas--"and so the yacht has gone, and there is peace!--and perhaps we shall forget again!--we were allowed to forget for a little while, but it has all come back to haunt and terrify us--" and with these words, which broke off in a kind of inarticulate cry, she sank downward in a swoon, dr. brayle managing to save her from falling quite to the ground. everything was at once in confusion, and while the servants were busy hurrying to and fro for cold water, smelling salts and other reviving cordials, and catherine was being laid on the sofa and attended to by dr. brayle, i slipped away and went up on deck, feeling myself quite overpowered and bewildered by the suddenness and strangeness of the episodes in which i had become involved. in a minute or two mr. harland followed me, looking troubled and perplexed. "what does all this mean?" he said--"i am quite at a loss to understand catherine's condition. she is hysterical, of course,--but what has caused it? what mad idea has she got into her head about a murder?" i looked away from him across the sunlit expanse of sea. "i really cannot tell you," i said, at last--"i am quite as much in the dark as you are. i think she is overwrought, and that she has perhaps taken some of the things mr. santoris said too much to heart. then"--here i hesitated--"she said the other day that she was tired of this yachting trip--in fact, i think it is simply a case of nerves." "she must have very odd nerves if they persuade her to believe that she and brayle committed a murder together ages ago"--said mr. harland, irritably;--"i never heard of such nonsense in all my life!" i was silent. "i have told captain derrick to weigh anchor and get out of this,"--he continued, brusquely. "we shall make for portree at once. there is something witch-like and uncanny about the place"--and he looked round as he spoke at the splendour of the mountains, shining with almost crystalline clearness in the glory of the morning sun--"i feel as if it were haunted!" "by what?" i asked. "by memories," he answered--"and not altogether pleasant ones!" i looked at him, and a moment's thought decided me that the opportunity had come for me to broach the subject of my intended departure, and i did so. i said that i felt i had allowed myself sufficient holiday, and that it would be necessary for me to take the ordinary steamer from portree the morning after our arrival there in order to reach glasgow as soon as possible. mr. harland surveyed me inquisitively. "why do you want to go by the steamer?" he asked--"why not go with us back to rothesay, for example?" "i would rather lose no time,"--i said--then i added impulsively:--"dear mr. harland, catherine will be much better when i am gone--i know she will! you will be able to prolong the yachting trip which will benefit your health,--and i should be really most unhappy if you curtailed it on my account--" he interrupted me. "why do you say that catherine will be better when you are gone?" he demanded--"it was her own most particular wish that you should accompany us." "she did not know what moved her to such a desire," i said,--then, seeing his look of astonishment, i smiled; "i am not a congenial spirit to her, nor to any of you, really! but she has been most kind, and so have you--and i thank you ever so much for all you have done for me--you have done much more than you know!--only i feel it is better to go now--now, before--" "before what?" he asked. "well, before we all hate each other!" i said, playfully--"it is quite on the cards that we shall come to that! dr. brayle thinks my presence quite as harmful to catherine as that of mr. santoris;--i am full of 'theories' which he considers prejudicial,--and so, perhaps, they are--to him!" mr. harland drew closer to me where i stood leaning against the deck rail and spoke in a lower tone. "tell me," he said,--"and be perfectly frank about it--what is it you see in brayle that rouses such a spirit of antagonism in you?" "if i give you a straight answer, such as i feel to be the truth in myself, will you be offended?" i asked. he shook his head. "no"--he answered--"i shall not be offended. i simply want to know what you think, and i shall remember what you say and see if it proves correct." "well, in the first place," i said--"i see nothing in dr. brayle but what can be seen in hundreds of worldly-minded men such as he. but he is not a true physician, for he makes no real effort to cure you of your illness, while catherine has no illness at all that demands a cure. he merely humours the weakness of her nerves, a weakness she has created by dwelling morbidly on her own self and her own particular miseries,--and all his future plans with regard to her and to you are settled. they are quite clear and reasonable. you will die,--in fact, it is, in his opinion, necessary for you to die,--it would be very troublesome and inconvenient to him if, by some chance, you were cured, and continued to live. when you are gone he will marry catherine, your only child and heiress, and he will have no further personal anxieties. i dislike this self-seeking attitude on his part, and my only wonder is that you do not perceive it. for the rest, my antagonism to dr. brayle is instinctive and has its origin far back--perhaps in a bygone existence!" he listened to my words with attentive patience. "well, i shall study the man more carefully,"--he said, after a pause;--"you may be right. at present i think you are wrong. as for any cure for me, i know there is none. i have consulted medical works on the subject and am perfectly convinced that brayle is doing his best. he can do no more. and now one word to yourself;"--here he laid a hand kindly on mine--"i have noticed--i could not help noticing that you were greatly taken by santoris--and i should almost have fancied him rather fascinated by you had i not known him to be absolutely indifferent to womenkind. but let me tell you he is not a safe friend or guide for anyone. his theories are extravagant and impossible--his idea that there is no death, for example, when death stares us in the face every day, is perfectly absurd--and he is likely to lead you into much perplexity, the more so as you are too much of a believer in occult things already. i wish i could persuade you to listen to me seriously on one or two points--" i smiled. "i am listening!" i said. "well, child, you listen perhaps, but you are not convinced. realise, if you can, that these fantastic chimeras of a past and future life exist only in the heated imagination of the abnormal idealist. there is nothing beyond our actual sight and immediate living consciousness;--we know we are born and that we die--but why, we cannot tell and never shall be able to tell. we must try and manage the 'in-between,'--the gap dividing birth and death,--as best we can, and that's all. i wish you would settle down to these facts reasonably--you would be far better balanced in mind and action--" "if i thought as you do,"--i interrupted him--"i would jump from this vessel into the sea and let the waters close over me! there would be neither use nor sense in living for an 'in-between' leading merely to nothingness." he passed his hand across his brows perplexedly. "it certainly seems useless,"--he admitted--"but there it is. it is better to accept it than run amok among inexplicable infinities." we were interrupted here by the sailors busying themselves in preparations for getting the yacht under way, and our conversation being thus broken off abruptly was not again resumed. by eleven o'clock we were steaming out of loch scavaig, and as i looked back on the sombre mountain-peaks that stood sentinel-wise round the deeply hidden magnificence of loch coruisk, i wondered if my visionary experience there had been only the work of my own excited imagination, or whether it really had foundation in fact? the letter from santoris lay against my heart as actual testimony that he at least was real--that i had met and known him, and that so far as anything could be believed he had declared himself my 'lover'! but was ever love so expressed?--and had it ever before such a far-off beginning? i soon ceased to perplex myself with futile speculations on the subject, however, and as the last peaks of the scavaig hills vanished in pale blue distance i felt as if i had been brought suddenly back from a fairyland to a curiously dull and commonplace world. everyone on board the 'diana' seemed occupied with the veriest trifles,--catherine remained too ill to appear all day, and dr. brayle was in almost constant attendance upon her. a vague sense of discomfort pervaded the whole atmosphere of the yacht,--she was a floating palace filled with every imaginable luxury, yet now she seemed a mere tawdry upholsterer's triumph compared with the exquisite grace and taste of the 'dream'--and i was eager to be away from her. i busied myself during the day in packing my things ready for departure with the eagerness of a child leaving school for the holidays, and i was delighted when we arrived at portree and anchored there that evening. it was after dinner, at about nine o'clock, that catherine sent for me, hearing i had determined to go next morning. i found her in her bed, looking very white and feeble, with a scared look in her eyes which became intensified the moment she saw me. "you are really going away?" she said, faintly--"i hope we have not offended you?" i went up to her, took her poor thin hand and kissed it. "no indeed!"--i answered--"why should i be offended?" "father is vexed you are going,"--she went on--"he says it is all my silly nonsense and hysterical fancies--do you think it is?" "i prefer not to say what i think,"--i replied, gently. "dear catherine, there are some things in life which cannot be explained, and it is better not to try and explain them. but believe me, i can never thank you enough for this yachting trip--you have done more for me than you will ever know!--and so far from being 'offended' i am grateful!--grateful beyond all words!" she held my hands, looking at me wistfully. "you will go away,"--she said, in a low tone--"and we shall perhaps never meet again. i don't think it likely we shall. people often try to meet again and never do--haven't you noticed that? it seems fated that they shall only know each other for a little while just to serve some purpose, and then part altogether. besides, you live in a different world from ours. you believe in things that i can't even understand--you think there is a god--and you think each human being has a soul--" "are you not taught the same in your churches?" i interrupted. she looked startled. "oh yes!--but then one never thinks seriously about it! you know that if we did think seriously about it we could never live as we do. one goes to church for convention's sake--because it's respectable; but suppose you were to say to a clergyman that if your soul is 'immortal' it follows in reason that it must always have existed and always will exist, he would declare you to be 'unorthodox.' that's where all the puzzle and contradiction comes in--so that i don't believe in the soul at all." "are you sure you do not?" i enquired, meaningly. she was silent. then she suddenly broke out. "well, i don't want to believe in it! i don't want to think about it! i'd rather not! it's terrible! if a soul has never died and never will die, its burden of memories must be awful!--horrible!--no hell could be worse!" "but suppose they are beautiful and happy memories?" i suggested. she shuddered. "they couldn't be! we all fail somewhere." this was true enough, and i offered no comment. "i feel,"--she went on, hesitatingly--"that you are leaving us for some undiscovered country--and that you will reach some plane of thought and action to which we shall never rise. i don't think i am sorry for this. i am not one of those who want to rise. i should be perfectly content to live a few years in a moderate state of happiness and then drop into oblivion--and i think most people are like me." "very unambitious!" i said, smiling. "yes--i daresay it is--but one gets tired of it all. tired of things and people--at least i do. now that man santoris--" despite myself, i felt the warm blood flushing my cheeks. "yes? what of him?" i queried, lightly. "well, i can understand that he has always been alive!" and she turned her eyes upon me with an expression of positive dread--"immensely, actively, perpetually alive! he seems to hold some mastery over the very air! i am afraid of him--terribly afraid! it is a relief to me to know that he and his strange yacht have gone!" "but, catherine,"--i ventured to say--"the yacht was not really 'strange,'--it was only moved by a different application of electricity from that which the world at present knows. you would not call it 'strange' if the discovery made by mr. santoris were generally adopted?" she sighed. "perhaps not! but just now it seems a sort of devil's magic to me. anyhow, i'm glad he's gone. you're sorry, i suppose?" "in a way i am,"--i answered, quietly--"i thought him very kind and charming and courteous--no one could be a better host or a pleasanter companion. and i certainly saw nothing 'devilish' about him. as for that collar of jewels, there are plenty of so-called 'thought-readers' who could have found out its existence and said as much of it as he did--" she uttered a low cry. "don't speak of it!" she said--"for heaven's sake, don't speak of it!" she buried her face in her pillow, and i waited silently for her to recover. when she turned again towards me, she said-"i am not well yet,--i cannot bear too much. i only want you to know before you go away that i have no unkind feeling towards you,--things seem pushing me that way, but i have not really!--and you surely will believe me--" "surely!" i said, earnestly--"dear catherine, do not worry yourself! these impressions of yours will pass." "i hope so!" she said--"i shall try to forget! and you--you will meet mr. santoris again, do you think?" i hesitated. "i do not know." "you seem to have some attraction for each other," she went on--"and i suppose your beliefs are alike. to me they are dreadful beliefs!--worse than barbarism!" i looked at her with all the compassion i truly felt. "why? because we believe that god is all love and tenderness and justice?--because we cannot think he would have created life only to end in death?--because we are sure that he allows nothing to be wasted, not even a thought?--and nothing to go unrecompensed, either in good or in evil? surely these are not barbarous beliefs?" a curious look came over her face. "if i believed in anything,"--she said--"i would rather be orthodox, and believe in the doctrine of original sin and the atonement." "then you would start with the idea that the supreme and all-wise creator could not make a perfect work!" i said--"and that he was obliged to invent a scheme to redeem his own failure! catherine, if you speak of barbarism, this is the most barbarous belief of all!" she stared at me, amazed. "you would be put out of any church in christendom for such a speech as that!" she said. "possibly!" i answered, quietly--"but i should not and could not be put out of god's universe--nor, i am certain, would he reject my soul's eternal love and adoration!" a silence fell between us. then i heard her sobbing. i put my arm round her, and she laid her head on my shoulder. "i wish i could feel as you do,"--she whispered--"you must be very happy! the world is all beautiful in your eyes--and of course with your ideas it will continue to be beautiful--and even death will only come to you as another transition into life. but you must not think anybody will ever understand you or believe you or follow you--people will only look upon you as mad, or the dupe of your own foolish imagination!" i smiled as i smoothed her pillow for her and laid her gently back upon it. "i can stand that!" i said--"if somebody who is lost in the dark jeers at me for finding the light, i shall not mind!" we did not speak much after that--and when i said good-night to her i also said good-bye, as i knew i should have to leave the yacht early in the morning. i spent the rest of the time at my disposal in talking to mr. harland, keeping our conversation always on the level of ordinary topics. he seemed genuinely sorry that i had determined to go, and if he could have persuaded me to stay on board a few days longer i am sure he would have been pleased. "i shall see you off in the morning,"--he said--"and believe me i shall miss you very much. we don't agree on certain subjects--but i like you all the same." "that's something!" i said, cheerfully--"it would never do if we were all of the same opinion!" "will you meet santoris again, do you think?" this was the same question catherine had put to me, and i answered it in the same manner. "i really don't know!" "would you like to meet him again?" he urged. i hesitated, smiling a little. "yes, i think so!" "it is curious," he pursued--"that i should have been the means of bringing you together. your theories of life and death are so alike that you must have thoughts in common. many years have passed since i knew santoris--in fact, i had completely lost sight of him, though i had never forgotten his powerful personality--and it seemt rather odd to me that he should suddenly turn up again while you were with me--" "mere coincidence,"--i said, lightly--"and common enough, after all. like attracts like, you know." "that may be. there is certainly something in the law of attraction between human beings which we do not understand,"--he answered, musingly--"perhaps if we did--" he broke off and relapsed into silence. that night, just before going to bed, i was met by dr. brayle in the corridor leading to my cabin. i was about to pass him with a brief good-night, but he stopped me. "so you are really going to-morrow!" he said, with a furtive narrowing of his eyelids as he looked at me--"well! perhaps it is best! you are a very disturbing magnet." i smiled. "am i? in what way?" "i cannot tell you without seeming to give the lie to reason,"--he answered, brusquely. "i believe to a certain extent in magnetism--in fact, i have myself tested its power in purely nervous patients,--but i have never accepted the idea that persons can silently and almost without conscious effort, influence others for either malign or beneficial purposes. in your presence, however, the thing is forced upon me as though it were a truth, while i know it to be a fallacy." "isn't it too late to talk about such things to-night?" i asked, wishing to cut short the conversation. "perhaps it is--but i shall probably never have the chance to say what i wish to say,"--he replied,--and he leaned against the stairway just where the light in the saloon sent forth a bright ray upon his face, showing it to be dark with a certain frowning perplexity--"you have studied many things in your own impulsive feminine fashion, and you are beyond all the stupidity of the would-be agreeable female who thinks a prettily feigned ignorance becoming, so that i can speak frankly. i can now tell you that from the first day i saw you i felt i had known you before--and you filled me with a curious emotion of mingled liking and repulsion. one night when you were sitting with us on deck--it was before we met that fellow santoris--i watched you with singular interest--every turn of your head, every look of your eyes seemed familiar--and for a moment i--i almost loved you! oh, you need not mind my saying this!"--and he laughed a little at my involuntary exclamation--"it was nothing--it was only a passing mood,--for in another few seconds i hated you as keenly! there you have it. i do not know why i should have been visited by these singular experiences--but i own they exist--that is why i am rather glad you are going." "i am glad, too,"--i said--and i held out my hand in parting--"i should not like to stay where my presence caused a moment's uneasiness or discomfort." "that's not putting it quite fairly,"--he answered, taking my offered hand and holding it loosely in his own--"but you are an avowed psychist, and in this way you are a little 'uncanny.' i should not like to offend you--" "you could not if you tried," i said, quickly. "that means i am too insignificant in your mind to cause offence,"--he observed--"i daresay i am. i live on the material plane and am content to remain there. you are essaying very high flights and ascending among difficulties of thought and action which are entirely beyond the useful and necessary routine of life,--and in the end these things may prove too much for you." here he dropped my hand. "you bring with you a certain atmosphere which is too rarefied for ordinary mortals--it has the same effect as the air of a very high mountain on a weak heart--it is too strong--one loses breath, and the power to think coherently. you produce this result on miss harland, and also to some extent on me--even slightly on mr. harland,--and poor swinton alone does not fall under the spell, having no actual brain to impress. you need someone who is accustomed to live in the same atmosphere as yourself to match you in your impressions and opinions. we are on a different range of thought and feeling and experience--and you must find us almost beyond endurance--" "as you find me!" i interposed, smiling. "i will not say that--no! for there seems to have been a time when we were all on the same plane--" he paused, and there was a moment's tense silence. the little silvery chime of a clock in the saloon struck twelve. "good-night, dr. brayle!" i said. he lifted his brooding eyes and looked at me. "good-night! if i have annoyed you by my scepticism in certain matters, you must make allowances for temperament and pardon me. i should be sorry if you bore me any ill-will--" what a curious note of appeal there was in his voice! all at once it seemed to me that he was asking me to forgive him for that long-ago murder which i had seen reflected in a vision!--and my blood grew suddenly heated with an involuntary wave of deep resentment. "dr. brayle," i said,--"pray do not trouble yourself to think any more about me. our ways will always be apart, and we shall probably never see each other again. it really does not matter to you in the least what my feeling may be with regard to you,--it can have no influence on either your present or your future. friendships cannot be commanded." "you will not say," he interrupted me--"that you have no dislike of me?" i hesitated--then spoke frankly. "i will not,"--i answered--"because i cannot!" for one instant our eyes met--then came something between us that suggested an absolute and irretrievable loss--"not yet!" he murmured--"not yet!" and with a forced smile, he bowed and allowed me to pass to my cabin. i was glad to be there--glad to be alone--and overwhelmed as i was by the consciousness that the memories of my soul had been too strong for me to resist, i was thankful that i had had the courage to express my invincible opposition to one who had, as i seemed instinctively to realise, been guilty of an unrepented crime. that night i slept dreamlessly, and the next morning before seven o'clock i had left the luxurious 'diana' for the ordinary passenger steamer plying from portree to glasgow. mr. harland kept his promise of seeing me off, and expressed his opinion that i was very foolish to travel with a crowd of tourists and other folk, when i might have had the comfort and quiet of his yacht all the way; but he could not move me from my resolve, though in a certain sense i was sorry to say good-bye to him. "you must write to us as soon as you get home,"--he said, at parting--"a letter will find us this week at gairloch--i shall cruise about a bit longer." i made no reply for the moment. he had no idea that i was not going home at all, nor did i intend to tell him. "you shall hear from me as soon as possible,"--i said at last, evasively--"i shall be very busy for a time--" he laughed. "oh, i know! you are always busy! will you ever get tired, i wonder?" i smiled. "i hope not!" with that we shook hands and parted, and within the next twenty minutes the steamer had started, bearing me far away from the isle of skye, that beautiful, weird and mystic region full of strange legends and memories, which to me had proved a veritable wonderland. i watched the 'diana' at anchor in the bay of portree till i could see her no more,--and it was getting on towards noon when i suddenly noticed the people on board the steamer making a rush to one side of the deck to look at something that was evidently both startling and attractive. i followed the crowd,--and my heart gave a quick throb of delight when i saw poised on the sparkling waters the fairylike 'dream'!--her sails white as the wings of a swan, and her cordage gleaming like woven gold in the brilliant sunshine. she was a thing of perfect beauty as she seemed to glide on the very edge of the horizon like a vision between sky and sea. and as i pressed forward among the thronging passengers to look at her, she dipped her flag in salutation--a salutation i knew was meant for me alone. when the flag ran up again to its former position, murmurs of admiration came from several people around me-"the finest schooner afloat!"--i heard one man remark--"they say she goes by electricity as well as sailing power." "she's often seen about here," said another--"she belongs to a foreigner--some prince or other named santoris." and i watched and waited,--with unconscious tears in my eyes, till the exquisite fairy vessel disappeared suddenly as though it had become absorbed and melted into the sun; then all at once i thought of the words spoken by the wild highland 'jamie' who had given me the token of the bell-heather--"one way in and another way out! one road to the west, and the other to the east, and round about to the meeting-place!" the meeting-place! where would it be? i could only think and wonder, hope and pray, as the waves spread their silver foaming distance between me and the vanished 'dream.' xiii the house of aselzion it is not necessary to enter into particular details of the journey i now entered upon and completed during the ensuing week. my destination was a remote and mountainous corner of the biscayan coast, situated a little more than three days' distance from paris. i went alone, knowing that this was imperative, and arrived without any untoward adventure, scarcely fatigued though i had travelled by night as well as by day. it was only at the end of my journey that i found myself confronted by any difficulty, and then i had to realise that though the 'chateau d'aselzion,' as it was called, was perfectly well known to the inhabitants of the surrounding district, no one seemed inclined to show me the nearest way there or even to let me have the accommodation of a vehicle to take me up the steep ascent which led to it. the chateau itself could be seen from all parts of the village, especially from the seashore, over which it hung like a toppling crown of the fortress-like rock on which it was erected. "it is a monastery,"--said a man of whom i asked the way, speaking in a curious kind of guttural patois, half french and half spanish--"no woman goes there." i explained that i was entrusted with an important message. he shook his head. "not for any money would i take you," he declared. "i should be afraid for myself." nothing could move him from his resolve, so i made up my mind to leave my small luggage at the inn and walk up the steep road which i could see winding like a width of white ribbon towards the goal of my desires. a group of idle peasants watched me curiously as i spoke to the landlady and asked her to take care of my few belongings till i either sent for them or returned to fetch them, to which arrangement she readily consented. she was a buxom, pleasant little frenchwoman, and inclined to be friendly. "i assure you, mademoiselle, you will return immediately!" she said, with a bright smile--"the chateau d'aselzion is a place where no woman is ever seen--and a lady alone!--ah, mon dieu!--impossible! there are terrible things done there, so they say--it is a house of mystery! in the daytime it looks as it does now--dark, as though it were a prison!--but sometimes at night one sees it lit up as though it were on fire--every window full of something that shines like the sun! it is a brotherhood that lives there,--not of the church--ah no! heaven forbid!--but they are rich and powerful men--and it is said they study some strange science--our traders serve them only at the outer gates and never go beyond. and in the midnight one hears the organ playing in their chapel, and there is a sound of singing on the very waves of the sea! i beg of you, mademoiselle, think well of what you do before you go to such a place!--for they will send you away--i am sure they will send you away!" i smiled and thanked her for her well-meant warning. "i have a message to give to the master of the brotherhood," i said--"if i am not allowed to deliver it and the gate is shut in my face, i can only come back again. but i must do my best to gain an entrance if possible." and with these words i turned away and commenced my solitary walk. i had arrived in the early afternoon and the sun was still high in the heavens,--the heat was intense and the air was absolutely still. as i climbed higher and higher, the murmuring noises of human life in the little village i had left behind me grew less and less and presently sank altogether out of hearing, and i became gradually aware of the great and solemn solitude that everywhere encompassed me. no stray sheep browsed on the burnt brown grass of the rocky height i was slowly ascending--no bird soared through the dazzling deep blue of the vacant sky. the only sound i could hear was the soft, rhythmic plash of small waves on the beach below, and an indefinite deeper murmur of the sea breaking through a cave in the far distance. there was something very grand in the silence and loneliness of the scene,--and something very pitiful too, so i thought, about my own self, toiling up the rocky path in mingled hope and fear towards that grim pile of dark stone towers and high forbidding walls, where it was just possible i might meet with but a discouraging reception. yet with the letter from him who signed himself 'your lover' lying against my heart, i felt i had a talisman to open doors even more closely barred. nevertheless, my courage gave way a little when i at last stood before the heavy iron gates set in a lofty archway of stone through which i could see nothing but cavernous blackness. the road i had followed ended in a broad circular sweep opposite this archway, and a few tall pines twisted and gnarled in bough and stem, as though the full force of many storm winds had battered and bent them out of their natural shapes, were the only relief to the barrenness of the ground. an iron chain with a massive ring at the end suggested itself as the possible means of pulling a bell or otherwise attracting attention; but for some minutes i had not the boldness to handle it. i stood gazing at the frowning portal with a sense of utter loneliness and desolation,--the quick, resistless impulse that had fired me to make the journey and which, as it were, had driven me along by its own impetus, suddenly died away into a dreary consciousness of inadequateness and folly on my own part,--and i began to reproach myself for yielding so utterly to the casual influence of one who, after all, must in a reasonable way be considered a stranger. for what was rafel santoris to me? merely an old college friend of the man who for a fortnight had been my host, and with whom he chanced to renew acquaintanceship during a yachting tour. anything more simple and utterly commonplace never occurred,--yet, here was i full of strange impressions and visions, which were possibly only the result of clever hypnotism, practised on me because the hypnotist had possibly discovered in my temperament some suitable 'subject' matter for an essay of his skill. and i had so readily succumbed to his influence as to make a journey of hundreds of miles to a place i had never heard of before on the chance of seeing a man of whom i knew nothing!--except--that, according to what rafel santoris had said of him, he was the follower of a great psychic teacher whom once i had known. such doubtful and darkening thoughts as these, chasing one another rapidly through my brain, made me severely accuse myself of rash and unpardonable folly in all i had done or was doing,--and i was almost on the point of turning away and retracing my steps, when a sudden ray of light, not of the sun, struck itself sharply as it were before my eyes and hurt them with its blinding glitter. it was like a whip of fire lashing my hesitating mind, and it startled me into instant action. without pausing further to think what i was about, i went straight up to the entrance of the chateau and pulled at the iron chain. the gates swung open at once and swiftly, without sound--and i stepped into the dark passage within--whereupon they as noiselessly closed again behind me. there was no going back now,--and nerving myself to resolution, i walked quickly on through what was evidently a long corridor with a lofty arched roof of massive stone; it was dark and cool and refreshing after the great heat outside, and i saw a faint light at the end towards which i made my way. the light widened as i drew near, and an exclamation of relief and pleasure escaped me as i suddenly found myself in a picturesque quadrangle, divided into fair green lawns and parterres of flowers. straight opposite me as i approached, a richly carved double oaken door stood wide open, enabling me to look into a vast circular domed hall, in the centre of which a fountain sent up tall silver columns of spray which fell again with a tinkling musical splash into a sunken pool bordered with white marble, where delicate pale blue water-lilies floated on the surface of the water. enchanted by this glimpse of loveliness, i went straight on and entered without seeking the right of admission,--and then stood looking about me in wonder and admiration. if this was the house of aselzion, where such difficult lessons had to be learned and such trying ordeals had to be faced, it certainly did not seem like a house of penance and mortification but rather of luxury. exquisite white marble statues were set around the hall in various niches between banked-up masses of roses and other blossoms--many of them perfect copies of the classic models, and all expressing either strength and resolution, or beauty and repose. and most wonderful of all was the light, that poured in from the high dome--i could have said with truth that it was like that 'light which never was on sea or land.' it was not the light of the sun, but something more softened and more intense, and was totally indescribable. fascinated by the restful charm of my surroundings, i seated myself on a marble bench near the fountain and watched the sparkle of the water as it rose in rainbow radiance and fell again into the darker shadows of the pool,--and i had for a moment lost myself in a kind of waking dream,--so that i started with a shock of something like terror when i suddenly perceived a figure approaching me,--that of a man, clothed in white garments fashioned somewhat after the monastic type, yet hardly to be called a monk's dress, though he wore a sort of hood or cowl pulled partially over his face. my heart almost stopped beating and i could scarcely breathe for nervous fear as he came towards me with an absolutely noiseless tread,--he appeared to be young, and his eyes, dark and luminous, looked at me kindly and, as i fancied, with a touch of pity. "you are seeking the master?" he enquired, in a gentle voice--"he has instructed me to receive you, and when you have rested for an hour, to take you to his presence." i had risen as he spoke, and his quiet manner helped me to recover myself a little. "i am not tired,"--i answered--"i could go to him at once--" he smiled. "that is not possible!" he said--"he is not ready. if you will come to the apartment allotted to you i am sure you will be glad of some repose. may i ask you to follow me?" he was perfectly courteous in demeanour, and yet there was a certain impressive authority about him which silently impelled obedience. i had nothing further to demand or to suggest, and i followed him at once. he preceded me out of the domed hall into a long stone passage, where every sign of luxury, beauty or comfort disappeared in cold vastness, and where at every few steps large white boards with the word 'silence!' printed upon them in prominent black letters confronted the eyes. the way we had to go seemed long and dreary and dungeon-like, but presently we turned towards an opening where the sun shone through, and my guide ascended a steep flight of stone stairs, at the top of which was a massive door of oak, heavily clamped with iron. taking a key from his girdle, he unlocked this door, and throwing it open, signed to me to pass in. i did so, and found myself in a plain stone-walled room with a vaulted roof, and one very large, lofty, uncurtained window which looked out upon the sea and sheer down the perpendicular face of the rock on which the chateau d'aselzion was built. the furniture consisted of one small camp bedstead, a table, and two easy chairs, a piece of rough matting on the floor near the bed, and a hanging cupboard for clothes. a well-fitted bathroom adjoined this apartment, but beyond this there was nothing of modern comfort and certainly no touch of luxury. i moved instinctively to the window to look out at the sea,--and then turned to thank my guide for his escort, but he had gone. thrilled with a sudden alarm, i ran to the door--it was locked! i was a prisoner! i stood breathless and amazed;--then a wave of mingled indignation and terror swept over me. how dared these people restrain my liberty? i looked everywhere round the room for a bell or some means of communication by which i could let them know my mind--but there was nothing to help me. i went to the window again, and finding it was like a french casement, merely latched in the centre, i quickly unfastened and threw it open. the scent of the sea rushed at me with a delicious freshness, reminding me of loch scavaig and the 'dream'--and i leaned out, looking longingly over the wide expanse of glittering water just now broken into little crests of foam by a rising breeze. then i saw that my room was a kind of turret chamber, projecting itself sheer over a great wall of rock which evidently had its base in the bed of the ocean. there was no escape for me that way, even if i had sought it. i drew back from the window and paced round and round my room like a trapped animal--angry with myself for having ventured into such a place, and forgetting entirely my previous determination to go through all that might happen to me with patience and unflinching nerve. presently i sat down on my narrow camp bed and tried to calm myself. after all, what was the use of my anger or excitement? i had come to the house of aselzion of my own wish and will,--and so far i had endured nothing difficult. apparently aselzion was willing to receive me in his own good time--and i had only to wait the course of events. gradually my blood cooled, and in a few minutes i found myself smiling at my own absurdly useless indignation. true, i was locked up in my own room like a naughty child, but did it matter so very much? i assured myself it did not matter at all,--and as i accustomed my mind to this conviction i became perfectly composed and quite at home in my strange surroundings. i took off my hat and cloak and put them by--then i went into the bathroom and refreshed my face with delicious splashes of cold water. the bathroom possessed a full-length mirror fitted into the wall, a fact which rather amused me, as i felt it must have been there always and could not have been put up specially for me, so that it would seem these mystic 'brothers' were not without some personal vanity. i surveyed myself in it with surprise as i took down my hair and twisted it up again more tidily, for i had expected to look fagged and tired, whereas my face presented a smiling freshness which was unexpected and astonishing to myself. the plain black dress i wore was dusty with travel--and i shook it as free as i could from railway grimness, feeling that it was scarcely the attire i should have chosen for an audience of aselzion. "however,"--i said to myself--"if he has me locked up like this, and gives me no chance of sending for my luggage at the inn, i can only submit and make the best of it." and returning from the bathroom to the bedroom, i again looked out of my lofty window across the sea. as i did so, leaning a little over the ledge, something soft and velvety touched my hand;--it was a red rose clambering up the turret just within my reach. its opening petals lifted themselves towards me like sweet lips turned up for kisses, and i was for a moment startled, for i could have sworn that no rose of any kind was there when i first looked out. 'one rose from all the roses in heaven!' where had i heard those words? and what did they signify? then--i remembered! carefully and with extreme tenderness, i bent over that beautiful, appealing flower: "i will not gather you!"--i whispered, following the drift of my own dreaming fancy--"if you are a message--and i think you are i--stay there as long as you can and talk to me! i shall understand!" and so for a while we made silent friends with each other till i might have said with the poet--'the soul of the rose went into my blood.' at any rate something keen, fine and subtle stole over my senses, moving me to an intense delight in merely being alive. i forgot that i was in a strange place among strange men,--i forgot that i was to all intents and purposes a prisoner--i forgot everything except that i lived, and that life was ecstasy! i had no very exact idea of the time,--my watch had stopped. but the afternoon light was deepening, and long lines of soft amber and crimson in the sky were beginning to spread a radiant path for the descent of the sun. while i still remained at the window i suddenly heard the rise and swell of deep organ music, solemn and sonorous; it was as though the waves of the sea had set themselves to song. some instinct then told me there was someone in the room,--and i turned round quickly to find my former guide in the white garments standing silently behind me, waiting. i had intended to complain at once of the way in which i had been imprisoned as though i were a criminal--but at sight of his grave, composed figure i lost all my hardihood and could say nothing. i merely stood still, attendant on his pleasure. his dark eyes, gleaming from under his white cowl, looked at me with a searching enquiry as though he expected me to speak, but as i continued to keep silence, he smiled. "you are very patient!" he said, quietly--"and that is well! the master awaits you." a tremor ran through me, and my heart began to beat violently. i was to have my wilful desires granted, then! i was actually to see and speak with the man to whom rafel santoris owed his prolonged youth and power, and under whose training he had passed through an ordeal which had taught him some of the deepest mysteries of life! the result of my own wishes seemed now so terrifying to me that i could not have uttered a word had i tried, i followed my escort in absolute silence;--once in my nervous agitation i slipped on the stone staircase and nearly fell,--he at once caught me by the hand and supported me, and the kindness and gentle strength of his touch renewed my courage. his wonderful eyes looked steadily into mine. "do not be afraid!" he said, in a low tone--"there is really nothing to fear!" we passed the domed hall and its sparkling fountain, and in two or three minutes came to a deep archway veiled by a portiere of some rich stuff woven in russet brown and gold,--this curtain my guide threw back noiselessly, showing a closed door. here he came to a standstill and waited--i waited with him, trying to be calm, though my mind was in a perfect tumult of expectation mingled with doubt and dread,--that closed door seemed to me to conceal some marvellous secret with which my whole future life and destiny were likely to be involved. suddenly it opened,--i saw a beautiful octagonal room, richly furnished, with the walls lined, so it appeared, from floor to ceiling with books,--one or two great stands and vases of flowers made flashes of colour among the shadows, and a quick upward glance showed me that the ceiling was painted in fresco, then my guide signed to me to enter. "the master will be with you in a moment,"--he said--"please sit down"--here he gave me an encouraging smile--"you are a little nervous--try and compose yourself! you need not be at all anxious or frightened!" i tried to smile in response, but i felt far more ready to weep. i was possessed by a sudden hopeless and helpless depression which i could not overcome. my guide went away at once, and the door closed after him in the same mysteriously silent fashion in which it had opened. i was left to myself,--and i sat down on one of the numerous deep easy chairs which were placed about the room, trying hard to force myself into at least the semblance of quietude. but, after all, what was the use of even assuming composure when the man i had come to meet probably had the power to gauge the whole gamut of a human being's emotion at a moment's notice? instinctively i pressed my hand against my heart and felt the letter my 'lover' had given me--surely that was no dream? i drew a long breath like a sigh, and turned my eyes towards the window, which was set in a sort of double arch of stone, and which showed me a garden stretching far away from the edges of soft lawns and flower borders into a picturesque vista of woodland and hill. a warmth of rosy light illumined the fair scene, indicating that the glory of the sunset had begun. impulsively i rose to go and look out--then stopped--checked and held back by a swift compelling awe--i was no longer alone. i was confronted by the tall commanding figure of a man wearing the same white garments as those of my guide,--a man whose singular beauty and dignity of aspect would have enforced admiration from even the most callous and unobservant--and i knew that i was truly at last in the presence of aselzion. overpowered by this certainty, i could not speak--i could only look and wonder as he drew near me. his cowl was thrown back, fully displaying his fine intellectual head--his eyes, deep blue and full of light, studied my face with a keen scrutiny which i could feel as though it were a searching ray burning into every nook and cranny of my heart and soul. the blood rushed to my cheeks in a warm wave--then suddenly rallying my forces i returned him glance for glance. thus we moved, each on our own lines of spiritual attraction, closer together; till presently a slight smile brightened the gravity of his handsome features, and he extended both hands to me. "you are welcome!" he said, in a voice that expressed the most perfect music of human speech--"rash and undisciplined as you are, you are welcome!" timidly i laid my hands in his, grateful for the warm, strong clasp he gave them,--then, all at once, hardly knowing how it happened, i sank on my knees as before some saint or king, silently seeking his blessing. there was a moment's deep stillness,--and he laid his hands on my bowed head. "poor child!" he said, gently--"you have adventured far for love and life!--it will be hard if you should fail! may all the powers of god and nature help you!" this said, he raised me with an infinitely courteous kindness, and placed a chair for me near a massive table-desk on which there were many papers--some neatly tied up and labelled,--others lying about in apparent confusion--and when we were both seated he began conversation in the simplest and easiest fashion. "you know, of course, that i have been prepared for your arrival here,"--he said--"by one of my students, rafel santoris. he has been seeking you for a long time, but now he has found you he is hardly better off--for you are a rebellious child and unwilling to recognise him--is it not so?" i felt a little more courageous now, and answered him at once. "i am not unwilling to recognise any true thing," i said--"but i do not wish to be deceived--or to deceive myself." he smiled. "do you not? how do you know that you have not been deceiving yourself ever since your gradual evolvement from subconscious into conscious life? nature has not deceived you--nature always takes herself seriously--but you--have you not tried in various moods or phases of existence, to do something cleverer than nature?--to more or less outwit her as it were? come, come!--don't look so puzzled about it!--you have only done what all so-called 'reasonable' human beings do, and think themselves justified in doing. but now, in your present state,--which is an advancement, and not a retrogression,--you have begun to gain a little wider knowledge, with a little deeper humility--and i am inclined to have great patience with you!" i raised my eyes and was reassured by his kindly glance. "now, to begin with,"--he went on--"you should know at once that we do not receive women here. it is against our rule and order. we are not prepared for them,--we do not want them. they are never more than half souls!" my heart gave an indignant bound,--but i held my peace. he looked straight at me, while with one hand he put together a few stray papers on his desk. "well, why do you not give me the obvious answer?" he queried--"why do you not say that if women are half souls, men are the same,--and that the two halves must conjoin to make one? foolish child!--you need not burn with suppressed offence at what sounds a slighting description of your sex--it is not meant as such. you are half souls,--and the chief trouble with you is that you seldom have the sense to see it, or to make any endeavour to form the perfect and indivisible union,--a sacred task which is left in your hands. nature is for ever working to bring the right halves together,--man is for ever striving to scatter them apart--and though it all comes right at the last, as it must, there is no need for delay involving either months or centuries. you women were meant to be the angels of salvation, but instead of this you are the ruin of your own 'ideals.'" i could offer no contradiction to this, for i felt it to be true. "as i have just said," he went on--"this is no place for women. the mere idea that you should imagine yourself, capable of submitting to the ordeal of a student here is, on the face of it, incredible. only for rafel's sake have i consented to see you and explain to you how impossible it is that you should remain--" i interrupted him. "i must remain!" i said, firmly. "do with me whatever you like--put me in a cell and keep me a prisoner,--give me any hardship to endure and i will endure it--but do not turn me away without teaching me something of your peace and power--the peace and power which rafel possesses, and which i too must possess if i would help him and be all in all to him--" here i paused, overcome by my own emotion. aselzion looked full at me. "that is your desire?--to help him and to be all in all to him?" he said--"why did you not realise this ages ago? and even now you have wavered in the allegiance you owe to him--you have doubted him, though all your inward instincts tell you that he is your soul's true mate, and that your own heart beats towards him like a bird in a cage beating against the bars towards liberty!" i was silent. my fate seemed in a balance,--but i left it to aselzion, who, if his power meant anything, could read my thoughts better than i could express them. he rose from his desk and paced slowly up and down, absorbed in meditation. presently he stopped abruptly in front of me. "if you stay here," he said--"you must understand what it means. it means that you must dwell as one apart in your own room, entirely alone except when summoned to receive instruction--your meals will be served there--and you will feel like a criminal undergoing punishment rather than enlightenment--and you may speak to no one unless spoken to first. moreover"--he interrupted himself and beckoned me to follow him into another room adjoining the one we were in. here, leading me to a window, he showed me a very different view from the sunlit landscape and garden i had lately looked upon,--a dismal square of rank grass in which stood a number of black crosses. "these do not mark deaths,"--he said--"but failures! failures--not in a worldly sense--but failures in making of life the eternal and creative thing it is--eternal here and now,--as long as we shall choose! do you seek to be one of them?" "no,"--i answered, quietly--"i shall not fail!" he gave a slight, impatient sigh. "so they all said--they whose records are here"--and he pointed to the crosses with an impressive gesture--"some of the men who have thus left their mark with us, are at this moment among the world's most brilliant and successful personalities--wealthy, and in great social request,--and only they themselves know where the canker lies--only they are aware of their own futility,--and they live, knowing that their life must lead into other lives, and dreading that inevitable change which is bound by law to bring them into whatever position they have chiefly sought!" his voice was grave and compassionate, and a faint tremor of fear ran through me. "these were--and are--men!"--he continued--"and you--a woman--would boldly attempt the adventures in which they failed! think for a moment how weak and ignorant and all unprepared you are! when you first began your psychic studies with a teacher whom we both loved and honoured--one whom you knew by the name of heliobas--you had scarcely lived at all in the world;--since then you have worked hard and done much, but in your close application to the conquest of difficulties you have missed many things by the way. i give you credit for patience and faith--these have accomplished much for you--and now you are at a crucial point in your career when your will, like the rudder of a ship, trembles in your hand, and you are plunging into unknown further deeps where there may be storm and darkness. there is danger ahead for any doubting, proud, or rebellious soul,--it is but fair to warn you!" "i am not afraid!" i said, in a low tone--"i can but die!" "child, that is just what you cannot do! grasp that fact firmly at once and for ever! you cannot die,--there is no such thing as death! if you could die and have done with all duties, cares, perplexities and struggles altogether, the eternal problem would be greatly simplified. but the idea of death is only one of a million human delusions. death is an impossibility in the scheme of life--what is called by that name is merely a shifting and re-investiture of imperishable atoms. the endless varying forms of this shifting and re-investiture of atoms is the secret we and our students have set ourselves to master--and some of us have mastered it sufficiently to control both the matter and spirit whereof we are made. but the way of learning is not an easy way--rafel santoris himself could have told you that he was all but overcome in the trial--for i spare no one!--and if you persist in your rash intention i cannot spare you simply because of your sex." "i do not ask to be spared,"--i said, gently--"i have already told you i will endure anything." a slight smile crossed his face. "so you will, i believe!" he answered--"in the old days i can well understand your enduring martyrdom! i can see you facing lions in the roman arena,"--as he thus spoke i started, and the warm blood rushed to my cheeks--"rather than not carry out your own fixed resolve, whether such resolve was right or wrong! i can see you preparing to drown yourself in the waters of the nile rather than break through man's stupid superstition and convention! why do you look so amazed? am i touching on some old memory? come, let us leave these black embers of coward mortality and return to the more cheerful room." we re-entered the library together, and he seated himself again at his desk, turning towards me with an air of settled and impressive authority. "what you want to learn,--and what every beginner in the study of psychic law generally wants to learn first of all, is how to obtain purely personal satisfaction and advantage,"--he said--"you want to know three things--the secret of life--the secret of youth--the secret of love! thousands of philosophers and students have entered upon the same research, and one perhaps out of the thousand has succeeded where all the rest have failed. the story of faust is perpetually a thing of interest, because it treats of these secrets, which according to the legend are only discoverable through the aid of the devil. we know that there is no devil, and that everything is divinely ordained by a divine intelligence, so that in the deepest researches which we are permitted to make there is nothing to fear--but ourselves! failure is always brought about by the students, not by the study in which they are engaged,--the reason of this being that when they know a little, they think they know all,--with the result that they become intellectually arrogant, an attitude that instantly nullifies all previous attainment. the secret of life is a comparatively easy matter to understand--the secret of youth a little more difficult--the secret of love the most difficult of all, because out of love is generated both the perpetuity of life and of youth. now your object in coming here is, down at the root of it, absolutely personal--i will not say selfish, because that sounds hard--and i will give you credit for the true womanly feeling you have, that being conscious in your own soul of rafel santoris as your superior and master as well as your lover, you wish to be worthy of him, if only in the steadfastness and heroism of your character. i will grant you all that. i will also grant that it is perfectly natural, and therefore right, that you should wish to retain youth and beauty and health for his sake,--and i would even urge that this desire should be solely for his sake! but just now you are not quite sure whether it is for his sake,--you wish to hold, for yourself, the secret of life and the power of life's continuance--the secret of youth and the power of youth's continuance,--and you most certainly wish to have for yourself, as well as for rafel, the secret of love and the power of love's continuance. none of these secrets can be disclosed to worldlings--by which term i mean those who allow themselves to be moved from their determination, and distracted by a thousand ephemeral matters. i do not say you are such an one,--but you, like all who live in the world, have your friends and acquaintances--people who are ready to laugh at you and make mock of your highest aims--people whose delight would be to block the way to your progress--and the question with me is--are you strong enough to ensure the mental strain which will be put upon you by ignorant and vulgar opposition and even positive derision? you may be,--you are self-willed enough, though not always rightly so--for example, you want to gain knowledge apart from and independently of rafel santoris, yet you are an incomplete identity without him! the women of your day all follow this vicious policy--the desire to be independent and apart from men--which is the suicide of their nobler selves. none of them are complete creatures without their stronger halves--they are like deformed birds with only one wing,--and a straight flight is impossible to them." he ceased, and i looked up. "whether i agree with you or not hardly matters,"--i said--"i admit all my faults and am ready to amend them. but i want to learn from you all that i may--all that you think i am capable of learning--and i promise absolute obedience--" a slight smile lightened his eyes. "and humility?" i bent my head. "and humility!" "you are resolved, then?" "i am resolved!" he paused a moment, then appeared to make up his mind. "so be it!" he said--"but on your own head be your own mischance, if any mischance should happen! i take no responsibility. of your own will you have come here--of your own will you elect to stay here, where there is no one of your own sex with whom you can communicate--and of your own will you must accept all the consequences. is that agreed?" his steel-blue eyes flashed with an almost supernatural brilliancy as he put the question, and i was conscious of a sense of fear. but i conquered this and answered simply: "it is agreed!" he gave me a keen glance that swept me as it were from head to foot--then turning from me abruptly, struck a handle on his desk which set a loud bell clanging in some outer corridor. my former guide entered almost immediately, and aselzion addressed him: "honorius,"--he said--"show this lady to her room, she will follow the course of a probationer and student"--as he spoke, honorius gave me a look of undisguised amazement and pity--"the moment she desires to leave, every facility for her departure is to be granted to her. as long as she remains under instruction the rule for her, as you know, is solitude and silence." i looked at him, and thought how swiftly his face had changed. it was no longer softened by the grave benevolence and kindness that had sustained my courage,--a stern shadow darkened it, and his eyes were averted. i saw i was expected to leave the room, but i hesitated. "you will let me thank you,"--i murmured, holding out my hands timidly--almost pleadingly. he turned to me slowly and took my hands in his own. "poor child, you have nothing to thank me for!"--he said. "bear in mind, as one of your first lessons in the difficult way you are going, that you have nothing to thank anyone for, and nothing to blame anyone for in the shaping of your destiny but--yourself! go!--and may you conquer your enemy!" "my enemy?" i repeated, wonderingly. "yes--again yourself! the only power any man or woman has ever had, or ever will have, to contend with!" he dropped my hands, and i suppose i must have expressed some mute appeal in my upward glance at him, for the faintest shadow of a smile came on his lips. "god be with you!" he said, softly, and then with a gentle gesture signed to me to leave him. i at once obeyed, and followed the guide honorius, who led me back to my own room, where, without speaking a word, he closed and locked the door upon me as before. to my surprise, i found my luggage which i had left at the inn placed ready for me--and on a small dresser set in a niche of the wall which i had not noticed before, there was a plate of fruit and dry bread, with a glass of cold water. on going to look at this little refection, which was simply yet daintily set out, i saw that the dresser was really a small lift, evidently connected with the domestic offices of the house, and i concluded that this would be the means by which all my meals would be served. i did not waste much time in thinking about it, however,--i was only too glad to be allowed to remain in the house of aselzion on any terras, and the fact that i was imprisoned under lock and key did not now trouble me. i unpacked my few things, among which were three or four favourite books,--then i sat down to my frugal repast, for which hunger provided a keen appetite. when i had finished, i took a chair to the open window and sat there, looking out on the sea. i saw my friendly little rose leaning its crimson head against the wall just below me with quite a confidential air, and it gave me a sense of companionship, otherwise the solitude was profound. the sky was darkening into night, though one or two glowing bars of deep crimson still lingered as memories of the departed sun--and a pearly radiance to the eastward showed a suggestion of the coming moon. i felt the sense of deep environing silence closing me in like a wall--and looking back over my shoulder from the window to the interior of my room it seemed full of drifting shadows, dark and impalpable. i remembered i had no candle or any other sort of light--and this gave me a passing uneasiness, but only for a moment. i could go to bed, i thought, when i was tired of watching the sea. at any rate, i would wait for the moonrise,--the scene i looked upon was divinely peaceful and beautiful,--one that a painter or poet would have revelled in--and i was content. i was not conscious of any fear,--but i did feel myself being impressed as it were and gradually overcome by the deepening stillness and great loneliness of my surroundings. 'the rule for her is solitude and silence.' so had said aselzion. and evidently the rule was being enforced. xiv cross and star the moon rose slowly between two bars of dark cloud which gradually whitened into silver beneath her shining presence, and a scintillating pathway of diamond-like reflections began to spread itself across the sea. i remained at the window, feeling an odd disinclination to turn away into the darkness of my room. and i began to think that perhaps it was rather hard that i should be left all by myself locked up in this way;--surely i might have been allowed a light of some sort! then i at once reproached myself for allowing the merest suggestion of a complaint to enter my mind, for, after all, i was an uninvited guest in the house of aselzion--i was not wanted--and i remembered the order that had been issued concerning me: 'the moment she desires to leave, every facility for departure is to be granted to her.' i was much more afraid of this 'facility for departure' than i was of my present solitude, and i determined to look upon the whole adventure in the best and most cheerful light. if it was best i should be alone, then loneliness was good--if it was necessary i should be in darkness, then darkness was also agreeable to me. scarcely had i thus made up my mind to these conditions when my room was suddenly illumined by a soft yet effulgent radiance-and i started up in amazement, wondering where it came from. i could see no lamps or electric burners,--it was as if the walls glowed with some surface luminance. when my first surprise had passed, i was charmed and delighted with the warm and comforting brightness around me,--it rather reminded me of the electric brilliancy on the sails of the 'dream.' i moved away from the window, leaving it open, as the night was very close and warm, and sat down at the table to read a little, but after a few minutes laid the book aside to listen to a strange whispering music that floated towards me, apparently from the sea, and thrilled me to the soul. no eloquent description could give any idea of the enthralling sweetness of the harmonies that were more breathed upon the air than sounded--and i became absorbed in following the rhythm of the delicious cadences as they rose and fell. then by degrees my thoughts wandered away to rafel santoris,--where was he now?--in what peaceful expanse of shining waters had his fairy vessel cast anchor? i pictured him in my brain till i could almost see his face,--the broad brow,--the fearless, tender eyes and smile--and i could fancy that i heard the deep, soft accents of his voice, always so gentle when he spoke to me--me, who had half resented his influence! and a quick wave of long pent-up tenderness rose in my heart--my whole soul ran out, as it were, to greet him with outstretched arms--i knew in my own consciousness that he was more than all the world to me, and i said aloud:--"my beloved, i love you! i love you!" to the silence, almost as if i thought it could convey the words to him whom most i desired to hear them. then i felt how foolish and futile it was to talk to the empty air when i might have confessed myself to the real lover of my life face to face, had i been less sceptical,--less proud! was not my very journey to the house of aselzion a testimony of my own doubting attitude?--for i had come, as i now admitted to myself, first to make sure that aselzion really existed--and secondly, to prove to my own satisfaction that he was truly able to impart the mystical secrets which rafel seemed to know. i wearied myself out at last with thinking to no purpose, and closing the window i undressed and went to bed. as i lay down, the light in my room was suddenly extinguished, and all was darkness again except for the moon, which sent a clear white ray straight through the lattice, there being no curtain to shut it out. for some time i remained awake on my hard little couch, looking at this ray, and steadily refusing to allow any sense of fear or loneliness to gain the mastery over me--the music which had so enchanted me ceased--and everything was perfectly still. and by and by my eyes closed--my tired limbs relaxed,--and i fell into a sound and dreamless sleep. when i awoke it was full morning, and the sunshine poured into my room like a shower of gold. i sprang up, full of delight that the night had passed so peacefully and that nothing strange or terrifying had occurred, though i do not know why i should have expected this. everything seemed wonderfully fresh and beautiful in the brightness of the new day, and the very plainness of my room had a fascination greater than any amount of luxury. the only unusual thing i noticed was that the soft cold water with which my bath was supplied sparkled as though it were effervescent,--once or twice it seemed to ripple with a diamond-like foam, and it was never actually still. i watched its glittering movement for some minutes before bathing--then, feeling certain it was charged with some kind of electricity, i plunged into it without hesitation and enjoyed to the utmost the delicious sense of invigoration it gave me. when my toilet was completed and i had attired myself in a simple morning gown of white linen, as being more suitable to the warmth of the weather than the black one i had travelled in, i went to throw open my window and let in all the freshness of the sea-air, and was surprised to see a small low door open in the side of the turret, through which i discovered a winding stair leading downward. yielding to the impulse of the moment, i descended it, and at the end found myself in an exquisite little rock garden abutting on the seashore. i could actually open a gate, and walk to the very edge of the sea. i was no longer a prisoner, then!--i could run away if i chose! i looked about me--and smiled as i saw the impossibility of any escape. the little garden belonged exclusively to the turret, and on each side of it impassable rocks towered up almost to the height of the chateau d'aselzion itself, while the bit of shore on which i stood was equally hemmed in by huge boulders against which the waves had dashed for centuries without making much visible impression. yet it was delightful to feel i was allowed some liberty and open air, and i stayed for some minutes watching the sea and revelling in the warmth of the southern sun. then i retraced my steps slowly, looking everywhere about me as i went, to see if there was anyone near. not a soul was in sight. i returned to my room to find my bed made as neatly as though it had never been slept upon,--and my breakfast, consisting of a cup of milk and some wheaten biscuits, set out upon the table. i was quite ready for the meal, and enjoyed it. when i had finished, i took my empty cup and plate and put them on the dresser in the niche, whereupon the dresser was instantly lowered, and very soon disappeared. then i began to wonder how i should employ myself. it was no use writing letters, though i had my own travelling desk ready for this purpose,--i did not wish my friends or acquaintances to know where i was--and even if i had written to any of them it was hardly likely that my correspondence would ever reach them. for i felt sure the mystic brotherhood of aselzion would not allow me to communicate with the outside world so long as i remained with them. i sat meditating,--and i began to consider that several days passed thus aimlessly would be difficult to bear. i could not keep correct count of time, my watch having stopped, and there was no clock or chime of any sort in the place that i could hear. the stillness around me would have been oppressive but for the soft dash of little waves breaking on the beach below my window. all at once, to my great joy, the door of my room opened, and the personage called honorius entered. he bent his head slightly by way of salutation, and then said briefly,-"you are commanded to follow me." i rose obediently, and stood ready. he looked at me intently and with curiosity, as though he sought to read my mind. remembering that aselzion had said i was not to speak unless spoken to, i only returned his look steadfastly, and with a smile. "you are not unhappy, or afraid, or restless,"--he said, slowly--"that is well! you are making a good beginning. and now, whatever you see or hear, keep silence! if you desire to speak, speak now--but after we leave this room not a word must escape your lips--not a single exclamation,--your business is to listen, learn and obey!" he waited--giving me the opportunity to say something in reply--but i preferred to hold my peace. he then handed me a folded length of soft white material, opaque, yet fine and silky as gossamer. "cover yourself with this veil,"--he said--"and do not raise it till you return here." i unfolded it and threw it quickly over me--it was as delicate as a filmy cloud and draped me from head to foot, effectually concealing me from the eyes of others though i myself could see through it perfectly. honorius then signed to me to follow, and i did so, my heart beating quickly with excitement and expectation. we went through many passages with intricate turnings that seemed to have no outlet,--it was like threading one's way through a maze--till at last i found myself shut within a small cell-like place with an opening in front of me through which i gazed upon a strange and picturesque scene. i saw the interior of a small but perfectly beautiful gothic chapel, exquisitely designed, and lit by numerous windows of stained glass, through which the sunlight filtered in streams of radiant colour, patterning with gold, crimson and blue, the white marble flooring below. between every tapering column that supported the finely carved roof, were two rows of benches, one above the other, and here sat an array of motionless white figures,--men in the garb of their mysterious order, their faces almost concealed by their drooping cowls. there was no altar in this chapel,--but at its eastern end where the altar might have been, was a dark purple curtain against which blazed in brilliant luminance a cross and seven-pointed star. the rays of light shed by this uplifted symbol of an unwritten creed were so vivid as to be almost blinding, and nearly eclipsed the summer glory of the sun itself. awed by the strange and silent solemnity of my surroundings, i was glad to be hidden under the folds of my enshrouding white veil, though i realised that i was in a sort of secret recess made purposely for the use of those who were summoned to see all that went on in the chapel without being seen. i waited, full of eager anticipation,--and presently the low vibrating sound of the organ trembled on the air, gradually increasing in volume and power till a magnificent rush of music poured from it like a sudden storm breaking through clouds. i drew a long breath of pure ecstasy,--i could have knelt and wept tears of gratitude for the mere sense of hearing! such music was divine!--the very idea of mortality was swallowed up in it and destroyed, and the imprisoned soul mounted up to the highest life on wings of light, rejoicing! when it ceased, as it did all too soon, there followed a profound silence,--so profound that i could hear the quick beating of my own heart as if i were the only living thing in the place. i turned my eyes towards the dazzling cross and star with its ever darting rays of fiery brilliancy, and the effect of its perpetual sparkle of lambent fire was as if an electric current were giving off messages which no mortal skill would ever be able to decipher or put into words, but which found their way to one's deepest inward consciousness. all at once there was a slight movement among the rows of white-garmented, white-cowled figures hitherto sitting so motionless,--and with one accord they rose to their feet as a figure, tall, stately and imposing, came walking slowly across the chapel and stood directly in front of the flaming symbol, holding both hands outstretched as though invoking a blessing. it was the master, aselzion,--aselzion invested with such dignity and splendour as i had never thought possible to man. he might have posed for some god or hero,--his aspect was one of absolute power and calm self-poise,--other men might entertain doubts of themselves at the intention of their lives, but this one in his mere bearing expressed sureness, strength and authority. he wore his cowl thrown back, and from where i sat in my secluded corner i could see his features distinctly, and could watch the flash of his fine steadfast eyes as he turned them upon his followers. keeping his hands extended, he said, in a firm, clear voice: "to the creator of all things visible and invisible let us offer up our gratitude and praise, and so begin this day!" and a responsive murmur of voices answered him: "we praise thee, o divine power of love and life eternal! we praise thee for all we are! we praise thee for all we have been! we praise thee for all we hope to be!--amen." there followed a moment's tense silence. then the assembled brethren sat down in their places, and aselzion spoke in measured, distinct accents, with the easy and assured manner of a practised orator. "friends and brethren! "we are gathered here together to consider in this moment of time the things we have done in the past, and the things we are preparing to do in the future. we know that from the past, stretching back into infinity, we have ourselves made the present,--and according to divine law we also know that from this present, stretching forward into infinity, we shall ourselves evolve all that is yet to come. there is no power, no deity, no chance, no 'fortuitous concurrence of atoms' in what is simply a figure of the universal mathematics. nothing can be 'forgiven' under the eternal law of compensation,--nothing need be 'prayed for,' since everything is designed to accomplish each individual spirit's ultimate good. you are here to learn not only the secret of life, but something of how to live that life; and i, in my capacity, am only striving to teach what nature has been showing you for thousands of centuries, though you have not cared to master her lessons. the science of to-day is but nature's first primer--a spelling-book as it were, with the alphabet set out in pictures. you are told by sagacious professors,--who after all are no more than children in their newly studied wisdom,--that human life was evolved in the first instance from protoplasm--as they think,--but they lack the ability to tell you how the protoplasm was itself evolved--and why; where the material came from that went to the making of millions of solar systems and trillions of living organisms concerning whose existence we have no knowledge or perception. some of them deny a god,--but most of them are driven to confess that there must be an intelligence, supreme and omnipotent, behind the visible universe. order cannot come out of chaos without a directing mind; and order would be quickly submerged into chaos again were not the directing mind of a nature to sustain its method and condition. "we start, therefore, with this governing intelligence or directing mind, which must, like the brain of man, be dual, combining the male and female attributes, since we see that it expresses itself throughout all creation in dual form and type. intelligence, mind, or spirit, whichever we may elect to call it, is inherently active and must find an outlet for its powers,--and the very fact of this necessity produces desire to perpetuate itself in varied ways: this again is the first attribute of love. hence love is the foundation of worlds, and the source of all living organisms,--the dual atoms, or ions of spirit and matter yielding to attraction, union and reproduction. if we master this fact reasonably and thoroughly, we shall be nearer the comprehension of life." he paused a moment,--then advanced a step or two and went on, the flaming symbol behind him seeming literally to envelop him in its beams. "what we have to learn first of all is, how these laws affect us as individual human beings and as separate personalities. it is necessary to avoid all obscurity of language in setting forth the simple principles which should guide and preserve each human existence, and my explanation shall be as brief and plain as i can make it. granted that there is a divine mind or governing intelligence behind the infinitude of vital and productive atoms which in their union and reproduction build up the wonders of the universe, we see and admit that one of the chief results of the working of this divine mind is man. he is, so we have been told--'the image of god.' this expression may be taken as a poetic line in the scriptures, meaning no more than poetic imagery,--but it is nevertheless a truth. man is a kind of universe in himself--he too is a conglomeration of atoms--atoms that are active, reproductive, and desirous of perpetual creativeness. behind them, as in the nature of the divine, there is the governing intelligence, the mind, the spirit,--dual in type, double-sexed in action. without the mind to control it, the constitution of man is chaos,--just as the universe itself would be without the creator's governance. what we have chiefly to remember is, that just as the spirit behind visible nature is divine and eternal, so is the spirit behind each one of our individual selves also divine and eternal. it has been always,--it will be always, and we move as distinct personalities through successive phases of life, each one under the influence of his or her own controlling soul, to higher and ever higher perception and attainment. the great majority of the world's inhabitants live with less consciousness of this spirit than flies or worms--they build up religions in which they prate of god and immortality as children prattle, without the smallest effort to understand either,--and at the change which they call death, they pass out of this life without having taken the trouble to discover, acknowledge or use the greatest gift god has bestowed upon them. but we,--we who are here to realise the existence of the all-powerful force which gives us complete mastery over the things of space and time and matter--we, who know that over that individual moving universe of atoms called man, it can hold absolute control,--we can prove for ourselves that the whole earth is subject to the dominance of the immortal soul,--ay!--and the very elements of air, fire and water!--for these are but the ministers and servants to its sovereign authority!" he paused again--and after a minute or two of silence, went on-"this beautiful earth, this over-arching sky, the exquisite things of nature's form and loveliness, are all given to man, not only for his material needs, but for his spiritual growth and evolvement. from the light of the sun he may draw fresh warmth and colour for his blood--from the air new supplies of life--from the very trees and herbs and flowers he may renew his strength,--and there is nothing created that is not intended to add in some measure to his pleasure and well-being. for if the foundation of the universe be love, as it is, then love desires to see its creatures happy. misery has no place in the divine scheme of things--it is the result of man's own opposition to natural law. in natural law, all things work calmly, slowly and steadfastly together for good--nature silently obeys god's ordinance. man, on the contrary, questions, argues, denies, rebels,--with the result that he scatters his force and fails in his highest effort. it is in his own power to renew his own youth--his own vitality,--yet we see him sink of his own accord into feebleness and decrepitude, giving himself up, as it were, to be devoured by the disintegrating influences which he could easily repel. for, as the directing spirit of god governs the infinitude of atoms and star-dust which go to make up universes, so the mind of a man should govern the atoms and star-dust of which he himself is composed--guiding their actions and renewing them at pleasure,--forming them into suns and systems of thought and creative power, and wasting no particle of his eternal life forces. he can be what he elects to be,--a god,--or merely one of a mass of units in embryo, drifting away from one phase of existence to another in unintelligent indifference, and so compelling himself to pass centuries of aimless movement before entering upon any marked or decisive path of individual and separate action. the greater number prefer to be nothings in this way, though they cannot escape the universal grinding mill,--they must be used for some purpose in the end, be they never so reluctant. therefore, we, who study the latent powers of man, judge it wiser to meet and accept our destiny rather than fall back in the race and allow destiny to overtake us and whip us into place with rods of sharp experience. if there is anyone here present who now desires to speak,--to ask a question,--or deny a statement, let him come forward boldly and say what he has to say without fear." as he thus spoke, i, looking from my little hidden recess, saw a movement among the seated brethren; one of them rose and descending from his place, walked slowly towards aselzion till he was within a few paces of him--then he paused, and threw back his cowl, showing a worn handsome face on which some great sorrow seemed to be marked too strongly to be ever erased. "i do not wish to live!"--he said--"i came here to study life, but not to learn how to keep it. i would lose it gladly for the merest trifle! for life is to me a bitter thing--a hideous and inexplicable torment! why should you, o aselzion, teach us how to live long? why not rather teach us how to die soon?" aselzion's eyes were bent upon him with a grave and tender compassion. "what accusation do you bring against life?" he asked--"how has life wronged you?" "how has life wronged me?" and the unhappy man threw up his hands with a gesture of desperation--"you, who profess to read thought and gauge the soul, can you ask? how has life wronged me? by sheer injustice! from my first breath--for i never asked to be born!--from my early days when all my youthful dreams and aspirations were checked, smothered and killed by loving parents!--loving parents, forsooth!--whose idea of 'love' was money! every great ambition frustrated--every higher hope slain!--and in my own love--that love of woman which is man's chief curse--even she was false and worthless as a spurious coin--caring nothing whether my life was saved or ruined--it was ruined, of course!--but what matter?--who need care! only the weariness of it all!--the day after day burden of time!--the longing to lie down and hide beneath the comfortable grass in peace,--where no false friend, no treacherous love, no 'kind' acquaintances, glad to see me suffer, can ever point their mocking hands or round their cruel eyes at me again! aselzion, if the god you serve is half as wicked as the men he made, then heaven itself is hell!" he spoke deliberately, yet with passion. aselzion silently regarded him. the fiery cross and star blazed with strange colours like millions of jewels, and the deep stillness in the chapel was for many minutes unbroken. all at once, as though impelled by some irresistible force, he sank on his knees. "aselzion! as you are strong, have patience with the weak! as you see the divine, pity those who are blind! as you stand firm, stretch a hand to those whose feet are on the shifting quicksands, and if death and oblivion are among the gifts of your bestowal, withhold them not from me, for i would rather die than live!" there was a pause. then aselzion's voice, calm, clear and very gentle, vibrated on the silence. "there is no death!" he said--"you cannot die! there is no oblivion,--you may not forget! there is but one way of life--to live it!" another moment's stillness--then again the steady, resolute voice went on. "you accuse life of injustice,--it is you who are unjust to life! life gave you those dreams and aspirations you speak of,--it was in your power to realise them! i say it was in your power, had you chosen! no parents, no friends, not god himself, can stop you from doing what you will to do! who frustrated any great ambition of yours but yourself? who can slay a hope but him in whose soul it was born? and that love of woman?--was she your true mate?--or only a thing of eyes and hair and vanity? did your passion touch her body only, or did it reach her soul? did you seek to know whether that soul had ever wakened within her, or were you too well satisfied with her surface beauty to care? in all these things blame yourself, not life!--for life gives you earth and heaven, time and eternity for the attainment of joy--joy, in which, but for yourself, there would never be a trace of sorrow!" the kneeling penitent--for such he now appeared to be--covered his face with his hands. "i cannot give you death,"--continued aselzion-"you can take what is called by that name for yourself if you choose--you can by your own action, sudden or premeditated, destroy this present form and composition of yourself for just so long as it takes the forces of nature to build you up again--an incredibly brief moment of time! but you gain nothing--you neither lose your consciousness nor your memory! ponder this well before you pull down your present dwelling-house!--for ingratitude breeds narrowness, and your next habitation might be smaller and less fitted for peace and quiet breathing!" with these words, gently spoken, he raised the penitent from his knees, and signed to him to return to his place. he did so obediently, without another word, pulling his cowl closely about him so that none of his fellow-brethren might see his features. another man then stepped forward and addressed aselzion. "master"--he said, "would it not be better to die than to grow old? if, as you teach us, there is no real death, should there be any real decay? what pleasure is there in life when the strength fails and the pulses slacken--when the warm blood grows chill and stagnant, and when even those we have loved consider we have lived too long? i who speak now am old, though i am not conscious of age--but others are conscious for me,--their looks, their words, imply that i am in their way--that i am slowly dying like a lopped tree and that the process is too tedious for their impatience. and yet--i could be young!--my powers of work have increased rather than lessened--i enjoy life more than those that have youth on their side--but i know i carry the burden of seventy years upon me, and i say that surely it is better to die than live even so long!" aselzion, standing in the full light of the glittering cross and star, looked upon him with a smile. "i also carry the burden--if burden you must call it--of seventy years!" he said--"but years are nothing to me--they should be nothing to you. who asked you to count them or to consider them? in the world of wild nature, time is measured by seasons only--the bird does not know how old it is--the rose-tree does not count its birthdays! you, whom i know to be a brave man and patient student, have lived the usual life of men in the world--you are wedded to a woman who has never cared to understand the deeper side of your nature, and who is now far older than you, though in actual years younger,--you have children who look upon you as their banker merely and who, while feigning affection, really wait for your death with eagerness in order to possess your fortune. you might as well have never had those children!--i know all this as you yourself know it--i also know that through the word-impressions and influence of so-called 'friends' who wish to persuade you of your age, the disintegrating process has begun,--but this can be arrested. you yourself can arrest it!--the dream of faust is no fallacy!--only that the renewal of youth is not the work of magic evil, but of natural good. if you would be young, leave the world as you have known it and begin it anew,--leave wife, children, friends, all that hang like fungi upon an oak, rotting its trunk and sapping its strength without imparting any new form of vitality. live again--love again!" "i!"--and he who was thus spoken to threw back his cowl, showing a face wan and deeply wrinkled, yet striking in its fine intellectuality of feature--"i!--with these white hairs! you jest with me, aselzion!" "i never jest!"--replied aselzion--"i leave jesting to the fools who prate of life without comprehending its first beginnings. i do not jest with you--put me to the proof! obey my rules here but for six months and you shall pass out of these walls with every force in your body and spirit renewed in youth and vitality! but yourself must work the miracle,--which, after all, is no miracle! yourself must build yourself!--as everyone is bound to do who would make the fullest living out of life. if you hesitate,--if you draw back,--if you turn with one foolish regret or morbid thought to your past mistakes in life which are past--to her, your wife, a wife in name but never in soul,--to your children, born of animal instinct but not of spiritual deep love,--to those your 'friends' who count up your years as though they were crimes,--you check the work of re-invigoration, and you stultify the forces of renewal. you must choose--and the choice must be voluntary and deliberate,--for no man becomes aged and effete without his own intention and inclination to that end,--and equally, no man retains or renews his youth without a similar intention and inclination. take two days to consider--and then tell me your mind." the man he thus addressed hesitated as though he had something more to say--then with a deep obeisance went back to his place. aselzion waited till he was seated--and after the brief interval spoke again-"if all of you here present are content with your rule of life in this place, and with the studies you are undertaking, and none of you wish to leave, i ask for the usual sign." all the brethren rose, and raised their arms above their heads--dropping them slowly again after a second's pause. "enough!" and aselzion now moved towards the cross and star, fronting it fully. as he did so, i saw to my astonishment and something of terror that the rays proceeding from the centre of the symbol flamed out to an extraordinary length, surrounding his whole figure and filling the chapel with a lurid brilliancy as though it were suddenly on fire. straight into the centre of the glowing flames he steadily advanced--then, at a certain point, turned again and faced his followers. but what an aspect now was his! the light about him seemed to be part of his very body and garments--he was transfigured into the semblance of something god-like and angelic--and i was overcome with fear and awe as i looked upon him. lifting one hand, he made the sign of the cross,--whereat the white-robed brethren descended from their places, and walking one by one in line, came up to him where he stood. he spoke--and his voice rang out like a silver clarion-"o divine light!" he exclaimed--"we are a part of thee, and into thee we desire to become absorbed! from thee we know we may obtain an immortality of life upon this gracious earth! o nature, beloved mother, whose bosom burns with hidden fires of strength, we are thy children, born of thee in spirit as in matter,--in us thou hast distilled thy rains and dews, thy snows and frosts, thy sunlight and thy storm!--in us thou hast embodied thy prolific beauty, thy productiveness, thy power and thy advancement towards good--and more than all thou hast endowed us with the divine passion of love which kindles the fire whereof thou art created and whereby we are sustained! take us, o light! keep us, o nature!--and thou, o god, supreme spirit of love, whose thought is flame, and whose desire is creation, be thou our guide, supporter and instructor through all worlds without end! amen!" once more the glorious music of the organ surged through the chapel like a storm,--and i, trembling in every limb, knelt, covering my veiled face closely with my hands, overcome by the splendour of the sound and the strangeness of the scene. gradually, very gradually, the music died away--a deep silence followed--and when i lifted my head, the chapel was empty! aselzion and his disciples had vanished, noiselessly, as though they had never been present. only the cross and star still remained glittering against its dark purple background--darting out long tremulous rays, some of which were pale violet, others crimson, others of the delicate hues of the pink topaz. i looked round,--then behind me,--and to my surprise saw that the door of my little recess had been unlocked and left open. acting on an impulse too strong to resist, i stole softly out, and stepping on tiptoe, scarcely daring to breathe, i found my way through a low archway into the body of the chapel, and stood there all alone, my heart beating loudly with positive terror. yet there was nothing to fear. no one was near me that i could see, but i felt as if there were thousands of eyes watching me from the roof, from behind the columns, and from the stained-glass windows that shed their light on the marble pavement. and the glowing radiance of the cross and star in all that stillness was almost terrible!--the long bright rays were like tongues of fire mutely expressing unutterable things! fascinated, i drew nearer and nearer--then paused abruptly, checked by a kind of vibration under me, as though the ground rocked--presently, however, i gained fresh courage to go on, and by degrees was drawn into a perfect vortex of light which rushed upon me like great waves on all sides so forcibly that i had hardly any knowledge of my own movements. like a creature in a dream i moved,--my very hands looked transparent and spirit-like as i stretched them out towards that marvellous symbol!--and when my eyes glanced for a moment at the folds of my covering veil i saw that its white silkiness shone with a pale amethystine hue. on--on i went,--a desperate idea possessing me to go as far as i could into that strange starry centre of living luminance--the very boldness of the thought appalled me even while i encouraged it--but step by step i went on resolutely till i suddenly felt myself caught as it were in a wheel of fire! round and round me it whirled,--darting points of radiance as sharp as spears which seemed to enter my body and stab it through and through--i struggled for breath and tried to draw back,--impossible! i was tangled up in a net of endless light-vibrations which, though they gave forth no heat, yet quivered through my whole being with searching intensity as though bent on probing to the very centre of my soul! i could not utter a sound,--i stood there dumb, immovable, and shrouded in million-coloured flame, too stunned with the shock to realise my own identity. then all at once something dark and cool floated over me like the shadow of a passing cloud--i looked up and strove to utter a cry,--a word of appeal!--and then fell to the ground, lost in complete unconsciousness. xv a first lesson i do not know how long i lay there lost to sight and sense, but when i came to myself, i was in a quiet, shadowy place, like a kind of little hermitage, with a window opening out upon the sea. i was lying on a couch, with the veil i had worn still covering me, and as i opened my eyes and looked about me i saw that it was night, and that the moon was tracing a silver network of beams across the waves. there was a delicious fragrance on the air--it came from a group of roses set in a tall crystal vase close to where i lay. then, as i gradually regained full knowledge of my own existence, i perceived a table in the room with a lamp burning upon it, and at the table sat no less a personage than aselzion himself, reading. i was so amazed at the sight of him that for the moment i lay inert, afraid to move--for i was almost sure i had incurred his displeasure--till suddenly, with the feeling of a child seeking pardon for an offence, i sprang up and ran to him, throwing myself on my knees at his feet. "aselzion, forgive me!" i murmured--"i have done wrong--i had no right to go so far--" he turned his eyes upon me, smiling, and took me gently by the hands. "who denies your right to go far if you have the strength and courage?"--he said--"dear child, i have nothing to forgive! you are the maker of your own destiny! but you have been bold!--though you are a mere woman you have dared to do what few men attempt. this is the power of love within you--that perfect love which casteth out fear! you risked a danger which has not harmed you--you have come out of it unscathed,--so may it be with every ordeal through which you may yet be tried as by fire!" he raised me from where i knelt,--but i still held his hands. "i could not help it!" i said--"your command for me was 'silence and solitude'--and in that silence and solitude i remained while i watched you all,--and i heard everything that was said--this was your wish and order. and when you all went away, the silence and solitude would have been the same but for that cross and star! they seemed to speak!--to call me--to draw me to them--and i went--hardly knowing why, yet feeling that i must go!--and then--" aselzion pressed my hands gently. "then the light claimed its own,"--he said--"and courage had its reward! the door of your recess in the chapel was opened by my instructions,--i wished to see what you would do. you have no conception as yet of what you have done!--but that does not matter. you have passed one test successfully--for had you remained passive in your place till someone came to remove you, i should have known you for a creature of weak will and transitory impulses. but you are stronger than i thought--so to-night i have come to give you your first lesson." "my first lesson!" i repeated the words after him wonderingly as he let go my hands and put me gently into a chair which i had not perceived but which stood in the shadow cast by the lamp almost immediately opposite to him. "yes!--your first lesson!" he answered, smiling gravely--"the first lesson in what you have come here to learn,--the perpetuation of your life on earth for just so long as you desire it--the secret which gives to rafel santoris his youth and strength and power, as well as his governance over certain elemental forces. but first take this"--and he poured out from a quaintly shaped flask a full glass of deep red-coloured wine--"this is no magic potion--it is simply a form of nourishment which will be safer for you than solid food,--and i know you have eaten nothing all day since your light breakfast. drink it all--every drop!" i obeyed--it seemed tasteless and strengthless, like pure water. "now"--he continued--"i will put before you a very simple illustration of the truth which underlies all nature. if you were taken into a vast plain, and there saw two opposing armies, the one actuated by a passion for destruction, the other moved only by a desire for good, you would naturally wish the latter force to win, would you not?" i answered "yes" at once, without hesitation. "but suppose"--he went on--"that both armies were actuated by good, and that the object of the destroying force was only to break down what was effete and mischievous, in order to build it up again in stronger and nobler forms, while the aim of the other was to strictly preserve and maintain the advantages it possessed, which side would then have your sympathy?" i tried to think, but could not instantly determine. "here is your point of hesitation,"--he said--"and here the usual limit of human comprehension. both forces are good,--but as a rule we can only side with one. we name that one life,--the other death. we think life alone stands for what is living, and that death is a kind of cessation of life instead of being one of life's most active forms. the universe is entirely composed of these two fighting forces--we call them good and evil--but there is no evil-there is only a destruction of what might be harmful if allowed to exist. to put it clearly, the million millions of atoms and electrons which compose the everlasting elements of spirit and matter are dual--that is to say, of two kinds--those which preserve their state of equilibrium, and those whose work is to disintegrate, in order to build up again. as with the universe, so with the composition of a human being. in you, as in myself, there exist these two forces--and our souls are, so to speak, placed on guard between them. the one set of atoms is prepared to maintain the equilibrium of health and life, but if through the neglect and unwatchfulness of the sentinel soul any of them are allowed to become disused and effete, the other set, whose business it is to disintegrate whatever is faulty and useless for the purpose of renewing it in better form, begins to work--and this disintegrating process is our conception of decay and death. yet, as a matter of fact, such process cannot even begin without our consent and collusion. life can be retained in our possession for an indefinite period on this earth,--but it can only be done through our own actions--our own wish and will." i looked at him questioningly. "one may wish and will many things,"--i said--"but the result is not always successful." "is that your experience?" he asked, bending his keen eyes full upon me--"you know, if you are true to yourself, that no power can resist the insistence of a strong will brought steadily to bear on any intention. if the effort fails, it is only because the will has hesitated. what have you made of some of your past lives--you and your lover both--through hesitation at a supreme moment!" i looked at him appealingly. "if we made mistakes, could we altogether help it?" i asked--"does it not seem that we tried for the best?" he smiled slightly. "no, it does not seem so to me,"--he replied--"the mainspring of your various previous existences,--the law of attraction drawing you together was, and is, love. this you fought against as though it were a crime, and in many cases you obeyed the temporary conventionalities of man rather than the unchanging ordinance of god. and now--divided as you have been--lost as you have been in endless whirlpools of infinitude, you are brought together again--and though your lover has ceased to question, you have not ceased to doubt!" "i do not doubt!" i exclaimed, suddenly, and with passion--"i love him with all my soul!--i will never lose him again!" aselzion looked at me questioningly. "how do you know you have not lost him already?" he said. at this a sudden wave of despair swept over me--a chill sense of emptiness and desolation. could it be possible that my own rashness and selfishness had again separated me from my beloved?--for so i now called him in my heart--had i by some foolish, distrustful thought estranged him once more from my soul? the rising tears choked me--i rose from my seat, hardly knowing what i did, and went to the window for air--aselzion followed me and laid his hand gently on my shoulder. "it is not so difficult to win love as to keep it!"--he said--"misunderstanding, and want of quick sympathy, end in heart-break and separation. and this is far worse than what mortals call death." the burning tears fell slowly from my eyes--every word seemed to pierce my heart--i looked yearningly out on the sea, rippling under the moon. i thought of the day, barely a week ago, when rafel stood beside me, his hand clasping mine,--such a little division of time seemed to have elapsed since we were together, and yet how long! at last i spoke-"i would rather die, if death were possible, than lose his love"--i said--"and where there is no love, surely there must be death?" aselzion sighed. "poor child! now you understand why the lonely soul hurls itself wildly from one phase of existence to another till it finds its true mate!"--he answered--"you say truly that where there is no love there is no real life. it is merely a semi-conscious existence. but you have no cause to grieve--not now,--not if you are firm and faithful. rafel santoris is safe and well--and his soul is so much with you--you are so constantly in his thoughts, that it is as if he were himself here--see!" and he placed his two hands for a moment over my eyes and then removed them. i uttered a cry of ecstasy--for there before me on the moonlit water i saw the 'dream'!--her sails glittering with light, and her aerial shape clearly defined against the sky! oh, how i longed to fly across the strip of water which alone seemed to divide us!--and once more to stand on the deck beside him whom i now loved more than my very hopes of heaven! but i knew it was only a vision conjured up before me by the magic of aselzion,--a magic used gently for my sake, to help and comfort me in a moment of sadness and heart's longing. and i watched, knowing that the picture must fade,--as it slowly did,--vanishing like a rainbow in a swirl of cloud. "it is indeed a 'dream'!" i said, smiling faintly, as i turned again to aselzion--"i pray that love itself may never be so fleeting!" "if love is fleeting, it is not love!"--he answered--"as ephemeral passion called by that name is the ordinary sort of attraction existing between ordinary men and women,--men, who see no farther than the gratification of a desire, and women, who see no higher than the yielding to that desire. men who love in the highest and most faithful meaning of the term, are much rarer than women,--women are very near the divine in love when it is first awakened in them--if afterwards they sink to a lower level, it is generally the men who have dragged them down. unless a man is bent on the highest, he is apt to settle on the lowest--whereas a woman generally soars to the highest ideals at first in the blind instinct of a soul seeking its mate--how often she is hurled back from the empyrean only the angels know! not to all is given power to master and control the life-forces--and it is this i would have you understand before i leave you to-night. i can teach you the way to hold your life safely above all disintegrating elements--but the learning of the lesson rests with yourself." he sat down, and i resumed my place in the chair opposite to him, prepared to hear him with the closest attention. there were a few things on the table which i had not previously noticed, and one of these was a circular object covered with a cloth. he removed this covering, and showed me a crystal globe which appeared to be full of some strange volatile fluid, clear in itself, but intersected with endless floating brilliant dots and lines. "look well at this"--he said--"for here you have a very simple manifestation of a great truth. these dots and lines which you observe perpetually in motion are an epitome of what is going on in the composition of every human being. some of them, as you see, go in different directions, yet meet and mingle with each other at various points of convergence--then again become separated. they are the building-up and the disintegrating forces of the whole cosmos--and--mark this well!--they are all, when unimprisoned, directed by a governing will-power. you, in your present state of existence, are simply an organised form, composed of these atoms, and your will-power, which is part of the divine creative influence, is set within you to govern them. if you govern them properly, the building-up and revivifying atoms within you obey your command, and with increasing strength gradually control and subdue their disintegrating opponents,--opponents which after all are only their servants, ready to disencumber them from all that is worthless and useless at the first sign of disablement. there is nothing more simple than this law, which has only to be followed in order to preserve both life and youth. it 5s all contained in an effort of the will, to which everything in nature responds, just as a well-steered ship obeys the compass. remember this well!--i say, everything in nature! this crystal globe holds momentarily imprisoned atoms which cannot just now be directed because they are shut in, away from all will to govern them--but if i left them as they are for a few more hours their force would shatter the crystal, and they would escape to resume their appointed way. they are only shown to you as an object lesson, to prove that such things are--they are facts, not dreams. you, like this crystal globe, are full of imprisoned atoms--atoms of spirit and matter which work together to make you what you are--but you have also the governing will which is meant to control them and move them either to support, sustain and revivify you, or else to weaken, break down and finally disperse and disintegrate you, preparatory to your assumption of another form and phase of existence. now, do you begin to understand?" "i think i do,"--i answered--"but is it possible always to make this effort of the will?" "there is no moment in which you do not, consciously or subconsciously, 'will' something"--he answered--"and the amount of power you use up in 'willing' perfectly trifling and ephemeral things, could almost lift a planet! but let us take simple actions--such as raising a hand. you think this movement instinctive or mechanical--but it is only because you will to raise it that you can do it. if you willed not to raise it, it could not raise itself of itself. this tremendous force,--this divine gift of will-power, is hardly exercised at all by the majority of men and women--hence their manner of drifting here and there--their pliable yielding to this or that opinion--the easy sway obtained over the million by a few leaders and reformers--the infectious follies which possess whole communities at a time--the caprices of fashion--the moods of society--all these are due to scattered will-power, which if concentrated would indeed 'replenish the earth and subdue it.' but we cannot teach the world, and therefore we must be content to teach and train a few individuals only. and when you ask if it is possible always to make the necessary effort of will, i answer yes,--of course it is possible. the secret of it all is to resolve upon a firm attitude and maintain it. if you encourage thoughts of fear, hesitation, disease, trouble, decay, incompetency, failure and feebleness, you at once give an impetus to the disintegrating forces within you to begin their work--and you gradually become ill, timorous, and diseased in mind and body. if, on the contrary, your thoughts are centred on health, vitality, youth, joy, love and creativeness, you encourage all the revivifying elements of your system to build up new nerve tissue and fresh brain cells, as well as to make new blood. no scientist has ever really discovered any logical cause why human beings should die--they are apparently intended to live for an indefinite period. it is they themselves who kill themselves,--even so-called 'accidents' are usually the result of their own carelessness, recklessness or inattention to warning circumstance. i am trying to put all this as simply as i can to you,--there are hundreds of books which you might study, in which the very manner of expression is so abstruse and involved that even the most cultured intelligence can scarcely grasp it,--but what i have told you is perfectly easy of comprehension,--the only difficulty lies in its practical application. to-night, therefore, and for the remainder of the time you are here, you will enter upon certain tests and trials of your will-force--and the result of these will prove whether you are strong enough to be successful in your quest of life and youth and love. if you are capable of maintaining the true attitude,--if you can find and keep the real centre-poise of the divine image within you, all will be well. and remember, that if you once learn how to govern and control the atomic forces within yourself, you will equally govern and control all atomic forces which come within your atmosphere. this gives you what would be called by the ignorant 'miraculous' power, though it is no miracle. it is nothing more than the attitude of spirit controlling matter. you will find yourself not only able to govern your own forces but also to draw upon nature for fresh supplies--the air, the sunshine, the trees, the flowers, will give you all they have to give on demand--and nothing shall be refused to you. 'ask, and ye shall receive--seek, and ye shall find--knock, and it shall be opened unto you.' naturally the law is, that what you receive you must give out again in an ungrudging outflow of love and generosity and beneficence and sympathy, not only towards mankind but to everything that lives--for as you are told--'give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over, shall men give into your bosom. for with the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again.' these sayings of our greatest master are heard so often that they are considered by many people almost trite and commonplace,--but they hold a truth from which we cannot escape. even such a little matter as a kind word is paid back to the one who uttered it with a double interest of kindness, while a cruel or coarse one carries its own punishment. those who take without giving are generally unsuccessful in their lives and aims--while those who give without taking appear to be miraculously served by both fame and fortune,--this being merely the enactment of the spiritual law." "i do not want fame or fortune,"--i said--"love is enough for me!" aselzion smiled. "enough for you indeed! my child, it is enough for all! if you have love, you have entered into the secret mind of god! love inspires all nobleness, all endurance, all courage,--and i think you have some of its attributes, for you have been bold in your first independent essay--and it is this very boldness that has brought me here to speak to you to-night. you have, of your own accord, and without preparation, passed what we students and mystics call 'the first circle of fire,' and you are therefore ready for the rest of your trial. so i will now take you back to your own room and leave you there, for you must face your ordeal alone." my heart sank a little, but i said nothing, and watched him as he took up the crystal globe, full of the darting lines and points of light gleaming like imprisoned fire, and held it for a moment between his two hands. then he set it down again, and covered it as it had been covered before. the next moment he had extinguished the lamp, and we stood together in the pale brilliancy of the moonlight which now spread itself in a broad path of silver across the sea. the tide was coming in, and i heard the solemn sound of rising waves breaking rhythmically upon the shore. in silence aselzion took me by the hand and led me through a low doorway out of the little hermitage into the open air, where we stood within a few feet of the sea. the moonbeams bathed us in a shower of pearly radiance, and i turned instinctively to look at my companion. his face appeared transfigured into something of supernatural beauty, and for one second the remembrance of how he had said in the chapel that he carried the burden of seventy years upon him flashed across me with a shock of surprise. seventy years! he appeared to be in the very prime and splendour of life, and the mere idea of age as connected with him was absurd and incongruous. and while i gazed upon him, wondering and fascinated, he lifted one hand as though in solemn invocation to the stars that gleamed in their countless millions overhead, and his voice, deep and musical, rang out softly yet clearly on the silence:-"o supreme guide of all the worlds created, accept this soul which seeks to be consecrated unto thee! help her to attain to all that shall be for her wisdom and betterment, and make her one with that nature whereof she is born. thou, silent and peaceful night, invest her with thy deep tranquillity!--thou, bright moon, penetrate her spirit with the shining in of holy dreams!--give her of thy strength and depth, o sea!--and may she draw from the treasures of the air all health, all beauty, all life, all sweetness, so that her existence may be a joy to the world, and her love a benediction! amen!" my whole being thrilled with a sense of keen rapture as he thus prayed for me,--i could have knelt to him in reverence but that i instinctively knew he would not wish this act of homage. i felt that it was best to keep silence, and i obeyed his guiding touch as, still holding my hand, he led me into a vaulted stone passage and up a long winding stair at the head of which he paused, and taking a key from his girdle, unlocked a small door. "there is your room, my child,"--he said, with a grave kindliness which moved me strangely--"farewell! the future is with yourself alone." i clung to his hand for an instant. "shall i not see you again?" i asked, with a little tremor in my voice. "yes--you will see me again if you pass your ordeal successfully"--he answered--"not if you fail." "what will happen if i fail?" "nothing but the most ordinary circumstance,"--he answered--"you will leave this place in perfect safety and return to your home and your usual avocations,--you will live as most women live, perhaps on a slightly higher grade of thought and action--and in time you will come to look upon your visit to the house of aselzion as the merest wilful escapade of folly! the world and its conventions will hold you--" "never!" i exclaimed, passionately--"aselzion, i will not fail!" he looked earnestly in my face--then laid his hands on my head in a mute blessing, and signed to me to pass into my turret room. i obeyed. he closed the door upon me instantly--i heard the key turn in the lock--and then--just the faint echo of his retreating footsteps down the winding stair. my room was illumined by a very faint light, the source of which i knew not. everything was as i had left it before i had been summoned to the mysterious chapel of the cross and star,--and i looked about me, tranquillised by the peace and simplicity of my surroundings. i did not feel disposed to sleep, and i resolved to write down from memory all that aselzion had told me while it was fresh in my mind. the white veil i had been given still clung about me,--i now took it off and carefully folded it ready for further use if needed. sitting down at the little table, i took out pen, ink and paper,--but somehow i could not fix my attention on what i intended to do. the silence around me was more intense than ever, and though my window was open i could not even hear the murmur of the sea. i listened--hardly drawing breath--there was not a sound. the extraordinary silence deepened--and with it came a sense of cold; i seemed to be removed into a place apart, where no human touch, no human voice could reach me,--and i felt as i had never felt in all my life before, that i was indeed utterly alone. xvi shadow and sound the stillness deepened. it seemed to myself that i could hear the quickened beating of every pulse in my body. a curious vague terror began to possess me,--i fought against its insidious influence, and bending my head down over the paper i had set out before me, i prepared to write. after a few minutes i managed to gain some control over my nerves, and started to put down clearly and in sequence the things aselzion had told me, though i knew there was little danger of my ever forgetting them. and then--a sudden sensation came over me which forced me to realise that something or someone was in the room, looking steadfastly at me. with an effort, i raised my head, and saw nothing at first--then, by degrees, i became aware that a shadow, dark and impenetrable, stood between me and the open window. at first it seemed simply a formless mass of black vapour,--but very gradually it assumed the outline of a shape which did not seem human. i laid down my pen,--and, with my heart thumping hammer-strokes of fear, looked at this strange darkness gathered as it were in one place and blocking out the silver gleam of the moon. as i looked, all the light in my room was suddenly extinguished. a cry rose involuntarily to my lips--and physical fright began to gain the mastery over me. for with the increasing gloom the mysterious shadow grew more and more defined--a blackness standing out as it were against another blackness,--the pale glint of the moonbeams only illumining it faintly as a cloud may be edged with a suggestion of light. it was not motionless,--it stirred now and then as though about to lift itself to some supernatural stature and bend above me or swoop down upon me like an embodied storm,--and as i still gazed upon it fearingly, every nerve strained to an almost unsupportable tension, i could have sworn that two eyes, large and luminous, were fixed with a searching, pitiless intensity on mine. it is impossible to describe what i felt,--a sense of sick, swooning horror overcame me,--my head swam giddily, and i could not now utter a sound. trembling violently, i rose to my feet in a kind of mechanical impulse, determined to turn away from the dreadful contemplation of this formless phantom, when suddenly, as if by a lightning flash of conviction, the thought came to me that it was not by coward avoidance that i could expect to overcome either my own fears or the nameless danger which apparently threatened me. i closed my eyes and retreated, as it were, within myself to find that centre-poise of my own spirit which i knew must remain an invincible force despite all attack, being in itself immortal,--and i mentally barricaded my soul with thoughts of armed resistance. then, opening my eyes again, i saw that the shadow loomed blacker and vaster--while the luminance around it was more defined, and was not the radiance of the moon, but some other light that was ghostly and terrifying. but i had now regained a little courage,--and slight as it was i held to it as my last hope, and gradually steadied myself upon it like a drowning creature clinging to a plank for rescue. presently i found myself able to ask questions of my inner consciousness. what, after all, could this phantom--if phantom it were--do to work me harm? could it kill me with sheer terror? surely in that case the terror would be my own fault, for why should i be afraid? the thing called death being no more than a living change did it matter so much when or how the change was effected? "who is responsible,"--i said to myself--"for the sense of fear? who is it that so mistrusts the divine order of the universe as to doubt the ultimate intention of goodness in things which appear evil? is it not i alone who am the instigator of my own dread?--and can this dark, dumb spectre do more to me than is ordained for my blessing in the end?" with these thoughts i grew bold--my nervous trembling ceased. i now chose deliberately to consider, and willed to determine, that this mysterious shadow, darker still as it grew, was something of a friend in disguise. i lifted my head half defiantly, half hopefully in the gloom, and the strange fact that the only light i saw came from the weirdly gleaming edge of radiance round the phantom itself did not frighten me from the attitude i had resolved upon. the more i settled myself into that attitude the firmer it became--and the stronger grew my courage. i gently moved aside the table on which i had been writing, and stood up. once on my feet i felt still bolder and surer of myself, and though the shadow opposite to me looked darker and more threatening than before, i began to move steadily towards it. i made an effort to speak to it, and at last found my voice. "whatever you are," i said aloud, "you cannot exist at all without god's will! god ordains nothing that is not for good, therefore you cannot be here with any evil purpose! if i am afraid of you, my fear is my own weakness. i will not look at you as a thing that can or would do me harm, and therefore i am coming to you to find out your meaning! you shall prove to me what you are made of, to the very depth and heart of your darkness!--you shall unveil to me all that you hide behind your terrifying aspect,--because i know that whatever your intention towards me may be, you cannot hurt my soul!" as i spoke i drew nearer and nearer--and the luminous edge round the phantom grew lighter and lighter, till--suddenly a flash of brilliant colour like a rainbow glittered full on my eyes so sharply that i fell back, half blinded by its splendour. then--as i looked--i dropped to my knees in speechless awe--for the shadow had changed to a dazzling shape of winged radiance,--a figure and face so glorious that i could only gaze and gaze, with all my soul entranced in wonder! i heard delicious music around me, but i could not listen--all my soul was in my eyes. the vision grew in stature and in splendour, and i stretched out my hands to it in prayerful appeal, conscious that i was in the shining presence of some inhabitant of higher and more heavenly spheres than ours. the beautiful head, crowned with a diadem of flowers like white stars, bent towards me--the luminous eyes smiled into mine, and a voice sweeter than all sweet singing spoke to me in accents of thrilling tenderness. "thou hast done well!" it said--"even so always approach darkness without fear! then shalt thou find the light! meet sorrow with a trusting heart--so shalt thou discover an angel in disguise! god thinks no evil of thee--desires no wrong towards thee--has no punishment in store for thee--give thyself into his hand, and be at peace!" slowly,--like the colours of the sunset melting away into the grey of twilight, the vision faded,--and when i recovered from the dazzled bewilderment into which i had been thrown, i found myself again in complete solitude and darkness--darkness unrelieved save by the dim light of the setting moon. i was for a long time unable to think of anything but the strange experience through which i had just passed--and i wondered what would have happened if instead of boldly advancing and confronting the dark phantom which had so terrified me i had striven to escape from it? i believed, and i think i was right in my belief, that i should have found every door open, and every facility offered for a cowardly retreat had i chosen to make it. and then--everything would have been at an end!--i should have probably had to leave the house of aselzion--and perhaps i too should have been marked with a black cross as a failure! inwardly i rejoiced that so far i had not given way, and presently yielding to a drowsiness that began to steal over me, i undressed and went to bed, perfectly tranquil in mind and happy. i must have slept several hours when i was awakened suddenly by the sound of voices conversing quite close to me--in fact, they seemed to be on the other side of the wall against which my bed was placed. they were men's voices, and one or two were curiously harsh and irritable in tone. there was plenty of light in my room--for the night had passed, and as far as i could tell it seemed to be early morning. the voices went on, and i found myself compelled to listen. "aselzion is the cleverest humbug of his time,"--said one--"he is never so happy as when he can play the little god and dupe his worshippers!" a laugh followed this sentence. "he's a marvel in his way,"--said another--"he must be a kind of descendant of some ancient egyptian conjurer who had the trick of playing with fire. there is nothing in the line of so-called miracle he cannot do,--and of course those who are ignorant of his methods, and who are credulous themselves--" "like the woman here,"--interposed the first voice. "yes--like the woman here--little fool!"--and there was more laughter--"fancying herself in love with rafel santoris!" i sat up in bed, straining my ears now for every word. my cheeks were burning--my heart beating--i hardly knew what to think. there was a silence for two or three minutes--minutes that seemed like ages in my longing to hear more. "santoris always managed to amuse himself!"--said a thin, sharp voice with a mocking ring in its tone--"there was always some woman or other in love with him. some woman he could take in easily, of course!" "not difficult to find!"--rejoined the first voice that had spoken, "most women are blind where their affections are concerned." "or their vanity!" another silence. i rose from my bed, shivering with a sense of sudden cold, and threw on my dressing-gown. going to the window, i looked out on the fair expanse of the calm sea, silver-grey in the early dawn. how still and peaceful it looked!--what a contrast to the storm of doubt and terror that was beginning to rage within my own heart! hush! the voices began again. "well, it's all over now, and his theory of perpetuating life at pleasure has come to an untimely end. where did the yacht go down?" "off armadale, in skye." for a moment i could not realise what had been said and tried to repeat both question and answer--'where did the yacht go down?' 'off armadale, in skye.' what did it mean?--the yacht? gone down? what yacht? they were talking of santoris--of rafel, my beloved!--my lover, lost through ages of time and space, and found again only to be once more separated from me through my own fault--my own fault!--that was the horror of it--a horror i could not contemplate without an almost maddening anguish. i ran to the wall through which i had heard the voices talking and pressed my ear against it, murmuring to myself--"oh no!--it is not possible!--not possible! god would not be so cruel!" for many minutes i heard nothing--and i was rapidly losing patience and self-control, when at last i heard the conversation resumed,--"he should never have risked his life in such a vessel"--said one of the voices in a somewhat gentler tone--"it was a wonderfully clever contrivance, but the danger of all that electricity was obvious. in a storm it would have no chance." "that has been thoroughly proved,"--answered another voice--"just half a gale of wind with a dash of thunder and lightning, and down it went, with every soul on board." "santoris might have saved himself. he was a fine swimmer." "was he?" another silence. i thought my head would have burst with its aching agony of suspense,--my eyes were burning like hot coals with a weight of unshed tears. i felt that i could have battered down the wall between me and those torturing voices in my feverish desire to know the worst--the worst at all costs! if rafel were dead--but no!--he could not die! he could not actually perish--but he could be parted from me as he had been parted before--and i--i should be alone again--alone as i had been all my life! and in my foolish pride i had voluntarily severed myself from him!--was this my punishment? more talking began, and i listened, like a criminal listening to a cruel sentence. "aselzion will tell her, of course. rather a difficult business!--as he will have to admit that his teachings are not infallible. and on the whole there was something very taking about santoris--i'm sorry he's gone. but he would only have fooled the woman had he lived." "oh! that, naturally! but that hardly matters. she would only have had herself to blame for falling into the trap." i drew myself away from the wall, trembling and sick with dread. mechanically i dressed myself, and stared out at the gold of the sun which was now pouring its radiance full on the sea. the beauty of the scene moved me not at all--nothing mattered. all that my consciousness could take in was that, according to what i had heard, rafel was dead,--drowned in the sea over which his fairy vessel the 'dream' had sailed so lightly--and that all he had said of our knowledge of each other in former lives, and of the love which had drawn us together, was mere 'fooling'! i leaned out of the window, and my eyes rested on the little crimson rose that still blossomed against the wall in fragrant confidence. and then i spoke aloud, hardly conscious of my own words-"it is wicked"--i said--"wicked of god to allow us to imagine beautiful things that have no existence! it is cruel to ordain us to love, if love must end in disappointment and treachery! it would be better to teach us at once that life is intended to be hard and plain and without tenderness or truth, than to lead our souls into a fool's paradise!" then--all at once--i remembered the dark phantom of the night and its transformation into the vision of an angel. i had struggled against the terror of its first spectral appearance, and had conquered my fears,--why was i now shaken from my self-control? what was the cause? voices, merely! voices behind a wall that spoke of death and falsehood,--voices belonging to persons i did not know and could not see--like the voices of the world which delight in uttering scandals and cruelties and which never praise so much as they condemn. voices merely! ah!--but they spoke of the death of him whom i loved!--must i not listen? they spoke of his treachery and 'fooling.' should i not hear? and yet--who were those persons, if persons they were, who talked of him with such easy callousness? i had met no one in the house of aselzion save aselzion himself and his servant or secretary honorius,--who then could there be except those two to know the reasons that had brought me hither? i began to question myself and to doubt the accuracy of the terrible news i had inadvertently overheard. if any evil had chanced to rafel santoris, would aselzion have told me he was 'safe and well' when he had conjured up for my comfort the picture of the 'dream' yacht on the moonlit sea only a few hours ago? yet with my bravest effort i could not recover myself sufficiently to be quite at peace,--and in my restless condition of mind i looked towards the turret door opening to the stairway which led to the little garden below and the seashore--but it was fast shut, and i remembered aselzion had locked it. but, to my complete surprise, another door stood open,--a door that had seemed part of the wall--and a small room was disclosed beyond it,--a kind of little shrine, hung with pale purple silk, and looking as though it were intended to hold something infinitely precious. i entered it hesitatingly, not sure whether i was doing right or wrong, and yet impelled by something more than curiosity. as i stepped across the threshold i heard the voices behind the wall again--they sounded louder and more threatening, and i paused,--half afraid, yet longing to know all that might yet be said, though such knowledge might mean nothing but misery and despair to me. "all women are fools!"--and this trite observation was made by someone speaking in harsh and bitter accents--"it is not love that really moves them so much as the self-satisfaction of being loved. no woman could be faithful for long to a dead man--she would lack the expected response to her superabundant sentimentality, and she would tire of waiting to meet him in paradise--if she believed in such a possibility, which in nine cases out of ten she would not." "with aselzion there are no dead men"--said another of the unseen speakers--"they have merely passed into another living state. and according to his theories, lovers cannot be separated, even by what is called death, for long." "poor comfort!" and with the words i heard a laugh of scornful mockery--"the women who have loved rafel santoris would hardly thank you for it!" i shuddered a little, as with cold. 'the women who have loved rafel santoris!' this phrase seemed to darken the very recollection of the handsome face and form of the man i had, almost unconsciously to myself, begun to idealise--something coarse and common suggested itself in association with him, and my heart sank within me, deprived of hope. voices, merely!--yet how they tortured me! if i could only know the truth, i thought!--if aselzion would only come and tell me the worst at once! in a kind of stupor of unnameable grief i stood in the little purple-hung shrine so suddenly opened to me, and began to dreamily consider the unkindness and harshness of those voices!--ah! so like the voices of the world! voices that sneer and mock and condemn!--voices that would rather utter a falsehood than any word that should help and comfort--voices that take a cruel pleasure in saying just the one thing that will wound and crush an aspiring spirit!--voices that cannot tune themselves to speak of love without grudging bitterness and scorn--voices--ah god!--if only all the harsh and calumniating voices of humanity were stilled, what a heaven this earth would be! and yet--why should we listen to them? what have they really to do with us? is the soul to be moved from its centre by casual opinion? what is it to me that this person or that person approves or disapproves my actions? why should i be disturbed by rumours, or frightened by ill report? absorbed in these thoughts, i hardly realised the almost religious peace of my surroundings,--and it was only when the voices ceased for a few minutes that i saw what was contained in this small room i had half unwittingly entered,--an exquisite little table, apparently made of crystal which shone like a diamond--and on the table, an open book. a chair was placed in position for the evident purpose of reading--and as i approached, at first indifferently and then with awakening interest, i saw that the open book showed an inscription on its fly-leaf--"to a faithful student.--from aselzion." was _i_ 'a faithful student'? i asked myself the question doubtingly. there was no 'faithfulness' in fears and depressions! here was i, shaken in part from self-control from the mere hearing of voices behind a wall! i, who had said that "god ordains nothing that is not for good"--was suddenly ready to believe that he had ordained the death of the lover to whom his laws had guided me! i, to whom had been vouchsafed the beatific vision of an angel--an angel who had said--"god thinks no evil of thee--desires no wrong towards thee--has no punishment in store for thee--give thyself into his hand, and be at peace!" was already flinching and turning away from the faith that should keep me strong! a sense of shame stole over me--and almost timidly i approached the table on which the open book lay, and sat down in the chair so invitingly placed. i had scarcely done this when the voices began again, in rather louder and angrier tones. "she imagines she can learn the secret of life! a woman, too! the brazen arrogance of such an attempt!" "no, no! it is not the secret of life she wants to discover so much as the secret of perpetual youth! that, to a woman, is everything! to be always young and always fair! what feminine thing would not 'adventure for such merchandise'!" a loud laugh followed this observation. "santoris was well on his way to the goal"--said a voice that was suave and calm of accent--"certainly no one would have guessed his real age." "he had all the ardour and passion of youth"--said another voice--"the fire of love ran as warmly in his veins as though he were a romeo! none of the coldness and reluctance of age affected him where the fair sex was concerned!" more laughter followed. i sat rigidly in the chair by the crystal table, listening to every word. "the woman here is the latest victim of his hypnotic suggestions, isn't she?" "yes. one may say his last victim--he will victimise no more." "i suppose if aselzion told her the truth she would go at once?" "of course! why should she remain? it is only a dream of love that has brought her here--when she knows the dream is over, there will be nothing left." true! nothing left! the whole world a desert, and heaven itself without hope! i pressed my hands to my eyes to try and cool their burning ache--was it possible that what these voices said could be true? they had ceased speaking, and there was a blessed silence. as a kind of desperate resource, i took out the letter rafel santoris had written to me, and read its every word with an eager passion of yearning--especially the one passage that ran thus--"we--you and i--who know that life, being all life, cannot die,--ought to be wiser in our present space of time than to doubt each other's infinite capability for love and the perfect world of beauty which love creates." 'wiser than to doubt'! ah, i was not wise enough! i was full of doubts and imagined evils--and why? because of voices behind a wall! surely a foolish cause for sorrow! i tried to extricate my mind from the darkness of despondency into which it had fallen, and to distract my attention from my own unhappy thoughts i glanced at the book which lay open before me. as i looked, its title, printed in letters of gold, flashed on my eyes like a gleam of the sun--'the secret of life.' a sudden keen expectancy stirred in me--i folded rafel's letter and slipped it back into its resting-place near my heart--then i drew my chair close up to the table, and bending over the book began to read. all was now perfectly still around me--the voices had ceased. gradually i became aware that what i was reading was intended for my instruction, and that the book itself was a gift to me from aselzion if i proved a 'faithful student.' a thrill of hope and gratitude began to relieve the cold weight upon my heart,--and i suddenly resolved that i would not listen to any more voices, even if they spoke again. "rafel santoris is not dead!"--i said aloud and resolutely--"he could not so sever himself from me now! he is not treacherous--he is true! he is not 'fooling' me--he is relying upon me to believe in him. and i will believe in him!--my love and faith shall not be shaken by mere rumour! i will give him no cause to think me weak or cowardly,--i will trust him to the end!" and with these words spoken to the air, i went on reading quietly in a stillness made suddenly fragrant with the scent of unseen flowers. xvii the magic book it is not possible here to transcribe more than a few extracts from the book on which my attention now became completely riveted. the passages selected are chosen simply because they may by chance be useful to those few--those very few--who desire to make of their lives something more than a mere buy and sell business, and also because they can hardly be called difficult to understand. when paracelsus wrote 'the secret of long life' he did so in a fashion sufficiently abstruse and complex to scare away all but the most diligent and persevering of students, this no doubt being his intention. but the instructions given in the volume placed, as i imagined, for my perusal, were simple and in accordance with many of the facts discovered by modern science, and as i read on and on i began to see light through the darkness, and to gain a perception of the way in which i might become an adept in what the world deems 'miracle,' but which after all is nothing but the scientific application of common sense. to begin with, i will quote the following,--headed life and its adjustment "life is the divine impetus of love. the force behind the universe is love--and from that love is bred desire and creation. even as the human lover passionately craves possession of his beloved, so that from their mutual tenderness the children of love are born, the divine spirit, immortally creative and desirous of perfect beauty, possesses space with eternal energy, producing millions of solar systems, each one of which has a different organisation and a separate individuality. man, the creature of our small planet, the earth, is but a single result of the resistless output of divine fecundity,--nevertheless man is the 'image of god' in that he is endowed with reason, will and intelligence beyond that of the purely animal creation, and that he is given an immortal soul, formed for love and for the eternal things which love creates. he can himself be divine, in the desire and perpetuation of life. considered in a strictly material sense, he is simply an embodied force composed of atoms held together in a certain organised form,--but within this organised form is contained a spiritual being capable of guiding and controlling its earthly vehicle and adjusting it to surroundings and circumstances. in his dual nature man has the power of holding his life-cells under his own command--he can renew them or destroy them at pleasure. he generally elects to destroy them through selfishness and obstinacy,--the two chief disintegrating elements of his mortal composition. hence the result which he calls 'death'--but which is merely the necessary transposition of his existence (which he has himself brought about) into a more useful phase. if he were to learn once for all that he can prolong his life on this earth in youth and health for an indefinite period, in which days and years are not counted, but only psychic 'episodes' or seasons, he could pass from one joy to another, from one triumph to another, as easily as breathing the air. it is judged good for a man's body that he should stand upright, and that he should move his limbs with grace and ease, performing physical exercises for the improvement and strengthening of his muscles,--and he is not considered a fool for any feats of physical valour or ability which he may accomplish. why then should he not train his soul to stand as upright as his body, so that it may take full possession of all the powers which natural and spiritual energy can provide? "reader and student!--you for whom these words are written, learn and remember that the secret strength and renewal of life is adjustment--the adjustment of the atoms whereof the body is composed to the commands of the soul. be the god of your own universe! control your own solar system that it may warm and revivify you with an ever recurring spring! make love the summer of your life, and let it create within you the passion of noble desire, the fervour of joy, the fire of idealism and faith! know yourself as part of the divine spirit of all things, and be divine in your own creative existence. the whole universe is open to the searchings of your soul if love be the torch to light your way!" having read thus far, i paused--the little room in which i sat appeared darker--or was it my fancy? i listened for the voices which had so confused and worried me--but there was no sound. i turned the pages of the book before me, and found the following: the action of thought "thought is an actual motive force, more powerful than any other motive force in the world. it is not the mere pulsation in a particular set of brain cells, destined to pass away into nothingness when the pulsation has ceased. thought is the voice of the soul. just as the human voice is transmitted through distance on the telephone wires, so is the soul's voice carried through the radiant fibres connected with the nerves to the brain. the brain receives it, but cannot keep it--for it again is transmitted by its own electric power to other brains,--and you can no more keep a thought to yourself than you can hold a monopoly in the sunshine. everywhere in all worlds, throughout the whole cosmos, souls are speaking through the material medium of the brain,--souls that may not inhabit this world at all, but that may be as far away from us as the last star visible to the strongest telescope. the harmonies that suggest themselves to the musician here to-day may have fallen from sirius or jupiter, striking on his earthly brain with a spiritual sweetness from worlds unknown,--the poet writes what he scarcely realises, obeying the inspiration of his dreams,-and we are all, at our best, but mediums for conveying thought, first receiving it from other spheres to ourselves, and then transmitting it from ourselves to others. shakespeare, the chief poet and prophet of the world, has written: 'there is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so,'--thus giving out a profound truth,--one of the most profound truths of the psychic creed. for what we think, we are; and our thoughts resolve themselves into our actions. "in the renewal of life and the preservation of youth, thought is the chief factor. if we think we are old--we age rapidly. if, on the contrary, we think we are young, we preserve our vitality indefinitely. the action of thought influences the living particles of which our bodies are composed, so that we positively age them or rejuvenate them by the attitude we assume. the thinking attitude of the human soul should be one of gratitude, love and joy. there is no room in spiritual nature for fear, depression, sickness or death. god intends his creation to be happy, and by bringing the soul and body both into tune with happiness we obey his laws and fulfil his desire. therefore, to live long, encourage thoughts of happiness! avoid all persons who talk of disease, misery and decay--for these things are the crimes of man, and are offences against god's primal design of beauty. drink in deep draughts of sunshine and fresh air,--inhale the perfume of flowers and trees,--keep far away from cities and from crowds--seek no wealth that is not earned by hand or brain--and above all things remember that the children of light may walk in the light without fear of darkness!" something in this latter sentence made me stop, and look again around me--and again i felt sure that the room was growing darker, and not only darker but smaller. the purple silk hangings which draped the walls were almost within my touch, and i knew they had not been so close to me when i first sat down to read. a nervous tremor ran through me, but i resolved i would not be the dupe of my own fancy, and i set myself once more resolutely to the study of the volume before me. the next paragraph which attracted me was headed on the command of life's forces and began thus: "to live long you must have perfect control of the forces that engender life. the atoms of which your body is composed are in perpetual movement,--your spiritual self must guide them in the way they should go, otherwise they resemble an army without organisation or equipment, easily put to rout by a first assault. if you have them under your spiritual orders you are practically immune from all disease. disease can never enter your system save through some unguarded corner. you may meet with accident--through the fault of others or through your own wilfulness,--if through your own wilfulness, you have only yourself to blame--if through the fault of others, you may know that it was a destined and pre-ordained removal of yourself from a sphere for which you are judged to be unfitted. barring such accident, your life need know no end, even on this earth. your spirit, called the soul, is a creature of light--and it can supply revivifying rays to every atom and cell in your body without stint or cessation. it is an exhaustless supply of 'radium' from which the forces of your life may draw perpetual sustenance. man uses every exterior means of self-preservation, but forgets the interior power he possesses, which was bestowed upon him that he might 'replenish the earth and subdue it.' to 'replenish' the earth is to give out love ungrudgingly to all nature,--to 'subdue' the earth, is first, to master the atoms of which the human organisation is composed, and hold them completely under control, so that by means of this mastery, all other atomic movements and forces upon this planet and its encircling atmosphere may be equally controlled. much is talked of the 'light rays' which pierce solid matter as though it were nothing but clear air--yet this discovery is but the beginning of wonders. there are rays which divine metals, even as the hazel wand divines the presence of water,--and the treasures of the earth, the gold, the silver, the jewels and precious things that are hidden beneath its surface and in the depth of the sea can be seen in their darkest recesses by the penetrating flash of a ray as yet unknown to any but adepts in the psychic creed. no true adept is ever poor,--poverty cannot exist where perfect control of the life forces is maintained. gladness, peace and plenty must naturally attend the soul that is in tune with nature and life is always perpetuated from the joy of life. "stand, therefore, o patient student, erect and firm!--let the radiating force of the soul possess every nerve and blood-vessel of the body, and learn to command all things pertaining to good with that strength which compels obedience! not idly did the supreme master speak when he told his disciples that if their faith were but as a grain of mustard seed they could command a mountain to be cast into the sea, and it would obey. remember that the spirit within your bodily house of clay is divine, and of god!--and that with god all things are possible!" i raised my head from its bent position over the book, and drew a long breath--something oppressed me with a sense of suffocation, and looking up i saw that i was being steadily closed in, as by a contracting cage. the little room, draped with its soft purple hangings, was now too small for me to move about, i was pinned to my chair, and the ceiling was apparently descending upon me. with a shock of horrified memory i recalled the old torture of the 'living tomb' practised by the spanish inquisition, when the wretched victim was compelled to watch the walls of his prison slowly narrowing round him inch by inch till he was crushed to death. how could i be sure that no such cruelties were used among the mysterious members of a mysterious brotherhood, whose avowed object of study was the searching out of the secret of life? i made an effort to rise, and found i could stand upright--and there straight opposite to me was the entrance to my own room from which i had wandered into this small inner chamber. it seemed easy enough to get there, and yet--i found myself hindered by an invisible barrier. i stood, with my heart beating nervously--wondering what was my threatening danger. almost involuntarily my eyes still perused the printed page of the book before me, and i read the following sentences in a kind of waking dream:-"to the soul that will not study the needs of its immortal nature, life itself becomes a narrow cell. all god's creation waits upon it to supply what it shall demand,--yet it starves in the midst of plenty. fear, suspicion, distrust, anger, envy and callousness paralyse its being and destroy its action,--love, courage, patience, sweetness, generosity and sympathy are actual life-forces to it and to the body it inhabits. all the influences of the social world work against it--all the influences of the natural world work with it. there is nothing of pure nature that will not obey its behest, and this should be enough for its happy existence. sorrow and despair result from the misguidance of the will--there is no other cause in earth or heaven for any pain or trouble." misguidance of the will! i spoke the words aloud--then went on reading-"what is heaven? a state of perfect happiness. what is happiness? the immortal union of two souls in one, creatures of god's eternal light, partaking each other's thoughts, bestowing upon each other the renewal of joy, and creating loveliness in form and action by their mutual sympathy and tenderness. age cannot touch them--death has no meaning for them,--life is their air and space and movement--life palpitates through them and warms them with colour and glory as the sunshine warms and reddens the petals of the rose--they grow beyond mortality and are immune from all disaster--they are a world in themselves, involuntarily creating other worlds as they pass from one phase to another of production and fruition. for there is no good work accomplished without love,--no great triumph achieved without love,--no fame, no victory gained without love! the lovers of god are the beloved of god!--their passion is divine, knowing no weariness, no satiety, no end! for god is the supreme lover and there is nothing higher than love!" here, on a sudden impulse, i took up the book, closed it and held it clasped in my two hands. as i did this, a great darkness overwhelmed me--a sound like thunder crashed on my ears, and i felt the whole room reeling into chaos. the floor sank, and i sank with it, down to a great depth so swiftly that i had no time to think what had happened till the sensation of falling stopped abruptly, and i found myself in a narrow green lane, completely shadowed by the wide boughs of over-arching trees. hardly could i realise my surroundings when i saw rafel!--rafel santoris himself walking towards me--but--not alone! the eager impulse to run to him was checked--i stood quiet, and cold to the heart. a woman was with him--a woman young and very beautiful--his arm was round her, and his eyes looked with unwearied tenderness at her face. i heard his voice--caressing, and infinitely gentle. "beloved!" he said--"i call you by this name as i have always called you through many cycles of time! is it not strange that even the eager spirit, craving for its preordained mate, is subject to error? i thought i had found her whom i should love a little while before i met you--but this was a momentary blindness!--you are the one i have sought for many centuries!--you are the one and only beloved!--promise never to leave me again!" she answered--and i heard her murmur, soft as a sigh--"i promise!" still walking together like lovers, they came on--i knew they must pass me,--and i stood in their way that rafel santoris at least might see me--might know that i had adventured into the house of aselzion for his sake, and that so far i had not failed! if he were false, then surely the failure would be his! with a sickening heart i watched him approach,--his blue eyes rested on me carelessly with a cold smile--his fair companion glanced at me as at a stranger--and they moved on and passed out of sight. i could not have spoken, had i tried--i was stricken dumb and feeble. this was the end, then? i had made my journey to no purpose,--he had already found another 'subject' for his influence! stunned and bewildered with the confusion of thought in my brain, i tried to walk a few paces, and found the ground soft as velvet, while a cool breeze blowing through the trees refreshed my aching forehead and eyes. i still held the book--'the secret of life'--and in a dull, aimless way thought how useless it was! what does life matter if love be untrue? the sun was shining somewhere above me, for i saw glinting reflections of it through the close boughs, and there were birds singing. but both beauty of sight and beauty of sound were lost to me--i had no real consciousness left save that the lover who professed to love me with an eternal love loved me no more! so the world was desolate, and heaven itself a blank!--death, and death alone seemed dear and desirable! i walked slowly and with difficulty--my limbs were languid, and i had lost all courage. if i could have found my way to aselzion i would have told him--"this is enough! no more do i need the secret of youth or life, since love has left me." presently i began to think more coherently. a little while back i had heard voices behind a wall saying that rafel santoris was dead,--drowned in his own yacht 'off armadale, in skye.' if that was true how came he here? i questioned myself in vain,--till presently i gathered up sufficient force to remember that love--real love--knows no change. did i believe in my lover's love, or did i doubt it? that was a point for my own consideration! but, had i not the testimony of my own eyes? was i not myselt the witness of his altered mind? here, seeing a rustic seat under one of the shadiest trees, i sat down, and my mind gradually steadied itself. why, i inwardly asked, had i been so suddenly and forcibly brought into this place for no apparent reason save to look upon rafel santoris in the company of another woman whom it seemed that he now preferred to me? ought that to make any difference in my love for him? "in love, if love be love, if love be ours, faith and unfaith can ne'er be equal powers, unfaith in aught is want of faith in all." if the happiness of the one i loved was obtained through other means than mine, ought i to grudge it? and yet!--my heart was full of a sick heaviness,--it seemed to me that i had lately been the possessor of an inestimable joy which had been ruthlessly snatched from me. still meditating in solitary sadness, i sat in the soft gloom wondering at the strange chance that had brought me into such a place, and, curiously enough, never thinking that the whole adventure might be the result of a pre-ordained design. presently, hearing slow footsteps approaching, i looked up and saw an aged man walking towards me, accompanied by a woman of gentle and matronly appearance who supported him on her arm. the looks of both these personages were kindly, and inspired confidence at a glance,--and i watched them coming with a kind of hope that perhaps they might explain my present dilemma. i was particularly attracted by the venerable and benevolent aspect of the man--and as he drew near, seeing that he evidently intended to speak to me, i rose from my seat, and made a step or two forward to meet him. he inclined his head courteously, and smiled upon me with a grave and compassionate air. "i am very glad,"--he said, in a friendly tone--"that we have not come too late. we feared--did we not?" here he looked to his companion for confirmation of his words--"that you might have been hopelessly ensnared and victimised before we could come to the rescue." "alas, yes!" said the woman, in accents of deep pity; "and that would have been terrible indeed!" i stared at them both, utterly bewildered. they spoke of rescue,--rescue from what? 'hopelessly ensnared and victimised.' what did they mean? since i had seen rafel santoris with another woman he called 'beloved'--i had felt almost incapable of speech--but now i found my voice suddenly. "i do not understand you"--i said, as clearly and firmly as i could--"i am here by my own desire, and i am not being ensnared or victimised. why should i need rescue?" the old man shook his head compassionately. "poor child!" he said--"are you not a prisoner in the house of aselzion?" "with my own consent,"--i answered. he lifted his hands in a kind of appealing astonishment, and the woman smiled sadly. "not so!"--she told me--"you are under a very serious delusion. you are here by the wicked will of rafel santoris--a man who would sacrifice any life remorselessly in the support of his own mad theories! you are under his influence, you poor creature!--so easily trapped, too!--you think you are following your own way and carrying out your own wishes, but you are really the slave of santoris and have been so ever since you met him. you are a mere instrument on which he can play any tune." and she turned to the old man beside her with an appealing gesture--"is it not so?" he bent his head in the affirmative. for a moment my brain was in a whirl. could it be possible that what they said was true? their looks were sincere,--they could have no object but kindness in warning me of intended mischief. i tried to conceal the torturing anxiety that possessed me, and asked quietly-"if you have good reason to think all this, what would you advise me to do? if i am in danger how shall i escape from it?" the woman looked curiously at me, and her eyes glittered with sudden interest. her venerable companion replied to my question-"escape is quite easy here and now. you have only to follow us and we will take you out of this wood and escort you to a place of safety. then you can return to your own home and forget--" "forget what?" i interrupted him. "all this foolishness"--he answered, with a gentle seriousness--"this idea of eternal life and love which the artful conjurer rafel santoris has instilled into your too sensitive and credulous imagination--these fantastic beliefs in the immortality and individuality of the soul,--and you will accept old age and death with the sane resignation of ordinary mortals. such love as he professes to believe in does not exist,--such life can never be,--and the secret of his youth--" "ah!" i exclaimed eagerly--"tell me of that! and of aselzion's splendid prime when he should be old and feeble? tell me of that also!" for the first time during this interview, my two companions looked confused. i saw this, and i gained confidence from their evident embarrassment. "why," i pursued--"should you come to me with warnings against those whom god or destiny has brought into my life? you may perhaps say that you yourselves have been sent by god--but does deity contradict itself? i am not conscious of having suffered any evil through rafel santoris or through aselzion--i am pained and perplexed and tortured by what i hear and see--but my hearing and sight are capable of being deceived--why should i think of evil things which are not proved?" the woman surveyed me with sudden scorn. "so you will stay here, the dupe of your own sentiments and dreams!"--she said, contemptuously--"you, a woman, will remain among a community of men who are known impostors, and sacrifice your name and reputation to a mere chimera!" her look and manner had completely changed, and i was at once on my guard. "my name and reputation are my own to protect,"--i answered, coldly--"whatever i do i shall be ready to answer for to anyone having the right to ask." the old man now advanced and laid his hand on my arm. his eyes sparkled angrily. "you must be saved from yourself"--he said, sharply, "you must come with us whether you will or no! we have seen too many victims of aselzion's art already--we are resolved to save you from the peril which threatens you." and he made an effort to draw me closer to him--but my spirit was up and i held back with all my force. "no, i will not go with you!" i exclaimed, hotly--"god alone shall remove me from harm if any harm is really meant towards me. i do not believe one word you have said against rafel santoris or against aselzion--i love the one, and i trust the other!--let me go my own way in peace!" hardly had i spoken these words when both the old man and woman threw themselves upon me and seizing me by force, endeavoured to drag me away with them. i resisted with all my strength, still holding tightly the book of the 'secret of life' in one hand. but their united efforts were beginning to overpower me, and feeling myself growing weaker and weaker i cried aloud in desperation: "rafel! rafel!" in an instant i stood free. my captors loosed their hold of me, and i rushed away, not knowing whither--only running, running, running, afraid of pursuit--till i suddenly found myself alone on the borders of a dark stretch of water spreading away in cold blackness to an unseen horizon. xviii dreams within a dream i stopped abruptly, brought perforce to a standstill. there was nothing but the black water heaving in front of me with a slow and dizzying motion and faintly illumined by a dim, pearly light like that of a waning moon. i looked behind me, fearing my persecutors were following, and saw that a thick mist filled the air and space to the obliteration of everything that might otherwise have been visible. i had thought it was day, and that the sun was shining, but now it appeared to be night. utterly fatigued in body and mind, i sank down wearily on the ground, close to the edge of the strange dark flood which i could scarcely see. the quiet and deep obscurity had a lulling effect on my senses--and i thought languidly how good it would be if i might be allowed to rest where i was for an indefinite time. "i can understand"--i said to myself--"why many people long for death and pray for it as a great blessing! they have lost love--and without love, life is valueless. to live on and on through cycles of time in worlds that are empty of all sweetness,--companionless and deprived of hope and comfort--this would be hell!--not heaven!" "hell--not heaven!" said a voice near me. i started and looked up--a shadowy figure stood beside me--that of a woman in dark trailing garments, whose face shone with a pale beauty in the dim light surrounding us both. "so you have found your way here at last!" she said, gently--"here, where all things end, and nothing begins!" i rose to my feet and confronted her. "where all things end!" i repeated--"surely where life exists there is no end?" she gave me a fleeting smile. "life is a dream,"--she said--"and the things of life are dreams within the dream! there are no realities. you imagine truths which are deceptions." i looked at her in wonder and bewilderment. she was beautiful--and the calm sadness of her eyes expressed compassion and tenderness. "then--is creation a lie?" i asked. she made no immediate answer, but pointed with one hand towards the dark water. i looked, and uttered a cry of ecstasy--there, shining in the heaving blackness like a vision from fairyland, was the 'dream'--glittering from stem to stern with light that sparkled like millions of diamonds! "your dream of love!" said the woman beside me--"behold it for the last time!" with straining eyes and beating heart i watched--and saw the shining vessel begin to sink slowly into the deep watery blackness--down, down still lower, till only her masts were visible--then something defiant and forceful sprang up within me,--i would master this torture, i thought--i would not yield to the agony that threatened to drive me to utter despair. "this is a phantom of sorrow!"--i said--"it has no meaning! the love that is in my heart is my own!--it is my life, my soul, my inmost being!--it is eternal as god himself, and to him i commend it!" i spoke these words aloud, holding the book of the 'secret of life' clasped to my breast--and raised my eyes trustfully to the dense darkness which should have been the sky. then i felt the woman's hand on mine. her touch was warm and gentle. "come!" she said, softly. and i saw a small boat slip out on the gloomy water, guided towards me by one whose face was hidden in a fold of black. my companion drew me with her and signed to me to enter. something in myself, as well as in her looks, impelled me to obey, and as she stepped into the boat i followed. we were borne along in silence for what seemed to me a long time, till suddenly i began to hear strange sounds of wailing, and shuddering cries of appeal, and our darkness was lightened by the drifting to and fro of pale forms that were luminous and human in shape though scarcely of human resemblance. "what are these?" i whispered. my companion took my hand and held it. "listen!" she answered. and gradually, out of a clamour of weeping and complaint, i heard voices which uttered distinct things. "i am the phantom of wealth"--said one--"for me men and nations have rushed on destruction,--for me they have sacrificed happiness and missed the way to god! for me innocence has been betrayed and honour murdered. i am but a shadow, but the world follows me as if i were light--i am but the gold dust of earth, and men take me for the glory of heaven!" "i am the phantom of fame"--said another--"i come with music and sweet promises--i float before the eyes of man, seeming to him an angel!--i speak of triumph and power!--and for me brave hearts have broken, and bright spirits have been doomed to despair! i am but a shadow--but the world believes me substance--i am but a breath and a colour, but men take me for a fixed star!" "i am the phantom of pride!"--said a third voice--"for me humanity scales the height of ambition--for my sake king's and queens occupy uneasy thrones, and surround themselves with pomp and panoply--for me men lie and cheat and wrong their neighbours--for me the homes that should be happy are laid waste--for me false laws are made and evil conquers good i am but a shadow--and the world takes me for the sun!--i am but a passing flash of light, and men take me for the perfect day!" other voices joined in and echoed wildly around me--and i rose up in the boat, loosing my hold from the clasp of the woman who was with me. "you are phantoms all!" i cried, half unconscious of my own words--"i want god's angels! where is love?" the voices ceased--the strange flitting figures that wailed round me faded away into mist, and disappeared--and a light, deep and golden and wonderful, began to shine through the gloom. my companion spoke. "we have been looking at dreams,"--she said--"you ask for the only real!" i smiled. a sudden inrush of strength and authority possessed me. "you bade me look my last upon my dream of love!" i said--"but you knew that was impossible, for love is no dream!" the golden radiance widened into a perfect splendour, and our boat now glided over a shining sea. as in a vision i saw the figure that steered and guided it, change from darkness to brightness--the black fold fell from its face--angel eyes looked at me--angel lips smiled!--and then--i found myself suddenly alone on the shore of a little bay, blue as a sapphire in the reflection of the blue sky above it. the black stretch of water which had seemed so dreary and impassable had disappeared, and to my astonishment i recognised the very shore near the rock garden which was immediately under my turret room. i looked everywhere for the woman who had been in the boat with me--for the boat itself and its guide--but there was no trace of them. where and how far i had wandered i could not imagine--but presently, regaining nerve and courage, i began to fancy that perhaps my strange experience had been preordained and planned as some test of my faith and fortitude. had i failed? surely not! for i had not doubted the truth of god or the power of love! there was only one thing which puzzled me,--the memory of those voices behind a wall--the voices which had spoken of rafel's death and treachery. i could not quite rid myself of the anxiety they had awakened in my mind though i tried hard not to yield to the temptation of fear and suspicion. i knew and felt that after all it is the voices of the world which work most harm to love--and that neither poverty nor sorrow can cut the threads of affection between lovers so swiftly as falsehood and calumny. and yet i allowed myself to be moved by vague uneasiness on this account, and could not entirely regain perfect composure. the door of the winding stair leading to my room in the turret stood open--and i availed myself of this tacit permission to return thither. i found everything as i had left it, except that when i sought for the mysterious little room hung with purple silk, where i had begun to read the book called 'the secret of life,' a book which through all my strange adventure i still had managed to keep with me, i could not find it. the walls around me were solid; there was no sign of an opening anywhere. i sat down by the window to think. there before my eyes was the sea, calm, and in the full radiance of a brilliant sun. no mysterious or magic art suggested itself in the visible scene of a smiling summer day. had i been long absent from this room, i wondered? i could not tell. time seemed to be annihilated. and so far as i myself was concerned i desired nothing in this world or the next save just to know if rafel santoris still lived--and--yes!--one other assurance--to feel that i still possessed the treasure of his love. all the past, present and future hung on this possibility,--there was nothing more to hope for or to attain. for if i had lost love, then god himself could give me no comfort, since the essential link with divine things was broken. gradually a great and soothing quietude stole over me and the cloud of depression that had hung over my mind began to clear. i thought of my recent experience with the man and woman who had sought to 'rescue' me, as they said, and how when in sheer desperation i had called "rafel! rafel!" they had suddenly disappeared and left me free. surely this was a sufficient proof that i was not forgotten by him who had professed to love me?--and that his aid might still be depended upon? why should i doubt him? i had placed my book, 'the secret of life,' on the table when i re-entered my room--but now i took it up again, and the pages fell open at the following passage:-"when once you possess the inestimable treasure of love, remember that every effort will be made to snatch it from you. there is nothing the world envies so much as a happy soul! those who have been your dearest friends will turn against you because you have a joy in which they do not share,--they will unite with your foes to drag you down from your height of paradise. the powers of the coarse and commonplace will be arrayed against you--shafts of disdain and ridicule will be hurled at your tenderest feelings,--venomous lies and cruel calumnies will be circulated around you,--all to try and draw you from the circle of light into darkness and chaos. if you would stand firm, you must stand within the whirlwind; if you would maintain the centre-poise of your soul, you must preserve the balance of movement,--the radiant and deathless atoms whereof your body and spirit are composed must be under steady control and complete organisation like a well disciplined army, otherwise the disintegrating forces set up by the malign influences of others around you will not only attack your happiness, but your health, break down your strength and murder your peace. love is the only glory of life,--the heart and pulse of all things,--a possession denied to earth's greatest conquerors--a talisman which opens all the secrets of nature--a divinity whose power is limitless, and whose benediction bestows all beauty, all sweetness, all joy! bear this in mind, and never forget how such a gift is grudged to those who have it by those who have it not!" reading thus far, a light began to break in upon me. had not all the weird and inexplicable experience of the past hours (or days) tended to shake me from love and destroy my allegiance to the ideal i cherished? and--had i yielded to the temptation? had i failed? i dared not estimate either failure or success! leaving my place at the window, i saw that the little 'lift' or dresser in the wall had come up noiselessly with its usual daintily prepared refection of fruit and bread and deliciously cool spring water. i had felt neither hunger nor thirst during my strange wanderings in unknown places, but now i was quite ready for a meal, and enjoyed it with all the zest of an unspoilt appetite. when i had finished, i returned to my precious book, and placing it on the table, i propped up my head between my two hands and set myself resolutely to study. and i write down here the passages i read, exactly as i found them, for those who care to practise the lessons they teach. free-will "the exercise of the will is practically limitless. it is left unfettered so that we may be free to make our own choice of life and evolve our own destiny. it can command all things save love, for love is of god and god is not subject to authority. love must be born in the soul and of the soul. it must be a dual flame,--that is to say, it must find its counterpart in another soul which is its ordained mate, before it can fulfil its highest needs. then, like two wings moved by the same soaring impulse, it assists the will and carries it to the highest heaven. through its force life is generated and preserved--without it, life escapes to other phases to find its love again. nothing is perfect, nothing is lasting without the light and fire of this dual flame. it cannot be willed either to kindle or to burn; it must be born of itself and in itself, and shed its glory on the souls of its own choice. all else is subject to order and command. love alone is free." power "power over all things and all men is obtained by organisation--that is to say, 'setting one's house in order.' the 'house' implied is the body in which the soul has temporary dwelling; every corner of it must be 'in order,'--every atom working healthfully in its place without any suggestion of confusion. then, whatever is desired shall be attained. nothing in the universe can resist the force of a steadfastly fixed resolve; what the spirit truly seeks must, by eternal law, be given to it, and what the body needs for the fulfilment of the spirit's commands will be bestowed. from the sunlight and the air and the hidden things of space strength shall be daily and hourly renewed; everything in nature shall aid in bringing to the resolved soul that which it demands. there is nothing within the circle of creation that can resist its influence. success, wealth, triumph upon triumph come to every human being who daily 'sets his house in order'--whom nothing can move from his fixed intent,--whom no malice can shake, no derision drive from his determined goal,--whom no temptation can drag from his appointed course, and who is proof against spite and calumny. for men's minds are for the most part like the shifting sands of the sea, and he alone rules who evolves order from chaos." eternal life "life is eternal because it cannot die. everything that lives must live for ever. everything that lives has always lived. what is called death, is by law impossible. life is perpetually changing into various forms,--and every change it makes we call 'death' because to us it seems a cessation of life, whereas it is simply renewed activity. every soul imprisoned to-day in human form has lived in human form before,--the very rose that flowers on its stem has flowered in this world before. each individual spirit preserves its individuality and, to a certain extent, its memory. it is permitted to remember a few out of the million incidents and episodes with which its psychic brain is stored, but only a few during its period of evolvement. when it reaches the utmost height of spiritual capacity, and is strong enough to know and see and understand, then it will remember all from the beginning. nothing can ever be forgotten, inasmuch as forgetfulness implies waste, and there is no waste in the scheme of the universe. every thought is kept for use,--every word, every sigh and tear is recorded. life itself, in our limited view of it, can be continued indefinitely on this earth, if we use the means given to us to preserve and renew it. it was easy to preserve and prolong it in the early days of the world's prime, for our planet was then nearer to the sun. in the present day it is returning to a position in the heavens which encourages and sustains life--and men live longer without knowing why, never thinking that it is the result of the immediate situation of the planet with regard to the sun. the earth is not where it was in the days of christ; it has been rushing through space these two thousand years, and yet mankind forgets that its place in the heavens is different from that which it formerly occupied, and that with this difference the laws of climate, custom and living are changed. it is not man who alters his surroundings--it is nature, whose order cannot be disobeyed. man thinks that the growth of science and what he calls his 'progress' is the result of his own cleverness alone; on the contrary, it is the result of a change in his atmospheric ether which not only helps scientific explanation and discovery, but which tends to give him greater power over the elements, as well as to prolong his life and intellectual capability. there is no such thing as 'standing still' in the universe. every atom, every organism is doing something, or going somewhere, and there is no stop. rest itself is merely a form of progress towards beauty and perfection, and there is no flaw anywhere in the majestic splendour of god's scheme for the ultimate happiness of his entire creation." arrogant asceticism "the ascetic is a blasphemer of god and of the work for which god alone is responsible. by withdrawing himself from the world of men he withdraws himself from human sympathy. by chastising the body and its natural emotions and desires, he chastises that which god has made as a temple for his soul to dwell in. by denying the pleasures of this world, he denies all the good which god has prepared and provided for him, and he wrongs the fair happiness of nature and the order in which the universe is planned. the so-called 'religious' person who retires into a monastery, there to pray and fast and bemoan the ills of the flesh, is an unnatural creature and displeasing to his maker. for god looked upon everything he had made and found it 'good.' good--not bad, as the arrogant ascetic would assume. joy, not sorrow, should be the keynote of life--the world is not a 'vale of tears' but a flower-filled garden, basking in the perpetual sunshine of the smile of god. what is called 'sin' is the work of man--god has no part in it. 'by pride the angels fell.' by pride man delays his eternal delight. when he presumes to be wiser than his creator,--when he endeavours to upset the organisation of nature, and invents a kind of natural and moral code of his own, then comes disaster. the rule of a pure and happy life is to take all that god sends with thankfulness in moderation--the fruits of the earth, the joys of the senses, the love of one's fellow-creatures, the delights of the intellect, the raptures of the soul; and to find no fault with that which is and must ever be faultless. we hear of wise men and philosophers sorrowing over 'the pain and suffering of the world'--but the pain and suffering are wrought by man alone, and man's cruelty to his fellows. from man's culpable carelessness and neglect of the laws of health has come every disease, as from man's egotism, unbelief and selfishness have sprung all the crimes in the calendar." i paused here, for it seemed to me that it was getting dark,--at any rate i could not see to read very clearly. i looked at the window, but very little light came through it,--a sudden obscurity, like a heavy cloud, darkened all visible things. i quickly made up my mind that i would not yield to any more fanciful terrors, or leave the room, even if i saw another outlet that night. with this determination i undressed quickly and went to bed. as i laid my head on the pillow i felt a kind of coldness in the air which made me shiver a little--an 'uncanny' sensation to which i would not yield. i saw the darkness thickening round me, and closed my eyes, resolving to rest--and so succeeded in ordering all my faculties to this end that within a very few minutes i was soundly asleep. xix the unknown deep my slumber was so profound and dreamless that i have no idea how long it lasted, but when finally i awoke it was with a sense of the most vivid and appalling terror. every nerve in my body seemed paralysed--i could not move or cry out,--invisible bands stronger than iron held me a prisoner on my bed--and i could only stare upwards in horror as a victim bound to the rack might stare at the pitiless faces of his torturers. a figure, tall, massive and clothed in black, stood beside me--i could not see its face--but i felt its eyes gazing down upon me with a remorseless, cold inquisitiveness--a silent, searching enquiry which answered itself without words. if every thought in my brain and every emotion of my soul could have been cut out of me with a dissecting knife and laid bare to outward inspection, those terrible eyes, probing deep into the very innermost recesses of my being, would have done the work. the beating of my heart sounded loud and insistent in my own ears,--i lay still, trying to gain control over my trembling spirit,--and it was almost with an awful sense of relief that i saw the figure move at last from its rigid attitude and beckon me--beckon slowly and commandingly with one outstretched arm from which the black, dank draperies hung like drifting cloud. mechanically obeying the signal, i strove to rise from my bed--and found that i could do so,--i sat up shiveringly, looking at the terrifying form that towered above me, enclosing me as it were in its own shadow--and then, managing to stand on my feet, though unsteadily, i mutely prepared to follow where it should lead. it moved on--and i went after it, compelled by some overpowering instinct against which i dared not rebel. once the vague, half-formed thought flitted through my brain--"this is death that summons me away,"--till with the thought came the remembrance that according to the schooling i was receiving, there is no such thing as 'death,' but only the imaginary phantom we call by that name. slowly, sedately, and with an indescribable majesty of movement, the dark figure glided on before me, and i, a trembling little creature, followed it, i knew not whither. there was no obstacle in our course,--doors, walls and windows seemed to melt asunder into nothingness as we passed--and there was no stop to our onward progress till suddenly i saw before me a steep and narrow spiral stairway of stone winding up into the very centre of a rocky pinnacle, which in its turn lifted its topmost peak into the darkness of a night sky sprinkled with millions of stars. the sombre figure paused: and again i felt the search-light of its invisible eyes burning through me. then, as though satisfied with its brief survey, it began to ascend the spiral stair. i followed step by step,--the way was long and difficult--the sharp turns dizzying to the senses, and there seemed no end to the upward winding. sometimes i stumbled and nearly fell--sometimes i groped on hands and knees, always seeing before me the black-draped form that moved on with such apparently little care as to whether or no i fared ill or well in my obedience to its summons. and now, as i climbed, all sorts of strange memories began to creep into the crannies of my brain and perplex me with trouble and uncertainty. chiefly did my mind dwell on cruelties--the cruelties practised by human beings to one another,--moral cruelties especially, they being so much worse than any physical torture. i thought of the world's wicked misjudgments passed on those who are greater in spirit than itself,--how, even when we endeavour to do good to others, our kindest actions are often represented as merely so many forms of self-interest and self-seeking,--how our supposed 'best' friends often wrong us and listen credulously to enviously invented tales against us,--how even in love--ah!-love!--that most etherial yet most powerful of passions!--a rough word, an unmerited slight, may separate for a lifetime those whose love would otherwise have been perfect. and still i climbed, and still i thought, and still the dark phantom-figure beckoned me on and on. and then i began to consider that in climbing to some unknown, unseen height in deep darkness i was, after all, doing a wiser thing than living in the world with the ways of the world,--ways that are for the most part purely hypocritical, and are practised merely to overreach and out-do one's fellow-men and women--ways of fashion, ways of society, ways of government which are merely temporary, while nature, the invincible and eternal, moves on her appointed course with the same inborn intuition, namely, to destroy that which is evil and preserve only that which is good. and man, the sole maker of evil, the only opposer of divine order, fools himself into the belief that his evil shall prosper and his falsehood be accepted as truth, if he can only sham a sufficient show of religious faith to deceive himself and others on the ascending plane of history. he who has invented sin has likewise invented a god to pardon it, for there is no sin in the natural universe. the divine law cannot pardon, for it is inviolate and bears no trespass without punishment. so i mused in my inward self, and still i climbed, keeping my eyes fixed on the figure that led me on, and which now, having reached the end of the spiral stair, was slowly mounting to the highest peak of the rocky pinnacle which lifted itself to the stars. an icy wind began to blow,--my feet were bare, and i was thinly clad in my night-gear with only the addition of a white woollen wrap i had hastily flung round me for warmth when i left my bed to follow my spectral leader--and i shivered through and through with the bitter cold. yet i went on resolutely,--indeed, having started on this perilous adventure, there was no returning, for when i looked back on the way i had come, the spiral stair had completely vanished, and there was nothing but black and empty space! this discovery so terrified me that for the moment i lost breath, and i came to a halt in the very act of ascending. then i saw the figure in front of me turn round with a threatening movement, and i felt that with one second more of hesitation i should lose my footing altogether and slip away into some vast abysmal depth of unimaginable doom. making a strong effort, i caught back my escaping self-control, and forced my shuddering limbs to obey my will and resume their work-and so, slowly, inch by inch, i resumed my climb, sick with giddiness and fear and chilled to the very heart. presently i heard a rumbling roar like the sound of great billows rushing into hollow caverns which echoed their breaking in thuds of booming thunder. looking up, i saw the figure i had followed standing still; and i fancied that the sombre draperies in which it was enveloped showed an outline of glimmering light. fired by a sudden hope, i set myself to tread the difficult path anew, and presently i too stood still, beside my mysterious leader. above me was a heaven of stars;--below an unfathomable deep of darkness where nothing was visible;--but from this nothingness arose a mighty turbulence as of an angry sea. i remained where i found myself, afraid to move;--one false step might, i felt, hurl me into a destruction which though it would not be actual death would certainly be something like chaos. almost i felt inclined to catch at the cloudy garments of the solemn figure at my side for safety and protection, and while this desire was yet upon me it turned its veiled head towards me and spoke in a low, deep tone that was infinitely gentle. "so far!--and yet not far enough!" it said--"to what end wilt thou adventure for the sake of love?" "to no end whatsoever,"--i answered with sudden boldness--"but to everlasting continuance!" again i thought i saw a faint glowing light within its sombre draperies. "what wouldst thou do for love?" its voice again enquired--"wouldst thou bear all things and believe all things? canst thou listen to falsehood bearing witness against truth, and yet love on? wilt thou endure all suffering, all misunderstanding, all coldness and cruelty, and yet keep thy soul bright as a burning lamp with the flame of faith and endeavour? wouldst thou scale the heavens and plunge to the uttermost hell for the sake of him thou lovest, knowing that thy love must make him one with thee at the god-appointed hour?" i looked up at the figure, vainly striving to see its face. "all these things i would do!" i answered--"all that is in the power of my soul to endure mortally or immortally, i will bear for love's sake!" again the light flashed through its black garments. when it next spoke, its voice rang out harshly in ominous warning. "thy lover is dead!" it proclaimed--"he has passed from this sphere to another, and ye shall not meet again for many cycles of time! dost thou believe it?" a cold agony gripped my breast, but i would not yield to it, and answered resolutely-"no! i do not believe it! he could not die without my knowing and feeling the parting of his soul from mine!" there was a pause, in which only the thunder of that invisible sea far down below us was audible. then the voice went on, "thy lover is false!" it said--"his love for thee was a passing mood--already he regrets--already he wearies in thought of thee and loves thee no more! dost thou believe it?" i took no time for thought, but answered at once without hesitation-"no! for if he does not love me his spirit lies!--and no spirit can lie!" another pause. then the voice put this question-"dost thou truly believe in god, thy creator, the maker of heaven and earth?" lifting my eyes half in hope, half in appeal to the starry deep sky above me, i replied fervently-"i do believe in him with all my soul!" a silence followed which seemed long and weighted with suspense. then the voice spoke once more-"dost thou believe in love, the generator of life and the moving cause and mind of all created things?" and again i replied-"with all my soul!" the figure now bent slightly towards me, and the light within its darkness became more denned and brilliant. presently an arm and hand, white and radiant--a shape as of living flame--was slowly outstretched from the enfolding black draperies. it pointed steadily to the abyss below me. "if thy love is so great"--said the voice--"if thy faith is so strong--if thy trust in god is sure and perfect--descend thither!" i heard--but could not credit my own hearing. i gazed at the shrouded and veiled speaker--at the commanding arm that signed my mortal body to destruction. for a moment i was lost in wild terror and wilder doubt. was this fearful suggestion a temptation or a test? should it be obeyed? i strove to find the centre-poise of my own self--to gather all my forces together,--to make myself sure of my own will and responsible for my own deeds,--and then--then i paused. all that was purely mortal in me shuddered on the brink of the unknown. one look upward to the soft gloom of the purple sky and its myriad stars--one horrified glance downward at the dark depth where i heard the roaring of the sea! i clasped my hands in a kind of prayerful desperation, and looked once more at the solemn shadow beside me. "if thy love is so great!" it repeated, in slow and impressive tones--"if thy faith is so strong! if thy trust in god is so sure and perfect!" there came a moment of tense stillness--a moment in which my life seemed detached from myself so that i held it like a palpitating separate creature in my hands, suddenly the recollection of the last vision of all those i had seen among the dark mountains of coruisk came back to me vividly--that of the woman who had knelt outside a barred gate in heaven, waiting to enter in--"o leave her not always exiled and alone!" i had prayed then--"dear god, have pity! unbar the gate and let her in! she has waited so long!" a sob broke unconsciously from my lips--my eyes filled with burning tears that blinded me. imploringly i turned towards the relentless figure beside me once more--its hand still pointed downwards--and again i seemed to hear the words-"if thy love is so great! if thy faith is so strong! if thy trust in god is so sure and perfect!" and then i suddenly found my own soul's centre,--the very basis of my own actual being--and standing firmly upon that plane of imperishable force, i came to a quick resolve. "nothing can destroy me!" i said within myself--"nothing can slay the immortal part of me, and nothing can separate my soul from the soul of my beloved! in all earth, in all heaven, there is no cause for fear!" hesitating no longer, i closed my eyes,--then extending my clasped hands i threw myself forward and plunged into the darkness!--down, down, interminably down! a light followed me like a meteoric shaft of luminance piercing the blackness--i retained sufficient consciousness to wonder at its brilliancy, and for a time i was borne along in my descent as though on wings. down, still down!--and i saw ocean at my feet!--a heaving mass of angry waters flecked with a wool-like fleece of foam! "the change that is called death, but which is life!" this was the only clear thought that flashed like lightning through my brain as i sank swiftly towards the engulfing desert of the sea!--then everything swirled into darkness and silence! * * * * * * a delicate warm glow like the filtering of sunbeams through shaded silk and crystal--a fragrance of roses--a delicious sound of harp-like music--to these things i was gradually awakened by a gentle pressure on my brows. i looked up--and my whole heart relieved itself in a long deep sigh of ecstasy!--it was aselzion himself who bent over me,--aselzion whose grave blue eyes watched me with earnest and anxious solicitude. i smiled up at him in response to his wordless questioning as to how i felt, and would have risen but that he imperatively signed to me to lie still. "rest!" he said,--and his voice was very low and tender. "rest, poor child! you have done more than well!" another sigh of pure happiness escaped me,--i stretched out my arms lazily like one aroused from a long and refreshing slumber. my sensations were now perfectly exquisite; a fresh and radiant life seemed pouring itself through my veins, and i was content to remain a perfectly passive recipient of such an inflow of health and joy. the room i found myself in was new to me--it seemed made up of lovely colourings and a profusion of sweet flowers--i lay enshrined as it were in the centre of a little temple of beauty. i had no desire to move or to speak,--every trouble, every difficulty had passed from my mind, and i watched aselzion dreamily as he brought a chair to the side of my couch and sat down--then, taking my hand in his, felt my pulse with an air of close attention. i smiled again. "does it still beat?" i asked, finding my voice suddenly--"surely the great sea has drowned it!" still holding my hand, he looked full into my eyes. "'many waters cannot quench love'!" he quoted softly. "dear child, you have proved that truth. be satisfied!" raising myself on my pillows, i studied his grave face with an earnest scrutiny. "tell me,"--i half whispered--"have i failed?" he pressed my hand encouragingly. "no! you have almost conquered!" almost! only 'almost'! i sank back again on the couch, wondering and waiting. he remained beside me quite silent. after a little the tension of suspense became unbearable and i spoke again-"how did i escape?" i asked--"who saved me when i fell?" he smiled gravely. "there was nothing to escape from"--he answered--"and no one saved you since you were not in danger." "not in danger!" i echoed, amazed. "no! only from yourself!" i gazed at him, utterly bewildered. he gave me a kind and reassuring glance. "have patience!" he said, gently--"all shall be explained to you in good time! meanwhile this apartment is yours for the rest of your stay here, which will not now be long--i have had all your things removed from the probation room in the tower, so that you will no more be troubled by its scenic transformations!" here he smiled again. "i will leave you now to recover from the terrors through which you have passed so bravely;--rest and refresh yourself thoroughly, for you have nothing more to fear. when you are quite ready touch this"--and he pointed to a bell--"i shall hear its summons and will come to you at once." before i could say a word to detain him, he had retired, and i was left alone. i rose from my couch,--and the first impression i had was that of a singular ease and lightness--a sense of physical strength and well-being that was delightful beyond expression. the loveliness and peace of the room in which i was enchanted me,--everything my eyes rested upon suggested beauty. the windows were shaded with rose silk hangings--and when i drew these aside i looked out on a marble loggia or balcony overhung with climbing roses,--this, in its turn, opened on an exquisite glimpse of garden and blue sea. there was no clock anywhere to tell me the time of day, but the sun was shining, and i imagined it must be afternoon. adjoining this luxurious apartment was an equally luxurious bathroom, furnished with every conceivable elegance,--the bath itself was of marble, and the water bubbled up from its centre like a natural spring, sparkling as it came. i found all my clothes, books and other belongings arranged with care where i could most easily get at them, and to my joy the book 'the secret of life,' which i thought i had lost on my last perilous adventure, lay on a small table by itself like a treasure set apart. i bathed and dressed quickly, allowing myself no time to think upon any strange or perplexing point in my adventures, but giving myself entirely up to the joy of the new and ecstatic life which thrilled through me. a mirror in the room showed me my own face, happy and radiant,--my own eyes bright and smiling,--no care seemed to have left a trace on my features, and i was fully conscious of a perfect strength and health that made the mere act of breathing a pleasure. in a very short time i was ready to receive aselzion, and i touched the bell he had indicated as a signal. then i sat down by the window and looked out on the fair prospect before me. how glorious was the world, i thought!--how full of perfect beauty! that heavenly blue of sky and sea melting into one--the tender hues of the clambering roses against the green of the surrounding foliage--the lovely light that filtered through the air like powdered gold!--were not all these things to be thankful for? and can there be any real unhappiness so long as our souls are in tune with the complete harmony of creation? hearing a step behind me, i rose--and with a glad smile stretched out my hands to aselzion, who had just then entered. he took them in his own and pressed them lightly--then drawing a chair opposite to mine, he sat down. his face expressed a certain gravity, and his voice when he began to speak was low and gentle. "i have much to tell you"--he said--"but i will make it as brief as i can. you came here to pass a certain psychic ordeal--and you have passed it successfully--all but the last phase. of that we will speak presently. for the moment you are under the impression that you have been through certain episodes of a more or less perplexing and painful nature. so you have--but not in the way you think. nothing whatever has happened to you, save in your own mind--your adventures have been purely mental--and were the result of several brains working on yours and compelling you to see and to hear what they chose. there!--do not look so startled!"--for i had risen with an involuntary exclamation--"i will explain everything quite clearly, and you will soon understand." he paused--and i sat down again by the window, wondering and waiting. "in this world," he went on, slowly--"it is not climate, or natural surroundings that affect man so much as the influences brought to bear upon him by his fellow-men. human beings really live surrounded by the waves of thought flung off by their own brains and the brains of those around them,--and this is the reason why, if they are not strong enough to find a centre-poise, they are influenced by ways and moods of thought which would never be their own by choice and free-will. if a mind, or let us say a soul, can resist the impressions brought to bear upon it by other forces than itself--if it can stand alone, clear of obstacle, in the light of the divine image, then it has gained a mastership over all things. but the attainment of such a position is difficult enough to be generally impossible. influences work around us everywhere,--men and women with great aims in life are swept away from their intentions by the indifference or discouragement of their friends--brave deeds are hindered from accomplishment by the suggestion of fears which do not really exist--and the daily scattering and waste of psychic force and powerful mentality by disturbing or opposing brain-waves, is sufficient to make the world a perfect paradise were it used to that end." he waited a moment--then bent his eyes earnestly upon me as he resumed-"you do not need to be told by me that you have lived on this earth before, and that you have many times been gently yet forcibly drawn into connection with the other predestined half of yourself,--that soul of love which blindly seeking, you have often rejected when found--not of yourself have you rejected it--but simply because of the influences around you to which you have yielded. now in this further phase of your existence you have been given another chance--another opportunity. it is quite possible that had you not come to me you would have lost your happiness again, and it was this knowledge which made me receive you, against all the rules of our order, when i saw that you were fairly resolved. your ordeal would have been longer had you not made the first bold advance yourself on the occasion of your entrance into our chapel. the light of the cross and star drew you, and your soul obeyed the attraction of its native element. had you opposed its intention by doubts and fears, i should have had more trouble with you than i should have cared to undertake. but you made the first step yourself with a rare courage--the rest was comparatively easy." he paused again and again went on. "i have already said that you are under the impression of having gone through certain adventures or episodes, which have more or less distressed and perplexed you. these things have had no existence except in your mind! when i took you up to your room in the turret, i placed you under my influence and under the influence of four other brains acting in conjunction with myself. we took entire possession of your mentality, and made it as far as possible like a blank slate, on which we wrote what we chose. the test was to see whether your soul, which is the actual you, could withstand and overcome our suggestions. at first hearing, this sounds as if we had played a trick upon you for our own entertainment--but it is not so,--it is merely an application of the most powerful lesson in life--namely, the resistance and conquest of the influences of others, which are the most disturbing and weakening forces we have to contend with." i began to see clearly what he meant me to understand, and i hung upon his words with eager attention. "you have only to look about you in the world," he continued--"to realise the truth of what i say. every day you may meet some soul whose powers of accomplishment might be superb if it were not for the restricting influences to which it allows itself to succumb. how often do you not come upon a man or woman of brilliant genius, who is nevertheless rendered incompetent by opposing influences, and who therefore lives the life of a bird in a cage! take the thousands of men wrongly mated, whose very wives and children drag them down and kill every spark of ambition and accomplishment within them! take the thousands of women persuaded or forced into unions with men whose low estimate of woman's intellect coarsens and degrades her to a level from which it is almost impossible to rise! this is the curse of 'influences'--the magnetic currents of other brains which set our own awry, and make half the trouble and mischief in the world. not one soul in a hundred thousand has force or courage to resist them! the man accustomed to live with a wife who without doing any other harm, simply kills his genius by the mere fact of her daily contact, moods, and methods, makes no effort to shake himself free from the apathy her influence causes, but simply sinks passively into inaction. the woman, bound to a man who insists on considering her lower than himself, and often pulled this way and that by the selfish desires or aims of her children or other family belongings, becomes a mere domestic drudge or machine, with no higher aims than are contained in the general ordering of household business. love,--the miraculous touchstone which turns everything to gold,--is driven out of the circle of life with the result that life itself grows weary of its present phase, and makes haste to seek another more congenial. hence proceeds what we call age and death." i was about to interrupt by an eager question--but he silenced me by a gesture. "your position," he went on--"from a psychic standard,--which is the only necessary, because the only lasting attitude,--is that of being brought into connection with the other half of your spiritual and immortal ego,--which means the possession of perfect love, and with it perfect life. and because this is so great a gift, and so entirely divine, influences are bound to offer opposition in order that the soul may make its choice voluntarily. therefore, when i, and the other brains acting with me, placed you under our power, we impressed you with all that most readily shakes the feminine mind--doubt, jealousy, suspicion, and all the wretched terrors these wretched emotions engender. we suggested the death of rafel santoris as well as his treachery,--you heard, as you thought, voices behind a wall--but there were no voices--only the suggestion of voices in your mind. you saw strange phantoms and shadows,--they had no existence except in so far as we made them exist and present themselves to your mental vision. you wandered away into unknown places, so you imagined,--but as a matter of fact you never left your room!" "never left my room!" i echoed--"oh, that cannot be!" "it can be, because it is!" he answered me, smiling gravely--"the only thing in your experience that was real was the finding of the book 'the secret of life'--in the purple-draped shrine. here it is"--and he took it up from the table on which it lay--"and if you had turned it over a little more, you would have found this"--and he read aloud-"'all action is the material result of thought. suffering is the result of thinking into pain--disease the result of thinking into weakness. every emotion is the result of wrong or right thinking, with one exception--love. love is not an emotion but a principle, and as the generator of life pervades all things, and is all things. thought, working within this principle, creates the things of beauty and lastingness,--thought, working outside this principle, equally creates the things of terror, doubt, confusion, and destruction. there is no other secret of life--no other elixir of youth--no other immortality!'" he pronounced the last words with gentle and impressive emphasis, and a great sweetness and calm filled my mind as i listened. "i--or i should say we--for four of my brethren were deeply interested in you on account of the courage you had shown--we took you up to the utmost height of endurance in the way of mental terror--and, to our great joy, found your soul strong enough to baffle and conquer the ultimate suggestion of death itself. you held firmly to the truth that there is no death, and with that spiritual certainty risked all for love. now we have released you from our spells!"--and his eyes were full of kindness as he looked at me--"and i want to know if you thoroughly realise the importance of the lesson we have taught?" i met his enquiring glance fully and steadily. "i think i do,"--i said--"you mean that i must stand alone?" "alone, yet not alone!"--he answered, and his fine face was transfigured into light with its intense feeling and power--"alone with love!--which is to say alone with god, and therefore surrounded by all god-like, lasting and revivifying things. you will go back from this place to the world of conventions,--and you will meet a million influences to turn you from your chosen way. opinion, criticism, ridicule, calumny and downright misunderstanding--these will come out against you like armed foes, bristling at every point with weapons of offence. if you tell them of your quest of life and youth and love, and of your experience here, they will cover you with their mockery and derision--if you were to breathe a word of the love between you and rafel santoris, a thousand efforts would be instantly made to separate you, one from the other, and snatch away the happiness you have won. how will you endure these trials?--what will be your method of action?" i thought a moment. "the same that i have tried to practise here"--i answered--"i shall believe nothing of ill report--but only of good." he bent his eyes upon me searchingly. "remember," he said--"what force there is in a storm of opinion! the fiercest gale that ever blew down strong trees and made havoc of men's dwellings is a mere whisper compared with the fury of human minds set to destroy one heaven-aspiring soul! think of the petty grudge borne by the loveless against love!--the spite of the restless and unhappy against those who have won peace! all this you will have to bear,--for the world is envious--and even a friend breaks down in the strength of friendship when thwarted or rendered jealous by a greater and more resistless power!" i sighed a little. "i have few friends,"--i said--"certainly none that have ever thought it worth while to know my inner and truest self. most of them are glad to be my friends if i go their way--but if i choose a way of my own their 'friendship' becomes mere quarrel. but i talk of choosing a way! how can i choose--yet? you say my ordeal is not over?" "it will be over to-night,"--he answered--"and i have every hope that you will pass through it unflinchingly. you have not heard from santoris?" the question gave me a little thrill of surprise. "heard from him?--no"--i replied--"he never suggested writing to me." aselzion smiled. "he is too closely in touch with you to need other correspondence,"--he said--"but be satisfied that he is safe and well. no misadventure has befallen him." "thank god!" i murmured. "and--if--" "if he loves you no more,"--went on aselzion--"if he has made an 'error of selection' as the scientists would say, and is not even now sure of his predestined helper and inspirer whose love will lift him to the highest attainment--what then?" "what then? why, i must submit!" i answered, slowly--"i can wait, even for another thousand years!" there was a silence, during which i felt aselzion's eyes upon me. then he spoke again in a lighter tone. "let us for the moment talk of what the world calls 'miracle'"--he said--"i believe you are just now conscious of perfect health, and of a certain joy in the mere fact of life. is it not so?" smiling, i bent my head in acquiescence. "understand then"--he continued--"that while you control the life-forces of which you are made, by the power of an all-commanding spirit, this perfect health, this certain joy will continue. and more than this--everything in nature will serve you to this end. you have but to ask your servants and they will obey. ask of the sun its warmth and radiance,--it will answer with a quick bestowal--ask of the storm and wind and rain their powers of passion,--they will give you their all,--ask of the rose its fragrance and colour, and the very essence of it shall steal into your blood,--there is nothing you shall seek that you will not find. try your own powers now!"--and with the word he got up and opened the window a little wider, then signed to me to step out on the balcony--"here are roses climbing up on their appointed way--bend them to-wards you by a single effort of the will!" i gazed at him in complete surprise and bewilderment. his answering looks were imperative. "by a single effort of the will!" he repeated. i obeyed him. raising my eyes to the roses where they clambered upwards round the loggia, i inwardly commanded them to turn towards me. the effect was instantaneous. as though blown by a light breeze they all bent down with their burden of bright blossom--some of the flowers touching my hands. "that would be called 'miraculous' by the ignorant," said aselzion--"and it is nothing more than the physical force of the magnetic light-rays within you, which, being focused in a single effort, draw the roses down pliantly to your will. no more miracle is there in this than that of the common magnet which has been vainly trying to teach us lessons about ourselves these many years. now, relax your will!" again i obeyed, and the roses moved gently away and upward to their former branching height. "this is an object lesson for you,"--said aselzion, smiling then--"you must understand that you are now in a position to draw everything to you as easily as you drew those roses! you can draw the germs of health and life to mix and mingle with your blood--or--you can equally draw the germs of disease and disintegration. the action is with you. from the sun you can draw fresh fuel for your brain and nerves--from the air the sustenance you demand--from beautiful things their beauty, from wise things their learning, from powerful things their force--nothing can resist the radiating energy you possess if you only remember how to employ it. in every action it must be focused on the given point--it must not be disturbed or scattered. the more often it is used the more powerful it becomes--the more all-conquering. but never forget that it must work within the creative principle of love--not outside it." i sat absorbed and half afraid. "and to-night--?" i said, softly. he rose from his chair and stood up to his full superb stature, looking down upon me with a certain mingling of kindness and pity. "to-night,"--he replied--"we shall send for you! you will confront the brethren, as one who has passed the same mental test through which they are passing! and you will face the last fear! i do not think you will go back upon yourself--i hope not--i strongly desire you to keep your courage to the end!" i ventured to touch his hand. "and afterwards?" i queried. he smiled. "afterwards--life and its secrets are all with you and love!" xx into the light when i was left alone once more i gave myself up to the enchanting sense of perfect happiness that now seemed to possess my whole being. the world of glorious nature showed me an aspect of brilliancy and beauty that could no more be shadowed by fear or foreboding--it was a mirror in which i saw reflected the perfect mind of the divine. nothing existed to terrify or daunt the advancing soul which had become cognisant of its own capabilities, and which, by the very laws governing it, is preordained to rise to the utmost height of supernal power. i had dimly guessed this truth--but i had never surely known it till now. now, i recognised that everything is and must be subservient to this interior force which exists to 'replenish the earth and subdue it'--and that nothing can hinder the accomplishment of its resolved will. as i sat by the window thinking and dreaming, i began to wonder what would be the nature of that 'last fear' of which aselzion had spoken? why should the word 'fear' be mentioned, when there was no cause for fear of any kind? fear can only arise from a sense of cowardice,--and cowardice is the offspring of weakness. from this argument it followed that my strength was not yet thoroughly tested to aselzion's satisfaction,--that he still thought it possible that some latent weakness in my spirit might display itself on further trial. and i resolved that if such was his idea, he should be proved wrong. nothing, i vowed, should move me now--not all the world arrayed in arms against me should hinder my advance towards the completion of myself in the love of my beloved! i have already said that there was no visible chronicle of time in the house of aselzion, save such as was evidenced by the broadening or waning light of day. just now i knew it was late afternoon, as the window where i sat faced the west, and the sun was sinking in a blaze of glory immediately opposite to me. bars of gold and purple and pale blue formed a kind of cloud gateway across the heavens, and behind this the splendid orb shone in a halo of deep rose. watching the royal pageantry of colour on all sides, i allowed myself to go forth as it were in spirit to meet and absorb it,--inwardly i set my whole being in tune with the great wave of light which opened itself over the sea and land, and as i did so found every nerve in my body thrilled with responsive ecstasy, even as harpstrings may be thrilled into sound by the sweep of the wind. i rose and went out, through the loggia into the garden--feeling more like a disembodied spirit than a mortal, so light and free and joyous were my very movements--so entirely in unison was i with everything in nature. the sunset bathed me in its ruby and purple magnificence,--i lifted my eyes to the heavens and murmured almost unconsciously--"thank god for life! thank god for love! thank god for all that life and love must bring to me!" a sea-gull soaring inland flew over my head with a little cry--its graceful poise reminded me of the days i had passed in morton harland's yacht, when i had watched so many of these snow-white creatures dipping into the waves, and soaring up again to the skies--and on a sudden impulse i stretched out my hand, determining to stay the bird's flight if i could and bring it down to me. the effort succeeded,--slowly, and as if checked by some obstacle it felt but could not see, the lovely winged thing swept round and round in an ever descending circle and finally alighted on my wrist. i held it so for a moment--it turned its head towards me, its ruby-brown eyes sparkling in the sun--then i tossed it off again into the air of its own freedom, where after another circling sweep or two it disappeared, and i walked on in a happy reverie, realising that what i could do with the visible things of nature i could do as easily with the invisible. a sense of power vibrated through me [footnote: the philosophy of plato teaches that man originally by the power of the divine image within him could control all nature, but gradually lost this power through his own fault.]--power to command, and power to resist,--power that forbade all hesitation, vacillation or uncertainty--power which being connected by both physical and spiritual currents with this planet, the earth, and the atmosphere by which it is surrounded, lifts all that it desires towards itself, as it rejects what it does not need. returning slowly through the garden, and lingering by the beds of flowers that adorned it, i noticed how when i bent over any particular blossom, it raised itself towards me as though drawn upward by a magnet. i was not inclined to gather a single one for my own pleasure--some occult sympathy had become established between me and these beautiful creations--and i could no more sever a rose from its stem than i could kill a bird that sang its little song to me. on re-entering my room i found the usual refection prepared for me--fresh fruit and bread and water--the only kind of food i was allowed. it was quite sufficient for me,--in fact i had not felt at any time the sensation of hunger. i began to wonder how long i had been a 'probationer' in the house of aselzion? days or weeks? i could not tell. i was realising the full truth that with the things of the infinite time has no existence, and i recalled the verse of the ancient psalm: "a thousand ages in thy sight are like an evening gone, short as the watch that ends the night before the rising sun." and while my thoughts ran in this groove, i opened the book of the 'secret of life'--and as if in answer to my inward communing, found the following: the delusion of time "time has no existence outside this planet. humanity counts its seasons, its days and hours by the sun--but beyond the sun there are millions and trillions of other and larger suns, compared with which our guiding orb is but a small star. out in the infinitude of space there is no time, but only eternity. therefore the soul which knows itself to be eternal should associate itself with eternal things, and should never count its existence by years. to its being there can be no end--therefore it never ages and never dies. it is only the sham religionists who talk of death,--it is only the inefficient and unspiritual who talk of age. the man who allows himself to sink into feebleness and apathy merely because of the passing of years has some mental or spiritual weakness in him which he has not the will to overcome--the woman who suffers her beauty and freshness to wane and fade on account of what she or her 'dearest' friends are pleased to call 'age,' shows that she is destitute of spiritual self-control. the soul is always young, and its own radiation can preserve the youth of the body in which it dwells. age and decrepitude come to those with whom the soul is 'an unknown quantity.' the soul is the only barrier against the forces of disintegration which break down effete substances in preparation for the change which humanity calls 'death.' if the barrier is not strong enough, the enemy takes the city. these facts are simple and true; too simple and too true to be accepted by the world. the world goes to church and asks a divinity to save its soul, practically showing in all its ways of society and government an utter disbelief in the soul's existence. men and women die when they might as well have lived. if we examine into the cause of their deaths we shall find it in the manner of their lives. obstinacy and selfishness have murdered more human beings than any other form of plague. the blasphemy of sham religion has insulted the majesty of the creator more than any other form of sin, and he has answered it by his supreme silence. the man who attends a ritual of prayer which he does not honestly believe in, merely for the sake of social custom and observance, is openly deriding his maker and the priests who gain their living out of such ritual are trading on the divine. let the people of this earth be taught that they live not in time but eternity,--that their thoughts, words and deeds are recorded minutely and accurately--and that each individual human unit is expected to contribute towards the general beauty and adornment of god's scheme of perfection. every man, every woman, must give of his or her best. the artist must give his noblest art, not for what it brings to him personally of gain or renown, but for what it does to others in the way of uplifting;--the poet must give his highest thought, not for praise, but for love;--the very craftsman must do his best and strongest work not for the coin paid, but for the fact that it is work, and as such must be done well--and none must imagine that they can waste the forces wherewith they have been endowed. for no waste and no indolence is permitted, and in the end no selfishness. the attitude of the selfish human being is pure disintegration,--a destroying microbe which crumbles and breaks down the whole constitution, not only ruining the body but the mind, and frequently making havoc of the very wealth that has been too selfishly guarded. for wealth is ephemeral as fame--only love and the soul are the lasting things of god, the makers of life and the rulers of eternity." so far i read--then laying down my book i listened. music, solemn and exquisitely beautiful, stole on my ears from the far distance--it seemed to float through the open window as though in a double chorus--rising from the sea and falling from the heavens. delicious harmonies trembled through the air, soft as fine rain falling on roses,--and with their penetrating tenderness a thousand suggestions, a thousand memories came to me, all infinitely sweet. i began to think that even if rafel santoris were separated from me by some mischance, or changed to me in any way, it need not affect me over-much so long as i cherished the love i had for him in my own soul. our passion was of a higher quality than the merely material,--it was material and spiritual together, the spiritual predominating, thus making of it the only passion that can last. what difference could a few years more or less bring, if we were bound, by the eternal laws governing us, to become united in the end? the joy of life is to love rather than to be loved,--and the recipient of love is never so fully conscious of perfect happiness as the giver. the music went on in varying moods of lovely harmony, and my mind, like a floating cloud, drifted lazily above the waves of sound. i thought compassionately of the unrest and discontent of thousands who devote themselves to the smallest and narrowest aims in life,--people with whom the loss of a mere article of wearing apparel is more important than a national difficulty--people who devote all their faculties to social schemes of self-aggrandisement--people who discuss trifles till discussion is worn threadbare, and ears are tired and brain is weary--people who, assuming to be religious and regular church-goers, yet do the meanest things, and have no scruple in playing the part of tale-bearer and mischief-maker, setting themselves deliberately to break friendships and destroy love--people who talk of god as though he were their intimate, and who have by their very lives drawn everything of god out of them--i thought of all these, i say--and i thought how different this world would be if men would hold by the noblest ideals, and suffer the latent greatness in them to have its way--if they would truly rule their own universe and not allow its movements to fall into chaos--how fair life would become!--how replete with health and joy!--what a paradise would be created around us!--and what constant benediction we should draw down upon us from the most high! and gradually as i sat absorbed in my own reveries the afternoon waned into twilight, and twilight into dusk--one star brilliant as a great diamond, flashed out suddenly above a rift of cloud--and a soft darkness began to creep stealthily over sky and sea. i moved away from the window and paced slowly up and down the room, waiting and wondering. the music still continued,--but it had now grown slower and more solemn, and founded like a great organ being played in a cathedral. it impressed me with a sense of prayer and praise--more of praise than prayer, for i had nothing to pray for, god having given me my own soul, which was all! as the darkness deepened, a soft suffused light illumined the room--and i now noticed that it was the surface of the walls that shone in this delicate yet luminous way. i put my hand on the wall nearest to me--it was quite cold to the touch, yet bright to the eyes, and was no more fatiguing to look at than the sunshine on a landscape. i could not understand how the light was thus arranged and used, but its effect was beautiful. as i walked to and fro, looking at the various graceful and artistic objects which adorned the room, i perceived an easel, on which a picture was placed with a curtain of dark velvet drawn across it. moved by curiosity, i drew the curtain aside,--and my heart gave a quick bound of delight,--it was an admirably painted portrait of rafel santoris. the grave blue eyes looked into my own,--a smile rested on the firm, handsome mouth--the whole picture spoke to me and seemed to ask 'wherefore didst thou doubt?' i stood gazing at it for several minutes, enrapt,--realising how much even the 'counterfeit presentment' of a beloved face may mean. and then i began to think how strange it is that we never seem ready to admit the strong insistence of nature on individuality and personality. up at a vast height above the earth, and looking down upon a crowd of people from the car of a balloon, or from an aeroplane, all human beings look the same--just one black mass of tiny moving units; but, in descending among them, we find every face and figure wholly different, and though all are made on the same model there are no two alike. yet there are many who argue and maintain that though individual personality in bodies may be strongly marked, there is no individual personality in souls--ergo, that nature thinks so little of the intelligent spirit inhabiting a mortal form that she limits individuality to that which is subject to change and has no care for it in that which is eternal! such an hypothesis is absurd on the face of it, since it is the soul that gives individuality to the body. the individual personality of rafel santoris, expressed even in his painted portrait, appealed to me as being that of one i had loved long and tenderly,--there was no strangeness in his features but only an adorable familiarity. long long ago, in centuries that had proved like mere days down the vista of time, the soul in those blue eyes had looked love into mine! i recognised their tender, half-entreating, half-commanding gaze,--i knew the little fleeting, wistful smile which said so little and yet so much--i felt that the striving, ambitious spirit of this man had sought mine as the help and completion of his own uplifting, and that i had misunderstood him and turned from him at the crucial moment when all might have been well. and i studied his picture long and earnestly, so moved by its aspect that i found myself talking to it softly as though it were a living thing. "i wonder if i shall ever meet you again?" i murmured--"will you come to me?--or shall i go to you? how shall we find each other? when shall i be able to tell you that i know you now to be the only beloved!--the one centre of my life round which all other things must for evermore revolve,--the very mainspring of my best thought and action,--the god of my universe from whose love and pleasure spring the light and splendour of creation! when shall i see you again to tell you all that my heart longs to express?--when may i fold myself in your arms as a bird folds its wings in a nest, and be at peace, knowing that i have gained the summit of all ambition and desires in love's perfect union? when shall we attune our lives together in that harmonious chord which shall sound its music sweetly through eternity? when shall our souls make a radiant one, through which god's power and benediction shall vibrate like living fire, creating within us all beauty, all wisdom, all courage, all supernal joy?--for this is bound to be our future--but--when?" moved by my own imagining, i stretched out my arms to the picture of my love, and tears filled my eyes. i was nothing but the weakest of mortals in the sudden recollection of the happiness i might have won long ago had i been wise in time! a door opened quietly behind me, and i turned round quickly. aselzion's messenger, honorius, stood before me--and i greeted him with a smile, though my eyes were wet. "have you come to fetch me?"--i asked--"i am ready." he inclined his head a little. "you are not quite ready"--he said--and with the word he gave into my hands a folded garment and veil--"you must attire yourself in these. i will wait for you outside." he retired and left me, and i quickly changed my own things for those which had been brought. they were easily put on, as they consisted simply of one long white robe of a rather heavy make of soft silk, and a white veil which covered me from head to foot. my attiring took me but a few minutes, and when all was done i touched the bell by which i had previously summoned aselzion. honorius entered at once--his looks were grave and preoccupied. "if you should not return to this room,"--he said, slowly--"is there any message--any communication you would like me to convey to your friends?" my heart gave a quick bound. there was some actual danger in store for me, then? i thought for a moment--then smiled. "none!" i answered--"i shall be able to attend to all such personal matters myself--afterwards!" honorius looked at me, and his handsome but rather stern face was grave even to melancholy. "do not be too sure!"--he said, in a low tone--"it is not my place to speak, but few pass the ordeal to which you are about to be subjected. only two have passed it in ten years." "and one of these two was--?" for answer, he pointed to the portrait of santoris, thus confirming my instinctive hope and confidence. "i am not afraid!" i said--"and i am ready to follow you now wherever you wish me to go." he made no further remark and, turning round, led the way out of the apartment. we went down many stairs and through many corridors,--some dimly lit, some scarcely illumined at all. the night had now fully come,--and through one of two of the windows we passed i could see the dark sky patterned with stars. we came to the domed hall where the fountain played, and this was illumined by the same strange all-penetrating light i had previously noticed,--the lovely radiance played on the spray of the fountain, making the delicate frondage of ferns and palms and the hues of flowers look like a dream of fairyland. passing through the hall, i followed my guide down a dark narrow passage--then i found myself suddenly alone. guided by the surging sound of organ music, i went on,--and all at once saw a broad stream of light pouring out from the open door of the chapel. without a moment's hesitation, i entered--then paused--the symbol of the cross and star flamed opposite to me--and on every side wherever i looked there were men in white robes with cowls thrown back on their shoulders, all standing in silent rows, watching me as i came. my heart beat quickly,--my nerves thrilled--i trembled as i walked, thankful for the veil that partially protected me from that multitude of eyes!--eyes that looked at me in wonder, but not unkindly--eyes that mutely asked questions never to be answered--eyes that said as plainly as though in actual speech--"why are you among us?--you, a woman? why should you have conquered difficulties which we have still to overcome? is it pride, defiance, or ambition with you?--or is it all love?" i felt a thousand influences moving around me--the power of many brains at work silently cross-examined my inner spirit as though it were a witness in defence of some great argument--but i made up my mind not to yield to the overpowering nervousness and sudden alarm of my own position which threatened to shake my self-control. i fixed my eyes on the glittering symbol of the cross and star and moved on slowly--i must have looked a strangely solitary creature, draped in white like a victim for sacrifice and walking all alone towards those burning, darting rays of light which enveloped the whole of the chapel in a flood of almost blinding splendour. the music still thundered on round me--and i thought i heard voices far off singing--i could distinguish words that came falling through the music, like blossoms falling through rain: into the light, into the heart of the fire! to the innermost core of the deathless flame i ascend--i aspire! under me rolls the whirling earth, with the noise of a myriad wheels that run ever round and about the sun,- over me circles the splendid heaven, strewn with the stars of morn and even, and i, the queen of my soul serene, float with my rainbow wings unfurled, alone with love, 'twixt god and the world! my heart beat rapidly; every nerve in me trembled--yet i went on resolvedly, not allowing myself to even think of danger. and then i saw aselzion--aselzion, transfigured into an almost supernatural beauty of aspect by the radiance which bathed him in its lustrous glory!--aselzion, with outstretched hands beckoning me towards him--and as i approached i instinctively sank on my knees. the music died away suddenly, and there was a profound silence. i felt, though i could not see, that the eyes of all present were fixed upon me. and aselzion spoke: "rise!" he said--and his voice was clear and imperative--"not here must thou kneel--not here must thou rest! rise and go onward!--thou hast gone far, but the way is still beyond! the gate of the last probation stands open--enter!--and may god be thy guide!" i rose as he commanded me,--and a dazzling flash of light struck my eyes as though the heavens had opened. the blazing cross and star became suddenly severed in two separate portions, dividing asunder and disclosing what seemed to be a hall of living fire! flames of every colour burned vividly, leaping and falling without pause or cessation,--it was a kind of open furnace in which surely everything must be consumed! i looked at aselzion in silent enquiry--not in fear--and in equally silent answer he pointed to the glowing vault. i understood--and without another moment's hesitation i advanced towards it. as in a dream i heard a kind of murmuring behind me--and suppressed exclamations from the students or disciples of aselzion who were all assembled in the chapel--but i paid no heed to this--my whole soul was set on fulfilling the last task demanded of me. step by step i went on--i passed aselzion with a smile-"good-bye!" i murmured--"we shall meet again!" and then i advanced towards the leaping flames. i felt their hot breath on my cheeks--the scorching wind of them lifted my hair through the folds of my veil--an idea came upon me that for some cause or other i was now to experience that 'change which men call death'--and that through this means i should meet my beloved on the other side of life--and with his name on my lips, and a passionate appeal to him in my heart, i stepped into the glowing fire. as i did so, i lost sight of aselzion--of the chapel and of all those who watched my movements, and found myself surrounded on all sides by darting points of light which instead of scorching and withering me like a blown leaf in a storm, were like cool and fragrant showers playing all over me! amazed, i went on--and as i went grew bolder. at one step i was bathed in a rain of delicate rays like sparkling diamond and topaz--at another a lovely violet light shrouded me in its rich hues--at another i walked in melting azure, like the hues of a summer sky--and the farther in i went the deeper and more glowing was the light about me. i felt it penetrating every pore of my skin--i held my hands out to it, and saw them look transparent in the fine luminance,--and presently, gaining courage, i threw back my veil and breathed in the radiance, as one breathes the air! my whole body grew light, and moved as though it floated rather than walked--i looked with unfatigued, undazzled eyes at the glittering flames that sparkled harmlessly about me and which changed to lovely shapes of flowers and leaves beneath my feet, and arched themselves over my head like branches of shading trees--and then all at once, down the long vista i caught sight of a shape like that of an angel!--an angel that waited for me with watchful eyes and outstretched arms!--it was but a moment that i saw this vision, and yet i knew what it meant, and i pressed on and on with all my soul rising in me as it were, to go forth and reach that companion of itself which stood waiting with such tender patience! the light around me now changed to waves of intense luminance which swept upon me like waves of the sea--and i allowed myself to be borne along with them, i knew not whither. all at once i saw a vast pillar of fire which seemed to block my way,--pausing a moment, i looked and saw it break asunder and form the cross and star!--i gazed upward, wondering--its rays descending seemed to pierce my eyes, my brain, my very soul!--i sprang forward, dazed and dazzled, murmuring, "let this be the end!" someone caught me in his arms--someone drew me to his breast, holding me there as if i were the dearest possession of all the world or life or time could give--and a voice, infinitely tender, answered me-"not the end, but the endless, my beloved!--mine at last, and mine for ever!--in triumph, in victory, in perfect joy!" and then i knew!--i knew that i had found my love!--that it was rafel santoris who thus held me in his close embrace,--that i had fulfilled my own desire, which was to prove my faith if not my worthiness--that i had won all i wanted in this world and the next, and that nothing could ever separate our souls, one from the other again! this is the deep eternal ecstasy of a knowledge divinely shared by the very angels of god, and of such supernal happiness nothing can be said or written! * * * * * * i pen these last words on the deck of the 'dream' with my beloved beside me. the sun is sinking in a glory of crimson--we are about to anchor in still waters. a rosy light flashes on our wonderful white sails, which will be presently furled; and we shall sit together, rafel and i, watching the night draw its soft dark curtain around us, and the stars come out in the sky like diamonds embroidered on deep purple velvet, and listening to the gentle murmur of the little waves breaking into a rocky corner of the distant shore. and the evening will close on a day of peace and happiness,--one of the many unwearying, beautiful days which, like a procession of angels, bring us new and ever more perfect joy! more than a year has elapsed since my 'probation' in the house of aselzion,--since we, my beloved and i, knelt before the master and received his blessing on our eternal union. in that brief time i have lost all my 'worldly' friends and acquaintances,--who have, if i may so express it, become afraid of me. afraid, chiefly, because i possess all that the world can give me without their advice and assistance--and not only afraid, but offended, because i have found the companion of my soul with whom they have nothing in common. they look upon me as 'lost to society' and cannot realise how much such loss is gain! meanwhile we, rafel and i, live our own radiant and happy lives, in full possession of all that makes life sweet and valuable, and wanting nothing that our own secret forces cannot supply. wealth is ours--one of the least among the countless gifts nature provides for those among her children who know where to find her inexhaustible riches--and we also enjoy the perfect health which accompanies the constant inflowing of an exhaustless vitality. and though the things we attain seem 'miraculous' to others, so that even while accepting help and benefit at our hands, they frown and shake their heads at the attitude we assume towards social hypocrisies and conventions, we are nevertheless able to create such 'influences' around us, that none come near as without feeling stronger, better and more content,--and this is the utmost we are permitted to do for our fellow-creatures, inasmuch as none will listen to argument, and none will follow advice. the most ardent soul that ever dwelt in human form cannot lead another soul in the way of lasting life or lasting happiness if it refuses to go,--and there is no more absolute truth than this--that each man and each woman must make his or her own destiny both here and hereafter. this is the law which changes not and which can never be subject to the slightest variation. forgiveness of sins there is none--since every trespass against law carries its own punishment. necessity for prayer there is none,--since every faithful wish and desire of the soul is granted without parley. necessity for praise there is much!--since the soul lives and grows in the glory of its creator. and the whole secret of everlasting life and happiness is contained in the full possession and control of the divine centre of ourselves--this 'radia' or living flame, which must be dual in order to be perfect, and which in its completed state, is an eternal force which nothing can destroy and nothing can resist. all nature harmonises with its action, and from nature it draws its perpetual sustenance and increasing power. to me, and my beloved, the world is a garden of paradise--rich with beauty and delight. we live in it as a part of its loveliness--we draw into our own organisations the warmth of the sunlight, the glory of colour, the songs of sweet birds, the fragrance of flowers, and the exquisite vibrations of the light and air. like two notes of a perfect chord we sound our lives on the keyboard of the infinite--and we know that the music will become fuller and sweeter as the eternal seasons roll on. if it is asked why there should have been any necessity to pass through the psychic ordeal imposed on me by aselzion, i reply--look at the world in which men and women generally live, and say frankly whether its ways are such as to engender happiness! look at society--look at politics--look at commerce--all mere schemes for self-aggrandisement! and more than all, look at the sham of modern religion! is it not too often a mere blasphemy and affront to the majesty of the divine? and are not many, if not all these mistakes against nature,--these offences against eternal law,--the result of man's own 'influence' working in opposition to the very decrees of god, which he disobeys even while recognising that they exist? the chief point of aselzion's instruction was the test of the brain and soul against 'influences'--the opposing influences of others--and this is truly the chief hindrance to all spiritual progress. the coward sentiment of fear itself is born in us through the influence of timorous persons--and it is generally the dread of what 'other people will say' or what 'other people will think' that holds us back from performing many a noble action. it should be thoroughly understood that in the eternal advancement of one's own soul 'other people' and their influences are hindrances to progress. it does not matter a jot what anybody thinks or says, provided the central altar of one's own spirituality is clear and clean for the steadfast burning of the dual flame of life and love. all opinion, all criticism becomes absurd in such matters as these and absolutely worthless. it does not affect me that anyone outside my sphere of thought should be incredulous of my beliefs,--nor can it move me from my happiness to know that persons who live their lives on a lower plane consider me a fool for electing to live mine on the highest. i take joy in the fact that even in so selfish and material an age as this, aselzion still has his students and disciples,--a mere handful out of the million, it is true, but still sufficient to keep the beautiful truth of the soul's power alive and helpful to the chosen few. for such who have studied these truths and have mastered them sufficiently to practise them in the ordinary round of existence, life presents an ever living happiness--and offers daily proof that there is no such thing as death. youth remains where love is, and beauty stays with health and vitality. decay and destruction are changes which are brought about by apathy of the will and indifference to the soul's existence, and the same law which gives the soul its supreme sovereignty equally works for its release from effete and inactive substances. to those who would ask me how i am able to hold and keep the treasures of life, love and youth, which the majority of mankind are for ever losing, i answer that i can say no more than i have said, and the lesson which all may learn is contained in what i have written. it is no use arguing with those whom no argument will convince, or trying to teach those who will not be taught. we--my beloved and i--can only prove the truth of the soul's absolute command over all spiritual, material and elemental forces by our one life and the way we live it--we, to whom everything that is necessary and desirable for our progress, comes on demand,--we, whom science serves as an aladdin's lamp, realising every imaginable delight--we, with whom love, which with many human beings is judged the most variable and transitory of emotions, is the very principle of life, the very essence of the waves of the air through which we move and have our being. the attainment of such happiness as ours is possible to all, but there is only one way of attainment, and the clue to that way is in the soul of each individual human being. each one must find it and follow it, regardless of all 'influences' which may be brought to bear on his or her actions,--each one must discover the centre-poise of life's movement, and firmly abide by it. it is the immortal creature in each one of us whose destiny is to make eternal progress and advancement through endless phases of life, love and beauty, and when once we know and admit the actual existence of this immortal centre we shall realise that with it all things are possible, save death. radiating outward from itself, it can preserve the health and youth of the body it inhabits indefinitely, till of its own desire it seeks a higher plane of action,--radiating inwardly, it is an irresistible attractive force drawing to itself the powers and virtues of the planet on which it dwells, and making all the forces of visible and invisible nature subject to its will and command. this is one of those great truths which the world denies, but which it is destined to learn within the next two thousand years. if anyone should desire to know the fate of motion harland and his daughter, that fate has been precisely what they themselves brought about by their way of life and action. morton harland himself 'died,' as the world puts it, of a painful and lingering disease which could have been cured had he chosen to take the means offered to him through rafel santoris. he did not choose,--therefore the end was inevitable. catherine married dr. brayle, and they two now live a sufficiently wretched life together,--she, a moping, querulous invalid, and he as a 'society' physician, possessed of great wealth and the position wealth brings. we never meet,--our ways are now for ever sundered. mine is the upward and onward path--and with my beloved i ascend the supernal heights where the shadow of evil never falls, and where the secret of life is centred in the spirit of love. the end proofreaders. this file was produced from images generously made available by gallica (bibliothèque nationale de france) at http://gallica.bnf.fr. the making of religion by andrew lang m.a., ll.d. st andrews honorary fellow of merton college oxford sometime gifford lecturer in the university of st andrews second edition 1900 _to the principal of the university of st. andrews dear principal donaldson, i hope you will permit me to lay at the feet of the university of st. andrews, in acknowledgment of her life-long kindnesses to her old pupil, these chapters on the early history of religion. they may be taken as representing the gifford lectures delivered by me, though in fact they contain very little that was spoken from lord gifford's chair. i wish they were more worthy of an alma mater which fostered in the past the leaders of forlorn hopes that were destined to triumph; and the friends of lost causes who fought bravely against fate--patrick hamilton, cargill, and argyll, beaton and montrose, and dundee. believe me very sincerely yours, andrew lang_. * * * * * preface to the new edition by the nature of things this book falls under two divisions. the first eight chapters criticise the current anthropological theory of the origins of the belief in _spirits._ chapters ix.-xvii., again, criticise the current anthropological theory as to how, the notion of _spirit_ once attained, man arrived at the idea of a supreme being. these two branches of the topic are treated in most modern works concerned with the origins of religion, such as mr. tyler's "primitive culture," mr. herbert spencer's "principles of sociology," mr. jevons's "introduction to the history of religion," the late mr. grant allen's "evolution of the idea of god," and many others. yet i have been censured for combining, in this work, the two branches of my subject; and the second part has been regarded as but faintly connected with the first. the reason for this criticism seems to be, that while one small set of students is interested in, and familiar with the themes examined in the first part (namely the psychological characteristics of certain mental states from which, in part, the doctrine of spirits is said to have arisen), that set of students neither knows nor cares anything about the matter handled in the second part. this group of students is busied with "psychical research," and the obscure human faculties implied in alleged cases of hallucination, telepathy, "double personality," human automatism, clairvoyance, and so on. meanwhile anthropological readers are equally indifferent as to that branch of psychology which examines the conditions of hysteria, hypnotic trance, "double personality," and the like. anthropologists have not hitherto applied to the savage mental conditions, out of which, in part, the doctrine of "spirits" arose, the recent researches of french, german, and english psychologists of the new school. as to whether these researches into abnormal psychological conditions do, or do not, indicate the existence of a transcendental region of human faculty, anthropologists appear to be unconcerned. the only english exception known to me is mr. tylor, and his great work, "primitive culture," was written thirty years ago, before the modern psychological studies of professor william james, dr. romaine newbold, m. richet, dr. janet, professor sidgwick, mr. myers, mr. gurney, dr. parish, and many others had commenced. anthropologists have gone on discussing the trances, and visions, and so-called "demoniacal possession" of savages, as if no new researches into similar facts in the psychology of civilised mankind existed; or, if they existed, threw any glimmer of light on the abnormal psychology of savages. i have, on the other hand, thought it desirable to sketch out a study of savage psychology in the light of recent psychological research. thanks to this daring novelty, the book has been virtually taken as two books; anthropologists have criticised the second part, and one or two psychical researchers have criticised the first part; each school leaving one part severely alone. such are the natural results of a too restricted specialism. even to psychical researchers the earlier division is of scant interest, because witnesses to _successful_ abnormal or supernormal faculty in savages cannot be brought into court and cross-examined. but i do not give anecdotes of such savage successes as evidence to _facts;_ they are only illustrations, and evidence to _beliefs and methods_ (as of crystal gazing and automatic utterances of "secondary personality"), which, among the savages, correspond to the supposed facts examined by psychical research among the civilised. i only point out, as bastian had already pointed out, the existence of a field that deserves closer study by anthropologists who can observe savages in their homes. we need persons trained in the psychological laboratories of europe and america, as members of anthropological expeditions. it may be noted that, in his "letters from the south seas," mr. louis stevenson makes some curious observations, especially on a singular form of hypnotism applied to himself with fortunate results. the method, used in native medicine, was novel; and the results were entirely inexplicable to mr. stevenson, who had not been amenable to european hypnotic practice. but he was not a trained expert. anthropology must remain incomplete while it neglects this field, whether among wild or civilised men. in the course of time this will come to be acknowledged. it will be seen that we cannot really account for the origin of the belief in spirits while we neglect the scientific study of those psychical conditions, as of hallucination and the hypnotic trance, in which that belief must probably have had some, at least, of its origins. as to the second part of the book, i have argued that the first dim surmises as to a supreme being need not have arisen (as on the current anthropological theory) in the notion of spirits at all. (see chapter xi.) here i have been said to draw a mere "verbal distinction" but no distinction can be more essential. if such a supreme being as many savages acknowledge is _not_ envisaged by them as a "spirit," then the theories and processes by which he is derived from a ghost of a dead man are invalid, and remote from the point. as to the origin of a belief in a kind of germinal supreme being (say the australian baiame), i do not, in this book, offer any opinion. i again and again decline to offer an opinion. critics, none the less, have said that i attribute the belief to revelation! i shall therefore here indicate what i think probable in so obscure a field. as soon as man had the idea of "making" things, he might conjecture as to a maker of things which he himself had not made, and could not make. he would regard this unknown maker as a "magnified non-natural man." these speculations appear to me to need less reflection than the long and complicated processes of thought by which mr. tylor believes, and probably believes with justice, the theory of "spirits" to have been evolved. (see chapter iii.) this conception of a magnified non-natural man, who is a maker, being given; his power would be recognised, and fancy would clothe one who had made such useful things with certain other moral attributes, as of fatherhood, goodness, and regard for the ethics of his children; these ethics having been developed naturally in the evolution of social life. in all this there is nothing "mystical," nor anything, as far as i can see, beyond the limited mental powers of any beings that deserve to be called human. but i hasten to add that another theory may be entertained. since this book was written there appeared "the native tribes of central australia," by professor spencer and mr. gillen, a most valuable study.[1] the authors, closely scrutinising the esoteric rites of the arunta and other tribes in central australia, found none of the moral precepts and attributes which (according to mr. howitt, to whom their work is dedicated), prevail in the mysteries of the natives of new south wales and victoria. (see chapter x.) what they found was a belief in 'the great spirit, _twanyirika_,' who is believed 'by uninitiated boys and women' (but, apparently, not by adults) to preside over the cruel rites of tribal initiation.[2] no more is said, no myths about 'the great spirit' are given. he is dismissed in a brief note. now if these ten lines contain _all_ the native lore of twanyirika, he is a mere bugbear, not believed in (apparently) by adults, but invented by them to terrorise the women and boys. next, granting that the information of messrs. spencer and gillen is exhaustive, and granting that (as mr. j.g. frazer holds, in his essays in the 'fortnightly review,' april and may, 1899) the arunta are the most primitive of mortals, it will seem to follow that the _moral_ attributes of baiame and other gods of other australian regions are later accretions round the form of an original and confessed bugbear, as among the primitive arunta, 'a bogle of the nursery,' in the phrase repudiated by maitland of lethington. though not otherwise conspicuously more civilised than the arunta (except, perhaps, in marriage relations), mr. howitt's south eastern natives will have improved the arunta confessed 'bogle' into a beneficent and moral father and maker. religion will have its origin in a tribal joke, and will have become not '_diablement_,' but '_divinement_,' '_changée en route_.' readers of messrs. spencer and gillen will see that the arunta philosophy, primitive or not, is of a high ingenuity, and so artfully composed that it contains no room either for a supreme being or for the doctrine of the survival of the soul, with a future of rewards and punishments; opinions declared to be extant among other australian tribes. there is no creator, and every soul, after death, is reincarnated in a new member of the tribe. on the other hand (granting that the brief note on twanyirika is exhaustive), the arunta, in their isolation, may have degenerated in religion, and may have dropped, in the case of twanyirika, the moral attributes of baiame. it may be noticed that, in south eastern australia, the being who presides, like twanyirika, over initiations is _not_ the supreme being, but a son or deputy of his, such as the kurnai tundun. we do not know whether the arunta have, or have had and lost, or never possessed, a being superior to twanyirika. with regard, to all such moral, and, in certain versions, creative beings as baiame, criticism has taken various lines. there is the high a priori line that savage minds are incapable of originating the notion of a moral maker. i have already said that the notion, in an early form, seems to be well within the range of any minds deserving to be called human. next, the facts are disputed. i can only refer readers to the authorities cited. they speak for tribes in many quarters of the world, and the witnesses are laymen as well as missionaries. i am accused, again, of using a misleading rhetoric, and of thereby covertly introducing christian or philosophical ideas into my account of "savages guiltless of christian teaching." as to the latter point, i am also accused of mistaking for native opinions the results of "christian teaching." one or other charge must fall to the ground. as to my rhetoric, in the use of such words as 'creator,' 'eternal,' and the like, i shall later qualify and explain it. for a long discussion between myself and mr. sidney hartland, involving minute detail, i may refer the reader to _folk-lore_, the last number of 1898 and the first of 1899, and to the introduction to the new edition of my 'myth, ritual, and religion' (1899). where relatively high moral attributes are assigned to a being, i have called the result 'religion;' where the same being acts like zeus in greek fable, plays silly or obscene tricks, is lustful and false, i have spoken of 'myth.'[3] these distinctions of myth and religion may be, and indeed are, called arbitrary. the whole complex set of statements about the being, good or bad, sublime or silly, are equally myths, it may be urged. very well; but one set, the loftier set, is fitter to survive, and does survive, in what we still commonly call religion; while the other set, the puerile set of statements, is fairly near to extinction, and is usually called mythology. one set has been the root of a goodly tree: the other set is being lopped off, like the parasitic mistletoe. i am arguing that the two classes of ideas arise from two separate human moods; moods as different and distinct as lust and love. i am arguing that, as far as our information goes, the nobler set of ideas is as ancient as the lower. personally (though we cannot have direct evidence) i find it easy to believe that the loftier notions are the earlier. if man began with the conception of a powerful and beneficent maker or father, then i can see how the humorous savage fancy ran away with the idea of power, and attributed to a potent being just such tricks as a waggish and libidinous savage would like to play if he could. moreover, i have actually traced (in 'myth, ritual, and religion') some plausible processes of mythical accretion. the early mind was not only religious, in its way, but scientific, in its way. it embraced the idea of evolution as well as the idea of creation. to one mood a maker seemed to exist. but the institution of totemism (whatever its origin) suggested the idea of evolution; for men, it was held, developed out of their totems-animals and plants. but then, on the other hand, zeus, or baiame, or mungun-ngaur, was regarded as their father. how were these contradictions to be reconciled? easily, thus: zeus _was_ the father, but, in each case, was the father by an amour in which he wore the form of the totem-snake, swan, bull, ant, dog, or the like. at once a degraded set of secondary erotic myths cluster around zeus. again, it is notoriously the nature of man to attribute every institution to a primal inventor or legislator. men then, find themselves performing certain rites, often of a buffooning or scandalous character; and, in origin, mainly magical, intended for the increase of game, edible plants, or, later, for the benefit of the crops. _why_ do they perform these rites? they ask: and, looking about, as usual, for a primal initiator, they attribute what they do to a primal being, the corn spirit, demeter, or to zeus, or to baiame, or manabozho, or punjel. this is man's usual way of going back to origins. instantly, then, a new set of parasitic myths crystallises round a being who, perhaps, was originally moral. the savage mind, in short, has not maintained itself on the high level, any more than the facetious mediaeval myths maintained themselves, say, on the original level of the conception of the character of st. peter, the keeper of the keys of heaven. all this appears perfectly natural and human, and in this, and in other ways, what we call low myth may have invaded the higher realms of religion: a lower invaded a higher element. but reverse the hypothesis. conceive that zeus, or baiame, was _originally_, not a father and guardian, but a lewd and tricky ghost of a medicine-man, a dancer of indecent dances, a wooer of other men's wives, a shape-shifter, a burlesque droll, a more jocular bugbear, like twanyirika. by what means did he come to be accredited later with his loftiest attributes, and with regard for the tribal ethics, which, in practice, he daily broke and despised? students who argue for the possible priority of the lowest, or, as i call them, mythical attributes of the being, must advance an hypothesis of the concretion of the nobler elements around the original wanton and mischievous ghost. then let us suppose that the arunta twanyirika, a confessed bugbear, discredited by adults, and only invented to keep women and children in order, was the original germ of the moral and fatherly baiame, of south eastern australian tribes. how, in that case, did the adults of the tribe fall into their own trap, come to believe seriously in their invented bugbear, and credit him with the superintendence of such tribal ethics as generosity and unselfishness? what were the processes of the conversion of twanyirika? i do not deny that this theory may be correct, but i wish to see an hypothesis of the process of elevation. i fail to frame such an hypothesis. grant that the adults merely chuckle over twanyirika, whose 'voice' they themselves produce; by whirling the wooden tundun, or bull-roarer. grant that, on initiation, the boys learn that 'the great spirit' is a mere bogle, invented to mystify the women, and keep them away from the initiatory rites. how, then, did men come to believe in _him_ as a terrible, all-seeing, all-knowing, creative, and potent moral being? for this, undeniably, is the belief of many australian tribes, where his 'voice' (or rather that of his subordinate) is produced by whirling the tundun. that these higher beliefs are of european origin, mr. howitt denies. how were they evolved out of the notion of a confessed artificial bogle? i am unable to frame a theory. from my point of view, namely, that the higher and simple ideas may well be the earlier, i have, at least, offered a theory of the processes by which the lower attributes crystallised around a conception supposed (_argumenti gratia_) to be originally high. other processes of degradation would come in, as (on my theory) the creed and practice of animism, or worship of human ghosts, often of low character, swamped and invaded the prior belief in a fairly moral and beneficent, but not originally spiritual, being. my theory, at least, _is_ a theory, and, rightly or wrongly, accounts for the phenomenon, the combination of the highest divine and the lowest animal qualities in the same being. but i have yet to learn how, if the lowest myths are the earliest, the highest attributes came in time to be conferred on the hero of the lowest myths. why, or how, did a silly buffoon, or a confessed 'bogle' arrive at being regarded as a patron of such morality as had been evolved? an hypothesis of the processes involved must be indicated. it is not enough to reply, in general, that the rudimentary human mind is illogical and confused. that is granted; but there must have been a method in its madness. what that method was (from my point of view) i have shown, and it must be as easy for opponents to set forth what, from their point of view, the method was. we are here concerned with what, since the time of the earliest greek philosophers, has been the _crux_ of mythology: why are infamous myths told about 'the father of gods and men'? we can easily explain the nature of the myths. they are the natural flowers of savage fancy and humour. but wherefore do they crystallise round zeus? i have, at least, shown some probable processes in the evolution. where criticism has not disputed the facts of the moral attributes, now attached to, say, an australian being, it has accounted for them by a supposed process of borrowing from missionaries and other europeans. in this book i deal with that hypothesis as urged by sir a.b. ellis, in west africa (chapter xiii.). i need not have taken the trouble, as this distinguished writer had already, in a work which i overlooked, formally withdrawn, as regards africa, his theory of 'loan-gods.' miss kingsley, too, is no believer in the borrowing hypothesis for west africa, in regard, that is, to the highest divine conception. i was, when i wrote, unaware that, especially as concerns america and australia, mr. tylor had recently advocated the theory of borrowing ('journal of anthrop. institute,' vol. xxi.). to mr. tylor's arguments, when i read them, i replied in the 'nineteenth century,' january 1899: 'are savage gods borrowed from missionaries?' i do not here repeat my arguments, but await the publication of mr. tylor's 'gifford lectures,' in which his hypothesis may be reinforced, and may win my adhesion. it may here be said, however, that if the australian higher religious ideas are of recent and missionary origin, they would necessarily be known to the native women, from whom, in fact, they are absolutely concealed by the men, under penalty of death. again, if the son, or sons, of australian chief beings resemble part of the christian dogma, they much more closely resemble the apollo and hermes of greece.[4] but nobody will say that the australians borrowed them from greek mythology! in chapter xiv., owing to a bibliographical error of my own, i have done injustice to mr. tylor, by supposing him to have overlooked strachey's account of the virginian god ahone. he did not overlook ahone, but mistrusted strachey. in an excursus on ahone, in the new edition of 'myth, ritual, and religion,' i have tried my best to elucidate the bibliography and other aspects of strachey's account, which i cannot regard as baseless. mr. tylor's opinion is, doubtless, different, and may prove more persuasive. as to australia, mr. howitt, our best authority, continues to disbelieve in the theory of borrowing. i have to withdraw in chapters x. xi. the statement that 'darumulun never died at all.' mr. hartland has corrected me, and pointed out that, among the wiraijuri, a myth represents him as having been destroyed, for his offences, by baiame. in that tribe, however, darumulun is not the highest, but a subordinate being. mr. hartland has also collected a few myths in which australian supreme beings _do_ (contrary to my statement) 'set the example of sinning.' nothing can surprise me less, and i only wonder that, in so savage a race, the examples, hitherto collected, are so rare, and so easily to be accounted for on the theory of processes of crystallisation of myths already suggested. as to a remark in appendix b, mr. podmore takes a distinction. i quote his remark, 'the phenomena described are quite inexplicable by ordinary mechanical means,' and i contrast this, as illogical, with his opinion that a girl 'may have been directly responsible for all that took place.' mr. podmore replies that what was 'described' is not necessarily identical with what _occurred_. strictly speaking, he is right; but the evidence was copious, was given by many witnesses, and (as offered by me) was in part _contemporary_ (being derived from the local newspapers), so that here mr. podmore's theory of illusions of memory on a large scale, developed in the five weeks which elapsed before he examined the spectators, is out of court. the evidence was of contemporary published record. the handling of fire by home is accounted for by mr. podmore, in the same chapter, as the result of home's use of a 'non-conducting substance.' asked, 'what substance?' he answered, 'asbestos.' sir william crookes, again repeating his account of the performance which he witnessed, says, 'home took up a lump of red-hot charcoal about twice the size of an egg into his hand, on which certainly no asbestos was visible. he blew into his hands, and the flames could be seen coming out between his fingers, and he carried the charcoal round the room.'[5] sir w. crookes stood close beside home. the light was that of the fire and of two candles. probably sir william could see a piece of asbestos, if it was covering home's hands, which he was watching. what i had to say, by way of withdrawal, qualification, explanation, or otherwise, i inserted (in order to seize the earliest opportunity) in the introduction to the recent edition of my 'myth, ritual, and religion' (1899). the reader will perhaps make his own kind deductions from my rhetoric when i talk, for example, about a creator in the creed of low savages. they have no business, anthropologists declare, to entertain so large an idea. but in 'the journal of the anthropological institute,' n.s. ii., nos. 1, 2, p. 85, dr. bennett gives an account of the religion of the cannibal fangs of the congo, first described by du chaillu. 'these anthropophagi have some idea of a god, a superior being, their _tata_ ("father"), _a bo mam merere_ ("he made all things"), anyambi is their _tata_ (father), and ranks above all other fang gods, because _a'ne yap_ (literally, "he lives in heaven").' this is inconsiderate in the fangs. a set of native cannibals have no business with a creative father who is in heaven. i say 'creative' because 'he made all things,' and (as the bowler said about a 'yorker') 'what else can you call him?' in all such cases, where 'creator' and 'creative' are used by me, readers will allow for the imperfections of the english language. as anthropologists say, the savages simply cannot have the corresponding ideas; and i must throw the blame on people who, knowing the savages and their language, assure us that they _have_. this fang father or _tata_ 'is considered indifferent to the wants and sufferings of men, women, and children.' offerings and prayers are therefore made, not to him, but to the ghosts of parents, who are more accessible. this additional information precisely illustrates my general theory, that the chief being was not evolved out of ghosts, but came to be neglected as ghost-worship arose. i am not aware that dr. bennett is a missionary. anthropologists distrust missionaries, and most of my evidence is from laymen. if the anthropological study of religion is to advance, the high and usually indolent chief beings of savage religions must be carefully examined, not consigned to a casual page or paragraph. i have found them most potent, and most moral, where ghost-worship has not been evolved; least potent, or at all events most indifferent, where ghost-worship is most in vogue. the inferences (granting the facts) are fatal to the current anthropological theory. the phrases 'creator,' 'creative,' as applied to anyambi, or baiame, have been described, by critics, as rhetorical, covertly introducing conceptions of which savages are incapable. i have already shown that i only follow my authorities, and their translations of phrases in various savage tongues. but the phrase 'eternal,' applied to anyambi or baiame, may be misleading. i do not wish to assert that, if you talked to a savage about 'eternity,' he would understand what you intend. i merely mean what mariner says that the tongans mean as to the god tá-li-y tooboo. 'of his origin they had no idea, rather supposing him to be eternal.' the savage theologians assert no beginning for such beings (as a rule), and no end, except where unkulunkulu is by some zulus thought to be dead, and where the wiraijuris declare that their darumulun (_not_ supreme) was 'destroyed' by baiame. i do not wish to credit savages with thoughts more abstract than they possess. but that their thought can be abstract is proved, even in the case of the absolutely 'primitive arunta,' by their myth of the _ungambikula_, 'a word which means "out of nothing," or "self-existing,"' say messrs. spencer and gillen.[6] once more, i find that i have spoken of some savage beings as 'omnipresent' and 'omnipotent.' but i have pointed out that this is only a modern metaphysical rendering of the actual words attributed to the savage: 'he can go everywhere, and do everything.' as to the phrase, also used, that baiame, for example, 'makes for righteousness,' i mean that he sanctions the morality of his people; for instance, sanctions veracity and unselfishness, as mr. howitt distinctly avers. these are examples of 'righteousness' in conduct. i do not mean that these virtues were impressed on savages in some supernatural way, as a critic has daringly averred that i do. the strong reaction of some early men against the cosmical process by which 'the weakest goes to the wall,' is, indeed, a curious moral phenomenon, and deserves the attention of moralists. but i never dreamed of supposing that this reaction (which extends beyond the limit of the tribe or group) had a 'supernatural' origin! it has been argued that 'tribal morality' is only a set of regulations based on the convenience of the elders of the tribe: is, in fact, as the platonic thrasymachus says, 'the interest of the strongest.' that does not appear to me to be demonstrated; but this is no place for a discussion of the origin of morals. 'the interest of the strongest,' and of the nomadic group, would be to knock elderly invalids on the head. but dampier says, of the australians, in 1688, 'be it little, or be it much they get, every one has his part, as well the young and tender, and the old and feeble, who are not able to go abroad, as the strong and lusty.' the origin of this fair and generous dealing may be obscure, but it is precisely the kind of dealing on which, according to mr. howitt, the religion of the kurnai insists (chapter x.). thus the being concerned does 'make for righteousness.' with these explanations i trust that my rhetorical use of such phrases as 'eternal,' 'creative,' 'omniscient,' 'omnipotent,' 'omnipresent,' and 'moral,' may not be found to mislead, or covertly to import modern or christian ideas into my account of the religious conceptions of savages. as to the evidence throughout, a learned historian has informed me that 'no anthropological evidence is of any value.' if so, there can be no anthropology (in the realm of institutions). but the evidence that i adduce is from such sources as anthropologists, at least, accept, and employ in the construction of theories from which, in some points, i venture to dissent. a.l. [footnote 1: macmillans, 1899.] [footnote 2: op. cit. p. 246, note.] [footnote 3: see the new edition of _myth, ritual, and religion_, especially the new introduction.] [footnote 4: see introductions to my _homeric hymns_. allen. 1899.] [footnote 5: _journal s.p.r._, december 1890, p. 147.] [footnote 6: _native tribes of central australia_, p. 388.] preface to the first edition 'the only begetter' of this work is monsieur lefébure, author of 'les yeux d'horus,' and other studies in egyptology. he suggested the writing of the book, but is in no way responsible for the opinions expressed. the author cannot omit the opportunity of thanking mr. frederic myers for his kindness in reading the proof sheets of the earlier chapters and suggesting some corrections of statement. mr. myers, however, is probably not in agreement with the author on certain points; for example, in the chapter on 'possession.' as the second part of the book differs considerably from the opinions which have recommended themselves to most anthropological writers on early religion, the author must say here, as he says later, that no harm can come of trying how facts look from a new point of view, and that he certainly did not expect them to fall into the shape which he now presents for criticism. st. andrews: _april 3, 1898._ contents i. introductory chapter ii. science and 'miracles' iii. anthropology and religion iv. 'opening the gates of distance' v. crystal visions, savage and civilised vi. anthropology and hallucinations vii. demoniacal possession viii. fetishism and spiritualism ix. evolution of the idea of god x. high gods of low races xi. supreme gods not necessarily developed out of 'spirits' xii. savage supreme beings xiii. more savage supreme beings xiv. ahone. ti-ra-wá. nà-pi. pachacamac. tui laga. taa-roa xv. the old degeneration theory xvi. theories of jehovah xvii. conclusion appendices. a. oppositions of science b. the poltergeist and his explainers c. crystal-gazing d. chiefs in australia index * * * * * the making of religion i _introductory chapter_ the modern science of the history of religion has attained conclusions which already possess an air of being firmly established. these conclusions may be briefly stated thus: man derived the conception of 'spirit' or 'soul' from his reflections on the phenomena of sleep, dreams, death, shadow, and from the experiences of trance and hallucination. worshipping first the departed souls of his kindred, man later extended the doctrine of spiritual beings in many directions. ghosts, or other spiritual existences fashioned on the same lines, prospered till they became gods. finally, as the result of a variety of processes, one of these gods became supreme, and, at last, was regarded as the one only god. meanwhile man retained his belief in the existence of his own soul, surviving after the death of the body, and so reached the conception of immortality. thus the ideas of god and of the soul are the result of early fallacious reasonings about misunderstood experiences. it may seem almost wanton to suggest the desirableness of revising a system at once so simple, so logical, and apparently so well bottomed on facts. but there can never be any real harm in studying masses of evidence from fresh points of view. at worst, the failure of adverse criticism must help to establish the doctrines assailed. now, as we shall show, there are two points of view from which the evidence as to religion in its early stages has not been steadily contemplated. therefore we intend to ask, first, what, if anything, can be ascertained as to the nature of the 'visions' and hallucinations which, according to mr. tylor in his celebrated work 'primitive culture,' lent their aid to the formation of the idea of 'spirit.' secondly, we shall collect and compare the accounts which we possess of the high gods and creative beings worshipped or believed in, by the most backward races. we shall then ask whether these relatively supreme beings, so conceived of by men in very rudimentary social conditions, can be, as anthropology declares, mere developments from the belief in ghosts of the dead. we shall end by venturing to suggest that the savage theory of the soul may be based, at least in part, on experiences which cannot, at present, be made to fit into any purely materialistic system of the universe. we shall also bring evidence tending to prove that the idea of god, in its earliest known shape, need not logically be derived from the idea of spirit, however that idea itself may have been attained or evolved. the conception of god, then, need not be evolved out of reflections on dreams and 'ghosts.' if these two positions can be defended with any success, it is obvious that the whole theory of the science of religion will need to be reconsidered. but it is no less evident that our two positions do not depend on each other. the first may be regarded as fantastic, or improbable, or may be 'masked' and left on one side. but the strength of the second position, derived from evidence of a different character, will not, therefore, be in any way impaired. our first position can only be argued for by dint of evidence highly unpopular in character, and, as a general rule, condemned by modern science. the evidence is obtained by what is, at all events, a legitimate anthropological proceeding. we may follow mr. tylor's example, and collect savage _beliefs_ about visions, hallucinations, 'clairvoyance,' and the acquisition of knowledge apparently not attainable through the normal channels of sense. we may then compare these savage beliefs with attested records of similar _experiences_ among living and educated civilised men. even if we attain to no conclusion, or a negative conclusion, as to the actuality and supernormal character of the alleged experiences, still to compare data of savage and civilised psychology, or even of savage and civilised illusions and fables, is decidedly part, though a neglected part, of the function of anthropological science. the results, whether they do or do not strengthen our first position, must be curious and instructive, if only as a chapter in the history of human error. that chapter, too, is concerned with no mean topic, but with what we may call the x region of our nature. out of that region, out of miracle, prophecy, vision, have certainly come forth the great religions, christianity and islam; and the great religious innovators and leaders, our lord himself, st. francis, john knox, jeanne d'arc, down to the founder of the new faith of the sioux and arapahoe. it cannot, then, be unscientific to compare the barbaric with the civilised beliefs and experiences about a region so dimly understood, and so fertile in potent influences. here the topic will be examined rather by the method of anthropology than of psychology. we may conceivably have something to learn (as has been the case before) from the rough observations and hasty inferences of the most backward races. we may illustrate this by an anecdote: 'the northern indians call the _aurora borealis_ "edthin," that is "deer." their ideas in this respect are founded on a principle one would not imagine. experience has shown them that when a hairy deer-skin is briskly stroked with the hand on a dark night, it will emit many sparks of electrical fire.' so says hearne in his 'journey,' published in 1795 (p. 346). this observation of the red men is a kind of parable representing a part of the purport of the following treatise. the indians, making a hasty inference from a trivial phenomenon, arrived unawares at a probably correct conclusion, long unknown to civilised science. they connected the aurora borealis with electricity, supposing that multitudes of deer in the sky rubbed the sparks out of each other! meanwhile, even in the last century, a puzzled populace spoke of the phenomenon as 'lord derwentwater's lights.' the cosmic pomp and splendour shone to welcome the loyal derwentwater into heaven, when he had given his life for his exiled king. now, my purpose in the earlier portion of this essay is to suggest that certain phenomena of human nature, apparently as trivial as the sparks rubbed out of a deer's hide in a dark night, may indicate, and may be allied to a force or forces, which, like the aurora borealis, may shine from one end of the heavens to the other, strangely illumining the darkness of our destiny. such phenomena science has ignored, as it so long ignored the sparks from the stroked deer-skin, and the attractive power of rubbed amber. these trivial things were not known to be allied to the lightning, or to indicate a force which man could tame and use. but just as the indians, by a rapid careless inference, attributed the aurora borealis to electric influences, so (as anthropology assures us) savages everywhere have inferred the existence of soul or spirit, intelligence that 'does not know the bond of time, nor wear the manacles of space,' in part from certain apparently trivial phenomena of human faculty. these phenomena, as mr. tylor says, 'the great intellectual movement of the last two centuries has simply thrown aside as worthless.'[1] i refer to alleged experiences, merely odd, sporadic, and, for commercial purposes, useless, such as the transference of thought from one mind to another by no known channel of sense, the occurrence of hallucinations which, _prima facie_, correspond coincidentally with unknown events at a distance, all that is called 'second sight,' or 'clairvoyance,' and other things even more obscure. reasoning on these real or alleged phenomena, and on other quite normal and accepted facts of dream, shadow, sleep, trance, and death, savages have inferred the existence of spirit or soul, exactly as the indians arrived at the notion of electricity (not so called by them, of course) as the cause of the aurora borealis. but, just as the indians thought that the cosmic lights were caused by the rubbing together of crowded deer in the heavens (a theory quite childishly absurd), so the savage has expressed, in rude fantastic ways, his conclusion as to the existence of spirit. he believes in wandering separable souls of men, surviving death, and he has peopled with his dreams the whole inanimate universe. my suggestion is that, in spite of his fantasies, the savage had possibly drawn from his premises an inference not wholly, or not demonstrably erroneous. as the sparks of the deer-skin indicated electricity, so the strange lights in the night of human nature may indicate faculties which science, till of late and in a few instances, has laughed at, ignored, 'thrown aside as worthless.' it should be observed that i am not speaking of 'spiritualism,' a word of the worst associations, inextricably entangled with fraud, bad logic, and the blindest credulity. some of the phenomena alluded to have, however, been claimed as their own province by 'spiritists,' and need to be rescued from them. mr. tylor writes: 'the issue raised by the comparison of savage, barbaric, and civilised spiritualism is this: do the red indian medicine-man, the tatar necromancer, the highland ghost-seer, and the boston medium, share the possession of belief and knowledge of the highest truth and import, which, nevertheless, the great intellectual movement of the last two centuries has simply thrown aside as worthless?' _distinguo!_ that does not seem to me to be the issue. in my opinion the issue is: 'have the red indian, the tatar, the highland seer, and the boston medium (the least reputable of the menagerie) observed, and reasoned wildly from, and counterfeited, and darkened with imposture, certain genuine by-products of human faculty, which do not _prima facie_ deserve to be thrown aside?' that, i venture to think, is the real issue. that science may toss aside as worthless some valuable observations of savages is now universally admitted by people who know the facts. among these observations is the whole topic of hypnotism, with the use of suggestion for healing purposes, and the phenomena, no longer denied, of 'alternating personalities.' for the truth of this statement we may appeal to one of the greatest of continental anthropologists, adolf bastian.[2] the missionaries, like livingstone, usually supposed that the savage seer's declared ignorance-after his so-called fit of inspiration--of what occurred in that state, was an imposture. but nobody now doubts the similar oblivion of what has passed that sometimes follows the analogous hypnotic sleep. of a remarkable cure, which the school of the salpêtrière or nancy would ascribe, with probable justice, to 'suggestion,' a savage example will be given later. savage hypnotism and 'suggestion,' among the sioux and arapahoe, has been thought worthy of a whole volume in the reports of the ethnological bureau of the smithsonian institute (washington, u.s., 1892-98). republican governments publish scientific matter 'regardless of expense,' and the essential points might have been put more shortly. they illustrate the fact that only certain persons can hypnotise others, and throw light on some peculiarities of _rapport._[3] in brief, savages anticipated us in the modern science of experimental psychology, as is frankly acknowledged by the society for experimental psychology of berlin. 'that many mystical phenomena are much more common and prominent among savages than among ourselves is familiar to everyone acquainted with the subject. the _ethnological_ side of our inquiry demands penetrative study.'[4] that study i am about to try to sketch. my object is to examine some 'superstitious practices' and beliefs of savages by aid of the comparative method. i shall compare, as i have already said, the ethnological evidence for savage usages and beliefs analogous to thought-transference, coincidental hallucinations, alternating personality, and so forth, with the best attested modern examples, experimental or spontaneous. this raises the question of our evidence, which is all-important. we proceed to defend it. the savage accounts are on the level of much anthropological evidence; they may, that is, be dismissed by adversaries as 'travellers' tales.' but the best testimony for the truth of the reports as to actual belief in the facts is the undesigned coincidence of evidence from all ages and quarters.[5] when the stories brought by travellers, ancient and modern, learned and unlearned, pious or sceptical, agree in the main, we have all the certainty that anthropology can offer. again, when we find practically the same strange neglected sparks, not only rumoured of in european popular superstition, but attested in many hundreds of depositions made at first hand by respectable modern witnesses, educated and responsible, we cannot honestly or safely dismiss the coincidence of report as indicating a mere 'survival' of savage superstitious belief, and nothing more. we can no longer do so, it is agreed, in the case of hypnotic phenomena. i hope to make it seem possible that we should not do so in the matter of the hallucinations provoked by gazing in a smooth deep, usually styled 'crystal-gazing.' ethnologically, this practice is at least as old as classical times, and is of practically world-wide distribution. i shall prove its existence in australia, new zealand, north america, south america, asia, africa, polynesia, and among the incas, not to speak of the middle and recent european ages. the universal idea is that such visions may be 'clairvoyant.' to take a polynesian case, 'resembling the hawaiian _wai harru_.' when anyone has been robbed, the priest, after praying, has a hole dug in the floor of the house, and filled with water. then he gazes into the water, 'over which the god is supposed to place the spirit of the thief.... the image of the thief was, according to their account, reflected in the water, and being perceived by the priest, he named the individual, or the parties.'[6] here the statement about the 'spirit' is a mere savage philosophical explanation. but the fact that hallucinatory pictures can really be seen by a fair percentage of educated europeans, in water, glass balls, and so forth, is now confirmed by frequent experiment, and accepted by opponents, 'non-mystical writers,' like dr. parish of munich.[7] i shall bring evidence to suggest that the visions may correctly reflect, as it were, persons and places absolutely unknown to the gazer, and that they may even reveal details unknown to every one present. such results among savages, or among the superstitious, would be, and are, explained by the theory of 'spirits.' modern science has still to find an explanation consistent with recognised laws of nature, but 'spirits' we shall not invoke. in the same way i mean to examine all or most of the 'so-called mystical phenomena of savage life.' i then compare them with the better vouched for modern examples. to return to the question of evidence, i confess that i do not see how the adverse anthropologist, psychologist, or popular agnostic is to evade the following dilemma: to the anthropologist we say, 'the evidence we adduce is your own evidence, that of books of travel in all lands and countries. if _you_ may argue from it, so may we. some of it is evidence to unusual facts, more of it is evidence to singular beliefs, which we think not necessarily without foundation. as raising a presumption in favour of that opinion, we cite examples in which savage observations of abnormal and once rejected facts, are now admitted by science to have a large residuum of truth, we argue that what is admitted in some cases may come to be admitted in more. no _a priori_ line can here be drawn.' to the psychologist who objects that our modern instances are mere anecdotes, we reply by asking, 'dear sir, what are _your_ modern instances? what do you know of "mrs. a.," whom you still persistently cite as an example of morbid recurrent hallucinations? name the german servant girl who, in a fever, talked several learned languages, which she had heard her former master, a scholar, declaim! where did she live? who vouches for her, who heard her, who understood her? there is, you know, no evidence at all; the anecdote is told by coleridge: the phenomena are said by him to have been observed "in a roman catholic town in germany, a year or two before my arrival at göttingen.... many eminent physiologists and psychologists visited the town." why do you not name a few out of the distinguished crowd?'[8] this anecdote, a rumour of a rumour of a protestant explanation of a catholic marvel, was told by coleridge at least twenty years after the possible date. the psychologists copy it,[9] one after the other, as a flock of sheep jump where their leader has jumped. an example by way of anecdote may be permitted. according to the current anthropological theory, the idea of soul or spirit was suggested to early men by their experiences in dreams. they seemed, in sleep, to visit remote places; therefore, they argued, something within them was capable of leaving the body and wandering about. this something was the soul or spirit. now it is obvious that this opinion of early men would be confirmed if they ever chanced to acquire, in dreams, knowledge of places which they had never visited, and of facts as to which, in their waking state, they could have no information. this experience, indeed, would suggest problems even to mr. herbert spencer, if it occurred to him. conversing on this topic with a friend of acknowledged philosophical eminence, i illustrated my meaning by a story of a dream. it was reported to me by the dreamer, with whom i am well acquainted, was of very recent occurrence, and was corroborated by the evidence of another person, to whom the dream was narrated, before its fulfilment was discovered. i am not at liberty to publish the details, for good reasons, but the essence of the matter was this: a. and b. (the dreamer) had common interests. a. had taken certain steps about which b. had only a surmise, and a vague one, that steps had probably been taken. a. then died, and b. in an extremely vivid dream (a thing unfamiliar to him) seemed to read a mass of unknown facts, culminating in two definite results, capable of being stated in figures. these results, by the very nature of the case, could not be known to a., so that, before he was placed out of b.'s reach by death, he could not have stated them to him, and, afterwards, had assuredly no means of doing so. the dream, two days after its occurrence, and after it had been told to c., proved to be literally correct. now i am not asking the reader's belief for this anecdote (for that could only be yielded in virtue of knowledge of the veracity of b. and c.), but i invite his attention to the psychological explanation. my friend suggested that a. had told b. all about the affair, that b. had not listened (though his interests were vitally concerned), and that the crowd of curious details, naturally unfamiliar to b., had reposed in his subconscious memory, and had been revived in the dream. now b.'s dream was a dream of reading a mass of minute details, including names of places entirely unknown to him. it may be admitted, in accordance with the psychological theory, that b. might have received all this information from a., but, by dint of inattention--'the malady of not marking'--might never have been _consciously_ aware of what he heard. then b.'s subconscious memory of what he did not _consciously_ know might break upon him in his dream. instances of similar mental phenomena are not uncommon. but the general result of the combined details was one which could not possibly be known to a. before his death; nor to b. could it be known at all. yet b.'s dream represented this general result with perfect accuracy, which cannot be accounted for by the revival of subconscious memory in sleep. neither asleep nor awake can a man remember what it is impossible for him to have known. the dream contained no _prediction_ for the results were now fixed; but (granting the good faith of the narrator) the dream did contain information not normally accessible. however, by way of psychological explanation of the dream, my friend cited coleridge's legend, as to the german girl and her unconscious knowledge of certain learned languages. 'and what is the evidence for the truth of coleridge's legend?' of course, there is none, or none known to all the psychologists who quote it from coleridge. neither, if true, was the legend to the point. however, psychology will accept such unauthenticated narratives, and yet will scoff at first baud, duly corroborated testimony from living and honourable people, about recent events. only a great force of prejudice can explain this acceptance, by psychologists, of one kind of marvellous tale on no evidence, and this rejection of another class of marvellous tale, when supported by first hand, signed and corroborated evidence, of living witnesses. i see only one escape for psychologists from this dilemma. their marvellous tales are _possible_, though unvouched for, because they have always heard them and repeated them in lectures, and read and repeated them in books. _our_ marvellous tales are impossible, because the psychologists know that they are impossible, which means that they have not been familiar with them, from youth upwards, in lectures and manuals. but man has no right to have 'clear ideas of the possible and impossible,' like faraday, _a priori_, except in the exact sciences. there are other instances of weak evidence which satisfies psychologists. hamilton has an anecdote, borrowed from monboddo, who got it from mr. hans stanley, who, 'about twenty-six years ago,' heard it from the subject of the story, madame de laval. 'i have the memorandum somewhere in my papers,' says mr. stanley, vaguely. then we have two american anecdotes by dr. flint and mr. rush; and such is sir william hamilton's equipment of odd facts for discussing the unconscious or subconscious. the least credible and worst attested of these narratives still appears in popular works on psychology. moreover, all psychology, except experimental psychology, is based on anecdotes which people tell about their own subjective experiences. mr. galton, whose original researches are well known, even offered rewards in money for such narratives about visualised rows of coloured figures, and so on. clearly the psychologist, then, has no _prima facie_ right to object to our anecdotes of experiences, which he regards as purely subjective. as evidence, we only accept them at first hand, and, when possible, the witnesses have been cross-examined personally. our evidence then, where it consists of travellers' tales, is on a level with that which satisfies the anthropologist. where it consists of modern statements of personal experience, our evidence is often infinitely better than much which is accepted by the nonexperimental psychologist. as for the agnostic writer on the non-religion of the future, m. guyau actually illustrates the resurrection of our lord by an american myth about a criminal, of whom a hallucinatory phantasm appeared to each of his gaol companions, separately and successively, on a day after his execution! for this prodigious fable no hint of reference to authority is given.[10] yet the evidence appears to satisfy m. guyau, and is used by him to reinforce his argument. the anthropologist and psychologist, then, must either admit that their evidence is no better than ours, if as good, or must say that they only believe evidence as to 'possible' facts. they thus constitute themselves judges of what is possible, and practically regard themselves as omniscient. science has had to accept so many things once scoffed at as 'impossible,' that this attitude of hers, as we shall show in chapter ii., ceases to command respect. my suggestion is that the trivial, rejected, or unheeded phenomena vouched for by the evidence here defended may, not inconceivably, be of considerable importance. but, stating the case at the lowest, if we are only concerned with illusions and fables, it cannot but be curious to note their persistent uniformity in savage and civilised life. to make the first of our two main positions clear, and in part to justify ourselves in asking any attention for such matters, we now offer an historical sketch of the relations between science and the so-called 'miraculous' in the past. [footnote 1: _primitive culture_, i. 156. london, 1891.] [footnote 2: _ueber psychische beobachiungen bei naiurvülkern_. leipzig, gunther, 1890.] [footnote 3: see especially pp. 922-926. the book is interesting in other ways, and, indeed, touching, as it describes the founding of a new red indian religion, on a basis of hypnotism and christianity.] [footnote 4: programme of the society, p. iv.] [footnote 5: tylor, _primitive culture_, i, 9, 10.] [footnote 6: ellis, _polynesian researches_, ii. p. 240.] [footnote 7: _hallucinations and illusions_, english edition, pp. 69-70, 297.] [footnote 8: sir william hamilton's _lectures_, i. 345.] [footnote 9: maudsley, kerner, carpentor, du prel, zangwill.] [footnote 10: coleridge's mythical maid (p. 10) is set down by mr. samuel laing to an experiment of braid's! no references are given.--laing: _problems of the future._] ii science and 'miracles' _historical sketch_ research in the x region is not a new thing under the sun. when saul disguised himself before his conference with the witch of endor, he made an elementary attempt at a scientific test of the supernormal. croesus, the king, went much further, when he tested the clairvoyance of the oracles of greece, by sending an embassy to ask what he was doing at a given hour on a given day, and by then doing something very _bizarre_. we do not know how the delphic oracle found out the right answer, but various easy methods of fraud at once occur to the mind. however, the procedure of croesus, if he took certain precautions, was relatively scientific. relatively scientific also was the inquiry of porphyry, with whose position our own is not unlikely to be compared. unable, or reluctant, to accept christianity, porphyry 'sought after a sign' of an element of supernormal truth in paganism. but he began at the wrong end, namely at pagan spiritualistic _séances_, with the usual accompaniments of darkness and fraud. his perplexed letter to anebo, with the reply attributed to iamblichus, reveal porphyry wandering puzzled among mediums, floating lights, odd noises, queer dubious 'physical phenomena.' he did not begin with accurate experiments as to the existence of rare, and apparently supernormal human faculties, and he seems to have attained no conclusion except that 'spirits' are 'deceitful.'[1] something more akin to modern research began about the time of the reformation, and lasted till about 1680. the fury for burning witches led men of sense, learning, and humanity to ask whether there was any reality in witchcraft, and, generally, in the marvels of popular belief. the inquiries of thyraeus, lavaterus, bodinus, wierus, le loyer, reginald scot, and many others, tended on the whole to the negative side as regards the wilder fables about witches, but left the problems of ghosts and haunted houses pretty much where they were before. it may be observed that lavaterus (circ. 1580) already put forth a form of the hypothesis of telepathy (that 'ghosts' are hallucinations produced by the direct action of one mind, or brain, upon another), while thyraeus doubted whether the noises heard in 'haunted houses' were not mere hallucinations of the sense of hearing. but all these early writers, like cardan, were very careless of first-hand evidence, and, indeed, preferred ghosts vouched for by classical authority, pliny, plutarch, or suetonius. with the rev. joseph glanvil, f.r.s. (circ. 1666), a more careful examination of evidence came into use. among the marvels of glanvil's and other tracts usually published together in his 'sadducismus triumphatus' will be found letters which show that he and his friends, like henry more and boyle, laboured to collect first-hand evidence for second sight, haunted houses, ghosts, and wraiths. the confessed object was to procure a 'whip for the droll,' a reply to the laughing scepticism of the restoration. the result was to bring on glanvil a throng of bores--he was 'worse haunted than mr. mompesson's house,' he says-and mr. pepys found his arguments 'not very convincing.' mr. pepys, however, was alarmed by 'our young gib-cat,' which he mistook for a 'spright.' with henry more, baxter, and glanvil practically died, for the time, the attempt to investigate these topics scientifically, though an impression of doubt was left on the mind of addison. witchcraft ceased to win belief, and was abolished, as a crime, in 1736. some of the scottish clergy, and john wesley, clung fondly to the old faith, but wodrow, and cotton mather (about 1710-1730) were singularly careless and unlucky in producing anything like evidence for their narratives. ghost stories continued to be told, but not to be investigated. then one of the most acute of philosophers decided that investigation ought never to be attempted. this scientific attitude towards x phenomena, that of refusing to examine them, and denying them without examination, was fixed by david hume in his celebrated essay on 'miracles.' hume derided the observation and study of what he called 'miracles,' in the field of experience, and he looked for an _a priori_ argument which would for ever settle the question without examination of facts. in an age of experimental philosophy, which derided _a priori_ methods, this was hume's great contribution to knowledge. his famous argument, the joy of many an honest breast, is a tissue of fallacies which might be given for exposure to beginners in logic, as an elementary exercise. in announcing his discovery, hume amusingly displays the self-complacency and the want of humour with which we scots are commonly charged by our critics: 'i flatter myself that i have discovered an argument which, if just, will, with the wise and learned, be an everlasting check to all kinds of superstitious delusions, and consequently will be useful as long as the world endures.' he does not expect, however, to convince the multitude. till the end of the world, 'accounts of miracles and prodigies, i suppose, will be found in all histories, sacred and profane.' without saying here what he means by a miracle, hume argues that 'experience is our only guide in reasoning.' he then defines a miracle as 'a violation of the laws of nature.' by a 'law of nature' he means a uniformity, not of all experience, but of each experience as he will deign to admit; while he excludes, without examination, all evidence for experience of the absence of such uniformity. that kind of experience cannot be considered. 'there must be a uniform experience against every miraculous event, otherwise the event would not merit that appellation.' if there be any experience in favour of the event, that experience does not count. a miracle is counter to universal experience, no event is counter to universal experience, therefore no event is a miracle. if you produce evidence to what hume calls a miracle (we shall see examples) he replies that the evidence is not valid, unless its falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact. now no error of human evidence can be more miraculous than a 'miracle.' therefore there can be no valid evidence for 'miracles.' fortunately, hume now gives an example of what he means by 'miracles.' he says:-'for, first, there is _not to be found_, in _all history_, any miracle attested by a _sufficient number_ of men, of such unquestioned _good sense, education_, and _learning_, as to secure us against all delusion in themselves; of such undoubted _integrity_, as to place them beyond all suspicion of any design to deceive others; of such credit and reputation in the eyes of mankind, as to have a great deal to lose in case of their being detected in any falsehood; and at the same time attesting facts performed in such a _public manner_, and in so _celebrated a part of the world_, as to render the detection unavoidable; all which circumstances are requisite to give us a full assurance in the testimony of men.'[2] hume added a note at the end of his book, in which he contradicted every assertion which he had made in the passage just cited; indeed, be contradicted himself before he had written six pages. 'there surely never was a greater number of miracles ascribed to one person than those which were lately said to have been wrought in france upon the tomb of abbé paris, the famous jansenist, with whose sanctity the people were so long deluded. the curing of the sick, giving hearing to the deaf, and sight to the blind, were everywhere talked of as the usual effects of that holy sepulchre. but what is more extraordinary, many of the miracles were _immediately proved upon the spot, before judges of unquestioned integrity_, attested by _witnesses of credit and distinction_, in _a learned age_, and on the most _eminent theatre_ that is _now in the world_. nor is this all. a relation of them was published and dispersed everywhere; nor were the jesuits, though a learned body, supported by the civil magistrate, and determined enemies to those opinions, in whose favour the miracles were said to have been wrought, ever able _distinctly to refute or detect them_. where shall we find such a number of circumstances, agreeing to the corroboration of one fact? and what have we to oppose to such a cloud of witnesses, but the absolute _impossibility, or miraculous nature_ of the events which they relate? and this, surely, in the eyes of all reasonable people, will alone be regarded as a sufficient refutation.' thus hume, first denies the existence of such evidence, given in such circumstances as he demands, and then he produces an example of that very kind of evidence. having done this, he abandons (as mr. wallace observes) his original assertion that the evidence does not exist, and takes refuge in alleging 'the absolute impossibility' of the events which the evidence supports. thus hume poses as a perfect judge of the possible, in a kind of omniscience. he takes his stand on the uniformity of all experience that is not hostile to his idea of the possible, and dismisses all testimony to other experience, even when it reaches his standard of evidence. he is remote indeed from virchow's position 'that what we call the laws of nature must vary according to our frequent new experiences.'[3] in his note, hume buttresses and confirms his evidence for the jansenist miracles. they have even a martyr, m. montgeron, who wrote an account of the events, and, says hume lightly, 'is now said to be somewhere in a dungeon on account of his book.' 'many of the miracles of the abbé paris were proved immediately by witnesses before the bishop's court at paris, under the eye of cardinal noailles....' 'his successor was an enemy to the jansenists, yet twenty-two _curés_ of paris ... pressed him to examine these miracles ... _but he wisely forbore_.' hume adds his testimony to the character of these _curés_. thus it is wisdom, according to hume, to dismiss the most public and well-attested 'miracles' without examination. this is experimental science of an odd kind. the phenomena were cases of healing, many of them surprising, of cataleptic rigidity, and of insensibility to pain, among visitors to the tomb of the abbé paris (1731). had the cases been judicially examined (all medical evidence was in their favour), and had they been proved false, the cause of hume would have profited enormously. a strong presumption would have been raised against the miracles of christianity. but hume applauds the wisdom of not giving his own theory this chance of a triumph. the cataleptic seizures were of the sort now familiar to science. these have, therefore, emerged from the miraculous. in fact, the phenomena which occurred at the tomb of the abbé paris have emerged almost too far, and now seem in danger of being too readily and too easily accepted. in 1887 mm. binet and féré, of the school of the salpêtrière, published in english a popular manual styled 'animal magnetism.' these authors write with great caution about such alleged phenomena as the reading, by the hypnotised patient, of the thoughts in the mind of the hypnotiser. but as to the phenomena at the tomb of the abbé paris, they say that 'suggestion explains them.'[4] that is, in the opinion of mm. binet and féré the so-called 'miracles' really occurred, and were worked by 'the imagination,' by 'self-suggestion.' the most famous case--that of mlle. coirin--has been carefully examined by dr. charcot.[5] mlle. coirin had a dangerous fall from her horse, in september 1716, in her thirty-first year. the medical details may be looked for in dr. charcot's essay or in montgeron.[6] 'her disease was diagnosed as cancer of the left breast,' the nipple 'fell off bodily.' amputation of the breast was proposed, but madame coirin, believing the disease to be radically incurable, refused her consent. paralysis of the left side set in (1718), the left leg shrivelling up. on august 9, 1731, mlle. coirin 'tried the off chance' of a miracle, put on a shift that had touched the tomb of paris, and used some earth from the grave. on august 11, mlle. coirin could turn herself in bed; on the 12th the horrible wound 'was staunched, and began to close up and heal.' the paralysed side recovered life and its natural proportions. by september 3, mlle. coirin could go out for a drive. all her malady, says dr. charcot, paralysis, 'cancer,' and all, was 'hysterical;' 'hysterical oedema,' for which he quotes many french authorities and one american. 'under the physical [psychical?] influence brought to bear by the application of the shift ... the oedema, which was due to vaso-motor trouble, disappeared almost instantaneously. the breast regained its normal size.' dr. charcot generously adds that shrines, like lourdes, have cured patients in whom he could not 'inspire the operation of the faith cure.' he certainly cannot explain everything which claims to be of supernatural origin in the faith cure. we have to learn the lesson of patience. i am among the first to recognise that shakespeare's words hold good to-day: 'there are more things in heaven and earth, horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.' if dr. charcot had believed in what the french call _suggestion mentale_-suggestion by thought-transference (which i think he did not)--he could have explained the healing of the centurion's servant, 'say the word, lord, and my servant shall be healed,' by suggestion & distance (telepathy), and by premising that the servant's palsy was 'hysterical.' but what do we mean by 'hysterical'? nobody knows. the 'mind,' somehow, causes gangrenes, if not cancers, paralysis, shrinking of tissues; the mind, somehow, cures them. and what is the 'mind'? as my object is to give savage parallels to modern instances better vouched for. i quote a singular red indian cure by 'suggestion.' hearne, travelling in canada, in 1770, met a native who had 'dead palsy,' affecting the whole of one side. he was dragged on a sledge, 'reduced to a mere skeleton,' and so was placed in the magic lodge. the first step in his cure was the public swallowing by a conjurer of a board of wood, 'about the size of a barrel-stave,' twice as wide across as his mouth. hearne stood beside the man, 'naked as he was born,' 'and, notwithstanding i was all attention, i could not detect the deceit.' of course, hearne believes that this was mere legerdemain, and (p. 216) mentions a most suspicious circumstance. the account is amusing, and deserves the attention of mr. neville maskelyne. the same conjurer had previously swallowed a cradle! now bayonet swallowing, which he also did, is possible, though hearne denies it (p. 217). the real object of these preliminary feats, however performed, is, probably, to inspire _faith_, which dr. charcot might have done by swallowing a cradle. the indians explain that the barrel staves apparently swallowed are merely dematerialised by 'spirits,' leaving only the forked end sticking out of the conjurer's mouth. in fact, hearne caught the conjurer in the act of making a separate forked end. faith being thus inspired, the conjurer, for three entire days, blew, sang, and danced round 'the poor paralytic, fasting.' 'and it is truly wonderful, though the strictest truth, that when the poor man was taken from the conjuring house ... he was able to move all the fingers and toes of the side that had been so long dead.... at the end of six weeks he went a-hunting for his family' (p. 219). hearne kept up his acquaintance, and adds, what is very curious, that he developed almost a secondary personality. 'before that dreadful paralytic stroke, he had been distinguished for his good nature and benevolent disposition, was entirely free from every appearance of avarice,... but after this event he was the most fractious, quarrelsome, discontented, and covetous wretch alive' (p. 220). dr. charcot, if he had been acquainted with this case, would probably have said that it 'is of the nature of those which professor russell reynolds has classified under the head of "paralysis dependent on idea."'[7] unluckily, hearne does not tell us how his hunter, an untutored indian, became 'paralysed by idea.' dr. charcot adds: 'in every case, science is a foe to systematic negation, which the morrow may cause to melt away in the light of its new triumphs.' the present 'new triumph' is a mere coincidence with the dicta of our lord, 'thy faith hath made thee whole.... i have not found so great faith, no, not in israel.' there are cures, as there are maladies, caused 'by idea.' so, in fact, we had always understood. but the point is that science, wherever it agrees with david hume, is not a foe, but a friend to 'systematic negation.' a parallel case of a 'miracle,' the stigmata of st. francis, was, of course, regarded by science as a fable or a fraud. but, now that blisters and other lesions can be produced by suggestion, the fable has become a probable fact, and, therefore, not a miracle at all.[8] mr. james remarks: 'as so often happens, a fact is denied till a welcome interpretation comes with it. then it is admitted readily enough, and evidence quite insufficient to back a claim, so long as the church had an interest in making it, proves to be quite sufficient for modern scientific enlightenment the moment it appears that a reputed saint can thereby be claimed as a case of "hystero-epilepsy."'[9] but the church continues to have an interest in the matter. as the class of facts which hume declined to examine begins to be gradually admitted by science, the thing becomes clear. the evidence which could safely convey these now admittedly possible facts, say from the time of christ, is so far proved to be not necessarily mythical--proved to be not incapable of carrying statements probably correct, which once seemed absolutely false. if so, where, precisely, ends its power of carrying facts? thus considered, the kinds of marvellous events recorded in the gospels, for example, are no longer to be dismissed on _a priori_ grounds as 'mythical.' we cannot now discard evidence as necessarily false because it clashes with our present ideas of the possible, when we have to acknowledge that the very same evidence may safely convey to us facts which clashed with our fathers' notions of what is possible, but which are now accepted. our notions of the possible cease to be a criterion of truth or falsehood, and our contempt for the gospels as myths must slowly die, as 'miracle' after 'miracle' is brought within the realm of acknowledged law. with each such admission the hypothesis that the gospel evidence is mythical must grow weaker, and weaker must grow the negative certainty of popular science. the occurrences which took place at and near the tomb of paris were attested, as hume truly avers, by a great body of excellent evidence. but the wisdom which declined to make a judicial examination has deprived us of the best kind of record. analogous if not exactly similar events now confessedly take place, and are no longer looked upon as miraculous. but as long as they were held to be miraculous, not to examine the evidence, said hume, was the policy of 'all reasonable people.' the result was to deprive science of the best sort of record of facts which she welcomes as soon as she thinks she can explain them.[10] examples of the folly of _a priori_ negation are common. the british association refused to hear the essay which braid, the inventor of the word 'hypnotism,' had written upon the subject. braid, elliotson, and other english inquirers of the mid-century, were subjected to such persecutions as official science could inflict. we read of m. deslon, a disciple of mesmer, about 1783, that he was 'condemned by the faculty of medicine, without any examination of the facts.' the inquisition proceeded more fairly than these scientific obscurantists. another curious example may be cited. m. guyau, in his work 'the non-religion of the future,' argues that religion is doomed. 'poetic genius has withdrawn its services,' witness tennyson and browning! 'among orthodox protestant nations miracles do not happen.'[11] but 'marvellous facts' _do_ happen.[12] these 'marvellous facts,' accepted by m. guyau, are what hume called 'miracles,' and advised the 'wise and learned' to laugh at, without examination. they were not facts, and could not be, he said. now to m. guyau's mind they _are_ facts, and therefore are not miracles. he includes 'mental suggestion taking place even at a distance.' a man 'can transmit an almost compulsive command, it appears nowadays, by a simple tension of his will.' if this be so, if 'will' can affect matter from a distance, obviously the relations of will and matter are not what popular science tells us that they are. again, if this truth is now established, and won from that region which hume and popular science forbid us to investigate, who knows what other facts may be redeemed from that limbo, or how far they may affect our views of possibilities? the admission of mental action, operative _à distance_, is, of course, personal only to m. guyau, among friends of the new negative tradition. we return to hume. he next argues that the pleasures of wonder make all accounts of 'miracles' worthless. he has just given an example of the equivalent pleasures of dogmatic disbelief. then religion is a disturbing force; but so, manifestly, is irreligion. 'the wise and learned are content to deride the absurdity, without informing themselves of the particular facts.' the wise and learned are applauded for their scientific attitude. again, miracles destroy each other, for all religions have their miracles, but all religions cannot be true. this argument is no longer of force with people who look on 'miracles' as = 'x phenomena,' not as divine evidences to the truth of this or that creed. 'the gazing populace receives, without examination, whatever soothes superstition,' and hume's whole purpose is to make the wise and learned imitate the gazing populace by rejecting alleged facts 'without examination.' the populace investigated more than did the wise and learned. hume has an alternative definition of a miracle--'a miracle is a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the deity, or by the interposition of some invisible agent.' we reply that what hume calls a 'miracle' may result from the operation of some as yet unascertained law of nature (say self-suggestion), and that our business, at present, is to examine such events, not to account for them. it may fairly be said that hume is arguing against men who wished to make so-called 'miracles' a test of the truth of jansenism, for example, and that he could not be expected to answer, by anticipation, ideas not current in his day. but he remains guilty of denouncing the investigation of apparent facts. no attitude can be less scientific than his, or more common among many men of science. according to the humorous wont of things in this world, the whole question of the marvellous had no sooner been settled for ever by david hume than it was reopened by emanuel swedenborg. now, kant was familiar with certain of the works of hume, whether he had read his 'essay on miracles' or not. far from declining to examine the portentous 'visions' of swedenborg, kant interested himself deeply in the topic. as early as 1758 he wrote his first remarks on the seer, containing some reports of stories or legends about swedenborg's 'clairvoyance.' in the true spirit of psychical research, kant wrote a letter to swedenborg, asking for information at first hand. the seer got the letter, but he never answered it. kant, however, prints one or two examples of swedenborg's successes. madame harteville, widow of the dutch envoy in stockholm, was dunned by a silversmith for a debt of her late husband's. she believed that it had been paid, but could not find the receipt. she therefore asked swedenborg to use his renowned gifts. he promised to see what he could do, and, three days later, arrived at the lady's house while she was giving a tea, or rather a coffee, party. to the assembled society swedenborg remarked, 'in a cold-blooded way, that he had seen her man, and spoken to him.' the late m. harteville declared to swedenborg that he had paid the bill, seven months before his decease: the receipt was in a cupboard upstairs. madame harteville replied that the cupboard had been thoroughly searched to no purpose. swedenborg answered that, as he learned from the ghost, there was a secret drawer behind the side-plank within the cupboard. the drawer contained diplomatic correspondence, and the missing receipt. the whole company then went upstairs, found the secret drawer, and the receipt among the other papers. kant adds swedenborg's clairvoyant vision, from gothenburg, of a great fire at stockholm (dated september 1756). kant pined to see swedenborg himself, and waited eagerly for his book, 'arcana coelestia.' at last he obtained this work, at the ransom, ruinous to kant at that time, of 7£. but he was disappointed with what he read, and in 'träume eines geistersehers,' made a somewhat sarcastic attempt at a metaphysical theory of apparitions. 'velut aegri somnia vanae finguntur species' is his motto. kant's real position about all these matters is, i venture to say, almost identical with that of sir walter scott. a scot himself, by descent, kant may have heard tales of second-sight and bogles. like scott, he dearly loved a ghost-story; like scott he was canny enough to laugh, publicly, at them and at himself for his interest in them. yet both would take trouble to inquire. as kant vainly wrote to swedenborg and others--as he vainly spent 7£. on 'arcana coelestia,' so sir walter was anxious to go to egypt to examine the facts of ink-gazing clairvoyance. kant confesses that each individual ghost-story found him sceptical, whereas the cumulative mass made a considerable impression.[13] the first seventy pages of the 'tribune' are devoted to a perfectly serious discussion of the metaphysics of 'spirits.' on page 73 he pleasantly remarks, 'now we shall understand that all said hitherto is superfluous,' and he will not reproach the reader who regards seers _not_ as citizens of two worlds (plotinus), but as candidates for bedlam. kant's irony is peculiarly scottish. he does not himself know how far he is in earnest, and, to save his self-respect and character for canniness, he 'jocks wi' deeficulty.' he amuses himself with trying how far he can carry speculations on metaphysics (not yet reformed by himself) into the realm of the ghostly. he makes admissions about his own tendency to think that he has an immaterial soul, and that these points are, or may be, or some day will be, scientifically solved. these admissions are eagerly welcomed by du prel in his 'philosophy of mysticism;' but they are only part of kant's joke, and how far they are serious, kant himself does not know. if spiritualists knew their own business, they would translate and publish kant's first seventy pages of 'träume.' something like telepathy, action of spirit, even discarnate, on spirit, is alluded to, but the idea is as old as lavaterus at least (p. 52). kant has a good deal to say, like scott in his 'demonology,' on the physics of hallucination, but it is antiquated matter. he thinks the whole topic of spiritual being only important as bearing on hopes of a future life. as speculation, all is 'in the air,' and as in such matters the learned and unlearned are on a level of ignorance, science will not discuss them. he then repeats the swedenborg stories, and thinks it would be useful to posterity if some one would investigate them while witnesses are alive and memories are fresh. in fact, kant asks for psychical research. as for swedenborg's so costly book, kant laughs at it. there is in it no evidence, only assertion. kant ends, having pleased nobody, he says, and as ignorant as when he began, by citing _cultivons notre jardin_. kant returned to the theme in 'anthropologische didaktik.' he discusses the unconscious, or sub-conscious, which, till sir william hamilton lectured, seems to have been an absolutely unknown topic to british psychologists. 'so ist das feld dunkler vorstellungen das grösste in menschen.' he has a chapter on 'the divining faculty' (pp. 89-93). he will not hear of presentiments, and, unlike hegel, he scouts the highland second-sight. the 'possessed' of anthropology are epileptic patients. mystics (swedenborg) are victims of _schwärmerei_. this reference to swedenborg is remarked upon by schubert in his preface to the essay of kant. he points out that 'it is interesting to compare the circumspection, the almost uncertainty of kant when he had to deliver a judgment on the phenomena described by himself and as to which he had made inquiry [i.e. in his letter _re_ swedenborg to mlle. de knobloch], and the very decided opinions he expressed forty years later on swedenborg and his companions' [in the work cited, sections 35-37. the opinion in paragraph 35 is a general one as to mystics. there is no other mention of swedenborg]. on the whole kant is interested, but despairing. he wants facts, and no facts are given to him but the book of the prophet emanuel. but, as it happened, a new, or a revived, order of facts was just about to solicit scientific attention. kant had (1766) heard rumours of healing by magnetism, and of the alleged effect of the magnet on the human frame. the subject was in the air, and had already won the attention of mesmer, about whom kant had information. it were superfluous to tell again the familiar story of mesmer's performances at paris. while mesmer's theory of 'magnetism' was denounced by contemporary science, the discovery of the hypnotic sleep was made by his pupil, puységur. this gentleman was persuaded that instances of 'thought-transference' (not through known channels of sense) occurred between the patient and the magnetiser, and he also believed that he had witnessed cases of 'clairvoyance,' 'lucidity,' _vue à distance_, in which the patient apparently beheld places and events remote in space. these things would now be explained by 'unconscious suggestion' in the more sceptical schools of psychological science. the revolution interrupted scientific study in france to a great degree, but 'somnambulism' (the hypnotic sleep) and 'magnetism' were eagerly examined in germany. modern manuals, for some reason, are apt to overlook these german researches and speculations. (compare mr. vincent's 'elements of hypnotism,' p. 34.) the schellings were interested; ritter thought he had detected a new force, 'siderism.' mr. wallace, in his preface to hegel's 'philosophie des geistes,' speaks as if ritter had made experiments in telepathy. he may have done so, but his 'siderismus' (tübingen, 1808) is a report undertaken for the academy of munich, on the doings of an italian water-finder, or 'dowser.' ritter gives details of seventy-four experiments in 'dowsing' for water, metals, or coal. he believes in the faculty, but not in 'psychic' explanations, or the devil. he talks about 'electricity' (pp. 170, 190). he describes his precautions to avoid vulgar fraud, but he took no precautions against unconscious thought-transference. he reckoned the faculty 'temperamental' and useful. amoretti, at milan, examined hundreds of cases of the so-called divining rod, and jung stilling became an early spiritualist and 'full-welling fountain head' of ghost stories. probably the most important philosophical result of the early german researches into the hypnotic slumber is to be found in the writings of hegel. owing to his peculiar use of a terminology, or scientific language, all his own, it is extremely difficult to make hegel's meaning even moderately clear. perhaps we may partly elucidate it by a similitude of mr. frederic myers. suppose we compare the ordinary everyday consciousness of each of us to a _spectrum_, whose ends towards each extremity fade out of our view. beyond the range of sight there may be imagined a lower or physiological end: for our ordinary consciousness, of course, is unaware of many physiological processes which are eternally going on within us. digestion, so long as it is healthy, is an obvious example. but hypnotic experiment makes it certain that a patient, in the _hypnotic_ condition, can consciously, or at least purposefully, affect physiological processes to which the _ordinary_ consciousness is blind--for example, by raising a blister, when it is suggested that a blister must be raised. again (granting the facts hypothetically and merely for the sake of argument), at the _upper_ end of the spectrum, beyond the view of ordinary everyday consciousness, knowledge may be acquired of things which are out of the view of the consciousness of every day. for example (for the sake of argument let us admit it), unknown and remote people and places may be seen and described by clairvoyance, or _vue à distance_. now hegel accepted as genuine the facts which we here adduce merely for the sake of argument, and by way of illustrations. but he did not regard the clairvoyant consciousness (or whatever we call it) which, _ex hypothesi_, is untrammelled by space, or even by time, as occupying what we style the _upper_ end of the psychical spectrum. on the contrary, he placed it at the _lower_ end. hegel's upper end 'loses itself in light;' the lower end, _qui voit tant de choses_, as la fontaine's shepherd says, is _not_ 'a sublime mental phase, and capable of conveying general truths.' time and space do not thwart the consciousness at hegel's _lower_ end, which springs from 'the great soul of nature.' but that lower end, though it may see for jeanne d'arc at valcouleurs a battle at rouvray, a hundred leagues away, does not communicate any lofty philosophic truths.[14] the phenomena of clairvoyance, in hegel's opinion, merely indicate that the 'material' is really 'ideal,' which, perhaps, is as much as we can ask from them. 'the somnambulist and clairvoyant see without eyes, and carry their visions directly into regions where the waiting consciousness of orderly intelligence cannot enter' (wallace). hegel admits, however, that 'in ordinary self-possessed conscious life' there are traces of the 'magic tie,' 'especially between female friends of delicate nerves,' to whom he adds husband and wife, and members of the same family. he gives (without date or source) a case of a girl in germany who saw her brother lying dead in a hospital at valladolid. her brother was at the time in the hospital, but it was another man in the nest bed who was dead. 'it is thus impossible to make out whether what the clairvoyants really see preponderates over what they deceive themselves in.' as long as the facts which hegel accepted are not officially welcomed by science, it may seem superfluous to dispute as to whether they are attained by the lower or the higher stratum of our consciousness. but perhaps the question here at issue may be elucidated by some remarks of dr. max dessoir. psychology, he says, has proved that in every conception and idea an image or group of images must be present. these mental images are the recrudescence or recurrence of perceptions. we see a tree, or a man, or a dog, and whenever we have before our minds the conception or idea of any of these things the original perception of them returns, though of course more faintly. but in dr. dessoir's opinion these revived mental images would reach the height of actual hallucinations (so that the man, dog, or tree would seem visibly present) if other memories and new sensations did not compete with them and check their development. suppose, to use mlle. ferrand's metaphor, a human body, living, but with all its channels of sensation hitherto unopened. open the sense of sight to receive a flash of green colour, and close it again. apparently, whenever the mind informing this body had the conception of green (and it could have no other) it would also have an hallucination of green, thus 'annihilating all that's made, to a green thought in a green shade.' now, in sleep or hypnotic trance the competition of new sensations and other memories is removed or diminished, and therefore the idea of a man, dog, or tree once suggested to the hypnotised patient, does become an actual hallucination. the hypnotised patient sees the absent object which he is told to see, the sleeper sees things not really present. our primitive state, before the enormous competition of other memories and new sensations set in, would thus be a state of hallucination. our normal present condition, in which hallucination is checked by competing memories and new sensations, is a suppression of our original, primitive, natural tendencies. hallucination represents 'the main trunk of our psychical existence.'[15] in dr. dessoir's theory this condition of hallucination is man's original and most primitive condition, but it is not a _higher_, rather a lower state of spiritual activity than the everyday practical unhallucinated consciousness. this is also the opinion of hegel, who supposes our primitive mental condition to be capable of descrying objects remote in space and time. mr. myers, as we saw, is of the opposite opinion, as to the relative dignity and relative reality of the present everyday self, and the old original fundamental self. dr. dessoir refrains from pronouncing a decided opinion as to whether the original, primitive, hallucinated self within us does 'preside over powers and actions at a distance,' such as clairvoyance; but he believes in hypnotisation at a distance. his theory, like hegel's, is that of 'atavism,' or 'throwing back' to some very remote ancestral condition. this will prove of interest later. hegel, at all events, believed in the fact of clairvoyance (though deeming it of little practical use); he accepted telepathy ('the magic tie'); he accepted interchange of sensations between the hypnotiser and the hypnotised; he believed in the divining rod, and, unlike kant, even in 'scottish second-sight.' 'the intuitive soul oversteps the conditions of time and space; it beholds things remote, things long past, and things to come.'[16] the pendulum of thought has swung back a long way from the point whither it was urged by david hume. hegel remarks: 'the facts, it might seem, first of all call for verification. but such verification would be superfluous to those on whose account it was called for, since they facilitate the inquiry for themselves by declaring the narratives, infinitely numerous though they be, and accredited by the education and character of the witnesses, to be mere deception and imposture. their _a priori_ conceptions are so rooted that no testimony can avail against them, and they have even denied what they have seen with their own eyes,' and reported under their own hands, like sir david brewster. hegel, it will be observed, takes the facts as given, and works them into his general theory of the sensitive soul (_fühlende seele_). he does not try to establish the facts; but to establish, or at least to examine them, is the first business of psychical research. theorising comes later. the years which have passed between the date of hegel's 'philosophy of mind' and our own time have witnessed the long dispute over the existence, the nature, and the causes of the hypnotic condition, and over the reality and limitations of the phenomena. thus the academy of medicine in paris appointed a committee to examine the subject in 1825. the report on 'animal magnetism,' as it was then styled, was presented in 1831. the academy lacked the courage to publish it, for the report was favourable even to certain of the still disputed phenomena. at that time, in accordance with a survival of the theory of mesmer, the agent in hypnotic cases was believed to be a kind of efflux of a cosmic fluid from the 'magnetiser' to the patient. there was 'a magnetic connection.' though no distinction between mesmerism and hypnotism is taken in popular language, 'mesmerism' is a word implying this theory of 'magnetic' or other unknown personal influence. 'hypnotism,' as will presently be seen, implies no such theory. the academy's report (1831) attested the development, under 'magnetism,' of 'new faculties,' such as clairvoyance and intuition, also the production of 'great changes in the physical economy,' such as insensibility, and sudden increase of strength. the report declared it to be 'demonstrated' that sleep could be produced 'without suggestion,' as we say now, though the term was not then in use. 'sleep has been produced in circumstances in which the persons could not see or were ignorant of the means employed to produce it.' the academy did its best to suppress this report, which attests the phenomena that hegel accepted, phenomena still disputed. six years later (1837), a committee reported against the pretensions of a certain berna, a 'magnetiser.' no person acted on both committees, and this report was accepted. later, a number of people tried to read a letter in a box, and failed. 'this,' says mr. vincent, 'settled the question with regard to clairvoyance;' though it might be more logical to say that it settled the pretensions of the competitors on that occasion. the academy now decided that, because certain persons did not satisfy the expectations raised by their preliminary advertisements, therefore the question of magnetism was definitely closed. we have often to regret that scientific eminence is not always accompanied by scientific logic. where science neglects a subject, charlatans and dupes take it up. in england 'animal magnetism' had been abandoned to this class of enthusiasts, till thackeray's friend, dr. elliotson, devoted himself to the topic. he was persecuted as doctors know how to persecute; but in 1841, braid, of manchester, discovered that the so-called 'magnetic sleep' could be produced without any 'magnetism,' he made his patients stare fixedly at an object, and encouraged them to expect to go to sleep. he called his method 'hypnotism,' a term which begs no question. seeming to cease to be mysterious, hypnotism became all but respectable, and was being used in surgical operations, till it was superseded by chloroform. in england, the study has been, and remains, rather _suspect_, while on the continent hypnotism is used both for healing purposes and in the inquiries of experimental psychology. wide differences of opinion still exist, as to the nature of the hypnotic sleep, as to its physiological concomitants, and as to the limits of the faculties exercised in or out of the slumber. it is not even absolutely certain that the exercise of the stranger faculties--for instance, that the production of anaesthesia and rigidity--are the results merely of 'suggestion' and expectancy. a hypnotised patient is told that the middle finger of his left hand will become rigid and incapable of sensation. this occurs, and is explained by 'suggestion,' though _how_ 'suggestion' produces the astonishing effect is another problem. the late mr. gurney, however, made a number of experiments in which no suggestion was pronounced, nor did the patients know which of their fingers was to become rigid and incapable of pain. the patient's hands were thrust through a screen; on the other side of which the hypnotist made passes above the finger which was to become rigid. the lookers-on selected the finger, and the insensibility was tested by a strong electric current. the effect was also produced _without_ passes, the operator merely pointing at the selected finger, and 'willing' the result. if he did not 'will' it, nothing occurred, nor did anything occur if he willed without pointing. the proximity of the operator's hand produced no effect if he did not 'will,' nor was his 'willing' successful if he did not bring his hand near that of the patient. other people's hands, similarly situated, produced no effect. experiments in transferring taste, as of salt, sugar, cayenne pepper, from operator to subject, were also successful. drs. janet and gibert also produced sleep in a woman at a distance, by 'willing' it, at hours which were selected by a system of drawing lots.[17] these facts, of course, rather point to an element of truth in the old mesmeric hypothesis of some specific influence in the operator. they cannot very well be explained by suggestion and expectancy. but these facts and facts of clairvoyance and thought-transference will be rejected as superstitious delusions by people who have not met them in their own experience. this need not prevent us from examining them, because _all_ the facts, including those now universally accepted by continental and scarcely impeached by british science, have been noisily rejected again and again on hume's principles. the rarer facts, as mr. gurney remarks, 'still go through the hollow form of taking place.' here is an example of the mode in which these phenomena are treated by popular science. mr. vincent says that 'clairvoyance and phrenology were elliotson's constant stock in trade.' (phrenology was also braid's stock in trade.) 'it is a matter of congratulation to have been so soon delivered from what dr. lloyd tuckey has well called "a mass of superincumbent rubbish."'[18] clairvoyance is part of a mass of rubbish, on page 57. on page 67, mr. vincent says: 'there are many interesting questions, such as telepathy, thought-reading, clairvoyance, upon which it would be perhaps rash to give any decided opinion.... all these strange psychical conditions present problems of great interest,' and are only omitted because 'they have not a sufficient bearing on the normal states of hypnosis....' thus what was 'rubbish' in one page 'presents problems of great interest' ten pages later, and, after offering a decided opinion that clairvoyance is rubbish, mr. vincent thinks it rash to give any decided opinion. it is rather rash to give a decided opinion, and then to say that it is rash to do so.[19] this brief sketch shows that science is confronted by certain facts, which, in his time, hume dismissed as incredible miracles, beneath the contempt of the wise and learned. we also see that the stranger and rarer phenomena which hegel accepted as facts, and interwove with his general philosophy, are still matters of dispute. admitted by some men of science, they are doubted by others; by others, again, are denied, while most of the journalists and authors of cheap primers, who inspire popular tradition, regard the phenomena as frauds or fables of superstition. but it is plain that these phenomena, like the more ordinary facts of hypnotism, _may_ finally be admitted by science. the scientific world laughed, not so long ago, at ogham inscriptions, meteorites, and at palaeolithic weapons as impostures, or freaks of nature. now nobody has any doubt on these matters, and clairvoyance, thought-transference, and telepathy may, not inconceivably, be as fortunate in the long run as meteorites, or as the more usual phenomena of hypnotism. it is only lord kelvin who now maintains, or lately maintained, that in hypnotism there is nothing at all but fraud and malobservation. in years to come it may be that only some similar belated voice will cry that in thought-transference there is nothing but malobservation and fraud. at present the serious attention and careful experiment needed for the establishment of the facts are more common among french than among english men of science. when published, these experiments, if they contain any affirmative instances, are denounced as 'superstitious,' or criticized after what we must charitably deem to be a very hasty glance, by the guides of popular opinion. examples of this method will be later quoted. meanwhile the disputes as to these alleged facts are noticed here, because of their supposed relation to the origin of religion. [footnote 1: see mr. myers's paper on the 'ancient oracles,' in _classical essays_, and the author's 'ancient spiritualism,' in _cock lane and common sense_.] [footnote 2: the italics here are those of mr. alfred russell wallace, in his _miracles and modern science_. mr. huxley, in his exposure of hume's fallacies (in his life of hume), did not examine the jansenist 'miracles' which hume was criticising.] [footnote 3: moll, _hypnotism_, p. 357.] [footnote 4: _animal magnetism_, p. 355.] [footnote 5: a translation of his work was published in the _new review_, january 1693.] [footnote 6: _la vérité des miracles_, cologne, 1747, septièmo démonstration.] [footnote 7: see dr. russell reynolds's paper in _british medical journal_, november 1869.] [footnote 8: james, _principles of psychology_, ii. 612. charcot, op. cit.] [footnote 9: i do not need to be told that dr. maudsley denied the fact in 1886. i am prepared with the evidence, if it is asked for by some savant who happens not to know it.] [footnote 10: i am not responsible, of course, for the scientific validity of dr. charcot's theory of healing 'by idea.' my point merely is that certain experts of no slight experience or mean reputation do now admit, as important certainties within their personal knowledge, exactly the phenomena which hume asks the wise and learned to laugh at, indeed, but never to investigate.] [footnote 11: pp. 353-356.] [footnote 12: p. 93.] [footnote 13: _träume_, p. 76.] [footnote 14: hegel accepts the clairvoyance of the pucelle.] [footnote 15: see dr. dessoir, in _das doppel ich,_ as quoted by mr. myers, _proceedings_, vol. vi. 213.] [footnote 16: _philosophie des geistes, werke,_ vol. vii. 179. berlin. 1845. the examples and much of the philosophising are in the _zusätze_, not translated in mr. wallace's version, oxford, 1894.] [footnote 17: _proceedings_, s.p.r., vol. ii. pp. 201-207, 390-392.] [footnote 18: _elements of hypnotism_, p. 67.] [footnote 19: possibly mr. vincent only means that elliotson's experiments, 'little more than sober footing' (p. 57), with the sisters okey, were rubbish. but whether the sisters okey were or were not honest is a question on which we cannot enter here.] iii anthropology and religion among the various forms of science which are reaching and affecting the new popular tradition, we have reckoned anthropology. pleasantly enough, anthropology has herself but recently emerged from that limbo of the unrecognised in which psychical research is pining. the british association used to reject anthropological papers as 'vain dreams based on travellers' tales.' no doubt the british association would reject a paper on clairvoyance as a vain dream based on old wives' fables, or on hysterical imposture. undeniably the study of such themes is hampered by fable and fraud, just as anthropology has to be ceaselessly on its guard against 'travellers' tales,' against european misunderstandings of savage ideas, and against civilised notions and scientific theories unconsciously read into barbaric customs, rites, traditions, and usages. man, _ondoyant et divers_, is the subject alike of anthropology and of psychical research. man (especially savage man) cannot be secluded from disturbing influences, and watched, like the materials of a chemical experiment in a laboratory. nor can man be caught in a 'primitive' state: his intellectual beginnings lie very far behind the stage of culture in which we find the lowest known races. consequently the matter on which anthropology works is fluctuating; the evidence on which it rests needs the most sceptical criticism, and many of its conclusions, in the necessary absence of historical testimony as to times far behind the lowest known savages, must be hypothetical. for these sound reasons official science long looked askance on anthropology. her followers were not regarded as genuine scholars, and, perhaps as a result of this contempt, they were often 'broken men,' intellectual outlaws, people of one wild idea. to the scientific mind, anthropologists or ethnologists were a horde who darkly muttered of serpent worship, phallus worship, arkite doctrines, and the ten lost tribes that kept turning up in the most unexpected places. anthropologists were said to gloat over dirty rites of dirty savages, and to seek reason where there was none. the exiled, the outcast, the pariah of science, is, indeed, apt to find himself in odd company. round the camp-fire of psychical research too, in the unofficial, unstaked waste of science, hover odd, menacing figures of esoteric buddhists, _satanistes_, occultists, christian scientists, spiritualists, and astrologers, as the arkites and lost tribesmen haunted the cradle of anthropology. but there was found at last to be reason in the thing, and method in the madness. evolution was in it. the acceptance, after long ridicule, of palaeolithic weapons as relics of human culture, probably helped to bring anthropology within the sacred circle of permitted knowledge. her topic was full of illustrations of the doctrine of mr. darwin. modern writers on the theme had been anticipated by the less systematic students of the eighteenth century--goguet, de brosses, millar, fontenelle, lafitau, boulanger, or even hume and voltaire. as pioneers these writers answer to the early mesmerists and magnetists, puységur, amoretti, ritter, elliotson, mayo, gregory, in the history of psychical research. they were on the same track, in each case, as lubbock, tylor, spencer, bastian, and frazer, or as gurney, richet, myers, janet, dessoir, and von schrenck-notzing. but the earlier students were less careful of method and evidence. evidence! that was the stumbling block of anthropology. we still hear, in the later works of mr. max müller, the echo of the old complaints. anything you please, mr. max müller says, you may find among your useful savages, and (in regard to some anthropologists) his criticism is just. you have but to skim a few books of travel, pencil in hand, and pick out what suits your case. suppose, as regards our present theme, your theory is that savages possess broken lights of the belief in a supreme being. you can find evidence for that. or suppose you want to show that they have no religious ideas at all; you can find evidence for that also. your testimony is often derived from observers ignorant of the language of the people whom they talk about, or who are themselves prejudiced by one or other theory or bias. how can you pretend to raise a science on such foundations, especially as the savage informants wish to please or to mystify inquirers, or they answer at random, or deliberately conceal their most sacred institutions, or have never paid any attention to the subject? to all these perfectly natural objections mr. tylor has replied.[1] evidence must be collected, sifted, tested, as in any other branch of inquiry. a writer, 'of course, is bound to use his best judgment as to the trustworthiness of all authors he quotes, and, if possible, to obtain several accounts to certify each point in each locality.' mr. tylor then adduces 'the test of recurrence,' of undesigned coincidence in testimony, as millar had already argued in the last century.[2] if a mediaeval mahommedan in tartary, a jesuit in brazil, a wesleyan in fiji, one may add a police magistrate in australia, a presbyterian in central africa, a trapper in canada, agree in describing some analogous rite or myth in these diverse lands and ages, we cannot set down the coincidence to chance or fraud. 'now, the most important facts of ethnography are vouched for in this way.' we may add that even when the ideas of savages are obscure, we can often detect them by analysis of the institutions in which they are expressed.[3] thus anthropological, like psychical or any other evidence, must be submitted to conscientious processes of testing and sifting. contradictory instances must be hunted for sedulously. nothing can be less scientific than to snatch up any traveller's tale which makes for our theory, and to ignore evidence, perhaps earlier, or later, or better observed, which makes against it. yet this, unfortunately, in certain instances (which will be adduced) has been the occasional error of mr. huxley and mr. spencer.[4] mr. spencer opens his 'ecclesiastical institutions' by the remark that 'the implication [from the reported absence of the ideas of belief in persons born deaf and dumb] is that the religious ideas of civilised men are not innate' (who says they are?), and this implication mr. spencer supports by 'proofs that among various savages religious ideas do not exist.' 'sir john lubbock has given many of these.' but it would be well to advise the reader to consult roskoff's confutation of sir john lubbock, and mr. tylor's masterly statement.[5] mr. spencer cited sir samuel baker for savages without even 'a ray of superstition' or a trace of worship. mr. tylor, twelve years before mr. spencer wrote, had demolished sir samuel baker's assertion,[6] as regards many tribes, and so shaken it as regards the latukas, quoted by mr. spencer. the godless dinkas have 'a good deity and heaven-dwelling creator,' carefully recorded years before sir samuel's 'rash denial.' we show later that mr. spencer, relying on a single isolated sentence in brough smyth, omits all his essential information about the australian supreme being; while mr. huxley--overlooking the copious and conclusive evidence as to their ethical religion--charges the australians with having merely a non-moral belief in casual spirits. we have also to show that mr. huxley, under the dominance of his theory, and inadvertently, quotes a good authority as saying the precise reverse of what he really does say. if the facts not fitting their theories are little observed by authorities so popular as mr. huxley and mr. spencer; if _instantiae contradictoriae_ are ignored by them, or left vague; if these things are done in the green tree, we may easily imagine what shall be done in the dry. but we need not war with hasty _vulgarisateurs_ and headlong theorists. enough has been said to show the position of anthropology as regards evidence, and to prove that, if he confines his observations to certain anthropologists, the censures of mr. max müller are justified. it is mainly for this reason that the arguments presently to follow are strung on the thread of mr. tylor's truly learned and accurate book, 'primitive culture.' though but recently crept forth, _vix aut ne vix quidem_, from the chill shade of scientific disdain, anthropology adopts the airs of her elder sisters among the sciences, and is as severe as they to the cinderella of the family, psychical research. she must murmur of her fairies among the cinders of the hearth, while they go forth to the ball, and dance with provincial mayors at the festivities of the british association. this is ungenerous, and unfortunate, as the records of anthropology are rich in unexamined materials of psychical research. i am unacquainted with any work devoted by an anthropologist of renown to the hypnotic and kindred practices of the lower races, except herr bastian's very meagre tract, 'über psychische beobachtungen bei naturvölkern.'[7] we possess, none the less, a mass of scattered information on this topic, the savage side of psychical phenomena, in works of travel, and in mr. tylor's monumental 'primitive culture.' mr. tylor, however, as we shall see, regards it as a matter of indifference, or, at least, as a matter beyond the scope of his essay, to decide whether the parallel supernormal phenomena believed in by savages, and said to recur in civilisation, are facts of actual experience, or not. now, this question is not otiose. mr. tylor, like other anthropologists, mr. huxley, mr. herbert spencer, and their followers and popularisers, constructs on anthropological grounds, a theory of the origin of religion. that origin anthropology explains as the result of early and fallacious reasonings on a number of biological and psychological phenomena, both normal and (as is alleged by savages) supernormal. these reasonings led to the belief in souls and spirits. now, first, anthropology has taken for granted that the supreme deities of savages are envisaged by them as 'spirits.' this, paradoxical as the statement may appear, is just what does not seem to be proved, as we shall show. next, if the supernormal phenomena (clairvoyance, thought-transference, phantasms of the dead, phantasms of the dying, and others) be real matters of experience, the inferences drawn from them by early savage philosophy may be, in some degree, erroneous. but the inferences drawn by materialists who reject the supernormal phenomena will also, perhaps, be, let us say, incomplete. religion will have been, in part, developed out of facts, perhaps inconsistent with materialism in its present dogmatic form. to put it less trenchantly, and perhaps more accurately, the alleged facts 'are not merely dramatically strange, they are not merely extraordinary and striking, but they are "odd" in the sense that they will not easily fit in with the views which physicists and men of science generally give us of the universe in which we live' (mr. a.j. balfour, president's address, 'proceedings,' s.p.r. vol. x. p. 8, 1894). as this is the case, it might seem to be the business of anthropology, the science of man, to examine, among other things, the evidence for the actual existence of those alleged unusual and supernormal phenomena, belief in which is given as one of the origins of religion. to make this examination, in the ethnographic field, is almost a new labour. as we shall see, anthropologists have not hitherto investigated such things as the 'fire-walk' of savages, uninjured in the flames, like the three holy children. the world-wide savage practice of divining by hallucinations induced through gazing into a smooth deep (crystal-gazing) has been studied, i think, by no anthropologist. the veracity of 'messages' uttered by savage seers when (as they suppose) 'possessed' or 'inspired' has not been criticised, and probably cannot be, for lack of detailed information. the 'physical phenomena' which answer among savages to the use of the 'divining rod,' and to 'spiritist' marvels in modern times, have only been glanced at. in short, all the savage parallels to the so-called 'psychical phenomena' now under discussion in england, america, germany, italy, and france, have escaped critical analysis and comparison with their civilised counterparts. an exception among anthropologists is mr. tylor. he has not suppressed the existence of these barbaric parallels to our modern problems of this kind. but his interest in them practically ends when he has shown that the phenomena helped to originate the savage belief in 'spirits,' and when he has displayed the 'survival' of that belief in later culture. he does not ask 'are the phenomena real?' he is concerned only with the savage philosophy of the phenomena and with its relics in modern spiritism and religion. my purpose is to do, by way only of _ébauche_, what neither anthropology nor psychical research nor psychology has done: to put the savage and modern phenomena side by side. such evidence as we can give for the actuality of the modern experiences will, so far as it goes, raise a presumption that the savage beliefs, however erroneous, however darkened by fraud and fancy, repose on a basis of real observation of actual phenomena. anthropology is concerned with man and what is in man--_humani nihil a se alienum putat_. these researches, therefore, are within the anthropological province, especially as they bear on the prevalent anthropological theory of the origin of religion. by 'religion' we mean, for the purpose of this argument, the belief in the existence of an intelligence, or intelligences not human, and not dependent on a material mechanism of brain and nerves, which may, or may not, powerfully control men's fortunes and the nature of things. we also mean the additional belief that there is, in man, an element so far kindred to these intelligences that it can transcend the knowledge obtained through the known bodily senses, and may possibly survive the death of the body. these two beliefs at present (though not necessarily in their origin) appear chiefly as the faith in god and in the immortality of the soul. it is important, then, to trace, if possible, the origin of these two beliefs. if they arose in actual communion with deity (as the first at least did, in the theory of the hebrew scriptures), or if they could be proved to arise in an unanalysable _sensus numinis_, or even in 'a perception of the infinite' (max müller), religion would have a divine, or at least a necessary source. to the theist, what is inevitable cannot but be divinely ordained, therefore religion is divinely preordained, therefore, in essentials, though not in accidental details, religion is true. the atheist, or non-theist, of course draws no such inferences. but if religion, as now understood among men, be the latest evolutionary form of a series of mistakes, fallacies, and illusions, if its germ be a blunder, and its present form only the result of progressive but unessential refinements on that blunder, the inference that religion is untrue--that nothing actual corresponds to its hypothesis--is very easily drawn. the inference is not, perhaps, logical, for all our science itself is the result of progressive refinements upon hypotheses originally erroneous, fashioned to explain facts misconceived. yet our science is true, within its limits, though very far from being exhaustive of the truth. in the same way, it might be argued, our religion, even granting that it arose out of primitive fallacies and false hypotheses, may yet have been refined, as science has been, through a multitude of causes, into an approximate truth. frequently as i am compelled to differ from mr. spencer both as to facts and their interpretation, i am happy to find that he has anticipated me here. opponents will urge, he says, that 'if the primitive belief' (in ghosts) 'was absolutely false, all derived beliefs from it must be absolutely false?' mr. spencer replies: 'a germ of truth was contained in the primitive conception--the truth, namely, that the power which manifests itself in consciousness is but a differently conditioned form of the power which manifests itself beyond consciousness.' in fact, we find mr. spencer, like faust as described by marguerite, saying much the same thing as the priests, but not quite in the same way. of course, i allow for a much larger 'germ of truth' in the origin of the ghost theory than mr. spencer does. but we can both say 'the ultimate form of the religious consciousness is' (will be?) 'the final development of a consciousness which at the outset contained a germ of truth obscured by multitudinous errors.'[8] 'one god, one law, one element, and one far-off divine event, to which the whole creation moves.' coming at last to mr. tylor, we find that he begins by dismissing the idea that any known race of men is devoid of religious conceptions. he disproves, out of their own mouths, the allegations of several writers who have made this exploded assertion about 'godless tribes.' he says: 'the thoughts and principles of modern christianity are attached to intellectual clues which run back through far pre-christian ages to the very origin of human civilisation, _perhaps even of human existence_.'[9] so far we abound in mr. tylor's sense. 'as a minimum definition of religion' he gives 'the belief in spiritual beings,' which appears 'among all low races with whom we have attained to thoroughly intimate relations.' the existence of this belief at present does not prove that no races were ever, at any time, destitute of all belief. but it prevents us from positing the existence of such creedless races, in any age, as a demonstrated fact. we have thus, in short, no opportunity of observing, _historically_, man's development from blank unbelief into even the minimum or most rudimentary form of belief. we can only theorise and make more or less plausible conjectures as to the first rudiments of human faith in god and in spiritual beings. we find no race whose mind, as to faith, is a _tabula rasa_. to the earliest faith mr. tylor gives the name of _animism_, a term not wholly free from objection, though 'spiritualism' is still less desirable, having been usurped by a form of modern superstitiousness. this animism, 'in its full development, includes the belief in souls and in a future state, in controlling deities and subordinate spirits.' in mr. tylor's opinion, as in mr. huxley's, animism, in its lower (and earlier) forms, has scarcely any connection with ethics. its 'spirits' do not 'make for righteousness.' this is a side issue to be examined later, but we may provisionally observe, in passing, that the ethical ideas, such as they are, even of australian blacks are reported to be inculcated at the religious mysteries (_bora_) of the tribes, which were instituted by and are performed in honour of the gods of their native belief. but this topic must be reserved for our closing chapters. mr. tylor, however, is chiefly concerned with animism as 'an ancient and world-wide philosophy, of which belief is the theory, and worship is the practice.' given animism, then, or the belief in spiritual beings, as the earliest form and minimum of religious faith, what is the origin of animism? it will be seen that, by animism, mr. tylor does not mean the alleged early theory, implicitly if not explicitly and consciously held, that all things whatsoever are animated and are personalities.[10] judging from the behaviour of little children, and from the myths of savages, early man may have half-consciously extended his own sense of personal and potent and animated existence to the whole of nature as known to him. not only animals, but vegetables and inorganic objects, may have been looked on by him as persons, like what he felt himself to be. the child (perhaps merely because _taught_ to do so) beats the naughty chair, and all objects are persons in early mythology. but this _feeling_, rather than theory, may conceivably have existed among early men, before they developed the hypothesis of 'spirits,' 'ghosts,' or souls. it is the origin of _that_ hypothesis, 'animism,' which mr. tylor investigates. what, then, is the origin of animism? it arose in the earliest traceable speculations on 'two groups of biological problems: (1) 'what is it that makes the difference between a living body and a dead one; what causes waking, sleep, trance, disease, and death?' (2) 'what are those human shapes which appear in dreams and visions?'[11] here it should be noted that mr. tylor most properly takes a distinction between sleeping 'dreams' and waking 'visions,' or 'clear vision.' the distinction is made even by the blacks of australia. thus one of the kurnai announced that his _yambo_, or soul, could 'go out' during sleep, and see the distant and the dead. but 'while any one might be able to communicate with the ghosts, _during sleep_, it was only the wizards who were able to do so in waking hours.' a wizard, in fact, is a person susceptible (or feigning to be susceptible) when awake to hallucinatory perceptions of phantasms of the dead. 'among the kulin of wimmera river a man became a wizard who, as a boy, had seen his mother's ghost sitting at her grave.'[12] these facts prove that a race of savages at the bottom of the scale of culture do take a formal distinction between normal dreams in sleep and waking hallucinations--a thing apt to be denied. thus mr. herbert spencer offers the massive generalisation that savages do not possess a language enabling a man to say 'i dreamed that i saw,' instead of 'i saw' ('principles of sociology,' p. 150). this could only be proved by giving examples of such highly deficient languages, which mr. spencer does not do.[13] in many savage speculations there occur ideas as subtly metaphysical as those of hegel. moreover, even the australian languages have the verb 'to see,' and the substantive 'sleep.' nothing, then, prevents a man from saying 'i saw in sleep' (_insomnium_, [greek: enupnion]). we have shown too, that the australians take an essential distinction between waking hallucinations (ghosts seen by a man when awake) and the common hallucinations of slumber. anybody can have these; the man who sees ghosts when awake is marked out for a wizard. at the same time the vividness of dreams among certain savages, as recorded in mr. im thurn's 'indians of guiana,' and the consequent confusion of dreaming and waking experiences, are certain facts. wilson says the same of some negroes, and mr. spencer illustrates from the confusion of mind in dreamy children. they, we know, are much more addicted to somnambulism than grown-up people. i am unaware that spontaneous somnambulism among savages has been studied as it ought to be. i have demonstrated, however, that very low savages can and do draw an essential distinction between sleeping and waking hallucinations. again, the crystal-gazer, whose apparently telepathic crystal pictures are discussed later (chap. v.), was introduced to a crystal just because she had previously been known to be susceptible to waking and occasionally veracious hallucinations. it was not only on the dreams of sleep, so easily forgotten as they are, that the savage pondered, in his early speculations about the life and the soul. he included in his materials the much more striking and memorable experiences of waking hours, as we and mr. tylor agree in holding. reflecting on these things, the earliest savage reasoners would decide: (1) that man has a 'life' (which leaves him temporarily in sleep, finally in death); (2) that man also possesses a 'phantom' (which appears to other people in their visions and dreams). the savage philosopher would then 'combine his information,' like a celebrated writer on chinese metaphysics. he would merely 'combine the life and the phantom,' as 'manifestations of one and the same soul.' the result would be 'an apparitional soul,' or 'ghost-soul.' this ghost-soul would be a highly accomplished creature, 'a vapour, film, or shadow,' yet conscious, capable of leaving the body, mostly invisible and impalpable, 'yet also manifesting physical power,' existing and appearing after the death of the body, able to act on the bodies of other men, beasts, and things.[14] when the earliest reasoners, in an age and in mental conditions of which we know nothing historically, had evolved the hypothesis of this conscious, powerful, separable soul, capable of surviving the death of the body, it was not difficult for them to develop the rest of religion, as mr. tylor thinks. a powerful ghost of a dead man might thrive till, its original owner being long forgotten, it became a god. again (souls once given) it would not be a very difficult logical leap, perhaps, to conceive of souls, or spirits, that had never been human at all. it is, we may say, only _le premier pas qui coûte_, the step to the belief in a surviving separable soul. nevertheless, when we remember that mr. tylor is theorising about savages in the dim background of human evolution, savages whom we know nothing of by experience, savages far behind australians and bushmen (who possess gods), we must admit that he credits them with great ingenuity, and strong powers of abstract reasoning. he may be right in his opinion. in the same way, just as primitive men were keen reasoners, so early bees, more clever than modern bees, may have evolved the system of hexagonal cells, and only an early fish of genius could first have hit on the plan, now hereditary of killing a fly by blowing water at it. to this theory of metaphysical genius in very low savages i have no objection to offer. we shall find, later, astonishing examples of savage abstract speculation, certainly not derived from missionary sources, because wholly out of the missionary's line of duty and reflection. as early beasts had genius, so the earliest reasoners appear to have been as logically gifted as the lowest savages now known to us, or even as some biblical critics. by mr. tylor's hypothesis, they first conceived the extremely abstract idea of life, 'that which makes the difference between a living body and a dead one.'[15] this highly abstract conception must have been, however, the more difficult to early man, as, to him, all things, universally, are 'animated.'[16] mr. tylor illustrates this theory of early man by the little child's idea that 'chairs, sticks, and wooden horses are actuated by the same sort of personal will as nurses and children and kittens.... in such matters the savage mind well represents the childish stage.'[17] now, nothing can be more certain than that, if children think sticks are animated, they don't think so because they have heard, or discovered, that they possess souls, and then transfer souls to sticks. we may doubt, then, if primitive man came, in this way, by reasoning on souls, to suppose that all things, universally, were animated. but if he did think all things animated--a corpse, to his mind, was just as much animated as anything else. did he reason: 'all things are animated. a corpse is not animated. therefore a corpse is not a thing (within the meaning of my general law)'? how, again, did early man conceive of life, before he identified life (1) with 'that which makes the difference between a living body and a dead one' (a difference which, _ex hypothesi_, he did not draw, _all_ things being animated to his mind) and (2) with 'those human shapes which appear in dreams and visions'? 'the ancient savage philosophers probably reached the obvious inference that every man had two things belonging to him, a life and a phantom.' but everything was supposed to have 'a life,' as far as one makes out, before the idea of separable soul was developed, at least if savages arrived at the theory of universal animation as children are said to do. we are dealing here quite conjecturally with facts beyond our experience. in any case, early man excogitated (by the hypothesis) the abstract idea of life, _before_ he first 'envisaged' it in material terms as 'breath,' or 'shadow.' he next decided that mere breath or shadow was not only identical with the more abstract conception of life, but could also take on forms as real and full-bodied as, to him, are the hallucinations of dream or waking vision. his reasoning appears to have proceeded from the more abstract (the idea of life) to the more concrete, to the life first shadowy and vaporous, then clothed in the very aspect of the real man. mr. tylor has thus (whether we follow his logic or not) provided man with a theory of active, intelligent, separable souls, which can survive the death of the body. at this theory early man arrived by speculations on the nature of life, and on the causes of phantasms of the dead or living beheld in 'dreams and visions.' but our author by no means leaves out of sight the effects of alleged supernormal phenomena believed in by savages, with their parallels in modern civilisation. these supernormal phenomena, whether real or illusory, are, he conceives, facts in that mass of experiences from which savages constructed their belief in separable, enduring, intelligent souls or ghosts, the foundation of religion. while we are, perhaps owing to our own want of capacity, puzzled by what seem to be two kinds of early philosophy--(1) a sort of instinctive or unreasoned belief in universal animation, which mr. spencer calls 'animism' and does not believe in, (2) the reasoned belief in separable and surviving souls of men (and in things), which mr. spencer believes in, and mr. tylor calls 'animism'--we must also note another difficulty. mr. tylor may seem to be taking it for granted that the earliest, remote, unknown thinkers on life and the soul were existing on the same psychical plane as we ourselves, or, at least, as modern savages. between modern savages and ourselves, in this regard, he takes certain differences, but takes none between modern savages and the remote founders of religion. thus mr. tylor observes: 'the condition of the modern ghost-seer, whose imagination passes on such slight excitement into positive hallucination, is rather the rule than the exception among uncultured and intensely imaginative tribes, whose minds may be thrown off their balance by a touch, a word, a gesture, an unaccustomed noise.'[18] i find evidence that low contemporary savages are _not_ great ghost-seers, and, again, i cannot quite accept mr. tylor's psychology of the 'modern ghost-seer.' most such favoured persons whom i have known were steady, unimaginative, unexcitable people, with just one odd experience. lord tennyson, too, after sleeping in the bed of his recently lost father on purpose to see his ghost, decided that ghosts 'are not seen by imaginative people.' we now examine, at greater length, the psychical conditions in which, according to mr. tylor, contemporary savages differ from civilised men. later we shall ask what may be said as to possible or presumable psychical differences between modern savages and the datelessly distant founders of the belief in souls. mr. tylor attributes to the lower races, and even to races high above their level, 'morbid ecstasy, brought on by meditation, fasting, narcotics, excitement, or disease.' now, we may still 'meditate'--and how far the result is 'morbid' is a matter for psychologists and pathologists to determine. fasting we do not practise voluntarily, nor would we easily accept evidence from an englishman as to the veracity of voluntary fasting visions, like those of cotton mather. the visions of disease we should set aside, as a rule, with those of 'excitement,' produced, for instance, by 'devil-dances.' narcotic and alcoholic visions are not in question.[19] for our purpose the _induced_ trances of savages (in whatever way voluntarily brought on) are analogous to the modern induced hypnotic trance. any supernormal acquisitions of knowledge in these induced conditions, among savages, would be on a par with similar alleged experiences of persons under hypnotism. we do not differ from known savages in being able to bring on non-normal psychological conditions, but we produce these, as a rule, by other methods than theirs, and such experiments are not made on _all_ of us, as they were on all red indian boys and girls in the 'medicine-fast,' at the age of puberty. further, in their normal state, known savages, or some of them, are more 'suggestible' than educated europeans at least.[20] they can be more easily hallucinated in their normal waking state by suggestion. once more, their intervals of hunger, followed by gorges of food, and their lack of artificial light, combine to make savages more apt to see what is not there than are comfortable educated white men. but mr. tylor goes too far when he says 'where the savage could see phantasms, the civilised man has come to amuse himself with fancies.'[21] the civilised man, beyond all doubt, is capable of being _enfantosmé_. in all that he says on this point, the point of psychical condition, mr. tylor is writing about known savages as they differ from ourselves. but the savages who _ex hypothesi_ evolved the doctrine of souls lie beyond our ken, far behind the modern savages, among whom we find belief not only in souls and ghosts, but in moral gods. about the psychical condition of the savages who worked out the theory of souls and founded religion we necessarily know nothing. if there be such experiences as clairvoyance, telepathy, and so on, these unknown ancestors of ours may (for all that we can tell) have been peculiarly open to them, and therefore peculiarly apt to believe in separable souls. in fact, when we write about these far-off founders of religion, we guess in the dark, or by the flickering light of analogy. the lower animals have faculties (as in their power of finding their way home through new unknown regions, and in the ants' modes of acquiring and communicating knowledge to each other) which are mysteries to us. the terror of dogs in 'haunted houses' and of horses in passing 'haunted' scenes has often been reported, and is alluded to briefly by mr. tylor. balaam's ass, and the dogs which crouched and whined before athene, whom eumaeus could not see, are 'classical' instances. the weakness of the anthropological argument here is, we must repeat, that we know little more about the mental condition and experiences of the early thinkers who developed the doctrine of souls than we know about the mental condition and experiences of the lower animals. and the more firmly a philosopher believes in the darwinian hypothesis, the less, he must admit, can he suppose himself to know about the twilight ages, between the lower animal and the fully evolved man. what kind of creature was man when he first conceived the germs, or received the light, of religion? all is guess-work here! we may just allude to hegel's theory that clairvoyance and hypnotic phenomena are produced in a kind of temporary _atavism_, or 'throwing hack' to a remotely ancient condition of the 'sensitive soul' (_füklende seele_). the 'sensitive' [unconditioned, clairvoyant] faculty or 'soul' is 'a disease when it becomes a state of the self-conscious, educated, self-possessed human being of civilisation.'[22] 'second sight,' hegel thinks, was a product of an earlier day and earlier mental condition than ours. approaching this almost untouched subject--the early psychical condition of man--not from the side of metaphysical speculations like hegel, but with the instruments of modern psychology and physiology, dr. max dessoir, of berlin, following, indeed, m. taine, has arrived, as we saw, at somewhat similar conclusions. 'this fully conscious life of the spirit,' in which we moderns now live, 'seems to rest upon a substratum of reflex action of a hallucinatory type.' our actual modern condition is _not_ 'fundamental,' and 'hallucination represents, at least in its nascent condition, the main trunk of our psychical existence.'[23] now, suppose that the remote and unknown ancestors of ours who first developed the doctrine of souls had not yet spread far from 'the main trunk of our psychical existence,' far from constant hallucination. in that case (at least, according to dr. dessoir's theory) their psychical experiences would be such as we cannot estimate, yet cannot leave, as a possibility influencing religion, out of our calculations. if early men were ever in a condition in which telepathy and clairvoyance (granting their possibility) were prevalent, one might expect that faculties so useful would be developed in the struggle for existence. that they are deliberately cultivated by modern savages we know. the indian foster-mother of john tanner used, when food was needed, to suggest herself into an hypnotic condition, so that she became _clairvoyante_ as to the whereabouts of game. tanner, an english boy, caught early by the indians, was sceptical, but came to practise the same art, not unsuccessfully, himself.[24] his reminiscences, which he dictated on his return to civilisation, were certainly not feigned in the interests of any theories. but the most telepathic human stocks, it may be said, ought, _ceteris paribus_, to have been the most successful in the struggle for existence. we may infer that the _cetera_ were not _paria_, the clairvoyant state not being precisely the best for the practical business of life. but really we know nothing of the psychical state of the earliest men. they may have had experiences tending towards a belief in 'spirits,' of which we can tell nothing. we are obliged to guess, in considerable ignorance of the actual conditions, and this historical ignorance inevitably besets all anthropological speculation about the origin of religion. the knowledge of our nescience as to the psychical condition of our first thinking ancestors may suggest hesitation as to taking it for granted that early man was on our own or on the modern savage level in 'psychical' experience. even savage races, as mr. tylor justly says, attribute superior psychical knowledge to neighbouring tribes on a yet lower level of culture than themselves. the finn esteems the lapp sorcerers above his own; the lapp yields to the superior pretensions of the samoyeds. there may be more ways than one of explaining this relative humility: there is hegel's way and there is mr. tylor's way. we cannot be certain, _a priori_, that the earliest man knew no more of supernormal or apparently supernormal experiences than we commonly do, or that these did not influence his thoughts on animism. it is an example of the chameleon-like changes of science (even of 'science falsely so called' if you please) that when he wrote his book, in 1871, mr. tylor could not possibly have anticipated this line of argument. 'psychical planes' had not been invented; hypnotism, with its problems, had not been much noticed in england. but 'spiritualism' was flourishing. mr. tylor did not ignore this revival of savage philosophy. he saw very well that the end of the century was beholding the partial rehabilitation of beliefs which were scouted from 1660 to 1850. seventy years ago, as mr. tylor says, dr. macculloch, in his 'description of the western islands of scotland,' wrote of 'the famous highland second sight' that 'ceasing to be believed it has ceased to exist.'[25] dr. macculloch was mistaken in his facts. 'second sight' has never ceased to exist (or to be believed to exist), and it has recently been investigated in the 'journal' of the caledonian medical society. mr. tylor himself says that it has been 'reinstated in a far larger range of society, and under far better circumstances of learning and prosperity.' this fact he ascribes generally to 'a direct revival from the regions of savage philosophy and peasant folklore,' a revival brought about in great part by the writings of swedenborg. to-day things have altered. the students now interested in this whole class of alleged supernormal phenomena are seldom believers in the philosophy of spiritualism in the american sense of the word.[26] mr. tylor, as we have seen, attributes the revival of interest in this obscure class of subjects to the influence of swedenborg. it is true, as has been shown, that swedenborg attracted the attention of kant. but modern interest has chiefly been aroused and kept alive by the phenomena of hypnotism. the interest is now, among educated students, really scientific. thus mr. william james, professor of psychology in the university of harvard, writes: 'i was attracted to this subject (psychical research) some years ago by my love of fair play in science.'[27] mr. tylor is not incapable of appreciating this attitude. even the so-called 'spirit manifestations,' he says, 'should be discussed on their merits,' and the investigation 'would seem apt to throw light on some most interesting psychological questions.' nothing can be more remote from the logic of hume. the ideas of mr. tylor on the causes of the origin of religion are now criticised, not from the point of view of spiritualism, but of experimental psychology. we hold that very probably there exist human faculties of unknown scope; that these conceivably were more powerful and prevalent among our very remote ancestors who founded religion; that they may still exist in savage as in civilised races, and that they may have confirmed, if they did not originate, the doctrine of separable souls. if they _do_ exist, the circumstance is important, in view of the fact that modern ideas rest on a denial of their existence. mr. tylor next examines the savage and other _names_ for the ghost-soul, such as shadow (_umbra_), breath (_spiritus_), and he gives cases in which the _shadow_ of a man is regarded as equivalent to his _life_. of course, the shadow in the sunlight does not resemble the phantasm in a dream. the two, however, were combined and identified by early thinkers, while _breath_ and _heart_ were used as symbols of 'that in men which makes them live,' a phrase found among the natives of nicaragua in 1528. the confessedly symbolical character of the phrase, 'it is _not_ precisely the heart, but that in them which makes them live,' proves that to the speaker life was _not_ 'heart' or 'breath,' but that these terms were known to be material word-counters for the conception of life.[1] whether the earliest thinkers identified heart, breath, shadow, with life, or whether they consciously used words of material origin to denote an immaterial conception, of course we do not know. but the word in the latter case would react on the thought, till the roman inhaled (as his life?) the last breath of his dying kinsman, he well knowing that the manes of the said kinsman were elsewhere, and not to be inhaled. subdivisions and distinctions were then recognised, as of the egyptian _ka_, the 'double,' the karen _kelah_, or 'personal life-phantom' (_wraith_), on one side, and the karen _thah_, 'the responsible moral soul,' on the other. the roman _umbra_ hovers about the grave, the _manes_ go to orcus, the _spiritus_ seeks the stars. we are next presented with a crowd of cases in which sickness or lethargy is ascribed by savages to the absence of the patient's spirit, or of one of his spirits. this idea of migratory spirit is next used by savages to explain certain proceedings of the sorcerer, priest, or seer. his soul, or one of his souls is thought to go forth to distant places in quest of information, while the seer, perhaps, remains lethargic. probably, in the struggle for existence, he lost more by being lethargic than he gained by being clairvoyant! now, here we touch the first point in mr. tylor's theory, where a critic may ask, was this belief in the wandering abroad of the seer's spirit a theory not only false in its form (as probably it is), but also wholly unbased on experiences which might raise a presumption in favour of the existence of phenomena really supernormal? by 'supernormal' experiences i here mean such as the acquisition by a human mind of knowledge which could not be obtained by it through the recognised channels of sensation. say, for the sake of argument, that a person, savage or civilised, obtains in trance information about distant places or events, to him unknown, and, through channels of sense, unknowable. the savage will explain this by saying that the seer's soul, shadow, or spirit, wandered out of the body to the distant scene. this is, at present, an unverified theory. but still, for the sake of argument, suppose that the seer did honestly obtain this information in trance, lethargy, or hypnotic sleep, or any other condition. if so, the modern savage (or his more gifted ancestors) would have other grounds for his theory of the wandering soul than any ground presented by normal occurrences, ordinary dreams, shadows, and so forth. again, in human nature there would be (if such things occur) a potentiality of experiences other and stranger than materialism will admit as possible. it will (granting the facts) be impossible to aver that there is _nihil in intellectu quod non prius in sensu_. the soul will be not _ce qu'un vain peuple pense_ under the new popular tradition, and the savage's theory of the spirit will be, at least in part, based on other than normal and every-day facts. that condition in which the seer acquires information, not otherwise accessible, about events remote in space, is what the mesmerists of the mid-century called 'travelling clairvoyance.' if such an experience be _in rerum natura_, it will not, of course, justify the savage's theory that the soul is a separable entity, capable of voyaging, and also capable of existing after the death of the body. but it will give the savage a better excuse for his theory than normal experiences provide; and will even raise a presumption that reflection on mere ordinary experiences--death, shadow, trance--is not the sole origin of his theory. for a savage so acute as mr. tylor's hypothetical early reasoner might decline to believe that his own or a friend's soul had been absent on an expedition, unless it brought back information not normally to be acquired. however, we cannot reason, _a priori_, as to how far the logic of a savage might or might not go on occasion. in any case, a scientific reasoner might be expected to ask: 'is this alleged acquisition of knowledge, _not_ through the ordinary channels of sense, a thing _in rerum natura_?' because, if it is, we must obviously increase our list of the savage's reasons for believing in a soul: we must make his reasons include 'psychical' experiences, and there must be an x region to investigate. these considerations did not fail to present themselves to mr. tylor. but his manner of dealing with them is peculiar. with his unequalled knowledge of the lower races, it was easy for him to examine travellers' tales about savage seers who beheld distant events in vision, and to allow them what weight he thought proper, after discounting possibilities of falsehood and collusion. he might then have examined modern narratives of similar performances among the civilised, which are abundant. it is obvious and undeniable that if the supernormal acquisition of knowledge in trance is a _vera causa_, a real process, however rare, mr. tylor's theory needs modifications; while the character of the savage's reasoning becomes more creditable to the savage, and appears as better bottomed than we had been asked to suppose. but mr. tylor does not examine this large body of evidence at all, or, at least, does not offer us the details of his examination. he merely writes in this place: 'a typical spiritualistic instance may be quoted from jung-stilling, who says that examples have come to his knowledge of sick persons who, longing to see absent friends, have fallen into a swoon, during which they have appeared to the distant objects of their affection.'[29] jung-stilling (though he wrote before modern 'spiritualism' came in) is not a very valid authority; there is plenty of better evidence than his, but mr. tylor passes it by, merely remarking that 'modern europe has kept closely enough to the lines of early philosophy.' modern europe has indeed done so, if it explains the supernormal acquisition of knowledge, or the hallucinatory appearance of a distant person to his friend by a theory of wandering 'spirits.' but facts do not cease to be facts because wrong interpretations have been put upon them by savages, by jung-stilling, or by anyone else. the real question is, do such events occur among lower and higher races, beyond explanation by fraud and fortuitous coincidence? we gladly grant that the belief in animism, when it takes the form of a theory of 'wandering spirits,' is probably untenable, as it is assuredly of savage origin. but we are not absolutely so sure that in this aspect the theory is not based on actual experiences, not of a normal and ordinary kind. if so, the savage philosophy and its supposed survivals in belief will appear in a new light. and we are inclined to hold that an examination of the mass of evidence to which mr. tylor offers here so slight an allusion will at least make it wise to suspend our judgment, not only as to the origins of the savage theory of spirits, but as to the materialistic hypothesis of the absence of a psychical element in man. i may seem to have outrun already the limits of permissible hypothesis. it may appear absurd to surmise that there can exist in man, savage or civilised, a faculty for acquiring information not accessible by the known channels of sense, a faculty attributed by savage philosophers to the wandering soul. but one may be permitted to quote the opinion of m. charles richet, professor of physiology in the faculty of medicine in paris. it is not cited because m. richet is a professor of physiology, but because he reached his conclusion after six years of minute experiment. he says: 'there exists in certain persons, at certain moments, a faculty of acquiring knowledge which has no _rapport_ with our normal faculties of that kind.'[30] instances tending to raise a presumption in favour of m. richet's idea may now be sought in savage and civilised life. [footnote 1: _primitive culture,_ i. 9, 10.] [footnote 2: _origin of ranks._] [footnote 3: i may be permitted to refer to 'reply to objections' in the appendix to my _myth, ritual, and religion,_ vol. ii.] [footnote 4: spencer, _ecclesiastical institutions_, pp. 672, 673.] [footnote 5: _primitive culture_, i. 417-425. cf. however _princip. of sociol._, p. 304.] [footnote 6: op. cit. i. 423, 424.] [footnote 7: published for the berlin society of experimental psychology, günther, leipzig, 1890.] [footnote 8: _ecclesiastical institutions_, 837-839.] [footnote 9: _primitive culture_, i. 421, chapter xi.] [footnote 10: this theory is what mr. spencer calls 'animism,' and does not believe in. what mr. tylor calls 'animism' mr. spencer believes in, but he calls it the 'ghost theory.'] [footnote 11: _primitive culture_, i. 428.] [footnote 12: howitt, _journal of anthropological institute_, xiii. 191-195.] [footnote 13: the curious may consult, for savage words for 'dreams,' mr. scott's _dictionary of the mang'anja language_, s.v. 'lots,' or any glossary of any savage language.] [footnote 14: _prim. cult._ i. 429.] [footnote 15: _prim. cult._ i. 428.] [footnote 16: ibid. i. 285.] [footnote 17: ibid. i. 285, 286.] [footnote 18: _primitive culture_, i. 446.] [footnote 19: see, however, dr. von schrenck-notzing, _die beobachtung narcolischer mittel für den hypnotismus_, and s.p.r. _proceedings_, x. 292-899.] [footnote 20: _primitive culture_, i. 306-316.] [footnote 21: i. 315.] [footnote 22: _phil. des geistes_, pp. 406, 408.] [footnote 23: see also mr. a.j. balfour's presidential address to the society for psychical research, _proceedings_, vol. x. see, too, taine, _de l'intelligence_, i. 78, 106, 139.] [footnote 24: tanner's _narrative_, new york, 1830.] [footnote 25: _primitive culture_, i. 143.] [footnote 26: as 'spiritualism' is often used in opposition to 'materialism,' and with no reference to rapping 'spirits,' the modern belief in that class of intelligences may here be called spiritism.] [footnote 27: _the will to believe_, preface, p. xiv.] [footnote 28: _primitive culture_, i. 432,433. citing oviedo, _hist. de nicaragua,_ pp. 21-51.] [footnote 29: _primitive culture_, i. 440. citing stilling after dale owen, and quoting mr. alfred russel wallace's _scientific aspect of the supernatural_, p. 43. mr. tylor also adds folk-lore practices of ghost-seeing, as on st. john's eve. st. mark's eve, too, is in point, as far as folk-lore goes.] [footnote 30: _proceedings_, s.p.r. v. 167.] iv 'opening the gates of distance' 'to open the gates of distance' is the poetical zulu phrase for what is called clairvoyance, or _vue à distance_. this, if it exists, is the result of a faculty of undetermined nature, whereby knowledge of remote events may be acquired, not through normal channels of sense. as the zulus say: '_isiyezi_ is a state in which a man becomes slightly insensible. he is awake, but still sees things which he would not see if he were not in a state of ecstasy (_nasiyesi_).'[1] the zulu description of _isiyezi_ includes what is technically styled 'dissociation.' no psychologist or pathologist will deny that visions of an hallucinatory sort may occur in dissociated states, say in the _petit mal_ of epilepsy. the question, however, is whether any such visions convey actual information not otherwise to be acquired, beyond the reach of chance coincidence to explain. a scottish example, from the records of a court of law, exactly illustrates the zulu theory. at the moment when the husband of jonka dyneis was in danger six miles from her house in his boat, jonka 'was found, and seen standing at her own house wall in a trance, and being taken, she could not give answer, but stood as bereft of her senses, and when she was asked why she was so moved, she answered, "if our boat be not lost, she was in great hazard."' (october 2, 1616.)[2] the belief in opening the gates of distance is, of course, very widely diffused. the gift is attributed to apollonius of tyana, to plotinus, to many saints, to catherine de' medici, to the rev. mr. peden,[3] and to jeanne d'arc, while the faculty is the stock in trade of savage seers in all regions.[4] the question, however, on which mr. tylor does not touch, is, _are any of the stories true?_ if so, of course they would confirm in the mind of the savage his theory of the wandering soul. now, to find anything like attested cases of successful clairvoyance among savages is a difficult task. white men either scout the idea, or are afraid of seeming superstitious if they give examples, or, if they do give examples, are accused of having sunk to the degraded level of zulus or red indians. even where travellers, like scheffer, have told about their own experiences, the narratives are omitted by modern writers on savage divination.[5] we must therefore make our own researches, and it is to be noted that the stories of successful savage clairvoyance are given as illustrations merely, not as evidence to facts, for we cannot cross-examine the witnesses. mr. tylor dismisses the topic in a manner rather cavalier: 'without discussing on their merits the accounts of what is called "second sight,"[6] it may be pointed out that they are related among savage tribes, as when captain jonathan carver obtained from a cree medicine-man a true prophecy of the arrival of a canoe with news next day at noon; or when mr. j. mason brown, travelling with two _voyageurs_ on the copper mine river, was met by indians of the very band he was seeking, these having been sent by their medicine-man, who, on enquiry, stated that "he saw them coming, and heard them talk on their journey."'[7] now, in our opinion, the 'merits' of stories of second sight need discussion, because they may, if well attested, raise a presumption that the savage's theory has a better foundation than mr. tylor supposes. oddly enough, though mr. tylor does not say so, dr. brinton (from whom he borrows his two anecdotes) is more or less of our opinion. 'there are,' says dr. brinton, 'statements supported by unquestionable testimony, which ought not to be passed over in silence, and yet i cannot but approach them with hesitation. they are so revolting to the laws of exact science, so alien, i had almost said, to the experience of our lives. yet is this true, or are such experiences only ignored and put aside without serious consideration?' that is exactly what we complain of; the alleged facts are 'put aside without serious consideration.' we, at least, are not slaves to the idea that 'the laws of exact science' must be the only laws at work in the world. science, however exact, does not pretend to have discovered all 'laws.' to return to actual examples of the alleged supernormal acquisition of knowledge by savages: dr. brinton gives an example from charlevoix and general mason brown's anecdote.[8] in general mason brown's instance the medicine-man, at a great distance, bade his emissaries 'seek three whites, whose horses, arms, attire, and personal appearance he minutely described, which description was repeated to general brown by the warriors _before they saw his two companions.'_ general brown assured dr. brinton of 'the accuracy of this in every particular.' mr. tylor has certainly not improved the story in his condensed version. dr. brinton refers to 'many' tales such as these, and some will be found in 'among the zulus,' by mr. david leslie (1875). mr. leslie was a scottish sportsman, brought up from boyhood in familiarity with the zulus. his knowledge of their language and customs was minute, and his book, privately printed, contains much interesting matter. he writes: 'i was obliged to proceed to the zulu country to meet my kaffir elephant-hunters, the time for their return having arrived. they were hunting in a very unhealthy country, and i had agreed to wait for them on the north-east border, the nearest point i could go to with safety. i reached the appointed rendezvous, but could not gain the slightest intelligence of my people at the kraal. 'after waiting some time, and becoming very uneasy about them, one of my servants recommended me to go to the doctor, and at last, out of curiosity and _pour passer le temps_, i did go. 'i stated what i wanted--information about my hunters--and i was met by a stern refusal. "i cannot tell anything about white men," said he, "and i know nothing of their ways." however, after some persuasion and promise of liberal payment, impressing upon him the fact that it was not white men but kaffirs i wanted to know about, he at last consented, saying "he would _open the gate of distance_, and would travel through it, even although his body should lie before me." 'his first proceeding was to ask me the number and names of my hunters. to this i demurred, telling him that if he obtained that information from me he might easily substitute some news which he may have heard from others, instead of the "spiritual telegraphic news" which i expected him to get from his "familiar." 'to this he answered: "i told you i did not understand white men's ways; but if i am to do anything for you it must be done in my way--not yours." on receiving this fillip i felt inclined to give it up, as i thought i might receive some rambling statement with a considerable dash of truth, it being easy for anyone who knew anything of hunting to give a tolerably correct idea of their motions. 'however, i conceded this point also, and otherwise satisfied him. 'the doctor then made eight little fires--that being the number of my hunters; on each he cast some roots,[9] which emitted a curious sickly odour and thick smoke; into each he cast a small stone, shouting, as he did so, the name to which the stone was dedicated; then he ate some "medicine," and fell over in what appeared to be a trance for about ten minutes, during all which time his limbs kept moving. then he seemed to wake, went to one of the fires, raked the ashes about, looked at the stone attentively, described the man faithfully, and said: "this man has died of the fever, and your gun is lost." 'to the next fire as before: "this man" (correctly described) "has killed four elephants," and then he described the tusks. the next: "this man" (again describing him) "has been killed by an elephant, but your gun is coming home," and so on through the whole, the men being minutely and correctly described; their success or non-success being equally so. i was told where the survivors were, and what they were doing, and that in three months they would come out, but as they would not expect to find me waiting on them there so long after the time appointed, they would not pass that way. 'i took a particular note of all this information at the time, and to my utter amazement _it turned out correct in every particular_. 'it was scarcely within the bounds of possibility that this man could have had ordinary intelligence of the hunters; they were scattered about in a country two hundred miles away.' mr. leslie could discover no explanation, nor was any suggested by friends familiar with the country and the natives whom he consulted. he gives another example, which may be explained by 'suggestion.' a parallel case from central africa will be found in the 'journal of the anthropological institute,' november 1897, p. 320, where 'private information,' as usual, would explain the singular facts. the zulus themselves lay claim to a kind of clairvoyance which looks like the result of intense visualising power, combined with the awakening of the subconscious memory.[10] 'there is among black men a something which is divination within them. when anything valuable is lost, they look for it at once; when they cannot find it, each one begins to practise this inner divination, trying to feel where the thing is; for, not being able to see it, he feels internally a pointing, which tells him if he will go down to such a place it is there, and he will find it. at length it says he will find it; at length he sees it, and himself approaching it; before he begins to move from where he is, he sees it very clearly indeed, and there is an end of doubt. that sight is so clear that it is as though it was not an inner sight, but as if he saw the very thing itself, and the place where it is; so he quickly arises and goes to the place. if it is a hidden place he throws himself into it, as though there was something that impelled him to go as swiftly as the wind; and, in fact, he finds the thing, if he has not acted by mere head-guessing. if it has been done by real inner divination, he really sees it. but if it is done by mere head-guessing and knowledge that he has not gone to such a place and such a place, and that therefore it must be in such another place, he generally misses the mark.' other zulu instances will be given under the heads 'possession' and 'fetishism.' to take a northern people: in his 'history of the lapps'[11] scheffer describes mechanical modes of divination practised by that race, who use a drum and other objects for the purpose. these modes depend on more traditional rules for interpreting the accidental combinations of lots. but a lapp confessed to scheffer, with tears, that he could not help seeing visions, as he proved by giving scheffer a minute relation 'of whatever particulars had happened to me in my journey to lapland. and he further complained that he know not how to make use of his eyes, since things altogether distant were presented to them.' this lapp was anxious to become a christian, hence his regret at being a 'rare and valuable' example of clairvoyance. torfaeus also was posed by the clairvoyance of a samoyed, as was regnard by a lapp seer.[12] the next case is of old date, and, like the other savage examples, is merely given for purposes of illustration. '_25e lettre_.[13] '"_suite des traditions des sauvages._" 'au fort de la rivière de st. joseph, ce 14 septembre 1721. '"_des jongleurs_"-... vous ayez vu à paris madame de marson, & elle y est encore; voici ce que m. le marquis de vaudreuil son gendre, actuellement notre gouverneur général, me raconta cet hyver, & qu'il a sçû de cette dame, qui n'est rien moíns qu'un esprit foible. elle etoit un jour fort inquiette an sujet de m. de marson, son mari, lequel commandoit dans un poste, que nous avions en accadie; et etoit absent, & le tems qu'il avoit marqué pour son retour, etoit passé. 'une femme sauvage, qui vit madame de marson en peine, lui en demanda la cause, & l'ayant apprise, lui dit, après y avoir un peu rêvé, de ne plus se chagriner, que son epoux reviendroit tel jour et à telle heure, qu'elle lui marqua, avec un chapeau gris sur la tête. comme elle s'apperçut que la dame n'ajoutoit point foi à sa prédiction, au jour & à l'heure, qu'elle avoit assignée, elle rotourna chez elle, lui demanda si elle ne vouloit pas venir voir arriver son mari, & la pressa de telle sorte de la suivre, qu'elle l'entraîna au bord de la rivière. 'a peine y etoíent-elles arrivées, que m. de marson parut dans un canot, un chapeau gris sur la tête; & ayant appris ce qui s'etoit passé, assûra qu'il ne pouvoit pas comprendre comment la sauvagesse avoit pû sçavoir l'heure & le jour de son arrivée.' it is unusual for european travellers and missionaries to give anecdotes which might seem to 'confirm the delusions of benighted savages.' such anecdotes, again, are among the _arcana_ of these wild philosophers, and are not readily communicated to strangers. when successful cases are reported, it is natural to assert that they come through europeans who have sunk into barbarous superstition, or that they may be explained by fraud and collusion. it is certain, however, that savage proficients believe in their own powers, though no less certainly they will eke them out by imposture. seers are chosen in zululand, as among eskimos and samoyeds, from the class which in europe supplies the persons who used to be, but are no longer the most favourite hypnotic subjects, 'abnormal children,' epileptic and hysterical. these are subjected to 'a long and methodical course of training.'[14] stoll, speaking of guatemala, says that 'certainly most of the induced and spontaneous phenomena with which we are familiar occur among savages,' and appeals to travellers for observations.[15] information is likely to come in, as educated travellers devote attention to the topic. dr. callaway translates some zulu communications which indicate the amount of belief in this very practical and sceptical people. amusing illustrations of their scepticism will be quoted later, under 'possession,' but they do accept as seers certain hysterical patients. these are tested by their skill in finding objects which have been hidden without their knowledge. they then behave much like mr. stuart cumberland, but have not the advantage of muscular contact with the person who knows where the hidden objects are concealed. the neighbours even deny that they have hidden anything at all. 'when they persist in their denial ... he finds all the things that they have hidden. they see that he is a great _inyanga_ (seer) when he has found all the things they have concealed.' no doubt he is guided, perhaps in a super-sensitive condition, by the unconscious indications of the excited spectators. the point is that, while the savage conjurer will doubtless use fraud wherever he can, still the experience of low races is in favour of employing as seers the class of people who in europe were, till recently, supposed to make the best hypnotic subjects. thus, in west africa, 'the presiding elders, during your initiation to the secret society of your tribe, discover this gift [of ebumtupism, or second sight], and so select you as "a witch doctor."'[15] among the karens, the 'wees,' or prophets, 'are nervous excitable men, such as would become mediums,'[16] as mediums are diagnosed by mr. tylor. in short, not to multiply examples, there is an element of actual observation and of _bona fides_ entangled in the trickery of savage practice. though the subjects may be selected partly because of the physical phenomena of convulsions which they exhibit, and which favourably impress their clients, they are also such subjects as occasionally yield that evidence of supernormal faculty which is investigated by modern psychologists, like richet, janet, and william james. the following example, by no means unique, shows the view taken by savages of their own magic, after they have become christians. catherine wabose, a converted red indian seeress, described her preliminary fast, at the age of puberty. after six days of abstention from food she was rapt away to an unknown place, where a radiant being welcomed her. later a dark round object promised her the gift of prophecy. she found her natural senses greatly sharpened by lack of food. she first exercised her powers when her kinsfolk in large numbers were starving, a medicine-lodge, or 'tabernacle' as lufitau calls it, was built for her, and she crawled in. as is well known, these lodges are violently shaken during the magician's stay within them, which the early jesuits at first attributed to muscular efforts by the seers. in 1637 père lejeune was astonished by the violent motions of a large lodge, tenanted by a small man. one sorcerer, with an appearance of candour, vowed that 'a great wind entered boisterously,' and the father was assured that, if he went in himself, he would become clairvoyant. he did not make the experiment. the methodist convert, catherine, gave the same description of her own experience: 'the lodge began shaking violently by supernatural means. i knew this by the compressed current of air above, and the noise of motion.' she had been beating a small drum and singing, now she lay quiet. the radiant 'orbicular' spirit then informed her that they 'must go westwards for game; how short-sighted you are!' 'the advice was taken and crowned by instant success.' this established her reputation.[17] catherine's conversion was led up to by a dream of her dying son, who beheld a sacred figure, and received from him white raiment. her magical songs tell how unseen hands shake the magic lodge. they invoke the great spirit that 'illumines earth illumines heaven! ah, say what spirit, or body, is this body, that fills the world around, speak, man, ah say what spirit, or body, is this body?' it is like a savage hymn to hegel's _fühlende seele_: the all-pervading sensitive soul. we are reminded, too, of 'the doctrine of the sanscrit upanishads: there is no limit to the knowing of the self that knows.'[18] unluckily catherine was not asked to give other examples of what she considered her successes. acosta, who has not the best possible repute as an authority, informs us that peruvian clairvoyants 'tell what hath passed in the furthest parts before news can come. in the distance of two or three hundred leagues they would tell what the spaniards did or suffered in their civil wars.' to du pont, in 1606, a sorcerer 'rendered a true oracle of the coming of poutrincourt, saying his devil had told him so.'[19] we now give a modern case, from a scientific laboratory, of knowledge apparently acquired in no normal way, by a person of the sort usually chosen to be a prophet, or wizard, by savages. professor richet writes:[20] 'on monday, july 2, 1888, after having passed all the day in my laboratory, i hypnotised léonie at 8 p.m., and while she tried to make out a diagram concealed in an envelope i said to her quite suddenly: "what has happened to m. langlois?" léonie knows m. langlois from having seen him two or three times some time ago in my physiological laboratory, where he acts as my assistant.--"he has burnt himself," léonie replied,--"good," i said, "and where has he burnt himself?"--"on the left hand. it is not fire: it is--i don't know its name. why does he not take care when he pours it out?"--"of what colour," i asked, "is the stuff which he pours out?"--"it is not red, it is brown; he has hurt himself very much--the skin puffed up directly." 'now, this description is admirably exact. at 4 p.m. that day m. langlois had wished to pour some bromine into a bottle. he had done this clumsily, so that some of the bromine flowed on to his left hand, which held the funnel, and at once burnt him severely. although he at once put his hand into water, wherever the bromine had touched it a blister was formed in a few seconds--a blister which one could not better describe than by saying, "the skin puffed up." i need not say that léonie had not left my house, nor seen anyone from my laboratory. of this i am _absolutely certain,_ and i am certain that i had not mentioned the incident of the burn to anyone. moreover, this was the first time for nearly a year that m. langlois had handled bromine, and when léonie saw him six months before at the laboratory he was engaged in experiments of quite another kind.' here the savage reasoner would infer that léonie's spirit had visited m. langlois. the modern inquirer will probably say that léonie became aware of what was passing in the mind of m. richet. this supranormal way of acquiring knowledge was observed in the last century by m. de puységur in one of his earliest cases of somnambulism. mm. binet and féré say: 'it is not yet admitted that the subject is able to divine the thoughts of the magnetiser without any material communication;' while they grant, as a minimum, that 'research should be continued in this direction.'[21] they appear to think that léonie may have read 'involuntary signs' in the aspect of m. richet. this is a difficult hypothesis. here follows a case recorded in his diary by mr. dobbie, of adelaide, australia, who has practised hypnotism for curative purposes. he explains (june 10, 1884) that he had mesmerised miss ---on several occasions to relieve rheumatic pain and sore throat. he found her to be clairvoyant. 'the following is a verbatim account of the second time i tested her powers in this respect, april 12, 1884. there were four persons present during the _séance_. one of the company wrote down the replies as they were spoken. 'her father was at the time over fifty miles away, but we did not know exactly where, so i questioned her as follows: "can you find your father at the present moment?" at first she replied that she could not see him, but in a minute or two she said, "oh, yes; now i can see him, mr. dobbie." "where is he?" "sitting at a large table in a large room, and there are a lot of people going in and out." "what is he doing?" "writing a letter, and there is a book in front of him." "whom is he writing to?" "to the newspaper." here she paused and laughingly said, "well, i declare, he is writing to the a b" (naming a newspaper). "you said there was a book there. can you tell me what book it is?" "it has gilt letters on it." "can you read them, or tell me the name of the author?" she read, or pronounced slowly, "w.l.w." (giving the full surname of the author). she answered several minor questions _re_ the furniture in the room, and i then said to her, "is it any effort or trouble to you to travel in this way?" "yes, a little; i have to think." 'i now stood behind her, holding a half-crown in my hand, and asked her if she could tell me what i had in my hand, to which she replied, "it is a shilling." it seemed as though she could see what was happening miles away easier than she could see what was going on in the room. 'her father returned home nearly a week afterwards, and was perfectly astounded when told by his wife and family what he had been doing on that particular evening; and, although previous to that date he was a thorough sceptic as to clairvoyance, he frankly admitted that my clairvoyant was perfectly correct in every particular. he also informed us that the book referred to was a new one, which he had purchased after he had left his home, so that there was no possibility of his daughter guessing that he had the book before him. i may add that the letter in due course appeared in the paper; and i saw and handled the book.' a number of cases of so-called 'clairvoyance' will be found in the 'proceedings of the society for psychical research.'[22] as the authors of these essays remark, even after discounting, in each case, fraud, malobservation, and misreporting, the residue of cases can seldom justify either the savage theory of the wandering soul (which is not here seriously proposed) or hegel's theory that the _fühlende seele_ is unconditioned by space. for, if thought transference be a fact, the apparent clairvoyant may only be reading the mind of a person at a distance. the results, however, when successful, would naturally suggest to the savage thinker the belief in the wandering soul, or corroborate it if it had already been suggested by the common phenomena of dreaming. to these instances of knowledge acquired otherwise than by the recognised channels of sense we might add the scottish tales of 'second sight.' that phrase is merely a local term covering examples of what is called 'clairvoyance'--views of things remote in space, hallucinations of sight that coincide with some notable event, premonitions of things future, and so on. the belief and hallucinatory experiences are still very common in the highlands, where i have myself collected many recent instances. mr. tylor observes that the examples 'prove a little too much; they vouch not only for human apparitions, but for such phantoms as demon dogs, and for still more fanciful symbolic omens.' this is perfectly true. i have found no cases of demon dogs; but wandering lights, probably of meteoric or miasmatic origin, are certainly regarded as tokens of death. this is obviously a superstitious hypothesis, the lights being real phenomena misconstrued. again, funerals are not uncommonly seen where no funeral is taking place; it is then alleged that a real funeral, similar and similarly situated, soon afterwards occurred. on the hypothesis of believers, the percipients somehow behold 'such refraction of events as often rises ere they rise.' even the savage cannot account for this experience by the wandering of the soul in space; nor do i suggest any explanation. i give, however, one or two instances. they are published in the 'journal of the caledonian medical society,' 1897, by dr. alastair macgregor, on the authority of the mss. of his father, a minister in the island of skye. 'he once told me that when he first went to skye he scoffed at the idea of such a power as second sight being genuine; but he said that, after having been there for some years as a clergyman, he had been so often consulted _beforehand_ by people who said they had seen visions of events which subsequently occurred, to my father's knowledge, in exact accordance with the form and details of the vision as foretold, that he was compelled to confess that some folks had, apparently at least, the unfortunate faculty. 'as my father expressed it, this faculty was "neither voluntary nor constant, and was considered rather annoying than agreeable to the possessors of it. the gift was possessed by individuals of both sexes, and its fits came on within doors and without, sitting and standing, at night and by day, and at whatever employment the votary might chance to be engaged."' here follows a typical example of the vision of a funeral: 'the session clerk at dull, a small village in perthshire, was ill, and my grandfather, clergyman there at the time, had to do duty for him. one fine summer evening, about 7 o'clock, a young man and woman came to get some papers filled up, as they were going to be married. my grandfather was with the couple in the session clerk's room, no doubt attending to the papers, when suddenly _all three_ saw through the window a funeral procession passing along the road. from their dress the bulk of the mourners seemed to be farm labourers--indeed the young woman recognised some of them as natives of dull, who had gone to live and work near dunkeld. remarks were naturally made by my grandfather and the young couple about the untimely hour for a funeral, and, hastily filling in the papers, my grandfather went out to get the key of the churchyard, which was kept in the manse, as, without the key, the procession could not get into god's acre. wondering how it was that he had received no intimation of the funeral, he went to the manse by a short cut, got the key, and hurried down to the churchyard gate, where, of course, he expected to find the cortège waiting. _not a soul was there_ except the young couple, who were as amazed as my grandfather! 'well, at the same hour in the evening of the same day in the following week the funeral, this time in reality, arrived quite unexpectedly. the facts were that a boy, a native of dull, had got gored by a bull at dunkeld, and was so shockingly mangled that his remains were picked up and put into a coffin and taken without delay to dull. a grave was dug as quickly as possible--the poor lad having no relatives--and the remains were interred. my grandfather and the young couple recognised several of the mourners as being among those whom they had seen out of the session clerk's room, exactly a week previously, in the phantom cortège. the young woman knew some of them personally, and related to them what she had seen, but they of course denied all knowledge of the affair, having been then in dunkeld.' i give another example, because the experience was auditory, as well as visual, and the prediction was announced before the event. 'the parishioners in skye were evidently largely imbued with the romanist-like belief in the powers of intercession vested in their clergyman; so when they had a "warning" or "vision" they usually consulted my father as to what they could do to prevent the coming disaster befalling their relatives or friends. in this way my father had the opportunity of noting down the minutiae of the "warning" or "vision" directly it was told him. having had the advantage of a medical, previous to his theological, training, he was able to note down sound facts, unembellished by superadded imagination. entering into this method of case-taking with a mind perfectly open, except for a slight touch of scepticism, he was greatly surprised to discover how very frequently realisations occurred exactly in conformance with the minutiae of the vision as detailed in his note-book. finally, he was compelled to discard his scepticism, and to admit that some people had undoubtedly the uncanny gift. almost the first case he took (case x.) was that of a woman who had one day a vision of her son falling over a high rock at uig, in skye, with a sheep or lamb. 'case x.--she heard her son exclaim in gaelic, "this is a fatal lamb for me." as her son lived several miles from uig, and was a fisherman, realisation seemed to my father very unlikely, but one month afterwards the realisation occurred only too true. unknown to his mother, who had warned him against having anything to do with sheep or lambs, the son one day, instead of going out in his boat, thought he would take a holiday inland, and went off to uig, where a farmer enlisted his services in separating some lambs from the ewes. one of the lambs ran away, and the fisher lad ran headlong after it, and not looking where he was going, on catching the lamb was pulled by it to the edge of one of the very picturesque but exceedingly dangerous rocks at uig. too late realizing his critical position, he exclaimed, "this is a fatal lamb for me," but going with such an impetus he was unable to bring himself up in time, and, along with the lamb, fell over into the ravine below, and was, of course, killed on the spot. the farmer, when he saw the lad's danger, ran to his assistance, but was only in time to hear him cry out in gaelic before disappearing over the brink of the precipice. this was predicted by the mother a month before. was this simply a coincidence?' dr. macgregor's remarks on the involuntary and unwelcome nature of the visions is borne out by what scheffer, as already quoted, says concerning the lapps. in addition to visions which thus come unsought, contributing knowledge of things remote or even future, we may glance at visions which are provoked by various methods. drugs (_impepo_) are used, seers whirl in a wild dance till they fall senseless, or trance is induced by various kinds of self-suggestion or 'auto-hypnotism.' fasting is also practised. in modern life the self-induced trance is common among 'mediums'--a subject to which we recur later. so far, it will be observed, our evidence proves that precisely similar _beliefs_ as to man's occasional power of opening the gates of distance have been entertained in a great variety of lands and ages, and by races in every condition of culture.[23] the alleged experiences are still said to occur, and have been investigated by physiologists of the eminence of m. richet. the question cannot but arise as to the residuum of fact in these narrations, and it keeps on arising. in the following chapter we discuss a mode of inducing hallucinations which has for anthropologists the interest of universal diffusion. the width of its range in savage races has not, we believe, been previously observed. we then add facts of modern experience, about the authenticity of which we, personally, entertain no doubt; and the provisional conclusion appears to be that savages have observed a psychological circumstance which has been ignored by professed psychologists, and which, certainly, does not fit into the ordinary materialistic hypothesis. [footnote 1: callaway, _religion of the zulus_, p. 232.] [footnote 2: graham dalzell, _darker superstitions of scotland_, p. 481.] [footnote 3: see good evidence in _ker of kersland's memoirs_.] [footnote 4: autus gellius, xv. 18, dio cassius, lxvii., crespet, _de la haine du diable, procès de jeanne d'arc_.] [footnote 5: see 'shamanism in siberia,' _j.a.i._, november 1894, pp. 147-149, and compare scheffer. the article is very learned and interesting.] [footnote 6: williams mentions second sight in fiji, but gives no examples.] [footnote 7: _primitive culture,_ i. 447. mr. tylor cites dr. brinton's _myths of the new world,_ p. 269. the reference in the recent edition is p. 289. carver's case is given under the head 'possession' later.] [footnote 8: _journal historique_ p. 362; _atlantic monthly_, july 1866.] [footnote 9: probably _impepo_, eaten by seers, according to callaway.] [footnote 10: callaway's _religion of the amazulu_, p. 358.] [footnote 11: oxford, 1674.] [footnote 12: _voyages_.] [footnote 13: from charlevoix, _journal historique_, p. 362.] [footnote 14: bastian, _ueber psych. beobacht_. p.21.] [footnote 14: op. cit. p.26.] [footnote 15: miss kingsley, _travels in west africa_, p. 460.] [footnote 16: _primitive culture_, ii, 181; mason's _burmah_, p. 107.] [footnote 17: schoolcraft, i. 394.] [footnote 18: brinton's _religions of primitive peoples_, p. 57.] [footnote 19: purchas, p. 629.] [footnote 20: s.p.r. _proceedings_, vol. vi. 69.] [footnote 21: binet and féré, _animal magnetism_, p. 64.] [footnote 22: vol. vii. mrs. sidgwick, pp. 30, 356; vol. vi. p. 66, professor richet, p. 407, drs. dufay and azam.] [footnote 23: the examples in the old testament, and in the _life of st. columba_ by adamnan, need only be alluded to as too familiar for quotation.] v crystal visions, savage and civilised among savage methods of provoking hallucinations whence knowledge may be supernormally obtained, various forms of 'crystal-gazing' are the most curious. we find the habit of looking into water, usually in a vessel, preferably a glass vessel, among red indians (lejeune), romans (varro, cited in _civitas dei_, iii. 457), africans of fez (leo africanus); while maoris use a drop of blood (taylor), egyptians use ink (lane), and australian savages employ a ball of polished stone, into which the seer 'puts himself' to descry the results of an expedition.[1] i have already given, in the introduction, ellis's record of the polynesian case. a hole being dug in the door of his house, and filled with water, the priest looks for a vision of the thief who has carried off stolen goods. the polynesian theory is that the god carries the spirit of the thief over the water, in which it is reflected. lejeune's red indians make their patients gaze into the water, in which they will see the pictures of the things in the way of food or medicine that will do them good. in modern language, the instinctive knowledge existing implicitly in the patient's subconsciousness is thus brought into the range of his ordinary consciousness. in 1887 the late captain j. t. bourke, of the u.s. cavalry, an original and careful observer, visited the apaches in the interests of the ethnological bureau. he learned that one of the chief duties of the medicine-men was to find out the whereabouts of lost or stolen property. na-a-cha, one of these _jossakeeds_, possessed a magic quartz crystal, which he greatly valued. captain bourke presented him with a still finer crystal. 'he could not give me an explanation of its magical use, except that by looking into it he could see everything he wanted to see,' captain bourke appears never to have heard of the modern experiments in crystal-gazing. captain bourke also discovered that the apaches, like the greeks, australians, africans, maoris, and many other, races, use the bull-roarer, turndun, or _rhombos_--a piece of wood which, being whirled round, causes a strange windy roar--in their mystic ceremonies. the wide use of the rhombos was known to captain bourke; that of the crystal was not. for the iroquois, mrs. erminie smith supplies information about the crystal. 'placed in a gourd of water, it could render visible the apparition of a person who has bewitched another.' she gives a case in european times of a medicine-man who found the witch's habitat, but got only an indistinct view of her face. on a second trial he was successful.[2] one may add that treasure-seekers among the huille-che 'look earnestly' for what they want to find 'into a smooth slab of black stone, which i suppose to be basalt.'[3] the kindness of monsieur lefébure enables me to give another example from madagascar.[4] flacourt, describing the malagasies, says that they _squillent_ (a word not in littré), that is, divine by crystals, which 'fall from heaven when it thunders,' of course the rain reveals the crystals, as it does the flint instruments called 'thunderbolts' in many countries. 'lorsqu'ils squillent, ils ont une de ces pierres au coing de leurs tablettes, disans qu'elle à la vertu de faire faire operation à leur figure de geomance.' probably they used the crystals as do the apaches. on july 15 a malagasy woman viewed, whether in her crystal or otherwise, two french vessels which, like the spanish fleet, were 'not in sight,' also officers, and doctors, and others aboard, whom she had seen, before their return to france, in madagascar. the earliest of the ships did not arrive till august 11. dr. callaway gives the zulu practice, where the chief 'sees what will happen by looking into the vessel.'[5] the shamans of siberia and eastern russia employ the same method.[6] the case of the inca, yupanqui, is very curious. 'as he came up to a fountain he saw a piece of crystal fall into it, within which he beheld a figure of an indian in the following shape ... the apparition then vanished, while the crystal remained. the inca took care of it, and they say that he afterwards saw everything he wanted in it.'[7] here, then, we find the belief that hallucinations can be induced by one or other form of crystal-gazing, in ancient peru, on the other side of the continent among the huille-che, in fez, in madagascar, in siberia, among apaches, hurons, iroquois, australian black fellows, maoris, and in polynesia. this is assuredly a wide range of geographical distribution. we also find the practice in greece (pausanias, vii. xxi. 12), in rome (varro), in egypt, and in india. though anthropologists have paid no attention to the subject, it was of course familiar to later europe. 'miss x' has traced it among early christians, in early councils, in episcopal condemnations of _specularii_, and so to dr. dee, under james vi.; aubrey; the regent d'orléans in st. simon's memoirs; the modern mesmerists (gregory, mayo) and the mid-victorian spiritualists, who, as usual, explained the phenomena, in their prehistoric way, by 'spirits[8].' till this lady examined the subject, nobody had thought of remarking that a belief so universal had probably some basis of facts, or nobody if we except two professors of chemistry and physiology, drs. gregory and mayo. miss x made experiments, beginning by accident, like george sand, when a child. the hallucinations which appear to her eyes in ink, or crystal, are: 1. revived memories 'arising thus, and thus only, from the subconscious strata;' '2. objectivation of ideas or images--(a) consciously or (b) unconsciously--in the mind of the percipient; '3. visions, possibly telepathic or clairvoyant, implying acquirement of knowledge by supernormal means.'[9] the examples given of the last class, the class which would be so useful to a priest or medicine-man asked to discover things lost, are of very slight interest.[10] since miss x drew attention to this subject, experiments have proved beyond doubt that a fair percentage of people, sane and healthy, can see vivid landscapes, and figures of persons in motion, in glass balls and other vehicles. this faculty dr. parish attributes to 'dissociation,' practically to drowsiness. but he speaks by conjecture, and without having witnessed experiments, as will be shown later. i now offer a series of experiments with a glass ball, coming under my own observation, in which knowledge was apparently acquired in no ordinary way. of the absence of fraud i am personally convinced, not only by the characters of all concerned, but by the nature of the circumstances. that adaptive memory did not later alter the narratives, as originally told, i feel certain, because they were reported to me, when i was not present, within less than a week, precisely as they are now given, except in cases specially noted. early in the present year (1897) i met a young lady who told me of three or four curious hallucinatory experiences of her own, which were sufficiently corroborated. she was innocent of psychical studies, and personally was, and is, in perfect health; the pale cast of thought being remote from her. i got a glass ball, and was present when she first looked into it. she saw, i remember, the interior of a house, with a full-length portrait of a person unknown. there were, i think, one or two other fancy pictures of the familiar kind. but she presently (living as she was, among strangers) developed a power of 'seeing' persons and places unknown to her, but familiar to them. these experiences do seem to me to be good examples of what is called 'thought transference;' indeed, i never before could get out of a level balance of doubt on that subject, a balance which now leans considerably to the affirmative side. there may be abundance of better evidence, but, knowing the persons and circumstances, and being present once at what seemed to me a crucial example, i was more inclined to be convinced. this attitude appears, to myself, illogical, but it is natural and usual. we cannot tell what indications may be accidentally given in experiments in thought transference. but, in these cases of crystal-gazing, the detail was too copious to be conveyed, by a looker-on, in a wink or a cough. i do not mean to say that success was invariable. i thought of dr. w.g. grace, and the scryer saw an old man crawling along with a stick. but i doubt if dr. grace is very deeply seated in that mystic entity, my subconscious self. the 'scries' which came right were sometimes, but not always, those of which the 'agent' (or person scried for) was consciously thinking. but the examples will illustrate the various kinds of occurrences. here one should first consider the arguments against accepting recognition of objects merely described by another person. the crystal-gazer may know the inquirer so intimately as to have a very good guess at the subject of his meditation. again, a man is likely to be thinking of a woman, and a woman of a man, so the field of conjecture is limited. in answer to the first objection i may say that the crystal-gazer was among strangers, all of whom, myself included, she now saw for the first time. nor could she have studied their histories beforehand, for she could not know (normally) when she left home, that she was about to be shown a glass ball, or whom she would meet. the second objection is met by the circumstance that ladies were _not_ usually picked out for men, nor men for women. indeed, these choices were the exceptions, and in each case were marked by minutely particular details. a third objection is that credulity, or the love of strange novelties, or desire to oblige, biases the inquirers, and makes them anxious to recognise something familiar in the scryer's descriptions. in the same way we know how people recognise faces in the most blurred and vague of spiritist photographs, or see family resemblances in the most rudimentary doughfaced babies. take descriptions of persons in a passport, or in a proclamation sketching the personal appearance of a criminal. these fit the men or women intended, but they also fit a crowd of other people. the description given by the scryer then may come right by a fortuitous coincidence, or may be too credulously recognised. the complex of coincidences, however, could not be attributed to chance selection out of the whole possible field of conjecture. we must remember, too, that a series of such hits increases, at an enormous rate, the odds against accidental conjecture. of such mere luck i may give an example. i was writing a story of which the hero was george kelly, one of the 'seven men of moidart.' a year after composing my tale, i found the government description of mr. kelly (1736). it exactly tallied with my purely fanciful sketch, down to eyes, and teeth, and face, except that i made my hero 'about six feet,' whereas the government gave him five feet ten. but i knew beforehand that mr. kelly was a clergyman; his curious career proved him to be a person of great activity and geniality--and he was of irish birth. even a dozen such guesses, equally correct, could not suggest any powers of 'vision,' when so much was known beforehand about the person guessed at. i now give cases in the experience of miss angus, as one may call the crystal-gazer. the first occurred the day after she got the glass ball for the first time. she writes: 'i.--a lady one day asked me to scry out a friend of whom she would think. almost immediately i exclaimed "here is an old, old lady looking at me with a triumphant smile on her face. she has a prominent nose and nut-cracker chin. her face is very much wrinkled, especially at the sides of her eyes, as if she were always smiling. she is wearing a little white shawl with a black edge. _but!_ ... she _can't_ be old as her hair is quite brown! although her face looks so very very old." the picture then vanished, and the lady said that i had accurately described her friend's _mother_ instead of himself; that it was a family joke that the mother must dye her hair, it was so brown and she was eighty-two years old. the lady asked me if the vision were distinct enough for me to recognise a likeness in the son's photograph; next day she laid several photographs before me, and in a moment, without the slightest hesitation i picked him out from his wonderful likeness to my vision!' the inquirer verbally corroborated all the facts to me, within a week, but leaned to a theory of 'electricity.' she has read and confirms this account. 'ii.--one afternoon i was sitting beside a young lady whom i had never seen or heard of before. she asked if she might look into my crystal, and while she did so i happened to look over her shoulder and saw a ship tossing on a very heavy choppy sea, although land was still visible in the dim distance. that vanished, and, as suddenly, a little house appeared with five or six (i forget now the exact number i then counted) steps leading up to the door. on the second step stood an old man reading a newspaper. in front of the house was a field of thick stubbly grass where some _lambs_, i was going to say, but they were more like very small sheep.. were grazing. 'when the scene vanished, the young lady told me i had vividly described a spot in shetland where she and her mother were soon going to spend a few weeks.' i heard of this case from miss angus within a day or two of its occurrence, and it was then confirmed to me, verbally, by the other lady. she again confirms it (december 21, 1897). both ladies had hitherto been perfect strangers to each other. the old man was the schoolmaster, apparently. in her ms., miss angus writes 'skye,' but at the time both she and the other lady said shetland (which i have restored). in shetland the sheep, like the ponies, are small. fortuitous coincidence, of course, may be invoked. the next account is by another lady, say miss rose. 'iii.--writes miss rose--my first experience of crystal gazing was not a pleasant one, as will be seen from the following which i now relate as exactly as i can remember. i asked my friend, miss angus, to allow me to look in her crystal, and, after doing so for a short time, gave up, saying it was very unsatisfactory, as, although i saw a room with a bright fire in it and a bed all curtained and people coming and going, i could not make out who they were, so i returned the crystal to miss angus, with the request that she might look for me. she said at once, "i see a bed with a man in it looking very ill and a lady in black beside it." without saying any more miss angus still kept looking, and, after some time, i asked to have one more look, and on her passing the ball back to me, i received quite a shock, for there, perfectly clearly in a bright light, i saw stretched out in bed an old man apparently dead; for a few minutes i could not look, and on doing so once more there appeared a lady in black and out of dense darkness a long black object was being carried and it stopped before a dark opening overhung with rocks. at the time i saw this i was staying with cousins, and it was a friday evening. on sunday we heard of the death of the father-in-law of one of my cousins; of course i knew the old gentleman was very ill, but my thoughts were not in the least about him when looking in the crystal. i may also say i did not recognise in the features of the dead man those of the old gentleman whose death i mention. on looking again on sunday, i once more saw the curtained bed and some people.' i now give miss angus's version of this case, as originally received from her (december 1897). i had previously received an oral version, from a person present at the scrying. it differed, in one respect, from what miss angus writes. her version is offered because it is made independently, without consultation, or attempt to reconcile recollections. 'at a recent experience of gazing, for the first time i was able to make another see what _i_ saw in the crystal. miss rose called one afternoon, and begged me to look in the ball for her. i did so, and immediately exclaimed, "oh! here is a bed, with a man in it looking very ill [i saw he was dead, but refrained from saying so], and there is a lady dressed in black sitting beside the bed." i did not recognise the man to be anyone i knew, so i told her to look. in a very short time she called out, "oh! i see the bed too! but, oh! take it away, the man is _dead_!" she got quite a shock, and said she would never look in it again. soon, however, curiosity prompted her to have one more look, and the scene at once came back again, and slowly, from a misty object at the side of the bed, the lady in black became quite distinct. then she described several people in the room, and said they were carrying something all draped in black. when she saw this, she put the ball down and would not look at it again. she called again on sunday (this had been on friday) with her cousin, and we teased her about being _afraid_ of the crystal, so she said she would just look in it once more. she took the ball, but immediately laid it down again, saying, "no, i won't look, as the bed with the awful man in it is there again!" 'when they went home, they heard that the cousin's father-in-law had died that afternoon,[11] but to show he had never been in our thoughts, although we _all_ knew he had not been well, _no one_ suggested him; his name was never mentioned in connection with the vision.' 'clairvoyance,' of course, is not illustrated here, the corpse being unrecognised, and the coincidence, doubtless, accidental. the next case is attested by a civilian, a slight acquaintance of miss angus's, who now saw him for the second time only, but better known to her family. 'iv.--on thursday, march --? 1897, i was lunching with my friends the anguses, and during luncheon the conversation turned upon crystal balls and the visions that, by some people, can be seen in them. the subject arose owing to miss angus having just been presented with a crystal ball by mr. andrew lang. i asked her to let me see it, and then to try and see if she could conjure up a vision of any person of whom i might think.... i fixed my mind upon a friend, a young trooper in the [regiment named], as i thought his would be a striking and peculiar personality, owing to his uniform, and also because i felt sure that miss angus could not possibly know of his existence. i fixed my mind steadily upon my friend, and presently miss angus, who had already seen two cloudy visions of faces and people, called out, "now i see a man on a horse most distinctly; he is dressed most queerly, and glitters all over--why, it's a soldier! a soldier in uniform, but it's not an officer." my excitement on hearing this was so great that i ceased to concentrate my attention upon the thought of my friend, and the vision faded away and could not afterwards be recalled.--december 2, 1897.' the witness gives the name of the trooper, whom he had befriended in a severe illness. miss angus's own account follows: she had told me the story in june 1897. 'shortly after i became the happy possessor of a "crystal" i managed to convert several very decided "sceptics," and i will here give a short account of my experiences with two or three of them. 'one was with a mr. ----, who was so determined to baffle me, he said he would think of a friend it would not be _possible_ for me to describe! 'i had only met mr. ---the day before, and knew utmost nothing about him or his personal friends. 'i took up the ball, which immediately became misty, and out of this mist gradually a crowd of people appeared, but too indistinctly for me to recognise anyone, until suddenly a man on horseback came galloping along. i remember saying, "i can't describe what he is like, but he is dressed in a very queer way--in something so bright that the sun shining on him quite dazzles me, and i cannot make him out!" as he came nearer i exclaimed. "why, it's a _soldier_ in shining armour, but it's not an _officer_, only a soldier!" two friends who were in the room said mr. ----'s excitement was intense, and my attention was drawn from the ball by hearing him call out, "it's wonderful! it's perfectly true! i was thinking of a young boy, a son of a crofter, in whom i am deeply interested, and who is a trooper in the ---in london, which would account for the crowd of people round him in the street!"' the next case is given, first in the version of the lady who was unconsciously scried for, and next in that of miss angus. the other lady writes: 'v.--i met miss a. for the first time in a friend's house in the south of england, and one evening mention was made of a crystal ball, and our hostess asked miss a. to look in it, and, if possible, tell her what was happening to a friend of hers. miss a. took the crystal, and our hostess put her hand on miss a.'s forehead to "will her." i, not believing in this, took up a book and went to the other side of the room. i was suddenly very much startled to hear miss a., in quite an agitated way, describe a scene that had most certainly been very often in my thoughts, but of which i had never mentioned a word, she accurately described a race-course in scotland, and an accident which happened to a friend of mine only a week or two before, and she was evidently going through the same doubt and anxiety that i did at the time as to whether he was actually killed or only very much hurt. it really was a most wonderful revelation to me, as it was the very first time i had seen a crystal. our hostess, of course, was very much annoyed that she had not been able to influence miss a., while i, who had appeared so very indifferent, should have affected her.--november 28, 1897.' miss angus herself writes: 'another case was a rather interesting one, as i somehow got inside the thoughts of _one_ lady while _another_ was doing her best to influence me! 'miss ----, a friend in brighton, has strange "magnetic" powers, and felt quite sure of success with me and the ball. 'another lady, miss h., who was present, laughed at the whole thing, especially when miss ---insisted on holding my hand and patting her other hand on my forehead! miss h. in a scornful manner took up a book, and, crossing to the other side of the room, left us to our folly. 'in a very short time i felt myself getting excited, which had never happened before, when i looked in the crystal. i saw a crowd of people, and in some strange way i felt i was in it, and we all seemed to be waiting for something. soon a rider came past, young, dressed for racing. his horse ambled past, and he smiled and nodded to those he knew in the crowd, and then was lost to sight. 'in a moment we all seemed to feel as if something had happened, and i went through great agony of suspense trying to see what seemed _just_ beyond my view. soon, however, two or three men approached, and carried him past before my eyes, and again my anxiety was intense to discover if he were only very badly hurt or if life were really extinct. all this happened in a few moments, but long enough to have left me so agitated that i could not realise it had only been a vision in a glass ball. 'by this time miss h. had laid aside her book, and came forward quite startled, and told me that i had accurately described a scene on a race-course in scotland which she had witnessed just a week or two before--a scene that had very often been in her thoughts, but, as we were strangers to each other, she had never mentioned. she also said i had exactly described her own feelings at the time, and had brought it all back in a most vivid manner. 'the other lady was rather disappointed that, after she had concentrated her thoughts so hard, i should have been influenced instead by one who had jeered at the whole affair.' [this anecdote was also told to me, within a few days of the occurrence, by miss angus. her version was that she first saw a gentleman rider going to the post and nodding to his friends. then she saw him carried on a stretcher through the crowd. she seemed, she said, to be actually present, and felt somewhat agitated. the fact of the accident was, later, mentioned to me in scotland by another lady, a stranger to all the persons.--a.l.] vi.--i may briefly add an experiment of december 21, 1897. a gentleman had recently come from england to the scottish town where miss angus lives. he dined with her family, and about 10.15 to 10.30 p.m. she proposed to look in the glass for a scene or person of whom he was to think. he called up a mental picture of a ball at which he had recently been, and of a young lady to whom he had there been introduced. the lady's face, however, he could not clearly visualise, and miss angus reported nothing but a view of an empty ball-room, with polished floor and many lights. the gentleman made another effort, and remembered his partner with some distinctness. miss angus then described another room, not a ball-room, comfortably furnished, in which a girl with brown hair drawn back from her forehead, and attired in a high-necked white blouse, was reading, or writing letters, under a bright light in an unshaded glass globe. the description of the features, figure, and height tallied with mr. ----'s recollection; but he had never seen this geraldine of an hour except in ball dress. he and miss angus noted the time by their watches (it was 10.30), and mr. ---said that on the first opportunity he would ask the young lady how she had been dressed and how employed at that hour on december 21. on december 22 he met her at another dance, and her reply corroborated the crystal picture. she had been writing letters, in a high-necked white blouse, under an incandescent gas lamp with an unshaded glass globe. she was entirely unknown to miss angus, and had only been seen once by mr. ----. mr. ---and the lady of the crystal picture corroborated all this in writing. i now suggested an experiment to miss angus, which, after all, was clearly not of a nature to establish a 'test' for sceptics. the inquirer was to write down, and inclose in an envelope, a statement of his thoughts; miss angus was to do the same with her description of the picture seen by her; and these documents were to be sent to me, without communication between the inquirer and the crystal-gazer. of course, this could in no way prove absence of collusion, as the two parties might arrange privately beforehand what the vision was to be. indeed, nobody is apt to be convinced, or shaken, unless he is himself the inquirer and a stranger to the seeress, as the people in these experiments were. evidence interesting to _them_--and, in a secondary degree, to others who know them--can thus be procured; but strangers are left to the same choice of doubts as in all reports of psychological experiences, 'chromatic audition,' views of coloured numerals, and the other topics illustrated by mr. galton's interesting researches. in this affair of the envelopes the inquirer was a mr. pembroke, who had just made miss angus's acquaintance, and was but a sojourner in the land. he wrote, before knowing what miss angus had seen in the ball: 'vii.--on sunday, january 23, 1898, whilst miss angus was looking in the crystal ball, i was thinking of my brother, who was, i believe, at that time, somewhere between sabathu (punjab, india) and egypt. i was anxious to know what stage of his journey he had reached.' miss angus saw, and wrote, before telling mr. pembroke: 'a long and very white road, with tall trees at one side; on the other, a river or lake of greyish water. blue sky, with a crimson sunset. a great black ship is anchored near, and on the deck i see a man lying, apparently very ill. he is a powerful-looking man, fair, and very much bronzed. seven or eight englishmen, in very light clothes, are standing on the road beside the boat. 'january 28, 1898.' 'a great black ship,' anchored in 'a river or lake,' naturally suggests the suez canal, where, in fact, mr. pembroke's brother was just arriving, as was proved by a letter received from him eight days after the experiment was recorded, on january 31. at that date mr. pembroke had not yet been told the nature of miss angus's crystal picture, nor had she any knowledge of his brother's whereabouts. in february 1898, miss angus again came to the place where i was residing. we visited together the scene of an historical crime, and miss angus looked into the glass ball. it was easy for her to 'visualise' the incidents of the crime (the murder of cardinal beaton), for they are familiar enough to many people. what she did see in the ball was a tall, pale lady, 'about forty, but looking thirty-five,' with hair drawn back from the brows, standing beside a high chair, dressed in a wide farthingale of stiff grey brocade, without a ruff. the costume corresponds well (as we found) with that of 1546, and i said, 'i suppose it is mariotte ogilvy'--to whom miss angus's historical knowledge (and perhaps that of the general public) did not extend. mariotte was the cardinal's lady-love, and was in the castle on the night before the murder, according to knox. she had been in my mind, whence (on the theory of thought transference) she may have passed to miss angus's mind; but i had never speculated on mariotte's costume. nothing but conjecture, of course, comes of these apparently 'retrospective' pictures; though a most singular and picturesque coincidence occurred, which may be told in a very different connection. the next example was noted at the same town. the lady who furnishes it is well known to me, and it was verbally corroborated by miss angus, to whom the lady, her absent nephew, and all about her, were entirely strange. 'viii.--i was very anxious to know whether my nephew would be sent to india this year, so i told miss angus that i had thought of something, and asked her to look in the glass ball. she did so, but almost immediately turned round and looked out of the window at the sea, and said, "i saw a ship so distinctly i thought it must be a reflection." she looked in the ball again, and said, "it is a large ship, and it is passing a huge rock with a lighthouse on it. i can't see who are on the ship, but the sky is very clear and blue. now i see a large building, something like a club, and in front there are a great many people sitting and walking about. i think it must be some place abroad, for the people are all dressed in very light clothes, and it seems to be very sunny and warm. i see a young man sitting on a chair, with his feet straight out before him. he is not talking to anyone, but seems to be listening to something. he is dark and slight, and not very tall; and his eyebrows are dark and very distinctly marked." 'i had not had the pleasure of meeting miss angus before, and she knew nothing whatever about my nephew; but the young man described was exactly like him, both in his appearance and in the way he was sitting.' in this case thought transference may be appealed to. the lady was thinking of her nephew in connection with india. it is not maintained, of course, that the picture was of a prophetic character. the following examples have some curious and unusual features. on wednesday, february 2, 1897, miss angus was looking in the crystal, to amuse six or seven people whose acquaintance she had that day made. a gentleman, mr. bissett, asked her 'what letter was in his pocket,' she then saw, under a bright sky, and, as it were, a long way off, a large building, in and out of which many men were coming and going. her impression was that the scene must be abroad. in the little company present, it should be added, was a lady, mrs. cockburn, who had considerable reason to think of her young married daughter, then at a place about fifty miles away. after miss angus had described the large building and crowds of men, some one asked, 'is it an exchange?' 'it might be,' she said. 'now comes a man in a great hurry. he has a broad brow, and short, curly hair;[12] hat pressed low down on his eyes. the face is very serious; but he has a delightful smile.' mr. and mrs. bissett now both recognised their friend and stockbroker, whose letter was in mr. bissett's pocket. the vision, which interested miss angus, passed away, and was interrupted by that of a hospital nurse, and of a lady in a _peignoir_, lying on a sofa, _with bare feet_.[13] miss angus mentioned this vision as a bore, she being more interested in the stockbroker, who seems to have inherited what was once in the possession of another stockbroker--'the smile of charles lamb.' mrs. cockburn, for whom no pictures appeared, was rather vexed, and privately expressed with freedom a very sceptical opinion about the whole affair. but, on saturday, february 5, 1897, miss angus was again with mr. and mrs. bissett. when mrs. bissett announced that she had 'thought of something,' miss angus saw a walk in a wood or garden, beside a river, under a brilliant blue sky. here was a lady, very well dressed, twirling a white parasol on her shoulder as she walked, in a curious 'stumpy' way, beside a gentleman in light clothes, such as are worn in india. he was broad-shouldered, had a short neck and a straight nose, and seemed to listen, laughing, but indifferent, to his obviously vivacious companion. the lady had a 'drawn' face, indicative of ill health. then followed a scene in which the man, without the lady, was looking on at a number of orientals busy in the felling of trees. mrs. bissett recognised, in the lady, her sister, mrs. clifton, in india--above all, when miss angus gave a realistic imitation of mrs. clifton's walk, the peculiarity of which was caused by an illness some years ago. mrs. and mr. bissett also recognised their brother-in-law in the gentleman seen in both pictures. on being shown a portrait of mrs. clifton as a girl, miss angus said it was 'like, but too pretty.' a photograph done recently, however, showed her 'the drawn face' of the crystal picture.[14] next day, sunday, february 6, mrs. bissett received, what was not usual--a letter from her sister in india, mrs. clifton, dated january 20. mrs. clifton described a place in a native state, where she had been at a great 'function,' in certain gardens beside a river. she added that they were going to another place for a certain purpose, 'and then we go into camp till the end of february.' one of mr. clifton's duties is to direct the clearing of wood preparatory to the formation of the camp, as in miss angus's crystal picture.[15] the sceptical mrs. cockburn heard of these coincidences, and an idea occurred to her. she wrote to her daughter, who has been mentioned, and asked whether, on wednesday, february 2, she had been lying on a sofa in her bed-room, with bare feet. the young lady confessed that it was indeed so;[16] and, when she heard how the fact came to be known, expressed herself with some warmth on the abuse of glass balls, which tend to rob life of its privacy. in this case the _prima facie_ aspect of things is that a thought of mr. bissett's about his stockbroker, _dulce ridentem_, somehow reflected itself into miss angus's mind by way of the glass ball, and was interrupted by a thought of mrs. cockburn's, as to her daughter. but how these thoughts came to display the unknown facts concerning the garden by the river, the felling of trees for a camp, and the bare feet, is a question about which it is vain to theorise.[17] on the vanishing of the jungle scene there appeared a picture of a man in a dark undress uniform, beside a great bay, in which were ships of war. wooden huts, as in a plague district, were on shore. mr. bissett asked, 'what is the man's expression?' 'he looks as if he had been giving a lot of last orders.' then appeared 'a place like a hospital, with five or six beds--no, berths: it is a ship. here is the man again.' he was minutely described, one peculiarity being the way in which his hair grew--or, rather, did not grow--on his temples. miss angus now asked, 'where is my little lady?'--meaning the lady of the twirling parasol and _staccato_ walk. 'oh, i've left off thinking of her,' said mrs. bissett, who had been thinking of, and recognised in the officer in undress uniform, her brother, the man with the singular hair, whose face, in fact, had been scarred in that way by an encounter with a tiger. he was expected to sail from bombay, but news of his setting forth has not been received (february 10) at the moment when this is written.[18] in these indian cases, 'thought transference' may account for the correspondence between the figures seen by miss angus and the ideas in the mind of mr. and mrs. bissett. but the hypothesis of thought transference, while it would cover the wooden huts at bombay (mrs. bissett knowing that her brother was about to leave that place), can scarcely explain the scene in the garden by the river and the scene with the trees. the incident of the bare feet may be regarded as a fortuitous coincidence, since miss angus saw the young lady foreshortened, and could not describe her face. in the introductory chapter it was observed that the phenomena which apparently point to some unaccountable supernormal faculty of acquiring knowledge are 'trivial.' these anecdotes illustrate the triviality; but the facts certainly left a number of people, wholly unfamiliar with such experiments, under the impression that miss angus's glass ball was like prince ali's magical telescope in the 'arabian nights.'[19] these experiments, however, occasionally touch on intimate personal matters, and cannot be reported in such instances. it will be remarked that the faculty is freakish, and does not always respond to conscious exertion of thought in the mind of the inquirer. thus, in case i. a connection of the person thought of is discerned; in another the mind of a stranger present seems to be read. in another case (not given here) the inquirer tried to visualise a card for a person present to guess, while miss angus was asked to describe an object which the inquirer was acquainted with, but which he banished from his conscious thought. the double experiment was a double-barrelled success. it seems hardly necessary to point out that chance coincidence will not cover this set of cases, where in each 'guess' the field of conjecture is boundless, and is not even narrowed by the crystal-gazer's knowledge of the persons for whose diversion she makes the experiment. as 'muscle-reading' is not in question (in the one case of contact between inquirer and crystal-gazer the results were unexpected), and as no unconsciously made signs could convey, for example, the idea of a cavalry soldier in uniform, or an accident on a race-course in two _tableaux_, i do not at present see any more plausible explanation than that of thought transference, though how that is to account for some of the cases given i do not precisely understand. any one who can accept the assurance of my personal belief in the good faith of all concerned will see how very useful this faculty of crystal-gazing must be to the apache or australian medicine-man or polynesian priest. freakish as the faculty is, a few real successes, well exploited and eked out by fraud, would set up a wizard's reputation. that a faculty of being thus affected is genuine seems proved, apart from modern evidence, by the world-wide prevalence of crystal-gazing in the ethnographic region. but the discovery of this prevalence had not been made, to my knowledge, before modern instances induced me to notice the circumstances, sporadically recorded in books of travel. the phenomena are certainly of a kind to encourage the savage theory of the wandering soul. how else, thinkers would say, can the seer visit the distant place or person, and correctly describe men and scenes which, in the body, he never saw? or they would encourage the polynesian belief that the 'spirit' of the thing or person looked for is suspended by a god over the water, crystal, blood, ink, or whatever it may be. thus, to anthropologists, the discovery of crystal-gazing as a thing widely diffused and still flourishing ought to be grateful, however much they may blame my childish credulity. i may add that i have no ground to suppose that crystal-gazing will ever be of practical service to the police or to persons who have lost articles of portable property. but i have no objection to experiments being made at scotland yard.[20] [footnote 1: information, with a photograph of the stones, from a correspondent in west maitland, australia.] [footnote 2: _report ethnol. bureau_, 1887-88, p. 460; vol. ii. p. 69. captain bourke's volume on _the medicine men of the apaches_ may also be consulted.] [footnote 3: fitzroy, _adventure_, vol. ii. p. 389.] [footnote 4: _l'histoire de la grand ile madagascar_, par le sieur de flacourt. paris, 1661, ch. 76. veue de deux navires de france predite par les negres, avant que l'on en peust sçavoir des nouvelles, &c.] [footnote 5: _religion of the amazulu_, p. 341.] [footnote 6: _j.a.i_., november 1894, p. 155. ryckov is cited; _zhurnal_, p. 86.] [footnote 7: _rites and laws of the yncas_, christoval de molina, p. 12.] [footnote 8: see miss x's article, s.p.r. _proceedings_, v. 486.] [footnote 9: op. cit. v. 505.] [footnote 10: if any reader wishes to make experiments, he, or she, should not be astonished if the first crystal figure represents 'the sheeted dead,' or a person ill in bed. for some reason, or no reason, this is rather a usual prelude, signifying nothing.] [footnote 11: sunday afternoon. it is not implied that the pictures on friday were prophetic. probably miss rose saw what miss angus had seen by aid of 'suggestion.'] [footnote 12: miss angus could not be sure of the colour of the hair.] [footnote 13: the position was such that miss angus could not see the face of the lady.] [footnote 14: i saw the photographs.] [footnote 15: i have been shown the letter of january 20, which confirmed the evidence of the crystal pictures. the camp was formed for official purposes in which mr. clifton was concerned. a letter of february 9 unconsciously corroborates.] [footnote 16: the incident of the feet occurred at 4.30 to 7.30 p.m. the crystal picture was about 10 p.m.] [footnote 17: miss angus had only within the week made the acquaintance of mrs. cockburn and the bissetts. of these relations of theirs at a distance she had no knowledge.] [footnote 18: i have seen a photograph of this gentleman, major hamilton, which tallies with the full description given by miss angus, as reported by mrs. bissett. all the proper names here, as throughout, are altered. this account i wrote from the verbal statement of mrs. bissett. it was then read and corroborated by herself, mr. bissett, mr. cockburn, mrs. cockburn, and miss angus, who added dates and signatures.] [footnote 19: the letters attesting each of these experiments are in my possession. the real names are in no case given in this account, by my own desire, but (with permission of the persona concerned) can be communicated privately.] [footnote 20: the faculty of seeing 'fancy pictures' in the glass is far from uncommon. i have only met with three other persons besides miss angus, two of them men, who had any success in 'telepathic' crystal-gazing. in correcting 'revises' (march 16), i leant that the brother of mr. pembroke (p. 105) wrote from cairo on january 27. the 'scry' of january 23 represented his ship in the suez canal. he was, as his letter shows, in quarantine at suez, at moses's wells, from january 25 to january 26. major hamilton (pp. 109, 110), on the other hand, left bombay, indeed, but not by sea, as in the crystal-picture. see appendix c. mr. starr, an american critic, adds cherokees, aztecs, and tonkaways to the ranks of crystal gazers.] vi anthropology and hallucinations we have been examining cases, savage or civilised, in which knowledge is believed to be acquired through no known channel of sense. all such instances among savages, whether of the nature of clairvoyance simple, or by aid of gazing in a smooth surface, or in dreams, or in trance, or through second sight, would confirm if they did not originate the belief in the separable soul. the soul, if it is to visit distant places and collect information, must leave the body, it would be argued, and must so far be capable of leading an independent life. perhaps we ought next to study cases of 'possession,' when knowledge is supposed to be conveyed by an alien soul, ghost, spirit, or god, taking up its abode in a man, and speaking out of his lips. but it seems better first to consider the alleged super-normal phenomena which may have led the savage reasoner to believe that _he_ was not the only owner of a separable soul: that other people were equally gifted. the sense, as of separation, which a savage dreamer or seer would feel after a dream or vision in which he visited remote places, would satisfy him that _his_ soul, at least, was volatile. but some experience of what he would take to be visits from the spirits of others, would be needed before he recognised that other men, as well as he, had the faculty of sending their souls a journeying. now, ordinary dreams, in which the dreamer seemed to see persons who were really remote; would supply to the savage reasoner a certain amount of affirmative evidence. it is part of mr. tylor's contention that savages (like some children) are subject to the difficulty which most of us may have occasionally felt in deciding 'did this really happen, or did i dream it?' thus, ordinary dreams would offer to the early thinker some evidence that other men's souls could visit his, as he believes that his can visit them. but men, we may assume, were not, at the assumed stage of thought, so besotted as not to take a great practical distinction between sleeping and waking experience on the whole. as has been shown, the distinction is made by the lowest savages of our acquaintance. one clear _waking_ hallucination, on the other hand, of the presence of a person really absent, could not but tell more with the early philosopher than a score of dreams, for to be easily forgotten is of the essence of a dream. savages, indeed, oddly enough, have hit on our theory, 'dreams go by contraries.' dr. callaway illustrates this for the zulus, and mr. scott for the mang'anza. thus they _do_ discriminate between sleeping and waking. we must therefore examine _waking_ hallucinations in the field of actual experience, and on such recent evidence as may be accessible. if these hallucinations agree, in a certain ratio, beyond what fortuitous coincidence can explain, with real but unknown events, then such hallucinations would greatly strengthen, in the mind of an early thinker, the savage theory that a man at a distance may, voluntarily or involuntarily, project his spirit on a journey, and be seen where he is not present. when mr. tylor wrote his book, the study of the occasional waking hallucinations of the sane and healthy was in its infancy. much, indeed, had been written about hallucinations, but these were mainly the chronic false perceptions of maniacs, of drunkards, and of persons in bad health such as nicolai and mrs. a. the hallucinations of persons of genius--jeanne d'arc, luther, socrates, pascal, were by some attributed to lunacy in these famous people. scarcely any writers before mr. galton had recognised the occurrence of hallucinations once in a life, perhaps, among healthy, sober, and mentally sound people. if these were known to occur, they were dismissed as dreams of an unconscious sleep. this is still practically the hypothesis of dr. parish, as we shall see later. but in the last twenty years the infrequent hallucinations of the sane have been recognised by mr. galton, and discussed by professor james, mr. gurney, dr. parish, and many other writers. two results have followed. first, 'ghosts' are shown to be, when not illusions caused by mistaking one object for another, then hallucinations. as these most frequently represent a living person who is not present, by parity of reason the appearance of a dead person is on the same level, is not a space-filling 'ghost,' but merely an hallucination. such an appearance can, _prima facie_, suggest no reasonable inference as to the continued existence of the dead. on the other hand, the new studies have raised the perhaps insoluble question, 'do not hallucinations of the sane, representing the living, coincide more frequently than mere luck can account for, with the death or other crisis of the person apparently seen?' if this could be proved, then there would seem to be a causal _nexus_, a relation of cause and effect between the hallucination and the coincident crisis. that connection would be provisionally explained by some not understood action of the mind or brain of the person in the crisis, on that of the person who has the hallucination. this is no new idea; only the name, telepathy, is modern. of course, if all this were accepted, it would be the next step to ask whether hallucinations representing the dead show any signs of being caused by some action on the side of the departed. that is a topic on which the little that we have to say must be said later. in the meantime the reader who has persevered so far is apt to go no further. the prejudice against 'wraiths' and 'ghosts' is very strong; but, then, our innocent phantasms are neither (as we understand their nature) ghosts nor wraiths. kant broke the edges of his metaphysical tools against, not these phantasms, but the logically inconceivable entities which were at once material and non-material, at once 'spiritual' and 'space-filling.' there is no such difficulty about hallucinations, which, whatever else may be said about them, are familiar facts of experience. the only real objections are the statements that hallucinations are always _morbid_ (which is no longer the universal belief of physiologists and psychologists), and that the alleged coincidences of a phantasm of a person with the unknown death of that person at a distance are 'pure flukes.' that is the question to which we recur later. in the meantime, the defenders of the theory, that there is some not understood connection of cause and effect between the death or other crisis at one end and the perception representing the person affected by the crisis at the other end, point out that such hallucinations, or other effects on the percipient, exist in a regular rising scale of potency and perceptibility. suppose that 'a's' death in yorkshire is to affect the consciousness of 'b' in surrey before he knows anything about the fact (suppose it for the sake of argument), then the effect may take place (1) on 'b's' emotions, producing a vague _malaise_ and gloom; (2) on his motor nerves, urging him to some act; (3) or may translate itself into his senses, as a touch felt, a voice heard, a figure seen; or (4) may render itself as a phrase or an idea. of these, (1) the emotional effect is, of course, the vaguest. we may all have had a sudden fit of gloom which we could not explain. people rarely act on such impressions, and, when they do, are often wrong. thus a friend of my own was suddenly so overwhelmed, at golf, with inexplicable misery (though winning his match) that he apologised to his opponent and walked home from the ninth hole. nothing was wrong at home. probably some real ground of apprehension had obscurely occurred to his mind and expressed itself in his emotion. but one may illustrate what did look like a coincidence by the experience of the same friend. he inhabited, as a young married man, a flat in a house belonging to an acquaintance. the hall was covered by a kind of glass roof, over part of its extent. he was staying in the country with his wife, and as they travelled home the lady was beset with an irresistible conviction that something terrible had occurred, _not_ to her children. on reaching their house they found that one of their maids had fallen through the glass roof and killed herself. they also learned that the girl's sister had arrived at the house, immediately after the accident, explaining that she was driven to come by a sense that something dreadful had happened. the lawyer, too, who represented the owner of the house, had appeared, unsummoned, from a conviction, which he could not resist, that for some reason unknown he was wanted there.[1] here, then, was not an hallucination, but an emotional effect simultaneously reaching the consciousness of three persons, and coinciding with an unknown crisis.[2] cases in which a person feels urged to an act (2) are also recorded. indeed, the lawyer's in our anecdote is such an instance. not to trouble ourselves (3) with 'voices,' hallucinations of sight, coinciding with a distant unknown crisis, are traced from a mere feeling that somebody is in the room, followed by a _mental_, or _mind's eye_ picture of a person dying at a distance, up to a kind of 'vision' of a person or scene, and so on to hallucinations appealing, at once, to touch, sight, and hearing. as some hundreds of these narratives of coincidental hallucinations in every degree have been collected from witnesses at first hand, often personally known, and usually personally cross-questioned, by the student, it is difficult to deny that there is a _prima facie_ case for inquiry.[3] there is here no question of 'spirits,' with all their physical and metaphysical difficulties. nor is there any desire to shirk the fact that many 'presentiments' and hallucinations of the sane coincide with no ascertainable fact. we only provisionally posit the possibility of an influence, in its nature unknown, of one mind on another at a distance, such influence translating itself into an hallucination. an inquiry into this subject, in the ethnographic and modern fields, may be new but involves no 'superstition.' we now return to mr. tylor, who treats of hallucinations among other experiences which led early savage thinkers to believe in ghosts or separable souls, the origin of religion. as to the causes of hallucinations in general, mr. tylor has something to say, but it is nothing systematic. 'sickness, exhaustion, and excitement' cause savages to behold 'human spectres,' in 'the objective reality' of which they believe. but if an educated modern, not sick, nor exhausted, nor excited, has an hallucination of a friend's presence, he, too, believes that it is 'objective,' is his friend in flesh and blood, till he finds out his mistake, by examination or reflection. as professor william james remarks, in his 'principles of psychology,' such solitary hallucinations of the sane and healthy, once in a life-time, are difficult to account for, and are by no means rare. 'sometimes,' mr. tylor observes, 'the phantom has the characteristic quality of not being visible to all of an assembled company,' and he adds 'to assert or imply that they are visible sometimes, and to some persons, but not always, or to everyone, is to lay down an explanation of facts which is not, indeed, our usual modern explanation, but which is a perfectly rational and intelligible product of early science.' it is, indeed, nor has later science produced any rational and intelligible explanation of collective hallucinations, shared by several persons at once, and perhaps not perceived by others who are present. mr. tylor, it is true, asserts that 'in civilised countries a rumour of some one having seen a phantom is enough to bring a sight of it to others whose minds are in a properly receptive state.' but this is arguing in a circle; what is 'a properly receptive state'? if illness, overwork, 'expectant attention,' make 'a properly receptive state,' i should have seen several phantoms in several 'haunted houses.' but the only thing of the sort i ever saw occurred when i was thinking of nothing less, when i was in good health, and when i did not know (nor did i learn till long after) that it was the right and usual phantom to see. mr. podmore remarks that various members of the psychical society have sojourned in various 'haunted houses,' 'some of them in a state of expectancy and nervous excitement,' which never caused them to see phantoms, for they saw none.[4] mr. tylor treats of waking hallucinations in much the same manner as he deals with 'travelling clairvoyance.' he does not study them 'in the field of experience.' he is not concerned with the truth of the facts, important as we think it would be, but with his theory that hallucinations, among other causes, would naturally give rise to the belief in spirits, and thus to the early philosophy of animism. now, certainly, the hallucination of a person's presence, say at the moment of his death at a distance, would suggest to a savage that something of the dying man's, something symbolised in the word 'shadow,' or 'breath' _(spiritus)_, had come to say farewell. the modern 'spiritualistic' theory, again, that the dead man's 'spirit' is actually present to the percipient, in space, corresponds to, and is derived from, the animistic philosophy of the savage. but we may believe in such 'death-wraiths,' or hallucinatory appearances of the dying, without being either savages or spiritualists. we may believe without pretending to explain, or we may advance the theory of 'telepathy,' hegel's 'magical tie,' according to which the distant mind somehow impresses itself, in a more or less perfect hallucination, on the mind of the person who perceives the wraith. if this be so, or even if no explanation be offered, the truth of the stories of coincidental apparitions becomes important, as pointing to a new region of psychical inquiry. then the evidence of savages as to hallucinations of their own, coincident with the death of their absent friends, will confirm, _quantum valeat_, the evidence of many modern observers in all ranks of life, and all degrees of culture, from lord brougham to an old nurse.[5] as to hallucinations coincident with the death of the person apparently seen, mr. tylor says: 'narratives of this class i can here only specify without arguing on them, they are abundantly in circulation.'[6] now, the modern hallucinations themselves can scarcely, perhaps, be called 'survivals from savagery,' though the opinion that an hallucination of a person must be his 'spirit' is really such a survival. it is with that opinion, with animism in its hallucinatory origins, that mr. tylor is concerned, not with the hallucinations themselves or with the evidence for their veridical existence. mr. tylor gives three anecdotes, narrated to him, in two cases, by the seers, of phantasms of the living beheld by them (and in one case by a companion also) when the real person was dying at a distance. he adds: 'my own view is that nothing but dreams and visions could have ever put into men's minds such an idea as that of souls being ethereal images of bodies.'[7] the idea may be perfectly erroneous; but if the occurrence of such coincidental appearances as mr. tylor tells us about could be shown to be too frequent for mere chance to produce, then there would be a presumption in favour of some unknown faculties in our nature--a proper theme for anthropology. the hallucinations of which we hear most are those in which a person sees the phantom of another person, who, unknown to him, is in or near the hour of death. mr. tylor, in addition to his three instances in civilised life, alludes to one in savage life, with references to other cases.[8] we turn to his savage instance, offering it at full length from the original.[9] 'among the maoris' (says mr. shortland) 'it is always ominous to see the figure of an absent person. if the figure is very shadowy, and its face is not seen, death, although he may ere long be expected, has not seized his prey. if the face of the absent person is seen, the omen forewarns the beholder that he is already dead.' the following statement is from the mouth of an eyewitness: 'a party of natives left their village, with the intention of being absent some time, on a pig-hunting expedition. one night, while they were seated in the open air around a blazing fire, the figure of a relative who had been left ill at home was seen to approach. the apparition appeared to two of the party only, and vanished immediately on their making an exclamation of surprise. when they returned to the village they inquired for the sick man, and then learnt that he had died about the time he was said to have been seen.' i now give maori cases, communicated to me by mr. tregear, f.r.g.s., author of a 'maori comparative dictionary.' a very intelligent maori chief said to me, 'i have seen but two ghosts. i was a boy at school in auckland, and one morning was asleep in bed when i found myself aroused by some one shaking me by the shoulder. i looked up, and saw bending over me the well-known form of my uncle, whom i supposed to be at the bay of islands. i spoke to him, but the form became dim and vanished. the next mail brought me the news of his death. years passed away, and i saw no ghost or spirit--not even when my father and mother died, and i was absent in each case. then one day i was sitting reading, when a dark shadow fell across my book. i looked up, and saw a man standing between me and the window. his back was turned towards me. i saw from his figure that he was a maori, and i called out to him, "oh friend!" he turned round, and i saw my other uncle, ihaka. the form faded away as the other had done. i had not expected to hear of my uncle's death, for i had seen him hale and strong a few hours before. however, he had gone into the house of a missionary, and he (with several white people) was poisoned by eating of a pie made from tinned meat, the tin having been opened and the meat left in it all night. that is all i myself had seen of spirits.' one more maori example may be offered:[10] from mr. francis dart fenton, formerly in the native department of the government, auckland, new zealand. he gave the account in writing to his friend, captain j.h. crosse, of monkstown, cork, from whom we received it. in 1852, when the incident occurred, mr. fenton was 'engaged in forming a settlement on the banks of the waikato.' 'march 25, 1860 'two sawyers, frank philps and jack mulholland, were engaged cutting timber for the rev. r. maunsell at the mouth of the awaroa creek--a very lonely place, a vast swamp, no people within miles of them. as usual, they had a maori with them to assist in felling trees. he came from tihorewam, a village on the other side of the river, about six miles off. as frank and the native were cross-cutting a tree, the native stopped suddenly, and said, "what are you come for?" looking in the direction of frank. frank replied, "what do you mean?" he said, "i am not speaking to you; i am speaking to my brother." frank said, "where is he?" the native replied, "behind you. what do you want?" (to the other maori), frank looked round and saw nobody. the native no longer saw anyone, but bid down the saw and said, "i shall go across the river; my brother is dead." 'frank laughed at him, and reminded him that be had left him quite well on sunday (five days before), and there had been no communication since. the maori spoke no more, but got into his canoe and pulled across. when he arrived at the landing-place, he met people coming to fetch him. his brother had just died. i knew him well.' in answer to inquiries as to his authority for this narrative, mr. fenton writes: 'december 18, 1883. 'i knew all the parties concerned well, and it is quite true, _valeat quantum_, as the lawyers say. incidents of this sort are not infrequent among the maoris. 'f.d. fenton, _'late chief judge, native law-court of n.z.'_ here is a somewhat analogous example from tierra del fuego: 'jemmy button was very superstitious' (says admiral fitzroy, speaking of a fuegian brought to england). 'while at sea, on board the "beagle," he said one morning to mr. bynoe that in the night some man came to the side of his hammock and whispered in his ear that his father was dead. he fully believed that such was the case,' and he was perfectly right.... 'he reminded bennett of the dream.'[11] mr. darwin also mentions this case, a coincidental auditory hallucination. i have found no other savage cases quite to the point. this is, undeniably, 'a puir show for kirkintilloch,' a meagre collection of savage death-wraiths, but it may be so meagre by reason of want of research, or of lack of records, travellers usually pooh-poohing the benighted superstitions of the heathen, or fearing to seem superstitious if they chronicle instances. however few the instances, they are, undeniably, exact parallels to those recorded in civilised life. in filling up the lacuna in mr. tylor's anthropological work, in asking questions as to the proportion between phantasms of the living which coincide with a crisis in the experience of the person seen, and those which do not, it is obviously necessary to reject all evidence of people who were ill, or anxious, or overworked, or in poignant grief at the time of the hallucination. it will be seen later that neither grief nor amatory passion (dominating the association of our ideas as they do) beget many phantasms. our business, however, is with the false perceptions of persons trustworthy, as far as we know, sane, healthy, not usually visionary, and in an unperturbed state of mind. there remains a normal cause of subjective hallucinations, expectancy. this appears to be a real cause of hallucination or, at least, of illusion. waiting for the sound of a carriage you may hear it often before it comes, you taking other sounds for that which you desire. again, in an inquiry embracing 17,000 people, the s.p.r. collected thirteen cases of an hallucinatory appearance of one person to another who was _expecting_ his arrival. once more, it is very conceivable that a trifle, the accidental opening of a door, a noise of a familiar kind in an unfamiliar place, may touch the brain into originating an hallucination of a person passing through the door, or of the place where the sound now heard used once to be familiar. expectancy, again, and nervousness, might doubtless cause an hallucination to a person who felt uncomfortable in a house with a name to be 'haunted,' though, as we have seen, the effect is far less common than the cause. all these sorts of causes are undoubtedly more apt to be prevalent among superstitious savages than among educated europeans. and it stands to reason that savages, where one man 'thinks he sees something,' will be readier than we are to think they 'see something' too. yet collective hallucinations, which are shared by several persons at once, are especially puzzling. even if they occur when all are in a strained condition of expectancy, it is odd that all see them in _the same way_.[12] examples will occur later. when there is no excitement, the mystery is increased. we may note that, among the expectant multitudes who looked on while bernadette was viewing the blessed virgin at lourdes, not one person, however superstitious or hysterical, pretended to share the vision. again, only one person, and he on doubtful evidence, is asserted to have shared, once, the visions of jeanne d'arc. in both cases all the conditions said to produce collective hallucination were present in the highest degree. yet no collective hallucination occurred. narratives about hallucinations coincident with a death, narratives well attested, are abundant in modern times, so abundant that one need only refer the curious to messrs. gurney and myers's two large volumes, 'phantasms of the living,' and to the s.p.r 'report of census of hallucinations' (1894). mr. tylor says: 'the spiritualistic theory specially insists on cases of apparitions, where the person's death corresponds more or less nearly with the time when some friend perceives his phantom.' but visionaries, he remarks truly, often see phantoms of living persons when nothing occurs. that is the case, and the question arises whether more such phantoms are viewed (_not_ by 'visionaries') in connection with the death or other crisis of the person whose hallucinatory appearance is perceived, than ought to occur, if there be no connection of some unknown cause between deaths and appearances. as mr. tylor observes, 'man, as yet in a low intellectual condition, came to associate in thought those things which he found by experience to be connected in fact.'[13] did early man, then, find _in experience_ that apparitions of his friends were 'connected in fact' with their deaths? and, if so, was that discovered connection in fact the origin of his belief that an hallucinatory appearance of an absent person sometimes announced his death? that the belief exists in new zealand we saw, and find confirmed by this instance, one of 'many such relations,' says the author. a maori chief was long absent on the war-path. one day he entered his wife's hut, and sat mute by the hearth. she ran to bring witnesses, but on her return the phantasm was no longer visible. the woman soon afterwards married again. her husband then returned in perfect health, and pardoned the lady, as she had acted on what, to a maori mind, seemed good legal evidence of his decease. of course, even if she fabled, the story is evidence to the existence of the belief.[14] what, then, is the cause of the belief that a phantom of a man is a token of his death? on the theory of savage philosophy, as explained by mr. tylor himself, a man's soul may leave his body and become visible to others, not at death only, but on many other occasions, in dream, trance, lethargy. all these are much more frequent conditions, in every man's career, than the fact of dying. why, then, is the phantasm supposed by savages to announce death? is it because, in a sufficient ratio of cases to provoke remark, early man has found the appearance and the death to be 'things connected in fact'? i give an instance in which the philosophy of savages would lead them _not_ to connect a phantasm of a living man with his death. the woi worung, an australian tribe, hold that 'the murup [wraith] of an individual could be sent from him by magic, as, for instance, when a hunter incautiously went to sleep when out hunting.'[15] in this case the hunter is exposed to the magic of his enemies. but the murup, or detached soul, would be visible to people at a distance when its owner is only asleep--according to the savage philosophy. why, then, when the wraith is seen, is the owner believed to be dying? are the things bound to be 'connected in fact'? as is well known, the society for psychical research has attempted a little census, for the purpose of discovering whether hallucinations representing persons at a distance coincided, within twelve hours, with their deaths, in a larger ratio than the laws of chance allow as possible. if it be so, the maori might have some ground for his theory that such hallucinations betoken a decease. i do not believe that any such census can enable us to reach an affirmative conclusion which science will accept. in spite of all precautions taken, all warnings before, and 'allowances' made later, collectors of evidence will 'select' affirmative cases already known, or (which is equally fatal) will be suspected of doing so. again, illusions of memory, increasing the closeness of the coincidence, will come in--or it will be easy to say that they came in. 'allowances' for them will not be accepted. once more, 17,000 cases, though a larger number than is usual in biological inquiries, are decidedly not enough for a popular argument on probabilities; a million, it will be said, would not be too many. finally, granting honesty, accurate memory, and non-selection (none of which will be granted by opponents), it is easy to say that odd things _must_ occur, and that the large proportion of affirmative answers as to coincidental hallucinations is just a specimen of these odd things. other objections are put forward by teachers of popular science who have not examined--or, having examined, misreport--the results of the census in detail. i may give an example of their method. mr. edward clodd is the author of several handbooks of science--'the story of creation,' 'a manual of evolution,' and others. now, in a signed review of a book, a critique published in 'the sketch' (october 13, 1897), mr. clodd wrote about the census: 'thousands of persons were asked whether they had ever seen apparitions, and out of these some hundreds, mostly unintelligent foreigners, replied in the affirmative. some eight or ten of the number--envied mortals--had seen "angels," but the majority, like the american in the mongoose story, had seen only "snakes."... in weighing evidence we have to take into account the competency as well as the integrity of the witnesses.' mr. clodd has most frankly and good-humouredly acknowledged the erroneousness of his remark. otherwise we might ask: does mr. clodd prefer to be considered not 'competent' or not 'veracious'? he cannot be both on this occasion, for his signed and published remarks were absolutely inaccurate. first, thousands of persons were _not_ asked 'whether they had seen apparitions.' they were asked: 'have you ever, when believing yourself to be perfectly awake, had a vivid impression of seeing, or being touched by a living being or inanimate object, or of hearing a voice; which impression, so far as you could discover, was not due to any external physical cause?' secondly, it is not the fact that 'some hundreds, _mostly unintelligent foreigners,_ replied in the affirmative.' of english-speaking men and women, 1,499 answered the question quoted above in the affirmative. of foreigners (naturally 'unintelligent'), 185 returned affirmative answers. thirdly, when mr. clodd says, 'the majority had seen only "snakes,"' it is not easy to know what precise sense 'snakes' bears in the terminology of popular science. if mr. clodd means, by 'snakes,' fantastic hallucinations of animals, these amounted to 25, as against 830 representing human forms of persons recognised, unrecognised, living or dead. but, if by 'snakes' mr. clodd means purely subjective hallucinations, not known to coincide with any event--and this _is_ his meaning--his statement agrees with that of the census. his observations, of course, were purely accidental errors. the number of hallucinations representing living or dying recognised persons in the answers received, was 352. of first-hand cases, in which coincidence of the hallucination with the death of the person apparently seen was affirmed, there were 80, of which 26 are given. the non-coincidental hallucinations were multiplied by four, to allow for forgetfulness of 'misses.' the results being compared, it was decided that the hallucinations collected coincided with death 440 more often than ought to be the case by the law of probabilities. therefore there was proof, or presumption, in favour of some relation of cause and effect between a's death and b's hallucination. if we were to attack the opinion of the committee on hallucinations, that 'between deaths and apparitions of the dying a connection exists which is not due to chance alone,' the assault should be made not only on the method, but on the details. the events were never of very recent, and often were of remote occurrence. the remoteness was less than it seems, however, as the questions were often answered several years before the publication of the report (1894). there was scarcely any documentary evidence, any note or letter written between the hallucination and the arrival of news of the death. such letters, the evidence alleged, had in some cases existed, but had been lost, burnt, eaten by white ants, or written on a sheet of blotting paper or the whitewashed wall of a barrack room. if i may judge by my own lifelong success in mislaying, losing, and casually destroying papers, from cheques to notes made for literary purposes, from interesting letters of friends to the manuscripts of novelists, or if i may judge by sir walter scott's triumphs of the same kind, i should not think much of the disappearance of documentary evidence to death-wraiths. nobody supposed, when these notes were written, that science would ask for their production; and even if people had guessed at this, it is human to lose or destroy old papers. the remoteness of the occurrences is more remarkable, for, if these things happen, why were so few recent cases discovered? again, the seers were sometimes under anxiety, though such cases were excluded from the final computation: they frequently knew that the person seen was in bad health: they were often very familiar with his personal aspect. now what are called 'subjective hallucinations,' non-coincidental hallucinations, usually represent persons very familiar to us, persons much in our minds. i know seven cases in which such hallucinations occurred. 1, 2, of husband to wife; 3, son to mother; 4, brother to sister; 5, sister to sister; 6, cousin (living in the same house) to cousin; 7, friend (living a mile away) to two friends. in no case was there a death-coincidence. only in case 4 was there any kind of coincidence, the brother having intended to do (unknown to the sister) what he was seen doing--driving in a dog-cart with a lady. but he had _not_ driven. we cannot, of course, _prove_ that these seven cases were _not_ telepathic, but there is no proof that they were. now most of the coincidental cases, on which the committee relied as their choicest examples, represented persons familiarly known to the seers. this looks as if they were casual; but, of course, if telepathy does exist, it is most likely (as hegel says) to exist between kinsfolk and friends.[16] the dates might be fresher! in case 1, percipient knew that his aunt in england (he being in australia) was not very well. no anxiety. 2. casual acquaintance. no anxiety. case of accident or suicide. 3. acquaintance who feared to die in childbed, and did. percipient not much interested, nor at all anxious. 4. father in england to son in india. no anxiety. 5. uncle to niece. sudden death. no anxiety. no knowledge of illness. 6. brother-in-law to sister-in-law, and her maid. no anxiety reported. _russian_. 7. father to son. no anxiety reported. _russian_. 8. friend to friend. no knowledge of illness or anxiety reported. 9. grandmother to grandson. no anxiety. no knowledge of illness. 10. casual acquaintance, to seven people, and apparently to a dog. illness known. _russian._ 11. step-brother to step-brother. no anxiety. no knowledge of illness. 12. friend to friend. no anxiety or knowledge of illness. 13. casual acquaintance. no anxiety. 14. aunt to nephew and to his wife. illness known. no anxiety. 15. sister to brother. illness known. no anxiety. 16. father to daughter. no knowledge of illness. no anxiety. 17. father to son. much anxiety. (uncounted.) 18. sister to sister. illness known. 'no immediate danger' surmised. 19. father to son. much anxiety. _russian._ (uncounted.) 20. friend to friend. illness known. percipient had been nursing patient. _brazilian._ (very bad case!) 21 friend to friend. illness known. no anxiety. 22. brother to brother. illness known. no anxiety. 23. grandfather to grand-daughter. illness known. no pressing anxiety. 24. grandfather to grandson. illness known. no anxiety. 25. father's _hand._ illness chronic. no anxiety. percipient a daughter. _russian._ 20. husband to wife. anxiety in time of war. 27. brother to sister. slightly anxious from receiving no letter. 28. friend to friend. no anxiety. anxiety is only reported, or to be surmised, in two or three cases. in a dozen the existence of illness was known. it may therefore be argued, adversely, that in the selected coincidental hallucinations, the persons seen were in the class most usually beheld in non-coincidental and, probably, purely subjective hallucinations representing real persons; also, that knowledge of their illness, even when no anxiety existed, kept them in some cases before the mind; also, that several cases are foreign, and that 'most foreigners are fools.' on the other hand, affection, familiarity, and knowledge of illness had _not_ produced hallucinations even in the case of these percipients, till within the twelve hours (often much less) of the event of death. it would have been desirable, of course, to publish all the _non_-coincidental cases, and show how far, in these not _veridical_ cases, the recognised phantasms were those of kindred, dear friends, known to be ill, and subjects of anxiety[17]. the census, in fact, does contain a chapter on 'mental and nervous conditions in connection with hallucinations,' such as anxiety, grief, and overwork. do these produce, or probably produce, many empty hallucinations _not_ coincident with death or any great crisis? if they do, then all cases in which a coincidental hallucination occurred to a person in anxiety, or overstrained, will seem to be, probably, fortuitous coincidences like the others. all percipients, of all sorts of hallucinations, hits or misses, were asked if they were in grief or anxiety. now, out of 1,622 cases of hallucination of all known kinds (coincidental or not), mental strain was reported in 220 instances; of which 131 were cases of grief about known deaths or anxiety. these mental conditions, therefore, occur only in twelve per cent. of the instances. on the whole, it does not seem fair to argue that anxiety produces so much hallucination that it will account by itself for those which we have analysed as coincidental. the impression left on my own mind by the census does pretty closely agree with that of its authors. fairly well persuaded of the possibility of telepathy, on other grounds, and even inclined to believe that it does produce coincidental hallucinations, the evidence of the census, by itself, would not convince me nor its authors. we want better records; we want documentary evidence recording cases before the arrival of news of the coincidence. memories are very adaptive. the authors, however, made a gallant effort, at the cost of much labour, and largely allowed for all conceivable drawbacks. i am, personally, illogical enough to agree with kant, and to be more convinced by the cumulative weight of the hundreds of cases in 'phantasms of the living,' in other sources, in my own circle of acquaintance, and even by the coincident traditions of european and savage peoples, than by the statistics of the census. the whole mass, census and all, is of very considerable weight, and there exist individual cases which one feels unable to dispute. thus while i would never regard the hallucinatory figure of a friend, perceived by myself, as proof of his death, i would entertain some slight anxiety till i heard of his well-being. on this topic i will offer, in a kantian spirit, an anecdote of the kind which, occurring in great quantities, disposes the mind to a sort of belief. it is not given as evidence to go to a jury, for i only received it from the lips of a very gallant and distinguished officer and v.c., whose own part in the affair will be described. this gentleman was in command of a small british force in one of the remotest and least accessible of our dependencies, not connected by telegraph, at the time of the incident, with the distant mainland. in the force was a particularly folly young captain. one night he went to a dance, and, as the sleeping accommodation was exhausted, he passed the night, like a homeric hero, on a couch beneath the echoing _loggia_. next day, contrary to his wont, he was in the worst of spirits, and, after moping for some time, asked leave to go a three days' voyage to the nearest telegraph station. his commanding officer, my informant, was good-natured, and gave leave. at the end of a week captain ---returned, in his usual high spirits. he now admitted that, while lying awake in the verandah, after the ball, he had seen a favourite brother of his, then in, say, peru. he could not shake off the impression; he had made the long voyage to the nearest telegraph station, and thence had telegraphed to another brother in, let us say, hong kong, 'is all well with john?' he received a reply, 'all well by last mail,' and so returned, relieved in mind, to his duties. but the next mail bringing letters from peru brought news of his peruvian brother's death on the night of the vision in the verandah. this, of course, is not offered as evidence. for evidence we need captain ----'s account, his hong kong brother's account, date of the dance, official date of the peruvian brother's death, and so on. but the character of my informant indisposes me to disbelief. the names of places are intentionally changed, but the places were as remote from each other as those given in the text. we find ourselves able to understand the master of ravenswood's cogitations after he saw the best wraith in fiction: 'she died expressing her eager desire to see me. can it be, then--can strong and earnest wishes, formed during the last agony of nature, survive its catastrophe, surmount the awful bounds of the spiritual world, and place before us its inhabitants in the hues and colouring of life? and why was that manifested to the eye, which could not unfold its tale to the ear?' ('her withered lips moved fast, although no sound issued from them.') 'and wherefore should a breach be made in the laws of nature, yet its purpose remain unknown?' the master's reasonings are such as, in hearing similar anecdotes, must have occurred to scott. they no longer represent our views. the death and apparition were coincidental almost to the minute: it would be impossible to prove that life was utterly extinct, when alice seemed to die, 'as the clock in the distant village tolled one, just before' ravenswood's experience. we do not, like him, postulate 'a breach in the laws of nature,' only a possible example of a law. the tale was not 'unfolded to the ear,' as the telepathic impact only affected the sense of sight. here, perhaps, ought to follow a reply to certain scientific criticisms of the theory that telepathy, or the action of one distant mind, or brain, upon another, may be the cause of 'coincidental hallucinations,' whether among savage or civilised races. but, not to delay the argument by controversy, the reply to objections has been relegated to the appendix[18]. [footnote 1: the lady, her husband, and the lawyer, all known to me, gave me the story in writing; the servant's sister has been lost sight of.] [footnote 2: see three other cases in _proceedings_, s.p.r., ii. 122, 123. two others are offered by mr. henry james and mr. j. neville maskelyne of the egyptian hall.] [footnote 3: see 'phantasms of the living' and 'a theory of apparitions,' _proceedings_, s.p.r., vol. ii., by messrs. gurney and myers.] [footnote 4: _studies in psychical research,_ p. 388.] [footnote 5: this, at least, scorns to myself a not illogical argument. mr. leaf has argued on the other side, that 'darwinism may have done something for totemism, by proving the existence of a great monkey kinship. but totemism can hardly be quoted as evidence for darwinism.' true, but darwinism and totemism are matters of opinion, not facts of personal experience. to a believer in coincidental hallucinations, at least, the alleged parallel experiences of savages must yield some confirmation to his own. his belief, he thinks, is warranted by human experience. on what does he suppose that the belief of the savage is based? do his experience and their belief coincide by pure chance?] [footnote 6: _prim. cult._ i. 449.] [footnote 7: ibid. i. 450.] [footnote 8: _prim. cult._ vol. i. p. 450.] [footnote 9: from shortland's _traditions of new zealand,_ p. 140.] [footnote 10: gurney and myers, 'phantasms of the living,' vol. ii. ch. v. p. 557.] [footnote 11: _the 'adventure' and 'beagle,'_ iii. 181, cf. 204.] [footnote 12: it will, of course, be said that they worked their stories into conformity.] [footnote 13: _prim. cult._ i. 116.] [footnote 14: polack's _manners of the new zealanders_, i. 268.] [footnote 15: howitt, op. cit. p. 186.] [footnote 16: on examining the cases, we find, in 1894, these dates of reported occurrences, in twenty-eight cases: 1890, 1882, 1879, 1870, 1863, 1861, 1888, 1885, 1881, 1880, 1878, 1874, 1869, 1869, 1845, 1887, 1881, 1877, 1874, 1873, 1860 (?), 1864 (?), 1855, 1830 (?!), 1867, 1862, 1888, 1870.] [footnote 17: on this point see _report_, p. 260. fifty phantasms out of the whole occurred during anxiety or presumable anxiety. of these, thirty-one coincided (within twelve hours) with the death of the person apparently seen. in the remaining nineteen, the person seen recovered in eight cases.] [footnote 18: appendix a.] vii demoniacal possession there is a kind of hallucinations--namely, phantasms of the dead--about which it seems better to say nothing in this place. if such phantasms are seen by savages when awake, they will doubtless greatly corroborate that belief in the endurance of the soul after death, which is undeniably suggested to the early reasoner by the phenomena of dreaming. but, while it is easy enough to produce evidence to recognised phantasms of the dead in civilised life, it would be very difficult indeed to discover many good examples in what we know about savages. some fijian instances are given by mr. fison in his and mr. howitt's 'kamilaroi and kurnai,' others occur in the narrative of john tanner, a captive from childhood among the red indians. but the circumstance, already noted, that an australian lad became a wizard on the strength of having seen a phantasm of his dead mother, proves that such experiences are not common; and australian black fellows have admitted that they, for their part, never did see a ghost, but only heard of ghosts from their old men. mr. david leslie, previously cited, gives some first-hand zulu evidence about a haunted wood, where the _esemkofu_, or ghosts of persons killed by a tyrannical chief, were heard and felt by his native informant; the percipient was also pelted with stones, as by the european _poltergeist_. the zulu who dies commonly becomes an ihlozi, and receives his share of sacrifice. the _esemkofu_ on the other hand, are disturbed and haunting spirits[1]. as a rule, so far as our information goes, it is not recognised phantasms of the dead, in waking vision, which corroborate the savage belief in the persistence of the spirit of the departed. the savage reasoner rather rests his faith on the alleged phenomena of noises and physical movements of objects apparently untouched, which cause so many houses in civilised society to be shut up, or shunned, as 'haunted.' such disturbances the savage naturally ascribes to 'spirits.' our evidence, therefore, for recognised phantasms of the savage dead is very meagre, so it is unnecessary to examine the much more copious civilised evidence. the facts attested may, of course, be theoretically explained as the result of telepathy from a mind no longer incarnate; and, were the evidence as copious as that for coincidental hallucinations of the living, or dying, it would be of extreme importance. but it is not so copious, and, granting even that it is accurate, various explanations not involving anything so distasteful to science as the action of a discarnate intelligence may be, and have been, put forward. we turn, therefore, from a theme in which civilised testimony is more bulky than that derived from savage life, to a topic in which savage evidence is much more full than modern civilised records. this topic is the so-called demoniacal possession. in the philosophy of animism, and in the belief of many peoples, savage and civilised, spirits of the dead, or spirits at large, can take up their homes in the bodies of living men. such men, or women, are spoken of as 'inspired,' or 'possessed.' they speak in voices not their own, they act in a manner alien to their natural character, they are said to utter prophecies, and to display knowledge which they could not have normally acquired, and, in fact, do not consciously possess, in their normal condition. all these and similar phenomena the savage explains by the hypothesis that an alien spirit--perhaps a demon, perhaps a ghost, or a god--has taken possession of the patient. the possessed, being full of the spirit, delivers sermons, oracles, prophecies, and what the americans call 'inspirational addresses,' before he returns to his normal consciousness. though many such prophets are conscious impostors, others are sincere. dr. mason mentions a prophet who became converted to christianity. 'he could not account for his former exercises, but said that it certainly appeared to him as though a spirit spoke, and he must tell what it communicated.' dr. mason also gives the following anecdote: '...another individual had a familiar spirit that he consulted and with which he conversed; but, on hearing the gospel, he professed to become converted, and had no more communication with his spirit. it had left him, he said; it spoke to him no more. after a protracted trial i baptised him. i watched his case with interest, and for several years he led an unimpeachable christian life; but, on losing his religious zeal, and disagreeing with some of the church members, he removed to a distant village, where he could not attend the services of the sabbath, and it was soon after reported that he had communications with his familiar spirit again. i sent a native preacher to visit him. the man said he heard the voice which had conversed with him formerly, but it spoke very differently. its language was exceedingly pleasant to hear, and produced great brokenness of heart. it said, "love each other; act righteously--act uprightly," with other exhortations such us he had heard from the teachers. an assistant was placed in the village near him, when the spirit left him again; and ever since he has maintained the character of a consistent christian.'[2] this anecdote illustrates what is called by spiritists 'change of control.' after receiving, and deserting, christian doctrine, the patient again spoke unconsciously, but under the influence of the faith which he had abandoned. in the same way we shall find that a modern american 'medium,' after being for a time constantly in the society of educated and psychological observers, obtained new 'controls' of a character more urbane and civilised than her old 'familiar spirit.'[3] it is admitted that the possessed sometimes display an eloquence which they are incapable of in their normal condition.[4] in china, possessed women, who never composed a line of poetry in their normal lives, utter their thoughts in verse, and are said to give evidence of clairvoyant powers.[5] the book--_demon possession in china_--of dr. nevius, for forty years a missionary, was violently attacked by the medical journals of his native country, the united states. the doctor had the audacity to declare that he could find no better explanation of the phenomena than the theory of the apostles--namely, that the patients were possessed. not having the fear of man before his eyes, he also remarked that the current scientific explanations had the fault of not explaining anything. for example, 'mr. tylor intimates that all cases of supposed demoniacal possession are identical with hysteria, delirium, and mania, and suchlike bodily and mental derangements.' dr. nevius, however, gave what he conceived to be the notes of possession, and, in his diagnosis, distinguished them from hysteria (whatever that may mean), delirium, and mania. nor can it honestly be denied that, if the special notes of possession actually exist, they do mark quite a distinct species of mental affection. dr. nevius then observed that, according to mr. tylor, 'scientific physicians now explain the facts on a different principle,' but, says dr. nevius, 'we search in vain to discover what this principle is.'[6] dr. nevius, who had the courage of his opinions, then consulted a work styled 'nervous derangement,' by dr. hammond, a professor in the medical school of the university of new york.[7] he found this scientific physician admitting that we know very little about the matter. he knew, what is very gratifying, that 'mind is the result of nervous action,' and that so-called 'possession' is the result of 'material derangements of the organs or functions of the system.' dr. nevius was ready to admit this latter doctrine in cases of idiocy, insanity, epilepsy, and hysteria; but then, said he, these are not what i call possession. the chinese have names for all these maladies, 'which they ascribe to physical causes,' but for possession they have a different name. he expected dr. hammond to account for the abnormal conditions in so-called possession, but 'he has hardly even attempted to do this.' dr. nevius next perused the works of dr. griesinger, dr. baelz, professor william james, m. ribot, and, generally, the literature of 'alternating personality.' he found mr. james professing his conviction that the 'alternating personality' (in popular phrase, the demon, or familiar spirit) of mrs. piper knew a great deal about things which mrs. piper, in her normal state, did not, and could not know. thus, after consulting many physicians, dr. nevius was none the better, and came back to his faith in diabolical possession. he was therefore informed that he had written 'one of the most extraordinarily perverted books of the present day' on the evidence of 'transparent ghost stories'--which do not occur in his book. the attitude of dr. nevius cannot be called strictly scientific. because pathologists and psychologists are unable to explain, or give the _modus_ of a set of phenomena, it does not follow that the devil, or a god, or a ghost, is in it. but this, of course, was precisely the natural inference of savages. dr. nevius catalogues the symptoms of possession thus: 1. the automatic, persistent and consistent acting out of a new personality, which calls himself _shieng_ (genius) and calls the patient _hiang to_ (incense burner, 'medium'). 2. possession of knowledge and intellectual power not owned by the patient (in his normal state), nor explainable on the pathological hypothesis. 3. complete change of moral character in the patient. of these notes, the second would, of course, most confirm the savage belief that a new intelligence had entered into the patient. if he displayed knowledge of the future, or of the remote, the inference that a novel and wiser intelligence had taken possession of the patient's body would be, to the savage, irresistible. but the more cautious modern, _even if he accepted the facts_, would be reduced to no such extreme conclusion. he would say that knowledge of the remote in space, or in the past, might be telepathically communicated to the brain of some living person; while, for knowledge of the future, he could fly, with hartmann, to contact with the absolute. but the question of evidence for the facts is, of course, the only real question. now, in dr. nevius's book, this evidence rests almost entirely on the written reports of native christian teachers, for the chinese were strictly reticent when questioned by europeans. 'my heathen brother, you have a sister who is a demoniac?' asks the intelligent european. the reply of the heathen brother is best left in the obscurity of a remarkably difficult and copious oriental language. we are thus obliged to fall back on the reports of mr. leng and other native christian teachers. they are perfectly modest and rational in style. we learn that mrs. sen, a lady in her normal state incapable of lyrical efforts, lisped in numbers in her secondary personality, and detected the circumstance that mr. leng was on his way to see her, when she could not have learned the fact in any normal way.[8] 'they are now crossing the stream, and will be here when the sun is about so high;' which was correct. the other witnesses were examined, and corroborated.[9] dr. nevius himself examined mrs. kwo, when possessed, talking in verse, and, physically, limp.[10] the narratives are of this type; the patient, on recovering consciousness, knows nothing of what has occurred; christian prayers are often efficacious, and there are many anecdotes of movements of objects untouched.[11] by a happy accident, as this chapter was passing through the press, a scientific account of a demoniac and his cure was published by dr. pierre janet.[12] dr. janet has explained, with complete success, everything in the matter of possession, except the facts which, in the opinion of dr. nevius, were in need of explanation. these facts did not occur in the case of the demoniac 'exorcised' by dr. janet. thus the learned essay of that eminent authority would not have satisfied dr. nevius. the facts in which he was interested did not present themselves in dr. janet's patient, and so dr. janet does not explain them. the simplest plan, here, is to deny that the facts in which dr. nevius believes ever present themselves at all; but, if they ever do, dr. janet's explanation does not explain them. 1. his patient, achille, did _not_ act out a new personality. 2. achille displayed _no_ knowledge or intellectual power which he did not possess in his normal state. 3. his moral character was _not_ completely changed; he was only more hypochondriacal and hysterical than usual. achille was a poor devil of a french tradesman who, like captain booth, had infringed the laws of strict chastity and virtue. he brooded on this till he became deranged, and thought that satan had him. he was convulsed, anaesthetic, suicidal, involuntarily blasphemous. he was not 'exorcised' by a prayer or by a command, but after a long course of mental and physical treatment. his cure does not explain the cures in which dr. nevius believed. his case did not present the features of which dr. nevius asked science for an explanation. dr. janet's essay is the _dernier cri_ of science, and leaves dr. nevius just where it found him. science, therefore, can, and does, tell dr. nevius that his evidence for his facts is worthless, through the lips of professor w. romaine newbold, in 'proceedings, s.p.r.,' february 1898 (pp. 602-604). and the same number of the same periodical shows us dr. hodgson accepting facts similar to those of dr. nevius, and explaining them by--possession! (p. 406). dr. nevius's observations practically cover the whole field of 'possession' in non-european peoples. but other examples from other areas are here included. a rather impressive example of possession may be selected from livingstone's 'missionary travels' (p. 86). the adventurous sebituane was harried by the matabele in a new land of his choice. he thought of descending the zambesi till he was in touch with white men; but tlapáne, 'who held intercourse with gods,' turned his face west-wards. tlapáne used to retire, 'perhaps into some cave, to remain in a hypnotic or mesmeric state' until the moon was full. then he would return _en prophète_. 'stamping, leaping, and shouting in a peculiarly violent manner, or beating the ground with a club' (to summon those under earth), 'they induce a kind of fit, and while in it pretend that their utterances are unknown to themselves,' as they probably are, when the condition is genuine. tlapáne, after inducing the 'possessed' state, pointed east: 'there, sebituane, i behold a fire; shun it, it may scorch thee. the gods say, go not thither!' then, pointing west, he said, 'i see a city and a nation of black men, men of the water, their cattle are red, thine own tribe are perishing, thou wilt govern black men, spare thy future tribe.' so far, mere advice; then, 'thou, ramosinii, thy village will perish utterly. if mokari moves first from the village, he will perish first; and thou, ramosinii, wilt be the last to die.' then, 'like some bold seer in a trance, seeing all his own mischance,' 'the gods have given other men water to drink, but to me they have given bitter water. they call me away. i go.'[13] tlapáne died, mokari died, ramosinii died, their village was destroyed soon after, and so sebituane wandered westward, not disobedient to the voice, was attacked by the baloiana, conquered, and spared them. such is 'possession' among savages. it is superfluous to multiply instances of this world-wide belief, so freely illustrated in the new testament, and in trials for witchcraft. the scientific study of the phenomena, as littré complained, 'had hardly been sketched' forty years ago. in the intervening years, psychologists and hypnotists have devoted much attention to the theme of these 'secondary personalities,' which animism explains by the theory of possession. the explanations of modern philosophers differ, and it is not our business to discuss their physiological and pathological ideas.[14] our affair is to ask whether, in the field of experience, there is any evidence that persons thus 'possessed' really evince knowledge which they could not have acquired through normal channels? if such evidence exists, the facts would naturally strengthen the conviction that the possessed person was inspired by an intelligence not his own, that is, by a spirit. now it is the firm conviction of several men of science that a certain mrs. piper, an american, does display, in her possessed condition, knowledge which she could not normally acquire. the case of this lady is precisely on a level with that of certain savage or barbaric seers. thus: 'the fijian priest sits looking steadily at a whale's tooth ornament, amid dead silence. in a few minutes he trembles, slight twitchings of face and limbs come on, which increase to strong convulsions.... now the god has entered.'[15] in china, 'the professional woman sits at a table in contemplation, till the soul of a deceased person from whom communication is desired enters her body and talks through her to the living....'[16] the latter account exactly describes mrs. piper. when consulted she passes through convulsions into a trance, after which she talks in a new voice, assumes a fresh personality, and affects to be possessed by the spirit of a french doctor (who does not know french)--dr. phinuit. she then displays a varying amount of knowledge of dead and living people connected with her clients, who are usually strangers, often introduced under feigned names. mrs. piper and her husband have been watched by detectives, and have not been discovered in any attempts to procure information. she was for some months in england under the charge of the s.p.r. other ghosts, besides dr. phinuit, ghosts more civilised than he, now influence her, and her latest performances are said to exceed her former efforts.[17] volumes of evidence about mrs. piper have been published by dr. hodgson, who unmasked madame blavatsky and eusapia paladino.[18] he was at first convinced that mrs. piper, in her condition of trance, obtains knowledge not otherwise and normally accessible to her. it was admitted that her familiar spirit guesses, attempts to extract information from the people who sit with her, and tries sophistically to conceal his failures. here follow the statements of professor james of harvard. 'the most convincing things said about my own immediate household were either very intimate or very trivial. unfortunately the former things cannot well be published. of the trivial things i have forgotten the greater number, but the following, _rarae nantes_, may serve as samples of their class. she said that we had lost recently a rug, and i a waistcoat. (she wrongly accused a person of stealing the rug, which was afterwards found in the house.) she told of my killing a grey-and-white cat with ether, and described how it had "spun round and round" before dying. she told how my new york aunt had written a letter to my wife, warning her against all mediums, and then went off on a most amusing criticism, full of _traits vifs_, of the excellent woman's character. (of course, no one but my wife and i knew the existence of the letter in question.) she was strong on the events in our nursery, and gave striking advice during our first visit to her about the way to deal with certain "tantrums" of our second child--"little billy-boy," as she called him, reproducing his nursery name. she told how the crib creaked at night, how a certain rocking-chair creaked mysteriously, how my wife had heard footsteps on a stair, &c. &c. insignificant as these things sound when read, the accumulation of them has an irresistible effect; and i repeat again what i said before, that, taking everything that i know of mrs. piper into account, the result is to make me feel as absolutely certain as i am of any personal fact in the world that she knows things in her trances which she cannot possibly have heard in her waking state, and that the definitive philosophy of her trances is yet to be found. the limitations of her trance information, its discontinuity and fitfulness, and its apparent inability to develop beyond a certain point, although they end by arousing one's moral and human impatience with the phenomenon, yet are, from a scientific point of view, amongst its most interesting peculiarities, since where there are limits there are conditions, and the discovery of them is always the beginning of an explanation. 'this is all i cam tell you of mrs. piper. i wish it were more "scientific." but _valcat quantum!_ it is the best i can do.' elsewhere mr. james writes: 'mr. hodgson and others have made prolonged study of this lady's trances, and are all convinced that supernormal powers of cognition are displayed therein. they are, _prima facie_, due to "spirit control." but the conditions are so complex that a dogmatic decision either for or against the hypothesis must as yet be postponed.'[19] again-'in the trances of this medium i cannot resist the conviction that knowledge appears which she has never gained by the ordinary waking use of her eyes, ears, and wits. 'the trances have broken down, for my own mind, the limits of the admitted order of nature.' m. paul bourget (who is not superstitious), after consulting mrs. piper, concludes: 'l'esprit a des procédés de connaître non soupçonnés par notre analyse.'[20] in this treatise i may have shown 'the will to believe' in an unusual degree; but, for me, the interest of mrs. piper is purely anthropological. she exhibits a survival or recrudescence of savage phenomena, real or feigned, of convulsion and of secondary personality, and entertains a survival of the animistic explanation. mrs. piper's honesty and excellent character, in her normal condition, are vouched for by her friends and observers in england and america; nor do i impeach her normal character. but 'secondary personalities' have often more of mr. hyde than of dr. jekyll in their composition. it used to be admitted that, when 'possessed,' mrs. piper would cheat when she could--that is to say, she would make guesses, try to worm information out of her sitter, describe a friend of his, alive or dead, as 'ed.,' who may be edgar, edmund, edward, edith, or anybody. she would shuffle, and repeat what she had picked up in a former sitting with the same person; and the vast majority of her answers started from vague references to probable facts (as that an elderly man is an orphan), and so worked on to more precise statements. professor macalister wrote: 'she is quite wide-awake enough all through to profit by suggestions. i let her see a blotch of ink on my finger, and she said that i was a writer.... except the guess about my sister helen, who is alive, there was not a single guess which was nearly right. mrs. piper is not anaesthetic during the so-called trance, and if you ask my private opinion, it is that the whole thing is an imposture, and a poor one.'[21] mr. barkworth said that, as far as his experience went, 'mrs. piper's powers are of the ordinary thought-reading [i.e. muscle-reading] kind, dependent on her hold of the visitor's hand.' each of these gentlemen had only one 'sitting.' m. paul bourget also informed me, in conversation, that mrs. piper held his hand while she told the melancholy tale connected with a key in his possession, and that she did not tell the story promptly and fluently, but very slowly and hesitatingly. even so, he declared that he did not feel able to account for her performance. as these pages were passing through the press, dr. hodgson's last report on mrs. piper was published.[22] it is quite impossible, within the space allotted, to criticise this work. it would be necessary to examine minutely scores of statements, in which many facts are suppressed as too intimate, while others are remarkably incoherent. dr. hodgson deserves the praise of extraordinary patience and industry, displayed in the very distasteful task of watching an unfortunate lady in the vagaries of 'trance.' his reasonings are perfectly calm, perfectly unimpassioned, and his bias has not hitherto seemed to make for credulity. we must, in fact, regard him as an expert in this branch of psychology. but he himself makes it clear that, in his opinion, no written reports can convey the impressions produced by several years of personal experience. the results of that experience he sums up in these words: 'at the present time i cannot profess to have any doubt but that the chief "communicators" to whom i have referred in the foregoing pages are veritably the personalities that they claim to be, that they have survived the change we call death, and that they have directly communicated with us, whom we call living, through mrs. piper's entranced organism.'[23] this means that dr. hodgson, at present, in this case, accepts the hypothesis of 'possession' as understood by maoris and fijians, chinese and karens. the published reports do not produce on me any such impression. as a personal matter of opinion, i am convinced that those whom i have honoured in this life would no more avail themselves of mrs. piper's 'entranced organism' (if they had the chance) than i would voluntarily find myself in a 'sitting' with that lady. it is unnecessary to wax eloquent on this head; and the curious can consult the writings of dr. hodgson for themselves. meanwhile we have only to notice that an american 'possessed' woman produces on a highly educated and sceptical modern intelligence the same impression as the zulu 'possessed' produce on some zulu intelligences. the zulus admit 'possession' and divination, but are not the most credulous of mankind. the ordinary possessed person is usually consulted as to the disease of an absent patient. the inquirers do not assist the diviner by holding his hand, but are expected to smite the ground violently if the guess made by the diviner is right; gently if it is wrong. a sceptical zulu, named john, having a shilling to expend on psychical research, smote violently at _every_ guess. the diviner was hopelessly puzzled; john kept his shilling, and laid it out on a much more meritorious exhibition of animated sticks.[24] uguise gave dr. callaway an account of a female possessed person with whom mrs. piper could not compete. her spirit spoke, not from her mouth, but from high in the roof. it gave forth a kind of questioning remarks which were always correct. it then reported correctly a number of singular circumstances, ordered some remedies for a diseased child, and offered to return the fee, if ample satisfaction was not given.[25] in china and zululand, as in mrs. piper's case, the spirits are fond of diagnosing and prescribing for absent patients. a good example of savage possession is given in his travels by captain jonathan carver (1763). carver was waiting impatiently for the arrival of traders with provisions, near the thousand lakes. a priest, or jossakeed, offered to interview the great spirit, and obtain information. a large lodge was arranged, and the covering drawn up (which is unusual), so that what went on within might be observed. in the centre was a chest-shaped arrangement of stakes, so far apart from each other 'that whatever lay within them was readily to be discerned.' the tent was illuminated 'by a great number of torches.' the priest came in, and was first wrapped in an elk's skin, as highland seers were wrapped in a black bull's hide. forty yards of rope made of elk's hide were then coiled about him, till he 'was wound up like an egyptian mummy.' i have elsewhere shown[26] that this custom of binding with bonds the seer who is to be inspired, existed in graeco-egyptian spiritualism, among samoyeds, eskimo, canadian hareskin indians, and among australian blacks. 'the head, body, and limbs are wound round with stringy bark cords.'[27] this is an extraordinary range of diffusion of a ceremony apparently meaningless. is the idea that, by loosing the bonds, the seer demonstrates the agency of spirits, after the manner of the davenport brothers?[28] but the graeco-egyptian medium did _not_ undo the swathings of linen, in which he was rolled, _like a mummy_. they had to be unswathed for him, by others.[29] again, a dead body, among the australians, is corded up tight, as soon as the breath is out of it, if it is to be buried, or before being exposed on a platform, if that is the custom.[30] again, in the highlands second-sight was thus acquired: the would-be seer 'must run a tedder (tether) of hair, _which bound a corpse to the bier_, about his middle from end to end,' and then look between his legs till he sees a funeral cross two marches.[31] the greenland seer is bound 'with his head between his legs.'[32] can it be possible, judging from australia, scotland, egypt, that the binding, as of a corpse or mummy, is a symbolical way of putting the seer on a level with the dead, who will then communicate with him? in three remote points, we find seer-binding and corpse-binding; but we need to prove that corpses are, or have been, bound at the other points where the seer is tied up--in a reindeer skin among the samoyeds, an elk skin in north america, a bull's hide in the highlands. binding the seer is not a universal red indian custom; it seems to cease in labrador, and elsewhere, southwards, where the prophet enters a magic lodge, unbound. among the narquapees, he sits cross-legged, and the lodge begins to answer questions by leaping about.[33] the eskimo bounds, though he is tied up. it would be decisive, if we could find that, wherever the sorcerer is bound, the dead are bound also. i note the following examples, but the creeks do not, i think, bind the magician. among the creeks, 'the corpse is placed in a hole, with a blanket wrapped about it, and the legs bent under it _and tied together_.'[34] the dead greenlanders were 'wrapped and sewed up in their best deer-skins.'[35] carver could only learn that, among the indians he knew, dead bodies were 'wrapped in skins;' that they were also swathed with cords he does not allege, but he was not permitted to see all the ceremonies. my theory is, at least, plausible, for this manner of burying the dead, tied tightly up, with the head between the legs (as in the practice of scottish and greenland seers), is very old and widely diffused. ellis says, of the tahitians, 'the body of the dead man was ... placed in a sitting posture, with the knees elevated, _the face pressed down between the knees_,... and the whole body tied with cord or cinet, wound repeatedly round.'[36] the binding may originally have been meant to keep the corpse, or ghost, from 'walking.' i do not know that tahitian prophets were ever tied up, to await inspiration. but i submit that the frequency of the savage form of burial with the corpse tied up, or swathed, sometimes with the head between the legs; and the recurrence of the savage practice of similarly binding the sorcerer, probably points to a purpose of introducing the seer to the society of the dead. the custom, as applied to prophets, might survive, even where the burial rite had altered, or cannot be ascertained, and might survive, for corpses, where it had gone out of use, for seers. the scotch used to justify their practice of putting the head between the knees when, bound with a corpse's hair tether, they learned to be second-sighted, by what elijah did. the prophet, on the peak of carmel, 'cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees.'[37] but the cases are not analogous. elijah had been hearing a premonitory 'sound of abundance of rain' in a cloudless sky. he was probably engaged in prayer, not in prophecy. kirk, by the way, notes that if the wind changes, while the scottish seer is bound, he is in peril of his life. so children are told, in scotland, that, if the wind changes while they are making faces, the grimace will be permanent. the seer will, in the same way, become what he pretends to be, a corpse. this desertion of carver's tale may be pardoned for the curiosity of the topic. he goes on: 'being thus bound up like an egyptian mummy' (carver unconsciously making my point), 'the seer was lifted into the chest-like enclosure. i could now also discern him as plain as i had ever done, and i took care not to turn my eyes away a moment'--in which effort he probably failed. the priest now began to mutter, and finally spoke in a mixed jargon of scarcely intelligible dialects. he now yelled, prayed, and foamed at the mouth, till in about three quarters of an hour he was exhausted and speechless. 'but in an instant he sprang upon his feet, notwithstanding at the time he was put in it appeared impossible for him to move either his legs or arms, and shaking off his covering, as quick as if the bands with which it had been bound were burst asunder,' he prophesied. the great spirit did not say when the traders would arrive, but, just after high noon, next day, a canoe would arrive, and the people in it would tell when the traders were to appear. next day, just after high noon, a canoe came round a point of land about a league away, and the men in it, who had met the traders, said they would come in two days, which they did. carver, professing freedom from any tincture of credulity, leaves us 'to draw what conclusions we please.' the natural inference is 'private information,' about which the only difficulty is that carver, who knew the topography and the chances of a secret messenger arriving to prompt the jossakeed, does not allude to this theory.[38] he seems to think such successes not uncommon. all that psychology can teach anthropology, on this whole topic of 'possession;' is that secondary or alternating personalities are facts _in rerum natura_, that the man or woman in one personality may have no conscious memory of what was done or said in the other, and that cases of knowledge said to be supernormally gained in the secondary state are worth inquiring about, if there be a chance of getting good evidence. a few fairly respectable savage instances are given in dr. gibier's 'le fakirisme occidental' and in mr. manning's 'old new zealand;' but, while modern civilised parallels depend on the solitary case of mrs. piper (for no other case has been well observed), no affirmative conclusion can be drawn from chinese, maori, zulu, or red indian practice. [footnote 1: _among the zulus_, p. 120.] [footnote 2:_ burmah_, p. 107.] [footnote 3: hodgson, _proceedings_, s.p.e., vol. xiii. pt. xxxiii. dr. hodgson by no means agrees with this view of the case--the case of mrs. piper.] [footnote 4: _prim. cult_. ii. 184.] [footnote 5: nevius's _demon possession in china_, a curious collection of examples by an american missionary. the reports of catholic missionaries abound in cases.] [footnote 6: op. cit. p. 169.] [footnote 7: putnam, 1881.] [footnote 8: nevius, p. 33.] [footnote 9: ibid. p. 35.] [footnote 10: op. cit. p. 38.] [footnote 11: see 'fetishism and spiritualism.'] [footnote 12: _nécroses et idées fixes_. alcan, paris, 1898. this is the first of a series of works connected with the laboratoire de psychologie, at the salpétritère, in paris.] [footnote 13: 'macleod shall return, but macrimmon shall never!'] [footnote 14: see ribot, _les maladies de la personnalité,_; bourru et burot, _variations de la personnalité_; janet, _l'automatisme psychologique_; james, _principles of psychology_; myers, in _proceedings_ of s.p.r., 'the mechanism of genius,' 'the subliminal self.'] [footnote 15: _prim. cult_. ii. 133.] [footnote 16: doolittle's _chinese_, i. 143; ii. 110, 320.] [footnote 17: _proceedings_, s.p.r., pt. xxxiii.] [footnote 18: _proceedings_, s.p.r., vi. 436-650; viii. 1-167; xiii. 284-582]. [footnote 19: _the will to believe_, p. 814.] [footnote 20: _figaro_, january 14, 1895.] [footnote 21: _proceedings_, vi. 605, 606.] [footnote 22: _proceedings_, s.p.r, part xxxiii. vol. xiii.] [footnote 23: op. cit. part xxxiii. p. 406.] [footnote 24: see 'fetishism.' compare callaway, p. 328.] [footnote 25: callaway, pp. 361-374.] [footnote 26: _cock lane and common sense_, p. 66.] [footnote 27: brough smyth, i. 475. this point is disputed, but i did not invent it, and a case appears in mr. curr's work on the natives.] [footnote 28: _prim. cult_. i. 152.] [footnote 29: eusebius, _prap. evang_. v. 9.] [footnote 30: brough smyth, i. 100, 113.] [footnote 31: kirk, _secret commonwealth_ 1691.] [footnote 32: crantz, p. 209.] [footnote 33: père arnaud, in hind's _labrador_, ii. 102.] [footnote 34: major swan, 1791, official letter on the creek indians, schoolcraft, v. 270.] [footnote 35: crantz, p. 237.] [footnote 36: _polynesian researches_, i. 519.] [footnote 37: 1 kings xviii. 42.] [footnote 38: carver, pp. 123, 184.] viii fetishism and spiritualism it has been shown how the doctrine of souls was developed according to the anthropological theory. the hypothesis as to how souls of the dead were later elevated to the rank of gods, or supplied models after which such gods might be inventively fashioned, will be criticised in a later chapter. here it must suffice to say that the conception of a separable surviving soul of a dead man was not only not essential to the savage's idea of his supreme god, as it seems to me, but would have been wholly inconsistent with that conception. there exist, however, numerous forms of savage religion in addition to the creed in a supreme being, and these contribute their streams to the ocean of faith. thus among the kinds of belief which served in the development of polytheism, was fetishism, itself an adaptation and extension of the idea of separable souls. in this regard, like ancestor-worship, it differs from the belief in a supreme being, which, as we shall try to demonstrate, is not derived from the theory of ghosts or souls at all. _fetish_ (_fétiche_) seems to come from portuguese _feitiço_, a talisman or amulet, applied by the portuguese to various material objects regarded by the negroes of the west coast with more or less of religious reverence. these objects may be held sacred in some degree for a number of incongruous reasons. they may be tokens, or may be of value in sympathetic magic, or merely _odd_, and therefore probably endowed with unknown mystic qualities. or they may have been pointed out in a dream, or met in a lucky hour and associated with good fortune, or they may (like a tree with an unexplained stir in its branches, as reported by kohl) have seemed to show signs of life by spontaneous movements; in fact, a thing may be what europeans call a fetish for scores of reasons. for our present purpose, as mr. tylor says, 'to class an object as a fetish demands explicit statement that a spirit is considered as embodied in it, or acting through it, or communicating by it, or, at least, that the people it belongs to do habitually think this of such objects; or it must be shown that the object is treated as having personal consciousness or power, is talked with, worshipped...' and so forth. the in-dwelling spirit may be human, as when a fetish is made out of a friend's skull, the spirit in which may even be asked for oracles, like the head of bran in welsh legend. we have tried to show that the belief in human souls may be, in part at least, based on supernormal phenomena which materialism disregards. we shall now endeavour to make it probable that fetishism (the belief in the souls tenanting inanimate objects) may also have sources which perhaps are not normal, or which at all events seemed supernormal to savages. we say 'perhaps not normal' because the phenomena now to be discussed are of the most puzzling character. we may lean to the belief in a supernormal cause of certain hallucinations, but the alleged movements of inanimate objects which probably supply one origin of fetishism, one suggestion of the presence of a spirit in things dead, leave the inquiring mind in perplexity. in following mr. tylor's discussion of the subject, it is necessary to combine what he says about spiritualism in his fourth with what he says about fetishism in his fourteenth and later chapters. for some reason his book is so arranged that he criticises 'spiritualism' long before he puts forward his doctrine of the origin and development of the belief in spirits. we have seen a savage reason for supposing that human spirits inhabit certain lifeless things, such as skulls and other relics of the dead. but how did it come to be thought that a spirit dwelt in a lifeless and motionless piece of stone or stick? mr. tylor, perhaps, leads us to a plausible conjecture by writing: 'mr. darwin saw two malay women in keeling island, who held a wooden spoon dressed in clothes like a doll: this spoon had been carried to the grave of a dead man, and becoming inspired at full moon, in fact lunatic, it danced about convulsively, like a table or a hat at a modern spirit séance.'[1] now m. lefébure has pointed out (in 'mélusine') that, according to de brosses, the african conjurers gave an appearance of independent motion to small objects, which were then accepted as fetishes, being visibly animated. m. lefébure next compares, like mr. tylor, the alleged physical phenomena of spiritualism, the flights and movements of inanimate objects apparently untouched. the question thus arises, is there any truth whatever in these world-wide and world-old stories of inanimate objects acting like animated things? has fetishism one of its origins in the actual field of supernormal experience in the x region? this question we do not propose to answer, as the evidence, though practically universal, may be said to rest on imposture and illusion. but we can, at least, give a sketch of the nature of the evidence, beginning with that as to the apparently _voluntary_ movements of objects, _not_ untouched. mr. tylor quotes from john bell's 'journey in asia' (1719) an account of a mongol lama who wished to discover certain stolen pieces of damask. his method was to sit on a bench, when 'he carried it, or, as was commonly believed, it carried him, to the very tent' of the thief. here the bench is innocently believed to be self-moving. again, mr. rowley tells how in manganjah the sorcerer, to find out a criminal, placed, with magical ceremonies, two staffs of wood in the hands of some young men. 'the sticks whirled and dragged the men round like mad,' and finally escaped and rolled to the feet of the wife of a chief, who was then denounced as the guilty person.[2] mr. duff macdonald describes the same practice among the yaos:[3] 'the sorcerer occasionally makes men take hold of a stick, which, after a time, begins to move as if endowed with life, and ultimately carries them off bodily and with great speed to the house of the thief.' the process is just that of jacques aymard in the celebrated story of the detection of the lyons murderer.[4] in melanesia, far enough away, dr. codrington found a similar practice, and here the sticks are explicitly said by the natives to be moved by _spirits_.[5] the wizard and a friend hold a bamboo stick by each end, and ask what man's ghost is afflicting a patient. at the mention of the right ghost 'the stick becomes violently agitated.' in the same way, the bamboo 'would run about' with a man holding it only on the palms of his hands. again, a hut is built with a partition down the middle. men sit there with their hands _under_ one end of the bamboo, while the other end is extended into the empty half of the hut. they then call over the names of the recently dead, till 'they feel the bamboo moving in their hands.' a bamboo placed on a sacred tree, 'when the name of a ghost is called, moves of itself, and will lift and drag people about.' put up into a tree, it would lift them from the ground. in other cases the holding of the sticks produces convulsions and trance.[6] the divining sticks of the maori are also 'guided by spirits,'[7] and those of the zulu sorcerers rise, fall, and jump about.[8] these zulu performances must be really very curious. in the last chapter we told how a zulu named john, having a shilling to lay out in the interests of psychical research, declined to pay a perplexed diviner, and reserved his capital far a more meritorious performance. he tried a medium named unomantshintshi, who divined by umabakula, or dancing sticks-'if they say "no," they fall suddenly; if they say "yes," they arise and jump about very much, and leap on the person who has come to inquire. they "fix themselves on the place where the sick man is affected; ... if the head, they leap on his head.... many believe in umabakula more than in the diviner. but there are not many who have the umabakula."' dr. callaway's informant only knew two umabakulists, john was quite satisfied, paid his shilling, and went home.[9] the sticks are about a foot long. it is not reported that they are moved by spirits, nor do they seem to be regarded as fetishes. mr. tylor also cites a form of the familiar pendulum experiment. among the karens a ring is suspended by a thread over a metal basin. the relations of the dead strike the basin, and when he who was dearest to the ghost touches it the spirit twists the thread till it breaks, and the ring falls into the basin. with us a ring is held by a thread over a tumbler, and our unconscious movements swing it till it strikes the hour. how the karens manage it is less obvious. these savage devices with animated sticks clearly correspond to the more modern 'table-turning.' here, when the players are honest, the pushing is certainly _unconscious_. i have tested this in two ways--first by trying the minimum of _conscious_ muscular action that would stir a table at which i was alone, and by comparing the absolute unconsciousness of muscular action when the table began to move in response to no _voluntary_ push. again, i tried with a friend, who said, 'you are pushing,' when i gently removed my hands altogether, though they seemed to rest on the table, which still revolved. my friend was himself unconsciously pushing. it is undeniable that, to a solitary experimenter, the table _seems_ to make little darts of its own will in a curious way. thus, the unconsciousness of muscular action on the part of savages engaged in the experiment with sticks would lead them to believe that spirits were animating the wood. the same fallacy beset the table-turners of 1855-65, and was, to some extent, exposed by faraday. of course, savages would be even more convinced by the dancing spoon of mr. darwin's tale, by the dancing sticks of the zulus, and the rest, whether the phenomena were supernormal or merely worked by unseen strings. the same remark applies to modern experimenters, when, as they declare, various objects move untouched, without physical contact. still more analogous than turning tables to the savage use of inspired sticks for directing the inquirer to a lost object or to a criminal, is the modern employment of the divining-rod--a forked twig which, held by the ends, revolves in the hands of the performer when he reaches the object of his quest. he, like the savage cited, is occasionally agitated in a convulsive manner; and cases are quoted in which the twig writhes when held in a pair of tongs! the best-known modern treatise on the divining-rod is that of m. chevreul, 'la baguette divinatoire' (1854). we have also 'l'histoire du merveilleux dans les temps modernes,' by m. figuier (1860). in 1781 thouvenel published his 600 experiments with bleton and others; and hegel refers to amoretti's collection of hundreds of cases. the case of jacques aymard, who in the seventeenth century discovered a murderer by the use of the rod in true savage fashion, is well known. in modern england the rod is used in the interests of private individuals and public bodies (such as trinity college, cambridge) for the discovery of water. professor barrett has lately published a book of 280 pages, in which evidence of failures and successes is collected.[10] professor barrett gives about one hundred and fifty cases, in which he was only able to discover, on good authority, twelve failures. he gives a variety of tests calculated to check frauds and chance coincidence, and he publishes opinions, hostile or agnostic, by geologists. the evidence, as a general rule, is what is called first-hand in other inquiries. the actual spectators, and often the owners of the land, or the persons in whose interest water was wanted, having been present, give their testimony; and it is certain that the 'diviner' is called in by people of sense and education, commonly too practical to have a theory, and content with getting what they want, especially where scientific experts have failed.[11] in mr. barrett's opinion, the subconscious perception of indications of the presence of water produces an equally unconscious muscular 'spasm,' which twirls the rod till it often breaks. yet 'it is almost impossible to imitate its characteristic movement by any voluntary effort.' i have myself held the hands of an amateur performer when the twig was moving, and neither by sight nor touch could i detect any muscular movement on his part, much less a spasm. the person was bailiff on a large estate, and, having accidentally discovered that he possessed the gift, used it when he wanted wells dug for the tenants on the property. the whole topic is obscure; nor am i concerned here with the successes or failures of the divining-rod. but the movements of the twig have never, to my knowledge, been attributed by modern english performers to the operation of spirits. they say 'electricity.' mr. tylor merely writes: 'the action of the famous divining-rod, with its curiously versatile sensibility to water, ore, treasure, and thieves, seems to belong partly to trickery and partly to more or less conscious direction by honester operators.' as the divining-rod is the only instance in which automatism, whatever its nature and causes, has been found of practical value by practical men, and as it is obviously associated with a number of analogous phenomena, both in civilised and savage life, it certainly deserves the attention of science. but no advance will be made till scientifically trained inquirers themselves arrange and test a large number of experiments. knowledge of the geological ignorance of the dowsers, examples of fraud on their part, and cases of failure or reported failure, with a general hostile bias, may prevent such experiments from being made by scientific experts on an adequate scale. such experts ought, of course, to avoid working the dowsers into a state of irritation. it is just worth while to notice cases in which the rod acts like those of the melanesians, africans, and other savages. a mr. thomas welton published an english translation of 'la verge de jacob' (lyon, 1693). in 1651 he asked his servant to bring into the garden 'a stick that stood behind the parlour door. in great terror she brought it to the garden, her hand firmly clutched on it, nor could she let it go.' when mrs. welton took the stick, 'it drew her with very considerable velocity to nearly the centre of the garden,' where a well was found. mr. welton is not likely to have known of the lately published savage examples. the coincidence with the african and melanesian cases is, therefore, probably undesigned. again, in 1694, the rod was used by le père menestrier and others, just as it is by savages, to indicate by its movements answers to all sorts of questions. experiments of this kind have not been made by professor barrett, and other modern inquirers, except by m. richet, as a mode of detecting automatic action. but it would be just as sensible to use the twig as to use planchette or any other 'autoscopic' apparatus. if these elicit knowledge unconsciously present to the mind, mere water-finding ought not to be the sole province of the rod. in the same class as these rods is the forked twig which, in china, is held at each end by two persons, and made to write in the sand. the little apparatus called _planchette_, or the other, the _ouija_, is of course, consciously or unconsciously, pushed by the performers. in the case of the twig, as held by water-seekers, the difficulty of consciously moving it so as to escape close observation is considerable. in the case of the _ouija_ (a little tripod, which, under the operators' hands, runs about a table inscribed with letters at which it points), i have known curious successes to be achieved by amateurs. thus, in the house of a lady who owned an old _château_ in another county, the _ouija_, operated on by two ladies known to myself, wrote a number of details about a visit paid to the _château_ for a certain purpose by mary stuart. that visit, and its object, a purely personal one, are unknown to history, and the _château_ is not spoken of in mr. hay fleming's careful, but unavoidably incomplete, itinerary of the queen's residence in scotland. after the communication had been made, the owner of the _château_ explained that she was already acquainted with the circumstances described, as she had recently read them in documents in her charter chest, where they remain. of course, the belief we extend to such narratives is entirely conditioned by our knowledge of the personal character of the performers. the point here is merely the civilised and savage practice of _automatism_, the apparent eliciting of knowledge not otherwise accessible, by the movements of a stick, or a bit of wood. these movements, made without conscious exertion or direction, seem, to savage philosophy, to be caused by in-dwelling spirits, the sources of fetishism. these examples, then, demonstrating unconscious movement of objects by the operators, make it clear that movements even of touched objects, may be attributed, by some civilised and by savage amateurs, to 'spirits.' the objects so moved may, by savages, be regarded in some cases as fetishes, and their movements may have helped to originate the belief that spirits can inhabit inanimate objects. when objects apparently quite untouched become volatile, the mystery is deeper. this apparent animation and frolicsome behaviour of inanimate objects is reported all through history, and attested by immense quantities of evidence of every degree. it would be tedious to give a full account of the antiquity and diffusion of reports about such occurrences. we find them among neo-platonists, in the english and continental middle ages, among eskimo, hurons, algonkins, tartars, zulus, malays, nasquapees, maoris, in witch trials, in ancient peru (immediately after the spanish conquest), in china, in modern russia, in new england (1680), all through the career of modern spiritualism, in hayti (where they are attributed to 'obeah'), and, sporadically, everywhere.[12] among all these cases, we must dismiss whatever the modern paid medium does in the dark. the only thing to be done with the ethnographic and modern accounts of such marvels is to 'file them for reference.' if a spontaneous example occurs, under proper inspection, we can then compare our old tales. professor james says: 'their mutual resemblances suggest a natural type, and i confess that till these records, or others like them, are positively explained away, i cannot feel (in spite of such vast amounts of detected frauds) as if the case of physical mediumship itself, as a freak of nature, were definitely closed.... so long as the stories multiply in various lands, and so few are positively explained away, it is bad method to ignore them.'[13] here they are not ignored, because, whatever the cause or causes of the phenomena, they would buttress, if they did not originate, the savage belief in spirits tenanting inanimate matter, whence came fetishism. as to facts, we cannot, of course, 'explain away' events of this kind, which we know only through report. a conjurer cannot explain a trick merely from a description, especially a description by a non-conjurer. but, as a rule, nothing so much leads to doubt on this theme as the 'explanation' given--except, of course, in the case of 'dark séances' got up and prepared by paid mediums. we know, sometimes, how the 'explanation' arose. thus, the house of a certain m. zoller, a lawyer and member of the swiss federal council, a house at stans, in unterwalden, was made simply uninhabitable in 1860-1862. the disturbances, including movements of objects, were of a truly odious description, and occurred in full daylight. m. zoller, deeply attached to his home, which had many interesting associations with the part his family played in the struggle against revolutionary france, was obliged to abandon the place. he had made every conceivable sort of research, and had called in the local police and _savants_, to no purpose. but the affair was explained away thus: while the phenomena could still be concealed from public curiosity, a client called to see m. zoller, who was out. the client, therefore, remained in the drawing-room. loud and heavy blows resounded through the room. the client, as it chanced, had once felt the effects of an electric battery, for some medical reason, apparently. m. zoller writes: 'my eldest son was present at the time, and, when my client asked whether there was such a thing as an electrical machine in the house (the family having been enjoined to keep the disturbances as secret as possible), he allowed s. to think that there was.' consequently, the phenomena were set down to m. zoller's singular idea of making his house untenantable with an 'electric machine'--which he did not possess.[14] a number of the most respected citizens, including the superintendent of police, and the chief magistrate for law, published a statement that neither zoller, nor any of his family, nor any of themselves, produced or could have produced the phenomena witnessed by them in august 1862. this declaration they put forth in the 'schwytzer zeitung,' october 5, 1863.[15] no electric machine known to mortals could have produced the vast variety of alleged effects, none was ever found; and as m. zoller changed his servants without escaping his tribulations, they can hardly be blamed for what, _prima facie_, it seems that they could not possibly do. however, 'electricity,' like mesopotamia, is 'a blessed word.'[16] my own position in this matter of 'physical phenomena' is, i hope, clear. they interest me, for my present purpose, as being, whatever their real nature and origin, things which would suggest to a savage his theory of fetishism. 'an inanimate object may be tenanted by a spirit, as is proved by its extraordinary movements.' thus the early thinker might reason, and go on to revere the object. it is to be wished that competent observers would pay more attention to such savage practices as crystal-gazing and automatism as illustrated by the sticks of the melanesians, zulus, and yaos. our scanty information we pick up out of stray allusions, but it has the advantage of being uncontaminated by theory, the european spectator not knowing the wide range of such practices and their value in experimental psychology. we have now finished our study of the less normal and usual phenomena, which gave rise to belief in separable, self-existing, conscious, and powerful souls. we have shown that the supernormal factors which, when reflected on, probably supported this belief, are represented in civilised as well as in savage life, while as to their existence among the founders of religion we can historically know nothing at all. if we may infer from certain considerations, the supernormal experiences were possibly more prevalent among the remote ancestors of known savage races than among their modern descendants. we have suggested that clairvoyance, thought transference, and telepathy cannot be dismissed as mere fables, by a cautious inquirer, while even the far more obscure stories of 'physical manifestations' are but poorly explained away by those who cannot explain them.[17] again, these faculties have presented--in the acquisition of otherwise unattainable knowledge, in coincidental hallucinations, and in other ways--just the kind of facts on which the savage doctrine of souls might be based, or by which it might be buttressed. thus, while the actuality of the supernormal facts and faculties remains at least an open question, the prevalent theory of materialism cannot be admitted as dogmatically certain in its present shape. no more than any other theory, nay, less than some other theories, can it account for the psychical facts which, at the lowest, we may not honestly leave out of the reckoning. we have therefore no more to say about the supernormal aspects of the origins of religion. we are henceforth concerned with matters of verifiable belief and practice. we have to ask whether, when once the doctrine of souls was conceived by early men, it took precisely the course of development usually indicated by anthropological science. [footnote 1: darwin, _journal_, p. 458; tylor, _prim. cult_. ii. 152. the spoon was not untouched.] [footnote 2: rowley, _universities' mission_, p. 217.] [footnote 3: _africana_, vol. i. p. 161.] [footnote 4: in the author's _custom and myth_, 'the divining rod.'] [footnote 5: codrington's _melanesia_, p. 210.] [footnote 6: op. cit. pp. 229-325.] [footnote 7: _prim. cult_. vol. i. p. 125.] [footnote 8: callaway, _amazulu_, p. 330.] [footnote 9: callaway, _amazulu_, p. 368.] [footnote 10: _the so-called divining-rod_, s.p.r. 1897.] [footnote 11: see especially _the waterford experiments_, p. 106.] [footnote 12: authorities and examples are collected in the author's _cock lane and common sense_.] [footnote 13: _proceedings_, xii. 7, 8.] [footnote 14: _personal narrative_, by m. zoller. hanke, zurich, 1863.] [footnote 15: daumer, _reich des wundersamen_, regensburg, 1872, pp. 265, 266.] [footnote 16: a criticism of modern explanations of the phenomena here touched upon will be found in appendix b.] [footnote 17: see appendix b.] ix evolution of the idea of god to the anthropological philosopher 'a plain man' would naturally put the question: 'having got your idea of spirit or soul--your theory of animism--out of the idea of ghosts, and having got your idea of ghosts out of dreams and visions, how do you get at the idea of god?' now by 'god' the proverbial 'plain man' of controversy means a primal eternal being, author of all things, the father and friend of man, the invisible, omniscient guardian of morality. the usual though not invariable reply of the anthropologist might be given in the words of mr. im thurn, author of a most interesting work on the indians of british guiana: 'from the notion of ghosts,' says mr. im thurn, 'a belief has arisen, but very gradually, in higher spirits, and eventually in a highest spirit, and, keeping pace with the growth of these beliefs, a habit of reverence for, and worship of spirits.... the indians of guiana know no god.'[1] as another example of mr. im thurn's hypothesis that god is a late development from the idea of spirit may be cited mr. payne's learned 'history of the new world,' a work of much research:[2] 'the lowest savages not only have no gods, but do not even recognise those lower beings usually called spirits, the conception of which has invariably preceded that of gods in the human mind.' mr. payne here differs, _toto caelo_, from mr. tylor, who finds no sufficient proof for wholly non-religious savages, and from roskoff, who has disposed of the arguments of sir john lubbock. mr. payne, then, for ethnological purposes, defines a god as 'a benevolent spirit, permanently embodied in some tangible object, usually an image, and to whom food, drink,' and so on, 'are regularly offered for the purpose of securing assistance in the affairs of life.' on this theory 'the lowest savages' are devoid of the idea of god or of spirit. later they develop the idea of spirit, and when they have secured the spirit, as it were, in a tangible object, and kept it on board wages, then the spirit has attained to the dignity and the savage to the conception of a god. but while a god of this kind is, in mr. payne's opinion, relatively a late flower of culture, for the hunting races generally (with some exceptions) have no gods, yet 'the conception of a creator or maker of all things ... obviously a great spirit' is 'one of the earliest efforts of primitive logic.'[3] mr. payne's own logic is not very clear. the 'primitive logic' of the savage leads him to seek for a cause or maker of things, which he finds in a great creative spirit. yet the lowest savages have no idea even of spirit, and the hunting races, as a rule, have no god. does mr. payne mean that a great creative spirit is _not_ a god, while a spirit kept on board wages in a tangible object is a god? we are unable, by reason of evidence later to be given, to agree with mr. payne's view of the facts, while his reasoning appears somewhat inconsistent, the lowest savages having, in his opinion, no idea of spirit, though the idea of a creative spirit is, for all that, one of the earliest efforts of primitive logic. on any such theories as these the belief in a moral supreme being is a very late (or a very early?) result of evolution, due to the action of advancing thought upon the original conception of ghosts. this opinion of mr. im thurn's is, roughly stated, the usual theory of anthropologists. we wish, on the other hand, to show that the idea of god, as he is conceived of by our inquiring plain man, is shadowed forth (among contradictory fables) in the lowest-known grades of savagery, and therefore cannot arise from the later speculation of men, comparatively civilised and advanced, on the original datum of ghosts. we shall demonstrate, contrary to the opinion of mr. spencer, mr. huxley, and even mr. tylor, that the supreme being, and, in one case at least, the casual sprites of savage faith, are active moral influences. what is even more important, we shall make it undeniable that anthropology has simplified her problem by neglecting or ignoring her facts. while the real problem is to account for the evolution out of ghosts of the eternal, creative moral god of the 'plain man,' the germ of such a god or being in the creeds of the lowest savages is by anthropologists denied, or left out of sight, or accounted for by theories contradicted by facts, or, at best, is explained away as a result of european or islamite influences. now, as the problem is to account for the evolution of the highest conception of god, as far as that conception exists among the most backward races, the problem can never be solved while that highest conception of god is practically ignored. thus, anthropologists, as a rule, in place of facing and solving their problem, have merely evaded it--doubtless unwittingly. this, of course, is not the practice of mr. tylor, though even his great work is professedly much more concerned with the development of the idea of spirit and with the lower forms of animism than with the real crux--the evolution of the idea (always obscured by mythology) of a moral, uncreated, undying god among the lowest savages. this negligence of anthropologists has arisen from a single circumstance. they take it for granted that god is always (except where the word for god is applied to a living human being) regarded as spirit. thus, having accounted for the development of the idea of spirit, they regard god as that idea carried to its highest power, and as the final step in its evolution. but, if we can show that the early idea of an undying, moral, creative being does not necessarily or logically imply the doctrine of spirit (or ghost), then this idea of an eternal, moral, creative being may have existed even before the doctrine of spirit was evolved. we may admit that mr. tylor's account of the process by which gods were evolved out of ghosts is a little _touffu_--rather buried in facts. we 'can scarcely see the wood for the trees.' we want to know how gods, makers of things (or of most things), fathers in heaven, and friends, guardians of morality, seeing what is good or bad in the hearts of men, were evolved, as is supposed, out of ghosts or surviving souls of the dead. that such moral, practically omniscient gods are known to the very lowest savages--bushmen, fuegians, australians--we shall demonstrate. here the inquirer must be careful not to adopt the common opinion that gods improve, morally and otherwise, in direct ratio to the rising grades in the evolution of culture and civilisation. that is not necessarily the case; usually the reverse occurs. still less must we take it for granted, following mr. tylor and mr. huxley, that the 'alliance [of religion and morality] belongs almost, or wholly, to religions above the savage level--not to the earlier and lower creeds;' or that 'among the australian savages,' and 'in its simplest condition,' 'theology is wholly independent of ethics.'[4] these statements can be proved (by such evidence as anthropology is obliged to rely upon) to be erroneous. and, just because these statements are put forward, anthropology has an easier task in explaining the origin of religion; while, just because these statements are incorrect, her conclusion, being deduced from premises so far false, is invalidated. given souls, acquired by thinking on the lines already described, mr. tylor develops gods out of them. but he is not one of the writers who is certain about every detail. he 'scarcely attempts to clear away the haze that covers great parts of the subject.'[5] the human soul, he says, has been the model on which man 'framed his ideas of spiritual beings in general, from the tiniest elf that sports in the grass up to the heavenly creator and ruler of the world, the great spirit.' here it is taken for granted that the heavenly ruler was from the first envisaged as a '_spiritual_ being'--which is just the difficulty. was he?[6] the process of framing these ideas is rather obscure. the savage 'lives in terror of the souls of the dead as harmful spirits.' this might yield a devil; it would not yield a god who 'makes for righteousness.' happily, 'deified ancestors are regarded, on the whole, as kindly spirits.' the dead ancestor is 'now passed into a deity.'[7] examples of ancestor-worship follow. but we are no nearer home. for among the zulus many amatongo (ancestral spirits) are sacred. 'yet their father [i.e. the father of each actual family] is far before all others when they worship the amatongo.... they do not know the ancients who are dead, nor their laud-giving names, nor their names.'[8] thus, each new generation of zulus must have a new first worshipful object--its own father's itongo. this father, and his very name, are, in a generation or two, forgotten. the name of such a man, therefore, cannot survive as that of the god or supreme being from age to age; and, obviously, such a real dead man, while known at all, is much too well known to be taken for the creator and ruler of the world, despite some african flattering titles and superstitions about kings who control the weather. the zulus, about as 'godless' a people as possible, have a mythical first ancestor, unkulunkulu, but he is 'beyond the reach of rites,' and is a centre of myths rather than of worship or of moral ideas.[9] after other examples of ancestor-worship, mr. tylor branches off into a long discussion of the theory of 'possession' or inspiration,[10] which does not assist the argument at the present point. thence he passes to fetishism (already discussed by us), and the transitions from the fetish--(1) to the idol; (2) to the guardian angel ('subliminal self'); (3) to tree and river spirits, and local spirits which cause volcanoes; and (4) to polytheism. a fetish may inhabit a tree; trees being generalised, the fetish of one oak becomes the god of the forest. or, again, fetishes rise into 'species gods;' the gods of _all_ bees, owls, or rabbits are thus evolved. next,[11] 'as chiefs and kings are among men, so are the great gods among the lesser spirits.... with little exception, wherever a savage or barbaric system of religion is thoroughly described, great gods make their appearance in the spiritual world as distinctly as chiefs in the human tribe.' very good; but whence comes the great god among tribes which have neither chief nor king and probably never had, as among the fuegians, bushmen, and australians? the maker and ruler of the world known to _these_ races cannot be the shadow of king or chief, reflected and magnified on the mist of thought; for chief or king these peoples have none. this theory (hume's) will not work where people have a great god but no king or chief; nor where they have a king but no zeus or other supreme king-god, as (i conceive) among the aztecs. we now reach, in mr. tylor's theory, great fetish deities, such as heaven and earth, sun and moon, and 'departmental deities,' gods of agriculture, war, and so forth, unknown to low savages. next mr. tylor introduces an important personage. 'the theory of family manes, carried back to tribal gods, leads to the recognition of superior deities of the nature of divine ancestor, or first man,' who sometimes ranks as lord of the dead. as an instance, mr. tylor gives the maori maui, who, like the indian yama, trod first of men the path of death. but whether maui and yama are the sun, or not, both maori and sanskrit religion regard these heroes as much later than the original gods. in kamschatka the first man is the 'son' of the creator, and it is about the origin of the idea of the creator, not of the first man, that we are inquiring. adam is called 'the son of god' in a biblical genealogy, but, of course, adam was made, not begotten. the case of the zulu belief will be analysed later. on the whole, we cannot explain away the conception of the creator as a form of the conception of an idealised divine first ancestor, because the conception of a creator occurs where ancestor-worship does not occur; and again, because, supposing that the idea of a creator came first, and that ancestor-worship later grew more popular, the popular idea of ancestor might be transferred to the waning idea of creator. the creator might be recognised as the first ancestor, _après coup_. mr. tylor next approaches dualism, the idea of hostile good and bad beings. we must, as he says, be careful to discount european teaching, still, he admits, the savage has this dualistic belief in a 'primitive' form. but the savage conception is not merely that of 'good = friendly to me,' 'bad = hostile to me.' ethics, as we shall show, already come into play in his theology. mr. tylor arrives, at last, at the supreme being of savage creeds. his words, well weighed, must be cited textually-'to mark off the doctrines of monotheism, closer definition is required [than the bare idea of a supreme creator], assigning the distinctive attributes of deity to none save the almighty creator. it may be declared that, in this strict sense, no savage tribe of monotheists has been ever known.[12] nor are any fair representatives of the lower culture in a strict sense pantheists. the doctrine which they do widely hold, and which opens to them a course tending in one or other of these directions, is polytheism culminating in the rule of one supreme divinity. high above the doctrine of souls, of divine manes, of local nature gods, of the great gods of class and element, there are to be discerned in barbaric theology, shadowings, quaint or majestic, of the conception of a supreme deity, henceforth to be traced onward in expanding power and brightening glory along the history of religion. it is no unimportant task, partial as it is, to select and group the typical data which show the nature and position of the doctrine of supremacy, as it comes into view within the lower culture.[13] we shall show that certain low savages are as monotheistic as some christians. they have a supreme being, and the 'distinctive attributes of deity' are not by them assigned to other beings, further than as christianity assigns them to angels, saints, the devil, and, strange as it appears, among savages, to mediating 'sons.' it is not known that, among the andamanese and other tribes, this last notion is due to missionary influence. but, in regard to the whole chapter of savage supreme beings, we must, as mr. tylor advises, keep watching for christian and islamite contamination. the savage notions, as mr. tylor says, even when thus contaminated, may have 'to some extent, a native substratum.' we shall select such savage examples of the idea of a supreme being as are attested by ancient native hymns, or are inculcated in the most sacred and secret savage institutions, the religious mysteries (manifestly the last things to be touched by missionary influence), or are found among low insular races defended from european contact by the jealous ferocity and poisonous jungles of people and soil. we also note cases in which missionaries found such native names as 'father,' 'ancient of heaven,' 'maker of all,' ready-made to their hands. it is to be remarked that, while this branch of the inquiry is practically omitted by mr. spencer, mr. tylor can spare for it but some twenty pages out of his large work. he arranges the probable germs of the savage idea of a supreme being thus: a god of the polytheistic crowd is simply raised to the primacy, which, of course, cannot occur where there is no polytheism. or the principle of manes worship may make a supreme deity out of 'a primeval ancestor' say unkulunkulu, who is so far from being supreme, that he is abject. or, again, a great phenomenon or force in nature-worship, say sun, or heaven, is raised to supremacy. or speculative philosophy ascends from the many to the one by trying to discern through and beyond the universe a first cause. animistic conceptions thus reach their utmost limit in the notion of the anima mundi. he may accumulate all powers of all polytheistic gods, or he may 'loom vast, shadowy, and calm ... too benevolent to need human worship ... too merely existent to concern himself with the petty race of men.'[14] but he is always animistic. now, in addition to the objections already noted in passing, how can we tell that the supreme being of low savages was, in original conception, _animistic_ at all? how can we know that he was envisaged, originally, as _spirit_? we shall show that he probably was not, that the question 'spirit or not spirit' was not raised at all, that the maker and father in heaven, prior to death, was merely regarded as a deathless _being_, no question of 'spirit' being raised. if so, animism was not needed for the earliest idea of a moral eternal. this hypothesis will be found to lead to some very singular conclusions. it will be more fully stated and illustrated, presently, but i find that it had already occurred to dr. brinton.[15] he is talking specially of a heaven-god; he says 'it came to pass that the idea of god was linked to the heavens _long ere man asked himself, are the heavens material and god spiritual_?' dr. brinton, however, does not develop his idea, nor am i aware that it has been developed previously. the notion of a god about whose spirituality nobody has inquired is new to us. to ourselves, and doubtless or probably to barbarians on a certain level of culture, such a divine being _must_ be animistic, _must_ be a 'spirit.' to take only one case, to which we shall return, the banks islanders (melanesia) believe in ghosts, 'and in the existence of beings who were not, and never had been, human. all alike might be called spirits,' says dr. codrington, but, _ex hypothesi_, the beings 'who never were human' are only called 'spirits,' by us, because our habits of thought do not enable us to envisage them _except_ as 'spirits.' they never were men, 'the natives will always maintain that he (the _vui_) was _something different_, and deny to him the fleshly body of a man,' while resolute that he was not a ghost.[16] this point will be amply illustrated later, as we study that strangely neglected chapter, that essential chapter, the higher beliefs of the lowest savages. of the existence of a belief in a supreme being, not as merely 'alleged,' there is as good evidence as we possess for any fact in the ethnographic region. it is certain that savages, when first approached by curious travellers, and missionaries, have again and again recognised our god in theirs. the mythical details and fables about the savage god are, indeed, different; the ethical, benevolent, admonishing, rewarding, and creative aspects of the gods are apt to be the same.[17] 'there is no necessity for beginning to tell even the most degraded of these people of the existence of god, or of a future state, 'the facts being universally admitted.'[18] 'intelligent men among the bakwains have scouted the idea of any of them ever having been without a tolerably clear conception of good and evil, god and the future state; nothing we indicate as sin ever appeared to them as otherwise,' except polygamy, says livingstone. now we may agree with mr. tylor that modern theologians, familiar with savage creeds, will scarcely argue that 'they are direct or nearly direct products of revelation' (vol. ii. p. 356). but we may argue that, considering their nascent ethics (denied or minimised by many anthropologists) and the distance which separates the high gods of savagery from the ghosts out of which they are said to have sprung; considering too, that the relatively pure and lofty element which, _ex hypothesi_, is most recent in evolution, is also, _not_ the most honoured, but often just the reverse; remembering, above all, that we know nothing historically of the mental condition of the founders of religion, we may hesitate to accept the anthropological hypothesis _en masse_. at best it is conjectural, and the facts are such that opponents have more justification than is commonly admitted for regarding the bulk of savage religion as degenerate, or corrupted, from its own highest elements. i am by no means, as yet, arguing positively in favour of that hypothesis, but i see what its advocates mean, or ought to mean, and the strength of their position. mr. tylor, with his unique fairness, says 'the degeneration theory, no doubt in some instances with justice, may claim such beliefs as mutilated and perverted remains of higher religion' (vol. ii. p. 336). i do not pretend to know how the lowest savages evolved the theory of a god who reads the heart and 'makes for righteousness,' it is as easy, almost, for me to believe that they 'were not left without a witness,' as to believe that this god of theirs was evolved out of the maleficent ghost of a dirty mischievous medicine-man. here one may repeat that while the 'quaint or majestic foreshadowings' of a supreme being, among very low savages, are only sketched lightly by mr. tylor; in mr. herbert spencer's system they seem to be almost omitted. in his 'principles of sociology' and 'ecclesiastical institutions' one looks in vain for an adequate notice; in vain for almost any notice, of this part of his topic. the watcher of conduct, the friendly, creative being of low savage faith, whence was he evolved? the circumstance of his existence, as far as i can see; the chastity, the unselfishness, the pitifulness, the loyalty to plighted word, the prohibition of even extra-tribal homicide, enjoined in various places on his worshippers, are problems that appear somehow to have escaped mr. spencer's notice. we are puzzled by endless difficulties in his system: for example as to how savages can forget their great-grandfathers' very names, and yet remember 'traditional persons from generation to generation,' so that 'in time any amount of expansion and idealisation can be reached,'[19] again, mr. spencer will argue that it is a strange thing if 'primitive men had, as some think, the consciousness of a universal power whence they and all other things proceeded,' and yet 'spontaneously performed to that power an act like that performed by them to the dead body of a fellow savage'--by offerings of food.[20] now, first, there would be nothing strange in the matter if the crude idea of 'universal power' came _earliest_, and was superseded, in part, by a later propitiation of the dead and ghosts. the new religious idea would soon refract back on, and influence by its ritual, the older conception. and, secondly, it is precisely this 'universal power' that is _not_ propitiated by offerings of food, in tonga, (despite mr. huxley) australia, and africa, for example. we cannot escape the difficulty by saying that there the old ghost of universal power is regarded as dead, decrepit, or as a _roi-fainéant_ not worth propitiating, for that is not true of the punisher of sin, the teacher of generosity, and the solitary sanction of faith between men and peoples. it would appear then, on the whole, that the question of the plain man to the anthropologist, 'having got your idea of spirit into the savage's mind, how does he develop out of it what i call god?' has not been answered. god cannot be a reflection from human kings where there have been no kings; nor a president elected out of a polytheistic society of gods where there is as yet no polytheism; nor an ideal first ancestor where men do not worship their ancestors; while, again, the spirit of a man who died, real or ideal, does not answer to a common savage conception of the creator. all this will become much more obvious as we study in detail the highest gods of the lowest races. our study, of course, does not pretend to embrace the religion of all the savages in the world. we are content with typical, and, as a rule, well-observed examples. we range from the creeds of the most backward and worst-equipped nomad races, to those of peoples with an aristocracy, hereditary kings, houses and agriculture, ending with the supreme being of the highly civilised incas, and with the jehovah of the hebrews. [footnote 1: _journal anthrop. inst._ xi. 874. we shall return to this passage.] [footnote 2: vol. i. p. 389, 1892.] [footnote 3: payne, i. 458.] [footnote 4: _prim. cult._ vol. ii. p. 381; _science and hebrew tradition_, pp. 346, 372.] [footnote 5: _prim. cult_. vol. ii. p. 109.] [footnote 6: ibid. vol. ii. p. 110.] [footnote 7: ibid. vol. ii. p. 113.] [footnote 8: _prim. cult_. vol. ii. pp. 115, 116, citing callaway and others.] [footnote 9: the zulu religion will be analysed later.] [footnote 10: _prim. cult_. vol. ii. pp. 130-144.] [footnote 11: ibid. vol. ii. p. 248.] [footnote 12: and very few civilised populations, if any, are monotheistic in this sense.] [footnote 13: _prim. cult_. vol. ii. pp. 332, 333.] [footnote 14: _prim. cult_. vol. ii. pp. 335, 336.] [footnote 15: _myths of the new world_, 1868, p. 47.] [footnote 16: i observed this point in _myth, ritual, and religion_, while i did not see the implication, that the idea of 'spirit' was not necessarily present in the savage conception of the primal beings, creators, or makers.] [footnote 17: see one or two cases in _prim. cult_. vol. ii. p. 340.] [footnote 18: livingstone, speaking of the bakwain, _missionary travels_, p. 168.] [footnote 19: _principles of sociology_, vol. i. p. 450.] [footnote 20: op. cit. vol. i. p. 302.] x high gods of low races to avoid misconception we must repeat the necessary cautions about accepting evidence as to high gods of low races. the missionary who does not see in every alien god a devil is apt to welcome traces of an original supernatural revelation, darkened by all peoples but the jews. we shall not, however, rely much on missionary evidence, and, when we do, we must now be equally on our guard against the anthropological bias in the missionary himself. having read mr. spencer and mr. tylor, and finding himself among ancestor-worshippers (as he sometimes does), he is apt to think that ancestor-worship explains any traces of a belief in the supreme being. against each and every bias of observers we must be watchful. it may be needful, too, to point out once again another weak point in all reasoning about savage religion, namely that we cannot always tell what may have been borrowed from europeans. thus, the fuegians, in 1830-1840, were far out of the way, but one tribe, near magellan's straits, worshipped an image called cristo. fitzroy attributes this obvious trace of catholicism to a captain pelippa, who visited the district some time before his own expedition. it is less probable that spaniards established a belief in a moral deity in regions where they left no material traces of their faith. the fuegians are not easily proselytised. 'when discovered by strangers, the instant impulse of a fuegian family is to run off into the woods.' occasionally they will emerge to barter, but 'sometimes nothing will induce a single individual of the family to appear.' fitzroy thought they had no idea of a future state, because, among other reasons not given, 'the evil spirit torments them in _this_ world, if they do wrong, by storms, hail, snow, &c.' why the evil spirit should punish evil deeds is not evident. 'a great black man is supposed to be always wandering about the woods and mountains, who is certain of knowing every word and every action, who cannot be escaped and who influences the weather according to men's conduct.'[1] there are no traces of propitiation by food, or sacrifice, or anything but conduct. to regard the deity as 'a magnified non-natural man' is not peculiar to fuegian theologians, and does not imply animism, but the reverse. but the point is that this ethical judge of perhaps the lowest savages 'makes for righteousness' and searches the heart. his morality is so much above the ordinary savage standard that he regards the slaying of a stranger and an enemy, caught redhanded in robbery, as a sin. york's brother (york was a fuegian brought to england by fitzroy) killed a 'wild man' who was stealing his birds. 'rain come down, snow come down, hail come down, wind blow, blow, very much blow. very bad to kill man. big man in woods no like it, he very angry.' here be ethics in savage religion. the sixth commandment is in force. the being also prohibits the slaying of flappers before they can fly. 'very bad to shoot little duck, come wind, come rain, blow, very much blow.'[2] now this big man is not a deified chief, for the fuegians 'have no superiority of one over another ... but the doctor-wizard of each party has much influence.' mr. spencer disposes of this moral 'big man' of the fuegians as 'evidently a deceased weather-doctor.'[3] but, first, there is no evidence that the being is regarded as ever having died. again, it is not shown that fuegians are ancestor-worshippers. next, fitzroy did not think that the fuegians believed in a future life. lastly, when were medicine-men such notable moralists? the worst spirits among the neighbouring patagonians are those of dead medicine-men. as a rule everywhere the ghost of a 'doctor-wizard,' shaman, or whatever he may be called, is the worst and wickedest of all ghosts. how, then, the fuegians, who are not proved to be ancestor-worshippers, evolved out of the malignant ghost of an ancestor a being whose strong point is morality, one does not easily conceive. the adjacent chonos 'have great faith in a good spirit, whom they call yerri yuppon, and consider to be the author of all good; him they invoke in distress or danger.' however starved they do not touch food till a short prayer has been muttered over each portion, 'the praying man looking upward.'[4] they have magicians, but no details are given as to spirits or ghosts. if fuegian and chono religion is on this level, and if this be the earliest, then the theology of many other higher savages (as of the zulus) is decidedly degenerate. 'the bantu gives one accustomed to the negro the impression that he once had the same set of ideas, _but has forgotten half of them_,' says miss kingsley.[5] of all races now extant, the australians are probably lowest in culture, and, like the fauna of the continent, are nearest to the primitive model. they have neither metals, bows, pottery, agriculture, nor fixed habitations; and no traces of higher culture have anywhere been found above or in the soil of the continent. this is important, for in some respects their religious conceptions are so lofty that it would be natural to explain them as the result either of european influence, or as relics of a higher civilisation in the past. the former notion is discredited by the fact that their best religious ideas are imparted in connection with their ancient and secret mysteries, while for the second idea, that they are degenerate from a loftier civilisation, there is absolutely no evidence. it has been suggested, indeed, by mr. spencer that the singularly complex marriage customs of the australian blacks point to a more polite condition in their past history. of this stage, as we said, no material traces have ever been discovered, nor can degeneration be recent. our earliest account of the australians is that of dampier, who visited new holland in the unhappy year 1688. he found the natives 'the miserablest people in the world. the hodmadods, of mononamatapa, though a nasty people, yet for wealth are gentlemen to these: who have no houses, sheep, poultry, and fruits of the earth.... they have no houses, but lie in the open air.' curiously enough, dampier attests their _unselfishness_: the main ethical feature in their religious teaching. 'be it little or be it much they get, every one has his part, as well the young and tender as the old and feeble, who are not able to go abroad, as the strong and lusty.' dampier saw no metals used, nor any bows, merely boomerangs ('wooden cutlasses'), and lances with points hardened in the fire. 'their place of dwelling was only a fire with a few boughs before it' (the _gunyeh_). this description remains accurate for most of the unsophisticated australian tribes, but dampier appears only to have seen ichthyophagous coast blacks. there is one more important point. in the _bora_, or australian mysteries, at which knowledge of 'the maker' and of his commandments is imparted, the front teeth of the initiated are still knocked out. now, dampier observed 'the two fore-teeth of their upper jaw are wanting in all of them, men and women, old and young.' if this is to be taken quite literally, the bora rite, in 1688, must have included the women, at least locally. dampier was on the north-west coast in latitude 16 degrees, longitude 122-1/4 degrees east (dampier land, west australia). the natives had neither boats, canoes, nor bark logs; but it seems that they had their religious mysteries and their unselfishness, two hundred years ago.[6] the australians have been very carefully studied by many observers, and the results entirely overthrow mr. huxley's bold statement that 'in its simplest condition, such as may be met with among the australian savages, theology is a mere belief in the existence, powers, and dispositions (usually malignant) of ghost-like entities who may be propitiated or scared away; but no cult can properly be said to exist. and in this stage theology is wholly independent of ethics.' remarks more crudely in defiance of known facts could not be made. the australians, assuredly, believe in 'spirits,' often malicious, and probably in most cases regarded as ghosts of men. these aid the wizard, and occasionally inspire him. that these ghosts are _worshipped_ does not appear, and is denied by waitz. again, in the matter of cult, 'there is none' in the way of _sacrifice_ to higher gods, as there should be if these gods were hungry ghosts. the cult among the australians is the keeping of certain 'laws,' expressed in moral teaching, supposed to be in conformity with the institutes of their god. worship takes the form, as at eleusis, of tribal mysteries, originally instituted, as at eleusis, by the god. the young men are initiated with many ceremonies, some of which are cruel and farcical, but the initiation includes ethical instruction, in conformity with the supposed commands of a god who watches over conduct. as among ourselves, the ethical ideal, with its theological sanction, is probably rather above the moral standard of ordinary practice. what conclusion we should draw from these facts is uncertain, but the facts, at least, cannot be disputed, and precisely contradict the statement of mr. huxley. he was wholly in the wrong when he said: 'the moral code, such as is implied by public opinion, derives no sanction from theological dogmas,'[7] it reposes, for its origin and sanction, on such dogmas. the evidence as to australian religion is abundant, and is being added to yearly. i shall here content myself with mr. howitt's accounts.[8] as regards the possible evolution of the australian god from ancestor-worship, it must be noted that mr. howitt credits the groups with possessing 'headmen,' a kind of chiefs, whereas some inquirers, in brough smyth's collection, disbelieve in regular chiefs. mr. howitt writes:-'the supreme spirit, who is believed in by all the tribes i refer to here [in south-eastern australia], either as a benevolent, or more frequently as a malevolent being, it seems to me represents the defunct headman.' now, the traces of 'headmanship' among the tribes are extremely faint; no such headman rules large areas of country, none is known to be worshipped after death, and the malevolence of the supreme spirit is not illustrated by the details of mr. howitt's own statement, but the reverse. indeed, he goes on at once to remark that '_darumulun_ was not, it seems to me, everywhere thought a malevolent being, but he was dreaded as one who could severely punish the trespasses committed against these tribal ordinances and customs whose first institution is ascribed to him.' to punish transgressions of his law is not the essence of a malevolent being. darumulun 'watched the youths from the sky, prompt to punish, by disease or death, the breach of his ordinances,' moral or ritual. his name is too sacred to be spoken except in whispers, and the anthropologist will observe that the names of the human dead are also often tabooed. but the divine name is not thus tabooed and sacred when the mere folklore about him is narrated. the informants of mr. howitt instinctively distinguished between the mythology and the religion of darumulun.[9] this distinction-the secrecy about the religion, the candour about the mythology--is essential, and accounts for our ignorance about the inner religious beliefs of early races. mr. howitt himself knew little till he was initiated. the grandfather of mr. howitt's friend, _before the white men came to melbourne_, took him out at night, and, pointing to a star, said: 'you will soon be a man; you see _bunjil_ [supreme being of certain tribes] up there, and he can see you, and all you do down here.' mr. palmer, speaking of the mysteries of northern australians (mysteries under divine sanction), mentions the nature of the moral instruction. each lad is given, 'by one of the elders, advice so kindly, fatherly, and impressive, as often to soften the heart, and draw tears from the youth.' he is to avoid adultery, not to take advantage of a woman if he finds her alone, he is not to be quarrelsome.[10] at the mysteries darumulun's real name may be uttered, at other times he is 'master' (_biamban_) or 'father' (_papang_), exactly as we say 'lord' and 'father.' it is known that all these things are not due to missionaries, whose instructions would certainly not be conveyed in the _bora_, or tribal mysteries, which, again, are partly described by collins as early as 1798, and must have been practised in 1688. mr. howitt mentions, among moral lessons divinely sanctioned, respect for old age, abstinence from lawless love, and avoidance of the sins so popular, poetic, and sanctioned by the example of gods, in classical greece.[11] a representation is made of the master, biamban; and to make such idols, except at the mysteries, is forbidden 'under pain of death.' those which are made are destroyed as soon as the rites are ended.[12] the future life (apparently) is then illustrated by the burial of a living elder, who rises from a grave. this may, however, symbolise the 'new life' of the mystae, 'worse have i fled; better have i found,' as was sung in an athenian rite. the whole result is, by what mr. howitt calls 'a quasi-religious element,' to 'impress upon the mind of the youth, in an indelible manner, those rules of conduct which form the moral law of the tribe.'[13] many other authorities could be adduced for the religious sanction of morals in australia. a watchful being observes and rewards the conduct or men; he is named with reverence, if named at all; his abode is the heavens; he is the master and lord of things; his lessons 'soften the heart,'[14] 'what wants this knave that a _god_ should have?' i shall now demonstrate that the religion patronised by the australian supreme being, and inculcated in his mysteries, is actually used to counteract the immoral character which natives acquire by associating with anglo-saxon christians.[15] mr. howitt[16] gives an account of the jeraeil, or mysteries of the kurnai. the old men deemed that through intercourse with whites 'the lads had become selfish and no longer inclined to share that which they obtained by their own exertions, or had given them, with their friends.' one need not say that selflessness is the very essence of goodness, and the central moral doctrine of christianity. so it is in the religious mysteries of the african yao; a selfish man, we shall see, is spoken of as 'uninitiated.' so it is with the australian kurnai, whose mysteries and ethical teaching are under the sanction of their supreme being. so much for the anthropological dogma that early theology has no ethics. the kurnai began by kneading the stomachs of the lads about to be initiated (that is, if they have been associating with christians), to expel selfishness and greed. the chief rite, later, is to blindfold every lad, with a blanket closely drawn over his head, to make whirring sounds with the _tundun_, or greek _rhombos_, then to pluck off the blankets, and bid the initiate raise their faces to the sky. the initiator points to it, calling out, 'look there, look there, look there!' they have seen in this solemn way the home of the supreme being, 'our father,' mungan-ngaur (mungan = 'father,' ngaur = 'our'), whose doctrine is then unfolded by the old initiator ('headman') 'in an impressive manner.'[17] 'long ago there was a great being, mungan-ngaur, who lived on the earth.' his son tundun is _direct ancestor_ of the kurnai. mungan initiated the rites, and destroyed earth by water when they were impiously revealed. 'mungan left the earth, and ascended to the sky, where he still remains.' here mungan-ngaur, a being not defined as spirit, but immortal, and dwelling in heaven, is father, or rather grandfather, not maker, of the kurnai. this _may_ be interpreted as ancestor-worship, but the opposite myth, of making or creating, is of frequent occurrence in many widely-severed australian districts, and co-exists with evolutionary myths. mungan-ngaur's precepts are: 1. _to listen to and obey the old men_. 2. _to share everything they have with their friends_. 3. _to live peaceably with their friends_. 4. _not to interfere with girls or married women_. 5. _to obey the food restrictions until they are released from them by the old men_. mr. howitt concludes: 'i venture to assert that it can no longer be maintained that the australians have no belief which can be called religious, that is, in the sense of beliefs which govern tribal and individual morality under a supernatural sanction.' on this topic mr. hewitt's opinion became more affirmative the more deeply he was initiated.[18] the australians are the lowest, most primitive savages, yet no propitiation by food is made to their moral ruler, in heaven, as if he were a ghost. the laws of these australian divine beings apply to ritual as well as to ethics, as might naturally be expected. but the moral element is conspicuous, the reverence is conspicuous: we have here no mere ghost, propitiated by food or sacrifice, or by purely magical rites. his very image (modelled on a large scale in earth) is no vulgar idol: to make such a thing, except on the rare sacred occasions, is a capital offence. meanwhile the mythology of the god has often, in or out of the rites, nothing rational about it. on the whole it is evident that mr. herbert spencer, for example, underrates the nature of australian religion. he cites a case of addressing the ghost of a man recently dead, which is asked not to bring sickness, 'or make loud noises in the night,' and says: 'here we may recognise the essential elements of a cult.' but mr. spencer does not allude to the much more essentially religious elements which he might have found in the very authority whom he cites, mr. brough smyth.[19] this appears, as far as my scrutiny goes, to be mr. spencer's solitary reference to australia in the work on 'ecclesiastical institutions.' yet the facts which he and mr. huxley ignore throw a light very different from theirs on what they consider 'the simplest condition of theology.' among the causes of confusion in thought upon religion, mr. tylor mentions 'the partial and one-sided application of the historical method of inquiry into theological doctrines.'[20] here, perhaps, we have examples. in its highest aspect that 'simplest theology' of australia is free from the faults of popular theology in greece. the god discourages sin, though, in myth, he is far from impeccable. he is almost too revered to be named (except in mythology) and is not to be represented by idols. he is not moved by sacrifice; he has not the chance; like death in greece, 'he only, of all gods, loves not gifts.' thus the status of theology does not correspond to what we look for in very low culture. it would scarcely be a paradox to say that the popular zeus, or ares, is degenerate from mungan-ngaur, or the fuegian being who forbids the slaying of an enemy, and almost literally 'marks the sparrow's fall.' if we knew all the mythology of darumulun, we should probably find it (like much of the myth of pundjel or bunjil) on a very different level from the theology. there are two currents, the religious and the mythical, flowing together through religion. the former current, religious, even among very low savages, is pure from the magical ghost-propitiating habit. the latter current, mythological, is full of magic, mummery, and scandalous legend. sometimes the latter stream quite pollutes the former, sometimes they flow side by side, perfectly distinguishable, as in aztec ethical piety, compared with the bloody aztec ritualism. anthropology has mainly kept her eyes fixed on the impure stream, the lusts, mummeries, conjurings, and frauds of priesthoods, while relatively, or altogether, neglecting (as we have shown) what is honest and of good report. the worse side of religion is the less sacred, and therefore the more conspicuous. both elements are found co-existing, in almost all races, and nobody, in our total lack of historical information about the beginnings, can say which, if either, element is the earlier, or which, if either, is derived from the other. to suppose that propitiation of corpses and then of ghosts came first is agreeable, and seems logical, to some writers who are not without a bias against all religion as an unscientific superstition. but we know so little! the first missionaries in greenland supposed that there was not, there, a trace of belief in a divine being. 'but when they came to understand their language better, they found quite the reverse to be true ... and not only so, but they could plainly gather from a free dialogue they had with some perfectly wild greenlanders (at that time avoiding any direct application to their hearts) that their ancestors must have believed in a supreme being, and did render him some service, which their posterity neglected little by little...'[21] mr. tylor does not refer to this as a trace of christian scandinavian influence on the eskimo.[22] that line, of course, may be taken. but an eskimo said to a missionary, 'thou must not imagine that no greenlander thinks about these things' (theology). he then stated the argument from design. 'certainly there must be some being who made all these things. he must be very good too... ah, did i but know him, how i would love and honour him.' as st. paul writes: 'that which may be known of god is manifest in them, for god hath showed it unto them ... being understood by the things which are made ... but they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.'[23] in fact, mythology submerged religion. st. paul's theory of the origin of religion is not that of an 'innate idea,' nor of a direct revelation. people, he says, reached the belief in a god from the argument for design. science conceives herself to have annihilated teleological ideas. but they are among the probable origins of religion, and would lead to the belief in a creator, whom the greenlander thought beneficent, and after whom he yearned. this is a very different initial step in religious development, if initial it was, from the feeding of a corpse, or a ghost. from all this evidence it does not appear how non-polytheistic, non-monarchical, non-manes-worshipping savages evolved the idea of a relatively supreme, moral, and benevolent creator, unborn, undying, watching men's lives. 'he can go everywhere, and do everything.'[24] [footnote 1: fitzroy, ii. 180. darwin. _descent of man_, p. 67.] [footnote 2: ibid. we seem to have little information about fuegian religion either before or after the cruise of the _beagle_.] [footnote 3: _principles of sociology_, i. 422.] [footnote 4: fitzroy, ii. 190, 191] [footnote 5: _travels in west africa_, p. 442.] [footnote 6: _early voyages to australia_, 102-111 (hakluyt society).] [footnote 7: _science and hebrew tradition_, p. 846.] [footnote 8: _journal of the anthrop. institute_, 1884. see, for less dignified accounts, op. cit. xxiv. xxv.] [footnote 9: _journal_, xiii. 193.] [footnote 10: _journal_, xiii. 296.] [footnote 11: op. cit. p. 450.] [footnote 12: p. 453.] [footnote 13: p. 457.] [footnote 14: see brough smyth, _aborigines_, i. 426; taplin, _native races of australia_. according to taplin, nurrumdere was a deified black fellow, who died on earth. this is not the case of baiame, but is said, rather vaguely, to be true of daramulun. _j.a.i._, xiii. 194, xxv. 297.] [footnote 15: from a brief account of the fire ceremony, or _engwurra_ of certain tribes in central australia, it seems that religious ceremonies connected with totems are the most notable performances. also 'certain mythical ancestors,' of the '_alcheringa_, or dream-times,' were celebrated; these real or ideal human beings appear to 'sink their identity in that of the object with which they are associated, and from which they are supposed to have originated.' there appear also to be places haunted by 'spirit individuals,' in some way mixed up with totems, but nothing is said of sacrifice to these manes. the brief account is by professor baldwin spencer and mr. f.j. gillen, _proc. royal soc. victoria_, july 1897. this fire ceremony is not for lads--not a kind of confirmation in the savage church--but is intended for adults.] [footnote 16: _j. anthrop. inst_. 1886, p. 310.] [footnote 17: _j. anthrop. inst_. 1885, p. 313.] [footnote 18: _j. anthrop. inst_. xiii. p. 459.] [footnote 19: _ecclesiastical institutions_, p. 674.] [footnote 20: _prim. cult_. ii. 450.] [footnote 21: cranz, pp. 198, 199.] [footnote 22: _journal anthrop. inst_. xiii. 348-356.] [footnote 23: rom. i. 19. cranz, i. 199.] [footnote 24: in mr. carr's work, _the australian race_, reports of 'godless' natives are given, for instance, in the mary river country and in gippsland. these reports are usually the result of the ignorance or contempt of white observers, cf. tylor, i. 419. the reader is referred to the introduction for additional information about australian beliefs, and for replies to objections.] xi supreme gods not necessarily developed out of 'spirits' before going on to examine the high gods of other low savages, i must here again insist on and develop the theory, not easily conceived by us, that the supreme being of savages belongs to another branch of faith than ghosts, or ghost-gods, or fetishes, or totems, and need not be--probably is not--essentially derived from these. we must try to get rid of our theory that a powerful, moral, eternal being was, from the first, _ex officio_, conceived as 'spirit;' and so was necessarily derived from a ghost. first, what was the process of development? we have examined mr. tylor's theory. but, to take a practical case: here are the australians, roaming in small bands, without more formal rulers than 'headmen' at most; not ancestor worshippers; not polytheists; with no departmental deities to select and aggrandise; not apt to speculate on the _anima mundi_. how, then, did they bridge the gulf between the ghost of a soon-forgotten fighting man, and that conception of a father above, 'all-seeing,' moral, which, under various names, is found all over a huge continent? i cannot see that this problem has been solved or frankly faced. the distinction between the australian deity, at his highest power, unpropitiated by sacrifice, and the ordinary, waning, easily forgotten, cheaply propitiated ghost of a tribesman, is essential. it is not easy to show how, in 'the dark backward' of australian life, the notion of mungan-ngaur grew from the idea of the ghost of a warrior. but there is no logical necessity for the belief in the evolution of this god out of that ghost. these two factors in religion--ghost and god--seem to have perfectly different sources, and it appears extraordinary that anthropologists have not (as far as i am aware) observed this circumstance before. mr. spencer, indeed, speaks frequently of living human beings adored as gods. i do not know that these are found on the lowest levels of savagery, and mr. jevons has pointed out that, before you can hail a man as a god, you must have the idea of god. the murder of captain cook notoriously resulted from a scientific experiment in theology. 'if he is a god, he cannot be killed.' so they tried with a dagger, and found that the honest captain was but a mortal british mariner--no god at all. 'there are degrees.' mr. spencer's men-gods become real gods--after death.[1] now the supreme being of savage faith, as a rule, never died at all. he belonged to a world that knew not death. one cause of our blindness to the point appears to be this: we have from childhood been taught that 'god is a spirit.' we, now, can only conceive of an eternal being as a 'spirit.' we know that legions of savage gods are now regarded as spirits. and therefore we have never remarked that there is no reason why we should take it for granted that the earliest deities of the earliest men were supposed by them to be 'spirits' at all. these gods might most judiciously be spoken of, not as 'spirits,' but as 'undefined eternal beings.' to us, such a being is necessarily a spirit, but he was by no means necessarily so to an early thinker, who may not yet have reached the conception of a ghost. a ghost is said, by anthropologists, to have developed into a god. now, the very idea of a ghost (apart from a wraith or fetch) implies the previous _death_ of his proprietor. a ghost is the phantasm of a _dead_ man. but anthropologists continually tell us, with truth, that the idea of death as a universal ordinance is unknown to the savage. diseases and death are things that once did not exist, and that, normally, ought not to occur, the savage thinks. they are, in his opinion, supernormally caused by magicians and spirits. death came into the world by a blunder, an accident, an error in ritual, a decision of a god who was before death was. scores of myths are told everywhere on this subject.[2] the savage supreme being, with added power, omniscience, and morality, is the idealisation of the savage, as conceived of by himself, _minus_ fleshly body (as a rule), and _minus_ death. he is not necessarily a 'spirit,' though that term may now be applied to him. he was not originally differentiated as 'spirit' or 'not spirit.' he is a being, conceived of without the question of 'spirit,' or 'no spirit' being raised; perhaps he was originally conceived of before that question could be raised by men. when we call the supreme being of savages a 'spirit' we introduce our own animistic ideas into a conception where it may not have originally existed. if the god is 'the savage himself raised to the n^th power' so much the less of a spirit is he. mr. matthew arnold might as well have said: 'the british philistine has no knowledge of god. he believes that the creator is a magnified non-natural man, living in the sky.' the gippsland or fuegian or blackfoot supreme being is just a _being_, anthropomorphic, not a _mrart_, or 'spirit.' the supreme being is a _wesen_, being, _vui_; we have hardly a term for an immortal existence so undefined. if the being is an idealised first ancestor (as among the kurnai), he is not, on that account, either man or ghost of man. in the original conception he is a powerful intelligence who was from the first: who was already active long before, by a breach of his laws, an error in the delivery of a message, a breach of ritual, or what not, death entered the world. he was not affected by the entry of death, he still exists. modern minds need to become familiar with this indeterminate idea of the savage supreme being, which, logically, may be prior to the evolution of the notion of ghost or spirit. but how does it apply when, as by the kurnai, the supreme being is reckoned an ancestor? it can very readily be shown that, when the supreme being of a savage people is thus the idealised first ancestor, he can never have been envisaged by his worshippers as at any time a _ghost_; or, at least, cannot logically have been so envisaged where the nearly universal belief occurs that death came into the world by accident, or needlessly. adam is the mythical first ancestor of the hebrews, but he died, [greek: uper moron], and was not worshipped. yama, the first of aryan men who died, was worshipped by vedic aryans, but _confessedly_ as a ghost-god. mr. tylor gives a list of first ancestors deified. the ancestor of the maudans did not die, consequently is no ghost; _emigravit_, he 'moved west.' where the first ancestor is also the creator (dog-rib indians), he can hardly be, and is not, regarded as a mortal. tamoi, of the guaranis, was 'the ancient of heaven,' clearly no mortal man. the maori maui was the first who died, but he is not one of the original maori gods. haetsh, among the kamchadals, precisely answers to yama. unkulunkulu will be described later.[3] this is the list: where the first ancestor is equivalent to the creator, and is supreme, he is--from the first--deathless and immortal. when he dies he is a confessed ghost-god. now, ghost-worship and dead ancestor-worship are impossible before the ancestor is dead and is a ghost. but the essential idea of mungan-ngaur, and baiame, and most of the high gods of australia, and of other low races, is that _they never died at all_. they belong to the period before death came into the world, like qat among the melanesians. they arise in an age that knew not death, and had not reflected on phantasms nor evolved ghosts. they could have been conceived of, in the nature of the case, by a race of immortals who never dreamed of such a thing as a ghost. for these gods, the ghost-theory is not required, and is superfluous, even contradictory. the early thinkers who developed these beings did not need to know that men die (though, of course, they did know it in practice), still less did they need to have conceived by abstract speculation the hypothesis of ghosts. baiame, cagn, bunjil, in their adorers' belief, were _there_; death later intruded among men, but did not affect these divine beings in any way. the ghost-theory, therefore, by the evidence of anthropology itself, is not needed for the evolution of the high gods of savages. it is only needed for the evolution of ghost-propitiation and genuine dead-ancestor worship. therefore, the high gods described were not necessarily once ghosts--were not idealised _mortal_ ancestors. they were, naturally, from the beginning, from before the coming in of death, immortal fathers, now dwelling on high. between them and apotheosised mortal ancestors there is a great gulf fixed--the river of death. the explicitly stated distinction that the high creative gods never were mortal men, while other gods are spirits of mortal men, is made in every quarter. 'ancestors _known_ to be human were _not_ worshipped as [original] gods, and ancestors worshipped as [original] gods were not believed to have been human.'[4] both kinds may have a generic name, such as _kalou_, or _wakan_, but the specific distinction is universally made by low savages. on one hand, original gods; on the other, non-original gods that were once ghosts. now, this distinction is often calmly ignored; whereas, when any race has developed (like late scandinavians) the euhemeristic hypothesis ('all gods were once men'), that hypothesis is accepted as an historical statement of fact by some writers. it is part of my theory that the more popular ghost-worship of souls of people whom men have loved, invaded the possibly older religion of the supreme father. mighty beings, whether originally conceived of as 'spirits' or not, came, later, under the animistic theory, to be reckoned as spirits. they even (but not among the lowest savages) came to be propitiated by food and sacrifice. the alternative, for a supreme being, when once animism prevailed, was sacrifice (as to more popular ghost deities) or neglect. we shall find examples of both alternatives. but sacrifice does not prove that a god was, in original conception, a ghost, or even a spirit. 'the common doctrine of the old testament is not that god is spirit, but that the spirit [_rúah_ = 'wind,' 'living breath'] of jehovah, going forth from him, works in the world and among men.'[5] to resume. the high gods of savagery--moral, all-seeing directors of things and of men--are not explicitly envisaged as spirits at all by their adorers. the notion of soul or spirit is here out of place. we can best describe pirnmeheal, and nápi and baiame as 'magnified non-natural men,' or undefined beings who were from the beginning and are undying. they are, like the easy epicurean gods, _nihil indiga nostri_. not being ghosts, they crave no food from men, and receive no sacrifice, as do ghosts, or gods developed out of ghosts, or gods to whom the ghost-ritual has been transferred. for this very reason, apparently, they seem to be spoken of by mr. grant allen as 'gods to talk about, not gods to adore; mythological conceptions rather than religious beings.'[6] all this is rather hard on the lowest savages. if they sacrifice to a god, then the god is a hungry ghost; if they don't, then the god is 'a god to talk about, not to adore,' luckily, the facts of the bora ritual and the instruction given there prove that mungan-nganr and other names _are_ gods to adore, by ethical conformity to their will and by solemn ceremony, not merely gods to talk about. thus, the highest element in the religion of the lowest savages does not appear to be derived from their theory of ghosts. as far as we can say, in the inevitable absence of historical evidence, the highest gods of savages may have been believed in, as makers and fathers and lords of an indeterminate nature, before the savage had developed the idea of souls out of dreams and phantasms. it is logically conceivable that savages may have worshipped deities like baiame and darumulun before they had evolved the notion that tom, dick, or harry has a separable soul, capable of surviving his bodily decease. deities of the higher sort, by the very nature of savage reflections on death and on its non-original casual character, are prior, or may be prior, or cannot be shown not to be prior, to the ghost theory--the alleged origin of religion. for their evolution the ghost theory is not logically demanded; they can do without it. yet _they_, and not the spirits, bogles, mrarts, _brewin_, and so forth, are the high gods, the gods who have most analogy--as makers, moral guides, rewarders, and punishers of conduct (though that duty is also occasionally assumed by ancestral spirits)--with our civilised conception of the divine. our conception of god descends not from ghosts, but from the supreme beings of non-ancestor-worshipping peoples. as it seems impossible to point out any method by which low, chiefless, non-polytheistic, non-metaphysical savages (if any such there be) evolved out of ghosts the eternal beings who made the world, and watch over morality: as the people themselves unanimously distinguish such beings from ghost-gods, i take it that such beings never were ghosts. in this case the animistic theory seems to me to break down completely. yet these high gods of low savages preserve from dimmest ages of the meanest culture the sketch of a god which our highest religious thought can but fill up to its ideal. come from what germ he may, jehovah or allah does not come from a ghost. it may be retorted that this makes no real difference. if savages did not invent gods in consequence of a fallacious belief in spirit and soul, still, in some other equally illogical way they came to indulge the hypothesis that they had a judge and father in heaven. but, if the ghost theory of the high gods is wrong, as it is conspicuously superfluous, that _does_ make some difference. it proves that a widely preached scientific conclusion may be as spectral as bathybius. on other more important points, therefore, we may differ from the newest scientific opinion without too much diffident apprehensiveness. [footnote 1: _principles of sociology_, i. 417, 421. 'the medicine men are treated as gods.... the medicine man becomes a god after death.'] [footnote 2: i have published a chapter on myths on the origin of death in _modern mythology_.] [footnote 3: _prim. cult_. ii. 311-316.] [footnote 4: jevons, _introduction_, p. 197.] [footnote 5: robertson smith. _the prophets of israel_, p. 61.] [footnote 6: _evolution of the idea of god_, p. 170.] xii savage supreme beings it is among 'the lowest savages' that the supreme beings are most regarded as eternal, moral (as the morality of the tribe goes, or above its habitual practice), and _powerful_. i have elsewhere described the bushman god cagn, as he was portrayed to mr. orpen by qing, who 'had never before seen a white man except fighting.' mr. orpen got the facts from qing by inducing him to explain the natives' pictures on the walls of caves. 'cagn made all things, and we pray to him,' thus: 'o cagn, o cagn, are we not thy children? do you not see us hunger? give us food.' as to ethics, 'at first cagn was very good, but he got spoilt through fighting so many things.' 'how came he into the world?' 'perhaps with those who brought the sun: only the initiated know these things.' it appears that qing was not yet initiated in the dance (answering to a high rite of the australian _bora_) in which the most esoteric myths were unfolded.[1] in mr. spencer's 'descriptive sociology' the religion of the bushmen is thus disposed of. 'pray to an insect of the caterpillar kind for success in the chase.' that is rather meagre. they make arrow-poison out of caterpillars,[2] though dr. bleek, perhaps correctly, identifies cagn with i-kaggen, the insect. the case of the andaman islanders may be especially recommended to believers in the anthropological science of religion. for long these natives were the joy of emancipated inquirers as the 'godless andamanese.' they only supply mr. spencer's 'ecclesiastical institutions' with a few instances of the ghost-belief.[3] yet when the andamanese are scientifically studied _in situ_ by an educated englishman, mr. man, who knows their language, has lived with them for eleven years, and presided over our benevolent efforts 'to reclaim them from their savage state,' the andamanese turn out to be quite embarrassingly rich in the higher elements of faith. they have not only a profoundly philosophical _religion_, but an excessively absurd _mythology_, like the australian blacks, the greeks, and other peoples. if, on the whole, the student of the andamanese despairs of the possibility of an ethnological theory of religion, he is hardly to be blamed. the people are probably negritos, and probably 'the original inhabitants, whose occupation dates from prehistoric times.'[4] they use the bow, they make pots, and are considerably above the australian level. they have second-sighted men, who obtain status 'by relating an extraordinary dream, the details of which are declared to have been borne out subsequently by some unforeseen event, as, for instance, a sudden death or accident.' they have to produce fresh evidential dreams from time to time. they see phantasms of the dead, and coincidental hallucinations.[5] all this is as we should expect it to be. their religion is probably not due to missionaries, as they always shot all foreigners, and have no traditions of the presence of aliens on the islands before our recent arrival.[6] their god, puluga, is 'like fire,' but invisible. he was never born, and is immortal. by him were all things created, except the powers of evil. he knows even the thoughts of the heart. he is angered by _yubda_ = sin, or wrong-doing, that is falsehood, theft, grave assault, murder, adultery, bad carving of meat, and (as a crime of witchcraft) by burning wax.[7] 'to those in pain or distress he is pitiful, and sometimes deigns to afford relief.' he is judge of souls, and the dread of future punishment 'to _some_ extent is said to affect their course of action in the present life.'[8] this being could not be evolved out of the ordinary ghost of a second-sighted man, for i do not find that ancestral ghosts are worshipped, nor is there a trace of early missionary influence, while mr. man consulted elderly and, in native religion, well-instructed andamanese for his facts. yet puluga lives in a large stone house (clearly derived from ours at port blair), eats and drinks, foraging for himself, and is married to a green shrimp.[9] there is the usual story of a deluge caused by the moral wrath of puluga. the whole theology was scrupulously collected from natives unacquainted with other races. the account of andamanese religion does not tally with the anthropological hypothesis. foreign influence seems to be more than usually excluded by insular conditions and the jealousy of the 'original inhabitants.' the evidence ought to make us reflect on the extreme obscurity of the whole problem. anthropological study of religion has hitherto almost entirely overlooked the mysteries of various races, except in so far as they confirm the entry of the young people into the ranks of the adult. their esoteric moral and religious teaching is nearly unknown to us, save in a few instances. it is certain that the mysteries of greece were survivals of savage ceremonies, because we know that they included specific savage rites, such as the use of the _rhombos_ to make a whirring noise, and the custom of ritual daubing with dirt; and the sacred _ballets d'action_, in which, as lucian and qing say, mystic facts are 'danced out.'[10] but, while greece retained these relics of savagery, there was something taught at eleusis which filled minds like plato's and pindar's with a happy religious awe. now, similar 'softening of the heart' was the result of the teaching in the australian _bora_: the yao mysteries inculcate the victory over self; and, till we are admitted to the secrets of all other savage mysteries throughout the world, we cannot tell whether, among mummeries, frivolities, and even license, high ethical doctrines are not presented under the sanction of religion. the new life, and perhaps the future life, are undeniably indicated in the australian mysteries by the simulated resurrection. i would therefore no longer say, as in 1887, that the hellenic genius must have added to 'an old medicine dance' all that the eleusinian mysteries possessed of beauty, counsel, and consolation[11]. these elements, as well as the barbaric factors in the rites, may have been developed out of such savage doctrine as softens the hearts of australians and yaos. that this kind of doctrine receives religious sanction is certain, where we know the secret of savage mysteries. it is therefore quite incorrect, and strangely presumptuous, to deny, with almost all anthropologists, the alliance of ethics with religion among the most backward races. we must always remember their secrecy about their inner religion, their frankness about their mythological tales. these we know: the inner religion we ought to begin to recognise that we do not know. the case of the andamanese has taught us how vague, even now, is our knowledge, and how obscure is our problem. the example of the melanesians enforces these lessons. it is hard to bring the melanesians within any theory. dr. codrington has made them the subject of a careful study, and reports that while the european inquirer can communicate pretty freely on common subjects 'the vocabulary of ordinary life in almost useless when the region of mysteries and superstitions is approached.'[12] the banks islanders are most free from an asiatic element of population on one side, and a polynesian element on the other. the banks islanders 'believe in two orders of intelligent beings different from living men.' (1) ghosts of the dead, (2) 'beings who were not, and never had been, human.' this, as we have shown, and will continue to show, is the usual savage doctrine. on the one hand are separable souls of men, surviving the death of the body. on the other are beings, creators, who were before men were, and before death entered the world. it is impossible, logically, to argue that these beings are only ghosts of real remote ancestors, or of ideal ancestors. these higher beings are not safely to be defined as 'spirits,' their essence is vague, and, we repeat, the idea of their existence might have been evolved _before the ghost theory was attained by men_. dr. codrington says, 'the conception can hardly be that of a purely spiritual being, yet, by whatever name the natives call them, they are such as in english must be called spirits.' that is our point. 'god is a spirit,' these beings are gods, therefore 'these are spirits.' but to their initial conception our idea of 'spirit' is lacking. they are beings who existed before death, and still exist. the beings which never were human, never died, are _vui_, the ghosts are _tamate_. dr. codrington uses 'ghosts' for _tamate_, 'spirits' for _vui_. but as to render _vui_ 'spirits' is to yield the essential point, we shall call _vui_ 'beings,' or, simply, _vui_. a vui is not a spirit that has been a ghost; the story may represent him as if a man, 'but the native will always maintain that he was something different, and deny to him the fleshly body of a man.'[13] this distinction, ghost on one side--original being, not a man, not a ghost of a man, on the other--is radical and nearly universal in savage religion. anthropology, neglecting the essential distinction insisted on, in this case, by dr. codrington, confuses both kinds under the style of 'spirits,' and derives both from ghosts of the dead. dr. codrington, it should be said, does not generalise, but confines himself to the savages of whom he has made a special study. but, from the other examples of the same distinction which we have offered, and the rest which we shall offer, we think ourselves justified in regarding the distinction between a primeval, eternal, being or beings, on one hand, and ghosts or spirits exalted from ghost's estate, on the other, as common, if not universal. there are corporeal and incorporeal vuis, but the body of the corporeal vui is '_not_ a human body.'[14] the chief is qat, 'still at hand to help and invoked in prayers.' 'qat, marawa, look down upon me, smooth the sea for us two, that i may go safely over the sea!' qat 'created men and animals,' though, in a certain district, he is claimed as an _ancestor_ (p. 268). two strata of belief have here been confused. the myth of qat is a jungle of facetiae and frolic, with one or two serious incidents, such as the beginning of death and the coming of night. his mother was, or became, a stone; stones playing a considerable part in the superstitions. the incorporeal vuis, 'with nothing like a human life, have a much higher place than qat and his brothers in the religious system.' they have neither names, nor shapes, nor legends, they receive sacrifice, and are in some uncertain way connected with stones; these stones usually bear a fanciful resemblance to fruits or animals (p. 275). the only sacrifice, in banks islands, is that of shell-money. the mischievous spirits are tamate, ghosts of men. there is a belief in _mana_ (magical _rapport_). dr. codrington cannot determine the connection of this belief with that in spirits. mana is the uncanny, is x, the unknown. a revived impression of sense is _nunuai_, as when a tired fisher, half asleep at night, feels the 'draw' of a salmon, and automatically strikes.[15] the common ghost is a bag of _nunuai_, as living man, in the opinion of some philosophers, is a bag of 'sensations.' ghosts are only seen as spiritual lights, which so commonly attend hallucinations among the civilised. except in the prayers to qat and marawa, prayer only invokes the dead (p. 285). 'in the western islands the offerings are made to ghosts, and consumed by fire; in the eastern (banks) isles they are made to spirits (beings, _vui_), and there is no sacrificial fire.' now, the worship of ghosts goes, in these isles, with the higher culture, 'a more considerable advance in the arts of life;' the worship of non-ghosts, _vui_, goes with the lower material culture.[16] this is rather the reverse of what we should expect, in accordance with the anthropological theory. according, however, to our theory, animism and ghost-worship may be of later development, and belong to a higher level of culture, than worship of a being, or beings, that never were ghosts. in leper's isle, 'ghosts do not appear to have prayers or sacrifices offered to them,' but cause disease, and work magic.[17] the belief in the soul, in melanesia, does _not_ appear to proceed 'from their dreams or visions in which deceased or absent persons are presented to them, for they do not appear to believe that the soul goes out from the dreamer, or presents itself as an object in his dreams,' nor does belief in other spirits seem to be founded on 'the appearance of life or motion in inanimate things.'[18] to myself it rather looks as if all impressions had their _nunuai_, real, bodiless, persistent, after-images; that the soul is the complex of all of these _nunuai_; that there is in the universe a kind of magical other, called _mana_, possessed, in different proportions, by different men, _vui_, _tamate_, and material objects, and that the _atai_ or _ataro_ of a man dead, his ghost, retains its old, and acquires new _mana_.[19] it is an odd kind of metaphysic to find among very backward and isolated savages. but the lesson of melanesia teaches us how very little we really know of the religion of low races, how complex it is, how hardly it can be forced into our theories, if we take it as given in our knowledge, allow for our ignorance, and are not content to select facts which suit our hypothesis, while ignoring the rest. on a higher level of material culture than the melanesians are the fijians. fijian religion, as far as we understand, resembles the others in drawing an impassable line between ghosts and eternal gods. the word _kalou_ is applied to all supernal beings, and mystic or magical things alike. it seems to answer to _mana_ in new zealand and melanesia, to _wakan_ in north america, and to _fée_ in old french, as when perrault says, about bluebeard's key, 'now the key was _fée_.' all gods are _kalou_, but all things that are _kalou_ are not gods. gods are _kalou vu_; deified ghosts are _kalou yalo_. the former are eternal, without beginning of days or end of years; the latter are subject to infirmity and even to death.[20] the supreme being, if we can apply the term to him, is ndengei, or degei, 'who seems to be an impersonation of the abstract idea of eternal existence.' this idea is not easily developed out of the conception of a human soul which has died into a ghost and may die again. his myth represents him as a serpent, emblem of eternity, or a body of stone with a serpent's head. his one manifestation is given by eating. so neglected is he that a song exists about his lack of worshippers and gifts. 'we made men,' says ndengei, 'placed them on earth, and yet they share to us only the under shell.'[21] here is an extreme case of the self-existent creative eternal, mythically lodged in a serpent's body, and reduced to a jest. it is not easy to see any explanation, if we reject the hypothesis that this is an old, fallen form of faith, 'with scarcely a temple.' the other unborn immortals are mythical warriors and adulterers, like the popular deities of greece. yet ndengei receives prayers through two sons of his, mediating deities. the priests are possessed, or inspired, by spirits and gods. one is not quite clear as to whether ndengei is an inspiring god or not; but that prayers are made to him is inconsistent with the belief in his eternal inaction. a priest is represented as speaking for ndengei, probably by inspiration. 'my own mind departs from me, and then, when it is truly gone, my god speaks by me,' is the account of this 'alternating personality' given by a priest.[22] after informing us that ndengei is starved, mr. williams next tells about offerings to him, in earlier days, of hundreds of hogs.[23] he sends rain on earth. animals, men, stones, may all be _kalou_. there is a hades as fantastic as that in the egyptian 'book of the dead,' and second sight flourishes. the mysteries include the sham raising of the dead, and appear to be directed at propitiatory ghosts rather than at ndengei. there are scenes of license; 'particulars of almost incredible indecency have been privately forwarded to dr. tylor.'[24] suppose a religious reformer were to arise in one of the many savage tribes who, as we shall show, possess, but neglect, an eternal creator. he would do what, in the secular sphere, was done by the mikado of japan. the mikado was a political dendid or ndengei--an awful, withdrawn, impotent potentate. power was wielded by the tycoon. a mikado of genius asserted himself; hence arose modern japan. in the same way, a religious reformer like khuen ahten in egypt would preach down minor gods, ghosts and sacred beasts, and proclaim the primal maker, ndengei, dendid, mtanga. 'the king shall hae his ain again.' had it not been for the prophets, israel, by the time that greece and rome knew israel, would have been worshipping a horde of little gods, and even beasts and ghosts, while the eternal would have become a mere name--perhaps, like ndengei and atahocan and unkulunkulu, a jest. the old testament is the story of the prolonged effort to keep jehovah in his supreme place. to make and to succeed in that effort was the _differentia_, of israel. other peoples, even the lowest, had, as we prove, the germinal conception of a god--assuredly not demonstrated to be derived from the ghost theory, logically in no need of the ghost theory, everywhere explicitly contrasted with the ghost theory. 'but their foolish heart was darkened.' it is impossible to prove, historically, which of the two main elements in belief--the idea of an eternal being or beings, or the idea of surviving ghosts--came first into the minds of men. the idea of primeval eternal beings, as understood by savages, does not depend on, or require, the ghost theory. but, as we almost always find ghosts and a supreme being together, where we find either, among the lowest savages, we have no historical ground for asserting that either is prior to the other. where we have no evidence to the belief in the maker, we must not conclude that no such belief exists. our knowledge is confused and scanty; often it is derived from men who do not know the native language, or the native sacred language, or have not been trusted with what the savage treasures as his secret. moreover, if anywhere ghosts are found without gods, it is an inference from the argument that an idea familiar to very low savage tribes, like the australians, and falling more and more into the background elsewhere, though still extant and traceable, might, in certain cases, be lost and forgotten altogether. to take an example of half-forgotten deity. mr. im thurn, a good observer, has written on 'the animism of the indians of british guiana.' mr. im thurn justly says: 'the man who above all others has made this study possible is mr. tylor.' but it is not unfair to remark that mr. im thurn naturally sees most distinctly that which mr. tylor has taught him to see--namely, animism. he has also been persuaded, by mr. dorman, that the great spirit of north american tribes is 'almost certainly nothing more than a figure of european origin, reflected and transmitted almost beyond recognition on the mirror of the indian mind,' that is not my opinion: i conceive that the red indians had their native eternal, like the australians, fijians, andamanese, dinkas, yao, and so forth, as will be shown later. mr. im thurn, however, dilates on the dream origin of the ghost theory, giving examples from his own knowledge of the difficulty with which guiana indians discern the hallucinations of dreams from the facts of waking life. their waking hallucinations are also so vivid as to be taken for realities.[25] mr. im thurn adopts the hypothesis that, from ghosts, 'a belief has arisen, but very gradually, in higher spirits, and, eventually, in a highest spirit; and, keeping pace with the growth of these beliefs, a habit of reverence for and worship of spirits.' on this hypothesis, the spirit latest evolved, and most worshipful, ought, of course, to be the 'highest spirit.' but the reverse, as usual, is the case. the guiana indians believe in the continued, but not in the everlasting, existence of a man's ghost.[26] they believe in no spirits which were not once tenants of material bodies.[27] the belief in a supreme spirit is only attained 'in the highest form of religion'--andamanese, for instance--as mr. im thurn uses 'spirit' where we should say 'being.' 'the indians of guiana know no god.'[28] 'but it is true that various words have been found in all, or nearly all, the languages of guiana which have been supposed to be names of a supreme being, god, a great spirit, in the sense which those phrases bear in the language of the higher religions.' being interpreted, these guiana names mean- _the ancient one, the ancient one in sky-land, our maker, our father, our great father._ 'none of those in any way involves the attributes of a god.' the ancient of days, our father in sky-land, our maker, do rather convoy the sense of god to a european mind. mr. im thurn, however, decides that the beings thus designated were supposed ancestors who came into guiana from some other country, 'sometimes said to have been that entirely natural country (?) which is separated from guiana by the ocean of the air.'[29] mr. im thurn casually observed (having said nothing about morals in alliance with animism): 'the fear of unwittingly offending the countless visible and invisible beings ... kept the indians very strictly within their own rights and from offending against the rights of others.' this remark dropped out at a discussion of mr. im thurn's paper, and clearly demonstrated that even a very low creed 'makes for righteousness.'[30] probably few who have followed the facts given here will agree with mr. im thurn's theory that 'our maker,' 'our father,' 'the ancient one of the heaven,' is merely an idealised human ancestor. he falls naturally into his place with the other high gods of low savages. but we need much more information on the subject than mr. im thurn was able to give. his evidence is all the better, because he is a loyal follower of mr. tylor. and mr. tylor says: 'savage animism is almost devoid of that ethical element which to the educated modern mind is the very mainspring of practical religion.'[31] 'yet it keeps the indians very strictly within their own rights and from offending the rights of others.' our own religion is rarely so successful.[32] in the indians of guiana we have an alleged case of a people still deep in the animistic or ghost-worshipping case, who, by the hypothesis, have not yet evolved the idea of a god at all. when the familiar names for god, such as maker, father, ancient of days, occur in the indian language, mr. im thurn explains the neglected being who bears these titles as a remote deified ancestor. of course, when a being with similar titles occurs where ancestors are not worshipped, as in australia and the andaman islands, the explanation suggested by mr. im thurn for the problem of religion in guiana, will not fit the facts. it is plain that, _a priori_, another explanation is conceivable. if a people like the andamanese, or the australian tribes whom we have studied, had such a conception as that of puluga, or baiame, or mungan-ngaur and then, _later_, developed ancestor-worship with its propitiatory sacrifices and ceremonies, ancestor-worship, as the newest evolved and infinitely the most practical form of cult, would gradually thrust the belief in a puluga, or mungan-ngaur, or cagn into the shade. the ancestral spirit, to speak quite plainly, can be 'squared' by the people in whom he takes a special interest for family reasons. the equal father of all men cannot be 'squared,' and declines (till corrupted by the bad example of ancestral ghosts) to make himself useful to one man rather than to another. for these very intelligible, simple, and practical reasons, if the belief in a mungan-ngaur came first in evolution, and the belief in a practicable bribable family ghost came second, the ghost-cult would inevitably crowd out the god-cult.[33] the name of the father and maker would become a mere survival, _nominis umbra_, worship and sacrifice going to the ancestral ghost. that explanation would fit the state of religion which mr. im thurn has found, rightly or wrongly, in british guiana. but, if the idea of a universal father and maker came last in evolution, as a refinement, then, of course, it ought to be the newest, and therefore the most fashionable and potent of guianese cults. precisely the reverse is said to be the case. nor can the belief indicated in such names as father and maker be satisfactorily explained as a refinement of ancestor-worship, because, we repeat, it occurs where ancestors are not worshipped. these considerations, however unpleasant to the devotees of animism, or the ghost theory, are not, in themselves, illogical, nor contradictory of the theory of evolution, which, on the other hand, fits them perfectly well. that god thrives best who is most suited to his environment. whether an easy-going, hungry ghost-god with a liking for his family, or a moral creator not to be bribed, is better suited to an environment of not especially scrupulous savages, any man can decide. whether a set of not particularly scrupulous savages will readily evolve a moral unbribable creator, when they have a serviceable family ghost-god eager to oblige, is a question as easily resolved. beyond all doubt, savages who find themselves under the watchful eye of a moral deity whom they cannot 'square' will desert him as soon as they have evolved a practicable ghost-god, useful for family purposes, whom they _can_ square. no less manifestly, savages, who already possess a throng of serviceable ghost-gods, will not enthusiastically evolve a moral being who despises gifts, and only cares for obedience. 'there is a great deal of human nature in man,' and, if mr. im thurn's description of the guianese be correct, everything we know of human nature, and of evolution, assures us that the father, or maker, or ancient of days came first; the ghost-gods, last. what has here been said about the indians of guiana (namely, that they are now more ghost and spirit worshippers, with only a name surviving to attest a knowledge of a father and maker in heaven) applies equally well to the zulus. the zulus are the great standing type of an animistic or ghost-worshipping race without a god. but, had they a god (on the australian pattern) whom they have forgotten, or have they not yet evolved a god out of animism? the evidence, collected by dr. callaway, is honest, but confused. one native, among others, put forward the very theory here proposed by us as an alternative to that of mr. im thurn. 'unkulunkulu' (the idealised but despised first ancestor) 'was not worshipped [by men]. for it is not worship when people see things, as rain, or food, or corn, and say, "yes, these things were made by unkulunkulu.... afterwards they [men] had power to change those things, that they might become the amatongos" [might belong to the ancestral spirits]. _they took them away from unkulunkulu_.'[34] animism supplanted theism. nothing could be more explicit. but, though we have found an authentic zulu text to suit our provisional theory, the most eminent philosophical example must not reduce us into supposing that this text settles the question. dr. callaway collected great masses of zulu answers to his inquiries, and it is plain that a respondent, like the native theologian whom we have cited, may have adapted his reply to what he had learned of christian doctrine. having now the christian notion of a divine creator, and knowing, too, that the unworshipped unkulunkulu is said to have 'made things,' while only ancestral spirits, are worshipped, the native may have inferred that worship (by christians given to the creator) was at some time transferred by the zulus from unkulunkulu to the amatongo. the truth is that both the anthropological theory (spirits first, gods last), and our theory (supreme being first, spirits next) can find warrant in dr. callaway's valuable collections. for that reason, the problem must be solved after a survey of the whole field of savage and barbaric religion; it cannot be settled by the ambiguous case of the zulus alone. unkulunkulu is represented as 'the first man, who broke off in the beginning.' 'they are ancestor-worshippers,' says dr. callaway, 'and believe that their first ancestor, the first man, was the creator.'[35] but they may, like many other peoples, have had a different original tradition, and have altered it, just because they are now such fervent ancestor-worshippers. unkulunkulu was prior to death, which came among men in the usual mythical way.[36] whether unkulunkulu still exists, is rather a moot question: dr. callaway thinks that he does not.[37] if not, he is an exception to the rule in australia, andaman, among the bushmen, the fuegians, and savages in general, who are less advanced in culture than the zulus. the idea, then, of a maker of things who has ceased to exist occurs, if at all, not in a relatively primitive, but in a relatively late religion. on the analogy of pottery, agriculture, the use of iron, villages, hereditary kings, and so on, the notion of a dead maker is late, not early. it occurs where men have iron, cattle, agriculture, kings, houses, a disciplined army, _not_ where men have none of these things. the zulu godless ancestor-worship, then, by parity of reasoning, is, like their material culture, not an early but a late development. the zulus 'hear of a king which is above'--'the heavenly king.'[38] 'we did not hear of him first from white men.... but he is not like unkulunkulu, who, we say, made all things.' here may be dimly descried the ideas of a god, and a subordinate demiurge. 'the king is above, unkulunkulu is beneath.' the king above punishes sin, striking the sinner by lightning. nor do the zulus know how they have sinned. 'there remained only that word about the heaven,' 'which,' says dr. callaway, 'implies that there might have been other words which are now lost.' there is great confusion of thought. unkulunkulu made the heaven, where the unknown king reigns, a hard task for a first man.[39] 'in process of time we have come to worship the amadhlozi (spirits) only, because we know not what to say about unkulunkulu.'[40] 'it is on that account, then, that we seek out for ourselves the amadhlozi (spirits), that we may not always be thinking about unkulunkulu.' all this attests a faint lingering shadow of a belief too ethereal, too remote, for a practical conquering race, which prefers intelligible serviceable ghosts, with a special regard for their own families. ukoto, a very old zulu, said: 'when we were children it was said "the lord is in heaven." ... they used to point to the lord on high; we did not hear his name.' unkulunkulu was understood, by this patriarch, to refer to immediate ancestors, whose mimes and genealogies he gave.[41] 'we heard it said that the creator of the world was the lord who is above; people used always, when i was growing up, to point towards heaven.' a very old woman was most reluctant to speak of unkulunkulu; at last she said, 'ah, it is he in fact who is the creator, who is in heaven, of whom the ancients spoke.' then the old woman began to babble humorously of how the white men made all things. again, unkulunkulu is said to have been created by utilexo. utilexo was invisible, unkulunkulu was visible, and so got credit not really his due.[42] when the heaven is said to be the chief's (the chief being a living zulu) 'they do not believe what they say,' the phrase is a mere hyperbolical compliment.[43] on this examination of the evidence, it certainly seems as logical to conjecture that the zulus had once such an idea of a supreme being as lower races entertain, and then nearly lost it; as to say that zulus, though a monarchical race, have not yet developed a king-god out of the throng of spirits (amatongo). the zulus, the norsemen of the south, so to speak, are a highly practical military race. a deity at all abstract was not to their liking. serviceable family spirits, who continually provided an excuse for a dinner of roast beef, were to their liking. the less developed races do not kill their flocks commonly for food. a sacrifice is needed as a pretext. to the gods of andamanese, bushmen, australians, no sacrifice is offered. to the supreme being of most african peoples no sacrifice is offered. there is no festivity in the worship of these supreme beings, no feasting, at all events. they are not to be 'got at' by gifts or sacrifices. the amatongo are to be 'got at,' are bribable, supply an excuse for a good dinner, and thus the practical amatongo are honoured, while, in the present generation of zulus, unkulunkulu is a joke, and the lord in heaven is the shadow of a name. clearly this does not point to the recent but to the remote development of the higher ideas, now superseded by spirit-worship. we shall next see how this view, the opposite of the anthropological theory, works when applied to other races, especially to other african races. [footnote 1: when i wrote _myth, ritual, and religion_ (ii. 11-13) i regarded cagn as 'only a successful and idealised medicine man.' but i now think that i confused in my mind the religious and the mythological aspects of cagn. one of unknown origin, existing before the sun, a maker of all things, prayed to, but not in receipt of sacrifice, is no medicine man, except in his myth.] [footnote 2: the omissions in mr. spencer's system may possibly be explained by the circumstance that, as he tells us, he collected his facts 'by proxy.' while we find waitz much interested in and amazed by the benevolent supreme being of many african tribes, that personage is only alluded to as 'alleged benevolent supreme being' in mr. spencer's _descriptive sociology_, and is usually left out of sight altogether in his _principles of sociology_ and _ecclesiastical institutions_. yet we have precisely the same kind of evidence of observers for this 'alleged' benevolent supreme being as we have for the _canaille_ of ghosts and fetishes. if he is a deity of a rather lofty moral conception, of course he need not be propitiated by human sacrifices or cold chickens. _that_ kind of material evidence to the faith in him must be absent by the nature of the case; but the coincident testimony of travellers to belief in a supreme being cannot be dismissed as 'alleged.'] [footnote 3: pp. 676, 677.] [footnote 4: man, _j.a.i_. xii. 70.] [footnote 5: man, _j.a.i_. xii. 96-98.] [footnote 6: xii. 156, 157.] [footnote 7: xii. 112.] [footnote 8: xii. 158.] [footnote 9: xii. 158.] [footnote 10: _myth, ritual, and religion_, i. 281-288.] [footnote 11: lobeck, _aglaophamus_, 133.] [footnote 12: _j.a.i_. x. 263.] [footnote 13: _j.a.i_. 267.] [footnote 14: _j.a.i_. x. 267.] [footnote 15: p. 281. this is a _nunuai_ with which i am familiar. flying fish, in banks island, take the _rôle_ of salmon. the natives think it real, but without form or substance.] [footnote 16: codrington, _melanesia_, p. 122.] [footnote 17: _j.a.i_. x. 294.] [footnote 18: op. cit. x. 313.] [footnote 19: _j.a.i_. x. 300.] [footnote 20: williams's _fiji_, p. 218. see mr. thomson's remarks cited later.] [footnote 21: _fiji_, p. 217.] [footnote 22: ibid. p. 228.] [footnote 23: ibid. p. 230.] [footnote 24: _j.a.i_. xiv. 30.] [footnote 25: _j.a.i_. xi. 361-366.] [footnote 26: ibid. xi. 374.] [footnote 27: ibid. xi. 376.] [footnote 28: ibid. xi. 376] [footnote 29: _j.a.i_. xi. 378.] [footnote 30: ibid. 382.] [footnote 31: _prim. cult_. ii. 360.] [footnote 32: conceivably, however, the guiana spirits who have so much moral influence, exert it by magical charms. 'the belief in the power of charms for good or evil produces not only honesty, but a great amount of gentle dealing,' says livingstone, of the africans. however they work, the spirits work for righteousness.] [footnote 33: obviously there could be no family god before there was the institution of the family.] [footnote 34: callaway, _rel. of amazulu_, p. 17.] [footnote 35: callaway, p. 1.] [footnote 36: op. cit. p. 8.] [footnote 37: op. cit. p. 7.] [footnote 38: op. cit. p. 19.] [footnote 39: callaway, pp. 20, 21.] [footnote 40: pp. 26, 27.] [footnote 41: pp. 49, 50.] [footnote 42: p. 67.] [footnote 43: p. 122.] xiii more savage supreme beings if many of the lowest savages known to us entertain ideas of a supreme being such as we find among fuegians, australians, bushmen, and andamanese, are there examples, besides the zulus, of tribes higher in material culture who seem to have had such notions, but to have partly forgotten or neglected them? miss kingsley, a lively, observant, and unprejudiced, though rambling writer, gives this very account of the bantu races. oblivion, or neglect, will show itself in leaving the supreme being alone, as he needs no propitiation, while devoting sacrifice and ritual to fetishes and ghosts. that this should be done is perfectly natural if the supreme being (who wants no sacrifice) were the first evolved in thought, while venal fetishes and spirits came in as a result of the ghost theory. but if, as a result of the ghost theory, the supreme being came last in evolution, he ought to be the most fashionable object of worship, the latest developed, the most powerful, and most to be propitiated. he is the reverse. to take an example: the dinkas of the upper nile ('godless,' says sir samuel baker) 'pay a very theoretical kind of homage to the all-powerful being, dwelling in heaven, whence he sees all things. he is called "dendid" (great rain, that is, universal benediction?).' he is omnipotent, but, being all beneficence, can do no evil; so, not being feared, he is not addressed in prayer. the evil spirit, on the other hand, receives sacrifices. the dinkas have a strange old chant: 'at the beginning, when dendid made all things, he created the sun, and the sun is born, and dies, and comes again! he created the stars, and the stars are born, and die, and come again! he created man, and man is born, and dies, and returns no more!' it is like the lament of moschus.[1] russegger compares the dinkas, and all the neighbouring peoples who hold the same beliefs, to modern deists.[2] they are remote from atheism and from cult! suggestions about an ancient egyptian influence are made, but popular egyptian religion was not monotheistic, and priestly thought could scarcely influence the ancestors of the dinkas. m. lejean says these peoples are so practical and utilitarian that missionary religion takes no hold on them. mr. spencer does not give the ideas of the dinkas, but it is not easy to see how the too beneficent dendid could be evolved out of ghost-propitiation, 'the origin of all religions.' rather the dinkas, a practical people, seem to have simply forgotten to be grateful to their maker; or have decided, more to the credit of the clearness of their heads than the warmth of their hearts, that gratitude he does not want. like the french philosopher they cultivate _l'indépendance du coeur_, being in this matter strikingly unlike the pawnees. let us now take a case in which ancestor-worship, and no other form of religion (beyond mere superstitions), has been declared to be the practice of an african people. mr. spencer gives the example of natives of the south-eastern district of central africa described by mr. macdonald in 'africana.'[3] the dead man becomes a ghost-god, receives prayer and sacrifice, is called a mulungu (= great ancestor or = sky?), is preferred above older spirits, now forgotten; such old spirits may, however, have a mountain top for home, a great chief being better remembered; the mountain god is prayed to for rain; higher gods were probably similar local gods in an older habitat of the yao.[4] such is in the main mr. spencer's _résumé_ of mr. duff macdonald's report. he omits whatever mr. macdonald says about a being among the yaos, analogous to the dendid of the dinkas, or the darumulun of australia, or the huron ahone. yet analysis detects, in mr. macdonald's report, copious traces of such a being, though mr. macdonald himself believes in ancestor-worship as the source of the local religion. thus, mulungu, or mlungu, used as a proper name, 'is said to be the great spirit, _msimu_, of all men, a spirit formed by adding all the departed spirits together.[5] this is a singular stretch of savage philosophy, and indicates (says mr. macdonald) 'a grasping after a being who is the totality of all individual existence.... if it fell from the lips of civilised men instead of savages, it would be regarded as philosophy. expressions of this kind among the natives are partly traditional, and partly dictated by the big thoughts of the moment.' philosophy it is, but a philosophy dependent on the ghost theory. i go on to show that the wayao have, though mr. spencer omits him, a being who precisely answers to darumulun, if stripped (perhaps) of his ethical aspect. on this point we are left in uncertainty, just because mr. macdonald could not ascertain the secrets of his mysteries, which, in australia, have been revealed to a few europeans. where mulungu is used as a proper name, it 'certainly points to a personal being, by the wayao sometimes said to be the same as mtanga. at other times he is a being that possesses many powerful servants, but is himself kept a good deal beyond the scene of earthly affairs, like the gods of epicurus.' this is, of course, precisely the feature in african theology which interests us. the supreme being, in spite of the potency which his supposed place as latest evolved out of the ghost-world should naturally give him, is neglected, either as half forgotten, or for philosophical reasons. for these reasons epicurus and lucretius make their gods _otiosi_, unconcerned, and the wayao, with their universal collective spirit, are no mean philosophers. 'this mulungu' or mtanga, 'in the world beyond the grave, is represented as assigning to spirits their proper places,' whether for ethical reasons or not we are not informed.[6] santos (1586) says 'they acknowledge a god who, both in this world and the next, measures retribution for the good or evil done in this.' 'in the native hypothesis about creation "the people of mulungu" play a very important part.' these ministers of his who do his pleasure are, therefore, as is mulungu himself, regarded as prior to the existing world. therefore they cannot, in wayao opinion, be ghosts of the dead at all; nor can we properly call them 'spirits.' they are _beings_, original, creative, but undefined. the word mulungu, however, is now applied to spirits of individuals, but whether it means 'sky' (salt) or whether it means 'ancestor' (bleek), it cannot be made to prove that mulungu himself was originally envisaged as 'spirit.' for, manifestly, suppose that the idea of powerful beings, undefined, came first in evolution, and was followed by the ghost idea, that idea might then be applied to explaining the pre-existent creative powers. mtanga is by 'some' localised as the god of mangochi, an olympus left behind by the yao in their wanderings. here, some hold, his voice is still audible. 'others say that mtanga never was a man ... he was concerned in the first introduction of men into the world. he gets credit for ... making mountains and rivers. he is intimately associated with a year of plenty. he is called mchimwene juene, 'a very chief.' he has a kind of evil opposite, _chitowe_, but this being, the satan of the creed, 'is a child or subject of mtanga,' an evil angel, in fact.[7] the thunder god, mpambe, in yao, njasi (lightning) is also a minister of the supreme being. 'he is sent by mtanga with rain.' europeans are cleverer than natives, because we 'stayed longer with the people of god (mulungu).' i do not gather that, though associated with good crops, mtanga or mulungu receives any sacrifice or propitiation. 'the chief addresses his own god;'[8] the chief 'will not trouble himself about his great-great-grand-father; he will present his offering to his own immediate predecessor, saying, 'o father, i do not know all your relatives; you know them all: invite them to feast with you.'[9] 'all the offerings are supposed to point to some want of the spirit,' mtanga, on the other hand, is _nihil indiga nostri_. a village god is given beer to drink, as indra got soma. a dead chief is propitiated by human sacrifices. i find no trace of any gift to mtanga. his mysteries are really unknown to mr. macdonald: they were laughed at by a travelled and 'emancipated' yao.[10] 'these rites are supposed to be inviolably concealed by the initiated, who often say that they would die if they revealed them.'[11] how can we pretend to understand a religion if we do not know its secret? that secret, in australia, yields the certainty of the ethical character of the supreme being. mr. macdonald says about the initiator (a grotesque figure):-'he delivers lectures, and is said to give much good advice ... the lectures condemn selfishness, and a selfish person is called _mwisichana_, that is, "uninitiated."' there could not be better evidence of the presence of the ethical element in the religious mysteries. among the yao, as among the australian kurnai, the central secret lesson of religion is the lesson of unselfishness. it is not stated that mtanga instituted or presides over the mysteries. judging from the analogy of eleusis, the bora, the red indian initiations, and so on, we may expect this to be the belief; but mr. macdonald knows very little about the matter. the legendary tales say 'all things in this world were made by "god."' 'at first there were not people, but "god" and beasts.' 'god' here, is mlungu. the other statement is apparently derived from existing ancestor-worship, people who died became 'god' (mlungu). but god is prior to death, for the yao have a form of the usual myth of the origin of death, also of sleep: 'death and sleep are one word, they are of one family.' god dwells on high, while a malevolent 'great one,' who disturbed the mysteries and slew the initiated, was turned into a mountain.[12] in spite of information confessedly defective, i have extracted from mr. spencer's chosen authority a mass of facts, pointing to a yao belief in a primal being, maker of mountains and rivers; existent before men were; not liable to death--which came late among them--beneficent; not propitiated by sacrifice (as far as the evidence goes); moral (if we may judge by the analogy of the mysteries), and yet occupying the religious background, while the foreground is held by the most recent ghosts. to prove mr. spencer's theory, he ought to have given a full account of this being, and to have shown how he was developed out of ghosts which are forgotten in inverse ratio to their distance from the actual generation. i conceive that mr. spencer would find a mid-point between a common ghost and mtanga, in a ghost of a chief attached to a mountain, the place and place-name preserving the ghost's name and memory. but it is, i think, a far cry from such a chief's ghost to the pre-human, angel-served mtanga. of ancestor worship and ghost worship, we have abundant evidence. but the position of mtanga raises one of these delicate and crucial questions which cannot be solved by ignoring their existence. is mtanga evolved out of an ancestral ghost? if so, why, as greatest of divine beings, 'very chief,' and having powerful ministers under him, is he left unpropitiated, unless it be by moral discourses at the mysteries? as a much more advanced idea than that of a real father's ghost, he ought to be much later in evolution, fresher in conception, and more adored. how do we explain his lack of adoration? was he originally envisaged as a ghost at all, and, if so, by what curious but uniform freak of savage logic is he regarded as prior to men, and though a ghost, prior to death? is it not certain that such a being could be conceived of by men who had never dreamed of ghosts? is there any logical reason why mtanga should not be regarded as originally on the same footing as munganngaur, but now half forgotten and neglected, for practical or philosophical reasons? on these problems light is thrown by a successor of mr. spencer's authority, mr. duff macdonald, in the blantyre mission. this gentleman, the rev. david clement scott, has published 'a cyclopaedic dictionary of the mang'anja language in british central africa.'[13] looking at ancestral spirits first, we find _mzimu_, 'spirits of the departed, supposed to come in dreams.' though abiding in the spirit world, they also haunt thickets, they inspire mlauli, prophets, and make them rave and utter predictions. offerings are made to them. here is a prayer: 'watch over me, my ancestor, who died long ago; tell the great spirit at the head of my race from whom my mother came.' there are little hut-temples, and the chief directs the sacrifices of food, or of animals. there are religious pilgrimages, with sacrifice, to mountains. god, like men in this region, has various names, as chiuta, 'god in space and the rainbow sign across;' mpambe, 'god almighty' (or rather 'pre-excellent'); mlezi, 'god the sustainer,' and mulungu, 'god who is spirit.' mulungu = god, 'not spirits or fetish.' 'you can't put the plural, as god is one,' say the natives. 'there are no idols called gods, and spirits are spirits of people who have died, not gods.' idols are _zitunzi-zitunzi_. 'spirits are supposed to be with mulungu.' god made the world and man. our author says 'when the chief or people sacrifice it is to god,' but he also says that they sacrifice to ancestral spirits. there is some confusion of ideas here: mr. macdonald says nothing of sacrifice to mtanga. mr. scott does not seem to know more about the mysteries than mr. macdonald, and his article on mulungu does not much enlighten us. does mulungu, as creative god, receive sacrifice, or not?[14] mr. scott gives no instance of this, under _nsembe_ (sacrifice), where ancestors, or hill-dwelling ghosts of chiefs, are offered food; yet, as we have seen, under _mulungu_, he avers that the chiefs and people do sacrifice to god. he appears to be confusing the creator with spirits, and no reliance can be placed on this part of his evidence. 'at the back of all this' (sacrifice to spirits) 'there is god.' if i understand mr. scott, sacrifices are really made only to spirits, but he is trying to argue that, after all, the theistic conception is at the back of the animistic practice, thus importing his theory into his facts. his theory would, really, be in a better way, if sacrifice is _not_ offered to the creator, but this had not occurred to mr. scott. it is plain, in any case, that the religion of the africans in the blantyre region has an element not easily to be derived from ancestral spirit-worship, an element not observed by mr. spencer. nobody who has followed the examples already adduced will be amazed by what waitz calls the 'surprising result' of recent inquiries among the great negro race. among the branches where foreign influence is least to be suspected, we discover, behind their more conspicuous fetishisms and superstitions, something which we cannot exactly call monotheism, yet which tends in that direction.[15] waitz quotes wilson for the fact that, their fetishism apart, they adore a supreme being as the creator: and do not honour him with sacrifice. the remarks of waitz may be cited in full: 'the religion of the negro may be considered by some as a particularly rude form of polytheism and may be branded with the special name of fetishism. it would follow, from a minute examination of it, that--apart from the extravagant and fantastic traits, which are rooted in the character of the negro, and which radiate therefrom over all his creations--in comparison with the religions of other savages it is neither very specially differentiated nor very specially crude in form. 'but this opinion can be held to be quite true only while we look at the _outside_ of the negro's religion, or estimate its significance from arbitrary pre-suppositions, as is specially the case with ad. wuttke. 'by a deeper insight, which of late several scientific investigators have succeeded in attaining, we reach, rather, the surprising conclusion that several of the negro races--on whom we cannot as yet prove, and can hardly conjecture, the influence of a more civilised people--in the embodying of their religious conceptions are further advanced than almost all other savages, so far that, even if we do not call them monotheists, we may still think of them as standing on the boundary of monotheism, seeing that their religion is also mixed with a great mass of rude superstition which, in turn, among other peoples, seems to overrun completely the purer religious conceptions.' this conclusion as to an element of pure faith in negro religion would not have surprised waitz, had recent evidence as to the same creed among lower savages lain before him as he worked. this volume of his book was composed in 1860. in 1872 he had become well aware of the belief in a good maker among the australian natives, and of the absence among them of ancestor worship.[16] waitz's remarks on the supreme being of the negro are well worth noting, from his unconcealed astonishment at the discovery. wilson's observations on north and south guinea religion were published in 1856. after commenting on the delicate task of finding out what a savage religion really is, he writes: 'the belief in one great supreme being, who made and upholds all things, is universal.'[17] the names of the being are translated 'maker,' 'preserver,' 'benefactor,' 'great friend.' though compact of all good qualities, the being has allowed the world to 'come under the control of evil spirits,' who, alone, receive religious worship. though he leaves things uncontrolled, yet the chief being (as in homer) ratifies the oath, at a treaty, and is invoked to punish criminals when ordeal water is to be drunk. so far, then, he has an ethical influence. 'grossly wicked people' are buried outside of the regular place. fetishism prevails, with spiritualism, and wilson thinks that mediums might pick up some good tricks in guinea. he gives no examples. their inspired men do things 'that cannot be accounted for,' by the use of narcotics. the south guinea creator, anyambia (= good spirit?), is good, but capricious. he has a good deputy, ombwiri (spelled 'mbuiri' by miss kingsley); _he alone has no priests_, but communicates directly with men. the neighbouring shekuni have mysteries of the great spirit. no details are given. this great being, mwetyi, witnesses covenants and punishes perjury. this people are ancestor-worshippers, but their supreme being is not said to receive sacrifice, as ghosts do, while he is so far from being powerless, like unkulunkulu, that, but for fear of his wrath, 'their national treaties would have little or no force.'[18] having no information about the mysteries, of course, we know nothing of other moral influences which are, or may be exercised by these great, powerful, and not wholly otiose beings. the celebrated traveller, mungo park, who visited africa in 1805, had good opportunities of understanding the natives. he did not hurry through the land with a large armed force, but alone, or almost alone, paid his way with his brass buttons. 'i have conversed with all ranks and conditions upon the subject of their faith,' he says, 'and can pronounce, without the smallest shadow of doubt, that the belief in one god and in a future state of reward and punishment is entire and universal among them.' this cannot strictly be called monotheism, as there are many subordinate spirits who may be influenced by 'magical ceremonies.' but if monotheism means belief in one spirit alone, or religious regard paid to one spirit alone, it exists nowhere--no, not in islam. park thinks it remarkable that 'the almighty' only receives prayers at the new moon (of sacrifice to the almighty he says nothing), and that, being the creator and preserver of all things, he is 'of so exalted a nature that it is idle to imagine the feeble supplications of wretched mortals can reverse the decrees and change the purpose of unerring wisdom.' the new moon prayers are mere matters of tradition; 'our fathers did it before us.' 'such is the blindness of unassisted nature,' says park, who is not satirising, in swift's manner, the prayers of presbyterians at home on yarrow. thus, the african supreme being is unpropitiated, while inferior spirits are constrained by magic or propitiated with food. we meet our old problem: how has this god, in the conception of whom there is so much philosophy, developed out of these hungry ghosts? the influence of islam can scarcely be suspected, allah being addressed, of course, in endless prayers, while the african god receives none. indeed, it would be more plausible to say that mahomet borrowed allah from the widespread belief which we are studying, than that the negro's supreme being was borrowed from allah. park had, as we saw, many opportunities of familiar discussion with the people on whose mercies he threw himself. 'but it is not often that the negroes make their religious opinions the subject of conversation; when interrogated, in particular, concerning their ideas of a future state, they express themselves with great reverence, but endeavour to shorten the discussion by saying, _"mo o mo inta allo_" ("no man knows anything about it").'[19] park himself, in extreme distress, and almost in despair, chanced to observe the delicate beauty of a small moss-plant, and, reflecting that the creator of so frail a thing could not be indifferent to any of his creatures, plucked up courage and reached safety.[20] he was not of the negro philosophy, and is the less likely to have invented it. the new moon prayer, said in a whisper, was reported to park, 'by many different people,' to contain 'thanks to god for his kindness during the existence of the past moon, and to solicit a continuation of his favour during the new one.' this, of course, may prove islamite influence, and is at variance with the general tendency of the religious philosophy as described. we now arrive at a theory of the supreme being among a certain african race which would be entirely fatal to my whole hypothesis on this topic, if it could be demonstrated correct in fact, and if it could be stretched so as to apply to the australians, fuegians, andamanese, and other very backward peoples. it is the hypothesis that the supreme being is a 'loan-god,' borrowed from europeans. the theory is very lucidly set forth in major ellis's 'tshi-speaking peoples of the gold coast.'[21] major ellis's opinion coincides with that of waitz in his 'introduction to anthropology' (an opinion to which waitz does not seem bigoted)--namely, that 'the original form of all religion is a raw, unsystematic polytheism,' nature being peopled by inimical powers or spirits, and everyone worshipping what he thinks most dangerous or most serviceable. there are few general, many local or personal, objects of veneration.[22] major ellis only met this passage when he had formed his own ideas by observation of the tshi race. we do not pretend to guess what 'the original form of all religion' may have been; but we have given, and shall give, abundant evidence for the existence of a loftier faith than this, among peoples much lower in material culture than the tshi races, who have metals and an organised priesthood. they occupy, in small villages (except coomassie and djuabin), the forests of the gold coast. the mere mention of coomassie shows how vastly superior in civilisation the tshis (ashantis and fantis) are to the naked, houseless australians. their inland communities, however, are 'mere specks in a vast tract of impenetrable forest.' the coast people have for centuries been in touch with europeans, but the 'tshi-speaking races are now much in the same condition, both socially and morally, as they were at the time of the portuguese discovery.'[23] nevertheless, major ellis explains their supreme being as the result of european influence! _a priori_ this appears highly improbable. that a belief should sweep over all these specks in impenetrable forest, from the coast-tribes in contact with europeans, and that this belief should, though the most recent, be infinitely the least powerful, cannot be regarded as a plausible hypothesis. moreover, on major ellis's theory the supreme beings of races which but recently came for the first time in contact with europeans, supreme beings kept jealously apart from european ken, and revered in the secrecy of ancient mysteries, must also, by parity of reason, be the result of european influence. unfortunately, major ellis gives no evidence for his statements about the past history of tshi religion. authorities he must have, and references would be welcome. 'with people in the condition in which the natives of the gold coast now are, religion is not in any way allied with moral ideas.'[24] we have given abundant evidence that among much more backward tribes morals rest on a religious sanction. if this be not so on the gold coast we cannot accept these relatively advanced fantis and ashantis as representing the 'original' state of ethics and religion, any more than those people with cities, a king, a priesthood, iron, and gold, represent the 'original' material condition of society. major ellis also shows that the gods exact chastity from aspirants to the priesthood.[25] the present beliefs of the gold coast are kept up by organised priesthoods as 'lucrative business.'[26] where there is no lucre and no priesthood, as among more backward races, this kind of business cannot be done. on the gold coast men can only approach gods through priests.[27] this is degeneration. obviously, if religion began in a form relatively pure and moral, it _must_ degenerate, as civilisation advances, under priests who 'exploit' the lucrative, and can see no money in the pure elements of belief and practice. that the lucrative elements in christianity were exploited by the clergy, to the neglect of ethics, was precisely the complaint of the reformers. from these lucrative elements the creed of the apostles was free, and a similar freedom marks the religion of australia or of the pawnees. we cannot possibly, then, expect to find the 'original' state of religion among a people subdued to a money-grubbing priesthood, like the tshi races. let religion begin as pure as snow, it would be corrupted by priestly trafficking in its lucrative animistic aspect. and priests are developed relatively late. major ellis discriminates tshi gods as- 1. general, worshipped by an entire tribe or more tribes. 2. local deities of river, hill, forest, or sea. 3. deities of families or corporations. 4. tutelary deities of individuals. the second class, according to the natives, were appointed by the first class, who are 'too distant or indifferent to interfere ordinarily in human affairs.' thus, the huron god, ahone, punishes nobody. he is all sweetness and light, but has a deputy god, called okeus. on our hypothesis this indifference of high gods suggests the crowding out of the great disinterested god by venal animistic competition. all of class ii. 'appear to have been originally malignant.' though, in native belief, class i. was prior to, and 'appointed' class ii., major ellis thinks that malignant spirits of class ii. were raised to class i. as if to the peerage, while classes iii. and iv. 'are clearly the product of priesthood'--therefore late. major ellis then avers that when europeans reached the gold coast, in the fifteenth century, they 'appear to have found' a northern god, tando, and a southern god, bobowissi, still adored. bobowissi makes thunder and rain, lives on a hill, and receives, or received, human sacrifices. but, 'after an intercourse of some years with europeans,' the villagers near european forts 'added to their system a new deity, whom they termed nana nyankupon. this was the god of the christians, borrowed from them, and adapted under a new designation, meaning 'lord of the sky.' (this is conjectural. _nyankum_ = rain. _nyansa_ has 'a later meaning, "craft."')[28] now major ellis, later, has to contrast bosman's account of fetishism (1700) with his own observations. according to bosman's native source of information, men then selected their own fetishes. these are _now_ selected by priests. bosman's authority was wrong--or priesthood has extended its field of business. major ellis argues that the revolution from amateur to priestly selection of fetishes could not occur in 190 years, 'over a vast tract of country, amongst peoples living in semi-isolated communities, in the midst of pathless forests, where there is but little opportunity for the exchange of ideas, _and where we know they have been uninfluenced by any higher race_.' yet major ellis's theory is that this isolated people _were_ influenced by a higher race, to the extent of adopting a totally new supreme being, from europeans, a being whom they in no way sought to propitiate, and who was of no practical use. and this they did, he says, not under priestly influence, but in the face of priestly opposition.[29] major ellis's logic does not appear to be consistent. in any case we ask for evidence how, in the 'impenetrable forests' did a new supreme deity become universally known? are we certain that travellers (unquoted) did not discover a deity with no priests, or ritual, or 'money in the concern,' later than they discovered the blood-stained, conspicuous, lucrative bobowissi? why was nyankupon, the supposed new god of a new powerful set of strangers, left wholly unpropitiated? the reverse was to be expected. major ellis writes: 'almost certainly the addition of one more to an already numerous family' of gods, 'was strenuously resisted by the priesthood,' who, confessedly, are adding now lower gods every day! yet nyankupon is universally known, in spite of priestly resistance. nyankupon, i presume = anzambi, anyambi, nyambi, nzambi, anzam, nyam, the nzam of the fans, 'and of all bantu coast races, the creator of man, plants, animals, and the earth; he takes no further interest in the affair.'[30] the crowd of _spirits_ take only too much interest; and, therefore, are the lucrative element in religion. it is not very easy to believe that nyam, under all his names, was picked up from the portuguese, and passed apparently from negroes to bantu all over west africa, despite the isolation of the groups, and the resistance of the priesthood among tribes 'uninfluenced by any higher race.' nyam, like major ellis's class i., appoints a subordinate god to do his work: he is truly good, and governs the malevolent spirits.[31] the spread of nyankupon, as described by major ellis, is the more remarkable, since 'five or six miles from the sea, or even less, the country was a _terra incognita_ to europeans,'[32] nyankupon was, it is alleged, adopted, because our superiority proved europeans to be 'protected by a deity of greater power than any of those to which they themselves' (the tshi races) 'offered sacrifices.' then, of course, nyankupon would receive the best sacrifices of all, as the most powerful deity? far from that, nyankupon received no sacrifice, and had no priests. no priest would have a traditional way of serving him. as the unlucky man in voltaire says to his guardian angel, 'it is well worth while to have a presiding genius,' so the tshis and bantu might ironically remark, 'a useful thing, a new supreme being!' a quarter of a continent or so adopts a new foreign god, and leaves him _planté là_; unserved, unhonoured, and unsung. he therefore came to be thought too remote, or too indifferent, 'to interfere directly in the affairs of the world.' 'this idea was probably caused by the fact that the natives had not experienced any material improvement in their condition ... although they also had become followers of the god of the whites.'[33] but that was just what they had not done! even at magellan's straits, the fuegians picked up from a casual spanish sea-captain and adored an image of cristo. name and effigy they accepted. the tshi people took neither effigy nor name of a deity from the portuguese settled among them. they neither imitated catholic rites nor adapted their own; they prayed not, nor sacrificed to the 'new' nyankupon. only his name and the idea of his nature are universally diffused in west african belief. he lives in no definite home, or hill, but 'in nyankupon's country.' nyankupon, at the present day, is 'ignored rather than worshipped,' while bobowissi has priests and offerings. it is clear that major ellis is endeavouring to explain, by a singular solution (namely, the borrowing of a god from europeans), and that a solution improbable and inadequate, a phenomenon of very wide distribution. nyankupon cannot be explained apart from taaroa, puluga, ahone, ndengei, dendid, and ta-li-y-tochoo, gods to be later described, who cannot, by any stretch of probabilities, be regarded as of european origin. all of these represent the primeval supreme being, more or less or altogether stripped, under advancing conditions of culture, of his ethical influence, and crowded out by the horde of useful greedy ghosts or ghost gods, whose business is lucrative. nyankupon has no pretensions to be, or to have been a 'spirit.'[34] major ellis's theory is a natural result of his belief in a tangle of polytheism as 'the original state of religion.' if so, there was not much room for the natural development of nyankupon, in whom 'the missionaries find a parallel to the jahveh of the jews.'[35] on our theory nyankupon takes his place in the regular process of the corruption of theism by animism. the parallel case of nzambi mpungu, the creator among the fiorts (a bantu stock), is thus stated by miss kingsley: 'i have no hesitation in saying i fully believe nzambi mpungu to be a purely native god, and that he is a great god over all things, but the study of him is even more difficult than the study of nzambi, because the jesuit missionaries who gained so great an influence over the fiorts in the sixteenth century identified him with jehovah, and worked on the native mind from that stand-point. consequently semi-mythical traces of jesuit teaching linger, even now, in the religious ideas of the fiorts.'[36] nzambi mpungu lives 'behind the firmament.' 'he takes next to no interest in human affairs;' which is not a jesuit idea of god. in all missionary accounts of savage religion, we have to guard against two kinds of bias. one is the bias which makes the observer deny any religion to the native race, except devil-worship. the other is the bias which lends him to look for traces of a pure primitive religious tradition. yet we cannot but observe this reciprocal phenomenon: missionaries often find a native name and idea which answer so nearly to their conception of god that they adopt the idea and the name, in teaching. again, on the other side, the savages, when first they hear the missionaries' account of god, recognise it, as do the hurons and bakwain, for what has always been familiar to them. this is recorded in very early pre-missionary travels, as in the book of william strachey on virginia (1612), to which we now turn. the god found by strachey in virginia cannot, by any latitude of conjecture, be regarded as the result of contact with europeans. yet he almost exactly answers to the african nyankupon, who is explained away as a 'loan-god.' for the belief in relatively pure creative beings, whether they are morally adored, without sacrifice, or merely neglected, is so widely diffused, that anthropology must ignore them, or account for them as 'loan-gods'--or give up her theory! [footnote 1: lejean, _rev. des deux mondes_, april 1862, p. 760. citing for the chant, beltrame, _dictionario della lingua denka_, ms.] [footnote 2: waitz, ii. 74.] [footnote 3: 1882.] [footnote 4: _ecclesiastical institutions_, 681.] [footnote 5: _africana_, i. 66.] [footnote 6: _africana_, i. 67.] [footnote 7: _africana_, i. 71, 72_] [footnote 8: i 88.] [footnote 9: i. 68.] [footnote 10: i. 130.] [footnote 11: ibid.] [footnote 12: _africana_, i 279-301.] [footnote 13: edinburgh, 1892.] [footnote 14: incidentally mr. macdonald shows that, contrary to mr. spencer's opinion, these savages have words for dreams and dreaming. they interpret dreams by a system of symbols, 'a canoe is ill luck,' and 'dreams go by contraries.'] [footnote 15: waitz, _anthropologie_, ii. 167.] [footnote 16: waitz and gerland, _anthropologie_, vi. 796-799 and 809. in 1874 mr. howitt's evidence on the moral element in the mysteries was not published. waitz scouts the idea that the higher australian beliefs are of european origin. 'wir schen vielmehr uralte trümmer ähnlicher mythologenie in ihnen,' (vi. 798) flotsam from ideas of immemorial antiquity.] [footnote 17: wilson, p. 209.] [footnote 18: wilson, p. 392.] [footnote 19: park's _journey_, i. 274, 275, 1815.] [footnote 20: p. 245.] [footnote 21: london, 1887.] [footnote 22: ellis, pp. 20, 21.] [footnote 23: p. 4.] [footnote 24: ellis, p. 10.] [footnote 25: p. 120.] [footnote 26: p. 15.] [footnote 27: p. 125.] [footnote 28: ellis, pp. 24, 25.] [footnote 29: ellis, p. 189.] [footnote 30: miss kingsley, p. 442.] [footnote 31: ellis, p. 229.] [footnote 32: ibid. p. 25.] [footnote 33: op. cit. p. 27.] [footnote 34: ellis, p. 29.] [footnote 35: op. cit. p. 28.] [footnote 36: 'african religion and law,' _national review_, september 1897, p. 132.] xiv ahone. ti-ra-wá. nà-pi. pachacamac. tui laga. taa-roa in this chapter it is my object to set certain american creators beside the african beings whom we have been examining. we shall range from hurons to pawnees and blackfeet, and end with pachacamac, the supreme being of the old inca civilisation, with tui laga and taa-roa. it will be seen that the hurons have been accidentally deprived of their benevolent creator by a bibliographical accident, while that creator corresponds very well with the peruvian pachucamac, often regarded as a mere philosophical abstraction. the pawnees will show us a creator involved in a sacrificial ritual, which is not common, while the blackfeet present a creator who is not envisaged as a spirit at all, and, on our theory, represents a very early stage of the theistic conception. to continue the argument from analogy against major ellis's theory of the european origin of nyankupon, it seems desirable first to produce a parallel to his case, and to that of his blood-stained subordinate deity, bobowissi, from a quarter where european influence is absolutely out of the question. virginia was first permanently colonised by englishmen in 1607, and the 'historie of travaile into virginia,' by william strachey, gent., first secretary of the colony, dates from the earliest years (1612-1616). it will hardly be suggested, then, that the natives had already adopted _our_ supreme being, especially as strachey says that the native priests strenuously opposed the christian god. strachey found a house-inhabiting, agricultural, and settled population, under chiefs, one of whom, powhattan, was a kind of bretwalda. the temples contained the dried bodies of the _weroances_, or aristocracy, beside which was their okeus, or oki, an image 'ill favouredly carved,' all black dressed, 'who doth them all the harm they suffer. he is propitiated by sacrifices of their own children' (probably an error) 'and of strangers.' mr. tylor quotes a description of this oki, or okeus, with his idol and bloody rites, from smith's 'history of virginia' (1632)[1]. the two books, strachey's and smith's, are here slightly varying copies of one original. but, after censuring smith's (and strachey's) hasty theory that okeus is 'no other than a devil,' mr. tylor did not find in smith what follows in strachey. okeus has human sacrifices, like bobowissi, 'whilst the great god (the priests tell them) who governes all the world, and makes the son to shine, creatyng the moone and starrs his companyons ... they calling (_sic_) ahone. the good and peaceable god requires no such dutyes, nor needs to be sacrificed unto, for he intendeth all good unto them,' okeus, on the contrary, 'looking into all men's accions, and examining the same according to the severe scheme of justice, punisheth them.... such is the misery and thraldome under which sathan hath bound these wretched miscreants.' as if, in mr. strachey's own creed, satan does not punish, in hell, the offences of men against god! here, then, in addition to a devil (or rather a divine police magistrate), and general fetishism and nature worship, we find that the untutored virginian is equipped with a merciful creator, without idol, temple, or sacrifice, as needing nought of ours. it is by the merest accident, the use of smith's book (1632) instead of strachey's book (1612), that mr. tylor is unaware of these essential facts[2]. dr. brinton, like mr. tylor, cites smith for the nefarious or severe okeus, and omits any mention of ahone, the benevolent creator.[3] now, strachey's evidence is early (1612), is that of a well-educated man, fond of airing his greek, and not prejudiced in favour of these worshippers of 'sathan.' in virginia he found the unpropitiated loving supreme being, beside a subordinate, like nyankupon beside bobowissi in africa. each highest deity, in virginia or on the gold coast, is more or less eclipsed in popular esteem by nascent polytheism and nature worship. this is precisely what we should expect to find, if ahone, the creator, were earlier in evolution, while okeus and the rest were of the usual greedy class of animistic corruptible deities, useful to priests. this could not be understood while ahone was left out of the statement.[4] probably mr. strachey's narrative justifies, by analogy, our suspicion of major ellis's theory that the african supreme being is of european origin. the purpose in the ahone-okeus creed is clear. god (ahone) is omnipotent and good, yet calamities beset mankind. how are these to be explained? clearly as penalties for men's sins, inflicted, not by ahone, but by his lieutenant, okeus. but that magistrate can be, and is, appeased by sacrifices, which it would be impious, or, at all events, useless, to offer to the supreme being, ahone. it is a logical creed, but how was the supreme being evolved out of the ghost of a 'people-devouring king' like powhattan? the facts, very fairly attested, do not fit the anthropological theory. it is to be remarked that strachey's ahone is a much less mythological conception than that which, on very good evidence, he attributes to the indians of the patowemeck river. their creator is spoken of as 'a godly hare,' who receives their souls into paradise, whence they are reborn on earth again, as in plato's myth. they also regard the four winds as four gods. how the god took the mythological form of a hare is diversely explained.[5] meanwhile the ahone-okeus creed corresponds to the nyankupon-bobowissi creed. the american faith is certainly not borrowed from europe, so it is less likely that the african creed is borrowed. as illustrations of the general theory here presented, we may now take two tribal religions among the north american indians. the first is that of the equestrian pawnees, who, thirty years ago, were dwelling on the loup fork in nebraska. the buffaloes have since been destroyed, the lands seized, and the pawnees driven into a 'reservation,' where they are, or lately were, cheated and oppressed in the usual way. they were originally known to europeans in four hordes, the fourth being the skidi or wolf pawnees. they seem to have come into kansas and nebraska, at a date relatively remote, from mexico, and are allied with the lipans and tonkaways of that region. the tonkaways are a tribe who, in a sacred mystery, are admonished to 'live like the wolves,' in exactly the same way as were the hirpi (wolf tribe), of mount soracte, who practised the feat of walking unhurt through fire.[6] the tonkaways regard the pawnees, who also have a wolf tribe, as a long-separated branch of their race. if, then, they are of mexican origin, we might expect to find traces of aztec ritual among the pawnees. long after they obtained better weapons they used flint-headed arrows for slaying the only two beasts which it was lawful to sacrifice, the deer and the buffalo. they have long been a hunting and also an agricultural people. the corn was given to them originally by the ruler: their god, _ti-ra-wá_, 'the spirit father.' they offer the sacrifice of a deer with peculiar solemnity, and are a very prayerful people. the priest 'held a relation to the pawnees and their deity not unlike that occupied by moses to jehovah and the israelites.' a feature in ritual is the sacred bundles of unknown contents, brought from the original home in mexico. the pawnees were created by ti-ra-wá. they believe in a happy future life, while the wicked die, and there is an end of them. they cite their dreams of the dead as an argument for a life beyond the tomb. 'we see ourselves living with ti-ra-wá!' an evil earlier race, which knew not ti-ra-wá, was destroyed by him in the deluge; evidence is found in large fossil bones, and it would be an interesting inquiry whether such fossils are always found where the story of a 'sin-flood' occurs. if so, fossils must be universally diffused. as is common, the future life is attested, not only by dreams, but in the experience of men who 'have died' and come back to life, like secret pipe chief, who told the story to mr. grinnell. these visions in a state of apparent death are not peculiar to savages, and, no doubt, have had much effect on beliefs about the next world.[7] ghosts are rarely seen, but auditory hallucinations, as of a voice giving good advice in time of peril, are regarded as the speech of ghosts. the beasts are also friendly, as fellow children with men of ti-ra-wá. to the morning star the skidi or wolf pawnees offered on rare occasions a captive man. the ceremony was not unlike that of the aztecs, though less cruel. curiously enough, the slayer of the captive had instantly to make a mock flight, as in the attic _bouphonia_. this, however, was a rite paid to the morning star, not to ti-ra-wá, 'the power above that moves the universe and controls all things.' sacrifice to ti-ra-wá was made on rare and solemn occasions out of his two chief gifts, deer and buffalo. 'through corn, deer, buffalo, and the sacred bundles, we worship _ti-ra-wá_.' the flesh was burned in the fire, while prayers were made with great earnestness. in the old skidi rite the women told the fattened captive what they desired to gain from the ruler. it is occasionally said that the human sacrifice was made to _ti-ra-wá_ himself. the sacrificer not only fled, but fasted and mourned. it is possible that, as among the aztecs, the victim was regarded as also an embodiment of the god, but this is not certain, the rite having long been disused. mr. grinnell got the description from a very old skidi. there was also a festival of thanks to ti-ra-wá for corn. during a sacred dance and hymn the corn is held up to the ruler by a woman. corn is ritually called 'the mother,' as in peru.[8] 'we are like seed, and we worship through the corn.' disease is caused by evil spirits, and many american soldiers were healed by pawnee doctors, though their hurts had refused to yield to the treatment of the united states army surgeons.[9] the miracles wrought by pawnee medicine men, under the eyes of major north, far surpass what is told of indian jugglery. but this was forty years ago, and it is probably too late to learn anything of these astounding performances of naked men on the hard floor of a lodge. 'major north told me' (mr. grinnell) 'that he saw with his own eyes the doctors make the corn grow,' the doctor not manipulating the plant, as in the mango trick, but standing apart and singing. mr. grinnell says: 'i have never found any one who could even suggest an explanation.' this art places great power in the hands of the doctors, who exhibit many other prodigies. it is notable that in this religion we hear nothing of ancestor-worship; all that is stated as to ghosts has been reported. we find the cult of an all-powerful being, in whose ritual sacrifice is the only feature that suggests ghost-worship. the popular tales and historical reminiscences of the last generation entirely bear out by their allusions mr. grinnell's account of the pawnee faith, in which the ethical element chiefly consists in a sense of dependence on and touching gratitude to ti-ra-wá, as shown in fervent prayer. theft he abhors, he applauds valour, he punishes the wicked by annihilation, the good dwell with him in his heavenly home. he is addressed as a-ti-us ta-kaw-a, 'our father in all places.' it is not so easy to see how this being was developed out of ancestor-worship, of which we find no traces among pawnees. for ancestor-worship among the sioux, it is usual to quote a remark of one prescott, an interpreter: 'sometimes an indian will say, "wah negh on she wan da," which means, "spirits of the dead have mercy on me." then they will add what they want. that is about the amount of an indian's prayer.'[10] obviously, when we compare mr. grinnell's account of pawnee religion, based on his own observations, and those of major north, and mr. dunbar, who has written on the language of the tribe, we are on much safer ground, than when we follow a contemptuous, half-educated european. the religion of the blackfoot indians appears to be a ruder form of the pawnee faith. whether the differences arise from tribal character, or from decadence, or because the blackfoot belief is in an earlier and more backward condition than that of the pawnees, it is not easy to be certain. as in china, there exists a difficulty in deciding whether the supreme being is identical with the great nature-god; in china the heaven, among the blackfeet the sun; or is prior to him in conception, or has been, later, substituted for him, or placed beside him. the blackfoot mythology is low, crude, and, except in tales of creation, is derisive. as in australia, there is a specific difference of tone between mythology and religion. the blackfoot country runs east from the summit of the rocky mountains, to the mouth of the yellowstone river on the missouri, then west to the yellowstone sources, across the rocky mountains to the beaverhead, thence to their summit. as to spirits, the blackfeet believe in, or at least tell stories of, ghosts, which conduct themselves much as in our old-fashioned ghost stories. they haunt people in a rather sportive and irresponsible way. the souls or shadows of respectable persons go to the bleak country called the sand hills, where they live in a dull, monotonous kind of sheol. the shades of the wicked are 'earth-bound' and mischievous, especially ghosts of men slain in battle. they cause paralysis and madness, but dread interiors of lodges; they only 'tap on the lodge-skins.' like many indian tribes, the blackfeet have the eurydice legend. a man grieving for his dead wife finds his way to hades, is pitied by the dead, and allowed to carry the woman back with him, under certain ritual prohibitions, one of which he unhappily infringes. the range of this deeply touching story among the red men, and its close resemblance to the tale of orpheus, is one of the most curious facts in mythology. mr. grinnell's friend young bear, when lost with his wife in a fog, heard a voice, 'it is well. go on, you are going right.' 'the top of my head seemed to lift up. it seemed as if a lot of needles were running into it.... this must have been a ghost.' as the wife also heard the voice it was probably human, not hallucinatory. animals receive the usual amount of friendly respect from the blackfeet. they have also an inchoate polytheism, 'above persons, ground persons, and under water persons.' of the first, thunder is most important, and is worshipped. there is the cold maker, a white figure on a white horse, the wind, and so on. the creator is nà-pi, old man; dr. brinton thinks he is a personification of light, but mr. grinnell reckons it absurd to attribute so abstract a conception to the blackfeet. nà-pi is simply a primal being, an immortal man,[11] who was before death came into the world, concerning which one of the usual tales of the origin of death is told. 'all things that he had made understood him when he spoke to them--birds, animals, and people,' as in the first chapters of genesis. with nà-pi, creation worked on the lines of adaptation to environment. he put the bighorn on the prairie. there it was awkward, so he set it on rocky places, where it skipped about with ease. the antelope fell on the rocks, so he removed it to the level prairie. nà-pi created man and woman, out of clay, but the folly of the woman introduced death. nà-pi, as a prometheus, gave fire, and taught the forest arts. he inculcated the duty of prayer; his will should be done by emissaries in the shape of animals. then he went to other peoples. the misfortunes of the indians arise from disobedience to his laws. chiefs were elective, for conduct, courage, and charity. though weapons and utensils were buried with the dead, or exposed on platforms, and though great men were left to sleep in their lodges, henceforth never to be entered by the living, there is no trace known to me of continued ancestor-worship. as many blackfeet change their names yearly, ancestral names are not likely to become those of gods. the sun is by many believed to have taken the previous place of nà-pi in religion; or perhaps nà-pi _is_ the sun. however, he is still separately addressed in prayer. the sun receives presents of furs and so forth; a finger, when the prayer is for life, has been offered to him. fetishism probably shows itself in gifts to a great rock. there is daily prayer, both to the sun and to nà-pi. women institute medicine lodges, praying, 'pity me, sun. you have seen my life. you know that i am pure.' 'we look on the medicine lodge woman as you white people do on the roman catholic sisters.' being 'virtuous in deed, serious, and clean-minded,' the medical lodge woman is in spiritual _rapport_ with nà-pi and the sun. to this extent, at least, blackfoot religion is an ethical influence. the creed seems to be a nascent polytheism, subordinate to nà-pi as supreme maker, and to the personified sun. as blackfoot ghosts are 'vaporous, ineffectual' for good, there seems to be nothing like ancestor worship. these two cults and beliefs, pawnee and blackfoot, may be regarded as fairly well authenticated examples of un-christianised american religion among races on the borderland of agriculture and the chase. it would be difficult to maintain that ghost-worship or ancestor-worship is a potent factor in the evolution of the deathless ti-ra-wá or the immortal creator nà-pi, who has nothing of the spirit about him, especially as ghosts are not worshipped.[12] let us now look at the supreme being of a civilised american people. there are few more interesting accounts of religion than garcilasso de la vega's description of faith in peru. garcilasso was of inca parentage on the spindle side; he was born in 1540, and his book, taken from the traditions of an uncle, and aided by the fragmentary collections of father blas valera, was published in 1609. in garcilasso's theory the original people of peru, totemists and worshippers of hills and streams, earth and sea, were converted to sun worship by the first inca, a child of the sun. even the new religion included ancestor-worship and other superstitions. but behind sun worship was the faith in a being who 'advanced the sun so far above all the stars of heaven.'[13] this being was pachacamac, 'the sustainer of the world.' the question then arises, is pachacamac a form of the same creative being whom we find among the lowest savages; or is he the result of philosophical reflection? the latter was the opinion of garcilasso. 'the incas and their amautas' (learned class) 'were philosophers.'[14] 'pacha,' he says, = universe, and 'cama' = soul. pachacamac, then, is _anima mundi_. 'they did not even take the name of pachacamac into their mouths,' or but seldom and reverently, as the australians will not, in religious matters, mention darumulun. pachacamac had no temple, 'but they worshipped him in their hearts.' that he was the creator appears in an earlier writer, cited by garcilasso, agustin de zarate (ii. ch. 5). garcilasso, after denying the existence of temples to pachacamac, mentions one, but only one. he insists, at length, and with much logic, that he whom, as a christian, he worships, is in quichua styled pachacamac. moreover, the one temple to pachacamac was not built by an inca, but by a race which, having heard of the inca god, borrowed his name, without understanding his nature, that of a being who dwells not in temples made with hands (ii. 186). in the temple this people, the yuncas, offered even human sacrifices. by the incas to pachacamac no sacrifice was offered (ii. 189). this negative custom they also imposed upon the yuncas, and they removed idols from the yunca temple of pachacamac (ii. 190). yunca superstitions, however, infested the temple, and a voice gave oracles therein.[15] the yuncas also had a talking idol, which the inca, in accordance with a religious treaty, occasionally consulted. while pachacamac, without temple or rite, was reckoned the creator, we must understand that sun-worship and ancestor-worship were the practical elements of the inca cult. this appears to have been distasteful to the inca huayna ccapac, for at a sun feast he gazed hard on the sun, was remonstrated with by a priest, and replied that the restless sun 'must have another lord more powerful than himself.'[16] this remark could not have been necessary if pachacamac were really an article of living and universal belief. perhaps we are to understand that this inca, like his father, who seems to have been the original author of the saying, meant to sneer at the elaborate worship bestowed on the sun, while pachacamac was neglected, as far as ritual went. in garcilasso's book we have to allow for his desire to justify the creed of his maternal ancestors. his criticism of spanish versions is acute, and he often appeals to his knowledge of quichua, and to the direct traditions received by him from his uncle. against his theory of pachacamac as a result of philosophical thought, it may be urged that similar conceptions, or nearly similar, exist among races not civilised like the incas, and not provided with colleges of learned priests. in fact, the position of pachacamac and the sun is very nearly that of the blackfoot creator nà-pi, and the sun, or of shang-ti and the heaven, in china. we have the creative being whose creed is invaded by that of a worshipped aspect of nature, and whose cult, quite logically, is _nil_, or nearly _nil_. there are also, in different strata of the inca empire, ancestor-worship, or mummy-worship, totemism and polytheism, with a vague mass of _huaca = elohim, kalou, wakan._ perhaps it would not be too rash to conjecture that pachacamac is not a merely philosophical abstraction, but a survival of a being like nà-pi or ahone. cieza de leon calls pachacamac 'a devil,' whose name means 'creator of the world'![17] the name, when it _was_ uttered, was spoken with genuflexions and signs of reverence. so closely did pachacamac resemble the christian deity, that cieza de leon declares the devil to have forged and insisted on the resemblance![18] it was open to spanish missionaries to use pachacamac, as to the jesuits among the bantu to use mpungu, as a fulcrum for the introduction of christianity. they preferred to regard pachacamac as a fraudulent fiend. now nzambi mpungu, among the bantu, is assuredly not a creation of a learned priesthood, for the bantu have no learned priests, and mpungu would be useless to the greedy conjurers whom they do consult, as he is not propitiated. on grounds of analogy, then, pachacamac may be said to resemble a savage supreme being, somewhat etherealised either by garcilasso or by the amautas, the learned class among the subjects of the incas. he does not seem, even so, much superior to the ahone of the virginians. we possess, however, a different account of inca religion, from which garcilasso strongly dissents. the best version is that of christoval de molina, who was chaplain of the hospital for natives, and wrote between 1570 and 1584.[19] christoval assembled a number of old priests and other natives who had taken part in the ancient services, and collected their evidence. he calls the creator ('not born of woman, unchangeable and eternal') by the name pachayachachi. 'teacher of the world' and 'tecsiviracocha,' which garcilasso dismisses as meaningless.[20] he also tells the tale of the inca yupanqui and the lord of the sun, but says that the incas had already knowledge of the creator. to yupanqui he attributes the erection of a gold image of the creator, utterly denied by garcilasso.[21] christoval declares, again contradicted by garcilasso, that sacrifices were offered to the creator. unlike the sun, christoval says, the creator had no woman assigned to him, 'because, as he created them, they all belonged to him' (p. 26), which, of course, is an idea that would also make sacrifice superfluous. christoval gives prayers in quichua, wherein the creator is addressed as _uiracocha_. christoval assigns images, sacrifice, and even human sacrifice, to the creator uiracocha. garcilasso denies that the creator pachacamac had any of these things, he denies that uiracocha was the name of the creator, and he denies it, knowing that the spaniards made the assertion.[22] who is right? uiracocha, says garcilasso, is one thing, with his sacrifices; the creator, pachacamac, without sacrifices, is another, is god. mr. markham thinks that garcilasso, writing when he did, and not consciously exaggerating, was yet less trustworthy (though 'wonderfully accurate') than christoval. garcilasso, however, is 'scrupulously truthful.'[23] 'the excellence of his memory is perhaps best shown in his topographical details.... he does not make a single mistake,' in the topography of three hundred and twenty places! a scrupulously truthful gentleman, endowed with an amazing memory, and a master of his native language, flatly contradicts the version of a spanish priest, who also appears to have been careful and honourable. i shall now show that christoval and garcilasso have different versions of the same historical events, and that garcilasso bases his confutation of the spanish theory of the inca creator on his form of this historical tradition, which follows: the inca yahuarhuaccac, like george ii., was at odds with his prince of wales. he therefore banished the prince to chita, and made him serve as shepherd of the llamas of the sun. three years later the disgraced prince came to court, with what the inca regarded as a cock-and-bull story of an apparition of the kind technically styled 'borderland.' asleep or awake, he knew not, he saw a bearded robed man holding a strange animal. the appearance declared himself as uiracocha (christoval's name for the creator), a child of the sun; by no means as pachacamac, the creator of the sun. he announced a distant rebellion, and promised his aid to the prince. the inca, hearing this narrative, replied in the tones of charles ii., when he said about monmouth, 'tell james to go to hell!'[24] the predicted rebellion, however, broke out, the inca fled, the prince saved the city, dethroned his father, and sent him into the country. he then adopted, from the apparition, the throne-name _uiracocha,_ grew a beard, and dressed like the apparition, to whom he erected a temple, roofless, and unique in construction. therein he had an image of the god, for which he himself gave frequent sittings. when the spaniards arrived, bearded men, the indians called them uiracochas (as all the spanish historians say), and, to flatter them, declared falsely that uiracocha was their word for the creator. garcilasso explodes the spanish etymology of the name, in the language of cuzco, which he 'sucked in with his mother's milk.' 'the indians said that the chief spaniards were children of the sun, to make gods of them, just as they said they were children of the apparition, uiracocha.'[25] moreover, garcilasso and cieza de leon agree in their descriptions of the image of uiracocha, which, both assert, the spaniards conceived to represent a christian early missionary, perhaps st. bartholomew.[26] garcilasso had seen the mummy of the inca uiracocha, and relates the whole tale from the oral version of his uncle, adding many native comments on the court revolution described. to garcilasso, then, the invocations of uiracocha, in christoval's collection of prayers, are a native adaptation to spanish prejudice: even in them pachacamac occurs.[27] now, christoval has got hold of a variant of garcilasso's narrative, which, in garcilasso, has plenty of humour and human nature. according to christoval it was not the prince, later inca uiracocha, who beheld the apparition, but the inca uiracocha's _son,_ prince of wales, as it were, of the period, later the inca yupanqui. garcilasso corrects christoval. uiracocha saw the apparition, as père acosta rightly says, and yupanqui was _not_ the son but the grandson of this inca uiracocha.[28] uiracocha's own son was pachacutec, which simply means 'revolution,' 'they say, by way of by-word _pachamcutin,_ which means "the world changes."' christoval's form of the story is peculiarly gratifying in one way. yupanqui saw the apparition _in a piece of crystal_, 'the apparition vanished, while the piece of crystal remained. the inca took care of it, and they say that he afterwards saw everything he wanted in it.' the apparition, in human form and in inca dress, gave itself out for the sun; and yupanqui, when he came to the throne, 'ordered a statue of the sun to be made, as nearly as possible resembling the figure he had seen in the crystal.' he bade his subjects to 'reverence the new deity, as they had heretofore worshipped the creator,'[29] who, therefore, was prior to uiracocha. interesting as a proof of inca crystal-gazing, this legend of christoval's cannot compete as evidence with acosta and garcilasso. the reader, however, must decide as to whether he prefers garcilasso's unpropitiated pachacamac, or christoval's uiracocha, human sacrifices, and all.[30] mr. tylor prefers the version of christoval, making pachacamac a title of uiracocha.[31] he thinks that we have, in inca religion, an example of 'a subordinate god' (the sun) 'usurping the place of the supreme deity,' 'the rivalry between the creator and the divine sun.' in china, as we shall see, mr. tylor thinks, on the other hand, that heaven is the elder god, and that shang-ti, the supreme being, is the usurper. the truth in the uiracocha _versus_ pachacamac controversy is difficult to ascertain. i confess a leaning toward garcilasso, so truthful and so wonderfully accurate, rather than to the spanish priest. christoval, it will be remarked, says that 'chanca-uiracocha was a _huaca_ (sacred place) in chuqui-chaca.'[32] now chuqui-chaca is the very place where, according to garcilasso, the inca uiracocha erected a temple to 'his uncle, the apparition.'[33] uiracocha, then, the deity who receives human sacrifice, would be a late, royally introduced ancestral god, no real rival of the creator, who receives no sacrifice at all, and, as he was bearded, his name would be easily transferred to the bearded spaniards, whose arrival the inca uiracocha was said to have predicted. but to call several or all spaniards by the name given to the creator would be absurd. mr. tylor and mr. markham do not refer to the passage in which christoval obviously gets hold of a wrong version of the story of the apparition. there is yet another version of this historical legend, written forty years after christoval's date by don juan de santa cruz pachacuti-yamqui salcamayhua. he ranks after garcilasso and christoval, but before earlier _spanish_ writers, such as acosta, who knew not quichua. according to salcamayhuia, the inca uiracocha was like james iii., fond of architecture and averse to war. he gave the realm to his bastard, urca, who was defeated and killed by the chancas. uiracocha meant to abandon the contest, but his legitimate son, yupanqui, saw a fair youth on a rock, who promised him success in the name of the creator, and then vanished. the prince was victorious, and the inca uiracocha retired into private life. this appears to be a mixture of the stories of garcilasso and christoval.[34] it is not, in itself, a point of much importance whether the creator was called uiracocha (which, if it means anything, means 'sea of grease!'), or whether he was called pachacamac, maker of the world, or by both names. the important question is as to whether the creator received even human sacrifices (christoval) or none at all (garcilasso). as to pachacamac, we must consult mr. payne, who has the advantage of being a quichua scholar. he considers that pachacamac combines the conception of a general spirit of living things with that of a creator or maker of all things. 'pachacamac and the creator are one and the same,' but the conception of pachayachacic, 'ruler of the world,' 'belongs to the later period of the incas.'[35] mr. payne appears to prefer christoval's legend of the inca crystal-gazer, to the rival version of garcilasso. the yunca form of the worship of pachacamac mr. payne regards as an example of degradation.[36] he disbelieves garcilasso's statement, that human sacrifices were not made to the sun. garcilasso must, if mr. payne is right, have been a deliberate liar, unless, indeed, he was deceived by his inca kinsfolk. the reader can now estimate for himself the difficulty of knowing much about peruvian religion, or, indeed, of any religion. for, if mr. payne is right about the lowest savages having no conception of god, or even of spirit, though the idea of a great creator, a spirit, is one of the earliest efforts of 'primitive logic,' we, of course, have been merely fabling throughout. garcilasso's evidence, however, seems untainted by christian attempts to find a primitive divine tradition. garcilasso may possibly be refining on facts, but he asks for no theory of divine primitive tradition in the case of pachacamac, whom he attributes to philosophical reflection. in the following chapter we discuss 'the old degeneration theory,' and contrast it with the scheme provisionally offered in this book. we have already observed that the degeneration theory biasses the accounts of some missionaries who are obviously anxious to find traces of a primitive tradition, originally revealed to all men, but only preserved in a pure form by the jews. to avoid deception by means of this bias we have chosen examples of savage creative beings from wide areas, from diverse ages, from non-missionary statements, from the least contaminated backward peoples, and from their secret mysteries and hymns. thus, still confining ourselves to the american continent, we have the ancient hymns of the zuñis, in no way christianised, and never chanted in the presence of the mexican spanish, these hymns run thus: 'before the beginning of the new making, awonawilona, the maker and container of all, the all-father, solely had being.' he then evolved all things 'by thinking himself outward in space.' hegelian! but so are the dateless hymns of the maoris, despite the savage mythology which intrudes into both sets of traditions. the old fable of ouranos and gaia recurs in zuñi as in maori.[37] i fail to see how awonawilona could be developed out of the ghost of chief or conjurer. that in which all things potentially existed, yet who was more than all, is not the ghost of a conjurer or chief. he certainly is not due to missionary influence. no authority can be better than that of traditional sacred chants found among a populace which will not sing them before one of their mexican masters. we have tried to escape from the bias of belief in a primitive divine tradition, but bias of every kind exists, and must exist. at present the anthropological hypothesis of ancestor-worship as the basis, perhaps (as in mr. spencer's theory) the only basis of religion, affects observers. before treating the theory of degeneration let us examine a case of the anthropological bias. the fijians, as we learned from williams, have ancestral gods, and also a singular form of the creative being, ndengei, or, as mr. basil thomson calls him, degei. mr. thomson writes: 'it is clear that the fijians humanised their gods, because they had once existed on earth in human form.... like other primitive people, the fijians deified their ancestors.' yet the fijians 'may have forgotten the names of their ancestors three generations back'! how in the world can you deify a person whom you don't remember? moreover, only malevolent chiefs were deified, so apparently a fijian god is really a well-born human scoundrel, so considerable that _he_ for one is not forgotten--just as if we worshipped the wicked lord lyttelton! of course a god like ahone could not be made out of such materials as these, and, in fact, we learn from mr. thomson that there are other fijian gods of a different origin. 'it is probable that there were here and there, _gods that were the creation of the priests that ministered to them, and were not the spirits of dead chiefs_. such was the god of the bure tribe on the ra coast, who was called tui laga or "lord of heaven." when the missionaries first went to convert this town they found the heathen priest their staunch ally. he declared that they had come to preach the same god that he had been preaching, the tui laga, and that more had been revealed to them than to him of the mysteries of the god.' mr. thomson is reminded of st. paul at athens, 'whom then ye ignorantly worship, him declare i unto you.'[38] mr. thomson has clearly no bias in favour of a god like our own, known to savages, and _not_ derived from ghost-worship. he deduces this god, tui laga, from priestly reflection and speculation. but we find such a god where we find no priests, where a priesthood has not been developed. such a god, being usually unpropitiated by sacrifice and lucrative private practice, is precisely the kind of deity who does not suit a priesthood. for these reasons--that a priesthood 'sees no money in' a god of this kind, and that gods of this kind, ethical and creative, are found where there are no priesthoods--we cannot look on the conception as a late one of priestly origin, as mr. thomson does, though a learned caste, like the peruvian amantas, may refine on the idea. least of all can such a god be 'the creation of the priests that minister to him,' when, as in peru, the andaman isles, and much of africa, this god is ministered to by no priests. nor, lastly, can we regard the absence of sacrifice to the creative being as a mere proof that he is an ancestral ghost who 'had lived on earth at too remote a time;' for this absence of sacrifice occurs where ghosts are dreaded, but are not propitiated by offerings of food (as among australians, andamanese, and blackfoot indians), while the creative being is not and never was a ghost, according to his worshippers. at this point criticism may naturally remark that whether the savage supreme being is fêted, as by the comanches, who offer puffs of smoke: or is apparently half forgotten, as by the algonquins and zulus: whether he is propitiated by sacrifice (which is very rare indeed), or only by conduct, i equally claim him as the probable descendant in evolution of the primitive, undifferentiated, not necessarily 'spiritual' being of such creeds as the australian. one must reply that this pedigree cannot, indeed, be historically traced, but that it presents none of the logical difficulties inherent in the animistic pedigree--namely, that the savage supreme being is the last and highest result of evolution on animistic lines out of ghosts. it does not run counter to the evidence universally offered by savages, that their supreme being never was mortal man. it is consistent, whereas the animistic hypothesis is, in this case, inconsistent, with the universal savage theory of death. finally, as has been said before, granting my opinion that there are two streams of religious thought, one rising in the conception of an undifferentiated being, eternal, moral, and creative, the other rising in the ghost-doctrine, it stands to reason that the latter, as best adapted to everyday needs and experiences, normal and supernormal, may contaminate the former, and introduce sacrifice and food-propitiation into the ritual of beings who, by the original conception, 'need nothing of ours.' at the same time, the conception of 'spirit,' once attained, would inevitably come to be attached to the idea of the supreme being, even though he was not at first conceived of as a spirit. we know, by our own experience, how difficult it has become for us to think of an eternal, powerful, and immortal being, except as a spirit. yet this way of looking at the supreme being, merely as _being_, not as spirit, must have existed, granting that the idea of spirit has ghost for its first expression, as, by their very definition, the high gods of savages are not ghosts, and never were ghosts, but are prior to death. here let me introduce, by way of example, a supreme being _not_ of the lowest savage level. metaphysically he is improved on in statement, morally he is stained with the worst crimes of the hungry ghost-god, or god framed on the lines of animism. this very interesting supreme being, in a middle barbaric race, is the polynesian taa-roa, as described by ellis in that fascinating book 'polynesian researches.'[39] 'several of their _taata-paari_, or wise men, pretend that, according to other traditions, taa-roa was only a man who was deified after death.' euhemerism, in fact, is a natural theory of men acquainted with ancestor-worship, but a euhemeristic hypothesis by a polynesian thinker is not a statement of national belief. taa-roa was 'uncreated, existing from the beginning, or from the time he emerges from the _po_, or world of darkness.' in the leeward isles taa-roa was _toivi_, fatherless and motherless from all eternity. in the highest heavens he dwells alone. he created the gods of polytheism, the gods of war, of peace, and so on. says a native hymn, 'he was: he abode in the void. no earth, _no sky_, no men! he became the universe.' in the windward isles he has a wife, papa the rock = papa, earth, wife of rangi, heaven, in maori mythology. thus it may be argued, taa-roa is no 'primaeval theistic idea,' but merely the heaven-god (ouranos in greece). but we may distinguish: in the zuñi hymn we have the myth of the marriage of heaven and earth, but heaven is not the eternal, awonawilona, who 'thought himself out into the void,' before which, as in the polynesian hymn, 'there was no sky.'[40] whence came the idea of taa-roa? the euhemeristic theory that he was a ghost of a dead man is absurd. but as we are now among polytheists it may be argued that, given a crowd of gods on the animistic model, an origin had to be found for them, and that origin was taa-roa. this would be more plausible if we did not find supreme beings where there is no departmental polytheism to develop them out of. in tahiti, _atuas_ are gods, _oramutuas tiis_ are spirits; the chief of the spirits were ghosts of warriors. these were mischievous: they, their images, and the skulls of the dead needed propitiation, and these ideas (perhaps) were reflected on to taa-roa, to whom human victims were sacrificed.[41] now this kind of horror, human sacrifice, is unknown, i think, in early savage religions of supreme beings, as in australia, among the bushmen, the andamanese, and so on. i therefore suggest that in an advanced polytheism, such as that of polynesia, the evil sacrificial rites unpractised by low savages come to be attached to the worship even of the supreme being. ghosts and ghost-gods demanded food, and food was therefore also offered to the supreme being. it was found difficult, or impossible, to induce christian converts, in polynesia, to repeat the old prayers. they began, trembled, and abstained. they had a ritual 'for almost every act of their lives,' a thing unfamiliar to low savages. in fact, beyond all doubt, religious criminal acts, from human sacrifice to the burning of jeanne d'arc, increase as religion and culture move away from the stage of bushmen and andamanese to the stage of aztec and polynesian culture. the supreme being is succeeded in advancing civilisation, and under the influences of animism, by ruthless and insatiable ghost-gods, full of the worst human qualities. thus there is what we may really call degeneration, moral and religious, inevitably accompanying early progress. that this is the case, that the first advances in culture _necessarily_ introduce religious degeneration, we shall now try to demonstrate. but we may observe, in passing, that our array of moral or august savage supreme beings (the first who came to hand) will, for some reason, not be found in anthropological treatises on the origin of religion. they appear, somehow, to have been overlooked by philosophers. yet the evidence for them is sufficiently good. its excellence is proved by its very uniformity, assuredly undesigned. an old, nay, an obsolete theory--that of degeneration in religion--has facts at its basis, which its very supporters have ignored, which orthodoxy has overlooked. thus the rev. professor flint informs the audience in the cathedral of st. giles's, that, in the religions 'at the bottom of the religious scale,' 'it is always easy to see how wretchedly the divine is conceived of; how little conscious of his own true wants ... is the poor worshipper.' the poor worshipper of baiame wishes to obey his law, which makes, to some extent, for righteousness.[42] [footnote 1: in pinkerton, xiii. pp. 13, 39; _prim. cult_. ii. 342.] [footnote 2: see preface to this edition for corrected statement.] [footnote 3: _myths of the new world_, p. 47.] [footnote 4: there is a description of virginia, by w. strachey, including smith's remarks, published in 1612. strachey interwove some of this work with his own ms. in the british museum, dedicated to bacon (verulam). this ms. was edited by mr. major, for the hakluyt society, in 1849, with a glossary, by strachey, of the native language. the remarks on religion are in chapter vii. the passage on ahone occurs in strachey (1612), but _not_ in smith (1682), in pinkerton. i owe to the kindness of mr. edmund gosse photographs of the drawings accompanying the ms. strachey's story of sacrifice of children (pp. 94, 95) seems to refer to nothing worse than the initiation into the mysteries.] [footnote 5: see brinton, _myths of the new world_, for a philological theory.] [footnote 6: compare 'the fire walk' in _modern mythology_.] [footnote 7: compare st. augustine's curious anecdote in _de cura pro mortuis habenda_ about the dead and revived curio. the founder of the new sioux religion, based on hypnotism, 'died' and recovered.] [footnote 8: cf. demeter.] [footnote 9: major north, for long the u.s. superintendent of the pawnees.] [footnote 10: schoolcraft, iii. 237.] [footnote 11: as envisaged here, nà-pi is not a spirit. the question of spirit or non-spirit has not arisen. so far, nà-pi answers to marrangarrah, the creative being of the larrakeah tribe of australians. 'a very good man called marrangarrah lives in the sky; he made all living creatures, except black fellows. he made everything.... he never dies, and likes all black fellows.' he has a demiurge, dawed (mr. foelsche, _apud_ dr. stirling, _j.a.i_., nov. 1894, p. 191). it is curious to observe how savage creeds often shift the responsibility for evil from the supreme creator, entirely beneficent, on to a subordinate deity.] [footnote 12: grinnell's _blackfoot lodge-tales_ and _pawnee hero stories_.] [footnote 13: garcilasso, i. 101.] [footnote 14: op. cit. i. 106.] [footnote 15: from all this we might conjecture, like mr. prescott, that the incas borrowed pachacamac from the yuncas, and etherealised his religion. but mr. clements markham points out that 'pachacamac is a pure quichua word.'] [footnote 16: garcilasso, ii. 446, 447.] [footnote 17: cieza de leon. p.253] [footnote 18: markham's translation, p. 253.] [footnote 19: _rites and laws of the yncas_, markham's translation, p. vii.] [footnote 20: _rites_, p. 6. garcilasso, i. 109.] [footnote 21: _rites_, p. 11.] [footnote 22: compare _reports on discovery of peru,_ introduction.] [footnote 23: _rites_, p. xv.] [footnote 24: lord ailesbury's _memoirs_.] [footnote 25: garcilasso, ii. 68.] [footnote 26: cieza de leon, p. 357.] [footnote 27: _rites,_ pp. 28, 29.] [footnote 28: acosta, lib. vi. ch. 21: garcilasso. ii. 88, 89.] [footnote 29: _rites_, p. 12.] [footnote 30: ibid. p.54.] [footnote 31: _prim. cult_. ii, 337, 338.] [footnote 32: _rites_, p. 29.] [footnote 33: garcilasso, ii. 69.] [footnote 34: _rites and laws_, p. 91 _et seq_.] [footnote 35: payne, i. 139.] [footnote 36: op. cit. i. 468. mr. payne absolutely rejects ixtlilochitl's story of the monotheism of nezahualcoyotl; 'torquemada knows nothing of it,' i. 490.] [footnote 37: cushing, _report, ethnol. bureau_, 1891-92, p. 379.] [footnote 38: _j.a.i_. may 1895, pp. 341-344.] [footnote 39: ii. 191, 1829.] [footnote 40: _prim. cult_. ii. 345, 346. ellis, ii. 193.] [footnote 41: ellis, ii. 221.] [footnote 42: _the faiths of the world_, p. 413.] xv the old degeneration theory if any partisan of the anthropological theory has read so far into this argument, he will often have murmured to himself, 'the old degeneration theory!' on this dr. brinton remarked in 1868: 'the supposition that in ancient times and in very unenlightened conditions, before mythology had grown, a monotheism prevailed which afterwards, at various times, was revived by reformers, is a belief that should have passed away when the delights of savage life and the praises of a state of nature ceased to be the theme of philosophers[1].' 'the old degeneration theory' practically, and fallaciously, resolved itself, as mr. tylor says, into two assumptions--'first, that the history of culture began with the appearance on earth of a semi-civilised race of men; and second, that from this stage culture has proceeded in two ways--backward to produce savages, and forward to produce civilised men[2].' that hypothesis is false to all our knowledge of evolution. the hypothesis here provisionally advocated makes no assumptions at all. it is a positive fact that among some of the lowest savages there exists, not a doctrinal and abstract monotheism, but a belief in a moral, powerful, kindly, creative being, while this faith is found in juxtaposition with belief in unworshipped ghosts, totems, fetishes, and so on. the powerful creative being of savage belief sanctions truth, unselfishness, loyalty, chastity, and other virtues. i have set forth the difficulties involved in the attempt to derive this being from ghosts and other lower forms of belief. now, it is mere matter of fact, and not of assumption, that the supreme being of many rather higher savages differs from the supreme being of certain lower savages by the neglect in which he is left, by the epicurean repose with which he is credited, and by his comparative lack of moral control over human conduct. in his place a mob of ghosts and spirits, supposed to be potent and helpful in everyday life, attract men's regard and adoration, and get paid by sacrifice--even by human sacrifice. turning to races yet higher in material culture, we find a crowd of hungry and cruel gods. on this point mr. jevons remarks, in accordance with my own observation, that 'human sacrifice appears at a much earlier period in the rites for the dead than it does in the ritual of the gods.'[3] the dead chief needs servants and wives in hades, who are offered to him. the australians have some elements of cannibalism, but do not, as a general rule, offer any human victims. so far, then, ancestor-worship introduced a sadly 'degenerate' rite, compared with the moral faith in unfed gods. to gods the human sacrifice was probably extended (in some cases) either by a cannibal civilised race, like the aztecs, or by way of _piacula_, the god being conciliated for man's sin by the offering of what man most prized, the 'jealousy' of the god being appeased in a similar way. but these are relatively advanced conceptions, not to be found, to my knowledge, among the lowest and most backward races. therefore, advance to the idea of spirit at one point, meant degeneration at another point, to the extent of human sacrifice. thus, on looking at relatively advanced races, we find them worshipping polytheistic deities and ghosts of the kings just dead, who are often propitiated by terrible massacres of human victims, while, as in the case of taa-roa, the blood spurts back even on the uncreated creator, who was before earth was, or sea, sun, or sky. undeniably the hungry, cruel gods are degenerate from the australian father in heaven, who receives no sacrifice but that of men's lusts and selfishness; who desires obedience, not the fat of kangaroos; who needs nothing of ours; is unfed and unbribed. thus, in this particular respect the degeneration of religion from the australian or andamanese to the dinka standard--and infinitely more to the polynesian, or aztec, or popular greek standard--is as undeniable as any fact in human history. anthropology has only escaped the knowledge of this circumstance by laying down the rule, demonstrably unbased on facts, that 'the divine sanction of ethical laws ... belongs almost or wholly to religions above the savage level, not to the earlier and lower creeds;' that 'savage animism is almost devoid of that ethical element which to the educated modern mind is the very mainspring of practical religion.'[4] i have argued, indeed, that the god of low savages who imparts the divine sanction of ethical laws is _not_ of animistic origin. but even where mr. im thurn finds, in guiana, nothing but animism of the lowest conceivable type, he also finds in that animism the only or most potent moral restraint on the conduct of men. while anthropology holds the certainly erroneous idea that the religion of the most backward races is always non-moral, of course she cannot know that there has, in fact, been great degeneration in religion (if religion began on the australian and andamanese level, or even higher) wherever religion is non-moral or immoral. again, anthropology, while fixing her gaze on totems, on worshipped mummies, adored ghosts, and treasured fetishes, has not, to my knowledge, made a comparative study of the higher and purer religious ideas of savages. these have been passed by, with a word about credulous missionaries and christian influences, except in the brief summary for which mr. tylor found room. in this work i only take a handful of cases of the higher religious opinions of savages, and set them side by side for purposes of comparison. much more remains to be done in this field. but the area covered is wide, the evidence is the best attainable, and it seems proved beyond doubt that savages have 'felt after' a conception of a creator much higher than that for which they commonly get credit. now, if that conception is original, or is very early (and nothing in it suggests lateness of development), then the other elements of their faith and practice are degenerate. 'how,' it has been asked, 'could all mankind forget a pure religion?'[5] that is what i now try to explain. that degeneration i would account for by the attractions which animism, when once developed, possessed for the naughty natural man, 'the old adam.' a moral creator in need of no gifts, and opposed to lust and mischief, will not help a man with love-spells, or with malevolent 'sendings' of disease by witchcraft; will not favour one man above his neighbour, or one tribe above its rivals, as a reward for sacrifice which he does not accept, or as constrained by charms which do not touch his omnipotence. ghosts and ghost-gods, on the other hand, in need of food and blood, afraid of spells and binding charms,[6] are a corrupt, but, to man, a useful constituency. man being what he is, man was certain to 'go a-whoring' after practically useful ghosts, ghost-gods, and fetishes which he could keep in his wallet or medicine bag. for these he was sure, in the long run, first to neglect his idea of his creator; next, perhaps, to reckon him as only one, if the highest, of the venal rabble of spirits or deities, and to sacrifice to him, as to them. and this is exactly what happened! if we are not to call it 'degeneration,' what are we to call it? it may be an old theory, but facts 'winna ding,' and are on the side of an old theory. meanwhile, on the material plane, culture kept advancing, the crafts and arts arose; departments arose, each needing a god; thought grew clearer; such admirable ethics as those of the aztecs were developed, and while bleeding human hearts smoked on every altar, nezahuatl conceived and erected a bloodless fane to 'the unknown god, cause of causes,' without altar or idol; and the inca, yupanqui, or another, declared that 'our father and master, the sun, must have a lord.'[7] but, at this stage of culture, the luck of the state, and the interests of a rich and powerful clergy, were involved in the maintenance of the old, animistic, relatively non-moral system, as in cuzco, greece, and rome. that popular and political regard for the luck of the state, that priestly self-interest (quite natural), could only be swept away by the moral monotheism of christianity or of islam. nothing else could do it. in the case of christianity, the central and most potent of many combined influences, apart from the life and death of our lord, was the moral monotheism of the hebrew religion of jehovah. now, it is undeniable that jehovah, at a certain period of hebrew history, had become degraded and anthropomorphized, far below darumulun, and puluga, and pachacamac, and ahone, as conceived of in their purest form, and in the high mood of savage mysteries which yet contain so much that is grotesque. even the big black man of the fuegians is on a higher level (as _we_ reckon morals), when he forbids the slaying of a robber enemy, than certain examples of early hebrew conduct. but our knowledge of the fuegians is lamentably scanty. again, traces of human sacrifice appear in the ritual of israel, and it is only relatively late that the great prophets, justly declaring jehovah to be indifferent to the blood of bulls and rams, try to bring back his service to that of the unpropitiated, unbought dendid, or ahone, or pundjel. here is degeneration, even in israel. how the conception of jehovah arose in israel, whether it was a revival of a half-obliterated idea, such as we find among low savages; or whether it was borrowed from some foreign creed; or was the result of meditation on the philosophical supreme being of high egyptian theology, is another question. the biblical statement leans to the first alternative. jehovah, not by that name, had been the god of israel's fathers. the question will be discussed later; but, unless new facts are discovered, we must accept the version of the pentateuch, or take refuge in conjecture. not only is there degeneration from the australian conception of mungan-gnaur, at its best, to the conception of the semitic gods in general, but, 'humanly speaking,' if religion began in a pure form among low savages, degeneration was inevitable. advancing social conditions compelled men into degeneration. mungan-ngaur is, so far, in line with our own ideas of divinity because he is not localised. he dwelleth not in temples made with hands; it is not likely that he should, when his worshippers have neither house, tent, nor tabernacle. as mr. robertson smith says, 'where the god had a house or a temple, we recognise the work of men who were no longer pure nomads, but had begun to form fixed homes.' by the nature of australian society, a deity could not be tied to a temple, and temple-ritual, and consequent myths to explain that ritual, could not arise. nor could darumulun be attached to a district, just as 'the nomad arabs could not assimilate the conception of a god as a land-owner, and apply it to their own tribal deities, for the simple reason that in the desert private property in land was unknown.'[8] darumulun is thus not capable of degenerating into 'a local god, as _baal_, or lord of the land,' because this 'involves a series of ideas unknown to the primitive life of the savage huntsman,' like the widely spread murring tribes.[9] nor could darumulun be tied down to a place in semitic fashion, first by manifesting himself there, therefore by receiving an altar of sacrifice there, and in the end a sanctuary, for darumulun receives no sacrifice at all. again, the scene of the bora could not become a permanent home of darumulun, because, when the rites are over, the effigy of the god is scrupulously destroyed. thus darumulun, in his own abode 'beyond the sky,' can 'go everywhere and do everything' (is omnipresent and omnipotent), dwells in no earthly places, has no temple, nor tabernacle, nor sacred mount, nor, like jehovah, any limit of land.[10] the early hebrew conception of jehovah, then, is infinitely more conditioned, practically, by space, than the supreme being, 'the master,' in the conception of some australian blacks. 'by a prophet like isaiah the residence of jehovah in zion is almost wholly dematerialised.... conceiving jehovah as the king of israel, he necessarily conceives his kingly activity as going forth from the capital of the nation.'[11] but nomad hunter tribes, with no ancestor-worship, no king and no capital, cannot lower their deity by the conditions, or limit him by the limitations, of an earthly monarchy. in precisely the same way, major ellis proves the degeneration of deity in africa, so far as being localised in place of being the universal god, implies degeneration, as it certainly does to our minds. by being attached to a given hill or river 'the gods, instead of being regarded as being interested in the whole of mankind, would eventually come to be regarded as being interested in separate tribes or nations alone.' to us milton seems nobly chauvinistic when he talks of what god has done by 'his english.' but this localised and essentially degenerate conception was inevitable, as soon as, in advancing civilisation, the god who had been 'interested in the whole of [known] mankind' was settled on a hill, river, or lagoon, amidst a nation of worshippers. in the course of the education of mankind, this form of degeneration (abstractly so considered) was to work, as nothing else could have worked, towards the lofty conception of universal deity. for that conception was only brought into practical religion (as apart from philosophic speculation) by the union between israel and the god of sinai and zion. the prophets, recognising in the god of sinai, their nation's god--one to whom righteousness was infinitely dearer than even his chosen people--freed the conception of god from local ties, and made it overspread the world. mr. robertson smith has pointed out, again, the manner in which the different political development of east and west affected the religion of greece and of the semites. in greece, monarchy fell, at an early period, before the aristocratic houses. the result was 'a divine aristocracy of many gods, only modified by a weak reminiscence of the old kingship in the not very effective sovereignty' (or _prytany_) 'of zeus. in the east the national god tended to acquire a really monarchic sway.'[12] australia escaped polytheistic degeneracy by having no aristocracy, as in polynesia, where aristocracy, as in early greece, had developed polytheism. ghosts and spirits the australians knew, but not polytheistic gods, nor departmental deities, as of war, agriculture, art. the savage had no agriculture, and his social condition was not departmental. in yet another way, political advance produces religious degeneration, if polytheism be degeneration from the conception of one relatively supreme moral being. to make a nation, several tribes must unite. each has its god, and the nation is apt to receive them all, equally, into its pantheon. thus, if worshippers of baiame, pundjel, and darumulun coalesced into a nation, we might find all three gods living together in a new polytheism. in fact, granting a relatively pure starting-point, degeneration from it must accompany every step of civilisation, to a certain distance. unlike semitic gods, darumulun receives no sacrifice. as we have said, he has no kin with ghosts, and their sacrifices could not be carried on into his cult, if waitz-gerland (vi. 811) are right in saying that the australians have no ancestor-worship. the kurnai ghosts 'were believed to live upon plants,'[13] which are not offered to them. chill ghosts, unfed by men, would come to waning camp-fires and batten on the broken meats. the ngarego and wolgal held, more handsomely, that tharamulun (darumulun) met the just departed spirit 'and conducted it to its future home beyond the sky.'[14] ghosts might also accompany relics of the body, such as the dead hand, carried about by the family, who would wave the black fragment at the dreaded aurora borealis, crying, 'send it away!' i am unacquainted with any sacrifices to ancestral ghosts among this people who cannot long remember their ancestors, consequently the practice has not been refracted on their supreme master's cult. in the cult of darumulun, and of other highest gods of lowest savages, nothing answers to the hebrew technical priestly word for sacrifice, 'food of the deity.'[15] nobody feeds puluga, nobody fed ahone. we hear of no fuegian sacrifices. mr. robertson smith says: 'in all religions in which the gods have been developed out of totems [worshipped animals and other things regarded as akin to human stocks] the ritual act of laying food before the deity is perfectly intelligible.' pundjel, an australian supreme being, is mixed up with animals in some myths, but it is not easy to see how such supreme beings as he could be 'developed out of totems'! i am not aware, again, that any australian tribe feeds the animals who are its totems, so darumulun could not, and did not inherit sacrifice through them. mr. robertson smith had a celebrated theory that cereal sacrifice is a tribute to a god, while sacrifice of a beast or man is an act of communion with the god.[16] men and gods dined together.[17] 'the god himself was conceived of as a being of the same stock as his comrades.' beasts were also of the same stock, one beast, say a lobster, was of the same blood as a lobster kin, and its god.[18] occasionally the sacred beast of the kin, usually not to be slain or tasted, is 'eaten as a kind of mystic sacrament a most dubious fact.'[19] now, there is, i believe, some evidence, lately collected if not published, which makes in favour of the eating of totems by australians, at a certain very rare and solemn mystery. it would not even surprise me ('from information received') if a very deeply initiated person were occasionally slain, as the highest degree of initiation, on certain most unusual occasions. this remains uncertain, but i have at present no evidence that, either by one road or another, either from ghost-feeding or totem-feeding, or feeding on totems, any australian supreme being receives any sacrifice at all. much less, as among pawnees and semitic peoples (to judge from certain traces), is the australian supreme being a cause of and partaker in human sacrifice.[20] the horrible idea of the man who is the god, and is eaten in the god's honour, occurs among polytheistic aztecs, on a high level of material culture, not among australians, andamanese, bushmen, or fuegians.[21] thus, in religion, the darumulun, or other supreme being of the lowest known savages, men roaming wild, when originally met, on a continent peopled by older kinds of animals than ours, was (as we regard purity) on a higher plane by far than the gods of greeks and semites in their earliest known myths. setting mythology aside and looking only at cult, the god of the murring or the kurnai, whose precepts soften the heart, who knows the heart's secrets, who inculcates chastity, respect of age, unselfishness, who is not bound by conditions of space or place, who receives no blood of slaughtered man or beast, is a conception from which the ordinary polytheistic gods of infinitely more polite peoples are frankly degenerate. the animistic superstitions wildly based on the belief in the soul have not soiled him, and the social conditions of aristocracy, agriculture, architecture, have not made him one in a polytheistic crowd of rapacious gods, nor fettered him as a baal to his estate, nor localised him in a temple built with hands. he cannot appear as a 'god of battles;' no _te deum_ can be sung to him for victory in a cause perhaps unjust, for he is the supreme being of a certain group of allied local tribes. one of these tribes has no more interest with him than another, and the whole group do not, as a body, wage war on another alien group. the social conditions of his worshippers, then, preserve darumulun from the patent blots on the escutcheon of gods among much more advanced races. once more, the idea of animism admits of endless expansion. a spirit can be located anywhere, in any stone, stick, bush, person, hill, or river. a god made on the animistic model can be assigned to any department of human activity, down to sports, or lusts, or the province of cloacina. thus religion becomes a mere haunted and pestilential jungle of beliefs. but the theistic conception, when not yet envisaged as spiritual, cannot be subdivided and _éparpillé_. thus, from every point of view, and on every side, animism is full of the seeds of religious degeneration, which do not and cannot exist in what i take to be the earliest known form of the theistic conception: that of a being about whose metaphysical nature--spirit or not spirit--no questions were asked, as dr. brinton long ago remarked. that conception alone could neither supply the moral motive of 'a soul to be saved,' nor satisfy the metaphysical instinct of advancing mankind. to meet these wants, to supply 'soul,' with its moral stimulus, and to provide a phrase or idea under which the deity could be envisaged (i.e. as a _spirit_) by advancing thought, animism was necessary. the blending of the theistic and the animistic beliefs was indispensable to religion. but, in the process of animistic development under advancing social conditions, degeneration was necessarily implied. degeneration of the theistic conception for a while, therefore, occurred. the facts are the proofs; and only contradictory facts, in sufficient quantity, can annihilate the old theory of degeneration when it is presented in this form. it mast be repeated that on this theory an explanation is given of what the old degeneration hypothesis does not explain. granting a primal religion relatively pure in its beginnings, why did it degenerate? mr. max mullet, looking on religion as the development of the sentiment of the infinite, regards fetishism as a secondary and comparatively late form of belief. we find it, he observes, in various forms of christianity; christianity, therefore, is primary there, relic worship is secondary. religion beginning, according to him, in the sense of the infinite, as awakened in man by tall trees, high hills, and so on, it advances to the infinite of space and sky, and so to the infinitely divine. this is primary: fetishism is secondary. arguing elsewhere against this idea, i have asked: what was the _modus_ of degeneration which produced similar results in christianity, and in african and other religions? how did it work? i am not aware that mr. max müller has answered this question. but how degeneration worked--namely, by animism supplanting theism--is conspicuously plain on our theory. take the early chapters of genesis, or any savage cosmogonic myth you please. deathless man is face to face with the creator. he cannot degenerate in religion. he cannot offer sacrifice, for the creator obviously needs nothing, and again, as there is no death, he cannot slay animals for the creator. but, in one way or another, usually by breach of a taboo, death enters the world. then comes, by process of evolution, belief in hungry spirits, belief in spirits who may inhabit stones or sticks; again there arise priests who know how to propitiate spirits and how to tempt them into sticks and stones. these arts become lucrative and are backed by the cleverest men, and by the apparent evidence of prophecies by convulsionaries. thus every known kind of degeneration in religion is inevitably introduced as a result of the theory of animism. we do not need an hypothesis of original sin as a cause of degeneration, and, if mr. max müller's doctrine of the infinite were _viable_, we have supplied, in animism, under advancing social conditions, what he does not seem to provide, a cause and _modus_ of degeneration. fetishism would thus be really 'secondary,' _ex hypothesi_, but as we nowhere find fetishism alone, without the other elements of religion, we cannot say, historically, whether it is secondary or not. fetishism logically needs, in some of its aspects, the doctrine of spirits, and theism, in what we take to be its earliest known form, does not logically need the doctrine of spirits as given matter. so far we can go, but not farther, as to the fact of priority in evolution. nevertheless we meet, among the most backward peoples known to us, among men just emerged from the palaeolithic stage of culture, men who are involved in dread of ghosts, a religious idea which certainly is not born of ghost-worship, for by these men, ancestral ghosts are not worshipped. in their hearts, on their lips, in their moral training we find (however blended with barbarous absurdities, and obscured by rites of another origin) the faith in a being who created or constructed the world; who was from time beyond memory or conjecture; who is primal, who makes for righteousness, and who loves mankind. this being has not the notes of degeneration; his home is 'among the stars,' not in a hill or in a house. to him no altar smokes, and for him no blood is shed. 'god, that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing ... and hath made of one blood all nations of men ... that they should seek the lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being.' that the words of st. paul are literally true, as to the feeling after a god who needs not anything at man's hands, the study of anthropology seems to us to demonstrate. that in this god 'we have our being,' in so far as somewhat of ours may escape, at moments, from the bonds of time and the manacles of space, the earlier part of this treatise is intended to suggest, as a thing by no means necessarily beyond a reasonable man's power to conceive. that these two beliefs, however attained (a point on which we possess no positive evidence), have commonly been subject to degeneration in the religions of the world, is only too obvious. so far, then, the nature of things and of the reasoning faculty does not seem to give the lie to the old degeneration theory. to these conclusions, as far as they are matters of scientific opinion, we have been led by nothing but the study of anthropology. [footnote 1: _myths of the new world_, p. 44.] [footnote 2: _prim. cult_. i. 35.] [footnote 3: _introduction_, p. 199; also p. 161.] [footnote 4: _prim. cult_. ii. 360,361.] [footnote 5: prof. menzies, _history of religion_, p. 23.] [footnote 6: [greek: legomenai theion anagchai.] porphyry.] [footnote 7: ixtlilochitl. balboa, _hist. du pérou_, p. 62.] [footnote 8: robertson smith, _religion of the semites_, pp. 104, 105.] [footnote 9: op. cit. p. 106.] [footnote 10: on the glenelg some caves and mountain tops are haunted or holy. waitz, vi. 804, no authority cited.] [footnote 11: _religion of semites_, p. 110.] [footnote 12: _rel. sem_. p. 71.] [footnote 13: howitt, _j.a.t_. 1884, p. 187.] [footnote 14: op. cit. p. 188.] [footnote 15: _rel. sem_. p. 207.] [footnote 16: _rel. sem_. p. 225.] [footnote 17: op. cit. p. 247.] [footnote 18: op. cit. p. 269.] [footnote 19: op. cit. p. 277.] [footnote 20: op. cit. p. 343. citing gen. xxii 2 kings xxi. 6, micah vi. 7, 2 kings iii. 27.] [footnote 21: i mean, does not occur to my knowledge. new evidence is always upsetting anthropological theories.] xvi theories of jehovah all speculation on the curly history of religion is apt to end in the endeavour to see how far the conclusions can be made to illustrate the faith of israel. thus, the theorist who believes in ancestor-worship as the key of all the creeds will see in jehovah a developed ancestral ghost, or a kind of fetish-god, attached to a stone--perhaps an ancient sepulchral stele of some desert sheikh. the exclusive admirer of the hypothesis of totemism will find evidence for his belief in worship of the golden calf and the bulls. the partisan of nature-worship will insist on jehovah's connection with storm, thunder, and the fire of sinai. on the other hand, whoever accepts our suggestions will incline to see, in the early forms of belief in jehovah, a shape of the widely diffused conception of a moral supreme being, at first (or, at least, when our information begins) envisaged in anthropomorphic form, but gradually purged of all local traits by the unexampled and unique inspiration of the great prophets. they, as far as our knowledge extends, were strangely indifferent to the animistic element in religion, to the doctrine of surviving human souls, and so, of course, to that element of animism which is priceless--the purification of the soul in the light of the hope of eternal life. just as the hunger after righteousness of the prophets is intense, so their hope of finally sating that hunger in an eternity of sinless bliss and enjoyment of god is confessedly inconspicuous. in short, they have carried theism to its austere extreme--'though he slay me, yet will i trust in him'--while unconcerned about the rewards of animism. this is certainly a strange result of a religion which, according to the anthropological theory, has animism for its basis. we therefore examine certain forms of the animistic hypothesis as applied to account for the religion of israel. the topic is one in which special knowledge of hebrew and other oriental languages seems absolutely indispensable; but anthropological speculators have not been oriental scholars (with rare exceptions), while some oriental scholars have borrowed from popular anthropology without much critical discrimination. these circumstances must be our excuse for venturing on to this difficult ground. it is probably impossible for us to trace with accuracy the rise of the religion of jehovah. 'the wise and learned' dispute endlessly over dates of documents, over the amount of later doctrine interpolated into the earlier texts, over the nature, source, and quantity of foreign influence--chaldaean, accadian, egyptian, or assyrian. we know that israel had, in an early age, the conception of the moral eternal; we know that, at an early age, that conception was contaminated and anthropomorphised; and we know that it was rescued, in a great degree, from this corruption, while always retaining its original ethical aspect and sanction. why matters went thus in israel and not elsewhere we know not, except that such was the will of god in the mysterious education of the world. how mysterious that education has been is best known to all who have studied the political and social results of totemism. on the face of it a perfectly crazy and degrading belief--on the face of it meant for nothing but to make the family a hell of internecine hatred--totemism rendered possible--nay, inevitable--the union of hostile groups into large and relatively peaceful tribal societies. given the materials as we know them, we never should have educated the world thus; and we do not see why it should thus have been done. but we are very anthropomorphic, and totally ignorant of the conditions of the problem. an example of anthropological theory concerning jehovah was put forth by mr. huxley.[1] mr. huxley's general idea of religion as it is on the lowest known level of material culture--through which the ancestors of israel must have passed like other people--has already been criticised. he denied to the most backward races both cult and religious sanction of ethics. he was demonstrably, though unconsciously, in error as to the facts, and therefore could not start from the idea that israel, in the lowest historically known condition of savagery, possessed, or, like other races, might possess, the belief in an eternal making for righteousness. 'for my part,' he says, 'i see no reason to doubt that, like the rest of the world, the israelites had passed through a period of mere ghost-worship, and had advanced through ancestor-worship and fetishism and totemism to the theological level at which we find them in the books of judges and samuel.'[2] but why does he think the israelites did all this? the hebrew ghosts, abiding, according to mr. huxley, in a rather torpid condition in sheol, would not be of much practical use to a worshipper. a reference in deuteronomy xxvi. 14 (deuteronomy being, _ex hypothesi_, a late pious imposture) does not prove much. the hebrew is there bidden to remind himself of the stay of his ancestors in egypt, and to say, 'of the hallowed things i have not given aught for the dead'--namely, of the tithes dedicated to the levites and the poor. a race which abode for centuries among the egyptians, as israel did--among a people who elaborately fed the _kas_ of the departed--might pick up a trace of a custom, the giving of food for the dead, still persevered in by st. monica till st. ambrose admonished her. but mr. huxley is hard put to it for evidence of ancestor-worship or ghost-worship in israel when he looks for indications of these rites in 'the singular weight attached to the veneration of parents in the fourth commandment.'[3] the _fourth_ commandment, of course, is a slip of the pen. he adds: 'the fifth commandment, as it stands, would be an excellent compromise between ancestor-worship and monotheism.' long may children practise this excellent compromise! it is really too far-fetched to reason thus: 'people were bidden to honour their parents, as a compromise between monotheism and ghost-worship.' hard, hard bestead is he who has to reason in that fashion! this comes of 'training in the use of the weapons of precision of science.' mr. huxley goes on: 'the ark of the covenant may have been a relic of ancestor-worship;' 'there is a good deal to be said for that speculation.' possibly there is, by way of the valuable hypothesis that jehovah was a fetish stone which had been a grave-stone, or perhaps a _lingam_, and was kept in the ark on the plausible pretext that it was the two tables of the law! however, mr. huxley really finds it safer to suppose that references to ancestor-worship in the bible were obliterated by late monotheistic editors, who, none the less, are so full and minute in their descriptions of the various heresies into which israel was eternally lapsing, and must not be allowed to lapse again. had ancestor-worship been a _péché mignon_ of israel, the prophets would have let israel hear their mind on it. the hebrews' indifference to the departed soul is, in fact, a puzzle, especially when we consider their egyptian education--so important an element in mr. huxley's theory. mr. herbert spencer is not more successful than mr. huxley in finding ancestor-worship among the hebrews. on the whole subject he writes: 'where the levels of mental nature and social progress are lowest, we usually find, along with an absence of religious ideas generally, an absence, or very slight development, of ancestor-worship.... cook [captain cook], telling us what the fuegians were before contact with europeans had introduced foreign ideas, said there were no appearances of religion among them; and we are not told by him or others that they were ancestor-worshippers.'[4] probably they are not; but they do possess a being who reads their hearts, and who certainly shows no traces of european ideas. if the fuegians are not ancestor-worshippers, this being was not developed out of ancestor-worship. the evidence of captain cook, no anthropologist, but a mariner who saw and knew little of the fuegians, is precisely of the sort against which major ellis warns us.[5] the more a religion consists in fear of a moral guardian of conduct, the less does it show itself, by sacrifice or rite, to the eyes of captain cook, of his majesty's ship _endeavour_. mr. spencer places the andamanese on the same level as the fuegians, 'so far as the scanty evidence may be trusted.' we have shown that (as known to mr. spencer in 1876) it may not be trusted at all; the andamanese possessing a moral supreme being, though they are not, apparently, ancestor-worshippers. the australians 'show us not much persistence in ghost-propitiation,' which, if it exists, ceases when the corpses are tied up and buried, or after they are burned, or after the bones, carried about for a while, are exposed on platforms. yet many australian tribes possess a moral supreme being. in fact ghost-worship, in mr. spencer's scheme, cannot be fairly well developed till society reaches the level of 'settled groups whose burial-places are in their midst.' hence the development of a moral supreme being among tribes _not_ thus settled, is inconceivable, on mr. spencer's hypothesis.[6] by that hypothesis, 'worshipped ancestors, according to their remoteness, were regarded as divine, semi-divine, and human.'[7] where we find, then, the divine being among nomads who do not remember their great-grandfathers, the spencerian theory is refuted by facts. we have the effect, the divine being, without the cause, worship of ancestors. coming to the hebrews, mr. spencer argues that 'the silence of their legends (as to ancestor-worship) is but a negative fact, which may be as misleading as negative facts usually are.' they are, indeed; witness mr. spencer's own silence about savage supreme beings. but we may fairly argue that if israel had been given to ancestor-worship (as might partly be surmised from the mystery about the grave of moses) the prophets would not have spared them for their crying. the prophets were unusually outspoken men, and, as they undeniably do scold israel for every other kind of conceivable heresy, they were not likely to be silent about ancestor-worship, if ancestor-worship existed. mr. spencer, then, rather heedlessly, though correctly, argues that 'nomadic habits are unfavourable to evolution of the ghost-theory.'[8] alas, this gives away the whole case! for, if all men began as nomads, and nomadic habits are unfavourable even to the ordinary ghost, how did the australian and other nomads develop the supreme being, who, _ex hypothesi_, is the final fruit of the ghost-flower? if you cannot have 'an established ancestor-worship' till you abandon nomadic habits, how, while still nomadic, do you evolve a supreme being? obviously not out of ancestor-worship. mr. spencer then assigns, as evidence for ancestor-worship in israel, mourning dresses, fasting, the law against self-bleeding and cutting off the hair for the dead, and the text (deut. xxvi. 14) about 'i have not given aught thereof for the dead.' 'hence, the conclusion must be that ancestor-worship had developed as far as nomadic habits allowed, before it was repressed by a higher worship.'[9] but whence came that higher worship which seems to have intervened immediately after the cessation of nomadic habits? there are obvious traces of grief expressed in a primitive way among the hebrews. 'ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead' (deut. xiv. 1). 'neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them; neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead' (by way of counter-irritant to grief); 'neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or their mother,' because the jews were to be removed from their homes.[10] 'ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you.'[11] it may be usual to regard inflictions, such as cutting, by mourners, as sacrifices to the ghost of the dead. but one has seen a man strike himself a heavy blow on receiving news of a loss _not_ by death, and i venture to fancy that cuttings and gashings at funerals are merely a more violent form of appeal to a counter-irritant of grief, and, again, a token of recklessness caused by a sorrow which makes void the world. one of john nicholson's native adorers killed himself on news of that warrior's death, saying, 'what is left worth living for?' this was not a sacrifice to the manes of nicholson. the sacrifice of the mourner's hair, as by achilles, argues a similar indifference to personal charm. once more, the text in psalm cvi. 28, 'they joined themselves unto baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead,' is usually taken by commentators as a reference to the ritual of gods who are no gods. but it rather seems to indicate an acquiescence in foreign burial rites. all this additional evidence does not do much to prove ancestor-worship in israel, though the secrecy of the burial of moses, 'in a valley of the land of moab, over against beth-peor; but no man knoweth of his sepulchre to this day,' may indicate a dread of a nascent worship of the great leader.[12] the scene of the defection in psalm cvi., beth-peor, is indicated in numbers xxv., where israel runs after the girls and the gods of moab: 'and moab called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods; and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. and israel joined himself unto baal-peor.' psalm cvi. is obviously a later restatement of this addiction to the moabite gods, and the psalm adds 'they ate the sacrifices of the dead.' it is plain that, for whatever reason, ancestor-worship among the hebrews was, at the utmost, rudimentary. otherwise it must have been clearly denounced by the prophets among the other heresies of israel. therefore, as being at the most rudimentary, ancestor-worship in israel could not be developed at once into the worship of jehovah. though ancestor-worship among the hebrews could not be fully developed, according to mr. spencer, because of their nomadic habits, it _was_ fully developed, according to the rev. a.w. oxford. 'every family, like every old roman and greek family, was firmly held together by the worship of its ancestors, the hearth was the altar, the head of the family the priest.... the bond which kept together the families of a tribe was its common religion, the worship of its reputed ancestor. the chief of the tribe was, of course, the priest of the cult.' of course; but what a pity that mr. huxley and mr. spencer omitted facts so invaluable to their theory! and how does the rev. mr. oxford know? well, 'there is no direct proof,' oddly enough, of so marked a feature in hebrew religion but we are referred to 1 sam. xx. 29 and judges xviii. 19. 1 sam. xx. 29 makes jonathan say that david wants to go to a family sacrifice, that is, a family dinner party. this hardly covers the large assertions made by mr. oxford. his second citation is so unlucky as to contradict his observation that 'of course' the chief of the tribe was the priest of the cult. micah, in judges xvii., xviii., is _not_ the chief of his tribe (ephraim), neither is he even the priest in his own house. he 'consecrated one of his own sons who became his priest,' till he got hold of a casual young levite, and said, 'be unto me a _father_ and a priest,' for ten shekels _per annum_, a suit of clothes, and board and lodging. in place, then, of any remote reference to a chief's being priest of his ancestral ghosts, we have here a man of one tribe who is paid rather handsomely to be family chaplain to a member of another tribe. some moss-troopers of the tribe of dan then kidnapped this valuable young levite, and seized a few idols which micah had permitted himself to make. and all this, according to our clerical authority, is evidence for ancestor-worship![13] all this appears to be derived from some incoherent speculations of stade. for example, that learned german cites the story of micah as a proof that the different tribes or clans had different religions. this _must_ be so, because the danites asked the young levite whether it was not better to be priest to a clan than to an individual? it is as if a patron offered a rich living to somebody's private chaplain, saying that the new position was more creditable and lucrative. this would hardly prove a difference of religion between the individual and the parish.[14] mr. oxford next avers that 'the earliest form of the israelite religion was fetishism or totemism.' this is another example of stade's logic. finding, as he believes, names suggestive of totemism in simeon, levi, rachel, and so on, stade leaps to the conclusion that totemism in israel was prior to anything resembling monotheism. for monotheism, he argues, could not give the germs of the clan or tribal organisation, while totemism could do so. certainly it could, but as, in many regions (america, australia), we find totemism and the belief in a benevolent supreme being co-existing among savages, when first observed by europeans, we cannot possibly say dogmatically whether a rough monotheism or whether totemism came first in order of evolution. this holds as good of israel (if once totemistic) as it does of pawnees or kurnai. stade has overlooked these well-known facts, and his opinion filters into a cheap hand-book, and is set in examinations![15] we also learn from mr. oxford's popular manual of german biblical conjecture that 'jehovah was not represented as a loving father, but as a being easily roused to wrath,' a thing most incident to loving fathers. again, mr. oxford avers that 'the old israelites knew no distinction between physical and moral evil.... the conception of jehovah's holiness had nothing moral in it' (p. 90). this rather contradicts wellhausen: 'in all ancient primitive peoples ... religion furnishes a motive for law and morals; in the case of none did it become so with such purity and power as in that of the israelites.'[16] we began by examining mr. huxley's endeavours to find traces of ancestor-worship (in his opinion the origin of jehovah-worship) among the israelites. we next criticised mr. spencer's efforts in the same quest, and the more dogmatic assertions of mr. oxford and stade. we now return to mr. huxley's account of the evolution from ghost-cult to the cult of jehovah. from the history of the witch of endor, which mr. huxley sees no reason to regard as other than a sincere statement of what really occurred, he gathers that the witch cried out, 'i see elohim.' these elohim proved to be the phantasm of the dead samuel. moved by this hallucination the witch uttered a veridical premonition, totally adverse to her own interests, and uncommonly dangerous to her life. this is, psychically, interesting. the point, however, is that _elohim_ is a term equivalent to red indian _wakan_, fijian _kahu_, maori or melanesian _mana_, meaning the 'supernatural,' the vaguely powerful--in fact x. this particular example of _elohim_ was a phantasm of the dead, but _elohim_ is also used of the highest divine being, therefore the highest divine being is of the same genus as a ghost--so mr. huxley reasons. 'the difference which was supposed to exist between the different elohim was one of degree, not of kind.'[17] 'if jehovah was thus supposed to differ only in degree from the undoubtedly zoomorphic or anthropomorphic "gods of the nations," why is it to be assumed that he also was not thought to have a human shape?' he _was_ thought to have a human shape, at one time, by some theorists: no doubt exists on that head. that, however, is not where we demur. we demur when, because an hallucination of the witch of endor (probably still incompletely developed) is called by her _elohim_, therefore the highest _elohim_ is said by mr. huxley to differ from a ghost only in degree, not in kind. _elohim_, or _el_, the creative, differs from a ghost in kind, because he, in hebrew belief, never was a ghost, he is immortal and without beginning. mr. huxley now enforces his theory by a parallel between the religion of tonga and the religion of israel under the judges. he quotes mariner,[18] whose statement avers that there is a supreme tongan being: 'of his origin they had no idea, rather supposing him to be eternal. his name is tá-li-y-tooboo = "wait-there-tooboo."' 'he is a great chief from the top of the sky down to the bottom of the earth.' he, and other '_original_ gods' of his making, are carefully and absolutely discriminated from the _atua_, which are 'the human soul after its separation from the body.' all tongan gods are _atua_ (_elohim_), but all _atua_ are not 'original gods,' unserved by priests, and unpropitiated by food or libation, like the highest god, tá-li-y-tooboo, the eternal of tonga. 'he occasionally inspires the how' (elective king), but often a how is not inspired at all by tá-li-y-tooboo, any more than saul, at last, was inspired by jehovah. surely there is a difference _in kind_ between an eternal, immortal god, and a ghost, though both are _atua_, or both are _elohim_--the unknown x. many people call a ghost 'supernatural;' they also call god 'supernatural,' but the difference between a phantasm of a dead man and the deity they would admit, i conceive, to be a difference of kind. we have shown, or tried to show, that the conceptions of 'ghost' and 'supreme being' are different, not only in kind, but in origin. the ghost comes from, and depends on, the animistic theory; the supreme being, as originally thought of, does not. all gods are _elohim, kalou, wakan_; all _elohim, kalou, wakan_ are not gods. a ghost-god should receive food or libation. mr. huxley says that tá-li-y-tooboo did so. 'if the god, like tá-li-y-tooboo, had no priest, then the chief place was left vacant, and was supposed to be occupied by the god himself. _when the first cup of kava was filled_, the mataboole who acted as master of the ceremonies said, "give it to your god," and it was offered, though only as a matter of form.'[19] this is incorrect. in the case of tá-li-y-tooboo _'there is no cup filled for the god.'_[20] _'before any cup is filled_ the man by the side of the bowl says: "the kava is in the cup"' (which it is not), 'and the mataboole answers, "give it to your god;"' but the kava is _not_ in the cup, and the tongan eternal receives no oblation. the sacrifice, says mr. huxley, meant 'that the god was either a deified ghost, or, at any rate, a being of like nature to these.'[21] but as tá-li-y-tooboo had no sacrifice, contrary to mr. huxley's averment, he was _not_ 'a deified ghost, or a being of like nature to these.' to the lower, non-ghostly tongan gods the animistic habit of sacrifice had been extended, but not yet to the supreme being. ah, if mr. gladstone, or the duke of argyll, or some bishop had made a misstatement of this kind, how mr. huxley would have crushed him! but it is a mere error of careless reading, such as we all make daily. it is manifest that we cannot prove jehovah to be a ghost by the parallel of a tongan god, who, by ritual and by definition, was _not_ a ghost. the proof therefore rests on the anthropomorphised pre-prophetic accounts, and on the ritual, of jehovah. but man naturally 'anthropises' his deities: he does not thereby demonstrate that they were once ghosts. as regards the sacrifices to jehovah, the sweet savour which he was supposed to enjoy (contrary to the opinion of the prophets), these sacrifices afford the best presumption that jehovah was a ghost-god, or a god constructed on ghostly lines. but we have shown that among the lowest races neither are ghosts worshipped by sacrifice, nor does the supreme being, darumulun or puluga, receive food offerings. we have also instanced many supreme beings of more advanced races, ahone, and dendid, and nyankupon, who do not sniff the savour of any offerings. if then (as in the case of taa-roa), a supreme being _does_ receive sacrifice, we may argue that a piece of animistic ritual, not connected with the supreme being in australia or andaman, not connected with his creed in virginia or africa (where ghost-gods do receive sacrifice), may in other regions be transferred from ghost-gods to the supreme being, who never was a ghost. there seems to be nothing incredible or illogical in the theory of such transference. on a god who never was a ghost men may come to confer sacrifices (which are not made to baiame and the rest) because, being in the habit of thus propitiating one set of bodiless powers, men may not think it civil or safe to leave another set of powers out. by his very nature, man must clothe all gods with some human passions and attributes, unless, like a large number of savages, he leaves his high god severely alone, and is the slave of fetishes and spectres. but that practice makes against the ghost-theory. in the attempt to account thus, namely by transference, for the sacrifices to jehovah, we are met by a difficulty of our own making. if the israelites did not sacrifice to ancestors (as we have shown that there is very scant reason for supposing that they did), how could they transfer to jehovah the rite which, by our hypothesis, they are not proved to have offered to ancestors? this is certainly a hard problem, harder (or perhaps easier) because we know so very little of the early history of the hebrews. according to their own traditions, israel had been in touch with all manner of races much more advanced than themselves in material culture, and steeped in highly developed polytheistic animism. according to their history, the israelites 'went a-whoring' incorrigibly after strange gods. it is impossible, perhaps, to disentangle the foreign and the native elements. it may therefore be tentatively suggested that early israel had its ahone in a being perhaps not yet named jehovah. israel entertained, however, perhaps by reason of 'nomadic habits,' only the scantiest concern about ancestral ghosts. we then find an historical tradition of secular contact between israel and egypt, from which israel emerges with jehovah for god, and a system of sacrifices. regarding jehovah as a revived memory of the moral supreme being whom israel must have known in extremely remote ages (unless israel was less favoured than australians, bushmen, or andamanese), we might look on the sacrifices to him as an adaptation from the practices of religion among races more settled than israel, and more civilised.[22] speculation on subjects so remote must be conjectural, but our suggestion would, perhaps, account for sacrifices to jehovah, paid by a race which, by reason of 'nomadic habits,' was never much given to ancestor-worship, but had been in contact with great sacrificing, polytheistic civilisations. mr. huxley, however, while he seems to slur the essential distinction between ghost-gods and the eternal, grants, later, that 'there are very few people(s?) without additional gods, which cannot, with certainty, be accounted for as deified ancestors.' tá-li-y-tooboo, of course, is one of these gods, as is jehovah. mr. huxley gives no theory of _how_ these gods came into belief, except the suggestion that 'the polytheistic theology has become modified by the selection of the cosmic or tribal god, as the only god to whom worship is due on the part of that nation,' without prejudice to the right of other nations to worship other gods.[23] this is 'monolatry,' and 'the ethical code, often of a very high order, comes into closer relation with the theological creed,' _why_, we are not informed. nor do we learn out of what polytheistic deities jehovah was selected, nor for what reason. the hypothesis, as usual, breaks down on the close relation between the ethical code and the theological creed, among low savages, with a relatively supreme being, but without ancestor-worship, and without polytheistic gods from whom to select a heavenly chief. whence came the moral element in the idea of jehovah? mr. huxley supposes that, during their residence in the land of goshen (and _a fortiori_ before it), the israelites 'knew nothing of jehovah.'[24] they were polytheistic idolaters. this follows, apparently, from ezekiel xx. 5: 'in the day when i chose israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of jacob, _and made myself known unto them_ in the land of egypt.' the biblical account is that the god of moses's fathers, the god of abraham, enlightened moses in sinai, giving his name as 'i am that i am' (exodus iii. 6, 14; translation uncertain). we are to understand that moses, a religious reformer, revived an old, and, in the egyptian bondage, a half-obliterated creed of the ancient nomadic beni-israel. they were no longer to 'defile themselves with the idols of egypt,' as they had obviously done. we really know no more about the matter. wellhausen says that jehovah was 'originally a family or tribal god, either of the family of moses or of the tribe of joseph.' how a family could develop a supreme being all to itself, we are not informed, and we know of no such analogous case in the ethnographic field. again, jehovah was 'only a special name of el, current within a powerful circle.' and who was el?[25] 'moses was not the first discoverer of the faith.' probably not, but mr. huxley seems to think that he was. wellhausen's and other german ideas filter into popular traditions, as we saw, through 'a short introduction to the history of ancient israel' (pp. 19, 20), by the rev. a.w. oxford, m.a., vicar of st. luke's, soho. here follows mr. oxford's undeniably 'short way with jehovah.' 'moses was the founder of the israelite religion. jehovah, his family or tribal god, perhaps originally the god of the kenites, was taken as a tribal god by all the israelite tribes.... that jehovah was not the original god of israel' (as the bible impudently alleges) 'but was the god of the kenites, we see mainly from deut. xxxiii. 2, judges v. 4, 5, and from the history of jethro, who, according to judges i. 16, was a kenite.' the first text says that, according to moses, 'the lord came from sinai,' rose up from seir, and shone from mount paran. the second text mentions jehovah's going up out of seir and sinai. the third text says that jethro, moses's kenite (or midianite) father-in-law, dwelt among the people of judah; jethro being a priest of midian. how all this proves that 'moses was a great impostor,' as the poet says, and that jehovah was not 'the original god of israel,' but (1) moses's family or tribal god, or (2) 'the god of the kenites,' i profess my inability to comprehend. wellhausen himself had explained jehovah as 'a family or tribal god, either of the family of moses' (tribe of levi) 'or of the tribe of joseph.' it seems to be all one to mr. oxford whether jehovah was a god of moses's tribe or quite the reverse, 'a kenite god.' yet it really makes a good deal of difference! for in a complex of tribes, speaking one language, it is to the last degree unexampled (within my knowledge) that one tribe, or family, possesses, all to itself, a family god who is also the creator and is later accepted as such by all the other tribes. one may ask for instances of such a thing in any known race, in any stage of culture. peru will not help us--not the creator, pachacamac, but the sun, is the god of the inca family. if, on the other hand, jehovah was a kenite god, the kenites were a half-arab semitic people connected with israel, and may very well have retained traditions of a supreme being which, in egypt, were likely to be dimmed, as exodus asserts, by foreign religions. the learned stade, to be sure, may disbelieve in israel's sojourn in egypt, but that revolutionary opinion is not necessarily binding on us and involves a few difficulties. have critics and manual-makers no knowledge of the science of comparative religion? are they unaware that peoples infinitely more backward than israel was at the date supposed have already moral supreme beings acknowledged over vast tracts of territory? have they a tittle of positive evidence that early israel was benighted beyond the darkness of bushmen, andamanese, pawnees, blackfeet, hurons, indians of british guiana, dinkas, negroes, and so forth? unless israel had this rare ill-luck (which israel denies) of course israel must have had a secular tradition, however dim, of a supreme being. we must ask for a single instance of a family or tribe, in a complex of semi-barbaric but not savage tribes of one speech, owning a private deity who happened to be the maker and ruler of the world, and, as such, was accepted by all the tribes. jehovah came out from sinai, because, there having been a theophany at sinai, that mountain was regarded as one of his seats.[26] we have seen that it seemed to make no difference to mr. oxford whether jehovah was a god of moses's family or tribe or a kenite god. the former (with the alternative of _joseph's_ family or tribal god) is wellhausen's theory. the latter is stade's.[27] each is inconsistent with the other; wellhausen's fancy is inconsistent with all that we know of religious development: stade's is hopelessly inconsistent with exodus iv. 24-26, where moses's kenite wife reproaches him for a ceremony of his, not of her, religion. therefore the kenite differed from the hebrew _sacra_. the passage is very extraordinary, and is said by critics to be very archaic. after the revelation of the burning bush, jehovah met moses and his kenite wife, zipporah, and their child, at a khan. jehovah was anxious to slay moses, nobody ever knew why, so zipporah appeased jehovah's wrath by circumcising her boy _with a flint_. 'a bloody husband art thou to me,' she said, 'because of the circumcision'--an egyptian, but clearly not a kenite practice. whatever all this may mean, it does not look as if zipporah expected such rites as circumcision in the faith of a kenite husband, nor does it favour the idea that the _sacra_ of moses were of kenite origin. without being a scholar, or an expert in biblical criticism, one may protest against the presentation to the manual-reading intellectual middle classes of a theory so vague, contradictory, and (by all analogy) so impossible as mr. oxford collects from german writers. of course, the whole subject, so dogmatically handled, is mere matter of dissentient opinion among scholars. thus m. renan derives the name of jehovah from assyria, from 'aramaised chaldaeanism.'[28] in that case the name was long anterior to the residence in egypt. but again, perhaps jehovah was a local god of sinai, or a provincial deity in palestine.[29] he was known to very ancient sages, who preferred such names as el shaddai and elohim. in short, we have no certainty on the subject.[30] i need hardly say, perhaps, that i have no antiquated prejudice against biblical criticism. assuredly the bible must be studied like any other collection of documents, linguistically, historically, and in the light of the comparative method. the leading ideas of wellhausen, for example, are conspicuous for acumen: the humblest layman can see that. but one may protest against criticising the bible, or homer, by methods like those which prove shakspeare to have been bacon. one must protest, too, against the presentation of inconsistent and probably baseless critical hypotheses in the dogmatic brevity of cheap handbooks. yet again, whence comes the moral element in jehovah? mr. huxley thinks that it possibly came from the ethical practice and theory of egypt. in the egyptian book of the dead, 'a sort of guide to spirit land,' there are moral chapters; the ghost tells his judges in amenti what sins he has _not_ committed. many of these sins are forbidden in the ten commandments. they are just as much forbidden in the nascent morality of savage peoples. moses did not need the book of the dead to teach him elementary morals. from the mysteries of mtanga he might have learned, also, had he been present, the virtue of unselfish generosity. if the creed of jehovah, or of el, retained only as much of ethics as is under divine sanction among the kurnai, adaptation from the book of the dead was superfluous. the care for the departed, the ritual of the ka, the intense pre-occupation with the future life, which, far more than its morality, are the essential characteristics of the book of the dead--israel cared for none of these animistic things, brought none of these, or very little of these, out of the land of egypt. moses was certainly very eclectic; he took only the morality of egypt. but as mr. huxley advances this opinion tentatively, as having no secure historical authority about moses, it hardly answers our question, whence came the moral element in jehovah? one may surmise that it was the survival of the primitive divinely sanctioned ethics of the ancient savage ancestors of the israelite, known to them, as to the kurnai, before they had a pot, or a bronze knife, or seed to sow, or sheep to herd, or even a tent over their heads. in the counsels of eternity israel was chosen to keep burning, however obscured with smoke of sacrifice, that flame which illumines the darkest places of the earth, 'a light to lighten the gentiles, and the glory of thy people israel'--a flame how litten a light whence shining, history cannot inform us, and anthropology can but conjecture. here scientific nescience is wiser than the cocksureness of popular science, with her ghosts and fetish-stones, and gods that sprang from ghosts, which ghosts, however, could not be developed, owing to nomadic habits. it appears, then, if our general suggestion meets with any acceptance, that what occurred in the development of hebrew religion was precisely what the bible tells us did occur. this must necessarily seem highly paradoxical to our generation; but the whole trend of our provisional system makes in favour of the paradox. if savage nomadic israel had the higher religious conceptions proved to exist among several of the lowest known races, these conceptions might be revived by a leader of genius. they might, in a crisis of tribal fortunes, become the rallying point of a new national sentiment. obscured, in some degree, by acquaintance with 'the idols of egypt,' and restricted and localised by the very national sentiment which they fostered, these conceptions were purified and widened far beyond any local, tribal, or national restrictions--widened far as the _flammantia moenia mundi_--by the historically unique genius of the prophets. blended with the doctrine of our lord, and recommended by the addition of animism in its pure and priceless form--the reward of faith, hope, and charity in eternal life--the faith of israel enlightened the world. all this is precisely what occurred, according to the old and new testaments. all this is just what, on our hypothesis, might be expected to occur if, out of the many races which, in their most backward culture, had a rude conception of a moral creative being, relatively supreme, one race endured the education of israel, showed the comparative indifference of israel to animism and ghost-gods, listened to the prophets of israel, and gave birth to a greater than moses and the prophets. to this result the logos, as socrates says, has led us, by the path of anthropology. [footnote 1: _science and hebrew tradition_.] [footnote 2: op. cit. p. 361.] [footnote 3:_ science and hebrew tradition_. p. 308.] [footnote 4: _prin. soc_. p. 306.] [footnote 5: _the tshi-speaking races_, p. 183.] [footnote 6: some australian tribes have cemeteries, and i have found one native witness, king billy, to the celebration of the mysteries near one of these burying-places. i have not discovered other evidence to this effect, though i have looked for it. the spot selected is usually 'near the camp,' and the place for so large a camp in chosen, naturally, where the supply of food is adequate.] [footnote 7: cf. the aryans, _principles of sociology_, p. 314.] [footnote 8: _principles_, p. 316.] [footnote 9: ibid. p. 317.] [footnote 10: jeremiah xvi. 6, 7.] [footnote 11: leviticus xix. 28.] [footnote 12: deuteronomy xxxiv. 6.] [footnote 13: _short introduction to history of ancient israel_, pp. 83, 84.] [footnote 14: stade i 403.] [footnote 15: stade, i. 406.] [footnote 16: wellhausen, _history of israel_, p. 437. mr. oxford's book is only noticed here because it is meant for a popular manual. as mr. henry foker says, 'it seems a pity that the clergy should interfere in these matters.'] [footnote 17: _science and hebrew tradition_, p. 299.] [footnote 18: ii. 127.] [footnote 19: _science and hebrew tradition_, p. 331.] [footnote 20: mariner, ii. 205.] [footnote 21: op. cit. p. 335.] [footnote 22: of course, it in understood that israel (in the dark backward and abysm of time) may also have been totemistic, like the australians, as texts pointed out by mr. robertson smith seem to hint. there was also worship of teraphim, respect paid to stones and trees, and so forth.] [footnote 23: _science and hebrew tradition_, p. 349.] [footnote 24: p. 351.] [footnote 25: _history of israel_, p. 443 note.] [footnote 26: _religion of semites_.] [footnote 27: _geschichte des volkes israel_, i. 180.] [footnote 28: _histoire du peuple d'israel_, citing schrader, p. 23.] [footnote 29: op. cit. p. 85] [footnote 30: see professor robertson's _early religion of israel_ for a list of these conjectures, and, generally, for criticisms of the occasional vagaries of critics.] xvii conclusion we may now glance backward at the path which we have tried to cut through the jungles of early religions. it is not a highway, but the track of a solitary explorer; and this essay pretends to be no more than a sketch--not an exhaustive survey of creeds. its limitations are obvious, but may here be stated. the higher and even the lower polytheisms are only alluded to in passing, our object being to keep well in view the conception of a supreme, or practically supreme, being, from the lowest stages of human culture up to christianity. in polytheism that conception is necessarily obscured, showing itself dimly either in the _prytanis_, or president of the immortals, such as zeus; or in fate, behind and above the immortals; or in mr. max müller's _henotheism_, where the god addressed--indra, or soma, or agni--is, for the moment, envisaged as supreme, and is adored in something like a monotheistic spirit; or, finally, in the etherealised deity of advanced philosophic speculation. it has not been necessary, for our purpose, to dwell on these civilised religions. granting our hypothesis of an early supreme being among savages, obscured later by ancestor-worship and ghost-gods, but not often absolutely lost to religious tradition, the barbaric and the civilised polytheisms easily take their position in line, and are easily intelligible. space forbids a discussion of all known religions; only typical specimens have been selected. thus, nothing has been said of the religion of the great chinese empire. it appears to consist, on its higher plane, of the worship of heaven as a great fetish-god--a worship which may well have begun in days, as dr. brinton says, 'long ere man had asked himself, "are the heavens material and god spiritual?"'--perhaps, for all we know, before the idea of 'spirit' had been evolved. thus, if it contains nothing more august, the chinese religion is, so far, beneath that of the zuñis, or the creed in taa-roa, in beings who are eternal, who were before earth was or sky was. the chinese religion of heaven is also coloured by chinese political conditions; heaven (tien) corresponds to the emperor, and tends to be confounded with shang-ti, the emperor above. 'dr. legge charges confucius,' says mr. tylor, 'with an inclination to substitute, in his religious teaching, the name of tien, heaven, for that known to more ancient religion, and used in more ancient books--shang-ti, the personal ruling deity.' if so, china too has its ancient supreme being, who is not a divinised aspect of nature. but mr. tylor's reading, in harmony with his general theory, is different: 'it seems, rather, that the sage was, in fact, upholding the tradition of the ancient faith, thus acting according to the character on which he prided himself--that of a transmitter, not a maker, a preserver of old knowledge, not a new revealer.'[1] this, of course, is purely a question of evidence, to be settled by sinologists. if the personal supreme being, shang-ti, occupies in older documents the situation held by tien (heaven) in confucius's later system, why are we to say that confucius, by putting forward heaven in place of shang-ti, was restoring an older conception? mr. tylor's affection for his theory leads him, perhaps, to that opinion; while my affection for my theory leads me to prefer documentary evidence in its favour. the question can only be settled by specialists. as matters stand, it seems to me probable that ancient china possessed a supreme personal being, more remote and original than heaven, just as the zuñis do. on the lower plane, chinese religion is overrun, as everyone knows, by animism and ancestor-worship. this is so powerful that it has given rise to a native theory of euhemerism. the departmental deities of chinese polytheism are explained by the chinese on euhemeristic principles: 'according to legend, the war god, or military sage, was once, in human life, a distinguished soldier; the swine god was a hog-breeder who lost his pigs and died of sorrow; the god of gamblers was _un décavé_.'[2] these are not statements of fact, but of chinese euhemeristic theory. on that hypothesis, confucius should now be a god; but of course he is not; his spirit is merely localised in his temple, where the emperor worships him twice a year as ancestral spirits are worshipped. every theorist will force facts into harmony with his system, but i do not see that the chinese facts are contrary to mine. on the highest plane is either a personal supreme being, shang-ti, or there is tien, heaven (with earth, parent of men), neither of them necessarily owing, in origin, anything to animism. then there is the political reflection of the emperor on religion (which cannot exist where there is no emperor, king, or chief, and therefore must be late), there is the animistic rabble of spirits ancestral or not, and there is departmental polytheism. the spirits are, of course, fed and furnished by men in the usual symbolical way. nothing shows or hints that shang-ti is merely an imaginary idealised first ancestor. indeed, about all such explanations of the supreme being (say among the kurnai) as an idealised imaginary first ancestor, m. réville justly observes as follows: 'not only have we seen that, in wide regions of the uncivilised world, the worship of ancestors has invaded a domain previously occupied by "naturism" and animism properly so called, that it is, therefore, posterior to these; but, farther, we do not understand, in mr. spencer's system, why, in so many places, the first ancestor is the maker, if not the creator of the world, master of life and death, and possessor of divine powers, not held by any of his descendants. this proves that it was not the first ancestor who became god, in the belief of his descendants, but much rather the divine maker and beginner of all, who, in the creed of his adorers, became the first ancestor.'[3] our task has been limited, in this way, mainly to examination of the religion of some of the very lowest races, and of the highest world-religions, such as judaism. the historical aspect of christianity, as arising in the life, death, and resurrection of our lord, would demand a separate treatise. this would, in part, be concerned with the attempts to find in the narratives concerning our lord, a large admixture of the mythology and ritual connected with the sacrificed _rex nemorensis_, and whatever else survives in peasant folk-lore of spring and harvest.[4] after these apologies for the limitations of this essay, we may survey the backward track. we began by showing that savages may stumble, and have stumbled, on theories not inconsistent with science, but not till recently discovered by science. the electric origin of the aurora borealis (whether absolutely certain or not) was an example; another was the efficacy of 'suggestion,' especially for curative purposes. it was, therefore, hinted that, if savages blundered (if you please) into a belief in god and the soul, however obscurely envisaged, these beliefs were not therefore necessarily and essentially false. we then stated our purpose of examining the alleged supernormal phenomena, savage or civilised, which, on mr. tylor's hypothesis, help to originate the conception of 'spirits.' we defended the nature of our evidence, as before anthropologists, by showing that, for the savage belief in the supernormal phenomena, we have exactly the kind of evidence on which all anthropological science reposes. the relative weakness of that evidence, our need of more and better evidence, we would be the very last to deny, indeed it is part of our case. our existing evidence will hardly support any theory of religion. anyone who is in doubt on that head has only to read m. réville's 'les religions des peuples non-civilisés,' under the heads 'mélanésiens,' 'mincopies,' 'les australiens' (ii. 116-143), when he will observe that this eminent french authority is ignorant of the facts about these races here produced. in 1883 they had not come within his ken. such minute and careful inquiries by men closely intimate with the peoples concerned, as dr. codrington's, mr. hewitt's, mr. man's, and the authorities compiled by mr. brough smyth, were unfamiliar to m. réville, thus, in turn, new facts, or facts unknown to us, may upset my theory. this peril is of the essence of scientific theorising on the history of religion. having thus justified our evidence for the savage _belief_ in supernormal phenomena, as before anthropologists, we turned to a court of psychologists in defence of our evidence for the _fact_ of exactly the same supernormal phenomena in civilised experience. we pointed out that for subjective psychological experiences, say of telepathy, we had precisely the same evidence as all non-experimental psychology must and does rest upon. nay, we have even experimental evidence, in experiments in thought-transference. we have chiefly, however, statements of subjective experience. for the coincidence of such experience with unknown events we have such evidence as, in practical life, is admitted by courts of law. experimental psychology, of course, relies on experiments conducted under the eyes of the expert, for example, by hypnotism or otherwise, under dr. hack tuke, professor james, m. richet, m. janet. the evidence is the conduct rather than the statements of the subject. there is also physiological experiment, by vivisection (i regret to say) and post-mortem dissection. but non-experimental psychology reposes on the self-examination of the student, and on the statements of psychological experiences made to him by persons whom he thinks he can trust. the psychologist, however, if he be, as mr. galton says, 'unimaginative in the strict but unusual sense of that ambiguous word,' needs mr. galton's 'word of warning.' he is asked 'to resist a too frequent tendency to assume that the minds of every other sane and healthy person must be like his own. the psychologist should inquire into the minds of others as he should into those of animals of different races, and be prepared to find much to which his own experience can afford little if any clue.'[5] mr. galton had to warn the unimaginative psychologist in this way, because he was about to unfold his discovery of the faculty which presents numbers to some minds as visualised coloured numerals, 'so vivid as to be undistinguishable from reality, except by the aid of accidental circumstances.' mr. galton also found in his inquiries that occasional hallucinations of the sane are much more prevalent than he had supposed, or than science had ever taken into account. all this was entirely new to psychologists, many of whom still (at least many popular psychologists of the press) appear to be unacquainted with the circumstances. one of them informed me, quite gravely, that '_he_ never had an hallucination,' therefore--_his_ mind being sane and healthy--the inference seemed to be that no sane and healthy mind was ever hallucinated. mr. galton has replied to _that_ argument! his reply covers, logically, the whole field of psychological faculties little regarded, for example, by mr. sully, who is not exactly an imaginative psychologist. it covers the whole field of automatism (as in automatic writing) perhaps of the divining rod, certainly of crystal visions and of occasional hallucinations, as mr. galton, in this last case, expressly declares. psychologists at least need not be told that such faculties cannot, any more than other human faculties, be always evoked for study and experiment. our evidence for these faculties and experiences, then, is usually of the class on which the psychologist relies. but, when the psychologist, following leibnitz, sir william hamilton, and kant, discusses the subconscious (for example, knowledge, often complex and abundant, unconsciously acquired) we demonstrated by examples that the psychologist will contentedly repose on evidence which is not evidence at all. he will swallow an undated, unlocalised legend of coleridge, reaching coleridge on the testimony of rumour, and told at least twenty years after the unverified occurrences. nay, the psychologist will never dream of procuring contemporary evidence for such a monstrous statement as that an ignorant german wench unconsciously acquired and afterwards subconsciously reproduced huge cantles of dead languages, by virtue of having casually heard a former master recite or read aloud from hebrew and greek books. this legend do psychologists accept on no evidence at all, because it illustrates a theory which is, doubtless, a very good theory, though, in this case, carried to an extent 'imagination boggles at.' here the psychologist may reply that much less evidence will content him for a fact to which he possesses, at least, analogies in accredited experience, than for a fact (say telepathic crystal-gazing) to which _he_ knows, in experience, nothing analogous. thus, for the mythical german handmaid, he has the analogy of languages learned in childhood, or passages got up by rote, being forgotten and brought back to ordinary conscious memory, or delirious memory, during an illness, or shortly before death. strong in these analogies, the psychologist will venture to accept a case of language _not_ learned, but reproduced in delirious memory, on no evidence at all. but, not possessing analogies for telepathic crystal-gazing, he will probably decline to examine ours. i would first draw his attention to the difference between revived memory of a language once known (breton and welsh in known examples), or learned by rote (as greek, in an anecdote of goethe's), and verbal reproduction of a language _not_ known or learned by rote but overheard--each passage probably but once--as somebody recited fragments. in this instance (that of the mythical maid) 'the difficulty ... is that the original impressions had not the strength--that is, the distinctness--of the reproduction. an unknown language overheard is a mere sound....'[6] the distinction here drawn is so great and obvious that for proof of the german girl's case we need better evidence than coleridge's rumour of a rumour, cited, as it is, by hamilton, maudsley, carpenter, du prel, and the common run of manuals. not that i deny, _a priori_, the possibility of coleridge's story. as mr. huxley says, 'strictly speaking, i am unaware of anything that has a right to the title of an "impossibility," except a contradiction in terms.'[7] to the horror of some of his admirers, mr. huxley would not call the existence of demons and demoniacal possession 'impossible.'[8] mr. huxley was no blind follower of hume. i, too, do not call coleridge's tale 'impossible,' but, unlike the psychologists, i refuse to accept it on 'bardolph's security.' and i contrast their conduct, in swallowing coleridge's legend, with their refusal (if they do refuse) to accept the evidence for the automatic writing of not-consciously-known languages (as of eleventh-century french poetry and prose by mr. schiller), or their refusal (if they do refuse) to look at the evidence for telepathic crystal-gazing, or any other supernormal exhibitions of faculty, attested by living and honourable persons. i wish i saw a way for orthodox unimaginative psychology out of its dilemma. after offering to anthropologists and psychologists these considerations, which i purposely reiterate, we examined historically the relations of science to 'the marvellous,' showing for example how hume, following his _a priori_ theory of the impossible, would have declined to investigate, because they were 'miraculous,' certain occurrences which, to charcot, were ordinary incidents in medical experience. we next took up and criticised the anthropological theory of religion as expounded by mr. tylor. we then collected from his work a series of alleged supernormal phenomena in savage belief, all making for the foundation of animistic religion. through several chapters we pursued the study of these phenomena, choosing savage instances, and setting beside them civilised testimony to facts of experience. our conclusion was that such civilised experiences, if they occurred, as they are universally said to do, among savages, would help to originate, and would very strongly support the savage doctrine of souls, the base of religion in the theory of english anthropologists. but apart from the savage doctrine of 'spirits' (whether they exist or not), the evidence points to the existence of human faculties not allowed for in the current systems of materialism. we next turned from the subject of supernormal experiences to the admitted facts about early religion. granting the belief in souls and ghosts and spirits, however attained, how was the idea of a supreme being to be evolved out of that belief? we showed that, taking the creed as found in the lowest races, the processes put forward by anthropologists could not account for its evolution. the facts would not fit into, but contradicted, the anthropological theory. the necessary social conditions postulated were not found in places where the belief is found. nay, the necessary social conditions for the evolution even of ancestor-worship were confessedly not found where the supposed ultimate result of ancestor-worship, the belief in a supreme being, flourished abundantly. again, the belief in a supreme being, _ex hypothesi_ the latest in evolution, therefore the most potent, was often shelved and half forgotten, or neglected, or ridiculed, where the belief in animism (_ex hypothesi_ the earlier) was in full vigour. we demonstrated by facts that anthropology had simplified her task by ignoring that essential feature, _the prevalent alliance of ethics with religion_, in the creed of the lowest and least developed races. here, happily, we have not only the evidence of an earnest animist, mr. im thurn, on our side, but that of a distinguished semitic scholar, the late mr. robertson smith. 'we see that even in its rudest forms religion was a moral force, the powers that man reveres were on the side of social order and moral law; and the fear of the gods was a motive to enforce the laws of society, which were also the laws of morality.'[9] wellhausen has already been cited to the same effect. however, the facts proving that truth, and unselfishness, surely a large element of christian ethics, are divinely sanctioned in savage religion are more potent than the most learned opinion on that side. our next step was to examine in detail several religions of the most remote and backward races, of races least contaminated with christian or islamite teaching. our evidence, when possible, was derived from ancient and secret tribal mysteries, and sacred native hymns. we found a relatively supreme being, a maker, sanctioning morality, and unpropitiated by sacrifice, among peoples who go in dread of ghosts and wizards, but do not always worship ancestors. we showed that the anthropological theory of the evolution of god out of ghosts in no way explains the facts in the savage conception of a supreme being. we then argued that the notion of 'spirit,' derived from ghost-belief, was not logically needed for the conception of a supreme being in its earliest form, was detrimental to the conception, and, by much evidence, was denied to be part of the conception. the supreme being, thus regarded, may be (though he cannot historically be shown to be) prior to the first notion of ghost and separable souls. we then traced the idea of such a supreme being through the creeds of races rising in the scale of material culture, demonstrating that he was thrust aside by the competition of ravenous but serviceable ghosts, ghost-gods, and shades of kingly ancestors, with their magic and their bloody rites. these rites and the animistic conception behind them were next, in rare cases, reflected or refracted back on the supreme eternal. aristocratic institutions fostered polytheism with the old supreme being obscured, or superseded, or enthroned as emperor-god, or king-god. we saw how, and in what sense, the old degeneration theory could be defined and defended. we observed traces of degeneration in certain archaic aspects of the faith in jehovah; and we proved that (given a tolerably pure low savage belief in a supreme being) that belief _must_ degenerate, under social conditions, as civilisation advanced. next, studying what we may call the restoration of jehovah, under the great prophets of israel, we noted that they, and israel generally, were strangely indifferent to that priceless aspect of animism, the care for the future happiness, as conditioned by the conduct of the individual soul. that aspect had been neglected neither by the popular instinct nor the priestly and philosophic reflection of egypt, greece, and rome. christianity, last, combined what was good in animism, the care for the individual soul as an immortal spirit under eternal responsibilities, with the one righteous eternal of prophetic israel, and so ended the long, intricate, and mysterious theological education of humanity. such is our theory, which does not, to us, appear to lack evidence, nor to be inconsistent (as the anthropological theory is apparently inconsistent) with the hypothesis of evolution. all this, it must be emphatically insisted on, is propounded 'under all reserves.' while these four stages, say (1) the australian unpropitiated moral being, (2) the african neglected being, still somewhat moral, (3) the relatively supreme being involved in human sacrifice, as in polynesia, and (4) the moral being reinstated philosophically, as in israel, do suggest steps in evolution, we desire to base no hard-and-fast system of ascending and descending degrees upon our present evidence. the real object is to show that facts may be regarded in this light, as well as in the light thrown by the anthropological theory, in the hands whether of mr. tylor, mr. spencer, m. réville, or mr. jevons, whose interesting work comes nearest to our provisional hypothesis. we only ask for suspense of judgment, and for hesitation in accepting the dogmas of modern manual makers. an exception to them certainly appears to be mr. clodd, if we may safely attribute to him a review (signed c.) of mr. grant allen's 'evolution of the idea of god.' 'we fear that all our speculations will remain summaries of probabilities. no documents are extant to enlighten us; we have only mobile, complex and confused ideas, incarnate in eccentric, often contradictory theories. that this character attaches to such ideas should keep us on guard against framing theories whose symmetry is sometimes their condemnation' ('daily chronicle,' december 10, 1897). nothing excites my own suspicion of my provisional hypothesis more than its symmetry. it really seems to fit the facts, as they appear to me, too neatly. i would suggest, however, that ancient savage sacred hymns, and practices in the mysteries, are really rather of the nature of 'documents;' more so, at least, than the casual observations of some travellers, or the gossip extracted from natives much in contact with europeans. supposing that the arguments in this essay met with some acceptance, what effect would they have, if any, on our thoughts about religion? what is their practical tendency? the least dubious effect would be, i hope, to prevent us from accepting the anthropological theory of religion, or any other theory, as a foregone conclusion, i have tried to show how dim is our knowledge, how weak, often, is our evidence, and that, finding among the lowest savages all the elements of all religions already developed in different degrees, we cannot, historically, say that one is earlier than another. this point of priority we can never historically settle. if we met savages with ghosts and no gods, we could not be sure but that they once possessed a god, and forgot him. if we met savages with a god and no ghosts, we could not be historically certain that a higher had not obliterated a lower creed. for these reasons dogmatic decisions about the _origin_ of religion seem unworthy of science. they will appear yet more futile to any student who goes so far with me as to doubt whether the highest gods of the lowest races could be developed, or can be shown to have been developed, by way of the ghost-theory. to him who reaches this point the whole animistic doctrine of ghosts as the one germ of religion will appear to be imperilled. the main practical result, then, will be hesitation about accepting the latest scientific opinion, even when backed by great names, and published in little primers. on the hypothesis here offered to criticism there are two chief sources of religion, (1) the belief, how attained we know not,[10] in a powerful, moral, eternal, omniscient father and judge of men; (2) the belief (probably developed out of experiences normal and supernormal) in somewhat of man which may survive the grave. this second belief is not, logically, needed as given material for the first, in its apparently earliest form. it may, for all we know, be the later of the two beliefs, chronologically. but this belief, too, was necessary to religion; first, as finally supplying a formula by which advancing intellects could conceive of the mighty being involved in the former creed; next, as elevating man's conception of his own nature. by the second belief he becomes the child of the god in whom, perhaps, he already trusted, and in whom he has his being, a being not destined to perish with the death of the body. man is thus not only the child but the heir of god, a 'nurseling of immortality,' capable of entering into eternal life. on the moral influence of this belief it is superfluous to dwell. from the most backward races historically known to us, to those of our own status, all have been more or less washed by the waters of this double stream of religion. the hebrews, as far as our information goes, were chiefly influenced by the first belief, the faith in the eternal, and had comparatively slight interest in whatever posthumous fortunes might await individual souls. other civilised peoples, say the greeks, extended the second, or animistic theory, into forms of beautiful fantasy, the material of art. yet both in greece and rome, as we learn from the 'republic' (books i. iii.) of plato, and from the whole scope of the poem of lucretius, and from the painted porch at delphi, answering to the frescoes of the pisan campo santo, there existed, among the people, what was unknown to the hebrews, an extreme anxiety about the posthumous fortunes and possible punishment of the individual soul. a kind of pardoners and indulgence-sellers made a living out of that anxiety in greece. for the greek pardoners, who testify to an interest in the future happiness of the soul not found in israel, mr. jevons may be cited: 'the _agyrtes_ professed by means of his rites to purify men from the sins they had themselves committed ... and so to secure to those whom he purified an exemption from the evil lot in the next world which awaited those who were not initiated.' 'a magic mirror' (crystal-gazing) 'was among his properties.'[11] in egypt a moral life did not suffice to secure immortal reward. there was also required knowledge of the spells that baffle the demons who, in amenti, as in the red indian and polynesian hades, lie in wait for souls. that knowledge was contained in copies of the book of the dead--the _gagne-pain_ of priests and scribes. early israel, having, as far as we know, a singular lack of interest in the future of the soul, was born to give himself up to developing, undisturbed, the theistic conception, the belief in a righteous eternal. polytheism everywhere--in greece especially--held of the animistic conception, with its freakish, corruptible deities. greek philosophy could hardly restore that eternal for whom the prophets battled in israel; whom some of the lowest savages know and fear; whom the animistic theory or cult everywhere obscures with its crowd of hungry, cruel, interested, food-propitiated ghost-gods. in the religion of our lord and the apostles the two currents of faith in one righteous god and care for the individual soul were purified and combined. 'god is a spirit, and they who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.' man also is a spirit, and, as such, is in the hands of a god not to be propitiated by man's sacrifice or monk's ritual. we know how this doctrine was again disturbed by the animism, in effect, and by the sacrifice and ritual of the mediaeval church. too eager 'to be all things to all men,' the august and beneficent mother of christendom readmitted the earlier animism in new forms of saint-worship, pilgrimage, and popular ceremonial--things apart from, but commonly supposed to be substitutes for, righteousness of life and the selflessness enjoined in savage mysteries. for the softness, no less than for the hardness of men's hearts, these things were ordained: such as masses for the beloved dead. modern thought has deanthropomorphised what was left of anthropomorphic in religion, and, in the end, has left us for god, at most, 'a stream of tendency making for righteousness,' or an energy unknown and unknowable--the ghost of a ghost. for the soul, by virtue of his belief in which man raised himself in his own esteem, and, more or less, in ethical standing, is left to us a negation or a wistful doubt. to this part of modern scientific teaching the earlier position of this essay suggests a demurrer. by aid of the tradition of and belief in supernormal phenomena among the low races, by attested phenomena of the same kinds of experience among the higher races, i have ventured to try to suggest that 'we are not merely brain;' that man has his part, we know not how, in we know not what--has faculties and vision scarcely conditioned by the limits of his normal purview. the evidence of all this deals with matters often trivial, like the electric sparks rubbed from the deer's hide, which yet are cognate with an illimitable, essential potency of the universe. not being able to explain away these facts, or, in this place, to offer what would necessarily be a premature theory of them, i regard them, though they seem shadowy, as grounds of hope, or, at least, as tokens that men need not yet despair. not now for the first time have weak things of the earth been chosen to confound things strong. nor have men of this opinion been always the weakest; not among the feeblest are socrates, pascal, napoleon, cromwell, charles gordon, st. theresa, and jeanne d'arc. i am perfectly aware that the 'superstitiousness' of the earlier part of this essay must injure any effect which the argument of the latter part might possibly produce on critical opinion. yet that argument in no way depends on what we think about the phenomena--normal, supernormal, or illusory--on which the theory of ghost, soul, or spirit may have been based. it exhibits religion as probably beginning in a kind of theism, which is then superseded, in some degree, or even corrupted, by animism in all its varieties. finally, the exclusive theism of israel receives its complement in a purified animism, and emerges as christianity. quite apart, too, from any favourable conclusion which may, by some, be drawn from the phenomena, and quite apart from the more general opinion that all modern instances are compact of imposture, malobservation, mythopoeic memory, and superstitious bias, the systematic comparison of civilised and savage beliefs and alleged experiences of this kind cannot wisely be neglected by anthropology. _humani nihil a se alienum putat._ [footnote 1: _prim. cult_. ii. 352.] [footnote 2: abridged from _prim. cult_. ii. 119.] [footnote 3: _histoire des religions_, ii. 237, note. m. réville's system, it will be observed, differs from mine in that he finds the first essays of religion in worship of aspects of nature (_naturisme_) and in 'animism properly so called,' by which he understands the instinctive, perhaps not explicitly formulated, sense that all things whatever are animated and personal. i have not remarked this aspect of belief as much prevalent in the most backward races, and i do not try to look behind what we know historically about early religion. i so far agree with m. réville as to think the belief in ghosts and spirits (mr. tylor's 'animism') not necessarily postulated in the original indeterminate conception of the supreme being, or generally, in 'original gods.' but m. réville says, 'l'objet de la religion humaine est nécessairement un esprit' (_prolégoménes_, 107). this does not seem consistent with his own theory.] [footnote 4: compare mr. frazer's _golden bough_ with mr. grant allen's _evolution of the idea of god_.] [footnote 5: _j.a.i_. x. 85.] [footnote 6: massey. note to du prel. _philosophy of mysticism_, ii 10.] [footnote 7: _science and christian tradition_, p. 197] [footnote 8: op. cit. p. 195.] [footnote 9: _religion of the semites_, p. 53.] [footnote 10: the hypothesis of st. paul seems not the most unsatisfactory, rom. i. 19.] [footnote 11: _introd. to hist. of rel_. p. 333; aristoph. _frogs_, 159.] appendices appendix a oppositions of science the most elaborate reply to the arguments for telepathy, based on the report of the census of hallucinations, is that of herr parish, in his 'hallucinations and illusions.'[1] herr parish is, at present, opposed to the theory that the census establishes a telepathic cause in the so-called 'coincidental' stories, 'put forward,' as he says, 'with due reserve, and based on an astonishing mass of materials, to some extent critically handled.' he first demurs to an allowance of twelve hours for the coincidence of hallucination and death; but, if we reflect that twelve hours is little even in a year, coincidences within twelve hours, it may be admitted, _donnent à penser_, even if we reject the theory that, granted a real telepathic impact, it may need time and quiet for its development into a complete hallucination. we need not linger over the very queer cases from munich, as these are not in the selected thirty of the report. herr parish then dwells on that _hallucination of memory_, in which we feel as if everything that is going on had happened before. it may have occurred to most of us to be reminded by some association of ideas during the day, of some dream of the previous night, which we had forgotten. for instance, looking at a brook from a bridge, and thinking of how i would fish it, i remembered that i had dreamed, on the previous night, of casting a fly for practice, on a lawn. nobody would think of disputing the fact that i really had such a dream, forgot it and remembered it when reminded of it by association of ideas. but if the forgotten dream had been 'fulfilled,' and been recalled to memory only in the moment of fulfilment, science would deny that i ever had such a dream at all. the alleged dream would be described as an 'hallucination of memory.' something occurring, it would be said, i had the not very unusual sensation, 'this has occurred to me before,' and the sensation would become a false memory that it _had_ occurred--in a dream. this theory will be advanced, i think, not when an ordinary dream is recalled by a waking experience, but only when the dream coincides with and foreruns that experience, which is a thing that dreams have no business to do. such coincidental dreams are necessarily 'false memories,' scientifically speaking. now, how does this theory of false memory bear on coincidental hallucinations? the insane, it seems, are apt to have the false memory 'this occurred before,' and _then_ to say that the event was revealed to them in a vision.[2] the insane may be recommended to make a note of the vision, and have it properly attested, _before_ the event. the same remark applies to the 'presentiments' of the sane. but it does _not_ apply if jones tells me 'i saw my great aunt last night,' and if news comes _after_ this remark that jones's aunt died, on that night, in timbuctoo. yet herr parish (p. 282) seems to think that the argument of fallacious memory comes in part, even when an hallucination has been reported to another person _before_ its fulfilment. of course all depends on the veracity of the narrator and the person to whom he told his tale. to take a case given:[3] brown, say, travelling with his wife, dreams that a mad dog bit his boy at home on the elbow. he tells his wife. arriving at home brown finds that it was so. herr parish appears to argue thus: brown dreamed nothing at all, but he gets excited when he hears the bad news at home; he thinks, by false memory, that he has a recollection of it, he says to his wife, 'my dear, didn't i tell you, last night, i had dreamed all this?' and his equally excited wife replies, 'true, my brown, you did, and i said it was only one of your dreams.' and both now believe that the dream occurred. this is very plausible, is it not? only science would not say anything about it if the dream had _not_ been fulfilled--if brown had remarked, 'egad, my dear, seeing that horse reminds me that i was dreaming last night of driving in a dog-cart.' for then brown was not excited. none of this exquisite reasoning as to dreams applies to waking hallucinations, reported before the alleged coincidence, unless we accept a collective hallucination of memory in seer or seers, and also in the persons to whom their story was told. but, it is obvious, memory is apt to become mythopoeic, so far as to exaggerate closeness of coincidence, and to add romantic details. we do not need herr parish to tell us _that_; we meet the circumstance in all narratives from memory, whatever the topic, even in herr parish's own writings. we must admit that the public, in ghostly, as in all narratives on all topics, is given to 'fanciful addenda.' therefore, as herr parish justly remarks, we should 'maintain a very sceptical attitude to all accounts' of veridical hallucinations. 'not that we should dismiss them as old wives' fables--an all too common method--or even doubt the narrator's good faith.' we should treat them like tales of big fish that get away; sometimes there is good corroborative evidence that they really were big fish, sometimes not. we shall return to these false memories. was there a coincidence at all in the society's cases printed in the census? herr parish thinks three of the selected twenty-six cases very dubious. in one case is a _possible_ margin of four days, another (wrongly numbered by the way) does not occur at all among the twenty-six. in the third, herr parish is wrong in his statement.[4] this is a lovely example of the sceptical slipshod, and, accompanied by the miscitation of the second case, shows that inexactitude is not all on the side of the seers. however the case is not very good, the two percipients fancying that the date of the event was less remote than it really was. unluckily herr parish only criticises these three cases, how accurately we have remarked. he had no room for more. herr parish next censures the probable selection of good cases by collectors, on which the editors of the census have already made observations, as they have also made large allowances for this cause of error. he then offers the astonishing statement that, 'in the view of the english authors, a view which is, of course, assumed in all calculations of the kind, an hallucination persists equally long in the memory and is equally readily recalled in reply to a question, whether the experience made but a slight impression on the percipient, or affected him deeply, as would be the case, for instance, if the hallucination had been found to coincide with the death of a near relative or friend.'[5] this assertion of herr parish's is so erroneous that the report expressly says 'as years recede into the distance,' the proportion of the hallucinations that are remembered in them to those which are forgotten, or at least ignored, 'is very large.' again, 'hallucinations of the most impressive class will not only be better remembered than others, but will, we may reasonably suppose, be more often mentioned by the percipients to their friends.'[6] yet herr parish avers that, in all calculations, it is assumed that hallucinations are equally readily recalled whether impressive or not! once more, the report says (p. 246), '_it is not the case_' that coincidental (and impressive) hallucinations are as easily subject to oblivion as non-coincidental, and non-impressive ones. the editors therefore multiply the non-coincidental cases by four, arguing that no coincidental cases (hits) are forgotten, while three out of four non-coincidentals (misses) are forgotten, or may be supposed likely to be forgotten. immediately after declaring that the english authors suppose all hallucinations to be equally well remembered (which is the precise reverse of what they do say), herr parish admits that the authors multiply the misses by four, 'influenced by other considerations' (p. 289). by what other considerations? they give their reason (that very reason which they decline to entertain, says herr parish), namely, that misses are four times as likely to be forgotten as hits. 'to go into the reason for adopting this plan would lead us too far,' he writes. why, it is the very reason which, he says, does _not_ find favour with the english authors! how curiously remote from being 'coincidental' with plain facts, or 'veridical' at all, is this scientific criticism! herr parish says that a 'view' (which does not exist) is 'of course assumed in all calculations;' and, on the very same page, he says that it is _not_ assumed! 'the witnesses of the report--influenced, it is true, by other considerations' (which is not the case), 'have sought to turn the point of this objection by multiplying the whole number of (non-coincidental) cases by four.' then the 'view' is _not_ 'assumed in all calculations,' as herr parish has just asserted. what led herr parish, an honourable and clearheaded critic, into this maze of incorrect and contradictory assertions? it is interesting to try to trace the causes of such _non-veridical illusions_, to find the _points de repère_ of these literary hallucinations. one may suggest that when herr parish 'recast the chapters' of his german edition, as he says in his preface to the english version, he accidentally left in a passage based on an earlier paper by mr. gurney,[7] not observing that it was no longer accurate or appropriate. after this odd passage, herr parish argues that a 'veridical' hallucination is regarded by the english authors as 'coincidental,' even when external circumstances have made that very hallucination a probable occurrence by producing 'tension of the corresponding nerve element groups.' that is to say, a person is in a condition--a nervous condition-likely, _a priori_, to beget an hallucination. an hallucination _is_ begotten, quite naturally; and so, if it happens to coincide with an event, the coincidence should not count--it is purely fortuitous.[8] here is an example. a lady, facing an old sideboard, saw a friend, with no coat on, and in a waistcoat with a back of shiny material. within an hour she was taken to where her friend lay dying, without a coat, and in a waistcoat with a shiny back.[9] here is the scientific explanation of herr parish: 'the shimmer of a reflecting surface [the sideboard?] formed the occasion for the hallucinatory emergence of a subconsciously perceived _shiny black waistcoat_ [quotation incorrect, of course], and an individual subconsciously associated with that impression.[10] i ask any lady whether she, consciously or subconsciously, associates the men she knows with the backs of their waistcoats. herr parish's would be a brilliantly satisfactory explanation if it were only true to the printed words that lay under his eyes when he wrote. there was no 'shiny black waistcoat' in the case, but a waistcoat with a shiny _back_. gentlemen, and especially old gentlemen who go about in bath-chairs (like the man in this story), don't habitually take off their coats and show the backs of their waistcoats to ladies of nineteen in england. and, if herr parish had cared to read his case, he would have found it expressly stated that the lady 'had never seen the man without his coat' (and so could not associate him with an impression of a shiny back to his waistcoat) till _after_ the hallucination, when she saw him coatless on his death-bed. in this instance herr parish had an hallucinatory memory, all wrong, of the page under his eyes. the case is got rid of, then, by aid of the 'fanciful addenda,' to which herr parish justly objects. he first gives the facts incorrectly, and then explains an occurrence which, as reported by him, did not occur, and was not asserted to occur. i confess that, if herr parish's version were as correct as it is essentially inaccurate, his explanation would leave me doubtful. for the circumstances were that the old gentleman of the story lunched daily with the young lady's mother. suppose that she was familiar (which she was not) with the shiny back of his waistcoat, still, she saw him daily, and daily, too, was in the way of seeing the (hypothetically) shiny surface of the sideboard. that being the case, she had, every day, the materials, subjective and objective, of the hallucination. yet it only occurred _once_, and then it precisely coincided with the death agony of the old gentleman, and with his coatless condition. why only that once? _c'est là le miracle!_ 'how much for this little veskit?' as the man asked david copperfield. herr parish next invents a cause for an hallucination, which, i myself think, ought not to have been reckoned, because the percipient had been sitting up with the sick man. this he would class as a 'suspicious' case. but, even granting him his own way of handling the statistics, he would still have far too large a proportion of coincidences for the laws of chance to allow, if we are to go by these statistics at all. his next argument practically is that hallucinations are always only a kind of dreams.[11] he proves this by the large number of coincidental hallucinations which occurred in sleepy circumstances. one man went to bed early, and woke up early; another was 'roused from sleep;' two ladies were sitting up in bed, giving their babies nourishment; a man was reading a newspaper on a sofa; a lady was lying awake at seven in the morning; and there are eight other english cases of people 'awake' in bed during an hallucination. now, in dr. parish's opinion, we must argue that they were _not_ awake, or not much; so the hallucinations were mere dreams. dreams are so numerous that coincidences in dreams can be got rid of as pure flukes. people may say, to be sure, 'i am used to dreams, and don't regard them; _this_ was something solitary in my experience.' but we must not mind what people say. yet i fear we must mind what they say. at least, we must remember that sleeping dreams are, of all things, most easily forgotten; while a full-bodied hallucination, when we, at least, believe ourselves awake, seems to us on a perfectly different plane of impressiveness, and (_experto crede_) is really very difficult to forget. herr parish cannot be allowed, therefore, to use the regular eighteenth-century argument-'all dreams!' for the two sorts of dreams, in sleep and in apparent wakefulness, seem, to the subject, to differ in _kind_. and they really do differ in kind. it is the essence of the every night dream that we are unconscious of our actual surroundings and conscious of a fantastic environment. it is the essence of wideawakeness to be conscious of our actual surroundings. in the ordinary dream, nothing actual competes with its visions. when we are conscious of our surroundings, everything actual does compete with any hallucination. therefore, an hallucination which, when we are conscious of our material environment, does compete with it in reality, is different _in kind_ from an ordinary dream. science gains nothing by arbitrarily declaring that two experiences so radically different are identical. anybody would see this if he were not arguing under a dominant idea. herr parish next contends that people who see pictures in crystal balls, and so on, are not so wide awake as to be in their normal consciousness. there is 'dissociation' (practically drowsiness), even if only a little. herr moll also speaks of crystal-gazing pictures as 'hypnotic phenomena.'[12] possibly neither of these learned men has ever seen a person attempt crystal-gazing. herr parish never asserts any such personal experience as the basis of his opinion about the non-normal state of the gazer. he reaches this conclusion from an anecdote reported, as a not unfamiliar phenomenon, by a friend of miss x. but the phenomenon occurred when miss x. was not crystal-gazing at all! she was looking out of a window in a brown study. this is a noble example of logic. some one says that miss x. was not in her normal consciousness on a certain occasion when she was _not_ crystal-gazing, and that this condition is familiar to the observer. therefore, argues herr parish, nobody is in his normal consciousness when he is crystal-gazing. in vain may 'so good an observer as miss x. think herself fully awake' (as she does think herself) when crystal-gazing, because once, when she happened to have 'her eyes _fixed on the window_,' her expression was '_associated_' by a friend 'with _something uncanny_,' and she afterwards spoke '_in a dreamy, far-away tone_' (p. 297). miss x., though extremely 'wide awake,' may have looked dreamily at a window, and may have seen mountains and marvels. but the point is that she was not voluntarily gazing at a crystal for amusement or experiment--perhaps trying to see how a microscope affected the pictures--or to divert a friend. i appeal to the shades of aristotle and bacon against scientific logic in the hands of herr parish. here is his syllogism: a. is occasionally dreamy when _not_ crystal-gazing. a. is human. therefore every human being, when crystal-gazing, is more or less asleep. he infers a general affirmative from a single affirmative which happens not to be to the point. it is exactly as if herr parish argued: mrs. b. spends hours in shopping. mrs. b. is human. therefore every human being is always late for dinner. miss x., i think, uplifted her voice in some review, and maintained that, when crystal-gazing, she was quite in her normal state, _dans son assiette_. yet herr parish would probably say to any crystal-gazer who argued thus, 'oh, no; pardon me, you were _not_ wholly awake--you were a-dream. i know better than you.' but, as he has not seen crystal-gazers, while i have, many scores of times, i prefer my own opinion. and so, as this assertion about the percipient's being 'dissociated,' or asleep, or not awake, is certainly untrue of all crystal-gazers in my considerable experience, i cannot accept it on the authority of herr parish, who makes no claim to any personal experience at all. as to crystal-gazing, when the gazer is talking, laughing, chatting, making experiments in turning the ball, changing the light, using prisms and magnifying-glasses, dropping matches into the water-jug, and so on, how can we possibly say that 'it is impossible to distinguish between waking hallucinations and those of sleep' (p. 300)? if so, it is impossible to distinguish between sleeping and waking altogether. we are all like the dormouse! herr parish is reasoning here _a priori_, without any personal knowledge of the facts; and, above all, he is under the 'dominant idea' of his own theory--that of _dissociation_. herr parish next crushes telepathy by an argument which--like one of the reasons why the bells were not rung for queen elizabeth, namely, that there were no bells to ring--might have come first, and alone. we are told (in italics--very impressive to the popular mind): _'no matter how great the number of coincidences, they afford not even the shadow of a proof for telepathy'_ (p. 301). what, not even if all hallucinations, or ninety-nine per cent., coincided with the death of the person seen? in heaven's name, why not? why, because the 'weightiest' cause of all has been omitted from our calculations, namely, our good old friend, _the association of ideas_ (p. 302). our side cannot prove the _absence_ (italics) of _the association of ideas_. certainly we cannot; but ideas in endless millions are being associated all day long. a hundred thousand different, unnoticed associations may bring jones to my mind, or brown. but i don't therefore see brown, or jones, who is not there. still less do i see dr. parish, or nebuchadnezzar, or a monkey, or a salmon, or a golf ball, or arthur's seat (all of which may be brought to my mind by association of ideas), when they are not present. suppose, then, that once in my life i see the absent jones, who dies in that hour (or within twelve hours). i am puzzled. why did association choose that day, of all days in my life, for her solitary freak? and, if this choice of freaks by association occurs among other people, say two hundred times more often than chance allows, the freak begins to suggest that it may have a cause. not even the circumstance cited by herr parish, that a drowsy tailor, 'sewing on in a dream,' poor fellow, saw a client in his shop while the client was dying, solves the problem. the tailor is not said even once to have seen a customer who was _not_ dying; yet he writes, 'i was accustomed to work all night frequently.' the tailor thinks he was asleep, because he had been making irregular stitches, and perhaps he was. but, out of all his vigils and all his customers, association only formed _one_ hallucination, and that was of a dying client whom he supposed to be perfectly well. why on earth is association so fond of dying people-granting the statistics, which are 'another story'? the explanation explains nothing. herr parish only moves the difficulty back a step, and, as we cannot live without association of ideas, they are taken for granted by our side. association of ideas does not cause hallucinations, as mrs. sidgwick remarks, though it may determine their contents. the difficult theme of coincidental collective hallucinations, as when two or more people at once have, or profess to have, the same false perception of a person who is really absent and dying, is next disposed of by herr parish. the same _points de repère_, the same sound, or flicker of light, or arrangement of shadow, may beget the same or a similar false perception in two or more people at once. thus two girls, in different rooms, are looking out on different parts of the hall in their house. 'both heard, at the same time, an [objective?] noise' (p. 313). then, says herr parish, '_the one sister saw her father cross the hall_ after entering; the other saw the dog (the usual companion of his walks) run past her door.' father and dog had not left the dining-room. herr parish decides that the same _point de repère_ (the apparent noise of a key in the lock of the front door) 'acted by way of suggestion on both sisters,' producing, however, different hallucinations, 'in virtue of the difference of the connected associations.' one girl associated the sound with her honoured sire, the other with his faithful hound; so one saw a dog, and the other saw an elderly gentleman. now, first, if so, this should _always_ be occurring, for we all have different associations of ideas. thus, we are in a haunted house; there is a noise of a rattling window; i associate it with a burglar, brown with a milkman, miss jones with a lady in green, miss smith with a knight in armour. that collection of phantasms should then be simultaneously on view, like the dog and old gentleman; all our reports should vary. but this does not occur. most unluckily for herr parish, he illustrates his theory by telling a story which happens not to be correctly reported. at first i thought that a fallacy of memory, or an optical delusion, had betrayed him again, as in his legend of the waistcoat. but i am now inclined to believe that what really occurred was this: herr parish brought out his book in german, before the report of the census of hallucinations was published. in his german edition he probably quoted a story which precisely suited his theory of the origin of collective hallucinations. this anecdote he had found in prof. sidgwick's presidential address of july 1890.[13] as stated by prof. sidgwick, the case just fitted herr parish, who refers to it on p. 190, and again on p. 314. he gives no reference, but his version reads like a traditional variant of prof. sidgwick's. now prof. sidgwick's version was erroneous, as is proved by the elaborate account of the case in the report of the census, which herr parish had before him, but neglected when he prepared his english edition. the story was wrong, alas! in the very point where, for herr parish's purpose, it ought to have been right. the hallucination is believed not to have been collective, yet herr parish uses it to explain collective hallucinations. doubtless he overlooked the accurate version in the report.[14] the facts, as there reported, were not what he narrates, but as follows: miss c.e. was in the breakfast-room, about 6:30 p.m., in january 1883, and supposed her father to be taking a walk with his dog. she heard noises, which may have had any other cause, but which she took to be the sounds of a key in the door lock, a stick tapping the tiles of the hall, and the patter of the dog's feet on the tiles. she then saw the dog pass the door. miss c.e. next entered the hall, where she found nobody; but in the pantry she met her sisters--miss e., miss h.g.e.--and a working-woman. miss e. and the working-woman had been in the hall, and there had heard the sound, which they, like miss c.e., took for that of a key in the lock. they were breaking a little household rule in the hall, so they 'ran straightway into the pantry, meeting miss h.g.e. on the way.' miss c.e. and miss e. and the working-woman all heard the noise as of a key in the lock, but nobody is said to have 'seen the father cross the hall' (as herr parish asserts). 'miss h.g.e. was of opinion that miss e. (now dead) saw _nothing_, and miss c.e. was inclined to agree with her.' miss e. and the work-woman (now dead) were 'emphatic as to the father having entered the house;' but this the two only _inferred_ from hearing the noise, after which they fled to the pantry. now, granting that some other noise was mistaken for that of the key in the lock, we have here, _not_ (as herr parish declares) a _collective_ yet discrepant hallucination--the discrepancy being caused 'by the difference of connected associations'-but a _solitary_ hallucination. herr parish, however, inadvertently converts a solitary into a collective hallucination, and then uses the example to explain collective hallucinations in general. he asserts that miss e. 'saw her father cross the hall.' miss e.'s sisters think that she saw no such matter. now, suppose that mr. e. had died at the moment, and that the case was claimed on our part as a 'collective coincidental hallucination,' how righteously herr parish might exclaim that all the evidence was against its being collective! the sound in the lock, heard by three persons, would be, and probably was, another noise misinterpreted. and, in any case, there is no evidence for its having produced _two_ hallucinations; the evidence is in exactly the opposite direction. here, then, herr parish, with the printed story under his eyes, once more illustrates want of attention. in one way his errors improve his case. 'if i, a grave man of science, go on telling distorted legends out of my own head, while the facts are plain in print before me,' herr parish may reason, 'how much more are the popular tales about coincidental hallucinations likely to be distorted?' it is really a very strong argument, but not exactly the argument which herr parish conceives himself to be presenting.[15] this unlucky inexactitude is chronic, as we have shown, in herr parish's work, and is probably to be explained by inattention to facts, by 'expectation' of suitable facts, and by 'anxiety' to prove a theory. he explains the similar or identical reports of witnesses to a collective hallucination by 'the case with which such appearances adapt themselves in recollection' (p. 313), especially, of course, after lapse of time. and then he unconsciously illustrates his case by the case with which printed facts under his very eyes adapt themselves, quite erroneously, to his own memory and personal bias as he copies them on to his paper. finally he argues that even if collective hallucinations are also 'with comparative frequency' coincidental, that is to be explained thus: 'the rarity and the degree of interest compelled by it' (by such an hallucination) 'will naturally tend to connect itself with some other prominent event; and, conversely, the occurrence of such an event as the death or mortal danger of a friend is most calculated to produce memory illusions of this kind.' in the second case, the excitement caused by the death of a friend is likely, it seems, to make two or more sane people say, and _believe,_ that they saw him somewhere else, when he was really dying. the only evidence for this fact is that such illusions occasionally occur, _not_ collectively, in some lunatic asylums. 'it is not, however, a form of mnemonic error often observed among the insane.' 'kraepelin gives two cases.' 'the process occurs sporadically in certain sane people, under certain exciting conditions.' no examples are given! what is rare as an _individual_ folly among lunatics, is supposed by herr parish to explain the theoretically 'false memory' whereby sane people persuade themselves that they had an hallucination, and persuade others that they were told of it, when no such thing occurred. to return to our old example. jones tells me that he has just seen his aunt, whom he knows to be in timbuctoo. news comes that the lady died when jones beheld her in his smoking-room. 'oh, nonsense,' herr parish would argue, 'you, jones, saw nothing of the kind, nor did you tell mr. lang, who, i am sorry to find, agrees with you. what happened was _this_: when the awful news came to-day of your aunt's death, you were naturally, and even creditably, excited, especially as the poor lady was killed by being pegged down on an ant-heap. this excitement, rather praiseworthy than otherwise, made you _believe_ you had seen your aunt, and _believe_ you had told mr. lang. he also is a most excitable person, though i admit he never saw your dear aunt in his life. he, therefore (by virtue of his excitement), now _believes_ you told him about seeing your unhappy kinswoman. this kind of false memory is very common. two cases are recorded by kraepelin, among the insane. surely you quite understand my reasoning?' i quite understand it, but i don't see how it comes to seem good logic to herr parish. the other theory is funnier still. jones never had an hallucination before. 'the rarity and the degree of interest compelled by it' made jones 'connect it with some other prominent event,' say, the death of his aunt, which, really, occurred, say, nine months afterwards. but this is a mere case of _evidence_, which it is the affair of the s.p.r. to criticise. herr parish is in the happy position called in american speculative circles 'a straddle.' if a man has an hallucination when alone, he was in circumstances conducive to the sleeping state. so the hallucination is probably a dream. but, if the seer was in company, who all had the same hallucination, then they all had the same _points de repère_, and the same adaptive memories. so herr parish kills with both barrels. if anything extraneous could encourage a belief in coincidental and veridical hallucinations, it would be these 'oppositions of science.' if a learned and fair opponent can find no better proofs than logic and (unconscious) perversions of facts like the logic and the statements of herr parish, the case for telepathic hallucinations may seem strong indeed. but we must grant him the existence of the adaptive and mythopoeic powers of memory, which he asserts, and also illustrates. i grant, too, that a census of 17,000 inquiries may only have 'skimmed the cream off' (p. 87). another dip of the net, bringing up 17,000 fresh answers, might alter the whole aspect of the case, one way or the other. moreover, we cannot get scientific evidence in this way of inquiry. if the public were interested in the question, and understood its nature, and if everybody who had an hallucination at once recorded it in black and white, duly attested on oath before a magistrate, by persons to whom he reported, before the coincidence was known, and if all such records, coincidental or not, were kept in the british museum for fifty years, then an examination of them might teach us something. but all this is quite impossible. we may form a belief, on this point of veridical hallucinations, for ourselves, but beyond that it is impossible to advance. still, science might read her brief! [footnote 1: walter scott.] [footnote 2: parish, p. 278.] [footnote 3: ibid. pp. 282, 283.] [footnote 4: p. 287, mr. sims, _proceedings_, x. 230.] [footnote 5: parish pp. 288, 289.] [footnote 6: _report_, p. 68.] [footnote 7: p. 274, note 1.] [footnote 8: parish, p. 290.] [footnote 9: _report_, p. 297.] [footnote 10: parish, p. 290.] [footnote 11: pp. 291, 292.] [footnote 12: moll, _hypnotism_, p. 1.] [footnote 13 _proceedings_, vol. vi. p. 433.] [footnote 14: parish, p. 313.] [footnote 15: compare _report_, pp. 181-83, with parish, pp. 190 and 313, 314.] appendix b the poltergeist and his explainers. in the chapter on 'fetishism and spiritualism' it was suggested that the movements of inanimate objects, apparently without contact, may have been one of the causes leading to fetishism, to the opinion that a spirit may inhabit a stick, stone, or what not. we added that, whether such movements were caused by trickery or not, was inessential as long as the savage did not discover the imposture. the evidence for the genuine supernormal character of such phenomena was not discussed, that we might preserve the continuity of the general argument. the history of such phenomena is too long for statement here. the same reports are found 'from china to peru,' from eskimo to the cape, from egyptian magical papyri to yesterday's provincial newspaper.[1] about 1850-1870 phenomena, which had previously been reported as of sporadic and spontaneous occurrence, were domesticated and organised by mediums, generally american. these were imitators of the enigmatic david dunglas home, who was certainly a most oddly gifted man, or a most successful impostor. a good deal of scientific attention was given to the occurrences; mr. darwin, mr. tyndall, dr. carpenter, mr. huxley, had all glanced at the phenomena, and been present at _séances_. in most cases the exhibitions, in the dark, or in a very bad light, were impudent impostures, and were so regarded by the _savants_ who looked into them. a series of exposures culminated in the recent detection of eusapia paladino by dr. hodgson and other members of the s.p.r. at cambridge. there was, however, an apparent exception. the arch mystagogue, home, though by no means a clever man, was never detected in fraudulent productions of fetishistic phenomena. this is asserted here because several third-hand stories of detected frauds by home are in circulation, and it is hoped that a well-attested first-hand case of detection may be elicited. of home's successes with sir william crookes, lord crawford, and others, something remains to be said; but first we shall look into attempted explanations of alleged physical phenomena occurring _not_ in the presence of a paid or even of a recognised 'medium.' it will appear, we think, that the explanations of evidence so widely diffused, so uniform, so old, and so new, are far from satisfactory. our inference would be no more than that our eyes should be kept on such phenomena, if they are reported to recur. mr. tylor says, 'i am well aware that the problem [of these phenomena] is one to be discussed on its merits, in order to arrive at a distinct opinion how far it may be connected with facts insufficiently appreciated and explained by science, and how far with superstition, delusion, and sheer knavery. such investigation, pursued by careful observation in a scientific spirit, would seem apt to throw light on some interesting psychological questions.' acting on mr. tylor's hint, mr. podmore puts forward as explanations (1) fraud; (2) hallucinations caused by excited expectation, and by the _schwärmerei_ consequent on sitting in hushed hope of marvels. to take fraud first: mr. podmore has collected, and analyses, eleven recent sporadic cases of volatile objects.[2] his first instance (worksop, 1883) yields no proof of fraud, and can only be dismissed by reason of the bad character of the other cases, and because mr. podmore took the evidence five weeks after the events. to this example we confine ourselves. this case appears to have been first reported in the 'retford and gainsborough times' 'early in march,' 1883 (really march 9). it does not seem to have struck mr. podmore that he should publish these contemporary reports, to show us how far they agree with evidence collected by him on the spot five weeks later. to do this was the more necessary, as he lays so much stress on failure of memory. i have therefore secured the original newspaper report, by the courtesy of the editor. to be brief, the phenomena began on february 20 or 21, by the table voluntarily tipping up, and upsetting a candle, while mrs. white only saved the wash tub by alacrity and address. 'the whole incident struck her as very extraordinary.' it is not in the newspaper report. on february 26, mr. white left his home, and a girl, eliza rose, 'child of a half-imbecile mother,' was admitted by the kindness of mrs. white to share her bed. the girl was eighteen years of age, was looking for a place as servant, and nothing is said in the newspaper about her mother. mr. white returned on wednesday night, but left on thursday morning, returning on friday afternoon. on thursday, in mr. white's absence, phenomena set in. on thursday night, in mr. white's presence, they increased in vigour. a doctor was called in, also a policeman. on saturday, at 8 a.m., the row recommenced. at 4 p.m. mr. white sent eliza rose away, and peace returned. we now offer the statement of police constable higgs. a man of good intelligence, and believed to be entirely honest.... 'on the night of friday, march 2nd, i heard of the disturbances at joe white's house from his young brother, tom. i went round to the house at 11.55 p.m., as near as i can judge, and found joe white in the kitchen of his house. there was one candle lighted in the room, and a good fire burning, so that one could see things pretty clearly. the cupboard doors were open, and white went and shut them, and then came and stood against the chest of drawers. i stood near the outer door. no one else was in the room at the time. white had hardly shut the cupboard doors when they flew open, and a large glass jar came out past me, and pitched in the yard outside, smashing itself. i didn't see the jar leave the cupboard, or fly through the air; it went too quick. but i am quite sure that it wasn't thrown by white or any one else. white couldn't have done it without my seeing him. the jar couldn't go in a straight line from the cupboard out of the door; but it certainly did go. 'then white asked me to come and see the things which had been smashed in the inner room. he led the way and i followed. as i passed the chest of drawers in the kitchen i noticed a tumbler standing on it. just after i passed i heard a crash, and looking round, i saw that the tumbler had fallen on the ground in the direction of the fireplace, and was broken. i don't know how it happened. there was no one else in the room. 'i went into the inner room, and saw the bits of pots and things on the floor, and then i came back with white into the kitchen. the girl rose had come into the kitchen during our absence. she was standing with her back against the bin near the fire. there was a cup standing on the bin, rather nearer the door. she said to me, "cup'll go soon; it has been down three times already." she then pushed it a little farther on the bin, and turned round and stood talking to me by the fire. she had hardly done so, when the cup jumped up suddenly about four or five feet into the air, and then fell on the floor and smashed itself. white was sitting on the other side of the fire. 'then mrs. white came in with dr. lloyd; also tom white and solomon wass. after they had been in two or three minutes, something else happened. tom white and wass were standing with their backs to the fire, just in front of it. eliza rose and dr. lloyd were near them, with their backs turned towards the bin, the doctor nearer to the door. i stood by the drawers, and mrs. white was by me near the inner door. then suddenly a basin, which stood on the end of the bin near the door, got up into the air, _turning over and over as it went. it went up not very quickly, not as quickly as if it had been thrown_. when it reached the ceiling it fell plump and smashed. i called dr. lloyd's attention to it, and we all saw it. no one was near it, and i don't know how it happened. i stayed about ten minutes more, but saw nothing else. i don't know what to make of it all. i don't think white or the girl could possibly have done the things which i saw.' this statement was made five weeks after date to mr. podmore. we compare it with the intelligent constable's statement made between march 3 and march 8, that is, immediately after the events, and reported in the local paper of march 9. statement by police constable higgs.--during friday night, police constable higgs visited the house, and concerning the visit he makes the following statement. 'about ten minutes past [to?] twelve on friday night, i was met in bridge street by buck ford, and joe's brother, tom white and dr. lloyd. tom said to me, "will you go with us to joe's, and you will see something you have never seen before?" i went; and when i got into the house joe went and shut the cupboard doors. no sooner had he done so than the doors flew open again, and an ordinary sized glass jar flew across the kitchen, out of the door into the yard. a sugar jar also flew out of the cupboard unseen. in fact, we saw nothing and heard nothing until we heard it smash. the distance travelled by the articles was about seven yards. i stood a minute or two, and then the glass which i noticed on the drawers jumped off the drawers a yard away, and broke in about a hundred bits. the next thing was a cup, which stood on the flour-bin just beyond the yard door. it flew upwards, and then fell to the ground and broke. the girl said that this cup had been on the floor three times, and that she had picked it up just before it went off the bench. i said, "i suppose the cup will be the next." the cup fell a distance of two yards away from the flour-bin. dr. lloyd had been in the next house lancing the back of a little boy who had been removed there. he now came in, and we began talking, the doctor saying, "it is a most mysterious thing." he turned with his back to the flour-bin, on which stood a basin. the basin flew up into the air obliquely, went over the doctor's head, and fell at his feet in pieces. the doctor then went out. i stood a short time longer, but saw nothing farther. there were six persons in the room while these things were going on, and so far as i could see, there was no human agency at work. i had not the slightest belief in anything appertaining to the super-natural. i left just before one o'clock, having been in the house thirty minutes.' as the policeman says, there was nothing 'super-natural,' but there was an appearance of something rather supernormal. on the afternoon of saturday white sent the girl rose away, and a number of people watched in his house till after midnight. though the sceptical reporter thought that objects were placed where they might easily be upset, none were upset. the ghost was laid. 'excited expectation' was so false to its function as to beget no phenomena. the newspaper reports contain no theory that will account for white's breaking his furniture and crockery, nor for rose's securing her own dismissal from a house where she was kindly received by wilfully destroying the property of her hostess. an amateur published a theory of silken threads attached to light articles, and thick cords to heavy articles, whereof no trace was found by witnesses who examined the volatile objects. an elaborate machinery of pulleys fixed in the ceiling, the presence of a trickster in a locked pantry, apparent errors in the account of the flight of the objects, and a number of accomplices, were all involved in this local explanation, the explainer admitting that he could not imagine _why_ the tricks were played. six or eight pounds' worth of goods were destroyed, nor is it singular that poor mrs. white wept over her shattered penates. the destruction began, of course, in the _absence_ of white. the girl rose gave to the newspaper the same account as the other witnesses, but, as white thought _she_ was the agent, so she suspected white, though she admitted that he was not at home when the trouble arose. mr. podmore, reviewing the case, says, 'the phenomena described are quite inexplicable by ordinary mechanical means.[3] yet he elsewhere[4] suggests that rose herself, 'as the instrument of mysterious agencies, or simply as a half-witted girl, gifted with abnormal cunning and love of mischief, may have been directly responsible for all that took place.' that is to say, a half-witted girl could do (barring 'mysterious agencies') 'what is quite inexplicable by ordinary mechanical means,' while, according to the policeman, she was not even present on some occasions. but it is not easy to make out, in the evidence of white, the other witness, whether this girl rose was present or not when the jar flew circuitously out of the cupboard, a thing easily worked by a half-witted girl. such discrepancies are common in all evidence to the most ordinary events. in any case a half-witted girl, in mr. podmore's theory, can do what 'is quite inexplicable by ordinary mechanical means.' there is not the shadow of evidence that the girl rose had the inestimable advantage of being 'half-witted;' she is described by mr. podmore as 'the child of an imbecile mother.' the phenomena began, in an isolated case (the tilted table), _before_ rose entered the house. she was admitted in kindness, acted as a maid, and her interest was _not_ to break the crockery and upset furniture. the troubles, which began before the girl's arrival, were apparently active when she was not present, and, if she _was_ present, she could not have caused them 'by ordinary mechanical means,' while of extraordinary mechanical means there was confessedly no trace. the disturbances ceased after she was dismissed--nothing else connects her with them. mr. podmore's attempt at a normal explanation by fraud, therefore, is of no weight. he has to exaggerate the value, as disproof, of such discrepancies as occur in all human evidence on all subjects. he has to lay stress on the interval of five weeks between the events and the collection of testimony by himself. but contemporary accounts appeared in the local newspapers, and he does not compare the contemporary with the later evidence, as we have done. there is one discrepancy which looks as if a witness, not here cited, came to think he had seen what he heard talked about. finally, after abandoning the idea that mechanical means can possibly have produced the effect, mr. podmore falls back on the cunning of a half-witted girl whom nothing shows to have been half-witted. the alternative is that the girl was 'the instrument of mysterious agencies.' so much for the hypothesis of a fraud, which has been identical in results from china to peru and from greenland to the cape. we now turn to the other, and concomitantly active cause, in mr. podmore's theory, hallucination. 'many of the witnesses described the articles as moving slowly through the air, or exhibiting some peculiarity of flight.' (see e.g. the worksop case.) mr. podmore adds another english case, presently to be noted, and a german one. 'in default of any experimental evidence' (how about mr. william crookes's?) 'that disturbances of this kind are ever due to abnormal agency, i am disposed to explain the appearance of moving slowly or flying as a sensory illusion, conditioned by the excited state of the percipient.' ('studies,' 157, 158.) before criticising this explanation, let us give the english affair, alluded to by mr. podmore. the most curious modern case known to me is not of recent date, but it occurred in full daylight, in the presence of many witnesses, and the phenomena continued for weeks. the events were of 1849, and the record is expanded, by mr. bristow, a spectator, from an account written by him in 1854. the scene was swanland, near hull, in a carpenter's shop, where mr. bristow was employed with two fellow workmen. to be brief, they were pelted by odds and ends of wood, about the size of a common matchbox. each blamed the others, till this explanation became untenable. the workrooms and space above were searched to no purpose. the bits of wood sometimes danced along the floor, more commonly sailed gently along, or "moved as if borne on gently heaving waves." this sort of thing was repeated during six weeks. one piece of wood "came from a distant corner of the room towards me, describing what may be likened to a geometrical square, or corkscrew of about eighteen inches diameter.... never was a piece seen to come in at the doorway." mr. bristow deems this period 'the most remarkable episode in my life.' (june 27, 1891.) the phenomena 'did not depend on the presence of any one person or number of persons.' going to swanland, in 1891, mr. sidgwick found one surviving witness of these occurrences, who averred that the objects could not have been thrown because of the eccentricities of their course, which he described in the same way as mr. bristow. the thrower must certainly have had a native genius for 'pitching' at base-ball. this witness, named andrews, was mentioned by mr. bristow in his report, but not referred to by him for confirmation. those to whom he referred were found to be dead, or had emigrated. the villagers had a superstitious theory about the phenomena being provoked by a dead man, whose affairs had not been settled to his liking. so mr. darwin's spoon danced--on a grave.[5] this case has a certain interest _à propos_ of mr. podmore's surmise that all such phenomena arise in trickery, which produces excitement in the spectators, while excitement begets hallucination, and hallucination takes the form of seeing the thrown objects move in a non-natural way. thus, i keep throwing things about. you, not detecting this stratagem, get excited, consequently hallucinated, and you believe you see the things move in spirals, or undulate as if on waves, or hop, or float, or glide in an impossible way. so close is the uniformity of hallucination that these phenomena are described, in similar terms, by witnesses (hallucinated, of course) in times old and new, as in cases cited by glanvil, increase mather, telfer (of rerrick), and, generally, in works of the seventeenth century. nor is this uniform hallucination confined to england. mr. podmore quotes a german example, and i received a similar testimony (to the flight of an object round a corner) from a gentleman who employed esther teed, 'the amherst mystery,' in his service. _he_ was not excited, for he was normally engaged in his normal stable, when the incident occurred unexpectedly as he was looking after his live stock. one may add the case of cideville (1851) and sir w. crookes's evidence, and that of mr. schhapoff. mr. podmore must, therefore, suppose that, in states of excitement, the same peculiar form of hallucination develops itself uniformly in america, france, germany, and england (not to speak of russia), and persists through different ages. this is a novel and valuable psychological law. moreover, mr. podmore must hold that 'excitement' lasted for six weeks among the carpenters in the shop at swanland, one of whom writes like a man of much intelligence, and has thriven to be a master in his craft. it is difficult to believe that he was excited for six weeks, and we still marvel that excitement produces the same uniformity of hallucination, affecting policemen, carpenters, marquises, and a f.r.s. we allude to sir w. crookes's case. strictly scientific examination of these prodigies has been very rare. the best examples are the experiments of sir william crookes, f.r.s., with home.[6] he demonstrated, by means of a machine constructed for the purpose, and automatically registering, that, in home's presence, a balance was affected to the extent of two pounds when home was not in contact with the table on which the machine was placed. he also saw objects float in air, with a motion like that of a piece of wood on small waves of the sea (clearly excitement producing hallucination), while home was at a distance, other spectators holding his hands, and his feet being visibly enclosed in a kind of cage. all present held each other's hands, and all witnessed the phenomena. sir w. crookes being, professionally, celebrated for the accuracy of his observations, these circumstances are difficult to explain, and these are but a few cases among multitudes. i venture to conceive that, on reflection, mr. podmore will doubt whether he has discovered an universal law of excited malperception, or whether the remarkable, and certainly undesigned, coincidence of testimony to the singular flight of objects does not rather point to an 'abnormal agency' uniform in its effects. contagious hallucination cannot affect witnesses ignorant of each other's existence in many lands and ages, nor could they cook their reports to suit reports of which they never heard. we now turn to peculiarities in the so-called medium, such as floating in air, change of bulk, and escape from lesion when handling or treading in fire. mr. tylor says nothing of sir william crookes's cases (1871), but speaks of the alleged levitation, or floating in air, of savages and civilised men. these are recorded in buddhist and neoplatonic writings, and among red indians, in tonquin (where a jesuit saw and described the phenomena, 1730), in the 'acta sanctorum,' and among modern spiritualists. in 1760, lord elcho, being at home, was present at the _procès_ for canonising a saint (unnamed), and heard witnesses swear to having seen the holy man levitated. sir w. crookes attests having seen home float in air on several occasions. in 1871, the master of lindsay, now lord crawford and balcarres, f.r.s., gave the following evidence, which was corroborated by the two other spectators, lord adare and captain wynne. 'i was sitting with mr. home and lord adare and a cousin of his. during the sitting, mr. home went into a trance, and in that state was carried out of the window in the room next to where we were, and was brought in at our window. the distance between the windows was about seven feet six inches, and there was not the slightest foothold between them, nor was there more than a twelve-inch projection to each window, which served as a ledge to put flowers on. _we heard the window in the next room lifted up_, and almost immediately after we saw home floating in the air outside our window. the moon was shining full into the room; my back was to the light, and i saw the shadow on the wall of the window sill, and home's feet about six inches above it. he remained in this position for a few seconds, then raised the window and glided into the room feet foremost and sat down. 'lord adare then went into the next room to look at the window from which he had been carried. it was raised about eighteen inches, and he expressed his wonder how mr. home had been taken through so narrow an aperture. home said, still entranced, "i will show you," and then with his back to the window he leaned back and was shot out of the aperture, head first, with the body rigid, and then returned quite quietly. the window is about seventy feet from the ground.' the hypothesis of a mechanical arrangement of ropes or supports outside has been suggested, but does not cover the facts as described. mr. podmore, who quotes this, offers the explanation that the witnesses were excited, and that home 'thrust his head and shoulders out of the window.' but, if he did, they could not see him do it, for he was in the next room. a brick wall was between them and him. their first view of home was 'floating in the air outside our window.' it is not very easy to hold that a belief to which the collective evidence is so large and universal, as the belief in levitation, was caused by a series of saints, sorcerers, and others thrusting their heads and, shoulders, out of windows where the observers could not see them. nor in lord crawford's case is it easy to suppose that three educated men, if hallucinated, would all be hallucinated in the same way. the argument of excited expectation and consequent hallucination does not apply to mr. hamilton aïdé and m. alphonse karr, neither of whom was a man of science. both were extremely prejudiced against home, and at nice went to see, and, if possible, to expose him. home was a guest at a large villa in nice, m. karr and mr. aïdé were two of a party in a spacious brilliantly lighted salon, where home received them. a large heavy table, remote from their group, moved towards them. m. karr then got under a table which rose in air, and carefully examined the space beneath, while mr. aïdé observed it from above. neither of them could discover any explanation of the phenomenon, and they walked away together, disgusted, disappointed, and reviling home.[7] in this case there was neither excitement nor desire to believe, but a strong wish to disbelieve and to expose home. if two such witnesses could be hallucinated, we must greatly extend our notion of the limits of the capacity for entertaining hallucinations. one singular phenomenon was reported in home's case, which has, however, little to do with any conceivable theory of spirits. he was said to become elongated in trance.[8] mr. podmore explains that 'perhaps he really stretched himself to his full height'--one of the easiest ways conceivable of working a miracle, iamblichus reports the same phenomenon in his possessed men.[9] iamblichus adds that they were sometimes broadened as well as lengthened. now, m. féré observes that 'any part of the body of an hysterical patient may change in volume, simply owing to the fact that the patient's attention is fixed on that part.'[10] conceivably the elongation of home and the ancient egyptian mediums may have been an extreme case of this 'change of volume.' could this be proved by examples, home's elongation would cease to be a 'miracle.' but it would follow that in this case observers were _not_ hallucinated, and the presumption would be raised that they were not hallucinated in the other cases. indeed, this argument is of universal application. there is another class of 'physical phenomena,' which has no direct bearing on our subject. many persons, in many ages, are said to have handled or walked through fire, not only without suffering pain, but without lesion of the skin. iamblichus mentions this as among the peculiarities of his 'possessed' men; and in 'modern mythology' (1897) i have collected first-hand evidence for the feat in classical times, and in india, fiji, bulgaria, trinidad, the straits settlements, and many other places. the evidence is that of travellers, officials, missionaries, and others, and is backed (for what photographic testimony is worth) by photographs of the performance. to hold glowing coals in his hand, and to communicate the power of doing so to others, was in home's _répertoire_. lord crawford saw it done on eight occasions, and himself received from home's hand the glowing coal unharmed. a friend of my own, however, still bears the blister of the hurt received in the process. sir w. crookes's evidence follows: 'at mr. home's request, whilst he was entranced, i went with him to the fireplace in the back drawing-room. he said, "we want you to notice particularly what dan is doing." accordingly i stood close to the fire, and stooped down to it when he put his hands in.... 'mr. home then waved the handkerchief about in the air two or three times, held it above his head, and then folded it up and laid it on his hand like a cushion. putting his other hand into the fire, he took out a large lump of cinder, red-hot at the lower part, and placed the red part on the handkerchief. under ordinary circumstances it would have been in a blaze. in about half a minute he took it off the handkerchief with his hand, saying, "as the power is not strong, if we leave the coal longer it will burn." he then put it on his hand, and brought it to the table in the front room, where all but myself had remained seated.' mr. podmore explains that only two candles and the fire gave light on one occasion, and that 'possibly' home's hands were protected by some 'non-conducting substance.' he does not explain how this substance was put on lord crawford's hands, nor tell us what this valuable substance may be. none is known to science, though it seems to be known to fijians, tongans, klings, and bulgarians, who walk through fire unhurt. it is not necessary to believe sir w. crookes's assertions that he saw home perform the fire-tricks, for we can fall back on the lack of light (only two candles and the fire-light), as also on the law of hallucination caused by excitement. but it _is_ necessary to believe this distinguished authority's statement about his ignorance of 'some non-conducting substance:' 'schoolboys' books and mediaeval tales describe how this can be done with alum and other ingredients. it is possible that the skin may be so hardened and thickened by such preparations that superficial charring might take place without the pain becoming great; but the surface of the skin would certainly suffer severely. after home had recovered from the trance, i examined his hand with care to see if there were any signs of burning or of previous preparation. i could detect no trace or injury to the skin, which was soft and delicate, like a woman's. neither were there signs of any preparation having been previously applied. i have often seen conjurers and others handle red-hot coals and iron, but there were always palpable signs of burning.'[11] in september 1897 a crew of passengers went from new zealand to see the fijian rites, which, as reported in the 'fiji times,' corresponded exactly with the description published by mr. basil thomson, himself a witness. the interesting point, historically, is the combination in home of all the _répertoire_ of the possessed men in iamblichus. we certainly cannot get rid of the fire-trick by aid of a hypothetical 'non-conducting substance.' till the 'substance' is tested experimentally it is not a _vera causa_. we might as well say 'spirits' at once. both that 'substance' and those 'spirits' are equally 'in the air.' yet mr. podmore's 'explanations' (not satisfactory to himself) are conceived so thoroughly in the spirit of popular science--one of them casually discovering a new psychological law, a second contradicting the facts it seeks to account for, a third generously inventing an unknown substance--that they ought to be welcomed by reviewers and lecturers. it seems wiser to admit our ignorance and suspend our belief. here closes the futile chapter of explanations. fraud is a _vera causa_, but an hypothesis difficult of application when it is admitted that the effects could not be caused by ordinary mechanical means. hallucination, through excitement, is a _vera causa_, but its remarkable uniformity, as described by witnesses from different lands and ages, knowing nothing of each other, makes us hesitate to accept a sweeping hypothesis of hallucination. the case for it is not confirmed, when we have the same reports from witnesses certainly not excited. this extraordinary bundle, then, of reports, practically identical, of facts paralysing to belief, this bundle made up of statements from so many ages and countries, can only be 'filed for reference.' but it is manifest that any savage who shared the experiences of sir w. crookes, lord crawford, mr. hamilton aïdé, m. robert de st. victor at cideville, and policeman higgs at worksop, would believe that a spirit might tenant a stick or stone--so believing he would be a fetishist. thus even of fetishism the probable origin is in a region of which we know nothing--the _x_ region. [footnote 1: a sketch of the history will be found in the author's _cock lane and common sense_.] [footnote 2: the best source is his article on 'poltergeists.' _proceedings_ xi. 45-116. see, too, his 'poltergeists' in _studies in psychical research_.] [footnote 3: _studies in psychical research_, p. 140.] [footnote 4: see preface to this edition for correction.] [footnote 5: _proceedings_, s.p.r. vii. 383-394.] [footnote 6: see sir w. crookes's _researches in spiritualism_.] [footnote 7: mr. aïdé has given me this information. he recorded the circumstances in his diary at the time.] [footnote 8: _report of dialectical society_, p. 209.] [footnote 9: see porphyry, in parthey's edition (berlin, 1857), iii. 4.] [footnote 10: _bulletin de la société de biologie_, 1880, p. 399.] [footnote 11: crookes, _proceedings_, ix. 308.] appendix c _crystal-gazing_ since the chapter on crystal-gazing was in type, a work by dr. pierre janet has appeared, styled 'les névroses et les idées fixes.'[1] it contains a chapter on crystal-gazing. the opinion of dr. janet, as that of a savant familiar, at the salpêtrière, with 'neurotic' visionaries, cannot but be interesting. unluckily, the essay must be regarded as seriously impaired in value by dr. janet's singular treatment of his subject. nothing is more necessary in these researches than accuracy of statement. now, dr. janet has taken a set of experiences, or experiments, of miss x.'s from that lady's interesting essay, already cited; has attributed them, not to miss x., but to various people--for example, to _une jeune fille, une pauvre voyante, une personne un peu mystique_; has altered the facts in the spirit of romance; and has triumphantly given that explanation, revival of memory, which was assigned by miss x. herself. throughout his paper dr. janet appears as the calm man of science pronouncing judgment on the visionary vagaries of 'haunted' young girls and disappointed seeresses. no such persons were concerned; no such hauntings, supposed premonitions, or 'disillusions' occurred; the romantic and 'marvellous' circumstances are mythopoeic accretions due to dr. janet's own memory or fancy; his scientific explanation is that given by his trinity of _jeune fille, pauvre voyante_, and _personne un peu mystique_. being much engaged in the study of 'neurotic' and hysterical patients, dr. janet thinks that they are most apt to see crystal visions. perhaps they are; and one doubts if their descriptions are more to be trusted than the romantic essay of their medical attendant. in citing miss x.'s paper (as he did), dr. janet ought to have reported her experiments correctly, ought to have attributed them to herself, and should, decidedly, have remarked that the explanation he offered was her own hypothesis, verified by her own exertions. not having any acquaintances in neurotic circles, i am unable to say whether such persons supply more cases of the faculty of crystal vision than ordinary people; while their word, one would think, is much less to be trusted than that of men and women in excellent health. the crystal visions which i have cited from my own knowledge (and i could cite scores of others) were beheld by men and women engaged in the ordinary duties of life. students, barristers, novelists, lawyers, school-masters, school-mistresses, golfers--to all of whom the topic was perfectly new--have all exhibited the faculty. it is curious that an arabian author of the thirteenth century, ibn khaldoun, cited by m. lefébure, offers the same account of _how_ the visions appear as that given by miss angus in the _journal_ of the s.p.r., april 1898. m. lefébure's citation was sent to me in a letter. i append m. lefébure's quotation from ibn khaldoun. the original is translated in 'notices et extraits des mss. de la bibliothèque impériale,' i. xix. p. 643-645. 'ibn kaldoun admet que certains hommes ont la faculté de deviner l'avenir. '"ceux, ajoute-t-il, qui regardent dans les corps diaphanes, tels que les miroirs, les cuvettes remplies d'eau et les liquides; ceux qui inspectent les coeurs, les foies et les os des animaux, ... tous ces gens-là appartiennent aussi à la catégorie des devins, mais, à cause de l'imperfection de leur nature, ils y occupent un rang inférieur. pour écarter le voile des sens, le vrai devin n'a pas besoin de grands efforts; quant aux autres, ils tâchent d'arriver au but en _essayant de concentrer en un seul sens toutes leurs perceptions_. comme la vue est le sens le plus noble, ils lui donnent la préférence; fixant leur regard sur on objet à superficie unie, ils le considèrent avec attention jusqu'à ce qu'ils y aperçoivent la chose qu'ils veulent annoncer. quelques personnes croient que l'image aperçue de cette manière se dessine sur la surface du miroir; mais ils se trompent. le devin regarde fixement cette surface jusqu'à ce qu'elle disparaisse et qu'un rideau, semblable à un brouillard, s'interpose entre lui et le miroir. sur ce rideau se dessinent les choses _qu'il désira apercevoir_, et cela lui permet de donner des indications soit affirmatives, soit négatives, sur ce que l'on désire savoir. il raconte alors les perceptions telles qu'il les reçoit. les devins, pendant qu'ils sont dans cet état, n'aperçoivent pas ce qui se voit réellement dans le miroir; c'est un autre mode de perception qui naît chez eux et qui s'opère, non pas au moyen de la vue, mais de l'âme. il est vrai que, _pour eux, les perceptions de l'âme ressemblent à celles des sens au point de les tromper_; fait qui, du reste, est bien connu. la même chose arrive à ceux qui examinent les coeurs et les foies d'animaux. nous avons vu quelques-uns de ces individus _entraver l'opération des sens_ par l'emploi de simples _fumigations_, puis se servir d'_incantations_[2] afin de donner à l'âme la disposition requise; ensuite ils racontent ce qu'ils ont aperçu. ces formes, disent-ils, se montrent dans l'air et représentent des personnages: elles leur apprennent, au moyen d'emblèmes et de signes, les choses qu'ils cherchent à savoir. les individus de cette classe se détachent moins de l'influence des sens que ceux de la classe précédente."' [footnote 1: lican, paris, 1898.] [footnote 2: l'auteur arabe avait déjà mentionné (p. 209) l'emploi des incantations et indiqué qu'elles étuient un simple adjuvant physique destiné à donner à certains hommes une exaltation dont ils se servaient pour tâcher de découvrir l'avenir. 'pour arriver au plus haut degré d'inspiration dont il est capable, le devin doit avoir recours à l'emploi de certaines phrases qui se distinguent par _une cadence et un parallelisme particuliers_. il essaye ce moyen _afin de soustraire son âme aux influences des sens_ et de lui donner assez de force pour se mettre dans un contact imparfait avec le monde spirituel.[a] cette agitation d'esprit, jointe à l'emploi des moyens intrinsèques dont nous avons parlé, excite dans son coeur des idées que cet organe exprime par le ministère de la langne. les paroles qu'il prononce sont tantôt vraies, tantôt fausses. en effet, le devin, voulant suppléer à l'imperfection de son naturel, se sert de moyens tout à fait étrangers à sa faculté perceptive et qui ne s'accordent en aucune façon avec elle. donc la vérité et l'erreur se présentent à lui en même temps, aussi ne doit on mettre aucune confiance en ses paroles. quelquefois même il a recours à des suppositions et à des conjectures dans l'espoir de rencontrer la vérité et de tromper ceux qui l'interrogent.'] [footnote a: compare tennyson's way of attaining a state of trance by repeating to himself his own name.] appendix d _chiefs in australia_ in the remarks on australian religion, it is argued that chiefs in australia are, at most, very inconspicuous, and that a dead chief cannot have thriven into a supreme being. attention should be called, however, to mr. howitt's remarks on australian 'head-men,' in his tract on 'the organisation of australian tribes' (pp. 103-113). he attaches more of the idea of power to 'head-men' than does mr. curr in his work, 'the australian race.' the head-men, as a rule, arrive at such influence as they possess by seniority, if accompanied by courage, wisdom, and, in some cases, by magical acquirements. there are traces of a tendency to keep the office (if it may be called one) in the same kinship. 'but vich ian vohr or chingahgook are not to be found in australian tribes' (p. 113). i do not observe that the manes or ghost of a dead head-man receives any worship or service calculated to fix him in the tribal memory, and so lead to the evolution of a deity, though one head-man was potent through the whole dieyri tribe over three hundred miles of country. such a person, if propitiated after death, might conceivably develop into a hero, if not into a creative being. but we must await evidence to the effect that any posthumous reverence was paid to this man, ialina piramurane (new moon). mr. howitt's essay is in the 'transactions of the royal society of victoria for 1889.' index academy of medicine, paris, inquiry into animal magnetism, 34 achille, the case of, 134 acosta, père, cited, 74, 244, 246 adare, lord, cited, 335 addison, cited, 16 africans, religious faiths of, 212, 218, 221, 222. see under separate tribal names. ahone, north-american indian god, 231-233, 241, 248, 258, 262, 280 aïdé, hamilton, cited, 336 algonquins, the, 250 allen, grant, cited, 190 american creators, 230; parallel with african gods, 230; savage gods of virginia, 231; the ahone-okeus creed, 231-233; pawnee tribal religions, 233-236; ti-ra-wá, the spirit father, 234, 235; rite to the morning star, 234; religion of the blackfeet, 236; nà-pi, 237-239; one account of the inca religion, 239-242; sun-worship, 239-241; cult of pachacamac, the inca deity, 239-247; another account of the inca religion, 242-246; hymns of the zuñis, 247; _awonawilona_, 247 amoretti, sig., cited, 30, 152 ancestor, worship, 164-166, 178, 205, 212, 268, 271-277 andamanese, the, religious beliefs of, 167, 194-197, 205, 208, 211, 249, 252, 256, 272 'angus, miss,' cases in her experience of crystal-gazing, 89-102, 341 animal magnetism, inquiry into, 29, 34, 35 animism, nature and influence of, 48, 49, 53, 58, 63, 129, 168, 190, 191, 206, 256, 264, 266, 268, 269, 303 anthropology and hallucinations, 105; sleeping and waking experience, 105, 106; hallucinations in mentally sound people, 107; ghosts, 107; coincidence of hallucinations of the sane with death or other crisis of person seen, 107; morbid hallucinations and coincidental 'flukes,' 108; connection of cause and effect, 108; the emotional effect, 108; illustrative coincidence, 108; hallucinations of sight, 109; causes of hallucinations, 110; collective hallucinations, 110; the properly receptive state, 110; telepathy, 111; phantasms of the living, 112; maori cases, 113-115; evidence to be rejected, 116; subjective hallucination caused by expectancy, 116; puzzling nature of hallucinations shared by several people at once, 116, 117; hallucinations coincident with a death, 117; apparitions and deaths connected in fact, 117; census of the society for psychical research thereupon, 118; number and character of the instances, 119; weighing evidence, 119; opinion of the committee on hallucinations, 121; remoteness of occurrence of instances, 121; want of documentary evidence, 121 non-coincidental hallucinations, 121; telepathy existing between kinsfolk and friends, 122; influence of anxiety, 123; existence of illness known, 123; mental and nervous conditions in connection with hallucinations, 134; value of the statistics of the census, 124; anecdote of an english officer, 125 anthropology and religion, 30; early scientific prejudice against, 40; evolution and evidence, 40; testing of evidence, 41-43; psychical research, 48; origin of religion, 44; inferences drawn from supernormal phenomena, 41, 53; savage parallels of psychical phenomena, 45; meanings of religion, 45, 40; disproof of godless tribes, 47; animism, 48, 49; limits of savage tongues, 49; waking and sleeping hallucinations, 60; crystal-gazing, 50; the ghost-soul, 51; savage abstract speculation, 52; analogy of the ideas of children and primitive man, 53; early man's conception of life, 32; ghost-seers, 54; psychical conditions in which savages differ from civilised men, 54; power of producing non-normal psychological conditions, 55; faculties of the lower animals, 56; man's first conception of religion, 56; the suggested hypnotic state, 57; second-sight, 68; savage names for the ghost-soul, 60; the migratory spirit, 60-64 anynrabia, south guinea creator, 220 apaches, crystal-gazing by, 84, 85 apollonius of tyana, 66 atua, the tongan elohim, 279 aurora borealis, savage ideas of the, 4, 262, 292 australians, religious beliefs of, 50, 83, 118, 128, 165, 175-182, 185, 188, 190, 205, 208, 211, 215, 219, 224, 240, 249, 253, 266, 261-263 automatism, 155 awonawilona, zuñi deity, 248, 251 ayinard, jacques, case of, 150, 182 aztecs, creed of, 104 _note_, 183, 233, 234, 255, 258, 263 bealz, dr., cited, 132 baiame, deity, 189, 190, 191, 205, 261, 280 baker, sir samuel, cited, 42, 211 bakwains, the, 169 balfour, a.j., quoted, 44, 57 _note_ banks islanders, their gods, 169, 197-198 bantus, religious beliefs of, 176, 211, 220, 248 barkworth, mr., his opinion of mrs. piper, 140 barrett, professor, on the divining-rod, 162-154 bostian, adolf, cited, 6, 43 baxter, cited, 15 beaton, cardinal, his mistress visualized, 97 bell, john, cited, 149 beni-israel, 282 berna, magnetiser, 34 bernadette, case of, 117 big black man, fuegian deity, 258 binet and féré, quoted, 20, 76 bissett, mr. and mrs., experiences of crystal-gazing, 99-102 blackfeet, beliefs of, 230, 236 blantyre region, religion in the, 217, 218 bleck, dr., cited, 194 bobowissi, gold coast god, 225-227, 230-232 bodinus, cited, 15 book of the dead, 286, 303 bora, australian mysteries, 176, 179, 190, 196, 260 bosman, cited, 225 bourget, paul, his opinion of mrs. piper, 139, 140 bourke, captain j.g., cited, 83 boyle, cited, 15 braid, inventor of the word 'hypnotism,' 24, 35, 36 brewster, sir david, cited, 33 brinton, dr., cited, 67, 168, 232, 236, 254, 264, 290 bristow, mr., cited, 332 british association decline to hear braid's essay, 24 rejection of anthropological papers, 89 brasses, de, cited, 149 brown, general mason, cited, 68, 67 bunjil, deity, 189 bushmen, religious beliefs of, 165, 198, 208, 211, 252 button, jemmy, the faegian, case of, 116 caon, boshmon deity, 189, 193, 205 callawoy, dr., on zulu beliefs, 72, 85, 106, 142, 151 207, 208 cardan, cited, 15 carpenter, dr., cited, 324 carver, captain jonathan, his instance of savage possession, 142 cited, 60, 144, 145 charcot, dr., on faith cures, 20-23, 24 _note_ chevreul, m., cited, 152 chinese, the, demon possession in, 181, 183 divining-rod, 154 religious beliefs, 237, 290, 291 chonos, the, 176 circumcision, 286 clairvoyance (vue à distance), 65 'opening the gates at distance.' 65, 66 attested cases among savages, 66 conflict with the laws of exact science, 67 instances, 67 among the zulus, 68-70 among the lapps, 70 the llarson case, 71 seers, 72 the element of trickery, 73 a red indian seeress, 73 peruvian clairvoyants, 75 professor richet's case, 75 mr. dobbie's case, 76 scottish tales of second-sight, 78-81 visions provoked by various methods, 81 see crystal visions clodd, edward, cited, 119, 120, 300 'cockburn, mrs.,' test of crystal-gazing, 99-101 codrington, dr., cited, 150, 169, 197-199 coirin, mlle., her miraculous cure, 20 coleridge, cited, 9, 11, 12 _note_, 295, 296 collins, cited, 179 comanches, the, 250 confucius, religious teaching of, 290, 291 cook, captain, cited, 271 corpse-binding, 143, 144 crawford, lord, cited, 325, 334, 330, 387 creeks, the, 143 croesus, tests the delphic oracle, 14 crookes, sir william, cited, 325, 331, 333, 334, 337, 338 crystal visions, 83 savage instances, 83-85 in later europe, 85 nature of 'miss x's' experiments, 85 attributed to 'dissociation,' 86 examples of 'thought-transference,' 87 arguments against accepting recognition of objects described by another person, 87 coincidence of fact and fiction, 88 cases in the experience of 'miss angus,' 89-102 'miss rose's' experience, 91, 92 phenomena suggest the savage theory of the wandering soul, 103 cited, 7, 44, 50, 314-316, 340 cumberland, stuart, 72 cures by suggestion, 20, 21 curr, mr., reports 'godless' savages, 184 _note_ dampier, cited, 176 dancing sticks, 149-131 darumulun, australian supreme being, 178, 179, 183, 186, 191, 213, 240, 258-264, 280 darwin, cited, 115, 149, 174 _note_, 324, 332 death, savage ideas on, 187 degeneration theory, the, 254 the powerful creative being of lowest savages, 254 differences between the supreme being of higher and lower savages, 255 human sacrifice, 255 hungry, cruel gods degenerate from the australian father in heaven, 256 savage animism, 256 a pure religion forgotten, 257 an inconvenient moral creator, 257 hankering after useful ghost-gods, 257 lowering of the ideal of a creator, 257 maintenance of an immoral system in the interests of the state and the clergy, 258 moral monotheism of the hebrew religion, 258 degradation of jehovah, 258 human sacrifice in ritual of israel, 258 origin of conception of jehovah, 258 semitic gods, 259 status of darumulun, 259 conception of jehovah conditioned by space, 260 degeneration of deity in africa, 260 political advance produces religious degeneration, 261 sacrificial ideas, 262 the savage supreme being on a higher plane than the semitic and greek gods, 263 animism full of the seeds of religions degeneration, 264 falling off in the theistic conception, 265 fetishism, 265 modus of degeneration by animism supplanting theism, 265 feeling after a god who needs not anything at man's hands, 267 demoniacal possession, 128 the 'inspired' or 'possessed,' 129 'change of control,' 130 gift of eloquence and poetry, 131 instances in china, 131 attempted explanations of the phenomena, 132 'alternating personality,' 132 symptoms of possession, 132 evidence for, 133 scientific account of a demoniac and his cure, 134 inducing the 'possessed' state, 135 exhibition of abnormal knowledge by the possessed, 136 scientific study of the phenomena, 136 details of the case of mrs. piper, 136-141 diagnosing and prescribing for patients, 142 carver's example of savage possession, 142, 157 custom of binding the seer with bonds, 142, 145 corpse-binding, 143, 144 dendid, dinka supreme being, 211, 212, 258, 280 deslon, m., disciple of mesmer, 24 dessoir, dr. max, quoted, 32, 33, 57 dinkas, beliefs of the, 42, 211, 212, 256 divining-rod, use of the, 30, 152-155 dobbie, mr., his case of clairvoyance, 76 dorman, mr., cited, 203 dunbar, mr., cited, 236 du pont, cited, 75 du prel, cited, 28 dynois, jonka, trance of, 65 ebumtupism, second sight, 73 egyptians, beliefs of, 83, 302 elcho, lord, cited, 334 eleusinian mysteries, 196 elliotson, dr., cited, 24, 35, 37, 40 ellis, major, on polynesian and african religions ideas, 83, 144, 222-228, 232, 251, 260, 272 elohim, savage equivalents to the term, 277 esemkofu, zulu ghosts, 128, 129 eskimo, religious beliefs of, 72, 113, 184 faith-cures, 20-22 fenton, francis dart, on maori ghost-seeing, 114 ferrand, mlle., on hallucinations, 32 fetishism and spiritualism, 147 the fetish, 147 sources super-normal to savages, 148 independent motion in inanimate objects, 149 comparison with physical phenomena of spiritualism, 149 melanesian belief in sticks moved by spirits, 150 a sceptical zulu, 150 a form of the pendulum experiment, 151 table-turning, 152 the divining-rod, 152 the civilised and savage practice of automatism, 156 dark room manifestations, 156 the disturbances in the house of m. zoller, 156 consideration of physical phenomena, 158 instanced, 165, 225, 265, 266, 276, 324-339 figuier, m., cited, 152 fijians, religious beliefs of, 128, 136, 200, 248, 338 finns, the, 58 fire ceremony, the, 180 _note_ fison, mr., cited, 128 fitzroy, admiral, cited, 115, 173, 174 flacourt, sieur de, on crystal-gazing in madagascar, 84 flint, professor, cited, 253 francis, st., stigmata of, 22 fuegians, beliefs and customs of, 115, 165, 173-175, 183, 187, 208, 211, 227, 258, 262, 272 galton, mr., cited, 12, 96, 107, 294, 295 garcilasso de la vega, on inca beliefs, 239-244 'gates of distance, opening the,' 65, 66, 68 ghost-seers, 54, 63 ghost-soul, the, 51 names for the, 60 gibert, dr., on 'willing' sleep, 36 gibier, dr., cited, 146 gippsland tribes, 187 glanvil, rev. joseph, his scientific investigations, 15 god, evolution of the idea of, 160 anthropological hypothesis, 160 primitive logic of the savage, 161 regarded as a spirit, 162 idea of spiritual beings framed on the human soul, 164 deified ancestors, 164 the zulu first ancestor, 164 fetishes, 165 great gods in savage systems of religion, 165 the lord of the dead, 165 conception of an idealised divine first ancestor, 188 hostile good and bad beings, 166 the supreme being of savage creeds, 166 mediating 'sons,' 167 christian and islamite influence on savage conceptions, 167 probable germs of the savage idea of a supreme being, 168 animistic conceptions, 168 ghosts, and beings who never were human, 169 recognition by savages of our god in theirs, 169 the hypothesis of degeneracy, 170 the moral, friendly creative being of low savage faith, 171 food offerings to a universal power, 171 the high gods of low races, 173 intrusion of european ideas into savage religions, 173 the fuegian big man, 174 ghosts of dead medicine man, 175 the bora, or australian tribal mysteries, 176, 177, 179 possible evolution of the australian god, 178 mythology and theology of darumulun, the highest australian god, 178, 179, 183 religious sanction of morals, 179 selflessness the very essence of goodness, 180 precepts of darumulan, 181, 182 argument from design, 184 supreme gods not necessarily developed out of 'spirits,' 185 distinction between deities and ghosts, 185 human beings adored as gods, 186 deathlessness of the supreme being of savage faith, 186, 188 idealisation of the savage himself, 187 negation of the ghost-theory, 188, 189 high creative gods never wore mortal men, 189 low savage distinction between gods, 189 propitiation by food and sacrifice, 190 'magnified non-natural men,' 190 gods to talk about, not to adore, 190 higher gods prior to the ghost theory, 191 see supreme beings; american creators; jehovah greeks, the, beliefs of, 302 greenlanders, the, 144, 182 gregory, dr., cited, 86 griesinger, dr., cited, 132 grinnell, mr., on pawnee beliefs, 234-237 guiana indians, religious beliefs of, 202-206, 256 guinea, north and south, religious beliefs in, 220 gurney, mr., his experiments in hypnotism, 85, 86 cited, 107, 114, 117 guyau, m., cited, 12, 24, 25 hallucinations. see anthropology and hallucinations hamilton, sir william, cited, 12 hammond, dr., on demoniacal possession, 131 harteville, madame, case of, 26 hearne, on the aurora borealis, 3 on cure by suggestion, 21, 22 hebrews. see israelites hegel, cited, 30-34, 50, 56, 58, 78, 111, 152 higgs, police constable, statement of, on the disturbances at mr. white's house, 326-328 highland second-sight, 143-145 hodgson, dr., report on mrs. piper, 137, 140, 141 cited, 135, 325 home, david dunglas, his powers as a medium, 324, 325, 334-339 howitt, mr., cited, 128, 177-182 hume, david, attitude towards miracles, 16 definition of a miracle, 16 self-contradictions, 17 refuses to examine miracle of the abbé paris, 18, 19, 22-25 alternative definition of a miracle, 25 cited, 297 huxley, professor, on savage religious cults, 42, 43, 48, 162, 163, 171, 176, 177, 182 on the evolution of jehovah, 270, 271, 277, 279, 282, 286 cited, 17 _note_, 296, 324 hypnotism, 6, 24, 29, 32, 34, 35, 37, 75, 76 iamblichus, cited, 14, 336, 337, 339 ibn khaldoun, cited, 341 im thurn, on the religious ideas of the indians of guiana, 50, 160, 202-207, 256, 298 incas, the, 85, 240-247, 258 iroquois, the, 84, 85 islam, influence of, on african beliefs, 221 israelites, development of their religious ideas, 258, 260, 268-284, 302 james, professor william, quoted, 23, 59, 73, 107, 110, 132, 137, 156, 294 janet, dr. pierre, on 'willing' sleep, 36 on demoniacal possession, 134, 135 cited, 73, 294, 340, 341 jeanne d'arc, 34, 73, 115, 128, 276 jehovah, theories of, 258, 260, 268 as a moral supreme being, 268 anthropological theory of the origin of jehovah-worship, 270 absence of ancestor-worship from the hebrew tradition, 270-273 alleged evidence for ancestor-worship in israel, 273-277 evolution from ghost-cult to the cult of jehovah, 277 the term elohim, 277 human shape assumed, 278 considered as a ghost-god, 279 sacrifices to, 280 suggestion of a being not yet named jehovah, 281 traditional emergence of jehovah as the god of israel, 281 as a deified ancestor, 282 moral element in the idea of jehovah, 282, 286 a mere tribal god, 283 a kenite god, 283, 284 inconsistencies of theorists concerning, 285 the moral element a survival of primitive ethics in the savage ancestors of the israelites, 287 verity of the biblical account, 287 cited, 299 jeraeil, mysteries of the kurnai, 180 jevons, mr., cited, 186, 255, 300, 302 jugglery, pawnee, 235 jung-stilling, cited, 30, 63 kaloc, fijian name for gods, 200, 201 kamschatkans, 166 kant, inquires into swedenborg's visions, 26, 59 disappointed with swedenborg's 'arcana coelestia', 26, 27 on the metaphysics of 'spirits,' 27 discusses the subconscious, 28 cited, 125 karens, beliefs of, 60, 73, 151 karr, alphonse, cited, 336 kelvin, lord, on hypnotism, 37 kenites, the, 284 kingsley, miss, cited, 175, 211, 220, 328 kirk, cited, 144 kohl, cited, 148 kulin, australian tribe, 49 kurnai, australian tribe, their religious conceptions, 49, 180, 181, 187, 215, 262, 263, 287, 291 laing, mr. samuel, cited, 12 _note_ langlois, m., the case of, 75, 76 lapps, beliefs of, 58, 71, 81 latukas, the, 42 laverterus, telepathic hypothesis of, 15 le loyer, cited, 15 leaf, mr., cited, 112 _note_ leeward isles, ideas of a god in, 251 lefèbure, m., cited, 84, 149, 341 legge, dr., on the teaching of confucius, 290 lejean, m., on the dinkas, 212 lejeaune, père, cited, 74, 83 leng, mr., cited, 133 leon, cieza de, cited, 241, 244 léonie, the case of her hypnotisation, 75, 76 leslie, david, on zulu clairvoyance, 68 on ghosts, 128 levitation, 334 littré, m., cited, 136 livingstone, dr., cited, 6, 135, 170 lloyd, dr., cited, 327, 328 loan-god, a, tshi theory of, 222-229 lourdes, cures at, 19 lubbock, sir john, cited, 42 macalister, professor, his opinion of mrs. piper, 140 macculloch, dr., on second-sight, 58 macdonald, duff, cited, 150, 213, 215, 218 macgregor, dr. alastair, gives instances of second-sight, 79-81 madagascar, 84 magnetism, 29, 34, 35 malagasies, beliefs of, 84 malays of keeling island, fetishism in, 141 man, mr., on andamanese religion and mythology, 194, 195 mans, magical rapport, 199, 200 mandans, the, 188 manganjah, practice of sorcery in, 149 manning, mr., cited, 146 maoris, religious beliefs of, 83, 113-115, 118, 119, 150, 166, 188 marawa, banks islands deity, 198, 199 mariner, cited, 278 markham, mr., cited, 243, 246 marson, madame, case of, 71 mason, dr., on familiar spirits, 130 mather, cotton, cited, 16, 55 maudsloy, dr., cited, 23 _note_ mani, maori deity, 166, 188 mayo, dr., cited, 86 medici, catherine de', cited, 66 medicine-men, 84 mediums, 324-339 melanesians, religious beliefs of, 150, 169, 189, 197, 199, 200 menestrier, le père, uses the divining-rod, 154 menzies, professor, cited, 257 mesmer, his theory of magnetism, 29, 34 millar, cited, 40, 41 miracles, regarded from the standpoint of science, 14 early tests, 14 and more modern research, 15 witchcraft, 15, 16 hume's essay on, 16 and his definitions of a miracle, 16, 25 cures at the tomb of the abbè paris, 18-20, 23 binet and fèrè's explanation of these cures, 20 cures by suggestion, 20, 21 dr. charcot's views, 20 faith cures, 20-22 science opposed to systematic negation, 22 refusal to examine evidence, 23-25 'marvellous facts,' 24 suggestion à distance, 24 kant's researches, 26-29 swedenborg's clairvoyance, 26, 27 thought-transference and hypnotic sleep, 29, 30, 32, 35 water-finding, 39 phenomena of clairvoyance, 31 hegel's 'magic tie,' 31 dr. max dessoir's views, 31, 32 hallucinations, 32 animal magnetism, 34 hypnotism, 35 'willing,' 36 facts and phenomena confronting science, 37 'miss x,' on crystal-gazing, 87, 315, 316, 340, 341 mlungu, central african deity, 213-218 molina, christoval de, on inca beliefs, 242, 243 moll, herr, cited, 314 montgeron, m., cited, 19, 20 more, henry, cited, 15 moses, founder of the hebrew religion, 283-286 mtanga, african deity, 213-217 müller, max, cited, 41, 43, 46, 265, 266, 289 mungan-ngaur, kurnai supreme being, 181, 188, 190, 205, 217, 259 mwetyi, shekuni great spirit, 220 myers, frederic, on hypnotic slumber, 30, 33 cited, 15 _note_ nana nyankupon, gold coast supreme being, 225-228, 232, 280 nà-pi, american indian deity, 237-239, 241 ndengei, fijian supreme being, 200-202, 228, 248 nevius, dr., on demoniacal possession, 131-135 newbold, professor w. romaine, 135 nezahuati, erects a bloodless fane to the unknown god, 258 nicaraguans, the, 60 north, major, on pawnee jugglery, 235, 236 nzambi mpungu, bantu supreme being, 226, 228, 242 okeus (oki), american indian deity, 231, 232 okey, the sisters, case of, 37 _note_ ombwiri, south guinea god, 220 orpen, mr., cited, 193 oxford, rev. a.w., on ancient israel, 275-277, 283-285 pachacamac, inca, supreme being, 230, 239-247, 258 pachayachachi, inca god, 242, 246 paladino, eusapia, case of, 325 palmer, mr., cited, 179 paris, abbè miracles wrought at his tomb, 18-20, 23 parish, herr, criticism of his reply to the arguments for telepathy, 307-323 cited, 8, 86, 107 park, mungo, on african beliefs, 221, 223 pawnees, religious beliefs and practices of, 212, 224, 230, 233-236, 263 payne, mr., cited, 160, 161, 246 peden, rev. mr., cited, 66 pelippa, captain, cited, 173 pendulum experiment, a form of the, 151 pepys, cited, 15 peruvians, religious ideas and practices of, 75, 239-247 phantasms of the dead, 128 phinuit, dr. see mrs. piper piper, mrs., the case of, 132, 136-141 pliny, cited, 15 plotinus, cited, 66 plutarch, cited, 15 podmore, mr., on psychical research, 111, 325, 326, 328, 330-336, 338, 339 poltergeist, the, and his explainers, 334-339 polynesians, religious beliefs of, 7, 83, 251, 252, 256 polytheism, 289, 291, 303 porphyry, cited, 14 powhattan, virginian chief, 231, 232 puluga, andamanese supreme being, 195, 205, 228, 258, 262 pundjel, australian god, 258, 261, 262 puységur, de, his discovery of hypnotic sleep, 29, cited, 76 qat, banks islands deity, 189, 198, 199 qing, bushman, his ideas of the god cang, 193, 196 ravenwood, master of, instanced, 126 red indians, beliefs and practices of, 3, 5, 6, 21, 22, 83, 104 _note_, 128, 142, 143, 203 regnard, m., cited, 71 renan, m., cited, 285 révillo, m., cited, 291, 293 reynolds, dr. russell, cited, 22 rhombos, use of the, 84 ribot, m., cited, 132 richet, professor charles, hypnotises léonie, 75, 76 cited, 64, 73, 82, 154, 294 ritter, dr., believes in siderism, 29 romans, religious ideas of, 302 'rose, miss,' her experience of crystal-gazing, 90,91 rose, eliza, the case of, 326-330 roskoff, cited, 42 rowley, mr., cited, 149 russegger, cited, 212 salcamayhua, cited, 246 samoyeds, 58, 72 sand, george, cited, 86 santos, cited, 214 saul and the witch of endor, 14 scheffer, cited, 66, 70, 71, 81 schoolcraft, mr., cited, 236 schrenck-notzing, von, cited, 55 _note_ scot, reginald, cited, 15 scott, rev. david clement, cited, 49 _note_, 106, 217, 218 scott, sir walter, his attitude towards clairvoyance, 27 cited, 121, 126 sebituane, case of, 135, 136 second-sight, 56, 66, 78-81 seer-binding, 143 seers, 72 shang-ti, chinese supreme being, 245, 290, 291 shortland, mr., quoted, 113 sidgwick, professor, cited, 318, 332 sioux, the, 236 skidi or wolf pawnees, the, 233, 234 smith, mrs. erminie, on crystal-gazing, 84 smith, historian of virginia, cited, 231, 232 smith, robertson, cited, 259, 261, 262, 281 _note_, 298 smyth, brough, cited, 42, 178, 182, 293 society for psychical research, 116, 118 spencer, herbert, on early religious ideas, 42, 43 ghosts, 47 animism, 48 _note_, 53, 54 limits of savage language, 49 the fuegian big man, 174 australian marriage customs, 175 australian religion, 182 men-gods, 186 religion of bushmen, 193 ancestor-worship, 212, 213, 271-273 cited, 162, 167, 170, 216, 218, 292 spiritualism, 324-339. see fetishism stade, herr, cited, 276, 284, 285 stanley, hans, cited, 12 starr, cited, 104 _note_ stoll, cited, 72 strachey, william, cited, 229-232 suetonius, cited, 15 sully, mr., cited. 295 sun-worship, 238-245 supreme beings of savages, regarded as eternal, moral, and powerful, 193 cagn, the bushman god, 193 puluga, the andamanese god, 195 savage mysteries and rites, 196 alliance of ethics with religion, 196 the banks islanders' belief in tamate (ghosts) and vui (beings who never had been human), 197 corporeal and incorporeal vuis, 198 sacrificial offerings to ghosts and spirits, 199 the soul the complex of real bodiless after-images, 200 fijian belief, 200 ndengei, the fijian chief god, 200, 201 the idea of primeval eternal beings, 202 the great spirit of north american tribes, 203 dream origin of the ghost theory, 203 guiana indian names indicating a belief in a great spirit, 203-206 the god-cult abandoned for the ghost-cult, 205 unkulunkulu, the zulu creator, 207-210 the notion of a dead maker, 208 preference for serviceable family spirits, 209 the dinka creator, 211 african ancestor-worship, 212 mlungu, a deity formed by aggregation of departed spirits, 213 ethical element in religious mysteries, 215 the position of mtanga, 216 religious beliefs in the blantyre region, 217, 218 negro tendency to monotheism, 218 beliefs in north and south guinea, 220 mungo park's observation of african beliefs, 221 islamic influence, 221 the tshi theory of a loan-god,' borrowed from europeans, 222-228 varieties of tshi gods, 224, 225 fetishes, 225 nana nyankupon, the 'god of the christians,' 225-229 american creators (see under), 230-252 the polynesian cult, 251, 252 chinese conceptions, 290-292 swedenborg, emanuel, visions of, 26 recovers mme. harteville's receipt, 26 his 'arcana coelestia,' 27 noticed by kant, 28, 29, 59 taa-roa, polynesian deity, 251, 252, 256, 280, 308 table-turning, 151 tahitians, 251 taine, m., cited, 57 ta-li-y-tooboo, tongan deity, 278, 279, 282 tamate, banks islands ghosts, 197-199 tamoi, the 'ancient of heaven,' 188 tando, gold coast god, 225 tanner, john, case of, 57, 128 teed, esther, the amherst mystery, 333 telepathy, oppositions of science to, 307 hallucination of memory, 307 presentiments, 308 dreams, 308, 309, 312 veridical hallucinations, 309, 311 coincidence in s.p.r.'s census cases, 310 non-coincidental cases, 311 condition to beget hallucination, 312 hallucinations mere dreams, 312 crystal-gazing, 314-316 number of coincidences no proof, 316 association of ideas, 316 coincidental collective hallucinations, 317-323 see crystal visions thomson, basil, cited, 200 _note_, 248, 249, 339 thought-transference, 4, 29-32, 35 illustrative cases, 88-103 thouvenel, m., cited, 152 thyraeus on ghosts, 15 tien, chinese heaven, 290, 291 ti-ra-wá, american indian god, 234-236, 239 tlapané, african wizard, 135 tongans, religious beliefs of, 278-280 tonkaways, american tribe, 233 torfaeus, cited, 71 totemism, 239, 241, 262, 263, 269, 270, 276 tregear, mr., on maori ghost-seeing, 113 tshi theory of a loan-god, 223-227 tuckey, dr. lloyd, cited, 36 tui laga, fijian deity, 249 tundun, ancestor of the kurnai, 181 tylor, mr., his test of recurrence, 41 on anthropological origin of religion, 43 on savage philosophy of super-normal phenomena, 45, 53 disproves the assertion about 'godless' tribes, 47 his term animism, 48, 49 theory of metaphysical genius in low savages, 51 ghost-seers, 54 on psychical conditions of contemporary savages, 54-56 on the influence of swedenborg, 59 savage names for the ghost-soul, 60 second-sight, 66 mediums, 73 dreams, 106 hallucinations, 110-113, 117, 118 demoniacal possession, 131 fetishism, 148, 149, 165 divining-rod, 153 evolution of gods from ghosts, 163, 164 fetish deities, 165 dualistic idea, 166 supreme being of savage creeds, 166, 167 the degeneration theory, 170, 254 confusion of thought upon religion, 182 list of first ancestors deified, 188 savage mysteries, 201 savage animism, 204 okeus and his rites, 231 pachacamac, 245 confucius's teaching, 290 the mystagogue home, 325 levitation, 334 cited, 50, 52, 53, 58, 59, 61-63, 78, 151, 161, 162, 170, 173, 184, 185, 203, 231, 232, 246, 257, 293, 297 tyndall, professor, cited, 324 uiracocha, inca creator, 242-246 umabakulists, diviners by sticks, 151 unkulunkulu, zulu mythical first ancestor, 164, 168, 188, 202, 207, 220 vincent, mr., 29 on clairvoyance, 34, 36, 37 virchow, cited, 19 vui, non-ghost gods, 169, 197-200 wabose, catherine, red indian seeress, experience of, 73, 74 waltz, cited, 177, 194 _note_, 218-220, 222, 243 wallace, alfred basset, on hume's theory of 'miracles,' 17, 18 on ritter, 29 on clairvoyance, 31 wayao, supreme being of the, 213, 214 wellhausen, cited, 277, 283, 285, 286, 298 welton, thomas, on the divining-rod, 154 wesley, john, cited, 16 white, joseph, spirit manifestations at his house, 326-331 wierus, cited, 15 williams, mr., cited, 201, 248 wilson, mr., cited, 50, 219, 220 windward isles, ideas of a god in, 251 witch of endor, the, 14, 277, 278 witchcraft, 14-16 wodrow, mr., cited, 16 wolf tribes, 233 wynne, captain, cited, 335 yama, vedic-aryan ghost-god, 188 yaos, religious beliefs of, 150, 213, 214-216 yerri yuppon, good spirit of the chonos, 175 york, a fuegian, cited, 174 yuncus, a peruvian race, worship of, 240, 246 zarate, augustin de, cited, 240 zoller, m., disturbances in the house of, 156, 157 zulus, religious beliefs and customs of, 65, 66, 68, 70, 72, 85, 128, 141, 142, 150, 152, 207-210 zuñis, hymns of the, 248, 251 the weird adventures of professor delapine of the sorbonne the weird adventures of professor delapine of the sorbonne.... by george lindsay johnson, m.a., m.d. b.s. f.r.c.s. [illustration: r] london george routledge & sons, limited central news agency, limited, south africa new york: e.p. dutton and co. 1916 to my dear master edmund landolt, m.d. _hommage d'amitié_ preface when travelling in france a few years ago during the summer vacation, i made the acquaintance of a professor of world-wide fame, which acquaintance soon ripened into a lasting friendship. among the various subjects which we dealt with in our conversation, i happened to mention spiritualism. i told him how bitterly disappointed i had been at the various séances i had attended. either the séance had passed off without any phenomena at all, or if anything did occur, it had turned out invariably to be a palpable fraud, and had left me more sceptical than ever--besides, i added, the oracular utterances delivered by the medium when in an hysterical condition, which is palmed off to the audience as a trance, were so nonsensical and meaningless as to leave me in doubt whether to be amused at the gullibility of the public, or disgusted at the time i had thrown away in listening to such nonsense. "yes," replied the professor thoughtfully, "that always used to be my view of spiritualism, but since i have seriously examined the subject for myself i have entirely changed my views on the subject. so far from scoffing at it, as i confess i used to, i am now convinced that the real phenomena are far and away more astonishing than are these which these charlatans profess to exhibit or actually produce by conjuring and fraud. now, if you wish to be convinced that there are genuine phenomena, come with me to paris and we will investigate the subject together at the great s.... hospital. here we found indeed a rich field for our studies. we witnessed there all the phenomena of suggestion, second-sight, clair-audience, hypnotism, dual-consciousness, telepathy, the movement of objects without contact, and many other occurrences of such a surprising nature that in our present state of ignorance they appeared to be altogether outside the laws of nature as we understand them; and i went away entirely convinced that certain people possess powers such as we ordinary mortals have never even dreamt of." while i was staying at his hotel, the professor narrated to me the extraordinary history of professor delapine, which he assured me was true, and which with his permission i committed to writing, and worked up into a novel. observing the intense interest which i exhibited in his narrative, he was kind enough to introduce me to the professor himself as well as to several of the other characters, and thereby enabled me to fill up the gaps. what i heard certainly bore out the adage that "truth is stranger than fiction." for obvious reasons i have not given the real names to the characters referred to in the novel, since delapine, madame delapine, (renée), marcel, and dr. riche are still hale and hearty, and very distinguished and popular members of society. it is needless to say that the coup at the tables related as taking place at monte carlo, as well as other events mentioned in these chapters, have been disguised so as to prevent identification of the parties concerned by the general public, although the actors themselves will doubtless recognise and appreciate the details of the narrative. should any of our readers be sceptical as to the ability of a person to move objects without contact, and to stop a ball at will on a roulette table, i can only refer them to the experiments of dr. ochorowicz[1] which will be found in the june number of the _annals of psychical research_ for the year 1905, wherein will be found an exhausted series of experiments made with a polish medium named "julie." in this paper the doctor demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that "julie" could cause the ball to fall into any of the compartments of the roulette table which the doctor selected in a large percentage of the trials, and, when it failed to tumble into the right compartment, it usually fell into one or other on either side of it. as regards the trance, i have purposely prolonged its duration to fit in with the plot of the novel, and i have also introduced certain alterations and additions in order to make the story more complete. i may remark further that the phantom scene of renée's mother may possibly have been an hallucination on the girl's part, as i have no direct proof of its occurrence, and have only the testimony of a highly emotional girl wearied out with vigils to rely upon. of course there is the evidence of the lock of hair, which may be seen even to-day, but to my mind that is not sufficiently convincing, and would certainly not be allowed as evidence in a court of law. still others who were present assured me that they saw the same phantom (or materialized form) at the séance, and the evidence of such materialization has the great support of one of our most eminent scientists who has a well-deserved reputation for extreme accuracy of statement and cautiousness, and who has assured me personally that he has both seen, handled, and conversed with such an apparition, which was just as real and clothed with the same flesh and blood as any other human being, and he is as certain of its genuineness as he is of his own existence. moreover, he has repeatedly photographed both the medium and the spirit-form singly and together, which photographs i have seen. personally i have never witnessed a materialized form, and can only reserve my judgment as to the reality of the phenomenon. but i feel sure all interpolations and additions will be pardoned by the reader; since the object aimed at was to clothe the real facts with a halo of romance, and thus, without detracting too much from the truth, to render the story much more interesting to the reader. geo. lindsay johnson, _castle mansions, johannesburg_. it is a vulgar mistake, for which science certainly gives no warrant, to assert that things are impossible because they contradict our experience. p. chalmers mitchell, m.a., dsc., f.r.s. _thomas henry huxley: a sketch of his life and work_, p. 245. whatever is intelligible and can be distinctly conceived implies no contradiction, and can never be proved false by any demonstration, argument, or reasoning, a priori. hume, _on miracles_. the boundary between the two states--the known and the unknown--is still substantial, but it is wearing thin in places; and like excavators engaged in boring a tunnel from opposite ends, amid the roar of water and other noises we are beginning to hear now and again the strokes of the pick-axes of our comrades on the other side. sir oliver lodge, _the survival of man_, p. 337. footnotes: [footnote 1: dr. ochorowicz is professor of psychology at the university of lemberg (lvoff). i am a little uncertain as to the year, as i cannot get access to the _annals_, but i believe it is the correct date.] contents chap. page i. the café at the corner of the "boule mich" 1 ii. the dinner at the villebois' house 19 iii. the story of the widow's mite 29 iv. payot and duval 47 v. the wine cellar 69 vi. the analyst 76 vii. renée's experience in storm and sunshine 88 viii. delapine makes an experiment in botany 96 ix. céleste tries to fathom renée's secret 104 x. delapine interrupts a fight 115 xi. a remarkable conversation 124 xii. the séance 138 xiii. the debacle 148 xiv. coming events cast their shadow before 164 xv. dr. riche makes a remarkable discovery 176 xvi. the shadow of death 189 xvii. emile visits his friend pierre with most unpleasant consequences 202 xviii. facilis descensus averni 214 xix. the vigil 223 xx. the new jerusalem gold mine 239 xxi. marcel makes an unexpected acquaintance 256 xxii. violette nursers her father with alarming results 270 xxiii. at beaulieu 281 xxiv. the professor discourses on gambling 297 xxv. delapine tries his hand at the tables 310 xxvi. nemesis 324 xxvii. in which delapine finds himself famous, and the party breaks up with the happiest results 338 the weird adventures of professor delapine chapter i the cafe at the corner of the "boule miche" the man who cannot wonder, who does not habitually wonder ... is but a pair of spectacles, behind which there is no eye. carlyle (_sartor resartus_, bk. i. ch. x.) ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing, only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness; so on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another, only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence. longfellow--_the dinner at the villebois' house_, pt. iv. "comment ça va, monsieur le docteur? pardon that i interrupt your reverie." the greeting was addressed to a gentleman below middle age who was seated before one of the little round tables at the corner of one of the side streets leading into the boulevard michel. he was idly toying with a small glass of eau sucrée between four and five o'clock on a glorious afternoon in the autumn of 19--. somewhat short in stature, and slightly built, he was favoured by nature with a pleasing expression, and bright auburn curly locks which matched his bronzed and weather-beaten face. although his features bore traces of hardship and toil, there was nothing in his appearance to attract any very special remarks from the passers-by. and yet many of them would have turned and looked again at that gentlemanly little figure, had they but known who it was who sat there practically unnoticed by, and unnoticing, the endless stream of afternoon strollers. he had ordered an eau sucrée, and it certainly was that simple beverage which stood in that glass before him, but it might as well have been tincture of myrrh, or weak tea, or even vinegar, for all the great dr. riche knew or cared. about five feet four inches of his slim neatly-dressed body was sitting there without a doubt, but his mind was far away debating the intricacies of a very delicate operation on the base of the brain, at which he had assisted that morning at the hotel dieu. an opening had been made through the nose into the skull of a patient, and the offending tumour had been removed--to all appearances successfully. all the same, the doctor was pondering deeply over the probabilities of the patient's ultimate recovery, and was mentally arguing the pros and cons of this very interesting case, when a gentle tapping of a gold-mounted cane on the marble surface of the little round table in front of him, accompanied by a jovial laugh and a hearty greeting, brought him suddenly down from the regions of the sella turcica. "well, monsieur le docteur, you have not forgotten me then?" "villebois! mon cher, i am delighted to see you. you seem surprised to see me here, eh! well, as a matter of fact, i may tell you i have only quite recently returned to paris for a holiday after five years practising in algiers, and have not yet had time to renew my old acquaintances." "all the more reason why you should begin at once not only to renew the old, but to make some new ones," said villebois. "that reminds me, do you remember our discussions in the little room on the third floor at the corner of the rue saint andré des arts?" "what, when we nearly came to blows over our differences of opinion about what you were pleased to call mysterious psychic forces? yes, i remember, but surely you have outgrown all that?" "certainly not. i have had reason lately to be more convinced than ever that i was right. you, my dear riche, have missed some wonderful phenomena which have recently startled our circle. levitations, apparitions--" "oh, my dear villebois, remember we are in the twentieth century; and it is rather out of date to commence believing too implicitly in that sort of thing." "out of date? why, i have seen it with my own eyes. hardly has the séance begun, when the table begins to rise slowly inch by inch, until it reaches a height of half a metre from the floor, and then more wonderful still----" "yes, i know all about it, palladino, slade, home, the daniels, and the rest, with their cabinets and masks, and rubber hands daubed all over with luminous paint. besides they perform all their tricks in the dark, lest people should see through their frauds. what i want to know is why they cannot do their supernatural performances in a private house which is unprovided with trap doors, and other nicknacks and apparatus." "still the same unbeliever i see: your five years stay abroad has not altered you much in that respect. but if you will allow me to introduce you to my friend the professor i think you will alter your opinion." "but where is this prodigy to be found?" "when you cease that mocking tone, i'll tell you." "proceed, mon cher villebois: i will be as serious as a clown at the pantomime." "well, you remember delapine?" "what, that youthful professor who gave such a wonderful course of lectures on physics in the laboratory at the sorbonne?" "the same," answered villebois. "he is staying for some time with us at passy, and is giving us the most wonderful exhibitions of his powers. talk about a genius, the recitals of his experiences, his inventions, and his discoveries fairly dazzles one; and, in addition, he declares that he possesses such extraordinary mediumistic powers that he can call up spirits at will." "but i thought that you did not believe in these extraordinary psychic forces, that you were too well grounded in natural science to believe in any phenomena which are incapable of being treated mathematically, or which could not be subjected to the rigid tests of the laboratory." "that is so," answered villebois. "if i had not witnessed these phenomena with my own eyes, and subjected them to my own tests i should have felt disposed to put them down to charlatanism. at first, i was inclined to think that he was 'off his head,' but when you hear him talk with such brilliancy and logic, and when you see him with your own eyes perform the things which i have seen him do, you will agree that there is not a saner man to-day in the whole of our beloved paris. at times again, his brain appears to be too big for him, and he is apt to go off into fainting fits--or trances, as he calls them--and on occasions he remains for hours in that state: you could almost swear that he was dead, and yet he wakes up as fresh as the proverbial daisy, to amaze us all with the recital of experiences during the trance." "how extraordinary; forgive my previous mockery, my dear villebois. i assure you i am as anxious now as i was indifferent before about meeting your friend. perhaps he may have some recollection of me." "ah, i thought you would want to meet him, and i can assure you that you will not regret it. pack up and come and stay with us at passy. there are several charming people staying with us including renée, the daughter of old payot. you know whom i mean. then there is monsieur marcel, a philosopher and poet, a cynic in a way, but a first-rate fellow notwithstanding, and lastly a most inquisitive and argumentative young lawyer--monsieur duval. with you, my dear colleague, the party will be complete, especially as you are an exponent and past master of agnosticism combined with a mind open to conviction, and possess an aptitude for strictly scientific investigation. i have no doubt that between us we ought to be capable of sifting these mysteries to the bottom. if there is any trickery about it, i can rely on your finding it out and exposing it, but i am fully convinced beforehand that you will not find any." "que diable, but i have seen enough of delapine to know that he is incapable of humbug or trickery. all the same, my dear confrère, you have infected me with your enthusiasm, and the programme that you offer me is as tempting as a première at the opera." "including the renewal of your acquaintance with the charming mademoiselle payot," added villebois with a smile. "just so. is there not some poet who says, 'beauty lends enchantment to the view'?" villebois rose slowly and surveyed himself in one of the massive mirrors near the window, and smiled complacently at his old friend's levity, while carefully smoothing down the large "wings" of his professional black cravat. "say rather with goethe 'das ewig weibliche zieht uns hinan,'" said villebois, who knew his german remarkably well for a frenchman. "however," he continued, "i must leave you now. let me assure you once more what a pleasure it has been to meet you again after such a long absence. we will expect you, then, in two days' time at passy." "very good, i will come with pleasure," replied dr. riche, "and please pay my respects to madame villebois and the others." "thanks, thanks, au revoir until the day after to-morrow," called out villebois as he hailed a fiacre, and vanished down the boulevard towards the louvre. left to himself, and now fully awakened from the deep reverie which had overshadowed him previous to the arrival of his old friend, dr. riche gently drew from his pocket a large and most un-gallic looking pipe and pouch well supplied with a famous mixture of his own composition, and proceeded to enjoy in open daylight that most delightful but, under the circumstances, most unprofessional luxury, a good smoke. "delapine? delapine?" he said musingly to himself. "of course i remember delapine at the sorbonne. what a genius that fellow was. a perfect marvel in making experiments in physics! developed into an exponent of psychic forces has he? well, well, i must say though, that i am not surprised. he certainly gave promise of a great future in the world of science. has he become a medium i wonder? perhaps he goes off into trances like swedenborg was said to do. some one, i cannot just remember who it was, told me that delapine could foretell the future, and know what is happening in other parts of the world, or even in the beyond. well, well, there must be something in it, if delapine says so. he is genuine, there can be no doubt about that. it is certainly remarkably interesting, and it would be worth going there if only to see him and be present at his séance. besides, there is mademoiselle villebois, who is growing up into such a charming girl. i really must have a look at her as well. ah! yes, i well remember how villebois used to twit me about being too susceptible to the charms of the fair sex. it will be quite refreshing to find villebois, delapine and payot under the same roof again after that long separation. well, who knows? it is quite on the cards----" at this stage in his meditations something caused dr. riche to gaze slowly round the adjoining tables, and to take a casual glance for the first time that afternoon, at some of those of his fellow-mortals who were in his immediate neighbourhood. for a moment, no one in particular appeared to cause him any special interest. then, turning slightly, he became aware that two ladies had seated themselves close to him at one of the small tables in a little recess. "mother and daughter, evidently," he muttered to himself. that the doctor's surmise was correct was evinced a few seconds later when he heard a clear and penetrating voice-"mais non, petite mère, ne vous en fâchez-vous. although it is true that i have obtained some very startling results, you must remember that there are times when my 'power,' as you call it, seems to vanish, and i do not appear to be able to read anything of either the past or the future." "but why do you do it at all, violette? why have you not given it up as i have so often implored you? you know that it is altogether against my wishes, and really i often feel quite afraid that some day some misfortune--quelque chose d'un grand malheur--will come of it all." "not a bit, you are much too anxious, petite mère." "ah, if i could be sure, but i cannot help my anxiety when i see you so abstracted, so--what do you say?--so distraite and so enfeebled, after you have had one of those long séances; and i notice lately that you appear to be suffering from nervous exhaustion especially after you have foretold something more than usually startling. please be guided by me, dear, and let me take away that mysterious ring, and lock it away from you for a month--for six months. perhaps if you did not have it so much en évidence, you might gradually forget its fascination." "you dear anxious petite mère, to hear you talk one would imagine i was under some evil influence just because i am fond of my lovely antique ring, and like to have it always with me. as for being distraite, ma mie, it has nothing to do with my ring. i often have little times of reverie. even when i was at the convent the sisters have often rebuked me because i was able to tell them such mysterious things that came to me in my long day-dreams in the dear old convent grounds." "but you are no longer a child at the convent," interrupted the elder lady, "and you should not encourage these ideas of clairvoyance." "don't let us talk about it please, ma mère chérie," replied the younger of the two ladies, with a most impressive shrug of the shoulders, "let us talk of something else instead. read this letter which i received this morning at the poste restante." opening her reticule she took out a small and delicately scented envelope which she placed at the edge of the table, after having handed its contents to her mother. "read this and tell me what you think of it." doctor riche, who had been a silent listener to this conversation, after consulting his watch, drained his glass of eau sucrée, and rose with the intention of departing. at this moment a garçon, carrying a tray filled with glasses high above his head, opened the door, and a sudden gust of wind lifted the little envelope off the table where violette was sitting, and wafted it almost to the doctor's feet. picking up the scented envelope with a dainty touch, he handed it to the elder lady with a ceremonious bow: "pardon, madame, allow me," said riche as he glanced in a cursory manner at the address written upon it. if the doctor expected to learn the fair unknown's private, or even perhaps her professional address, he was doomed to disappointment. the envelope which had unexpectedly fluttered to his feet merely bore the inscription, in a woman's handwriting: a mademoiselle violette beaupaire, poste restante, paris. "merci, monsieur: que vous êtes bien gentil." the doctor bowed again, and in so doing his eyes rested on the middle finger of the younger of the two ladies who had been addressed as violette. "what a lovely ring, and what a wonderful appearance it has," said the doctor, gaining courage as the ladies smiled at him. "mademoiselle will permit that i may regard it, n'est ce pas? that is if mademoiselle will pardon a stranger?" "with all my heart, monsieur, it is quite often that someone asks to be allowed to examine my ring, and they nearly all say how peculiar and unusual it looks. then, when they have examined it, they invariably remark, 'but is it not too large a ring for mademoiselle to wear,' ah, but you see, monsieur, they do not know." "but i forget something, mademoiselle; permit me to present myself, doctor riche, just returned from algiers, entirely at the service of madame and mademoiselle." "we are charmed to make the acquaintance of monsieur le docteur," said the other lady "as we know algiers well and have often heard of his skill. will not monsieur le docteur be seated while my daughter allows him to regard the ring?" seating himself beside the fair mademoiselle violette, the doctor took advantage of the kind offer of the two ladies, and began to examine carefully the object of their conversation. it was a splendid specimen of the scarabæus beetle carved out of a pale-greenish beryl,[2] and fitted into a curiously wrought gold setting. "what a valuable piece of jewellery, no modern bijoutier fashioned this," said the doctor, after a long and interested examination of the beautiful object before him. "it has quite a little history attached to it i expect," said mademoiselle violette, "if we only knew. it was given to me a few years ago by suleiman bey who found it in a tomb belonging to one of the pharaohs. look, when i place it in front of me, so, and gaze at it steadily, there are times when i see in its depths the most wonderful things and the likenesses of people, some of whom i have never seen, and some again whom i seem to recognise." "but it is quite extraordinary!" replied the doctor. "would you like me to look into it for you? just to see if it will tell us something of your past, or what has happened to you, or some of your friends perhaps?" asked violette. "ah, mademoiselle, i can see you are a sorceress, but i know my past already, alas! too well; would it not be a thousand times more interesting if you were to test its wonderful powers by letting me see a little way into the future?" "i do not know whether i can do that, but if you will please to sit opposite to me, and be very very still without speaking, and be sure and keep your mind quite passive, and believe all the time that i really do hold the power, i will try." placing the ring on the table in front of her in the centre of a black silk handkerchief to avoid reflections, and bidding her companions to keep absolutely still and silent, violette muttered some words in a very low tone, as if repeating some weird incantation, and then proceeded to concentrate her entire thoughts, and gaze fixedly on the ring. unconsciously disobeying the instruction to keep his mind quite passive, doctor riche could not help studying the face of the young girl before him, and noticing, as the seconds went by, the gradual change that was beginning to come over her. from a half careless insouciance when she first placed the ring on the table in front of her and began to look into its depths, her whole manner and bearing seemed now to have changed to one of most absorbing interest, which gradually altered, until her face bore traces of great mental anguish. so strong was the appearance of severe distress that the whole reserve of his well-known professional tenderness of heart surged to the doctor's brain, and was on the point of giving itself vent in speech, when a soft, almost entranced voice apparently some distance off was heard, as in a whisper:-"mon dieu, it is terrible. listen. it is a house in one of the suburbs of paris. there is a large room. it opens into a smaller chamber by a large door. the door is locked. i see eight people sitting down in a half circle. they hold each other's hands. there are, let me see, one, two, three, four, five men, and three ladies. one of the ladies is young and very pretty, with dark wavy hair, and wonderfully brilliant eyes. the other is of middle age, and is wearing a wedding ring. i see one of the men, he looks to be about thirty-five years old, he is separated from the others. he has long black hair and a pointed moustache. his face is very white, and his eyes are slowly closing. they are putting him to sleep. he sleeps, oh, mon dieu, how still he is, he looks like the dead. attendez, attendez, encore une minute. it is not so clear now to see him. there is a vapeur, like a big white cloud slowly over-wrapping him. now it is getting smaller--what you say, 'condensing'--and is taking a human form, but it is much more handsome than the sleeper. now the form is moving its lips as if it were speaking, now it is fading away from the room, and the company seems to be afraid, they are all very quiet. there is one of the men--he looks like a doctor--he seems very anxious, he is uneasy, he is bien faché as he looks at the sleeper. he regards closely, he touches him, he takes his wrist and feels the pulse. he calls out, he cries, 'my god! he is dead!' everyone rushes up to him and--ah, the picture fades." "mon dieu," cried out riche, "try again, mademoiselle, can you see anything else?" "wait. yes. the picture is forming itself again. ah, but it is not the same room. i see an open drawer in a writing table, there is a large envelope in the drawer. there are five large seals, and there is something written on the envelope. it is fading--i cannot make it out. there is a name, henri--henri d--no, i cannot see more. it has faded. i see nothing." pale as marble, and with a look of strained enquiry in her eyes, the young girl leaned back in her chair and appeared quite oblivious to all around her. then slowly closing her eyes, she sighed deeply, and turning to her mother said:-"oh, but it is too terrible, it is too much." thinking that she was about to collapse in a fainting fit, the doctor hastened to procure assistance. quietly making his way through the open door, so as not to attract too much attention to his companions, he called two of the garçons; and telling one to carry some eau-de-vie to the ladies, he gave instructions for the other to have a fiacre ready. when he returned to the little table in the recess, the two ladies were nowhere to be seen. he enquired of the waiters, but they could give him no information as to where they had gone. the bill had been paid, but beyond that they knew nothing. dr. riche waited for some minutes, and at length prepared to leave the café. "diable, mille diables!" he exclaimed. "if it was genuine then it was extraordinary, but if it was not genuine, it was a clever and a very interesting imposture. but the imposture sans motif? that would not be the 'sens commun.' the whole thing is very mysterious. i would give anything to find out where they live, but it is quite useless to hunt for them now. just my cursed luck again." picking up his gloves and cane in an abstracted and almost dazed manner, the worthy doctor, after glancing up and down the street, moved quietly away and joined the throng of promenaders. doctor riche was one of those bons viveurs who believe in comfort, and was always to be found on his visits to paris at one of those snug and at the same time fashionable little hotels, much frequented by married couples, which abound in the neighbourhood of the louvre or the tuileries along the rue de rivoli. in the evening of the second day after his meeting with his old friend villebois, he might have been seen settling his bill at the bureau of the hotel chatham, while a couple of porters were transferring his luggage to the fiacre. it was a lovely autumn evening when he left the hotel. a vapour had crept up the valley of the seine, and hid its banks. a warm mist was rolling over the city, while here and there were gaps revealing the intense turquoise blue of the sky as the fiacre sped past the palace and gardens of the tuileries and the avenue of the champs elysées, lined by rows of trees all decked in their multi-coloured foliage. the sun setting behind meudon illuminated the bois with its beams which strove to struggle through, while as it journeyed west, the windows of the louvre and the tuileries reflected the golden splendour of its rays. the seine, curving like a huge snake, scintillated with all the colours of the rainbow, while through the mist the dark square towers of notre dame stood up like two silent sentinels mounting guard. far away towards the bois in sharp relief against the sky, the mighty steel scaffolding of the tower eiffel rose majestically above the trocadero, looking down from its dizzy height on to the vast city at its feet. the great dome of the pantheon on the other side of the river resembled a ball of burnished copper. slowly the colours changed as the vista darkened, and the shadows vanished into the gloom, while the clouds above the horizon changed into a fiery red bordered by an expanse of orange, yellow and purple. the heights of montmartre were still bathed in rosy sunshine. as the setting sun vanished a deep grey seemed to settle over the city, which throbbed with its passing traffic like the cadence of the tide on a pebbly beach, as he sped along the avenue du trocadero and past the maison lamartine. leaving the bois, he could just get a glimpse of the lakes of la muette nestled behind it, while a little to the south, resembling a casket of jewels, lay the charming suburb of auteuil. "auteuil, lieu favori; lieu fait pour les poètes que des rivaux de gloire unis sous tes berceaus."[3] the cocher drove past the church and the red marble pyramid which marks the tomb of the noble chancellor d' aguesseau, and then turning down the boulevard rossini, he pulled up at a little detached villa near to the one at which rossini died, and the doctor at length found himself at the house of his friend villebois. doctor riche recognised it as one of those delightful little detached villas for which passy and auteuil are so famous. a wall surmounted by ornamental railings, half-screened the garden from the footway, while behind the house was a small grass-plot surrounded by a double row of damask rose trees. in one corner of the back garden lay a pretty rustic summer-house, shut in by creepers among which lovely cyclamen flowers, clematis blossoms, and lilac shed their perfume and added their brilliant colours to the dense green of the ivy. as he entered the hall, adorned with the trophies of the chase, madame villebois came forward to welcome him. "at last, mon cher docteur, we are all impatient to meet you. my husband and i are anxious to hear the stories of your adventures with the arabs in algeria, and all my friends are here to welcome you. i suppose that you have led a bachelor life so long that you will hardly feel at home in our family circle." "oh, madame, how can you be so cruel? you should rather ask, 'is it not like returning to rest in paradise after having been driven out into the wilderness.' i really feel as if i were the prodigal son returning home to partake of the fatted calf. you can't imagine what a relief it is for me to return to our beautiful paris after my voluntary exile." so saying the doctor was ushered into a large saloon with folding doors, which, when opened, converted the two rooms into one. the walls were covered with a japanese paper ornamented with patterns in old gold on a red background; but so wonderfully were the designs made, that they heightened rather than lessened the effect of the charming old oil paintings by hobbema, jan van der heyden, boucher, claude and meisonnier. the furniture was of stained oak, rather heavy but beautifully carved, and almost as black as ebony with age. in one corner was a large "grandfather's" clock, by vulliamy, and ornamented with louis quinze panels, whilst on the marble mantle-piece was a louis xvi. timepiece mounted on a wonderful creation of sèvres porcelain, and placed between two exquisite china groups with medallions painted by watteau. passing through the folding doors one entered a smaller but much brighter room, with a white ceiling ornamented with groups of mythological figures. at the further end a door opened into a conservatory filled with curious insectivorous plants, choice orchids and other rare exotics, many of which exhaled a deliciously sensuous perfume. passing through the hothouse, one stepped immediately on to the lawn of the back garden. as doctor riche entered the smaller room, madame villebois proceeded to introduce him to the company. the moment he glanced round the assembled guests, his eyes were riveted on a particularly sweet, dark-haired girl, and a tall remarkable looking man, who were chatting together on one of the settees in the corner of the room. "this is mademoiselle payot, and monsieur le professor delapine whom you have doubtless heard of," said the hostess, smiling. although riche had heard so much of the professor, he had never had the opportunity of seeing him in private life before. what attracted him was the piercing brilliancy of his eyes. they were of a steel blue colour, and seemed to bore one through like an intense auger, making the doctor feel conscious that delapine was peering into his very soul, and was reading his most secret thoughts. they turned perpetually here and there so that nothing could escape his penetrating glance. the professor had a habit of nervously playing with his fingers which spread over every object they touched like the tentacles of a medusa, as if they were eager to come into contact with the ultimate particles of matter. delapine stood nearly six feet high, with very dark glossy hair falling almost to his shoulders, and wearing a moustache with twisted ends and a short pointed beard. the professor was invariably attired in a black frock coat and cravat, the sombreness being relieved by the red ribbon of the legion of honour. he was a man who would command attention anywhere. active, alert, with an imposing presence, he stood out from the crowd as one born to command. the pale, almost wax-like face, the lofty brow, the firm compressed lips ever and anon breaking out into a smile, all contributed to form a personality which would be both respected and loved. delapine was slow and measured in speech, and possessed a rich voice of peculiar charm and flexibility which impressed and delighted his audience. he had that power of modulating it to suit the nature of the theme, by which the members of his class were enabled to select without effort the essentials from the non-essentials of his discourse. at times he would pause, and turning his head half round would scan the listeners with his piercing eyes, as if to judge the effect of his words. but ever and anon his overpowering personality would convey the effect of one inspired, and he could elevate the simplest subjects to heights undreamt of, and stamp an indelible impression of it on their imagination. a subject, which in the hands of most men would sound tame and uninteresting, would, when dealt with by him, become illuminated and clothed by the most apt illustrations and exalted thought. no wonder that his students became permeated with the enthusiasm of the master. he seemed to riche to be the ideal of an experimental philosopher and physicist. but here the doctor was roused from his reflections by the cheery voice of villebois. "hullo, riche, mon vieux, vous voilà enfin! come along and let me introduce you to monsieur marcel, our poet, philosopher and friend; and also to maitre duval, our youngest member of the bar of whom i told you before." marcel was a curiosity in his way. a bit of a dandy, and a great favourite with the fair sex, he seemed to be always in evidence when any function of importance was going on. he rather prided himself on the originality of his dress, and invariably appeared at dinner in knee breeches, black silk stockings, a white waistcoat, embroidered with many coloured flowers, and a velvet coat, while his neck was adorned with a blue silk bow of vast and convincing proportions. the back of his neck was entirely hidden by the length of his hair, which fell on his shoulders in lustrous locks after the manner of the poet milton. was it not then natural that such a beautiful prize should be competed for by the ladies to grace their receptions? but although a fop as regards his dress, marcel showed traces of real genius, and had already begun to be talked about for his wit and power of repartee. in fact no lady considered her house completely furnished unless a copy of his sonnets, or his epigrams bound in the most delightful of plush covers was to be found in her boudoir. duval was quite another character. young, clever, pushing, and extremely self-opinionated, he was nevertheless very narrow-minded, and obstinate and jealous to a degree. when he had made up his mind to any course of action he stopped at nothing to carry it out, and threw caution to the winds. his clean shaven face save for a slight moustache revealed a hard mouth with thin, closely set lips, and a square, firm jaw. truly such a man was more likely to be feared than loved, and few would venture to make an enemy of him. "what did you say that gentleman's name was who is arguing with our friend the poet?" "pierre duval, a new advocate just admitted to the bar. quite a rising man, i assure you. a man who is anxious to attain to fame by every road, and as cheaply as possible. oh, by the way, here is my daughter, céleste," exclaimed villebois, as she came into the room all blushes and confusion for being so late. "what has kept you so long, céleste?" "oh, papa, it's all the fault of those wretched dresses of mine." "what on earth do you mean, my child?" "well, papa, it's this way. i did want to look very nice, and i found that i had nothing to wear." "nothing to wear? what do you mean, céleste? why, i wager you have ten times as many dresses as renée." "yes, that may be, but you wanted me to sit next to marcel, and i had nothing that would harmonise with his lovely waistcoat. the moment i saw it, i knew at once that it would kill all my dresses. i found i could not match it, do what i would. at last i had to put on something, and now look at me," and a tear rolled down her cheek. "my dear céleste, you look lovely, i assure you. you always seem to me to be trying to attempt the impossible. a woman who cannot make herself charming loses half the battle in the beauty competition. it is far better to appreciate the dresses you cannot have than to have the dresses you cannot appreciate. don't forget that a woman who makes herself charming by her manner can afford to wear anything she pleases without offending the company." "yes, i know you are right, papa, although if you were to ask me i could not tell you why." "i am afraid my daughter imagines that she is out of harmony with everyone in the room." "not in the least, papa, but you know the greatest pleasure i can have is to please our guests, and how can i do that better than by having nothing on that can offend the eye." "yes," replied the doctor smiling, "half her punishment was already removed when eve was permitted to decorate herself with fig-leaves." "oh, papa! how can you say such dreadful things? but i think i understand what you meant when you spoke to me about being charming as well. you meant that a cheerful, bright, smiling face and nice courteous manners count more than a pretty frock." "quite right, my little rosebud," said villebois, tenderly kissing her on the forehead, "live up to those ideas, and you will never go far wrong. the world, they say, is ever growing old, but youth asserts itself on every side, and gives the world the lie. happy, joyous youth," he added with a sigh, "what would we give to feel once more the young blood coursing through our veins. make the most of it, céleste dear, while you possess it. youth, hope and love are the only things that count. we old folks can only enjoy the memory of those sweet days. when you know english better i must lend you my volume of coleridge's poems, which i know you will like. if i remember rightly there is a charming poem about youth which begins:- verse, a breeze mid blossoms straying, where hope clung feeding like a bee, both were mine, life went a-maying, with nature, hope and poesy, when i was young. flowers are lovely; love is flower-like, friendship is a sheltering tree; o! the joys that came down shower-like of friendship, love and liberty, when i was young." "how very pretty," said céleste. "i must hurry on with my english, as i should dearly love to read beautiful poetry like that." "yes," said villebois with a little sigh, "youth is life, but youth without faith and hope is worse than death. to grow old and never know it, or to have your friends suspect it, that is happiness indeed." "what are you two people talking about?" said riche joining them. "father is giving me a sermon on youth and happiness," said céleste, smiling. "what is your recipe for happiness, doctor?" she added enquiringly after a pause. "happiness, my dear mademoiselle, is a habit. you must learn to cultivate it. in time, by constant practice, it will become automatic and part of yourself." "a very good answer, my dear riche, a very good answer," said villebois approvingly. "i must give that prescription to some of my patients--they sadly need it." footnotes: [footnote 2: the beryl, and especially this particular shade of beryl was greatly prized by the ancient magicians for its supposed virtues in assisting the crystal gazer.] [footnote 3: chénier 'promenade.'] chapter ii the dinner at the villebois' house ce qu'il y a de plus beau dans la vie c'est les illusions de la vie. balzac, _physiologie du marriage_, med. iv. since eve ate apples much depends on dinner. byron, _don juan_, cant. viii. wine whets the wit, improves its native force, and gives a pleasant flavour to discourse. pomfret (_the choice._) "allons, allons," said madame villebois, "we can discuss all about dress while we are having our dinner, although i really think that people in these days give too much attention to both dress and eating." "ah, no, madame, permit me to disagree," said marcel, smiling. "it seems to me that this is becoming the age of small things. the modern man can now without discomfort carry his dinner in a sandwich-case, and the modern woman considers her luggage complete if she is carrying her latest dress creation in her handbag." "dinner is the greatest peacemaker of civilisation yet invented," said villebois; "together with a good glass of red wine it makes us, for the time being, friends with all the world. the busy man may consider it a trifle, but to my mind it is only the trifles after all which count. nations, for instance, never go to war about important matters. what was the cause of the franco-german war? merely an absurd argument about the candidates for the spanish throne, a matter that few cared two sous about. is not the entire human race (according to the authority of the holy church) doomed to everlasting perdition simply because a woman ate an apple, or something which she was told not to--goodness only knows how many centuries ago? did not england become a protestant country simply because the pope refused to allow henry the eighth to divorce his wife katherine?" "but i can give you a better instance," said riche. "if we are to believe dr. ross, the decline and fall of the glorious greek nation was due to the merest trifle in the world--a tiny insect--the anopheles, a malaria-carrying mosquito." "really, is that a fact?" interposed marcel, "but talking of trifles, what do you think of napoleon having to abdicate simply because his cook roasted a fowl in too great a hurry, and so caused him to have an attack of indigestion, whereby he lost the great battle of the nations at leipzig." "this sounds like trifling with our common-sense," said pierre to renée in the hope of attracting her attention away from marcel. "yes," said delapine who had just caught the word 'trifles,' "i owe everything to trifles. they control the essentials of life. the man who can see further than other men is doubtless a genius, but he who can do that and at the same time attend to trifles and details goes much further; he not only rises to the top, but he stays there." "details are always vulgar," whispered pierre to renée, as he helped himself to a slice of pheasant stuffed with truffles. "did you say vulgar?" asked marcel, who had just managed to catch the last word of the whispered conversation, "i agree with our friend villebois that our happiness is largely made up of trifles: perhaps that accounts for the fact that lovely woman has devoted her life to trifling. the divine creatures trifle with our hearts, and then when they have stolen them, they make tire-lires of them." "i have studied the fair sex all my life," said riche, "and i assure you i understand them less now than ever. when a man flatters himself that he understands a woman, he----" "merely flatters himself?" interposed marcel laughing. "woman generally tries to attract a man's eye, by means of her feminine magnetism and then blames him for being caught by prettiness and superficial charms. but she rarely tries to appeal to his better self," said delapine. "life, after all," interposed riche, "is a tragedy to those who feel, but to those who think, it is only a huge comedy. my rule is never to appear in earnest, except, of course, when seeing my patients. if a man is serious, everyone votes him a bore, and the ladies only laugh at him. an over-sensitive conscience is simply the evidence of spiritual dyspepsia. the man who has it is no better than his fellows." "a man considers his little weaknesses mere amiable traits," said pierre, "whereas a woman----" "will not admit that she has any," said marcel. "a woman is invariably right," said dr. riche with a sigh. "a woman is guided by instinct, a man by reason, and for the good it does him he might as well have never thought at all." "yes," interrupted marcel, "and if you prove that she is in the wrong, she will become the more convinced that she was right all the time, and you will only get laughed at for your pains." "my dear marcel," said villebois, "you will be making enemies of the ladies if you say that, and to make them your enemies is worse than a crime--it is a folly!" "the gentle art of making enemies is the only natural accomplishment which is common to all sorts and conditions of men," added riche. "one can never be too careful in the choice of one's enemies," said marcel, toying with a dish of salted almonds. "i always choose my enemies more carefully than i do my friends, and therefore they respect and appreciate me. isn't that so, monsieur duval?" "at any rate," replied the young advocate, "one's enemies are much the more useful--they can be counted on to advertise us behind our backs, whereas our friends merely flatter us to our faces." "how tasteless is the soup unless flavoured by the sauce of our enemies," said marcel. "you seem to be taking a very pessimistic view of mankind," exclaimed villebois. "i believe there is a sub-stratum of good in all bad people, and if one makes enemies it is to a great degree one's own fault." "from all our enemies, and most of our friends, good lord deliver us," added riche. "to my mind," said villebois, "bad and good men are only a matter of degree. it entirely depends upon the point of view, and there is a great deal more in the point of view than is generally admitted." "yes," said marcel, "our weaknesses we regard as misfortunes from which we cannot escape; whereas the weaknesses of others we consider to be shocking crimes. while we all pretend to hate sin, we are only charitable to the sinner when we happen to be the one in question." "ah, well, the devil is never so black as he is painted, in fact he is far more like us than we care to admit," said delapine. "i feel sure," he added, "if we saw ourselves as others see us, we should refuse to believe our own eyes. if we could only combine what others think of us with what we think of ourselves we should probably get at the truth." "good and bad are only abstracts," interrupted pierre, "but money, good solid tangible money, is, after all, the only thing of real importance in this world." "but surely there are things of more value than money," said riche enquiringly. "of course there are," replied pierre, "and that is why i need all the money i can get to acquire them. take lovely woman, for example. a man with money can marry any girl he pleases." "ah! you are right there," interrupted marcel. "i for one believe that women only admire the gilded youth because he is a golden calf!" "important things are out of fashion," said delapine. "people now-a-days will argue for hours about such things as the flavour of wines, the latest novel, or a new way of driving a golf ball; but deadly serious matters, such as being married or hanged, or the chances of a future life in heaven or hell are treated as a huge joke, if they are ever referred to at all." "i still maintain that money comes before everything," said duval. "with money one can buy everything worth having: pleasures, friendship, and even love. as goethe says: "ja! wenn zu sol sich luna fein gesellt, zum silber, gold, dann ist es heitre welt; das ubrige ist alles zu erlangen; paläste, gärten, brüstlein, rote wangen." "no, no, a thousand times no," cried delapine, "that i never can agree to. riches will not buy everything, in fact they will scarcely buy anything that is genuine, or worth having--neither real pleasures, friends, nor genuine love--nor is it essential to success. a man's life should be judged by the results obtained, or by the work he has achieved, not by the amount of money he has accumulated. happiness is not obtained by money, but is the outcome of conscious usefulness. the accomplishment of good work of any kind produces more solid contentment and satisfaction than all the money in the world. true happiness lies in content, and sweet content finds everywhere enough. nearly all the really great men have been poor, or at least have begun life handicapped for want of money," continued the professor. "it looks like a decree of nature in order to give them that stimulus and grit necessary to carry them over all obstacles." "i know from my own experiences," said riche, "the wealthy man does not care for the things which only require his filling in a cheque to acquire; and to the poor man the most acute pleasure lies in anticipation." "that is quite true," added the professor. "if one possessed all, everything would be mere discontent and disillusion. a surfeit of happiness is fatal. if there is nothing left to desire, there is everything to fear." "everything comes to the man who knows how to wait, but it is no inducement to wait, for no man wants everything," said villebois. "yes, he usually wants one thing in particular--just that one thing which he never gets, no matter how long he waits," said marcel, laughing. "have you been to the comédie lately?" asked renée of madame villebois who was sitting opposite to her, looking extremely bored, and apparently utterly unable to follow the conversation. "yes, my dear, we went to see yvette guilbert, and she looked just too lovely in a dress specially created for her by worth. the gown had a white sponge skirt with basque bodice of mulberry satin, and such a love of a bodice carried out in pink geranium brocaded crêpe. the right hip was swathed in black satin, and the left side had the material draped and caught up above the hem with a gold buckle and fringe of black silk. then mademoiselle patel had a delightful three piece gown of pale green poplin, with a corsage of old filigree tissue showing just a touch of chêne ribbon on each side, while the neck ended in a creamy white lace ruffle. and, renée dear, you should have seen her hat. it was a perfect poem. just think of this:--swathed crêpe de chine, with shaded flowers laid flat all along the rim, which she wore slightly tilted up at the back so as to show a pale green lining to match the gown. "oh! how lovely," exclaimed renée, clapping her hands, "i wish i had been there, but what i want most to hear is what the play was about, and how you liked it." "really, renée, you should not ask such absurd questions. i was so taken up with the dresses that i forgot all about the play. by the way, i have just ordered a frock like mademoiselle patel's for myself. you must come with me and see it tried on." "of course, i like pretty frocks, what girl doesn't? but i like a good play ever so much more. i get so carried away with the acting that i never notice what the people wear so long as they are not out of harmony with the play or the music. i went to see romeo and juliet for the first time last saturday, and you can't think how i enjoyed it. but i was so sorry for poor juliet, and felt drawn to her right away. i even found myself weeping. that speech of friar lawrence to her was so fine that i learnt it off by heart as soon as i got home. of course you know it--don't you, madame," she asked enquiringly. "what was it again? i am afraid i have forgotten it," said madame, who had not the remotest idea of what renée was talking about. "you must remember, in order to stop her marrying paris whom she loathed, the friar gave her a drug to swallow, which he told her would leave her to all appearances dead, and then she would wake up again quite well as soon as the danger was over; you know, it runs like this:- "hold, then; go home, be merry, give consent to marry paris; wednesday is to-morrow; to-morrow night look that thou lie alone let not thy nurse lie with thee in thy chamber: take thou this vial being then in bed, and this distilled liquor drink thou off: when, presently through all thy veins shall run a cold and drowsy humour: for no pulse shall keep his native progress, but surcease; no warmth, no breath shall testify thou liv'st. the roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade to paly ashes: thy eyes' windows fall like death, when he shuts up the day of life. each part, deprived of supple government, shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death: and in this borrowed likeness of shrunk death: thou shalt continue two-and-forty hours. and then awake as from a pleasant sleep." "i have often thought," interrupted delapine who was listening most intently, "how i should like to leave this life, and then after a long sojourn in some other world, to wake up and find myself, like juliet, once more at home. what countless problems one could solve, problems which have occupied the scientists for years. you cannot imagine, renée, my intense longing to enter into the unknown and penetrate into the sealed mysteries of nature. alas, that exquisite joys should be denied to us, who are the first and last of all things, the ultima thule of evolution. i feel sometimes that in some extraordinary way i shall see it, renée, but how, where, or when is more than i can conceive even in my wildest dreams." so earnest and so wrapt was the young professor, and so apparently far away mentally while giving voice to his feelings, that a silence fell upon the assembled guests, and each one in turn leaned forward expectantly for what was to follow. the first, however, to break the spell was renée. "something tells me, in fact has been telling me for some time, that you will have your wish, dear professor. it was only a couple of nights ago that i dreamt----" "really, renée, you ought to----" "oh, please let me, madame villebois, i was only going to say that i dreamt that you, professor, had left this world and had gone so far, far away, that you were so happy; and then i saw you lying down so peacefully and you were fast asleep, and when i went up and spoke to you, you never answered, and they told me that you were dead." "renée, how can you tell such things," cried madame villebois. "pray allow her, madame," interjected riche, deeply interested himself, and finding support in the approved murmur around him. "oh, how i cried when they told me that," continued renée, "and then a stranger came up and comforted me, and told me to dry my tears, and i should soon be quite happy again. i remember turning round to see who he was, but he had vanished, and then i woke up." "my dear renée," said madame terribly shocked, "you must not let the professor put such dreadful things into your little head, such dreams and ideas are only fit for crazy philosophers and not for young ladies in good society like yourself." "i am quite old enough to take care of myself," said renée, a little huffed, especially as she felt the remark was meant as much for delapine as for herself. madame villebois shrugged her shoulders and became suddenly occupied in absorbing her crême de vanille glacée. she tried to think of something to say in reply, but on looking up she caught delapine's eye, and noticed a peculiar smile on his lips which entirely dumfounded her, and caused her to make a sign that dinner was over, as her only way of escape from the dilemma. doctor villebois removed his napkin from his chin, whereupon the other gentlemen did likewise, and taking the hint from the host, they all rose and bowed as the ladies left the room. "come, let us follow the ladies to the drawing-room," said villebois after a short pause, for the doctor being an ardent admirer of the english, endeavoured, as far as his wife would permit him, to follow the english customs. "i like england," he would say, "because there every man is allowed the possibility of becoming a gentleman." "dreams are mysterious things" said delapine, nervously fingering his cigarette, as soon as the party had reassembled in the next room. "sometimes the cause is purely physiological. overstudy, an attack of indigestion, some disturbance of the circulation, or even some physical pressure may cause a dream or a nightmare. but again, there are other dreams widely different from these which often prove prophetic. in these one's real consciousness may be lost in sleep while the subliminal self, the alter-ego which never slumbers nor sleeps, rises to the surface and speaks in no uncertain tones. the mind sees with the startling clearness as if in a vision. voices are heard as if from another world, while strange figures, and scenes of unknown places slowly rise before the dreamer. i can vouch for this, many a time it has occurred to me. only the other day i had worked in vain for many hours trying to solve a physical problem, when suddenly i fell asleep, and in a dream i saw the changes take place, and the formula plainly worked out before my eyes. so clear was it that when i awoke i was able to copy what my mental vision had seen, and on trying the experiment, i found, to my great delight and relief, that the problem was solved." "my dear delapine," said riche, "you surely do not believe in clairvoyance, thought-reading, telepathy, apparitions, and all that sort of thing?" "why not? are we to doubt a thing merely because it is contrary to our experience? if you had stated thirty years ago that you would be able to converse with a friend on board a ship nearly four hundred miles away, or that you could see a man's bones in his body, or photograph the contents of a sealed wooden box, would not everyone have declared you mad? and yet these things are being done every day. why then should the things you have just mentioned be less credible? the evidence in their favour is overwhelming. there is hardly a family in the world but contains some member who has experienced such things. nay, i will go farther, there is not a tribe in any nation, at any period of the world's history which has not believed in these things. as abraham lincoln once said, 'you may fool all men some time, you may fool some men for all time, but you cannot fool all men for all time.' no, sir, the things men laugh at to-day as impossible will be improbable to-morrow, conceivable the day after, and a little later everyone accepts them as a matter of course, and wonders how people could ever have been such fools as to have doubted them." "but what evidence is there," said riche, "that these apparitions and marvellous phenomena really occur? why are séances held in the dark, or in merely a dull red light? if the performers were not tricksters could they not show these things in full daylight?" "permit me to ask you one question, my dear doctor," said delapine. "why do you develop your photographic plate in the dark and not in broad daylight?" "the reason is obvious--the light would spoil the plate." "well then, might not the light interfere with the success of the phenomena of a séance in the same way? the one is just as logical as the other." "bravo, bravo," cried renée, clapping her hands. "pardon me," said riche, anxious to justify himself, "but what i complain of is the absence of any proof. what i demand is evidence that is unimpeachable and crushing before i can believe any of these things. all i ask for is some proof, some message purporting to come from the other world through spirits who will convince me that the dead live, and that they can communicate with us." "you shall have it, you shall have it," cried the professor, rubbing his hands. "have you ever heard the story of the widow's mite?" "no" they all cried out together. "well, then, if you allow me, i will relate it to you." chapter iii the story of the widow's mite[4] der feind den wir am tiefsten hassen, der uns umlagert schwarz und dicht, das ist der unverstand der massen, den nur des geistes schwert durchbricht. arbeiter--_marseillaise._ 'ce n'est pas la vérité qui persuade les hommes, ce sont ceux qui la disent.'--nicole. si non è vero, è molto ben trovato. bruno (eruici furori) part 2, di 3. "a few years ago i knew a lady in new york who was in the habit of giving gratuitous private sittings to her family and a few friends. the moment she became entranced in the curtained space in her room, one or more of her spirit controls would come and speak through her. among them was a spirit named george carrol, who, when alive had been a friend of the medium and some of her circle. he had a strong manly voice, and could be heard distinctly all over the room. "one evening as her friends were sitting in the circle while the medium was entranced, the loud voice of george was heard, 'has anyone here got anything belonging to the late henry ward beecher?' "'i have a letter in my pocket from mr. beecher's successor, if that is what you mean?' said a gentleman present. "'no,' replied george, 'i am informed by another spirit present that mr. beecher is greatly concerned about an ancient coin "the widow's mite." this coin is out of place and ought to be returned. it has long been missing, and mr. beecher looks to you, mr. funk, to return it.' "'but, my dear sir,' replied mr. funk, 'the only widow's mite i ever heard of was the one i borrowed many years ago for the purpose of making a copy for the dictionary, and i am confident that i returned it.' "'it has not been returned,' the voice replied. 'go to your large iron safe and you will find it in a drawer under a lot of papers. it has been lost for many years, and mr. beecher says he wants it returned. that is all i can tell you.' "the next day mr. funk called in the cashier and said 'do you remember an old coin called "the widow's mite" which we used for the dictionary?' "'yes, but it was sent back years ago.' "'are you sure of this?' "'absolutely certain.' "'well go and look in our large iron safe, and see if it is there.' "'of course i will do it, but i know it is useless, as i have turned out the contents hundreds of times.' "well, would you believe it, in a short time he returned and handed mr. funk an envelope containing two widow's mites, a smaller light coloured one and a black one. the envelope had been found in a little drawer in the iron safe under a lot of papers, where it had not been seen or disturbed for many years. in fact it had been entirely forgotten. "now, the curious part of the affair was that the smaller bright coin had been thought to be the genuine one, and had in consequence been used for the dictionary. no one dreamt that the black one could be the genuine one. however, at the next séance when george began talking, i said to george, 'i find there are two coins in the envelope, tell me which of the two is the right one?' "instantly he replied, 'why, the black coin of course.' "mr. funk said, 'i am certain he is wrong there, i know that the black coin is spurious.' "then he asked george again, 'can you tell me to whom i have to return it?' "he replied, 'to a friend of mr. beecher's, i can't remember his name, but i have seen a picture of the college where he resides, and i know that it is in brooklyn.' "'what part of brooklyn?' asked mr. funk. "'on brooklyn heights.' "'a gentlemen's or a ladies' school?' "'a ladies' school.' "on enquiry mr. funk found that a ladies' school was there, and that the principal was a professor charles west. "on consulting his old ledgers, he found that this was the very man to whom he had promised to return the coin. "at a future sitting mr. funk said to george, 'why could you not tell me his name right away?' "'i don't know,' replied george, 'for some reason mr. beecher would not tell me. he said he was not concerned about the return of the coin, all he wanted was to give me a test which would convince me that there was a direct communication between the two worlds, and having succeeded in that, he cared nothing more about it.' "after receiving this surprising answer, mr. funk sent the two coins again to the mint, and received the reply that the director had consulted the assistant in the department of coins in the british museum and was assured that the black coin was the genuine one. "the most remarkable thing about the whole affair," added delapine, "is that mr. funk happened to be the only man present at the séances who had ever heard of the widow's mite, and he had not the slightest conception of any of the facts which george had told him through the medium. the incident had occurred nine years before, and the whole history of the coin had not only passed completely out of his mind, but the fact, which george told him about it, was entirely new to him. hence it was out of the question that the medium could have read his mind. how then are we to account for this revelation except by some intelligence on the other side of the veil?" "it must have been a put-up job--in fact a case of fraud, or else one of forgetfulness," said duval. "no, my dear sir, that is impossible. forgetfulness has nothing to do with it, as mr. funk was certain that his instructions to return the coin had been carried out to the letter. why, even the owners of the coin never knew it was missing. besides, no one except the cashier ever had access to the safe, and they had never known or even seen the medium." "ah, pierre," replied villebois, laughing, "confess that delapine has fairly answered your objection." "well then," said duval, nettled at the defeat of his argument, "it must have been a case of coincidence, that is certain." "that explanation won't hold water. as far as i know this is the only private coin of its kind in the world, and, excepting a few numismatic specialists, no one knew of its existence. how could george have guessed the exact place where the person lived who had to receive the coin, when you consider the millions of likely places to choose from? and how could he have pointed out the exact spot where the coin was to be found, a spot where no one ever dreamt of looking for it? and lastly, when the two coins were found, why should george have named the black one, when no one in the circle except mr. funk was aware that there was a black one?" "bravo, bravo, professor," cried riche, "these lawyers are very shrewd, but they lack scientific training. ah! monsieur duval, you have met your match at last. coincidence is clearly ruled out of the court in this case." pierre's pride would not allow him to admit the validity of delapine's argument, although he felt its force. "i have it," exclaimed riche, "if it was not a fraud or coincidence there is only one thing left to explain it, _viz._, telepathy or clairvoyance. both mr. funk and the cashier knew that the coin had been borrowed, and it was the subconscious memory of one or the other of them which influenced the medium." "if that be your explanation," said delapine, "how do you overcome the difficulty that both mr. funk and the cashier were convinced that the coin had been returned? no person at the séance knew anything about the coin except mr. funk. the incident had been entirely forgotten by the latter for many years. again, how could the medium know from mr. funk's mind that he had not returned it, when he was certain that he had done so? and lastly you must remember that the medium had never seen the cashier, nor had she ever known of the existence of the drawer of the safe." "no," cried villebois, rising from the table and spreading out his hands with an emphatic gesture to the company, "i am convinced it is due to spirit intelligences. they find out everything. mr. beecher must have had a talk with george about it in the spirit world, and made him promise that he would see that the coin was sent back. oh! it is as clear as daylight," he added, thumping the table with his fist. "ha! ha! really you are too funny, doctor," said riche sarcastically. "spirits! oh mon dieu! what are we coming to? in the twentieth century no sensible man believes in such things." "oh! how dreadful," cried madame villebois, "to imagine that there are spirits about. really, i think it is most improper to talk about such things, especially before ladies. what would my adored mother have said to all this? if i had thought that my dear adolphe had believed in spirits i would never have married him, never! oh! what will my confessor say when i tell him?" and the good lady dabbed her eyes with her scented handkerchief, as she sat back in her chair perspiring. "i think the professor and villebois have clean gone off their heads," said pierre sotto voce to marcel. "much learning hath made them mad." "i am not so sure about that," replied marcel. "spiritualism, you know, is becoming quite fashionable, and it is no longer a heresy among the ladies to believe in it. i became quite lionised by the adorable creatures at a garden-party the other day when i quoted a passage from 'le livre des esprits' by allen kardec, and they insisted on my relating my adventures in a haunted house near the bois. it was very absurd of course, but they all believed it as if it were holy writ." at this moment the door opened and monsieur payot was announced. the latter was a typical specimen of a well-to-do bourgeois citizen. he possessed a large bald head, smooth and polished like a billiard ball, while his blue smiling eyes, and clean shaven double chin bespoke a man who seemed well pleased with the world and himself in particular. he was attired in faultless evening dress, with the red ribbon of the legion of honour in his button-hole. "mille pardons, madame, but i was detained at the crédit lyonnais. i have just concluded a most satisfactory deal in the rubber market. so important that i was even compelled to defer the pleasure of being with you at dinner. ma foi, you look more charming than ever, madame. i trust renée is well. ah, there you are, my dear." m. payot sat down and beamed with a smile peculiar to one who has succeeded in appropriating a large sum of money belonging to his fellow-citizens. "professor delapine has just been telling us about a coin which was restored to its owner through the agency of spirits," said villebois. "agency of spirits, did you say? more likely agency of fiddlesticks," said payot with a grunt. "my dear sir, don't worry your head over such things. all we have to concern ourselves with is to enjoy life, and make all the money we can, after providing dots for our daughters. believe me, all else is nonsense. i'll never believe in spirits, or in anything that we can't explain or understand. table rapping, mesmerism, thought-reading, telepathy, spirit photographs, materialisations, are all nonsense. fraud, my dear sir, pure fraud, and nothing else. masks, rubber bands, double exposures, phosphorised oil, invisible wires, knees and thumbs pushing the table along, table raps arranged beforehand, confederates hidden in the cabinets playing concertinas and ringing bells. you see i know all about them. i can do it--anyone can do it. i have exposed them all. bah! i tell you these things are impossible." the great man wiped his face with a vast display of purple silk handkerchief, and sat down fully convinced that he had uttered the last word that could be said on the matter, and that he had made a most profound and impressive speech. "he who pronounces anything to be impossible outside the field of pure mathematics is wanting in prudence," said delapine quietly. "whoever said such nonsense?" enquired payot. "françois arago," replied delapine quietly with a comical smile. payot was silent, and a titter went round the room, as arago was considered by common consent to have been the first scientist in france. "but still, my dear professor, these things are after all merely a huge joke," said riche. the professor opened his blue eyes very wide and smiled. "my dear doctor, a learned pedant who laughs at the possible comes very near being an idiot. to shun a fact purposely, and turn one's back upon it with a supercilious smile, is to bankrupt truth." "is that really your opinion?" asked riche. "it is, but they are not my words. besides, do you not remember that the great english naturalist huxley wrote 'i am unaware of anything that has the right to the title of an "impossibility" except a contradiction in terms. there are impossibilities logical but not natural. walking on the water, turning water into wine, or raising the dead are plainly not impossibilities in this sense.'" renée's eyes sparkled as she looked up into his face with a sweet smile of approval. the professor gave her a slight squeeze of the hand, and fell into a reverie of thought. "but supposing, for the moment, that these phenomena were true," said riche, "of what use are they? surely spirits have something better to do than to waste their time in rapping tables, playing accordions or mandolins, ringing bells, or writing greek sentences backwards, and answering all sorts of absurd questions. these things are only worthy of a mountebank, and not of serious people. besides, these spirits never tell one anything new or worth knowing. if they informed us of their life on the other side, what they did, what they ate and drank, and how they amused themselves, i might think it worth while to examine the subject." "ah!" said marcel, laughing, "what i should like them to tell me would be the name of the horse that is to win the grand prix, or the derby, to tell me the winning number in the state lottery, or to let me know what numbers to put my money on at monte carlo. then, i confess, i would take up spiritualism with all my heart." "i think spiritualism is just delightful," interposed céleste. "i always believed that we never really die, and i know that i can feel what other people are thinking of without their saying a word. i do hope that the professor will show us some of these wonderful things. i am longing to know all about it." "céleste, i am shocked at you. you ought to know better," said madame villebois. "i am certain all this talk about spiritualism is very wicked. father pettavel told me so himself, and he attributes it all to the devil and his angels. the very thought that there may be spirits about, makes me positively afraid to go to sleep alone. just suppose that they came and killed me in my bed, what would become of me then? i remember only the other night i heard strange, weird noises in my bedroom when i was in the dark, and saw gleaming eyes and dreadful forms prowl about. i called out to adolphe to see what was the matter. then a fearful spectral form with hollow eyes, and clothed in a sheet, came and stood over the end of my bed, and stretched out its thin, long, bony hands towards me, and bid me prepare to die. i was too afraid to call out, and had barely strength to cross myself and pray to the blessed virgin for aid. thank heaven she heard me, and my prayer was answered, and the form slowly retreated and vanished, accompanied by the most fearful curses and groans. my confessor assured me that it was the devil himself, and nothing but the efficacy of st. geneviève's intercession to our lady saved me." villebois burst into a loud laugh. "whatever are you laughing at?" said madame, looking very shocked. "was it not enough to frighten me to death?" "oh dear! oh dear," said villebois, almost choking with laughter. "my love, you saw nothing of the kind. i was at your side all the time, and you buried your head under the bedclothes and screamed with fright. i swear i saw nothing until i got up, when i found the whole cause of the disturbance was due to a strange black cat which had got locked up by accident in madame's wardrobe. it sprang out as i opened it, snarled, and jumped out on our bed, and then bolted out of the room. this was the sole origin of your ghostly spectre and gleaming eyes, while the awful groans you thought you heard were the squeals which came from the little beast as i struck it with my cane when it fled." everyone roared with laughter, and madame villebois became very red and confused, and discreetly held her tongue. a short silence ensued, and then delapine awoke out of his reverie. "the most astonishing thing about psychic phenomena," said delapine, "is that nearly all men are profoundly ignorant of the very elements of the subject. the man in the street laughs at them, and the scientific man refuses to examine them, and yet the amount of literature which has been written on the subject is prodigious. these phenomena have been studied, examined, and recorded under strictly scientific conditions for upwards of fifty years, and every man who examines them carefully with an impartial mind, however sceptical he might be when he commenced his investigations, invariably becomes assured of their reality. but do not ask me to explain the phenomena. i confess i know nothing of their cause. as fontanelle says 'it shows a great lack of intelligence to find answers to questions which are unanswerable.' i am like faust who exclaims:- "i've studied now philosophy, and jurisprudence, medicine, and even--alas! theology, from end to end with labour keen; and here, poor fool! with all my lore i stand no wiser than before. "nevertheless i have convinced myself that these extraordinary phenomena are absolutely true, and by your leave, ladies and gentlemen, i will demonstrate a very few of them, and next time that we meet i trust i will show you some far more striking experiments, but that is only possible when i have convinced you sufficiently to have complete faith in me, otherwise the phenomena will not succeed. it is remarkable," he continued, "that whenever anybody makes a discovery, or an invention, everyone laughs him to scorn, and derides him either as an impostor or a madman. when galileo looked through his telescope, and saw the mountains and valleys of the moon, all the people jeered at him. when he directed the instrument on to the planet venus, and observed its phases, which demonstrated the fact that the planet revolved round the sun, the philosophers refused to look through his telescope. when in 1786 jouffroy constructed a steamboat, he ascended the saône from lyons to the island of barbe, he presented a petition to the academy of science, and requested the minister of the interior to take over his boat, but they all refused even to look at his invention. seventeen years later fulton ascended the seine in his newly invented steamer and the government officials condescended so far as to be present, but they paid no attention to it, and allowed the poor man to go away unnoticed and neglected. he went away almost heart-broken to the united states, and there made the fortune of thousands of people. "professor graham bell went all round new york in the vain endeavour to sell a half interest in his newly invented telephone for 2,000 dollars. everyone thought that he was mad, and he could not find a single person in the whole city who would risk £400 on his invention. to-day the bell telephone co. has a capital amounting to millions of dollars, and the half interest which he offered would have made the lucky purchaser one of the richest men in the world. "when an englishman once offered to light the streets of london by means of coal-gas conducted through pipes, everyone said that he was mad, and the chancellor (lord brougham), writing to a friend in edinburgh, said, 'there is an idiot here in london who says that he can light the city with coal-gas conducted through a tube.' sydney smith even asked the inventor whether he would not like to store his gas in the dome of st. paul's cathedral? "but before long all the streets of every capital in europe were lit up by this very means. "galvani happened to hang some skinned frogs on an iron railing, with the intention of making them into soup, and, as chance would have it, tried the experiment of connecting the spinal column with the nerve of their legs by means of a bent wire made of tin and copper. then he noticed that the legs twitched violently every time he made the connection, although they had been dead for some hours. he had no sooner published the account of what had happened than he became the laughing stock of bologna; and no one thought sufficient of the experiment to repeat it for himself, and yet galvani had discovered electricity, the greatest and most universally employed force that we know of. and if i tell you of this new force which i hope to exhibit to you some day, perhaps you will go away laughing at me, and saying, 'we don't understand what you are saying, and therefore you are talking nonsense.' if i 'will' to take this weight and raise it with my arm above my head, my will moves matter and overcomes gravity. what is the force which enables me to do it? you do not know. neither do i, and yet no one in this room doubts that i have done it, because everyone of us performs a similar act a thousand times a day. "physiologists will tell you that every object we see forms a little image on a nervous layer at the back of our eyes, but they cannot tell you how that image is perceived by the mind, nor can they explain why the image appears so large--in fact life size--since the image on the retina (at the back of the eye) is a mere speck compared with the size of the image as it appears to us. "people tell us that it is impossible that one body can act on another at a distance without anything connecting them. it is altogether as incomprehensible as a miracle, and yet we can see it happening every day of our lives. we call it gravitation, and imagine that by giving it a name we know all about it. but you cannot explain it, neither can i, and yet there is nothing in spiritualistic phenomena more wonderful, more incomprehensible than this. why then should you take the one for granted, and absolutely refuse even to examine the other? is it just to assert that a man must be bereft of his senses who believes in it, and has the courage to announce it publicly? you, my dear monsieur payot, who appear to know everything, assert that all the phenomena are the result of fraud, and so easy to perform that anyone can imitate them, you might give us physicists credit for some little amount of common sense. you seem to imagine that we, who have all our lives trained our faculties to observe minutely and to rest satisfied with nothing until we have examined it from every conceivable point of view, and reflected upon all possible source of error, can be deceived by tricks that a six-year-old child could see through in a minute. when i began my psychical investigations i not only visited all the conjuring exhibitions in paris, but i underwent a course of instruction from samuel bellachini, signor bosco, maskelyne and devant, and harry kellar, besides mastering the works of robert houdin and professor hoffmann that i might make myself practically acquainted with every possible trick that is performed on the stage. but all these great conjurers assured me that with all their resources and apparatus they were unable to repeat the psychical phenomena which i have both witnessed and performed myself from time to time." "well, sir," replied payot, visibly nettled by this speech, "since you are so clever, let me see some proof of your conjuring power." "i am not accustomed to give exhibitions of conjuring either in public or private," replied delapine with some warmth, "but since you have challenged me i will for once take up the gauntlet in my defence and convince you that i am not uttering idle words. would you oblige me, monsieur payot, with the loan of your watch?" payot caught hold of his watch chain to remove it, but to his horror and amazement no watch appeared. it had gone. "oh, dear," he cried, "some one must have stolen it as i was coming here, as i remember perfectly well taking the time only a few minutes before i entered this house. it was a presentation watch, and a very valuable one too. my dear villebois, will you be good enough to telephone to the police at once. i cannot afford to lose it," he added, looking very distressed. "do you know the number of the watch?" asked delapine, "as that is most important. in fact i don't see how the police will ever be able to identify it otherwise, seeing how many thousands of gold watches there are in paris." "no, i can't say i do, but the watchmaker would be able to tell me." "that is impossible," said delapine. "the watch was made in geneva, and the manufacturer has been dead some years now." "i remember now," said payot, "you are quite right. i sent it to geneva to be repaired and i received a letter back saying that the maker had died two years before. but how delapine knows these facts passes my comprehension. i am certain, now i reflect, that a thief snatched it out of my pocket, as i was in the act of stepping out of my carriage. in fact, i feel sure i could recognise the man if i were to meet him again. what a fool i was not to take the number of the watch; for, as the professor rightly says, it affords the only clue to its recovery." "that is quite easy," said delapine quietly. "the number is b40479, and the name of the maker is bréguet." "how can i prove that you are correct?" cried payot, uncertain whether to be angry with the professor for making fun of him, or to be nonplussed at his uncanny knowledge. "nothing is more simple," answered delapine. "my dear villebois, would you mind touching the bell?" "françois," said delapine as the servant entered the room, "will you be good enough to go into the spare bedroom, and on a chair near the window you will see a tall hat with a gold-mounted cane. look inside the hat and bring me what you find there." in a couple of minutes the servant returned carrying a gold watch which he handed to delapine. "is this your watch?" asked delapine, as he passed it to payot with a bow. "yes," he replied, looking very astonished. "it looks like my watch." "that is not sufficient proof. pray observe the number and read it aloud." "b40479," replied payot, more mystified than ever. "well then, it must be your watch. be good enough to put it in your pocket, and take care not to lose it again." "that i shall never do," replied payot. "i am much sharper than people give me credit for." delapine's eyes twinkled with amusement, which did not escape payot's notice. "well, i will make a present of it to anyone who can take it away again without my being aware of it," payot replied testily, as he felt his amour propre wounded at the professor's display of mirth. "be careful what you say. i have a long memory," said delapine, laughing. payot examined his watch carefully, and opened the case to make sure that the works had not been spirited away. "this is the work of satan. i am sure no one can believe in god who does such things," said madame villebois. "do you believe in god?" asked young duval with a sudden inspiration, hoping to depreciate him in renée's eyes. "no," replied delapine, "i do not, because i cannot. my conscience will not permit me." "but surely you believe in a divine being?" replied villebois, looking very shocked. "that too i cannot accept." "oh! what a dreadful man," cried madame villebois, absolutely horrified. "my dear," she whispered to her husband, "how could you invite an infidel to our house who does not believe in anything?" "on the contrary, madame, i believe in many things," said delapine, who overheard her remark, "although, unlike most people, i claim no credit for doing so. but one thing we must all admit, whatever we believe cannot alter the facts. people believe in a god because it acts as a deus ex machina, to account for the difficulties which surround them on every side, and dispenses with their need of thinking. besides, it flatters their vanity when they are told that god made man in his own image. whereas, as a matter of fact, it is the other way about. man made god in man's own image. the idea of a god is based on that of a gigantic man, or at least on something which has dimensions, and possesses certain human attributes and passions on a vast scale, although if we were to judge by the way the average person prays, his god would not make a decent sized man. on the other hand philosophy convinces me that the eternal can have no shape, or attributes, or passions, such as we can conceive of. a divine being is open to the same objection. a being implies a material form--something which exists. now the eternal cannot be anything which exists, at least not in the same sense that is attached to matter as we know it, since everything which exists must have had a beginning, and therefore cannot be eternal. take a bucketful of the ocean, you have water. take a sample of the atmosphere and you have air. take a handful of space and you have mind. "this eternal mind is the 'fons et origo' of everything. it is the source of all energy and all matter. it alone is eternal. all else is evanescent and unsubstantial. did not virgil make that profound remark:- "mens agitat molem et magna corpore miscet."[5] "do we not find marian capella at the beginning of the christian era mentioning mind as being the fifth or fundamental element? consider these facts well, for they form the key to all spiritualistic phenomena. at the end of the eighteenth century we find the great russian poet derchavin uttering the same idea in the following words of which i give the translation:- "o thou eternal mind whose presence bright, all space doth occupy, all motion guide; unchanged through time's all-devastating flight- thou only god, there is no god beside. being above all beings mighty one, whom none can comprehend and none explore; who fills existence with thyself alone, embracing all, supporting, ruling o'er; being whom we call god and know no more. "research in its divine philosophy, may measure out the ocean deep, may count the stars, or the sun's rays; but god, for thee there is no weight nor measure. none can search thy counsels infinite and dark. reason's brightest spark though multiplied by millions, and arrayed in all the glories of divinest thought; is but an atom in the balance weighed against thy greatness is a cypher wrought against infinity. "and what am i then? nought! nought, but the effluence of thy light divine, pervading worlds hath reached my spirit too; yes! in my spirit doth thy spirit shine, as shines the sunbeam in the drop of dew. thy chains the unmeasured universe surround upheld by thee, by thee inspired with breath, thou the beginning with the end hath bound, and beautifully mingled life and death. "as sparks shoot upwards from the fiery blaze so suns are born--so worlds spring forth from thee, and as the spangles from the sunny rays shine round the glittering snow, so heaven's bright army echoes with thy praise. what shall we call them--globes of crystal light? a glorious company of golden streams, lamps of celestial ether burning bright. suns lighting systems with their glorious beams but thou to these are as the noon to night. "what are ten million worlds compared with thee? and what am i then? nought, nought! but i live and on hope's pinions fly eager towards thy presence, for in thee i live and dwell--aspiring high even to the threshold of thy divinity, i am, o god! and surely thou must be!" "bravo!" cried riche, "i for one pronounce you not guilty of the charge of atheism." payot felt that delapine had decidedly the best of the argument, and being utterly unable to reply made an excuse to go. "my dear villebois," said he, "you cannot think how i have enjoyed this pleasant evening, but i have an important engagement with the minister of finance, and time presses," and so saying he proceeded to pull out his watch. a cold shiver went through him. a gold watch was clearly there, but it was an open-faced one, whereas his was a hunter. "mon dieu!" he cried, "my watch has gone, and someone has left his own in its place." everyone immediately felt for his own watch. "by jove!" exclaimed marcel, "here's a funny thing. why, i've got payot's watch fastened on to my chain. here's the number right enough, b40479. look!" he exclaimed, "my gold seal has gone too, and my toothpick as well. oh! oh!! oh!!!" he cried in three different tones. "yes," added payot, "and what is far more serious, my pocket-book has disappeared, and it contains 10,000 frs. in billets de banque." "and now my wedding ring has gone," sobbed madame villebois. "oh you wicked, wicked man," she cried to delapine, "i shall have you put in prison for this." "do not alarm yourself, my dear madame. it is your husband who is the thief, not i." "what do you mean, sir!" cried villebois indignantly, hardly knowing what he was saying. "i can see it from here, papa," said céleste, laughing. "it is hanging on your watch-chain." there it was sure enough, and villebois, looking very foolish, was obliged to release his watch before he could slip off the ring, which he handed to madame. "villebois, mon ami," said delapine, "will you oblige me by ringing the bell once more?" "françois," said delapine solemnly, as the butler entered the room, "i am sorry to have to say it, but it is my duty to accuse you of stealing monsieur payot's pocket-book containing bank-notes to the amount of ten thousand francs." "me, sir!" replied françois in astonishment. "oh! monsieur, that is impossible." "it is not impossible," replied delapine severely. "you have it secreted on your person. i know it. pierre, please lock the door, and put the key in your pocket. françois, i must request you to allow monsieur payot to search you. if you refuse, i shall at once send for the police." françois grew deadly pale, and falling on his knees swore by the holy virgin and all the saints that he was innocent. delapine appeared insensible to his appeal, and merely said, "monsieur payot, proceed." the financier at once commenced to search the butler's pockets, while delapine stood behind him and held his arms. sure enough the first article he pulled out was the pocket-book. "now, monsieur payot, be good enough to let me see whether all the notes are there. i wish to convince myself," said delapine. and taking the pocket-book out of payot's hands, he rapidly counted the notes, and subtracting one of them said to françois, "i acquit you of all blame. it was i who did it in order to convince monsieur payot of my powers. this gentleman offered to make a present of his watch to anyone who could take it away from him without his being aware of it. i have succeeded, but i refuse to take his watch. still, as i have been the cause of a great deal of unpleasantness to my esteemed friend françois, i feel sure monsieur payot will not object if i present you with this note." whereupon the professor handed the butler one of the hundred-franc notes, and shaking him by the hand, told him he was a thorough good fellow, and at his request pierre unlocked the door, and bowed the bewildered and delighted man out. "one moment, monsieur payot, i perceive you also are a thief. if you will be good enough to put your hand in your left-hand waistcoat pocket you will find our friend marcel's gold toothpick and seal. pray hand them back to him with his watch, and he will give you yours in return." the financier having at length recovered all his personal effects, shook hands all round, and bolted as fast as his legs would carry him, fully convinced that delapine was the devil. "well," said delapine, "are you satisfied now?" villebois and his guests looked at one another in mute astonishment, much too bewildered to say anything. "another evening, with your permission," said delapine, "i will show you some experiments of an entirely different character." footnotes: [footnote 4: this story, which actually occurred in new york, is related in the late dr. isaac funk's book "the widow's mite and other psychic phenomena," the leading facts of which are given here by his son's kind permission. dr. isaac funk was the first editor of the famous funk and wagnall's dictionary used throughout the english-speaking world, and he was celebrated for his brilliant intellect, precision of thought and the extreme accuracy of his statements.] [footnote 5: "mind sets matter in motion, and permeates all matter." virgil.--_æneid_, bk. vi.] chapter iv payot and duval "the best laid schemes o' mice an' men, gang aft agley, an' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain for promised joy." burns. if you turn past the church of notre dame de lorette and walk towards the corner of the rue la bruyère, you will notice a charming detached villa on the right with a little garden all to itself shut in by ornamental railings. it was the third evening after the events related in the last chapter, when a military man might have been seen in his cabriolet leaving the elaborately wrought iron gates of the villa, and directing his coachman to proceed to no--boulevard haussmann near the arc de triomphe. it had been raining heavily all the afternoon, and the foot passengers could be seen picking their way between the omnibuses, and endeavouring to avoid the mud which splashed up on all sides. the cafés and restaurants were beginning to light up, and the little marble tables outside became more and more crowded with guests. a crowd had assembled in one of the small side streets, listening to a trio of musicians who were playing outside one of those curious little café-restaurants only patronised by a select fraternity of bohemians who meet nightly year in and year out to chat and play dominoes, and take their evening meal at 1 fr. 50 c., wine inclusive, with clock-like regularity. a woman who had evidently been trained as a public singer, and who had known better days, was singing one of those exquisite airs of charles gounod with a voice which still bore traces of its former richness. but the scene was unheeded by the occupant of the carriage, who was mentally rehearsing the manoeuvres which would give him the most favourable position in the mimic campaign which he was about to undertake. at length the driver stopped opposite the house indicated, and his fare alighted, enquired if monsieur payot were at home, as he handed in a card bearing the name of general duval. a footman in livery showed him into a large hall decorated with old carved oak furniture and a perfect armoury of mediæval weapons and shields interspersed with rows of marvellous delft and sèvres ware. "ah! mon général, delighted to see you," said payot, with a beaming smile as he entered the room. "i am quite alone this evening, so we can have a chat tête-a-tête." the person addressed was a pompous little man, rather corpulent, with a double chin, and immensely impressed with his own importance. he had a bald head, and a white moustache with the ends drawn out to a great length, and so twisted and waxed that they resembled a pair of skewers. this, together with the fact that his eyes were chronically inflamed and bulging with a constant tendency to roll, gave him an aspect of terrible ferocity. he was a bon vivant, and possessed a high reputation for his judgment of wines, an opinion which was always taken as final in any dispute at the clubs. he was in his element when reviewing his troops, where he might be seen cantering up and down in a state of great excitement, spurring his horse to make it rear and plunge to the terror and amazement of the nursemaids who formed a rear guard with their perambulators. one would have imagined that his men were all stone deaf judging by the way he addressed them in tones of thunder. in fact he always gave his hearers the impression that he was in a towering passion. for admiration and glory he had an insatiable thirst, which was only equalled by his greed for gold. indeed it was a common joke amongst his officers that in the next campaign he would be found defending himself to the last drop of his blood with his drawn salary in his hand. notwithstanding his absurd vanity, he was, like all french officers, brave to the core, and fearless as a lion, and for this reason alone he was adored by his men, who felt that he would prove his metal and lead them on to victory no matter what odds were against them when they were all but defeated, and leading a forlorn hope. "well, mon ami, how has the world been treating you since i saw you last?" said duval père. "so, so, but i must confess i have hardly recovered yet from the shock i got at villebois' house the other night. didn't you hear of it? well you must know that fellow, delapine, was staying with them as a guest, and he got into a discussion about spiritualism and all that sort of nonsense. amongst other things he gave out that he was a conjurer, and so i thought i would put his powers to the test. whereupon he spirited away my watch, and it was found in my hat in the spare bedroom. when i got it back again i offered to make him a present of it, if he could take it away again without my knowledge. "after a while all sorts of strange things happened. rings and pencil-cases, watches and pocket-books changed hands all over the room. everybody lost something, and found something else in its place. i lost my pocket-book containing bank notes to the tune of 10,000 frs., and in some mysterious manner it was found in the butler's breast pocket. i am certain it was not the result of pure conjuring, since the professor never came near me, and yet all the things i had in my pockets vanished, and were found in other people's pockets. i feel convinced that he is in league with the devil, and practices the black art. i really think he should be exposed. he is certainly a most undesirable man to have anything to do with. it seemed to me also that he has some sort of sinister spell over my daughter renée, and i feel it must be put a stop to at once." "most certainly," replied duval, delighted to think that the game was playing into his hands so nicely. "we must put our heads together and see how we can get villebois to forbid him to come near his house again. it is very curious that you should mention this subject, because it is closely related with the object of my visit, my dear payot. "of course you are aware what a surprising future is opening up for my son pierre. he is rapidly rising in his profession, and is sure to make his mark wherever he goes. i think he would make an ideal husband, he is so extremely amiable, so attentive and so thoughtful. besides, i shall leave him nearly all my property, which amounts to considerably over a million francs. now, it seems to me that it would be mutually to our benefit if we could arrange a match between your daughter and my son. i have great influence with the minister of commerce, and i can give you private information as to the government's policy, so that you can manipulate your shares to the greatest advantage in the bourse, before the agents or the public know anything about it. in this way you will be able to make a grand coup without any risk of being found out." payot slowly raised his gold-rimmed pince-nez and adjusted them to his nose with great deliberation, fixing his eyes on the general with a cynical smile. "hum, hum," he muttered half aloud. "renée is a great prize, mon cher duval. this is only her first season, and she has already had three proposals from young wealthy men in good positions. why she has refused them all is a mystery to me, considering what very advantageous offers they all were." "i am not in the least surprised at that," replied duval, "seeing that my son had known her some months, and has already permitted her to see that cupid has severely wounded him with his shaft. a chance, mon ami, to have a husband like my son can only come to her once in a lifetime, n'est-ce pas?" the eyeglass came up again as slowly and cautiously as before. "listen, mon ami," said payot, "monsieur ribout, the minister for foreign affairs, is, i understand, about to raise a loan for the new morocco-tunisian railway. do you think you can get me the concession for flotation?" "my dear payot, you anticipate me. i have it in my portfolio?" "what! do you mean to say that you actually have it here, in your portfolio?" cried payot in a shrill tremor of delight. "c'est vrai, mon ami. just wait a moment and i will show it you. here it is, now we can arrange these things beautifully." payot rubbed his hands together in a fever of delight, while his eyes sparkled with impatient greed, as he stretched out his hand to clasp the precious document. "stop, stop, mon vieux, there are a few, just a few little preliminaries to arrange before i give it up to you. in the first place i must ask you to sign this little paper, undertaking to pay me twenty-five per cent. of the net profits which you make over the concession. a mere form, of course, but between friends it is always as well to attend to these little details." the eyeglass went up again with more deliberation than ever, and payot calmly surveyed as much of him as was visible above the table. "what is his little game now?" he muttered to himself. "and now," continued duval, "you have only to sign this, and give me your solemn promise that renée shall marry my son, and the concession is yours." payot sat still, playing an imaginary tune upon the table, evidently thinking intently. "twenty-five per cent. is rather a high price to pay, mon vieux. let me see," said he, casting up the figures in his head. "the concession is for a capital of 45,000,000 frs., and my profit on the deal will be 2,000,000 frs. then there are certain deductions to be made. yes, to be sure," he muttered to himself. "750,000 frs., and 200,000 frs., and 50,000 frs., that leaves a million francs, and twenty-five per cent. on a million is 250,000 frs. two hundred and fifty thousand francs is a lot of money to give away," said payot, nervously playing with his wine glass. "but you see what you are getting for it," said duval, "seven hundred and fifty thousand francs." "a mere bagatelle compared with my daughter. why, i am simply giving her away, sir--giving her away!" and he heaved a sigh as if he had been asked to sign away his birthright. "well then," said duval, anxious to strike while the iron was hot, "we will call it a bargain," and without any further to-do he pushed the paper over to payot to sign. payot seeing that further haggling was useless, took his pen and mechanically signed the document. duval rang the bell. "what do you want?" cried payot, wondering why duval should take upon himself the ordering of his servants. "oh, it's all right, mon ami," said duval, as the butler entered. "i merely wanted someone to witness our signatures." while the butler was signing the document under duval's directions it suddenly struck payot that this was rather sharp practice on duval's part. but it was too late to interfere now, as the general had neatly folded up the paper and put it inside his portfolio. "my dearest friend," said duval, "i see you were a little surprised at my summoning the butler, but it was a mere habit of mine, my dear sir, a mere habit. as an officer i become so accustomed to ringing the bell and issuing orders, that it becomes part of my nature," and he reached out his hand to payot with the most bewitching smile that he could command on the spur of the moment. "with our two families united by marriage, my dear comrade, we shall be able to carry out some magnificent projects." "i admit the combination will be very advantageous to our interests, considering the hostile cliques we have to contend with on every side. i am a little, just a little bit afraid that that fellow delapine may prove an obstacle to our schemes," duval rejoined with a broad grin which displayed a magnificent set of false teeth. "i confess, my dear general, i share your views. his impudence, his brazen effrontery, and most of all the extraordinary power he seems to exercise over other people's minds, will not render my task an easy one." "oh, you leave him to me," said duval. "my knowledge of strategy will enable me to outmanoeuvre him at every turn. it will be mere child's play to me." "i suppose that renée will consent to marry pierre?" added duval after a slight pause. "my dear general, how can you ask such a question? why, renée adores pierre--she can't help it. no girl could withstand his attractions, especially when she knows how he worships her. how could any girl be insensible to his charms with his wealth and his talents? don't you worry yourself on that score." "but suppose that she loves delapine?" "oh, oh! you are too funny, mon général. what an absurd idea! what on earth can renée find to admire in a mad fossil like delapine? besides, he is as poor as a church mouse; he has nothing in the world beyond his pittance from the government--a mere fifteen thousand francs a year. why, it would hardly keep me in wines and cigars. i give my little girl credit for more sense than that. besides, supposing she did commit the folly of refusing your son, when i come to put the situation before her, her natural common-sense would soon bring her round to my way of thinking. a little well-timed severity, a few threats on my side followed by a burst of tears on hers, and then she will surrender unconditionally." "no, no," replied duval, "i have no fear on that score whatever. you can have no possible objection to my retaining the concession until the engagement is announced. it will act as a kind of fillip to you, and besides, it will be the most potent inducement to renée to alter her mind, and obey you, should she have any affection for delapine or any other man. by the way, mon ami," added duval, seeing that payot was about to reply, "this tokay is really quite excellent. it has a surprisingly fine bouquet," and he emptied his glass at a draught. "hullo! it is already eight o'clock, and i have an appointment at the elysée with the minister of finance in half an hour. au revoir, mon ami, au revoir," and so saying he shook hands, and seizing his hat and portfolio, left the house before the bewildered payot could collect his senses and remonstrate. "confound that fellow," said payot, shaking his fist at the retreating carriage of the general, "what did he mean by running away with that concession? does he take me for a robber? i will pay you out for that, you old villain. i will be even with you yet, see if i don't! still, it does not matter much after all, i know he is as anxious as i am that the deal should go through, as he knows that he can no more do without me than i can do without him. yes, yes, it makes no difference. we must work together, although he is a rascal, and a damned rascal too." payot was a widower past middle age. thirty years had passed since he had left his home near belfort to enter the military college of st. cyr. clever, handsome, full of ambition and energy, the young man was the pride of his mother's heart, and it was with great misgiving that she allowed him to leave the paternal roof. at college his talents soon prepared the way for promotion, whilst his open frankness and engaging manners made him popular with all his comrades. at st. cyr, he made the acquaintance of young jaques duval, an acquaintance which soon ripened into friendship, and the two comrades in arms became inseparable. during the franco-prussian war duval gained rapid promotion, and for his gallant conduct at mars-la-tour he was gazetted general. payot was carried off the field in the same battle, having been struck on the head by a fragment of shell. for some weeks he hung between life and death, and had it not been for the unceasing care and attention of his nurse, he must have died. the devotion of this young girl soon awoke a response in his heart, and during his convalescence he declared his love for her, and was accepted with equal fervour. soon after leaving the hospital he retired from the army, married, and went into business. two years later his wife bore him a daughter. nothing could surpass the affection of this child for her parents, and especially for her mother. as renée grew up, she became the darling of the parish. absolutely unconscious of any superiority due to her position and wealth, she would mingle in the games of the poorest children. any day she might be seen teaching the little girls to trim their hats with woodbine, to play puss-in-the-corner, or hide-and-seek. sometimes she would take them into the woods to hear the cuckoo, or the nightingale. it was entirely through her entreaties that her father induced the organist of the parish church to give singing lessons in the village choir, and she herself practised the violin that she might be able to give concerts to the villagers, who would assemble in an old barn and join lustily in the singing. there was one old fellow in particular named caillot; he lived quite alone in a little cottage and was unable to work at a trade owing to a defect in his eyes which rendered him nearly blind. he picked up a scanty pittance by playing the violin, which he did with uncommon skill. wherever she was you would invariably find the little man playing or singing, and he was of such a cheerful disposition that he got the nickname of "le pinson" (chaffinch). his admiration for renée amounted to worship, and the ne plus ultra of happiness was when renée and her governess would consent to enter his little room and play a duet with him on the violin. to see the little chaffinch chirping and hustling around, placing a soft cushion on a chair for mam'selle renée to sit on, and looking through his well-thumbed collection of music for some piece he knew she was especially fond of, was a proof of the most intense devotion. so absorbed and wrapped up was he in attending to mam'selle renée that the poor governess had to find a chair for herself as best she could, and it invariably ended in renée refusing to play a note until caillot had found a cushion and chair for her also. whenever a marriage took place in the village, the chaffinch was certain to be sent for, and renée insisted on being allowed to deck him out with gay ribbons in the presence of the bride and bridegroom. "viola, mon p'tit papa pinson," she would say with a smile, "you look the handsomest man in the village to-day, and here is a new five-franc piece which i persuaded my father to give me, because i told him i wanted you to put on your brightest smile. n'est ce pas, p'tit papa?" but one day the man fell ill, and was unable to earn his rent. poor little man, he was all alone, and might have died of hunger and neglect if his illness had not by a pure accident reached the ears of renée. "what!" she exclaimed when she heard the tale, "do you mean to say that they are going to turn mon pauvre pinson out of his house, because he is unable to pay his rent? oh! my poor caillot!" in spite of her mother's remonstrances she emptied the contents of her money-box into her pocket, and ran out of the house as fast as she could to his lodgings all alone. alas! all her little savings were not enough to meet the rent which had accumulated for some weeks. what could she do? a happy thought struck her, and she went the round of the village, begging from the doctor, the priest, and the notary, until she had collected enough, not only to pay off the arrears of rent, but to purchase a few comforts besides. "my poor little pinson, what would you do without your renée?" no wonder she was popular owing to her intense sympathy for others, her exquisite eyes beaming with love and tenderness, and yet withal sparkling with fun, her smile for all, and her light girlish step. no wonder the poor looked upon her as something "outre tombe," an incarnate angel sent to minister unto them. anyone daring to speak disparagingly of mam'selle renée would have done so at the risk of his life. a fine horse-woman, she usually accompanied her father in the chase, and many a time she would run a race across country with him and the squire's son at break-neck pace. ah, those were halcyon days indeed. one day when she was about eighteen years old her mother was suddenly taken ill with pneumonia, and died after a short illness. the happiest home in all france speedily became the most tragic and miserable. a change came over her father. the injury to his head received years before on the battlefield, suddenly became rekindled by the shock and grief at his wife's death, and from being an ideal husband he grew morbid, avaricious, selfish, and dead to all affection. he seemed at times to have forgotten the very existence of his daughter. renée bore up as long as she could, but at length dr. villebois, who for years had been the family physician, insisted on taking her to his home as she seemed to be rapidly pining away. it was here that she met delapine for the first time. the awe, akin to worship, which a clever, high-spirited young girl sometimes perceives for a man possessing talent of a remarkable order--a feeling by the way which is entirely independent of age--soon changed into one of deep and lasting love, and although she succeeded in concealing it from him and all the world, her womanly instinct soon told her that delapine had the same feeling for her, and secretly worshipped the very ground she trod on. had they lived in the middle ages and had she been condemned to die at the stake, delapine would no more have hesitated to take her place at the burning pile, than he would have thought twice about giving all the money he had in his pocket to a poor student to purchase his class-books. delapine possessed that extraordinary magnetic power which attracts certain people with a force that defies all reason to explain. shakespeare expounds it in immortal language in romeo and juliet. goethe observed it and gave it a name "wahlverwandschaft," or elective affinity. we see it turning up in the most unexpected places; in the palace, the cottage, the prison, nay even on the scaffold. myth and lore teem with it. history is ennobled by it. it is the same spirit which knit the souls of david and jonathan, damon and pythias, dante and beatrice, hermann and dorothea, catarina and camoens. this intense affection is the exact opposite of that passion which is popularly called love. the former has nothing to do with sex, the latter is merely a sexual impulse. the former is the most unselfish thing in the world, the latter is entirely selfish. the former is purely spiritual, the latter of the earth, earthy. true love remains when everything else has perished, the latter dies, or has wings and flies away. "tout ce que touche l'amour est sauvé de la mort."[6] it was the supreme development of this spiritual power which we call love in its purest and highest sense, which led st. paul to express himself in that exquisite ode to charity, in the first epistle to the corinthians. it is the fruit of this spirit which has produced the martyrs, the heroes, and the golden deeds of this and every age. * * * * * the next day after the remarkable conversation between the general and payot, renée was busy writing in her boudoir, when she heard a knock at the door. a servant entered bearing a note which ran as follows:- my dear renée, i should be very much obliged if you would come and see me at my house. i have some important news for you. i shall expect you at five o'clock. your affectionate father, alexandre. renée turned the letter over to see whether it contained any news on the other side. "i wonder what my father wants me for in such a hurry. did he leave any message?" she enquired of the servant. "no, madame. he merely told me to deliver this note, and to let him know if the time would be convenient." "tell my father i shall be with him at five o'clock this evening, and let the coachman know that he is to be here punctually at a quarter to the hour, as my father cannot bear to be kept waiting." the maid bowed and retired, wondering in her mind what could have given rise to her icy reply. "mademoiselle is generally so sweet to everyone," she said to herself. "i never saw her so nervous and reserved before, i wonder what can have happened. however, it is no business of mine." and she went downstairs to discuss the affair with the cook. poor renée trembled all over, and a deep sigh escaped her as soon as she was alone. "i know my father has only sent for me to make me promise to marry some horrid man. it must be for some such reason. what else could he want me for? oh dear, oh dear, why cannot he leave me in peace? i am so happy here." "i wonder who he can have in his mind? i am certain it cannot be anyone really nice, all his male friends are such horrid people." for a long time she lay down in a kind of stupor, until at length her maid knocked at the door, and informed her that the carriage was waiting. hurriedly putting on her hat and cloak, she ran downstairs, and drove off to her father's house. the clock had just struck five as she entered the vestibule and handed her card to the portier. the moment she was ushered into the sitting-room her father rose to receive her. "well, my child," said monsieur payot, closing the door after she had taken off her things, "sit down and let me talk to you quietly." renée sat down, and her father beat a tattoo on the table with his fingers, as if he were calling up his troops before charging the enemy. "i have observed," he said slowly, clearing his throat, "i have observed that for some time past, pierre, the son of my old friend general duval, has evidently expressed a passion for you, and yesterday the general called to ask me formally for your hand on his behalf." renée's heart thumped so violently that she felt her head beginning to swim. "i felt exceedingly delighted, as you can well imagine, since the general is not only one of my oldest friends," continued payot, "as well as one of my former comrades in arms, but the chance of such a distinguished alliance will greatly add to my wealth and position. moreover pierre is not only rich, but he will inherit at least two considerable fortunes, besides being a most charming and lovable young man with an unbounded future before him. of his affection for you there is not a shadow of doubt." the girl grew scarlet, and remained too bewildered to reply. "that's a good girl, renée, i can see by your blushes," her father went on to say, "that you return his affection, and that your silence implies your consent to his offer," and he rubbed his hands and chuckled with satisfaction. "but, papa, you don't really mean to say that i have to marry pierre," said renée gasping for breath, while the tears began to flow. "what! what!! what!!! you dare to tell me that you refuse?" said payot, his voice rising almost to a scream. "you silly child, you don't appreciate the honour he is doing you. why, pierre can have the pick of half the girls in paris. a chance like this will never occur again. consider what it means," and he marked off the points with his fingers one by one. "a fine, handsome, devoted husband. a large fortune. a magnificent 'dot.' carriages and horses. a country chateau. a house in the bois. jewels. think of it, renée, any quantity of diamonds and pearls. dresses and servants to your heart's content. introductions to all the best houses in paris, and a box at the opera. why, all your girl acquaintances will grow green with envy. in god's name what more can you want? such a lucky girl as you ought to be beside herself with joy." "please, father, do drop the subject. i will never, never marry pierre--i detest him. besides, i don't want any diamonds or a box at the opera." "you ungrateful, wretched, hateful minx," shouted payot, working himself up into a rage. "is this the way you repay me for all my love and affection? have i not toiled all these years to give you, my only child, a fortune and a position? and now you dare to refuse to marry the son of my best friend. are you without a spark of gratitude? are you blind to your own interests? can't you see that i am arranging a marriage for you which will at once introduce you into all the best circles in paris? you ought to fall on your knees and thank god that he has vouchsafed such happiness to you. you miserable thing, you vile.... i disown you," said her father, trying in vain to think of a suitable epithet. "how dare you disobey your father's wishes?" and he shook her violently with both hands until her teeth chattered. "don't, don't, you'll kill me," sobbed renée, trying to escape. "oh, father, why can't you leave me alone to be happy in my own way? oh, what is the matter? how strange you are. you don't look a bit like the dear old father you used to be." and she looked at her father with a terrified expression. he stood before her nearly beside himself with passion and hardly able to breathe. renée slowly rose and held on to the table to steady herself, her heart thumping almost audibly, while she strove to hold back her sobs which were nearly choking her. monsieur payot sat down in his chair, feeling keenly the rebuff that his daughter had given him, a defeat which he was not accustomed to, especially from his daughter who, as a rule, gave way to him at once. he wiped away the perspiration from his brow with his red silk handkerchief, while he revolved in his mind what move he should take next. at length an idea struck him. "look here, my child, be reasonable. your old father only wishes to see you happy," and he tried in vain to smile sweetly, while he patted her head affectionately. "you love your father, don't you?" renée nodded between her gulps and sobs, and then burst out afresh. "well now, listen. last night the general brought me a concession for the sole rights to construct the new morocco-algerian railway, which is worth a couple of million francs to me immediately, and he promised to hand it over to me to deal with, the moment you became engaged to pierre. now, just imagine what that means to me. not only two million francs, but indirectly i shall make three or four millions more. besides, with the general's influence, i shall have an entrée to the elysée, and be able to secure the government contracts through the minister of finance. of late several of my schemes have misfired, and my credit on the bourse is nearly gone, but the moment i can secure this concession directly from the government, i can obtain credit for as many millions as i require, and then my position is assured for ever. you do want to help your old father, don't you? now, my child, consider this marriage carefully, and come and tell me to-morrow that you have altered your mind, and that you are sorry that your selfishness stood in the way of your father's recovering his lost credit and fortune." renée did not reply but merely looked at her father with a dazed expression, and became as pale as death. "well! well!" said payot, kissing her forehead, and patting her affectionately on the head, "you can leave me now and go home and think it over." at this he got up and handed her her hat and cloak, and conducted her to his carriage which he had summoned to take her home. left to himself he paced up and down the room, and said under his breath as he heard the carriage roll away, "drat that girl, one can never do anything but a woman gets in the way and upsets one's best schemes--confound her!" he muttered, "what an obstinate little fool she is. this is the way she repays me for all my love. has she no natural affection left i wonder? i believe that fool delapine is at the bottom of it all. i must checkmate his little game whatever it is. well, monsieur delapine, your conjuring tricks will not help you much when i come to deal with you." happily unconscious of her father's real hostility and muttered curses, renée leaned back in the carriage and gave way to her grief. arrived at the house of her adopted father, she threw herself on the bed in a torrent of weeping. "oh! mother, darling mother, why did you leave me? everyone seems to have forsaken me now. mother, dear mother, come and help me," and she sobbed again. a couple of hours passed away, but renée seemed oblivious of the time. the gong sounded for dinner, but she did not put in an appearance, and everyone wondered what had become of her. at length madame villebois excused herself to the guests, and going upstairs entered her room. "renée, ma chérie," she said, "why are you lying on the bed? mon dieu! what is the matter--what have they been doing to you?" "oh! nothing, maman, really nothing. i am only a little tired, i suppose it must be the heat," said renée, trying to smile through her tears. "come downstairs at once, the soup will be quite cold, and we are all waiting for you." renée washed her face, and followed madame villebois downstairs into the dining-room, trying to smile all the time, but looking so dreadfully miserable that everyone felt distressed and sorry for her. fortunately pierre was not there, and as soon as she sat down next to delapine she became calm at once. the professor squeezed her hand under the table, and said something which evoked a happy smile. "courage, renée ma chérie," he whispered. "take courage. some day it will all come right, but not yet--not yet. the night comes, and with it much sorrow--much sorrow first. i can see it all clearly--it must be; but the joy will be all the greater when the morning breaks. there is no rose without a thorn; no crown without a cross; no salvation without sacrifice. remember this, my beloved, for your little bark is just entering the storm. you will be shipwrecked first, but when the masts are broken, and the sails are blown away, and all hope abandoned, then, but not till then will salvation be at hand. remember, dear, what i have said, for i shall not be able to help you, although i shall be with you always. patience, ma chérie, always patience and courage." a shiver went through her as she heard this, and she could not conceive what he meant, but she was too frightened to ask him. when dinner was over she went out of doors, and sat in the little summer house, hoping that the night breezes might cool her fevered brain. "remember what i have said, for i shall not be able to help you, although i shall be with you always--what could henri mean?" and she puzzled her little head trying in vain to make sense of it. she sat musing for some time looking up at the stars and the fleecy clouds which continually floated across the face of the moon, when suddenly she became aware of someone stealthily approaching. she saw no one, but felt that someone was watching her. she heard a slight cough, and looking round saw pierre approaching behind her. "good evening, dear renée," said pierre, holding out his hand and smiling. "i hope it is not too chilly for you out here? i caught sight of you in the summer house, and came to bring you this cloak to wrap round you." renée suffered him to put the cloak round her shoulders, but she was too distracted with the memory of delapine's words to listen, and too indifferent to pierre's attentions to thank him. she looked lovely in the moonlight. her dark wavy hair, her exquisite eyes, sparkling like diamonds with the reflection of her tears, and the flush of her face reddened with her intense excitement heightened her beauty. pierre was visibly affected at her loveliness and sat down beside her. "what a splendid evening to be sure, how i do enjoy these moonlight nights, don't you?" he added, turning towards her. "yes," she answered mechanically without turning her head. "are you sure you don't feel cold?" he asked, as he began to steal his arm around her waist. renée never replied, but the fact that she did not remove his arm, caused him to grow bolder. "you don't know how i have longed for this opportunity of declaring my love to you, renée," and suiting his action to his words he bent down and implanted a kiss on her lips. he could not have chosen a worse moment for his caresses. with her heart distracted with grief--her father's reproaches ringing in her ears, her natural modesty, and delapine's mysterious words of foreboding evil, produced the same effect as the sting of a lash on a sleeping tiger. springing up with flashing eyes and quivering lips, her whole body trembling with excitement, she gave him a blow across the face with all her strength. "how dare you? let go, do you hear me?" and she stamped her little foot on the ground. "let go this instant," she screamed. "damn you, you little beast," he cried, wiping his face which was smarting terribly, and he raised his fist as if to strike back; but his natural caution, together with the fear that if he pushed matters too far he might lose all chance of possessing her, checked him, and pausing for a moment he suppressed his anger, and rapidly changed his tactics. "my darling pet!" he exclaimed after a short pause in the mildest of voices, "you really look more lovely than ever when you are in a temper," and he tried to encircle her waist again. but she shook him off with a violent effort, while trembling from head to foot. "go! go, and never let me see you again. henri, henri," she shrieked at the top of her voice as he still continued his attentions. "help me! help me!" renée attempted to escape, and rose up with the idea of doing so, but her limbs trembled so much that she was quite unable to walk, and dropping into her seat from sheer exhaustion, buried her face in her hands, and burst into an uncontrollable flood of tears. pierre was becoming really frightened at what he had done, and proceeded to apologise for his conduct, but she showed no signs of having heard him. fearing lest her sobs and cries would attract the household, pierre stepped back shrugging his shoulders, and with a scarcely audible adieu, he hurried out of the garden humming an air to himself, and disappeared down the street in the direction of the avenue rossini, and hailing a passing fiacre, ordered the coacher to drive rapidly to his father's house. "who was that chap she kept calling out to help her," he kept saying to himself in the cab. "henri, henri--oh, of course, that is the christian name of that humbug delapine. now i remember seeing him once squeeze her hand under the table when they thought no one was looking. i can see it all clearly now. she is in love with the professor. that explains why she was so cold to me, and why she was so furious when i kissed her. what a fool i was not to see it before. otherwise she would have been only too proud for a wealthy, handsome fellow like me to pay her attention. it is delapine who has drawn her away from me--curse him. if it had not been for that interfering fellow she would have thrown herself into my arms. never mind, i will have her yet, in spite of all his fine tricks, and that before many days are over." chuckling to himself at the sweet thought of revenge, he entered the house. "hullo, pierre my boy, where have you been?" asked the general, as his son entered the room. "oh, i've just been over to dr. villebois' house." "oh fie, so you've been over there to see the pretty bird in its cage, have you? well, i'm only too delighted to hear it. i could not wish you to marry a better girl. payot and i have had a little chat about it, and we have come to the conclusion that it will suit our books to a 't,' if you become her fiancé. the whole thing has been arranged between us, and all you have to do is to go and propose to her and the thing is done. nothing could possibly be easier. i know she has a soft place in her heart for you, and if she hadn't it is not likely that she would be such a fool as to refuse a man of your position and wealth." "but, father, i have just seen her, and she not only refused me, but she slapped my face, and told me never to speak to her again." "what!" exclaimed duval, "do you mean to tell me that she actually hit you?" "yes, father, and what is more she shouted at the top of her voice for delapine to come to her assistance. 'henri, henri,' she cried, 'help me, help me,' and then she went into hysterics and hoped she would never set eyes on me again." the general whistled. after a moment.... "this is a fine state of things," he said. "we must put our heads together and see whether we should merely watch and wait, or make a counter attack, or fight a rearguard action. the fat is in the fire, and no mistake. but, tell me, what did you do to her to put her in such a rage?" "i merely went into the garden with some wraps, and when i had put them round her and paid her a few lover's compliments, i kissed her. nothing else, i swear." "now tell me, pierre, as man to man, on your honour that you did nothing else." "absolutely nothing, on my honour, sir, i swear to you." "then the solution of the problem is simple ... she is in love with delapine." "i am of that opinion too," replied pierre, "because i have seen them billing and cooing together more than once, and besides that, she addressed the professor by his christian name when she called out for help. i remembered his christian name was henri. "now i know for certain that she is in love with delapine. well, we must outmanoeuvre him, n'est-ce pas? "but that is easier said than done," said pierre. "tut, tut, my boy, that is nothing for an old soldier like me. when you have been through three campaigns as i have, you will laugh at a little skirmish like this. a mere trifle, my boy, a mere trifle believe me," and so saying he lit a cigarette and puffed away calmly, while considering the position of affairs. "we'll go over and put the matter before old payot. he is very keen on your marrying his daughter, and he intends to raise heaven and earth to get her for you. there is no one whatever in the way except delapine, believe me. get him out of the way, and the girl is yours. i know payot will give her a magnificent dot, because i bargained for that last night, and with her income and yours there is nothing you can't accomplish." pierre felt more in love with her than ever. the rebuff he had encountered served to stimulate his passion to fever heat, and the very fact that she had struck him with her fist only elicited a mad desire in his mind to conquer her and bring her captive to his feet. his jealousy grew until it knew no bounds, and the mere fact that his pride had met with a severe check, made him all the more eager to have his revenge. "curse that fellow," he kept saying to himself. "my father is quite right. delapine is the only obstacle, there cannot be a shadow of doubt on that score. i have lost a fearful lot lately at the club, and i must get some money somehow to pay my debts, or i shall be ruined. if i could only marry her, i could pay my debts with her dot, and put matters right. "look here, father," he said after a pause, "can't we get old villebois to tell the professor he has to leave the house at once?" "i have thought of that plan, and even suggested it to payot, but after mature reflection i find it won't work. you see, villebois is absolutely infatuated with delapine, and thinks the world of him. besides, he is so anxious to watch the antics and spirit-rappings and all that nonsense that delapine indulges in, that no consideration would induce villebois to part with him. no, no, that wouldn't do at all." "well then, can't we send renée away somewhere? payot could take her away to some place where i could see her from time to time." "true, but the moment she finds out that you are keen upon seeing her, the more determined she will be to prevent you. besides, if she is sent away, she will think of him all the more, and we shall not be able to watch her schemes, or stop their writing letters to each other every day. you must not forget renée is no longer a child, but has arrived at that time of life when love-intrigues become part of her second nature." "well, isn't it possible to get payot to forbid her speaking to the professor?" "why, that would be the very way to encourage her to do it all the more. they would seek every opportunity to meet each other clandestinely. does not almanni say 'le cose victate fan crescere la voglia?' you know the proverb, 'you may lead a horse to the water, but you can't make him drink.' oh, i know what women are, believe me. i haven't been an old campaigner for nothing. the story of eve and the apple is absolutely true to life. you have only to forbid a girl to do something, and she immediately raises heaven and earth in order to do it; whereas, if you had said nothing at all she would never have dreamt of it. no, no, we must first have a talk with payot before the professor sees renée again, and then we will see how we can surprise the enemy." footnotes: [footnote 6: romain rolland.] chapter v the wine cellar "there smiles no paradise on earth so fair but guilt will raise avenging phantoms there." f. hemans. if there was one thing in the world that the general prided himself on it was his wine cellar. it was a long, cool cave blasted out of the solid rock, and extended the whole length of the garden. on each side were rows upon rows of shelves, on which whole regiments of bottles lay on their sides like batteries of guns ready to be discharged. champagnes from rheims, tokay from hungary, choice vintages from the rhine and moselle lay in dozens, ornamented with their red, blue and yellow labels. rich wines from portugal, greece, madeira, and the cape might be seen with their noses half hidden in sawdust, while whole companies of mumm, perrier-jouet, spumante d'asti, and sparkling hock could be distinguished by their wire and gold and silver foil pressed round their bulging corks. on each side was a row of casks filled with the red wines of france and italy. the cellar was quite dark save for a gleam of reflected daylight which issued through a ventilating grating near the ceiling. on the afternoon following their previous interview, father and son again met in the general's study to discuss further their plan of campaign in their endeavour to get the hated delapine out of their path. "by the way," said the general, "i don't suppose you'll have any objection to joining me in a glass of wine? thoughts and words often flow more freely, and ideas spring more quickly under the gentle influence. "thank you, sir, nothing would please me better." "charles," said the general, as the butler appeared in answer to the bell, "go down to the cellar and bring a bottle of '89 berncastler doktor, and please be quick." charles bowed and left the room. after waiting a while the general pulled out his watch and growled impatiently. "confound that fellow, i wonder what he is up to," he shouted, after waiting in vain for a quarter of an hour, and going to the bell he tugged the cord violently. "does he suppose that i, a general of the french army, am to be kept waiting by a mere servant?" at this moment his valet, a tall, military-looking man named robert, entered the room and saluted. "robert," he thundered, "what the devil does this mean? mille tonneres! what is that fellow charles doing? i sent him down for a bottle of wine nearly half-an-hour ago. go and find him at once. sac--r--re bleu! this is mutiny," he yelled. robert saluted and backed out. presently he returned with the cook supporting charles, who was trembling from head to foot. "nom de dieu! what on earth does this mean?" said the general astonished. "if you please, mon général," said the valet, saluting with his disengaged hand, "we found him lying on his face in the cellar, moaning piteously, and covering his face with his hands." "did he fall down the steps then?" "no, sir, oh no, sir," said the butler in a piteous tone of voice, and trembling more than ever. "i got inside the cellar all right, and was in the act of lighting a candle to choose your bottle, when i saw a tall man staring at me with the most piercing eyes i ever saw." "a man, did you say? i suppose it was a common thief coming to steal my wines, eh? you idiot, why didn't you attack him, or at least run back and lock the door after you, and then come and call me? i would soon have settled him." "oh, mon général, i was too frightened. i shouted out, but he did not move and stood staring at me with his terrible eyes all the time, and then i swooned away." "how did he get in?" said the general, unmoved by his excited cries. "did he pick the lock, or had you forgotten to shut the door when you went the time before?" "oh, no, mon général, that would be impossible, as the door shuts by itself with a spring lock. i found the door locked as usual when i arrived there, and i opened the door myself with the key which i always carry about with me." "have you ever lent the key to anybody?" "never, mon général, never in my life." "then he must have picked the lock." "that would be no easy task, sir. the lock, as you are aware, is a very complicated one, and of the most approved pattern. if you remember, the maker guaranteed it burglar-proof." "how was the fellow dressed?" "he had on a black coat with the red ribbon of the legion of honour, a white shirt front, and a black cravat. i also noticed he had a short, black, pointed beard, an 'empereur moustache,' and dark curly hair." "mon dieu!" exclaimed the general. "the red ribbon of a chevalier of the legion of honour, eh? a common thief is not usually decorated in that way. that looks like delapine from your description. but what the deuce did that fellow want in my cellar? by the way, did you shut the door when you left?" "pardon me for speaking, mon général, but i did it for him," interposed robert, "as charles was incapable of doing anything." "i suppose it is no use my going to look for him," mused the general, "if he got in, he should have no difficulty in getting out again. still, perhaps i had better go and see what has happened. let the butler go to the library and wait there for me, and you, robert, go and bring my revolver." "i think, father," interrupted pierre, "we had better go to the cellar at once, and see whether anything has been stolen. if anything is missing we have a chance of having the thief arrested and taken to the gendarmerie, and if it should prove to be delapine, then hurrah for renée, eh, mon père?" "i shall have him arrested in any case," said the general. "but," he added as robert returned with the revolver, "let us go down to the cellar." he then poured out a full measure of cognac, and was in the act of swallowing it when he noticed pierre taking the revolver from the valet. "no, i will take charge of that," said the general. "oh, father, let me have it. i want so much to have a shot at him." "what are you thinking of, my son? if you shoot the intruder it's murder, but if i, a general in the army, shoot him, why, it's nothing. allons, allons, en avant," he shouted, looking very fierce as he led the way to the cellar with revolver cocked, followed closely by pierre and robert, the latter carrying a candle. arrived at the cellar, the general opened the door cautiously and looked about, but saw nothing. suddenly pierre slipped and bumped against robert in the semi-darkness, knocking the candle out of the valet's hand, and leaving them without a light. presently as their eyes became more accustomed to the gloom, the general thought he saw someone standing a few paces off, and sure enough, the form slowly assumed the features of delapine. "halt!" shouted the general, "if you move i fire--" and he covered the dim figure with his revolver. "what are you doing here?" he thundered. the spectre stretched out its hand and pointed at pierre. a cold shudder went through pierre's frame and his knees shook, but the general, doubly fortified by the glass of cognac and the revolver, felt courageous enough for anything. "down on your knees, and hold your hands up, or i fire," yelled duval in a terrific outburst of passion. "do you hear me? i am going to pull the trigger," he continued as delapine showed no signs of obeying. in their excitement both the general and his son imagined they heard delapine speaking. "it is for you to fall on your knees, not for me," the spectre of the professor seemed to say very calmly, and then appeared to add by signs "fire if you like, but i warn you of the consequences." the spectre stepped forward to within a few feet of the general. the general's blood was up, he pulled the trigger, and bang went the pistol as he fired point-blank at the professor's heart. on hearing the shot the chef came running into the cellar, and found his master lying on the ground unconscious, with pierre and the valet bending over him. duval looked ghastly pale, while his arm lay helpless at his side, and a small stream of blood began to soak through his clothes. "lift my father, you two," ordered pierre, as he turned to look for the professor. delapine's spectre was nowhere to be seen. the two servants carried the general to his room and laid him on his bed, while pierre drove over at full speed to passy for dr. villebois. rushing into the vestibule he enquired breathlessly: "is the doctor at home? tell him i must see him at once. it's urgent." "hullo, pierre," said villebois, coming forward as he heard the agitated voice. "what is the matter?" "oh, doctor, please come at once. my father shot delapine a little less than half an hour ago, and the professor rounded on him and nearly killed him. don't lose a minute if you want to save my father's life." "what on earth are you talking about?" enquired villebois in surprise. "have you lost your senses? why, man, delapine has been here during the whole evening." "do you mean to tell me that delapine has been here during the whole of the last hour?" asked pierre, pinching himself to make sure that he was not dreaming. "certainly. he went to lie down a little more than an hour ago, saying he felt tired, and i was in the room myself when he woke up. i remember the time perfectly. you must have been dreaming, my boy. come in and have a liqueur, it will do you good." "thanks. i really feel the need of something to pick me up after all i have gone through. but meanwhile tell the coachman to be ready as we must lose no time. i am very far from being mad, you have only to see father to be convinced of the truth of what i have told you." as pierre was passing through the hall a minute later, he caught sight of delapine, and ran up to him. "well," said delapine, "what brings you here in such a state of excitement?" "excuse me," said pierre, "but where were you half an hour ago?" "why, here of course. why do you ask?" "oh, nothing; but i thought i saw you in my father's wine-cellar." "in your father's wine-cellar? what on earth gave you that idea?" and the professor's eyes twinkled with mischief. "and pray, what was i doing there?" "you know well enough," said pierre, but a glance at the calm face of the professor made him doubtful. he looked scared and began to suspect that he had been under an optical illusion, or else a hallucination of some kind. "i trust," said delapine, "that you will take my words of warning to heart which i gave you in the cellar, and please tell your father with my compliments not to go shooting people who have done him no harm, as the bullet sometimes has the curious habit of turning round and striking the firer instead. but you must please excuse me now as i have to prepare my lecture for to-morrow at the sorbonne. won't you like to come and hear it? it commences at eleven sharp. no? well then, au revoir," he said, as he entered his room and shut the door. "he must be the very devil himself," cried pierre. "did you hear what he said, doctor?" "i did. i was standing behind you all the time, as i came here to tell you that the carriage is ready." "well, how in the name of heaven could he know all this? he must have been in the cellar all the time, and yet you say he was here." "i have already told you so," said villebois, "do you doubt my word?" "well, i don't know what to think." "no more do i--of you, sir!" replied villebois, becoming nettled at his reply. the doctor and pierre drove rapidly to the general's house, and on going to his room they found him lying on his bed groaning, and in a state of semi-consciousness. blood had been slowly trickling down his right arm, and had formed a little pool on the ground. ripping up his shirt with a pair of scissors, villebois noticed that a bullet had passed through the fleshy part of his arm. it had struck the bone at an angle, and ricochetted off, missing the brachial artery by a hairsbreadth, and had passed out again near the shoulder. after first disinfecting the wound, dr. villebois dressed it, and fixing the arm in a splint, ordered a hospital nurse to be sent for immediately, and gave strict orders that the patient was not to be disturbed. "is it very serious?" said pierre. "not very, fortunately, but the median nerve is completely divided." "how do you know that?" "for two very simple reasons. first, the probe showed me that the nerve lay right in the track of the bullet, and in the second place his arm is paralysed." "will he ever get the use of it again?" "there is no reason why he should not, if we can manage to sew the ends of the nerve together. i have good hopes that i shall succeed in doing so, but sometimes the operation proves unsuccessful." "well, anyhow, i shall go at once to the police and have him arrested for attempting to murder my father." "you silly boy, how can you? delapine can bring half a dozen witnesses to prove that he was in my house when the shot was fired. besides, he had no revolver." pierre put on a puzzled look, and scratched his head as if to awaken his thoughts, "i don't know what to make of it." "no more do i. it is very mysterious," said villebois. chapter vi the analyst two days after the episode related in the last chapter, a fiacre might have been seen rolling along the embankment of the seine in the direction of notre dame. it had been raining all day, and streams of water descended through the long pipes from the roofs of the houses to form miniature cascades which flowed with a gurgling noise down the gratings placed at intervals along the edge of the kerbstone. the cochers with their varnished top hats might be seen from time to time shaking off the water which poured from the brims in little streams down their overcoats. everything seemed sodden with rain. women leading little children by the hand, who were crying on account of the rain, which streamed from the parental umbrellas down their necks, might be observed hurrying along the street, or disappearing into narrow passages apparently leading to nowhere. the second-hand bookstalls along the river had long since been shut up, or covered with tarpaulins to keep off the wet. here and there a few truant fowls, or a half-starved cat would scuttle out of the way of the carriage as it splashed along. the driver cracked his long whip in a temper, as if attempting to chastise the elements for their bad behaviour. on the carriage went, past groups of workmen in their blue blouses, who could be seen through the window of the fiacre standing in front of the musty smelling bars drinking their absinthe or vin ordinaire, while in the larger cafés others, better dressed, were whiling away their time playing dominoes, or indulging in a game of billiards with absurdly large balls on very small tables. suddenly the fiacre turned across the pont neuf towards the rue de l'ecole de medicine. the solitary passenger poked his head out of the window. "cocher, drive to the third house on the right round the corner," said the fare, and the head instantly disappeared inside the vehicle, which a few minutes later drew up at the house. it was pierre duval who alighted from the cab, and entering the house knocked at the door on the first floor. "ah, this is indeed a surprise, mon ami." the speaker, paul romaine, was a man nearly middle-aged with a crop of dishevelled hair and teeth discoloured from the effects of perpetual cigarette smoking, but a charming fellow notwithstanding, and thoroughly straightforward and honest. "diable! i have not seen you for nearly two years. what brings you in here, mon ami, on a filthy day like this of all others?" "as a matter of fact i have a most important legal case on hand, and i really came, mon cher paul, to ask your advice." "nothing could give me greater pleasure, i assure you, but i am no lawyer, and i cannot see how i can help you." "on the contrary you can be of inestimable service to me. you are assistant medical analyst to the government, are you not?" "that is precisely what i am," replied paul, "entirely at your service." "you must know then that i am acting as prosecutor in a medico-legal case, which is very obscure, as we suspect foul play--in fact poisoning, and it is naturally of the greatest importance that i should make myself au fait with the various poisons and their means of detection. the case i have to study is a very complicated one as none of the doctors could fix on any poisons from the symptoms, and yet the autopsy revealed nothing to account for the death of the victim. of course my visit is strictly confidential, as it would not do for anyone to know i had been consulting you. i feel sure you will appreciate my reason for this." "oh, you may rely on me implicitly. i shall be as silent as the grave. i think the best thing to do would be to take you over to my laboratory and show you how we make these analyses and detect the various poisons. but first you must have a glass of wine," said paul as he brought a decanter from the cupboard. "these poisoning cases are wonderfully fascinating," he added, as he filled a couple of glasses with remarkably fine beaune. "to feel that a man's life depends on the colour of a precipitate in a test tube, or on the appearance of a few crystals under the microscope, surrounds one's work with a halo of romance which nothing else i know of can give." "yes, that is quite true, but we also have our feelings of excitement and pride. i remember on one occasion i had to defend a man who had been accused of stealing a gold watch, and he confessed to me that he had done it. well, i succeeded in intercepting the principal witness for the prosecution through an intermediary, and told him to inform the witness that he would not be wanted. i even succeeded in sending him a hundred miles into the country with instructions not to return for a few weeks. the trial came on the same afternoon, and the prosecuting counsel began to state his case. when he had concluded his speech, he informed the judge that he would now proceed to call the witness, and the usher shouted his name high and low. oh, it was a joke i assure you to watch the counsel's face when the fellow failed to appear. ha! ha! of course the case broke down through the absence of the witness's evidence. but the best of the joke was when the fellow came to see me about paying my fee. i discovered that he had no money, and so i took the gold watch which he had stolen as payment instead! i never enjoyed a fee so much. oh, lord! you should have been there." and pierre laughed again until his sides ached. paul opened his blue eyes in undisguised astonishment at the audacity of the lawyer of treating a criminal act in such a tone of levity. "upon my word, if i did not think you were joking, i should refuse to speak to you any more," said paul in utter disgust. "well you know it is only by doing smart things that we are able to enhance our reputation--and after all, we are paid to do it. moreover in this case," added pierre, anxious to repair the bad impression he was creating in paul's mind, "i was really sorry for the fellow as it was his first offence, and his wife came and pleaded so hard to me to get him off." "well, i will forgive you this time," said paul, "but for god's sake don't tell anyone else, or you may get struck off the rolls, or even find yourself in the dock one of these fine days." "my dear paul, if one wants to get on in one's profession one must not have too thin a skin; you must make a little allowance for us lawyers." "well, for my part, i think it is simply disgusting. you ought to aim at justice being done before everything," replied paul in a voice of indignation. "why, my good fellow, if we advocates were to be paragons of virtue, like thomas à kempis, or st. francis de sales we should all starve to death." paul merely shrugged his shoulders. "well," he said at length, anxious to change a subject so repugnant to his feelings, "let us go over to the laboratory, and i will show you some of our work." so saying they left the flat together. they entered a large room reeking with chemical fumes. on one table were scales which could weigh a hundred kilos, and on another table a balance so delicate, that it would turn with the fifth of a millegramme. rows upon rows of bottles were on the shelves containing twice as many drugs as are to be found in a chemist's shop. in another part of the room were glass jars filled with every organ of the human body, all furnished with large labels. beakers, test-tubes, mortars, funnels, measuring-glasses, dishes, thermometers, etc., were scattered all over the room, in what might be termed orderly confusion, but actually just where they were most wanted. on the opposite side of the room stood a large spectroscope by hilger, used for revealing the spectrum lines of metals, or examining the absorption bands of blood. near by stood a row of microscopes by hartnack, furnished with objectives of every power, which were screwed on a revolving attachment so that they could be brought into position by a single turn of the hand. pierre was lost in amazement at the prodigious display of apparatus. "do you mean to say that you employ all these things?" he asked. "oh, my dear sir, you have not seen a fourth part of our apparatus yet. just look behind the curtain." pierre pushed aside a thick curtain, and opening a door found himself in a "dark room" illuminated by a large red light, and supplied with a washing trough and numerous bottles and dishes. "that is where we make our photographs," said paul, "and in the room next to it we make our enlargements, and reproduce by photography, finger prints and blood stains, and make copies of the object seen under the microscope." they passed along a short corridor and entered the bacteriological laboratory. here were bottles filled with dyes and stains of every colour. a whole row of copper incubating chambers, each surrounded by a water jacket, were ranged along the one side of the wall. each was heated by an automatic burner, so arranged that a constant temperature of any degree required could be maintained for days or weeks at a time. in one part of the room was a centrifugal whirler, holding a couple of test-tubes. these were filled with the fluids to be examined which contained solids in suspension, and when these tubes were whirled round at a prodigious rate the solid contents were forced to the bottom of the tubes, and could thus be readily separated. in another part of the room were test-tubes filled with serums, jellies, and meat broths of various kinds, any of which could be inoculated by touching the surface with a sterilized platinum wire which had been previously dipped in the fluid supposed to be infected by microbes. when the microbes were thus placed in their food, the test-tubes containing them would be labelled and placed in the incubator to allow the germs to multiply to their heart's content. "once more open the door," said paul, smiling at his friend's amazement, and the two passed down some steps into a courtyard. all round the walls were hutches filled with guineapigs and rabbits, others contained whole families of rats and mice, some white, and some brown. other hutches again contained cats and small dogs, while a large cage in the corner was filled with rhesus and bonnet monkeys. lastly in the opposite corner was an aquarium containing a varied assortment of frogs and toads. "what on earth do you want this menagerie for?" said pierre. "why, this is the most important part of our laboratory. i will show you later what use we make of these animals. meanwhile let us return to the first room, and we will have a chat." "do you always succeed in detecting the poison?" asked duval. "in the case of acids, alkalies, and metals or their salts, practically always, as not only are the tests easy to apply and well known, but the doses to be fatal are usually so large that one can find sufficient traces in the stomach, intestines, and liver to make a reliable test. to take an example. here is a bottle containing what is left of the contents of the stomach of a woman who was poisoned a week ago. we have already made our report, so i can quite well use a little of what is left. "watch me closely. i first stir the contents well, and then filter some of it through this filter paper into this little beaker. now i add a few drops of acid, and then allow some of the sulphuretted hydrogen gas to bubble through. observe a bright canary yellow precipitate is forming. this shows me that arsenic is probably present. but to make quite sure i apply some further tests." paul then poured another small quantity of the suspected fluid into a tiny porcelain dish, to which he added a few drops of pure hydrochloric acid and gently warmed it. "now," said paul, "i take this slip of pure polished copper-foil and just dip it into the liquid--so, and see, it is slowly becoming covered with an iron-grey metallic film. in order to be quite sure that the coating is not due to accidental impurity, i repeat the experiment with the contents of another stomach which i know is free from any poison, and observe when i dip the foil in there is no deposit. this shows me that both the acid and the copper-foil are pure, and that in the former case the grey deposit was due to arsenic. in order to make doubly sure, i take the coated slip of copper, wash it well in water, then in ether alcohol, and gently heat it in this reduction tube. now, let us put it under the microscope and tell me what you see." "i see a number of shiny square crystals like little diamonds." "just so," replied paul. "those are the crystals of arsenious acid. it forms characteristic eight-sided crystals. so you see we have determined the presence of arsenic by three independent tests. it therefore must be arsenic, as nothing else will give these reactions. in the case of alkaloids the tests are much more difficult, because one may poison a person with a very small quantity indeed. "for example, here are the remains of the contents of the stomach of a child. in this particular instance we found it extremely difficult to detect the poison. we tested for all the ordinary poisons in vain. here our menagerie came to our aid; for on injecting a small quantity of the fluid under a guineapig's skin with this pravaz syringe the little animal rapidly died with convulsions and syncope. hence we knew at once that we had to do with a very poisonous alkaloid. by using nearly the whole contents of the stomach, and extracting the alkaloid,[7] we recovered about the 1/30th part of a grain of a white powder which we proved to be aconitine--one of the most deadly poisons known. "so you see if anyone tries to poison a person even with these alkaloids he is sure to be found out." "but are there no poisons which are beyond your powers to detect?" "undoubtedly there are," replied paul, warming up with his subject. "the ptomaines for example. these are soluble ferments which are formed when any animal tissue putrifies. but although we cannot so readily test them by chemical means, we can easily prove their presence by observing their effect on some one or other of the animals in our invaluable menagerie. "i could give you many more examples if you wanted them. muscarine, for instance, the alkaloids of certain fungi, many snake poisons, and countless different microbes." "but can't you tell me of something which will defy detection even by means of your animals?" paul puffed away at his cigarette in deep thought, and then, slowly removing it from his lips, looked up at pierre and gave a characteristic nod. "yes, now i think of it, i can give you one. there is a peculiar fluid sent to me from japan recently," and he pointed to a bottle on the top shelf. "this has hitherto defied all detection by chemical means or otherwise. i alone have discovered how to detect its presence, but i have not had time to publish my discovery, and the poison is quite unknown in europe. i am told it has the property of sending the person off into a gentle sleep from which he never wakes, if only a teaspoonful be injected under the skin. a friend of mine who is a professor of toxicology at tokio wrote to me about it, and told me of several murders that had been committed through some mysterious drug which he ultimately managed to get hold of. being unable to analyse it he sent me a sample to see what i could do with it. it arrived only about two weeks ago." "well," said duval, rising to go, "thanks very much for the charming hour i have spent with you." "don't mention it. i see it is nearly dinner time; will you have dinner with me? i know of a select restaurant where the viands and wines are admirable." pierre cordially thanked him, and taking up his hat and stick proceeded to follow him out of the room. before doing so, however, he allowed his cigarette case to fall noiselessly on a duster which lay partly hidden by the table. on leaving the room, paul turned round and locked the door, and the two left the house together. "allow me to offer you one of my cigarettes," said pierre, as they stood in the portico waiting for a fiacre. "with pleasure, mon ami." "diable!" exclaimed pierre, fumbling in vain for his cigarette case. "what have i done with it? oh, i remember, i left it in your laboratory. pray don't trouble to go back," he added, as paul turned round to enter the house. "give me the keys, i can find it much quicker than you can, as i know exactly where i left it in the laboratory. i will be back in a moment." suspecting nothing, paul handed him his bunch of keys, and pierre ran upstairs. he entered the room, shutting the door after him, and then, rapidly placing a pair of steps against the shelves he took down the bottle which paul had pointed out. quick as lightning he poured half the contents into an empty bottle which happened to be lying on the table, and returned the rest to its place on the shelf. picking up his cigarette case, together with the syringe which paul had shown him, he slipped them into his pocket, locked the door after him, and ran down to his friend. "i must apologise for keeping you so long," said pierre with superb effrontery, "but i could not find it at first as it had dropped on to the floor, but here it is," and so saying he offered him a cigarette. the fiacre coming up at this moment they adjourned to the "restaurant joseph" for dinner. of all the restaurants in paris there is none that quite comes up to "joseph's." monsieur joseph was more than a great chef, he was a genius. to his way of thinking there was no art or science in the world that could compare with his. "what poetry could be mentioned in the same breath with a great dinner," he would exclaim. "and as to science, we know that newton, leibnitz, fresnel, laplace, pasteur, and the rest of them achieved great things, but compared with the victories of béchamel, robert, rechaud, carême, and mérillion, they are rien, monsieur, rien du tout. you boast to me of the moral courage of the christian martyrs who faced death in the arena of the coliseum rather than offer incense to cæsar; but their courage cannot be mentioned in the same breath with that of vatel, the cook of the great condé. did any of them bid adieu to life in the superb manner of vatel? ah! there was a hero for you. he actually put an end to himself because a fish he had ordered arrived too late for his master's banquet. what a magnificent example to set! how sublime his end!" the great man wiped the perspiration off his brow and positively panted with excitement. the enthusiasm that the famous chef threw into his work was the wonder and admiration of all the leading gourmands of the town. the moment one of his favourite customers entered for dinner, the great chef would wave away the garçon who came up to take orders of his customer, and attend to him himself. "now i cannot allow you to choose your own dinner, permit me to suggest for the hors d'oeuvres some salade d'anchovis with hareng marines and just a suspicion of kets cavier at the side." "yes, that is excellent." "now for soup. what do you say to crême d'orge à l'allemande? oh, you prefer 'clear.' just a little consommé julienne en tasse, as we must not spoil the appetite for the fish and entrées. a small glass of gin a l'anglaise with it is wonderfully appetising and forms a superb apéritif." "quite so." "and for fish, ah, le voilà. grey mullets meunière, or do you prefer escalopes de mostele écossaise just brought in fresh this morning, with a little dry hock? and after that what shall we suggest? ah! i know, my superb dish, a 'caneton à la presse.' but gently, gently, messieurs, you cannot pass over my poussins picadilly, and to please the palate a demi-bouteille of my special '84 beaune, it is superb, it will clear the brain." and so the worthy man would go on. to watch him carve a 'caneton roti a l'anglaise' was a marvel of dexterity and skill, and was considered one of the sights of paris. it was a masterpiece of carving. transfixing the bird by means of a large fork, with half-a-dozen rapid strokes of the knife, never exceeding one stroke for each limb, slish slash, slish slash, and the bird would apparently fall to pieces completely dismembered. "ah!" he would exclaim, "no chef in england or germany can perform a feat like that. there is one god and one joseph, and the latter is the king of chefs, n'est-ce pas?" and smiling in conscious triumph he would place the disarticulated fowl before his astonished guests. "ah, where would paris be without its restaurants, and where would the restaurants be without their chefs?" "where indeed," replied pierre and paul in one breath, as they gazed in astonishment at the great man in his white cap jauntily placed on his head, as he stood before them with his arms folded, awaiting the applause which he knew was sure to follow. "yes," replied joseph, "if only the emperor napoleon iii. had permitted me to cook for him, how different would have been the result. he would have led his brave army straight to berlin. victory would have followed victory." "and then?" asked paul amused. "why, monsieur, of course we should have dictated terms at berlin, instead of being massacred by the hated prussians at sedan." "but never mind, a time will come--a time will come--les bosches nous les aurons, mon dieu! nous avons plus que quinze centmille braves--brave comme des lions--diable! "but messieurs, they are not eating, and they are positively allowing the mousselmes de volaille a l'indienne to get cold," and the great man nearly wept in despair. "mille tonnerres!" he would exclaim, "les messieurs have eaten their pudding glacé amilcar without blending the flavour with my special brand of veuve clicot. mais c'est terrible!" and he ran off to order the sommelier to fetch the bottle. "and now," he said, "i will call the garçon to fetch you each a cup of my extra special coffee. such coffee, messieurs, you will not obtain in any other house in paris. i have spent years in experimenting with the different varieties of coffee beans to discover the most perfect blend." "can you give us the recipe?" enquired pierre and paul together. "oh, messieurs, you would surely not rob a man of the fruit of his labours; but i can tell you this much--there are six varieties of the coffee berries in it, and the discovery and correct blending of these different beans is the outcome of a lifetime of study. the moment i become convinced that any chef produces a superior coffee to mine, i shall put an end to myself, for i shall be too mortified to survive the disgrace." it was past midnight when our two friends left the restaurant. they strolled for some distance along the boulevards watching the merry crowds of midnight revellers who seem never to be tired of chatting together. some might be seen in groups round the marble tables under the awnings of the cafés facing the pavement, while others again could be seen inside the heated rooms listening to the strains of some hungarian band playing their weird czardas. here and there a group of shop girls might be seen hurrying home with rapid footsteps, or dawdling in front of the shop windows, while the ceaseless flow of vehicles and passengers gave the stranger the idea that paris never went to bed at all. it was during the early hours of the morning when paul and pierre entered their respective apartments. they were thoroughly tired out, and tried to sleep, but the roar of the great city, like the roar of the ever-sounding sea, continued to break on their ears without a pause. footnotes: [footnote 7: an alkaloid is an organic crystalline substance containing nitrogen usually of vegetable origin. it is generally poisonous, and in most cases yields brilliant colours with certain reagents. (author.)] chapter vii renée's experience in storm and sunshine the next afternoon about three o'clock, payot called at the house of villebois, to see his daughter. "well, my child, have you made up your mind yet?" "yes, father, i have." "ah! that's a good girl. i knew you would respect your old father's wishes, and take a reasonable view of the matter. a little reflection and a little reasoning was doubtless necessary to show that it was the only sensible thing you could do. now you see that nothing could further your interests better, and you will always have the satisfaction of knowing that you were the means of binding our two families together by marrying pierre, eh renée?" and he patted her on the head. "oh, father," she faltered, "i never meant that. you misunderstand me. i loathe pierre. how can you ask me to marry such a brute?" "what? you dare to tell me that you won't marry the son of my old comrade-in-arms?" shrieked payot. "you obstinate hussy, you vile wretch, you bastard, i disown you," he cried in his fury, not thinking that his words affected himself as well as her. "i shall cut you out of my will entirely--at least," he added, "not a penny beyond what the law compels me to leave you. don't expect anything from me when you marry that pauper, that madman delapine. you may go begging in the streets for all i care. go away and be damned to you, with your father's curses on your head--you, you ... i don't know what to call you, you child of an abandoned woman." the poor girl buried her face in her hands and sobbed convulsively. "oh, father, father, don't say such dreadful things, you are too cruel to me. why do you treat me in this way? why do you speak evil of my darling mother who is in the grave? is it because i refuse to marry a man i detest?" payot worked himself into a terrible rage, and renée's sobs only added fuel to the flames. "get out of my presence this instant, and never come near my house again. do you hear what i say?" he added as renée made no attempt to move. "if ever you dare to speak to me again i shall hand you over to the police," he shouted, not knowing what he was saying. "go," he said in a voice husky and almost incoherent with rage, and rushing at her, shook her violently, and struck her across the face with his fist. the girl fell on to the ground moaning, and then swooned away. payot tried to raise her and wake her up, but she never moved, and at length he became really frightened and rang the bell violently. "françois," he said, trying hard to control his passion and appear calm, "my daughter has fainted, i think it must be the heat. run and bring me a glass of cognac." the butler returned with the brandy, which her father tried in vain to make her swallow. "come now, come now, don't pretend in this way. you needn't try to make me believe that you are hurt. wake up at once, renée, and take this brandy. do you hear me? now then, you little fool, don't sham any more," and so saying he tried to force the liquid down her throat by main force. renée, nearly choked by the fluid going down the wrong way, set up so violent a fit of spasmodic coughing that he had to get françois to help him bring her round. "i think we had better carry her up to her room, and lay her on her bed. the heat has evidently been too much for her," he said to the butler. "go and tell her maid to come and look after her." having once more assured himself that she had only fainted, he gave the necessary instructions to the maid, and left the house. stepping into his carriage he drove home. "i am afraid i must have lost my temper a bit," he said to himself, feeling now that he had calmed down, a tinge of remorse for his brutal conduct. "well, it was entirely her fault," he exclaimed. "the obstinacy of that girl after all i have done for her is perfectly inconceivable," and consoling himself with his magnanimity, he walked up the steps of his house. renée, exhausted with weeping, opened her eyes, and sipped the brandy which her maid had brought her. "my poor darling, what have they been doing to her!" she exclaimed. "please leave me," she said in a scarcely audible voice, "and don't allow anyone to see me on any pretence whatever, do you understand? now pull down the blinds, and leave me alone." as soon as marie had gone, renée rolled over on her face, covering it with her hands, and burst out into an uncontrollable fit of weeping. dinner was announced, but the young lady did not appear. "i must go and see what is the matter," said madame villebois, as she hurried upstairs to renée's room. she found the door locked. "what is the meaning of this?" she asked marie. "please, madame, my mistress has a dreadful headache, and has given orders that no one is to be allowed to see her." madame ran down to her husband with a terrible story that she was dying, and advised a consultation of eminent specialists, and suggested bursting the door open. "leave her alone, my dear. something has evidently upset her, she will have brain fever if you go and frighten her like that." "you're a cruel, ungrateful man, adolphe, that's the plain truth. i never heard of anyone with so little feeling as you show, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. to think of the poor lamb being neglected in this way. i call it perfectly disgraceful. you men are all a set of heartless creatures." "tut, tut, my dear. let her have a good cry, there's nothing like it. she will soon get over it, and to-morrow she will be all right," and taking his wife by the arm, he led her off to dinner. renée woke up in the morning with a splitting headache, but feeling better towards evening, she rose and dressed, and after removing the traces of her crying, walked downstairs into the parlour. the room was empty, and going to the piano the girl sat down in a dazed condition and attempted to play. but her heart was too sad, and renée mechanically passed her hands over the keys, hardly conscious of what she was playing. renée was about to close the lid of the instrument, when she became aware of someone near her, and looking round saw delapine who had just returned from the university, and had silently entered the room for his evening cup of coffee. "is that you, henri?" she called out as she rose from the music stool and caught hold of him convulsively by the arms. "my dear child, whatever is the matter with you? you have been crying. come and sit down, my poor little renée, and let me comfort you." "oh, henri," she cried, "do please help me. father came to see me yesterday, and tried all he could to make me promise to marry pierre, and i flatly refused to have anything to do with him, and so he swore at me and vowed he would cut me off with a shilling, and turn me into the streets. i did not mind that so much, but when he told me my darling mother was an abandoned woman, which you know is a lie, and then struck me across the face, and bade me never see him again, i broke down, and i think i must have swooned away, because i didn't remember anything until i found myself on my bed. and now i am all alone in the world, and i have no one to go to in my trouble. oh, why did my poor mother die so soon? you don't know what she was to me, henri," and she sobbed as if her heart would break. "renée dear, may i be your protector? come to me and i will never leave you. god knows i love you better than my own life. yes, a thousand times better. will you share your lot with me, darling? i am not rich, but all that i have is yours, and what i have not shall be made up for by my love and devotion." her heart was too full to reply. she just nestled in his arms, and their lips met in one lingering delicious kiss of ecstasy. "god bless you, my own petite renée," he answered, "i have given you my soul, dear, and in giving you that i have given you everything." she fell into a reverie of keen delight, so keen that she felt herself becoming overwhelmed with the intoxication of love's young dream, and with a great effort she woke up to the realities of life. "but how did you contrive to come here so early? you don't generally manage to do so." "well, to tell the truth, i knew everything that had happened, and so i hurried away from my laboratory in a fiacre, so as to be ready to help you the moment you dressed and came downstairs." "do you mean to say that you knew that father had been storming at me and hit me?" "yes, dear. i don't know everything, but i knew that, and i arrived here just as you entered this room, and the moment you sat down to the piano i stole in on tip-toe, and stood behind you." renée opened her large eyes with mingled astonishment and awe, and paused in thought. "will you always love me, henri? even when i am old and wrinkled?" she suddenly exclaimed, as if the thought of possessing him was too good to be true. "to the eyes of real love, dear, the loved one never becomes old or wrinkled," he replied gravely. "but will you love me very much?" "that depends on you as well, renée," said the professor, amused at her question. "don't you know that italian saying which i think is attributed to goldoni, 'amor solo d'amor si pasce,' 'love feeds on love and increases by exchange'? however, let us be happy for this one short hour at any rate," he added slowly with a sigh. "why do you sigh?" she asked, looking alarmed. "have you then so soon forgotten what i told you?" of course she remembered the words. but what did they mean? "i cannot tell you now," he replied, "but, dear one, you know that i have opened up my soul to you, so that you might be able to understand me." "i do understand you, henri, you know i do." "then you will trust me, won't you?" renée merely squeezed his hand, and looked into his eyes with a smile. "of course i will," she added, as a slight cloud passed over delapine's brow. "but does it mean that we shall be separated again?" she enquired after a long pause. "yes, renée, for some little time to come. but take courage, ma chérie, as i told you before it will all come right. and now, dear, the coffee is coming, and i hear dr. villebois in the hall." renée rushed back to the piano and began turning over her music, while the professor sank demurely into an armchair, and was apparently deeply engaged in reading the _petit journal_ upside down when villebois walked into the room. "well, delapine, mon brave, how is it that you are here so early?" "as a matter of fact i had some very important business to attend to here, and so i came a little earlier than i intended." "i hope the business proved satisfactory?" "very much so indeed," replied delapine, looking slyly at renée, who blushed like a peony up to the roots of her hair. "ha, ha! i see, i see," said villebois, slyly shaking his finger at them both. "splendid, splendid," he cried. "take care of her, delapine, my boy, you have won the greatest treasure in all france. and you, my dear, have got a man who has not his equal anywhere. he is something more than a man, he is a hero, renée. mark my words, before we are two years older he will be the greatest savant in europe. give me your hands, both of you, and let me be the first to join them together. 'pon my word, i think i am as pleased as either of you. but, not a word, not a word, eh, professor?" "thank you ever so much for your congratulations, doctor, and also for your hint of caution; were things otherwise, we should ask you to tell all the world, but under the circumstances it is better we should keep it strictly to ourselves. i have good reasons for believing that more than one person is anxious to separate us, and would do anything to get us out of the way." "do you really mean it, professor? i can't imagine that anyone would wish you evil. surely you don't mean to say that you have enemies who come to my house?" "it is not my habit to mention names, my dear doctor, but i assure you, you have a judas among your disciples. nay, you have two or three who would be delighted to see me dead." "come, my dear professor, you don't really mean that. you must be joking. take the people who were at the dinner the other evening, riche, marcel, the duvals, father and son. surely they are all your friends and strictly honourable." "oh, yes! brutus is an honourable man, so are they all, all honourable men," said delapine, imitating the mocking sarcasm of mark antony. "are you not sarcastic, professor, or do you mean it?" "yes, doctor," renée interposed, "henri is right and he means it. oh, i know it so well," she replied bitterly. henri squeezed her hand while she clung close to him for protection. "as far as i am concerned i am not in the least alarmed," said delapine, "but it is my duty now to defend renée. i am, as you know, a man of peace, but i shall be sorry for the man who attempts any tricks on renée, as he will find out to his cost. you know it is written, 'be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves,' but, ma foi, if anyone comes fooling around to hurt my dove, i have a right to set my serpent at him. eh, doctor?" "ha, ha! capital, capital, those are my sentiments to a 't'," said villebois laughing. "but the situation is becoming serious and i promise to help you to the best of my power." "i know you will, doctor," said delapine, shaking him cordially by the hand. "but promise me you will not let anyone know what i suspect. please do me the favour to invite the same guests as you had last time, together with any others you may choose to ask, for we must on no account let anyone imagine we are suspicious." "i promise faithfully to do as you wish," said villebois, pressing his hand. "but you will give us the promised séance at our next party?" "certainly, why not?" madame villebois and céleste entered the room at this moment and the conversation ceased. chapter viii delapine makes an experiment in botany delapine and villebois left the room arm in arm, and entered the library where they found riche idly glancing over a magazine, and at the same time quietly smoking his pipe. "hullo, riche," called out villebois in his usual cheery tones. "what have you been doing with yourself for the last hour?" "well, as a matter of fact, i have been amusing myself looking through your charming work on turner's paintings illustrated in colour. ah, turner was a great artist, a very great artist," said riche. "he was to england what our claude lorraine was to france. between them they succeeded in teaching the world the true art of landscape painting. until their time the dutch and flemish schools alone had attained a moderate degree of success, but when all is said and done dutch and flemish pictures were in the main--that is, in the majority of cases--merely cold, flat, and very conventional. but with the advent of turner, a great change came over art. he not only copied nature, but he improved on it, idealised it, and gave it life, warmth, breadth, and depth, such as only claude before him could conceive. ma parole, were i not a frenchman, i would place him in the world of painters absolutely alone in his glory." "right again, riche, as usual," said delapine, much interested. "it is a pleasure to hear turner praised and appreciated. not so very long ago it was the fashion to decry him, but all the disparagement could not gainsay the revolution he caused in art." "look," continued riche, encouraged in one of his pet hobbies to find so sympathetic an enthusiast in delapine--the man of science and psychic phenomena, "look at the picture of dido building carthage. see the towering marble buildings on either side like fairy castles in the air. look how every figure, every object is so cunningly painted that collectively they form graceful curves which insensibly lead the eye to the 'point d'apui', which in this case, as you will notice, is the setting sun in the infinite distance beyond, giving immense depth and plasticity to the scene. look again at his picture of venice. here we have a city of pink, and gold, and white, rising like a mist out of an emerald sea under a dome of sapphire blue. what a vista of exquisitely tender loveliness. how beautifully, and yet almost impossibly real. compare it with the venice of canaletti--the same buildings, the same grand canal, and yet how vast the gulf between the two painters. turner's may be likened to a poetic dream; the other, well--the other is merely conventional prose. take again his 'ulysses deriding polyphemus.' look at the huge rugged rocks frowning over the sea, and the half-hidden giant heaving a large boulder at the grecian galley. note the defiant look of ulysses as he waves a blazing olive tree, while his men are climbing the rigging to unfurl the sails. see the skilful outlining of the shadowy horses of phoebus in the slanting rays of the rising sun. could anything tell a tale better? what conception! what genius! it is the power of imagination over the stern reality of facts." "yes, you have seized the keynote of his genius," said villebois, admiring his friend's enthusiasm. "but in my humble opinion his 'fighting temeraire' being towed to her last resting place by the fiery little steamtug is the finest picture of them all." "by the way, what has become of delapine? i wanted him to have a glass of wine or some coffee with us in the summer-house, let us go and look for him." "he cannot be far away," said villebois, as the latter and riche left the room together. "he was with us a moment ago. how quietly he must have slipped out of the library. i expect he has gone to look for renée." "no, you won't find him with her," said riche thoughtfully. "he is not the kind of man who wastes his time running after a woman. i fancy that our friend is far too absorbed and occupied scientifically." "i am not so very sure about that," replied villebois, smiling to himself, as the scene that he had witnessed about an hour previously flitted across his mind. "well, you seem to make out that you know him better than i do. take my word for it, he is making an experiment somewhere. let us go into the garden, we are sure to find him playing with some worms, or spiders, or something like that. there you are," cried riche as they approached the conservatory, "did i not tell you where we would find him?" delapine, fully occupied with some plants, looked up on hearing their voices. "hullo, what on earth are you doing with that venus's fly-trap?" called out villebois, as he watched delapine letting a tiny spider which was hanging by the end of its thread drop inside the lobes of the carniverous plant, known to science as the dionaea muscipula, with one hand, while he held his watch in the other. "this is exceedingly interesting, riche, i am trying an experiment to find out how long the trap takes to close again after the spider has touched the little hair filaments projecting out from the inside of the leafy pair of lobes." while still speaking, he allowed the spider to fall lower and lower until its body touched a hair. then, before the little fellow had time to climb up over the leaf, the two lobes closed together and held him prisoner. "now let us sit here and watch," said delapine, thoroughly absorbed in the experiment. "before many minutes have elapsed the animal will be killed by the secretion clogging up its spiracles, and then the insect will be digested by the juices secreted by the glands." "and then what will happen?" asked villebois. "wait a moment and you will see." after a lapse of about fifteen minutes the lobes began slowly to open again, and there before the eyes of the deeply interested watchers lay the spider, sucked half dry and shrivelled up at the bottom of the cavity. "what i cannot understand, and what i have been trying to discover," said delapine, "is what makes the leaves close instantly when the hairs are touched, and what it is that causes the gastric juices to pour out precisely as it does in the stomach when one has taken a meal. in our own case the reason is clear enough because the stomach is supplied with nerves and nerve-ends. but botanists assure us that plants have no traces of nerves. and again, why should the leaves reopen the very moment that the plant has had a sufficient meal? now here is another plant which, like a chameleon, devotes all its energies to catching flies," continued delapine as he led them over, and pointed to a fine specimen of drosera. "you surely recognise the familiar sun-dew with its round head stuck all over with little stalk-like tentacles each having a knob at the end, the whole reminding one of a round pincushion stuffed with pins. now i have noticed that the heads of these tentacles secrete a sticky, treacly juice, and the moment a fly alights to suck that juice its legs become entangled, and the fly is at once a prisoner. immediately this happens, all the neighbouring tentacles bend over the captive fly, exactly as the tentacles of a sea-anemone bend over their prey, and suck its life-blood." "i have not studied these plant problems," said riche, "but now that you demonstrate some of them so clearly they do indeed appear marvellous." "ah, my dear doctor," said delapine, "there are quite a host of problems awaiting solution in the actions of that plant. the moment one begins to think, and to ask one-self why and how, one becomes aware of one's dense ignorance of the every-day operations of nature. we are accustomed to look upon a plant as if it were an inanimate thing, and yet there can be no doubt that it enjoys life, and feels and thinks after some sort of fashion. i have often wondered if it ever occurs to a girl as she plucks a flower that the plant might decidedly object to having its head cut off. of course i do not lay it down that a plant can feel pain in the same way that we do. that it can feel, i have amply shown you, and that it has some dim consciousness of existence i am fully convinced." "it is intensely interesting, and must be a splendid relaxation for you, delapine," said villebois, "but all the same you should not forget that there are other relaxations also, and one of them is to come over to the summer-house where i see françois has just brought some coffee and liqueurs." as they entered the cool shades of the arbour, duval, who had been passing a quiet half hour there in deep thought, rose to meet them. "ah, glad to see you, pierre," called out villebois in a cheerful tone, and mindful of his promise to delapine. "we have just come over for a little refreshment and cool air after the heat of the conservatory. which do you prefer," he continued, "some coffee or a liqueur? i can recommend this curaçao but perhaps you would rather have some coffee," and he proceeded to light the samovar. "coffee and a cigarette for me by all means," replied pierre, "i always think the two go so admirably together, each seems to bring out the acme of flavour in the other." "very true," said villebois, who delighted in playing the host, as he proceeded to fill all the four cups with the fragrant mocha. at this moment céleste appeared on the verandah. "look, papa, what a lovely orchid i am going to bring you," she called out, with a wealth of love and laughter shining in her eyes. "no, no, stay where you are," shouted villebois, "we'll make it a prize." turning to his companions he added smiling, "let us race for it; physics, medicine and law running for a prize in botany, and the privilege of having the decoration placed on his breast by céleste." villebois, delapine, and riche, each shouting 'go' as the word for starting, darted off and ran as hard as they could across the lawn, while duval, swift as lightning, seized the opportunity to drop something quickly into delapine's coffee unnoticed by anyone, and then with one bound sped after the racers. "well done, doctor," called céleste to riche, as with a wonderful effort he just managed to grasp the girl's skirt a second before delapine, while villebois and duval came panting behind, almost on their heels. "three cheers for the winner of the great flower stakes," called out villebois as céleste shyly pinned the prize in riche's button-hole, "i think it was a clear case of the favourite winning. now let us 'return to our muttons,' or rather our coffee," and so saying the four men moved off in the direction of the summer-house, while céleste went indoors. "what a pity you were not here earlier," said villebois, turning to duval, "delapine has been entertaining us with some experiments on feeding insectivorous plants in the conservatory, and began by showing us how remarkably susceptible they are to the faintest traces of certain drugs. by the way, professor, now that we are all here quietly, will you give us an exhibition of your thought-reading powers?" "certainly, my dear villebois, with all the pleasure in the world," said delapine; "but it is a pity that our amiable friend, pierre, should have missed the experiments in the conservatory. would you mind if we all went back there as i should like very much to let him see the effect of this coffee on one of the plants." so saying he took up the cup, which had been filled for him, and moved towards the hothouse followed by his three companions. edging up alongside delapine, pierre, with almost murderous thoughts surging in his breast, watched for an opportunity either to snatch, or even to risk all and dash the tell-tale cup from his rival's hand. appearing, however, not to notice the agitated manner of the man walking so close to him, delapine adroitly handed the cup to riche while bending over to whisper something in his ear. then turning towards duval he quietly linked arms with him in the most natural and friendly manner in the world, without any apparent pressure, but at the same time so skilfully that it would have been very difficult for pierre to have freed himself without arousing suspicion. "my dear duval," said delapine, affectionately pressing the arm resting against his own, "you will be delighted with what i am going to show you, it's a most surprising experiment." once more in the conservatory, riche at a sign from delapine handed him a spoonful of the coffee, and delapine gently let a few drops of the liquid fall on the tentacles of the drosera. as delapine had previously remarked, the effect was surprising, but in a totally different manner from what he had meant at the time. immediately the drops touched them the tentacles turned over and lost their colour, while the glands changed from a rich purple to a sickly pink. "this is very strange, i cannot for the moment understand it," said delapine. "whoever would have thought that the coffee would have had such an effect?" then after a minute of deep reflection he turned to villebois--"doctor, would you mind getting me a fresh cup of coffee, this result is so extraordinary that i must repeat the experiment." so saying, delapine calmly took the cup from riche, and poured the remaining contents into an empty bottle, corked it, and then calmly put it in his pocket. it was all done so quietly and naturally that duval, although beside himself with suppressed rage, dared not put out a hand to prevent it, fearing to awaken the suspicions of the others. villebois, impressed with the calmness and with the queer look of determination and severity in delapine's eyes, ran back to the summer-house, and brought a fresh cup of coffee. "thank you so much: it is always better to repeat an experiment, especially when the result is so unexpected," said delapine as he poured a few drops of the fresh coffee on another sun-dew plant. "how odd," he muttered, his grey eyes lighting up with a peculiar smile of surprise, mingled with severity. "it is very strange," he continued, "in this case nothing whatever has happened--the tentacles have not even moved." "but look at this plant here," said riche, pointing to the drosera on which a drop of delapine's coffee had been poured. "why, bless my soul, it is dead." "this is very interesting," said delapine, "i must take some of the coffee out of my first cup to a friend of mine, a very clever analyst--and find out what he thinks of it. this is just the kind of delicate experiment that delights my friend paul romaine." at the sound of this name uttered so calmly and apparently so casually, pierre duval--already alarmed at the turn which events were taking--became deathly pale, and felt that he could not restrain himself a moment longer, nor prevent his growing agitation from betraying him. with a supreme effort, however, he pulled himself together, and it was almost with his usual every-day sang-froid that he quietly excused himself owing to a legal appointment, and hurriedly went back to the house. "well," said riche as the three slowly retraced their steps towards the summer-house, "there's no doubt about it but your experiment in botany was something out of the common, and besides, it seemed to me that there was something in it which so far i cannot fathom, but it has not allowed me to forget your promise to give us an exhibition of your wonderful powers of thought-reading. when are you going to keep that promise?" "my dear doctor," replied delapine with a peculiar smile, half sad, half severe, "i have just now done so. are you not satisfied?" riche and villebois looked at each other for a moment, and then at delapine as if seeking an explanation. then a sudden thought flashed across riche's mind, but he said nothing. chapter ix celeste tries to fathom renée's secret early in the evening as céleste was going upstairs to dress for dinner--a proceeding which entailed a very great expenditure of both thought and time on the part of this particular young lady--she encountered her adopted sister, renée, on the landing. "oh, renée, ma chérie," she called out, "whatever is the matter with you? i went to your room yesterday afternoon, and found you moaning and sobbing, and you were so cross with me, and asked to be left alone just because you had a headache. i know there was some other reason, now wasn't there?" "it was quite true, i did feel upset, and really, dear, my head was aching terribly." "oh, but, renée dear, you ought to tell me, your little sister; you know that i can keep a secret. i am sure that you had something horrid on your mind, because as soon as i had gone you rose and locked the door; you cannot deny it, can you?" "well, if i did, it was to prevent anyone from disturbing me." "no, renée, that won't do. people with headaches do not bury their faces in their hands and cry their eyes out, as you were doing. you have some trouble," she continued, "and i want to help you to bear it, may i? won't you, let me?" "céleste, you are just a darling. if you will promise me faithfully not to let a living soul know, i will tell you my secret." "of course i won't, you know i always tell the truth. i never tell lies--except sometimes to mamma," she added after a pause. "well then, céleste dear, henri--i mean, professor delapine--has asked me to be his wife, you cannot think how happy i am," and while she spoke, a look of joy came over her face. "oh, renée, i am so glad," cried céleste, clapping her hands and throwing her arms around her sister's neck, while half sobbing and half laughing she breathlessly whispered, "i have often wondered if that would happen, i know that you two are exactly suited to each other, and renée--he is such a clever darling. oh, i am so delighted to hear it." "don't i know that he is as you say 'such a darling,'" said renée smiling. "i have loved him from the very first moment that i met him, without being aware of it, if you can understand my meaning." "oh, renée, you are so good, you deserve to be rewarded with every happiness." "thank you so much, céleste, and look here, dear, when we are married you must come and stay weeks and weeks with us, won't you?" "that would be just too lovely altogether. but you have not told me why you locked the door, and why you were sobbing and crying. was it for joy?" "no, dear, not for joy, but for grief," answered renée. "for grief! whatever do you mean?" and as she spoke, céleste's eyes fairly stood out with astonishment. "you are talking in riddles. what do you mean? surely you are not sorry that you accepted him?" "oh, you dear little goose, of course not, it was only to-day that henri and i confessed our love for each other. you have not seen me crying to-day, have you?" "no, certainly not, but i want to know all about yesterday's trouble." "what an inquisitive little girl it is," said renée smiling. "do please tell me," pleaded céleste, "i am dying to find out, and you know how faithfully i can keep a secret." céleste's curiosity amounted almost to a mania, and this fencing on the part of renée made the young girl fairly boil over with eagerness to probe what seemed to her some dreadful mystery. "so can i keep a secret," replied renée, half sadly. "but please, chérie, do not ask me any more questions. i dare not tell. and, céleste dearie, please, please, promise me that you will not tell anybody about my engagement. you cannot understand what terrible harm it might do me if it were known. it must be kept a dead secret at present, you do not know how much i have suffered, and how frightened i am sometimes of my life and henri's. oh dear, oh dear, it is really too dreadful," and she threw her arms around céleste and sobbed again. "renée, ma mie, it is terrible to see you like this, what can the mystery be? i must know," and in her excitement she seized her sister's hands, and pulled the girl to her and shook her. "no, céleste dearest," sobbed renée, "help me with your love and sympathy to bear it, but do not ask me any more. hush, i hear someone coming, remember not a word to anyone," and she rushed off into her own room. "h'm," muttered céleste to herself as she heard renée locking the door of her room, "there's a heap of trouble brewing somewhere in all this. the mystery seems to become more and more obscure. i shall die if i don't get to the bottom of it, i know i shall. where can i find out all about it? let me think. there's mamma, but she's too stupid to have noticed anything. then there's papa, but he's far too secretive and cautious, he's of no use, he will only joke with me and turn the question; that is unless i humour him properly. that is the only way to deal with him. i certainly might get it out of him by kissing him and playing on his vanity. it is worth trying, anyhow. then there's delapine himself. he, of course, is sure to know. but then i am rather frightened of him, i confess. he stands on his dignity a little too much for my purpose. let me see, now what about marcel? he is more my style, but he has not taken much notice of me. when he is not planning some new creation in waistcoats, or neckties, or composing a poem, he is trying to say something witty. i suppose the things he says are really clever, although i don't understand a word of them. no, i can't very well confide in him." then, as she still meditated, a soft unconscious colour flooded her face, and her voice took on a more tender tone as she continued, "yes, he will help me. i know he will. alphonse riche is a real, true friend. he's more, he's what renée called her henri--just a darling--and besides i think he is a little bit fond of me, just a little. yes, i will make him my confidant." and she clapped her hands, danced round the landing, and actually whistled, which worthy madame villebois would have considered a most incomprehensible, if not highly indelicate proceeding on the part of a young lady of nineteen. on entering her room she stood before the long cheval mirror of the wardrobe, and surveyed herself a little more carefully than usual, then turning away as if half-ashamed of the growing admiration for her own slender but beautifully-curved figure, she murmured pensively, "yes, evidently the first thing to do is to make one-self look as charming as possible," and acting on the impulse, she ran across the room and rang for her maid. in answer to her summons, the door opened and mimi appeared. "mademoiselle requires that i dress her?" "yes, mimi, pick out my most becoming frock as i want to look my very best this evening." "would mademoiselle like the blue trimmed with black velvet? or perhaps the lovely pink gown that madame louise said fitted you à merveille?" "wait, let me think a moment. yes, i remember now, dr. riche said that his favourite flower was the rose,"--this softly to herself--"yes, mimi, let me have the pink by all means; and oh, mimi, do you think you could get me some dark red roses to match it?" a few minutes later mimi returned bearing some freshly cut damask roses. "oh, how lovely they are," cried céleste, "i am sure the doctor cannot refuse to tell me anything i like to ask him when he sees me in this dress. now, mimi, a few drops of parma violet--so, that will do." at the foot of the stair-case, just as she was about to enter the drawing-room, she caught sight of dr. riche. "ah, mademoiselle céleste, how charming you look--just like my favourite flower, a budding rose." céleste blushed almost as red as the roses she was wearing, and shyly tripping up to him whispered something in his ear. "certainly, my dear mademoiselle. nothing would give me greater pleasure than a little chat tête-a-tête. let us sit cosily at the shady end of the verandah where we can talk at our ease without fear of interruption." as soon as they were comfortably seated céleste's impatience and curiosity could no longer be restrained. "oh, doctor," she began impatiently, "i do so want you to find out for me whatever is the matter with renée. she was weeping her heart out yesterday, and when i asked her what was the matter she put me off with some lame excuse about a headache, and then the moment that i left her she jumped up from her bed and locked the door. of course she may have had a real headache, but people don't go into violent fits of weeping on that account, do they?"--and céleste looked very wise (and very, very sweet, as riche thought) while putting her question. "perhaps we might be able to look for some other cause," began riche, when his companion broke in-"i cannot help thinking that young duval is mixed up in it, but then again what has it to do with renée?" riche tapped the arm of the long verandah chair in which he was reclining, and remained in deep thought for a moment. "yes, i have it. do you remember pinning the orchid in my button-hole to-day?" he asked at length. "you know very well i do," replied céleste, blushing in spite of herself. "did you notice anything peculiar about pierre duval's manner?" "let me see," said céleste, trying to recall the events of the morning. "yes, i remember seeing him put something in a cup of coffee, i think it was sugar or cream, but i was too excited over the race to notice exactly what it was he did." "was he finishing his coffee, or what?" asked riche, watching her face carefully. "no, it was not that. i am certain that he was not drinking it, as he certainly did not raise the cup to his lips." "are you perfectly sure of that?" "certain," said céleste convincingly, "i told you that i was not observing him very carefully, but i feel sure i should have noticed if he had been drinking it, because he stood right in front of me at the other end of the lawn." "oh! oh!" said riche, "please stay here, mademoiselle, i will be back in a few minutes. in the meantime please do not breathe a word of our conversation to anyone." "is it so serious then?" asked céleste. "i can't say yet, but please do as i ask you." riche looked very grave, and without another word to his companion walked slowly away into the house, with his hands clasped behind his back. meeting one of the servants, riche enquired if he could tell him where his master was to be found. "yes, sir, he has just gone into the library." "ah, here you are, villebois. i have been looking for you in order to have a little serious talk before dinner." "certainly, my dear fellow, but why the word 'serious'?" "well, as a matter of fact," said riche gravely, "there are several mysterious things happening here, and i thought that a talk about them between us alone might help to clear them up." "for example?" "in the first place something has happened to renée." "what, something happened to renée?" ejaculated villebois. "no, no, there is no need for anxiety. i do not mean there is anything physically the matter. but céleste has been confiding in me, and has told me that she found renée weeping violently, and when céleste asked the cause of such intense grief, it seems that renée refused to give any explanation or even reply, and immediately locked herself in her room." "oh, you are referring to her not coming down to dinner?" "yes, i cannot imagine what is the reason for it all, but there is more besides. young duval's conduct has been so peculiar. of course i have no right to criticise your guest, but i am rather uneasy in my mind. it seems to me that there is some mystery or some plot on foot. i have no proof of anything definite, but i confess that i do not like the present state of affairs." "tut, tut, my dear riche, something has evidently upset your digestion. all you want is a good dinner, and then you will regard the world through less jaundiced spectacles. i saw renée myself about an hour ago, and she was as happy as possible." "my dear villebois," replied riche, "we are both clear-headed professional men, and we know that when the thermometer rises to 40 c. our patient is in danger, and so we at once set to work to discover the seat of the mischief." "quite so, my dear riche." "now, please, just come along with me and have a talk with your daughter." so saying, riche placed his arm in that of his friend, and together they strolled out on to the verandah where they found céleste patiently waiting for the return of riche. "oh, papa, i am so glad that you are here, come and sit down and do tell me what has come over renée." "my dear child, there is nothing the matter with your sister that i know of," said villebois with surprise. "why do you ask?" "now, papa, there is something wrong with her. she was crying all yesterday afternoon, and refused to give me any reason for it. is it possible that her father or young pierre could have said anything to her?" "my dear little girl, why do you worry your pretty head over such things? renée is as happy as she can be." "she may be now, papa; but she certainly was not so yesterday." "do not trouble yourself about what happened yesterday. sufficient for the day is the--you know--headache thereof, as our friend marcel would say." "oh, papa, it is nothing to joke about and make fun of" replied céleste pouting. "i am not joking, my child, i assure you i have not been so deadly serious since my last evening at one of the english comic theatres. now, riche, i have something important to write, so i will leave this child in your care till dinner; just see that she gets some of those silly ideas about renée out of her head." so saying he leaned over and gently kissed his daughter on the forehead, and smilingly excusing himself, walked off to the library. as soon as her father had left, céleste feeling that she had been treated as if she were still a child, turned to her companion. "now, dr. riche, you can see for yourself that papa will not tell me anything, and is only trifling with me. i want your confidence. i am sure that there is some trouble brewing for renée. is not that your opinion?" "i must confess that it is, mademoiselle, now that you ask me in confidence, but i have no evidence, nothing definite to go on." "but what can have upset renée so much as to make her cry like that?" "what time was it when you found her crying?" asked riche. "about half-past five in the afternoon." "do you know if anyone called to see her before that hour?" "yes, her father called. i remember her maid saying that m. payot had been to see her and had stayed quite a long time." "oh! oh!" exclaimed riche as a sudden thought flashed through his mind. "now we are getting at facts. i wonder whether renée's strange conduct had anything to do with his coming? but no, i confess that for the moment i cannot see any connection. still, who knows?" "oh, please, doctor, do keep an eye on pierre. i do not really know why i ask this, but i feel sure that he means mischief." "i can't help thinking that you may be right after all. let us be allies in ferreting out this mystery. will you help me, mademoiselle céleste? only mind, you must be very discreet." "can i depend on you?" asked céleste, looking up eagerly into his face. "like my own soul, mademoiselle," answered riche solemnly. "we will both keep a watch on pierre duval, and on m. payot as well." "oh, thank you, thank you ever so much. it will be just lovely if we can work together. i will do everything you ask me." after this compact céleste felt more at ease than she had done for some time previously, for she knew that riche was a strong man who went to work and did everything calmly, and would not allow himself to be hurried or put out in the least, and that he would carry out religiously whatever he undertook. the doctor smiled at her impetuosity, and kissing her hand put his fingers to his lips with a wink. "allies and silence," said riche. "that is agreed," replied céleste as she walked quietly away towards the drawing-room to join the others. céleste now felt herself in the seventh heaven of delight at the thought that she had become a joint partner with so great a man as dr. riche, and she accordingly felt herself bursting with pride and importance. after his companion had left him, riche remained thoughtful for a moment or two, and then slowly walked to the drawing-room. "i am quite looking forward to the treat delapine is going to give us this evening," said villebois to riche as the latter joined the group. "ah, i am very sorry, mon cher villebois, to be compelled to disappoint you, but i shall have to postpone the séance until another occasion," said delapine. "oh, professor, what a pity. we shall all be so disappointed, as we were looking forward to the treat. but why have you changed your mind at the last moment?" "i assure you, mon cher docteur, i am as anxious as anyone to please the guests, but it is impossible for me to succeed unless all the members of the circle are in complete harmony with each other. if you turn to the acts of the apostles you will read that when the disciples were met together in an upper room to witness certain spiritualistic phenomena, that the narrator was careful to mention that they were all of one accord. this was the essential condition for the success of all the wonderful phenomena which followed. spiritualism is governed by precisely the same laws now as obtained in those days. do you remember the passage i have just quoted?" "perfectly," answered riche, who in reality knew as much about the acts of the apostles as he did about chinese. "i am quite as disappointed as villebois that our séance has to be postponed." at this moment a servant entered the room and handed a note on a silver tray to villebois. "excuse me a moment, professor, while i read this." "i am pleased to say," interrupted delapine, as villebois took the letter off the tray, "that i have changed my mind. the obstruction is now removed, and our séance will be conducted in perfect harmony." "what has made you change your mind so quickly?" said villebois. "the note you have in your hand, of course." "but i have not opened it yet." "that is immaterial. let me read it to you before you open it," said delapine smiling:- "mon cher docteur, "pray give my best compliments to madame, and apologise for me, as i just recollect i have a very important meeting to attend to in town, which had quite escaped my memory. if i can possibly return later in the evening, it will afford me infinite pleasure to join your circle, but pray do not wait for me. "accept, my dear doctor, the expressions of my most sincere friendship. "toujours à vous, "pierre." "it is word for word correct," said villebois as he handed the note to riche after reading it. "professor, you are a wonder, but how in the name of all that is marvellous did you manage to read it? do you see with röntgen rays?" they both exclaimed almost in the same breath. "it is quite simple. my mind's eye penetrates every kind of substance where neither light nor "x" rays can find an entrance. but you will agree with me that a thing ceases to be wonderful the moment one learns how it is done." "but tell us how you manage to do it," they both exclaimed. "it is a power which is only vouchsafed to a few," replied delapine. "i cannot explain it to you, and if i were able to do so perhaps you would be none the wiser. some day one or other of you may receive the power." "how do you do, payot?" said villebois, as the former gentleman entered the room and joined the group. "eh, what was that i heard about a letter that the professor managed to read without seeing it?" said payot in a tone of command, as if he were questioning a prisoner at a court martial. "it was merely a note from your comrade's son, pierre, regretting that he has been suddenly called away on urgent business," and villebois showed him the letter. "urgent business! urgent fiddlesticks i should say. and what, pray, is the nature of this urgent business that calls him away at this time of day i should like to know?" as no one ventured to supply that information, the financier cleared his throat and replied for the doctor. "these young men are beginning to assume airs that their fathers would never dream of doing. they have lost all sense of discipline, sir. if i had written a letter like that to my chief when i was a lieutenant in the army i should have been put in the cells--put in the cells, sir; do you hear me?--for fourteen days on bread and water, and by god, sir, i should have deserved it. i must see pierre, and look into this matter. by the way, villebois, how is the general getting on?" "oh, quite as well as can be expected. i sewed the ends of the nerve together some days ago, and he is already out of bed. he should be able to go out soon." chapter x delapine interrupts a fight madame villebois had been brought up in a small country town, and as her parents had always lacked both the energy and the desire to travel a yard beyond paris or berck-sur-mer, these were the only places outside her home that she had ever visited in her life. of the rest of france she knew practically nothing, and as for england she only had an idea that it was a country of fogs and shopkeepers, where it was perpetually raining. her parents were profoundly ignorant of everything outside their own home-circle, and considered they had carried out their duty to the full by confiding the education of their only child after she left the convent to the tender mercies of the parish priest. this worthy gentleman had a sort of moral index purgatorius by which he regulated the conduct and instruction of all the children committed to his care, and, like pope paul iv., he not only forbade any thought or action which was forbidden in his index, but even prohibited everything that was not entered there-in as permissible. the result of this training was that madame villebois up to the end of her days considered everything absolutely wicked which had not been expressly sanctioned by her ghostly confessor. still, with all her short-comings, she had a fair share of every-day common-sense, and her knowledge of dress and of cookery went a long way to make up for her dearth of mental qualifications. dinner at the house of the villebois was always a function of vast importance in the eyes of madame. the cuisine and wines were certainly above criticism, consequently an invitation to dine "chez les villebois" was greatly prized by their large circle of friends, and the well-known bonhommie of the good-natured doctor made him an ideal host. as for madame herself, that worthy dame was absolutely certain that her husband's extensive practice was entirely due to her own smart attire and her unflagging devotion to the culinary art, and from early morn till the afternoon, madame spent the most of her time between bargaining with the tradesmen over the details of purchases for the larder, and superintending the important culinary operations in the kitchen itself. "a good cook," she used to say, "makes a good wife," and she was firmly convinced that the seat of her husband's affections was located somewhere in that portly and rotund region of his anatomy which was discreetly covered by the lower part of his waistcoat. "man is merely a civilised animal," she would remark to certain of her intimate female friends, "and if you feed the creature well, you can do almost anything with him." as the guests took their places at the table, the sharp eyes of the hostess noticed a vacant seat-"françois," she asked, turning to the butler standing behind her, "who was that chair placed for?" "monsieur pierre duval, madame." "compose yourself, ma mie," said villebois, "our learned friend left a note of apology stating that he had to return to his office, but that we might possibly see him later." doctor riche gave an almost imperceptible glance at céleste, who at once caught his eye and nodded significantly. "if pierre only knew what he is missing," said riche, tasting the turtle soup, "no amount of business would prevent him from being at this dinner, eh, marcel?" "oh, don't interrupt me, i beg of you, doctor, i have just swallowed a lovely piece of fat without tasting its flavour." "marcel, you are incorrigible, you ought to be made to stand up and say fifty paternosters before each meal. by the way, delapine, we are very anxious for you to tell us your opinion on some of the fundamental points relating to spiritualism." "don't you answer him, professor," said marcel, with his mouth half full of caviar sandwich. "just try my recipe for eating caviar. it is positively entrancing, and consists of spreading it between this slice of brown bread and butter (it must be brown), with a trace of cayenne pepper and a few drops of vinegar, and then laying it on a rich green carpet of mustard and cress. by jove, it is food for the gods. i consider a man who discovers a new dish renders a far greater service to mankind than one who discovers a new planet. we have planets enough already, but we can never have good dishes enough. if i were sufficiently rich i should select all my servants from chefs of renown. my valets, pages, butler, coachman, courier, and footman should all be cooks of the highest reputation, and each should be a specialist in some particular dish or entrée. for example, i should be undressed by an expert in curries, bathed by my connoisseur of wines, put to bed by a specialist in soups, and waited on by a man who had won eternal fame by his profound knowledge of riz de veau à la financière." "what does that mean?" asked céleste. "a smile of a calf to the banker's wife, mademoiselle," replied marcel, helping himself to some blue trout with sauce madeire. renée looked up and smiled at delapine who slipped his hand into hers under the table-cloth. she felt indescribably happy, but a glance at her father, who was looking directly at her, brought her eyes down, and her heart thumped violently as she let go her lover's hand. had payot seen her smile? she dared not look at delapine again, much as she wanted to, and although a moment earlier she had been so happy, she now felt crushed like a wounded bird. "oh, this cruel, cruel world," she said to herself, "why cannot they leave people alone to enjoy themselves?" and her appetite seemed to leave her all in a moment. "please do not pay any attention to me, or even notice me," she said sotto voce to delapine. "i am so afraid you will betray our secret." delapine listened quietly while gazing vacantly at a stream bordered by very fuzzy willow trees in the corot which was hanging on the wall opposite, and made some irrelevant remark to his right-hand neighbour (who happened to be madame villebois) about the way in which pigs are trained to dig up truffles. "large iron rings are inserted through their noses," he said, "so that when the pigs dig up the truffles the rings prevent their eating them, and so the keeper is able to rescue the dainty morsels, and toss them into his basket." "but is the poor pig never allowed to have any of them?" she enquired. "one would think he would soon get disheartened at this treatment, and refuse to dig any more. i know i should if i were a pig." "that you certainly never will be," he answered gallantly. "but i assure you, madame, that piggy is allowed to have all the broken and spoilt tubers as his reward as soon as the task is finished." "well, i am very glad for piggy's sake that it is so," interposed céleste. "it would be very unfair to let him be good for nothing," and she suddenly laughed at the little joke which she had unconsciously uttered. "have you been to see 'les fiançailles forcées' which has just been put on at the vaudeville?" said riche to payot. "no, i confess i have not. what is the plot?" "oh, it is quite an amusing play. there is a man named boucher who has a son, and another fellow named vauban who possesses a charming daughter. well, boucher promises to give vauban a very valuable railway concession if the latter will persuade his daughter to marry the other fellow's son. of course the daughter is secretly in love with another chap, and when vauban tries to persuade his daughter to marry young boucher, there is a tremendous row. oh, i forgot to add that vauban is very wealthy, and of course his money is the chief attraction in boucher's eyes, and the way these two old boys haggle over the amount of coin that is to change hands when the marriage comes off is a caution, i can tell you." "stop, father. father, what are you doing? oh, henri, stop him," cried renée. but payot, blind to all reason and remonstrance, rushed again at the young man. payot's eyes flashed at the speaker with an angry look, as he poured out a large glass of champagne cup and drank it off with a shaky hand at a gulp. "how stupid these plays are becoming," he said, trying to hide his embarrassment and fear lest the doctor should read what was passing through his mind. "i wonder how people can listen to such nonsense. such plots can only happen in the morbid imagination of the playwright." payot was visibly working himself up into a terrible state of excitement, and in order to steady his nerves tossed off one glass of wine after another. "i cannot altogether agree with you, sir," said marcel. "i went to the play on the first night, and i thought it 'ripping.' the whole plot was so well carried out and so natural that i felt it must have been copied from real life." payot frowned at the speaker for daring to differ from him, while céleste and riche simultaneously looked at each other and smiled significantly. the financier caught the glance and began working himself into a rage. at first he tried to turn the conversation, and muttered something incoherently, much to the amusement of marcel who was watching him. "the best of the joke was," continued marcel, with a wink, "that young mademoiselle vauban's lover naturally objected to being discarded for another man, and endeavoured to stop the marriage by hook or by crook. both father and son on their side try to get rid of mademoiselle's lover, but reckon without their host, and find it a more difficult job than they imagine to get this lover out of the way." this was too much for payot; what with the wine getting into his head, and the extraordinary resemblance between marcel's account of the plot and his own dastardly schemes, the financier, feeling his crime being brought home to him, lost all control of himself. "damn you!" he yelled, "how dare you insult me in this way," and upsetting his chair in his rage he clenched his fist, and rushing at marcel aimed a tremendous blow at his face. marcel, although by no means as powerful as his adversary, was as agile as a tiger-cat, and easily parried the blow. "you villain," he cried, "this is a dastardly plot between you, the professor and villebois to ruin me. je suis un vieux, but i will show you i have not forgotten how to fight," and seizing marcel by the throat he attempted to strangle him. madame villebois screamed and fainted, and céleste went to her assistance. "stop, father, stop, you'll kill him," cried renée wringing her hand in terror, but payot lent a deaf ear to her entreaties. meanwhile marcel slipped on the polished floor, and the two combatants rolled over on the ground, locked together in a tight embrace. marcel, with a sudden twist, managed to disentangle himself, and by means of a half-turn, rolled over, and springing up, stepped back flushed and panting, with his collar torn half off. almost at the same instant payot got up and made a rush at marcel who stood on his guard. the financier lunged at him with his left, but the poet ducked under his right arm like a bantam cock, and caught payot one on the right ear. before he could recover marcel was at him again. his blows were feeble compared with payot's tremendous slogging ones. the latter rushed at him again, but marcel danced and dodged and ducked, delivering a rain of small but effective blows, like a stream of shots from a three-inch quick-firer replying to the ponderous twelve-inch gun of a dreadnought. payot drove him against the wall, and seized him by the throat with a deadly grip, which caused marcel to turn livid, and he struggled to unclasp the financier's hold of his throat. all this happened so quickly, and the guests were so petrified with amazement, that they had had barely time to interfere. payot was about to give marcel the coup de grace, but delapine was too quick for him. stepping up he made a pass with his hand in front of payot's face, and hypnotised him with a long steady gaze in his eyes. "sleep," he said in a calm and penetrating voice. "sleep on and banish all recollection of this deed from your mind for ever. henceforth be friends with marcel, control your temper, and devote yourself to your daughter whom you have so long neglected." immediately payot dropped down as if he had been struck by lightning. when the other gentlemen bent over him, as they did an instant later, they found him fast asleep and snoring loudly. "you may shake him as much as you please, gentlemen, but i defy you to wake him. just try and do it, if it amuses you." they all three shook him, and thumped him with their fists as hard as they could, but they might as well have tried to revive a corpse. not a sign of life did he show beyond his rythmic stertorous breathing. villebois, riche, and marcel looked at one another in amazement. "now will two of you gentlemen kindly carry him into the next room and lay him on the sofa. you need not have the least anxiety about him, as he cannot wake up until i give him permission." "and what will happen then?" asked riche. "then he will wake up the moment i give the word." "do you have to shake him, or what do you do?" asked marcel. "i don't even need to be in the house," replied the professor. "he will be obliged to obey me wherever i may happen to be at the time. even if i am a thousand miles away it will not make the slightest difference as regards the result." "great scott!" replied marcel, looking at delapine in astonishment. "i must ask you as a favour, gentlemen, not to speak of this painful incident to anyone again," said the professor, "as monsieur payot will not have the slightest inkling of it when he wakes up." "now," said delapine, as riche and villebois returned from the adjoining room, "let us attend to the ladies." by repeated applications of smelling salts madame villebois was soon brought round, and she was conveyed to her room by her husband. during their absence the poet went to his room, and with villebois' assistance, removed all traces of his recent fight, and putting on a fresh collar made himself presentable once more. "i feel as fresh as a fiddle now, thanks to my wash and brush down." "if you will not mind waiting for me in the library until i have fixed things up i should be awfully obliged," said delapine, "as i must see after the two young ladies." the professor went downstairs and proceeded to pacify renée by assuring her that her father would wake up perfectly calm, and utterly oblivious of his terrible outburst of temper. "are you quite sure he will not remember what has occurred?" she asked. "perfectly," he replied. renée was by this time so accustomed to finding delapine's forecasts prove correct, that she felt quite at ease, and even happy. "oh, how can i thank you, henri, for what you have done," said renée, smiling through her tears. "by not referring to the incident to anybody," replied delapine with a significant look which she thoroughly understood. "and now, my dear mademoiselle," he said to céleste, "go upstairs and stay with your mother; and you, renée, go and tell her as soon as she has calmed down and is able to listen to you, that monsieur payot's outburst was entirely the result of the unexpected return of his hallucinations and delusions which he contracted when fighting the cannibals in cochin-china." "but, professor, father never was in cochin-china, and he never suffered from hallucinations or delusions." "my dear child, what does that matter? i am perfectly aware that your father was never in the east, that there are no cannibals there, and that he never had any delusions. my chief reason for asking you to tell the good lady that your father contracted the mental disease when he was in cochin-china is because i am perfectly certain that she has not the remotest idea where that country is. i wish to convince her that payot imagined he was fighting the cannibals when he was fighting marcel. but now, owing to the treatment i have subjected him to, the delusions have entirely vanished, and he will wake up quite normal. so you must persuade her that she need not have the least fear that such a painful scene will ever happen again. now you understand why i want you and céleste to tell her this story, so that she may welcome monsieur payot with open arms next time. besides, a man like monsieur payot will be a most useful addition to the circle as soon as i have convinced him of the reality of my powers, and made him believe in me implicitly. for, as i have already told you, until harmony and faith in my ability have been established among all the members of the circle, i shall not be able to obtain the necessary conditions for producing psychic phenomena. do not imagine that what i say is a mere trifle. even the master did not many mighty works in galilee because of their unbelief." delapine, riche and villebois left the unfinished dinner and joined marcel in the library, where coffee had been ordered by villebois. "now that the ladies have all been attended to," said villebois, "we may as well make ourselves comfortable, but we have to thank you, professor, for causing the fracas to end so peacefully. mon dieu, but it was a narrow escape; if you had not stopped it as you did i tremble to think what would have happened to marcel." "i thank you for the compliment, doctor, but you will all be pleased to hear that i have so arranged things that the affair is ended so far as the ladies and our absent friends are concerned." "how did you manage it, professor?" asked marcel. "that is my affair," said delapine, "but you may rest assured that i have told you the truth." "and my wife? do you mean to say that you have pacified her?" asked villebois. "perfectly," answered delapine, "she has quite forgiven payot, and will welcome him again most cordially." "what?" cried villebois, "is it really a fact that you have succeeded in twisting her round your little finger as well?" "why not? it was the easiest thing in the world." "well, ma foi, i never could all the years i have been married. you are a marvel, professor, that's all i can say." chapter xi a remarkable conversation "who will absolve you bad christians? 'study,' i replied, 'and knowledge.'" conrade muth in a letter to peter eberdach, 1510. sempre di verita non è convinto chi di parole è vinto guarini (_il pastor fido_, act v., sc. v.) "i do not doubt the probability of a future life even for a moment. this life is too sad, too incomplete to satisfy our highest aspirations and desires. it is meant to be a struggle to ennoble us. can that struggle be in vain? i think not! final perfection, i believe in; a perfection which god has in the end in store for us."--bismarck. _conversations with prince bismarck_, by w.b. richmond, _north american review_, sept., 1914. "at last, gentlemen," said villebois to his three guests, "we can take our coffee in peace. by the way, professor, i want you to explain why it is that the vast majority of mankind pooh-pooh all spiritualistic phenomena, and declare them to be either fraudulent or impossible?" "if you will listen to me, gentlemen, i think i can give you an answer, but i warn you it will be a long one. "in the first place there are very few men in the world who will accept, or even admit a new or unexplained fact. people will only believe in phenomena which are in strict accordance with what they have been accustomed to see or hear. in other words, they have a sort of mental antipathy against believing anything which is not in perfect harmony with known and universally accepted laws. they follow one another like a flock of sheep. "as a teacher of physics i have rarely found a single one among all my students who possessed an absolutely independent judgment. nay, i will go further, i have met with only one or two men during the whole course of my career who were capable of recording a new observation or impression without any preconceived notions, or with even a tithe of the accuracy of a photographic camera. people even equipped with all the acumen that a scientific training can give them, absolutely refuse to believe their senses when they see a phenomenon which appears to run contrary to any of the laws of physics which have been instilled into them by their teachers. even if the phenomena are in accordance with established laws, unless they can be explained, they doubt, or even reject them, and will much sooner believe that they are mistaken, or that their judgment is at fault, than accept the phenomena they have witnessed. "take a familiar instance: in the eighteenth century a savant brought a large stone to the academy of sciences in france which he declared he had seen fall from the sky. the academy set him down as a lunatic, and laplace, one of the members, declared it to be impossible. they all pooh-poohed the fact as ridiculous. there were no stones in the sky--therefore none could tumble down from it. meteorites, which are merely stones which once belonged to some other planet, rush along through space until they fall into the sphere of the earth's attraction and down they tumble. you will find specimens (some of them a ton or more in weight) in every geological museum in europe. now everyone believes in them. i remember well when it was first declared by röntgen that objects wrapped round with several layers of black paper and enclosed in a thick cardboard or wooden box could be accurately photographed. scientists laughed at the idea and declared it to be impossible. 'how could light penetrate opaque screens?' they asked. but to-day every hospital in europe is equipped with an x-ray photographic outfit. if a jar be filled with equal volumes of chlorine and hydrogen gases, so long as it is left in the dark nothing happens, but the moment a beam of light is directed on to it, the contents will explode with a loud report, and hydrochloric acid gas is formed. how? we do not know. therefore, they say it is impossible. a lump of sugar is dropped into a glass of water. it dissolves. how? we cannot tell you. hence they say it cannot occur, and we ought to reject these facts as impossible. a human being is formed in a pitch-dark cavity from an egg almost too small to be seen by the naked eye. how? we cannot explain it. therefore they say we should dismiss the statement as a chimera. hypnotism, or mesmerism as it is called, was first publicly practised in england seventy years ago by dr. braid. his medical brethren not only jeered at him but positively ostracised him, and so persecuted the poor man for what they in their ignorance called quackery and charlatanism, that he became socially and financially ruined. and yet to-day it is practised by hundreds of medical men, and schools of hypnotism have been established both at nancy and here in paris which are recognised by all the medical colleges, and yet it lies on the borderland, as it were, of spiritualism and the occult sciences. spiritualistic phenomena are rejected on precisely the same lines of reasoning. a medium lays his hands on a heavy table. it rises bodily from the ground, or raps in answer to questions, or rocks. it appears to be endowed with life since it acts contrary to the laws of inertia. therefore it is said that the medium is a fraud, and the phenomenon a mere piece of deception or conjuring. another medium goes into a trance, and hands are seen to project from his body which we can feel and handle; or a cloud appears which rapidly condenses into a perfect human form identical in all respects with a real person. we can feel and handle it. it walks about the room. often it can converse with the people in the room. it has ears and eyes and teeth just as we have. if we prick this materialised body, blood flows. we can even photograph it. it is clothed in a garment which we are able to handle with our fingers. we can even cut pieces out of it and examine the texture under the microscope. it is entirely contrary to our experience, therefore it must be due to trickery, or else our senses have deceived us and we have been hypnotised into believing it. nevertheless these phenomena are attested by hundreds of the most clear-headed and sober-minded observers in the world--members of the academy or royal societies of europe, physicists, doctors, chemists, astronomers, etc., etc. a fully developed human being takes twenty years to form--a fully developed psychic being only twenty seconds. if the one can be formed in twenty years, why not the other in twenty seconds? it is merely a question of time. "until a few years ago, the indestructibility of matter was taught in every university and college as one of the most solidly established of all facts. i remember when i was a student of chemistry," said delapine, "that the professor carefully weighed a small candle and then burnt it away. he collected the products of combustion and demonstrated that the elements of which the candle was composed were only separated, and recombined again with the oxygen of the air. they weighed exactly the same as the candle (after deducting the oxygen which had united with them during combustion), nothing was lost. nothing could be destroyed. we were further taught as an indisputable fact that all substances, solid, liquid or gaseous consisted of atoms--the smallest particles of matter which exist, which were indestructible and indivisible--and that there were just as many different kinds of atoms as there were elementary bodies, about eighty kinds in all. the discovery of radium has swept all these 'facts' to the winds. so far from atoms being the smallest things in existence, they are found to contain, or perhaps consist of 'corpuscles' or 'electrons' as they are now called, which are a hundred million times smaller, and these are merely electrified vortex rings, or forms of energy. hence matter is merely a form of electricity, and electricity, magnetism, light and heat are only varieties of energy in the form of minute waves induced by electrons which agitate the ether. the world is merely a mass of stored-up force (energy), and this is derived from the mind of the eternal. we always come back to the same thought of virgil's:--'mens agitat molem.' only the two thousand two hundred millionth part of the heat and light which issue from the sun--in other words an inconceivably small fraction of the whole of its energy--ever reaches our earth; and only the one hundred millionth part ever reaches the planets of our solar system. what then becomes of the remaining stupendous energy? is it dissipated into illimitable space and lost for ever? not at all. the eternal mind makes use of everything, and loses nothing. all this vast amount of heat, light, and electricity which emerges from the sun collects in different parts of the universe, and acts on prodigious swarms of cosmic dust and meteoric matter, converting them into vast nebulous accretions filled with potential energy. these mighty forces ultimately form the parents of fresh solar systems, which in their turn team with life." "my dear professor," exclaimed villebois, charmed at his friend's words, "you have certainly given us an entirely new view of the universe. but tell me, are these psychic forces part of the same system?" "psychic phenomena," answered delapine, "and psychic forces are every whit as real as chemical and physical phenomena, and are subject to just the same unalterable laws. to quote a great american poet:- "the spirit world around this world of sense floats like an atmosphere, and everywhere wafts through these earthly mists and vapours dense a vital breath of more ethereal air." "but how are we to be sure that the mediums do not cheat?" asked riche. "they all do," replied delapine, "not always of course, but very frequently. the reasons are two-fold. in the case of paid mediums they naturally are anxious to show something for their money, and if the phenomena do not come off, there is a great inducement for them to cheat if they can do so without being detected, as it is so much less fatiguing than the real thing. again there is also a great tendency to cheat unconsciously when in the hypnotic condition (as they usually are), and in such cases no blame can be attached to them. still, many mediums do all they can to help the observers, and many of the phenomena are perfectly genuine, and all good experimenters take care that the mediums are under conditions in which trickery is impossible." "to me," said riche, "what you say is perfectly reasonable, but i would like to ask you one question. what is life? when a man dies, will he live again? is his soul destroyed outright or does it escape unaltered and manifest itself in other surroundings? is the soul too subtle for the senses to perceive, or is it only seen when it acts through our bodies?" "i will endeavour to answer your question," said delapine, "but my knowledge is too limited to give you really satisfactory answers. all attempts to explain life by experiments in the laboratory, by chemistry, or by physics are equally futile. bastian, tyndall, büchner, stokes, haeckel, kelvin, butler-burke, schaefer, and a host of others have essayed to explain life, and all have failed utterly. the hypothesis of arrhenius that life in the first instance was brought to this planet from some other world by the pressure of radiation, or the theory of lord kelvin that the primeval germ travelled here on the back of a meteorite can only be received with an incredulous smile as being more suited for a romance of the jules verne type than a topic for serious consideration. "the relation between life and energy, or between life and electricity or magnetism has never been established. i will even go further, i maintain that no such relation ever will be established. nor will it ever be possible for the chemist to manufacture life out of any substance be it simple or compound. life, i contend, is eternal, and consequently uncreated, for what has an end must of necessity have had a beginning. life seems to be independent of energy, and consequently it will never be manufactured in the laboratory by any process, nor can nature produce it 'de novo.' all efforts to describe it are futile. we only know that it is a mysterious 'something' which, acting through protoplasm, enables an organised substance or 'body' to overcome inertia and resist decay. the proof that life is akin to mind lies in the fact that as soon as the organized substance is endowed with life, it not only transforms other substances outside its body into its own substance, but it does more--it even exercises a power of selection or choice. it refuses one substance which may be unsuitable to its well being, and accepts another which it prefers for private reasons. in a word it endows the speck of protoplasm which constitutes the organism with a will of its own. it is as if it would say to the organism 'eritis sicut deus scientes bonum et malum.' is not that a proof of mind, eh? one thing is certain, wherever and whenever the conditions are such as to render life possible, life will immediately begin to assert itself, not by any ultra-scientific process, but through the eternal and unchangeable laws by and through which nature has ever worked." "is there any purpose in our being born in a frail body like this?" asked riche. "in fact why should we have a body at all?" "according to my view," replied delapine after a moment's reflection, "the object is to enable a minute particle of the infinite spirit or mind, which we call a soul, to be detached from our parent, and become a separate unit. the moment self-consciousness, or the 'ego,' as it is sometimes called, is established during the course of the development of the body, it becomes a thinking soul, and is then endowed with its own individuality modified by countless ancestral traits which it has inherited through an infinitely long series of transformations extending throughout the entire animal kingdom. only in this way can a fraction of the eternal spirit which is passed on from generation to generation become isolated and individualized as a self-conscious immortal entity. and the only conceivable use of the body is to allow of its faculties becoming formed and developed in its 'ego' or 'self.' it is the growth of the body that permits of the soul acquiring the experience, knowledge, and attributes which together contribute to mould and create our human personality, and which form an essential step in the progress of the soul to higher planes of existence. "these appear to me to be some of the reasons why it is essential that the soul should be clothed in a bodily envelope as a preparation for a higher existence, and as soon as the soul has acquired these qualities, and its vitality has been transmitted to the offspring, the body has no further raison d'etre for existing, and therefore remains a mere useless shell whose future is but to die. we find the same scheme (although i admit it is a very imperfect simile) in the pupa stage of many of the insects, which is the necessary prelude to its emergence as the imago, or perfect insect. "life is so bound up with, and inseparable from mind, that it is impossible for us in the present state of our knowledge to say whether life is the product of mind, or whether mind is the product of life. our knowledge is so limited that we can hardly explain anything. for instance, you may ask me what is light, or electricity, or magnetism, or gravity, or matter even? what originates force or energy? you see how ignorant i am, i cannot even answer the simplest of these questions. you may remember that the great naturalist ernst haeckel wrote a book entitled _the riddles of the universe_. in that book he attempted to explain these riddles which i have just asked you. these riddles remain exactly as they were before--unanswered." "but one thing you have not answered yet," interrupted riche. "is there any absolute proof that we retain our individuality and self-consciousness after death, or in other words, shall we not only survive death but become aware of the fact." "all the researches which i and hundreds of other investigators have made, point without a shadow of doubt to a reply in the affirmative," answered delapine, "and yet, on the other hand, we have no absolute proof that the communications which mediums deliver in a trance really come from those who have died. by absolute proof, i mean proof of the same convincing nature as a demonstration in mathematics or physics. but if you will have a little patience i will afford you all an opportunity of judging for yourselves, gentlemen." "but how are we to obtain the convincing proof which you seek?" interposed villebois. "by experiment, by patient research, and by reflection; not in the realm of physics, for that only deals with material forces, but by employing the utmost care and vigilance to counteract fraud and deception of every kind, and only by the accumulation of evidence shall we find the solution of the problem. there alone is to be found the key which will unlock the door behind which lie at present all these mysteries. ah," he continued, and his eyes flashed with enthusiasm, "i can see it coming, i feel it in the air. the day of our salvation is drawing near. the sphinx that has been silent all these centuries is at last beginning to move its lips. all our creeds are dead, and all our old faiths are dying out. a new revelation is at hand in the world of spiritualism. i am fully convinced that there will be no miracles in the world beyond the grave, any more than there are, or (in my opinion) ever have been in this world, and i am further convinced that we shall have all these questions answered in the future life which i know persists beyond the grave. as the poet says:- "'there is no death, what seems so is transition, this life of mortal breath is but a suburb of the life elysian whose portal we call death.' "the saying of the ancients, 'mors janua vitae' (death is the gate of life) is a solemn truth which runs like a golden thread through the entire creative fabric. he that loseth his life shall save it, is not a paradox but an eternal fact. 'follow me,' said the master, 'and i will point out the way of life. i will lead you through the valley of death to victory.' 'death ends all' cries a despairing world, but the spirit throughout the ages answers 'nay, it ends nothing, for thou, o nazarene, hast conquered death for evermore.' "wonders upon wonders will unfold themselves before us, this world cannot hold our spirits prisoners, and other worlds will become as accessible to us then as the suburbs of this town are at present." so striking was the personality of the professor, and the conviction which his words carried, that the effect on his hearers was electric, and for a brief space of time each one held his breath. "don't you believe in a hell and eternal damnation?" asked riche, who never believed in anything outside his own profession. "there is neither hell nor damnation for anyone--there never was, and there never will be," delapine answered. "the only hell that exists is the one that man creates for himself, and he can create a heaven just as easily as a hell. there are no limitations in the future life. life was meant to be enjoyed, not endured, both in this world and the next." "and what is your opinion about it all?" said riche to marcel. "oh, for my part i agree with the fellow who said that life was just one damn thing after another." villebois burst into a hearty laugh, in which he was joined by delapine. "i think," said the professor, "that it is about time we woke up our esteemed friend payot. it is now five minutes to ten. will you set your watches to agree with mine, and then all three of you go and stand beside his couch while i stay here. precisely at ten o'clock i will tell him to wake up. but mind it must be distinctly understood, and you must promise me, that you will do nothing except carefully look at your watches." all three left the room and crept quietly up to where payot lay in a deep sleep, and took their stand around the insensible figure in front of them, each with his watch in his hand. "mon dieu," whispered marcel to riche, "this is like 'waking' a corpse, as they say in ireland. it is positively creepy." they looked at their watches--it was two minutes to the hour. "well, the old boy is fast enough asleep now at any-rate," said riche in a half whisper. "i wonder whether delapine will be able to do it? hadn't we better rouse him up?" and as he spoke he leaned over the prostrate figure. "no, for god's sake, no," said villebois in a hoarse whisper. "remember what delapine said, and our promise not to touch him." silently the three men stood round the couch watching the second hands of their time-pieces rotating in the little circles. "half a minute yet," whispered villebois. twenty seconds. fifteen seconds. the suspense was beginning to tell upon their nerves. the silence in the large room was so great that even the ticking of the watches could be heard in the furthest corner. ten seconds. five seconds. two seconds. and then--the financier gave a violent sneeze. one second and he opened his eyes. a moment later and all the watches pointed exactly to the hour. ten o'clock had at last arrived. payot sat up on the couch and stared round him. "where am i?" he exclaimed. "what are you gentlemen doing here, you, villebois, and you, riche? tell me what does it all mean, and what am i doing here? i cannot remember anything; have i been ill, or what has happened?" "oh, no, my dear sir," replied villebois, "you are quite well. don't you remember you said that you felt sleepy. you must have had a little too much wine, which no doubt made you drowsy, eh?" "hullo, marcel, you there too. give me your hand. my dear fellow i am delighted to meet you again," said payot. "i suppose i must have supped a little too freely," he continued; "i remember having dinner--a very good one it was, villebois, but what happened afterwards i have not the remotest recollection. well, anyhow, i feel quite refreshed. if you do not mind, i will get ready to come downstairs." the three watchers then left after shaking hands with him, and returned to the library. "well," said delapine, "and did our friend wake up?" "precisely on the stroke of ten," they all replied together. "and did he say anything to you, marcel?" "oh, he shook me by the hand and said he was delighted to meet me again." "did he refer in any way to his fight with you?" "not one word on the subject, professor. i am perfectly convinced that he has not the slightest idea that he ever had a quarrel with me." "this is perfectly incomprehensible," said riche. "'pon my word, delapine, you make me afraid of you." a moment later payot, looking none the worse for his enforced sleep, entered the room. "hullo, here you all are," he cried. "i have just been looking for you. and pray, where is madame?" he continued, as he sat down, while villebois handed him a liqueur. "my wife had a bad headache and retired to bed," said villebois, "and céleste went to look after her with a plentiful supply of vinaigre and smelling salts." "and renée?" "oh, renée, i don't know where she is. i think she has gone to practice some music." "my dear marcel, what is the matter with your eye?" said payot. "it looks as if you had received a blow there. you have not been fighting with anyone surely?" "oh dear, no. as a matter of fact i slipped as i was going down the steps of the house and struck my eye against the corner of the balustrade." "i hope it is nothing serious, my dear marcel? it is your duty to see to him, villebois, these little accidents sometimes become serious. anyhow, you could not be in better hands than under the care of my excellent friend here. i would not have been the cause of this accident for worlds, is that not so, my good friend marcel? i only wish i could have been in time to prevent it." marcel looked up at riche, who winked significantly. "he will be all right to-morrow morning," said villebois. "i remember once when i was a young man in the army," payot remarked, "a rude fellow stood in my way as i was walking along the pavement with a young lady on my arm. i promptly hit him on the head with my stick, when he replied by giving me a terrible black eye with his fist. i ran after him, but the rascal was too quick for me, and he escaped. i had arranged to go to a fancy dress ball that night, attired as romeo, and i had the costume specially made for me. of course the costume had to be discarded, as i could not very well appear as a romeo with a black eye. so what do you think i did? i got the costumier to white-wash my face all over, and dress me up as a pierrot. and a very handsome pierrot i made, i assure you. ah! i was an uncommonly fine fellow in those days. hullo," he added, looking at his watch, "good gracious me, it is past ten. what have you three been doing since dinner?" "oh, we have been entertained by the professor," said marcel, smiling in spite of himself. "he has been giving us a discourse on spiritualism." "ah, most interesting, most instructive i am sure," replied payot. "m. delapine knows the immense interest i take in those things. you know i have always maintained there is a great deal of truth in it, haven't i, marcel?" "oh, lord, deliver us," said marcel aside to riche. "melted butter isn't in it. i wonder what he'll say next. my word, isn't he coming round. surely he's growing dotty," and marcel screwed his monocle into his left eye and gazed at old payot with a dubious smile. "don't you remember delapine's words when he hypnotised him?" asked riche in a whisper. "oh yes, of course i do. how very extraordinary! everything delapine says seems to come true to the letter. well, who would have thought it," and then he added sotto voce, "it beats alice in wonderland." delapine shut his eyes and placed his finger-tips together. "what are you thinking of, my dear professor?" asked villebois. "capital, capital," replied delapine, rousing himself at the question and smiling with great satisfaction. "this is better than i expected. we shall have a great séance to-morrow--a great séance. now i am sure of success," he continued as he watched the mental transformation of payot. "the only discord i feared is removed. harmony will prevail." "will you take some more whisky, professor?" asked villebois. "no, thanks, i am rather tired." "i shall 'whisky' to bed," interposed marcel. "if i don't lie down, i shall soon have to lie up," he added with a laugh. "i feel bruised all over, like a cake of dough that has been pounded with a rolling-pin." payot looked at him in astonishment, wondering what he referred to, and turned to villebois for an explanation. "oh, don't pay any attention to marcel. i think at times he does not know himself what he means. you see," he added, "poets are quite different from ordinary mortals like us." "that is why they require a licence, i suppose," said riche. "we only hesitate to believe him when he is speaking the truth." "you are very unkind to rob a poor poet of his character," said marcel. "impossible in your case," said riche laughing. "you have none to lose." "upon my soul, you will be trying to rob me of my shadow next." "then we shall begin to believe you without the shadow of a doubt." "well, gentlemen, what do you say to our all going to bed?" asked villebois. "good-night, monsieur payot, and may fortune smile on to-morrow's séance. and now, my dear professor," he continued, turning to delapine, "i am sure that you will need a good rest before you start your task of calling up the spirits from the vasty deep." "upon my word, i am almost afraid to go to bed," said marcel, as they passed upstairs to their rooms which were next to each other. "i shall be dreaming of ghosts and goblins all night, and imagining that i see the portraits walking out of their frames." "believe me you will see more wonderful things than that, my boy, before you are a day older," said villebois as he shook hands with him. chapter xii the seance "it is the unexpected which always happens." d'israeli. "le passage est bien court de la joie aux douleurs." victor hugo. at last the long-looked-for day of the promised séance arrived, and in the evening after dinner madame villebois, anxious to carry out delapine's instructions down to the most minute particular, busied herself in preparing all the details for the arrangement of the room. a sound sleep the previous night had completely restored the good lady's nerves, and the professor's assurance that m. payot had not the slightest recollection of what had occurred had quite allayed her fears. "my dear, i assure you that marcel and payot are now the best of friends," said the doctor, "and everybody is in the best of spirits." "but how could that have possibly been brought about?" asked madame a little dubiously. "ah, i see you don't know delapine yet," replied her husband. "he is a marvel. i really believe that he could tame a bengal tiger with a single gesture, and as for m. payot, he is just like wax in the professor's hands. you need not have the slightest fear about our friend marcel either. he has not only forgiven payot, but has made him positively forget that there ever was a difference between them." madame merely shrugged her shoulders, but a glance at the beaming face of the poet who happened to enter the room at the moment, entirely reassured her. as for the other members of the house party, needless to say they were all on the tip-toe of expectation, not unmixed in the case of renée with a certain amount of anxiety. delapine returned from the sorbonne rather earlier than usual, in order to see that all the necessary arrangements were made in strict accordance with his wishes. at his suggestion his host had given up for the séance a large room opening into the conservatory, and it was here that delapine found madame villebois busy getting everything in readiness. all the blinds had been closely drawn down, and only a solitary paraffin lamp threw a subdued light over the apartment. a heavy circular oak table had been placed in the centre of the room, and round this table were set some eight or nine chairs. the walls had been bared of all pictures and curtains, and with the exception of the table and chairs and a short grand piano, the only piece of furniture occupying the room was a large lightly built cabinet, which had been specially constructed of laths nailed together, and the whole surrounded by a green baize curtain. this curtain was so arranged that it reached the entire height of the cabinet, and it was simply folded in front so that its edges could be hooked back and aside, thus allowing the contents of the cabinet to be clearly visible. the result of this arrangement of the green curtain was that there was only one opening, where its edges nearly met in the middle line facing the audience. this idea had been insisted upon by delapine in order to obviate all possibility of fraud or collusion, so that before he went to sleep in the cabinet, every one of those present at the séance might have an opportunity of examining every nook and corner. as a further precaution, delapine himself had seen that all the doors and windows were securely fastened on the inside, with the exception of the single entrance from the dining-room. and to crown all, a camera was fixed in position at one end of the room under the special care of riche to enable him to take an indisputable record of any striking phenomena. the first to arrive was pierre, who in greeting his hostess, tendered his most profuse apologies for his unavoidable absence, explaining that nothing but a most urgent call to an appointment at his office could have taken him away at such a moment from his charming friends. and then, after a few words to each of the other guests, he quietly sat down next to riche. a moment later m. payot, fresh and jaunty as if nothing had happened, came in beaming and wearing a large floral decoration in his button-hole, from behind the shelter of whose foliage he showered smiles on everybody. villebois nudged his better half and entreated her with a look not to broach the subject of the previous evening's quarrel, but she failed to take the hint. "ah, delighted to see you again, my dear madame," said the financier, as he shook hands in the most friendly manner. "i trust you have fully recovered from your indisposition of the last evening?" "thank you, my dear m. payot," replied the good lady smiling, "and i also hope that you have recovered from your fight." "my fight, madame. what do you mean? i have not fought anyone since my justly celebrated duel with m. camembert, editor of the _journal de paris_ fifteen years ago." "why, i mean your fight with marcel last evening." "my fight with marcel? my dear madame, surely you must be dreaming? i never had a quarrel with my little friend marcel in all my life. isn't it the truth, villebois?" and payot, completely mystified, appealed to his host for confirmation. poor villebois looked terrified. "for god's sake, my dear, do be quiet," he whispered, and then added in a louder tone, "pray excuse my wife, she has been reading a dreadful account of a fight between the police and the apaches. that, i fear, added to her nervous headache has completely confused her mind about the events of last evening." the good lady was about to remonstrate with her husband, when céleste with great tact soothed her feelings, and adroitly turned her thoughts in another direction. payot, apparently satisfied, accepted the explanation, and at length order and peace were established, and everyone sat breathlessly waiting for the professor. seeing that everything was at last quiet, and that all his audience were composed and ready, delapine, who had been assuring himself that his instructions with regard to the cabinet had been properly attended to, moved towards the centre of the room and said: "you must not imagine, my friends, that spiritualistic phenomena can always be produced at will, like a physical experiment in a laboratory. often no phenomena take place at all, and still more often certain unknown influences modify or alter them, so that frequently we obtain only imperfect results, or phenomena entirely different from what we expected. you should remember that really we are here to observe and not to experiment. let us now join hands round the table," and so saying the professor, having lowered the lamp, placed his hands wide apart with his fingers lightly resting on the table. the others proceeded to do the same in order to complete the circle. at this moment riche heard a slight movement, and quietly turning his head noticed pierre getting up from his chair. in spite of the dim light pierre saw that riche was watching his movements and walking up to the doctor on tip-toe whispered in his ear, "please tell the company as soon as this performance is over, that i was obliged to go to my chambers at once on urgent business, and much as i regret it, it will be quite impossible for me to return to-night." riche squeezed his hand and nodding assent, pierre unobserved by the others left the room. silently, and in a state of expectation bordering almost on excitement the eight members of the circle sat round the table; delapine, renée, villebois, madame villebois, payot, céleste, riche and marcel, the latter completing the circle with delapine. the professor was the first to break the silence-"i must request each one of you," he said authoritatively, "on no account to touch any one of the four legs of this table. i have specially tied tissue paper round each leg in such a way that if any one of you touches it the paper will be soiled or crumpled." "why did you put a red screen round the lamp, and turn the light down low like that?" asked riche. "for the same reason that you use a red light when developing a photographic plate," replied delapine. "because it is well-known that a white light would spoil the plate. and in the same way the vibrations of white light interfere with the intensely rapid vibrations which produce our phenomena. but hush," he continued in an audible whisper, "i feel the presence of some mysterious force." "can you perceive anyone besides us, professor?" asked riche in an awed whisper. "yes," replied delapine. "the stranger at my fireside cannot see the forms, nor hear the sounds i hear, he but perceives what is; while unto me all that has been is visible and clear. "do you suppose for a moment," he continued, "that we are able to be in touch with everything that goes on around us, when all our knowledge of the outside world is obtained through the five kinds of vibrations which reach our senses? i assure you there are a thousand varieties of vibrations of which we are entirely unconscious, but they can be perceived by the soul when it is freed from its earthly environment. now i will try whether i have the power to move matter by my will. all of you keep your hands lightly touching the table, and do not on any account break the circuit. each one of you must endeavour to be perfectly convinced of my power." for a few moments nothing happened, then gradually each one felt a tremor run through his fingers, and the table began to heave up and down first on one side and then on the other. "the table seems to be alive," said renée alarmed. "it moves in spite of all my efforts to keep it still." "yes," said marcel, "i have been pressing down with all my might, but it is of no use. look, look, it is rising up." slowly, but none the less surely, the table rose bodily, until at last the members of the circle were compelled to stand up in order to keep their hands still resting on it, as ordered by delapine. "press, press with all your might," cried delapine loudly, "and see if you can overcome my will." all pressed heavily in their desire to carry out implicitly every command of the professor, but their efforts were in vain. at last the table rose to such a height that the whole company were compelled to stand on their chairs, but even then their united pressure was of no avail for the table steadily rose above their heads. "now, riche, quick," called out delapine, "take a stereoscopic photograph that all may see that the table is actually suspended in the air above the ground." "right," said riche, as he quickly took a couple of snapshots with magnesium flashlight. immediately afterwards delapine, who was standing on tip-toe on his chair, suddenly withdrew his hands from the table as it rested poised above his head. "stand back, stand back," shouted the professor, and as they all obeyed the instruction the table, weighing about half a hundredweight, fell with a tremendous crash, breaking one of its legs in two. "good god!" exclaimed marcel, "what a smash. it nearly caved my head in. i was too much interested watching it to jump back when you shouted." "anyhow i shall have a couple of good stereo negatives to convince all unbelievers," said riche. "it just missed my toe," said payot, laughing, "but all the same i am not yet convinced. the professor can make the table rise in spite of our united efforts to hold it down, but i defy him to keep it down when we all try to raise it up." "i can do that with the greatest ease," said delapine. "the question before the house," said marcel in english, "is that professor delapine do exercise his will to prevent us from raising up this table while we use all our strength in lifting it. are the honourable members agreed? i think the 'ayes' have it." "now, ladies and gentlemen," he continued, "let us put our fingers under the edge of the table. so--yes, that's right. now then, one, two, three, and all together--up she goes," and the four men and the ladies strained until their arms ached, but the table refused to budge even the fraction of an inch. suddenly delapine removed his hands before any of the circle had time to cease pulling, and called out loudly, "i retire, you have your way." such was the force exerted by the members of the circle that the table seemed to be thrown into the air. the jerk was so great that it sent them all reeling, and villebois was only just in time to save his wife from falling. the guests stared at each other in amazement. "i am sorry your table is broken," said delapine to the host, "but really you must blame the sitters for pulling so hard." "oh, that is nothing, my dear delapine. the carpenter can mend it to-morrow, and it will be as good as ever." "by the way, ladies and gentlemen," said the professor, "what do you say to a little music? i think it will calm our nerves, and render us in a more favourable state of mind for some far more wonderful things which i think i shall be able to show you. perhaps mademoiselle payot will favour us with some sweet melody with her violin." renée blushed, and the guests signifying their approval, she went and fetched her music. "what shall i play, monsieur delapine?" she asked a little nervously. "let me see. i think sarasate's 'zigeunerweisen' is very charming, but no, let us have schubert's 'ave maria' if you approve. it is a very sweet, soothing air. or, if you haven't got that perfect, you might give us chopin's 'nocturne in e flat.' i think this haunting melody one of the most delightful refrains in the world. it is truly an inspired air." renée turned her violin, which was a very fine specimen of villaume's skill, given her by dr. villebois on her last birthday. "won't you accompany her?" said villebois, for delapine with his acutely sensitive nature and remarkable talent had developed a technique on the pianoforte which was envied by many of the great artistes, and would have secured him a european reputation had he turned his gifts in the direction of music instead of physics. villebois opened the grand piano which stood at the end of the room. "no," replied delapine, "i will take a short sleep with your permission." and he folded his hands with his long sensitive finger-tips touching each other as was his habit, while he sank back in his chair. his face became suddenly transfigured, and changed to an almost death-like pallor. gradually he appeared to go off into a kind of trance. renée, having tuned up her instrument, began playing. suddenly the guests were petrified with astonishment by hearing the piano accurately accompanying her all by itself. they could see the notes being struck as if by some invisible hand. what they particularly noticed was the exquisite touch, the perfect time, and the wonderful technique of the inconnu. they looked from the pianoforte to the professor, and observed his fingers rapidly twitching in perfect time with the corresponding notes on the piano. "do you notice delapine's fingers?" whispered riche to villebois. "see, they are keeping time with the music." "it's more than wonderful, it's marvellous," replied villebois. but the professor was in a profound state of coma. he never stirred, and they could only detect the nervous movements of his fingers, and a corresponding tremble of his lips. renée felt inspired. the fact that her adored fiancé was accompanying her, caused her to redouble her efforts, and she far surpassed her extreme powers. even her teacher, who was very reserved in his compliments, would have been unable to have detected a fault had he been present. the conversation which had begun in whispers stopped by common consent, and all listened enraptured. at length the music ceased, and renée observed the silent approval in the faces of all the guests, but the professor never woke. villebois got up with the intention of awakening the professor, but renée seized his arm, and putting her finger to her lips, bade him sit down quietly. all the guests remained sitting in profound silence. suddenly renée walked over to where delapine was sleeping, and clasped him by the hand. she evidently felt something, for she relinquished his hand and stole softly out of the room, leaving the door wide open. riche noticed renée's departure, and whispered to céleste, who silently left the room to look for renée. the guests had been waiting in silence for about a minute when suddenly they heard the organ (which villebois had erected at the end of the library) pealing out the air of the "marche funèbre." first came the prelude, then the solemn tones of death and the mourners and the funeral service, and gradually the vox celeste and the vox humana pealed forth the triumphant notes "oh, death, where is thy sting, oh, grave, thy victory? for death is swallowed up in victory." the guests were entranced. the organ, which had a superb tone, was played as it had never been played before. "surely angels must be playing it," said céleste to riche, who had tracked her to the library, and found her working the bellows with all her might. but the keys and stops moved of their own accord. at length the air was finished, and the guests who had stood in awe just inside the door of the library returned to the séance. delapine had just woken up. "well," he said to the astonished guests, "i have had such a curious dream. i dreamt that i was in heaven and that i was playing the 'march funèbre' to a select crowd of angels." "by jove," said marcel, "i would go to heaven to-morrow if i could hear music like that. why, my dear professor, i never heard such music in my life, and i have heard some pretty good stuff, i assure you. you would make paderewski weep with mingled envy and rapture. his music one can only compare to a school-girl strumming after yours." "oh, please, professor, give us one more piece," said madame villebois and céleste in one breath. "well, if i can, you shall have one more, but i shall want a rest afterwards, as it fatigues me more than you have any idea of." he whispered something to renée, and she at once rose and tuned up her violin. placing the piece of music in front of her, she began playing the prelude to 'en sourdine' by tellam. then suddenly the piano took up the refrain. have you ever read dumas fils' 'la dame aux camelias'? if you have you will understand the piece. you remember where marguerite has been forsaken by her lover owing to the pressure put on him by his good but mistaken father. well, this piece reproduces the scene, and you can positively hear, and even feel the poor girl sobbing her heart out. and then comes the delightful refrain, and finally the exultant triumph of love. never was melody more rapturously poured forth. the guests hung on the refrain, and at the conclusion madame villebois was silently weeping. "i propose," said marcel, unconsciously imitating the speaker of the house of commons on the conclusion of sheridan's great speech during the debate on warren hastings, "that we do now adjourn to the smoking room to recover from the sublime effects of delapine's and renée's melodies." the professor went to his room to obtain his much needed rest on the sofa, while the ladies chatted together. "dear ladies," said marcel, when they had sat down, "what tennyson wrote in the chorus song of the 'lotus eaters' is quite appropriate to what we have just heard:- "there is sweet music here that softer falls than petals from blown roses on the grass, or night dews on still waters between walls of shadowy granite, in a gleaming pass; music that gentlier on the spirit lies, than tired eyelids upon tired eyes; music that brings sweet sleep down from the blissful skies." chapter xiii the debacle la vie est vaine: un peu d'amour, un peu de haine, et puis--bon jour. la vie est brève; un peu d'espoir, un peu de rêve, et puis--bon soir. (monte-naken). concurritis horae momento cità mors venit. (_horace_, s. 1 1.7). "amer sanz paine rien ne vault."--old french proverb. "professor," said monsieur payot after delapine had had a good rest, and the guests had assembled in the room of the séance once more. "did you really play the piano?" "of course," said delapine, "and the organ too. did you not see me send your daughter into the library to work the bellows?" "yes, i distinctly remember her tip-toeing out of the room, but i had no idea she went for that purpose. besides she has never learnt to play the organ." "but you remember, papa, i used to work the bellows in the old village church." "that is true, renée," said payot, patting her on the head. renée looked up, surprised, and her eyes filled with tears, as this was the first time she had been caressed by her father since her mother died. "what on earth can henri have done," she asked herself, "to have effected such a wonderful change in my father? i really must ask him when we are alone." "can you explain how you managed to play?" asked riche. "did you notice my fingers jerking?" replied delapine. "yes," answered both riche and villebois together, "and we noticed that they kept time with the music." "i think it would be more accurate to say that the music kept time with my fingers, eh?" said delapine smiling. "but that does not explain anything," said riche. "on the contrary," said delapine, "it explains a great deal." "in what way?" "i will try to point it out to you. "a nervous impulse or current is generated in my brain which flows along my nerves. this current, or series of waves, extends far beyond my body, and my will can influence its direction and force. thus i can make it move in any direction i please. i can make it lift, or depress, or shift the objects lying in its path. thus i can cause this wave-force to depress the keys of a piano, or an organ either softly or loudly. i can even cause it to give rise to taps and noises, and i can control these noises, and by generating supplementary overtones i can imitate any instrument i please. since this nervous impulse passes down my nerves, it causes the twitching movements in my fingers which you observed, and these are synchronous with the movements of the keys of the instrument, or in popular language both my fingers and the keys move simultaneously." "what is the nature of this impulse?" asked riche. "that i cannot tell you. i only know the vibrations are exceedingly rapid. some people call it odic force, others magnetic fluid, others nervo-magnetic impulses. but these terms are worse than valueless, they are actually harmful, as they tend to mislead by giving rise to the idea that the impulse is known and explained, whereas we are profoundly ignorant of the nature of the waves. you will invariably find ignorant people ascribing these unknown impulses to magnetism or electricity, and calling it magnetic force, but it has nothing in common with magnetism, since no magnetic field is developed, nor has it, as far as we know, anything to do with electricity. people when they know nothing about a force give it a mysterious name, and imagine by so doing that they have explained it, whereas they have done nothing of the sort. if i guess rightly, this force which emanates from my will acts much in the same way that gravity does, by pulling two bodies towards each other. when i project the force in a strong current, or as we physicists call it an ethereal wave-motion, into the table, i can either make this force positive and draw the table away from the ground, or make it negative and thus neutralise the combined pulling force which you all exerted to raise the table. but this is merely a surmise. future research may upset the theory altogether, or at any rate profoundly modify it. you see how ignorant i am. nevertheless, although i cannot explain this force i have the power not only to move heavy bodies, but to cause instruments to play, and even apparently to create material bodies by causing the molecules of a body to leave it and to re-combine to form another body outside. nor is this power confined to the immediate vicinity. i can affect bodies, and cause them to appear in phantom form at prodigious distances away. you may well shrug your shoulders and shake your heads and smile, but you will be compelled to repeat what tertullian wrote seventeen centuries ago, 'certum est quia impossibile est.'"[8] "are these wonderful phenomena described in books?" asked riche. "certainly," replied the professor, "they have been recorded in innumerable books for thousands of years past." "i should like to study the subject," added riche. "can you recommend me a good text book to commence my studies with?" "begin by reading the four gospels, and the acts of the apostles," said delapine with a smile. "are you serious, professor?" asked riche. "never more so, i assure you. i know no better books to begin your studies with. jesus christ was not only endowed with the greatest amount of psychic power the world has ever known, but all his disciples (with one important exception) were specially chosen for their mediumistic power. they failed to select psychists to replace them, and as they could not transmit the power, the moment they died all miracles, _i. e_., supernormal phenomena ceased. and now, my dear villebois, pray bring me another table and remove this broken one." villebois did as delapine requested, and the guests sat down round it again. "i feel the presence of some spirit," delapine remarked. "let us put our hands on the table and find out if it is so. everyone present will please keep his feet at the back of the chair as no one must touch the table with his foot, even by accident." having assured himself that his instructions had been obeyed, he asked them all to join hands and to wait in silence. after waiting patiently ten minutes a slight tremor shook the table. "three raps will mean 'yes,' two raps 'no.' "are there any spirits present?" asked delapine. three knocks were heard and felt by all the sitters. "what is your name?" slowly the raps spelt out m-a-r-i-a l-e-o-n-o-r-a. "maria leonora, why, that is my dear mother's maiden name," whispered renée to villebois. again the raps spelt out m-a-r-i-a l-e-o-n-o-r-a. the financier turned pale as death, while renée trembled all over. "i want monsieur delapine to retire to the cabinet, i think i can then collect power enough to appear and speak," was rapped out. delapine leaned over to riche and whispered in his ear, "whatever you do, you must not disturb me nor touch any materialised form you may see without permission from the person. get the camera ready and use your largest plate, and be prepared to expose by the magnesium light the instant when you get permission by the voice. now put the red shade over the lamp and turn it down lower." in the meantime delapine entered the cabinet and lay down on the couch which was the sole piece of furniture inside it. immediately he fell into a kind of trance. the curtains were half open, and the guests could dimly observe him and hear his slow measured breathing. slowly a mist seemed to issue forth from the cabinet which gradually condensed into the outlines of a woman attired in a black silk dress with a white lace collar. in a few seconds the form could be distinctly seen moving towards the guests. she approached renée who recognised her in the dim light. "is that you, darling mother?" she cried, "you don't seem changed a bit." "yes, renée, i am your mother, and you don't appear changed either, as i have seen you ever so many times since i passed over. i have often stood at your bedside and watched over you. turn the lamp higher, i have power enough left to stand it for a few moments. but i must envelope myself in a white garment just to prevent the light from affecting me." they turned the light up, and all the guests beheld the features of a beautiful woman with light golden-brown wavy hair, enveloped in a white gauze-like fabric. "pray don't touch me," she said to payot, who tried to put his arms round her. "you will kill my medium if you do." "what!" said villebois, "do you mean to say that it will injure m. delapine?" "indeed it will," she replied, "but i cannot tell you the reason." "oh, my dear husband," she said, "promise me that you will be kind to my little renée. your conduct to her since i passed over has caused me such intense grief." "i promise," said payot, feeling heartily ashamed of himself. "may i take a photograph with a flashlight?" enquired riche. "you may, but you will not see me any more, for it will cause my form to melt away. as it is, i can only stay a few minutes." "oh, mother dear," said renée, "give me a kiss--just one kiss before you leave me." "do not be anxious, renée. i shall see you again very soon. and now, sir, you may take my photograph as i am about to be called away." riche, having focused the camera, pressed the ball, and a dazzling light followed as the magnesium powder blazed up. everyone saw the figure of renée's mother and delapine asleep behind her in the cabinet. as the smoke dispersed, the guests observed the figure slowly melting away in the air. she was gone. a female voice was heard behind the curtain, "au revoir, renée, my child, i shall soon see you again." villebois turned up the light and looked into the cabinet. delapine was sleeping like a child. he stepped up to the professor as if to wake him, but riche remembering his orders, sprang forward and pulled him back. "don't let anyone wake delapine," he cried. "he warned me to allow no one to disturb him, but to let him wake up naturally." suddenly marcel called out, "riche, riche come here quickly. don't you smell something?" "yes," said riche, "you are right, there is something burning, i can smell it." they both ran into the next room, and on opening the door found the landing full of dense smoke. hurrying back they each took one of the girls by the arm and rushed out of the room and through the conservatory into the garden, followed by payot, while villebois ran after them with madame villebois on his arm. but they were all too concerned about their own safety to bestow a thought on the professor, who remained in the cabinet. villebois and marcel, having seen the ladies safe in the summer-house, ran round to the garden gate and hurried to the nearest fire alarm, while the others ran to the house to ascertain the cause of the fire. renée looked round and missed her lover. "henri! henri!" she cried, "where are you? they have left him in the cabinet. o god be merciful!" she ran after riche in an agony of fear, "quick, doctor, come and help me and get the professor away, he is asleep in the cabinet." "my dear child, i dare not wake him; he told me on no account to disturb him, but we can stand by and remove him as soon as there is any danger. it will only be the work of a minute to carry him out into the garden. you need not be alarmed, there is nothing to fear." at this moment céleste joined them. "what can have caused the fire?" she asked. "oh, pray don't discuss that now. let us set to work to put it out," said riche. "do you think pierre has had anything to do with this?" "how could pierre have done it? he is not in the house," replied riche, "he left some time ago; don't you remember his telling us that he had to go to his office at once, and asking us to apologise to madame villebois for him?" "of course i do," replied céleste, "but i am not so sure that he did leave the house." "what do you mean?" asked renée, who had heard her sister's remark. "i am afraid he wants to harm professor delapine," said céleste. "nonsense," cried renée, "you surely don't mean to say he wants to injure delapine?" "no, no," said riche, getting alarmed in turn, "she didn't mean that exactly, she merely meant to say--that we must set to work to extinguish the fire if we want to save the house. now, mademoiselle, you go back to the summer-house with céleste, and don't stir until i come back, and i promise you no harm shall come to delapine. meanwhile i will walk round the house." with these words he left the two girls, and proceeded to assist the others in tracing the source of the fire. "i wonder if there can be any truth in céleste's remark," muttered riche to himself. "no, no, what céleste is saying is all nonsense, i will never believe it. i feel convinced that pierre is in his chambers by this time." on the day before the séance, pierre had purchased a quantity of shavings and a large bottle of naphtha together with some phosphorous which he dissolved in it. "ah," he said to himself, "this will make a famous blaze, and no one will be able to guess who did it." on arriving at the house of dr. villebois some time after dinner on the evening of the séance, he availed himself of a favourable opportunity, at a moment when the servant was not looking, to deposit a small black bag in a corner of the hall. just at the beginning of the séance, as will be remembered, he slipped out of the room and recovering his bag from its hiding place, went cautiously upstairs to riche's bedroom, taking extra precautions that no one should see him enter. quickly making a small heap of the shavings under the bed, he soaked them with the mixture of naptha and phosphorous. then making sure that everything was in order for his dastardly purpose he left the room as stealthily as he had entered it, noiselessly locking the door behind him, and placing the key in his pocket. "now," he muttered, "i must get back to the 'spiritualists' and watch their movements from my place of vantage, and then mon brave delapine, we shall see." pierre returned to the room adjoining the séance room, which opened into the conservatory, and taking up a position behind a curtain from where he could see what went on without being observed, he cautiously opened the little phial containing some of the liquid he had stolen from paul's laboratory on the evening of his visit to the analyst, and proceeded to fill a small hypodermic syringe with the fluid. "confound that fire," he muttered. "it seems an uncommonly long time in starting. i'll sneak back and see if anything has gone wrong." no sooner had he opened the door of the dining-room, when he perceived the strong odour of burning wood and naptha, and looking up the stairs he observed a bluish cloud of smoke slowly making its way along the ceiling, and spreading down the stairs. "that seems to be all right," he said to himself, as he returned to his hiding-place. in about five minutes' time the smoke began slowly to penetrate the room and make its way into the séance chamber. "keep calm, keep calm," he said to himself, as he heard a commotion among the guests in the adjoining room. peeping through the keyhole, pierre saw the guests hurriedly rise up and rush out through the conservatory into the garden. as soon as he had ascertained that the last person had left the room, he cautiously opened the door and crept into the séance room. he first adjusted the blinds of the conservatory window and door, so that no light could penetrate, and then turned up the lights sufficiently high to observe the professor in the cabinet. there he was, clear enough, sleeping as calmly as an infant. pierre cautiously looked round the room to make sure that no one was watching him, and when he had thoroughly satisfied himself on that point, he crept into the cabinet, and kneeling down beside the sleeping man, paused for a moment. a feeling of fear, almost amounting to terror, unnerved him for a few seconds, and then mentally upbraiding himself for his cowardice, he cautiously rolled back the professor's shirt sleeve and gently picked up a fold of the skin. holding the injection syringe in his other hand, he thrust the point well home into the tissues. the guests in the garden were suddenly startled by an exclamation from riche. "look," he cried, pointing to his bedroom window out of which a wreath of dense smoke was curling. "follow me, there is the fire." the whole party ran round the garden into the house. villebois flew to the telephone to hurry up the fire brigade, while the others hastened upstairs through the blinding smoke to the source of the mischief in riche's bedroom. but the smoke was too suffocating to effect an entrance, and the guests stood on the landing half dazed with fear and excitement. they all tied handkerchiefs round their mouths, and following riche's directions endeavoured to quench the flames. dr. riche ran downstairs to obtain help, and passed villebois, who was making his way to the bedroom through the smoke. "ma foi!" said riche to himself, "i can't leave delapine like this. i must get him out of the house in spite of what he said, whether he likes it or not," and putting his thoughts into practice he ran down into the dining room. "i'll swear," he said to himself, "there is someone moving about in the séance room. i wonder who it can be. i thought everyone had gone into the garden. i must go and see who it is." pierre was just in the act of pushing the piston home when he heard someone walking towards the door of the séance room. in his hurry he became nervous and his hand shook, so that the needle of the syringe broke off abruptly at the neck of the shaft. "damn," said pierre to himself, as he flung the needle on one side. "i have only been able to inject a third of the contents of the syringe into his arm." he let the syringe fall in his haste, and flew to the door, and throwing all his weight against it, managed to close it before he could be seen by the person opening it. quickly turning the key in the lock, he ran to one of the side windows. to open it and vault on to the garden path was the work of an instant, and while riche was endeavouring to force the door, pierre had gained the garden gate, and had passed outside into the street. quickly running along close to the garden wall, he turned down the corner of the first cross street, first looking back to make sure that he had not been followed. "lucky for me that no one saw me leave the house," he said to himself. "anyhow, i have a good start, and i shall be able to get clean away without being seen." hailing a passing fiacre, he shouted to the cocher to stop, and opening the door he jumped in. "where shall i drive to?" asked the coachman. "drive straight on, and i will give you an address later on. mais vite, vite!" he shouted, as looking through the small window at the back of the coach he caught sight of riche running after him some distance behind. "see, here is ten francs, and you shall have ten more if you will drive quickly." the cocher, delighted at the idea of so large a pourboire, lashed his horse into a gallop, and the cab rapidly out-distancing riche, soon left him far behind and disappeared in the distance. "gee! that was a narrow shave, but no one recognised me, thank goodness. another second and riche must have seen me, but i was just too quick for him. i hope i have got that syringe about me." he felt in all his pockets, but could not find it anywhere. "oh! damn," he exclaimed, "that's awkward. i surely can't have left it in old delapine's room. yes, i must have dropped it when that fellow, whoever he was, came to the door. the worst of it is that someone is sure to find it. well, never mind, it's got no needle in it, so they cannot see how it was used. besides they might think it belonged to riche or villebois. confound it. all this trouble comes through my helping the professor to see what the other world is like. on second thoughts i will call to-morrow and apologise for my having been obliged to run away to my chambers, and then i can find out how the land lies. i'll back my wits against theirs any day." "where shall i drive to now?" said the cocher, looking through the window. "oh! drive to the café américain. no, on second thoughts i prefer maxim's." the coachman turned his horse round and speedily found his way into the rue royale, where he drove to the place indicated. "this is better," said pierre to himself. "jolly good thing i had the sense not to tell him to drive to my diggings, as they might have found out the cocher's number, and got to know where he drove me." pierre paid the cocher, and pushed his way through the great wheeling door with its plate glass leaves into the well-known café. the musicians had just recommenced playing, and taking a seat he looked around him, scowling, and feeling as angry and miserable as he could be. a double stream of men and women kept constantly passing in and out through the revolving doors which reminded one of a nile-steamer's paddle-wheel on end. a faint sickly smell of cigarette smoke mingled with violet powder and patchouli and the vinous breath of a hundred human beings filled the air. the whole room was a babel of voices. at one end of the room were a group of men and elegantly dressed ladies drinking their café noir or sipping iced drinks through straws. an american with his companion--obviously a young englishman--entered at this moment. "what a scene," said the younger as he peered around him. "why, it's nothing else but a beastly phallic temple. i feel absolutely ashamed to be here." "well, i guess i don't agree. see there," and he pointed to a respectable bourgeois citizen who had just sat down at one of the little marble tables with his wife and daughter on either side of him. "why, they are only here for some music and coffee. they might be part of a fifth avenue congregation in a new york church. they certainly have no consciousness of immorality, and they seem ridiculously happy and contented. that sort of thing is quite impossible in my country, or yours either i guess. we are conscious of the presence of vice all the time, and console ourselves by feeling 'onco guid' as the scotch say, whereas here in france they certainly make vice charming. no one observes anything immoral or improper in this place, and that is why everybody is happy and gay, and enjoys himself to the full. we americans and englishmen take our pleasures too seriously, and that is why we are nothing but a congregation of highly moral rakes. virtue after all is merely a want of opportunity, and because the opportunity is to be found here, we set the place down as immoral. but we forget it is we who are immoral not the place. you english imagine that everybody will be damned who does not act or think exactly as you do. you forget that paris has made pleasure and its pursuit a fine art. after six in the evening the entire town is engaged in nothing else. what do you suppose all these telegraph boys are hurrying around with 'petite bleus' for all day long except to enable marie for four sous to inform her alphonse that she is quite alone as her father has just left the house, or to warn raoul or charles that he must put off his visit to-night because her husband has unexpectedly returned from the country. my dear sir, i assure you that this great city is absorbed in toil all day long merely to procure the necessary money to purchase diamonds for madame, to buy a new hat for suzanne, or to pay the rent of marguerite's flat in the rue pigalle." "good lord!" exclaimed the young englishman, "i had no idea that such shocking escapades went on." "perhaps that may be so, but it is all the more reason why you want to do them." "but surely, my dear sir! you don't imagine for a moment that i would----" "yes, you may well say that, you old humbug," he interrupted, "but i can see by your eyes that you are just as bad as any of them," and the american nudged him and laughed heartily. a pretty girl, charmingly dressed in evening costume, sided up to them at this moment, all laughter with sparkling eyes that beamed with merriment. "a bien venue mes enfants, allon boire un coup avec nous," and she dropped a little curtsey. the american bowed politely and lead his companion away. but the younger one turned his head round and looked at her and smiled back. "oh, my dear fellow, do let's go and join her." "i thought you were superior to all that sort of thing." "oh, well i've changed my mind." "so soon!" said the elder, and shaking with laughter, yielded to his wishes. immediately the two, arm in arm, turned round and followed her to her table as meekly as lambs. "say, sonny, we'll sit down right here with this little daisy and enjoy ourselves, i guess we'll have some fun presently." the younger one blushed up to the roots of his hair, but did not apparently offer the slightest opposition. the whole room glowed with the rosy light of countless electric candles which stood on every table. these were thronged with rows of fashionably dressed couples all talking, laughing, and drinking, between which waiters in evening dress struggled to force a passage, holding trays covered with dishes and iced drinks high above their heads. pierre cautiously glanced around and then sat down. in front of him were three men, evidently frenchmen, who were talking simultaneously in very loud tones and laughing immoderately. at another table were four girls in evening dress drinking iced champagne, and turning their heads to gaze at every lady and gentleman who entered. a smartly dressed lady, whom he heard addressed as julie by the other three sat with them. she was adorned with superb jewelry and had on a perfectly fitting gown. undoubtedly very attractive, her finely cut features, brilliant eyes and marble-like complexion irresistably attracted pierre, who seeing her glance boldly at him, bowed slightly as he held his glass to his lips. this was sufficient encouragement for her, so with a slight inclination of her head she gathered up her dress and came and sat opposite him. he at once called one of the waiters and ordered a bottle of champagne. julie tried to draw him into a conversation, but pierre was too perturbed to pay much attention to her, and she could see that it was almost an effort for him to be polite. a woman with a basket of flowers and chocolates done up in little packages with coloured silk ribbons, observed pierre speaking to her, and immediately came up to them, and asked the lady if she would like a bunch of violets. julie smiled and looked at the lawyer with one of those oblique seductive glances so characteristic of the born coquette. pierre tried to look interested and smiled back with a slight nod. "the violets are only three francs each, lady, but then the lady must have a box of chocolates also." julie took up one bunch after another and apparently was delighted with their perfume, for she ordered the woman to collect the whole lot of bunches and wrap them up in a large paper parcel, and took one of the largest chocolate boxes as well. julie thanked pierre for the flowers, and leisurely opened the box and proceeded to eat a few of the creams. pierre, who had been too absorbed to follow what had been going on, was suddenly startled by the woman asking him to pay for the entire parcel of flowers, and chocolates. "what!" exclaimed the lawyer as the woman demanded eighty-five francs, "i don't understand you. do you expect me to pay over four louis for those worthless flowers? do you take me for a damned fool or what?" "that is the correct price, monsieur, i cannot accept less." pierre stared at her like a search-light, while his lips assumed an amused and sarcastic smile. julie looked at pierre and tapped impatiently on the ground with her beaded slipper, as pierre, putting his hand in his pocket, drew out a varied collection of gold and silver coins. he looked at them thoughtfully for a moment, and then apparently changing his mind, rose up and deliberately walked past her, without turning his head, to a table in another part of the room. "beast," hissed the siren, as she turned round and glared at him with clenched fingers. "i shall pay you out for this." but the compliment was quite lost on pierre. he had no sooner sat down than the woman with the flowers went up to him. "monsieur has forgotten to pay for the flowers and chocolates that he bought for the lady." "i never bought anything for her; just go and tell her to pay for them herself." the flower seller went up to the manager, who straight-way came over to where pierre was sitting. "pardon, monsieur, i understand that monsieur bought some flowers and chocolates for the lady over there." "i did nothing of the sort. look here, monsieur," he added, "if this woman gives me any more of her cheek i will inform the police." several people got up from their seats, and a crowd began to collect. the music which was in full swing suddenly ceased abruptly. ultimately the lady, seeing that there was no help for it, settled the bill. "ah, coquin," she said, shaking her finger at pierre, "you shall pay this little bill many times over before i have done with you, just wait and see." pierre settled down in one of the cosy corners, and ordering a petit verre of absinthe, became absorbed in a copy of _le soir_. julie's fit of temper caused a flush of colour to spread over her cheeks, which greatly increased her charms, and pierre, who happened to glance up from his newspaper, could not help admiring her, and tried to attract her attention once more, but she disdainfully turned her head aside. after hesitating for a few moments julie called one of the waiters, who was evidently on intimate terms with her, and whispered something in his ear. he gave a slight nod and returned to his work. nearly an hour passed; and pierre, feeling tired, put on his hat, and after waiting outside for a few minutes hailed a fiacre and drove to his chambers. had he looked back he would have seen a man running swiftly behind his carriage. footnotes: [footnote 8: it is true because it is impossible.] chapter xiv coming events cast their shadows before chi rende alla meschina la sua felicità[9] oh! what a noble heart was here undone, when science self destroyed her favourite son! yes, she too much indulged thy fond pursuit, she sowed the seeds, but death hath reaped the fruit. byron, on the death of kirke white. concurritur: horae momento cità mors venit. _horace_, s. 1. 1. 7. as riche turned the handle of the drawing-room door it was violently shut in his face. he tried to turn the handle again, but the pressure behind was too great, and before he could force the door he heard the key click in the lock. the doctor hurled himself against it several times, but the door was well made and would not yield. "there is some mischief going on inside," he said to himself, and shouted to villebois to come and help him. fortunately with his assistance they managed to burst the door open. as he entered he looked round the room. "i say, villebois, this is a suspicious state of things. the conservatory blinds are down and the gaslights are burning, while the window is wide open. evidently the bird has flown. quick, follow me, we may catch the fellow yet," and so saying he dashed through the dining-room into the hall, and out of the front door into the street, followed by the rest. being the most active of them all, riche arrived at the corner of the cross-street first, just in time to see the door of a fiacre shut, and to watch it drive off at a gallop. "i saw the villain close the door of the fiacre," he said out of breath to villebois and marcel, who had caught him up, "but i was just too late to make out who he was. but no matter, we shall lay our hands on him yet." evidently it was quite impossible to overtake the fiacre, so after shaking their fists in the direction of the retreating vehicle they all retraced their steps to the drawing-room. they looked around and saw delapine sleeping peacefully on his couch. "i wonder," said marcel, "why the conservatory blinds are drawn?" "i can't imagine," replied villebois. "but see, the window is wide open. the villain must have escaped through it." "mon dieu, what is this?" said riche, picking up a hypodermic syringe. "it is two-thirds full of some fluid. we will keep this liquid gentlemen, its contents may prove extremely useful." procuring a small empty phial, he poured the contents into it, and corking it up put it into his pocket. "ah, here is the needle," he added, as he picked it up from the floor. "it is evidently broken too, and the fracture appears quite recent." "riche, come here," said villebois, looking at delapine, "do you notice anything unusual about him?" riche stood with folded arms, gazing silently at the professor. he gently shook him, but found that there was no responsive movement in the body. delapine's face had the appearance of marble, and when riche raised one of the arms it dropped down again motionless. no sign of pulsation could be detected at the wrist. riche took up a match and waved it in front of the sleeper's eyes. he watched them carefully, but the pupils failed to respond. dr. riche was completely nonplussed. although he was accustomed to see death in all its varying forms, both in the hospitals and in the battlefield, without his professional calmness being in any way perturbed, a sudden horror at the awful fate of his friend seized him as he bent over the body. he became ashy pale, and trembling like an aspen leaf he cried out aloud, "oh! my god, delapine is dead." riche carefully examined the parts of the body which were exposed, and opened his shirt, but failed to discover any signs of injury. just as he was about to relinquish his search he noticed a spot on one of the arms. "hullo," he cried, "what's this?" and pulling out a pocket magnifier he scrutinized a small red spot a short distance above the wrist. "come here, villebois, and tell me what you think of this." villebois took the magnifier out of riche's hand, and carefully examined the spot. he looked up in an enquiring manner as if he expected riche to speak for him. "well, what do you make of it?" said riche as he looked at him with a peculiar expression and curl of the mouth which he always wore when he knew beforehand what the answer would be. "tell me, what is it?" he repeated as villebois hesitated. "i think it is a hypodermic puncture. isn't that your opinion?" "i don't think anything about it, i am sure of it; and what's more i feel convinced it was made with the needle found on the floor. the rascal was evidently injecting the poison at the very moment when we interrupted him as he was trying to open the door. don't you agree with me?" "yes, you are perfectly right," said villebois, nodding his head. "how fortunate you were to find the syringe, and half full of the poison too. don't lose the fluid whatever you do. it appears to me to be the key to the whole mystery." "you trust me," said riche, "i am not going to let the matter drop, my little bottle will bring the scoundrel to the guillotine yet." meanwhile the firemen had arrived, and as there was an abundance of water, the fire was soon under control. although the contents of riche's room were destroyed, no damage was done outside it except by the water. on entering the room the firemen smelt the pungent odour of burnt naphtha, and a few shavings still glowing with the heat were to be seen in a corner of the room. "ei! ei! this is the work of an incendiary," said one of the firemen. "regardez-la, monsieur," he said to villebois whom he knew by sight, holding up some of the half-burnt shavings, "don't you smell the naphtha?" "i do, but mon dieu, this is terrible," said villebois, "we must send for the police at once, there's a crime here. it must be investigated at all costs." villebois ran to the telephone and called for the police to come immediately, while the firemen, now satisfied that the fire was extinguished, proceeded to take the hose-pipe out of the house. in a few minutes they had departed, leaving villebois and his guests alone in the house looking at one another and wondering what it all meant. meanwhile renée and céleste, unable to control their anxiety, disobeyed riche's instructions and ran back into the séance room where they met riche bending over the professor. "what is the matter with delapine?" they both cried with a look of terror on their faces. riche looked very sad and distressed, but said nothing. "oh! doctor, do tell me, is there anything the matter?" said renée, staring at him with her great eyes wide open. "i am afraid so," said riche in a subdued voice. "you don't surely mean--that he is dead?" renée asked in a broken voice, becoming deadly pale. "oh, doctor, tell me quickly, what is the matter?" "my poor girl--he is dead," he replied very solemnly. "what!--what did you say, doctor? dead! no--no--it can't be true." renée looked at his face half doubting, half believing, and then turning her face towards delapine she flung her arms round him, and covered his face with kisses in an agony of grief. "henri! henri! come back, come back to me, oh my beloved!" and she burst into tears, while her whole frame shook convulsively. céleste sobbed in sympathy, and even riche, usually so calm, wiped away a tear. villebois looked at renée with a puzzled expression mingled with sadness. "come, my poor little renée," he said at length. "wake up, my child; this grief will do you no good;" and he gently patted her head and kissed her; but renée never moved. the professor lay before them in the calm sleep of death. he looked unearthly yet beautiful with his serene, peaceful smile, like some newly created being, quietly waiting for the breath of life to be transformed into a living soul. those penetrating eyes of his seemed to be piercing through the veil into the unseen universe. all traces of pain and sorrow had vanished. one might almost fancy him quietly biding his time for the easter morn with a sure and certain hope of a joyful resurrection. where was that noble spirit, that great master mind which for years had been unfolding the secrets of nature, and directing its unalterable laws into channels of usefulness for the benefit of untold generations to come? all around him the clang and din of life could be heard, the murmur of many voices sounding like some confused discord breaking through the leaves of the forest, while here he lay resembling some marble effigy carved by a master hand. was his spirit gazing with a prophetic eye through the half-opened portal of death on the vista of heaven unfolded before him, or was he joining the music of an angelic choir, or listening to the clinging memories of some half forgotten tale of happy childhood? dead to him were all the wranglings of jealousy, the bitterness of malice, the aching heart, and the ceaseless strife. that mighty unselfish soul overflowing with love and goodwill to all, cheerful amid despair, unconquered by obstacles, unfaltering in its duty--where was it now? and the answer, like the echo of death, came back, "toll for the mighty dead, he is no more, his soul is gone for ever." céleste silently slipped out of the room, and then ran as quickly as she could and told the others. they all hurried into the chamber, céleste leading the way. "oh, papa," she cried, "whatever shall we do, isn't it dreadful? my poor darling sister, it will kill her, i know it will. you don't know how she loved him," and she knelt down at the foot of the couch and sobbed convulsively. villebois looked at payot who was nervously twisting his fingers, while at the same time his face betrayed the conflict of emotions struggling within him. it was true the obstacle to payot's scheme was at length removed, and for a moment a feeling of satisfaction thrilled him, but an instant after, the latent affection for his only daughter, which delapine had succeeded in fanning into a feeble flame, awoke a better feeling in his heart, and the sight of her unutterable grief met with a speedy response in his better nature. he bent down and tenderly kissed his daughter. renée turned her head up to her father with a look of surprise, as she was quite unaccustomed to receive any tokens of affection from him. "villebois, mon cher," said payot looking at him, "i hear someone knocking loudly at the door of the house." villebois immediately went out of the room, and françois ran up to him in an excited manner. "monsieur le commissaire de police with two sergeants have arrived, and demand admittance in the name of the law; what am i to do?" "show them immediately into the library, and tell them i will be with them in a moment." when villebois entered the library a little gentleman, faultlessly attired in black, with a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles, walked up to meet him. "i have the honour to address monsieur le docteur villebois, i presume?" said the little man as he presented his card. villebois took the proffered card which bore the inscription:- adolphe biron, commissaire de police. "monsieur le docteur," said the little man with a slight bow, "i have come in answer to the telephone message, from which i understand that there has been a fire here, and that it is probably the work of an incendiary." "pardon, monsieur, who told you that?" "one of the firemen who assisted in extinguishing the flames--am i right in my suspicions?" "perfectly," replied villebois, "but that is only a trifle." "only a trifle?" replied monsieur biron, astonished. "arson is not regarded as a trifling matter by the law." "that is so, but i fear a murder has been committed as well." "oh! oh!! oh!!!" cried the commissaire in an ascending scale, tapping his two fingers on the table. he remained silent for a few moments, and then he called his two satellites. "you, georges, go round to the front gate, and you, raoul, go to the back of the house and see that no one passes out without my permission. "now, monsieur villebois, let us go together and see the victim." they stepped carefully across the wet, slippery floor, and entered the séance room in silence. monsieur biron went up to delapine's body and carefully examined him. "he is quite dead," he remarked; "as to that there can only be one opinion." then, turning to villebois, he asked him the names and addresses of all the guests, and entered them in his official memorandum book. "these are all guests of mine," said villebois, "i will make myself responsible for them." "good," replied the commissaire. "let them please retire into the next room, while we go into the matter privately here." dr. riche took monsieur biron aside in order to acquaint him with the true facts of the case and of his struggle at the door, but the commissaire of police interrupted him impatiently. "pardon, monsieur, but i am on duty, and you will please excuse me if i listen to you later." "allow me to present my card, monsieur le commissaire. i am dr. riche. i was witness of----" "i regret, monsieur le docteur, but i cannot allow you to interfere with me in my investigations." "excuse me, monsieur, i am the only person who saw----" "please do not interrupt me, monsieur le docteur." "but time is of the greatest importance," said dr. riche, "and i can assist----" "for the last time i shall be obliged if you will postpone your explanation," said the little man with an air of official importance, and he looked him up and down through his spectacles, until poor riche felt half convinced that he himself must in some way or other have committed the crime. "but, monsieur," interposed villebois, "my friend, dr. riche, saw----" "pardon me, but i must request you to stop talking," he replied, becoming at length really angry; "you are here to answer questions and not to speak to me." villebois, somewhat nettled at being addressed in this style, was about to remonstrate, but the fierce glance of the commissaire took his breath away, and he stammered out something incoherently, and finally collapsed utterly cowed. "now i must request you all to be good enough to retire immediately into the next room, and not to move until i call you," said monsieur biron as he ordered the guests off with a majestic wave of the hand, "and you, dr. villebois, will remain here with me." "are you acquainted with the deceased?" he enquired of villebois as soon as they were alone. "he has been my guest for three months now, and is my most intimate friend." "and his name?" "professor henri delapine." "what!" he exclaimed, "professor delapine, the renowned professor at the sorbonne?" "the same." "mon dieu! he was one of the most amiable men i ever had the good fortune to meet. what reason could anyone have to seek his death? but that we can go into later. how long has he been dead?" "i cannot say. all that i know is that he was alive and well a little more than half an hour ago." "half an hour ago," said monsieur biron, astonished; "but what could have killed him?" "that is what i want to know." "this is a most extraordinary affair. let us examine his body at once." villebois and the commissaire proceeded carefully to strip him, scrutinising each garment as they removed it with the utmost care. "i see no marks of violence," said biron as he examined the corpse from head to foot. "what makes you think that he has been killed? can it not be a simple case of heart failure?" and the commissaire gave him a searching look. "that is possible," replied villebois, "but apparently not from natural causes." "then you mean to say that he really has been murdered?" "i am sure of it." "be careful what you say, doctor. it is a very terrible statement to make, and you will have to be confronted with the juge d'instruction, who will compel you to prove it or suffer the consequences." dr. villebois looked very frightened at the severe glances of monsieur biron, and twisted his fingers together nervously. "i have every reason to suspect it," he said in a tone of apology. "have you examined his arms, monsieur?" the commissaire looked at villebois to see if he were joking with him, and being convinced of his earnestness, he took up each arm in turn and examined them with great care on all sides. "i see nothing, nothing at all," he replied. "look here, monsieur," said villebois, pointing to a little swollen spot just above the wrist of the left arm. "do you see that?" monsieur biron looked at it carefully, and shrugged his shoulders. "ce n'est rien, monsieur; it is only a mosquito bite." villebois examined it with a pocket magnifier, and gently squeezed it. a drop of glistening fluid came out tinged with blood. the commissaire at once became intensely interested. "lend me the glass," he cried, and impatiently taking it from villebois, he carefully examined the spot. "h'm," he muttered, "the puncture is certainly too large for an insect to make. can you account for it, doctor?" he said, relinquishing for the first time his authoritative tone. "i can, but dr. riche whom you saw just now can tell you more about it than i can. it was dr. riche who told me that he had heard someone moving about the room, and when the doctor ran to the door, before he could open it wide enough to see who was inside, it was violently shut in his face and locked. dr. riche and myself together managed to force the door, only to find that the rascal had escaped. riche raced after him, but the fellow was too quick, and before riche could get near enough to recognise him, he had disappeared in a fiacre." "mon dieu, but why didn't you tell me all this before?" asked m. biron. "monsieur, i could not, as the whole affair has altogether unnerved me. besides, dr. riche was about to tell you, but you stopped him, if you remember, and threatened to arrest him if he spoke." the little man stamped on the ground with vexation and chagrin. "well, well," he replied somewhat mollified, "i trust it is not too late yet; bring him here at once." villebois opened the door and beckoned to him to come in. riche had taken the commissaire's conduct so much to heart that at first he refused to answer. "a thousand pardons, m. le docteur, for appearing so rude," said the commissaire in a very apologetic tone, "but i understand that you are able to give some clue to this assassination?" dr. riche, seeing that m. biron's apology was sincere, slowly thawed and became more amiable. "yes, monsieur," he replied, "i came downstairs during the fire to look after the professor, who was fast asleep on a couch, and just as i was about to enter the chamber, the door was shut in my face and locked. when i entered the room the bird had flown, but i picked up a hypodermic syringe half full of liquid, from the floor." "but didn't you try to find the fellow?" "of course i did. i ran round the house into the street, and on arriving at the first corner i saw a man entering a cab, but he was half inside, and too far away for me to recognise who he was. i ran as hard as i could, and shouted to the cocher, but he lashed his horse into a gallop and disappeared. when i returned to the house i searched the room again, and found the broken injection needle on the floor, and guessing that there was some connection between this needle and professor delapine's condition, i examined him and discovered that life was extinct." "excellent, excellent," said the commissaire, delighted, and rubbing his hands together as if he had heard a good story. "parbleu," he cried, "but, mon ami, this is exceedingly interesting, perfectly romantic. ah, mon cher docteur, our task grows more and more delightful. i must instruct my attendants this instant," and excusing himself he ran off as fast as his little legs could carry him. in the midst of his haste, however, a sudden thought struck him, and he returned to dr. villebois, and taking him on one side asked: "can you tell me, doctor, what was the cause of the fire?" "it was undoubtedly a case of arson," replied villebois and riche together. "why do you think so?" enquired the commissaire. "one of the firemen found a handful of half-burnt shavings in a corner of dr. riche's room which smelt strongly of petroleum, indeed the whole atmosphere reeked of it." "let us go to the room at once," said m. biron. on arriving at riche's room they found the place in a terrible state. everything was saturated with water, and all the contents were charred, and had been piled up by the firemen in a heap. as dr. villebois had said, the place reeked of naphtha and bore traces of having been intentionally set on fire. "i understand it all," said riche. "someone has set fire to my bedroom in order to draw the guests away from the séance room, so that he might have a free hand to inject the poison unobserved into the arm of the sleeping professor." "ha, ha, you are a born detective, dr. riche. nothing can be clearer," and the commissaire adjusted his spectacles to his entire satisfaction. "a sprat to catch a mackerel, eh?" and he positively beamed with professional pride. m. biron, having made his inspection of the house, and cross-questioned all the guests without obtaining any fresh information, cordially shook hands with the two doctors and departed, bubbling over with zeal, and feeling intoxicated with the importance of his mission. footnotes: [footnote 9: ah, who will give the lost one her vanished dream of bliss?] chapter xv dr. riche makes a remarkable discovery dal sonno a la morte è un picciol varco.[10] (_tasso gerusalemme liberata_, ix. 18.) perir non lascia chi perir non merita.[11] (_alfieri fillipo_, act iv. sc. 5.) "we are of such stuff as dreams are made of, and our little life is rounded with a sleep."[12] on entering the adjoining apartment villebois and riche ran to the assistance of renée who was lying on the sofa in a dead faint. madame villebois was busy applying the usual restoratives, while payot in a terrible state of excitement had just rushed out of the room to search for a bottle of brandy. on opening the door he literally fell into the arms of françois and the other domestics, who had collected round the door to try and discover what was going on. "eavesdropping, hein!" he cried. "how dare you leave your duties and gossip like this. be off with you. here, françois, show me at once where you keep the brandy," and seizing him by the arm they ran to the cellar to fetch it. meanwhile céleste, half scared to death, was kneeling beside renée, chafing her cold bloodless hands, while she looked up through her tears at the other guests who were assembled round the couch, and conversing in excited tones. villebois and riche gently pushed them aside, and taking renée in their arms, carried her up to bed. "we can do nothing more to-night," said villebois, consulting his watch, "see how late it is, and we shall have a heavy day to-morrow." at length one by one the tired guests departed to their respective rooms. "monsieur payot," said villebois, "i cannot let you leave to-night. if you don't mind i will make you up a bed in the library." "do you mind, colleague," said riche, "if i sleep in the séance-room." "my dear riche, i cannot permit you to sleep in a room with a dead body. why can't you go to your own room?" "i am accustomed to be in the presence of death as you know; and my room is all burnt out." "oh yes, i forgot that. but won't you have a bed made up here?" "no, please, doctor, come here a moment," and he drew him aside, "i have my reasons for sleeping in the room with delapine," and he added something in a whisper. villebois opened his eyes widely and nodded. "oh! oh! i understand now," he said, looking very alarmed. "yes, sleep there by all means." riche had a bed made up on the floor close by the side of delapine's body, and turning down the light, got into bed. in spite of the fact that he was dead tired with the excitement and horror of the recent events, his mind was so distracted that he could not sleep. although his body was weary, his thoughts became abnormally active, and he kept tossing in bed, and turning over in his mind the strange events he had witnessed. "happy delapine," he said with a sigh, "death indeed is the only evil that can never touch us. when we are, death is not. when death comes, we are not, yes, cicero was right when he said, 'death is an event either to be entirely disregarded, if it extinguish the soul's existence, or, much to be wished, if it convey it to some region where it shall continue to exist forever.' what then have i to fear, if after death i shall either not be miserable, or shall certainly be happy?" his thoughts carried him back to the beautiful greek conception of death with its white marble tomb, and the mourners dressed in pure white, carrying garlands of flowers, and chanting some soul-stirring refrain accompanied by maidens playing on the harp and lute. he compared it with a shudder to the gruesome pictures of the middle ages, which he remembered to have seen in the frescoes of orcagna on the walls of the campo santo in pisa, which depicted the dying souls of the damned thrust into the pit of hell by devils, or the souls of the saved (!) writhing in the flames of purgatory, and whose torments could alone be alleviated by donations deposited in the money box by their friends on earth. the moon's rays shining through the window shed a soft light through the room, and illuminated the wax-like features of the professor. once or twice riche raising himself up in bed thought he saw a faint twitching in delapine's fingers, but after gazing intently at them he lay down again convinced that he had been deceived. strange thoughts flitted through his mind. how very different would have been his life during the past week, he said to himself, had villebois not met him at the café at the corner of the boulevard s. michel. what would he be doing now? perhaps sleeping in his hotel in the rue de rivoli, perhaps risking a handful of louis on the green tables of the casino, but almost certainly not tossing on a bed by the side of a corpse. the room felt uncanny. he had long been familiar with death in all its forms. he had been surgeon in two campaigns in the north of africa, and had seen his comrades die like flies around him from dysentery and cholera. he had seen their bodies thrown into pits a hundred at a time, but never had he felt such a feeling of awe and terror steal over him as he felt to-night. he could not account for it. delapine would not needlessly hurt a fly, and now he was lying in the cold hands of death. at length he could stand it no longer, and getting up he dressed himself and paced up and down the room. again he gazed intently on delapine's face, and thought he detected a slight movement of the muscles. was he mistaken? how could it be possible? delapine was undoubtedly dead, he said to himself. riche's face broke out into a cold sweat, and he attempted to cry out, but his voice died away in silence. no; he lifted up the professor's arms, but they fell down again by their own weight. the clouds flitting across the moon alternately hid and revealed her light, and the black shadows in the room seemed as if they formed themselves into imps and monsters. the stillness became awful. would the morning never break? only the clock on the mantel-shelf spoke. tick-tack, tick-tack, it repeated in a monotonous tone, but no sound answered back. he heard a noise outside, and creeping up to the window, opened it and listened. too-hoot, too-hoot, it sounded. "it is only the hooting of an owl in the garden," he said, as he shut the window and lay down on the sofa. doctor riche's thoughts wandered back again to the café and to mademoiselle violette and her ring. what was it she told him when she steadily gazed on it? "i must try and refresh my memory," he said to himself. "i think a sip of brandy might help me," and acting on the impulse he turned up the light, and entering the next room poured out a liqueur glass of the brandy which françois had brought for renée. "ah! that does one good," he said as he poured out a second glass. "i recollect perfectly now the very words she said. i remember her telling me that she saw a house in one of the suburbs of paris. "'yes,' she said, 'i see a large room which opens into a smaller room. i see a number of people sitting down in a half circle. there are'--what was it she said? oh! i remember--'there are five men and three ladies.' i recollect the number perfectly, because at the time it flashed across my mind that there were exactly the same five men and three women figures in a noah's ark i gave to my nephew last new year's day. ma foi! but that is curious. the number corresponds exactly to the number of guests who were at the séance last night. let me see. there were villebois, payot, delapine, marcel, and myself--five men; and madame, céleste and renée--three ladies." "by jove!" he exclaimed, "that is a very curious coincidence, and i remember now she said one of the men had a pointed black beard, and they were putting him to sleep. and then someone suddenly cried out: 'oh! god, he is dead.' why, that fits delapine like a glove. oh yes, and i recollect now she spoke of a large envelope sealed with four or five seals--i forget which--in a drawer, or writing-table, or secretary or something, i must hunt around for it as soon as i have had breakfast. céleste will be only too pleased to help me. of course it is all nonsense--but still as the first part of her version fits so well, it is just worth while seeing whether any other part will prove true." at length fatigue proved too much for him, and flinging himself down on his bed, he fell into a deep slumber. it was not until françois brought the café au lait to his bedside next morning that riche awoke. "by jove!" he exclaimed, "it's ten o'clock." "oui, monsieur," said françois, "i came to call you three times, but you were so fast asleep that i did not have the heart to wake you." "and the others?" enquired riche. "they are all fast asleep too." "i don't wonder after all we have gone through." "ah! monsieur, it is terrible," said françois, and he shook his head solemnly. "i have been in doctor villebois' service seventeen years now, and never have i spent a night so horrible as this one." "yes, françois. what bossuet said in his great funeral oration will apply equally well here. 'o nuit désastreuse! o nuit effroyable! ou retentit tout-à-coup comme un éclat de tonnerre cette étonnante nouvelle. monsieur est mort.'" "ah, mon dieu! monsieur le professor was indeed a good man. he will go straight to heaven without any purgatory." "are you sure that he will go to heaven?" asked riche with a smile at the worthy man's earnestness. "oh! i think so, i think so. you will pardon me for speaking so plainly, mon docteur, but there is a difficulty, yes, just a little difficulty. you see he never went to mass, or even to church, but then he was so noble and so good to the poor, that he would be certain to go to paradise. of course the good god would be obliged to give him a little purgatory as a mere matter of form just to keep up appearances, but he would be sure to let him out at the end of an hour or two. don't you think so, mon docteur?" "let us hope so," said riche fervently, but with a slight shrug of the shoulders, as françois bowed and left the room. in a little while the servant returned with a message. "my master requests you to be good enough to come and see him as soon as possible," said françois, as riche was putting the finishing touches to his toilette. "tell your master i will be with him in a few minutes." "ah, my dear riche," said villebois, as the doctor entered the parlour, "i want you to come to renée's room and hold a consultation with me. i fear the poor child has taken delapine's death too much to heart. she appears to be heart-broken, and is making herself ill with sobbing. anyone could see that she was fond of him, but i had no idea that she loved him to this degree. it is really very touching, n'est-ce pas?" they found poor renée lying in bed, her face flushed with fever, and moaning as if in pain. her maid had applied ice compresses to her head, and she barely noticed the doctors as they entered the room. at length villebois persuaded her to sit up, and take a little nourishment. "by the way, mademoiselle, did delapine ever give you any packets or letters to take care of for him?" said riche. "yes, doctor, two days ago he gave me a large envelope and told me to take care of it for him, and to be sure and open it the moment he was dead. i was very frightened at what he said, and asked him to explain what he meant, but he merely shook his head and assured me there was no need for alarm, and all he asked me to promise was to carry out his instructions." "but you have not carried them out, my child," said villebois, smiling. "oh, doctor, how could i? i have been so ill and worried i have been unable to think of anything at all." "well, never mind," said riche consolingly, "fortunately no harm has been done. do you remember what the envelope looked like?" "it was sealed with large red seals." "what," cried riche, bounding up from his seat as if he had been shot, "did you say it was sealed?" "yes, doctor, it had five seals in wax." "diable!" cried riche in such an excited tone of surprise that villebois thought he must be out of his senses. "tell me quick where it is." "you will find it in my writing-desk, doctor," said renée, alarmed at his excited manner. "what do you want it for?" "i must have it--i mean, may i bring it to you?" "certainly, if you wish to, doctor." dr. riche on hearing this hastily left the room in a great state of excitement. "what is the matter with him?" asked renée, "why is he so eager to get the packet? it is merely a trifle after all." "i have no idea, but i will go and see for myself." as villebois was leaving the room, the servant met him, and whispered something in his ear as he handed him a card. "shut the door quickly," said villebois in a low tone. "we must not on any account let mademoiselle hear about it." he followed the servant into the library where a gentleman advanced to meet him. "i am sent from the parquet with orders from the representative of the procureur de la république to carry out an autopsy on the body of monsieur le professor delapine." "good," replied villebois, "pray step this way." doctor roux, for that was his name, entered the séance room armed with a large black bag, from which he withdrew a white apron extending below his knees with long sleeves, and an array of instruments and dishes. placing the latter on a table near at hand, he removed his coat, and attired himself in his apron. he began operations by displaying an immense amount of zeal and activity in his preparations for the autopsy. he first ordered a large kitchen table to be brought into the middle of the room, and had delapine's body placed on it. doctor villebois offered his assistance, which was somewhat reluctantly accepted. selecting a sharp scalpel dr. roux was about to make the first incision, when riche rushed into the room in a state of tremendous excitement. "stop! for god's sake stop," he shouted, "before it is too late," and seizing dr. roux' arm he pulled it away so violently that the scalpel cut one of the worthy doctor's fingers. "what is the matter with you, are you mad?" exclaimed dr. roux, as he tried to stop the blood which spurted from his finger. "stop, stop, you must not touch him, it's murder," cried riche. "see here," and he showed roux a letter which he had just taken out of the envelope. roux seized the letter and proceeded to read it, while the two other doctors read it from over his shoulder:- "my beloved renée," it ran- "i have reason to suspect that someone is intending to poison me with a drug of such fearful power that i shall either be killed instantly or, what is more probable, i shall be rendered apparently dead, and show no signs of life. if therefore i am found apparently dead, i enjoin you for the love you bear me, not to permit my autopsy, or burial, until the signs of death are clear and unmistakable, otherwise i may be killed or buried alive." "there, dr. roux, what do you make of that?" asked riche. "it is a hoax, sir," said roux, "the man is dead right enough. i shall proceed to do my duty." "you will not, sir," said riche in a rage. "who are you, sir, that you speak to me in this way, and forbid me to obey my orders?" "i am dr. riche, ancien interne at the hotel dieu, and surgeon to the charité at algiers," he said, handing over his card. dr. roux looked him up and down from head to foot, and adjusting his pince-nez with deliberation took the card and read it carefully. again he paused and looked at riche, but observing the terrible earnestness of his expression, he restrained his feelings. "dr. riche," he exclaimed with mingled hesitation and astonishment, "forgive me, i apologise for my rudeness, i had no idea i was addressing a colleague so celebrated," and he offered his hand which riche shook heartily. "i also agree with my friend and colleague," said villebois. "we must desist at once and arrange to await events." roux gave a slight grunt of disappointment, but yielding to the inevitable, packed up his instruments, and putting on his coat, bowed profoundly, and prepared to depart. "no, dr. roux, we cannot allow you to go without partaking of our hospitality," said villebois, bowing. "let us go to the library, and break a bottle of wine between us." the three doctors were soon chatting round the table in the library the very best of friends. "see, doctor, what i have just found in another envelope," said riche, handing roux a little love-poem which delapine had evidently written to renée about the same time as the letter. "let me read it to you," said riche, "it's a gentle rhyme of four verses such as a lover might write to his lady-love. it has, however, a disguised prophetic meaning which shows clearly that delapine felt convinced that his 'death' would only be apparent, and that he would eventually return to life. "listen, this is what he says: "is it raining little sister? be glad of rain. yield not to the doubt sinister, choose the pain. it will make your burden lighter, it will make your joy the brighter, renée dear. "does your heart ache, renée dear? be glad of pain. the harvest never will draw near, without rain. sorrow must prepare the way for the clouds to pass away, renée dear. "instead of weeping at your loss, rejoice for him. you cannot see that he is sleeping, with eyes so dim. death can never reach so far, peering through the gates ajar, renée dear. "are you weary of the fight? struggle on. when all is lost, and dark the night, the victory's won. love will steer your bark aright, when there is no land in sight, renée dear." "it would be interesting to see if we could find any indications of life," said roux, "and i propose that we adjourn to delapine's bedside once more." "that is quite a good idea," said villebois and riche together. "if you will permit me, gentlemen," said roux after applying the stethoscope over the heart to no purpose, "i will make a prick with a needle into the arm." he did so, but no blood flowed. "that is a certain proof that he is dead." "not so fast, not so fast, sir," said riche. "bring me a mirror. this is a much more delicate test which i have made with great success in algiers, when all other methods have failed." the doctor held a small mirror close to delapine's mouth, and the three doctors gazed at the highly polished surface intensely. "look, villebois, look," said riche excitedly. "i swear i saw a trace of vapour on the surface." villebois repeated the experiment without result. "i think the mirror is too warm," said villebois, "let us cool it." he placed the back of the mirror on a lump of ice for a minute, and wiping the surface with a handkerchief, tried again. "see, see, there is a trace of moisture--i swear it, look!" all three doctors repeated the experiment several times. sometimes they failed and sometimes they succeeded, or thought they succeeded, and roux finally departed, unconvinced that he was alive, but at the same time unwilling to sign a certificate to the effect that he was dead. "we must wait for the post-mortem signs to appear over the abdomen," he said to himself. "three days will settle it at any rate." riche and villebois, however, were more sanguine, and they went back to renée's room. they found payot sitting by her side, applying the iced bandages to her head, and ever and anon stroking her hair and kissing her forehead. renée recognised her father, and smiled with mingled surprise and pleasure at the great change which had come over his conduct towards her. "cheer up, renée," villebois cried aloud as they ran to her bedside, "cheer up, we have not abandoned all hope yet." renée was so petrified with astonishment that she was unable to speak for some moments. "what did you say? do you mean that henri is alive?" "well, not exactly that," interposed riche, "but i could almost swear he is not dead." renée sat bolt upright in bed, and rubbed her eyes to make sure she was not dreaming, and seizing riche's hand made him repeat his statement. "oh, thank you, thank you, doctor, for this good news." "read this, renée, and this as well," he said smiling, and he handed her delapine's message and tender little verses. "are these what you found in the envelope?" she exclaimed, when she had read the contents. "now i am certain that he will return to me." "oh, father," she cried, putting her arms round him and kissing him, "this is the best medicine in the world for me, it will soon make me well. see, i feel better already," and she clapped her hands for joy. "quick, doctor, run and fetch céleste that i may be the first to give her the good news." presently céleste came in, and renée told her what she had just heard. "oh, renée, this is almost too good to be true. won't it be just delightful to have him back again. i don't think we half know the value of anything until we are deprived of it." "you are perfectly correct," said riche, "really i think the philosophic mantle of the professor must have descended on you." "now i begin to understand what professor delapine meant when he said the other day 'we shall be separated for a long time, but take courage, it will all come right.' it was a riddle to me at the time, but now it is quite clear what he meant. don't you think, papa, that the professor must have some wonderful power of seeing into the future? how else could he possibly guess what was going to happen to him?" "i can understand in a sort of vague way," said payot, "that very clever people might be able to discover what had happened in the past, but how anyone can tell what is going to happen in the future is a mystery to me. can you explain it to me, doctor?" "i confess the whole thing is inconceivable to me," said villebois, "and yet i know that it is not impossible, because on more than one occasion delapine has predicted the most minute details of facts and events which have occurred since precisely as he said they would happen, and i have never once known him wrong." "when henri comes back to me i will ask him," said renée as she looked up at villebois with a slight nod, convinced in her own mind that delapine was only taking a longer sleep than usual, and that he would be able to wake up of his own accord like rip van winkle. "i am sure he will be able to explain it, because he knows everything." "that is rather a large order, mademoiselle," said riche, laughing. "even the immortal gods of homer were not omniscient. if you had read your faust you may recollect that when mephistopheles is asked if he knows everything, replies 'allwissend bin ich nicht; doch viel ist mir bewust.'"[13] "but you must admit that the professor is frightfully clever," said céleste, looking up at renée for confirmation. "there i am entirely with you," said riche. "he is certainly the most gifted man i ever met. his marvellous discoveries are not all of a character that meet the public eye, as they are too mathematical and too far above the grasp of the general public to be appreciated; but you have only to ask any member of the institute or of any of the royal societies of europe what they think of him, and they will tell you he has a remarkable future before him. there is really nothing that seems impossible to him, if he only gives his mind to it. isn't that your opinion, mademoiselle renée?" but renée never answered. the fresh excitement on hearing the good news had revived her for the moment, and then the reaction set in, and she fell back exhausted, and dropped asleep. villebois pointed to renée, and held his fingers to his lips, then beckoning to the others to follow him, he slipped out of the room on tip-toe. riche quickly pulled down the blinds, and made the room dark, while renée was left alone to her slumbers. footnotes: [footnote 10: small is the gulf that lies twixt life and death.] [footnote 11: ne'er heaven permits that he should die who does not merit death.] [footnote 12: the tempest.] [footnote 13: omniscient am i not, yet much is known to me. faust, part 1, act 4.] chapter xvi the shadow of death que l'oumbro, e toujour l'oumbro, es pire que la mort![14] mistal (_mireille chant xii._) 'fleet footed is the approach of woe but with a lingering step and slow its form departs.'--longfellow, _coplas de manrique_. dr. roux was a man who had risen to his present position by strict attention to his profession. he was an able man, and thoroughly versed in all the mysteries of his art. his reports to the juge d'instruction were always models of accuracy and precision, and were accepted without question by the parquet. but now he confessed he was in a dilemma. "here is a nice state of things," he soliloquised, "i come to dr. villebois' house for the purpose of making a post-mortem examination, and after getting everything ready to begin, two doctors whom i have never seen before persuade me to abandon my task. now if i say he is dead i shall be blamed for not performing the autopsy; but if, on the other hand, i state that he is not dead, they will naturally ask me what proofs i have, and i must confess i have none. i had better talk it over with paul romaine. i fancy he will be at leisure during the afternoon." "well, it is too late now, he will have gone home." the next day at four o'clock roux knocked at the door of the government laboratory. at the moment of roux's arrival, paul was busily engaged in tidying up the laboratory previous to his going home. "well, what brings you here?" called out paul as his visitor was ushered in. "i haven't seen you since we were students together at the salpetrière under old charcot. it is the unexpected that always happens." "that is quite comprehensible," replied roux, "the expected only comprises one event, whereas the unexpected may be any one of a million things. hence the chances of the unexpected are a million to one compared with the expected." "that is a queer kind of logic," replied paul, laughing, "i wonder in what school of philosophy you were taught." "the philosophy of the unknown--it is the best of all philosophies because no one can dispute it. but to be serious, my dear colleague, i want your advice as i am rather in a difficulty. yesterday i received an order to conduct a post-mortem examination on the body of professor delapine who happened to have been the guest of dr. villebois in passy." "whom did you say?" asked paul becoming interested. "professor delapine." "what! professor delapine of the sorbonne. i had no idea that he was dead. what did he die of?" "i don't know that he is dead. that is just my difficulty." "do you mean to tell me that you were ordered by the parquet to make a post-mortem examination, and you don't know whether he is dead or not? my dear fellow, if i did not know you for a serious man i would think that you were joking." "i don't wonder at what you say, but pray listen to me patiently for a moment. it seems that the professor is a medium or spiritualist, or whatever you choose to call it, and the day before yesterday he was lying down in a sleep or trance in a sort of flimsy cabinet, when a cry of fire was raised, and the audience rushed out of the room upstairs to see where the fire had started. while they were gone a medical man--dr. riche, i think the name was--remembering that the professor was in a deep sleep or trance, ran down to look after him with a view of transferring him to a place of safety. as he was in the act of opening the door of the room where the professor was lying, it was shut with a bang by someone inside who immediately locked the door, and evidently got away, for when the door was forced, the intruder was nowhere to be seen. but the remarkable thing about it was that a medical hypodermic syringe was found lying on the floor half full of liquid, and on examining delapine's body a puncture was discovered in his arm which was evidently made by the needle of the syringe. it appears that the head of the police was sent for, and he found delapine lying on the couch apparently dead. yesterday afternoon i arrived at the house in answer to a summons, and was about to conduct the autopsy--in fact i had the scalpel in my hand--when this doctor riche rushed into the room in a tremendous state of excitement, and tore the knife out of my hand so violently that it cut my fingers. 'stop, in heaven's name, stop,' he cried, 'do you want to commit murder?' i naturally became very indignant, and requested him to leave me to my work. villebois backed up dr. riche, and suggested our talking things over in the smoking-room." "that reminds me," said paul, "won't you take something? i have some first-rate beaune locked up in the cupboard which i only bring out to my special friends." "well, thanks, i don't mind. but let me offer you one of my cigarettes," said roux. "mine are a very special brand which i get from prazmouski in moscow. they send me about twelve boxes every month, and they are so delicious i always run short before the month is out." "for my part," said paul, "i am so accustomed to smoking caporals that i have lost the taste for any other brand. still, if i may--thanks. yes, these certainly smell delicious," he added as he tapped the end of one on the table. the two men sat quietly musing in their armchairs as they drank their wine and puffed away in silence. paul inhaled his smoke, ejecting it in two white whirls through his nostrils as he reflected on what his friend had been telling him. "i wonder," he said, as a sudden thought occurred to him, "what made the two doctors stop you in such a hurry? did they think he was not dead?" "that is the extraordinary part of the tale. riche happened to open a drawer at the request of one of the young ladies in the house, and found an envelope sealed up and addressed by delapine to her. on opening it he found a curious message to the effect that if he were found dead, his body was not to be buried or opened by anyone as he was suspicious of foul play, and it was quite possible that he might not be really dead." "when did he find this envelope?" "while i was getting my instruments ready for examination." paul blew a cloud of smoke out of his nose and whistled. "'pon my soul, this is a most mysterious affair. i have known many mysterious things in my life, but i have never come across anything so strange as this. and of course you felt it your duty to suspend operations?" "naturally i decided to await events." "but tell me, doctor, what proofs have they that he is not dead?" "well, there have been no signs of post-mortem rigidity. if there had been any we must have noticed it, as one or the other of us has been at his side the whole time." "how long has he been in that state?" "over forty-eight hours, and what is equally curious the body shows no signs of discoloration." "not even in the dependent parts?" "nowhere; not a sign. we have turned him over several times and his skin is quite white and clean." paul began to hum a tune. "well, that is certainly most extraordinary. if he had been really dead both these signs must have appeared before now." "that is true enough, but i confess i am rather in a difficulty what to do. the parquet expects a detailed report of my medical investigation which must be handed in at once, as the law of france demands the burial of the deceased within three days." "certainement," said paul. "but i should like to advise you that you and monsieur le commissaire biron should deliver a verbal report ad interim to the parquet in which you two describe the extraordinary state of affairs, and ask the parquet the permission for delapine's body to remain in its present position until his demise is ascertained without a shadow of doubt. dr. villebois, as owner of the house in which the strange occurrence happened, is bound to report it to the authorities on his behalf. if he will make an application to the parquet in the same sense as i wish you and monsieur biron to do i am sure he will be allowed to keep delapine's body in the house until all is settled." "vous avez raison," answered roux, "i shall go and see monsieur biron to-morrow. there is something strange in delapine's appearance which makes me believe that he is still alive, although there is absolutely no pulse, no heart sounds, and his temperature is very little, if any, above that of the room. in fact there are no signs of life whatever." roux looked anxiously at his friend paul who had been listening intently to every word he said. a sudden thought struck paul. "tell me," he said, "what was the fluid which the fellow injected into the professor's arm?" "that i cannot tell you. i know it was a slightly yellowish-looking liquid, very brilliant, and possessing a pale bluish opalescense like quinine. dr. riche showed me what had been left in the syringe which he had poured into a small phial." paul played with his fingers nervously and poured out another glass of wine. "excuse me a moment," he said, "while i go into my laboratory." "mayn't i come with you?" asked roux. "certainly, certainly, my dear colleague, by all means." the two entered the laboratory, and paul took up a well-worn handbook on medical jurisprudence, and with feverish haste turned up one reference after another. "no," he said to himself, "there is nothing here which can afford a clue. i know of no poison which can produce the symptoms of death-trance. stay, wait a minute," and he tapped his forehead. "yes, how stupid of me," he said aloud, and crossing over to the side of the room he fetched a short ladder and ran rapidly up the steps. "mon dieu!" he cried, as he took down the bottle which had been sent him from japan. "look here, roux, do you see this little bottle?" "yes, what of it?" "observe it is half empty, and i swear the other day it was quite full. who could have taken it? i am always so particular to keep the room locked. good god," he suddenly exclaimed, "can it be possible?" "what is the matter?" asked roux, as his companion suddenly stopped and put his hand to his head. "are you ill?" taking the bottle in his hands he descended the ladder all of a tremble. in his excitement he lost his balance, and fell to the ground with the steps on top of him. the bottle flew out of his hand and was smashed to atoms. "oh dear, oh dear," he cried, "all the liquid has escaped. what shall i do?" and he wrung his hands in despair. "what on earth is the matter?" said roux, running up to the assistance of his friend. "are you hurt?" "no, no," said paul testily, "don't mind me--it's the bottle," he cried. "it is a priceless treasure. it contained a poison from japan, and some of the contents have been stolen." "well, surely that is not of much consequence," said roux. "not of much consequence, you idiot? don't you see that this contained the liquid which the fellow injected into delapine's arm? i understand it all now," said paul. "tell me quickly, have you found out who could have stolen the liquid? what was the rascal like, do you know his name?" asked roux. "i am sorry i forgot to ask dr. riche about him." "still, if he knows he will tell us," answered paul, anxious to conceal his thoughts, but with such a look of hesitancy and in such a strange voice that roux felt certain that paul knew a great deal more than he cared to admit. "i believe you know who did it, but don't want to tell me. confess now, paul." paul's mind became a whirl of conflicting emotions. if he told roux, the latter would have to put it in his report and communicate with the parquet. and then there would be the greatest trouble. he stammered and hesitated while his face turned perfectly scarlet. "come now, out with it," said roux impatiently. "i cannot, i cannot," replied paul, "please do not press me, but dr. villebois will tell you better than i can." "is villebois on the telephone?" "yes, of course." roux ran over to the telephone and called up 26-230. "hullo, is that you, dr. villebois?" "yes, who are you?" "dr. roux is speaking. i want to know if you have any clue as to the man who injected the fluid into professor delapine's arm?" "no," came the reply, "we have no actual proof as to who did it, but we believe that the would-be assassin was the same individual who set fire to riche's room." "what makes you think that?" "because by setting fire to riche's room it would draw the people in the house upstairs, so that the fellow could not be interrupted in his ghastly work." "i think that is quite a reasonable explanation, but what a pity the scoundrel escaped," said roux. "never mind, we shall find him yet," replied villebois. "may we come and see you at once?" asked roux. "it is most important." "certainly, i will wait in for you; au revoir," and the telephone ceased. roux at once informed paul what dr. villebois had told him. "my god, what a scoundrel," said paul. "but the motive--the motive?" "i am quite in the dark as to his motive, anyhow there can be no doubt as to the course we have to pursue," said roux. "let us go together to villebois's house, and we will examine the professor and draw up a report together." "i have changed my mind, dr. roux, i shall tell you everything when we see villebois. this last piece of villainy has decided me. the criminal must be brought to justice. but what a misfortune that i have lost all that precious fluid." "well, never mind, old chap, dr. riche has quite enough left for us to test." "do you really mean it? thank god for that. let us go at once, there is no time to lose ... as the proverb has it 'il faut battre le fer quand il est chaud.'"[15] a few minutes later the two doctors might have been seen walking rapidly in the direction of villebois's house. half an hour later roux and paul were ushered into the library, where villebois and riche were awaiting their arrival. villebois looked at least ten years older than he did a week ago. he was no longer the faultlessly attired active physician of yore, his dress was untidy and his face bore traces of sleepless nights and constant mental strain. "ah, mon cher docteur," said roux, "i am sorry to see you looking so depressed." "thank you, i confess i don't feel myself at all. i am so worried over this affair. the more i think of it, the more terrible it becomes, until it swells up into a frankenstein. to have a fire in one's house is bad enough, but to have a murdered friend lying in one's drawing-room day after day is too awful to contemplate. the cook spends all her time gossiping with the butcher and the baker, and every person who comes to the back door. i found the butler lying dead drunk in the pantry for the first time since he has been in my service. céleste and renée are worn out with watching the professor, and now i am worried to death with official visits from the maire and the police. my house is watched by detectives, and all the neighbours hang about outside the garden peering in at the windows, and pointing at me with their fingers, and whispering to each other. i shall go mad if this affair goes on much longer. we must find some way out of it." "that's the very reason we have come, mon ami," said roux; "but first let me ask you what the commissaire de police has done?" "nothing as far as i know. he has telephoned up three times to know the reason why you have not sent in your report, and has placed two detectives here to watch the grounds." "has he ordered any arrest to be made?" "how could he, when we could not inform him who the culprit was? we could not charge pierre with the crime." "why not?" asked roux. "why not? my dear doctor, seeing that both he and his father have been guests at our house what could we do? we were unable to prove that pierre was concerned in it, and supposing he turned out to be innocent? what would the duvals think of us? the father would probably challenge me to fight him, and in any case we should have made them our enemies for life. put yourself for a moment in pierre's position. suppose someone accused you of first setting fire to his house when you were his guest at the time, and then of poisoning a fellow guest who had never done you any harm, by means of some fearful drug, and it turned out afterwards that you were quite innocent, what would you think of him? that is absolutely the case with pierre." "not so fast, doctor," said paul, "i can prove that he is the person who did it. for god's sake do not pose as a miserable sentimentalist." "what!" they all exclaimed with looks of horror on their faces, "do you really mean that pierre did the dastardly act?" "certainly. do you remember, dr. roux, when you called on me this afternoon and asked me to help you to draw up your report as you were uncertain whether delapine was dead or not?" "i do, perfectly." "well, you recollect that i searched in my text-books to find some drug which would cause a person to lapse into a state of apparent death for a long period, and failing to discover it, i suddenly thought of something, and climbed up a ladder and took a bottle from the top shelf, and to my horror and amazement discovered it to be half empty?" "i do, and what's more you seemed to have lost your senses for a moment, you were so agitated," said roux. "now, i suddenly remembered that two or three weeks ago, pierre, whom i have not seen for two or more years, unexpectedly called and cross-questioned me as to the action of certain secret poisons which science has been unable to detect, and i showed him a japanese poison which had recently arrived from tokio. i took the bottle down and showed it to him, and i then replaced it on the shelf. the liquid was a thick, highly refractive dichromic liquid, which had a very unusual appearance something like quinine only much more highly refractive, besides being far heavier. when we left the room we waited in the passage of the house for a cab, when suddenly pierre asked for the loan of the key of the room as he had forgotten his cigarette case. not suspecting anything, i gave it to him, and waited there until he returned. to the best of my recollection, no one except my servant has ever had access to the room since, and when i discovered the bottle half empty to-day i knew it must have been pierre who had opened it." "yes," said riche, "and i remember at the séance last week i noticed pierre quietly slip out of the room and disappear. well, less than half an hour afterwards we all noticed the smoke of the fire." "a strange coincidence that the two events should follow one another so soon," said villebois, who had been listening intently. "not only that, but your daughter called my attention to the fact that pierre tampered with delapine's coffee when we had the race on the lawn, and i think we all noticed how cleverly delapine excused himself from drinking it, and killed a plant with a few drops of the liquid. you see how all these facts fit in together and render the evidence of his guilt convincing. lastly, here is the liquid which i emptied out of the syringe i found on the floor of the séance-room after the person inside had escaped." paul took the bottle out of riche's hand and examined it carefully. "yes," he replied, as he placed it on the table for the others to look at. "that is the japanese liquid which was stolen from my laboratory." "are you quite sure?" asked roux. "certainly, i can swear to it as it has a peculiar appearance which no other liquid possesses. examine it for yourselves, gentlemen," and he handed the bottle to the others to inspect. the four doctors looked at one another for some time in silence. villebois and riche exchanged glances of surprise and horror. "mais, messieurs, this is terrible. what are we to do?" said villebois, breaking the spell. another silence followed, as if each one was afraid to say what he thought. at length roux got up and said, "i must do my duty, my dear colleague, and place this evidence in my report." "for my part i should like to keep his name out of it," said villebois. "what! would you screen an incarnate fiend from justice?" cried paul and roux together. "no, my dear villebois," added roux, leaning forward with both hands on the table, "there are crimes which we cannot allow our feelings to hide. we may be able to forgive injuries done to ourselves, but to protect a scoundrel who abuses your hospitality by murdering your friend and guest in cold blood, exceeds all the bounds of mercy." "well," said villebois with a sigh, "i withhold my objection provided you will promise me the police will not be informed before twenty-four hours have elapsed. it is now six p.m. promise me, dr. roux, that your report will not be handed in before the same time to-morrow." "i suppose you wish to have time to warn pierre?" "precisely," replied villebois, "pray respect my feelings, gentlemen, i do it more to spare my friends payot and general duval." roux shook his head and frowned. "i cannot permit my feelings to interfere with my duty," he answered. paul nodded his head with approval. "that is quite right," said villebois, "but surely you will show me, your confrère, some mercy as well. if pierre has time to escape no one will suffer, and we shall be effectually rid of him." "jamais de la vie," said roux, his eyes flashing with indignation, and banging his fist on the table with such force that the contents of the inkpot were spilled. "i regret, my dear doctor," he added in a calmer voice, "i cannot oblige you, for i am determined that this unmitigated scoundrel shall be brought to justice, and i shall prepare my report at once and hand it without delay to the commissaire de police." "and i mean to back you up, roux," said paul. "i swear i will not rest until this fiend is run to earth." paul shook hands with villebois and riche, and taking roux by the arm, the two left the house without another word. "riche," said villebois the moment they were alone, "this is a terrible business. i'm afraid it's all up with pierre." "well, for my part, i hate the brute, and the sooner he gets his deserts the better. i should be only too happy to act the part of 'monsieur de paris' myself, and would not shed a tear when i saw his head fall into the basket." villebois heaved a sigh, and wiped his forehead with a silk handkerchief. "perhaps they are right after all," he said to himself, "but then there is the old general to consider. it will kill him surely enough if his son is arrested on a charge of deliberate murder." "riche," he called out as a sudden idea struck him, "my nerves are so unstrung i feel i need a drop of cognac; will you share a liqueur with me?" and without waiting for a reply he rang the bell. "françois," he said as the butler appeared, "bring a bottle of old liqueur brandy. no, you don't know where that special brand is, i will go." so saying, he followed françois, closing the door behind him. "françois," he added in a hoarse whisper, "not a word, not a word of what i do, do you hear me?" the butler nodded and touched his forehead. "now go and fetch the brandy. stop, wait a minute." villebois took an old 'petit bleu' from his pocket, gummed it down and handed it to françois. "hand me this when you bring the cognac, and tell me it has just arrived." françois saluted and vanished, while villebois returned to the library. presently françois arrived with a tray of glasses and the liqueur, and handed him the telegram. "why did you not bring me this before?" asked villebois. "it has only just arrived, sir," replied françois, like a school-boy repeating a lesson. villebois hastily opened it, and glancing at the contents put it into his pocket. "excuse me, riche," he said, swallowing a petit verre of the liqueur, "but i have an important appointment to keep. pray amuse yourself until i return. you will find the last number of _la vie parisienne_ on my table." villebois left the room and hurried to the telephone. "is monsieur pierre at home?" "no, sir," came the reply, "he has gone to his club in the avenue de l'opera. he left half an hour ago." "h'm," said villebois, "this is very awkward." "oh, by the way, marcel," he added as that little gentleman appeared in the passage, "just put on your hat and take a walk with me." the two gentlemen hurried out of the house, and walked slowly arm in arm up and down the garden. "marcel, i want to take you into my confidence. will you do me a special favour?" said villebois, suddenly pausing in his walk and facing his companion. "certainly," replied marcel, who loved nothing better than an adventure. "command me and i will obey." "well then, i want you to go to the circle des italiens in the avenue de l'opera and ask to see pierre. tell him everything is discovered, and the game is up. he must leave paris to-night, and disappear from france as quickly as possible. it is absolutely necessary for him to leave at once, as an order for his arrest may be issued at any moment. if his father learns of it, it will certainly kill him, and the disgrace and worry will probably finish me as well." villebois slowly walked back to his house, while marcel ran out into the street and hailing a cab drove off towards the city. footnotes: [footnote 14: for the shadow--yea verily the shadow (of death) is worse than death itself.] [footnote 15: one must strike the iron while it is hot.] chapter xvii emile visits his friend pierre with most unpleasant consequences "tout mal arrive avec des ailes." voltaire. "ben provide i'l cielo, ch' uom per delitti mai lieto non sia."[16] it was late at night when pierre left the café and started out for his chambers in blissful ignorance that he was being closely followed by a man. the night was clear, and the innumerable shops and cafés lit up, gave the boulevard that bright and animated appearance which is one of the peculiar charms of the gay city. he pulled out his cigarette case, a silver-gilt one with his monogram in blue enamel, a new-year's gift from payot, and discovered it empty. pierre got out of his fiacre, and dismissing the cocher turned into one of the numerous tobacco shops, where he speedily refilled it, and was in the act of lifting it up when the man, no other than emile levasseur, the waiter and lover of the girl whom he had insulted at maxim's, dexterously extracted a pocket-book from pierre's breast pocket. long practice had made him an expert at this game, and watching his opportunity until pierre had turned down one of the side streets, where he could be more easily followed, he opened it under one of the street lamps, and hastily looked through its contents. after abstracting a billet de banque for five hundred francs which he transferred to his own pocket to meet any emergencies that might arise, together with a few visiting cards which were evidently pierre's--seeing that they all bore the same address--he left the rest of the notes in the pocket-book, and continued to follow pierre. at length he observed pierre take out his latch key, and running after him with the pocket-book in his hand took off his hat with a polite bow. "a thousand pardons, but has not monsieur forgotten his pocket-book a few moments ago?" pierre felt in his coat pocket, and not finding it there, turned round to look at emile once more. "i had the honour to notice it lying on the counter of the tobacco shop after monsieur had just left it. but monsieur travelled so fast i had some difficulty in reaching him." pierre took the pocket-book, and after seeing that the contents had apparently not been tampered with, thanked him and offered him a five franc piece. emile refused the proffered tip with a superb smile, and a majestic wave of the hand. "a thousand pardons, but really i cannot accept anything from monsieur, the fact that i have been the humble means of restoring monsieur's property is more than ample reward for me." pierre grunted with a smile of contemptuous unbelief, and returned the piece to his pocket, after scanning him closely from head to foot. his inspection was evidently satisfactory for he paused for a few minutes and asked him whether he would care to perform a small service for him, for which he would pay him handsomely. "ah, monsieur is too generous. to serve a patron like monsieur would be the supreme desire of my life, and payment would be quite a secondary consideration," he said with a greasy supercilious smile. "what is your name and address?" asked pierre. monsieur emile opened a small card-case and handed him one of his cards which he always kept in readiness for emergencies like these. it bore the inscription:-[illustration: _emile deschamps, traveller and confidential agent._ _rue du rhone, grenoble._] the inscription on the card had been devised by m. emile after much meditation and reflection, and while drawn up to create confidence in the recipient, was really as misleading a document as one could find. "you see," he would say to his 'copains,' "grenoble is too far away for anyone in paris to make awkward enquiries, the name of the street carries no number, and the fact that i am a traveller explains my presence in any city where i may be at the time, and does away with the necessity of having a fixed address. moreover a confidential agent imparts a certain tone and air of respectability which cannot fail to give me the entire confidence of any patron who may be the favoured recipient of this small piece of pasteboard. besides this, the fact that i have been a garçon for several years has enabled me to acquire that polished debonair appearance and deportment which can only be acquired from constant attendance on the high-born gentlemen and ladies whom i have had the honour to serve." glancing at the card, pierre invited him to enter his rooms, and in a few moments the pair were settled in a well-furnished and comfortable library. emile was decidedly well dressed for a waiter, and beyond the fact that he wore mutton chop whiskers, a cleanly shaven face, a bald head, and had the habit of inadvertently placing his napkin under his arm and stepping across the room with his head in the air, no one would have suspected that he was in that line of business. he was a coward at heart, and was one of those sneaks who are always hanging about street corners--in fact he made street corners a speciality--and he was ever on the watch for something to turn up which might add to his income. these blackmailers--for that is what they really are--abound in all large cities, and seem without exception to attach themselves to one or more of the fair sex, whose inherited instincts of virtue have long since evaporated, and who night after night frequent one or other of the music halls or cafés, for the purpose of making fresh conquests. these pimps exert an evil influence over the minds of the girls, and by slow degrees insidiously drag them down to their own infamous level. always keeping in the background, they are never seen by the gentleman who is drawn into the fair charmer's net, and only appear on the scenes when they perceive an opportunity of extracting money as the price of silence. "now, sir," said pierre, as he poured out a small glass of absinthe which m. emile tossed off at a gulp, "i want you to act as my private detective and watch a certain house for me, and to inform me of everything that goes on there. you are to call here at least once every day, and if i am out you are to leave a written message in a sealed envelope. i will pay you well, provided you allow no one to become acquainted with your movements, and you are not to tell a single soul as to where i am, or what i am doing. is that well understood?" "oh, monsieur, if you only knew me better, you would be convinced that you have selected the best private detective in all paris. i have frequently undertaken little commissions of this sort when travelling for my firm." "good! that will do. now what do you consider a fair return for doing me this service?" "ah! i see monsieur is generous--i leave it to him." "well," said pierre, lighting a fresh cigarette, and blowing a few whiffs in silence, "let me see. supposing i pay you ten francs a day. what do you say to that?" "oh, mon cher monsieur!--" "don't address me as 'mon cher,'" pierre interrupted. "please remember you are my servant, and not my equal." "pardon, monsieur, a thousand apologies, it was my great appreciation of your nobility of character that warmed my heart towards you and impelled me to say this." "look here, monsieur emile, if you think you are going to get round me by that sort of blarney you're jolly mistaken. tell me what you are prepared to accept, and don't try on any more of your monkey-brand soap on me, it won't wash. you'll provoke me to say something in a moment that you won't like. now out with it. how much?" "ah! monsieur is too cruel. the last time i undertook a commission like this i reluctantly accepted a hundred francs a day, but as i have taken a great fancy to you i will make an immense sacrifice and accept fifty francs." "i suppose you think i'm a soft-headed idiot, and that i believe all your silly tales. well, i may as well be frank and tell you that i don't believe a word you say. look here, i'll offer you fifteen francs a day, and not a sou more. you may take it or leave it as you please." emile levasseur cowed under the stern voice of pierre, and seeing that the game was up, shrugged his shoulders, and spreading out the palms of his hands in a supplicatory fashion with a look of intense resignation and reluctance, accepted the offer. pierre gave a smile of satisfaction at the success of his counter-stroke, and after giving his now engaged detective a few more instructions, rang the bell, and ordered his valet to show him out. emile was no match for a determined man, but having extremely plausible ways, he generally succeeded in gaining his ends with the lower class of women, and especially servant girls. hence his first manoeuvre to establish a footing in villebois's house was by pandering to the vanity of the doctor's female servants. by means of a little subtle flattery, a kiss or two, and a few francs carefully invested in scents and cheap ribbons, he soon won the favour of the housemaid. from her he learnt all the goings-on in the house--the death-like trance of delapine, the interrupted autopsy on the body, the discovery of the hypodermic syringe and the needle, and the visits of messieurs biron and roux. a couple of days later as emile was loafing round the house during the evening, he noticed villebois and marcel engaged in earnest conversation in the garden. thinking it might prove useful, he managed to climb over the wall and creep up to them in the dusk. he found an excellent hiding place quite close to them behind one of the laurel bushes. emile could not catch all they said, but he distinctly heard villebois say to marcel, "go to pierre's club 'the circle des italiens' in the avenue de l'opera, and inform him from me that he must quit france to-night, or he will be arrested to-morrow for the murder of delapine. all is discovered and the game is up, and if his father hears of his arrest it will certainly kill him." as they moved down the path emile lost the rest of the conversation. he remained concealed until villebois and marcel had entered the house, and then creeping along the garden wall he succeeded in passing unobserved into the street. presently he saw marcel come out of the house and hurry past. emile watched him drive off in a fiacre, and hurried after him on foot, seeking all the time in vain for some means of overtaking him. five minutes or more elapsed, but no vehicle could be seen. at length emile threw up his hands in despair, and was on the point of abandoning the task as hopeless, when he saw a private motor-car coming along with two men inside. as he rushed into the middle of the road and waved his hands in front of the advancing car, the chauffeur brought the powerful mercèdes to a stand, and demanded an explanation of the stoppage. "a thousand pardons, gentlemen," said emile, assuming a most bewitching smile of the very latest pattern, "but my car has broken down, and it is imperative that i should reach my club in the avenue de l'opera immediately. if i might trespass on your kindness, and ask you to drive me?" the two men looked at each other and hesitated, but emile handed them his visiting card with an elegant flourish, and a courtly bow. the card handed to the occupants of the mercèdes bore a crown in the centre, and in ornamental copperplate letters appeared underneath:-[illustration: _le comte de saint-beuve._ _chateau de forest, fontainbleau._] this at once decided the case, and delighted that they had a gentleman of such good rank and courtly bearing for a companion, they had no hesitation in granting his request, and cordially inviting him to be seated, they drove away to the club. as the car pulled up at the entrance, one of the pages opened the door, and emile, shaking hands with his two friends, majestically stepped out. mounting the steps in a dignified manner, he passed by the portier as if the place belonged to him, without even deigning to look round. entering one of the writing rooms, he hastily scribbled a note, and descending at once he stood at the entrance of the club awaiting the arrival of marcel. a few minutes afterwards his quarry appeared, and emile, walking up to him, hat in hand: "excuse me sir, are you monsieur marcel?" "yes, that is my name. why do you address me?" "because monsieur pierre duval gave me this note for you." marcel looked very surprised at receiving a letter from pierre as he could not imagine how pierre could divine that he would call, but he at once took the proffered letter, and tearing open the envelope read as follows:- "dear marcel, i much regret to have missed you, but i have just received an urgent telegram calling me away to defend a case at orleans which will probably detain me for a few days. a letter addressed to the hotel de la pucelle will find me. so sorry to have missed you. a bientôt, pierre." while marcel was reading the note emile passed out of the club, and was speedily lost to sight. "this is awkward," muttered marcel, "still it will give him time to escape if villebois writes him to-night. well, it can't be helped, i must see villebois, and he can write or send a wire to warn him. anyhow, i can do no good by staying here." so saying he retraced his steps, and hailing a taxi soon found himself once more in passy. entirely ignorant of what had just transpired, pierre went home to dinner, followed at a little distance by emile. hardly was his meal finished when a ring was heard at the door. "ah," said pierre, "i expect that rascal emile has come to see me. i wonder what he has to say this time." a moment later emile was shown into the room. "i have important news for monsieur," was his opening remark as he laid his hat and cane on a chair. "well, be quick and let me know what it is. i have not much time." "but, before i begin, perhaps monsieur will settle my little account?" said emile, reflecting that when pierre heard the news, he would have more important matters to think about than the settlement of the little bill. "well, here are two napoleons, that is all i can spare at the moment, and if you don't bring me more news than you have done hitherto you may whistle for any more money from me." "oh," replied emile as he pocketed the coins, "monsieur may be certain that i will give him plenty of news to-night, plenty of news, he may be quite sure." "now tell me what you have to say, and be quick about it," said pierre, lighting a fresh cigarette. "monsieur will pardon me if i say that my news is not to be told too quickly, and perhaps monsieur himself will see when i have finished that the need for haste is not a matter for me." while emile was speaking pierre nonchalantly turned his back on his visitor and was busying himself with the pages of a railway guide. at the totally unexpected words of emile, uttered in a quiet and almost dignified manner, the young advocate turned sharply round, and was about to deliver a scathing rebuke to his impertinent employee, but the words died on his lips and a sickening feeling of dread crept over him when he saw emile draw up a chair and calmly seat himself alongside the small table standing between them. summoning as much indifference into his tone as he was able to under the circumstances, he said: "pray, do not consider me, make yourself quite at home. but i may remark, however, that up to this moment i was under the impression that i was the master here." "it is my fond hope that monsieur may long remain free to be the master in his own house," replied emile, looking straight into the eyes of pierre. "but," he added slowly, "if monsieur will deign to accept the help of his humble ally----" "understand me once for all," interrupted pierre haughtily, "i do not make allies of my servants; if you have any news to report, say briefly what it is. have you carried out my instructions and obtained information from dr. villebois's servants?" "yes, monsieur, i have not only gained my news from the servants, but i have obtained most valuable information from the lips of the eminent dr. villebois himself." "ah, and what had he to say?" asked pierre anxiously. "that is the very matter which i desire to discuss with monsieur," replied emile. "how do you mean, discuss?" answered pierre angrily. "you are not here to discuss; your place is to report, and that's what you are paid for. you seem to forget yourself when you talk to me about discussing my business with me." nettled at the tone of superiority adopted by pierre, emile put up a warning hand to interrupt, "i think monsieur will be very glad to pay me a very large sum of money to make me forget. sit down, monsieur, sit down," he added, "and we will come to a little arrangement about what dr. villebois was good enough to inform your ally and friend." something in his visitor's manner and looks caused pierre to see that the time for bravado and bluff was past, and with a contemptuous sneer at the figure opposite him, he sat down at the further side of the table. "monsieur would prefer to smoke perhaps," said emile insinuatingly. "the cigarette has a wonderfully soothing effect on the nerves when they are shaken." "damn you, say what you have to say," snarled pierre, "and get out of this." "i would remind monsieur that politeness is not only a great virtue, but on occasions like this it is also the best policy." "what do you mean by occasions like this? explain yourself, i do not understand." "monsieur will do better not to adopt that tone with me. i am here as his friend if----" "if what?" "if it will please monsieur to pay me----" "pay you for what?" "for my devotion to the interests of monsieur in coming to him first with my news instead of going to the prefecture and telling the police that monsieur has murdered professor delapine." "what! do you insinuate that i murdered the professor? how dare you, scoundrel!" he cried, jumping up from his chair white with passion and fear, while his face gradually became ashy pale, and a cold sweat broke over him. reaching forward he poured out a full measure of brandy with a trembling hand, and swallowed it down at a gulp. "what are you staring at, you idiot?" he said, trembling all over. "have you nothing else to tell me? well then get out, i have no further use for you; and mind, if you breathe a word to a living soul about this, by god, i will kill you like a dog. what are you doing standing still like a born fool that you are? get out, i say, do you hear me?" he cried as emile hesitated to depart. "i wish to assure monsieur," said emile, who displayed great control over his voice, but an extraordinary want of tact, "that it was only my great devotion to him that prevented me from informing the police this evening, and monsieur would have been arrested immediately. now, if monsieur will make me a little present, just enough to make it worth my while----" "what! you infernal devil," interrupted pierre, his voice becoming husky with passion as he rose from the table and looked at emile with eyes blazing with fury. "do you mean to tell me that you require me to muzzle your mouth with gold in order to secure your silence?" "ah! monsieur, we have all got to live, and for a thousand francs--a mere trifle to monsieur--i close my eyes, and for another couple of thousand more i close my lips, and i will never tell the police, or even your father." "you limb of satan, you hellish fiend. by god, i swear i'll tear your lying tongue out of your mouth, and break every bone in your damned body," cried pierre, and seizing a champagne bottle he hurled it with all his force at emile's head as the imp tried to escape from the room. emile ducked, and the bottle just caught the top of his head, causing a deep gash, and knocking him down as if he had been pole-axed. the blood trickled down his face, and pierre was afraid for the moment that he had killed him. hurrying out of the room he fetched a pail of water and some towels, and tying one of them tightly over the wound he soon stopped the bleeding. in a few minutes he had mopped up all the blood, and removed every trace of it from the floor, and seeing that emile was not seriously hurt, propped him up in a chair and rang the bell. "joseph," he said to his servant, as the latter stared at emile propped up like a chinese idol with a towel twisted into a turban round his head. "don't be alarmed, my friend has had the misfortune to cut his head with a champagne bottle as he was opening it, he will soon be all right again. kindly go and fetch a fiacre as soon as possible, and see that he is driven to his diggings. by the way, joseph," he added, "i shan't want you this evening, so you may go out and amuse yourself if you like, and remember," he continued, in as calm a voice as he could command, "not a word about this to anyone. this accident was purely his own fault, and as you see, he is not badly hurt." "thank you, sir," said joseph, as he felt relieved at seeing emile beginning to wake up. "have you any further orders, sir?" "no, joseph, no, that will do, only be quick and get this fellow out of the way. his presence is getting on my nerves," added pierre, becoming excited again. a fiacre was soon brought, and emile was bundled in. "where shall i drive to?" asked the cocher. "oh! anywhere you please," said pierre, who had assisted joseph in getting him in, "only don't bring him back here." the cocher drove off, and emile, recovering somewhat, shouted to the coachman to turn round and drive to the general's house. as soon as joseph had departed, pierre set to work to pack up his possessions, and collect his papers and valuables together. "now," he said, consulting a railway time-table, "i shall be able to catch the midnight train for bordeaux. that will suit me nicely, and i can alter my appearance so that my own mother would not recognise me." footnotes: [footnote 16: "heaven provides that man shall ne'er by crime to happiness attain."] chapter xviii facilis decensus averni revenge at first though sweet, bitter ere long back on itself recoils. _paradise lost._ meanwhile emile swore in a way that would have turned the english dragoons in flanders green with envy. he was thirsting for vengeance and was busy turning over in his mind how he could best pay pierre back in his own coin, when he found himself at the general's house. thanks to villebois and riche's skill, duval's bullet wound was so far healed that he was beginning to use his arm, and the movements and sensation of feeling showed that repair had set in vigorously. he was sitting in an easy chair when emile was ushered into his presence. "well, and pray who are you, and what do you want to see me about at this time in the evening?" said duval, frowning at him and looking very red in the face. the general scrutinized the visiting card which robert had just handed to him on a silver salver. turning it over he examined it thoughtfully, and glanced up at him with a searching gaze. "what have you been doing to your head?" he enquired. emile twisted his fingers, and played with his hat in a nervous fashion. "i met with an accident in the street, and a man ran out of a house and bound it up for me," he replied, cowed and trembling. "i suppose you think that is the proper way to call on gentlemen of my rank in the evening, is it?" emile was beginning to feel faint, and sat down on a chair near the general. "get up, sir, this instant. how dare you sit down in the presence of a general of the french army, and without leave too? parbleu, in my younger days you would have been arrested immediately, and severely punished. ma foi, the service must be going to the devil. get up this instant, do you hear me, sir?" he said, as the wretched man was too bewildered and confused to obey the general's orders. "if you please, mon général, i have the honour to inform you that--that your son has killed professor delapine, and that he will be arrested to-morrow morning for murder." "what the devil do you mean, sir? are you mad or what?" "a thousand pardons, mon général, i am telling you the naked truth. i have just come from dr. villebois's house, and i overheard him say that the moment dr. roux's report is presented to-morrow morning at the parquet, your son, monsieur pierre gaston duval, will be arrested on the charges of arson and murder." "what!" exclaimed the general, bounding out of his chair, and seizing the bully by his coat collar and shaking him violently. "do you mean to tell me that--that----" he burst out in a voice that became incoherent with mingled rage and horror, "that--that--the police intend to--to arrest my son on a charge of murder?" "it is true, mon général, i heard dr. villebois and dr. roux both say so." the general's eyes nearly started out of his head, and a profuse perspiration collected on his brow. an awful horror seized him, and his chest heaved with convulsive emotion. "my god! to think it has come to this! my only son, the pride of my heart, the heir to all my property, the sole survivor of my family, and to end in disgrace like this," and burying his face in his hands, he sobbed convulsively. emile toyed with his hat more nervously than ever, and watched the general intently not to miss the effect which his speech had on him. at length after a painful pause that seemed interminable, duval stood up, and fastened his eyes with a searching gaze on emile, while his face twitched convulsively, and assumed a look which terrified him almost out of his wits. "what were you doing in delapine's house to overhear this conversation? were you invited there?" "oh! no, mon général. i was paid by m. pierre to watch the house and bring him all the news i could glean." the general's feelings were working up to the boiling point, and his fury was passing beyond all his powers of control. emile was on the point of making a bolt for it, but the furious gleam of duval's eyes rooted him to the spot. "you infernal sneak, you vile informer, you--you miserable reptile," said the general, with a look of withering contempt on his face, his voice rising in pitch until it almost ended in a shriek, "out with you before i shoot you dead," and suiting his actions to his words, he opened a drawer and pulled out a large army revolver. but emile did not wait for duval to raise the weapon. before the general had time to cock it, emile had already bolted out of the room, and hurrying down the stairs, ran out of the front gate as fast as his legs could carry him. duval rushed after him and fired several shots, but his wounded arm prevented him from taking a steady aim, and emile was speedily out of range. the general returned to his room, and lay down on the sofa in a state of complete exhaustion. nearly half an hour had elapsed before he was sufficiently recuperated to ring the bell and order the carriage to be got ready. he slowly went upstairs, and put on his uniform assisted by his valet. "buckle on my sword as well, robert, i don't feel my real self without my trusty sword and revolver." robert appeared terribly scared at the appearance of his master, but knew him too well to venture on any remark, or to let him perceive that he saw it. "you need not wait up for me, robert," he said in a calm and measured voice which presented a marked contrast to his previous excited and furious tones, and now bore traces of strong determination mingled with unutterable sadness. "i don't like to say so, robert, but i feel somehow that i may be addressing you for the last time. you will have no reason to forget me, robert, you have been a faithful servant to me, and i have not forgotten you in my will." "oh! mon général, do not talk like that," said robert, weeping, "i cannot bear to think that misfortune could overtake you." the general was deeply moved at the old servant's words, and pouring out a glass of brandy, handed it to him. robert for the moment was too astonished to drink it, and looked at his master for some explanation of his altogether unusual conduct. "drink it, drink it, my good fellow," said duval, "i do not like leaving without some slight token of my regard for you," and so saying he filled another glass, and with a nod of approval clinked it against his valet's, and drank to his health. "may le bon dieu watch over you," said robert in a solemn but respectful tone of voice. "merci, merci," replied the general nodding to him. "now leave me, my good man, i am not well," and he shook his head and sighed painfully. robert's eyes were filled with tears as he left the room in silence. it was after nine in the evening when the general arrived at pierre's rooms. the latter looked out of his window to make sure that it was not a detective, or a member of the police force who stood at the door, and having assured himself on that score, he opened the door and admitted his father. duval quietly entered the room without saying a word. he sat down in an armchair and began by looking at pierre, who was humming a tune, with a steady gaze. pierre felt very uncomfortable, and tried to avert his father's looks, but in vain. the silence was beginning to become unbearable, and picking up a newspaper he attempted to read, but the terrible look on his father's face rendered it impossible, and he flung the paper on one side. "now, sir, pray explain yourself," said his father very solemnly and slowly in an almost sepulchral voice. "i understand from a man who calls himself emile deschamps that you have not only attempted to burn villebois's house down, but you have actually murdered his guest professor delapine, and that to-morrow morning you will be arrested in the name of the law." "my dear father, what on earth are you talking about? i don't understand a word you're saying." pierre opened his cigarette-case, and having selected a cigarette to his satisfaction, proceeded to offer his father one. "don't trifle with me, sir. i have come here to demand an answer to my questions, and not to smoke cigarettes with you." "you can ask me as many questions as you like, but i don't see that i am called upon to answer them," replied pierre in a huff. "by god, sir, you shall not leave the room until you have answered them," replied the general, becoming more and more angry. "look here, father, i won't have you talk to me as if i were a naughty child. you come here at this absurd hour of the night, and glare at me like a hyæna, and expect me to listen to some yarn about my burning down villebois's house and murdering delapine. "really, sir," he continued, "you are too funny for words, you ought to have been a comic actor. ha! ha! ha!" and pierre shook with laughter. "how dare you trifle with me in this manner? are you aware of the seriousness of this charge?" cried duval in an awful voice. "for goodness' sake stop, father, this conversation is becoming too tedious, i really can't stand it any longer," replied pierre in a languid drawl. "by the way, won't you take a glass of port?" "hold your tongue, sir! will you listen to me or not? you have been accused of having set fire to villebois's house, and of murdering professor delapine. i wish to hear from your own lips; is it true or not?" "oh, do shut up, father, and don't play the fool with me any more," replied pierre, his voice rising almost to a scream. "is it likely that i, your own son, would dream of doing mad acts like that? the thing is too absurd even to argue about." "am i to understand then that you are innocent of both these deeds?" "most certainly i am. i swear the whole charge is a dastardly lie, and is without a shadow of foundation." "are you prepared to swear this to me on oath? hold up your hand and swear then," said his father, as pierre nodded assent. "i swear before god that the whole story is nothing but a filthy lie," said pierre, holding up his hand, "and i solemnly call god to witness what i say." "you are lying, you are deceiving me--i can read it in your face." "may god strike me dead on the spot if i am deceiving you," replied pierre in a sudden outburst of passion, bringing his fist down on the table with a bang in order to carry conviction, although he was trembling from head to foot. "of course," he continued after a moment's reflection, "if you prefer to believe this damned cad whom you call emile, rather than your own son, i have nothing more to say." duval remained silent for a few moments, fixing on him one of those terrible looks which would have cowed a bengal tiger, and caused him to slink away. "come now, father, for goodness' sake change the subject, and don't waste my time with these absurd accusations," said pierre, with well-feigned anger, although he was quaking with fear. "pierre, i ask you for the last time, do you still persist in your statement that it is all a lie?" "of course i do; what else could it be?" "if it is a lie, then explain to me why you have employed a low sneak to watch the house and inform you from hour to hour what is going on there. is that a lie also?" pierre grew very red in the face and tried to avert his father's gaze, but said nothing. "answer me, sir," said duval with another of his searching looks. "oh, father, why do you ask me such ridiculous questions?" "ridiculous questions indeed. i suppose you will give that reply to the juge d'instruction when you are arraigned on the charge of wilful murder, and when the guillotine is staring you in the face? hein!" and duval looked at him once more with flashing eyes and tightly clenched teeth. pierre merely hung down his head. "hold up your head, sir," said duval in a terrible voice, "and look me full in the face. i see your sense of guilt makes you ashamed to do it." pierre got up and made as if he would leave the room. "halt!" cried the general in a voice of thunder, and going quickly to the door he locked it and put the key in his pocket. "now, sir, once for all, did you or did you not kill delapine, and set fire to villebois's house?" pierre could see from his father's face that prevarication was useless, and however much he denied the deed he would refuse to believe him. "i see you refuse to believe me even when i do tell the truth. well, as a matter of fact, i did try an _experiment_ on delapine when he was in a trance, with a little liquid which paul romaine gave me, and the fluid unfortunately proved too strong for him, and it ended fatally." "do you imagine for a moment that the jury will believe that story? did you set fire to the house as an _experiment_ to see whether it would cause the guests to quit the room and leave you free to murder an innocent man? did you keep away from villebois's house where you were a 'persona grata,' and a welcome guest, and employ a spy as an _experiment_ to watch the house for you? hein!" "i see it is useless to argue with you, father, so i shall hold my tongue." "you are not only an incendiary and a murderer," said duval in a voice trembling with emotion, "but what, if possible, is worse, you are a liar! and a coward, sir! i disown you for ever as my son, but i cannot allow you to disgrace my name and that of our family by being put in prison, and handed over to the executioner as a felon," and so saying he quietly drew his loaded revolver and laid it on the table. deliberately rising up, he unlocked the door, saying as he did so, "i shall return in a quarter of an hour," and shutting it, locked it on the outside. duval went out of the house and paced up and down in front of the window of the room where his son was standing, and nervously looked at his watch from time to time. punctually, in a quarter of an hour he returned, and unlocking the door, looked at pierre with a face of unutterable disgust. his eyelids were raised to their full extent showing the whites all round, while his pupils dilated and glistened with rage and emotion as he stood bolt upright with his head in the air like the brave old soldier that he was. "coward," he hissed, "so you have not even the courage to preserve your father's name. well then, since you have not the courage, i must do it for you," and taking up the revolver he pointed it at pierre's heart. but pierre loved life too well to be despatched without a struggle, and before duval had time to pull the trigger, his son made a sudden dart at him and dashed the revolver aside, and at the same time closing with the general, threw him on to the ground. under ordinary circumstances duval's superior strength would have made it an easy task for him to render pierre powerless, but the pain in his injured arm became so excruciating that it gave pierre every advantage over him. duval still held on to his revolver, and endeavoured to fire at his son's body, but as he was in the act of pulling the trigger during the heat of the struggle, pierre unintentionally twisted his father's hand round at the moment when the revolver was going off. the trigger fell, and the bullet passed right through duval's heart. pierre instantly released him, and getting up observed his father give a few convulsive gasps and fall back dead. he gazed on him with a wild look of terror, and falling on his neck, gave way to his feelings of grief. but his remorse soon changed to alarm for his own safety, and he fervently thanked his stars that he had sent his servant out for the evening. his first task was to open the window wide, and then taking his father's money out of his pocket, he scattered a few coins on the floor, and upset some of the furniture. the rest of the money together with his father's gold watch, keys, and revolver, he transferred to his own pockets. pierre carefully locked the door on the inside, and climbing out of the window he re-entered the house by the front door, and picking up his valaise and portmanteau (which he had previously packed) straight-way left the house. a couple of streets further on he hailed a cab and bid the cocher drive to his father's house. he kept the cab waiting while he let himself into the house with duval's latchkey, and made his way to the library where his father kept the safe. it was only the work of a few minutes to open the safe and tumble all the bank-notes, securities, and other valuables into a small portmanteau. hurriedly grasping this, he ran downstairs and re-entered the fiacre. "drive to the quai d'orsay station," he called to the cocher. as soon as the fiacre stopped, pierre went quickly into the lavatory and washed off a few traces of blood which had splashed on his clothes. "thank god, no one can recognise me now," he muttered, as he proceeded to shave off his moustache, and adjust a set of false whiskers and a small beard which he had taken the precaution to pack away in his valaise. "ha! ha! why, my own mother wouldn't know me," he added as he peered into the mirror with a look of satisfaction. an hour later he bid good-bye to paris, and found himself rapidly travelling in the direction of bordeaux. chapter xix the vigil "anche la speme[17] ultima dea, fugge i sepolchri e involve tutte cose l'oblio nella sua notte." foscolo.--_dei sepolcri._ 16. "nus rein avoir grant joie s'il n'en sueffre paine." (pierre de corbie.) "the ghost in man, the ghost that once was man, but cannot wholly free itself from man, are calling to each other thro' a dawn stranger than earth has ever seen--the veil is rending, and the voices of the day are heard across the voices of the dark." tennyson. delapine had been laid in the spare bedroom which had been partly altered into a sitting room and made as comfortable as possible. madame villebois had placed a small table just behind the head of the bed, and covered it with a white cloth. on it she devoutly placed a crucifix, together with a large wax candle on each side, which she gave directions should be kept burning all night. two more candles were placed on small round tables at the foot of the bed. "now, my dear," said the good lady to her spouse, "i have turned the room into a little 'chapelle ardente.'" doctor villebois nodded approval--but his mind turned to the practical rather than the spiritual needs of the professor. "let us put a stove in the room," he added, "so that it may be kept at a constant temperature of summer heat." renée insisted on sleeping in the room with a sister of mercy who had been called in to assist at the vigil during the night, while during the day renée and céleste agreed to take turns in watching. "is this the room where the tragedy took place?" asked paul as the two doctors were shown into the room by villebois. "no, that was downstairs. this room has been specially prepared for the professor." paul went up to delapine, who was lying white as marble and apparently lifeless. "yes, there is the syringe mark right enough." seizing the arm, he inserted a sterilised probe and then forcibly squeezed the skin. a few drops of yellowish fluid came out. he collected it on a watch glass and warmed it over a spirit flame. a tiny white deposit remained. "let me put this under your microscope," he said to dr. villebois. it was brought, and he carefully examined the crystals. "i thought so. these are the crystals of the japanese alkaloid right enough. there can be no doubt about what his condition is due to." "what do you think about him?" asked roux. "he is either dead or will die very shortly." renée looked up with her heart thumping violently, apparently unable to grasp the full significance of the calamity. "oh! please, doctor," she said, rushing up to him and falling on her knees at his feet, "don't say that. can't you give me any hope?" roux and paul were visibly affected, and the latter patted her on the head to try and comfort her. "i am afraid, mademoiselle, i cannot give you any hope," said roux with a sorrowful look. "but, doctor, if he is not really dead, you won't surely allow him to be buried, will you?" "no, no, you may be sure i won't allow that. i promise you that we will get an order from the minister of the interior to leave him here until there can be no question whatever as to his being dead or alive, and roux and i have already sent our report to the parquet with a request to that effect." "i quite agree," said paul, "to what you say, in fact, anything else would be criminal." two days later dr. roux received the following letter from villebois:- mon cher docteur, the parquet, after hearing the report which you and monsieur biron were good enough to give in this extraordinary case, has granted my petition that delapine's body may remain unburied until it has been ascertained with absolute certainty that he is really dead, but i am sorry to tell you, mon ami, that you and monsieur biron are under the obligation to give the parquet a detailed report every day concerning delapine's condition, thus giving you both, i regret to say, a considerable amount of work. not only ourselves and the members of the parquet, but all paris--france--the whole world, are anxiously awaiting the solution of this wonderful riddle. the strain is telling on my nerves, and i really feel too ill to do any work. the whole house is becoming disorganized. madame villebois has been compelled to take to her bed, and my daughter céleste and mademoiselle renée are taking turns to watch the professor in a room we have specially prepared for him. reporters and other inquisitive people are calling all day long for news. a guard has been stationed at the front door by the kind permission of the parquet to keep them away as much as possible, but it is needless to add that you, mon cher confrère, will always be welcome at any hour of the day. toujours à vous, adolphe villebois. dr. villebois was compelled to abandon his practice for the time being, and devote himself to his mysterious patient. dr. riche offered to share all responsibility with him--an offer which needless to say was most cordially accepted. almost every hour of the day riche would enter the bedroom and examine the thermometer to make sure that an even temperature was maintained. he had just entered the room and looked at renée who was sitting down holding céleste's hand, the picture of abject misery. renée closed her eyes, her lips trembled while she emitted a half-suppressed sigh, feeling too sad to think or speak. from time to time she put her hand to her head as if she felt a pain there, and heaved a little sigh. all hope seemed extinguished, and left nothing but an empty longing in her heart. and now the sun was eclipsed. her dream of love had become a ghastly nightmare. a fearful and unknown terror seemed to possess her. "listen," her heart seemed to say, "listen to the rustling of the wings of the death-angel as he hovers over you. you have lost your protector. pandora's box is empty. hope, the sole remaining gift, has escaped and fled. there is nothing more to live for. all that remains is black, hopeless despair. why hesitate any longer? make away with yourself." with such thoughts of undiluted misery, she lay down on the couch longing for comfort which never came, eager for someone to come and comfort her, and yet at the same time half hoping that she might be left alone. "oh! henri, henri, my beloved, come back, come back to me or i shall die." she felt like a little wounded bird left alone in the nest to perish. the next day riche, who was somewhat of an electrician, brought in a couple of dry-cell batteries and fixed the wires so that the faintest movement of delapine's head or limbs would complete the circuit in the wires and ring an alarm. "there," he said to renée when he had finished, "if the professor moves hand or foot as little as the twentieth part of an inch, the alarm will be heard ringing all over the house, and will continue until the circuit is broken again." suddenly the alarm bell, which was one of the largest size, rang with an indescribable din. renée jumped up with a cry, while céleste, marcel and payot came rushing into the room. "what is it, what is it?" they all cried. "nothing," replied riche, "i was merely testing the apparatus. see," he continued, "i will move the professor's hand the fraction of an inch." immediately the gong sounded, and everyone started. then he tested each limb in the same way, and always with the same result. next he examined the thermometer which he had placed in delapine's mouth the day before. it showed a temperature of 75° fahrenheit. then he looked at the thermometer on the wall. it showed 70° fahrenheit. he smiled and gave utterance to an exclamation of pleasure and surprise. "what's the matter, doctor?" asked renée, sitting up as she watched riche's face closely. "i have good news--not very good, but still better than nothing. the body is five degrees warmer than the air of the room. if it were only the same temperature it would be a serious matter, but for it to be higher is a very good sign." "oh god, i thank thee for this small mercy," said renée, folding her hands and bowing her head devoutly. she hurriedly left the room, and a few minutes afterwards riche heard the music of her violin. he opened the door and listened. he heard the opening notes of beethoven's "kreutzer sonata." "my god," he said to himself, "what feeling, what execution! surely the professor's spirit must have entered the child." he listened enraptured. stealing out of the room with céleste and marcel, he found villebois and madame villebois standing at the half-opened door of the library not daring to enter lest they should break the spell. then the air changed, and the "ave maria of schubert" caught his enraptured ear. after a pause she laid her violin down, and with closed eyes like a blind child she walked across to the organ. the fearful strain of the last few days on her nerves had exhausted her feeble frame, and she was evidently in a somnambulistic state. villebois with his medical training observed it immediately, and not daring to break the spell, worked the bellows for her. she played a few chords, and then caught up that magnificent air of handel's _messiah_--"i know that my redeemer liveth." riche had never felt so devout before. he had always regarded god merely as a convenient substantive when suitably qualified, to express his feelings with. since he was a child he had never entered a church unless it were with an opera glass and a baedecker in his hand, and now for the first time he felt a sort of consciousness of some unknown influence, some faint divine inspiration filling his soul. accustomed as he had been in morocco and algiers to witness terrible scenes of cruelty and oppression unmoved, and to mingle in camp life with brutal soldiers, turcos, and men who had been transferred to the frightful discipline of the algerian foreign legion, the sweet almost angelic pathos of this girl in her exultation at the faint signs of life in her lover which riche had revealed to her, exercised a subtle influence over his soul, which was something weird and strange to him. he felt his tears beginning to flow, and ashamed of his weakness he wiped them away and struggled to suppress them, but in spite of all his efforts they continued to dim his eyes. he looked up half ashamed of himself, but discovered the others completely overcome. even marcel, the gay and frivolous cynic, usually all laughter and jokes, remained standing behind the others in a deep reverie, while madame villebois was sobbing convulsively. at length renée ceased playing, and the company dispersed, afraid lest their presence should break the spell. silently she glided along, her eyes staring widely open, her hands outstretched before her, and her head turned upwards. she walked upstairs apparently fast asleep, and opening the door of the professor's chamber, proceeded straight to his bed. all the company followed breathlessly, and saw her bend over his form, and clasping him in her arms implanted a long and passionate kiss on his cold lips. tears streamed down her cheeks and trickled down delapine's face. the death-like silence was terrible. not a sound could be heard save the ticking of the clock. one could almost hear her breathing. finally she left him, and still half unconscious lay down on her bed in a peaceful slumber. no one dared to break the silence, and at length they all passed out of the room one by one to attend to their several occupations, or try and collect their thoughts. a week passed away and then another week, and still delapine lay unconscious in the same position. day by day monsieur biron called for news. "yes," said villebois one morning in answer to his enquiries, "the professor lies there still unchanged in his death-like sleep." "do you mean to say he is not dead then?" "i cannot tell you," replied villebois, "but if he is not alive there are no signs of death." "c'est une merveille, i cannot comprehend it," exclaimed biron, holding up his hands and shrugging his shoulders. "may i be permitted to look at him?" he asked. "with pleasure, monsieur le commissaire." monsieur biron entered the chamber of death with a slow and methodical step as became his dignity as an officer of the law, and proceeded to place his hat and stick on a chair. "yes, who can tell?" he said, shrugging his shoulders, and looking up at the doctor for some reply. "well, well, we shall see n'est-ce pas?" and he shrugged his shoulders, as if he felt somehow that the law wanted remodelling in order to be able to deal with such cases. after a short pause he rose and shook hands with villebois in rather a patronising way, and bowing profoundly, left the house in an uncertain frame of mind, but fully convinced that he had performed a most meritorious duty. another day, a few weeks later, dr. roux came in, and taking a careful note of everything, examined the thermometer which perpetually remained in delapine's mouth. he compared it with the thermometer on the wall, which remained at a constant temperature of about 68° f. he compared the figures with the chart on which the daily temperature was entered. "this is very strange!" he exclaimed, and hastening out of the room he ran downstairs to see villebois. "dr. villebois, are you there? pray come here at once," he called out breathlessly. "what's the matter?" cried villebois, laying down his pen, and looking up at roux who ran up to him and laid his hand on his shoulder in a state of great excitement. "come at once and look, delapine's temperature has risen to 82° fahrenheit." villebois jumped out of his chair with a bound. "c'est une merveille," he said as he flew upstairs after roux who happened to have just called. "is it really true ... what can it mean?" cried roux in a state of great excitement. he ran up to the professor and examined the thermometer with impatience. "you are right, doctor, quite right. it stands exactly as you said at 82° f. there can be no doubt about that. but what does it mean?" "who knows. but it looks favourable, doesn't it? his body is certainly not undergoing any decomposition, and therefore a rise of temperature must imply that the physiological functions of the body are beginning to assert themselves once more in some silent mysterious fashion." the vigil continued day after day without a moment's interruption. riche and villebois took turns to relieve céleste and renée, but the latter insisted on always sleeping in the room. often she would get up in the small hours of the morning, and with a night lamp in her hand would examine the thermometers, and bending over the professor would breathe a tender lover's kiss on his lips, and then creep back into bed. paul took an intense interest in the case, and insisted on villebois telephoning him every detail often two or three times a day. more than three months had passed away since delapine first became unconscious, and still no signs of returning life appeared. one day about the middle of january of the following year, paul happened to call, and going up to delapine distinctly noticed a slight tremor of the facial muscles. he stood spellbound, and then happening to examine the thermometer found to his surprise that it indicated 90° f. he ran into the library where villebois and riche happened to be sitting, and at once communicated the discovery to them. a veritable flutter in the dovecot followed. telephonic messages were at once sent to monsieur biron, roux, and to several of the most eminent professors and specialists at the various hospitals in paris, for the mysterious case had become the daily topic of conversation among all the faculty. a great consultation was held in the library among all these learned doctors, and voluminous notes were taken. but although a vast amount of erudition was put forth, no one was able to offer any practical suggestions, and hence nothing came of it. "mais mon dieu!" said one of the great men, "what can we do? we can only wait patiently until something happens." a few days later renée was lying in her bed about midnight in a semi-drowsy condition, when she suddenly saw a bright light floating like a nimbus over delapine's head. she gave a little scream, and then becoming more and more awake gazed on it with intense fascination. at first it moved slightly, and then growing larger and larger began to condense into the form of a human face. slowly the features developed, until at length it assumed the form of her mother. by degrees the entire body appeared clothed in white drapery, and slowly made its way towards renée with a sweet smile on her face. as the light of the room increased renée recognised her features, and springing out of bed she ran into her arms. "oh, mother!" she cried, "is that really you?" "yes, i am your mother, and am come to tell you that henri will very soon wake up, and you will be able to see him as he was, and to hear him talk." renée seized her by both hands and squeezed them. "mother dear, that is too good to be true. do you really mean it?" "of course i do. you know i never told you a lie, and why should i tell you one now?" renée's eyes fairly danced with delight as she heard the welcome news, and she clapped her hands for joy. "but tell me, how are you, mother? are you very happy?" "i am very happy," her mother replied. "the life on the other side is merely a continuation of this, only without its limitations." "do you suffer pain like you used to so often, mother?" "no, renée, there is no pain beyond the grave. here you are subjected to natural laws. you are tied down to the earth by the action of gravity. but we are free from all these restrictions. we can go where we please at will in an instant of time. time and space have no limitation for us." "shall i join you soon, mother?" "no, renée, you have a mission to perform and a great deal of work to do yet, and i think you will have a long and happy life in company with your fiancé." "but how did you possibly know of our engagement? has anyone told you?" "have i not been by your side off and on ever since i left you, my child? do you suppose a mother can ever forget her daughter?" "of course not," replied renée, "but at the same time i never imagined that you would be able to see me." "you could not see me now but for your lover's presence." "what do you mean, mother?" "i mean what i say, dear. henri has come back to earth, and i have been using his body to form materialistic substance to clothe my spirit with, so that you are enabled to see me with your own eyes." renée jumped up at hearing this with an exclamation of joy as the thought of henri's return began to dawn on her mind. "do you really mean to say that henri is back again, and that he will be the same old darling he was before?" "why of course i do. my presence is the proof positive that his spirit has returned. to-morrow he will wake up and in a very short time he will be quite well again." renée clapped her hands for sheer joy, and gave her mother a close embrace. "oh! mother, how very strange to think that i never knew you were so near. why is it that you have never shown yourself to me before, except for a moment when henri was in a trance?" "i can only reveal myself to you in the presence of a medium who happens to be in a state of trance at the time, because i have to clothe myself with the earthly particles of his body which i subtract from it when he is in that condition, as i cannot do it when he is awake. if you were to weigh henri now you would find half his weight gone." renée looked at delapine's body, and to her horror she saw it had shrunk to two-thirds its former size, but her mother calmed her and reassured her at once. "you need not be in the least alarmed, my darling, he will get all his substance restored to him the moment i am gone." "oh! mother, how you did frighten me," she said, "but do you manufacture the drapery you are wearing, as well as your body, out of the substance of his body as well?" "yes, everything, and in a few moments, without the least difficulty." "why do you surround yourself with such thick white stuff?" "the drapery is thrown out to protect our psychic bodies from the light which acts injuriously on us when materialized," her mother replied. "now, renée dear, i must leave you because i cannot hold my power any longer, and besides it will injure delapine if i do, as although he has returned to his body, he is so very weak that a very little thing might really kill him now. i will come again and see you very soon." her mother kissed her affectionately on both cheeks, and then relaxing her hold, she slowly melted down into the ground and vanished. renée was too excited to sleep any more that night, so she got up and lit the lamp. she held it close to delapine, and to her surprise she saw that he had returned to his former size and weight. as she continued to gaze on his features, she noticed that the muscles of his face twitched. suddenly delapine moved his fingers, which caused the bell to ring so loudly that it woke up all the household, and they all came running into the room attired in their dressing gowns, or the first garments that they could lay their hands on. "what is the matter?" they all exclaimed. "have any thieves got into the house?" "oh! no," said renée, smiling, "it was delapine who rang the bell. he moved his hands, i saw him do it, and immediately the bell sounded." "are you sure of this?" they all cried with one voice. "as certain as that i am standing here," she replied. they all looked at the professor, and distinctly observed the muscles of his face twitch. "i think we will sit up to-night and watch him, what do you say to that, riche?" the doctor agreed, and accordingly they made themselves as comfortable as they could in a couple of armchairs. the next morning they examined the thermometer. it had risen to 93° f. a faint flush suffused the professor's cheek, and a slight but distinct pulsation could be felt. the event was telegraphed all over europe, and crowds of savants and doctors came and left their cards, but no one was admitted by the doctor's orders. the ringing of the bell occurred so often that it became a nuisance, and villebois had it removed. the next day the temperature touched 98° fahrenheit and delapine opened and closed his eyes and looked around him. he moved his limbs slowly and even attempted to sit up, but the effort was too great, and he sank back again on his pillow. a consultation was arranged forthwith, and half a dozen of the most celebrated physicians in paris came to the house. renée was in the seventh heaven of delight as she heard her name whispered in her ear as she bent over him that evening. he made signs that he wanted food, and the doctors agreed to give him some beef-essence. a few days afterwards about three in the morning renée's mother appeared again. "renée," she said, "i am about to be called away, and must leave you for good." "for good, mother? you don't mean to say that i shall not see you any more?" said renée, looking very distressed. "i must go, dear, but henri will take my place. when you pass over to the other side you will see me as often as you please, but now i must leave you." "mother dear, won't you give me some keepsake?" "bring me a pair of scissors and i will cut off a lock of my hair." so saying her mother snipped off one of her light golden curls, and giving her a long tender embrace slowly vanished out of her sight. renée looked around her. she was alone save for the form of her lover. it all seemed like a wonderful dream, and she rubbed her eyes to make sure she was awake. "i must have been dreaming," she said, but no, here was the lock of her mother's beautiful silky hair in her hand. that at any rate was no dream, and was proof positive that someone had brought it, and that her vision was not a dream but a stern reality. renée kissed the lock of hair, and carefully put it away in one of her little treasure boxes. "ah! how many happy hours i have spent in playing with that beautiful hair, and now to think that i should actually handle it again. who would ever have thought it possible? how sorry i feel for the poor poet cowper when the only thing he had left of his beloved mother was her portrait, and which he immortalised in those beautiful lines which my governess taught me:- "'oh that those lips had language! life has passed with me but roughly since i heard thee last. those lips are thine--thine own sweet smile i see, the same that oft in childhood solaced me; faithful remembrances of one so dear, o welcome guest, though unexpected here! my mother! when i learnt that thou wast dead, say wast thou conscious of the tears i shed? perhaps thou gav'st me, though unfelt, a kiss, perhaps a tear, if souls can weep in bliss.'" she showed the lock of hair to riche and marcel, but they only smiled and shook their heads when she told them that her mother had cut it off from her own head only the night before. "no, no, mademoiselle, you can't make us believe that your mother really appeared to you in the flesh and cut off a lock of her hair with a pair of scissors, and handed it to you." "but i assure you, doctor, it is perfectly true." "the vigil has been too much for renée, poor child," said riche to villebois as they were discussing the vision. "her reason has broken down under the strain." "yes," said villebois, "i agree that we must send her away for a change somewhere, or she will have brain fever, or lose her reason altogether." "i am afraid that those visions of her mother show that she has lost her senses already," said riche. "but how do you account for the lock of hair?" said villebois. "why it's renée's own hair of course, or else that of her maid." "well it can't be that of her maid, because that is raven black." "i don't believe the tale for a moment," said riche with a smile of contempt for such an ignorant superstition. "well look at the two side by side as i have done, and you will change your opinion. they are as different as day from night. renée's hair has a brownish colour, whereas her mother's is of a light golden colour." he showed them both side by side to riche but he merely shrugged his shoulders. he had seen so many wonderful things lately that he had ceased to scoff, but felt it prudent to keep silent. at the end of the week delapine's temperature had risen to normal (98.4° f.) and he had so far recovered that he was able to walk downstairs and sit in the study. renée was in constant attendance. no hospital nurse could have looked after him better, and certainly no one in the world could have replaced her in delapine's eyes. "oh! villebois, mon ami," he would say as he lay on the sofa a few days later, "i have had a most marvellous sleep, and a wonderful recovery, but you cannot imagine in your wildest dreams what wonderful adventures and experiences i have had." "adventures!" they all exclaimed, "what adventures? why, you have been lying down in your bed upstairs for months past watched by us in turn day and night without a moment's cessation, and now you talk of adventures. it's we who have had the adventures, not you. strange things have happened since that memorable evening when you went off in the trance-sleep. are you aware, professor, that pierre attempted to murder you by injecting a subtle poison into your arm?" "enough of that," said delapine, "i know it all. didn't you get my letter, renée, in which i pointed it all out to you, and entreated you not to allow me to be touched or buried?" "rather! why, henri, dr. riche brought it to me, and it was that letter which saved your life by convincing riche and villebois that you were not dead, and so preventing the autopsy. oh! how thankful i was when i read it. it gave me new life--in fact i am sure if i had not received some such encouragement i should have died of grief." "thank god that you saw the letter in time," replied delapine, "i had a strange premonition that all this was going to happen, and so i prepared for it by giving you the sealed envelope." "let us not talk about it now, henri, you are under my orders and i cannot allow my patient to get excited." "well, wait a few days until i get stronger, and then i will dictate to you my experiences, and you shall write them down, and we will publish a book about them. i think they will make good reading. you must know, renée, that the moment i went into the deep sleep or trance, my soul (or ego) left the body and went far away, and only returned to it about the 19th january." "why that was when dear mother came to see me." "precisely," delapine nodded. "she was watching over you all the time, but she was unable to reveal herself in a visible tangible form, unless there was a suitable medium who was en rapport with her. fortunately i was such a medium, and the moment i returned to my body she seized the opportunity which she had been long waiting for to reveal herself to you in bodily form by building herself out of the particles of my body." "how strange!" they all exclaimed. "yes," said the professor, "i have studied these things deeply. i have discovered that all spiritualistic phenomena are governed by laws which are just as fixed and unalterable as are the laws which govern all the phenomena of this visible world. we have only to learn and understand how spiritual phenomena are produced and controlled by these laws, to extend our conquest over the invisible world of science in the same way that we have extended our knowledge over the visible world of science during the last three hundred years. spiritual science is only in the same stage of knowledge and advancement in which electricity was at the time of volta, or steam at the time of watt." "oh, do tell us about it," they all said. but no answer came. the professor's excitement had proved too much for him in his weak state, and when they looked at him he was sleeping peacefully as a little child with a happy smile on his face. "hush," said renée, and she put her fingers to her lips. all the guests crept out of the room in silence, leaving renée alone to nurse her lover. day by day delapine grew stronger, thanks to the careful nursing of renée and to the medical skill of riche and villebois. a week later the professor walked out into the garden, for the first time, with a stick, and sat down in the summer-house. "ah, yes, this is where i had my last cup of coffee, if i remember rightly." "yes," replied riche and céleste together, "and if you had drunk it you would not be here to tell the tale." "but the insectivorous plant would, eh! renée?" said delapine with a comical smile. "well i have got to thank pierre after all. for if he had not injected that wonderful liquid into my arm i should never have made those wonderful discoveries, and had those extraordinary adventures which i have experienced all these months. yes, i promise you i shall have them all in writing before long, and i trust i shall be spared to see you all enjoy reading them." "but before you dictate them, professor, it is imperative that you have a change and re-establish your health, and we shall want you to take a trip somewhere." "yes, yes, i have provided for all that. i intend going to monte carlo." "what!" they all exclaimed, "to monte carlo?" "why not?" he replied. "oh, but you surely do not mean to go there to play at the tables?" "why not?" he repeated. "but, professor, we never knew you were a gambler." "well, well, it is part of my programme, and you will see how necessary it will be. it is true i am not a gambler, but i have resolved to play at the tables. now, no more questions, or renée will turn you all out of the garden," and delapine laughed in his own hearty way. "what a marvellous man," said riche to villebois. "oh, you don't know him yet, just wait a bit and see." footnotes: [footnote 17: "last of the gods, e'en hope the tomb doth flee, and in its night oblivion doth all mortal things enfold."] chapter xx the new jerusalem gold mine en vieillissant on devient plus fou et plus sage la rochefoucauld. _maximes_, 210. quien mucho abarca poco a prieta. (spanish proverb.) payot's financial schemes had not been flourishing of late. the morocco concessions for very obvious reasons had unavoidably fallen through, and the financier's credit was none of the best. it is a well-known fact that many men finding their business affairs going from bad to worse, revert to speculation with a view of retrieving their fallen fortunes. the general result of this policy is that instead of quietly setting about putting their house in order so as to stop the debacle, they get dragged deeper and deeper into the mire of financial ruin. unfortunately for payot, who was naturally rather a weak and credulous character, matters had almost reached that acute and alarming stage with him, and he proved no exception to the rule. one day after the termination of his visit to dr. villebois's house, while sitting comfortably in his armchair after dinner, a portly looking gentleman with a clean-shaven, very red and puffy face, was announced. "monsieur le baron d'ormontagne," said the butler, handing m. payot the visitor's card. the baron appeared to be about forty-five years of age, with a digestive apparatus of vast dimensions, which was screened off by a white waistcoat carrying a gold chain with links like a cable. his nose was very large and decidedly curved, and this, together with his fleshy under-lip and double chin, betrayed both his affluence and his hebrew origin. the baron was known among his former associates as moses goldberg, but fortune having favoured him of late, he felt that his position warranted his assuming the more ambitious title of baron d'ormontagne, which of course meant the same thing, only it sounded very differently. "pray sit down, baron," said payot, handing him a chair, and looking him up and down as if he were about to measure him for a suit of clothes. "what service may i have the pleasure to render you?" the baron who was very wheezy, commenced operations by drawing a large red bandana handkerchief from the recesses of his capacious coat pocket, and after a few flourishes, began coughing violently and clearing his throat. "i presume i have the distinguished honour and good fortune to address m. felix payot, am i correct?" "yes, that is my name," said payot. "i have here a letter of introduction from m. armand who has known me for years, and he has unbounded faith in my admirable judgment and great business capacity," and so saying he handed the letter to the financier. payot scanned the letter, and carefully folding it, placed it on the table. "you know him well, do you not?" "oh, yes," said payot, "i have known him for many years." "ah then, i see we are friends at once," said the baron, rubbing his hands in his eagerness to commence his acts of friendship. "to count upon a financier like you, my dear monsieur, as one's friend is an unexpected pleasure." at this moment a butler entered and handed him a liqueur on a salver. "no, thank you," said the baron, throwing forward the palms of his hands as if he were pushing a boat from the landing stage, "i have just had dinner--well, as you press me--i really cannot refuse. what was i saying? oh, yes, i remember--i have just returned from mexico where i discovered a very valuable gold mine of outstanding richness. you will be astonished when i show you the prospectus--and the samples--ah, such samples. voila," and spreading the crimson handkerchief on the table, he emptied into it a small heap of quartz rock studded with gold nuggets as large as peas. "what do you think of that, mon cher, for a gold mine? is it not superb?" and the baron rubbed his hands together as if he were lathering them with air. "fifty-six, or is it a hundred and fifty-six ounces to the ton," he continued, "i really forget which. but no matter, you will see it in the prospectus. and there are thousands and thousands of tons--in fact a small mountain of it, and the reef crops up like currants in a cake. examine the reef where you will, you always find the same thing--quartz studded with gold, or gold studded with quartz. it is positively like prospecting the vaults of the bank of france. the mine positively reeks with gold. i discovered it purely by accident. i was travelling over the sierras and lost my way. feeling tired i sat down on an outcrop of rock, and casually picked up a loose chunk to throw at a rabbit near me. the piece of stone felt so heavy that i examined it, and to my delight and surprise i found it simply scintillating with bits of gold. ma foi, you may be sure i marked the place well, and returning with a couple of friends i pegged it out and registered my claim in the city of mexico. now, here is the prospectus i have drawn out. read it carefully and to-morrow, my dear friend, i shall come again, if you will be good enough to fix a time?" "say the same time to-morrow," said payot. "excellent, excellent, nothing like doing business at once. that is my plan, and i owe all my success in business to it. and now, mon ami, i will leave you to think over it. i see you are unable to digest any more. it is a dream--a dream, n'est-ce pas? such a mine has never yet been seen in the world. but so true--so true. ah, you will never again in your lifetime have such a chance as this. ah," he said as he rose to leave, "you are admiring my watch-chain? everyone does, it is such a marvel. each link, sir, was forged from gold taken from this very mine. feel its weight, sir, eh?" and he gave a greasy smile of plutocratic opulence and contentment. carefully dusting his white cotton spats with the red handkerchief, he took hold of payot's hands and shook them effusively. "my dear monsieur," he continued, "this has been the greatest evening of my life. the thought of sharing this find with you--so rich that i have christened it the new jerusalem mine--just causes my happiness to bubble over." "but why did you call it the new jerusalem?" asked payot. "what name could be more appropriate? new jerusalem--descending from heaven--gates of pearls--streets of shining gold--my mine to a t. what could be finer as an illustration? to-morrow then at eight p.m. au revoir, au revoir, mon brave," he said, as the butler in answer to the bell appeared at the door and opened it to its full extent, while the wheezy gentleman with his vast display of waistcoat toddled out of the room, bowing profusely. "a queer sort of card that," thought payot to himself as he opened the prospectus and proceeded to examine it. if payot thought that the baron was piling on the abnormal richness of the mine too thickly, he found to his surprise that the report of monsieur alexandre norcier, the mining engineer, went considerably further. it was certainly an able report, but the fabulous richness of the reef absolutely staggered him. his eyes glistened with excitement and greed. "ah," he said to himself, "if this mine is only a quarter as rich as the old baron makes out, i shall be one of the richest men in all paris. just think what power it will give me. what would old duval have given to have a third share in it? i believe he would have sold his immortal soul to the devil--aye a hundred times over. well, there's no knowing, it may be true after all. anyhow, i'll call on norcier and armand to-morrow and see what they have to say." when payot fell asleep that night with his imagination already heated by the story told by the baron, he dreamt that he was filling trucks with nuggets of gold, and that they were being carted to the mint every day of the year. when his fabulous wealth became known he was invited as the piece de resistance to the receptions at every court in europe. daughters of royal blood strove in bevies to compete for his hand, and the president of the republic decorated him with the grand cordon of the legion d'honneur, and the king of england with the order of the garter. mighty schemes of reform filtered through his brain. he would rebuild paris at his own expense on a scale that would dazzle humanity. he would fill the parks with statues rivalling those of greece. he would erect palaces, museums, places of amusement far surpassing the golden house of nero. he would line the banks of the seine with the choicest trees and flowers that the whole world could offer. he would deepen the seine so as to form a ship-canal with a depth sufficient to admit the oceanics, imperators, and other sea monsters right up to the very quays of paris. next morning he woke with a violent headache, and it required several cups of café au rhum, combined with repeated doses of phenacetin to get him out of bed. the fresh air outside revived him, and thinking a walk would do him good, he proceeded on foot to norcier's business offices. "pardon me, m. norcier," he remarked as he sat down, "but i had an interview with our friend the baron d'ormontagne yesterday, and he gave me an account of his new gold mine in mexico. so i thought you would not mind if i asked you for a few details concerning it." "with pleasure, m. payot, as a matter of fact i have greatly undervalued its richness; to be candid, in my report i have cut down everything to half so as to be well on the safe side. do you not approve?" "most certainly, monsieur norcier, most certainly i do. do you consider it a really safe speculation?" "my dear sir, i would not recommend it to you at all but for three reasons. firstly, your name is one to play with, it represents such honour and integrity that it will give our syndicate great weight, and for that reason we intend, should you care to have a stake in it, to give you the most favourable terms possible. secondly, i myself am putting in every available penny, and lastly m. armand and the baron d'ormontagne, two of the most honourable men in all paris, take each an equal share. by the way, have you met m. armand?" "no, i confess i have not seen him for a long time." "oh, then you will find him a most charming man, and one who combines great business talent with extreme caution." in fact the testimonials of these two gentlemen were so high that payot felt it would be almost an insult to call on armand at all. precisely at eight o'clock in the evening the baron, true to his word, and looking even more florid than usual, called again. "voila, mon ami, we can now arrange everything. we have taken such a fancy to you, mon brave, that we feel our consciences will not be satisfied until we offer you two hundred shares in our syndicate at the absurdly low figure of 1,000 francs each." "two hundred thousand francs (£8,000)," said payot meditatively, "that is a great deal of money in these days--a great deal of money." "but consider, mon ami, what you are going to get for it--a large share in the richest mine in the world. why, in three months when the first dividend is declared, each of your two hundred shares will be worth 50,000 francs, and the first dividend alone will repay you for all you have spent, five times over. such a chance as this only happens once in a lifetime." "but if they are so enormously valuable, why do you sell them at all?" "for a very simple reason, my dear payot, we are not selling them to you for your money, but for your name. you must remember your name is a thing to conjure with. you are held in such esteem that when the public sees the prospectus with your name on the list of subscribers, there will be an active market at once, and the shares will go to ten or twenty times the present price." payot felt extremely flattered and firmly persuaded himself that it was really the case, and that his name could command capital anywhere. after some hesitation he consented to take the shares, and prepared to arrange with his bankers to pay d'ormontagne the purchase money. he was delighted with his bargain, especially as every few days he received a copy of a cable message showing the increasing returns they were getting. a meeting of directors was held at which payot attended. it was passed unanimously that the company should be floated with a capital of 10,000,000 francs, and the public was invited to take up shares. "my dear payot," said the baron, "now is a chance to underwrite. each of our directors is going to underwrite a million francs, and of course we look to you to do the same. you will receive 250,000 shares as a bonus, and you will never have to pay for a single share. why, the public will subscribe ten times over. the demand is already so great that the secretary has applied for ten extra clerks." payot hesitated and said he would think it over. the next day the baron brought armand with him, and the latter simply boiled over with enthusiasm. "my dear payot," he exclaimed, shaking his hand vigorously and patting him in a patronising way on the back. "my congratulations, you are a multi-millionaire already. now you see the wisdom of following the advice of my esteemed friend the baron. ah, d'ormontagne is a great financier. rothschild will have to look to his laurels now, but i am afraid he will have to give up the race. you mark my words, payot, we shall all be in the ministry at the next elections. france simply can't get on without us." payot sighed and merely shook his head. "i perceive you are an optimist, monsieur, and to be candid with you i confess i dread optimists. they are only a shade better than the pessimists. the latter look only on the dark side of everything, and are so cautious that they are afraid to embark on any enterprise at all, the result being that they never attempt anything unless it is absolutely devoid of any risk whatsoever. but the optimists--believe me, i have had enough of them, goodness only knows--the optimist, i repeat, always counts his chickens before they are hatched. he sees everything through rose-coloured spectacles. he counts on everything going right, and makes no provision for anything going wrong. this fanatic has also a curious way of calculating the number of tons of ore extracted every month which he multiplies by the number of ounces assayed per ton, and sets the total down as the amount which will be distributed in dividends. the silly fellow overlooks the immense amount of money which has to be sunk in working capital on the mine--in transport, food, tools, machinery, water, motive power and fuel. the condition of the roads, the proximity to a railway, the amount of available horse-power, fuel and water, the absence of any one of which is enough to ruin the prospects of the best mine--are details which never trouble him in the least. nothing is set aside for reserve, nothing for emergencies, and so his estimate of the profits instead of being, let us say for the sake of argument, £10,000 a month, really works out at £1,000--or a tenth of his estimate when it comes to be divided among the shareholders. in a word, he becomes saturated with megalomania like a general paralytic." "my dear payot, you have almost taken the words out of my mouth, so thoroughly do i agree with all that you have just said," replied armand, "but you are entirely mistaken, if you imagine that i am an optimist. on the contrary, i am so cautious that my friends nickname me the pessimist, a quite inappropriate term, i assure you, since i have the reputation of having the dash and boldness of the great napoleon. is that not so, baron?" the baron had been nodding approval so violently at every word that his friend armand had been saying, that he had to express his assent by patting him on the back instead. "my dear payot," said the baron, "excuse me always addressing you in this way--but your charm of manner has so won my heart that i feel it quite impossible to address you by any other term. if you will be good enough to read the prospectus carefully you will see that everyone of these items is munificently provided for. no detail has been omitted. the sum which our engineer considers ample to meet every possible contingency only amounts to £10,000 a month." "what!" cried payot, horrified beyond measure as he jumped up with a bound. "do you really mean to say that this blessed mine is going to cost us £120,000 a year to keep going? why, we shall have to close down before we can distribute a sou in dividends. ma foi, we shall all be ruined in no time." "not so fast, my dear sir," they both shouted together, "not so fast. it is quite clear that the magnitude of the undertaking has been too vast to enter your brain. you must digest it gradually, and take in bits at a time, just as a boa constrictor swallows an antelope. now just follow me very carefully," said the baron, standing up from his chair and waving his hands about like a musical conductor, in order to give greater emphasis to his remarks. "let me repeat. the expenses all told amount to £10,000 a month. let us multiply that sum by two to be on the safe side, and we arrive at £20,000 a month." "stop, my good fellow, you must be mad," cried payot excitedly. "please reserve your remarks, mon ami, until i have done. when our stamp battery is in full work, the engineer says we shall crush 20,000 tons a month, and taking the lowest estimate of the richness of the ore at 28 ounces per ton--which is far below our average, as you must admit--we shall recover 560,000 ounces of gold a month. reckon the market price of gold at £4 per ounce, the output of the mine amounts to £2,240,000 a month! now, to satisfy the doubts of our mutual friend let us suppose the monthly working expenses to come to four times what our engineer considers ample, or £40,000, and still we have two million two hundred thousand golden sovereigns to distribute among the shareholders every month--a fortune amounting to six hundred and sixty million francs a year. i can prove that is absolutely correct," added armand, bringing his fist down on the table with a thud, "and you, mon cher payot, with your underwriting shares added to those you already possess will enjoy a perpetual income of eighty-eight million francs a year. only think of it, my dear friend, and ask yourself what will all this wealth have cost you? a paltry £8,000. why, in a year's time you will be spending more than that in fancy waistcoats and cigars, or tips to your servants." a few days later the _petit journal_ appeared with a whole page devoted to the prospectus of the company. the _journal des mines_ in a scathing article pointed out that the whole thing was a fraud from beginning to end, and warned the public not to touch a share. it even cast doubts on the very existence of the mine, and called attention to the fact that no railway existed within a hundred miles of it. but the _mining journal_ is not printed for the general public, who, after all, comprise the vast majority of the subscribers. _le soir_, _le petit journal_, _le temps_, _la patrie_ and all the other dailies contained leading articles on the wonderful richness of the baron's discovery. but although these newspapers made use of it as excellent copy, they one and all ridiculed it as a 'mare's nest,' and pointed out that no such mines ever had been, or ever would be found. payot had not only taken up the 100 founders' shares of 1,000 francs each in cash which he borrowed on the securities at his bank, and which principally found its way into the pockets of the baron and norcier, but he had further committed himself by underwriting 40,000 shares at 25 francs each. as he walked along the boulevard his ears were delighted by the hoarse cries of the newsvendors--"discovery of a wonderful mine in mexico," "the new jerusalem mine," "meeting of the directors," "complete copy of the prospectus." for a few days it was a seven days' wonder. payot spent most of the day fingering the paper tape as it poured out of the slit of the machine like a serpent's tongue, and formed endless coils in a large wicker basket beneath it. at first the shares began to boom. he fingered the tape with nervous fingers. 25 francs came out in deep blue figures on the tape. payot watched the tape roll out--french rentes--suez canal shares--messagerie maritimes--consols 79. then the machine stopped suddenly of its own accord, and as suddenly started again only to stop once more. the financier at length saw the welcome news--new jerusalem 25.50--26 francs--27.50--28--30 francs. "hurrah! well done, jerusalem the golden"--35 francs--40 francs. "ah, that's all right," he said, and the machine stopped again. he waited a long time, but a fresh quotation failed to appear. "never mind, i will go to a first-class restaurant and enjoy a good dinner. 40 francs," he said to himself. "well, i have nearly doubled my money already. that's good enough business for one day," and so saying he took a taxi and drove off to fetch the baron to dine with him and drink the health of the new jerusalem mine, in a bottle of perrier jouet. early the following morning he took up the tape again. his heart thumped with excitement so much that he could hardly hold the tape steadily enough to read it. 34 francs, it began--35 francs, ah, that's better--40 francs--45 francs--50 francs. payot actually clapped his hands with excitement, and caused several agents de bourse to turn round and look at what had excited him. "what is amusing you?" he enquired, looking round at a broker who was examining the tape over payot's shoulder. "only your excitement over those stupid jerusalems." "what!" enquired payot, "have you not bought any? i should advise you to do so immediately. they are climbing up fast, and if you wait you will have to pay through the nose for them, i can tell you." the gentleman to whom payot spoke so confidently was a delightful man, passionately fond of children, somewhat abrupt to strangers, but very warm-hearted and sympathetic with those he knew. he bore a very remarkable resemblance to dr. villebois, with his bald head, clean-shaven face and bushy side-whiskers. he had a bourgeois mien, very talkative and gay, and usually spoke in a loud voice, which is considered so objectionable by the english. "bah!" he exclaimed, "i would not touch them with a ten-foot pole. that mine is a fraud. i know it." "and how does monsieur know it?" enquired payot, his heart thumping for a very different reason from that which excited it a few moments ago. "wait a bit, and monsieur will see. i notice they stand at 50 frs. now, but to-morrow monsieur will find them drop. oh yes," he added, as payot looked flushed and angry at the man's cynical smile, "you will see. mark my words and you will see them drop to 30 frs. and then to 20 frs.--10 frs.--5 frs.--and then to this," and he made a circle with his forefinger and thumb, and winked his eye with a chuckle. payot got very red in the face, and cast a defiant glance at the agent de bourse. "has monsieur got many?" the broker enquired. "yes, i am the proud possessor of a million francs worth." "holy virgin," cried the agent in a mocking tone, "what a fool!" "does monsieur wish to insult me then?" cried payot. "i think i know what i am doing better than he does. i know the mine and i know the promoters." "i beg monsieur's pardon a thousand times," replied the agent, feeling a little ashamed of himself and assuming a kinder tone, "but i also know the promoters, and if monsieur will take my poor advice, which i give without the least prejudice or self interest, monsieur will sell his shares as quickly as he can. see," he added, as he took up the tape once more, "regardez-la," and the letters spelt out, 'jerusalems 45 frs.--35 frs.--20 frs.--17 frs. 50--15 frs.--10 frs.' payot gazed at them in terror. he shut his eyes and would have fallen but for his friend, the agent, who caught hold of him and steadied him. "come with me," he said in a kindly voice, and taking him to the nearest café gave him a glass of brandy. the brandy revived him and he thanked his friend. "now, my dear sir," he replied, "permit me to sell your shares for you." payot squeezed his hand. "merci, monsieur," he replied, "i would gladly do so, but my shares are all underwritten, and i have not received them yet." the broker whistled. "diable, what a misfortune!" he exclaimed. "anyhow, here is my card. call on me to-morrow at my office, and if i can be of any assistance, you may rely on me." he looked at the card which bore the name:-[illustration: jean beaupaire. 99a, rue st. honore, paris.] the next day the shares dropped--to nine--and finally to eight francs. payot felt so ill he sent for villebois. the worthy doctor did what he could, but although an admirable physician for bodily ailments, he was almost helpless to cure the mind. the day after, the shares made a slight recovery. they went to 12 frs. 50, and finished for the day at 15 frs., but the next day they dropped again to 6 frs.--no buyers. payot called on m. beaupaire and implored him to help him. "certainly, my dear sir, rely on me. i may save some of the wreckage yet. anyhow, i will do my best." the financier squeezed his hand and went back to his house. a few days later he received a very polite note from the baron in which he called on him to pay for his underwritten shares, and enclosed a polite account. payot's eyes swam when he saw the amount, £40,000, which had to be met on the making-up day at the end of the month. he went to his banker's with a sad heart, and was closeted with him for a couple of hours, ascertaining the market value of his securities. they added up to £36,000 in all. there was nothing left but his house and furniture, and he owed £40,000. "sell everything i have at once," he replied, "i am ruined," and he shook hands with the banker and left the bank with a heavy heart. he walked, for he was afraid to spend the money on a cab, and arrived at monsieur beaupaire's house. how terribly dark the future loomed up before him, what visions floated through his fevered brain. he pondered over the dark days of poverty which faced him in lurid colours. where was the dot he promised his daughter for her marriage portion? what would she think of him now? how could delapine marry her when she was without a sou? how could she earn her living except as a despised and pitied governess? he thought of his old comrade duval--the brave old man in spite of his vanity and eccentricities--now lying cold in the grave. he thought of his son pierre, a parricide and an outcast like ishmael of old, a wild man, whose hand was against every man and every man's hand against him, and he trembled at the awful vista it awoke in his mind. he looked out of the windows and saw the carriages pass with the footmen on the box and handsome women inside beautifully dressed, and watched them going to the opera with their lovers or husbands, and he shuddered as he felt that his poverty would cause all men to forsake him, and he would have to face the world alone, uncared-for and despised by all, even his nearest friends. how could he face poverty with its lean fleshless hands and sunken eyes, the single, cold, comfortless room, and the pangs of hunger? he thought of all his friends, wealthy, influential, talented, and how they would turn their heads on one side when he passed by. oh, how bitter was the world! he thought of the saying he had so often repeated at the festive board--'laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and the world will laugh at you,' and he felt the fearful truth and reality of it at last. "when a man is down, kick him. yes, that is the way of the world," he said to himself, "ah, yes, it is a cruel, cruel world when the gilding is all brushed off. alas, the world has no sympathy for the gambler who loses." he was brooding over his terrible blow when m. beaupaire entered the room. "bon jour, mon ami, i am delighted to see you." payot reached out his hand and turned his face aside. "console me, my good friend," he said, "i am a ruined man." "my dear fellow, don't look so glum as that, things are never so bad that they can't be worse. come along, cheer up, i have promised to stick to you and help you, and i mean to do it. here, have a glass of wine with me, and we will see what is the best thing to do now." "it's all up with me, my friend, you can't help me, i am done for." "pray don't say that. everything is for the best." "because everything is for the best, it does not follow that everything is for my best," said payot gloomily. "my dear sir, don't be down in the dumps. you remember the adage, 'for every evil under the sun there's a remedy or there's none. if there is one try and find it, if there isn't----never mind it.' "cheer up, old man. don't you remember the saying of jean paul richter 'sorrow is often sent for our benefit, just as we darken the cages of the birds in order to teach them to sing.'" payot heaved a sigh and said nothing. "first of all let us sell your shares, mon ami. they have still some sort of a value, and we must begin to glean the field. i will be back in an hour." m. beaupaire went into the bourse and tried to sell the shares. he managed to sell 1,000 at 5 francs, and another 4,000 at 2 frs. 50, but after that there were no offers. he found payot looking the image of despair. "never mind, i have sold 5,000 shares for 19,000 frs. that is better than nothing anyhow," cried beaupaire cheerily. "by the way, have you no friends at all who can help you, mon ami?" "you know what friends are when you have no money." "well, well, surely there are some decent ones left?" "i know the villebois family, but i don't like to ask assistance of him." "don't you know anyone else--come now think?" "no, i know no one. stop, there is professor delapine. perhaps he would not refuse to listen to me because he is engaged to my daughter." "what? do you mean professor henri delapine of the sorbonne?" "yes, why do you ask?" "my dear fellow, don't lose a minute. he is the very man for you. i know him intimately--an awfully good sort, and clever! why he is the smartest man in paris. i'll lay you a wager of any amount you like, that delapine will pull you through. shake," he said proffering his hand to payot who grasped it warmly. "thank you with all my heart," said payot; "we will see him immediately," and m. beaupaire hailed a taxi, and they drove to the villebois's. m. beaupaire and payot were soon engaged in earnest conversation with delapine, who was propped up in an easy-chair with renée who sat on a footstool beside him. "you need not leave me, renée," said the professor, as she was about to retire. "i am sure these gentlemen will not mind, and i know she wants to know the worst, don't you, renée?" delapine listened quietly to the history of the new jerusalem bubble, and leaning back with his eyes half closed, and with the tips of his fingers pressed together after the manner of divines, but said nothing. when payot and beaupaire had quite finished, delapine looked up with a smile. "well," he answered, "i like you to put your confidence in me. you are a man after my own heart, and i promise you i will put you straight again, in fact all my arrangements for doing it have been completed for several days past." "what do you mean, professor?" the two men called out together. "have i not put it clearly then?" "yes, but we don't understand you." "ah, that is another affair. as a matter of fact i did not intend that you should understand me. but i know everything that has happened since you first met with that arch-rogue, baron d'ormontagne, who by the way was a bookmaker's clerk who got dismissed for swindling, and is no more a baron than you are." "my god," said payot, "how did you learn all these things?" "a little bird told me," said delapine, smiling. "now, my dear payot, all you have to do is to sell everything you have got, and pay off your debts like a man of honour as i know you are. i give you fourteen days to do it in." "good," replied payot, "and then?" "then come and see me again." renée nodded significantly to delapine. "my lady doctor is in command of the ship, and her orders have to be obeyed, and they are that both of you must leave the room at once. pray do not think that i want to get rid of you, gentlemen, but i have no option in the matter," said delapine, smiling. chapter xxi marcel makes an unexpected acquaintance beaupaire and payot had no sooner left the house than they encountered marcel walking up and down the garden footpath. he was so absorbed in composing aloud a new poem on christopher columbus that he was quite unconscious that he was being overheard. "dis donc, mon cher marcel, what is that you are saying about a flock of parrots?" "it was a remarkable incident in the great navigator's voyage which profoundly affected mankind--but i had no idea that i was declaiming aloud." "indeed you were, and we were both remarking what charming verses they were. but tell us what the parrots had to do in the matter?" "the parrots had everything to do with it. although it was apparently a mere accident, it changed the history of the world and sealed the fate of nations. the story runs as follows:--columbus, who had been tossing about for weeks and weeks in the atlantic searching for the unknown continent which he believed existed somewhere to the west, at length knew from various indications that he was nearing land, and while he was debating in his mind what would be the best course to pursue, captain pinzon, who was in command of the _pinta_, happened to observe a flock of parrots flying in a south-west direction. accordingly columbus altered the course of his vessels, and steered in the direction of the brazils instead of heading for north america. the result was that the southern continent became spanish and catholic, while the northern one afterwards became anglo-saxon and protestant." "a most remarkable and momentous incident," replied payot, "and one which teaches us what astonishing results may follow from the most trifling causes. by the way, m. beaupaire, allow me to introduce my esteemed and highly gifted friend monsieur george marcel, of whom we have all heard so much lately." marcel took off his hat and bowed gracefully. monsieur beaupaire returned the salutation and expressed his unqualified delight in meeting such a distinguished man. he was particularly struck with marcel's unique appearance and charming manners, and felt that it would be a great opportunity to invite him and payot to dinner. "i shall be delighted to accept your kind invitation," said payot, "and i am sure my distinguished friend will be equally honoured by partaking of your hospitality with me, eh, marcel?" the latter shook hands with monsieur beaupaire, and said that it would give him immense pleasure. payot became so engrossed in listening to his friend marcel's lively and amusing conversation, that he soon recovered his gaiety, and actually indulged in a joke. "ah! m. payot," said marcel, who had been listening to the account of payot's misfortunes, "it does one good to meet a man who can be cheerful after having lost everything. there is nothing like a little sympathy for cheering a man up. sympathy is the sum of all the virtues." "you are a man after my own heart, sir," said beaupaire, patting marcel on the back, "you have made our friend payot's face look quite cheerful." "that's right," said marcel to payot, "god loveth the cheerful loser. yes," he added, putting his hand on payot's shoulder and looking up into his face, "smile awhile, and while you smile others smile, and soon there's miles and miles of smiles, and life's worth while because you smile." payot's face lit up and he actually beamed with inward hope, as the world suddenly seemed to him to grow brighter and more beautiful. "where did you get that from, marcel?" said payot, smiling. "you don't suppose i am going to give away the source of all my jokes to you?" beaupaire looked at payot and they both laughed. as they entered beaupaire's drawing-room he introduced his guests to madame beaupaire, who rose at once and welcomed them effusively, with both hands outstretched. "allow me, gentlemen, to introduce you to my daughter violette." marcel and payot bowed and shook hands. marcel, who was of a very impressionable nature, became visibly affected by her beauty and striking personality. violette was an uncommon specimen of her race. born of a french father and spanish mother, she was at the same time an enigma to her acquaintances and a revelation to strangers. her hair was long and black with that peculiar bluish lustre of a raven's wing. her face was of ivory whiteness, regular in outline, with a finely chiselled nose, which grew out of her face like that of a greek goddess, and just tipped in a most provoking manner to render the nostrils visible, while her lips were firm and rosy and delicately curved like cupid's bow. moreover, her brilliant eyes which, like her features, were constantly on the move, gave her that charm of expression which is at once so fascinating and dangerous to the other sex. at one moment she was sweetness itself and polite to a degree, and then suddenly, without warning, her mischievous smile would change into a look of scorn or disapproval, which would completely upset all the calculations of her companions as to her real feelings. highly gifted herself, she delighted in nothing better than a passage-of-arms with a man whom she felt to be her superior, but was herself loth to admit it. "have you lived a long time in paris, mademoiselle?" enquired marcel, when they had sat down to dinner. "oh, yes, we have been here for some years now, but paris is not my birth-place you know," she answered with a smile. "and what town, may i ask, has been so fortunate as to claim mademoiselle as a citizen?" "buenos aires, monsieur," she replied in a soft, musical voice, and darting a quick glance at marcel, and then lowering her eyelashes in a way that sent a thrill of emotion down to his very boots. "ah! a most delightful place. i was there some years ago," said marcel. "yes, i can still picture it in my mind, i remember it so well. i shall never forget the charming avenida alvear, and the plaza 25 de mayo overlooking the classical portico of the cathedral. what a lovely cathedral it is to be sure. it always reminds me of "la madeleine," with its twelve stately corinthian columns and its exquisitely carved pediment." "how delightful to meet a gentleman who is so familiar with my dear old birth-place," said violette. "i feel we are quite old friends already." marcel chuckled inwardly with satisfaction. "that chess opening of the pawn to king's four followed by the knight to bishop three has begun the game well," he thought to himself. "i could not very well appear ignorant of a town which gave birth to so charming a creature." "what were you doing there, if it is not a rude question?" violette enquired, warming up with her subject. "h'm, you see my father had the good fortune to be a man of means, and although i was educated at the university, i employed my time in cultivating the arts of poetry and music." "oh! how delightful, we must invite you to play for us. we have an amateur concert here every sunday evening. i will ask mama to invite you. what instrument do you play?" "pardon me, mademoiselle, but i am--ahem--afraid you misunderstood me," he answered, feeling that he was treading on dangerous ground already. "i am not a musician, i am--ahem--i sing." "oh! that's still better. there are so many good musicians now-a-days, but so few really good singers. i feel certain you have a good voice. you will promise me to come and sing, won't you?" "ah, mademoiselle, you flatter me. unfortunately i am under the doctor's orders just now for a slight inflammation of the throat, and i am strictly forbidden to sing. it is a terrible trial for one who has such a passion for harmony." "a terrible trial i am sure," replied violette, watching his face closely. "has monsieur endured this calamity for long?" "yes, ahem--for some considerable time now. but to return to buenos aires." "haven't you finished with that place yet? gracious, i thought you had left some time ago." marcel looked at her to try and fathom her meaning. "by the way, monsieur, where did you live in buenos aires?" she said a little suspiciously. "oh, i used to spend most of my time riding up and down the parque 3 de febrero in palermo." "oh, yes, how well i remember it. i have often driven through that beautiful park. i think palermo the most beautiful spot in the world." "ah, there i am with you, mademoiselle--especially if i knew that you were living there." violette laughed, and her eyes twinkled with roguish fun as she tapped him on the knuckles with her fan. "oh, you men, what flatterers you all are." "and where did you live, mademoiselle, if i may be so bold as to ask?" "i? oh, i lived in the calle florida, next to a magnificent building," and her eyes twinkled with mischief. "what a strange coincidence. why, i lived just on the other side of it." monsieur beaupaire who happened to be listening burst out into a loud laugh. "sapristi! but that's too funny for words," he exclaimed. marcel looked round and saw violette in fits of laughter as well. "checkmated, by jove," thought marcel. "i wonder how i put my foot in it," he muttered unconsciously half aloud. but the quick hearing of violette caught the muttered exclamation. "why, that building is the town jaol," she said laughing. "good lord, deliver us," exclaimed marcel, trying to conceal his vexation. "monsieur, i don't believe you have ever been to buenos aires. now confess." "if mademoiselle will forgive me, i own up to it." "we will forgive you this time," she said, tapping him once more with her fan. "a penny for your thoughts?" he next enquired. "to speak plainly, i think you are just a pure romancer," she answered, looking very cross and frowning. "i gave you credit for more ability than you seem to possess," and she turned her head away from him. marcel felt very angry and nettled at her outspoken criticism, and felt inclined to show her his annoyance, but he allowed his discretion to overcome his feelings. "ah, mademoiselle, you forget- "the naked truth and the naked lie are banned in good society. "what do you like best among the arts?" added marcel, anxious to change the conversation. "oh, i adore music," she replied, turning towards him and becoming more amiable, "and i love painting, but i think i enjoy reading best." "what? novels?" "oh, dear no, poetry and the literature of the great writers. by the way, i think you said you had taken to writing poetry?" she said sarcastically. "that is true, mademoiselle." violette looked at him incredulously, and bit her lip with a frown. "i can vouch for the truth of that, mademoiselle," said payot who had been talking to her father and was now listening to violette. "i assure you i know nothing superior to our friend's poetry. it combines the sparkle and wit of alfred de musset with the intense pathos of victor hugo, and is not inferior to either." "what!" cried violette, "you don't mean to say that i am actually talking to george marcel who wrote the book on epigrams, '_les poemes de ma jeunesse_,' and '_le dernier combat dans le colisée_'?" "that is the same gentleman, mademoiselle. there is only one george marcel in the world as far as i know." the change which took place in violette's features was almost ludicrous. she had been under the impression that he was merely an ignorant and very conceited fop, who was only pretending that he had travelled, and was posing as a poet and author of merit, when she suddenly discovered that she had been snubbing one of the most promising poets and writers in france. marcel watched the struggle going on in her mind, and noted her confusion and blushes with an amused expression. "since i am unable to play and sing to mademoiselle, may i perhaps have the great pleasure of hearing her play and sing to me?" violette blushed again and looked up at her mother who fortunately took up the cue. "certainly, monsieur," said madame beaupaire, "we shall expect you on sunday evening next, if you will take pot-luck with us, and we shall then be better prepared for the concert afterwards." "queen protects the knight," said marcel still with the game of chess in his mind, "but renders herself open to attack," thought marcel to himself. "by jove, i may win the game yet. she plays well and hits hard, but i like violette all the more for that." "you will be sure and come, won't you?" the young lady asked in a half whisper as she lit a cigarette when the coffee had been served, and looked up in his face with a roguish smile. marcel felt he could have worshipped her. he so far lost himself as to squeeze her hand, thinking that he had made sufficient progress to warrant it, but violette gently removed her hand with a look of displeasure. he felt he had made a false move, but resolved to turn it to his advantage by saying in a low voice which he knew would only reach her:- "cinco sentidos tenemos y los cinco necesitamos y los cinco nos perdemos quando nos enamoramos."[18] to his unbounded delight she replied:- love is strong, but love is blind, no faults can we discover; it is the heart and not the mind, we look for in a lover. he stayed just long enough for the host and hostess to rise, and then with immense self-content and tact nudged payot to accompany him, and bidding them all good-night departed for the villebois's house dreaming of the delight at crossing swords with her at the forthcoming sunday's dinner, and feeling that he was already hopelessly in love with her. punctually fourteen days later, payot and beaupaire were ushered into the library where delapine was sitting in an easy-chair revising an essay which he was preparing for the academie des sciences. on the entrance of his visitors the professor rose to welcome them. "delighted to meet you, gentlemen," he said, extending his hand with a frank smile. "i suppose you have come in obedience to my request?" payot nodded. "i hope," continued delapine, "you have sold your property and shares to the best advantage, and realized enough money to pay off your liabilities?" "every one of them," said payot. "i can vouch for that," said beaupaire, "as my friend payot gave me a power of attorney to act for him, since he was too unnerved to rely on his own judgment." "excellent," said delapine, stroking his chin and glancing from one to the other with his piercing eyes. "have you anything left?" "alas! monsieur, only forty thousand francs." "well, that is better than nothing anyhow. you must be thankful for small mercies. i suppose you have still kept the house?" "well, not exactly. i was obliged to mortgage it, and managed with the money i raised to sell everything, and have a few thousand francs over." "never mind, however great a misfortune may be, you may always be sure it might have been much worse. forty thousand francs is at least something to fall back upon." "that is true, but i shall not be able to afford any dot for renée." "i will see to that." "what! you, professor? how can you provide a dot out of your slender income?" "i never said i was going to find my fiancée's dowry out of my income, nor do i intend to borrow it." "then how will you find the money?" "you need not have any anxiety on that score, the moment the money is wanted the money will be here." "so you have the money ready?" "not a sou." "and you intend to get it almost immediately?" "yes, within a week." "but how? do tell us," they both exclaimed. "i make it a rule of my life never to discuss anything i intend to do until it is accomplished." "but, my dear professor, you might at least give us some outline of the method you intend to employ, especially as we are such good friends, and besides we might be able to help you." "can you keep a secret?" he asked them. "of course we can," they replied, eager to get the news. "so can i," he replied with a merry chuckle, and one of his beaming smiles. "what an extraordinary man," said beaupaire. "now, listen," said the professor. "i have already had a talk with dr. and madame villebois and with our friends marcel and riche, and they have all agreed to my plan to take the train on monday night to beaulieu, which is the next station to monaco, and i trust that both of you gentlemen will be able to accompany us." payot rubbed his hands with excitement and they both eagerly assented. "why is he going to beaulieu of all places in the world?" payot asked himself, "i wonder whether it has anything to do with his promise to restore my fortune? he can't surely be insane enough to imagine that he can recover the money by gambling at monte carlo. the professor is certainly eccentric, but i credit him with more common-sense than to do that. however, we shall see." "you must both of you pack up and get ready," said delapine. "i shall be away seven days from this evening, and we shall start for beaulieu the day after to-morrow by the nine o'clock rapide de nuit from the gare de lyon. we shall meet at the ticket office at a quarter-past eight. c'est entendue?" "bien--but is that all you intend to tell us?" said payot, somewhat surprised at his imperious tone. "have i not said enough?" "yes--but--" "but you must excuse me, gentlemen, as i have still a great deal of work to do before i can leave. i shall expect you the day after to-morrow, good-bye till then," and he waved them off with one of his choicest smiles. wednesday night saw the whole of the party assembled soon after eight o'clock near the ticket office of the gare de lyon. delapine had reserved a coupé for each of the villebois and beaupaire families together with monsieur payot, so that marcel and riche had to shift for themselves. "i say, marcel," said riche, "who is that charming young lady i saw you chatting with just now?" "whom do you refer to?" "why that girl over there between madame villebois and the professor." "oh! don't you know her? mademoiselle violette beaupaire," he replied in a half whisper lest the party referred to should overhear him, "she is the daughter of m. beaupaire the stock broker, who is running about after the luggage, she's a ripping girl, i assure you, and no mistake." "violette beaupaire," said riche half aloud to himself, "i know that name somehow. where was it i heard it?" and he tapped his forehead in thought. "oh! yes, i remember now, she was the girl with the wonderful ring i met that day at the café near the ecolle de medicine. how small the world is to be sure." "why! you don't mean to say that you know her?" said marcel, who had caught the drift of what he had been saying half aloud to himself. "where did you meet her?" he added with a tinge of jealousy in his voice. the doctor related the curious adventure he had had at the café, and the marvellous predictions of violette which she had made while gazing at the ring. "have you never seen her since?" enquired marcel with a tone of anxiety in his voice. "never my boy, until this very day, i give you my word; but," he added, "i have been hunting all over paris to try and find her ever since that afternoon. i would have given a good deal to have had her address." "why! are you in love with her then?" asked marcel as he scrutinized his friend's face while waiting for the reply, but could detect nothing in his face, not even a muscle moved. "lord bless you, no," replied the doctor, "but she is the most interesting girl i have ever met in all my life, and i have been simply dying to test her extraordinary powers again with her ring." "thank god for small mercies," thought marcel to himself, as he assured himself that he was no rival of his, "however it is just as well that he and i will be travelling in another part of the train out of the reach of temptation." the departure of the rapide de nuit from the gare de lyon is one of the greatest events of the day. the great glass-roofed station is filled with fog, and vibrates with the shrill whistles of innumerable engines which perpetually come and go apparently without rhyme or reason. at all times the din is ear-splitting, but from half past eight p.m. onwards, the noise increases tenfold. the station gets more and more packed with people. here one may notice a company of tired and sunburnt soldiers marching up the platform in their blue coats and red baggy trousers covered with black leather below the knee, each carrying a painfully heavy knapsack and rifle; while hurrying along may be seen gay-coloured turcos, arabs with their red fezzes, or crowds of peasants patiently waiting for the omnibus train, which leaves an hour later than the express. the waiting rooms are crowded with tourists, english, french, germans, and americans. what a babel! but see, there are more outside hurrying about hither and thither in wild confusion, demanding of every official they meet what time the train leaves and where they can find it, notwithstanding the fact that they have been told a score of times already. interpreters, cook's men, gaze's men, and couriers are bustling about collecting their flocks together. porters with trolleys and hand-barrows piled up with luggage are to be seen hauling and shoving and struggling to push their way through the impenetrable forest of human beings. to the casual observer calmly surveying the scene, the entire place seems to be a hopeless muddle in which reigns a veritable pandemonium. more and more people enter the train, until it seems incapable of being moved at all, while the huge filthy-looking black engine, so different from the brilliantly painted and exquisitely kept british ones, is belching forth a torrent of black smoke, and blowing off steam with such violence and din as to render all conversation impossible. here one may see a regular procession of boxes, rugs, and bags all waiting to be weighed, while a file of fifty people or more are standing at the guichet awaiting the delivery of their luggage checks. the train was crowded to suffocation, and but for delapine's foresight our friends could not have obtained seats. as it was, marcel and riche were pushed into a compartment already nearly full, much to the disgust and annoyance of the passengers who were arranging their rugs for a comfortable sleep during the night. "that is not good enough for me," said riche, "i'll bet you a five-franc piece we will get a compartment all to ourselves." "done," said marcel, "but you are bound to lose it, my boy." "not a bit of it, you watch me." "guard," riche shouted as the bell rang and the doors were being shut, "this is a smoking compartment and we greatly object to smoking." marcel looked at riche and gave a low whistle. "can't be helped," said the guard, "we're just off." "excuse me," said riche in a commanding voice, "i am monsieur faure of the engineering department, and i must call your attention to section xiii. paragraph 79 of the byelaws of the administration." "i don't know your name, sir." "silence, sir, when i speak. i have only recently been appointed assistant to m. demange, the chief engineer." the guard looked him up and down, and scanned his face critically to see if he were joking, but riche never moved a muscle. "but, monsieur," said the guard, apologizing profusely, "it is impossible, the train is due to start," and he shrugged his shoulders and spread out his hands in despair. "remember that you are speaking to a high official on the railway," replied riche, looking severely at him. "now you know who i am, look sharp, or i shall be obliged to report you." the guard grumbled, and discussed the matter with several officials. almost immediately afterwards riche and marcel saw him walk rapidly away. slowly the huge train steamed out of the station, and various shunting movements took place until at length, after ten minutes delay, a brand-new first-class carriage was attached to the rear of the train. "now get in, gentlemen, quickly," said the guard somewhat testily as he blew the whistle. the moment they were seated, riche pulled out of his pocket a silver-mounted cigar case and handed marcel a fine hanava cigar, at the same time selecting one for himself. as the train rolled out of the station the guard saw to his horror two blue clouds of smoke rolling out of the window of the compartment. "sacr--r--re bleu?" hissed the guard as he held up his hands and shook his fists at the sham officials as they disappeared in the distance, while riche and marcel waved their handkerchiefs at the frantic guard as a parting shot. "by jove, you know how to travel," said marcel as he handed riche a five franc-piece. "now for a cosy nap," said riche, and making a comfortable bed by a skilful arrangement of the seats, he wrapped himself in his rug, put his ticket in the flap of his cap, and was soon fast asleep. footnotes: [footnote 18: in our heads five senses dwell, in many ways we use them, but when we love a maiden well alas! we quickly lose them.] chapter xxii violette nurses her father with alarming results the comfort of a long railway journey is largely dependent on the number of people travelling in the compartment. two is the ideal number, as one person can lie outstretched on each side. two is company but three is none, and is nearly as bad as four, in fact it verges on misery for two out of the three, but five makes comfort impossible. such was the state of things in monsieur beaupaire's coupé. monsieur, madame, and mademoiselle beaupaire were congratulating themselves on travelling undisturbed, when a couple of english tourists clambered in--or rather were pushed in just as the train was moving, in spite of the protests and remonstrances of the beaupaires. the compartment became unbearably stuffy, all the windows being, as is usual on the continent, hermetically sealed. it is the wonder of all englishmen that 'foreigners' insist on travelling with all openings for ventilation persistently closed, and equally incomprehensible to the foreigner how englishmen can travel with the windows open, and not catch their death of cold. "phew! this is awfully stuffy," exclaimed the elder of the two englishmen who answered to the name of ridgeway, "i can't imagine why these foreigners always insist on having the windows closed. there's not a breath of air in the place, charley," he said to the younger of the two, "do open the windows, there's a good chap." the young man got up and tugged at the strap at the window--it gave way and he fell backwards on to the feet of the passengers. "sorry," he said as he picked himself up, and he proceeded to open the opposite window. madame beaupaire looked daggers at him, and she rubbed the foot on which he had fallen. charley suddenly uttered a cry of pain. in attempting to open the second window, the frame had slipped and jammed his finger. "confound these carriages," said charley, "why can't someone invent a fool-proof window which will be provided with a strap that will not come off, and that can be opened without reducing one's fingers to pulp?" violette laughed at the wry face he made. charley turned round, and seeing her good-looking face lit up with merriment, laughed in concert. "well, that's a funny way to introduce yourself," said violette in good english, but with rather a pretty foreign accent. violette evidently had the gift of humour, and charley fell in with it at once. "i hope mademoiselle does not mind the window being open," he said. "not in the least as far as i am concerned," she replied. "i only hope papa and mamma will not catch cold." "oh, there's no fear of that. may i ask if you are going to monte carlo to play?" "we are going there, certainly, but i don't think we are going to play at the casino, if that's what you mean." "well, we are going there, and you bet we are going to have a shy at the tables." violette wondered what the expression could mean. "how do you shy at the tables?" she asked. "surely you know what 'shy' means?" he said. "of course i do," she replied, nettled to think he imagined she didn't know english. "i know," she continued, "a girl is shy when she hangs down her head and blushes and simpers when a gentleman speaks to her, but i cannot see how one can shy at the tables at monte carlo--unless the crowd is so great that it makes one nervous," she added reflectively. "oh," said charley, who was warming up and becoming very communicative, "shy is one of our wonderful english words, like 'box,' and 'shot' and 'go' and 'make.' they may mean anything and everything." "but, monsieur, how is one to know what a word means if it may imply anything and everything?" "that's the beauty of our language. it's a perfect joy. it's so tremendously expressive. if you can't get at the meaning by the context you have to guess it by the tone of the voice, as one does when speaking chinese. thus, if you were to say to me '_you're_ a nice young man,' it would mean that i was _not_ a nice young man. whereas if you were to say 'you _are_ a nice young man' you imply the exact opposite, namely that i _am_ nice." "are you fishing for compliments?" asked violette, laughing. "not exactly, but i feel sure you will say that my last illustration was correct in every respect." "oh, you men, you are as vain as peacocks, you think that every girl you meet must at once fall over head and ears in love with you." "and is not that a very delightful frame of mind to be in?" asked charley, wondering what she would say next. violette laughed heartily at the englishman's egotism. "but i assure you, mademoiselle, these little anglo-saxon words would fill a dictionary with their shades of meaning. to take an example: the word 'go' has at least a hundred different meanings. thus we say, 'the clock is going,' whereas it is standing still all the time. 'go' may mean 'to die,' as in the phrase (he is going)--to succeed (the scheme did not go)--to fare (how goes it?)--to release (let go my hand)--it may mean a misfortune (here's a pretty go)--or an attempt (let's have a go at it)--or----" "please, that's enough," cried violette, "my poor head is in a whirl already. let us conclude the whole matter by saying that with a dozen of these elastic anglo-saxon words of yours one may write a book and express every sentence in macaulay, milton and shakespeare." "what a pretty wit," said ridgeway, laughing. "the remarkable thing about the english language," he added, "is that all the words which we use most are not to be found in any dictionary." violette opened her eyes in amazement. "it's a fact, i assure you, mademoiselle." "what a dreadful language," she replied, "i had no idea english was so difficult. how on earth is the ordinary person to learn it?" "one does not learn it," said charley, "it just grows on one. if you try to learn english you never will. the professors of english who are paid to teach you don't know the words themselves, that is, the really useful ones, such as, 'awful,' 'jolly,' 'ripping,' 'rot,' 'blooming,' and thousands of others, and even in the very best french dictionaries you will find the english equivalent which is given, as something which has not the remotest connection with the word you have looked up." "surely you are joking, monsieur," she replied. "not in the least i assure you," he answered. "i see you have a gasc's pocket dictionary, mademoiselle, which is one of the very best. do me the favour to turn up the word 'cad.'" violette did so and read out, "cad--conducteur d' omnibus." "there you are," he replied, "what did i tell you? suppose an unfortunate and harmless frenchman arriving for the first time in london, were to rely on the dictionary and address the conductor of the first 'bus he entered as a cad, by george, he would probably find himself the next moment rolling in the gutter with the conductor on the top of him, and his only excuse would be that he trusted to the dictionary." violette looked at him with a mingled expression of amazement and doubt as to whether he was serious or not, and then glanced at her father who was snoring in the corner of the carriage, with a night-cap tied over his ears, while madame beaupaire was taking stock of charley by the aid of a gold-mounted pair of lorgnettes attached to a long tortoise-shell handle. "evidently you zink ze english language ees vastly superior to ours, monsieur," said madame, who had spent a summer in england, and picked up enough english to understand the drift of what he had been saying. "well, to be candid i do. just think of its range. our new dictionary contains a million and a half of words, whereas your language has only----" "oh, come on, charley, don't pull her leg," said ridgeway. "sir!" said madame, sitting bolt upright, and surveying him through her hand magnifiers, "you insult me." "a thousand pardons, madame. what i said was only a colloquial expression for pulling the long bow." "pulling ze vot?" she enquired somewhat suspiciously. "pulling the long bow--another colloquial expression much employed by englishmen. it merely implied a caution to my young friend not to exaggerate so much. i assure you, my dear madame, the remark i uttered had no reference whatever to your legs." "my vot, sir? i think you are egstremely rude." "pray forgive me, madame, i crave your indulgence. may i substitute for the word 'legs,' 'inferior extremities,' or lower limbs?" madame got very wrath and turned herself half round, and looked out of the opposite window. beaupaire had just woken up, and catching the last sentence burst out into a hearty laugh, which had the effect of making his better half still more angry. "how can you be so cruel as to laugh at me, jean," she said to her husband, "when you see me insulted like this? have you no feelings left?" "pray calm yourself, my dear. our friend has not the slightest intention of insulting you. i know the expression well, it is perfectly 'en regle.'" madame tossed her head as much as to say "i don't believe you a bit." "besides," she added, "it is not your place to instruct me in english, and i"--with rising voice--"i vill not sit here quietly vile those impudent englishmen are insulting me and my daughter." beaupaire looked at ridgeway, and gave a wink and a little chuckle half to himself. "don't mind her," he whispered to ridgeway, as he offered him a cigarette, "the old lady is first rate when you get to know her, but she is a great stickler for etiquette--spanish, you know--very proud--sixteen quarterings--father a don--seventh cousin of the king of spain--and all that sort of thing." ridgeway nodded. "ha! ha!" continued beaupaire, laughing, "what you were just saying to madame reminds me of an anecdote of philip the second of spain. it is said that when his first wife was coming to madrid to be married to him she was met at the frontier by an escort of grandees, and was treated with all the stiff ceremonies of the spanish court. the lady had occasion to mention her legs during the conversation, and was at once rebuked by the grand chamberlain appointed to wait on her. 'madame,' he said, 'the queen of spain is not permitted to have any legs.' on hearing this the good dame burst into tears, thinking it would be necessary to have them amputated. however, the grand chamberlain explained to her with profound genuflexions and much bowing, that it was highly impolite even to suggest that so exalted a personage as her prospective majesty could possibly possess such parts of her anatomy. when this story was related to the king, it is said to have been the only occasion when that fanatical and gloomy monarch was ever seen to laugh." mr. ridgeway was interrupted by the sudden noise of the brakes--z ... z ... z ... z ... z ... z ... z ... z ... z ... sh ... sh ... sh ... sh ... sh ... sh ... h ... h ... h ... h. the train pulled up in the station just two hours after leaving paris. "la roche," shouted the guard. "cinque minutes d'arrêt." it was the first stop. marcel was snoring vigorously notwithstanding the noise. riche woke up with the sudden cessation of movement and the noise of the brakes against the wheels. he sat up and rubbed his eyes with his knuckles. the door opened, and a man with his buxom wife and two children began climbing into the compartment. "sh--h," said riche stepping up to the door and putting his fingers to his lips. "you can't come in, my friend down here has just had a fit. he is subject to sudden outbursts of madness, and might kill you at any moment." marcel had just awoke and managed to catch the last sentence of his friend. a quiet smile flitted across his lips, and he closed his eyes again. the parents exchanged glances as the guard was pushing them in. "be quick and get in," said the guard. "mais, monsieur, we dare not. this gentleman says his friend is lying down in a fit, and he is quite mad." the guard hesitated for a moment, and was about to go and call the station master, when dr. riche handed him his card. it bore the inscription:-[illustration: docteur riche. chirurgien a l'hopital, alger.] engraved in bold letters. the card decided matters at once, and the guard pushing the family away, closed the door and locked it at the doctor's request. "riche," said marcel the moment the guard had left, "you are a brick. we can now sleep undisturbed until we get to marseilles." the next morning they arrived at marseilles, and everybody got out to stretch their legs and enjoy a good cup of café au lait at the buffet. the party had a refreshing wash and brush up to enable them to enjoy the delightful sea views of the côte d'azur. it was the early part of the afternoon when the train pulled up at beaulieu. they drove to the hotel des anglais, somewhat tired but in the best of spirits. the feelings of céleste and renée on seeing the côte d'azur for the first time cannot be described. the balmy air was filled with the delicious perfumes of a million flowers and fields of new-mown hay. they saw the deep blue sky paling to a delicate turquoise where it touched the sea at the horizon. they saw the water scintillating with the sunlight, and its placid surface broken by the white crests of the countless waves. what delighted them most was the exquisite blending of colours, the variations of light and shade, and the luxuriance and wonderful variety of the foliage. here they saw the loveliest forms of tropical foliage side by side with the more familiar but not less beautiful trees of central and northern europe. the flowers of the whole world seemed to contribute to the enchanting loveliness of the scene. they saw dense forests of fragrant pine trees, woodland footpaths lined with the sweet alyssum, resembling drifts of scented snow, while the thyme and rosemary formed fragrant patches over the stony sides of the mountains. higher up the slopes luxuriant groves of pistacia lentiscus or mastic trees could be seen, and bushes of the members of the quassia family, such as the cneorum tricoccum, with its curious triple clusters of berries. in the distance rose the beautiful mount boron crowned with the fort of montalban, and its slopes covered with tall cistus trees. dotted here and there were charming villas with delightful gardens, intoxicating the senses with the perfume of lemon and orange. occasionally the carouba tree could be seen with its wonderful locust-bean pods credited with being the staple food of john the baptist. scattered up and down were olive trees, hoary with age, their trunks knotted and gnarled and twisted like the limbs of caliban. quite close to beaulieu they saw sheltered footpaths with hedges on either side lined with roses and geraniums. to the west was the bay of villefranche with small gunboats and yachts rocking placidly in the harbour. "surely," said the professor, "these must be the gardens of alcinous with their perpetual summer hemmed in by the mighty salient battlements which form the vanguard of the alpine chain." as the members of the party were retiring for the night, monsieur beaupaire, who had caught a slight chill on the chest, in spite of what charley had told him the day before, developed a fit of uncontrollable coughing accompanied with a feeling of oppression on the chest. dr. villebois immediately offered his services, which were accepted with gratitude. he prescribed a cough mixture, and ordered a mustard plaster to be applied for five minutes over the whole of the chest. "doctor," said violette, putting her arms in a coaxing way on his shoulders, "may i prepare the plaster myself, as i have done it many times before, and i know so well how to do it." "certainly," said villebois, "nobody could do it better, get it by all means, and put it on as soon as your father is comfortably settled in bed." violette, as soon as she had obtained the ingredients, set to work to prepare the plaster. it was quite late by this time, and the messenger had great difficulty in finding a chemist's shop open, to have the medicine made up. violette loved nursing and felt a keen pleasure in doctoring her father. she acted on the principle that if one dose will do a certain amount of good, two doses ought to do twice the benefit, and accordingly she spread a very liberal amount of mustard on the linen. when all was ready she went upstairs to his bedroom, but by this time all the lights were turned off, and she crept cautiously along the passage to his room. she opened the door, and a faint light just enabled her to see where her father was sleeping. he was snoring away apparently in a delightful dream, and violette, unwilling to awake him, did not turn up the light. so in the semi-darkness she tenderly laid bare his chest, and carefully spread the plaster over the surface. the sufferer uttered a groan, but did not wake. violette wrapped him up snugly and bent down and gave her father a kiss on his forehead, when the light becoming suddenly brighter, she perceived to her horror that it was not her father at all, but marcel. terrified at her mistake she gave a little scream, and ran out of the room, the perspiration streaming from her forehead. "oh! dear, oh! dear," she exclaimed, "whatever shall i do? here i have gone into marcel's room, and kissed him on the forehead and put a huge mustard plaster on his chest, and now i dare not take it off again for fear of waking him up. oh! what will become of me?" violette was in despair. heartily wishing the ground would open and swallow her up, she walked up and down the passage wringing her hands in an agony of mind, and wondering what the end of it all would be. at length violette went to her bedroom, and falling on her knees burst into a flood of tears. but her tears were soon over as the absurdity of the situation dawned on her. a few minutes later she undressed and was soon in the arms of morpheus, quite oblivious of the mischief she was creating. violette had not been in bed more than half an hour when she was awakened by hearing the most appalling noise. somebody was shouting at the top of his voice, "help! help! murder! fire! thieves!" hastily putting on her slippers and dressing-gown, she ran into the passage. by this time the entire establishment was aroused, and men and women attired in all sorts of costumes came hurrying up the stairs to see what all the row was about. mine host flew to the fire alarm and rang up the fire brigade without waiting to ascertain the real cause of the mischief. at the same time the portier telephoned to the police. the hubbub and confusion increased every moment. waiters flew wildly up and down stairs, each one asking his neighbour what all the noise was about. a few minutes later a fire engine came dashing up and half a dozen firemen with their hatchets and brass helmets ran up the stairs followed by three or four gendarmes in uniform. the proprietor ran towards them with his arms outstretched gesticulating wildly. violette, who was standing in front of her door, looked up and saw the gentleman who was the author of all the scene rush past her clad in pajamas with an embroidered cap ornamented with a gold tassel, and almost flinging himself into the arms of the landlord. "voilà!" he shouted, "see what some miscreant has done to me," and he laid bare his chest all blazing red and fearfully inflamed with the mustard, while he shook the offending plaster in monsieur's face. violette caught sight of his face. oh, horror, it was marcel sure enough, his eyes gleaming, his face flushed, and shouting with a voice almost inarticulate with rage and pain. "if i can only lay my hands on the scoundrel who has done it, i will flay him alive no matter who he may be." violette turned scarlet and looked away for fear he should see her. she hurried back to her bedroom and sank down on the sofa, asking herself how she ever dare face him again, and wondering whether he would ever forgive her if he found her out. what added to her misery was that she felt in her heart she really cared for him. at length a feeling of weariness overcame her, and crawling into bed she soon fell asleep. chapter xxiii at beaulieu "the sun upon the calmest sea appears not half so bright as thee." the next morning madame villebois, whose slumbers had been disturbed by the excitement and noise during the night, and who loved ease, was having her chocolate in bed, and studying the menu which the maid had brought up for her special benefit. "marie," she said, as her maid propped her back up against the pillows, "you are to be sure to make friends with the chef and bring me a copy of the menus for lunch and dinner as soon as they are printed, and, marie, fetch me my portemonnaie. see, give him this and tell him to allow you to see how the entrées are prepared, and don't forget the sauces--especially the sauces, do you understand? oh, i forgot--yes--find out whether he wraps the red mullet in paper soaked in olive oil or butter, be sure and ask him this, as it is most important, and don't forget also to find out how he prepares his gigot à la mailly, and his poulets à la villeroy. do you think, marie, that he will tell you all this for a small pourboire?" "please, madame, i have seen him already and he is a most charming gentleman. he has such a sweet smile and such lovely whiskers. i think if you will leave him to me, madame, i will find out all you want. you know i have my little ways with gentlemen." "marie, what do you mean? how dare you take liberties with men? and with cooks of all people! you ought to be ashamed of yourself. i shall have to give you notice." "oh, but, madame, if you only saw him. he is such a nice gentleman, he patted me under the chin and gave me a kiss on my lips." madame gave a start that nearly threw her out of bed, and stared at her as if she were some new animal at the zoo. "marie, marie, leave the room this minute. i shall tell my husband the moment i get back to paris, and he will dismiss you at once when he hears it. oh, dear, what shall i do? to think you have disgraced the family in this way. i would dismiss you now, you vulgar thing, but--" "thank you, ma'am," marie replied, curtseying with a pout. "thank you, indeed. wait and see what dr. villebois will say to you. you dare to simper and smile after this?" marie readjusted her pillows, and her lips curled in a defiant smile, for she knew the doctor would take her part every time. hadn't he on one occasion given her a brooch instead of dismissing her when madame drove her out of the room, and on another occasion a pair of turquoise ear-rings, when she handed her over to her spouse for reprimand and dismissal? "can i do anything more for madame?" she replied with her sweetest smile. "go away, you hussy. i shall send for the doctor immediately." "thank you, ma'am," said marie again, as she bowed herself out of the room. "of all the impudent, brazen-faced minxes i have ever seen, marie is the worst," said madame to herself, as she heard the door close behind her. "the idea of such a thing! i would have sent her about her business there and then, only i know i cannot do without her. the airs these hussies put on, i don't really know what the world is coming to with their scandalous behaviour. had it been an officer who kissed her, it would not have mattered--but a cook, with a double chin and whiskers! holy mary!" and the good lady crossed herself and sank down among the pillows to dream of the wickedness of femmes de chambre in general, and her own amazing righteousness. it was half-past nine when the rest of the party sat down to breakfast in the salle à manger of the hotel. marcel, flushed and tired, entered the room and looked round to see if he could detect the culprit among the numerous guests, and failing that, sat down next to riche who did his best to soothe his ruffled feelings. "i hope, my dear chap, that the pain has gone, and that you are none the worse for the practical joke which was played on you last night," said villebois, standing up and bowing to him as he sat down. marcel returned the salutation. "mon dieu!" he exclaimed, wiping his brow with a gorgeous purple silk handkerchief, "no one can imagine what i have suffered. even dives could not have experienced worse sensations in his tongue in hades than i did in my chest. i declare a flogging would not have hurt half as much. you should see my skin, it is all covered with blisters the size of a five-franc piece. if it had not been for my friend riche who spread a handkerchief covered with carron oil and dionine over it, i should not have been here this morning to breakfast, that's certain. oh! if i could only meet the rascal who played me that trick, i would compel him to wear a plaster like mine for a week." just at the moment monsieur beaupaire was seized with a furious fit of coughing and wheezing. "i am afraid," said villebois, "the medicine and plaster which i prescribed did not do its work as well as i expected." "medicine and plaster!" exclaimed beaupaire with a look of astonishment. "i never saw either of them, although i remember you gave me the prescription with both remedies written down." marcel looked up in surprise and whispered something to riche, while violette blushed up to the roots of her hair, and bent down to pick up her napkin which she had purposely dropped. "oh dear!" she whispered to céleste who was sitting between her and riche, "whatever will become of me?" and her face expressed unutterable things. "why! what have you done?" just then céleste happened to lean back, and violette turning half round, caught riche's eye just as she was drinking her coffee, which caused her to swallow it in such a hurry that it nearly choked her. she set her cup down, and whispering into céleste's ear, walked quickly out of the salle a manger followed by céleste. the two girls closed the door, ran quickly upstairs, and locked themselves in violette's bedroom. "now tell me all about it," said céleste, as they seated themselves on the ottoman. "oh! it's too dreadful for words," said violette. "i asked dr. villebois to allow me to prepare the plaster for papa, and put it on him myself. i made a lovely one, and put three times as much mustard on it as i was ordered, as i wanted it to do him ever so much good. well, i uncovered his chest and spread it carefully over and had just tucked him up and was about to leave when i discovered to my horror that i had entered the wrong room, and had put the plaster on a strange gentleman. i dared not take it off for fear of waking him, and so i crept out of the room on tip-toe. later on when the people came rushing upstairs i ran to see what was the matter, and found out to my horror that the unfortunate man was--whom do you think?" "riche?" "no, my dear--marcel! good heavens! what shall i do? he will never forgive me." céleste gave a little cry of surprise. "good gracious!" she exclaimed, putting her arm round violette's shoulder, "what a dreadful mistake to make, but i am sure, dear, with a little tact, you will be able to put matters right." "do you really think he will ever forgive me?" violette asked, looking into her face for some gleam of hope. "oh yes, of course he will. i know marcel far better than you do. he is really a very nice man, and has far too much sense of humour to be angry for long. besides, you know the italian proverb 'ad ogni cosa e rimedio fuora ch'alla morte.'" "thank you ever so much, dear, for your sympathy and advice. i shall be much happier now," and so saying they left the room together. meanwhile, riche had taken in the whole situation. "i say, my boy," he said to marcel, "i've found out the culprit at last." "who? where?" cried marcel in an excited voice. "why, that young lady who was sitting on the other side of céleste." marcel turned round and looked at the position indicated. "why, you surely don't mean mademoiselle beaupaire?" "yes, of course i do. i saw her blushing furiously a few minutes ago, and i noticed her turn her face away the moment you happened to look in her direction. oh, there can be no doubt about it." "by jove, i understand it all now, it's as clear as daylight," said marcel, slapping riche's thigh. "what a fool i was not to see it before. the explanation is quite simple; she mistook my bedroom for her father's, and as it was dark she put the plaster on the wrong man." "ha! ha! you've hit it, my boy, it's immensely funny. ha! ha!" and riche and marcel both held their sides and shook with laughter. "oh! my chest, my chest," cried marcel, "don't make me laugh so," and the tears streamed down his cheeks with the pain caused by his laughing. "but i say, riche," he said as he calmed down, "it's a terrible blow to me." "why?" asked riche, looking at him with a curious smile. "well, you know i--ahem--have taken quite a fancy to her. she's a ripping girl, and as clever as they make them, and i am afraid this silly mistake has upset the whole apple-cart." "are you really so gone on her as all that?" enquired riche with a wink of his eye. "well, i confess i am a bit in love with her. by jove, riche, she is the finest girl in all france." "my word, you must be in love with her," riche replied, "i had not the least idea that the little blind god had wounded you so deeply; ma foi! but it's becoming serious." "really, monsieur, you must not joke at me like this. if you only knew what a splendid girl she is, and how my future happiness depends on my getting her hand, you would not laugh at me." riche gave a low whistle. "by jove," he said to himself, "he is madly in love with her and no mistake." "come! let's drop the subject," he said in a voice of despair, "all my hopes are shattered by that cursed plaster. it's finished now, and it is no good crying over spilt milk." "what nonsense you are talking. my dear boy, it's the finest thing for you that could ever have happened." "the finest thing that could have happened? what do you mean?" "my dear fellow, you've got the game in your own hands now. by putting that beastly plaster, as you call it, on your chest, she handed you the trump card. you have only to appear angry to bring her to her knees, and you can name your own conditions of capitulation. get a diamond ring, my boy, and the sooner the better." "do you really think she will let me put it on her finger?" "if she likes you ever so little, and has no one else on her string she will, especially if you make your declaration of love at the psychological moment." "and how am i to know when that is?" enquired marcel in a tone of great anxiety. "when she comes to beg your forgiveness. but," added riche, "you must not forgive her right away, you must first play with your fish. pay out the line until the fish is getting exhausted, and then you will be able to haul it in without any difficulty." "upon my soul, riche, you are an artful card. where did you manage to learn these things?" "ich habe gelebt and geliebt," replied riche with a smile, humming schubert's well known air. marcel wrung his hand. "thanks awfully. i will follow your advice to the letter," and going into the hall he picked up his hat and stick and left the hotel arm in arm with his friend to see the beauties and sights of the place, but more especially with the object of purchasing the ring to adorn his divinity's hand, so as to be ready for the attack when they returned for lunch. meanwhile delapine was walking arm in arm with monsieur payot and renée up and down the broad terrace of the hotel. "where are we now?" said payot to delapine who was well acquainted with the riviera. "we are at present in the little seaside town of beaulieu, which may be called a suburb of villefranche, the town you see on the right snugly nestled in the little bay formed by the promontory over there," and he pointed with his stick. "what is the town still further away on our right?" said renée as she stood looking at a handsome steam yacht which was making its way towards the bay of villefranche. "that is nice which we passed last night in the train, and further away you can just catch sight of var and antibes. that white streak there is the carriage road--the corniche--one of the most celebrated roads in europe which extends along the entire coast of the riviera. dante trod the road when an exile from italy, and it suggested to him a road out of purgatory. in those days it was a terrible pass hewn out of the solid rock, now rising to giddy heights, and now dropping almost to the sea level. at times half hidden by great projecting rocks, and again splashed by mountain streams and disappearing into deep gorges covered with trees and ferns, it formed a majestic image to dante of the ascent from the purgatorial sea." "but, henri, it does not seem dreadful at all to me." "not now; thanks to modern engineering, instead of being a rugged road on which a slip was frequently fatal, it is now a magnificent carriage road as smooth as this terrace and quite as safe. we shall walk along it this afternoon, when we will inspect the buildings and grounds of monte carlo, and i think you will say that you could never be tired of viewing such lovely scenery as we shall see, such wonderful variety does it offer. "look," he said, pointing with his stick to the verdure-clad mountains which formed the background to the picture, "how beautiful it is. see how the slopes are covered with olive, almond, carouba, and pine trees which grow here in such perfection as you will seek for elsewhere in vain. what could be finer? see far away in the distance the chain of the alpes maritimes with their summits decked with snow. now come with me round the terrace. do you see that great isolated rock towards nice, standing out all by itself surmounted by a great ivy-coloured castle? that is the castle of eza. see how brown with age it looks, clothed with pellitory and ivy." "when was it built, henri?" "it dates from the time of the saracens at the beginning of the ninth century, just after the death of charlemagne during the golden age of the great haroun al raschid." "look, henri, at that immense bank of rhododendrons forming a crimson carpet above the corniche road. what a feast of colour for a painter." "yes," said the professor, "and look at that ruined temple with its doric pillars entwined with african ivy. there, don't you see it--just above the quaint village of turbia, or la turbie as it is generally called, between those two limestone peaks, high above the rocky promontory of monaco, and close to the fearful precipices of the tête du chien. that is the triumphal tower, or trophaea, built by augustus to commemorate his victory over the ligurians, and which marked the boundary between gaul and italy. in its perfect condition it formed a magnificent tower crowned as it was by a statue of the emperor over twenty feet high. it must have presented an imposing appearance when surrounded by the camp of the roman legions. what a contrast between the turmoil of war, the marching to and fro of the soldiers, the clashing of arms in those days, and the peaceful single white street bordered by houses and inns on either side, as it exists to-day. now only a mighty ruin remains to recall its former greatness." "oh, yes," said renée, "i remember i read about it in tennyson's _daisy_." "why, renée, what a memory you have!" "not at all, henri. you see i knew i was going to the riviera, so i read up all i could about the place; and now the places seem like old friends." "that is the way to travel, it is the only way to enjoy the scenery." "where are we going when the rest of the party returns?" asked renée. "do you see that steep stony path near the funicular railway leading down the hill from la turbie?" "yes, i do quite well." "well, do you notice where it leads to?" "oh yes, it leads down to the rock covered with houses which i see to the east." "that is monaco. down below on the west--you cannot see it from here--is the bathing beach of condamine, and the chapel of saint devote, the patron saint of monaco, and there on the rocky slopes of the spelugues hard by to the north of the bay are grouped the various buildings of the casino, surrounded by villas, beautiful gardens and hotels which are largely patronised by the players. that finely decorated building standing on the edge of the cliff by the gardens of st. martin is the oceanographic museum which is filled by the wonderful collection of marine products collected by the prince of monaco. a most interesting exhibit, i assure you, and one which i am never tired of visiting. but that is not what i have come here to see this time. "look," said the professor, continuing the conversation as he pointed to the casino, "that is the sole object of our expedition, and when i have done my business there, i intend to return to paris." "but surely, professor, you are not going to waste your time in playing at the casino?" said payot and renée in the same breath. "we never knew you gambled." "i never gamble--when i play, i play with knowledge, and i intend to teach the casino company and their dupes a lesson which they will never forget, and i trust we shall all profit by it." "you speak in enigmas, professor," said payot. "all truth is an enigma, sir," replied delapine with a quiet and somewhat cynical smile, and at the same time throwing at payot one of those piercing glances with which he so frequently electrified his audiences. renée looked at delapine with her brown eyes filled with an enquiring look of wonderment, and then turned to her father to see what reply he would make, but payot said nothing, he merely evaded a reply by tracing figures with his cane on the sand. the professor sat down on a chair and became absorbed in deep thought. renée looked alarmed, as she fancied he was about to go off in another trance. suddenly he sprang up. "excuse me," he said, "i perceive that our two friends riche and marcel are in trouble. i must go and rescue them," and without another word he donned his slouch hat and went out of the hotel grounds with rapid strides. "what on earth is he up to?" said payot. "i can't imagine, but if riche and marcel are in trouble henri will get them out of their mess. didn't you hear him tell us he would?" "but how on earth is he able to know when he is not there to see?" "you must ask henri that question," said renée. "he will tell you." it was a lovely winter's morning. the blue sky covered the deep sapphire blue of the gulf of genoa like a great turquoise dome painted here and there with long fleecy clouds, while the restless sea broke into tiny ripples as it lapped against the rocky cliffs of the shore, forming feathery waves like the white wings of the seagulls. marcel and riche walked along the broad white carriage road, looking at the motor-cars and carriages as they rolled along with gaily dressed ladies, shading themselves with parasols of every colour. here and there they encountered women from the country with bronzed, withered faces like normandy pippins, carrying huge baskets to market balanced on their heads filled with fruit or vegetables. then a score of noisy children ran pell mell across the road from the national school, shouting to each other as they ran with satchels on their backs filled with lesson books. a little further on a herd of goats obstructed the way, butting each other with their horns, or lingering at the roadside to nibble the herbage, while an italian boy with bare feet ran hither and thither urging them forward with a stick, and calling his dog to assist him. the road crossed deep gorges bordered with locust trees, pines and castania trees, while here and there were aged olive trees with their shrunken, gnarled and twisted trunks filled with the dust of years between the crevices of the bark. wonderful limestone rocks towered up the hill on the left like mediæval ruined castles varying from a creamy white to pale lilac or deep crimson. at one spot a stream of clear water trickled down, besprinkling with its spray soft cushions of velvety moss embroidered with lichens, maiden-hair ferns, aspleniums, and the beautiful white star-like leucorium nicæense. here and there bunches of convolvuli and cistuses unfolded their crimson and purple trumpets. further on the village of roccabrunna could be seen nestling among the brown rocks and huge boulders which had fallen ages before, and become partly cemented to the hillside with undergrowth and soil. capping the summit half hidden among the houses, the ruins of the mediæval castle of the lascaris arrested his eye, surrounded by lemon and orange trees. now the road turns aside through the village of monaco, and on the right he saw in front of him the bold promontory of monaco rising three hundred and fifty feet above the sea, which washed three of its sides where they dipped almost perpendicularly into the blue waters. all the way along on either side were lovely villas surrounded by well-kept gardens filled with flowers of every hue and kind. cacti, palms, aloes, camphor trees, monkey trees, citron and orange trees abounded, the latter filling the air with their fragrant perfume. in the largest gardens they observed numerous specimens of the cedar of lebanon, flat-topped pines, arancarius, californian pines--the whole contributing to make this spot a veritable garden of eden. at length they passed a large jeweller's shop with a magnificent display of diamond and ruby rings in a case in the window. "see here," cried marcel, "the very thing." he went in and asked to be allowed to inspect a selection of engagement rings. having made his choice he became so engrossed with admiring the various objects of art that riche, getting tired, told his friend that he would stroll slowly on, and bid him follow on after he had finished. it was fully half an hour before marcel had completed his inventory of the shop, when looking at his watch was surprised to find how time had slipped by. hurrying out marcel walked rapidly in the direction where he knew he would find his friend. he had not gone more than a mile when he suddenly heard a babel of voices, and to his surprise saw a large crowd surrounding a piedmontese beggar holding a brown bear by a chain. the man was violently gesticulating at a gentleman who was trying to defend himself against the menaces of the crowd, and was struggling with two gendarmes who appeared anxious to arrest him. "hullo, riche!" cried marcel, running breathlessly up and pushing his way to him through the crowd. "what's up? what are they pulling you about for?" "i saw this brute of an italian belabouring his bear over the head with a stick, and pulling the chain until his nose was covered with blood, and my blood was up, so i gave the fellow a taste of the beating that he had given the bear, and then the gendarmes, hearing the row, came up and arrested me." riche struggled with the gendarmes, tried to get free, and twisting his leg between those of one of the gendarmes jiu-jitsu fashion, threw him on the ground. marcel flung himself on the officer, and riche would have got free, but the second slipped a noose of whip-cord over riche's wrist, and drawing it tight, twisted it with a bit of stick so violently that he almost fainted with the pain. marcel was struggling on the ground with the officer, when a third policeman pushed his way through the crowd, and they were promptly marched away as prisoners towards the gendarmerie, followed by a crowd of idlers. "what have those allemands done?" cried a workman in a blouse, to his boon companion who was smoking the filthy stump of a cigarette. "ma foi, the rascals have been caught pocket-picking--serve them jolly well right too. i saw them do it. come, comrade, we will give evidence and get them well lodged in the violon. ils sont des sacr--res allemands." at this moment a carriage and pair came dashing up, and a footman arrayed in gorgeous livery descended from his perch and opened the door. a general, magnificently attired in full dress uniform with a row of orders on his breast, stepped out, carrying his head proudly in the air, and looking for all the world like one of the old heroes of gravelotte with his venerable-looking white locks and greyish white beard and moustache. the crowd made way for him and cheered as he marched with a firm military step towards the struggling prisoners. "halt!" he cried in a voice of thunder, as the gendarmes, petrified with astonishment, stood at attention immediately and saluted him. "what are you doing with those two gentlemen?" he demanded in an imperious tone. "we are taking them to the gendarmerie for assaulting this piedmontese with his bear, and for violently resisting us while we were performing our duty in arresting him. one of them threw my comrade on to the ground and would have killed him had not a third member of the force arrived." "i command you to release them immediately. are you aware that they happen to be particular friends of mine, and belong to the embassy? i shall hold you all three responsible for this. give me your names at once. do you hear me?" he said, as he stamped his foot on the ground with impatience as they hesitated to obey him. trembling with fear they wrote their names and numbers on a card, and handed it to him. "now go," he cried, "and take care not to touch my friends again, or beware----" and he shook a warning finger at them. the three gendarmes stepped back a couple of paces, saluted, and then turning round speedily became lost in the crowd. "now step into my carriage," said the general as the footman opened the door for the two guests. as soon as they were seated the general ordered the coachman to turn back and drive at full speed. riche and marcel stared at the general, and then looked at each other for an explanation. "whom have we the honour of addressing?" they both asked. "general alfieri, commander of the grand cordon of the order of savoy, very much at your service, gentlemen." "accept our humble and most sincere thanks, general. we cannot thank you sufficiently both for your well-timed help, and for your extreme courtesy and attention." "i accept your thanks, and request you to give me the pleasure of your company to lunch. where may you be staying?" "at the hotel des anglais, beaulieu." "coachman, drive to the hotel des anglais, these gentlemen may desire to alight in order to arrange their toilette." riche and marcel were more astonished than ever. "general alfieri," they whispered to each other. "who on earth could he be--some italian general of high rank evidently. but what could he be doing in the territory of the prince of monte carlo, which does not belong to italy, and how could he possibly know us?" in a few minutes they arrived at the hotel, and all three descended. "pray step in," said the general, "and i will follow directly." as riche and marcel entered the hall the general stepped up to the coachman, and handing him a bank note dismissed him. "now, gentlemen, pray retire to your rooms, and when you are ready you will find me waiting for you in the hall." as soon as riche and marcel had retired to their rooms, the general entered his, and after completing his ablutions and exchanging his military clothes for a civilian costume he returned to the hall. a few minutes later riche and marcel came down the stairs together. "i say, professor, where have you sprung from?" said marcel. "by the way, have you noticed a general in full uniform in the hotel?" "no, i've seen no military man at all here, but i happened to notice a general in full uniform drive up to the front and enter the hotel. he was a fine, venerable looking man with white hair and a greyish white moustache and beard." "that's the gentleman we want. you have described him exactly. but where has he gone to?" they enquired eagerly. "i can't imagine. i only know that i heard him order the coachman to drive away, as he would not be wanted again." "surely, professor, you must be mistaken," replied marcel, "as the general not only got us out of a terrible scrape, but was kind enough to drive us here and actually invited us to lunch. in fact he bid us remove the traces of our scrimmage with those beastly gendarmes who tried to arrest us, and then meet him here in the hall." "if he had not been so kind in the first instance," added riche, "i should have imagined that he was playing us a joke." "but why suggest such things?" said delapine. "if he said he would wait for you here, he must be here." "please do not jest like this, professor, it is too serious a thing, we must go and look for him at once." "are you sure that it is necessary to do that?" said delapine. "what do you mean?" they both asked. "i mean what i say. the general kept his word, and is waiting on you now." "where, where?" and riche and marcel looked up and down the passages in vain. "why, here, you silly chaps. can't you recognise me?" and delapine gave a merry twinkle with his eyes. "what! you don't mean to say that you were the general?" "why not?" said the professor, turning his back to them and quickly donning his false beard and moustache and wig. "now look at me," said he, turning round and saluting them. "if this isn't just the top hole," said marcel and riche in a duet. "whoever would have thought of it, but tell us, how did you manage to know where we were?" "oh! that was simplicity itself. i watched you both going out, and then i fell into one of those dreamy states in which my subliminal or other-self rises above the threshold--as meyers used to say--and then this other-self, partly freed from my animal body, has greatly increased powers, which enables me to perceive things which are entirely invisible to the eye, since psychic sight is affected by altogether different laws from those which govern ordinary vision, and moreover it is quite independent of distance. the moment i fell into my hypnotic reverie, i saw marcel sauntering along the corniche in the direction of monaco with my mind sight as clearly as i see you now, and i watched him half kill the italian with his stick for maltreating a bear, and suspecting what would happen i hurriedly left the hotel, borrowed a general's uniform, pinned on all the second-hand orders i could lay my hands on, and telephoned immediately for the most expensive carriage and pair in the place. at the same time i telephoned to the metropole at monte carlo for two footmen in livery. they climbed up on to the box-seat and i got into the carriage, and the one whom i selected as coachman drove as fast as possible to the spot where i knew i should meet you--and here we are," said the professor with a beaming smile. "come, gentlemen, let me take you to lunch, as i promised you in the carriage. i think our good friends beaupaire and payot, as well as the ladies are expecting us." "great scott!" whispered marcel to riche, "mephistopheles is a fool beside our professor." chapter xxiv the professor discourses on gambling "le hasard n'est rien. il n'est point de hasard. nous avons nominè l'effet que nous voyons d'une cause que nous ne voyons pas." voltaire, _lettres de memmius, iii_. chance is nothing. there is no such thing as chance. what we call by that name is the effect which we see of a cause which we do not see. "c'est le profonde ignorance qui inspire le ton dogmatique." la bruyère, _characteres_. "well, monsieur beaupaire, i hope that you are the better for dr. villebois's treatment," said marcel as he shook hands with him in the salon while they were waiting for the dejeuner to be served. "my dear sir, i confess i am better, but i cannot say i owe it to the doctor," and beaupaire gave marcel a comical look. "perhaps in my turn i may be able to hope that you, my dear marcel, are also better." "well, i am free from pain, but you must confess it was rather a mean trick to play on a man who had done your daughter no harm," said marcel, looking at violette and pretending to be very angry. "oh, monsieur marcel, please forgive me," said violette, blushing furiously and looking very sheepish. "i really did not mean to do it." "you didn't mean to do it, then why did you do so? i received a fearful shock, and suffered agonies for some hours afterwards." before violette could reply, lunch was announced, and marcel, following his friend riche's advice, bowed stiffly to violette and followed beaupaire and riche to the salle a manger. violette felt very uncomfortable and miserable as she puckered up her mouth and gave a little sigh. but it did not escape riche who was watching the effect of marcel's words with the eye of a connoisseur. "it's all right, my boy," he whispered to marcel as they sat down together, "your case argues well. i can see that you will win her." "how do you know that?" marcel enquired. "quite simply. did you not see when she sat down that she gave a little sigh? that's one point. then again i observed the comical look that her father gave you when he trusted that you were also better. now, my boy, all you have to do is to keep your head and go steady, and she's yours as sure as my name's riche." after lunch marcel arranged to meet violette at a spot where he could talk to her unobserved. it required some manoeuvring as there were very few places unoccupied. riche very cunningly acted as a decoy by first luring violette into an unoccupied room, and then by making way for marcel, who entered the room apparently quite unconscious that anyone was there. on seeing violette he uttered an apology, and bowing very politely turned round as if he intended to leave the room, when violette stopped him. "pardon me, monsieur marcel, i cannot allow you to leave without obtaining your forgiveness for the injury i have done you. you will forgive me, won't you? i wanted to ask you before lunch but we were interrupted." "certainly i'll forgive you, and now let us shake hands to show that we have made it up." violette held out her right hand. "no," said marcel, "one hand won't do for me, i must have both." violette laughed and held out both. "that is better," said marcel, putting his hand in his pocket and pulling out a lovely diamond ring which he very adroitly slipped on the fourth finger of her left hand, taking care to slip it past the joint. violette drew back with a little scream. "how dare you take a mean advantage of me like that? you're a horrid man, i hate you," and suiting her action to her words she tried to pull it off. but the ring which marcel had carefully selected to ensure its fitting tightly refused to budge, much to his delight. "i believe you selected a tight fitting ring on purpose," she said in an angry tone of voice, looking very cross and almost in tears. marcel took his scolding with such a good-natured smile that violette felt she would have to laugh if she stayed any longer, so rushing past him she ran to her father who was sitting down in an easy chair in the next room. "father, just look at what monsieur marcel has done to me," and she held out a very pretty finger for his inspection. "that's a very charming ring he has given you," he replied with a knowing wink. "but, father, only think of his impudence in slipping the ring on my finger by a horrid ruse, without even asking my permission. i think it was a very mean trick to take advantage of me like that. don't you agree with me?" "well, to tell the truth i confess if i had been in his place i would have done exactly the same thing," and beaupaire burst into a hearty laugh. "father, i don't like you a bit, i think you are horrid. i don't want his ring," and she tried to pull it off once more. "oh, this wretched ring how am i to get it off?" "don't be a little goose, keep it on, my dear," and he took hold of her hand and patted it affectionately. "i admire monsieur marcel's taste. it is really a superb ring, and you ought to be very proud of it." violette stamped her pretty foot on the floor. "why do you always take monsieur marcel's part?" she asked with a little pout of vexation. "my dear child, i consider him to be a very charming man, clever, highly polished and accomplished, very affectionate, and moreover the possessor of a most respectable private income. why, what more do you want? he is a man who would make a most desirable husband. besides, i have every reason to believe that he sincerely loves you." "but, father, do you really mean it?" at this moment marcel, who had been listening with his ear against the door, came in. beaupaire came up and shook hands with him. "my boy, i could not wish for a better man for a son-in-law." "and i could not wish for a better lady for a wife than violette," replied marcel, his courage rising to undreamed-of heights. "take her, my boy, and if she loves you, as i have no doubt she does, you will be a very happy man." violette blushed up to the roots of her hair, and marcel took her by the hand and asked her forgiveness. "well," she answered, laughing, "we are quits now." "no, dear," replied marcel, giving her a kiss on both cheeks, "not quits but one." "do you really love me, george?" she enquired, looking up into his face. "i loved you all the time, violette, from the moment i first saw you." violette flung her arms round him and embraced him passionately. "so did i," she whispered. "now, you silly children," said beaupaire with a smile of satisfaction, "you must make haste and get ready as the professor is on the point of taking us to monte carlo." three carriages had been ordered, and at length the party, personally conducted by the professor, entered the gardens of monte carlo. "here we are at last," said delapine, "but before we enter the casino let us take a short walk round the buildings." "in my opinion," said the professor, "monte carlo is the gem of the riviera. here art and nature have contested for the palm of beauty. to complete this fairy scene it was necessary for man to contribute the magic of his art. everything has been done by art to stimulate the imagination. note how the wild rocks have been blasted and hewn out into broad and beautiful terraces, and how these are approached by graceful stone steps wrought into exquisite curves and supported on either side by numerous carved balustrades. observe the smooth well-kept lawns and terraced gardens and verandahs--the rich colouring of the flowers, and the tropical plants and trees, while everything is kept in the most perfect order and neatness. but although art has contributed such pleasing effects, nature, not to be outdone, has laid bare the rugged rocks and stupendous precipices as if to mock the carefully thought out works of man. she has carved out the bay, and allowed this bold promontory to project into the sea as if to defy the elements. just look at the exquisite fringe of the sea as the waves toss their spray against the iron-bound rocks. it is both grand and beautiful." as the party walked round the casino they heard a number of sharp reports as if from a number of men firing. "oh! dear," cried madame villebois, "to think of these poor fellows committing suicide in this dreadful way. i suppose they have all been ruined in the casino, and are now putting an end to themselves." villebois and riche burst out laughing. "i am ashamed of both of you, and you, adolphe, ought to know better than to laugh at such misery." "come this way, madame, and i will show you the suicides," said the professor, "and you can then judge for yourself." he conducted madame villebois, with great reluctance on her part, to a spot where she could see the pigeon club. a number of members of the club attired in the very latest and most approved costumes were watching a couple of sportsmen alternately firing at some pigeons which were being liberated from a row of traps. "these are your suicides, madame," said the professor, smiling. an elegantly dressed young lady, obviously belonging to the demi-monde world, walked up to one of the sportsmen. "well, monsieur, it is a surprise to see you here. i suppose you have come here for the pigeon match?" "that is so, i am here for the shooting. and what are you here for?" "me? oh! i am here for the pigeons." the young man looked amused, and offering her his arm they strolled together into the club. delapine and his party retraced their steps along the terrace to the casino. as they approached they heard the strains of a fine band playing near at hand. "come let us listen, there is nothing to pay, for everything is free at monte carlo." "look! here are charley and ridgeway," said beaupaire to violette. "how do you do," said charley, taking off his hat to violette and her father. "i suppose you are going into the casino?" "yes, we are going there directly," said the professor, who overheard what had just been said. "may we accompany you?" asked the two englishmen. "certainly, by all means," replied delapine, "but i would advise you not to play unless you can afford to lose." "but we can afford to lose." "then you have no need to play," replied delapine, smiling. charley and ridgeway said nothing, but looked at each other and laughed. before them towered the casino. they saw a large profusely decorated monstrosity, erected regardless of expense, which was surmounted at each end by a lofty tower. the building gave one the impression that it had been built under the direction of some millionaire pork-packer hailing from chicago, rather than by the great architect of the famous opera house in paris. the party ascended the steps, and delapine procured the tickets of admission after a few formalities had been gone through. "now let us watch the fools lose their money," said delapine as they entered the salon du jeu. renée and céleste opened their eyes wide as they entered the huge gilded salon. "if it were not for the double row of people standing round those seated at the tables, it might be an examination hall!" said marcel. a row of ladies and gentlemen occupied every side of the dozen or more green-covered tables, all intently gazing at a little ball as it hopped about the wheel which revolved at the bottom of a large metal basin. the party looked from one table to another. they were all replicas of the first, although the phase of the game was different. here the people gathered around were busy placing coins on one or other of the numerous squares marked out on the green cloth. "permit me to explain the game," said delapine, pointing to the table in front of him. "watch the little wheel which the croupier has just spun rapidly. you see it is divided into 37 equal compartments, each bearing a number from 1 to 36, eighteen are coloured red, and eighteen black, the remaining one being white, and is called zero. the croupier has just dropped the ball in the centre wheel which he has caused to spin in the reverse direction. now the wheel is slowing down, and the ball rushes hither and thither knocking against various obstructions until it drops into one of the 37 pockets. contrary to the prevalent idea you will observe that the players have a large choice in the methods of staking their money. they may back red (rouge), or black (noir), odd (impair) or even numbers (pair) or they may put their money in the square representing any number below 19 (manque), or on the square representing any number exceeding 18 (passe). in all these cases if they win they receive the same amount as they have staked. again the player may place the stake on any single number which may be chosen, including zero, in which case as the chances are 36 to 1 against him, he receives 35 times the stake. if, however, the ball falls into zero, the croupier gathers in every stake on the table, only paying those who have backed zero. the stakes, if they have been made on even chances, are put, as they say, 'in prison' until the next throw, when they will be returned to the player if the throw is favourable to them, but if not, then they lose them. but a player can take such stakes out of prison by paying half their value. moreover you will notice that the table is divided into three long columns, and sub-divided by two horizontal lines, so that there are nine large squares. the centre squares are sub-divided into three smaller ones each bearing one of the 36 numbers, while the outer large squares represent 'passe,' 'pair' and 'noir' on the one side, and 'manque,' 'impair' and 'rouge' on the other side, zero being by itself at the top. "this is the essence of the game, and the bank plays mechanically, but absolutely fairly. the whole secret of the success of the bank lies in the zero. it is a wonderfully thought-out game," continued the professor. "omit zero and whether you back red or black, odd or even, or above or below 18, the chances are exactly even--it is the fatal zero which turns the scale all the time in favour of the bank, and no matter what system is adopted the player is invariably beaten by the zero, provided he only plays long enough.[19] it is like the old legend of the soul playing a game of chess with death. he may beat his adversary time after time--but the fleshless fingers of death always gain the victory in the end." "look at these fools," continued delapine as he pointed at the silent players. "watch them with their note books entering the numbers down. they all have their pet 'systems.' some stake their money on their birthday number, or the number of black cats they have seen during the day, or a certain number they may happen to have dreamt of, or any other absurd superstition. the majority, however, cling to the martingale fallacy." "what is that?" asked payot. "a system based on faulty reasoning," said the professor. "it is common knowledge that the same number or colour may recur two, three, four, or half a dozen times running, and this will probably occur while we are looking on, but the players think that the chances become less and less for each additional recurrence, for the same colour has never been known to recur more than twenty-five times running ever since the casino was started forty years ago, so the players, knowing this, watched until the same colour has turned up say six or seven times running, and then they back the opposite colour, doubling their stakes each time they lose, although each time they run the risk of zero turning up and losing everything. the stupid players imagine that they have a much better chance if they start backing the opposite colour after a considerable sequence of one colour, under the mistaken impression that what has just happened will influence the next throw. they forget that they are playing against a soulless mechanical wheel, and not against an emotional human being, and that even after red has turned up twenty-five times, the probability that black will come up next throw is not a bit greater than for red; the chances always remain exactly the same. "gentlemen," added delapine gravely, "all systems have invariably failed, and always will fail, although they may often succeed for a short time." "i wonder whether tennyson had this in his mind," said marcel aside to violette, "when he said:- "'our little systems have their day, they have their day and cease to be, they have no chance to cope with thee, and thou, o blanc,[20] art more than they.'" "o go on, tennyson didn't really write that, did he?" enquired violette, looking at him with a puzzled expression of mingled wonderment and doubt. marcel said nothing, but chuckled inwardly, and looked very knowingly. "there is only one infallible way to get the better of the bank," continued delapine. "oh! please, professor, do tell us what that is," they all exclaimed. "hush," said delapine, "not so loud. only wait until to-morrow and you shall all see it for yourselves." "just look at that horrid old woman," said violette in a half whisper. "i saw her distinctly grab the winnings of another party who had placed her gold piece on the line between two squares (à cheval i think you call it.) look, professor," and she pointed her out to him. "i will soon stop her little game," said delapine who had already detected her at it. taking half a dozen napoleons from his pocket, he wrote the words 'je suis voleur' (i am a thief) across the face of each in bold black letters, and stepping forwards he tossed them with the printed face downwards on the lines of several squares near her. the wheel spun round, and just before the croupier shouted the usual formula "no further play allowed," the woman in question gently pushed one of the coins with her sleeve over the border into the "manque" square. the ball dropped into number ten. "dix, noir, pair, et manque," cried the croupier. her piece was pushed towards her by the dealer as at the same time he tossed a napoleon into the manque square. the old lady at once picked the two coins up, but delapine was too quick for her. seizing her closed hand he said very quietly, "excuse me, these are my winnings." the lady became highly indignant. "how dare you," she cried, "these are my coins. one of them i put down myself and the other was added by the croupier." delapine immediately called one of the officials. "open your hand, madame, and let the coin be your judge before this official." the lady stared at delapine and hesitated to do so, but the look the professor gave her caused her to obey him at once. "please turn the coins over," said delapine to the attendant. he turned them over and the words "je suis voleur" stared her in the face. she dropped the coins and grew pale as death. the lady was at once escorted to the door by two officials, and politely bowed out of the building, vehemently protesting her innocence. four out of the six stakes were in delapine's favour, and handing his winnings to the officials he quietly walked to another part of the room. "do tell us some more about the game," said renée to her lover. "well, there is not much more to say." "are all the people playing, and do they all play the same way?" "by no means, they are quite different. the players may be divided into three classes," said delapine with a cynical smile. "first, those who play in order to retrieve their fortunes with an eye to the main chance--such people invariably lose their money. secondly, those who play merely for the fun of the thing--these sometimes win, because they know when to leave off. and lastly there are those who look on. they enjoy the fun because it costs them nothing, and at the same time they flatter their vanity by giving advice--which by the way is always wrong, with a superb faith in their own infallibility." "where do the plungers come in, professor?" asked riche. "the plungers! oh, they consist of men who have either everything or nothing to lose, and women who always play with other people's money. look there," he added, pointing to a beautiful fair woman with a long graceful neck ornamented by a diamond necklace ending in a magnificent diamond and sapphire pendant. she was very elegantly dressed, and was sitting at the table with a sheaf of bank notes and several rolls of gold between her hands. "which class does she belong to?" asked violette. "she is a distinguished member of the first class," replied the professor. "do you notice that rather handsome young man with fair curly hair, and a pointed glossy beard just standing behind her?" said marcel. "see he is whispering something in her ear." "what a large sum she has put on to black," exclaimed renée. "yes," said delapine, "it is the maximum stake (6,000 frs.)." "look! look!" said renée, "she has won," as she saw 12,000 frs. worth of notes passed over to her by the croupier. the curly headed gentleman squeezed her hand, "didn't i tell you so," he said with a smile. delapine's party at once became intensely interested in her, wondering what would happen next. "see she is listening to him again, and now she has put 6,000 frs. on 'red,' and 6,000 frs. on 'impasse,' and the same amount on 'even.'" "lord! what a pile of money," said marcel, "wouldn't i look a lovely bird if i were to be dressed up at that expense." "you are quite good-looking enough without spending 18,000 francs on a new suit," replied violette, laughing. they all watched the little ball with intense eagerness as it jumped about as if it were alive, cannoning off one obstacle after another, until at length tired of its exertions it tumbled into number 11. "onze, noir, impair, et manque," shouted the croupier mechanically. "ciel! she has lost everything, what dreadful luck," said violette, as the croupier raked in all her notes with a remorseless movement of his little rake. the lady turned round with quivering lips and clenched hands. "beast," she hissed, "why didn't you hold your silly tongue? look what has happened through my following your advice. you assured me that i was bound to win--and now see what you have done," and she scowled at him again. at this moment her adviser happened to glance at delapine and the rest of his party, but apparently he was satisfied that none of them recognised him, for after giving them another glance he walked rapidly to the door and disappeared. "i seem to know his face," said riche. "i was just thinking the same thing," said marcel. "did you recognise him, professor?" delapine's face clouded, and he set his lips firmly together, but did not reply. renée was looking at her lover, and her hand trembled as she watched the change which came over his face. she caught hold of his hand. "don't worry your little head, renée," said delapine gently. "riche," he continued, "i should be obliged if you and marcel will do me the favour to follow that gentleman who has just left the salon, and let me know what he is doing and where he is living. come and report to me at the hotel. i shall be leaving myself very soon. but be sure and don't let him see you, and don't tell a soul." riche nodded, and taking marcel's arm the two hurriedly left the room. "i think i will take a photo of the scene," said delapine to the others, "if you will allow me." so saying he rapidly focussed his camera on the lady who had lost her money, and seizing a favourable opportunity when no one was looking at him, pressed the button and secured her photograph. "why did you take her photograph?" said renée, looking very anxious. "you can trust me, can't you?" said the professor. "why of course. you know i didn't mean that. it can't be--monsieur--" she saw a quivering of her lover's lips, and never concluded the sentence. a deadly pallor swept over her face, and she would have fallen had not delapine steadied her with his arm. "now i think we have seen enough for to-day," said the professor, as he folded up his camera and led the way out of the casino. footnotes: [footnote 19: as there are 36 numbers and one zero, the chances are one in 37 in favour of the bank over those of the player, or 2.7 per cent., but owing to the refait which places the stakes on even chances into prison when zero turns up, it reduces the percentage in favour of the bank on those chances to one half that, or 1.35 per cent. as, however, the money staked is turned over and over again, the bank makes 90 per cent. per annum on its total capital invested, which amounts to about twenty million francs annually.] [footnote 20: m. blanc established the tables, and his family hold most of the shares.] chapter xxv delapine tries his hand at the tables "the ball no question makes of ayes and noes, but here or there as strikes the player goes, and he that tossed you down into the field, he knows about it all--he knows, he knows." _the rubaiyat of omar khayyám_, verse lxx. "where is the professor?" asked villebois at the breakfast table next morning. "has anyone seen him?" as no one had apparently done so, a deputation was agreed upon to go in search of him and bring him down. villebois, payot, marcel and riche were selected, and the quartette marched up to his bedroom and knocked. they found him in his dressing-gown sitting at a table apparently deep in thought. all looked at him in amazement. he seemed transformed and unearthly. his face was ghastly pale with his brilliant eyes fixed and staring, while his fingers were twitching nervously. "professor," exclaimed villebois, "we have come to tell you that breakfast is nearly over, and everyone is wondering what has become of you." but delapine made no movement. a roulette wheel stood before him similar to those used in the casino. several sheets of paper covered with algebraical equations lay on the table, while at his side was a well-thumbed copy of vega's logarithm tables and bertrand's and poincaré's _calcul des probabilités_ lay open near it. "professor, we are waiting for you," said riche, giving him a gentle slap on the back, but suddenly started back declaring that he had received something like an electric shock. they looked at one another in astonishment. "what on earth is the matter with him?" they asked. "is he ill, or in a trance, or what?" villebois drew riche on one side, and they held a short consultation in hurried whispers. "don't be alarmed, riche," said villebois. "what would be very serious in the case of ordinary people is not so with delapine. i know him well, and whenever he goes into this state he is sure to do something surprising and far beyond the powers of common mortals like ourselves. my advice is to slip away quietly and return to the ladies. whatever you do, don't wake him, but let him come round by himself." so saying he withdrew on tip-toe, the others following him silently out of the room. they returned to the breakfast table, and riche with great forethought saw that breakfast was kept hot for delapine when he should come down. "what an extraordinary man," said violette to marcel who was sitting next to her. "yes, you would have had reason to say so if you had been in his room just now when riche touched him and actually received a shock. it reminded me of an electric eel." "i was positively frightened when i saw him," said payot. "he looked transfigured and his face was wax-like and quite motionless." "you need not be frightened, papa," said renée, looking up. "henri told me last night that he intended to go to the casino this morning, and he would give the directors something to think about for a long time to come, and you know by now that when henri says anything will happen it always does happen." "by jove, there's nothing more certain," said marcel. "it reminds me of henry smith's story of the difference between the judge and the bishop. it happened that the master of balliol was giving a dinner at which the careers of two of the men belonging to the college came up for discussion--one of whom had just been made a judge, and the other a bishop. "which of the two is the greater man?" asked the master. "oh," replied smith, "the bishop of course. a judge after all can only say 'you be hanged,' whereas, the bishop can say 'you be damned.'" "yes," the master rejoined, "that's all very fine, but when the bishop says 'you be damned,' there's no certainty that you will be damned, whereas, if the judge says 'you be hanged'--well, you jolly well _will be_ hanged." "marcel you are incorrigible," said riche, shaking with laughter. "but is delapine really going to play at the casino?" asked villebois, as soon as they had ceased laughing. "he told renée and me so, didn't he, renée?" renée nodded, and then added, "but i am certain of one thing, doctor, and that is he won't lose his money there. he has much too scientific a mind to take mere chances like the people we saw there yesterday. besides, didn't he point out to us the fallacies of their systems?" "that's true," said villebois half to himself. "well, well, we shall see." at this moment the door opened, and one of the waiters came up with a note for payot, and a message to say that the professor would be pleased to meet them in the garden in half an hour. the note was dated the day before, and ran as follows: dear m. payot, please hand over to renée all the money you have brought with you to beaulieu, and permit me to have the use of it unconditionally for one day. if you have complete confidence in my powers i shall have the pleasure of returning it to-morrow with interest. faithfully yours, delapine. payot, after reading this note, went up to his room and returned in a few moments with a letter which he handed to his daughter with instructions to give it to delapine at the very first opportunity. shortly afterwards, according to the appointment made by delapine, they all adjourned to the garden where they found him sitting in a little thatched summer-house, still wearing that strange weird look which they had noticed earlier in the morning. each in turn tried to draw him into conversation, but in vain. he remained in a dream-like attitude without speaking, while his face was as impassive and mysterious as the sphinx. the only sign of life was in his eyes which occasionally lit up in an almost unnatural way, and then closed again. at length he slowly rose from his seat, and with hands clasped behind his back, and with head bent as if in deep thought, walked towards the carriage drawn up in front of the hotel. as soon as delapine had taken his seat with the rest of the party, the coachman, who had already received his instructions, drove rapidly to monte carlo. "have you a letter for me?" asked delapine, turning to renée, who sat next to him. "oh, yes, henri. father gave me this for you, but i did not like to disturb your reverie, or i would have given it to you before." taking the letter from her hand, delapine opened it, and found that it contained 4,000 francs in notes. they arrived at the casino in good time so as to enable delapine to secure a seat close to the roulette wheel. he motioned to renée and payot to sit next to him, while the rest of the party stood round behind his chair. all the people looked at him in wonder, as his vacant gaze and general mien were so unearthly, so entirely different from those of the other players, that a thrill of mingled awe and expectancy seemed to come over the whole assembly. delapine slowly turned his head round, fixing his intense gaze on each person in turn round the table. "look, look at delapine," said riche, as he nudged marcel. "doesn't he remind you of a bengal tiger lying in ambush and turning his head slowly round to watch the movements of his prey? parbleu, but it makes me feel quite creepy. i can imagine him lashing his tail just before making a spring." "he is merely watching the other players, but he hasn't staked a sou himself up till now." meanwhile delapine continued passively to watch the play for about twenty minutes. at the end of that time he quietly took out of the envelope three bank notes of 100 francs each, and placed one on each of the three consecutive numbers 7, 28 and 12, while putting a 1,000 franc note on each of the squares, red, impair, and manque, and then rapidly turning his head concentrated his gaze on the little ball which had just fallen on to the larger wheel. the ball bobbed frantically about, and at length fell into no. 7. "sept, rouge, impair et manque," shouted the croupier, as he raked in delapine's pieces on 28 and 12, and tossed seven notes of 500 frs. each on to no. 7, and 1,000 fr. notes on to "rouge," "impair," and "manque." delapine's stake of 3,300 frs. was now increased by 6,300 frs.[21] whispering a few words to renée, telling her what numbers to back, and without troubling himself in the least about his own gains, he once more turned his attention to the little ball. renée immediately did as he had told her and placed the maximum allowed--180 frs.--on number 7, leaving the money with the gains added on each of the single chances, rouge, pair and manque. round went the wheel again, and the little ball hopped about as before. delapine did not move his head but continued to gaze steadily on the ball. five times running renée repeated the process, each time leaving the maximum--6,000 frs.--on each even chance, and the maximum on the single number. at last she ceased for a moment and counted the notes in hand. she had won 120,000 francs. all this time delapine had remained motionless with his eyes fixed like a carved buddha. at length he leaned over and whispered to renée, who immediately transferred the maximum stakes to three fresh numbers and different squares. the whole thing was done so quietly and so unobtrusively that only an onlooker who had been specially regarding him could have noticed that delapine had made the slightest movement. occasionally he would take half-a-dozen gold pieces and rapidly throw them on to as many squares or numbers, without troubling his head in the least as to whether they won or lost. but renée was winning so fast that she became the centre of attraction for the crowd which grew more and more dense at the table, little dreaming that it was the quiet professor at her side and not the player herself who was manipulating the stakes, and who was responsible for all her marvellous good fortune. strangely enough, delapine lost his own little stakes more often than he won, as he allowed them to remain on any squares they chanced to fall on. now and again a coin would drop on the line between two squares--à cheval--or covering four numbers--en carré. sometimes the croupier would sweep them into the bank--sometimes delapine would receive eleven or eight times his stake. when this happened he would quietly pick up his winnings so as to compensate for his other losses, but as often as not he did not trouble to collect his winnings, but allowed them to remain on the table until they were swept off by the remorseless rake. "look at that fool of a man," whispered one of the lady players, pointing to delapine. "he sits there staring at the wheel like an idiot, and actually forgot to take up his money, and now it's all swept away. what a fool. well, it serves him right." "yes," replied her companion, "he's evidently a bit soft in the head. what a pity he didn't ask me to play for him." during the intervals when the wheel was at rest, or when it had just started revolving, delapine would quietly look round the tables and make a mental note of the characters assembled. payot's eyes nearly started out of his head when he saw renée's huge pile of notes creeping up minute by minute. he touched the professor and spoke to him. delapine, however, did not for one moment appear to notice, and renée, dreading lest her father should break the spell, touched him on the shoulder. "please, father, do keep quiet, or you'll spoil everything." payot had the good sense to take the hint and made no further attempt to interrupt. it was not long before the news of renée's amazing good fortune spread to the other tables, and soon she found herself surrounded by an eager crowd, pushing and jostling each other in their anxiety to see not only the numbers she was backing, but the lucky player herself. she had just placed the maximum on ten different chances, and several of the others, noticing how uniformly successful she was, put their money on the same numbers and squares. nine out of the ten stakes won, and as the croupiers were paying out the money they suddenly stopped. the bank was broken! the news spread like wild fire all over the room, and a ringing cheer rose from the crowd. renée's pile had reached 700,000 francs. a few minutes later two attendants came in carrying a large steel box containing a fresh supply of money. everyone now resolved to stake his or her cash on the same ventures as renée. delapine who was quietly watching the greedy looks of the crowd round and in front of renée, squeezed her hand unnoticed in a peculiar way which conveyed to her the hidden meaning. scribbling a few words on a piece of paper which he folded up, delapine whispered to renée, and at the same time handed the folded paper to payot. the latter opened the note and read:- "do not be alarmed at what is going to happen. i know what i am doing, and i have good reason for doing it." ten different chances were selected by renée and a small amount was placed on each. "zero," cried the croupier, and all the stakes were either raked in or placed 'in prison.' again renée staked a couple of hundred francs on six different squares. the others followed. zero came a second time, and all the previous stakes were swept into the bank, while a fresh lot went into 'prison.' five times zero turned up, and renée lost 12,000 francs. again and again she staked the same amount on different numbers and colours, and each time five out of the six stakes were swept into the bank. most of those who had followed her cue dropped away from the table, and many left the room looking very downhearted, some indeed not attempting to hide their disgust. at length her bad luck was so pronounced that they all ceased to follow her lead, and nearly all those standing round her had either left the room or had gone to watch the other tables. renée had lost 60,000 francs. delapine's eyes glistened and some of his natural colour came back, but it was only for a moment. the reaction proved too strong, and leaning back in his chair, he appeared to sink into a deep sleep. it was nearly half an hour before he woke up again. to his surprise he found himself almost alone with renée. only the members of his party remained, and they were for the most part scattered about the room. it was half-past twelve, and the crowd had evidently left for lunch. "let us go," said delapine. "after lunch we will make some money." "haven't you made enough already?" they asked, laughing. "no," he replied, "up till now i have only been skirmishing with the ball." "good lord," said marcel, "he has made nearly three-quarters of a million francs, and he calls that skirmishing. i wonder what his serious play will be like?" "have a little patience," said delapine, "and you shall see." while waiting for lunch renée was privately instructed by delapine as to the plan of campaign for the afternoon's play, and immediately after their meal the professor retired to his room to recover his energy. shortly afterwards the carriages were ordered, and the party returned to the fray. on entering the rooms renée and delapine resumed the seats which had been retained for them by means of a very liberal tip to the croupier and chef de partie of his table. owing to the heavy losses sustained by those who had followed renée's lead during the later play in the fore-noon, very few people stood round the table, and those who were seated were too much afraid to be led again by her. at first delapine appeared quite normal as he sat watching the game, but gradually his manner changed, and he seemed to become oblivious to all around him. he stared fixedly at the ball, while renée, acting under previous instructions, placed the maximum stake on every one of the eleven chances which the game offered. sometimes she would place a maximum on zero only, omitting all the other squares, and would leave it there four or five times running. at other times she would back two numbers of the same colour and put 2,000 francs on each of the even chances. in this way half an hour went by, and renée's pile of notes steadily increased. twenty minutes later the administration had to bring a third supply. the croupiers began to get anxious. once more the crowd began to collect, and again delapine started staking small sums at random. whenever the other players showed a disposition to follow renée's lead, her hand would feel a squeeze from delapine, and she would place her stakes on the wrong numbers, or she would suddenly back the first four numbers, or put a maximum on zero which was sure to turn up. charley and ridgeway came in, and seeing payot and violette, went up to them. payot whispered a warning to his two friends not to speak to or even to notice delapine. they nodded in acquiescence. at length the bank 'broke' for the third time, and play was suspended while the senior members of the administration were called in. after an anxious consultation a new roulette wheel was brought, and half a dozen detectives were ordered to watch the professor and renée, with the result that delapine became quite reckless and lost several thousand francs, while renée lost her stakes four times in succession. unfortunately charley and his friend were plunging heavily, and lost all they had on them. "c'est rien," said the croupier to the director, "we shall get it all back in an hour--and more," they added significantly. the detectives shrugged their shoulders and left the table at the bidding of the director, but continued to keep their eyes on renée and delapine all the same. once more delapine lapsed into his cataleptic condition, and once more renée 'broke' the bank. five times the chef de partie had been obliged to send for fresh supplies of money, and thrice the roulette wheel was changed. the chef tore his hair. "c'est terrible. the devil himself must be laying against us," and wringing his hands in helpless despair, he left the room, returning almost immediately with all the members of the administration. they all stood round delapine. all the players in the room had left their tables and collected in a huge crowd round the two tables, near the end of one of which the professor was sitting with renée and payot alongside of him. the crowd made way for the members of the administration who stood in a half circle round delapine and his two companions. they watched renée put a maximum on the eleven chances and one on no. 4, and saw with their own eyes the little ball tumble into one of the little compartments. all of them craned their necks to see, and yes, sure enough, the croupier shouted out--"quatre, noir, pair et manque." the directors stared at one another, petrified with astonishment. one of them slipped away hurriedly and returned with monsieur eperon the chef de police of monaco and two of his satellites. "arrest them," cried the director in a loud voice, pointing to renée and delapine. a moment afterwards the chief cashier of the bank came running into the room. "messieurs," he cried, "the bank is empty--not a sou remains in the coffers. mon dieu, what are we to do?" the bank was really broken--for the first time in the history of the casino. the administration formally declared the rooms closed, and delapine and renée were escorted to the police station, followed by the whole of their party together with charley and ridgeway who formed the rearguard. at length they entered one of the large rooms of the gendarmerie. monsieur eperon and two assistants sat down at a high table. renée and delapine stood in front of them while the directors stood around, and a whole crowd of witnesses filled the room behind. the police took the names and addresses of the accused. "well, gentlemen, what is the crime you charge us with?" said the professor, drawing himself up to his full height, and looking at them with one of his commanding gestures. "you are accused of cheating at the tables," said the chef de police. "cheating at the tables, what do you mean?" "the administration of the bank accuse you of having bribed the croupiers and of tampering with the wheel," replied m. eperon, twirling his moustache and looking very fierce. "that is impossible," replied delapine, "as the croupiers were changed each time they sent for more money." the croupiers were brought in and cross-examined. they swore that they had never spoken a word to either the professor or the lady who was playing with him. in the face of their denial it was seen to be useless to press the charge of bribery in connection with the croupiers, so after discharging them from further attendance, the chef de police decided that the solution of the mystery lay in the fact that delapine and his accomplice must have tampered with the roulette wheel. "but the wheel has been changed no less than three times," asserted delapine, "and on the last occasion i heard it remarked that a new wheel was used." monsieur eperon asked if it were true that a perfectly new wheel had been used, and on receiving a reply in the affirmative, shrugged his shoulders in a helpless manner. a short consultation was then held, as a result of which a roulette wheel was sent for, and the chef de police himself spun it round. "what number would you like the ball to fall into?" enquired delapine quietly. "no. 29," replied m. eperon. "29 be it," said delapine, smiling, and as the wheel was spun round the little ball dropped into 29 as he had predicted. one director after another repeated the experiment, but always with the result that the ball fell into whatever number they suggested. cheer after cheer arose from the witnesses, and the police were either unwilling or powerless to suppress the applause. "une merveille," said m. eperon, holding up his hands. everyone was absolutely dumbfounded. as the directors were unable to maintain any of the charges against delapine and renée, they were requested to retire with the police to one of the anterooms, where a further conference was held. at length they returned, and the chef de police asked delapine how he invariably managed to put his stakes on the winning numbers. "the law cannot compel me to explain my systems of play, gentlemen, and i refuse to answer. i have broken no law, i never saw either the croupiers or the roulette wheel before. i have not done anything against the regulations. i merely pitted my wits against yours, and i have won. therein lies the whole of my offence." at this all the visitors cheered, and were immediately silenced by the police. m. eperon was obliged to admit that they could not produce any evidence of guilt, and told the directors he was reluctantly compelled to dismiss the charge. "what will you accept now to reveal your system to me?" said the head of the administration in a whisper as he stepped up to the professor. "if you will first hand over to me 500,000 francs as a reward for my disclosure as well as compensation to my fiancée and myself for our unjust arrest, i will disclose the secret," he replied, "but not otherwise." at length after some discussion a cheque for the amount asked for by the professor was handed over to him. "excuse me," replied delapine, "but i should much prefer to be paid in notes." the head of the administration gave a grim smile as he ordered the sum of half a million francs to be handed to him in crisp bank notes. "ah! that is better," replied delapine as he put them very carefully away in his pocket-book. "the whole secret, gentlemen," said the professor slowly and with great deliberation, "lies in my will power. it is the power of mind over matter. when i concentrate the whole of my will on the little ball, and resolve that it shall stop, it is obliged to do so. that is the whole secret, gentlemen--'mens agitat molem' (the mind moves matter) is just as true to-day as it was when vigil wrote these words nearly nineteen hundred years ago." thereupon delapine took renée by the hand, and bowing gracefully to the astonished and bewildered officials, and shaking hands with m. eperon, he left the gendarmerie amid the applause of the crowd. as his party were leaving the police court, delapine gave a handsome present to each of the croupiers, and also paid a couple of detectives to assist in carrying the spoils in a large bag to the carriage. on his way out he met a young woman sobbing bitterly. "what is the matter?" asked delapine. she told him that her husband was lying ill in paris, and there being no means of supporting him and her children, she had sold everything she possessed, and had taken the train to monte carlo with the idea of winning sufficient money to keep the home going, and now, alas! she had lost her all. delapine gave her his address and told her to call on him at his hotel the next morning, and if he found that her story were true, he would send her home well provided for. when the party arrived at the hotel des anglais, delapine emptied the contents of the bag on the table. the counting and piling up in thousands of all their winnings occupied more than an hour, and when at last the task was finished they found themselves in possession of no less than three million seven hundred thousand and fifty francs (3,700,050 francs). "now," said the professor to his friend payot, "do you still doubt my powers? perhaps this will help to convince you," and after carefully counting them he handed him 1,000,000 francs in crisp notes. payot, overcome with emotion and weeping tears of joy, wrung his benefactor's hand, but was powerless to speak. "that is not all," continued delapine, "here is five hundred thousand francs for renée's 'dot,' she has fairly earned them by the admirable way in which she carried out my instructions. without her i could not have succeeded, for had i placed the stakes myself i could not have concentrated my mind sufficiently to control the movements of the ball." then turning to villebois he said. "here, my dear friend, is a gift for you," handing him at the same time 350,000 francs, "out of this you will be able to provide for céleste. for you, my dear friend beaupaire, is another 350,000 francs, and pray see that violette has half of it for her 'dot', so that marcel may be able to display the latest fashions in embroidered waistcoats." one hundred thousand and fifty francs he divided among the rest of the party, and 50,000 frs. he kept for emergencies out of which he paid back charley and ridgeway all they had lost, on their promise that they would not gamble in the future, and sent the poor woman away rejoicing to her sick husband in paris. "and what are you keeping for yourself, professor?" they all asked. "i have my salary, and that is quite enough for me. i am merely keeping the remaining one million three hundred and fifty thousand francs, the interest of which i shall devote to the purchase of scientific instruments to assist my poorer students, and to help the poor unfortunates whom i saw were on the verge of being ruined by this pernicious gambling concern. and now," he said, smiling, "you must excuse me as i am sadly in need of a rest to recover from the strain of my mental powers which this game has cost me. i think, ladies and gentlemen, the bank will be unable to declare a dividend at the next half-yearly meeting. by the way, riche, did you find out the whereabouts of that gentleman i sent you to follow out of the casino?" "oh! yes, we found out he was staying at the metropole. we saw his name in the books under the signature of monsieur et madame paradis." "could you find out nothing more?" 7 "nothing whatever," said riche. delapine twirled his moustache meditatively. "hum, what an odd name! well, au revoir until to-morrow morning, when we shall have to prepare for our journey to paris." footnotes: [footnote 21: no. 7 won 3,500 frs., the three even bets won 3,000 frs.: nos. 28 and 12 lost 200 frs.] chapter xxvi nemesis when pierre duval left by the night train for bordeaux it was his intention to take one of the sud atlantique steamers and sail for south america. on alighting at the terminus at bordeaux he glanced round to see that no one was observing him, and being satisfied on that score he bid the cocher drive to the hotel montesquieu. "thank goodness," he said to himself, "i am safe at last, and this day week i shall be on board _la gascogne_, bound for rio de janeiro and no one will recognise me there." he busied himself during the morning in arranging his affairs, and purchased a first-class ticket at the compagnie de navigation sud atlantique, and spent the rest of the afternoon in seeing the sights of the town. after dinner he went out for a stroll and purchased an evening paper at one of the kiosks, and to his horror he saw in large type a detailed account of the death of general duval. the narrative stated that general duval had been found lying on the carpet in pierre's dining-room shot through the heart. the theory of suicide was dismissed as improbable, as although the door was locked on the inside, the windows were wide open, and several pieces of furniture were broken and scattered about the room along with a few coins. it was suggested that some burglars loafing around had seen the valet, and later on, pierre leaving the house, and surmising that his chambers were empty, had entered his room through the window, and being surprised by the general had shot him during the struggle. the thieves, fearing lest someone might have heard the shot, had evidently hastily locked the door and escaped by the same window. the police, they added significantly, were reticent on the matter as to the origin of the crime. the next day a further article appeared in the newspapers announcing that a reward had been offered for any information which might be given which would lead to the arrest of the criminal, and pointed out that the general's only son, pierre gaston duval, was suspected. all of a sudden pierre passed a hoarding and saw to his horror a police notice pasted on it bearing an enlarged print of his own portrait with a full description of his person, and below in large letters the statement that a reward of five thousand francs would be given to anyone not an accessory to the crime who would give such information as would lead to his arrest. "h'm," he thought, "it may be as well to lie low until the departure of the steamer, in case there might be someone about who would recognise me in my disguise." accordingly he kept to his room, merely going out in the evening to purchase the latest editions of the papers. as the time passed and nothing happened he got more venturesome, and the last evening but one before _la gascogne_ sailed, he said to himself, "i will risk it, and go to the theatre and enjoy myself for the last time in france. garçon," he said, after table d'hote was over, "bring me the evening paper--are there any good plays at the theatre to-night?" "i can recommend 'la debutante,' sir," said the waiter, "i hear it is a very spicy play, and is drawing crowds every night." pierre took his advice and secured a box near the stage. he looked round the theatre, sweeping the rows of sightseers one after another with his opera glass, and at length a beautiful woman caught his eye. she was seated in a box directly opposite him, and was apparently all by herself--at least there was no gentleman there. the lady appeared to be half french and half spanish, and seemed to embody the charms of both races. her beauty had an extraordinary fascination for him, and after keeping his opera glasses fixed on her for some time, he noticed to his intense delight that he had attracted her attention as well. he kissed his hand towards her and observed that she inclined her head slightly with a bewitching smile. this was quite enough encouragement for pierre. his character was a curious mixture of boldness derived from some hereditary trait which impelled him to deeds of excessive rashness on the spur of the moment, combined with an extreme caution and dread of breaking the law which was the outcome of years of legal practice and training. the lady was unquestionably handsome. she possessed those languid dark eyes and long silky eyelashes which are the distinguishing feature of the spanish donna. this was a type of beauty which impressed itself on a man of the sensuous type of pierre, so stepping out of his box he purchased a magnificent bouquet of flowers, and made his way to the lady's box. on entering the box he received a smile from his fair divinity as she graciously accepted the proffered bouquet, and pointed to a chair next to her. "pray sit down," she said, "it is quite charming to have you by me. we shall be able to have a delightful tête-a-tête together." pierre at once sat down and squeezed her hand with rapture. the extreme familiarity of the lady would have frightened any sober-minded gentleman away, and would doubtless have made pierre suspicious and put him on his guard; but he had already taken so much champagne that it had clouded his wits, and he was further intoxicated with her charms. her voluptuous figure, her winning smiles, her small beautifully modelled hands, rendered still more fascinating by the well-fitting gloves, her brilliant dark wavy hair coiled up in the latest fashion by the art of an expert coiffeur, the delicate perfume, all contributed to hypnotize his senses, and prevent his observing the entire absence of that reserve of manner, and of those qualities which invariably bespeak a real lady in any part of the civilized world. "i suppose," he said, "you are living by yourself just now?" "yes, that is my fate for the present," and then afraid lest he should want to know too much of her private life she added, "what is your name, monsieur, if i may make so bold as to enquire?" "my name? oh, my name is sylvestre adam--a humble worshipper of you, my divinity," and he put his arm round her waist and gave her a squeeze. "how very curious," she replied, "my name is julie paradis." "what a pretty name," he answered, "and how appropriate to the occasion. well i hope adam will be allowed to remain in paradise, and will not be expelled from so fair a spot." "that depends on his behaviour in the garden of eden," replied madame paradis, laughing. "he will be allowed to remain if he does not attempt to pluck any of the forbidden fruit." "may i not be allowed to receive it from your fair hands?" he added, looking up in her face with a smile. "oh, you tempter," she said, tapping him with her fan. "and where do you hail from, monsieur, i suppose you come from paris judging from your accent?" "no. there you are mistaken. a few years ago i used to live in paris, but my home is in montevideo, and i only arrived here a few days ago." "entonces usted es porteno?" she replied, in perfect spanish. pierre muttered something in french quite inappropriate to her question. he recognised his fatal mistake, but it was too late. she looked at his face with a puzzled expression. "yes, it is something like him," she thought, "but i shall soon find out." "ah! monsieur, monsieur," she replied with a smile, "i can see that you are a born frenchman, and that you have never been to south america. now confess it, mon ami." pierre saw it was no use temporising, so he frankly admitted it with a laugh. he had quite lost his head in the presence of this charming siren, but although irresistibly attracted by her manners, he nevertheless felt afraid of her. her face lit up with smiles, but her lips were thin and compressed, and he could feel that she might become a terrible adversary if she had a fit of anger or jealousy. "you don't seem to be paying much attention to the play, monsieur," she remarked with a smile. "well, i confess, madame, you possess charms which far surpass those of the play, and consequently i have been devoting myself exclusively to the enjoyment of your company, instead of watching the actors." "you flatter me, sir." "not at all--not in the least. but if you are not otherwise engaged it would give me immense pleasure to take you out to supper." "shall we go?" she enquired in a winning voice. pierre assented. "you can go home now, marie," she added to her maid. pierre took her to a fashionable restaurant on one of the boulevards, and afterwards saw her home. "what a pity," he said to himself as he entered his hotel, "i shall have no further opportunity of spending an evening in madame's charming company--well, it can't be helped, but i must try to see her, once more, to-morrow afternoon before i leave." the next day on opening her newspaper, madame paradis's attention was drawn to an account of a dreadful murder which had been committed in paris on a retired general of the name of duval, and also on a celebrated professor of science, together with a photograph of the suspected criminal. "mon dieu, but this is interesting." at this moment m. adam was announced. "ah, ma mie," said pierre, alias sylvestre adam, "i trust you are well, and that fortune smiles upon you. diable! what were you so interested about when i came in?" "a terrible murder has been committed in paris. haven't you seen it? the papers are full of it. general duval has been brutally murdered by his son. see, here is the photograph of the assassin," and she showed it to sylvestre. a cold shudder went through him as he saw his own likeness in the newspaper. he turned very pale, and seizing a decanter on the table, he poured himself out a glass of wine and tossed it off. "what's the matter?" she asked, noticing the change which went over him. "don't you feel well?" "my dear one," he answered, "no wonder i feel pale, seeing that general duval is my god-father, and one of my dearest friends. he always placed his house at my disposal. ah! many a time he has given me a thousand franc note to meet some small debt of honour. just think of it? to lose one's greatest benefactor in this dreadful way," and he pulled out his handkerchief and wiped away a tear. "good god," he said to himself, "however could the police have found it out? i suppose that scoundrel deschamps, must have given the show away." "i am really very sorry for you, mon cher," she answered, putting her hands on his shoulders and giving him a kiss on the forehead. as she did so she observed that he was wearing a wig, and looking closer she noticed that his beard was false likewise. now pierre's left ear had a very peculiar shape, and on glancing at the photograph in the newspaper which showed the left side of his face, she recognised the same shaped ear at once. madame gave a little start and dropped the newspaper. "what is the matter?" said pierre, carefully scrutinizing her face to see if she had observed anything in the photograph which she could recognise in his features. "nothing, mon cher sylvestre, but you looked so pale that i got frightened. take another glass of wine, it will do you good." pierre seized the decanter, and with a shaking hand poured himself out another glass. he lay down on the sofa while madame paradis, going to the piano, played several airs. "pray go on," he said, as she stopped playing, "i quite enjoy it, you play so beautifully. let us go into the fresh air," he remarked at length. "i think it will do us both good. we will take a stroll through the public gardens and hear the music, or have some coffee at one of the cafés, and then we can afterwards have some dinner together. let us make a good night of it, as i regret to say it is my last night in france." "why? where are you going to?" she enquired. "i have booked my passage by _la gascogne_ which sails to-morrow afternoon for rio de janeiro." "well," she said, "i will be pleased to see you off if i may." "that will be delightful," replied pierre, hoping in his heart that something would turn up to prevent her doing it. next morning she went to his hotel, and knocking at his bedroom door went straight in and shut it. pierre felt very much annoyed at seeing her march into his room unannounced in this fashion, but he tried to conceal his feelings and even attempted to smile when she said she had come to bid him good-bye. she bid him sit down on the sofa and took a seat by his side. "now look here, monsieur sylvestre, i know quite well who you are. your real name is pierre gaston duval. now it's no use denying it," she added, as he was about to reply. "you insulted me at maxim's café only a short time ago--do you remember the scene? i know well enough you are the man who is wanted by the police, i could read your guilt in your face, even if i had no other proofs. do you see this ear?" said she pointing to the photograph with her finger to the print. "is it not exactly like yours?" pierre grew ghastly pale with fear, and trembled from head to foot. he was about to deny all knowledge of it, but she interrupted him. "you need not look so scared. if you will stay with me and meet a few of my little bills which my dress-maker and others are pressing me with rather inconveniently just now, i promise you i will keep your secret--but if you attempt to run away, or step on board the steamer, i swear i will inform the captain and the police at once. so long as you perform these few favours for me i shall be devoted to you and make you very happy. only remember, the first time you fail to carry out my requests, you know what will happen," and she shook her finger in his face. pierre was furious and raised his fists as if to strike her, but the determination in her face made him pause, and after a short period of reflection he put his arms round her neck and kissed her ardently. "well," he said at length, "i see there is nothing for it but to obey you." "that's a good boy. i see you are beginning to learn your lessons very well. you will find me a wonderfully good teacher," and she smiled and gave him a kiss in return. pierre shrugged his shoulders in helpless fashion and looked very gloomy. several days passed, and at her request he took a little house near biarritz where they lived together for some weeks. at length money was beginning to run short and they both felt the need of a change, so at her request they took the train for monte carlo. it was only the second day after their arrival at the metropole that pierre recognised delapine and the rest of the party in the salle de jeu. at once he saw the danger he was running, and so hastily quitting the salon he gave madame the slip and took the night train for bordeaux. no sooner had he arrived at marseilles, and was on the point of leaving, when who should step into the compartment but madame paradis. * * * * * the next day after the distribution of the spoils at the hotel des anglais, delapine's party had just finished lunch when marcel, glancing at violette's ring, asked her if it had a history. she related to him the same story she had told riche a few months before in the café at the corner of the boulevard michel. riche left his side of the table and examined the ring with marcel. "please, mademoiselle," said riche, "try and see whether the ring still possesses the power it had when you first showed it to me." violette acquiesced, and suggesting that they should adjourn to another room, they all followed suit. "now," said violette, "if you will keep quite still i will see whether it will tell me anything." all the party including the professor were standing round her. at length she raised her hand as if to command their attention. "i see a lady and gentleman in a railway carriage all by themselves. the lady has dark hair and is very beautiful. she is wearing a lovely necklace carrying a large beautiful pendant--the couple are getting out. i see the name of the station--it is agen. yes, now they are entering the train once more--oh! look--they are quarrelling. the man is shaking her terribly. now they are fighting--mon dieu! but it is terrible. see he pulls out a pistol and has struck her with all his might on the temple--ah! she has fallen down--he lifts her up--she is dead." payot, riche and marcel looked at one another horrified. "try whether you can see anything more," said delapine quietly. violette looked once more at the ring. "yes, i see the man opening the carriage door--they are entering a tunnel--he has pushed the lady out of the carriage--she has fallen on to the line. now he shuts the carriage door and sits down. ah, it is fading away--yes, it is gone, i see nothing more." all the party looked at violette and her ring. "can you describe the man?" enquired delapine. "yes, he had shiny curly hair, and a small beard and whiskers." "did the lady look like this?" said delapine, showing the photograph he took in the salon the day before. "yes, i recognise her at once by the necklace and pendant," said violette. he rang the bell and asked the garçon to fetch him a time-table. "it is now about half-past one," said the professor taking out his watch, "and as there is no stoppage between agen and bordeaux, it is evident that bordeaux is his destination. bordeaux is the port from which steamers sail for south america and the west indies. south america is one of the few spots in the world which the arm of the law cannot easily reach, therefore it is most probable that he intends going there." "waiter," he said, "fetch me the continental bradshaw. that will give the time of sailings of the various ships." "ah, here we have it. _la gascogne_ leaves bordeaux february 27th, and the _divona_ february 21st. to-day is february 17th. if, therefore, we communicate with the police at once they will have plenty of time to arrest him in bordeaux." delapine stepped up to the bureau and asked them to telephone to nice for m. patrigent, the chief of the police. monsieur patrigent was one of the most intelligent members of the force. active, smart and persevering, he had risen step by step to the head of his department by sheer merit. he was a man who always acted immediately, believing that to strike quickly was to strike effectively. on receiving the telephone message he knew from its nature and source that it was no ordinary crime he had to deal with. he therefore at once ceased work, and sending his messenger to fetch his motor car he drove at top speed to the hotel des anglais. villebois informed him of the previous doings of pierre, of the twice attempted murder of delapine, of the setting fire to the house, of the probable shooting of his own father. some of the acts were of course well known to patrigent, but villebois was able to explain the motif, and to fill up gaps in the chain of evidence. the chief of police listened with breathless interest as villebois unfolded the terrible record of crime, but when he told him what violette had seen in the ring he shook his head and smiled incredulously. "these statements are not evidence, they are merely phantasies," he exclaimed. "delusions, or illusions, or whatever you may please to call them." "but i assure you, m. patrigent," said riche, "what the young lady saw is true, i am certain of it," and he told him of violette's previous vision with the ring, and pointed out how she had foretold the attempted murder of delapine in the séance room, and how her own psychic vision saved delapine's life. m. patrigent merely shrugged his shoulders incredulously. "well, if you still refuse to believe me i will call professor delapine himself, who will endorse every word i have said, as it is only a few weeks since he woke up from his trance." at the mention of delapine's name, the chef de police opened his eyes in astonishment, and bowed nearly to the ground as the professor came into the room. m. patrigent expressed his unbounded delight at meeting him. "it is indeed an honour to be permitted to shake hands with the greatest man in europe," ... for his recovery from his marvellous trance ... followed up by his superb play at monte carlo ... his arrest ... his defence of the charge made against him were becoming the sole subjects of conversation in every town in france. one heard nothing else but stories of the great seer all day long, and they grew in magnitude from hour to hour. after hearing delapine's confirmation of riche's story of the ring, and seeing the photograph which the professor took in the salon, it was not to be wondered at that m. patrigent became a convert to violette's psychic powers, and now believed in them as firmly as he was incredulous before. after shaking hands all round he received delapine's permission to take away the precious photograph, and bowing profoundly left the apartment. in about two hours he returned again to inform them that after leaving he had immediately telegraphed to agen to search the tunnel, and that the body of a lady had been found in the tunnel near the place, precisely as violette had predicted. "it is very wonderful, and i don't pretend to explain it, but i am as convinced as you are that the facts are true, and acting solely on mademoiselle's statement, i intend to leave at once for bordeaux, and if dr. riche will do me the honour to accompany me i will make it my business to see that he shall be well rewarded by the government for his trouble." riche, who was listening, assented willingly, and the two gentlemen departed at once by a special train for bordeaux. they stopped at marseilles to change engines and have a hurried dinner at the buffet, and then travelled right through to bordeaux, merely stopping to make a few enquiries at agen, and to examine the body which was lying in the inspector's room at the station. m. patrigent accompanied by riche enquired at the office of the compagnie de navigation. unfortunately, no one answering either to the print in the newspapers, or to the description of him given by violette had been discovered there, but all the police were informed, and were on the alert to pounce upon him. detectives were examining the faces of every person seen on the landing-stages and wharfs, while others inspected the visitors' books at the various hotels--but all to no purpose. for three days every available policeman and detective in bordeaux was hunting up and down the streets examining every hotel, and examining every ship and steamer in the port, but no trace of duval could be found. at length, about two hours before the _divona_ was notified to sail the chef de police received a lengthy telegram from villebois. it read as follows:- "last night professor delapine had a psychic vision; he saw pierre duval in a room changing his clothes. he disguised himself as a gascony farmer. was dressed in his sunday coat with large buttons, a slouch hat with broad brim, and leggings. he put on a long yellow-brown beard, and the same coloured hair hanging down to his shoulders, blue spectacles and a crooked stick. he left the inn in a cab, with a large wooden box, and went on board steamer as a third-class passenger. act immediately on this information. villebois." m. patrigent at once had copies of the telegram distributed to the chief centres by boys on bicycles, and hastening with riche on board the _divona_ they inspected the third-class passengers and rooms. suddenly riche in his excitement called out. "see, there he is," and he pointed with his finger. "where?" asked the chief of the police, trembling with excitement. but riche had spoken so loud that the person in question slipped away and vanished among the crowd. at that moment the ship's siren uttered a loud blast, while several sailors prepared to unfasten the gangway. "keep an eye on him, doctor," said patrigent, bounding on deck as the visitors were leaving the ship. at length the chef de police shrugged his shoulders in despair, and stepped on the gangway to depart. "you must have been mistaken, doctor, he cannot possibly be on board, he must have eluded us and escaped by another route." "monsieur, for god's sake stay where you are, i am convinced he is hiding on board." monsieur patrigent hesitated for an instant, but observing riche's look of entreaty, turned back behind the sailors, while riche rushed up the gangway and joined him. a few minutes later the steamer slipped her moorings and slowly steamed down the gironde. all the officers were on the look-out for the missing man, and the ship was searched from stem to stern. at length they got information that a gascon peasant had been seen entering one of the third-class cabins. the chef de police and riche rushed to the cabin indicated and tried to open the door, but they found it locked and bolted. riche stood by the door, while monsieur patrigent returned with a couple of loaded revolvers and an axe. handing one of the pistols to riche, he burst in the panels of the door with three or four furious blows of his axe. "at last we have got you, monsieur," said the police officer as he pulled out of his pockets a pair of handcuffs, and struggled to get through the broken door. the peasant uttered a wild cry of mocking laughter. "ha, ha! i will defeat you yet," he shouted, "i shall never let you take me alive," and taking out a small phial he drank its contents to the last drop. the chef de police and one of the sailors burst in and seized the man, while riche tore off his wig and beard. there stood pierre with a wild look in his eyes, but before they could pinion him, he cried out, "tell professor delapine the drug i swallowed was meant for him." he suddenly became short of breath, and reeled like a drunken man, and with a last shriek he burst from their grasp, and throwing up his hands, fell down on the floor of the cabin foaming at the mouth. the chef de police and riche stooped down and raised him up, but it was too late,--he was dead. m. patrigent had the body sewn up in a sack, and dropped it into the pilot's boat at the mouth of the river, while he and riche followed immediately afterwards. some hours later they returned to bordeaux where the body was identified as that of pierre gaston duval. the day following it was interred in a nameless grave in the cemetery at bordeaux by permission of the authorities at m. payot's special request. chapter xxvii in which delapine finds himself famous, and the party breaks up with the happiest results the evening after the departure of monsieur patrigent and riche for bordeaux, delapine and his party left for paris. the professor had already telegraphed to his colleagues at the sorbonne informing them of the time of his arrival, but his modesty was such that it never occurred to him that anyone would ever take the trouble to meet him. imagine, therefore, his astonishment as the train steamed into the station to hear a tumultuous hum proceeding from a thousand throats, and to find the entire gare de lyon decorated with flowers and flags. "what on earth is this huge crowd here for?" he asked villebois as he looked out of the window. the doctor had no need to reply, for the moment the crowd caught sight of the professor tumultuous shouts of "vive delapine, vive le professeur," rose up in one mighty laryngeal blast. scores of people stretched out their hands as if to embrace him, while others threw bouquets into the carriage. in fact the crowd was so great that it required a dozen gendarmes to clear a passage for him and his party. it was with great difficulty that he managed to reach the barriers on the platform. "look, henri," said renée, pointing to a magnificent floral arch at the gateway on which "vive delapine soyez le bienvenu" was written in huge gilt letters around the curve of the arch. "i feel the proudest girl in all france," said renée, beaming. delapine was more than surprised, he was electrified, enchanted, bewildered. his eyes flashed with excitement, and he was utterly unable to express his feelings in words. such was the fame that the professor had acquired first by his extraordinary and unique recovery from the trance, and then by his astounding play at monte carlo, that not only was the station crowded to suffocation, but the approach to it was lined by an enthusiastic crowd, extending as far back as the column of july, and filling the place de la bastille. a magnificent carriage had been brought to the station for the professor, and so excited were the students that they had removed the horses, and twenty or more of them decorated with red sashes stood with ropes over their shoulders ready to drag the carriage to the sorbonne. it was evident that the students had abandoned all thought of work that day, and the professors catching their enthusiasm joined them in a body. had it been the czar of all the russians he could not have caused a tithe of the excitement and tremendous cheering that delapine evoked as he stepped from the train on to the platform. on leaving the station, delapine with renée on his arm and payot immediately behind them were conducted to their carriage by the senior professors of the university. immediately behind followed a second carriage with the villebois family, while monsieur and madame beaupaire with violette and marcel occupied a third one. such a sight had not been witnessed for many years. the cheering was deafening. delapine was obliged to keep bowing every moment along the route. "vive delapine!" could be heard on all sides until the cry became a mighty roar of voices all along the route. on arriving at the sorbonne he was ushered into a large room where a special banquet had been prepared for the professor and his party. scientists were present from every part of france. the scene that ensued baffled all description. speeches were made, songs were sung by celebrated divas and tenors specially engaged for the occasion, while the students themselves united in singing a song specially composed for the event. as the dinner drew towards the end, a deputation from his students presented delapine with a beautifully carved silver casket containing an illuminated address. after the health of the hero of the hour had been drunk amid ringing cheers from every part of the room, the professor got up to reply. "mes honorables collegues et mes amis," said delapine, quite overcome by the enthusiasm and affection displayed by his pupils. "i thank you from my heart for these signs of your affection and esteem for my poor efforts on your behalf (cries of 'no, no,' on all sides) and also for your expressions of sympathy with me during my prolonged state of trance, and the pleasure you have shown at my restoration to health. i have, like ulysses, returned from my wanderings, and i rejoice to be with you once more. (great applause and shouts of 'hurrah for delapine!') "i have not," he continued as soon as silence had been restored, "i have not altogether wasted my time since i left you last if i have been able to prove that a new era is dawning, and that wonders upon wonders are looming up in the horizon of our view. the spirit world is approaching nearer and nearer. things which were inconceivable to our fathers are becoming commonplace to-day. our great-grandfathers communicated with each other at a distance by means of beacons and flags; our grandfathers by means of mirrors and the semaphore; our fathers by the telegraph, while we communicate by means of the more convenient telephone and wireless ether waves; but mark me, our children or at least our grandchildren, will communicate their inmost thoughts by the infinitely more rapid psychic waves of the soul. (deafening cheers followed). writing and speech will be largely replaced by telepathy and thought transference. both the past and the future will become unfolded to our mental gaze like a scroll. "if we follow nature's laws and search into its hidden mysteries with an open mind, we shall march on from victory to victory (shouts of 'vive la france!') we shall form a compact army of students who will refuse to acknowledge defeat. we shall be able to converse with the spirits of those who have gone before, and passed over to the other side. as my illustrious colleague, sir oliver lodge, so eloquently puts it, 'the boundary between the two states--the known and the unknown--is still substantial, but it is wearing thin in places; and like excavators engaged in boring a tunnel from opposite ends, amid the roar of water and other noises, we are beginning to hear now and again the strokes of the pick-axes of our comrades on the other side.' gentlemen, it is our solemn duty to search out the 'raison d'etre' of our existence on this planet, and to ascertain whither we are drifting. "we must find an answer to the questions put by the immortal heine: "sagt mir was bedeutet der mensch? wohin ist er gekommen? wo geht er her? wer wohnt dort oben auf goldenen sternen?[22] "if you cannot discover the known from the unknown you can at least, like the newly discovered elements, niton, thorium, and actinium, excite activity in others. we must refuse to acknowledge defeat. i do not ask you to waste your precious time in fruitless efforts to win the wolfskehl prize of 125,000 frs. by attempting to find a positive solution of fermat's great theorem, that x^n + y^n = z^n[23]. you, gentlemen, can well afford to leave such investigations to the german professors and the students of göttingen. we frenchmen have no time for such speculations, so long as rich pastures of fruitful and practical facts await discovery on every hand. organic chemistry is only beginning to be unfolded and treated mathematically. we know the laws of gravity, but what is the cause of it? how does one body attract another at a distance, with nothing but the invisible and intangible ether between them? the questions asked by hypatia, the daughter of theon, the geometer of alexandria, fifteen hundred years ago, 'who am i, what am i, whence do i go, and what is the soul of man?' remain unanswered to-day. if you study the smallest object, or the meanest insect, you cannot help making important discoveries, if you only go about it in the right way. the fields are already white unto the harvest and the labourers are few. if we would spend our lives like men we must work as long as our frail bodies will hold out. do not let us be put to shame by the tiny insects. look at the megachile, the anthidium, the halictes and the wild bee chalcidoma who, as our illustrious naturalist henri fabre informed us, work for the very joy of it, until they drop dead from sheer fatigue. so eager are they, that they even allow themselves to be killed rather than give up their work. it is not our business to read history, rather let it be our task to make it. (deafening applause). i am merely a pioneer in the field of science, (cries of 'no, no'). i have just peeped behind the veil which screens our view from the unknown beyond. it remains for you to tear that veil asunder. truly it has been said 'labore est orare.' let us then work until we die, and when our work is finished: "o, may we join the choir invisible, of those immortal dead who live again in minds made better by their presence: live in pulses stirred to generosity, in deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn for miserable aims that pierce the night like stars, and with their mild persistence urge man's search to vaster issues. "gentlemen," he added, "i have one thing to say before i sit down. my illness has not been without its compensations, for it has been the means of my winning a lovely bride," and he pointed to renée, who became suffused with blushes. the rest of his remarks were drowned by terrific applause, intermingled with shouts of "delapine for ever," "three cheers for the bride," "good old delapine," during which the professor sat down. other speeches followed, and it was with difficulty that the professor and his fiancée ultimately managed to reach their carriage and drive away. * * * * * a fortnight later delapine and renée, together with marcel and violette, were married by civil contract at the mairie, and then a little later the next day the religious ceremony was performed at the church of la trinité. the breakfast took place in the dining-room and séance-room (which were thrown into one for the occasion) at the house of the happy couple's old friend, dr. villebois. "villebois," said riche at the wedding breakfast, "i owe all my happiness to meeting you at the café at the corner of the boule 'miche' last autumn." "and i owe all mine to payot losing his pile," retorted marcel. "if he had not 'plunged' he would not have met beaupaire, and i should not have seen violette." "and renée's marriage is all due to that lucky café, for there it was that i met mdlle. violette," said riche. "you?" said marcel, astonished, as he ceased for a moment admiring his superb silk waistcoat. "yes, it was there that she told me what she saw in the ring, half an hour after i met villebois there for the first time. and i fully believe it saved delapine's life, for it was owing to violette's clairvoyance of the sealed envelope that i persuaded dr. roux to cease performing the autopsy." "good gracious," said marcel, "here are three people who go and get married and their wives receive handsome dots all because you happened to sit down and smoke a pipe outside a café. well! if that doesn't beat the professor's play at the tables i'm a dutchman." "i wonder whether we have heard the last of delapine," said violette. "the last of delapine!" exclaimed marcel. "don't worry, you will hear plenty more yet about him." "don't you remember he told renée that when he recovered he intended to dictate his memoirs?" "yes, i remember, and in his speech at the sorbonne he said he was going to make history instead of learning it." "by jove," said marcel, "you are right. we are going to have some fun ahead to look forward to." "céleste," said riche, as he took her little hand in his, "we are nobodies just now. the effulgence of delapine and marcel is too dazzling. i think we had better wait a few weeks until everyone is breathing a more sober atmosphere, and then we can have a quiet wedding all to ourselves." and they did. footnotes: [footnote 22: "oh, tell me now what meaning has man, or whence he comes, and whither he goes, who dwells beyond upon the golden stars?"] [footnote 23: thus to give a simple case: let x = 3, y = 4, z = 5, and n = 2. then 3^2 + 4^2 = 5^2. what the professor had in his mind was a general expression which would embody all cases, in which n may be any integer. it is well-known that fermat discovered the solution, but it was unfortunately lost, although his papers were searched through at his death. the prize is still open for competition, 1916. all particulars can be obtained from the rector of the university of göttingen. (g.l.j.)] the end. w. jolly & sons, printers, aberdeen produced from images generously made available by the internet archive.) witchcraft of new england explained by modern spiritualism. by allen putnam, esq., author of "bible marvel workers," "natty, a spirit," "mesmerism, spiritualism, witchcraft, and miracle," "agassiz and spiritualism," etc. second edition. boston: colby and rich, publishers, 9 montgomery place. 1881. copyright, 1880, by allen putnam, esq. stereotyped at the boston stereotype foundry, no. 4 pearl street. contents. preface, page 9.--references, 14.--explanatory note--definitions, 15. mather and calef, 25.--account of margaret rule, 26.--definitions of witchcraft, 29.--commission of the devil, 30.--margaret assaulted by specters, 31.--offered a book, and pinched, 33.--fasted, and perceived a man liable to drown, 34.--lifted, and saw a white spirit, 35.--rubbed by mather, 37.--visited by spies, 39.--prayed with, and brimstone was smelt, 40.--fowler charges delirium tremens, 41.--affidavit of avis, 44.--calef baffled, 46.--levitation of r. h. squires, 46. cotton mather, 52.--haven's account of mercy short, 71. robert calef, 73. thomas hutchinson, 76. c. w. upham, 80. margaret jones, 85.--winthrop's account of her, 87.--hutchinson's and upham's, 88.--our own, 89.--j. w. crosby's experience, 94.--spirit of prophecy, 99.--spirit child, 100.--materialization, 102.--newburyport spirit boy, 103.--why margaret was executed, 109.--erroneous faith, 114.--margaret's case isolated, 119.--epitaph, 121. ann hibbins, 122.--beach's letter, 123.--hutchinson's account of ann, 124.--upham's, 126.--her will, 128.--her wit, 131.--densmore's inner hearing, 135.--guessing, 138.--her social position, 140.--slandered, 130, 142.--her intuitive powers, 143.--her illumination, 146. ann cole, 147.--hutchinson's account, 147.--whiting's, 148.--the greensmiths, 153.--representative experiences, 154. elizabeth knap, 157.--how affected, 158.--long accustomed to see spirits, 160.--accused mr. willard, 162.--a case of spiritualism. morse family, 167.--physical manifestations, 168.--the sailor boy, 169.--caleb powell, 170.--hazzard's account of read, 172.--mather's account of john stiles, 175.--mrs. morse accused, 178.--hale's report, 182.--morse's testimony, 184.--2d do., 187.--his character, 190.--faults of historians, 193.--marvels in essex county, 197.--eliakim phelps, 198. goodwin family, 199.--hutchinson's account, 201.--character of the children, 207.--wild irish woman, 210.--philip smith's case, 211.--upham's account, 213.--spirit loss of earth language, 216.--mather flattered, 217.--the girl's weight triplicated, 219.--mather's person shielded, 221.--upham's conclusion incredible, 223.--hutchinson nonplused, 224.--justice to the devil, 227. summary, 229. salem witchcraft, 231.--occurred at danvers, 231.--circle of girls, 233.--their lack of education, 235.--obstacles to their meeting, 236.--mediumistic capabilities, 239.--parsonage kitchen, 240.--fits stopped by whipping, 242.--upham's lack of knowledge, 243.--hare's demonstration, 245.--upham's lament and warnings, 246.--nothing supernatural, 249.--varley's position, 252.--the afflicted knew their afflicters, 254.--names of the afflicted, 257.--mr. parris's account of witchcraft advent, 259.--what occurred, 260.--lawson's account, 261.--the bewitching cake, 262.--john indian and tituba, 263.--tituba participator and witness, 267. tituba, 271.--examination of her, 271-297.--summary of her statements, 298.--discrepancies between cheever and corwin, 301.--dates fixed by corwin, 303.--tituba's authority as expounder, 308.--calef's notice of her, 309.--her confession, 312.--her unhappy fate, 313. sarah good, 313.--why visible apparitionally, 314.--her examination, 315.--mesmeric force, 318.--persons absent in form afflict, 320.--only clairvoyance sees spirits, 323.--its fitfulness, 324.--a witch because not bewitchable, 325.--her invisibility, 325.--h. b. storer's account of mrs. compton, 326.--ann putnam's deposition, 331.--s. good's prophetic glimpse, 335. dorcas good, 335.--bites with spirit teeth, 336.--state of opinion admitting her arrest, 338.--upham's presentation of public excitement, 339.--lovely witches now, 342. sarah osburn, 342.--was seen spectrally, 343.--heard a voice, 345. martha corey, 347.--her character.--visited by putnam and cheever, 348.--foresensed their visit, 348.--laughed when on trial, 352.--calef and upham's account of her, 353.--her prayer, 354. giles corey, 354.--refused to plead, 355.--was pressed to death, 356.--his heroism, 357. rebecca nurse, 358.--was seen as an apparition, 358.--her mother a witch, 360.--had fits, 361.--confusion at her trial, 362.--the power of will, 363.--elizabeth parris, 364.--agassiz, 365.--not guilty, and then guilty, 367. mary easty, 367.--her examination, 368.--the character of her trial, 370.--her petition, 371.--last hour, 373. susanna martin, 373.--her examination, 374.--the devil took samuel's shape, 374.--r. p.'s position, 375.--her apparition gave annoyance, 377. martha carrier, 378.--examination of, 378.--her children witches, how they afflicted, and their confessions, 381. george burroughs, 390.--indictment of, 391.--opinions concerning him, 392.--apparitions of his wives, 394.--his liftings, 399.--the devil an indian, 402.--thought-reading, 405.--his susceptibilities and character, 406. summary, 408.--number executed, 412.--spirits proved to have been enactors of witchcraft, 414. the confessors, 415. the accusing girls, 420.--ann putnam's confession, 420. the prosecutors, 425. witchcraft's author, 428. the motive, 432. local and personal, 445. methods of providence, 451. appendix. christendom's witchcraft devil, 459. limitations of his powers, 464. covenant with him, 466. his defence, 467. demonology and necromancy, 468. biblical witch and witchcraft, 470. christendom's witch and witchcraft, 471. spirit, soul, and mental powers, 472. two sets of mental powers--agassiz, 476. marvel and spiritualism, 478. indian worship, 480. preface. "the nobler tendency of culture--and, above all, of scientific culture--is to honor the dead without groveling before them; to profit by the past without sacrificing it to the present."--edward b. tylor, _primitive culture_. most history of new england witchcraft written since 1760 has dishonored the dead by lavish imputations of imposture, fraud, malice, credulity, and infatuation; has been sacrificing past acts, motives, and character to skepticism regarding the sagacity and manliness of the fathers, the guilelessness of their daughters, and the truth of ancient records. transmitted accounts of certain phenomena have been disparaged, seemingly because facts alleged therein baffle solution by to-day's prevalent philosophy, which discards some agents and forces that were active of old. the legitimate tendency of culture has been reversed; what it should have availed itself of and honored, it has busied itself in hiding and traducing. an exception among writers alluded to is the author of the following extract, who, simply as an historian, and not as an advocate of any particular theory for the solution of witchcraft, seems ready to let its works be ascribed to competent agents. "so far as a presentation of facts is concerned, no account of the dreadful tragedy has appeared which is more accurate and truthful than governor hutchinson's narrative. his theory on the subject--that it was wholly the result of fraud and deception on the part of the afflicted children--will not be generally accepted at the present day, and his reasoning on that point will not be deemed conclusive.... there is a tendency to trace an analogy between the phenomena then exhibited and modern spiritual manifestations."--w. f. poole, _geneal. and antiq. register, october, 1870._ while composing the following work, its writer was borne onward by the tendency which poole named. survey of the field of marvels has been far short of exhaustive--his purpose made no demand for very extended researches. selected cases, representative of the general manifestations and subject treated of were enough. the aim has been to find in ancient records, and thence adduce, statements and meanings long resting unobserved beneath the gathered dust of more than a hundred years, and therefore practically lost. the course of search led attention beyond overt acts, to inspection of some natural germs and their legitimately resultant development into creeds, which impelled good men on to the enactment of direful tragedy. examination of the basement walls--the foundations--of prevalent popular explanation of ancient wonders, forces conviction that they lack both the breadth and the materials needful to stability. modern builders of witchcraft history have either failed to find, or have deemed unmanageable by any appliances at their command, and therefore would not attempt to handle, a vast amount of sound historic stones which are accessible and can be used. lacking them, these moderns have let fancy manufacture for them, and they have builded upon blocks of her fragile stuff which are fast disintegrating under the chemical action of the world's common sense. we proposed here an incipient step towards refutation of the sufficiency and justness of a main theory, now long prevalent, for explaining satisfactorily very many well-proved marvelous facts. some such have been presented on the pages of hutchinson, upham, and their followers; and yet these have been either not at all, or vaguely or ludicrously, commented upon, or reasoned from. very many others, and the most important of all as bases and aids to an acceptable and true solution of the whole, are not visible where they ought to have conspicuous position. presentation and proper use of them might have caused public cognizance to topple over the edifices which it has pleased modern builders to erect. it is not our purpose to write history, but to give new explanation of old events. the long and widely tolerated theory that new england witchcraft was exclusively but out-workings of mundane fraud, imposture, cunning, trickery, malice, and the like, has never adequately met the reasonable demand of common sense, which always asks that specified agents and forces shall be probably competent to produce all such effects as are distinctly ascribed to them. persons who of old were afflicted in manner that was then called bewitchment, and others through or from whom the afflictions were alleged to proceed, are now extensively supposed to have possessed organizations, temperaments, and properties which rendered them exceptionally pliant under subtile forces, either magnetic, mesmeric, or psychological, and who, consequently, at times, could be, and were, made ostensible utterers of knowledge whose marvelousness indicated mysterious source, and ostensible performers of acts deemed more than natural, and which, in fact, were the productions of wills not native in the manifesting forms. the special forces that produced bewitchment and are put in application now, do not become sensibly operative upon any other mortals than peculiar sensitives; and their action upon such is often most easily and effectively manifested through aid obtained from other similar sensitives. selections of both subjects and instrumentalities were of old, and are now, controlled by general law. steel needles and iron-filings are not selected by the magnet's free will when it forces them to leap up from their resting-places and cleave to itself. seeming levitation possesses them, and an invisible force takes them whither gravitation, their usual holder, would not let them go. it is upon steel, not lead--upon iron, not stone--that the magnet can execute its marvelous liftings. nature's conditions fix selections. the organizations, temperaments, fluids, solids, and all the various properties, are, to some extent, unlike in any two human bodies whatsoever, and the range of the differings and consequent susceptibilities is very wide. a psychological magnet in either the seen or unseen may have power to draw certain human forms to contact with itself, and to use them as its tools, and yet lack force to produce sensible effects upon but few in the mass of living men. where its action is most efficient, it controls the movements of what it holds in its embrace--takes a human form out from control by the spirit which usually governs it, and through that form manifests its own powers and purposes. both the reputed bewitched and bewitching may severally have had but little, if any, voluntary part in manifesting the remarkable phenomena that were imputed to them. where physical organs are used, the public is prone to deem the performances intentional acts by those whose forms are operated, while yet the wills of those whose forms are visibly concerned in marvelous works may have been formerly, as they often now are, little else than unwilling, and in many cases unconscious tools. the afflicted--in other words, the bewitched ones--may have actually perceived,--they no doubt often did,--and also knew, that the annoyances and tortures they endured were augmented, if not generated, by emanations proceeding forth from the particular persons whom they named as being their afflicters; and these afflicters may have been all unconscious that their own auras were going forth and acting upon the sufferers. the chief non-intelligent instrumentality employed in producing miraculous, spiritualistic, necromantic, and other kindred marvels, is now generally called psychological force--force resident in and put forth from and by the soul--from and by the will and emotional parts of a living being; it is the force by which some men control with magic power not only many animals in the lower orders, but some susceptible members of their own species; it is a force deep-seated in our being, and may accompany man when he leaves his outer body, and continue to be his in an existence beyond the present. the usurping capabilities of this force were strikingly set forth by the illustrious agassiz in his carefully written account of his own sensations and condition while in a mesmeric trance induced upon him by rev. chauncy hare townshend. the great naturalist--the strong man both mentally and physically--says that he lost all power to use his own limbs--all power to even _will_ to move them, and that his body was forced against his own strongest possible opposition to pace the room in obedience to the mesmerizer's will. since such force overcame the strongest possible resistance of the gigantic agassiz, it is surely credible that less robust ones, in any and every age, may have been subdued and actuated by it.--see page 385, in _facts of mesmerism, 2d ed. london, 1844, by rev. chauncy hare townshend_. those who were accused of bewitching others were fountains from which invisible intelligences sometimes drew forth properties which aided them in gaining and keeping control of those whom they entranced or otherwise used. also from such there probably sometimes went forth unwilled emanations that were naturally attracted to other sensitives, who perceived their source, and pronounced it diabolical, because the influx thence was annoying. impersonal natural forces to some extent, and at times, probably designated the victims who were immolated on witchcraft's altar. citations of evidences and proofs from early historic records, that other agents and forces had chief part in producing new england witchcraft than such as modern historians generally have recognized, together with exposition of legitimate and forceful biases proceeding from articles in old-time creeds, will exhibit our forefathers in much better aspects than they wear in intervening history; will halo in innocence some of their wives and daughters, around whom historians have cast hues appropriate only to most villainous culprits; and also will manifest sadly misleading oversights, short-comings, and sophistries by some whose writings have done much in forming the world's existing erroneous and harsh views and estimates. certain operative, world-wide, and daily occurrences in the present age, unaccounted for, and often sneered at, by adepts in prevalent sciences and philosophies, seem to have fair claims for general, candid, and most rigid scrutiny. even if despised and contemned of men, they nevertheless are widely and most efficiently working for the world's good or for its harm. testimony to their positive existence is vast in amount, and much of it comes from witnesses whose words upon any ordinary matters would be absolutely conclusive. something more than twenty-five years ago, mysterious raps on cottage walls and furniture were traced to cause which, while invisible and impalpable, could count ten. a trifle, was that? no; for its teachings and influences have gone forth widely, and have worked efficiently. they have broadened nature's domain as conceived of by man, have opened up to him new fields of study, and have furnished him with a vast amount of new views and speculations, which are permeating creeds, philosophies, sciences, explanations of history, and most things appertaining to the welfare of civilized society. well may they have thus efficiently operated, for they have claimed to be, and their potency indicates that they have been, moved onward by forces greater than pertain to incarnate men. raps by invisible rappers; liftings of tables, pianos, &c., by invisible lifters; music flowing forth from pianos, harmonicons, and other instruments having no visible manipulators; pencils writing legibly, instructively, eloquently, when no visible hand held and moved them; levitations of tables and human forms; transfer of books and other objects from one side of rooms to the opposite by invisible carriers; hands of flesh grasping and holding live coals of fire with impunity; raisings of human forms from floor to ceiling overhead, and holding them there by invisible beings; impressions of recognized likenesses of departed mortals upon the plates of photographists; presentation of moving and palpable hands and arms where no body is present for their attachment; materialization of entire forms of the departed, and the speaking and moving of the re-clad ones so exactly as in life as to be distinctly and unmistakably recognized by their surviving relatives and familiar acquaintances;--these phenomena, and many others kindred to them, admit of being, and we ask that they may be, viewed apart from any and all verbal or written communications by spirits, and apart from the character, standing, and habits of spiritualists. such presentations as have just been specified may be looked upon as a class by themselves, and as being worthy the attention and closest scrutiny of devotees to the physical sciences and all logical minds. even though they have emerged into view from a modern nazareth, the obscurity of their place of issuance is not conclusive against their virtue to enlighten man, and broaden the extent of human knowledge. when, in days to come, some abler and more polished pen shall apply, in the solution of witchcraft marvels, a theory that shall be based on the classes of agents, forces, &c., which are now evolving modern marvels, its fitness and adequacy will attract wide attention, and command general acceptance. our work, of course, will fall far short of such results, for he who here writes possesses no commanding powers,--never had much taste for historical and antiquarian researches,--has for many years last past found himself much, very much, more prone to be seeking for mental and moral wealth in oncoming than in receded times,--possesses only moderate skill and less than moderate facility in literary composition,--has spent the greater part of adult life in pursuits which debarred him not only from much perusal of books either historical, literary, or scientific, but also from much converse with well-cultured society. therefore, necessarily, his whitened locks and waning forces find him consciously deficient in nearly every qualification for either a good historian or good expounder and applier of any theory pertaining to profound and intricate subjects involving occult agents and forces. then why write? perhaps vanity is strong among our motives. nearly as far back as memory can take us, we heard from a grandfather's lips accounts of what his grandfather and others did and suffered when witchcraft raged in our native parish, and threatened trouble to those occupying the house in which we were born and reared. from boyhood onward the subject has never been new to us. we received an early impression, and since have ever felt, that works more than mortals could perform had transpired there. but who the workers could have been was long a doleful mystery. their doings made them far from pleasant objects of contemplation. in common with most other natives of the place, we formerly were very willing that the dark matter should slumber in obscurity--were indisposed to draw attention to its aspects and character. but not so in later years. most people on the spot, however, now are probably averse to its consideration. less than three years ago, a parish committee of arrangements were very solicitous that this dismal subject should receive very little notice at their bi-centennial celebration. their wishes and ours differed widely. what courtesy withheld them from forbidding, courtesy withheld us from doing extensively. we just opened there; and now, in continuance, here say that we longed then, on the spot where he was born, to wash off from their most notorious child much black dye-stuff in which the world has dipped him, and let them look upon a fairer complexioned and more estimable personage than they have deemed that far-famed native. we are vain enough to hope, that, in this continuance of our speech, we shall adduce facts and views which will present salem witchcraft in new and less dismal aspects, and dispel what seems to dwellers where it transpired a "cloud of darkness." aside from vanity, we have been moved by definite desire to give both the people of danvers and many others, opportunity to learn facts and truths as yet perceived by only a few, which give a character to the great witchcraft scene, vastly less disreputable to those concerned in it than does such as has been presented by prior expounders, and extensively accepted as plausible by the public. teachings of spiritualism have luminated the places where witchcraft has been sent to slumber; and facts now come into view which reveal beneficent results where none but baneful ones have been apparent. perhaps willingness to show that spiritualism has been an illumining force to us, and may be so to others, has place among our motives. opportunities for studying spirit manifestations came in the writer's way more than twenty years since, and have been recurring quite steadily down to the present hour. release, long ago, from cramping mill-horse rounds of professional life and thought, and consequent freedom to live and move relatively aloof from annoyances and fears which known or suspected attention to unpopular and tabooed matters is apt to bring, permitted him to be a more open, avowed, persistent, and studious observer of these marvelous works than could most other persons _comfortably_, who had spent early years in academic and collegiate halls. unhampered by dread of slurs, innuendoes, hints, or growls from either parishioners, patients, or clients, he sought, found, and strove to use thoughtfully, critically, and religiously, extensive and many varied and often very favorable opportunities for estimating the force and value of alleged evidences and proofs that we, all of us, are ever living in the midst of agents, forces, conditions, faculties, powers, and susceptibilities, acting upon or residing in ourselves and our neighbors, which common observation and science have not generally recognized. thus, as he judges, clews have been acquired to such knowledge as promises, in days not distant, to furnish not only a solution of ancient witchcraft that will stand the tests of time and common sense, but cause human physical science to bring within its embrace agents and forces which have heretofore escaped its recognition. the varied phenomena of spiritualism, witchcraft, and miracle are all _within_ nature. modern spiritualism, fraught, and all alive, as it is, with evidences, and some sensible _proofs positive_, of a future life, is to-day more efficient in retaining faith among thinking men that a life beyond awaits them, than any and all other forces in operation, or that man can apply. science--yes, an advanced _science_, based on observed, proved, and provable facts of spiritualism, ancient and modern--is the only power we see that can stay the hope-crushing inroads of the bald materialism which is now dogging the advancing steps of physical science and liberal culture throughout enlightened christendom. perception of strong indications, more than twenty years ago, that keen intelligence wielding strange power was evolving before human senses, raps, table-tippings, and the like,--which intelligence, if properly invoked and treated, might become one's helpful teacher,--induced the author to use as well as possible each occurring opportunity for increasing his acquaintance with the strange visitants, not doubting that in the end he should gain wherewith to instruct and benefit both himself and his fellow-men, enough, and more than enough, to richly compensate for whatever loss of caste, favor, or reputation his course might occasion. during his well-meant, protracted, and reverential searchings along the faintly twilighted borders of spirit-land, ever and anon he has been catching glimpses of laws, forces, conditions, and agents, which earth-born beings--the embodied and the disembodied--can, and limitedly now do, conjointly use for reciprocal communings, and for mutual helps toward improvement, elevation, and bliss--for social, intellectual, moral, and religious growth. he means _mutual_; for those who have escaped from the flesh are helped by intercommunings with mortals. the reward is ample. his immediate topic is only witchcraft; but light which he seeks to make bear on that, penetrates below all perceptible phenomena, down to the question which underlies all others pertaining to man's highest interest, viz., does _animism exist_? or, in other words, is there in nature, or in god, or anywhere, an animating principle, which, having had individualizing connection with an organized material form, will retain its consciousness and individuality after that connection shall have been dissolved? who but visible or audible spirits, proving themselves to be such, can give decisive response to that momentous question? who but they can stop the advance of and effectually cripple that growing materialistic faith which laughs at and tramples over everything save _demonstration_,--demonstration either scientific or sensible,--but is at once and permanently palsied when it encounters that? man knows of none else who can. the world as yet is little conscious of the real nature, power, and worth of spiritualism, or of its own need of help obtainable from no other perceptible source. therein lies enfolded not only charity and justice for our remoter fathers, and correction for later commentators upon them, which may be brought forth and applied in the present work, but also proofs of man's survival beyond the tomb. threescore years and twelve are saying, spend no more time in general preparation for your labors, because dangers yearly thicken that your perishing outer man must forever leave undone what it fails to accomplish soon. your future "footprints on the sands of time" will be but few; therefore now start in right direction, and, as best you can, mark the path you travel, and thus give some guidance to future wayfarers journeying toward the goal at which you aim, but lack power to reach. allen putnam. boston, 426 dudley street references. the principal works quoted from and referred to in the following pages, are-salem witchcraft, edited by s. p. fowler, of danvers; h. p. ives and a. a. smith, salem, 1861. this furnished the citations from calef, and most of those from cotton mather. references are to this edition. hutchinson's history of massachusetts. boston edition 1764 and 1767. upham's history of witchcraft and salem village. boston, wiggin & lunt, 1867. woodward's historical series, embracing annals of witchcraft in new england by samuel g. drake, furnished the citations from drake. new england genealogical and antiquarian register, october, 1870, p. 381, was the source of extracts from w. f. poole. explanatory note. a subject mysterious as ours will need for its ready comprehension some general knowledge of the imputed attributes and doings of witchcraft's special devil, and of supposed aids and hindrances to his getting access to the visible world; also of demonology and necromancy, of biblical witch and witchcraft, of protestant christendom's witch and witchcraft, of spirit, soul, and mental powers, of miracle, spiritualism, indian worship, and the like. therefore we wrote out brief dissertations upon those subjects, with a view to have them constitute an opening chapter. but they are somewhat dry, and would, perhaps, keep many readers back from less thought-taxing pages longer than their pleasure will permit. therefore we postpone presentation of what usually is placed in front, at the same time advising each one who desires to read this work as advantageously as possible, to turn first to our appendix. in form of definitions, at the close of the dissertations, we placed a summary of some past conceptions, designing thus to indicate, compactly, special stand-points for explanation of witchcraft, on which some of our predecessors have severally taken position. we insert it here. definitions. _biblical._ devil, or satan. any opponent or antagonist, whether seen or unseen. witch. employer of mysterious acquisitions in teaching _heresy_. witchcraft. using mysterious acquisitions in teaching _heresy_. _by cotton mather._ devil. heaven-born, fallen, mighty, malignant; and yet _dependent on human help_ to act upon physical man or anything material. witch. a _covenanter_ with the devil. witchcraft. helping or employing the devil to do harm--either. _by robert calef._ devil. heaven-born, fallen, mighty, malignant; but _independent of man_ in action upon this world. witch. seducer of men from worship of god "_by any extraordinary sign_." witchcraft. "maligning and impugning the word, work, or worship of god, and by any extraordinary sign seeking to seduce men from worship of him." _by thomas hutchinson._ devil. (none, as witchcraft enactor.) witch. (_by inference._) a woman possessing "a malignant touch," or "a crabbed temper," or being "a poor wretch" or "bed-ridden;" also, "a cunning child." witchcraft. producing "pains," "nausea," &c. scolding, playing tricks. _by c. w. upham._ devil. (not specially concerned in witchcraft.) witch. (_by inference._) subject acted upon by a girl or woman trained in a school for practice "in the wonders of necromancy, magic, and spiritualism." witchcraft. suffering from the tricks and malicious purposes of girls schooled in magic. _by us._ devil. (not specially concerned.) witch. a medium or a human being whose body becomes at times the tool of some finite, disembodied, intelligent being, or whose mind senses knowledge in spirit land. witchcraft. the manifestation of supernal knowledge, force, and purposes through a borrowed or usurped mortal form; or the giving utterance to knowledge sensed in through one's spiritual organs of sense. our purpose is to adduce strong evidences from the primitive records of american marvels, that lesser beings than the devil of mather and calef, and more powerful ones than the operators designated by hutchinson and upham, were actual performers of the principal manifestations that have been known as witchcrafts. those whom we shall present were earth-born, on either this planet or some other, had previously passed out from encasements of flesh, but obtained control of and actuated physical forms belonging to embodied children, women, and men. such beings, graduates from earths, are as varied in character and purposes as the survivors on their native planets, as varied as mortals are to-day. they may have ranged in character from dark devils up to bright angels, and have come, and gone, and operated by natural, though occult, forces and processes; they being as free to use such as we are the forces and implements of external nature. many of our positions will be based upon psychological powers and susceptibilities which are far from being generally known to pertain to man; and we may fail to keep always within the bounds of things credible to-day, but yet shall never consciously go further than observed or credited facts will sustain us. if successful, we shall show that benighted man formerly, in good conscience, made certain events fearful curses, which, when rightly understood and used, may become gladdening and rich boons to mortals. witchcraft marvel-workers. brief notice of several authors to whom the present age is indebted for knowledge of most of the facts and beliefs which will be presented in the following pages, may be appropriate here. their competency, traits, and circumstances, as inferred chiefly from their writings pertaining to witchcraft, are all, or nearly all, which we propose to state. two of these who lived in witchcraft times, a third in an intervening century, and a fourth in our own age, viz., cotton mather, robert calef, thomas hutchinson, and charles w. upham, will severally be noticed, because their works have been specially instructive and suggestive, and have had very much influence in shaping public opinions and conclusions in reference to the mysterious matters under consideration. each of the above-named authors either lacked, or failed to use, some light which is now available for disclosing contents in vailed recesses of nature--light beginning to shine in where darkness long brooded, and to elicit thence such knowledge as promises to show that the theories of most witchcraft expounders have been such as now may be, and should be, superseded by more broad, sound, and philosophical ones. the writings of the first two named above are eminently important, because they disclose very distinctly many highly operative beliefs and methods which were prevalent when marked witchcraft phenomena were actually transpiring, but are obsolete now. we cannot, perhaps, do better than forthwith present those two combatants, mather and calef, in actual conflict over the last described case of seventeenth century obsession. out of this case came open conflict, in the very days when such marvels were living occurrences. further on we may notice these two men, _as men_, more particularly. here we take them as contestants about phenomena attendant upon margaret rule in 1693; hers, the last of our cases to occur, will come first under our inspection. our quotations will be mostly from the earlier pages of "salem witchcraft," edited by s. p. fowler. mather and calef. in 1693, mather wrote an account of afflictions which margaret rule, of boston, then about seventeen years old, began to endure on the 10th of september of that year. this production drew forth the first open shot at the then prevalent definitions of witchcraft--at the assumed source of power to produce it--at the adopted methods of proceedings against it, and at treatment of persons on whom that crime was charged. robert calef, called a merchant of the town, either listened to statements or received written ones, made by other persons who had been present with mather around this afflicted girl at her home during some scenes which the latter had described, or he was himself a witness there. from data early obtained he furnished a version of the case which disparaged the minister's account, and questioned the propriety of some of his proceedings. calef's was in itself a rather meager production, not putting forth the whole or even the main facts in the case, but indicating that in this, that, and the other particular, mather had misstated or overstated, and that some of his own acts might be indelicate or improper. this production so incensed mather that he openly pronounced calef "the worst of liars," threatened him with prosecution for slander, and actually commenced legal proceedings against him. in a subsequent letter, september 29, calef respectfully asked mather for a personal interview in the presence of two witnesses, in order that they might discuss and explain. mather intimated willingness to comply with the request, but dallied, till calef, november 24, sent a second letter, in which, rising at once above the comparatively trifling question whether himself or mather had furnished the more accurate and better report, he grappled with fundamental questions pertaining to the devil, witchcrafts, and possession, and set forth distinctly some points which, in his judgment, needed discussion then; for on them he dissented from mather, and probably from a majority of the people amid whom he was living. in much of that letter, calef, or whoever composed it, manifested discriminating intellect, clear perception of his points, firm will, together with strong desire and purpose to labor earnestly for acquisition of knowledge by which either to convince himself that his own positions were unsound, or to better qualify himself to reform some prevalent faiths and practices. the bible was his magazine, and implements, weapons, or stores from any other source he deemed it unlawful to use for defining, detecting, or punishing witchcraft. bowing to the scriptures in unquestioning submission, he took them as guide and authority. in the outset, frankly and definitely stating his own belief, he, in an apparently manly way, sought manly discussion. he believed, page 62, that "there are _witches, because the scriptures plainly provide for their punishment_." the only known definition of _witchcraft_ that to him seemed based upon and fairly deduced from the scriptures, was "a maligning and oppugning the word, work, or worship of god, and, _by any extraordinary sign_, seeking to seduce from it." he believed "that there are possessions, and that the bodies of the possest have hence been not only _afflicted_, but _strangely agitated_, if not _their tongues improved_ to foretell futurities; and why not _to accuse the innocent_ as bewitching them? having _pretense to divination_ ... this being reasonable to be expected from _him who is the father of lies_." this witchcraft assailant, therefore, was a protestant not against belief that the father of lies sometimes _possessed, afflicted, and strangely agitated human beings, and also controlled their tongues to prophesy, to accuse the innocent, and to pretend divination_. his protest was against unscriptural definition of witchcraft, and against those kinds of evidence, rules, and methods used for its detection, proof, and punishment which made his age pronounce guilty and execute many who could not possibly be found guilty of that crime, where its scriptural definition was adhered to. he was not a disbeliever in witchcraft of some kind, nor of action upon men by some invisible intelligences in his own day. he and mather both were believers in witchcraft outwrought by supernals, but differed as to what might or might not constitute it, and therefore, also, as to the extent of the prevalence of the genuine article. calef seemingly believed in _possessions_,--that is, in control by spirits of some quality,--but was unwilling to concede that such control was _witchcraft_, as many people at that day did, though mather may not have been one among them _abidingly_. the pith of calef's definition of witchcraft was, _seduction of men from the worship of god by manifestation of extraordinary signs_; while mather said, _covenanting with the devil made one a witch_, and co-operative action with _him_ in harming men constituted _witchcraft_. the former demanded evidences of seduction of men away _from worship of god_, while the other could rest on evidences of _visible harm to man_; therefore mather found cases of witchcraft much more abundant than calef was required to or would. another practically important item on which they differed was the immediate source of the devil's power to act upon visible man and matter. calef claimed that "it is _only the almighty_ that ... can commissionate him to hurt or destroy any;" while mather said, "i am apt to think that the devils are seldom able to hurt us in any of our exterior concerns without a commission _from our fellow-worms_.... permission from god for the devil to come down and break in upon mankind must oftentimes be accompanied with a commission from _some of mankind itself_." both of them conceded a commission by god to the devil. but we doubt whether his commission was ever more special than that which every created being, in either material or spiritual abodes, constitutionally holds at all times, to avail himself of whatever natural laws or forces his inherent powers and attending circumstances enable him to control. words are often used which obscure proper, if not intended, meaning. commission from god means no more than constitutional capabilities to perform at times certain specified things when conditions and circumstances favor command of natural forces. that special powers are often conferred upon mortals by some supernal beings whose recipients are prone to ascribe the gifts to _omnipotence_ is obviously true; though their increased abilities are only bestowments by finite invisibles. _what_ witchcraft was, and _who_ commissioned the devil, whether god alone or god and man jointly, were the two most prominent questions about which those contestants differed. they agreed that the devil enacted both witchcraft and possession, but calef's beliefs necessarily caused him to regard vast many cases as only simple possession, which mather could, if he saw fit, regard as witchcrafts; and he sometimes seemingly did, when called to act publicly in connection with them. mather at home and mather abroad were not always in harmony. without designing, either here or subsequently, to make full presentation of the case of margaret rule, we shall freely adduce many parts of the record of it as helps in exhibiting leading positions and traits pertaining to the parties who crossed intellectual swords over them. mather states, page 29, that "upon the lord's day, september 10, 1693, margaret rule, after some hours of previous disturbance in the public assembly, fell into odd fits, which caused her friends to carry her home, where her fits, in a few hours, grew into a figure that satisfied the spectators of their being preternatural. a miserable woman who had been formerly imprisoned on the suspicion of witchcraft, and who had frequently cured very painful hurts, ... had, the evening before margaret fell into her calamities, _very bitterly treated her, and threatened her_." that briefly antecedent treatment of her by a person who "had frequently cured very painful hurts," and therefore, and for other acts perhaps, been accused of witchcraft, is very important in its psychological indications, and is worthy of being borne along in the reader's memory. the wonderful _curing of painful hurts_--that is, her beneficence--had caused her imprisonment. "the young woman," continues the reporter, "was assaulted by eight cruel specters, whereof she imagined that she knew three or four." she was careful, under charge from mather, "to forbear blazing their names," but privately told them to him; and he says, "they are a sort of wretches who for these many years have gone under _as violent presumptions of witchcraft_, as perhaps any creatures yet living on the earth." specters known by her might, in some connections, mean persons whom she had known before their death, whose spirits now became visible; but since she gave the names of living persons as being then seen, it is obvious that she did not regard her tormentors _as bona fide spirits_, but only effigies manufactured, presented, and vitalized by the devil. the psychologist will not overlook the fact that persons whose specters were here presented were such as had in some way previously aroused suspicion that they were witches. it was imprudent at that day to "blaze names," because of very prevalent belief that the devil could present the specters of none who had not made a covenant with him, and the bare fact of annunciation by a witched person that she saw the specter of any individual whatsoever, was then conclusive proof to many minds that the said individual had made covenant with the evil one, and therefore was a witch, and must be put to death. mather cautioned the girl not to give names to the crowd around her bed, "lest any good person should come to suffer any blast of reputation." neither mather nor calef denied the devil's power to bring forth apparitions of the _innocent_; and neither reposed full confidence in or justified the use of spectral testimony generally, though very many people in those days did. the point we desire to mark is this: that mather's account is in harmony with modern observation in giving indications that spirits, apparitions, or appearances of highly mediumistic persons are more frequently seen than those of unimpressible ones--if such are not, and we believe it is so--the class generally thus presented:--such persons, that is, the mediumistic, are more frequently than others seen by the inner or clairvoyant eye. this fact begets at least conjecture, that it is probably psychological law, and not the devil's or any one's else _choice_, which determines who shall or may be seen as specters. persons seen in this case had previously manifested powers or acts which caused them to be regarded as witches. around most persons, who in the sequel of these pages shall be found appearing as specters and as bewitching and tormenting others, will be found signs that they were very like such as to-day are called mediums. "they presented a book and demanded of her that she should set her hand to it, or touch it at least with her hand, as a sign of her becoming a servant of the devil;" upon her refusal to do that, they confined "her to her bed for just six weeks together." true answer to the question whether an accused one had signed the devil's book or not, was eagerly sought for in all trials for witchcraft, because if such signature had not been made by the person on trial, he or she _might_ be innocent; while if it had been, guilt was already consummated, and death was deserved. "sometimes there looked in upon the young woman a short and a black man, whom they (the specters) called their master. they all professed themselves vassals of this devil, ... and in obedience to him, ... she was cruelly pinched with invisible hands, ... and the black and blue marks of the pinches became immediately visible unto the standers by.... she would every now and then be miserably hurt with pins, which were found stuck into her neck, back, and arms.... she would be strangely distorted in her joints and thrown ... into convulsions." such things are stated as facts, and were not contested in the day of their occurrence--not even by robert calef. "from the time that margaret rule first found herself to be formally besieged by the specters, until the ninth day following, namely, from september 10th to the 18th, she kept an entire fast, and yet she was unto all appearance as fresh, as lively, as hearty at the nine days' end, as before they began; during all this time ... if any refreshment were brought unto her, her teeth would be set, and she would be thrown into many miseries; indeed, once or twice or so in all this time, her tormentors permitted her to swallow a mouthful of somewhat that might increase her miseries, whereof a spoonful of rum was the most considerable; but otherwise, as i said, her fast unto the ninth day was very extreme and rigid." protracted fastings without consequent exhaustion have been common with the mediumistic in all ages. moses, elijah, jesus, each fasted forty days; many mediums in our midst are often sustained for long periods by absorptions of nutriment in its elemental state into the inner or spirit organism, from that invisible storehouse of food from which trees obtain much sustenance, and whence once came loaves and fishes in judea; from the inner thus fed, the outer man receives supplies; at least, spirits state such to be the process. "margaret rule once, in the middle of the night, lamented sadly that the specters threatened the drowning of a young man in the neighborhood, whom she named unto the company; well, it was afterward found that at that very time this young man, having been prest on board a man-of-war then in the harbor, was, out of some dissatisfaction, attempting to swim ashore; and he had been drowned in the attempt if a boat had not seasonably taken him up. it was by computation a minute or two after the young woman's discourse of the drowning that the young man took to the water." this account, if taken literally, reveals her prescience of a definite approximating event, also knowledge of the person whom it threatened, the place where it would act, while neither outward perceptions nor any embodied mortals could help her to such knowledge. it is not stated that either the outer or inner set of her perceptive organs directly sensed danger tending towards the young man. the report of her words is that "the specters threatened the drowning;" from this it seemingly follows that her inner sense, either of hearing or of vision, learned either the intention of spirit beings to purposely expose a particular man to danger, or they saw the oncoming of danger to him, and spoke of it to her. this occurrence through the impressible girl was left unnoticed by calef; his silence approximates to concession that the main facts here stated were not refutable in his day. "once," continues the narrator, "her tormentors pulled her up to the ceiling of the chamber, and held her there, before a very numerous company of spectators, who found it as much as they could all do to pull her down again." that statement is distinct and needs no comment here, but may receive further notice when we shall adduce the attestation of other personal witnesses to its actual truth. again mather says, "the enchanted people have talked much of a _white_ spirit from whence they have received marvelous assistances, ... by such a spirit was margaret rule now visited. she says she never could see his face, but that she had a frequent view of his bright, shining, and glorious garments; he stood by her bedside continually heartening and comforting her, and counseling her to maintain her faith and hope in god.... he told her that god had permitted her afflictions to befall her for the everlasting and unspeakable good of her own soul, and for the good of many others." hers was very strange experience to outflow from _delirium tremens_. it seems to us very much more like inflowings of heavenly peace from vision of the blessed. obviously at times there flashed forth glorious brightness during witchcraft's dismal night. mather stated these and some other very significant facts, which calef omitted to grapple with or to gainsay in his version of the scenes. omitting to extract more from mather, we will now look at calef's account. he commences a letter to mather in which, referring to his own previous production, he says, "having written '_from the mouths of several persons_,' who affirm they were present with margaret rule the 13th instant, her answers, behavior, &c." calef therefore probably was not himself a witness of the scenes he described; but received his account from the mouths of several other persons. one of them apparently wrote, and calef, adopting the statement, says, "i found her of a healthy countenance, about seventeen years old, lying very still and speaking but very little." soon the mathers (father and son, increase and cotton) came in. the son shortly began to question margaret and get replies. their colloquy was commonplace mostly, and need not be quoted; but some things then _done_ we shall notice. margaret went into a fit, and cotton mather "laid his hand upon her face and nose, but, as he said, without perceiving any breath. then he brushed her on the face with his glove, and rubbed her stomach, and bid others do so too, and said it eased her; then she revived." shortly again she "was in a fit," and was again rubbed. "margaret perd, an attendant, assisted mather in rubbing her. the afflicted spake angrily to her, saying, 'don't you meddle with me,' and hastily put away her hand. he then wrought his fingers before her eyes." such things, presumably, were stated correctly as matters of fact observed. were these doings by mather foolish and useless? different persons will answer variously. in the eyes of most new england people to-day, they may seem to be so. in part they appear to us ill judged and harmful, though well meant and partially productive of the effect desired. when mather could perceive no breath, he naturally became solicitous to set her lungs in motion, and by his rubbings probably soon accomplished that. the observations of many moderns have taught them to welcome, at times, stoppage of the external breathings of good mediums, deeming that indicative of free, but imperceptible, breathing by the inner lungs, which process sustains the person physically, while the spirit roams and recreates in spirit-land. yes, to _welcome_ it, as watchers by the restless sick welcome the advent of sleep to the sufferers. once we probably should have acted, in like circumstances, much as mather did; but now we might often leave such a patient unacted upon for a time, even though breathless to our external perception, because of belief that action like mather's might be as unwise as would the awakening of a sick one immediately after the commencement of a nap. his motions of the fingers around her eyes might tend to produce the same effect; that is, to draw her out of a state of _rest_ and joy, provided the outer breathing was imperceptible. rubbings and motions of the hands, however, are often very serviceable in removing influences which are distressing, whenever the entranced one is conscious externally, as margaret probably was in the _second_ fit, but perhaps not in the first. for in the second she detected difference between influences upon her from mather and those from miss perd; the former were agreeable and welcome, the latter annoying and offensive. systems sensitive enough to detect the qualities and influences of magnetic emanations from all human beings, yes, all animals and most minerals, that come in contact with themselves, are greatly soothed by absorption of unconscious properties from some, and irritated by those from others, though their esteem, respect, or affection for each class be the same. qualities of emanations are, to considerable extent, independent of either intellectual, moral, or emotional states. a babe or simpleton may be the best of anodynes, while the cultured saint may be an irritant to a sensitive medium. "he put his hand on the clothes over her breast, and said he felt a living thing." perhaps he did. in our day we hear of such presentations as semblances of small living animals around mediums; but personally, have not seen or felt such. "soon after they" (the ministers) "were gone, the afflicted desired the _women_ to be gone, saying that the company of the _men_ was not offensive to her." there is not general popular knowledge, that the magnetisms of all animals are as distinctly male in one sex and female in the other, as are any of their organs, nor that to very sensitive persons there come times and states when their own magnetisms hunger for food from magnetisms of opposite genders. some sensitives feel the action of finer laws and forces than men detect in their normal condition. "she learned that there were reports about town that she was not afflicted. and some came to her as spies; but during the said time" (of their visit) "she had no fit." few anti-spiritualistic asseverations are more frequently put forth than this; that manifestations rarely occur in the presence of certain persons deemed specially competent to detect fraud and imposture, and who visit mediums for the purpose of exposing them. unbelief was once a bar to manifestation of many marvels by jesus of nazareth. also it much obstructs their presentation to-day; and probably, therefore, might have done so when emanating from spies and would-be exposers around margaret rule. but "they can't," is perhaps often said of spirits when "they won't," would more accurately describe the fact. as at the albion in 1857, they would manifest before press reporters, but not before harvard professors. they know the thoughts of each observer, and are often pleased to bite the biter; the playfully roguish sometimes find it fun to catch rogues. "she had no fit" when spies were present. "the attendants," september 19, "said that mr. m. would not go to prayer with her when people were in the room, as they" (he and his father) "did that night he felt the _live creature_." peter of old knew what was conducive to effectual prayer when, at the side of dorcas, then entranced to seeming death, he "put the bystanders all forth and kneeled down and prayed." mather no doubt had acquired similar knowledge; world-wide experience and observation teach that quiet and harmony are needful to the utterance of satisfactory or very helpful prayer. "margaret perd and another said they smelt brimstone. i and others," said calef's informant, "_said_ we did not smell any." the wording leaves it doubtful, perhaps, whether the reporter and his "others," though smelling brimstone, quizzically said they did _not_, or whether they actually failed to smell it. if they did not smell the article, their natural, frank statement would have been, _we did not_. but the wording is, "_we said_" we did not. our quotation was not made, however, for the purpose of making such criticism, but as a text to the following paragraph. spirits sometimes have power to produce in the olfactory nerves of many persons, precisely the sensations which many familiar odors produce. we have personally been refreshed on several occasions by perception of the fragrance of pinks, while we were reclining drowsily on a couch in our own study, no visible person present with us, and no pinks in the vicinity, or in our thoughts. this has occurred quite as often in dead of winter, as when the garden was odorous with flowers. probably such presentations may be made to some members of a company, while others in the crowd will be insensible to them. one's non-perception of spirit-born odor, whether coming from above or below, whether pleasurable or offensive, does not argue that mere fancy alone acts upon a neighbor who says he smells such. on the evening of the 13th some one present, seemingly unacquainted with her habits, put either to a particular person or to the whole company, this question. "what does she eat or drink?" and, from some unnamed source, came this response: "she does not eat at all, but drinks _rum_." neither the question nor the answer is ascribed to mather, nor to any one in particular. we are surprised that s. p. fowler, the intelligent, just, and charitable editor of salem witchcraft, said in a foot note, page 57, that "the affliction of margaret rule ... was nothing more than a bad case of _delirium tremens_;" statements indicative of her good morals and habits previous to her affliction were right before his editorial eyes on pages just preceding his note, and nothing is found to her disparagement excepting that annunciation by some unknown body that she drinks _rum_. statements in her favor, and absence of any against her in the original records, convince us that fowler's conclusion was rash and not well founded. mather says that "she was born of sober and honest parents;" also that it "is affirmed that for about half a year before her visitation she was observably _improved in the hopeful symptoms of a new creature_: she was become seriously concerned for the everlasting salvation of her soul, and _careful to avoid the snares of evil company_." habits of that kind, during six preceding months, were not probable antecedents to _delirium tremens_; calef's temptations to have charged bad character for temperance, had there been facts to sustain him, were probably very strong; but we have found no evidence that he did so. an informant of his, when reporting conversation which took place around her, furnished the question and response, viz.: "what does she eat or drink? answer. she does not eat at all, but drinks _rum_." a fact stated by mather himself naturally might tempt any wag, inclined to create mirth, to say playfully, "she eats nothing, but drinks _rum_." he, mather, informs us that "once, twice, or so" her "controllers, for her annoyance or distress," allowed her to take a _spoonful_ of rum. what more common than for attendants to offer and urge upon a suffering and agonized person any stimulant or cordial at hand? nothing. we will allow that margaret did take "once, twice, or so" a spoonful of rum; but nothing else that we meet with in the account of her, gives the shadow of foundation for the charge of _delirium tremens_. if the charge is true, _delirium tremens_ in that case worked wonders which it is not accustomed to perform; to tell correctly, when lying on a bed on shore at night, that danger of drowning was then about coming upon a particular young man away down the harbor, was an extraordinary operation for that disease to perform; and still more extraordinary was it, that such disease lifted the body on which it was feeding, up in horizontal position to the ceiling overhead, held it there for minutes, and so firmly that it took several men to pull it down. do such feats bespeak their origin in _delirium tremens_? no. calling it a case of _delirium tremens_ does nothing toward giving rational explanation of the marvels attendant upon margaret. _rum_ is the name of a very unsafe guide, and the name, not the thing, deluded the annotator to inferences useless, entirely useless, as helps to explain such phenomena as he was engaged in elucidating. any weakness, sin, or crime which was not charged upon margaret rule by her cotemporaries, it is uncharitable to allege unqualifiedly against her now, on the sole basis that in her hours of suffering she drank a few spoonfuls of rum; and is especially inapropos, when, as is the case here, the charge gives no help toward accomplishing the very purpose for which alone it should have been made, namely, as an elucidation of the cause of such things as how she sensed the danger threatening the absent man, and how or by whom she was lifted up and sustained. we shall quote no further from the statements of the two parties, mather and calef, made prior to their coming into distinct conflict. enough has been presented to show that mather stated several facts which, to the mass of men, must seem astounding--such facts as bespeak performances beyond what embodied men could enact. the wondrous facts, such as her prophecy of danger about to wait upon the impressed sailor--her long fast without pining--her being lifted by invisible force to the ceiling above her, &c., constitute the important parts of mather's narrative of what he personally witnessed and knew. on the other side, calef, adopting the account of unnamed witnesses, omits any allusion to the important facts in the case, and presents, in the main, different, and relatively, if not absolutely, trifling accompaniments. calef was complained of by mather for _omissions_. to this calef replied, "my intelligence not giving me any further, i could not insert that i knew not." the doings of the mathers, and especially of cotton, much more than the manifestations through and upon margaret, were detailed to calef, and caused him to put forth a very meager and one-sided manuscript account of this case. the clergyman at once perceived and felt this, and soon sent his opponent the following affidavits:- "i do testify that i have seen margaret rule in her afflictions from the invisible world, lifted up from her bed, wholly by an invisible force, a great way toward the top of the room where she lay. in her being so lifted she had no assistance from any use of her own arms or hands or any other part of her body, not so much as her heels touching her bed, or resting on any support whatsoever. and i have seen her thus lifted, when not only a strong person hath thrown his whole weight across her to pull her down, but several other persons have endeavored with all their might to hinder her from being so raised up; which i suppose that several others will testify as well as myself when called unto it. "witness my hand, "samuel avis." to the substance of the above, robert earle, john wilkins, and daniel wilkins did subscribe that they could testify. also thomas thornton and william hudson testified to having seen margaret so lifted up "by an invisible force ... as to touch the garret floor, while yet neither her feet nor any other part of her body rested either on the bed or on any other support, ... and all this for a considerable while; we judged it several minutes."--p. 76. before presenting the merchant's comments upon such statements of such facts, we will name again the special reason why we draw protracted attention to the two writers, mather and calef. they were intelligent and alert cotemporaries, both in the vigor of manhood probably, for mather was about thirty years of age, and calef lived more than twenty-five years after the commencement of his controversy; both probably were cognizant of the main facts pertaining to witchcraft; even during or very shortly after their occurrence in the family of john goodwin of boston in 1688, in salem 1692, and around both mercy short and margaret rule in boston 1693. therefore the controversial writings of these two, both well acquainted with the occurring witchcraft events of their day, but differing distinctly on many points of belief and policy, become, when used in connection, our best accessible source for learning what actually occurred in many witchcraft scenes, what beliefs were prevalent then, what kinds of evidence for convicting of witchcraft were admissible, and what rules governed the courts. because of their value as teachers upon witchcraft, we desire to have these two men, with their agreements and differings, clearly comprehended. the merchant sent to the clergyman the following comment upon the chief point confirmed by the affidavits of five or six unimpeached witnesses, viz., the lifting of the girl to the top of the room by invisible power:-"i suppose you expect i should believe it, and if so, the only advantage gained is, that what has so long been controverted between protestants and papists, _whether miracles are ceast_, will hereby seem to be decided for the latter; it being, for aught i can see, if so, as true a _miracle_ as for iron to swim; and the devil can work such miracles." a statement either more aspersive of its author's own candor, or more indicative of his thralldom to prejudice, has rarely been made. either calef or some one for him, when treating of the departure of the community from scriptural interpretation and treatment of witchcraft, when scanning rules laid down by accredited authors for its detection, and, generally, when handling creeds, broad principles, and prevalent usages, wielded a clear, pointed, and forceful pen. but mather's facts blunted its point and baffled its powers. look at their metamorphosis of the logician; he says, essentially, to his opponent, "if your facts are true, catholics have the better of us in our controversy with them as to the continuance of miracles down to the present day. your facts, if facts, are miracles, and we protestants are wrong. therefore i will not concede them: if true, they are "as great a miracle as for iron to swim," and prove the catholics right. i won't grant them." what miracle did he concede that the devil can work? was it causing iron to swim? or was it such lifting of margaret rule as had been sworn to? perhaps we are mistaken, but we think he meant to say that the devil could lift the girl as described; who, if he had done so, wrought as great a miracle as god did when he caused the ax-head to swim where the prophet cast a stick over it. still such an operation in modern times must not be avowed, because that would give the catholic advantage over the protestant! alas for the clear-headed man when facts force him to abandon the methods of logic, and resort to those of prejudice! mather's facts completely stultified calef in this case. we cannot doubt--and who will venture to?--that he must have known the characters for truth and veracity of avis and his associate witnesses; must have known the circumstances surrounding, and the state of the public mind in regard to them; and yet we notice no indication that he attempted to impeach any of them even in thought. he leaves them entirely unnoticed. yes, where even a very slight intimation or covert innuendo in some turn of expression pointing at either credulity or mental weakness on their part would have been an argument in favor of his views, nothing of the kind appears in his writings. he leaves them without characterization--leaves them unnamed. and since he who obviously must have known them, and known too how they were generally esteemed, left their veracity and competency entirely unimpeached, when impeachment would have been his natural resort, if justifiable,--only blinding, rash, very rash, prejudice will prompt any one at this day to doubt their fair claim to be regarded as truthful and competent witnesses. mather had said that "once her tormentors pulled her up to the ceiling of the chamber, and held her there before a numerous company of spectators, who found it as much as they could all do to pull her down again." such was the published statement of a learned and able man, much respected by a large portion of the inhabitants of boston, and whose incredulity was not strong enough to make him distrust the distinct testimony of his own senses. therefore, though backed by the testimony of six other witnesses, he is deemed so credulous by many moderns that his word has little weight with them. calef's comments upon the case are jumbled, and not such that we can place much confidence in the accuracy of our own perception of his meaning; but he seems to have conceded that the devil possessed power enough to have lifted the girl, and leaves us privileged to infer his belief in its possible exercise upon her. that generally clear-headed man's illogical and confused statement is not the least among marvels attendant upon witchcraft. he murdered logic when attempting to parry the force of facts sworn to. he did not impeach the witnesses. omission to do that, under the circumstances, argues more convincingly to us, in favor of the literal and exact truth of the statement by mather and six others, that the girl was raised from her bed by invisible powers up to the ceiling at the top of the room, than would calef's own distinct assent to what they affirmed. he was no _timid_ advocate, and since a man as strong and brave as he, circumstanced as he was, omitted attempt to discredit either the character or competency of mather's backers, the presumption is, that calef's own sense of justice and the judgment of the town regarded them as unimpeachable. the girl was lifted, as they affirmed. what they stated is credible. we, personally, possess lack of incredulity rivalling that of mather. for, when our own senses testify to us calmly and deliberately, under circumstances which exclude both illusion and delusion, we are accustomed to repose very much confidence in the truth and accuracy of what they say; and, in illustration of our lack of incredulity regarding what our own senses witness, or, if one prefers different phraseology, in illustration of our credulity, that is, of our ability and willingness to believe what is thus learned, we give the following account of one of our own interesting and instructive experiences:-several years ago, from fifteen to twenty, in a chamber of the residence of daniel farrar, esq., hancock street, boston, to which he had invited us and several others, we clasped the left hand of rollin h. squires in our own right, took position with him in the center of a large room, several feet distant from any other person or any article of furniture, when, promptly upon shutting off the gas-light, his hand began to draw ours up, gently and steadily, till our own right arm, its hand clasping his, was extended to its full length above our head. then we moved our left hand across our chest, and it came in contact with the young man's boot at rest by our side, and simultaneously we heard a scratch upon the ceiling above, which was at least ten feet from the floor of the room. soon he began to descend as gently as he had ascended, and when he had reached the floor and light had been let on, we saw a red chalk-mark at least three feet long on the ceiling over the spot on which we had stood up together. the mark was not there previous to the extinguishment of the light, for the whole company present had been informed that he would have chalk in his hand in order that he might give evidence to all present that he had been lifted up. consequently all of us carefully observed the overhead ceiling up to the extinguishment of the light. no reluctance attends our publishing such a narrative; we are less solicitous to win a skeptic's laurels, than to make distinct statement of any facts pertaining to occult forces in nature, which we have experimentally learned. o, credulity! thou art a most beneficent helper to knowledge of nature's finer laws and forces, especially of those relatively occult ones which evolve mysteries and exert unrecognized action upon man; laws and forces which it would benefit him to comprehend and regard. scarcely can history or experience furnish a more striking instance of the stultifying and bewildering influence of marvelous _facts_ upon a bright, resolute, philanthropic man, who was kept by his creeds and prejudices from liberty and ability to let reason and logic have fair play, than was witnessed in the case of calef. facts are man's masters; rebellion against them, or disregard of their demands, is sure to bring humiliation upon him. calef, whether conscious of it or not, was in an humiliated mental condition when his strong mind, without denying well-attested facts, indicated an unwillingness to acknowledge belief of them, because doing so would settle a long-controverted question adversely to the party which included himself. seemingly nonplused and bewildered by facts, he said, in quasi-concession of their occurrence, "the devil can work such miracles." both what calef said, and what he omitted to say, tend forcibly to produce conviction that samuel avis and his five associate witnesses stated "truth, and nothing but the truth." words or statements from men whose characters were not impeached by a contesting cotemporary, ought to be accepted as true by those who now can know nothing against the truthfulness of lips from which they issued. had calef's mind embraced perception that those whom he and nearly all others then deemed the great devil, and smaller ones,--heaven-born, but fallen,--were in fact what all clairvoyants, then and in all subsequent days, have said they resembled,--and what they claimed to be,--that is, men and women originally earth-born, and then earth-emancipated spirits, requiring no more special permission from the omnipotent one than man does for using the forces of external nature,--could he have perceived that such beings might be the performers of all the marvelous works of witchcraft, he would have become free to admit possible solidity in some catholic ground; free to have set at least one foot upon it, and having done that, he could have dispensed with that heaven-born devil whom he supposed god commissioned, but whom mather believed man had to help god commission before he could harass mankind; would have been free to do thus because he then would have seen possibility that other, lesser, or less formidable agents have power to work marvels, would have seen that such could have lifted margaret rule, and thus made the words of those who described their wonderful works credible, and exempted himself from attack of mather at points where the striker was greatest sufferer from the blows. when attacking some barbarous beliefs and customs of christendom, calef was very successful, and became a very great public benefactor; but he failed, if such was ever his design, to refute the positive occurrence of such marvelous facts as mather's descriptions set forth. the general accuracy of the clergyman's allegations was not made questionable by the merchant's writings, even though he did present the man himself in some ludicrous aspects, and often attempted that, when more knowledge of spirit forces and agents than he possessed would have taught him that future time might smile at the smiler and the would-be provoker of smiles. cotton mather. the phases in which the writings of cotton mather present their author are so varied, and the estimation in which he has been held by subsequent writers is so diverse, that there is difficulty in characterizing him to one's own satisfaction. he was neither wholly saint, nor wholly sinner; was not unmingled wisdom, nor all folly. we do not very eagerly undertake to outline his character. but since, apart from records of courts, his pen furnished more valuable and more numerous facts pertaining to new england witchcraft in the seventeenth century than have come down from any other pen, there seems to be a call upon us to comment upon his competency and trustworthiness as observer and as reporter or recorder of facts. in matured life he had become probably the first scholar and most learned man in the province. his mind was bright, versatile, and active, and its application to books, to the demands of his profession, and to the educational, moral, religious, and political interests of the public, was untiring. his attention was drawn to consideration of marvelous occurrences while he was quite young, and his records of witchcraft were nearly _all_ penned by the time he was thirty years old. in 1689, being then only twenty-six, he published a small work entitled "memorable providences relating to witchcraft and possessions." he was a personal witness and an alert observer, through several successive months, of a rapid and prolonged stream of marvels, which were manifested through the children of john goodwin, of boston, in 1688, a long account of which he published quite soon after their occurrence. four years later came on the salem witchcraft, and portions of its tragic and agonizing occurrences were witnessed by this boston clergyman. he was present in the crowd around the gallows when several of the wronged victims to diabolism were executed. and he promptly furnished an extended account of much which had just intensely agitated and frenzied not only salem and essex county, but the whole province. the next year, 1693, brought him opportunity to be much with and to observe carefully two afflicted young, women in boston, mercy short and margaret rule, whose maladies were deemed bewitchments. he recorded his observations and doings relating to these two persons, and his accounts are available to-day, though there is evidence rendering it probable that he never prepared either record for the press, and that both have become public without his sanction. as has been learned from what precedes, robert calef, an opponent of some then prevalent beliefs and practices concerning witchcraft, found means, whether honorably or not is perhaps debatable, for putting mather's account of margaret rule before the world. this young woman was under mather's special watch for several weeks, while she was being acted upon by occult agents and forces; and he promptly recorded for perusal by his friends an account of what transpired around her. from the foregoing statements it is obvious that, both directly and indirectly, very many facts and opinions, that will be adduced as our work proceeds, will have been derived from mather's records, and will rest, at least in part, upon his authority. consequently, his qualifications, as observer, reporter, and recorder, are matters not only of interest, but of some importance. though young when attentive to witchcraft scenes, mather was learned and influential. probably few other persons, if any, in the colonies were then his equals in those respects. his duties as a clergyman and a citizen, and his inclination also, led him to be an extensive observer of marvelous manifestations; he obviously was a lover of such. and his records show that he was either a closer observer of the minuti㦠of transpiring events of that nature, or a more willing and careful specifier of little things pertaining to them, full of important meaning to some readers now, yet probably meaningless to many others, than were most of his cotemporaries; though lawson, hale, and willard were good at specification, and were more cautious commentators than mather. an ignoring of any participation by spirits in witchcraft scenes has blinded historians in both the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to some decided merits in the writings of mather. the assumption by later commentators that no occurrences whatsoever, which required more than mortal agency for their production, ever actually transpired in cases witnessed and described by mather, has apparently caused them, consciously or otherwise, to impute to his fancy, credulity, or other untrustworthy attributes, many things which a moderate acquaintance on their part with modern manipulations of occult forces by invisible intelligences would have suggested to them that possibly, and even probably, his statements of facts were based on positive observations by his own physical senses, and by the external senses of other observers. a class of agents are now at work whose cognition may some day turn the laugh upon overweeningly wise laughers at cotton mather. this circumscribed view as to the actual extent and variety of _natural_ intelligent agents, and _natural_ laws and forces, has caused them to draw inferences disparaging to mather's accuracy in places where more knowledge of the outworkings of laws and forces which spirits obey and use, would have given them trust in the essential naturalness and consequent probable occurrence of nearly or quite all the facts stated in his narrative of personal observations and experiences--we do not say in the pervading wisdom and value of his comments and inferences, but in the naturalness and consequent credibility of his _facts_. where forlorn and wretched old women, together with tricksy and roguish girls, and a few low-lived, malicious mortals of both sexes are regarded as the actual authors of all witchcraft phenomena, mather's reports of that class of occurrences are an offense--are a stumbling-block in the pathway of satisfactory solution. so long as his statements are left unimpeached, such agents as witchcraft has of late been imputed to are incompetent to the work ascribed to them. that author, therefore, must needs be discredited; consequently sneer, and slur, and ridicule have been brought to bear against his accuracy and trustworthiness. some modern commentators have made _savage_ use of such weapons upon this original describer of witchcraft scenes. he has been by innuendoes caricatured and metamorphosed to an extent which seems distinctly reprehensible. brightest minds may sometimes lack knowledge of some existing agents and forces; good men may be actual, though unintentional perpetrators of great wrong, when they depict the characters of some predecessors whose words seem extravagant to such as limit natural actors and forces to those which the external senses and human science have long been familiar with. our recent readings have led us to regard mather as a man of more than common efficiency in acquiring information, and more than common despatch in putting his acquisitions before the public. we find evidences in his works that, if he did not acquire, he put forth both more minute and more extensive knowledge of the marvelous phenomena of his times, than any other person then living in america of whom we have knowledge. portions of his creeds helped him to frankness in description of marvels. his faith embraced many unseen intelligent agents, both good and bad, moving to and fro among men, ever walking the earth and influencing its affairs both "when we wake and when we sleep." consequently he never had occasion to inquire whether anything whatsoever was _possible_ which his senses or the senses of other witnesses seemed to cognize. he doubted not that unseen powers competent to anything whatsoever were around both him and all other human beings. his only question was, did the thing occur? if it did, it was proper to describe it as it appeared to its beholders. _how_ it could occur was a question which he, as recorder, was not called upon to answer; and he did not permit it to modify his record. this weakness(?) of his was fraught with latent strength which becomes beneficent in our day by its revealing to us the former mysterious irruption upon society of precisely such _outrã©_ and seemingly unnatural antics and doings, not only of animated human forms, but of lifeless household utensils and ornaments, as we are witnessing. history by him repeats itself to-day, and to-day's marvels give credibility to his statements. mather furnished broader and better bases for judging of the real sources, nature, character, and extent of witchcraft facts, than we generally get from other persons of his day. over-cautious witnesses and reporters often mislead very widely by failing to tell "the whole truth." some of mather's statements and doings which were slurred even by his cotemporary calef, and have been by later writers also, may deserve more respectful consideration than has usually been accorded to them. we are alluding to his manipulations of the afflicted, and other like acts. these indicate that either his observances and care of bewitched persons, or his intuitions, were giving him hints of the existence of natural laws and special conditions which permit mortals to loose, what he conceived to be,--or at least spoke of as being,--the devil's hold upon human instruments. we apprehend that he had at least vague surmises that some things which we now call mesmeric passes and psychological forces might be so applied by himself as to thwart the purposes and powers of possessing spirits. we are ready to grant that his use of dawning knowledge or of inflowed suggestions, whichever of them it was that set his own hands in motion over the obsessed, and prompted him to influence others to do the like, produced movements so unskillful that they were seldom very efficacious; yet we perceive that he moved in direction toward later discoveries which at this day enable many mortals to exercise much power toward both inducing and abolishing the control of human beings by disembodied spirits. there hang about mather slight indications that he received some knowledge or some impulses, mediumistically, impressionally, or intuitively. the fact that, though having much to do with both mercy short and margaret rule during the months of their affliction in the year immediately following the executions at salem, he refrained from advising or procuring their prosecution, or the prosecution of any whom they named as their afflictors, the facts that prayers, fastings, manipulations, and protracted and unflagging kindnesses and attentions, were his only appliances, and that both the girls were brought back to their normal condition, speak very distinctly in favor of mather's sagacity and philanthropy, in relation to the bewitched and the bewitchers, that year. though we are disposed to credit this prominent man with all the merits to which he has fair claim, we are far from regarding him as without foibles, weaknesses, and traits fitted to mantle the reader's face with smiles. we dissent from many of his notions, practices, and beliefs; we find him often swayed by motives which we are not ready to commend. at the same time we apprehend that many modern critics have paraded his weaknesses, blemishes, and laughable traits out of all just proportion to the notices, if any, which they have taken of his genuine merits. mather obviously was vain, egotistical, proud of his descent, greedy of the favor of great men both of the province and abroad, and was ambitious of place and influence. but vanity and egotism are not necessarily incompatible with very extensive learning, nor with great activity and beneficence, nor with presentation of facts and truths both very fully and without over-statement or distortion. he wrote hastily--much too hastily, and loosely oftentimes. more care to verify information and statements furnished him by other people, and more careful expressions pertaining to his own observations, experiences, and opinions, would have rendered him a much more valuable historian than he became. we concede that he was a loose and immethodical writer; but we fail to find evidence that he often, if ever, substituted fictions for facts, or made false statements or great exaggerations. the world is indebted to him for preserving and transmitting much valuable information. this man's estimation of himself and of his ancestry often reveals itself in extent and manner which provoke smiles. possibly his egotism was competent to give him a latent notion that quite as much favor might be vouchsafed by powers above to his two eminent grandfathers, revs. richard mather and john cotton, to his father, rev. increase mather, president of harvard college, and to himself, as heaven had in store for any mortals; and if any one of the four should be the special favorite of supernal intelligence, why not himself, in whom the blood of the other three was combined? if any quite honorable public position was devoid of an incumbent, or if important literary public service was needed, who was more competent to fill the one, or to the performance of the other, than himself? he wrote both for and of sir william phips, but was not chosen president, of harvard college. even egregious egotism is not necessarily incongruous with truth, kindness, charity, devotion, and great usefulness. with all his faults, we regard mather, when compared with most men, as having been very efficient, well-intentioned, and useful to the community around him. propensity to magnify self and whatever self either puts forth or is closely allied to, may be prevailingly bridled and controlled by other strong inclinations, and kept within the boundaries of truth. greed for approbation and commendation by persons holding high official position, and by all others whose characters, attainments, or possessions gave them influence in society, was apparently very strong in cotton mather, and the influence of that greed must generally have swayed him to make no important statements which would fail to meet, with general credence by his friends and fellow-townsmen. his account of the goodwin family is as full of things hard to be believed as any other portion of his writings; and yet, if he therein permitted himself to make any other than such statements as would receive ready credence by many physicians, clergymen, magistrates, and other influential and truthful persons who had been his fellow-witnesses, and knew exactly the bounds beyond which he could not go on a basis of well-observed facts, he would diminish his fame and favor with the public; and he well knew this. he was not the man to thus put his own reputation at hazard. his very weaknesses render it probable that he has transmitted little, if anything, more relating to that family than boston, as a whole, was at that time actually believing had just occurred in its midst. it is not wise, not kind, not just to overlook such characteristics and circumstances pertaining to a narrator as would naturally hold his speech within the bounds of credibility. mather's style and manner, sometimes admirable, are very often laughable, and are generally loose and unattractive. but these matters of taste and polish are distinct from his facts and truthfulness. bad manners, lack of tact, also speech, acts, and omissions unbecoming the gentleman and the divine, mark portions of mather's treatment of calef. whether such were his general characteristics, we do not know; probably they were not. occupation of the pulpit, as we know by personal experience, may make a preacher exceedingly sensitive to questionings of his opinions on any important matters anywhere. his habit of speaking, week after week, year after year, where none question or controvert, induces extreme sensitiveness in the mental cuticle. if sick and overworked, mather may have been easily nettled into other than his usual manners when calef pricked him by opposing his beliefs, and by covert sneers at some of his actions. in his account of mercy short he mentions his impaired health and overworkings. unfortunately, as we judge, for his posthumous reputation, mather was scribe of a convention of clergymen who met and deliberately put forth advice to the courts and government pertaining to evidence and processes which might properly be used at trials for the crime of witchcraft. as scribe, mather reduced the opinions of the convention to form for publication, if he had not previously drawn up his own, and at the meeting obtained their adoption. since the advice of this convention has been extensively regarded as disastrous in its results, mather has been deemed an efficient, if not the most efficient of all promoters of the executions at salem. we seriously question the justice of such imputation upon him, and we doubt whether the advice of the convention incited to the special course of action pursued by the courts, though it partially permitted it, perhaps. that advice commended "a very critical and exquisite caution ... _that there may be nothing used as a test for the trial of the suspected, the lawfulness whereof may be doubted by the people of god_." so far, good. this, to us at this day, looks like a caution to avoid the admission of _spectral evidence_, as it was then called, and distinct statement is made that such evidence alone was not enough to justify conviction; also it looks like a caution against cruel methods of extorting pleas and confessions. but the concluding paragraph of their advice, which is in the following words, _may_ have greatly nullified the softening force of all that preceded it. "we cannot but humbly recommend unto the government the speedy and vigorous prosecution of such as have rendered themselves obnoxious, according to the directions given in the laws of god and wholesome statutes of the english nation, for the detection of witchcraft." this advice came forth june 15, 1692, just when the flames of witchcraft at salem village had become alarming to the whole community; when scores of people were under arrest there upon suspicion of witchcraft, and when the courts were anxiously seeking to know how to conduct their trials. the advice seems to us somewhat ambidexter, holding forth in one hand exhortations to caution and leniency, and in the other an exhortation to make vigorous and prompt application of english witchcraft laws and usages which permitted and implied resort to most barbarous processes, and admitted all imaginable sorts of evidence. the general impression upon our mind, made by our recent readings, is, that the clergy generally were opposed to much reliance upon spectral evidence, and that their advice was meant to give that impression; while the civil _magistrates_ at salem held a different opinion, acted according to it, and obtained convictions upon spectral evidence in cases where none other was attainable. it was the civil magistrates, much more than the clergy, whose opinions, when embodied in action, outwrought the horrors of gallows hill. therefore we attach less blame to the scribe of the convention, and to the convention itself, than many others have done. though the belief is wide-spread in the youthful mind of our day that cotton mather was chief begetter of salem witchcraft, we find no facts to justify belief that any act of his ever had such intent. his chief acts known to us which connect him at all with doings there, were his authorship of the clerical advice just noticed, his presence at the hanging when proctor, willard, burroughs, and others were executed, when he said aloud to the multitude which was being incited by a fervent and touching address from the lips of the doomed burroughs, "even the devil may be changed into an angel of light," and his offer to support five or six of the afflicted at his own expense for weeks, provided he should be allowed to treat them by his own preferred process--that of praying and fasting, and keeping them mostly secluded from public observation. unexplained, his presence at the execution may be supposed to argue that it was one which had attractions for him--one which it was his pleasure to be present at. but a very rational supposition of poole places mather before us there in a different light. proctor and others had been hardly dealt with by the clergy in and near salem, and, while confined in boston jail awaiting the day of execution, they received such attentions from mather, that they requested him to be present as their spiritual adviser at the closing hour of their earthly lives. statements by mather, which his cotemporaries never contradicted, are to the effect that he never attended any trial for witchcraft, that no one was ever prosecuted for that crime by him, or at his suggestion, or by his advice; that his voice and intentional influence were ever against such proceedings. he also informs us that he made an offer to support five or six of the salem sufferers for weeks at his own expense, if he could have them subjected to his special charge, so that he could treat them by methods of his own. such facts surely indicate that an ardent and active man like him, ever burning to take part in most popular movements, was not in sympathy with originators of the violent and barbarous proceedings which were prosecuted at salem. had he relished them he would have been present at the trials. the facts give spontaneous birth to a presumption that some other motive than curiosity to witness the executions took him to salem at the time when we find him there, and the supposition of poole that he went there as the comforter and friend of proctor and willard is reasonable, and probably correct. if it be, the motive of his visit was not only commendable, but was also in harmony with his general doings in witchcraft cases that were more specially under his supervision, and is in distinct antagonism with motives which have been extensively imputed to him. we apprehend, however, that when others obtained convictions and sentences for witchcraft, he favored the execution of what he deemed wholesome law. we regret that he rudely broke the spell which the hallowing speech and prayer of the saintly burroughs were bringing upon the witnessing crowd. but we question whether the special reputed crime for which burroughs was about to die, caused mather to allude to him as the _devil_. burroughs, though a preacher, had not been regularly ordained, or surely not in a way that satisfied mather; also he was too regardless of the ordinances of religion, and too free a thinker, to suit the taste of the pastor of the north church in boston. this was, we think, his great offense in mather's view; and this caused the latter to say in reference to one who may have been more god-like and christ-like in spirit than himself, "even the devil may be changed into an angel of light." that saying, under its circumstances, is damaging to mather; yet it does not bear against him in matters pertaining to witchcraft, but to those of sectarianism or bigotry. mather the _humane_ and mather the _fame-seeker_ present very different aspects in their connections with witchcraft. as we view him in cases where he was leader and director, as those of mercy short and margaret rule, matters were so managed that no one was brought to examination upon suspicion of bewitching them, and mather's words and acts were uniformly designed to prevent any arraignment. prayer, fastings, manipulations, and all practicable privacy and quiet were his preferred appliances for closing up the devil's avenues of access, and of barring him off from man. this was mather the _humane_, was mather the _practical pastor_. but when the courts and men of influence and high position had applied, as they interpreted them, "the laws of god and the wholesome statutes of the english nation for the detection of witchcraft," the thirster for public approbation, not only refrained from protest against bloodshed, but lacked modesty enough to hold him back from hinting that his own productions might have helped on the beneficent work which had been accomplished; for he carefully let the world know that mr. _mather, the younger_, drew up the advice of the ministers to the court; and after having written out an account of the trials at salem, he said, "i shall rejoice that god is glorified, if the publication of these trials may promote such a pious thankfulness to god _for justice being so far executed among us_," as the ministers piously expressed in their advice. this was mather the fame-seeker, the ecclesiastic, and the subject of their majesties, william and mary. mather was not a well-balanced man. consistency all round was not conspicuous in him, yet he was consistent in his own treatment and management of all his special patients, and also in his efforts to make it known that himself might deserve some meed of merit for the murderous course pursued by the authorities for stopping the ravages of the evil one. from early manhood to the close of his life, mather was an unfaltering believer in protestant christendom's great witchcraft devil, backed by countless hosts of lesser ones, and he also believed in her special witchcraft. he had full faith in a devil as ubiquitous, active, and malignant as his own vigorous and expansive intellect could conjure up; had faith that extra manifestations of afflictive might, of knowledge, or of suffering in the outer world were produced by the devil, and faith also that even that mighty evil one was unable to afflict men outwardly, excepting either at the call or by the aid of some human servant who had entered into a covenant with his black majesty. the woe-working points of this man's faith were, that special covenantings with the devil were entered into by human beings, in consequence of which the covenanting mortals became witches--that is, they thence became able to command all his powers, as well as he theirs; also that only through such covenanted ones could he or his do harm to the bodies and external possessions of men. therefore, he reasoned, that, whenever extra and unaccountable malignant action appeared, some covenanter with the devil must be in the neighborhood of the malignant manifestation. and yet, practically, mather was not disposed to let the public get knowledge of the covenanter. his choice was, to keep secret the names of bewitched actors, the afflictors of the suffering ones, and to strive by prayers, fastings, manipulations, &c., to relieve the unhappy sufferers. had his policy been adopted by the public, had his example been widely followed, there would have been no execution for witchcraft in his generation. we can--and we are glad that we can--state that mather's faith embraced some other invisible beings than malicious ones, who had access to man. in that respect he probably differed from, and was favored above, most of the clergy and church members of his times; and perhaps his possession of faith in the ministry of _good_ angels made him a more lenient handler and more patient observer of the afflicted, than were most of his cotemporaries. his prolonged attention to martha goodwin, to mercy short, to margaret rule, and his offer to take care of five or six salem ones if he could be allowed the management of them, bespeak kindness in him above what was common in his age toward those deemed to be under "an evil hand." he once wrote thus:-"in the present evil world it is no wonder that the evil angels are more _sensible_ than those of the good ones. nevertheless it is very certain that the _good_ angels continually, without any defilement, fly about in our defiled atmosphere _to minister_ for the good of them that are the heirs of salvation.... now, though the angelic ministration is usually behind the curtain of more visible instruments and their actions, yet sometimes it hath been with extraordinary circumstances made more obvious to the sense of the faithful." he was not unmindful and did not omit to record the fact that "the enchanted people talked much of a _white spirit_, from whence they received marvelous assistances.... margaret rule had a frequent view of his bright, shining, and glorious garments, ... and says he told her that god had permitted her afflictions to befall her for the unspeakable and everlasting good of her own soul, and for the good of many others; and for his own immortal glory." when a being or beings of such glorious appearance present themselves, and when their utterances and influences are elevating and blissful, it is not wise to ignore them. the very laws which permit the advent of low and dark spirits are natural, and can be availed of, on fitting occasions and conditions, by elevated and bright ones; therefore wisdom invites man to solicit and prepare the way for visits by the latter class. the courtesy of s. f. haven, esq., the accomplished librarian of the american antiquarian society, worcester, mass., recently permitted us to see a long-lost and recently discovered manuscript, giving, in cotton mather's handwriting, an account of mercy short. we judge from cursory perusal of a modern manuscript copy of mather's account, that the librarian had ample grounds for reporting to the society that mercy short's was "a case similar to that of margaret rule, but _of greater interest and fuller details_." he further remarked in his report, that "it will be remembered that the account of margaret rule was not published by mather himself, but by his enemy calef, who by some means obtained possession of it. the story of mercy short, from an indorsement upon it, appears to have been privately circulated among his friends, but there is nothing to show that mather ever intended it for publication."--_s. f. haven's report, april 29, 1874._ common fairness requires all modern critics to remember and regard the fact that mather's accounts of mercy short and margaret rule were never given to the public by himself; that they never received his revision and correction for the press. because of this they perhaps come to us more alive with the spirit of frankness and sincerity, and with more detail of little incidents. unstudied records are generally honest and substantially accurate, even if marred by looseness of style and expression, and by statements of wonders. our views would require us to refrain from calling calef _mather's_ "enemy," as the librarian did. he was the enemy of _unscriptural_ definitions of witchcraft, and of unjustifiable proceedings against those accused of it; but not, as we read his purposes and feelings, the enemy of mather himself. he was the enemy of opinions of which mather was a conspicuous and outspoken representative, and whose writings furnished provoking occasion for an attack upon disastrous errors. we trust the public may ere long see mather's account of mercy short in print. that, and the one of margaret rule, show us very authentically, and we can almost say _beautifully_, the temper of mather witch-ward, in the spring and autumn of the year next following the memorable 1692. nothing then inclined him to ways that led to human slaughter. the conditions, seeming acts, and surroundings of those two girls apparently gave him opportunity and power to evoke a repetition of salem's fearful scenes, in which the modern world has been deluded to believe that his soul found pleasure. if that soul loved blood, it could easily have set it flowing in 1693, and found wherewith to gratify its appetite; but _it did not_. one of the questions of great importance which received earnest discussion in witchcraft times, perhaps the most important of all in practical bearings, had mather and calef both on the same side, and consequently it was not dwelt upon in their controversy. our reference is to the _validity_ of "_spectral evidence_,"--that is, of testimony given by those who obviously perceived the facts they testified to while in an entranced, clairvoyant, or other abnormal condition. some--many--able and good men then maintained that such testimony, unbacked by any other, might justify conviction of witchcraft, while quite as many, equally able and good men, including most of the clergy, maintained that such testimony alone was not sufficient. another disputed point was, whether satan could assume the shape of an innocent person, and in that shape do mischief to the bodies and estates of mankind. the same question, partially, is up to-day--viz., can any but willing devotees to satan be used in the processes of spirit manifestations? our two combatants were not at variance here--both had faith that satan, the then synonym of _spirits_, whether good or bad, could employ the innocent in prosecuting his purposes. on the question whether satan was obliged to use some mortal in covenant with himself whenever he harmed another mortal, they differed, as has been already shown, mather claiming that human co-operation was frequently, if not always, needful to any manifestation of witchcraft. but in 1698 he put this among what he conceived to be "mistaken principles." we do not recall any other point on which he expressed change of view, nor do we find him making confessions of personal wrong-doings in connection with witchcraft; neither does he seem to have had cause for either confession or repentance, if kindness, leniency, and good-will to man are not to be confessed and repented of as crimes. robert calef. robert calef, though probably not in advance of many others in detecting and dissenting mentally from the public errors of faith and practice in relation to witchcraft, was first to manifest nerve enough to speak out boldly his own thoughts and those of many others. backed and aided probably by strong and learned men, he became to christendom's witchcraft, as martin luther had been to its roman creeds and practices, a bold, outspoken _protestant_. each of them dared to brave strong currents of popular beliefs and practices, even when the course was encompassed with dangers. each probably was moved and sustained by firm conviction that truth, right, and justice were on his side; each had nerve enough to stand firm and resolute in his self-chosen post of danger and philanthropy; and each was, to great extent, successful. luther challenged the pope and his devotees to justify portions of their creed and practices, and calef did the same to cotton mather, as a leading annunciator and expounder of the witchcraft creed. luther and calef each conceded that much in the creed of those whom he contested was founded on scripture, and so far was impregnable; but they saw that many unauthorized and baneful appendages had been put upon true scriptural faith and instructions, and each labored to sever the true and good from the false and bad with which the currents of opinions and events had long been investing them. neither of them, however, discerned all the errors and pernicious practices which have since become visible. luther, though he saw, or at least heard, and scolded, and threw his ink-horn at catholicism's devil, did not discard, but retained, in his protestant creed, both him and witchcraft as they then existed in the catholic belief. calef conceded the positive existence of mather's great personal witchcraft devil of supernal origin, vast power, and ever-burning malignity, but found him commissioned only by god--never by human witches, as it was then generally believed he was and must be, when he manifested his power through or upon man. we are much in doubt as to whether calef was properly _author_ of a large part of what he published relating to witchcraft. the articles he put forth from time to time seem to us very varied in style and in merits as to their scholarly and rhetorical airs. it is said, in vol. i. p. 288, mass. hist. soc. records, that "calef was furnished with materials for his work by mr. brattle of cambridge, and his brother of boston, and other gentlemen who were opposed to the salem proceedings." he may have had--and we conjecture that he had--much help in putting his materials into the form in which they came before the public. we are able to learn very little concerning the man himself. it is usual to style him a boston merchant, but mather alludes to him as that "weaver," &c. whatever may have been his culture, occupation, character, or social position, he assumed the responsibility of what is imputed to him--and we very willingly leave uncontested both his claims to have been author of all that he subscribed to, and to be called a boston _merchant_. calef went into his work in deep earnest, and perhaps from a strong sense of duty to god and man; he perceived that departure from teachings and requirements of the scriptures, and adoption of opinions, processes of examination, and kinds of evidence which the scriptures did not prescribe, had occasioned the chief woes of witchcraft, and therefore devoted much time to the work of producing great and needed change in public opinion. he continued for some time to write clearly and forcibly to mather; but, failing there to get his fundamental questions squarely and satisfactorily met, after months of trial, addressed a letter "to the ministers, whether english, french, or dutch," upon this subject; this general application, however, failed to bring a response. next he tried the rev. samuel willard individually, then "all the ministers in and near boston;" afterward rev. benjamin wadsworth singly; but his success in eliciting replies was so meager, that we apparently may apply to those from whom he sought information the following words which he used in reference to some who had defined rules by which to detect witchcraft,--viz., "perhaps the force of a prevailing opinion, together with an education thereto suited, might overshadow their judgments." his dates show that his calls for either refutation or assent to his positions were continued for two or three years, and that he was not simply or mainly an opponent of mather, but an earnest seeker for light. in 1700, his collected correspondence, together with much other matter from mather's pen and other sources, was published in london, and entitled "_more_ wonders of the invisible world," mather having previously published "wonders of the invisible world." this clear-sighted, earnest, untiring spirit soon gained the public ear extensively, began to enlighten the public mind, and turn it into new channels of thought and inquiry. though not a polished, he was an intelligible, logical, and forceful writer in the main, and did much toward accomplishing the reformation to which he devoted his energies. calef was a moral hero, and bravely did noble work in bringing flood tides of murderous fanaticism, error, and delusion to an ebb, and in barring channels against their return. his appropriate stand in history's niches may be at the head of witchcraft reformers--not repudiators, but _reformers_. thomas hutchinson. during nearly one hundred years, from about the middle of the eighteenth to that of the nineteenth century, the american public has been content to leave unlifted concealing drapery which the historian hutchinson threw over witchcraft. his treatment of that subject is plausible and soothing to cursory readers, but superficial and unsatisfactory to minds which test the competency of agents to produce effects ascribed to them. his views have been so widely adopted and so long prevalent, that we must regard him as having been more influential than any other writer in hiding the gigantic limbs, features, and operations of what was with reason a veritable monster in the eyes of its beholders. in him some reprehensible qualities were conjoined with many admirable ones. appleton's new american cyclopã¦dia states that "thomas hutchinson was born in boston in 1711, and died at brampton, near london, 1780. he was graduated at harvard college, 1727. he became judge of probate in 1752, was councillor from 1749 to 1756, lieutenant governor from 1758 to 1771, and was appointed chief justice in 1760, thus holding four high offices at one time. in the disputes which led to the revolution, he sided with the british government.... he received his commission as governor in 1771; and his whole administration was characterized by duplicity and an avaricious love of money, writing letters which he never sent, but which he showed as evidence of his zeal for the liberties of the province, while he advised the establishment of a citadel in boston," &c. the history of massachusetts by the pen of this man has sterling merits, and is of great value. that work and the bestowal of so many high offices upon him indicate that his abilities, acquisitions, and performances were of high order. his comments upon subjects which he discussed, and facts which he presented, were prevailingly fair, and very instructive. when he perceived--and he generally did--the genuine significance of his facts, reasoned from them _all_, and allowed to each its proper weight, he was a spirited, lucid, and valuable interpreter and guide. but when he encountered and adduced extraordinary facts, which baffled his power to account for in harmony with his prejudgments and fixed conclusions as to where natural agents and forces cease to act, he could very skillfully keep in abeyance the most distinguishing and significant aspects of such troublesome materials. that damaging moral weakness which let him write letters which he never sent, for the purpose of exhibiting them as evidence of his support of the popular cause, perhaps also let him be other than manly and frank when he encountered a certain class of facts which seemed to him "more than natural." the whole subject of witchcraft was nettlesome to him. his pen very often indicated a testy, disturbed, and sometimes a contemptuous mover when it characterized persons who had been charged with that crime; and concerning such he recorded many hasty and unsatisfactory opinions and conclusions. a glimpse at the probable and almost necessary state of public opinion and knowledge concerning spiritual forces and agents about the middle of the eighteenth century, will detect serious difficulties besetting any witchcraft historian's path at that time, and dispose us to look in clemency upon his hypotheses and conclusions, even though they be far from satisfactory. the intense strain given to the prevalent monstrous creed concerning the devil, when its requirements were vigorously enforced at salem village in 1692, ruptured that creed itself; and no substitute for it under which the phenomena of witchcraft could be referred to competent authors and forces had been obtained in 1767. the public formerly had believed that either one great devil and his sympathetic imps, or embodied human beings who had made a covenant with him, must be the authors of all mysterious malignant action upon men, because no other unseen rational agents were recognized as having access to man. all acts deemed witchcrafts, therefore, were the devil's. but belief devil-ward had changed at hutchinson's day. the great devil's use of covenanted children, women, and men as his only available instrumentalities, had ceased to be asserted; the fathering of all mysterious works upon him and his had become an obsolete custom. its revival might not meet kindly reception by the public; it probably would be distasteful to people whom tragic experience had not very long since taught to distrust and disown his black majesty's sway over material things, and were also chagrined that their fathers had held undoubting faith in his powers and operations over and upon things temporal and palpable. the devil had been credited with more than he performed or had power to accomplish. reflection had brought conviction that other intermeddlers existed than purely satanic ones. and yet the culture and science of those times were incompetent to furnish an historian with any satisfactory evidence that any intelligent actors excepting the devil and human beings acted in and upon human society. devil or man, one or the other, according to the then existing belief, must have enacted witchcraft. whether the devil did, had been under consideration for more than seventy years, and public judgment declared him not guilty. what, therefore, was the historian's necessity? he was forced to make embodied human beings its sole enactors. no wonder that the necessity made him petulant when facts and circumstances forced from his pen intimations that mere children and old women were competent and actual authors of some manifestations which, to his own keen and philosophic intellect, seemed "more than natural." "more than natural" in his sense they obviously were. a distinct perception that the good _god's_ disembodied children, as well as the devil's, can naturally traverse avenues earthward, and manifest their powers among men, would have enabled him to account philosophically for all the mysteries of those days. but "the fullness of time" for that had not then come. c. w. upham. in 1867, just, one century after hutchinson, hon. charles w. upham, of salem, mass., published an elaborate, polished, interesting and instructive "history of witchcraft and salem village." the connection of two such topics as a local history and a general survey of witchcraft in one work, was very appropriate and judicious in this case, because salem village, which embraced the present town of danvers and parts of other towns adjacent, was the site of the most extensive and awful conflict which men ever waged in avowed and direct contest with the devil on this continent, if not in the world. by his course he enabled the reader to comprehend what kind or quality of men, women, and children they were, among whom that combat raged. upham's history of the _village_ and its people is minute, exhaustive, lucid, sprightly, and ornate. that work clearly shows that the people of the village possessed physical, mental, moral, and religious powers, faculties, traits, trainings, and habits which must have given them keenness of perception, logical acumen, both physical and moral stamina and courage, and made them as difficult to delude or cow by novel occurrences as any other people anywhere, either then, before that time, or since. the same properties made them intelligent analyzers of their creed, clear perceivers of its logical reaches, tenacious holders on to what they believed, and fearless appliers of their faith. holding, in common with all christendom, the deluded and deluding belief that supermundane works required some human being "covenanted to the devil" for their performance, this people was ready and able to apply that belief in righteous fight. such a people were not very likely to mistake the pranks of their own children for things supermundane in origin. to suspect them of such credulity or infatuation is to suspect and impeach the truth and accuracy of the very history which makes them so clearly and fully known to us. the same faculties and acquirements which furnished so sprightly a history of the village, of course made their impress upon the pages devoted to "_witchcraft_." and results might have been as pleasing there as in more external history, had not omission to see and assign spirit causes where spirit effects existed, forced the author to assume that heavy, effective cannon balls came forth from pop-guns, because he had not himself seen cannon in arsenals himself had not visited, and would take nobody's word for it that such had been available. for his own sake we are prone to wish that our personal friend had recognized that subsequent to the time of his early manhood, when he delivered and published lectures upon witchcraft, and pondered upon its producing agents and causes, phenomena, like the marvelous ones of former days, had been transpiring in great abundance all over our land, and that no less a man than dr. robert hare, of philadelphia, the correspondent and peer of faraday, silliman, and others of that class, had, by rigid and exact processes of physical science, actually _demonstrated_ that some occult force, moved by an intelligence that could and did understand and comply with verbal requests, repeatedly lifted and lowered the arms of scale-beams, and made bodies weigh more or weigh less than their normal weight, at his mental request. the same had been done by dr. luther v. bell and a band of press reporters in 1857. such forces, if taken into account by this historian, would have required a reconstruction and vast modifications of his long-cherished theory of explanation, and have called for an immense expenditure of labor and thought. ease and retention of long-cherished notions are seductive to man. it was easier for the historian to ignore the discovery that natural laws or forces had always permitted unseen agents to come among us, whose workings the human brain had long, but unsatisfactorily, been laboring to trace to adequate causes,--easier to continue to assume that insufficient causes, lackered in glowing rhetoric, might answer a while longer,--easier to still hug the dream that little girls and young misses, mainly guileless and docile in all their previous days, could and did, without professional instruction and of a sudden, become proficients in the production of complicated schemes and feats rivaling and even surpassing the most astonishing ones of highest legerdemain, of jugglery, and of histrionic art combined,--easier to fancy that these girls rebelled against and set at defiance parental, medical, ministerial, and friendly authority, acted like brutes and villains, turned all things upside down with a vengeance, in the midst of a community clear headed and not easily befooled,--yes, it was easier to retain all these _outrã©_ suppositions than to set aside a pet theory and reconstruct history in conformity with requirements of discoveries which _others_ had made in advance of this historian, and by the use of which he could have furnished a truly philosophical and satisfactory solution of all the marvels of ancient witchcraft. infatuation still lingers on the earth, blinding many bright eyes. we are hardly sorry that our friend ignored the actual and competent authors--indeed, we are nearly glad that he did so; for his course resulted in presentation of many important portions of new england witchcraft in very lucid, intelligible, and attractive combination, helped a vast many people to perception of the proximate nature and extent of strange things done here of old, and enabled the common mind to make pretty fair estimate of the nature of such forces as were needful to any agents who should perform such wonders. we cheerfully acknowledge great personal indebtedness to that author for such an exhibition of this subject as shows its mighty influence over sagacious, strong, calm, good, and able men who were living witnesses and actors in its scenes; and shows also that common sense will instinctively feel that the acts imputed to a few illiterate girls and misses were beyond the powers which nature by her usual and well-known processes ever bestowed upon them. philosophy, science, and common sense demand causes adequate to produce whatever effects are ascribed to them. histories of witchcraft have not met these demands. previous failure in that respect prompts this effort to present agents whose powers may have been equal to the works performed in witchcraft scenes. the work in hand will necessitate a close grappling with many of our friend's opinions and processes. but our grip, however firm, will never be made in unkindness toward or want of respect for him; the object will be to disclose mistakes, to rescue our forefathers and their children in the seventeenth century out from under damaging, groundless, needless, gratuitous imputation of fatuity to the elders, and devilish ingenuity to the younger ones, and to permit the present and future ages to look back upon them with respect and sympathy. that author is still living, and long may he live in comfort and usefulness. his biography is not written; a brief outline of him, solely from this moment's recollections is here given. not less that fifty years ago, we knew him as a student at harvard,--afterward, for many years, as a respected and successful clergyman at salem,--still later, in political office, especially as member of congress,--and for many of the more recent years, as a student and author at home. he has commanded and retains our high respect. the scholar, rhetorician, statistician, fictionist, and dramatist, all blend harmoniously in him, give an uncommon charm to his "history of salem village," and render it a work which bespeaks wide and abiding interest with the public. it is no essential part of the philosopher's specific labors to discover or test new agents, forces, or facts. his dealings mostly are with facts known and admitted. till one concedes the fact of spirit action upon persons and things in earth life, he cannot philosophically admit that spirit forces were ever employed in the production of any phenomenon, but must regard all as purely material or within the scope of ordinary human faculties. therefore we can, perhaps, with propriety regard our friend as also a philosopher; but must add, that he either lacked knowledge of or ignored the agents and forces that produced many witchcraft phenomena which he attempted to elucidate, and many others of the same character which he failed to adduce from the earlier records; which agents and forces must be allowed their actual and full connection with their own effects before philosophy can furnish just, clear, and satisfactory solutions of their source and nature. margaret jones. the great endemic witchcraft at salem village in 1692 has been extensively ascribed to the voluntary acts of a few girls and women, who are sometimes credited with having derived much knowledge from books, traditions, weird stories, and the like, and thus obtained hints and instructions whereby they were enabled to devise, and, acting upon the credulity and infatuation of their time, to enact, and did enact, that great and thrilling performance, without supermundane aid. was it so? an examination of several sporadic cases which preceded that famous outburst of mysterious operations, may indicate strong need to assign many witchcraft manifestations to causes and forces lying off beyond the reach of man's ordinary faculties, for we perceive in them the operation of powers which he never acquired, nor can acquire, by reading, listening, or by any training processes. hutchinson says, "the great noise which the new england witchcraft made throughout the english dominions proceeded more from the general panic with which all sorts of persons were seized, and an expectation that the contagion would spread to all parts of the country, than from the number of persons who were executed; more having been put to death in a single county in england in a short space of time, than have suffered in new england from the first settlement until the present time. fifteen years had passed before we find any mention of witchcraft among the english colonists.... the first suspicion of witchcraft among the english was about the year 1645." we commence now an examination of several of the earlier cases, and begin with margaret jones. there is extant, in the handwriting of the judge before whom she was tried, a summary of the evidence adduced against this woman, who, in 1648, was tried, condemned, and executed in boston for the crime of witchcraft; and who thus became, so far as we now know, the first american victim in christendom's carnal warfare against the devil. unconsciously to herself surely, but yet in fact, she may have been, as we sometimes view her, america's first martyr to _spiritualism_. the chief knowledge of this case now attainable is furnished by the journal of governor john winthrop, who was both governor of the colony and chief judge of its highest court in 1648, and presided at the trial of margaret jones. his position on the bench gave him opportunity, and made it his duty, to know precisely what was charged, what testified, and what proved in the case. the character of that recorder is good voucher for an honest and candid statement as far as it goes. his record states that,-"in 1648, one margaret jones, of charlestown, was indicted and found guilty of witchcraft, and hanged for it. the evidence against her was, that she was found to have such a malignant touch, as many persons, men, women, and children, whom she stroked or touched with any affection or displeasure, or, &c., were taken with deafness, or vomiting, or other violent pains or sickness; that, practicing physic, and her medicines being such things as, by her own confession, were harmless, as anise-seed, liquors, &c., yet had extraordinary violent effects; that she used to tell such as would not make use of her physic, that they would never be healed, and accordingly their diseases and hurts continued, with relapses against the ordinary course, and beyond the apprehension of all physicians and surgeons; that things which she foretold came to pass accordingly; other things she could tell of, as secret speeches, &c., which she had no ordinary means to come to knowledge of; in the prison, in the clear daylight, there was seen in her arms, she sitting on the floor, and her clothes up, &c., a little child, which ran from her into another room, and the officer following it, it was vanished. the like child was seen in two other places to which she had relation; and one maid, that saw it, fell sick upon it, and was cured by the said margaret, who used means to be employed to that end." thus much was recorded by winthrop in 1648. but the quantum of information relative to margaret jones which historic selection deemed needful for the public in 1764 had become very small, for at the latter date hutchinson says (vol. i. p. 150), "the first instance i find of any person executed for witchcraft, was in june, 1648. margaret jones, of charlestown, was indicted for a witch, found guilty, and executed. she was charged with having such a malignant touch that if she laid her hands upon man, woman, or child in anger, they were seized presently with deafness, vomiting, or other sickness, or some violent pains." those few sharp lines comprise the whole of that historian's account of this case. he gives no hint that the woman was accused of anything but _a malignant touch_; therefore he falls long way short of fair presentation of the facts. he leaves entirely unnoticed the chief grounds for just inferences and conclusions. whether that writer had access to winthrop's record we do not know. but the historian upham had, and he states (vol. i. p. 453), "the only real charge proved upon margaret jones was, that she was a successful practitioner, using only simple remedies." _the only charge proved!_ what can that mean? there surely were several other and much more marvelous and significant things just as clearly charged and "proved upon" her as was her successful use of simple remedies. the only thing _proved_! if that thing was proved, then the same document which teaches this, also teaches with equal distinctness that five or six other things were proved upon her; and the greater part of these others were difficult of solution by the philosophies of both the historians named above. turn back to winthrop's account, and see what was charged. 1. when she manipulated either man, woman, or child, some nausea, pain, or disease was forthwith engendered in the subject of her operations. 2. her very simple medicines, viz., anise-seed and liquors produced extraordinary violent effects. 3. she told such as would not take her physic that they would never be healed; and accordingly their diseases and hurts continued, with relapses against the ordinary course. 4. things which she foretold came to pass accordingly. 5. she could tell of secret speeches which she had no ordinary means to come to knowledge of. 6. while in prison, in the clear daylight, there was seen in her arms ... a little child ... which at the officer's approach ran and vanished. 7. the maid that fell sick at sight of that child "was cured by the said margaret, who used means to be employed to that end." the _only_ charge _proved_? if it was proved that "she was a successful practitioner, using only simple remedies," then each one of the other six is just as clearly proved as her successful practice, and by the same document, too. but some of them are more difficult to account for on sadducean grounds, and were left unnoticed. even the admitted marvel is put forth in distorted form, being so draped as to teach that the woman was a _successful_ medical practitioner, while the original record reads that her simples produced extraordinary _violent_ effects. no doubt she was in an important sense "a successful practitioner, using only simple remedies." but that is not what the testimony specially stated. the historic evidence is, that her simples produced "_violent effects_." her fate teaches that the action of her simples was deemed diabolical. is that idea conveyed in calling her a successful practitioner? no. the case of this woman is vastly more instructive than it has been deemed by former expounders; and since, in its varied features and aspects, it presents many interesting points, we shall dwell upon it at considerable length. nothing has been met with in her history which conflicts with supposition that she and her husband, perhaps in or below the middle ranks of society, were laboring for a livelihood amid a clear-headed, sagacious, hardy, industrious community, which had resided twenty years around the mouth of the charles without any startling witchcraft among them, or any teachers of that art, (?) or skillful co-operators in its practice. something induced her to lay hands upon and administer simple medicines to the pained, the sick, or the wounded. whence the impulse? we can hardly suppose that she had studied medicine. a nurse she may have been--very likely had been--and perhaps had become conscious of ability to relieve sufferings and disease, and may have been known by her neighbors to be willing to practice the healing art. obviously they became accustomed to submit themselves to her manipulations and medical treatment quite extensively, and at length were astonished at the extreme efficacy of her hands, and the sometimes _violent_ action of her simple medicines. so extraordinary were the effects of her labors that the neighborhood became suspicious that an obnoxious _one from below_ was her helper, and therefore she was arrested on suspicion of witchcraft. what persons would be summoned into court to testify concerning her when such was the charge? her patients promiscuously? no. only such among them as had, or as would swear that they had, received suffering or annoyance under her treatment. search would be made for harm only, and not for any good which she had done. more moral courage and strength than are common would be needed to induce those not summoned, and who had nothing but good which they could say of her operations, to try to get upon the witness stand where witchcraft was the alleged offense. all the testimony, either sought, or given, was, no doubt, intended to bear against her; and yet it comes to our view that the sickened maid "was cured by the said margaret, who used means to be employed to that end." beneficence as well as "murder will out" sometimes. the various powers manifested through her are worthy of separate examination. 1. _when she manipulated either man, woman, or child, some nausea, pain, or disease was forthwith engendered in the subject of her operations._ that is the only crime which hutchinson seems to have found laid to her charge; it is the only one he puts to the credit of her persecutors, and thus he leaves them heavily indebted on humanity's ledger. if the testimony were not mainly sheer fabrication, some extraordinary efficacy went forth from her imposed hands, and apparently on many different occasions, too; for the account stating that effects were similar upon men, women, and children, indicates that she was an extensive operator. mesmer had not then made his discoveries. but the powers always resided in living forms which he detected and measurably learned to educe and control. margaret jones's system may have been a very powerful magnetic battery, controlled sometimes by her own will, sometimes moved by and giving passage-way to impersonal magnetic forces, and sometimes also used by that intelligence outside of man which agassiz and brown-sã©quard say (see appendix) can operate through his organism. both intensification and mitigation of pains, diseases, and the forces of medicines are credible results from her manipulations. as said before, only those portions of the primitive document which relate to the efficacy of her hands and her simples, drew forth comments from the historians; they also failed to set forth a tithe of the significance which was involved in the little they did attempt to unfold. such action of hands and very simple medicines upon the systems of men, women, and children is not satisfactorily accounted for either by ascribing it, as one did, to the anger of the operating woman, nor, as the other did, to the simple medicines acting normally. such causes could never have produced effects competent to so startle an intelligent and firm-nerved community as to make them charge this practitioner with diabolism, and seek her execution. the implied infatuation and credulity of a generation which could be roused to such barbarity by such insignificant causes is a most defamatory impeachment of the sagacity, manhood, and humaneness of our forefathers. our witchcraft expounders, we apprehend, have allowed themselves to sacrifice very much that was bright and noble in the past, on the altar of false assumption that modern scientists, or at least that their own wise historic intellects, have explored all the recesses of broad nature, and positively determined that no forces can anywhere exist by which supermundane acts can legitimately be brought to the cognizance of man. the merits of the fathers are darkened, that the arrogance of the children may be labeled wisdom. many men of no mean intellects have admitted that a spirit once came forth from a man "and leaped" on the seven exorcist sons of one sceva, "and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded." the mind which believes that record ought to be in condition to admit that possibly spirits could throw forth power through the hands of such as margaret jones which would produce pains, nausea, and disease in those whom the mediums touched, provided the spirits desired such results. it was no unprecedented event in kind, if, through her, some unseen force tortured the bodies of any who, as spies, enemies, mimickers, or rivals, sought an imposition of her hands; not new that torturing sensations should be produced when the magnetisms of the operator and subject were as alkali and acid to each other; nor new that her own spirit of resentment for wrongs either received or foresensed, thus operated. but favor too might often induce either her or a spirit through her to produce _violent effects_ at first, unless our doctors prescribe emetics and cathartics in unkindness or malice. read the following statement, which i have just written down from the lips of a neighbor whom i have known well for nearly or quite ten years, and whose truthfulness is as complete as that of any other one whatsoever in the whole circle of my acquaintances:- "in the autumn of 1869, a woman in south boston who knew me, advised one of her neighbors who was sick of fever to send for me and receive treatment by my hands. the patient's husband, a robust mechanic, had little faith in helpful efficacy from 'laying on of hands.' still, curiosity or some other motive induced him and three other men to observe my processes and their effects. they witnessed very marked contractions of the sick woman's muscles, and many spasmodic movements of her limbs. when i ceased working upon my patient, her husband said, 'do you suppose you can affect _me_ in the same way?' my reply was, 'i don't know--probably not; but if you desire me to try, i will.' 'yes,' said he, 'try.' 'sit down, then, sir, in the chair where your wife sat.' he did so, and i operated for a short time without perceptible effect, but was soon impressed to say to him, 'strike me on the small of the back,'--simultaneously placing my back so that he could give it a fair, hard blow, which he was by no means unwilling to inflict. after his first stroke i called out, 'harder!' after the second, '_harder!_' after the third, he was instantly cramped up, his arms were hugged in upon and across his chest, the muscles on them were much enlarged, intensely hardened, and not obedient to his will, and he lustily begged, 'let me down! let me down! let me down!' while the other men, the sick wife, and myself laughed till we were exhausted. i had no will in producing, nor any design to effect any such results. "j. w. crosby. "boston, april 30, 1874." 2. the testimony indicates that her _very simple medicines, such as anise-seed and liquors, produced extraordinary violent effects_. this is credible. extraordinary effects were produced by magnetized handkerchiefs in the days of paul, and to-day, even pure water, placed beneath the hands of some peculiar mediums, or beneath the tips of their fingers, sometimes absorbs or is made to manifest the medicinal properties of wine, ipecac, or of other substances desired; and such mediums are often very "successful practitioners using only simple remedies." the action of what they administer need not be psychological in any proper sense of that term: that is, the patient need not be informed, nor have suspicion, that the water is medicated thus; though any persons upon whom the action is very perceptible, probably, must be constitutionally mediumistic. by personal observation we have learned that water may be so medicated by unseen infusion from unseen source, as to taste like, and operate like, either ipecac or wine, according to the properties which some unseen intelligence to whom needs are transparent, and who can sicken or refresh at pleasure, has gathered from the atmosphere or elsewhere and infused into that water. when public vigilance had been roused to suspicion around this woman, it is not improbable that many persons, belligerent devil-ward, sought a test of her powers, and that some of them (susceptible ones) felt or drank in what caused "deafness, or vomiting, or other pains or sickness"--not improbable that on some of them her simples had "_violent_ effects." persons thus affected would make up nearly the whole class from whom witnesses at her trial would be selected. if she had been generally a producer of only pains and sickness, her practice would soon have dwindled to nothing, and she would have lived on without molestation. "a successful practitioner," simply as such, would never have been arraigned. upham detected the significant fact in the case, that her simple remedies were so efficacious as to make her a successful practitioner; yes;--but was simply successful medical practice the chief reason why her neighbors charged diabolism? what amount of success in alleviating the sufferings that flesh is heir to would invoke public vengeance? how much beneficence did one then need to perform before public sentiment, would reprobate its author? could such faculties and agents alone as are normally and ordinarily used, enable a woman to achieve such success in curing diseases, healing wounds, and alleviating pains, as to arouse an intelligent and religious community to arrest and try her for a capital offense against the well-being of society? never. did the historian notice his own back-handed imputation of atrocious diabolism upon the population of charlestown when he led his readers to infer that they persecuted one of their number unto an ignominious death, solely because "she was a successful practitioner using only simple remedies"? whether he saw it or not, his explanation made her neighbors take the life of this woman because of the good works she had done among them. some theory of explanation which will exempt us from the necessity of assenting to gratuitous aspersions of the sagacity and sentiments of justice pertaining to our ancestry in the mass, is very desirable. margaret jones was a very successful _healing medium_, and therefore her works were mysteries. having noticed the only two allegations in this case which the historians have deemed worthy of specification or had courage to adduce, and having seen that hutchinson ascribed her persecution to her own anger flowing out through her hands, while upham ascribed it to her great success as a healer, we will just note the fact that the former historian generally indicated an abiding apprehension that those who _were persecuted_ for the crime in question, were the parties most to be blamed; while the latter, oftener than otherwise, throws the chief blame upon the _persecutors_. in this instance the earlier historian makes her anger,--a trait which is blamable,--while the latter makes her beneficence,--a commendable characteristic,--the chief exciting cause to her condemnation and execution. we proceed to examine other original charges more difficult to solve plausibly on the hypotheses of hutchinson and upham than were anger and successful medical practice; charges not amenable to any philosophy entertained by those expounders. 3. "_she used to tell such as would not make use of her physic that they would never be healed; and, accordingly, their diseases and hurts continued; with relapses against the ordinary course_," &c. it is very common in our day for clairvoyance to see, or--more broadly and instructively--it is common for mediumistic faculties to _sense_ and feel sure, that the existing tendency of a patient's disease will soon terminate in death, if not checked by some peculiar medicinal agent, often a spiritual one, or one medicated by spirits, which ordinary physicians are ignorant of, will not prescribe, and cannot obtain. the evidence which judge winthrop reports, shows that "the diseases and hurts" of recusants to take her prescriptions, not only continued to remain unhealed, but underwent such changes and relapses as physicians and surgeons could not understand. since such things occurred in accordance with her predictions, we here perceive strong evidence that the woman possessed uncommon susceptibilities for _sensing_ coming results. _it is just as clearly proved_ that she foretold specific events, as it is that her touch was malignant, and her practice successful. her marvelous prescience, which was one of her conspicuous powers, the historians failed to set forth. their philosophy, founded only on such materials as are recognized in man's physical sciences, was too narrow to embrace occult natural agents and forces by which such prescient powers could be drawn or put forth through some human organisms and produce marvelous results. therefore those expounders let such facts remain undisturbed in the rarely visited closets where they have long reposed. 4. _things which she foretold came to pass accordingly._ that is, events verified her predictions, and thus proved her exercise of marvelously prophetic powers. should one assume that her verified predictions were only skillful or lucky guesses, would such assumption be fair and just toward the people who, as living witnesses on the spot, could know what the things were which she foretold, and know also with what accuracy they were fulfilled, and yet deemed them genuine prophecies? her accusers could know the facts, while we, in the main, must be ignorant of them. we cannot reasonably deny that the direct observers actually discerned the exercise of genuinely prophetic powers by her. some mortals at times can prophesy; for both in ancient prophetic and apostolic times, and in our own age, many people have been and are known to do it. eternal laws or forces lead some mortals to sure knowledge of coming events. history and returning spirits both so teach. "the spirit of prophecy has its source in infinite truth, and is as much a part of infinite law as any other manifestation of life; therefore it has a wise and powerful protection; and they who avail themselves of this spirit of prophecy, _by virtue of the way and manner in which they are physically and spiritually compounded_, if they are fortunate enough to place themselves in harmonious relations to the law, fail not in prophesying. but if, as is often the case, they unfortunately place themselves in inharmonious relations to the law, they must, of necessity, fail in part, if not entirely. it is a truthful saying, that 'coming events cast their shadows before.' _these shadows_ (?) _are, in reality, portions of the events_; these shadows take precedence of the material birth of all events as they are understood by mortals; they are the basis of that which you receive, and outlast that which you receive; they are the infinite part. now, then, there are some persons _so constituted_ that they perceive these shadows (?) and can judge as accurately concerning what they predict, as the learned astronomer can concerning an eclipse."--_spirit_, _prof. alexander m. fisher, of yale._ banner of light, jan. 30, 1875. 5. "_she could tell of secret speeches which she had no ordinary means to come to knowledge of._" at times, then, she was clairaudient, or was one of those sensitives whose spiritual organs of sensation are at times so disentangled from their material ones, that she experienced a practical annihilation of space and gross matter, which let her, as all unclogged spirits may, be practically present with and listeners to any person anywhere, to whom she was for any reason attracted, and with whom she came into rapport. conditions admitting cognizance of the thoughts and words of the absent in body are now of daily occurrence with men, women, and children not a few, and therefore were possible with margaret jones in 1648 and years preceding. a letter from captain densmore, on a future page of this work, will show recent possession of power to bear the voices of living persons whose bodies were very far distant from the hearer. 6. "_while in the prison in the clear daylight there was seen in her arms ... a little child ... which, at the officer's approach, ran and vanished._" _vanished_; that word intimates that it was a spectral or spirit child--perhaps her own departed one. by whom was it seen? by an officer of the prison, and therefore by one not likely to be her confederate in attempt at imposture. not by him only; for a chambermaid also saw the little one, and was made sick by the sight; which effect argues against her having had any complicity in a trick. that testimony to such occurrences was given in court, is vouched for by winthrop, and must have been, or surely should have been, read by subsequent historians. their adroitness at leaving certain classes of facts in undisturbed obscurity, nearly rivals the cunning of agents to whom they impute the origin and production of witchcraft manifestations. the visible presence of that evanescent child shows very clearly that mrs. jones was endowed with some of the rarer and exceptional properties of mediumship--that she possessed those special elements in the midst of which spirits could be robed in such materialized encasements, that material eyes could discern them. angels looking and acting like men (gen. xviii.) were seen by abraham and lot. one was seen (judg. xiii.) by manoah and his wife. another by tobias, son of tobit (apoc.); another by disciples who were walking toward emmaus (john xx.); others also by thousands of individuals in various ages and nations, sporadically. to-day, distinct perception of materialized spirits in the presence of mrs. andrews at moravia, n. y., around dr. slade of new york city, and many others are reported almost weekly, and are well attested. in these modern instances, generally, some special, though simple, pre-arrangements are made to facilitate such manifestations; but we may very reasonably doubt whether anything of the kind was resorted to by mrs. jones, because, being in prison charged with the awful crime of witchcraft, the presumption is imperative that she must have lacked both means and opportunity to command tangible apparatus either for helping on a genuine spirit manifestation, or producing an optical illusion upon her keepers. _mortal._ "how do spirits materialize?" _spirit._ "you must know the atmosphere is full of particles of matter. everything that is in the human body is also in the atmosphere in fine particles. darkness renders these particles more quiescent, and hence more easily managed by spirits. the spirit has a will point or center which is a spark of the divine nature. when the condition of the atmosphere, of the medium, and of the circle is proper, the spirit exerts that will power, and, in accordance with natural law, _attracts to its spirit form_ the floating particles in the air, and they condense upon and interpenetrate the spirit form or body so as to materialize it, making bone, muscle, skin, hair--every part, and making the spirit body, for the time being, a solid, palpable one. the air contains an immense amount of matter which can be used by spirits for materializing. we do not, however, usually materialize the blood.... we have to draw a portion of the substance for materialization from the medium, he being a kind of reservoir where we concentrate our supplies, and it is much more difficult to draw from him when at a distance, therefore we keep near him."--_spirit. disc., as reported by h a. buddington._ banner of light, feb. 6, 1875. a case of much interest and significance was reported to the boston post, a daily newspaper, by a correspondent under date of newburyport, jan. 13, 1873. therein is furnished an account of a spirit boy showing himself in broad daylight, several times, on different occasions, at a window between an entry and a school-room, to a band of children and their teacher; also of his making a disturbing racket in an unfinished attic over them occasionally for many successive months. miss perkins, the teacher, says, "he is a little fellow, about eleven years old, with a pale face, and the saddest, sweetest mouth that she ever saw in her life, looking fearlessly up into her face out of a pair of blue eyes. he retreated into a corner. she followed him, and just as she was about to lay her hand upon him he vanished. no door had been opened, and yet he was gone." the account states that miss perkins, "though no spiritualist, is convinced that it" (the racket) "is all produced by supernatural agency, and believes that the apparition she saw was a veritable ghost." the editor of the springfield republican probably consulted the teacher of that school, miss lucy a. perkins, as to the correctness of the foregoing, and perhaps other accounts, which had become public, for she wrote to him, and he published as follows:-"the account you sent me is true, with a few exceptions. when i first saw the boy, he was neatly attired in a _brown_ suit of clothes, trimmed with braid and buttons of the same color. when i reached forward to grasp him, he seemed not like the boy, but vapory, or, as i can only describe it, like a thin cloud scudding across the room; still he seemed to have the boy form. reports from some of the boston papers say i fainted; such is not the case. i knew where i was and what i was about just as well as i know i am writing. "one day i sent a boy out to hang up the brushes, &c.... he was out about five minutes. after he had taken his seat, three raps came on the door of the room where the brushes were hung. he said, 'miss perkins, can i go out and see who's there?' i told him, 'yes, and leave the school-room door open.' he did so, and when he opened the brush-room door (i sat where i could see all) every one of the brushes, both long and short handled, came falling off the nails where they were hung; some struck him on the shoulders, and the broom directly on the top of his head. the dust-pan, hanging on a nail at some distance above the brushes, came tumbling to the floor with a vengeance. it then stood on its handle, then on the bottom edge, and continued on so till it entered the school-room, and then it was placed as nicely against the partition as if i had done it myself. just as soon as i'd raise the ventilator, a black ball, like a cannon ball, would begin to roll around the attic, and make such a noise i would be obliged to lower the ventilator. one day the room was quiet as it possibly could be, and all at once some one in the attic called out, 'dadie pike!' dadie thought i spoke, and said, 'what'm?' i said to him, 'can you say your lesson?' "since the boy affair took place, the attic has been fastened up; locks and keys are of no use, however, for there is as much walking up stairs, and sometimes the hammering and nailing. once in a while, sounds as of some one walking will come down the attic way, go across the entry, and open the outside door, and be gone perhaps ten minutes; after it is quiet again, the door will open, and he, she, or it will go up stairs.... i am not a spiritualist; never attended a sitting, in fact, never had anything to do with a person of that belief, and never saw any manifestations. why anything of the sort should take place where i am, is more than i can account for." this case, wherein a teacher and her two score pupils simultaneously saw a spirit in broad daylight, day after day and week after week, argues very forcibly that "the nature of things" permits admission that the testimony relating to the spirit child in the jail may be literally true. laws and forces are now frequently indicating their existence, which permit the observable presence of spirits. intense yearnings for comfortings, sympathy, and support in her dark and trying hour, as well as other causes, may have drawn an angel child--her own or some other--to the arms of margaret jones, whose history reveals her possession of peculiar susceptibilities and mediumistic properties; and with her as a reservoir, materialization of the spirit may have been accomplished. 7. the sickened maid "was cured by the said margaret, who used means to be employed to that end." kindness and skill successfully put forth to heal the sick, even while the public was keeping her in a felon's cell, hang as a luminous cloud over her head, and betoken something good in her--betoken the possible source of something different from a malignant touch--yes, of "genuinely successful medical practice." we know little of her character; there is no impeachment of it in the recorded testimony. her peculiar powers resulted, no doubt, from peculiar innate formations of and connections between her outer and inner organisms, and had little dependence upon intellectual or moral qualities. not her own holiness, nor any other common power of hers, enabled her to either intensify or abate painful sensations. whether sinner or saint was the more prominent in her character, our course and views have no occasion to inquire. winthrop's comments say that "her behavior at her trial was very intemperate; lying notoriously and railing upon the jury and witnesses;... in the like distemper she died." he gives no particulars, and therefore furnishes no grounds on which we may judge whether any of her statements which seemed to him false, might not seem to us, at our different stand-point of observation, to have been true. very many perfectly true utterances made by mediums to-day relative to their involuntary and even unconscious putting forth of acts and words imputed to them, would be deemed lies by all common interpreters who are ignorant of the part often performed by or through that higher set of mental powers which our leading scientists have lately discovered are at the service of intellect not our own. perhaps she lied; perhaps, too, she was truthful, but misunderstood. intemperance in her behavior, no doubt, was manifest. but that might spring from various motives. any spirited person, consciously innocent of a charged offense, and possessing only moderate power of self-control and moderate intellectual stamina, would be very likely to pour forth warm language, and flat and forceful denials of allegations of wrong-doing. persecuted innocence was only a very little less likely--if at all less--than ill temper or "distemper," to call forth what might seem to be "railing upon the jury and witnesses." neither severe language nor "intemperate behavior" is necessarily derogatory to any one's prevailing temper or character, when rushing forth from the lips and limbs of one whose deeds are being so misinterpreted that beneficence is looked upon as diabolism, and whose beneficent works are being made to draw down upon their author an ignominious death. possibly words from her lips, and behavior seemingly prompted by her emotions, were manifestations of the thoughts and impulses of some other intelligence than herself. if so, most scathing rebukes for her persecution, and for thirstings for her blood, might fall thick and heavy upon the ears of benighted jurors and blinded witnesses. observation has often noticed most terrific outflowings of denunciations upon blind guides, through organs of speech not controlled by their reputed owner. felix is not the last person who has trembled under the lashings of inspiration. an acting out through her form, by another intelligence, a deep sense of wrong she had received, may have made her seem as mad in the eyes of winthrop, as the learning and forceful utterances of paul did him in those of festus. evidence produced at her trial shows that margaret jones correctly foretold the course of diseases in the systems of those who declined her prescriptions--that she foretold other "things which came to pass accordingly"--that she learned the purport of conversations by the absent or secluded--that a spirit child became visible in her auras--and that the sickened maid was cured by her appliances. each and all of these very marvelous manifestations were just as distinctly and authentically recorded on paper still extant, as were those less rare ones which have been put forth as fair indices of the case. such blinking out of sight the most important things pertaining to the person who, as far as is now known, was first on this side the atlantic to be executed for witchcraft, is unjust to culture and philosophy, which should be furnished with all known facts; is unjust to the fathers, whose full basis for her prosecution and execution should be set forth ere just judgment of their doings can be formed; and is unjust to her whose transcendent powers and effective labors for healing the sick may have been the main cause why minds deluded by a false and frenzying creed devil-ward, were impelled on to barbarously destroy one who had been and might have continued to be their benefactress. she was a natural conduit from the inner to the outer world, through which perhaps impersonal force at times might cause supernal knowledge and power to come into her outer being; through which again, her own will might suction such, while at other times unseen persons might inject them through from their abodes, and even come themselves to aid her in their application. nothing harmful was charged against her, excepting what seemed to be, and were believed to be, superhuman abilities. the power that formed her originally, implanted and developed within her organism unusual capabilities for curing physical disease, for reading the future, and hearing the distant. there is neither evidence nor foundation for a conjecture that she was ever pupil of teachers of medical science, or of jugglery, nor that she belonged to any mesmerically developing circle. her acts cannot well have been mere imitations of what she had seen others do, or had read or heard of having been done. she had no teachers, no confederates that were visible and tangible. indeed, who among men could possibly have taught or helped her to prophesy correctly, to hear the far distant, or to embody a spirit child? not one--not one. such performances were only natural evolutions from her inborn faculties, when acted upon by spirit forces or agents, or both. the reader is asked how these manifestations, through our first martyr to it, can _possibly_ be explained on the hypothesis that witchcraft was nothing else than the histrionic tricks of sprightly and cunning children, either singly or in combination with the ingenuities and malignities of old women. such agents, unaided from out the unseen, were most clearly incompetent to project into human view some phenomena which attended upon this consternating seer, hearer, healer, and holder of properties for materializing a spirit form so as to render it visible. what possible facts or considerations could have induced the humane, intelligent, virtuous, and religious community in which she lived, to seek the life of such a woman, moving, probably, in humble sphere, but, in the main, a doer of good works? the question brings up a complex and difficult problem, viz., how can the seeming stupidity and inhumanity of our fathers be reconciled with their obvious intelligence and humaneness? assuming the record of testimony given in court to be correct--and why should we not?--the manifestations through and around margaret jones clearly indicated the outworking there of some abilities which the bodies and ordinary mental powers of embodied human beings do not possess. what then? some unseen power must have helped her. what unseen power? yes, _what_ unseen power? experience as then interpreted--religious creeds as then understood--science and philosophy as they then existed--all conspired to give one and the same answer, viz., _the devil_. that conclusion from the witnessed facts was then inevitable. the devil helped her. what next? the devil could help no one who had not previously entered into a covenant with him, and he surely helped this woman. therefore she had made a covenant with him, and in making that she became a _witch_. the law of god which binds christians says, "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." thus our forefathers saw and reasoned. steps from facts to the conclusion were few, short, and plain. feeble intellects _could_ take them, and strong ones _must_ do so, or reject their life-long creeds. then a crucial hour was upon them. to distrust and disregard their credal faith or stifle their humanity, one or the other, was the hard alternative presented to strong, good men. their cherished creed or margaret jones, one or the other, must be sacrificed. which? clear heads and life-long affections grasped the creed firmly, and resolved to save it. they let logic draw her rigid conclusions, and put them forth as rules for individual and public action. sympathy went down before dominant faith, and man stifled every rebellious emotion. god's call and law, christian men then felt, were paramount to sympathy. in submission to what they deemed heaven's will and call they said, "down, humaneness--down! up, god-derived faith--up, in your majesty and might! heart must follow whither you lead." their awful and cramping _creed devil-ward_ was the chief fountain of bewildering and brutalizing force that dragged intelligent and kind men on to redden our soil with innocent blood, and that too "in all good conscience." look closely at their position. the faith of all ages and nations had held that occurrences which seemed to result from supermundane force were produced by disembodied intelligences. protestant christendom was extensively holding that no invisible beings, excepting their great monstrous monk-made devil (see appendix) and his obedient servants, could by any possibility work upon the bodies and possessions of men. and none such could work upon the external world in any other way than through, or by the aid of, such mortals as had voluntarily made a covenant with him. such covenant once formed, the person making it would be an open door through which his fearful majesty, or any imp of his, could freely enter the outer world and vent his malignity upon all the region far and wide around his entrance-place. her works proved to the intellect of that day that this margaret had covenanted to let him enter and co-operate with her. what, therefore, must be done? it was manifest to the people of charlestown that through her the great invisible cloven-foot had found entrance, and was prowling among them. what was their duty? they must bar his entrance promptly. to do it, they arrested, tried, condemned, and executed the christian traitor who had furnished their great enemy entrance to the christian fortress. could firm, true men, holding then prevalent beliefs, have done less? that prisoner was put to trial before judge, jury, and a public who each and all held the then common creed throughout all protestant christendom which is set forth in our appendix. witnesses swore that she accurately foretold the effects of medical treatment and other events; that she heard speeches by persons far remote from her; that a spectral child was seen in her presence; that her hands and simples wrought marvels,--therefore, how could jurors avoid conviction that the devil helped her? there was no spectral testimony in this case; outer senses of many persons had learned her supermundane powers. the nature of the testimony was unexceptionable, and its purport distinct and conclusive. the prevalent faith imperatively demanded that the verdict should be--_guilty_. the clear, strong faith of that day, in whomsoever it conjoined with good conscience and courage, put forth mighty power to persuade the good citizen and good man that high duty was calling upon him to gird on heavenly armor and fight for the destruction of this minion and colleague of the devil, even at the smothering of kindlier sentiments in his heart. she was _witch_, and therefore must die. was that a _deluded_ court, representative of a _deluded_ people, which condemned margaret jones to "hang high on the gallows-tree"? no doubt it was. delusion led not only our fathers here, but all christendom, on to deeds of shameful bloodshed. witchcraft itself, as a whole, is now by most people deemed a "_dark delusion_." but which, among the human faculties, did that delusion spell-bind, stultify, and make sanguinary? were the external senses of a whole community so disordered that the character and dimensions of sensible acts were grossly misapprehended? no. the circumstances amid which the early colonists lived, were certainly as well fitted to sharpen, discipline, and give reliability to the external senses as those which wait upon their descendants in the present century. whatever eyes saw, ears heard, or touch felt in 1648, was reported to the mind then as accurately as the same senses can report to-day. witchcraft phenomena were not the fictions of deluded _senses_. did that delusion dominate those mental faculties which clothe in words and report what the senses had learned, and derange them so effectually that they would put forth even under oath distorting and exaggerated accounts of facts which the senses had witnessed? we think not. distrust of the truthfulness and discrimination of ancient unknown witnesses, founded mainly upon the marvelousness of facts they swore to knowledge of, is not a basis that either candor or justice can deem sufficient to sustain a charge that their testimony was misleading. wherein lurks anything which indicates that the witnesses in this case stated anything that was not substantially true? if anywhere, it is probably in modern incredulity that spirits ever colabor with or act upon men. if the time shall come--and there now exist signs that it is near--when the cultured world shall learn that _science_ has been unwittingly _generating delusion_ by failing to detect and regard the existence of certain occult agents and forces which play important parts in scenes of nature and human society, then a greatly modified opinion concerning the truth of testimony evoked in witchcraft times may prevail throughout the enlightened world. the signs of to-day make it prudent, kind, and just to conceive that ancient _witnesses_ were quite as truthful and discriminating as modern elucidators of remote transactions have generally been. were the faculties of jurors and judges for comprehending the accuracy, force, and tendency of testimony, and for logically deducing conclusions from proved facts, so deluded as that the whole court, without a misgiving, convicted either on false testimony or illogically? candor must hesitate to say yes--especially in a case where such a man as governor winthrop sat upon the bench. he and his associates in the court may have been as free from any delusion that impaired or perverted their powers of discrimination, or for logical inferences from facts, as any court that has adjudicated since their day. the absolute cruelty and injustice of their verdict and sentence, however, do indicate delusion of some faculties; but not of the senses; not of the capacities to speak truth, and "nothing but the truth;" not of the capacities to sift evidence and to reason logically--not of these. their faculties for receiving, containing, holding on to, and obeying an inherited faith were the _deluded_ ones. in common with all christendom the convictors of witches had been deluded into adoption, or at least retention, of a woful creed concerning the devil. at that time public sentiment in most countries on the continent of europe, and also in both old and new england, demanded rigid enforcement of all laws which that false, mischief-working creed had engendered and recorded in statute-books. such laws were plain and imperative; both jurors and judges, suppressing sentiment, must yield to logic--must convict and sentence. by no other course could they be true to their convictions of duty toward society around them, or toward god on high. yes; an imported monastic-born faith, unnatural, erroneous, and more than barbarous, deluded kind and good men to feel that they must suppress sympathy, ignore their tender impulses, benumb their hearts, and, whither god's voice was believed to call, go forward in stern, agonizing resolve to thrust a devil-helped worker, however good and estimable in outward seeming, to where the wicked one could do them and theirs no mischief through that mortal ally. such was the logical and stern demand of the old deluding and heart-curbing creed. do we wonder in our day how such monstrous faith could ever have obtained and kept both an abiding hold and controlling authority in any clear head that was joined to a kindly heart? seeds of faith get lodgment in the human brain while it is yet too young to understand or even try to test the nature and quality of what falls upon it. whatever the church and public believe, and have believed through a long past, is ever dropping its own seed into opening minds, which forthwith germinates therein. this sends its roots deep into virgin soil, grows with vigor there, and becomes fruitful of the same old faith during that very early portion of life in which the infantile questioning, analyzing, and reasoning faculties are scarce able to doubt the soundness or excellence of what thence has grown and matured in close alliance with themselves. faith's right and fitness to define duty, and the child's obligation to execute its requirements, are usually conceded by all the other faculties. the truer and better the man, the more surely will he carry out his faith to its logical demands, even though, abraham like, he have to lay his dearest on the altar of sacrifice, to lift the knife, and nerve himself to plunge it into his own child's heart, unless some voice from on high, more potent than previous faith, shall bid him hold. few other than strong men and true, conscious of being soldiers in heaven's army, would march resolutely to the devil's living and shotted guns, purposing to destroy them; for their destruction was instinct with, and inseparable from, anguish to christian neighbors and friends. extremists alone would do that. none midway between vile demons and men of high faith in god would voluntarily meet that ordeal. we do not regard _all_ the active prosecutors and convictors of witches as having been actuated by well-defined faiths and high principles. when popular furor sets strongly in any direction, the thoughtless, the unprincipled, the cruel, the malicious, join in the rush, and some such often become conspicuous and heartless agents in confounding confusion and in executing public decrees. still, nearly all eminent men of both europe and america--the leading divines, jurists, and civilians, the men of culture and of influence--believed that witchcraft and the witchcraft devil existed, and that witches should be detected and punished by the processes and laws then deemed applicable in such cases. therefore, the mass of the people, however ignorant, thoughtless, or rash, when detecting and punishing witches, were only hastening to effect by rough processes and expeditiously, no more than the learned, more orderly, and patient would have felt constrained to accomplish, in the end, from a firm conviction of duty. good faith and conscientious regard for the public weal actuated and sustained all those "solid men of boston" and its vicinity, who were the real bones, sinews, and muscles which brought the devil's seeming helper to the gallows. whether this impressible and unfolded woman was literally aided in any of her marvelous operations by invisible _intelligences_ may be debatable. it is possible that forces subject to no will but her own, and not even to that at all times, may have passed from her into other persons, which relieved some and agonized others extensively. medication of her simples may have been mainly their natural absorption of elements residing in her system, or which were naturally attracted into and through that peculiar system. her correct perceptions of the future action of remedies prescribed by either herself or others, and of the future course and result of diseases, may have been obtained by her own inner faculties when partially and transiently disentangled from her outer ones, and sensing in knowledge from the hidden realm of causes. so too she may have been at times so nearly a freed spirit, that she could by her own perceptives accurately sense coming events, and hear the words of far distant speakers. we refrain from denying the possibility that such auras resided in, emanated from, and surrounded her body, that a spirit child coming within them was by natural impersonal forces there rendered visible to external optics. it is possible there was no phenomenon in this case that must be called _spiritual_, excepting the mere _advent_ of the child--not its visibility, but its _advent_. if the child was there, then a spirit was there, and it was a case of spiritualism. all this is possible; but we ask whether it is probable that all works seeming to be hers were produced by blind natural forces and her own will and powers solely? to this our own answer is an emphatic no. the presence of the child gives force to that response. if one spirit came to her, others could have come. the old records are nearly or quite devoid of information relating to the intelligence, character, and social position of margaret jones. she was wife of thomas jones, who, soon after her execution, took passage on board a vessel for barbadoes. we have met with no indication that they had children--with nothing which alludes to his age, occupation, or standing in society. we find her a practicer of the healing art; but at what age, or amid what worldly circumstances, is all unknown. bunker hill and its circumjacent slopes and lowlands have close connection with the earlier stages of two american conflicts for freedom. there lived, and from thence was taken to prison and the gallows, the first american martyr in a war whose end, obtained forty-four years later at salem village, was christendom's mental emancipation from deluding and dwarfing bondage to a more than savage creed. true, the aggressive hosts--the prosecutors for witchcraft--were ignorant and unsuspicious of the far-reaching purposes of the divinity that shaped their ends, that beheld and ruled over their blind violence, and made them, all unconsciously and undesignedly, mortally rend a monster-creed whose demands they were slavishly and blindly complying with, and thus, without knowledge of it on their part, procuring for themselves, their children, and all future christians, new freedom and new incentives for independent speculations and conclusions regarding all matters both demonological and theological. a nightmare of centuries was thrown off from disturbed and horrified christendom at salem, and each cramped sufferer could thenceforth draw breath more freely, and commence processes of recuperation and expansion. the case of margaret jones is isolated. it has no traceable connection with any kindred one which either preceded or followed it. still its origin was in the abiding-place of forces and operators acting invisibly upon the external world, and amidst which all genuine witchcraft, miracle, and spiritualism have been born. her case must be catalogued among the marvelous, though the proving of the nature and character of her offense, erroneously so called, was unattended by the absurdities and cruelties which attach to many cases where spectral evidence was admitted, and barbarous processes were resorted to for extorting a plea to an indictment. as a witchcraft trial, hers was exceptionally inoffensive to modern views of propriety. the testimony throughout was based on experiences and observations by external senses, and would be admissible in any court and any age. the extra-common powers or susceptibilities of the accused were clearly proved. therefore the monstrous creed which then blinded and tyrannized over all minds took her life legitimately. good men, humane men, could do no less than pronounce her guilty before the law and before that creed which engendered the law. before we denounce or even disparage those who condemned her, let us pause for reflection. "a creed sometimes remains outside of the mind, incrusting and petrifying it against all other influences addressed to the higher parts of our nature, manifesting its power by not suffering any fresh and living conviction to get in."--_john stuart mill._ we requote as follows:-"the nobler tendency of culture, and above all of scientific culture, is to honor the dead without groveling before them--to profit by the past without sacrificing it to the present." the early colonists of the old bay state deserve to be held in high esteem and admiration; all noble sentiments conspire to honor them. culture and enlightenment will be derelict to their high calling if they traduce that people before they turn thought backward through two centuries, scan the imported creeds then prevalent here, observe circumstances then existing, and enter into feelings and views then bearing resistless sway. having done that, let them calmly determine whither duty led true-hearted, clear-headed, strong, courageous, and devout men in relation to witchcraft matters. many old beliefs may be discarded; many mistakes and errors of the past be shunned. we are not called to grovel before our ancestors; but shame, shame be to us if we brand them with egregious "credulity and infatuation," solely or mainly because their senses perceived and they described events which we cannot explain if we grant to them clear, sagacious, and well-balanced intellects for reporting facts which they observed. they were our peers in most good qualities and powers, and deserve our admiration. did we know the spot where the dust of charlestown's gifted physician reposes, we might desire to see a modest monument there bearing the following inscription:- to the memory of margaret jones, america's first martyr to spiritualism: who was hanged in boston, june 15, 1648, because god had given her such organization and receptivities that beneficent occult powers, using her successfully as an instrument in curing human ills, so excited the consternation of a devil-fearing people, that, knowing not what they did, they cried, crucify her! crucify her! ann hibbins. we lead attention next to one who moved in the highest circle of boston society--to an elderly lady of wit, culture, high connections socially, and of friendship with many of the most prominent and virtuous people of her day. so far as known, hers is meager as a case of witchcraft, attended by a less variety and extent of startling phenomena than most others; but it well reveals the force of the witchcraft creed, and the shifts of historians for explaining its only marvelous phenomenon which history hints at. hutchinson says, "the most remarkable occurrence in the colony in the year 1655 [1656 ?] was the trial and condemnation of mrs. ann hibbins for witchcraft. her husband, who died in the year 1654, was an agent for the colony in england, several years one of the assistants, and a merchant of note in the town of boston; but losses in the latter part of his life had reduced his estate, and increased the natural crabbedness of his wife's temper, which made her turbulent and quarrelsome, and brought her under church censures, and at length rendered her so odious to her neighbors as to cause some of them to accuse her of witchcraft. the jury brought her in guilty, but the magistrates refused to accept the verdict; so the cause came to the general court, where the popular clamor prevailed against her, and the miserable old woman was condemned and executed. search was made upon her body for teats, and her chests and boxes for puppets, images, &c.; but there is no record of anything of that sort being found. mr. beach, a minister in jamaica, in a letter to dr. increase mather in the year 1684, says, 'you may remember what i have sometimes told; your famous mr. norton once said at his own table before mr. wilson the pastor, elder penn, and myself and wife, &c., who had the honor to be his guests, that one of your magistrates' wives, as i remember, was hanged for a witch only for having more wit than her neighbors. it was his very expression; she having, as he explained it, unhappily guessed that two of her persecutors, whom she saw talking in the street, were talking of her, which, proving true, cost her her life, notwithstanding all he could do to the contrary, as he himself told us.' "it fared with her as it did with joan of arc in france. some counted her a saint and some a witch, and some observed solemn marks of providence set upon those who were very forward to condemn her, and to brand others upon the like ground with the like reproach." the author of the above was born fifty-five years after the execution of mrs. hibbins, and his account of her was not published till 1764, that is, one hundred and eight years after her decease. in his youth he may have conversed with aged people who were living at the time of the trial and execution of this woman, and may have received from them their notions concerning her temper and character. but if he did, his informers, during more than half a century before he was old enough to be an intelligent listener, had been living in the midst of people who were ashamed of the treatment which they and their fathers had bestowed upon reputed witches. thus ashamed and yielding to an almost universal propensity in men to make their own imputed errors and crimes seem slight, trivial, and excusable as possible, nothing would be more natural than a general propensity to vilify the sufferers, under a mistaken, though common, notion that the vileness of the persecuted excuses the wrong of the persecutors. whether hutchinson, in his youth, received from any source special mental biases which inclined him to regard all who suffered for witchcraft as quarrelsome and vicious, cannot now be ascertained; but it is obvious from his epithets that his disposition let him very readily apply to such persons terms of very decided disparagement. he spoke of one mary oliver as "a poor wretch;" also of mrs. hibbins as "the miserable old woman," and specified the "natural crabbedness of her temper which made her turbulent and quarrelsome." he implies that such traits were both the grounds and the sum of the charge and proofs of her witchcraft, and does all this without adducing a particle of evidence that she possessed such a temper, or was either _turbulent_ or _quarrelsome_. his allegations seem like the offspring of either blinding contempt or of deluded fancy,--yes, _deluded_,--for surely clear-eyed fancy must have foreseen that after ages could never believe that the highest court in the colony found natural crabbedness of temper, and consequent turbulence, satisfactory proof of an explicit compact with the devil, and therefore punishable by death. the insufficiency and probable inaccuracy of his reasons for the arraignment and condemnation of this person, will be more clearly exhibited further on, and mainly in extracts from a later historian. mr. beach's letter, quoted by hutchinson, gives distinct indication that mrs. hibbins was endowed with faculties which were vastly more likely to out-work what her age deemed witchcraft, than was any amount of bad temper and crabbedness. she had "more wit than her neighbors;" she "unhappily guessed that two of her persecutors, whom she saw talking in the street, were talking of her, which, proving true, cost her her life." here is indication of probability that this lady, as did margaret jones, possessed ability to comprehend the conversation of far distant parties, or to sense in the thoughts of some absent people with whom she came in rapport. similar abilities are possessed and exercised by many persons in these days, who have constitutional endowments of a kind which were formerly believed to be diabolical acquisitions, and were then deemed proofs of witchcraft--proofs of compact with satan. "it fared with her," says hutchinson, "as it did with joan of arc in france. some counted her a saint and some a witch." in these words the historian himself furnishes cause for distrusting the justice of ascribing to her a crabbed temper and habitual quarrelsomeness. for who, in any community, would ever count one _a saint_ who manifested such offensive qualities to any great extent as he ascribed to her? surely no one would. and yet he states that very many persons did so count mrs. hibbins. doubtless among her advocates was "your famous mr. norton," a very eminent, sagacious, and able minister in boston. there was enough about her to draw out from hutchinson the concession that the public here was divided in judgment concerning her character, as it formerly was in france concerning joan of arc, that maid of orleans, who heard and obeyed voices from out the unseen. crabbedness of temper and quarrelsomeness were not grounds on which any portion of the people would count her a _saint_. the historian refutes his own position. a more recent searcher for causes of her fate perceived, and very clearly pointed out, the inaccuracy and obvious insufficiency of hutchinson's grounds and reasons why mrs. hibbins was arraigned and convicted, but proceeded to assign others which are scarcely less inadequate and improbable. he writes as follows, vol. i. p. 422, _hist. of witchcraft_:-"while it is hardly worthy of being considered a sufficient explanation of the matter,--it being beyond belief, that, even at that time, a person could be condemned and executed merely on account of a 'crabbed temper,'--it is not consistent with the facts as made known to us from the record-offices. she could not have been so reduced in circumstances as to produce such extraordinary effects upon her character, for she left a good estate.... the only clew we have to the kind of evidence bearing upon the charge of witchcraft that brought this recently bereaved widow to so cruel and shameful a death, is in a letter written by a clergyman in jamaica to increase mather" (as quoted above). "nothing," upham adds, "was more natural than for her to suppose, knowing the parties, witnessing their manner, considering their active co-operation in getting up the excitement against her, which was then the all-engrossing topic, that they were talking about her. but, in the blind infatuation of the time, it was considered proof positive of her being possessed, _by the aid of the devil_, of supernatural insight--precisely as, forty years afterward, such evidence was brought to bear with telling effect against george burroughs.... the truth is, that the tongue of slander was let loose upon her, and the calumnies circulated by reckless gossip became so magnified and exaggerated, and assumed such proportions, as enabled her vilifiers to bring her under the censure of the church, and that emboldened them to cry out against her as a witch." some of our quotations are introduced quite as much for the purpose of exhibiting the animus, short-comings, and over-doings of the historians themselves, as for elucidating the general subject of witchcraft. we learn from the pages of the work from which the above extract was taken, that mrs. hibbins was sister of richard bellingham, deputy-governor of the province at the very time of her trial, and that her highly-esteemed husband had left her an estate which placed her far above poverty. it may fairly be presumed that both her social and pecuniary conditions were very respectable. upham perceives and forcibly comments upon the inadequacy of the grounds upon which hutchinson attempted to account for her conviction and execution. that earlier historian evinced, on very many of his pages, his persuasion, or at least a purpose to persuade his readers, that all the peculiar and disturbing phenomena of witchcraft were of exclusively mundane origin, and that temper, trick, imposture, deception, and the like, produced them all. this persuasion made him somewhat impatient of the whole matter, uncareful to scan all the facts before him, or keep his inferences in fair and broad harmony with them. it made him rashly severe. without indicating a shadow of reason why he does so, he calls this widow of one of boston's most esteemed merchants and public men--this sister of the deputy-governor of the province--this woman of more wit than her neighbors--this woman befriended by the eminent minister john norton--this woman not in poverty--this woman whom he ought to have known, did, in her lowest condition, even when a convict in prison and doomed to the gallows--did, in this dire extremity, bespeak and obtain the friendly offices of six or eight of the leading men of the city, and therefore presumably had their respect--such a one, hutchinson gratuitously calls a "miserable old woman;" and in doing it reveals the careless and heartless historian of those who had come under ban for witchcraft. upham, going to the probate records and finding the will of mrs. hibbins, which was made a few days after her sentence of death, is able to present her in a different aspect. his comments upon her, as she is revealed by the will and its codicils, are as follows, vol. i. p. 425:-"the whole tone and manner of these instruments give evidence that she had a mind capable of rising above the power of wrong, suffering, and death itself. they show a spirit calm and serene. the disposition of her property indicates good sense, good feeling, and business faculties suitable to the occasion. in the body of the will, there is not a word, a syllable, or a turn of expression, that refers to or is in the slightest degree colored by her peculiar situation. in the codicil there is this sentence: 'my desire is that all my overseers would be pleased to show so much respect unto my dead corpse, as to cause it to be decently interred, and, if it may be, near my late husband." perusal and study of her will and its appendages induced the later historian to speak of ann hibbins as "this recently bereaved widow"--a phrase much more agreeable, and seemingly vastly more just in application to her, than "miserable old woman." in that will she names as overseers and administrators of her estate, captain thomas clarke, lieutenant edward hutchinson, lieutenant william hudson, ensign joshua scottow, and cornet peter oliver; also in a codicil, she says, "i do earnestly desire my loving friends, captain johnson and edward rawson, to be added to the rest of the gentlemen mentioned as overseers of my will." upham, having stated the above, says, "it can hardly be doubted that these persons--and they were all leading citizens--were known by her to be among her friends." yes, the presumption is very fair, amounting to almost positive proof, that many of the prominent and best people of the town were her friends. the appearance is, that her social walk was wide away from the purlieus of common mundane diabolism and billingsgate. the vulgar would see her standing off beyond their reach, and waste no breath upon her. only the respectable and influential could touch her to her essential harm. we commend and thank the later historian for bringing this persecuted woman out into such light as shows that she may have been equal in all good qualities to the best of her persecutors. but his reasons for her persecution and condemnation are scarcely more adequate or credible than those of hutchinson. we ascribed to him the faculties of a fictionist, and he used them when he said, "the truth is, that the tongue of slander was let loose upon her." the former historian imputed certain offensive acts or traits to both margaret jones and ann hibbins severally, which he assumed to be the provoking causes of public vengeance. he deemed the sufferers themselves doers of the intolerable wrongs. but his successor makes her beneficence the crime for which mrs. jones suffered; and the origination and utterance of slander _by the public_, the cause of death to mrs. hibbins. the earlier writer was lenient toward the public and severe upon the accused women. the later was kind toward the women, but, by necessary implication, intensely aspersory upon the great body of the people; for he makes the public hang one because of her successful medical practice by the use of only simple remedies, and another because of slanders which itself had poured out upon her. his charge of slander is fictitious. he adduces no evidence that the lady was slandered, and we have met with none anywhere. and were it true, it is quite as much "beyond belief that even at that time a person could be condemned and executed merely on account of being" _slandered_, as it is that one could have then been thus treated on account of a "crabbed temper" solely. a much more probable cause of the persecution of mrs. hibbins than either of the historians drew forth and rested upon, lurks in that language of "famous mr. norton," which says that she "having more wit than her neighbors, unhappily guessed that two of her persecutors, whom she saw talking in the street, were talking of her, which proving true, cost her her life." upham, commenting upon that, says, "nothing was more natural than for her to suppose, knowing the parties, witnessing their manner, considering their active co-operation in getting up the excitement against her, which was then the all-engrossing topic, that they were talking about her." whence and how did the accomplished rhetorician learn that those two persecutors were active co-operators, or that they were in any degree concerned "in _getting up_" the excitement against her? how _know_ that their manner was expressive of any particular topic of conversation? how _know_ that she or her case was the then all-engrossing topic? he put forth assumptions as though they were historic facts. no ancient record is credited with them; none contains them that we have met with. he could not well know them to be true. they are fairly reasonable fictions; but we must doubt whether they are either known or knowable as _facts_. they would be agreeable amplifications if they did not tend to mislead and blind; they would be beauties, and not blemishes, if the soundness and sufficiency of their underlying theory or assumption were conceded. but it is not. common sense cannot concede it. boston was neither doltish enough nor wicked enough to generate and sustain _slander_ of such quantity and quality as would force one of her ladies of wit and high connections to die ignominiously on the gallows--never, never. neither the temper of the woman herself, nor any combined baseness and malice that ever existed in the orderly and religious town of boston, is admissible as the chief cause of that woman's execution. her own _wit_ was the historic, and, when defined and illustrated, may appear to be the real cause. whether mrs. hibbins received on that occasion, and might have been accustomed to get, knowledge by other than man's ordinary processes, and to such extent and of such kind as implied her possession of some faculties above or distinct from great powers at guessing, can best be inferred by looking at the views of her utterances which were taken by those who heard them. their persecution of her unto death tells what those views were. have historians made fair and full use of the very small historic basis extant, for accounting for the state and nature of public feeling among the neighbors of this woman? we think not. her _wit_, the true corner-stone, has not been their basis of explanation. when she saw two known persecutors talking, the circumstances may or may not have been helpful to a correct guess at the topic of their conversation _then_. but--but these men, upham assumes, were _already_ known to her as her persecutors. therefore something must have occurred before that time which had aroused persecution of her. these men are called "two of her persecutors," which intimates that she already may have had more than two, and admits the supposition that she may have had very many such, both prior to and at the very time when she made the particular _guess_ whose accuracy has been so plausibly commented upon. something, antecedent to that guess, had set some minds against her. yes, if we may trust the conjecture of upham, something had already created an "excitement against her which was then the all-engrossing topic." the cause of antecedent and existing excitement, at the time she made _that_ guess, was seemingly unsought for by either hutchinson or upham. or, if they sought for this, _the most important thing connected with the case, and essential to its satisfactory elucidation_, they found nothing which they ventured to publish. omission to bring out the cause of public excitement, _prior to the guess_, makes previous history very unsatisfactory. there is some light shining now which may enable the searcher in dark closets of the past to discover meanings there which former explorers failed to find. no new, positive, distinct historical statements explanatory of this case have been seen. we are confined to the same very narrow premises on which previous reasoners stood, but we find different import of the same facts from any which prior expounders disclosed. we join with upham in saying that "_the only clew_ we have to the kind of evidence bearing upon _the charge of witchcraft_ that brought this recently bereaved widow to so cruel and shameful a death, is in a letter written by a clergyman in jamaica to increase mather in 1684." that letter, already quoted, imputes to her more _wit_ than others; wit, or penetration, by which she sensed correctly the conversation going on between two of her persecutors. that is the full sum of the direct historical evidence. and what is involved in that? is crabbed temper there? no. is slander there? no; but _wit_ is. standing alone and unexplained, this wit amounts, perhaps, to but little; and yet when interpreted by her sad fate it may amount to very much. it suggests forcibly the probability, bordering close upon certainty, that she was endowed with some faculties which the sagacious mr. norton called "wit"--but yet were such as could obtain accurate knowledge so surprisingly as to suggest that it was obtained by process as occult as that by which jesus perceived the private reasonings of scribes and pharisees--entrappers and persecutors of himself. to-day,--when observation is almost daily meeting with operations of faculties, in limited classes of men and women, which enable them to read, at times, the secret thoughts and hear the secret and hushed utterances of some afar off,--that jamaica letter intimates enough to generate presumption that mrs. hibbins might have possessed like faculties, and that her exercise of such startled, alarmed, and almost frenzied a community in which such powers were deemed proof positive that their possessor had made a covenant with the evil one, and received her surprising knowledge from him. amid a people holding such faith concerning the devil as the colonists here entertained in 1656, the exercise of such powers called upon all god-fearing and true men to rid the world of such a devil-minion as the knowledge possessed by mrs. hibbins proved her to be. a sample of light which is now available shines forth from the following letter, and its rays are blended in those from the lamp that guides our feet while we move onward in tracing out the probable meaning reachable by following up the only historic clew to those powers of mrs. hibbins, her possession and exercise of which constituted a capital crime:- "no. 1085 washington st., boston, "september 23, 1873. "allen putnam, esq., roxbury. "dear friend: you solicit information in regard to hearing, from the _inner_ ear, men and women speaking when miles away. i have always possessed that faculty in a remarkable degree. at one time, when building a steamboat in southern illinois, under peculiar circumstances, i would often hear men say, 'that man has no money to build a boat with; he's a fraud; and i pity those poor fellows who are working for him.' this was soon after i commenced her construction; and although i did not want to hear it, and tried ever so hard not to, still i could hear them seemingly more distinct than though they were close to me. one day in particular, and at a time when i could see no way out of my difficulty, i heard a mr. cutting, who was building some miles up river, say to his foreman, 'i wonder if mr. kimball realizes that his timber will be lost.' (mr. kimball was the man who furnished my timber and plank.) after the tide turned in my favor, and it was known about town that i paid my men regularly, i heard the remark, 'that man is the most reticent man i ever heard of,' &c." the author of the letter does not state distinctly that in those two cases the speakers were very much too far away for his external ears to hear their voices, yet such was his statement when he gave me, previously, a verbal account of the facts; and such was his meaning, therefore, in the letter--the remainder of which here follows:- "at one time, in cincinnati, although three miles away, i heard my landlady say to her daughter, after i had been boarding with them a week, 'i don't like that man--he is _not_ all right;' and went on to tell her impressions, what she thought i was, which it is not necessary to repeat. at first i felt indignant, forgetting, for the moment, i was three miles away. i finally concluded to say nothing about it when i went home at night, as i thought at first of doing, else they might think i was wrong in some way, as they were both members of the m. e. church. but, when i got home, having a good opportunity, i told the daughter word for word what her mother had said about me, and also her response to her mother after she (the mother) had got through berating me--which was, 'what do you mean?' and the mother's answer to her exclamation, 'i mean just as i say.' i requested the daughter not to say anything to the mother, as it would do no good. but in the course of the following day the mother got speaking of me again in much the same strain, when the daughter could not resist the temptation, and told her to be careful what she said; and then told her what i had said. the mother was thunderstruck, and after a moment said, 'he is a devil.' i happened to be in a condition such that i heard the mother's response. this i told to the daughter that evening. now, if i had had a thought that the mother entertained such feelings toward me, i might have attributed it to the workings of my own mind. but as i thought they had diametrically the opposite opinion, i concluded that it was another case of the inner hearing. "now, if you can make use of this, or a part of it, you are welcome to do so. should you desire any other cases, i can furnish many. "with high considerations i remain, "d. c. densmore." the writer of the above, when in conversation with me in my own study, incidentally dropped a word which intimated that his inner ear was sometimes receptive of utterances put forth by embodied men and women, who, at the time, were far away from him. in response to my expressed wish to know whether such was the fact, he detailed a number of cases in which he had had such experience; i then asked him to give me one or two of them, briefly, on paper. that request shortly drew forth the foregoing letter. much more of the emphatically educational period of captain densmore's life was spent in forecastles and cabins of whaleships than in school on shore, and he perhaps expected me to reconstruct his sentences, in part at least, before presenting them in print. but such facts as his experience has encountered ought to be accompanied by the spirit of conscious knowledge and truth pervading his own vocabulary. his language is sufficiently perspicuous to convey his meaning, and possesses force which any considerable change would impair. that spirit makes rhetoric and grammar of secondary consequence in the narration of facts and experiences which show that there exist capacities in some embodied human beings for receiving intelligence-fraught impressions, in ways and under circumstances which the schoolmen and teachers of the world lack knowledge of, but ought to know and get instruction from. therefore the reader has been permitted to see in his own words the statement of one who has at times heard with his inner or spiritual senses the exact words of speakers who were miles away from him, and thus shown that mrs. hibbins, through the possession of natural faculties, though of a kind but rarely developed, might have been something very different from a mere skillful guesser. an assumption that she was helped by spirits is not needful to a satisfactory explanation of a mode in which she might have learned directly and instantly what far absent ones were uttering. her own faculties, independently of special spirit help or teaching, may have permitted her to hear with perfect distinctness what would have been utterly inaudible by mortals in their ordinary condition. measuring the marvelousness of her knowledge by the frenzy it produced in the community, and the awful doom it drew upon herself, we look upon her manifestations of "wit" as an outflow of knowledge gained through her own inner or spiritual organs of perception--either with or without the aid of spirits. when commenting upon what he assumed to be fact, viz., that mrs. hibbins made a correct guess, and only a _guess_, upham says, that "in the blind infatuation of the time, it was considered proof positive of her being possessed, _by aid of the devil_, of supernatural insight." thus he assumed that the mass of people in boston were under such an infatuation as could and did cause them to believe that very successful _guessing_ required the devil's help! they may have been infatuated, but their infatuation did not act in that direction. their senses and judgments for determining the forces needful to produce either material or mental effects, may, for aught that history states, have been as keen as any people ever possessed, and their general wisdom and thrift indicate that they did. why, therefore, hastily brand them with the imbecility of being unequal to a fair, common-sense estimate of the adequacy of causes to produce observed effects? to do so is ungenerous, unjust, and uncalled for by their action. it may have been, and probably was, their freedom from infatuation; it may have been the very keenness and accuracy of their perceptions of the quantity and quality of cause needful to acquirement of knowledge which her utterances revealed, that generated and sustained the hostility against mrs. hibbins. her accuracy in reading facts, secret and transpiring at a distance, was possibly, on many occasions, so far beyond what common experience or science was able to impute to either luck or skill at guessing, that few, if any, could avoid the conclusion that she was receiving supernal aid. anything supernal was then deemed devilish. after public excitement had been aroused against her, a very successful guess might possibly be evidence that the devil was its author, but not till the excitement had acquired and exercised bewildering force. some extraordinary sayings or doings of this lady obviously must have antedated the public furore, else it would never have raged. the nature and circumstances of the case indicate an almost certainty that minds around her, while in their ordinary calmness, must have witnessed sayings or doings by her which "seemed to them more than natural"--which were startling--were out of the usual course, and readily distinguishable from guessings: because without something of this kind the excitement itself could never have commenced. what first started the public terror of her is the most important question in the case. the excitement did not spring up uncaused. a successful guess was no great novelty and no marvel in times of calmness. it could not then be regarded as diabolical. the bewilderings of antecedent causes were needful to make a correct _guess_ terrific. excitement might metamorphose a guess into devil-imputed knowledge, but a guess could not beget, though it might intensify, blood-seeking excitement. whence the excitement itself--such excitement as could regard an accurate guess as necessarily the offspring of diabolical insight? mrs. hibbins lived among the _ã©lite_ of a province, whose people were decidedly sagacious in matters of both private and public business, and were also probably possessed of as high moral and religious principles, as prevailed in any other community on the globe. as before stated, richard bellingham, one of the very eminent men of the country, and at that time deputy-governor of the province, was her brother; she was widow of one who had been among the most esteemed citizens of the town, and she is credited with having possessed more wit than her neighbors. therefore we are hunting for a cause adequate to excite public indignation against a woman of bright intellect, of high position in society, and standing under the shelter of near kinship with those in authority. the cause must have been some strange one. _skill at guessing_ was too common and natural, and does not meet the requirements. we all unite in calling the people of 1656 infatuated in relation to witchcraft. but did their infatuation so affect them as to bring obtuseness upon their external senses and their intellectual ability for discerning the nature, character, and force of testimony and evidence? or, on the other hand, did it not show itself almost exclusively in their reception and tenacious retention of monstrous items in their witchcraft creed? which? admit an affirmative to the first part of the inquiry--admit that senses and intellects were befooled by external manifestations--and you make those noble forefathers but a band of dolts, heartless and bloodthirsty, taking life because they had not wit enough to read clearly the significance of observed external facts or to see the bearings and force of evidence. admit the second, viz., that their creed was father of their infatuation, and you may look upon them as a band possessing clear perception of the exact meaning and logical results of all christendom's fixed creed upon diabolism, and of unflinching purpose to fight for god and christ against the devil. demonologically they were infatuated, in common with the enlightened world; while yet for keen observance of outward facts, for just estimate of the adequacy of a cause to produce an observed effect, for determining the just significance of any well-observed fact, for discriminating application of evidence under the rules of their creeds both god-ward and devil-ward, no reason appears why they were not equal to any other community anywhere. their infatuation was not first on the practical, but on the theoretical side. it was devil-ward, not man-ward _directly_, though through the creed it became man-ward. though perceiving the meagerness and improbability of hutchinson's solution, upham, ignoring what he avowed to be the only historical "clew we have" to a correct one, which led directly to the woman's own wit, was pleased to find the exciting cause of her persecution not in _her_, but in other people, and dogmatically said, "the _truth_ is, the tongue of slander was let loose against her." such assumption--and it is bold assumption, even if it be in accordance with facts--fails--entirely fails--to meet the fair demands of our common-sense requirements. what started, and extended, and intensified that tongue if it did wag? if its utterances were _slanderous_, they were a mixture of _falsehood_ and _malice_. what _lies_ were or could be fabricated against such a woman, the nature of which the common sagacity of society there and then would not detect? what _lies_ which the truthfulness of society there and then would not decline to repeat against her? what malice against that lady of high connections could so pervade society there as to generate a public sentiment that demanded and obtained her life? the people of boston were not wicked enough to let falsehood and malice triumph in their highest court of justice. something different from _slander_ was needed to awaken and sustain the popular clamor against this woman, and to cause the court to pass sentence of death upon her. we granted to upham the faculties of a fictionist, and he used them when he declared that "the truth is, the tongue of slander was let loose upon her." "the truth is," neither he nor any other one among us at this day, knows whether that woman was slandered or not. she may have been, but it is only matter of conjecture, and should not be put forth as _truth_. something more than slander in its utmost expandings and accretions was needful to the tragic results which ensued. we recur again to the only historical cause of excitement against this lady, viz., norton's hint that she possessed such marvelous wit for guessing, as upham supposes the people around her considered "proof positive of her being possessed, _by the aid of the devil_, of supernatural insight." that hint unlocks a door behind which may be found a more adequate and philosophical cause of her arraignment and condemnation than has hitherto been assigned. since many persons now possess, she too may have possessed constitutional faculties, which, at times, enabled her to _sense_, comprehend, and enunciate facts and truths which it was impossible for her to learn by man's ordinary processes. admit simply that she may have possessed intuitive faculties which read the thoughts of others or sensed afar the spirit of sounds, and solution of all mysteries about her is made. wide awake, keen-sighted, good people may have seen in her the exercise of such powers as were clearly, distinctly, and beyond all question, extraordinary,--yes, supermundane. what then? why, by all fair logic from christendom's faith at that time, the devil must be her teacher, and she must be his covenanted servant. such a helper of satan, however high in character or station, must be deprived of power to work for him. very wonderful revelations, such as disclosures of the secret thoughts and private conversations of other and distant persons, being a few times repeated by her, what could people, true to their god and their creed, do less than demand her execution? nothing--nothing less. their infatuated but sincere belief about the devil plainly and with mighty force called for her blood. and this not because of any crabbedness in her--not because of any lies about her--not because of malice toward her--not because of the tongue of slander--but because of facts, unquestionable facts, outwrought through her, which the tongue of truth might dutifully publish and republish throughout the town. the trouble, the murderous impulses, sprang from the _creed_, and especially from those parts of it which made any and all mysterious and disturbing outworkings devilish in their source, and which taught that the devil could act through no human beings but such as had made a voluntary compact to serve him. those who had covenanted with him must die. mrs. hibbins was born with mediumistic faculties, and because of her legitimate use of these, the faith of her times conscientiously took her life. it gladdens the heart to find a view which legitimately permits mrs. hibbins to have been a bright, refined, high-toned, and most estimable lady; and at the same time lessens the blackness of the cloud which has long hung over her judges and executioners. they were not so weak and wicked as to doom one to die because of temper, nor so villainous as to slander away a lady's life. stern religious adherence and application of an honest, though deluded _faith_, made them executioners of all such as had exhibited powers which in the dim light of their philosophy and science seemed supernatural. their weakness consisted of such strong faith as could, and in emergencies must, put in abeyance the kindlier sentiments of their hearts. their great infirmity, which was then a general one throughout christendom, was solely infatuation _devil-ward_. we charge our ancestors with _infatuation_. people in all ages and nations have, no doubt, been subject to its influence. perhaps every individual man and woman is more or less swayed by it. each one in respect to some things may act without his usual good judgment, and contrary to the dictates of reason. the people of boston were obviously debarred, by their infatuation devil-ward, from perceiving that mrs. hibbins might have received extraordinary gifts from some other giver than the great evil devil. and is it _impossible_ that infatuation influenced her recent historian first to reject the historic wit, and substitute for it fancied slander, as cause for the excitement against her, and then put his substitution forth as the _truth_; though both common sense and sound philosophy see at a glance, first, that it is only a conjecture, and secondly, that it is entirely inadequate to produce the effects which it was fabricated to account for? in doing this _he_ seemingly acted without _his_ usual good judgment, and contrary to the appropriate dictates of his enlightened reason--was infatuated. both of the two historians above quoted, virtually assumed that there never occurred here any phenomena, either mental or physical, which were not wrought out by agents, forces, and faculties purely mundane. therefore the facts of history necessarily pushed them up to make implied, and often explicit, allegation that whole communities of resolute, wide-awake, energetic people, were possessors of external senses which were pitifully and superlatively deludible--possessors of enormous general credulity--of perceptions and judgments woefully warped and benighted in matters generally, excepting only a few of their girls and old women, who manifested cunning and deviltry supreme in making high sport out of the weaknesses of their elders and betters. having driven stakes beyond which nature and natural forces must not go under forfeiture of historic recognition, anything not explainable by forces recognized within those stakes, is accounted for by the sage exclamation, "but that was a time of great credulity;" or "in the blind infatuation of the time," things were thus and so. we are willing to grant the existence of much credulity and infatuation both of old and now, but are not willing to allow that the facts of seeing what some other persons have not seen, and knowing the existence and partial operations of some forces in nature which some people have not paid attention to, are proof of either "great credulity" or "blind infatuation." had the later historian been free from all infatuation, he could have learned from passing developments that mrs. hibbins probably, at times, was essentially a liberated spirit, hearing what swedenborg calls "cogitatio loquens"--speaking thought--and that her repetition of what she thus learned took her life. hers was not a case of necessary spirit co-operation, was perhaps only one of uncommon liberation of the internal perceptive faculties. because highly illumined, her brilliancy was judged to be diabolical, and therefore must be extinguished. ann cole. manifestations differing widely from any noticed in the preceding cases, were observed in the presence of a connecticut girl named ann cole. american witchcraft history has transmitted no distinct account of the use of human organs of speech by intellect that was foreign to the legitimate owner of the vocals used, prior to the instance described by hutchinson in the following extract. the history of ann cole involves all that we know of the greensmiths, husband and wife, mentioned therein, and who were executed for witchcraft. "in 1662, at hartford, conn., one ann cole, a young woman who lived next door to a dutch family, and, no doubt, had learned something of the language, was supposed to be possessed with demons, who sometimes spoke dutch, and sometimes english, and sometimes a language which nobody understood, and who held a conference with one another. several ministers, who were present, took down the conference in writing, and the names of several persons mentioned in the course of the conference as actors or bearing parts in it; particularly a woman, then in prison upon suspicion of witchcraft, one greensmith, who, upon examination, confessed, and appeared to be surprised at the discovery. she owned that she and the others named had been familiar with a demon, who had carnal knowledge of her; and although she had not made a formal covenant, yet she had promised to be ready at his call, and was to have had a high frolic at christmas, when an agreement was to have been signed. upon this confession she was executed, and two more of the company were condemned at the same time." hutchinson also credits to goffe's diary the statement that "after one of the witches was hanged, the maid was well." another account of this ann's case, furnished by an eye-witness and personal hearer when she was in her trances, has been transmitted. the writer of it promptly made, but afterward lost, minutes of what he heard from her lips, and about twenty years afterward wrote his remembrances of the manifestations, and forwarded the following account to increase mather:-"anno 1662. this ann cole (living in her father's family) was taken with strange fits wherein she (or rather the devil, as 'tis judged, making use of her lips) held a discourse for a considerable time. the general substance of it was to this purport, that a company of familiars of the evil one (who were named in the discourse that passed from her) were contriving how to carry on their mischievous designs against some, and especially against her; mentioning sundry ways they would take to that end, as that they would afflict her body, spoil her name, hinder her marriage, &c.... the conclusion was, 'let us confound her language; she may tell no more tales.'... the discourse passed into a dutch tone, ... and therein was given an account of some afflictions that had befallen divers, among the rest a young dutch woman ... that could speak but very little, had met with great sorrow, as pinchings of her arms in the dark, &c.... judicious mr. stone being by, when the latter discourse passed, declared it, in his thoughts, impossible that one not familiarly acquainted with the dutch (which ann cole had not at all been) should so exactly imitate the dutch tone in the pronunciation of english.... extremely violent bodily motions she many times had, even to the hazard of her life, ... and very often great disturbance was given in the public worship of god by her and two other women who had also strange fits.... the consequence was, that one of the persons presented as active in the forementioned discourse (a lewd, ignorant, considerably aged woman), being a prisoner upon suspicion of witchcraft, the court sent for mr. haynes and myself to read what we had written.... she forthwith and freely confessed these things to be true: (that she and other persons named in the discourse) had familiarity with the devil. being asked whether she had made an express covenant with him, she answered, she had not, only as she promised to go with him when he called (which she had accordingly done sundry times).... amongst other things, she owned that the devil had frequent use of her body with much seeming (but indeed horrible, hellish) delight to her. this, with the concurrent evidence, brought the woman and her husband to their death as the devil's familiars.... after this execution ... the good woman had abatement of her sorrows, which had continued sundry years, and she yet remains maintaining her integrity. "ann cole was daughter of john cole, a godly man among us. she hath been a person esteemed pious, behaving herself with a pleasant mixture of humility and faith under very heavy sufferings, professing (as she did sundry times) that _she knew nothing_ of those things that were spoken by her, but that her tongue was improved to express what never was in her mind."--_john whiting to increase mather. feb. 1682._ the source of hutchinson's information is not known. rev. mr. whiting, of hartford, was an eye and ear witness to what he relates, and therefore is the better authority. some great discrepancies are obvious in the two accounts. one hundred years after her day the historian said ann no doubt had learned something of the dutch language. but the better authority, because it is that of one who both saw and beard the young woman when under control, and continued to obtain knowledge of her for twenty years subsequently, says she "had not at all been acquainted with" that language. the former says "the supposed demons" spoke through her sometimes in english and sometimes in dutch; while the latter "judged" that the devil alone was speaker, and implies that the language always was english, though the tones sometimes were very exactly dutch. the devil was "judged" to be there divulging the malicious purposes of "a company of his familiars" toward certain human beings. here is manifested a propensity, common to all describers of witchcraft scenes, to impute to the great devil himself whatever was projected forth from the realm of mysteries. a careful reading of the two accounts excites conjecture that hutchinson may have drawn his facts mainly from whiting's letter, and yet failed to regard and adhere to opinions therein presented as to the actual speaker through ann cole's lips. whiting says, that "she, or rather the _devil_, as 'tis judged, making use of her lips, held a discourse" in which sundry living persons were named as being familiars of the evil one, and plotters of mischief against some of their neighbors, and especially against this ann herself. this personal observer says, that "_she, or rather the devil_," described mrs. greensmith and her associates, and disclosed their evil purposes toward ann and some other mortals. but the historian greatly metamorphosed the matter; he writes, that she "was supposed to be possessed with demons, who sometimes spoke dutch and sometimes english," and that the persons who took notes (mr. whiting, mr. haynes, and mr. stone) mentioned the names of several persons "_as being actors or bearing parts in the conference, ... particularly one greensmith_." wrong--entirely wrong: these mortals were the subjects of a discourse; were not speakers, but persons spoken of. thus hutchinson converted certain low-lived mortals into such demons as took possession of a human form, and through it, in varying languages, held a dialogue in which they openly told to mortal ears their own malicious purposes, and what mortals they were intending to injure. stupid. whiting makes the devil, in varied tones and assumed characters, speak out the names of the embodied culprits, and tell of harms they had done, and more that they intended to do. sensible. the devil or his alias often acts well the part of a detective and informer; in this case he managed to bring mrs. greensmith to confession. _possibly_, and only possibly, that devil was only an influx of auras which found entrance to ann's inner perceptives, put in abeyance her outer consciousness and outer senses, and let her inner ones sense and give expression to the thoughts and purposes of some low-lived and lewd mediumistic persons in her neighborhood, whose inner selves, she, as a relatively freed spirit, could thoroughly read. occult intelligences sometimes actuate the physical organs, while yet the mortal's consciousness fails to perceive either the action or the will that prompts it. the account of her life makes it apparent that ann, as a woman, had no affinity with the base and lewd, but, being mediumistic, was caused, either by design or by the out-workings of unconscious natural forces, to disclose the baseness and lewdness of others. she apparently experienced entrancement to absolute unconsciousness, so that she became, for the time being, literally a tool--no more self-acting, and therefore no more responsible, than a pen, a pencil, or a speaking-trumpet. condition like hers in that respect is experienced by many persons at the present day. some utterances made by her lips when she was entranced were successfully used in court, either as proofs, or as helps for obtaining proof, that certain other persons in her neighborhood were in league with satan--were the devil's familiars. presentation in court of accusations that had come forth from her vocal organs brought a woman, then on trial for witchcraft, to prompt confession that the allegations were true, and both she and her husband were condemned and executed. similar resorts for obtaining clews by which to trace crimes to their authors are extensively resorted to now, and frequently with success; but the statements of the entranced and the clairvoyant are not adduced in court, nor should they be, because our world has not yet attained to reliable skill for testing their accuracy; nor are high-minded and trustworthy spirits often willing to expose any guilty mortals to punishment by this world's tribunals and executioners. how far the novel annunciation of their names and some of their practices contributed to the condemnation of the greensmiths, husband and wife, or whether it did at all, is only matter for conjecture. but that either some influences went out from them and acted upon ann, or that some went forth from ann and acted upon them, or that there was reciprocal action back and forth, is only a fair inference from what is stated above, taken in connection with that foot-note of hutchinson, which is credited to "goffe the regicide's diary," and reads thus: "after one of the witches was hanged, the maid was well." no mention has been met with of any sickness about ann, excepting the strangely induced _fits_ in which she was used as the mouthpiece of the strange occupant or occupants of her form. her becoming _well_ may mean no more than a cessation of her fits, or obsessions. that these should cease after the execution of a person or persons with whom she had been in distressing and uncongenial rapport, was perhaps only a natural result from the action of universal laws. drafts may have been made from her system by forces not her own, which helped invisible beings to act upon the condemned greensmiths for good or for harm. occasion for such use of her elements or properties may have ceased as soon as the gallows had finished its work. the fits ceased, perhaps, solely because drafts of special properties from her were discontinued. "after one of the witches was hanged, the maid was well." the execution of one person and the restoration of health to another were viewed by goffe as cause and effect. the greensmith woman's confession of the use of her form by her familiar--revolting as the isolated fact would be to us, and will be to the reader--was the controlling reason which influenced us to adduce the case of ann cole. we get from the old woman greensmith an ancient indication, which is paralleled by many unproclaimed modern ones, that astounding possibilities reside within the scope and sway of forces interacting between the realms of matter and of spirit, which possibly and probably may be availed of for elevation as well as for debasement of the human race. many whispered facts of human experience are to-day indicating that the old woman may have made true statement of her personal experiences. if degradation and fatuity permit the leaking out of some momentous facts of human experience which conscious vessels of fair soundness and delicacy will retain within themselves, and hide from a profaning world's knowledge, that world, nevertheless, may be entitled to hints at the existence of occult, though only rarely perceptibly operative forces and permissions of nature, through the only channels which have let them flow forth for the world's free observation. the greensmith woman's fact may be regarded as representative of very many others of a like nature. i know a man who once visited a married couple, both of whom are intelligent and refined, both estimable in character, the husband being a highly respected member of one of the learned professions. this couple, at their own dining-table, where they and the visitor were the only occupants of the room, united in stating that once, when they had just finished taking their midday meal, and were sitting at the table opposite to each other, the lady's chair, with herself sitting in it, was moved back by some invisible power, and forthwith she, by palpable but invisible arms, was taken from her seat, laid upon the carpet, and there made to experience all the sensations of actual and pleasurable nuptial coition. while such were her positions and sensations, her husband remained on the other side of the table, and they two were the only flesh-clad persons in the room. one accomplished and truthful lady had such experience while her consciousness and all her mental faculties were fully alert. nature enfolds astounding possibilities. the human race, in coming times, may possibly be improved rapidly and extensively, by designed infusions of supernal elements into fetal germs. no evidence has come to us, and no apprehension is entertained, that such experiences ever eventuate in physical conception; yet there are seen, now and then, glimmerings of evidence that supernal beings can and do inflow some of their own properties into the very marrow of some susceptible mortals of either gender, or of both simultaneously and conjointly, so as to modify physical systems in such manner and to such extent, that their offspring receive, at the very moment of conception, such properties as will ever afterward render them either better or worse because of injections through the parents by intelligences whose presence and operations elude perception by our external senses. possibly both the most beneficent and the most malignant of our race--both those whose moral hues most illumine, and those whose shades most blacken the pages of history--were conceived while supernal beings held the parents either under strong psychological control or in deep unconscious trance. the mother of the rough, lustful, and murderous samson was visited by a spirit being "very terrible." the mother of jesus was visited by the bright and glorious gabriel, and enwrapped in an abnormally sound, helpful, or holy aura. far away from charlestown and boston, where the two women noticed in the preceding pages had their homes and met their fate, ann cole was the _unconscious_ mouthpiece through which invisible beings carried on dialogues, partly in languages, or, at least, in tones, which she had never learned. the manifestations through her were no imitations of anything before known on this continent, so far as history shows. her reputed doings were unlike any for which massachusetts had hanged two of her daughters. from whom came the tones, if not the words, of languages which this possessed girl had never learned? from whom came the things put forth through her which "she knew nothing of"? and especially who "improved her tongue to express what was never in her mind"? any satisfactory explanation of witchcraft must point out distinctly, and must admit the action of some force competent to all such performances; a force controllable and controlled by intelligence. the facts in the case were set forth by a personal witness of many of them, who wrote at a time when he was not under any excitement or hallucination which their novelty might at first produce, but twenty years subsequent to their occurrence, when their recorder should have been, and no doubt was, calm and cautious, and when, too, the girl's own good character had been confirmed by good christian deportment through twenty years succeeding the marvels manifested through her organs. if any history is worth reading, ann cole's lips were used by intelligences not her own "to express what never was in her mind." either embodied intelligences--the greensmiths and their associates whose bodies were not present with her--used her vocal organs, as hutchinson's account implies that they did, or demons--spirits, as whiting supposed--spoke through her form. elizabeth knap. at groton, mass., in 1671, elizabeth knap was more singularly beset than most others of that century who were deemed bewitched. the authority transmitting an account of her is exceptionally good, having been written by rev. samuel willard, minister then at groton, in the prime and vigor of life. he had graduated at harvard college twelve years before, afterward became minister at the old south church in boston, and was for several years at the head of harvard college. the girl in question was his pupil, residing in his family during the earlier portion of her affliction, and was under his watch till its close. his opportunities for observing the case in its rise and progress were certainly very good, and he made a journalistic account of its phases and progress under many specific dates from october 30, 1671, to january 15, 1672, a space of eleven weeks or more. he was an attentive observer and close questioner of the girl, and also a cautious and intelligent chronicler. she was at first subjected to extraordinary mental moods and violent physical actions, which came on rather gradually, showing themselves in marked singularities of conduct, for which she, when questioned, would give little if any account. strange, sudden shrieks, strange changes of countenance, appeared first. these were soon followed by the exclamations, "o, my leg!" which she would rub; "o, my breast!" and she would rub that, it seeming to be in pain. her breath would be stopped. she saw a strange person in the cellar, when her companions there were unable to see any such. she cried out to him, "what cheer, old man?" afterward came fits, in which she would cry out sometimes, "money, money!" offered her as inducements to yield obedience; and sometimes, "sin and misery!" as threats of punishment for refusal to obey the wishes of her strange visitant. she said the devil appeared to her, and that she had seen him at times for three years. he often talked with her, and urged her to make a covenant with him, which she refused to do. november 26, six persons could hardly hold her. the physician, who for about four weeks had considered and treated the malady as a natural one, now pronounced it diabolical. she barked like a dog, bleated like a calf, and seemed at times to be strangled. at length distinct utterances came out. "a grum, low, audible voice" said to mr. willard himself, "you are a great rogue--a great rogue;" and yet "her vocal organs did not move." the voice was replied to as being that of satan himself, and its author responded, "i am not satan; i am a pretty black boy; this is my pretty girl; i have been here a great while." "when he said to me" (mr. willard), "o, you black rogue, i do not love you," i replied, "through god's grace i hate thee." he rejoined, "you had better love me." the strength shown through the girl, the writer and witness says, "is beyond the force of dissimulation, and the actings of convulsions are quite contrary to these actings." through all her sufferings "she did not waste in body or strength." speech came from her without motion of the organs of speech. also "we observed, when the voice spoke, her throat was swelled formidably, at least as big as one's fist." she said she "saw more devils than any one there ever saw men in the world." no attendant sacrifice of life gave intensification of interest to this groton case, and it failed to become prominently conspicuous among witchcraft events. still it is more instructive on some points than almost any other one of them. here first have we found in colonial history any statement that an intelligence speaking through a borrowed or usurped form disclosed _who_ he was. mr. willard, to whose care this girl was intrusted, and in whose family she had been a resident, was convinced that some other being than the girl herself was giving utterance through her lips, and in harmony with a necessary inference from the general faith of his times, addressed the unknown one under supposition that he was veritably _the devil_. the being thus accosted promptly said, "i am not _satan_; i am a pretty black boy." the girl said she had been accustomed to see her visitant, at times, during three preceding years, and that she saw more devils than any one there ever saw men in the world. her notions in reference to the proper application of words were obviously just as loose as the prevalent ones in community then, which deemed any spirit visitant whatsoever a devil, or the devil. an observer of such beings as she saw would to-day call them spirits. when she perceived and called out to some personage invisible to her companions, saying, "what cheer, old man?" she plainly indicated that the being thus hailed was apparently neither more nor less than an old man, and he, judged by her address to him, was by no means austere or repulsive; and yet he doubtless was one of those whom she, or whom the reporter of her utterances, was accustomed to call _devils_. there is no indication that she ever saw one specially huge, malformed, malignant personality, or that she ever intended to indicate perception of such a one. the purposes and moods of mr. willard's interlocutor seem to have been playful and kindly, rather than morose and satanic. temporarily reincarnated spirits are often prone to smile at the long-faced and cringing thoughts which their advent evokes in persons not accustomed to interviews with them. "you are a great rogue--a great rogue," and "you had better love me," can hardly be deemed ill-timed or inappropriate expressions from a lively boy, whatever his hue, who, on being mistaken for the devil, would naturally banter the sedate clergyman whose creed forced him to regard such a visitant as the prince of evil. he said truly, and in better spirit than the minister's, it would be better for you to love than to "hate" me. common fairness asks all men to regard any speaker's account of himself as true, until some reason appears for distrusting him. no word or deed ascribed to this pretty black boy, who said he was not satan, renders the accuracy of his statement doubtful. distrust of him, if it spring up, will probably be the offspring of prejudices, combined with ignorance of spirit methods of opening ways to reach man's cognizance, and win him to seek communings with his preceding kindred who possess more experience and consequent greater wisdom than pertains to any dwellers in mortal forms. our incrustations of ignorance and prejudice withstand every gentle appliance, and yield only to sledge-hammer blows. sensations, conditions, and various powers attendant on elizabeth knap were emphatically extraordinary. detailed journalistic account of them having come down from a sagacious, cautious, truthful, and cultured man--from one of the eminently trustworthy men of his generation--demands credence. he says the strength of her body was "beyond the force of dissimulation;" that "six persons could hardly hold her;" and that "the actings were contrary to those of convulsions." another point is, that through the eleven weeks of such rough exploits, "she did not waste in body or strength." cotton mather speaks of some who were so preserved through similarly tortured states, that, "at the end of one month's wretchedness, they were as able still to undergo another." similar preservation of flesh and strength, amid fastings and most excessive activity, are frequent experiences to-day with the highly mediumistic, especially in the earlier stages of their dominations by invisibles. speech came from her without motion of her vocal organs. that much may pertain to simple ventriloquence; but mr. willard says also that "we observed, when the voice spoke, her throat was swelled formidably, at least as big as one's fist." ventriloquence has not usually such an adjunct as that. moreover, the minister was convinced that the utterings were prompted by other will than hers. this girl's experience abounds in evidences that her spirit faculties of perception were so freed from hamperings by the outer body, that she could consciously see, hear, and converse with spirits, and that her physical system was subject to control by them for speech in varied forms and modes, and for strange and violent action by her limbs. in parts of the narrative which we have not copied, it appears that accusation came from her lips that mr. willard himself and some other godly ones in his parish were her tormentors. this was saying to samuel in most startling manner, as one of old did to david, "_thou art the man_;" for at that day faith was common that the devil had not power to accuse a godly person, could not indeed accuse any others than guilty ones of being contributors to outworkings of witchcraft. if the announcement was true, mr. willard and other good ones, according to the faith of some at that day, were covenanters with the devil. it was a fearful moment when such accusation of the good clergyman fell upon his ears from the lips of his tortured pupil. his resort, and that of another accused one, was to prayer; and we can readily fancy that petitions heavenward then rose up from the lowest depths of true and earnest souls, and went forth, in the girl's presence, with such psychologizing power as loosened the hold of any spirit possessing her form, and allowed her to regain full possession and control of all her normal powers. this subject of spirit control retained consciousness during her entrancements, or during the times when her body was subject to a will not her own, as many mediums do at this day. consequently she would possess more or less knowledge of whatever was said or done by her organs and limbs, whoever controlled them. being young, she could scarcely be competent to make, and keep in remembrance, the broad severance of her individual responsibility for what was done by others and what by herself, through use of her own physical faculties. it was natural--almost necessary--that she should become self-condemnatory for having had done through her what gave distress and anguish to her friends, even though she had lent no voluntary aid to the deeds, nor had power to prevent their being enacted. we presume her statement was true that mr. willard and the others then accused were, though unconsciously, made to be contributors of aid to the controllers of his pupil; true that she felt the workings of emanations from them. twenty years afterward an "afflicted" one in salem village began to cry out upon this same man as being one of her afflicters. and why? because, probably, of constitutional properties in him which spirits could avail themselves of as helps for entrancing or controlling mediumistic persons. the laws which governed detection of tormentors of the bewitched will come under more extended consideration in subsequent parts of our work. results indicate that samuel willard's system possessed either material or psychic properties, or both, which exposed him to accusation of bewitching some sensitives, whose perceptive powers could trace back to their source any mesmerizing forces that entered into and acted efficiently upon their own systems. in his usual temper and judgment witchward, hutchinson pronounced the sufferings of elizabeth knap "fraud, imposture, and ventriloquism"! shade of samuel willard! how look you now, and how shall we mortals look upon the man, who, ninety years after your day, casting a glance backward into the darkened chambers of the long past, perceived yourself to have been a credulous dolt and simpleton, unable, by eleven weeks' close study and vigilant watch, to determine that the source of marvelous phenomena manifested in your own domicile, before your own attentive eyes, was exclusively mundane? from looking at the occurrences, as they lay dormant and half buried under the dust which ninety full years had been throwing over them, hutchinson saw at a glance that they were nothing but frauds, impostures, and ventriloquism. you, rev. sir, at first doubted their supermundane source, but study of and deliberate reflection upon them for weeks satisfied you that your doubts were untenable; you obviously was devoid of such credulity as enabled hutchinson to very promptly obtain conviction that your elizabeth was but an actor of fraud and imposture. alas for your sagacity, samuel willard! upham makes no account of either ann cole or elizabeth knap, though these were decidedly the best american prototypes of the magic-taught girls in salem village, whose schemings and exploits he dwells upon at great length. he claims that the witchcraft generators and enactors there studied, schemed, and practiced in concert at "a circle," and thus learned how, and by what means, to originate and perform it. all known circumstances conspire to indicate that neither ann cole nor elizabeth knap had either visible teachers or co-operators in their marvelous operations. therefore, had the historian adduced those two cases--these good exemplars of the performers at salem--perhaps he would have been asked who trained the isolated performers twenty and thirty years before a necromantic seminary had been founded, at which the arts of magic, necromancy, and spiritualism could be taught and learned. was there anywhere a prior institution of that kind? if not, then we ask, was any circle kindred to that at salem an essential--a _sine qua non_--to acquiring competency for skillful practice of witchcraft? or of acts called witchcraft of old? may not natural endowments sometimes be ample qualification for admitting the evolvement through one's form of very great marvels? if not, the sporadic performances at hartford and groton are troublesome to account for. the advent of one spirit to elizabeth knap, and his use of her organs of speech in carrying on a dialogue with the rev. samuel willard, is distinctly stated by that trustworthy chronicler. also, according to him, the girl saw vast hosts of similar beings--yes, more in number than any one present had ever seen men in their lives. here, surely, is very strong testimony to the general fact that spirit action took sensible effect upon and among human beings away back in 1671-2, in the quiet inland town of groton. what is fit treatment of such facts and testimony from such a source? should they be left unadduced and unalluded to, as they were by one elaborate historian? should they be called outgrowths from "fraud and imposture," as they were by another? or should writers upon the subject, in manly way, both let the facts come forth and speak for themselves, and leave the sagacity and veracity of their exemplary chronicler above suspicion, till by facts, and fair deductions from them, they render it probable that samuel willard was the slave of such delusion as disqualified him for reasoning with common accuracy upon what his external senses perceived day after day and week after week? shrinking, by an historian of new england's witchcraft, from distinct notice of willard's deliberate and carefully drawn conclusions from facts transpiring in his presence, is not only a keeping back of important information, but possibly is an implication either that willard himself was an unreliable witness, or a witness on the other side of the question, whose testimony would be troublesome. generous blood boils with rebuke when boasted enlightenment either ignores or traduces the most competent and trustworthy transmitters of marvelous facts, where so doing facilitates command of room for setting up modern fancies in niches where ancient facts have rightful foothold. on the good authority of samuel willard we find that elizabeth knap saw hosts of spirits, was roughly handled and spoken through by some of them, and by one who said he was _not satan_, but a pretty black boy. this was a case of spirit manifestation. the morse family. late in the year 1679, in the part of old newbury, mass., which is now newburyport, very many startling pranks occurred, of a kind which to-day are called physical manifestations. these clustered mostly in and around the dwelling-place of william morse, an aged man, who with his wife, then sixty-five years old, and their little grandson, john stiles, constituted the whole family. perusal of the records of this case has rendered it probable to us that mrs. morse, the little boy john, and a young mariner, caleb powell, who was frequently in at morse's house, were all distinctly mediumistic, and that their systems either supplied, or were used for holding, instrumental elements and forces which spirits used in imparting seeming vitality, will, self-guiding and motive powers to andirons, pots, kettles, trays, bedsteads, and many other implements and articles. beauty and attractiveness seldom drape the foundations of even very elegant and useful structures. laborers digging trenches for foundations, and others placing stones therein, are frequently rough beings, in homely garbs, from whom the refined and sensitive often turn away as soon as politeness and civility permit. yet, though rough, coarse, and unsightly materials go into foundations, and equally rough workmen lay them, the nature and quality of materials there used, and of work there performed, deserve inspection by any one whose duty, interest, or pleasure induces him to estimate with approximate accuracy the value and prospective utility of the structure which shall rest thereon. palpable, audible, visible pranks, seeming to be the willed actions of lifeless wood and iron, possibly occurred in the seventeenth, because they are common in the nineteenth century. such pranks are foundations of arguments which prove a life after death. a table, a chair, or an andiron, manifesting all the usual signs of indwelling vitality, consciousness, intelligence, self-willed action, and of possessing animal senses and capacities, testifies to its being operated upon by some unseen intelligence more convincingly than can the lips of the wisest and truest man the world contains testify to any fact whatsoever which seems supernatural. vitalized wood or iron speaks "as never man spake;" yes, as man, unless specially aided from outside of the visible world, can never speak; it addresses men's external senses directly; it confides its teachings to the most trusted and most trustworthy conveyances of facts and truths to the mind within. the oft ridiculed, slurred, contemned antics of household furniture are signs put forth to human view by occult operators, whose stand-point, of vision and powers of comprehension enable them to use some natural laws and forces for affecting man and his interests, which human scientists have never clearly cognized, which schoolmen do not embrace in their philosophies, and therefore the cultured world generally has failed to put forth rational and satisfactory explanations of many marvels which the ocean of mystery is often buoying up on to its surface, where they become perceptible by human senses. modern mind has very extensively measured the credibility of witnesses to witchcraft facts much as the good woman did that of her "sailor boy." on his return home from a voyage around the hope, he soon began to describe what he had seen, and gave an account of flying fish. "stop, stop, my son," said the mother; "don't talk like that; people can't believe that, because fishes haven't got no wings, and can't fly." "well, mother," replied jack, "i'll pass by the fish, and tell what happened in the red sea. when we weighed anchor there, we drew up on its flukes some spokes and felloes of pharaoh's chariot wheels." "that, now," rejoined the mother, "will do to tell; we can believe that, because _that is in the bible_." in similar manner many people are prone to measure the credibility of witnesses by the reconcilability of the things testified to, with the general previous knowledge, observations, and experiences of the world. such a course is usually very well. but the rule it involves is not applicable in all cases. veritable flying fish exist, notwithstanding the mother conceived them to be nothing but the fictions of her wild boy's lively fancy. the facts of witchcraft may have been veritable; many witnesses who testified to them may have been both truthful and accurate describers, notwithstanding the incredulity of some historians whose philosophies are too narrow to enwrap many facts which exist. the strange manifestations at morse's house, we have said before, were nearly all such as to-day are denominated _physical_ ones; that is, such as are manifested either upon, or through use of, matter that is uncontrolled by any mortal's mind. few if any intelligible utterances or communications imputed to invisible intelligences contributed to the consternation which was then excited in newbury. this case differs very widely from either of those previously noticed both as to the objects directly acted upon mysteriously, and as to the human organs employed. it invites to extended and careful attention. we must transfer to our pages numerous, and some long, extracts from the old records; else we shall fail to manifest with desirable clearness and authority the multiplicity and character of those marvelous works, and their probable sources and authors. mr. morse himself, for aught that appears, escaped all suspicion of complicity with, or connivance at, the strange doings. he seemingly came forth from the furnace with no sulphurous smell about him. caleb powell, a young seaman, mate of some vessel, but then on shore, was the first person to be legally accused in this case. he was arraigned at the instance, and on the testimony, of mr. morse himself. some peculiar characteristics and habits ascribed to powell were such as would naturally cause him to be watched, if strange doings appeared where he was present. in "annals of witchcraft, woodward's historical series," no. viii. p. 142, it is stated that powell "pretended to a knowledge in the occult sciences, and that by means of this knowledge he could detect the witchcraft then going on at mr. morse's.... the dancing of pots and kettles, the bowing of chairs, &c., was resumed with more vigor than ever when powell came there 'to detect the witchcraft.'" upham, vol. i. p. 440, says powell "determined to see what it all meant, and to put a stop to it, if he could, went to the house, and soon became satisfied that a roguish grandchild was the cause of all the trouble.... it is not unlikely, that, in foreign ports, he had witnessed exhibitions of necromancy and mesmerism, which, in various forms and under different names, have always been practiced. possibly he may have _boasted to be a medium himself_, a scholar and adept in the mystic art, able to read and divine 'the workings of spirits.' at any rate, when it became known that, at a glance, he attributed to the boy the cause of the mischief, and that it ceased on his taking him away from the house, the opinion became settled that he was a wizard.... his astronomy, astrology, and _spiritualism_ brought him in peril of his life." it is no unusual thing for even wise men to write much more wisely than they know. if powell correctly "_at a glance_ ... found the boy to be the cause of the mischief," it becomes probably a _fact_, and not simply a _boast_, that he was "a medium himself," that he was "a wizard," or knowing one, and that his "spiritualism," more _accurately_ his mediumistic capabilities, "brought him in peril of his life." one authority says the play "was resumed with more vigor than ever" when he came into the house. for some reason he was very soon arraigned and tried for witchcraft, but not convicted. we have little doubt that his optics saw the boy performing tricks, and therefore can believe that he accused john in good faith; just as the clairvoyant soon to be noticed accused the medium read. powell probably saw the boy perpetrating the mischief. but with what eyes? the outer or the inner--his material or his spiritual ones? and which boy did he see? the external or the internal one--the boy material or the boy spiritual? in evidence both that our explanations of powell's doings will be neither sheer novelty nor mere fancy, and for the purpose of disseminating knowledge of highly important facts, the following extracts are taken from an instructive and interesting pamphlet upon "mediums and mediumship," by thomas r. hazard: wm. white & co., boston, 1873. "i once saw read" (a well-known medium for physical manifestations) "affected by the abrupt introduction of light at one of his circles in boston, at which he was, as usual, securely tied by a committee chosen by the audience, and fastened securely to his chair. the manifestations were after the common order, and went on harmoniously until an indian war-song and dance were inaugurated. the exhibition was very exciting, and both the song and the dance became so uproarious and violent that, although we were in a three-story back room, i was apprehensive that not only the temporary platform might give way, but that the attention of the police might be attracted to the spot by the noise. near by me sat miss f., an excellent clairvoyant medium, who was earnestly describing to some of her friends the scene that was being enacted on the platform. she stated that two powerful indians stood by read, and that it was he who performed the wonderful dance.... thus one of the best 'dark-circle mediums in the united states' was not only proved to be an 'impostor,' but taken in the very act of his trickery.... from all that was occurring before us, it was too evident that read was an impostor; for 'miss f. clairvoyantly saw him perform tricks which he palmed off on the public as spiritual.'... but now, ... mark the sequel, and observe how easy it is for those who suffer their zeal to outrun their knowledge to be mistaken; and how true it is that as spiritual things can only be discerned by the spiritual eye, and material things only by the material eye, so the spiritual eye can (under ordinary circumstances) discern only spiritual things, as the material eye can discern only material things. "it seems that a self-lighting burner had been adjusted near the platform, at which an experienced man from the gas-works was stationed, with the gas-cock in his hand, ready at a moment's notice to turn on the light. this man was within hearing distance of miss f., and must have heard her remarks;... he gave the cock a sudden turn, and in an instant all was light, and of course the medium was--_exposed_--sitting fast bound in his chair, with every knot as perfect as when first tied, but in a dying condition from the effect of the tremendous shock his nervous system underwent by the sudden return of the unusual volume of elements that had been extracted from his physical body to furnish material clothing for his own _double_, or some other spiritual creation, that was performing the exhausting war-song and dance on the platform; nor is it probable that miss f. ever saw the _material_ body of read during the whole time she _clairvoyantly_ saw him.... suffice it to say, that the suffering medium was released from his bonds as soon as practicable, but not until after three or four minutes had expired, ... after which, by the application of restoratives, read was gradually revived, and restored to his right mind and condition." such statement of direct personal observations--coming from the pen of an aged, but still vigorous, gentleman of ample pecuniary means, of more than average culture, of acute perceptions, of careful and critical observations, who has spent many years in "trying the spirits" and contesting the strength and quality of testimony in their favor at every step,--who hates, with a righteous and outspoken hatred, falsehood, fraud, imposture, oppression, or hypocrisy, wherever or in whatever cause they manifest themselves--is entitled to credence, and gives important inklings of some occasional methods of spirit operations upon and around mediums. from such a witness we learn that while a medium's limbs were bound fast, and he claiming to be, and known, a few minutes before, to have been, sitting bound hand and foot on a stage in a room just made dark, a lady clairvoyant there present saw him loose, and moving about most vigorously over the stage, doing "things, as to jump up and down," as powell saw the morse boy acting. the clairvoyant's inner vision saw read dancing--saw either a perfect semblance of him, formed by use of special properties drawn forth from his system, or else saw the veritable read himself practically then a disembodied and unroped spirit. she no doubt actually saw thus, and saw the essential man read loosed, and dancing most vigorously. a flash of light, however, let suddenly on at the time, enabled all external eyes to see the external form of read sitting all fast bound upon the chair. that case teaches that properties drawn forth from the little boy john stiles, and molded into that boy's form, may have, by powell's interior vision, been seen playing tricks with pots and kettles, while neither the boy's consciousness, will, or physical muscles had the slightest connection with the antic articles. facts showing such susceptibilities in human organisms as were manifested in the case of read, are too significant and important for any scientist, philosopher, or historian to ignore, so long as he claims to be, or, in fact, can be, a wise and helpful expounder of very many records of ancient marvels. at page 392, vol. ii., of mather's "magnalia," new haven ed., 1820, account is given of this case wherein it is stated that,-"a little boy belonging to the family was a principal sufferer in these molestations; for he was flung about at such a rate that they feared his brains would have been beaten out: nor _did they find it possible to hold him_.... the man took him to keep him in a chair; but the chair fell a dancing, and both of them were very near being thrown into the fire. "these and a thousand such vexations befalling the boy at home, they carried him to live abroad at a doctor's. there he was quiet; but returning home, he suddenly cried out he was pricked on the back, where they found strangely sticking a _three-tined fork_, which belonged unto the doctor, and had been seen at his house after the boy's _departure_. afterward his troublers found him out _at the doctor's also_; where, crying out again he was pricked on the back, they found an _iron spindle_ stuck into him. "he was taken out of his bed, and thrown under it; and all the knives belonging to the house were one after another stuck into his back, which the spectators pulled out; only one of them seemed to the spectators to come out of his mouth. the poor boy was divers times thrown into the fire, and preserved from scorching there with much ado. for a long while he barked like a dog, clucked like an hen, and could not speak rationally. his tongue would be pulled out of his mouth; but when he could recover it so far as to speak, he complained that _a man called p----l appeared unto him as the cause of all_. "the man and his wife taking the boy to bed with them ... they were severely pinched and pulled out of bed.... but before the _devil_ was chained up, the invisible hand which did all these things began to put on an astonishing _visibility_. they often thought they felt the hand that scratched them, while yet they saw it not; but when they thought they had hold of it, it would give them the slip. "once the _fist_ beating the man was discernible, but they could not catch hold of it. at length an apparition of a _blackamoor child_ showed itself plainly to them.... a voice sang _revenge! revenge! sweet is revenge_. at this the people, being terrified, called upon god; whereupon there followed a mournful note, several times uttering these expressions--_alas! alas! we knock no more, we knock no more!_ and there was an end of all." in no other remembered account is that little boy credited with saying anything whatsoever. mather reports that upon coming out of one of his scenes of torture so far as to recover power of speech, "he complained that a man called p----l appeared unto him as the cause of all." that statement discloses a fact worth observing. there was tit for tat between little john and powell. each found the other a focus of issuing force that caused the witchery. the sensitive boy probably saw and felt, by his interior faculties, that properties and forces from powell were applied to the strangely moving objects, and also in producing his own sufferings. powell, too, through his inner perceptives, could learn the same in relation to the boy. both were probably right in their perceptions, and in their allegations. mr. morse suspected and complained of powell. that is something in favor of deeming john the lesser focus of force in this case. the mauling "fist" was once seen, but eluded grasping, as spirit limbs generally do. at last, a "blackamoor child," perhaps brother to elizabeth knap's "pretty black boy," was visible--and not only that, but audible also. if it was the spirit of either an indian or african child, sympathizing with his own race, and who had been taught to look upon all whites as oppressors, _revenge_ would naturally be _sweet_ to such a one, or to a band of such. earnest, heartfelt prayer might psychologically break their hold, and induce them to say, "we knock no more." though powell, when tried, escaped conviction, yet, said the court, "he hath given such grounds of suspicion of working by the devil, that we cannot acquit him;" therefore the judges charged him with the costs attending the prosecution of _himself_. such was equity practice in those days. having failed to prove conclusively that the harum-scarum sailor boy was the devil's conduit for the startling occurrences among them, the good people of newbury naturally proceeded to inquire what other person was the channel through which his sable majesty was pouring out malignity. who, next to powell, among those present at the manifestations, was most likely to have made a covenant with the evil one? all eyes would turn instinctively to the spot where the deviltries transpired, and to persons who were generally near by when and where the performances came off. the inmates of the house of exhibition, mr. morse, mrs. morse, and their grandson, john stiles, would naturally be very keenly watched and thoroughly scrutinized. their traits, habits, and antecedents would be fully discussed; it was almost certain that one of the three must be guilty; and which of them was most likely to be the devil's tool? result shows that mrs. morse was pitched upon. but why she? her character was good--she was religious and beneficent. _but--but--_ mrs. jane sewall--woodward's "hist. series," no. viii. p. 281--testified and said, "wm. morse, being at my house, ... some years since, ... begun of his own accord to say that his wife was accounted a _witch_; but he did wonder that she should be both a healing and a destroying witch, and gave this instance. the wife of thomas wells, being come to the time of her delivery, was not willing (by motion of his sister in whose house she was) to send for goodwife morse, though she were the next neighbor, and continued a long season in strong labor and could not be delivered; but when they saw the woman in such a condition, and without any hopeful appearance of delivery, determined to send for the said g. morse, and so tho. wells went to her and desired her to come; who, at first, made a difficulty of it, as being unwilling, not being sent for sooner. tho. wells said he would have come sooner, but sister would not let him; so, at last she went, and quickly after her coming the woman was delivered." therefore, some years before the time of mrs. morse's trial, mr. morse, in mrs. sewall's own house, volunteered "to say that his wife was accounted a _witch_;" at which he wondered because of her beneficence, and then he instanced her doings in the case of mrs. wells as evidence of her goodness. the accounts pertaining to her render it probable that mrs. morse sometimes acted as midwife, and show clearly that some people had previously called her a witch. such reports being in circulation, it is not surprising that some women should object to admitting her into their houses, fearing the introduction of brimstone; while others, who had previously found her help very efficient, would seek her assistance in hours of pain or sickness. the point of most significance is, that mrs. morse had, some years previous to the disturbances at her house, _been suspected of witchcraft_. why? we do not know with any certainty. but the appearance that she was a midwife, whose labors involved more or less of general medical practice, suggests the possibility that her "simple remedies," or her hands, had sometimes produced such extraordinary effects, as led people to surmise that the devil must be her helper; just as, for the same reasons, more than thirty years before, he was believed to be co-operator with margaret jones. the conjecture naturally follows that she was highly mediumistic, and that her intuitions and magnetism, if nothing more, enabled and caused her to be a worker of marvelous cures. it was at the abode of such a woman, and in apartments saturated with her emanations, that the unseen ones frequently held high, rude, and consternating frolic, during many weeks; it was at the home of one _previously_ reputed a _witch_. an indication that, even before the wonders occurred at her home, she had been suspected of exercising also perceptive faculties that were more than human; had been suspected of manifesting "wit" of the special kind which cost ann hibbins her life, is given in the following deposition by margaret mirack, who testified thus, woodward's "hist. series," no. viii. p. 287:-"a letter came from pispataqua by mr. tho. wiggens. we got mr. wiggens to read the letter, and he went his way; and i promised to conceal the letter after it was read to my husband and myself, and we both did conceal it; nevertheless, in a few days after, goode morse met me, and clapt me on the back, and said, 'i commend you for sending such an answer to the letter.' i presently asked her, what letter? why, said she, hadst not thee such a letter from such a man at such a time? i came home presently and examined my husband about it. my husband presently said, what? is she a witch or a cunning woman? whereupon we examined our family, and they said they knew nothing of the letter." mrs. morse's possession of their secret was so unaccountable that the husband in astonishment asked, "is she a witch or a cunning woman?" the question implies that it seemed so extraordinary to the man that she should have knowledge of the letter and its answer, that any process by which she could obtain it was seemingly beyond the power of mortals to apply. either witchcraft or supernal cunning must have helped her. when asked by the same mrs. mirack afterward "_how_ she came to know it," the witness says, mrs. morse "told me she could not tell." this indicates a mind so conditioned, as many mediumistic ones now are, that knowledge is inflowed to them, they know not whence or how, and, literally, they _cannot_ tell whence it has come. this gives presumption that she possessed mediumistic receptivities, and the outworkings from such faculties would suggest that she received supernal aid. the only imagined source of such aid at that day was the devil. obviously she "felt knowledge in her bones," as the acute negress did in mrs. stowe's "minister's wooing." though mrs. morse was tried and condemned for witchcraft, the sentence was never put in execution. when on her way from ipswich jail to boston for trial, she said, among other things, that "she was accused about witchcraft, but that she was as clear of it as god in heaven." when saying this she probably spoke no more than exact truth. she appears to have been a good woman. the candid and generally cautious rev. mr. hale, of beverly, wrote that "her husband, who was esteemed a sincere and understanding christian by those that knew him, desired some neighbor ministers, of whom i was one, to discourse with his wife, which we did; and her discourse _was very christian_, and still pleaded her innocence as to that which was laid to her charge." this examination occurred after her discharge from prison. the aged couple came out from their severe ordeal with characters bright enough to claim the confidence and respect of good men in their own day, and may claim as much from after ages. there is no indication that the boy of the house, john stiles, whom powell accused as the great mischief-maker, was suspected of being such by any other one of the many witnesses of the strange transactions. those witnesses were much better judges as to what persons the wonders apparently proceeded from, than any person can be to-day; and one whom they left unblamed, it is distinct injustice, as well as folly, for expounders of the case in our times to put forth and traduce as having been the contriver and performer of all that so agitated, distressed, and exposed the lives of those who sheltered, fed, and kindly cared for him. modern historians, however, have been guilty of this great wrong. it has recently been stated (woodward's "hist. series," no. viii. p. 141), that, "what instigated him to undertake the tormenting of his grand-parents, there is no mention as yet discovered." this begs the primal question, viz., _did_ he undertake to torment them? to this inquiry it can truly be said, there is no mention in the primitive records, as yet discovered, that he did. there is no evidence that any one but caleb powell (that swift witness) suspected him of undertaking any such thing. where the records are so extensive and full as in this case, their omission to mention any other accusers of the boy is strong evidence that there was no apparent contriving or executing pranks and outrages by him. the writer above quoted says also, "how long the young scamp carried on his annoyances ... does not appear." neither does it appear that he ever began or was consciously concerned in any such. only in appearance, and that only to caleb powell the clairvoyant, and to the eyes of modern commentators, was that boy in fault. upham, following the witchy powell's lead, ignorantly regards what was done by mystical use of the boy's properties as being the boy's voluntary performances. and regarding the boy as a great rogue, and as author of all the great mischief, he says (vol. i. p. 448), "his audacious operations were persisted in to the last." we look upon that allegation as an "audacious" defamation of an innocent youth. in this morse case we chose to present ostensible and reputed actors, prior to presenting descriptions of the special scenes in which history makes them prominent, because considerable knowledge of the age, character, and abilities pertaining to the chief supposed performers in the great newbury tragedy, or semi-tragedy, will be helpful, if not essential, to any well-based conclusion as to whether any one of them was the leading intelligence that brought it upon the stage, and supervised and managed its apparent actors--and, if either was, then which one among them? if neither of them, then somebody else was manager there. our instructive citation from hazzard discloses the occasional action of agents and forces that are not recognized even to-day by the community at large, and therefore we wished it to be read in advance of facts which it greatly helps to explain. way is now opened for introducing to those readers whose patience has sustained them through this long prologue, the facts of the case as stated by william morse himself, and sworn to by both him and his wife. "the testimony of william morse: which saith, together with his wife, aged both about sixty-five years: that, thursday night, being the twenty-seventh day of november, we heard a great noise without, round the house, of knocking of the boards of the house, and, as we conceived, throwing of stones against the house. whereupon myself and wife looked out and saw nobody, and the boy all this time with us; but we had stones and sticks thrown at us, that we were forced to retire into the house again. afterward we went to bed, and the boy with us; and then the like noise was upon the roof of the house. "2. the same night, about midnight, the door being locked when we went to bed, we heard a great hog in the house grunt and make a noise, as we thought willing to get out; and that we might not be disturbed in our sleep, i rose to let him out, and i found a hog in the house and the door unlocked: the door was firmly locked when we went to bed. "3. the next morning, a stick of links hanging in the chimney, they were thrown out of their place, and we hanged them up again, and they were thrown down again, and some into the fire. "4. the night following, i had a great awl lying in the window, the which awl we saw fall down out of the chimney into the ashes by the fire. "5. after this, i bid the boy put the same awl into the cupboard, which we saw done, and the door shut to: this same awl came presently down the chimney again in our sight, and i took it up myself. again, the same night, we saw a little indian basket, that was in the loft before, come down the chimney again. and i took the same basket, and put a piece of brick into it, and the basket with the brick was gone, and came down again the third time with the brick in it, and went up again the fourth time, and came down again without the brick; and the brick came down again a little after. "6. the next day, being saturday, stones, sticks, and pieces of bricks came down so that we could not quietly dress our breakfast; and sticks of fire also came down at the same time. "7. that day, in the afternoon, my thread four times taken away, and came down the chimney; again my awl and gimlet wanting; again my leather taken away, came down the chimney; again my nails, being in the cover of a firkin, taken away, came down the chimney. again, the same night, the door being locked, a little before day, hearing a hog in the house, i rose and saw the hog to be mine. i let him out. "8. the next day, being sabbath day, many stones, and sticks, and pieces of bricks came down the chimney: on the monday, mr. richardson and my brother being there, the frame of my cowhouse they saw very firm. i sent my boy out to scare the fowls from my hog's meat: he went to the cow-house and it fell down, my boy crying with the hurt of the fall. in the afternoon, the pots hanging over the fire did dash so vehemently one against the other, we set down one, that they might not dash to pieces. i saw the andiron leap into the pot, and dance and leap out; and again leap in and dance, and leap out again, and leap on a table and there abide; and my wife saw the andiron on the table: also i saw the pot turn itself over, and throw down all the water. again we saw a tray with wool leap up and down, and throw the wool out, and so many times, and saw nobody meddle with it. again, a tub his hoop fly off of itself, and the tub turn over, and nobody near it. again, the woollen wheel turned upside down, and stood up on its end, and a spade set on it: step. greenleafe saw it, and myself and my wife. again, my rope-tools fell down upon the ground before my boy could take them, being sent for them; and the same thing of nails tumbled down from the loft into the ground, and nobody near. again, my wife and the boy making the bed, the chest did open and shut; the bed-clothes could not be made to lie on the bed, but fly off again." the disturbances commenced thursday night, november 27; on december 3, six days only from the commencement of the troubles (see upham, vol. i. p. 439), powell was complained of before a magistrate, by william morse, "for suspicion of working with the devil." powell appeared for a hearing five days later, on the 8th, and the testimony quoted above was, either then or at the time of the complaint on the 3d, submitted before jo. woodbridge, _commissioner_. therefore the facts were of such recent occurrence as to be fresh in the memory of the deponent; and his prompt suspicion of powell gives probability to the correctness of the statement in woodward's series, that when powell came to the house, pots, kettles, and chairs "resumed" their action "with more vigor than ever." powell's presence was helpful to the performance. but the whole of morse's testimony is not embraced in the preceding. there is extant "a further testimony of william morse and his wife," as follows:-"we saw a keeler of bread turn over against me, and struck me, not any being near it, and so overturned. i saw a chair standing in the house, and not anybody near. it did often bow toward me, and rise up again. my wife also being in the chamber, the chamber door did violently fly together, not anybody being near it. my wife going to make a bed, it did move to and fro, not anybody being near it. i also saw an iron wedge and spade was flying out of the chamber on my wife, and _did not strike her_. my wife going into the cellar, a drum, standing in the house, did roll over the door of the cellar; and being taken up again, the door did violently fly down again. my barn-doors four times unpinned, i know not how. i, going to shut my barn-door, looking for the pin--the boy being with me--as i did judge, the pin, coming down out of the air, did fall down near to me. "again: caleb powell came in as aforesaid, and seeing our spirits very low by the sense of our great affliction, began to bemoan our condition, and said that he was troubled for our afflictions, and said that he had eyed this boy, and drawed near to us with great compassion: 'poor old man, poor old woman! this boy is the occasion of your grief; for he hath done these things, and hath caused his good old grandmother to be counted a witch.' 'then,' said i, 'how can all these things be done by him?' said he, 'although he may not have done all, yet most of them; for this boy is a young rogue, a vile rogue. i have watched him and see him do things as to come up and down.' caleb powell also said he had understanding in astrology and astronomy, and knew the working of spirits, some in one country and some in another; and, looking on the boy, said, 'you young rogue to begin so soon. goodman morse, if you be willing to let me have this boy, i will undertake you shall be free from any trouble of this kind while he is with me.' i was very unwilling at the first, and my wife; but, by often urging me, till he told me wither and what employment and company he should go, i did consent to it, and this was before jo. badger came; and we have been freed from any trouble of this kind ever since that promise, made on monday night last, to this time being friday in the afternoon. then we heard a great noise in the other room, oftentimes, but, looking after it, could not see anything; but, afterward looking into the room, we saw a board hanged to the press. then we, being by the fire, sitting in a chair, my chair often would not stand still, but ready to throw me backward oftentimes. afterward, my cap almost taken off my head three times. again, a great blow on my poll, and my cat did leap from me into the chimney-corner. presently after, this cat was thrown at my wife. we saw the cat to be ours; we put her out of the house, and shut the door. presently the cat was throwed into the house. we went to go to bed. suddenly--my wife being with me in bed, the lamp-light by our side--my cat again throwed at us five times, jumping away presently into the floor; and one of those times, a red waistcoat throwed on the bed, and the cat wrapped up in it. again, the lamp standing by us on the chest, we said it should stand and burn out; but presently was beaten down, and all the oil shed, and we left in the dark. again--a great voice, a great while very dreadful. again--in the morning, a great stone, being six-pound weight, did move from place to place; we saw it. two spoons throwed off the table, and presently the table throwed down. and, being minded to write, my ink-horn was hid from me, which i found covered with a rag, and my pen quite gone. i made a new pen; and while i was writing, one ear of corn hit me in the face, and fire, sticks, and stones throwed at me, and my pen brought to me. while i was writing with my new pen, my ink-horn taken away; and not knowing how to write any more, we looked under the table and there found him; and so i was able to write again. again--my wife her hat taken from her head, sitting by the fire by me, the table almost thrown down. again--my spectacles thrown from the table, and thrown almost into the fire by me, and my wife, and the boy. again--my book of all my accounts thrown into the fire, and had been burnt presently, if i had not taken it up. again--boards taken off a tub, and set upright by themselves; and my paper, do what i could, hardly keep it while i was writing this relation, and things thrown at me while a-writing. presently, before i could dry my writing, a mormouth hat rubbed along it; but i held so fast that it did blot but some of it. my wife and i, being much afraid that i should not preserve it for public use, did think best to lay it in the bible, and it lay safe that night. again--the next day i would lay it there again; but in the morning, it was not there to be found, the bag hanged down empty; but after was found in a box alone. again--while i was writing this morning, i was forced to forbear writing any more, i was so disturbed with so many things constantly thrown at me." such is the account given by an eye and ear witness, who had as good opportunities to receive sensible demonstration of acts performed as can well be imagined. did he see, hear, and feel all that he testifies to? has he left record of a series of facts, or only of fictions which he set forth as facts? was he a faithful and true witness, or not? who and what was he? an aged shoemaker, who ran the gantlet of a fierce witchcraft ordeal and came out with character sound and untarnished; a man who "was esteemed a sincere and understanding christian by those that knew him." the strong words in his favor, which came from such a trustworthy scribe as the rev. mr. hale, on an occasion when circumstances would influence him to be careful and exact in expression, are clearly indicative that morse's testimony was probably true and discriminative. "a sincere and _understanding_ christian." what qualities give better _a priori_ promise of correct testimony than do sincerity and a sound understanding? where these combine, their utterances imperatively claim very respectful hearing by any one who is in pursuit of positive facts pertaining to human experience. the history of him and his family, during those ten or eleven days and nights through which they were enveloped in the waters of mystery, trouble, and consternation, gives no indication that mr. morse's reason ever yielded its normal and just sway over his actions or his words--no indication of his being blinded by any excessive or bewildering excitement or enthusiasm. the fact that he himself wrote out with his own hand, and in the very midst of the startling and hair-lifting phenomena, a narrative of events which gives dates, occurrences, and experiences clearly, in perspicuous and often terse language, accompanied by appropriate specifications of circumstances which elucidate the character of the whole scene, bespeaks a straightforward, truthful, unexaggerating mind, self-controlled, and moving straight forward in an honest statement of events actually witnessed. our ancient records contain few testimonies that exhibit clearer or stronger internal evidences of exactitude and reliability than that of william morse. the form, language, and tone of his account are all in favor of his intelligence, discrimination, and credibility; so much so, that, taken in connection with his whole character, we can conceive of no objection to crediting his narration, excepting what shall be wrung out from the nature and kind of facts he swore to. but neither their nature nor source was concern of his, _as a witness_; and his own sound _understanding_ perceiving this, kept him back from expressing any surmises or innuendoes as to who were the actual authors of his great annoyances. the man understood his position as a witness, kept his reason at the helm throughout the fearful storm, and suspected and accused, not the little boy, but powell. obviously his own senses, unbeclouded by the mists of unreasoning excitement, had witnessed the facts he stated, and he knew that they had occurred. his testimony is true. how can the occurrence of such facts be explained, or rather _who_ produced them? historians say that the little boy, john, did. how could he? had history-weaving heads, when at work in the quiet study, been as clear and as free from the blinding action of foregone conclusions, as was that of mr. morse amid the flying missiles about his head while he was writing, their reason, as his did, would have asked their witness powell, "how _could_ all these things be done by him," the boy? and the cowed witness would have replied to them in the nineteenth century as he did to morse in the seventeenth, "although he may not have done _all_, yet, most of them." he would have backed down before the historians as he did before the better "understanding" of mr. morse. obviously to common sense, the boy was incompetent to perform a tithe of what was ascribed to him. no one but powell accused him. the age of that boy is not given. he is not known to have been called upon as a witness, and powell says to him, "you young rogue, to begin so soon." these facts, together with the absence of any words spoken by him to any one, excepting on a single occasion, lead naturally to the inference that he was quite young, and perhaps also that he was apparently inactive. at no age in boyhood, nor yet in manhood, could a single performer, or a host of men, have accomplished by unobservable processes and forces all that is distinctly stated to have been performed in and around the house of william morse. any designation of its source which avows the mischief to have come primarily from the mind of little john stiles, by necessary implication impeaches mr. morse's powers of perception and observation, and the worth of his testimony. it indirectly, at least, accuses him of a great blunder when he suspected powell rather than little john. on the hypothesis of modern historians, the sedate old man--the "understanding christian"--was but making much ado about nothing, or next to that; for the little boy was not competent to much. so little could he do alone, that, were he the chief deviser and performer, mr. morse was incompetent to distinguish with common acuteness between the ordinary and the marvelous, or else he was an egregious fictionist and impostor. far, far better would it be both for himself and his readers if the historic instructor recognized, and based his inferences upon, facts well attested, and sought for agents and forces adequate to manifest such results as were evolved. vastly better would be history when founded upon broad comprehension of existing agents and forces, and a firm basis in the nature of things spreading out wide enough to underlie each and all of the ancient marvels, and admitting an imputation of them to authors whose inherent powers could bring them out to distinct cognition by human senses, than it can be when it ruthlessly pares down the dimensions of facts, dwarfs their fair import, and impeaches the trustworthiness of those who solemnly attested to the truth of descriptions which have come down from former generations! better, much better would it be to honor the fathers by omitting to undermine and topple over their strong powers and good traits of character, and perversely bring their positive knowledge, gained through the senses, down to the lower level on which modern speculation obtains convictions! descent to free and reiterated insinuations and allegations that the best individuals and communities of old were infatuated, credulous, deluded, stultified, because some of their statements and actions are unexplainable by our theories and philosophies, is unbecoming any generous and philanthropic spirit. fair play calls for frank admission that giant facts occurred of old,--facts so huge that they cannot be stretched at full length upon the beds of modern science and philosophy, nor be wrapped up in the narrow blankets now in fashion,--facts so huge that they cannot squeeze themselves through, nor be forced through, the narrow entrance doors of some modern mental chambers. does the hugeness which debars them from entering contracted domiciles to-day prove their existence to be but fabulous? surely not. the sagacity and truthfulness of our predecessors were sound and good. they recorded facts. shame be to those who are ashamed to admit that their equals in mental acuteness and accuracy of statement may, of old, actually have witnessed genuine phenomena which justified their descriptions. to brand the events as being the products of fraud, credulity, and infatuation, because only modern limitations to nature's permissions and powers render them unexplainable as facts, is shameful. newbury, in 1679-80, was obviously visited and disturbed by giants. to deem that the biggest of these were children of little john stiles, is not only farcical in the extreme, but it necessarily, however indirectly, asperses good william morse, that "sincere and understanding christian," and also his equally good wife, who passed through the severe ordeals of witchcraft scenes and persecutions, and came forth untarnished,--asperses them by an imputation of incompetency to observe and describe with average clearness and accuracy events that passed before their eyes,--incompetency to give a truthful and unexaggerated account of what they saw. every sentiment of justice begs for a tongue with which to rebuke the sneers that overweeningly wise witchcraft historians have cast upon the senses and the mental and moral states of the observers and describers of the great marvels of former days. the foul broods of harpy adjectives which history has sent forth to prey upon the vitals of good characters for truthfulness and discrimination, should be forced to unloose their talons, and hie themselves back to roost where they were hatched. assuming, as the histories of all nations in all ages and lands indicate, and as many tested modern workers demonstrate, that some disembodied, unseen intelligences can at times either banish from the human body, or put in abeyance, or irresistibly control, the mental, affectional, and moral powers of some impressible human beings, and also use their whole physical structures and nerve elements as instruments; assuming, further, both that such unseen workers may have been the actual authors of many startling phenomena which the preceding pages have brought up before the reader's mind, and that mrs. morse, caleb powell, and the boy were each of them mediumistical, contributing to the performance of the wonders--assuming this, the proximity of those several persons to the spots where the marvels appeared, would subject them all to rigid scrutiny, and their movements or their positions would probably, at times, indicate to external senses that they were somehow actors in the _mãªlã©e_. they were obviously unconscious reservoirs of the forces there used, and as such were all involved in the production of the great mischief. it is credible, yes, quite probable, that the little boy was actually seen by powell enacting a prominent part; but that powell, who then saw, was practically a spirit, beholding a spirit form like in all things to the boy, but moved, energized, and controlled, all imperceptibly to external vision, by disembodied spirits. at the very time when all merely external beholders saw the external boy standing about the room in quiet and repose, or sitting still in the corner, spirit vision might have seen his semblance being used for infiltrating seeming life, motive powers, and longings for a lively jig and a merry time generally into the whole group of household utensils and supplies. when dead wood and iron, when leather and wool, when sausages and bread, when an iron wedge and a spade, find legs, and arms, and wings,--when such become things of seeming life, of forceful life, too, and of self-guiding actions,--they preach with power which no mere human tongue can command. no eloquence from its common sources can equal theirs in forcing conviction. they say "unseen intelligences move us"--"unseen intelligences move us," and every self-possessed and logical hearer responds, amen. all things have their use. this case of seemingly low as well as rough manifestations, where spirits exhibited the effects of their force mainly upon gross, lifeless matter and brute animals, shows more forcibly and convincingly, if possible, the fact of supermundane agents, than did the effective hands, and simples, and clear visions of margaret jones; the "wit" or clairaudience of ann hibbins; the dutch tones and unconscious utterances of ann cole, or the contortions of elizabeth knap, and the words of the pretty black boy. life and self-action in dead wood and iron are phenomena too striking and pregnant with meaning to be wisely slurred or ignored. essex county has been the theater of several exhibitions of astounding marvels. the performances detailed in this chapter beyond question excited fears and disturbed peace throughout newbury and its surrounding towns. also an apparitional boy has recently shown himself to a teacher and her pupils in newburyport, to the no small disturbance of that place. during the first decade of the present century, famous moll pitcher, who, as upham says, "_derived her mysterious gifts by inheritance_, her grandfather having practiced them before in marblehead," practiced fortune-telling and kindred arts at the base of high rock, in lynn, where "she read the future, and traced what to mere mortals were the mysteries of the present or the past...." so successfully, or at least so notoriously, that "her name has everywhere become the generic title of fortune-tellers." in that county, too, the mysteries and horrors of salem witchcraft were encountered. but scarcely any other event in that territory seems more highly charged with the elements of incredibility than the salem historian's perception that little john stiles was the _bona fide_ author of the pranks played at william morse's house. no cotemporary of the boy, excepting impressible, wayward powell, seems ever to have suspected the little one as being the giant rogue. how blind, therefore, were the eyes of all others of that generation! for now an historic eye, looking back through the darkening mists of eight score years and twenty miles north, absolutely sees _audacity_ and action, which all living eyes, alert and vigilant on the spot and at the time, were incompetent to detect. the world progresses; new clairvoyance has been developed--clairvoyance which sees what never existed--to wit, little john stiles as the designing and conscious enactor of superhuman works. * * * * * very many modern scenes rival this ancient one at newbury in the roughnesses of manifestations and the difficulty of fathoming the purposes and characters of the performers. perhaps no other one of them is more worthy of attention or more instructive than the prolonged one which occurred at the residence of rev. eliakim phelps, d. d., at stratford, conn., 1850. in "modern spiritualism, its facts and fanaticisms," by e. w. capron (bela marsh, boston, 1855), page 132, commences a very lucid and authentic account of this case, covering nearly forty pages. the character and position of dr. phelps, who furnished capron with his facts, and whose permission was obtained for their publication, make the account referred to well worthy of careful perusal. on several different occasions, years ago, it was our privilege to hold familiar conversations with dr. phelps upon the subject of spiritualism, and his details of spirit performances in his presence prepared is to view him as having transmitted to his offspring properties which were very helpful in setting the gates ajar. the goodwin family. in the family of john goodwin, of boston, in 1688, four children, all young, were simultaneously either sorely afflicted or set themselves to playing pranks and tricks with diabolical furore. which? an elaborate account of what was either imposed upon them by other beings, or of what themselves devised and enacted, was promptly written out by cotton mather, who was an observer of many of the marvels while they were transpiring. poole, in "genealogical and antiquarian register," october, 1870, says those children were "martha, aged 13; john, 11; mercy, 7; benjamin 5." drake, in "annals of witchcraft," says they were "nathaniel, born 1672; martha, 1674; john, 1677; and mercy, 1681." according to him, their ages in 1688 were about 16, 14, 11, and 7, respectively. the two statements agree as to martha, john, and mercy; but one makes the fourth, a boy of 5, named benjamin, while the other's fourth is a boy of 16, named nathaniel. we have not sought for data on which to either confirm or correct the statement of either author. to show that they were young, is all that our present purpose requires. more than seventy years subsequent to the occurrences in the goodwin family and to the manifestations at salem, hutchinson said, "it seems at this day with some people, perhaps but few, to be the question whether the _accused_ or the _afflicted_ were under a preternatural or diabolical possession, rather than whether the afflicted were under bodily distempers, or altogether guilty of fraud and imposture." poole, having quoted the above, makes the following sensible query and comment. "why make an alternative? both accusers and accused were generally possessors of not _bodily distemper_, but of _peculiar susceptibilities growing naturally from their special organisms and temperaments_, and were probably as free from and as much addicted to fraud and imposture, as the average of the community in which they lived." if we read hutchinson aright, he stated that a few people, even at his day, were believers that there had formerly been some "preternatural or diabolical" inflictions, but were in doubt whether such inflictions came upon the accusers or upon the accused; while, in his opinion, all ought to drop belief in anything preternatural or diabolical in the case, and seek only to determine whether the strange phenomena resulted partly from _bodily distempers_, or were exclusively frauds and impostures. we think he made no alternative himself between accusers and accused, but exempted both classes from supermundane influences, and queried only whether witchcraft resulted partly from ill health or wholly from fraud. be it so or not, poole's comment is appropriate, instructive, and valuable. it is in harmony with the view which the present work is specially designed to illustrate. we repeat and adopt his words, and say that "both accusers and accused were generally possessors of _not_ bodily distemper, but of peculiar susceptibilities growing naturally from their organisms and temperaments," and in general character were on a par with their neighbors. hutchinson's account of the family now under consideration is as follows:-"in 1687 or 1688 began a more alarming instance than any which preceded it. four children of john goodwin, a grave man, a good liver, at the north part of boston, were generally believed to be bewitched. i have often heard persons who were of the neighborhood speak of the great consternation it occasioned. the children were all remarkable for ingenuity of temper, had been religiously educated, and were thought to be without guile. the eldest was a girl of thirteen or fourteen years. she had charged a laundress with taking away some of the family linen. the mother of the laundress was one of the wild irish, of bad character, and gave the girl harsh language; soon after which she fell into fits, which were said to have something diabolical in them. one of her sisters and two brothers followed her example, and it is said were tormented in the same parts of their bodies at the same time, although kept in separate apartments and ignorant of one another's complaints. one or two things were said to be very remarkable: all their complaints were in the daytime, and they slept comfortably all night: they were struck dead at the sight of the assembly's catechism, cotton's milk for babes, and some other good books, but could read in oxford's jests, popish and quaker books, and the common prayer without any difficulty. is it possible that the mind of man should be capable of such strong prejudices as that a suspicion of fraud should not immediately arise? but attachments to modes and forms in religion had such force that some of these circumstances seem rather to have confirmed the credit of the children. sometimes they would be deaf, then dumb, then blind; and sometimes all these disorders together would come upon them. their tongues would be drawn down their throats, then pulled out upon their chins. their jaws, necks, shoulders, elbows, and all their joints would appear to be dislocated, and they would make most piteous outcries of burnings, of being cut with knives, beat, &c., and the marks of wounds were afterward to be seen. the ministers of boston and charlestown kept a day of fasting and prayer at the troubled house; after which the youngest child made no more complaints. the others persevered, and the magistrates then interposed, and the old woman was apprehended; but upon examination would neither confess nor deny, and appeared to be disordered in her senses. upon the report of physicians that she was _compos mentis_ she was executed, declaring at her death the children should not be relieved. the eldest, after this, was taken into a minister's family, where at first she behaved orderly, but after a time suddenly fell into her fits. the account of her affliction is in print; some things are mentioned as extraordinary which tumblers are every day taught to perform, others seem more than natural; but it was a time of great credulity. the children returned to their ordinary behavior, lived to adult age, made profession of religion, and the affliction they had been under they publicly declared to be one motive to it. one of them i knew many years after. she had the character of a very virtuous woman, and never made any acknowledgment of fraud in the transaction." this historian was born more than twenty years after the "great consternation" which the goodwin case occasioned, and therefore those must have been elderly people who gave him accounts of personal remembrance of it, and rehearsed to him their mellowed recollections of the past. from such people he had probably heard many particulars, and received general impressions which were one source from whence he drew materials for his history, at least for his comments; also opinions then prevalent around him were aids to his judgment when reading mather's account. he omitted to express directly any doubt as to the occurrence of such facts as the records presented, but innuendoed, all through his account, that fraud, acting upon credulity, begat and brought forth that entire brood of marvels. he left us the facts, and stated that the children were "all remarkable for ingenuity of temper." probably his meaning is, that they were remarkably bright or quick-witted. the historian adds, that they "had been religiously educated, and were thought to be _without guile_." these are points of interest both as items on which public judgment concerning the facts was based at the time of their occurrence, and also as things to be regarded by moderns when attempting to determine the probability whether such marvels were produced voluntarily by embodied actors alone, or by force exerted upon and through mortal forms by wills putting forth power from imperceptible sources. what do the quoted statements indicate as to the constitutional endowments and acquired skill of those children for purposely acting out the feats ascribed to them? ready wit, sprightliness, or whatever is meant by "ingenuity of temper," was a very good basis for any kind of performances; but the character of the doings likely to proceed from that basis in a given case, will be indicated by other possessions. religious education and freedom from guile are not very probable prompters of either egregious trickery, or prolonged and mischievous imposture. hutchinson's remark that "some things are mentioned as extraordinary which tumblers are every day taught to perform," is doubtless true; but he adds that "others seem more than natural." yes, they do. and it is these especially that the world desires to see traced to competent performers. how did the historian account for such--for those seeming "more than natural"? solely by the dogmatic remark that "it was a time of great credulity." what if it was? could credulity in the public mind enable untrained children to outact jugglers, tumblers, and most efficient dissemblers and tricksters of various kinds in their special vocations? what did the historian mean by alleging _credulity_ in way of accounting for facts which he adduced, and left without direct controversion, or any attempt at such? was he intimating that belief of the actual occurrence of such facts, though witnessed through many months by the physical senses of multitudes, argued credulity? if so, he put upon the word _credulity_ an inadmissible meaning. did he intend to say that credulity caused the senses of our fathers to see, hear, and feel erroneously, so that they would testify less accurately than those of the generation in which he was living? perhaps he did; and yet on what rational grounds could he? none that we perceive. was the former generation less truthful than his own? probably not. had it less sagacity than his own? we can think of no evidence that it had. were its senses less reliable? probably not. was its belief in the testimony of its own senses a proof of its _credulity_? no. was clear statement of what its senses had witnessed evidence of its credulity? it seems to have been so to the historian, but is not to us. the fathers told of witnessing things, which, if they occurred, were seemingly "more than natural." what then? does that prove that the things they described did not occur, and thus prove a generation of the fathers to have been, as a whole, either dolts or liars? no. the appearance is, that the historian was obliged to admit that valid testimony to occurrence of facts around the goodwin children, which seemed more than natural, must be conceded; and yet he could not account for the facts; he was mentally baffled, non-plussed, and could only say, "it was a time of great credulity." that explains nothing, while it tempts us to suspect its author of such credulity in his own penetration, that he apprehended that a whole line of ancestry through successive generations had been fatuous and exaggerative, since it continuously described and swore to occurrences which conflicted with his own theoretical limits to things credible. a credulity which caused him to regard himself a better knower and judge of what actually transpired in preceding ages, than were the very persons who lived in that past, and were eye and ear witnesses of what then occurred, impelled the pen of this witchcraft historian to ascribe the marvels of other days to causes or to conditions absolutely incompetent to produce them. we can extend much leniency to hutchinson, because he lived and wrote when the pendulum of belief, recently wrenched from the disturbing grasp of witchcraft, and allowed to swing back toward extreme sadduceeism, had not acquired its legitimate movements under the action of mesmerism, spiritualism, psychology, and other regulating forces. witchcraft's unnatural devil had died from the blow he received at salem village in 1692, and for a long time afterward there was seeming non-intercourse between men and dwellers in spirit realms; partially man was forgetting that there are spirits, and doubting whether they had ever acted overtly among men. probably hutchinson's thoughts were never led to inquire whether the forces and realms of nature may not extend far above, below, and around the confines of palpable matter,--extend beyond where man's external senses take cognizance,--or where his natural science has penetrated. his thoughts, perhaps, were never led to inquire whether there exists natural provision for mesmeric and varied psychological operations, nor to inquire whether, under possible fitting conditions, unseen intelligences could possess and control certain peculiar physical human forms. lacking not only knowledge, but also circumstances which would naturally generate any conjecture that both good spirits and bad alike might sometimes come to earth in freedom, and work wonders on its external surface and among its living inhabitants, hutchinson, cornered and baffled in search for an adequate cause for facts which he felt called upon to state, could only credulously say, in _quasi_ explanation of them, "_it was a time of great credulity_"! his implied position that all the works were nothing more than natural acts and sufferings of children, magnified and made formidable by popular credulity, fails to yield satisfactory revealment of the nature and origin of such facts as he himself presents and leaves uncontroverted. what was the character of the goodwin children themselves? they were bright, religiously educated, and free from guile. the account shows that four _such_ children, of a sudden, without previous training for it, all join at first, and three of them long unitedly continue, in a course of most distressing imposition upon their own family, upon physicians, clergymen, magistrates, and the neighborhood; also that the imposition is manifested by astounding physical feats, and simultaneous, identical signs and complaints of suffering, even though the sufferers are in separate apartments. if, possibly, by their own wills and powers they could perform the tricks, how incongruous it would be with their alleged traits and ages! how inconceivable that four such children, from the boy of sixteen down to the girl of seven, or from the girl of thirteen down to the boy of five, should conspire, and three of them co-operate thoroughly, effectively, and long, in voluntarily and purposely producing such mischief and misery as were there experienced! _suspicion_ of fraud no doubt arose. but the appearance is, that facts soon put the case beyond any powers of fraud which such children, or any embodied human beings, could put forth. without previous practice and training in concert, a successful attempt by themselves at what was done through and upon them is incredible. no hint is given that they ever practiced in preparation. had they have done so, seemingly their father, the "grave man and good liver," must have known it, and would have been governed by his knowledge of it in judging and treating his children. who doubts that it would be shameful to charge or suspect that man, and his friends and physicians, with such credulity, _at the first coming on of the fits_, that they could not judge fairly and sensibly of what nature of cause the actions and sufferings indicated? "o, star-eyed" fancy, "hast thou wandered there, to waft us back the message of"--_credulity_? look still more closely at the circumstances of this case. the bright girl of "great ingenuity of temper, of religious education, and without guile," _was just out from under the infuriated lashings of a wild irish tongue_, when she commenced her--what? her frolic? her course of fraud and imposture? was that a _playful_ moment? was that the time for a general mood which would start a whole family of guileless little children to unite spontaneously and instantly for a guileful and distressing imposition upon relatives and friends? when she fell in fits, _from such a cause_, was it a credible time for her bright brother to recklessly increase the family excitement by imitating the sufferer's movements and tones of distress? was that a condition of things in which the younger two would join the elder in sly additions to the distress around them? no; most surely, no. "is it possible," asks the historian, "that the mind of man should be capable of such strong prejudices as that suspicion of fraud should not immediately arise?" we answer for him and say, no; emphatically, no. such suspicion must have been felt. and we ask in turn, is it possible that an historian's mind can be capable of such strong prejudices as that suspicion that such a family as he described, circumstanced as he made it, was absolutely incapable of practicing fraud and imposition competent to the results which he indicates were wrought out? yes, his mind failed to receive such a suspicion, and therefore reveals its own blinding prejudices. skepticism in one direction generated credulity in another with him, as it does with many to-day. four children of the "grave man" were simultaneously and excruciatingly racked and tortured precisely alike, and in the same parts of their bodies, although being, some of them, in separate apartments, and ignorant of one another's complaints. such are the alleged and uncontested facts. the citizens of boston, two or three years ago, were permitted to see, and we saw, even more than four, yes, eight or ten boys, strangers to the operator, and mostly to each other, volunteer to go upon a stage, where, in a few minutes, after two or three out of a dozen had been requested to leave the stage, all the others were made to move, and act, and suffer precisely and simultaneously alike, many of them standing often back to back, and no one among them perceptibly looking at any other. this was all occasioned by the mental, magnetic or psychological force of professor cadwell. if we presume (and why may we not?) that the wild irish woman possessed strong psychological powers; that martha goodwin was easily subjectible to psychological control; that her brothers and sister were so too, and that they were all naturally sympathetic, then we can see that nothing more occurred, even if the whole that is told be literally true, than falls within the scope of such psychological forces as have in recent years been manifested by embodied, and, we may add, by disembodied minds. if in her anger the old woman forced or found rapport between her own sphere or aura and that of martha goodwin, way was opened for injection of germs of suffering to the girl's system, and the systems of others in rapport with her. way was opened through which the tormentor could, though absent, send upon the child ugly wishes that would keep torturing her so long as the old woman kept the wishes active; as perhaps she did in many of her waking hours. the account says, "one or two things were _very remarkable_. all their complaints were _in the daytime_, and they slept comfortably _all night_." when the old woman was asleep, and her resentful feelings were dormant, the children also slept. a passage-way so opened as to admit the entrance of one, usually admits others of the same kind to follow. where the old woman's subduing will-force had entered and gained sway, that of her sympathetic, and many other spirits, might do the same; and could make the children's outer forms either accept or reject, at the controller's pleasure, any books or class of literature which should be offered for perusal. catholic spirits, or any spirit, liking a little fun, might keenly relish the work of astonishing cotton mather and his ilk, by showing preferences antagonistic to his own righteous ones. the case of philip smith, a very intelligent, efficient, and highly respected citizen of hadley, mass., exhibits analogous phenomena. we shall not go into that case in detail. it occurred 1685, and is very instructive. being sick, sensitive, clairvoyant, and pining away, "he uttered a hard suspicion" that one old mrs. webster, _who had once been tried for witchcraft_, and also had taken offense at some of smith's official acts, "had made impressions with enchantments upon him." his "suspicion" and sufferings fired the minds of young men in the town to go "three or four times" and give that old woman disturbance. drake, in woodward's "hist. series," no. viii. p. 179, presents the following account: "it is said by a reliable historian that the young miscreants went to her house, dragged her out, and hung her up till she was almost dead. they then cut her down, rolled her some time in the snow, and then buried her up in it, leaving her, as they supposed, for dead. but by a miracle, as it were, she survived this barbarity. still more miraculous it was, that the sick man was greatly relieved during the time the helpless old woman was being so beastly abused." mather, in his account (ib. p. 177) says, "all the while they were disturbing her, he was at ease, and slept as a weary man." this is all possible, and not improbable. the man was obviously very susceptible to psychological influences, and could trace felt malignant forces to their source. she, no doubt, was a turbulent and odd old woman, for she had been tried for witchcraft, and was probably a natural psychologist. as long as rough handling caused her to call in, and keep at home, and concentrate all her thoughts and forces for self-defence and protection, no emanations from her went out to the sick man, who then consequently dropped into quiet sleep. one of these goodwins, says hutchinson, "i knew many years after. she had the character of a very sober, virtuous woman, and never made any acknowledgment of fraud in the transaction." probably, therefore, there was no fraud. this sober, virtuous woman, a party concerned, years subsequently made profession of religion, continued long to live a useful and respected life, and never made acknowledgment of fraud. the probability is near to certainty that she never acted any. and how was it with the others? "they returned to their ordinary behavior, lived to adult age, and made profession of religion." look at the case. four guileless, bright little sisters and brothers, residing together under their father's watch, in the twinkling of an eye, flash upon the gaze of the town in which they lived, seemingly as adroit and proficient tricksters as were ever known, and all of them alike competent to their several parts. they remain the town's wonder for months, and then all return to their former behavior, grow up and live christian lives among the witnesses of their strange doings, and never make confession of fraud. was there any _fraud_? only the over-credulous in self-powers of divination backward will believe that there was. in the process of watching these children, and the annoyances and sufferings they endured, it was discovered that when absent from home they were in great measure exempt from the special evils; therefore arrangements were made for their abode elsewhere; and probably not for all of them together in any one family. we find that the girl martha became a resident in cotton mather's family not many weeks after the commencement of the great consternation. and it is stated that for a time none of her extraordinary demeanor was manifested there; yet subsequently the fits and antics revealed themselves abundantly, even under the roof of the devil-fighting clergyman. some sayings and doings while she was residing there, manifested more frolicsome and quizzical motives than prompted the manifestations described by hutchinson. turning to a much later historian, we quote from upham as follows:-"one of the children seems to have had a genius scarcely inferior to that of master burke himself; there was no part nor passion she could not enact. she would complain that the old irish woman had tied an invisible noose round her neck, and was choking her; and her complexion and features would instantly assume the various hues and violent distortions natural to a person in such a predicament. she would declare that an invisible chain was fastened to one of her limbs, and would limp about precisely as though it were really the case. she would say that she was in an oven; the perspiration would drop from her face, and she would produce every appearance of being roasted; then she would cry out that cold water was being thrown upon her, and her whole frame would shiver and shake. she pretended that the evil spirit came to her in the shape of an invisible horse; and she would canter, gallop, trot, and amble round the rooms and entries in such admirable imitation, that an observer could hardly believe that a horse was not beneath her, and bearing her about. she would go up stairs with exactly such a toss and bound as a person on horseback would exhibit." such is a general summary of her feats as presented by this historian. does he believe that such things were actually performed either by or through her? does he believe that such were the literal facts even in appearance? he nowhere, so far as we notice, till he sums up the case, _distinctly_ charges fraud on the one side, or such credulity on the other, as made witnesses falsify as to appearances. he seems to admit the facts as _appearances_, and charge them all to the girl's extra cunning and skillful acting. "she _pretended_ that the evil [?] spirit came to her." was it only her _pretense_? who knows? why say _pretended_? was she so generous as to give credit to another, and that other an "evil spirit," for help which she did not receive? are expert tricksters accustomed to disown their own powers to astonish? especially do they ever spontaneously avow that the devil or any _evil spirit_ is helping them? we think not. and yet it is stated that martha goodwin's own lips declared that some invisible spirit was acting through her, or was helping her perform her marvelous feats. why call that a _pretense_, and make her a liar? why not put some confidence in the words of this religiously educated girl? the historian says that while she was residing with mather, "the cunning and ingenious child"--please mark the adjectives of the modern expounder, applied by him to one whom the earlier records put among those who "had been religiously educated and thought _to be without guile_"--"the cunning and ingenious child," he says, "seems to have taken great delight in perplexing and playing off her tricks upon the learned man. once he wished to say something in her presence to a third person, which he did not intend she should understand. she had penetration enough to _conjecture_" (why say _conjecture_?) "what he had said. he was amazed. he then tried greek; she was equally successful. he next spoke in hebrew; she instantly detected his meaning. he resorted to the indian language, and that she pretended not to know." such are facts as deduced from mather's account by upham and put forth by the latter, and which he attempts to account for by supposition that the girl's own _conjectures_ enabled her to get at the meaning of sentences put forth in languages of which she had no knowledge. no doubt she was bright, but not competent to all that. fancy and imagination ply their wings needlessly when they rise from the ground of fact and fly off to the lands of conjecture and pretense, thinking to bring thence true solution of such a marvel. the girl avowed the presence of a spirit with herself, and that he helped her. that explains the whole transaction. upon full separation from the body, each human mind loses all knowledge of earth language, having no further use for it, because the mind then enters conditions in which the thoughts of any other spirit, whatsoever its native language, may be read at a glance. whatever language mather might have spoken in, he would have been intelligible by any disembodied spirit. for not words, but the thought, irrespective of its dress, could be read. the indian language she _pretended_ not to know. perhaps so; but probably that was no _pretense_. it is not probable that the girl herself, as such, had much acquaintance with any other language than english; any departed spirit who controlled her would have no knowledge of any earth language whatsoever, nor need he have, for unclothed thought was perceptible by him. a roguish mind behind the scenes--and such a one may have played many a trick at the parsonage--would be likely, at his own pleasure, to bother, astonish, or confound the rev. polyglot by seeming either to comprehend or not, just according to his own whims or varying moods as the play went on from step to step. mather's attempt to conceal his meaning from the girl might very naturally be amusing to the thought-reading intellect then lurking in and controlling the girl's organs, and quite as naturally would incite him to play the wag a while. martha neither _conjectured_ nor _pretended_ at all; she was then quiescent, while other eyes looked through hers and saw what was inside the mill-stone. we have stated essentially that each mortal upon departing from this life enters into conditions where human language is not only not needed, but is unusable; therefore we may be asked how returning spirits can possibly speak to us in our language, which is no longer at their command. they measurably rechange or change back their conditions when they reconnect themselves with a mortal form; they then come back to where earth language is needful, and where fitting instrumentality for revival of knowledge and use of such language exist. they, however, do not reconnect themselves with their own former forms, nor often with forms which they can use as well as they formerly did their own; in many, very many instances, those who, in their own forms, were eminent for polished diction and fervid eloquence, either get such slight control or get hold of such rickety or such rigid vocal apparatus, that they can make no perceptible approximation to their former productions. the reincarnated spirit is a somewhat mystical being, half spirit, half man, and as a spirit can read the thoughts of man, and as man can use human language. flattery was sometimes poured over the minister through the lips of martha, with a lavishness indicative of its flowing from some ensconsed waggish spirit, amusing himself by tickling the vanity of the egotistical black coat, much more than from a guileless miss speaking to her consequential minister. a special scene is thus described by mather:-"there stood open the study of one belonging to the family, into which entering, she stood immediately on her feet, and cried out, 'they are gone! they are gone! they say they cannot. god won't let 'em come here!' adding a reason for it which the owner of the study thought more kind than true; and she presently and perfectly came to herself, so that her whole discourse and carriage was altered into the greatest measure of sobriety." very likely mather was then egregiously cajoled by _some_ one. observation, together with information otherwise obtained, renders it obvious that one essential condition of psychological control is, that the magnetisms or auras of the controlling mind shall, at the time, be, in the mass of its operative qualities and powers, stronger than, or positive to, any other person's spheres, auras, or emanations amid which the control is either to be taken or held on to. suppose, then, what would be necessary under the circumstances, that the atmosphere, walls, and furniture of that study were highly charged with emanations from the vigorous minded mather, who was then present, and consequently his own halo was radiating there and keeping his surroundings fully charged with himself. physical and also external mental and emotional effluvia from him might then be so repulsive to magnetisms pertaining to spirits of any moral quality whatsoever, that no visitant from unseen realms would try to withstand the repulsion. if such was the condition of things, the parting exclamation of the last to remain, might well be, "they are gone; god won't let 'em come here!" such statement would be in full harmony with the most common use of language to-day by spirits, for they are accustomed to say that god won't let them do this or that, when, according to their own oft-repeated explanation, they mean only that the forces of nature oppose or control them. god and natural forces with them generally mean one and the same all-dominating power--god's forces as well as himself are called by his name by visitants who read his operations with more than mortal accuracy. "she presently and perfectly came to herself, so that her whole discourse and carriage was altered into the greatest measure of sobriety." yes, naturally so; for martha goodwin herself resumed control of her own body, and re-exhibited the religiously educated and guileless girl which she in fact was, just as soon as usurping visitants vacated her legitimate premises. so long as her form was dominated by another's mind, her existence was either a blank to herself, or, if conscious, she was powerless. upham teaches that once, according to mather, when people attempted to drag this girl up stairs, "the demons would pull her out of the people's hands, and _make her heavier_ than perhaps three times herself." did the historian himself who quoted those words and let them appear to be accurately descriptive of facts, believe that they were such? did he believe that _demons_ acted within her, held her back, and made her something like three times heavier than she normally was? such things were adduced by him as being _facts_, and it would be pleasant to know whether he believed that the girl herself was those demons, and by her own action made her own body three times heavier than common gravitation would make it. did such observable effects occur as mather described? probably they did, and the historian's process of accounting for them implies that by her own cunning, ingenuity, and histrionic skill, the child made herself three times heavier than she actually was. if the allegations were not in his estimation facts, why did he let them stand unaccounted for in his summary of things accomplished by his "cunning and ingenious child"? perhaps he presumed that readers to-day are generally as ignorant as himself of the vast many cases in which the present generation has tested and proved by the best of fairbanks's scales, that spirits augment or diminish the weight of material substances at pleasure, and to as great and sometimes greater extent than either demons or martha goodwin are alleged to have done in the case above cited. he perhaps presumed that the reading world at large was as ignorant and prejudiced as himself on this subject, and that the world's clearing and opening eyes will continue to see, as his glamoured ones did, only fibs in mather's facts. this was a sad oversight. light from spiritualism (see dr. hare, dr. luther v. bell, william crookes, alfred r. wallace, and many others) has already substantiated facts which prove that nature infolds forces by which agents unseen can at their pleasure produce either levitation or increase of the weight of material objects. therefore such action may have been put forth upon the body of martha goodwin. yes, we now may _rationally_ believe that there existed too much sagacity and truth among the men of witchcraft times, and too little deviltry among the guileless children of that day, to permit that fictions and rhetoric shall long be suffered to malign our forefathers because they recorded true accounts of what transpired among them. mather states that this girl, at times, by whistling, yelling, and in other ways, disturbed him when at family prayers. upham says, "she would strike him," mather, "with her fist and try to kick him"--probably meaning, try both to strike and kick him, for he adds, "her hand or foot would always recoil when within an inch or two of his body; thus giving the idea that there was an invisible coat of mail, of heavenly temper, and proof against the assaults of the devil around his sacred person." that "_idea_" looks much more like a child born within the historian's own mind than a gift to him by mather. a statement by the latter that her hand or foot would always recoil when within an inch or two of his body, hardly justifies the slurring innuendo which seems to be appended to it. but ignorance of many operating laws, forces, and agents pertaining to the subject discussed by the modern historian, let him sometimes become as tempting a target for the shafts of ridicule as he found mather to be. without presuming that mather perceived that natural laws generated repulsion between matter animated and moved by a disembodied spirit and matter in its normal conditions, we can state that extensive observation has generated the conclusion that unless there exists rapport with, or at least an absence of repulsion between, the sphere of the spirit using the borrowed hand or foot, and the sphere of the normal person aimed at, natural law forbids their contact. william morse made such observation as caused him to say in his deposition that "the wedge and spade flying on his wife _did not touch her_." forceful and rapid approximations of hands and feet under control of invisibles, toward the bodies of surrounding witnesses, and marvelous arrestings of those moving limbs so that no contact ensues, are of very frequent occurrence. very many parlor ornaments and household utensils, hard and soft, light and heavy, are, by spirits, not unfrequently set in rapid motion back and forth, and crosswise, promiscuously over and amid a crowd of people in a room, and yet but few persons are ever hit, and the few sensitives in rapport with the performers, and contributors to their apparatus, if hit, are never hurt. the temper of mather's shielding coat of mail was just as heavenly as that of each other human being's coat which the master armorer in nature's boundless shop forges and furnishes for the protection of each human child who is sent forth to fight the battles of life in gross flesh and bones. not his own holiness, but either nature's antipathies or spirit forbearance saved mather from the blows, and the historian wronged him perhaps when he intimated that the divine thought otherwise; for that man, halting as his steps were, and small as his advance was, made nearer approach toward a fair comprehension and exposition of our witchcraft than any other american who wrote upon that subject, till since the publication of "history of witchcraft." many other pranks, not less marvelous than the ones already presented, are ascribed to this girl; but notice of them may be omitted here, because the general character of the operations around her are all that this work proposes to exhibit. we must, however, give the reader opportunity to peruse the historian's concluding comments upon this case. he says,-"there is nothing in the annals of the histrionic art more illustrative of the infinite versatility of the human faculties, both physical and mental, and of the amazing extent to which cunning, ingenuity, contrivance, quickness of invention, and presence of mind can be cultivated, even in very young persons, than such cases as just related. it seems, at first, incredible that a mere child could carry on such a complex piece of fraud and imposture as that enacted by the little girl whose achievements have been immortalized by the famous author of the 'magnalia.'" we are glad to note the author's frank and distinct confession that his own solution seems _at first_ incredible. why he put in the phrase "at first" needs explanation, which he fails to furnish. he makes no attempt to show why the _first_ seeming should not be the permanent one. it is permanent. it will continue permanent to the end of time. it is and forever will be _incredible_ that the goodwin girl herself performed all the feats which the evidence proves were performed through her organism. if her body was the organ of all the performances which are distinctly ascribed to her, she was not the author of them all, but only a channel for the occurrence of many of them. can reflection find her competent to all that was ascribed to her? incredible. incredible not only _at first_, but also on and on to the latest last. ingenious fancy, while weaving over this case a dazzling web of rhetoric, may have deluded the eyes that overlooked the loom, and caused them to discern other seemings than the first ones; but such delusion will never become epidemic. hutchinson, usually a scornful handler of aught that emitted any odor of witchcraft, we now requote where he said, concerning the family which included this martha, that "they all had been religiously educated, and were thought to be without guile;... they returned to their ordinary behavior, lived to adult age, made profession of religion.... one of them i knew many years after. she had the character of a very sober, virtuous woman, and never made any acknowledgment of fraud in this transaction." such is the testimony of one whose views and feelings obviously inclined him, as far as possible, to consider all witchcraft works the products of imposture and fraud; and who, therefore, was not likely to assign to this family any good qualities which they were not widely and well known to possess. he spoke of them as above, and refrained from any direct imputation of fraud to them. he hinted at fraud, it is true, but probably both lacked any historical or traditionary evidence of it, and was conscious that if fraud were alleged, and even proved, it would fail to meet the case in all its parts--in those especially that "seemed more than natural." nonplussed in the way of solution, he could only say "it was a time of great credulity"! in one important respect he had better facilities for judging this case correctly than can be obtained to-day. he had listened to conversations of many persons who were living at the time of its occurrence, and yet refrained from direct charge of fraud or imposture. also he intimated that such causes, even if alleged, would be inadequate, because some of the transactions "seemed more than natural." the later historian, unhampered by need to move in harmony with the knowledge and beliefs of any cotemporaries of those goodwins, and abandoning historic grounds which furnish supermundane agencies for solving the occurrence of acts which filled the town and colony with consternation, delved into the composition of man, and fancied that he found therein enormous capabilities for credulity, fraud, imposture, infatuation, spontaneous out-flashings of highest, and more than highest, feats of histrionic art, for self-generated triplication of personal weight, for aviarial flittings, for equine antics, for self-induced roastings, self-induced showerings, for comprehension of languages never learned, &c.; fancied that he had found how one little girl, "religiously educated, and thought to be without guile," could execute to admiration each of those many things "seeming to be more than natural," and could mimic with admirable exactness most astounding feats, and such as always before had been supposed to require the powers of disembodied intelligences. that was an astounding discovery. but the present are times of great credulity, and in the infatuation of these days mental optics have been molded, which, looking back nearly two hundred years, see the brightest, most vigorous, and keen-sighted men of boston--the "solid men of boston"--see them stolid and gullible, and see, too, among the people there three or four little children, bright and religiously educated, and yet malignant and agile as the very devil. what a contrast between the old and the young then! was there ever a day when boston's wisest adults were prevailingly blockheads easily befooled, and when those of her children who had "great ingenuity of temper" metamorphosed themselves into devil-like incendiaries, and set the town ablaze with sulphurous fires? alas! one modern eye has penetration enough to convince its owner that such a day once was. that eye, "by the aid of"--something, seems "gifted with supernatural insight;" certainly with very uncommon back-sight. grant to the goodwin children all the natural human endowments which imagination can conjure up and embody, also grant to them skillful training and long-continued practice, which there is no probability they had, and even then it was impossible for them, when in separate rooms, to have voluntarily and designedly acted, and seemingly suffered, precisely and simultaneously alike, as they are alleged to have done, and as they would have naturally been made to do if all of them were under and controlled by the psychologic influence of the single mind of the resentful wild irish woman, because then the same mental impulses would move them all like machines, and simultaneously. after their separation, the girl at mr. mather's house could never have accomplished single-handed what is ascribed to her. the internal evidence of the narrative of events which transpired there combines with common sense in pronouncing it farcical--distinctly _farcical_--to regard that young girl as the contriver and performer of all the works and pranks which history says transpired through her physical organism, and, therefore, to external eyes, seemed to be products of her own volitions. the nature, quality, and extent of those performances bespeak producing powers both different from and greater than such a girl possessed; bespeak just such powers as departed spirits are now putting forth all around us through living human forms. it is not only at first, but _permanently_ incredible, "that a mere child could carry on such a complex piece of fraud and imposture as that enacted" through "the little girl whose achievements have been immortalized by the famous author of the magnalia;" and therefore the world demands, and will yet obtain, a simpler, more rational, and more satisfactory solution of this and kindred cases; solution that will admit all the amazing feats of witchcraft to be embraced within the scope of forces that finite human beings, the seen and the unseen in conjunction, could in the past and can now so apply as to execute all the world's marvels without aid from either the one great devil, from fraud, or from imposture. neither of these need ever have any connection whatever with, or complicity in, such matters. the records teach, and man's recent experience divines, that other, more befitting, and more competent actors than mere children were on hand and at work in cotton mather's presence. though justice would have us assign to any great dull his honest dues, it also permits us to pull off from his sable brows any unearned wreaths which cotton mather and others credulously placed upon them. it also and especially requires us to tear off from the fair head of guileless martha goodwin that badge labeled _fraud and imposture_--that emblem of deviltry--which _modern delusion_ has most cruelly, and yet most artistically, wreathed around temples that seem worthy of a pure _martyr's honoring crown_. retrospection. from among the works of witchcraft that occurred from 1648 to 1688, we have now presented six cases, which bring into view some phenomena that are very like many which are now called spirit manifestations. the efficient touch of margaret jones, of charlestown, the extraordinary efficacy of her hands and simple medicines, her prophetic powers, the keenness of her hearing, and the materialization of a spirit-child in her arms, brought her to the gallows in 1648. ann hibbins, of boston, seemingly because of the wit-sharpening acuteness of her hearing, was hanged in 1656. ann cole, of hartford, conn., in 1662, had her vocal organs "improved" by some intelligence not her own for the utterance of thoughts which were never in her mind, and some of the utterances through her contributed to the conviction and consequent execution of the two greensmiths, husband and wife. at groton, a spirit controlling the form of elizabeth knap, in 1671, made avowal that he was "a pretty black boy, and not satan." at newbury, in 1679, the wild dance of pots, kettles, andirons, and things in general, came off on the premises of william morse. and at boston, in 1688, inflictions upon the goodwin children led to the execution of mrs. glover, "one of the wild irish." cases thus scattered in both time and space, half of them limited each to a single actor or sufferer, and each differing widely from any other in many of its prominent features, cannot satisfactorily be ascribed to acquired skill in legerdemain, histrionic art, magic, or necromancy, unattended by help from the living dead. the name of the wild irish woman, whose harsh language was speedily followed by the distortions and sufferings of the goodwin children, was glover. calef calls her "a despised, crazy, ill-conditioned old woman--an irish roman catholic." the public believed that she put forth criminal action upon that family, arrested her therefor, received at her trial some indications that she had dealings with invisible beings, pronounced her guilty of witchcraft, and hanged her. she doubtless forsensed retention of power to act either directly or through others upon the objects of her resentment, even after the gallows should have done its utmost work upon herself. for it is stated that "at her execution she said the children would not be relieved by her death ... and ... the three children continued in their furnace as before, and it grew rather seven times hotter than it was, and their calamities went on till they barked at one another like dogs, and then purred like so many cats; would complain that they were in a red-hot oven, and sweat and pant as if they had been really so. anon they would say cold water was thrown on them, at which they would shiver very much. they would complain of being roasted on an invisible spit; and then that their heads were nailed to the floor, and it was beyond an ordinary strength to pull them from it."--_annals of witchcraft_, p. 185. such facts were gathered from cotton mather's account; they come to us from one whose influences and writings are alleged to have been most strongly provocative of executions for witchcraft. perhaps some of them became so. but his presentation of both the momentous fact and its confirmation by observed experiences, that the spirit of an executed psychologist could act back from beyond the gallows, involved a crushing argument against the wisdom of suspending her or any one else with a view to stop bewitchment. the liberation of one's spirit increases its powers for action upon surviving mortals. mather's facts argued that. salem witchcraft. the world-renowned and momentous display of extraordinary manifestations, known the world over as _salem witchcraft_, originated and was mainly manifested in what was then called salem village--territory distinct from salem _proper_--embracing the present town of danvers, together with parts of beverly, wenham, topsfield, and middleton, in the county of essex and state of massachusetts. there, in the family of the rev. samuel parris, minister at the village, on the 29th of february, 1692, mysterious causes had wrought strange maladies upon two young girls during the six preceding weeks, which excited great public alarm, and produced such mental agitation that the civil authorities were called upon to give the matter official attention. the true origin and the actual authors and enactors of that tragedy are among the prime objects of our present researches. it is not our purpose to furnish a _full_ history, but to scrutinize and test the hypotheses of other writers; and give a solution of the origin and specification of the actors and effects of that tragedy different--widely different--from the prevalent modern ones. upham, drake, and fowler all agree in fundamentals. all of them have assumed that the agents and forces which evolved those marvelous operations were scarcely, if anything, other than ten or twelve respectable girls, from nine to twenty years of age, together with a few married women and a few men, voluntarily exercising and manifesting only their own wayward constitutional faculties and forces, in the performance of tricks, impositions, and malignancies; and with none other than lamentable results. their positions we deem open to deserved attack, and we expect to overthrow much that has been reared upon them, by using facts abounding in the primitive records of testimony given in at trials for witchcraft as our chief instrumentalities. the three expounders just named have rested much upon allegations that the girls and women alluded to above had, just previous to the strange outburst of terrors at the village, been accustomed to meet as _a circle_, and at their meetings put themselves in training for the efficient and successful performance of what soon after transpired through them. our readings of the records pertaining to salem witchcraft have, as we know and freely confess, fallen short of complete exhaustion; and yet we have read much, and also have failed to find any remembered allusion to such a circle prior to its mention in the present century. upham states (vol. ii. pp. 2 and 386) that "for a period embracing about two months they" (certain girls and women) "had been in the habit of meeting together, and spending the long winter evenings, _at mr. parris's house_, practicing the arts of fortune-telling, jugglery, and magic." drake says ("annals of witchcraft," p. 189) that "these females instituted frequent meetings, or got up, as it would now be styled, a club, which was called a circle. _how frequent they had these meetings is not stated_; but it was soon ascertained that they met to try projects, or to do or produce superhuman acts." fowler remarks, in woodward's series (vol. iii. pp. 204 and 205), that "mary warren, one of the most violent of the accusing girls, lived with john proctor," who, "out of patience with the meetings of the girls composing this circle," &c. "it is at the meeting of this circle of eight girls, _for the purpose of practicing palmistry and fortune-telling_, that we discover the germ or the first origin of the delusion." the position of each of these writers substantially is, that the accusing girls, at circle meetings which they held, qualified themselves for the parts they subsequently performed, wherein, fowler says, "their whole course, as seen by their depositions, discloses much malignancy." upham has told us that these meetings were held "at mr. parris's house," and that they occurred within the space of "about two months ... during the winter of 1691 and 1692." drake found no statement as to "how frequent they had these meetings," and fowler finds in them "the germ ... of the delusion." we have found no mention at all of this circle in the more ancient records and accounts, and not one of the authors named makes mention of the source of his information. those men, two of whom are our personal acquaintances and friends, would not state anything which they did not believe to be true. we therefore shall not gainsay their allegations. still, we feel privileged to doubt whether their uncertain number of meetings during the short space of two winter months, held _at the minister's own house_, and under an eye as vigilant as that of mr. parris, could have furnished those girls with opportunity to learn very much in any arts whose practice would not receive the approbation of the rev. master of the house--not much could they there of themselves learn, at their few meetings in two months, of the anti-christian arts of "palmistry ... and fortune-telling;" not much could they then and there accomplish in the way "of becoming," by their voluntary efforts, "experts in the wonders of necromancy, magic, and spiritualism." the general purpose of any stated meetings "at mr. parris's house," naturally and almost necessarily had his approbation; and the presumption from his general character is, that he was neither the good-natured indolent man who let others take their own course, however wayward, nor the absent-minded one whom children or even bright adults could easily and repeatedly deceive and hoodwink. the probability seems excessively small that such a one as he would permit repeated gatherings under his own roof for the special purpose of acquiring knowledge of and skill in practicing tabooed arts. whatever their authority for it, the writers referred to imply that the members of a circle of girls and misses, meeting statedly "_at mr. parris's house_," there very expeditiously qualified themselves to become not only most efficient actors of long-continued dissimulation, imposture, cunning, devilish trickery, and fiendish malice, but also to be _bona fide_ concoctors and successful executors of vastly complicated, deep, and broad schemes of hellish outrages upon parents, neighbors, and the country. wiser heads and greater powers than those girls possessed were manifested by the acts they _seemed_ to perform. in a literary sense they were uncultured; but they, doubtless, had been subject to as good domestic, social, moral, and religious teachings and example as existed in any community. the literary deficiencies of the girls are indicated in the following extracts:-drake says, "they were generally very ignorant, for out of the eight but two could write their names. such were the characters which set in motion that stupendous tragedy which ended in blood and ruin." in vol. i. p. 486, upham says, "how those young country girls, some of them mere children, most of them wholly illiterate, could have become familiar with such fancies to such an extent, is truly surprising.... in the salem witchcraft proceedings, the superstition of the middle ages was embodied in real action. all its extravagances, absurdities, and monstrosities appear in their application to human experience." such, according to their own concessions, was the feebleness of the agents whom the historians credited with performances which seem superhuman, and required for their production intellect and forces above what any community has often witnessed. notwithstanding the inherent and insuperable incompetency of such persons to voluntarily devise and perform what has been ascribed to them, those females have been earnestly set forth as the actual and almost impromptu devisers and enactors of as intricate and effective a scheme for inflicting tortures and misery upon a vast multitude of human beings as has rarely been found in the annals of the race. if it be admitted that they, through frequent meetings at the parsonage, became fitted to conjure up and control the devastating monster that had his lair and foraging-grounds at salem village, the presumption amounts closely to certainty that those gatherings were ostensibly held for some laudable object. meetings for some purpose may possibly have been held when and where the historians assume them to have occurred. but if so, it is our privilege to assume the possibility that the meetings were availed of by unseen intelligences of some grade, for developing into facile mediums such members of the circle as were constitutionally impressible and controllable by spirits; and, if so, the meetings may have become productive of results widely different from any contemplated by either the members themselves or the master of the house in which they met. in his general history of salem village, introductory to that of its witchcraft, upham, giving us the geographical positions of their several residences, and also their relations and positions in domestic life, furnishes ample grounds for very strong presumption that frequent attendance upon sportive meetings at the parsonage must have been so inconvenient and onerous to several of those girls, that they would not have been present many times in the short space of two months. ann putnam, a sensitive girl only twelve years old, and mercy lewis, a servant girl, or "the maid," in the family of ann's father, two of the most efficient pupils in that necromantic school, resided together in a home situated not less than two and a half miles distant, in a north-westerly direction from the specified place of the meetings. elizabeth hubbard, an important member, lived about the same distance off, on a different road at the east. on a still different road, and equally as far away at the south-east, resided sarah churchill; and quite as remote, at the south, was the home of mary warren; and the last two must take divergent roads when they had gone only a little more than half way home. each one of these five was very conspicuous amid the ostensible accusers, and the genuinely "afflicted ones." excepting ann putnam, each was old enough to be an efficient helper in household labors, and each, unless we except elizabeth hubbard,--and such exception is hardly needful, because, though a niece of his wife, she is mentioned as dr. griggs's "maid," which probably implies that she was compensated for services she rendered,--excepting ann putnam, each of them was "out at service." what, therefore, is the probability that these five girls, with any great frequency or regularity, went to and returned home from avowedly sportive or necromantic meetings _at the parsonage_? each of them would have to travel, in going and returning, not less than five or six miles, mostly along separate routes, in winter's shortest days, by lonely and crooked roads, through miles of dark forests, over winter's snows, and amid its freezing airs. what is the probability that such persons, so circumstanced, would either desire to go, or be permitted by parents and employers to go, frequently and regularly to such meetings? slight--very slight--because both natural and domestic obstacles must have been great. were horses, vehicles, and drivers, or were even saddle-horses, regularly at the command of such girls for conveyance to and from such meetings? would such persons, if physically strong and courageous enough to go on foot, be often spared by their employers to spend long winter evenings, and two hours more for travel, in practicing "fortune-telling, necromancy, and magic"? such questions of themselves put forth a negative answer. frequent attendance by such members of the circle was next to an impossibility. if they learned much upon any subject at the very few meetings which circumstances would permit them to attend in the short space of two months, they were very apt pupils indeed. that they became very considerably modified and unfolded in certain directions in consequence of meeting together occasionally is very credible. we should concede its probable correctness, were an historian to make the supposition that the two indian slaves in mr. parris's kitchen, john indian and his wife tituba, often amused themselves and any young folks or other visitors, who there basked in genial light and warmth from blazing logs in a huge new england fireplace on a cold winter's evening, by rehearsing ghost stories and magic lore, and performing any such feats in fortune-telling or other mystical doings as they might be able to exhibit, or as might transpire through them. that the little girls, elizabeth, daughter of mr. parris, and abigail williams, his niece, were accustomed to spend many cold winter evenings in the warm kitchen of their own home is very credible. mary walcut and susanna sheldon, who lived in the near neighborhood, perhaps dropped in frequently. but the majority of those whose astonishing proficiency in performing what drake said the circle met for, viz., "to do or produce superhuman acts," and for _learning_, as upham would say, how to manifest "the superstition of the middle ages ... embodied in real action,"--the _majority_ of those girls obviously must have had only very restricted opportunities for study and practice at the parsonage. it is not at all improbable that each of them was present in that kitchen occasionally during two months of that winter; nor that each of them was impregnated by the auras of that place and of its occupants both visible and invisible; nor that the physical and psychic soils in each were there mellowed, and also sown with some seed which produced unlooked-for fruits during the following spring and summer. mediumistic capabilities are innate peculiarities, measurably hereditary, and nearly always amenable to special conditions and surroundings for conspicuous development. king saul became a prophet, i. e., a medium, only when he met, mingled with, and imbibed emanations from prophets or mediums. messengers whom he sent to the prophets succumbed to new and developing influences upon arriving at their destination, and became suddenly prophets themselves. latent germs of spiritualistic capabilities, if permeated by quickening auras, which often emanate from positive mediums, frequently unfold into mediumship, as naturally as specific elements, reaching latent germs in many human systems, expand those germs into measles, or into whooping-cough; or as naturally as listening to soul-stirring music energizes latent capabilities in many who are acted upon by its strains, and helps such to become themselves better musicians than before. the parsonage kitchen--that nestling-place of john indian and his wife tituba--may have been that winter a little delphos, or a little mount horeb, that is, a spot where developing nourishments of mediumistic germs were collected in unusual abundance, and were unwontedly operative. we are not only ready to admit, but deem it probable, that any susceptible persons who came into the presence of john and tituba, in their special room, may have there imbibed properties unsought and unperceived which fostered the development of such visitors into tools or instruments, by the use of which the genuine authors of salem witchcraft brought out their work upon a public stage, and prosecuted its terrific enactment. smothering our serious doubts whether any regular meetings at stated times were arranged for or held, we are entirely ready to let the supposition stand that gatherings, more or less extensive, occasionally occurred, at which fortune-telling, necromancy, magic, or spiritualism, was made the subject of either sportive or serious attention, and we will let results indicate who managed the visible performers during the exercises or entertainments there. upham's beautifully rhetorical and eloquent efforts to show that because they, as he states, held a number of meetings for learning and practicing mystic arts, those rustic, illiterate girls thereby and thereat qualified themselves to concoct and accomplish of their own accord, and by their histrionic and malicious capabilities, all that mighty scheme or plan which his predecessor and himself lay to their charge, fail, entirely fail, to meet the fair demands of that common sense which rigidly requires forces and agents adequate in their nature and conditions to produce all effects which are ascribed to them. fowler seems to have inferred from some statements ascribed to proctor, that the latter threatened to go and force mary warren to leave the _circle_. we do not so read the account. the morning of march 25,--that is, the next morning after the examination of rebecca nurse,--john proctor said "he was going to fetch home his jade" (mary warren); "he left her there" (at the village) "last night, and had rather given 40c than let her come up." that is, apparently, he had rather have given that sum than to have had her be present at the examination of mrs. nurse; for, continued he, "if they were let alone, sr., we should all be devils and witches quickly; they should rather be had to the whipping post; but he would fetch his jade home and thrust the devil out of her, ... crying, hang them--hang them. and also added, that when she was first taken with fits he kept her close to the wheel, and threatened to thrash her, and then she had no more fits till the next day" (when) "he was gone forth, and then she must have her fits again forsooth," &c.--_woodward's series_, vol. i. p. 63. it is obvious from the above that proctor's objection was to his jade's attendance upon the examination of the accused--to her attendance at court--and not at the circle, which, according to upham, should have closed its meetings a month at least before the 25th of march. and yet s. p. fowler says (woodward's series, vol. iii. p. 204), that "proctor, out of all patience with the _meetings of the girls composing this circle_, one day said he was going to the village to bring mary warren, the jade, home." most readers will infer from such a statement that proctor proposed to take the girl away from the "circle;" but the statement from which the annotator drew his information, when taken in connection with its date, clearly shows that the threats to bring home the jade and thrash her were subsequent to the assemblages of the circle, and were made at a time when the girls were being used as witnesses before the examining magistrates. that which tried the resolute man's patience, was not the meetings of the _circle_, but the testimony of the girls in court, which threatened to make all the people "devils and witches quickly." proctor's stopping the _fits_, by threats to thrash the girl, intimates that the fits were measurably controllable by the will of some one. that much may be true in relation to almost all diseases and maladies of the body, but probably not as much so in most other kinds as in those which are imposed by a will that has no natural alliance with the agitated body. under the influence of threats, the girl would naturally struggle to get full possession of all her own powers and faculties, and the effort would put her own elements in such commotion that for a time no foreign will could get control over her form. threats, medicines of certain kinds, and many other applications, may temporally render almost any medium's system uncontrollable by spirits. calmness, both of mind and body, and darkness, too, which is less positive and disintegrating than light, in action upon instruments made and used by spirits, are very helpful to control of borrowed forms. in some of his comments (vol. ii. p. 434) upham wrote more wisely than himself seems to have known. words from his pen state that "one of the sources of the delusion of 1692, was ignorance of many natural laws that have been revealed by modern science. a vast amount of knowledge on these subjects has been attained since that time." true, true indeed. and had the author of that statement been familiar with important portions of that "vast amount of" new "knowledge," he himself, as readily as those who are better versed in a certain class of modern revealments, would have seen and felt the perfect childishness of his attempt to make those rustic girls the conscious contrivers and perverse and malignant actors of the whole of the vast, complicated, and terrific tragedy of salem witchcraft. he might have known when he wrote, he ought to have known then, that dr. robert hare, of philadelphia, who was eminent, distinctly and broadly eminent, as a scientist, had in 1855 published to the world a rigidly scientific _demonstration_ that some unseen agent, intelligent enough to understand and comply with verbal requests, repeatedly moved the arms of scale-beams contrary to the normal action of gravitation. science, there and then, revealed the existence of some natural law or laws which permit unseen and impalpable intelligences, under some conditions, to put forth action upon matter, with force and to extent, which man can measure in pounds avoirdupois. that single achievement of modern science teaches the wisdom of exempting seemingly diabolized and mischievous children from charge of being devils incarnate, until we have determined whether some beings of greater powers and different dispositions may not have usurped control of youthful and pliant human forms, and through them manifested schemes and pranks that originated in supernal brains, and were enacted by use of such forces as can be manipulated by none below disembodied intelligences. obviously he who was cognizant that science had made recent discoveries, suffered himself to remain in ignorance of what to him, as witchcraft historian, were the most pertinent and important parts of the knowledge recently gained; ignorant of those parts which were most closely connected with philosophical solution of the mysteries which pervaded the history he was elaborating. his blindness to what science--yes, to what exact physical science--by her rigid processes of weighing and measuring had positively _demonstrated_, bespeaks his short-comings, and would bespeak the unphilosophical stand-point of any historian of, or critic upon, the world's marvels, who, since the day of hare, ignores the light radiating from his demonstration, and continues to grope on in darkness which use of that light would dispel. take into the catalogue of natural agents and forces all those whose existence and action, science, as applied by dr. hare twenty years ago, and again by mr. crookes and others in england more recently, backed, too, by the observations and tests of thousands less erudite, has _demonstrated_, and then all occasion to look upon our fathers as numskulls, and their daughters as proficient devils, at once disappears. new england soil, two centuries ago, was not populated mainly by jack-asses; and even had it been, their offspring would have been neither monkeys nor hyenas. since the work by dr. hare, entitled "spiritualism scientifically demonstrated," may not be readily accessible by many readers, his description of one demonstrative process is quoted from page 49, as follows:-"a board, being about four feet in length, is supported by a rod, as a fulcrum, at about one foot from one end, and, of course, three feet from the other, which is suspended on a spring balance. a glass vase, about nine inches in diameter and five inches in hight, having a knob to hold it by, when inverted had this knob inserted in a hole made in the board six inches, nearly, from the fulcrum. thus the vase rested on the board mouth upward. a wire-gauze cage, such as is used to keep flies from sugar, was so arranged by a well-known means as to slide up or down on two iron rods, one on each side of the trestle supporting the fulcrum. by these arrangements it was so adjusted as to descend into the vase until within an inch and a half of the bottom, while the inferiority of its dimensions prevented it from coming elsewhere within an inch of the parietes of the vase. water was poured into the vase so as to rise into the cage till within about an inch and an half of the brim. a well-known medium (gordon) was induced to plunge his hands, clasped together, to the bottom of the cage, holding them perfectly still. as soon as those conditions were attained, the apparatus being untouched by any one excepting the medium as described, i invoked the aid of my spirit friends. a downward force was repeatedly exerted upon the end of the board appended to the balance, equal to three pounds' weight nearly;... the distance of the hook of the balance from the fulcrum on which the board turned was six times as great as the cage in which the hands were situated. consequently a force of 3ã�6=18 pounds must have been exerted." the above experiment was performed in dr. hare's own laboratory, in the presence and under the watchful scrutiny of john m. kennedy, esq., and was made with extraordinary care, because professor henry had just treated a similar result formerly obtained as incredible. plate iii. in the book furnishes a diagram illustrating dr. hare's apparatus. this experimenter, whom alfred r. wallace calls america's foremost chemist, had spent very many years in both constructing and in using, as a scientist, varied kinds of apparatus for testing the presence and action of subtile forces in nature, and he was competent to know, and did know as well as any other man whatsoever in the world's great body of scientists, when results were obtained to positive certainty. he _proved_ that some invisible and intelligent power moved his scale-beam contrary to the action of gravitation. the above demonstration, accompanied by many other evidences of spirit-action upon matter through mediums, had been published twelve years when upham put forth his work. therefore he was either ignorant of or he ignored late discoveries of science which had revolutionizing applicability to the very theories which he was putting forth. after having eloquently depicted the sad results of witchcraft, that author says (vol. ii. p. 427), "let those results for ever stand conspicuous, beacon-monuments, warning us and coming generations against superstition in every form, and all credulous and vain attempts to penetrate beyond the legitimate boundaries of human knowledge." if there ever was "a _credulous and vain attempt_ to penetrate beyond the legitimate boundaries of human knowledge," one was made by him who sought to find that the keen-eyed, energetic, common-sense, virtuous, religious men of massachusetts in the seventeenth century lacked common sagacity, and that their little girls rivaled satan himself in malignity. most seriously we ask whether forces which can be and have been measured by palpable scales, are "beyond the legitimate boundaries of human knowledge?" we ask whether, anywhere in the universe, there exist boundaries beyond which it is, or can be, illegitimate for man to go in search after agents and forces which either habitually or occasionally act legitimately upon him in this mortal life? another question is suggested by the foregoing quotation. would not positive knowledge that there are unseen agents and forces within the realms of nature that can legitimately exhibit the phenomena once deemed witchcrafts, transfer such phenomena from the domain of either superstition or crime into that of science or that of beneficence? surely it would. and, therefore, how can one possibly work more efficiently for depopulating the domain of superstition, than by bringing its inhabitants forth and colonizing them on the lands of knowledge and science? shall we comply with the historian's advice, and still continue to leave what ignorance denominates hobgoblins and ghosts to remain shrouded in appalling mists, and thus aid them to continue to be to coming generations the same awful beings they were to the generations past? or shall we, on the other hand, now, while experience and science are showing that such work is practicable, push discovery onward till we both find laws and learn conditions which permit closer access of disembodied beings to us, and which also permit most beneficent reciprocal action between them and us, just as soon as familiarity, confidence, calmness, and mutual trust make their access easy? which shall we do? which is most scientific? which is most dutiful to god and friendly to man? which? is ignorance of, or is knowledge of, nature's forces and inhabitants the greater blessing? which? away with ignorance where knowledge is attainable. we choose to learn as much concerning the universe and its inhabitants as god gives us power and opportunities to acquire; not fearing his censure, but trusting to win his approbation, by so doing. when one learns that issuers from the vailed realms of spirit-land are only earth's emancipated children revisiting their former homes, the cry that devils are coming lacks any startling power. faith, and even knowledge, sometimes says, "it is my friends and loved ones and those who love me, who are in the circumambient hosts, and i will do what i may to facilitate their more sensible approach; will extend toward them a friendly and helping hand." only superstition and ignorance quail and skulk before visitants that come from unseen realms; knowledge stands fast and meets them with welcome and joy. the "legitimate boundaries of knowledge"! where are they? surely not within any domain where knowledge can supersede ignorance and its consequent superstitions. perhaps only few persons who give credence to the substantial accuracy of the transmitted statements of witchcraft facts, will dissent from hutchinson's obvious meaning when he said that "some of them seem to be more than natural;" that is, as we suppose him to have meant, they seem to have required for their production something beyond the recognized powers of embodied human beings. he, however, in spite of such seeming, sought to lead other minds to fancy that fraud and malice acting upon credulity--in other words, that cunning and malicious embodied human beings, and none other--were concerned in their manifestation. upham and drake have not only followed hutchinson's lead in excluding invisible agents, but have omitted to admit that some of the facts _seem_ to be more than natural. they blindly fancy that they find resident in human minds and hearts of seeming brilliancy and goodness, capabilities of artfulness, malice, and might which wrest from satan's brow all laurels which the world has meeded to him for his imputed prowess on witchcraft's battlefields. as one of the human race, we protest against such slander of our kindred humans while embodied, none of whom, while dwellers here below, were ever smelted in fires hot enough to elicit from their own interiors some forces which were put in action through their forms--forces which, in common parlance, though not in absolute fact, were "more than natural." events fearfully mysterious have long been, and now often are, spoken of as the productions of beings, or at least of one special being, lurking somewhere away off beyond the outmost limits of nature. but each and every hiding-place of even old nick is somewhere within those limits, and even he can never and nowhere act otherwise than in obedience to nature's laws. how far up, down, around, do natural forces and agents extend and operate? if there be a fixed limit to nature's domain, where is it? when life departs from man's body, are the forces which continue to act upon his invisible spirit, whether that continues to be or ceases to be a conscious individuality,--are the forces which then act upon it and which bear it to its appropriate position in spirit spheres, _natural_ forces, or are they other? when man escapes from his gross and sluggish encasement, and becomes--as the reappearance of many of the race teaches that he does--a freed spirit, he does not escape from within the realm of nature, nor pass to where natural substances and forces cease to sustain and act upon him. the word "supernatural" as well as its equivalent phrase, "more than natural," is often misleading; it tends to generate supposition that nature _terminates_ where man's external senses cease to take cognizance. absolutely, however, as we believe, all beings, including even god, and all things whatsoever, are parts of nature; so that the word "supernatural" can scarcely find place for rigid, unqualified application. no objection to its usual application is here intended, provided it is not used to convey the idea that things to which it is applied are the work of intelligence above and beyond the control and restrictions of universal laws or forces; provided it does not intimate that the works are what theology has called miracles, i. e., acts "contrary to the established course of things." such works probably never did and never can occur. higher and unrecognized laws are availed of whenever known laws are thwarted in their results, as when the magnet takes the steel upward in spite of gravitation: gravitation works on with as much steadiness and force as over, while the magnet overpoweringly pulls against it. the overbalancing magnetic force does not act "contrary to the established course of things," but simply performs its own functions in full harmony with that course; so of all mysterious events in the vast universe. all move on in obedience to law; all events are outworkings of universal forces, none of which are ever broken or suspended, though sometimes some of them are restrained by other and counteracting forces from manifesting their usual results. all the marvelous works of both ancient and modern spiritualism may have occurred, and yet none of them have been, in fact, "more than natural," however much so some minds may be accustomed to deem them. take psychic forces as natural instrumentalities, take both embodied and disembodied intelligences who had skill and power for the control of such forces, and with these take also others who had special susceptibilities for yielding to psychic action, and you will then have in your conceptions ample natural means for the production of each and every marvel that was ever described in human history, and all such may have been produced without any more help or hindrance in kind from either god or the devil, than we all receive in the ordinary acts of daily life. bring in what is meant by either magnetism, or mesmerism, or psychology, or psychism, or by any other term expressive of that action upon and within a human being, which lets either his own spirit-senses or the forces of some outside intelligence get play therein independent of and superior to the owner's outer or physical senses, and we then may have fitting and adequate instrumentality through which finite intelligence can legitimately produce all the marvels that human eyes have ever witnessed. professor cromwell f. varley, one of england's most eminent electricians, said, when addressing a committee of the london dialectical society, "i believe the mesmeric trance and the spiritual trance are produced by similar means, and i believe the mesmeric and the spiritual forces are the same. they are both the action of a spirit, and the difference between the spiritual trance and the mesmeric trance i believe is this: in the mesmeric trance, the will that overpowers or entrances the patient is in a human body; in the spiritual trance, that will which overpowers the patient is not in a human body." the position taken by mr. varley, whose observations were made mostly within his own domestic circle, and whose professional pursuits led him to be a constant and careful observer of the nature, properties, and actions of delicate forces, is worthy of much regard. his view is probably in harmony with the conclusion of most minds which have studied carefully the outworkings of mesmerism and spiritualism. the two isms, in some views of them, are essentially one in nature, the latter being the butterfly or moth that came from out the former. the grub and its moth are the same being in different stages of development. multitudes of human beings raised, and to be raised, from lower to higher development have their habitats along the line where the material and spiritual interblend, and some are measurably amphibious there--can move and act in either of two auras. the younger, or less advanced, flesh-clad mesmerists, prevailingly abide in the material, while spirits have their most congenial residence generally beyond where the palpably material extends; but either class can at times bring under their control the physical systems of many human beings. by means of this psychism, or this outworking of soul power, there may be kept up reciprocal action or intercommunion between what are usually called the material and spiritual worlds, both of which absolutely are natural, and are pervaded by interacting natural forces which are at the service of peculiarly endowed, or constituted, or unfolded persons, who are, or may become, competent and disposed to use them. a disembodied spirit no more needs special permission or aid from omnipotence for acting upon men and matter, than the diver needs such for deep descents beneath the water's surface. natural permission for spirits to reincase themselves in, or to act upon, palpable matter, is as free and full as man's is to put on submarine armor. this much we have said for the purpose of disclosing our stand-points of observations and reasonings pertaining to salem witchcraft, and now come to more direct consideration of that special topic. at salem village about a dozen people, mostly the girls previously named, were strangely and grievously tormented, at short intervals, during several months. they often endured contortions, convulsions, and very acute sufferings. at times many of them became deaf, dumb, blind, &c. seemingly to beholders they personally performed most strange and incredible feats of strength and simulations, and made astounding utterances. because of these doings and sufferings they were, after some weeks of observation, deemed to be "under an evil hand"--were pronounced _bewitched_, and were termed, in the parlance of that day, "the afflicted." according to the faith of those times, no person could be bewitched in any other way than through some other embodied person who had entered into a covenant with the _devil_, and voluntarily become his instrument or his agent. it was then assumed, also, that the afflicted ones could perceive who the person or persons were through whom the devil tormented them. consequently the sufferers were teased, coaxed, or driven to name some one or more who was causing their sufferings. those named by the sufferers as producers of their maladies were called the accused, or were said to be "cried out upon." belief in the ability of the afflicted to designate accurately their afflicters, was then prevalent; but though probably born of facts in human experience, and in itself fundamentally correct, it was indiscreetly and harmfully applied. the mediumistic or psychologized condition often renders its subjects practically independent of time, space, and gross matter, and makes them possessors of ability to feel, or rather to _sense_, contact with the properties of some peculiarly constituted mortals, even though such persons at the time be physically many miles away. the persons from whom such agitating emanations would proceed would generally themselves be highly mediumistic. if the inner or spiritual perceptive organs of mr. parris, dr. griggs, thomas putnam, and their consulting associates, of whom we shall speak hereafter, were inextricably interblended with their outer bodies, so that they were, par excellence, non-mediumistic, their presence near the bodies of persons infilled with abnormal properties by spirits might be imperceptible by the entranced, while either the poor, "melancholy, distracted" (?) sarah good, or "bed-rid" mrs. osburn (who will come into notice on a future page), if highly mediumistic, might, though being then in their distant homes bodily, be present as spirits, and their emanations might be distinctly felt by the suffering girls, and be by them visibly traced to their sources. mediumistic states or entrancements, however induced, often bring their subjects into rapport with other mediumistic persons afar off, while they as often shut off sensibility to the presence of the physically imprisoned or very slightly impressible ones who are near by. the saying that "birds of a feather flock together" apparently has more constant application outside of gravitation's dominating reach than within it--more among relatively freed spirits than among rigidly body-hampered ones. that there exist special occult forces, whose action frequently enables mediumistic persons, while under spirit manipulations, to know assuredly that emanations from special human organisms act upon them to either their pleasure or their annoyance is very clearly indicated by the experiences of some modern mediums; for these are often heard to speak of influences coming to their help or their harm from particular persons, who, at the time, are known to be miles away. mediumistic intuitions often very accurately trace influences to some definite mundane source; that source frequently is where the disembodied operating spirit gets such an equivalent to a nervous fluid as is needful to give him or her contact with and control over matter. some mediumistic systems may at times contain enough of such quasi nerve-producing elements to meet all the needs of the controlling spirit, while others usually lack them to such extent that drafts to supply the deficiency are made from the systems of others more or less remote from the point of application. if the harassed and tortured children in the family of mr. parris were acted upon by spirits, they might be, at times, able to _sense_ the fact that forceful action upon them came perceptibly forth from the bodily forms of particular living persons. broad human observation and experience through the ages had generated conclusion that bewitched persons could designate those from whom their inflictions came. therefore our fathers would with conscious propriety ask any one whom they supposed to be under "an evil hand," "who hurts you?" they would look for an answer, and, if one came, would deem it correct. it was, then, logically necessary for them to confide in the accuracy of any responses which might issue from the lips of the sufferers, so long as their creed was made chief premise. sneers at belief that psychologized persons know from whom the force comes which generates their condition, may argue less knowledge in the sneerer's brain, of forces and agents that sometimes act upon men, than in the heads of those who in former days sought to learn from bewitched girls what particular persons afflicted them. the world, while learning much, may have been forgetting some important knowledge. the belief held by many of our forefathers, that the afflicted would generally know that afflicting forces came to them from the persons whom they named, though measurably correct in itself, was rendered most woefully disastrous in its application, because of its concomitant erroneous belief that such afflicting forces could go forth from none but such as were in covenant with witchcraft's awful devil. the fact of one's being a channel through which occult wonder-working forces could flow, was, in those days, proof positive that he or she had tendered allegiance to and made a compact with the evil one. that was the specially great and disastrous error which engendered witchcraft. susceptibilities which were in fact only nature's boons, were looked upon as acquisitions obtained through a diabolical compact. some laws of psychology partially revealed and comprehended now, were then not dreamed of; and deductions from false premises or from an erroneous belief, being then applied by clear-headed and good men for noble ends, yes, for god's glory and man's protection, caused out-workings of unspeakable woes. the persons most _afflicted_ at salem village were elizabeth, daughter of mr. parris, nine years old; abigail williams, his niece, eleven; ann putnam, twelve; mercy lewis, seventeen; mary walcut, seventeen; elizabeth hubbard, seventeen; elizabeth booth, eighteen; sarah churchill, twenty; mary warren, twenty: to these girls may be added mrs. ann putnam, mother of the girl of the same name; also a mrs. pope and a mrs. bibber. nearly all of these occupied very good social positions, and many of them were surrounded and cared for by as intelligent, moral, and religious people as that or any other parish in the neighborhood contained. yes, from amidst the very breath of prayer, the light of intelligence, the sway of strong authority, and the restraining influences of religion, these reputable, and no doubt generally amiable, conscientious, and kind-hearted girls and women during all their previous years, suddenly became utterers of what were then regarded most damning accusations against their neighbors and acquaintances first, and subsequently against strangers living remote from them; against the low and the high, the vicious and the virtuous, the feeble-minded and the strong in intellect alike. and in their strange and desolating work these people, of exemplary deportment previously, moved on harmoniously, encouraging and strengthening each other, and without manifesting the slightest regret. a marked and startling specimen this of what mortal tongues may be used to accomplish! and yet those tongues generally may have only described what senses perceived. history has said--no, not history--but invalid supposition has said that sportiveness, malice, love of notoriety, and the like, inherent in the minds and hearts of those young girls and women, were the chief incentives to and producers of the woeful, the murderous accusations and statements which came forth from their youthful lips. it was not so. one may as well call a pencil or a pen a malicious accuser when it is made to record malicious accusations, as to call those girls the contrivers and enactors of many scenes which were presented by use of their bodies. we quote as follows from church records, penned by the rev. mr. parris himself, in whose house the great and awful commotion originated:-"it is altogether undeniable that our great and blessed god, for wise and holy ends, hath suffered many persons in several families of this little village to be grievously vexed and tortured in body, and to be deeply tempted to the endangering of the destruction of their souls, and all these amazing feats (well known to many of us) to be done by witchcraft and diabolical operations. "it is well known that when these calamities first began, which was in my own family, the affliction was" (had existed) "_several weeks_, before such hellish operations as witchcraft was suspected; nay, it never broke forth to any considerable light, until diabolical means was used, by the making of a cake by my indian _man_, who had his directions from our sister mary sibly. since which time apparitions have been plenty, and exceeding much mischief hath followed. but by this means (it seems) the devil hath been raised amongst us, and his rage is vehement and terrible, and when he shall be silenced, the lord only knows." the statements just presented have come down from one whose position and whose mental powers qualified him to be as important a witness as any other person whatsoever could be; they come from one of keen intellect and ready perceptions, who saw the scenes of _salem_ witchcraft in their first externally observable stages of development, and also throughout most of their subsequent unfoldments and disastrous workings. these statements were semi-private; were made in the _church_ and not the parish records; were made to be read by those who should come after him, rather than by those of his own times. and in such records he states that "amazing feats" were performed "_by witchcraft and diabolical operations_." what were those feats? it has been said generally concerning the whole salem circle of proficients in "necromancy, magic, and spiritualism," that "they would creep into holes, and under benches and chairs, put themselves into odd and unnatural postures, make wild and antic gestures, and utter incoherent and unintelligible sounds. they would be seized with spasms, drop insensible to the floor, or writhe in agony, suffering dreadful tortures, and uttering loud and fearful cries."--_history of witchcraft and salem village_, vol. ii. p. 6. an acute observer, who was also a definite and methodical describer of a portion of the actions referred to, says the sufferers were "in vain" treated medicinally; that "they were oftentimes very stupid in their fits, and could neither hear nor understand, in the apprehension of the standers-by;" that "when they were discoursed with about god or christ ... they were presently afflicted at a dreadful rate;" that "they sometimes told at a considerable distance, yea, several miles off, that such and such persons were afflicted, which hath been found to be done according to the time and manner they related it; and they said the specters of the suspected persons told them of it;" that "they affirmed that they saw the ghosts of several departed persons;" that "one, in time of examination of a suspected person, had a pin run through both her lower and her upper lip when she was called to speak, yet no apparent festering followed thereupon after it was taken out;" that "some of the afflicted ... in open court ... had their wrists bound fast together with a real cord by invisible means;" that "some afflicted ones have been drawn under tables and beds by undiscerned force;" that "when they were most grievously afflicted, if they were brought to the accused, and the suspected person's hand laid upon them, they were immediately relieved out of their tortures;" that "sometimes, in their fits, they have had their tongues drawn out of their mouths to a fearful length, ... and had their arms and legs ... wrested as if they were quite dislocated, and the blood hath gushed plentifully out of their mouths for a considerable time together; i saw several violently strained and bleeding, ... certainly all considerate persons who beheld those things must needs be convinced that their motions in their fits were preternatural and involuntary, ... they were much beyond the ordinary force of the same persons when they were in their right minds;" that "their eyes were, for the most part, fast closed in their trance-fits, and when they were asked a question, they could give no answer; and i do verily believe they did not hear at that time; yet did they discourse with the specters as with real persons."--_deodat lawson._ they affirmed that "_they saw the ghosts of several departed persons_," and they did "_discourse with the specters as with real persons_." this looks like spiritualism. the above extracts describe a part only of the amazing feats. mr. parris apprehended that this extensive diabolism was inaugurated through the making of a peculiar cake by his indian man john. either a sneer or a smile will probably drape the reader's face when he perceives that a clergyman in a former age deemed it probable that a compound offensive to refined taste (a cake made of meal mixed with urine from the suffering children) was so appetizing to the devil that it drew him from his wonted distance into close affinity with mortal forms, and increased his power to afflict them. perhaps that clergyman had read what the reader may peruse by turning to the concluding portion of chap. iv. of ezekiel, where preparation of food was prescribed for that prophet's use while he was in process of being trained for pliancy under manipulations by some unseen intelligence--such preparation of food as was not less offensive than such a cake as john indian furnished. we do not find a great producing cause of the _amazing feats_ where mr. parris did, and are not prepared to regard mary sibley's prescription as having been very efficacious. still we might admit the possibility that the real author of the feats was present when john kneaded that cake, leavened it with supermundane yeast, and made use of it as an instrumentality for coming into closer contact than before with the human bodies from which part of the ingredients of the cake had been derived. both spirits and unfolded mediums often either prescribe or apply--as jesus did when he treated a blind patient by application of a plaster composed of his own spittle and street dust--things which mankind at large would regard as either offensive or inert. human mediums may be, and the observations of thousands now living indicate that they often are, made to prepare strange compounds, and prescribe them for the sick, the suffering, and for unpliant mediums. who was "my indian man"? yes; who that baker whose cake raised the devil, and caused apparitions to become exceeding plenty? mr. parris, prior to being a minister of the gospel, had been a merchant in barbadoes, and at the commencement of the strange feats alluded to, had in his family some servants, whom he called indians; but they probably were natives either of some one of the west india islands or of the neighboring coast of south america, whom he had brought thence, and who were, doubtless, by nature less firm and self-reliant than our northern indians usually are. two of these servants, or slaves, viz., john indian, the cake-baker, and his wife, tituba, were among the first, if they were not the very first, persons there to succumb, and yield subjection to the peculiar influences which developed the terrible events we are considering. those two humble, ignorant, weak-minded slaves may have been, and we regard them as having been, though unintentionally and unconscious of it, very efficient aids in the outward manifestation of what their master properly termed "amazing feats." john seems, so far as records depict him, to have been only about as much of a medium as king saul was; that is, one that could be made to tumble down and roll about in unseemly ways. there may, and there may not, have been properties in his composition which were very helpful to spirits in gaining control over other persons. however that may have been, he was not perceptibly much of a medium, and had but little connection with the events which so harassed his master and neighbors, as far as can now be shown. but his wife, tituba, deserves extended notice and careful study. before the observable works were commenced, she was clairvoyant and clairaudient, and her aid in the amazing feats which transpired was solicited in advance by a nocturnal visitant needing no opened door for entrance. she entered behind the scene,--behind the vail of flesh,--and her spirit eyes saw the chief manager. she is the great eye-witness in the case. she was a medium easy of control, and, agassiz-like, retained her consciousness and her memory of experiences while her form was subjected to control by another's will. obviously, also, she was an uncommonly good developing medium, or, in other words, her constitutional properties were such as greatly aided spirits to develop the mediumistic susceptibilities of other persons. this humble, illiterate slave, besides being apparently the chief focus or reservoir of supermundane forces that evolved the salem wonders, was one among the first three persons who were arrested and brought before the civil tribunals under charges of practicing witchcraft. her statements at her examination were recorded very fully by one of the two magistrates who conducted the proceedings. and the transmitted words of this simple-minded creature, whose intellect was incompetent to foresee the consequences of her answers and statements, throw more light upon the origin and growth, and upon the nature and true character, of salem witchcraft, than does all that came from other lips, or any pens of her cotemporaries, or than has come from subsequent historians. her mediumistic susceptibilities gave her admittance where she was an actual observer of the real author of and actors in that memorable drama. her knowledge was derived directly through one set of her own senses, and therefore she was able to speak of, and apparently did speak simply and truthfully of, persons and scenes which her inner organs of sense had cognized. she _knew_ more than did all her prosecutors and judges combined concerning the matters under investigation at her trial; and could those who then presided have been nobly humble enough to learn from such a witness, and single-eyed enough to admit into their own minds the literal import of her simple statements, the horrors which were subsequently experienced would never have transpired. but the faith of those times forbade such elevation. tituba's general, if not uniform frankness, and the extreme simplicity of her answers, tend strongly to beget confidence in the intentional and substantial truthfulness of her statements. we deem it unjust to doubt her truthfulness. and the general accuracy of her testimony is now rendered credible by its harmony with a mass of facts pertaining to spiritualism. if the truth and accuracy of her words be conceded,--and they ought to be,--we learn distinctly that during the "several weeks" through which mr. parris's afflicted daughter and niece were treated by their physician and cared for by the family and friends without suspicion of witchcraft, tituba was positively _knowing_ that something like a man, invisible to outward sense, visited herself, and sought and sometimes forced her co-operation in pinching the two little girls and in producing their seeming sicknesses. her experience proved to her that the sufferings of the children were purposely inflicted by an intelligent being something like a man. her statements prove the same to us. such testimony as hers, by such a lowly person as she was, when given before a tribunal whose members were firm believers in such a devil and in such a creed as have been described in our appendix, even if fairly comprehended by them, would cause her judges to believe that she was virtually confessing that she had made a covenant with the evil one. from their premises they could not logically draw any other conclusion. perhaps, unfortunately for her, but not for us at this day, her intellect was too feeble to perceive the inferences which would be drawn from her words. fearing not consequences, she could frankly tell her experiences and observations; she let out the exact facts of the case, and furnished for us a sound historic basis for the assertion that the strange maladies which came upon the little girls in mr. parris's house were designedly and deliberately imposed by a disembodied spirit or a band of spirits. the mouths of not only babes and sucklings, but of adults of feeble intellect, present facts, sometimes, better than those whose intellects are swayed by fears of dreaded consequences which might ensue from frank and full avowal of their knowledge. from tituba came statements of facts to which we must give prolonged attention. a perusal of the fullest minutes of her testimony may be wearisome, but her account of what she saw, heard, and was made to do, is so instructive that we shall present it without abridgment, because it was first printed in full only a few years ago, was probably never seen or known to exist by hutchinson, was not availed of by upham, and not very carefully analyzed by drake. only a very limited portion of the reading public has ever had opportunity to learn more than a small fraction of the disclosures made by this important witness. upham, though he had perused the minutes of testimony to which we allude, elected to use a briefer report of tituba's statements, which was made by ezekiel cheever. the more extended one he noticed thus: "another report of tituba's examination has been preserved in the second volume" (we find it in vol. iii., appendix, p. 185) "of the collection edited by samuel g. drake, entitled the 'witchcraft delusion in new england.' it is in the handwriting of jonathan corwin, very full and minute." it is "full, minute," and abounding in facts which the faithful historian should adduce and comment upon. it was written out by one of the magistrates before whom tituba was examined, and therefore its authority is good. it surprises us that the historian who noticed it as above failed to use much important matter contained in it which was lacking in the report that he preferred to this. drake, under whose supervision this ampler report was first printed, says, in woodward's "historical series," no. i. vol. iii. appendix p. 186, that "it is valuable on several accounts, the chief of which is the light it throws on the commencement of the delusion.... this examination, more, perhaps, than any of the rest, exhibits the atrocious method employed by the examinant of causing the poor ignorant accused to own and acknowledge things put into their mouths by a manner of questioning as much to be condemned as perjury itself, inasmuch as it was sure to produce that crime. in this case the examined was taken from jail and placed upon the stand, and was soon so confused that she could scarcely know what to say. while it is evident that all her answers were at first true, because direct, straightforward, and reasonable. the strangeness of the questions and the long persistence of the questioners could lead to no other result but confounding what little understanding the accused was at best possessed of.... the examination was before messrs. hathorne and corwin. the former took down the result, which is all in his peculiar chirography." upham, it will be noticed, says the report was written by corwin, while drake here ascribes it to hathorne. but since those two men were both present as joint holders of the examining court, the authority of either gives great value to the document; we regard the record as having been made by corwin. while drake says this record of "the examination is valuable" for "the light it throws on the commencement of the delusion," he also calls it a "record of incoherent nonsense." the public very narrowly escaped loss of opportunity to get at the important and luminous facts contained in this document. drake, in 1866, says, "the original (now for the first time printed) came into the editor's hands some five and twenty years since," at which time, "on a first and cursory perusal of the examination of the indian woman belonging to mr. parris's family, it was concluded not to print it, and only refer to it; that is, only refer to the _extract_ from it contained in the history and antiquities of boston. but when editorial labors upon these volumes were nearly completed, a re-perusal of that examination was made, and the result determined the editor to give it a place in this appendix." we are constrained to doubt whether this editor attained to anything like either fair comprehension of the value of this document even upon its re-perusal, or that he perceived one half the import which facts fairly give to the following words from his pen: "the record of this examination _throws light on the commencement of the delusion_." yes, light upon the time, place, source, and nature of that commencement, and which also discloses who was the originating, and probably the guiding agent of all that witchcraft's subsequent process up to its culmination--light which, to great extent, exculpates both the fathers and their children--light which reveals the true actors and exonerates their _unconscious_ instruments. that document, read, as it now can be, with help from modern revealments, proves that some spirit, or a band of spirits, was witchcraft's generator and enactor at salem, and indicates that simple tituba comprehended the genuine source of the disturbance more clearly than did any other known person of that generation. she furnished for transmission a key that now unlocks the door of the chamber of mystery, in which she and her associates were made to enact thrilling and bloody scenes one hundred and eighty years ago. that such as desire to do so may be enabled to peruse the whole of her testimony, which probably can now be found printed only in woodward's very valuable series of original documents pertaining to witchcraft,--a work too voluminous and costly to obtain general circulation,--we shall do what we can to further public accessibility to tituba's statement, ungarbled and unabridged. still, to both relieve and enlighten the reader, we shall break up its continuity by interjecting comments upon many parts as we go on, but do this in such form, that, if the reader chooses to peruse the whole unbiased by comment, he can; for this will require only an observance of our quotation marks. by skipping our comments he can read in their original collocations all parts of what drake calls "incoherent nonsense," but which to us, notwithstanding some perplexing incoherence of both questions and answers, is rich in instructive _facts_. prior to march 1, the malady seems to have spread out beyond the parsonage and seized upon other persons, for on that day several afflicted ones were convened as witnesses, or accusers, or both, at the place where the magistrates then appeared for attending to the cases of three women who had been accused of witchcraft, arrested, and held for examination. here was the commencement of reputed folly and barbarity so exercised as soon to redden that region with the blood of the innocent, the manly, the virtuous, and the devout. sarah good, sarah osburn, and tituba were brought into the meeting-house as suspected witches and as producers of the sufferings of the several afflicted ones, to be examined in the presence of their accusers and the public. what course the magistrates either elected or were constrained to pursue in order to educe such facts as would sustain a charge for witchcraft, will reveal itself as we proceed, through the questions which they put to the accused, and the kinds of evidence which they admitted. tituba. "_tituba, the indian woman, examined march 1, 1692._ "_q._ why do you hurt these poor children? what harm have they done unto you? "_a._ they do no harm to me. i no hurt them at all." the first question by the magistrates implies the presence there of the afflicted children, and of their then seeming to be invisibly hurt. it also implies the magistrate's assumption that tituba was hurting them. her denial that either they had harmed her or that she was hurting them was distinct. but the magistrate seemingly doubted its truth or its sufficiency, for he next asked,-"_q._ why have you done it? "_a._ i have done nothing. i can't tell when the devil works. "_q._ what? doth the devil tell you that he hurts them? "_a._ no. he tells me nothing." she conceded here that the _devil_ might be, and probably was, at work upon the children; but _his_ doings were beyond the reach of her perceptive faculties. _he_ made no communication to her. thus early her words indicate that her knowledge of spiritual matters caused her to draw and adhere to a distinction between _the devil_ and either _a spirit_, or bands of spirits, which distinction she and other mediumistic ones of her times adhered to, while the public lacked knowledge that facts required it, and ignorantly called all visitants from spirit realms _the devil_. when glancing at cotton mather's unpublished account of mercy short, we copied from it the following statement: "as the bewitched in other parts of the world have commonly had no other style for their tormentors but only they and them, so had mercy short." clairvoyants and all who obtained knowledge of spirits through perceptions by their own interior organs seldom, if ever, have seriously spoken of either seeing, hearing, or feeling the _devil_. possibly, at times, some may have done so by way of accommodation to the unillumined world's modes of speech. but, as mather says, they have, the world over, _generally_ called the personages perceived, "_they_" and "_them_." such a fact demands regard. the personal observers of spiritual beings have never been accustomed to designate them by bad names. fair inference from this is, that such beings have not generally worn forbidding aspects. it has been the reporters, and not the utterers, of descriptive accounts of spiritual beings who have made use of the terms "devil," "satan," and the like. mather perceived the common "style" of the bewitched, and yet the warping habit of christendom made him preserve continuance of inaccurate reporting; for he, like most others in his day, persistently wrote "devil," where that name was not announced, and ought not to have been foisted in. tituba saw no one whom she ever called _the devil_, though history has taught that she did. "_q._ do you never see something appear in some shape? _a._ no. never see anything." this answer is not true if construed literally in connection with its question. she did, as will soon appear, sometimes see many things clairvoyantly, but never _the devil_, who had just before been mentioned. "_q._ what familiarity have you with the devil, or what is it that you converse withal? tell the truth, who it is that hurts them. _a._ the devil, for aught i know." she persistently admits that the devil _may_ be then and there at work, but asserts that she does not know anything about _him_. "_q._ what appearance, or how doth he appear when he hurts them?" she makes no reply when asked how the _devil_ hurts. she ignores _him_. "_q._ with what shape, or what is _he_ like that hurts them? _a._ like a man, i think. yesterday, i being in the lean-to chamber, i saw a thing _like a man_, that told me serve him. i told him no, i would not do such thing." _devil_ had now been dropped from the question, and _he_ substituted. what is _he_ like? then she promptly mentioned an apparition not only visible, but audible, who, if carefully scanned, may prove to have been chief author and enactor of salem witchcraft. she who saw and heard him says he was "like a man, i think,"--was "a thing like a man." according to her perceptions he was not the devil. she did not know the devil. others at that time and ever since have called her visitant the devil. but tituba, who saw, heard, and thus knew him, did not and would not. next comes in, parenthetically, a summary of her sayings and doings, as follows:-("she charges goody osburn and sarah good, as those that hurt them children, and would have had her done it; she saith she hath seen four, two which she knew not; she saw them last night as she was washing the room. they told me hurt the children, and would have had me gone to boston. there was five of them with the man. they told me if i would not go and hurt them, they would do so to me. at first i did agree with them, but afterward, i told them i would do so no more.") according to this summary, apparitions multiplied; for, besides the man, she saw four women around herself: that company threatened to hurt her if she would not unite with them in hurting the children. two of these were apparitions of her living neighbors, good and osburn, then under arrest; the other three were strangers. we shall soon see that she believed, what is probably true, that apparitions of particular persons can be not only presented by occult intelligences to the inner vision, but put into apparent vigorous action, while the genuine persons thus presented in counterfeit have no consciousness either of being present at the exhibition, or of performing, either then or at any other time, the acts which they seem to put forth. the conceptions which this simple mind held concerning the nature, powers, and purposes of those who came to her in manner strange to most mortals, are pretty clearly indicated. by her likening them to men and women, and by her protests against their forcing her to act cruelly, she justifies the inference that she failed to see in or about them anything very forbidding, awful, or satanic. she admitted the possibility that the devil might have hurt the children, but also asserted that, if so, _his_ action was unbeknown to her. the "something like a man," together with these women and herself under compulsion, were the afflicting ones, so far as her vision or other senses could determine. _she_ nowhere applies the term "devil" to her male apparition. no hoofs, horns, or tail, no sable hues or frightful form, are brought to view by this clairvoyant's description of her occult companions. they wore, in her sight, the semblances of a man and of women--not of devils. how different would have been results had her simple words and instructive facts been credited and made the basis of judicial decisions! could she have been calmly and rationally listened to by minds freed from a blinding and irritating faith that christendom's witchcraft devil was her companion and prompter, her plain and definite exposition of the actors who generated troubles which were profound mysteries to her superiors in external knowledge and penetration, would have brought all the marvels of that day within the domain of natural things, and warded off the horrors which ensued. "_q._ would they have had you hurt the children last night? _a._ yes, but i was sorry, and i said i would do so no more, but told i would fear god. _q._ but why did not you do so before? _a._ why, they tell me i had done so before, and therefore i must go on. (these were the four women and the man, but she knew none but osburn and good only; the others were of boston.") if we get at what tituba meant by the words just quoted, it was substantially this: "they wanted me, and forced me against my will, to join with them in hurting the children last night. i was sorry that i was forced to act cruelly, and told them that i would not be forced to it again, but would serve god. i did not take that stand before, because they told me i had already worked with them, and therefore must go on. "_q._ at first beginning with them, what then appeared to you? what was it like that got you to do it? _a._ one like a man, just as i was going to sleep, came to me. this was when the children was first hurt. he said he would kill the children and she would never be well; and he said if i would not serve him he would do so to me." the witness was here apparently brought to describe her _first_ interview with the author of salem witchcraft. we see her now standing at the fountainhead of the devastating torrent which soon deluged the region far around with terror, anguish, and blood. who first appeared to her? who was the prime mover? and when was he first seen? subsequent statements are soon to show that on friday, january 15, 1692, six weeks and four days before the time when she gave in this testimony, _one like a man, just as she was going to sleep_, came to her and demanded her aid in hurting the children. the fact is clearly stated that five days before the wednesday evening when the children were first hurt by spirit appliances, and supposed to be taken sick, "_one like a man_," when tituba was about going to sleep, came to her and avowed his purpose, in advance, to torture and even kill the children. from that time forth she knew the source of the strange operations in her master's family. "_q._ is that the same man that appeared before to you, that appeared last night and told you this? _a._ yes." her visitor was the same person on these two different occasions, which were more than six weeks apart, and in her various clairvoyant excursions and feats he was frequently, if not always, her attendant. "_q._ what other likenesses besides a man hath appeared unto you? _a._ sometimes like a hog--sometimes like a great black dog--four times." "the man" probably assumed or presented those brutish forms. a frequent teaching of spirit visitants is, that they "can assume any _form_ which the occasion requires;" they also have often given the impression that they cannot assume _hues_ brighter than inherently pertain to their own intellectual and moral conditions, but of this we have yet no conclusive information. "_q._ but what did they say unto you? _a._ they told me serve him, and that was a good way. that was the black dog. i told him i was afraid. he told me he would be worse then to me." her dog could talk. she and the court obviously understood the dog to be the same being, essentially, as the "one like a man." for,-"_q._ what did you say to him, then, after that? _a._ i answer i will serve you no longer. he told me he would do me hurt then." can any one doubt that she conceived herself to be speaking to the same being, though in dog form, that she had yielded to before in form like a man? there is no indication that she had _previously_ served a dog, and yet she says to this one, i will serve you _no longer_. "_q._ what other creatures have you seen? _a._ a bird. _q._ what bird? _a._ a little yellow bird. _q._ where does it keep? _a._ with the man, who hath pretty things more besides. _q._ what other pretty things? _a._ he hath not showed them unto me, but he said he would show them to me to-morrow, and told me if i would serve him, i should have the bird. _q._ what other creatures did you see? _a._ i saw two cats, one red, another black, as big as a little dog. _q._ what did these cats do? _a._ i don't know. i have seen them two times. _q._ what did they say? _a._ they say serve them. _q._ when did you see them? _a._ i saw them last night. _q._ did they do any hurt to you or threaten you? _a._ they did scratch me. _q._ when? _a._ after prayer; and scratched me because i would not serve her. and when they went away _i could not see_, but they stood by the fire. _q._ what service do they expect from you? _a._ they say more hurt to the children. _q._ how did you pinch them when you hurt them? _a._ the other pull me and haul me to pinch the child, and i am very sorry for it." the cats also as well as the dog spoke and commanded her obedience. she saw these the night before her examination. "when they went away," she says, "i could not see." those words may admit of two distinct and different meanings. first, that the cats disappeared without her being able to notice their exit; or, second, that before they went she became spiritually blind--"could not longer see" clairvoyantly. in a subsequent statement she pleads a sudden obscuration of her internal vision. all clairvoyants are subject to sudden interruptions of their spiritual power to see. she was pulled and hauled by "the other" with a view to force her to "pinch the child." here again her obvious conviction was that the "other" was essentially more than mere brute. she did not think a cat pulled and hauled her, but meant that when the cats visited her, the "something like a man"--"the other"--was also present, and urged her on to mischief. "_q._ what made you hold your arm when you were searched? what had you there? _a._ i had nothing. _q._ do not those cats suck you? _a._ no, never yet. i would not let them. but they had almost thrust me into the fire. _q._ how do you hurt those that you pinch? do you get those cats, or other things, to do it for you? tell us how it is done. _a._ _the man sends the cats to me, and bids me pinch them_; and i think i went once to mr. griggs's, and have pinched her this day in the morning. the man brought mr. griggs's maid to me, and made me pinch her." by "the man" she obviously meant her frequent spirit visitor. he it was who brought the cats to her, and made her pinch them, and by so doing pinch the "maid," who physically was miles distant. such is her statement. an inference from it is, that properties from elizabeth hubbard,--the maid in question,--who was among the afflicted ones, and was a member of _the circle_, were drawn out from her by "the man," and made component parts of apparitional cats formed by the man's thought and will powers, which seeming cats, being pinched by tituba's spirit fingers, the hubbard girl, some of whose properties were used for constructing those apparitional cats, felt the pinchings, first in her spirit, and thence in her flesh, though her body was two or three miles distant from the pincher. in that mode "the man" commanded the use of some properties in tituba, by which he produced torture in a mediumistic physical organism then being far away. another mode of spirit operation is indicated. tituba confessed to a dim consciousness that once, by some process, her spirit-self had been got over to dr. griggs's, and pinched the maid at her home. again, she believed that the same maid had been brought to her (tituba's) abode and pinched there. also it will be seen a little further on, that, tituba being charged with having been over at the maid's home on a specified day, denied having been there at that particular time, but admitted that her apparition might, unconsciously to herself, have been seen there then, for she says, "may be send something like me." we enter a distinct protest against stigmatizing such testimony as "incoherent nonsense." in response to a command to tell _how_ the mysterious inflictions were brought about, this untaught, ignorant woman, calmly and with much distinctness, indicated four or five modes by which psychologic forces were brought to bear upon mediumistic subjects. she had seen the processes, and, in her simple way, told what she had learned by personal observation and experience; and thus she helps us, at this day, to fathom and expound the mysteries of witchcraft more effectually than do all her cotemporaries. notwithstanding her limited command of language, her statements were about as distinct and instructive as any one then could have made upon such a topic; but the devil-warped public mind of that day was unable to see the literal import of her testimony, or to turn her knowledge to good account. two other women, sarah good and sarah osburn, names previously mentioned, were, on the same march 1, 1692, under examination as co-operators with tituba in practicing witchcraft. "_q._ did you ever go with these women? _a._ they are very strong, and pull me, and make me go with them. _q._ where did you go? _a._ up to mr. putnam's, and make me hurt the child. _q._ who did make you go? _a._ a man that is very strong, and these two women, good and osburn; but i am sorry. _q._ how did you go? what do you ride upon? _a._ i ride upon a stick or pole, and good and osburn behind me; we ride taking hold of one another; don't know _how_ we go, for i saw no trees nor path, but was presently there when we were up." the child above referred to was ann putnam, daughter, twelve years old, of thomas and ann putnam, who resided from two to three miles north-west from the parsonage. this girl, ann, was one of the excessively bewitched; that is, was one of the most impressible and mediumistic members of _the circle_. tituba and her two fellow-prisoners had, either all as spirits, or she as a conscious spirit and the other two as apparitions, visited that child at her home; and, according to her own apprehension, the three women all mounted one pole, rose up into the air, and were forthwith at mr. putnam's, having noticed neither path nor trees on the way. no reader will apprehend that tituba's physical body then left the house of mr. parris and went off two miles or more, on a winter's night, to mr. (thomas) putnam's house. she says that they were "presently [instantly] there." it was only her spirit form--_thought_ form--that went riding upon a pole above all woods and paths. but why to thomas putnam's? probably because his wife and his daughter, as subsequent events showed, were both intensely mediumistic or susceptible to influence by _thought_ beings; they were persons upon whom such beings could work efficiently; and that was the special reason, probably, for a visit to them. "the man" may well be presumed to have possessed perceptive powers that could determine with much accuracy what persons in all the region round about possessed the constitutional properties and the surroundings which would permit them to become pliable and serviceable implements in executing any scheme he had devised. subsequent events proved that he selected and used such as enabled him, through intense human agony and bloodshed, to break in pieces and abolish a most cramping and enslaving creed devil-ward, which, like a horrid and disabling nightmare, had for centuries been depressing and agonizing all christendom. whatever was his design, his selection of instrumentalities facilitated the out-working of a broad and happy emancipation from vast mental evil. it abolished prosecutions for witchcraft throughout both america and europe. the ostensible object of that mental journey was to hurt the child. such was the man's apparent intention. that man was "very strong," and he accomplished his purpose. ann was hurt. his will-power was such, that, having once got hold of the elements of three susceptible and ignorant women, they were completely under his control. tituba, who seems to have been always a _conscious_ medium, yielded perforce to him. her own selfhood fought against his cruelties, and she felt sorry for what she was forced to do. when under examination she made free confession of her involuntary participation in the tormenting invasions upon innocent girls, thus unwittingly jeopardizing her own life. she seems to have been frank and truthful. "_q._ how long since you began to pinch mr. parris's children? _a._ i did not pinch them at first, but they made me afterward. _q._ have you seen good and osburn ride upon a pole? _a._ yes; and have held fast by me; i was not at mr. griggs's but once; but it may be send something like me; neither would i have gone, but they tell me they will hurt me." her statement that "it may be send something like me," shows her belief, and probably her knowledge, that her "very strong" "something like a man" was able to produce the apparition of a mediumistic person even where such person had no consciousness of being present. spirits, in modern times, often produce such effects, and show thereby that tituba's comprehension of the case may have been in harmony with the nature of things, and strictly correct. she repeats again that her participation in the affairs was forced--that others made her pinch. "_tituba._ last night they tell me i must kill somebody with a knife. _q._ who were they that told you so? _a._ sarah good and osburn, and they would have had me kill thomas putnam's child last night. (the child also affirmed that at the same time they would have had her cut off her own head; for if she would not, they told her tituba would cut it off. and then she complained at the same time of a knife cutting her. when her master hath asked her (tituba?) about these things, she saith they will not let her tell, but tell her if she tells, her head shall be cut off.) _q._ who tells you so? _a._ the man, good, and osburn's wife. (goody good came to her last night when her master was at prayer, and would not let her hear, and she could not hear a good while.) good hath one of those birds, the yellow-bird, and would have given me it, but i would not have it. and in prayer-time she stopped my ears, and would not let me hear. _q._ what should you have done with it? _a._ give it to the children, which yellow-bird hath been several times seen by the children. i saw sarah good have it on her hand when she came to her when mr. parris was at prayer. i saw the bird suck good between the fore-finger and long-finger upon the right hand." those statements relating to the use of the knife, apparently _volunteered_ by tituba and confirmed by the child, are quite suggestive. assuming that there was present with them some powerful male spirit bent upon forceful action, and who, through tituba and other impressibles, had obtained some palpable hold upon certain human forms and the affairs of external life, it was in his power to excite in the minds of any and all who had then been brought into rapport with himself, such ideas as those relating to the knife, and also to make the psychologized girl experience the sensation of being actually cut by it. such would now be deemed an easy feat by any fair psychologist, either in the gross form or out of it, provided he had a favorable subject on whom to operate. the same spirit, too, drawing elements from mrs. good, and using them, could make tituba feel as though mrs. good was by her side and making her suddenly deaf in prayer-time, even though it was the male spirit himself who then closed her ears. evidences of mediumistic capabilities in either the afflicted or the afflicters are worthy of distinct observation, and therefore we draw attention to the statement that the yellow-bird "hath been several times seen _by the children_." therefore the sufferers were clairvoyants, as well as the accused. "_q._ did you never practice witchcraft in your own country? _a._ no; never before now." that answer renders it probable that previous to the winter then passing she had never been conscious of the presence of spirits, or of conversations with or subjection to them. she, perhaps, reveals a lurking suspicion that her experiences of late might be witchcrafts. but her notions as to what constituted that might well, if not necessarily, be very different from those existing in the more unfolded and logical minds of her master and her examiners, who made the chief essence of it consist in a compact made with a majestic and malignant devil--such a devil as would differ very widely in appearance from tituba's "_man_." she freely described the unsought presence of a spirit-man with her on sundry occasions; also her talks with him, and forced service under him. this essentially was only disclosure of the fact that her own organism and temperaments were such and so conditioned that disembodied intelligences could sometimes be seen and heard by her, and could force her to be their tool. her witchcraft was devoid of voluntary compact to serve an evil one; devoid of evil intent in its practice. if she confessed herself to be a witch, it was only a kindly and loving one, desiring to be truthful and good, and inflicting hurt only when forced to it. she confessed only to clairvoyance, clairaudience, and weakness of her own will-powers. "_q._ did you see them do it now while you are examining (being examined)? _a._ no, i did not see them. but i saw them hurt at other times. i saw good have a cat beside the yellow-bird which was with her." obviously some contortions, antics, or sufferings which the afflicted girls, who were present at the examination, had just experienced or were then manifesting, led to the question, "did you see them do it now?" here again appears the assumption of the court that tituba might be gifted with powers or faculties which would enable her to discern animate and designing workers who were invisible by external optics. her inner sight was closed then, but at some other times had been open. "_q._ what hath osburn got to go with her? _a._ a thing; i don't know what it is. i can't name it. i don't know how it looks. she hath two of them. one of them hath wings, and two legs, and a head like a woman. the children saw the same but yesterday, which afterward turned into a woman. _q._ what is the other thing that goody osburn hath? _a._ a thing all over hairy; all the face hairy, and a long nose, and i don't know how to tell how the face looks; with two legs; it goeth upright, and is about two or three foot high, and goeth upright like a man; and last night it stood before the fire, in mr. parris's hall." the obscurity of this description is fully paralleled by the prophet ezekiel, who, in presenting the beings seen in the first of his "visions of god," uses the following language, in chap. i.: "they had the likeness of a man, and every one had four faces, and every one had four wings; and their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot; and they sparkled like the color of burnished brass. and they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings; and their wings were joined one to another; and they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward; as for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side; and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle." this quotation from the bible hints with much distinctness that inherent difficulties may beset any clairvoyant who undertakes to set forth in our language, which was formed for description of material objects, some things which are occasionally perceived by the spiritual senses. where the prophet was so vague and mystical we may pardon the ignorant slave if she failed to be very lucid, and if one suspects her of attempting to put forth nothing but fiction, because she was so obscure, how can he consistently withhold similar suspicions in relation to the prophet? we will pass to the children's credit the fact that they also saw osburn's ungainly and hairy attendant. "_q._ who was that appeared to hubbard as she was going from proctor's? _a._ it was sarah good, and i saw her send the wolf to her." facts are transpiring in the present age which indicate with much distinctness that a spirit can present the semblance of a spirit-beast or other spirit-object to the vision of many clairvoyants at the same time, and also that he can, if he so elect, psychologize simultaneously all clairvoyants with whom he is in rapport, and cause them all to believe that they see any beast or object which his mind merely conceives of with distinctness. therefore sight of a wolf by the mediumistic hubbard girl, and tituba's perception of the same proceeding from mediumistic sarah good, could all be produced by the mere volition of that "something like a man," provided only that he was then in rapport with all of those three sensitive ones. "_q._ what clothes doth the man appear unto you in? _a._ black clothes sometimes; sometimes serge coat of other color; a tall man with white hair, i think. _q._ what apparel do the women wear? _a._ i don't know what color. _q._ what kind of clothes hath she? _a._ black silk hood with white silk hood under it, with top-knots; which woman i know not, but have seen her in boston when i lived there. _q._ what clothes the little woman? _a._ serge coat, with a white cap, as i think. (the children having fits at this very time, she was asked who hurt them. she answers, goody good; and the children affirmed the same. but hubbard being taken in an extreme fit, after [ward] she (tituba) was asked who hurt her (hubbard), and she said she could not tell, but said they blinded her and would not let her see; and after that was once or twice taken dumb herself.") that account of the clothes described the usual costumes of the time. we are glad to hear her say, "a tall man, with white hair, i think." that is her description of the "something like a man," and "the man" who has been so demonstrative. a tall man with white hair, need not be a very frightful object, and we can readily conceive that such a mind as tituba's might be perfectly calm and self-possessed in his presence, and never imagine that abler minds might confound such a one with the devil. she never calls him the devil. the fact that she was made dumb two or three times, gives her case some resemblance to those of ezekiel and zacharias. her ears, as before stated, had been stopped by good, as she supposed, one evening during prayer-time. thus we find her organs of sense subject to just such control as invisible intelligent operators exercised over prophetic or mediumistic ones of old, and such as spirits exercise over many mortal forms to-day. her clairvoyance was obscured, perhaps, by "the man" when she was asked who was hurting the hubbard girl, and replied that they blinded her now. _second examination, march 2, 1692._ "_q._ what covenant did you make with that man that came to you? what did he tell you?" the first of those two questions was the crucial one at a trial for witchcraft. had she made a _covenant_ with the devil, or any devotee of his? that was the main point to be determined. if she had, she was a witch, according to the prevalent creed; if she had not, she might be innocent of witchcraft. but seemingly the court could not wait for an answer, because, in the same breath, it asked, what did your visitant tell you? "_a._ he tell me he god, and i must believe him and serve him six years, and he would give me many fine things. _q._ how long ago was this? _a._ about six weeks and a little more; friday night before abigail was ill." that last answer is very instructive. it fixes the exact time when one of the children in mr. parris's family was first attacked. for this second day's examination was held on wednesday, march 2. it will appear from the above and future answers that the specters first attacked the children on a wednesday evening, just six weeks before this 2d of march. the man appeared to and talked with tituba on the friday evening before that wednesday in january. the testimony, therefore, takes us back to january 20th as the commencement of overt manifestation of spirit infliction of sufferings there. five days further back, i. e., the evening of january 15, is apparently the date of "the man's" first recognized appearance. therefore, until better information is obtained, we shall regard that as the date of the primal advent of the genuine author of witchcraft at salem village, whom we deem to have been also its regulator through its heart-rending unfoldings. "_q._ what did he say you must do more? did he say you must write anything? did he offer you any paper? _a._ yes, the next time he come to me; and showed me some fine things, something like creatures, a little bird something like green and white. _q._ did you promise him this when he first spake to you? then what did you answer him? _a._ i then said this: i told him i could not believe him god. i told him i ask my master, and would have gone up, but he stopt me and would not let me. _q._ what did you promise him? _a._ the first time i believe him god, and then he was glad. _q._ what did he say to you then? what did he say you must do? _a._ then he tell me they must meet together." there is some obscurity in this quotation, which raises the question whether the witness contradicts herself by stating that at her first interview she believed that her visitant was god himself (as john the revelator did that a prophet returning from the spirit spheres and appearing to him was god), and her stating again that at the first interview she told him she could not believe that he was god, and proposed to go up and ask her master, mr. parris, what he thought about it, but was held back by her spirit-attendants from doing so. there is, we say, obscurity as to whether the account makes her apply both of these opposing statements to her conceptions of her visitor at the first interview with him, or whether it was not till a subsequent meeting that she doubted his godship. as reported, her examiners are made quite as hard to understand and track as she is in her answers. but, upon a careful reading, we judge it fair and proper to conclude that her doubts concerning the character of her acquaintance were expressed as late as at the meeting on wednesday, january 20, and not on the previous friday. "_q._ when did he say you must meet together? _a._ he tell me wednesday next, at my master's house; and then we all [did] meet together, and that night i saw them all stand in the corner--all four of them--and the man stand behind me, and take hold of me, and make me stand still in the hall." we now must relinquish doubt as to the meetings at the parsonage, for here we have distinct historical mention of a _circle_, which met "at mr. parris's house" for the purpose of practically manifesting the skill and powers, not of learners, but of an expert in the wonders of "necromancy, magic, and especially of _spiritualism_." this circle met, at five days' notice, on the evening of january 20, 1692. a man, or "something like a man," was at the head of it, and five females, three of them at least embodied ones, were his assistants, or rather were reservoirs from whence he drew forces with which to experiment upon two little mediumistic girls. if a club of women and girls sometimes met for such purposes as are alleged in foregoing citations,--and perhaps it did in a loose, irregular way,--we fancy that tituba's tutor was ever among them taking notes, scrutinizing their several properties, capabilities, and circumstances, and planning when and how to use them for most efficient accomplishment of his purposes. the fact that he was present as author and master spirit when the first act of the salem village tragedy was visibly manifested through the twitchings and contortions of two little girls, is distinctly shown by tituba's testimony. therefore henceforth there can be neither historical nor philanthropic justice in imputing to the brains and wills of the little girls what a present and conscious clairvoyant witness imputes distinctly to one who looked "something like a man." give to him--whoever he was--give to him his just dues; also bestow upon the girls neither censure nor praise for the help which their organisms and temperaments necessarily afforded him. this meeting of apparitions, be it noted and remembered, took place immediately _before_ the sickness of the children came on, and during its session, the children were pinched, and thus first became "afflicted ones." on that wednesday night "abigail first became ill." "_q._ where was your master then? _a._ in _the other room_. _q._ what time of night? _a._ a little before prayer-time. _q._ what did this man say to you when he took hold of you? _a._ he say, go into _the other room_ and see the children, and do hurt to them and pinch them. and then i went in and would not hurt them a good while; i would not hurt betty; i loved betty; but they haul me, and make me pinch betty, and the next abigail; and then quickly went away altogether a[fter] i had pinch them. _q._ did you go into that room in your own person, and all the rest? _a._ yes; and my master did not see us, for they would not let my master see." mr. parris and the children seem from the above to have been in the same apartment that evening, for tituba states that he was "in the other room," and her dictator said to her, "go into the other room," and hurt the children. that the master of the house was present with his daughter and niece then, may be indicated also in the statement that "they would not let my master see;" for this implies that they were in his presence, though invisible. if she went to the room in her physical form--which is not stated, and is not probable--though she did go there in her "own _person_," the others went only as spirits or as apparitions; and they did not so enrobe or materialize themselves as to be visible by outward eyes, and therefore did not become visible to mr. parris--they "would not let" him see. the first infliction upon the children, therefore, was made in his very presence, but by invisible hands--spirit hands or apparitional hands--touching the spirit forms of the mediumistic little girls, and through their own inner forms reaching, paining, and convulsing their physical bodies. it is interesting to note that because tituba "loved betty," she was able to resist the pressure upon her "a good while;" but her feeble powers were incompetent to oppose unyielding and effectual resistance to the strong will of the producer of painful experiences. "_q._ did you go with the company? _a._ no. i staid, and the man staid with me. _q._ what did he then to you? _a._ he tell me my master go to prayer, and he read in book, and he ask me what i remember: but don't you remember anything." this account fails to furnish any very conclusive evidence that either of the four other women was on that occasion consciously present with tituba and the man; it need only indicate the probability that he drew properties from each of them, wherever located, whether in the village, in boston, or elsewhere, which enabled him to present their apparitions to tituba as helpers, and to effect rapport with and get power over the children. when his immediate purpose had been accomplished, no one but the man could be seen by her. he perhaps left the female apparitions to dissolve when his further need of their properties ceased. there is no evidence that good and osburn were conscious of being present where tituba saw them, and therefore the other two female forms may have been purely apparitional--mental fabrics of "the man." but important points are clear. the man's controlling will, and subjugated tituba's conscious self, were there. "_q._ did he ask you no more but the first time to serve him? or the second time? _a._ yes, he ask me again if i serve him six years; and he come the next time and show me a book. _q._ and when would he come then? _a._ the next friday, and showed me a book in the daytime, betimes in the morning. _q._ and what book did he bring, a great or little book? _a._ he did not show it me, nor would not, but had it in his pocket. _q._ did he not make you write your name? _a._ no, not yet, for my mistress called me into the other room. _q._ what did he say you must do in that book? _a._ he said write and put my name to it. _q._ did you write? _a._ yes, once, i made a mark in the book, and made it with red like blood. _q._ did he get it out of your body? _a._ he said he must get it out. the next time he come again, he gave me a pin tied in a stick to do it with; but he no let me blood with it as yet, but intended another time when he came again. _q._ did you see any other marks in his book? _a._ yes, a great many; some marks red, some yellow; he opened his book, and a great many marks in it. _q._ did he tell you the names of them? _a._ yes, of two; no more: good and osburn; and he say they made them marks in that book, and he showed them me. _q._ how many marks do you think there was? _a._ nine. _q._ did they write their names? _a._ they made marks. goody good said she made her mark, but goody osburn would not tell. she was cross to me. _q._ when did good tell you she set her hand to the book? _a._ the same day i came hither to prison. _q._ did you see the man that morning? _a._ yes, a little in the morning, and he tell me the magistrates come up to examine me. _q._ what did he say you must say? _a._ he tell me tell nothing; if i did, he would cut my head off." the questions relating to the book and signatures were based on, and made important by, then prevalent belief that one's signature in the devil's book proved the signing of a covenant to be henceforth his servant. tituba's statement that she had seen therein sarah good's signature in her own blood, well might be then deemed strong evidence that mrs. good was a witch, and was guilty of witchcraft. but we doubt whether the witness had any conception of the fatal import of her statement. her testimony that goody osburn was cross to her, while amusing, is also suggestive of the deep question whether even an apparition, produced by use of unconscious elements drawn from a human system, could or would be so permeated with the existing mental and emotional moods of the person from whom they were drawn as to cause those moods to be perceived and felt by those who might see, and receive influences from, the apparition. "the man" told her that the magistrates had come or were coming to examine her. she might have known this already, and might not. be that as it may, on the morning of her examination a spirit spoke to her. his counsel was, that she should say nothing. this advice seems wise. but it was not very "cunning" in her to repeat it, and make known its source "in presence of authority." willing or not she was there constrained to speak out. robert calef, in "more wonders of the invisible world," reports her as saying, "that her master did beat her and otherwise abuse her to make her confess and accuse (such as he called) her sister witches, and that whatsoever she said by way of confessing, or accusing others, was the effect of such usage." "_q._ tell us true; how many women do you use to come when you ride abroad? _a._ four of them; these two, osburn and good, and those two strangers. _q._ you say there was nine. did he tell you who they were? _a._ no, he no let me see, but he tell me i should see them the next time. _q._ what sights did you see? _a._ i see a man, a dog, a hog, and two cats, a black and red, and the strange monster was osburn's that i mentioned before; this was the hairy imp. the man would give it to me, but i would not have it. _q._ did he show you in the book which was osburn's and which was good's mark? _a._ yes, i see their marks. _q._ but did he tell you the names of the other? _a._ no, sir. _q._ and what did he say to you when you made your mark? _a._ he said, serve me; and always serve me. the man with the two women came from boston. _q._ how many times did you go to boston? _a._ i was going and then came back again. i never was at boston. _q._ who came back with you again? _a._ the man came back with me, and the women go away; i was not willing to go. _q._ how far did you go--to what town? _a._ i never went to any town. i see no trees, no town. _q._ did he tell you where the nine lived? _a._ yes; some in boston and some here in this town, but he would not tell me who they were." we have now presented the full text of tituba's testimony as recorded by corwin and printed by drake. severed from the leading and jumbled questions which drew it forth, and reduced to a simple narrative, her statement would in substance be nearly as follows:-something like a man came to me just as i was going to sleep the friday night before abigail was taken ill, six weeks and a little more ago, who then told me that he was god, that i must believe him, and that if i would serve him six years he would give me many fine things. he said there must be a meeting at my master's house the next wednesday, and on the evening of that day he and four women came there. then i told him i could not believe that he was god, and proposed to go and ask mr. parris what he thought on that point; but the man held me back. they forced me against my will and my love for betty to pinch the children; we did pinch them. that was the first night that abigail was sick. sometimes i saw the appearances of dogs, cats, birds, hogs, wolves, and a nondescript animal, some of whom spoke to me, and talked like the man. yesterday, when i was in the lean-to chamber, i saw a thing like a man,--the same that i had seen before,--who asked me to serve him; and last night, when i was washing the room, the man and the four women all came again, and wanted me to hurt the children; and we all went up to mr. thomas putnam's, and hurt ann, and cut her with a knife. i went to the hubbard girl once, and pinched her, and once the man brought her over to me, and i pinched her; but i was not there when they say i was, though it may be that the man sent my apparition over there then without my knowing it. i once saw what looked like a wolf go out from mrs. good and run to the hubbard girl. how we travel i don't know; we go up in the air, and we are instantly at the place we intend to go to; we see no trees, no roads. the man brings cats or other things to me, and i pinch them; and by doing so the girls are pinched. sometimes i can see these things for a while, and then instantly become blind to them. this morning the man came and told me the magistrates had come to examine me. such are the principal points in tituba's account of the origin and author of the disturbance or "amazing feats" at mr. parris's house. in the main, they are plain, direct, and seemingly true. they teach as clearly as words ever taught anything, that "something like a man"--"a tall man with white hair," dressed in "serge coat"--came and forced tituba to pinch the children at the very time when one of them was first taken sick. they teach also that the same man appeared to tituba several times, and was with her on the day of her examination. the spiritual source of the first physical manifestations which generated the great troubles at salem village is thus set forth with such clearness as will command credence in future ages, even if it shall fail to do so in this sadducean generation. as before stated, another record of tituba's testimony was made by ezekiel cheever, which is much less ample and particular than the one above presented. it omits entirely several very instructive and important parts--especially those which make known tituba's earlier interviews with "the man;" those which fix the exact time when he first came to her; the exact time when abigail was taken ill; and, more important still, those parts which describe the assemblage of spirits at mr. parris's house, and their deliberate inflictions of pains upon the children at the very time when their disordered conditions came upon them. upham, by using cheever's instead of the other account, failed to adduce several vastly important historic facts; the special facts which are essential to a fair presentation of the origin and nature of _salem_ witchcraft. he nowhere recognizes the probably acute intellect, strong powers, persistent action, and inspiring presence of the _tall man with white hair and in serge coat_. omitting these, he has but given us hamlet with hamlet left out. and this, too, not in ignorance, for he had seen corwin's manuscript, which made clearly manifest the presence and doings of one spirit-personage especially, and taught many other facts that were not reconcilable with his theory. the tall man with white hair who visited tituba on the evening of january 15, 1692, has such obvious and important connection with, and influence over, all the ostensible actors in the scenes which former witchcraft historians have depicted, as may revolutionize their theories, and teach the world that those expounders never traced their subject down to its genuine base; that they built, partly at least, upon the sands of either ignorance or misconception of the nature and actual source of what they discussed. there are some important differences in the two records of tituba's testimony, even where the words and facts must have been the same. the following parallel passages present quite differing reports of what she said concerning her own knowledge of the devil:- _cheever._ _corwin._ "why do you hurt these "why do you hurt these children?" "i do not hurt poor children? what harm them." "who is it then?" have they done unto you?" "the devil, for aught i "they do no harm to me. know." "did you ever i no hurt them at all." see the devil?" "the "why have you done it?" devil come to me, and bid "i have done nothing. i me serve him." can't tell when the devil works." "what! doth the devil tell you that he hurts them?" "no, he tells me nothing." thus cheever makes her say that "_the devil_" came to her and bade her serve him, while corwin, reporting the same part of the examination makes her say that "_the devil_" never told her anything. further on, corwin makes her say, "a thing like a man told me serve him." cheever says the _devil_ told her thus. tituba herself, and all the clairvoyants of that age, preserved a distinction between the devil and the personages they saw, heard, and talked with. but the recorders of their testimony, failing to observe this distinction, often perverted the evidence. a comparison of the two records throughout suggests the probability that corwin, who is most minute, gives the questions and answers in their original order and sequences much more nearly than does cheever, whose record, when compared with the other, appears in some parts to be summings-up of several minutes' talks into a brief sentence or two, and also gives evidence of his taking it as obvious fact, that tituba's "thing like a man" was the veritable devil. this is probable, because his minutes make her say "_the devil_ come to me, and bid me serve him," at a point in the examination where, according to corwin, she said _the devil_ "tells me nothing." thus the appearance is, that cheever carried back in time words which _she_ subsequently applied to her "thing like a man," and on his own authority--not hers--applied them to "the devil." in corwin's account, her conception of the separate individualities of "the devil" and her "thing like a man" reveals itself clearly, and is nowhere contravened. but cheever, almost at the commencement of his record, and at a point where she, according to corwin, said the devil told her _nothing_, reports her as then applying to _the devil_ what she a few minutes or hours afterward applied to her "thing like a man." according to the more full and the more trustworthy record, she at no time confessed to any interview with "_the devil_," though she did freely to many conversations with "the man." these facts are important, very interesting, and instructive. as we interpret them now, they indicate that tituba never confessed to any intercommunings with the devil, never charged mrs. good, mrs. osburn, or any one else with being familiar with his sable majesty, but only with "a tall man, with white hair," wearing a "serge coat." the court before whom she was questioned, and the people around, generally, no doubt, deemed her "thing like a man" to be the veritable devil, as cheever did. but the more exact recorder of her words furnishes good grounds for belief that tituba herself conceived otherwise. she who was gifted with faculties which let her see, hear, and feel the actors, apprehended that one of them at least was a disembodied human spirit; while the spiritually blind, but physically and logically keen-eyed ones around her, wrongfully inferred the presence of their malignant and mighty devil with her. some dates fixed by this witness in corwin's account, and entirely omitted in cheever's, are interesting and somewhat important. we learn what, so far as we know, escaped the notice of all former searchers, that it was on friday, january 15, just as she was going to sleep, that "one like a man" came to her and appointed a meeting there at mr. parris's house, to take place on the next wednesday evening. accordingly, on wednesday evening, january 20, "the man" and four women came, and then designedly and deliberately pushed tituba on, and made her pinch the daughter and niece of mr. parris; and _on that very evening_, abigail, at least, if not betty also, "_was first taken ill_." here is an important and significant coincidence. just at the time when the illness was developed, spirits, in compliance with a previous arrangement, were there present at work seeking to produce just such a result as was manifested. did they, or did other agencies, produce the mysterious disorders which seemed to devil-dreading beholders like diabolical obsessions? in view of all the facts, it is plain that a spirit or spirits caused the children to suffer. by failing to present the above points, which, though lacking in the account that he copied and followed, yet came under his eye, upham clearly failed to use some very important historic facts which are essential to a fair presentation of both the time at which, and the agents through whom, salem witchcraft had its origin, and consequently to a fair presentation of its nature. but those facts strenuously conflict with his theory that embodied girls and women were the designers and perpetrators of that great and terrific manifestation of destructive forces. how strong the chains of a pet theory! how blinding the cataracts of long-cherished conclusions! if there exists in the world's annals more distinct testimony that a particular individual was the deliberate and intentional producer of acts which generated suffering, than tituba gave that the "thing like a man," which came to her once "when she was about going to sleep," once "in the lean-to chamber," once "when she was washing the room," and who, on friday night, appointed a place for meeting the next wednesday night, and, with assistants, kept his appointment, and then and there, as he had previously announced his purpose to do, severely "hurt the children"--if there ever was recorded testimony which more distinctly designated a particular being as the principal in planning and enacting any scheme than is this from tituba, by which she designates over and over again "a tall man with white hair," wearing "black clothes sometimes, and sometimes serge coat of other color," as the chief executor of the strange and momentous development of illnesses in the family of mr. parris, i know not where that clearer testimony is recorded. he who ignored several very significant parts of what tituba said, rejected corner-stones which are essential to the foundation of a genuinely philosophical disclosure of the source and consequent nature of the mysteries he attempted to explain. tituba has been described by upham as "indicating, in most respects, a mind at the lowest level of general intelligence," so that any one must be more rash than prudent who will impute to her ability to fabricate a series of facts, all of which seem to be natural and probable in the province of psychology. mr. parris informs us that the strange sicknesses existed in his family during several weeks before he or others had any suspicion that they might be of diabolical origin. tituba dates their commencement on the evening of january 20, just six weeks before her examination. therefore mr. parris's "several weeks" may have been five at least, during which he and his wife and their physician and friends probably studied symptoms, administered and watched the action of medicines, and cared for the children in every way, with as much freedom from delusion or bewildering excitement, as they could have done in any other equal portion of their lives. such medical skill as then existed there, obviously had and used a very considerable period of time, not less than four or five weeks, in which to do its best, and yet was baffled. its best was unavailing. we to-day perceive sufficient cause of its failure. it was contending against a special spirit infliction, the authors of which could either counteract, intensify, or nullify at their pleasure, the normal action of any common medicines or nursings. parents, physician, and nurses no doubt witnessed from day to day such anomalous and changeful manifestations, sequent upon the administration of "physic," as confounded their judgments, and made them at last suspect "an evil hand." tituba knew the cause of the illnesses, but probably lacked power to see and appreciate the continuous connection of that cause with the long series of its effects. had she divulged her knowledge, what heed would have been given to the word of the ignorant slave? what beatings might she not well fear if she confessed to any dealings with invisible beings? no wonder that she kept her knowledge to herself, till fear of her master's cane influenced her to disclose the facts to the magistrates. small as tituba's mental capacities were, she had some unusual susceptibilities, which permitted, or rather obliged, her to possess more knowledge of the origin and progress, and also of the nature and of the active producer, of the distressing ailments and "amazing feats" in her master's family, than did master, mistress, physician, and magistrates combined. they saw--if it can be said that they saw at all--they saw only through thick, coarse, and blurred glasses, very dimly; while she, at times, clearly saw living actors face to face. from her we get the testimony of a witness who learned directly through her own senses what she stated; her testimony gives forth the ring of unflawed truth, and lifts a vail off from long-hidden mysteries. hutchinson, upham, and drake each sought to make it apparent that mundane roguishness, trickery, and malice, operating amid public credulity and infatuation, prompted and enabled frail girls and women to produce the "amazing feats," marvelous convulsions, and all the many other woeful outworkings of witchcraft. having been either unobservant of, or having ignored, the plain historic fact seen over and over again in tituba's testimony, that certain other intelligences than girls, that minds which were freed more or less fully and permanently from the hamperings of flesh, actually started the first display of witchcraft pinchings, fits, and convulsions at salem village, those historians wrongfully charged girls and women, whose bodies were then the subjects and tools of other intelligences, with being the feigners of maladies and the producers of acts which an eye-witness and reluctant participator distinctly declares were manifested in obedience to a will or wills not their own. such oversight, or such discarding of facts, whichever it may have been, caused those writers to so restrict their stores of intelligent agents having more or less access to and power over man, as to put outside of their own reach and vision the actual producers of witchcraft phenomena. this self-imposed or self-retained restriction forced upon them necessity for efforts to show that mere children possessed gigantic physical and mental powers and brains which concocted and executed schemes that shook to their very foundations the strong fabrics of church and state--yes, forced them to ascribe mighty public agitations to insignificant operators. tituba, on the other hand, by a simple statement of what her own interior self saw, heard, felt, and did,--by a statement of what she actually _knew_,--designated the genuine and the obviously competent authors of witchcraft marvels, and explained their advent rationally. she, therefore, by far--very far--outranks each and all of those historians as a competent and authoritative expounder of the authorship, origin, and nature of salem witchcraft. her "something like a man"--her _tall white-haired man in serge coat_--was its author. that man was a spirit, and his works were spiritualism of some quality. opposition revealed his possession of mighty force. and, whatever his motive, the result of his scheme was the death of witchcraft throughout christendom, and consequent wide emancipation from mental slavery. some statements made and published by robert calef not long subsequent to 1692, wear on their surface the semblance of impeachments, or at least of questionings of the value of tituba's testimony. he says, "the first complained of was the said indian woman named tituba; she confessed _the devil_ urged her to sign a book, which he presented to her, and also to work mischief to the children," &c. we fail to find in corwin's report anything like a _confession_ of any such things; she there states distinctly that _the devil tells her nothing_, and also that the book was offered to her, and that the urgings to hurt the children were made to her by "something like a man"--by "_the man_." she had no idea that the devil was her visitant, and never confessed that he tempted her. calef goes on and says, "she was afterward committed to prison, and lay there till sold for her fees. the account she since gives of it is, that her master did beat her and otherwise abuse her to make her confess and accuse (such as he called) her sister witches; and that whatsoever she said by way of confessing, or accusing others, was the effect of such usage." this is credible, and is probably true. such proceedings on the part of mr. parris are not inconsistent with the character which he bears. tituba's other master, the white-haired man, had charged her "to say nothing;" she perhaps, therefore, was in fact induced to utter "whatsoever she said by way of confessing or accusing others," by beatings she received from her visible master. but what did she say by way of confessing or accusing? nothing, really. she merely stated facts known to her; and such statement should not be misnamed either confession or accusation. corwin's record of that slave's testimony excites an apprehension--yes, generates belief--that calef unconsciously made misleading statement when he wrote that "she _confessed_ the _devil_ urged her to sign a book." we have met with no indication that she ever made what should be called _confession_. we repeat, that she quite fully narrated that she had seen, held conversation with, and been forced to obey, a white-haired _man_, and also that the women good and osburn were at times her companion operators when the man was present. that frank statement of facts constituted her only confession, so far as we perceive. had this been made by an intelligent witness who comprehended how the public mind would interpret it, there might be plausible reason for saying that she or he "_confessed_." but with tituba it was a simple statement of the truth. we suspect that calef, under the prevalent habit of his day, unwittingly wrote _devil_ where tituba, according to corwin, said "the man." if he followed cheever's report of the trial, he seemed to have authority for doing so. that tituba regarded the devil and "the tall man" as two distinct individuals is very obvious. when questioned, she admitted that the devil _might_ hurt the children for aught she knew, but she had never seen _him_, nor had _he_ ever told her anything. she had no acquaintance with that personage. while the questions related to _his_ doings she could give no information; but as soon as opportunity was given her to introduce her "tall man" she was ready to speak of him freely and instructively. the people around her, not interiorly illumined, applied the name _devil_ to any disembodied intelligence that acted upon, or whose power became manifest to, their external senses; not so did either tituba or any of her clairvoyant sister sufferers or sister _accusers_ either. throughout the whole of her two days' rigid examination she persistently called her strange visitant "the man." and it is a significant fact that all the mediumistic ones then, both accusers and accused, escaped ever falling into the prevalent habit of accusing the devil. other agents met their vision. fear of mr. parris may have forced tituba to tell her true tale, which but for him she might have withheld. but is there probability either that he dictated any part of her testimony, or that she fabricated anything? we see none. the fair and just presumption is, that though forced to speak, she simply described what she had seen, and narrated what she had experienced. the apparent promptness, directness, and general consistency of her answers, strongly favor that presumption. in her judgment, as in ours, what she said was no confession of familiarity with the devil, for she disclaimed any knowledge of him; and therefore she made no confession of witchcraft as then defined, and no accusation of it against the other women. calef imputes to her a subsequent position which may be so construed as to indicate that she declined to stand by her previous statements. he says, "her master refused to pay her" jail "fees," and thus liberate her from prison, "unless she would stand to what she had said." in that quotation is involved all that we find in the older records which wears even a semblance of impeaching her testimony, or suggests any reason why we should distrust its intentional accuracy in any particular. the master did not pay the fees. she "lay in jail thirteen months, and was then sold to pay her prison charges." (drake. annals, 190.) but what did her master require her to "stand to"? calef says he beat her "to make her confess, and accuse [such as he called] her sister witches; and that whatsoever she did by way of _confessing_ or _accusing_ others, was the effect of such usage." what she may have confessed to having done, or what she may have accused others of doing, at other times than when she was under examination, we do not know. her statements then, as she then meant, and as we now understand them, fell far short of confessing familiarity with the devil, or of laying that crime to any others; therefore she neither made herself nor her companions _witches_. still her master, no doubt, as did the recorder ezekiel cheever and the court, understood her as meaning _devil_ when she said "the man," though she herself did not so mean. even corwin, apparently, as judge, put the prevalent construction upon her words, though his fidelity as a recorder caused him to write "the man" when she said "the man." this general habit of understanding _devil_, when some other personage was both named and meant, enables us to see that there may have been subsequent dispute between her and her master as to her real meaning, and that he made it a condition for her liberation that she should put his construction upon what she had said, rather than her own. it is an open question whether she ever refused to stand by her own meaning, or the true meaning of her own words. perhaps she did refuse to stand by construction which the faith and habit of the day led most minds to put upon her words unjustifiably; but we doubt whether she refused to stand by the literal and intended meaning of what she had said. poor tituba! because of your forced connection with a scheme and works which entirely baffled your comprehension, because of your forced disclosure of things you had witnessed and experienced behind the vail of flesh, your own body was imprisoned thirteen months, and two innocent women were doomed to death. guileless and innocent, so far as connected with witchcraft, you was borne on by mighty forces to seem to act voluntarily, though in fact unwillingly and perforce, a prominent part in one of the most fearful scenes in human history. man's ignorance of spiritual agents and forces in your day, together with the prevalent hallucination devil-ward, made you a humble and pitiable martyr to simple truth-telling. some seeds in your simple story now gathered from out the chaff that has covered them for nine-score years, may soon be scattered over new england soil, from which, we trust, you above, and men below, may gather wholesome fruits of justice and truth. sarah good. tituba's sister witch, as that slave's master called sarah good, may not have been regarded in her generation as possessor of any large amount of such qualities as her name is commonly used to designate. still her neighbors doomed her to lasting fame by selecting her as the first person to be put under examination on suspicion of being a producer of salem witchcraft. as a facile tool in supernal hands she may have been, and probably was, good in quality as well as name. indications that her spirit-form was susceptible of either easy elimination or wide radiations from its material counterpart, are contained in the facts that on january 20, 1692, the inner eye of tituba saw this sarah; on february 25, ann putnam, and on the 28th, elizabeth hubbard saw her apparition, or her spirit-form. man's "natural" or physical optics do not discern a spirit. spirit, when not materialized, is discernible only by our inner or spirit-eyes; spirit is "spiritually discerned." the spirit forms, however, of embodied, living men and women, are not all equally discernible by clairvoyants. generally, only such among flesh-clad spirits are readily seen by inner optics as are able to slip, or are liable to be drawn, or to radiate out, from one's ordinary integuments of flesh, or, at least, those only whose integuments are transparent of spirit-light. only few, relatively, can either see or be seen readily and frequently by spiritual eyes. eagles exist as well as owls and bats. and clear perception of objects by the former amid light that blinds the latter, is no proof either that the vision of eagles is perverted, or that the objects they behold are but creatures of fancy. mediumistic sarah good, because she was highly mediumistic, would naturally be a brilliant and attractive object in the field of vision which the inner eyes of other mediumistic ones might be able and attracted to survey. distance is of little or no account in connection with vision by the inner eye. persons and objects, scores and hundreds of miles away, are practically near to the inner optics. spirit-forms are, perhaps, thought-forms, and, like thought, can traverse oceans and continents in the twinkling of an eye. it is not our purpose to multiply pages by largely quoting minute accounts of what transpired at the examinations and trials of those who were suspected of witchcraft; and yet it may be well to present rather fully one sample of the proceedings of the courts. this first case which the civil authorities gave attention to may serve that purpose as well as any other. the arrest of sarah good was made february 29, and on the next day, tuesday, march 1, 1692, her examination was commenced, and was continued, in connection with that of sarah osburn and tituba, through the remainder of that week. on monday, the 7th, these three were sent to jail in boston. on the 30th of june mrs. good was put upon trial, which resulted in her conviction, and on the 19th of july she, together with others, was executed. we copy first ezekiel cheever's account of her examination. cheever was temporary clerk or scribe employed by the examining magistrates to take minutes of the testimony. "'sarah good, what evil spirit have you familiarity with?' _ans._ 'none.' 'have you made no contract with the devil?' good answered, 'no.' 'why do you hurt these children?' _ans._ 'i do not hurt them. i scorn it.' 'who do you employ, then, to do it?' _ans._ 'i employ nobody.'" this question was doubtless based on belief then held, that one who was in covenant with the devil had, by the terms of the covenant, received power to command the devil and his imps to execute any desired mischief. "'what _creature_ do you employ, then?' _ans._ 'no creature, but i am falsely accused.'" her statement that she employed _nobody_, seems not to have covered all classes of possible servants in such business. therefore she was asked what _creature_ she employed. this question suggests the probable supposition by the magistrate that such dogs, cats, birds, and hairy nondescripts as tituba saw, might be subservient to the commands of a witch. "'why did you go away muttering from mr. parris's house?' _ans._ 'i did not mutter; but i thanked him for what he gave my child.' 'have you made no contract with the devil?' _ans._ 'no.'" the magistrate then "desired the children, all of them, to look upon her and see if this were the person that had hurt them; and so they all did look upon her, and said that this was one of the persons that did torment them. presently they were all tormented." "'sarah good, do you not see now what you have done? why do you not tell us the truth? why do you thus torment these poor children?' _ans._ 'i do not torment them.' 'who do you employ, then?' _ans._ 'i employ nobody. i scorn it.' 'how came they thus tormented?' _ans._ 'what do i know? you bring others here, and now you charge me with it.' 'why, who was it?' _ans._ 'i do not know but it was some you brought into the meeting-house with you.' _response._ 'we brought you into the meeting-house.' _reply._ 'but you brought in two more.' 'who was it, then, that tormented the children?' _ans._ 'it was osburn.' 'what is it you say when you go muttering away from persons' houses?' _ans._ 'if i must tell, i will tell.' 'do tell us then.' _reply._ 'if i must tell, i will tell. it is the commandments. i may say my commandments, i hope.' 'what commandment is it?' _ans._ 'if i must tell, i will. it is a psalm.' 'what psalm?' _statement by reporter._ 'after a long time she muttered over some part of a psalm.' 'who do you serve?' _ans._ 'i serve god.' 'what god do you serve?' _ans._ 'the god that made heaven and earth.'" _comments by the reporter._ "she was not willing to mention the word god. her answers were in a very wicked, spiteful manner, reflecting and retorting against the authority with base and abusing words, and many lies she was taken in. it was here said that her husband had said that he was afraid that she either was a witch or would be one very quickly. the worshipful mr. hathorne asked him his reason why he said so of her; whether he had seen anything _by_ her. he answered, no, _not in this nature_; but it was her bad carriage to him; and indeed, said he, i may say with tears that she is an enemy to all good." reason for asking the children to look upon the accused, cheever says, was, that they might "see if this was the person that hurt them." that statement fails to cover the whole ground. according to cotton mather, belief then prevailed that "when the party suspected looks on the parties supposed to be bewitched, and they are thereupon struck down into a fit ... it is a proof that the accused is a witch in covenant with the devil." in many subsequent examinations and trials, these magistrates required the accused to look upon the afflicted ones, and special note was taken of the apparent action of the supposed evil eye upon the sensitive children. belief was held and acted upon by these examiners, that, if the accused were guilty, the guilt might be revealed by observable effects of emanations from the witch's eye upon those whom she had been bent upon tormenting. possibly human experience and observation had gained knowledge of facts which furnished substantial foundation for such belief. the eye of the powerful mesmerist is very potent in action upon those whom he has been accustomed to subdue to his will. if the children quailed and suffered under the gaze of the accused, inference might be drawn that they had previously been brought into servitude by imperceptible forces proceeding from that person. forces of that nature probably go forth more profusely from the eye than any other part of man, though that is not their only point of egress. any part of the body may let them out. this fact, no doubt, was assumed of old by would-be witch detectors, for they often required the accused to touch their accusers, or the reverse. and generally the contact was attended by convulsions, spasms, pains, or other distress, or by cessation of annoyances. such results are moderate evidence that forces pertaining to departed spirits were then operating upon the disturbed ones; for emanations from such source are frequently more agitating and agonizing, or more calming and pleasurable, than any that come forth from the simple mesmerizer. one reason for this augmented effect, as given through mediumistic lips, is, that the greater remove of properties of freed spirits from homogeneousness with those of flesh-robed ones, than exists between the properties of any two mortals, naturally causes either greater commotion or greater calmness when the disembodied ones effect contact with those robed in flesh, than ever occurs upon the confluence of streams exclusively mundane. it should be remembered that spirits, when in rapport with mortal forms, have power not only to will agonies and motions therein, but also to command and efficiently use appliances needful to produce them. where tituba's tall man with white hair was controller of performances, all such sufferings and antics as history describes may have occurred at trials for witchcraft, and yet few of them may have been willed to come forth by any mortal. vailed from external perceptions, that powerful operator shaped the speech, the actions, and the sufferings of all the impressible ones, whether accused or accusers, at his sole pleasure. what his object and his motives were are not matters for consideration at this stage of our investigations. the examining magistrates, john hathorne and jonathan corwin, subscribed to the following account of this examination. "sarah good upon examination denieth the matter of fact, viz., that she ever used any witchcraft, or hurt the above-said children, or any of them. "the above-named children, being all present, positively accused her of hurting them sundry times within this two months, and also this morning. "sarah good denied that she had been at their houses in the said time, or near them, or had done them any hurt. all the above-said children then present accused her face to face, upon which they were all tortured and tormented for a short space of time; and the afflictions and tortures being over, they charged said sarah good again that she had so tortured them, and _came to them_ and did it; although _she was then kept at a considerable distance from them_. "sarah good being then asked, if that _she_ did not hurt them, who did it? and the children being again tortured, she looked upon them and said that it was one of them we brought into the house with us. we asked her who it was. she then answered and said it was sarah osburn; and _sarah osburn was then under custody, and not in the house_. and the children, being quickly after recovered out of their fits, said that it was sarah good and also sarah osburn that then did hurt and torment or afflict them, although _both of them at the same time at a distance or remote from them personally_." the italicized lines show that the magistrates attached importance to the children's statement that the two women had access to them and hurt them, even while the outer forms of the women were remote from the girls. precisely how hathorne and corwin viewed such facts we do not know. perhaps they deemed them strong evidence that the women were helped by the devil. the fact, if it be a fact,--and it probably is,--that those girls actually received painful sensations from forces coming to them from out the forms of those two women whose bodies were at the time distant from their own, was marvelous when it occurred, and remains so now to all such as are unacquainted with some instructive things which modern spiritualism has been bringing into view. to entranced persons, to the spiritually illumined, to the clairvoyant, distance and material objects become nearly obliterated. between such, also between spirits and such, when their inner powers are in the ascendant, mind acts directly upon mind, without aid from external senses and organs, and whatever then is done to the mind or spirit of the incarnated, whether it be painful or pleasing, reaches and affects the body of the earth-clad one from within, and thence works outwardly. all sensation pertains to the mind or spirit. the body, when life leaves it, at once becomes absolutely insensible. all hurts of the body, come whence and as they may, are felt by the spirit only--never by the body. therefore when the spirit from within is pinched by a spirit directly, the hurt, though the physical body has not been touched from without, is felt precisely as it would be if fingers had nipped the flesh. one's bruised spirit acting outwardly may discolor portions of the body precisely as would an external pinch, grip, or blow. the accusing girls may have actually perceived and positively _known_ that pain-producing forces issuing from the forms of the accused women, were distorting and convulsing their own bodies and the bodies of other sensitive ones, while yet the women's wills may not have sent the forces forth; those accused ones may have been but the wearers of bodies, or possessors of god-bestowed organisms and temperaments through which either tituba's tall man or some other spirit, or even some impersonal natural force, gained access to the spirits of the girls, and, through their spirits, caused their bodies to manifest signs of intense sufferings. spiritualism is inviting physiologists and psychologists into new and interesting fields for exploration. the foregoing facts and views invite to very lenient judgments, whether pertaining to the accused women or to their youthful accusers. many things during the examination of sarah good were culled from tituba's statements, and used with design to show that sarah good was a witch. tituba charged that woman with hurting the children, and of being one of five who urged her to do the same. good rode on a pole with the latter to mr. putnam's, and then told the slave that she must kill somebody. she came and made tituba deaf at prayers. she had a yellow bird which sucked her between her fingers; also she had a cat, and she appeared like a wolf to hubbard. tituba saw good's name in the book, and the devil (no, the tall man), "told good made her mark." even her own little daughter, dorothy good, testified that her mother "had three birds, one black, one yellow, and that these birds hurt the children and afflicted persons." deliverance hobbs saw good at the witch's sacrament. abigail hobbs was in company with, and made deaf by her, and knew her to be a witch. mary warren had the _book_ brought to her by sarah good. elizabeth hubbard, mary walcott, ann putnam, mercy lewis, sarah vibber, and abigail williams (all of them members of the necromantic _circle_), were afflicted by sarah good, and _saw her shape_. richard patch, william allen, john hughes, had her appear to them apparitionally. this long array of names of impressibles existing in the village at so early a time as the very first attempt to find a witchcraft-worker there, indicates that tituba's visitant had been an expert selector of a spot for operation. he began his work in the midst of abundant and fit materials with which to carry out a purpose to obtain close approach to, and to put forth startling action upon and among embodied mortals. it may be learned in the hereafter that he was suggester of the visible as well as of the invisible circle which met at the parsonage; and learned, also, that his forces magnetized the members of each. that so many mediumistic ones, a large proportion of them wonderfully facile and plastic, were hunted up in "the short space of two months," among the five hundred scattered inhabitants of that village, is surprising. only keen eyes and active search could have found thus many in so short a time. germs of prophets must have been abundant there, and must have developed rapidly under the culture of the supernal gardener who discovered their abundance and quality, and took them under his special watch and care. while under examination, sarah good said, "none here see the witches but the afflicted and themselves;" that is, none but the afflicted and the accused; none but the clairvoyant. by witches she meant spirits and semblances of mortals and spirits; and she said in substance none others but we who behold with our internal eyes see the hovering and operating intelligences and forms. this unschooled woman then announced a great and instructive truth. she taught that the two classes--the tortured accusers and the accused both--possessed powers of vision which other people did not; that they possessed such clairvoyance and other fitful capabilities and susceptibilities as pertained to only a quite limited number of persons, and that these physical peculiarities were the source of the existing mysteries. it should be ever borne in mind that the powers which mrs. good had reference to are generally very fitful in their operations. those who sometimes see spirits and spirit scenes are seldom able to do it at will, or with any very long continuance without interruption. the most of them might, every few minutes, say with tituba, "i am blind now, i cannot see." having stated that the accusers and accused, and only they and others constituted like them, could see the hidden persons and forces which were there acting, acted upon, or being employed in putting forth mysterious inflictions upon the distressed girls, sarah good forthwith charged her fellow-prisoner, sarah osburn, with then "hurting the children." the fair inference is, that she saw the spirit or the apparition of her companion then seemingly at work upon the sufferers; and mrs. good may only have described what her inner optics were then beholding. virtually she was confessing that she was herself clairvoyant, and consequently very near kin to a witch, if not actually one in that dreaded sisterhood. but clairvoyance pertained to the accusers also, and both sets of clear seers, if their powers were a crime, deserved like treatment. "looking upon them" (the afflicted children) "at the same time and not being afflicted, must consequently be a witch." the above is from the records of her examination. apparently she was looking upon the children while alleging that the then absent sarah osburn was there present and was occasioning their sufferings, while yet mrs. good was not herself afflicted; this was deemed proof that she was a witch. what unstated premises led to that conclusion we do not know. our fathers had many notions pertaining to witchcraft that are now buried in oblivion, and it is often very difficult to find the reasons for their inferences. we are baffled here, and can say only that indication is furnished that under some circumstances a woman's failure to become bewitched was proof that she was herself a witch--because she did not catch a special disease, she must already be having it. constable braybrook, who had charge of her during the night between the first two days of her examination, deposed that he set three men as a guard to watch her at his own house; and that in the morning the guard informed him that "during the night sarah good was gone some time from them, both barefoot and barelegged." from another source he learned that on "that same night, elizabeth hubbard, one of the afflicted persons, complained that sarah good came and afflicted her, being barefoot and barelegged, and samuel sibley, that was one that was attending (courting) of elizabeth hubbard, struck sarah good on the arm, as elizabeth hubbard said."--_woodward's historical series_, no. i, p. 27. braybrook's statement presents a side incident at a time when none of the performers who had been trained in the historian's famous high school for girls were present--an incident which rivals in marvelousness anything in the main tragedy they are charged with enacting. when the tricksy girls were all absent, when men alone stood guard over and were with this prisoner, she became invisible by them. no one of the magic-working band of girls and women was then at hand. testimony that she disappeared is distinct; the guards reported in the morning that "she was gone some time from them." the constable so stated, and the statement was supported by two assistant guards, michael dunnell, and jonathan baker. we shall not stop to ask them how they knew that she was "barefoot and barelegged" when she was invisible. they perhaps saw her stockings and shoes when she was not to be seen. also she was without such garments when seen that night by elizabeth hubbard and her lover in that girl's distant home. an intelligent, sagacious, and reliable man, dr. h. b. storer, of boston, whom we know and have long known personally, and whom we respect as being distinctly high-minded, honorable, and adherent to facts and truths, gave, in the banner of light, january 9, 1875, an instructive account of his recent observations at the residence of mrs. compton, a medium, at havana, n. y. we extract the following from his statements. he says that on monday morning, december 28, 1874,-"by my request, mrs. compton acquiescing without a murmur, my lady friends, entering her bedroom, saw her completely divested of clothing, with the exception of two under garments, and then had her draw on a pair of her husband's pantaloons. the basque of her alpaca dress, without the skirt, was then put on, after careful search to render it certain that no extra clothing could be secreted. then, in my presence, the basque was sewed by its points on each side to the pantaloons, and a ribbon, which i tied with two knots closely around her neck, was sewed through the knots, and each end of the ribbon sewed to the collar of the basque. so she had on a closely-fitting coat and pantaloons sewed together, and so attached by a ribbon around the neck that the clothing could not be drawn up or down. a pair of black gloves were then drawn upon the hands and sewed tightly around the wrists. i then put around her waist a piece of cotton twine, tying it in two hard knots behind, and the same piece of twine was tied by double knots to the back of the chair in which she sat." on saturday dr. storer had seen come forth from the cabinet, as dr. f. l. h. willis also had on a former occasion, "a weird phantom, bearing the semblance of a woman, and clothed in a flowing costume of white. over her head was thrown a vail of delicate texture, and in one hand she carried a handkerchief that looked like a bit of a fleecy cloud. her dress was exceedingly white and lustrous, without a wrinkle or a fold in it." that description by willis is called by storer "perfect," and is adopted by him. this "weird" personage was called katie. dr. storer, after fixing the medium in the cabinet on monday, as above described, says,-"very slowly the door [of the cabinet] opened, and soon her [katie's] entire form was seen dressed exactly as before--trailing skirts, vail, and mantle, but with a belt which she gathered in her hands and rubbed together that we might hear its silken rustle. standing by the door, she addressed me, saying that when she had walked entirely away from the cabinet, she wished me to go in quickly, and, without moving the chair, feel after the medium, and all about the cabinet, and see if i could find her. she stepped out about five feet into the room, and at once i sprang into the cabinet, felt in the chair, swept the floor and walls thoroughly with my hands--but--not _a vestige of medium_ or _anything_ remained." the italicizing is ours. we design to imitate the doctor in both frankness and wisdom--to restate and accept his facts--but make no attempt at explanation of them. we adduce the case because it parallels in marvelousness the statements of braybrook. what happens now may have had its like before to-day. the modern case out-marvels, perhaps, the ancient one; for we know not whether the guards felt for their prisoner or only failed to see her. how they ascertained that she was gone is not told. dr. storer felt the chair into which he had bound mrs. compton, felt the floor and the ceiling all over, and could find nobody in the little cabinet, which was but a triangle partitioned off at the corner of the room, whose inner sides were only five feet each in length, so that a man, without changing his position, might touch any part of it, unless the ceiling overhead was above the man's reach. shortly afterward, says dr. storer, "the cabinet door was opened, and in the chair, tied as we had left her, without the breaking of a thread, or the apparent movement of her person, or in any respect differing from her appearance when last seen, sat the medium, in that fearfully lifeless trance, from which nearly a half hour was required to arouse her. i will not give any speculations of my own upon this most marvelous exhibition. i submit the facts and vouch for their entire accuracy." were braybrook's statements true as to the main fact? they may have been. if they were, we do not apprehend that the physical body of sarah good was either removed from the vicinity of her guards, or seen by elizabeth hubbard that night. invisibility may have been wrapped around her body, and yet not around her shoes and stockings; perhaps her spirit-form was the only one seen by the distant observer. we hesitate to fix limits to possibilities. spirits to-day frequently manage, as they say, and as results indicate, to render particular material objects lying within the embrace of auras or emanations of some mediums, invisible temporarily by the keenest of keen external eyes, even when such eyes are surrounded by light sufficient for seeing other objects in the vicinity with distinctness. that which is done now may have been done formerly. and since such phenomena now seldom occur excepting in the near vicinity of persons susceptible to spirit influences, the fair conclusion is, that sarah good was a medium. elizabeth hubbard saw the spirit-form of sarah good; which fact argues that elizabeth was a clairvoyant, unless sarah good's spirit was then materialized. each and every one of the afflicted girls is so repeatedly reported to have described perception of what external sight could not see, external ear hear, nor external touch feel, that the mediumistic susceptibilities of each and all of them are manifest. the susceptibilities and endowments of both accusers and accused were exceptional and yet alike in kind. the spiritual perceptive faculties and the receptive capabilities of both classes could be brought into such action as would out-work results perceptible by the external senses of common people. also, and especially, each class could be made to serve as _mere tools_ of invisible beings. as such they were handled, their users employing them severally as afflictor or as afflicted, at their pleasure, within the permissions of psychological laws. the choice, which selected certain ones to be implements by which to afflict, and others to be the subjects of afflictions, was made by dwellers in spirit spheres, familiar with psychological laws, and competent to determine in which capacity each impressible one could be most serviceable in advancing the ends of the supernal operators. such a view, when its correctness shall have been confirmed, will work out vast amelioration in the world's judgment of that band of girls and women in salem village who have long borne its scorn and detestation, and will thrill every kindly heart with joy. when it shall become apparent that some inborn physical peculiarities involved the controlling reasons why certain persons rather than others were charged with being satan's devotees, then none can fail to see that it was not roguery, not artifice, not malice, not grudges, not family or neighborhood or parochial quarrels, not disputes about property, nor any social, moral, or religious eminence or debasement,--no, not any one of those base motives of the normal intellect and heart which lively fancy has pleased itself with conjuring up and imputing,--no, it was not any one of those reprehensible and damning motives, but was innate susceptibility of being easily controlled by psychological forces; especially it was a constitutional liability to be more readily seen, heard, and felt by persons similarly endowed than was the great mass of people around them. ann putnam, jr., the keen-sighted pioneer of the clairvoyant witch-detectors, saw the apparition, and felt the distressing influences of sarah good, on the 25th of february. her depositions were numerous; there were but few of the accused whose apparitions had not met her vision, but few who had not harmed her in ways and by forces unperceived by external senses. the character and general purport of her testimony, and also of most of the testimony from members of the circle, is well presented by the first deposition we find on record; which is as follows:- "the deposition of ann putnam, jr., who testifieth and saith, that on the 25th of february, 1691-92, i saw the apparition of sarah good, which did torture me most grievously; but i did not know her name till the 27th of february, and then she told me her name was sarah good. and then she did pinch me most grievously; and also since; several times urging me vehemently to write in her book. and also on the 1st of march, being the day of her examination, sarah good did most grievously torture me; and also several times since. and also on the first day of march, 1692, i saw the apparition of sarah good go and afflict and torture the bodies of elizabeth parris, abigail williams, and elizabeth hubbard. also i have seen the apparition of sarah good afflicting the body of sarah vibber. mark "ann putnam." + that deposition furnishes a fair specimen of the kind of evidence sought for, admitted, and applied to prove probable compact with the devil. all of the above pertains to the first examination made at salem, and it reveals the opinions then prevalent relating to covenantings with the evil one, to powers and dispositions thence derived, and to then existing legal methods for proving such compacts. there is little indication that experiences at salem, during the spring and summer of 1692, gave either the examining magistrates, or the court, much, if any, new light or any increase of wisdom or humaneness. whatever modification of processes of procedure subsequently took place, and whatever change of decisions as to the value and admissibility of spectral evidence occurred, was for the worse rather than the better. the creeds and laws conformed to then were not formed and adopted for that occasion, but had prior existence, and were here applied with strenuous vigor by firm hearts and clear heads. amid all the excitement, frenzy, infatuation, delusion, and credulity then abounding, logic retained its power and guidance, and held courts and juries to the requirements of the wholesome statutes of the english parliament, pertaining to witchcraft and to christendom's witchcraft creed. old laws and faiths were here tested by strong men. they held for a time, and wrought woeful effects, but finally were broken. sarah good was wife of an inefficient husband, "william good, laborer." the family was very poor, having at times no home excepting such as charity granted them temporarily. she is spoken of by calef as having "long been accounted a melancholy or distracted woman." upham says that "she was a forlorn, friendless, and forsaken creature, broken down by wretchedness of condition and ill repute." we find no reason for dissenting from that writer's statement when he says elsewhere, that "she was an unfortunate and miserable woman _in her circumstances and condition_;" but we doubt the fitness of calling her "forlorn" and "broken down." she may have been so; but the spirit and energy generally manifested by her words and acts indicate the probability that she was rather a heedless, bold woman, free and harsh in the use of her tongue, and not very sensitive to or regardful of public opinion, but yet strong and not despondent. that she may have long been deemed, as calef says she was, a "distracted" woman, is very probable, for many simply mediumistic persons, and even more of us who at this day solely because we believe in the advent of spirits, both good and less good, have long been accounted _crazy_. we have met with no indication that she was physically weak or mentally despondent. she seems to have borne up well under long, tedious horseback rides daily to and from ipswich jail, nine or ten miles distant, whither she was nightly sent ever after the time of her becoming invisible to her guards. her keeper on the way says, "she leaped off her horse three times, railed at the magistrates, and endeavored to kill herself." that attempt, if she made one, to take her own life, was scarcely less likely to spring from the angry mental mood then prompting her to rail against the magistrates, than from despondency or forlornness. when under examination, her answers were about as direct, explicit, and to the point, as most other suspected ones were able to give to the perplexing questions which were put; and some of hers have more snap than we usually find in words from lips of the "forlorn and broken down." it is not probable that her previous life had won much public favor; yet no evidence has been met with that her neighbors generally cherished hostile feelings towards her, or possessed sentiments which would prompt them to rejoice at her prosecution. we, as has already been made apparent, ascribe her arrest to other causes than the lowness of her character and condition. that was not the primal incentive to her being "cried out upon." her organization, and the then existing condition of her faculties, made her either a convenient channel through which to transmit, or a fountain from which to draw, forces into the systems of certain other sensitives, which forces might act therein for either the annoyance and suffering, or the pleasure and relief of the recipients, according to either inherent properties of the forces themselves, or to the purpose of some intelligence who should inflow and manipulate them. the sensitive girls might, and, if well unfolded mediumistically, would unerringly trace back such forces as acted upon themselves to their mundane point of emanation, and in good conscience and good faith accuse the person from whom the forces issued of being their tormentor; if clairvoyant they could see, if clairaudient could hear, and, if not specially unfolded for seeing with the inner eye and hearing with the inner ear, could _sense_ the person from whom the foreign and disturbing influences came forth. a bold spirit and prophetic glance pertained to this woman at the close of her mortal life. when near the gallows, and about to be executed, mr. noyes, the clergyman at salem proper, told her "she was a witch, and she knew that she was a witch." she promptly retorted, "you are a liar. i am no more a witch than you are a wizard; and if you take away my life, god will give you blood to drink." subsequently that man "died of an internal hemorage, bleading profusely at the mouth." (_hist. of witchcraft_, vol. ii. p. 270.) gleamings of what will be often meet internal or mediumistic eyes; and such probably did those of sarah good at that instant, and authorized her prophetic utterance. dorcas good has already been presented in the reports of evidence against her mother; but in those she was called dorothy, and was reported as testifying that her mother "had three birds, one black, one yellow, and that these birds hurt the children, and afflicted persons." such testimony, of course, supported the side of the accusers. the little one's words were damaging to her mother, and helpful to the mother's oppressors. but, from some cause, she soon fell under suspicion of belonging to the class of bewitchers. as early as march 3, ann putnam saw the apparition of this child; and on the 21st of march, mary walcott did the same. this, of course, was regarded as evidence that she was a witch; and on or near march 23d she was arrested, examined, and soon after sent to jail. yes, little dorcas, daughter of mediumistic sarah good, not five years old, "looking well and hale as other children," was definitely, in legal form, accused of witchcraft; was arrested, and brought before the civil magistrates for examination. in presence of the magistrates the exhibiting graduates from the school of "necromancy, magic, and spiritualism"--the afflicted girls--accused the little child of biting them then and there, and "also of pricking them with pins, with pinching and almost choking them." in proof of all this they exhibited marks upon their flesh, just such in size and form as matched her little teeth also pins were found under their clothing precisely where they asserted that she pricked them. such facts as imprints upon the arms of the girls, corresponding precisely with such as the child's teeth might make, and the invisible pinchings, prickings, &c., are not outside of nature's permissions, and therefore were not impossible. those girls, at their circle meetings, _or elsewhere_, had obviously become very facile instruments in spiritualism, had become usable by spirits as subjects for impressions, and psychologically induced sensations. from the mediumistic little daughter of a mediumistic mother, forms and forces could be made to emanate which might act upon the plastic mediumistic sufferers in exact accordance with such experiences, and producing such results as the girls described or others witnessed. the senses of the annoyed ones could distinctly perceive that the agonizing forces issued from that little girl. the accusers probably stated only facts which they knew as well as any witness ever knew his facts when describing what his own senses had brought him knowledge of. whether things seen and felt by the spirit senses be deemed objective or only subjective, they are alike real to the consciousness of the person that takes cognizance of them. the statements of the girls were probably true. the possibilities in heaven and earth, and along where their border-lines come in contact, are not recognized by some historians. there are some persons at this day who hold even as contracting and misleading philosophies, as cotton mather and the men of his generation did. modern wisdom (?) prompts some to discredit any actual occurrence of any extra-marvelous facts--any facts _seeming_ more than natural--and to impeach the accuracy or the truthfulness of any and all who attest to such, rather than admit that the bases of their own philosophies can be improved by expansion. such persons, when attempting to account for many facts in human history, are, though it may be unconsciously to themselves, like mill-horses tethered to an unchanging center, and made to move within a fixed circumference. habit soon brings loss of desire, if not of courage, to turn the eyes outward and look upon facts whose producers work from outside the beaten rounds in which some theorists travel. this makes it bad for many facts, such facts as are popping into view through avenues deemed anomalous. there are writers who do their best to enforce upon such facts the mosaic command, "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." but facts are immortal; buried ones often reappear, and demonstrate their own former occurrence. two centuries ago, the claim of great marvels to be objective facts was generally conceded. but at that time the hidden workers of wonders were woefully slandered as to parentage: men deemed them _all_ to be both imps of the malignant ruler of the darkest regions of realms unseen, and his emissaries from pandemonium to the abodes of man. faith in the genuineness of witchcraft facts, though in dorcas good's day it hid a multitude of sins, failed to make the arresting of a mere infant witch a desirable operation. for some reason the officious marshal, herrick, sent forth constable braybrook to encounter and capture man's great enemy when that wily one had ensconced himself in an infant's form. but the deputy scavengered up and sub-deputized somebody else to fight that battle for god and christ. his menial went the needful two or three miles north through the woods to benjamin putnam's house, and executed the daring feat of bringing on his back, or in some other way, a "hale and well-looking" girl of less than five years into court, a culprit because of co-laboring with and being a covenanted servant of witchcraft's devil! the darkness of delusion which such an arrest failed to illumine must have been thick indeed! but the creed of the day, devil-ward, the creed of the fathers, the creed of christendom, so deluded the public judgment that it demanded the blood of a witch even though she were an infant. the condition of the public mind only a very short time subsequent to the irrational, unkindly, barbarous arrest of that child has been depicted by upham, vol. ii. p. 112, in sentences more graphic, spirited, and eloquent than our own powers could possibly put forth, and differing considerably from what we would essay to give were our rhetorical abilities equal to his. he states that-"the proceedings of the 11th and 12th of april produced a great effect in driving on the general infatuation.... 'twas awful to see how the afflicted persons were agitated.... those girls, by long practice in 'the circle,' and day by day before the astonished and wondering neighbors gathered to witness their distresses, and especially on the more public occasions of the examinations, had acquired consummate boldness and tact. in simulations of passions, sufferings, and physical affections; in sleight of hand, and the management of voice and feature and attitude, no necromancers have surpassed them. there has seldom been better acting in a theater than they displayed in the presence of the astonished and horror-stricken rulers, magistrates, ministers, judges, jurors, spectators, and prisoners. no one seems to have dreamed that their actings and sufferings could have been the result of cunning or imposture. deodat lawson was a man of talents, had seen much of the world, and was by no means a simpleton, recluse, or novice; but he was totally deluded by them. the prisoners, although conscious of their own innocence, were utterly confounded by the acting of the girls. the austere principles of that generation forbade with the utmost severity all theatrical shows and performances; but at salem village and the old town, in the respective meeting-houses, and at deacon nathaniel ingersoll's, some of the best playing ever got up in this country was practiced, and patronized for weeks and months at the very centre and heart of puritanism, by 'the most straitest sect' of that solemn order of men. pastors, deacons, church-members, doctors of divinity, college professors, officers of state, crowded, day after day, to behold feats which have never been surpassed on the boards of any theater; which rivaled the most memorable achievements of pantomimists, thaumaturgists, and stage-players, and made considerable approaches toward the best performances of ancient sorcerers and magicians, or modern jugglers and mesmerizers." the brilliancy, fervor, and literary finish of that description of the public enthusiasm and bewilderment are truly worthy of admiration, while the picture is not, and probably could not be, overwrought. still we must doubt the competency of the alleged authors of the excitement to perform the bewildering and frenzying acts ascribed to them. we have heard from of old, and could quasi believe, that mountains in labor brought forth mice. but it is only rarely one has earnestly and fervently sought and striven to entice the reading public to admit conviction that a dozen _enceinte_ mice could enwomb and give birth to a vast and terrific volcano. one must needs look in wondering astonishment upon that keenness of vision which, at the middle of the nineteenth century, penetrating through mold and debris which have, through a century and three fourths, been gathering over momentous events, sees clearly that they were the genuine offspring of youthful "cunning and imposture," even while the owner of such vision himself perceived that neither the learned, talented, and keen deodat lawson, nor any other one of all the many able and sagacious men who were lookers-on at the amazing feats while they were transpiring, _dreamed_ that the actings and sufferings could have been the results of cunning and imposture. the day of lawson and his companion observers was too near the facts for any dreams about them. it required a peculiarly plastic modern brain, and the intervening lapse of eightscore years, for the generation and birth of such a _dream_. the reason of its non-appearance in 1692 is very plain. known facts then left no vacancy in the brains of that day for storage of the fictions of dreamland. we return to little dorcas good. the creed devil-ward had hoodwinked all eyes. all things were in a terrific and bewildering whirl. calm reflection and deliberate reasoning upon anything new were impossible. if perchance a mind asked itself whether an infant was competent to bargain with the devil and thence become a witch, it had no time to respond to its own inquiry. in open court, mysterious bitings were perpetrated by the teeth of this little girl, because the marks fitted her set and none other. the marks were made by the accused girl's teeth. ocular demonstration, therefore, was proving her to be the devil's instrument; for otherwise she could not invisibly bite, nor could her teeth be made to bite, those who were off beyond her reach. standing upon what we said in the last chapter relating to the passing of hurts through the spirit to its outer body, we hold that spirits may have so applied the spirit teeth of little dorcas to the spirit limbs of the afflicted girls, as to have left the marks of her teeth upon their flesh. woefully did the creed of that time not only permit, but call for the arrest of that infantile girl, solely because, under the operation of natural laws of generation, she inherited properties or capabilities which rendered her, from the time when she was conceived, ever onward, very susceptible to psychological influences. the judges, observing what were but legitimate and necessary outworkings of her inborn properties, being ignorant of their true source and nature, deemed them such a crime that the court sent her to boston jail a prisoner, there to keep company with the mother from whom her peculiar properties had been derived, by whose milk they had been nourished, and in whose magnetisms they had unfolded. the present century is learning facts which teach that inborn properties and susceptibilities, and not compacts with the devil, constitute _witches_--some of whom are very lovely. an infantile witch is no great marvel now. such can be found in many a family, "through whose lips angels speak" to-day, as they did through emanuel swedenborg's when but a child, and who, born in january, 1688, was precisely a contemporary of dorcas good. sarah osburn was companion prisoner of sarah good and tituba on the memorable first week in march, 1692. thirty years before, she had been married to thomas prince, and at the time of her arrest was wife of alexander osburn; consequently she was well advanced in years. she also had long been an invalid, confined during long periods to her bed. her worldly circumstances were comfortable--she and her family were neither poor nor rich--were neither very low nor very high on the social scale. _but she had heard words coming forth from unseen lips._ and on february 25, her apparition appeared to and annoyed ann putnam. nothing has been noticed in the records which indicates that ann ever spoke of any perceptions by her inner senses prior to that date, or that any member of the circle, excepting tituba, preceded ann in having opened vision. the latter saw "the tall man, with white hair and serge coat," as early as january 15. but tituba's voice, had she have spoken, would have been powerless. ann's position in society was high; she belonged to a family of wealth, culture, influence, and high respectability. her mystical words were potent. in four days subsequent to her first reported vision of apparitions, three women were under arrest for witchcraft, and ann's father was one of the very efficient advocates of prosecutions for that crime. feeble, "bed-ridden" sarah osburn, of whom upham speaks as one whose "broken and disordered mind was essentially truthful and innocent," and whose residence was at least a mile and a half north from mr. parris's home, and quite distant east from ann's, on a road not likely to be often traveled by her, was among the marked and blasted three. why? none now, perhaps, can tell with certainty. probabilities alone can be adduced. our supposition is, that at the moment when ann's keen and far-sweeping inner sight was opened, and spirit substance, instead of material light, became her medium of vision, the most brilliant objects to meet her gaze, in all the region far around, would be one or more of the mediumistically unfolded persons dwelling there. from those among that class whose systems were fountains of emanations which at the time impinged upon her sensibilities, and did not harmoniously coalesce with her elements, and therefore acted as quasi acids upon her alkalies, or as alkalies upon her acids, produced painful effervescences which might ensue naturally, apart from the aid of any manipulating intelligence; or, if some intelligent being were observant of the currents and conditions of spirit magnetisms or forces then, and disposed to either intensify, abate, or modify their natural action, he might do so, and also could manipulate them to furtherance of his own ends, whether beneficent or malignant. then and there, even high benevolence in one whose vision swept the far future, might take such primal steps as short-sighted mortals must look upon as necessarily altogether harmful in both immediate and remote results. such natural laws as reign supreme in spirit-realms may have led to the selection of secluded, inoffensive, "essentially truthful, and innocent" sarah osburn, as one of the tormentors of the girls, who were either schooled in magic by their own elected study and practice of it, or were constitutionally fitted for fitful enfranchisement of their inner perceptive organs while yet dwellers in their mortal forms, and whose bodies could become tools for other minds to use. if she was simply the voluntary actor out of her own "cunning or imposture," little ann putnam, twelve years old, brightest among the bright, and member of one of the most intelligent and religious families of the village, she also must have been herself a _devil_, and so devilishly a devil, that even cloven-foot might feel it a duty to pass his scepter into her hands. but grant that she was a medium through whose form other minds and wills could act, as she in fact was, and then we can regard her physical form as simply an instrument through which an intelligence other than herself manifested action to human senses; and thus we can deem _her_ guiltless, whatever shall be our judgment of the intruding performer upon her "harp of a thousand strings." parts of the testimony in the case of mrs. osburn reveal her possession of mediumistic susceptibilities. as with joan of arc and many others, so with this woman; the inner ear could hear voices from some source impalpable by external senses. "(it was said by some in the meeting-house that she had said that she would never be tied to that lying spirit any more.) "_q._ 'what lying spirit is this? hath the devil ever deceived you and been false to you?' "_a._ 'i do not know the _devil_. i never did see him.' "_q._ 'what lying spirit was it, then?' "_a._ 'it was a _voice_ that i thought i heard.' "_q._ 'what did it propound to you?' "_a_. 'that i should go no more to meeting. but i said i would; and did go the next sabbath day.'"--_woodward's hist. series_, no. i. p. 37. although the timid prisoner said only that she _thought_ she heard a voice, the reader will notice that she made no denial that she had previously said "that she would never be tied to that _lying spirit_ any more;" therefore by fair implication she conceded that she had once, if not many times, heard a voice which she had openly spoken of as having been that of a _lying spirit_; and also that she had more or less been instructed by and followed his, her, or its advice. the fact that she was enjoined not to go to meeting any more, argues nothing either against the spiritual source of the advice, or the good intent of whoever gave it. she had long been a sickly, bed-ridden woman; therefore such advice might have been given by any wise christian physician. we are not concerned with either the moral or religious states of invisible actors and speakers, but are looking specially for some of the more distinct evidences that invisible intelligences of some quality enacted salem witchcraft, and, therefore, looking for the peculiar properties of both the embodied persons through and those upon whom they directly acted. sarah osburn, though a secluded, respectable, inoffensive woman well advanced in years, was an early victim before the sweeping blast that rushed over the village. too feeble to endure the hardship of prison life, she died in jail before the day for her trial. she who heard voices from out the realm of silence, possessed inner faculties in fit condition to permit effluxes that reached and annoyed the mediumistic children, who traced them back to her, and made statements which brought her under suspicion of being a covenanter with the devil. such capabilities constituted her crime--her witchcraft--and incited a devil-fighting people to persecution which hastened her exit to the realm from which the advisory voices had come upon her ears. martha corey. soon after the commencement of prosecutions, suspicion alighted on one of more refinement, intelligence, efficiency, godliness, and respectability than the females first arrested. martha, wife of giles corey,--aged, prayerful, but bright; disbelieving in any witchcraft; doubting the existence of any witches; discountenancing searches for any,--said that the eyes of the magistrates were blinded, and that she could open them. she possessed spiritual and theological knowledge uncommon in her day and vicinity, and must have held beliefs and convictions derived from other sources than those at which her neighbors obtained their supplies. she was aloof from the prevalent delusion devil-ward. though a church member, a woman of prayer, of reputed, and doubtless of genuine, piety, martha corey was very early _sensed_ by the anns putnam, mother and daughter, as the source of emanations which tortured them. therefore she must be a witch. grounds for such conclusion were not necessarily fanciful and fallacious. when and where natural outworkings from mediumistic properties and conditions were mistaken for symptoms of witchcraft, martha corey might easily be convicted of diabolism. we credit the allegation of ann putnam the younger that she was annoyed and afflicted by mrs. corey even while the two were miles apart. but we decline to admit that mrs. corey necessarily or probably had any voluntary connection with the girl's sufferings. either unintelligent natural forces attracted the woman's effluvia to ann, or else tituba's "tall man," or some other hidden intelligent being, formed connections and applied processes which brought elements of these two persons into conjunction, and thus produced in the girl intense physical disturbances and sufferings, and attendant liberation of her inner perceptive faculties. ann's uncle, edward putnam, together with ezekiel cheever, because of the girl's repeated outcries upon mrs. corey, only just one week after the sending of tituba, sarah good, and sarah osburn to jail, concluded to make a call upon sister corey, who was "in church covenant" with them, and learn from her own lips what she would say relative to the suspicions that had been raised concerning her. these just and considerate men,--for they were such,--probably seeing the possibility that the child might be mistaken as to the person who was causing her to suffer, very properly called upon ann when they were about to start on their way to the woman's residence, and asked the suffering girl to describe the dress mrs. corey was then wearing. their obvious design was to test the accuracy of the child's perceptions. but that purpose was not accomplished. the child pleaded inability to see, and stated that blindness was put upon her just then _by the accused woman herself_. the sequel indicates that mrs. corey foresensed the visit she was about to receive, imbibed knowledge of the intended test, and of action to thwart its success. though dwelling and being miles apart as physical persons, those two females may have then been practically together as spirits, and have mutually sensed the thoughts, acts, and conditions of each other as far as each avoided intentional concealment. all of ann's statements may have been in strict accordance with facts actually witnessed and experienced by her inner self. there is no need to assume that she feigned or falsified at all, even if no invisible personal operators were concerned in what then transpired; and certainly not, if tituba's "tall man" and his associates were then present and acting, as they may have been. perhaps invisible actors, holding both of these impressible subjects under psychological control, either imparted to, or withheld from either of them, just such knowledge and perceptions as would further the purposes of the operators--which may have been either simply a manifestation of their own powers, or an intimation to the adroit men that they were undertaking to deal with something which it would not be easy to outwit or thwart. also other and very different purposes may have actuated them. some spirits, at some times, have ability, through some mortal lips, to express their thoughts to the embodied, and to wreathe their own emotions over faces they borrow, even while the spirit, the selfhood, of the mortal form usurped is conscious of what is being done through it. remember that the form of the conscious agassiz was, against his own will, made to obey townshend's mind. perhaps madam corey's expressions of thoughts and emotions were sometimes prompted, and at other times modified by an unseen intelligence temporarily cohabiting with her own. when the two brethren of the church, going forth on their solemn, self-imposed mission, had arrived at her home, madam corey welcomed them _with a smile_; notwithstanding she possessed and expressed very exact knowledge of the ominous nature and the purpose of their call. her saluting words were, "i know what you are come for. you are come to talk with me about being a witch; but i am none. i cannot help other people's talking of me." this probably had reference to ann putnam's saying that she was afflicted by this speaker. she soon asked the men whether ann, whose accusations had prompted their call, "had described the clothes she then wore." learning that her dress had not been described, "a smile came over her face." somebody's consciousness of power, issuing from her form, to obscure the child's vision, probably expressed itself in that smile; and the reflection that the child was operated upon by forces within or action through mrs. corey's own form, and therefore not necessarily by the devil, and inference thence that the girl was not necessarily bewitched, was followed by her saying, "she did not think there were any witches." she knew enough of spiritual things to enable her to observe the broad distinction, overlooked by her cotemporaries, that may exist between some spirits and the devil; and also between persons whose inner senses were cognizant of spirit presence and action as naturally as the outer eye was of the sunlight, between these and such other human beings, could there be any such, and she thought there could not, who made a covenant with the devil, which covenant was a necessary preliminary to being a witch. "she," very reasonably, "did not think there were any" such "witches;" and only _such_ were sought for by her visitors and the startled public. this woman was intelligent, courteous, and devout--was capable of understanding that _witch_, as then defined, necessarily meant a person who had voluntarily entered into a distinct compact with a factitious devil. her _sensings_ in spirit spheres found no native-born monstrosity there, and she could say in good conscience that she did not believe there existed any such witches as her visitors and fellow church members were on the hunt for. at the same time she may have known, probably did know, that her own spirit and the spirit of little ann putnam could come into such communings as would give them accurate and conscious mutual perception of many unspoken thoughts and experiences in each other. mrs. corey, as we view her, was very mediumistic, and was also a woman whose habitual aspirations were after things true, pure, and excellent. but no amount of good or bad moral and religious qualities either constitutes or nullifies ability for mutual visibility and rapport between mediumistic persons. all such are impressible more by virtue of their organisms and native properties, external and internal, than by any intellectual and moral acquisitions, whether good or _bad_. properties issuing from mrs. corey's system probably pinched and otherwise tortured ann putnam; the girl knew their special mundane issuance, and innocently gave utterance to the knowledge. she did so innocently and in good faith. but the divulgence of facts often brings fearful sequences. when clear-headed logicians, being also conscientious and true men, as well as holders of undoubting faith that none but covenanted devotees to a wily devil could obtain knowledge and work harm by mysterious processes,--when such men took this case into careful consideration, the facts stated by the girl were to them proof that mrs. corey was the devil's minion, and therefore must be consigned to a witch's doom--death. edward putnam and one other complained of her. the warrant for her arrest was dated march 19, just one week after the visit of putnam and cheever. she was examined on the 21st; sentenced, september 9; executed, september 22. the questioning at the examination was discursive and protracted, spreading beyond inquiries as to who hurt the children, and how they were tormented, because of the prisoner's alleged disbelief in witchcraft; disapprobation of efforts to detect it; declarations that the magistrates, ministers, and others were blinded, and that she could open their eyes. she denied all knowledge as to who hurt the children, all knowledge of the devil, and repeatedly asked permission to go to prayer; but this privilege was denied her. she behaved like one conscious of innocence of the things laid to her charge, and manifested much intelligence, self-possession, and tact. while on trial, one feature in her demeanor, already indicated on a previous occasion, strongly attracts notice. notwithstanding the terrible fate that was standing before her, and the unflagging persistency of the magistrates and all others present in assuming her guilt, she was several times accused of _laughing_. those laughs may have been simply hysterical, but possibly they were widely different from such. "why did you say the magistrates' and ministers' eyes were blinded," and "you would open them? she laughed, and denied it." "were you to serve the devil ten years? she laughed." "why did you say you would show us? she laughed again." as previously stated, when edward putnam and ezekiel cheever made their call, although she knew the solemn object of the visit, they report that "in a _smiling manner_ she said, 'i know what you are come for.' with 'eagerness of mind' she asked them, 'does she tell you what clothes i have on?' and when they replied that ann had said, 'you came and blinded her, and told her that she should see you no more before it was night, that so she might not tell us what clothes you had on,' she seemed to _smile at it as if she had showed us a pretty trick_." these men obviously were prettily tricked. but who was genuine author of playful proceedings at a time when the business was so grave and solemn? and whose emotions mantled her face with smiles in the stern and frowning presence of "authority"? her calm and pleasant deportment, while others were agitated or solemnly stern, was very like what is often manifested through some human forms by intelligences whose condition places them beyond the reach of man's frowns, laws, prisons, and scaffolds, and who, dwelling aloof from storms of human passion, can smile amid scenes that make humanity shudder. calef states, that "martha corey, wife to giles corey, protesting her innocency, concluded her life with an eminent prayer upon the ladder." upham (vol. ii. 458) sums up her character thus: "martha corey was an aged christian professor of eminently devout habits and principles. it is indeed a _strange fact_, that, in her humble home, surrounded, as it then was, by a wilderness, this husbandman's wife should have reached a height so above and beyond her age." the strangeness of the fact argues strongly in favor of our position, that she was so unfolded as to receive instruction directly from supernal teachers, or sense it in amid supernal auras. "but," continues the historian, "it is proved conclusively by the depositions adduced against her, that her mind was wholly disinthralled from the errors of that period. she utterly repudiated the doctrines of witchcraft, and expressed herself strongly and fearlessly against them. the prayer which this woman made 'upon the ladder,' and which produced such an impression upon those who heard it, was undoubtedly expressive of enlightened piety, worthy of being characterized as 'eminent' in its sentiments, and in its demonstration of an innocent, heart and life." all her history suggests that this worthy woman, whose ways and powers were somewhat peculiar, was one of those rare individuals whose interior perceptives become so unfolded while in the body as to sense in knowledge by processes, and in some directions to extent, beyond the possible reach of man's outward intellect. because of such blissful unfoldings her age condemned her, hastened her exit from among a creed-bound people, and her entrance to the home of freed spirits. giles corey. as renowned as any one among all sufferers under persecutions for witchcraft--a hero in the band--was giles corey, husband of martha, more than fourscore years old, but still strong and resolute. he may have been wild and rough in youth and early manhood, but was efficient in business, and before the close of life was possessor of a very handsome estate for those times in that region. when the witchcraft prosecutions commenced, he sided with the multitude for a time; was vexed that his wife would not do the same, and, in his excitement, perhaps gave free vent to such hard epithets as his tongue had been allowed to put forth freely in his earlier years; some of which were soon brought to bear against his good dame, while she was subjected to examination. from some cause his sympathy with the prosecutors subsided when he saw his good wife maligned by them, and soon the witch detectors were after him also. he was arrested and imprisoned. his keen penetration perceived that acquittal, as things were going, was impossible, unless the accused pleaded guilty; which plea truth, honor, and manhood forbade him to make. to be tried and condemned would involve a forfeiture of his property, and take it from his children. but no trial could be had, and of course no condemnation, unless he should plead either guilty or not guilty to the indictment. his decision was soon formed. taken into court, he closed his lips, and no power there could open them. neither _guilty_ nor _not guilty_ could be wrung from them. the large, strong, old man stood in calm majesty before the court, his silence challenging the whole civil power of the province to shake his purpose. english custom in such cases--and he probably knew it--was to subject the recusant to lingering torture, trusting that pain or prostration would wring out a plea of either guilty or not guilty. order was given by the court to lay this old man prostrate, pile over him heavy weights, and put him upon starvation diet for the purpose of bringing his stubborn will to subjection. but neither oppressing weights, the pangs of hunger, nor both combined, weakened the hold of that strong will upon its purpose. his only utterances then were, "more weight, more weight!" corey himself testified at his preliminary examination, and the court tried to make it evidence of diabolism, that, twice at least, when attempting to pray, there was more or less stoppage of his utterance. whether this was caused by the action of some outside intelligence bringing spirit forces to bear upon him is not apparent. the case as stated will hardly justify the presumption, though it suggests the possibility that it was. the dumbness that was formerly imposed upon the prophet ezekiel and priest zacharias, and that which frequently befalls mediums in our own age, teach that unseen intelligences sometimes can and do temporarily prevent the use of vocal organs by their legitimate owners. the conclusive evidences which led to his commitment were spectral. his apparition had been seen by many, and had harmed them. ann putnam's sharp eyes were first in this case, as in most others, to see the witch. she saw this old man's apparition april 13; mercy lewis did on the 14th; and subsequently he was seen as a specter by, and gave annoyances to, eight other females and two males, who severally gave in depositions to that effect. was their perception of him nothing more than the product of the imagination of the witnesses? were all the declarations false? possibly--but not probably; for both imagination and perjury are often charged with doing what clairvoyance legitimately sees and authorizes. he was examined april 19, five days after his apparition was first seen. calef states that "sept. 16th giles corey was prest to death." in a foot-note, p. 260 of _salem witchcraft_, we read that "giles corey was _executed_ sept. 19, 1692, about noon." perhaps these statements permit the conclusion that he was subjected to pressure from some hour of the 16th, calef's date, till noon of the 19th, or about three days, when, according to fowler, he died. "in pressing," calef says, "his tongue being prest out of his mouth, the sheriff, with his cane, forced it in again when he was dying." corey's endurance and call for "more weight," says upham, ii. 340, "for a person of more than eighty-one years of age, must be allowed to have been a marvelous exhibition of prowess, illustrating, as strongly as anything in human history, the power of a resolute will over the utmost pain and agony of body, and demonstrating that giles corey was a man of heroic nerve, and of a spirit that could not be subdued." hutchinson closes his account of this case with the remark that, "in all ages of the world, superstitious credulity has produced greater cruelty than is practiced among hottentots, or other nations, whose belief of a deity is called in question." and why "_greater_ cruelty"? nowhere outside of christendom was so cruel a devil conceived of as within it. and therefore greater incitements to cruelty were called up in those fighting against his minions than in any other men anywhere at any time. the creed devil-ward, and not general "superstitious credulity," evoked in strong, good men, true to their ancestral and the _christian_ world's faith, more than savage cruelty. rebecca nurse. the deluding and heart-steeling power of false conceptions of the devil, combined with clear faith that he could get access to external things only through human covenanters with himself, and also with belief that it was an imperative duty of christian men to slay such persons as even spectral evidence or statements of clairvoyants pointed to as being in league with him, is perhaps manifested as strikingly and sadly in the case of rebecca nurse, as in that of any other person tried and executed at salem--or indeed anywhere, in any age. the spirit-form or apparition of this venerable lady--venerable not only for years then bordering upon fourscore, but for a long life of active beneficence; for strong good sense; for christian graces; for being the good wife of one and mother and mother-in-law of several as good, respectable, and useful men as the village contained. character and domestic connections so shielded her that nothing short of mighty power could fix upon her a blasting crime. her spirit-form or apparition had been seen by several members of the circle, and charged with having tempted them to evil and tormented them prior to the 23d of march; on the 24th she was brought before the magistrates and subjected to examination. the occasion was well fitted to put to severe test existing fealty to a fearful creed. well might the magistrate then say to the prisoner, as he did, "what a sad thing it is that a church member ... should be thus accused and charged." especially _sad_ it must have been in this case, because the accused had long been, and well deserved to be, regarded as one of the most venerable and esteemed of all the "mothers in israel" residing in the region there and round about. some sympathy was on her side, for when she said, "i can say before my eternal father i am innocent, and god will clear my innocency," the magistrate responded, "there is never a one in the assembly but desires it." this venerable matron was then, and for scores of years had been, beloved and respected wherever known for her beautiful domestic, social, and religious course. even such a one, however, was drawn in and crushed by the fierce and whirling zeal that was impelling community into headlong and frenzied fight for god and christ against the _devil_. age and virtue were insufficient to arrest or divert the rushing storm which hallucination devil-ward then generated and propelled. a benighting creed, like a huge nightmare, lay down upon, and held down, both reason and all the kindlier sentiments, while it evoked and allowed free play to harsh and murderous propensities. whither either natural brilliancy or natural attraction drew clairvoyant eyes most intently, thither were the accusing girls swayed to lead the whelming force. why should they lead to, or rather why fix upon, the beloved and venerated mrs. nurse? we may not find in the old records as full and distinct evidence that she was constitutionally impressible by either mesmeric or spirit force, as many others are now seen to have been--we may miss conclusive _proof_ that she was a magnet either drawing to or emitting from itself psychological forces unconsciously, and thence either becoming herself psychologized or yielding out substances from her own system which might cause, or be made instrumental in causing, marked changes in other human organisms. still, several facts indicate that she may be assigned a place among the sensitives. mrs. nurse, mrs. easty, and mrs. cloyse--three sisters--whose maiden name was towne, were eminently intelligent, efficient, respectable, and respected matrons, and yet were all accused, tried, and the elder two were executed because their spirit-forms or apparitions had been seen by clairvoyants. the records contain a statement made at the time, in these words: "it was no wonder they were witches, _for their mother was so before them_." often "blood will out" whatever its quality. three noble daughters bespeak a good mother, and yet, for some reason, mrs. towne had been called _a witch_. the properties of the parent reappeared in her children, and rendered them visible by the inner or clairvoyant sight of others. perception of their spirit-forms and of influences thence emanating caused the accusing girls to name these good women as their tormentors. visibility as spirits or apparitions, and effluxes from their systems, were their crimes. though members of the accusing circle had been demonstrative for several weeks, and probably had attracted to their bedsides or homes nearly every person in the town who could move abroad, yet, at the time of her examination, mrs. nurse had not been to see any of them. her age and infirmities alone might well have excused her. but when asked why she had not visited the sufferers, she added to a statement of her years and debility, that "by reason of _fits_ that she formerly used to have," she had not been to see them. remembrance of her own past fits--not recent--not impending fits--but fits which "she _formerly_ used to have," deterred her from going to the presence of the fit-afflicted. the question was repeated thus: "_why_ did you never visit these afflicted persons?" _ans._ "because i was afraid _i should have fits, too_." why afraid of such result? obviously she felt a secret apprehension that her coming in contact with emanations from these mysteriously fit-afflicted ones, or into close sympathy with them, would bring upon herself again such fits as "she formerly used to have." from this comes forth spontaneously the inference that she suspected that the nature and source of her own former fits, and of those then transpiring in youthful forms, were so nearly allied, that under the general law which makes like produce its like, she was liable to have again generated within herself, in her old age, such sufferings as she had experienced some time in previous years. in our view she was correct in her supposition that she herself was constitutionally liable to just such handlings as the jumping-jack girls were receiving. her own fears bespeak the probability that mrs. nurse was very impressible by mind not her own--that she was highly mediumistic; and we ascribe her persecution to her impressibility. natural law led to designation of both this woman and her sisters as the devil's covenanted servants. their creed blinded her persecutors to moral perceptions in certain emergencies, and made them reason falsely concerning the source and purport of spectral data. the presumed mediumistic properties of her mother, together with her own apprehension that presence with the girls might bring renewal of her own old fits, indicate that she probably was quite mediumistic. there is, however, no clear indication that she was at any time so far developed as to see or hear spirits or specters, nor that her own selfhood ever yielded up to another's use her physical organs of speech or action. mr. parris, who, by request from the magistrates, took minutes of the questions and responses at the trial of mrs. nurse, states that the tumult in court was very disturbing, and intimates that it was difficult to furnish a very reliable account of the transactions. also mrs. nurse was quite deaf and otherwise infirm, so that it is doubtful whether she always correctly understood the questions put to her, or that she held her mental faculties under such control as enabled her to give pertinent answers at all times. she is reported as expressing belief that the accusing girls were "not acting against their wills." therein, if she was correctly understood, she differed from the court and most beholders of the children. then the court remarked, "if you think it is not unwillingly, but by design, you must look upon them as murderers." probably all others made that inference, and yet the accused did not. she distinctly denied that she looked upon them as _murderers_, and only called them "distracted." crazy, and yet voluntary, seems to have been the view she took of the girls; they were voluntary, but not responsible actors. their own wills, guided by their own intellects in disordered condition, produced the fearful allegations. this was her charitable view. the power of human will to resist fits like those which the afflicted endured is brought up for consideration when we find enfeebled mrs. nurse afraid that visiting the suffering girls might induce recurrence of such fits as she "formerly used to have." she seems to have surmised the probable existence of such contagion in the air surrounding the sufferers as in her weak state she might be unable to ward off; and it is possible that memories of her own success when she was strong, in baffling fit-producers may have persuaded her that young persons possess power to withstand such operators, whether intelligent or merely physical, even though the old may not. what human wills can do deserves most careful notice, and was well illustrated in the case of little elizabeth parris. she was only nine years old, and was one of the first, if not the very first, to be distressed by fits and pinchings at the village,--was the one whom tituba loved, and was specially unwilling, and yet was forced, to pinch. upham says, "she seems to have performed a leading part in the first stages of the affair, and must have been a child of remarkable precocity." drake, in vol. iii., appendix, says, "parris appears to have been very desirous of preventing his daughter elizabeth from participating in the excitement at the village. she was sent by her father, at the commencement of the delusion, to reside at salem, with captain stephen sewall. while there, the captain and his wife were much discouraged in effecting a cure, as she continued to have sore fits. elizabeth said that the great black-man came to her and told her, that if she would be ruled by him, she should have whatsoever she desired, and go to a _golden city_. she related this to mrs. sewall, who immediately told the child it was the devil, and he was a liar, and bade her tell him so if he came again; which she did accordingly.... the devil ... unaccustomed in those days to experience such resistance ... never troubled her afterwards." it is generally true, that if one strenuously resist the visitings of any spirit, whether it be gabriel or beelzebub, the spirit cannot long maintain close access. if the account just given, relating to elizabeth parris, be correct, she both saw and heard what she, the actual and unsophisticated observer of his form and features, called the "black man,"--who, as mather states clairvoyants generally say, "resembles an indian." but mrs. sewall, adopting the usage of the time, ignorantly called this semblance of an indian "the devil." yes, the little girl, after her removal from home and _the circle_, and no doubt without young confederates, continued to have sore fits, and also to see and to hear with her inner organs of sense during quite a long time. "the captain and his wife were much discouraged in effecting a cure." the discouragement shows that the process of cure was slow and prolonged; eventually, however, the desired result was reached. the remedy is indicated. will-power wrought out the cure. the patient's own will was aroused and armed with a resolute purpose to close up, and to keep constantly and firmly closed, her own spirit loopholes through which only could she see or hear the black man, or be influenced by him. a strong will, steadily set against the entrance of a disembodied spirit, or against perception of such, generally, though not always, effects its purpose. the wills of companions and advisers, if working in harmony with the resisting one, greatly increase its resisting power. mrs. sewall, and the captain too, no doubt kept their wills set against the visiting black man, till will-force generated an aura whose outgoing waves he could not breast, and by which the girl's inner perceptives were firmly bandaged and made dormant. were the fits and visions which the isolated child continued to have for a time after she was sent from home nothing other than her own voluntary pranks and feignings? she was not author of them. the black man, or indian, then acted through and upon her till it was no longer in his power to perform mighty works there because of unbelief, which had grown up and hardened into an impervious wall of seclusion. knowledge, gained by our personal observation in 1857, enables us to state distinctly that the late professor agassiz, a man strong in body, mind, and will, (while arrangements were being made for himself and several associate professors for an investigation of spirit manifestations at the albion in boston,) demanded for himself at the very outset, and was granted, exemption from obligation to sit in a circle. through all the sessions which followed he kept most of the time on his feet, walking vigorously back and forth, and manifesting symptoms of great uneasiness. we then had heard that he formerly had been mesmerized, and therefore suspected that he feared that if he sat quietly down in the presence of mediums, he "should have fits too." his own account of his experiences under the hands of rev. chauncy hare townshend we have given at length in a recent work, published by colby & rich, boston, entitled "agassiz and spiritualism." we now gladly use what seems fitting occasion to state our own belief, that his demand for personal exemption from compliance with a rule which it was customary, fair, and important to enforce upon every person present at a seance, and that his restlessness and disturbing movements all sprung from a motive much more in harmony with the high character and principles of that illustrious man, than are disparaging ones which have often been ascribed to him. in our judgment, _self-protection_ was his motive, and not design to disturb harmony, and thus frustrate manifestations. his former experience had taught him that even over his firm mental resistance another's mind had entered his body and taken it out from under his own control; therefore he well might apprehend that, if not very cautious, he again "might have fits," or might become "a saul among prophets." we have already substantially said that the blinding, infuriating, and bloodthirsty beliefs of former days are perhaps in no case more distinctly and deplorably manifested than in the lawless, barbarous treatment to which good rebecca nurse was subjected by a court and people who sought to do, and believed that they were doing, acceptable service to god, or, at least, offensive service to the devil. spectral evidence against her, and that alone, was allowed to outweigh the merits of a long and beneficent life. the jury first brought her in _not_ guilty. this verdict, surprising the court, induced it to express apprehension that the jurors had not given due weight to certain expressions which the prisoner had uttered; whereupon _the jury itself requested permission_ to retire and hold further deliberation; and even such a privilege was granted them! they retired, reversed their verdict, pronounced her _guilty_, and she was sentenced to be hanged. afterward the governor of the province granted her reprieve; and yet he soon revoked his own clement act. probably neither jury, nor the governor, was convinced that she was guilty of the crime charged; nevertheless, both were forced by popular demand to let the reputation and life of this eminently good woman fall a sacrifice before infatuation and frenzy which the erroneous creed of the times engendered. mary easty, a woman of strong character, good common sense, and capable of comprehending both the dangers besetting any one then accused of witchcraft, and also the purport and bearings of such questions as the court was accustomed to ask, is presented in the following account. "the examination of mary easty, at a court held at salem village, april 22, 1692, by the wop. john hathorne and jonathan corwin. "at the bringing in of the accused, several fell into fits. 'doth this woman hurt you?' many mouths were stopt, and several other fits seized them. abigail williams said it was goody easty, and she had hurt her; the like said mary walcot and ann putnam. john jackson said he saw her with goody hobbs. "'what do you say; are you guilty?' _ans._ 'i can say before jesus christ i am free.' _response._ 'you see these accuse you.' _ans._ 'there is a god.' "'hath she brought the book to you (the accusing girls)?' their months were stopt. "'what have you done to these children?' _ans._ 'i know nothing.' "'how can you say you know nothing, when you see these tormented and accuse you?' _ans._ 'would you have me accuse myself?' 'yes, if you be guilty. how far have you complied with satan whereby he takes this advantage of you?' "'sir, i never complied: but prayed against him all my days. i have no compliance with satan in this. what would you have me do?' "'confess, if you be guilty.' "'i will say it, if it was my last time: i am clear of this sin.' "'of what sin?' "'of witchcraft.' "(to the children.) 'are you certain this is the woman?' "never a one could speak for fits. "by and by, ann putnam said that was the woman: it was like her; 'and she told me her name.' "(the court.) 'it is marvelous to me that you should sometimes think they are bewitched and sometimes not, when several confess that they have been guilty of bewitching them.' "'well, sir, would you have me confess what i never knew?' "her hands were clenched together, and then the hands of mercy lewis were clenched. "'look: now your hands are open, her hands are open. is this the woman?' "they made signs, but could not speak. but ann putnam, (and) afterwards betty hubbard, cried out, 'oh, goody easty, goody easty, you are the woman!' "'put up her head; for while her head is bound, the necks of these are broken.' "'what do you say to this?' "'why, god will know.' "'nay, god knows now.' "'i know he does.' "'what did you think of the actions of others before your sisters came out? did you think it was witchcraft?' "'i cannot tell.' "'why, do you not think it is witchcraft?' "'it is _an evil spirit_; but whether it be witchcraft i do not know.' "several said she brought them the book, and then they fell into fits. "salem village, march 24, 169-1/2. "mr. samuel parris, being desired to take in writing the examination of mary estie, hath delivered it as aforesaid. "'upon hearing the aforesaid, and seeing what we did then see, together with the charge of the persons then present, we committed said mary easty to their majesty's jail. "john hathorne, } "jonathan corwin, } _assists_.'" among the records of examinations and trials for witchcraft in 1692 we have met with none other more commendable in its apparent spirit on both sides, and in its continuous decorum, than the above; none other, also, which reveals more clearly extreme depth of public conviction that the prevalent witchcraft creed was sound to the core, and belief that spectral evidence alone might legally prove the crime charged. from aught that appears, there was something pertaining to mrs. easty, probably her whole general character and her intellect, which held back both court and spectators from rudeness in treatment of her, and even frequently tied up the tongues of the accusing girls. the spectacle presented by that examination was most rare and wonderful. we feel, when reading the records, that magistrates, populace, and the accusers, all--all longed for her acquittal; that none desired to, because none did accuse her of anything but having been seen as an apparition, and of being the cause of the fits which the girls were enduring. the girls named her as the cause of their fits, but seemingly with less alacrity than they did most others in like circumstances. but sympathy and respect must yield before belief; her fit-producing emanations at that day proved her to have covenanted to serve the devil. having done that, she was _witch_, and therefore must die. her clear head perceived that the sufferings of the girls must owe their existence to some occult power outside of themselves, and ascribed it to "an evil spirit." such an origin, however, did not prove to her satisfaction that the doings were witchcrafts, that is, acts performed either at the instigation or by aid of some mortal who was in covenant with the devil. she was enough in advance of her times to suspect that a spirit might work upon and among men without having formed such connection with a mortal ally as would prove one's operations to be witchcrafts. she perceived that the girls were wrought upon by some spirit, and she deemed it an evil one. this noble woman was wife of isaac easty of topsfield, fifty-eight years old, and mother of seven children. after her conviction and sentence, and when hope of escaping the dire penalty had fled, she addressed an admirable letter to those then in power. the same inborn susceptibilities which made her a victim may also have permitted a free influx of uplifting power which raised her above narrow, selfish, and domestic views, and prompted her, in moods generous and lofty, to appeal, in behalf of the whole people of the land, for a stop in the course which the civil authorities were pursuing. we judge the letter to be her own production, and deem it indicative of good mental powers and of elevated philanthropy. "_the humble petition of mary easty unto his excellency sir william phips, and to the honored judge and bench now sitting in judicature in salem, and the reverend ministers, humbly showeth_, that, whereas your poor and humble petitioner, being condemned to die, do humbly beg of you to take it into your judicious and pious consideration, that your poor and humble petitioner, knowing my own innocency, blessed be the lord for it! and seeing plainly the wiles and subtilty of my accusers by myself, cannot but judge charitably of others that are going the same way of myself if the lord steps not mightily in. i was confined a whole month upon the same account that i am condemned now for, and then cleared by some of the afflicted persons, as some of your honors know. and in two days' time i was cried out upon (by) them, and have been confined, and now am condemned to die. the lord above knows my innocency then, and likewise does now, as at the great day will be known to men and angels. i petition your honors not for my own life, for i know i must die, and my appointed time is set; but, the lord he knows it is, that if it be possible, no more _innocent blood_ may be shed, which undoubtedly cannot be avoided in the way and course you go in. i question not but your honors do to the utmost of your powers in the discovery and detecting of witchcraft and witches, and would not be guilty of innocent blood for the world. but _by my own innocency i know you are in the wrong way_. the lord in his infinite mercy direct you in this great work, if it be his blessed will, that no more innocent blood be shed! i would humbly beg of you that your honors would be pleased to examine these afflicted persons strictly, and keep them apart some time, and likewise to try some of these confessing witches; i being confident there is several of them has belied themselves and others, as will appear, if not in this world, i am sure in the world to come, whither i am now agoing. i question not but you will see an alteration in these things. they say, myself and others having made a league with the devil, we cannot confess.... the lord above, who is the searcher of all hearts, knows, as i shall answer it at the tribunal seat, that i know not the least thing of witchcraft: therefore i cannot, i dare not belie my own soul. i beg your honors not to deny this my poor humble petition from a poor, dying, innocent person. and i question not but the lord will give a blessing to your endeavors." calef says, that, "when she took her last farewell of her husband, children, and friends," she "was, as is reported by them present, as serious, religious, distinct, and affectionate as could well be expressed, drawing tears from the eyes of almost all present." we can readily credit that account to its fullest possible import; for her deportment and language, throughout all the scenes in which she is presented, bespeak a strong, clear, discriminating intellect, a true and brave heart, elevated and generous sentiments, firm faith in god, and broad charity toward man. a most welcome child found entrance to some bright home above when her tried spirit gained release from its mortal form. susanna martin. the person bearing the above name was a widow residing in amesbury, who had been tried for witchcraft more than twenty years before, and therefore obviously in 1692 was well along in life. her answers in court, however, bespeak a prompt, self-possessed, shrewd, and seemingly merry prisoner. a few of her replies, together with the questions which elicited them, are as follows:-"ann putnam threw her glove at her in a fit. 'what do you laugh at?' said the court. _ans._ 'well i may at such folly.' "'is this folly to see these so hurt?' 'i never hurt man, woman, or child.' "'what do you think ails them?' 'i do not desire to spend my judgment upon it.' 'do you think they are bewitched?' 'no; i do not think they are.' 'well, tell us your thoughts about them.' 'my thoughts are mine own when they are in; but when they are out they are another's.' 'who do you think is their master?' 'if they be dealing in the black art, you may know as well as i.' 'how comes your appearance just now to hurt these?' 'how do i know?' 'are you not willing to tell the truth?' 'he that appeared in samuel's shape can appear in any one's shape.'" one r. p., dated salisbury, august 9, 1692, and forwarded to jonathan corwin, a document ranking among the ablest on record against the legal proceedings of that day, in which he says, "i suppose 'tis granted by all that the person of one that is dead cannot appear, because the soul and body are separated, and so the person is dissolved, and so ceaseth to be; and it is certain that the person of the living cannot be in two places at one time." that writer conceived that man's personality ceased at death; therefore he logically inferred that the personality of the prophet samuel had gone out of existence, and said, "the witch of endor raised the devil, in the likeness of samuel, to tell saul his fortune." we find in many places the cropping out, in those days, of the same idea. susanna martin indicated her belief that it was the devil who appeared to the woman of endor, and not the glorified samuel. premises deemed valid by some men in 1692, would, if applied in that direction, support the conclusion that the moses and elias who appeared to jesus and others on the mount of transfiguration were nothing but the devil in the shapes of those old prophets. belief that the devil personated samuel is to us no more unphilosophical than is upham's conclusion, that "by the immediate agency of the almighty the spirit of samuel really arose." paul taught that there _is_--not that there is to be hereafter, that there is now--"a spiritual _body_." all clairvoyants to-day can see such a body belonging to a human form, and sometimes see it being far away from the form to which nature attached it. each human being now possesses both a natural or physical and also a spiritual _form_. that position of r. p. and susanna martin was unsound which held that the physical body was essential to personality. also, since the almighty originally infused through nature, elements and forces which admit of the return of spirits by natural processes, it is as unphilosophical to hold that samuel was raised by the immediate agency of the almighty, or miraculously, as it would be to ascribe an american traveler's return home from europe to the _immediate_ agency of the same being. natural laws and forces permitted, under possible conditions, the return of samuel himself. such conditions existed often in and around the hospitable and sympathetic woman of endor, who was no _witch_, in the now common meaning of that word; who was not called such in the bible,--but only a person who had a _familiar_ spirit, that is, a spirit so constantly present, and having such ability of communion with her, as made the spirit seem to her like one of her family--her familiar. a spirit thus attendant on a mortal may be either good, bad, or indifferent, and may be cognized by those persons whose constitution and development are such that their inner senses can report to their external consciousness. the existing properties of that woman, which permitted some special spirit to frequently dwell and commune intelligibly with her, and be cognizable by her inner senses as a dweller in her household, as her familiar,--such properties would enable her to perceive the form and hear the voice of another spirit, who might be called to her presence for an urgent purpose, as naturally as the outer eye which sees one external form is competent to see another. samuel, when wanted, came and was seen by the clairvoyant woman, but not by the external eyes of either saul or his attendants. the case was very like what occurred at the first examination under an accusation for witchcraft at salem village. sarah good then said, "none here see the witches"--that is, none see spirits--"but the afflicted and themselves,"--that is, none but the afflicted and the accused, of which she was one. in other words, the actual doers of the marvelous works, the spirits, are seen only by the accusers and the accused--the clairvoyants here. it is true that in the more modern instance the spirits seen were often, though not always, those of living persons. but this does not affect the principles of explanation. those persons who are so unfolded as to see spirit-forms can sometimes see them, whether they be still attached to the outer ones or be liberated. spirits, both some who had been entirely liberated from the flesh, and other flesh-clad ones whose encasements were translucent, could be seen by members of the accusing "circle," and by some others of like combinations, even when the court and the mass of attendants upon it might fail to see anything of the kind. the horses and chariots of fire were as clearly seen by elisha on the hills of dothan, while his servant was blind to them, as they were after the young man's inner eyes were opened so that he too saw the helping and protecting hosts. the change was in the young man himself, and not up on the hills. departed spirits are where they feel our aspirations for their presence, and the opening of our inner sight, at any time or in any place, might render them visible. returning to susanna martin, we find that one william brown, of salisbury, made deposition in 1692, "that, about one or two and thirty years ago, his wife met susanna in the road, who 'vanished away out of her sight,' ... after which time the said martin did many times appear to her at her house, and did much trouble her.... when she did come, it was as birds pecking her legs, or pricking her with the motion of their wings; and then it would rise up into her stomach with pricking pain, as nails and pins, of which she did bitterly complain.... after that it would up to her throat in a bunch like a pullet's egg; and then she would turn back her head and say, 'witch, you shan't choke me.'" much more testimony was adduced to show that this woman's apparition was very frequently seen; and not only seen, but was a source of exceeding sufferings to many people. this argues nothing against her character, but plainly hints that the relation of her inner to her outer form was such that the former could be seen and felt by many persons who either constitutionally or from sickness, or both, were very sensitive. such persons often saw her spirit-form, and suffered from its psychological action. that peculiarity perhaps made her so luminous as to be observable, and therefore accused, by "the circle," and the accusation brought her to the gallows. martha carrier. the faculties and manifestations which nearly two centuries ago were deemed to constitute witchcraft, and the mode of eliciting proof of that crime then, stand forth very conspicuously in the history of the wife and children of thomas carrier of andover. _the examination of martha carrier, may 31, 1692._ "_q._ abigail williams, who hurts you? _a._ goody carrier of andover. "_q._ elizabeth hubbard, who hurts you? _a._ goody carrier. "_q._ susan sheldon, who hurts you? _a._ goody carrier; she bites me, pinches me, and tells me she would cut my throat if i did not sign her book. mary walcott said she afflicted her, and brought the book to her. "_q._ what do you say to this you are charged with? _a._ i have not done it. susan sheldon cried, she looks upon the black man. ann putnam complained of a pin stuck in her. _q._ what black man is that? _a._ i know none. mary warren cried out she was pricked. _q._ what black man did you see? _a._ i saw no black man but _your own presence_. _q._ can you look upon these and not knock them down? _a._ they will dissemble if i look upon them. you see you look upon them and they fall down. _a._ it is false; the _devil is a liar_. i looked upon none since i came into the room. susan sheldon cried out _in a trance_, i wonder what could you murder thirteen persons! mary walcott testified the same: that there lay thirteen ghosts! all the afflicted fell into intolerable outcries and agonies. elizabeth hubbard and ann putnam testified the same: that she had killed thirteen at andover. _a._ it is a shameful thing that you should mind these folks, who are out of their wits. _q._ do not you see them? _a._ if i do speak you will not believe me. you do see them, said the accusers. _a._ you lie; i am wronged. there is a black man whispering in her ear, said many of the afflicted. mercy lewis in a violent fit, was well, upon the examinant's grasping her arm. the tortures of the afflicted were so great that there was no enduring of it, so that she was ordered away, and to be bound hand and foot with all expedition; the afflicted in the mean while almost killed, to the great trouble of all spectators, magistrates, and others. "_note._ as soon as she was well bound they all had strange and sudden ease. mary walcott told the magistrates, that this woman told her, she had been a witch this forty years." the foregoing record shows the fearful ordeal to which any one might be subjected upon whom an accusation of witchcraft fell, and the hopelessness of escape where spectral evidence was admitted and held to be reliable. here was a woman who, it seems, had been conscious of spirit presence with her for "forty years," and her constitutional properties which permitted this were so luminous in the spiritual atmosphere, or medium of vision by inner eyes, that the clairvoyant girls readily caught sight of her, readily felt influences from her, and therefore accused her of tormenting them. the general character and deportment of this woman prior to her arrest may not have won public approbation. when in presence of the magistrates she was self-possessed and not lacking in boldness; for otherwise she would not have told the judge that his own presence was the only black man she had seen there. she told her examiners that it was shameful for them to mind "these folks, who are out of their wits." she said to the girls, "you lie; i am wronged." her presence permitted extraordinary visions, contortions, sufferings, and outcries, and probably emanations from her were special helps to the unwonted outflow. _in trance_, one saw thirteen dead bodies, and charged the accused with having murdered them. it was _in trance_ that this was seen and said. if _entranced_, was the girl, then, a voluntary seer and speaker? no. supermundane force was in action there. entrancements and obsessions came upon all those youthful accusers fitfully--and the forms of the girls generally were tools operated by wills entering from outside. the tongue of that entranced accuser, like ann cole's, probably was "improved to utter thoughts that never were in her own mind." four of mrs. carrier's children were brought into court in company with herself, either as accused ones or as witnesses against some members of the family. "before the trial," says drake, "several of her own children had frankly and fully confessed not only that they were witches themselves, but that their mother had made them so." the artlessness and simplicity of their _confessions_ render them not simply entertaining, but more instructive than almost any other statements made at the examinations and trials. little sarah was asked,-"how long have you been a witch? _a._ ever since i was six years old. how old are you now? _a._ near eight years old; brother richard says i shall be eight years old in november next. "who made you a witch? _a._ my mother; she made me set my hand to a book. how did you set your hand to it? _a._ i touched it with my fingers; and the book was red; the paper of it was white. she said she never had seen the black man ... that her mother had baptized her, and the devil or black man was not there, as she saw. her mother said, when she baptized her, 'thou art mine for ever and ever. amen.' "how did you afflict folks? _a._ i pinched them. she said she went to those whom she afflicted--_went_, not in body, but in her spirit. she would not own that she had ever been at the witch-meeting at the village." the _confessions_ (?) are beautiful and precious; they are robed in all the appropriate naivete of any school-girl's _confession_ that herself was a--_pupil_. not a tinge of shame, sorrow, or humiliation is visible anywhere about them. not a sign appears, that, in little sarah's comprehension, there was anything more censurable, as in fact there was not, in her being a witch, than there is in the child of to-day being a sunday school scholar. disclosure of common occurrences at her home, which inborn faculties there as naturally brought into view, as other faculties there and elsewhere cause the limbs of childhood to expand and its intellect to unfold, constituted her confession of the witchcraft that pertained to her mother and herself. the common mind, if not cautioned, will almost perforce attach meanings to the testimonies of martha carrier's children which never belonged to them. the detailings of facts and experiences not rare in that mediumistic family, were no confession of anything like what the public in any age has been accustomed to designate by the term witchcraft. in biblical times the occurrences might have been called prophecies--true or false--and to-day they would be regarded as spirit manifestations, or near kindred to such. the little girl's _confessions_ are _precious_ as well as beautiful; they are instructive comments upon the creed held by the adults of her day; they give some support to the position that compact with some spirit was an element in preparation for working marvels. her mother baptized her, and made her virtually sign a book, and then claimed her own child as hers "for ever and ever, amen." the little child herself seems to have regarded this ratification of her mother's spirit claims upon her spirit as having made herself a witch; but such a witch as she was not ashamed to be, and saw no harm in being. indeed, how can any other than perverted vision see harm in the girl's filial compact? her clairvoyant and other mediumistic faculties had become so unfolded when she was about six years old, that she and her mother, as freed spirits, could, in conscious companionship, roam in spirit realms; and she, no doubt, felt that forces emanating from the mother aided in her unfoldment, and continued to have much sway over her in her mental journeyings and operations. she might with much propriety say that her mother made her a witch. and her case shows that the process for producing a witch might be much simpler and much less horrifying than the public in her day had any conception of. indeed, witchification was then, and now is, a growth or unfoldment from god's plantings much more than a manufacture by the devil's or any mother's hands. she saw no devil, no black man--but only her own mother was concerned in making her a witch; and the mother probably made her a witch by processes as natural and legitimate as those by which she had previously made her a child. the girl's power for afflicting was mental; her journeyings and pinchings were mental; and yet, no doubt, her grip was as sensibly felt by the nerves of those whom she pinched as would have been firm graspings of their flesh by her fingers of bones and muscles. it is the spirit only which feels hurts of the body, and a pinched spirit imprints the hurt on the flesh it is animating. this little girl's statements confirm tituba's, and give credibility to the many declarations of the accusing girls that they were pinched, bitten, and tortured by persons whose outer forms were remote from them at the time. we live amid mysteries which one by one are getting revealed as time rolls on. an instructive instance of the warping force of these prevalent beliefs in shaping the diction of the most erudite describers of witchcraft facts, is found in lawson's summary of events, where, when commenting upon testimony like that given by little sarah, he says, "several have _confessed_ against their own mother, that they were instruments to bring them into _the devil's covenant_." but the girl's testimony mentioned a covenant with her mother _alone_, saying that the devil was not there, as she saw. it was lawson, and not the girl, who brought the devil into this case. the same writer further says, "some girls of eight or nine years of age did declare that after they were so betrayed by their mothers to the power of _satan_, they saw _the devil_ go in their _own shapes_ to afflict others." but the statement of sarah is, that she herself went forth and afflicted in her spirit-form, and not that the _devil_ went in her shape. the cultured of that generation had _devil on the brain_ so severely, that they persistently brought him in even where the facts as presented by the witnesses plainly excluded him. richard carrier, eighteen years old, son of thomas and martha, was examined. "have you been in the devil's snare?--yes. "is your brother andrew insnared by the devil's snare?--yes. "how long has your brother been a witch?--near a month. "how long have you been a witch?--not long. "have you joined in afflicting the afflicted persons?--yes. "you helped to hurt timothy swan, did you?--yes. "how long have you been a witch?--about five weeks. "who was in company when you covenanted with the devil?--mrs. bradbury. "did she help you afflict?--yes. "who was at the village meeting when you were there?--goodwife how, goodwife nurse, goodwife wildes, proctor and his wife, mrs. bradbury, and corey's wife. "what did they do there?--eat, and drank wine. "was there a minister there?--no, not as i know of. "from whence had you your wine?--from salem, i think it was. "goodwife oliver there?--yes; i knew her." statements by this witness, and also his probable circumstances and condition, seem worthy of special note. frankness glows on all that he said. he was stating facts, which, in his apprehension, were harmless, and why should he not let them out? he knew, probably, that his mother had all through his life been accustomed to see and act through other than her physical organs, and was conscious that during the last five weeks at least himself had been doing the same. the abilities came unsought into action--were outgrowths from the natures of his mother and himself, and were not crimes. his long familiarity with the ostensible workings of such powers through his mother had shown him that they were neither diabolical nor censurable; and why not admit possession of them, and the acts they produced, whether through himself, his mother, or any one else? neither the mother nor children in that family were afraid of ghostly beings, because able to confer with them intelligibly and sympathetically; and the ready admission by richard that he had aided in hurting timothy swan, and been at a great witch-meeting, where they ate, and also drank wine, was no confession of any crime, but simple statement of facts. he was a medium, and also a frank and truthful witness. he granted that he had been in the devil's snare. how much did this import? he and his brother andrew both had been caught in it--one about four, and the other five, weeks prior to his statement. as certain atmospheric and other physical conditions often produce epidemic or wide-spread physical health or disease either, and certain public mental and moral states often act powerfully upon many minds, the great public excitement engendered by the arrest and prosecution of witches may well be deemed adequate to have unfolded latent mediumistic susceptibilities very widely; and it is not surprising that the children of a martha carrier should have such susceptibilities suddenly brought to their own cognizance, nor that they should as suddenly become well-fledged clairvoyants competent to wing their way widely and rapidly in the airs of a world in which spirits dwell; nor that they should be psychologized by spirit beings, and made to take part in any work, malignant or benevolent, which their controllers were bent upon executing. by being caught in the devil's snare, they probably meant neither more nor less than that they became mediums. all conditions like theirs the public was charging the devil with producing, and the young carriers assented to that being done in their own case. most things not of the earth, earthy, were then charged to the devil; and the mental powers of these children were not competent to show that their slippings out from their hampering bodies were effected without his aid. frequent mention occurs of witch-meetings at salem village, on the green, or the minister's pasture, near deacon ingersoll's. if any accused one had been seen in the company of assembled witches there, the fact was excessively damaging. richard carrier acknowledged having been there, and freely mentioned what persons were in the assemblage--but did not see a minister. the records have not led us to suppose that mrs. carrier ever stood very high in public estimation. it is not improbable that influences from outside of her had often, during the forty years through which she had experienced them, made her life eccentric, and many of her actions mysterious. even the aged and charitable francis dane said, "that there was a suspicion of goodwife carrier among some of us before she was apprehended, i know; as for any other persons, i had no suspicion of them." we must infer from that statement that she was noted for some peculiarities which were not universally regarded with favor; suspicions hung around her. she was accused by one of causing grievous sores in himself, of sickening his cattle, and working many injuries; by others also of hurting and bewitching them, and of having attended a witch-meeting. the accusing girls, as seen above, were most excessively agonized when in court with her. she may justly be regarded, we think, as being socially among the lower class of persons then accused; and yet we have met with nothing which will justify an inference that she was altogether unworthy of esteem, or even that she was emphatically bad in any respect. mather called her _rampant hag_, and hence much of christendom has been influenced to contemplate her with aversion. but whatever may have been her character, the sufferings of herself and family draw forth our sympathies. if she said she had been a witch forty years, she meant only that for "forty years" she had been conscious of the ongoing of occult processes within and around herself. we doubt whether she applied the word _witch_ to herself, but can readily believe that she confessed to such experiences and performances as were in her day often called witchcrafts. that she detailed some experiences to mary walcott, which the latter termed witchcrafts, is highly probable. neither the accused nor the accusers were accustomed to speak of seeing the devil; but it was the black man, or some other defined spirit,--not the devil,--according to their own statements. yet when recorders and reporters undertook to give us either the substance of what was said, or a nearly verbatim report, they generally substituted devil for black man, or for any other unseen occult operator, whatever his, her, or its moral purpose or character. so, too, all specially marvelous works were called witchcrafts. the little carrier children were very instructive witnesses. too young and inexperienced to do otherwise than answer simple questions directly in such language as was common, they show us of to-day, better than do older witnesses, what was probably common application of some terms of very frequent use in descriptions of things marvelous. when by implication charged with being themselves witches, their answers conceded the truth of the charge. one of them, eight years old, said she had been a witch ever since she was six. another, eighteen years old, had been a witch about five weeks, and said that brother andrew had been such "near a month." little did these frank and no doubt truthful young confessors of family and personal experiences deem that they were exposing themselves, and their mother also, to punishment by death. what they confessed to were frequent sights and sounds in their home, which came as naturally and innocently before them as the visits and words of friends and neighbors. community called such matters witchcrafts, and why should not these children do the same? their mental powers were not expanded enough to even entertain the slightest apprehension that what they were saying could imply that they had made a compact with the devil, or that a simple, true statement of their unsought experiences could bring harm to themselves or any one else. equally incompetent were such little ones to comprehend the nature of that devil who existed in the conception of the magistrate when he asked whether the devil had insnared the witness and brother andrew. they, no doubt, held the common notion that any worker whatsoever from realms unseen by the external eye was the devil; and having had experience--at least one of them had--that her own spirit had gone forth from her body and pinched certain persons, she understood that she had performed a part in works which were imputed to the devil. still neither of these children confessed, or could be "insnared" to own, that they had seen _the devil_. they, obviously, and their mother, we do not doubt, often as naturally and innocently beheld spirit forms and scenes, and just as innocently held converse with spirits, as they surveyed the scenes and forms of the outer world, or went in company with embodied people to their congregations in the meeting-house or elsewhere. the words of babes and sucklings, at a witchcraft trial, revealed the existence of finer natural laws and forces, and their operation also, upon and through some human beings, than science then dreamed of, or is yet quite ready to recognize. very much in witchcraft times was charged to the devil which should have been credited to god. the erroneous entry of many heavy items on the great account-books, in the days of the fathers, calls for immense labor and study for their proper and equitable adjustment now. martha carrier and her children were probably posted on the wrong side of the moral ledger when cotton mather labeled her "rampant hag;" and there they have stood ever since. rev. george burroughs. having come to the last of the accused whose case our leading purpose induces us to notice at much length, we present here a specimen of indictment for the crime of witchcraft. "the indictment of george burroughs. essex } _anno regni regis et regin㦠willielmi et_ ss. } _mariã¦. nunc angliã¦, &c., quarto._ "the jurors of our sovereign lord and lady, the king and queen, _present_--that george burroughs, late of falmouth, in the province of massachusetts bay, in new england, clerk, the 9th day of may, in the fourth year of the reign of our sovereign lord and lady, william and mary, by the grace of god, of england, scotland, france and ireland king and queen, defenders of the faith, &c., and divers other days and times, as well before as after, certain detestable arts, called witchcrafts and sorceries, wickedly and feloniously hath used, practiced, and exercised, at and within the township of salem, in the county of essex aforesaid, in, upon, and against one mary walcutt, of salem village, in the county of essex, single woman; by which said wicked arts the said mary walcutt, the 9th day of may, in the fourth year abovesaid, and divers other days and times, as well before as after, was and is tortured, afflicted, pined, consumed, wasted, and tormented, against the peace of our sovereign lord and lady, the king and queen, and against the form of the statute in that case made and provided. "witnesses: mary walcott, sarah vibber, mercy lewis, ann putnam, eliz. hubbard. "indorsed by the grand jury, _billa vera_." three other similar indictments accompanied the above, for witchcrafts practiced by burroughs upon elizabeth hubbard, mercy lewis, and ann putnam severally. s. p. fowler, in the edition of "salem witchcraft" edited by him, says, on page 278,-"the trial of rev. geo. burroughs appears to have attracted general notice from the circumstance of his being a former clergyman in salem village, and supposed to be a leader amongst witches." fowler adds, that-"dr. cotton mather says he was not present at any of the trials for witchcraft; how he could keep away from that of burroughs we cannot imagine. his father, dr. increase mather, informs us that he attended this single trial, and says, 'had i been one of george burroughs's judges, i could not have acquitted him, for several persons did upon oath testify that they saw him do such things as no man that had not a devil to be his familiar could perform.' "burroughs was apprehended in wells, in maine; so say his children. they also inform us that he was buried by his friends, after the inhuman treatment of his body from the hands of his executioners at gallows hill, in salem. "he is represented as being a small, black-haired dark-complexioned man, of quick passions and great strength. his power of muscle, which discovered itself early when burroughs was a member of cambridge college, and which we notice in the slight rebutting evidence offered by his friends at his trial, convinces us that he lifted the gun, and the barrel of molasses, by the power of his own well-strung muscles, and not by any help from the devil, as was supposed by the mathers, both father and son. alas, that a man's own strong arm should prove his ruin!" we shall show shortly that this commentator here overlooked an important point. burroughs himself made statement, in his own defense, that an indian stood by and lifted the gun; therefore the chief question is not whether burroughs was himself strong enough to lift it as alleged, but whether he told the truth when he said that he had help. the chief question bears upon his veracity, not upon his strength. the mathers believed him on that point. the allegations in the indictment were for witchcrafts invisibly practiced upon members of the famous circle, and not for visible feats of strength. all the girls testified to seeing and suffering from his apparition. also some who confessed to having been _witches_ themselves (for some accused ones were over-persuaded to speak of their own clairvoyant observations and experiences as witchcrafts, and therefore of themselves as witches),--some such testified thus, as mather says (p. 279, _salem witchcraft_). "he was accused by eight of the confessing witches as being head actor at some of their hellish rendezvous, and who had promise of being a king in satan's kingdom now going to be erected; he was accused by nine persons for extraordinary liftings, ... and for other things, ... until about thirty testimonies were brought in against him." mather's account of the witchcraft at salem was drawn up at the request of william phips, then governor of the province; and two prominent judges at the trials indorsed it as follows:- "the reverend and worthy author having, at the direction of his excellency the governor, so far obliged the public as to give some account of the sufferings brought upon the country by witchcrafts, and of the trials which have passed upon several executed for the same: "upon perusal thereof, _we find the matters of fact and evidence truly reported_, and a prospect given of the methods of conviction used in the proceedings of the court at salem. "boston, oct. 11, 1692. "william stoughton, "samuel sewall." manifestation of one class of phenomena presented at those trials has not been noticed in the preceding pages; viz., the appearance of the spirits of particular departed ones to many of the accusing girls. it is obviously true that those clairvoyants were very much oftener beholders of the spirits of those still dwelling in mortal forms than of those who had escaped from thralldom to the flesh. still there were then some cases in which the spirits of some who had been known in that vicinity, and whose bodies were moldering beneath its soil, were both seen and heard. among others, two former wives of burroughs were named. mather says (p. 282), "several of the bewitched had given in their testimony that they had been troubled with the apparitions of two women, who said they were g. b.'s two wives; and that he had been the death of them.... now, g. b. had been infamous for the barbarous usage of his two successive wives, all the country over. (p. 286.) ... 'twas testified, that, keeping his two successive wives in _a strange kind of slavery_, he would, when he came home from abroad, pretend to tell the talk which any had with them; that he has brought them to the point of death by his harsh dealings with his wives, and then made people promise that, in case death should happen, they would say nothing of it; that he used all means to make his wives write, sign, seal, and swear to a covenant _never to reveal any of his secrets_; that his wives had privately complained unto the neighbors about _frightly apparitions_ of evil spirits, with which their house was sometimes infested," &c. some of these allegations probably rested on firmer bases of facts than have generally been perceived. though we regard burroughs as having been one of the kindest and best of men, we do not entirely withhold credence from the general import of such allegations regarding him. they point both to extraordinary unfoldments within him, and to probable handlings and control of his outer form at times by some intelligence not his own. "_strange kind of slavery_" would naturally result, in those days, from a husband's telling his wife, on returning to his home, what conversation she had held with others during his absence, _if his statements were true_; but if not true, the wife would only laugh at his pretensions, and make no complaints to neighbors. if both true and oft repeated, such mysterious utterances might well enslave, worry, and bring close to death's door a sensitive wife; and the husband, however affectionate and kind, may at times have been as powerless to shape his course of procedure as is the dried leaf when whirled onward by strong autumnal breezes. acts not his own the world would hold him responsible for; and no wonder that, in his age, a spiritualistically unfolded, an illumined man, and one also whose form might be moved, as was that of agassiz, by will not his own, should strive in all possible ways to prevent wives, and any other people who knew them, from revealing any of his peculiar and marvelous _secrets_; no wonder that he sought to make his wives "write, sign, seal, and swear" never to do it; because the noising abroad of such powers as he possessed, and such performances as were attendant upon him, if publicly known, would be profaned, would destroy his usefulness, and endanger, if not take, his life. thanks that, in our day, danger of a hangman's rope does not threaten one because of his high spiritual illumination. george burroughs was graduated at harvard college in 1670; had been a preacher for many years prior to 1692, and, during some of them, ministered to the people at salem village. but before the outburst of witchcraft there, he had found a home far off to the north-east, on the shores of casco bay, in the province of maine, where he was then humbly and quietly laboring in his profession, but not in impenetrable seclusion. clairvoyants are masters of both seclusion and space to a marvelous extent. throughout a region far, far around, wherever the special light pertaining to the mediumistic or illuminated condition revealed its possessor and put forth its attractions, there the opened inner vision of the accusing girls might make them practically present. emanations from one residing at falmouth or at wells might readily meet and blend with those from sensitives at their home in salem. thought flies fast and far. with equal speed, and quite as far, can the unswathed inner perceptives of an entranced or illumined mortal be attracted. old memories and undissolved psychological attachments may have operated in this case. one of the accusing girls had lived for a time in the family of burroughs while he resided at the village. chains of association are never broken and rendered forever unusable, though they often become exceedingly attenuated, and cease to retain recognition in our ordinary conditions. several of the accusing girls alleged that burroughs was one, and a leading and authoritative one, in the band of apparitional beings from whom their torments came. he was "cried out upon," arrested, tried, condemned, and executed. the opinions of different writers as to the real character and worth of this man have been very diverse. while some have accounted him an hypocritical wizard, others have deemed him a man of beautiful and beneficent life. mather regarded him with aversion, and says, "glad should i have been if i had never known the name of this man." afterward the same author charged burroughs with "tergiversations, contradictions, and falsehoods." sullivan, in his history of maine, says, that "he was a man of bad character, and of a cruel disposition." hutchinson asserted, on insufficient grounds, that when under examination, "he was confounded, and used many twistings and turnings." but fowler says, "all the weight of character enlisted against him fails to counteract the favorable impression made by his christian conduct during his imprisonment, and at the time of his execution." calef says, that, the day before execution, margaret jacobs, who had testified against him, came to the prisoner, acknowledging that she had belied him, and asking his forgiveness; "who not only forgave her, but also _prayed with and for her_." the same adducer of "_facts_" states that, "when upon the ladder, he made a speech for the clearing of his innocency, with such solemn and serious expressions as were to the admiration of all present; his prayer (which he concluded by repeating the lord's prayer) was so well worded, and uttered with such composedness and such (at least seeming) fervency of spirit, as was very affecting, and drew tears from many, so that it seemed to some that the spectators would hinder the execution. _the accusers said the black man stood and dictated to him._ as soon as he was turned off, mr. cotton mather, being mounted upon a horse, addressed himself to the people, partly to declare that he (burroughs) was no ordained minister, and partly to possess the people of his guilt, saying that the devil has often been transformed into an angel of light; and this somewhat appeased the people, and the executions went on." his prayers, and his whole deportment and spirit during these last trying scenes, indicate his possession of a calm, strong soul, which bore him, on the wings of innocence and piety, into a region of serenity which his traducers and murderers were unfited to enter and knew not of. the brief account which upham's researches enabled him to furnish of this man's life prior to the witchcraft mania presents still further evidences of his sterling worth. that author says, "papers on file in the state house prove that in the district of maine, where he lived and preached before and after his settlement at the village, he was regarded with confidence by his neighbors, and looked up to as a friend and counselor.... he was self-denying, generous, and public-spirited, laboring in humility and with zeal in the midst of great privations." land had been granted to him, and when the town asked him to exchange a part of it for other lands, "he freely gave it back, not desiring any land anywhere else, nor anything else in consideration thereof." scanning burroughs as well as accessible knowledge of him now permits, we judge that he was a quiet, peaceful, persistent laborer for the good of his fellow-men,--a humble, trustful, sincere servant of god,--a rare embodiment of the prevailing perceptions, sentiments, virtues, and graces which haloed the form of the nazarene. why did the people of his time take his life? what were the accusations against him? in addition to the testimony that he was felt by many of the girls as a tormenting specter, he was accused of putting forth superhuman physical strength. cotton mather says,-"he was a very puny man, yet he had often done things beyond the strength of a giant. a gun of about seven feet barrel, and so heavy that strong men could not steadily hold it out with both hands, there were several testimonies given in by persons of credit and honor, that he made nothing of taking up such a gun behind the lock with one hand, and holding it out like a pistol, at arm's end. in his vindication he was _foolish enough to say that an indian was there, and held it out at the same time_; whereas, none of the spectators ever saw any such indian; but they _supposed_ the black man (as the witches call the devil, and they generally say he resembles an indian) might have given him that assistance." that paragraph is very instructive. all subsequent historians, beginning back with calef, have mentioned, what is no doubt true, that burroughs was a small man, and yet was constitutionally very strong--was remarkable for physical powers even in his college days; and they have fancied that on that ground they have satisfactorily accounted for his marvelous exploits; they seemingly overlook the fact that it was burroughs himself, and not other people, who said that "an indian," invisible to others, stood by and held the gun out. historians have explained the good and true man's seeming physical feats at the expense of his _veracity_. heaven help the innocent when in the hands of such traducing commentators. the question is not what burroughs could have done unaided, but it is whether _he told truth_ when he said an indian helped him. his whole character and life argue that he would not have spoken as he is alleged to have done, unless he had been conscious of the presence of an indian within or by himself, putting forth, in part at least, the strength which raised and supported that heavy gun. he said that such was the fact. what though all spectators failed to see the indian? it was a disembodied indian--a spirit indian--and therefore necessarily invisible by external eyes. the non-perception of him by other men standing by is no evidence that the spirit indian was not there; for spiritual beings are discernible by the inner or spirit optics alone, and not by the outer; so taught paul. the fact that bystanders supposed the devil helped burroughs, or performed the lifting feat through him, implies that they, as well as he, believed that something more was done than mere human strength accomplished. in the present day, when spirits are very often putting forth strength through forms of flesh which executes performances quite as marvelous as any which were alleged to have been enacted through burroughs, his assertion that a foreign, hidden intelligence worked within and through his form, conjoined with the belief of beholders that some spiritual being was operating therein, any array of facts now, proving, even to perfect demonstration, that the little man was enormously strong, though it may indicate that he did not require foreign aid to lift and hold out the gun, does nothing toward impeaching his own veracity when he said he had help. surely one _can_ have help in the performance of what he could do alone. if any man says he had help in a particular case, his ability to have performed the special feat alone affords no indication that his statement is untrue; and yet the spirit of witchcraft history implies that it does. prove burroughs to have been constitutionally as strong as the strongest mortal that ever lived,--yes, as strong as the strongest of all created beings,--ay, as strong as the omnipotent one himself, and even then you have done nothing which shows or tends to show that another intelligent worker may not have co-operated with him in the performance of marvelous feats. we say again that the question raised by his statement is not whether he, in and of himself, was competent to his seeming feats, but it is whether an indian spirit did or did not help him. burroughs says he had help from such a one. bystanders supposed that the devil helped him; but he who sensed the helper's presence called him an indian; and he was a much more trustworthy testifier as to that helper's proper classification in the scale of being, than a combined world of men devoid of spirit-vision, putting forth only their inferences regarding an unseen personage. imputation of this man's liftings to his constitutional strength solely is an imputation of false testimony to the truthful man himself, and historic arguments, if valid, make him a liar. who helped the little clergyman lift and hold the heavy gun? he says it was "_an indian_." but mather says, "none of the spectators ever saw any such indian; but they _supposed the black man_ (as the witches call the _devil_, and they generally say he _resembles an indian_) might have given him that assistance." that sentence illumines many a dark spot in our ancient witchcraft. the witches, or clairvoyants, whether accusers or accused, were not accustomed to speak of seeing _the devil_. it is fairly questionable whether any one among them ever spoke of seeing _the devil_, or of having any interview with _him_, or knowledge of _him_ obtained by personal observation. it was _man_ whom they saw. they spoke of the black _man_. mather says that was their name for _the devil_. we doubt it. what they saw failed to present a semblance of cloven-foot, with horns, tail, and hoofs, and did not suggest to them an idea of _the devil_. the substitution of devil for black man, or the regarding the two as synonymous, was mather's work, and not that of the clairvoyants. and who was _the black man_? mather informs us that those whose optics could see him "generally say he _resembles an indian_." if he resembled an indian, is not the inference very fair that he was an indian? yes. "black man" obviously was applied by clairvoyants to designate any indian spirit, and spirits of human beings probably were the only spirits whom their inner vision ever beheld. thanks to you, mather, for recording that explanatory sentence. the devil you fought against was your brother man--was earth-born--and when seen and conferred with not very formidable. your clairvoyants, or witches, saw and heard occult men, women, children, beasts, and birds, but never spoke of seeing your ecclesiastical devil. the human beings whom they beheld varied in size from little children to tall men, and in complexion from black to white--even up to glorious brightness. your informants never used the word _devil_ in their descriptions. you misreported them, as cheever did tituba; calef followed your lead, and subsequent historians have copied from both you and him. you also state that burroughs was "_foolish_ enough to say that an indian" helped him. was it foolish in him to state the truth? your own witnesses en masse say his helper _resembled_ an indian--he said the assistant _was_ an indian. why didn't you take the words of your own witnesses as corroborative of the man's statement? they surely were so, and they give us a true presentation of the case. the reason of your course is obvious; the creed of your times deemed any spirit visitant or helper to be the devil himself. a subsequent charge against "g. b." (george burroughs) was, that "when they" (the accusing girls) "cried out of g. b. biting them, the print of his teeth would be seen on the flesh of the complainers; and just such a set of teeth as g. b.'s would then appear upon them." as in the case of little dorcas good, here we have it charged that indentations on the flesh of complainants corresponded to the size and shape of the teeth belonging to the person who was accused of biting. if g. b.'s spirit-form or apparition was made to approach and bite the accusers,--and it probably was,--his spirit-teeth would naturally, and, as we apprehend, necessarily have the exact size and form of his external ones. another charge is embraced in the following quotation:-"his wives" (he had buried two) "had privately complained unto the neighbors about frightly apparitions of evil spirits with which their house was sometimes infested; and many such things had been whispered among the neighborhood." we have previously quoted but did not comment upon the above which relates to the appearance of apparitions. that statement may as well indicate that the wives themselves, or any other persons resident in his house, were the attracting or helping instrumentalities for producing the "frightly" sights, as that burroughs himself was, provided only that some one or more of them were mediumistic. but the probabilities are, that the elements emanated from him which rendered such presentations practicable. his telling the purport of talks held in the house during his absence indicates that his inner ears were opened to catch either the spirit of mundane sounds, or sounds made by spirits, as could those of margaret jones, ann hibbins, joan of arc, and many others. the same power in him is indicated in the following extract:-"one mr. ruck, brother-in-law to this g. b., testified that g. b., and he himself, and his sister, g. b.'s wife, going out for two or three miles to gather strawberries, ruck, with his sister, the wife of g. b., rode home very softly" (slowly) "with g. b. on foot in their company. g. b. stepped aside a little into the bushes. whereupon they halted and hollowed for him. he not answering, they went homewards with a quickened pace without any expectation of seeing him in a considerable while. and yet, when they were got near home, to their astonishment they found him on foot with them, having a basket of strawberries. (philip was found at azotus.) g. b. immediately then fell to chiding his wife on account of what she had been speaking to her brother of him on the road. which when they wondered at, he said he _knew their thoughts_. ruck, being startled at that, made some reply, intimating that the devil himself did not know so far; but g. b. answered, my god makes known your thoughts unto me." true and luminous fact! the humble, pious, intelligent, illumined burroughs, far-looker into the realm of causes--an observer of things behind the vail which bounds the reach of mortal senses and pure reason--stated that _god_--not the devil--made known to him the thoughts of other and absent people. in other words, his intended meaning probably was, that god's worlds and laws provide for legitimate inflowings, to some minds, of knowledge of the thoughts and purposes of other minds, even though far distant in space. the character, or rather the actual qualities of this man, if we read him correctly, were truthfulness, humility, and piety. when such a one deliberately said to a brother-in-law, under such circumstances as stated above, "_my god makes known your thoughts unto me_," he indicated his consciousness of possessing self-experienced knowledge of the existence of an instructive and momentous fact pertaining to human capabilities. only few persons, relatively, have had proof by personal experience of the extent to which the inner perceptives of embodied mortals may reach forth and imbibe knowledge by processes common to freed spirits, and in the realms of their abode. what the unfoldings of burroughs permitted him to do and know is possible with many others while resident in mortal forms. if he could, some others may, come into that condition in which thought itself shall be heard speaking itself out to them, in which they shall be listeners to "_cogitatio loquens_"--self-speaking thought--which swedenborg says abounds in spirit spheres; in which thought from supernal fonts shall make itself known to the consciousness of an embodied man, and become matter of knowledge with him. others, and more in number, may have the inner ear opened and hear the words of spirits. with ears competently attuned, the meek and truth-loving burroughs was occasionally able to receive not only knowledge of the thoughts of mortals in ways unusual, but also, as we judge, to receive spiritual truths copiously from purer fountains than his cotemporaries generally could get access to; and he thence obtained such truths as relaxed in him many credal bonds which firmly held most of his cotemporary preachers to the creeds, forms, ordinances, and customs common in the churches then. many questions put to him at his trial were, obviously, designed to draw forth evidence of his lax regard for and inattention to the accepted ordinances of religion. he admitted both that it was long since he had sat at the communion table, and that some of his own children had not been baptized. we presume that he was inwardly, wisely, and beneficently prompted to walk somewhat astray from the narrow and soul-cramping paths then trod by most new england clergymen. the spirit of the lord was giving him more liberty than most of his cotemporaries felt privileged to exercise. using his greater facilities than theirs for instruction in heavenly things, he probably advanced far beyond his brethren generally in sinking the _letter_, that is, sinking the forms, and ceremonies, and ordinances of religion beneath its divine spirit, and his less illumined brethren suspected him of an abandonment of religion itself, and of alliance with the great enemy of all goodness. some among them apparently looked upon him as a combined heretic and wizard, withheld all sympathy from, and exulted over the doom of, this double culprit. but this victim may have been, and probably was, as high above most of his crucifiers as freedom is above bondage, as the spirit above the letter, as light above darkness, as sincerity above hypocrisy. the blood of such as martha corey, rebecca nurse, mary easty, george burroughs, and probably many others who in company with these took their exit from life shrouded in witchcraft's blackening mists, may go far toward making gallows hill a mount calvary--a spot on which zeal urged on the worse to crucify their betters in true godliness--betters in all that fits immortal souls for gladdening welcome into realms above. summary. 1648. margaret jones manifested startling efficacy of hands and medicines, consternating keenness of perceptives, predictions subsequently verified, and the presence of a vanishing child. such was her witchcraft; and for this she was executed. 1656. ann hibbins comprehended conversation between persons too distant from her to be heard normally, ... and was hanged. 1662. ann cole had her form possessed and spoken through by either the devil or other disembodied ones, and by them made both to express thoughts that never were in her mind, and to further the conviction and execution of the greensmiths. 1671-2. elizabeth knap's external form was strangely convulsed and agonized by an old man, and also spoken through by one who called himself a pretty black boy. 1680. william morse, in his home, where lived his good wife, who had been called a witch, saw pots, andirons, tools, and household furniture generally, seem to take on wills of their own, and rudely play many a lively gymnastic game. 1688. john goodwin saw four of his children subjected and tortured immediately subsequent to the scolding of one of them by a wild irish woman; and the same one afterward was made to play the deuce in cotton mather's own house. mrs. glover was hanged for bewitching; and also she _continued to torture the same children after her spirit had left its outer form_. the above cases occurred prior to the holding of "the circle" at salem, before the establishment of a school at which the arts of "necromancy, magic, and spiritualism" might be learned. generally the performers named thus far had no visible confederates. if sole actors, their geniuses were vast, and the fonts of malice or of benevolence in some of them were both very capacious and copiously overflowing. 1692. tituba, the slave, avowed having been forced by something like a man, and his four female spectral aids, to pinch the two little girls in her master's family at the very time when they were first mysteriously afflicted. she furnished strong evidence that a tall man with white hair and serge coat, invisibly to others, frequently visited her, compelled her aid, and kindled and long kept adding fuel to the fires of witchcraft at salem village. for this she was imprisoned thirteen months, and then sold to pay her jail fees. sarah good was seen as a specter, was accused of hurting by occult organs and processes; became invisible by those standing guard over her; announced to the magistrates the great explanatory fact that none but the accusers and the accused, that is, none but clairvoyants, could see the actual inflictors of the pains endured. also she fore-sensed a fact that occurred when mr. noyes died in an after year. she was hanged. dorcas good, not five years old, was big enough to have her specter seen, to have her spirit-teeth bite, and also to see clairvoyantly. the little witch was sent to jail. sarah osburn was sighted by the inner optics of the accused, and she heard voices from out the unseen. this feeble one was sent to jail, and soon died there. martha corey was charged with afflicting; also she avowed heresy pertaining to witchcraft. though interiorly illumined far beyond her accusers and judges, and enabled to smile amid their frowns, she was executed. giles corey, seen as a specter, and accused of harming many, would make no plea to his indictment. pressure, applied for forcing out a plea, extorted only his call for "more weight, more weight,"--and his life went out. rebecca nurse, venerable matron, daughter of a mother who had been called a witch, and conscious of personal liability to then prevalent fits, was seen by, and accused of hurting, members of the circle. therefore she must be hanged--though jury first acquitted, and then, under rebuke, called her guilty; and though governor pardoned, and then revoked his clement act. fealty to witchcraft creed in that case triumphed, though nearly defeated twice. mary easty, noble woman, sister of the above, and daughter of the same witch-blooded mother, once arrested and discharged, and then re-arrested, because seen by inner eyes and accused of bewitching, rose sublimely above thoughts of self and dread of death, and appealed to the magistrates, in clear, strong, and forceful language, to change their course of procedure, to spare the innocent, and become wisely humane. susanna martin, spectrally seen, and a reputed witch during more than a score of years, bravely faced the dangers besetting an accused one, was self-possessed before the magistrates, was spicy, shrewd, and keen in her answers to their questions, but failed to descend to confession, and died on gallows hill. martha carrier, having been a clear seer for forty years, and long visible by others similarly unfolded, was brave, self-possessed, and ready with pointed retort. because hard to subdue, accusations came thick and heavy upon her from "the circle" almost _en masse_, and she too was doomed to mount the ladder. sarah carrier, daughter of the above, eight years old, stated instructive facts in her experience as a clairvoyant, and notably said that her own _spirit_ could go forth to others and hurt them; also that her mother's was the only spirit with which she entered into the compact that made her a witch. rev. george burroughs, sometimes supernally strong physically, because, as himself asserted, an indian, invisible by others, helped him; able, by god's help as he claimed, to read his brother's thoughts; a freer and less formal religionist than most clergymen of his day, because of his high spiritual illumination; a humble but beneficent christian--was, like his exemplar, made to yield up life at the call of such as cried, "crucify him! crucify him!" if he was luminous, and spoke like an angel of light in the hour of his departure, he was not satan transformed, but george burroughs unvailing his genuine self. 1693. margaret rule, the first of afflicted ones noticed in our pages, endured her strange experiences last. the evening before her fits came on she had been bitterly treated and threatened by an old woman whose curings of hurts had put her under suspicions of witchcrafts. margaret was not a graduate from the salem school, but was self-taught, if taught at all; and yet she saw many specters--saw, in the night, a young man in danger of drowning who was miles away from her; was lifted from her bed to the ceiling above in horizontal position by invisible beings; fasted nine days without pining; and saw and heard one bright and glorious visitant who comforted and heartened her much. she under the special watch and care of cotton mather, was held back, mainly perhaps by his advice, from any divulgences which should endanger the lives of others. no blood was shed because of her afflictions. twenty persons were put to death in essex county, by the direct action of government officials, between june 9 and september 23, 1692. nearly or quite two hundred were accused, arrested, imprisoned, and many more than the executed twenty were convicted. numerous arrested ones perished under the hardships of prison life and gnawings of mental anxieties. others had health, spirits, domestic ties, and worldly possessions shattered to pieces, and the condition of their subsequent lives made most forlorn and wretched. neither tongue nor pen can possibly tell their tale in its fullness of horrors. most excessively frenzying and woeful must have been the privations, sufferings, heart-wrenchings, agonies of nearly all the scattered residents of the then wooded region at and round about salem village, when christendom's mighty and malignant witchcraft devil was believed to be prowling and fiercely slaughtering in their midst. no blood, nor any other mark, on the door-posts would effectually warn the fell destroyer to pass by and leave the occupants within unscathed. mysterious and fearful dangers flocked above, below, around, before, and behind: they lurked here, there, and everywhere continually, so that none could ever be at ease. and now we ask, whether common sense admits that such credulity and infatuation ever pervaded any hardy, energetic, and intelligent community, in any county of massachusetts or new england, in any age, as that girls and old women, aided by a very few insignificant men, however bright, cunning, roguish, playful, self-conceited, greedy of notice, or resentful and malicious the leaders might be, could possibly so perform as to induce rev. mr. whiting, samuel willard, william morse, cotton mather, deodat lawson, samuel parris, rev. mr. hale, and scores upon scores of other intelligent, sagacious, and leading men, to present to the public, in writing, such narratives as they did, and to essentially vouch for their own belief in the positive occurrence of such "amazing feats" as they described? we ask also, whether such frail enactors as a band of mere girls and a few women must have been, could possibly devise and manifest such tricks, and put forth such accusations, from any motives whatsoever, as would cause the leading minds throughout a large section of the state to regard the accused ones as allies of beings rising up from regions of darkness, and making malignant and most baneful onslaught upon the children of god and christ, and upon the families and possessions of men, in such numbers and with such force, that the civil power of the land was urged and helped to put the gallows in use upon every one whose specter was said to be seen and to torment? the amazing feats are well attested. the more amazing deviltries both of the accusers and of courts and executives, no one can doubt, if all the feats were offspring of mere juvenile and senile cunning, fraud, and malice. in the cases of margaret jones, ann cole, elizabeth knap, john stiles, and martha goodwin each, there is distinct mention of the presence, the speech, or the action of some spirit. we found tituba distinctly stating that she saw, heard, and was made to help a nocturnal visitant whose doings indicate that he was the originator of the vast salem tragedy: that visitant was a spirit. mr. burroughs said, in explanation of his feats of strength, that an indian, invisible by others, was his helper. margaret rule, as had mercy lewis the year before, saw, and each was infilled with bliss by, a most glorious bright spirit. in our own day, in every city, town, and hamlet of our land, as well as on the opposite shore of the atlantic, spirits are widely recognized as the authors of performances alike strange and amazing in themselves, as those described in the seventeenth century, which are there called witchcrafts. the primitive records of american witchcrafts show that portions of it, and especially that salem witchcraft feats, were devised in supermundane brains, and enacted under their supervision. the confessors. when persons arraigned for specific offences plead guilty, their pleas generally are deemed conclusive evidence that the accused have performed the special deeds set forth in the allegations. many of the accused in witchcraft times made statements which have ever since been called _confessions_. inference from that has long been general and wide-spread, that nearly such witchcraft as the creed of our fathers specified had positive manifestation in their day. but we seriously doubt whether any record of statements made by an accused one exhibits distinct admission that he or she had entered into covenant with that devil which one must have been in league with to become such a witch or wizard as the laws against witchcraft were intended to arrest. such confessions as were recorded may have been true in the main, but they fall short of confessions of the special crime alleged; they amount to little, if anything, more than admissions and statements that the confessors had seen, been influenced by, and had acted in company with apparitions or spirits all of whom were of earthly origin, and were members of the _human_ family; they confessed only to being, or to having been at times, clairvoyants. the circumstances under which even such confessions were generally made, need to be carefully viewed before just estimate can be placed upon the worth and significance of the recorded statements. hutchinson supposed that "those who were condemned and not executed, all confessed their guilt," ... and that "the most effectual way to prevent an accusation" (of one's self) "was to become an accuser." strange--strange--and yet obviously true. an accused one, then, could look for escape from death--the legal penalty of witchcraft--only by pleading guilty to the charge. confession of guilt, and nothing else, then, purchased exemption from capital punishment. this becoming obvious, all natural instincts for preservation of one's life, and all possible entreaties, urgings, and commands of friends and relatives, forcibly tended to extort confession even from the innocent. husband or wife, children, parents, brothers, sisters, and trusted advisers, often all conspired in urging an accused one to plead guilty--yes, even a condemned one, for that plea was as efficacious after conviction and sentence as before. it is said that many did confess. confessed to what? never to having made a covenant with the great witchcraft devil nor any formidable imp of his, but generally to clairvoyant visions, to mental meetings with the specters of friends, neighbors, and other embodied mortals, and to some compacts and co-operative labors with such personages,--_never with the devil_. they did not confess to witchcraft itself _as then defined_. the clear-headed mary easty besought the magistrates "to try some of the confessing witches, i being confident there is several of them has belied themselves and others." her clear and calm brain perceived the broad distinction existing between clairvoyance and witchcraft. so, too, did martha and giles corey, jacobs, proctor, susanna martin, george burroughs, and others; these, and such as these, did not confess, while many weaker and more ignorant ones did. little sarah carrier, only eight years old, whose testimony we adduced in part, when presenting the case of her mother, throws much light upon some _confessions_ of that day. _simon willard_, who wrote out and attested to "the substance" of her statements, heads his record, "sarah carrier's _confession_, august 11th." the girl's confession? no; it was simply a frank statement of facts in her own experience, which lets us know that when she was about six years old her own mother made her a witch, and baptized her. but "the devil, or black man, was not there, as she saw," when she was made a witch. she afflicted folks by pinching them; went to those whom she afflicted; but went only "_in her spirit_." her mother was the only devil who bewitched her, and the only being whom her baptism bound her to serve. such was her witchcraft. that plain statement is refreshing and valuable. it shows that when about six years old this mediumistic girl had become so developed that her spirit could commune with her mother's, independently of their bodies. she then became a conscious clairvoyant, and could trace felt influences, issuing from her mother, back to their source. thenceforth mother and daughter could conjointly place themselves on the green at salem village, ten miles off, or in any pasture or any house whither thought might lead them. the mother's stronger mind had but to wish, and the child must go with her and do her bidding; and when the two were in rapport, any stronger spirit controlling the mother could make the child co-operative in pinchings or any other inflictions of pains. because the little girl had set her hand to a red book presented by her own mother, and thus, by implication, bound herself to be obedient to that mother, her statement of the fact was labeled _a confession_ of witchcraft, and deemed damaging to her mother. three or four other children of mrs. carrier were able to sense spirit scenes. her home was a domestic school of prophets, and her own children were apt pupils in it. her moral character and influence do not here concern us. abigail faulkner was condemned, and two of her children, "dorothy ten, and abigail eight years old, testified that their mother appeared and made them witches." that mother was daughter of rev. francis dane of andover, some of whose other children and grandchildren were accused, which suggests, though it fails to prove, that much medianimic susceptibility was imparted through either him or his wife, or both, to their offspring. his descendants attracted the notice of clairvoyants. hutchinson states that mr. dane himself "is _tenderly_ touched in several of the examinations, which" (the tenderness?) "might be owing to a fair character; and he may be one of the persons accused who" (the accusation of whom) "caused a discouragement to further prosecutions." "he," being then "near fourscore, seems to have been in danger." internal luminosity and copious radiations from their interior forms probably rendered rev. mr. dane, rev. samuel willard, mrs. hale, wife of the minister at beverly, mrs. phips, wife of the governor, and many others of high character or standing, visible by mediumistic optics, and presentible apparitionally where spirits were wont to congregate, consult and manipulate instruments for acting out--not for learning--the "wonders of necromancy, magic, and spiritualism." witch meetings, as they were called, or congregated spirits or apparitions on the green, or in the pasture of the minister at salem village, are mentioned more frequently and with more particularity and concordant specifications, than would naturally be looked for if they had no basis on fact. that spirits in vast crowds have more than once been seen in modern times by a seer looking up from high rock in lynn, can be learned by perusal of a. j. davis's visions there. but he was the observer of departed ones only, while the apparent personages at witch meetings of old were partly either the spirits of embodied persons or their apparitions. the fact of apparitions being present thereat in those days proved the persons themselves apparitionally seen to be the devil's allies. some confessors of witchcraft intended to verify the truth of their statements by describing whom they had seen, and what they had observed at such meetings. and it is not without interest that some people now read confessions like the following from ann foster of andover, viz.: "that she was at the meeting of the witches at salem village when about twenty-five were present; that goody carrier came and told her of the meeting and would have her go, and so they got upon sticks and went the said journey, and being there did see mr. burroughs the minister, who spake to them all;... that they were presently at the village," when they rode on the "stick or pole"; and that she heard some of the witches say that there were three hundred and five in the whole country, and that they would ruin that place--the village. also that there was present at that meeting two men besides mr. burroughs, the minister, and _one of them had gray hair_. not without interest are such things read, because they prompt to fancyings of things possible in an unseen sphere which hangs over and enfolds all mortals. could ann foster's gray-haired man have been tituba's white-haired visitant--the originator and enactor of salem witchcraft? who knows? could not he and such as he have searched out and numbered many persons in the land who were adapted to be facile instruments for his use, and found three hundred and five in all? had not his will power to call instantly together, that is, to arrest and concentrate the attention of as many of them as were at the moment impressible by him, either directly or through other plastic mortals, from any part of the region between the penobscot and the hudson, or even further, and thus collect a band, that is, arrest and fix the attention, of twenty-five of them, more or less, to whom inklings of his plans for the future might be given, and whose relative rank, efficiency, or importance could be foreshadowed? through either unconscious apparitions or conscious spirits of mortals, or of both classes commingled, might he not enact scenes which it pleased him to have certain witnesses behold, and to proclaim, so far as he judged best, his purposes, his doctrines, or aught else it should be his pleasure to divulge or enforce? possibly. those witch meetings may have been much more than mere fictions. we will look now at other and quite different confessions, or rather at what reputed confessors afterward said in explanation and defense of their own admissions. six well-esteemed women of andover conjointly subscribed to the following account:- "we were all seized, as prisoners, by a warrant from the justice of the peace, and forthwith carried to salem. and, by reason of that sudden surprisal, we, knowing ourselves innocent of the crime, were all exceedingly astonished and amazed, and consternated and affrighted even out of our reason. and our nearest and dearest relations, seeing us in that dreadful condition, and knowing our great danger, apprehended there was no other way to save our lives, as the case was then circumstanced, but by our confessing ourselves to be such and such persons as the afflicted represented us to be: they" (our friends), "out of tenderness and pity, persuaded us to confess what we did confess. and indeed that confession, that it is said we made, was no other than what was suggested to us by gentlemen, they telling us that we were witches, and they knew it and we knew it, which made us think that it was so; and our understandings, our reason, our faculties almost gone, we were not capable of judging of our condition; as also the hard measures they took with us rendered us incapable of making our defense; but said anything and everything which they desired, and most of what we said was but, in effect, a consenting to what they said. some time after, when we were better composed, they telling us what we had confessed, we did profess that we were innocent and ignorant of such things.... "mary osgood, abigail barker, mary tiler, sarah wilson, deliverance dane, hannah tiler." that document no doubt describes very accurately the mental condition and pressing circumstances under which a very large number of the confessions were made. there existed some cases, however, which differed from the above. samuel wardwell, represented in some accounts as insane, confessed, and afterward recalled his confession, and was executed. margaret jacobs, perhaps under pressure and bewilderment as great as those attendant upon the andover women, made confession, in which she accused both her grandfather and mr. burroughs; but compunctions of conscience forthwith came over her, and she most fully and humbly recalled her confession, choosing rather to die on the gallows than not to confess and repent before the god of truth. the accusing girls. one more case--not of an accused one, but of a chief accuser, ann putnam, the younger--merits careful attention. she was only twelve years old in 1692; but was the eldest child in a family of at least nine children, both of whose parents died while they were all young; and this eldest continued to live at the homestead, caring for the younger ones, during many years. in august, 1706, fourteen years subsequent to the scenes in which she was eminently conspicuous, she made the following confession before the church, and thereupon was admitted to membership in it. "the confession of anne putnam, when she was received to communion, 1706. "i desire to be humble before god for that sad and humbling providence that befell my father's family in the year about '92; that i, then being in my childhood, should by such a providence of god _be made an instrument_ for the accusing of several persons of a grievous crime, whereby their lives were taken away from them, whom now i have just grounds and good reason to believe were innocent persons; and that it was a great delusion of satan that deceived me in that sad time; whereby i justly fear i have been instrumental, with others, _though ignorantly and unwillingly_, to bring upon myself and this land the guilt of innocent blood. though what was said or done by me against any person i can truly and uprightly say, before god and man, i did it _not out of any anger, malice, or ill-will to any person_, for i had no such thing against one of them; but what i did was ignorantly, being deluded by satan. and particularly as i was a chief _instrument_ of accusing goodwife nurse and her two sisters, i desire to lie in the dust, and to be humbled for it, in that i was a cause, with others, of so sad a calamity to them and their families; for which cause i desire to lie in the dust, and earnestly beg forgiveness of god, and from all those unto whom i have given just cause of sorrow and offense, whose relations were taken away or accused. (signed) anne putnam. "this confession was read before the congregation, together with her relation, august 25, 1706; and she acknowledged it. "j. green, _pastor_." in that confession she speaks very pointedly of herself as having been used as an _instrument_. any mortal may perhaps properly do so in relation to each and every act performed. but her history induces inquiry whether ann was not very strictly an instrument; whether her own will, or whether some other intelligent being's will, used her lips when they put forth accusations of witchcraft. the latter may have been possible; for once, while we were in conversation with a lady who applied disparaging remarks to particular gentleman who was a prominent medium, we, in reply, expressed our belief that the doings which annoyed her were not the man's voluntary acts, and also that his consciousness that such deeds were alleged by truthful and trustworthy persons to have actually been performed through his physical organism made the acts even more grievous to him than to any one of his acquaintances. she doubted, while we maintained, the possibility of one's mortal form being thus subjected to a will outside of itself. not many minutes had elapsed--not much argument having been presented on either side--before her own lips were set in use for putting forth a warm defense of victoria c. woodhull, a person upon whom our colloquist looked, and of whom she was accustomed to speak, with very decided disapprobation. she was a conscious listener to the words that rolled from her own lips, and experience taught her that our defense of the censured man might be admissible; for, in spite of herself, her own lips were made to bless whom her sentiments were inclining her to curse. baalam _could_ not curse whom his lord did not. that lady is a _conscious_ medium--conscious that her physical organs, without her consent, and in spite of her resistance, are sometimes temporarily borrowed and used by an intelligence outside of herself. as such she is representative of many others. of course, in these days, she is so informed as to see that actions and words of spirits are imputed to her as being her own because performed by use of her organs, while they are, in fact, no more hers than are the acts and utterances of her neighbors. but we doubt much whether any one in 1692 or 1706 had attained to knowledge that some human forms could be thus filchable and usable; no ground had then been discovered on which one could stand and credibly say, "though my own lips spake thus and so, another's will put forth the utterances in spite of me." firm ground for that has now been found; it is not a new formation, but existed, though then unknown, in 1692. ann putnam's form may have been used by another's will in each and all of her imputed accusations for witchcraft, and she, as far as then concerned, have been absolutely a will-less _instrument_. there are other classes of mediums. we call to mind at this instant four ladies, all of them respectable and excellent, whom we know and have known for years, whose lips often give utterance to facts, opinions, and beliefs while the ladies are absolutely unconscious; and sayings then which seem to be theirs are often wide at variance with what either their knowledge or their sense of right and truth would permit their own wills to announce. these are _unconscious_ mediums; not responsible for, because absolutely ignorant of, what their physical forms are being made to say and do. these persons are representatives of a large class of good mediums. one phrase in ann putnam's confession indicates to us that she probably belonged to the mediumistic class here presented. she had been, years before, as she says, an _instrument_ not only ignorant, but _unwitting_. in childhood, ann was brightest among the bright; and, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, it is fair to presume that when reaching the age of twenty-six she was an intelligent woman, capable of knowing the fair import of any statements to which she gave deliberate and solemn assent. we apprehend that her confession was drawn up very carefully, and in consultation with her intelligent and excellent pastor, rev. mr. green; also that every word of it was carefully weighed. she seems then to have been stretching forth a hand soliciting acceptance and friendly grasp by representatives of some whose blood had been shed because of accusations from her lips; and we feel forced to presume that then she was in mental and affectional moods which would make it her duty and her choice to take upon herself all the blame for her share in the witchcraft transactions which facts and truth could possibly permit. her confession is special. it all pertains to her _instrumental_ share in accusing innocent persons of what was then deemed grievous crime, and thus in bringing them to death upon the gallows. her declaration is as distinct as words can make it, that the doings through her were "not out of any anger, malice, or ill-will to any person" on her part; and this renders upham's supposition, that family, neighborhood, and sectional quarrels, disputes, rivalries, &c., were motives in her, very improbable. also her statement is very distinct, that whatever she did in that respect was done, so far as she was concerned, both "_ignorantly_ and _unwittingly_." we are aware that those two words are sometimes used synonymously, or very nearly so. but when the first occurs in a carefully constructed sentence, the other, if added, should be deemed to have been inserted for the special purpose of expressing something beyond what the first usually imports. the whole had not been told when she had said she acted ignorantly. to express the remainder, she added--_unwittingly_. when that word was thus applied, she cannot fairly be supposed to have meant less than that she acted _unknowingly_--that is, without either knowledge or consciousness that she did thus act. an _unwitting_ instrument--an instrument not knowing that it was being used--enfolds within itself a silent but most potent plea for the world's lenient regards. when consciousness has taken no cognizance of acts performed by the tongue or the hand,--when memory can find no record of them, compunction cannot gnaw deeply, nor conscience be a stern accuser. often conscience may be at peace, and god may approve, where man blames. testimony from without may force mental conviction that one's lips and limbs must have been used in doing excessive harm, though consciousness of the fact be entirely wanting. conviction even thus generated will naturally and almost necessarily create apprehension that the world is regarding the owner of those lips and limbs as having been guilty of very great crimes. that apprehension may create sadness over all one's subsequent days. public opinion bridles the tongue then; for a denial of guilt, however honest and true, can receive no credence where external senses have perceived knowledge to the contrary. ann's relations to society may necessarily have been saddening during many years, even though she of herself had done nothing offensive either to her own conscience or to god. imagination can scarcely picture the sadness which must have come upon the accusing girls when, a year or two later, public opinion and favor, which at first buoyed them up and favored such use of their organisms as has been depicted, began to turn against them and to brand them as murderers of the innocent and good. we have no means to trace many of them through their subsequent years. could we do it, we should expect to find them weighed down, depressed, and made forlorn by the great change of estimation in which the doings were afterward held, in which they had appeared to be prominent and most disastrous actors. few of them probably had inherent stamina enough to enable them to stand erect, and move about firmly poised, under the burdens of obloquy, pity, hatred, resentment, &c., which the wounded hearts of the families of murdered ones would lay upon these seeming authors of their losses. it is pleasant to find that the sensitive and bright ann putnam, as prominent as any one in the band of accusers, survived such pressure, continued long to care for her orphaned little brothers and sisters, and, after the first and most crushing effects of the change in public opinion had been endured for a dozen years or more, held out her hand in friendly beckoning to those who had most seeming cause to blame her, and who perhaps in turn had imposed her heaviest burdens, and seeking to thus open the way for her unopposed admission to the church, and to fellowship with the kindred and friends of those whom her tongue had been used to defame and bring to ignominious death. her life experiences were hard, but perhaps fruitful of good to man beyond what words can express. possibly it is her blessed privilege now to see that her form was used as an _instrument_ for effecting christendom's emancipation from monstrous error, and putting an effectual stop to executions for witchcraft everywhere. the prosecutors. the first warrants for arrest for witchcraft at salem were issued on february 29, 1692, on complaint preferred by joseph hutchinson, thomas putnam, edward putnam, and thomas preston, that sarah good, sarah osburn, and tituba had by witchcraft, within the last two months, done harm to elizabeth parris, abigail williams, anne putnam, and elizabeth hubbard. complaint of martha corey was made by edward putnam and henry keney, march 19. edward putnam and jonathan putnam complained of rebecca nurse; and jonathan walcott and nathaniel ingersoll, against elizabeth proctor. perusal of the records shows that very many of the most intelligent, influential, highly respected, and trusted men of the village were complainants; and shows also that, as early as february 29, when the first complaint was entered, there were four afflicted ones: two in the family of mr. parris; one in that of thomas putnam, living more than two miles north from the parsonage; and one in that of dr. griggs, dwelling more than two miles east from the same. thus much had the trouble spread before the law was invoked to aid in its suppression. the homes of the minister, the doctor, and the parish clerk--a capable and good-one, too--were the first invaded. not mean abodes housed, nor low-lived people cared for the first afflicted ones. men of the highest standing there were leaders off in the impending conflict with the devil. two were most prominently and persistently active, viz., thomas putnam and mr. parris. and why? if any people then and there knew what the emergency required, these two would be among them: none were more competent than they to perceive and perform the duties of such an hour. they, too, and theirs were the chief sufferers. no other active men there had motives pressing as theirs to work for prompt relief in their households; and we will notice these two as representatives of the prosecutors. thomas putnam deservedly held high position among the inhabitants there, and possessed the esteem, respect, and confidence of the whole community around him. how came it that this very intelligent, influential, and useful citizen, then a little more than forty years old and in the full vigor of manhood, was prominent among the foremost and most pertinacious prosecutors? why was such a one an enterer of complaints against neighbors, whether high or low, good or bad? our response is, that in his home a loved and loving wife, cultured, refined, and of acute sensibilities,--a daughter, twelve years old, bright and charming,--and also mercy lewis, a young domestic, were all so mysteriously tortured at times, that no doubt existed in a mind which comprehended the creed of that day, that the devil was author of the abnormal torments. that enemy must be getting access to these innocent and loved ones, the creed said, through some neighbors--at least some living mortals--who had made covenants with the evil one, and thus become his agents. imbued and bound by the creed of his day, this husband and father could cherish no expectation that his wife and child could be shielded, or that comfort, tranquillity, and peace could come to him and his dear ones, so long as such covenanters were allowed to live. his creed--the general creed of the times--called upon him to invoke the law's aid, since by help from no other source could he hope to reclaim wife, child, and domestic from the clutches of hell's sovereign, and save his own fireside from continuing on indefinitely a frenzied pandemonium. the higher his manhood, and the deeper his love for wife and children, the more vigilant, resolute, and untiring would be his purpose and his efforts to use any and every available means for delivering his family from the hell which had been thrust in under his roof. the sufferings of his dear ones, then necessarily operative upon his mind and affections, we presume were the chief prompters of his course and incentives to his perseverance in it. defense and protection of wife, children, and all within his household are incumbent on any one worthy to be called a _man_. think not the worse of thomas putnam because of his resolute purposes and speedy as well as prolonged efforts to rescue from sufferings and perdition wife, child, and domestic. because a prominent sufferer, he became a prominent prosecutor--yes, the most prominent. though that fact stands boldly out on the pages of history, no one in his time or since, so far as we have noticed, ever imputed to him an unworthy motive, or annexed a disparaging epithet to his name. perhaps he, as well as mr. dane of andover, was "tenderly touched" because of "a fair character." in part the same can be said in defense of rev. samuel parris as we have adduced in defense of his co-sufferer and co-laborer for relief. during the weeks from january 20 to the end of february, both his little daughter and niece, under his own roof, were so strangely and sorely tormented that he and his whole household must have been wearied, agitated, and rendered miserable. when medical aid and kind nursing had proved abortive, and medical authority announced the working of an _evil hand_ there, who can wonder, knowing the creed of the day and place, that mr. parris sought the law's aid for bringing relief to the little sufferers and to all beneath his roof? samuel parris and thomas putnam, the minister and the clerk of the parish, were both the first and the greatest sufferers affectionally at the oncoming of invasion by mysterious tormentors, and both have fair claims to be judged of tenderly in their connection with witchcraft prosecutions. the chief apparent action of the minister was as scribe or reporter for the courts, and this because he was more competent to that work than any other person obtainable there. such action is surely not censurable. his position and abilities, however, were such that it was quite as much within his power to have stopped the whole proceedings as in that of any man then living; and they, no doubt, had his sanction and efficient support. and yet we find no ground from which inference either must or can fairly be drawn that the motives of the minister's actions _pertaining to that special matter_, both at its commencement and in its subsequent progress, were other than those common to the most enlightened and best members of the community. still we have not learned to like the _man_. selfishness, and disposition to rule harshly over his parish and individuals, if not resentfully and even maliciously, are made too manifest in the records for us to hold him in high esteem. as servants of god and christ, which they professed and believed themselves to be, the prosecutors entered upon and long followed up war, bloody war,--not against neighbors and men, but against the devil--the great enemy of god, christ, and all good christians. they were true, earnest, resolute, strong, fearless men, waging their fight in good conscience. the community at large, in which those men lived and held prominent position, was not below most, if below any other of equal numbers on the continent. intellect there was keen, and morality high. upham's "history of salem village," admirable for its research, its thoroughness, its prevailing accuracy, and its extensive charms, clearly shows that the five hundred people, more or less, residing there in 1692, could scarcely be surpassed by the residents of any other locality in intelligence, mental keenness, moral strength, personal courage, and firmness of purpose and resolve to live up to their convictions of truth, right, and duty. salem witchcraft was born in the homes of intelligent, brave, honored men,--who, in co-operation with their wives, children, and domestics, contributed to its growth, and elicited its vast and awful power to startle, frenzy, and desolate the region round about. the world at large has never been kept well instructed as to the circumstances amid which that great _delusion_ made its entrance on the field of human vision, nor as to the high standing, intelligence, and character of its first escorts and sponsors. its victims, too, as a whole, were very respectable. some of them, it is true, were not high on the social scale, but the most of them were well up, and quite a number ranked high among the intelligent, virtuous, and saintly. the wide-spread and long prevalent notion that the dark doings there were little else than outgrowths from tricks played by a few artful and mischievous girls upon some low-lived and bed-ridden old women, has no foundation on the facts in the case. this most monstrous child of christendom's creed had begetting and birth, in 1692, amid as reputable circumstances and people, and as religious opponents of satan, as any marked revival of religion which has anywhere transpired since that memorable day when the leading men of salem village, being challenged to defense of their homes, armed themselves with civil law, and bravely, long, and forcefully fought for god and his against the devil. witchcraft's author. what personality or persons, and of what rank in the scale of being, was or were primal and chief in originating and enacting the famous salem tragedy? if, as the generation then living believed, it was a specially great controller and commander of all invisible foes to god, christ, and christians everywhere, and who, having been effectually baffled in europe, resolved to keep america from passing into the control of his enemies, god and christ, and to thoroughly banish the hated intruders from these his more exclusive and prized domains; if it was that being, his strategy seemingly was to "beard the lion in his den," to make bold and fierce attack on one of the strongest fortresses of christians, presuming that capture of such a post would lead to easy expulsion of all trespassers from the whole of his broad lands on this side the atlantic. his apparent policy, judged of by the place and circumstances of attack, was to subdue the strongest first, and thus so intimidate as to frighten all others back to their former homes or the homes of their fathers. but _such_ a devil was not there. many beliefs prevalent two centuries ago are now obsolete. such a devil as witchcraft was imputed to, and who was believed to put forth greater power over all indian and heathen lands than god exercised there, receives cognition in few brains to-day. nevertheless, faith in the presence, power, and malignity of such a being, present and at work among them, was the main force that enabled his contestants to unwittingly put an end to faith in the existence of any one special foe to all goodness, whose power and dominion over the earth and its inhabitants very nearly rivaled those of the omnipotent one, and whose malice was a near counterpoise to complete supernal benevolence. reason demands that the creature shall be inferior to its creator, that devil shall be less than god; and she in most persons refers all things and all events, in the ultimate analysis of causes and agents, back to one great over-soul--one god. if an all-wise and omnipotent one, being full of mercy too, proposed to subject an erroneous and enslaving human creed to a strain which should shatter it past restoration to strength, and thus to set its subjected holders free, highest wisdom may have seen that bright intellect, true courage, firm nerves, unfaltering devotion to sense of duty, and strong faith heavenward, were needful instrumentalities for best accomplishment of the design. the abode of people than whom none elsewhere were better prepared, more able, or more willing to fight the devil himself promptly, unfalteringly, and persistently, may have been a spot where supernal prescience saw that men, as blinded instruments, could best be made to effect their own and the world's emancipation from a time-hardened and disastrous public error. the mental and moral strength, and other good _fighting_ qualities of its occupants generally, may have caused the village to be fixed upon as the most favorable battle-ground available for the projected struggle. neither god nor the devil, however, was author in any sense pertinent to the present inquiry. our _ifs_, and the sentences which follow them, cannot meet the demands nor the needs of modern readers. faith, in direct personal action upon either individual human beings or communities and nations by any incomprehensibly vast and ubiquitous intelligent being either malignant or benevolent, is not as prevalent now as it was in many generations past. god, or a mighty devil either, as constant, immediate, and personal performer on humanity's stage of operations, is not extensively recognized by the deep thinkers of our age. indeed, modern thought has come very low down in its search for witchcraft's author. turning from god and the devil, the reputed workers of great marvels in ages long past, our interpreters of america's earlier wonders have fancied that they find the former existence of little girls whose powers to sway the human mind and agitate a land, so approximated those of omnipotence, and whose malignities so perceptibly equaled his of cloven hoof, that they of their own wills concocted and enacted scenes of simulated pains, distortions, losses of sight, hearing, and speech; and also mimicked the movements of birds and beasts, and performed such impositions and tricks innumerable as made their homes and neighborhood a horrid pandemonium; in doing which they manifested such prodigious power, skill, and perfect acting, that these little untaught and untrained ones outled in skill, all the world's most expert tricksters, and, in malignity, the most devilish human monsters our world ever contained, in any age or land. somewhere between the extremes of strength and weakness, of benevolence and malignity, we perhaps can find beings more likely to have directly produced the marvels in question than either god, devil, or little girls. consciousness and experience indicate to most persons that an all-dominating power exists, and bounds and hedges in the spheres of freedom and ability which are occupied by finite beings. something above and beyond all finites says to each of them, "thus far, but no farther, canst thou go." within spheres thus limited there abide many grades of intelligent and affectional beings, ranging in differences of powers and dispositions as widely as any mortal's thoughts can conceive. vast, countless hosts of intelligences, though vailed from our outer vision, may be, and evidences are very strong that such ever are abiding dwellers above, below, around, and in the midst of earth's corporeal inhabitants. within their unperceived abodes such ones may actuate the forces which evolve many less marked events, as well as all special providences, special judgments--miracles so called, and such marvels generally as were formerly imputed to either god or the devil as _immediate_ author. we have no faith that either of the two had any closer or more special connection with witchcraft matters than with the ordinary doings of man. the undefinable source of all things which are contained in the vast creation, emitted all forth subject to laws, and surrounded and infiltrated by forces which enable the world's progressing inhabitants, visible and invisible, to purchase, through study, toil, absorptions from enfolding auras, and other furnished helps, both knowledge and powers just as fast and great as their advancements and growing needs from time to time call for more light and for augmented powers. finite beings naturally gravitate to where every instrumentality needful to their highest well-being can be obtained by the co-operative efforts and aspirations of finites, seen and unseen, for learning laws and manipulating forces which pervade their places of residence. generations upon generations, whose mortal forms long centuries ago moldered away, may still be active laborers in and about the men of to-day, and may be, and may always have been, the immediate manifesters of all supernal intelligence and marvelous force issuing from regions which the eye of flesh lacks power to scan. one of the old prophets of a prior generation made known to john the revelator what he recorded; and agents of like nature, that is, departed human spirits, may have been the only revealers of supernal truths, facts, and visions to man, and the only workers of the signs or extra-marvelous manifestations of force and knowledge which have been deemed credentials from the omniscient and omnipotent. we believe in god and in the issuance of knowledge and force from him to man, but have not faith in his immediate personal putting forth of either, in accomplishment of such events as are often called special providences. such events occur--they often come both uncalled for and in response to prayer--to yearnings "uttered or unexpressed;" but the prayers and yearnings reach, stimulate, and help both ambient forces and ascended spirits to let in or to confer the needed protection or restoration. the air all around us is alive with hearers of prayer, and no humble and fervent aspiration for help to come forth from the mystic abodes of spiritual beings and occult forces ever fails to bring aid and elevation. the purer and humbler the aspiration, the nearer does it penetrate toward the great source of being, life, and bliss, and the more powerful and beneficent are those whose responses and emanations can reach and aid the petitioner. the same forces and laws which permit the sensible action of good spirits among men, just as freely and extensively permit the presence and action of malicious ones. god aids the good and restrains the wicked just as much and no more on the other side of the grave than on this. freedom, whether to comply with or to contend against either natural or moral law, is as great in spirit spheres as in our midst on earth. any spirit, either benevolent or malignant, is as free to use the forces and laws which permit spirit manifestations, as any navigator is, be he morally good or bad, to avail himself of winds, currents, tides, and the like, for passing over seas to a land not his own, and acting out his characteristic purposes there. our position, fortified by the facts and reasonings in the preceding pages, is, that spirits--departed human beings--generated and outwrought salem witchcraft. that is our answer to the question of its authorship. the motive. thus far questions pertaining to the character of the main motives operating in the authors of acts called witchcraft, have purposely been avoided. the actors and their doings have been sought for, irrespective of morality. but the _cui bono_, the what good? must have been asked over and over again by the reader. why did any intelligent being, whether mortal or spirit, thus woefully invade and disturb the homes of able, honored, worthy christian men? and especially why perpetrate such agonizing cruelties upon bright, lovely, and promising children? the spirit-world, as well as ours, holds inhabitants differing widely one from another in character, tastes, propensities, and occupations--it contains yearners to recommune with surviving kindred at the old material home--contains its rovers, its explorers, its scientists, its seekers after novelties, facts, and principles; after new places, scenes, and peoples to visit; after new routes and appliances for travel, and after new applications of known powers and forces. the motives for acting upon and through mortal forms may vary from worst to best, from best to worst. the moral character of motives can neither invalidate nor confirm what has been adduced. the motives, having been either good or bad, may be ascribed to spirits as well as mortals, and to mortals as well as spirits, for both good and bad beings dwell in mortal forms now, and both classes have left their outer forms behind, and passed into the abiding-place of spirits--have become spirits, and that, too, without necessary alteration of their moral states. motives in different cases and with different operators were doubtless quite varied. correct presentation of their qualities in connection with the several cases adduced in the preceding pages is obviously beyond our power. though conscious that we must probably be mistaken in some instances, we yet are willing to state some of the thoughts which facts and appearances have suggested. perhaps no unseen intelligences aided or acted through either margaret jones or ann hibbins; and, if any did, their performances in and of themselves were never perceptibly harmful to the public. we apprehend, however, that if the whole truth were known, man would now see that kind physicians, who had bid farewell to earth, continued to practice the healing art through the brain and hands of margaret jones. the users of ann cole's vocal organs furnished no distinct indication that they were either specially benevolent or the reverse. we are constrained to regard them as having been low, ignorant, willing to excite consternation among men, and very willing to help the lewd greensmiths on, by the halter's use, to speedy entrance into conditions in which themselves could confer with these debased ones more familiarly than was possible while they remained encased in flesh. such a view need not imply that they were malicious. desire to hold closer connection with one's affinities is natural, and not necessarily bad. communicators from the other side of death's portals generally decline to call any spirits _bad_; they speak of many as being low, ignorant, benighted, undeveloped, &c., but seldom call any one bad. they seem to regard many much as we do green fruits. one omits to call the half-grown apple bad, however sour or crabbed, and says only that it is immature, unripe, &c., implying that, though in its present condition not good to eat, time may come when it will be palatable and nutritious. elizabeth knap's visitant--the one to whom she said, "what cheer, old man?"--who presumably was the chief operator through and upon her form, and lingered about her for at least three years, we regard as a sort of recluse spirit, who kept mainly aloof from other disembodied ones, and found his chief enjoyment in retaining or resuming as close alliances as possible with the outer or material world, and from a selfish desire to secure permanent possession of this instrument, strove through torturings to reduce her to subjection; and this, perhaps, without desire to injure her, but mainly with a view to gratify his own selfishness. the other one--the pretty black boy--of a more lively disposition, found pleasure in playfully bantering the grave clergyman, and probably strove, in playful mood, to teach the honest and good man some lessons in charity and demonology. we see no reason why he may not be regarded as a genial good fellow, desiring to make some gloomy portion of mankind more cheerful and happy. at newbury there possibly was nothing more than a playful and self-gratifying exercise of constitutional powers by a band of spirit gymnasts--not malicious, but playful and rude; curious also, it may be, to see how far they might be able to frighten mortals and arouse consternating wonder, while they should be pleasurably exercising their own faculties. we view them as neither specially good or bad, but as heedless and rude in their frolic. appearances are different when we look at the goodwin family. there an embodied old wild irish woman's spirit was the first to put forth psychologizing power over the children. she was moved by anger, or resentment, or both; her guardian or kindred spirits no doubt helped her, and from motives like her own. perhaps we may properly call both her and her aids bad. yet we hear no call to apply that word emphatically. little martha had just charged the old woman's daughter with having stolen some of the clothes which the latter was employed to wash; and, if that charge was false, or even presumed by the old woman to be false, she, who was obviously fiery and ignorant, may not have been excessively diabolical in using any process of mental or emotional retaliation which was at her command. perhaps ignorance and instinctive retaliation were quite as operative in her as malice. martha's form, subsequently, when she was residing with cotton mather, was often used by one or more spirits who seem to have been bent upon showing the learned man that sport might exist and be enjoyable beyond the confines of mortal life, and that denizens there were disposed to make some at his expense. they soon showed him that linguists unseen could comprehend his meaning, whatever the language he might use for expression of his thought; and also thumped the sectarian by disdaining to read books which he approved, and by reading with ecstatic delight such as he condemned. nor was this all; they exhibited in his presence feats of strength and agility, and many marvelous antics, which were suited to cause a thinker and scholar to hold on to his belief that others than the guileless miss took part in the performance of such marvels. while amusing themselves, they were exhibiters of instructive facts. nothing bad in their purposes becomes apparent. the case of most special interest and chief importance pertains to salem. upham, vol. ii. p. 429, says, "if there was anything supernatural in the witchcraft of 1692, if any other than human spirits were concerned at all, one thing is beyond a doubt; they were shockingly wicked spirits." _beyond a doubt?_ perhaps not in some minds. but if any disembodied spirits whatsoever, even _shockingly wicked ones_, were mainly performers of the convulsing operations at salem, the historian's theory of explanation is not only baseless, but is lamentably cruel and unjust toward the human instruments through whom the spirits acted. if specific doings prove their authors, if spirits, to have been shockingly wicked, the same having mortal authors, would prove the latter to have been just as shockingly wicked. we do not like to apply that defamatory phrase to all those girls and women who are set forth as the chief accusers. were all those youthful females shockingly wicked? we hope not, and think not. god rules alike in the invisible and visible world, and often moves in mysterious ways for executing benevolent designs. the motive of tituba's "tall man with white hair," whom we regard as prime mover in the most momentous witchcraft scene the world has ever witnessed, is difficult to comprehend satisfactorily. the deliberateness indicated both by his visit to tituba five days in advance of practical operation, and by his then appointing a special time and place for entering upon his intended processes, bespeaks a definite and abiding motive of some marked quality. judging from the earlier and more perceptible effects of his doings, the world must almost necessarily regard him as a deliberate tormentor of innocent children; as a disturber of domestic, social, religious, and civil peace; as an immolator of the innocent and the virtuous; as hell's sovereign acting out his fiendish pleasure upon the inmates of a christian fold. infernal malignity, at the first glance, seems to have actuated this intruder at the parsonage. world-wide experience, however, has learned that many things are "not as they seem." we have been taught to recognize one being, and there may be many others in spheres unseen, in whose sight "a thousand years are as one day." teachings of history and observation show that the overruling power is attended and guided by far--very far--reaching prescience; and also that many of man's greatest blessings are educed from temporal evils of vast magnitude. the malice of man nailed jesus to the cross. what wears every appearance of wicked motive is often used as helpful, if not needed, instrumentality in procuring man's deliverance and redemption from debasement and oppression. when john brown made his raid across the border line of freedom, not only the invaded south, but a large portion of the north regarded him as a ruthless and malicious invader of the rights of our fellow-countrymen, and therefore worthy of a felon's doom. a cannon soon sent to fort sumter the comments of the south upon what brown had done, and war, carnage, and horrors of varied forms and vast dimensions soon spread over the broad nation, from the st. john to the southern gulf, and from the atlantic to the pacific. john brown was no felon, no malicious invader, but a philanthropic planner to strip the chains of slavery from four millions of his brother men; and his step, though a seeming evil then, led directly on to the emancipation of all for whose good he went forth in seeming malice. when plagues of various kinds were invoked and brought upon the egyptians by and through the mediumistic moses and aaron, what egyptian would have deemed that the motives of the unseen intelligence who counseled and controlled them could be benevolent? plague, pestilences, and sore afflictions for a long time, and finally death of the first born, were imposed upon each egyptian household. the motive to those inflictions is deemed to have been deliverance of the children of israel from bondage. egyptians being judges, it must have been a shockingly wicked spirit who acted upon them through moses and aaron. history, on most of its pages, shows that war--war,--that ruthless trampler upon the innocent scarcely less than upon the offending, has ever been a very common, if not the chief, instrument by which oppressed people have gained deliverance, and through use of which the depressed have come up to higher stand-points. if our world has, through all its past ages, been wisely and beneficently managed by some intelligence higher than man, then far-reaching wisdom--supernal wisdom--has often seen that the good of the many--nay, the good of _all_--required the coming of suffering, sacrifice, and anguish upon the few. has the great permitter of the many sufferings which war has engendered been "shockingly wicked"? the chains of old enslaving errors often become invisible and unfelt by those on whom they were early placed by a mother's kindly hand, and the like to which all associates wear as supposed helps, and never as suspected hindrances, to expansion and health of mind and heart. nothing short of a most strenuous conflict--nothing short of a struggle for life and all that makes life valuable and dear--is competent in some cases to awaken perception that such chains are and ever have been cramping their wearers, and holding them back from such expansion and freedom as their maker fitted men to attain to and enjoy. we regard the witchcraft creed as having been such a chain. looking carefully at the methods by which the power that overrules all terrestrial affairs has almost invariably led man to break away from thralldom and oppression, can one reasonably entertain belief that any purely peaceful measures, any preachings, arguments, appeals to the reason of men, could have brought christendom, at any time after the twelfth or thirteenth century, to perceive that its witchcraft creed was enslaving its mind, and thwarting its proper expansion heavenward? we apprehend not; and also we surmise that in 1602 supernal intelligence saw that opportunity and power existed, which, if then availed of, could put mortals into a conflict which would reveal to them the inherent falsity and barbarity of the witchcraft creed, and thus let such light into their minds as, in time, would lead them to cast off the chains in which they were bound, attain to clearer and more accurate views of their relations to god and the spirit-world, and rise to higher and freer manhood. if such were the case, we can readily conceive that supernal wisdom and benevolence might permit and foster the oncoming of an appalling and terrific struggle which should bring into vigorous action man's every latent energy, sweep away in its course many erroneous beliefs, hampering customs, and ruts of thought, and thoroughly overturn much which had long been deemed immovable truth. such a course might be the most beneficent possible, even though it involved destruction of the comfort, peace, and lives of many innocent and most estimable inhabitants at the place and vicinity where the battle should be waged, and that, too, whether the war itself should be the ostensible offspring of revenge and malice, or a brave conflict for preservation of one's altars and fireside in peace. some amusement, and little else perhaps, may be furnished by presentation of what a spiritualist's fancy, prior to careful study of facts narrated by tituba, had become accustomed to deem not only possible, but probable. she was a slave dwelling among oppressors of her kindred and race--oppressors of the negro, the indian, and of those generally who were "guilty of a skin not colored like their own," and of worshiping gods different from their own. what more natural than that departed ones, whom the whites had defrauded, injured, and oppressed while dwellers here, and whose surviving kindred were still being treated in like manner, should embrace an opportunity which the mediumistic qualities and the abode of tituba furnished, for perpetrating retaliation whence woes had been received? true christian morality may denounce such action as being "shockingly wicked," but the more prevalent morality in the world--in the more resolute portions of it at least, and especially in the less enlightened--may be as ready to commend as to condemn it, and to applaud as to censure those whose fire and pluck induced and enabled them to pay over upon their oppressors wrong for wrong, even augmented with interest at the highest rates which their altered circumstances allowed. it having been discovered that tituba's form was a portal for spirit return, fancy saw the spirits of her ancestral race, and hosts of ascended aborigines of massachusetts soil, eagerly coming back through her helping properties, disposed and eager to cast their impalpable arrows and tomahawks at any members of the wronging race who might be vulnerable by such weapons. scouts swiftly and widely spread over the spirit hunting-grounds knowledge of the glorious opportunity for retaliation and revenge which had come, and hosts of volunteers rushed thence with lightning speed to the alluring scene. quick havoc ensued, and the great consternation, bewilderment, devastation, slaughter, disturbance of peace, and agonizings of terror and awe, which the invasion produced, gave keenest pleasure, satisfaction, and joy to the assailants. possibly indian spirits might then begin to cherish hopes of expelling all whites from the land of their fathers, and of re-acquiring and leaving the whole a legacy to red men's heirs. but the whites, not less than the darker-skinned, were under the supervision of spirit guardians, friends, and helpers, who, though probably taken by surprise and at disadvantage, were by no means disposed to leave their wards, kindred, and loved ones to be long thus harassed and abused. invisible hosts soon mustered, and warred against other invisible hosts over and around the village; and when the struggle had been waged far enough to sever witchcraft's chains, the laws of the _highest_ permitted the guardians of the christians to conquer a lasting peace whose balm would heal the wounds inflicted, and whose fruits would be emancipation from cramping errors, and consequent expansion and elevation of mental powers. as, perhaps, appropriate sequent to our fanciful views, we next present something which was not born in our own brain, and which may or may not be statement of ancient facts. we have devoted but little time to directly seeking information from spirits relating to the subject upon which we are writing, and yet have seldom entered into conversation with any good clairvoyant, at any time during the last year or two, without receiving description of one or more spirits then in attendance, and manifesting desire to have us recognize them. in most cases they have shown their names. in this manner cotton mather, more than any other one, signifies that interest in our present work draws him near to us. mather's mother, also martha goodwin, rebecca nurse, and others, have presented their cards through persons ignorant that individuals bearing such names ever lived. but mather has done more. on two or three occasions, using a medium's organs of speech, he has entered into conversation with us upon his connection with witchcraft. he is not now well pleased with his blindness when in his physical form, and urges us to be more severe in our criticisms upon his course than historic facts permit us to be. february 9, 1875, he was in control of a medium, and we inquired as to his present views of george burroughs. at once and cordially he described burroughs as one of the brightest of all spirits whom he had seen, and as "illumining whatever sphere he enters." we asked mather if he had ever learned who the spirit was that came to tituba and started salem witchcraft. he had not. had he met tituba? "yes." "can you not," we asked, "find him through her?" "probably," was his response; "and will try, if you wish it." "well, then," we said, "two weeks from this day and hour we will meet you at this place." this was arranged through an _unconscious_ medium, who never receives into her consciousness any knowledge of what her lips utter while she is entranced, and she was on that occasion. we did not inform her, nor did any other mortal than ourself know, that we arranged for a subsequent meeting with mather. we called upon the medium february 23, when forthwith, in her normal and conscious state, she said that she was then seeing at our side two spirits of very strange aspect, and of race or races unknown to her. one of them she described as a male, uncouth in aspect, having large piercing eyes, a very wild look, and as being clothed in a sort of blouse, beneath and below which were short pants tucked into the shoes; also his teeth were very large. the other was a female of unknown race, and of a race different from that to which the male belonged; her complexion was dark, but she was neither negro nor indian, and exhibited the letter t. this medium may have known, and probably did, that we were engaged in writing upon witchcraft; but she is not conversant with its history, nor did she know the names of individuals concerned in it, nor the parts any had severally performed. very shortly after having given the above description, the medium was entranced; soon cotton mather, speaking through her, signified that he had brought with him both tituba and her nocturnal visitant when she was slave of mr. parris; also, he stated, that, since they were not accustomed to giving utterance through borrowed lips, he proposed to speak for and of them. the statement relating to the man was substantially as follows:-"his name was zachahara; he was of egyptian descent, but a ninevite, or dweller in nineveh. his time on earth was somewhat before that of moses. not long after his death, he, a spirit, observed that a spirit by the name of jehocah--not jehovah--was working strange marvels, and enacting cruelties among the race from which himself had sprung, through one moses, and was thereby acting out a spirit's purposes toward man through a mortal's form. at once he, zachahara, felt strong inclination and desire to exercise his own powers in the same mode. the desire clung to him tenaciously, and ever kept him alert, to find a mortal whom he could use with efficiency rivaling that which jehocah manifested through moses. no one of his many trials, however, was very successful until he put forth his skill and power upon and through tituba. his ruling motive was desire to ascertain how far he, being a spirit, could get and keep control of a mortal form, and what amount and kinds of wonders he could perform with such an instrument. the motive was devoid of either malice or benevolence; it essentially was that of the scientist seeking new knowledge of nature's permissions. to keep tituba in good humor with himself, he freely made promises to bestow upon her many fine things; and, to please her, he would say and do anything he thought might add to his power over her, and, through her, over other mortals." such was the account; and, while it was coming upon our ears, it carried us back to familiar accounts of marvels of old, and we felt that the acts of jehocah through moses, and those of zachahara through tituba, bespoke motives so much alike in apparent barbarity, that, if either actor was blameworthy, it might be difficult to see why equal blame should not be meted out upon the other. mather, speaking of and for tituba, said, that "when the man first came to her and sought her service and aid, he was very bright and pleasant; but that, when she declined to comply with his wishes and demands, he became awfully dark and terrible." briefly, tituba herself managed the medium's vocal organs, furnished a simpering confirmation of mather's statement, and said, with a shrug and shiver, "he was awful! awful!" subsequent conversation at the same seance elicited from spirits their belief, that, as soon as a door of access to men through tituba was discovered, numerous indian spirits were able and eager to rush through and lend a helping hand to the old ninevite, and were devoid of any strong desire to help gently; indeed, they were very willing to molest the whites on their own responsibility. soon, when unimpassioned search for knowledge of what ability spirits possessed or might acquire to revisit and again act amid terrestrial scenes was too much attended by agents willing to enact, and actually enacting, havoc too severe to be longer tolerated, wise and compassionate spirits brought power to bear which soon put a stop to what was producing most agonizing consequences. spirits claim that they did much in the way of changing the views of mortals, and preventing a renewal of prosecutions at the next term of court. perceiving that enough cruelty had been enacted to make mortals ready to ask whether both humanity and god were not belied by the creed christians were enforcing, they turned the minds of men to more rational and humane views. some time during the winter of 1874-5, rev. g. burroughs having poured out, through a medium's lips, a few sentences redolent with charity and heavenly grace, we asked him what he now deemed the motive which primarily induced some spirit to inaugurate the operations which brought himself and many others to untimely end? his response was, "i suppose it was the natural and proper desire of some spirit to resume communion with its dear ones on earth." no spirit has ever indicated to us a suspicion even that the spirits whose acts evolved witchcraft were either malevolent, censurable, or in any sense _shockingly wicked_. did supernal prescience select and post agents peculiarly fitted to perform the witchcraft tragedy? perhaps so: and possibly sir william phips was not governor by mere chance. some statements by calef indicate that sir william when young, perhaps while but a learner of ship-carpentry in maine, received a written communication which led him to go to europe and obtain means whereby to seek for a wreck, the finding of which brought him fortune and title. he long and carefully preserved the prophetic paper, and, when flush in means, paid the writer of it more than two hundred pounds. from the same or a similar source he fore-learned his becoming a commander, governor of new england, and other events of his life. information of that kind usually comes to such as are mediumistic enough to be susceptible of guidance, or at least of swayings, by the intelligence from whom the prophecy issues. sir phips may have been himself mediumistic. the probable fact that the accusing girls named the governor's wife as one from whom they received annoyance bespeaks probability that she too had place in the class of impressibles. therefore, one inclined to prosecute such speculations is here furnished with a basis on which to argue that the infinite prescience which permitted the advent of salem witchcraft, also embraced fit instruments in fit position for controlling its course, and also for putting a stop to it as soon as it should have outwrought enough of seeming evil to beget the good which infinite benevolence purposed to bestow upon mortals. spirits take to themselves much credit for the part they performed in changing the opinions and course of the authorities and people here in the autumn of 1692, and the early months of the following year. the adjournment of the court, and no law permitting another session for months, gave opportunity for reflection. also the actual and contemplated arrests of many of high standing and most estimable character were matters of sobering influence, so that reason resumed its sway; no more were tried for witchcraft, and all prisoners were set free. this may have occurred either with or without special action of spirits upon the public mind. we now regard the primal motive as nearly or quite devoid of moral quality. it probably was either a natural and proper desire to get access to dear ones left on earth, or some experimental or some scientific impulse to test the power which a spirit could exercise over those encased in mortal forms. when, before the days of ether, good dr. flag had fixed his forceps firmly on our raging tooth, and given a long, strong pull till out of breath, our pains, our agony, our heavy blows upon his hand and arms, failed to make him let go. he was shockingly wicked at that moment, for he not only held on and kept us in torture, but pulled again without success; and even then he would not let go, but pulled yet once more, and the tooth came out. spirits, getting access to mortals, may have judged that only through transient evils and sufferings could man get relief from severe chronic maladies, and that, when opportunity occurred, their kindest possible treatment of men was homoeopathic--was the curing like with like--curing evil by inflicting evil. they may have been so shockingly wicked as to do that. spirits may often, and generally explore and operate from motives not perceptibly different from such as actuate their human counterparts. the devoted vivisectionist seldom shrinks from entering upon, or gives up pursuit of, knowledge because the scalpel agonizes his living subject. so, too, a spirit in pursuit of knowledge--if, either casually or by intended experiment, finding himself controlling the will and organs of tituba or some other impressible mortal, and thus opening up a new field for exploration--might be strongly inclined to see how far and efficiently he could wield forces of nature so as himself to sway the forms and affairs of embodied men. each gain in power or skill for acting amid terrestrial beings, scenes, and objects, would naturally thrill him with pleasure, and incite him to follow up researches in the spirit of science. that spirit is prone to look upon sufferings which its own processes occasion, as but temporary incidents, and of little account in comparison with the beneficent results which its triumphs will procure. extension of their own fields of knowledge and influence was perhaps among the chief motives which prompted spirits to perform the wonders that startled, frenzied, and agonized the subjects and observers of their operations in 1692. another may have been self-gratification by revisiting well-known scenes; and yet another, beneficence to man by opening for his use a new source of knowledge and wisdom. realms unseen are the abodes of sympathetic as well as of scientific beings; and as soon as a false creed had been forced to disclose its falsity, the former may have seen occasion to dissuade the latter from acting further upon benighted dwellers in mortal forms, until time should bring man to calm reflection and retrospection, and to possession of such mental freedom as would embolden him to meet unawed, strange visitants from unseen realms, and extend to even such a friendly hand. the lapse of a hundred and fifty years brought such mental freedom to us, purchased by the sufferings of our fathers, that, undeterred by fears of the halter, we now can invite to our earthly homes the loved and saintly ones who have passed on to realms above, hold blissful and uplifting communings with them, and learn their justification of the wonderful ways of god both to and through the children of men and in all nature. whatever the ruling motive of the chief direct producer of salem witchcraft may have been, the resistless power which moves all things, including malignant motives, onward toward the production of ultimate good, caused the fierce conflict we are considering to soon put an effectual stop to prosecutions for witchcraft throughout all christian lands, and shattered to fragments a pernicious creed which had long enslaved the christian mind. costly as that struggle was in pains, sicknesses, tortures, anguish, physical exhaustions, domestic distresses, social alienations, church discords, languishments in prison, fears, frenzies, and even life, the price may not have been high for the wide-spread and abiding blessings of mental freedom which it obtained. local and personal. _members of the first parish in danvers, and all residents on the soil of salem village_:-about three years since it was my privilege to speak briefly concerning the marvels of 1692, on the spot where they transpired. courtesy then required brevity, and some vagueness of statement resulted: my remarks on that occasion are embraced among the addresses appended to rev. charles b. rice's admirable "history of the first parish in danvers, 1672-1872"--a production of much more than ordinary merit. the present occasion is embraced to point out a misprint. on pages 186 and 187 of those bi-centennial offerings, i am made to say that "the little resolute band of devil-fighters here in the wilderness became, though all _unwillingly_, yet became most efficient helpers in gaining liberty for the freer action of nobler things than any creed," &c.--i never cherished a thought so derogatory to them as that they _unwillingly_ became efficient helpers in gaining liberty. my spoken words were, that they _unwittingly_, that is, without knowing it, were being made instrumental in gaining mental freedom, or deliverance from the chains of error; and i believe that a large part of the preceding pages tends to make the truth of my actual statement apparent, while it shows the falsity of the one imputed to me. the soil beneath you long has been and long will be either consecrated or damned to fame; damned, hereafter, if prevalent modern views of former actors there be correct; consecrated, if the ostensible actors be viewed as chosen combatants and instruments on witchcraft's last and most widely renowned battle-field. many of you know that i first drew breath and also received my earlier training and unfoldment on the soil of your town. my relations to witchcraft soil were not of my own choosing, and i feel no responsibility for them--feel no sense of gratulation, and none of shame, because of them. still, no doubt, they increase my desire to set forth the merits of former dwellers at the village as having been as great and noble, and their faults as few and small, as authenticated facts fairly demand; and this not because of anything done or suffered by any one of my personal ancestors, no one of whom, so far as i have learned, was either accuser, accused, or witness in any witchcraft case. there, however, has been transmitted orally from sire to son what possibly indicates that one of them was exposed to arrest. immediately after the prosecutions ceased, joseph putnam, father of general israel, was a firm and efficient opponent to mr. parris's retaining position as minister at the village. tradition says that when rage for arrestings was high, he, being then only twenty-two years old, and his still younger wife, kept themselves and their family armed, their horses saddled and fed by the door, day and night for six months. this was preparation for either resistance or flight, as circumstances might render expedient in case an arrest should be attempted there. opposition to prevalent beliefs, therefore, may not be a new feature in the family history. the heretic to the notions of many to-day, may have had an ancestor heretical to the witchcraft creed in 1692. but if heresy has come by inheritance, charity combines with it; for my heart is gladdened by each newly discovered indication that joseph's elder half-brother, thomas putnam, the great and impartial prosecutor, and ann, daughter of thomas the great witch-finder,--also that mr. parris and many other former villagers,--never, any one of them, acted any part in relation to witchcraft that was not prompted by devotion to the relief and good of their families and neighbors, or forced upon them by unseen and irresistible agents. your trusted teachers upon the subject--upham, fowler, hanson, and rice, all well informed in most directions, and well-intentioned--have severally favored the view that neither supermundane nor submundane agents were at all concerned in producing your witchcraft scenes. their course throws tremendous and most fearful responsibilities upon both the fathers and daughters of a former age; and not responsibilities alone, but also accusations of deviltry upon the children, and of stupidity and barbarity upon the fathers, which make them all objects of aversion, and a stock from which any one may well blush to find that he has descended. no one of these teachers went back to the commencement of the strange doings, and scanned the testimony of tituba, that personal participator in them, and the best possible witness. no one of them used, and probably none but upham had at command, her simple but plain statements, that a spirit came to her and forced her to help him and others pinch the two little girls in mr. parris's family, at the very time when their mysterious ailments were first manifested. the keen and exact deodat lawson states that the afflicted ones "talked with the specters as with living persons." mention of spirits as being seen attendant upon the startling works is of frequent occurrence in the primitive records. therefore, facts well presented and authoritative have been left unadduced by your teachers. they, however, are a part, and a very important part, of things to be accounted for. any theory of explanation that fails to embrace such is essentially faulty, misleading, and not worthy of adoption. fair respect for historic facts, and especially for the reputation of those men and young women who were prominently concerned in its scenes, very properly and forcefully demands a widely different and less humiliating and aspersory solution of your witchcraft than such as has been proffered in the present century. my reading in preparation for this work failed to meet with either distinct mention of any meeting of a circle at mr. parris's house, or with any statement which had seeming reference to the existence of such a one, till i got down to upham, who dwells much upon it and its influences, but omits mention of the source of his information. since the publication of his lectures upon witchcraft, many writers have followed his lead. knowledge of the locality and of the relative positions of the homes of those girls, and of their positions in those homes, is perhaps kept more steadily in view by a writer whose young days, and parts of his manhood, were passed there, than by others not so long familiar with the region; and perhaps he holds firmer conviction that gatherings, with the frequency and to the extent which are claimed, for the purpose of learning the arts of necromancy, magic, and spiritualism, under the roof of such a man as mr. parris, were very much nearer to an impossibility, than most others do who have of late had occasion to consider _who_ enacted salem witchcraft. if current assumptions, that the accusing girls, by study and practice, rendered themselves able to concoct and enact the vast and bloody tragedy imputed to them, and if their own minds and wills were properly authors there,--if the prevalent explanation of witchcraft be much other than fanciful,--then the magical skill and powers, and the brutal acts there manifested, loudly call for admission that wolfish fathers had begotten foxes, and were beguiled and spurred on by their own wily vulpines to commit such horrid havoc as must fix unfading and ineffaceable stain of infamy upon the spot where they prowled. the blackest smooch on the pages of your history was dropped from the pen which virtually made the village daughters incarnate devils, and their fathers gullible, stupid, and brutal mistakers of what their own girls performed for the marvelous doings of agents possessing more than mortal powers. god save the parish soil from the stain which modern fancy's course tends to impress upon it! its men were never beguiled and aroused to perpetration of monstrous barbarities by the self-willed actings and words of their daughters. but genuine and mysterious afflictions of their children found the sires ready to fight manfully and unflaggingly for god and the deliverance of their families from mundane hells, and that, too, with such force and persistency as never before was equaled in witchcraft's long history, and with such success that no extension of that sad volume has since been possible. that was most emphatically a time that tried men's _souls_; and the souls then there proved to be brave enough to wage conflict against the mightiest and most formidable of possible enemies, and strong and persistent enough to force him to such struggle as strained his vitals, and paralyzed his power to molest grievously in any future age. the unique devil of witchcraft left that field of fight a samson shorn of his locks; the source of his strength was there cut off, for the intensely indurated encasement of the delusion which centuries before had begotten him, and had ever since been feeding him abundantly, was then so thoroughly cracked, that its contents went the way of water spilled upon the ground, and he famished. blush not for the fathers. they were heroes, true to their creed, their families, and their neighbors; true servants of their god--true foes to their devil. and their fight purchased the freedom which lets me now speak in their defense, devoid of any fears of the hangman's rope; and purchased, too, your no less valuable freedom to let me now speak without molestation,--which would be impossible were the creed of the fathers now prevalent, and if you equaled them in devotion to _faith_,--because then my methods and processes for gaining knowledge would require you to hang either me or those through whom loved and wise ones speak back from beyond the grave, impart their hallowing lessons of experience in bright abodes, and their instructions in righteousness. thank god yourselves that you hold no creed calling you to perpetrate such barbarity! hutchinson's statement, that our witch-prosecutors were more barbarous than hottentots and nations scarcely knowing a god ever were known to be, involves a very significant comment upon the witchcraft creed. that creed made our fathers more barbarous than any tribe of men outside the christian pale; and were that creed yours to-day, and were you true to it, you would be equally barbarous as they. their struggle purchased for you and all christendom exemption from their direful condition. adopt the view--and we believe it correct--that the accusing girls were constitutionally endowed with fine sensibilities and special organisms and temperaments which rendered their bodies facile instruments through which unseen intelligences acted upon visible matter and human beings, the supposition that god made them capable of being good mediums--good instruments for use by other minds and wills than their own, and that their bodies, either apart from or against their own minds and wills, were concerned in the enactment of witchcraft, and then you may look upon each and all of them as having been as pure, innocent, harmless, sympathetic, and benevolent as any females in that or in this generation; and no descendant from them need fear the cropping out of specially bad and disreputable blood thence inherited, and each may regard his or her native spot as deserving to be consecrated rather than damned to fame, because there true, conscientious men fought manfully and legitimately for rescue of both their own homes and the community from direst of all conceivable foes, while living instruments of rare efficiency existed there, by use of which the christian world was delivered from dwarfing and hampering slavery to a monk-made devil. what other battle, of any nature, ever fought on american soil, purchased choicer freedom, or effected mental emancipation more widely over christendom, than did your fathers' conflict with _their_ devil? may the year 1892 deem the spot worthy of a commemorative monument! your last historian poetically says, that your "witchcraft darkness is a cloud conspicuous chiefly by the widening radiance itself of the morning on whose brow it hung." shining traits, qualities, and deeds of new englanders in the seventeenth century, including the dwellers at the village, no doubt gave widening radiance to the morning of our nation's day; and the abiding brilliancy of that morning may be what makes your "witchcraft darkness" far more conspicuous than any in other lands. but it surely required far other than begulled fathers and begulling daughters to emit the rays of a morning of such widening radiance as would make darkness more conspicuous there than elsewhere. that morning owed its brightness to far other traits than beguiled and beguiling ones. clear perceptions of the demands of a creed, of duty to god, of duty to one's family; prompt, vigorous action in obedience to god's direction and the king's law when the devil invaded one's home; fearless and untiring conflict with man's most powerful and malignant foe;--these, and other powers, qualities, and acts kindred to these, emitted the radiance which made the blackness of witchcraft more conspicuous at danvers than elsewhere in the broad world. no. witchcraft did not rage with most marvelous fierceness, end enact its death-struggle, on your soil because of the weakness, but because of the strength of your fathers; not because of their cowardice, but of their courage; not because of their heartlessness and barbarity, but of tenderness toward their agonized families; not because of lack of faith in god, but because of faith in him so strong that it could put humaneness down, and keep it down till god's call to put a witch to death could be obeyed. such properties gave to the morning of the village an inherent brightness which first extinguished witchcraft's dismal day, and now harbingers a brighter one, in which, no civil law molesting, spirits hold mutually helpful communings with mortals. that momentous and most valuable privilege was essentially won on your soil in 1692. nation after nation, taught by results at the village, has repealed its obnoxious statutes, and broad christendom is the freer and more elevated because of light widely radiating forth from your "witchcraft darkness." methods of providence. our planet, earth, is yet crude. its soil, products, emanations, and auras are coarse and harsh. though meliorated much since it first gave birth to man, it is not now fitted to nurture beings as refined as it will be centuries hence. it is being constantly softened, and is ever progressing toward the present ripened condition of older planets, whose embodied inhabitants easily and constantly commune with wise departed kindred, from whom they receive such instructions and aids as cause them to live in close harmony with the laws of animal health, and therefore nearly free from sickness and pains, and, when ripened for release, to pass painlessly out from their grosser integuments. from the days of remotest history, and our world over, spirits have often been transiently visible and palpable by some mortals. but the atmosphere in which humans live is measurably uncongenial and oppressive to most, and especially to purer and more advanced spirits; still it becomes less so from century to century, is ever gaining such conditions as lift a little higher its incarnate inhabitants, and is less oppressive to those disrobed of flesh. its modifications prophesy that time will be when mortals and spirits may here more comfortably than now intercommune constantly and with mutual benefit. terrific mental conflicts--moral tornadoes, agitations to the depths of society, are used as instruments in advancing earth and its inhabitants to states which will permit spirits to be our constantly recognized attendants, and our helpful advisers and guides along the paths of spiritual progression. progress is hastened through intense tribulations. great changes and advances of either a material, mental, political, social, or spiritual world are, like births, generally outwrought through anguish and sufferings. even the entrance of spirits into mortal forms is usually painful to both parties. first and earlier reincarnations are almost necessarily attended by psychological action which forces spirits severally to manifest, and, moderatedly, to undergo, again their special sufferings during their last hours of earth-life. mortals, too, shrink from, and are agitated by, and afraid of their nearest friends, if disrobed of flesh. such fears are repulsive forces, making spirit approach arduous and often impossible. the boon of return, in most cases, is at the cost of suffering--but of suffering which pays well--suffering which purchases joy for both those who come and those who welcome them. our earth and all who are born upon it receive or earn many of their greatest blessings through the sweats of convulsive throes or severe toil. the abolition of a wide-spread obnoxious creed was terrific in 1692. in civilized lands extensively, and especially in protestant christendom, possibility of the return of departed good souls from their invisible abodes has for centuries been doubted. therefore a most copious source of valuable instruction and help has been unused. resort to it has, or had, become horrific; it has been deemed by men the devil's pool exclusively. but not so by spirits. wise and friendly ones, unseen, have long and often sought and labored for such recognition and welcome, by survivors on earth, as would render demonstration of spirit presence widely practicable. spirits have sought this because they have been seeing that free and extensive intercommunings between dwellers in flesh and enfranchised ones might greatly facilitate the advance of both classes in beneficence and happiness. the immense aid which the earth-embodied living, and only they, can give to many unhappy ones whom they call dead, is not yet dreamed of by the public. knowledge that many departed ones are obliged to get aid from earth ere they can make an efficient start up the ladder heavenward, opens a wide and interesting field of labor to those who have carefully sought to learn the mutual dependences of the seen and unseen worlds. the possible advent of instruction from unseen realms is now for the first time receiving practical demonstration among a people, who, as a whole, are able and disposed to scan carefully the nature and qualities of the intelligences who impart it. prior to 1692, the christian world had long been shrinking from conferences with unseen colloquists, deeming all such diabolical in purpose and influence. ignorance was mother of its fears. the present age, more enlightened, more disposed to investigation, more prone to believe in the reign of law always and everywhere, asks the hidden teachers who they are, and whence and why and how they gain access to our homes. their responses affirm, and each lapsing year of non-refutation confirms the allegation, that they are spirits now, but once were mortals robed in flesh; and that they come, some from this motive, some from that,--some for fun, frolic, and even revenge and wrong; but more of them to give and to receive the pleasure and happiness which visits to their former homes and friends will generate, and especially to make known to their loved ones here the course of life which will best fit them for joy and happiness in the mansions and scenes of the world to which they all must come. the methods of providence have ever been homogeneous; and now that they have brought peoples to the dawn of a day when human hospitality is entertaining angels, not always unawares, but often consciously and joyfully, the beneficence of the witchcraft scenes at salem village, whereby christendom's thralldom to a factitious devil was effectually broken up, becomes conspicuous. lapsed time reveals probability that the barbarisms of that day were availed of as instruments for procuring the freedom which now permits instructive, helpful, and gladdening intercourse between millions of devout and truth-seeking mortals and bright, beneficent spirits. what though the agitation of christendom brings its latent iniquities and impurities to the surface? what though the counterparts of publicans, sinners, and harlots float numerously into view? ascent of dross and scum to the surface is usually the first product in processes of clarification. inexperienced observers are very liable to regard the unsightly stuff as a sample of all that underlies it. others, who better comprehend the cause and object of bringing impurities into view, observe such first results complacently, knowing that subsequent effects will be most beneficent--will present purified, and therefore more precious views of the divine methods of bringing men to righteousness, and will furnish more efficient helps to man's upward progression than have been generally applicable heretofore. great reformatory truths have seldom been first offered to or received by the worldly-wise and prudent. not rulers and pharisees, but common people, fishermen, humble women, publicans, sinners, and harlots were numerous among the first followers of jesus; and these were the ones who heard him gladly. like causes which made it thus of old, operate to-day, and the supplemental revelations and revealers of our time meet with like reception as did those centuries ago. it is well. wide popularity and affectionate fondling might sap an infant _ism_ of its best health-giving and reformatory powers. comprehensive wisdom lets it harden and strengthen through buffetings with the leaders of prevalent theological and scientific decisions, opinions, and fashions. the boundless intelligence, which ever acts for good, is patient and long forbearing. it waits for seeds of reforms to take deep root in the masses, and thence, in time, pushes onward the force which overturns dynasties, hierarchies, and all effete institutions, creeds, and customs which are no longer fruitful of food suited to cultured man's existing needs. savage and barbarous nations, everywhere and always, attain to more or less faith in the presence and help of ancestral spirits; they seek instruction from the departed. broad and perpetual belief in a particular fact is far from weak evidence of its positive existence. uncultured minds admit witnessed facts to be positive occurrences, and affect no need to comprehend how they are produced before giving assent to their verity. but the cultured are prone to deny the manifestation of any events whose transpiration is not referable to the permission of some law whose operations are familiar. they cannot account for a fact, and therefore it does not exist, or, as agassiz said, "it is not in nature." the greatest of human scientists, however, falls far short of acquaintance with all the forces and permissions enfolded within boundless, unfathomable, incomprehensible _nature_. it is dogmatism--not science--which says that facts observed by the senses of man continuously from the birth of his race down to now, have had no positive existence. law reigns; and we know no law which permits return from beyond the grave; therefore departed spirits cannot revisit their survivors on earth. such is often the position and argument of theology, science, and culture. but our question to them is, are you sure that you are acquainted with all the laws, forces, agents, and permissions in the broad storehouses of nature? have you explored all realms in the universe, and qualified yourselves to maintain that you have definitely learned that no forces anywhere exist by which things anomalous to human science can be manifested to human senses? practically you say, yes. and doing thus, you foster and fast extend belief in non-immortality. are the results of your course to be lamented? perhaps not. the oozing out and disappearance of an old belief, and a consequent state of non-belief, may be arranged for in the methods of providence, because the latter state may be the best possible for the induction of belief founded on demonstration, where one previously lived which rested upon dogmatic authority. the skepticism of our generation pertaining to a future life is an offspring of general and advanced education which asks for proofs as the only proper foundation for belief. that education has fitted the thinking masses to demand that teachers shall grapple with and either refute or adopt sensible facts widely witnessed. millions upon millions of christendom's inhabitants are having sensible demonstration, day by day and hour by hour, that the spirits of departed mortals make known their veritable presence among their survivors in mortal forms. they say to the world's leading minds,--spirit return is a fact in nature: it is made manifest to our physical senses; we know it to be true. therefore, ye sticklers for law and scientific methods, prove to us our mistake if we are dupes. during more than five and twenty years we have been putting forth that call, and you have thus long omitted to give any other response than dogmatic assertion that the appearances we witness are the productions of fraud, fancy, delusion, and the like. that is not satisfactory. our claim is, that departed spirits of men are working marvels on the earth. that claim is good till it be shown that the marvelous events witnessed are the productions of other agents. each lapsing year strengthens that claim. and if a check to such materialism as argues that man is devoid of any property which will consciously survive the death of his body, and if a positive demonstration of man's survival beyond the tomb, be matters which the methods of providence are employed to advance, then the unwonted numbers of returning spirits recently and now, and the frequency of their advent, together with the consequent daily and palpable demonstration of a life beyond the present, come to man most opportunely--come to him both when vast masses of mortals are prepared so meet and welcome them as friends and kindred, and also, and significantly, when their presence impairs the power of bright and leading minds to cause the thinkers of our age to anticipate annihilation of themselves, their kindred, and their race, and to suffer loss of the incentives and joys which attend anticipations of a heaven in advance. so welcome, efficient, and salutary an advent of invisible actors and teachers as we witness to-day, seemingly would have been impossible, had the witchcraft creed of our fathers retained abiding hold upon their descendants. the methods of providence seem to have embraced both the abolition of that creed, and a sufficient lapse of time for the nurture and culture of a people up to such elevation that a large portion of it would be fitted and disposed to welcome back departed ones just when their proved presence would be the great fact at man's command which would effectually deter advancing and beneficent physical scientists from inferring and teaching that life's emigrants all take a plunge into the rayless abyss of nonentity. a continuous thread of the methods of providence seems traceable through many of the darkest and most shocking scenes of human history. many of man's greatest advances have been outwrought through anguish and tortures whose inflictors we reprobate. is it too much to say that such a thread ropes in, as instruments of good, pharaoh, pontius pilate, witchcraft, and many other notable personages and scenes, which have been made to further the deliverances of oppressed and suffering mortals? permission of sins, sufferings, and wrongs comes from the infinitely benevolent. fit instrumentality existed at salem village for demolishing that special creed of christendom which closed and barred the gates that nature hinged for furnishing a way of egress back from beyond the grave; and wisest and kindest dwellers above were in mood then to let suffering and anguish enough come upon mortals there to awaken them out of their deep delusion, and sway them to set those special gates ajar. they broke the bars; but dust and rubbish long made a wide opening difficult and arduous. a century and a half was needed for such liberation of mortals from the crampings of delusion, and for such exercise of free thought in a land of free schools, as would educate a nation up to courage which could calmly ask any mysterious visitant whatsoever, who he was, whence he came, and what he wanted. in the fullness of time, this could be and was done. when culture and science were broadly producing conviction that there is no hereafter for man, one came forth from the land of the departed, knocked on cottage walls, gained the ear of common people, allured hosts of other spirits to follow him to human abodes; and the numerous band of returning ones is now the only host which can effectually stop the hope-crushing advance of materialism, and furnish the world palpable demonstration of an hereafter for the souls of men. in 1692, an unprecedented strain in its application effectually broke up christendom's long cherished and indurated delusion that devils unfleshed and devils incarnate are the only beings who can act and commune across the line dividing this from the life beyond. that rupture set christians free to learn that duty called them to "try the spirits." in time a generation came who met that duty. spirits of god--good spirits--as well as others visit human abodes, and their presence itself is proof positive of man's survival beyond the grave. their widely conceded advent seems divinely opportune, for it occurs when their presence tends forcefully to check, and promises to stop the prevalent strong tendency of science and culture to divine that man's doom is drear annihilation. the beneficent intensity of a special strain upon a specific delusion, nine score years ago, is due to the strength of faith, character, and action, and to the unwonted extent and excellency of medianimic instrumentality then existing at salem village, whose conspicuous action and use there made that spot lastingly memorable; and we deem it just to regard it as a point from which influences emanated whose fruits to-day are eminent blessings to the christian world. the methods of providence often educe choicest good from most direful evils. appendix. christendom's witchcraft devil. christians, when new england witchcraft occurred, generally believed that it originated with, emanated from, and was controlled by _one_ vast malignant personality, possessing frightful powers, aspects, and efficiency. a fair comprehension of what that being was then conceived to be is needful to anything like accurate knowledge of the origin, growth, sway, exit, and genuine character of occurrences which outwrought as dire strifes, horrors, bloodshed, and heart-wrenchings, as any courageous, intelligent, and conscientious people ever sided forward or suffered under. christendom, in the day of our puritan forefathers, believed in a devil peculiar to a few centuries--in one who was of more modern birth than the bible or other ancient histories--who was very different from any being characterized in either jewish or heathen records of antiquity, and has no parallel, we trust, in any creed to-day. probably many malicious, as well as benevolent, unseen personages exist, who may often act upon men and their affairs. there may be powerful _evil ones_, in realms unseen, who there rule over hosts of like dispositions with themselves. neither the existence of many devils, nor intermeddling by them with man's peace and welfare, is called in question. authors of the bible, when using the terms devil, satan, and others of similar import, generally designated, as our own age extensively does, beings very unlike _such_ a devil as was conceived of and dreaded by christendom from two to five hundred years ago. prior to and during the days of jesus and his apostles, such terms were often applied to whatever, in either the visible or the unseen world, tempted or forced men to wrong-doing, or hindered their progress in goodness. jesus said to a disciple, "get thee behind me, _satan_;" and this, simply because peter was giving him advice more carnal than spiritual, and which was designed to dissuade jesus from following the course which his conscience was prompting him to pursue. the mere giving of unwise advice made peter _a satan_. turning to 2 sam. xxiv. 1, you may read that the lord, being angry, moved david to number the people. turning again to 1 chron. xxi. 1, you will find a description of the same transaction, in which it is said that "_satan_ ... provoked david to number israel." therefore, in biblical language, even the lord, when angry, was equivalent to satan. any accuser, in a court of justice or equity, might properly have been called a satan, in the days of the prophets, for then that term was applicable to any adversary or opponent, of whatever grade or nature. very much later than david's day the word _devil_ frequently had a much softer meaning than it usually bears now. jesus said (john vi. 70), "have not i chosen you twelve, and one of you is _a devil_?" having previously called peter "satan," jesus here called judas a _devil_. thus highest christian authority spoke of unwise and treacherous men as being satans and devils, and thereby showed that those words anciently were sometimes applied, by the pure and wise, to other beings than one special great malignant spirit. the devil of modern _witchcraft_ was unknown by jesus and by all biblical authors. whence, then, since not from the bible,--whence did christians of the seventeenth and some earlier centuries obtain those peculiar conceptions of him, which made the devil almost counterbalance, in malignity and monstrosity, the benignity and beauty of the infinite god? where did they find him? so far as we perceive and believe, his like was never recognized, either outside of christendom, or prior to the dark ages. no being verily like him was ever dreaded as an enemy by any other people than christians, and not by them till within the last thousand years. about all that we know is, that he had become huge and frightful at the time of the reformation; and our belief is, that morbid fancy, in the cloisters and monasteries of europe, through several centuries plied her limnistic verbal skill, and thereby outlined and blackened piecemeal her most _outrã©_ conceptions possible of the lineaments and expressions of a being as monstrous in shape, as powerful, wily, and malicious, as imagination could fabricate, and thus gave the christian world a monk-made devil--a hideous personification of evil. lapsing time eventually caused this cloister-born scarecrow to be looked upon as vitalized malignity incarnate--as an immortal, ubiquitous personality--as a living fiend of awful sway and force, who should be watched, feared, and fought by every god-serving man. we look upon him as a production of human fancy. but not so did our predecessors. they assigned to their devil of horrid form and huge dimensions a very different origin and nature. where born, and what his nature, according to the belief of those who imported him to new england shores, are important questions the appropriate answers to which must be comprehended before one can obtain just appreciation of the position in which their creed placed our forefathers, and the direction and force it gave to their action whenever seeming diabolism not only fearfully disturbed private firesides and social relations, but threatened tenure of lands, and continued existence of church and state throughout the colonies. their author of witchcraft was conceived of, believed in, and set forth in language, as having been heaven-born--a glorious angel once, but apostate and banished from his native skies;--as one mighty, malignant personality, almost ubiquitous, almost omniscient, second in power to almighty god alone, and nearly his equal. as quoted by upham, vol. i. p. 390, wierius, a learned german physician, described the devil as being one who "possesses great courage, incredible cunning, superhuman wisdom, the most acute penetration, consummate prudence, an incomparable skill in vailing the most pernicious artifices under a specious disguise, and a malicious and infinite hatred toward the human race, implacable and incurable."--"he was," says appleton's n. a. cyc., "often represented on the stage, with black complexion, flaming eyes, sulphuric odor, horns, tail, hooked nails, and cloven hoof." many of us now living have seen him pictured nearly thus in some old illustrated editions of the bible. but the gifted milton's comprehensive fancy and lofty diction, exempted, under poetic license, from adherence to fact or creed, or other enfeebling restraint, put forth, in masterly and acceptable manner, lineaments and features appropriate to an embodiment of his highest possible conceptions of combined majesty, might, and malignity, and thus allured his own and future ages to bow in awe before a devil who in grandeur far surpassed any which monkish powers had been able to fabricate and describe. he imputed to satan "eyes that sparkling blaz'd; his other parts, besides prone on the flood, extended long and large lay floating many a rood," ... "unconquerable will, and study of revenge, immortal hate, and courage never to submit or yield," ... "resolve to wage by force or guile eternal war, irreconcilable to our grand foe, ... ever to do ill our sole delight, as being the contrary to his high will whom we resist; if then his providence out of our evil seek to bring forth good, our labor must be to prevent that end, and out of good still to find means of evil." such was the great poet's "archangel ruined;" nearly such was the prevalent perception of him by the general mind of christendom. he was one mighty evil spirit--monarch of all fiends, and an untiring operator for harm to both the body and soul of man. such conceptions were general alike in europe and america. but still another view, quite as appalling as any of the foregoing, and appealing more directly to the temporal interests of men, operated in _america_, and made it specially needful for all property holders here to contest the devil's advances. cotton mather called the arch mischief-worker "a great landholder;" and he was spoken of as though conceived to be temporal as well as spiritual ruler over all indian tribes and their lands, and also as being a contester against god and christ for empire over each and every part of the american continent where christians encroached upon his sable majesty's domains. god and devil--each was a vast and powerful spirit, exercising sway and dominion widely, as the other would let him; and these two mighty spiritual rulers were often struggling in sharp conflict of doubtful issue for empire over particular portions of the earth. the devil--and such a devil too--occupied much space not only in the theology and philosophy of the learned, but also in the daily and worldly thoughts of the common colonists. upham has forcefully and truthfully said (vol. i. p. 393), that our fathers "were under an impression that the devil, having failed to prevent progress of knowledge in europe, had abandoned his efforts to obstruct it effectually there; had withdrawn into the american wilderness, intending here to make a final stand; and had resolved to retain an undiminished empire over the whole continent and his pagan allies, the native inhabitants. our fathers accounted for the extraordinary descent, and incursions of the evil one among them, in 1692, on the supposition "that it was a desperate effort to prevent them from bringing civilization and christianity within his favorite retreat; and their souls were fired with the glorious thought, that, by carrying on the war with vigor against him and his confederates, the witches, they would become chosen and honored instruments in the hands of god for breaking down and abolishing the last stronghold on the earth of the kingdom of darkness." this mighty devil, commander-in-chief of the countless hosts of all the devils, demons, satans, indians, heathen, sinners in, above, upon, or around earth,--this mighty contester for dominion with god and christ and all good christians, was conceived to be author of all works called witchcrafts, producing them through human beings who had voluntarily made a covenant to serve him, and who resided in the midst of the people whom he molested; for we shall soon see that the philosophy of those times permitted him no other possible access to man than through persons who were in covenant with himself. any covenanter with such a devil, that is, any wizard or witch, could be regarded by the public as nothing less formidable than a voracious wolf burrowing within the christian sheepfold, who, if not at once unearthed and slain, would either actually devour, or frighten away from their pasturing grounds, all those with their descendants who had crossed the ocean to feed on the hills and vales of america. our fathers felt that the possession and value of their homes and lands, as well as the temporal peace and prosperity of the community, its religious privileges, and the salvation of human souls, were at stake in a witchcraft conflict. their faith, their interests temporal and spiritual, their manhood, and all that was brave, strong, and good in them, called upon them to face boldly even such a devil as has been described above, and to fight him by any processes which had been tried and approved in europe; the chief of which was, to seize his covenanted servants--his guns--and silence them promptly and permanently. witches must die! limitations of the devil's powers. creed-makers before the reformation conceived, what is probably true, that natural barriers at all times have effectually debarred even the mightiest devil, as well as each and all of his disembodied imps, from coming directly into such close contact with a human body, or any other material object, as enabled them to produce effects perceptible by man's physical senses. being themselves spirits, whether primarily earth-born or foreign, devils could effect direct access to, and could harm the minds and souls of men, and, unaided by mortals, could incite human beings to evil actions and self-debasement, while yet, so long as they were unaided by voluntary human alliance, they were absolutely unable to act upon matter--unable to subject human forms to fits, twitchings, tumblings, transformations, sicknesses, pains, &c., such as the bewitched of old experienced, and such as await many mediumistic persons to-day. devils, formerly, and spirits now, to make the effects of their powers observable, or to make themselves felt by men's external senses, usually must act first and directly upon the equivalent to such nervous fluid or aura as enables man's mind to actuate his own body. any disembodied spirit, of whatsoever grade or character, may be, and probably is, seldom able to command that intermediate aura--or that _something_--excepting when in or near an animal organism which possesses those properties or conditions, whatever they are, which render a person mediumistic. constructors of the witchcraft creed probably had learned that nature always and everywhere makes matter intangible by spirit directly, and they thence inferred that the devil could never get into close contact with human bodies without the aid of some spirit, or of appendages to some spirit, who holds living alliance with matter, and consequently has in or around itself nervous fluid, or its equivalent, which is usable by mind not its own--is loanable, or at least liable to be abstracted. transpiring observation now quite distinctly perceives that control of human organisms by disembodied spirits is usually attended by conditions fundamentally analogous to an antecedent covenant. the old creed-makers may have reasoned from facts of experience and observation much more generally and logically than the present age imagines. no special desire is felt, and we do not see that any special obligation rests upon us, to palliate the doings of those monastics who in dark ages both fabricated and shackled the devil of witchcraft. still we do not begrudge them such justification as may flow out that passing facts. we have already stated the probability that nature makes physical man intangible by spirits directly. because of protracted observations of their doings, we assume that spirits are able to read at a glance the properties of each form to which they give special attention, and are at no loss to determine what organisms are controllable by them when conditions are all favorable. one and an important condition is, absence of resistance to control by the mind to which the susceptible organism pertains. the genuine owner generally _can_ withhold his or her nervous fluids, or auras, or those properties, of whatever kind or name, which a spirit must use in the controlling process; and, consequently, _a quasi agreement_, amounting at least to acquiescence on the part of the medium, is generally a necessary preliminary to any modern spirit-manifestation, especially with mediums not much accustomed to be controlled. when and where belief prevailed that all disembodied spirits who ever actuated human forms were the devil or his imps, the inference that those whom he and his controlled had entered into an agreement with _him_, was natural and almost necessary. for an agreement or consensus between a controlling spirit and the will of the person controlled is very common now, and, no doubt, has been in all past ages. the assumption, however, which seems to have been prevalent formerly, that such consensus involved eternal reciprocal obligation between the devil and a human soul, or the sale of that soul to the evil one, could not be required or suggested by any facts perceivable by modern observation. no doubt each successive use of properties of a particular body by an intelligence from outside itself, generally enables the foreign spirit subsequently to manage that body with increasing ease to itself, and with more satisfaction probably to both parties; and the practice, if mutually pleasurable, renders prolonged co-operation probable; but co-operation for a time imposes no obligation or necessity that the parties shall remain forever conjoined. common use of the same magnetism, nervous elements, or whatever they use in common, may tend to make a spirit and a mortal assimilate in their tastes, emotions, motives, and characters. this co-operation may evoke such sympathy between them, that each may often be drawn to the of other's aid, and conjointly they may manifest both physical and mental powers which neither could put forth alone. and it is possible that a liberated spirit may be so linked in sympathy with numerous other spirits, that the joint powers of many are at his service, so that through a single human form there may be manifested to the outer world the effects of the combined forces of legions of ascended spirits, either good or bad, in one accordant band. obviously, spiritual beings, of whatever quality, are generally dependent, for any manifestation to the outer world, on one or more of a class of mortals possessing special properties or susceptibilities. nature seems to impose such necessity. she does not let even man's own spirit act upon his stable body directly, but through something evanescent before microscope and scalpel. covenant with the devil perhaps, and probably, the direst and most disastrous of all deluding misconceptions by our forefathers--the one which engendered, nurtured, and intensified the greatest evils of witchcraft--was, that neither their huge devil, nor any subordinate fiendish spirit, could get access to external nature and human bodies through any other avenue than some man, woman, or child, who had already _voluntarily made an explicit agreement with him or his to be his obedient and faithful servant, in consideration of helps and favors which the devil promised to bestow in requital_. when such a covenant had been ratified by signature in the devil's book, written with the blood of the mortal party, then forthwith the devil and his hosts thereby became subject to his new servant's call, and the servant to the devil's summons, so that either could command the powers of both for co-operation in the execution of any malice or deviltry whatsoever, and upon any designated individual. the assumed fact that the devil could use the faculties and properties of no human being who had not expressly covenanted with him, conjoined with belief that he must have the voluntary help of some human being whenever he molested men, was the specially murderous ingredient of faith which impelled good and humane men on to copious shedding of innocent blood. the making of that covenant, and thereby opening an aperture for the devil's entrance through nature's barrier, and thus admitting a wolf into the christian fold, who otherwise could not possibly have entered, constituted the essence of the crime of witchcraft. that covenanting act made the covenanting man or woman a wizard or a witch; and god had said, "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." the devil's defense. the custom is humane and equitable which permits the accused to be heard in their own behalf. it is a common saying, that even the prisoner now at our bar is always entitled to his due and we cheerfully grant him opportunity to defend himself. under his alias, satan, and using a cultured englishman as his amanuensis, he has recently favored the world with his autobiography; in which he says,-"i am a power. i am a power under god, and as such i perform a task which, however unlovely and however painful, is destined to put forward god's wise and benignant purposes for the good of man.... i am an image of the evil that is in man, arising from his divinely-given liberty of moral choice. that evil i discipline and correct, as well as represent; and so i am also a divine school-master to bring the world to god. my origin is human, my sphere of action earthly, my final end dissolution. evil must cease when good is universal. while, then, i cannot boast of a heavenly birth, i disown fiendish dispositions. worse than the worst man i cannot be. i am indeed a sort of mongrel, born, bred, reared, and nurtured of human fancy, folly, and fraud. as such i possess a sort of quasi omnipresence and a quasi omniscience, for i exist wherever man exists, and, dwelling in human hearts, know all that men think, feel, and do. hence i have power to tempt and mislead; and that power, when in my worst moods, i am pleased to exercise.... i am a personification of the dark side of humanity and the universe.... i exist in every land, and occupy a corner in every human heart.... i am the child of human speculation: i came into existence on the first day that man asked himself, 'whence this world in which i live and of which i am a part?'"[1] [1] the autobiography of satan, edited by john r. beard, d. d., london, 1872. the frankness, perspicuity, definiteness, and point, taken in connection with the calm, earnest tone, and gentle, candid spirit in which his then placid majesty dictated that account of himself to his reverend scribe, win our credence, and induce us to believe he utters only the simple truth when he describes himself as "a personification of the dark side of humanity and the universe,"--as one who "cannot boast of a heavenly birth," but was "born, bred, and nurtured of human fancy, folly, and fraud,"--as possessing "a sort of quasi omnipresence and a quasi omniscience," existing "wherever man exists, ... dwelling in human hearts," knowing "all that men think, feel, and do," having power "to tempt and mislead," and, in his "worst moods, is pleased to exercise" that power. such a satan, or devil, no doubt exists. but, though we admit that he was a mighty impersonal power in the midst of witchcraft scenes, he was vastly different from the heaven-born "archangel fallen," whom the good people of new england believed in, feared, and supposed themselves to be fighting against. a personification of the principle of evil, or "of the dark side of humanity and the universe," is the only devil who is simultaneously present with the whole human race. but hosts of unseen personalities--earth-born, expanded, wily, malignant, and powerful--may act upon man, and bands of such may be subservient to some abler ones of their kind, who reign over them as princes of the dark powers of the air. malignant departed mortals are the only disembodied personal devils who molest mankind. we believe in _many_ devils, but not in christendom's witchcraft chief _one_. the devil of our fathers, though but a fiction, was chief cause of witchcraft's woes, and therefore merits attention first, in any attempt to subject that matter to new analysis. demonology and necromancy. demonology--intercourse with demons--implies dealings with spiritual personalities; but these may be either good or bad, and may consist wholly, or only in part, of departed human beings, provided there be any other grade of spirits residing in, or able to enter, earth's spirit spheres: probably there are not. in earlier ages, these demons were often deemed to be intermediate messengers and links facilitating intercourse between mortals on earth and most eminent gods above. that idea, somewhat qualified, is having revival now in the minds of those who are receiving from their departed friends instructions and influences which allure humans heavenward. in the olden faith, demon was used to designate a spirit who might be good; and demonology, then, far from being branded as diabolism, or dealings with one great devil and his special devotees, was generally deemed not only innocent, but helpful;--as much so as man's communings to-day with either his disembodied kindred and friends, or with benighted, forlorn, and anguished souls who seek needed encouragement and solace, which they can obtain from none other than an earthly source, are deemed helpful by those loving and philanthropic men and women who take active part in similar demonological interviews now. bad as demonology seems at this day, when the word has come to suggest dealings with bad and demoralizing spirits alone, time was, when both it and necromancy, or intercourse with the dead, could be legitimately applied to such interviews as jesus had with moses and elias on the mount of transfiguration; and therefore then might have imported communings that would spiritualize and elevate whoever experienced its operations. strictly, there are no dead. moses and elias were living personages when seen by jesus. socrates, and many another ancient and wise teacher, drew much profound wisdom and inspiration from out the vailed recesses of demonology and necromancy, and the example of such wise and good men of old has practical imitation by the spiritually-minded and philanthropic disciples of modern communicators living in supernal spheres. biblical witch and witchcraft. very great difference existed between the witchcraft of bible times and that of christendom fifteen hundred years after john recorded the revelation. the difference was almost as marked as that between the devils of those two periods. the word witch seems primarily to mean, "a _knowing_ one," and perhaps has always hinted at knowledge or power acquired by some mysterious method. witch has generally meant, not only a _knowing one_, but also any person who gets knowledge or help by processes which are mysterious. witch_craft_ has been the utterance of knowledge, or the application of power, thus obtained. but neither all such utterance, nor all such application of force, was, in biblical times, called witchcraft. far, very far different from that. daniel, ezekiel, and john the revelator, all obtained knowledge mysteriously from the lips of departed men; their promulgation of it, however, was not called _witchcraft_, but the _word of god_. neither do the scriptures speak of the woman of endor as a witch or practicer of witchcraft, though she had both a familiar spirit, and such clairvoyant powers that at her call samuel rendered himself visible by her; and he either used her organs of speech, or impressed her to use them, in utterance of rebukes to saul and prediction of his coming fate. this was not biblical _witchcraft_; though, departing from biblical precedent, the modern world has fallen into the habit of calling the woman of endor a _witch_, while that epithet is not applied to her in the bible. his lawgiver said to moses, "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live;" but if that teacher furnished any very clear definition of either witch or witchcraft, it has not come down to us. tempting to _spiritual whoredom_, so far as we can determine, constituted the crime of witchcraft among the jews. the people of israel were regarded as being _wedded_ to the god of abraham; therefore persons who by _signs_, by marvelous utterances and acts, tempted jews to be false to their marriage relations with their god, were witches. the crime of witchcraft was not involved in simply putting forth knowledge, signs, and wonders by the help of familiar spirits, because prophets and apostles often did that when they put forth "the word of god." witchcraft was application of supernal knowledge and powers for the special purpose of seducing and tempting people to worship moloch, or some other god of the heathen. (see lev. xx. 5, 6.) bible witchcraft was _use of mysterious acquisitions in teaching_ heresy. protestant christendom's witch and witchcraft. in the seventeenth century, much of the biblical import of witch and witchcraft, as well as of demon, had been either perverted or dropped, and belief was prevalent, especially outside of the catholic church, that none but _evil_ spirits could come to men; and also that "the days of miracles, or special manifestation directly from the almighty, had ceased." then, too, a personal devil, heaven-born but apostate, and perhaps also myriads of other heaven-born but rebellious and banished angels, could, and only such base spirits could, get access to our external world; and they could effect entrance only through human beings who voluntarily consented and agreed to co-operate with them. it will be apparent on future pages, that any spirit then seen by clairvoyant eyes, whatever the sex, form, features, complexion, or aspect, was either the devil himself, or some apparition formed and presented by him or his, and he was held responsible for its presentation. our fathers attained to and held firm conviction that all channels for inspirations and mighty works, available since the days of jesus and his apostles, were avenues for the influx of none but poisonous waters. this was a sad mistake; for, could they have perceived the groundlessness of their faith that supernal springs of truth, purity, and benevolence had been dammed against the emission of good waters earthward,--groundlessness of their belief that the possibility and feasibility of such works and inspirations as they called miracles had ever been restricted by anything but natural conditions,--that perception would have rendered it apparent to themselves that they ought to make wizards of abraham and lot, of moses and samuel, of daniel, ezekiel, and john the revelator, since each one of those communed with spirits. our american predecessors in the seventeenth century believed it impossible that good spirits could come to man from bright abodes,--doubted perhaps, perhaps disbelieved, that departed men and women ever did return to earth, excepting "by the immediate agency of the almighty;" and their writings and actions justify us in saying, that with them, _witchcraft was injection of occult forces and teachings upon man, through consenting mortals, for malicious purposes solely, and by invisible intelligences_. spirit, soul, and mental powers. perplexing diversity prevails among users of english language in their application of the terms spirit and soul. some regard spirit as only a fine, invisible robe of the essential man; while others speak of soul as the robe and spirit as the man who wears it. our own custom has been to regard soul as _the man_, and spirit as his under-garment during earth-life, and his outer one, if he shall have more than one, when he shall put off his present outer. this view is not novel. the sometimes clairvoyant paul stated that there is a natural or outer, and a spiritual or inner body--yes, _body_. opened inner eyes to-day often see spirit-forms pervading the outer forms of people around them. their observations are in harmony with the apostle's declaration. the essential nature of spirit is all unknown by us. whether matter, spirit, and soul are but different combinations and conditions of like primal elements, we are utterly incompetent to determine. practically we accept, what is probably a common notion, that matter and soul differ fundamentally; and, having done that, we are unable to identify spirit with either of them elementally. therefore, without any definite conceptions as to its inherent alliances, we speak of it as possibly something between the other two--_a tertium quid_. thought regards it as the substance of worlds unspeakably finer than material planets. spirit, in mass, is not a living, conscious entity, any more than matter is; but is a finer than gossamer substance, capable, like matter, of becoming organized, and growing into a living enrobement of the soul--enrobement of that which constitutes the on-living man through all changes of vestiture. such is our present conjecture. we apprehend that a world whose elemental substance is spirit both pervades and surrounds this material one--a world, we will say for the purpose of indicating our thought, composed of spirit matter. the invisibility and impalpability of such spirit substance are no conclusive refutation of its existence in and around us perpetually. who sees electricity, magnetism, gravitation, attraction, cohesion, repulsion? who sees either mind, or the force by which an aching toe reports to the brain and excites the sympathy of the whole organism? many things are about us, and yet known only in their perceptible phenomena. spirit substance may be all about us; the spirit world may be in, through, upon, and around the material one. many manifestations hint at the existence of an all-permeating something, which--since the word is shorter than atmosphere, and not so liable perhaps to be suggestive of palpable matter--we will call _aura_, that contains and furnishes the elements out of which spirit _bodies_ are formed, elements of the solid globe on which spirits live, and also is the medium of sight, sound, touch, and all sensation to man's spiritual or inner organism even now and here. a soul, encased within a body elaborated from and within that aura, may, when and where conditions favor, live, move freely, and be happy, whether near the fireside of its former earthly mansion, in earth's atmosphere above and around us, in the earth below our feet, under and in the waters of ocean, in the heavens over us, or _wherever thought can go_. it gives body to thought itself. brick walls and granite mountains may be no hindrances to its movements, or its freedom and power to see, act, and enjoy. all such powers and privileges probably pertain to us as spirits, even while residents in these outer forms, provided only we can effect temporary disentanglements from the outer, as is often done by or for the highly mediumistic. and yet, so long as the two bodies of a human being retain their ordinary conjunction, something not yet well understood, generally either keeps the spirit senses from cognizable contact with what is conceived to be their native aura, and therefore holds them seemingly embryonic, or it keeps the exterior consciousness of most persons from perceptions of many things which inner senses may be latently experiencing. a broad survey of mediumistic phenomena raises the question, whether the inner powers of mediums--now in this life, and daily--see, hear, and learn any more of spiritual things than do the inner powers of others, or whether the chief difference between the mediumistic and others is that the inner faculties of mediums are enabled, in consequence of some peculiarity in relative strength between the outer and inner or in the attachments between the two sets of organs, to report to the outer consciousness, and thus let their outer faculties perceive and report what the inner have cognized, while in the mass of mankind such process is not cognized. the young servant of elisha (2 kings vi. 17) was unable to see spirit hosts upon the hills about dothan, which were visible to his master; but "elisha prayed, and said, lord, i pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. and the lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw; and, behold, the mountain was full of horses, and chariots of fire round about elisha." the prophet did not ask that his young man should be endowed with any new organs of vision, but only for the opening of such as he already possessed. as soon as those visual organs in him, which could be reached and illumined by spirit aura, came into action of which he became conscious, the young man beheld spiritual beings; which beings, since the prophet had been seeing them all the time, were obviously as near and as visible before as after the prayer. some spirit perhaps ejected spirit force upon the young man in such way as helped internal perceptions to impress themselves on his external consciousness. spirits frequently throw some invisible aura with perceptible force upon the external eyes of modern mediums, when these sensitives are being brought into condition for conscious discernment of spirits. whether the object be to awaken new vision, or simply to impress existing internal vision upon the outer consciousness, is yet an unanswered question. perhaps each in different cases. possibly an actual discernment of earth-emancipated intelligences by our inner organs, especially in our hours of sleep, occurs frequently with most human beings; that is, the "inward man," or inner consciousness, of each mortal may be well acquainted now with many spirits and spirit scenes, so that, upon liberation from the flesh, emerging spirits may find themselves among acquaintances and at home. with some individuals--especially with prophetic and otherwise mediumistic ones--their knowledge, gained through sensations experienced by the inner faculties, is sometimes brought to and impresses itself upon the outer consciousness, and becomes to palpably operative that those individuals are deemed inspired, for they speak as never _man_--that is, as the outward man--spake. either physical peculiarities, or peculiar relations between the outer or natural and the inner or spiritual bodies, more than the quantum of either mental or moral developments, seem to be the requisites for facile mediumship. that view is often set forth in statements made by spirits, and is rendered probable by observation of many facts. mediumistic proclivities run much in families, about as much as musical ones do; and the capabilities for either mediumistic or musical performances are measurably constitutional and transmissible. moses, aaron, and their sister miriam, all prophesied, or were mediums of communications from the realm of spirits. in our antecedent pages it appears that four children of john goodwin,--that three noble, adult, and married sisters, nurse, easty, and cloyse, living apart from each other, whose mother had been called a witch,--that sarah good and her little daughter dorcas, five years old,--that mrs. ann putnam and her daughter ann, and that martha carrier and four of her children, were mediumistic. we can add to the list seven sons of seva, and four daughters of philip, in apostolic times. constitutional properties, combinations, or endowments, differing from such as are most common in the make-up of man, pertain to such persons as are or can be the most plastic mediums. in many people, the organized properties of their physical or mental structures, or of both these, and the relations of such properties to each other, and their mutual action, become, at times, so modified by severe sickness, proximate drownings, protracted fastings, sudden frights, intense griefs, by use of anã¦sthetics, narcotics, and stimulants, and from many other causes, that those to whom the properties belong become temporarily mediumistic, though they be not observably or consciously such in their more normal states. the most common, and the more mildly acting agents or instrumentalities of such change, and those which produce the more abiding effects, are magnetic emanations and psychological influences from the positively mediumistic acting upon relatively negative systems. such emanations may be seed originating new, or fertilizers quickening and expanding existing, inward growths. emanuel swedenborg was, prior to and independently of his marked spiritual illumination late in life, one of the most erudite and illustrious scientists of the last century, and, being a truthful, conscientious, devout man, trained to accuracy of observation and statement, he was admirably fitted for a reporter to the external world, of facts which came under his observation as an observer in spirit realms; and we take from his works the following short extracts, which have some bearing upon the topic just presented. "man loses nothing by death, but is still a man in all respects.... many are bewildered after death by finding themselves in a body, in garments, and in houses, ... some had believed that men after death would be as ghosts, specters of which they had heard." "the will and understanding ... are two _organic_ forms, ... forms organized from the purest substances. it is no objection that their organization is not manifest to the eye, being interior to sight.... how can love and wisdom act upon what is not a substantial existence? how else can thought inhere?" two sets of mental powers. teachers unseen, speaking back to the world they have gone from, often say that, when here, they possessed two _bodies_--one of which is entombed below, while in the other they went forth and still abide; they say also that they possessed two mental systems and a double consciousness, one only of which survives. quite recently, science, pressing forward in explorations, obtained perceptions of this latter fact. in his eighth lecture on the "method of creation," given may 1, 1873, and reported in the new york tribune, the eminent agassiz spoke as follows:-"are all mental faculties one? is there only one kind of mental power throughout the whole animal kingdom, differing only in intensity and range of manifestation? in a series of admirable lectures, given recently in boston by dr. brown-sã©quard, he laid before his audience _a new philosophy of mental powers_. through physiological experiments, combined with a careful study and comparison of pathological cases, he has come to the conclusion that there are _two sets_, or a double set, of mental powers in the human organism, or acting through the human organism, essentially different from each other. the one may be designated as our ordinary conscious intelligence; the other as a superior power which controls our better nature, solves, sometimes suddenly and unexpectedly, nay, even in sleep, our problems and perplexities, suggests the right thing at the right time, acting through us without conscious action of our own, though susceptible of training and elevation. or perhaps i should rather say, our own organism may be trained to be a more plastic instrument through which this power acts in us. "i do not see why this view should not be accepted. it is in harmony with facts as far as we know them. the experiments through which my friend dr. brown-sã©quard has satisfied himself that the subtle mechanism of the human frame, about which we know so little in its connection with mental processes, is sometimes acted upon by a power outside of us as familiar with that organization as we are ignorant of it, are no less acute than they are curious and interesting." many persons, including the author of these pages, more than twenty years ago found among "phenomena called spiritual," many which seemed imperatively to demand a broadening of the base of any mental philosophy which the world at large had presented to their notice, and apprehended that light was dawning amid the dark work of spirits, which might reveal to man more knowledge than he had ever obtained both of his own mysterious structure, and of his relations to and possible intercourse with his predecessors on earth. many, perceiving this, have held on prosecuting such observations, and drawing such conclusions as their opportunities and powers permitted, undeterred by sneers and cold shoulders; and such now spontaneously hail with joy the arrival of the world's most advanced scientists at "_a new philosophy of mental powers_;" such a philosophy, too, as manifestations well scrutinized have long been indicating would some day be based on the firm foundation of proved facts, and become a blessing to our race. both spiritualism and science, by distinct routes, have reached a common point, and each testifies to the other's discovery of a new world _in_ man. "the subtle mechanism of the human frame, about which we know so little in its connection with mental processes, _is sometimes acted upon by a power outside of us as familiar with that organism as we are ignorant of it, ... acting through us without conscious action of our own, though susceptible of training or elevation_." such is the conclusion of dr. brown-sã©quard, which is indorsed by agassiz. backed by such authority, one may very courageously move forward in efforts to show that the very structure of man through all ages may have permitted certain human forms to have been controlled and used by intelligent powers outside of themselves, and without conscious action of their own, that is, without consciousness on the part of the individual minds to which those bodies naturally pertained. such facts are guide-boards designating pathways along which producers of prophetic, witchcraft, and spiritualistic phenomena can reach standing-points for speech and action perceptible by men's external senses; these facts are keys, too, that will unlock many chambers of mystery, and we have used them in searches among the records of witchcraft. those eminent savants do not state, and therefore we shall not maintain, that the outside power they refer to is spirits of former occupants of human bodies; but since that power "is as familiar with the human organism as we are ignorant of it," the language surely implies reference to _some intelligent_ power, for its familiarity with the organism is that of _knowledge_, the acquisition of which is contrasted with our _ignorance_. to whom can they refer, if not to spirits of some grade? the nature of things contains provision for temporary reincarnations of some departed spirits in the physical forms of some peculiarly organized and endowed human beings. this fact is important, and should be borne in mind during a perusal of the present work. marvel and spiritualism. we are reluctant to use the word "miracle" because of its liability to be construed as designating not only an act performed directly by an almighty one, but also that, in performing it, he acts "contrary to the established constitution and course of things;" which course we believe was never adopted. therefore we shall use "marvel," to designate all works which have seemed to require more than human power, and have been understood to be "more than natural." such a marvel _is a result from application of powerful occult forces which man neither comprehends nor can manage_. spiritualism is phenomena resulting from use of occult forces and processes by invisible, departed human spirits. most genuine spiritual phenomena are marvels; but there may be, and may have been in witchcraft-scenes, marvels which spirits did not produce. we left out from the definition of marvel, necessity for an _intelligent_ operator. impersonal influxes to many mediums may at times produce many things which are often ascribed to personal spirits. our broad definition lets the word marvel cover all supernal revelations and inspirations from any god, spirit, or the impersonal spirit realms,--all angel or spirit presence ever perceived by man,--all mighty works, signs, and wonders ever wrought through prophets, apostles, magicians, sorcerers, and the like,--all promptings, helps, and works by spirits called "familiar,"--all necromancies, witchcrafts, &c., &c. as a natural philosophy, our subject embraces all these. its moral or religious aspects do not come under special consideration in the course of inquiry which is pursued by us. spiritualism--as evolvements by finite unseen intelligences, using none other than natural forces, however occult, acting in subserviency to natural laws and nice conditions--has its rightful place with whatever has come forth from action of intra-mundane or supra-mundane forces and agents. hidden intelligences in all ages and lands have had credit for performing in man's presence many "mighty works," and for making revelations from the world unseen. over the whole earth formerly, and over the larger part of it now, such intelligences have been and are deemed to be of all characters and grades, from very unfolded, pure, and benevolent beings, down to the ignorant, corrupt, and malignant. but our puritan ancestry on this continent had inherited and brought hither with them a firm, unqualified belief that no other spirits but evil ones could, or at least that none but such would, operate among the christian dwellers on new england soil. the mysterious workers and their doings were here excessively diabolized by the monstrous creed previously described, which prevailed all through christendom during the seventeenth and some prior centuries, so that signs, wonders, and mighty works among our ancestors assumed forms, characters, and horrors which were never known among jews, christians, or heathen of old, and do not revive in our own times. there was then lacking here any conjecture that the same laws which in job's time permitted satan to mingle in company with the sons of god, might permit a son of god--a good spirit--to traverse the paths along which the sons of the devil--bad spirits--made approaches to the children of men. moses, elias, samuel, and john's brother prophet were forgotten. we apprehend that facts of history teach beyond all successful refutation that spirits of some quality acted upon and through many persons in the american colonies during the latter half of the seventeenth century. our fathers were not mistaken as to that fact; but their inhospitable and fierce slamming of doors in the faces of these visitants provoked terrible retaliations. one leading object of this work is to refute the position of intervening historians, that no disembodied spirits whatsoever had any hand in producing american witchcraft. indian worship. the historian hutchinson said, "the indians were supposed to be worshipers of the devil, and their powows to be wizards." such supposition by the mind of christendom intensified fears and ruthless acts on american soil more than elsewhere, whenever suspicion of witchcraft was engendered. america was then understood to be peculiarly the domain of the evil one, and all its pagan inhabitants were regarded as his devoted adherents. thence his followers here were deemed to be more numerous and formidable than elsewhere, and therefore his invasion was more to be dreaded on this than on the other side of the atlantic. we must impute a considerable portion of witchcraft horrors to such narrow and cramping religious views and feelings among our fathers, as made all men everywhere seem to them not only outcasts from god, but also associates with satan, who did not possess their special creed, and worship by their processes. they practically forgot that all men, of all nations and tribes, are the offspring of the unknown god, whom paul declared to the athenians; and also that his paternal beneficence extends to his children everywhere, and draws them toward him by methods suited to their circumstances, capacities, and needs, and consequently that all religious creeds and all modes and forms of worship may be helpful to those who possess and use them. history, literature, and public belief, pertaining to the religious practices of north american indians, so far as we remember, have very uniformly ascribed to them something closely resembling communings and consultations with invisible intelligences. such religious services are, and ever have been, rendered in all those primitive tribes the world over concerning whom we have attained to anything like accurate knowledge. (see primitive culture, by edward b. tylor.) ethnology proves that belief in the presence of spirits--and, generally, belief in the access of ancestral spirits--exists among man everywhere in the nations lowest of all in culture, and survives in them as they rise in development. dr. bentley declared that "the agency of invisible beings, if not a part of every religion, is not contrary to any one." hutchinson, as quoted above, says, "the indians were supposed to be worshipers of _the devil_, and their powows to be wizards." no question is raised that such a supposition pertaining to indian worship was prevalent in the new england mind down to the close of the seventeenth century. nor can we doubt that untruthfully the puritans charged the aborigines with worshiping the one great devil of puritan diabolism, because of our conviction that the red men were in fact communing with their ancestral and numerous other friendly spirits. the white man's erroneous conception that his devil was the red man's god, had no small influence upon public action in witchcraft times. the idea that their devil had for backers all the aborigines of the continent, made him a more formidable foe than he otherwise would have been, and intensified the ruthlessness of the whites in their persecutions of those of their own complexion and households who were believed to have made a compact to serve the evil one. perhaps a modern instance may exhibit with much clearness the real nature of indian worship in former ages. we quote from the washington chronicle, early in the year 1873, what is there ascribed to general o. o. howard, who is often called the _christian soldier_. he, as commissioner from the american government, had, unarmed and with but two attendants, penetrated the fastnesses of the mountains, made his way to the home of the appache indians and to the presence of their fierce chief, cochise. after council with the appaches, "they had," as general howard writes, "an appache prayer-meeting, ... one indian after another would pray or speak.... cochise's talks were apparently the most authoritative;... i could hear him name stagalito, meaning red beard. i knew from this that our whole case was being considered in their way _in the divine presence_ either of the god of the earth, or of his spirits; and surely these were solemn moments, ... fortunately the spirits were on our side." these words indicate very clearly the nature of that devil whom modern indian powows worship: they make him on one occasion neither more nor less than the ascended chief stagalito, associated with other spirits of the same nature. can there be a doubt that hutchinson misrepresented the fact, if he meant to call the indian communings with spirits a worshiping of that monstrous being whom the word "_devil_," uttered through clerical lips, or recorded by intelligent pens, in early colonial times, was intended and understood to describe? we think not. there was neither truth nor justice in the supposition that the red men were devil-worshipers at the times when they were consulting departed spirits; nor in the presumption that their mediums--their powows--were wizards. false epithets do not convert any sincere worship, performed even by the rudest of the rude, into a bad act. those indians of two centuries ago, as judged by us now, had truer conceptions and better knowledge of spirit intercourse with mortals, and of the fit methods of obtaining useful incentives and help from spirit realms, than had their christian neighbors, who misunderstood and blindly maligned the devotions offered to the great spirit by his children in the forests. the indians, to the best of their ability, worshiped him who is the common father of all men of every hue and condition. they sought access to the great spirit, our god as well as theirs, through communings with their ancestral and other spirits. but the supposition that they worshiped such a being as the devil of christendom, is obviously incorrect. cotton mather said that "the indians generally acknowledged and worshiped _many_ gods; therefore greatly esteemed and reveres their _priests_, powows or wizards, who were esteemed as having immediate converse with the gods." rev. mr. higginson, of salem, said the indians in that vicinity "do worship two gods--a good and an evil." mather and higginson are better authority on this point than hutchinson. those denizens of the impressive forests were nature-taught spiritualists communing with their ancestral spirits, and through them were lured and helped on to worship the great spirit of nature--the omnipresent god. auguste politi _facing page_ 368 introduction as long ago as 1865 i published, under the title, _unknown natural forces_, a little monograph of a hundred and fifty pages which is still occasionally found in the book-shops, but has not been reprinted. i reprint here (pp. xiii-xxiii), what i wrote at that time in this critical study "apropos of the phenomena produced by the davenport brothers and mediums in general." it was published by didier & co., book-sellers to the academy, who had already issued my first two works, _the plurality of inhabited worlds_ and _imaginary worlds and real worlds_. "france has just been engaged in an exciting debate, where the sound of voices was drowned in a great uproar, and out of which no conclusion has emerged. a disputation more noisy than intelligent has been raging around a whole group of unexplained facts, and so completely muddled the problem that, in place of illuminating it, the debate has only served to shroud it in deeper darkness. "during the discussion a singular remark was frequently heard, to the effect that those who shouted the loudest in this court of assize were the very ones who were least informed on the subject. it was an amusing spectacle to see these persons in a death-grapple with mere phantoms. panurge himself would have laughed at it. "the result of the matter is that less is known to-day upon the subject in dispute than at the opening of the debates. "in the mean time, seated upon neighboring heights were certain excellent old fellows who observed the writs of arrest issued against the more violent combatants, but who remained for the most part grave and silent, though they occasionally smiled, and withal did a deal of hard thinking. "i am going to state what weight should be given to the opinions of those of us who do not rashly affirm the impossibility of the facts now put under the ban and who do not add their voices to the dominant note of opposition. "i do not conceal from myself the consequences of such sincerity. it requires a good deal of boldness to insist on affirming, _in the name of positive science_, the possibility of these phenomena (wrongly styled supernatural), and to constitute one's self the champion of a cause apparently ridiculous, absurd, and dangerous, knowing, at the same time, that the avowed adherents of said cause have little standing in science, and that even its eminent partisans only venture to speak of their approval of it with bated breath. however, since the matter has just been treated momentarily in fugitive writings by a group of journalists whose exacting labors wholly forbid a study of the psychic and physical forces; and since, of all this multitude of writers, the greater part have only heaped error upon error, puerility upon extravagance; and since it appears from every page they have written (i hope they will pardon me) that not only are they ignorant of the very _a, b, c_ of the subject they have so fantastically treated, but their opinions upon this class of facts rest upon no basis whatever,--therefore i have thought it would serve a purpose if i should leave, as a souvenir of the long wrangle, a piece of writing better based and buttressed than the lucubrations of the above-mentioned gentlemen. as a lover of truth, i am willing to face a thousand reproaches. be it distinctly understood that i do not for a moment deem my judgment superior to that of my confrères, some of whom are in other respects highly gifted. the simple fact is that they are not familiar with this subject, but are straying in it at random, wandering through a strange region. they misunderstand the very terminology, and imagine that facts long ago well authenticated are impossible. by way of contrast, the writer of these lines will state that for several years he has been engaged in discussions and experiments upon the subject. (i am not speaking of historical studies.) "moreover, although the old saw would have us believe that 'it is not always desirable to state the truth,' yet, to speak frankly, i am so indignant at the overweening presumption of certain polemical opponents, and at the gall they have injected into the debate, that i do not hesitate to rise and point out to the deceived public that, _without a single exception_, all the arguments brought up by these writers, and upon which they have boldly planted their banner of victory, prove absolutely _nothing_, nothing, against the possible truth of the things which they, in the fury of their denial, have so perverted. such a snarl of opinions must be analyzed. in brief, the true must be disentangled from the false. _veritas, veritas!_" "i hasten to anticipate a criticism on the part of my readers by apprising them, on the threshold of this plea, that i am not going to take the davenport brothers as my subject, but only as the ostensible motive or pretext of the discussion,--as they have been, for that matter, of the majority of the discussions. i shall deal in these pages with _the facts_ brought to the surface again by these two americans,--facts inexplicable (which they have put on the stage at herz hall here in paris, but which none the less existed before this _mise-en-scène_, and which none the less will exist even should the davenport brothers' representations prove to be counterfeit),--things which others had already exhibited, and still exhibit with as much facility and under much better conditions; occurrences, in short, which constitute the domain of the unknown forces to which have been given, one after another, five or six names explaining nothing. these forces, mind you, are as real as the attraction of gravitation, and as invisible as that. it is about facts that i here concern myself. let them be brought to the light by peter or by paul, it concerns us little; let them be imitated by sosie[1] or parodied by harlequin, still less does it concern us. the question is, do these facts exist, and do they enter into the category of known physical forces? "it amazes me, every time i think of it, that the majority of men are so densely ignorant of the psychic phenomena in question, considering the fact that they have been known, studied, valued, and recorded for a good long time now by all who have impartially followed the movement of thought during the last few lustrums. "i not only do not make common cause with the davenport brothers, but i ought furthermore to add that i consider them as placed in a very compromising situation. in laying to the account of the supernatural matters in occult natural philosophy which have a tolerable resemblance to feats of prestidigitation, they appear to a curious public to add imposture to insolence. in setting a financial value upon their talents, they seem to the moralist, who is investigating still unexplained phenomena, to place themselves on the level of mountebanks. whatever way you look at them, they are to blame. accordingly, i condemn at once both their grave error in assuming to be superior to the forces of which they are only the instruments and the venal profit they draw from powers of which they are not master and which it is no merit of theirs to possess. in my opinion, it is a piece of exaggeration to draw conclusions from these unhappy semblances of truth; and it is to abdicate one's right of private judgment to make one's self but the echo of the vulgar herd who hiss and shout themselves hoarse before the curtain rises. no, i am not the advocate of the two brothers, nor of their personal claims. for me, individual men do not exist. that which i defend is the superiority of nature to us: that which i fight against is the conceited silliness of certain persons. "you satirical gentlemen will have the frankness, i hope, to confess with me that the different reasons pleaded by you in explanation of these problems are not so solid as they appear to be. since you have discovered nothing, let us admit, between ourselves, that your explanations explain nothing. "i do not doubt that, at the point in the discussion which we have actually reached, you would like to change rôles with me, and, stopping me here, constitute yourselves in turn my questioners. "but i hasten to anticipate your proposal. as for me, gentlemen, i am not sufficiently well informed to explain these mysteries. i pass my life in a retired garden belonging to one of the nine muses, and my attachment to this fair creature is such that i have scarcely ever quitted the approaches to her temple. it is only at intervals, in moments of relaxation or curiosity, that i have allowed my eyes to wander, from time to time, over the landscapes which surround it. therefore ask me nothing. i am making a sincere confession. i know nothing of the cause of these phenomena. "you see how modest i am. all i wanted in undertaking this examination was to have the opportunity of saying this: "you know nothing about it. "neither do i. "if you acknowledge this, we can shake hands. and, if you are tractable, i will tell you a little secret. "in the month of june, 1776 (few among us remember it), a young man twenty-five years old, named jouffroy, was making a trial trip on the river doubs of a new steamboat forty feet in length and six feet in breadth. for two years he had been calling the attention of scientific authorities to his invention; for two years he had been stoutly asserting that there is a powerful latent energy in steam,--at that time a neglected asset. all ears were deaf to his words. his only reward was to be completely isolated and neglected. when he passed through the streets of baume-les-dames, his appearance was the signal for jests innumerable. he was dubbed 'jouffroy, the steam man' ('_jouffroy-la-pompe_'). ten years later, having built a pyroscaphe [literally, fireboat] which had ascended the saône from lyons to the island of barbe, he presented a petition to calonne, the comptroller-general of finance, and to the academy of sciences. they would not look at his invention! "on august 9, 1803, fulton went up the seine in a new steamboat at the rate of about four miles an hour. the members of the academy of sciences as well as government officials were present on the occasion. the next day they had forgotten all about it, and fulton went to make the fortunes of americans. "in 1791 an italian at bologna, named galvani, having hung on the iron railing outside his window some skinned frogs which had been used in making a bouillon for his wife, noted that they moved automatically, although they had been killed since the evening before. the thing was incredible, so everybody to whom he told it opposed his statement. men of sense would have thought it beneath their dignity to take the trouble to verify the story, so convinced were they of its impossibility. but galvani had noted that the maximum of effect was attained when he joined the lumbar nerves and the ends of the feet of a frog by a metallic arc of tin and copper. the frog's muscles then jerked convulsively. he believed it was due to a nervous fluid, and so lost the fruit of his investigations. it was reserved for volta to discover electricity. "and to-day the globe is threaded with a network of trains drawn by flame-breathing dragons. distances have disappeared, annihilated by improvements in the locomotive. the genius of man has contracted the dimensions of the earth; the longest voyages are but excursions over definite lines (the curved paths of the 'ocean lanes'); the most gigantic tasks are accomplished by the tireless and powerful hand of this unknown force. a telegraphic despatch flies in the twinkling of an eye from one continent to another; a man can talk with a citizen of london or st. petersburg without getting out of his arm-chair. and these wonders attract no special notice. we little think through what struggles, bitter disappointments and persecutions they came into being! we forget that the impossible of yesterday is the accomplished fact of to-day. so it comes to pass that we still find men who come to us saying: 'halt there, you little fellows! we don't understand you, therefore you don't know what you're talking about.' "very well, gentlemen. however narrow may be your opinions, there is no reason for thinking that your myopia is to spread over the world. you are hereby informed that, in spite of you and in spite of your obscurantism and obstruction tactics, the car of human progress will roll on and continue its triumphal march and conquest of new forces and powers. as in the case of galvani's frog, the laughable occurrences that you refuse to believe reveal the existence of new unknown forces. there is no effect without a cause. man is the least known of all beings. we have learned how to measure the sun, cross the deeps of space, analyze the light of the stars, and yet have not dropped a plummet into our own souls. man is dual,--_homo duplex_; and this double nature remains a mystery to him. we think: what is thought? no one can say. we walk: what is that organic act? no one knows. my will is an immaterial force; all the faculties of my soul are immaterial. nevertheless, if i _will_ to move my arm, my will moves matter. how does it act? what is the mediator between mind and muscle? as yet no one can say. tell me how the optic nerve transmits to the thinking brain the perception of outward objects. tell me how thought is born, where it resides, what is the nature of cerebral action. tell me--but no, gentlemen: i could question you for ten years on a stretch, and the most eminent of you could not answer the least of my interrogatories. "we have here, as in the preceding cases, the unknown element in a problem. i am far from claiming that the force that comes into play in these phenomena can one day be financially exploited, as in the case of electricity and steam. such an idea has not the slightest interest for me. but, though differing essentially from these forces, the mysterious psychic force none the less exists. "in the course of the long and laborious studies to which i have consecrated many a night, as a relief or by-play in more important work, i have always observed in these phenomena the action of a force the properties of which are to us unknown. sometimes it has seemed to me analogous to that which puts to sleep the magnetized subject under the will of the hypnotizer (a reality this, also slighted even by men of science). again, in other circumstances, it has seemed to me analogous to the curious freaks of the lightning. still, i believe i can affirm it to be a force distinct from all that we know, and which more than any other resembles intelligence. "a certain savant with whom i am acquainted, m. frémy, of the institute, has recently presented to the academy of science, apropos of spontaneous generation, substances which he has called _semi-organic_. i believe i am not perpetrating a neologism bolder than this when i say that the force of which i am speaking has seemed to me to belong to the _semi-intellectual_ plane. "some years ago i gave these forces the name _psychic_. that name can be justified. "but words are nothing. they often resemble cuirasses, hiding the real impression that ideas should produce in us. that is the reason why it is perhaps better not to name a thing that we are not yet able to define. if we did, we should find ourselves so shackled afterwards as not to have perfect freedom in our conclusions. it has often been seen in history that a premature hypothesis has arrested the progress of science, says grove: 'when natural phenomena are observed for the first time, a tendency immediately arises to relate them to something already known. the new phenomenon may be quite remote from the ideas with which one would compare it. it may belong to a different order of analogies. but this distinction cannot be perceived, since the necessary data or co-ordinates are lacking.' now the theory originally announced is soon accepted by the public; and when it happens that subsequent facts, different from the preceding, fail to fit the mould, it is difficult to enlarge this without breaking it, and people often prefer to abandon a theory now proved erroneous, and silently ignore the intractable facts. as to the special phenomena in question in this little volume, i find them implicitly embodied in three words uttered nearly twenty centuries ago,--mens agitat molem (mind acting on matter gives it life and motion); and i leave the phenomena embedded in these words, like fire in the flint. i will not strike with the steel, for the spark is still dangerous. '_periculosum est credere et non credere_' ('it is dangerous to believe and not to believe'), says the ancient fabulist phædrus. to deny facts _a priori_ is mere conceit and idiocy. to accept them without investigation is weakness and folly. why seek to press on so eagerly and prematurely into regions to which our poor powers cannot yet attain? the way is full of snares and bottomless pits. the phenomena we are treating in these pages do not perhaps throw new light upon the solution of the great problem of immortality, but they invite us to remember that there are in man elements to study, to determine, to analyze,--elements still unexplained, and which belong to the psychic realm. "there has been much talk about spiritualism in connection with these phenomena. some of its defenders have thought to strengthen it by supporting it on so weak a basis as that. the scoffers have thought they could positively ruin the creed of the psychics, and, hurling it from its base, bury it under a fallen wardrobe (_l'éboulement d'une armoire_).[2] now the first-named have rather compromised than assisted the cause: the others have not overturned it after all. even if it should be proved that spiritualism consists only of tricks of legerdemain, the belief in the existence of souls separate from the body would not be affected in the slightest degree. besides, the deceptions of mediums do not prove that they are always tricky. they only put us on our guard, and induce us to keep a stern watch upon them. "as to the psychological question of the soul and the analysis of spiritual forces, we are just where chemistry was at the time of albert the great: we don't know. "can we not then keep the golden mean between negation, which denies all, and credulity, which accepts all? is it rational to deny everything that we cannot understand, or, on the contrary, to believe all the follies that morbid imaginations give birth to, one after another? can we not possess at once the humility which becomes the weak and the dignity which becomes the strong? "i end this plea, as i began it, by declaring that it is not for the sake of the brothers davenport, nor of any sect, nor of any group, nor, in short, of any person whatever, that i have entered the lists of controversy, but solely for the sake of facts the reality of which i ascertained several years ago, without having discovered their cause. however, i have no reason to fear that those who do not know me will take a fancy to misrepresent my thought; and i think that those who are acquainted with me know that i am not accustomed to swing a censer in any one's honor. i repeat for the last time: i am not concerned with individuals. my mind seeks the truth, and recognizes it wherever it finds it. '_gallus escam quærens margaritam reperit._'"[3] a certain number of my readers have been for some time kindly expressing a wish for a new edition of this early book. but strictly speaking i could not do this without considerably enlarging my original plan and composing an entirely new work. the daily routine of my astronomical labors has constantly hindered me from devoting myself to that task. the starry heaven is a vast and absorbing field of work, and it is difficult to turn aside (even for a relaxation in itself scientific) from the exacting claims of a science which goes on developing unceasingly at a most prodigious rate. still, the present work may be considered as, in a sense, an enlarged edition of the earlier one. the foregoing citation of a little book written for the purpose of proving the existence of unknown forces in nature has seemed to me necessary here; useful in this new volume, brought out for the same purpose after more than forty years of study, since it may serve to show the continuity and consistent development of my thought on the subject. mysterious psychic forces chapter i on certain unknown natural forces i purpose to show in this book what truth there is in the phenomena of table-turnings, table-movings, and table-rappings, in the communications received therefrom, in levitations that contradict the laws of gravity, in the moving of objects without contact, in unexplained noises, in the stories told of haunted houses,--all to be considered from the physical and mechanical point of view. under all the just mentioned heads we can group material facts produced by causes still unknown to science, and it is with these physical phenomena that we shall specially occupy ourselves here; for the first point is to definitely prove, by sufficient observations, their real existence. hypotheses, theories, doctrines, will come later. in the country of rabelais, of montaigne, of voltaire, we are inclined to smile at everything that relates to the marvellous, to tales of enchantment, the extravagances of occultism, the mysteries of magic. this arises from a reasonable prudence. but it does not go far enough. to deny and prejudge a phenomenon has never proved anything. the truth of almost every fact which constitutes the sum of the positive sciences of our day has been denied. what we ought to do is to admit no unverified statement, to apply to every subject of study, no matter what, the experimental method, without any preconceived idea whatever, either for or against. we are dealing here with a great problem, which touches on that of the survival of human consciousness. we may study it, in spite of smiles. when we consecrate our lives to an idea, useful, noble, exalted, we should not hesitate for a moment to sacrifice personalities; above all, our own self, our interest, our self-esteem, our natural vanity. this sacrifice is a criterion by which i have estimated a good many characters. how many men, how many women, put their miserable little personality above everything else! if the forces of which we are to treat are real, they cannot but be natural forces. we ought to admit, as an absolute principle, that everything is in nature, even god himself, as i have shown in another work. before any attempt at theory, the first thing to do is to scientifically establish the real existence of these forces. mediumistic experiences might form (and doubtless soon will form) a chapter in physics. only it is a kind of transcendental physics which touches on life and thought, and the forces in play are pre-eminently living forces, psychic forces. i shall relate in the following chapter the experiments i made between the years 1861 and 1865, previous to the penning of the protest, reprinted in the long citation above given (in the introduction). but, since in certain respects they are summed up in those i have just had, in 1906, i will begin by describing the latter in this first chapter. in fact, i have recently renewed these investigations with a celebrated medium,--mme. eusapia paladino, of naples, who has been several times in paris; namely, in 1898, 1905, and, very recently, in 1906. the things i am going to speak of happened in the salon of my home in paris,--the last ones in full light without any preparation, very simply, as if during after-dinner talks. let me add that this medium came to paris during the first months of the year, 1906, at the invitation of the psychological institute, several members of which have been recently engaged in researches begun long ago. among these savants i will mention the name of the lamented pierre curie, the eminent chemist, with whom i had a conversation a few days before his unfortunate and terrible death. my mediumistic experiences with mme. paladino formed for him a new chapter in the great book of nature, and he also was convinced that there exist hidden forces to the investigation of which it is not unscientific to consecrate one's self. his subtle and penetrating genius would perhaps have quickly determined the character of these forces. those who have given some little attention to these psychological studies are acquainted with the powers of mme. paladino. the published works of count de rochas, of professor richet, of dr. dariex, of m. g. de fontenay, and notably the _annales des sciences psychiques_, have pointed them out and described them in such detail that it would be superfluous to recur to them at this point. farther on we shall find a place for discussing them. running underneath all the observations of the above-mentioned writers, one dominant idea can be read as if in palimpsest; namely, the imperious necessity the experimenters are constantly under of suspecting tricks in this medium (mme. paladino). but all mediums, men and women, have to be watched. during a period of more than forty years i believe that i have received at my home nearly all of them, men and women of divers nationalities and from every quarter of the globe. one may lay it down as a principle that all professional mediums cheat. but they do not always cheat; and they possess real, undeniable psychic powers. their case is nearly that of the hysterical folk under observation at the salpêtrière or elsewhere. i have seen some of them outwit with their profound craft not only dr. charcot, but especially dr. luys, and all the physicians who were making a study of their case. but, because hysteriacs deceive and simulate, it would be a gross error to conclude that hysteria does not exist. and, because mediums frequently descend to the most brazen-faced imposture, it would not be less absurd to conclude that mediumship has no existence. disreputable somnambulists do not forbid the existence of magnetism, hypnotism, and genuine somnambulism. this necessity of being constantly on our guard has discouraged more than one investigator, as the illustrious astronomer schiaparelli, director of the observatory of milan, specially wrote me, in a letter which will appear farther on. still, we have got to endure this evil. the words "fraud" (_supercherie_) and "trickery" (_tricherie_) have in this connection a sense a little different from their ordinary meaning. sometimes the mediums deceive purposely, knowing well what they are doing, and enjoying the fun. but oftener they unconsciously deceive, impelled by the desire to produce the phenomena that people are expecting. they help on the success of the experiment when that success is slow in its appearance. mediums who deal with objective phenomena are gifted with the power of causing objects at a distance to move, of lifting tables, etc. but they usually appear to apply this power at the ends of their fingers, and the objects to be moved have to be within reach of their hands or feet, a very regrettable thing, and one which furnishes fine sport for the prejudiced sceptics. sometimes the mediums act like the billiard player, who continues for an instant the gesture of hand and arm, holding his cue pointed at the rolling ivory ball, and leaning forward as if by his will he could push it to a carom. he knows very well that he has no further power over the fate of the ball, which his initial stroke alone impels; but he guides its course by his thought and his gesture. it may not be superfluous to caution the reader that the word "medium" is employed in these pages without any preconceived idea, and not in the etymological sense in which it took its rise at the time of the first spiritualistic theories, which affirmed that the man or the woman endowed with psychic powers is an inter_mediary_ between spirits and those who are experimenting. the person who has the power of causing objects to move contrary to the laws of gravity (even sometimes without touching them), of causing sounds to be heard at a distance and without any exertion of muscular force, and of bringing before the eyes various apparitions, has not necessarily, on that account, any bond of union with disembodied minds or souls. we shall keep this word "medium," however, now so long in use. we are concerned here only with facts. i hope to convince the reader that these things really exist, and are neither illusions nor farces, nor feats of prestidigitation. my object is to prove their reality with absolute certainty, to do for them what (in my volume _the unknown and the psychic problems_) i have done for telepathy, the apparitions of the dying, premonitory dreams, and clairvoyance. i shall begin, i repeat, with experiments which i have recently renewed; namely, during four séances on march 29, april 5, may 30, and june 7, of 1906. 1. take the case of the levitation of a round table. i have so often seen a rather heavy table lifted to a height of eight, twelve, sixteen inches from the floor, and i have taken such undeniably authentic photographs of these; i have so often proved to myself that the suspension of this article of furniture by the imposition _upon it_ of the hands of four or five persons produces the effect of a floating in a tub full of water or other elastic fluid, that, for me, the levitation of objects is no more doubtful than that of a pair of scissors lifted by the aid of a magnet. but one evening when i was almost alone with eusapia, march 29, 1906 (there were four of us altogether), being desirous of examining at leisure how the thing was done, i asked her to place her hands with mine upon the table, the other persons remaining at a distance. the table very soon rose to a height of fifteen or twenty inches _while we were both standing_. at the moment of the production of the phenomenon the medium placed one of her hands on one of mine, which she pressed energetically, our two other hands resting side by side. moreover, on her part, as on mine, there was an act of will expressed in words of command addressed to "the spirit": "come now! lift the table! take courage! come! try now!" etc. we ascertained at once that there were two elements or constituents present. on the one hand, the experimenters address an invisible entity. on the other hand, the medium experiences a nervous and muscular fatigue, and her weight increases in proportion to that of the object lifted (but not in exact proportion). we are obliged to act as if there really were a being present who is listening. this being appears to come into existence, and then become non-existent as soon as the experiment is ended. it seems to be created by the medium. is it an auto-suggestion of hers or of the dynamic ensemble of the experimenters that creates a special force? is it a doubling of her personality? is it the condensation of a psychic _milieu_ in the midst of which we live? if we seek to obtain proofs of actual and permanent individuality, and above all of the identity of a particular soul called up in our memory, we never obtain any satisfaction. there lies the mystery. conclusion: we have here an unknown force of the psychic class, a living force, the life of a moment only. may it not be possible that, in exerting ourselves, we give rise to a detachment of forces which acts exteriorly to our body? but this is not the place, in these first pages, to make hypotheses. the experiment of which i have just spoken was repeated three times running, _in the full light_ of a gas chandelier, and under the same conditions of complete proof in each case. a round table weighing about fourteen pounds is lifted by this unknown force. a table of twenty-five or fifty pounds or more requires a greater number of persons. but they will get no result if one at least among them is not gifted with the mediumistic power. and let me add, on the other hand, that there is in such an experiment so great an expenditure of nervous and muscular energy that such an extraordinary medium as eusapia, for instance, can obtain scarcely any results six hours, twelve hours, even twenty-four hours, after a séance in which she has so lavishly expended her psychic energy. i will add that quite often the table continues to rise even after the experimenters have ceased to touch it. this is _movement without contact_. this phenomenon of levitation is, to me, absolutely proved, although we cannot explain it. it is like what would happen if one had his hands gloved with loadstone, and, placing them on a table of iron, should lift it from the ground. but the action is not so simple as that: it is a case of psychic activity exterior to ourselves, momentarily in operation.[4] now how are these levitations and movements produced? how is it that a stick of sealing-wax or a lamp-chimney, when rubbed, attracts bits of paper or elder pith? how is it that a particle of iron grips so firmly to the loadstone when brought near it? how is it that electricity accumulates in the vapor of water, in the molecules of a cloud, until it gives rise to the thunder, the thunderbolt, the lightning flash, and all their formidable results? how is it that the thunderbolt strips the clothes from a man or a woman with its characteristic nonchalance? and (to take a simple instance), without departing from our common and normal condition of life, how is it that we raise our arm? 2. take now a specimen of another group of cases. the medium places one of her hands upon that of some person, and with the other beats the air, with one, two, three, or four strokes or raps. the raps are heard in the table, and you feel the vibrations at the same time that you hear them,--sharp blows which make you think of electric shocks. it is superfluous to state that the feet of the medium do not touch those of the table, but are kept at a distance from them. the medium next places her hands with ours upon the table, and the taps heard in the table are stronger than in the preceding case. [illustration: plate i. complete levitation of a table in professor flammarion's salon through mediumship of eusapia paladino.] these taps audible in the table, this "typtology" well known to spiritualists, have been frequently attributed to some kind of trickery or another, to a cracking muscle or to various actions of the medium. after the comparative study i have made of these special occurrences i believe i am right in affirming that this fact also is not less certain than the first. rappings, as is well known, are obtained in all kinds of rhythms, and responses to all questions are obtained through simple conventions, by which it is agreed, for instance, that three taps shall mean "yes" and two mean "no," and that, while the letters of the alphabet are being read, words can be dictated by taps made as each letter is named. 3. during our experiments, while we four persons are seated around a table asking for a communication which does not arrive, an arm-chair, placed about twenty-four inches from the medium's foot (upon which i have placed my foot to make sure that she cannot use hers),--an arm-chair, i say, begins to move, and comes sliding up to us. i push it back; it returns. it is a stuffed affair (_pouf_), very heavy, but easily capable of gliding over the floor. this thing happened on the 29th of last march, and again on april 5th. it could have been done by drawing the chair with a string or by the medium putting her foot sufficiently far out. but it happened over and over again (five or six times), automatically moving, and that so violently that the chair jumped about the floor in a topsy-turvy fashion and ended by falling bottom side up without anybody having touched it. 4. here is a fourth case re-observed this year, after having been several times verified by me, notably in 1898. curtains near the medium, but which it is impossible for her to touch, either with the hand or the foot, swell out their whole length, as if inflated by a gusty wind. i have several times seen them envelop the heads of the spectators as if with cowls of capuchin monks. 5. here is a fifth instance, authenticated by me several times, and always with the same care. while i am holding one hand of eusapia in mine, and one of my astronomical friends, tutor at the ecole polytechnique, is holding the other, we are touched, first one and then the other, upon the side and on the shoulders, as if by an invisible hand. the medium usually tries to get together her two hands, held separately by each of us, and by a skilful substitution to make us believe we hold both when she has succeeded in disengaging one. this fraud being well known by us, we act the part of forewarned spectators, and are positive that we have each succeeded in holding her hands apart. the touchings in this experiment seem to proceed from an invisible entity and are rather disagreeable. those which take place in the immediate vicinity of the medium _could_ be due to fraud; but to some of them this explanation is inapplicable. this is the place to remark that, unfortunately, the extraordinary character of the phenomena is in direct ratio with the absence of light, and we are continually asked by the medium to turn down the gas, almost to the vanishing point: "_meno luce! meno luce!_" ("less light, less light"). this, of course, is advantageous to all kinds of fraud. but it is a condition no more obligatory than the others. there is in it no implication of a threat. we can get a large number of mediumistic phenomena with a light strong enough for us to distinguish things with certainty. still, it is a fact that light is unfavorable to the production of phenomena. this is annoying. yet we have no right to impose the opposite condition. we have no right to demand of nature conditions which happen to suit us. it would be just as reasonable to try to get a photographic negative without a dark room, or to draw electricity from a rotating machine in the midst of an atmosphere saturated with moisture. light is a natural agent capable of producing certain effects and of opposing the production of others. this aphorism calls to my mind an anecdote in the life of daguerre, related in the first edition of this book. one evening this illustrious natural philosopher meets an elegant and fashionable woman in the neighborhood of the opera house, of which he was at that time the decorator. enthusiastic over his progress in natural philosophy, he happens to speak of his photogenic studies. he tells her of a marvellous discovery by which the features of the face can be fixed upon a plate of silver. the lady, who is a person of plain common sense, courteously laughs in his face. the savant goes on with his story, without being disconcerted. he even adds that it is possible for the phenomenon to take place instantaneously when the processes become perfected. but he has his pains for his trouble. his charming companion is not credulous enough to accept such an extravagance. paint without colors and without a brush! design without pen or crayon! as if a portrait could get painted all by itself, etc. but the inventor is not discouraged, and, to convince her, offers to make her portrait by this process. the lady is unwilling to be thought a dupe and refuses. but the skilful artist pleads his cause so well that he overcomes her objections. the blond daughter of eve consents to pose before the object-glass. but she makes one condition,--only one. her beauty is at its best in the evening, and she feels a little faded in the garish light of day. "if you could take me in the evening--" "but, madame, it is impossible--" "why? you say that your invention reproduces the face, feature by feature. i prefer my features of the evening over those of the morning." "madame, it is the light itself which pencils the image, and without it i can do nothing." "we will light a chandelier, a lamp, do anything to please you." "no, madame, the light of day is imperative." "will you please tell me why?" "because the light of the sun exhibits an intense activity, sufficient to decompose the iodide of silver. so far, i have not been able to take a photograph except in full sunlight." both remained obstinate, the lady maintaining that what could be done at ten o'clock in the morning could also easily be done at ten o'clock in the evening. the inventor affirmed the contrary. so, then, all you have to do, gentlemen, is to forbid the light to blacken iodine, or order it to blacken lime, and condemn the photographer to develop his negative in full light. ask electricity why it will pass instantaneously from one end to the other of an iron wire a thousand miles long and why it refuses to traverse a thread of glass half an inch long. beg the night-blooming flowers to expand in the day, or those that only bloom in the light not to close at dusk. give me the explanation of the respiration of plants, diurnal and nocturnal, and of the production of chlorophyll and how plants develop a green color in the light; why they breathe in oxygen and exhale carbonic acid gas during the night, and reverse the process during the day. change the equivalents of simple substances in chemistry, and order combinations to be produced. forbid azotic acid to boil at the freezing temperature, and command water to boil at zero. you have only to ask these accommodations and nature will obey you, gentlemen, depend upon it. a good many phenomena of nature only occur in obscurity. the germs of plants, animals, man, in forming a new being, work their miracle only in the dark. here, in a flask, is a mixture of hydrogen and chlorine in equal volumes. if you wish to preserve the mixture, you must keep the flask in the dark, whether you want to or not. such is the law. as long as it remains in the dark, it will retain its properties. but suppose you take a schoolboy notion to expose the thing to the action of light. instantly a violent explosion is heard; the hydrogen and the chlorine disappear, and you find in the flask a new substance,--chloridic acid. there is no use in your finding fault: darkness respects the two substances, while light explodes them. if we should hear a malignant sceptic of some clique or other say, "i will only believe in jack-o'-lanterns when i see them in the light of day," what should we think of his sanity? about what we should think if he should add that the stars are not certainties, since they are only seen at night. in all the observations and experiments of physics there are conditions to be observed. in those of which we are speaking a too strong light seems to imperil the success of the experiment. but it goes without saying that precautions against deception ought to increase in direct ratio with the decrease of visibility and other means of verification. let us return to our experiments. 6. taps are heard in the table, or it moves, rises, falls back, raps with its leg. a kind of interior movement is produced in the wood, violent enough, sometimes, to break it. the round table i made use of (with others) in my home was dislocated and repaired more than once, and it was by no means the pressure of the hands upon it that could have caused the dislocations. no, there is something more than that in it: there is in the actions of the table the intervention of mind, of which i have already spoken. the table is questioned, by means of the conventional signs described a few pages back, and it responds. phrases are rapped out, usually banal and without any literary, scientific, or philosophical value. but, at any rate, words are rapped out, phrases are dictated. these phrases do not come of their own accord, nor is it the medium who taps them--consciously--either with her foot or her hand, or by the aid of a snapping muscle, for we obtain them in séances held without professional mediums and at scientific reunions where the existence of trickery would be a thing of the greatest absurdity. the mind of the medium and that of the experimenters most assuredly have something to do with the mystery. the replies obtained generally tally the intellectual status of the company, as if the intellectual faculties of the persons present were exterior to their brains and were acting in the table wholly unknown to the experimenters themselves. how can this thing be? how can we compose and dictate phrases without knowing it. sometimes the ideas broached seem to come from a personality unknown to the company, and the hypothesis of spirits quite naturally presents itself. a word is begun; some one thinks he can divine its ending; to save time, he writes it down; the table parries, is agitated, impatient. it is the wrong word; another was being dictated. there is here, then, a psychic element which we are obliged to recognize, whatever its nature may be when analyzed. the success of experiments does not always depend on the will of the medium. of course that is the chief element in it; but certain conditions independent of her are necessary. the psychical atmosphere created by the persons present has an influence that cannot be neglected. so the state of health of the medium is not without its influence. if he is fatigued, although he may have the best will in the world, the value of the results will be affected. i had a new proof of this thing, so often observed, at my house, with eusapia paladino, on may 30, 1906. she had for more than a month been suffering from a rather painful affection of the eyes; and furthermore her legs were considerably swollen. we were seven, of whom two lookers-on were sceptics. the results were almost nil; namely, the lifting, during scarcely two seconds of time, of a round table weighing about four pounds; the tipping up of one side of a four-legged table; and a few rappings. still, the medium seemed animated by a real wish to obtain some result. she confessed to me, however, that what had chiefly paralyzed her faculties was the sceptical and sarcastic spirit of one of the two incredulous persons. i knew of the absolute scepticism of this man. it had not been manifested in any way; but eusapia had at once divined it. the state of mind of the by-standers, sympathetic or antipathetic, has an influence upon the production of the phenomena. this is an incontestable matter of observation. i am not speaking here merely of a tricky medium rendered powerless to act by a too close critical inspection, but also of a hostile force which may more or less neutralize the sincerest volition. is it not the same, moreover, in assemblies, large or small, in conferences, in salons, etc.? do we not often see persons of baleful and antipathetic spirit defeat at their very beginning the accomplishment of the noblest purposes. here are the results of another sitting of the same medium held a few days afterwards. on the 7th of june, 1906, i had been informed by my friend dr. ostwalt, the skilled oculist, who was at that time treating eusapia, that she was to be at his house that evening and that perhaps i would be able to try a new experiment. i accepted with all the more readiness because the mother-in-law of the doctor, mme. werner, to whom i had been attached by a friendship of more than thirty years, had been dead a year, and had many a time promised me, in the most formal manner, to appear after her death for the purpose of giving completeness to my psychical researches by a manifestation, if the thing was possible. we had so often conversed on these subjects, and she was so deeply interested in them, that she had renewed her promise very emphatically a few days before her death. and at the same time she made a similar promise to her daughter and to her son-in-law. eusapia, also, on her part, grateful for the care she had received at the doctor's hands and for the curing of her eye, wished to be agreeable to him in any way she could. the conditions, then, were in all respects excellent. i agreed with the doctor that we had before us four possible hypotheses, and that we should seek to fix on the most probable one. _a._ what would take place might be due to fraud, conscious or unconscious. _b._ the phenomena might be produced by a physical force emanating from the medium. _c._ or by one or several invisible entities making use of this force. _d._ or by mme. werner herself. we had on that evening some movements of the table and a complete lifting of the four feet to a height of about eight inches. six of us sat around the table,--eusapia, madame and monsieur ostwalt, their son pierre, sixteen years old, my wife and myself. our hands placed above the table scarcely touched it, and were almost wholly detached at the moment it rose from the floor. no fraud possible. full light. the séance then continued in the dark. the two portières of a great double-folding door, against which the medium was seated, her back to the door, were blown about for nearly an hour, sometimes so violently as to form something like a monk's hood on the head of the doctor and that of his wife. this great door was several times shaken violently, and tremendous blows were struck upon it. we tried to obtain words by means of the alphabet, but without success. (i will remark in this connection that eusapia knows neither how to read nor to write.) pierre ostwalt was able to write a word with the pencil. it seemed as if an invisible force was guiding his hand. the word he pencilled down was the first name of mme. werner, _well known to him_. in spite of all our efforts, we were unable to obtain a single proof of identity. yet it would have been very easy for mme. werner to find one, as she had so solemnly promised us to do. in spite of the announcement by raps that an apparition would appear which we would be permitted to see, we were only able to perceive a dim white form, devoid of precise outline, even when we manipulated the light so as to get almost complete darkness. from this new sitting the following conclusions are deduced: _a._ fraud cannot explain the phenomena, especially the levitation of the table, the violent blows and shakings given to the door, and the projection of the curtain into the room. _b._ these phenomena are certainly produced by a force emanating from the medium, for they all occur in her immediate neighborhood. _c._ this force is intelligent. but it is possible that this intelligence which obeys our requests is only that of the medium. _d._ nothing proves that the spirit evoked had any influence. these propositions, however, will be examined and developed one by one in the pages that follow. all the experiments described in this first chapter reveal to us unknown forces in operation. it will be the same in the chapters that follow. these phenomena are so unexplained, so inexplicable, so incredible, that the simplest plan is to deny them, to attribute them all to fraud or to hallucination, and to believe that all the participators are sand-blind. unfortunately for our opponents, this hypothesis is inadmissible. let me say here that there are very few men--and above all, women--whose spirit is completely _free_; that is, in a condition capable of accepting, without any preconceived idea, new or unexplained facts. in general, people are disposed to admit only those facts or things for which they are prepared by the ideas they have received, cherished, and maintained. perhaps there is not one human being in a hundred who is capable of making a mental record of a new impression, simply, freely, exactly, with the accuracy of a photographic camera. absolute independence of judgment is a rare thing among men. a single fact accurately observed, even if it should contradict all science, is worth more than all the hypotheses. but only the independent minds, free from the classic leading-strings which tie the dogmatists to their chairs, dare to study extra-scientific facts or consider them possible. i am acquainted with erudite men of genius, members of the academy of sciences, professors at the university, masters in our great schools, who reason in the following way: "such and such phenomena are impossible because they are in contradiction with the actual state of science. we should only admit what we can explain." they call that scientific reasoning! examples.--frauenhofer discovers that the solar spectrum is crossed by dark lines. these dark lines could not be explained in his time. therefore we ought not to believe in them. newton discovers that the stars move _as if_ they were governed by an attractive force. this attraction could not be explained in his time. nor is it explained to-day. newton himself takes the pains to declare that he does not wish to explain it by an hypothesis. "_hypotheses non fingo_" ("i do not make hypotheses"). so, after the reasoning of our pseudo-logicians, we ought not to admit universal gravitation. oxygen combined with hydrogen forms water. how? we don't know. hence we ought not to admit the fact. stones sometimes fall from the sky. the academy of sciences of the eighteenth century, not being able to divine where they came from, simply denied the fact, which had been observed for thousands of years. they denied also that fish and toads can fall from the clouds, because it had not then been observed that waterspouts draw them up by suction and transport them from one place to another. a medium places his hand upon a table and seems actually to transmit to it independent life. it is inexplicable, therefore it is false. yet that is the predominant method of reasoning of a great number of scholars. they are only willing to admit what is known and explained. they declared that locomotives would not be able to move, or, if they did succeed, railways would introduce no change in social relations; that the transatlantic telegraph would never transmit a despatch; that vaccine would not render immune; and at one time they stoutly maintained (this was long ago) that the earth does not revolve. it seems that they even condemned galileo. _everything_ has been denied. apropos of facts somewhat similar to those we are here studying,--i mean the stigmata of louise lateau,--a very famous german scholar, professor virchow, closed his report to the berlin academy with this dilemma: _fraud or miracle_. this conclusion acquired a classic vogue. but it was an error, for it is now known that stigmata are due neither to fraud nor miracle. another rather common objection is presented by certain persons apparently scientific. confounding experience with observation, they imagine that a natural phenomenon, in order to be real, ought to be able to be produced at will, as in a laboratory. after this manner of looking at things, an eclipse of the sun would not be a real thing, nor a stroke of lightning which sets fire to a house, nor an aërolite that falls from the sky. an earthquake, a volcanic eruption, are phenomena of observation, not of experiment. but they none the less exist, often to the great damage of the human race. now, in the order of facts that we are studying here, we can almost never experiment, but only observe, and this reduces considerably the range of the field of study. and, even when we do experiment, the phenomena are not produced at will: certain elements, several of which we have not yet been able to get hold of, intervene to cross, modify, and thwart them, so that for the most part we can only play the rôle of observers. the difference is analogous to that which separates chemistry from astronomy. in chemistry we experiment: in astronomy we observe. but this does not hinder astronomy from being the most exact of the sciences. mediumistic phenomena that come directly under the observation, notably those i have described some pages back, have for me the stamp of absolute certainty and incontestability, and amply suffice to prove that unknown physical forces exist outside of the ordinary and established domain of natural philosophy. as a principle, moreover, this is an unimpeachable tenet.[5] i could adduce still other instances, for example the following: 7. during séance experiments, phantoms often appear,--hands, arms, a head, a bust, an entire human figure. i was a witness of this thing, especially on july 27, 1897, at montfort-l'amaury (see chapter iii). m. de fontenay having declared that he perceived an image or spirit over the table, between himself and me (we were sitting face to face, keeping watch over eusapia, he holding one of her hands, and i the other), and i seeing nothing at all, i asked him to change places with me. and then i, too, perceived this spirit-shadow, the head of a bearded man, rather vaguely outlined, which was moving like a silhouette, advancing and retiring in front of a red lantern placed on a piece of furniture. i had not been able to see at first from where i sat, because the lantern was then behind me, and the spectral appearance was formed between m. de fontenay and me. as this dark silhouette remained rather vague, i asked if i could not touch its beard. the medium replied, "stretch out your hand." i then felt upon the back of my hand the brushing of a very soft beard. this case did not have for me the same _absolute certainty_ as the preceding. there are degrees in the feeling of security we have in observations. in astronomy, even, there are stars at the limit of visibility. and yet in the opinion of all the participators in the séance there was no trick. besides, on another occasion, at my own home, i saw another figure, that of a young girl, as the reader will see in the third chapter. 8. that same day, at montfort, in the course of the conversation, some one recalled the circumstance that the "spirits" have sometimes impressed on paraffin or putty or clay the print of their head or of their hands,--a thing that seems in the last degree absurd. but we bought some putty at a glazier's and fixed up in a wooden box a perfectly soft cake. at the end of the séance there was the imprint of a head, of a face, in this putty. in this case, no more than in the other, am i _absolutely certain_ there was no trickery. we will speak of it farther on. other manifestations will be noted in subsequent pages of this book. stopping right here, for the present, at the special point of view of the proved existence of unknown forces, i will confine myself to the six preceding cases, regarding them as incontestable, in the judgment of any man of good faith or of any observer. if i have considered these particular cases so early in the work, it is in response to readers of my works who have been begging me for a long time to give my _personal_ observations. the simplest of these manifestations--that of raps, for example--is not a negligible asset. there is no doubt that it is one or another of the experimenters, or their dynamic resultant, that raps in the table without knowing how. so, even if it should be a psychic entity unknown to the mediums, it evidently makes use of them, of their physiological properties. such a fact is not without scientific interest. the denials of scepticism prove nothing, unless it be that the deniers themselves have not observed the phenomena. i have no other aim in this first chapter than to give a preliminary summary of the observed facts. i do not desire to put forth in these first pages any explanatory hypothesis. my readers will themselves form an opinion from the narratives that follow, and the last chapter of the volume will be devoted to theories. yet i believe it will be useful to call attention at once to the fact that matter is not, in reality, what it appears to be to our vulgar senses,--to our sense of touch, to our vision,--but that it is identical with energy, and is only a manifestation of the movement of invisible and imponderable elements. the universe is a dynamism. matter is only an appearance. it will be useful for the reader to bear this truth in mind, as it will help him to comprehend the studies we are about to make. the mysterious forces we are here studying are themselves manifestations of the universal dynamism with which our five senses put us very imperfectly into relation. these things belong to the psychical order as well as to the physical. they prove that we are living in the midst of an unexplored world, in which the psychic forces play a rôle as yet very imperfectly studied. we have here a situation analogous to that in which christopher columbus found himself on the evening of the day when he perceived the first hints of land in the new world. we are pushing our prow through an absolutely unknown sea. chapter ii my first séances in the allan kardec group and with the mediums of that epoch one day in the month of november, 1861, under the galeries de l'odéon,[6] i spied a book, the title of which struck me,--_le livre des esprits_ ("the book of spirits"), by allan kardec. i bought it and read it with avidity, several chapters seeming to me to agree with the scientific bases of the book i was then writing, _the plurality of inhabited worlds_. i hunted up the author, who proposed that i should enter, as a free associated member, the parisian society for spiritualistic studies, which he had founded, and of which he was president. i accepted, and by chance have just found the green ticket signed by him on the fifteenth day of november, 1861. this is the date of my début in psychic studies. i was then nineteen, and for three years had been an astronomical pupil at the paris observatory. at this time i was putting the last touches to the book i just mentioned, the first edition of which was published some months afterwards by the printer-publisher of the observatory. the members came together every friday evening in the assembly room of the society, in the little passageway of sainte anne, which was placed under the protection of saint louis. the president opened the séance by an "invocation to the good spirits." it was admitted, as a principle, that invisible spirits were present there and revealed themselves. after this invocation a certain number of persons, seated at a large table, were besought to abandon themselves to their inspiration and to write. they were called "writing mediums." their dissertations were afterwards read before an attentive audience. there were no physical experiments of table-turning, or tables moving or speaking. the president, allan kardec, said he attached no value to such things. it seemed to him that the instructions communicated by the spirits ought to form the basis of a new doctrine, of a sort of religion. at the same period, but several years earlier, my illustrious friend victorien sardou, who had been an occasional frequenter of the observatory, had written, as a medium, some curious pages on the inhabitants of the planet jupiter, and had produced picturesque and surprising designs, having as their aim to represent men and things as they appeared in this giant of worlds. he designed the dwellings of people in jupiter. one of his sketches showed us the house of mozart, others the houses of zoroaster and of bernard palissy, who were country neighbors in one of the landscapes of this immense planet. the dwellings are ethereal and of an exquisite lightness. they may be judged of by the two figures here reproduced (pl. ii and iii). the first represents a residence of zoroaster, the second "the animals' quarters" belonging to the same. on the grounds are flowers, hammocks, swings, flying creatures, and, below, intelligent animals playing a special kind of ninepins where the fun is not to knock down the pins, but to put a cap on them, as in the cup and ball toy, etc. these curious drawings prove indubitably that the signature "bernard palissy, of jupiter," is apocryphal and that the hand of victorien sardou was not directed by a spirit from that planet. nor was it the gifted author himself who planned these sketches and executed them in accordance with a definite plan. they were made while he was in the condition of mediumship. a person is not magnetized, nor hypnotized, nor put to sleep in any way while in that state. but the brain is not ignorant of what is taking place: its cells perform their functions, and act (doubtless by a reflex movement) upon the motor nerves. at that time we all thought jupiter was inhabited by a superior race of beings. the spiritistic communications were the reflex of the general ideas in the air. to-day, with our present knowledge of the planets, we should not imagine anything of the kind about that globe. and, moreover, spiritualistic séances have never taught us anything upon the subject of astronomy. such results as were attained fail utterly to prove the intervention of spirits. have the writing mediums given any more convincing proofs of it than these? this is what we shall have to examine in as impartial a way as we can. i myself tried to see if i, too, could not write. by collecting and concentrating my powers and allowing my hand to be passive and unresistant, i soon found that, after it had traced certain dashes, and _o_'s, and sinuous lines more or less interlaced, very much as a four-year-old child learning to write might do, it finally did actually write words and phrases. in these meetings of the parisian society for spiritualistic studies, i wrote for my part, some pages on astronomical subjects signed "galileo." the communications remained in the possession of the society, and in 1867 allan kardec published them under the head _general uranography_, in his work entitled _genesis_. (i have preserved one of the first copies, with his dedication.) these astronomical pages taught me nothing. so i was not slow in concluding that they were only the echo of what i already knew, and that galileo had no hand in them. when i wrote the pages, i was in a kind of waking dream. besides, my hand stopped writing when i began to think of other subjects. [illustration: plate ii. house of zoroastre of jupiter from somnambulistic drawing by victorien sardou.] [illustration: plate iii. animals' quarters. house of zoroastre of jupiter from somnambulistic drawing by victorien sardou.] i may quote here what i said on this subject in my work, _the worlds of space_ (_les terres du ciel_), in the edition of 1884, p. 181:- the writing medium is not put to sleep, nor is he magnetized or hypnotized in any way. one is simply received into a circle of determinate ideas. the brain acts (by the mediation of the nervous system) a little differently from what it does in its normal state. the difference is not so great as one might suppose. the chief difference may be described as follows: in the normal state we think of what we are going to write _before_ the act of writing begins. there is a direct action of the will in causing the pen, the hand, and the fore-arm to move over the paper. in the abnormal state, on the other hand, we do not think before writing; we do not move the hand, but let it remain inert, passive, free; we place it upon the paper, taking care merely that it shall meet with the least possible resistance; we think of a word, a figure, a stroke of the pen, and the hand of its own volition begins to write. but the writing medium must _think_ of what he is doing, not beforehand, but continuously; otherwise the hand stops. for example, try to write the word "ocean," not _voluntarily_ (the ordinary way), but by simply taking a lead-pencil, and letting the hand rest lightly and freely upon the paper, while you think of your word and observe carefully whether the hand will write. very good; it does begin to move over the paper, writing first an _o_, then a _c_, and the rest. at least that was my experience when i was studying the new problems of spiritualism and magnetism. i have always thought that the circle of science is not a closed one, and that there are many things for us still to learn. in the mediumistic writing experiments it is very easy to deceive ourselves and to believe that the hand is under the influence of another mind than our own. the most probable conclusion regarding these experiences has been that the theory of the action of foreign spirits is not necessary for the explanation of such phenomena. but this is not the place to enter into details upon a subject which, up to the present time, has been only slightly examined by scientific criticism, having more often been exploited by speculators than studied by scientists. so i wrote in 1884; and i will indorse every word i then wrote, just as it stands. in these first experiences with spiritualists, of which i have just been speaking, i soon had the entrée of the chief parisian circles devoted to these matters, and for a couple of years i even took the position of honorary secretary of one of them. a natural or necessary result of this was that i did not miss a single séance. three different methods were employed to receive communications: (1) writing with the hand; (2) the use of the planchette to which a lead-pencil was attached, and on which the hands were placed; and (3) table-rapping (or table-moving), operated by the alphabetic code, these raps or the movements of the table marking the desired letter as the alphabet was read aloud by one of those present. the first of these methods was the only one employed at the society for spiritualistic studies, of which allan kardec was president. it was the one which permitted the margin for the most doubt. in fact, at the end of two years of investigations of this kind, which i had varied as much as possible, and which i had entered upon without any preconceived idea for or against, and with the most ardent desire to arrive at the truth, i came to the positive conclusion that not only are the signatures of these papers not authentic, but that the intervention of another mind from the spirit world is not proved at all, the fact being that we ourselves are the more or less conscious authors of the communications by some cerebral process which yet remains to be investigated. the explanation is not so simple as it seems, and there are certain reservations to be made in the general statement above. when writing in the exalted and abnormal state of mind of the medium, we do not, as i have just said, form our phrases as in the normal condition; rather we wait for them to be produced. but all the same our own mind mingles in the process. the subject treated follows the lines of our own customary thoughts; the language employed is our native tongue, and, if we are uncertain about the spelling of certain words, errors will appear. furthermore, so intimately are our own mental processes mingled with what is being written that, if we allow our thoughts to wander to another topic, the hand either stops writing or produces incoherent words and scrawls. this is the mental state of the writing medium,--at least that which i have observed in myself. it is a kind of auto-suggestion. i hasten to add, however, that this opinion only binds me to the extent of my own personal experiences. i am assured that there are mediums who act in an absolutely mechanical way, knowing nothing of the nature of what they are writing (see further on, pp. 58, 59), who treat subjects of which they are ignorant, and also even write in foreign languages. such cases would be different from that of which i have just been speaking, and would indicate either a special cerebral state or great keenness of intellect, or a source of ideas exterior to the medium; _i.e._, if it were once proved that our mind cannot divine that of which it is ignorant. but now the transference of thought from one brain to another, from one mind to another, is a fact proved by telepathy. we could conceive, then, that a medium might write under the influence of some one near by--or even at a distance. several mediums have also composed (in successive séances) genuine romances, such as the _history of joan of arc, written by herself_, or certain voyages to other planets,--seeming to indicate that there is a kind of doubling of the personality of the subject, a secondary personality. but there is no authentication of this. there is also a psychic _milieu_, of which i shall speak farther on. at present i must concern myself only with the subject of this chapter, and say with newton, "_hypotheses non fingo_." allan kardec died on the 30th of march, 1869, and, when the society of spiritualists came to ask me to deliver a funeral oration at his tomb, i took occasion, during this discourse, to direct the attention of the spiritualists to the scientific character of investigations of this class and to the manifest danger of allowing ourselves to be drawn into mysticism. i will reproduce at this point a few paragraphs taken from this address: i wish i could impress upon you who hear me, as well as upon the millions of men throughout europe and in the new world who are studying the still mysterious problem of spiritualism, what a deep scientific interest and what a philosophic future there is in the study of these phenomena, to which, as you know, many of our most eminent living scholars have given their time and attention. i wish i could present to your imagination and theirs the new and vast horizons we shall see opening up before us in proportion as we broaden our scientific knowledge of the forces of nature at work around us; and i would that i could show both you and them that such conquests of the mind are the most efficacious antidote to the leprosy of atheism which seems to be particularly the malignant degenerative element in this our epoch of transition. what a salutary thing it would be could i but prove here, before this eloquent tomb, that the methodical examination of the phenomena erroneously called supernatural, far from calling back the spirit of superstition, and weakening the energy of the reason, serves, on the contrary, to banish the errors and illusions of ignorance, and assists the progress of truth much more than do the irrational negations of those who will not take the trouble to look at the facts. it is high time now that this complex subject of study should enter upon its scientific period. enough stress has not been laid upon the physical side of the subject, which should be critically studied; for without rigid scientific experiment no proof is valid. this objective _a priori_ method of investigation, to which we owe the glory of modern progress and the marvels of electricity and steam, should take up the still unexplained and mysterious phenomena with which we are acquainted, to dissect them, measure them, and to define them. for, gentlemen, _spiritualism is not a religion, but a science_, a science of which we as yet scarcely know the _a, b, c_. the age of dogma is past. nature includes the universe; and god himself, who was in old times conceived of as a being of similar shape and form as man, cannot be considered by modern metaphysics as other than _mind in nature_. the supernatural does not exist. the manifestations obtained by the agency of mediums, such as those of magnetism and somnambulism, belong to the order of nature and ought to be inexorably submitted to the test of experiment. there are no more miracles. we are witnessing the dawning of a new science. who is there so bold as to predict whither the scientific study of the new psychology will lead, and what the results will be? the limitations of human vision are such that the eye only sees things between narrow bounds, and beyond these limits, on this side and on that, it sees nothing. the body may be compared to a harp of two chords,--the optic nerve and the auditory nerve. one kind of vibrations excites the first and another kind the second. that is the whole story of human sensation, which is even inferior to that of many of the lower animals; certain insects, for example, in whom the nerves of vision and of hearing are more delicate than in man. now there are in nature, not two, but ten, a hundred, a thousand kinds of movement or vibration. we learn, then, from physical science, that we are living in the midst of a world invisible to us, and that it is not impossible that there may be living upon the earth a class of beings, also invisible to us, endowed with a wholly different kind of senses, so that there is no way by which they can make themselves known to us, unless they can manifest themselves in acts and ways that can come within the range of our own order of sensations. in the presence of such truths as these, which have as yet only been barely announced, how absurd and worthless seems mere blind denial! when we compare the little that we know and the narrow limits of our range of perception with the vast extent of the field of knowledge, we can scarcely refrain from the conclusion that we know nothing and that everything yet remains to be known. with what right do we pronounce the word "impossible" in the presence of facts which we prove to be genuine without yet being able to discover their causes? it is by the scientific study of effects that we arrive at the determination of causes. in the class of investigations which we group under the general head "spiritualism," facts exist. but no one understands the method of their production. their existence, nevertheless, is just as true as the phenomena of electricity. but, as for understanding them--why, gentlemen, nobody understands biology, physiology, psychology. what is the human body? what is the brain? what is the absolute action of the soul or mind? we do not know. and, neither do we know anything whatever of the essence of electricity or the essence of light. it is prudent, then, to observe with unbiased judgment all such matters as these, and to try to determine their causes, which are perhaps of different kinds and more numerous than has ever been supposed up to the present time.[7] it will be seen that what i publicly uttered as i stood on the hillock above the grave into which allan kardec's coffin had just been lowered differs not at all from the purely scientific program of the present work. i have just said that there were three methods employed in our spiritistic experiments. i have given my opinion of the first (writing mediums), basing it on my personal observations, and without desiring to weaken other proofs, if there are any. as to the second (planchette), i became familiar with it more especially by the séances of mme. de girardin, at the home of victor hugo in the isle of jersey. it works more independently than the first method; but it is still only a prolongation, as it were, of the hand and the brain. the third method--table-rapping, or typtology; i mean taps in the table--seems to me still more emphatically an extension of the hand and brain, and some forty-five years ago i often made use of this form of experiment. rappings made on the floor by one foot of the table, as letters are spelled out, have no special value. the least pressure can produce these see-saw movements. the chief experimenter himself makes the responses, sometimes without suspecting it. several persons group themselves about a table, place their hands upon it, and wait for something to happen. at the end of five, ten, fifteen, twenty minutes, the time depending on the psychic atmosphere[8] and the faculties of the experimenters, raps are heard in the table, or the sitters help in the movements of the table, which seems possessed. why choose a table? because it is the only article of furniture around which folks usually sit. sometimes the table is lifted on one or more of its feet and is gently rocked to and fro. sometimes it comes up as if glued to the hands placed on it, remaining suspended in the air two, three, five, ten, twenty seconds. again, it is nailed to the floor with such force that it seems to have double or triple its usual weight. at other times, and usually on demand, it gives forth the sound of a saw, of a hatchet, of a lead-pencil writing, etc. we have here material results coming under direct observation, and they prove irrefragably the existence of an unknown force. this force is a material force in the psychic class. if we confined our attention to blind senseless movements of one kind or another, in relation only with the volitions of the experimenters, and not capable of being explained by the mere imposition of their hands, we might see proof of the existence of a new unknown force, explicable as a transformation of nervous force, of organic electricity; and that would be much in itself. but the raps made in the table, or by the feet of it, are made in reply to questions asked. since we know the table is only a piece of wood, when we ask it questions, we are really addressing some mental agent who hears and replies. it was in this class of phenomena that modern spiritualism took its rise; namely, in the united states, in 1848, when the fox sisters heard sounds in their chamber,--raps in the walls and in the furniture. their father, after several months of vexatious investigation, finally had recourse to the traditional theory of ghosts, and, addressing his questions to the wall, demanded some kind of an explanation from the invisible _thing_ therein. this thing responded by conventional taps to the questions asked, and declared that it was the spirit of the former proprietor once assassinated in this his very home. the spirit asked for prayers and the burial of its body. (from this time on the replies were so arranged that one rap in response to a question signified _yes_, two meant _no_ while three meant an emphatic _yes_.) i hasten to remark at once that the tapped replies prove nothing, and could have been made unconsciously by the fox sisters themselves, whom we can not consider to have been playing a little comedy since the raps produced by them in the walls astounded and overwhelmed them more, indeed, than they did any one else. the hypothesis of jugglery and mystification, dear to certain critics, has not the least application to this case, although i admit that rappings and movements are often produced as practical jokes by waggish persons. there is, of course, an unseen cause that originates these rappings. is it within us or outside of us? is it possible that we might be capable of doubling our personality in some way without knowing it, of acting by mental suggestion, of answering our own questions without suspecting it, of producing material results without being conscious of it? or does there exist, around and about us, an intelligent medium or atmosphere, a kind of spiritual cosmos? or, again, is it possible that we are surrounded by invisible non-human beings,--gnomes, spirits, and hobgoblins (there may be an unknown world about us)? or, finally, is it possible that the spirits of the dead may survive, and wander to and fro, and hold communication with us? all these hypotheses present themselves to our minds, nor have we the scientific absolute right to reject any one of them. the lifting of a table, the displacement of an object, may be attributed to an unknown force developed by our nervous system or otherwise. at least these movements do not prove the existence of a mind extraneous to that of the subject. but when some one is naming the letters of the alphabet or pointing them out on a sheet of pasteboard, and the table, either by raps in the wood or by levitations, puts together an intelligible sentence, we are forced to attribute this intelligent effect to an intelligent cause. this cause may be the medium himself; and the simplest way is, evidently, to suppose that he himself raps out the letters. but experiments can be arranged in such a way that he cannot possibly do this, even unconsciously. our first duty is, in reality, to make fraud impossible. those who have sufficiently studied the subject know that fraud does not explain what they have observed. to be sure, in fashionable spiritualistic soirées people sometimes amuse themselves. especially when the séances take place in the dark, and the alternation of the sexes is provided for so as to "reinforce the fluids," it is not altogether an unheard of thing for the gentlemen to profit by the temptation to temporarily forget the object of the meeting and break the established chain of hands in order to begin another on their own account. the ladies and the young girls like these changes in the program, and scarcely a complaint is heard. on the other hand, apart from fashionable soirées, to which everybody is invited for their amusement, the more serious reunions are frequently no safer; for the medium, who is, in one way or another, an interested person, is anxious to give the most he can--and something to boot. upon the leaf of an old note-book of mine which has just turned up, i classed spiritualistic soirées in the following order, which is doubtless a slightly original one:-1. amorous caresses. (a similar reproach was made against the ancient christian love-feasts or _agapes_.) 2. charlatanry of mediums, abusing the credulity of the sitters. 3. _some_ serious inquirers. at the time of which i was just now speaking (1861-63) i took part, as secretary, in experiments conducted regularly once a week, in the salon of a well-known medium,--mlle. huet, of mont-thabor street. mediumship was, in a way, her trade, and she had more than once been flagrantly detected in some most remarkable trickery. accordingly, it may be imagined that she would quite often give the raps herself by hitting the table-legs with her feet. but quite often we also obtained noises of sawing, of planing, of drum-beating, and torrents of rain, which it would have been impossible for her to imitate. neither could the holding fast of the table to the floor be the work of fraud. as to the levitations of the table, i said awhile ago that, when one of us showed an inclination to resist with his hand the upward movement, he received an impression as if the table were floating on a fluid. now it is hard to see how the medium could produce this result. everything took place in broad daylight. the communications received at the very many séances (several hundred) at which i have been present, both at that time and since, have always shown me that the results were in direct ratio with the cultivation of mind of the participants. i naturally asked a great many questions on astronomy. the replies never taught us anything new whatever; and, to be perfectly loyal to the truth, i must say that if, in these experiments, there are spirits, or beings independent of us in action, they know no more than we do about the other worlds. a distinguished poet, p. f. mathieu, was usually present at the reunions at the mont-thabor salon, and hence we sometimes obtained very pretty bits of verse, which i am sure he did not himself consciously produce; for, like all of us, he was there to learn. m. joubert, vice-president of the civil tribunal of carcassonne, has published a work, entitled _various fables and poems, by a spirit-rapper_, which bears on its face evidence that it is but the reflex of his customary thoughts. we had christian philosophers with us at our reunions. accordingly, the table dictated to us fine thoughts signed "pascal," "fénelon," "vincent de paul," and "sainte thérèse." one spirit, who signed himself "balthasar grimod de la reynière," dictated funny dissertations on the art of cooking. his specialty was to make the heavy table dance about in all kinds of contortions. rabelais sometimes appeared, still loving the perfumes of savory viands as of old. some of the spirits took pleasure in making _tours de force_ in cryptology (secret writing). the following are specimens of these table-rapping communications. the first is from the vulgate version of the bible, the gospel of john iii. 8: "spiritus ubi vult spirat; et vocem ejus audis, sed nescis unde veniat aut quo vadat. sic est omnis qui natus est ex spiritu." ("the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth. so is every one that is born of the spirit.") "dear little sister, i am here, and see that you are as good as ever. you are a medium. i will go to you with great happiness. tell my mother her dear daughter loves her from this world.[9] "louisa." some one asked one of the spirits if he could indicate by taps the words engraved inside of her ring. the response was: "i love that one should love me as i love when i love." a member of the company suspected that the table around which we were sitting might conceal a piece of mechanism for producing the raps. accordingly, one of the sentences was dictated by raps made _in the air_. here is another series: "je suis ung ioyeux compaignon qui vous esmarveilleray avecques mes discours, je ne suis pas ung esperict matéologien, je vestiray non liripipion et je diray: beuvez l'eaue de la cave, poy plus, poy moins, serez content. "alcofribaz nazier." ("i am a jollie blade who will astonie you by my speech. i am not a vaine-babbling sperit. i will wear my graduate's hood and saie: drinke ye water of ye cellar [wine],--no more, no less. be content. "francois rabelais.")[10] a rather lively discussion arose upon the subject of this unexpected visit,--and of the language, which some erudite persons present thought not to be pure rabelaisian. whereupon the table rapped: "bons enfants estes de vous esgousiller à ceste besterie. mieux vault que beuviez froid que parliez chaud." "rabelais." ("ye're regular babies to bawle yourselves hoarse over this selynesse. it is bettaire to drinke cauld than to speak warme.) "liesse et noël! monsieur satan est défun, et de mâle mort. bien marrys sont les moynes, moynillons, bigotz et cagotz, carmes chaulx et déchaulx, papelards et frocards, mitrez et encapuchonnez: les vécy sans couraige, les esperictz les ont destrosnez. plus ne serez roustiz et eschaubouillez ez marmites monachales et roustissoires diaboliques; foin de ces billevesées papales et cléricquales. dieu est bon, iuste et plein de misérichorde; it dict à ses petits enfancts: aimez-vous les ungs les autres et it pardoint à la repentance. le grand dyable d'enfer est mort; vive dieu!" ("hurrah for a merry life! maister satan is dead, dead as a door-nail. the monks and the poor-devil friars are married,--bigots and fanatics, carmelites shod and unshod, the hypocrites and the cowled fellows, the mitres and the hoods. there they stand trembling in their tracks; the spirits have dethroned them. gone are the roastings and soup-makings in the devil's dutch ovens and in monastic kettles. a plague of these trashy tales of pope and priest! god is good, just, and full of pity. he says to his little children, 'love one another'; and he pardons the repentant. the great devil in hell is dead. hurrah for god!") here is still another series: "suov ruop erètsym nu sruojuot tnores emêm srueisulp; erdnerpmoc ed simrep erocne sap tse suov en li uq snoitseuq sed ridnoforppa ruop tirpse'l sap retnemruot suov en. liesnoc nob nu zevius." "suov imrap engèr en edrocsid ed tirpse'l siamaj euq." "arevèlé suov ueid te serèrf sov imrap sreinred sel zeyos; évelé ares essiaba's iuq iulec éssiaba ares evèlé's iuq iulec." these sentences must be read backwards, beginning at the end. some one asked, "why have you dictated thus?" the reply was: "in order to give you new and unexpected proofs." read backwards, these russian-like sentences are as follows: "celui qui s'élève sera abaissé, celui qui s'abaisse sera élevé; soyez les derniers parmi vos frères et dieu vous élèvera." "que jamais l'esprit de discorde ne règne parmi vous." "suivez un bon conseil. ne vous tourmenter pas l'esprit pour approfondir des questions qu'il ne vous est pas encore permis de comprendre; plusieurs même seront toujours un mystère pour vous." ("whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted! be the least among your brethren, and god will exalt you." "never let the spirit of discord reign among you." "follow good counsel. do not torment your mind in attempting to fathom questions that it is not yet permitted you to comprehend: several of these will always be a mystery to you.") here is another of a different kind: "acmairsvnoouussevtoeussbaoinmsoentsfbiideenlteosuss." "sloeysepzruintissaeinndtieetuesnudrrvaosuessmaairlises." i asked the meaning of this bizarre and portentous conglomeration of letters. the reply was: "to conquer your doubts, read by skipping every other letter." this arrangement using the skipped letters in their turn for the second and fourth lines gives the four following verses: "amis, nous vous aimons bien tous, car vous êtes bons et fidèles. soyez unis en dieu: sur vous l'esprit-saint étendra ses ailes." ("friends, we love you all, for you are good and faithful. be united in god: over you the holy spirit will spread his wings.") this is innocent enough, surely and without any great poetic pretensions. but it must be admitted that this method of dictating is rather difficult.[11] some one spoke of human plans. the table dictated as follows:[12] "when the shining sun scatters the stars, know ye, o mortal men, whether ye will see the evening of that day? and, when the sombre curtains of night are let fall from the sky, can you tell whether you will see the dawn of another morn?" another person asked, "what is faith?" "faith? 'tis a blessed field that breeds a superb harvest, and every laborer may therein reap and garner to his heart's content, and carry home his sheaves." here are three prose dictations: "science is a forest where some are laying out roads, where many lose their way, and where all see the bounds of the forest recede as fast as they go forward." "god does not illuminate the world with the lightning and the meteors. he guides peacefully in their courses the stars of the night, which fill the sky with their light. so the divine revelations succeed one another in order, reason, and harmony." "religion and friendship are twin companions, who aid us to traverse the painful path of life." i cannot forego the pleasure of inserting here, at the close of this chapter, a fable, dictated like the others by table-rappings, and sent to me by m. joubert, vice-president of the civil tribunal of carcassonne.[13] the sentiment of it may be queried by some; but is not the central principle applicable to all epochs and to all governments: do not the "_arrivistes_"[14] belong to all times? the king and the peasant a king who had profaned the public liberties, who for twenty years had slaked his thirst in the blood of heretics; awaiting the quiet peace of the hangman in his declining days; decrepit, surfeited with adulterous amours; this king, this haughty monster of whom they had made a great man,--louis the fourteenth, in short, if i must name him,--was one day airing under the leafy arches of his vast gardens his scarron, his infamy and his troubles. the noble band of court flunkeys came along. each one at once lost at least six inches of his height. pages, counts, marquises, dukes, princes, marshals, ministers, bowed low before insulting rivals, the creatures of the king. grave magistrates made their deep reverences, each humbler than a suitor asking for audience. 'twas pleasant to see how the ribbons, crosses and decorations on their embroidered coats went ever backwards. always and always that ignoble bowing and scraping and cringing. i should like to wake up some morning an emperor, that i might sting with my whip the backbone of a flatterer. but see! alone, confronting the despot, yet without abasing his head, forging along with slow steps on his own way, modest, clad in coarse homespun garments, comes one who seems a peasant, perhaps a philosopher, and passes by the groups of insolent courtiers. "oh," cries the king, in great surprise, "why do you alone confront me without bending the knee?" "sire," said the unknown, "must i be frank? it is because i alone here expect nothing from you." if we stop to think how these sentences and phrases and different bits of literature were produced, letter by letter, rap by rap, following the alphabet as it was read out, we shall appreciate the difficulty of the thing. the rappings are made either in the interior of the wood of the table (the vibrations of which are perceptible) or in some other piece of furniture, or even in the air. the table, as i have already said, is alive, pregnant with a kind of momentary vitality. melodies of well-known airs, sounds of sawing and of the workshop, and the report of fusillades can be drawn from it. sometimes it becomes so light that it floats for a moment in the air, then so heavy that two men can scarcely lift it from the floor or budge it in any way. you must have a distinct picture in your mind of all these manifestations,--often puerile, no doubt, sometimes vulgar and grotesque, yet striking in their method of operation,--if you would accurately understand the phenomena, and realize that you are in the presence of an unknown element which jugglery and prestidigitation cannot explain. some folks can move their toes separately and crack the joints. if we should grant that the dictations, by combinations of letters (quoted above), were arranged in advance, learned by heart, and thus rapped, the matter would be simple enough. but this particular faculty is very rare, and it does not explain the noises in the table, the vibrations of which are felt by the hands. again, one could fancy the medium tapping the table-legs with his foot, and thus constructing such sentences as he pleases. but it would require a wonderful memory in the medium to enable him to remember the precise arrangement of letters (for he has no memorandum before him), and, further, these curious dictations have been secured just the same in select companies where no one would cheat. as to the theory that the spirits of eminent men are in communication with the experimenters the mere statement of the hypothesis shows its absurdity. imagine a table-rapper calling up from the vasty deep the spirits of paul or saint augustine, archimedes or newton, pythagoras or copernicus, leonardo da vinci or william herschel, and receiving their dictations from the interior of a table! we were speaking, a few pages back, of the séance drawings and descriptions of jupiter made by victorien sardou. this is the proper place to insert a letter written by him to m. jules claretie, and published by the latter in _le temps_ at the date when that learned academician was putting on the boards his drama _spiritisme_. the letter is here appended: ... as to spiritualism, i could better tell you verbally in three words what i think of it than i could write here in three pages. you are half right and half wrong. pardon my freedom of speech. there are two things in spiritualism,--(1) curious facts, inexplicable in the present state of our knowledge, and yet authenticated; and (2) the folks who explain them. the facts are real. those who explain them belong to three categories: there are, first, spiritualists who are imbecile, ignorant, or mad, the chaps who call up epaminondas and whom you justly make fun of, or who believe in the intervention of the devil; those, in short, who end in the lunatic asylum in charenton. _secundo_, there are the charlatans, commencing with d.; impostors of all sorts, prophets, consulting mediums, such as a. k., and _tutti quanti_. finally, there are the scholars and scientists, who think they can explain everything by juggleries, hallucination, and unconscious movements, men like chevreul and faraday, who, while they are right about some of the phenomena described to them, and which really are jugglery or hallucination, are yet wrong about the whole series of original facts, which they will not take the trouble to look at, though they are highly important. these men are much to blame; for, by their plea-in-bar against earnest investigators (such as gasparin, for example) and by their insufficient explanations, they have left spiritualism to be exploited by charlatans of all kinds, and at the same time authorized serious amateurs to no longer waste their time over these studies. last of all, there are observers like myself (there are not many of us) who are incredulous by nature, but who have been obliged to admit, in the long run, that spiritualism concerns itself with facts which defy any _present_ scientific explication, but who do not despair of seeing them explained some day, and who therefore apply themselves to the study of the facts, and are trying to reduce them to some kind of classification which may later prove to be law. we of this persuasion hold ourselves aloof from every coterie, from every clique, from all the prophets, and, satisfied with the convictions to which we have already attained, are content to see in spiritualism the dawn of a truth, as yet very obscure, which will some day find its ampère, as did the magnetic currents, and who grieve to see this truth choked out of existence by a dual foe,--excess of credulous ignorance which believes everything and excess of incredulous science which believes nothing. we find in our conviction and our conscience the wherewithal to brave the petty martyrdom of ridicule inflicted upon us for the faith we profess, a faith exaggerated and caricatured by the mass of follies people never fail to attribute to us, nor do we deem that the myth in which they dress us up merits even the honor of a refutation. similarly, i have never had any desire to prove to anybody whatever that the influence of either molière or beaumarchais cannot be detected in my plays. it seems to me that that is more than evident. respecting the dwellings of the planet jupiter, i must ask the good folks who suppose that i am convinced of the real existence of these things whether they are well persuaded that gulliver believed in "lilliput,"[15] campanella in the "city of the sun," and sir thomas more in his "utopia." what is true, however, is that the design of which you speak [pl. iii.] was made in less than ten hours. as to its origin, i would not give a penny to know about that; but the fact of its production is another matter v. sardou. scarcely a year passes that mediums do not bring me drawings of plants and animals in the moon, in mars, venus, jupiter, or certain of the stars. these designs are more or less pretty, and more or less curious. but there is nothing in them that leads us to admit their actual resemblance to real things in other worlds. on the contrary, everything proves that they are the products of imagination, essentially terrestrial, both in look and shape, not even tallying what we know to be the vital possibilities of those worlds. the designers of them are the dupes of illusion. these plants and animal are metamorphoses (sometimes elegantly conceived and drawn) of terrestrial organisms. perhaps the most curious thing of all is that they have a family resemblance in the manner of their execution, and have stamped on them, in some way or other, the mediumistic hall-mark. to return to my own experiences. when i took the rôle of writing-medium, i generally produced astronomical or philosophical dissertations signed "galileo." i will quote but one of them as a sample. it is taken from my notebooks of 1862. science. the human intellect holds in its powerful grasp the infinite universe of space and time; it has penetrated the inaccessible domain of the past, sounded the mystery of the unfathomable heavens, and believes that it has explained the riddle of the universe. the objective world has unrolled before the eyes of science its splendid panorama and its magnificent wealth of forms. the studies of man have led him to a knowledge of truth; he has explored the universe, discovered the inexorable reign of law, and the application of the forces that sustain all things. if it has not been permitted to him to see the first cause face to face, at least he has attained a true mathematical idea of the series of secondary causes. in this latest century, above all, the experimental _a priori_ method, the only really scientific one, has been put into practice in the natural sciences, and by its aid man has freed himself from the prejudices of the old school of thought, one by one, and from subjective or speculative theories, and confined himself to a careful and intelligent study of the field of observation. yes, human science is firmly based and pregnant with possibility, worthy of our homage for its difficult and long-proved past, worthy of our sympathy for its future, big with the promise of useful and profitable discoveries. for nature is henceforth to be a book accessible to the bibliographical researches of the studious, a world open to the investigations of the thinker, a fertile region which the human mind has already visited, and in which we must needs advance boldly, holding in our hand experience as our compass.... an old friend of my terrestrial life recently spoke to me as follows. one of our wanderings had brought us back to the earth, and we were making a new moral study of this world. my companion remarked that man is to-day familiar with the most abstract laws of mechanics, physics, chemistry, ... that the applications of knowledge to industry are not less remarkable than the deductions of pure science, and that it seems as if the entire universe, wisely studied by man, was to be his royal appanage. as we pursued our journey beyond the bounds of this world, i answered him in the following terms: "a feeble atom, lost to sight in an imperceptible point of the infinite, man has believed he could embrace in the sweep of his vision the whole expanse of the universe, whereas he can scarcely pass beyond the region he inhabits; he has thought he could study the laws of all nature, and his investigations have scarcely reached the forces in action about him; he has thought he could determine the grandeur of the starry heaven, and he exhausted his powers in the study of a grain of dust. the field of his researches is so small that, once lost to view, the mind seeks in vain to recover it; the human heaven and earth are so small that scarcely has the soul in its flight had time to spread its wings before it has reached the last regions accessible to the observation of man; for the immeasurable universe surrounds us on all sides, unfolding beyond the limits of our heavens its unknown riches, putting its inconceivable forces into play, and reaching forward into immensity in the splendor of its life. "and the mere flesh-worm, the miserable mite, blind and wingless, whose wretched existence is passed upon the leaf where it was born, would presume (because forsooth it has taken a few steps upon this leaf shaken in the wind) to have the right to speak of the immense tree to which it belongs, of the forest of which this tree forms a part, and to sagely descant upon the nature of the vegetation developed thereon, of the beings that inhabit it, of the distant sun whose rays bring to it movement and life? in very truth, man is strangely presumptuous to desire to measure infinite greatness by the foot-rule of his infinite littleness. "therefore be this truth well impressed on his mind,--if the arid labors of past ages have acquired for him an elementary knowledge of things, if the progress of thought has placed him at the vestibule of knowledge, still he has not yet spelled out more than the first page of the book, and, like a child, liable to be deceived by every word, far from claiming the right to authoritatively interpret the work, he ought to content himself with humbly studying it, page by page, line by line. happy, however, those who are able to do this!" galileo. these were my customary thoughts. they are the thoughts of a student of nineteen or twenty who has acquired the habit of thinking. there can be no doubt that they were wholly the product of my own intellect, and that the illustrious florentine astronomer had nothing whatever to do with them. besides, this would have been a collaboration to the last degree improbable. it has been the same with all the communications of the astronomical class: they have not led the science forward a single step. nor has any obscure, mysterious, or illusive point in history been cleared up by the spirits. we only write that which we know, and even chance has given us nothing. still, certain unexplained thought-transferences are to be discussed. but they belong to the psychological or human sphere. in order to reply at once to objections that certain spiritualists have sent to me apropos of this result of my observations, i will take as an example the case of the satellites of uranus, since it is the chief one always brought forward as a _proof_ of scientific discoveries imparted by spirits. furthermore, i received several years ago from divers sources a pressing invitation to examine an article by general drayson, published in the journal named _light_, in 1884, under the title of _the solution of scientific problems by spirits_, in which it is asserted that the spirits made known the true orbital movement of the satellites of uranus. pressing engagements had always hindered me from making this examination; but the case having been recently promulgated in several spiritualistic works as decisive, and i being so persistently importuned to discuss it, i believe it will prove of some use if i now examine the case. to my great regret there is an error in their communication, and the spirits have taught us nothing. here is one instance, wrongly selected as a demonstration. the russian writer aksakof sets it forth in the following terms (_animism and spiritualism_, p. 341): the case of which we are about to give an account seems to be of such a nature as to settle all objections. it was communicated by major-general a. w. drayson and published under the title _the solution of scientific problems by spirits_. i append a translation: "having received from m. georges stock a letter asking me if i could mention, were it only as an instance, that, during the holding of a séance, a spirit had solved one of those scientific problems which have always embarrassed scientists, i have the honor to communicate to you the following circumstance, which i witnessed with my own eyes: "in 1781 william herschel discovered the planet uranus and its satellites. he observed that these satellites, contrary to all the other satellites of the solar system, traversed their orbits from east to west. sir john herschel says in his _outlines of astronomy_: "'the orbits of these satellites present peculiarities altogether unexpected and exceptional, contrary to the general laws which govern the other bodies of the solar system. the planes of their orbits are almost perpendicular to the ecliptic, making an angle of 70° 58',[16] and they travel with a retrograde movement; that is to say, their revolution about the centre of their planet takes place from east to west in place of following the inverse course.' "when laplace broached his theory that the sun and all the planets were formed at the expense of a nebulous matter, these satellites were an enigma to him. "admiral smyth mentions in his _celestial cycle_ that the movement of these satellites, to the stupefaction of all astronomers, is retrograde, contrary to that of all the other bodies observed up to that time. "all the astronomical works published before 1860 contain the same reasoning on the subject of the satellites of uranus. for my part, i did not find any explanation for this peculiarity: to me it was a mystery as much as for the writers whom i have cited. "in 1858 i had as a guest in my house a lady who was a medium, and we arranged daily séances. one evening she said to me that she saw at my side a spirit who claimed to have been an astronomer during his life on earth. "i asked this person if he was wiser at present than when he lived on the earth. 'much wiser,' he said. i had the idea of asking this so-called spirit a question the object of which was to test his knowledge. 'can you tell me,' i asked him, 'why the satellites of uranus make their revolution from east to west and not from west to east?' i received at once the following reply: "'the satellites of uranus do not move in their orbits from east to west: they circle about their planet from west to east, in the same way that the moon moves around the earth. the error comes from the fact that the south pole of uranus was turned toward the earth at the moment of the discovery of this planet. in the same way that the sun, seen from our southern hemisphere, seems to run its daily course from right to left and not from left to right, so the satellites of uranus were moving at that time from left to right, though this does not mean they were moving in their orbit from east to west.' "in reply to another question which i asked, my interlocutor added: 'as long as the south pole of uranus was turned toward the earth, in relation to a terrestrial observer, the satellites seemed to move from left to right, and it was erroneously concluded from this that they were going from east to west: this state of things lasted for about forty-two years. when the north pole of uranus is turned toward the earth, his satellites run their course from right to left, but, in either case, always from the west to the east.' "i thereupon asked him how it happened that the error had not been detected forty-two years after william herschel's discovery of uranus. he replied, 'it is because people repeat that which the authorities who have preceded them have said. dazzled by the results obtained by their predecessors, they do not take the trouble to think.'" such is the "revelation" of a spirit on the system of uranus, published by drayson and presented by aksakof and other authors as an undeniable proof of the intervention of a spirit in the solution of this problem. the following is the result of an impartial discussion of this very interesting subject. the reasoning of the "spirit" is false. the system of uranus is almost perpendicular to the plane of its orbit. it is the direct opposite of that of the satellites of jupiter, which turn almost in the plane of their orbit. the inclination of the plane of the satellites to the ecliptic is 98°, and the planet ascends almost in the plane of the ecliptic. this is a fundamental consideration in the picture which we ought to make to ourselves of the aspect of this system seen from the earth. let us, however, adopt for the method of movement of these satellites around their planet the projection upon the plane of the ecliptic, as has always been the custom. the author maintains that, "when the north pole of uranus is turned toward the earth, his satellites run their course from right to left, that is to say from west to east"; he indorses the communication of the spirit to the effect that the astronomers are in error and that the satellites of uranus really revolve around their planet from west to east, in the same way that the moon revolves around the earth. in order to give ourselves an exact account of the position and of the method of the movements of this system, let us construct a special geometrical figure, clear and precise. let us represent upon a plane the appearance of the orbit of uranus and of its satellites seen from the northern hemisphere of the celestial sphere (fig. a). the part of the orbit of the satellites above the plane of the orbit of uranus has been drawn with heavy lines and hatching, the lower part in dotted lines only. it is easily seen by the direction of the arrows that the revolution of the satellites, projected upon the plane of the orbit, is entirely retrograde. all dogmatic affirmations to the contrary are absolutely erroneous. these satellites turn like the hands of a watch,--from left to right, looking at the upper part of the circles. the error of general drayson's medium comes from the fact that she maintained that the south pole of uranus was turned toward us at the date of its discovery. now, in 1781, the system of uranus occupied relatively to us almost the same situation as in 1862, since the time of its revolution is eighty-four years. it is evident from the figure that, at that moment, the planet presented to us the pole most elevated above the ecliptic; that is, its north pole. general drayson allowed himself to be led into error when he adopted without verification these paradoxical premises. as a matter of fact, if uranus had presented to us its south pole in 1781, the movement of the satellites would have been direct. but the observations of the angle of position of the orbits at the time of their passage of the nodes gives us abundant evidence that it was really the north pole which was at that moment turned toward the sun and the earth,--a fact which renders direct movement impossible, retrograde movement certain. [illustration: fig. 1--the inclination of the system of uranus. aspects seen from the earth at the four extreme positions.] for greater clearness, i have placed outside of the orbit, in fig 1, the aspect of the system of uranus seen from the earth at the four principal epochs of the revolution of this distant planet. it is evident that the apparent method of the revolution was analogous to that of the hands of a watch in 1781 and 1862, the opposite in 1818 and 1902. at these dates the apparent orbits of the satellites are almost circles, while during the passage of the nodes, in 1798, 1840, and 1882, they are reduced to straight lines. figure 1a completes these data by presenting the aspect of the orbits and the method of revolution for all the positions of the planet, even down to our own epoch. i have desired to completely elucidate this question, which is a little technical. _to my great regret_, the spirits have taught us nothing, and this example, to which so much importance is attached, is seen to be an error.[17] aksakof cites, in this same chapter (p. 343), the discovery of the two satellites of mars, also made by drayson through a medium, in 1859; that is to say, 18 years before their discovery, in 1877. this discovery, not having been published at the time, remains doubtful. furthermore, after kepler had pointed out its probability, this subject of the two satellites of mars was several times discussed, notably by swift and voltaire (see my _popular astronomy_, p. 501). this is not, then, to be set down as an undeniable instance of a discovery made by the spirits. the immediately foregoing instances are facts actually observed at spiritualistic séances. i will not treat them under a generalization foreign to their proper setting. they do not prove that, in certain circumstances, thinkers, poets, dreamers, investigators, may not be inspired by influences emanating from others, from loved ones, from departed friends. that is another question, a topic quite apart from experiments which we are giving an account of in this book. [illustration: fig. 1a.--orbits of the satellites of uranus as seen from the earth at different dates since the time of their discovery (1781).] the same author, otherwise generally very judicious, cites several examples of foreign tongues spoken by mediums. i have not been able to verify them, and i am asked not to say here anything but what i am absolutely sure of. according to my personal observations, these experiments bring us constantly into the presence of ourselves, our own minds. i could cite a thousand examples of this. one day i received an "aërolite" discovered in a forest in the environs of etrepagny (eure). mme. j. l., who kindly sent it to me, added that she consulted a spirit about its origin and that he replied to her that it came from a star named golda. now in the first place there is no star of this name; and, secondly, this is not an aërolite at all, but a piece of slag from an old forge. (see section 662 of my inquiry of 1899. the first of these sections, relating to telepathy, have been published in my work _the unknown_.) a lady reader of mine wrote me from montpellier: your conclusions would perhaps diminish the prestige of spiritualism in the eyes of certain persons. but, as prestige may produce superstition, it is well to clear up matters. for my part, that which you have observed agrees with what i have myself observed. this is the method which i have employed, aided by a friend: i took a book and, opening it, retained in my mind the number of the right-hand page. suppose it was 132. i said to the table, which had been put in movement by the little manoeuvre ordinarily used, "does a spirit desire to communicate?" reply--"yes." question--"can you see the book which i have just been looking at?" reply--"yes." "how many numbers are there on the page that i have been looking at?" "three." "indicate the number of hundreds." "one." "indicate the value of the tens." "three." "indicate the value of the units." "two." the amounts indicated in these statements are of course 132. it was enchanting. then, taking the closed book and, without opening it, sliding the paper-knife between the pages, i resumed the conversation, and the result with this last method was always inexact. i frequently repeated this little experience (curious at any rate); and, every time, i had exact replies when i knew them, inexact when i was ignorant of them. (section 657 of my inquiry.) these examples might be multiplied _ad infinitum_. everything leads us to think that it is we who are the actors in these experiments. but it is not so simple as one might suppose, and there is something else in it as well as ourselves. certain unexplained things take place. in his remarkable work, _intelligence_, taine explains spiritualistic communications by a sort of unconscious duplication of our mind, as i said above. the more singular a fact is [he writes[18]] the more instructive it is. in this respect, spiritualistic manifestations themselves point the way to discoveries by showing us the coexistence at the same moment in the same individual of two thoughts, two wills, two distinct actions, the one conscious, the other unconscious; the latter he attributes to invisible beings. the brain is, then, a theatre on the stage of which several pieces are being played at once, upon several planes, of which only one is not subliminal. nothing is more worthy of study than this plurality of the _me_. i have seen a person who, while speaking or singing, writes, without regard to the paper, consecutive sentences and even entire pages, without any knowledge of what she is writing. in my eyes her sincerity is perfect. now she declares that at the end of a page she has no idea of what she has written on the paper. when she reads it, she is astonished, sometimes alarmed. the handwriting is different from her ordinary handwriting. the movement of the fingers and of the pencil is stiff and seems automatic. the writing always ends with a signature, that of a deceased person, and bears the mark of intimate thoughts, of a secret and inner reserve of ideas which the author would not like to divulge. certainly there is proof here of a doubling of the _me_, the coexistence of two parallel and independent trains of thought, of two centres of action, or, if you wish, of two moral persons existing in the same brain, each one doing his work, and each one a different work, the one upon the stage and the other behind the scenes, the second as complete as the first, since, alone and unwitting of the other, it constructs consecutive ideas and fashions connected sentences in which the other has no part. this hypothesis is admissible, in the light of numerous observations of double consciousness.[19] it is applicable to a great number of cases, but not in all. it explains automatic writing. but, as it stands, it is necessary to stretch it considerably to make it explain the rappings (for who raps?), and it does not explain at all the levitations of the table, nor the displacement of objects of which i have spoken in the first chapter, and i do not very well see how it can even explain phrases rapped out backwards or by the strange combinations described above. this hypothesis is admitted and developed in a more unqualified way by dr. pierre janet in his work _psychological automatism_. this author is one of those who have created a narrow circle of observation and study, and who not only never emerge from it, but imagine that they have got the whole universe in their circle. in going over this kind of reasoning, one thinks involuntarily of that old quarrel of the two round eyes who saw everything round and of the two square eyes who saw everything square, and of the history of the big-endians and of the little-endians of _gulliver's travels_. an hypothesis is worthy of attention when it explains something. its value does not increase by the attempt to generalize it and make it explain everything: this is to overpass all reasonable limits. we may admit that the sub-conscious acts of an abnormal personality, temporarily grafted upon our normal personality, explain the greater part of mediumistic writing communications. we can see in these also the evident effects of auto-suggestion. but these psycho-physiological hypotheses do not explain all observations. there is something else. we all have a tendency to want to explain everything by the actual state of our knowledge. in the face of certain circumstances, we say to-day: "it is suggestion, it is hypnotism, it is this, it is that." half a century ago we would not have talked in this way, these theories not having yet been invented. people will no longer talk in the same way half a century, a century, hence, for new words will have been invented. but let us not be put off with words; let us not be in such a hurry. we must know how to explain in what way our thoughts--conscious, unconscious, sub-conscious--can strike blows in a table, move it, lift it. as this question is rather embarrassing, dr. pierre janet treats it as "secondary personality," and is obliged to have recourse to the movements of the toes, to the snapping of the muscles of the fibular tendon, to ventriloquism and the deceptions of unconscious accomplices.[20] this is not a sufficient explanation. as a matter of fact, we do not understand how our thought, or that of another, can cause raps in a table, by which sentences are formed. but we are obliged to admit it. let us call it, if you please, "telekinetsis"; but does that get us any farther along? there has been talk for some years about unconscious facts, about sub-consciousness, subliminal consciousness, etc. i fear that in these things also we are putting ourselves off with words which do not explain things very much. i intend some day, if the time is given me, to write a special book on spiritualism, studied from the theoretic and doctrinal point of view, which will form a second volume of my work _the unknown and psychic problems_, and which has been in preparation since the publication of that work in 1899. mediumistic communications, dictations received (notably by victor hugo, mme. de girardin, eugène nus, and the phalansterians), will be the subject of special chapters in this volume,--as well as the problem, otherwise important, of the plurality of existences. it is not my intention to enlarge in this place upon the aspects of the general question. that which i restrict myself to establishing in this book is that there are in us, about us, unknown forces capable of putting matter in motion, just as our will does. i ought, therefore, to limit myself to material phenomena. the range of that class of investigations is already immense, and the "communications" of which i have just spoken are really outside the limits of this range. but, as this subject and that of psychological experiments are continually overlapping, it was necessary to give a summary of it in this place. let us return for the present to the material phenomena produced by mediums and to that which i have myself ascertained in my experiences with eusapia paladino, who unites them nearly all in her own personality and experiences. chapter iii my experiments with eusapia paladino. in the earlier pages of this volume some of my later experiments with the neapolitan medium, eusapia paladino, have been described. we shall now revert to the earlier ones. my first experimental séance with this remarkable medium took place on the 27th of july, 1897. in response to the invitation of an excellent and honorable family,--that of blech,--the name of which has for a long time been happily associated with modern researches in theosophy, occultism, and psychological studies, i betook myself to montfort-l'amaury, to make the personal acquaintance of this medium, whose case had already been studied in several particulars by mm. lombroso, charles richet, ochorowicz, aksakof, schiaparelli, myers, lodge, a. de rochas, dariex, j. maxwell, sabatier, de watteville, and a great number of other scholars and scientists of high standing. mme. paladino's gifts had even been made the subject of a work by count de rochas upon _the externalization of motivity_, as well as of innumerable articles in the special reviews. the impression that results from the reading of all the official reports is not altogether satisfactory, and besides leaves us with our curiosity entirely ungratified. on the other hand, i can say, as i have already had occasion to remark, that, during the last forty years, almost all the celebrated mediums have been present at one time or another in my salon in the avenue l'observatoire in paris, and that i have detected them nearly all in trickery. not that they always deceive: those who affirm this are wrong. but, consciously or unconsciously, they bring with them an element of trouble against which one is obliged to be constantly on guard, and which places the experimenter in conditions diametrically opposed to those of scientific observation. apropos of eusapia i had received from my illustrious colleague, m. schiaparelli, director of the observatory at milan, to whom science is indebted for so many important discoveries, a long letter from which i will quote a few passages: during the autumn of 1892 i was invited by m. aksakof to be present at a certain number of spiritualistic séances held under his direction and care, for the purpose of meeting the medium eusapia paladino, of naples. i saw a number of very surprising things, a part of which, to tell the truth, could be explained by very ordinary means. but there are others the production of which i should not know how to explain by the known principles of natural philosophy. i add, without any hesitation, that, if it had been possible to entirely exclude all suspicion of deceit, one would have had to recognize in these facts the beginning of a new science pregnant with consequences of the highest importance. but it must be admitted that these experiments have been made in a manner little calculated to convince impartial judges of their sincerity. conditions were always imposed that hindered the right comprehension of what was really taking place. when we proposed modifications in the program suited to give to the experiments the stamp of clearness and to furnish evidence that was lacking, the medium invariably declared that, if we did so, the success of the séance would thereby be made impossible. in fine, we did not _experiment_ in the true sense of the word: we were obliged to be content with _observing_ that which occurred under the unfavorable circumstances imposed by the medium. even when mere observation was pushed a little too far, the phenomena were no longer produced or lost their intensity and their marvellous nature. nothing is more offensive than these games of hide-and-seek to which we are obliged to submit all that kind of thing excites distrust. having passed all my life in the study of nature, which is always sincere in its manifestations and logical in its processes, it is repugnant to me to turn my thoughts to the investigation of a class of truths, which it seems as if a malevolent and disloyal power was hiding from us with an obstinacy the motive of which we cannot comprehend. in such researches it is not sufficient to employ the ordinary methods of natural philosophy, which are infallible, but very limited in their action. we must have recourse to that other critical method, more subject to error, but more audacious and more powerful, of which police officers and examining magistrates make use when they are trying to bring out a truth in the midst of disagreeing witnesses, a part at least of whom have an interest in hiding that truth. in accordance with these reflections, i cannot say that i am convinced of the reality of the things which are comprised under the ill-chosen name of spiritualism. but neither do i believe in our right to deny everything; for, in order to have a good basis for denial, it is not sufficient to _suspect_ fraud, it is necessary to _prove it_. these experiments, which i have found very unsatisfactory, other experimenters of great confidence and of established reputation have been able to make in more favorable circumstances. i have not enough presumption to oppose a dogmatic and unwarranted denial to proofs in which scientists of great critical ability, such as mm. crookes, wallace, richet, oliver lodge, have found a solid basis of fact and one worthy their examination, to such an extent that they have given to it years of study. and we should deceive ourselves if we believed that men convinced of the truth of spiritualism are all fanatics. during the experiments of 1892 i had the pleasure of knowing some of these men. i was obliged to admire their sincere desire to know the truth; and i found, in the case of several of them, philosophic ideas very sensible and very profound, joined to a moral character altogether worthy of esteem. that is the reason why it is impossible for me to declare that spiritualism is a ridiculous absurdity. i ought, then, to abstain from pronouncing any opinion whatever: my mental state on this subject may be defined by the word "agnosticism." i have read with much attention all that the late professor zöllner has written on this subject. his explanation has a purely material basis,--that is to say, it is the hypothesis of the objective existence of a fourth dimension of space, an existence which cannot be comprised within the scope of our intuition, but the possibility of which cannot be denied on that ground alone. once grant the reality of the experiments which he describes, and it is evident that his theory of these things is the most ingenious and probable that can be imagined. according to this theory, mediumistic phenomena would lose their mystic or mystifying character and would pass into the domain of ordinary physics and of physiology. they would lead to a very considerable extension of the sciences, an extension such that their author would deserve to be placed side by side with galileo and newton. unfortunately, these experiences of zöllner were made with a medium of poor reputation. it is not only the sceptics who doubt the good faith of m. slade: it is the spiritualists themselves. m. aksakof, whose authority is very great in similar matters, told me himself that he had detected him in trickery. you see by this that these theories of zöllner lose any support they might have derived from the exact demonstration of experiment, at the same time that they remain very beautiful, very ingenious, and quite possible. yes, quite possible in spite of everything; in spite of the lack of success that i had when i tried to reproduce them with eusapia. on the day when we shall be enabled to make, with absolute sincerity, _a single one_ of these experiments, the matter will have made great progress; from the hands of charlatans it will have passed into those of physicists and physiologists. such is the communication made to me by m. schiaparelli. i found his reasoning to be without defect, and it was in a state of mind entirely analogous to his that i arrived at monfort-l'amaury (with all the more interest because slade was one of the mediums of whom i was just now speaking). eusapia paladino was introduced to me. she is a woman of very ordinary appearance, a brunette, her figure a little under the medium height. she was forty-three years old, not at all neurotic, rather stout. she was born on january 21, 1854, in a village of la pouille; her mother died while giving birth to the child; her father was assassinated eight years afterward, in 1862, by brigands of southern italy. eusapia paladino is her maiden name. she was married at naples to a merchant of modest means named raphael delgaiz, a citizen of naples. she manages the petty business of the shop, is illiterate, does not know how to either read or write, understands only a little french. i conversed with her, and soon perceived that she has no theories and does not burden herself by trying to explain the phenomena produced by her. the salon in which we are going to conduct our experiments is a room on the ground floor, rectangular, measuring twenty feet in length by nineteen in breadth; there are four windows, an outside entrance door and another in the vestibule. before the sitting, i make sure that the large doors and windows are closely shut by window-blinds with hooks and by wooden blinds on the inside. the door of the vestibule is simply locked with a key. in an angle of the salon, at the left of the large entrance door, two curtains of a light color have been stretched on a rod, joining in the middle and forming thus a little cabinet. in this cabinet there is a sofa, and leaning against this a guitar; on one side is a chair, on which have been placed a music-box and a bell. in the recess of the window which is included in the cabinet there is a music-rack, upon which has been placed a plate containing a well-smoothed cake of glazier's putty, and under which, on the floor, is a huge tray containing a large smoothed cake of the same. we have prepared these plaques of putty because the annals of spiritualism have often shown the imprint of hands and of heads produced by the unknown beings whom it is our business in this work to investigate. the large tray weighs about nine pounds. why this dark cabinet? the medium declares it is necessary to the production of the phenomena "that relate to the condensation of fluids." i should prefer that there should be nothing of the kind. but the conditions must be accepted, though we must have an exact understanding about them. behind the curtain the stillness of the aërial waves is at its maximum, the light at its minimum. it is curious, strange, infinitely regrettable that light prohibits certain effects. undoubtedly, it would not be either philosophic or scientific to oppose this condition. it is possible that the radiations, the forces, which act may be the rays of the invisible end of the spectrum, i have already had occasion to remark, in the first chapter, that he who would seek to make photographs without a dark chamber would cloud over his plate and obtain nothing. the man who would deny the existence of electricity because he had been unable to obtain a spark in a damp atmosphere would be in error. he who would not believe in the existence of stars because we only see them at night would not be very wise. modern progress in natural philosophy has taught us that the radiations that impinge on the retina represent only the smallest fraction of the totality. we can then admit the existence of forces which do not act in the full light of day. but, in accepting these conditions, the essential point is not to be their dupe. hence, before the séance, i examined carefully the narrow corner of the room before which the curtain was stretched, and i found nothing except the objects mentioned above. nowhere in the room was there any sign whatever of concealed mechanism, no electric wires or batteries or anything of the kind, either on the floor or in the walls. moreover, the perfect sincerity of m. and mme. blech is beyond all suspicion. before the séance, eusapia was undressed and dressed before mme. zelma blech. nothing suspicious was found. the sitting was begun in full light, and i constantly laid stress upon obtaining the largest number of phenomena we could in the full light of day. it was only gradually, according as the "spirit" begged for it, that the light was turned down. but i obtained the concession that the darkness should never be absolute. at the last limit, when the light had to be entirely extinguished, it was replaced by one of the red lanterns used by photographers. the medium sits _before_ the curtain, turning her back to it. a table is placed before her,--a kitchen table, made of spruce, weighing about fifteen pounds. i examined this table and found nothing in it suspicious. it could be moved about in every direction. i sit at first on the left of eusapia, then at her right side. i make sure as far as possible of her hands, her legs, and her feet, by personal control. thus, for example, to begin with, in order to be sure that she should not lift the table either by her hands or her legs, or her feet, i take her left hand in my left hand, i place my right open hand upon her knees, and i place my right foot upon her left foot. facing me, m. guillaume de fontenay, no more disposed than i to be duped, takes charge of her right hand and her right foot. there is full light,--a big kerosene lamp with a wide burner and a light yellow shade, besides two lighted candles. at the end of three minutes the table begins to move, balancing itself, and rising sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left. a minute afterwards it is _lifted entirely from the floor_, to a height of about nine inches, and remains there two seconds. in a second trial, i take the two hands of eusapia in mine. a notable levitation is produced, nearly under the same conditions. we repeat the same experiments thrice, in such a way that five levitations of the table take place in a quarter of an hour, and for several seconds the four feet are completely lifted from the floor, to the height of about nine inches. during one of the levitations the experimenters did not touch the table at all, but formed the chain above it and in the air; and eusapia acted in the same way. so then it seems that an object can be lifted, in opposition to the law of gravity, without the contact of the hands which have just been acting upon it. (proof already given above, pp. 5-8, 16.) a round centre table placed at my right comes forward without contact towards the table, always in full light, be it understood, as if it would like to climb up on it, and falls down. nobody has moved aside or approached the curtain, and no explanation of this movement can be given. the medium has not yet entered into a trance and continues to take part in the conversation. five raps in the table indicate, according to a convention arranged by the medium, that the unknown cause asks for less light. this is always annoying: i have already said what i think of this. the candles are blown out, the lamp turned down, but the light is strong enough for us to see very distinctly everything that takes place in the salon. the round table, which i had lifted and set aside, approaches the table and tries several times to climb up on it. i lean upon it in order to keep it down, but i experience an elastic resistance and am unable to do so. the free edge of the round table places itself on the edge of the rectangular table, but, hindered by its triangular foot, it does not succeed in clearing itself sufficiently to climb upon it. since i am holding the medium, i ascertain that she makes no effort of the kind that would be needed for this style of performance. the curtain swells out and approaches my face. it is at this moment that the medium falls into a trance. she utters sighs and lamentations and only speaks now in the third person, saying that she is john king, a psychic personality who claims to have been her father in another existence and who calls her "my daughter" (_mia figlia_). this is an auto-suggestion proving nothing as to the identity of the force. five new taps ask for still _less light_, and the lamp is most completely turned down, but not extinguished. the eyes, growing accustomed to the clare-obscure, still distinguish pretty well what is taking place. the curtain swells out again, and i feel that i am touched on the shoulder, through the stuff of the curtain, as if by a closed fist. the chair in the cabinet, upon which are placed the music-box and the bell, is violently shaken, and the objects fall to the floor. the medium asks again for _less light_, and a red photographic lantern is placed upon the piano, the light of the lamp being extinguished. the control is rigorously kept up, the medium agreeing to it with the greatest docility. for about a minute the music-box plays intermittent airs behind the curtain, as if it was turned by some hand. the curtain moves forward again toward me, and a rather strong hand seizes my arm. i immediately reach forward to seize the hand, but i grasp only the empty air. i then press the two legs of the medium between mine and i take her left hand in my right. on the other side, her right hand is firmly held in the left hand of m. de fontenay. then eusapia brings the hand of the last named toward my cheek, and imitates upon the cheek, with the finger of m. de fontenay, the movement of a little revolving crank or handle. the music-box, which has one of these handles, _plays at the same time behind the curtain in perfect synchronism_. the instant that eusapia's hand stops, the music stops: all the movements correspond, just as in the morse telegraphic system. we all amused ourselves with this. the thing was tried several times in succession, and every time the movement of the finger tallied the playing of the music. i feel several touches in the back and on the side. m. de fontenay receives a hard slap on the back that everybody hears. a hand passes through my hair. the chair of m. de fontenay is violently pulled, and a few moments afterwards he cries, "i see the silhouette of a man passing between m. flammarion and me, above the table, shutting out the red light!" this thing is repeated several times. i do not myself succeed in seeing this silhouette. i then propose to m. de fontenay that i take his place, for, in that case, i should be likely to see it also. i soon distinctly perceive a dim silhouette passing before the red lantern, but i do not recognize any precise form. it is only an opaque shadow (the profile of a man) which advances as far as the light and retires. in a moment, eusapia says there is some one behind the curtain. after a slight pause she adds: "there is a man by my side, on the right: he has a great soft forked beard." i ask if i may touch this beard. in fact, while lifting my hand, i feel a rather soft beard brushing against it. a block of paper is put on the table with a lead-pencil, with the hope of getting writing. this pencil is flipped clear across the room. i then take the block of paper and hold it in the air: it is snatched violently from me, in spite of all my efforts to retain it. at this moment, m. de fontenay, with his back turned to the light, sees a hand (a white hand and not a shadow), the arm showing as far as the elbow, holding the block of paper; but all the others declare that they only see the paper shaking in the air. i did not see the hand snatch the packet of paper from me; but only a hand could have been able to seize it with such violence, and this did not appear to be the hand of the medium, for i held her right hand in my left, and the paper with arm extended in my right hand, and m. de fontenay declared that he did not let go of her left hand. i was struck several times in the side, touched on the head, and my ear was smartly pinched. i declare that after several repetitions i had enough of this ear pinching; but during the whole séance, in spite of my protestations, somebody kept hitting me. the little round table, placed outside of the cabinet, at the left of the medium, approaches the table, climbs clear up on it and lies across it. the guitar in the cabinet is heard moving about and giving out sounds. the curtain is puffed out, and the guitar is brought upon the table, resting upon the shoulder of m. de fontenay. it is then laid upon the table, the large end toward the medium. then it rises and moves over the heads of the company without touching them. it gives forth several sounds. the phenomenon lasts about fifteen seconds. it can readily be seen that the guitar is floating in the air, and the reflection of the red lamp glides over its shining surface. a rather bright gleam, pear-shaped, is seen on the ceiling in the other corner of the room. the medium, who is tired, asks for rest. the candles are lighted. mme. blech returns the objects to their places, ascertains that the cakes of putty are intact, places the smallest upon the little round table and the large one upon the chair in the cabinet, behind the medium. the sitting is resumed by the feeble glimmer of the red lantern. the medium, whose hands and feet are carefully controlled by m. de fontenay and myself, breathes heavily. above her head the snapping of fingers is heard. she still pants, groans, and sinks her fingers into my hand. three raps are heard. she cries, "it is done" ("_e fatto_"). m. de fontenay brings the little dish beneath the light of the red lantern and discovers the impression of four fingers in the putty, in the position which they had taken when she gripped my hand. seats are taken, the medium asks for rest, and a little light is turned on. the sitting is soon resumed as before, by the extremely feeble light of the red lantern. john is spoken of as if he existed, as if it was he whose head we perceived in silhouette; he is asked to continue his manifestations, and to show the impression of his head in the putty, as he has already several times done. eusapia replies that it is a difficult thing and asks us not to think of it for a moment, but to go on speaking. these suggestions of hers are always disquieting, and we redouble our attention, though without speaking much. the medium pants, groans, writhes. the chair in the cabinet on which the putty is placed is heard to move. the chair comes forward and places itself by the side of the medium, then it is lifted and placed upon the head of mme. z. blech, while the tray is lightly placed in the hands of m. blech, at the other end of the table. eusapia cries that she sees before her a head and a bust, and says, "_e fatto_" ("it is done"). we do not believe her, because m. blech has not felt any pressure on the dish. three violent blows as of a mallet are struck upon the table. the light is turned on, and a human profile is found imprinted upon the putty. mme. z. blech kisses eusapia upon both cheeks, for the purpose of finding out whether her face has not some odor (glazier's putty having a very strong odor of linseed oil which remains for some time upon the fingers). she discovers nothing abnormal. this discovery of a "spirit head" in the putty is so astonishing, so impossible to admit without sufficient verification, that it is really still more incredible than all the rest. it is not the head of the man whose profile i perceived, and the beard i felt on my hand is not there. the imprint has a resemblance to eusapia's face. if we supposed she produced it herself, that she was able to bury her nose up to the cheeks and up to the eyes in that thick putty, we should still have to explain how that large and heavy tray was transported from the other end of the table and gently placed in the hands of m. blech. the resemblance of the imprint to eusapia was undeniable. i reproduce both the print and the portrait of the medium.[21] every one can assure himself of it. the simplest thing, evidently, is to suppose the italian woman imprinted her face in the putty. but how? we are in the dark as to this, or nearly so. i sit at the right hand of eusapia, _who rests her head upon my left shoulder_, and whose right hand i am holding. m. de fontenay is at her left, and has taken great care not to let go of the other hand. the tray of putty, weighing nine pounds, has been placed upon a chair, twenty inches behind the curtain, consequently behind eusapia. she cannot touch it without turning around, and we have her entirely in our power, our feet on hers. now the chair upon which was the tray of putty has drawn aside the hangings, or portières, and moved forward to a point above the head of the medium, who remained seated and held down by us; moved itself also over our heads,--the chair to rest upon the head of my neighbor, mme. blech, and the tray to rest softly in the hands of m. blech, who is sitting at the end of the table. at this moment eusapia rises, declaring that she sees upon the table another table and a bust, and cries out, "_e fatto_" ("it is done"). it was not at this time, surely, that she would have been able to place her face upon the cake, for it was at the other end of the table. nor was it before this, for it would have been necessary to take the chair in one hand and the cake with the other, and she did not stir from her place. the explanation, as can be seen, is very difficult indeed. let us admit, however, that the fact is so extraordinary that a doubt remains in our mind, because the medium rose from her chair almost at the critical moment. and yet her face was immediately kissed by mme. blech, who perceived no odor of the putty. [illustration: plate iv. plaster cast of imprint made in putty without contact by the medium eusapia paladino.] [illustration: plate v. eusapia paladino, showing resemblance to the imprint in putty.] dr. ochorowicz writes as follows apropos of these prints of faces and of the study which he made of them at rome:[22] the imprint of this face was obtained in darkness, yet at a moment when i held the two hands of eusapia, while my arms were entirely around her. or, rather, it was she who clung to me in such a way that i had accurate knowledge of the position of all her limbs. her head rested against mine, and even with violence. at the moment of the production of the phenomenon a convulsive trembling shook her whole body, and the pressure of her head on my temples was so intense that it hurt me. at the moment when the strongest convulsion took place, she cried, "_ah, che dura!_" ("oh, how severe!") we at once lighted a candle and found a print, rather poor in comparison with those which other experimenters have obtained,--a thing due, perhaps, to the bad quality of the clay which i used. this clay was placed about twenty inches to the right of the medium, while her head was inclined to the left. her face was not at all soiled by the clay, which was yet so moist as to leave traces upon the fingers when touched. moreover, the contact of her head with mine made me suffer so much that i am absolutely sure it was not intermitted for a single moment. eusapia was very happy when she saw a verification made under conditions in which it was impossible to suspect her good faith. i then took the tray of clay, and we passed into the dining-room in order to better examine the imprint, which i placed on a large table near a big kerosene lamp. eusapia, who had fallen into a trance, remained for some moments standing, her hands resting upon the table, motionless and as if unconscious. i did not lose sight of her, and she looked at me without seeing anything. then, with an uncertain step, she moved backward toward the door and passed slowly into the chamber which we had just left. we followed her, observing her all the while, and leaving the clay behind upon the table. we had already got into the chamber when, leaning against one of the halves of the double door, she fixed her eyes upon the tray of clay which had been left upon the table. the medium was in a very good light: we were separated from her by a distance of from six to ten feet, and we perceived distinctly all the details. all of a sudden eusapia stretched her hand out abruptly toward the clay, then sank down uttering a groan. we rushed precipitately towards the table and saw, side by side with the imprint of the head, a new imprint, very marked, of a hand which had been thus produced under the very light of the lamp, and which resembled the hand of eusapia. i have, myself, obtained head prints a dozen times, but always rather poor, owing to the quality of the clay, and often broken while the experiment was going on. the chevalier chiaia, of naples, who first obtained these fantastic pictures through the agency of eusapia, wrote as follows, in this connection, to count de rochas: i have imprints in boxes of clay weighing anywhere between fifty-five and sixty-five pounds. i mention the weight in order to let you see the impossibility of lifting and transporting _with one hand alone_ so heavy a tray, even upon the supposition that eusapia might, unknown to us, free one of her hands. in almost every case, in fact, this tray, placed upon a chair _three feet behind the medium_, was brought forward and placed very gently upon the table about which we were seated. the transfer was made with such nicety that the persons who formed the chain and held firmly the hands of eusapia did not hear the least noise, did not perceive the least rustling. we were forewarned of the arrival of the tray upon the table by seven taps, which, according to our conventional arrangement, john struck in the wall to inform us that we could turn on the light. i did so at once by turning the cock of the gas-fixture which was suspended above the table. (we had never completely extinguished it.) we then found the tray upon the table, and, upon the clay, the imprint which we supposed must have been made before its transfer, and while it was behind eusapia, in the cabinet where john usually materializes and manifests himself. the totality of these observations (which are very numerous) leads us to the thought that, in spite of the improbability of the thing, these imprints are produced at a distance by the medium. however, some days after the séance at montfort-l'amaury i wrote as follows: these different manifestations are not to me equally authentic. i am not sure of all of them, for the phenomena were not all produced under the same conditions of certainty. i should wish to class the facts in the following order of decreasing certainty: 1. levitations of the table. 2. movements of the round table without contact. 3. mallet blows. 4. movements of the curtain. 5. opaque silhouette passing before the red lamp. 6. sensation of a beard upon the back of the hand. 7. touchings. 8. snatching of the block of paper. 9. throwing of the lead-pencil. 10. transference of the round table to the top of the other table. 11. music from the little box. 12. transfer of the guitar to a point above the head. 13. imprints of a hand and of a face. the first four events, having taken place in full light, are incontestable. i should put almost in the same rank nos. 5 and 6. no. 7 may perhaps be due very often to fraud. the last in the list, having been produced toward the end of the séance, at a time when attention was necessarily relaxed, and being still more extraordinary than all the others, i confess that i cannot admit it with certainty, although i can not understand how it could have been due to fraud. the four others seem genuine; but i should like to observe them anew; a man could wager ninety-nine to one hundred that they are true. i was absolutely sure of them during the séance. but the vividness of the impressions grows weak, and we have a tendency to listen only to the voice of plain common sense,--the most reasonable and the most deceptive of our faculties. the first impression we get upon the reading of these reports is that these different manifestations are rather vulgar, altogether banal, and do not tell us anything about the other world--or about other worlds. surely it does not seem probable that any _spiritual being_ would take part in such performances. for these phenomena are of an absolutely material class. on the other hand, however, it is impossible not to recognize the existence of unknown forces. the simple fact, for example, of the levitation of a table to a height of six and one-half, eight, sixteen inches from the floor is not banal at all. it seems to me, speaking for myself alone, so extraordinary that my opinion is very well expressed when i say that i do not dare to admit it without having seen it myself, with my own eyes: i mean that which is called seeing, in full light and under such conditions that it would be impossible to suspect. while we are very sure that we have proved it, we are at the same time sure that in such experiments there emanates from the human body a force that may be compared with the magnetism of the loadstone, able to act upon wood, upon matter (somewhat as the loadstone acts upon iron), and counterbalancing for some moments the action of gravity. from the scientific point of view, that is a weighty fact in itself. i am absolutely certain that the medium did not lift that weight of fifteen pounds either by her hands or by her legs, or by her feet, and, furthermore, no one of the company was able to do it. the table was lifted by its upper surface. we are, therefore, certainly in the presence of an unknown force here which emanates from the persons present, and above all from the medium. a rather curious observation ought to be made here. several times during the course of this séance, and during the levitation of the table, i said, "there is no spirit." every time i said this two violent blows of protestation were struck in the table. i have already remarked that, generally, we are supposed to admit the spiritualistic hypothesis and to ask a spirit to exert himself in order that we may obtain the phenomena. we have here a psychological matter not without importance. still, it does not seem to me, for all that, to prove the real existence of spirits, for it might happen that this idea was necessary to the concentration of the forces present and had a purely subjective value. religious zealots who believe in the efficacy of prayer are the dupes of their own imagination; and yet no one can doubt that certain of these petitions appear to have been granted by a beneficent deity. the italian or spanish girl who goes to beg of the virgin mary that she will punish her lover for an infidelity may be sincere, and never suspects the strangeness of her request. in dreams we all converse every night with imaginary beings. but there is something more here: the medium really duplicates herself. i take the point of view solely of the physicist whose business is to observe, and i say, whatever may be the explanatory hypothesis you may adopt, there exists an invisible force derived from the organism of the medium, and having the power to emerge from him and to act outside of him. that is the fact: what is the best hypothesis to explain it? 1. is it the medium who herself acts, in an unconscious manner, by means of an invisible force emanating from her? 2. is it an intelligent cause apart from her, a soul that has already lived upon this earth, who draws from the medium a force which it needs in order to act? 3. is it another kind of invisible beings? nothing authorizes us to affirm that there may not exist, side by side with us, living, invisible forces. there you have three very different hypotheses, none of which seems to me, as far as my personal experience goes, to be as yet conclusively proved. but there certainly emanates from the medium an invisible force; and the participants, by forming the psychic chain and by uniting their sympathetic wills, increase this force. this force is not immaterial. it may be a substance, an agent emitting radiations of wave-lengths which make no impression on our retina, and which are nevertheless very powerful. in the absence of light rays it is able to condense itself, take shape, affect even a certain resemblance to the human body, to act as do our organs, to violently strike a table, or touch us. it acts as if it were an independent being. but this independence does not really exist; for this transitory being is intimately connected with the organism of the medium, and its apparent existence ceases when the conditions of its production themselves cease. while writing these monstrous scientific heresies, i feel very deeply that it is difficult to accept them. still, after all, who can trace the limits of science? we have all learned, especially during the last quarter of a century, that our knowledge is not a very colossal affair, and that, apart from astronomy, there is as yet no exact science founded upon absolute principles. and then, when all is said, there are the _facts_ to be explained. doubtless it is easier to deny them. but it is not decent or civil. he who has merely failed to find what satisfies him has no right to deny. the best he can do is simply to say, "i know nothing about it." the fact is that, as yet, we have not elementary data enough to enable us to characterize these forces; but we ought not to lay the blame upon those who study them. to sum up, i believe that i am able to go a little farther than m. schiaparelli and affirm the certain existence of unknown forces capable of moving matter and of counterbalancing the action of gravity. there is a complex totality, as yet difficult to disentangle, of psychic and physical forces. but such facts, however extravagant they may appear, are worthy of coming within the sphere of scientific observation. it is even probable that they tend powerfully to elucidate the problem (a matter of supreme importance to us) of the nature of the human soul. after the end of that séance of the 27th of july, 1897, as i desired to see again the levitation of a table in full light, the chain was formed _standing_, the hands lightly placed upon the table. the latter began to oscillate, then rose up to a height of nine inches from the floor, remained there several seconds (all the participators remaining on their feet), and fell heavily back again.[23] [illustration: plate vi photograph of the table resting on the floor. photograph of the same table raised to a height of twenty-five centimetres. made by m. g. de fontenay.] m. g. de fontenay succeeded in getting several photographs by the magnesium light. i reproduce two of them here (pl. vi.). there are five experimenters who are, from left to right, m. blech, mme. z. blech, eusapia, myself, mlle. blech. in the first photograph the table rests upon the floor. in the second it floats in air, coming up as high as the arms, at a height of about ten inches on the left and eight inches on the right. i hold my right foot resting upon eusapia's feet and my right hand upon her knees. with my left hand i hold her left hand. the hands of all the others are upon the table. it is therefore altogether impossible for her to employ any muscular action. this photographic record confirms that of pl. i., and it seems to me difficult not to recognize its undeniable documentary value.[24] after this séance my most ardent desire was to see the same experiments reproduced at my own house. in spite of all the care i took with my observations, several objections can be taken to the absolute certainty of the phenomena. the most important arises from the existence of the little dark cabinet. personally, i was sure of the perfect probity of the honorable blech family, and i am unable to accept the idea of any trickery whatever on the part of any of its members. but the opinion of readers of the formal report may not be so well assured. it was not _impossible_ that, even unknown to the members of the family, some one, with the connivance of the medium, glided into the room, favored by the dim light, and produced the phenomena. an accomplice entirely clothed in black and walking barefoot would have been able to hold the instruments up in the air, put them in movement, make the touches, and cause the black mask to move at the end of a rod, etc. this objection could be verified or quashed by renewing the experiments at my house, in a room of my own, where i should be absolutely certain that no confederate could enter. i should myself arrange the curtain, i should place the chairs, i should be certain that eusapia would come alone to my apartments, she would be asked to undress and dress in the presence of two lady examiners, and every supposition of fraud alien to her proper personality would thus be annihilated. at this epoch (1898) i was preparing, for _l'annales politiques et litteraires_, some articles upon psychic phenomena, which, revised and amplified, afterwards formed my work, _the unknown_. the eminent and sympathetic editor of the review showed himself assiduous in examining with me the best means of realizing this scheme of personal experiences. upon our invitation, eusapia came to paris to pass the month of november, 1898, and to devote eight soirées especially to us--namely, the 10th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 19th, 21st, 25th, and 28th of november. we had invited several friends to be present. each one of these séances was the subject of a formal report by several of those who were present, notably by mm. charles richet, a. de rochas, victorien sardou, jules claretie, adolphe brisson, réne baschet, arthur lévy, gustave le bon, jules bois, gaston méry, g. delanne, g. de fontenay, g. armelin, andré bloch, etc. we met in my salon in the avenue de l'observatoire, in paris. there were no special arrangements, except the stretching of two curtains in one corner, before the angle of two walls, thus forming a kind of triangular cabinet, the walls about which are there unbroken, without door or window. the front of the cabinet was closed by these two curtains, reaching from the ceiling to the floor and meeting in the middle. it is before this kind of cabinet that the reader will please imagine the medium to be seated, with a white wooden table (kitchen table) before her. behind the curtain, upon the plinth of the projection of a bookcase and upon a table, we placed a guitar, also a violin, a tambourine, an accordion, a music-box, cushions, and several small objects, which were to be shaken, seized, thrown about by the unknown force. the first result of these séances in paris, at my house, was absolutely to establish the fact that the hypothesis of a confederate is inadmissible and ought to be entirely eliminated. eusapia acts alone. the fifth séance led me, moreover, to think that the phenomena take place (at least a certain number) when the hands of eusapia are closely held by two controllers, that it is not generally with her hands that she acts, in spite of certain possible trickeries; for it would be necessary to admit (an abominable heresy!) that a third hand could be formed in organic connection with her body! before every séance eusapia was undressed and dressed again in the presence of two ladies charged with seeing that she did not hide any tricking apparatus under her clothes. it would be a little long to go thoroughly into the details of these eight sittings, and it would be partly to go over what has already been described and commented upon in the first chapter, as well as in the preceding pages. but it will not be uninteresting to give here the estimate of several of the sitters, by reproducing some of the reports. i will begin with that of m. arthur lévy, because he describes very fully the installation, the impression produced upon him by a medium, and the greater part of the facts observed. report of m. arthur lévy (_séance of november 16_) that which i am going to relate i saw yesterday at your house. i saw it with distrust, closely observing all that might have resembled trickery; and, after i had seen it, i found it so far beyond the things that we are accustomed to conceive that i still ask myself if i really saw it. yet i must confess that i have not been dreaming. when i arrived at your salon, i found the furniture and all the other arrangements as usual. on entering, only a single change could be remarked at the left, where two thick curtains of gray and green rep concealed a little corner. eusapia was to perform her wonders before this kind of alcove. this was the mysterious corner: i examined it very minutely. it had in it a little round uncovered table, a tambourine, a violin, an accordion, castanets, and one or two cushions. after this precautionary visit, i was certain that in this place at least there was no preparation, and that no communication with the outside was possible. i hasten to say that from this moment up to the end of the experiments we did not leave the room for a single minute, and that, so to speak, we had our eyes constantly fixed upon this corner, the curtains of which, however, were always partly open. some moments after my examination of the cabinet eusapia arrives,--the famous eusapia. as almost always happens, she looks quite different from what i had anticipated. where i had expected to see--i do not well know why, indeed--a tall thin woman with a fixed look, piercing eyes, with bony hands, and abrupt movements, agitated by nerves incessantly trembling under perpetual tension, i find a woman in the forties, rather plump, with a tranquil air, soft hand, simple in her manners, and slightly shrinking. altogether, she has the air of an excellent woman of the people. yet two things arrest the attention when you look at her. first, her large eyes, filled with strange fire, sparkle in their orbits, or, again, seem filled with swift gleams of phosphorescent fire, sometimes bluish, sometimes golden. if i did not fear that the metaphor was too easy when it concerns a neapolitan woman, i should say that her eyes appear like the glowing lava fires of vesuvius, seen from a distance in a dark night. the other peculiarity is a mouth with strange contours. we do not know whether it expresses amusement, suffering, or scorn. these peculiarities impress themselves on the mind almost simultaneously, without our knowing on which one to fix the attention. perhaps we should find in these features of her face an indication of forces which are acting in her, and of which she is not altogether the mistress. she takes a seat, enters into all the commonplaces of the conversation, speaking in a gentle, melodious voice, like many women of her country. she uses a language difficult for herself and not less difficult for others, for it is neither french nor italian. she makes painful efforts to make herself understood, and sometimes does this by mimicry (or sign-language) and by willing to obtain that which she wants. however, a persistent irritation of the throat, like a pressure of blood returning at short intervals, forces her to cough, to ask for water. i confess that these paroxysms, in which her face became deeply flushed, caused me great anxiety. were we going to have the inevitable indisposition of the rare tenor, on the day when he was to be heard on the stage? happily, nothing of the kind took place. it was rather a sign of the contrary, and seemed like a forerunner of the extreme excitement which was going to take possession of her on that evening. in fact, it is very remarkable that from the moment when she put herself--how shall i say it?--in condition for work, the cough, the irritation of the throat, completely disappeared. when her fingers were placed on black wool,--to be frank, upon the trousers cloth of one of the company,--eusapia called our attention to the kind of diaphanous marks made upon them (the fingers), a distorted, elongated second contour. she tells us that that is a sign that she is going to be given great power to-day. while we are talking some one puts a letter-weigher on the table. putting her hands down on each side of the letter-weigher, and at a distance of four inches, she causes the needle to move to no. 35 engraved on the dial plate of the weigher. eusapia herself asked us to convince ourselves, by inspection, that she did _not_ have a hair leading from one hand to the other, and with which she could fraudulently press upon the tray of the letter-weigher. this little by-play took place when all the lamps of the salon were fully lighted. then commenced the main series of experiments. we sit around a rectangular table of white wood, the common kitchen table. there are six of us. close to the curtains, at one of the narrow ends of the table, sits eusapia; at her left, also near the curtains, is m. georges mathieu, an agricultural engineer at the observatory in juvisy; next comes my wife; m. flammarion is at the other end, facing eusapia; then mme. flammarion; finally myself. i am thus placed at the right hand of eusapia, and also against the curtain. m. mathieu and myself each hold a hand of the medium resting upon his knee, and, furthermore, eusapia places one of her feet upon ours. consequently, no movements of her legs or arms can escape our attention. note well, therefore, that this woman has the use only of her head and of her bust, which latter is of course without the use of the arms, and is in absolute contact with our shoulders. we rest our hands on the table. in a few moments it begins to oscillate, stands on one foot, strikes the floor, rears up, rises wholly into the air,--sometimes twelve inches, sometimes eight inches, from the ground. eusapia utters a sharp cry, resembling a cry of joy, of deliverance; the curtain behind her swells out, and, all inflated as it is, comes forward upon the table. other raps are heard in the table, and simultaneously in the floor at a distance of about ten feet from us. all this in full light. already excited, eusapia asks in a supplicating voice and broken words that we lessen the lights. she cannot endure the dazzling glare in her eyes. she affirms that she is tortured, wants us to hurry; "for," she adds, "you shall see fine things." after one of us has placed the lamp on the floor behind the piano, in the corner opposite the place where we are (at a distance of about twenty-three feet), eusapia no longer sees the light and is satisfied; but we can distinguish faces and hands. let it not be forgotten that m. mathieu and i each have a foot of the medium on ours, and that we are holding her hands and knees, that we are pressing against her shoulders. the table is always shaking and makes sudden jolts. eusapia calls to us to look. above her head appears a hand. it is a small hand, like that of a little girl of fifteen years, the palm forward, the fingers joined, the thumb projecting. the color of this hand is livid; its form is not rigid, nor is it fluid; one would say rather that it is the hand of a big doll stuffed with bran. when the hand moves back from the brighter light, as it disappears,--is it an optical illusion?--it seems to lose its shape, as if the fingers were being broken, beginning with the thumb. m. mathieu is violently pushed by a force acting from behind the curtain. a strong hand presses against him, he says. his chair is also pushed. something pulls his hair. while he is complaining of the violence used upon him, we hear the sound of the tambourine, which is then quickly thrown upon the table. next the violin arrives in the same manner, and we hear its strings sound. i seize the tambourine and ask the invisible if he wishes to take it. i feel a hand grasping the instrument. i am not willing to let it go. a struggle now ensues between myself and a force which i judge to be considerable. in the tussle a violent effort pushes the tambourine into my hand, and the cymbals penetrate the flesh. i feel a sharp pang, and a good deal of blood flows. i let go of the handle. i just now ascertain, by the light, that i have a deep gash under the right thumb nearly an inch long. the table continues to shake, to strike the floor with redoubled strokes, and the accordion is thrown upon the table. i seize it by its lower half and ask the invisible if he can pull it out by the other end so as to make it play. the curtain comes forward, and the bellows of the accordion is methodically moved back and forth, its keys are touched, and several different notes are heard. eusapia utters repeated cries, a kind of rattling in the throat. she writhes nervously, and, as if she were calling for help, cries, "_la catena! la catena!_" ("the chain! the chain!"). we thereupon form the chain by taking hold of hands. then, just as if she was defying some monster, she turns, with inflamed looks, toward an enormous divan, which thereupon _marches up to us_. she looks at it with a satanic smile. finally she blows upon the divan, which goes immediately back to its place. eusapia, faint and depressed, remains relatively calm. yet she is dejected; her breast heaves violently; she lays her head on my shoulder. m. mathieu, tired of the blows which he is constantly receiving, asks to change places with some one. i agree to this. he changes with mme. f., who then sits at the right of eusapia, while i am at her left. mme. f. and i never cease to hold the feet, hands, and knees of the medium. m. f. sets a water bottle and a glass in the middle of the table. the latter's brisk, jolting movements overturn the water bottle, and the water is spilled over its surface. the medium imperatively requires that the liquid be wiped up; the water upon the table blinds her, tortures, paralyzes her, she says. m. f. asks the invisible if he can pour water into the glass. after some moments the curtain advances, the carafe is grasped, and the glass seems to be half full. that takes place several different times. mme. f., being no longer able to endure the blows given her through the curtain, exchanges seats with her husband. i put my repeating watch upon the table. i ask the invisible if he can sound the alarm. (the mechanism of the alarm is very difficult to understand, delicate to operate, even for me, doing it every day. it is formed by a little tube cut in two, one half of which glides smoothly over the other. in reality, there is only a projection of one-fiftieth of an inch of thickness of tube, upon which it is necessary to press with the finger-nail and give quite a push in order to start up the alarm.) in a moment the watch is taken by the "spirit." we hear the stem-winder turning. the watch comes back upon the table without having been sounded. another request is made for the alarm to sound. the watch is again taken; the case is heard to open and shut. (now i cannot open this case with my hands: i have to pry it open with a tool like a lever.) the watch comes back once more without having sounded. i confess that i experienced a disenchantment. i felt that i was going to doubt the extent of the occult power, which had, nevertheless, manifested itself very clearly. why could it not sound the alarm of this watch? in making my request, had i overstepped the limits of its powers? was i going to be the cause of all the well-proved phenomena of which we have had testimony losing the half of their value? i said aloud: "am i to show how the alarm is operated?" "no, no!" eusapia warmly replies, "it will do it." i will note here that at the moment when i proposed to point out the mechanism, there passed through my mind the method of pressing upon the little tube. immediately the watch was brought back to the table; and, very distinctly, three separate times, we heard it sound a quarter to eleven. eusapia was evidently very tired; her burning hands seemed to contract or shrivel; she gasped aloud with heaving breast, her foot kept quitting mine every moment, scraping the floor and tediously rubbing along it back and forth. she uttered hoarse panting cries, shrugging up her shoulders and sneering; the sofa came forward when she looked at it, then recoiled before her breath; all the instruments were thrown pell-mell upon the table; the tambourine rose almost to the height of the ceiling; the cushions took part in the sport, overturning everything on the table; m. m. was thrown from his chair. this chair--a heavy dining-room chair of black walnut, with stuffed seat--rose into the air, came up on the table with a great clatter, then was pushed off. eusapia seems shrunken together and is very much affected. we pity her. we ask her to stop. "no, no!" she cries. she rises, we with her; the table leaves the floor, rises to a height of twenty-four inches, then comes clattering down. eusapia sinks prostrated into a chair. we sit there troubled, amazed, in consternation, with a tense and constricted feeling in the head, as if the atmosphere were charged with electricity. with many precautions, m. f. succeeds in calming the agitation of eusapia. after about a quarter of an hour she returns to herself. when the lamps are again lighted, she is seen to be very much changed, her eye dull, her face apparently diminished to half its usual size. in her trembling hands she feels the pricking of needles which she asks us to pull out. little by little she completely recovers her senses. she appears to remember nothing, not to comprehend at all our expressions of wonder. all that is as foreign to her as if she had not been present at the sitting. she isn't interested in it. so far as she is concerned, it would seem as if we were speaking of things of which she had not the faintest idea. what have we seen? mystery of mysteries! we took every precaution not to be the dupes of complicity, of fraud. superhuman forces acting near us, so near that we heard the very breathing of a living being,--if living being it were,--such are the things our eyes took cognizance of for two mortal hours. and when, on looking back, doubts begin to creep into the mind, we must conclude that, given the conditions in which we were, the chicanery necessary to produce such effects would be at least as phenomenal as the effects themselves. how shall we name the mystery? so much for the report of m. arthur lévy. i have no commentary to make at present upon these reports of my fellow-experimenters. the essential thing, it seems to me, is to leave to every one his own exposition and his personal judgment. i shall proceed in the same way with the other reports which are to follow. i shall reproduce the principal ones. in spite of some inevitable repetitions, they will surely be read with extreme interest, especially when we take into consideration the high intellectual standing of the observers. report of m. adolphe brisson. (_séance of november 10_) (there were present at this séance, besides the hosts of the occasion, m. prof. richet, m. and mme. ad. brisson, mme. fourton, m. andré bloch, m. georges mathieu.) the following are occurrences which i personally observed with the greatest care. i did not once cease to hold in my right hand the left hand of eusapia or fail to feel that we were in contact. the contact was only interrupted twice,--at the moment when dr. richet felt a pricking in his arm. eusapia's hand, making violent movements, escaped from my grasp; but i seized it again after two or three seconds. 1. after this sitting had begun,--that is, at the end of about ten minutes,--the table was lifted up away from eusapia, two of its legs leaving the floor simultaneously. 2. five minutes later the curtain swelled out as if it had been inflated by a strong breeze. my hand, never letting go of that of eusapia, pressed gently against the curtain, and i experienced a resistance, just as if i had pressed against the sail of a ship bellied out by the wind. [illustration] 3. not only was the curtain puffed out, forming a big pocket, but the perpendicular edge of the curtain that touched the window moved automatically aside and drew back as if it were pushed by an invisible curtain holder, making nearly this kind of a movement. 4. the curtain, inflated anew, took the form of a nose or of an eagle's beak, projecting above the table about eight or ten inches. this shape was visible for several seconds. 5. we heard behind the curtain the noise of a chair rolling over the floor; by a first push it arrived as far as i was; a second push turned it upside down, its feet in the air, in the position shown. it was a heavy stuffed chair. succeeding pushes moved it again, lifted it up, and made it turn somersaults; it finally came to a standstill almost in the place where it had fallen over. [illustration] 6. we heard the noise of two or three objects falling to the floor (i mean objects behind the curtain upon the centre-table). the curtain parted in the middle, and in the dim light the little violin appeared. sustained in the air by an invisible hand, it came gently forward above our table, whence it settled down upon my hand and upon that of my neighbor on the left.[25] on two separate occasions the violin rose from the table and at once fell back again, making a vigorous leap, like a fish flopping upon the sand. then it glided down to the floor, where it remained motionless until the end of the sitting. 7. a new rolling noise was heard behind the curtain. this time it was the centre-table. a preliminary effort, quite vigorous, enabled it to rise half-way to the top of our table. by a second effort it got clear on top and rested upon my fore-arm. 8. several times i distinctly felt light blows upon my right side, as if made with the point of a sharp instrument. but the truth compels me to declare that these blows were no longer given after eusapia's feet were held under the table by m. bloch. i note this correlation of things without drawing from it any presumption against eusapia's loyalty. i have so much the less reason to suspect her in that her left foot did not leave my right foot during the whole sitting. report of m. victorien sardou (_séance of november 19_) (there were present at this séance, besides the hosts of the evening, m. v. sardou, m. and mme. brisson, m. a. de rochas, m. prof. richet, m. g. de fontenay, m. gaston méry, mme. fourton, m. and mlle. des varennes). i shall only relate here phenomena controlled by myself personally in the séance of last saturday. consequently, i say nothing of the arrangement of the apartment, of the experimenters, nor of the events which were first produced in the dark and which all the participants were able to authenticate,--such as cracking sounds in the table, levitations, displacements of the table, raps, etc., as well as the blowing out of the curtain over the table, the bringing on of the violin, of the tambourine, and so forth. eusapia having invited me to take the place at her side which had been vacated by m. brisson, i sat down on her left, while you preserved your place on her right. i took her left hand in my right hand, while my left hand placed upon the table was in contact with that of my neighbor, the medium insisting on this several times in order that the chain might not be broken. her left foot rested upon my right foot. all through the experiment i never let go her hand for a single second. she grasped my hand with a strong pressure, and it followed her through all her movements. in the same way her foot always kept in contact with mine. my foot always kept touch with hers in all her foot scrapings on the floor, her shiftings of place, shrinkings, twitchings, etc., which never had anything suspicious in them, nor were they of such a nature as to explain the events which took place at my side, behind me, around me, and upon me. in the first place, and in less than a minute after i had been placed on the left of the medium, the curtain nearest to me was puffed out and brushed against me, as if impelled by a gust of wind. then three times i felt upon my right side a pressure which lasted but for a moment, yet was very marked. at that moment we were in a very dim light, yet enough to make the faces and the hands of all who were present distinctly visible. after eusapia's violent nervous contractions, struggles, and energetic pushes (precisely like those which i had seen in similar cases elsewhere and which only astonish those who have slightly studied these phenomena), suddenly the curtain nearest to me was blown forward with an astonishing propulsive power between eusapia and me, in the direction of the table, entirely concealing from me the face of the medium; and the violin, which, with the tambourine, had, before my introduction, been replaced in the dark chamber, was hurled to the middle of the table, as if by an invisible arm. to accomplish this, the arm must have lifted the curtain and drawn it along with it. after this the curtain returned to its first position, but not completely; for it still remained puffed out a little between eusapia and me, one of its folds remaining upon the edge of the table at my side. then you took the violin and held it out at such a distance from the two curtains that it was wholly visible to the company; and you invited the occult agent to take it. this was done, the mysterious agent taking it back with him into the dark closet, with as much good will as he had shown in bringing it on. the violin then fell upon the floor behind the curtains, or portières. one of these which was nearest to me resumed its vertical position, and for a time i heard upon my right upon the floor behind the curtains a kind of scrimmage between the violin and the tambourine, which were displaced, pulled about, and lifted, clashing and resounding at a great rate; and yet it was impossible to attribute any of these manifestations to eusapia, whose foot never moved, but remained firmly pressed against my own. a little after, i felt against my right leg, behind the curtain, the rubbing of a hard body which was trying to climb upon me, and i thought it was the violin. and so it was, in fact; and, after an unsuccessful effort to climb higher than my knee, this apparently living creature fell with a bang upon the floor. almost immediately i felt a new pressure upon my right hip, and mentioned the circumstance. you disengaged your left hand from the chain, and, turning toward me, twice made in the air the gesture of the director of an orchestra moving his bâton to and fro. and each time, with perfect precision, i felt upon my side the repercussion of a blow exactly tallying your gesture, which reached me after the delay of a second more or less, and which seemed to me to correspond exactly to the time necessary for the transference of a billiard ball or a tennis ball from you to me. some one, dr. richet, i believe, having spoken at that time of strokes upon the shoulders of the sitters in which the action and shape of a human hand was very marked, i will mention as a proof of his remark that i received in succession three blows upon the left shoulder (that is to say, the one most distant from the curtain and from the medium), more violent than the preceding ones; and this time the heavy pressure of the five fingers was very evident. then a last blow with the flat of the hand, applied in the small of the back, without hurting me at all, was strong enough to make me lean forward, in spite of myself, toward the table. some moments after, my chair, moving under me, glided over the floor, and was shifted in such a way as to leave my back turned a little in the direction of the dark closet. i leave to other witnesses the task of telling the results of their personal observations,--how, for example, the violin, having been picked up by you from the floor and replaced upon the table, was held out by mme. brisson, as you had already done, and lifted up in the same way in the sight of all, while i held the left hand of eusapia, you her right hand, and with the hand which remained free you pressed the wrist of her left hand. nor do i say anything of a hand-pressure through the opening in the curtain, having seen nothing of this myself. but that which i did see very well indeed was the sudden appearance of three very vivid little lights between my neighbor and myself. they were promptly extinguished and seemed like a kind of will-o'-the-wisp, similar to electric sparks coming and going with great rapidity. in short, i can only repeat here what i have said during the course of these experiments, "if i had not been convinced forty years ago, i should be this evening." report of m. jules claretie. (_séance of november 25_) (there were present at this sitting, in addition to the hosts of the occasion, m. jules claretie and his son, m. brisson, m. louis vignon, mme. fourton, mme. gagneur, m. g. delanne, m. rené baschet, m. and mme. basilewska, m. mairet, photographer.) i note only the impressions i received after the moment when eusapia, who had taken my hand at the time when m. brisson was still seated by her, asked me to replace him. i am certain that i did not let go of eusapia's hand during all the experiments. every moment i felt the pressure of her foot upon mine, the heel being especially perceptible. i do not believe that i relaxed my fingers for a moment, nor released the hand that i held. i was struck with the throbbing of the arteries at the end of eusapia's fingers: the blood bounded feverishly through them. i sat next the curtain. it goes without saying that it was drawn from right to left or from left to right just as it happened. that which i can't understand is that it could swell out until it floated over the table like a sail inflated by the wind. i felt at first a little light blow on my right side. then, _through the curtain_, two fingers seized me and pinched my cheek. the pressure of the two fingers was evident. a blow more violent than the first hit me on the right shoulder, as if it came from a hard, square body. my chair was twice moved and turned, first backward, then forward. those two fingers which pinched my cheek i had already felt--before i took my place at eusapia's side--when i was holding over against the curtain the little white book which m. flammarion had given me. this book was seized by _two naked fingers_ (i say naked, because the folds of the curtain did not cover them) and then disappeared. i did not see these fingers: i touched them, or they touched me, if you will. my son held out and handed over also a leather cigar-holder, which was grabbed in the same way. one of the persons present saw a rather heavy little music-box disappear in the same way. with hardly a moment's delay the box was removed from our side with some violence; and i can speak with the more feeling of the force of the projection and of the weight of the object, because it struck me under the eye, and this morning i still have upon my face the only too visible mark of it, and feel the pain of it. i don't understand how a woman seated by my side could have the strength to throw with such force a box which, so to speak, should have come from quite a distance. i observe, however, that all the phenomena are produced on the same side of the curtain; namely, behind it, or through it, if you will. i saw leafy branches fall upon the table, but they came from the side of the said curtain. some persons assert that they saw a green twig come in through the open window which gives upon cassini street. but i did not see that. there was a little round table behind the curtain, very near me. eusapia takes my hand and places it, held in hers, upon the round table. i feel this table shaking, moving. at a given moment i believe that i perceive two hands near by and upon mine. i am not deceived; but this second hand is that of m. flammarion, who, on his side, is holding the hand of the medium. the round table bestirs itself. it leaves the floor, it rises. i have the feeling of this at once. then, the curtain having lifted and, as it were, spread itself over the table, i can distinctly see what passes behind it. the round table moves; it rises; it falls. suddenly tipping partly over, it rises and comes toward me, upon me. it is no longer vertical, but is caught between the table and me in a horizontal position. it comes with sufficient force to make me recoil, draw in my shoulders, and try to push back my chair to let this moving piece of furniture pass. it seems, like a living thing, to struggle between the table and me. or, again, it seems like an animated being struggling against an obstacle, desiring to pass or move on and not being able to do so, being stopped by the table or by myself. at a given moment the round table is upon my knees, and it moves, it struggles (i repeat the word), without my being able to explain to myself what force is moving it. this force is a formidable one. the little table literally pushes me back, and in vain i throw myself backward to let it pass. some of those present, m. baschet among others, have said to me that at this moment it was upon two fingers. two fingers of eusapia push up the round table![26] but i, who had not lost my hold on her left hand nor her foot,--i, who had by me the little round table (quite visible in the semi-obscurity to which we had accustomed ourselves), saw nothing, nor did i perceive any effort on the part of eusapia. i should like to have seen _luminous phenomena_ produced, visions of brilliant lights, of sudden gleams of fire. m. flammarion hoped that we were going to see some of these. he asked for them. but eusapia was evidently fatigued by this long and very interesting séance. she asked for "_un poco di luce_" ("a little light"). the lamps were relighted. everything was finished. this morning i recall with a kind of anxious curiosity the least details of this very fascinating soirée. when we had returned to the observatory, on leaving our amiable hosts, i asked myself if i had been in a dream. but i said to myself, "we were present at the skilful performances of a woman prestidigitator; we witnessed only theatrical tricks." my son recalled to me the prodigies of skill of the brothers isola. this morning, strange to say, reflection makes me at once more perplexed and less incredulous. we perhaps witnessed (we undoubtedly did witness) the manifestation of an unknown force which will hereafter be studied and perhaps one day utilized. i should no longer dare to deny the genuineness of spiritualism. it isn't a question of animal magnetism: it is something else, i know not what; a _quid divinum_ (a divine something), although science will some day analyze it and catalogue it. that which perhaps astonished me the most was the curtain swelling out like a sail! where did the puff of wind come from? a regular breeze would have been needed to put such life into it as that. however, i do not discuss: i give in my evidence. i have seen these things, observed them carefully. i shall think of them for a long time. i do not stop here. i shall seek an explanation. possibly i shall find one. but this much is certain, that we ought to be modest in the presence of all that appears to us to be for the moment inexplicable, and that, before affirming or denying, we ought to wait, to reserve our judgment. in the mean time, while feeling of my right maxillary tooth, which is a little sore, i think of that line of regnard and allow myself to mangle it a little while recalling that hard music-box,- "_je vois que c'est un corps et non pas un esprit._" (i see that it is a body and not a spirit.) report of dr. gustave le bon (_séance of november 28_) (there were present at this séance, besides the hosts, m. and mme. brisson, mm. gustave le bon, baschet, de sergines, louis vignon, laurent, ed. de rothschild, delanne, bloch, mathieu, ephrussi, mme. la comtesse de chevigné, mmes. gagneur, syamour, fourton, basilewska, bisschofsheim.) eusapia is undoubtedly a marvellous subject. it struck me as something wonderful that, while i was holding her hand, she was playing on an imaginary tambourine to which the sounds of the tambourine that was behind the curtain accurately corresponded. i do not see how any trick is possible in such a case, any more than in the case of the table. my cigarette-holder was grasped by a very strong hand, which wrenched the object from me with a good deal of energy. i was on my guard and asked to see the experiment again. the phenomenon was so singular and so beyond all that we can comprehend that we must first try natural explanations. 1. it is impossible that it could have been eusapia. i was holding one of her hands and _was looking at the other arm_, and i placed my cigarette-holder in such a position that, _even with her two arms free_, she would not have been able to accomplish such a marvellous thing. 2. it is not probable that it could have been an accomplice; but is it not possible that the unconscious mind of eusapia suggested to the unconscious mind of a person near the curtain to pass a hand behind it and operate there? everybody would be acting in good faith and would have been deceived by the unconscious element. this important point ought to be verified, for no experiment would be so valuable if it were once _demonstrated_. could not eusapia's departure be put off? we shall not have a similar opportunity, and we surely ought to clear up that phenomenon of the hand. it is very evident that the table was lifted; but that is a material phenomenon which one can readily grant. the hand which came to seize my cigarette-holder performed an act of the will implying an intelligence, but the other is nothing of the kind. eusapia might lift a table to the height of three feet without my scientific conception of the world being changed by it; but to bring in the intervention of a spirit, that would be to prove the existence of spirits, and you see the consequences. as for the hand which seized the cigarette-case, it is absolutely certain that it was not that of eusapia (you know that i am very sceptical and that i was looking about me); but close to the curtain, in the salon, there were a good many people, and several times you heard me ask people to stand aside from the curtain. if we two had been able to study eusapia _absolutely alone_, in a room to which we had the key, the problem would soon be solved. i have not been able to make this verification, the sitting at which dr. le bon was present having been the last which eusapia had consented to give at my house. but his objection is of no value. i am absolutely certain that nobody glided behind the curtain, neither in this particular case nor in any other. my wife, also, particularly occupied herself in observing what took place in that part of the room and never was able to discover anything suspicious. there is only one hypothesis; that is, that eusapia herself handled the objects. since dr. le bon declares that the thing was impossible, he himself personally inspecting it, we are compelled to admit the existence of an unknown psychic force.[27] report of m. armelin (_séance of november 21_) (for this sitting i had asked three members of the astronomical society of france to exercise the severest control possible; namely, m. antoniadi, my assistant astronomer at the observatory of juvisy, m. mathieu, agricultural engineer at the same observatory, and m. armelin, secretary of the astronomical society. the last-named gentleman sent me the following report. there were also present m. and mme. brisson, m. baschet, m. jules bois, mme. fourton, mme. la comtesse de labadye.) at quarter of ten eusapia takes her seat, her back to the place where the two curtains meet, her hands resting upon the table. at the invitation of m. flammarion, m. mathieu takes his seat at her right, charged with the duty of keeping constant watch upon her left hand, and m. antoniadi is enjoined to do the same for her right hand. they also make themselves sure of her feet. at the right of m. mathieu sits mme. la comtesse de labadye; on the left of m. antoniadi, mme. fourton. facing eusapia, between mmes. de labadye and fourton, mm. flammarion, brisson, baschet, and jules bois. the gas chandelier is lighted and the full light turned on. this chandelier is almost over the table. a little lamp with a shade is placed on the floor behind an easy-chair, near the opposite side of the room, in the direction of its greatest length, and to the left of the fireplace. at five minutes of ten the table is lifted from the side opposite to the medium and falls back with a bang. at ten o'clock it rises from the side of the medium, who withdraws her hands, the other persons holding their hands lifted up. the same effect is produced three times. the second time, while the table is in the air, m. antoniadi declares that he is leaning on it with all his weight and is unable to lower it. the third time, m. mathieu leans on it in the same way and experiences the same resistance. during this time, eusapia holds her closed fist about four inches above the table, looking as if she were strongly grasping something. the action lasts several seconds. there is no doubt whatever about this levitation. when the table falls back, eusapia experiences something like a relaxation after a great effort. at 10.03 the table is lifted clean off its four feet at once, at first on the side opposite to the medium, rising about eight inches; then it falls abruptly back. _while it is in the air, eusapia calls her two neighbors to witness that they are closely holding her hands and her feet, and that she is not in contact with the table._ then light raps are heard in the table. eusapia makes m. antoniadi lift his hand about eight inches above the table and taps three times upon his hand with her fingers. the three taps are heard simultaneously in the table. to prove that she is not using either her hands or her feet, she sits down sidewise upon her chair on the left, stretches out her legs, and puts her feet on the edge of the chair of m. antoniadi: she is in full view and her hands are held. at once the curtain is shaken in the direction of m. a. from 10.10 to 10.15, several times in succession, five raps are heard in the table. each time the gas is turned down a little, and each time the table moves without contact. at 10.20 it balances itself, suspended in the air, and resting upon the two legs of the longer side. then _it rises off of its four feet to a height of eight inches_. 10.25. the curtain moves, and m. flammarion says that there is some one behind it, that somebody is pressing his hand. he holds his hand out toward the curtain, at a distance of about four inches. the curtain is pushed out into something like a pocket made by a hand which is drawing near. the medium with nervous laugh cries, "take it, take it." m. a. feels through the curtain the touch of a soft body, like a cushion. but the hand of m. f. is not taken. objects are heard to move, including the bells of a tambourine. all of a sudden the medium, leaving m. mathieu, stretches her hand above the table toward m. jules bois, who takes it. at this moment, behind the curtain, an object falls to the floor with a great noise. 10.35. eusapia, again freeing her right hand, lifts it up above her left shoulder, the fingers forward, at a distance of several inches from the curtain, and beats four or five strokes in the air which are heard to sound in the tambourine. several persons think they see a will-o'-the-wisp through the gap between the curtains. up to that point the gas has been gradually lowered. after the lapse of a full moment i find that i can no longer read, but i can distinguish very clearly the horizontal lines of my writing. i can see the hour perfectly by my watch, as well as the faces of those present, (that of eusapia especially) turned toward the light. the gas is now completely extinguished. at 10.40, the gas being out, i can still read my watch, but with difficulty; i still see the lines of my writing, though without being able to read. eusapia wants somebody to hold her head, which is done. then she asks somebody to hold her feet. m. baschet gets down on his knees under the table and holds them. m. antoniadi cries, "i am touched!" and says that he has felt a hand. i have very distinctly seen the curtain puffing out. mme. flammarion, whom i see silhouetted on the bright glass of the window, her head leaning forward, goes behind the curtain in order to assure herself that the medium is not doing anything suspicious in the way of motions. one of the persons present having changed places, eusapia utters complaints: "_la catena! la catena!_" ("the chain! the chain!") the chain is re-established. at 10.45 the curtain is inflated again. a bump is heard. the round table touches the elbow of m. antoniadi. mme. flammarion, who has kept looking behind the curtain, says that she sees the round table turned over. its feet are in the air, and it is moving to and fro. she thinks she sees glimmers of light near the floor. m. mathieu feels a hand and an arm pushing the curtain against him. m. antoniadi says that he is touched by a cushion; his chair is pulled and turns under him as if on a pivot. he is touched again on the elbow by some object. it is ascertained that m. jules bois is holding eusapia's right hand above the table; m. antoniadi assures us that he is holding her left hand, and m. mathieu her feet. the curtain is again shaken twice; m. antoniadi is hit in the back very hard, he says, and a hand pulls his hair. the only light remaining is the little lamp with a shade, behind an easy-chair at the farther end of the salon. i continue to write, but my strokes take all kinds of shapes. suddenly, m. antoniadi exclaims that he is enveloped by the curtain, which rests upon his shoulders. eusapia cries, "what is this that is passing over me?" the round table comes forth beneath the curtain. mme. flammarion, who is standing opposite the window, and has kept looking behind the curtain, says that she sees some very white object. at the same moment m. flammarion, mme. fourton, and m. jules bois exclaim that they have just seen a white hand between the curtains, above eusapia's head; and, at the same moment, m. mathieu says that his hair is being pulled. the hand we saw seemed small, like that of a woman or of a child. "if there is a hand there," says m. flammarion, "could it perhaps grasp an object?" m. jules bois holds a book out toward the middle of the right-hand curtain. the book is taken and held two seconds. mme. flammarion, whom i see always silhouetted upon the bright glass of the window, and who is looking behind the curtain, _cries that she has seen the book pass through_. m. f. proposes to light up and verify. but everybody agrees in thinking that the curtain may have already changed its position. a moment afterwards the curtain is again puffed out, and m. antoniadi says that he is hit four or five times on the shoulder. eusapia has asked him more than ten times whether he is quite "_seguro_" (sure) that he has hold of her hand and her foot. "yes, yes," he replies, "_seguro, segurissimo_" ("sure, quite sure"). mme. fourton says that for the second time she has seen a hand stretched out and that this time it touched the shoulder of m. antoniadi. m. jules bois says that for the second time he has seen a hand stretched out at the end of a small arm, the fingers moving, the palm forward. (it is impossible to decide whether these two visions were simultaneous or not.) we are getting accustomed to the almost complete darkness; i can still read "11.15" by my watch. m. antoniadi says his ear is pinched very hard. m. mathieu says he is touched. m. antoniadi feels his chair pulled: it falls to the floor. he lifts it again and seats himself on it, and is again hit very hard on the shoulder. about 11.20, at the request of eusapia, m. flammarion replaces m. mathieu. he holds her two feet and one hand; m. antoniadi holds the other hand. the lamp is lowered still more. the darkness is almost complete. m. flammarion, having remarked that an unknown physical force is evidently present, but perhaps not an individual personality, feels his hand seized all of a sudden by some one (or some thing), and is interrupted. then, a little after, he complains that his beard is being pulled (on the side opposite the medium, where i am. i did not perceive anything). at 11.30 the lamp is turned up. it is comparatively bright in the room. the curtain, after all these movements, is seen to be more and more pushed aside, enveloping the head of eusapia. suddenly, above her head, we all see the tambourine slowly appear and fall upon the table with a noise like that of sheep-bells. it seems to me brighter than the feeble glimmer of the concealed lamp would justify and as if accompanied by white phosphorescent gleams; but they are perhaps flashes of light from its gilded ornaments, which, however, ought to appear yellower. when the lamp is turned down, the noise of moving furniture is heard; the round table is fetched clear up onto the top of the large table. it is removed, and the tambourine executes a dance all alone with a peculiar sound like the ringing of bells. mme. fourton says that she has had her hand pressed and her fore-arm pinched. at 11.45 the window curtain is closed in its turn; and, after a moment, we all see in the direction in which the cleft in the corner curtain ought to be, above eusapia's head, a large white star of the color of vega, though larger and of a softer light, and which rests motionless for some seconds, then is extinguished. shortly after, a zigzag glimmer of light, of the same white color, runs over the right-hand curtain, tracing two or three upright lines of several inches in length, like an n very much elongated. in spite of the fact that night has fallen, there is still sufficient light entering by the two uncurtained windows, and proceeding from the vague glimmer of the lamp behind the easy-chair, to enable each one of us to distinguish his neighbors. our silhouettes are outlined in the large mirror near us and above the sofa. the white collars of the men are clearly seen, their faces a little less clearly. yet on my left i see very plainly m. baschet, on my right mme. brisson, standing and holding her hand up to her face to shield the eyes. i also distinguish mme. flammarion, who has come and seated herself near her. m. flammarion feels an object gliding over his hair. he begs mme. de labadye to take hold of it; and a music-box falls into his hands, which, before the séance, was placed upon the ogee, in the corner concealed by the curtain. m. brisson has taken the place at the table formerly occupied by m. flammarion, facing eusapia. a cushion hits him full in the face. as i am approaching the mirror, i see the reflection of this passing cushion by the comparatively bright light at the far end of the room. m. baschet seizes the object and rests his elbow upon it. it is snatched from him, flies over our heads, hits the mirror, falls upon the sofa, and rolls upon my foot. all this without my being able to perceive any movement on the part of the medium. midnight draws near. the séance is adjourned. mm. antoniadi and mathieu then declare that the control with which they were charged has not been successful, and that they are not sure that they have always had hold of the medium's hands. report of m. antoniadi (_the same séance_) i shall give you an exact account of the rôle i played, that i may gratify your desire to know the truth. i restricted myself to ascertaining whether there was _a single phenomenon_ which could not be explained in the most simple manner, and i arrived at the conclusion that there was not. i assure you, on my word of honor, that my watchful, silent attitude _convinced me, beyond all manner of doubt, that everything is fraudulent, from the beginning to the end_; that there is no doubt that eusapia shifts her hands or her feet, and that the hand or the foot that one is thought to control is never held tight or very strongly pressed at the moment of the production of the phenomena. my certain conclusion is that _nothing_ is produced without the substitution of hands. i ought to add that, at first, i was very much astonished when i was hit hard in the back, from behind the curtain, while i was very clearly holding _two hands_ with my right hand. happily, however, at this moment, mme. flammarion having given us a little light, i saw that i held the _right_ hand of eusapia and--yours! the substitution is made by eusapia with extraordinary dexterity. in order to ascertain it, i was obliged to concentrate my mind upon her very slightest movements with the severest attention. but it is the first step that costs; and, once familiarized with her artifices, i predicted with decision _all_ the phenomena by the sensation of touch alone. being a good observer, i am absolutely certain that i was not deceived. i was neither hypnotized, nor was i at all frightened during the "bringing in" of objects. and, as i am not a lunatic, i believe that a certain weight should be given to my affirmations. it is true that, during the séance, i was not sincere, disguising the truth of the efficacy of my control. i did that with the sole purpose of making eusapia think that i was a convert to spiritualism. i did this to _avoid scandal_. but, once the sitting was over, the truth choked me, and i was most eager to communicate it to my great benefactor and official superior. it is not prudent to be too affirmative. it is for that reason that i have always been reserved in my interpretation of natural phenomena. consequently, i am unable to be so terribly affirmative as to take oath to the absolute charlatanism of the manifestations of eusapia, before, as shakespeare says, i have "rendered assurance doubly sure." i have no personal ambition in the spiritistic line, and all the careful observations that i made during this séance of november 21 are only one stone the more contributed to the edifice of truth. _it is not on account of prejudice_ that i do not believe in the reality of the manifestations, and i can assure you, if i were able to see _the least_ phenomenon that was really extraordinary or inexplicable, i should be the first to confess my error. the reading of several books has led me to admit the possible reality of these manifestations, but direct experience has convinced me of the contrary. my frankness in this report unhappily borders upon indiscretion. but frankness is here synonymous with devotion, for it would be to betray you if i were false for an instant to the sacred cause of truth. report of m. mathieu. (_séance of november 25_) the séance opens at 9.30. m. brisson, controller on the left, puts his feet on eusapia's feet; m. flammarion, controller on the right, holds her knees. in a moment the table leans to the right, its two left feet are lifted and then it falls back; then follows the lifting of the two right feet, and finally the lifting of the whole table off of its four feet to a height of about seven inches above the floor (contact of feet certain and knees motionless). i take a photograph. at 9.37 a slight lifting on the left; then a lifting on the right, and a total levitation (photograph). during the levitations of the table the salon is lighted by a strong auer burner. it is now extinguished and is replaced by a little lamp which is placed behind a fire-screen at the farther end of the room. absolute control of the hands and of the feet made by mm. brisson and flammarion. m. brisson is slightly touched on the right hip, and at this moment the two hands of eusapia are plainly seen. at 9.48 the curtain shakes and then puffs out three times in succession. m. brisson is again touched on the right hip; the curtain is drawn back as if by a curtain-band. m. flammarion, who holds eusapia's hand, makes three gestures and to each of his gestures corresponds a new divergence of the portière. eusapia recommends that we "give attention to the temperature of the medium; it will be found to be changed after each phenomenon." at 9.57 the light is diminished and is henceforth very feeble. the curtain bellies out, and at the same moment m. brisson is touched; then the curtain is flung forcefully over the table. at the request of eusapia, m. delanne lightly touches her head behind, and the curtain slightly trembles. eusapia asks that a window be partly opened, the one in the middle of the salon, saying that we shall see something new. m. flammarion holds with his left hand the knees of the medium, and with his right hand holds the wrist, the thumb, and the palm of her right hand before him at the height of the eyes. m. brisson holds the left hand. eusapia seems to call something from the direction of the window, making gestures, and saying, "i will catch it." then a little branch of privet comes and touches m. flammarion's hand, apparently arriving from somewhere near the window. m. f. takes this branch. a moment later two spindle-tree branches come from behind the curtain at the height of m. brisson's head and past the edge of the curtain, which is pulled up and back. the branches fall on the table. m. brisson, all this time at eusapia's left, is next touched on the hip, _at a moment when the hand of the medium is at the height of m. flammarion's beard_. then the chair of m. brisson is pulled and pushed about. we hear distinctly, behind the curtain, sounds from the shaking of the round table, upon which is the tambourine. certain vibrations of the tambourine are produced, corresponding to the movements of the round table. at this moment m. brisson mentions the fact that he has been out of touch with the foot of the medium for about half a second, but he is then holding her two thumbs about ten inches apart, and m. flammarion has her right hand close to his breast. the right hand of m. brisson, holding the left of eusapia, passes behind the curtain, and m. brisson says that he has the impression of something like a dress-skirt puffed out against his ankle. thereupon ensues new jolting and bumping of the round table and the tambourine, with displacement of the round table. (undoubted control by mm. flammarion and brisson.) 10.30. clattering noises of the round table in the cabinet are heard. m. flammarion makes gestures with his hand, and synchronistic movements of the table and of the tambourine take place in the dark cabinet. 10.35. eusapia asks for a few minutes' rest. the sitting is resumed at 10.43. the violin and the bell are hurled with force through the cleft in the curtain (m. brisson gives assurance that he holds eusapia's left hand by the thumb, upon her knees, and m. flammarion the entire right hand). at this moment a photograph is taken by flash-light. cries and groans from eusapia, blinded by the light. the sitting begins again some minutes afterward, and m. jules claretie, sitting at the left of m. brisson, has his fingers twice touched by a hand. m. baschet, who is standing away from the table, holds out a violin to the curtain: the violin is seized and thrown into the cabinet. he holds a book out to the curtain: this book is seized, but falls to the floor, _before the curtain_. m. claretie presents a cigarette-holder and feels a hand which tries to seize it, but he resists and will not let it go. m. flammarion asks him to let go of the object: the hand bears off the prize. a moment after, this object is thrown from the cleft between the two curtains against mme. de basilewska at the other end of the table. it had been both presented and removed at the middle of the curtain. at eleven o'clock eusapia begs for a little more light. m. claretie has become controller of the left in place of m. brisson. he is touched on the left side. then the round table is overturned while advancing toward the main table. m. claretie perceives that his chair is moving backwards, as if pulled back; then he is hit on the shoulder and experiences a strong pressure under the arm-pit. the curtain suddenly approaches m. claretie, brushes against him, and envelops both himself and the medium. m. claretie is then pinched in the cheek. m. flammarion presents to the curtain the hand of mme. fourton, and the two hands are pinched through the curtain. the music-box, which is in the dark cabinet, falls on the table; mmes. gagneur and flammarion at the same moment make mention of a hand. m. baschet presents the music-box to the curtain; a hand seizes it through the curtain, he resists, the hand pushes him away; he presents it again, the hand seizes it and throws it back, and the box thus thrown wounds m. claretie, who is struck beneath the left eye. the tambourine is thrown forward upon the table after having remained suspended a moment above the head of the medium. at 11.15 a complete levitation of the table for seven or eight seconds. absolute control by mm. flammarion and claretie. m. flammarion has his knee pinched by a hand. next the round table is transferred to the knees of m. claretie and is forced upon him in spite of all his resistance. levitations of the table take place in full light. verification of the feet. the feet of one of the controllers are beneath, those of the other above, and those of the medium between the two. report of m. pallotti (_séance of november 14_) (there are present at this séance, besides the hosts of the evening: m. and mme. brisson, m. and mme. pallotti, m. le bocain, m. boutigny, mme. fourton.) at the commencement of the sitting several levitations of the table took place, and, when i asked the spirit who was present if he could let me see my daughter rosalie, i obtained an affirmative reply. i then made an agreement with the said spirit that a series of eight regular raps would indicate to me the moment when my dear daughter would be present. after some minutes of waiting, the number of raps agreed on was heard in the table. these raps were vigorous and made at fixed intervals. i found, at this time, that i was placed opposite to the medium,--that is to say, facing her,--at the other end of the table. when i asked the spirit to embrace me and caress me, i immediately felt an icy breath before my face, but yet without experiencing the least sensation of contact. when the medium announced the materialization of the spirit in these words, "_e venuta, e venuta_" ("she is here, she is here"), i distinguished over the middle of the table a spectral form, dim and confused, but which, little by little, grew brighter, and took the shape of the head of a young girl of the same stature as rosalie. when objects, such as the music-box, violin, or the like, were unexpectedly brought before us, i saw very plainly the shape of a little hand emerging from the curtain that hung close by me, and which placed these different objects upon the table. i ought to declare that, during these inexplicable phenomena, the chain was not broken for a single moment: it would consequently have been materially impossible for one of us to have made use of his hands. i will now describe the last phenomena in which i was for a little while both actor and spectator. these events closed the séance. one of the company, m. boutigny, who was affianced to my daughter, having left the table to give his place to one of the spectators, i saw him approach the curtain of which i have spoken, which at once gaped open by his side. i ascertained this fact very precisely. m. boutigny then announced to us aloud that he was being very affectionately caressed. the medium, who was at this moment in an extraordinary state of agitation, kept saying, "_amore mio, amore mio!_" ("my love, my love!"), and, addressing herself to me, called to me several times in the following words, "_adesso vieni tu! vieni tu!_" ("come at once, come!") i hastened to take the place which m. boutigny occupied near the curtain, and i was scarcely there when i felt myself kissed several times. i was able for an instant to touch the head which was kissing me, which, however, drew back from the contact of my hands. i ought to say that, while these events were taking place, my eyes were carefully observing the medium as well as the persons who were by my side. i can therefore, boldly certify that i was not the victim of any illusion or subterfuge, and that the head which i touched was the head of a real and unknown person. i felt myself afterwards gently stroked several times, upon the face and head, the neck and the breast, by a hand which came out from behind the curtain. at last i saw the portière move aside and a little hand, very moist, very soft, stretched out and placed on my right hand. quick as thought, i reached my left hand to this place to seize it; but, after having held it closely pressed in mine for several seconds, it seemed to melt away between my fingers. before closing, let me say, by way of additional authentication, that m. flammarion had the extreme kindness to have this séance given for my family and myself, and it therefore took on a very markedly private character. the séance having lasted from 9.20 to 11.45 p.m., we several times asked the medium if she felt fatigued. eusapia said no. it was only when the last experiment took place, when we (myself and my family) had been caressed and embraced, that the medium, feeling tired, decided to end the sitting. my wife is convinced, as i am, that she embraced her daughter, recognizing her hair and the general appearance of her person. report of m. le bocain (_the same séance_) the following are some extraordinary phenomena which i observed during the course of this séance and of which i believe i can give a report as exact as it is impartial, having personally taken the most minute precautions to assure myself of the perfect fairness of the conditions under which these different wonders were produced. i only speak, be it understood, of circumstances or actions with which i myself was associated both as actor and as spectator. 1. at the opening of the sitting and _during the time_ that the table was engaged in all sorts of noisy pranks, i clearly felt the pressure of a hand clasping me in a friendly way upon the right shoulder. in order to make the matters clear, i ought to depose that- a) i sat at the left of the medium and held her hand; that, furthermore, during the whole sitting her foot was placed on mine. b) that, with eusapia's hand always tightly pressed in mine, i proved, by _suddenly_ placing it upon her knees, _at the very moment that the table was rising from beside us_, that her lower limbs were in a normal position and _absolutely motionless_. c) for these different reasons, it seems to me, in fact, _impossible_ that eusapia could have made any use whatever of these two limbs (which happened to be placed by me) to execute a movement, even unconscious, that could give rise to the least suspicion. 2. at a certain point in the proceedings i felt on my right cheek the sensation of a fondling caress. i felt very distinctly that it was a real hand which was touching my skin, and nothing else. the hand in question seemed to me of small size, and the skin was soft and moist. 3. towards the end of the séance i felt upon my back a gust of cold air, and at the same time _i heard_ the curtain behind me slowly open. then, when i turned around, very much puzzled, i perceived standing at the lower end of this kind of alcove a form,--indistinct, it is true, but not so much so that i could not recognize the silhouette of a young girl whose figure was slightly beneath the average. i ought to say here that my sister rosalie was also of short stature. the head of this apparition was not very distinct. it seemed surrounded by a short of shaded aureole. the whole form of the statue, if i may so express myself, stood out very little from the dim obscurity from which it had emerged; that is to say, it was not very luminous. 4. i addressed myself to the spirit in arabic, in very nearly the following terms: "if it is really thou, rosalie, who art in the midst of us, pull the hair on the back of my head three times in succession." about ten minutes later, and when i had almost completely forgotten my request, i felt my hair pulled three separate times, just as i had desired. i certify this fact, which, besides, formed for me a most convincing truth of the presence of a familiar spirit close about us. le bocain, _illustrator_, _rire, pêle-mêle, chronique amusante, etc._ i have restricted myself to presenting here these different reports,[28] in spite of certain contradictions, and even because of them. the reports mutually supplement each other and form a complete whole, through the entire independence of each observer. you see how complex the subject is, and how difficult it is to form a radical conviction, an absolute scientific judgment. some phenomena are incontestably true: there are others which are doubtful and which we may attribute to fraud, conscious or unconscious, and sometimes also to illusions of the observers. the levitation of the table, for example, its complete detachment from the floor under the action of an unknown force acting in opposition to the law of gravity, is a fact which cannot reasonably be contested. i may remark, in this connection, that the table almost always rises hesitatingly, after balancings and oscillations, while, on the contrary, when it falls back it goes straight down at one swoop, alighting squarely on its four feet.[29] on the other hand, since the medium constantly seeks to release one hand (generally her left hand) from the control designed to hinder her from doing so, a certain number of the touches felt and of the displacements of objects may be due to a substitution of hands. this behavior of hers will be the subject of a special examination in the following chapter. but it would be impossible by the whole force of the hand to produce the violent movement of the curtain, which seems to be inflated by a tempestuous wind, and projected to the very centre of the table, forming a great hood around the heads of the sitters. to fling out the curtain with such force, it would be necessary for the medium to rise and push on it as hard as she could with her extended arms--not once merely, but again and again. but how can she do this when she is all the while seated tranquilly in her chair? these experiments place us in a special environment or atmosphere, on the different physical and psychical characters of which it is difficult to form an opinion. at the time of the last séance, during which m. and mme. pallotti are sure of having seen, touched, and embraced their daughter, i saw nothing, at that moment, of this spectral form, although it was only a few yards from me, and although i had perceived, some moments before, the head of a young girl. it is true that, out of respect for their emotion, i did not approach their group. but i kept careful watch, and i perceived no one but the living. at the séance of november 10 the noise of a sonorous object notified us of a displacement, a movement. we seem to hear the violin strings lightly touched. it is, in fact, the little violin on the round table, which is lifted to a height somewhat above that of the head of the medium, passes into the opening between the two curtains, and appears before us with the neck forward. the idea comes into my head to grasp this instrument during its slow passage through the air; but i hesitate, because i wish to see what will become of it. it comes as far as the middle of the table, descends, then falls, partly upon the table, partly upon the left hand of m. brisson and the right hand of mme. fourton. that was one of the most accurate observations that i made at this séance. i did not let go of eusapia's right hand for a single instant, and m. brisson did not for a moment let go of her left hand. but in the face of phenomena so incomprehensible we always revert to scepticism. in the séance of november 19 we had thoroughly resolved this time not to leave any loophole for doubt as to the hands, to hinder every attempt at substitution, and to have the most complete control of each hand, without having our attention withdrawn from this object for a single moment. eusapia has only two hands. she belongs to the same zoological species that we do, and is neither trimanous nor quadrumanous. it was enough, then, that there were two of us; that each one took a hand of the medium and kept hold of it between the thumb and the forefinger, that no possible doubt might arise, drew in the elbows, and held the said hand as far removed as possible from the axis of the medium's body and pressed against our own person, so as to remove the objection about the substitution of hands. that was the essential object of this séance, as far as concerned m. brisson and me. he had charge of the left hand. i had charge of the right. i need not add that i am as sure of the loyalty of m. brisson as he is sure of mine, and that, forewarned as we were, and holding this séance for the express purpose of this control, we could neither of us be the dupes of any attempt at fraud, so far as regards that occasion, at least. the famous medium, home, had several times spoken to me of a curious experiment that he and crookes made with an accordion held in one of his hands and playing all by itself, without the lower end being held by another hand. crookes has represented this experiment by a sketch in his memoir upon this subject. the medium is seen holding the accordion with one hand in a kind of open-work cage, and the accordion is playing by itself. i shall give the details of this matter farther on. i tried the experiment in another way, by holding the accordion myself, and not letting it be touched by the medium. the feats which we had just witnessed, and which were performed while eusapia had her hands securely held, gave me the hope of succeeding, so much the more because we believed that we had seen fluid hands in action. i, therefore, take a little new accordion, bought that evening in a bazaar, and, approaching the table and remaining in a standing position, i hold the accordion by one side, resting two fingers upon two keys, in such a way as to permit the air to pass in case the instrument should begin to play. so held, it is vertically suspended by the stretching out of my right hand to the height of my head, and above the head of the medium. we make sure that her hands are all the time tightly held and that the chain is unbroken. after a short wait of five or six seconds i feel the accordion drawn by its free end, and the bellows is immediately pushed in several times successively; and at the same time the music is heard. there is not the least doubt that a hand, a pair of pincers, or what-not, has hold of the lower end of the instrument. i perceive very well the resistance of this prehensible organ. all possibility of fraud is eliminated; for the instrument is well above eusapia's head, her hands are firmly held, and i distinctly see the distention of the curtain as far as the instrument. the accordion continues to make itself heard, and is pulled on so strongly that i say to the invisible power, "well, since you have such a good hold on it, keep it!" i withdraw my hand, and the instrument remains as if glued to the curtain. it is no longer heard. what has become of it? i propose to light a candle to hunt for it. but the general opinion is that, since things are going so well, it is better to make no changes in the environment. while we are talking, the accordion begins to play,--a slight and rather insignificant air. in order to do that, it must be held by two hands. at the end of fifteen or twenty seconds it is brought to the middle of the table (playing all the while). the certainty that hands are playing it is so complete that i say to the unknown, "since you hold the accordion so well, you can doubtless take my hand itself." i reach out my arm at the height of my head, rather a little higher. the curtain inflates, and through the curtain i feel a hand (a pretty strong left hand); that is to say, three fingers and the thumb, and these grasp the end of my right hand. let us suppose for an instant that the accordion could have been pulled by one of eusapia's hands, which she had released, lifted up, and screened behind the curtain. it is a very natural hypothesis. let us say that the two controllers on the right and on the left respectively were cheated by the dexterity of the medium. that is not impossible. but, then, that the instrument might play, our heroine would have had to release her two hands and leave the two controllers at loggerheads with their own hands. it is something not to be thought of. apropos of the existence of a third hand, a fluid hand, created on the spur of the moment, with muscles and bones (an hypothesis so bold that one hardly dares to express it), i relate here what we observed during the sitting of november 19. m. guillaume de fontenay, with whom the experiments at montfort-l'amaury were made, in 1897, at the home of the blech family, had come on purpose from the centre of france, with a great profusion of apparatus and of new processes, to try to get some photographs. the medium appeared to be enchanted with them, and toward the middle of the soirée said to us, "you are going to have, this evening, something that you did not expect, something which has never been accomplished by any other medium, and which can be photographed as an unimpeachable record." she then explains to us that i am to lift my hand up, while firmly holding hers by the wrist; that m. sardou, while holding her left hand, will keep watch over it above the table, and that then her third hand will appear in the photograph, her fluidic hand, holding the violin near her head, at some distance from her right hand, behind her, and against the curtain. we wait pretty long before anything happens. at length, the medium trembles, sighs, recommends that we breathe deeply and thus aid her, and we feel, rather than see, the moving of the violin through the air, with a slight vibrating noise of the strings. eusapia cries, "it is time, take the photograph, quick, don't wait, fire!" but the apparatus does not work: the magnesium won't kindle. the medium grows impatient, still holds out, but cries that she cannot hold out much longer. we all vehemently clamor for the photograph. nothing moves. in the darkness, which is needed in order that the plate in the camera shall not have to be veiled, m. de fontenay does not succeed in lighting the magnesium, and the violin is heard to fall to the floor. the medium seems exhausted, groans, laments, and we all regret this check to the proceedings; but eusapia declares that she can begin again, and asks us to get ready. in fact, at the end of five or six minutes the same phenomena are produced. m. de fontenay explodes a chlorate of potassium pistol. the light is instantaneous, but feeble. it enables us to see eusapia's left hand being held upon the table by m. sardou's right hand, her right hand held in the air by my left hand, and at a distance of about twelve inches in the rear, at the height of one's head, the violin, resting vertically against the curtain. but the photograph gives no picture. eusapia now asks for a little light ("_poco di luce_"). the small hand-lamp is lighted again, and the illumination is sufficient for us to see each other distinctly, including the arms, the head of the medium, the curtain, etc. the chain is formed again. the curtain flares widely out, and m. sardou is several times touched by a hand which gives him a good whack on the shoulder, making him bend his head forward toward the table. in the presence of this manifestation and of these sensations we have again the impression that there has been a hand there, a hand different from those of the medium (which we continue carefully to hold),--and from ours, because we are holding each other's hands in the chain. moreover, there is no one near the curtain, which is plainly visible. i thereupon remark, "since there is a hand there, let it take from me this violin, as it did day before yesterday." i take the violin by the handle and hold it out to the curtain. it is at once taken and lifted, then falls to the floor. i do not for a moment let go the hand of the medium. yet i grasp this hand with my right hand, for a moment, in order to pick up with my left the violin that has fallen near me. as i stoop down to the floor, i feel an icy breath upon my hand, but nothing more. i take the violin and put it on the table; then i take again with my left hand the hand of the medium, and, seizing the violin with my right, i hold it out again to the curtain. but mme. brisson, peculiarly incredulous, asks me to let her take it herself. she does so, holds it out to the curtain, and the instrument is snatched from her, in spite of all the efforts that she makes to retain it. everybody declares they saw very distinctly this time. the hands of the medium have not been let go a single minute. it seems as if this experiment, made under these conditions, in sufficient light, ought to leave no doubt about the existence of a third hand of the medium which acts in obedience to her will. and yet!-during this same soirée of november 19 i ask that the violin, which has fallen to the floor, be brought again upon the table. we keep holding carefully the medium's hands, m. sardou her left hand and i her right. eusapia, wishing to give still more security, more certainty, proposes that i take her two hands, the right as i am holding it, and her left wrist in my right hand, her left hand always being held by m. sardou,--_the whole show of hands taking place on the table_. a noise is heard. the violin is brought on, passes above our hands, thus criss-crossed, and is laid down, farther on, in the middle of the table. a candle is lighted, and the position of our hands is ascertained. they have not moved. some time after this phenomena, in the dim light, we all saw will-o'-the-wisps shining in the cabinet. they were visible through the cleft in the curtains, which at that time was rather wide. for my part, i saw three of them, the first very brilliant, the others less intense. they were not tremulous, nor did they stir in the least, and remained in view scarcely more than a second. m. antoniadi having remarked that he is not always sure of holding her left hand, eusapia says to me in a flush of passion, "since he is not sure, take my two hands yourself again." i already hold the right, and am absolutely certain of it. i thereupon take her left wrist in my right hand, m. a. declaring that he will take care of the fingers. in this position, eusapia's two hands being thus held above the table, a cushion, which is at my right upon the table, having been forcibly thrown there some moments before, is seized and thrown over the sofa, brushing my forehead on the left. those who sit at the table and form the chain affirm that the hands of the chain have not lost touch with each other. here is another circumstance recorded in the notes of mme. flammarion: we were almost in complete darkness,--the lamp, removed as far as possible from eusapia, having only the dim glow of a night-lamp. eusapia was seated at the experiment table,--between mm. brisson and pallotti, who were holding her two hands,--and almost facing this lamp. mme. brisson and i were seated some yards distant from eusapia, one of us on the side and the other in the middle of the salon, eusapia facing us, while we had our backs turned to the light. this allowed us to distinguish well enough everything that passed before us. up to the moment when the event that i am going to relate took place, mme. brisson had remained almost as incredulous as i, apropos of the phenomena, and she had just been expressing to me in a low tone her regret at not having yet seen anything herself, when, all of a sudden, the curtain behind eusapia began to shake and move gracefully back, as if lifted by an invisible curtain band,--and what do i see? the little table on three feet, and leaping (apparently in high spirits) over the floor, at the height of about eight inches, while the gilded tambourine is in its turn leaping gayly at the same height above the table, and noisily tinkling its bells. stupefied with wonder, quick as i can i pull mme. brisson to my side, and, pointing with my finger at what is taking place, "look!" said i. and then the table and the tambourine begin their carpet-dance again in perfect unison, one of them falling forcibly upon the floor and the other upon the table. mme. brisson and i could not help bursting out into laughter; for, indeed, it was too funny! a sylph could not have been more amusing. eusapia had not turned around. she was seen seated; and her hands, placed before her, were held by the two controllers. even if she had been able to free both her hands, she would not have been able to take hold of the round table and tambourine, except by turning around; and the two ladies saw them leaping about all alone. i observe to eusapia that she must be very tired, that the séance has lasted over two hours and has yielded extraordinary results, and that it is perhaps time to end it. she replies that she desires to continue still a little longer, and that there will be new phenomena. we accept with pleasure, and sit down and wait. then she lays her head on my shoulder, takes my entire right arm, including the hand, and putting my leg between hers, and my feet between her feet, she held me very tight. then she begins to rub the carpet, drawing my feet along with hers, and squeezing me tighter than before. then she cries, "_spetta! spetta!_" ("look! look!"); then, "_vieni! vieni!_" ("come! come!") she invites m. pallotti to take a place behind his wife and see what will happen. i must add that both of them had been earnestly asking, for some minutes, if they might see and embrace their daughter, as they had done at rome. after a new nervous effort on the part of eusapia, and a kind of convulsion accompanied by groans, complaints, and cries, there was a great movement of the curtain. several times i see the head of a young girl bowing before me, with high-arched forehead and with long hair. she bows three times, and shows her dark profile against the window. a moment after we hear sounds from m. and mme. pallotti. they are covering with kisses the face of a being invisible to us, saying to her with passionate affection, "rosa, rosa, my dear, my rosalie," etc. they say they felt between their hands the face and the hair of their daughter. my impression was that there was really there a fluidic being. i did not touch it. the grief of the parents, revived and consoled at the same time, seemed to me so worthy of respect that i did not approach them. but, as to the identity of the spectral being, i believed it to be a sentimental illusion of theirs. i come now to the strangest circumstances of all, the most incomprehensible, the most incredible, of any that we experienced in our séances. on november 21 m. jules bois presents a book before the curtain at about the height of a man standing upright. the salon is dimly lighted by a little lamp with a shade, set pretty well to one side. yet objects are seen with distinctness. an invisible hand behind the curtain seizes the book. then all the observers see it disappear as if it had passed through the curtain. it is not seen to fall before the curtain. it is an octavo, rather slender, bound in red, which i have just taken from my library. now mme. flammarion, almost as sceptical as m. baschet about these phenomena, had glided past the window to the rear of the curtain, in order to observe carefully what was passing. she hoped to detect a movement of the medium's arm, and to unmask her, in spite of the courtesy she owed her as her hostess. she saw very plainly eusapia's head, motionless before the mirror which reflected the light. suddenly the book appears to her, it having passed through the curtain,--upheld in the air, without hands or arms, for a space of one or two seconds. then she sees it fall down. she cries, "oh! the book: it has just passed through the curtain!" and, pale and stupefied with wonder, she abruptly retires among the observers. the entire hither side of the curtain was plainly visible, because the left portion of the left-hand curtain had been loosened from its rod by the weight of a person who had sat down on the sofa where the lower part of the curtain had been accidentally placed; and because a large opening had been made fronting the mirror which filled the entire wall of the farther end of the salon,--a mirror that reflected the light of the little lamp. if such an event had really taken place, we should be forced to admit that the book went through the curtain without any opening, for the tissue of the fabric is wholly intact; and we cannot suppose for a single moment that it passed through at the side, the book having been held out about the middle,--that is to say, about twenty-four inches from each side of the curtain, the breadth of which is four feet. nevertheless, this book was seen by mme. flammarion, who was looking behind the curtain; and it disappeared from the eyes of the persons who were in front, notably m. baschet, m. brisson, m. j. bois, mme. fourton and myself. we were not expecting this miracle in any way; we were stupefied by it; we asked what had become of the book, and it seemed as if it had fallen behind the curtain. collective hallucination? but we were all in cool blood, entirely self-possessed. if eusapia had been able to adroitly slip her hand around and seize the book through the portière, the bare outline of the book would not have been seen, but a protuberance of the portière. how great a value the sight of this thing passing through a portière would have as a scientific datum, if one were only sure of the absolute honesty of the medium,--if, indeed, this medium were a man of science, a physicist, a chemist, an astronomer, whose scientific integrity would be above suspicion! the mere fact of the possibility of fraud takes away ninety-nine one-hundredths of the worth of the observation, and makes it necessary for us to see it a hundred times before being sure. the conditions of certainty ought to be understood by all investigators, and it is curious to hear intelligent persons express surprise at our doubts, and at the strict scientific obligation we are under to lay down these conditions. in order to be sure of abnormalities like these levitations, for example, we must make sure of them a hundred times over; not see them once, but a hundred times. it seems to us impossible that matter could pass through matter. you place for example a stone upon a napkin. if one should tell you that he has found it under the napkin, without any break in the continuity of the tissue, you would not believe him. however, i take a piece of ice, weighing say two pounds, and place it upon a napkin; i place both upon a strainer, in the oven; the piece of ice melts, passes through the napkin, and falls drop by drop into a basin. i put the whole thing into a freezing machine, the melted water congeals again; the piece of ice weighing two pounds has passed through the napkin. it is very simple, you think. yes, it is simple because we understand it. but, of course, this is not the same case as that of the book. yet, after all, it is matter passing through matter, after a transformation of its physical condition. we might seek explanations, invoke the hypotheses of the fourth dimension, or discuss the non-euclidian geometry. it seems to me more simple, however, to think that, on the one hand, these experiments are not yet sufficient for us to make an absolute affirmation, and that, on the other hand, our ignorance of everything is formidable and forbids us to deny anything. the phenomena of which i am speaking are so extraordinary that one is led to doubt them, even when one feels assured that he has seen them. thus, for example, i noticed that m. rené baschet--my learned friend, present editor of _illustration_--affirmed before us all, during the séance and afterward, that he saw with his own eyes, under the table, a head like that of a young girl of about twelve years of age, together with the bust. this head sank down vertically while he was looking at it and disappeared. he made the affirmation on the 21st, repeated it on the 22d at a theatre where we met, and on the 25th again at his home. some time after, m. baschet was convinced that he had been deceived, that he had been the dupe of an illusion. that is also possible. i was looking at the same time, as well as other persons, and we did not see anything. it is then very human, when we are thinking, some days later, of these curious things, for us to suspect ourselves. but there are prejudices less explicable. thus, for example, at the séance of november 28 a distinguished engineer, m. l., absolutely refused to admit the levitation of the table, in spite of the evidence. of this my readers may judge for themselves. here is a note which i extract from my reports: m. l. tells me that the medium lifts the table _with her feet_, while resting her hands upon it. i ask eusapia to draw back her feet under her chair. the table is lifted. after this second levitation, m. l. declares that he is not satisfied (although neither of the feet of the medium is under a foot of the table), and that we must begin the experiment again, without having _her legs_ touched at any point. the medium then proposes that her legs be fastened to those of m. l. a third levitation takes place, after the left leg (the incriminated one) of the medium has been bound to the left leg of m. l. this gentleman then declares that the hypotheses he has made, in order to explain the phenomenon, are null and void, but that there must be, all the same, a trick in the thing, because he does not believe in the supernatural. neither do i believe in the supernatural. and yet there is no trick. this manner of reasoning, rather common, does not seem to me scientific. it is to claim that we know the limits of the possible and of the impossible. people who deny that the earth moves reason in just this way. that which is contrary to common sense is not impossible. common sense is the average state of popular knowledge; that is to say, of general ignorance. a man acquainted with the history of the sciences, and who reasons calmly, cannot succeed in understanding the ostracism to which certain sceptics subject unexplained phenomena. "it is impossible," they think. this famous common sense on which they plume themselves is nothing after all, let me say, but common opinion, which accepts habitual facts without comprehending them, and which varies from time to time. what man of good sense would formerly have admitted that we should one day be able to photograph the skeleton of a living being, or store up the voice in a phonograph, or determine the chemical composition of an inaccessible star? what was science a hundred years ago, two hundred years, three hundred? look at astronomy five hundred years ago, and physiology, and medicine, and natural philosophy, and chemistry. in five hundred years, in a thousand years, in two thousand years, what will these sciences of ours be? and in a hundred thousand years? yes, in a hundred thousand years, what will human intelligence be? our actual condition will be to that what the knowledge of a dog is to that of a cultivated man; that is to say, there is no possible comparison. we smile to-day at the science of learned men of the time of copernicus or christopher columbus or ambroise paré, and we forget that, in a few centuries, savants will estimate us in the same fashion. there are properties of matter which are completely hidden from us, and humanity is endowed with faculties still unknown to us. we only advance very slowly in the knowledge of things. the critics do not always give proof that they possess a very compact logical power. you speak to them of facts proved by centuries of testimony. they challenge the value of popular testimony, and declare that these uncultivated folks, these petty merchants, these manufacturers, these laborers, these peasants, are incapable of observing with any exactitude. some days after, you cite the savants, men whose competence has been proved in the objective sciences of observation, which attest these very facts, and you hear the sneerers answer that those savants are competent witnesses in their special lines of study and work, but in nothing apart from these. so, after this fashion, all testimony is refused. they declare that the thing, being impossible, cannot have been observed at all. of course there is room for a good deal of analysis in discussing the claims of human testimony. but, if we suppress every piece of testimony, what will there be left?--our native ignorance. but, to tell the truth, there are some of these negative gentry who are sure of everything, and who impose their aphorisms upon us with the authority of a czar giving out his ukase or edict. from these different experiments with eusapia paladino, including those described in the first and second chapters, the impression is left that the phenomena observed are, to a great extent, real and undeniable; that a certain number may be produced by fraud; but that, in fact, the subject is very complex. again, certain movements simply belong to the material order, while others belong at once to the physical order and the psychical order. all this study is vastly more complicated than people in general have any idea of. i am going to pass summarily in review other experiments made by the same medium, and shall afterwards devote a special chapter to the examination of frauds and mystifications. let us look, first, at other achievements of eusapia, and select from them whatever they also have to impart in the way of instruction or caution. chapter iv other séances with eusapia paladino the medium, whose marvellous séance performances we have been describing has been the subject of a long series of observations by eminent and careful experimenters. her endowments are indeed exceptional. when you study with eusapia, the comparison of her powers with those of ordinary cases makes you think of the difference between a fine electrical machine operated under good atmospheric conditions and a bad one operated on a rainy day. you see more with her in one hour than in a host of faulty trials with other mediums. our study of these unknown forces will progress rapidly if, in place of limiting the results obtained to one or two groups, such as those which precede, we examine the totality of the observations made in the séances of this medium. my readers can then compare them with the preceding ones; they can judge, they can make their own estimates. the documents which i am now going to print are all borrowed from the _annales des sciences psychiques_ and from the valuable collection of m. albert de rochas upon _the externalization of motivity_. a few words, first, about the débuts of eusapia in her mediumistic career. professor chiaia, of naples, to whom i owe it that i was able to receive eusapia at my house and obtain the experiments reported above, was the first to bring her gifts into public notice. he first published on the 9th of august, 1888, in a journal issued at rome, the following letter addressed to professor lombroso: _dear sir_,--in your article, _the influence of civilization upon genius_ (which has incontestable beauties of style and of logic), i noticed a very happy paragraph. it seems to me to sum up the scientific movement (starting from the time when man first invented that head-breaking thing called an alphabet) down to our own day. this paragraph reads as follows: "every generation is prematurely ready for discoveries which it never sees born, since it does not perceive its own incapacity and the means it lacks for making further discoveries. the repetition of any one manifestation, by impressing itself upon our brains, prepares our minds and renders them less and less incapable of discovering the laws to which this manifestation is amenable. twenty or thirty years are enough to make the whole world admire a discovery which was treated as madness at the moment when it was made. even at the present day academic bodies laugh at hypnotism and at homoeopathy. who knows whether my friends and i, who laugh at spiritualism, are not in error, just as hypnotized persons are? thanks to the illusion which surrounds us, we may be incapable of seeing that we deceive ourselves; and, like many persons of unsound mind who stubbornly oppose the truth, we laugh at those who are not of our way of thinking." struck by this keen thought, which by chance i find adapted to a certain matter with which i have been occupied for some time, i joyfully accept it, without abatement, without any comment which might change its sense; and, confining myself to the fine old rules of chivalry, i make use of it as a challenge. the consequences of this challenge will neither be dangerous nor bloody: we shall fight fairly; and, whatever may be the results of the encounter, whether i succumb or whether i make my opponent yield, it will always be in a friendly way. the result will tend to the improvement of one of the two adversaries and will be in every way useful to the great cause of truth. there is much talk nowadays of a special malady which is found in the human organism. we notice it every day; but we are ignorant of its cause and know not what to call it. the cry is raised that it be subjected to the examination of contemporary science; but science, in reply, only meets the request with the mocking ironical smile of a pyrrhus, for the precise reason (as you say) that the time is not yet ripe. but the author of the paragraph i have quoted above, of course did not write it merely for the pleasure of writing. it seems to me, on the contrary, that he would not smile disdainfully if he were invited to observe a special case that is worthy to attract the attention and to seriously occupy the mind of a lombroso. the case i allude to is that of an invalid woman who belongs to the humblest class of society. she is nearly thirty years old and very ignorant; her look is neither fascinating nor endowed with the power which modern criminologists call irresistible; but, when she wishes, be it by day or by night, she can divert a curious group for an hour or so with the most surprising phenomena. either bound to a seat or firmly held by the hands of the curious, she attracts to her the articles of furniture which surround her, lifts them up, holds them suspended in air like mahomet's coffin, and makes them come down again with undulatory movements, as if they were obeying her will. she increases their weight or lessens it according to her pleasure. she raps or taps upon the walls, the ceiling, the floor, with fine rhythm and cadence. in response to the requests of the spectators, something like flashes of electricity shoot forth from her body, and envelop her or enwrap the spectators of these marvellous scenes. she draws upon cards that you hold out everything that you want--figures, signatures, numbers, sentences--by just stretching out her hand toward the indicated place. if you place in the corner of the room a vessel containing a layer of soft clay, you find after some moments the imprint in it of a small or a large hand, the image of a face (front view or profile), from which a plaster cast can be taken. in this way, portraits of a face taken at different angles have been preserved, and those who desire so to do can thus make serious and important studies.[30] this woman rises in the air, no matter what bands tie her down. she seems to lie upon the empty air as on a couch, contrary to all the laws of gravity; she plays on musical instruments--organs, bells, tambourines--as if they had been touched by her hands or moved by the breath of invisible gnomes. you will call that a particular case of hypnotism; you will say that this sick woman is a fakir in petticoats, that you would shut her up in a hospital. let me beg of you, most eminent professor, not to shift the argument. as is well known, hypnotism only causes a momentary illusion; after the séance, everything takes its original form. but here the case is different. during the days which followed these marvellous scenes there remained traces and records worthy of consideration. what do you think of that? but allow me to continue. this woman, at times, can increase her stature by more than four inches. she is like an india-rubber doll, like an automaton of a new kind; she takes strange forms. how many legs and arms has she? we do not know. while her limbs are being held by incredulous spectators, we see other limbs coming into view, without knowing where they come from. her shoes are too small to fit these witch-feet of her, and this particular circumstance gives rise to the suspicion of the intervention of mysterious power. don't laugh when i say "_gives rise to the suspicion_." i affirm nothing; you will have time to laugh presently. when this woman is bound, a third arm is seen to appear, and nobody knows where it comes from. then follows a long series of droll teasing tricks. she abstracts bonnets, watches, money, rings, pins, and produces them again with great adroitness and gayety; she takes coats and waistcoats, pulls off boots, brushes hats and puts them back upon the heads of those to whom they belong, curls and strokes mustaches, and occasionally hits you with a fist, for she also has fits of ill-temper. i said _a_ fist, because it is always a clumsy and callous hand that strikes the blow. it has been noticed that the hand of the sorceress is small. she has large finger-nails; has a moist skin, the temperature of which varies from the natural warmth of the body to the icy chill of a corpse the touch of which makes you shiver; she allows herself to be handled, pinched, observed; and ends by rising into the air, remaining suspended there with no visible means of support, like one of those plump wooden hands hung out over the sidewalk as a sign at the shops of the glove merchants. [illustration: plate vii. plaster casts of impressions in clay produced by an unknown force.] i swear to you that i emerge with a very calm spirit from the cave of this circe. freed from her enchantments, i pass all my impressions in review, and end in scepticism, although the testimony of my senses assures me that i have not been the sport of an error or of an illusion. all these extraordinary manoeuvres cannot be attributed to prestidigitation. we ought to be on our guard against every kind of trickery, and make a scrupulous investigation in order to forestall mendacity or fraud. but the test sometimes fails; the facts do not always meet the demands of the eager and restless spectators. this is one more mystery to explain, and proves that the individual herself who works these wonders is not their sole arbiter. undoubtedly, she possesses the exclusive power of producing these portentous feats; but they cannot materialize except with the co-operation of an unknown agent, some _deus ex machina_. from all this two things result; namely, the great difficulty there is in examining the true inwardness of this stupefying piece of charlatanry, and the necessity of making a series of experiments in order to get together enough of them to illuminate the dark intellects of the dupes and to overcome the obstinacy of the wranglers. now you see my challenge. if you have not written the paragraph cited above simply for the pleasure of writing it; if you have the true love of science; if you are without prejudices,--you, the first alienist in italy,--please have the kindness to take the field, and persuade yourself that you are going to measure swords with a worthy adversary. when you can take a week's vacation, leave your beloved studies, and, instead of going into the country, show me a place where we can meet. choose the time yourself. you are to have a room into which you will enter alone before the experiment; there you will arrange the furniture and other objects just as you wish; you will lock the door with a key. i believe it would be useless to present the lady to you in the costume worn in the garden of eden, because this new eve is incapable of retaliating upon the serpent and of seducing you. four gentlemen will be our seconds, as is fitting in all knightly encounters; you will choose two, and i will bring the other two. no easier conditions were ever drawn up by the knights of the round table. it is evident that, if the experiment does not succeed, i shall be able to accuse only the harsh decrees of destiny; you will consider me but as a man suffering from hallucination, who longs to be cured of his extravagances. but, if success crowns our efforts, your loyalty will impose upon you the duty of writing an article, in which, without circumlocution, reticence, or error, you will attest the reality of the mysterious phenomena and promise to investigate their causes. if you decline this meeting, please explain to me your sentence, "the time is not yet ripe." undoubtedly, that might apply to common intellects, but not to a lombroso, to whom is addressed this advice of dante: "honor ought to close the lips of falsehood with truth." yours very devotedly and respectfully, (professor) chiaia. m. lombroso did not at once accept this eloquent and witty challenge. however, we shall presently find that learned professor himself experimenting. in the mean time read what m. de rochas tells us of eusapia's youth:- her first mediumistic manifestations began at the age of puberty, when she was about thirteen or fourteen years old. this coincidence is found in almost all the cases in which the singular power of producing movements at a distance has been observed. at this epoch of her life it was remarked that the spiritualistic séances to which she was invited succeeded much better when she was seated at the table. but they tired and bored her, and she refrained from taking part in them for eight or nine years. it was only in her twenty-second or twenty-third year that the spiritualistic education of eusapia began. it was directed by an ardent spiritualist, m. damiani. it was then that the personality of _john king_ appeared, a spirit who took possession of her when she was in the trance state.[31] this john king is said to be the brother of crookes's katie king, and to have been eusapia's father in another existence. it is john who speaks when eusapia is in her trance; when he speaks of her, he calls her "my daughter," and gives advice about the care of her person and life. m. ochorowicz thinks this john is a personality created in the spirit of eusapia by the union of a certain number of impressions collected in the different psychic environments in which her life has been passed. this would be almost the identical explanation for the personalities suggested by the hypnotists, and for the variations of personality observed by mm. azam, bourru, and burot, et al. some have thought they noticed that eusapia prepared herself, consciously or unconsciously, at the séance, by diminishing her respiration,--a very singular thing. at the same time, her pulse gradually rises from 88 to 120 pulsations a minute. is this a practice analogous to that which the fakirs of india employ, or a simple effect of the emotion which, before every séance, eusapia experiences?--a fact which has a strong tendency to convince the sitters, but is never sure of the production of the phenomena. eusapia is not hypnotized; she enters of herself into the trance state when she becomes a link in the chain of hands. she begins to sigh deeply, then yawns and hiccoughs. a series of varied expressions passes over her face. sometimes it takes on a demoniacal look, accompanied by a fitful laugh very much like that which gounod gives to mephistopheles in the opera of _faust_, and which almost always precedes an important phenomenon. sometimes her face flushes; the eyes become brilliant and liquid, and are opened wide. the smile and the motions are the mark of the erotic ecstasy. she says "_mio caro_" ("my dear"), leans her head upon the shoulder of her neighbor, and courts caresses when she believes that he is sympathetic. it is at this point that phenomena are produced, the success of which causes her agreeable and even voluptuous thrills. during this time her legs and her arms are in a state of marked tension, almost rigid, or even undergo convulsive contractions. sometimes a tremor goes through her entire body. to these states of nervous super-activity succeeds a period of depression characterized by an almost corpse-like paleness of the face (which is frequently covered with perspiration) and the almost complete inertia of her limbs. if she lifts her hand, it falls back of its own weight. during the trance her eyes are turned up, and only the white is visible. her presence of mind and her general consciousness are diminished or not at all in evidence. she gives no reply, or, if she does, her reply is retarded by questions. eusapia has no recollection of what has taken place during the séances, except for states of mind bordering close on those of her normal state; and, consequently, they only relate, as a general thing, to phenomena of slight intensity. in order to aid in the manifestations, she frequently asks that her force be increased by putting one more person in the chain. it has frequently happened to her to address a sympathetic spectator, to take his fingers and press them as if to draw something out of them, then push them abruptly away, saying that she has enough force. in proportion as her trance increases, her sensibility to light increases. a sudden light causes difficulty in her breathing, rapid beatings of the heart, an hysterical feeling, general irritation of the nerves, pain in the head and eyes, and a trembling of the whole body, with convulsions,--except when she herself asks for light (a thing which frequently happens to her when there are interesting verifications to be made upon the subject of displaced objects), for then her attention is strongly called in other directions. she is in constant motion during the active period of the séances. these movements may be attributed to the hysterical crises which then agitate her; but they appear to be necessary to the production of the phenomena. every time that a movement is being caused at a distance, she imitates it, either with her hands or with her feet, and by developing a much stronger force than would be necessary for producing the movement by contact. here is what she herself says of her impressions when she wishes to produce a movement at a distance. _she suddenly experiences an ardent desire to produce the phenomena; then she has a feeling of numbness and the goose-flesh sensation in her fingers; these sensations keep increasing; at the same time she feels in the inferior portion of the vertebral column the flowing of a current which rapidly extends into her arm as far as her elbow, where it is gently arrested. it is at this point that the phenomenon takes place._ during and after the levitations of the tables she has a feeling of pain in her knees; during and after other phenomena, in her elbows and all through her arms. it was only in the end of february, 1891, that professor lombroso, whose curiosity had finally been strongly excited, decided to come to naples to examine these curious manifestations about which everybody in italy was speaking. the following reports by m. ciolfi were published apropos of this visit.[32] _first séance_ a large room, selected on the first floor by these gentlemen, had been put at our disposal. m. lombroso began by carefully examining the medium, after which we took places around a gaming table. mme. paladino sat at one end; at her left, mm. lombroso and gigli; i faced the medium, between mm. gigli and vizioli; then came mm. ascensi and tamburini, who closed the circle, the last named at the right of the medium and in contact with her. the room was lighted by candles placed upon a table behind mme. paladino. mm. tamburini and lombroso each held a hand of the medium. their knees touched hers, at a certain distance from the feet of the table; and her feet were under theirs. after a rather long wait the table began to move, slowly at first,--a matter explained by the scepticism, not to say the positively hostile spirit, of those who were this night in a séance circle for the first time. then, little by little, the movements increased in intensity. m. lombroso proved the levitation of the table, and estimated at twelve or fifteen pounds the resistance to the pressure which he had to make with his hands in order to overcome that levitation. this phenomenon of a heavy body sustained in the air, off its centre of gravity and resisting a pressure of twelve or fifteen pounds, very much surprised and astonished the learned gentlemen, who attributed it to the action of an unknown magnetic force. at my request, taps and scratchings were heard in the table. this was new cause for astonishment, and led the gentlemen to themselves call for the putting out of the candles in order to ascertain whether the intensity of the noises would be increased, as had been stated. all remained seated and in contact. in a dim light which did not hinder the most careful surveillance, violent blows were first heard at the middle point of the table. then a bell placed upon a round table, at the distance of a yard to the left of the medium (in such a way that she was placed behind and to the right of m. lombroso), rose into the air, and went tinkling over the heads of the company, describing a circle around our table, where it finally came to rest. in the midst of the expressions of deep amazement which this unexpected phenomenon drew forth, m. lombroso showed a strong desire to hear and to prove it again. whereupon the little bell began to sound, and again made the tour of the table, redoubling its strokes upon it, to such a degree that m. ascensi, divided between astonishment and the fear of having his fingers broken (the bell weighed fully ten ounces), hastened to rise and go and seat himself on a sofa behind me. i kept insisting that we had to do with an intelligent force,--a matter that he persistently denied,--and that consequently there was nothing to fear. but m. ascensi refused, under any circumstances, to take his place again at the table. i called attention to the fact that the circle was broken, since one of the experimenters had left, and that, under penalty of no longer being able to observe the phenomena in a cool judicious spirit, it would be necessary that he should at least keep silent and motionless. m. ascensi was very willing to pledge himself to that. the light was extinguished, and the experiments began again. while, in response to a unanimous wish, the little bell was beginning again its tinklings and its mysterious aërial circuits, m. ascensi, taking his cue, unknown to us, from m. tamburini, went (unperceived, owing to the darkness), and stood at the right of the medium, and at once with a single scratch lighted a match, so successfully, as he declared, that he could _see the little bell, while it was vibrating in the air_, suddenly fall upon a bed about six feet and a half behind mme. paladino. i will not attempt to depict for you the amazement of the learned body, the most striking manifestation of which was a rapid exchange of questions and comments upon this strange occurrence. after some remarks i made about the intervention of m. ascensi, who seemed likely to seriously trouble the psychic condition of the medium, the darkness was turned on again, so to speak, in order to continue the experiments. at first it was a little work-table, small, but heavy, that moved about. it was placed at the left of mme. eusapia, and it was upon it that the little bell was placed at the beginning of the séance. this small piece of furniture struck against the chair on which m. lombroso was seated, and _tried to hoist itself up_ on our table. in the presence of this new phenomenon, m. vizioli gave up his place at our table to m. ascensi and went to stand between the work-table and mme. eusapia, to whom he turned his back. at least he said he did all this, for we could not see him on account of the darkness. he took the little table between his two hands and tried to hold it; but, _in spite of his efforts, it released itself_ and went rolling over the floor. an important point to note is that, although mm. lombroso and tamburini had not for a moment let go of the hands of mme. paladino, professor vizioli announced that he felt a pinch in the back. general hilarity followed this declaration. m. lombroso stated that he had felt his chair lifted up so that he was compelled to remain standing for some time, after which his chair had been so placed as to permit him to sit down again. he also experienced twitches upon his clothes. then he and m. tamburini felt the touches of an invisible hand upon their cheeks and fingers. m. lombroso, especially struck with the two facts of the work-table and the little bell, judged them of sufficient importance for him to put off till tuesday his departure from naples, which had been first fixed for monday. upon his request i promised a new séance, on monday, at the hôtel de genève. _second séance_ at eight o'clock in the evening i arrived at the hôtel de genève, accompanied by the medium, eusapia paladino. we were received under the colonnade by mm. lombroso, tamburini, ascensi, and several other persons whom they had invited; namely professors gigli, limoncelli, vizioli, and bianchi (superintendent of the insane asylum at sales), dr. penta, and a young nephew of m. lombroso, who lives at naples. after the customary introductions, we were asked to go up to the highest story in the house, where we were introduced into a very large room with an alcove. curtains, or portières, were let down across the front of the alcove. behind the curtains at a distance of about three feet and a half, measured by mm. lombroso and tamburini, there was placed, in this alcove, a round table, with a porcelain salver filled with flour, in the hope of obtaining face-imprints in it. the alcove also contained a tin trumpet, writing-paper, and a sealed envelope containing a sheet of white paper, to see if we could not get _direct writing_ on it. the gentlemen inspected the alcove with extreme care, in order to assure themselves that there was nothing there of a fixed-up, suspicious nature. mme. paladino sat down at the table, a little less than two feet from the alcove curtains, turning her back to them. then, at her request, she had her body and her feet tied to her chair by means of cloth bands. this was effected by three members of the company, who left only her arms free. that done, places were taken at the table in the following order: on the left of mme. eusapia, m. lombroso; then, in succession, m. vizioli, myself, the nephew of m. lombroso, mm. gigli, limoncelli, tamburini; finally, dr. penta, who completed the circle and sat at the right of the medium. mm. ascensi and bianchi refused to form part of the circle, and remained standing behind mm. tamburini and penta. i paid little attention to these two, being certain that their action was a premeditated combination in order to redouble the vigilance. i simply recommended that, while they were observing with extreme care, each should remain quiet. the experiments began in candlelight strong enough to light up the whole room. after a long wait the table began to move, slowly at first, then more energetically. however, the movements remained intermittent, labored, and much less vigorous than at saturday's séance. the table volunteered a request by taps of its leg designating the letters of the alphabet, that mm. limoncelli and penta should exchange places. this exchange effected, the table called for the turning out of lights. a moment after, and with more force this time, the movements of the table began again. suddenly, in the midst of these, violent blows were heard. the chair placed at m. lombroso's right tried to climb up on the table, then hung suspended upon the arm of the learned professor. all of a sudden the curtains of the alcove were shaken, and swung forward over the table in such a way as to envelop m. lombroso, who was very much moved by such a wonder, as he himself has declared. all these phenomena, happening at long intervals, in the darkness, and in the midst of noisy conversation, were not estimated at their true worth. it was thought that they were only the effects of chance or were jests of some member of the company. while we are all waiting and discussing the import of the phenomena and the greater or less value that should be set on them, the noise of the fall of an object is heard. when the room is lighted, there is found at our feet under the table the trumpet which had been placed on the round table in the alcove behind the curtains. this circumstance, which mm. bianchi and ascensi receive with a burst of laughter, surprises the experimenters, and has the effect of more completely fixing their attention. the room is darkened again, and, by urgent request some fugitive glimmers of light are seen to appear and disappear at long intervals. this phenomenon impressed mm. bianchi and ascensi, and put an end to their incessant railleries, so much so that they came and formed a part of the circle. at the moment of the appearance of the gleams, and even some time after they had ceased to show themselves, mm. limoncelli and tamburini, at the right of the medium, said that they were touched in several places by a hand. m. lombroso's young nephew, absolutely sceptical, who had taken a seat by the side of m. limoncelli, declared that he felt the touch of a flesh-and-blood hand, and asked with some impetuosity who did that. he forgot--being not only sceptical, but artless--that, like himself, all the persons present were helping to form the chain of hands and were in mutual contact. it was getting late, and the lack of homogeneity in the circle was abridging the phenomena. under these conditions i thought i ought to end the séance and cause the candles to be lighted. when mm. limoncelli and vizioli were taking leave, the medium being still seated and bound, and all of us were standing around the table conversing about the luminous phenomena, and comparing the scattered and feeble effects obtained in this soirée with those of the saturday preceding, and seeking the reason for this difference, we heard noise in the alcove, and saw the portières which enclosed it vigorously shaken, and the round table which was behind them slowly advancing toward mme. paladino, still seated and bound. on seeing this strange, unexpected phenomena occur in full light, we were all stupefied with amazement. m. bianchi and m. lombroso's nephew dashed into the alcove, under the impression that some person concealed there was producing the movement of the portières and the round table. their astonishment was unbounded when they ascertained that there was no one there, and that, under their very eyes, the table continued to glide over the floor in the direction of the medium. that is not all. professor lombroso observed that, while the table was in movement, the salver on it had been turned upside down without a single particle of the flour which it contained being spilled; and he added that no prestidigitator would have been able to accomplish such a feat. in the presence of these phenomena taking place as they did, after the breaking up of the circle, in such a way as to eliminate the hypothesis of a magnetic current, professor bianchi, in obedience to the love of truth, confessed that it was he who, for the sake of a joke, had contrived and brought about the fall of the tin trumpet, but that in the presence of such achievements as this he could no longer be sceptical, and was going to apply himself to the study of them in order to investigate their causes. professor lombroso complained of the trick, and said to m. bianchi that, as between professors met in order to make scientific studies and researches in common, mystifying pranks like this could not but cast a slur upon the respect due to science. professor lombroso, who was a prey both to doubt and to ideas of his own which tormented his mind, made an engagement to be present at further meetings on his return to naples in the following summer. m. ciolfi, having sent these two reports to m. lombroso, the eminent professor of turin confirmed their accuracy in the following letter, dated june 25, 1891:- _dear sir_,--the two reports that you have sent me are of the utmost accuracy. i add that, before we had seen the salver turned over, the medium had announced that she would sprinkle the faces of those who sat by her with flour; and everything leads to the belief that such was her intention, but that she was not able to realize it,--a new proof, to my mind, of her perfect honesty, especially considering her semi-unconsciousness. i am filled with confusion and regret that i combated with so much persistence the possibility of the facts called spiritualistic. i say facts, because i am still opposed to the theory. please give my greetings to m. e. chiaia, and, if it is possible, get m. albini to examine the visual field and the inner recesses of the eye of the medium, about which i desire to inform myself. yours very truly, c. lombroso. m. lombroso soon after published his experiences and reflections, in an article in the _annales des sciences psychiques_ (1892) which ends thus: none of these facts, (which we must admit, because no one can deny things which he has seen) is of such a nature as to lead us to form for their explanation an hypothesis of a world different from that admitted by the neuro-pathologists. above all, we must not forget that mme. eusapia is a neuropath; that in her childhood she received a blow on the left parietal bone, which produced a hole so deep that you could put your finger in it; that she remained subject to attacks of epilepsy, catalepsy, and hysteria, which take place especially during the séance phenomena; and that, finally, she has a remarkable obtuseness of touch. well, i do not see anything inadmissible in this,--that in the case of hypnotic and hysterical persons the excitation of certain centres, which become powerful by the paralysis of all the others and then provoke a transposition and a transmission of physical forces, may also produce a transformation in luminous force or in motive force. thus we understand how the force in a medium which i shall call cortical or cerebral may, for example, lift the table, pull somebody's beard, hit him, caress him, etc. during the transposition of senses due to hypnotism,--when, for example, the nose and the chin _see_ (and that is a fact which i observed with my own eyes), and when for some moments all the other senses are paralyzed, the cortical centre of vision, which has its seat in the brain, acquires such an energy that it supersedes the eye. it is this which we have been able to prove, ottolenghi and i, in the case of three hypnotized persons, by making use of the lens and of the prism. the phenomena observed would be explained, according to this theory, by a _transformation_ of the powers of the medium. let us continue our account of the experiments. taking into consideration the testimony of professor lombroso, several savants--including mm. schiaparelli, director of the observatory at milan; gerosa, professor of physics; ermacora, doctor of natural philosophy; aksakof, councillor of state to the emperor of russia; charles du prel, doctor of philosophy in munich; dr. richet, of paris, and professor buffern--met in october, 1892, in the apartment of m. finzi, at milan, to renew these experiments. m. lombroso was present at several of the soirées. there were seventeen in all. the experimenters present signed the following long declaration: the results obtained did not always come up to our expectations. not that we did not secure a large number of facts apparently or really important and marvellous; but, in the greater number of cases, we were not able to apply the rules of experimental science which, in other fields of observation, are regarded as indispensable in order to arrive at certain and incontestable results. the most important of these rules consists in changing, one after the other, the methods of experiment, in such a way as to bring out the true cause, or at least the true conditions of all the events. now it is precisely from this point of view that our experiments seem to us still incomplete. it is very true that the medium, to prove her good faith, often voluntarily proposed to change some feature of one or the other experiment, and frequently herself took the initiative in these changes. but this applied only to things that were apparently indifferent, according to our way of seeing. on the contrary; the changes which seemed to us necessary to put the true character of the results beyond doubt, either were not accepted as possible or ended in uncertain results. we do not believe we have the right to explain these things by the aid of insulting assumptions, which many still find to be the simplest explanation, and of which some journals have made themselves champions. we think, on the contrary, that these experiments are concerned with phenomena of an unknown nature, and we confess that we do not know what the conditions are that are required to produce them. to desire to fix these conditions in our own right and out of our own head would be as extravagant as to presume to make the experiment of torricelli's barometer with a tube closed at the bottom, or to make electrostatic experiments in an atmosphere saturated with humidity, or to take a photograph by exposing the sensitive plate in full light before placing it in the camera. however, it is a fact that the impossibility of varying the experiments in our own way has diminished the worth and the interest of the results obtained, by depriving them of that rigorous demonstration which we are right in demanding in cases of this kind, or, rather, to which we ought to aspire. the following are the principal phenomena observed. _levitation of one side of the table_ we agreed to have the medium sit alone at the table, in full light, her two hands placed on its upper surface and her sleeves drawn back to the elbows. we remained standing about her, and the space above and under the table was well lighted. under these conditions the table rose at an angle of twenty to forty degrees, and so remained for some minutes, while the medium was holding her legs stretched out and striking her feet one against the other. when we pressed with the hand upon the lifted side of the table, we experienced a considerable elastic resistance. the table was suspended by one of its ends to a dynamometer which was coupled to a cord: this cord was tied to a small beam supported upon two wardrobes. under these conditions, the end of the table having been lifted six and a half inches, the dynamometer showed seventy-seven pounds. the medium sat at the same narrow end of the table, with her hands _wholly_ on the table, to the right and the left of the point where the dynamometer was attached. our hands formed the chain upon the table, without pressure: they would not have been able in any case to do more than _increase_ the pressure brought to bear on the table. on the contrary, the desire was expressed that the pressure should diminish, and soon the table began to rise on the side of the dynamometer. m. gerosa, who was following the marks on the apparatus, announced this diminution, expressed by the successive figures 7-1/2, 4-1/2, 2-1/2, 0 (pounds). at the last the levitation was such that the dynamometer rested horizontally on the table. then we changed the conditions by putting our hands under the table. the medium, especially, put hers, not under the edge, where it might have touched the vertical border-board and exercised a push downwards, but _under the rail that unites the feet_, and touched this, not with the palm, but _with the back of the hand_. thus all the hands together could only have diminished the traction upon the dynamometer. upon the desire being expressed to see this traction augment, it increased from 7-1/2 pounds to 13 pounds. during all these experiments each of the medium's feet rested under the foot of her nearest neighbor to right or left. _complete levitation of the table._ it was natural to conclude that if the table, in apparent contradiction to the law of gravity, was able to rise partly, it would be able to rise entirely from the floor. as a matter of fact, this is what happened. _this levitation, one of the most frequent phenomena that occur in the experiments with eusapia, stood a most satisfactory examination._ the phenomenon always materialized under the following conditions: the persons seated about the table place their hands on it, and form the chain; each hand of the medium is held by the adjacent hand of her two neighbors; each of her feet remains under the feet of her neighbor, who also press her knees with theirs. she is seated, as usual, at one of the small ends of the table, _a position least favorable for a mechanical levitation_. at the end of several minutes the table makes a side movement, rises first to the right, then to the left, and finally mounts off of its four feet straight into the air, and lies there horizontally (as if it were floating on a liquid), ordinarily at a height of from 4 to 8 inches (in exceptional cases from 24 to 27 inches); then falls back and rests on its four feet. it frequently remains in the air for several seconds, and while there also makes undulatory motions, during which the position of the feet under the table can be thoroughly examined. during the levitation the right hand of the medium often leaves the table, as well as that of her neighbor, and is held in the air above. in order the better to observe this thing, we removed one by one the persons placed at the table, recognizing the truth that the chain formed by several persons was neither necessary for this phenomenon nor for others. finally, we left only a single person with the medium, seated at her left. this person placed her foot upon eusapia's two feet and one hand upon her knees, and held with her other hand the left hand of the medium. eusapia's right hand was on the table, in full view,--though sometimes she held it in the air during the levitation. [illustration: plate viii. drawing from photograph, showing method of control by professors lombroso and richet of eusapia. table completely raised.] as the table remained in the air for several seconds, it was possible to obtain several photographs of the performance. three pieces of photographic apparatus were working together in different parts of the room, and the illumination was furnished by a magnesium light at the opportune moment. twenty photographs were obtained, some of which are excellent. upon one of them (pl. viii) we see professor richet, who holds one hand, the knees, and a foot of the medium. the other hand of the latter is held by professor lombroso. the table is shown horizontally lifted,--a fact proved by the interval between the extremity of each foot and the extremity of the corresponding projected shadow. in all the experiments which precede, we gave our attention principally to a careful inspection of the position of the hands and the feet of the medium; and, in this respect, _we believe we can say that they were safe from all criticism_. still, a scrupulous sincerity compels us to mention the fact to which we did not begin to call attention before the evening of october 5, but which probably must have occurred also in the preceding experiments. it consists in this, that the four feet of the table could not be considered as perfectly isolated during the levitation, because one of them at least was in contact with the lower edge of the medium's dress. on this evening it was remarked that a little before the levitation, eusapia's skirt was inflated on the left side until it touched the foot of the nearest table. one of us having been charged with the duty of hindering this contact, the table was unable to rise as before, and it only did rise when the observer intentionally permitted the contact to take place. this is shown in the photographs taken during this experiment, and also in those in which the table-foot in question is visible (after a fashion) at its lower extremity. the reader will see that at the same time the medium had her hand placed upon the upper surface of the table, and on the same side, in such a way that this table-foot was under her influence, as much in its lower portion, by means of the dress, as in the upper portion, by means of the hand. now in what way is it possible for the contact of a light dress-stuff with the lower extremity of the foot of a table to assist in the levitation? that is something we do not know. the hypothesis that the dress may conceal a solid support, skilfully introduced, which may serve as a temporary support for the foot of the table, is a very poor one. in fact, to keep the whole table resting on this one foot through the influence that a single hand could produce upon the upper surface of the table would require that the hand exercise upon the table a very strong pressure, one that we cannot suppose eusapia capable of, even during three or four seconds. we convinced ourselves of this by ourselves making proof of it with the same table.[33] _movements of objects at a distance, without contact with any of the persons present_ 1. spontaneous movements of objects. these phenomena were observed several times during our séances. it often happened that a chair, placed for this purpose not far from the table, between the medium and one of her neighbors, began to move about, and sometimes came up to the table. a remarkable instance occurred in the second séance, everything being _all the time in full light_. a heavy chair, weighing twenty-two pounds, which stood a yard from the table and behind the medium, came up to m. schiaparelli, who was seated next the medium. he rose to put it back in its place; but scarcely was he seated when the chair advanced a second time toward him. 2. movement of the table without contact. it was desirable to obtain this phenomenon as a matter of experiment. for that purpose, the table being placed upon casters, the feet of the medium were watched, as has been said, and all of the sitters formed the chain with their hands, including those of the medium. when the table began to move, we all lifted our hands, without breaking the chain, and the table thus isolated made several movements. this experiment was several times renewed. _the fetching of different objects, the hands of the medium being tied to those of her neighbors._ in order to assure ourselves that we were not the victims of a trick, we tied the hands of the medium by a string to those of her two neighbors, in such a way that the movements of the four hands would reciprocally control each other. the length of the cord between the hands of the medium was from eight to twelve inches, and between each one of her hands and the hands of her neighbors four inches. this distance of space was purposely arranged in order that the hands of the neighboring persons might, in addition, readily hold those of the medium during the convulsive movements which usually agitate her. the tying was done in the following way: we took three turns of the string around each wrist of the medium, without leaving any slack, but drawn so tightly as almost to give her pain,[34] and then we tied two simple knots. this was done in order that, if by any artifice the hand was able to release itself from the string, the three turns would work against it and the hand could not get back again under the string as it was before. a little bell was placed upon a chair behind her. the chain was formed, and her hands as well as her feet were held as usual. the room was darkened in answer to the request that the little bell should at once sound, after which we were to untie the medium. _immediately_ we heard the chair move, describe a curve upon the floor, approach the table, and presently place itself upon it. the bell rang, then was thrown upon the table. the light having been at once turned on, we ascertained that the knots of the string were in perfect order. it is clear that the fetching on of the chair was not produced by the action of the hands of the medium. _impressions of fingers obtained on smoked paper._ in order to decide if we had to do with a human hand ... or with any other way of dealing, we fixed a sheet of paper, blackened with the smoke of a lamp, upon the table, on the side opposite that of the medium, and expressed a wish that the hand would leave an impression on it, that the hand of the medium should remain unsoiled, and that the lampblack be transferred to the hands of one of us. the hands of the medium were held by those of mm. schiaparelli and du prel. the chain was made in the darkness, then we heard a hand lightly tap upon the table, and presently m. du prel announced that his left hand, which he held on the right hand of m. finzi, had had the sensation of fingers rubbing it. as soon as the room was lighted, we found upon the paper several imprints of fingers, and the back of m. du prel's hand was covered with lampblack; _but the hands of the medium, examined then and there, had no trace of it_. this experience was repeated three times. when we insisted upon having a complete impression, we obtained five fingers upon a second sheet of paper, and upon a third the impression of almost an entire left hand. after that the back of m. du prel's hand was completely blackened, the hands of the medium remaining perfectly clean. _apparition of hands upon a dimly lighted background_ we placed upon the table a large cardboard covered with a phosphorescent substance (sulphide of calcium), and we placed other pieces of cardboard upon chairs in different parts of the chamber. under such conditions we saw very plainly the outline of a hand imposed on the cardboard of the table. upon the background formed by the other pieces we saw the shadow of the hand pass and repass around us. on the evening of september 21 one of us several times saw the image, not of one, but of _two hands at once_, thrown upon the glass panes of a feebly illuminated window (outside it was night, but the darkness was not complete). these hands exhibited a rapid tremulous motion, but not so rapid as to hinder us from seeing the outline clearly. they were wholly opaque and were thrown upon the window as absolutely black silhouettes. this simultaneous appearance of two hands is _very significant_, for they cannot be explained on the hypothesis of a trick of the medium, who would not have been able in any way to free more than one of her hands, owing to the surveillance of those who sat beside her. the same conclusion applies to the clapping of two hands, one against the other, which was several times heard in the air. _the levitation of the medium to the top of the table_ we regard this levitation as among the most important and most significant of spiritualistic achievements. it took place twice, on september 28 and october 3. the medium was seated at one end of the table, uttering deep groans, and was lifted up with her chair and placed upon the table, not moving from her position, those next her still holding her hands as she rose. on the evening of september 28, while her two hands were held by mm. richet and lombroso, the medium complained of their grasping her under the arm. then, in a state of trance she said, with the changed voice which she usually has while in this state, "now i bring up my medium upon the table." at the end of two or three seconds the chair, with the medium seated in it, was not thrown, but lifted with precaution and placed upon the table. mm. richet and lombroso are sure they did not assist her in this ascension. after she had spoken, being all the time in a state of trance, the medium announced her descent, and (m. finzi being substituted for m. lombroso) was placed upon the floor with care and precision, mm. richet and finzi following her movements without at all assisting them. moreover, during the descent, both gentlemen felt a hand touching them lightly several times upon the head. on the evening of october 3 the same phenomenon was repeated in similar circumstances. _touchings_ some of these merit particular notice, owing to a circumstance capable of giving us an interesting notion of their possible origin. our first business is to describe the touchings which were felt by persons beyond the reach of the hands of the medium. thus, on the evening of october 6, m. gerosa, who was separated from the medium by three places (about four feet, the medium being a little to one side and m. gerosa in one of the adjacent corners at the opposite short end of the table), having lifted his hand that it might be touched, felt a hand strike his own several times to make him lower it; and, as he persisted, he was hit with a trumpet, which an instant before had been making sounds in the air. in the second place, we must note touchings which constitute very delicate operations, and which cannot be made in the darkness with the precision which we have noted in them. twice (on september 16 and 21) m. schiaparelli had his spectacles removed from his nose and laid down on the table before another person. these glasses are fixed to the ears by means of two springs, and a certain amount of attention is necessary in order to remove them, even to one working in full light. yet they were removed in complete darkness with so much delicacy and promptness that the said experimenter only perceived the loss of them when he no longer had the usual feeling of them on his nose, on his temples, and behind his ears, and he was obliged to feel with his hands in order to be sure that they were no longer in their usual place. many other touchings produced similar effects, and were executed with extreme delicacy; for example, when one of the company felt his hair and beard stroked. in all of the innumerable manoeuvres executed by mysterious hands, there was never any awkward stumbling or collision to be noted, though ordinarily this is inevitable when one is working in the dark. i may add, in this connection, that bodies tolerably heavy and bulky, such as chairs and vessels full of clay, were deposited upon the table without having collided with any of the numerous hands resting upon the table,--a particularly difficult thing in the case of chairs which, owing to their dimensions, occupied a large part of the table. a chair was turned over on its face upon the table and lay there at full length without causing the least annoyance to anybody; and yet it covered almost the entire surface. _contact with a human face_ one of us having expressed the wish to be kissed, felt before his very mouth the peculiar quick sounds of a kiss, but not accompanied by any contact of lips. this happened twice. on three different occasions one of the experimenters felt the touch of a face with hair and beard. the feeling of the skin was exactly that of a living man. the hair was much coarser and more bristly than that of the medium, and the beard seemed very soft and delicate. such are the experiments made at milan in 1892 by the group of savants cited above. how can we help admitting, after the reading of this new official report, the following things? 1. the complete levitation of the tables. 2. the levitation of the medium. 3. the movement of objects without contact. 4. accurate and delicate touches made by invisible organs. 5. the formation of hands and even of human figures. these phenomena take their place in this book as things which were observed with the most scrupulous care. let us note also the action of the little piece of furniture (chair or round table), which tries to climb up on one of the company or upon the large table,--a thing also observed by myself. although the savants of the milan group regretted that they did not make _experiments_, but only _observations_ (i said above (p. 20), what we ought to think about this), the facts were none the less proved. i will add that after the reading of this _procès-verbal_, the cautious reserves of m. schiaparelli seem exaggerated. if fraud has sometimes crept in, still what has been accurately observed remains safe and sound and is an acquisition to science. our medium, eusapia, has been the subject of a fruitful series of experiments. let me also mention those of naples in 1893, under the direction of m. wagner, professor of zoölogy at the university of st. petersburg; that of rome in 1893-1894, under the direction of m. de siemiradski, correspondent of the institute; those of varsovie, from the 25th of november, 1893, to the 15th of january, 1894, at the house of dr. ochorowicz; those of carqueiranne and of l'île roubaud, in 1894, at the house of professor richet; those of cambridge in august, 1895, at the house of mr. myers; those of the villa de l'agnellas, from the 20th to the 29th of september, 1895, at the house of colonel de rochas; those of auteuil, in september, 1896, at the house of m. marcel mangin, etc. it would be entirely superfluous and an unconscionably long task to analyze them all. let us merely select some special characteristic instances. in the report of m. de siemiradski we read as follows: in the corner of the hall there was a piano, placed to the left of ochorowicz and eusapia, and a little in the rear. some one desired to hear the keyboard touched. we at once hear the moving of the piano. ochorowicz can even see the displacement, thanks to a ray of light which falls upon the polished surface of the instrument through the window shutters. the piano then opens noisily, and we hear the bass notes of the keyboard sounding. i utter aloud my desire to hear high notes and low notes touched at the same time, as a proof that the unknown force can act at the two ends of the keyboard. my wish is granted, and we hear bass notes and treble notes sounded at the same time, which seems to prove the action of two distinct hands. then _the instrument advances toward us_. it presses against our group, and we are obliged to get up and move back with our experiment table, and we do not stop until we have thus moved back several yards. a glass half full of water, which stands on a buffet, out of reach of our hands, was carried by an unknown power to the lips of ochorowicz, eusapia, and another person, who all drank of it. this performance took place in complete darkness and with astonishing precision. we were able to prove the existence of a real hand not belonging to any one present. we did it by means of the plaster cast and mould, as follows: having placed a heavy basin filled with modelling-clay upon the large table in the middle of the dining-room, we sat down with eusapia around the little experiment-table more than a yard distant. after some minutes of waiting, the basin came of itself and stood on our table! eusapia groaned, writhed, and trembled in all her limbs; yet not for a moment did her hands quit ours. then she cried, "_e fatto_" ("it is done"). the candle is lighted again, and we find an irregular hollowed place upon the surface of the clay. this hollow place, afterward filled with plaster, gives us a perfect cast of the contracted fingers of a hand. we placed upon the table a plate smeared with lampblack. the mysterious hand left there the print of the end of its fingers. the hands of the experimenters, including those of eusapia, _remained white_. we next induced the medium to reproduce the impression of her own hand upon another lamp-smoked plate. she did so. the layer of soot removed by her fingers had deeply blackened them. a comparison of the two plates enabled us to prove a striking resemblance,--that is to say (to speak more accurately), the identity of the arrangement of the spiral circles in the epidermis of the two hands; and we know that the arrangement of these circles is unique in every individual. this is a particular which speaks eloquently in favor of the hypothesis of the double personality of the medium. in order mechanically to control the movements of eusapia's feet, dr. ochorowicz employed the following piece of apparatus. two deep and narrow cigar-boxes were placed under the table, and eusapia put her unshod feet into them. the boxes had double bottoms and were provided with an electrical arrangement of such a nature that she could move her feet freely for some inches in every direction; but, if she wished to withdraw them from the box, the electric bell tinkled before she had moved them half way to the top, and only stopped when they were returned to their place. eusapia cannot remain utterly quiet during the séances. so she was given a certain freedom of movement; but it was impossible for her to make use of her legs for lifting the table. _under these conditions the table, weighing twenty-five pounds, rose up twice without the bell being heard._ during the second levitation the table was photographed underneath. (the four feet of the table are seen in the photograph. the left is in contact with eusapia's dress, as is always the case when the light is strong; but the boxes holding the feet of the medium are in their place.) then the experimenters verified the fact that the bell was heard, not only when she removed her foot, but when she lifted it too high in the box. after all these demonstrations, i will not do my readers the wrong of thinking that the levitation of the table is not more than proved for all of them. here, now, is a curious observation relative to the inflation of the curtain: ten persons were seated around the table. eusapia had her back turned to the curtain; she was controlled by general starynkiewicz and dr. watraszewski. i was seated (writes m. glowacki-prus) opposite eusapia, near mlle. x., a very nervous person and easily hypnotized. the séance had lasted for about an hour, with numerous and varied phenomena. eusapia, as always, was in a semi-conscious state. suddenly she awoke, and mlle. x. uttered a cry. knowing what this cry meant, i grasped her hand with great force and then put my arm about her; for this girl becomes very strong in certain states. the room was well lighted, and this is what we saw (something, be it noted, which i myself experienced by my hands). every time that the muscles of mlle. x. became more tense and rigid, the curtain which hung opposite her, at a distance of from seven to ten feet, made a movement. the following table indicates the details of this correlation: feeble tension of the muscles the curtain is set in motion. strong tension it bellies out like a sail. very strong tension, cries it reaches as far as eusapia's controllers, and almost wholly covers them. repose repose. tension of the muscles movement of the curtain. strong tension strong inflation of the curtain. this tabular view presents the striking proportion which i ascertained between the tension of the medium's muscles (who in this case was mlle. x.) and the mechanical work of the curtain in movement. this experiment is so much the more interesting since it was not eusapia who made it; and, if she had a trick for inflating the portières, it was not employed in this case. we already know that she had none. here are the conclusions of m. ochorowicz: 1. i did not find any proofs in favor of the spiritualistic hypothesis; that is to say, in favor of the intervention of an intelligence other than that of the medium. "john" is for me only a psychic double of the medium. consequently, i am not a spiritualist. 2. mediumistic phenomena are confirmatory of "magnetism" as opposed to "hypnotism"; that is to say, they imply the existence of a fluidic action apart from suggestion. 3. still, suggestion plays an important rôle in them, and the medium is only a mirror reflecting the forces and the ideas of those present. moreover, she possesses the power of realizing her own somnambulistic visions or those suggested by the company, simply by the process of externalizing them. 4. no purely physical force explains these phenomena, which are always of a psycho-physical nature, having a centre of action in the mind of the medium. 5. the phenomena proved do not contradict either mechanics in general or the law of the conservation of forces in particular. the medium acts at the expense of her own proper powers and at the expense of those of the persons present. 6. there exists a series of transitions between mediumship of an inferior kind (automatism, unconscious fraud) and mediumship of a superior kind or externalization of motivity (action at a distance without visible and palpable connecting link). 7. the hypothesis of a "fluidic double" (astral body), which, under certain conditions, detaches itself and acts independently of the body of the medium, seems necessary for the explanation of the greater part of the phenomena. according to this conception, the moving of objects without contact would be produced by the fluidic limbs of the medium.[35] sir oliver lodge, an eminent english physicist, rector of the university of birmingham, says that, on the invitation of dr. richet, he went to attend the experiments at carqueiranne, thoroughly convinced that he should not see there any instance of physical movement without contact but that what he saw completely convinced him that phenomena of that kind can have, under certain conditions, a real and objective existence. he vouches for the following verified facts: 1. movements of a chair at a distance, seen by the light of the moon, and in circumstances which proved that there was no mechanical connection. 2. the inflation and the movement of a curtain in the absence of wind or of any other ostensible cause. 3. the automatic winding up and moving about of a music-box. 4. sounds proceeding from a piano and from an accordion which had not been touched. 5. a key turned in a lock, on the inside of the room where the séances were held, then placed upon the table, and again put back into the lock. 6. the overturning, by means of slow and correct evolutions, of a heavy moving table, which was afterwards found thus turned upside down. 7. the levitation of a heavy table, under conditions in which it would have been impossible to lift it in ordinary circumstances. 8. the appearance of blue marks upon a table previously spotless, and this done without the help of the ordinary methods of writing. 9. the sensation of blows, as if some one were striking the head, the arms, or the back, while the head, the hands, and the feet of the medium were plainly in view or held apart from the portions of the body that were touched. it is plain enough what part the above statements play in our argument. they are throughout simply confirmations of the experiments described above. at cambridge, eusapia was taken in the very act of deception; namely, the substitution of hands. while the controllers believed that they were holding her two hands, they were only holding one of them: the other was free. so these experimenters at cambridge unanimously declared that "everything was fraud, from the beginning to the end," in eusapia paladino's _twenty séances_. in a paper sent to m. de rochas, m. ochorowicz contested this radical conclusion, for several reasons. eusapia is very susceptible to suggestion, and, by indulging her inclination to fraud and not hindering it, they incite her to it still more by a kind of tacit encouragement. moreover, her fraud is generally of an unconscious kind. i append here, as a particular illustration of this, a rather typical story about her: one evening, at varsovie (says m. ochorowicz), eusapia is sleeping in her chamber by the side of ours. i have not yet gone to sleep, when suddenly i hear her rising and moving about with bare feet in the drawing-room. then she enters her chamber again and approaches our door. i make a sign to mme. ochorowicz, who has waked up, to be quiet and to observe carefully what is going to take place. a moment after, eusapia gently opens the door, comes up to my wife's toilet-table, opens a drawer, shuts it, and goes away, carefully avoiding making any noise. i hastily dress myself and we enter her chamber. eusapia is quietly sleeping. the light of our candle seems to wake her. "what were you hunting for in our sleeping-room?" "i? i haven't left this place." seeing the uselessness of further questions, we go to bed again, advising her to sleep quietly. next day i ask her the same question. she is very much astonished and even troubled (she blushes slightly). "how should i dare," said she, "to enter your chamber during the night?" this accusation is very painful to her, and she tries to persuade us by all kinds of insufficient reasons that we are wrong. she denies the whole thing, and i am obliged to admit that she does not remember getting up or _even having conversed with us_ (it was just another somnambulistic state). i take a little table, and direct eusapia to put her hands on it. "very well," says she, "john will tell you that i don't lie." i then ask the following questions: "is it you, john, who came into our sleeping chamber last night?" "no." "was it the chambermaid?" (i suggest this idea for the express purpose of testing john's veracity.) "no," says he. "was it the medium herself?" "yes," says the table.--"no, it is not true," exclaims eusapia, seeing her hope banished--"yes," replies the table, forcibly. "was she in the trance state?" "no." "in her normal state?" "no." "in a spontaneous somnambulistic state?" "yes." "for what purpose?" "_she was hunting matches; for she was frightened in her sleep, and didn't want to sleep without light._" sure enough, there were always matches in the drawer opened by eusapia, except on this particular night. she therefore returned without getting any. while listening to the explanation of the table, eusapia shrugged her shoulders, but protested no longer. here, then, is a woman who, from time to time, has the power of passing from one psychical state to another. is it just to accuse such a creature of premeditated fraud, without the slightest medical and psychological examination, without the least attempt at verification?... m. ochorowicz adds here that, so far as he is concerned, the phenomena are not produced by a personality different from that of the medium, nor by a new independent occult force; but it is a special psychic condition which permits the vital _dynamism of the medium_ (the astral body of the occultists) _to act at a distance_, under certain exceptional conditions. it is the only hypothesis which seems _necessary in the actual state of our knowledge_. why does the medium so often try to release her hand? so far as the cambridge experimenters are concerned, the cause is very simple and always the same: she releases her hand in order to indulge in tricks. as a matter of fact, the reasons why she frees her hand are many and complicated. dr. ochorowicz's explanations are as follows: 1. let me observe, in the first place, that eusapia frequently releases her hand for no other reason than to touch her head, which is in pain at the moment of the manifestations. it is a natural reflex movement; and, in her case, it is a fixed habit. since, more often than not, she does not notice that she is doing it, or at least fails to give warning to her controller, the darkness justifies suspicions. 2. immediately before the mediumistic doubling of her personality, her hand is affected with hyperæsthesia and, consequently, the pressure of the hand of another makes her ill, especially in the dorsal quarter. she then most frequently places the hand which is to be mediumistically active _above_ and not below that of the controller, trying to touch it as little as possible. when the doubling of the personality is complete, and the dynamic hand more or less materialized, that of the medium contracts and rests heavily upon the controller, exactly at the moment that the phenomenon takes place. she is then almost insensible and all shrunken together. in very good mediumistic conditions the doubling is easy and the initial hyperæsthesia of short duration. in this case the medium allows her hand to be completely covered and the feet of the controllers to be _upon_ hers, as was always the case in our séances at rome in 1893; but, since that time, she can no longer endure that position, and rather prefers to be held by hands under the table. 3. in accordance with psychological laws, the hand always proceeds automatically in the direction of our thoughts (cumberlandism). the medium acts by auto-suggestion, and the order to go as far as an indicated point is given by her brain simultaneously to the dynamic hand and the corporeal hand, since in the normal state they form only one. and since, immediately after the hyperæsthesia, the muscular sensation is excited and the hand grows benumbed, it sometimes happens (especially when the medium proceeds carelessly and does not properly govern her movements) that the dynamic hand remains in place, while her own hand goes in the indicated direction. the former, not being yet materialized, produces only a semblance of pressure; and another person, able to see a little in the darkness, will perceive nothing of it, and will even be able to ascertain by touch the absence of the medium's hand from that of the controller. at the same time the hand of the medium is going in the direction of the object; and _still it may happen that it does not really reach it, acting, as it does, at a distance, by a dynamic prolongation_. it is in this way that i explain the cases in which the hand, being released, has not yet been able to reach the point aimed at (physically inaccessible), as well as the numerous experiments made at varsovie in full light, with a little bell hung in different ways, with compasses of different forms, with a very small table, etc.,--experiments in which eusapia's fingers were quite near, but did not touch, the object. i proved that there was no electric force at work in these cases, but that things occurred as if the arms of the medium were lengthened and acted invisibly, but _mechanically_. at varsovie, when one of my friends m. glowacki, took it into his head "that it was necessary to give the medium free rein, in order to discover her method," we had an entirely fraudulent séance and lost our time to no purpose. on the contrary, in a poor séance at l'île roubaud, we obtained some good phenomena after having frankly told the medium that she was cheating. and here are the conclusions of the author upon "the cambridge frauds": 1. not only was _conscious_ fraud not proved on eusapia at cambridge, but not the slightest effort was made to do so. 2. _unconscious_ fraud was proved in much larger proportions than in all the preceding experiments. 3. this negative result is vindicated by a blundering method little in accordance with the nature of the phenomena. such is also the opinion of dr. j. maxwell, and of all who are competent judges of the question. to sum up, we see that the influence of preconceived ideas, opinions, and sentiments, upon the production of phenomena, is certain. when all the experimenters have nearly the same sympathetic inclination for this kind of research, and when they have decided to exercise sufficient "control" (that is, watchful oversight) not to be the dupe of any mystification, and agree among themselves to accept the regrettable conditions of darkness necessary to the activity of these unknown radiations, and not to trouble in any way the apparent exigencies of the medium, then the resulting phenomena attain an extraordinary degree of intensity.[36] but if discord reigns, if one or more of the company persistently spy upon the acts of the medium, with the conviction that he or she must be cheating, the results are very much like the progress of a sailing vessel impelled by several contrary winds. the medium simply marks time without advancing; and little but sterile results are secured. _psychic forces are no less real than physical or chemical or mechanical forces._ in spite of the desire that we may have to convince prejudiced sceptics, it is advisable to invite only one of them at a time, and to place him next to the medium, in order that he may be at once astonished, shaken, and convinced. but in general this is not worth the trouble. in the month of september, 1895, a new series of experiments was made at l'agnélas, in the residence of colonel de rochas, president of the polytechnic school, with the assistance of dr. dariex, editor of the _annales des sciences psychiques_, count de gramont (doctor of science), dr. j. maxwell, deputy of the attorney-general at the court of appeals in limoges, professor sabatier, of the faculty of sciences at montpellier, and baron de watteville, a licentiate in science. they confirmed all the preceding details.[37] a similar series was held in september, 1896, at tremezzo, in the rooms of the blech family, then in summer residence at lake como; again at auteuil, at the home of m. marcel mangin, with mm. sully-prudhomme, dr. dariex, emile desbeaux, a. guerronnan, and mme. boisseaux also participating. let us stop for a moment to glance at this last séance. i will first mention the photograph of the table suspended in the air, a levitation which did not leave any doubt in the mind of the experimenters, any more than it does in that of the observer who examines with attention this photograph (pl. ix). the table descended slowly and the succession of images was registered by the photograph (same plate, cut b). the following is an extract from the report by m. de rochas upon this séance and the succeeding one: _september 21._--the table rises off its four feet. m. guerronnan has time to take a photograph of it, but he fears that it may not be good. we beg eusapia to begin again. she consents with good grace. the table is again lifted off its four feet. m. mangin notifies m. guerronnan who, from his post, could not see, and the table remains in the air until he has had time to take a picture of it (from three to four seconds at the most). the dazzling magnesium light enables us all to verify the reality of the phenomenon. the curtain, hung in the corner of the room, suddenly blows out and covers my head. then i feel in succession three pressures of a hand upon my head, the pressures growing stronger and stronger. i feel fingers which press as those of m. sully-prudhomme, my neighbor on the right, might do. i hold his left hand as a part of the chain of hands. it is a hand, it is fingers, which have just pressed upon me so; but whose? i have continually had eusapia's right hand upon my left hand, which she seized and tightly held at the moment of the production of the phenomenon.... i throw back the curtain, which has remained upon my head, and we sit waiting. "_meno luce_" ("less light") asks eusapia. the lamp is turned down more, and the remaining light shut off by a screen. facing me there is a window with closed outside shutters, but through which filters the light of the street. in the silence, my attention is caught by the appearance of a hand, the small hand of a woman. i can see it, owing to the feeble light coming from the window. [illustration: plate ix photograph of table suspended. the table fallen back.] it is not the shadow of a hand: it is a hand of flesh (i do not add "and of bone," for i have the impression that it has no bones). this hand opens and closes three times, sufficiently long to permit me to say: "whose hand is this?--yours, monsieur mangin?" "no." "then it is a materialization?" "undoubtedly: if you hold the medium's right hand, i hold the other." i had the _right hand_ of eusapia on my left hand, and _her fingers were interlaced with mine_. now the hand which i saw was a _right hand_, stretched out and presented in profile. it remained for a moment motionless in the air, at about from twenty-four to twenty-eight inches above the table and thirty-six inches from eusapia. as its immobility (i suppose) was the cause of my not seeing it, it therefore opened and closed: it was these movements which attracted my attention. my favorable position in respect to the window, unfortunately permitted me alone to see this mysterious hand; but m. mangin saw, at two separate times, not a hand, but the shadow of a hand outlined in profile upon the opposite window. eusapia turns her head in the direction of the curtain, behind which there is a leather-covered easy-chair, and, displacing the curtain, this chair comes and leans against me. she takes my left hand, lifts it above the table the whole length of her right arm, and makes the feint of rapping in the air: the echo of three blows is heard on the table. a little bell is placed before her. she stretches out her two hands to the right and the left of the bell at a distance of from three to four inches; then she draws back her hands toward her body, and, lo and behold! the bell comes gliding along over the table until it bumps against something and falls over. eusapia repeats the experiment several times. you would think that her hands were invisibly prolonged; and that seems to me to justify the term "ectenic force," which professor thury, of geneva, gave in the year 1855 to this unknown energy. i was just asking if she did not perchance have some invisible thread between her fingers, when suddenly, an irresistible itching made her put her left hand to her nose; her right had remained upon the table near the bell; the two hands at this moment were about two feet apart. i observed carefully. eusapia rested her left hand upon the table, some inches from the bell, and this was again set in motion. considering the gesture made by her, it would have been necessary, in order to perform this feat, to have a wonderfully elastic thread, absolutely invisible; for our eyes were, so to speak, upon the bell, and the light was abundant. my eyes were only a foot distant from the bell, at the utmost. this was a certain and undeniable case, and sully-prudhomme returned to his home with me as thoroughly convinced as i am. the poet of _solitudes_ and of _justice_, wrote on his part, as follows: after a rather long wait, an architect's stool came marching up all alone toward me. it grazed my left side, rose to the height of the table, and succeeded in placing itself upon it. as i lifted my hand, i felt it at once seized. "why do you take my hand?" i asked of my neighbor. "it was not i," said he. while these phenomena were taking place, eusapia seemed to be suffering. it seemed as if out of her own physiological fund or stock she were furnishing all the force required to put the objects in motion. after the séance, while she was still very much prostrated, we saw an easy-chair which was behind the curtain come rolling up behind her, as if to say, "hold on there! you've forgotten me!" my conviction is that i witnessed phenomena which i cannot relate to any ordinary physical law. my impression is that fraud, in any case, is more than improbable,--at least so far as concerns the displacement at a distance of heavy articles of furniture arranged by my companions and myself. that is all that i can say about it. for my part, i call "natural" that which is scientifically proved. so that the word "mysterious" means that which still astonishes us because it cannot be explained. i believe that the scientific spirit consists in verifying facts, in not denying _a priori_ any fact which is not in contradiction with known laws, and in accepting none which has not been determined by safe and verifiable conditions. _séance of september 26._--a dark bust moves forward upon the table, coming from where eusapia sits; then another, and still another. "they look like chinese ghosts," says m. mangin, with this difference, that i, who am better placed, owing to the light from the window, am able to perceive the dimensions of these singular images, and above all their _thickness_. all these black busts are busts of women, of life size; but, although vague, they do not look like eusapia. the last of them, of fine shape, is that of a woman who seems young and pretty. these half-lengths, which seem to emanate from the medium, glide along between us; and, when they have gone as far as the middle of the table or two-thirds of its length, they sink down altogether (all of a piece, as it were), and vanish. this rigidity makes me think of the reproductions, or fac-similes, of a bust escaped from a sculptor's atelier, and i murmur, "one would think he was looking at busts moulded in papier-maché." eusapia heard me. "no, not papier-maché," she says indignantly. she does not give any other explanation, but says (this time in italian), "in order to prove to you that it is not the body of the medium, i am going to show you a man with a beard. attention!" i do not see anything, but dr. dariex feels his face rubbed against for quite a while by a beard. new experiments made at genoa in 1901, at which eurico morselli, professor of psychology at the university of genoa, was present, were reported by my learned friend the astronomer porro, successively director of the observatories of genoa and turin, to-day director of the national observatory of the argentine republic at la plata. here are some extracts from this report:[38] nearly ten years have passed since eusapia paladino made her first appearance in the memorable séances at milan during the course of her mediumistic tours through europe. the object of shrewd investigations on the part of experienced and learned observers; the butt of jokes, accusations, sarcasms; exalted by certain fanatics as a personification of supernatural powers and scoffed at by others as a mountebank,--the humble haberdasher of naples has made so much stir in the world that she is herself bored and displeased by it. i had good proof of this when i took leave of her, after i had listened with much curiosity to the anecdotes which she related to me of her séances and of the well-known men with whom she has been associated,--ch. richet, schiaparelli, lombroso, flammarion, sardou, aksakof, et al. she then very emphatically asked me not to speak in the journals of her presence at genoa and of the experiments in which she should figure there. happily, she has good reasons herself for not reading the journals.[39] why was an astronomer chosen to give an account of the experiments at genoa? because astronomers are occupied with researches into the unknown.[40] if a man absorbed in his own private studies and attached to an austere and laborious manner of life, such as my venerated master m. schiaparelli, has not hesitated to defy the irreverent jests of the comic journals, it behooves us to conclude that the bond between the science of the heavens and that of the human soul is more intimate than appears. the following is the most probable explanation. we have to do in these studies with phenomena which are manifested under wholly special and still undetermined conditions, in conformity with laws almost unknown and, in any case, of such a character that the will of the experimenter has but little influence upon the unshackled, self-regulating, and often adverse volitions which betray themselves at every moment in the study of these psychical marvels. nobody is better prepared to study these things than an astronomer, possessing, as he does, a scientific education precisely adapting him to the investigation of such conditions. in fact, by the systematic observation of the movements of the heavenly bodies, the astronomer contracts the habit of being a vigilant and patient spectator of phenomena, without attempting either to arrest or to accelerate their irresistible development. in other words, the study of the stars belongs to the science of _observation_ rather than to that of _experiment_. professor porro then sets forth the actual state of the question relating to mediumistic phenomena. the explanation that everything is fraud, conscious or unconscious [says he], is to-day almost entirely abandoned, as much so as that which supposes that all is hallucination. in fact, neither one nor the other of these hypotheses is sufficient to throw light upon the observed facts. the hypothesis of unconscious automatic action on the part of the medium has not obtained any better fate; for the most rigorous controls have only proved that the medium finds it impossible to excite a direct dynamic effect. physio-psychology has therefore been obliged, in these latter years, to have recourse to a supreme hypothesis, by accepting the theories of m. de rochas, against which they had heretofore directed the fire of their heaviest guns. it has become resigned to the admission that a medium whose limbs are held motionless by a rigorous control may, under certain conditions, project outside of herself, to a distance of several yards, a force sufficient to produce certain phenomena of movement in inanimate bodies. the boldest partisans of this hypothesis go so far as to accept the temporary creation of pseudo-human limbs,--arms, legs, heads,--in the formation of which the energies of other persons present probably co-operate with those of the medium. the theory is that as soon as the energizing power of the medium is withdrawn these phantom dynamic limbs at once dissolve and disappear. for all that, we do not yet go so far as to admit the existence of free and independent beings who would be able to exercise their powers only through the human organism; and still less do we admit the existence of spirits who once animated the forms of human beings.... m. porro openly declares that, for his part, he is neither a materialist nor a spiritualist: he says that he is not ready to accept, _a priori_, either the negations of psycho-physiology or the faith of spiritualists. he adds that the nine persons who were present with him at the séances represented the greatest variety of opinions on the subject, from the most firmly persuaded spiritualists to the most incorrigible sceptics. moreover, his task was not that of writing an official report, approved by all the experimenters, but solely that of faithfully relating his own impressions. the following are the _most important_ of these, selected from his reports on the different séances: i saw, and plainly saw, the rough deal table (a table a yard long and nearly two feet wide and resting on four feet) rise up several times from the floor and, without any contact with visible objects, remain suspended in the air, several inches above the floor, during the space of two, three, and even four seconds. this experiment was renewed _in full light_ without the hands of the medium and of the five persons who formed the chain about the table touching the latter in any way. eusapia's hands were looked after by her neighbors, who controlled also her legs and her feet in such a way that no part of her body was able to exercise the least pressure for the lifting or maintaining in the air of the rather heavy article of furniture used in the experiments. it was under such absolutely trustworthy conditions as these that i was able to see inflated _a very thick piece of black cloth_ and the red curtains which were behind the medium, and which served to close the embrasure of the window. the casement was carefully closed, there was no current of air in the room, and it is absurd to suppose that persons were hidden in the embrasure of the window. i believe, then, that i can affirm with the utmost confidence that _a force_, analogous to that which had produced the levitation of the table, was manifested in the curtains, _inflated them, shook them, and pushed them_ out in such a way that they touched now one and now another of the company. during the sitting an event took place which deserves to be mentioned as a proof, or at least as an indication, of the _intelligent_ character of the force in question. being face to face with mme. paladino, at a point in the table the most removed from her, i complained that i had not been touched as had the four other persons who formed the company. no sooner had i said this than i saw the heavy curtain sweep out and come and hit me in the face with its lower edge, at the same time that i felt a light blow upon the knuckles of my fingers, as if from a very fragile and light piece of wood. next a formidable blow, like the stroke of the fist of an athlete, is struck in the middle of the table. the person seated at the right of the medium feels that he is grasped in the side; the chair in which he was seated is taken away and placed upon the table, from which it then returns to its place without having been touched by anybody. the experimenter in question, who has remained standing, is able to take his seat in the chair again. the control of this phenomenon left nothing to desire. the blows are now redoubled, and are so terrific that it seems as if they would split the table. we begin to perceive hands lifting and inflating the curtains and advancing so far as to touch first one, then the other, of the company, caressing them, pressing their hands, daintily pulling their ears or clapping hands merrily in the air above their heads. it seems to me very singular and perhaps intentional,--this contrast between the touches (sometimes nervous and energetic, and again delicate and gentle, but always friendly) and the deafening, violent, brutal blows struck upon the table. a single one of these fist-blows, planted in the back, would suffice to break the vertebral column. the hands that perform these feats are the strong and brawny hands of a man, the daintier hands are those of a woman, the very small hands those of children. the darkness is rendered a little less dense, and at once the chair of no. 5 (professor morselli), which had already made a jump to one side, is slipped from under him, while a hand is placed on his back and on his shoulder. the chair gets up on the table, comes down again to the floor, and, after different horizontal and vertical oscillations, soars up and rests upon the head of the professor, who has remained standing. it remains there for some minutes in a state of very unstable equilibrium. the loud blows and the delicate touches of hands, large and small, succeed each other uninterruptedly in such a way that, without our being able mathematically to prove the simultaneousness of different phenomena, it is yet almost certain in several cases. while our opportunities for obtaining so valuable a subject of demonstration increase, the simultaneity which we ask for is at last granted; for the table raps, the bell sounds, and the tambourine is carried tinkling over our heads all about the room, rests for a moment on the table, and then resumes its flight in the air.... a bouquet of flowers, placed in a carafe on the larger table, comes over onto ours, preceded by an agreeable perfume. stems of flowers are placed in the mouth of no. 5; and no. 8 is hit by a rubber ball, which rebounds upon the table. the carafe comes over to join the flowers on our table; it is then immediately lifted and put to the mouth of the medium, and she is made to drink from it twice; between the two times it sinks down to the table and stands there for a moment right side up. we distinctly hear the swallowing of the water, after which mme. paladino asks some one to wipe her mouth with a handkerchief. finally, the carafe returns to the large table. but a transfer of a totally different character is effected in the following way. i had complained several times that my position in the chain at a distance from the medium had hindered me from being touched during the séance. suddenly, i hear a noise on the wall of the room, followed by the tinkling of the strings of the guitar, which vibrate as if some one were trying to take down the instrument from the wall on which it hung. at last the effort succeeds, and the guitar comes toward me in an oblique direction. i distinctly saw it come between me and no. 8, with a rapidity which rendered the impact of it rather unpleasant. not being able at first to account to myself for this dim black object which was driving at me, i slipped to one side (no. 8 was seated at my left). then the guitar, changing its route, struck forcibly with its handle three blows upon my forehead (which remained a little bruised for two or three days), after which it came to a rest with delicate precision upon the table. it did not remain there very long before it began to circle about the hall, with a rotation to the right, quite high above our heads, and at great speed. it is proper to remark that, in this rotation of the guitar, the vibration of its own strings was added to the sound of the tambourine struck sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other, in the air; and the guitar, bulky as it was, never once struck the central supporting electric-light rod, nor the three gas lamps fixed on the walls of the chamber. when we take into consideration the contracted dimensions of the room, we see that it was very difficult to avoid these obstacles, since the space remaining free was very limited. the guitar took its flight twice around the room, coming to a stand-still (between the two times) in the middle of the table, where finally it came to a rest. in a final supreme effort, eusapia turns toward the left, where upon a table is a typewriting machine weighing fifteen pounds. during the effort the medium falls exhausted and nervous upon the floor; but the machine rises from its place and betakes itself to the middle of our table, near the guitar. in full light, eusapia calls m. morselli, and, controlled by the two persons next her, brings him with her toward the table, upon which is placed a mass of modelling-plaster. she takes his open hand and pushes it three times toward the plaster, as if to sink the hand into it and leave upon it an impression. m. morselli's hand remains at a distance of more than four inches from the mass: nevertheless, at the end of the séance, the experimenters ascertain that the lump of plaster contains the impression of three fingers,--deeper prints than it is possible to obtain directly by means of voluntary pressure. the medium lifts her two hands, all the time clasped in mine and in those of no. 5 (morselli), and uttering groans, cries, exhortations, _she rises with her chair_, so far as to place its two feet and the ends of its two front cross-bars upon the top of the table. it was a moment of great anxiety. the levitation was accomplished rapidly, but without any jarring or jolting or jerking. in other words, if, in an effort of extreme distrust you insisted on supposing that she employed some artifice to obtain the result, you would rather have to think of a pulling up, by means of a cord and pulley, rather than of a pushing from beneath. but neither of these hypotheses can stand the most elementary examination of the facts.... there is more to follow. eusapia was lifted up still farther with her chair, from the upper part of the table, in such a way that no. 11 on one side and i on the other were able to pass our hands under her feet and under those of the chair. moreover, the fact that the posterior feet of the chair were entirely off of the table, without any visible support makes this levitation still more irreconcilable with the supposition that eusapia could have made her body and the chair take an upward leap. m. porro judges that this phenomenon is one of those which are less easily explained if we decline to have recourse to the spiritualistic hypothesis. it is a little like the man who fell into the water and thought he could pull himself out by his own hair. eusapia [adds m. porro] descended without any jolting, little by little, no. 5 and i never letting go her hands. the chair, having risen up a little higher, turned over and placed itself on my head, whence it spontaneously returned to the floor. this thing was tried again. eusapia and her chair were transported again to the top of the table, only, this time, the result of the fatigue undergone by her was such that the poor woman fell in a faint upon the table. we lifted her down with all due care. the experimenters desired to know whether these phenomena, the success of which depends in so great measure upon the conditions of light, could not have better success in the white and quiet light of the moon. they were obliged to admit that there was no appreciable difference between the lunar light and other kinds. but the table around which they had formed the chain quitted the veranda where the sitting was being held, and, in spite of the strongly expressed wishes of the sitters and of the medium herself, betook itself into the neighboring room, where the sitting then continued. this room was a little salon crowded with elegant furniture and fragile objects, such as crystal chandeliers, porcelain vases, bric-à-brac, etc. the experimenters feared very much that these things would suffer damage in the bustle of the séance; but not the slightest object suffered any damage. mme. paladino, who was now herself again, took the hand of no. 11 and placed it gently upon the back of a chair, at the same time placing her own hand upon his. then, as she lifted her hand and that of no. 11, _the chair followed the same ascending movement_ several times in succession. this thing was repeated in full light. no. 5, as well as other gentlemen, perceived, in a manner that admitted of no doubt, a vague, indistinct figure thrown upon the air in the doorway of an antechamber which was feebly illuminated. the figure consisted of changing and fugitive silhouettes, sometimes with the outline of a human head and body, sometimes like hands reaching out from the curtains. their objective character was demonstrated by the agreement of impressions, which were controlled in their turn by means of continual inquiries. there was no possibility of their being shadows voluntarily or involuntarily projected by the bodies of the experimenters, since we were mutually watching each other. the tenth séance (the last) was one of the best-attended, and was perhaps the most interesting of all. scarcely has the electric light been extinguished when we remark an automatic movement of the chair upon which a lump of plaster has been placed, while the hands and feet of eusapia are watchfully controlled by me and by no. 3. however, as we wish to forestall the objection of critics that the phenomena take place in the dark, the table typtologically (that is, by taps) asks for light, and the experimenters light the electric lamp. presently, _all the company see the chair_ on which the lump of plaster lies (not at all a light chair) _moving between myself and the medium_, without our being able to understand the determining cause of the movement. mme. paladino puts her outspread hand upon the back of the chair and her left above it. when our hands rise up, the chair rises also without contact, reaching a height of about six inches. this performance is several times repeated, with the addition of the intervention of the hand of no. 5, under conditions of light and of control which leave nothing to be desired. the room is again almost completely darkened.... a current of cold air upon the table precedes the arrival of a little branch with two green leaves. we know that there are no plants in the neighborhood of the company: it appears then that we have here a case of _bringing-in_ from the outside. no. 3 is greatly exhausted with the heat. and, lo! a hand, which takes his handkerchief from his neck and with it dries the perspiration on his face. he tries to seize the handkerchief with his teeth, but it is snatched from him. a big hand lifts his left hand and makes him rap several strokes with it on the table. gleams of light begin to appear, at first on the right hand of no. 5, then in different parts of the hall. they are perceived by everybody. the curtain is inflated, as if it were pushed against by a strong wind, and touches no. 11, who is seated in a small easy-chair a yard and a half from the medium. the same person is touched by a hand, while another hand pulls a fan from the inside pocket of his jacket, carries it to no. 5 and then to no. 11. the fan is soon returned to its owner, and is moved to and fro above our heads, to the great satisfaction of all of us. a tobacco pouch is taken from the pocket of no. 3: the invisible empties it on the table, and then gives it to no. 10. various stems of plants drop upon the table. transfers of the fan from one hand to another begin again. then no. 11 believes that he ought to announce that the fan had been offered to him by a young girl who had expressed the wish that it be transferred to no. 11, then given back to no. 5. nobody knew about this except no. 11. no. 5, who at present occupies the small arm-chair where formerly no. 11 was seated, a yard and a half from the medium, feels the edge of the curtain touching him and then perceives the presence of the body of a woman whose hair rests on his head. the séance is adjourned about one o'clock. at the moment of parting, eusapia sees a bell on the piano; she extends her hand; the bell glides along on the piano, turns over, and falls on the floor. the experiment is renewed, in full light as before, the hand of the medium remaining several inches from the bell.... it is evident that these exploits are still more extraordinary than the preceding ones, in certain respects. the following are the _conclusions_ of the report of professor porro. the phenomena are real. they cannot be explained either by fraud or by hallucination. do they find their explanation in certain strata of the unconscious (the subliminal), in some latent faculty of the human soul, or indeed do they reveal the existence of other entities living under conditions wholly different from ours and normally inaccessible to our senses? in other words, will the _animistic_ hypothesis suffice to solve the problem and to do away with the _spiritualistic_ hypothesis? or, rather, do not the phenomena serve here, as in the psychology of dreams, to complicate the problem by hiding the spiritualistic solution within them? it is to this formidable query that i am going to attempt a reply. when, eleven years ago, alexander aksakof stated the dilemma between animism and spiritism, and in a masterly work clearly proved that purely animistic manifestations were inseparable from those which direct our thoughts to a belief in the existence of independent, intelligent, and active entities, no one could have expected that the first term of the dilemma would be disputed and criticised in a thousand ways, under a thousand varying forms, by persons who would be dismayed at the second term. in fact, what are all the hypotheses which for ten years now have been invented in order to reduce mediumistic phenomena to the simple manifestation of qualities latent in the human _psyche_ (or soul), if not different forms of the animistic hypothesis, so jeered at when it appeared in the work of aksakof? from the idea of the unconscious muscular action of the spectators (put forth half a century ago by faraday) to the projection of protoplasmic activity or to the temporary emanation from the body of the medium imagined by lodge; from the psychiatric doctrine of lombroso to the psycho-physiology of ochorowicz; from the externalization admitted by rochas to the eso-psychism of morselli; from the automatism of pierre janet to the _duplication of personality_ of alfred binet,--there was a perfect flood of explanations, having for their end the elimination of an exterior personality. the process was logical and in agreement with the principles of scientific philosophy, which instructs us to exhaust the possibilities of what is already known before having recourse to the unknown. but this principle, unassailable in theory, may lead to erroneous results when it is wilfully stretched too far into a given field of research. vallati has cited, in this connection, a curious marginal note of galileo, recently published in the third volume of the national edition of his works: "if we heat amber, the diamond, and certain other very dense substances by chafing them, they attract small light bodies, because, in cooling off, they attract the air, which draws these corpuscles along with it." thus the desire to bring still unexplained material facts under the known physical laws of his day led an observer and thinker so prudent and practical as galileo to formulate a false proposition. if anybody had said to him that in the attraction exercised by amber there was the germ of a new branch of science and the rudimentary manifestation of an energy (electricity) then unknown, he would have replied that it was useless to "have recourse to the aid of the unknown." but the analogy between the error committed by the great physicist and that which modern scholars commit can be pushed still farther. galileo was familiar with a form of energy which the natural philosophy of our times investigates simultaneously with electric energy, with which it has close relations confirmed by all recent discoveries. if it had been perceived that the explanation which he gave of the phenomenon of amber had no foundation, he would have been able to give his attention to the analogies which the attraction exercised by amber rubbed over light bodies presents with the attraction exercised by the loadstone upon iron filings. when he had got so far, he would very probably have discarded his first hypothesis and would have admitted that the attractive power of amber is a _magnetic phenomenon_. he would have been deceived, however, for it is an _electric phenomenon_. in the same way might not those persons deceive themselves who, in order to escape at any cost the necessity of the hypothesis of spiritistic entities, should insist with a too persistent predilection upon the animistic hypothesis, even when this would be found insufficient to explain all mediumistic manifestations? might it not be true that, like electric and magnetic phenomena, which are in close interchangeable connection, and frequently appear to us inseparable, animistic and spiritistic phenomena have a common bond? and let us well note that a single fact, inexplicable by the animistic hypothesis and explicable by the spiritistic hypothesis, would suffice to confer upon the latter that degree of scientific value which up to the present time has been so energetically denied to it, just as the discovery of a secondary phenomenon, that of the polarization of light, sufficed to make fresnel reject the newtonian theory of emission and admit that of undulation. did we obtain, during the course of our ten séances with eusapia, the one fact which is enough to make the spiritistic hypothesis necessarily take precedence of all others? it is impossible to reply categorically to this question because it is not possible, and never will be, to have a scientific proof of the identity of the beings who manifest themselves. the fact that i hear, that i see, that i touch a phantom; that i recognize in it the form and the attitude of persons whom i have known and whom the medium has neither known nor of whom she has even heard the names; that i have the most lively and affecting testimony to the presence of this ephemeral apparition,--all that will not be sufficient to constitute the scientific fact which none can refute, and which shall be worthy to remain in the annals of science along with the experiments of torricelli, archimedes and galvani. it will always be possible to imagine an unknown mechanism by the aid of which elemental substance and power may be drawn from the medium and the sitters and combined in such a way as to produce the indicated effects. it will always be possible to find in the special aptitudes of the medium, in the thought of the sitters, and even in their attitude of expectant attention, the cause of the _human_ origin of the phenomena. it will always be possible to unearth from the arsenal of the attacks made upon these studies during the last fifty years, some generic or specific argument, either _ad rem_ or _ad hominem_, while ignoring or feigning to ignore the refutation of the argument which has already been made. the question, then, reduces itself at once to an individual study of cases either directly observed or obtained from some sure hand, in order on the one hand, to create a personal conviction capable of resisting the scathing ridicule of the sceptics, and, on the other hand, to prepare public opinion to admit the truth of cases observed by persons worthy of credence. with regard to the first of these, the illustrious experimenter sidgwick, has already said that no fact or case exists capable of convincing everybody, but that each one, by patiently and calmly observing, may find such fact or case as will suffice to establish his own conviction. i may say that for myself such a case exists. i need only refer to the phenomena in which i have personally participated in the séances with eusapia. with regard to the second point i could say much, but that would lead me beyond the subject matter and the limits of this study. on the one hand, we have the universal belief in the objective existence of a world unknown to us in our normal state; that faith (the basis of all religions) in a future life where the injustices of this one will be atoned for and where we shall be confronted with the good or evil deeds that we have done on earth; that uninterrupted tradition of systematic or spontaneous observances and rituals, thanks to which man is constantly kept in relation more or less with that unknown world. on the other hand, we have the sceptical and disheartening negation of systems of pessimistic philosophy and of atheism, a negation which takes its rise in the absence of positive proofs of the survival of the soul; the ever more and more marked tendency of science toward a monistic interpretation of the enigma of human life; and the belief that all the known phenomena of life appear only in connection with special organs. in order to decide in so abstruse a matter as this, mediumistic experiments do not suffice; everyone may draw from these as much of credence or of incredulity as he may need in order to resolve his doubts in one way or another; but he will never divest himself of the substratum of temperamental tendencies which the more or less scientific education of his mind or the more or less mystical inclinations of his nature shall have developed in him. one word more and i have done. while admitting it as the most probable hypothesis that the intelligent beings to whom we owe these psychical phenomena are pre-existing, independent entities, and that they only derive from us the conditions necessary for their manifestation in a physical plane accessible to our senses, ought we to admit also that they are really the spirits of the dead? to this question i will reply that i do not feel that i am as yet capable of giving a decisive answer. still i should be inclined to admit it, if i did not see the possibility that these phenomena might form part of a scheme of things still more vast. in fact, nothing hinders us from believing in the existence of forms of life wholly different from those which we know, and of which the life of human beings before birth and after death forms only a special case, just as the organic life of man is a special case of animal life in general. but i am leaving the solid ground of facts to explore that of the most hazardous hypotheses. i have already spoken at too great length, and will therefore close the discussion of this particular topic. i have considered the above subjects in several of my own works.[41] we are surrounded by unknown forces and there is no proof that we are not also surrounded by invisible beings. our senses teach us nothing about reality. but logically the discussion of theories ought to be reserved as a complement to the ensemble or summary of our observations and experiments; that is to say, for the last chapter. it behooves us before everything else positively to ascertain that mediumistic phenomena exist. it seems to me, that _this has been done_ for every impartial reader. this will be overwhelmingly confirmed by the following chapters. but there is one point on which we ought to dwell a moment. i mean the question of fraud, conscious or unconscious, which it would be natural, but unfair, to here ignore and cover up. our judicial review would not be complete did we not consecrate a special chapter to these mystifications, which unhappily are too frequently employed by mediums. chapter v frauds, tricks, deceptions, impostures, feats of legerdemain, mystifications, impediments several times in the preceding chapters the question has come up of fraud in the mediums. i am sorry to say that experimenters must be constantly on their guard against them. it is this which has discouraged certain eminent men and prevented them from continuing their researches, for their time is too precious to waste. this may be especially noticed in the letter of m. schiaparelli above (p. 64) whom spiritualists keep citing (wrongly) as among the number of their partisans. but he absolutely refuses to be identified with them. he accepts no theory; he is not even sure of the actual existence of the facts, and has declined to give the time needed for their authentication. i shall take occasion in the second volume of _the unknown_ to treat of spiritualism (properly so called), of the doctrine of the plurality of worlds, of the plurality of existences, of re-incarnation, of pre-existence, and of communications with the departed,--subjects independent of the material phenomena to a discussion of which the present work is devoted. to these subjects the physical manifestations only contribute in an indirect manner. as we have already several times said in the preceding pages, we are only concerned here to _prove the actual existence of these extraordinary phenomena_. the establishing of the proof depends above all upon the elimination of fraud. in the case of eusapia (the medium most thoroughly examined in the present volume) fraud, unhappily, has been only too well established in more than one instance. but a very important remark must here be made. all physiologists know that hysterical persons have a tendency to falsehood and simulation. they lie, apparently without reason, and solely for the pleasure of lying. there are hysterics among the women and young girls of the higher classes. does this characteristic defect prove that hysteria does not exist? it proves just the contrary. consequently, those who think that the frauds of the mediums give the death blow to mediumship are deceived. mediumship exists, as well as hysteria, as well as hypnotism, as well as somnambulism. trickery also exists. i will not say, with certain theologians, "there are _false_ prophets, _therefore_ there are _true_ ones," for that is a sophism of the worst kind. the existence of the false does not hinder the existence of the true. i knew a kleptomaniac, who got herself arrested more than once in the great shops of paris for stealing various articles. that does not prove that she never bought anything, and only obtained by theft all the articles she needed. on the contrary, the objects stolen must have represented but a small part of the materials of her toilet. but the fact that she stole is incontestable. in the experiments which we are considering in these pages, deception is a co-efficient which cannot be neglected. it is my duty to point out here some examples of this failing. before doing so, i ought to recall the fact that for a period of forty years i have examined all the mediums whose achievements have had the widest celebrity,--including daniel d. home, gifted with the most astounding powers, who gave at the tuileries, before the emperor napoleon iii, his family, and his friends, such extraordinary séances, and who was later employed by william crookes in the accurate scientific researches made by that gentleman; mme. rodière, a remarkable typtologic medium; c. brédif, who produced strange apparitions; eglington, with the enchanted slates; henry slade, who made with the astronomer zöllner those incredible experiments from which geometry only saved itself by admitting the possibility of a fourth dimension of space; buguet whose photographic plates caught and held the shadows of the dead, and who, having allowed me to experiment with him, let me conduct my researches for five weeks before i detected his fraudulent methods and mechanisms; lacroix, to whom spirits of all ages seemed to troop in crowds; and many others who inspire deep interest in spiritualists and scientific investigators by manifestations more or less strange and marvelous. i have quite often been absolutely deceived. when i took the precautions that were necessary to put the medium beyond the possibility of trickery, i obtained no result; if i pretended not to see anything i would perceive out of the corner of my eye attempts at deceit. and, in general, the phenomena which took place happened only in the moments of distraction in which my attention was for an instant relaxed. while i was pushing my investigation a little farther, i saw with my own eyes buguet's prepared negatives; saw with my own eyes slade writing under the table upon a concealed slate, and so forth. apropos of this famous medium slade, i may recall the fact that after his experiments with zöllner, director of the observatory at leipzig, he came to paris, and for the purpose of experimentation, placed himself at my disposal (and that of all the astronomers at the observatory to whom i should introduce him). he said he got direct writings from the spirits by a bit of pencil placed between two slates tied together, by oscillations of the magnetic needle, displacements of furniture, the automatic throwing about of objects, and the like. he was very willing to give me one séance a week, for six weeks (on monday at 11 o'clock a. m., at 21 beaujon street). but i obtained nothing certain. in the cases that did succeed, there was a possible substitution of slates. tired of so much loss of time, i agreed with admiral mouchez, director of the observatory of paris, to confide to slade a double slate prepared by ourselves, with the precautions which were necessary in order that we should not be entrapped. the two slates were sealed in such a way with paper of the observatory that if he took them apart he could not conceal the fraud. he accepted the conditions of the experiment. i carried the slates to his apartment. they remained under the influence of the medium, in this apartment, not a quarter of an hour, not a half-hour or an hour, but ten consecutive days, and when he sent them back to us there was not the least trace of writing inside; and yet specimens of this were always furnished by him when he had the opportunity of transposing slates prepared in advance.[42] without entering into other details, let it suffice me to say, that, too frequently deceived by dishonest and mendacious mediums, i brought to my experiments with eusapia a mental reserve of scepticism, of doubt, and of suspicion. the conditions of experimenting are in general so crooked that it is easy to be duped. and scientists and scholars are perhaps most easily duped of all men, because scientific observation of experiments is always honest, since we are not obliged to distrust nature,--when the question is of a star or of a molecule,--and since we have the habit of describing facts as they present themselves to our intelligence. that granted, we may now look at certain curious doings of eusapia. we considered a little farther back (p. 173) col. de rochas's strange experiment with the letter-weigher. this was considered by the experimenters as absolutely conclusive. i was curious to verify it. here are my notes on the matter. i. november 12, 1898.--this afternoon we took a drive in a landau (eusapia and i) in company with m. and mme. pallotti of cairo, and, among other things, we visited the exhibition of chrysanthemums at the tuileries. eusapia is enchanted. we return about 6 o'clock. my wife seats herself at the piano, and eusapia sings some neapolitan airs and some little fragments of italian operas. afterwards we all three chat confidentially with each other. she is in a very happy state of mind, tells us how sometimes on stormy days she experiences electric cracklings and sparkling in her hair, especially on an old wound that she once received on the head. she also tells us that when she has been a long time without holding a séance she is in a state of irritation, and feels the need of freeing herself of the psychic fluid which saturates her. this avowal astonishes me, for, at the end of every séance, she seems rather to be listless and melancholy and seems to hold a sitting rather unwillingly than otherwise. she adds that she frequently has fluidic prolongations of the ends of her fingers, and, putting her two hands on my knees, the inside of the hand turned upward, at the same time spreading out the fingers and placing them opposite each other face to face, at a distance of several inches, and alternately bringing the hands together and withdrawing them, she tells us to observe from time to time the radiations which prolong the fingers by forming a sort of luminous aureole at their extremities. my wife thinks she perceives some of them. i am unable to see anything at all, in spite of all my efforts, although i change the light and shade in all sorts of ways. the salon is lighted at this time by two intense auer burners. we go into the bedroom, lighted only by candles, and i cannot see them any better. i snuff out the candles, on the supposition that this is perhaps a case of phosphorescence; but i never perceive anything. we return to the salon. eusapia spreads a black woollen shawl over her silk skirt and shows me the luminous effluence. but all the time i can see nothing, unless it be for a moment a kind of pale ray at the end of the index finger of her right-hand. the dinner hour approaches. it is seven o'clock. a letter-weigher (pl. x), which i had bought to renew the curious experiment of m. de rochas, is upon the table. i ask eusapia if she remembers having made a piece of mechanism like this move downward on its spring by placing her hands on each side of it, at a distance, and making something like magnetic passes. she doesn't seem to remember anything about it and hums a little stanza from _santa lucia_. i beg that she will try it. she does so. nothing moves. she asks me to place my hands on hers. we make the same passes, and, to my amazement (for i really was not expecting it at all) the little tray sinks down to the point where it touches the lever and produces the sharp sound of contact. this point is beyond the graduation of the scale, which stops at fifty grams, and may go to sixty, and represents seventy grams at the lowest. the tray immediately rises again. we begin a second time. nothing. a third time: the same lowering and the same return to equilibrium. then i beg her to try the experiment alone. she rubs her hands together and makes the same passes. the letter weigher goes down to the same maximum point. we are all standing close by her, in the full light of the auer burners. the same performance is repeated, the tray remaining down for an interval of about five minutes. the movement does not take place at once; there are sometimes three or four trials without success, as if the force were exhausted by the result. the tray had already sunk down four times before our eyes, always as far as the maximum point, when the valet de chambre, passing by upon some matter of service, i tell him to stop and look. eusapia begins again and does not succeed. she waits a moment, rubs her hands, begins again, and the same movement without contact is produced for the seventh time, before the three witnesses, each as much astonished as the other. her hands are sensibly chilled. i think of the trick of the hair, pass my hands between both of hers and find nothing there; i did not see anything. besides, she does not seem to have touched her head, and her hands have remained before us since the commencement of the experiment, free and untouched. on the supposition that there may be here some electric force in operation, i beg her to place her fingers upon an extremely sensitive compass. in whatever way she grasps this, it refuses to move. we sit down to the dinner-table. i ask her to lift a fork as she had done at montfort. at the third trial she succeeds--and without the use of a hair, at least any that was apparent. ii. november 16.--in order to entertain eusapia, adolphe brisson yesterday evening offered her a box at the folies-bergère, where loie fuller was giving her magnificent spectacular exhibitions. we went there with her. she returned enchanted, is to-day very gay and very animated, speaks of her candid and loyal character and blames the comedies of fashionable life. during dinner she tells us a part of the story of her life. nine o'clock.--m. and mme. levy and m. g. mathieu have just arrived. we are conversing. placing her hands on a leg of m. mathieu in the darkness she shows him the radiations emanating from her fingers, which are however scarcely apparent to us. it was after having shown me these radiations, the other day, that the experiment of the letter-weigher took place. she associates the two phenomena, and undertakes to try the latter again. she asks me to give her a little water. i go to the dining-room in search of a carafe and a glass. during my absence, m. mathieu remarks that, while my wife is talking with m. and mme. levy, eusapia reaches her hand to her head and makes a little gesture as if she were pulling out a hair. [illustration: plate xi method used by eusapia to surreptitiously free her hand.] i return with a glass and a carafe and pour out for her as much as she wishes. she drinks a quarter of a glass of water. at my request, she moves her hands downward on each side of the letter-weigher in the same way as day before yesterday, and after two or three passes the tray sinks, not to its full length as day before yesterday, but to the mark of thirty-five or forty grams. the experiment was tried a second time and succeeded in the same way. under pretext of going in search of a photographic camera m. mathieu draws me into another room and shows me a long, very fine hair which fell into his hand after the experiment, at the moment when eusapia was making a gesture as if she were going to shake his hand. this hair is of a rich chestnut tint (the color of eusapia's hair) and measures fourteen inches in length. _i have preserved it._ this took place at quarter past nine. the sitting begins at 9:30 and finishes at 11:30. after the sitting, eusapia asks me for another glass of water, and shows me a little hair between her fingers. just as she is going, at midnight, half laughingly, half seriously, she pulls a hair from the front part of her head and, taking the hand of my wife, puts this hair in it and closes the hand while looking her in the eye. she certainly noticed that we had perceived fraud. iii. november 19.--eusapia is a sly one. she is gifted with great sharpness of sight and has unusually sensitive ears. she is very intelligent and is a person of rare delicacy of feeling. she perceives and divines everything which concerns herself. never reading, since she doesn't know how to read; never writing, since she doesn't know how to write; speaking little when here, since she rarely finds persons who understand and speak italian, she remains always concentrated in herself and nothing turns her from permanent thought about her own personality. it would undoubtedly be impossible to discover a similar state of mind in the case of other persons; for we, as they, are generally occupied with a thousand things which scatter our attention over many different objects. i arrive, at 11:30, at the rooms of dr. richet in order to escort eusapia to mme. fourton's, where we are to take luncheon. she is cold and constrained. i pretend not to notice it, and keep talking with the doctor. she goes to put on her hat and we descend the stairs. at the foot of the staircase she says, "what did m. richet say to you? what were you speaking of?" a moment after, returning in thought to our last séance, she says, "were you completely satisfied?" in the carriage i take her hand and converse with her in a friendly way. "everything is going very well," i say to her "but some experiments will still be necessary in order to leave no room for doubt." then i speak to her of other things. she becomes gradually sociable and her clouded brow seems to clear up. however, she evidently feels that in spite of my rather superficial amiability, i am not absolutely the same to her. during the luncheon she holds out her champagne glass to me and drinks my health. mme. fourton is convinced of eusapia's genuineness, beyond all manner of doubt. during conversation, a little later, eusapia says to her, "i am sure of you, i am sure of mme. blech, of m. richet, of m. de rochas; but i am not sure of m. flammarion." "you are sure of mme. fourton," i replied. "very well. but think for a moment of the several thousand persons who are waiting for my opinion in order to fix their own. m. chiaia told you this at naples, m. de rochas repeated it to you in paris. you see i have a very great responsibility and you yourself certainly see that i cannot affirm that of which i am not absolutely certain. you ought yourself loyally to aid me in obtaining that certainty." "yes," she replied, "i understand the difference very well. however, if it had not been for you i should not have made the journey from naples, for the climate of paris does not agree with me very well. oh, certainly; we must have you convinced beyond the possibility of doubt." she has now returned to her habitual intimacy. we took her to the museum at the louvre, which she had not visited, then to a meeting with m. jules bois who was making suggestion-experiments with mme. lina. eusapia is very much interested in these. we speak of the jests and mimickings of the comedians. in the evening, at dinner, the brilliant conversation of victorien sardou, the repartees of col. de rochas, the questions (a little insidious) of brisson, all interest her but it is evident that she never forgets herself. thus, before dinner, she tells me that she has the headache, especially in the neighborhood of her wound, passes her hand through her hair ("which hurts her"), and asks me for a brush. "in order," she says, that "in case of a séance experiment, a stray hair shall not be found in the wrong place." and she carefully brushes her shoulders. i do not always appear to understand her. but there is no doubt that she understands that we have--found a hair! iv. (more recent note,--march, 1906.) on thursday, march 29, eusapia, being in paris, came to see me. i had not seen her since her séances at my house in november, 1898. we kept her to dinner, and after dinner i asked her to take part with me in some experiments. i first asked her to place her hands upon the piano, thinking that perhaps some of its strings would vibrate. but nothing happened. i then induced her to place her hands on the covered keyboard. she asked that it be slightly opened by means of a little block. i placed my hands upon it, by the side of hers. my object was, by keeping up contact, to keep her from slipping a finger over the keys. she kept trying to substitute one hand for the two that i held, in such a way as to leave one of them free, and a few notes sounded. result of the experiment, _nil_. we left the piano and went over to a white-wood table. we got some insignificant balancings. "is there a spirit there?" "yes" (indicated by three raps.) "does it wish to communicate?" "yes." i pronounce slowly and in their proper order the letters of the alphabet. reply, "_tua matre_," ("thy mother.") this certainly means "tua madre." (note once more that eusapia does not know how to read or write.) eusapia noticed that i was in mourning and i had told her that my mother had died on the first of last july. i then asked to be told her name. (eusapia does not know it.) no reply. the movements of the table which were next asked for gave no results of any particular value. however, a stuffed arm-chair near by was several times shifted out of its place without contact, advancing of itself toward eusapia. since the chandelier was lighted, and there was no possibility of any string being used, and since i had my foot upon that one of eusapia's which was nearest the arm-chair, the movement must evidently have been due to a force emanating from the medium. i pushed the easy chair back three times. three times it returned. the same phenomenon was reproduced several days afterward. it is observable that if she had been able to detach her foot from mine, she would have been able to reach the chair (by some little twisting,) and the production of the phenomenon must have been within the range of her circle of activity (and of possible trickery). but, as the case was, deception was impossible. since we could not obtain any levitation of the table, and since the psychical force of the four of us (eusapia, myself, my wife, and eusapia's companion, who had joined us for a moment, but, who at other times, always remained apart) was clearly insufficient, i went and secured a lighter round table. then, with her hands placed _upon_ it in contact with mine, three of its feet were raised to a height of ten or twelve inches from the floor. we repeated the experiment three times, with gratifying success. eusapia squeezed my hands violently in one of hers (the right hand) which rested on the table. the whole séance is thus seen to have been a web of intermingled truth and falsehood. these notes remind us once more that there is almost always a mingling of veritable fact and of fraudulent performance. it is easy to admit that the medium, wishing to produce an effect, and having at her disposal for this purpose two means,--the one easy and demanding only skill and cunning, the other distressing, costly, and painful,--is tempted to choose, consciously or _even unconsciously_, that which costs her the least. the following is her method of procedure for obtaining the substitution of hands. the figures shown in plate xi represent four successive positions of the medium's hands and those of the sitters. they show how, owing to the darkness and to a skilful combined series of movements, she can induce the sitter on the right to believe that he still feels the right hand of the medium on his own, while he really feels her left hand, which is firmly held by the sitter on the left. this right hand of hers, being then free, is able to produce such effects as are within its reach. the substitution may be obtained in different ways. but, whichever method is used, it is evident that the freed hand can only operate in a space within its reach. who of us is always master of his impressions and of his faculties? writes dr. dariex in this connection.[43] who of us can at will put himself into such and such a physical condition and such and such a moral state? is the composer of music master of his inspiration? does a poet always write verses of equal worth? is a man of genius always a man of genius? now, what is there less normal, more impressionable, and more capricious than a sensitive, a medium, especially when she is away from home, thrown out of the routine of her daily life, and staying with those with whom she is unacquainted or knows very slightly, who are to be her judges and who expect from her the rare and abnormal phenomenon the production of which is not under the constant and complete control of her will? a sensitive placed in such a situation, will have a fatal propensity to feign the phenomenon which does not spontaneously materialize or to heighten by deceit the intensity of a partially successful experiment. this feigning is of course a very vexatious and regrettable thing. it throws suspicion upon the experiments, renders them much more difficult and less within the reach of the investigator. but this is only an impediment, and ought not to fetch us up short and lead us to give a premature decision. all of us who have experimented with and handled these sensitives know that at every step we run foul of fraud, conscious or unconscious, and that all mediums--or almost all--are used to the thing. we know that we must, unfortunately, take our share, for the moment, of this regrettable weakness, and be perspicacious enough to hinder, or at least to unearth the trickery, and to disentangle the true from the false. more than one of those who have engaged perseveringly in psychic experiments, can say that he has been sometimes enervated and irritated while waiting for a phenomenon which does not take place, and that he has felt something like a desire to put an end to this waiting by himself giving the extra twist or decisive touch.[44] such experimenters can understand that if, in place of being conscientious workers, always masters of themselves, incapable of deceiving, and engaged solely in the search for scientific truth, they were, on the contrary, somewhat dreamy and impulsive persons who were susceptible to suggestion and whose _amour propre_ was active, and in whose minds scientific probity did not hold the first and pre-eminent place, they would undoubtedly engage, more or less involuntarily, in the artificial production of phenomena which refused to take place in smooth and natural order. as to eusapia, if she does sometimes counterfeit, she does it only by eluding the watchful inspection of the experimenters and by escaping for a moment from their control; but she does it without any other artifice. her experiments are not planned, and, contrary to the habit of prestidigitators, she does not carry any apparatus upon her person. it is easy to assure one's self of this, for she is very willing to completely undress before a lady charged with keeping watch of her. furthermore, she exhibits her powers _ad libitum_ with the same persons, and repeats indefinitely the same experiments before them. prestidigitators do not act in this way. [illustration: plate x. scales used in professor flammarion's experiment.] it is infinitely to be regretted that we cannot trust the loyalty of the mediums. they almost all cheat. this is extremely discouraging to the investigator, and the constant perplexity of mind we feel during our investigations renders them altogether painful. when we have passed several days in these inexplicable researches and then return to scientific work,--to an observation or to an astromical calculation, for example, or to the examination of a problem in pure science,--we experience a sensation of freshness, calmness, relief, and serenity which give us, by contrast, the most lively satisfaction. we feel that we are walking on solid ground and that we have not got to distrust anybody. indeed, all the intrinsic interest of psychic problems is needed, sometimes, to give us the courage to renounce the pleasure of scientific study in order to give ourselves to investigations so laborious and perplexed. i believe that there is only one way to assure ourselves of the reality of the phenomena, and that is to put the medium under conditions in which trickery is impossible. to catch her in the very act of deceit would be extremely easy. it would only be necessary to give her free rein. and then one can very easily aid her to cheat and to get caught. all that is necessary is that we be convinced of her dishonesty. eusapia, especially, very easily takes suggestion. while going one day in an open carriage to dine at his residence, colonel de rochas said to her, in my presence, "you can't lift your right hand any more. try it!" she did try, but in vain. "non posso, non posso!" ("i can't do it, i can't do it!"). the mere suggestion had been sufficient. in the phenomena concerned with the movements of objects without contact she always makes a gesture corresponding to the phenomenon. a force darts forth from her and performs the deed. thus, for example, she strikes with her fist three or four strokes in the air at a distance of ten or twelve inches from the table: the same strokes are heard in the table. and it is positively in the wood of the table. it is not beneath it, nor upon the floor. her legs are held and she does not move them. she strikes five strokes with the middle finger upon my hand in the air: the five strokes are rapped upon the table (november 19). nay more, this force can be transmitted by another. i hold her legs with my left hand spread out upon them; m. sardou holds her left hand; she takes my right wrist in her right hand and says to me, "strike in the direction of m. sardou." i do so three or four times. m. sardou feels upon his body my blows tallying my gesture, with the difference of about a second between my motion and his sensation. the experiment is tried again with the same success. that same evening, not only did we not let go for a single instant of eusapia's hands, separated from each other by the width of her body and placed near our own, but we did not allow them to be moved from the side of the objects to be displaced. it took considerable time to obtain results. but, all the same, they were wholly successful. she has a tendency to go and take hold of the objects; she must be stopped in a good time. however, she herself does take hold of them, in fact, through the prolongation of her muscular force, and she says so: "i am grasping it, i have hold of it." it is our part to carefully retain her normal hands in ours. we sometimes have good reason to suspect that eusapia seizes the objects to be moved (such as musical instruments) with one of her hands which she has freed. but there is plenty of proof that she does not always do so. here is a case, for example. the scene is naples, 1902, at a séance with professor von schrenck-notzing: [illustration: fig. 2.] the séance took place in a little room, by a feeble light, but one sufficient for us to distinguish the personages and their movements. behind the medium, upon a chair, there was a harmonica, at the distance of about a yard. now, at a certain moment, eusapia took between her hands a hand of the professor and commenced to separate his fingers one from another and bring them together again, as may be seen in the accompanying cut. the harmonica was at that moment playing at a distance in tones that perfectly synchronized the movements made by eusapia. the instrument was isolated in the room. we made sure that there were no threads connecting it with the medium. still less could anybody fear accomplices, for the light would easily have betrayed their intervention. this performance was analogous to that which occurred in my presence on the 27th of july, 1897. (see above p. 72.) the following is a typical example of "sympathetic" movements, taken from a report by dr. dariex. the matter in hand was to make a key spring out from a lock. the light was strong enough for us to perfectly distinguish eusapia's every movement. all at once, the key of the chest is heard to rattle in its lock; but, caught in some unknown way, it refuses to budge. eusapia grasps with her right hand the left of m. sabatier, and, at the same time, curls the fingers of her other hand around his index finger. then she begins to make alternate movements of rotation back and forth around his finger. we at once hear synchronous rattlings of the key which turns in its lock just as the fingers of the medium are doing.[45] let us suppose that the chest, instead of being at a distance from the medium, had been within her reach; let us still further suppose that the light, instead of being abundant, had been feeble and uncertain: the sitters would not have failed to confound this kind of synchronous automatism with conscious and impudent fraud on the part of eusapia. and they would have been deceived. without excusing fraud, which is abominable, shameful, and despicable in each and every case, it can undoubtedly be explained in a very human way by admitting the reality of the phenomena. in the first place the real phenomena exhaust the medium, and only take place at the cost of an enormous expenditure of vital force. she is frequently ill on the following day, sometimes even on the second day following, and is incapable of taking any nourishment without immediately vomiting. one can readily conceive, then, that when she is able to perform certain wonders without any expenditure of force and merely by a more or less skilful piece of deception, she prefers the second procedure to the first. it does not exhaust her at all, and may even amuse her. let me remark, in the next place, that, during these experiments, she is generally in a half-awake condition which is somewhat similar to the hypnotic or somnambulistic sleep. her fixed idea is to produce phenomena; and she produces them, no matter how. it is, then, urgent, indispensable, to be constantly on the alert and to control all her actions and gestures with the greatest care. i could cite hundreds of analogous examples observed by myself in the years gone by. here is one taken from my notes. on the second of october, 1889, a spiritualistic séance had brought together certain investigators in the hospitable mansion of the countess of mouzay, at rambouillet. we were told that we had the rare good fortune to have with us a veritable and excellent medium,--mme. x., the wife of a very distinguished paris physician, herself well educated and inspiring by her character the greatest confidence. we arranged ourselves, four in all, around a little table of light wood. scarcely a minute has passed when the little table seems to be taken with trembling, and almost immediately it rises and then falls back. this vertical movement is repeated several times in the full light of the lamps of the salon. the next day the same levitation occurred in broad daylight, at noon, while we were waiting for a guest who was late to luncheon. this time the round table used was much heavier. "is there a spirit there?" some one asks. "yes." "is he willing to give his name?" "yes." someone takes an alphabet, counts the letters, and receives, by taps made by one of the feet of the table, the name léopoldine hugo. "have you something to say to us?" "charles, my husband, would like to be reunited to me." "but where is he?" "floating in space." "and you?" "in the presence of god." "all that is very vague. could you give us a proof of identity to show us that you are really the daughter of victor hugo, the wife of charles vacquerie? do you remember the place where you died?" "yes, at villequier." "inasmuch as the accident of your shipwreck in the seine is well known, and since the whole thing may be latent in our brains, could you please give us other facts? do you remember the year of your death?" "1849." "i do not think so," i replied, "for i have in my mind's eye a page of the _contemplations_ where the date of september 4, 1843, is written. has my memory played me false?" "yes. it is 1849." "you astonish me very much, for in 1843, victor hugo returned from spain on account of your death, while in 1849 he was a representative of the people in paris. moreover, you died six months after your marriage, which took place in february, 1843." at this point, the countess of mouzay remarked that she was very well acquainted with victor hugo and his family, that they were living then in the street of latour-d'auvergne, and that the date 1849 must be correct. i maintain the contrary. the spirit sticks to its fact. "in what month did the event take place?" "july." "no, it was in september. you are not léopoldine hugo. how old were you when you died?" "eighteen years. they don't remember very often to decorate my tomb with flowers." "where?" "at père-lachaise." "you are wrong, it was at villequier that you were buried, and i went myself to visit your tomb. your husband, charles vacquerie is also there, with the two other victims of the catastrophe. you don't know what you are talking about." at this point our hostess declares that she was not thinking at all of père-lachaise, and that, in her opinion, léopoldine hugo and her husband remained at the bottom of the seine. after luncheon we sit down again at the séance table. various oscillations. then a name is dictated. "sivel." "the aeronaut?" "yes." "in what year did you die?" "1875." (correct.) "what month?" "march." (it was april 15.) "from what point did your balloon start?" "la villette." (correct.) "where did you fall?" "in the river indre." all these "elements" were more or less known to us. i ask for a more special proof of identity. "where did you know me?" "with admiral mouchez." "it is impossible. i first knew admiral mouchez at the time of his appointment to the directorship of the paris observatory. he succeeded le verrier in 1877, two years after your death." the table is agitated and dictates as follows: "give your name." "witold. marchioness, i love you still." "are you happy?" "no, i behaved badly to you." "you know very well that i pardon you, and that i preserve the happiest recollection of you." "you are too good." these thoughts were evidently in the mind of the lady; so there was here no more proof of identity than in the other case. all of a sudden the table begins to move vigorously, and another name is dictated, "ravachol."[46] "oh, what is he going to say to us?" i will set down here what he said, though not without shame, and with all due apologies to my lady readers. here it is in all its crudity: "_bougres de crétins, votre sale gueule est encore plaine des odeurs du festin._" ("nasty blackguards and idiots, your dirty throat is still full of the odors of the feast.") "monsieur ravachol, this language of yours is exquisite! have you nothing more refined than this to say to us?" "you be blowed!" certainly no one of us was capable of consciously composing such a sentence as that. but everybody knows the words that were used. perhaps our conscious or sub-conscious thoughts spoke in them? did they emanate from mme. x., the medium? in the uncertainty into which we were plunged by these two séances, we asked m. and mme. x. to come and pass a sunday at juvisy and try some new studies and tests. they came, and on sunday, october 8, we obtained some remarkable levitations. but there are some dregs of doubt yet in our minds, and we make engagements for another reunion that day fortnight. on sunday, the 22d of october, 1899, in furtherance of my desire to exercise careful control over the investigators, i had four broad boards nailed together, forming a vertical frame in which i placed the little table to be used during the sitting. this framework made it impossible for the feet of the sitters to pass under the table; and if it rose in spite of this, then we should know that the levitation was due to an unknown force. the remarks of mme. x., when she saw this device, made me think at once that no levitation was going to take place. "this power of ours," said she, "is capricious; on some days we get good results, on others none at all, and for no apparent reason." "but we shall perhaps have raps, at any rate?" "certainly. we ought not to anticipate results. one can always try." two hours after luncheon, mme. x. agrees to try a sitting. _no levitation whatever occurred._ i had some suspicions that this would be the case. i ardently desired the contrary, and we willed the levitation with all our might. i was expressly careful to have the same experimenters (mme. x. and mme. cail, and myself) as a fortnight before, when everything succeeded so admirably,--same places, same chairs, same room, temperature, hour, etc. raps indicate that a spirit wishes to speak. i notice that the raps correspond to a muscular movement of mme. x.'s leg. "who are you?" "in the library of the master of the house my name will be found in a book." "how shall we find it?" "it is written on a piece of paper." "in what book?" "_astronomia._" "of what date?" no reply. "of what color?" "yellow." "bound?" "no." "stitched?" "yes." "on what shelf?" "hunt." "it impossible to go through thousands of volumes, and, besides, there is not such a book in the whole library." no reply. after a series of questions we learn that the book is on the sixth shelf of the main body of the library, to the right of the door. but first, we all went into the room to make sure it contained no such book as was described. "then the volume is bound in boards?" "yes, there are four _low_ volumes." we return to the room, and, sure enough, find in a volume entitled _anatomia celeste_, venice, 1573, a piece of paper, upon which is pencilled the name "krishna." we return to the séance table. "is it really you, krishna?" "yes." "in what epoch did you live?" "in the time of jesus." "in what country?" "in the neighborhood of the himalaya mountain system." "and how did you write your name on this piece of paper?" "by passing through the thought of my medium." etc., etc. i thought it would be superfluous to persist any farther. mme. x. not being able to raise the table had chosen the device of table rappings. the calling up of the hindu prophet, however, i thought was a fine piece of audacity. the simplest hypothesis is that the woman went into my library and put the piece of paper in the book. in fact, she was seen there. but even had she not been, the conclusion would be no less certain. for the room was open, and mme. x. had remained about an hour in the next room, detained by "a nervous headache." this specimen of mediumistic trickery is, as i have said, one among hundreds. really, one must be endowed with the most unweariable perseverance to enable him to devote to those studies hours which would be much better employed even in doing nothing at all. however, when one has the conviction that something real exists he always returns, in spite of incessant trickery. in the month of may, 1901, princess karadja introduced to me a professional medium, frau anna rothe, a german, whose specialty consisted in her alleged ability to spirit flowers into a tightly closed room in broad daylight. i made arrangements for a séance with her at my apartments in paris. during its continuance, bouquets of flowers of all sizes, did, in truth, make their appearance, but always from a quarter in the room the opposite of that to which our attention was drawn by frau rothe and her manager, max ientsch. being well nigh convinced that all was fraud, but not having the time to devote to such sittings, i begged m. cail to be present, as often as he could, at the meetings which were to be held in different parisian salons. he gladly consented, and got invited to a séance at the clément marot house. having taken his station a little in the rear of the flower-scattering medium, he saw her adroitly slip one hand beneath her skirts and draw out branches which she tossed into the air. he also saw her take oranges from her corsage, and ascertained that they were warm. the imposture was a glaring one, and he immediately unmasked her, to the great scandal of the assistants, who heaped insults upon him. a final séance had been planned, to be held in my salon on the following tuesday. but frau rothe and her two accomplices took the train at the eastern railway station that very morning, and we saw them no more. in the following year she was arrested in berlin, after a fraudulent séance, and sentenced to one year in jail for swindling. in this class of things, cheatings and hoaxings are as numerous as authenticated facts. those who are curious in such things will not have forgotten the scandalous hoax and misdemeanor of the celebrated mrs. williams, an american woman who was received in full confidence, in 1894, in paris, by my excellent friend, the duchess of pomar. already made distrustful by the ingenious observations of the young duke, the sitters were determined not to be the butt of her fooleries very long, and a sitting was agreed on. the participators were mm. de watteville, dariex, mangin, ribero, wellemberg, lebel, wolf, paul leymarie (son of the editor of _la revue spirite_), etc. the specialty of mrs. williams (who was, by the way, quite a stout person) was the showing of apparitions, or ghosts. said apparitions proved to be manikins, rather poorly got up; the lady spectators, as well as the gentlemen, were quite disappointed at the absence of the rich and flowing outlines of _form_ under the draperies of the wretched puppets. thin and limp, tatterdemalion things, they showed not the faintest resemblance to the normal and classic contours of woman, the lines of which we should have been able to glimpse at least to some extent under the light gauze that enwrapped the figures. several bright-witted, but rather irreverent, ladies took no pains to conceal the fact that they should prefer annihilation if it were necessary to be so ... "reduced," so "incomplete" in the other world! the gentlemen added that they would certainly not be alone in lamenting such a state of things! there was no religious atmosphere at all about these sittings. the imposture was discovered, or, one might rather say, seized, by m. paul leymarie. he simply grasps mme. impostor around the waist (having slipped behind the curtain for the purpose), and holds her fast for the inspection of the audience. lights are brought on, and, in the midst of the confused uproar made by twenty-five duped sitters, the heroine of the entertainment is compelled to show herself in flesh tights, while the whole apparatus of her ghostly puppet-show is discovered in the cabinet! mrs. williams had the effrontery to defend herself, a little later, in the american journal _light_, bestowing the playful epithet of "bandits" upon those who had unmasked her in paris. that was a case of high mystification, of jugglery worthy of a street-corner mountebank. but, as we have already seen, matters do not usually attain to such a height of audacity, and quite often fraud only intervenes when the genuine powers have become enfeebled. this well appeared in the accounts of the "girl torpedo-fish," angelica cottin, who attained a good deal of notoriety. on the 15th of january, 1846, in the village of bouvigny, near perrière (orne), a young girl thirteen years old, named angelica cottin, light and robust, but extremely apathetic in physical temperament and in morals, suddenly exhibited strange powers. objects touched by her, or by her clothing, were forcibly repelled. sometimes, even on her mere approach, people were thrown into commotion and excitement, and pieces of furniture and household utensils were seen to move and vibrate. with some variations in intensity, and with intermittences, sometimes, of two or three days, this curious virtue held good for about a month, then disappeared as unexpectedly as it had appeared. it was authenticated by a large number of persons, some of whom submitted the little girl to genuine scientific experiments, and embodied their observations in formal reports, which were collected and published by dr. tanchou. this gentleman first saw angelica on february 12 (1846), in paris, where she had been taken to be exhibited. the manifestations (which had decreased from the day when the basis, or usual course of her habits had been altered) were on the point of disappearing altogether. yet they were still distinct enough to enable the investigator to draw up the following note, which was read to the academy of science, on february 17, by arago, an eye-witness of the facts.[47] i saw the young "electric" girl twice (says dr. tanchou). a chair which i was holding as hard as i could with my foot and both hands was forcibly wrenched from me the moment she sat down in it. a little slip of paper which i held poised on one finger was several times carried away as if by a gust of wind. a dining-table of moderate size, though rather heavy, was more than once displaced by the mere touch of her dress. a little paper wheel, placed vertically or horizontally upon its axis was put into rapid movement by the radiations which darted from this child's wrist and the bend of her arm.[48] a large and heavy sofa upon which i was seated was pushed with great force against the wall the moment the girl came to seat herself by me. a chair was held fast upon the floor by strong men and i was seated on it in such a way as to occupy only the half of the seat. it was forcibly wrenched away from under me as soon as the young girl sat down on the other half. one curious thing is that every time the chair is lifted it seems to cling to angelica's dress. it follows her for an instant before it becomes detached. two little elder-pith balls or feather-balls, suspended by a silken thread, are set in motion, attracted to each other and sometimes repelled. this girl's radiations of psychic force (_émanations_) are not permanently present during all the hours of the day. they are especially strong in the evening, from seven to nine o'clock,--which leads me to surmise that perhaps her last meal (taken at six o'clock) is not without its influence. the emanations are given forth only from the front part of the body, especially at the wrist and at the bend of the arm. they only occur on the left side, and the arm of this side is of a higher temperature than that of the other. it gives off a gentle heat, as from a part where a lively reaction is going on. the arm trembles and is continually disturbed by unusual contractions and quiverings which seem to be imparted to the hand that touches it. during the time i observed this subject, her pulse varied from 105 to 120 pulsations a minute. it seemed to me frequently irregular. when she is isolated from the common reservoir of electric or magnetic power, either by being seated upon a chair without her feet touching the floor or when placing them upon the chair of a person in front of her, the phenomena do not take place. they also cease when she is made to sit down on her own hands. a waxed floor, a piece of oiled silk, a plate of glass under her feet or on the chair, all have the effect of antagonizing and destroying for the time the electro-dynamic property of her body. during the paroxysm she can touch scarcely anything with her left hand without throwing it from her as if it burned her. when her clothes touch the articles of furniture in a room she attracts them, displaces them, and overturns them. one will understand this more easily when it is realized that at every electric discharge she runs away to escape the pain. she says "it pricks" or "stings" her in the wrist or bend of the elbow. once when i was feeling for her pulse in the temporal artery (not having been able to locate it in the left arm) my fingers chanced to touch the nape of the neck. she uttered a cry and drew back quickly from me. i several times assured myself of the fact that, near the cerebellum, at the place where the muscles of the upper part of the neck are joined to the cranium, there is a spot so sensitive that she allows no one to touch it. all the sensations she feels in her left arm are here echoed or repeated. the electric emanations of this child seem to move by waves, intermittently, and in succession through different parts of the anterior portion of the body. but be that as it may, _they are certainly accompanied by an aëriform current which gives the sensation of cold_. i plainly felt upon my hand a quick puff of air like that produced by the lips. every time the mysterious force strikes through her frame and materializes in an act, terror and dismay fill the mind of this child, and she seeks refuge in flight. every time she brings the end of her fingers near the north pole of a piece of magnetized iron, she receives a severe shock; the south pole produces no effect. if i manipulated the iron in such a way that i could not myself tell the north pole on it, _she_ could always tell it very well. she is thirteen years old and has not yet reached the age of puberty. i learned from her mother that nothing like menstruation has yet appeared. she is very strong and healthy, but her intellect is as yet little developed. she is a peasant cottager (_villageoise_) in every sense of the word; yet she knows how to read and write. her occupation is the making of thread gloves for ladies. the first electric phenomena began a month ago. it is desirable to add to the foregoing note extracts from other reports. here, for example, is a citation from m. hébert: on the 17th of january,--that is to say, the second day of the appearance of the phenomena,--the scissors suspended from her waist by a cotton tape, flew from her without the cord being broken, and no one could imagine how it got untied. this circumstance, incredible from its resemblance to the pranks of lightning, makes one think at once that electricity must play an important rôle in the production of such astonishing effects. but this way of looking at the thing did not last long. for the miracle of the scissors only occurred twice, once in the presence of the curé of the village, who guaranteed to me upon his honor the truth of the statement. in the middle of the day almost no effects were obtained, but in the evening, at the usual hour, they redoubled in intensity. it was at that time that action without contact took place, and effects were produced in organic living bodies. these latter made their first appearance in the form of violent shocks felt in the ankles by one of the women laborers who happened at the time to be facing angelica, the points of their sabots being about four inches apart. dr. beaumont chardon, a physician of mortagne, also published similar notes and observations,--among others the following: the repulsion and attraction, hopping about and displacement, of a rather solid table; of another table six feet by nine, mounted on casters; of another four-feet-and-a-half square oak table; of a very massive mahogany easy-chair,--_all these displacements took place through contact with the cottin girl's clothes,--contact either involuntary or purposely brought about by experiments_. there was a sensation of violent prickings when a stick of sealing-wax or a glass tube suitably rubbed was placed in contact with a bend in the left arm or with the head, or simply when brought somewhat near there. when the sealing-wax or the tube had not been rubbed, or when they were being wiped dry or moistened, there was a cessation of effects. the hairs on one's arm, made to slope or lie flat by a little saliva, rose up again at the approach of the child's left arm. i have already remarked that this young girl was brought to paris as a subject of scientific observation. arago, at the observatory, in the presence of his colleagues mm. mathieu, laugier, and goujon, established the truth of the following phenomena: when angelica held out her hand toward a sheet of paper laid near the edge of a table, the paper was strongly attracted by the hand. approaching a centre-table, she grazed it with her apron, and the table drew back from her. when she sat down on a chair and put her feet on the floor, the chair was thrown back violently against the wall, and she herself was thrown forward to the other side of the room. this last experiment, repeated several times, always succeeded. neither arago nor the astronomers of the observatory were able to hold the chair down. m. goujon, who had sat down in advance upon one half of the chair which was going to be used by angelica, was upset at the moment when she came to share the seat with him. following a favorable report of its illustrious perpetual secretary,[49] the academy of science named a commission to examine angelica cottin. this commission confined its efforts exclusively to the task of determining whether or not the electrical force of the subject was similar to that of the machines or that of the torpedo-fish. they could not come to any conclusion, probably on account of the emotion excited in the girl at the sight of the formidable apparatus of experimentation; and then her peculiar powers were already on their decline. thus the commission hastened to declare all the communications on this subject made to the academy previous to this to be null and void. upon this topic my old master and friend babinet, who was a member of the commission, wrote as follows: the members of the commission were not able to verify any of the features announced. there was no report made, and angelica's parents, worthy people of the most exemplary probity, returned with her from paris to their own locality. the good faith of this couple and of a friend who accompanied them interested me very much, and i would have given anything in the world to find some reality in the wonders that had been proclaimed about the girl. the only remarkable thing she did was to rise from her chair in the most matter of fact way in the world and hurl it behind her with such force that often the chair was broken against the wall. but the supreme experiment,--that in which, according to her parents, the miracle was revealed of motion produced without contact,--was as follows: she was placed standing before a light centre-table covered with a thin silken stuff. her apron also made of a very light and almost transparent silk, rested on the centre-table (though this last condition was not indispensable). then, _when the electric force appeared_, the table was overturned, while "the electric girl" maintained her usual stupid impassivity. i had never personally seen any success attained in this particular feature of the girl's performances; nor had my colleagues of the commission of the institute, nor the physicians, nor certain writers, who, with great assiduity, had attended all the séances appointed at the headquarters of the girl's parents in paris. as for myself, i had already overstepped all the bounds of friendly complaisance, when, one evening the parents came to beseech me, in virtue of the interest i had shown in them, to attended one more séance, saying that the electric force was going to declare itself anew with great energy. i arrived about eight o'clock in the evening at the hotel where the cottin family was staying. i was disagreeably surprised at finding a séance intended only for myself, and the friends whom i brought with me, overrun by a crowd of physicians and journalists who had been attracted by the announcement of the prodigies which were to begin again. after due excuses had been made i was introduced to a back room which served as dining-room, and there i found an immense kitchen table made of oak planks of an enormous thickness and weight. at the moment when dinner was being served the electric girl had, by an act of her will (it was said), overturned this massive table, and, as a necessary result, broken all the plates and bottles that were on it. but her excellent parents did not regret the loss, nor the poor dinner that resulted from it, on account of the hope that animated them that the marvellous qualities of the poor idiot were going to manifest themselves and receive the official stamp of authenticity. there was no possibility of doubting the veracity of these honest witnesses. an octogenarian who accompanied me (m. m.--, the most sceptical of men) believed their recital as i did; but, after entering with me the room full of people, this distrustful observer took his stand in the very entrance-door, alleging as a pretext the crowd in the room, and so placed himself as to have a side view of the electric girl with her centre-table before her. the crowd that faced the girl occupied the farther end and the sides of the room. after an hour of patient waiting, and all in vain, i withdrew, expressing my sympathy and my regrets. m. m. remained obstinately at his post. he _pointed_ the electric girl with his unwearied eye, as a crouching setter does a partridge. at last, at the end of another hour, when the attention of the company was distracted by innumerable preoccupations and several centres of conversation had been formed--suddenly the miracle occurred: the centre-table was overturned. great amazement! great expectations! they were just beginning to cry "bravo!" when m. m., advancing by warrant of age and the love of truth, declared that he had seen angelica, by a convulsive movement of the knee, push the table that was placed before her. he drew the conclusion that the effort she must have made before dinner in the overturning of the heavy kitchen table would have occasioned a severe contusion above her knee,--a matter that was investigated and found to be true. such was the end of this melancholy affair in which so many people had been duped by a poor idiot, who yet had enough crafty cunning to inspire illusion by her very calmness and impassivity. we have still to account for the singular facts observed near rambouillet (see the _reports_ of the academy), at the house of a wealthy manufacturer, all whose vases and other vessels of pottery-ware burst into a thousand pieces at the moment when least expected. kettles and other large vessels cast in metal also flew into fragments, to the great loss of the proprietor, whose troubles, however, ceased with the discharge of a servant, who had come to an understanding with a man who was to occupy the factory so that he might get it at a better bargain. nevertheless, it is to be regretted that the matter ended before it was discovered what fulminating powder had been employed to produce such curious results, so new, and, apparently, so well proved.[50] babinet adds farther on in the same volume the following remarks on angelica cottin: in the midst of wonders which she did _not_ perform there was seen a very natural effect of _the first relaxation of muscles_ which was curious in the highest degree. the girl, of slight figure and torpid physique, who was correctly styled the "torpedo-fish," being first seated on a chair and then rising very slowly (in the midst of the movement she was making in the act of rising) had the _power_ of throwing backward, with terrifying suddenness, the chair she was leaving, without anybody being able to perceive the slightest movement of the trunk of the body, and solely by the relaxation of the muscle which had been in contact with the chair. at one of the test-séances in the laboratory of physics at the jardin des plantes, several amphitheatre chairs of white wood were hurled against the walls in such a way as to break them. a second chair, which i had once taken the precaution to place behind that in which the electric girl was seated (for the purpose of protecting, if need were, two persons who were conversing at the back part of the room) was drawn along with the propelled chair and went with it to arouse from their absent-mindedness the two savants. i will add that several young employees at the jardin des plantes succeeded in performing--although in a less brilliant way--this pretty trick in bodily mechanics. in order to get a good idea of this play of the muscles by a similar effect, you have only to gently squeeze that part of the muscle of some one's arm that is most developed, at the same time that he makes the motion of opening and closing his fist several times. you will at once feel the swelling up of the muscles and divine the movement that would result from it were the change of shape made very rapid. such is the report of the learned physicist. it is thus that fraud once more hindered the recognition of the reality of phenomena that had been duly proved before. accompanying this there was also a weakening of the faculties of the performer. but it is absurd to conclude from this that the observers of the earlier days in this case (including arago and his colleagues of the observatory,--mathieu, laugier, and goujon,--as well as the examiner hébert, dr. beaumont chardon, and others) were poor observers, and were deceived by movements of the foot of this child. we may allow for the fraud, conscious and unconscious of mediums. we may deplore it, for it throws an unpleasant gloom upon all the phenomena; but let us render justice to incontestable facts, and continue to observe them. _quære et invenies!_ seek and thou shalt find. _the unknown_, the science of to-morrow. chapter vi the experiments of count de gasparin one of the most important series of experiments that has been made on the subject of moving tables is that of count agénor de gasparin at valleyres, switzerland, in september, october, november, and december of the year 1853. the count has published formal reports of these studies in two large volumes.[51] these séances may be called purely scientific, for they were conducted with the most scrupulous care and were under the severest control. the table usually employed had a round oak top thirty-two inches in diameter, which rested on a heavy three-footed central column, the feet being about twenty-two inches apart. there were usually ten or twelve experimenters, and they formed the chain on the table by touching each other with their little fingers in such a way that the thumb of the left hand of each operator touched that of his right hand, and the little finger of the right hand touched that of the left hand of his neighbor. in the opinion of the author, this chain is useful, but not absolutely necessary. the rotation of the table usually began after a waiting of five or ten minutes. then it lifted one foot to a height that varied from time to time, and fell back again. the levitation took place even when a very heavy man was seated on the table. rotations and levitations were obtained without the contact of hands. but let us hear the author himself: it is a question of positive fact that i wish to solve. the theory will come later. to prove that the phenomenon of turning tables is real and of a purely physical nature; that it can neither be explained by the mechanical action of our muscles nor by the mysterious action of spirits,--such is my thesis. it is my wish to state it with precision and circumscribe its limits here at the very start. i confess i find some satisfaction in meeting with unanswerable proofs the sarcasms of people who find it easier to mock than to examine. i am well aware that we have got to put up with that. no new truth becomes evident without having been first ridiculed. but it is none the less agreeable to reach the moment when things assume their legitimate place, and when rôles cease to be inverted. this moment might have been long in coming. for a long time i feared that table-phenomena would not admit of a definite scientific demonstration; that, while they inspired absolute certainty in the minds of the operators and witnesses at first hand, they would not furnish irrefutable arguments to the public. in the presence of bare possibilities, each person would be free to cherish his own particular opinion; we should have had believers and sceptics. the classification would have taken place in virtue of tendencies rather than by reason of one's knowledge or ignorance of the facts. some, in the agreeable sensation of their intellectual superiority, would have carried their head very high, and others would have abandoned themselves in despair to the current superstitions of the day. the truth incompletely demonstrated would have been treated as a lie, and, what is worse, would have ended by becoming such. but thank god! it will not be so now. our meetings were real and formal séances, to which the best hours of the day were given. the results, verified with the most minute care, were embodied in formal and official declarations. i have these _procès-verbaux_ before me now, and it seems to me that i could not do better than to take up one after another and extract from each the interesting observations it may contain. i shall thus follow the method of certain historians, and relate the truth rather than systematize it. the reader will, as it were, follow us step by step. he will examine and check my various assertions by comparing them; he will form his own conviction, and will judge whether my proofs have that character of frequent occurrence, of persistency, of progressive development which false discoveries, based upon some fortuitous and poorly described coincidence, never have. these are promising premises. we shall see whether the promises will be kept. the report (or minutes) of the first meeting bears the date of september 20, 1853. numerous séances had been held before, but it had not been thought necessary to write down the results. what those results were will be seen by the following brief account: only those have an invincible conviction (writes count de gasparin) who have participated in séance studies frequently and directly, who have felt under their very fingers the production of those peculiar movements which the action of our muscles cannot imitate. they know the limitations of their powers and where to stop. for they have seen the table refuse to rotate at all, in spite of the impatience of the investigators, and in spite of their clamorous appeals. then again, they have been present when it started to move so gently, so softly and spontaneously started, it can be said, under fingers which hardly touched it. they have at times seen the legs of the table (riveted by some enchantment to the floor) refuse to budge on any terms, in spite of the incitement and coaxing of those who composed the chain. on other occasions they have seen the same table-legs perform levitations that were so free and energetic that they anticipated the hands, got the start of the orders, and executed the thoughts almost before they were conceived, and with an energy well-nigh terrifying. they have heard with their own ears stunning raps and gentle raps, the one threatening to break the table, the others of such incredible fineness and delicacy that one could scarcely catch the sounds, and none of us could in any degree imitate them. they have remarked that the force of the levitations is not diminished when the sitters are removed from the side of the table that is to form the fulcrum. they have themselves commanded the table to lift that one of its legs over which rest the only hands that compose that portion of the chain still remaining, and the leg has risen as often and as high as they wished. they have observed the table in its dances when it beats the measure with one foot or with two; when it reproduces exactly the rhythm of the music that has just been sung; when, yielding in the most comic way to the invitation to dance the minuet, it takes on grandmotherly airs, sedately makes a half turn, curtsies, and then comes forward turning the other side! the manner in which the events took place told the experimenters more than the events themselves. they were in contact with a reality which soon made itself understood. the persevering experiments we had made before the 20th of september had already given us proof of two principal things,--the levitation of a weight that the muscular action of the operators was powerless to move, and the reproduction of numbers by mind reading. i shall now give the formal declarations or reports, by count de gasparin, or at least the essential parts of them. i shall present them here as the author has done, séance after séance. the reader will judge. he is urged to read the reports with the greatest attention. they are scientific documents of the highest value, and quite as important as the preceding ones. _séance of september 20_ some one proposed the experiment which consists in causing a table to rotate and give raps while it has on it a man weighing say a hundred and ninety pounds. we accordingly placed such a man on the table, and the twelve experimenters, in chain, applied their fingers to it. the success was complete: the table turned, and rapped several strokes. then _it rose up entirely off the floor_ in such a way as to upset the person who was upon it. let me be permitted here, in passing, to make a general remark. we had already had numerous meetings. our experimenters, among whom were several young ladies of delicate physique, had worked with very unusual perseverance and energy. their bodily fatigue at the end of each sitting was naturally very great. it seems as if we should therefore have expected some nervous collapses more or less grave, to show themselves among us. if explanations based upon involuntary acts performed in a state of extraordinary excitement had the least foundation in fact, we should have had trances, almost possessions, and, at any rate, nervous attacks. now, in spite of the exciting and noisy character of our meetings, it did not happen, in five months time, that any one of us experienced a single moment of indisposition or sickness of any kind. we learned something more: when a person is in a state of nervous tension, he or she becomes positively unfit to act upon the table. it must be handled cheerfully, lightly, and deftly, with confidence and authority, but without passion. this is so true that the moment i took too much interest in things i ceased to obtain obedience. if, on account of public discussions in which i had been engaged, i chanced to desire success too ardently and to grow impatient over delay, i had no longer any control over the table; it remain inert. _séance of september 24_ we began pretty poorly, and were almost inclined to think that the net result of the day's experiments would be limited to the two following observations, which have their value, to tell the truth, and which our experience has always confirmed: first, there are days when nothing can be done, nothing prospers, although the sitters are as numerous, as strong, and as excited as ever,--which proves that the movements of the table are not obtained by fraud or by the involuntary pressure of the muscles. second, there are persons (those among others who are sickly or fatigued) whose presence in the chain is not only of no use, but even detrimental. destitute themselves of the fluidic force, they seem, besides, to hinder its circulation and transmission. their good will, their faith in the table are of no avail; as long as they are there the rotations are feeble, the levitations spiritless, the drafts drawn on the table are not honored; that one of its feet facing them is especially struck with paralysis. beg them to retire, and immediately the vitality appears again and everything succeeds as if by magic. indeed, it was only after we had taken this course that we finally obtained the free and energetic movements to which we had been accustomed. we had become quite discouraged; but when the purging of which i have just spoken took place, lo, what a change! nothing seems difficult to us. even those who (like myself) ordinarily have only mediocre success, now think of numbers and make the table rap them out with complete success, or with the slight imperfection (that frequently occurs) of a tap too many, owing to the delay in giving the mental order to stop the taps. seeing that everything was going according to our wish, and having decided to try the impossible, we next undertake an experiment which marks our entrance into a wholly new phase of the study and places our former experimental demonstrations under the guarantee of a positively irrefutable demonstration. we are going to leave probability behind and dwell with evidence. we are going to make the table move _without touching it_. and this is how we succeeded that first time: at the moment when the table was whirling with a powerful and irresistible rotation, at a given signal we all lifted our fingers. then keeping our hands united by means of the little fingers, and continuing to form the chain at a height of say an eighth or a quarter of an inch above the table, we continued our circular movement. _to our great surprise the table did the same_; it made in this way three or four turns! we could scarcely believe our good fortune; the by-standers (witnesses) could not keep from clapping their hands. and the way in which the rotation took place was as remarkable as the rotation itself. once or twice the table stopped following us because the little accidents and interruptions of our march had withdrawn our fingers from their regular distance from the top of the table. once or twice the table had come to life again--if i may so express myself--when the turning chain had again got into the right relation with it. we all had the feeling that each hand had carried along in its course that portion of the table immediately beneath it. _séance of september 29_ we were naturally impatient to submit rotation without contact to a new test. in the confusion of the first success we forgot to renew and vary this decisive experiment. when we got to thinking about it afterwards we saw that it behooved us to do the thing over again with more care and in the presence of new witnesses; that it was, above all, important to produce the movement and not merely to continue it, and to produce it in the form of levitations instead of limiting it to rotations. such was the program of our meeting of september 29. never was program carried out with greater precision. as a preliminary, we repeated our successful feat of the 24th. while the table was rotating rapidly, the interlocked hands were lifted from it, though continuing to turn above it and form the chain. the table followed, making now one or two revolutions, and now a half or a quarter turn only. the success, more or less prolonged, was certain. we confirmed it several times. but some one might say that, the table being already in motion, the momentum carried it along mechanically while we imagined it was yielding to our fluidic force. the objection was absurd, and we would have challenged anybody to obtain a single quarter of a turn without forming the chain, however rapid might have been the rotation imparted. above all, would we have challenged anyone to renew its motion when it had been for an instant suspended. however, it is well in such cases to forestall even absurd objections, however little of plausibility they may have. and this particular objection might seem plausible to the inattentive man. it was imperative, then, that we should produce rotation starting from a state of complete inertia. this we did. the table being as motionless as we were, the chain of hands parted from it and began to turn slowly at a height of about three-eighths of an inch above its edge. in a moment the table made a slight movement, and each of us striving to draw along by his will that part situated under his own fingers, we succeeded in drawing the disk in our train. the details that followed resembled those of the preceding case. there is such difficulty in maintaining the chain in the air without breaking it, in keeping it near the border of the table without going too quick and thus destroying the harmonious relation established, that it often happens that the rotation stops after a turn or a half-turn. yet it is sometimes prolonged during three or even four revolutions. we expected to encounter still greater obstacles when we should undertake levitation without contact. but the matter turned out quite otherwise. this is easily explained when we remember that in this ease there is no circular movement and it is much easier to maintain the normal position of the hands above the table. the chain, then, being formed at a distance of an eighth of an inch or so above the round top of the table, we ordered one of its legs to lift itself up, and it did so. we were highly delighted, and repeated this pretty experiment many times. without touching it in any way, we ordered the whole table to rise into the air, and to resist the witnesses, who had to put forth effort to bring it down to the floor. we commanded it to turn bottom side up, and it fell over with its feet in the air, although we never touched it with our fingers, but kept them in advance of it as it fell, at the distance agreed upon. such were the essential results of this meeting. they are such that i hesitate to mention in the same connection incidents of secondary importance. i will only say, in passing, that the séance was very discouraging at the start; for, not only was it found necessary to remove certain new operators, but several of the old ones did not bring to it their usual high spirits. the table responded poorly; raps were made faintly and as if with reluctance; the telepathic reading of numbers did not succeed. then we took a resolution from which we derived much benefit: we persevered, and persevered gaily; we sang, we made the table dance; we gave up all thoughts of new experiments and persisted in easy and amusing ones. after a while conditions changed; the table fairly bounded, and hardly waited for our orders; we were now in condition to try more serious things. _séance of october 7_ a long meeting, and very fatiguing. it was principally devoted to the trial of various mechanical devices which had no success whatever,--such as metal rings; frameworks of canvas or of paper placed upon the table; plates on pivots and spring-keys. whether the sight of all this gear hindered the radiation of the fluidic force from the operators, whether the contrivances themselves stopped its circulation in the table, or whether, in fine, the natural conditions of the phenomenon were disturbed in some other way, it is certain that the results amounted to nothing or were doubtful. one new experiment succeeded. a plate turning on a pivot held a tub. i filled this tub with water, and two of my collaborators and i plunged our hands into it. we formed the chain and began a circular walk, being careful not to touch the tub. this at once imitated our movement. we repeated the thing several times in succession. since it might be supposed that the impulse given to the water would suffice to set in motion a tub resting on so delicately balanced a plate, we at once proceeded to prove the contrary. the water was given a circular whirl causing it to move with much greater rapidity than when we formed the chain; but the tub moved not a peg. undoubtedly the point remains to be considered whether one of us three did not touch the inside of the tub and so determine its movement. to that i reply, first, that the way in which our hands were held in the water obviously proves that none of our fingers could really touch bottom; secondly, that, taking pains as we did to form the chain at the centre, it would have been scarcely less difficult for us to touch the vertical sides of the tub. and yet, the doubt being not wholly inadmissible, i class this experiment among those of which i do not purpose to make any use. i wish to show that i am hard to please in the matter of evidence. the proof which the rapping of numbers by mind-reading furnishes has always seemed to be one of the most convincing. in the sitting i am describing, it had this special feature, that each of the ten operators in turn received the communication of a number in writing, the others having their eyes shut. now, in the whole ten, one alone failed to obtain perfect obedience from the table-leg which had been assigned to him by very suspicious witnesses, or by-standers. if my readers will reflect carefully they will see that the combinations of movements communicated and of cheating tricks which such a solid result as this would require passes far beyond the bounds of admissible things. to justify it the objector must invent a miracle much more astounding than ours. let us turn again to the finest of all demonstrations, that of levitation without contact. we began by performing it three times. then, since it was thought by some that the inspection of the witnesses could be carried on in a surer way in the case of a small table than in that of a large one, and with five operators more certainly than with ten, we had a plain deal centre-table brought which the chain, reduced by half, sufficed to put in rotation. then the hands were lifted, and, _contact with the table being entirely broken, it rose seven times into the air at our command_. _séance of october 8_ two circumstances occurred to confirm the results we had obtained in preceding séances. among the numbers selected for the thought-test the roguery of one of the witnesses had placed a zero, and the leg selected by him to respond was at the left of the operator and beyond the reach of his muscular action. now, the command having been given to the leg and no action resulting, we were all feeling disconsolate, being convinced that our weakness that day was so great that we were not going to obtain even simple levitations. i affirm most emphatically that if movement had ever been imparted by an experimenter to a table leg, it would have appeared at that moment. our nerves were in an exalted state and our impatience was at its height. yet no movement of the table took place, and we were consequently all the more solaced when we learned that the figure communicated had been a cipher. movement without contact was accomplished twice. to our experiment of a table that gave raps while having a man upon it, it had been objected that this man might lend his aid to the movement, and even incite it in part. determined to seek out the truth with the most anxious care, we had recognized a certain plausibility in this objection, and had decided to meet it fairly. the being who was living, intelligent, and consequently suspected must be replaced by an inert weight. buckets filled with sand must be placed in the precise centre of the table, which should then be called on to exhibit its skill. but the day was badly chosen. after we had placed on the table two buckets, one upon the other, both weighing in all 143 pounds, it was discovered that we were unable to produce the levitation. it was necessary for us to content ourselves with continuing them in circular movement after they had been started. the buckets were removed, the table was set in motion, and the buckets replaced while the movement was at its height. they did not arrest it in the least, but were carried around with such force that the sand flew out on all sides. the remainder of the sitting was given up to an investigation of the subject of (alleged) divination, or guessing. when the table was asked to guess something known to one of the members of the chain, it pretty frequently and quite naturally happened that it guessed it. it is the case of thought-reading by numbers,--nothing more, nothing less. when it is asked to guess a thing known to a member of the company who does not form at the time a part of the chain, it happens sometimes that it guesses it. but the person in question must be endowed with great fluidic power and be able to exercise it at a distance. we did not ourselves obtain anything like this; but others have succeded, and their testimony seems too well established to be called in question. up to the present moment, it is plain, there is not the least trace of divination. it is fluidic action, near-by or distant. if the tables divine, if they think, if there are spirits, we ought to get decisive responses in the case where no one knows the facts, either in the chain or out of the chain. the problem thus stated, the solution is not difficult. take a book. do not open it, but invite the table to read the first line of the page you will designate,--say page 162 or page 354. the table will not flinch: it will rap, and will compose words for you. it was thus, at least, that it always acted with us. at any rate, one thing is certain, that neither here nor elsewhere, has any spirit, however cunning, read, this simple line; nor will it be able in the future to do so. i recommend the experiment to the partisans of spirit evocations. as to the test of pieces of money in a purse, hours, playing-cards etc., the tables betake themselves to a strict calculation of probabilities; they guess just as much as you do, or as i do. inasmuch as it is a question of small numbers of which one can form in advance an approximate idea, the range of possible combinations is not very extensive. the mind fixes upon a number which has a fairly good chance of being the true one, and the proportion between the failures of the table and its successes is in such a case just what it would be apart from all question of miraculous divination. _séance of november 9_ before entering upon the description of this sitting,--a very remarkable one,--i will say that neither the thermometer nor the mariners' compass have furnished the slightest indication of anything interesting. i thought i ought to note this, in passing, to show to the reader that we did not neglect to employ instruments which seemed likely to put us in the way of obtaining a scientific explanation. in general, i pass by that phase of our work, as well as the different trials which remained merely trials, and did not lead to any positive results. our first care was to renew the experiment of the levitation of an inert weight. it was agreed among us this time that we would always start from the state of absolute immobility in the object: we wanted to produce movement, not to continue it. the centre of the table, then, having been fixed with nice precision, a first tub of sand, weighing 46 pounds, was placed upon it. _the legs easily rose from the floor when they got the order._ a second tub, weighing 42 pounds, was next placed in the middle of the other. _they were both lifted_--less easily, but very neatly and clearly. then a third tub, smaller, and weighing 28-3/5 pounds, was placed on top of the two others. the levitations took place. we had still further got ready enormous stones weighing altogether 48-1/2 pounds. they were placed on the third tub. after rather long hesitation, _the table lifted several times in succession each of its three legs_. it lifted them with a force, a decision, an élan, which surprised us. but its strength, already put to so many proofs, could not resist this last one. bending under the powerful swaying motion imparted by the total mass of 165 pounds, _it suddenly broke down_, and its massive centre-post was split from top to bottom--to the great peril of the operators on the side of whom the entire load rolled off. i shall not stop to comment on such an experiment. it answers all demands. our united muscular force would not have sufficed to determine the movements that took place. a mass of inert matter free from the suspicion of being obliging, had replaced the person whose complicity was held in suspicion. finally, when the three legs had been lifted, each in turn, critics no longer had as a resource the insinuation that we had caused the weight to be laid more on one side than on the other. inasmuch as our poor table had been wounded on the field of honor and could not be repaired on the spot, we got a new one which much resembled it. but it was a little larger and a little lighter. the interesting point was to be settled whether we were going to be obliged to wait for it to be charged with the psycho-physical fluid. the occasion was a famous one for solving this important problem: where does the fluid reside?--in the operators or in the piece of furniture. the solution was as prompt as it was decisive. scarcely had our hands, in chains, been placed upon this second table than it began to revolve with the most unexpected and the most comic rapidity! evidently, the fluid was in us, and we were free to apply it in succession to different tables. we lost no time. in the mood in which we then were, movement without contact must succeed better than ever. nor did we deceive ourselves in so thinking. we first developed rotations without contact to the number of five or six. as to levitations without contact, we discovered a method of proceeding that renders their success easier. the chain, formed a few millimetres above the top disk, is arranged so as to go in the direction in which the movement is to take place; the hands the nearest to the leg called on to rise are outside of and beyond the top; they draw near and pass gradually by, while the hands that are opposite, and which had at first advanced toward the same leg, move away from it while they attract it. it is during this progression of the chain, while all our wills are fixed upon a particular spot on the wood, and when the orders to levitate are forcibly given, that the foot quits the ground and the table-top follows the hands,--to the point of upsetting, if one did not keep hold of it. this levitation without contact was produced about thirty times. we produced it by each of the three legs in succession, in order to remove every pretext for criticism. moreover, we watched the hands with scrupulous care. if the reader will please observe that this surveillance was exercised during thirty operations without detecting the slightest contact, i think it will be concluded that the reality is henceforth placed beyond all doubt. _séance of november 21_ the chief characteristic of this séance was the absence of that one of our number who exercised the greatest authority at the table.[52] in working without her we were put in a position to establish two things: first, that one cannot with impunity do without an extraordinary gifted experimenter; and, second, that one can, nevertheless, do without him or her, if it is absolutely necessary, and that success, although less brilliant in this case, is not impossible. i call special attention to this last point, as well as to the frequent modifications of our personnel, for the benefit of suspicious persons who, not knowing the mental worth of the persons in question, might be disposed to place to the account of their dexterity the results to which they essentially contribute. the psycho-physical working power of a "sensitive" table-turner is of a mixed nature: a resolute posture and a circular movement are not sufficient to give birth to it. besides this, and above all, there is needed _the will_. our will having at last asserted itself, and muscular pressure having yielded its place to the pressure of commands, the fluidic rotation arrives, after five or six minutes of concentration of our thoughts. we felt, indeed, keenly that some important person was lacking and that we did not possess our usual power. however, we were determined to succeed, even at the price of greater mental fatigue. so we took up boldly our most difficult feat; namely, movements without contact. rotations without touch were obtained thrice. i should add that they were very incomplete,--a quarter of a turn, or a half-turn at most. as to levitations without touch our success was more decisive; but it was purchased at the price of a very considerable expenditure of force. after each levitation we had to rest, and, when we had reached no. 9 we were absolutely obliged to stop, overcome with fatigue. one must have had personal knowledge of such experiments to understand what drafts they make upon one's attention and energy, and at what point it is indispensible to will, and to will peremptorily, that such and such a knot of wood in the table shall follow the opened fingers that are alluring it at a distance. but be that as it may, our attempt was crowned with success, and we could end the sitting with less exhausting exercises. the idea came to us then and there to try our powers on a large table with four legs. it had often been claimed that three-legged centre-tables alone would respond to our manipulations. it was time to furnish undeniable proof to the contrary. so we took a table three feet five inches in diameter, a folding half of which (independent of the leg that supports it when it is raised) can be turned up at will. scarcely were our fingers in place than the table began a rotation with noisy bustle, the sprightliness of which surprised us. it thus showed that tables with four legs were no more refractory than others. in addition to this, it furnished a new argument in favor of one of our former observations,--that the fluid is in the persons and not in the tables. in fact the movement of the large table took place almost immediately, and before it could be considered as charged with fluid. the next task before us was to make it give raps with its different legs. we began with those fastened to one half of the top, three in number. they rose from the floor two at a time with such force that at the end of a moment one of the casters flew to pieces.[53] now it is difficult to form an idea of the intensity which a fraudulent action of the fingers must have acquired in order to exercise a leverage upon so heavy a table, and launch it into the air to such a height. there remained the leg of the table which was independent of the top. we thought it would obey as well as the others. but no! in vain did we pour out the most prodigal and pressing invitations: it was never willing to rise, either along with its right-hand neighbor or with its neighbor on the left. our next thought was that this was due to the persons placed near it, and certain members of the chain changed seats. in vain! all combinations failed one after another. we drew great deductions from this circumstance. but since it was refuted later, when the contumacious leg yielded perfect obedience at another meeting, i will not take the public into our confidence by a display of our reasonings on the subject. i will only ask that two things be noted; first, the care we took to verify many times the phenomena before affirming them; and, second, that we have here once more a fine refutation of the critics who assert that muscular action can explain everything. if this were so, why did not muscular action lift the free leg as well as those fastened tight to the table? it could have done so just as easily; and yet for some _unknown reason_, but one evidently _foreign to the laws of mechanics_, only the attached legs consented to move. _séance of november 27_ we were in full muster; but two or three of the operators were slightly indisposed. on the whole, whatever was the cause, the occasion was scarcely remarkable for anything except the almost total absence of fluidic power. for a single moment we had a little of it. a half-hour of action and two hours and a half of inertia--this was our net result. nothing was more lamentable, and at the same time more curious, than to see us about the different tables, passing from one to another, enjoining them to do the most elementary things, and only obtaining a weak and languid rotation, which soon stopped altogether. _séance of december 2_ i should have been vexed to have to close my recital with so dull and spiritless a record as the preceding one. by good fortune the last of our reports gives me the right to leave a totally different impression on the reader's mind. we were in fine temper. perhaps the beautiful weather helped. it is not the first time i have noticed this. what is certain is that the very same persons who, on november 27, had only a half-hour of success and had passed the rest of the sitting in beseeching in vain for anything better than poor abortive rotations or faint raps, to-day governed the table with an authority, a quickness, and, if i may so put it, an elasticity of bearing that left nothing to be desired. the large table with four legs was set in motion. and this time, the ease with which the free leg lifted its share of the table proved that we were right in not drawing too definite conclusions from its former refusal. every time that we tried to lift without contact that part of the table the farthest removed from myself i felt the table-leg nearest me gradually approach and press against my leg. struck with this occurrence, which took place several times i drew the conclusion that the table _was gliding forward_, not having enough force to rise. we were, then, exercising a perceptible influence on this large table without touching it in any way. in order the better to assure myself of it, i left the chain and observed the movement of the feet of the table on the floor. it ranged from fractions of an inch to several inches. when we then tried to turn up without contact the folding leaf of a gaming-table covered with cloth, we obtained the same result: the folding leaf would not yield to our influence, but the entire table advanced in the direction of the prescribed movement. now, i ought to add that the gliding was not at all easy, for the floor of our room was rough and uneven. it is interesting to note in this connection the moment when this gliding movement ordinarily begins. it occurs at precisely the same time that the levitation without contact takes place when that manifestation is in process. when the portion of the chain which is pushing on has just advanced beyond the side of the table-top, where it begins to turn, and when that portion of the chain that is pulling has just crossed the middle point in its recession, then the ascensional movement--or, in default of that, the _gliding motion_--manifests itself. our fluidic power is then at its maximum, precisely at the instant when our mechanical power is at its minimum, when the hands that are pushing have ceased to act (supposing the case of fraud) and when the hands that pull are powerless to act. let us now revert to our ordinary table. we tried to produce rotations and levitations without contact, and had complete success. such reports as the foregoing are of more value than all the dissertations. they show the undeniable reality of the levitation not total, but partial,--of the table which remained in an oblique position poised on two legs only. they show also rotations and levitations _without contact_, as well as glidings under the influence of a natural force hitherto only slightly studied. _levitations of a heavy table, having on it a man weighing 191 pounds, or of tubs of sand and stones weighing 165 pounds_,--no denial of these occurrences can be admitted. the same is true of the movements of the table dancing in accordance with the rhythm of certain airs, of its over-turnings, of its obedience to the orders given. these facts have been observed precisely as mechanical, physical, chemical, meteorological, astronomical facts have been observed. to the above reports i will add here a supplementary experiment described in the preface of count de gasparin's book: certain distinguished savants to whom i had communicated the results we had secured, agreed in assuring me that levitations without contact would have the character of absolute certain proof if we succeeded in verifying them by the following practical device: "sprinkle flour upon the table," they said, "at the instant your hands have just left it; then produce one or more levitations; finally assure yourselves that the layer of flour bears not the slightest sign of any touch, and all objectors will be dumb." why, it is precisely this experiment that we have performed successfully several times. let me give a few details: our first trial had succeeded very badly. we used a coarse sieve which we had to move to and fro over the entire table. this produced the double inconvenience; first, of suspending too long, and so of nullifying the action of the operators; and, secondly, of spreading a layer of flour much too thick. the buoyant spring and impulse of the wills of the operators was abated, the fluidic action was thwarted, the table-top got chilled down, so to speak; nothing moved. the mischief went so far that the table not only refused us levitations and rotations without contact, but almost all the ordinary ones. then a brilliant idea came to one of us. we possessed one of those bellows used in blowing sulphur upon vines attacked by the grape-mildew. in place of sulphur we put flour into it, and, so prepared, began the test. the conditions were most favorable. the weather was dry and warm, the table went leaping under our fingers, and, indeed, before the order to lift hands had been given, the greater part of the band of us had spontaneously ceased to touch the table-top. then the command rings out; the whole chain lifts up from the table, and at the same instant the bellows covers its entire surface with a light dusting of flour. not a second had been lost; the levitation without contact had already taken place. but to leave no doubt, the thing was repeated three or four times in succession. that done, the table was scrupulously examined; _no finger had touched it, or even grazed it in the slightest degree_. the fear of grazing it involuntarily had even been so great that the hands had acted fluidically from a height much greater than in previous sittings. each one had thought he could not raise his hands too high, and the hands removed to such a distance from the top, had not had recourse to any of the manoeuvres or passes of which we had at other times made use. keeping its place, above the table to be lifted, the chain had preserved its form intact; it had made hardly a perceptible motion in the direction of the movement it was producing at a distance from the table. i will add, finally that we did not content ourselves with a single experience. a careful inspection following each of several levitations, always showed that the dust-like layer of flour was absolutely untouched; and no portion of the table had escaped its tell-tale coat of white. the author of these reports himself estimates as follows the results he has recorded: the phenomena observed confirm and elucidate each other. large four-legged tables compete with three-legged ones. inert weights, placed on these, come forward as substitutes for persons suspected of giving a helping hand to the table charged with the task of lifting them. at last the great discovery arrives in its turn: we begin by continuing without contact movements already initiated, and we end by producing them; we succeed almost in creating the process, to such an extent that these extraordinary facts manifest themselves sometimes in an uninterrupted series of fifteen or thirty performances. the glidings round out the subject by throwing light on one phase of action at a distance: they reveal it as powerless (at times) to lift the table, but able to draw it along over the floor. such is the rapidly sketched account of our progress. taken just by itself alone, it constitutes a solid proof and i recommend a study of it to serious men. it is not thus that error proceeds. illusions originating in accident, or chance, do not thus resist a long study, and do not pass unmasked through a long series of experiments that justify them more and more. the reading of numbers in others' minds, and the balance of forces, merit special consideration. when all the operators but one are ignorant of the number to be materialized by raps, the operation (unless it is fluidic) ought to proceed either from the person who knows the number and furnishes at once the movement and the arrest, or else it ought to proceed from a relation instinctively established between that person who furnishes the arrest and his vis-à-vis who furnishes the movement. let us examine both hypotheses. the first is untenable; for, in the case where some one chooses a leg of the table upon which the operator who knows the number can exercise no muscular action, the leg thus designated none the less rises at his command. the second is untenable; for, in the case where some one indicates a zero, the movement which ought to take place does not do so. nay more. if you place at loggerheads two persons placed on opposite sides of the table and enjoin each to make a different number triumph, the more powerful operator secures the execution of the chief number although his vis-à-vis is interested not only in not furnishing it to him, but in arresting it. i know that this matter of the divining of numbers thought of is in bad odor. it lacks a certain pedantic and scientific form. yet i have not hesitated to insist on it; for there are few experiments in which is better manifested the _mixed character_ of the phenomenon,--physical power developed and applied outside of ourselves by the effect of our will. just because it forms the great offense, or stumbling block, i am unwilling to be shame-faced about it. i maintain, besides that this is just as scientific as anything else. true science is not tied to the employment of such and such a process or such and such an instrument. that which a fluidometer would show would be no less scientifically demonstrated than what is seen with the eyes and estimated by the reason. let us go on, however. we have not yet reached the end of our proofs. one of these has always especially struck me: i mean the proof derived from failures. it is claimed that the movements are produced by the action of our muscles, by involuntary pressure. now here are the same operators who yesterday secured from the table the fulfilment of their most capricious desires; their muscles are as strong, their vivacity is as great, their desire to succeed is perhaps keener--and yet nothing! absolutely nothing! a whole hour will pass without the least rotation beginning; or, if there are rotations, levitations are impossible to procure; what little is done by the table is done feebly, dismally, and as if reluctantly. i repeat it again, the muscles have not changed; then why this sudden incapacity? the cause remaining identically the same, whence comes it that the effect varies to such a degree? "ah!" says an objector, "you are talking of involuntary pressure, and say nothing about voluntary pressure, of fraud, in short. don't you see that the cheaters may be present at one sitting and not appear at another, that they may act one day and not give themselves the trouble on the next?" i will reply very simply, and by facts. "the cheaters are absent when we do not succeed!" but it has happened many a time that our personnel has not been changed in any way. the same persons, absolutely the same, have passed from a state of remarkable power to a state of comparative impotence. and that is not all. if there exists no operator whose presence has preserved us from failures, no more does any exist whose absence has rendered us incapable of success. with and without each one of the members of the chain we have succeeded in performing all the experiments,--all without exception. but 'the cheaters do not take so much pains every day!' the pains would be great indeed, and those who infer fraud little think what prodigies they are invoking. the accusation is an absurdity which verges on silliness, and its silliness removes its sting. one does not take offense at things like that. but come now, let us suppose for the moment that valleyres were peopled with disciples of bosco, that prestidigitation were generally practised there, and that it had been thrust under our very eyes for five months, and under the eyes of numerous and very suspicious witnesses without a single case of perfidy having been pointed out. we have so well concealed our game that we have invented a secret telegraphic code for the experiment of reading numbers, a particular turn of the finger for moving the most enormous masses, a method of gradually lifting tables that we do not seem to touch. we are all liars, all; for we have been mutually watching each other for a long time now, and do not denounce anybody. nay, more, the contagion of our vices is so swift to take that, as soon as we admit a stranger, a hostile witness, into the chain, he becomes our accomplice; he voluntarily closes his eyes to the transmission of signals, to muscular efforts, to the repeated and prolonged suspicious actions of his next neighbors in the chain! well and good; suppose we grant all that, we shall not have got farther along for that. it will still remain to be explained why our cheaters sometimes do nothing at the very moment when it would be to their interest to succeed. it has happened, indeed, that a certain sitting at which we had many witnesses and a great desire to convince turned out to be a mediocre one. such and such another, under the same conditions, was, on the contrary, a brilliant success. there you have real and important inequalities, and they dare to talk to us of muscular action and of fraud. fraud and muscular action! here for instance is a fine opportunity to put them to the proof. we have just placed a weight on the table. this weight is inert and cannot be accessory to any device. fraud is all around it perhaps, but it is not in the tubs of sand. this weight is equally divided among the three legs of the table, and they are going to prove it by each one rising in turn. the total load weighs 165 pounds, and we scarcely dare to increase it, for, as it is, it was enough, one day, to break our very solid table. very well; now let someone try to move this weight. since muscular action and fraud must explain everything, it will be easy for them to put the mass in motion. now they cannot do it. their fingers contract and the knuckles whiten without their obtaining a single levitation, whereas, some moments later, levitations will take place at the touch of the same fingers, which gently graze the table's top and make no effort at all, as any one may easily convince himself. certain very ingenious scientific rules of measurement, for the invention of which i cannot claim the credit, put us in the way of translating into figures the effort which the rotation or levitation of the table demands, when loaded in the way just described. with the above-mentioned weight of 165 pounds, rotation is secured by means of a lateral traction of about 17-1/2 pounds, while levitation is only obtained by a perpendicular pressure of 132 pounds at least (which i will reduce, however, to 110, in deference to the presumed wishes of the critic, and on the supposition that the pressure might not be absolutely vertical). several deductions are to be drawn from these figures. in the first place, muscular action may cause the table to turn, but it cannot lift it. as a matter of fact, the ten operators have one hundred fingers applied to its surface. now, the vertical, or quasi-vertical, pressure of each finger cannot exceed twelve ounces on the average, the chain being composed as it is. they only develop, then, a total pressure of 66 pounds, which is quite insufficient to produce levitation. in the next place, this striking thing befalls, that the phenomenon which muscular action could easily produce is precisely the one that we most rarely and with the greatest difficulty obtain, and that the phenomenon which muscular action could not compass is the one the most habitually realized when the chain is formed. why does not our involuntary impulse always make the table turn? why should not our "fraud" always procure such a triumph? why, as a general thing, do we only succeed in effecting that which is mechanically impossible? i advise people who like to make fun of table-turnings not to investigate them too closely, and to beware of giving too careful attention to our supreme demonstration,--that of movements without contact, for it will leave them not the slightest pretext for incredulity. thus the fact is established. multiplied experiments, diverse and irrefutable proofs, which are, moreover, joined in the closest solidarity, give to the fluidic action the stamp of complete certainty. those who have had the patience to follow me thus far will have felt their suspicions vanishing one after another, and their faith in the new phenomenon more and more strengthened. they will have made good what we ourselves have substantiated and made good; for no one has opposed more difficulties to table-turning than have we, no one has shown himself more inquisitorial and exacting respecting them. it is not our fault if the results have been conclusive (and more and more so), nor ours the blame if they have reciprocally confirmed each other, if they have ended by forming one body and taking on the character of perfect evidence. to study, to compare, to repeat and repeat again, and to finally exclude all that admits of doubt or question--this was our duty. nor have we failed to perform it. i make no affirmations in these reports which i have not proved over and over again. such are the memorable experiments of the count de gasparin. their worth will be appreciated by all who read them. i have been anxious to reproduce these careful reports; for they establish of themselves _the absolute and undeniable reality of these movements that contradict the normal law of gravitation_. let us hear the count's explanatory hypotheses. the reader will have noticed the care i have taken to confine myself to the verification of the facts, without hazarding any explanatory hypothesis. if i have employed the word "fluid," it was to avoid circumlocutions. strict scientific precision would have demanded that i always write "the fluid, the force, or physical agent whatever it may be." i shall be pardoned for having been a little less exact than this in my language. it was enough that my thought was perfectly clear. that we have to do with a fluid, properly so called, in the phenomena of table turning and lifting i cannot absolutely affirm. i affirm that there is an agent, and that this agent _is not supernatural_, that it is _physical_, imparting to physical objects the movements which our will determines. our will, i have said. and this is in fact the fundamental idea we have gathered out of this subject of a physical agent. it is this which characterizes it, and it is this also which compromises it in the eyes of a good many folks. they might, perhaps, be resigned to a new agent, if it were the necessary and exclusive product of the hands forming the chain, if only it were true that certain positions or certain acts insured its manifestation. but this is not the case with it: the mental and the physical must combine in order to give it birth. here are hands that tire themselves out in forming the chain, and yet obtain no movement: the will has not been mingled in the act. here is a will that commands in vain: the hands have not been placed in a suitable position. we have thrown light upon both these sides of the phenomenon, for they are both essential. another fact has been noted by us, and ought to enter into a description of the physical agent in question: this agent inheres in the persons and not in the table. let the operators, when they are in rapport, pass to a new table and encircle it: they will be able immediately to exercise all their authority over it; their will will continue to dispose of the physical agent and to make use of it for rapping numbers mentally selected by persons present or for producing movements without contact. such are the facts. the explanation of them will come later. it is, however, very natural to want to find this at once, and to make hypotheses which may be regarded as possible, if not true. i have taken the risk of doing this, and i do not repent of it. was it not imperative to prove to our opponents that they have not even the pretext of "a scientific impossibility"? hypotheses have their legitimate place and their utility, even if they are incorrect. if they are admissible in themselves, that is sufficient, for that defends the facts to which they are applied from the accusation of monstrosity. the critic has no longer the right to demand the previous question. seeing that it was asked for on all sides, i have risked the following statement: you assert that our pretensions are false, for the simple reason that they _cannot be_ true! very well. but, at all events, allow me to lay before you certain postulates. suppose, in the first place, that you do not know everything, that the moral and even the material nature of man have obscurities which you have not been able to remove. suppose that the smallest blade of grass springing up in the field, that the smallest grain reproducing its kind, that the finger of your hand in the act of executing the order you give it, enclose mysteries that surpass the powers of the learned doctors to fathom, and which they would declare absurd if they were not compelled to recognize them as real. then, in the second place, suppose that certain men who will so to do, and whose hands are joined one to another in a certain way, give birth to a fluid or to a special kind of force. i do not ask you to admit that such force exists; you will only agree with me that it is possible. there is no natural law opposed to it that i know of. now, let us take one more step. the will disposes of this fluid. it gives an impulse to external objects only when we will it, and in quarters selected by us. would there be anything impossible in this? is it an unheard-of thing that we transmit movement to matter that is outside of ourselves? why, we do so every day, and every instant; our mechanical action is nothing more or less than this. the horrible thing in your eyes doubtless is that we do not act mechanically! but there is something besides mechanical action in this world. there are physical causes of movement that are something else than this. the caloric that penetrates a living body produces dilatation there; that is to say, universal movement. the loadstone placed in the neighborhood of a piece of iron attracts it, and makes it leap across the intervening space. "yes," some one will exclaim, "we should make no objection, provided your pretended fluid did not obey one special direction in its progress. if it went straight on, as a blind force, well and good! it would then be like the caloric, that dilates everything it meets in its passage. it would be like the magnet which attracts indiscriminately toward a fixed point all the particles of iron in its vicinity. as for you, your invention of the theory of a rotative fluid calls vividly to mind the explanation of the dormitive properties of opium." it is impossible to more completely misunderstand things. no one dreams of a "rotative fluid." all we maintain is, that, when the fluid is emitted and imparts either repulsion or lateral attraction to a piece of furniture resting on legs, a very simple mechanical law transforms the lateral action into rotation. i do not say, "the tables turn because my fluid is rotative." i say, "the tables turn, because, when they receive an impelling force or undergo an attraction, they cannot help turning." stated in this way, it is a little less naïve. consequently, i should be under no obligation to undertake the cause of the poor university scholar of the _malade imaginaire_, and defend his famous reply: "_opium facit dormire quia est in eo virtus dormitiva_" ("opium puts people to sleep because it has the sleep-producing virtue or property"). nevertheless, i can't help it, out it must come: i find the reply an excellent one. i doubt whether the savants have found a better one to this day, and i advise them to resign themselves sometimes to the following kind of reasoning: "opium puts us to sleep because it puts us to sleep; things are because they are." in other words, i see the facts and do not know the causes. i do not know. "i do not know!" terrible words, which one finds difficulty in pronouncing! now, i suspect very strongly that the sly roguishness of molière is for the benefit of the doctors, who pretend to know everything, invent explanations which do not explain, and do not know how to accept the facts while waiting for more light. but there is more to come. the hypothesis of the fluid (a pure hypothesis, remember) must still prove that it is a hypothesis reconcilable with the different circumstances of the phenomenon. the table does not merely turn: it lifts its legs up, it raps numbers mentally indicated to it; in a word, it obeys the will, and obeys it so well that the removal of contact does not terminate its obedience. the impelling force or lateral attraction which account for rotations cannot account for levitations. but why? because the will directs the fluid now into one leg of the table, now into another. because the table identifies itself with us, after a fashion, becomes a limb of our own body, and produces movements thought of by us in the same manner as our arm produces them. because we have no conscious knowledge of the direction imparted to the fluid, and govern the movements of the table without imagining that any kind of fluid or force whatever is in action. in all our acts, in all without exception, we have no consciousness of the direction imparted by our will. when you explain to me how i lift my hand, i will explain to you how i make the table-leg rise from the floor. i "willed to raise my hand." yes, and i also willed to lift this table-leg. as for the executing of the mandates of the will, the putting into play of the muscles required to lift the hand, or of the fluid-power required to lift the table-leg, i have no knowledge of what passes in me apropos of this. strange mystery, and one which ought to inspire in us a little modesty! there is in me an executive power, a power of such a nature that, when i have willed such or such an act, it addresses detailed orders to the different muscles and sets in motion a hundred complicated movements to bring about a final result which has been merely thought of, merely willed. that miracle goes on within me, and i understand it not at all, and never shall understand it. do you not agree that the same executive power can give to the fluid the directions it gives to the muscles? i have willed to play a sonata on the piano, and, unknown to me, something within me has given orders to hundreds of thousands of muscular acts. i have willed that the leg of this table should be lifted up, and, unknown to me, something within me has directed the attractions and impulsions of the fluid to the designated place. the hypothesis of a fluid is, then, defensible. it accords with the nature of things and with the nature of man. i have no wish to go farther and furnish at once a definitive explanation. but i am not worrying. let the facts once be admitted, and explanations will not be wanting. what seems impossible now will seem very simple then. about incontestable things no trouble is made. we are so constituted that, after we have asserted the impossibility of everything we do not comprehend, we declare comprehensible all that we have recognized as real. people are everywhere to be met with who shrug their shoulders when you speak to them of table-turnings and who make nothing of the puck-like performance of the electric current in putting the girdle of its circuit around the earth in the fraction of a moment, and who find the miracle of the transmission of the mental and moral qualities of the fathers to the children a very simple thing to understand! the tables of the psychic experimenter cannot escape the common lot. their phenomena, absurd to-day, are to-morrow self-evident. these experiments of count de gasparin and his associates have been known for over half a century, and it is really incomprehensible that even the fact of the levitation of tables and of their movements has continued to be denied. verily, if the tables are sometimes light, it must be confessed that the human race is a little heavy. as to the theory, the hypothesis of the fluid,--_felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas_ (happy the man who can know the cause of things)--i shall return to this matter in the chapter on explanatory theories. but it is incontestable that, in such experiences, we act by means of an invisible force emanating from us. one must be blind not to admit that. after a series of experiments so admirably conducted we can understand that the author might well be allowed to indulge in a little derision of obstinately prejudiced unbelievers. in closing this chapter, i cannot forego the pleasure of citing count de gasparin apropos of the learned negations of babinet and his emulators of the institute. the savants are not the only ones to stand on their dignity. i also stand on mine, and i make bold to think that a certificate signed with my name would not be rated by anybody as a piece of imposture or frivolity. it is known that i am in the habit of weighing my words; it is known that i love the truth, and that i will not sacrifice it on any consideration; it is known that i prefer to admit an error rather than persist in it; and when, after a long-continued inquiry, i persist with a firmer and profounder conviction than ever, the import or scope of the declaration i make is not to be misapprehended. i can tell you, in the next place, that the testimony of the eyes has, in my opinion, a scientific value. independently of instruments and figures, on which i set the highest values, i believe that the true _seeing_ of things may serve. i believe that this also is of itself an instrument. if a sufficient number of good pairs of eyes have ascertained and proved, ten, twenty, a hundred times, that a table is put in motion without contact; if, furthermore, the explanation of the fact by fraudulent or involuntary contacts passes the limits which must be assigned to incredulity, the conclusion is clear. nobody is warranted in crying out: "you have neither fluidometer nor alembic; you do not give a specimen of your physical agent in a bottle; you do not describe how it acts upon a column of mercury or upon the dip of a needle. we don't believe you, for you have done nothing but see." "i do not believe you because you have done nothing but see!" "i do not believe you because i have not seen with my own eyes!" so many pedants, so many objections. they hardly take the trouble to agree among themselves; in a war waged against the tables any weapon is fair, nothing comes amiss. i do not wish to forget that scientists were still talking only of rotations at the moment when faraday invented his disks.[54] in the presence of a phenomenon so inadequate, and, let us admit it, so suspicious, we can understand how the savants showed themselves sceptical and contented themselves with flimsy refutations. they proportioned the number and size of their weapons to the appearance of the enemy. the one among them who showed the most penetration, and who proposed the most plausible explanation, is most assuredly chevreul. his theory of the tendency to movement is incontestably true. it explains how the objects we suspend from our finger finally take a vibratory movement in the direction indicated by our will. i am not astonished that some have thought this theory sufficient to explain how experimenters can, in the end, impart a rotation to the table and participate in the movement themselves. i need not say that our proved levitations of weights, and our movements without contact, will not henceforth permit anyone to take refuge in such an explanation. if all the tendencies to movement were united into one they would not be able to produce at a distance an impelling power, nor move a mass that mechanical action could not set in motion. really, the learned doctors ought not to throw out to the public these explanations which do not explain. they ought rather to get to work and show us, in fact, how to set about the lifting directly and mechanically of a weight of 220 pounds without applying to the task a force of 220 pounds. but they prefer to use insulting expressions, and then proceed to invent some theory or other which has only one little fault--that it has no legs to walk with. the recent article of m. babinet in the _revue des deux mondes_ is a masterpiece in its way. if i needed to be convinced of the reality of the phenomena of table-turning, etc., i should most assuredly have been convinced by the reading of this refutation of it. in the opinion of m. babinet, the phenomena of the tables offer no difficulty whatever! happy science of physics, happy science of mechanics which has an answer ready for everything! we poor, ignorant fellows thought we had detected something extraordinary, and did not know we were merely obeying two extremely elementary laws,--the law of unconscious movements, and, above all, that of nascent movements, movements the power of which seems to surpass that of developed movements. as far as regards unconscious movements, m. babinet adds nothing to previous explanations--nothing but the story of that lord (an english lord, he says) whose horse was so admirably trained that it seemed as if it were only necessary for one to think the movement one wished to have him execute, and he instantly realized it. i am thoroughly convinced, as is m. babinet, that the aforesaid lord gave an impulse to the bridle without suspecting it, and i am just as thoroughly convinced that the experimenters whose hands are touching a table may exert a pressure of which they are not conscious. only--i think there should be some proportion between the cause and the effect. suppose the movements are unconscious: they are none the less vigorous for all that. the burden is upon m. babinet and his followers, to prove that the very same fingers that in vain clench themselves till they are stiff in the endeavor to lift a weight of eighty-eight pounds, will lift double this weight by simply being unconscious that they are making any effort. my honorable and learned opponent will not hear of movements obtained without contact. "everything that has been said about action exercised at a distance ought to be banished to the realm of fiction." the judgment is curt and summary. movements without contact are a fiction,--first because they are impossible; secondly because powdered soapstone has hindered the rotation of a table; and, finally, because perpetual movement is impossible. movements at a distance are impossible! to be strictly logical, m. babinet ought to have stopped there, remembering the reply made by henry iv to the magistrates who had thus begun an address to him: "we did not give a salute of cannon on the approach of your majesty, and that for three good reasons. in the first place, because we had no cannon--" "that reason is sufficient," said the king. we are fain to believe that m. babinet himself has little doubt about his "impossibility." he has acted wisely in doing so; for this impossibility is based entirely on a vicious circle of reasoning. "is there a single known example of movement produced without a force acting from the outside? no. well, movement at a distance would very plainly take place by an active external force. therefore movement at a distance is impossible." i feel very much disposed to say to m. babinet, in the technical language of the schools, that his major premise is true and that his conclusion would be legitimate if his minor were not purely and simply a begging of the question. you claim that there is no active force exterior to the table which lifts it without the touch of the hands. but that is precisely the point at issue between us. a fluid is an external active force. it is handy for my critic, indeed, to begin by establishing this axiom. now (he says), there is no fluid, or analogous physical agent, in the case of the tables; _therefore_ there is no effect produced. the learned gentlemen, faraday, babinet, and others, do not limit themselves to objections derived from nascent or unconscious movements, small causes producing great effects. they have still another method of proceeding. if an experiment has succeeded it has no longer any value. oh, if one could succeed in performing such another experiment, well and good! but this would not hinder the new experiment from becoming insignificant in its turn and giving place to a new desideratum. the phrasing runs somewhat in this way: "you are doing such and such a thing. very well; but now let us see you do a different thing. you are employing such or such a method; be pleased to be contented with those which we prescribe you. to succeed in your way is not enough; you must succeed in ours. your way is not scientific; it runs contrary to the traditions. we shut the door in the face of facts if they do not come in the regulation claw-hammer coat of full dress. we shall pay no attention to your experiments if our experimental apparatus does not figure in them." strange way of verifying and establishing the results of experiments! you begin by changing the conditions under which they are produced. you might as well say to the man who has seen the harvesting of barley in upper egypt in january, "i will believe it when i see it done before my eyes in bourgogne." one can understand, of course, how an unreasonable and troublesome fastidiousness might be shown regarding travellers' tales. but scientific experiments are of another character. in the presence of facts so evident, it is almost incredible that they wish to impose upon us instruments, needles, and mechanical devices. the idea of introducing _becauses_ and _therefores_ into an investigation in which the real nature of the acting force is a mystery to all the world! polemical essays are not scientific studies. in general, they are the direct opposite. when persons who have seen nothing, who have not devoted any considerable portion of their energy and time to experimentation, who have perhaps been present only at some ridiculous rotations of centre-tables, take their pen in hand for the purpose of exposing theories or giving lofty reprimands to experimenters, i do not look at them in the light of scientific students. i am convinced that a man never really studies that which he declares _a priori_ to have no sense in it. if attacks are studies, there is no lack of them, and (i may add) never will be. at the time when the academy of medicine buried the report of m. husson and published what everybody in europe persisted in calling a refusal to examine, there was issued every morning a paper against magnetism; every morning some new writer vociferated that the partisans of magnetism were imbeciles, and proposed an explanatory system of his own. if you call that making a study, then i grant that they have studied table-turnings, for there certainly has been no dearth of insults and of theories about these phenomena. they have received every attention, except that no one was willing to inspect, experiment, listen, and read. twice, a month apart, the institute has announced (without protest from anybody whatever) to the students of table-turnings that it was shelving papers relating to that topic; that it was not obliged to occupy itself with nonsense; that there was a place in its archives for lucubrations of that kind; namely, the place to which were consigned papers on perpetual motion. oh, molière! why are you not present with us? but, in reality, you are here. your genius has limned with ineffaceable lines that everlasting disease of venerable big-wigs and mouldy specialists,--disdain of the laity, respect for their fellow-members, idolatry of the past. a most singular deformity, this! and it appears in all ages, in various disguises, in the midst of all branches of human activity, now in the name of religion, now in that of medicine, and again in the name of science or of art. yes, even surviving the wreck of revolutions which spare nothing, appearing even within the walls of learned academies the members of which write for the furtherance of the great movements of modern progress, one thing remains,--the spirit of partisanship, of cliques, the spirit of tradition, the superstitious regard for forms. really, it would seem as if people must be still taking bible oaths like those in the baccalaureate ceremony at the end of molière's _malade imaginaire_. m. foucault is fond of this scene, and will therefore not take it ill if i recall to his mind a couple of stanzas: _essere in omnibus consultationibus ancieni aviso, aut bono, aut mauvaiso._ --juro! _de non jamais te servire de remediis alcunis quam de ceux soulement doctæ facultatis, maladus dut-il crevare, et mori de suo malo._ --juro![55] if you don't call that a refusal to examine, i don't know what the words mean in good french. with such ingenious candor and with such authority did the count agénor de gasparin express himself in the year 1854. it seems to me that the experiments made known in this volume furnish abundant evidence that he is right. yet i have still friends, at the institute, who smile with the utmost scorn when i ask their opinion on the phenomena of the levitation of tables, the movement of objects without perceptible cause, unexplained noises in haunted houses, communication of thought at a distance, premonitory dreams, and apparitions of the dying. although these unexplained phenomena have undeniably been proved to be facts of occurrence, those learned friends of mine remain convinced that "such things as that are impossible." chapter vii the researches of professor thury the insufficient explanations of chevreul and of faraday, the scientific negations of babinet, the conscientious experiments of the count de gasparin had led several scientists to study the question from the purely scientific point of view. among them was a highly-gifted savant whom i visited at geneva,--m. marc thury, professor of natural history and of astronomy in the academy of that city. we are indebted to him for a remarkable and little known monograph,[56] which it is my duty to condense for this volume. when we were in the presence of new phenomena (writes thury) there was only one alternative: first, either to reject, in the name of common sense and of the results acquired by science, all the pretended phenomena of tables as so many childish sports unworthy of taking up the time of the true scientist or scholar, since, on the very face of it, their absurdity is evident; in short, to let the matter drop by refusing to give it serious attention. or, second, to make a determined examination of it at whatever cost, to study the fact in its details in order to lay fully open all the sources of illusion by which the public is duped, separate the true from the false, and throw a strong light on all aspects of the phenomenon, physical, physiological, and psychological, in order that the matter may be so superabundantly clear and evident that no further excuse for doubt may remain. superfluous to say, the last method is the one adopted by thury (as it was by gasparin). he considers it to be the only suitable, efficient, and legitimate method. darkness saps the strength of science. its strongest hold lies in bringing everything out into the full light of day. here, then, lies the question: in these curious phenomena of the tables, is the explanation so clear that you can lay a finger on the causes of illusion and clearly show that there is in them no new and unknown element at work? i do not think (replies the genevan professor) that we have attained to that degree of evidence. i wish only one proof, the explanation of what has already been attempted. if, then, it is well established that the common explanation is not self-evident, in the eyes of all intelligent and sensible men, there remains a task to do, a duty owed to science,--that of throwing full light upon the phenomenon in question; and this task cannot be exchanged for the easier one of treating with irony or disdain those who have gone astray in the path that science refused to illuminate. the savants are, however, excusable for not going too quick (let us admit with thury). what! a perturbative force lurking, by the hypothesis, in the human organism sufficiently powerful to lift tables, and which yet had never produced the slightest derangement in the thousands of experiments that physicists are daily making in their laboratories! their balances, responsive to the weight of a tenth of a milligram, their pendulums whose oscillations take place with mathematical regularity, had never felt the slightest disturbing effect of these forces, whose source is there present wherever there is a man and a volition! now, it is the ardent wish of the physicist that the experiment shall always exactly tally the forecasts of theory. must he then admit an unknown disturbing force? and, even without going outside of the limits of the human organism, think, if the organism is unable to move the smallest part of itself when the part is deprived of muscles and nerves, or, when a single hair of our head is absolutely withdrawn from the influence of the will--think, i say, how much less (and with how much stronger reason) that nervous organism of ours would seem to be able to move inert bodies residing outside the limits of our own frames! but, if there is a profound improbability in the thing, still, we cannot say that it is impossible. no one can show _a priori_ the impossibility of the phenomena described, as they demonstrate the impossibility of perpetual motion or the squaring of the circle. consequently, no one has the right to treat as absurd the evidences which tend to confirm the experiments. provided these evidences are furnished by judicious and truthful men, then they are worth the trouble of examination. if this logical course had been followed--the only true and equitable one,--the work would now have been done, and the learned men would have the glory thereof. thury begins by examining the experiments of count de gasparin at valleyres. the experiments of valleyres (he writes) tend to establish the two following principles: 1. the will, in a certain condition of the human organism, can act, from a distance, upon inert bodies, and by an agency different from that of muscular action. 2. under the same conditions, thought can be communicated directly, though unconsciously, from one individual to another. as long as we were ignorant of any other facts than those resulting from a movement effected by contact with the fingers of the hand, in a way in which the mechanical action of the fingers became possible, the results of the experiments upon the table were always of difficult and doubtful interpretation. these results had to be necessarily based upon an estimate of the mechanical force exerted by the hands compared with the strength of the resistance to be overcome. but the mechanical force of the hands is difficult to measure exactly, under the conditions necessary to produce the phenomena. yet over and above that plan of work there remained two methods, of operation to employ. _a._ so to dispose the apparatus employed that the movement to be produced shall be one that the mechanical action of the fingers could not compass. _b._ to set up movements at a distance without any kind of contact. the following were our first experiments: a. _mechanical action rendered impossible._ the first experiment attempted along this line gave wholly negative results. we suspended a table by a cord that passed over two pulleys fixed in the ceiling and had a counter-weight attached to the free end. it was easy, by regulating this counterpoise, to balance in the air either the total weight of the table or only a fraction, more or less great, thereof. as a matter of fact, the table hung almost in equilibrium with the weight, one only of its three legs touching the floor. the operators placed their hands upon the top surface. we acted at first in a circular direction, a disposition of the force the efficacy of which had been established by previous experiments. we then tried in vain to lift the table by detaching it from the floor. no positive result was obtained. we had already (during the previous year) had a table suspended to a dynamometer, and the efforts of four mesmerizers were powerless to relieve the dynamometer of an appreciable fraction of the weight of the table. but the conditions necessary for the production of the phenomena were still unknown to us, and, consequently, when the experiments tried led to negative results, we had to try others, without pressing too hastily for inferences and conclusions. it was thus that we secured the results which i am going to describe. _experiment with the swinging table._--we needed a piece of apparatus of such a kind that the mechanical action of the fingers would be rendered impossible. for this purpose we had a table made with a top about 33 inches in diameter, and a central trifurcated leg underneath. this table bore a close resemblance to the one which had served our purposes up to that time, and could turn like its predecessor. still, the new table was capable of being transformed in a moment into a mechanism such as i shall now describe. the summit of the tripod becomes the fulcrum of a lever of the first order which is able to balance freely in a vertical plane. this lever, whose two arms are equal to each other and to the radius of the table bears at one of its extremities the table-top, held by the edge, and, toward the other extremity, a counterpoise which just balances the weight of the table, but which can be modified at will. to the under side of the table-top is fastened a leg resting on the floor. after the necessary preliminary rotations, the table is harnessed up in its second form. equilibrium is first secured, then 3-5 of a pound is taken from the counterpoise. the force required to lift the top by its centre is then 4 ounces, and previous experiments have proved that the adherence of the fingers of the operators (the top was polished, and not varnished), together with the possible effects of elasticity, form a total lower than that figure. yet the top is lifted by the action of the fingers placed lightly on its upper surface, at a certain distance from the edge. then the counterpoise is diminished; the mechanical difficulty of lifting is augmented, yet still it takes place. the weight is again diminished, and more and more, up to the limit of the apparatus. the force necessary to lift the top is then 8 1-5 pounds, and the counterpoise has been relieved of 24 pounds; yet the levitation is easily accomplished. the number of the operators is gradually lessened from eleven to six. the difficulty goes on increasing, yet six operators still suffice; but five are not enough. six operators lift 9 1-3 pounds,--an average for each man of about 1-1/2 pounds. we now possess, in the apparatus just described, a gauge or instrument of measurement. b. the following movements were produced without contact: the table on which were made the trials i witnessed has a diameter of 32 inches and weighs 31 pounds. an average tangential force of 4 2-5 pounds, which may be raised to 6 3-5 pounds, according to the greater or less inequalities of the floor, applied to the edge of the table, is necessary to give to it a movement of rotation. ten is usually the number of persons who operate about this table. in order to assure ourselves of the absence of all contact, we placed our eye on a level with the table in such a way as to see light between our fingers and the surface of the table, the fingers themselves remaining a little less than an inch above the top. usually, two persons would be observing at once. for instance, m. edmond boissier was observing the legs of the table, while i was watching the top. then we exchanged rôles. sometimes two persons took places at the extremities of one and the same diameter, the one opposite the other, for the purpose of watching the top of the table. several times we saw it move, although we could not detect the slightest touch by the fingers. according to my calculations, it would require the contact of at least 100 fingers, or the light pressure of thirty, acting voluntarily and fraudulently, to explain in terms of mechanics the movements we observed. much more frequently still we obtained balancings without contact, balancings which sometimes went so far as to tip the table entirely over. to explain in terms of mechanical movement the effects we observed, we should have to admit the involuntary contact of 84 fingers, or the light pressure of 25, or two hands acting with intent to deceive. but these suppositions, also, are not at all admissible. nevertheless, we always felt that someone might present the objection that it was difficult to observe these operations with precision, and we were constantly urging m. gasparin to convince the doubters and sceptics in the matter of the non-contact of the fingers by means of some mechanical device. out of this arose the last experiment made at that time, and the most conclusive of all. a light film of flour was almost instantaneously spread over the table by means of a sulphur bellows such as is used in vineyards. the movement of the chain of hands above the table set it whirling. then the film of flour was examined and found to be inviolate from the touch of hands. several repetitions on different days always gave the same results. such are the principal facts which establish the reality of the phenomenon. thury next takes up the more difficult investigation of courses. _the seat of the force._--it is possible that the force which produces the phenomena is a general telluric force which is merely transmitted by the operators or set in action by them; or, possibly, the force resides in the operators themselves. to decide this question, we had a large movable platform constructed which revolved on a perfectly vertical axis. near the outer periphery of the platform stood four chairs, and there was a table at the centre. four operators, experts in nervo-magnetic action, took their places on the chairs, and, placing their hands on the table in the centre, tried to give it circular movement by non-mechanical power. in fact, the table soon began to move. then it was stopped and fastened to the platform by means of three screws. the effort exerted upon this table by the four magnetizers was such that, at the end of three-quarters of an hour of experimentation, the central supporting leg, was broken. yet the movable platform did not turn. the tangential force required to mechanically move the empty platform was only a few grams; loaded with the four operators, 250 grams was necessary, applied about 28 inches from the centre. this figure would have been much less if it had been possible to distribute the weight of the operators uniformly. the result of this experiment (of june 4, 1853) showed that the force which tends to make the table turn is in the individuals and not in the ground. for the force exerted upon the table tends to draw along the platform with it. if, then, the platform remains motionless, it must be that an equal and contrary force is exerted by the operators. it is therefore in them that the base of the seat of the force resides. if, on the contrary, this force had emanated, wholly or in large part, from the ground, if it had been a force directly telluric, the platform would have turned, the effort which the table exerted upon it being no longer counterbalanced by an equal reaction proceeding from the individuals. _conditions of the production and action of the force._--i have said that the conditions for the production of the force are little known. in the absence of precise laws, i shall present what has been verified in a greater or less degree in the case of the three following points: _a._ conditions of action relative to the operators. _b._ conditions relative to the objects to be moved. _c._ conditions relative to the mode of action of the operators upon the objects to be moved. the will. the first and the most indispensable condition, according to m. gasparin, is the will of the operator. "without the will," he says, "we obtain nothing; we might sit there in chain twenty-four hours in succession without getting the slightest movement." farther on, the author speaks, it is true, of unexpected movements different from those which the will prescribes; but it is evident that he is referring to a necessary combination of prescribed movements and external resistances, the effective movements being the _resultant_ of those that have been willed and of forces of resistance developed in external objects. in short, the will is always the prime mover and originator. nothing, it is true, in the experiments at valleyres gave any authority for believing that it could be otherwise than this. but it is also certain that this purely negative result, or provisional generalization, deduced from a limited number of experiments,--cannot invalidate the results of experiments inconsistent with those, in case such should exist. in other words, the will may ordinarily be necessary, without always being so. similarly, contact is ordinarily necessary, and _always_ has been so with a large number of operators, without, however, giving them the right to conclude that contact is the indispensable condition of the phenomenon, and that the different results obtained at valleyres were only illusions or error. since we are dealing here with a point of capital importance, i shall take the liberty of stating with some detail circumstances which seem opposed to the thesis maintained by m. gasparin. these facts, or data, have as guarantee the testimony of a man whom i should like to be able to name, because his scientific culture and his character are known of all men. it was in his house and under his eyes that the events took place which i am going to relate. at the time when everyone was amusing himself with making tables turn and speak, or in directing the motions of lead-pencils, fixed in movable sockets, over sheets of paper, the children of the house amused themselves several times with this sport. at first, the responses obtained were such that you could see in them a reflex of the unconscious thought of the operators, a "dream of waking performers." soon, however, the character of the replies seemed to change. it seemed as if what they revealed could hardly have emanated from the mind of the young interrogators. finally, there was such an opposition to the commands given that m. n., uncertain as to the true nature of these manifestations in which a will different from the human will _seemed_ to appear, forbade their being called forth again. from that time forth, sockets and table rested undisturbed. a week had scarcely rolled by, after the events just narrated, when a child of the family, he who had formerly succeeded best in the table experiments, became the actor, or the instrument, in strange phenomena. the boy was receiving a piano-lesson, when a low noise sounded in the instrument, and it was shaken and displaced in such a way that pupil and teacher closed it in haste and left the room. on the next day, m. n., who had been informed of what had happened, was present at the lesson, given at the same time,--namely, when the dusk was coming on. at the end of five or ten minutes he heard a noise in the piano difficult to define, but which was certainly the kind of sound one would expect a musical instrument to produce. there was something about it musical and metallic. soon after, the two front legs of the piano (which weighed over six hundred and sixty pounds) were lifted up a little from the floor. m. n. went to one end of the instrument and tried to lift it. at one time it had its ordinary weight, which was more than the strength of m. n. could manage; at another, it seemed as if it had no longer any weight at all, and opposed not the least resistance to his efforts. since the interior noises were becoming more and more violent, the lesson was brought to a close, for fear the instrument might suffer some damage. the lesson was changed to the morning and given in another room situated on the ground floor. the same phenomena took place, and the piano, which was lighter than the one up-stairs, was lifted up much more; that is to say, to a height of several inches. m. n. and a young man nineteen years old tried leaning with all their might on the corners of the piano which were rising. then one of two things happened: either their resistance was in vain, and the piano continued to rise, or else the music-stool on which the child sat moved rapidly back as if pushed or jerked. if occurrences like that had only taken place once we might think that the child or the persons present were laboring under some illusion. but they were repeated a great number of times, for a fortnight, in the presence of different witnesses. then, one day, a violent manifestation took place, and thenceforth no unusual event occurred in the house. at first, it was in the morning and in the evening that these perturbations manifested themselves; then, invariably at any and all hours, they occurred every time the child took his seat at the piano, after five or ten minutes of playing. the phenomena happened only with this boy, although there were others present (musicians); and it made no difference which of the pianos in the house he used. i saw these instruments. the smaller, on the ground floor, is a rectangular horizontal piano. according to my calculations, a force of about 165 pounds applied to the edge of the case, beneath the key-board, is necessary to lift this piano as it was lifted by the unknown force. the instrument in the first story of the house is a heavy erard piano, weighing, with the packing-box in which it was sent, 812 pounds, as stated in the way-bill, which i myself saw. according to my approximate calculations a pressure of 440 pounds is required to lift this piano, under the same conditions as the first was lifted. i do not think that anyone will be tempted to attribute to the direct muscular effort of a child eleven years old the lifting up a weight of 440 pounds.[57] a lady who had attributed the effect produced to the action of the knees passed her own hand between the edge of the piano and the knees of the child, and was thus able to convince herself that her explanation had no foundation in fact. even when the child got upon his knees upon the piano-stool to play, he did not find that the perturbations he dreaded ceased any the more. these authenticated facts of professor thury are at once precise and formidable. what! two pianos rise from the floor and jump about! what do the physicists, the chemists, the learned pedants in office need, then, to arouse them from their torpor and make them shake their ears and open their eyes? what shall be done to remove their noble and pharisaical indolence? but, happen what may, no one is occupying himself with the fascinating problem as stated, except scattered investigators who are freed from the fear of ridicule and are aware of the exact value of the human race, in large and small, and the worth of its judgments. m. thury next discusses the explanation based on "the will." did this boy (he says) _will_ what took place, as the theory of m. de gasparin would require us to admit? according to the boy's testimony, which we believe to be wholly true, he did not will it; he seemed to be visibly annoyed by what occurred; it disturbed his custom of industriously practicing his lesson and offended his taste for regularity and order, a thing well known to his intimates. my personal conviction is that we positively cannot admit, in the case of this lad, a conscious will, a settled design, to produce these strange occurrences. but it is known that sometimes we have a double personality, and one of them converses with the other (as in dreams); that our nature then unconsciously desires what it does not will, and that between will and desire there is only a difference in degree rather than in kind. it would be necessary to have recourse to explanations of this kind,--too subtle, perhaps,--in order to square these piano-facts with the theory of m. gasparin; and it would still be necessary to modify and enlarge the facts if you admit that _even unconscious desire_ suffices, in the absence of the expressed will. there is, then, reason for doubt on this essential point. that is the sole deduction that i wish to draw from the events i have related. this levitation, equivalent to an effort exerted of 440 pounds, has its scientific value. but how could the will, conscious or unconscious, lift a piece of furniture of that weight? by an unknown force which we are obliged to recognize. _preliminary action._--power is developed by action. the rotations prepare for the tippings and the levitations. the rotations and the tippings, with contact, seem to develop the force necessary to produce the rotations and tippings without contact. in their turn, the rotations and the tippings without contact prepare for the production of true levitations, such as those of the swinging table; and the persons who have this latent force awaked in them are better fitted to appeal to it a second time. there is, then, a gradual preparation required, at least for the majority of operators. does this preparation consist in a modification that takes place in the operator, or in the inert body on which he acts, or in both? in order to resolve this problem, experimenters who had been practicing at one table went over to another, operating on which they found their full power unabated. the preparation therefore consists in a modification that takes place in the individuals, and not in the inert body.[58] this modification occurring in individuals is dissipated rather rapidly, especially when the chain of experimenters is broken. _inner development of the operators._--it is only after a certain period of waiting that the operators, who have not so far acted, cause even the easiest movement,--that of rotation with contact. it is during this time that the force, or the conditions determining the manifestation of the force, develop themselves. from that time on, the developed force has nothing to do but to increase. that which takes place, therefore, in this time of waiting, is a very important thing to be considered. we already know that it is the operators themselves who are modified. but what is it that takes place within them? it must be that a kind of activity is set up in the organism, an activity which ordinarily requires the intervention of the will. this activity, this work, is accompanied by a certain fatigue. the action is not aroused in all operators with equal ease and promptness. there are even persons (the author estimates their number at one in ten) in whom it appears that it cannot be produced at all. in the midst of this great diversity of natural aptitudes, it is observed that children "can secure obedience from the table just like grown folks." nevertheless, children do not magnetize. thus, although several facts seem to show that magnetizers (or mesmerizers) have frequently a strong power over the tables, yet one cannot admit the identity of magnetic power and power over the tables; the one is not the measure of the other. only, the magnetic power would constitute (or presume) a favorable subjective condition. a will simple and strong, animation, high spirits, the concentration of the thought upon the work to do, good bodily health, perhaps the very physical act of turning around the table, and, finally, everything that can contribute to unity of will-power among the experimenters,--all these things help to make efficacious the commands addressed to the table with force and authority. the tables (says m. de gasparin) "wish to be handled gaily, freely, with animation and confidence; they must be humored at the start with amusing and easy exercises." the first condition necessary for success with the table is good health and the second, confidence. among unfavorable circumstances, on the other hand, must be reckoned a state of nervous tension; fatigue; a too passionate interest; a mind anxious, preoccupied or distracted. the tables--m. de gasparin further says, in his metaphorical language--"detest folks who quarrel, either as their opponents or as their friends." "as soon as i took too deep an interest, i ceased to command obedience." "if it happened that i desired success too ardently, and showed impatience at delay, i no longer had any power of action on the table." "if the tables encounter preoccupied minds or nervous excitement, they go into a sulking mood." "if you are touchy, over-anxious ... you can't do anything of any value." "in the midst of distractions, chatterings, pleasantries, the operators infallibly lose all their power." away with salon experiments! must one have faith? it is not necessary; but confidence in the result predisposes to a larger endowment of power in the séance of the occasion. it does not suffice to have faith there are persons who have faith and good will, yet with whom power of action is altogether wanting. muscular force or nervous susceptibility do not seem to play any rôle. meteorological conditions have seemed to exercise some influence, probably by acting upon the physique and the spirits of the operators. thus fine weather, dry and warm weather (but not a suffocating heat) act favorably. the especially efficacious influence of dry heat upon the surface of the table[59] will perhaps receive a different explanation. _unconscious muscular action, produced during an especially nervous condition._--so long as only movements with contact were known, in which the movement observed was one of those which muscular action might produce, explanations based on the hypothesis of unconscious muscular action were certainly sufficient and much more probable than all the other explanations which had been up to that time proposed. from this point of view (entirely physiological) it is settled that we must distinguish between the effort which a muscle exerts and the consciousness we have of this effort. it will be remembered that there exist in the human organism a great number of muscles that habitually exert considerable effort without our being in the slightest degree aware of it. it has been pointed out that muscles exist whose contractions are perceptible by us in a certain state of the system and unperceived in another state. it is therefore conceivable that the muscles of our limbs might as an exceptional thing, exhibit the same phenomenon. the preparation for the movement of the table, the special kind of reaction that takes place at this interval of waiting, put the nervous system into a particular condition in which certain muscular movements may take place in an unconscious manner. but, evidently, this theory is not sufficient to account for movements without contact, nor those that take place in such a way that muscular action could not produce them. it is therefore these two classes of movements which must serve as the basis of new experiments and as the foundation of a new theory. how also explain the very peculiar and truly inconceivable character of the movements of the table?--this starting to move, so insensible, so gentle, so different from the abruptness characteristic of the impetus given by mechanical force; these levitations so spontaneous, so energetic, which leap up to meet the hands; these dances and imitations of music which you would in vain attempt to equal by means of the combined and voluntary action of the operators; these little raps succeeding the loud ones, when the command is given, the exquisite delicacy of which nothing can express. several times when someone asked a so-called spirit his age, one of the legs of the centre-table lifted up and rapped 1, 2, 3, etc. then the movement was accelerated. finally, the three legs beat a kind of drum-roll so rapid that it was impossible to count, and which the most skilful could never succeed in imitating. on another occasion, under the contact of hands, the table was turning upon three legs, upon two, upon a single one; and, in this last position, changed feet, throwing its weight first upon one and then upon another with great ease, and with nothing abrupt or jerky in its motions. neither the experimenters nor their most eminent opponents would ever be able to imitate mechanically this dance of the table, and, above all, the whirling pirouettes and changes of feet. _electricity._--many have tried to explain the movements of tables by electricity. even supposing that they involve the very abundant production of this agent, no known effect of electricity would account for the movement of the tables. but, in fact, it is easy to show that there is no electricity produced; for, when a galvanometer was interposed in the chain, no deviation of the needle took place. the electrometer remains as indifferent to the solicitations of the tables as does the mariner's compass. _nervo-magnetism._--there is certainly some analogy between several phenomena of nervo-magnetism and those of the tables. those passes which seem to favor balancing without contact; the motion imparted by the chain to this man whom they cause to turn about (unless, indeed, there is in this some effect of the imagination); finally, the power that many mesmerizers exert over the tables--all this seems to indicate a kinship between the two orders of phenomena. but, since the laws of nervo-magnetism are little known, there is no conclusion to be drawn from this, and it seems to me preferable, for the present, to study separately the phenomena of tables, which are better adapted to the experiments of the physicist, and which, well studied, will render more service to nervo-magnetism than it could receive in a long time from this obscure branch of physiology. thury next touches upon m. de gasparin's theory of fluidic action. being certain that he accurately understands this theory, he gives a résumé of it in the following items: 1. a fluid is produced by the brain, and flows along the nerves. 2. this fluid can go beyond the limits of the body; it can be _emitted_. 3. under the influence of the will, it can move hither and thither. 4. this fluid acts upon inert bodies; yet it shuns contact with certain substances, such as glass. 5. it lifts the parts toward which it moves, or in which it accumulates. 6. it further acts upon inert bodies by attraction or by repulsion, with a tendency to either join or separate the inert body and the organism. 7. it can also determine interior movements in matter, and give rise to noises. 8. this fluid is especially produced and developed by turning, and by the will, and by the joining of hands in a certain manner. 9. it is communicated from one person to another by vicinage or by contact. yet certain persons impede its communication. 10. we have no knowledge of special movements of the fluid, which are determined by the will. 11. this fluid is probably identical with the nervous fluid and with the nervo-magnetic fluid. _application._--rotation is a resultant of the action of the fluid and of the resistances of the wood. tipping results from the accumulation of the fluid in the leg of the table which is lifted. the glass placed in the middle of the table stops the movement because it drives away the fluid. the glass placed on one side of the table makes the opposite side rise because the fluid, fleeing from the glass, accumulates there. thury does not attempt the discussion of this theory. but we may repeat with gasparin, "when you shall have explained to me how i lift my hand, i will explain to you how i cause the leg of the table to rise." the whole problem lies in that,--the action of mind on matter. we must not dream that we can give a final solution of it at the present time. to reduce the new facts to conformity with the old ones; that is to say, to relate the action of mind upon inert bodies outside of us to the action of mind upon the matter in our bodies--such is the only problem which the science of to-day can reasonably propose to itself. thury states it in general terms as follows: _general question of the action of mind upon matter._--we shall seek to formulate the results of experiment up to the point where experiment abandons us. from there on we shall study all the alternatives offered to our mind, as simple possibilities, some of which will give place to hypotheses explanatory of the new phenomena. _first principle: in the ordinary state of the body, the will acts directly only in the sphere of the organism._--matter belonging to the external world is modified _on contact with the organism_, and the modifications which it undergoes gradually produce others by contiguity. it is thus that we can act upon objects at a distance from us. our action at a distance upon all that surrounds us is _mediate_ and not immediate. we believe that this is true of the action of all physical forces, such as gravity, heat, electricity. their effect is gradually communicated, and thus alone they put distance behind them and come into relation with man as a sentient being. _second principle: in the organism itself there is a series of mediate acts._--thus the will does not act directly upon the bones which receive the movement of the muscles; nor does the will modify any more directly the muscles, since, when deprived of nerves, they are incapable of movement. does the will act directly upon the nerves? it is a mooted question whether it modifies them directly or indirectly. thus the substance upon which the soul immediately acts is still undetermined. the substance may be solid, may be fluid; it may be a substance still unknown, or perhaps a particular state of known substances. in order to avoid a circumlocution, let me give it a name. i shall call it the _psychode_ ([greek: psychê], soul, and [greek: odos], way). _third principle: the substance upon which the mind immediately acts--the psychode--is only susceptible of very simple modifications under the influence of the mind_, for, since the movements are to be somewhat varied, an extensive and complicated apparatus appears in the organism,--a whole system of muscles, vessels, nerves, etc., which are wanting in the inferior animals (among whom movements are very simple), and which would have been unnecessary had matter been directly susceptible of modifications equally varied under the influence of mind. when movements are intended to be very simple (as in the case of infusoria) the complicated apparatus is wanting and the life-spirit acts upon matter that is almost homogeneous. the following four hypotheses regarding the psychode may be formed: _a._ the psychode is a substance peculiar to the organism, and not capable of emerging from it. it acts only mediately upon everything outside of the visible organism. _b._ the psychode is a substance peculiar to the organism, capable of extending beyond the limits of the visible organism under certain special conditions. the modifications it receives necessarily act upon other inert bodies. the will acts upon the psychode, and thus mediately, upon the bodies that the sphere of this substance embraces. _c._ the psychode is a universal substance which is conditioned in its action on other inert bodies by the structure of living organisms, or by a certain state of inorganic bodies--a state determined by the influence of living organisms in certain special conditions. _d._ the psychode is a peculiar state of matter, a state habitually produced within the sphere of the organism, but which may also be produced beyond its limits under the influence of a certain state of the organism,--an influence comparable to that of magnets in the phenomena of diamagnetism. thury proposes the adjective _ecteneic_ (from [greek: ekteneia], extension) to describe that special state of the organism in which the mind can, in some measure, extend the habitual limits of its action, and he styles "ecteneic force" that which is developed in this state. the first hypothesis (he adds) would not be at all adapted to explain the phenomena with which we are concerned. but the three others give rise to three different explanations, in which (he assures us) the greater part of the phenomena investigated will be comprised. _explanations based upon the intervention of spirits._--m. de gasparin has shown the error of all these explanations: 1. by theological considerations. 2. by the very just remark that we should not resort to explanations which introduce spirits into the problem until other interpretations have been proved to be entirely insufficient. 3. finally, by physical considerations. looking at the question here solely from the general physical point of view, i do not follow m. de gasparin (says thury) in his exploitation of theological explanations. as to the second, i will only call attention to the suggestion that the sufficiency of explanations purely physical should strictly apply only to the valleyres experiments, where, in truth, nothing gives evidence of the intervention of wills other than the human will. the question of the intervention of spirits might be decided from the tenor or content of the revelations, in any case in which this content would be such as evidently could not have originated in the human mind. it is not my intention to discuss this point. the present study takes cognizance solely of movements of inert bodies, and we have only to consider, among the arguments of m. de gasparin, those which are included in this field of view. now, his arguments on this point seem to me to be all summed up in these slightly ironical lines: "strange spirits! ... whose presence or absence could depend upon a rotation, depend upon cold or warmth, or health or disease, on high spirits or lassitude, on an unskilful company of unconscious magicians! i have the headache or the grip, therefore the daemonic beings will not be able to appear to-day." m. de mirville, who believes in spirits who manifest themselves through the agency of the fluid, might reply to gasparin that the conditions of the ostensible manifestation of spirits are perhaps the fluidic state itself; that if this is so, we might very well, in a séance phenomenon, have a fluidic manifestation without the intervention of spirits, but not the intervention of spirits without a preliminary fluidic manifestation, and that, thus, anyone will invite such manifestation only at his own risk and peril. thury next discusses how the question of spirits ought to be considered. the task of science (he writes) is to bear witness to the truth. it cannot do so if it borrows a part of its data from revelation or from tradition; to do this would be a begging of the question, and the testimony of science would become worthless. the facts of the natural order are connected with two categories of forces, the one that of _necessity_, the other that of _freedom_. to the first belong the general forces of gravitation, heat, light, electricity, and the vegetative force. it is possible that we may discover others some day; but at present they are the only ones we know. to the second category belong solely the mind of animals and that of man. these are truly _forces_, since they are the cause of _movements_ and of various phenomena in the physical world. experience instructs us that these mental forces manifest themselves by the intermediary of special organisms, very complex in the case of man and the superior animals, but simple in that of the lowest, among which latter class mind has no need of muscles and nerves in order to manifest itself externally, but seems to act directly upon a homogeneous matter, the movements of which it determines (the amoeba of ehrenberg). it is in these elementary organizations that the problem of the action of mind on matter is stated, after a fashion, in its simplest terms. when once we have admitted the existence of the will as distinct, at least in principle, from the material body, it becomes solely a question of experience to ascertain whether other wills than that of man and the animals play any rôle whatever, frequent or occasional, on the stage of life. if these wills exist, they will have some means or other of manifestation, with which _experience alone_ can make us acquainted. as a matter of fact, all that it is possible to affirm, _a priori_, is that, in order to appear, they _must_ manifest themselves through some one of the forms of the eternal substance we call matter. but, to say that this matter must necessarily have an organization of muscles, nerves, etc., would be to hold to a very narrow idea, and one already belied by observation of the animal kingdom in its lower types. as long as we do not know what the bond is that unites the mind to the matter in which it manifests itself, it would be perfectly illogical to lay down, _a priori_, particular conditions which matter must observe in this manifestation. these conditions are at present wholly undetermined. thus we are at liberty to seek for signs of these manifestations in the cosmic ether or in ponderable matter; in the gases, the liquids, or the solids; in unorganized matter, or particularly in matter already organized, such as that of which man and the animals are built up. it would be poor logic to affirm that other wills than those of men and animals cannot be discovered, on the ground that, heretofore, nothing of the kind has been seen; for facts of this kind may have been observed, but not scientifically elucidated and authenticated. furthermore these wills might appear only at long intervals, or what seem long to us; but the vast abysses of nature's epochs are not to be spanned by our little memories or measured by the momentary duration of our lives. such are the facts and the ideas set forth in this conscientious monograph of professor thury. it is easily seen that, in his opinion (1) the phenomena are positive facts; (2) that they are produced by an unknown substance, to which he gives the name _psychode_, a something that, by the hypothesis, exists in us and serves as the intermediary between the mind and the body, between the will and the organs, and can project itself beyond the limits of the body; (3) that the hypothesis of spirits is not absurd, and that there may exist in this world other wills than those of man and the animals, wills capable of acting on matter. professor marc thury died in 1905, having devoted his entire life to the study of the exact sciences. his specialty was astronomy. chapter viii the experiments of the dialectical society of london a well-known association of scholars and scientists, the dialectical society of london, founded in 1867 under the presidency of sir john lubbock, resolved, in the year 1869, to include within the sphere of its observations, the physical phenomena which it is the object of this volume to study. after a series of experiments the society published a report, to which it added the attestations, upon the same subject, of a certain number of scientists, among whom i had the honor of being included.[60] this report was translated into french by dr. dusart and published[61] in the series of psychic works so happily planned and directed by count de rochas. to give a true idea here of the results reached by this society i cannot do better than cite the salient and essential portions of this purely scientific memoir. two or three paragraphs from the beginning of the report will show how and at what time the society first took up psycho-physical studies: at a meeting of the london dialectical society, held on wednesday, the 6th of january, 1869, mr. j. h. levy in the chair, it was resolved:- "that the council be requested to appoint a committee in conformity with bye-law vii., to investigate the phenomena alleged to be spiritual manifestations, and to report thereon." this committee was formed on january 26 following. it was composed of twenty-seven members. among these we note alfred russel wallace, the learned naturalist and member of the royal society, of london. professor huxley and george henry lewis were asked to collaborate with the committee. they refused. professor huxley's letter is too characteristic to be omitted: sir,--i regret that i am unable to accept the invitation of the council of the dialectical society to co-operate with a committee for the investigation of "spiritualism;" and for two reasons. in the first place, i have no time for such an inquiry, which would involve much trouble and (unless it were unlike all inquiries of that kind i have known) much annoyance. in the second place, i take no interest in the subject. the only case of "spiritualism" i have had the opportunity of examining into for myself, was as gross an imposture as ever came under my notice. but supposing the phenomena to be genuine--they do not interest me. if any body would endow me with the faculty of listening to the chatter of old women and curates in the nearest cathedral town, i should decline the privilege, having better things to do. and if the folk in the spiritual world do not talk more wisely and sensibly than their friends report them to do, i put them in the same category. the only good that i can see in a demonstration of the truth of "spiritualism" is to furnish an additional argument against suicide. better live a crossing-sweeper than die and be made to talk twaddle by a "medium" hired at a guinea a séance. i am, sir, etc., t. h. huxley. 29th january, 1869. as if opposing a direct negative and rebuke to this radical scepticism, based on a single séance of observation (!) the learned electrician, cromwell fleetwood varley, in 1867, who did so much to forward and encourage the laying of the third (and finally successful) atlantic cable between europe and america, hastened to identify himself with the investigations, and by his aid materially furthered the progress of this scientific examination. the report, with its various pieces of testimony, was presented to the dialectical society on the 20th of july, 1870. but, in order not to compromise the society, it was decided not to publish it officially, under the ægis of the association. consequently the committee unanimously resolved to publish the report on its own responsibility. it reads as follows: your committee have held fifteen meetings, at which they received evidence from thirty-three persons, who described phenomena which, they stated, had occurred within their own personal experience. your committee have received written statements relating to the phenomena from thirty-one persons. your committee invited the attendance and requested the co-operation and advice of scientific men who had publicly expressed opinions, favourable or adverse, to the genuineness of the phenomena. your committee also specially invited the attendance of persons who had publicly ascribed the phenomena to imposture or delusion. as it appeared to your committee to be of the greatest importance that they should investigate the phenomena in question by personal experiment and test, they resolved themselves into sub-committees as the best means of doing so. six sub-committees were accordingly formed. these reports, hereto subjoined, substantially corroborate each other, and would appear to establish the following propositions:- 1. that sounds of a varied character, apparently proceeding from articles of furniture, the floor and walls of the room (the vibrations accompanying which sounds are often distinctly perceptible to the touch) occur, without being produced by muscular action or mechanical contrivance. 2. that movements of heavy bodies take place without mechanical contrivance of any kind or adequate exertion of muscular force by the persons present, and frequently without contact or connection with any person. 3. that these sounds and movements often occur at the times and in the manner asked for by persons present, and, by means of a simple code of signals, answer questions and spell out coherent communications. 4. that the answers and communications thus obtained are, for the most part, of a commonplace character; but facts are sometimes correctly given which are only known to one of the persons present. 5. that the circumstances under which the phenomena occur are variable, the most prominent fact being that the presence of certain persons seem necessary to their occurrence, and that of others generally adverse. but this difference does not appear to depend upon any belief or disbelief concerning the phenomena. 6. that, nevertheless, the occurrence of the phenomena is not insured by the presence or absence of such persons respectively. the oral and written evidence received by your committee not only testifies to phenomena of the same nature as those witnessed by the sub-committees, but to others of a more varied and extraordinary character. this evidence may be briefly summarized as follows:- 1. thirteen witnesses state that they have seen heavy bodies--in some instances men--rise slowly in the air and remain there for some time without visible or tangible support. 2. fourteen witnesses testify to having seen hands or figures, not appertaining to any human being, but life-like in appearance and mobility, which they have sometimes touched or even grasped, and which they are therefore convinced were not the result of imposture or illusion. 3. five witnesses state that they have been touched, by some invisible agency, on various parts of the body, and often where requested, when the hands of all present were visible. 4. thirteen witnesses declare that they have heard musical pieces well played upon instruments not manipulated by any ascertainable agency. 5. five witnesses state that they have seen red-hot coals applied to the hands or heads of several persons without producing pain or scorching; and three witnesses state that they have had the same experiment made upon themselves with the like immunity. 6. eight witnesses state that they have received precise information through rappings, writings, and in other ways, the accuracy of which was unknown at the time to themselves or to any persons present, and which, on subsequent inquiry, was found to be correct. 7. one witness declares that he has received a precise and detailed statement which, nevertheless, proved to be entirely erroneous. 8. three witnesses state that they have been present when drawings, both in pencil and colors, were produced in so short a time, and under such conditions, as to render human agency impossible. 9. six witnesses declare that they have received information of future events, and that in some cases the hour and minute of their occurrence have been accurately foretold, days and even weeks before. in addition to the above, evidence has been given of trance-speaking, of healing, of automatic writing, of the introduction of flowers and fruits into closed rooms, of voices in the air, of visions in crystals and glasses, and of the elongation of the human body. some extracts from the reports will give my readers a better idea of these experiments and show their wholly scientific character: all of these meetings were held at the private residences of members of the committee, purposely to preclude the possibility of prearranged mechanism or contrivance. the furniture of the room in which the experiments were conducted was on every occasion its accustomed furniture. the tables were in all cases heavy dining-tables, requiring a strong effort to move them. the smallest of them was 5ft. 9in. long by 4ft. wide, and the largest, 9ft. 3in. long and 4-1/2ft. wide, and of proportionate weight. the room, tables, and furniture generally were repeatedly subjected to careful examination before, during, and after the experiments, to ascertain that no concealed machinery, instrument or other contrivances existed by means of which the sounds or movements hereinafter mentioned could be caused. the experiments were conducted in the light of gas, except on the few occasions specially noted in the minutes. your committee have avoided the employment of professional or paid mediums, the mediumship being that of members of your sub-committee, persons of good social position and of unimpeachable integrity, having no pecuniary object to serve, and nothing to gain by deception. of the members of your sub-committee about _four-fifths_ entered upon the investigation wholly sceptical as to the reality of the alleged phenomena, firmly believing them to be the result either of _imposture_ or of _delusion_, or of _involuntary muscular action_. it was only by irresistible evidence, under conditions that precluded the possibility of either of these solutions, and after trial and test many times repeated, that the most sceptical of your sub-committee were slowly and reluctantly convinced that the phenomena exhibited in the course of their protracted inquiry were veritable facts. a description of one experiment, and the manner of conducting it, will best show the care and caution with which your committee have pursued their investigations. so long as there was contact, or even the possibility of contact, by the hands or feet, or even by the clothes of any person in the room, with the substance moved or sounded, there could be no perfect assurance that the motions and sounds were not produced by the person so in contact. the following experiment was therefore tried: on an occasion when eleven members of your sub-committee had been sitting round one of the dining-tables above described for forty minutes, and various motions and sounds had occurred, they, by way of test, turned the backs of their chairs to the table, at about nine inches from it. they all then knelt upon their chairs, placing their arms upon the backs thereof. in this position, their feet were of course turned away from the table, and by no possibility could be placed under it or touch the floor. the hands of each person were extended over the table at about four inches from the surface. contact, therefore, with any part of the table could not take place without detection. in less than a minute the table, untouched, moved _four_ times; at first about _five_ inches to one side, then about _twelve_ inches to the opposite side, and then, in like manner, four inches and six inches respectively. the hands of all present were next placed on the backs of their chairs, and about a foot from the table, which again moved, as before, _five_ times, over spaces varying from four to six inches. then all the chairs were removed twelve inches from the table, and each person knelt on his chair as before, this time however folding his hands behind his back, his body being thus about eighteen inches from the table, and having the back of the chair between himself and the table. the table again moved four times, in various directions. in the course of this conclusive experiment, and in less than half-an-hour, the table thus moved, without contact or possibility of contact with any person present, thirteen times, the movements being in different directions, and some of them according to the request of various members of your sub-committee. the table was then carefully examined, turned upside down and taken to pieces, but nothing was discovered to account for the phenomena. the experiment was conducted throughout in the full light of gas above the table. altogether, your sub-committee have witnessed upwards of _fifty_ similar motions without contact on _eight_ different evenings, in the houses of members of your sub-committee, the most careful tests being applied on each occasion. in all similar experiments the possibility of mechanical or other contrivance was further negatived by the fact that the movements were in various directions, now to one side, then to the other; now up the room, now down the room--motions that would have required the co-operation of many hands or feet; and these, from the great size and weight of the tables, could not have been so used without the visible exercise of muscular force. every hand and foot was plainly to be seen and could not have been moved without instant detection. the motions were witnessed simultaneously by all present. they were matters of measurement, and not of opinion or fancy. and they occurred so often, under so many and such various conditions, with such safeguards against error or deception, and with such invariable results, as to satisfy the members of your sub-committee by whom the experiments were tried, wholly sceptical as most of them were when they entered upon the investigation, that _there is a force capable of moving heavy bodies without material contact, and which force is in some unknown manner dependent upon the presence of human beings_. such was the first verdict of science upon spiritualistic doings in england, a verdict rendered by physicists, chemists, astronomers and naturalists, several of them members of the london royal society. the investigations were under the especial care of professor morgan, president of the mathematical society, of london; of varley, chief electrical engineer of the department of telegraphs, and alfred wallace, naturalist, etc. several members of the dialectical society refused to join in the conclusions of the committee, and declared they ought to be verified by another scientist; for example, by the chemist, crookes. this gentleman accepted the proposition, and in this way it was that he began his experiments, of which more anon. but, before presenting an account of the experiments of the eminent chemist, i should like to place before my readers the chief points settled by the experimental committee, of which i have just spoken. special observations. _march 9th._ nine members present. reunion at eight o'clock. the following phenomena were produced: 1. the members of the circle standing, rested the tips of their fingers only on the table. it made a considerable movement. 2. holding their hands a few inches above the table, and no one in any way touching it, it moved a distance of more than a foot. 3. to render the experiment absolutely conclusive, all present stood clear away from the table, and stretching out their hands over it without touching it, it again moved as before, and about the same distance. during this time, one of the committee was placed upon the floor to look carefully beneath the table, while others were placed outside to see that no person went near to the table. in this position it was frequently moved, without possibility of contact by any person present. 4. whilst thus standing clear of the table, but with the tips of their fingers resting upon it, all at the same moment raised their hands at a given signal; and on several occasions the table jumped from the floor to an elevation varying from half an inch to an inch. 5. all held their hands close above the table, but not touching it, and then on a word of command raised them suddenly, and the table jumped as before. the member lying on the floor, and those placed outside the circle, were keenly watching as before, and all observed the phenomena as described. _april 15th._ eight members present. sitting at 8 p. m. within five minutes tapping sounds were heard on the leaf of the table. various questions, as to order of sitting, etc., were put, and answered by rappings. the alphabet was called for, and the word "laugh" was spelled out. it was asked if it was intended that we should laugh. an affirmative answer being given, the members laughed; upon which the table made a most vigorous sound and motion imitative of and responsive to the laughter, and so ludicrous as to cause a general peal of real laughter, to which the table shook, and the rapping kept time as an accompaniment. the following questions were then put and answered by the number of raps given:--"how many children has mrs. m----?" "four;" "mrs. w----?" "three;" "mrs. d----?" no rap; "mrs. e----?" "five;" "mrs. s----?" "two." it was ascertained, upon inquiry that these replies were perfectly correct, except in the case of mrs. e----, who has only four children living, but has lost one. neither the medium nor any person present, was aware of all the above numbers, but each number was known to some of them. the inquiry for a written communication being responded to by three raps, some sheets of paper with a pencil were laid under the table, and at the end of the sitting examined, but no letter or mark was found on the paper. in order to test whether these sounds would continue under different conditions, all sat some distance from the table, holding hands in a circle round it. but instead of upon the table as before, loud rappings were heard to proceed from various parts of the floor, and from the chair on which the medium sat; while some came from the other side of the room, a distance of about fifteen feet from the nearest person. a desire having been expressed for a shower of raps, loud rapping came from every part of the table at once, producing an effect similar to that of a shower of hail falling upon it. the sounds throughout the evening were very sharp and distinct. it was observed that, although during the conversation the rappings are sometimes of a singularly lively character, yet when a question is put they cease instantly, and not one is heard until the response is given. _april 29th._ nine members present. medium and conditions as before. in about a quarter of an hour the table made sundry movements along the floor, with rappings. the sounds at first were very softly given, but subsequently became much stronger. they beat time to the airs played by a musical box, and came from any part of the table requested by the members. some questions were put and followed by raps, but more frequently by tilting of the table at its sides, ends, or corners, the elevation being from one to four inches. an endeavour was made by those sitting near, to prevent the table from rising, but it resisted all their efforts. the chair on which the medium was seated was drawn several times over the floor. first it moved backward several feet; then it gave several twists and turns, and finally returned with the medium to nearly its original position. the chair had no casters, and moved quite noiselessly, the medium appearing perfectly still and holding her feet above the carpet; so that during the entire phenomenon no part of her person or of her dress touched the floor. there was bright gaslight, and the members had a clear opportunity to observe all that occurred; and all agreed that imposture was impossible. while this was going on, a rapping sound came continually from the floor beneath and around the chair. it was then suggested that trials should be made if the table would move without contact. all present, including the medium stood quite clear of the table, holding their hands from three to six inches above it, and without any way of touching it. observers were placed under it to see that it was not touched there. the following were the observations: 1. the table repeatedly moved along the floor in different directions, often taking that requested. thus, in accordance with a desire expressed that it should move from the front to the back room, it took that direction, and, on approaching the folding doors and meeting with an obstruction, turned as if to avoid it. 2. on a given signal all raised their hands suddenly, and the table immediately sprang or jerked up from the floor about one inch. various members of the committee volunteered by turns to keep watch below the table, whilst others standing round them carefully noted everything that took place; but no one could discover any visible agency in their production. _may 18th._ music was played on the piano-forte, and one piece was accompanied by tapping sounds from all parts of the table, and another piece both by tapping sounds, vibrations, and slight vertical movements of the table at its sides, ends, and corners. the sounds and movements all kept time with the music. the same phenomena also occurred when a song was sang. during the _séance_ the sounds were very equally distributed, being seldom confined to one part of the table. _june 9th._ eight members present. the most interesting fact this evening was, that though the tapping sounds proceeded from different parts of the table, but principally from that in front of the medium; yet, when she went into the hall to receive a message, they still continued to come from that part of the table. the alphabet being repeated in accordance with the signal, "queer pals" was spelt out. these words seemed to amuse and puzzle the meeting. however, it was suggested they might apply to the christy minstrels, whose nigger melodies, at st. george's hall, were very clearly heard through the open window of the back room. at this suggestion the table gave three considerable tilts. _june 17th._ the medium held a sheet of note paper at arm's length over the table by one of its corners, and, at request, faint but distinct taps were heard upon it. the other corners of the paper were then held by members of the committee, and the sounds were again heard by all at the table; while those who held the paper felt the impact of the invisible blows. one or more questions were answered in this way by three clear and distinctly audible taps, which had a sound similar in character to that produced by dropping water. this new and curious phenomenon occurred close under the eyes of all present, without any physical cause for it being detected. _june 21st. movement of harmonican without contact._ on the medium and two other members holding their hands above the harmonican without in any way touching it, it moved almost entirely round, by successive jerks, on the table on which it was placed. the dining-table was strongly moved a distance of six feet, the hands of the members present resting lightly on it. _oct. 18th._ a cylinder of canvas, three feet in height, and about two feet in diameter, was placed under a small table, the legs of which were contained within it. inside the cylinder was a bell, resting on the floor. no sounds proceeded from the bell, but there were repeated rappings upon and jerkings of the table. this cylinder precluded the possibility of contact with the table by a foot of any of the persons present, during the entire continuance of the knockings and jerkings of the table. _dec. 14th. sounds from table without contact._--all sat away from the table, without in any manner touching it, and the sounds, although somewhat fainter, continued to proceed from it. _dec. 28th. movements without contact._--question: "would the table now be moved without contact?" answer: "yes," by three raps on the table. all chairs were then turned with their backs to the table, and nine inches away from it; and all present _knelt_ on the chairs, with their wrists resting on the backs, and their hands a few inches above the table. under these conditions, the table (the heavy dining-room table previously described) moved four times, each time from four to six inches, and the second time nearly twelve inches. then all hands were placed on the backs of the chairs, and nearly a foot from the table, when four movements occurred, one slow and continuous, for nearly a minute. then all present placed their hands behind their backs, kneeling erect on their chairs, which were removed a foot clear away from the table; the gas also was turned up higher, so as to give abundance of light, and under these test conditions, distinct movements occurred, to the extent of several inches each time, and visible to every one present. the motions were in various directions, towards all parts of the room--some were abrupt, others steady. at the same time, and under the same conditions, distinct raps occurred, apparently both on the floor and on the table, in answer to requests for them. the above described movements were so unmistakable, that all present unhesitatingly declared their conviction, that no physical force, exerted by any one present, could possibly have produced them. and they declared, further, in writing, that a rigid examination of the table, showed it to be an ordinary dining-table, with no machinery or apparatus of any kind connected with it. the table was laid on the floor with its legs up, and taken to pieces as far as practicable. _special observations._ these experiments are only a repetition and absolute confirmation of those that have been described all through this volume, from its very first pages. yet they are enough in themselves alone to justify one's convictions. this first sub-committee, the principal experiments of which we have been giving, was studying only physical phenomena. sub-committee no. 2 was more especially occupied with intelligent communications and mediumistic dictations. they need not detain us here, but will find their place in a special work on spiritualism. the same committee published in its general report the following letter, which it did me the honor of requesting: i must confess to you, in the first place, gentlemen, that, of those who call themselves "mediums" and "spiritists," a considerable number are persons of limited intelligence, incapable of bringing the experimental method to bear on the investigation of this order of phenomena, and consequently are often the dupes of their credulity or ignorance; while others, of whom the number is also considerable, are impostors whose moral sense has become so blunted by the habit of fraud that they seem to be incapable of appreciating the heinousness of their criminal abuse of the confidence of those who apply to them for instruction or for consolation. and even where the subject is being investigated seriously and in good faith, the force to which the production of these phenomena is due is so capricious in its action that much delay and disappointment is inevitable in the prosecution of any experimental inquiry in regard to them. it is, therefore, no easy matter to put aside the obstacles thus placed in the way of the serious inquirer, to eliminate these sources of error, and to get at genuine manifestations of the phenomena in question; carefully guarding one's own mind against all error, all self-deception in the methodical and scrupulous examination of the order of facts now under discussion. nevertheless, i do not hesitate to affirm my conviction, based on personal examination of the subject, that any scientific man who declares the phenomena denominated "magnetic" "somnambulistic," "mediumistic," and others not yet explained by science, to be "impossible," is one _who speaks without knowing what he is talking about_; and also any man accustomed, by his professional avocations, to scientific observation--provided that his mind be not biased by preconceived opinions, nor his mental vision blinded by that opposite kind of illusion, unhappily too common in the learned world, which consists in imagining that the laws of nature are already known to us, and that everything which appears to overstep the limit of our present formulas is impossible--may acquire a radical and absolute certainty of the reality of the facts alluded to. after an affirmation so categorical, it is hardly necessary for me to assure the members of the dialectical society that i have acquired, through my own observation, the absolute certainty of the reality of these phenomena.... but although thus compelled, in the absence of conclusive data in regard to _the cause_ of the so-called "spiritual phenomena," to refrain from making any positive affirmation in regard to this part of the subject, i may add that while the general assertion of its spiritual nature, on the part of the occult force which, within the last quarter of a century, has thus manifested itself all over the globe, constitutes a feature of the case which, from its universality, merits the attention of the impartial investigator--the history of the human race, from the earliest ages, furnishes instances of coincidences, previsions and presentiments of warnings experienced in certain critical moments, of apparitions more or less distinctly seen, which are stated, on evidence as trustworthy as that which we possess with regard to any other branch of historical tradition, to have occurred, spontaneously, in the experience of all nations, and which may therefore be held to strengthen the presumption of the possibility of communication between incarnate and discarnate spirits. i may also add that my own investigations in the fields of philosophy and of modern astronomy have led me, as is well known, to adopt a personal and individual way of regarding the subject of space and time, the plurality of inhabited worlds, the eternity and ubiquity of the acting forces of the universe, and the indestructibility of souls, as well as of atoms. the everlastingness of intelligent life ought to be regarded as the result of the harmonious succession of sidereal incarnations. our earth being one of the heavenly bodies, a province of planetary existence, and our present life being a phase of our eternal duration, it appears only natural (the _super_natural does not exist) that there should exist a permanent link between the spheres, the bodies, and the souls of the universe, and therefore altogether probable that the existence of this link will be demonstrated, in course of time, by the advance of scientific discovery. it would be difficult to over-rate the importance of the questions thus brought forward for consideration; and i have seen with lively satisfaction the noble initiative which, through the formation of your committee of inquiry, has been taken by a body of men so justly eminent as the members of the dialectical society, in the experimental investigation of these deeply interesting phenomena. i am most happy, therefore, to comply with the tenor of your letter, by sending you the humble tribute of my observations on the subject in question, and thus to have the opportunity of offering to your society the expression of my sincerest good wishes for the speedy elucidation of the mysteries of nature that have not yet been brought within the domain of positive science. i am, sir, yours faithfully, camille flammarion, 10, rue des moineaux (palais royal). paris, may 8, 1870. the foregoing résumé of the labors of the dialectical society of london shows once more that mediumistic phenomena long ago entered upon the road of scientific experiment. it would seem as if only the wilfully blind could henceforth deny their allegiance. the results of the studies described also form an answer to the question frequently asked, whether one can undertake similar experiments without knowing a true medium. i reply that, in any meeting of a dozen persons, there will always be one or more mediums. this was proved by the séances of the count de gasparin. the english report also contains (may 25, 1869) a communication from the electrician, cromwell varley, declaring that mediumistic phenomena could not be discredited by any observer of good faith, and that, to him, the hypothesis of disembodied spirits is the one that best explains them--just plain, common spirits (as a general thing), like the majority of the citizens of our planet. the scientific experiments of the dialectical society's committee were continued by the "society for psychical research," founded in 1882, the successive presidents of which were professor sidgwick, professor balfour stewart, professor sidgwick for a second time, professor william james, sir william crookes, frederick myers, sir oliver lodge, professor richet--all eminent in the departments of science and education. let me mention here the splendid work of dr. hodgson and of professor hyslop in the american branch of this society. the experiments were continued, in a masterly way, by the celebrated chemist, sir william crookes, and yielded him the most wondrous results. my readers will presently realize this. chapter ix the experiments of sir william crookes the learned chemist, sir william crookes, member of the royal society of london, the author of several discoveries of the first rank (among which should be placed the discovery, in 1861, of the metal, thallium), and of ingenious experiments on "radiant matter," published his first researches on the subject we are here considering in a review of which he was the editor--the _quarterly journal of science_. i had the honor of contributing certain astronomical papers to this journal.[62] i will first lay before my readers an extract from mr. crookes's article of the 1st of july, 1871, entitled "experimental investigation of a new force," in which he describes his studies with home. i also had occasion myself more than once to hold conversation with this medium.[63] twelve months ago in this journal, july 1, 1870, i wrote an article, in which, after expressing in the most emphatic manner my belief in the occurrence, under certain circumstances, of phenomena inexplicable by any known natural laws, i indicated several tests which men of science had a right to demand before giving credence to the genuineness of these phenomena. among the tests pointed out were, that a "delicately poised balance should be moved under test conditions;" and that some exhibition of power equivalent to so many "foot-pounds" should be "manifested in his laboratory, where the experimentalists could weigh, measure, and submit it to proper tests." i said, too, that i could not promise to enter fully into this subject, owing to the difficulties of obtaining opportunities, and the numerous failures attending the enquiry; moreover, that "the persons in whose presence these phenomena take place are few in number, and opportunities for experimenting with previously arranged apparatus are rarer still." opportunities having since offered for pursuing the investigation, i have gladly availed myself of them for applying to these phenomena careful scientific testing experiments, and i have thus arrived at certain definite results which i think it right should be published. these experiments appear conclusively to establish the existence of a new force, in some unknown manner connected with the human organization, which for convenience may be called the psychic force. of all the persons endowed with a powerful development of this psychic force, and who have been termed "mediums" upon quite another theory of its origin, mr. daniel dunglas home is the most remarkable, and it is mainly owing to the many opportunities i have had of carrying on my investigation in his presence that i am enabled to affirm so conclusively the existence of this force. the experiments i have tried have been very numerous, but owing to our imperfect knowledge of the conditions which favor or oppose the manifestations of this force, to the apparently capricious manner in which it is exerted, and to the fact that mr. home himself is subject to unaccountable ebbs and flows of the force, it has but seldom happened that a result obtained on one occasion could be subsequently confirmed and tested with apparatus specially contrived for the purpose. among the remarkable phenomena which occur under mr. home's influence, the most striking, as well as the most easily tested with scientific accuracy, are--(1) the alteration in the weight of bodies, and (2) the playing of tunes upon musical instruments (generally an accordion, for convenience of portability) without direct human intervention, under conditions rendering contact or connection with the keys impossible. not until i had witnessed these facts some half-dozen times, and scrutinized them with all the critical acumen i possess, did i become convinced of their objective reality. still, desiring to place the matter beyond the shadow of doubt, i invited mr. home on several occasions to come to my own house, where, in the presence of a few scientific enquirers, these phenomena could be submitted to crucial experiments. the meetings took place in the evening, in a large room lighted by gas. the apparatus prepared for the purpose of testing the movements of the accordion, consisted of a cage, formed of two wooden hoops, respectively 1 foot 10 inches and 2 feet diameter, connected together by 12 narrow laths, each 1 foot 10 inches long, so as to form a drum-shaped frame, open at the top and bottom; round this 50 yards of insulated copper wire were wound in 24 rounds, each being rather less than an inch from its neighbor. the horizontal strands of wire were then netted together firmly with string, so as to form meshes rather less than 2 inches long by 1 inch high. the height of this cage was such that it would just slip under my dining-table, but be too close to the top to allow of the hand being introduced into the interior, or to admit of a foot being pushed underneath it. in another room were two grove's cells, wires being led from them into the dining-room for connection, if desirable, with the wire surrounding the cage. the accordion was a new one, having been purchased by myself for the purpose of these experiments at wheatstone's, in conduit street. mr. home had neither handled nor seen the instrument before the commencement of the test experiments. in another part of the room an apparatus was fitted up for experimenting on the alteration in the weight of a body. it consisted of a mahogany board, 36 inches long by 9-1/2 inches wide and 1 inch thick. at each end a strip of mahogany 1-1/2 inches wide was screwed on, forming feet. one end of the board rested on a firm table, whilst the other end was supported by a spring balance hanging from a substantial tripod stand. the balance was fitted with a self-registering index, in such a manner that it would record the maximum weight indicated by the pointer. the apparatus was adjusted so that the mahogany board was horizontal, its foot resting flat on the support. in this position its weight was 3 lbs., as marked by the pointer of the balance. [illustration: plate xii. cage of copper wire, electrically charged, used by professor crookes in the home accordion experiment.] before mr. home entered the room the apparatus had been arranged in position, and he had not even the object of some parts of it explained before sitting down. it may, perhaps, be worth while to add, for the purpose of anticipating some critical remarks which are likely to be made, that in the afternoon i called for mr. home at his apartments, and when there he suggested that, as he had to change his dress, perhaps i should not object to continue our conversation in his bedroom. i am, therefore, enabled to state positively, that no machinery, apparatus, or contrivance of any sort was secreted about his person. the investigators present on the test occasion were an eminent physicist, high in the ranks of the royal society,[64] a well-known serjeant-at-law;[65] my brother; and my chemical assistant. mr. home sat in a low easy-chair at the side of the table. in front of him under the table was the aforesaid cage, one of his legs being on each side of it. i sat close to him on his left, and another observer sat close to him on his right, the rest of the party being seated at convenient distances round the table. for the greater part of the evening, particularly when anything of importance was proceeding, the observers on each side of mr. home kept their feet respectively on his feet, so as to be able to detect his slightest movement. the temperature of the room varied from 68 degrees to 70 degrees f. mr. home took the accordion between the thumb and middle finger of one hand at the opposite end to the keys (see pl. xii a) (to save repetition this will be subsequently called "in the usual manner"). having previously opened the bass key myself, and the cage being drawn from under the table so as just to allow the accordion to be pushed in with its keys downwards, it was pushed back as close as mr. home's arm would permit, but without hiding his hand from those next to him (pl. xii, cut b). very soon the accordion was seen by those on each side to be waving about in a somewhat curious manner; then sounds came from it, and finally several notes were played in succession. whilst this was going on, my assistant went under the table, and reported that the accordion was expanding and contracting; at the same time it was seen that the hand of mr. home by which it was held was quite still, his other hand resting on the table. presently the accordion was seen by those on either side of mr. home to move about, oscillating and going round and round the cage, and playing at the same time. dr. a. b. now looked under the table, and said that mr. home's hand appeared quite still whilst the accordion was moving about emitting distinct sounds. mr. home still holding the accordion in the usual manner in the cage, his feet being held by those next him, and his other hand resting on the table, we heard distinct and separate notes sounded in succession, and then a simple air was played. as such a result could only have been produced by the various keys of the instrument being acted upon in harmonious succession, this was considered by those present to be a crucial experiment. but the sequel was still more striking, for mr. home then removed his hand altogether from the accordion, taking it quite out of the cage, and placed it in the hand of the person next to him. the instrument then continued to play, no person touching it and no hand being near it. i was now desirous of trying what would be the effect of passing the battery current round the insulated wire of the cage, and my assistant accordingly made the connection with the wires from the two grove's cells. mr. home again held the instrument inside the cage in the same manner as before, when it immediately sounded and moved about vigorously. but whether the electric current passing round the cage assisted the manifestation of force inside, it is impossible to say. after this experiment, the accordion, which he kept holding in one hand, then commenced to play, at first chords and runs, and afterwards a well-known sweet and plaintive melody, which was executed perfectly in a very beautiful manner. whilst this tune was being played i grasped mr. home's arm, below the elbow, and gently slid my hand down it until i touched the top of the accordion. he was not moving a muscle. his other hand was on the table, visible to all, and his feet were under the feet of those next to him. having met with such striking results in the experiments with the accordion in the cage, we turned to the balance apparatus already described. mr. home placed the tips of his fingers lightly on the extreme end of the mahogany board, which was resting on the support, whilst dr. a. b. and myself sat, one on each side of it, watching for any effect which might be produced. almost immediately the pointer of the balance was seen to descend. after a few seconds it rose again. this movement was repeated several times, as if by successive waves of the psychic force. the end of the board was observed to oscillate slowly up and down during the experiment. mr. home now of his own accord took a small hand-bell and a little card match-box, which happened to be near, and placed one under each hand, to satisfy us, as he said, that he was not producing the downward pressure (see fig. 3). the very slow oscillation of the spring balance became more marked, and dr. a. b., watching the index, said that he saw it descend to 6-1/2 lbs. the normal weight of the board as so suspended being 3 lbs., the additional downward pull was therefore 3-1/2 lbs. on looking immediately afterwards at the automatic register, we saw that the index had at one time descended as low as 9 lbs., showing a maximum pull of 6 lbs. upon a board whose normal weight was 3 lbs. in order to see whether it was possible to produce much effect on the spring balance by pressure at the place where mr. home's fingers had been, i stepped upon the table and stood on one foot at the end of the board. dr. a. b., who was observing the index of the balance, said that the whole weight of my body (140 lbs.) so applied only sunk the index 1-1/2 lbs., or 2 lbs. when i shook it. mr. home had been sitting in a low easy-chair, and could not, therefore, had he tried his utmost, have exerted any material influence on these results. i need scarcely add that his feet as well as his hands were closely guarded by all in the room. this experiment appears to me more striking, if possible, than the one with the accordion. as will be seen on referring to the cut (fig. 3), the board was arranged perfectly horizontally, and it was particularly noticed that mr. home's fingers were not at any time advanced more than 1-1/2 inches from the extreme end, as shown by a pencil-mark, which, with dr. a. b.'s acquiescence, i made at the time. now, the wooden foot being also 1-1/2 inches wide, and resting flat on the table, it is evident that no amount of pressure exerted within this space of 1-1/2 inches could produce any action on the balance. again, it is also evident that when the end farthest from mr. home sank, the board would turn on the farther edge of this foot as on a fulcrum. [illustration: fig. 3.] the arrangement was consequently that of a see-saw, 36 inches in length, the fulcrum being 1-1/2 inches from one end; were he, therefore, to have exerted a downward pressure, it would have been in opposition to the force which was causing the other end of the board to move down. the slight downward pressure shown by the balance when i stood on the board was owing probably to my foot extending beyond this fulcrum. i have now given a plain, unvarnished statement of the facts from copious notes written at the time the occurrences were taking place, and copied out in full immediately after. respecting the cause of these phenomena, the nature of the force to which, to avoid periphrasis, i have ventured to give the name of _psychic_, and the correlation existing between that and the other forces of nature, it would be wrong to hazard the most vague hypothesis. indeed, in inquiries connected so intimately with rare physiological and psychological conditions, it is the duty of the inquirer to abstain altogether from framing theories until he has accumulated a sufficient number of facts to form a substantial basis upon which to reason. in the presence of strange phenomena as yet unexplored and unexplained following each other in such rapid succession, i confess it is difficult to avoid clothing their record in language of a sensational character. but, to be successful, an inquiry of this kind must be undertaken by the philosopher without prejudice and without sentiment. romantic and superstitious ideas should be entirely banished, and the steps of his investigation should be guided by intellect as cold and passionless as the instruments he uses. apropos of this mr. cox wrote to mr. crooks: the results appear to me conclusively to establish the important fact, that there is a force proceeding from the nerve-system capable of imparting motion and weight to solid bodies within the sphere of its influence. i noticed that the force was exhibited in tremulous pulsations, and not in the form of steady continuous pressure, the indicator rising and falling incessantly throughout the experiment. the fact seems to me of great significance, as tending to confirm the opinion that assigns its source to the nerve organization, and it goes far to establish dr. richardson's important discovery of a nerve atmosphere of various intensity enveloping the human structure. your experiments completely confirm the conclusion at which the investigation committee of the dialectical society arrived, after more than forty meetings for trial and test. allow me to add that i can find no evidence even tending to prove that this force is other than a force proceeding from, or directly dependent upon, the human organization, and therefore, like all other forces of nature, wholly within the province of that strictly scientific investigation to which you have been the first to subject it. now that it is proved by mechanical tests to be a fact in nature (and if a fact, it is impossible to exaggerate its importance to physiology and the light it must throw upon the obscure laws of life, of mind and the science of medicine) it cannot fail to command the immediate and most earnest examination and discussion by physiologists and by all who take an interest in that knowledge of "man," which has been truly termed "the noblest study of mankind." to avoid the appearance of any foregone conclusion, i would recommend the adoption for it of some appropriate name, and i venture to suggest that the force be termed the psychic force; the persons in whom it is manifested in extraordinary power psychics; and the science relating to it psychism as, being a branch of psychology. the preceding article was published separately by william crookes in a special brochure which lies before me,[66] and which contains, in addition, the following study, not less curious from the human and anecdotical point of view than from the point of view of the experimenter in physics: when i first stated in this journal that i was about to investigate the phenomena of so-called spiritualism, the announcement called forth universal expressions of approval. one said that my "statements deserved respectful consideration"; another expressed "profound satisfaction that the subject was about to be investigated by a man so thoroughly qualified as," etc.; a third was "gratified to learn that the matter is now receiving the attention of cool and clear-headed men of recognized position in science"; a fourth asserted that "no one could doubt mr. crookes's ability to conduct the investigation with rigid philosophical impartiality"; and a fifth was good enough to tell its readers that "if men like mr. crookes grapple with the subject, taking nothing for granted until it is proved, we shall soon know how much to believe." those remarks, however, were written too hastily. it was taken for granted by the writers that the results of my experiments would be in accordance with their preconceptions. what they really desired was not _the truth_, but an additional witness in favor of their own foregone conclusion. when they found that the facts which that investigation established could not be made to fit those opinions, why--"so much the worse for the facts." they try to creep out of their own confident recommendations of the enquiry by declaring that "mr. home is a clever conjurer, who has duped us all." "mr. crookes might, with equal propriety, examine the performances of an indian juggler." "mr. crookes must get better witnesses before he can be believed." "the thing is too absurd to be treated seriously." "it is impossible, and therefore can't be."[67] "the observers have all been biologized (!) and fancy they saw things occur which really never took place," etc. these remarks imply a curious oblivion of the very functions which the scientific enquirer has to fulfill. i am scarcely surprised when the objectors say that i have been deceived merely because they are unconvinced without personal investigation, since the same unscientific course of _a priori_ argument has been opposed to all great discoveries. when i am told that what i describe cannot be explained in accordance with preconceived ideas of the laws of nature, the objector really begs the very question at issue, and resorts to a mode of reasoning which brings science to a standstill. the argument runs in a vicious circle: we must not assert a fact till we know that it is in accordance with the laws of nature, while our only knowledge of the laws of nature must be based on an extensive observation of facts. if a new fact seems to oppose what is called a law of nature, it does not prove the asserted fact to be false, but only that we have not yet ascertained all the laws of nature, or not learned them correctly. in his opening address before the british association at edinburgh this year (1871), sir william thomson said, "science is bound by the everlasting law of honor to face fearlessly every problem which can fairly be presented to it." my object in thus placing on record the results of a very remarkable series of experiments is to present such a problem, which, according to sir william thomson, "science is bound by the everlasting law of honor to face fearlessly." it will not do merely to deny its existence, or try to sneer it down. remember, i hazard no hypothesis or theory whatever; i merely vouch for certain facts, my only object being--the _truth_. doubt, but do not deny; point out, by the severest criticism, what are considered fallacies in my experimental tests, and suggest more conclusive trials; but do not let us hastily call our senses lying witnesses merely because they testify against preconceptions. i say to my critics, try the experiments; investigate with care and patience as i have done. if, having examined, you discover imposture or delusion, proclaim it and say how it was done. but, if you find it be a fact, avow it fearlessly, as "by the everlasting law of honor" you are bound to do. in this part of his work professor crookes recalls the experiments of count de gasparin and of thury (detailed above) on the phenomenon of the movement of bodies without contact, a thing proved and demonstrated. we need not recur to that. he adds that the ecteneic force of professor thury and psychical force are equivalent terms, and that the nervous atmosphere or fluid of dr. benjamin richardson also belongs here. professor crookes sent his observations to the royal society, of which he is a member. the society refused his communications. the evidence goes to show that it had only approved of the gifted chemist's mixing in heretical and occult researches on consideration of his demonstrating the fallacy of all those prodigies. [illustration: fig. 4.] [illustration: fig. 5.] professor stokes, the secretary, refused to consider the subject at all, or to inscribe even the title of the papers in the society's publications. it was an exact repetition of what took place at the academy of science in paris in 1853. professor crookes scorned these arbitrary and anti-scientific judgments and denials and answered them by publishing the detailed description of his experiments. the following are the essential points of this description: [illustration: fig. 6.] on trying these experiments for the first time, i thought that actual contact between mr. home's hands and the suspended body whose weight was to be altered was essential to the exhibition of the force; but i found afterwards that this was not a necessary condition, and i therefore arranged my apparatus in the following manner: the accompanying cuts (figs. 4, 5, 6) explain the arrangement. fig. 4 is a general view, and figs. 5 and 6 show the essential parts more in detail. the reference letters are the same in each illustration. a b is a mahogany board, 36 inches long by 9-1/2 inches wide and 1 inch thick. it is suspended at the end, b, by a spring balance, c, furnished with an automatic register, d. the balance is suspended from a very firm tripod support, e. the following piece of apparatus is not shown in the figures. to the moving index, o, of the spring balance, a fine steel point is soldered, projecting horizontally outwards. in front of the balance, and firmly fastened to it, is a grooved frame carrying a flat box similar to the dark box of a photographic camera. this box is made to travel by clock-work horizontally in front of the moving index, and it contains a sheet of plate-glass which has been smoked over a flame. the projecting steel point impresses a mark on this smoked surface. if the balance is at rest, and the clock set going, the result is a perfectly straight horizontal line. if the clock is stopped and weights are placed on the end, b, of the board, the result is a vertical line, whose length depends on the weight applied. if, whilst the clock draws the plate along, the weight of the board (or the tension on the balance) varies, the result is a curved line, from which the tension in grains at any moment during the continuance of the experiments can be calculated. the instrument was capable of registering a diminution of the force of gravitation as well as an increase; registrations of such a diminution were frequently obtained. to avoid complication, however, i will only here refer to results in which an increase of gravitation was experienced. the end, b, of the board being supported by the spring balance, the end, a, is supported on a wooden strip, f, screwed across its lower side and cut to a knife edge (see fig. 6). this fulcrum rests on a firm and heavy wooden stand, g h. on the board, exactly over the fulcrum, is placed a large glass vessel filled with water, i. l is a massive iron stand, furnished with an arm and ring, m n, in which rests a hemispherical copper vessel perforated with several holes at the bottom. the iron stand is two inches from the board, a b, and the arm and copper vessel, m n, are so adjusted that the latter dips into the water 1-1/2 inches, being 5-1/2 inches from the bottom of i, and 2 inches from its circumference. shaking or striking the arm, m, or the vessel, n, produces no appreciable mechanical effect on the board, a b, capable of affecting the balance. dipping the hand to the fullest extent into the water in n, does not produce the least appreciable action on the balance. as the mechanical transmission of power by mr. home is by this means entirely cut off between the copper vessel and the board, a b, it follows that the power of muscular control is thereby completely eliminated. there was always ample light in the room where the experiments were conducted (my own dining-room) to see all that took place. furthermore, i repeated the experiments, not only with mr. home, but also with another person possessing similar powers. [illustration: fig. 7.] _experiment i._--the apparatus having been properly adjusted before mr. home entered the room, he was brought in, and asked to place his fingers in the water in the copper vessel, n. he stood up and dipped the tips of the fingers of his right hand in the water, his other hand and his feet being held. when he said he felt a power, force, or influence, proceeding from his hand, i set the clock going, and almost immediately the end, b, of the board was seen to descend slowly and remain down for about 10 seconds; it then descended a little farther, and afterwards rose to its normal height. it then descended again, rose suddenly, gradually sunk for 17 seconds, and finally rose to its normal height, where it remained till the experiment was concluded. the lowest point marked on the glass was equivalent to a direct pull of about 5,000 grains. the accompanying figure 7 is a copy of the curve traced on the glass. _experiment ii._--contact through water having proved to be as effectual as actual mechanical contact, i wished to see if the power or force could affect the weight, either through other portions of the apparatus or through the air. the glass vessel and iron stand, etc., were therefore removed, as an unnecessary complication, and mr. home's hands were placed on the stand of the apparatus at p (fig. 4). a gentleman present put his hand on mr. home's hands, and his foot on both mr. home's feet, and i also watched him closely all the time. at the proper moment the clock was again set going; the board descended and rose in an irregular manner, the result being a curved tracing on the glass, of which fig. 8 is a copy. [illustration: fig. 8.] [illustration: fig. 9.] [illustration: fig. 10.] _experiment iii._--mr. home was now placed 1 foot from the board, a b, on one side of it. his hands and feet were firmly grasped by a bystander, and another tracing, of which fig. 9 is a copy, was taken on a moving glass plate. _experiment iv._--(tried on an occasion when the power was stronger than on the previous occasions.) mr. home was now placed three feet from the apparatus, his hands and feet being tightly held. the clock was set going when he gave the word, and the end, b, of the board soon descended, and again rose in an irregular manner, as shown in fig. 10. the following series of experiments were tried with more delicate apparatus, and with another person, a lady, mr. home being absent. as the lady is non-professional, i do not mention her name. she has, however, consented to meet any scientific men whom i may introduce for purposes of investigation. [illustration: fig. 11.] [illustration: fig. 12.] a piece of thin parchment, a, figs. 11 and 12, is stretched tightly across a circular hoop of wood. b c is a light lever turning on d. at the end, b, is a vertical needle-point touching the membrane, a, and at c is another needle-point, projecting horizontally and touching a smoked glass plate, e f. this glass plate is drawn along in the direction, h g, by clockwork, k. the end, b, of the lever is weighted so that it shall quickly follow the movements of the centre of the disc, a. these movements are transmitted and recorded on the glass plate, e f, by means of the lever and needle-point, c. holes are cut in the side of the hoop to allow a free passage of air to the under side of the membrane. the apparatus was well tested beforehand by myself and others, to see that no shaking or jar on the table or support would interfere with the results. the line traced by the point, c, on the smoked glass was perfectly straight in spite of all our attempts to influence the lever by shaking the stand or stamping on the floor. [illustration: fig. 13.] _experiment v._--without having the object of the instrument explained to her, the lady was brought into the room and asked to place her fingers on the wooden stand at the points, l m, fig. 11. i then placed my hands over hers to enable me to detect any conscious or unconscious movement on her part. presently percussive noises were heard on the parchment, resembling the dropping of grains of sand on its surface. at each percussion a fragment of graphite which i had placed on the membrane was seen to be projected upwards about 1-50th of an inch, and the end, c, of the lever moved slightly up and down. sometimes the sounds were as rapid as those from an induction-coil, whilst at others they were more than a second apart. five or six tracings were taken, and in all cases a movement of the end, c, of the lever was seen to have occurred with each vibration of the membrane. in some cases the lady's hands were not so near the membrane as l m, but were at n o, fig. 12. the accompanying figure 13 gives tracings taken from the plates used on these occasions. _experiment vi._--having met with these results in mr. home's absence, i was anxious to see what action would be produced on the instrument in his presence. accordingly i asked him to try, but without explaining the instrument to him. [illustration: fig. 14.] [illustration: fig. 15.] i grasped mr. home's right arm above the wrist and held his hand over the membrane, about 10 inches from its surface, in the position shown at p, fig. 12. his other hand was held by a friend. after remaining in this position for about half a minute, mr. home said he felt some influence passing. i then set the clock going, and we all saw the index, c, moving up and down. the movements were much slower than in the former case, and were almost entirely unaccompanied by the percussive vibrations then noticed. figs. 14 and 15 show the curves produced on the glass on two of these occasions. figs. 13, 14, 15 are magnified. these experiments _confirm beyond doubt_ the conclusion at which i arrived in my former paper; namely, the existence of a force associated, in some manner not yet explained, with the human organization, by which force increased weight is capable of being imparted to solid bodies without physical contact. now, however, having seen more of mr. home, i think i perceive what it is that this psychic force uses up for its development. in employing the terms _vital force_, or _nervous energy_, i am aware that i am employing words which convey very different significations to many investigators; but after witnessing the painful state of nervous and bodily prostration in which some of these experiments have left mr. home--after seeing him lying in an almost fainting condition on the floor, pale and speechless--i could scarcely doubt that the evolution of psychic force is accompanied by a corresponding drain on vital force. to witness exhibitions of this force it is not necessary to have access to known psychics. the force itself is probably possessed by all human beings, although the individuals endowed with an extraordinary amount of it are doubtless few. within the last twelve months i have met in private families five or six persons possessing a sufficiently vigorous development to make me feel confident that similar results might be produced through their means to those here recorded, though less intense. these experiments continued to be the object of bitter and relentless criticism on the part of the recognized authorities in science and education in england. these persons absolutely refused to recognize their value. professor crookes amused himself, at times, by replying to these fantastic attacks, but, naturally, without convincing his uncompromising opponents. it is unnecessary to reproduce these letters here; they can be found in the french edition of crookes's _researches_. the learned chemist did better still: he continued his researches into the domain of the unknown, and got still more remarkable results--still more extraordinary, more inexplicable, more incomprehensible. his notes continue as follows: like a traveler exploring some distant country, the wonders of which have hitherto been known only through reports and rumors of a vague or distorted character, so for four years have i been occupied in pushing an inquiry into a territory of natural knowledge which offers almost virgin soil to a scientific man. as the traveller sees in the natural phenomena he may witness the action of forces governed by natural laws, where others see only the capricious intervention of offended gods, so have i endeavored to trace the operation of natural laws and forces, where others have seen only the agency of supernatural beings, owning no laws, and obeying no force but their own free will. the phenomena i am prepared to attest are so extraordinary and so directly oppose the most firmly rooted articles of scientific belief--amongst others, the ubiquity and invariable action of the force of gravitation--that, even now, on recalling the details of what i witnessed, there is an antagonism in my mind between _reason_, which pronounces it to be scientifically impossible, and the consciousness that my senses, both of touch and sight--and these corroborated, as they were, by the senses of all who were present,--are not lying witnesses when they testify against my preconceptions. but the supposition that there is a sort of mania or delusion which suddenly attacks a whole roomful of intelligent persons who are quite sane elsewhere, and that they all concur to the minutest particulars, in the details of the occurrences of which they suppose themselves to be witnesses, seems to my mind more incredible than even the facts they attest. the subject is far more difficult and extensive than it appears. four years ago i intended only to devote a leisure month or two to ascertain whether certain marvellous occurrences i had heard about would stand the test of close scrutiny. having, however, soon arrived at the same conclusion as, i may say, every impartial inquirer, that there was "something in it," i could not, as a student of nature's laws, refuse to follow the inquiry wheresoever the facts might lead. thus a few months have grown into a few years, and, were my time at my own disposal it would probably extend still longer. my principal object will be to place on record a series of actual occurrences which have taken place in my own house, in the presence of trustworthy witnesses, and under as strict test conditions as i could devise. every fact which i have observed is, moreover, corroborated by the records of independent observers at other times and places. it will be seen that the facts are of the most astounding character, and seem utterly irreconcilable with all known theories of modern science. having satisfied myself of their _truth_, it would be moral cowardice to withhold my testimony because my previous publications were ridiculed by critics and others who knew nothing whatever of the subject, and who were too prejudiced to see and judge for themselves whether or not there was truth in the phenomena. i shall state simply what i have seen and proved by repeated experiment and test. except where darkness has been a necessary condition, as with some of the phenomena of luminous appearances, and a few other instances, everything recorded has taken place _in the light_. in the few cases where the phenomena noted have occurred in darkness i have been very particular to mention the fact. moreover, some special reason can be shown for the exclusion of light, or the results have been produced under such perfect test conditions that the suppression of one of the senses has not really weakened the evidence. i have said that darkness is not essential. it is, however, a well-ascertained fact that when the force is weak a bright light exerts an interfering action on some of the phenomena. the power possessed by mr. home is sufficiently strong to withstand this antagonistic influence; consequently, he always objects to darkness at his _séances_. indeed, except on two occasions, when, for some particular experiments of my own, light was excluded, everything which i have witnessed with him has taken place in the light. i have had many opportunities of testing the action of light on different sources and colors,--such as sunlight, diffused daylight, moonlight, gas, lamp, and candle-light, electric light from a vacuum tube, homogeneous yellow light, etc. the interfering rays appear to be those at the extreme end of the spectrum. professor crookes next proceeds to classify the phenomena observed by him, going from the more simple to the more complex and giving in rapid review under each head, a sketch of some of the facts. in the abridgment of his report which follows i eliminate what has already been fully demonstrated elsewhere in this book. first class: _the movement of heavy bodies with contact, but without mechanical exertion._ (this movement has been fully proved in this volume.) second class: _the phenomena of percussive and other allied sounds._ an important question here forces itself upon the attention. _are the movements and sounds governed by intelligence?_ at a very early stage of the inquiry, it was seen that the power producing the phenomena was not merely a blind force, but was associated with or governed by intelligence. thus the sounds to which i have just alluded will be repeated a definite number of times. they will come loud or faint, and in different places at request; and by a pre-arranged code of signals, questions are answered, and messages given with more or less accuracy. the intelligence governing the phenomena is sometimes manifestly below that of the medium. it is frequently in direct opposition to the wishes of the medium. when a determination has been expressed to do something which might not be considered quite right, i have known urgent messages given to induce a reconsideration. the intelligence is sometimes of such a character as to lead to the belief that it does not emanate from any person present. third class: _the alteration of weights of bodies._--(experiments which have been already described.) fourth class: _movements of heavy substances when at a distance from the medium._--the instances in which heavy bodies, such as tables, chairs, sofas, etc., have been moved, when the medium has not been touching them, are very numerous. i will briefly mention a few of the most striking. my own chair has been twisted partly round, whilst my feet were off the floor. a chair was seen by all present to move slowly up to the table from a far corner, when all were watching it. on another occasion an arm-chair moved to where we were sitting, and then moved slowly back again (a distance of about three feet) at my request. on three successive evenings a small table moved slowly across the room, under conditions which i had specially pre-arranged, so as to answer any objection which might be raised to the evidence. i have had several repetitions of the experiment considered by the committee of the dialectical society to be conclusive, viz., the movement of a heavy table, in full light, the chairs turned with their backs to the table, about a foot off, and each person kneeling on his chair, with hands resting over the back of the chair, but not touching the table. on one occasion this took place when i was moving about so as to see how everyone was placed. fifth class: _the rising of tables and chairs off the ground, without contact with any person._ (we need not recur to these matters.) sixth class: _the levitation of human beings._--the most striking cases of levitation which i have witnessed have been with mr. home. on three separate occasions have i seen him raised completely from the floor of the room. once sitting in an easy-chair, once kneeling on his chair, and once standing up. on each occasion i had full opportunity of watching the occurrence as it was taking place. there are at least a hundred recorded instances of mr. home's rising from the ground, in the presence of as many separate persons, and i have heard from the lips of the three witnesses to the most striking occurrence of this kind--the earl of dunraven, lord lindsay, and captain c. wynne--their own most minute accounts of what took place. to reject the recorded evidence on this subject is to reject all human testimony whatever; for no fact in sacred or profane history is supported by a stronger array of proofs. seventh class: _movement of various small articles without contact with any person._--(as in the case of the sixth class, this is well known to my readers.) eighth class: _luminous appearances._--these, being rather faint, generally require the room to be darkened. i need scarcely remind my readers again that, under these circumstances, i have taken proper precautions to avoid being imposed upon by phosphorized oil or other means. moreover, many of these lights are such as i have tried to imitate artificially, but cannot. under the strictest test conditions, i have seen a solid self-luminous body, the size and nearly the shape of a turkey's egg, float noiselessly about the room, at one time higher than any one present could reach standing on tiptoe, and then gently descend to the floor. it was visible for more than ten minutes, and before it faded away it struck the table three times with a sound like that of a hard solid body. during this time the medium was lying back, apparently insensible, in an easy-chair. i have seen luminous points of light darting about and settling on the heads of different persons; i have had questions answered by the flashing of a bright light a desired number of times in front of my face. i have seen sparks of light rising from the table to the ceiling, and again falling upon the table, striking it with an audible sound. i have had an alphabetic communication given by luminous flashes occurring before me in the air, whilst my hand was moving about amongst them. i have seen a luminous cloud floating upwards to a picture. under the strictest test conditions, i have more than once had a solid, self-luminous, crystalline body placed in my hand by a hand which did not belong to any person in the room. _in the light_, i have seen a luminous cloud hover over a heliotrope on a side table, break a sprig off, and carry it to a lady; and on some occasions i have seen a similar luminous cloud visibly condense to the form of a hand and carry small objects about. ninth class: _the appearance of hands, either self-luminous or visible by ordinary light._--during a séance in full light a beautifully-formed small hand rose up from an opening in a dining-table and gave me a flower; it appeared and then disappeared three times at intervals, affording me ample opportunity of satisfying myself that it was as real in appearance as my own. this occurred in the light in my own room, whilst i was holding the medium's hands and feet. on another occasion, a small hand and arm, like a baby's, appeared playing about a lady who was sitting next to me. it then patted my arm and pulled my coat several times. at another time, a finger and thumb were seen to pick the petals from a flower in mr. home's button-hole, and lay them in front of several persons who were sitting near him. a hand has been repeatedly seen by myself and others playing the keys of an accordion, both of the medium's hands being visible at the same time, and sometimes being held by those near him. the hands and fingers do not always appear to me to be solid and life-like. sometimes, indeed, they present more the appearance of a nebulous cloud partly condensed into the form of a hand. this is not equally visible to all present. for instance, a flower or other small object is seen to move; one person present will see a luminous cloud hovering over it, another will detect a nebulous-looking hand, whilst others will see nothing at all but the moving flower. i have more than once seen, first an object move, then a luminous cloud appear to form about it, and, lastly, the cloud condense into shape and become a perfectly-formed hand. at this stage the hand is visible to all present. it is not always a mere form, but sometimes appears perfectly life-like and graceful, the fingers moving, and the flesh apparently as human as that of any in the room. at the wrist, or arm, it becomes hazy, and fades off into a luminous cloud. to the touch, the hand sometimes appears icy-cold and dead, at other times, warm and life-like, grasping my own with the firm pressure of an old friend. i have retained one of these hands in my own, firmly resolved not to let it escape. there was no struggle or effort made to get loose, but it gradually seemed to resolve itself into vapor, and faded in that manner from my grasp. tenth class: _direct writing._--(the learned chemist cites some remarkable examples obtained by him. we need not speak of them in this book.) eleventh class: _phantom forms and faces._--these are the rarest of the phenomena i have witnessed. the conditions requisite for their appearance appear to be so delicate, and such trifles interfere with their production, that only on very few occasions have i witnessed them under satisfactory test conditions. i will mention two of these cases. in the dusk of the evening, during a _séance_ with mr. home at my house, the curtains of a window about eight feet from mr. home were seen to move. a dark, shadowy, semi-transparent form, like that of a man, was then seen by all present standing near the window, waving the curtain with his hand. as we looked, the form faded away, and the curtains ceased to move. the following is a still more striking instance. as in the former case, mr. home was the medium. a phantom form came from a corner of the room, took an accordion in its hand, and then glided about the room playing the instrument. the form was visible to all present for many minutes, mr. home also being seen at the same time. coming rather close to a lady who was sitting apart from the rest of the company, she gave a slight cry, upon which it vanished. twelfth class: _special instances which seem to point to the agency of an exterior intelligence._--it has already been shown that the phenomena are governed by an intelligence. it becomes a question of importance as to the source of that intelligence. is it the intelligence of the medium, of any of the other persons in the room, or is it an exterior intelligence? without wishing at present to speak positively on this point, i may say that whilst i have observed many circumstances which appear to show that the will and intelligence of the medium have much to do with the phenomena, i have observed some circumstances which seem conclusively to point to the agency of an outside intelligence, not belonging to any human being in the room. space does not allow me to give here all the arguments which can be adduced to prove these points, but i will briefly mention one or two circumstances out of many. i have been present when several phenomena were going on at the same time, some being unknown to the medium. i have been with miss fox when she has been writing a message automatically to one person present, whilst a message to another person on another subject was being given alphabetically by means of "raps," and the whole time she was conversing freely with a third person on a subject totally different from either. perhaps a more striking instance is the following: during a _séance_ with mr. home, a small lath, which i have before mentioned, moved across the table to me, in the light, and delivered a message to me by tapping my hand, i repeating the alphabet, and the lath tapping me at the right letters. the other end of the lath was resting on the table, some distance from mr. home's hands. the taps were so sharp and clear, and the lath was evidently so well under control of the invisible power which was governing its movements, that i said, "can the intelligence governing the motion of this lath change the character of the movements, and give me a telegraphic message through the morse alphabet by taps on my hand?" (i have every reason to believe that the morse code was quite unknown to any other person present, and it was only imperfectly known to me.) immediately i said this, the character of the taps changed, and the message was continued in the way i had requested. the letters were given too rapidly for me to do more than catch a word here and there, and consequently i lost the message; but i heard sufficient to convince me that there was a good morse operator at the other end of the line, wherever that might be. another instance. a lady was writing automatically by means of the planchette. i was trying to devise a means of proving that what she wrote was not due to "unconscious cerebration." the planchette, as it always does, insisted that, although it was moved by the hand and the arm of the lady, the _intelligence_ was that of an invisible being who was playing on her brain as on a musical instrument, and thus moving her muscles. i therefore said to this intelligence, "can you see the contents of this room?" "yes," wrote the planchette. "can you see to read this newspaper?" said i, putting my finger on a copy of the _times_, which was on a table behind me, but without looking at it. "yes," was the reply of the planchette. "well," i said, "if you can see that, write the word which is now covered by my finger, and i will believe you." the planchette commenced to move. slowly and with great difficulty the word "however" was written. i turned round and saw that the word "however" was covered by the tip of my finger. i had purposely avoided looking at the newspaper when i tried this experiment, and it was impossible for the lady, had she tried, to have seen any of the printed words, for she was sitting at one table, and the paper was on another table behind, my body intervening. thirteenth class: _miscellaneous occurrences of a complex character._ (professor crookes here cites two examples of the _transference of matter through matter_,--a bell passing from neighboring room into that in which the séance was being held, and a flower separating from a bouquet and _passing through the table_.) the spare at my disposal will not permit me to give more details here; but all my readers must appreciate, as i do, the importance of these experiments of the eminent chemist. i will especially call attention to the proofs they afford of the presence of a mind or intelligence, other than that of the experimenters; to the formation of hands and spirit-forms; and to the passage of matter through matter. these experiments date from the years 1871 to 1873. during the last mentioned year, a new medium, endowed with particularly remarkable powers, appeared in london, namely, miss florence cook, who was born in 1856, and was, therefore, seventeen in 1873. since the preceding year (1872), she had often seen the apparition by her side of a young girl. this spectral form had taken a liking to her, and told her she was called _katie king_ in the other world, and had been a lady called annie morgan during one of her lives on earth. some observers told marvellous stories of these apparitions, which they also saw,--among them being william harrison, benjamin coleman, mr. luxmore, dr. sexton, dr. gully, the prince of sayn wittgenstein, who have all published accounts of them which breathe an air of sincere belief. professor crookes got in touch with this new medium in december, 1873. in _the spiritualist_--a journal edited by mr. harrison, at whose home several sittings had taken place--there appeared in the numbers for february and march, 1874, two letters from professor crookes. a few extracts from these letters here follow: i have reason to know that the power at work in these phenomena, like love, "laughs at locksmiths." the séance of which you speak and at which i was present, was held at the house of mr. luxmore, and the "cabinet" was a back drawing-room separated from the front room in which the company sat by a curtain. the usual formality of searching the room and examining the fastenings having been gone through, miss cook entered the cabinet. after a little time the form of katie appeared at the side of the curtain, but soon retreated, saying her medium was not well, and could not be put into a sufficiently deep sleep to make it safe for her to be left. i was sitting within a few feet of the curtain close behind which miss cook was sitting, and i could frequently hear her moan and sob, as if in pain. this uneasiness continued at intervals nearly the whole duration of the _séance_, _and once, when the form of katie was standing before me in the room, i distinctly heard a sobbing, moaning sound, identical with that which miss cook had been making at intervals the whole time of the séance, come from behind the curtain where the young lady was supposed to be sitting_. i admit that the figure was startlingly life-like and real, and, as far as i could see in the somewhat dim light, the features resembled those of miss cook; but still the positive evidence of one of my own senses that the moan came from miss cook in the cabinet, whilst the figure was outside, is too strong to be upset by a mere inference to the contrary, however well supported. your readers, sir, know me, and will, i hope, believe that i will not come hastily to an opinion, or ask them to agree with me on insufficient evidence. it is perhaps expecting too much to think that the little incident i have mentioned will have the same weight with them that it had with me. but this i do beg of them--let those who are inclined to judge miss cook harshly suspend their judgment until i bring forward positive evidence which i think will be sufficient to settle the question. miss cook is now devoting herself exclusively to a series of private séances with me and one or two friends. the séances will probably extend over some months, and i am promised that every desirable test shall be given to me. these séances have not been going on many weeks, but enough has taken place to thoroughly convince me of the perfect truth and honesty of miss cook, and to give me every reason to expect that the promises so freely made to me by katie will be kept. william crookes. here is the second letter from the cautious investigator: in a letter which i wrote to this journal early in february last, speaking of the phenomena of spirit-forms which have appeared through miss cook's mediumship, i said, "let those who are inclined to judge miss cook harshly suspend their judgment until i bring forward positive evidence which i think will be sufficient to settle the question." in that letter i described an incident which, to my mind, went very far towards convincing me that katie and miss cook were two separate material beings. when katie was outside the cabinet, standing before me, i heard a moaning noise from miss cook in the cabinet. i am happy to say that i have at last obtained the "absolute proof" to which i referred in the above-quoted letter. on march 12th, during a séance here, after katie had been walking amongst us and talking for some time, she retreated behind the curtain which separated my laboratory, where the company was sitting, from my library which did temporary duty as a cabinet. in a minute she came to the curtain and called me to her, saying, "come into the room and lift my medium's head up, she has slipped down." katie was then standing before me clothed in her usual white robes and turban head-dress. i immediately walked into the library up to miss cook, katie stepping aside to allow me to pass. i found miss cook had slipped partially off the sofa, and her head was hanging in a very awkward position. i lifted her on to the sofa, and in so doing had satisfactory evidence, in spite of the darkness, that miss cook was not attired in the "katie" costume, but had on her ordinary black velvet dress, and was in a deep trance. not more than three seconds elapsed between my seeing the white-robed katie standing before me and my raising miss cook onto the sofa from the position into which she had fallen. on returning to my post of observation by the curtain, katie again appeared, and said she thought she would be able to show herself and her medium to me at the same time. the gas was then turned out and she asked for my phosphorus lamp. after exhibiting herself by it for some seconds, she handed it back to me, saying, "now come in and see my medium." i closely followed her into the library, and by the light of my lamp saw miss cook lying on the sofa just as i had left her. i looked round for katie, but she had disappeared. i called her, but there was no answer. on resuming my place, katie soon reappeared, and told me that she had been standing close to miss cook all the time. she then asked if she might try an experiment herself, and taking the phosphorus lamp from me she passed behind the curtain, asking me not to look in for the present. in a few minutes she handed the lamp back to me, saying she could not succeed, as she had used up all the power, but would try again another time. my eldest son, a lad of fourteen, who was sitting opposite me, in such a position that he could see behind the curtain, tells me he distinctly saw the phosphorus lamp apparently floating about in space over miss cook, illuminating her as she lay motionless on the sofa, but he could not see anyone holding the lamp. i pass on to a séance held last night at hackney. katie never appeared to greater perfection, and for nearly two hours she walked about the room, conversing familiarly with those present. on several occasions she took my arm when walking, and the impression conveyed to my mind that it was a living woman by my side, instead of a visitor from the other world, was so strong that the temptation to repeat a recent celebrated experiment became almost irresistible. feeling, however, that if i had not a spirit, i had at all events a _lady_ close to me, i asked her permission to clasp her in my arms, so as to be able to verify the interesting observations which a bold experimentalist has recently somewhat verbosely recorded. permission was graciously given, and i accordingly did--well, as any gentleman would do under the circumstances. mr. volckman will be pleased to know that i can corroborate his statement that the "ghost" (not "struggling" however) was as material a being as miss cook herself. katie now said she thought she would be able this time to show herself and miss cook together. i was to turn the gas out, and then come with my phosphorus lamp into the room now used as a cabinet. this i did, having previously asked a friend who was skillful at shorthand to take down any statement i might make when in the cabinet, knowing the importance attaching to first impressions, and not wishing to leave more to memory than necessary. his notes are now before me. i went cautiously into the room, it being dark, and felt about for miss cook. i found her crouching on the floor. kneeling down, i let air enter the lamp, and by its light i saw the young lady dressed in black velvet, as she had been in the early part of the evening, and to all appearance perfectly senseless; she did not move when i took her hand and held the light quite close to her face, but continued quietly breathing. raising the lamp, i looked around and saw katie standing close behind miss cook. she was robed in flowing white drapery as we had seen her previously during the séance. holding one of miss cook's hands in mine, and still kneeling, i passed the lamp up and down so as to illuminate katie's whole figure, and satisfy myself thoroughly that i was really looking at the veritable katie whom i had clasped in my arms a few minutes before, and not at the phantasm of a disordered brain. she did not speak, but moved her head and smiled in recognition. three separate times did i carefully examine miss cook crouching before me, to be sure that the hand i held was that of a living woman, and three separate times did i turn the lamp to katie and examine her with steadfast scrutiny, until i had no doubt whatever of her objective reality. at last miss cook moved slightly, and katie instantly motioned me to go away. i went to another part of the cabinet, and then ceased to see katie, but did not leave the room till miss cook woke up, and two of the visitors came in with a light. before concluding this article i wish to give some of the points of difference which i have observed between miss cook and katie. katie's height varies; in my house i have seen her six inches taller than miss cook. last night, with bare feet, and not "tiptoeing," she was four-and-a-half inches taller than miss cook. katie's neck was bare last night; the skin was perfectly smooth both to touch and sight, whilst on miss cook's neck is a large blister, which under similar circumstances is distinctly visible and rough to the touch. katie's ears are unpierced, whilst miss cook habitually wears earrings. katie's complexion is very fair, while that of miss cook is very dark. katie's fingers are much longer than miss cook's, and her face is also larger. in manners and ways of expression there are also many decided differences. after the observations summarized in these two letters professor crookes continued his experiments at his own home, for a space of two months. the result of all is embodied in the following statements made by crookes himself: during the week before katie took her departure she gave séances at my house almost nightly, to enable me to photograph her by artificial light. five complete sets of photographic apparatus were accordingly fitted up for the purpose, consisting of five cameras, one of the whole-plate size, one half-plate, one quarter-plate, and two binocular stereoscopic cameras, which were all brought to bear upon katie at the same time on each occasion on which she stood for her portrait. five sensitizing and five fixing baths were used, and plenty of plates were cleaned ready for use in advance, so that there might be no hitch or delay during the photographic operations, which were performed by myself, aided by one assistant. my library was used as a dark cabinet. it has folding doors opening into the laboratory; one of these doors was taken off its hinges, and a curtain suspended in its place to enable katie to pass in and out easily. those of our friends who were present were seated in the laboratory facing the curtain, and the cameras were placed a little behind them, ready to photograph katie when she came outside, and to photograph anything also inside the cabinet, whenever the curtain was withdrawn for the purpose. each evening there were three or four exposures of plates in the five cameras, giving at least fifteen separate pictures at each séance; some of these were spoilt in the developing, and some in regulating the amount of light. altogether, i have forty-four negatives, some inferior, some indifferent, and some excellent. katie instructed all the sitters but myself to keep their seats and to keep conditions; but for some time past she has given me permission to do what i liked--to touch her, and to enter and leave the cabinet almost whenever i pleased. i have frequently followed her into the cabinet, and have sometimes seen her and her medium together, but most generally i have found nobody but the entranced medium lying on the floor, katie and her white robes having instantaneously disappeared. during the last six months miss cook has been a frequent visitor at my house, remaining sometimes a week at a time. she brings nothing with her but a little hand-bag, not locked. during the day she is constantly in the presence of mrs. crookes, myself, or some other member of my family, and, not sleeping by herself, there is absolutely no opportunity for any preparation even of a less elaborate character than would be required for enacting katie king. i prepare and arrange my library myself as the dark cabinet, and usually, after miss cook has been dining and conversing with us, and scarcely out of our sight for a minute, she walks directly into the cabinet, and i, at her request, lock its second door, and keep possession of the key all through the séance. the gas is then turned out, and miss cook is left in darkness. on entering the cabinet, miss cook lies down upon the floor, with her head on a pillow, and is soon entranced. during the photographic séance, katie muffled her medium's head up in a shawl to prevent the light falling upon her face. i frequently drew the curtain on one side when katie was standing near, and it was a common thing for the seven or eight of us in the laboratory to see miss cook and katie at the same time, under the full blaze of the electric light. we did not on these occasions actually see the face of the medium because of the shawl, but we saw her hands and feet; we saw her move uneasily under the influence of the intense light, and we heard her moan occasionally. i have one photograph of the two together, but katie is seated in front of miss cook's head. during the time i took an active part in these séances katie's confidence in me gradually grew, until she refused to give a séance unless i took charge of the arrangements. she said she always wanted me to keep close to her, and near the cabinet, and i found that after this confidence was established, and she was satisfied i would not break any promise i might make to her, the phenomena increased greatly in power, and tests were freely given that would have been unobtainable had i approached the subject in another manner. she often consulted me about persons present at the séances, and where they should be placed, for of late she had become very nervous, in consequence of certain ill-advised suggestions that force should be employed as an adjunct to more scientific modes of research. one of the most interesting of the pictures is one in which i am standing by the side of katie; she has her bare foot upon a particular part of the floor. afterwards i dressed miss cook like katie, placed her and myself in exactly the same position, and we were photographed by the same cameras, placed exactly as in the other experiment, and illuminated by the same light. when these two pictures are placed over each other, the two photographs of myself coincide exactly as regards stature, etc., but katie is half a head taller than miss cook, and looks a big woman in comparison with her. in the breadth of her face, in many of the pictures, she differs essentially in size from her medium, and the photographs show several other points of difference. but photography is as inadequate to depict the perfect beauty of katie's face as words are powerless to describe her charms of manner. photography may, indeed, give a map of her countenance; but how can it reproduce the brilliant purity of her complexion, or the ever-varying expression of her most mobile features, now overshadowed with sadness when relating some of the bitter experiences of her past life, now smiling with all the innocence of happy girlhood when she had collected my children round her and was amusing them by recounting anecdotes of her adventures in india? "round her she made an atmosphere of life; the very air seemed lighter from her eyes, they were so soft and beautiful, and rife with all we can imagine of the skies; her overpowering presence made you feel it would not be idolatry to kneel." having seen so much of katie lately, when she has been illuminated by the electric light, i am enabled to add to the points of difference between her and her medium which i mentioned in a former article. i have the most absolute certainty that miss cook and katie are two separate individuals so far as their bodies are concerned. several little marks on miss cook's face are absent on katie's. miss cook's hair is so dark a brown as almost to appear black; a lock of katie's, which is now before me, and which she allowed me to cut from her luxuriant tresses, having first traced it up to the scalp and satisfied myself that it actually grew there, is a rich golden auburn. one evening i timed katie's pulse. it beat steadily at 75, whilst miss cook's pulse a little time after was going at its usual rate of 90. on applying my ear to katie's chest i could hear a heart beating rhythmically inside, and pulsating even more steadily than did miss cook's heart when she allowed me to try a similar experiment after the séance. tested in the same way, katie's lungs were found to be sounder than her medium's, for at the time i tried my experiment miss cook was under medical treatment for a severe cough. this mysterious being, this strange katie king, had announced, from the time of her first appearances, that she would be able to show herself in this way for only three years. the end of this period was now approaching. when the time came for katie to take her farewell i asked that she would let me see the last of her. accordingly when she had called each of the company up to her and had spoken to them a few words in private, she gave some general directions for the future guidance and protection of miss cook. from these, which were taken down in shorthand, i quote the following: "mr. crookes has done very well throughout, and i leave florrie with the greatest confidence in his hands, feeling perfectly sure he will not abuse the trust i place in him. he can act in any emergency better than i can myself, for he has more strength." having concluded her directions katie invited me into the cabinet with her, and allowed me to remain there to the end. after closing the curtain she conversed with me for some time, and then walked across the room to where miss cook was lying senseless on the floor. stooping over her, katie touched her, and said: "wake up, florrie, wake up! i must leave you now." miss cook then woke and tearfully entreated katie to stay a little time longer. "my dear, i can't; my work is done. god bless you," katie replied, and then continued speaking to miss cook. for several minutes the two were conversing with each other, till at last miss cook's tears prevented her speaking. following katie's instructions i then came forward to support miss cook, who was falling onto the floor, sobbing hysterically. i looked round, but the white-robed katie had gone. as soon as miss cook was sufficiently calmed, a light was procured and i led her out of the cabinet. one word more about this astonishing phenomenon. the medium home, employed, as we have seen, in the first experiments of professor crookes, gave it to me as his personal opinion that miss cook was only a skilful trickster, and had shamefully deceived the eminent scientist, and as for mediums, why _there was only one absolutely trustworthy and that was himself, daniel dunglas home_! he even added that the fiancé of miss cook had given striking proofs of her extreme cantankerousness! he who has observed at close hand the rivalries of mediums--which are as strongly marked as those of doctors, actors, musicians and women--will not, it seems to me, find in this talk of home any intrinsic value whatever. but i must confess that this matter of katie king is really so extraordinary that i am forced to try every possible explanation before admitting its truth. this is also the opinion of mr. crookes himself. in order to convince myself (says he) i was constantly on my guard, and miss cook readily assisted me in all my investigations. every test that i have proposed she has at once agreed to submit to with the utmost willingness; she is open and straightforward in speech, and i have never seen anything approaching the slightest symptom of a wish to deceive. indeed, i do not believe she could carry on a deception if she were to try, and if she did she would certainly be found out very quickly, for such a line of action is altogether foreign to her nature. and to imagine that an innocent school-girl of fifteen would be able to conceive and then successfully carry out for three years so gigantic an imposture as this, and in that time would submit to any test which might be imposed upon her, would bear the strictest scrutiny, would be willing to be searched at any time, either before or after a séance, and would meet with even better success in my own house than at that of her parents, knowing that she visited me with the express object of submitting to strict scientific tests--to imagine, i say, the katie king of the last three years to be the result of imposture does more violence to one's reason and common sense than to believe her to be what she herself affirms. it will perhaps not be superfluous to round out these accounts of william crookes by giving an extract from the journal _the spiritualist_ of the 29th of may, 1874. from the beginning of the mediumship of miss cook, the spirit katie king or annie morgan, who had produced the greater portion of the physical part of the manifestations, had announced that she would not be able to be with her medium longer than three years, and that after that time she would say good-bye to her forever. the end of that period came last thursday; but before leaving her medium, she gave her friends three more séances. the last took place on thursday, the 21st of may, 1874. among the spectators was prof. william crookes. at 7.23 in the evening professor crookes led miss cook into the dark cabinet, where she lay down upon the floor, her head resting on a cushion. at 7.28 katie spoke for the first time, and at 7.30 she showed herself outside of the curtain in her full form. she was dressed in white, short sleeves and bare neck. she had long light auburn hair of a rich tint, falling in curls on each side of her head and down her back to her waist. she wore a long white veil which was not drawn down over her face more than once or twice during the sitting. the medium wore a light blue merino robe. during almost the whole of the séance, katie remained standing before us. the curtain of the cabinet was drawn aside and all could distinctly see the medium lying asleep, having her face covered with a red shawl, in order to shield it from the light. katie spoke of her approaching departure and accepted a bouquet which mr. tapp had brought her, as well as a bunch of lilies offered by mr. crookes. she asked mr. tapp to untie the bouquet and to put the flowers before her on the floor. she then sat down in the turkish style and asked all to sit around her in the same way. then she divided the flowers and gave to each a little bouquet tied up with a blue ribbon. she then wrote letters to some of her friends, signing them "annie owen morgan," saying that was her true name during her life on earth. she also wrote a letter to her medium, and chose for her a rosebud as a good-bye gift. katie then took the scissors, cut off a lock of her hair and gave some of it to all of us. she then took mr. crookes' hand and made the tour of the room, pressing the hand of each of us in turn. she then sat down again and cut off several pieces of her robe and of her veil for remembrances. seeing such holes in her robe (she being seated all this while between mr. crookes and mr. tapp), some one asked her if she could repair the damage, as she had done on previous occasions. she then held the cut part of the robe in the light, gave one rap upon it, and instantly that part was whole and unblemished as before. those near her touched and examined the stuff, with her permission. they affirmed that there was neither hole nor scam, nor anything added at the very place where an instant before they had seen holes several inches in diameter. she next gave her last instructions to mr. crookes. then, seeming fatigued, she added that her force was disappearing, and repeated her good-bye to everyone in the most affectionate manner. all present thanked her for the wonderful manifestations which she had given them. while she was directing toward her friends a last grave and pensive look, she let fall the curtain, and it hid her from our view. we heard her waking up the medium, who begged her with tears to remain a little longer. but katie said, "it is impossible, my dear; my mission is accomplished; god bless you!" and we heard the sound of a kiss. the medium then came out among us wholly exhausted and in a state of deep dismay. such are the experiments of sir william crookes. i have restricted myself to relating his own personal observations, as set forth by himself. the story of katie king is truly one of the most mysterious, the most incredible, to be found in the whole history of spiritualistic research, and is at the same time, one of the cases that have been most scrupulously studied by the experimental method, including photography. the medium, miss florence cook, married in 1874 mr. elgie corner, and, from that time on, her contributions to psychical research almost ceased. i have several times been assured that she also had been caught in the very act of cheating. (always that feminine hysteria!) but the investigations of crookes were conducted with such care and competence, that it is very difficult to refuse our credence. besides, this scientist was not the only one to study the mediumship of florence cook. among other works that may be consulted on this subject is one containing a large number of proofs and testimonies, as well as several photographs (alluded to above).[68] these recorded cases, or testimonies, form a collection of records, the study of which is most instructive. the study of the great chemist surpass the rest, to be sure, but it does not diminish the intrinsic value of the others. all the observations agree and mutually confirm each other. as to the explanation of the phenomena, crookes thinks that we cannot discover it. was this apparition what it claimed to be? there is nothing to prove it. might it not be a _double_ of the medium, a product of her psychic force? the learned chemist did not change his opinion (as has been claimed) about the authenticity of the phenomena studied by him. in an address delivered at a meeting of the british association for the advancement of science, held at bristol in 1898, and of which he was president, he expressed himself as follows: no incident in my scientific career is more widely known than the part i took many years ago in certain psychic researches. thirty years have passed since i published an account of experiments tending to show that outside our scientific knowledge there exists a force exercised by intelligence differing from the ordinary intelligence common to mortals. this fact in my life is, of course, well understood by those who honored me with the invitation to become your president. perhaps among my audience some may feel curious as to whether i shall speak out or be silent. i elect to speak, although briefly. to enter at length on a still debatable subject would be to insist on a topic which,--as wallace, lodge and barrett have already shown,--though not unfitted for discussion at these meetings, does not yet enlist the interest of the majority of my scientific brethren. to ignore the subject would be an act of cowardice, an act of cowardice i feel no temptation to commit. to stop short in any research that bids fair to widen the gates of knowledge, to recoil from fear of difficulty or adverse criticism, is to bring reproach on science. there is nothing for the investigator to do but to go straight on, "to explore up and down, inch by inch, with the taper, his reason;" to follow the light wherever it may lead, even should it at times resemble a will-o'-the wisp. i have nothing to retract. i adhere to my already published statements. indeed, i might add much thereto. i regret only a certain crudity in those early expositions, which, no doubt justly, militated against their acceptance by the scientific world. my own knowledge at that time scarcely extended beyond the fact that certain phenomena new to science had assuredly occurred, and were attested by my own sober senses, and, better still, by automatic record. i was like some two-dimensional being who might stand at the singular point of a riemann's surface, and thus find himself in infinitesimal and inexplicable contact with a plane of existence not his own. i think i see a little farther now. i have glimpses of something like coherence among the strange elusive phenomena; of something like continuity between those unexplained forces and laws already known. this advance is largely due to the labors of another association of which i have also this year the honor to be president--the society for psychical research. and were i now introducing for the first time these inquiries to the world of science i should choose a starting point different from that of old. it would be well to begin with _telepathy_; with the fundamental law, as i believe it to be, that thoughts and images may be transferred from one mind to another without the agency of the recognized organs of sense, that knowledge may enter the human mind without being communicated in any hitherto known or recognized ways. although the inquiry has elicited important facts with reference to the mind, it has not yet reached the scientific stage of certainty which would entitle it to be usefully brought before one of our sections. i will therefore confine myself to pointing out the direction in which scientific investigation can legitimately advance. if telepathy take place we have two physical facts--the physical change in the brain of a, the suggester, and the analogous physical change in the brain of b, the recipient of the suggestion. between these two physical events there must exist a train of physical causes. whenever the connecting sequence of intermediate causes begins to be revealed the inquiry will then come within the range of one of the sections of the british association. such a sequence can only occur through an intervening medium. all the phenomena of the universe are presumably in some way continous, and it is unscientific to call in the aid of mysterious agencies when with every fresh advance in knowledge it is shown that ether vibrations have powers and attributes abundantly equal to any demand--even to the transmission of thought. it is supposed by some physiologists that the essential cells of nerves do not actually touch, but are separated by a narrow gap which widens in sleep while it narrows almost to extinction during mental activity. this condition is so singuarly like that of a branly or lodge coherer as to suggest a further analogy. the structure of brain and nerve being similar, it is conceivable there may be present masses of such nerve coherers in the brain whose special function it may be to receive impulses brought from without through the connecting sequence of ether waves of appropriate order of magnitude. röntgen has familiarized us with an order of vibrations of extreme minuteness compared with the smallest waves with which we have hitherto been acquainted, and of dimensions comparable with the distances between centers of the atoms of which the material universe is built up; and there is no reason to suppose that we have here reached the limit of frequency. it is known that the action of thought is accompanied by certain molecular movements in the brain, and here we have physical vibrations capable from their extreme minuteness of acting directly on individual molecules, while their rapidity approaches that of the internal and external movements of the atoms themselves. confirmation of telepathic phenomena is afforded by many converging experiments, and by many spontaneous occurrences only thus intelligible. the most varied proof, perhaps, is drawn from analysis of the sub-conscious workings of the mind, when these, whether by accident or design, are brought into conscious survey. evidence of a region below the threshold of consciousness has been presented, since its first inception, in the "proceedings of the society for psychical research;" and its various aspects are being interpreted and welded into a comprehensive whole by the pertinacious genius of f. w. h. myers. a formidable range of phenomena must be scientifically sifted before we effectually grasp a faculty so strange, so bewildering, and for ages so inscrutable, as the direct action of mind on mind. an eminent predecessor in this chair declared that "by an intellectual necessity be crossed the boundary of experimental evidence, and discerned in that matter, which we, in our ignorance of its latent powers, and notwithstanding our professed reverence for its creator, have hitherto covered with opprobrium, the potency and promise of all terrestrial life." i should prefer to reverse the apophthegm, and to say that in life i see the promise and potency of all forms of matter. in old egyptian days a well-known inscription was carved over the portal of the temple of isis: "i am whatever hath been, is, or ever will be; and my veil no man hath yet lifted." not thus do modern seekers after truth confront nature,--the word that stands for the baffling mysteries of the universe. steadily, unflinchingly, we strive to pierce the inmost heart of nature, from what she is to re-construct what she has been, and to prophesy what she yet shall be. veil after veil we have lifted, and her face grows more beautiful, august, and wonderful, with every barrier that is withdrawn. it would be difficult to find truer thought better expressed. it is the language of true science, and is also the expression of the highest philosophy. chapter x sundry experiments and observations abundant testimony as to the existence of a hitherto little explored psychic realm has doubtless been given in the preceding pages. mediumistic phenomena proclaim the existence of unknown forces. it is almost superfluous to heap up in this place a still greater number of recorded instances. however, these facts are so extraordinary, so incomprehensible, so hard to believe, that a mere increase in the number of cases is not without value, especially when they are furnished by men of incontestable skill and learning. the old law proverb _testis unus, testis nullus_ ("one witness is no witness") is applicable here. we must not verify once, we must verify a hundred times, such apparently scientific extravagances, in order to make sure they are not delusions, but sober facts. in short, the whole subject is so curious, so strange that the investigator of these mysteries is never surfeited. hence, in addition to what has already been given, i shall select and present in this place, out of the immense collection of observations which i have for a long time been making, those which most strike the attention and give added confirmation to what has preceded. in addition to the experiments of crookes, it is fitting to add in this place those of the great english naturalist, alfred russel wallace, also a member of the royal society of london, president of the english anthropological society, and well known as the scientist, who at the same time with darwin (june, 1858), gave to the world the theory of the variation of species by natural selection. he himself gives the following account[69] of his studies in this matter of the mysterious psychic force: it was in the summer of 1865 that i first witnessed any of the phenomena of what is called spiritualism, in the house of a friend,--a sceptic, a man of science, and a lawyer, with none but members of his own family present. sitting at a good-sized round table, with our hands placed upon it, after a short time slight movements would commence--not often "turnings" or "tiltings" but a gentle intermittent movement, like steps, which after a time would bring the table quite across the room. slight but distinct tapping sounds were also heard. the following notes made at the time were intended to describe exactly what took place:- "july 22nd, 1865.--sat with my friend, his wife, and two daughters at a large loo table, by daylight. in about half an hour some faint motions were perceived, and some faint taps heard. they gradually increased; the taps became very distinct, and the table moved considerably, obliging us all to shift our chairs. then a curious vibratory motion of the table commenced, almost like the shivering of a living animal. i could feel it up to my elbows. these phenomena were variously repeated for two hours. on trying afterwards, we found the table could not be voluntarily moved in the same manner without a great exertion of force, and we could discover no possible way of producing the taps while our hands were upon the table." on other occasions we tried the experiment of each person in succession leaving the table, and found that the phenomena continued the same as before, both taps and the table movement. once i requested one after another to leave the table. the phenomena continued, but, as the number of sitters diminished, with decreasing vigor, and, just after the last person had drawn back, leaving me alone at the table, there were two dull taps or blows, as with a fist on the pillar or foot of the table, the vibration of which i could feel as well as hear. some time before these observations i had met a gentleman who had told me of most wonderful phenomena occurring in his own family,--among them the palpable motion of solid bodies when no person was touching them or near them; and he had recommended me to go to a public medium in london (mrs. marshall), where i might see things equally wonderful. accordingly, in september, 1865, i began a series of visits to mrs. marshall, generally accompanied by a friend,--a good chemist and mechanic, and of a thoroughly sceptical mind. 1. a small table, on which the hands of four persons were placed (including my own and mrs. marshall's), rose up vertically about a foot from the floor, and remained suspended for about twenty seconds, while my friend, who was sitting looking on, could see the lower part of the table with the feet freely suspended above the floor. 2. while sitting at a large table, with miss t. on my left and mr. r. on my right, a guitar which had been played in miss t's hand slid down onto the floor, passed over my feet, and came to mr. r., against whose legs it raised itself up till it appeared above the table. i and mr. r. were watching it carefully the whole time, and it behaved as if alive itself, or rather as if a small invisible child were by great exertions moving it and raising it up. these two phenomena were witnessed in bright gaslight. 3. a chair, on which a relation of mr. r's sat, was lifted up with her on it. afterwards, when she returned to the table from the piano, where she had been playing, her chair moved away just as she was going to sit down. on drawing it up, it moved away again. after this had happened three times, it became apparently fixed to the floor, so that she could not raise it. mr. r. then took hold of it, and found that it was only by a great exertion he could lift it off the floor. this sitting took place in broad daylight, on a bright day, and in a room on the first floor with two windows. however strange and unreal these few phenomena may seem to readers who have seen nothing of the kind, i positively affirm that they are facts which really happened just as i have narrated them, and that there was no room for any possible trick or deception. in each case, before we began, we turned up the tables and chairs, and saw that they were ordinary pieces of furniture, and that there was no connection between them and the floor, and we placed them where we pleased before we sat down. several of the phenomena occurred entirely under our own hands, and quite disconnected from the "medium." they were as much realities as the motion of nails towards a magnet, and, it may be added, not in themselves more improbable or more incomprehensible. the mental phenomena which most frequently occur are the spelling out of the names of relatives of persons present, their ages, or any other particulars about them. they are especially uncertain in their manifestation, though when they do succeed they are very conclusive to the persons who witness them. the general opinion of sceptics as to these phenomena is, that they depend simply on the acuteness and talent of the medium in hitting on the letters which form the name, by the manner in which persons dwell upon or hurry over them,--the ordinary mode of receiving these communications being for the person interested to go over a printed alphabet, letter by letter, loud taps indicating the letters which form the required names. i am going to choose some of our experiments which show how impossible it is to accept this explanation. when i first received a communication myself i was particularly careful to avoid giving any indication, by going with steady regularity over the letters; yet there was spelt out correctly, first, the place where my brother died, para; then his christian name, herbert; and lastly, at my request, the name of the mutual friend who last saw him, henry walter bates. on this occasion our party of six visited mrs. marshall for the first time, and my name as well as those of the rest of the party, except one, were unknown to her. that one was my married sister, whose name was no clue to mine. on the same occasion a young lady, a connection of mr. r.'s was told that a communication was to be made to her. she took the alphabet, and instead of pointing to the letters one by one, she moved the pencil smoothly over the lines with the greatest steadiness. i watched her, and wrote down the letters which the taps indicated. the name produced was an extraordinary one, the letters being thomas doe thacker. i thought there must be an error in the latter part; but the names were thomas doe thacker, the lady's father, every letter being correct. a number of other names, places, and dates were spelt out on this occasion with equal accuracy; but i give only these two, because in these i am _sure_ no clue was given by which the names could have been guessed by the most preternaturally acute intellect. on another occasion, i accompanied my sister and a lady who had never been there before to mrs. marshall's, and we had a very curious illustration of the absurdity of imputing the spelling of names to the receiver's hesitation and the medium's acuteness. she wished the name of a particular deceased relative to be spelled out to her, and pointed to the letters of the alphabet in the usual way, while i wrote down those indicated. the first three letters were y r n. "oh!" said she, "that's nonsense; we had better begin again." just then an e came, and, thinking i saw what it was, i said, "please go on, i understand it." the whole was then spelt out thus: yrnehkcocffej. the lady even then did not see it, till i separated it thus: yrneh kcocffej, or henry jeffcock,--the name of the relative she had wanted, accurately spelt backwards. another phenomenon, necessitating the exertion both of force and intellect, is the following: the table having been previously examined, a sheet of note paper was marked privately by me, and placed with a lead-pencil under the centre foot of the table, all present having their hands upon the table. after a few minutes, taps are heard, and, on taking up the paper, i find written on it, in a free hand, "william." on another occasion, a friend from the country--a total stranger to the medium, and whose name was never mentioned--accompanied me; and, after receiving what purported to be a communication from his son, a paper was put under the table, and in a few minutes there was found written on it "charley t. dodd." the correct name. in these cases it is certain there was no machinery under the table; and it simply remains to ask if it were possible for mrs. marshall to slip off her boots, seize the pencil and paper with her toes, and write on it a name she had to guess at, and again put on her boots without removing her hands from the table, or giving any indication whatever of her exertions. it was in november, 1866, that my sister discovered that a lady living with her had the power of inducing loud and distinct taps and other curious phenomena; and i now began a series of observations in my own house, the most important of which i shall briefly narrate. when we sat at a large loo table without a cloth, with all our hands upon it, the taps would generally commence in a few minutes. they sound as if made on the under side of the leaf of the table, in various parts of it. they change in tone and loudness, from a sound like that produced by tapping with a needle or a long finger-nail, to others like blows with a fist or slaps with the fingers of a hand. sounds are produced also like scraping with a finger-nail, or like the rubbing of a damp finger pressed very hard on the table. the rapidity with which these sounds are produced and are changed is very remarkable. they will imitate, more or less exactly, sounds which we make with our fingers above the table; they will keep good time to a tune whistled by one of the party; they will sometimes, at request, play a very fair tune themselves, or will follow accurately a hand tapping a tune upon the table. of course, the first impression is that some one's foot is lifting up the table. to answer this objection, i prepared the table before our second trial without telling any one, by stretching some thin tissue paper between the feet an inch or two from the bottom of the pillar, in such a manner that any attempt to insert the foot must crush or tear the paper. the table rose up as before, resisted pressure downwards, as if it was resting on the back of some animal, sunk to the floor, and in a short time rose again, and then dropped suddenly down. i now with some anxiety turned up the table, and, to the surprise of all present, showed them the delicate tissue stretched across altogether uninjured! finding that this test was troublesome, as the paper or threads had to be renewed every time, and were liable to be broken accidentally before the experiment began, i constructed a cylinder of hoops and laths, covered with canvas. the table was placed within this as in a well, and, as it was about eighteen inches high, it kept the feet and dresses of the ladies away from the table. the latter rose without the least difficulty, the hands of all the group being held above it. a small centre-table suddenly moved up of its own accord to the table by the side of the medium, as if it had gradually got within the sphere of a strong attractive force. afterwards, at our request, it was thrown down on the floor without any person touching it, and it then moved about in a strange life-like manner, as if seeking some means of getting up again, turning its claws first on one side and then on the other. on another occasion, a very large leather arm-chair which stood at least four or five feet from the medium, suddenly wheeled up to her, after a few slight preliminary movements. it is, of course, easy to say that what i relate is impossible. i maintain that it is accurately true; and that no man, whatever be his attainments, has such an exhaustive knowledge of the powers of nature as to justify him in using the word "impossible" with regard to facts which i and many others have repeatedly witnessed. we evidently have here facts similar to those which i observed in my experiments with eusapia and with other mediums. alfred russel wallace continues his account by the citation of cases analogous to those which have been described in this work; then sums up the experiments of crookes, of varley, morgan, and other english scientists; does me the honor of citing my letter to the dialectical society which i have printed above; passes in review the history of spiritualism, and declares that (1) _the facts are incontestable_, and that (2), in his opinion, the best explanatory hypothesis is that of _spirits_, or _the souls of the disembodied_--the theory of "the unconscious" being _evidently inadequate_. such is also the opinion of the electrician cromwell varley. neither he nor wallace believes that there is anything supernatural in the phenomena. discarnate spirits are in nature, as well as the incarnate. "the triviality of the communications ought not to astonish us, if we consider the myriads of trivial and fantastic human beings who every day become ghosts and are the same beings the day after their death that they were the day before." professor morgan, the brilliant author of the _budget of paradoxes_ (an excellent piece of work, and highly complimented by the london _athenæum_, in 1865), expresses the same opinion in his work on _mind_ (1863). not only does he think that the facts are incontestable, but he also believes that the hypothesis that explains the facts by intelligences exterior to ourselves is the only satisfying one. he relates, among other things, that, in one of the séances attended by him, a friend of his (a very sceptical person), was making a little fun of the spirits, whereupon, while they were all standing (a dozen experimenters of them) around the dining room table, and forming the chain above it, _without contact_, the heavy table began to move of its own accord, and, dragging along the whole group, made a rush at the sceptic, and pinned him against the back of the sofa, until he cried "hold! enough!" still, does that constitute proof of an independent spirit? was it not an expression of the collective thought of the company? and, likewise, in the experience which wallace has just cited, were not the dictated names latent in the brain of the questioner? and was not the little centre-table, in its climbings acting under the physical and pyschical influences of the medium? whatever may be the explanatory hypothesis, the facts are undeniable. we have here, before all, a group of substantial english scientists of the first rank, in whose opinion the denial of the phenomena is a sort of madness. french scientists are a little more belated than their neighbors. nevertheless, i have already called attention to some of them during the course of this work. i should have taken pleasure in adding the names of the lamented pierre curie and of professor d'arsonval, if they had published the experiments they made with eusapia during july, 1905, and march and april, 1906, at the general institute of psychology. among the most judicious of experimenters in psychical phenomena i ought also to mention m. j. maxwell, a doctor of medicine and (a very different function) advocate-general at the court of appeals in bordeaux. the reader may have already noticed (p. 173) the part which this investigator, at once a magistrate and a scientist, took in the experiments made at l'agnélas in 1895. eusapia is not the only medium with whom he studied, and his acquaintance with our subject is supported by the best of documentary evidence. it is fitting that i present to the reader at this point the most characteristic facts and the essential conclusions set forth in his work.[70] the author has made a special examinations of _raps_. _raps (coups frappés)._--the contact of hands is not necessary to obtain raps. with certain mediums i have very readily obtained them without contact. when one has succeeded in obtaining raps with contact, one of the surest means of continuing to thus obtain them, is to keep the hands resting on the table for a certain time, then to lift them _very slowly_, keeping the palms turned downward toward the table, the fingers loosely opened, but not held stiffly. it rarely happens under such circumstances, that the raps do not continue to make themselves heard, at least for some time. i need not add that the experimenters should not only avoid touching the table with their hands, but even with any other part of their bodies, or their clothes. the contact of garments with the table may be sufficient to produce raps which have in them nothing supernormal. it is necessary therefore to exercise great care that the dresses of ladies do not come in contact with the legs of the table. when the necessary precautions are used, the raps sound in a very convincing way. in the case of certain mediums, the energy set free is powerful enough to act at a distance. i once happened to hear raps upon a table which was almost six feet from the medium. we had had a very short sitting and had left the table. i was reclining in an easy-chair; the medium, standing, was conversing with me, when a series of raps was made upon the table which we had just left. it was broad daylight in midsummer, about five o'clock in the evening. the raps were forcible and lasted for several minutes. i have often observed facts of this kind. i happened once, while travelling, to meet an interesting medium. he did not allow me to use his name, but i may say that he is an honorable man, well informed, occupying an official position. i obtained with him lively raps in restaurants and in railway lunch counters. he did not suspect that he possessed this latent faculty before he had experimented with me. to have observed the raps produced under these conditions would have been sufficient to convince anyone of their authenticity. the unusual noise made by these raps attracted the attention of persons present and gave us much annoyance. the result surpassed our expectations. it is to be noted that the more we were confused with the noise made by our raps, the more frequent they became. one would have said that some waggish creature was producing them and amusing himself with our embarrassment. i also obtained fine raps upon the floors of museums before the pictures of the old masters. the most common are those made, with contact, upon the table or upon the floor; next, those made at a distance upon various articles of furniture. more rarely, i have heard them on the garments of the sitters or of the medium, or upon the coverings of pieces of furniture. i have heard them on sheets of paper laid on the experiment-table, in books, in walls, in tambourines, in small wooden objects, especially in a planchette used for automatic writing. i noticed very curious raps in the case of a writing-medium. when she had automatic writing, the raps were produced with extreme rapidity at the end of her pencil; but, the pencil itself did not tap the table. several times and very carefully i put my hand on the end of the pencil opposite the point, without the latter leaving for a single moment the paper on the table: the raps sounded in the wood, not on the paper. in this case, of course, the medium held the pencil. the raps occur even when i place my finger on the upper end of the pencil and when i press its point against the paper. you feel the pencil vibrating, but it is not displaced. inasmuch as these raps are very resonant, i calculated that it would be necessary to give a pretty strong blow in order to produce them artificially. the necessary movement requires a lifting of the point from two to five millimeters, according to the intensity of the raps. now the point does not seem to be displaced. furthermore, when the writing is going on, these raps take place with great rapidity, and the examination of the writing does not show any place where a stop occurred. the text is continuous, no trace of tapping is perceptible in it, no thickening of the strokes can be perceived. observations made under such conditions seem to me to exclude the possibility of fraud. i have observed that these raps occur, without apparent cause, as far as nine feet from the medium. they manifest themselves as the expression of an activity and of a will distinct from those of the observers. such is the _appearance_ of the phenomenon. a curious fact results from all this, that not only do the raps occur as the product of an intelligent action, but they also usually agree to perform as often as asked, and to produce definite rhythms, for example, certain airs. in like manner they imitate the raps made by the experimenters, upon demand of the latter. the different raps frequently respond to each other, and it is one of the prettiest experiments in which one can take part to hear these blows, now slight and muffled, now sharp and abrupt, or again soft and gentle, sounding simultaneously upon the table, the floor, and the frame-work and coverings of the furniture. i had the good fortune to be able to study these curious rappings at close range, and i believe i have reached certain conclusions. the first, and the best attested, is that the raps are closely connected with the muscular movements of the sitters. i will sum up my observations on this point as follows: 1. every muscular movement, even a feeble one, is generally followed by a rap. 2. the intensity of the raps did not seem to me to be proportional to the muscular movement made. 3. the intensity of the raps did not seem to me to vary in proportion to their distance from the medium. the following are the facts upon which my conclusions rest: i frequently observed that when we had raps that were feeble and occurred only at intervals, an excellent means of producing them was to form the chain upon the table, the hands resting upon it, and the observers putting their fingers in light contact. one of them, without breaking the chain (a feat he accomplished by holding in the same hand the right hand of his neighbor on the left and the left hand of his neighbor on the right) moved his released hand in circular sweeps or passes over the table, at the level of the circle formed by the opened hands of the observers. after having made this movement four or five times, always in the same direction,--that is to say, after having thus traced four or five circles over the table, the experimenter brought his hand over toward the centre at a variable height and moved it down towards the table. then he abruptly arrested this movement at a distance of seven or eight inches from the top. the abrupt stoppage of his hand was tallied by a rap in the wood. it is an exceptional case when this process does not yield taps,--that is to say, when there is a medium in the circle capable, even feebly, of producing them. the same experiment can be made without touching the table, but forming around it a kind of closed chain. one of the operators then acts as in the preceding case. i have no need to recall to the minds of my readers that with certain mediums, raps are produced without any movement being made. almost all mediums can obtain them in this way by keeping perfectly quiet and having patience. but one would say that the execution of the movement acts as a determining cause. it seems as if the accumulated energy received a kind of stimulus. _levitations._--one day we improvised an experiment in the afternoon, and i remember that i observed a very interesting levitation made under these circumstances. it was about five o'clock in the evening (at any rate it was broad daylight), in the salon at l'agnélas. we took our places about the table, _standing_. eusapia took the hand of one of us and placed it on the corner of the table, at her right. the table thereupon rose up to the height of our foreheads; that is to say, the top of the table rose at least as high as five feet above the floor. such experiments were very convincing, for it was impossible for eusapia, the circumstances being such as they were, to lift the table by a normal act. it is enough to suppose that she merely touched the corner of the table, to find out how heavy a weight she would have had to lift if she had made a muscular movement. besides, she had not a sufficient grip on the table to lift it. evidently, the conditions of the experiment being such, she could not make use of one of the fraudulent processes mentioned by her critics, such as straps or hooks of any kind. the phenomenon is undeniably authentic. the breathing seems to have a very great influence. in the way things take place, it seems as if the sitters released, by breathing, an amount of motor energy comparable to that which they release when rapidly moving their limbs. there is something in this very curious and difficult to explain. the more complete analysis of the facts allows us to think that the liberation of the energy employed depends upon the contraction of the muscles and not upon the movement made. the thing which reveals this peculiarity is easy to observe. when we are forming the chain about the table, we can set up a movement without contact by mutually pressing our hands together with a certain force, or by pressing the feet hard upon the floor. the first of these means is much the better of the two. the arms have only made an insignificant movement, and one can say that the muscular contraction is almost the only physiological phenomenon observable. yet it suffices. all these authenticated experiments tend to show that the agent which determines movements without contact has some connection with our organism, and probably with our nervous system. _conditions of the experiments._--we must never lose out of our sight the relative importance of the moral and intellectual status of the group of experimenters. that is one of the most difficult things to seize and comprehend. but when the force is abundant, the simple manifestation of the will is sometimes able to determine the movement. for example, upon a desire to that affect being expressed by the sitters, the table moves in the way it is requested to do. the phenomena occur as if this force were guided by an intelligence distinct from that of the experimenters. i hasten to say that i regard that only as a probability, and that i think i have observed a certain resemblance between these personifications and the secondary personalities of somnambulists. in this apparent bond between the _indirect_ will of the sitters and the phenomena there is a problem the solution of which has so far completely escaped me. i suspect that this bond has nothing supernatural about it and i realize that the spiritualistic hypothesis is a poorer explanation and inadequate to meet the facts; but i cannot formulate any satisfactory explanation. close observations of the relations existing between the phenomena and the will of the sitters brings out other discoveries also. i mean, in the first place, the bad affect which disagreement among the experimenters produces. it sometimes happens that one of them expresses the desire to perceive a certain phenomenon. if the thing is slow in taking place, the same experimenter, or another one, will ask for a different spectacle. sometimes different sitters will ask for several contradictory things at the same time. the confusion which reigns in the collective thought manifests itself in the phenomena, which themselves become confused and vague.[71] however, things do not happen absolutely as if the phenomena were directed by a will which is only the shadow or the reflex of that of the sitters. it sometimes happens that they show great independence, and flatly refuse to yield to the desires expressed. _forms and phantoms._--at bordeaux, in 1897, the room where we held our sittings was lighted by a very large window. the outside venetian blinds of this window were closed; but when the gas was lighted in a little building which formed an adjunct to the kitchen, in the corner of the court near the garden, a feeble light penetrated the room and dimly illuminated the window panes. the window itself formed in this way a bright background upon which certain dark forms were perceived by a part of the experimenters. we all saw these forms, or rather this form, for it was always the same one that appeared,--a long bearded profile, with a very high arched nose. this apparition said it was head of john, a personification who always appears with eusapia.[72] this is a very extraordinary phenomenon. the first idea which presents itself to the mind is that this is a case of collective hallucination. but the care with which we observed this curious phenomenon--and, it seems needless for me to add, the calmness with which we experimented--renders this hypothesis very unlikely. the supposition of fraud is still less admissible. the head, which we saw was of life size, measuring say sixteen inches from the forehead to the end of the beard. it is impossible to understand how eusapia could have hidden in her pockets or under her clothes any kind of a cardboard profile. nor can one understand any better how, unknown to us, she could have taken out this paper figure, mounted it upon a stick, or upon a wire, and so operated with it. eusapia had not gone into a trance: she herself sometimes saw the profile which appeared, and, thoroughly awake and conscious, took pleasure in assisting in the phenomena which she was producing. the feeble light which the illumined window shed was sufficient to enable us to see her hands being carefully held by the controllers on the right and on the left. it would have been impossible for her to manipulate these objects. in fact, however, the profile observed seemed to form at the top of the cabinet, at the height of about three and a half feet above eusapia's head. it descended rather slowly and so took its place above and in front of her. then at the end of some seconds it disappeared, only to reappear some time afterwards in the same circumstances. every time, we carefully assured ourselves of the relative immobility of the hand and arms of the medium. hence i regard the prodigy which i am relating as one of the most certain i ever verified, so incompatible was the hypothesis of fraud with the conditions under which we observed. i am persuaded that these facts will one day (soon perhaps) receive the stamp of scientific approval as subjects of study. they will do this in spite of the obstacles which obstinate infatuation and the fear of ridicule pile in the way. the intolerance of certain beings matches that of certain dogmas. catholicism, for example, considers psychic phenomena as the work of the devil. is it worth while at the present time to combat such a theory? i do not think it is. but this question is foreign to the psychic facts themselves. so far as my experience permits me to judge, these phenomena are entirely natural. the devil does not show his claws in them. if the tables should announce that they were satan himself, there would be nothing on the face of things which would lead us to believe they were speaking the truth. if called on to prove his power, this grandiloquent satan would turn out, i fear, to be a sorry thaumaturgist. the religious prejudice which proscribes these experiments as supernatural is as little justified as the scientific prejudice which only sees in them fraud and imposture. here again the old adage of aristotle finds its application: equity lies between the two extremes of opinion. it is evident that these experiments of dr. maxwell are in accord with all the preceding ones. the results ascertained mutually confirm each other. apropos of mediums who produce physical or material effects, i should also like to mention here the one who was very specially examined at paris, in 1902, by a group of men composed in large part of former pupils of the polytechnic school. they held a dozen séances in july and august. this group was composed of mm. a. de rochas, taton, lemerle, baclé, de fontenay, and dariex. the medium was auguste politi, of rome. he was forty-seven years old. several very remarkable table-levitations were observed and photographed by these gentlemen during their sittings. i reproduce here (pl. xiii) one of these photographs, taken by m. de fontenay which he kindly allows me to use. it is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful that has been obtained, and one of the most striking. all the hands that form the chain are carefully held away from the table. it seems to me that not to recognize the value of this photograph as a record would be to deny the evidence itself. it was taken instantaneously by a flash of magnesium light. the eyes of the medium had been bandaged, that the light might not give him a nervous shock. this same medium was studied at rome, in february, 1904, by a group composed of professor milési, of the university of rome, m. joseph squanquarillo, mr. and mrs. franklin simmons (american travellers passing through rome), and m. and mme. cartoni. [illustration: plate xiii. instantaneous photograph taken by m. de fontenay of table levitation produced by the medium auguste politi.] they declare that they heard scales very well executed upon the piano (which was an upright one), at quite a distance from the sitters; yet none of the sitters knew how to play on the piano, while professor milési's deceased sister, who was called upon to manifest herself, was a very good pianist. another musical phenomenon was produced: a mandolin placed on the lid of the piano, began of its own accord to play, balancing itself in the air until it went and fell down (playing all the while) between the hands of the experimenters who formed the chain. later, at intervals, the piano was lifted in its turn, falling back noisily. it must be remarked that two men scarcely sufficed to lift this piano, even by one of its sides. after the sitting, it was ascertained that the instrument had been displaced about a foot and a half. but here follows a résumé of the phenomena observed with this medium. in every séance, very vigorous raps were obtained in the table around which were grouped the experimenters and the medium (they together forming the chain), while the lamp with red light was on the table itself. "if we wished to produce raps so sharp and strong (says m. c. caccia, the reporter of these séances), we had to rap with all our might on the table with some solid object, while the kind of raps which were produced in the séances with politi seemed to issue from the interior of the table with loud sounds like explosions." but now the table begins to be shaken. the white curtain of the cabinet which was behind the medium, at a distance of twenty inches, swelled out and floated in every direction, as if a violent wind had inflated it from the other side. we heard a chair moving with a gliding motion over the floor. it had been placed there before the beginning of the sitting and was now thrown violently over. during the course of the fifth sitting it came clear out of the cabinet, in the presence of everybody, and did not stop until it got near the medium. these phenomena took place by the red light of a photographic lamp. in the complete darkness which attended the third séance an extraordinary thing occurred,--so much the more extraordinary because we had taken special measures to forestall any attempt at fraud. the medium was held by two sitters who, being very sceptical, had taken their places on his right and on his left, and were holding his hands and his feet. at a certain moment the medium ordered the operators to lift their hands from the table and not to hinder its movements; above all, not to break the chain. whereupon a great uproar was heard in the cabinet. the medium calls for light, and, to the great amazement of all of us, we discover that the table, which was rectangular in form and did not weigh less than thirty-nine pounds, was found turned upside down upon the floor of the cabinet. the controllers declared that the medium had not stirred. it is to be remarked: 1. that the table must have been lifted high enough to pass over the heads of the sitters. 2. that it must have passed above the group forming the chain. 3. that as the opening in the curtains of the cabinet only measured thirty-seven inches across, and the table, on its shortest side, thirty inches, there only remained free seven inches for passing through this opening. 4. that the table must have come forward endwise, then moved around lengthwise (it was three feet long), and turned upside down, resting on the floor; that the whole of this difficult manoeuvre was executed in a few seconds in complete darkness and without any of the sitters having touched the table in the slightest degree.[73] luminous phenomena were also obtained. lights appeared and disappeared in the air. some of them gave the outline of a curve. they did not show any radiation. in the fifth séance, everybody was able to testify to the appearance of two luminous crosses, about four inches in height. at the last séance, the tambourine fringed with bells, which had been rubbed with phosphorous, went circling around the whole room, and in such a way that all its movements could be followed. during almost all the sittings, mysterious touchings were noticed,--among others, those produced by an enormous hairy hand! in the first, fourth and fifth séances there were "materializations." prof. italo palmarini believed that he recognized his daughter, who had been dead three years. he felt himself embraced; everybody heard the sound of a kiss. the same manifestation took place in the fifth séance. professor palmarini believed that he still recognized the person of his daughter. at the opening of each séance the medium was searched, and was then placed _in a kind of big sack_, made to order for this purpose, _and fastened at the neck, the wrists, and the feet_. another medium, the russian sambor, was the object of numerous experiments at st. petersburg during a period of six years. (1897-1902.) it will be interesting also to give a summing up in this place of the report about this man published by m. petrovo solovovo.[74] in the first séances a large folding screen placed behind the medium was observed to be vigorously shaken. the medium's feet and hands were carefully held. a table in a neighboring chamber moved of its own accord. in a metal cone placed on the table, enclosing a bit of paper and a lead-pencil, and then riveted up, there was found, when it was unriveted, a ribbon, and a phrase written on the paper in script that had to be read in a looking-glass (_écriture en miroir_). other cases of the passage of matter through matter were tried, none of which succeeded. but further on the reports relate the following experiments: in the month of february, 1901, one of sambor's séances took place at my house, in my study, against the windows of which i had hung curtains of black calico in such a way that the room was plunged in the deepest darkness. the medium occupied a place in the chain. next to the medium were m. j. lomatzsch, on his right, myself on his left. sambor's hands and feet were faithfully held the whole time in a way that gave perfect satisfaction. the phenomena soon began to develop. i do not intend to take the time here to describe them, but i wish to mention a remarkable case of the passage of matter through matter. m. lomatzsch, controller on the right, declares that someone is pulling his chair from under him. so, redoubling our attention, we continue to hold the medium. m. lomatzsch's chair is soon positively lifted up, so that he is obliged to stand. sometime after, he declares that someone is trying to hang the chair on the hand with which he is holding sambor. then the chair suddenly disappears from the arm of m. lomatzsch, and at the same moment i feel a light pressure upon my left arm (i do not mean the one which was in contact with the medium, but with my neighbor on the left m. a. weber); after which i feel that something heavy is hanging from my arm. when the candle was lighted, we all saw that _my left arm had been passed through the back of the chair_. in this way the chair was nicely balanced upon that one of my arms which was not in contact with sambor, but with my neighbor on the left. i had not let go of the hands of my neighbors. such an observation as this needs no commentary (says the reporter of this occurrence, m. petrovo solovovo). the fact is simply incomprehensible. i give here some other phenomena which were observed in may, 1902: 1. a cedar apple, an old copper coin which was found to be a persian coin of 1723, and an amateur photographic portrait of a young woman in mourning unknown to anybody present were found (coming from nobody knew where, nor in what way), upon the table about which we were seated. 2. several different objects in the room were transported to the table by the mysterious force; such, for example, as a thermometer, which had been hung on the wall behind the piano at a distance of from one-half to seven feet from the medium; a large lantern placed upon the piano somewhere between two and four feet behind the medium; several piles of music-books which had rested on the same piano; a framed portrait; and, finally, the candlesconce, the candle, and the different parts of a candlestick belonging to the piano. 3. several times a bronze bell placed on the table was lifted into the air by the mysterious force and noisily rung. on the request of the sitters it was once carried over to the piano (against which it struck a sounding blow), and from there again over to the table. 4. unoccupied chairs had been placed behind the medium. one of them was several times lifted and placed noisily on the table in the midst of the sitters, and without having run against any of them. when upon the table, this chair several times moved about, fell over, and picked itself up. 5. one of these same chairs was found to be hung by the back upon the joined hands of the medium and m. de poggenpohl. before the beginning of that part of the séance which witnessed this phenomenon, a strip of cloth, slipped over the sleeves of the medium, had been several times tightly twisted around the wrists of m. de poggenpohl. 6. at the request of the sitters, the mysterious force several times stopped the playing of the music-box (it stood on the table around which we were seated), after which it began to play again. 7. a sheet of paper and a lead pencil, placed on the table, were thrown on the floor, and everybody distinctly heard the pencil moving over the paper with a heavy pressure and, with a sharp tap, putting a period at the end of what had been written. after this the pencil was laid on the table. 8. five of the experimenters declared that they had been touched by some mysterious hand. 9. twice the mysterious force drew sounds from the piano. the first time, this took place when the lid of the piano was open. the second time, the sounds were heard after the lid had been _locked with a key_, the key remaining on the table in the midst of the circle of experimenters. at first the unknown force began to play a melody on the high notes, and two or three times produced trills. then chords on the bass notes were heard at the same time with the melody, and, when the piano was playing, the music-box also began to play, both performances lasting several minutes. 10. during all the phenomena which have just been described, the medium (sambor), seemed sunk in a profound trance, and remained almost motionless. the phenomena were not accompanied by any bustle or confusion. his hands and his feet were all the time controlled by his neighbors. m. de poggenpohl and loris-melikow several times saw something long, black, and slender detaching itself from him during the phenomena and moving toward the objects. i will add, in closing (says m. petrovo solovovo), that this medium was accused of cupidity and intemperance. these séances were the last he gave (he died a few months afterward). but, to tell the truth, i have a tender spot in my heart for the late m. sambor. this little-russian, a former telegraph operator, polished and humanized by the six or seven winters that he had passed in st. petersburg--can it be that blind nature had chosen this man to be the intermediary between our world and the doubtful beyond?--or, at least, another world of beings whose precise nature (begging the pardon of the spirits) would be an enigma to me, provided i positively believed in them. it is with that word "doubt" (alas! is not _doubt_ the most _certain_ result of mediumistic experiments?) that i end this report. to this whole series of varied observations and experiments we could still add many more. in 1905 mm. charles richet and gabriel delanne held some famous séances in algiers. but is not impossible that fraud may have crept into their experiments, in spite of all the precautions taken by them. (the photographs of the phantom bien-boa have an artificial look.) in 1906, the american medium, miller, gave in paris several séances in which it really seems as if true apparitions were manifested. i cannot say anything personally about it, not having been present. among other experimenters, there were two very competent ones, who studied this medium; namely, mm. g. delanne and g. méry. the first concludes that the apparitions were what they represented themselves to be (see _revue scientifique et morale du spiritisme_); that is to say, the spirits of the departed. the second, on the other hand, declares in _l'echo du merveilleux_, that, "until there is fuller information, we must be satisfied with not comprehending." it is not within the scope of my plan to discuss in this particular place, "apparitions" or "materializations." we may ask ourselves whether the fluid which certainly emanates from the medium may not produce a kind of condensation able to furnish to the most interested observer of the manifestation the elusive vision of an unreal personality which, besides, only lasts, as a general thing, for a few seconds. is it a melange or combination of fluids? but it is not yet time to make hypotheses. chapter xi my general inquiry respecting observations of unexplained phenomena a certain number of my readers perhaps remember the general inquiry that i instituted in the course of the year 1899 respecting observation of the unexplained phenomena of telepathy, manifestations of the dying, premonitory dreams, etc.--an inquiry published in part in my work _l'inconnu et les problémes psychiques_. i received 4280 replies composed of 2456 _no_ and 1824 _yes_. among the latter there are 1758 letters with more or less of detail. a large number of these were not presented in such a shape that their claims could be discussed. but i was able to use 786 of the most important of them. they were classified, the essential matters transcribed, and summed up in the work of which i have just spoken. the most striking thing in all these accounts is the loyalty, conscientiousness, the frankness, and the sensitive refinement of the narrators, who are anxiously concerned to say only what they know, and as they know it, without adding or subtracting anything. in doing this, each becomes the servant of truth. these 786 letters, transcribed, classified, and numbered, contained 1130 different facts or observations. my examination of the instances recorded in the letters reveals several kinds of subjects which may be classified as follows: manifestations and apparitions of the dying. manifestations of the living (in health). manifestations and apparitions of the dead. clairvoyance. premonitory dreams. forecast of the future. dreams that give information of the dead. meetings foreseen by presentiment. presentiments realized. doubles of the living. communications of thought at a distance (telepathy). instinctive presentiments of animals. calls heard at great distances. movements of objects without apparent cause. bolted doors opening of themselves. haunted houses. spiritualistic experiments. since my first publication of these documents, i have received many new ones. more than one thousand are to-day crowded into my manuscript library. they contain about fifteen hundred observations which seem to me to be sincere and authentic. the doubtful ones have been eliminated. these narratives emanate as a general thing from persons who are filled with astonishment and are extremely desirous of receiving, if possible, an explanation of these strange events (often very affecting). all the narratives which i have been able to verify have been found to be fundamentally accurate--sometimes modified afterwards, as respects their mere form, by a memory more or less confused. in _l'inconnu_, i published a portion of these narratives. but i excluded from that work[75] phenomena not properly included within the limits of its main plan, which was to show the existence of unknown faculties of the soul. i excluded, i say, "movements of objects without apparent cause," "bolted doors opening of themselves," "haunted houses," "spiritualistic experiments;" that is to say, the very cases studied in the present work, in which i hoped to be able to publish them. but space fails me. in my desire to offer to my readers a set of records as complete as possible, for the purpose of giving them a firmly based opinion, i have been swamped by the abundance of material, and, can only rescue a few of the most interesting specimens of them for presentation here. first of all, i select the following communication as having a certain intrinsic value. it was sent me by my regretted friend victorin joncières, the well-known composer of music. i was on a tour of inspection of the music-schools of the provinces (he says), and happened to be in a city which i cannot name to you for the reasons which i gave. i was coming out of the branch establishment of our conservatory, after having examined the piano-class there, when i was addressed by a lady who asked me what i thought of her daughter, and whether i judged that she ought to enter upon an artistic career. after a rather long conversation, in the course of which i promised to go to hear the young artist, i found myself engaged to go the same evening (for i was leaving the next day) to the house of one of their friends, a high official in the state service, to take part in a spiritualistic séance. the master of the house received me with extreme cordialty, recalling the promise i had given him to keep secret his name and that of the city in which he lived. he presented his niece, _the medium_, to whom he attributes the phenomena which take place in his house. it was, in fact, after the young girl's mother had died, and she came to live with him, that the strange occurrences began to take place. they began with unusual noises in the walls, and in the floors, with the displacement of articles of furniture that moved without being touched, and with the warblings of birds. m. n. at first believed that it was a piece of foolery planned either by one of his own family or by one of his clerks. however, in spite of the most vigilant watching, he could not discover any trickery, and he finally came to the conclusion that the phenomena were produced, by invisible agents, with whom he believed he could communicate. he soon obtained raps, direct writing, the mysterious appearance of flowers, etc. after this account, he led me into a large room with bare walls, in which several persons had assembled, among whom were his wife and a professor of natural philosophy at the lyceum--altogether, a dozen of experimenters. in the middle of the room there was a big oak table, upon which were placed paper, a pencil, a small harmonica, a bell, and a lighted lamp. "the spirit announced to me a little while ago that he would come at ten o'clock," said the gentleman to me. "we have a good hour before us. i am going to utilize it by reading to you the minutes of our meetings for a year past." he laid on the table his watch, which showed five minutes to nine, and covered it with a handkerchief. for a whole hour he applied himself to reading what seemed to be very improbable stories; but i was longing to see some of the wonders. suddenly a loud cracking sound was heard in the table. m. n. lifted the handkerchief which covered the watch. it was just ten o'clock. "art thou there, spirit?" said he. nobody was touching the table; and on his recommendation, we formed the chain about it, holding each other by the hand. a vigorous rap was heard. the young niece placed her two fingers against the edge of the table and asked us to imitate her. thereupon this extremely heavy table rose up well _above our heads_, in such a way that we were obliged to stand on tip-toe in order to follow it in its ascent. it hung poised for some moments in the air and then slowly descended to the floor and came to a stop without noise. then m. n. went to look up a large design for a church window. he put it on the table and placed beside it a glass of water, a box of colors, and a camel's hair brush. then he put the lamp out. he lighted it again at the end of two or three minutes: the sketch (still damp) was painted in two colors, yellow and blue, and not a single brush mark had passed beyond the traced lines of the sketch. even if we admit that some one of the sitters might have been able to play the rôle of spirit, how, in the darkness of the room, could he have so handled the brush as to precisely follow the lines of the design? i will add that the door was closely shut, and, that, during the very short space of time in which the performance took place, i heard nothing but the sound of the water splashing in the glass. raps were next struck in the table, corresponding to the letters of the alphabet. the spirit announced that he was going to produce a special phenomenon in order to convince me personally. by his order the light was again extinguished. the harmonica then played a little sprightly _motif_, in six-eight. scarcely had the last note sounded when m. x. lighted the lamp. upon a sheet of music-paper which had been placed near the harmonica, the theme was written very correctly in pencil. it would have been impossible for any one of the company, in the complete darkness of the room, to write down these notes upon the ruled staff-lines. thirteen freshly cut daisies lay scattered over the table. "hello!" says m. x. "these are daisies from the flower-pot at the end of the passageway." as i said a moment ago, the door of the room where we were met had remained closed, and no one had stirred. we went into the passageway, and, on noticing the stems denuded of their flowers, we could see very plainly that the daisies came from the place indicated. scarcely had we entered the room, when the bell on the table rose up to the very ceiling, ringing as it went, but fell abruptly back as soon as it touched it. * * * * * on the next day, before my departure, i went to pay a visit to m. x. he received me in his dining-hall. through the large open window a beautiful june sun flooded the room with its brilliant light. while we were conversing in a desultory way, a piece of military music rang out in the distance. "if there is a spirit here," said i, smiling, "it ought by rights to accompany the music." at once rhythmic taps, in exact harmony with the double quick time, were heard in the table. the crackle of sounds in it died away little by little in a decrescendo very skilfully timed to the last vanishing blare of the bugles. "give us a fine tattoo to finish," said i, when the sounds had completely ceased. the reply was a series of sounds like the heavy roll of drums, given with such force that the table trembled on its legs. i put my hand on it and very plainly felt the vibrations of the wood as it was struck by the invisible force. i asked if i might inspect the table. it was turned upside down in my presence, and i examined it, as well as the floor, very carefully. i discovered nothing. besides, m. x. could not, you know, foresee, that, during my visit, a military band would pass by, and that i should ask the table to accompany it by imitating the drum. i afterwards returned to the city where these things occurred and was present at other very curious séances. i should be enchanted, my dear master and friend, as i have said to you, to be your guide there some day. but this "high functionary" absolutely insists on his incognito. these remarkable observations by my friend joncières evidently have their value, and belong here, in the train of all the preceding ones. i give a few others below which we owe to an attentive and sceptical observer, m. castex-dégrange, sub-director of the national school of fine arts at lyons, upon whose veracity and sincerity not the least shadow of suspicion can rest, any more than in the preceding instances. i owe to his kindness a large number of interesting letters, and i will ask his permission to cite from them the most important passages. the following is dated the 18th of april, 1899. for the second time, i affirm upon my honor that i will tell you nothing that is not strictly true, and usually easy to verify. in spite of the calling i follow, i am not at all gifted with imagination. i have lived much in the company of physicians, men from the nature of their profession little given to credulity; and, whether it is in consequence of my natural disposition, or by reason of the principles which i absorbed in this kind of company, i have always been very sceptical. this is, indeed, one of the reasons why i abandoned my psychical experiments. i reached the most stupifying results, and yet it was impossible for me to get to believe myself. i was thoroughly convinced that i was not seeking to deceive myself or to deceive others, and, not being able to surrender myself to the evidence, i was always seeking some other reason than the one given by the believers. that made me suffer, and i stopped. i here end this preamble, and am going to unfold to you the course of my observations. * * * * * i was acquainted with a company of people, who were occupied with spiritualism and with turning-tables, and had made them the butt of my wit,[76] a little; for, although not bitter or severe, i never neglected to play a good practical joke on them when occasion served. it seemed to me that these worthy people, who were, moreover, very sincere, were all a little "cracked" (_maboules_), if i may be allowed so uncouth, or _fin de siècle_, an expression. one day i was visiting them. the drawing-room was lighted by two large windows. i began, as usual, by some pleasantries. their reply was in the shape of an invitation to me to take part in the experiments. "but," said i, "if i take a seat at your table it will not turn any more, because i shall not push it." "come all the same." well, i declare upon my honor that, just for a joke, i tried it. i had scarcely put my hands on the table when it made a rush at me. i said to the person facing me, "don't push so hard." "but, dear sir, i was not pushing." i put the centre-table back in its place, but the same thing occurred again, once, twice, thrice. i began to get impatient and said, "what you are doing is not very clever. if you want to convince me, don't push." he replied to me, "nobody is pushing, only you probably have so much fluid in you that the table is attracted toward you. _perhaps you could make it go, by yourself._" "oh, if i myself could make it go, that would be different!" "try it." they all moved back. i remained alone face to face with the table. i took hold of it, lifted it, thoroughly examined it. there was no trick about it. i made every body go behind me. i was facing the windows, and had my eyes open, i assure you. i stretched my arms out as far as possible, in order to have a good view, only placing the ends of my fingers on the table. in a little less than two minutes it began to rock to and fro. i confess that i felt a little foolish, not wishing to surrender- "yes, perhaps it moves," said i. "it is possible that an unknown fluid is acting upon it; at any rate, it does not come toward me, and just now some one was pushing it." "no," said one of the sitters, "nobody was pushing it; but, although you are highly charged with fluid, the assistance of another person is needed for the production of the phenomenon: you are not enough by yourself. will you allow one of us to put a hand _upon_ yours, without touching the table?" "yes." someone put a hand on mine and _i watched_. the table at once began to move, and came and pressed against me. they all cried out, and claimed that they had caught a medium in me. i was not very much flattered with the title, which i considered as synonymous with "lunatic." "you ought to try to write," said some one to me. "what do you mean by that?" "why, see here. you take paper and pen, let your arm lie passive, and have the wish in your mind that _some unknown person or force_ shall cause you to write." i tried it. at the end of five minutes, my arm felt as if it were wrapped in a woolen blanket. then, in spite of myself, my hand began to trace at first mere strokes, then _o's_, _a's_, letters of all sorts, as a schoolboy learning to write would do. then, all of a sudden, came the notorious word attributed to cambronne at waterloo! i assure you, my dear sir, that i am never in the habit of using this coarse and dirty term, and that there was no auto-suggestion, or unconscious act of my own, in the case. i was absolutely _stupefied_ by the occurrence. i continued these experiments at my own home. 1. one day, when i was seated at my writing-desk, i felt the weird seizure in my arm. i let my arm remain passive. the unknown wrote: "your friend aroud is coming to see you. he is at this moment in such and such an omnibus-office in the suburbs. he is asking the price of tickets and the hour of departure." (this m. aroud is chief of the bureau of police, prefecture of the rhone.) in fact, a half-hour afterwards, aroud made his appearance. i told him what had taken place. "it is a good thing for you that you are living in the nineteenth century," said he to me. "a few hundred years ago you would not have escaped death at the stake." 2. on another occasion the phenomenon occurred again, and this time also i was at my writing desk: "your friend dolard is coming to see you." an hour afterward, sure enough he came. i told him how it happened that i was waiting for him. although he was very incredulous by nature, yet, for all that, this fact set him to thinking. the next day saw his re-appearance. "can you get a reply to a question i am going to ask you?" said he. "don't ask," i replied, "think it. we will try." i must here tell you parenthetically that i had known of dolard for thirty years. he was my comrade at the beaux-arts. i knew that he had lost an elder brother, that he had been married, and had had the misfortune to lose, one by one, all the members of his family. that was all i knew about them. i took the pen and the invisible wrote, "the sufferings of your sister sophia have just ended." now dolard had mentally asked what had become of the spirit of a sister named sophia, whom he had lost forty-two years ago, and about whom i had never heard a word spoken. 3. my principal at the school of fine arts in lyons, a former architect of the city of paris, was m. hédin. this m. hédin had an only daughter, who some years ago had married another architect, m. forget, in paris. the woman became enceinte. one day when i was thinking of anything but her, the same thing occurred as before. the invisible wrote: "_mme. forget is going to die._" mme. forget was not at all ill, apart from her being in a delicate situation. the next day morning, m. hédin said to me that his daughter was in her pains; and the same evening he told me that his wife had just set out for paris to be with her. the next day i received instructions to assume his duties. mme. hédin had telegraphed to her husband to come to her. her daughter was taken with puerperal fever. when the father got there he found only a corpse. 4. i had a cousin named poncet (since dead) who was formerly an apothecary, at beaune (côte-d' or). i had never been at his apartments. one day he came to lyons to see our aunt (she who had the vision about which i spoke to you). we conversed about these extraordinary psychical occurrences. he was incredulous. "well then," said he, "try to find for me a thing which has no particular market value, but which i laid great store by, because it belonged to my deceased wife. i had a little packet of laces that she was very fond of, and i can't put my hand on it." the unknown wrote, "_it is in the middle drawer of the secretary in the chamber, behind a package of visiting cards_." my cousin wrote to his servant at beaune, _without giving her any hint of our experiment_, "send by post a little packet which you will find in [such a place] behind a package of visiting cards." the laces arrived by return mail. you will notice, my dear sir, that, during the experiments, i was by no means asleep or in a state of trance, and that i was conversing in my usual manner. 5. one of my childhood friends, m. laloge, at the present time a dealer in coffees and chocolates at saint-etienne (loire), had had as his professor, as well as i, an excellent man whom we most highly esteemed, and who was named thollon.[77] m. thollon, after having directed the education of the children of the prince of oldenburg, uncle of the present emperor of russia, had returned to france and entered the nice observatory. we had the misfortune to lose him shortly after. laloge had a photograph of him but had lost it. he came and begged me to try to find it. the unknown wrote, "_the photograph is in the upper drawer of the secretary in the chamber_." laloge had two rooms,--one which he called the "salon," and another called the "chamber." "there is some mistake," said he. "i have turned everything topsy-turvy in the place you mention and have found nothing." in the evening having to search for some object in the drawer, he saw in the middle of a package of letter-paper a little dark end of something sticking out. he pulled it forth: it was the photograph. 6. camille bellon, no. 50 avenue de noailles, at lyons, had three young children whose education he had intrusted to a young governess. this person left when the children entered college, and, sometime after, she married a very fine man, whose name i have unfortunately forgotten, but which i can easily find again if there is any need of it. this young woman came on her wedding trip to visit her old employer. i was invited to go and pass a day with them at the château of my friend bellon. during the course of this visit, we talked of spiritualistic phenomena; and the newly married man, a highly educated veterinary doctor, joked me about my so-called mediumship. i, of course, laughed about it and we parted the best kind of friends. some days afterward, i received a letter from my friend. he had himself received a letter from the young lady, who was in a great state of mind. she had lost her wedding ring, and was in despair. she begged my friend to ask me to recover it for her. the mysterious force wrote, "_the ring slipped from her finger while she was asleep. it is on one of the cleats which hold up the mattress of the bed_." i transmitted the _despatch_. the husband put his hands between the wood of the bed and the mattress. the wife did the same thing. nothing was found. some days afterwards, having decided to change the arrangement of their apartments, they moved their bed into another room. of course they had to lift up the mattress, in order to get it into the other chamber. the ring was upon one of the cleats. they had not found it when they were hunting for it, because it had slipped _under_ the mattress, which did not adhere to the cleat in that particular place. 7. one of my friends, named boucaut, who lived at 15 quai de la guillotière at lyons, had lost a letter which he sadly wanted. he begged me to ask where it was. the invisible replied in writing, "_he must remember that he has an oven in his garden_." before showing it to him, i began to laugh, saying that it was a joke and had nothing to do with his request. as he insisted that it did, i read it to him. "why yes," he said to me, "that agrees very well. my tenant-farmer had just had his bread baked. i had heaps of papers which i wanted to get rid of, to burn up. my letter must have been burned in the pile which i reduced to ashes." 8. one evening, in an assembly composed of a score of persons, a lady dressed in black greeted my entrance with a little nervous laugh. after the customary introductions, this lady spoke to me as follows: "sir, would it be possible to ask your spirits to reply to a question i am going to ask you?" "in the first place, madam, i have no spirits at my disposal; but i should be a lack-wit indeed if i said yes. you, of course, don't suppose that i am unintelligent enough not to find some kind of an answer; and, consequently, if any 'spirits,' as you so kindly call them should happen to respond, you would not be convinced, and you would be right. write your request. put it in an envelope there on the table and we will try. you see that i am not in a somnambulistic state, and you must believe that it is wholly impossible for me to know the contents of what you are going to enclose in it." so said, so done. at the end of five minutes i assure you i was very much embarrassed. i had written a reply, but it was such that i did not dare to communicate it. but here it is: "you are in a very bad way, and, if you persist, you will be severely punished. marriage is something sacred, it should never be regarded as a question of money." after some oratorical precautions, i decided to read her this reply. the lady blushed up to the roots of her hair and stretched out her hands to seize her envelope. "pardon me, madam," i replied, putting my hand upon it. "you began by making fun of me. you wished a reply. it is only just, since we are making an experiment, that we know what the request was." i tore open the envelope. behold its contents: "will the marriage take place that i am trying to bring about between m. x. and mlle. z? and, in that case, shall i get what i have been promised?" notwithstanding this shameful exposure, the woman did not consider that she was beaten. she asked a second question under the same conditions. reply: "leave me alone! when i was living you abandoned me. now don't bother me." upon this, the lady got up and disappeared! i told you she was in mourning. this last request of hers was as follows: "what has become of the soul of my father?" her father had been ill for six months. persons who were present and who were stupefied at the results, told me that during his illness she had not paid him a single visit. 9. one day, shortly after i had lost one of my good friends, i was seated at my writing-desk with my head resting on my hand, and i was thinking of what the hereafter might possibly be. if all the work that a man had done was to be irretrievably lost, and if the beyond existed, i was wondering what the life might be that one would lead there. all of a sudden, the phenomenon well known to me occurred (that weird seizure of the arm). of course, i allowed my arm to remain passive, and here is what i read: "you wish to know what our occupations are? we organize matter, we ameliorate the condition of the spirits, and, above all, we adore the creator of your souls and ours." arago. in _all_ the communications which i have obtained, every time a word representing an idea of the supreme being--such as god, the all-powerful, etc.--came under my pen, the writing doubled in size, but immediately after resumed the same dimensions as before.[78] it would be very easy for me to give you still more numerous examples of the strange things that happened to me, but those i have given seem to me quite remarkable. i shall be happy if this true account can give you any assistance in your important researches. the letter which my readers have just perused contains a series of cases of such great interest that i lost no time in entering into regular correspondence with the author. and first i thought i ought to ask him about the conclusions which he himself had been able to draw from his personal experience. the following is an abstract of his replies: may 1st, 1899. you ask me, my dear sir, the following questions: 1. whether i have reached absolute conviction as to the existence of one or of several _spirits_? i am a person of absolute good faith. i examined myself as a surgeon would examine an invalid. i am a person of such good faith that i have long been seeking (without finding him) a skilful practitioner who would consent to study in my own person the phenomenon while it was taking place; to ascertain the state of my pulse, the warmth of the skin, etc.,--in a word, the apparent physical side. furthermore, in my opinion there is no auto-suggestion in this thing; and the proof is that i was _absolutely ignorant_ of the things that i was writing _mechanically_,--so mechanically that, when, by chance, my attention was called away, whether by reading or by conversation, and i forgot to look where my hand was going, when it approached the edge of the paper the writing would continue backward across the sheet in _reversed letters and just as fast_, so that i was obliged to turn the paper over in order by holding it to the light to read what was written on it. so then, if there is neither auto-suggestion in it, nor a somnambulistic condition (i was completely awake and not at all hypnotized), then there must be external "forces" acting upon my senses, "intelligent forces." this is my fixed and unalterable opinion. now are these forces spirits? do they belong to beings like ourselves? it is evident that this hypothesis would explain many things, but leave quite a number obscure. since i several times discovered a mental state of the lowest kind among these "beings," i have reached a conclusion that it is not absolutely necessary to think that they are "men." we are told that there are stars which photography alone can reveal, and which, possessing a color imperceptible to our eye, are invisible to us. then there are the gases through which a human body passes without experiencing resistence. who will say then, that there are not around us invisible beings? and look at the instinct of the child, of the woman, of feeble beings in general. they fear darkness; isolation makes them afraid. this sentiment is instinctive, irrational. is it not due to an intuitive perception of the presence of these invisible personages, or forces, against which they are helpless? that is pure hypothesis on my part, but after all it seems to me defensible. as to the number of the invisible beings, i believe they are legion. 2. you ask me whether i have been able to establish their identity. i answer that they sign some name or other, choosing in preference names of illustrious persons, in whose mouths they sometimes put the most stupid sort of expressions. furthermore the writing frequently ceases abruptly, as if an electric current has just been interrupted, and that without any appreciable reason. then the writing changes, and sometimes sensible things end in absurdities, etc. how explain this tangle of contradictions? i was so chafed and fretted by these incoherent results that i had for a long time abandoned the study of psychic forces, when your alluring researches came to wake in me my old self. if the unconscious doubling of the personality of the individual (his externalization) can, in an extreme case, be sometimes admitted, it seems to me that there are cases in which this explanation becomes possible. but i will explain. if, as respects the facts which happened to me personally, and _the authenticity of which i affirm to you upon my honor_, there are some in which this externalization could have been possible, there are others in which it seems to me impossible. yes, strictly speaking, i might have been able, without suspecting it, to externalize myself, or, rather, unknown to myself, to be influenced by my friend dolard when, in my own presence, he mentally asked me what had become of the soul of a deceased sister of whose name and very existence i was ignorant; yes, the same thing may, strictly speaking, explain the responses i made to the lady who questioned me on the subject of a marriage and her father, although it would in that case be necessary to suppose that she dictated to me the words that i was writing; yes, my friend boucaud, who was hunting letters, might, at the moment when he was asking me about them, have thought of that oven, of the existence of which i was ignorant; yes, all of that is (in the last analysis) possible, although it would need a large amount of good will to admit it. yes, once more i say--and always with much good will--a table may be under the unconscious domination of a musician present and dictate a musical phrase. but, as it stands, it is difficult to admit the same phenomenon in the case of victor hugo, whose curious séances you have just described to the public. why, just look at this great poet who, when he is asked by the table to put one or more questions _in verse_, and, not feeling that he is man enough, in spite of his genius, to improvise something passable, asks for a breathing spell to prepare his questions, and brings them in next day!--and yet you would wish that, on this same next day, a part of himself should perform its functions, _unknown to himself_, and compose _illico_, without any preparation, verses at least as fine as those which he took an entire day to create!--verses of a pitiless logic and more profound than his own! yet let us admit even that. you see, dear sir, that i have all the good will possible, and that i have the most profound respect for the scientific method. but can you explain by externalization the case of finding a lost object when one is even ignorant of the way in which the apartment is arranged where it has been lost? or the ability to know, two days in advance, of the death of a person about whom one was not thinking at all? a possible coincidence, you will tell me, but at least very strange. and those inverted dictations? and those in which we are obliged to skip every other letter? * * * * * no, i believe that we need not give ourselves so much trouble and rack our brains, for it seems to me that it is like looking for mid-day at two o'clock in the afternoon. it would require the labor of all the devils to explain how this phenomenon can take place in our nature without the knowledge of the proprietor. i do not like to see a part of my personality scampering away, and then housing itself again without my knowing anything about it. as to what concerns the production of this externalization in a way which i may call voluntary--when a person who feels himself dying thinks intensely about those whom he loves and whose absence he deplores, yes, it may be that his will, even unknown to himself, suggesting the absent person produces the phenomena of telepathy; but, in the phenomena of which we are speaking, that explanation seems to me more than doubtful. i find much more simple the explanation that the phenomena are caused by the presence and the action of an independent being,--a spirit, phantasm, or elemental. in fine what are we all seeking? the proof of the survival of the ego, of _the individuality_ after death. _to be or not to be_--it is all in that. for i frankly confess to you if i am going to dissolve away again into the great all, i should just as soon be annihilated. that is perhaps a weakness; but it cannot be helped. i hold above everything else to my individuality; not that i set a great value on it, but the feeling is instinctive and i believe that at bottom everybody is of this opinion. this then is the goal or end, which at all epochs has powerfully interested man and interests him still to-day. one of the weightiest proofs of the survival of the individual being that i have ever met with is, in my opinion, the vision which my aunt had _several days_ after the death of a friend of hers who, in order to give her a proof of the reality of her apparition, inspired in her by mental suggestion the power of seeing her in the dress she had on in her coffin, _a costume which my aunt had never seen_. this is one of the fine and rare arguments in favor of the survival of the soul, so far as my experience goes. many things are explained by this survival,--above all, what is apparently the frightful injustice of this world. to these important observations of m. castex-dégrange, i should like to add those of a distinguished scientist, who has also for a long time now devoted himself to the analysis and synthesis of these phenomena. i mean m. goupil. some of his studies are yet in manuscript form, and i am indebted to this savant for permission to use them. others have been reprinted in a curious brochure (_pour et contre_, tours, 1893). but in citing such a large number of instances and experiments, i am abusing the kindness of my readers, even the most curious and the most eager for knowledge. however, i will at least point out the conclusions drawn by m. goupil from his personal experiences. they are to be found in the work of which i have just spoken, and are as follows: table-turning séances yield very insignificant results, regarded as pure science obtained from the spirits; but they are not lacking in interest from the point of view of the analysis of the facts and of the science to be established in accordance with the causes and the laws which govern these phenomena. i believe that i can draw the conclusion from these phenomena that two theories (the _reflex_ and the _spiritualistic_) may be drawn from the facts. it seems to me impossible to maintain that an intelligent agent other than that of the experimenters is not operative in them. what is this intelligence? i believe it is very hazardous to express a confident opinion on this point in view of the incongruity of all these communications. it is also undeniable that the intellects of the operators enter into the phenomena to a great extent, and that in many cases they alone seem to act. i should perhaps be sufficiently near the truth if i gave the following definition of the phenomenon: _functions external to the animistic principle of the operators, and above all of the medium, and governed by their intellects, but sometimes associated with an intellect unknown and relatively independent of man._ experimenters have maintained that communications obtained from the so-called spirits through mediums never show more intellectual capacity than is possessed by the most intelligent person among the sitters. this assertion is generally justified, but it is not absolute. i will mention, in connection with this point, some séances which took place at my house. the medium was mme. g., whose life i had been familiar with for twenty-seven years, day by day, and consequently had an intimate acquaintance with her character, her manners, temperament and education. the communications which were obtained through mediumistic writing in these séances extended over a period of more than fifteen months. mme. g. had the sense of a kind of _mental_, rather than auricular, psychical rather than physical, audition which dictated to her what she had to write in bits of sentences one after another; and this impression was accompanied by a strong desire to write, somewhat like the intense longing that a woman with child experiences. if this medium gave her attention to the sense of the writing during the composition, the current of power was shut off, and everything resumed the state of ordinary composition. her condition was that of a clerk writing unconcernedly and mechanically under the dictation of a superior. it resulted from this that the writings, executed at the maximum speed of the subject, and generally without retardation or stoppage after the questions, were in one long string, without punctuation or paragraphs, and full of mistakes in spelling, resulting from the fact that the medium was acquainted with the sense of the writing only when she had read it over, at least in the case of rather long communications. the gist or substance of the _writings_ seems very frequently to be drawn from our ideas, our conversation, our reading, or our thoughts; but there are certain plainly marked exceptions. while mme. g. was writing, i applied myself to other occupations,--calculations, music, etc., or i walked up and down in the room; but i only examined the replies when she had stopped writing. nothing indicated that the physical and physiological condition of the medium during these writings was in any way different from that of her ordinary condition. mme. g. could interrupt her writing at will and apply herself to other occupations or make responses about things unconnected with the séance, and it never happened that she found herself short of an answer. there is no parallelism between these writings and the mental endowments of mme. g., either in promptness of repartee, in breadth of view, or in philosophic depth. in 1890 i bought flammarion's _uranie_, which mme. g. did not read until 1891. i found in it doctrines absolutely similar to those which i had deduced from my experiments and from our communications. any one who should compare these mediumistic writings with the philosophical works of the french astronomer would be led to believe that mme. g. had previously read them. psychic phenomena have this peculiarity, that identical assertions are made in far distant places through mediums who have never known each other,--a fact which would tend to demonstrate that, running through many declarations which apparently contradict each other, there is a certain uniformity of action on the part of the intelligent occult power. in 1890 i also read the work of dr. antoine cros, _the problem_, in which i also found astonishing agreements between the ideas of this author and those of our unknown inspirer,--among others this: that man himself creates his paradises and becomes that to which he has aspired. we should always seek the simplest explanation of the facts, without desiring to find the occult in them, and above all without looking for spirits everywhere, but also without wishing, under any circumstances, to reject the intervention of unknown agents and deny the facts when they cannot be explained. it is rather curious to remark that if we compare the dictations given by the tables and the other so-called mediumistic phenomena with observations made in conditions of natural or hypnotic somnambulism, we find the same phases of incoherence, hesitation, error, lucidity and supernormal excitation of the faculties. on the other hand, the supernormal excitation of the faculties neither explains the cases of prediction nor the citation of unknown facts. in the case of many telepathic or other phenomena every explanation limps that excludes the intervention of external intelligences. but it is still impossible to formulate a theory. there exists a gap to be filled by new discoveries.[79] i will add to these conclusions two short extracts from a letter which m. goupil wrote me on the 13th of april, 1899, and from another one on the 1st of june, in the same year. 1. replying to the request which you address to your readers, i will say that i have never observed telepathic cases, but that i have for a long time been experimenting with the phenomena _called_ spiritualistic, of which i was a simple analyst. i have come to no conclusions as to explanatory theories. however, i consider it _probable_ that there exists powerful intelligences other than human that intervene under certain circumstances. my opinion is based upon a large number of very curious personal occurrences. in my opinion, we have not in these phenomena the appearance of simple coincidences, but of circumstances willed, foreseen, and produced by an intelligent _x_. 2. of the ensemble--of all that i have seen--there is simultaneously the reflex action of the experimenters and an independent personality. this hypothesis seems to me true, while i should make at the same time this reservation, that the personality or spirit is not a finished being, with limitations of form, such as an invisible man would have, going, coming and executing commissions for human beings. i have glimpses of a grander and vaster system. take a handful of the ocean, and you have _water_. take a handful of the atmosphere, and you have _air_. take a handful of space, and you have _mind_. that is the way i interpret it. that is why mind is always present, ready to respond when it finds in any place a stimulus that incites it, and an organism which permits it to manifest itself. let us confess that the problem is complex and that it is good to compare all the hypotheses.[80] from the numerous papers and documents laid out at this moment upon my writing-desk, i can only select a small number for insertion here, although they all have their special interest. one is overwhelmed by the richness and vastness of the material. however, out of the material acquired in the course of the inquiry of which i spoke above, let me give here one piece which i should regret not to be able to include within the compass of the present work. the former governess of the poet alfred de musset, mme. martelet, née adèle colin,--who still lives in paris and who has just been present (in 1906) at the unveiling of the statue of the poet (although his death dates from the year 1857),--has given the following account, which may be added here to that of movements without contact. an inexplicable occurrence which my sister, mme. charlot, and myself witnessed impressed us most deeply. it took place at the time of the last sickness of m. de musset. i shall never forget the emotion we felt that evening, and i still have the minutest incidents of the strange occurrence stamped on my memory. my master, who had taken no rest during all the previous night, had toward the end of the day, fallen into a doze in a large easy-chair. my sister and i had entered the chamber on tip-toe, in order not to trouble this precious rest of his, and we sat quietly down in a corner where we were concealed by the curtains of the bed. the invalid could not perceive us, but we saw him very well, and i sorrowfully contemplated that suffering face which i knew i could not much longer look upon. and still, even now, when i recall the features of my master, i see them as they appeared to me on that evening,--the eyes closed, his finely shaped head resting upon the easy-chair, and his long, thin, pale hands (the paleness of the dead already upon them), crossed upon his knees in a contracted and shriveled way. we remained motionless and silent, and the chamber, lighted only by a feeble lamp, seemed wrapped in shadows and was filled with that peculiar mournful atmosphere that characterizes the chamber of the dying. suddenly we heard a deep sigh. the invalid had waked up and i saw his looks go toward the bell-cord that hung near the fireplace some steps from the easy-chair. he evidently wanted to ring, and i do not know what feeling it was that held me nailed to my place. still i did not move, and my master, having a horror of solitude and believing that he was alone in his chamber, rose up, stretched out his arm with the evident intention of calling someone; but, already fatigued by this effort, he fell back into the chair without having taken a step. it was at this moment that we had an experience that terrified us. the bell, which the sick man had not touched, rang, and instinctively, at the same moment, my sister and i seized each other's hands, each anxiously interrogating the face of the other. "did you hear?"--"did you see?"--"he did not move from his chair!" at this moment the nurse entered and innocently asked, "did you ring, sir?" this event put us into an extraordinary state of mind, and if i had not had my sister with me i should have believed that it was an hallucination. but both of us saw, and all three of us heard. it is a good many years now since all that took place, but i can still hear the ominous and mournful sound of that bell ringing in the silence of the chamber. this account, also, seems not to be devoid of value. there are undoubtedly several ways of explaining it. the first is that which occurs to everybody. the frenchman, born malign, says boileau, does not mince matters, and, apropos of this story of de musset, simply exclaims in his language (always flashy and devoid of literary distinction), "what a fine piece of rot!" and that is all there is to it. a few may reflect for a moment more, and not admit that there is necessarily any invention on the part of the governess, and may think that she, as well as her sister, believed that de musset had not touched the bell cord, while in reality he touched it with the ends of his fingers. but these ladies can answer that the distance between the hand of the poet and the cord was too great, that the cord was inaccessible in that position, _and that it was that very thing which impressed them_, and without which there would have been no story to tell. we may also suppose that the bell was rung by some external force impinging on it, although the cord was not pulled. we may still further suppose that, in the restlessness of these hours of distress, the waiting-woman came in without having heard anything, and that the coincidence of her arrival with the gesture of de musset surprised the two watchers, who afterward thought that they had heard the bell. however, to sum up the whole thing, while we may regard the occurrence as inexplicable, we may yet admit its truth as narrated. this seems to me the most logical view, and the more so that the gentle poet had, several times in his life, given other proofs of possessing faculties of this kind. i will add here one more instance of the _movement of objects without contact_ which is not without value. it was published by dr. coues in the _annales des sciences psychiques_, for the year 1893. the views stated are also worthy of being summed up here. the observers, dr. and mrs. elliott coues, speak out of their own personal experience. it is a principle of physics that a heavy body can only be put in motion by the direct application of a mechanical force sufficient to overcome its inertia, and orthodox science maintains that the idea of action at a distance is an erroneous idea. the authors of the present study assert, on the contrary, that heavy bodies may be, and frequently are, put in motion without any kind of direct application of mechanical force, and that action at a distance is a well-established fact in nature. we offer proofs of these propositions based on a series of experiments undertaken for this purpose. we often repeated these experiments, _during more than two years_, with results that were convincing not only to ourselves but to many other witnesses. we do not understand how the scientific world has been able to accept the idea that the expression "action at a distance" is a false one, unless those who see an error in the assertion attach to these words a special meaning of which we are ignorant. it is certain that the sun acts at a distance upon the earth and the other planets of the solar system. it is certain that a piece of anything thrown into the air falls back in consequence of the attraction of gravitation,--and that, too, at no matter what distance. the law of gravitation, so far as we know it, is universal, and it is not yet proved that there exists a ponderable, or otherwise palpable, medium which serves to transmit the force.[81] we go a little farther, even, and declare that, probably, all action of matter is an action at a distance, especially since (so far as our knowledge goes) there are not in the whole universe two particles of matter in absolute contact; and, consequently, if they act the one upon the other, it must be at some distance, this distance being infinitely small and entirely inappreciable to our senses. we therefore maintain that the law of movement at a distance is a universal mechanical law and that the idea that it does not exist is a kind of a paradox, simply a hair-splitting quibble. the two authors of this study sometimes experimented together, sometimes separately, more often with one or more additional experimenters, sometimes with four, five, six, seven or eight. they witnessed at different times, in full light, the vigorous and even violent movements of a large table which nobody touched directly or indirectly. the persons mentioned were all friends of theirs, living, like them, in the city of washington, and all sincerely desirous of knowing the truth of the matter. there was no professional medium. the scene opens in a little parlor in our house (they write). in the centre of the room is a large heavy oak table in marquetry, which weighs about one hundred pounds. the top is oval and measures four feet and a half by three and a half. it has only a single support, in the middle, branching off into three legs, or feet, with casters. above it is the chandelier, several burners of which are lighted and give sufficient light for the ladies to read and work by the table. dr. coues is seated in his easy-chair, in a corner of this large room, at a distance from the table, reading or writing by the light of two other burners. the ladies express the wish to see if the table "will do something," as they say. the cloth is removed. mrs. c., seated in a low rocking-chair, places her hands on the table. mrs. a., also seated in a low easy-chair, does the same, facing her at the opposite side of the table. their hands are opened and placed upon the upper surface of the table. in this position, they cannot lift the table by themselves with their hands: that is an entire impossibility. neither can they push it by leaning on it in order to make it rise on the opposite side, except by muscular effort easily observed. neither can they lift the table unaided with their knees, since these are at least a foot away from the top and since moreover their feet never leave the floor. finally, they cannot lift the table by means of their toes slipped under a foot of the table, because the table is too heavy. under these conditions, and beneath the full light of at least four gas jets, the table habitually began to crack or snap, and produced divers strange noises quite different from those which could be obtained by leaning upon it. these noises soon showed, if i may so say, some reason in their incoherence, and certain definite strokes or rappings came to represent "yes," and "no." according to an arranged code of signals, we were able to enter into a conversation with an unknown being. then the table was generally polite enough to do what it was asked. one side or another of it tipped as we wished. it went from one side or the other according as we requested. under these circumstances we made the following experiments: the two ladies removed their hands from the table and drew back their chairs, while still remaining seated in them at a distance of _one or two feet_. dr. coues from his arm chair saw distinctly above and beneath the table. the feet of the ladies were from twelve to thirty-six inches distant from the feet of the table. their heads and their hands were still farther off. there was no contact with it. even their dresses were not within a foot or two of it. under these conditions, the table lifted one of its feet and let it fall heavily back. it lifted two feet to a height of from two to six inches, and, when they fell back, the blow was heavy enough to make the floor shake, and make the glass globes of the chandelier tinkle. besides these energetic, even violent movements, the table displayed its power by means of raps or balancings. its _yes's_ or its _no's_ were commonly rational, sometimes in agreement with the ideas of the one who put the question, sometimes in persistent opposition to those ideas. sometimes the invisible agent affirmed that he was a certain person, and maintained that individuality during an entire séance. or possibly this character was dropped, so to speak, or at least ceased to appear, and another person, or another being, took its place, with different ideas and opinions. thereupon, the raps or the movements also differed. finally the inanimate table, which was supposed to be inert, took on for the moment all the appearance of a living being possessing an intelligence as keen as that of an ordinary person. it expressed itself with as much will and individuality as our friends caused it to do by their voices and their gestures. and yet, during this whole time _no one of the three persons present touched the table_, the two ladies being at a distance of two or three feet, and dr. coues seven to ten feet, in a corner of the room, which was lighted by four gas jets. there was no other person present that one could see. if this was not a case of telekinesis, or movement of objects without contact, absolutely different from ordinary and normal mechanical movement, we can certainly no longer put trust in our senses. these observations of dr. and mrs. elliott coues are all as positively accurate and authentic as the occurrence of an earthquake, the falling of a fire-ball from the sky, a chemical combination, an experiment with an electrical machine. the sceptics who smile at them and say that everything is fraud are persons in whom the sense of logic is wanting. as to the explanation to be given of them, that is a different question from that of the pure and simple authentication of the facts. those to whom these descriptions of phenomena and experiments appeal (adds the narrator) must take particular notice that the authors of this study, although they have had occasion to speak of conversations held with the table and to mention special tones of voice, and intelligible messages imparted by pieces of inert wood, _categorically refuse to approach the question of the source or origin of the intelligence thus manifested_. that is an entirely different question, with which we do not meddle. the single, or at least the principal, object of the publication of this study is to establish the truth of movement without contact. but, having very plainly verified the fact and established it by proofs in our possession, it might perhaps be expected of us that we offer some explanation of the extraordinary things that we vouch for. we respectfully reply that we are both too old and perhaps too wise to claim to explain anything. when we were younger, and fancied that we knew everything, we could explain everything,--at least to our own satisfaction. now that we have lived long enough, we have discovered that every explanation of a thing raises at least two new questions, and we do not feel any desire to stumble against new difficulties; for these multiply in geometrical ratio, in proportion to the extent and accuracy of our researches. we hold to this principle, that nothing is explained so long as there still remains an explanation to be sought. under these conditions, we shall do better to recognize the inexplicability of these psychical mysteries, before, rather than after, futile theories about them. there you have what is absolutely reasonable, whatever may be said of it. and now, after these innumerable verifications of facts, and after all these professions of faith, shall i myself, have the courage, the pretension, the pride or the simplicity of mind, to start in search of the much desired information? whether we find it or not, the facts nevertheless exist. it was the object of this book to convince my readers of this,--readers who should give to the subject their close attention, be possessed of unbiased judgment and good faith, and have the eyes of the spirit wide open and free from all weakness. chapter xii explanatory hypotheses--theories and doctrines--conclusions of the author it is quite in the fashion, as a general thing, to profess absolute scepticism regarding the phenomena which form the subject of the present work. in the opinion of three-quarters of the citizens of our planet all unexplained noises in haunted houses; all displacements without contact of bodies more or less heavy; all movements of tables, pianos, or other objects produced in the experiments styled spiritualistic; all communications dictated by raps or by unconscious writing; all apparitions, partial or total, of phantom forms--are illusions, hallucinations, or hoaxes. no explanation is needed. the only rational opinion is that all "mediums," professional or not, are imposters, and the participators in a séance are imbeciles. sometimes one of these eminent judges consents, not to cease tipping the wink and smiling in his royal competency, but to condescend to be present at a séance. if, as only too frequently happens, no response to the command of the will is obtained, the illustrious observer retires, firmly convinced that, by his extraordinary penetration, he has discovered the cheat and blocked everything by his clairvoyant intuition. he at once writes to the journals, shows up the fraud, and sheds humanitarian crocodile tears over the sad spectacle of men, apparently intelligent, allowing themselves to be taken in by impostures, detected by him at the first blush. this first and easy explanation, that everything in the manifestations is fraud, has been so often exposed, discussed, and refuted during the course of this work that my readers probably consider it (at least i hope they do) as entirely, absolutely, and definitely decided and thrown out of the ring. however, i advise you not to speak too freely of these things at table, or in a drawing room if you do not like to have people making fun of you, more or less discreetly. if you air your views in public, you will produce the same effect as those eccentric fellows of the time of ptolemy, who dared to speak of the movement of the earth and excited such inextinguishable laughter in respectable society that the echoes ring with it still in athens, alexandria, and rome. it is only a repetition of what took place when galileo spoke of the spots on the sun, galvani of electricity, jenner of vaccine, jouffroy and fulton of the steamship, chappe of the telegraph, lebon of gas-lighting, stephenson of railways, daguerre of photography, boucher de perthes of the fossil man, mayer of thermodynamics, wheatstone of the transatlantic cable, etc. if we could gather up all the sarcasms launched at the heads of these "poor crazy-wits," we should get a fine basket of venerable blunders, moldy as a remainder biscuit after a voyage. so let us not speak too much of our mysteries--unless it amuses us, in our turn, to ask some questions of the prettiest dolls in the company. one of them inquired in my presence, yesterday evening, what the man named lavoisier did, and whether he was dead. another thought that auguste comte was a writer of songs and asked if any one knew one of them which would suit a mezzo-soprano voice. another was astonished that louis xiv had not built one of the two railway stations of versailles nearer the palace. moreover, on my balcony, a member of the institute, who saw jupiter shining in the southern sky at the meridian point, over one of the cupolas of the observatory, obstinately maintained in my presence that this luminary was the polar star. i did not dispute the point with him _too_ long! there are not a few people who believe at once in the value of universal suffrage and in that of titles of nobility. of course, we will not force these janus-faced wise men to vote upon the admissibility of psychic phenomena into the sphere of science. but we will henceforth consider this admissibility as something granted, and, tossing back to the laughing sceptics, to the habitués of clubs and cliques, the general opinion of the world, of which i have just spoken, begin here our logical analysis. we have had under consideration during the course of this work several theories by scientific investigators which are worthy of attention. let us first of all sum these up. in the opinion of gasparin, these unexplained movements are produced by a _fluid_, emanating from us under the action of our will. professor thury thinks that this fluid, which he calls _psychode_, is a substance which forms a link between the soul and the body; but there may also exist certain wills external to ourselves, and of unknown nature, working side by side with us. the chemist crookes attributes the phenomena to psychic force, this being the agent by which the phenomena are produced; but he adds that this force may well be, in certain cases, seized upon and directed by some other intelligence. "the difference between the partisans of psychic force and those of spiritualism," he writes, "consists in this: we maintain that it is not yet _proved_ that there exists a directing agent other than the intelligence of the medium and that presence and actions of the spirits of the dead are felt in the phenomena, while, on the contrary, the spiritualists accept as an article of faith, without demanding more proofs thereof, that these spirits are the sole agents in the production of the observed facts." albert de rochas defines these phenomena as "_an externalization of motivity_," and considers them to be produced by the fluidic double, "the astral body" of the medium, a nerve-fluid able to act and perceive at a distance. lombroso declares that the explanation must be sought simply in the nervous system of the medium, and that we have in the phenomena _transformation of forces_. dr. ochorowicz affirms that he has not found proofs in favor of the spiritualistic hypothesis, any more than he has in favor of the intervention of external intelligences, and that the cause of the phenomena is a _fluidic double_ detaching itself from the organism of the medium. the astronomer porro is inclined to admit the possible action of unknown spirits, of living forms different from our own, not necessarily the souls of the dead, but psychical entities to be studied. in a recent letter he wrote me that the theosophic doctrine appeared to him to approach the nearest to a solution.[82] prof. charles richet thinks that the spiritualistic hypothesis is far from being demonstrated, that the observed facts relate to an entirely different order of causes, as yet very difficult to disentangle and that in the present state of our knowledge no final conclusion can be agreed on. the naturalist wallace, professor morgan, and the electrician varley declare, on the other hand, that sufficient proof has been given them to warrant them in accepting without reserve the spiritualistic doctrine of disembodied souls. prof. james h. hyslop, of the university of columbia, who has made a special study of these phenomena, in the proceedings of the london society for psychical research, and in his works _science and a future life_ and _enigmas of psychical research_, thinks that there are not yet enough severely critical verifications to warrant any theory. dr. grasset, a disciple of pierre janet, does not admit displacement of objects, or levitation, or the greater part of the facts described in this book as proved, and thinks what is called spiritualism is a question of medical biology, of "the physiopathology of the nervous centres," in which a celebrated cerebral polygon with a musical conductor named o, plays an automatic rôle of a very curious description. dr. maxwell concludes from his observations that the greater part of the phenomena, the reality of which cannot be doubted, are produced by a force existing in us, that this force is intelligent, and that the intelligence manifested comes from the experimenters. this would be a kind of collective consciousness. m. marcel mangin does not adopt this "collective consciousness," and declares that it is certain that the being, in the séances, who asserts that he is a manifestation is "the sub-consciousness of the medium." the foregoing are some of the principal opinions. it would take a whole book to discuss in writing the proposed explanations, but that is not my object. my aim was to focus the question on what concerns the admissibility of the phenomena into the sphere of positive science. however, now that this is done, we cannot but ask ourselves, what conclusions may be drawn from all these observations. if we wish to obtain, after this mass of verifications, a satisfactory rational explanation, it seems to me we must proceed gradually, classify the facts, analyze them, and only admit them in proportion to their absolute and demonstrated certainty. we live in a very complex universe, and the most singular confusion has arisen among phenomena which are very distinct one from another. as i said in 1869, at the tomb of allan kardec, "the causes in action are of several kinds, and are more numerous than one would suppose." can we explain the observed phenomena, or at least any portion of it? it is our duty to try. for this purpose i shall classify them in the order of increasing difficulties. it is always advisable to begin with the beginning. may i hope that the reader will have got a clear idea in his mind of the experiments and observations set forth in the previous pages of this work? it would be a little insipid to refer every time to the pages where the phenomena have been described. 1. rotation of the table, _with contact of the hands of a certain number of operators_. this rotation can be explained by an unconscious impulse given to the table. all that is necessary is that each one push a little in the same way, and the movement will take place. 2. movement of the table, _the hands of the experimenters resting upon it_. the operators push and the table is led along without their knowing it, each one acting in a greater or less degree. they think they are following it, but they are really leading it along. we have in this only the result of muscular efforts, generally of a rather slight nature. 3. lifting of the table _on the side opposite to that upon which the hands of the principal actor are placed_. nothing is more simple. the pressure of the hands upon a centre-table with three legs suffices to produce the lifting of the leg the farthest removed, and thus to strike all the letters of the alphabet. the movement is less easy in the case of a table with four legs; but it can also be obtained. these three movements are the only ones, it seems to me, which can be explained without the least mystery. still, the third is only explicable in case the table is not too heavy. 4. imparting life to the table. several experimenters being seated around the table, and forming the chain with the desire of seeing it rise, the waves of a kind of vibrations (light at first) are perceived to be passing through the wood. then balancings are noticed, some of which may be due to muscular impulses. but already something more is now mingled in the process. the table seems to be set in motion of itself. sometimes it rises, no longer as if moved by a lever, or by pressure on one side, but _under the hands_, as if it were sticking to them. this levitation is contrary to the law of gravitation. hence we have here a discharge of force. this force emanates from our organism. there is no sufficient reason to seek for anything else. nevertheless, what we have detected is a thing of prime importance. 5. rotation without contact. the table being in rapid rotation, we can remove our hands from it, and see it continue the movement. the velocity or momentum acquired may explain the momentary continuation of this movement and the explanation given in the case of no. 1 may suffice. but there is more in it than this. rotation is obtained by holding the hands at a distance of some inches above the table, without any contact. a light layer of flour dusted over the table is found to be untouched by a single finger. hence the force emitted by the operators must penetrate the table. the experiments prove that we have in us a force capable of acting at a distance upon matter, a natural force, generally latent, but developed in different degrees in different mediums. the action of the force is manifested under conditions as yet imperfectly determined. (see pp. 81, 248 _et seq._) we can act upon brute matter, upon living matter, upon the brain and upon the mind. this action of the will is shown in telepathy. it is shown more simply still by means of a well-known experiment: at the theatre, in church, when hearing music, a man accustomed to the exercise of will-power, and sitting several rows of seats behind a woman, say, compels her to turn around in less than a minute. a force emanates from us, from our spirit, acting undoubtedly by means of etherwaves, the point of departure of which is a cerebral movement. and there is nothing very mysterious in this. i bring my hand near a thermometer, and ascertain that something invisible is escaping from my hand, and, at a certain remove, making the column of mercury rise. this something else is heat; that is to say, aërial waves in movement. then why might not other radiations emanate from our hands and from our whole being? but, nevertheless, there is a very important scientific fact to be established. this physical force is greater than that of the muscles, as i am going to prove. 6. lifting of weights. a table is loaded with sacks of sand and with stones weighing altogether from 165 to 176 pounds. the table lifts each of its three legs several times in succession. but it succumbs under the load and is broken. the operators ascertain that their muscular force would not have sufficed to produce the observed movements. the will acts by a dynamic prolongation. 7. liftings without contact. the hands forming the chain some inches above the side of the table which is to be lifted, and all wills being concentrated on the one idea, the lifting of each of the legs in succession takes place. the liftings are more readily obtained than rotations without contact. an energetic will seems to be indispensable. the unknown force passes from the experimenters to the table without any contact. if the table is dusted over with flour, as i said, not the slightest finger-touch is seen to be imprinted on it. the will of the sitters is in play. the table is ordered to make such and such a movement and it obeys. this will seems to be prolonged beyond the bodies of the operating experimenters in the shape of a force that is quite intense. this power is developed by action. the balancings prepare for the rising and the latter for complete levitation. 8. reducing the weight of the table or other objects. a quadrangular table is suspended by one of its sides to a dynamometer attached to a cord which is held above by some kind of a hook. the needle of the dynamometer, which, in a state of rest, indicates 35 kilograms, gradually descends to 3, 2, 1, 0 kilograms. a mahogany board is placed horizontally, and hung by one end to a spring balance. this balance (or scales), has a point which touches a pane of glass blackened by smoke. when this pane of glass is put in movement, the needle traces a horizontal line. during the experiments, this line is no longer straight, but marks reductions and increments of weight, produced without any contact of hands. in the experiments of crookes we saw that the weight of a board increased almost 1-1/4 pounds. the medium places his hands _upon_ the back of a chair and lifts the chair. 9. augmentation of the weight of a table or other objects.--pressures exerted. the dynamometric experiments that we have just recalled themselves go to show this augmentation. i have more than once seen, in other circumstances, a table become so heavy that it was absolutely impossible for two men to lift it from the floor. when they succeeded in doing so, in a measure, by means of quick jerks, it still seemed to stick to the floor as if held by glue or india rubber, which immediately pulled it back to the floor after it had been slightly displaced. in all these experiments, there is proof of the action of an unknown natural force emanating from the chief experimenter or from the collective powers of the group, an organic force under the influence of the will. it is not necessary to suppose the presence of superhuman spirits. 10. the complete lifting up, or levitation of the table. as there may be confusion in applying the word "lifting" to a table which only rises on one side at a certain angle, while still touching the floor, it is expedient to apply the word "levitation" to the case in which it is completely separated from the floor. generally, in levitation, it rises from six to eight inches from the floor, for some seconds only, and then falls back. it moves up in a balancing, undulating, hesitating way, with effort, and then falls straight down. while resting our hands upon it, we have the sensation of a fluid resistance, as of it were in water,--the kind of fluid sensation we experience when we bring a piece of iron into the field of force of a magnet. a table, a chair or other movable article sometimes rises, not merely a foot or so, but almost to the height of one's head, and even as high as the ceiling. the force brought into play is considerable. 11. levitation of human bodies. this case is of the same order as the preceding. the medium may be raised with his chair and placed upon the table, sometimes in unstable equilibrium. he may also be lifted alone (without the chair).[83] in this case the unknown force does not seem to be simply mechanical: intention is mingled with the act, and ideas of precaution, which, however may proceed from the mentality of the medium himself, aided perhaps by that of the sitters. this fact seems to us to contravene known scientific laws. it is the same case as that of the cat which knows how to turn of itself, without any outside support or leverage, when it falls from a roof, and always falls on its feet, a fact contrary to the principles of mechanics taught in every university in the world. 12. lifting of very heavy pieces of furniture. a piano weighing more than 750 pounds rises up off of its two front legs, and it is ascertained that its weight varies. the force with which it is animated arises from the proximity of a child eleven years old, but it is not the conscious will of this child which acts.--a heavy oak dining-table may rise so high that its under side can be inspected during the levitation. 13. displacement of objects without contact. a heavy easy-chair moves about of its own accord in the room. heavy curtains reaching from the ceiling to the floor are forcibly swelled out as if by a gust of wind, and envelop as with a hood the heads of persons seated at a table, at a distance of three feet and more. a centre table persists in _the endeavor_ to climb upon the experiment-table--and gets there. while a sceptical spectator is bantering the "spirits," the table about which the experiments are taking place makes a move towards the incredulous person, drawing the sitters along with it, and pins him to the wall until he begs for mercy. as in the preceding cases, these movements may represent the expression of the will of the medium, and may not necessarily indicate the presence of a mind external to his own. nevertheless--? 14. raps and typtology. in tables, in pianos, and other pieces of furniture, in the walls, in the air, raps are heard, and their vibrations perceived by the touch. they somewhat resemble the sounds obtainable by tapping against a piece of wood with the joint of the bent finger. the question arises, whence come these noises? the question is asked aloud. they are repeated. the request is made that a certain number of strokes be rapped. the raps are heard. well-known airs are accompanied by raps beaten in perfect time with them and identifiable as the counterpart of the airs. when bits of music are played, the accompaniment is rapped out. things take place as if an invisible being were listening and acting. but how could a being without acoustic nerve and without a tympanum hear? the sonorous waves must strike something in order to be interpreted. is this a mental transmission? these raps are made. who makes them? and how? the mysterious force emits radiations of wave-lengths inaccessible to our retina, but powerful and rapid, without doubt more rapid than those of light, and situated beyond the ultraviolet. besides, light impedes their action. in proportion as we advance in the examination of the phenomena, the psychic, intellectual, mental element is more and more mingled with the physical and mechanical element. in the case we are considering we are forced to admit the presence, the action, of a thought. is this thought simply that of the medium, of the chief experimenter, or the resultant of the thoughts of all the sitters united? since these raps or those made by the legs of the table, on being interrogated, dictate words and phrases and express ideas, there is something more in the matter than a simple mechanical action. the unknown force, the existence of which we have been obliged to admit in the preceding observations, is in this case at the service of an intelligence. the mystery grows complicated. it is owing to this intellectual element that i proposed (before 1865; see p. xix) to give the name "_psychic_" to this force, a name proposed anew by crookes in 1871. we saw also that, as early as the year 1855, thury had proposed the name "_psychode_" and "_ecteneic_" force. from this on, it would be impossible for us in our examination not to take into consideration this psychic force. up to this point, gasparin's fluid might suffice, just as unconscious muscular action sufficed for the first three classes of facts. but starting from this fourteenth class, the psychic order plainly manifests itself (and even in the preceding class we begin already to divine its presence). 15. mallet-blows. i have heard--as have all other experimenters--not only sharp light raps upon a table, like those of which i have just been speaking, but mallet-blows, or blows of the fist upon a door, capable of knocking down a man if he had received them. generally, these tremendous blows are a protestation against a denial on the part of one of the sitters. there is in them an intention, a will, an intelligence. they may also be due to the medium, who is indignant, or who is amusing himself or herself. the action is not muscular; for the hands and feet of the medium are held, and the rapping may occur some distance away from him or her. 16. touchings. fraud can explain those which take place within the reach of the medium's hands, for they only occur in the darkness. but they have been felt at a certain distance beyond this reach as if the hands of the medium were prolonged. 17. action of invisible hands. an accordion in an open-work case, or cage, which keeps any other hand from touching it, is held in one hand by the end opposite the keys. presently the instrument begins to lengthen and shorten of itself and plays various melodies. an invisible hand with fingers (or something like them), must therefore be acting. (experiment of crookes with home.) as the reader has seen i repeated this experiment with eusapia. another time, a music-box, the handle of which was turned by an invisible hand, played in perfect time with the music movements that eusapia was making upon my cheek. an invisible hand forcibly snatched from my hand a block of paper which i was holding out with extended arm at the height of my head. invisible hands removed from m. schiaparelli's head his spectacles (furnished with a spring), which were firmly fastened behind his ears, and that so nimbly and with such light touch that he did not perceive it until afterwards. 18. apparitions of hands. the hands are not always invisible. sometimes semi-luminous ones are seen to appear in the dim light,--hands of men, hands of women, hands of children. sometimes they have clear-cut outlines. they are generally firm and moist to the touch, sometimes icy cold. at times they melt away in the hand. for my part i was never able to grasp one. it was always the mysterious hand that took mine,--often feeling through a curtain, or sometimes by nude contact, or pinching my ear, or running its fingers through my hair with great rapidity. 19. apparitions of heads. for my part, i have only seen two: the bearded silhouette at monfort-l'amaury, and the head of a young girl with high-arched forehead, in my drawing-room. in the case of the first i had believed that there was a mask held at the end of a rod. but at my own home, there was no possibility of an accomplice, and at present i am not less sure of the first instance than of the other. moreover, the testimony of other observers is so precise and so often given that it is imperative that it be classed with my own. 20. phantoms. i have never seen any of these nor photographed them, but it seems to me impossible to be sceptical about that of katie king, observed for three consecutive years by crookes and others who experimented with the medium florence cook. one can scarcely doubt, also, the reality of the phantoms seen by the committee of the dialectical society of london. we have seen that trickery plays a frequent rôle in this sort of apparitions; but, in the experiments just mentioned, the observations were really conducted with such perspicacity that they are safe from all objection, and have on them the stamp of a purely scientific character. these phantoms, like the heads and the hands mentioned, seem to be condensations of fluids produced by the powers of the medium, and do not prove the existence of independent spirits. when the hand is stretched out, the rubbing of a beard can be felt upon it. this happened to me, as well as to others. did the beard really exist, or was it only a case of tactual and visual sensations? the case here immediately following pleads in favor of its reality. 21. impressions of heads and of hands. the heads and the hands formed are sufficiently dense to leave a mould of their features and shape imprinted in the putty or the clay. perhaps the most curious thing is that it is not necessary that these weird formations, these forces, be visible in order to produce impressions. we have seen a vigorous gesture imprint itself at a distance in clay. 22. passing of matter through matter.--transfers, or the bringing in of objects. a book has been seen passing through a curtain. a bell has passed from a library-room, locked with a key, into a drawing-room. a flower has been seen passing perpendicularly downward through a dining-room table. some have thought they had ocular proof of the mysterious appearance of plants, of flowers, of fruits, and other objects, which (as the claim went) had passed through walls, ceilings, doors. the latter phenomenon took place several times in my presence. but i was never able to get certain proof of it under unimpeachable conditions; and i have ferreted out many a trick. the experiments of zöllner (a wooden ring entering into another wooden ring, a string tied at the two ends making a knot, etc.) would, of course, be a thing of exceptional interest if the medium slade had not the bad reputation of being just a skilful prestidigitator,--a reputation probably only too well merited. i should think that there is good reason to suppose that the experiments of crookes are authentic. has space only three dimensions? we will set this question aside. 23. manifestations directed by an intelligence. these have been already glimpsed in a certain number of the preceding cases. the forces in action here are of the psychical as well as the physical class. the question is to know whether the intellect of the medium and of the sitters is sufficient to explain everything. in all the cases i have previously mentioned, this intellect seem to suffice, but only by attributing to it occult faculties of prodigious potency. in the present state of our knowledge, it is impossible for us to understand the way in which mind, conscious or unconscious, can lift a table, make raps in wood, form a hand or a head, stamp an imprint. the _modus operandi_ is absolutely unintelligible to us. future science will perhaps discover it. but all these actions never overpass the limits of man's capacities, and let us admit, the capacity required is not an extraordinary one. the hypothesis of spirits of another order than that of living human beings does not seem to be necessary. the hypothesis of the doubling of the psychic personality of the medium is the most simple. is it sufficient to entirely satisfy us? hard blows on the table like those of a fist, contrasting with gentle taps, may have this origin, in spite of appearance. it is the same with apparitions of the hands, of heads, of spectral forms. we cannot declare this origin of the phenomena to be impossible; and it is more simple than to assume that they are due to wandering spirits. the conveying of objects over the heads of the experimenters in complete darkness, without touching either chandelier or heads, is scarcely comprehensible. but do we understand any better how a spirit can have hands? and if it did, might it not amuse itself thus? spectacles are taken from a face without the act being perceived; a handkerchief is removed from the neck, then snatched from between the teeth that are holding it; a fan is transferred from one pocket to another. do latent faculties of the human organism suffice to explain these intentional actions? it is right for us neither to affirm nor to deny. i have thus passed in review the whole series of phenomena to be explained, at least all those within the limits of the plan of this work. a first, and obviously safe, conclusion is that man has in himself a fluidic and psychic force whose nature is still unknown, but which is capable of acting at a distance upon matter and of moving the same. this force is the expression of our will, of our desires; i mean as it appears in the first ten cases of the preceding classifications. for the other cases we must add the unconscious, the unforeseen, wills different from our conscious wills. the force is at once physical and psychical. if the medium puts forth a force of twelve or fourteen pounds to lift a table, his weight undergoes a corresponding increase. the hand which we see forming near him is able to grasp an object. the hand really exists, and is then reabsorbed. might we not compare the force which brings it into existence with that building-force of nature, which reproduces a claw for the lobster and a tail for the lizard? the intervention of spirits is not all indispensable.[84] in mediumistic experiments things happen as if an invisible being were present, able to transport the different objects through the air, usually without striking against the heads of the persons who are sitting in various parts of the room in almost complete darkness; capable also of acting upon a curtain like a strong wind, pushing it far out, able to fling this curtain over your head, giving you a capuchin hood or coiffure, and pressing strongly against your body, as if with two nervous arms, and touching you with a warm and living hand. i have perceived these hands in the most unmistakble way. the invisible being can condense itself sufficiently to become visible, and i have seen it passing in the air. to suppose that i, as well as other experimenters, was the dupe of an hallucination is an hypothesis which cannot be maintained for a single moment and would simply show that those who entertained the idea were far more likely to have an hallucination than we were, or else that they entertained the most inexcusable prepossession and prejudice. we were in the best possible condition for observing and analysizing any phenomena whatever and no sceptic will make us believe anything different on this point. there is certainly an invisible prolongation of the organism of the medium. this prolongation may be compared to the radiation which leaps from the loadstone to reach a bit of iron and put it into movement. we can also compare it with the effluvium which emanates from electrified bodies.[85] i also compared it some pages back to calorific waves. when a medium makes a gesture of striking the table with his closed fist, but stops short at a distance of from eight to twelve inches, and when, at every gesture, a sonorous stroke of the fist echoes in the table, we see in that the proof of a dynamic prolongation of the arm of the medium. when she pretends to imitate on my cheek the rotation of the crank of a music-box, and when this box keeps time with the imitated movement, stops when the fingers stop, plays the tune faster when the finger accelerates its circular tracings, goes slower when it goes slower, etc., we have here again proof of dynamic action at a distance. when an accordion plays of its own will, when a bell begins to ring of itself, when a lever indicates such and such a pressure, there is a real force in action. we must therefore admit, first of all, this prolongation of the muscular and nervous force of the subject. i am keenly sensible of the fact that this is a bold proposition, almost incredible, most strange and extraordinary; but after all the facts are there, and whether the matter irks us or not is a small matter. this prolongation is real, and only extends to a certain distance from the medium, a distance which can be measured, and which varies according to circumstances. but is it sufficient to explain all the observed phenomena? we are forced to admit that this prolongation, usually invisible, and impalpable, may become visible and palpable; take, especially, the form of an articulated hand, with flesh and muscles; and reveal the exact form of a head or a body. the fact is incomprehensible; but after so many different observations, it seems to me impossible to see in this curious phenomenon only trickery or hallucination. logic lays its laws upon us and commands our respect. a fluidic and condensable double has therefore the power of gliding momentarily out from the body of the medium (for his presence is indispensable). how can this double, this fluidic body have the consistency of flesh and of muscles? we do not understand it. but it would neither be wise nor intelligent to admit only that which we can comprehend. it must be remembered that, for the greater part of the time, we imagine we comprehend things because we can give an explanation of them; that is all. now this explanation rarely has any intrinsic value. it is only a framework of words tacked together. thus you fancy you understand why an apple falls from the top of the tree, because you say that the earth attracts it. this is pure simple-mindedness. for in what does the attraction of the earth consist? you know nothing about it; but you are satisfied, because the fact is a common one. when the curtain is inflated as if pushed out by a hand, and when you feel you are pinched in the shoulder by a hand at the moment the curtain touches you, you have the impression that you are the dupe of an accomplice hidden behind the curtain. there is some one there who is playing a practical joke on you. you draw aside the curtain. nothing! since it is impossible for you to admit a trick of any kind, because you, and you alone, hung that curtain between the two walls; and since you know that there is no person behind it because you are close by it and have not lost it out of your sight; and since the medium is seated near you with his, or her, hands and legs held, you are forced to admit that a temporarily materialized being has touched you. it is certain that these facts may be denied and that they are denied. those who have not personally verified them are excusable. it is not a question of ordinary events which take place every day and which everybody can observe. it is evident, as a general proposition, that, if we admit only what we have ourselves seen, we shall not get very far. we admit the existence of the philippine islands without having been there, of charlemagne and of julius cæsar without having seen them, of total eclipses of the sun, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, etc., as facts of which we have not ourselves been eye-witnesses. the distance of a star, the weight of a planet, the composition of one of the heavenly bodies, the most marvelous discoveries of astronomy, do not excite scepticism, except in the minds of wholly uncultivated persons, because people in general appreciate the value of astronomic methods. but undoubtedly, in these psychical matters, the phenomena are so extraordinary that one is excusable for not believing them. nevertheless, if anyone will give himself the trouble to reason he will positively be compelled to recognize that, in following on this trail, he is inevitably brought to a stand in face of the following dilemma: either the experimenters have been the dupes of the mediums, who have uniformly cheated, or else these stupefying facts actually exist. now since the first hypothesis is eliminated, we are forced to admit the reality of the occurrences. a fluidic body is formed at the expense of the medium, emerges from his organism, moves, acts. what is the intelligent force that directs this fluidic body and makes it act in such or such a way? either it is the mind of the medium, or it is another mind that makes use of this same fluid. there is no escape from this conclusion. i may remark that the meteorological conditions, fine weather, agreeable temperature, cheerfulness, high spirits, favor the phenomena; that the medium is never wholly out of touch with the manifestations, and frequently knows what is going to take place; that the cause escapes the mental grasp and is fugitive and capricious; and that the apparitions fade away like a dream as silently as they are formed. note also that, in important manifestations, the medium suffers, complains, groans, loses an enormous amount of force, exhibits an astonishing nervous energy, experiences hyperæsthesia, and at the apogee of the manifestation, seems for an instant to be absolutely prostrated. and, in truth, why should not his mind as well as his fluidic force be haled out of his body and be exhausted in external work? the psychical force of a living human being is able, then, to create "material" phenomena--organs, spectral figures. but what is matter? my readers know that matter does not exist as it is perceived by our senses. these only give us incomplete impressions of an _unknown reality_. analysis shows us that matter is only a form of energy. in the work called _a propos d'eusapia paladino_, which sums up his experiments with this medium, m. guillaume de fontenay ingeniously tries to explain the phenomena by the dynamic theory of matter. it is probable that this explanation is one of those that make the nearest approach to the truth. according to this theory, the quality which seems to us characteristic of matter--solidity, stability--is no more substantial than the light which strikes our eyes, or the sound which enters our ears. we see; that is to say, we receive upon the retina rays which affect it. but around and on every side of the retina undulate countless other rays that leave no impression upon it. it is the same with the other senses. matter, like light, like heat, like electricity, seems to be the result of a species of movement. movement of what? of the primitive monistic substance, quickened by manifold vibrations. most assuredly, matter is not that inert thing that we commonly suppose. a comparison will aid in comprehending this. take a carriage-wheel. place it horizontally on a pivot. while the wheel is motionless, let a rubber ball fall between its spokes. this ball will almost always pass through between the spokes. now give a slight movement to the wheel. the ball will be pretty often hit by the revolving spokes, and will rebound. if we increase the rotation, the ball will now no longer pass through the wheel, which will have become for it a wholly impenetrable disc. we can try a similar experiment by arranging the wheel vertically and shooting arrows through it. a bicycle-wheel will serve the purpose very well, owing to the slenderness of its spokes. when not in movement, the arrows will pass through it nine times out of ten. in movement, it will produce in the arrows deviations more or less marked. with increase in the speed, it would be made impenetrable, and all the arrows would be broken as if against the steel plating of an armored ship. these comparisons allow us to understand how matter is really only a mode of motion, only an expression of force, a manifestation of energy. it will disappear (it must be borne in mind) on analysis, which ends by taking refuge in the intangible, invisible, imponderable, and almost immaterial atom. the atom itself which was regarded as the basis of matter fifty years ago, has now disappeared, or rather has been metamorphosed and reappears as a hypothetical, impalpable vortex. i will allow myself to repeat here what i have said a hundred times elsewhere: _the universe is a dynamism_. the difficulty we have in explaining to ourselves apparitions, materializations, when we try to apply to them the ordinary conception of matter, is considerably lessened the moment we conceive that matter is only a mode of motion. life itself, from the most rudimentary cell up to the most complicated organism, is a special kind of movement, a movement determined and organized by a directing force. according to this theory, momentary apparitions would be less difficult to accept and to comprehend. the vital force of the medium might externalize itself and produce in a point of space a vibratory system which should be the counterpart of itself, in a more or less advanced degree of visibility and solidity. these phenomena can with difficulty be reconciled with the old hypothesis of the independent and intrinsic existence of matter: they better fit that of matter as a mode of motion--in a word, simple movement, giving the sensation of matter. there is, of course, only one substance, the primitive substance, which antedates the original nebula--the womb from which all bodies in the universe have issued. the substances which the chemists take to be simple bodies--oxygen, hydrogen, azote, iron, gold, silver, etc.--are mineral elements which have been gradually formed and differentiated, just as, later, the vegetable and animal species were differentiated. and not only is the substance of the world one, but it also has the same origin as energy, and these two forms are mutually interchangeable. nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed.[86] the unique substance is immaterial and unknowable in its essence. we see and touch only its condensations, its aggregations, its arrangements; that is to say, forms produced by movement. matter, force, life, thought, are all one. in reality, there is only one principle in the universe, and it is at once intelligence, force, and matter, embracing all that is and all that possibly can be. that which we call matter is only a form of motion. at the basis of all is force, dynamism, and universal mind, or spirit. visible matter, which stands to us at the present moment for the universe, and which certain classic doctrines consider as the origin of all things--movement, life, thought--is only a word void of meaning. the universe is a great organism controlled by a dynamism of the psychical order. mind gleams through its every atom. the environment or atmosphere is psychic. there is mind in every thing, not only in human and animal life, but in plants, in minerals, in space. it is not the body which produces life: it is rather life which organizes the body. does not the will to live increase the viability of enfeebled persons, just as the giving up of the wish to live may abridge life and even extinguish it? your heart beats, night and day, whatever be the position of your body. it is a well-mounted spring. who or what adjusted this elastic spring? the embryo is formed in the womb of the mother, in the egg of the bird. there is neither heart nor brain. at a certain moment the heart beats for the first time. sublime moment! it will beat in the child, in the adolescent, in the man, in the woman, at the rate of about 100,000 pulsations a day, of 36,500,000 a year, of 1,825,000,000 in fifty years. this heart that has just been formed is going to beat a thousand millions of pulsations, two thousand millions, three thousand millions, a number determined by its inherent force; then it will stop and the body will fall into ruins. who or what wound up this watch once for all? dynamism, the vital energy. what sustains the earth in space? dynamism, the velocity of its movement. what is it in the bullet that kills? its velocity. everywhere energy, everywhere the invisible element. it is this same dynamism that produces the phenomena we have been studying. the question at present resolves itself into this: does this dynamism belong wholly to the experimenters? we have so little real knowledge of our mental nature that it is impossible for us to know what this nature is capable of producing, even in certain states of unconsciousness--in fact especially in these. the directing intelligence is not always the personal, _normal_, intelligence of the experimenters or of any one whatever among them. we ask the entity what its name is, and it gives us a name which is not ours; it replies to our questions, and usually claims to be a discarnate soul, the spirit of a deceased person. but if we drive the question home, this entity finally steals away without having given us sufficient proofs of its identity. there results from this the impression that the "medium," or principal subject of the experiment, has responded for himself, has reflected himself, without knowing it. moreover, this entity, this personality, this spirit, has his individual will, his caprices, his cantankerousness, and sometimes acts in opposition to our own thoughts. he tells us absurd, foolish, brutal, insane things, and amuses himself with fantastic combinations of letters, real head-splitting puzzles. it astonishes and stupefies us. what is this being? two inescapable hypotheses present themselves. either it is we who produce these phenomena or it is spirits. but mark this well: these spirits are not necessarily the souls of the dead; for other kinds of spiritual beings may exist, and space may be full of them without our ever knowing anything about it, except under unusual circumstances. do we not find in the different ancient literatures, demons, angels, gnomes, goblins, sprites, spectres, elementals, etc? perhaps these legends are not without some foundation in fact. then we cannot but remark that, in our mediumistic studies and experiments, in order to succeed we always address an invisible being who is supposed to hear us. if this is an illusion, it dates from the very origin of spiritualism, from the raps produced unconsciously by the fox sisters in their chambers at hydesville and at rochester in 1848. but once more, this personification may pertain to our own being or it may represent a mind external to ourselves. in order to admit the first hypothesis we must admit at the same time that our mental nature is not simple, that there are in us several psychic elements, and that one at least of these elements may act unknown to ourselves, make raps in a table, move any piece of furniture, lift a weight, touch us with a hand that seems real, play an instrument, create a spectral figure, read hidden words, answer questions, act with a personal will--and all this, i repeat, without our own knowledge. this is tolerably complicated; but it is not impossible. that there are in us psychic elements, obscure, unconscious, capable of acting outside of the sphere of our normal consciousness, this is something we can notice every night in our dreams; that is to say, during a quarter, or a third part of our life. scarcely has sleep closed our eyes, our ears, all our senses, than our thoughts begin to work just the same as during the day, though without rational direction, without logic, under the most incoherent forms, freed from our customary conceptions of space and time, in a world entirely different from the normal world. the physiologists and psychologists have for centuries been trying to determine the mechanism of the dream without having yet obtained any satisfactory solution of the problem. but the proved fact that we see sometimes, in our dreams, occurrences which take place at a distance, proves that we have in us unknown powers. again, it is not rare for each of us to experience, sometimes (all our faculties being on the alert), the play of an interior power, distinct from our dominant reason. we are on the point of pronouncing words that are not a part of our habitual vocabulary, and ideas suddenly traverse and arrest the course of our thoughts. during the reading of a book which seemed interesting to us, our soul spreads her wings and flies to other realms, while our eyes continue in vain the mechanical act of reading. we are discussing certain projects in our mind, as if we were so many judges; and then, one would like to know in all simplicity, whence comes this distraction? in his tireless researches, the great investigator of psychic phenomena, myers, to whom we owe synthetic studies upon the subliminal consciousness, reached the conviction, with ribot, that "the _me_ is a co-ordination." these supernormal phenomena (writes this competent and learned inquirer) are due not to the action of the spirits of deceased persons, as wallace believes, but, for the most part, to the action of an incarnate spirit, either that of the subject himself or of some agent or other.[87] the word "subliminal" means what is beneath the threshold (_limen_) of the consciousness,--the sensations, the thoughts, the memories, which remain at the bottom, and seem to represent a kind of sleeping _me_. i do not pretend to affirm (adds the author) that there always exists in us two _me's_ correlative and parallel: i denote rather by the subliminal _me_ that part of the _me_ which ordinarily remains latent, and i admit that there may be not merely co-operation between these two quasi-independent currents of thoughts, but also changes of level and alternations of personality.[88] medical observation (félida, alma) proves that there is in us a rudimentary supernormal faculty, something which is probably useless to us, but which indicates the existence, beneath the level of our consciousness, of a reserve of latent unsuspected faculties.[89] what is it that is active in us in telepathic phenomena? we may recall the case of thomas garrison (_society for psychical research_, viii, p. 125) who, while sitting with his wife at a religious service, suddenly gets up in the middle of the sermon, goes out of the church, and, as if impelled by an irresistible impulse, walks twenty miles afoot to go to see his mother, whom he finds dead on his arrival, although he did not know that she was ill and although she was relatively young (fifty-eight years). i have a hundred observations similar to this in writing before me. it is not our normal habitual nature that is in action in such a case as this. there is probably in us, more or less sentient, a sub-conscious nature, and it is this which seems to be at work in mediumistic experiences. i am pretty much of the opinion myers expresses in the following paragraph:[90] spiritualists attribute the movement and the dictations at their séances to the action of disembodied intelligences. but if a table execute movements without being touched, there is no reason to attribute these movements to the intervention of my deceased grandfather, rather than to my own proper intervention; for if i do not see how i could have done it myself, it is not clear to me how the effect could have been produced by the action of my grandfather. as for dictations, the most plausible explanation seems to me to be for us to admit that they do not come from the conscious _me_, but from that profound and hidden region where fragmentary and incoherent dreams are elaborated. this explanatory hypothesis is held, with an important modification, by a distinguished savant to whom also we owe long and patient researches into the obscure phenomena of normal psychology; i mean dr. geley, who thus sums up his own conclusions: a certain amount of the force, intelligence, and matter of the body may perform work outside of the organism,--act, perceive, organize, and think without the collaboration of muscles, organs, senses and brain. it is nothing less than the uplifted sub-conscious portion of our being. it constitutes, in truth, an externalizable sub-conscious nature, existing in the _me_ with the normal conscious nature.[91] this sub-conscious nature does not seem to depend upon the organism. it is probably anterior to it, and will survive it. it seems to be superior to it, endowed with powers and acquirements very different from the powers and acquirements of the normal, supernormal, and transcendent consciousness. assuredly, there is in this view of the case more than one mystery still, were it only the feat of performing a material act at a distance, and that (not less strange) of apparently having nothing to do with that kind of an act. the first rule of the scientific method is first to seek explanations in the known before having recourse to the unknown, and we should never fail to comply with this rule. but if this method of sailing does not bring us to port, it is our duty to confess it. i very much fear that that is what is the matter here. we are not satisfied. the explanation is not clear, and is floating a little too much at random in the waves--and the wavering uncertainty--of the hypothesis. at the point at which we have now arrived in this chapter of explanations we are precisely in the position of alexander aksakof when he wrote his great work, _animism and spiritualism_, in reply to the book of dr. von hartmann on _spiritualism_. hartman claimed to explain all of these psychical phenomena by the following hypothesis. a nervous force producing, outside of the limits of the human body, mechanical and plastic effects. duplicate hallucinations of this same nervous force, and producing also physical and plastic effects. a latent somnambulistic consciousness, capable (the subject being in his normal state) of reading in the intellectual background of another man, his present and his past, and being able to divine the future. akaskof tried to see if these hypotheses (the last of which is a pretty bold one) are sufficient to explain everything, and he concludes that they are not. that is also my opinion. there is something else. this something else, this residue at the bottom of the crucible of experiment, is a psychic element, the nature of which remains still wholly hidden from us. i think that all the readers of this book will share my conviction. anthropomorphic hypotheses are far from explaining everything. besides, they are only hypotheses. we must not hide from ourselves that these phenomena introduce us into another world, into an unknown world, one that is still to be explored in its whole extent. as to beings different from ourselves,--what may their nature be? of this we cannot form any idea. souls of the dead? this is very far from being demonstrated. the innumerable observations which i have collected during more than forty years all prove to me the contrary. no satisfactory identification has been made.[92] the communications obtained have always seemed to proceed from the mentality of the group, or, when they are heterogeneous, from spirits of an incomprehensible nature. the being evoked soon vanishes when one insists on pushing him to the wall and having the heart out of his mystery. and then my greatest hope has been deceived, that hope of my twentieth year, when i would so gladly have received celestial light upon the doctrine of the plurality of worlds. the spirits have taught us nothing. nevertheless, the agents seem sometimes to be independent. crookes mentions having seen miss fox write automatically a communication for one of her sitters while another communication upon another subject was given to her for a _second_ person by means of the alphabet and by raps, and all the while she was chatting with a _third_ person upon another subject totally different from the other two. does this remarkable fact prove with certainty the action of a spirit other than that of the medium? the same scientist mentions that, during one of his séances, a little rod crossed the table, in full light, and came and rapped his hand, giving him a communication by following the letters of the alphabet spelled out by him. the other end of the rod rested on the table at a certain distance from the hand of the medium home. this case seems to me, as well as to crookes, more conclusively in favor of an exterior spirit, so much the more since the experimenter having asked that the raps be given by the morse telegraphic code, another message was thus rapped out. i also remember that the learned chemist mentions that the word "however" hidden by his finger, upon a newspaper, and unknown even to himself, was rapped out by a little rod. wallace also mentions a name written upon a piece of paper fastened by him under the central leg of the experiment table; joncières, a water-color correctly painted in complete darkness, and a musical theme written with a pencil; m. castex dégrange, the announcement of a death, and the place where a lost object might be found. we have also seen sentences dictated either backwards or in such a way that every other letter only must be read to get the sense, or else by strange combinations showing the action of an unknown intellect. we have a thousand examples of this kind. but if the mind of the medium may liberate itself and appear in an extra-normal state, why might it not be this mind which acts? do we not have several distinct personalities in our dreams? if they could dynamically appear, would they not act somewhat in this way? we ought not to lose sight of the fact that these phenomena are of a _mixed_ character. they are at once physical and psychical, material and intellectual, are not always produced by our conscious will, and are rather the subject of _observation_ than _experiment_. it is expedient to insist on this characteristic. i one day, (january 31, 1901) heard e. duclaux, member of the institute, director of the pasteur institute, express the following confused idea (an idea held by so many physicists and so many chemists), in a company which was yet quite competent to discuss these phenomena: "there is no scientific fact except a fact which can be reproduced at will."[93] what a singular reasoning! the witnesses of the fall of a meteor bring us an aërolite which has just fallen from the sky and been dug up, all hot, from the hole it had made in the ground. "error! illusion!" we ought to reply: "we shall only believe when you repeat the experiment." they bring to us the body of a man killed by a stroke of lightning, stripped of his clothes, and shaved as if with a razor. "impossible!" we ought to reply; "pure invention of your deluded senses." a woman sees appear before her, her husband, who has just died nearly two thousand miles away. we are asked to believe that this is not so, and will not be so until the apparition appears a second time. this confusion between observation and experiment is a very strange thing as coming from cultivated men. in psychical phenomena there is a voluntary, capricious, incoherent, intellectual element. i repeat, we must learn to comprehend that everything cannot be explained and resign ourselves to waiting for an extension of our knowledge. there is intelligence, thought, psychism, mind, in these phenomena. there is still more in certain communications. can the observations be confirmed and justified by assuming the mind of the living merely as the active agents? yes, perhaps, but only by attributing to us unknown and supernormal faculties. yet it must be remembered that this is only an hypothesis. the spiritualistic hypothesis of communication with the souls of the dead remains also as a working hypothesis. that souls survive the destruction of the body i have not the shadow of a doubt. but that they manifest themselves by the processes employed in séances the experimental method has not yet given us absolute proof. i add that this hypothesis is not at all likely. if the souls of the dead are about us, upon our planet, the invisible population would increase at the rate of 100,000 a day, about 36 millions a year, 3 billions 620 millions a century, 36 billions in ten centuries, etc.,--unless we admit re-incarnations upon the earth itself. how many times do apparitions, or manifestations occur? when illusions, auto-suggestions, hallucinations, are eliminated, what remains? scarcely anything. such an exceptional rarity as this pleads against the reality of apparitions. we may suppose, it is true, that all human beings do not survive their death, and that, in general, their psychical entity is so insignificant, so wavering, so ineffectual, that it almost disappears in the ether, in the common reservoir, in the environment, like the souls of animals. but thinking beings who have the consciousness of their psychical existence do not lose their personality, but continue the cycle of their evolution. it would seem natural therefore to see them manifest themselves under certain circumstances. persons condemned to death, in consequence of judicial errors, and executed, should they not return to protest their innocence? would it not be reasonable to suppose that persons put to death in such a way that violence was not suspected would return to accuse the assassins? knowing the characters of robespierre, of saint-just, of fouquier-tinville, i should like to have seen them revenge themselves a little on those who triumphed over them. the victims of '93, should they not have returned to disturb the sleep of the conquerors? out of the twenty thousand citizens shot by fusillades during the time of the commune of paris i should like to have seen a dozen unceasingly harassing the hon. m. theirs, who was really too puffed up and vain-glorious over his having first permitted the organization of that insurrection and then punished it. why do not children whose death is lamented by their parents ever come to console them? why do our dearest attachments seem to disappear forever? and how about last wills and testaments stolen away, and the last will of the dead ignored and their intentions purposely misinterpreted? "it is only the dead that do not return," says an old proverb. this aphorism is not of absolute application, perhaps; but apparitions are rare, very rare, and we do not understand their precise nature. are they actual apparitions of the dead? it is not yet demonstrated. up to this day, i have sought in vain for certain proof of personal identity through mediumistic communications. and then one does not see why spirits, if they exist around us, should have need of mediums at all, in order to manifest themselves. they surely must form a part of nature, of the universal nature which includes all things. nevertheless, it seems to me that the spiritualistic hypothesis should be preserved by the same right as those i have summed up in the immediately preceding pages, for the discussions have not eliminated it.[94] but why are there manifestations the result of the grouping of five or six persons around the table? that this should be a _sine qua non_ is not a very likely thing either. it may be, it is true, that spirits exist around us, and that it is normally impossible for them to make themselves visible, audible, or tangible, not being able to reflect rays of light accessible to our retina, or to produce sonorous waves, or to effect touches. therefore, certain conditions present in mediums might be necessary for their manifestation. nobody has the right to deny this. but why so many puzzling incoherences and solecisms? i have on a bookshelf before me several thousand communications dictated by "spirits." in the last analysis, a dim obscurity remains hanging over the causes. unknown psychic forces: fugitive entities; vanishing figures; nothing solid to grasp, even for the thought. these things do not yield us the consistency of a definition of chemistry or of a theorem in geometry. a molecule of hydrogen is a granite cliff in comparison. the greater part of the phenomena observed,--noises, movement of tables, confusions, disturbances, raps, replies to questions asked,--are really childish, puerile, vulgar, often ridiculous, and rather resemble the pranks of mischievous boys than serious bona-fide actions. it is impossible not to notice this. why should the souls of the dead amuse themselves in this way? the supposition seems almost absurd. we know that an ordinary man does not change his intellectual or moral value from day to day, and, if his spirit continues to exist after the death of his body, we may expect to find it such as it was before. but why so many oddities and incoherences? however these things may be, it behooves us not to have any preconceived idea, and our bounden duty is to seek to prove the facts as they present themselves to us. the unknown natural force brought into play for the lifting of a table is not the exclusive property of mediums. in different degrees it forms a part of all organisms, with different coefficients, 100 for organisms such as those of home, or eusapia, 80 for others, 50 or 25 for less favored individuals. but i should hold it as certain that it never drops in any case to 0. the best proof of this is that, with patience, perseverance, and the exercise of the will, almost all the groups of experimenters who have seriously occupied themselves with these researches have succeeded in obtaining, not merely movements, but also complete levitations, raps, and other phenomena. the word "medium" scarcely has any longer a reason for being, since the existence of an intermediary between the spirits and us is not yet proved. but still the word may be preserved, logic being the rarest of things in grammar and in everything else that is human. the word "electricity" has had no connection for a long time with amber ([greek: êlektron]), nor the word "veneration" with the genitive case of venus (_veneris_), nor the (at first astrological) term "disaster" with _aster_ (star), nor the word "tragedy" with _goat-song_ ([greek: tragos ôdê]). but this does not hinder these words from being understood in their habitual sense.[95] as respects explanatory hypotheses, i repeat, the field is open to all. it is to be noted that communications dictated are closely related to the condition of mind, the ideas, the opinions, the beliefs, the knowledge, and even the literary culture, of the experimenters. they are like a reflection, or counterpart, of this ensemble of ideas and faculties. compare the communications noted down in the house of victor hugo in jersey, those of the phalansterian society of eugéne nus, those of astronomical meetings, those of religious believers,--catholics, protestants, etc. if the hypothesis were not so bold as to seem unacceptable to us, i should dare to think that the concentration of the thoughts of psychic experimenters creates a momentary intellectual being who replies to the questions asked and then vanishes. _reflection, reflex action?_ that is perhaps the true expression. everybody has seen his image reflected in a mirror, and nobody is astonished by it. however, analyse the thing. the more you look at this optical being moving there behind the mirror, the more remarkable the image appears to you. now suppose looking-glasses had not been invented. if we had not knowledge of those immense mirrors which reflect whole apartments and the visitors in them, if we had never seen anything of the kind, and if someone should tell us that images and reflections of living persons could thus manifest themselves and thus move, we should not comprehend, and should not believe it. yes, the ephemeral personification created in spiritualistic séances sometimes recalls the image that we see in a mirror, which has nothing real in itself, but which yet exists and reproduces the original. the image fixed by the photograph is of the same kind, only durable. the potential image formed at the focus of the mirror of a telescope, invisible in itself, but which we can receive on a level mirror and study, at the same time enlarging it by the microscope of the eye-piece, perhaps approaches nearer to that which seems to be produced by the concentration of the psychical energy of a group of persons. we create an imaginary being, we speak to it, and in its replies it almost always reflects the mentality of the experimenters. and just as with the aid of mirrors we can concentrate light, heat, ether-waves, electric waves, in a focus, so, in the same way, it seems sometimes as if the sitters added their psychic forces to those of the medium, of the dynamogen, condensing the waves, and helping to produce a sort of fugitive being more or less material. the sub-conscious nature, the brain of the medium, or his astral body, the fluidic mind, the unknown powers latent in sensitive organisms, might we not consider these as the mirror which we have just imagined? and might this mirror also not receive and reproduce impressions, or influence, from a soul at a distance? but we must not generalize partial conclusions which we have already had much trouble in defining. i do not say that spirits do not exist: on the contrary, i have reasons for admitting their existence. even certain sensations expressed by the animals,--by dogs, by cats, by horses,--plead in favor of the unexpected and impressive presence of invisible beings or agents. but, as a faithful servant of the experimental method, i think that we ought to exhaust all the simple, natural hypotheses, already known, before having recourse to others. unfortunately, a large number of spiritualists prefer not to go to the bottom of things, or analyse anything, but to be the dupes of nervous impressions. they resemble certain worthy women who tell their beads while believing that they have before them saint agnes or saint filomena. there is no harm in that, says some one. but it is an illusion. let us not be its dupes. if the elementals, the _élémentaires_, the spirits of the air, the gnomes, the spectres of which goethe speaks (following paracelsus in this), exist, they are natural and not supernatural. they are in nature, for nature includes all things. the supernatural does not exist. it is then the duty of science to study this question as it studies all others. as i have already remarked, there are in these different phenomena several causes in action. among these causes the ones that supposes the action to proceed from disembodied spirits, the souls of the dead, is a plausible hypothesis which ought not to be rejected without examination. it seems sometimes to be the most logical; but there are weighty objections to it, and it is of the highest importance to be able to demonstrate it with certainty. its partisans _ought to be the first to approve the severity of the scientific methods which we apply in our studies of the phenomena_, for spiritualism will receive thereby so much the more solid a foundation and will have so much the more value. the illusions and the artless faith of simple souls cannot give it any more solid and substantial basis. the religion of the future will be the religion of science. there is only one kind of truth. sometimes authors are made to say that which they have never said. for my part, i have had frequent proof of this, notably in the case of spiritualism. i should not be surprised if certain interpretations of the pages which precede should come to light, shaped into the opinion that i do not believe in the existence of spirits. yet it will be impossible to find any affirmation of this kind in this work, or in any other published by me. what i say is that the physical phenomena studied in these pages _do not prove_ the existence of spirits, and may probably be explained without them,--that is, by unknown forces emanating from the experimenters, and especially from mediums. but these phenomena indicate, at the same time, the existence of a psychical atmosphere or environment. what is this environment? it is indeed very difficult to get a true idea of it, since we are not able to apprehend it by any of our senses. it is also very difficult not to admit it in view of the multitude of psychical phenomena. if we admit the survival of individual souls, what becomes of these souls? where are they? it may be replied that the conditions of space and of time in which our material senses exist do not represent the real nature of space and time, that our estimates and our measures are essentially relative, that the soul, the spirit, the thinking entity, does not occupy space. still, we may consider also that pure spirit does not exist, that it is attached to a substance occupying a certain point. we may also consider that all souls are not equal; that there is a superior and inferior class; that certain human beings are scarcely conscious of their existence; that superior souls, being self-conscious, as well after death as during life, preserve their entire individuality, have the power of continuing their evolution, of voyaging from world to world and adding to their moral and intellectual growth by successive reincarnations. but the others, the unconscious souls, are they more advanced the day after death than the day before? why should death bestow upon them any perfection? why should it make a genius out of an imbecile? how could it make a good man out of a bad one? why should it turn an ignoramus into a wise man? how could it make a shining light out of an intellectual nobody? these unconscious souls,--that is to say, the multitude,--do they not disappear at death into the surrounding ether, and do they not constitute a kind of psychic atmosphere, in which a subtle analysis can discover spiritual as well as material elements? if the psychic force performs an action in the existing order of things, it is as worthy of consideration as the different forms of energy in operation in the ether. without, then, admitting the existence of spirits to be demonstrated by the phenomena, we feel that these do not all belong to a simply material order,--physiological, organic, cerebral,--but that there is _something else_ involved, something else inexplicable in the actual state of our knowledge. but a something else of the psychical order. perhaps we shall be able to go a little farther, some day, in our independent impartial researches, guided by the experimental scientific method, denying nothing in advance, but admitting whatever is proved by sufficient observation. * * * * * to sum up: _in the actual state of our knowledge it is impossible to give a complete, total, absolute, final explanation of the observed phenomena_. the spiritualistic hypothesis ought not to be dismissed. still, we may admit the survival of the soul without necessarily admitting a physical communication between the dead and the living. but then all the observed facts leading up to the affirmation of this communication are worthy of the most serious attention of the philosopher. one of the chief difficulties in the way of these communications seems to be the condition itself of the soul freed from bodily senses. it would have other ways of perceiving. it would not see, hear, touch. how then can it enter into relation with our senses? there is a whole problem in that which is not to be neglected in the study of any psychical manifestations whatever. we take our ideas to be realities. this is a mistake. for example, to our senses the air is not a solid body; we pass through it without effort, while we cannot pass through an iron door. the converse is true of electricity: it passes through iron, and finds the air to be a solid impassible body. to the electrician, a wire is a canal leading electricity across the solid rock of the air. glass is opaque to electricity and transparent to magnetism. the flesh is transparent to the x-rays, while glass is opaque, etc. we feel the need of explaining everything, and we are driven to admit only the phenomena of which we have had an explanation; but that does not prove that our explanations are valid. thus for example, if some one had affirmed the possibility of instantaneous communication between paris and london, before the invention of the telegraph, people would have regarded the assertion as utopian. later it would not have been admitted, except on condition of the existence of a wire between the two stations, and any communication without the medium of an electric wire would have been declared impossible. now that we have wireless telegraphy we can apply this discovery to the explanation of the phenomena of telepathy. but it is not yet proved that this explanation is the true one. why do we wish to explain these phenomena at all hazards? because we naïvely imagine that we are able to do so in the present state of our knowledge. the physiologists who claim to see daylight in this matter are like ptolemy persisting in accounting for the movements of the heavenly bodies by holding to the idea of the immobility of the earth; or galileo explaining the attraction of amber by the rarefaction of the surrounding air; or lavoisier seeking (with the common people) the origin of aërolites in thunder storms or denying their existence; or galvani, who saw in his frogs a _special_ organic electricity. i put my physiologists in good company, surely, and they have nothing of which to complain. but who does not feel that this natural propensity to explain everything is not justified, that science progresses from age to age, that what is not known to-day will be known later, and that we ought sometimes to know how to wait? the phenomena of which we are speaking are manifestations of the universal dynamism, with which our five senses put us very imperfectly in relation. we live in the midst of an unexplored world, in which the psychical forces play a role still very insufficiently investigated. these forces are of a class superior to the forces usually analyzed in mechanics, in physics, in chemistry: they are of the psychical order, have in them something vital and a kind of mentality. they confirm what we know from other sources,--that the purely mechanical explanation of nature is insufficient and that there is in the universe something else than so-called matter. it is not matter that rules the world: it is a dynamic and psychic element. what light will the study of these still unexplained forces shed upon the origin of the soul and upon the conditions of its survival? that is something that the future has to teach us. the truth that the soul is a spiritual entity distinct from the body is proved by other arguments. these arguments are not made for the purpose of injuring this doctrine; but while confirming it and while putting in clear light the application of psychic forces, they still do not solve the great problem by the material proofs that we should like to have. however, if the study of these phenomena has not yet yielded all that is claimed for it, nor all that it will in the future yield, we still cannot help recognizing that it has considerably enlarged the sphere of psychology, and that the knowledge of the nature of the soul and of its faculties has been once for all expanded under grander and deeper skies and wider horizons. there is in nature, especially in the domain of life, in the manifestation of instinct in vegetables and animals, in the general soul of things, in humanity, in the cosmic universe, a psychic element which appears more and more in modern studies, especially in researches in telepathy, and in the observation of the unexplained phenomena which we have been studying in this book. this element, this principle, is still unknown to contemporary science. but, as in so many other cases, it was divined by the ancients. besides the four elements fire, water, air and earth, the ancients admitted a fifth, belonging to the material order, which they named _animus_, the soul of the world, the animating principle, ether. "aristotle" (writes cicero, _tuscul. quaest._ i. 22), "after having mentioned the four kinds of material elements, believes that we ought to admit a fifth kind from which the soul proceeds; for, since the soul and the intellectual faculties cannot reside in any of the material elements, we must admit a fifth kind, which had not yet received a name and which he styles _entelechy_; that is to say, eternal and continued movement." the four material elements of the ancients have been dissected by modern analysis. the fifth is perhaps more fundamental. citing the philosopher zeno, the same orator adds that this wise man did not admit this fifth principle, which might be compared to fire. but, from all the evidence, fire and thought are two distinct things. virgil has written in the _æneid_ (book vi) these admirable verses which are known to everybody: principio coelum ac terras camposque liquentes lucentemque globum lunae titaniaque astra spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per artus mens agitat molem, _et magno se corpore miscet_. martianus capella, like all the authors of the first centuries of christianity, mentions this directive force, also calling it the fifth element, and furthermore describes it under the name "ether." a roman emperor, well known to the parisians, since it was in their city (in the palace built by his grandfather near the present _thermes_, or old roman baths) that he was proclaimed emperor in the year 360 (i mean julian, called the apostate), celebrates this fifth principle in his discourse in honor of the "the sun, the monarch,"[96] styling it sometimes the solar principle, sometimes the soul of the world, or intellectual principle, sometimes ether, or the soul of the physical world. this psychical element is not confounded by the philosophers with god and providence. in their eyes, it is something which forms part of nature. * * * * * one more word before closing. human nature is endowed with faculties as yet little explored, that the observations made with mediums, or dynamogens, bring to light--such as human magnetism, hypnotism, telepathy, clairvoyance, and premonition. these unknown psychic forces are worthy of being embraced within the scope of scientific analysis. at present they have been almost as little studied as in the time of ptolemy, and have not yet found their kepler, and their newton, yet fairly obtrude themselves upon our notice, and cry out to be examined. many another unknown force will be revealed. the earth and the planets were circling about the sun in their harmonious orbits while astronomical theories saw in them only a complicated whirl of seventy-nine crystalline shells. magnetism was encircling the earth with its currents long before the invention of the mariner's compass which reveals them to us. the waves of wireless telegraphy existed long before they were arrested in their flight. the sea was moaning along its shores ages before the ear of any being had come to hear it. the stars were darting their rays through the ether before any human eye had been raised to them. the observations set forth in this work prove that the conscious will, or desire, on the one hand, and the subliminal consciousness on the other hand, exert an influence, or perform work, beyond the limits of our body. the nature of the human soul is still a deep mystery to science and to philosophy. it seems rather remarkable that the conclusions drawn from my labors here are the same as those of my work _the unknown_, which were founded upon the examination of the phenomena of telepathy, apparitions of the dying, communications at a distance, premonitory dreams, etc. indeed, the following deductions were drawn at the close of that volume: 1. _the soul exists as a real entity independent of the body._ 2. _it is endowed with faculties still unknown to science._ 3. _it is able to act at a distance, without the intervention of the senses._ the conclusions of the present work concord with those of the former, and yet the subjects studied in this are entirely different from the subject-matter of that. i may sum up the whole matter with the single statement that there exists in nature, in myriad activity, a _psychic element_ the essential nature of which is still hidden from us. i shall be happy for my part, if i have helped to establish by these two works the above important principle, exclusively based upon the scientific verification of certain phenomena studied by the experimental method. index academy of sciences, its scepticism xvi, 19, investigates angelica cottin, 224 _et seq._ acoustic mediumistic phenomena,--cases of, 71, 73, 89, 96, 112, 121, 144, 163, 167, 183, 274, 292, 299, 369, 373, 374, 378, 380. aksakof, alexander, 63, 151, 178; cited, 55, 66, 188, 435; his account of alleged spirit communication regarding satellites of uranus, 50-52. albert the great, xxi. alcofribaz nazier, anagram signature of rabelais, _q.v._ alterations in weight of bodies in mediumistic phenomena (including variations in scales without contact), 88, 153, 173, 199, 354, 413, 414. animism vs. spiritism, 187 _et seq._ antoniadi, m., report on e. paladino, 109-111. apparitions, 419. _see also_, materializations. apports (objects brought in from outside the séance room), 99, 112, 186, 187, 292, 373, 378, 380. arago, 178; investigates angelica cottin, 223; alleged spirit communication from, 389. aristotle, quoted, 450. armelin g., report on e. paladino, 103-109. ascensi m., 143. astral body, 166. astronomical discoveries, xvi. automatic writing and drawing, theories of, 26-30, 58 _et seq._;--methods of, 28; by victorien sardou, 25, 46;--by camille flammarion, 26, 47-49; reflect the thoughts of the experimenter, 49 _et seq._; by children, 274; other cases, 384-387. azam, dr., 141; ---felida's case, 59. babinet, m., 266; report on angelica cottin, 224-227; de gasparin's criticisms of, 260-265. baclé, louis ("louis elbé"), 368. baschet, réné, 34, 98, 101, 103, 128; arms partial materialization, 131. basilewska, m. and mme., 98, 101. bianchi, m., 147. binet, alfred, 188. bisschofsheim, mme., 101. blech family, hold sittings with e. paladino, 63-84, 173. bloch, andre, 84, 93, 101. bois, jules, 84, 103, 128, 203. boisseaux, mme., 173. boissier, edmond, 27. bourrer, m., 141. boutigny, m., 114. brédif, c., medium, 196. brisson, adolphe, 95, 98, 101, 103, 114, 128, 200, 203; report on e. paladino. brisson, mme. a., 93, 95, 101, 103, 114. buffern, prof., 151. buguet, medium, 196. burot, 141. cactoni, m. and mme., 368. calonne, xvi. castex-dégrange, m., 437; reports of mediumistic phenomena, 381-393. charcot, dr., 4. chardon, dr. beaumont, notes on angelica cottin, 223. chevigny, countess de, 101. chevreul, m., 266. chiaia, prof. e., first obtains impressions in clay through paladino, 78; challenges lombroso to investigate paladino, 136. cicero, quoted, 450. claretie, jules, 45, 98; report on e. paladino, 98-101. coleman, benjamin, 334. cook, florence, medium (afterwards mrs. elgie corner), remarkable case of materialization, 334; investigated by crookes, 335-347. cottin, angelica, the electric girl, 219; dr. tanchou's report of, 220-222; notes of m. hebert, 222; dr. beaumont chardon, 223; academy of sciences investigates, 224-227. coues, dr. and mrs. elliott; report on mediumistic phenomena, 401-405. crookes, sir william, 65, 121, 196, 297, 305, 358; his experiments in psychical research, 306-347; his mechanical contrivances for testing such phenomena, 308, 318, 319, 322, 323; his views in 1898, 347-351; his theory regarding such phenomena, 408. crystal vision, 292. cumberlandism, 171. curie, pierre, 360. daguerre, an anecdote of, 11. dariex, dr., 63, 173, 218, 368; cited, 3, 210; his opinion of fraud in mediums, 203-205. d'arsouval, prof., 360. darkness as a factor in psychical phenomena, 10-13, 68, 89. davenport brothers, the, xi, xiii, xiv, xxi. delanee, g., 84, 98, 101, 375. delfour, abbe, cited, 398. delgaiz, raphael, husband of eusapia paladino, 67. desbeaux, emilie, 173. dialectical society of london, its organization, 289; its experiments in psychical research, 291-302; huxley declines to join, 290; flammarion's letter to, 302-304. divination of numbers, 240, 249 _et seq._ double personality, an hypothesis for spiritistic communication, 58 _et seq._; dr. pierre janet's studies in, 60. drayson, gen. a. w., on solution of scientific problems by spirits, 50 _et seq._; errors of, 53, 55. duclaux, e., 438. du prel, dr. charles, 151. dusart, dr., 289. dynamic theory of matter, 427. eglington, medium, 196. ephrussi, m., 101. ermacora, dr., 151. faith not a necessity in psychic phenomena, 279. faraday, 188, 259, 262, 266. felida, case of double personality, 59. finzi, m., 151. flammarion, camille, some scientific researches of, vi; early writings on _unknown natural forces_, xi; experiments with eusapia paladino, 5-23, 63-134; acquaintance with allan kardec, 24 _et seq._; automatic writing by, 26; delivers funeral oration of kardec, 30; experiments with mme. huet, 36 _et seq._; letter to london dialectical society, 302-304; his "general inquiry" concerning unexplained phenomena, 376; some specimen cases, 377-405. fluidic action, theories of, 166, 179, 253, 258, 282, 422, 427. fluidic projection of limbs, etc. _see_ materializations. fontenay, guillaume de, 3, 21, 84, 95, 368; participates in paladino sittings, 69-83, 123; his dynamic theory of matter, 427-431. foucault, m., 264. fourth dimension, 420. fourton, mme., 93, 95, 98, 101, 103, 114, 128, 202. fox sisters, case of the, 34. fox, miss, automatic communication by, 437. fraud in mediums, 194, _et seq._ frauenhofer, cited, 19. fremy, m., cited, xix. fresnel, 190. fulton's invention of steamboat, xvi. gagneur, mme., 98, 101. galileo, alleged spiritistic communication from, 26, 47-49; his erroneous theory for frictional attraction, 188, 189. galvani's experiments in electricity, xvi. gasparin, count agenor de, 305; experiments with moving tables, 229-253; his hypotheses, 253-258, 408; his rejoinder to babinet's negations, 258-265; prof. thury's comments on, 268, 273, 276, 279, 282 _et seq._ geley, dr., his hypothesis of subliminal consciousness, 434. gerosa, prof., 151. gigli, m., 143. girardin, mme. de, 61. gramont, count de, 173. grasset, dr., his opinion on pyschical phenomena, 409. grove, quoted, xix. guerronnan, a., 173. gully, dr., 334. hallucination, collective, does not satisfactorily account for phenomena, 130, 179. harrison, william, 334. hartman, dr. von, 435. hebert, m., note on angelica cottin, 322. herschel, william, 50. herschel, sir john, cites, 50. hodgson, dr. richard, 305. home, daniel dunglas, 195, 437; experiments with an accordion, 121; crooke's investigation of, 307-322; 324-334; declares miss cook an impostor, 343. huet, mme., mediumistic experiments with, 36 _et seq._ hugo, leopoldine, alleged spirit communication of, 212, _et seq._ hugo, victor, 61, 212, 443. husson, m., 263. huxley, t. h., his letter declining to join in psychical research, 290. hyslop, prof. james h., 305; his opinion on phenomena, 409. impressions in plastic substances, 420; photographs of, 76, 138; cases of, 22, 74-78, 158, 163, 184. institute, its disregard of papers on table-movements, 263. invisible hands, action of, 418. _see also_, acoustic phenomena, _and_ materializations (tactile). intelligence manifested in mediumistic phenomena, 421. james, prof. william, 305. janet, dr. pierre, 60, 188. joncières, victorin, 437; reports mediumistic phenomena, 378-381. joubert, m., 37, 42. jouffroy's invention of the steamboat, xvi. julian the apostate, cited, 451. jupiter, sardou's drawings of landscapes in, 25, 45. kardec, allan, his society for spiritualistic study, 24; death of, 30; his funeral oration by flammarion, 30-32. kepler, 55. king, john, alleged spirit control of e. paladino, 71, 78, 141, 169; a psychic double of paladino, 166. king, katie, a materialized spirit, 141; appears to florence cook and others, 334; investigated by crookes and other scientist, 335-346; home's opinion of her, 343. labadye, countess de, 103. lacroix, medium, 196. laplace, 51. lateau, louise, stigmata of, 20. laurent, m., 101. lebel, m., 218. le bocain, m., 114; report on e. paladino, 116-118. le bou, dr. gustave, report on e. paladino, 101-103. lemerle, m., 368. leverrier, 213. leymarie, paul, 218. levitations, 5-8, 33, 79, 80, 118, 414-416; photographs of, 6, 83, 156, 368; denied by one sitter, 132; the flour test of 1. without contact, 247, 248; cases of, 6, 17, 70, 73, 74, 83, 88, 91, 93, 94, 96, 99, 104, 105, 111, 113, 114, 144-147, 154-156, 160, 164, 167, 174, 180, 183-87, 204, 229, 232, 236, 238, 239, 240-248, 292, 354, 357, 364, 368-370, 373, 379, 380, 403. lévy, arthur, 200; report on e. paladino, 86-92. lévy, mme. a., 200. levy, j. h., 289. lewes, george henry, 290. lifting of weights, etc., 413. _see also_, levitation. lamoncelli, m., 147. lodge, sir oliver, 63, 65, 305; his opinion of paladino's phenomena, 167. lomatsch, j., 372. lombroso, cesare, 63, 151, 178, 188; prof. chiaia invites examination of paladino, 136; investigates paladino, 143-150; his theories regarding the phenomena, 150, 409. louis xiv, a fable of, 43. lubbock, sir john, 289. luminous mediumistic phenomena, cases of, 74, 97, 105, 108, 125, 148, 186, 198, 371. luxmore, mr., 334, 335. luys, dr., 4. mairet, m., 98. mangin, marcel, 162, 173, 218; his opinion on psychical phenomena, 410. marcianus capella, cited, 451. marks produced at a distance, 167. mars, discovery of satellites of, 55. martelet, adele, relates an incident of alfred de musset, 398. materializations, theory of fluidic projection of limbs, etc., 121 _et seq._, 166, 198, 208. cases of: (a) tactile:--of hands or arms, 71, 72, 89, 97, 98, 101, 106-108, 111, 113, 116-118, 124, 146, 148, 160, 167, 174, 181, 186, 292, 371, 374; of heads, 73, 89, 115, 161, 177, 187, 371. (b) visible:--of hands and arms, 10, 73, 116, 159, 175, 185, 292; of heads and busts, 21, 72, 115, 128, 177, 185, 366; of complete figure, "katie king," 334-346. mathieu, georges, 93, 101, 200; report on e. paladino, 111-114. " p. f., 37. matter passing through matter, _see_ solid. maxwell, dr. joseph, 63, 172, 173. extracts from his investigations, 360-368; his opinions, 410. mediums, cheating of professional, 3, 207; their conscious and unconscious deception, 4; use of the word, 5; their will and health as factors, 14; pecuniary temptations of, 157. _see also_, brédif, florence cook, angelica cottin, davenport brothers, eglington, fox sisters, daniel d. home, mme. huet, allan kardee, a. politi, e. paladino, anna rothe, sambor, slade, mrs. williams, mme. x. mediumistic phenomena, a chapter in physics, 2; effects of antipathy of by slanders, 15; genuineness of, 21, 184; reflections upon those of paladino, 118 _et seq._; experiments with an accordion, 121 _et seq._; confirmatory of magnetism rather than hypnotism, 166; always of psycho-physical nature, 166; hypothesis of fluidic double (astral body), 166, 179; fraud in, 194 _et seq._; agency is in the person, not in the object, 254; mechanical tests of, by prof. thury, 269 _et seq._; by sir william crookes, 306 _et seq._; unconscious muscular action considered, 280; no indications of electricity in, 281; experiments of london dialectical society, 291-303; sir william crookes' experiments, 306-347; his opinions of, 347-351; investigations of alfred russel wallace, 353-359; of dr. j. maxwell, 359-368; of other scientists, 368-375; popular ignorance of, 406 _et seq._; recapitulation of scientist's theories regarding, 408; recapitulation of phenomena with flammarion's comments, 411-423 _et seq._; subliminal consciousness as a factor in, 433 _et seq._; dr. von hartmann's hypothesis, 435; aksakof's reply, 435; of mixed character, 438. _see also_, acoustic phenomena, alteration in weight, apparitions, apports, automatic writing, fluidic action, impressions, invisible hands, levitations, luminous phenomena, materializations, movement of objects, ordeals, predictions, raps, solid passing through solid, spirit communications, spiritualism, thermal radiations, typtology, touchings, writing produced at a distance. méry, gaston, 84, 95, 375. miller, american medium, 375. milési, prof., 368. mind, action of, upon matter, 283 _et seq._, 365. molière, xiv., quoted, 264, 265. montaigne, 1. morgan, prof., 297-359; accepts spiritistic theory, 409. morselli, prof. enrico, 188; investigates e. paladino, 177-192. mouchez, admiral, 197, 213. mouzay, countess de, 211. movements of natural objects, in mediumistic phenomena, 411-416; cases of, 9, 17, 70-74, 88, 90, 91, 93, 95-99, 105, 106, 108, 109, 111-114, 125, 126, 144, 147, 148, 156, 157, 163, 165, 167, 175, 176, 181-183, 185, 187, 234, 237, 271, 274, 275, 293, 295, 297, 299-301, 353, 354, 358, 359, 369, 370, 371, 373, 378, 382, 383, 398, 399, 403. musset, alfred de, 398. myers, f. w. h., 63, 162, 305, 350; on subliminal consciousness, 433, 434. newton, cited, 19. nus, eugène, 61, 443. ochorowicz, dr. julien, 63, 162, 188; his studies of eusapia paladino, 76-78; his conclusions, 166, 409; condemns the rejection of paladino by english scientists, 168; his explanation of her substitution of hands, 170. ordeals, 292. ostwald, dr., arranges séance with e. paladino, 15. paladino, eusapia (mme. raphael delgaiz), 2, 3; her exhaustion after phenomena, 7; her fraud (conscious and unconscious), 10; influence of her health on experiments, 15; darkness demanded for best results, 10, 68, 89; her personality and history, 67, 86, 87, 140; flammarion's estimate of the comparative authenticity of her phenomena, 70; unknown natural forces evidenced, 80, 152; investigated by flammarion, 5-23, 63-134; by lombroso, 143-150; by enrico morselli, and françois porro, 177-192; by other scientists, at milan, 151 _et seq._; at other places, 162 _et seq._; m. antoniadi considers her phenomena fraudulent, 109-111; unsuccessful attempt to photograph fluidic hand, 123; m. l---denies levitations, 132; professor chiaia challenges lombroso to investigate, 136; photographs of facial imprints, 76, 136; her spiritualistic education, 141; her symptoms during the production of phenomena, 142; her sensations, 143; ochorowicz's apparatus to control feet, 164; results of sympathetic trance of a sitter, 165; detected in fraud at cambridge, 168; an incident at ochorowicz's home, 168 _et seq._; her deceptions, their reasons and their relevance to phenomena, 194-211; dr. dariex's opinion of them, 206; her sensitiveness to suggestion, 207. reports on her phenomena by dr. julien ochorowicz, 76-78, 166; by prof. chiaia, 78, 136-140; by arthur lévy, 86-92; adolph brisson, 93, 94; victorien sardou, 95-98; jules claretie, 98-101; gustave le bon, 101-103; g. armelin, 103-109; m. antoniadi, 109-111; m. mathieu, 111-114; m. palotti, 114-116; m. le bocain, 116-118; a. de rochas, 140-143, 174-176; m. ciolfi's account of lombroso's séances, 143-150; the milan scientists, 151-161; m. de siemradski, 163, 164; sir oliver lodge, 167; sully-prudhomme, 176; françois porro's reports of séances with morselli, 177-192. recorded cases of her phenomena. (a) raps (including typtological communications), 8, 13, 17, 70, 75, 80, 105, 114, 144, 145, 147, 175, 203. (b) movements of natural objects (_see also_ (d) apports), 9, 17, 70-74, 88, 90, 91, 93, 95-99, 105, 106, 108, 109, 111-114, 125, 126, 144, 147, 148, 156, 157, 163, 167, 175, 176, 181-183, 185, 187-203, 209, 210. (c) levitations, 6, 16, 70, 73, 74, 83, 88, 91, 93, 94, 96, 99, 104, 105, 111, 113, 114, 144-147, 154-156, 160, 164, 167, 174, 180, 183-187, 204, 364. (d) apports (objects brought in from outside the room), 99, 112, 186, 187. (e) alteration in weight of bodies and variation in weighing apparatus without contact, 88, 153, 173, 191. (f) thermal radiations, 115, 117, 125, 186. (g) acoustic phenomena (sounds other than raps q.v.), 71, 73, 89, 96, 112, 144, 163, 167, 183, 209, 210. (h) writing and marks produced at a distance, 167. (i) impressions in plastic substances, 22, 74-78, 158, 163, 184; photographs of, 76. (j) luminous phenomena, 74, 97, 105, 108, 125, 148, 186, 199. (k) trance speaking, 71, 160. (l) materializations. (i) tactile,--of hands and arms, 71, 72, 89, 97, 98, 101, 106-108, 111, 113, 116-118, 124, 146, 148, 160, 167, 174, 181, 186; of heads, 73, 89, 115, 161, 177, 187. (ii) visible,--of hands of arms, 10, 73, 116, 159, 175, 185; of heads and busts, 21, 72, 115, 128, 177, 185, 366. (m) a solid passing through a solid substance, 107, 128. (n) cases apparently produced by fraud, 200. palotti, m., report on e. paladino, 114-116. palotti, mme., 114. pelletier, m., 220. penta, dr., 147. phaedrus, quoted, xx. phalansterians, the, 61, 443. phantoms, 419, _see also_ materializations. plautus, xiv. politi, auguste, mediums, his phenomena, 368-371. poggenpohl, m. de, 373, 374. porro, françois, report on e. paladino, 177-192; his theories, 409. predictions, 293, 384, 385. psychical research, utility of, v, viii, 2, 30-32; the sceptic's attitude toward, vii; ignorance of critics of, xii, xv; scientists unwilling to recognize phenomena, 18-20; value of cumulative testimony in, 191; necessity of eliminating fraud in, 194; society for, 305. psychological institute invites e. paladino to paris, 3. rabelais, 1; alleged spirit communications from, 38-40. radioculture, vi. raps (_see also_, typtology), their connection with sitters, 22; hypotheses for, 35; dr. j. maxwell's studies of, 360-364; recapitulation of, 416-418; cases of, 8, 13, 17, 75, 105, 144, 145, 147, 175, 232, 244, 292, 297-301, 353, 357. ravachol, alleged spirit communication from, 213. regnard, quoted, 101. ribero, m., 218. richet, dr. charles, 3, 63, 65, 84, 93, 95, 151, 162, 178, 202, 305; his experiments in algiers, 375; his theory, 409. rochas, count albert de, 63, 84, 95, 162, 203, 289, 368; cited, 3, 135, 179, 188, 198; his theories, 409. rodiere, mme., medium, 196. rothe, anna, medium, 217. rothschild, ed. de, 101. roure, lucien, cited, 398. sabatier, a., 63, 173. sambor, russian medium, his phenomena, 371-374. sardou, victorien, 178, 203, 208; early mediumistic experiences of, 25; letter to jules claretie, 45; report on e. paladino, 95-98; participates in paladino sittings, 123, 124. sayn-wittgenstein, prince, 334. schiaparelli, 4, 63, 82, 151, 178, 194; letter regarding e. paladino, 64. secondary personality, _see_ double personality. sergines, m. de, 101. sexton, dr., 334. sidgwick, prof. henry, 305. siemiradski, m. de, 162; quoted, 163. simmons, mr. and mrs. franklin, 368. sivel the aëronaut, alleged spirit communication from, 213. slade, henry, medium, 66, 420; his fraud, 196. socrates, vii. solid passing through a solid, cases of, 107, 128, 372;--a natural parallel, 130. solovovo, petrovo, describes sambor's phenomena, 371-374. soul, the, xx, 82, 178, 188, 439, 452. spirit communications, 384-389; erroneous, 51, 52, 57; _see also_, automatic writing, raps, trance-speaking. spiritualism (spiritism), 194; its immateriality in psychical research, xx, 80; has never taught anything new, 26, 436; not proven by paladino phenomena, 166; dilemma between animism and, 188, 435; porro's opinion of its relation to paladino, 190 _et seq._; de gasparin's arguments against, 285; thury's comments on, 285 _et seq._; spiritistic hypothesis accepted by cromwell varley, 305, 409, by wallace, 409, by prof. morgan, 409; spirits not necessarily souls of dead, 431; still a working hypothesis, 439, 447; arguments against its probability, 439 _et seq._ squanquarillo, joseph, 368. stewart, prof. balfour, 305. stock, georges, 50. subliminal consciousness, myers on, 433, 434; dr. geeley's hypothesis, 434; does not depend upon organism, 435. sully-prudhomme, 173. syamour, mme., 101. table movements, 411-413. _see also_, levitation _and_ movements of natural objects. taine, quoted, 58. tamburini, m., 144. tanchou, dr., report on angelica cottin, 219-222. tapp, mr., 345. taton, m., 368. telekinesis, 61. thermal radiations (sensations of heat or cold in mediumistic phenomena), 115, 117, 125, 186. thury, marc, his researches into physical phenomena, 266-287; his experiments, 269-276; his theories, 276-287, 408. touchings in mediumistic phenomena, 418. _see also_, materializations (tactile). trance speaking, cases of, 71, 160, 293. typtology (intelligible communications by raps), code for, 8; results generally tally, knowledge of the experimenters, 14, 37, 57; apparently an extension of hand and brain, 33; received through mme. huet, 37 _et seq._; answers to unknown questions evidently guess-work, 240; specimens of, 38-43, 70, 80, 114, 147, 203, 212, 237, 292, 293, 297-301, 355, 356, 380, 403, 437. _see also_, raps. unknown natural forces, v, xvii, 1-23, 2, 18; extracts from flammarion's monograph on, xi-xxi; evinced in e. paladino's phenomena, 80, 192; hypotheses regarding, 81, 406 _et seq._; danger of too great scepticism against recognition of, 188 _et seq._; not the exclusive property of mediums, 442. uranus, the satellites of, spiritistic communications regarding, 50-57. vacquerie, charles, 213. varennes, m. and mlle. de, 95. varley, cromwell f., 291, 297, 359; accepts spiritistic hypothesis, 305, 409. vignon, louis, 98, 101. virchow, cited, 20. virgil, quoted, 451. vizioli, m., 143. voltaire, 1. wagner, prof., 162. wallace alfred russel, 65, 290, 297, 437; accepts spiritistic theory, 409. watteville, baron de, 63, 173, 218;--his investigations of mediumistic phenomena, 353-359. weber, a., 372. wellemberg, m., 218. will, the, its influence upon phenomena, 273 _et seq._, 365. williams, mrs., medium, 218, 219. wolf, m., 218. writing and marks produced at a distance, 167, 356, 371, 373, 379. x., mme., mediumistic séance with, 211-216. zeno, cited, 450. zöllner, prof., 66, 178, 196, 420. footnotes: [1] sosie is a character in plautus and molière. hermes takes sosie's form, and, when the latter sees his double, he almost doubts his own identity. so the word came to mean a counterpart, a double, one's _alter ego_.--_trans._ [2] this seems to be a reference to the wardrobe used by the early spiritualists as a cabinet in their demonstrations in public halls.--_trans._ [3] the cock scratching for grain finds a pearl. [4] in order that i may at once place before the eyes of my readers documentary evidence of these experiments, i reproduce here (pl. i) a photograph taken at my apartments on the 12th of november in 1898. any one can perceive by the horizontality of the arms, as well as by the distance between the feet of the table and the floor, that the elevation is from six to eight inches. the precise distance is marked on the figure itself,--a measurement taken the next day by propping up the table, with the aid of books, in the same position as it was. the medium has her two feet wholly under my right foot, while at the same time her knees are under my right hand. her hands are upon the table grasped by my left hand and by that of the other critical observer or "control" (_contrôleur_), who has just placed a cushion before her to shield her very sensitive eyes from the flash of the magnesium light, and thus save her from a disagreeable nervous attack. these photographs, taken rapidly by magnesium light, are not perfect, but they are records. [5] see _l'inconnu_, pp. 20-29. [6] certain book-shops in paris.--_trans._ [7] oration delivered at the grave of allan kardec, by camille flammarion, paris, didier, 1869, pp. 4, 17, 22. [8] the author means, of course, by this phrase (_milieu ambiant_), the totality of psychic force present, the psychological atmosphere, the total mind-energy radiated by the several more or less sensitive or mediumistic members of the company.--_trans._ [9] this communication is given in english by the author.--_trans._ [10] alcofribaz nazier is well known as rabelais' anagram, formed from his own name. it was the signature under which he published his _pantagruel_.--_trans._ [11] a piece of typtological dictation of the same kind has been recently sent to me. here it is: iutptuoloer eirfieuebn ssoagprsti read successively, from top to bottom, one letter of each line, beginning on the left, and the sense will appear as follows: "je suis trop fatiguê pour les obtenir." ("i am too tired to obtain them.") [12] this and the next dictation are rhymed verse in the original french.--_trans._ [13] in rhymed verses in the original.--_trans._ [14] a word of recent origin, meaning ambitious or pretentious people who want "to arrive," the _would-be's_. the word forms the title of a recent french novel, _l'arriviste_, and (translated) of an english one called _the climber_.--_trans._ [15] so in the original. possibly m. sardou was under the mistaken impression that gulliver was a nom-de-plume for dean swift.--_trans._ [16] this inclination is really 82°, reckoning from the south, or 98° (90 + 8°), counting from the north (see fig. a). [17] i have just found in my library a book which was sent to me in 1888 by the author, major-general drayson, the title of which is _thirty thousand years of the earth's past history, read by aid of the discovery of the second rotation of the earth_. this second rotation would take place about an axis the pole of which would be 29° 25' 47" from the pole of the daily rotation, about 270 right ascension, and would be accomplished in 32,682 years. the author seeks to explain it by the glacial periods and variations of climate. but his work is full of confusions most strange and even unpardonable in a man versed in astronomical studies. the truth is that this general drayson (who died several years ago) was not an astronomer. [18] _intelligence_, vol. i., preface, p. 16, edition of 1897. the first edition was published in 1868. [19] all those who occupy themselves with these questions are acquainted, among other cases, with that of felida (studied by dr. azam). in the story of this young girl she is shown as endowed with two distinct personalities to such an extent that, in the second state, she becomes amorous ... and enceinte, without knowing anything about it in her normal condition. these states of double personalities have been methodically observed for thirty years. [20] _psychological automatism_, p. 401-402. [21] see pl. iv. and v. i preserve with care a plaster cast of this imprint. [22] a. de rochas, _the externalization of motivity_, fourth edition, 1906, p. 406. [23] the reports of the sittings at montfort-l'amaury form the subject of a remarkable work by m. guillaume de fontenay, _apropos of eusapia paladino_, one vol., 8vo. illustrated, paris, 1898. [24] the respective places of the persons were not always those of the photographs. thus, at the time of the production of the imprint, m. g. de fontenay was at the right of eusapia, and m. blech at the same end of the table. [25] in the following sitting, of november 12, m. antoniadi writes (with an excellent corroborative sketch): "phenomenon observed with absolute certainty; the violin was thrown upon the table, twenty inches above the head of eusapia." [26] this is absolutely true, says my son, who is reading over these lines. [27] during the correction of the proofs of these sheets (oct., 1906), i received from dr. gustave le bon the following note: "at the time of her last sojourn in paris (1906), i was able to obtain from eusapia three séances at my house. i besought one of the keenest observers that i know, m. dastre,--a member of the academy of science and professor of physiology at the sorbonne,--to be kind enough to be present at our experiments. there were present also my assistant, m. michaux, and the lady to whose kind offices i owe the presence of eusapia. "besides the levitation of the table, we several times, and almost in full light, saw a hand appear. at first it was about two inches and a half above eusapia's head, then at the side of the curtain which partly covered her, about twenty inches from her shoulder. "we then organized, for the second séance, our methods of control. they were altogether decisive. thanks to the possibility of producing behind eusapia an illumination which she did not suspect, we were able to see one of her arms, very skilfully withdrawn from our control, move along horizontally behind the curtain and touch the arm of m. dastre, and another time give me a slap on the hand. "we concluded from our observations that the phenomena observed had nothing supernatural about them. "as to the levitation of the table,--an extremely light one, placed before eusapia, and which her hands scarcely left,--we have not been able to formulate any decisive explanation. i will only observe that eusapia admitted that it was impossible for her to displace the slightest one of the very light objects placed upon that table." after writing this note, m. g. le bon said to me verbally that, in his opinion, everything in these experiments is fraud. [28] to these eight séances i might add a ninth, which took place on the succeeding december 5, in the study of prof. richet. nothing remarkable occurred, unless it was the inflation, in full light, of a window curtain, which was about twenty-four inches from eusapia's foot, my foot and leg being between it and her. the observation was absolutely accurate. [29] to what cause may we attribute the levitation of the table? we have undoubtedly not yet discovered the secret. the action of gravity may be counterbalanced by movement. you can amuse yourself, while at breakfast or dinner, by toying with a knife. if you hold it vertically in your tightly closed hand, its weight is counterbalanced by the pressure of the hand and it does not fall. open your hand, still holding the knife grasped by the thumb and index finger, and it will slide as if it were in a too large tube. but move the hand by a rapid see-saw movement, from left to right, from right to left: you will thus create a centrifugal force which holds the object in vertical suspension, and which may even toss it above your hand and project it into the air, if the movement is rapid enough. what, then, sustains the knife, annihilates its weight? force. might it not be that the influence of the experimenters seated around the table puts in special movement the molecules of the wood? they are already set in vibration by variations of temperature. these molecules are particles infinitely small which do not touch each other. might not a molecular movement counterbalance the effect of gravity? i do not present this as an explanation, but as an illustrative suggestion (_comme une image_). [30] m. chiaia has sent me photographs of these prints. i reproduce some of them here (pl. vii). [31] the word "trance" has been given to the peculiar state into which mediums fall when they lose the consciousness of their environment. it is a kind of somnambulistic sleep. [32] _annales des sciences psychiques_, 181, p. 326. [33] however, some doubt may remain. in my photographs, also (pl. i. and vi.), the foot of the table at the left of the medium is concealed. as i myself was at this very place, i am sure that the medium was unable to lift the table with her foot, for _this foot was held under mine_, not by a rod or by any support whatever; for i had a hand upon her legs, _which did not move_. the objection is moreover refuted by the experiment which i made on the 29th of march, 1906 (see p. 6), of a levitation, with eusapia standing,--an experiment which had been made before on the 27th of july, 1897, at monfort-l'amaury (see p. 82), the feet, very naturally, being visible. hence there can be no doubt whatever about the complete levitation of the table floating in space. aksakof obtained a levitation, in the séances at milan, after having tied eusapia's feet with two strings, the ends of which were short and had been sealed to the floor very near each foot. farther on the reader will be given proof of other undeniable instances, among others, at pp. 164, 165. [34] i hear very often the following objection: "i shall only believe in mediums who are not remunerated; all those who are paid are under suspicion." eusapia belongs to these last. being without fortune, she never visits a city unless her travelling and hotel expenses are paid. she also loses her time, and is submitted to a not very agreeable inquisition. for my part, i do not admit the above objection at all. the physical and intellectual faculties have nothing in common with money-getting. it will be said that the medium is interested in deceiving and tricking: it increases her fees. but there are a good many other temptations in the world. i have seen unpaid mediums, men and women of society, cheat without any scruple, from pure vanity, or for a purpose still less fit to be avowed,--for the mere pleasure of trapping some one. the séances of spiritualism have been made to serve useful and agreeable ends in fashionable society--and more than one marriage has originated there. we must be as sceptical about one class of mediums as about another. [35] these reports were published in detail in the work of m. de rochas on _the externalization of motivity_, 4th edition, 1906, p. 170. [36] i will add, for the benefit of those who wish to try some of these psychic experiments, that the best conditions for success are to have a homogeneous, impartial, and sincere group, free from every preconceived idea, and not exceeding five or six persons in number. it is absurd to object that, in order to obtain the phenomena, _one must have faith_. but, while positive belief is not necessary, it is yet advisable not to exercise any hostile influence during a séance. [37] a very curious experiment made with a letter-weigher took place at l'agnélas. in response to an impromptu suggestion made by m. de gramont, eusapia consented to try whether, by making vertical passes with her hands on each side of the tray of the letter-weigher (going as high as fifty grams), she could not lower it. she succeeded in doing so several times in succession, in the presence of five observers placed about her, who testified that she did not have in her fingers either thread or hair to press upon the tray. [38] published by c. de vesme in his _revue des études psychiques_, 1901. [39] eusapia, as has been said, is unable either to read or write. [40] arago, in 1846, with the "electric girl"; flammarion, in 1861, with allan kardec, then afterwards with different mediums; zöllner, in 1882, with slade; schiaparelli, in 1892 with eusapia; porro, in 1901, with the same medium (_revue des études psychiques_). [41] notably in _uranie_, in _stella_, in _lumen_, in _l'inconnu_. see also above, p. 30 in my _oration at the grave of allen kardec_. [42] slade was sentenced to three months of hard labor, in london, for swindling. he died in a private hospital, in the state of michigan, in september, 1905. [43] _annales des sciences psychiques_, 1896, p. 66. [44] we have already noticed (see p. 149) the practical joke of professor bianchi in a meeting of the most serious investigators. [45] see _annales_, 1896. the report is very rich in records. the door of the wardrobe opened and closed of itself, several times in succession, in synchronism with the movements of the medium's hands, which were at about a yard's distance. a toy piano weighing about two pounds was moved about, and played several airs all alone, etc. [46] a parisian anarchist executed for dynamiting the houses of the judges benoit and bulot. the popular chanson of the anarchists called _la ravachole_ originated in this man's deeds and personality. see alvan sanborn's _paris and the social revolution_, boston, 1905.--_trans._ [47] see also _enquête sur l'authenticité des phénomènes electriques d'angelique cottin_. paris, germer ballière, 1846. also _l'exteriorisation de la motricité_, by albert de rochas. [48] lafontaine, who also studied angelica's case, says that "when she brought her left wrist near a lighted candle, the flame bent over horizontally, as if continually blown upon." (_l'art de magnetiser_, p. 273). m. pelletier observed the same thing in the case of some of his subjects, when they brought the palm of the hand near a candle. specialists call these points "hypnogenic points," from which fluidic streams radiate. [49] arago.--_trans._ [50] _études et lectures sur les sciences d'observations_, vol. ii., 1856. [51] _des tables tournantes, du surnaturel en général, et des esprits, par le comte agénor de gasparin, paris, dentu, 1854._ [52] the lady who soon after was styled "the medium." [53] this was the only table with casters that the operators made use of. [54] the allusion is to faraday's explanation of arago's discovery in the magnetism of rotation. faraday showed that a rotating disk of non-magnetic metal would draw after it in similar rotation a magnetic needle suspended over it, and even a heavy magnet. see professor tyndall's _faraday as a discoverer_, pp. 25, 26.--_trans._ [55] the long scene from which this is taken in molière is so full of italian, old french, and dog latin, that it has not been translated by van laun. all but the last word (_juro_) of each stanza is spoken by the big-wigs in this mock examination of a baccalaureate medical student; that word is his: "do you swear that in all consultations you will be of the ancient opinion, whether it be good or bad?"--"i swear it."--"to never make use of any remedies except those of the learned faculty of medicine, even should the patient burst and die of his disease?"--"i swear it."--_trans._ [56] _"les tables tournantes," considérés au point de vue de la question de physique générale qui s'y rattache. genève, 1855._ [57] _the dynamic force_ necessary to produce this uplift, if we admit that it was developed and accumulated during the five or ten minutes of playing that preceded the phenomenon, would not, on the other hand, be beyond the strength of the child; it would remain even much beneath the limit of his powers. in general, the force expended, in these phenomena of the tables, if one may judge by the degree of fatigue experienced by the operators, much surpasses what would be required to produce the same effects mechanically. there is, therefore, in this respect, no reason for admitting the intervention of a force foreign to the boy's own nature.--(_thury._) [58] in the first experiments of thury, eight persons remained an hour and a half standing, and then seated, around a table, without obtaining the least resulting movement. two or three days after, on their second trial, the same persons, at the end of ten minutes, made a centre-table revolve. finally, on the 4th of may, 1853, at the third or fourth trial, the heaviest tables began to move almost immediately. [59] in the case of difficult tests, when they took place on cold days, a warm spread was stretched over the table, and removed at the moment of the experiment. the operators themselves, before acting, held their hands open for a moment before a stove. [60] report on spiritualism of the committee of the london dialectical society, london: 1871. [61] in one vol. 8vo. paris: leymarie, 1900. [62] see, for example, the january number, 1876: _sidereal astronomy_. [63] especially at nice, in 1881 and 1884. home died in 1886. he was born in 1833, near edinburgh. [64] sir william huggins, an astronomer well known for his discoveries in spectrum analysis. [65] edward william cox. [66] experimental investigation on psychic force, by william crookes, f. r. l., etc., london, henry gilman, 1871. the brochure was translated into french by m. alidel, paris. psychical science publishing house, 1897. [67] the quotation occurs to me--"i never said it was possible, i only said it was true." [68] katie king, _the story of her appearances_. paris, leymarie, 1899. i thought i would not reproduce these photographs here, because they did not seem to me to have come from mr. crookes himself. florence cook died in london on the 2d of april, 1904. [69] on miracles and modern spiritualism, london, 1875, french translation, paris, 1889 (the english word _spiritualism_ is always used here in the sense of _spiritism_). [70] _les phénomènes psychiques._ one vol. 8vo. paris, 1903. [71] as i said on a previous page, psychic forces have as much reality as physical and mechanical ones. [72] this is the same thing that i observed at monfort-l'amaury. see p. 73. [73] the italian journals reproduced a picturesque photograph of the table lifted almost to the height of the ceiling, at the moment it had passed over the heads of the sitters and was turning over (see a. de rochas, _extériorisation de la motricité_, 4th ed.). i do not reproduce it, because it does not seem to me to be authentic. besides, the observers declared that they did not verify this phenomenon until _after_ its pro [74] _annales des sciences psychique_, 1902. [75] several observations published in that work are however, connected in subject with the present one. for instance: a piano playing alone (p. 108), a door opening of itself (p. 112), curtains shaken (p. 125), extravagant gambols of pieces of furniture (p. 133), raps (p. 146), bells ringing (p. 168), and numerous examples of unexplained disturbing noises coinciding with deaths. [76] the word used here by m. castex-dégrange is _tête de turc_, a thing like the leather-covered bags in our gymnasiums, and used in fairs in france, to be pummelled by those wishing to try their strength.--_trans._ [77] i had considerable acquaintance with him at the nice observatory, where, in 1884 and 1885, i made with him spectroscopic observations on the rotation of the sun.--c. f. [78] in the séances of which i spoke in the early part of this book (second chapter), when the word "god" was dictated the table beat a salute.--c. f. [79] goupil, _pour et contre_, p. 113. [80] it has been my desire to give in this place the result of the personal experience of a large number of men anxious to know the truth; above all to reply to ignorant journalists who invite their readers to indulge in supercilious scorn of these researches and experimenters. at the very moment when i was correcting the proofs of these last pages i received a journal, _le lyon républicain_, of the 25th of january, 1907, which has for its leading article a quite preposterous diatribe against me signed "robert estienne." the performance shows that the author does not know what he is talking about nor the man of whom he is treating. there is evidently no reason in the nature of things why the city of lyons should be more disposed to error than any other point on the globe. but mark the coincidence: i received, at the same time, a number of _l'université catholique_, of lyons, in which a certain abbé delfour speaks of "supernatural contemporary facts" without understanding a word of the subject. no, the trouble is not with the city of lyons merely. there are blind people everywhere. you can read a dissertation _ejusdem farinæ_, signed by the jesuit lucien roure, in _les études religieuses_, published at paris, with critical judgments worthy of a traveling salesman. in this connection, you can read in the _nouveau catèchisme du diocèse de nancy_: "q. what must we think of the demonstrated facts of spiritualism, somnambulism, and magnetism?--a. we must attribute them to the devil, and it would be a sin to take part in them in any way whatever." [81] newton, as is well known, declares, in his letter to bentley, that he can only explain gravitation by supposing the existence of a medium which transmits it. yet, to our senses, the ether would not be a material thing. but, however that may be, celestial bodies do certainly act at a distance one upon another. [82] the initiated know that according to this doctrine the terrestrial human being is composed of five entities: the physical body; the ethereal double, a little less gross, surviving the first for some time; the astral body, still more subtile; the mental body, or intelligence, surviving the three preceding; and finally the ego, or indestructible soul. [83] these observations may be compared with a little social diversion which is rather popular, and is particularly described in one of the first works of sir david brewster (_letters to walter scott upon natural magic_) in the following terms: "the heaviest person of the company lies down on two chairs, the shoulders resting on one and the legs on the other. four persons, one at each shoulder and one at each foot, try to lift him, and at first find the thing difficult to do. then the subject of the experiments gives two signals by clapping his hands twice. at the first signal, he and the four others inhale deeply. when the five persons are full of air he gives the second signal, which is for the lifting. this takes place without the least difficulty, as if the person lifted were as light as a feather." i have frequently performed the same experiment upon a man in a sitting posture by placing two fingers under his legs and two under his arm-pits, the operators inhaling all together uniformly. this is undoubtedly a case of biological action. but what is the essential nature of gravitation? faraday regarded it as an "electro-magnetic" force. weber explains the movement of the planets around the sun by "electro-dynamism." the tails of comets, always turned away from the sun, indicate a solar repulsion coincident with the attraction. we know no more to-day than in the time of newton what gravitation really is. [84] it is not indispensable, even in certain cases in which it seems to be so. let us take an example. at a séance in genoa (1906), with eusapia, m. youriévich, general secretary of the psychological institute of paris, besought the spirit of his father, who asserted that he was present before him in ghostly form, to give him a proof of identity by producing in the clay an impression of his hand, and above all of a finger the nail of which was long and pointed. the request was made in russian, which the medium did not understand. now this impression was sure enough obtained several months after, with the mark of the nail referred to. does this fact prove that the soul of the father of the experimenter actually performed the act with his hand? no. the medium received the mental suggestion for producing the phenomenon, and did in fact produce it. the russian language did not make any difference. the suggestion was received. besides, the hand was much smaller than that of the man whose spirit was evoked. the experimenter next asks his deceased father to give him his blessing, and he perceives a hand which makes the sign of the cross before him (in the russian style, the three fingers together) upon the forehead, the breast, and the two sides. the same explanation is applicable here. it was a mistake to say that this ghost and his son conversed together in the russian tongue, as the published account said. m. youriévich only heard some unintelligible sounds. people always exaggerate, and these exaggerations work the greatest possible harm to the truth. why amplify? is there not enough of the unknown in these mysterious phenomena? [85] in certain countries (canada, colorado), a gas-jet can be lighted by holding out the finger toward it. [86] see what i formerly wrote on this subject in _lumen_, in _uranie_, in _stella_, and in my _discours sur l'unité de force et l'unité de substance_, published in _l'annuaire du cosmos_, for 1865. [87] _the human personality_, p. 11. [88] _id._, p. 23. [89] _id._, p. 63. [90] _the human personality_, p. 313. [91] _the subconscious nature_, p. 82. [92] see my remarks in _the unknown_, pp. 290-294. [93] see _bulletin of the psychological institute_, vol. i. pp. 25-40. [94] quite recently i saw an account of some phenomena which rather plead in its favor than otherwise (_bulletin of the society for psychical studies of nancy_, nov.-dec., 1906). out of the eleven instances mentioned, the first and the second may have been taken from a cyclopedia, the third and the fourth from public journals; but, in the case of the seven others, the admission of the identity of apparitions with the originals they purported to represent is surely the best explanatory hypothesis. [95] as a forestalling of judgment on what is yet to be demonstrated, the word "medium" is a wholly improper term. it takes it for granted that the person endowed with these supra-normal psychic faculties is an intermediary between the spirits and the experimenters. now while we may admit that this is sometimes the case, it is certainly not always so. the rotation of a table, its tipping, its levitation, the displacement of a piece of furniture, the inflation of a curtain, noises heard--all are caused by a force emanating from this protagonist of the company, or from their collective powers. we cannot really suppose that there is always a spirit present ready to respond to our fancies. and the hypothesis is so much the less necessary since the pretended spirits do not impart any new facts to us. for the greater part of the time, it is undoubtedly our own psychic force that is acting. the chief personage and principal actor in these experiments would be more accurately called a _dynamogen_, since he (or she) creates force. it seems, to me that this would be the best term to apply in this case. it expresses that which is proved by all the observations. i have known mediums very proud of their title, and sometimes found them a bit jealous of their fellows. they were convinced that they had been chosen by saint augustine, saint paul, and even jesus christ. they believed in the grace of the most high and claimed (not without reason too) that, coming from other hands, these signatures were to be suspected. there is no sense in these rivalries. [96] see the _complete works of the emperor julian_, paris, 1821. vol. i. p. 375. transcriber's notes: passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. footnote 73 is incomplete in the original text. the original text includes greek characters. for this text version these letters have been replaced with transliterations.